South Africa: Employers urged to comply with labour laws Government has called on employers to be comply with South Africas labour laws as they were enacted to protect the rights of workers. The call was made by government as South Africa joined the world in commemorating Workers' Day on Wednesday. For South Africa, this day holds particular importance as it emanated from the protracted struggle for workers rights and social justice of the late 1800s. Government expresses its appreciation to all workers for their contribution to the economy and the role of labour unions, the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said. GCIS has noted the progress made by South Africa to establish a culture of human and worker rights through progressive labour legislation and key programmes in line with the Constitution. Reformed laws have opened the way for improvements in working conditions, for example in health and safety in the work-place and in wage related matters. Since 1994 numerous new jobs and industries have been created and our economy continues to grow. Through integrated planning and policy cohesion, as well as massive infrastructure construction government has created the space for new industries and economic growth, the GCIS said. Government has committed to continuing in its efforts to address challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Government will continue in its efforts to close the gaps and has since introduced that National Minimum Wage, a historic step in a wider strategy of developing a caring economy. It extends the countrys social net to the most vulnerable in our midst and helps us build a more inclusive society, GCIS said. GCIS Director General Phumla Williams said South African workers, trade unions and other progressive forces fought for freedom. We should use that freedom to change the lives of our people for the better, she said. Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the May Day Celebrations in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The President called on employers to stop violating workers rights by paying them poverty wages. The continuing discrimination and exploitation against women must be brought to an end. We call upon all sectors in society to join the struggle to empower the women of our country, he said. He also encouraged companies and institutions who are resisting transformation to be part of the solutions that will lead to the development of South Africa. We will continue to argue and demonstrate that it is only through the fundamental transformation of our economy, that we will realise the full potential of our people, so that they can enjoy the full benefits of the bountiful resources of our country, President Ramaphosa said. The President also urged men to stop abusing women and children. We should never allow the abuse of women in our country to continue to be the cancer that it is. I call upon men to offer women the respect and honour that they deserve. I call upon men to stop abusing the women of our country by raping them, he said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. RTHK: US attorney general accused of lying to Congress America's top law enforcement official refused to appear before Congress on Thursday to explain his handling of the special counsel's report on Russian interference, infuriating Democrats who quickly threatened to censure him for contempt. Attorney General Bill Barr had been grilled a day earlier in the Republican-led Senate, where Democrats accused him of whitewashing the report to protect President Donald Trump. But he was a no-show at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, after its leadership announced it would have lawyers cross-examine him following a round of questioning by the panel's elected members. Barr's absence appeared to antagonise the top congressional Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who accused the attorney general of misleading lawmakers. "He lied to Congress," Pelosi said, apparently referring to Barr's testimony under oath before lawmakers in April. In that hearing, he claimed not to know whether Mueller supported his controversial memo summarising the Mueller report and that he did not know why members of Mueller's team would be frustrated over the summary. It emerged on Tuesday however that when Barr said this he was already in possession of a March 27 letter from Mueller outlining the special counsel's frustrations. "If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime," Pelosi said. "Nobody is above the law, not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general." Mueller's report, the culmination of a 22-month probe yielding charges or convictions of 34 people and three companies, confirmed that Russian operatives tried to help Trump defeat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. 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. The report detailed numerous occasions in which Trump attempted to thwart the investigation, leading to several Democrats calling for his impeachment. Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler threatened Barr with contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena demanding delivery of the full, unredacted 448-page report. He also blasted Barr's failure to appear as part of a wholesale obstruction by the Trump administration of a series of Democrat-led inquiries. "The challenge we face is that the president of the United States wants desperately to prevent Congress, a co-equal branch of government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions," Nadler told the hearing. "The system of limited power, the system of not having a president as a dictator, is very much at stake." The hearing, which adjourned after opening statements by the top lawmakers, was notable for Barr's empty seat. Democrat Steve Cohen mocked the attorney general's absence, bringing a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken to the proceedings. "Chicken Barr should have shown up today," Cohen said. Judiciary's top Republican Doug Collins pushed back fiercely, calling the witness-less hearing a "circus" and all but challenging the House leadership to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump. If the House approves a contempt motion it would open Barr to congressional punishments including fines. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. 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) 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. As it turns out, former Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Piech may not be the owner of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire after all. Rumors have instead been flying around that the new owner of the worlds most expensive production car is none other than Cristiano Ronaldo. Bugatti has yet to confirm the purchase of the $18 million hypercar, but the French automaker did say that it had already found a buyer for the masterpiece Bugatti. The company has so far refused to reveal the deep-pocketed individual, but Spanish publication Marca is reporting that the five-time Ballon dOr winner and one of the greatest football players of all time made the historical purchase, adding what could be the crown jewel to his already impressive garage of high-end exotics. We wouldnt expect anything less from one of the greatest footballers of all time LISTEN 05:32 Who Bought the 2019 Bugatti La Voiture Noire? Well, this is some kind of news, isnt it? Raise your hand if you saw this one coming. No one? Youre not alone. Like most of you, I was under the impression that the outrageously demented one-off Bugatti La Voiture Noire was commissioned by none other than Ferdinand Piech, the former chairman of the Volkswagen Group. It seemed like the kind of flex move youd expect from a man who once oversaw everything that the VW Group and all the automakers underneath it, including Bugatti. But now, the rumor going around is that Piech is not the owner of the La Voiture Noire. Bugatti seems to have confirmed that when it announced that it had found an owner for the car, implying that when the one-off exotic made its debut at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, it was still up for grabs. In hindsight, we should have noticed the hints of its availability, including Bugatti mentioning how much it actually costs: $18 million. If Piech already owned the car by the time it made its debut in Geneva, Bugatti probably wouldnt have mentioned its price tag to keep a sense of mystery around it. But it did, and we probably shouldve noticed why it was mentioned instead of lamenting our misfortunes that we dont have $18 million to buy it. The mention of Cristiano Ronaldo as the possible buyer is a new wrinkle, though one that shouldnt come as a surprise, too. First of all, Ronaldo can spend $18 million on a car. The man earned more than $100 million in 2018 alone, according to Forbes Magazine. An $18-million hypercar is a drop in a bucket for him, especially when you factor in his lifetime endorsement deal with Nike thats reportedly worth north of $1 billion. This isnt some random celebrity or Middle Eastern royal whos buying the La Voiture Noire. This is Cristiano Ronaldo. The one-off hypercar was built for people like him. Take into consideration, too, Ronaldos seeming obsession in buying some of the most expensive cars in the world. Hes right up there with Floyd Mayweather Jr. as having one of the sickest car collections in the word. Among the many exotics in his garage, Ronaldo owns a fleet of luxury cars which reportedly include a Mercedes C Class Sport Coupe, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Ujn Ferrari 599 GTO, a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, an Aston Martin DB9, a McLaren 12C, and a Bentley Continental GTC Speed. He also owns a handful of one-offs, including the Ferrari F12 Tour De France. And as far as Bugattis are concerned, Ronaldo bought a Bugatti Veyron three years ago following Portugals stunning victory in Euro 2016. A year after that, Bugatti asked Ronaldo to test drive the then-brand-new Chiron and see what he thought of it. Ronaldo took up Bugattis offer and proceeded to drive home in the car! Baller moves from real-life ballers! So, is it at all surprising that the most expensive production car in the world is now rumored to be owned by the most famous professional athlete in the world? Not the least bit. In fact, its a match made in exotic supercar heaven. Its not just about Ronaldo, too. Its also about the La Voiture Noire, which actually hasnt been built yet. Yep, the model Bugatti unveiled in Geneva two months ago was a hastily built prototype that took all of 12 weeks to piece together. The real La Voiture Noire isnt arriving until 2021, in part because Bugatti still needs to make a few tweaks to its design and performance capabilities in order for the one-off to justify its billing. 2019 Bugatti La Voiture specifications Engine W16 8.0 liters Power 1,479 hp @ 6,700 rpm Torque 1,180 lb-ft @ 2,000 - 6,000 rpm 0 to 60 mph 2.4 seconds Top Speed 260 mph (est.) Either way, expect nothing less than the spectacular from Bugatti. As it is, the La Voiture Noire is a tribute model that pays homage to the legendary and mythical Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic La Voiture Noire, a car that has since been lost to time. Among all of its inventive and revolutionary innovations, the La Voiture Noire is still an exotic at heart. It features am 8.0-liter W16 engine that produces 1,479 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque. All that power translates to a 0-to-60-mph acceleration time of just 2.4 seconds and a top speed thats pegged at 260 mph. If this rumor is true, Cristiano Ronaldo is now the proud owner of the worlds most expensive production car. He wont get his hands on it for another two years, but that shouldnt be a problem for CR7. He has a lot of toys he can play around with for the time being as he waits for the crown jewel to arrive. Further Reading Read our full review on the 2019 Bugatti La Voiture Noire. Unique Bugatti La Voiture Noire Pays Tribute to the iconic Atlantic in Geneva Read our full review on the 2018 Bugatti Chiron. Read our full review on the 2018 Bugatti Chiron Sport. Read our full review on the 2019 Bugatti Divo. Source: Marca A breakthrough in-vehicle payment system that lets drivers use tolling transponders to simplify and speed-up non-toll transactions has been launched at a gas station in Massachusetts. Developed by Boston-based in-vehicle payment innovator Verdeva, the PaybyCar system enables drivers to purchase gas from their car without taking out cash, a credit card or a mobile app. Launched in the town of Westborough, drivers with E-ZPass toll transponders that have registered on the PayByCar website will be able to easily pay for their fuel at the Alltown Mobil gas station located at 130 Turnpike Road, on the eastbound side of Route 9, using only their transponders. ') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> PayByCar is frictionless, with drivers opting-in to the program and choosing the payment method, such as credit or debit card or e-wallet, that they will be using for non-toll charges. Purchases through PayByCar do not go through a regular E-ZPass toll account, but are charged directly to the chosen payment method. When a member drives up to a participating retailer, a PayByCar RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader recognizes the toll transponder on the car and the presence of the drivers cell phone. The system sends an SMS text message to the users smartphone, and they reply with just the pump number. PayByCar automatically turns that pump on, registers the transaction in the non-tolling account, charges the card and sends an email receipt with retail offers for that visit. In February 2018, Verdeva formed a unique agreement with the E-ZPass Group, which operates the worlds largest interoperable toll collection program. The E-ZPass transponder is currently used in over 35 million vehicles in 17 states across much of the USA. Following the pilot deployment in Massachusetts, the PayByCar technology will be rolled out in other areas across the E-ZPass network and will soon be available for other kinds of transactions, such as paying at convenience stores, car washes, drive thrus and restaurants. We chose the MetroWest area to launch this new technology, and Westborough, Massachusetts specifically, because the community matches our target market demography, explained Anand Raman, president and COO of PayByCar. Close to 495 and the Mass Pike, Westborough has a lot of daily commuters with E-ZPass transponders. PayByCar gives them use of a proven and familiar technology in a completely new way. Mark Cosenza is senior vice president of Global Partners, the owner of Alltown convenience stores, which will be rolling out PayByCar technology to additional locations this year. He said, PayByCar aligns with our strategy of being first to market with innovative solutions that enhance the overall experience for our guests. PayByCar is easy to use and enables commuters to get in and out of the family of Global locations faster. A wayward whale strapped with Russian equipment seems to have fallen for Norway and its people. Anyone who has ever seen George C. Scott in The Day of the Dolphin knows that marine mammals are not only smart enough to communicate with humans, but can also be coerced into nefarious plots. Which may be what we have on our hands in the Norwegian port city of Hammerfest, where an extroverted beluga whale (like the one pictured above) has been lingering around since last week, reports The Washington Post. An official for Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries told The Post that the beluga was the first thing I saw outside of the window of his patrol boat ship in the morning. He said that the whale has traveled only around 25 nautical miles over the last week, and appears to like humans "which he noted was 'strange' for a beluga." It has even allowed people to pet it you can see how friendly it is in the video below. The whale first came to light when Norwegian fisherman saw it acting strangely by persistently "harassing" their boats. The noticed that the creature had an unusual get-up strapped around its body. Once they got it off, they had their first clue in this whale of a mystery. The harness read, Equipment St. Petersburg. They gave the harness to Norways special police security agency (PST) which has yet to comment. The Post writes: "Researchers say the harness could have carried weapons or cameras, triggering fresh speculation about a sea mammal special operations program that the Russian navy is believed to have been pursuing for years. Although the Russian Defense Ministry has denied the existence of such a program, the same ministry published an ad in 2016 seeking three male and two female bottlenose dolphins and offering a total of $24,000." Goodness, the plot thickens! But this is nothing new. The U.S. has been working with marine mammals since 1960, when the Navy's Marine Mammal Program was started. As described by PBS, the Navy "trained dolphins, beluga whales, sea lions and other marine mammals to perform various underwater tasks, including delivering equipment to divers underwater, locating and retrieving lost objects, guarding boats and submarines, and doing underwater surveillance using a camera held in their mouths." Of course, the risk one runs when working with intelligent creatures is they may just decide to jump ship, so to speak, as it appears our comrade cetacean has done. Now Norwegian officials just have to figure out what to do with their new defector. For now, they are considering moving it to a sanctuary in Iceland, some 1,250 miles away; a sanctuary sounds good, since the whale seems to have been socialized by humans. And hopefully, far out of reach of the Kremlin, which doesn't have the best reputation in dealing with former spies. Whatever its fate may be, we're wishing the best for this sweet creature. , little whale! TRENTON Mercer County Community College has been slapped with a racial discrimination lawsuit days after the faculty union voted no confidence in Dr. Jianping Wangs leadership. J. Brandon Shaw, a former MCCC vice president who worked in Wangs administration, alleges the college had fired him because of his race. Shaw, a highly educated African-American, filed a civil action complaint in Mercer County Superior Court on Tuesday demanding a trial by jury and punitive damages. He accuses Wang of aiding and abetting MCCC in an unlawful discrimination against him on account of race. Saying he suffered lost wages, emotional distress, humiliation and anguish, Shaw seeks to be reinstated to his old position and demands any other relief as the court deems just and proper. Shaw began working as Mercer County Community Colleges vice president of academic affairs in March 2018, effectively making him Wangs No. 2 in command. He was reappointed to the position for the annual period of July 2018 through June 2019, but the college suddenly ousted him effective April 12 after he refused to voluntarily leave, according to his lawsuit. The complaint alleges that Wang never wanted to hire Shaw in the first place, saying she preferred to give the powerful VP job to Robert Schreyer, a white man, instead of bringing Shaw on board. But Shaw had the unanimous support of a vice presidential search committee, and Wang at that time ultimately relented and agreed to hire plaintiff for the position, the lawsuit states. The working relationship between Wang and Shaw took a turn for the worse in February when she undermined his authority and judgment concerning a personnel decision, according to Shaws complaint. MCCC in January interviewed two finalists for a dean position at the James Kerney Campus in Trenton. A council of deans, a staffing search committee and Shaw himself had unanimously recommended for Wang and MCCCs Board of Trustees to offer the dean job to an internal candidate, but Wang in February instructed Shaws assistant to compose paperwork extending an offer of employment for the JKC Dean position to the candidate who was not recommended by plaintiff for the position, the complaint alleges. Shaws former executive assistant was Laureen Meyer, who resigned from her position effective March 22 after refusing to follow Wangs directive, Meyer previously told The Trentonian. In her letter of resignation dated March 8, Meyer said the Chief Administrator of the college had asked her to do something which she considered to be unethical. She was referring to Wang, saying the college president had asked her to include Shaws name on a memo offering employment to the non-internal dean candidate against Shaws wishes. When asked to do something that I feel is unethical and unprofessional by anyone, Meyer wrote in her letter of resignation, I view it as a personal attack on my ethics, morals and professionalism. Shaws lawsuit, filed on his behalf by Super Lawyer Patricia A. Barasch, references Meyers resignation letter and details how the MCCC Faculty Association voted no confidence in Wangs leadership, saying 85 faculty members voted, three abstained and the remaining 82 voted no confidence on April 11. In a prior article published in The Trentonian, Mark Matzen, chair of the MCCC Board of Trustees, said the college has had great success under Wangs leadership. We absolutely have confidence in President Wang, Matzen said in an interview last month. Under her leadership our graduation rates have improved; we have a better financial position right now at the college. In filing suit against MCCC and Wang, the terminated black educator says he was fired as the vice president of academic affairs because of his race. Under New Jersey state law, it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to hire or employ an individual because of race, creed, color, national origin or ancestry, among other identity factors. It is also unlawful for an employer to discharge an employee because of the employees race or ethnicity. Shaw says MCCC engaged in a wrongful termination of his employment by ousting him on account of him being an African-American. Wang has made public statements evidencing a bias against African-Americans, he alleges in his complaint. Robert Schreyer has replaced Shaw as MCCCs interim vice president of academic affairs, according to Shaws complaint. Although MCCC had not yet received a copy of Shaws lawsuit as of Wednesday afternoon, It is college policy not to comment on pending litigation, college spokesman Jim Gardner said. We have yet to be served the action in question, so therefore have no knowledge of what the content might be. The highly educated Shaw has a doctoral degree in biological sciences from Tennessee State University and a law degree from Southern University Law Center, according to faculty and staff credentials posted on MCCCs website. Shaw and Wang stood together in January when MCCC and Stockton University signed a transfer agreement. When all is said and done, the two may never stand together again as colleagues. editorial@tribune.com Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 1 The move to axe 700 fully mature trees for the proposed flyover connecting Zirakpur and Tribune Chowk today came under the judicial scanner with the Punjab and Haryana High Court taking cognisance of a plea alleging irreparable harm to the environment due to indiscriminate felling. Taking up the plea filed by the Run Club, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli put the Administration on notice. The authorities concerned, in turn, assured the Bench that no tree would be touched for now. The petition was filed and fixed for hearing today itself keeping in view the urgency involved in the matter. Among others, senior UT authorities from the engineering and other wings of the Administration were present before the Bench during the hearing. Describing as startling the UT Administrations decision to axe the trees on either side of the road leading to Tribune Chowk on Dakshin and Purv Marg, senior advocate Puneet Bali contended on the petitioners behalf that the felling was to commence from May 1 as per newspaper reports. Submitting that the decision was highly questionable, Bali added that mature mango and other trees were planted in accordance with the Chandigarh Project Plan in a planned and thoughtful manner decades ago. Emphasising on the utility of the trees, Bali asserted that these were not only helping in increasing the citys green cover, but were also checking pollution caused by heavy traffic on Dakshin Marg and from the surrounding industrial area. Felling of these trees would cause irreparable harm to the environment as apparently there was no way of replacing and replanting the trees at other locations. Development activities usually do have environmental costs. However, this sort of imminent felling of old and mature trees at such a large scale is highly questionable, Bali added. Challenge was also mounted to the move on the ground that it was in violation of the traffic and transportation proposals envisaged in the Chandigarh Master Plan-2031, wherein only an underpass was proposed at Tribune Chowk on Dakshin Marg. It is ironical that the Chandigarh Master Plan-2031 was prepared and published with much fanfare by the UT Administration and the same is being violated now, Bali submitted, adding that a number of urban communities were moving away from the concept of constructing flyovers to mitigate traffic problems. Citing examples of other countries, Bali submitted that major urban centers in the world like Seoul and San Francisco had managed to implement localised solutions to manage traffic with minimum impact on environment. Offering a solution, Bali added that the respondents should keep in view other proposals like constructing an underpass as set out in the Chandigarh Master Plan. It might not disturb the already existing roundabout at Tribune Chowk. Chandigarh is a city known for its beautiful and well-maintained roundabouts and construction of a flyover and cutting of these old trees, disturbs the heritage of the city, he submitted. Irreparable harm to environment G Parthasarathy G Parthasarathy Former diplomat The collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union led to the rejection of communist/atheistic state structures and ideologies across Europe. These developments gave a new impetus to the revival and enhancement of religious influence worldwide. Religion has now become more important on how nations think and behave, both internally and in the conduct of foreign and security policies today, than what prevailed around three decades ago. Putin, the Communist, would never have been seen near a Russian Orthodox Church. As President, he pays high respect to the Orthodox Church and clergy and is seen observing its rituals. The doctrines of Karl Marx, many claim, are in the dustbin of history, even as Samuel Huntington prophesises a doomsday clash of civilisations across religious fault-lines. The 9/11 terror attacks in the US by al-Qaeda terrorists, comprising largely Saudi Arabians, set the stage for a new world order, where discourse on religion, particularly on Islam, has become increasingly bigoted, especially in the US and Europe. There is little understanding that Islamic countries are largely divided along sectarian, Shia-Sunni, and civilisational, Arab-Persian lines. The approach of US President Trump and his aides presents a classic example of such thinking, with many in the US claiming that Islamic values are contrary to those practising the Judaic-Christian faiths. Such thinking moulds US immigration and visa policies. Trump himself asserted: I think Islam hates us. According to US analysts, Islamophobia is now afflicting right-wing think tanks, websites and radio and television stations. American journals aver that Trump has appointed several persons afflicted by Islamophobia to key posts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, for instance. Bigotry in the US is echoed across Europe. The situation is complicated by the continuing stream of Muslim refugees, which has polarised opinion. There is growing public support for their rejection, repatriation and return. There is also a growing tendency to declare them as a threat to European traditions of tolerance, democracy and freedom. While some European countries favour banning the hijab, others like Switzerland have adopted measures like imposing a national ban on the construction of minarets. European fears about Muslim immigration have been accentuated in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, where Muslim immigrants, influenced by extremist groups like ISIS, have resorted to violence. All this is occurring, when the Islamic world itself is being torn apart by rivalries. This has been accentuated by US-led military actions in Afghanistan, against the Taliban and in Iraq and Syria, against ISIS. These actions have dispersed, but not destroyed Al-Qaeda, Taliban, or ISIS. Expressing deep regret about the travails of Muslims and the prejudices they face, the Secretary General of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference, recently noted: Islamophobia has been growing strongly in the West and has continued to take root through intensive campaigns and public discourses disseminating fear of Islam, and through a significant number of incidents targeting Muslims, mosques, Islamic attire. India is not perceived in the eyes of the Islamic world as discriminating against Muslims, unlike the EU and US. China, however, has been ruthless in dealing with its Muslim population in its Xinjiang province, to which the Islamic world has, interestingly, turned a blind eye. While there is a debate over the term secularism in India, we do not impose restrictions or discriminate on religious practices through actions like banning minarets, or regulating the customary attire of Muslim women. But politically, differences on minorities remain controversial. Nehru, an agnostic, was strongly opposed to the participation of Sardar Patel in actions to reopen the Somnath Temple, destroyed by Mahmud Ghazni. President Rajendra Prasad, however, refused to abide by Nehrus advice and participated in the opening, averring: I believe in my religion and cannot cut myself away from it. The old leftist/communist, intellectual characterisation of secularism, which amounts to abstention from religious practices and virtual agnosticism, lacks relevance. Agnosticism is no longer regarded as an electoral asset. Both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi understood the importance of religious symbolism and visited Hindu and Sufi shrines, even during poll campaigns. Renouncing his great-grandfathers inclinations, Rahul Gandhi recently visited the Somnath Temple. The aversion he voiced to US ambassador Timothy Roemer about Hindu terror was, however, astonishing and inexplicable. Resort to religious symbolism remains an important element of politics, protestations about secularism notwithstanding. There is, however, a taboo sadly not observed consistently on not appealing to voters for support in terms of their religious beliefs. Like in most parts of the world, agnosticism has little or no place in India. What should, however, remain unacceptable is any action involving religious bigotry, use of violence or coercion, or appealing to voters in the name of religion. I have been lucky, spending all my working life in two institutions the Army and Indian Foreign Service where one is trained to treat all Indians, and indeed, humans equally, without religious bias. Religion and religious beliefs of members of the public have no bearing on how people and their problems are dealt with. The edifice of the national civil service institutions and judiciary, put in place by Sardar Patel and Dr Ambedkar, has functioned reasonably well for seven decades, respecting the provisions of the Constitution. Changes in structures, procedures and practices are, however, always needed to meet challenges posed by the passage of time. Mahesh Rangarajan Mahesh Rangarajan Professor of History & Environmental Studies, Ashoka University THE General Election of 1984 had no precedent in terms of the outcome. In a recent book, The Verdict, scholars and psephologists Dr Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala recount how it felt after having stuck their necks out and predicted 400-plus seats for the Congress. Leading journalists heaped scorn on the estimates: even Jawaharlal Nehru had led the party to a maximum 362 seats in the House of 497. The Congress went on to win 414 seats out of 543. Assembly elections in various states were held soon after. Until the SR Bommai judgment in 1994, the use of Article 356 to dissolve Assemblies was not justiciable and was freely used by ruling parties at the Centre to strike when the time was ripe. The Congress swept most states, except Karnataka, but its vote share and the number of seats were nowhere near its tally in the Lok Sabha polls. RK Laxman, in his inimitable style, made a cartoon in which the then PM spoke in one state capital after another. He said the same words, They (the Opposition) had supported the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. The text of the 1978 resolution was innocent of any threats to national unity, but had raised questions of federal relations, the share of river waters and Chandigarhs future. But the Congress, having won the national polls on the plank of secessionist threats to the unity of India, played the card again. Harping on patriotism and the love for ones country is not new. In An Autobiography, penned mostly in Naini jail, Nehru wrote movingly of the clarion call at his public meetings, Bharat Mata ki jai. Victory to Mother India, he would say to the crowds, meant not the land alone but its people too, who were involved in a struggle to be free. But nationalism can wear different colours. In the wake of the historic victory in the 1971 war, Indira Gandhi looked invincible. No less than Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the silver-tongued orator whose grasp of Hindi was unmatched, called her Durga. The Assembly elections saw the Congress emerge victorious in one state after another, riding on the coat-tails of an assertive nationalism. There was no baiting of any linguistic or religious group. Left unsaid was Indiras epochal contribution that made Dhaka a free city in a free country, which meant the two-nation theory that led to Partition was buried at last. No one said the Army belonged to the Prime Minister, as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister infamously remarked recently. All this is relevant in 2019. What we see now is a re-run of nationalism, but with one significant difference. India, we are told, is new. It does not just defend itself as in 1971 but takes the fight to the adversarys corner. The Balakot operation was not only a mission of the armed forces acting to protect the country from external threat, but equally a measure of resolve. The airstrike showed that the Indian Air Force could project power beyond the Line of Control and into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (the old North West Frontier Province). All this is beyond doubt true. What is important is what follows and is no longer left unsaid. Those who stand tall or walk tall are not enough to defend India. It is not enough to be an assertive or strong country: it needs to be aggressive. The armed forces have been portrayed in speeches, posters and images as if they act at the behest of the government. They dont do it for any party: their Supreme Commander, the President, stands above all parties. It is here that the ruling party has gone further. In several speeches, the idea of being Indian has been given a sectarian twist. The enemy without has an equivalent within. The gloves are off. Hindutva is not new to public domain. It was articulated in the 1920s by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a scholar as much as a political leader. India was home to those who saw it as pitra bhumi and matri bhumi. In other words, to see the land as home and mother was essential. Himself an atheist, he argued that faiths born in India were Hindu and Indian by fact of being so. The others were alien. But the internal campaign over the past few years has been unrelenting. Nationalist intent and faith need recognition: a senior Cabinet Minister praised former President APJ Abdul Kalam as a nationalist despite being a Muslim. The stony silence of a party which has governed India for over five decades over security issues is notable. The Congress could have cited then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastris steely message of the 1965 war Eent ka jawab pathar se denge (a stone for a brick). In Indira Gandhis finest hour, Dhaka became the capital of a free country and 93,000 soldiers were taken prisoner. No loud claims, just a hard-fought victory against a genocidal regime. When a political party takes control of the nations narrative, it is time to ask why it does so. This is not the first time. The 1984 elections were held in the wake of the massacres in Delhi. The polls saw the evocation of an enemy within, with clear sectarian, communal overtones. The year 2019 marks a turning point. It has the makings of a permanent campaign against those within. Those who do not equate party and leader with the nation are the targets. Do they love India best or most who do not love fellow Indians? Can you love your country, our country without hating anyone else? If India is to be defined with Hinduness at the core, it would be a different India. Is this right and just? India needs defending, but for all Indians. Our fraternal bonds breathe life into the body politic. But what cost will Indians pay for equating party with country? harinder@tribunemail.com IN a setback to victims yearning to exorcise the ghosts of 1984, the Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the Delhi High Court order and freed 15 persons convicted in the anti-Sikh riots case for lack of sufficient evidence, and eyewitnesses who could identify them. Charged under various offences of fuelling riots and arson, the convicts had filed multiple appeals challenging the November 28, 2018, verdict against them. The HC had upheld the conviction of 70 of the 89 persons by a trial court for burning houses and violating curfew. Pending for nearly 22 years, the court had dismissed the appeals and ordered them to serve their jail term. The horror of November 1984 has been a persistent nightmare for thousands of victims and their families. Many hundreds perished in the mayhem. Despite tireless efforts and several probe commissions later, justice has remained largely elusive. The blame squarely rests with the police, which drew grave imputations. Shoddy investigation, apparently due to political interference and manipulation, came in the way of justice delivery and blocked any progress in these cases. The government of the day and the law-enforcing agencies were blindsided in their basic obligation toward the people, of providing security cover and the promise of justice. Fear of law remained suspended for the longest time. Things seemed to be on the mend with the Supreme Court ordering the reopening of 186 cases last year. The hope for justice gained further momentum with the conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, a first for the partys leaders. The backslide is imminent, so long as investigating agencies make no sincere efforts to right past wrongs. All they need is to do their job well, and unhindered. All cases must be fast-tracked. Old wounds will continue to fester, and justice will be ill served if even one perpetrator goes scot-free. A probe cannot be an indefinite, empty act of procedures. All-too-familiar words that have been uttered before, but must be quoted again and again, so long as the need for them remains. The circle must be squared. harinder@tribunemail.com Upholding the supremacy of constitutional principles and parliamentary laws, the Madras High Court has ruled that Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi cannot interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Union Territorys elected government. The judgment is a shot in the arm for the V Narayanasamy-led Congress government, which has been at loggerheads with the NDA appointee over the past three years or so. It is another setback to Bedi, Indias first woman IPS officer, who has already burnt her fingers in active politics. She was initially part of Anna Hazares agitation, but had later broken ranks with the anti-corruption crusader and joined the ruling BJP. The partys chief ministerial candidate in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, Bedi had not only suffered defeat herself but also witnessed the BJPs debacle amid a stunning sweep by the Aam Aadmi Party. A year later, she was appointed Lt Governor of Puducherry, days after the Congress won the Assembly elections. The Centre might have gained the upper hand in its legal battle against the AAP government in Delhi, but the coastal UT had turned out to be a different kettle of fish. Allowing a petition by Congress MLA K Laksminarayanan, the High Court has set aside the two communications, issued in 2017 by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, regarding the administrators powers. Referring to the Supreme Court judgment on the tussle between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Anil Baijal, the judge made it clear that the restrictions imposed on one government (Delhi) were not applicable to another (Puducherry). This distinction is of utmost significance, considering Delhis extraordinary position by virtue of being the countrys capital. The judge also asserted that the decisions taken by the Puducherry Council of Ministers and the Chief Minister were binding on the Secretaries and other officials. The brazen attempt to extrapolate the Delhi model to another non-BJP-ruled territory has been scuttled decisively. The judgment will go a long way in ensuring that the administrator stops short of becoming a parallel power centre and works in tandem with the government democratically elected by the people. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Shimla, May 1 Intermittent rain and thunderstorm accompanied by hail and lightning lashed several parts of Himachal since last night while tribal areas received fresh snowfall in May today. Lightning struck state capital Shimla past mid-night with deafening noise and electronic gadgets like computers, modems, TV sets and other equipments were damaged in a number of households. Storm uprooted trees at some places and also blew roofs of kucha houses and caused extensive damage to standing wheat crop and stone fruit crops. A severe hailstorm accompanied by rain, lightning and thunder again hit Shimla this afternoon, bringing normal life to halt and forced people to rush indoors. Apple crop was damaged in upper Shimla areas while vegetable crops, including peas, tomoto, beans and cauliflower, was destroyed in the suburbs of Shimla, said state president of Himachal Kisan Sangh Kuldeep Singh Tanwar. Widespread rain occurred in the region while higher reaches in tribal areas and other mountain passes had another spell of fresh snow fall causing sharp fall in mercury. Intermittent snowfall was continuing in high altitude tribal areas and Kalpa, Pooh, Lippa Asrang, Rohtang and Kunzam passes and the adjoining areas. As a result, sowing of potato and peas has been badly hit in tribal belt. While the farmers, who have completed sowing, are worried that excessive moisture might destroy the seeds, sowing has been suspended in some other areas. Wintry conditions were revived in the tribal areas as minimum temperatures dipped to minus 0.8 degree and 1.1 degree at Keylong and Kalpa while Kufri, Manali and Shimla recorded minimum temperatures at 6.2 degree, 8.0 degree and 10.4 degree, three to six degree below normal. Pooh and Kalpa in tribal Kinnaur district recorded 40 mm and 30 mm of rains followed by Shimla 18 mm, Kufri and Banjjar 10 mm and Theog and Sundernagar 6 mm. Una was hottest on the region with a high of 38.2 degree while Nahan and Palampur recorded the maximum day temperature at 34.8 degree and 32.4 degree. The local MeT office has predicted rain and thundershowers in mid and lower hills and rain or snow in higher hills at isolated places over next three days from tomorrow. laxmi@tribune.com Srinagar, May 1 In a big relief to commuters, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has completely lifted the restrictions on civilian traffic movement on the Srinagar-Baramulla stretch of National Highway-44. The restrictions every Wed-nesday and Sunday were put in place to facilitate the movement of security forces convoys. However, the biweekly restrictions on the Srinagar-Udhampur stretch would continue, with the government promising a periodic review. Days after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, the government on April 3 imposed the biweekly restrictions on the 270-km stretch between Baramulla and Udhampur. The restriction order has also been challenged in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. On April 22, the restrictions on civilian movement between Srinagar and Baramulla were reduced only to Sundays. TNS What it means Unrestricted passage to commuters, especially students, tourists, and fruit-laden trucks on way to markets across the country even during security forces convoy movement rchopra@tribunemail.com Jammu, May 2 Indian and Pakistani armies traded heavy fire on Thursday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district, the Defence Ministry said. At about 9.30 am Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation in Shahpur and Kirni sectors on the LoC in Poonch. They started firing with small arms followed by shelling with mortars, Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said. The Indian Army is now retaliating befittingly. Firing and shelling exchanges are going on, he said. Thursdays ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army comes nearly after a fortnight of calm on the LoC. IANS editorial@tribune.com Srinagar, May 1 The recently banned Jammu 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 on Wednesday. The registrar of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, Delhi High Court, has served the notice on the JKLF 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 front 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 J&K government official said. The front 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 as an unlawful association. The Central government had declared it a banned organisation on March 22. PTI Given 30 days to reply The registrar of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, Delhi High Court, has served the notice on the JKLF 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 rchopra@tribunemail.com Washington, May 2 The designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia, the White House has said. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on Wednesday announced 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. Reacting to the development, Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House, said: Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia. The US commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Azhar, the leader of JeM, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian security personnel, Marquis said in a statement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed the move saying it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism. Pompeo also congratulated the US mission in the UN which took the lead in Americas diplomatic effort to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, after China finally lifted its nearly 10-year technical hold on such an effort by India, the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council, including Britain and France. Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEMs Masood Azhars #UN designation as a terrorist, Pompeo tweeted. This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia, Pompeo said. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the JeM had been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace in South Asia. The JeM was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 and has been listed by the UN since 2001, she said. The US also designated Azhar as an SDGT in 2010. As JEMs founder and leader, Azhar clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN. This listing requires all the UN member states to implement an asset freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations, Ortagus said. Todays designation is an important step in promoting a peaceful and stable South Asia, she said. In line with this vision, we appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khans stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, would not allow militant and terrorist groups to operate from its territory, Ortagus said. The spokesperson said the US looked forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan consistent with its international obligations. The US, France and the UK 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. 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. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, May 2 An estimated 10,000 villages and 52 towns in Odisha will be hit by the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani, which is approaching Indias eastern coast and is expected to make landfall south of Puri on Friday, the home ministry said. A total of 11.5 lakh people in Odisha will have to be moved to safer areas. Of them about 3.3 lakh people have already been shifted. Flight operations from Bhubaneswar will remain suspended from Thursday midnight and from Kolkata from Friday morning, and will be resumed as soon the conditions improve. The Odisha government has conveyed to the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the countrys top body for handling emergency situations, on Thursday that 10,000 villages and 52 towns in nine districts will be affected, a home ministry statement said after a meeting of the NCMC, which was headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha. Action on evacuation is already being taken by the Odisha government and around 900 cyclone shelters have been made ready to house the evacuees. The storm is likely to impact Odishas coastal districts Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore. In West Bengal, it will affect districts of East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly, Jhargram besides the Kolkata city. In Andhra Pradesh, the cyclone is likely to hit Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts. Low-lying coastal areas may be inundated: Met The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of storm surge of about 1.5 metre height which may inundate low-lying coastal areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha at the time of landfall. Arrangements have been made to warn people of the impending cyclone through announcements over public address systems, mass SMS and local media. Teams of NDRF and ODRAF have been put in place, the statement said. During the NCMC meeting, the cabinet secretary reviewed the preparedness of the states and the central ministries and agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of the cyclonic storm. The Civil Aviation Ministry has informed the NCMC that flight operations from Bhubaneswar will be suspended from May 2 midnight and operations from Kolkata will remain suspended from the morning of May 3, and resumed as soon the conditions improve. The railways have already suspended operations of trains in Odisha, the MHA statement said. Reviewing the preparedness of the state and central agencies, the cabinet secretary directed officials that people from vulnerable areas be moved to safer places, cyclone shelters and provision for essential food, drinking water and medicines be made. Sinha also directed establishment of a central toll-free helpline for the public. He also asked the central ministries to set up control rooms to coordinate rescue and relief operations and advised all concerned to make adequate preparations to ensure maintenance of essential services in the event of damages caused to them. The Power Ministry has made arrangements to restore power supply in affected areas with least downtime. The Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry has made arrangements to move additional water supplies in the affected areas and is keeping in readiness packaged drinking water. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is keeping in readiness packaged ready-to-eat food. The Health Ministry has mobilised emergency medical teams, medicines and also coordinated with the Red Cross to provide assistance. It has kept ready 17 public health response teams and five quick response medical teams with emergency drugs. The Department of Telecommunication has issued orders to all operators to allow free SMS for cyclone-related messages and inter-operability of mobile networks by other operators. The Petroleum Ministry has ensured availability of sufficient petroleum and oil in the affected areas. The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations while the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force units in the three states have also been put on standby. The Ministry of Shipping has disengaged all ships at Paradip Port and has deployed emergency vessels (Tugs). The IMD has been issuing 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. Top officials of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal participated in the NCMC meeting through video conference. Senior officers from the ministries of home, shipping, civil aviation, railways, petroleum, power, telecommunications, defence, drinking water and sanitation, food pocessing, health, IMD, NDMA and NDRF also attended the meeting. PTI laxmi@tribune.com Sandeep Dikshit TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 1 Chinas turnaround on Wednesday enabled the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief and alleged Pulwama attack mastermind Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. China let go of its technical hold on sanctioning Azhar after pressure from its UNSC peers, relentless diplomatic outreach by India and its vulnerabilities in Xinxiang proved untenable. Azhar will now be subject to a travel ban, freeze on his funds and prevented from accessing arms, with Pakistan assuring it would immediately implement the fineprint of UNSC directions. The Tribune was the first to report that this week will be crucial for blacklisting of Azhar and, if there was no spanner, he could be arraigned by mid-week. Hectic bargaining and consultations at the UN and in Beijing had preceded the Chinese decision to stop blocking Azhars blacklisting. As a result, the listing removes all references considered political and by implication not factual. India thus had to settle for blacklisting without a mention of J&K and Pulwama attack. China hinted as much when its Foreign Office spokesperson said, Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study, China does not have objection. Indias Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin, who helmed New Delhis diplomatic lobbying at the UN, expressed gratitude to all the UNSC members, big or small, for their backing. France, which was the first to nationally designate Azhar and was attempting blacklisting by the European Union, took the lead in welcoming Azhars designation. The US, France and the UK had served an ultimatum on China to lift its technical hold in a UNSC subcommittee and were threatening to approach the UNSC plenum if this did not happen. China consoled its all-weather friend Pakistan for breaking ranks by crediting it with enormous contributions to fighting terrorism and promising to firmly support its efforts to combat terrorism. Big diplomatic win at UN "It is a big success for Indias efforts to root out terrorism Indias views cannot be ignored any longer, it has been proved This is just the beginning. Just wait for what happens next." Narendra Modi, Prime Minister vinaymishra188@gmail.com Tribune News Service Daryabad (Barabanki), May 1 BSP chief Mayawati today accused the Congress and BJP of being anti-Dalit and anti-OBC. She said despite persistent demand of its Dalit supporters, the Congress did not bestow the Bharat Ratna on Bhim Rao Ambedkar and the BJP withdrew support from the then VP Singh government, which years later awarded the Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar and implemented the Mandal Commission report, giving quota to OBCs. Addressing a joint rally of the SP-BSP-RLD mahagatbandhan at Daryabad, on the border of Barabanki (reserved) constituency, she also made an appeal to vote for the alliance candidates of Bahraich (reserved) seat as well as Ayodhya all having candidates from the Samajwadi Party. Mayawati alleged that a disheartened Ambedkar had resigned from the Jawaharlal Nehru government for what she described as his belief that Dalits and OBCs were not getting their legal rights as assured by the Constitution. She said when he contested the first parliamentary election in 1952 from his own organisation from Bombay, the Congress instead of helping him win unopposed pitched a candidate against him and misused the government machinery to ensure his defeat. She claimed that the number of invalid votes polled by Ambedkar was equal to the number of valid votes. The Congress is reported to be in the fight in all the three seats. Holding the BJP governments at the Centre and the state responsible for not filling the reserved positions of Dalits and OBCs, Mayawati said they had outsourced most vacancies to the private sector where reservation was not applicable. Both the governments had similarly misused government agencies like CBI, ED, and income tax departments against their political opponents, she said. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav too addressed the rally. He said the mahagathbandhan was to bring in a mahaparivartan. Without naming Modi, he said he had reports that the rally of the big leader of the big party in the district earlier in the day saw thin crowd and no josh. He said the country wanted a new PM and urged the crowd to take over the chowkis of the chowkidar. rchopra@tribunemail.com Lucknow, May 2 BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday accused the BJP and Congress of having a tacit understanding and working united against the SP-BSP alliance. Congressmen think it is not a problem if the BJP candidates win elections but the SP-BSP alliance candidates should not win the polls, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister alleged. Like the BJP, the Congress has started talking absurd about the SP-BSP alliance. It is clear that both have a tacit understanding and are united in contesting against our alliance, Mayawati said here. Addressing an election rally in Barabanki on Wednesday, Congress president Rahul Gandi had alleged that the control of Mayawati and Akhilesh was in the hands of PM Narendra Modi. In the past five years, did the SP or the BSP take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly? Did you hear any statement from Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav? See, I am not scared of Narendra Modi. I dont care. If someone is scared, it is Narendra Modi. But the control of Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav is in the hands of Narendra Modi, Rahul had said. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, May 2 The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted more time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a reply on Robert Vadras plea challenging a money laundering case against him. A division bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Vinod Goel asked the ED to reply within a week on the plea filed by Vadra and his close associate Manoj Arora challenging certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, and Arora have been asked to file a rejoinder to the ED response thereafter within two weeks. The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 18. The case relates to the ownership of 1.9 million pounds overseas assets by Vadra. It also pertains to undisclosed foreign assets and entities to evade tax. Both Vadra and Arora were granted anticipatory bail by a trial court on April 1. IANS uttara@tribuneindia.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 The Election Commission of India said on Thursday it found no violation in either Prime Minister Narendra Modis or Congress president Rahul Gandhis controversial campaign speeches. In its order, the commission, which was considering a complaint against the prime minister for his controversial speech in Rajasthans Barmer, said: In a matter related to complaint concerning alleged violations of advisories of the Commission and Model Code of Conduct in a speech delivered by Narendra Modi at Barmer, Rajasthan on 21.04.2019, a detailed report of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Rajasthan was obtained. The speech in question was one in which Modi said Indias nuclear warheads were not meant for Diwali. The speech prompted condemnation from opposition parties. 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 10 pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer the Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted. In a speech in Barmer on April 21, Modi said: Newspapers would write Pakistan has a nuclear button. So what do we have? Is Indias nuclear bombs meant for Diwali," Modi made a sarcastic remark at Barmer Stadium here. The Congress approached the Election Commission on April 22 accusing the prime minister of brazenly violating the election code by repeatedly invoking the armed forces in his speeches. The party demanded a temporary ban on his campaign. Rahul Gandhi The commission also said it found no violation in Rahul Gandhis controversial speech in Jabalpur in which hes believed to have called Bharatiya Janata Party's national president Amit Shah a murder accused. In its order on Thursday over a complaint against the Congress president, 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 sent by the DEO Jabalpur. Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of MCC is made out. Accusations of code violation came after Gandhis controversial speech in Jabalpur on April 23. In his speech, Gandhi, in reference to allegations against Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, is reported to have said: Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah. Wah, kya shaan hai! (Wow, what a glory!) uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, May 2 The Election Commission of India on Thursday issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath for his "Babur ki aulad" remark. The Election Commission, which was considering a complaint of election code violation against Adityanath for his supposedly communal remarks, gave him 24 hours to respond. If hes found guilty, this would be the second time Adityanaths pulled up by election authorities for his controversial statements. Hes already faced a 72-hour ban for making communal remarks in another rally last month. In a rally on April 19, Adityanath said: "Would you hand over the reins of the country to terrorists, to those who call themselves children of Babur (Babur ki aulad)...to those who oppose Bajrangbali. The remarks came within days of the commission imposing a temporary ban on campaigning for some other communal remarks he made. Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, bars promotion of, or attempt to promote, feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of India on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language, by a candidate or his agent or any other person. Agencies laxmi@tribune.com Beijing, May 1 China, which lifted its technical hold on listing JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the UN, said today 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 material. In a huge diplomatic win for India, the UN today 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 Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council has detailed criteria for the listing procedure. 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. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the material for the listing proposal to the 1267 committee. After careful study of the revised material and taking into consideration opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal, he said. The proper settlement of the 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. Meanwhile, Pakistan said it would immediately enforce the sanctions imposed by the UN on the JeM chief. Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said, 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. PTI Relentless efforts bore fruit: France "For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Mr Azhar this decision taken at the UNSC signals the successful realisation of our efforts." Frances Ministry of Foreign Affairs All member states must act now: US "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." Spokesperson for the US Mission in UN Events that sealed the jem chiefs fate laxmi@tribune.com United Nations/New Delhi, May 1 Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, is a blue-eyed boy of Pakistans spy agency ISI 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. 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 Pakistans external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). 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. Azhar was arrested in Anantnag in South Kashmir in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through Bangladesh. 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, however, failed. 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. Finally, he was released by the NDA government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, in exchange of passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814. PTI The Mastermind monicakchauhan@gmail.com Muzaffarnagar (UP), May 2 A government school teacher, who was missing since Monday, has been found dead in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said. The deceased, Aslam, who was a teacher in a government primary school in Ghaziabad district, had gone to pay Rs 2 lakh to an agency for buying a tractor, according to a complaint by his family. Police suspect that Aslam was kidnapped by miscreants and, after looting the cash, he was killed and the body dumped on the Ganga Canal road near Buwarada village in Khatauli area, a police officer said. The body, which was found on Wednesday, has been sent for post-mortem and an investigation is on, the officer added. PTI uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, May 2 The Uttar Pradesh Government informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it has filed a fresh status report on investigation in the Hapur lynching case in which one person had lost his life last year. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that a copy of the status report should be provided to the counsel appearing for the petitioners and they can file a response to it within a week. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the state, handed over a copy of the status report to advocate Vrinda Grover, who was representing the petitioners, in the court. "Copy of the status report filed in the court has been furnished to Vrinda Grover, counsel for the petitioners. She may file her response to the same within a week. List the matter on May 9," said the Bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. The court had on April 8 asked the state government to file a status report of the investigation in the case in which a person was killed and another brutally assaulted in the name of cow vigilantism in June last year. The apex court on September 5 last year directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Meerut range to supervise the investigation in the Hapur lynching case. The state government had earlier told the court that it has transferred the SHO concerned and filed appeals seeking cancellation of bail granted to the accused in the case. The court had earlier termed the allegations of survivor Samiuddin as "serious". It had directed the IGP to "facilitate the recording" of victim's statement before a judicial magistrate regarding the incident in which 45-year-old Qasim Qureishi was beaten to death on June 18. The plea filed by Samiuddin had sought setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to ensure "an impartial, competent and fair investigation" into "the barbaric incident of mob lynching on June 18 last year in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The plea has claimed that Samiuddin and Qasim, both belonging to the minority community, were targeted and mercilessly assaulted by a mob of the majority community from the neighbouring village, in the name of cow vigilantism. The plea had sought "setting up a SIT comprising of police officers with impeccable career records of integrity and competence from outside the state of Uttar Pradesh, which shall be charged with the responsibilities and duties of investigation, in respect of all issues relating to the matters concerning and arising from the incident". It has sought a direction that the SIT "shall report to and be responsible to this court through the filing of periodic status reports and shall also keep this court informed of any major developments". The plea further sought a direction to the state government to compensate the victim for his medical treatment. It said Qasim had died as a consequence of the lethal mob lynching, while Samiuddin survived the attempt on his life but suffered multiple fractures, wounds and egregious injuries. The petitioners have also sought cancellation of bail granted to the accused, including alleged key offender Yudhishthir Singh Sisodia. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Washington, May 2 Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is saying right things and trying to make some changes in the country, but his military leadership, too, needed to take right decisions and right steps, the Trump Administration said on Wednesday hours after the UN Security Council designated Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Nearly a year and half after President Donald Trump ordered cutting off security aids to Pakistan, a senior US administration official told reporters that the US is trying to change Pakistans policy of supporting terrorist groups. Noting the US recognition of the ISIs links with its home-grown terrorist groups, the official said the US did not want to get involved in the countrys internal politics and expected the Pak military to correct the situation. We support the civilian government. We support the nascent democratic system there. We support the fact that Prime Mister Khan says right things and appears to be trying to make some changes within Pakistan. But only time will tell if he is successful in doing that, he added. The senior administration official said Pakistans military leadership, too, needed to take right decisions and right steps. So far, we do see support from the military to the direction that Prime Minister Khan seems to be going in, he said. The Trump administration on Wednesday credited Prime Mister Kahn for his helpful statements on cracking down on terror outfits and some initial steps being taken in this regard. So, we do appreciate that Pakistan is saying the right thing, has taken the initial step that were looking for, but we reserve judgment because we have seen backpacking in the past, the official said. The official said the US wanted to reserve judgment till it saw if the steps they were taking were actually irreversible. Observing that only time would tell about Pakistans future course of action, the official said Khan as of now had made the right statement. He is very public about wanting stability in the region, pointing out how important that is for Pakistanis to prosper and to have economic development which is one of his core campaign promises. He has directly related that goal to Pakistan being able to crack down on militancy within the border, the official said. But in the past, the official pointed out, the US had seen Pakistan resorting to the familiar pattern of taking some temporary steps against terrorists and putting them under house arrest like they did with Hafeez Mohammed Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi, only to release them later and let them go back to operating as usual. So, unfortunately, the track record (of Pakistan) is not good on this front. But we continue to remain hopeful and encouraged by the initial statements and some of the very initial steps that we have seen Pakistan taking. Referring to the UN on Wednesday designating Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar a global terrorist, the official added, We think this designation is really critical and important for keeping Pakistan accountable to its commitment like the travel ban and asset freezes and other steps. They are now accountable to the international community. It is too early to say whether Pakistan would indeed uphold its international obligation, but we remain hopeful, he said. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ahmedabad, May 2 A special CBI court here on Thursday discharged former police officers DG Vanzara and NK Amin in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. Vanzara and Amin had filed discharge applications in the court after the Gujarat government refused to grant sanctions to the CBI to prosecute the two former police officers. Special CBI court judge JK Pandya said that since the government has not sanctioned their prosecution, their discharge pleas are allowed and proceedings against them will be dropped in the case. Under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government's sanction is necessary for the prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of the official duty. Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The police had claimed they were terrorists and come to Gujarat to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Bhopal, May 2 A man was arrested for allegedly raping and killing a 12-year-old girl on Wednesday. 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. PTI laxmi@tribune.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, May 1 Fifteen police personnel and the driver of a private bus they were travelling in were killed in an ambush by Naxalites outside a village at Kurkheda in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district this afternoon. State DGP Subodh Jaiswal said the Naxalites had earlier burnt more than 25 vehicles belonging to a road contractor around 3.30 am. Following this, the Quick Response Team was rushed to the site. The police team was on its way when an explosive device buried beneath the surface of the road was set off, blowing up the vehicle. It was not an intelligence failure... we will give a befitting response, Jaiswal said. However, state government sources faulted officials in the state Home Department for letting their guard down soon after the first phase of Lok Sabha elections was completed earlier this month. Elections in Gadchiroli were held on April 11, and polling for all 48 Lok Sabha seats of the state ended on April 29. There were enough indications that bands of heavily armed Naxalites were moving in Gadchiroli for the past several weeks, sources said. Groups of Naxalites had even fired at helicopter-borne security personnel who were moving officials after polling concluded. Though one policeman was injured in the firing, security was not tightened in the area. The 15-member State Reserve Police Force team was hurriedly assembled and sent in a private bus. Standard operating procedures like a patrol being sent ahead to sanitise the route were also ignored, sources said. The Opposition sought the ouster of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said an inquiry would be ordered. rchopra@tribunemail.com Bhuj, May 2 The Border Security Force (BSF) on Thursday apprehended a Pakistani national from Kutch district in Gujarat for entering India illegally, officials said. He was identified as Mohammad Shan, a resident of Punjab province in Pakistan, they said. The Pakistani national was apprehended when he tried to enter India after crossing border fence. He was held from near the border pillar number 1123, BSF DIG GS Malik said. He had been handed over to the police and would be interrogated by security agencies at the Joint Interrogation Centre in Bhuj, BSF sources said. Intruders, who generally try to enter India through the Kutch region, are from neighbouring Sindh province of Pakistan. However, this man is from Punjab province, BSF officials said. PTI amansharma@tribunemail.com Manas Dasgupta AHMEDABAD, May 2 Even as food and beverages giant PepsiCo India today said the company had decided to withdraw the lawsuits against four farmers in Gujarat for cultivating a special variety of potato for which the company had exclusive rights, the farmers organisations sounded a note of caution against getting carried away by the promise. The question is not of just the four farmers in Gujarat. The company may withdraw the cases against them under pressure. But the country will have to guard against the multinational companies dictating terms to farmers on what they should cultivate and what not. The question is of corporatisation of agriculture, which must be prevented, a spokesman for the Gujarat Kisan Sangh said. PepsiCo India, which had sued four farmers of Sabarkantha district in north Gujarat last month for cultivating and selling FC5 variety of potato, which it claimed had been patented, was facing the farmers ire and the government also agreed to join it as party in favour of the potato growers. After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases, a PepsiCo India spokesman said. We are relying on the discussions to find a long-term and amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection. At different times, the company had filed cases against 11 farmers in Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Banaskantha districts, all in north Gujarat. The company had claimed huge losses and demanded damages ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore from each farmer for cultivation and sale of the variety the company used for production of popular Lays chips. amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 India today said the core issue was getting Masood Azhar designated as an international terrorist and it was immaterial if Pulwama and Kashmir were mentioned or not. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Ministry of External Affairs spokespersons said this at separate press conferences here today. Jaitley was joined by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who credited PM Narendra Modi for his persistent measures that led to Azhars sanctioning. Jaitley went on to accuse the Congress of being afraid of joining the BJP in celebrating this diplomatic victory. This is also why they are now claiming that they conducted surgical strikes. Those were invisible surgical strikes, he added, referring to an interview by former PM Manmohan Singh that several unannounced surgical strikes were conducted against Pakistan during his tenure. In an attempt to play down the Oppositions claim that the sanctioning was trivial, Jaitley pointed out that the current dispensation succeeded in a task that had occupied the energy of successive governments for a decade. The Ministry of External Affairs said Pakistan was in a pincer grip that would make it difficult to avoid taking action against Azhar. In addition to the binding obligation to implement the UNSC decision, Pakistan is also under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which wants it to demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all UN-designated terrorists and their bagmen. At the next FATF plenary next month, Pakistan will be obligated to take action as per FATF procedures, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Ravish Kumar. The Foreign Office dwelt on the absence of any reference to the Pulwama terror attack in the UNSC communique. Please understand that our objective all along has been the designation of Masood Azhar as a terrorist. This process started in 2009 when Pulwama terror attack had not taken place, he said. The designation is not based on a specific incident but on the basis of the evidence shared with the members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Azhar to terrorism. In the UN notification, it very clearly states that Azhar was listed for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating and perpetrating terrorist activities associated with JeM. This broadly covers all terror activities he has been involved in. The notification is not supposed to be a bio-data of the terrorist and include all acts of terrorism perpetrated by him, he added. Result of diplomacy Under international pressure and effect of Indias diplomacy that hurdle was removed yesterday (Wednesday) and it has come as a big opportunity for India in its fight against terrorism. Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence minister Proof changed china They (UN) dont have to give details of his each and every activity.. it is the material provided by India, which included Azhar's role in the Pulwama attack, that resulted in Chinas change of attitude. Arun Jaitley, Finance minister uttara@tribuneindia.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, May 2 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray who shook up the BJP-Shiv Sena with his video presentation-based rallies criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections here is yet to decide on campaigning elsewhere in the country. MNS sources told reporters that parties were requesting for rallies by Thackeray in other states like Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, which go to the polls in the coming weeks. Rajsaheb has decided not to hold rallies elsewhere in the country, MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande said. Though Thackeray is known to hold a good command over Hindi and English, a section of the MNS believe that their leader holds forth best in Marathi and his speeches would lose their punch were he to speak in Hindi. Meanwhile, efforts are on by several political parties to get the MNS chief to change his mind about holding at least a few rallies, sources said. Thackerays take-down of Prime Minister Modis election promises have been a big hit on social media and translations and subtitled versions of his speeches have been shared across the country. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Tribune News Service Ayodhya, May 1 Accusing the SP-BSP alliance of misusing the name of their respective icons Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today alleged that party leaders did little to improve the condition of the poor. Addressing a rally in Maya Bazar at the Ayodhya-Ambedkar Nagar border, 20 km from the main temple town, Modi said it was important to know the reality of the Congress, SP and BSP. Behenji used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but did everything opposite to his principles. SP used the name of Lohiaji but disturbed the law and order situation in UP, Modi said. On the occasion of May Day, Modi addressed his first public meeting in Ayodhya after becoming the PM. People who speak of samajwad (socialism), bahujan hitai, bahujan sukhai and garibi hatao dont ever bother about the 40 crore poor or laborers of the country. They have only been interested in promoting their respective families, he alleged. He said no poor man wants to see his children poor. No chaiwala ever thinks that his child will grow up to be a chaiwala, no cart-puller wants his child to be a cart-puller and no vegetable seller dreams of his child selling vegetables, Modi pointed out, saying that everyone wanted to move ahead. Describing security as the biggest challenge, Modi referred to the Balakot airstrikes as an example of a mazboot (strong) government. He said the mahamilawat forces (SP-BSP-RLD alliance) were soft on terrorism and the terrorists were waiting for a majboor (helpless) government. Like it is said saavdhani hati durkhatna ghati, terrorism is also like that. Remain alert as the mahamilavat forces are preparing to bring a majboor government at the Centre and you all have to remain on your guard against it, Modi said, urging people to vote for the lotus. While Modi did not directly refer to the Ram Mandir issue, he described the town as that of maryada purushottam Ram and spoke of the Ramayana circuit of which Ayodhya was an important destination. He also mentioned the visit of Korean First Lady to Ayodhya to celebrate Diwali, bringing honour to the temple town. Maya Bazar is part of Gosaiganj Assembly constituency and falls in the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha constituency. Elections are scheduled here in the sixth phase on May 12. Crystal clear...Its Modi code of conduct now, says Cong uttara@tribuneindia.com Mumbai, May 2 Opposing the interim protection from arrest granted to activist Gautam Navlakha by the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government on Thursday invoked the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli, saying he is accused of being a member of "such a group". A Division Bench of justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre was hearing a petition filed by Navlakha seeking to quash the case registered against him by the Pune police in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The police have accused Navlakha and four other civil liberties activists of having connections with Naxals. The court had, in October 2018, granted Navlakha an interim protection from arrest. Demanding that this protection be revoked, additional public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai referred to the IED blast carried out by Naxals in Gadchiroli district on Wednesday. "Naxals have carried out an attack in Gadchiroli in which 15 policemen lost their lives...applicant is accused of being a member of such a group," she said. Because of the interim protection, the police could not continue with the probe and they needed to question Navlakha, the prosecutor said. Navlakha's lawyer Yug Chaudhry opposed the demand and asked if the police were claiming that his client was behind Wednesday's improvised explosive device (IED) blast. The court remarked that the interim protection granted to Navlakha should not come in the way of the investigation. "The interim protection is from October 2018. One more month's protection will not hinder the probe," Justice More said, adjourning the hearing to June 12. Besides Navlakha, the Pune Police have accused Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activists Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Sudha Bharadwaj of having links with Maoists. The case was registered following the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune, which, the police alleged, was backed by Maoists, and which allegedly led to violence at the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial on January 1, 2018. PTI vinaymishra188@gmail.com New Delhi, May 1 India has received no response from the US to its renewed request made at the level of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for an exemption from its diktat to end all oil purchases with Iran by May 2. Till reports last came in, neither Turkey nor India has received any word from Washington about giving both another extension. The US had walked out of an agreement signed with Iran and imposed sanctions on Iranian oil from November last. The US gave six-month exemption to eight countries, including India, China and Turkey, which ends on May 2. As India views its oil trade as an intrinsic part of its diplomatic relations, it has vigorously tried to convince the US on changing its mind on barring other countries on the pain of secondary sanctions from buying Iranian oil. India and Turkey have been hoping for a second exemption on the strength of their security and defence ties with the US. Both India and Turkey have spoken against sanctions. TNS monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, May 2 The Congress is happy the process of designating JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist has concluded successfully, senior party leader P Chidambaram said on Thursday, while also asking why Pakistani premier Imran Khan wants Narendra Modi to continue as India's prime minister. In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said Azhar was released in 1999 by a BJP government after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft. After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009. "We are happy that the process has concluded successfully in 2019. But why does the Prime Minister of Pakistan want Mr Modi to continue as Prime Minister of India?" the former home minister said in a series of tweets. Azhar's designation as a global terrorist by the UN came two days after the fourth round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. The elections end on May 19 and the votes will be counted on May 23. Last month, during an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, the Pakistan prime minister said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of a right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. The Congress seized on Khan's comments to allege that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Prime Minister Modi and said a vote for him would mean a vote for the neighbouring country. PTI amansharma@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 The Border Security Force (BSF) and Silchar police have arrested two persons with 80 bundles containing 1.6 lakh Yaba tablets worth Rs 8 crore. A raid was conducted on Wednesday at New City Lodge at Kaithal Point on Hailakandi Road in Silchar following a tip-off by BSFs intelligence wing. The arrested persons were identified as Biplab Dey and Sahajalal Miah, both from Tripura, a BSF release said. During the year, BSF has so far seized 1,60,170 Yaba tablets and 2,848 Ketamine tablets. Such frequent seizures and apprehension would definitely dent the syndicate involved in smuggling activities, said a senior BSF official. Yaba, a Thai word for crazy medicine, is a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine that comes in different flavours and colours. Inhaling its fumes or snorting the crushed powder induces a hyper-alert state so exhilarating that users have been tempted to give up on heroin and ganja. There is also a crystalline variant of this drug known as Ice, made up entirely of methamphetamine. The sustained use of Yaba can cause permanent damage to lungs, kidneys and blood vessels in the brain, which could eventually cause a stroke, cardiac arrest and rotting of the teeth. BSF officials believe the drug is imported from laboratories in Myanmar through the Mizoram and Manipur border. uttara@tribuneindia.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh/Ropar, May 2 Less than three hours after the returning officer rejected nomination papers filed by Aam Aadmi Partys Anandpur Sahib candidate Narinder Singh Shergill, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday quashed the order. Shergill was debarred from contesting the election by the Election Commission of India for not submitting details of election expenditure incurred by him during previous elections, following which he moved the High Court on April 30. Allowing the plea late this evening after hearing the matter for almost four hours, the Division Bench of Justice Daya Chaudhary and Justice Sudhir Mittal asserted: After hearing the arguments raised by counsel for the parties and perusal of the record available, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order (of rejection) dated April 30 and June 7, 2018, are set aside. The nomination papers of the petitioner be accepted in case the same is otherwise in order. The Bench, on the previous date of hearing, had directed Election Commission of India and another respondent to provisionally scrutinise Shergills nomination papers. But Anandpur Sahibs Returning officer-cum-Ropar deputy commissioner Sumeet Jarangal this afternoon rejected Shergills nomination papers. Appearing on Shergills behalf, senior advocate Akshay Bhan and Amandeep Singh Talwar submitted that the petitioner furnished accounts to the District Election Officer, which were duly scrutinised. The officer even agreed with the amount shown by the candidate against all items of expenditure, as required. Punjab Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju was present during the course of hearing. The counsel for the respondents, on the other hand, submitted that Shergill did not furnish the accounts. The EC, in fact, gave at least three opportunities to him, but the required documents were not submitted. He did not furnish the details even after the issuance of a notice. Responding to the submissions, Bhan argued that deficiencies, if any, were never pointed out to Shergill. He was, in any case, informed late about the developments. Just because I (AAP) am in the opposition, you rejected my nomination at very last moment so that AAP could not be elected. It's a democratic country. Why are you afraid of? Bhan added on Shergills behalf. Bhan had earlier contended that the petitioner had submitted nomination papers for Anandpur Sahib parliamentary 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 itself. He further added the order of rejection was, however, handed over to him on April 30. gspannu7@gmail.com Kartarpur, May 2 Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeking votes in the name of martyrs and urged people to oust the communally divisive BJP from power and install a Congress government at the Centre. Saying that his blood boils when he hears Modi shamelessly asking for votes in the name of Pulwama martyrs or the Balakot air strike, Singh asserted that the PMs behaviour was repulsive. It is the fauj (soldiers) of India and its people who are getting killed every day in the line of duty; it is not Modis fauj. He is using their sacrifice for political gains, alleged the chief minister. The prime minister in Maharashtras Latur last month urged first-time voters to dedicate their vote to the heroes of Balakot air strike and the 40 CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama terrorist attack. There had been complaints to the Election Commission over the election speech, but the EC on Wednesday said Modi did not violate the provisions of the model code of conduct. On Thursday, the Punjab chief minister asked voters to throw out the communally divisive BJP and Akali Dal to usher an era of peace and prosperity under a Congress government. Anyone who wants to divide people on communal lines has no place in our civilised nation, he said at an election meeting here. Singh alleged the media, which Modi controls, was also speaking in the voice of the PM. But people can see which way the wind is blowing, the wind will sweep Modi and his BJP away, he said, expressing confidence that people will vote Congress to power in this election. Lashing out at the Akali Dal, an ally of the BJP in Punjab, over the desecration of holy scriptures in 2015 and the Behbal Kalan and Bargari incidents of police firing during anti-sacrilege protests during the Akali rule, Singh said their attempts to scuttle an SIT probe into the incidents will not succeed. He said the Special Investigation Team officer, who he said was transferred by the Badals, will be brought back to head the probe the day polling ends. He claimed not a single major case of sacrilege was reported since his government came to power in March 2017. ...They will not succeed in their mission to create tension to divide people and garner support of the Sikh community through such actions, he said. Pointing to the significance of Kartarpur in the context of the 550th Parkash Purb celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, Singh hoped the Kartarpur corridor between India and Pakistan will be ready in time to enable all devotees to pay their respects at the historic gurdwara across the border. Taking a dig at Modi for failing to take the Sultanpur Lodhi development scheme forward, he said the Union home minister had held meetings but had only invited the Badals to discuss the plans. The CM also blamed the Modi government for aggravating the problems of industry and farmers with its wrong policies. PTI editorial@tribune.com Arun Sharma & Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Ropar/Jalandhar, May 1 In an incident that raises questions on police functioning, a conman managed to don the uniform of a DSP and wield powers attached to the post for two years in Jalandhar district. A DSP deployed with the Jalandhar Rural police allegedly connived with him. The conman, identified as Mohit Arora (30) of Amritsar, is a school dropout and he managed to marry a sub-inspector, who is a qualified dental surgeon. The DSP, who is under the scanner for helping Mohit, was awarded Presidents Police Medal and a commendation disc last year for his meritorious services. An SHO also reportedly helped Mohit in concealing his identity. The accused had been gifting costly presents to the said DSP for favours extended to him, it is learnt. Surprisingly, Mohit, who used the name Vikramjit Singh Mann to pose as DSP, would often visit the police headquarters and meet senior police officials. All this while, nobody got a whiff of his reality. It was only after his wife got suspicious of his activities and informed the seniors, following which the Ropar police arrested him from a local bus stand in police uniform. The police recovered a fake identity card from his possession. Though the police remain tightlipped over the issue, the sources said Mohit noticed the woman SI at a naka near Maksudan police station in 2017 and decided to marry her. He came in contact with the above said DSP through a common friend. The DSP and an SHO reportedly helped him in convincing the woman SI that he was a DSP and finally, they got married 10 months ago. The DSP and the SHO even provided him gunmen and he would be seen issuing directions to the police personnel posted at nakas in the district, the sources said. The woman SI, who joined the police force about four years ago, is currently posted at Hoshiarpur. She is said to be in depression ever since she came to know about the reality. Ropar SSP Swapan Sharma said the accused was produced before the court, which sent him to judicial custody. On the alleged connivance of a DSP and an SHO of Jalandhar, he said the investigation was on and action would be taken against them only after their role was established. Among those who are facing the inquiry are BIS Kahlon, ACP Special Branch, Jalandhar Commissionerate. Kahlon said, I am being wrongly related to the case. I know both Mohit and the SI, but I got to know about their marriage only last week. I was asked by the Jalandhar rural SSP to assign her some cases. Mohit had a property dispute and she was inquiring the matter. It was during the conduct of the inquiry that they reportedly got to know each other. The charge that I helped Mohit is false. rchopra@tribunemail.com Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 2 The open display of assault rifles by a group of Sikh and other soldiers of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) at the Khalsa Day Paradethe Sikhs biggest annual event in Canada--has sparked a row, putting the Canadian government and military authorities in a quandary. Interestingly, the CAF soldiersa number of whom were turbaned Sikhs--marched through downtown Toronto carrying assault rifles and were escorted by an armoured vehicle in Sundays Khalsa Day Parade in which more than one lakh Punjabis, Sikhs and members of other communities participated. The event was held to commemorate Baisakhi. There was no CAF tradition of displaying assault weapons at such events and the armed forces personnel could carry weapons only at specific military parades and demonstrations. The Canadian army authorities have clarified that normally weapons are not carried at such events and the decision to have personnel in full fighting order was made by the local commander and was not in keeping with the CAFs Manual of Drill and Ceremonial. Brigadier Joe Paul, the Canadian armys top commander in Ontario, is investigating the matter and has reportedly prohibited carrying of arms at such events. This years parade also coincided with the federal governments 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 members of the community. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has said that while the intentions of the CAF to participate in the parade were good, the choice made for it was inappropriate. He says the commander of the 4th Division and other commanders of the CAF will take appropriate action and ensure that it is not repeated. Meanwhile, the World Sikh Organisation (WSO), Canada, has apprehended that certain forces may rake up the issue using videos and photographs of the event to stir up fear but the parade has nothing to do with extremism. The WSO has also reportedly claimed that the military had earlier also participated in a number of such events. The decision regarding the army personnel having been in full fighting order was said to have been taken following the permission given by the commander of the 32 Canadian Brigade for the armys participation in the parade. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 1 The Election Commission (EC) has issued a notice to Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The EC has asked Sidhu to furnish his response by Thursday in relation to his remarks against Modi at a rally in Ahmedabad on April 17. This is the second time that the EC has issued notice to Sidhu. In his speech in Ahmedabad, he had called the Prime Minister a biggest liar and a thief. The EC in its notice said the speech in question was examined in the commission and the statements were found to be in violation of the provisions of the model code of conduct. Therefore, the Commission, after considering the available material and extant provisions of the model code of conduct and instructions on the matter, has decided to provide an opportunity to Sidhu to submit his explanation, if any, before 6 pm on Thursday, the EC said. During the rally in Ahmedabad, Sidhu had launched a scathing attack on Modi. On an earlier occasion in Bihar, Sidhu had urged Muslims to vote unitedly to ensure Modis defeat and then the EC had banned him from campaigning for 72 hours over his controversial remarks. rchopra@tribunemail.com Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 2 A vast majority of over 36,000 Punjabi farm labourers in Latina and adjoining southern provinces in Italy is not only being exploited financially and physically, but also forced to live under stony control of gangsters or members of farm mafia. The workers pick vegetables for up to 13-14 hours a day for over six days a week in vast fields of lettuce, zucchini, radish, eggplant and tomato. Ironically, while the workers pluck vegetables and fruits for up to 14 hours a day for six-seven days a week, the Italian law stipulates that farm workers cannot work more than six hours a day at the equivalent of $12 per hour. A majority of them had reached Italy by shelling out huge amounts ranging between $20,000-25,000 to the middlemen and travel agents having their powerful network in Punjab and Europe. Increasing drug addiction among them has only made their lives from bad to worst. It was for the first time in Italys history that Sikh farm workers organised a farm strike, wherein more than 4,500 farm workers took out a march in 2016 in provincial capital of Latina amid threats from their bosses and members of the mafia. Farm workers were helped in organising the strike by farm labourer-turned-community activist Gurmukh Singh and a local social activist, Marco Omizzolo. More than a dozen Punjabi workers have reportedly committed suicide during the past four years in the fertile and lush green fields of Latina known as an agriculture hotspot of Europe. Another big problem for migrant Sikhs or Punjabi farm workers is that farm owners dont pay them their dues in almost 30 per cent of the cases. The migrant farm labour crisis is more in Italys southern states. Calling family to Italy is a Herculean task for migrant labourers as the process takes a long 8-10 years, said Paramjit Singh, a schoolteacher hailing from Hoshiarpur, who had spent around 14 years in Italy before deciding to shift back to Punjab along with his family. Pardeep Singh, another farm worker from Nawanshahr, said hard-working Punjabi migrant labourers accomplished most of the farm jobs ranging from harvesting to planting, but they were hardly prospering due to the existing exploitative system. They are often maltreated if they speak against the slavery-like system or if they seek restoration of their rights or enhancing of their wages, he said. Gurmukh Singhs small grocery shop in Borgo Hermada has virtually turned into a small community information centre where Sikh farm workers come for seeking help in understanding the contracts or other related documentation. Farm workers say the biggest problem in the implementation of labour laws is the lack of the will power of the local authorities and shortage of staff. harinder@tribunemail.com Perneet Singh Tribune News Service Bathinda, May 1 With less than 20 days to go for the polling at the high-stakes Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency, the candidates are pulling out all the stops to woo the electorate, be it clicking selfies with the voters, having dinner or staying overnight at the houses of downtrodden or anything else that they think could fetch votes. Leading the pack, Union minister and two-time sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur seems to be taking her campaign to the next level in these elections, as she is now often spotted mingling with women who constitute 47 per cent of the electorate. Once she finishes with her public meeting, she lends a patient hearing to the women approaching her with their problems, whether it is the case of old age pension or inflated electricity bills. She is quick to respond to their woes as she rang up a PSPCL official after a woman approached her with a bill of over Rs 97,000 here on Tuesday. She also obliges women who want to get a selfie clicked with her. It is being seen by many as an attempt not only to reach out to the women voters, but also to cash in on the anti-incumbency sentiment against the state government. Interestingly, this is the first time she is contesting Lok Sabha elections with the SAD out of power in the state. She bore the brunt of the anti-incumbency against the previous SAD-BJP regime in 2009 and 2014 General Election. Congress Amrinder Singh Raja Warring continues building his narrative of commoner versus mighty, as he stays overnight at the houses of poor. He also shares meal with them, though his political rivals accuse him of resorting to theatrics. He visits public places to connect with the voters. For instance, he had dinner at a dhaba close to the railway station here last night. He was all smiles when some people came up to him with a request for a selfie. He has been frequenting places like public parks, playgrounds and ice cream parlours to strike connect with the electorate. He takes out roadshows, at times on bikes, which attracts youth. His wife Amrita utilises her public meetings to establish a dialogue with women voters. She interacts with them while delivering her address as she asks them to answer her queries about sitting MP and a host of other issues. Punjab Ekta Party chief Sukhpal Khaira also makes it a point to involve people with him during his public meetings. He is often seen handing over the mic to a farmer or a youth who wishes to air his views and lends them an ear before taking forward his address. He has also been highlighting problems like lack of clean drinking water in a particular village by going live on Facebook while touring the constituency. Meanwhile, candidates are also making most of the social media to reach out to voters, going live on Facebook with various activities during the campaign. They also utilise it for keeping their supporters updated about their schedule for the next day. rchopra@tribunemail.com Chandigarh, May 2 Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, seeking action against those indulging in false and malicious propaganda against him and his family on social media. In a video clip that was attached with Tewaris tweet, it was alleged that his father, late professor VN Tewari, was involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and petrol was supplied from his petrol pump to burn Sikhs. Describing the propaganda against him as gutter and despicable, the former Union minister, who is contesting from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, said his family never owned a petrol pump anywhere in the country and his father was assassinated by militants on April 3, 1984, six months before the riots. My mother was a Jat Sikh. My father was an academic at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and my mother retired as the Dean of the PGI. Our family has never owned a petrol pump ever in our lives anywhere in India. We have complained to the returning officer, Ropar SSP and the CEC. They need to act against the miscreants as soon as possible, he tweeted. Those who failed in trying to raise the outside bogey against me have now stooped too low to malign me and my family with outrageous lies, Tewari said on Thursday. The Congress leader is locked in a four-way contest against sitting MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Narinder Shergill and Punjab Democratic Alliance nominee Bir Devinder Singh. Voting in Punjab will take place in the last phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 19. PTI We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. editorial@tribune.com Karam Prakash Tribune News Service Patiala, May 1 Miffed over lack of job opportunities, unemployed TET-pass BEd teachers have launched a no job, no vote campaign in the state. The campaign against the Congress has been started following denial of jobs by the government. Teacher Eligibility Test (TET)-pass BEd teachers have already scribbled no job, no vote slogan outside their houses. They have already warned the government of paying a heavy price in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for creating a chaos in the education sector. The teachers are questioning both Congress and SAD workers, who come to seek votes, regarding job opportunity for teachers. Sukhwinder Singh, state president, TET-Pass BEd Unemployed Teachers Union, said despite job assurance to TET-pass teachers in their election manifesto, the Congress government did nothing in this regard. More than 50,000 youths have already cleared TET, but still they are unemployed. Meanwhile, Education Minister OP Soni said, The Chief Minister has promised Ghar Ghar Rozgar and we are providing jobs under the scheme. We have already recruited around 3,500 TET-pass teachers and have advertised 2,000 more posts for the same. amansharma@tribunemail.com Lahore, May 2 Pakistans Punjab province government has allocated 70 acres of land for setting up an international university named after Guru Nanak in Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of the first Sikh Guru. The funds for the construction of the Baba Guru Nanak International University (BGNIU) in Nankana Sahib, some 80 km from Lahore, will be allocated in the budget of financial year 2019-20, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said in a statement here on Thursday. The chief minister said this project will be part of the coming development budget in the province. He said the government would also establish a police lines, a prison and National Registration Database Authority (Nadra) in Nankana Sahib. There has been a demand from Sikhs living in Pakistan to construct a university named after the founder of their religion Guru Nanak at his birthplace in Nankana Sahib. Proposal of university was first surfaced during the Punjab government of Pervaiz Elahi in 2003. Two years ago in the government of PML-N, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) gave a final approval to the project. Then ETPB chairman Siddiqul Farooq said this varsity would help promote religious tourism in Pakistan and also portray the countrys good image at the international level. Earlier this year, for the first time a Pakistani university had created the Baba Guru Nanak research chair to promote the message of peace that the Sikh spiritual leader preached. The Punjab University Lahore has created the Baba Guru Nanak research chair. This is the first ever initiative of any university in the country. The students of the varsity will carry out research on the teachings of Baba Guru Nanak, Punjab University spokesperson Khurram Shahzad had said. It was not only the demand of the Sikhs but the academia that feels the need to promote message of tolerance of Baba Guru Nanak in the society, Shahzad said. PTI amansharma@tribunemail.com Chandigarh, May 2 The Punjab Police on Thursday claimed to have recovered Rs 2.38 crore out of the missing over Rs 6 crore in Jalandhars priest raid case. Khanna Police had in March claimed to have recovered Rs 9.66 crore from six men, including a church priest. However, priest Father Anthony Madasserry claimed that the money was part of the business proceeds and the police had recovered Rs 16.65 crore from his home, accusing it of misappropriating the remaining account. On Thursday, the money was recovered from five persons on the basis of revelations made by two ASIs during their interrogation by the Punjab Police in Kochi, from where they were arrested, a spokesperson said. Assistant Sub-Inspectors Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh, who were absconding since last month, were held from a hotel on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, a team of Punjab Police took over the custody of the policemen from the Kerala Police. Both were presented before a local court there which granted them transit remand and they are being brought back to Punjab, the officer said. Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta, who immediately tweeted information about the recovery, said that the matter was being probed further and efforts were being made to recover the remaining amount. In the operations carried out by the state police teams of different districts in Punjab, Rs 1 crore was recovered from Nirmal Singh, Rs 40 lakh from Surinderpal, Rs 20 lakh from Mohd Shakeel, Rs 30 lakh from Amrik Singh and Devinder Kumar and Rs 18 lakh from Sanjeev Kumar. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, May 2 The first road show of BJP candidate and actor Sunny Deol, which stretched from Dera Baba Nanak till Pathankot via Gurdaspur and Dinanagar, saw thousands throng the streets to catch a glimpse of the actor on Thursday. The road show met with resounding success as thousands of people of all ages braved the searing sun and lined the streets, a development that has revitalised the BJP cadre in this parliamentary constituency. Todays event has pulled the rug from under the feet of Congress leaders, who were anticipating a lukewarm response particularly after the unimpressive showing Deol and his BJP handlers had put on April 29, the day he filed his nomination papers. Senior Congress leaders clandestinely admit that if the crowds at todays event are any indication, then Deol does not only look to be invincible but actually is invincible. Old-timers were quick to draw parallels with Vinod Khannas first rally after being given the ticket in 1998. Then it seemed that the entire constituency had come to a grinding halt. Today was no different, averred Prof Kirpal Singh Yogi. The actor, after paying obeisance at Darbar sahib Gurdwara in Dera Baba Nanak, proceeded to have a glimpse of the Kartarpur Sahib shrine across the border through a binoculars installed by the BSF. This is the same site from where the Kartarpur corridor is being constructed. Deols election managers have killed two birds with one stone by making him tour the area. First, he impressed upon the gathering at the corridor site that the project was the collective initiative of PM Narendra Modi and the BJP. Second, being a Jat Sikh he has taken care of this particular vote bank, said a loyalist accompanying him. The BJP is going out of the way to make a dent in the Dera Baba Nanak assembly seat represented by Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Randhawa managed to notch up a lead of 44,000 votes for Sunil Jakhar during the 2017 bypoll. This time we are focusing on the area to ensure this lead comes down significantly. Reason enough why we made Deol visit the area, said a BJP MLA. After Dera Baba Nanak, the BJP candidates cavalcade crisscrossed the length and breadth of the constituency touching as many as four assembly seats. The road show culminated in Pathankot. Despite the sun breathing down his neck, the actor carried himself with poise and elan. He has flown in his personal Range Rover SUV from Mumbai to campaign. The car was part of the cavalcade. His brother Bobby Deol and senior BJP leaders from all the nine assembly seats of the constituency were part of the entourage. Earlier, Deol admitted that he was very poor in delivering political speeches and admitted that he had even confided in PM Modi that he was not a good orator. The PM told me not to worry on this aspect and asked me just to be my normal self. He added that the BJP would take care of everything and I just have to go to Gurdaspur to start my campaign, he said. Because of his poor oratorical skills, the BJP is trying to keep him away from the media glare just in case he comes in the line of some uneasy questions particularly those pertaining to the problems of the constituency. We do not want him to be embarrassed. He will speak to the media at the appropriate time, This provoked an angry retort from Jakhar. He himself admits that he is not a politician and knows nothing about Punjab or Punjabi. When he was asked to take oath after filing his nomination papers, he could not read Punjabi properly. He had to be prompted by officials. If he does not know Punjabi and is not a politician, then what on earth is he doing here? Gurdaspur is not a training school for politicians, quipped the Congress candidate. The MP also downplayed todays road show. Seeing an actor in flesh and blood is one thing while voting for him is a totally different proposition. All that glitters is not gold. The crowd is not going to translate into votes, he added. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Beijing, May 2 Denisovansan ancient human speciesadapted to high-altitude low-oxygen environments long before the modern humans arrived, say scientists who have analysed a 1,60,000-year-old fossil jawbone of the archaic hominins found in the Tibetan Plateau. The research, published in the journal Nature, shows that Denisovans were more widespread than thought. It also shows that the Denisovans were the first human relatives to roam the roof of the world. The fossil was originally discovered in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China 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 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Germany and have since been jointly analysing the fossil. The Denisovans were first discovered in 2010, when a research team led by Svante Paabo from the 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 Neanderthals. Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day Asian, Australian and Melanesian populations, suggesting that these ancient hominins may have once been widespread, said 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, Hublin said in a statement. 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, said Frido Welker of the MPI-EVA and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Our protein analysis shows that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave, said Welker. 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 Neanderthals 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. This minimum age equals that of the oldest specimens from the Denisova Cave, said Chuan-Chou Shen from the National Taiwan University, who conducted the dating. The Xiahe mandible likely represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau, said Fahu Chen, director of the Institute of Tibetan Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 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, said Dongju Zhang, of Shandong University in China. 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, Hublin said. PTI harinder@tribunemail.com THE Secretary of the All-Indian Moderates Conference, Calcutta, states that a committee meeting was held on April 27th. Mr. Surendra Nath Banerjea presided. The meeting considered various current problems. The Honble Mr. Kamat, (Bombay), and Mr. M.G. Chitnavis (Central Provinces), joined the deputation to England. Mr. C.C. Bose of Calcutta was appointed officiating secretary during the absence of the secretaries on deputation to England. Among the resolutions pasted the committee deplored the recent breaches of public peace and urged the public to support Government in measure for law and order. In dealing with the outbreaks they urged Government to adopt a generous, large-minded policy of conciliation and asked for a full statement of all facts on which action had been based in the Punjab to enable the public to form a correct opinion and recommended investigation by a mixed committee. They condemned the passive resistance movement altogether. sanjiv@tribunemail.com Caracas, May 1 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 media 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 recognised 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". IANS US supports Guaido pardeepdhull@gmail.com Washington, May 2 After an uprising in Venezuela quickly fizzled out, the United States is insisting that President Nicolas Maduros days remain numbered. But experts warn of limited options to break a protracted stalemate in which Washington may have overestimated the opposition leaders strength. Juan Guaido, who is recognised as interim president by the United States and more than 50 other countries, on Tuesday claimed support from a group of brave soldiers at a base in Caracas, but Maduro quashed ensuing street protests within hours. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Wednesday that military action is possible. But short of that, the United States has already forcefully intervened for three months, including imposing sweeping sanctions on Venezuelas state-run oil company, a lifeline for the cash-strapped government. Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, which promotes democratic governance in Latin America, said the latest bid by Guaido brought to mind his failed attempt in February to force US aid across the Colombian border. Clearly, the opposition forces have underestimated Maduros resilience in power and his ability to withstand significant pressure on the streets, Shifter said. He said the hawkish rhetoric by President Donald Trumps administration had been unhelpful and often counterproductive in helping Venezuela, which is embroiled in an economic meltdown that has sent millions fleeing. Much of the policy seems to be driven by wishful, not strategic, thinking, he said. The Trump administration has meanwhile stepped up a psychological offensive aimed at portraying Maduro as weak and dependent on his allies Russia, Cuba and China. Pompeo dropped a bombshell as the insurrection subsided by saying that Maduro had been ready to fly out on Tuesday morning to Havana before being dissuaded by Russia, although both Maduro and Moscow denied the account. In an especially baffling move, the Trump administration publicly named three senior Venezuelan officials including the defense minister who it said had committed to back Guaido, the head of the elected National Assembly. Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the military was the crucial player in preserving Maduros rule and that Washington has been surprised at the modest number of defections. The US was overly optimistic, and the administration and its supporters keep coming up with excuses as to why Maduros hold on power has remained, including greatly exaggerating the role of Russia and China, said Carpenter, who last year published the book Gullible Superpower: US Support for Bogus Foreign Democratic Movements. Carpenter said the coming days would show whether Guaido can indeed amass a substantial popular uprising and that Washington had few options other than perhaps tightening already stringent sanctions. What I worry about is that the temptation will rise for the US to save face and try to salvage the policy by intervening directly with its military forces, and to me that would make a bad situation even worse. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, which has a large Venezuelan-American community, urged Trump to mobilize the military to deliver aid by force and break down barriers on the border. A fellow Republican lawmaker active on military affairs, Representative Jim Banks, said the United States should consider both naval and ground deployments with an aim not to violently provoke but to firmly warn. Trump has cast Venezuela as part of an ideological battle against socialism and has sought to link the countrys crumbling economy with the US Democratic Partywhich, in a rare point of agreement, has mostly backed the administration on ousting Maduro. But many experts doubt that even the most hawkish Trump administration officials are serious about war with a country nearly the population of Iraq that few Americans view as a threat. We can be reminded many times that the military option is on the table but, given that it hasnt been used so far and how its not clear that it will actually solve any of the fundamental problems, I think Maduros government eventually can simply call the USs bluff, said Ivan Briscoe, Latin America program director of the International Crisis Group, which researches ways out of conflict. The Trump administration has rejected talks with Madurobut Briscoe said dialogue in Venezuela was ultimately the best path. Its quite clear that the government cannot survive a long, drawn-out period of sanctions, nor these monthly outbreaks of instability. And the opposition understands clearly that US support cant bring the government down, he said. So that would suggest that were looking effectively at a deadlock in which neither can beat the other guy and that the only solution is to sit down with each other. AFP sanjiv@tribunemail.com 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 media. He apologised to those who consider Ive 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 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. Wikileaks had published thousands of classified documents, covering everything from the film industry to national security and war. IANS Faces criminal charge in US 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 uttara@tribuneindia.com Islamabad, May 2 The "breakthrough" in designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist came during Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China where the two sides agreed to withdraw their opposition to the latest move to blacklist the JeM chief, a media report said on Thursday. The UN's sanctions committee announced Wednesday the designation of Pakistan-based Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda. 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 that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking four attempts since 2009 by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal. Hours after sanctions were imposed on Azhar, the Express Tribune newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, reported that Pakistan and China held extensive discussions before making a decision on the Azhar issue. "It is believed that the breakthrough came during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China where both sides agreed to withdraw opposition to the latest move after realising that Islamabad's concerns were addressed," the report said. Khan was in Beijing to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping from April 25 to 27. Apart from President Xi, the Pakistan Prime Minister met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang as well as Vice President Wang Qishan. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China lifted its hold on the US, the UK and French proposal after a "careful study of the revised materials" it had to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. The listing of Azhar means that he will now be facing a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. But the source told the paper that the listing does not mean the person should be detained. Another official claimed that authorities were "unaware" of Azhar's whereabouts. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during the peak of India-Pakistan tensions following the Pulwama terror attack had admitted that Azhar was in Pakistan. He also mentioned that the JeM chief was "very unwell" to the extent that he could not leave his house. The report also claimed that Islamabad agreeing to the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was a "paradigm shift" in the country's approach. An official said Prime Minister Khan had made a public commitment that Pakistan's soil would not be used against any country. However, he made it clear that Pakistan would go after these groups in a manner that the peace and security of the country was not affected. The Washington Post reported that Azhar's sanctioning comes weeks after Washington said it was seeking to have him put on the UN blacklist. In Washington, a senior US 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 US in putting pressure on China after the February 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 Pakistan Prime Minister Khan's commitment to crack down on militants in the country "will translate into irreversible steps to end terrorist and militant safe havens inside Pakistan". Khan's government has ordered the takeover of assets and property of JeM and dozens of banned militant organisations that operate in Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack by a JeM suicide bomber. PTI sanjiv@tribunemail.com Colombo, May 1 Two of Sri Lankas major cable TV operators, have dropped controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naiks Peace TV from their channel following the countrys worst terror attacks on Easter Sunday that killed over 250 persons, according to a media report. India and Bangladesh have already banned Malaysia-based Naiks Peace TV, which has often been used by ISIS recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing the youth. Sri Lankas two of the largest cable operators Dialogue and SLT have stopped airing Zakir Naiks Peace TV. However, an official announcement on this was yet to be made. The Sri Lankan government has, however, not banned the controversial Peace TV. Peace TV was launched by Naiks Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation in 2006. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Bangkok, May 2 Thailand King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married a former flight attendant turned royal guard in a surprise ceremony and designated her Queen Suthida, just days before his own coronation. The king's new bride was formerly the deputy head of his personal security detail, the Guardian reported. The surprise announcement came just ahead of Vajiralongkorn's coronation was announced in the royal gazette. The report also carried footage from Wednesday's wedding ceremony. The news of the royal wedding was later also shown in the royal news segment aired on all Thai television channels late Wednesday. Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known by the title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016. Bhumibol had ruled for 70 years. Vajiralongkorn is scheduled to be officially crowned in elaborate Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies on Saturday, followed by a procession through the capital. In 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit. Some royal observers and foreign media had linked Suthida romantically with the king, but the palace had previously never acknowledged any relationship, the Guardian report said. The king made Suthida a full general in the army in December 2016 and she has also been made a 'thanpuying', a royal title meaning lady. Vajiralongkorn has previously been married and divorced three times and has seven children. While the king took the throne after the death of his father, his formal coronation follows a mourning period for King Bhumibol, whose royal cremation was held a year after his death. Among the dignitaries at the wedding were Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of the military junta that has run Thailand since a 2014 army coup, as well as other members of the royal family and palace advisers, the wedding footage showed. IANS 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. China's improvement on basic research for cancer treatment is significant and will help it increase innovation to deal with the disease, said Chen Liepin, co-director of the Cancer Immunology Program at Yale University. "China's cancer treatment and research have improved a lot in the past decades," he told China Daily. "Especially for the basic research in China, I think the improvement is amazing it's really advanced now." Chen is a professor of immunology at the Yale School of Medicine. He was the first scientist to reveal the function of the PD-L1/PD-1 immune escape pathway in a tumor's microenvironment. The programmed death ligand-1/programmed death-1 (PD-L1/PD-1) signaling pathway is a key component of tumor immunosuppression, which can inhibit activation of T lymphocytes and enhance immune tolerance of tumor cells, leading to tumor immune escape, according to a study published in January on biomedcentral.com. Chen, along with four other scientists, was awarded the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize for 2017 for the breakthrough in tumor immunology, which made him the third Chinese recipient of the prize. Chen said the research environment in China also has improved in terms of government funding and talent compared with when he was in China three decades ago. "Because of the advanced basic research and the improved research environment, I think there's no doubt that China will see more innovation on the development of cancer drugs and cancer treatment research in the future," he said. Chen said most Chinese scientists and researchers focus on translational research that applies a new discovery from basic research and moves it along toward clinical practice. "But I think Chinese scientists need to focus more on making innovative and new discoveries from basic research and develop new methods for cancer treatment from that," he said. China and the US are working together in many medical research areas, Chen said, citing the clinical practice cooperation between China and large US pharmaceutical companies, which he said is "huge now". "The cooperation between specialists and pharmaceutical companies in China and the US can potentially accelerate research and development of new drugs and translate laboratory findings to treat human cancers," he said. Chen said that there are still many other areas in which the US and China can work together. "There are some types of cancer, including liver cancer and stomach cancer, that are more common in China but are rare in the US," he said, adding that cooperation on research for those cancers can help the US improve understanding of them and help China develop new drugs faster. Chen said the potential for China's cancer drug market is huge and dynamic. The market is projected to reach $30 billion by the year 2024, according to a recent report by US company Research and Markets. Lung, breast and stomach cancer dominate the anti-cancer drug market in China and are expected to do so in the near future, according to the report. He said it's good to see that there is a growing awareness regarding cancer treatment, diagnosis and drugs among Chinese people, and that the government also is investing more in healthcare infrastructure at the same time. "These factors might drive the cancer drug market and cancer treatment development positively in China in the future," Chen added. 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). - The senator said he was in the forefront in pushing for dialogue with the Jubilee government - Wetang'ula stated it was unfair and great betrayal for Raila to strike the deal without them - The former Senate Minority leader said he was in good terms with the Opposition leader and has since forgiven him Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula has said he has forgiven Opposition leader Raila Odinga for betraying him and the other leaders in the National Super Alliance coalition by striking the handshake deal with President Uhuru Kenyatta. The FORD Kenya party leader said it was unfair and a great betrayal for the former prime minister to engage the president without involving him and the other co-principals Musalia Mudavadi of Amani National Congress and Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper party. READ ALSO: MP Moses Kuria regrets attending Labour Day fete, claims it was a NASA rally FORD Kenya party leader Moses Wetang'ula says he has forgiven Raila Odinga for betraying him and other NASA leaders. Photo: Daily Nation Source: UGC READ ALSO: Meet pretty twin sisters who are pregnant for the same man Speaking to KTN News on Wednesday, May 1, Wetang'ula said they were fully in support of the handshake and the only problem they had with it was the fact that it was done behind their back. "When Uhuru met with Raila and shook hands at the doorsteps of Harambee House, many of us who were with Raila were not unhappy that there was a handshake but were unhappy with the fact that our partner had put us in the dark when making the deal," he said. The senator further disclosed he was in the forefront in pushing for dialogue between the Opposition and Jubilee party immediately after the Africa Union envoy withdrew from the 2017 repeat election. The Opposition honcho surprised many when he shook hands with the president on March 2018 amid heightened political tension. Photo: Citizen Source: UGC READ ALSO: Tajiri mkubwa Tanzania Reginald Mengi afariki dunia It is not just myself but also my partners who were taken aback by the handshake. Not because it was bad. We as NASA had called for dialogue and we believed only an inclusive dialogue would bring a lasting solution, he said. Wetang'ula added he has since made peace with Raila despite the fact that the ODM leader kicked him out of the Senate Minority leadership position. I have been wronged by Raila but I have forgiven him. We have met, taken breakfast, watched Arsenal together and talked. We must appreciate people in their strengths and weaknesses, he said. The Opposition leader surprised many when he shook hands with the president on March 2018 amid heightened political tension. The deal has since given birth to the Building Bridges Initiative task force that has been traversing the country collecting views of Kenyans in regard to a constitutional change. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Follow us on Telegram: Tuko news Source: TUKO.co.ke Area employers and organizations have the opportunity to learn how to create and implement effective wellness programs at an upcoming symposium. The 13th annual Make it Your Business Employee Health and Wellness Symposium: Brain, Body, Business is set for 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at OU-Tulsa, 4502 E. 41st St. The event will provide tips on creating a culture of health and how to inspire and engage your workforce toward behavior change. Given that most adults spend nearly half of their waking hours at work and eat several meals and snacks at the workplace, businesses can and must actively support the health and wellness of their employees, said Corey Love, sector specialist with the states Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Health Living Program serving Tulsa County. University of Tulsa President Gerard Clancy will deliver the keynote address at the event, hosted by the Tulsa Health Department and the TSET Healthy Living Program serving Tulsa County. Central Ninth Grade Center art teacher Leland Leslie was recently offered a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Semester Research Program grant. Leslie said hell travel to Finland as part of the program. Hes among about 25 other U.S. citizens who will travel abroad through the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for 2019-2020. Leslies reportedly been working in education for about 22 years and teaching in Sand Springs for about 13. He was also named the Sand Springs Public Schools District Teacher of the Year in 2018. The Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program is a professional development opportunity that allows American K-12 educators to travel to one of 12 countries for three-six months of independent study and professional development. Recipients are reportedly selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement and leadership potential. Tulsa County District 2 Commissioner Karen Keith will deliver the keynote address at the 2019 Oklahoma State University-Tulsa graduation ceremony May 13. The graduation ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. at The Pavilion at Expo Square at 4145 E. 21st Street in Tulsa. Keiths district covers west Tulsa and Sand Springs. As a proud and distinguished alumna of OSU, Karen Keith is a perfect example of our universitys commitment to the community it serves, OSU-Tulsa President Howard Barnett said in a statement. Commissioner Keith has long been a strong voice for improving the lives of those who live in Tulsa County through education and economic opportunity. Keith worked as an anchor, reporter at KJRH and executive producer/host of Oklahoma Living for 21 years and joined the mayors office in 2002 as part of the team focused on Vision 2025. She started work for the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce after her time at City Hall and was elected as a Tulsa County Commissioner in 2008. Budget office: Caveats for Medicare for All plan WASHINGTON 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 raised dozens of issues 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. Kurtzs wife said she noticed blood stains on her husbands pants roughly around the time Robertson was found dead. She also said she realized Kurtz at one point changed from a dress shirt to a T-shirt before he returned home, telling the court he said, It had blood on it, but dont worry, it wasnt mine. Two restaurant employees said earlier that they called police after following a trail of blood to the dumpster, where they found Robertsons body. He mentioned something about a body being in a dumpster and his DNA could be all over it and he would be in trouble, Kurtzs wife said. When asked why she didnt press for details, she told Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Elmore, The less I said, the better off I was. I didnt want him angry. I didnt want to fear (him). Retired Tulsa Police Detective Liz Eagan, now an investigator for the Tulsa County District Attorneys Office, said there appeared to be similarities between what happened to Robertson and the woman who came forward in November 2017. Both women were transient at the time they met Kurtz. A child rape suspect is in handcuffs after tips from Tulsa led to his arrest in central Arkansas on Wednesday, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Demarcus George, a man wanted in Arkansas on child rape charges, was recently living in Tulsa with his girlfriend and others, said John Gage, a supervisor with the service in northern Oklahoma. Gage said the case against George, whos accused of raping a 6-year-old girl in Little Rock, has been building for about a year and was forwarded to his office Monday. Gage said he didnt know how long George had been in Tulsa. He thought he was scot-free, Gage said. An arrest warrant was issued Monday, and after seeking the Tulsa publics help in finding George on Wednesday afternoon, they received information that he had gone back to Arkansas. Hours later, the U.S. Marshals Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force arrested George in Maumelle, Arkansas, along with his girlfriend, Linnie Henton of Tulsa. Gage said he couldnt discuss the the allegations against George in detail because its not his offices case, but he described them as horrible. Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday vetoed a bill intended to give patients the right to choose a pharmacy provider without paying a penalty. Senate Bill 841 attempts to regulate certain health plans sponsored by Oklahoma employers in such a manner that is preempted by, and disallowed by, federal law, Stitt said in his veto message. Legislation in other states that is similar to Senate Bill 841 has been struck down for impermissibly attempting to regulate health plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Enacting the law would mean Oklahoma employers who have plans governed by that law would have to incur substantial legal expense in order to have a federal court rule that Senate Bill 841 is preempted by federal law, he said. The bill was written to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, third-party negotiators between drug manufacturers and health plans. Pharmacy benefit managers help insurers decide which drugs to cover and contract with pharmacies to distribute the medications. The jury, instead, chose a more abstract mural by painter Fred Conway, who submitted a colorful patchwork of cubist figures that seem to be running over and through each other, creating an almost bewildering collage that evokes the frenzy of the Land Run itself. Its spectacular, says Stuart Price, a Tulsa developer who bought the First National Bank Building in early 2017 without realizing that the mural was even there. Weve been trying to get our minds wrapped around what to do with it, because it deserves to be seen. Its not practical to reinstall escalators and reopen the old bank lobby, so Price hopes to donate the mural to a new owner and find a different home for it. Assuming, of course, that it can be moved. A mural expert will visit Tulsa this week to evaluate how to do it, if it can be done at all. Encouragingly, similar murals have been moved before. In 2011, for example, crews removed a Peter Hurd mural from a Houston office building, where the painting measured 47 feet wide and 14.5 feet tall. And it was safely transported all the way to a public library in Artesia, New Mexico. Among the people on the Citizens Advisory Team (CAT) are the Rev. Robert Turner of the historic Vernon Chapel A.M.E. Church, Kojo Asamoa-Caesar, interim executive director of 36 Degrees North, and Tracie Chandler, president of the Phoenix Development Council. The Greenwood/Unity Heritage Sector is bordered on the north by Gilcrease Expressway, the south by the Inner Dispersal Loop, the east by U.S. 75 and the west by L.L. Tisdale Expressway. They asked me for community people, not city people, Hall-Harper said. I assumed were going to have to work with people in planning and those different departments, and they will be a part of it. But thats not what I was asked to give. Thats important that we not just used the same old people for every single thing. My goal is to build leadership. One of the ways you do that is to engage people who have not previously been involved in these types of processes before. There are some names on there that people may not recognize, but I did that intentionally. My mom, she just had something telling her to go, Samantha Lawson said. It was like God telling her, Lets go. Lawson and her family left their home around 9 or 10 p.m. Tuesday, just before the tornado went through their area, to seek refuge at a school. They returned around midnight to find that a large tree had fallen through their homes roof. The house was a complete loss. Now its really sinking in that I dont have a home, Lawson said. Its just sinking in because were having to get everything that we can. Lawson and her family stayed at a motel Tuesday night. She said she doesnt know how long they will have to stay in motels. Tornadoes also were reported near Talala in Rogers County, where the wind took down power lines and damaged homes; Miami in Ottawa County; Okmulgee, where multiple reports of a rope tornado were received; and Lenapah in Nowata County. 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. Courtney Giannini loves the creative process of formulating a question in medicine and then finding answers through scientific research. A Cincinnati native, Giannini is completing her fifth-year in University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicines Medical Scientist Training Program which offers a joint MD/PhD. She finished two years of medical school before taking a leave of absence to tackle three years of graduate study in the Division of Epidemiology. She will finish her dissertation work in June and then return to medical school for two final years before entering residency training. Her clinical and research interests lie in the field of pediatrics. Giannini trained as a chemical engineer as an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York, NY, but decided after a couple of internships in industry and government that her interests were in health research. I chose to study epidemiology because I like work that has a direct impact on people and I like working with communities, says Giannini. I have always enjoyed data analysis. Giannini and fellow graduate student, Caitlin Doyle, will each receive the UC Presidential Medal of Graduate Student Excellence Award. The honor is given to graduate students selected by the university who exemplify scholarship, leadership, character and serviceideals upheld in UCs strategic direction. Translating problems faced by patients and clinicians into research questions played a large role in the dissertation project Giannini is completing. She is looking at a common ingredient in sunscreen known as oxybenzone and whether its use before puberty is associated with pre-mature breast development in young females. Oxybenzone in animal studies acts like estrogen and is thought to speed up development, says Giannini. Meanwhile, other studies are showing the ingredient delays breast development. I am looking at hormone levels to discover the mechanism and how oxybenzone works. Ukraines company SpetsTechnoExport and Turkeys company Aselsan have signed agreements on the purchase of military equipment for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to the website of Ukroboronprom. "On the second day of the international exhibition IDEF'19 in Istanbul, SE SFTE SpetsTechnoExport, which is part of Ukroboronprom, has signed a number of contracts with Turkeys company Aselsan on the supply of military equipment for the needs of Ukraines Armed Forces and other law enforcement subdivisions. In particular, the Ukrainian side is planning to import cooled thermal imaging cameras for the systems of anti-tank guided missile and receive the next batches of VHF-range radio sets, the press service reported. It is noted, the signed contracts are the next stage of cooperation with Aselsan. Ukroboronprom has reminded that since 2017, the Turkish company is the main supplier of VHF-range radio systems for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and SpetsTechnoExport exports a range of Ukrainian military products for Aselsan. Ukrainian Navy Commander Ihor Voronchenko and Turkish Navy Commander Adnan Ozbal have discussed bilateral military cooperation as part of the ongoing International Defense Industry Fair IDEF 2019 in Istanbul, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has reported. "The fleet managers discussed the priority areas of military cooperation in the naval field. In particular, they talked about mutual visits to ports by the ships of the Navy of the Republic of Turkey and the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including visits to the port of Tuzla (Golcuk) by Ukrainian training boats," the report reads. According to the report, during the meeting, the sides also outlined priority issues of regional security and development of cooperation in the Black Sea region. The parties emphasized the importance of supporting the military dialogue, in particular, the further conduct of joint passing exercises (PASSEX) and participation in the Sea Breeze drills. According to the press service, the commanders of the two countries' navies discussed the exchange of information on the surface conditions as part of Operation Black Sea Harmony of the Turkish Navy. The Defense Ministry also recalled that the practical cooperation of the Ukrainian Navy with Turkey was launched in 1995. Five ships and a submarine of the Turkish Navy visited Odesa last year, including as part of standing NATO groups and during Ukrainian-American Sea Breeze exercises. In 2019, it is planned to hold the fourth meeting on military cooperation between the Ukrainian and Turkish navies. op The state border has remained one thing in common between Ukraine and Russia after the annexation of Crimea and the aggression in Donbas. Ukraine's President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on his Facebook page. I have been thinking about much in common between Ukraine and Russia. The reality is that today, after the annexation of Crimea and the aggression in Donbas, we have only one thing in common - the state border. 2,295km and 400m of "common" feature. And Russia must return control over every mm to the Ukrainian side. After that, we will be able to continue the search for "common" things, he wrote. The president-elect also commented on the latest decisions of the Russian authorities in relation to Ukraine, which do not bring the settlement of relations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. A ban on the export of petroleum products, the opening of centers that issue passports to Ukrainian citizens living in the occupied territories of Donbas, the illegal detention of Ukrainians and keeping them in captivity do not contribute to the settlement of relations between our countries. And its impossible to call such relations as fraternal, Zelensky said. As reported, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced the final results of Ukraine's presidential election at a meeting on April 30. According to the results of the runoff election, Volodymyr Zelensky won the presidential election, as 73.22% of voters or 13.541,528 Ukrainian citizens voted for him. 24.45% of voters or 4.522,450 Ukrainian citizens cast their votes for incumbent President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. According to the Ukrainian legislation, the inauguration ceremony is to be held no later than 30 days after the date of the official announcement of the results by the CEC. ish LONDON Areej Osman spent years wondering what more she had to do to land a proper job. She had a degree in environmental management, four years teaching experience in her native Sudan and a UK interpreters certificate. She was IT-literate, spoke Arabic and flawless English and, thanks to her refugee status, she was authorized to work in the UK. Yet Osman, 32, had been passed over, turned down or disqualified from at least 250 jobs she applied for since gaining refugee status in 2015. She spent last year piecing together an existence, scanning documents for a property firm on a play-it-by-ear basis, while helping at a refugee charity and volunteering at a resource centre for the homeless. After four years treading water, she has only recently landed a full-time job. I think I can do so much better, Osman told UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, before the employment offer from the refugee charity came through. Technically you can work here, but you cant. There are around 120,000 refugees, including children, in Britain. Adults are entitled to work and the government encourages them to find employment, in part so they can to contribute to the national economy. But refugees encounter more obstacles to getting hired than most other job seekers in Britain. Frequently, qualifications are not recognized, while employers are often unaware that refugees have the right to work. While a few NGOs and social enterprises help some break into the job market, others spend years in underemployment limbo, the holes in their CVs widening till they abandon the search or resign themselves to driving cabs or stacking shelves. To be sure, not all refugees arrive with strong qualifications. But even those who lower their sights often find the hurdles tough to scale. In a recent study, the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at the University of Oxford estimated the unemployment rate for refugees at 18 per cent, three times greater than for the UK-born. Their average earnings were substantially lower than for other groups. And only about 10 per cent of refugees were employed in occupations classified as professional. To help address this, several organisations UNHCR, the government, the International Organization for Migration and the charity Business in the Community released guidelines in May that aim to increase refugee participation in the labour market. Tapping Potential sets out simple steps that companies can take to enable refugees to move seamlessly into the workforce and build skills. These include internal communication and culture, recruitment processes, mentoring, dedicated programmes and volunteering. Absent such measures, refugee graduates will continue to waste years of their working lives languishing in the unemployment wilderness. Biniam with his colleagues at the National Grid. He joined their graduate scheme having repeated his studies. @UNHCR/Paul Wu GLASS CEILINGS Samah Bushra, 35, a Sudanese social worker who became a refugee in 2012, knows all about glass ceilings set discouragingly low. Neither her two degrees including a masters from the University of London nor her work history in Sudans state and private sectors, nor her international experience in Norway and Uganda, nor even her public-speaking at the House of Lords, could land her a job in Britain. Everyone wanted me to have had work experience in the UK, said Bushra, reciting a catch-22 that vexes refugees who have spent most of their professional lives abroad. A one-year traineeship with Crisis, a homelessness charity, was a game-changer. Though it meant starting her career over, Bushra embraced the placement, and her employer was quick to recognise her talent. After that, doors opened. She landed jobs in Hertfordshire, in Surrey, and at Londons Hammersmith and Fulham Council, before taking up a post at the UK's Refugee Council. I lost four years, and my real work started when I worked in this [traineeship] scheme, she said. Sheila Heard, who founded the social enterprise Transitions London in 2010, has been fighting such obstacles for years. It was the startling success of an internship programme she ran for refugee graduates as a university careers adviser decades ago that provided the model for her current business recruiting refugee professionals. Once employers trust someone through an internship, 70 per cent of those interns will be retained, said Heard. Recent successes include the hiring of 13 refugee engineers in the UK by Arcadis, the Dutch consulting firm. Some 40 per cent of the refugee accountancy and engineering candidates who knock on her door have already been back to university in their search for work, requalifying with UK degrees on top of those earned overseas. But even with UK university qualifications, Heard said, few find relevant work. Biniam Haddish, 38, a power engineer from Eritrea, very nearly joined their ranks. The universities he emailed from a library in Leeds, after gaining refugee status in 2006, told him he would have to repeat the studies he had previously completed. A degree from Africa is not recognised, experience is not recognised, and I dont know why, he said of his Eritrean engineering degree that would have been accepted in the US. Seeing no other option, he applied for a student loan and enrolled. I felt old, very old, he said of his first week among freshmen at Bradford University when he was 26. Allowed to skip a year, he switched to telecom engineering and graduated with first-class honours in 2011. Then the job hunt began. Like Osman and Bushras, his search ran aground on a lack of UK experience. He switched his sights to traineeships and almost secured one only to lose it because the employer was not convinced he had the right to work. I was crushed, Haddish said. Id applied for a hundred jobs, and this happened. This is where there is a misunderstanding refugees have the full right to work in the UK. Ratcheting down his ambitions, he found a one-month placement at an electronics company in Leeds, which was extended. The glowing references he earned there, and a Google search that led him to Heard, turned his life around. Polishing his presentation skills, Heard helped him assess which industry and type of firm to approach. Suddenly, he had three offers. In 2012, he was accepted onto National Grids graduate scheme in power systems engineering, the field of the degree hed completed eight years before. Since then, National Grid has funded him to do a part-time masters, is encouraging him to apply to become a chartered engineer, and is investing in him for leadership training. Companies think employing refugees is much more complicated than it is, that they will have to fill in 250 forms for the Home Office and find themselves in trouble if they make one mistake, Heard said. In reality, with a photocopy of a candidates biometric residency permit, it takes 18 hours to receive confirmation that a candidate is authorised to work. Matthew Powell, chief executive of Breaking Barriers, a charity integrating refugees through employment, says much of his work centres on convincing naturally risk-averse businesses to become work-placement providers. Ninety-nine percent want to, but bureaucracy, budgetary decisions, and senior management vetoes may prevent it, he says. Once the idea catches on among key employees, however, there can be rewards. The start of production of an export batch of missiles is scheduled for the coming weeks. During the first day of the IDEF'19 International Defense Industry Fair held in Istanbul, Turkey, Ukraine's state-owned Spetstechnoexport initialed a contract with the Turkish state corporation "Makina ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu" ("MKEK") for the supply of 120 mm anti-tank laser-guided missiles "Konus", developed and produced by State Kyiv Design Bureau "Luch". "During the first stage of the contract implementation, it is planned to supply 120 mm anti-tank laser guided Konus missiles and guidance systems for their integration into Turkish main battle tanks. Subsequently, there will be a partial technology transfer where Ukrainian guided missiles will be produced at the MKEK capacities," Spetstechnoexport reported. The start of production of an export batch of missiles is scheduled for the coming weeks. Read alsoUkraine mulls production of combat helicopters The anti-tank laser-guided missile "Konus" was specially developed by State Kyiv Design Bureau "Luch" for firing from armored tanks with a NATO caliber 120 mm main gun. The missile is capable of striking the target at a 5 km range, far exceeding that of conventional tank projectiles. The tandem combat part of the missile is capable of destroying a dynamic protection system of an enemy tank and piercing up to 800 mm of armor. Cooperation with Turkey's "MKEK" will also allow increasing the presence of Ukrainian defense products in other markets where 120-mm guns are applied, in particular, the Middle-East countries and South-East Asia. Ukraine's National Bank fines five banks in April 14:20, 02.05.19 1478 The reaction came following anti-laundering inspections. Ukroboronprom to participate in Azerbaijan's ammunition program 15:00, 02.05.19 1234 Cooperation was also discussed between defense enterprises on technology transfer. The Turkish company has been the main supplier of UHF radio communication means for the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2017. Ukraine is planning to import from Turkey cooling thermal imagers for installation on guided anti-tank weapon systems, as well as to receive the next batches of secured UHF radio communications means. During the second day of the IDEF'19 International Defense Industry Fair held in Istanbul, the SE SFTE SpetsTechnoExport, that is a part of the State Concern Ukroboronprom, has signed a series of contracts with the Turkish company Aselsan to import military products from Turkey for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other state security forces, according to the press service of SpetsTechnoExport. Mr. Vladyslav Belbas, Director of SpetsTechnoExport, noted that the signed documents are the next stage in the development of strategic relations with Aselsan. The Turkish company has been the main supplier of UHF radio communication means for the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2017, and SpetsTechnoExport carries out a number of export supplies of Ukrainian-made military products for Aselsan. Read alsoUkraine to supply anti-tank guided missiles to Turkey Also, in 2018, for the first time in Ukraine, SpetsTechnoExport concluded the offset contract with foreign company Aselsan, which provides a number of compensations by the purchase of Turkish military communications means. Thus, in addition to the counterpart trade, according to which Aselsan purchases products and services of Ukrainian defense industry, the Turkish side provide to Ukraine the transfer of technology of radio encryption, battlefield management system and creates a service center in Ukraine for servicing military radio communication systems. Ukraine's central bank buys almost US$300 mln in April to replenish int'l reserves 17:55, 02.05.19 1742 Since the year's start, the reserves have expanded by almost US$925 million. This will be a high-profile person, according to the Team Zelensky representative. Vadym Halaichuk, a representative of President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky, has said the latter decided on the candidate for the position of head of the presidential administration. "I'm sure Volodymyr Oleksandrovych [Zelensky] has already decided, whom he will designate as head of the presidential administration," Halaichuk told Ukrainian ZIK TV channel. He did not name the candidate but confirmed this would be a high-profile person. The representative also noted that work had been underway since May 1 to ensure personal security of Volodymyr Zelensky and other organizational measures related to his assumption of office. Read alsoPoroshenko calls President-elect Zelensky to greet by phone, agrees to meet (Video) As UNIAN earlier reported, the Central Election Commission on April 30 officially declared Zelensky winner of the presidential election. According to the results of the April 21 runoff, Zelensky was supported by 73.22% of voters, incumbent president Petro Poroshenko was backed by 24.45%. Under the Law of Ukraine on the Election of the President of Ukraine, the newly elected president shall acquire authority after taking the oath to the Ukrainian people at an official meeting in parliament, after which the CEC shall present him or her with a mandate of the President of Ukraine. Commander of Ukraine's Joint Forces Serhiy Nayev has named major achievements of the Operation in Donbas 12 months since its start. Among the greatest achievements, Nayev noted forcing the enemy to reduce fire intensity, which led to a decrease in the number of casualties among Ukrainian troops; a decrease in the crime level across the region; reconstruction of bridges; assistance in building roads and hospitals; and creation of proper living conditions for civilians. "Thus, from the beginning of the Joint Forces Operation: without violating the Minsk agreements, about 24 square kilometers of territory was returned under our control, including three settlements (Khutir Vilniy, Pivdenne, and Shumy); nearly 4,576.7 ha was checked for explosives; 52,655 explosives were destroyed; 1,000 hectares of territories now used for commercial purposes have been restored; 374 weapons, about 252 kg of explosives, over 300,000 ammunition pieces were withdrawn from illicit circulation; material assets used illegally worth about UAH 274 million (US$10.29 million) were also seized," he said in a statement posted by the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation on Facebook. Read alsoNayev: Ukraine's armed forces not much different from NATO armies today Nayev also said, as part of his "Help to the East" initiative, medical equipment worth UAH 5.8 million (US$217,881) was transferred to health care institutions in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. "I bow to the feat of those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of our Homeland. We remember each of you. You will always stay in our hearts," he added. The relocation will not be paid for from the state budget. Business partner and friend of President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky, Serhiy Shefir, has said the president-elect wants to move from the presidential administration premises to a "normal European-type transparent office." "He says: I want to have CCTV cameras everywhere, so that everyone may take a peek at any time. I don't want to sit on Bankova Street, I want to have a normal European-type transparent office," Shefir said in an interview with theBabel portal. According to him, they are now looking for such an office. "We were told that [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yushchenko, as well as [incumbent President Petro] Poroshenko, also wanted to move the office," said Zelensky's business partner. Read alsoZelensky makes up mind on administration head pick, aide says At the same time, he assured the relocation would not be paid for from the state budget. "We are witty, but everyone is stopping us. We say we will find an investor who will do that. They say this is corruption. Everything is perceived badly, they bring us down to the ground. But, of course, we would like to have a normal office. Because I was in the presidential administration at that December meeting between Volodymyr [Zelensky] and [Petro] Poroshenko, and it was very uncomfortable there," Shefir said. Earlier, Zelensky said he planned to move from the presidential administration premises on Bankova Street and not to use country residences in case he won the runoff. As UNIAN earlier reported, the Central Election Commission on April 30 officially declared Zelensky winner of the presidential election. According to the results of the April 21 runoff, Zelensky was supported by 73.22% of voters, incumbent president Petro Poroshenko was backed by 24.45%. Under the Law of Ukraine on the Election of the President of Ukraine, the newly elected president shall acquire authority after taking the oath to the Ukrainian people at an official meeting in parliament, after which the CEC shall present him or her with a mandate of the President of Ukraine. The team believe "there must be a vetting done not only by the special services, but also by the public." The team of President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky will not name new ministers, a prosecutor general or a head of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine before the new president takes office. "As soon as the team enter the presidential administration, they will have access to certain information," Zelensky's associate, creative officer of his campaign headquarters Yuriy Kostyuk said in an interview with the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda. He said the president-elect would not name the above-mentioned positions until after his inauguration. Read alsoZelensky wants to move from presidential administration premises to "European-type transparent office" business partner "We cannot name a [future] SBU head or, for example, a prosecutor general because one thing is to name that person, and another thing is to appoint one. We do not have the resources needed to fully vet people the way this should be done to check if they have relatives in Russia, to see their background, their actual biography," Kostyuk said. According to him, Zelensky's team believe "there must be a vetting done not only by the special services, but also by the public." "Today, civil activists enjoy a high level of public trust and find skeletons in closets better than anyone. Therefore, only once such full vetting has been completed, can these people be named," Kostyuk said. The cold phase of the conflict manifests itself in killings of civil activists and journalists. Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky says that the Russia-orchestrated "civil war" in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, will immediately end after the Russian Federation stops supporting fighters. "Maidan was no good, a revolution is always no good," he told Bihus.Info, a project of investigative journalism. "Because [it is] eventually minus 13 million people, minus Crimea, minus Donbas. [Ex-president of Ukraine Viktor] Yanukovych, Russia and the revolution are of course [to blame]. Mutual hatred, internal civil conflict, internal civil war. Thank God it has not spread to the whole territory, but it has a hot phase in Donbas and a cold phase in the rest of the country." Read alsoHandziuk murder case: Suspect Pavlovsky released from custody at prosecutor's request According to Kolomoisky, in particular, the cold phase manifests itself in killings of civil society activists and journalists. "Civil war [is when] Ukrainians [are] against Ukrainians, Russia supports one side of the Ukrainians. If it hadn't, it would have ended a long time ago. The Ukrainians would have made it up with each other. [But] it was Russia that instigated and masterminded the conflict. [This is the case] on the one hand, but on the other hand, not everything was all right either," he added. As UNIAN reported earlier, Ivan Aparshyn, an adviser to Ukraine's President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky on security and defense issues, in turn, says that the return of Ukrainian territories by military means is "already a lost chance of 2014." Since the start of the measles outbreak in Ukraine, over 100,000 people have contracted the disease, 37 of whom have died. The Public Health Center at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has announced that 16 people died in Ukraine from complications associated with measles since the beginning of 2019. Since the start of the measles outbreak in Ukraine, over 100,000 people have contracted the disease, 37 of whom have died. The recent victim was a 12-year-old child who could not get the vaccine due to intolerance. The Ministry of Health says that such people can only be protected by community immunity. Read alsoRada human rights committee backs petition to allow medical cannabis turnover in Ukraine On April 18-25, 2019, some 2,175 people got infected with measles in Ukraine, including 1,180 adults and 1,670 children. The highest incidence rates are reported in Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky and Kyiv regions, as well as in the capital city of Kyiv. Since year-start, 43,783 people have been infected across the country, including 20,359 adults and 23,424 children. Earlier, doctor Yevhen Komarovsky, who became President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky's medical adviser, voiced possible steps to combat measles outbreaks. According to the police and General Prosecutors Office, the main impediments to investigations are difficulties in identifying all individuals involved in the clashes. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in its report published Thursday, May 2, on the anniversary of tragic events in Odesa where six people died in street clashes, says that five years on, "there has still not been any accountability for the killings of six and violent deaths of 42 individuals. Some of the criminal proceedings launched after the tragic events have stalled at the pre-trial investigation stage, while others did at the trial stage. This suggests a lack of genuine interest from the authorities to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators." "HRMMU is concerned that the police investigations into the clashes in the city centre and the fire in the House of Trade Unions may not meet the criteria of independence and impartiality, given the allegations of police forces complicity in this case," reads the report. The UN also suggests "partiality and bias of the investigation and prosecution," noting the case against 19 alleged "pro-federalism" supporters charged with participating in the unrest in the city center. Read alsoTwo thirds of murderers who killed Maidan activists fled to Russia Lutsenko At the same time, five years on, the investigation into the fire in the House of Trade Unions is still on-going, "without significant results." The police have "failed to identify individual perpetrators responsible for the fire." According to the police and General Prosecutors Office, the main impediments to investigations are difficulties in identifying all individuals involved in the clashes. HRMMU also notes that some identified suspects managed to abscond and therefore remain outside the reach of Ukraines justice system. In cases where the investigation had identified suspects, trials have not progressed, according to the report. The Prosecutor Generals Office says extradition requests sent to the Russian Federation have been disregarded, as two suspects who had fled to Russia were allegedly granted its citizenship. "HRMMU notes with concern that the authorities have not done what it takes to ensure prompt, independent and impartial investigations and prosecution of the acts of killing and violent deaths caused during the 2 May violence," the report reads. The mission also recommended considering providing international legal assistance in investigations conducted by Ukrainian authorities. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recommended that the Russian authorities ensure the extradition for all absconded suspects in criminal cases related to the May 2 violence in Odesa. Russia has to "ensure that extradition requests for all absconded suspects in criminal cases related to the 2 May violence in Odesa are processed in a timely manner," the UN said in a briefing note titled "Accountability for Killings and Violent Deaths on 2 May 2014 in Odesa." The mission also recommended considering providing international legal assistance in investigations conducted by Ukrainian authorities against individuals in relation to 2 May 2014, violence if the requests for their extradition cannot be processed. Read alsoUN says Ukraine failed to conduct effective investigation into Odesa May 2 violence As UNIAN reported earlier, 48 people lost their lives and 247 people sustained injuries in Odesa on May 2, 2014 during the clashes between two groups holding differing views about the state structure of Ukraine. Special forces units have been deployed across the city to ensure law and order on remembrance day. First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ukraine Serhiy Yarovyi says the situation in Odesa remains calm, and that there are no reports of bomb threats as the city marks the anniversary of mass riots that sparked on May 2, 2014. "As you can see, everything is calm now; there have been no reports of bomb threats. We realize all the challenges. Therefore, we've properly organized the work of the Odesa police. Forces of the National Guard and patrol police have joined us as well," the ministry's press service quoted Yarovyi as saying on May 2. The official added that explosive ordnance disposal teams started to examine the venue at 07:00, while law enforcers secured the area. Read alsoTwo thirds of murderers who killed Maidan activists fled to Russia Lutsenko "We've attracted 2,500 law enforcers as we realize that certain forces will try to destabilize the situation. We've taken into account all possible scenarios. That is why we are here," Yarovyi said. Mobile teams, including those of special forces, have also been deployed across the city, to operate according to the developments. Thursday morning, Deputy of the Odesa city Council Oleksandr Orlov, as well as Ukrainian MPs, namely Mykhailo Dobkin, Yevhen Murayev, and Vadym Novinsky, visited the Kulikovo field, Dumskaya newspaper reported. UNIAN memo. Forty-eight people died and over 200 were injured in clashes between anti-Maidan supporters and Euromaidan activists and in fire incident in Odesa-based House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014. Law enforcers initiated about a dozen criminal proceedings into various facts, including the most resonant one, related to Odesa's Hretska Square ("Greek Square"), the site of first clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists. He was placed under house arrest. Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court has released Ihor Pavlovsky, a suspect in the murder of Kherson activist Kateryna Handziuk, from custody. He was placed under house arrest and obliged to wear an ankle monitor, Press Secretary of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine Andriy Lyshenko said. Read alsoAnkle monitor again put on Kherson official suspected of ordering assassination of activist Handziuk According to him, the court hearing took place on April 26 and the court satisfied a claim filed by a prosecutor to change the suspect's pretrial restriction. Earlier, on April 24, the court rejected a motion filed by Pavlovsky's lawyers to change his pretrial restriction from detention to personal recognizance, and ruled to keep him in custody until April 30. UNIAN memo. Kherson activist, adviser to the Mayor of Kherson and acting manager of affairs at Kherson City Council's executive committee Kateryna Handziuk, 33, on July 31, 2018, survived an act of acid throwing. She suffered burns to more than 35% of her body and underwent 11 operations in Kyiv. Handziuk died on November 4, 2018. The immediate cause of her death was a severed blood clot resulting from the acid attack. Police originally qualified the attack as an attempted murder committed with extreme cruelty, then its status was changed to completed murder. Six suspects were detained, one of whom, Mykola Novikov, was later released from custody as charges against him were dropped. The alleged participant in the assassination, Serhiy Torbin, and Mykyta Hrabchuk, another suspect in the case, were remanded in custody. Three other suspects Vyacheslav Vishnevsky, Volodymyr Vasyanovych, and Viktor Horbunov were placed under house arrest. On November 5, the media reported that Torbin had allegedly received money for the attack on Handziuk from Ihor Pavlovsky, an assistant to Member of Parliament from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction Mykola Palamarchuk. Palamarchuk in turn dismissed any accusations of his possible involvement in the assassination attempt on the activist. He also said he had dismissed Pavlovsky. On November 12, a court ruled to detain Pavlovsky. According to the SBU Security Service, he is suspected of complicity in the Handziuk murder. Chief Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko announced on December 3 that the investigators had identified all the individuals who had ordered the assassination. He also named Oleksiy Levin (his real second name is Moskalenko) who later was placed on the international wanted list on December 10, 2018, on suspicion of involvement in the Handziuk assassination. Head of Kherson Regional Council Vladyslav Manger is charged with organizing the assassination. On April 17, 2019, Pavlovsky's lawyer said the article under which his client is charged had been changed from Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (complicity in murder) to Article 396 (concealment of a crime), which provides significantly less punishment, i.e. up to three years in prison. It also allows lawyers to file a motion for a less severe pretrial restriction. Five invaders were killed and another two were wounded on Wednesday, intelligence reports say. Russia's hybrid military forces on May 1 mounted 18 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action. "Two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, five invaders were killed and another two were wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on May 2, 2019. Read alsoOSCE again spots clusters of heavy weapons in Russia-occupied areas of Donbas Russian occupation forces opened fire from 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Under attack came Ukrainian positions near the towns of Krasnohorivka, Maryinka, and Avdiyivka, as well as near the villages of Pisky, Novomykhailivka, Mykolayivka, Novotroyitske, Pavlopil, Nevelske, Pishchevyk, Verkhniotoretske, Shyrokyne, Hranitne, Lebedynske, Pivdenne, and Stanytsia Luhanska. "From midnight on Thursday, Russia-led forces attacked Ukrainian positions near Maryinka, Lebedynske and Pavlopil, using grenade launchers of various types and heavy machine guns. There were no casualties among the Ukrainian military [on Thursday]," the report said. This year's training involved approximately 10,000 soldiers and hundreds of combat vehicles and aircraft. On Monday, April 29, Soldiers of the North Atlantic Alliance countries officially began the annual exercise Spring Storm. During exercises from April 29 to May 17, servicemen at different levels will work on techniques for synchronizing combat plans, cooperation in management, and increased readiness for tactical tasks, according to the Defence Blog, an online military magazine. The Spring Storm is a large-scale live exercise of the Estonian Defence Forces, with participation from NATO's enhanced Forward Presence and other Allied forces. This year's training involved approximately 10,000 soldiers and hundreds of combat vehicles and aircraft. "The Spring Storm exercise this year will be held in northeastern Estonia. Nearly 10,000 troops will take part in them, including the military contingents of Great Britain and Belgium from the NATO international battalion stationed in Estonia and the soldiers of the Estonian Defense Forces," the press service of the Estonian Armed Forces said. Read alsoDozens of warships and aircraft: General Staff elaborates on scale Sea Breeze 2019 exercise Combat aircraft and helicopters of the Estonian Air Force and allies will take part in the exercise in Estonian airspace. Among them are the Eurofighter fighters of the German and British Air Forces, the Polish Su-22 attack aircraft, the British and U.S. Air Force helicopters Wildcat, Apache and Pavehawk. The exercises will be attended by warships of the Estonian Navy and allies. According to preliminary plans, the military personnel of Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the USA, Ukraine, Finland, France and Estonia will take part in the present exercises "Spring Storm." It is assumed that this technique will be in the Baltic republic for about three months. The helicopters arrived at Emari airbase in the military town of Tapa, located just 150 km from the Russian border. The heavy machinery of the Armed Forces of France, including five tanks and more than ten infantry fighting vehicles, were also transferred there. NATO exercises in the Baltic near the Russian borders negatively affect relations between Russia and the countries of the alliance, experts warn. "Despite the fact that the number of military men involved in these exercises is relatively low, maneuvers create military tension on the borders of Russia. Moscow is forced to take this into account in its plans for the country's defense. When tanks drive and planes fly near the borders of the Russian Federation, various kinds of incidents can occur. Even if they are unintentional, they can still be quite dangerous for the Russian side," said Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland, in an interview with RT. In his opinion, the measures of the North Atlantic Alliance to prepare the theater of military operations in the Baltic States pose a potential military threat to Russia. As Viktor Murakhovsky notes, the North Atlantic Alliance exercises in the Baltic are becoming annual, the number of participating countries is constantly growing, and the reflection of the "Russian aggression" is being worked out, as a rule. "A whole series of NATO exercises are being held as part of a plan to 'contain' Russia," the expert stated. The official had long been close to the president's family. Former Deputy State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, Andrei Vtyurin, was detained for "activities in the interests of the FSB and the Federal Protection Service [FSO] of Russia." "Andrei Vtyurin was detained for repeated and numerous information leaks to the Russian FSB and FSO. He is not a spy in the usual sense it's about connections he 'inherited' from the past," Rosbalt reported citing a source in a Belarusian security agency. The source explains that Vtyurin was born in Russia, where he had also studied, worked, and made friends with colleagues from Russian special services. Read alsoLukashenko facing huge dilemma: Analyst warns of Russian threat to Belarus "In a situation when there is a major conflict ongoing between Moscow and Minsk, such behavior is unacceptable for someone from Lukashenkos inner circle. So he was removed," the interlocutor told the publication. Another source said that for the last 25 years, Vtyurin had been in Lukashenkos closest circle, including that of the leader's family, "to the point that the president's younger son, Kolya, was literally raised by his fathers guard." On May 1, reports came stating that Lukashenko had issued a decree of April 24 to dismiss Vtyurin from the post of Under-Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic for "committing acts that discredit a civil servant." The day before, it was reported that the security forces had detained the official for a large-scale bribe. It should be noted that Belarusian journalists regularly included Vtyurin in the ratings of the country's most influential persons. Before taking up post in the Security Council in 2014, he had for seven years headed the Secret Service of the Belarus President, which he joined in 1995, a year after the start of Lukashenkos presidency. In addition to a handful of actions already taken by the Trump Administration to stop Cuba's support, "there are more that we will continue to work on," Pompeo said adding that "we'll do the same for the Russians." Military action is on the table in Venezuela, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. "The [U.S.] president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistentmilitary action is possibleif thats whats requiredthats what the United States will do," he told FOX Business. "We are trying to do everything we can to avoid violence We'd prefer a peaceful transition of government there where Maduro leaves and a new election is held," he said. 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." Read alsoPompeo: Russia convinced Maduro to stay in Venezuela media President Trump accused Cuba of propping up Maduro's government and threated a "full and complete embargo" and sanctions, if its military did not "immediately" stop operations in Venezuela. In addition to a handful of actions already taken by the Trump Administration to stop Cuba's support, "there are more that we will continue to work on," Pompeo said adding that "we'll 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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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Four Montgomery County intersections will receive more than $1 million in improvements as the result of $12.9 million in PennDOT funding distributed to 22 municipalities around the commonwealth. The funding comes from the Automated Red Light Enforcement (ARLE) fund. The projects are as follows: Hatboro Borough $83,550 to install overhead and post-mounted pedestrian [] Bucks County Recorder of Deeds reflects on her time in office May 2 2019 West Dunbartonshire Council is to consider plans to transform the oldest building in the town into a dedicated library, museum and community hub. The B-listed Glencairn House at Strathleven Place is currently sitting vacant but could be transformed under a 4.6m programme of restoration complete with a four-storey rear extension overlooking the River Leven. Should the concept be given the nod it is intended to form level access off the High Street for the first time, including installation of an elevator serving three floors of study, display and recreational spaces. One floor would be devoted to local history and include its own exhibition space with artefacts ranging from a Roman Medallion to Sir Jackie Stewarts Dubonnet Trophy. This would, in turn, free up the present Dumbarton Library to serve as a public collections store and archive, enabling open access to many heritage collections for the first time. Malcolm Bennie, strategic lead for communications, culture and communities, said: Glencairn House presents a great opportunity for this council to create a new library for Dumbarton, with purpose-built, modern facilities that are more accessible for residents. It would also provide a permanent museum celebrating the history of this area which is something the community has previously supported. In addition, the proposal would protect the history and heritage of this area by giving a new purpose to the oldest building in West Dunbartonshire, and provide a new sustainable future for the existing library building. A decision will be taken on 15 May on whether to press ahead with a public consultation to gauge wider support for the vision. May 2 2019 Developer S Harrison has communicated their intent to build a major student accommodation scheme on Westfield Road and Westfield Avenue, Gorgie. A planning submission by ICA identifies the site of a disused retail unit for a 394-bedroom development spread across two separate blocks together with a communal space, breakout area, games room, gym, cinema and laundry. Gavin Douglas, from S Harrison, commented: This development will breathe new life into a prominent site that is within easy reach of many of Edinburghs leading universities. Its in a sought-after location, with a large range of shops and leisure amenities on the doorstep, as well as being on many busy bus routes, Murrayfield tram stop is just a short walk away and its near Edinburghs Core Path network providing easy access by cycle and foot around the city. Were also proposing to bring the City Car Club scheme to Westfield Avenue which will benefit both occupiers and surrounding neighbours. Despite there being strong demand from students in Edinburgh for high quality, purpose-built accommodation, there has been limited supply in recent years and this development, along with our Gorgie Road proposals, will help to alleviate the problem. Both schemes will also regenerate two disused brownfield sites and significantly help to free up housing stock in the area for local people and families. The developer is also progressing plans to convert a 1970s office block in the West Coates area of the city to hotel use and is investigating the potential of a 0.6-hectare site at Ocean Drive, Leith. May 2 2019 Diageos bid to erect a prominent whisky-themed visitor experience on Edinburghs Princes Street look set to go-ahead after planners recommended that the visitor centre be approved. Conservation specialists Simpson & Brown have drawn up plans to transform the former Frasers department store to accommodate the vision, adapting the current structure to accommodate a visitor experience spread over three floors as well as an events space, bar academy and shop unit. Under the plans, a subservient bronze rooftop extension would be built housing a bar, tasting rooms and exterior terrace with panoramic views to the Castle. If the opinion of the planners is heeded at a meeting of the citys development management sub-committee on Wednesday the attraction could open its doors by Christmas 2020. Conservation bodies including Historic Environment Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage raised no objections to the planned work. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Bolivia stands for a dialogue among the Venezuelan people without any external interference, the country's president, Evo Morales, said on Thursday BUENOS AIRES (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2019) Bolivia stands for a dialogue among the Venezuelan people without any external interference, the country's president, Evo Morales, said on Thursday. "In Venezuela [there should be] neither a coup nor an intervention. We support a dialogue among Venezuelans, without any interference. We admire and [express our] solidarity with the brotherly people of Venezuela who, despite economic problems caused by the US blockade, resist [it] with dignity [and] defend their democracy," Morales tweeted. The Latin American nation has been in turmoil since January, when Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself Venezuela's interim president in a bid to challenge legitimate President Nicolas Maduro's reelection. Guaido's bid was immediately backed by the United States, which has long been strangling Caracas with economic sanctions. Tensions in Venezuela reached a new peak earlier this week after the Venezuelan opposition initiated a fresh coup attempt to ouster Maduro, which failed. China, Russia, as well as a number of other countries have repeatedly voiced their support for Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela. The nations also warned the United States against possible military intervention in Venezuela. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova compared on Wednesday US State Secretary Mike Pompeo's claims about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's alleged plans to leave his country to the fake news about Syrian President Bashar Assad's escape from Syria at the beginning of the civil war there MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2019) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova compared on Wednesday US State Secretary Mike Pompeo 's claims about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's alleged plans to leave his country to the fake news about Syrian President Bashar Assad's escape from Syria at the beginning of the civil war there. Pompeo told CNN on Tuesday that Maduro was ready to leave his country for Havana earlier on that day in light of an attempted coup, but was convinced by Moscow to stay in Venezuela. "US journalists are calling, asking for comments on Pompeo's statement suggesting that Maduro was going to 'flee Caracas' ... When I asked them if they knew that Caracas had refuted Pompeo's words, they said 'no' ... I would like to remind you that news about the 'escape of Assad and his family to Russia' regularly appeared in the global media space during the acute phase of the Syrian saga," Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page. Maduro himself also reacted to Pompeo's claim, calling it lie and manipulation. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, for his part, said that "fake news was a very sad way to acknowledge that a coup supported by the United States failed. " The political crisis in Venezuela has recently entered its third month. The turmoil began in January, when US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself Venezuela's interim president in a bid to challenge Maduro's reelection. Maduro, supported by China and Russia, among others, accused Guaido of plotting to overthrow him with Washington's assistance. Guaido and his supporters made another attempt to depose Maduro on Tuesday, gathering in Caracas on a highway in front of La Carlota military base. Guaido called on the people of Venezuela and the army to take to the streets to complete the operation to overthrow Venezuela's legitimate president. In response, Maduro said that the commanders of all regions and zones of integral defense had reiterated their full loyalty to the people, constitution and homeland. According to Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the country's armed forces continue to firmly support the "constitution and legitimate authorities." (@ChaudhryMAli88) A woman has died in Benin after police cracked down on protestors following controversial parliamentary polls, medical and family members said Thursday Cotonou, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd May, 2019 ) :A woman has died in Benin after police cracked down on protestors following controversial parliamentary polls, medical and family members said Thursday. "A woman has succumbed to her injuries," a medic in Benin's economic capital Cotonou said, adding that she had been rushed to hospital on Wednesday night, but that her wounds had been too severe. Another man was brought to the hospital with a gunshot wound in his back. (@ChaudhryMAli88) An alarming number of homophobia cases was recorded in Belgium in 2018, with at least 125 people saying that they were mistreated due to their sexual orientation, Brussels-based Unia group, an independent public institution that combats discrimination, said on Thursday BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2019) An alarming number of homophobia cases was recorded in Belgium in 2018 , with at least 125 people saying that they were mistreated due to their sexual orientation, Brussels-based Unia group, an independent public institution that combats discrimination, said on Thursday. "The number of cases of discrimination based on sexual orientation is at its maximum. In 2018, Unia dealt with 125 cases of people who [said they] felt discriminated because they were homosexuals. This is an increase of 38 percent compared to the average of the past five years," the group said in a statement. In addition, the group recorded at least 17 cases of physical violence against LGBT people last year. Many hateful comments were recorded online, according to Unia. It ranged from homophobic remarks and caricatures to comments, equating homosexuality with pedophilia. "In theory, most people have no problem with same-sex marriage until they see two men walking hand in hand. It is at that point that we see distinct homophobia among certain groups, ranging from intolerant neighbors to far right students," Unia Director Patrick Charlier said, as quoted in the group's statement. Unia said it had taken at least five homophobic cases to court in 2018. China International Emergency Medical Team (Macao SAR) successfully passed the evaluation and certification of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, becoming the fifth Chinese international emergency medical team, a WHO verification team said in the special administrative region (SAR). Macao SAR Health Bureau held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to introduce the preparation work of Macao's international emergency medical team, and show its facilities and operation to local media. Ian Norton, a representative from WHO Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Secretariat, told media that the Macao team not only meets the relevant WHO standards, but also has unique advantages in use of languages. Besides their mother tongue, the team members can also speak in English and Portuguese, and can be deployed to Portuguese-speaking countries. He added that the Macao team will also bring back the experience and expertise they have learned from assistance missions, and better serve Macao and its residents. The medical team members were drawn from the staff of Health Bureau and Fire Department of Macao SAR government. A total of 120 members were divided into four squads, each consisting of doctors, paramedics, pharmacists, engineers and logistics personnel. The standard deployment of the whole team covers an area of 3,600 square meters with 41 tents, can diagnose and treat over 100 persons per day, and independently complete the clinical medical work for 14 days. Macao's international emergency medical team is the 25th in the world and the fifth in China certified by WHO. The Underground, the Prohibition history exhibition at The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement featuring a speakeasy and distillery, announces special promotions, programs and events for May (The Rock and Rye at The Underground. Photo credit: The Mob Museum). Among this months events, on May 11, The Underground will host a special event as part of Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit. Guests will have the opportunity to participate in a speakeasy tasting and distillery tour. Click here to purchase tickets. Kentucky Derby LISTENING Party Date: Saturday, May 4 Saturday, May 4 Time: 1 to 4 p.m. Description: In the spirit of the 1920sbefore the invention of televisionThe Underground will host its first-ever Kentucky Derby Listening Party on May 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. A live audio broadcast of the 2019 Derby will be streamed during this event; post time is scheduled for 3:50 p.m. Pacific Time. Guests will also enjoy $10 Makers Mark cocktails and enter a Superfecta contest for the chance to win a private party in The Underground distillery. Must be 21 and older to attend. This event is sponsored by Zappos and Makers Mark. Free entry at the speakeasy side door with password Bourbon. Raise a Glass to the Past: A Speakeasy Tasting and Distillery Tour Date: Saturday, May 11 Saturday, May 11 Time: 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. Cost: $100; tickets available here . Description: Travel back in time to the Prohibition era for a tasting and tour at The Underground during Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit. Guests will be transported by the taste of spirits smuggled by mobsters decades ago as they sample a variety of classic cocktails, new moonshine flavors from the Museums own onsite distillery and delicious passed appetizers while listening to live jazz, exploring eye-opening exhibits, and learning inside stories from expert educators. Mothers Day Weekend Special Date: Friday, May 10 to Sunday, May 12 Friday, May 10 to Sunday, May 12 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. Cost: Mimosas will be available for $8. Non-alcoholic cocktails available for $5. Mimosas will be available for $8. Non-alcoholic cocktails available for $5. Description: Its no secret mobsters love their mamas. Former FBI agent Joe Pistone (aka Donnie Brasco) was once told by a Bonnano crime family member that the Mafia closed for business when Mothers Day arrived each May. Of course, The Underground is always open for Mom! Jazz Nights Date: Fridays and Saturdays Fridays and Saturdays Time: 7 to 11 p.m. 7 to 11 p.m. Description: Jazz Nights feature local talent performing to rave reviews in The Undergrounds 1920s-inspired ambiance. Performing in May will be Nik at Night (May 3) performing classics from greats such as Tony Bennet, Nat King Cole and the chairman himself, Frank Sinatra; The Old Fashions (May 4, 11, 17, 31), which blends the best of the jazz and blues worlds with sounds from Sinatra to Armstrong; Kai Brant, who performs jazz, blues and pop classics (May 10, 11); and Amanda King, who combines the best of the jazz and cabaret worlds by applying her creative interpretation of the words, the music and the swing (May 18, 25). Industry Night Date: Mondays Mondays Time: 9 p.m. to midnight 9 p.m. to midnight Description: Each Monday, The Underground speakeasy and distillery hosts Industry Night. Nevada service industry professionals will receive 20 percent off their tab and free Champagne. Must show valid employment ID to redeem this offer. Distillery Tours Day/Time: Beginning Wednesday, May 1, an expanded distillery tour schedule will go into effect. The tours will be offered Monday through Friday at noon, 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. and weekends from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every 45 minutes. Beginning Wednesday, May 1, an expanded distillery tour schedule will go into effect. The tours will be offered Monday through Friday at noon, 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. and weekends from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every 45 minutes. Cost: $12 $12 Description: During these tours, which are available as an enhanced experience with the purchase of a deluxe or premier pass and include a sampling of a variety of distilled spirits, participants receive an in-depth explanation of the distillery equipment and distillation process and learn about Prohibition. In addition to learning about the historical origin of Prohibition and the drinking culture that existed before the 1920s, guests have the chance to take part in a spirit-tasting experience of house-distilled moonshine, vodka, as well as The Undergrounds Jamaica ginger-infused moonshine. The Distillery Tours are designed to encourage visitors to develop an appreciation for the flavor of moonshineespecially since The Undergrounds moonshine is as authentic as it can safely get. It is made in-house with 100 percent corn and bottled at 50 percent ABV. In addition, all visitors to the Museum may purchase souvenir bottles of Museum spirits in the speakeasy during these hours. Happy Hour Date: Sundays through Thursdays Sundays through Thursdays Time: 5 to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. 5 to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight. Description: Enjoy 20 percent off select craft cocktails, draft beer and wine by the glass. Calling all steak connoisseurs! Hanks Fine Steaks & Martinis inside Green Valley Ranch Resort is now serving Kobe Beef, elevating the steakhouses already impressive menu. Known as the best steakhouse in Henderson and one of the finest dining experiences in the greater Las Vegas area, Hanks Fine Steaks & Martinis has received the official certification to serve the Japanese delicacy, granted by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Association (Photo credit: Station Casinos). The worlds most famous and rare red meat now has a new home at Hanks Fine Steaks & Martinis. The steakhouse is the only restaurant in Henderson, and one of seven in all of Nevada, offering Kobe Beef on their menu. Guests are invited to experience the restaurants all-new selection of Kobe Beef including a mouthwatering Kobe ribeye ($45 per ounce). In addition, Hanks Fine Steaks & Martinis proudly displays the bronze steer bust and certificate of authenticity for all guests to see. The restaurant can also provide the authenticity label with each serving upon request. To top off the Kobe experience, the trained staff at Hanks Fine Steaks & Martinis can offer suggested pairings to accompany the vastly superior marbling and cut of meat from appetizers to sides, and wine pairings, allowing for the perfect addition to any meal. From a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to oysters Rockefeller, an unforgettable evening is sure to be had while indulging in the quality meats so rare only 25 restaurants in the United States have the distinction to serve real Kobe Beef. For the carnivores looking to stick with the classics, guests can enjoy other USDA prime dry-aged beef such as a petite filet mignon, aged for at least 28 days; T-bone steak, wet aged for a minimum of 14 days and dry aged for another 21 days before being seared to guests liking, filet of Wagyu from ultra-premium Japanese bred cattle raised in Colorado or a tomahawk steak served with seasonal vegetables and ideal for sharing with the table. Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. El Helicoide was built in the 1950s, when Venezuela had big dreams - and big money from oil revenues to match. The post-World War Two boom was in full swing and dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez wanted to project an image of a forward-looking nation.El Helicoide, or the Helix, is one of Venezuelas most important relics of the modernist movement. It was supposed to be the worlds first drive-through shopping mall with a 2.5 mile long spiraling ramp for cars to ascend, descend, and park directly in front of the shops they wanted to visit. There was space for more than three hundred stores, and would have included a 5 star hotel, a movie theater with seven screens, exhibition halls, a gym, a pool, a bowling alley, a nursery and a lot more.The project was conceived in the late 1950s by architects Pedro Neuberger, Dirk Bornhorst and Jorge Romero Gutierrez, for the Venezuelan dictator and President Marcos Perez Jimenez. When the project was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, it was hailed by everyone as a triumph of modernist design. Nobel-Prize winning Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda declared it one of the most exquisite creations to emerge from the mind of an architect, and Salvador Dali offered to decorate the inside.Following the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'etat which resulted in the overthrow of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, developers were accused of being funded by Perez Jimenez's government. The incoming government refused to allow the malls construction and litigation surrounding the project began involving the developers, businesses and the government. Nelson Rockefeller made offers to take over the project, but regulations resulted in the withdrawal of his proposal. By 1961, construction of the building came to a halt after the development firm fell into bankruptcy one year before completion.In 1965 attempts were made to resume its construction to complete it by 1967, though plans fell through. Over time, only the concrete foundation of the project was present while equipment destined for the cancelled mall was stolen, including custom high-speed Austrian elevators.In 1975, the Venezuelan government acquired the facility. Between 1979 and 1982, 10,000 squatters occupied the facility until they were evicted. By 1982, only the geodesic dome with its aluminum top on the concrete infrastructure was completed.From 1984, some state agencies were gradually installed in the building, the most important of which was the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP). In 1985, DISIP purchased a 15 year lease for the lower two floors of El Helicoide, where prison cells are presently located. The building was seriously affected by a bombing in the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'etat attempts and an anti-aircraft response from it. The dome was later repaired following these events.Since 2010, part of the building serves as the headquarters of the National Experimental Security University (UNES). As unrest grew surrounding the Nicolas Maduro government, offices, storerooms and even lavatories were converted into makeshift holding areas for the growing number of prisoners.On 16 May 2018, a prison riot occurred in El Helicoide, with several political prisoners arrested during the protests; Venezuelan authorities fired tear gas and buckshot at individuals in the area. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis both condemned the suspected Maoist bomb attack AFP/PUNIT PARANJPE "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 Maoist 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 Apr 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." By industry, the company ranked fourth in the manufacturing and chemical sector, 2 levels higher from the 2016 survey. By industry, 3M ranked fourth in the manufacturing and chemical sector, two levels higher from the 2016 survey. The annual survey of Vietnams top 100 places to work is conducted by Anphabe, a career network company and Intage Vietnam, a market research firm, measuring employer brand activities of 678 companies across 24 industries, evaluating six criteria including compensation and benefits, development opportunities, working environment and culture, leadership and management, work-life balance and company reputation. Founded in 1902 in Minnesota state of the US, and now operating in industrial, safety and graphics, health care, and consumer, 3M employs 91,000 people in over 70 countries globally. The high position for 3M is being attributed to the specific value that the multinational corporation brings to each countrys culture, and the employees of each region. Work-life balance At 3M, employees can discuss his flexible working-time, the individuals preference with managers on the purpose of maximizing some significant impacts on business outcomes Work-life balancing should be at the core sector to be successful. As an individual player in the large space under the FlexAbility policy, the employee can discuss his flexible working-time, the individuals preference with managers on the purpose of maximising some significant impacts on business outcomes. One of the key determinants of this behaviour is how variable processes he can associate to balance living status and in the organisation. Creativeness is also widely encouraged at 3M Vietnam. Obviously, the key processes are to ensure a spirit of individually excellent and collectively brilliant to bring back new technology or solutions aiming to build the organisation's growth. Thus people dynamics here is encouraged to spend 15 per cent of staffs working time on improving knowledge and testing novel ideas. Thanks to this associated culture, such innovations as insulating film, the Cubitron abrasive technology, or even post-it notes was put into used. Former chairman William McKnight has been serving at 3M company for 37 years. He helped to cultivate the productive policy focused on individual priorities for exercising. Till the end, it makes workers far flexible and creative impacting the overall organisational culture aiming to build a better organisation. 3M encourages people to spend 15 per cent of staffs working time on improving knowledge and testing novel ideas Values for sustainable growth All leaders and employees have more priorities in achieving sustainable development, business ethics, and social responsibility. In 2019, 3M has committed that its totally 100 per cent of all products will meet sustainable developments standards with regard to use easily-recycled materials to reduce waste volume, save water and energy, and adapt from sustainable sources. 3M develops technology-based products to serve community, aiming to achieve sustainable development In Vietnam, 3M has drawn a line when being flexible and responsible via organising the social campaigns to make a difference toward community. Obviously, it has engaged into the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City to build the international-standard sterilisation centre, and has co-operated with overly 100 hospitals and associations to start some training courses and update technology for those medical staffs. 3M has drawn a line when being flexible and responsible via organising the social campaigns to make a difference toward community. Besides this, equipping medical students with reflective jackets, reflected lights on farm vehicles in collaboration with the National Traffic Safety Committee was successfully launched. In May, 3M CSR campaign named School Zone will be kicked off at four primary schools to raise self-awareness about safety for Vietnamese children. By late 2018, the companys revenue was estimated at $32.765 billion, up 3.5 per cent on-year. Citi enters the partnership with Vietnam-based Payoo Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions today announced a strategic partnership with Vietnam-based intermediary payment service provider, Payoo, to facilitate consumer-to-business collections for corporate clients in the country. Under the partnership, Citis corporate clients in Vietnam will be able to receive real-time payments from their customers for services including utilities, telecommunications and credit card bills through Payoos extensive digital network and physical footprint of over 10,000 brick-and-mortar touchpoints. "The collaboration with Payoo is exciting as it complements Citis capabilities to deliver last-mile digital solutions to our clients. This is in line with our strategy to leverage the potential of the thriving fintech ecosystem in Singapore and the ASEAN to enhance our client value propositions, said Debopama Sen, Singapore and ASEAN head, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions. Linh Trung Ngo, CEO of VietUnion, which operates the Payoo platform, said, With our intensive knowledge of the local market, Payoo is proud to be delivering our innovative collections services to Citis clients. We are excited to work with Citi to develop additional enhanced services to meet clients evolving needs as the local payments infrastructure in Vietnam continues to develop. The partnership was announced at the sidelines of Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions inaugural ASEAN Fintech Day which commenced in Singapore today. ASEAN Fintech Day is part of Citi Trade and Treasury Solutions Fintech Accelerance Program, which is designed to accelerate the delivery of solutions for Citis clients in partnership with key fintech players. A total of eight shortlisted fintechs from the ASEAN are presenting their prototype solutions to Citi today. The inaugural event in Singapore follows from previous Treasury and Trade Solutions Fintech Days held in other markets worldwide including North America, the United Kingdom and India. Citi is actively working with fintechs around the world to create new services and capabilities on our platforms for the benefit of our clients, said Manish Kohli, global head of Payments and Receivables, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions. These events play an important role in allowing us to engage with the fintech ecosystem to identify the best solutions for our clients in the digital economy. In the lead-up to ASEAN FinTech Day, Citi reached out to over 3,000 fintechs in the region, calling for solutions that could address one or more of eight identified problem statements across three categories C2B Collections, Trade, and Ecosystems. A French yellow vest protester holds up a banner featuring the faces of top politicians under the slogan: "These are the troublemakers" AFP/Zakaria ABDELKAFI 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. And with trade unions hoping to raise their profile and thuggish "casseurs" vowing to turn Paris into "the capital of rioting", the government moved to deploy security on an "exceptional scale" throughout the capital. Officials are bracing for a repeat of last year's violence, when they were caught off guard by some 1,200 trouble-makers who ran amok in Paris, vandalising businesses and clashing with police. By late morning, thousands could be seen gathering by Montparnasse Tower in the city's south where the main union march will begin at 2:30 pm (1230 GMT), many wearing the hi-visibility jackets that gave their name to the yellow vest protesters. But as the crowds swelled, scuffles briefly erupted along Montparnasse Boulevard with riot police firing off several rounds of tear gas to disperse demonstrators. Although demonstrations will take place across the country, the main focus is Paris, where more than 7,400 police and gendarmes have been deployed with orders from Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with any violence. Since November, the city has struggled to cope with the weekly yellow vest protests, which have often descended into chaos with a handful of thugs smashing up and torching shops, restaurants and even the city's beloved newspaper stands. Across the city, streets were barricaded off and shops boarded up their windows in preparation for the worst, 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. "CAPITAL OF RIOTING" Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said several groups on social media had urged protesters to transform Paris 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 Tuesday. Many are anti-capitalist youths, often known as "black blocs", who dress in black and wear face masks. Nearly 200 motorcycle units have been deployed across the capital to respond quickly to flare-ups of violence, and drones are being used to track protesters' movements. After nearly six months of yellow vest demonstrations, which have often spiralled into rioting and running battles with police, the security forces are taking no chances. 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. And from the early hours of Wednesday, several dozen police officers could be seen at the city's main train stations, carrying out bag random searches, AFP journalists said. By late morning, police said 35 people had been detained for questioning. SIDELINED, UNIONS SEEK VISIBILITY 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 (US$5.5 billion). 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, 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 adopted a "zero-tolerance" approach, 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. Like the yellow vests, the unions were also disappointed by Macron's speech. "We must be careful not to lose the meaning of this day," warned Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT, one of France's biggest unions. "It is a day of mobilisation which deserves our full attention after Emmanuel Macron's announcement in which he said: 'I hear you and I'm not changing anything'." Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a roundtable summit session on the final day of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on April 27, 2019 AFP/Aleksey NIKOLSKYI 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 Putin's decision as a Kremlin test for new Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. (AFP/Sergei SUPINSKY) Some analysts see it as a Kremlin test for the new administration in Kiev. Putin had already signed a decree on Apr 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 three 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. 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. Tran Uyen Phuong - Competing with global giants Globalisation, along with consumer desire for localisation, allows family-owned companies to not only grow but also be able to compete with major business giants such as McDonalds, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Home Depot. Accompanying the development and successes of Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group, deputy CEO Tran Uyen Phuong always retains in her mind the key principles of leading a private business towards walking alongside other giants in the region, as well as in the wider world. Thanks to Phuongs parents, who were aspiring entrepreneurs in the 1970s, today Tan Hiep Phat is the largest family-owned enterprise in the fast-moving consumer goods market in Vietnam, with more than 5,000 staff nationwide. The company accounts for 15-20 per cent of domestic market share and in terms of the healthy drinks segment, Tan Hiep Phat leads the market with 50 per cent of the share. To transform a good business idea into a real business and, over time, into a domestic, regional, or even a global champion, Phuong shared with VIR that they have always been guided to follow several principals since her parents started the family-owned business. Creating true domestic products is one of the top values for a private business, according to Phuong. Authentic domestic products are strongly competitive because they are the only ones perfect for any successful marketing for product, price, promotion, and location. They understand intimately their target markets and easily approach and satisfy consumers, she said, adding that multinational corporations are often inferior in this aspect as they consider those criteria inconsequential. For Phuong, compliance with international standards in operations makes it easy for third parties to understand better the company and the quality of its products. Regardless of the companys current scope or influence, adopting best practices is helpful in sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution. Small enterprises desire to widen their scale; however, merely growing should not be set as a focal target. If IT systems and operating processes are not well-planned, they are very vulnerable to serious problems when scaling up. Failure to recognise the necessity of technology will lead to waste of time, resources and opportunities, Phuong said. Moreover, nurturing a sense of community and encouraging staff creates a company culture which is critical in its success. When employees, managers and customers can establish strong rapport, the company can establish itself in the market and instil its core values in all the stakeholders. These practices become increasingly important as the company develops. We are imperfect. We all make mistakes and my family is no exception. One lesson we have carved out is to successfully manage ourselves for the leadership towards others working at Tan Hiep Phat, Phuong shared. We consider Tan Hiep Phat as our family, no matter if it is at work or at a family meeting, we plan out and keep in mind what we will do, how to do it, and the responsibility of each member in the pursuit of our goals. Phuong emphasised that closely upholding these golden principles will help any private enterprise of any scale, just like at Tan Hiep Phat, and will help businesses develop more sustainably and earn greater achievements. Le Thi Hoang Yen - Vietnamese brands from luxury to relaxation CEO of Muong Thanh Hospitality Group, Le Thi Hoang Yen, is the second generation of leaders at a huge private Vietnamese enterprise managing the top 60 hotels nationwide, and in Laos. As the private sector in Vietnam is being pushed to become the driving force of the countrys market economy, Yen is successfully leading the authentic Vietnamese hotel chain towards sustainable development. The private sector has been a key contributor to Vietnams socio-economic growth over recent years, and the scale and quantity of private entrepreneurs are getting larger and larger. They are sharp and professional in the process of establishing, operating, and managing businesses as well as in increasingly applying and updating the latest global developments in technology. At Muong Thanh, Yen follows her father, chairman Le Thanh Than, who started his private business from zero to build and spread the authentic Vietnamese brand. They work to find effective solutions for everything from building relationships and structuring business, to branding unique authenticity and utilising human resources. Many people ask me why we do not co-operate with other foreign investors or sell our enterprise to enjoy a leisurely life, said Yen. But no matter how hard it is, we still persistently want to build the Muong Thanh hotel brand. Our desire is to contribute to Vietnams tourism industry a domestic product that is competitive with international brands. Also, the mission of creating many jobs for Vietnamese people and promoting national identity in hotel chain management is a great motivation for us to move forward. Beyond challenges, Yen also experiences many favourable conditions. As a local entrepreneur, they are familiar with the local market. Yen and her team are aware of the local business environment as well as having knowledge on local cultural and traditional identities. With these strong points, they have been providing expertise for forming the most suitable policies and products towards sustainable development. At the same time, they also gain a lot of experience from other international competitors in how to create a strong team and grow their brand further and quicker. With a diversified portfolio of renowned hotel brands encompassing the entire range, Muong Thanh can meet the requirements of all target clients, whether they desire a business trip or relaxation. With many advantages and reasonable pricing, Muong Thanh hotels attract both local and international tourists. To cater for the diverse tastes of customers, Muong Thanhs network is divided into four categories ranging from luxury hotels to regular facilities. Muong Thanh can provide large-scale and unique hotels that offer visitors an atmosphere of relaxation that is rich in Vietnamese values, from amiable service to exquisite local cuisine. Tran Hanh An - Private investment in education on the rise Several years ago, educator and businesswoman Tran Hanh An decided to leave her busy life in Hanoi and move to Hoi An with her family. Her aim was change, and to look for a new and fulfilling life. As a result, she ended up starting her latest project, becoming founder and director of Hoi An International School. I dont think it is completely correct to use the word invest in education, said An. Because of my background in running businesses, when I literally invest in something, profit would be my first concern. But Hoi An International School (HAIS) is a not for profit school. With experience as an educator, a businesswoman, a social activist, and above all being a mother to five children, I know I can do a good job of building a school. I think the dream of building a school for my own children will not only be mine but also that of many parents and even students, she said. The passionate entrepreneur has a desire to give back to the Hoi An community by running her private school as a social enterprise. Her unique school employs a non-profit model and is heavily geared towards community-mindedness, with a curriculum that places environmental conservation and cultural learning at its heart. With its commitment and dedication to education, financial capacity, belief in academic values, and values of sharing knowledge between school and family, she receives the support of parents, students and the community to overcome all challenges and obstacles and make HAIS a school of sustainable development for all children. At HAIS, Ans focus is on providing a holistic, student-centred education that is academically rigorous, while at the same time nurturing individual talents and creativity as well as cultural and social awareness. HAIS learning approach doesnt simply give children knowledge; it equips them with the tools to become inquirers, critical thinkers, and independent problem solvers. Another advantage for students is that HAIS is a multicultural environment with students and teachers from more than 20 countries around the world. We want to provide a balance between international education criteria and Vietnam cultural values to create a harmonious environment up to the global education standards, An said. So the school places emphasis on cultural courses in daily lessons as well as in community activities to encourage foreign students, staff, and teachers to learn and communicate in Vietnamese. As for challenges, An shared that the current state policy is much more open and convenient than before. Recent policy changes, such as the permission to increase the percentage of Vietnamese students in international schools from 10 or 20 per cent to nearly 50 per cent, are a very positive move, opening the door wider for international schools, and strongly encouraging more foreign investment in this sector. However finding the right educators is always a big challenge, and this is even more difficult as her school requires teachers to not only have the knowledge and capacity to accomplish the schools educational vision and philosophy in their daily classes, but also have a heart full of love to welcome all differences and the ability to listen to and inspire people. Currently HAIS, which was established last year, and has already gained International Baccalaureate candidacy, which is one of the worlds most prestigious educational programmes. Bui Bich Lien - Daring to create a healthier environment As founder of Thuy Thien Nhu JSC, owning organic food production and distribution chain under ORFARM brand, Bui Thi Bich Lien is a businesswoman who represents the spirit of daring to think, daring to do, daring to pursue and conquer new challenges. Graduating from the University of Economics in Russia and after living there for 13 years, Lien returned home and worked at many private enterprises in retail and fashion. But after periods of ill-health and a long healing journey full of difficulties, Lien decided to embark on making organic food with a desire to do something meaningful to protect her own health, and that of family and many others in society. Since its launch in 2012 Thuy Thien Nhu, its farm, and ORFARM brand have faced a lot of hardships because just a few years ago organic food was a very strange concept to many local consumers. Applying Japans effective microorganism technology in all producing processes and complying with standards of no waste, no insecticide, no stimulus, and no harmful chemicals, ORFARM targets natural production and long growing times, thus placing ORFARM products at an often higher price than the refined or processed products on the market. Following a customer-focus strategy, Lien built her private enterprise and food brand ORFARM according to a farm-to-customer chain model to be able to control all processes and stages in the food production and trading. She identified that the Vietnamese food market is full of potential with high consumer demand and strong purchasing power, while it also creates a dynamic and bustling business environment but full of competitive pressures and potential risks to businesses. Ignoring all the comments, Lien persisted with her selected target customer segment, who buys products mainly due to the precious value to human health and the surrounding environment. We consider it of paramount importance that consumers can experience and feel the value of our products. I am not concerned about the product not being sold because of price. I think business without challenges is no longer a business, said Lien. After nearly six years of construction and development Lien has carved out her own position in the organic food market, being cautious but concrete. The trust and satisfaction of consumers is the motivation for ORFARM to do better and go further. In our roadmap, we are still continuing to expand the system to bring more good value for our community and our environment to create a better, healthier, and safer life for our children, Lien added. It was Attorney General William Barrs testimony, but Robert Muellers 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 counsels 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 Muellers letter and Barrs testimony: Mueller wanted more information released at first Mueller wanted the executive summaries from his report publicly released immediately after he submitted his report in March. But Barr went his own way. Days after receiving the 448-page report, Barr released his own four-page letter laying out the reports principal conclusions. The letter said that Mueller didnt establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the special counsel didnt make a formal decision on whether Trump obstructed justice. Mueller: Barr did more harm than good by not releasing more information In his March 27 letter to Barr, Mueller wrote, 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 the letter, first reported by The Washington Post, Mueller urged Barr to release redacted versions of the summaries at that time, which Barr did not do. They ultimately became public with the release of the redacted report last month. Republicans cited that fact in dismissing the matter as now moot. But Democrats said the delay allowed Trump to use Barrs letter to bake in a public narrative about the reports findings before it was released. Following up on the snitty letter Barr testified that he called Mueller after receiving his complaints and Mueller told him he hadnt misrepresented the report. Instead, Barr said Mueller told him he was upset that the press coverage was reading too much into the letter. Barr said Mueller pressed him to release the summaries, but he rejected that advice because he didnt want to release the report piecemeal. Bristling under questioning from Senate Democrats, Barr said: It was my decision how and when to make it public. Not Bob Muellers. Barr described Muellers letter as a bit snitty, and also took a subtle shot at the special counsel, saying he slowed down its public release. He said he had asked Muellers team to identify grand jury information that would need to be redacted, but when he received the report, they hadnt done it. He said it then took weeks to comb through the report to black out protected information. Past comments to Congress draw scrutiny A couple weeks after receiving Muellers complaints, Barr was asked at a House hearing about reports that members of the special counsels team were frustrated at some level with the limited information included in the letter Barr sent to Congress detailing Muellers principal conclusions. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., asked Barr, Do you know what they are referencing with that? Barr responded, No, I dont. On Wednesday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee challenged Barr to explain how he could say that after receiving Muellers letter. Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii went further, saying Barr had lied. But Barr defended himself by saying the question was imprecise. Crists question asked him about unidentified members of Muellers team, while he spoke with Mueller directly, he said. I dont know what that refers to at all, Barr said of the question. Barr says he didnt exonerate Trump Thats not what the Justice Department does, Barr said. I didnt exonerate. I said that we didnt believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense, Barr said. Under questioning, Barr said he didnt believe that Trumps actions related to the Russia probe broke the law. He said Trump was well within his authority to fire FBI Director James Comey or to direct his White House counsel to have Mueller removed as special counsel. But he declined to say whether he thought it was OK for a president to direct people around him to lie. Im not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people. Im in the business of determining whether a crime has been committed, Barr said. Barr defends Trump with his view of the presidency The powers of the presidency are so vast that Trump could shut down any investigation into him if he believed he was falsely accused. Thats what Barr told the committee. In making his decision that Trump didnt obstruct justice by trying to curtail the Russia probe, Barr said he focused on how the president didnt commit an underlying crime with Russia and how we now know that he was being falsely accused. The president doesnt have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course, Barr said. He also expressed sympathy for Trump. Two years of his administration have now been dominated by allegations that have proven false. To listen to some of the rhetoric you would think the Mueller report had found the opposite, Barr said. VOAs Ayaz Gul contributed to this story from Islamabad. WASHINGTON As the United States and the Taliban begin a new round of negotiations in an effort to move the peace process forward, a senior U.S. military commander says no decision has been made about the presence of U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told U.S.-funded Middle East Broadcasting Networks Alhurra TV on Monday that no decision has been made about the presence of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Weve made no decision about any shift in U.S. or coalition forces in Afghanistan at this time. Any future decisions will be directly related to ongoing negotiations involving the government of Afghanistan, the people in Afghanistan and possibly the Taliban, McKenzie, who commands all U.S. military operations in the region, said. I think well stay as long as necessary to ensure that the mission is accomplished, and the mission is ensuring that attacks against the U.S. homeland cant be launched from Afghanistan, he emphasized. McKenzie said the U.S. is interested in lasting peace in Afghanistan and that the country would not be used by terrorists to pose a threat to the security of the U.S and its allies. Whatever future government there is in Afghanistan is going to have to embrace the idea that it wont be a breeding ground for terror operations that could operate against either the United States or our partners and allies, McKenzie said. McKenzie did seem optimistic about the U.S. peace talks with the Taliban, another round of which kicked off Wednesday with U.S. special reconciliation envoy Zalmay Khalilzad meeting Taliban leaders in Doha. I am optimistic that we have a path forward here, perhaps the first time in many years, McKenzie said. WATCH: Facts From the 17-Year Afghanistan War Troop withdrawal A Taliban official, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the new round of talks would build on the preliminary agreement the two sides reached in early March. The insurgent group has insisted on finalizing an agreement on the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces from Afghanistan before discussing other issues. Khalilzad met this week with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy Taliban leader for political affairs and head of the groups informal office in Doha, before the formal talks Wednesday, and the issue of withdrawing troops has been reportedly brought up by the Taliban side. It is absolutely vital that the two key agenda points of the previous meeting [full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and prevention of 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, the statement added. Intra-Afghan dialogue The Taliban have so far refused to hold direct official talks with the Afghan government and have insisted on continuing to directly talk with the U.S. Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative, has been trying to push the insurgent group to talk with the Afghan government and to agree to a cease-fire. The Taliban say, A cease-fire is not part of the agenda. For us, peace is the agenda. The Afghan people have had enough violence and want an end to the war. The United States stands with them. I challenge Talibs to join other Afghans and work to make this the year of peace, Khalilzad said last week. Afghan government The Afghan government has been insisting on eventually leading the peace talks with the Taliban as a state and have voiced concerns about being sidelined in the negotiations. The U.S. chief negotiator has been assuring the Afghan government that Taliban would sit with the Afghan government. According to a statement issued by the Afghan presidential palace, following a meeting between Khalilzad and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani over the weekend, Ghani stressed the importance of intra-Afghan dialogue when it comes to talks with the Taliban. Both sides once again emphasized an intra-Afghan dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, led by the Afghan government, the statement added. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Afghanistan High Peace Council (HPC), a government body tasked with talking to the Afghan Taliban, told VOA on Wednesday that they were hopeful that the new round of discussions in Doha would pave the way for an intra-Afghan dialogue. The expectation of the High Peace Council is that Mr. Khalilzads efforts would pave the way for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban movement, Ghafoor Ahmad Javid, HPCs spokesperson, said. The new round of U.S. talks with the Taliban came as the government convened a four-day Consultative Peace Loya Jirga where more than 3,000 representatives from various parts of Afghanistan, including areas controlled by the Taliban, will discuss a united approach to talking with the Taliban. Kazakh police arrested dozens of people Wednesday in a rare public protest against the upcoming election. Demonstrators marched in Almaty, Kazakhstans largest city, and in the newly renamed capital of Nur-Sultan. Officials said 80 people were arrested. Protesters were marching against what they see as a lack of choice in the June election to replace longtime President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who unexpectedly resigned in March, stunning the nation. Marchers are calling for an election boycott. They say the ruling partys nominee, former Senate speaker and Nazarbayev ally Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, will only mean more authoritarian rule. We are tired of everything our authorities are doing. They shut our mouths. We have no freedom of speech whatsoever, one demonstrator said. We have the feeling that we are living in a slave state, not a free country. Nazarbayev has led Kazakhstan since 1984, when it was part of the Soviet Union, and has been the only leader many Kazakhs have known. The energy-rich Central Asian nation has attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment, but human rights activists complain of numerous abuses and say there is little tolerance of dissent. The parliament voted in March to change the name of the capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan to honor Nazarbayev. Events have begun in Italy and France to celebrate the Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vince on the 500th anniversary of his death. In his Tuscan hometown, Italian experts presented a lock of hair believed to belong to the artist, which they announced would undergo DNA testing. For the 500th anniversary of Leonardo Da Vincis death on Thursday, Italian President Sergio Mattarella traveled to France where he met his counterpart Emmanuel Macron. Together the heads of state paid homage to the Italian genius by laying wreaths at his grave at the Amboise Chateau in the Loire Valley, and visiting the Clos Luce manor house where the artist lived during the last three years of his life. Tensions arose in recent months between Italy and France over a request by France for some of Leonardos works to be loaned by Italy for an exhibit at the Louvre later this year. But President Mattarella made clear during his visit that Italy and France have historical ties and a solid friendship. In Italy, exhibits about da Vinci are being planned all over the country. In his home town of Vinci, an exhibit called Leonardo Lives opened Thursday. Ahead of the opening, Italian experts presented what they said is a lock of hair from the artist and announced they would carry out a DNA test on the specimen. They said the relic known as "Les Cheveux de Leonardo da Vinci" had been hidden until now in an American collection. The experts also produced documents they said are evidence the lock of hair comes from ancient France. Additional exhibits about the artist, scientist and inventor are being held at the Rome airport, which is called Leonardo Da Vinci, Milan, Turin, Florence and Venice. At the Vatican Museums a special exhibition is being held featuring Leonardo da Vinci's unfinished painting St. Jerome in the Wilderness. Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, said that after two years, the restoration of the ancient tapestry that was inspired by da Vincis The Last Supper also has been completed for this anniversary and is now on display for the public to admire. Also, to mark the 500th anniversary of da Vincis death, Italy has issued 300,000 cards with four new philatelic stamps, which were printed using well-known drawings and paintings by the artist, including the drawing of an eye, the Adoration of the Magi, the Portrait of a Musician and the head of a young girl known at the Scapiliata. A judge is to rule next week on whether he will recuse himself from a request to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate how Chicago's top prosecutor handled actor Jussie Smollett's criminal case. Retired Illinois appellate judge Sheila O'Brien is pushing for the review of Cook County State's Attorney's Kim Foxx's office, which dropped charges against Smollett that accused him of making a false police report. On Thursday, O'Brien asked Cook County Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. to recuse himself because his son works for Foxx as an assistant state's attorney. Cathy McNeil Stein, who represented Foxx's office, says there is no need for another judge. Martin says he will consider O'Brien's request and announce his decision May 10. Foxx and Smollett did not attend Thursday's hearing. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. VOA Africa Division's Linord Moudou spoke to Melinda Gates about women's empowerment, work in Africa, the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and how men can benefit from women's empowerment. U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jarrold Nadler said Attorney General William Barr's "moment of accountability will come soon enough" after refusing to comply with demands related to the special counsel's report on a probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. Barr failed to show up to testify before the House committee Thursday, with the Justice Department objecting to a move to allow staff lawyers to take part in the questioning.The Justice Department has also missed a committee deadline to provide the committee with a full, unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. Nadler, a Democrat, said during an abbreviated 20-minute hearing Thursday that Barr has failed to "stand up to the president" and address "this clear and present danger to our constitutional order." The committee chairman warned that Barr's refusals are secondary to congressional oversight of the executive branch and whether Congress can effectively hold the president accountable. "The challenge we face is bigger than a single witness," Nadler said. "We will make sure no president becomes a monarch." The committee's ranking Republican, Doug Collins, argued the "Democrats didn't want him here today," adding, "The stunt and the circus continues over here." Democratic committee members mocked Barr's absence, with Steve Cohen bringing buckets of chicken to the hearing and placing a toy chicken in front of the empty seat that was reserved for Barr. David Cicilline humorously looked under under his desk to make sure Barr was not present. Pelosi: 'He lied' Shortly after the hearing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Barr of lying to Congress when he testified on April 9 that he was not aware of Mueller's concern over how he had publicly presented the special counsel's findings. The Justice Department released a letter Wednesday from Mueller to Barr that shows Mueller's concerns before the April 9 hearing. "He lied to Congress," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference. "If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime." Wednesday's questioning Barr testified for hours before a Senate committee Wednesday about his oversight of the end of Mueller's report. Nadler had planned to have his committee tackle the same subjects, giving the 41 members five minutes each to ask Barr questions and then another 30 minutes for both Democratic and Republican lawyers for the committee to make more inquiries of Barr. Barr agreed to be questioned by the House lawmakers, but rejected further questioning by the lawyers. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Thursday that Nadler is not "capable of asking the attorney general questions" and said "maybe he should step down or resign and allow somebody else that can." Nadler said Wednesday the committee will take "whatever action we have to take" if Barr skips the hearing. "He is terrified at having to face a skilled attorney," Nadler told reporters. He said Barr had also failed to provide to the committee a copy of the unredacted report as requested by his committee in a subpoena, and that legal actions to get the report would be a higher priority than moves to compel Barr to testify. Obstruction of justice Mueller's final report did not find sufficient evidence to charge anyone with conspiring with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election. But it cited 11 instances of possible obstruction of the investigation by President Donald Trump, saying that "while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." With Mueller not reaching a decision on the obstruction question, Barr said he concluded no criminal charges against Trump were warranted. Condolences are pouring in following the death Thursday of Tanzanian media magnate Reginald Mengi, ranked as one of the 50 wealthiest people in Africa and a pioneer in the area of privately-owned media in the country. He was 75. According to one of the radio stations he owned, Radio One, Reginald Mengi, the executive chairman for IPP companies, who is ranked as one of Tanzanias millionaires, died at dawn Thursday in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed condition. The president of Tanzania, John Magufuli, sent a condolence message via his twitter account saying the death of Mengi was a shock, and the two men were friends. The Tanzanian leader said he will remember Mengi for what the leader described as Mengi's immense contribution to the development of Tanzania. A statement from the United States Embassy in Tanzania posted on Twitter says the embassy was deeply saddened by the passing of Mengi. The message said his impact on Tanzanias long-term growth and development has been beyond significant. Mengi narrated his business success story in his book: I Can, I Must, I Will in which he describes how he was born into a poor family but managed to beat circumstances and establish one of the largest businesses not only in Tanzania, but also on the continent. Mengi started investing in businesses more than 30 years ago and was the first person to privately own media in Tanzania. Today, his company, IPP Limited, owns several TV and radio stations, as well as newspapers in Tanzania, and it also holds interests in the beverage industry. When Warren Buffett takes the stage at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's shareholders' meeting on Saturday, the 88-year-old billionaire will be greeted, as usual, by tens of thousands of adoring followers from around the world. Yet the Berkshire chairman and chief executive officer's optimism about the state of capitalism, a likely theme as he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger field questions for five hours, may appear out of touch with the rise of populism in his country. Buffett's endorsements of corporate stock buybacks, the much-criticized longtime Berkshire holding Wells Fargo, and employer-focused attempts to reform healthcare put the Oracle of Omaha at odds with the drive among some Americans to tackle income inequality using root-and-branch reforms. Many announced Democratic presidential candidates for 2020 have endorsed such measures as government-sponsored healthcare and the reining in of big banks, policies that might seem antithetical to Buffett's Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. Indeed, Berkshire's melange of businesses, such as the utilities MidAmerican Energy and PacifiCorp, parts and equipment makers Marmon and Precision Castparts, and food distributor McLane appear more aligned with Republican President Donald Trump's industrial vision for America. Trump in 2016 defeated Buffett-backed Democrat Hillary Clinton for the White House and championed an American manufacturing and rural economic renaissance, especially in its "heartland" where voters provided some of his strongest support. Now, even some of the strong American brands Buffett bet on being immune to competition are struggling. One such investment, Kraft Heinz Co, has lost more than half its value over two years as consumers moved to foods perceived to be more healthy or natural. "The businesses aren't necessarily bad, but the brands that were a part of the moat - the reason for the acquisition are less prominent," said Meyer Shields, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. "That's a concern." Berkshire lags S&P 500 Investors appear to have noticed. Berkshire's stock price, which Buffett called the best measure of how the business is doing, has through Tuesday risen 6 percent this year, compared with a 18-percent rise in the S&P 500 index, including dividends. Buffett's assistant did not respond to an emailed request for comment. None of this, however, will stop Buffett's fans from descending on Omaha this weekend. Events will be held around the city, and people can buy mementos such as postage stamps featuring Buffett and Munger or, for $8,950, a pair of 2 carat-weight diamond stud earrings from Berkshire's Borsheims jewelry unit. Buffett's career of investing success and down-to-earth public persona are part of the draw. He has used his popularity to attract long-term shareholders and lend goodwill and credibility to his business dealings. This included lucrative investments at the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, when he provided financing to such companies as General Electric, Goldman Sachs and Harley-Davidson. Dominant stakes Some policies endorsed from political left could weigh on Berkshire, though they could be dead-on-arrival in the face of a Trump White House and Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. For example, some research shows that when big investors hold large stakes in multiple companies in the same industry, it might reduce the incentive for those companies to compete, boosting prices and reducing service for consumers. Those "common ownership" arguments have drawn the attention of U.S. regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission, the latter of which held hearings on the subject last year. 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 University's 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 healthcare 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. All of this comes as Buffett's advanced age highlights the need for investors to assess Berkshire once Buffett is gone. Buffett has shed many of his non-Berkshire roles, including sitting on outside boards and hosting college students in Omaha. He also ceded day-to-day oversight of Berkshire's businesses in Jan. 2018 to Vice Chairmen Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, each considered a possible successor as CEO. Once-hidden Russian-Iranian disagreements over Syria are starting to surface. Moscow and Tehran are jostling to wield the main influence over the government of President Bashar al-Assad, adding further complexity to the still-far-from-complete endgame of Syrias brutal civil war, say diplomats and analysts. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Iranians want to be able to present themselves as the true victors of the conflict that has left almost half-a-million people dead and to reap geo-strategic and business benefits from their propping up of President Assad, according to analysts. But behind-the-scenes maneuvering as well as local reports of pro-Russia forces clashing in northern Syria with pro-Iran government militias suggest tensions are growing. A shake-up last month in the upper ranks of Syria's state security agencies is being explained by some diplomats as the result of Russian pressure aimed at weakening President Assads brother, Maher, who is considered pro-Iranian. In mid-April, at least a dozen fatalities were reported as a result of firefights breaking out between Russian forces and pro-Iranian militias in the northeastern city of Aleppo. The clashes reportedly broke out near a market in the citys Khaldiya neighborhood and quickly escalated. Pro-Tehran militias have accused Moscow of coordinating with Tel Aviv on recent Israeli airstrikes on Iranian military targets in Syria. Their complaints are echoed in the Iranian media. Earlier this year, after meeting Russias Putin in Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Russian leader is anxious to reduce the Iranian military presence in Syria. He said most of their discussions had focused on Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Israeli officials later told reporters that Putin hadnt placed any limitations on Israels targeting of Iranian military units in Syria or of Tehrans ally, Hezbollah, the radical Lebanese Shiite militia. Israeli air raids have been mounted with increasing frequency in recent years. The policy is that we will continue to act and it's accepted with understanding, said one of the officials. A recent column in a Syrian newspaper close to the Assad government pulled back the veil a bit on the rivalry between Moscow and Tehran, accusing both of Syrias allies of promoting their own interests even if it means suffering for the Syrian people. Writing in the Syrian daily Al-Watan, columnist Rifat Ibrahim Al-Badawi said Russia and Iran are in frenetic competition and pushing rival initiatives, both of which are tainted by their own strategic interests. He said Iran is attempting to shape a rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara with the aim of developing a regional alliance among Iran, Turkey and Syria. Russia, he said, is determined to weaken Irans presence in Syria and is urging Assad to cleave closer to Saudi Arabia. The frequency of the visits to Damascus by Iranian and Russian officials, one after the other, is not coincidental. These visits were a hectic race to convey messages to the Syrian leadership, including proposals aimed at reaching an arrangement with Syria, the columnist wrote, according to a translation by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute. Al Watan is owned by Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Assad. Competition Much of the competition between Russia and Iran is over economic spoils and opportunities. Russia was awarded in 2018 the exclusive rights to produce the countrys oil and gas, and Putin has made clear that Russian firms should be given priority when it comes to reconstruction contracts. Last week, Russian officials said they were close to finalizing details on a near-quarter-century lease on Syrias lucrative seaport at Tartus, where the Russian navy has a base, useful for projecting power in the Mediterranean. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Borisov told the state-run Tass news agency, We have made considerable progress on that matter and hope that a contract will be signed within a week and the port of Tartus will be used by Russian businesses for 49 years. Meanwhile, Iran announced it has resumed a plan for a railway line from Tehran through neighboring Iraq to Damascus. The Syrian government says it intends to lease another port on its western coast at Latakia to Iran in October, in response to an official Iranian request. Iran has provided more than $7 billion in credits to Syria since the war erupted, saving the Assad government from financial ruin. The result for Iran has been the signing of at least five cooperation deals, giving the Iranians the use of 5,000 hectares of agricultural land, the rights to phosphate mines south of Palmyra and control of the licenses for mobile phone operators. But while signed, most of the deals are yet to be implemented. Until recently, Iran and Russia, long-time rivals, displayed unprecedented levels of cooperation in their defense of Assad. Russia provided the air power and Iran the ground forces with Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah and Shiite fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan. Cooperation hasnt broken down yet, but the competition between Russia and Iran is sharpening. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen raided an air base adjoining Sanaas airport, Saudi news agency SPA said late Wednesday. The raids targeted drone maintenance sites, a communications system and locations of drone experts and operators, SPA quoted coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki as saying. The terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militia have transformed Sanaa airport into a military barracks and a place to launch drones to carry out terrorist attacks that threaten regional and international security, al-Maliki said. Al-Maliki added that the targets were legitimate and that the operation is consistent with international humanitarian law. Earlier, Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV said 13 air strikes targeted al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa. A resident of the capital told Reuters violent explosions rocked the north of the city where Sanaa airport and the military base are located. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting since March 2015 against the Houthis, who drove the countrys internationally recognized government into exile in 2014. The Houthis control much of north Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. The war has devastated the countrys infrastructure and driven much of its population to the brink of famine. Officials from 132 nations have been gathering in Paris to look at the state of biodiversity around the world. The meeting is the 7th session of the Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which will culminate with the presentation of a huge report when the meeting concludes on May 4. The task is enormous. The challenges even more. About 150 scientists have worked to establish a detailed assessment of the current state of global biodiversity. The 1,800-page report, the first inventory in 15 years, is expected to become a scientific reference in biodiversity A quarter of the 100,000 species assessed, a tiny portion of the estimated 8 million on Earth, are already threatened with extinction. But "an imminent rapid acceleration in the rate of species extinction" is expected by scientists, according to the draft report. And between 500,000 and one million are expected to become threatened, including "many in the coming decades." The roots of the problem are well known : climate change and human activities. In 2018, a World Wildlife Fund report indicated that half of all wildlife species have disappeared in just 40 years. Deforestation, pesticide use, fishing, are among the culprits. The report alleges that human activity as a whole is responsible for a 60 percent decline in global wildlife between 1970 and 2014. "The conversion and destruction of natural habitats, for example for agriculture, and also by direct exploitation of animals and plants, through hunting, fishing or forestry," says Thomas Brooks, the International Union For Conservation of Nature's chief scientist. The warning from scientists and officials gathering here is that by destroying their own planet, people are also threatening mankind and hurting people. "The continued loss of biodiversity will undermine the ability of most countries to achieve most of the sustainable development goals. In particular, it will undermine our ability for poverty reduction, food and water security, human health and the overall goal of leaving nobody behind," says Bob Watson, chairman of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosytem Services. "The loss of living nature, the loss of biodiversity is something that has dramatic and negative implications for all people in all countries," says Brooks. "It is well documented that the most severe impacts of the loss of biodiversity are felt by the people who have the fewest resources to be able to respond to those losses." This gathering is the first of several events to put the ecosystem at the center of discussions. The next is the G-7 at the end of August in Biarritz, chaired by France, which wants to put biodiversity on the agenda. The U.S. Senate on Thursday failed to override President Donald Trump's veto of a bill demanding the U.S. stop supporting the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen. The vote was 53 to 45 in favor, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass in the 100-member Senate. Both the House and Senate passed the bill earlier this year despite Trump's promise to veto. The bill marked the first time in history that Congress invoked the 1973 War Powers Act, which says a president cannot involve U.S. forces in a foreign conflict without lawmakers' consent. The U.S. supplies intelligence and other support to the Saudi-led coalition trying to push Iranian-backed Houthi rebels out of Yemen. Opponents of the bill said the act did not apply because the U.S. forces were not involved in combat in Yemen. But its Senate supporters including sponsors Republican Mike Lee of Utah and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont said the U.S. has been helping a foreign power bomb innocent civilians. Saudi airstrikes targeting the Houthis have hit civilian neighborhoods in Yemen, killing thousands. A U.S.-supplied missile fired by the Saudis struck a school bus near Sanaa last year, killing 40 children. Along with the bloodshed in Yemen, many lawmakers are upset at Trump's tepid reaction to the killing of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October, allegedly at the behest of the Saudi crown prince because of his criticism of the royal family. Khashoggi's body has not been found. The Trump administration has pointed out that Saudi Arabia is a valuable and essential U.S. ally in the Middle East and an enemy of Iran. 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 Muellers 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 Trumps subsequent efforts to stifle the long-running Mueller probe. Committees are also looking into Trumps 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 committees 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. Nadlers 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. Justice Department officials informed the committee Wednesday night that Barr would not testify Thursday before the committee to discuss Muellers report. Judiciary Committee investigators are also focused on contacts Trumps 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 Muellers 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 departments No. 2 official, Rod Rosenstein, to fire Mueller over the special counsels alleged conflicts of interest. McGahn told Muellers investigators that he refused to carry out the presidents 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 2019s first public hearing on Trumps 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 committees 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 Trumps 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 Departments Internal Revenue Service to hand over six years of Trumps 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 committees 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 committees 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, Schiffs has expressed an interest in having Mueller testify about his findings. Senate Intelligence Committee Republican Richard Burr's committee is also looking into Russias role in influencing U.S. elections. The committee could release its findings later this year. In late March, Trump adviser Jared Kushner, the presidents 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 Trumps ties with Deutsche Bank AG, one of the worlds 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. Sudans protesters held a mass rally Thursday to step up pressure on the military to hand power to civilians following last months overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir. The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, a coalition led by the Sudanese Professionals Association, had called for a million-person march as talks with the military council reached a deadlock over the role of the generals in the transitional period. Todays rally is a message to the military council as well as regional and international players that the Sudanese people will not give up on their demand for a civilian government, said Ahmed Rabie, a leader in the SPA, which led the four months of protests that drove al-Bashir from power. Rabie, a member of the protesters delegation to the talks, said they proposed an 11-member sovereign council with three seats set aside for the military. He said the military countered with a proposal for a 10-member council with just three civilians. In their latest bid to narrow the gap, the two sides agreed on a committee of public figures to mediate the talks. The members of this committee are all patriotic public figures and we have no reservation over any of them, said Rabie. However, they are not authorized to sign off on any deal on our behalf. The military forced al-Bashir from office on April 11 and has since jailed him and other former senior officials. But the protesters fear the generals intend to hold onto power or cut a deal with other factions that would leave much of al-Bashirs regime intact. Earlier this week, the military demanded that protesters clear roadblocks around their main sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, which was set up days before al-Bashirs overthrow. The protesters responded by building more barricades. This is a sit-in and there cannot be any real sit-in if roads are cleared, said Rabie. The protest organizers face a challenge next week with the start of the holy month of Ramadan, in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for at least 14 hours under unrelenting heat. The organizers say they will provide air-conditioned tents and other provisions. We have already collected donations from friends and families that will allow us to survive Ramadan, said Adel Ibrahim, a journalist and SPA member. A 16-year-old unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant died in a Texas hospital while in the custody of the U.S. government, officials said Wednesday. The boy died Tuesday after "several days of intensive care" at a children's hospital, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement without disclosing the hospital or its location. The boy's death followed those of two other Guatemalan migrant children in December and warnings from U.S. officials that more tragedies were likely, given the surge in migrants crossing the border and serious illnesses encountered among them. The teenager, who was not identified, was transferred on April 20 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to a shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which houses migrant children, according to the statement. "Upon arrival to the shelter the minor did not note any health concerns," the statement said. The next morning the boy "became noticeably ill including fever, chills and a headache," according to the statement. Treated, released Shelter staff took the teen to a hospital emergency department that morning, where he was treated and released to the shelter the same day, the statement said. The boy's health did not improve, and the next day he was taken to another hospital emergency department by ambulance. Later that day he was transferred to a Texas children's hospital's intensive care unit, where he stayed for several days before he died. The boy's brother and Guatemalan consular officials visited him while he was in the hospital, and his family in Guatemala was regularly advised of his condition, the statement said. Opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policies, including Democrats in Congress, have called for better medical screening in border facilities to detect such cases sooner and prevent deaths. After the December fatalities, the Trump administration announced policy changes to help prevent the deaths of children in custody, including more thorough medical checks The cause of the teenager's death is under review and the case will be subject to a full review, the statement said. U.S. Attorney General William Barr's canceled appearance before a congressional committee Thursday added to a long list of thorny legal conflicts and power struggles between America's executive and legislative branches. Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, are demanding President Donald Trump's tax returns, financial documents related to the Trump family's business dealings, information about security clearances granted to Trump's relatives serving in the White House, and the release of the full, unredacted Russia report by special counsel Robert Mueller. The Trump administration is largely refusing to cooperate, calling the lawmakers' requests political. Barr's absence before the House Judiciary Committee, where staff attorneys were to question him about the Mueller report, caused tempers to boil over and laid bare the full scope of an increasingly ferocious battle between House Democrats and the White House. "President Trump has told Congress that he plans to fight all of our subpoenas," the panel's chairman, Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, said. "[T]he president of the United States wants desperately to prevent Congress, a coequal branch of government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions. He is trying to render Congress inert." Nadler added, "If we don't stand up to him [Trump] together, today, we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future.The very system of government of the United States the system of limited power, the system of not having the president as a dictator is very much at stake." Congressional oversight or political weapon? Republicans, meanwhile, accused Democrats of overstepping Congress' authority, propelled by a fundamental unwillingness to accept the legitimacy of Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election. "Yes, I believe in the power of Congress. I also believe in the rule of law," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said at a Washington Post forum. "They [Democrats] don't like the outcome of the Mueller report, I get it. They didn't like the outcome of the election, I get it. But I think it's time to have some adult supervision in the room and focus on what the American people want." McCarthy argued House Democrats are investigating matters no previous Congress would have dared to probe. He compared Democrats' actions today with those of the previous Republican House majority during the former Obama administration. "Did we [Republicans] ever request the personal finances of President Obama? Did we ever go after his family? Did we ever request his children? Did we ever go after his in-laws?" McCarthy said. "This is personal now. We've never taken it that far." McCarthy's arguments were echoed by Trump's attorneys in a lawsuit filed to prevent banks from releasing financial documents subpoenaed by a House committee investigating Trump family businesses. "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 lawsuit contends. "No grounds exist to establish any purpose other than a political one." House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters promised to continue the probe. "The president will do everything that he can to shut down an investigation," the California Democrat said. "So he can file his lawsuits. So far his lawsuits aren't doing any good." Oversight parameters At issue are the parameters of Congress' constitutionally derived duty to oversee the executive branch, which allows the American people to hold the government accountable through their elected representatives and is seen as a critical element of the "checks and balances" embedded within the federal system. WATCH: Trump, Congress Wage Oversight War "Without oversight, Congress has no way to check up on the president," Georgetown University law professor Victoria Nourse said. "This governs every president and it makes sure that the people can control a president who is pushing his authority too far, whether they are Democrats or Republicans." "Congress has to pass laws. In order for it to pass laws, it has to gather information," George Washington University constitutional law professor Alan Morrison said. "Are the laws being properly executed? Do we need new laws? None of those can be determined without getting information." Congress frequently secures witness testimony and documents voluntarily and without a fight. When lawmakers encounter resistance, they have a powerful tool at their disposal: subpoena power. "The Congress can subpoena any material that is related to existing legislation, anticipated legislation, or anything that would serve what the Supreme Court called informing [the] function of Congress," Nourse said. "So they [lawmakers] have pretty broad power here." Echoes of Watergate Legislative subpoena power was famously put to the test in 1974 when then-President Richard Nixon fought against handing over incriminating audiotapes of Oval Office conversations to the Senate committee investigating the Watergate scandal. Nixon's legal team unsuccessfully argued the tapes were privileged executive branch material. "Nixon sought executive privilege to deny Congress the tapes. And the Supreme Court said, 'No, you have no absolute privilege. You have a qualified privilege and that privilege can be outweighed by the need for the information.' So Nixon lost that case, the tapes were delivered [to Congress], and we all know what happened," Nourse said. Nixon resigned weeks after the Supreme Court's unanimous decision. Subpoena court battles Many are predicting court battles over House subpoenas issued to the Trump administration. "My assumption is all of these issues are going to end up in the courts," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said. "Every administration since I've been around has been in disputes with Congress over power and we'll see how it all sorts out." In the case of Trump's tax returns, courts will have competing interests and precedents to consider, according to legal scholars. "As I read the statute, it is within Congress's authority to seek the tax returns," Nourse said. "Congress can ask to see anyone's tax returns, and that includes obviously corporations as well as individuals," Morrison said. "But this time, they're asking not only for the tax returns when the person is the president, but they want President Trump's tax returns back for six or seven years [before he entered office]. And that raises a different set of issues." While holding off on impeachment proceedings against Trump over the results of the Russia investigation, top House Democrats warned the president could trigger impeachment by failing to comply with congressional subpoenas. Whether hindering congressional oversight is an impeachable offense depends on Trump's behavior going forward, according to Morrison. "Being recalcitrant? Probably not [impeachable]. Refusing to honor court orders? Definitely," the professor said. President Donald Trump is increasingly reliant upon economic sanctions to achieve his foreign policy goals, despite a repeated emphasis that the use of military force remains a viable option. However, these coercive measures, analysts say, have not produced their intended results, and at times have put the United States at odds with allies. Venezuela In the case of Venezuela, the Trump sanctions that include the seizure of Venezuelas oil assets in the United States, along with joining more than 50 other countries in recognizing Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as the interim president, have energized the opposition. Despite the economic pain caused by the sanctions, the massive protests in the country, and reports of growing mid-level military support for the opposition, socialist leader Nicolas Maduro has continued to hold on to power through increasing political repression. Short of using military force that could entangle the United States in a protracted civil war, there are few other measures the Trump administration can take to force democratic change in Venezuela. Because the costs are limited to us. It also means the benefits will likely be limited. We could accept more costs and achieve more benefits if we were for example, to invade these countries, change their governments, force them to adopt policies we want, said Richard Weitz, a political-military analysis at Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. Iran Trump has more aggressively imposed unilateral sanctions than past presidents against countries like Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and North Korea, and in threatening to target more third party countries that violate U.S. restrictions. He's following the thesis that, you know, began to be articulated in the Congress and in the 90s, which is you should force other countries to make a choice. They can do business with us, or they can do business with Iran, or Cuba, North Korea, said William Reinsch, an international business analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. After withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal, negotiated by the previous administration of President Barack Obama, Trump's security team recently warned third party countries, including allies South Korea and Japan, of impending sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil. The unilateral sanctions have worked to some degree to force reluctant allies to go along with increasing economic pressure on the Iranian Islamic Republic to end its nuclear ambitions and support of armed militant groups in the Middle East. They've reassured allies in the Middle East that we're taking a strong stand in Iran, they have caused European countries to disengage from the Iranian economy, even as their governments, although they are clearly opposed to his policies, they haven't taken strong measures to confront the U.S. on that, said Weitz. Cuba Trump on Wednesday threatened an economic embargo of Cuba for allegedly supporting Maduro in Venezuela with 20,000 troops. The United States also recently announced it would enforce sanctions against Cuba permitting U.S. businesses that had property seized by the communist government of Fidel Castro 60 years ago, to sue international companies, some in Europe and Canada, that have since taken over these buildings. These restrictions on Cuba and Iran not only potentially target allies that violate U.S. policy, they could also hurt American businesses by excluding them from these markets. The worst case for American companies is if they're out, and the German, French, British competitors are in, because then they're losing market share, and they're losing market share long term, because they're not going to get that back when the political situation changes, said Reinsch. North Korea On North Korea the Trump administration led efforts for increased United Nations sanctions in 2017 that ban most of that countrys exports, along with unilateral sanctions on companies in China and Russia for supporting the Norths weapons program. These restrictions likely contributed to Pyongyang suspending ballistic missile and nuclear tests and agreeing to engage in denuclearization talks. However, the talks remain deadlocked over Washingtons demand for Pyongyangs near complete disarmament prior to sanctions relief. While sanctions can impose increased economic costs on an adversary country, analysts are skeptical they can force sweeping change, and say that over time these measures can become less effective as targeted countries step up evasion efforts. The United States is tightening its economic sanctions on Iran by ending a set of waivers Thursday that had allowed some of the countrys largest oil buyers to continue their purchases. With the expiration of waivers for eight buyers, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States would be exerting maximum pressure on the Iranian government. The U.S. State Department called the move a fulfillment of the Trump administrations promise to get Irans oil exports to zero and deny the regime the revenue it needs to fund terrorism and violent wars abroad. Trump pledge The move is the latest in a series of steps the United States has taken since U.S. President Donald Trump took office with a pledge to withdraw from the international agreement that limited Irans nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Trump announced the withdrawal in May 2018, and new sanctions went into place in November, with oil purchase waivers in place for China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece. Since then, Italy, Greece and Taiwan have halted their Iranian oil imports. Turkey and China have attacked the U.S. action, but it is not clear whether they will continue to buy Iranian oil. China, India workarounds Samantha Gross, Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution told VOAs Ira Mellman that most likely most parties will fall in line. Gross said one exception could be China, which may continue to buy some Iranian crude through the banks in China that are already under U.S. sanctions. China and India are also trying to set up a trading bloc that would allow them to buy Iranian oil without going through the U.S. banking sector, Gross said. This is a tricky thing for us, she said. Mechanism that move away from pricing oil in U.S. dollars is really not the best for us in the long run. But, she said it appears that the Trump administration has decided that putting maximum pressure on Iran is more important than other foreign policy goals that might be affected by the move. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Wednesday that the United States will not be able to bring Iranian oil exports to zero, and that Irans oil-producing neighbors have exaggerated their ability to increase their production to a level that would replace the Iranian oil being blocked from the market. Since announcing last month its intention to end the oil sanctions waivers, the Trump administration has expressed confidence that countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would offset any loss in Iranian oil. We need this war to end and to go back to civilian life, says Mohammed, a 27-year-old soldier at a base in the suburbs of Tripoli. Less than a month ago, peace talks were planned and the reunification of Libya was back on the table. Now, fighters are in their fourth week of battle as the eastern forces of Khalifa Haftar try to take over the capital in the west. An hour later, Mohammed is on the front line as guns fire in both directions over dirt berms in a neighborhood abandoned by civilians only weeks ago. Neither side is gaining ground. Haftars army, known as the Libyan National Army, arrived almost a month ago, after he declared his intention to take over Tripoli. Western forces, known as the Government of National Accord, have mostly prevented the assault from entering the center city, but there is near-constant fighting in the suburbs, and 42,000 people have been displaced. At least 22 civilians have been killed. WATCH: Displaced Families in Tripoli Languish as Fighting Continues Aid workers fear their resources are thin and that a continued assault would lead to a crisis for which they are not prepared. We are very afraid of a large displacement of people because we have low capacities, said Ahmed Ghedan, who is in charge of the displacement camps in Tripoli, which are mostly converted schoolhouses. We are dependent on the people and businesspeople of Tripoli to help the families. So we fear we will not get enough support. Beleaguered people In Tripoli, locals say they are tired of war, and anger for Haftar and his international supporters is public and loud. Anti-Haftar signs hang in Martyrs Square, a main center for protests and celebration, and also are plastered on the pavement. But in the markets, sellers say their real allegiance is to peace, not to any government. They just added a few traffic bumps, says Sammy, a 39-year-old stall-owner who sells childrens clothing, pajamas and socks, referring to the current Western leadership. Freedom of speech is here, he adds, but he says that in his mind, this particular freedom was not what fueled the mass uprising in 2011 that overthrew 40-year leader and strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Since then, Libya has suffered through a string of wars that has left the country torn between two distinct governments in the east and the west. They fought Gadhafi, he notes, over the economy, corruption and abuse of power. Free speech is nice, he says, but not nearly enough. While many here like the idea of Libya finding a single, powerful leader to unite the country, Sammy does not suggest replacing one strongman for another. Haftar was expected to take part in negotiations for unified national elections this month, before the assault on Tripoli. Some support for Haftar in this market did exist a month ago, Sammy adds, but now it is unspoken, if at all. Over the weekend, airstrikes hit a neighborhood near the citys airport and the streets are becoming more crowded as families flee the suburbs for the city. If we could go back, I think we wouldnt have had a revolution, he says. Ongoing standoff Tripoli soldiers say the fighting is most intense in the evening, and airstrikes believed to be with the help of foreign countries are hard to combat. Tripolis army, like Haftars, is made up of a coalition of military groups that once fought among themselves. Now, both armies fight as units against each other. But long-term security beyond this battle is also at risk, explains Abdul Basset Marwan, commander of the Tripoli Military Area. Before Tripoli was attacked, the West was close to becoming peaceful and secure, he says, and the April negotiations had offered fresh hope the country would be unified. Now, it is hard to know how the war could end without withdrawal, surrender or devastating battles in heavily populated neighborhoods. Neither side has indicated these are options. This war will bring destruction and instability, and it is very difficult to bring it to an end, Marwan says. We wanted to unify the military. But not like this. This past March, three people connected to school shootings killed themselves over a 10-day period. Two were student survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The third was a father who lost his 6-year-old daughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. VOAs Dora Mekouar explores why someone associated with a school shooting might turn to suicide. The recent suicides of three people connected to school shootings have drawn attention to the other victims of mass attacks people who survive the initial traumatic experience only to take their own lives later. The pain is grinding, and it feels like its never going to stop, says retired teacher Paula Reed, who survived the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School that left 13 dead and more than 20 injured. Reed struggled with PTSD and says she was suicidal by the three-year anniversary of the shooting at her school. I never ever in my life struggled with anxiety or PTSD or depression or anything like that, Reed says. So having been through the worst of PTSD I have an understanding of people with clinical depression that I never had before, and because I still get anxiety attacks, I definitely have an understanding of that. That is something that never happened to me before that happens now. More than a quarter of mass shooting survivors develop post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the National Center for PTSD at the at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Symptoms of PTSD can include agitation, hostility, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, social isolation, insomnia, nightmares, emotional detachment and unwanted thoughts. PTSD has been linked to suicide. In the 20 years since Columbine, about 223,000 U.S. students have been exposed to gun violence at 229 schools nationwide, according to The Washington Post. Children are very resilient, and they can come back, and they can deal with problems, and they can cope, says Dr. Donald Freedheim, a psychologist who has worked with trauma survivors. He says people who have suicidal thoughts after a school shooting are sometimes reacting to a previous negative experience. A new trauma like a school shooting can stir up all of the feelings, misery and depression of that earlier trauma. WATCH: Dora's video report from Colorado Jeremy Richman, a father who lost his first-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary, killed himself this past March, years after his daughter was murdered, and just days after two student survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida took their own lives. Seventeen people were killed in the Parkland attack on Valentines Day 2018. Twenty first-graders and four educators were killed at the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school on December 14, 2012. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. [The Trump administration has asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency border funding to cope with the wave of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexican border. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story. 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. 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. Photo: The Orchard Sometimes, a history lesson works better when its a little ragged and personal. Clocking in at a little over 90 minutes and consisting primarily of a sit-down interview with the former Soviet leader, Werner Herzogs Meeting Gorbachev speeds through a vast stretch of the 20th century, explaining the decline of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain through the eyes of the man whose reforms precipitated much of it. But Herzog himself brings a surprising and, it turns out, necessary element to their interactions: that of the grateful world citizen, one of billions who felt the first pangs of existential relief when Gorbachev brought a new openness to the USSR and began talking nuclear disarmament with President Ronald Reagan. Meeting Gorbachev is a hagiography, but its unafraid to position itself as such; Herzog makes his case proudly and passionately. The director opens by first apologizing to the former Soviet leader for the crimes committed by Germans against Russians during World War II. I am a German, and the first German you ever met probably wanted to kill you, he suggests. Gorbachev counters that his childhood neighbors in the Northern Caucus town of Privolnoye were a family of Germans who owned a sweet shop, and that he was fond of them as a result. I thought that such wonderful sweets could only be made by good people, he recalls thinking. This establishes the personal quality of the films approach. We feel that were watching two humans reflecting on Earth-shattering historical events, not just an interviewer and his subject trading questions and answers. They proceed quickly through the highlights of Gorbachevs life and career including his rise as a local party boss with a gift for agricultural planning, and his meeting and marrying fellow student Raisa Titarenko, who was just as headstrong as he was. An extended riff on their marriage is saved for the end, when Herzog does his best Barbara Walters impersonation and goes for the kill, repeatedly asking Gorbachev about his late wife: Do you remember her voice, her laughter, her smell, the perfume? he asks. How much do you miss her? Gorbachev doesnt let him down: When she died, my life was taken from me, he replies tearfully. To those of us who still remember some of the key events of Gorbachevs rise and eventual fall the musical chairs of dying leaders that preceded him; his first summit with Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland; the Chernobyl nuclear disaster; the desperate coup by hardliners that hastened the USSRs collapse Herzogs film brings some shading, but little context. There is little here, for example, on the fact that the Soviets were already planning big changes before Gorbachev took office; his mentor Yuri Andropov was supposed to have been the reformer, but died unexpectedly just months after taking office. And there is a chance that those unfamiliar with these events might find themselves a little lost at times. Bringing that kind of big-picture overview, however, might dilute from Herzogs main aim, which is to remind us of the momentousness of the Soviet leaders achievement, and of the feverish optimism of the era. I was just a kid then, but I distinctly recall, in the period before Gorbachev, assuming that Id never grow up to be an adult; the ensuing thaw of the Cold War and the disarmament efforts of the late 1980s really did feel like Id had my death sentence commuted. I wasnt the only one, and theres something reassuring about discovering that Herzog who in the 1970s and 80s was such a fearsome, shamanic figure, seemingly above contemporary events and lost in his own mythic, pseudo-historical obsessions wasnt so different from the rest of us. Confessional and sincere, Meeting Gorbachev humanizes both its creator and its subject. Community support has played a key role in the support of the Youth Chorus of Central Texas and the groups spring concert on Sunday, Be The Change You Want To Be, will acknowledge those groups that work with the community. The Sunday afternoon concert at Austin Avenue United Methodist Church identifies a dozen Waco organizations and programs that have helped the youth chorus over its six years, or Waco youth in general. The program will feature work by Washington, D.C. composer Louise Phillips, whose tribute to the national parks featured childrens choirs and choruses performing at those parks. The Youth Chorus of Central Texas sang her Dare To Dream at the Waco Mammoth National Monument two years ago, a performance taped by the city of Wacos WCCC-TV channel. Phillips will attend Sundays concert. The chorus also will sing a number by composer Debra Scott, part of the Dallas Street Choir, whose members are drawn from the citys homeless population. Director Florence Scattergood said community involvement has been a part of the youth chorus mission from the outset, but this was the first concert to honor that involvement. DRT meeting The Sterling C. Robertson Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Brazos Room at the Community Bank & Trust wealth management office, 1711 Lake Success Drive. The speaker is DRT District V representative Sherry Jenkins. Mamma Mia! All proceeds from a Mamma Mia! dress rehearsal event at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Waco Civic Theatre, 1517 Lake Air Drive, will benefit Friends for Life. The event will include food and drinks before the performance starts at 7:30. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $40 for premium seating and $1,000 for whole sections. To buy tickets, call 772-7600. Read more about the show on Page 1C. Summer camp The Waco Childrens Theatre will accept final registration forms for its 30th annual Summer Performing Arts Camp and hear auditions from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Lee Lockwood Library auditorium, 2801 W. Waco Drive. Forms will be available and can be filled out at that time. The summer camp will run from June 3-30. Two Waco children whose reported kidnapping led to an Amber Alert and search late Wednesday were found safe early Thursday at the home of a day care worker, leading police to conclude that the mother had forgotten the children at day care. Two girls, ages 3 and 4, were removed from their mothers care after a police investigation found less than favorable conditions at their apartment. No charges or arrests had been made in the case as of noon Thursday, but Waco Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said questionable circumstances surrounding the reported kidnapping could lead to charges later. There are certainly a lot of questionable circumstances to this entire case and we will try to get to the true facts of what happened, Swanton said. Due to social media, immediate local news media coverage, and an issued Amber Alert, we received information that led us to the children. They were recovered and are safe. 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. THE 2020 FIELD: See the full list of Democrats running for president in 2020 in a gallery at the end of this story 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." Photos: Here are the Democrats running for president in 2020 The Washington Post's Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report. She and Dick were part of the group that started the McClannahan Riding Club and spend many nights there working and/or watching friends and their children participate in riding events. Audrey loved cooking, spending time with family and spent many hours at her sewing machine making clothes and other items for her children and later, for her grandchildren. As long as she was able, grandchildren and great-grandchildren received baby blankets that were lovingly made by their "Gran". She enjoyed working in the yard and caring for and enjoying her flowers and plants. There was frequently a cat on the outside kitchen window sill but she dearly loved her dogs. Audrey enjoyed meeting and talking with people and she especially enjoyed the times she could spend carrying on a conversation in French with friends and relatives.or even a complete stranger who spoke her native language. Indeed they do. But if the consequence of each election is that the victorious party believes it gets to run roughshod over the interests of the losing party and the losing party understands that its mission until the next election is to resist every initiative of the majority party, we are doomed to a future of partisan warfare, disruptive transfers of power and neglect of the important and necessary work of government. Thanks to the founding generation, our constitution places many obstacles in the way of majoritarian tyranny. These obstacles a bicameral Congress with a Senate representing states not population; a presidential veto; enumerated powers in Congress; judicial review; a Bill of Rights and the Electoral College give minorities leverage they would not have in a purely majoritarian system. But that is leverage meant to force compromise, not to facilitate uncompromising resistance. The Framers could only give us the tools for an effective republic. As Benjamin Franklin is said to have advised a citizen in Philadelphia after the constitutional convention, its up to us to make it work. In the video, the student is not seen swinging the knife or threatening any other people with the weapon. DeBeer said in addition to the criminal charge, the student will likely face separate discipline process to be conducted by the school administrators. The juveniles name was not released by authorities. Assault with machete Bellmead police arrested a man armed with a machete Tuesday morning at Eastgate Plaza, 2500 Bellmead Drive, after he swung with weapon at a man cleaning a business, Bellmead police Sgt. Brenda Kinsey said. Police responded to the shopping center at about 10:25 a.m. A man cleaning a business restroom told police he asked Albert Richard Thatcher, 56, of Waco, to leave the business because Thatcher was bathing in a bathroom sink and causing water to pool on the floor, Kinsey said. The man said Thatcher gathered his belongings and put them on a table and was becoming angry, when the man saw a long stick that was broken and pointed at one end near Thatchers belongings and became nervous Thatcher would use the stick against him, Kinsey said. Thats why its so important to take part in these trials, Young said. Im a strong supporter of clinical trials. Its a privilege. You want to find early-stage breast cancer in order to prevent metastatic breast cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy, seven weeks or radiation and then a radical hysterectomy as a further preventative against the cancer. She will take an endocrine therapy drug for the next five years. Worthwhile Trial Encarnacion said the FLEX trial, which has 20 patients taking part locally, is worthwhile on a number of levels. First, it allows new drugs to develop, he said. Second, the trials will tell you if certain therapies are good for you or not. Next, its less in terms of cost. Only about 5 percent of those eligible for cancer trials take part, he said. Some people mistakenly think the only time to consider taking part in a clinical trial is when there are no other options, he said. Clinical trials are for all stages of cancer, not just those at end-stage, he said. Even though its a challenge to load several elderly people into her van, Uni loves to take them with her on field trips, for country drives to see the Texas wildflowers, for dinner at nice restaurants, for visits with their friends. Uni amazes me with her enthusiasm and creativity. Early Start That enthusiasm comes from Murphy having been a caregiver almost all her life. Murphy was born in Pusan, Korea, and has Okinawan and Korean heritage. Her mother sang at the USO, where she met the man who would become her adoptive father. He married Unis mother and adopted her, moving the family to California when she was 4. I can say I became a caregiver at the age of 8, Murphy said. My sister, Helen, was 6 months old when she aspirated while my mother was feeding her a bottle. Helen was officially dead for 23 minutes with no pulse and not breathing. The paramedics revived her on the way to the hospital, but she suffered brain damage and has been handicapped her entire life. Our mother could not live with the guilt and when Helen was 2, Mom moved from California to Hawaii, leaving my sister and me with our father. Thats when he remembered his personal change after jaw surgery. I realized I wanted to be part of that, to help people change their lives through dentistry, he said. Town became a biology major with a minor in chemistry, earned his undergraduate from UNT and attended Baylor College of Dentistry, where he received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. He worked for two years at Element Dental in Bryan when he decided to strike out on his own and picked Waco. He and his wife, Christy, had no ties to Waco, but it had the small-town feel they were seeking and it was in a good location. Christy has family in Arlington while Charles mother and sister live in Fort Worth and work at Lockheed-Martin. They met during his senior year. Christy was a sophomore art major at the time. She does artwork on commission and does live video art, where shell take a blank canvas and within two hours turn out a masterpiece, Town said. They have a fur baby, a mutt named Cooper. Blessings, Growth Smith also suggested students take advantage of any opportunities provided to them through FFA. Its amazing how many opportunity you folks have, especially in this organization, he said. Relationships are also critical to success, according to Smith. Invest your time, invest your energy in the people around you, he said. Students should also turn to their teachers or mentors when they need help. Surround yourself with the best leaders you know who can take you where you want to go, he said. Smiths last tip is to have a passion for education that does not stop when school ends. Never stop learning, he said. If the AGHS FFA members use at least some of Smiths five tips, they could end up with a career in ag that is equally as successful as Smiths. And their first step is will be through FFA. I hope you get to have an FFA journey as blessed as I have, Smith said. Embassy of China in South Africa held a farewell ceremony in Pretoria, 30 April 2019, for seven South African students leaving for China the first batch under the South Africa-China Young Scientists Exchange Programme. The exchange programme is part of a five-year agreement that was signed by the South African Department of Science and Technology and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology in 2017 to give young researchers from both countries an opportunity to share knowledge and develop skills. The Department of Science and Technology Acting Director-General Daan Du Toit said this exchange is a fulfilment of an action plan drafted last year during President Xi Jinpings state visit with President Cyril Ramaphosa. This exchange is an investment in the future and the next generation of South African scientists, said the Acting DG. Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian, said the YSEP shows commitment from both governments to strengthen cooperation and deepen people to people cooperation. It is our sincere hope that there will be more Chinese scientists who will also come here [South Africa] for our joint research projects. It is also our sincere hope that you will use your time in China to travel and learn about our Chinese culture and return to tell the true story of China, he said. Winston Nxumalo, who is one of the recipients of the Young Scientists Exchange Programme (YSEP), says he hopes to not only engage in writing research but ultimately ensure that the research yields economic fruit. We hope that whatever research we will be working on, it will lead to innovation and perhaps something commercial that will benefit everyone and create jobs, said Nxumalo from the University of Limpopo. Through the programme, Nxumalo and six other young scientists will leave South Africa for China as part of the first batch South Africa-China YSEP. The programme will promote the development of scientists, scholars and researchers, focusing on various scientific fields, including biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, ICT systems, green technologies, the exploitation of mineral resources, and space science and astronomy. Speaking at a farewell ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria, Lizelle van Dyk, from the University of the Witwatersrand, said she sees this as an opportunity to learn. I see this as a growth opportunity for me on personal and professional level. I believe that I have much to learn. The Wuhan Institute of Technology is well known for technology development and my research project in the recovery of phosphorus from water also holds much potential for China and South Africa, said Van Dyk. On a personal level, Van Dyk said she is excited to be exposed to the Chinese culture, its food and many beautiful places that she has only seen on photos. On my to do list is to see the Great Wall of China, doing scuba diving in the lake that contains a submerged part of the Great Wall of China and to learn basic Mandarin and perhaps take some Chinese cooking lessons, she said. The YSEP is jointly funded with the aim of cultivating future leading scientists by promoting the exchange of researchers between research institutes, universities and enterprises in an effort to advance research and development, and produce academic papers, new patents and innovative products. The majority of the successful students, selected through a call issued by the National Research Foundation earlier this year, come from historically disadvantaged institutions. Other students are Nokuthula Peace Mchunu from the Durban University of Technology, Ndanduleni Lesley Lethole, Peace Prince Mkhonto and and Wynston Ray Woodenber and Anthony Walters University of KwaZulu-Natal. They will spend up to 12 months at universities across China Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan University Beijing, the Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University Tongji, the National Astronomical Observatories of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 14 May. The American Academy in Rome presents Life Clings Closest Where Most Hated, a performance by Turin-based American artist Tom Johnson inspired by celebrated playwright Adrienne Kennedy's reading of the gothic horror classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Johnson has created an installation and performance expressly for the exhibition The Academic Body, which opens on 22 May and runs until 13 July. Adrienne Kennedy, who was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2018, has explored issues of race, kinship, and violence in American society in her plays. Johnson, whose work encompasses drawing, sculpture, video, and live performance, is interested in analysing social taboos and has explored many of the themes central to Kennedys plays. For details see American Academy in Rome website. The 2019 edition of Letterature Festival Internazionale di Roma returns to the Basilica di Massenzio in the Roman Forum, taking place over eight evenings from 4-28 June. Rome's popular annual initiative celebrates the written word with a host of internationally acclaimed authors who are invited to write a text inspired by a chosen theme, which this year is Il Domani dei Classici, composed especially for the event. This year's literature festival features a line-up of award-winning Italian and international authors who will read from their work, supported by actors and live music. The international aspect of the festival includes Anthony Cartwright from the UK, Alicia Gimenez Bartlett from Spain, Mircea Cartarescu from Romania, Filippe Forest fom France, and Roberto Saviano from Italy. The US is well represented this year with writers including Scott Spencer, Rachel Kushner, Adam Gopnik, Joe Lansdale, Tayari Jones, Lewis Shiner, Chris Offutt and Elaine Castillo. Novelties this year include a concert by the Accademia di S. Cecilia, a show organised by the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, and outdoor film screenings in Villa Borghese. Entry is free but tickets must be picked up before the readings begin, from 20.00, at a designated booth just off Via dei Fori Imperiali. Tickets are provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and readings take place at 21.00, with access to the Basilica from 20.30. For full details see festival website. 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. Its way easier now than when I wrote the book were talking about, because I had a full-time job and then I came home, and we had just had a kid. So, the big difference now is that I can leave my kids at school, go to my office and write all day. I get to spend a lot of time with my kids. And thats what I keep coming back to. I have so many qualities and characteristics that make me unfit to be a parent Im not suitable for parenting because I live in my head all the time. Im making up a story or Im somewhere else in my head because I have a very active imagination, which makes it hard to live in the now. And the only way I know to make up for that is: Im here all the time. Im going to do a million things wrong, but I want them to at least be able to say, he was here, he was around so much that we got fed up with him. It should have been good! Wolfes great theme was status in America, the mechanics of social distinction in an ostensibly classless country. As the recent admissions scandals remind us, nowhere are those mechanics more on display than at American colleges and universities, engines of social mobility and class reinforcement both. And it wasnt as though Wolfe hadnt covered the Youth before. Long before the real estate magnates of A Man in Full or the bond traders of The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe made his name documenting postwar youth culture. He was, of course, much further from his own youth by 2004, but despite the cringe factor, that didnt disqualify him. For more than 30 years, Wolfe had been advocating, against the postmodernists and the modesty of write what you know, for the intensely realistic novel, based upon reporting, that plunges wholeheartedly into the social reality of America today. A campus novel by an elderly man could have been a triumph for Wolfe, proof of the power of his technique. Somehow, Ive made it to see The Last Supper for the first time in my life without anything of Browns opus rubbing off on me. My guides caution, her polite reticence about Brown, suggests that his novel and the movie based on it have become part of the larger project of crowd control that is a daily fact of life at Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Leonardo painted his greatest work in the mid-1490s on a wall at the Dominican convent. There is the basic crowd control of timed-ticket entry, and the physical logistics of controlling how people enter and leave, to ensure stable atmospheric conditions in the room where the fragile painting has been in a state of decay for centuries. Then theres the more complicated crowd control of making this a meaningful experience, something more than just a quick-hit addition to the bucket list of the tourist hordes that pass through the city on a daily basis. Unauthorized border crossings surpassed 103,000 in March, the highest level in a dozen years, and a majority of those arriving are part of family groups. The powerful currents of the Rio Grande have long been a deadly risk to migrants, but they pose an especially grave danger now because so many small children are making the journey to the U.S. border with their parents. A record number of Central American families and unaccompanied minors are surrendering to U.S. authorities at the border in large groups including one this week with more than 400 people in New Mexico and the number of unaccompanied children sent to HHS custody this year is 50 percent higher than the same period last year. Dozens of children and adults have been discovered suffering from various illnesses and have been taken to local hospitals, some with preexisting health concerns, including influenza and liver disease. The guidelines for the Migrant Protection Protocols program also known as Remain in Mexico preclude government officials from sending people with known physical/mental health issues back to Mexico. But at least two pregnant women and a Honduran family that includes a 4-year-old girl with a neurological disorder were sent from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, under the MPP program, according to court proceedings in recent weeks. It is difficult for the girl to take in food, she is nonverbal and unable to walk, and her family argues that waiting in Mexico was a dangerous proposition. 1. The Friend of Gene plan. To become a friend of Gene you merely have to buy 10,000 copies of Me & Dog at the surprisingly affordable bulk price of $12.97 apiece. I can make no quid-pro-quo offers that would be unethical but consider the tools of a humor columnist. Now go to a mirror. Stand sideways. Would you like that butt to be the subject of good-natured ridicule in The Washington Post? Do you want me to describe it as having the dimensions and feel of a 50-gallon Hefty bag filled with human molars? Another possibility: She looks like Gods third try at creating a female person, where Eve was try No. 79, and attempt No. 2 resembled a giant pancreas with ears. Do you want to be so described? Of course not. Well, if we have a book purchase deal, I cant write about you! It would violate rules of journalism! Dont consider this plan extortion. Consider it preventive image control. These accusations are extremely serious, and completely untested. I realize that you arent a parent of one of the accusers, but both of the girls who are accusing this young man of rape should go to the police department in the town where the college is located. Even if they dont think they have specific proof, they should be interviewed by police and give their truthful account of what happened, including any identifiable characteristics. Doing this might establish a pattern. (They should also be screened for STDs.) We will be staying inside today for our own safety. And no matter what happens outside, well be here, doing our daily cleaning, having meetings and doing our work to peacefully hold this building, said Ariel Gold, the organizations national co-director. For the sake of democracy and international law, we will remain in this building. We want to be able to regulate, we want to be able to make sure we are collecting our fair share in taxes, we want to invest those taxes in ways that affect communities that have been disproportionately affected, and we want to train and hire D.C. residents, Bowser said in an interview Wednesday with The Washington Post at a medical marijuana cultivation center. In its own response Wednesday, Mazars attorney Henry F. Schuelke said the firm took no position on the case and did not ask to be heard at a May 14 hearing before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta, saying, Although Mazars USA is the recipient of the Committees subpoena, the dispute in this action is between Plaintiffs and the Committee. Officers found a second man in an alley, and he also had been shot, the report says. Police said he was pronounced dead at the scene. The man who was shot in the leg was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. In the fall, WMAR television station in Baltimore obtained footage of a federal informant telling detectives he had information about a possible suspect in the shooting. Police said they looked into it and said they did not believe it was a credible lead, but Nicole Suiter said she considers it an open question. It and other tips received by police are not outlined in the Independent Review Boards report. Decuir and his public defenders argued that he shot Malek in self-defense after the two strangers got off the bus about 12:30 a.m. As he did in the prior trials, Decuir told the jury that he saw Malek turn at him with a gun that he said the teen had removed from a duffle bag. Decuir said that, fearing for his life, he removed his gun from his shorts and fired. A bullet struck Malek once in the back of his neck. An 8-year-old girl was injured in a hit-and-run by an SUV in Laurel, Anne Arundel County police said. The girl was attempting to get on a school bus Thursday. Barnes, who was escorted into the courtroom under heavy security, wore a gray hoodie and a jacket with Smile More written across the back. Jeff Stein, his attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, told the judge that my clients actions were in self-defense. He said Barnes had no prior arrests or convictions as an adult. By law, Virginia governors have limited powers to veto individual lines in the state budget. Any vetoed language cannot be tied to an underlying budget expenditure, and the clerk of the House of Delegates must rule on whether such vetoes are acceptable. The General Assembly has sometimes simply ignored vetoes of budget line-items, such as when Northams predecessor, Terry McAuliffe (D), tried to reject budget language aimed at stopping the expansion of Medicaid. Tom Miller, the committee chairman, overruled the decision and said the convention will go forward as planned. With the state party saying Miller had no authority to make that decision, it appears the results will be contested. Kei Pritsker, 22, a District barista who has been living in the embassy, said the group collected the food but would not comment on how many people remained inside and how long the supplies might sustain them. At least one member of the group was in need of medication and had not been able to receive it, organizers said. Following on Dana Milbanks reminder in his April 28 Sunday Opinion column, Trump is bad, but the past was worse, that weve survived worse situations than the current presidency, there is revealed a simple truth regarding the Trump episode that deserves emphasis. As long as our Constitution and resultant laws are adhered to by an alert citizenry, the process of removing an undesirable leader can be peaceful and only minimally disruptive. Be it by impeachment or by election, this process will soon be on display for the world to see and will surely be seen because of the colorful character at the center of the controversy. All to the better: It will spotlight a comparison between our democratic form of governance, with all its inefficiencies, and that of autocratic societies where, after decades of nepotism, corruption and privilege, violence is often required to pry members of the ruling class away from their privileged lifestyle. If so, Barrs betrayal reminds us: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. In addition to his unilateral clearing of Trump on obstruction of justice (something Mueller did not do), Barr also echoed Trumps claim that there was no collusion (a question Mueller did not address) and that there had been spying against Trumps campaign. Their best hopes of picking up a new seat are in two states that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 (Colorado and Maine) and another (Arizona) that elected a Democratic senator in last years midterm contests. They also have to worry about losing a seat: Odds right now seem to be against Democrat Doug Jones holding on in deep-red Alabama, where he won an upset 2017 election dominated by sexual abuse allegations against his Republican opponent, Roy Moore. There are some in the foreign policy establishment who believe that a revanchist Russia poses a grave threat to the United States. Others worry about a rising China or an ideological Iran. For Bolton, its all of the above and more. He has at various points warned darkly about the mortal threat posed to the United States by Cuba, Libya, Syria and, of course, Iraq. A longtime fan of regime change, he recently labeled Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua a triangle of terror and said the United States looks forward to watching each corner of the triangle fall. It seems he wants them to fall not to usher in an era of democracy, but because they resist U.S. power and influence. The Monroe Doctrine is alive and well, Bolton told the New Yorkers Dexter Filkins. Its our hemisphere. The U.S. government should be putting more pressure on Baghdad to come up with a real plan for how to integrate these people back into society, Duckworth said. But, she added, thats not the only growing security concern that needs urgent attention. Iranian-backed Shiite militias are taking root in areas that were held by Sunnis before the Islamic State took over. A lack of reconstruction progress is feeding poverty, which in turn is feeding more extremism. In June, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to justify separating refugee families at the border with a quotation from Romans 13:1 (Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established), I was thrilled when people shot back with their Bible quotations. Stephen Colbert quoted Romans 13:10, Love thy neighbor as thyself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. When right-wingers weaponize the Bible, its hard not to cheer when that weapon is turned back on them. Its just like they say: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a god is a good guy with a god. That the United States stands apart from much of the world in its acceptance of gun violence was underscored by the striking personal experiences of an Australian physician. Nikki Stamp, a heart and lung surgeon in Perth, Australia, said in a Wednesday Post op-ed that in more than 16 years of practice, she has had to deal with only two instances of gunshot wounds. One was a man who had accidentally shot himself and the other an attempted suicide. Contrast that with doctors in the United States, who, in response to being told by the National Rifle Association to stay in their own lane in the gun policy debate, took to Twitter with stories of treating gunshot victims on a daily even hourly basis. The April 27 Metro article Naval Academy police chief abruptly leaves described the student body as constituting about 4,400 midshipmen. There was no mention of female students. I consulted the Naval Academy website and learned that all students are called midshipmen, regardless of sex. The other three academies the U.S. Military Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Coast Guard Academy have a gender-neutral title for their students: cadets. When will the Naval Academy move into the 21st century and use language that reflects reality? The administrations rationale was laid out in a policy brief supporting a lawsuit challenging Obamacare by 20 red states. Their logic: When Congress, as part of President Trumps 2017 tax cuts, set the penalty for not carrying health insurance to zero, that effectively made it no longer really a tax, and therefore made it unconstitutional. Somehow, that rendered the rest of the law unconstitutional, as well including lots of provisions having nothing to do with the mandate. Alexandra Petris April 27 op-ed, You have to think about electability, was probably much more enlightening than she intended. I know she was addressing her fellow liberals, but the op-ed was at least as edifying to conservatives. Before her op-ed, it had not been absolutely clear what 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton meant by her moniker basket of deplorables. Ms. Petri has fully clarified. In Barrs telling, however, Trump may have merely been trying to correct media reports he believed were inaccurate. He cited the presidents public explanations of his behavior even though the president refused to provide testimony about it under oath. And he discounted as weak the case that Trumps actions were part of a criminal effort to thwart a federal investigation despite the fact that Mueller said in his report that substantial evidence indicated the president was acting to prevent scrutiny of his conduct in the obstruction inquiry. I think hes lost the confidence of the American people. I think he should, Biden told a group of reporters in Des Moines. He was there on a swing through the first presidential nominating state as Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to field questions about special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He argued that Beijing has its hands full dealing with its own domestic and regional problems, such as tensions in the South China Sea which Biden called the China Sea and the mountains ... in the west. It was not clear to what mountains or issue Biden was referring. Trump has also previously played down the threat posed by white nationalism. After a gunman in March killed 49 Muslims in two consecutive mosque attacks in New Zealand, Trump was asked by a reporter whether he thought white nationalists were a growing threat around the world. I dont, really, Trump replied. I think its a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. Imagine, Rachel, that you had one of the Democratic nominees for 2020 on your show, and that person said, you know, the only other adversary of ours who is anywhere near as good as the Russians is China, Clinton said. So why should Russia have all the fun? And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why dont we ask China to back us? On the trail, Harris seems to be feeling for the right balance between authenticity and discipline. Voters at her events often applaud her informal style and spontaneous wit and leave saying they feel a connection. But that relaxed approach can invite missteps. After Harris said she wanted to end private health insurance, for example, she softened that position and has repeatedly had to reexplain it. We are in a very, very, very challenging place, because we have a Republican Party that is complicit in the special-interest agenda . . . so they are not going to say anything, she said at the news conference. Impeachment is the easy way out for some of these people because they know it will end at the Senates edge. Abrams seemed to suggest something other than an immediate run for office in the video she posted this week announcing her decision not to run for the Senate. Over the coming weeks, youll be hearing more from me and my team about groundbreaking initiatives to protect the right to vote and to increase the participation of Americans in setting the course for Georgia and the future of our country. The tension over the Arctic statement is the latest example of the Trump administrations willingness to break with allies and much of the world in its approach to climate issues. The president continues to express skepticism about the causes and severity of climate change, despite the scientific consensus on the issue, while portraying efforts to address it as foolhardy and a threat to the economy. Democrats have hammered the White House on the issue, with House Democrats approving legislation Thursday that would bar the Trump administration from pulling out of the Paris global agreement on reducing carbon emissions that was approved in 2015. In the last presidential election, Trump presented himself as a savior for the white working class . . . and he sees groups like firefighters and police unions as his base, said Ileen DeVault, academic director of The Worker Institute at Cornell University. If Trump loses that slight edge he has in those states because of union votes, that will be bad for him. He doesnt have much margin for error. The letter was provided to The Washington Post by a White House official one day after Barr criticized Mueller during a contentious appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The attorney general described a letter from the special counsel asking him to release summaries of his report as snitty and said he was confused by Muellers decision that he could not come to a conclusion at the end of his obstruction-of-justice inquiry. Three days after the hearing, the court set up an in-house committee of three sitting judges, all of whom are junior to Gogoi, to conduct an inquiry into the allegations. On April 30, after three appearances in front of the committee for which she said she was denied a lawyer, the woman declined to participate further, saying she was not likely to get justice under these highly unequal circumstances. Gogoi appeared before the panel on Wednesday. The Iraqi families had spent years living under the Islamic States self-declared caliphate, moving to Syria as the militants lost their Iraqi foothold and then leaving the proto-state only as it crumbled. Now, they are packed into the teeming al-Hol displacement camp in northern Syria as Iraqi officials decide their fate and aid groups look on with alarm. The Iraqis represent more than two-fifths of those held at al-Hol and are by far the largest group other than Syrians themselves. Iraqi fighters who have been captured are now jailed in either Syria or Iraq. Carnival, he said, knew very well the ownership of the docks in the Cuban capital when they began operating there. It wasnt a secret to them or to anyone else, he said. Choking up as he read a statement, Behn said that we can finally get justice after 60 years, from those who stole our property and those who have been using our ports for their own business purposes. The department, in an annual report to Congress, said that 42 civilians were confirmed to have been killed last year in the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. It said 76 more were killed in operations against the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan, and two civilians died in operations against al-Shabab in Somalia. The measure, sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), passed the Senate and the House earlier this year, with the support of all Democrats, seven Republican senators and 18 House Republicans. Those same Senate Republicans Lee was joined by Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Steve Daines (Mont.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd C. Young (Ind.) voted with the Democrats on Thursday to override Trumps veto in a 53-to-45 vote. Two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 senators, would have been necessary to sustain an override. Sports Sharapova withdraws from Italian Open Rome, May 2 (IANS) | Publish Date: 5/2/2019 1:03:35 PM IST Former world no.1 Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the Italian Open as she continues to recover from a right shoulder injury she has been complaining of through 2018. The three-time champion will be replaced by the 45th-ranked Viktoria Kuzmova, Rome organisers announced on Wednesday. Sharapova has been sidelined since pulling out of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia in January after winning the first-round match. The three-time Grand Slam winner later said she had gone through a small procedure on her right shoulder that would need a few weeks to heal. Sharapova added that she has struggled since midway through 2018 with shoulder pain caused by a fraying tendon and small labrum tear. This now puts the 28th-ranked player in doubt for the French Open, which begins at the end of the month. Since the withdrawal from St. Petersburg, Sharapova has had to further withdraw from the Stuttgart Open and the Madrid Open prior to Rome. The injury has put a halt on her comeback from a 15-month doping suspension between October 2016 and April 2017. Her best finish in a Grand Slam in the period since came in the 2018 French Open where she lost in the quarter final to Garbine Muguruza. Retired Marine Sarah Plummer Taylor, who said she was raped early in her military career, derived no hope from McSallys testimony. I dont know how you could have lived that and then say [the system] should stay, she said. I am not a lawyer, but for the most part we should be aiming for impartiality, at least for a neutral start. Attorney General William P. Barr became the latest Trump ally to take advantage of that void, and of Muellers constrained conception of his role, by speaking to his description of the work of the special counsel and his interpretation of the Mueller reports conclusions all to the advantage of the president. Barr pursued that role so aggressively Wednesday that at times he came across as much a defense lawyer for the president as attorney general of the United States. The prominence of some of the detainees has also sparked outrage. In a March letter protesting the arrest of Fassi, a professor of womens history, the Middle East Studies Association of North America noted that she was a renowned historian of pre-Islamic Arabia who was widely respected internationally by her colleagues and the many younger scholars she has mentored. Her arrest, the letter added, was a travesty of justice. It was Assanges second court appearance in as many days. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012. At the time, he was seeking extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations. The judge in the case rebuked Assange for avoiding justice and insulting the British judiciary by seeking refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London. "China is vital to the future of Australia": Australian shadow foreign minister 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." "If you look at the right wing and the left wing, what's really coming is class warfare," Alan Schwartz, a managing partner at investment firm Guggenheim Partners, said on a conference panel Tuesday. His colleague Scott Minerd, the firm's chief investment officer, said in an interview that "the disparity in wealth is so extreme, it's feeding populism." Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner were two of the attendees at this week's conference. . Credit:Bloomberg Wealth concentration The gathering lures an unusual concentration of wealth, with at least 11 of its speakers listed on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a combined net worth exceeding $US100 billion -- Schwarzman, of Blackstone, and Apollo Global Management's Leon Black among them. In a year when billionaires are hot political targets, income inequality was on the minds of many speakers and attendees. Some expressed concern about the potential economic impacts of the growing gap between the rich and poor. Others defended the capitalist system and dismissed proposed solutions, such as raising taxes on the wealthy. "Soaking the rich doesn't work," Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of investment firm Citadel, said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television from the conference. Loading Griffin himself has been the focus of a debate on taxing the wealthy. A proposed tax on so-called pieds-a-terre gained traction after Griffin, who lives in Chicago, purchased a 24,000-square-foot Manhattan penthouse for a record $US238 million, making it the priciest US home. The planned levy was eventually replaced by a one-time mansion tax that's considered a less-onerous alternative. American Dream His comments contrast with those of billionaire Ray Dalio, who last month sounded the alarm on capitalism's flaws and advocated for some higher taxes on the wealthy, among other solutions. Speaking at the conference Wednesday afternoon, the Bridgewater Associates founder said the country has to agree on a way to promote the lower half of the population to keep the American Dream alive. Michael Milken's video of Margaret Thatcher speaking about the virtues of capitalism was met with loud applause by attendees. Credit:Steven Siewert "If we don't agree, we'll have some form of a revolution that would be to abandon capitalism, to go to the opposite extreme," Dalio said. "If you have a population where there's a large wealth gap and you have an economic downturn, it's almost reliably there is conflict." Griffin, during an on-stage interview with Milken earlier Tuesday, said it's education, not the capitalist system, that's broken in America. He also pointed to the economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, where the opposition leader has called for a military uprising in an effort to unseat socialist President Nicolas Maduro, and said younger people in the US don't appreciate the downsides of socialism like previous generations did. The audience then applauded after Milken played a video of Margaret Thatcher lauding capitalism. Ivanka Appearance Some attendees discussed plans for helping the underprivileged. Speaking on a lunchtime panel Monday, Ivanka Trump, daughter of and adviser to billionaire President Donald Trump, touted an education-reform plan that included increased federal spending on vocational training. "This tight labour market is creating a great moment for us" to make changes, she said, citing job vacancies that exceed the number of unemployed workers in the US In addition to the gap between the rich and poor, gender equity in the workplace was a theme of this year's conference. Citigroup co-sponsored an Equality Lounge at the conference, where cushions read "Add Women to Every Equation" and a set of scales were left imbalanced with rose-colored jellybeans to reflect pay inequality. 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 WA woman who was charged with animal cruelty after a mare was found tangled and dead in a fence at her property has had her right to appeal dismissed. Fiona Wall was found guilty on three counts relating to animal cruelty in March 2018. Rosie had to be put down. Credit:RSPCA WA She was sentenced to a 12-month supervision order, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $8630 for vet care and $8675 in legal costs. On appealing her sentence in the WA Supreme Court last month, Wall said the evidence did not prove that each of the horses suffered and that she had not directly caused harm to the animals. EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict. Independent candidate for Warringah Zali Steggall has strongly rejected any suggestion her team was behind offensive posters of Tony Abbott that appeared around the electorate on Thursday morning and which are now being investigated by NSW Police. Asked about the posters, Mr Abbott hit out at "nasty people" and suggested voters should back him to punish bad behaviour. Offensive Tony Abbott signs have been spotted around Sydney's northern suburbs. Police confirmed on Thursday afternoon they are seeking the assistance of two men, aged in their late 20s or early 30s, and have released CCTV footage of the pair. By Bloomberg The top lender of ailing Jet Airways India Ltd. said the burden of reversing the grounded carriers negative net worth before it can fly again is the biggest challenge for any potential investor. Liabilities and losses are considerable, Rajnish Kumar, chairman of State Bank of India, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. All these past liabilities and then, profitably, can they fly in future? These are some of the considerations which are weighing upon the minds of the potential investors. ALSO READ | Delhi HC issues notice to Jet Airways on consumer plea Creditors led by State Bank of India have put Jet Airways up for sale after the carrier failed to pay back the debt. Once Indias biggest airline by market value, Jet Airways has been a victim of a budget airline boom in the fiercely competitive market in the South Asian nation, where carriers offer base fare of as low as 1 cent to lure first time flyers. The airline, which stopped all flights last month, has made losses in nine of the past 11 years. Jet Airways has seen lessors taking away its aircraft while rivals start services on routes it previously operated. The deadline for submission of binding bids to take over control and ownership of Jet Airways is May 10, Kumar said. The lenders, to which the airline owes more than $1 billion, have yet to take a call on how much debt will be forgiven, he said. Jet Airways, the oldest surviving private airline which broke into a monopoly of Air India Ltd., had a fleet of 124 and flew profitable routes like connecting India with London and Toronto. With almost 23,000 jobs at stake, the airlines woes couldnt have come at a worse time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whos seeking a second term based on his business-friendly image. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Terming the cheating of homebuyers by the Amrapali Group a first-degree crime, the Supreme Court on Wednesday warned all those involved in such activities saying no matter how powerful the people behind this mess were, they will be booked and prosecuted. Fate is written on the wall for the group and its directors, the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra observed, rejecting claims of no wrongdoing by the real estate developer. The bench said it cannot believe the justification given by Amrapali for alleged diversion of funds of over Rs 3,500 crore, considering its dubious conduct and observed, You have committed a first-degree crime by cheating thousands of homebuyers. We should have cancelled the licences of statutory auditors of Amrapali for indulging in fraudulent practice long back and sent them to jail. We are saying in open court that there are powerful people behind this mess but no matter how powerful they are, we will book them and prosecute them. We are not going to spare anybody. The remarks came after senior advocates Geeta Luthra and Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for the group, said there was no wrongdoing on their part and there was no diversion of Rs 3,500 crore as claimed by the court-appointed forensic auditors. We have to believe the forensic auditors and their report looking at your (Amrapalis) dubious conduct. You have yourself admitted in your earlier affidavit that Rs 2,990 crore of homebuyers money was diverted and now you are claiming that there was no diversion. You have made a peon as your director and he purchases shares worth crores of rupees for Amrapali. Is this not correct? the bench said. The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow. By Express News Service CHENNAI: For losing the baggage of a passenger bound for Kuala Lumpur, a consumer forum directed Jet Airways to provide a compensation of Rs 65,502. S Stalin, a resident of Sithalapakkam, flew to Kuala Lumpur from Chennai in 2012. According to the petition submitted, Stalin had booked a round trip ticket and boarded the flight after checking his baggage of 12 kg on June 21, 2012. Despite waiting for a long time at the Kuala Lumpur Airport, the airline was unable to trace his baggage. Due to the loss, Stalin purchased goods including clothes for daily use for an amount of Rs 27,000, issuing a legal notice to the airline seeking a compensation, was submitted in the forum. For the expenses incurred in Malaysia and for the numerous calls to the office of the airlines, Stalin submitted a petition at the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (South), seeking compensation of Rs 17 lakh. Denying the allegations, the Jet Airways represented by its branch head, submitted that as per policy, the passenger was offered a compensation of US $240 with each kg calculated for $20. Considering the oral and documentary evidence, the forum presided by M Mony, directed the airlines to provide a compensation of Rs 65,502. Forced to buy clothes Due to the loss of baggage, S Stalin, the customer, had to purchase goods including clothes for daily use for an amount of Rs 27,000 in Malaysia, and issued a legal notice to the airline. C Shivakumar By Express News Service CHENNAI: The first phase extension from Chennai Airport to Kilambakkam, where the new bus terminus is proposed, is likely to be a 16 km stretch along the GST road, according to Chennai Metro Rail sources. This comes after Larsen and Toubro is preparing the Feasibility Study Report for Chennai Metro Corridor 1 Extension from Chennai Airport to Kilambakkam Bus Terminal. Sources privy to the project said that as per the inception report, Larsen and Toubro was looking at three different routes from Chennai Airport to Kilambakkam bus terminus. These include a 16km stretch along GST road, 19km stretch from GST Road till Tambaram and Mudichur Road afterwards and 20km stretch that passes from Airport-Cantonment-Pallavaram Bus Stand GST Road via Hastinapuram and Tambaram West Mudichur Road to Kilambakkam. It is learnt that officials are favouring the first option, that is the 16km stretch along GST Road. This alignment follows the GST Road and will be fully elevated. The consultant has suggested alignment along the centre of the road if Right of Way permits along the first level and if there are existing structures then it will be along the second level. The stations will be planned integrating with Railways and Metropolitan Transport Corporation and utilizing their lands. Sources indicated that a total of 13 stations are being proposed at a distance of 1.2km a station. Currently, there are seven suburban railway stations on this stretch. The option to have Metro rail along the GST road was preferred as the land acquisition and distance is minimal. The land acquisition required for the project will be defence lands after the airport, private lands where commercial establishments are located near Pallavaram, and near Perungulathur where elliptical road over bridge is being constructed by railways and National Highway Authority of India and private lands near Outer Ring road. The flip side is that the metro rail will run parallel to the suburban rail network which could hit the ridership. Similarly, after Perungalathur there is no settlement on the left hand side. The biggest challenge will be the corridor will have to be taken to second level due to existing structures and proposals for elevated Expressway from Tambaram to Chengalpet. But what made this option successful is the multimodal integration with public transport besides connecting all major traffic generators. The second option along GST Road till Tambaram and later from Mudichur Road to Kilambakkam, which increases the mass transit network coverage in the south west suburban parts of Chennai, faces challenge as there is no major traffic generator in Mudichur Road and the right of way in the road is inadequate. The option which starts from airport via Pallavaram, Hasthinapuram, Chitalapakkam, Selaiyur, Tambaram and Tambaram West to Perangulathur, is a 20km stretch where the land acquisition will be maximum. The positive side is that it passes through highly dense residential area, sources added. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: National security, terrorism and Article 370 dominated the first big election rally in the national capital held by BJP president Amit Shah at DDA park in Vasant Kunj area on Wednesday. Referring to the declaration of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, Shah said it was a diplomatic win, resulting from concentrated efforts by the Modi government. Since the formation of the BJP government, Modi has been claiming diplomatic victories in every field and Pakistan is facing defeat on every front. Today, Pakistan has been isolated. Now, the entire world knows Pakistan gives training and shelter to terrorists, Shah said. The meeting was organised to seek support for Ramesh Bidhuri and Meenakshi Lekhi, party candidates from South Delhi and New Delhi. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Meanwhile, in a separate rally in Shastri Park of North East Delhi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh claimed that under the NDA dispensation, the number of security personnel killed in Naxal related violence and terror strikes had gone down by 65 per cent. Singh was campaigning for BJPs candidate from North East Delhi Manoj Tiwari and the partys East Delhi candidate, Gautam Gambhir. While listing out several projects initiated by the Centre in Delhi, Shah urged residents of South Delhi not to vote for BJP candidates for their work. Dont vote for Bidhuri and Lekhi for what they have done for their constituencies. You vote for BJP to make Narendra Modi stronger. I appeal to the people of Delhi to make the BJP win all seven seats, Shah said. In an apparent reference to the JNU incident, Shah targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying they never saw eye-to-eye but came together to support people who wanted to divide the country. Shah reiterated that the BJP would scrap Article 370 if voted to power again. Meanwhile, Singh said that the sedition law would be reviewed for any weaknesses in it and would be made more stringent. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: One of the top photography festivals in the world, PEP Photo Summit 2019, is being held at Om Convention, Narsingi, Hyderabad from May 3 to 5. In partnership with Sony and Fujifilm, the expo would bring some of the biggest global names in photography along with enthusiasts. Over 1,500 participants have reportedly enrolled in the event thus far, and 28 speakers are scheduled to address the three-day expo. US, Canada, South Africa, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Portugal, Qatar are the countries taking part, apart from India. Pete Souza, chief official White House photographer for former US Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama would be the keynote speaker for the event on May 5. He is visiting India for the first time for this show. Other keynote speakers include prominent photographers such as Lindsay Adler, Jerry Ghionis, Brian Smith, Ira Block, Jesh De Rox, Mauricio Arias, Brendan de clerq, Roberto Valenzuela, among others. The three-day expo features talks, classes and workshops by a curated panel of educators. Topics include story telling, automobile photography, wildlife, nightscapes, storage workflows, etc. The workshop also includes live shoots with professional lights in 10 studio spaces. Joseph Radhik, Joshua Karthik and Arjun Rajan, the co-founders of PEP Photo Summit, had created it with an objective to teach the intricacies of living for the image. They are the photographers behind the well-celebrated weddings of Virat-Anushka, Priyanka-Nick, Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal, amongst others. As of going to print, the price of entry pass is `4,200 (plus GST) per person. Today is the last day for enrolling for the event. 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 Comedy. Music. Theater. Connecticut has it all this weekend. Life is short, so lets get to the funny first. Comedians perform here all the time, but how many can say they used to be a surgeon in Egypt, took up satirical comedy during the so-called Arab spring, and were forced to flee the country? The answer is one, Bassem Youssef. Hes been on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, is called The Jon Stewart of the Arab World, and will perform multiple shows at The Stress Factory in Bridgeport through Saturday. The Connecticut National Guard few UH-60 Black Hawks at the West Branch River Reservoir in West Hartland Wednesday to conduct aerial water bucket training. If needed, the helicopters would be used in aerial firefighters to battle major forest fires in Connecticut. In order to maintain vital certifications and proficiencies, members of the Connecticut Army National Guard's aviation community used a hoisted bucket system to collect water and perform flight maneuvers with the heavy load before returning it to the reservoir. The buckets used in training held about 300 gallons of water. The Connecticut Army National Guard flies a fleet of CH-47 Chinooks and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, both of which are capable of conducting water bucket training. The training is an example of the type of support Connecticut National Guard aircraft can provide in the event the organization is ever called upon to assist in extinguishing a forest or major structural fire. Without the support of the community, the Guard would not be the strong organization it is today," said Maj. Gen. Fran Evon, Adjutant General and Commander of the Connecticut National Guard. We remain ready to respond to a call at the local, state, national or international level much in thanks to the training we are able to conduct right here in state. WESTPORT The Board of Finance approved a special appropriation of close to $270,000 to the Board of Education for issues relating to Coleytown Middle School on Wednesday night, but they were not terribly happy about it. In particular, financiers had questions about some tech purchases, some mold-damaged musical instruments, and a commissioned $20,386 review of published air-quality reports paid to the legal firm of Shipman & Goodwinn LLP for reasons that were not entirely clear. There was a request to Shipman & Goodwinn for a review of the response to the air quality investigations, said Anthony Buono, acting superintendent of schools. He explained it was commissioned by former Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer and involved an assessment of the various air quality reports that had been completed and already made public. At this time we do not have a final report, he said, noting it was due in mid-May. Whats the purpose for the report? asked BOF member Lee Caney. We wanted to take a look at the various reports that had come out and find out what had been done, said BOE Chairman Mark Mathias, saying he thought it might involve attorney-client privilege, but was not sure about the details and wanted to get more specifics from the law firm before he elaborated. What exactly is there to be privileged ... if all the reports are public? asked BOF member Sheri Gordon. I still dont understand, said BOF Chairman Brian Stern. It just seems odd to me. I worry about the incrementality. ... I fear there was a practice of spending before the actual requirement, said Stern, following questions about additional costs for musical instruments and Chromebooks that needed to be replaced. Mathias also rose to the defense of his board and school staff in relation to the mold crisis and subsequent closing of Coleytown. We were criticized for not acting fast enough, he said. We were criticized for doing things before they were well-thought out. I think all of the decisions that were made were made with the best intentions. ... There was a lot going on. ... I dont have all the answers to that, but I will stand by my organization, he said. I dont think you treat us like a blank check, Stern told Mathias. On the other hand, you shouldnt treat us like a rubber stamp either. I dont agree that the right steps were taken, Caney said, noting it wasnt a valid excuse to say they did their best. I think you have to take a hard look at what happened ... what happened through the whole process. I think you should really think about what went wrong. In the end the BOF chose to approve the appropriation largely to move matters forward, asking school officials to provide the information later. Gordon abstained from an otherwise unanimous vote on the $267,658, which included various professional services and building maintenance costs. Im going to abstain because I dont think we have all the information, she said. Over $1 million has been spent on the last two phases of mold remediation efforts at Coleytown, according to the Westport Public Schools chief financial officer Elio Longo In the 2016-17 period, the district spent $710,211 on mold remediation and related professional services at Coleytown. While in the current 2018-19 remediation phase, the schools have shelled out $942,226 with another $21,664 projected to be spent soon, Longo said in April. The finance board also gave its OK for the Shellfish Program to use $33,850 in its account to purchase a new boat for the Police Marine Division to use in policing Westports shellfish beds. Its going to be used by the police department to conduct shellfish enforcement, said Deputy Chief Sam Arciola. Theres tremendous year-round activity with commercial boats, he said, noting the department also keeps tabs on around 800 individuals annually who have recreational shellfishing permits for the water around Westport. They help us a lot, Conservation Director Alicia Mozian said of the police. Theyre really our shellfish wardens. All the money in the account, which is currently at around $90,000, is collected through shellfish permit fees. By Online Desk Superstar Rajinikanth's upcoming movie Darbar was recently in the news after photos from the sets were leaked online, which made the film's team furious. Now, according to several media reports, college students were reportedly trying to shoot pictures and videos while the shooting was going on in a Mumbai college campus. Following this, the crew members had tried to stop them from getting close to the sets which apparently led to an altercation between the two parties. An India Today report said that the angry students then went on to pelt stones at the 'Darbar' team from the terrace of the college building. The film's director AR Murugadoss has reportedly taken up the issue with the college management. No official confirmation has been given if the shoot location will be changed. The shoot has been halted, as per reports. READ HERE | The Superstar in khakhi: When Rajinikanth dazzled the audience in police uniform #Darbar | Shooting spot stills continue to roll out. Superstar Rajinikanth having a nice time out there. Nayanthara, Yogibabu and Nivetha Thomas also spotted alongside.@ARMurugadoss @LycaProductions pic.twitter.com/ZwZBPVWNTS KollyEmpire (@kollyempire) April 26, 2019 Meanwhile, Nayanthara recently joined the sets of the film, which features Rajini in a cop role after 25 years. A leaked picture from the shooting spot, featuring Nivetha Thomas and Yogi Babu, later confirmed the presence of these actors in the film. It was announced last week that actor Prateik Babbar, known for Bollywood films like Ekk Deewana Tha and Dhobi Ghat, will play the principal antagonist in Darbar. VIEW GALLERY | That second-time magic in Rajini's Darbar! Santosh Sivan is the cinematographer, while Anirudh Ravichander is in charge of the music of the film, which is scheduled to hit the theatres for Pongal, next year. (With inputs from Express News Service) Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, recently announced a slew of measures and policies regarding the development of 5G, becoming one of the first cities in the country to do so. Focusing on technological innovation, industrial development, talent cultivation, application scenarios and infrastructure construction, the policies are designed to attract more quality enterprises and organizations and promote 5G industrial growth in Hangzhou. According to the policies, projects with a research and development investment of more than 3 million yuan ($445,573) will be granted a maximum subsidy of 10 million yuan; while subsidies totaling 100 million and 150 million yuan will be granted to state-level and provincial-level 5G manufacturing innovation bases, respectively. Companies are encouraged to carry out research in key products including chips, devices, modules and terminals. The city will also step up efforts in infrastructure construction and prioritize the building of 5G demonstration bases. 5G infrastructure is crucial to the construction of a 5G network, promoting 5G applications, and industrial development, according to a local official, adding that over 1,000 base stations will be built this year which, forming a 5G network covering a total of 200 square meters. It will include major business districts and downtown areas in Hangzhou. Hangzhou will strive to become a national pioneer in 5G network by 2022 and will continue to build up its capabilities in industrial application, technological development and services. By PTI KOLKATA: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu Tuesday described his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee as the "architect" of the federal front. Naidu, who joined Banerjee's "Save India" sit-in here to protest CBI's attempt to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, said her ruling Trinamool Congress will win all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the upcoming general elections. "She (Mamata Banerjee) is the architect of the federal front. She is the main pillar of the opposition," Naidu told reporters. "She will win all the 42 seats in West Bengal and will be in a decision making position at the national level," he said. The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said he had come on behalf of the 23 political parties who had participated in the January 19 opposition rally in the city. Naidu also welcomed the Supreme Court order which stated that the CBI would not be able to arrest Kumar, and supported Banerjee's move to stage a sit-in demonstration in protest. Banerjee began the sit-in in front of Metro Cinema in the heart of the city on Sunday night after a CBI team attempted to enter Kumar's residence to question him in connection with chit fund scams. She alleged that the CBI action was tantamount to stifling the spirit of "Constitution and federalism" in the country. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: A BJP MLA in Assam has courted a controversy by equating the Muslims with cows that do not give milk. Dibrugarh MLA, Prasanta Phukan, suggested that the state government should not take care of the Muslims as they do not vote for BJP. Assams 90 per cent Muslims had not voted for us in Parliamentary elections. So, what is the point in giving fodder to cows which do not give milk? Phukan had said on Tuesday. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE The remark ruffled the feathers of a section of people, particularly lawyers, who demanded that a case be registered against him and action must be taken as per the law. Senior advocate Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury of Gauhati High Court wondered as to why action against Phukan was not taken yet by the Assembly speaker or the governor. He insisted that the police register a case suo motu against the MLA. A case under non-bailable Sections of IPC should be registered against him as he committed a grave crime, Choudhury said, adding, If action against him is not taken then amity and brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims in Assam will cease to exist. Another Gauhati HC advocate, Nekubur Zaman, said BJP should suspend Phukan for the comment. READ HERE | Navjot Sidhu to Gautam Gambhir: The not-so-model netas this election season Its both shameful and condemnable that an elected representative has compared the Muslims with cows that do not give milk. The BJP should immediately take action against him or else the comment will not go down well, Zaman said. Anwar Hussain Laskar, who is an MLA of minority-based All India United Democratic Front, said only a mentally-deranged person could make such a statement. Despite the criticism, Phukan has held his ground. I didnt tell a lie and I stand by it. It is an Assamese adage that a cow that doesnt give milk shouldnt be given fodder. So, whats wrong in it? argued the MLA. READ HERE | Union Minister Maneka Gandhi asks Muslims to vote for her or else... He alleged that his statement was misinterpreted, but at the same time, he said the states BJP-led government had earmarked Rs.100 crore in the budget for minority development but it received no output from the community. He also said that following the declaration of election results, the people would know if the Muslims in Assam had voted for BJP. Last month, BJP leader Maneka Gandhi had drawn censure for her alleged attempt to coerce the Muslims to vote for her saying or else she would not work for them after coming to power. By PTI NEW DELHI: Over 4,000 specialised personnel as part of 81 NDRF teams have been deployed to deal with the 'extremely severe' cyclone 'Fani' which is likely to affect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal upon its landfall on Friday. NDRF chief S N Pradhan told PTI that about 50 teams have been pre-positioned in the coastal areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal which are feared to be affected while another 31 teams have been kept on standby. ALSO READ: CM Naveen Patnaik urges people to keep calm, cooperate with govt during cyclone Fani Twenty-eight fully equipped teams have been deployed in and around Puri in Odisha as the cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall there Friday noon, the NDRF Director General (DG) said. Similarly, 12 teams have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and six in West Bengal. The rest of the teams, that comprise about 50 personnel each, have been kept on standby in these states. Pradhan said a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and a commandant-rank officer have also been tasked to monitor the activities of the rescue and relief teams from ground in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar and Puri. ALSO READ: Odisha evacuating 8 lakh people from coastal areas, PM oversees preparedness The teams have been equipped with additional boats, satellite phones, medical equipment, medicines, tree cutters, pickup and common mobility vehicles, and other gadgets, he said. The force has also activated a round-the-clock control room at its headquarters here and a team of officials is in constant touch with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the disaster response units of the three states. NDRF teams have also been kept on alert in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. "Cyclone 'Fani' is expected to cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali to the south of Puri on May 3. NDRF teams are creating awareness among the locals in vulnerable areas about the measures to be taken to deal with the cyclonic storm and other eventualities. The state administration has set up a number of relief camps," an NDRF spokesperson said. ALSO READ: 103 trains cancelled from May 2 to 6 The spokesperson said the NDRF teams have doctors, paramedics, engineers, deep divers and are equipped with boats, buoys, life jackets, scuba sets and latest communication equipment like quickly deployable antenna (QDA), HF/VHF sets so that communication links function even if normal communication network fails. Fani lays centred over West Central Bay of Bengal, about 430 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha, 225 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal, as per the latest bulletin of the IMD. By PTI NEW DELHI: The ED Thursday attached assets worth Rs 73 lakh in connection with a terror financing and money laundering case linked to global terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Pakistan-based proscribed group Falah-e-Insaniyat (FIF). The Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of its action against terror financing in the country, including those linked to separatists and terrorists operating in the Kashmir valley, has identified assets and proceeds of crime worth Rs 212 crore in the last five months or so and has filed 13 charge sheets in these cases. On Thursday, a provisional order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and a residential flat and shop in Delhi, and cash and bank balance belonging to a person named Mohd Salman were attached in a case being probed against FIF, which is a front for terror group LeT, the agency said. The FIF was founded by Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed. The ED had filed a criminal case in this regard in February after taking cognisance of a National Investigation Agency (NIA) FIR. In the case, the NIA had carried out searches in the past and had seized over four dozen SIM cards, phones and Rs 1.56 crore cash, and arrested four people, including Salman. READ HERE | SC cancels Kashmiri businessman's bail, says ample proof to show link between Hurriyat, terror groups Salman, who was based in Delhi, was in "regular touch with a Dubai-based Pakistan national, who in turn was connected with the deputy chief of the FIF", the ED and NIA have claimed. The ED, in a statement, said, "Salman had received huge funds from Mohammed Kamran from Dubai through different Hawala operatives, including Mohd Salim alias Mama. The funds received by Salman were claimed to have been used for construction of a mosque at Uttawar in Haryana's Palwal district," the ED alleged. Probe revealed that Salman used to "send the receipt of funds received and photographs of construction work to Kamran through e-mail." "Immovable and movable assets located in Delhi of accused Mohd Salman and his family members totalling worth Rs 73.12 lakh have been provisionally attached," it said. Salman, at present, is lodged at the Tihar jail in connection with the NIA case. He is alleged to have received funds from FIF operators through Hawala and he and others were reported to have received money illegally from various persons, including those in Pakistan and the UAE, the ED had said earlier. The FIF was designated as a terror organisation by the United Nations in March, 2012 and Hafiz Saeed is its "key mentor". Stamped as a terror organisation by the Centre in August 2016, the FIF acted "like a humanitarian front doing religious and charity work only to create disguise in the minds of people and states", the ED said. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: With Indias eastern neighbour fast increasing its air defence assets, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has set its sights on the eastern and north-eastern sectors for defence preparedness. Since the night of Wednesday, the IAF has been carrying out a drill of its Sukhoi or Su-30 fighter jets from the civilian airport in Guwahati. The drill, which will continue for 48 hours, was also conducted from civilian airports in Kolkata and Durgapur in West Bengal earlier. This is the first time that a drill, involving Su-30 jets, is being carried out from a civilian airfield in the Northeast. Earlier, our focus was more on the western front but as our eastern neighbour is increasing its air strength, we are keeping ourselves ready to face any threat that may emerge in the future in the eastern sector, Air Commodore Shashank Mishra, who heads the IAF station adjoining the airport, said. The two day operations were conducted on 01 & 02 May 19. The frontline SU-30MKI aircraft operated from Kolkata & Guwahati, and the Hawk jets from Andal airfield. The fighters carried out both day and night flying operations during the exercise.@DefenceMinIndia@proshillong pic.twitter.com/lGdX2uy2zz Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) May 2, 2019 The eastern neighbour ostensibly refers to China which is said to have strengthened its air defence assets in Tibet. Mishra said the drill from the civilian airfield would build synergy between civilian Air Traffic Control and IAF pilots. The IAF drill from the civilian airport in Guwahati was first carried out at 9:30 pm on Wednesday. Currently, in the eastern sector, Su-30 jets operate from military bases at Tezpur in Northern Assam and Chabua in Upper Assam while Hawk trainer jets operate from Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal. According to an IAF source, some strategic air bases in Northeast would soon get Apache and Chinook fighter helicopters from the US. The country-made Tejas are expected to be based at Hasimara in West Bengal. The MiG-27s, housed there, are likely to be phased out. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Whats up, Winnipeg!?" Thats Laura Dern, at full volume, when a publicist tells her shes on the phone with the Winnipeg Free Press. "Oh, God." And thats Kristen Stewart, playfully laughing at her co-star. Its just a snapshot of the chemistry the two have together onscreen in JT LeRoy, a new film detailing the hoax that rocked the literary world in the early 2000s from the perspective of the person who ended up at the centre of it. Dern plays Laura Albert, the fabulist who wrote a bestselling novel as Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy a young southern boy writing about his life as a truck-stop prostitute and the abuse at the hands of his mother. Albert started portraying LeRoy on the phone, but as his star began to rise, she felt increasing pressure to put a face to the name. Enter her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop (portrayed by Stewart), who pretended to be JT LeRoy at his public appearances for the better part of six years. Laura Dern, left, and Kristen Stewart at the JT LeRoy premiere in Los Angeles on April 24. (Sthanlee B. Mirador / Sipa USA) JT LeRoy, which opens this month, was produced by Winnipegs Buffalo Gal Pictures and shot in and around the city over the summer of 2017. "It was amazing," Dern says of their time in Winnipeg. "I mean, we had summer vacation there. It was a gorgeous time to come there, and get to navigate making a small, independent film on a shoestring budget, which is more and more complicated to do, with a subject matter we see as deeply complicated and out of the box and not easy." "And Winnipeg was deeply hospitable to that," Stewart adds. "We found a lot of our backgrounds in weird, cool little bars where cool youths were hanging out and wanted to be involved. There was a cool counterculture." Because JT LeRoys star rose around the world, Winnipeg was required to double as many places throughout the film. Back-alley Exchange District murals stand in for artsy San Francisco. The ruins at the Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park pass for Paris. A rural Manitoba truck stop becomes a truck stop in Tennessee. "We definitely repurposed stuff walls, environments, people," Stewart says. "We were throwing around T-shirts on extras." 'It was a gorgeous time to come there, and get to navigate making a small, independent film on a shoestring budget, which is more and more complicated to do, with a subject matter we see as deeply complicated and out of the box and not easy' Indeed, it wasnt just Winnipeg places but Winnipeggers themselves that helped shape the film. "The one part that feels really alive in that sense is in the party scene that happens early on," Stewart says. "We shot it over a weekend with, like, whatever five to 10 people on the crew that were down to hang out with us. Everyone in that sequence is one of our friends or a relative or a person who Sav literally found at a queer bar or a weird bookstore and brought them in. They were really colouring the scene." "Like, if you hired extras to do that?" Dern interjects. "It would just look awkward and, I dont know, you get what Im saying," Stewart finishes. (I do get what shes saying: It would look inauthentic.) "For that, Winnipeg definitely helped us out." Stewart and Dern on the set of JT LeRoy, a made-in-Winnipeg film that opens this month. (Universal Pictures) The film, directed by Justin Kelly, is based on Knoops 2008 memoir, Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy. Stewart wasnt familiar with the bizarre ballad of JT LeRoy nor the people behind him before she read the screen adaptation. "I read that and it was really difficult to understand how it was possible it was even real," she says. "I thought maybe they took liberties and made the story a little crazier than it had been. But then I watched the documentary (2016s Author) and kind of delved into what happened and how many people were involved, and my head blew off. I couldnt believe it was possible. "After meeting Savannah theres a delicacy to her energy and its also very truthful. I was like, how can someone so present, and odd, and real, and genuine in person survive something like that? And how the hell did all that happen? Its a widely known subject, but this is one element that no one has heard: what it felt like to be in the middle of it." Stewart gets to the heart of those questions in her understated, nuanced portrayal of a vulnerable person who is trying to reconcile their own identity (and gender) while pretending to be the creation of someone else. Stewart on the set of JT LeRoy. (Universal Pictures) Knoop also provided a blueprint for Dern. "Savannah was my way into Laura, which was quite beautiful," she says. "As (the film) is (Savannahs) point of view, it allows Laura to be as elusive as she was to Savannah, and as she was to everyone experiencing her, as opposed to Lets know the person behind the writer. "Its really about understanding what it was like to be pulled inside this world that seemingly could be a hoax but, in fact, as Savannah taught me more and more and as we learned more and more, is really about someones struggle with not only identity, but trauma. And how to be understood, and feeling such shame that they cant be with themselves, that they have to create characters over and over and over again." Dern portrays Laura Albert with incredible empathy, walking the line between a ruthless manipulator and fragile victim. She cuts a rather tragic figure, a person who believes she has to invent characters so people will like her. (A heartbreaking detail: Laura Albert used to call suicide hotlines as different people, including JT, in order to be listened to.) "Lauras entire journey is about false narratives in order to be truthful," Dern says. Dern, left, and Stewart on the set of JT LeRoy. (Universal Pictures) As a film, JT LeRoy feels strikingly timely, not only because it explores themes of identity and gender, but because its arriving at a time when scammers are having a major cultural moment. Stewart thinks our fascination with grifters may have something to do with our innate desire, as viewers, to solve puzzles. "Anything that is tricky, anything you have to crack I think an audience really, really likes to be surprised, and audiences have gotten a lot smarter, so I think theres a, Oh, wait, is there a bait and switch? Because I know Im going to get it before anyone else. And if they dont, well, I think that speaks to the angry, reactive nature of the press to JTs life then. The wool was pulled over their eyes." "Its so in the zeitgeist," Dern says of grifter content. "Its like that movie with the people who move to D.C. and theyre living in that big house, and then theres, like, a report that comes out and everyone is trying to figure out whether its fake or real... "Oh, wait," she says, slyly. "Thats not a movie." jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more. Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. TORONTO - The head of Canada's largest communications and media business, BCE Inc., told its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday that the company is on track spend an additional $20 billion over the next five years on advanced networks. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BCE Inc. logo is shown at the company's annual general meeting in Montreal, Thursday, May 6, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes TORONTO - The head of Canada's largest communications and media business, BCE Inc., told its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday that the company is on track spend an additional $20 billion over the next five years on advanced networks. BCE president and CEO George Cope said that investing in broadband wireless and wireline networks is "at the core" of what the Montreal-based business does. "This year your company will invest about $4 billion of capital. It will be the same next year and will be the same the year after and the year after that," Cope said. In total, BCE will probably spend $20 billion of capital investments over the next five years as part of six strategic imperatives established about a decade ago . He said Bell is about half way to reaching its strategic goal of connecting "every single home and every single business that we can get to economically with fibre (optics) right to the premises." With similarly large investments in wireless technology, Bell can now provide about 60 per cent of Canada with speeds that are almost 750 megabits per second, about twice as fast as any U.S. wireless network, Cope said. BCE Inc. logo is shown at the company's annual general meeting in Montreal, Thursday, May 6, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes "We're investing significant capital to keep that leadership position in the marketplace and make sure Canadians have access to world leading wireless technologies going forward, for both businesses and consumers." BCE chief financial officer Glen LeBlanc told reporters after the meeting that an apparent shift in policy at the federal level may reduce investments in network infrastructure. A new policy direction issued in February by Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains signalled a lower priority for investments in telecom networks and a higher priority for lowering prices through a wider range of competition. That was followed by a CRTC announcement in March that it was beginning a review of Canada's mobile wireless market with the "preliminary view'' that there should be more opportunity for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that depend on getting wholesale access to other companies' infrastructure. "That worries us, that it will stifle investment in this country and ultimately Canadians will suffer" LeBlanc said. A similarly dire warning was delivered by Rogers chief executive Joe Natale after that company's annual meeting on April 18. Bell announced prior to its shareholder meeting that it added 38,282 total net new postpaid and prepaid wireless customers for the three months ended March 31, down from the 44,377 added in last year's first quarter. The addition of 50,204 net new postpaid subscribers was down from 68,487 added a year earlier but better than analyst estimates and more than twice the 23,000 net postpaid additions announced by rival Rogers Communications Inc. At Bell's wireline business, which includes its conventional phone services, the company added 22,671 new retail internet customers 24.9 per cent more than it did in last year's first quarter. Bell also added 20,916 new IPTV television subscribers, 54.1 per cent more than it did a year ago. BCE's overall profit for the first-quarter ended March 31 was up 12 per cent from a year earlier as overall revenue improved by 2.6 per cent to $5.73 billion from $5.59 billion. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The wireless division led the company in revenue growth, which was up 4.5 per cent to $2.1 billion. Wireline operating revenue increased 1.8 per cent to $3.06 billion. Meanwhile its Bell Media business, which includes CTV, radio stations and specialty TV channels, saw operating revenue slip 0.5 per cent to $745 million. BCE's net profit amounted $740 million attributable to common shareholders or 82 cents per share. That was up from $661 million or 73 cents per share in the first quarter of 2018. The Montreal-based company's adjusted earnings per share were 77 cents, down from 80 cents per share a year earlier and one cent below the average analyst estimate. Analysts had estimated 78 cents per share of adjusted earnings and $5.71 billion of total operating revenue, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon. Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE) MONTREAL - The recovery that began five years ago remains turbulent for Bombardier Inc., which is selling its factories in Northern Ireland and Morocco and distancing itself from its 2020 financial targets. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. MONTREAL - The recovery that began five years ago remains turbulent for Bombardier Inc., which is selling its factories in Northern Ireland and Morocco and distancing itself from its 2020 financial targets. A week after slashing its forecast for the current fiscal year, president and CEO Alain Bellemare, said Thursday that the figures already provided for 2020 did not constitute a proper forecast. Flags fly outside a Bombardier plant in Montreal, Thursday, May 14, 2015. Bombardier Inc. says it is looking to sell its aerostructures businesses in Belfast and Morocco as part of a consolidation of its aerospace business into a single unit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz "These targets were set in place in 2015 to build a world-class organization," he told reporters at the end of the annual shareholders' meeting. "With the challenges ahead of us in the train segment, we are taking a cautious approach." The change of tone was poorly received by investors, as the transportation manufacturer's shares fell 12 cents, or 5.13 per cent, to close at $2.22 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Bombardier Transportation is facing execution problems with five major contracts, which means that the railway division's sales are expected to be US$750 million lower this year. As a result, management wouldn't confirm that by the end of 2020 consolidated revenues would be about US$20 billion and that the cash flows generated would be at least US$750 million as outlined last December during an investor day. "We want to see the progress that will be made in the (transport) division in the coming weeks, months, before talking about 2020," said Bellemare, when asked about the issue. Bombardier Inc., President and CEO Alain Bellemare, right, and Chariman of the Board Pierre Beaudoin arrive for the company's annual general meeting in Montreal, Thursday, May 2, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes Although the company's management has changed its tone, it shouldn't lose all credibility, said Bellemare, citing an improvement in revenue and operating income since 2015. Analysts weren't totally convinced. "Although management has indicated that it still believes it can reach the 2020 numbers, we believe this is risky and our estimates are lower," RBC Capital Markets analyst Walter Spracklin wrote in a report. At the same time, Bombardier will seek in the coming months to find buyers for its Belfast and Casablanca manufacturing plants, while consolidating its aerospace segment into one entity. The two plants combined account for approximately half of the aerostructures business, which generated adjusted operating income of US$239 million in 2018. The sale comes as Bombardier continues to withdraw from commercial aviation after having given up control of the C Series and selling the Q400 turboprop program and pilot training activities. In the long run, some 3,900 employees are expected to move to the potential buyers. It also means that Bombardier will stop building the wings of the A220, the former C Series now controlled by Airbus. The rest of the aerostructures division's activities will be concentrated in Montreal, Texas and Mexico. The new Bombardier Aviation division will consolidate business jets and the regional CRJ aircraft whose future remains unclear along with the remaining component manufacturing activities under the leadership of David Coleal, who until now headed the business jet division. Benoit Poirier, an analyst with Desjardins Capital Markets, said Bombardier could obtain US$400 million to US$700 million in proceeds from the sales. Bellemare said the money will not be used to pay a dividend despite some investors making their point of view on the subject known at the annual meeting. "We still have US$9 billion debt," said Bellemare. "So the next step will be to look at this debt before thinking where we are going to invest." Bombardier's intentions sparked an uproar in Northern Ireland, where the company has 3,600 employees, and where Airbus also makes parts for its A320 airplane. The Unite union urged the British government to take action to preserve jobs. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Bombardier is just too important for Northern Ireland's economy to provide a less-than-desirable solution," Unite said in a statement. Bellemare assured that the sale of the Belfast site was not related to Brexit, noting that the company still had 4,000 employees in its transport division in the United Kingdom. As for its financial performance for the first quarter ended March 31, the company posted an adjusted loss of US$122 million, or seven cents per share, compared with an adjusted profit of US$35 million, or one cent per share a year ago. Revenues decreased 13 per cent to US$3.52 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters Eikon expected an adjusted loss of one cent per share on revenues of US$3.62 billion. Companies in this story: (TSX:BBD.B) Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly said David Coleal had headed the commercial aircraft division. BOSTON - 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. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 19, 2018 file photo Wynn Resorts new CEO Matt Maddox reacts as he speaks during an interview at Wynn Las Vegas, in Las Vegas. Massachusetts gambling regulators have levied a $35 million fine on Wynn Resorts but allowed it to retain its casino license after failing to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct against company founder Steve Wynn. The commission also fined CEO Matthew Maddox $500,000 and mandated an independent firm evaluate the company's recent organizational changes. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File) BOSTON - 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 released a statement Wednesday evening, saying that in "both its decision and in their meeting today, the Commission recognized the importance of the changes the company has made." "With the Massachusetts Gaming Commission review complete, our company is now focused on a successful launch of Encore Boston Harbor," the company said. 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. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The $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." By PTI SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the families of the victims, who were trapped inside a coal mine in December and are untraced till now, have consented to call off search operations, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said Thursday. On the morning of December 13, a group of 16 miners went missing after water from Lytein river gushed into an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills district in the state. Only two bodies have been retrieved so far in the five-month-long search operation by teams of various agencies, including the NDRF, the Indian Navy and the Army. On January 28, the apex court had asked the Centre and the Meghalaya government to continue their multi-agency operations to trace the miners. "We have filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court informing that the family members of the miners have given their consent to call off the search and rescue operations. We are waiting for directions from the Supreme Court on the matter," Tynsong said. In the affidavit, the government has attached the written consent received from the family members of the miners, he said. District Deputy Commissioner of East Jaintia Hills F M Dopth had submitted the letters to the state government on April 16, citing that the operation is called off as there had been no tangible result. Dopth, on his part, clarified that there was no reduction in the water level in the main shaft, where the miners were trapped, even after discharge of several crore litres of water. Until Tuesday, submersible pumps were engaged in flushing out water from the 370-foot-deep mine, which is interconnected with eight other abandoned mines, he said. "The operations came to a halt yesterday (Wednesday) as the Lytein river is in spate following incessant rainfall in the region," the official explained. Last month, an interim relief package of Rs 3 lakh was paid to the miners' family members, who claimed that the amount was too meagre for their sustenance. SAN FRANCISCO - After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on "dangerous individuals." Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. This combination of file photo shows minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 8, 2018, left, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in Washington on Sept. 5, 2018, right. Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and others from its platform and from Instagram saying they violated its ban against hate and violence. The company said Thursday it has also banned extreme right-wing figures Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer and the conservative conspiracy site Infowars. Jones was already banned from Facebook but not from Instagram. (AP Photo) SAN FRANCISCO - After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on "dangerous individuals." The company also removed right-wing personalities Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones' site, Infowars, which often posts conspiracy theories. The latest bans apply to both Facebook's main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. Decried as censorship by several of those who got the axe, the move signals a renewed effort by the social media giant to remove people and groups promoting objectionable material such as hate, racism and anti-Semitism. Removing some of the best-known figures of the U.S. political extreme takes away an important virtual megaphone that Facebook has provided the likes of Jones, Yiannopoulos and others over the years. But it does not address what might be done with lesser known figures and those who stay on the margins of what Facebook's policies allow. Critics praised the move but said there is more to be done on both Facebook and Instagram. "We know that there are still white supremacists and other extremist figures who are actively using both platforms to spread their hatred and bigotry," said Keegan Hankes, senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S. Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook executive and an internet policy expert at Harvard, said the ban isn't as big a step as Facebook appears to be painting it it's just enforcing its existing policy. "There will always be more purveyors of hate speech that try to come on these platforms," he said. "Will advocates have to push year after year just to get (a handful of) individuals off? At this rate it seems likely. And this doesn't address the problem of what happens at the margins." Facebook has previously suspended Jones from its flagship service temporarily; this suspension is permanent and includes Instagram. Twitter has also banned Loomer, Jones and Yiannopoulos, though Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam long known for provocative comments widely considered anti-Semitic, still had an account Thursday. So did Watson, who rose to popularity as editor-at-large at Infowars and has nearly a million followers on the site. Facebook said the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organizations. The company says it has always banned people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology. It added that when it bans someone under this policy, the company also prohibits anyone else from praising or supporting them. In this case, though, the company said people can speak positively about the six banned individuals as long as what they're saying otherwise complies with Facebook policies. For years, social media companies have been under pressure from civil rights groups and other activists to clamp down on hate speech on their services. Following the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Google, Facebook and PayPal began banishing extremist groups and individuals who identified as or supported white supremacists. A year later, widespread bans of Jones and Infowars reflected a more aggressive enforcement of policies against hate speech. But Facebook instituted only a 30-day suspension (though Twitter banned him permanently). It is not clear what events led to Thursday's announcement. In a statement, Facebook merely said, "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today." Last month, it extended its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. It had previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists. Asked to comment on the bans, Yiannopoulos emailed only "You're next." Jones reacted angrily Thursday during a live stream of his show on his Infowars website. "They didn't just ban me. They just defamed us. Why did Zuckerberg even do this?" Jones said, referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Jones called himself a victim of "racketeering" by "cartels." "There's a new world now, man, where they're banning everybody and then they tell Congress nobody is getting banned," he said. Watson, meanwhile, tweeted that he was not given a reason and that he "broke none of their rules." "Hopefully, other prominent conservatives will speak out about me being banned, knowing that they are next if we don't pressure the Trump administration to take action," he wrote. Farrakhan, Nehlen and Loomer did not immediately return messages for comment. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Harvard's Ghosh said kicking off individuals with big followings, such as Jones, goes against Facebook's commercial interest. "As soon as they kick Alex Jones or Laura Loomer off their platform, it immediately ticks of a huge number of people," he said. ___ Associated Press Writers Tali Arbel in New York and Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland, contributed to this story. ___ This story has been corrected to read Charlottesville, Virginia, not South Carolina. CINCINNATI - Attorneys for news organizations argued Thursday that the U.S. public should be allowed to see federal data about how prescription opioids were distributed as the nation's overdose crisis was worsening. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. CINCINNATI - Attorneys for news organizations argued Thursday that the U.S. public should be allowed to see federal data about how prescription opioids were distributed as the nation's overdose crisis was worsening. They urged a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to overturn a lower court judge's denial of access to the information. The judges will rule later. Karen C. Lefton, an Akron, Ohio attorney representing the Washington Post, talks to reporters outside the Potter Stewart Federal Courthouse, Thursday May 2, 2019, in Cincinnati. Lefton argued before a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that federal data about how prescription opioid drugs were distributed should be made public. Federal attorneys say released the data could compromise Drug Enforcement Administration investigations. (AP Photo/Dan Sewell) "The value of transparency here is great," said Karen C. Lefton, an Akron, Ohio, attorney representing The Washington Post. The data concerns "a public health crisis" that affects many more people than a typical case, she said. The data is a key piece of evidence in hundreds of lawsuits filed by state and local governments against companies that make and distribute the drugs. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration database details the flow of prescription painkillers to pharmacies, showing the number and doses of pills. A Justice Department attorney told the judges releasing the data would compromise investigations. "This is an issue of really critical importance to the United States and DEA," said government attorney Sarah Carroll. Making the information public, she said, "would tip defendants off to the scope of DEA investigations." Cleveland-based U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, who is overseeing more than 1,500 of the lawsuits, had ruled in July 2018 that the information cannot be made public. He said that doing so would reveal trade secrets. The Post and the HD Media newspaper chain, which had asked the court for the data, then appealed to the federal circuit. The appellate judges raised a number of questions about Polster's orders keeping the data secret and hundreds of filings in the case that are under seal. Judge Eric Clay said it seemed that the secrecy in the case had "just gone overboard." He told Carroll, of the Justice Department, that "just saying" cases would be compromised seems inadequate. Lefton and attorney Patrick McGinley, of Morgantown, West Virginia, representing HD Media, complained that Polster was blocking public access without showing "good cause." Judge Richard Allen Griffin suggested in his questions that Polster was agreeing to keep information secret in pretrial proceedings to try to "leverage a settlement" before a public trial. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. HD Media owns newspapers in West Virginia, including the Charleston Gazette-Mail. The Associated Press has also filed public records requests seeking the information from governments that have received it. It is among three dozen news and free press advocacy organizations that have filed legal papers supporting release of the information. A West Virginia judge made some of the data public in 2016. The Gazette-Mail used that in a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that found that 780 million pills flowed into the state of 1.8 million people in 2007-2012, a period when more than 1,700 West Virginians died from overdoses of opioids, a category of drugs that incudes prescription pills such as OxyContin and illegal ones such as heroin and illicitly made fentanyl. Nationally, a record 48,000 people had deaths linked to opioids in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ___ Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report. Follow Dan Sewell at https://www.twitter.com/dansewell WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Thursday that would prevent President Donald Trump from fulfilling his pledge to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement and ensure the U.S. honours its commitments under the global accord. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE- In this June 1, 2017 file photo, protesters gather outside the White House in Washington to protest President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the Unites States from the Paris climate change accord. The Democratic-controlled House has approved legislation that would prevent President Donald Trump from following through on his pledge to withdraw the U.S. from a landmark global climate agreement. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Thursday that would prevent President Donald Trump from fulfilling his pledge to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement and ensure the U.S. honours its commitments under the global accord. The bill falls far short of the ambitious Green New Deal pushed by many Democrats, but it is the first significant climate legislation approved by the House in nearly a decade. The measure was approved, 231-190, and now goes to the Republican-run Senate, where it is unlikely to move forward. Trump has said he will veto the legislation if it reaches his desk. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., head of a House select committee on climate change, said passage of the bill sent an important signal that Democrats are prepared to act on global warming after reclaiming the House majority in last year's elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the House bill a "futile gesture to handcuff the U.S. economy through the ill-fated Paris deal" and said it "will go nowhere here in the Senate." Trump pledged in 2017 to withdraw from the Paris agreement as soon as 2020, dealing a major blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and distancing the U.S. from its closest allies. Trump said he was "elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." In this March 29, 2019, photo, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at U.N. headquarters. The U.N. climate chief says world leaders must recognize there is no option except to speed-up and scale-up action to tackle global warming, warning that continuing on the current path will lead to "a catastrophe." (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) The White House said in a statement this week that the House bill "is inconsistent with the president's commitment to put American workers and families first, promote access to affordable, reliable energy sources and technologies and improve the quality of life for all Americans." The White House also asserted that the bill would interfere with Trump's constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy, including the power to withdraw from an executive agreement that Congress has not ratified. The Paris agreement, signed in 2015 by more than 190 counties, is a United Nations initiative intended to bring the world together in the fight against climate change. Signed by President Barack Obama, the pact commits the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025. The U.S. also pledged $3 billion to a fund that helps developing countries fight climate change. Democrats said the bill showed that the U.S. will remain a leader on climate issues. "America does not cut and run. America keeps its commitments," Castor said. Castor noted that she and her family boarded up and fled their Florida home during Hurricane Irma two year ago, and said she understands the urgent need to act on climate change. The House bill "will help us carry out our moral obligation to future generations to tackle this crisis now," she said. Republicans derided the bill as a largely symbolic effort that would harm the American economy while doing little or nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said the bill would "wreck the economy" and cost as many as 2.7 million American jobs that he said would go to China, India and other countries that do not have to meet goals under the Paris accord until 2030. "We don't want to lose the great economic gains we have achieved, and we don't want to lose the reduction in carbon emissions that we've been able to achieve over the last 19 years because of ... great innovation in technology that America has always been known for," Scalise said at a news conference. "Let's not yield those kinds of gains to countries like China and India who emit five times more carbon than we do." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the Democratic measure was "simply another messaging bill to go on record against President Trump." Three Republicans voted in favour of the bill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Vern Buchanan of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the lead House author of the Green New Deal, voted in favour of the bill, but declined a request for comment afterward. Groups aligned with that initiative have complained that the House bill does not go far enough to address climate change. Major environmental organizations backed the bill and said it made clear that the U.S. intends to keep the promises made in Paris. "The House is responding to the rising calls, from every quarter, for action to combat the soaring costs and the mounting dangers of climate change," said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defence Council. In a swipe at McConnell, Suh added: "Blocking this long overdue climate progress would recklessly put the health and future of our children at risk." Say farewell to the Smart car, the tiny two-seater North Americans never really understood. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Say farewell to the Smart car, the tiny two-seater North Americans never really understood. Daimler, the German auto giant, said it will stop selling the battery-operated Fortwo model in the U.S. and Canada after this model year. The decision was spurred by "a declining microcar market," said Robert Moran, director of corporate communications for Mercedes-Benz USA, which is owned by Daimler. Moran also pointed to the high costs associated with certifying such a low-volume model. Its a decision that comes as no surprise to many analysts, given its limited range about 95 kilometres on a full charge and consumers growing preference for SUVs. Plus, "smaller" doesnt always mean "greener" nowadays, thanks to a generation of SUVs with low gas mileage. Smart cars "make sense when you have small roads and small places to park," said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports. "In the United States, where theres plenty of room to manoeuvre your heavy-duty pickup truck on the way to work, it makes less sense." Granted, a roomier option doesnt have to be a pickup truck. Smaller SUVs such as the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 come with lots of trunk and passenger space and a bit of a boost. Think of them as station wagons that are just a little higher off the ground, Fisher said. The Smart cars main selling point was that it could whiz across short distances and squeeze through narrow spaces. Consider Europe, where the miniature models slide sideways and backward into parking spots or through skinny alleys. The North American roadscape, meanwhile, is built to accommodate much larger cars and trucks, and parking spots are similarly scaled. Smart car posted its best domestic sales nearly 25,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2008, when gas prices were high and incomes were down, said Paul Waatti, manager of product analysis at AutoPacific, an automotive marketing research and consulting firm. A decade later, U.S. sales had dwindled below 1,200. Canadian sales of Smart vehicles fell to just 345 units in 2018 after the car went fully electric. Daimler ended sales of gasoline-fuelled Smart cars in 2017. "In that same time period, SUVs have gotten smaller and more efficient," Waatti said. He noted that Toyotas now-defunct Scion brand met a similar fate. Its "city car," called the iQ, disappeared after a few years in the U.S. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In denser urban areas, North Americans also may be more likely to hail an Uber or Lyft ride before buying a Smart car and absorbing those maintenance and insurance costs. But for those looking to get behind the wheel, car-sharing services may be an enticing option. North Americans embrace of SUVs has translated into a gradual shift away from sedans. In November, General Motors said it would stop making six models forging ahead with pickups, SUVs and electric and autonomous vehicles. Ford also announced last year that it would stop selling almost all sedans in the U.S. market. Mercedes-Benz is building its own electric lineup in the U.S. and Canada with the new EQC in 2020, Moran said. Mercedes is marketing the car as the "first in what will be a growing family of all-electric vehicles." And unlike the small Smart car, the EQC is an SUV. All of which goes to say that you dont have to shrink your car to shrink your carbon footprint. "The whole SUV equals gas-guzzler equation is pretty much out the window," said Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst at IHS Markit. "Its not just giving up a Smart car and buying a Tahoe. Theres a lot of space in between." Washington Post LAS VEGAS - Legal marijuana smokers will soon be able to find lounges where they can light up in Las Vegas but not in casinos, not in places serving alcohol, and not on the resort-lined Las Vegas Strip. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE- In this July 1, 2017, file photo, people line up at the NuLeaf marijuana dispensary in Las Vegas. Legal marijuana smokers will soon be able to find lounges where they can light up in Las Vegas, but not in casinos, or in places serving alcohol, or on the resort-lined Las Vegas Strip. The City Council on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, approved allowing what proponents have dubbed "social use venues," in the urban core of Nevada's sprawling casino playground. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) LAS VEGAS - Legal marijuana smokers will soon be able to find lounges where they can light up in Las Vegas but not in casinos, not in places serving alcohol, and not on the resort-lined Las Vegas Strip. The City Council on Wednesday approved what proponents dubbed "social use venues" in the downtown and urban core of Nevada's sprawling casino playground. The move answers a conundrum faced by adult tourists who have been able since July 2017 to buy marijuana for recreational use, but not consume it in public, in casinos or in hotel rooms. It adds Las Vegas to a list of U.S. cities allowing pot lounges currently headed by San Francisco but also other California towns, places in Alaska, and Denver. Colorado state clean air rules mean the Mile High City's two bring-your-own lounges don't allow pot smoking, but they do allow vaping. City spokesman Jace Radke said it could take several months for the 20 or so licensed recreational marijuana sales dispensaries in Las Vegas to get permits to open hookah-style consumption lounges. Lawmakers in surrounding Clark County who regulate the neon-lit Strip have considered allowing lounges but decided in February to await rules from the state. Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, is proposing the state Legislature create a Cannabis Compliance Board to oversee the industry. The governor's spokeswoman, Helen Kalla, said Wednesday that consumption lounges would be an issue for the board to consider. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the only City Council member to oppose the lounge idea was Stavros Anthony, a retired Las Vegas police captain. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The measure received police department support after a proposal to allowed alcohol sales inside lounges was scrapped. State gaming regulators opposed the measure because of concerns about federal drug laws. The Nevada Gaming Commission has instructed casino license holders not to allow marijuana use on their properties. The city measure says lounges can't be near casinos, schools and churches. Lounges may be able to open as close as next-door to dispensaries, Radke said. ____ Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Kathleen Foody in Denver contributed to this report. TORONTO - China has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, including Quebec-based Olymel LP, apparently over package mislabelling amid growing tensions between the two countries. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. 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 TORONTO - China has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, including Quebec-based Olymel LP, apparently over package mislabelling amid growing tensions between the two countries. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said administrative issues related to routine customs inspections arise periodically. She said the current suspension is limited to two processing facilities with all other approved Canadian pork processing facilities remaining eligible to export to China. "CFIA [the Canadian Food Inspection Agency] is looking into the situation and we are working with the Chinese importers and Chinese authorities to lift the suspension as soon as possible," she said in an email. The department was formally notified Wednesday of the suspension after Customs China posted the information on its website the prior evening. The suspensions come amid strained relations between the two countries following last December's arrest in Vancouver of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. China has since arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Ottawa has been unable to follow up on the notification because China is in the middle of a holiday this week, said a minister's spokeswoman. Kate Hawkins said administrative issues often surface, sometimes over paperwork that is missing some Chinese characters. "Sometimes it's really just simple and we address it and it can take a few weeks and the problem is resolved." Canadian pork producer Olymel said its plant in Red Deer, Alta., is one of two affected by the suspension. "We are assessing the situation with the authorities," said spokesman Richard Vigneault, adding there is no impact on production at the plant. "Operations are still going on and there will be no change." The Canadian Pork Council says the suspensions appear to stem from a labelling problem and are not tied to any political moves by China. "From our understanding what the plants are looking into, it is an exterior labelling problem that they're going to be fixing," said council spokesman Gary Stordy. China is Canada's second-largest export market by volume after the United States. Alberta Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen said the province is deeply concerned by the export suspension and is working with Ottawa to resolve it. Try our Dish The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. Dish arrives in your inbox every other Friday. See sample. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The federal government must find a resolution to these diplomatic disputes and restore access to our agricultural export markets," he said in a release. "Alberta has offered up every technical and scientific capability we have to help work with Canada and the People's Republic of China in this matter." Alberta pork producers raised 2.8 million pigs in 2017, according to an industry website. Quebec-based Drummond Export said it was also notified about a suspension. Bruno Mussely, international development director, said the company based in Drummondville doesn't believe there is a problem with the meat itself. "It's not delisted of course, it's just suspended. It usually means a minor problem," he said, noting it's the company's first suspension from China. City hall is considering applying the five per cent hotel-room tax to Airbnb and other online room-rental services. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. City hall is considering applying the five per cent hotel-room tax to Airbnb and other online room-rental services. City officials confirmed Wednesday that an administrative review is in the works and will be presented to council later this year. The move cant come soon enough for the local hotel industry, which wants all levels of government to impose greater regulation over online accommodation rentals. Scott Jocelyn, president of the Manitoba Hotel Association, said applying the room tax to online rental services is only one move the industry wants to see imposed on all online rental operations. Jocelyn said that contrary to public perception, online operators such as Airbnb are dominated by what he said are "big business" operating as illegal hotels. He said businesses are buying up homes in the city and renting them out as if they were hotels. "Hotel operators have to comply with strict regulations and the same rules should apply to these illegal hotel operators," Jocelyn said. A civic spokesman confirmed the assessment and taxation department is reviewing the situation, "because it does not currently reference or capture online platform rental services, which have grown to have a significant role in the hospitality industry." A 2017 report by the hotel industry speculated that the City of Winnipeg could likely raise $410,000 in additional revenue annually if the hotel tax were applied to online room rentals. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The city is always looking for more revenue and this is one area where theyre leaving money on the table," Jocelyn said. A spokeswoman for Airbnb Canada said the company co-operates with municipal and provincial governments across the country, adding that when the City of Ottawa imposed its municipal accommodation tax on online rentals, Airbnb collected and remitted to the City of Ottawa more than $400,000 in the first six months the tax was in place. "Airbnb is committed to working with individual communities across Canada to develop smart regulations that support responsible home-sharing," Alexandra Dagg told the Free Press in an email exchange. Coun. Scott Gillingham, chairman of the finance committee, said bringing in online rental operators is a question of "equity." "Hotels are required to charge the accommodation tax. So it is fair and reasonable that online marketplace accommodation services, like Airbnb, also be required to collect and remit the accommodation tax," he said. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca The Pallister government's directive requiring Manitoba Public Insurance to boost its financial reserves could significantly drive up Autopac rates, critics say, but the Crown corporation insists that won't happen. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Pallister government's directive requiring Manitoba Public Insurance to boost its financial reserves could significantly drive up Autopac rates, critics say, but the Crown corporation insists that won't happen. Last month, the provincial cabinet set new guidelines for how much money MPI must hold in reserve to protect against unusually high claims. By some estimates, the new guidelines, based on federal standards for private insurance companies, will force MPI to boost its rate-stabilization reserve for basic insurance to $350 million or more from the $181 million it reported in its 2017 annual report. The amount of cash the corporation should have on hand to absorb potential shocks from unusually high claims has been an ongoing bone of contention between MPI and consumer representatives at hearings before the Public Utilities Board (PUB). MPI is expected to file its rate request with the PUB in June for the coming year. In setting auto insurance rates, the PUB takes into account how much the corporation requires in its reserve fund. NDP Leader Wab Kinew questioned the need for an increase in MPI's reserve because the corporation enjoys a monopoly and its operations are backstopped by the provincial treasury. The danger for consumers is that higher reserve requirements will mean higher rates at Autopac renewal time, he said. "Affordability is the mission for all Crown utilities, including MPI. So if we lose affordability there, we're not getting the full value of why we as the public own MPI," Kinew said. However, Brian Smiley, a spokesman for MPI, said the new reserve guideline will have no effect on customer premiums. "Any suggestion of (a) rate shock increase (as a result of the change) is completely wrong," he wrote in an email to the Free Press. The corporation estimates its reserve requirement under the new guideline would be about $300 million less than the $350 million claimed by others. While the province passed a regulation directing the boost in reserves, a mandate letter to the corporation from Crown Services Minister Colleen Mayer on Tuesday encouraged MPI and the PUB to discuss how the reserve target should be met, Smiley noted. MPI plans to transfer funds from its extension line of insurance to boost reserves for basic compulsory insurance, he said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Extension insurance involves purchases to reduce one's deductible or to increase third-party liability coverage. The government also set new guidelines on how much money MPI should keep in reserve for this type of insurance, as well as for MPI's special risk insurance products. "There is no risk of rate shock to customers associated with achieving these targets, as transfers from the extension line of business will largely accommodate the need for infusions of capital in basic (insurance)," Smiley said. "Basic reserves would gradually be built up over a five-year timeframe, thereby eliminating the requirement to increase rates sharply." Byron Williams, a lawyer for the Manitoba branch of the Consumers Association of Canada, said his client would be especially concerned if MPI were allowed to use income from premiums charged for basic auto insurance to beef up reserves. If MPI chooses to boost its reserves from the extension line of its business, there won't necessarily be any direct costs to purchasers of basic insurance, Williams said. "But if MPI seeks to build up its reserves from basic monopoly consumers, then the implications could be material and put significant pressure on rates." Meanwhile, Smiley said MPI has already achieved the staffing reductions called for in Mayer's mandate letter. MPI has reduced its management positions by 28 per cent and its overall staffing by eight per cent. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Jim Carr is Canadas new canola salesman. Two months into Chinas ban on the crop, Manitoba's only cabinet minister has been tasked with finding new markets for Canadas canola. The federal Liberals, who are trying to help distressed farmers export the crop to other countries, announced an aid package Wednesday. "We are engaging the best we can in these circumstances," Carr, the minister of international trade diversification, told the Free Press. In about a month, Carr will lead a trade delegation to Japan and South Korea. He's working with the agriculture industry to pinpoint other "high-potential countries" in Asia. On March 1, China halted imports of canola from Winnipeg-based grain giant Richardson International, citing unspecified "dangerous pests." The ban has ensnared other companies. Last year, Canada exported $2.7 billion in canola seed to China, and another $1 billion in oil and meal. Exporters of other grains have complained China is delaying and scrutinizing imports of soybeans and peas. The government has insisted on a science-based approach to the dispute, and refuses to speculate on ulterior motives. Yet it is widely believed China has been retaliating over last Decembers arrest of a senior Huawei Technologies executive in Vancouver. Since early in the spat, Ottawa has asked China for evidence of pests, which did not show up in the samples Canadian inspectors collected before the crop was exported. SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS\ Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr has been tasked with finding new markets for Canadas canola. The Liberals asked three weeks ago to send a delegation of federal and provincial scientists to China, which has still not responded. Instead, scientists from the two countries have held video calls. On Wednesday, Carr dismissed a call by Richardson to put a deadline on China to produce evidence, and retaliate if the country still hadn't done so. Loan boost was long requested The Liberal government's expansion of a loan program for farmers will meet the industry's long-standing request to align its financing with large-scale agriculture. click to read more The Liberal government's expansion of a loan program for farmers will meet the industry's long-standing request to align its financing with large-scale agriculture. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Wednesday that Ottawa is raising the cap on the Advance Payments Program to $1 million from $400,000, with the interest-free portion rising to $500,000 from $100,000. Ottawa has extended the deadline of its loss-compensation program, AgriStability, by two months for canola farmers. "Farming and agriculture has evolved with a lot higher financial demands," said Bill Campbell, the head of Keystone Agricultural Producers, who praised the Liberals for extending both programs. "This will not solve the trade issue. This is bridge financing. This will be able to get us to put the crop in and get us to a position where hopefully time allows the federal government to resolve this issue with China," he said. Meanwhile, the loan extension applies to all farmers, not just those who plant canola. Bibeau acknowledged the industry had made the request, saying it wasn't in anticipation of China putting pressure on other sectors. Bibeau also said she had not been informed about China disrupting pork imports. Reuters reported last week that pork exporters were facing delays, though it was likely due to Canadian firms incorrectly filling out paperwork. Close "I think we have to understand what is a fair time for people acting in good faith," the firm's top lawyer, Jean-Marc Ruest, told a parliamentary committee on April 9. Carr rejected that idea Wednesday. "There is no deadline," he said. "There are changes to the landscape that we will not be able to predict, and its a situation that we're monitoring daily." A company spokesman said Richardson is no longer commenting on the canola issue. Carr also said the Liberals weren't yet at the point of launching a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization. "You never rule out other possibilities, but for now, this is the path ahead for us and our partners," he said. TIM SMITH/THE BRANDON SUN FILES Provincial Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler thinks the Trudeau government hasnt done enough to resolve the countrys trade issues with China. In Winnipeg, Manitobas agriculture minister Ralph Eichler said the Trudeau government hadnt done enough to resolve the countrys trade issues with China. "We should have been focusing on resuming trade with China," he said in an interview. "Unfortunately, they have not got that job done." Eichler said hes "very supportive" of Ottawas efforts to find new customers for canola, but said the Liberals' role is to "build relationships" rather than extend loans. "I dont know how hard the federal government has pushed for a meeting with the Chinese government in order to get proof that our canola was full of pests," he said. "Unfortunately, our farm families are the ones being impacted by this." Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe was more complimentary toward the Liberals, despite clashing with them on multiple issues. He praised the new funding, saying it "does buy us some breathing space." Industry groups and the provinces have been largely in lockstep with the Liberals since the spat was made public in March. The federal Conservatives, as well as the Pallister government, have urged Ottawa to appoint a new ambassador to China. However, regional experts have doubted that this would help resolve the issue. Carr has been working the phones to drum up exports to countries that already buy Canadian canola, like Mexico, Malaysia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. He said he plans to raise the issue in multilateral meetings in Chile and France this spring. Yet the world price of canola has dropped by about one-tenth. Chuck Fossay, head of Manitoba Canola Growers, said his colleagues are kicking themselves for not diversifying their markets earlier on, with China having taken 40 per cent of their canola seed. "Its frustrating. Farmers are trying to figure it out," he said while setting up his seeding equipment just north of Starbuck. He said canola is a high-fertilizer crop, which makes it harder to substitute because other seeds dont grow as well in the same soil. "This is seeding time; its been two months. We were hoping that it would be settled by now." SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS 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 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Wednesday. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau urged anguished farmers to seek help. "We know that farmers deal with many different pressures that can affect their mental health. Trade uncertainties can add to their stress," she rold reporters. In a regular report released last week, Statistics Canada estimated a 6.6 per cent drop in canola acerage nationally after surveying farmers during the month of March. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The head of Keystone Agricultural Producers said that drop may have deepend. "In the current market price, I am going to need an exceptional yield to break even," said Bill Campbell, who estimated that the price drop has already cost Manitoba farmers $160 million. He was thankful for Wednesday's announced support, but stressed it was "a bridge-financing loan" and not a handout. "It has been two months, and I guess in agriculture we sometimes deal with issues of this magnitude somewhat quicker. But I understand this is a very touchy matter and I am not as familiar with politics." With files from Larry Kusch dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca FreshCo, Sobeys' entrant in the discount grocery store market, is opening its first two Winnipeg stores on Thursday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FreshCo, Sobeys' entrant in the discount grocery store market, is opening its first two Winnipeg stores on Thursday. They are just the second and third FreshCo stores in Western Canada as Stellarton, N.S.-based Sobeys has plans to open 12 by the end of the year. It's a strategic move by Sobeys, which is staking a claim for some of the discount market in Western Canada that it has not been active in although the company has a thriving chain of FreshCo stores in Ontario. "The discount market is very important to us," said Mike Venton, the general manager of Sobeys discount format. "When you think of the composition of the Sobeys brand across the country, 87 per cent of our locations (1,500 across the country) are full-service businesses. But in the Western Canadian market, the discount segment is growing at the fastest pace. So for us, it is a great opportunity to get our discount business into Western Canada." JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS A woman shops at a FreshCo store in Mission, B.C. At about 45,000 square feet, the two Winnipeg FreshCo stores will be a little larger than the average location partly because they will include Cantor's Express butcher counters run by the Winnipeg family-owned institution Cantor's Quality Meats & Groceries. The two locations -- one at Jefferson Avenue and McPhillips Street, the other at Regent Avenue and Lagimodiere Boulevard -- will include pharmacies run by the same pharmacists that had operated in those locations in the former Safeway format. Venton said the Jefferson Avenue location will feature a number of specialty items that will appeal to the Filipino community in the neighbourhood, including a fresh seafood counter. But the guiding principle at FreshCo is having the lowest prices in town and Venton is not shy to make a bold commitment: "We will be the cheapest grocery store in Winnipeg." FreshCo offers three money-saving guarantees: if a customer cant find product that is advertised in flyer, customers will receive a rain check, plus 10 per cent off that advertised price; if a customer is not fully satisfied with the product quality, FreshCo will reimburse the cost and replace the product; and it will match the lowest price in town on any product it sells. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We are so obsessed with lowering costs every day," Venton said. "Our operation is built on low overhead. Everything we do is focused on how to get our prices lower and how do we reflect assortment and the needs of the community." With the logistical know-how of a national multibillion-dollar enterprise, Venton said they are able to offer fresh food at discount prices that are not "discount" quality. As it prepared to launch in Western Canada, the company revamped its 95 Ontario FreshCo stores, changing the colour schemes and conducting extensive customer research. 'We were looking to make sure that before we came to Western Canada we felt really confident that what we were going to bring was an improved version' Mike Venton, general manager of Sobeys discount format "We were looking to make sure that before we came to Western Canada we felt really confident that what we were going to bring was an improved version," he said. The changes include enhancing the marketing and point-of-sale areas, highlighting the features and adding price guarantees. The conversion of a couple of former Safeway stores in Winnipeg comes more than five years after Sobeys paid $5.8 billion for the Western Canadian chain of Safeway stores. A couple of years ago, the company announced its intention to convert up to one-quarter of its 255 Safeway and Sobeys stores in Western Canada to FreshCo formats over the next five years. Everything has not always gone smoothly since the Safeway acquisition, but the introduction of FreshCo into Western Canada allows the company to repurpose locations that needed help to fit in. "Strategically it is a very good move for us to be making for a number of reasons," Venton said. "In Winnipeg you will see Sobeys fullservice locations in close proximity to each other. Also some neighbourhoods are just suited more for a discount offering. For us it is about capturing more sales and a creating more share of the market and having more options." martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: That it was a tactical move by the SP-BSP to keep the Congress out of their alliance so as to cause maximum damage to the BJP by using the Grand Old Party as vote katuwa (vote splitter) was substantiated on Wednesday by none other the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi in Salone, Amethi, on Wednesday. Campaigning for brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in his bastion, Priyanka claimed the Congress had fielded its candidates painstakingly across Uttar Pradesh in such a way so as to breach the BJP vote bank without damaging the SP-BSP gathbandhan. We have chosen our candidates very carefully who can cut into BJPs vote bank to ensure its defeat and not hurt the gathbandhan, she said. The Congress is not at all cutting into the votes of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance as our candidates will either win or have the potential to damage BJPs chances. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Her sibling, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, however, struck a contrarion note. While addressing a rally in Barabanki, Rahul fired a salvo at the SP-BSP alliance challenging their grit to stand to PM Modis might. Their control may be in Modis hand as they have a history, but I dont fear him as I dont have any history, he said. On the contrary, Priyanaka dropped substantial hints about a tacit understanding between the Congress and SP-BSP alliance in the polls by claiming that her partys aim was to defeat the BJP at any cost instead of hurting the prospects of the alliance. At the time of cobbling up the alliance with the BSP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, had tried to justify Congresss exclusion saying it was in the interest of the opposition to keep the Grand Old Party out of the gathbandhan to ensure BJPs ouster. But , as the poll temperatures soared, the discourse in the battle ground also changed. On Wednesday, the SP chief hit back at Rahul over his Barabanki statement asking him not to impart lessons in politics to Samajwadis. It was a Congress member who filed a PIL against me and Neta ji in the Supreme Court. Depite having suffered so much at their hands from time-to-time, we have left Amethi and Rae Bareli for them. Rahul Gandhi should not impart us the lessons of politics, said Akhilesh, interacting with the media persons. The day after jurors watched a video of Christine Wood's accused killer telling police he had never met her, they saw photos of them together. Brett Overby's arm is around 21-year-old Wood's shoulders in a series of three selfies that appear to have been taken on a cellphone camera. They are both smiling. Wood is wearing the same outfit she had on when her parents last saw her alive. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The day after jurors watched a video of Christine Wood's accused killer telling police he had never met her, they saw photos of them together. Brett Overby's arm is around 21-year-old Wood's shoulders in a series of three selfies that appear to have been taken on a cellphone camera. They are both smiling. Wood is wearing the same outfit she had on when her parents last saw her alive. Overby, 32, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Wood's August 2016 death. During the second day of his Court of Queen's Bench trial Wednesday, he watched from the prisoner's box as his former common-law partner looked at the photos from the witness stand, went stone-faced, and identified him as the man in the photo. "They're on my couch," Shirley Houle said. "On the couch that my grandmother gave us." SUPPLIED Photos that were shown to the jury for the first time Wednesday afternoon showing Christine Wood, left, with her accused killer, Brett Overby. Houle testified for the prosecution in Overby's murder trial, saying they were in a relationship for nine years until March 1, 2016 and stayed friends until Overby was arrested in March 2017. He was charged with Wood's murder in April 2017, about seven months after the 21-year-old was reported missing. Crown prosecutors believe Wood met Overby on an online dating site and that she was killed inside the home Overby and Houle once shared. Prosecutors are trying to prove their case against him in front of a jury of nine men and three women as the murder trial continues. A few hours after the prosecution believes Wood was slain in Overby's home on Aug. 20, 2016, Houle phoned her ex-boyfriend. She testified he told her he was tired from going out the night before, but she said he didn't mention anything unusual or make any allegations of having been assaulted. When she visited him at home on Aug. 21, 2016, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, she testified, except that Overby had laid out a spread of her favourite snacks in an apparent attempt to win her back. Text messages in which Overby told Houle he didn't know Wood and asked her not to tell police about his Plenty of Fish online dating account were also presented as evidence Wednesday. The texts were sent Feb. 1, 2017, the same day Winnipeg Police Service missing-persons investigators contacted Houle and arranged to interview her on video the next day. She'd already told investigators during that initial conversation that Overby had used Plenty of Fish after they broke up. -I don't even know who she is' Accused killer Brett Overby While answering questions from Crown prosecutor Brent Davidson, Houle confirmed Overby told her he didn't know Wood. "Did you ever confront Mr. Overby about that?" Davidson asked. "I think I did," Houle answered, saying she would have asked him at some point after her conversation with police. "You think you did? Do you remember his response?" Davidson asked. "Um, not really, no," Houle said. In the texts to his former girlfriend, Overby allegedly wrote that he was anxious about the police investigation, even though "I didn't do anything." He asked her not to reveal information about him when she spoke to investigators, saying he was "scared cops r (sic) gonna come kick in my door and put me in jail or some s--- for something I didn't even do." "So please woman," he wrote. "Just say u don't know what I do..or who I hang with or anything." In what Houle said was a reference to his Plenty of Fish account, Overby added: "U don't know about POF either K?" When Overby's trial began Tuesday, jurors watched a video of his Jan. 2017 interview with police. He told missing-persons investigators he didn't have anything to do with Wood's disappearance. "I don't even know who she is," he said at the time. When Wood's mother Melinda took the stand to testify Tuesday, she was shown the same selfies the jury saw for the first time Wednesday. Tearing up, she identified the young woman as her daughter. Jurors heard more details Wednesday about the investigative efforts police undertook to obtain phone records that eventually led them to Overby as a murder suspect. Investigators believe Wood was using Overby's cell phone and wireless internet connection to send her last messages in the early morning hours of Aug. 20, 2016. The two men she contacted testified they were cocaine dealers at the time. One of them, Siu Wong, testified he met Wood a couple of years before her death and would "party" with her. He was questioned by Overby's defence team about Wood's tendency to "snap" and get angry all of a sudden, for no apparent reason. He said he once saw Wood start a fight with another girl. Another time, she got angry at him "out of nowhere," but Wong said he was able to calm her down and wasn't worried about what she might do. Police never found the HTC smart phone that they allege belonged to Overby during the summer of 2016. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. A Winnipeg doctor who worked closely with a controversial overseas stem-cell clinical trial involving multiple sclerosis patients has been stripped of her medical licence for a year after being found guilty of professional misconduct. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Winnipeg doctor who worked closely with a controversial overseas stem-cell clinical trial involving multiple sclerosis patients has been stripped of her medical licence for a year after being found guilty of professional misconduct. Dr. Susan Graham Krause, formerly Dr. Susan Hauch, cannot practise medicine for a year after being found guilty of eight charges by an inquiry panel of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. The suspension begins May 24 at midnight, and continues for 12 months. The convictions and penalty against Krause, which cannot be appealed, are contained in an 83-page written decision released by the college April 16, following a hearing last year. She was also convicted of "contravening several professional and ethical standards, displaying a lack of knowledge, skill and/or judgment in the practice of medicine, and having demonstrated unfitness to practise medicine." Krause was ordered to pay the colleges cost for its two-year investigation and hearing. "I anticipate the costs of the investigation and hearing to be the highest of any in the colleges history given that Dr. Krauses lack of co-operation and deceit persisted for more than four years," registrar Dr. Anna Ziomek said in a four-page statement about the decision. "I want to express the colleges gratitude to the patients and their families who bravely and generously participated in the investigation. Because Dr. Krause eventually admitted most of the important facts, they were spared the additional pain and suffering of testifying at the hearing, but that does not make up for the suffering they endured." Krause graduated from the University of Manitobas faculty of medicine in 1977, and completed her training in family medicine in 1990. She was also the universitys head of family medicine and its undergraduate director of the family medicine program before resigning in August 2015, after the universitys investigation committee found she had breached the institutions policies for conflict of interest and its code of research ethics. The college says Krause met Doug Broeska in 2006, and had a sexual relationship with him until October 2014. Broeska owned Regenetek Research, which helped MS patients take part in an unproven therapy, called combined treatment protocol. The college says Krause gave Broeska money to support his business venture, helped encourage patients to take part in the therapy, and invested $700,000 in the venture. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The decision notes Krause admitted she recognizes Broeska as an "effective con man." Krause lost her $700,000 investment and her home. Neither Krause, who told the college she has had no contact with Broeska since 2015, nor Broeska could be reached for comment. Broeska is suing the Winnipeg Free Press for defamation. Krause told the Free Press in 2015 she had been "duped" by Broeska. "Scammed, yes. Duped, yes," she said. "Weve all been duped... Its very unfortunate things had to come out this way because its shattered a lot of lives." kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Late last month, I seem to have struck a nerve with a Twitter thread about wage inequality at the Walt Disney Co. it is important to note that I speak only for myself and not for my family. The thread went viral, partly because of my name. But I suspect it would be far harder to get that reaction if my last name were Procter or Gamble. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Late last month, I seem to have struck a nerve with a Twitter thread about wage inequality at the Walt Disney Co. it is important to note that I speak only for myself and not for my family. The thread went viral, partly because of my name. But I suspect it would be far harder to get that reaction if my last name were Procter or Gamble. Thats because the Disney brand occupies a special place in our economic landscape. Its profits are powered by emotion and sentiment and, yes, something as fundamental as the difference between right and wrong. I believe that Disney could well lead the way, if its leaders so chose, to a more decent, humane way of doing business. I had to speak out about the naked indecency of chief executive Robert Igers pay. According to Equilar, Iger took home more than US$65 million in 2018. Thats 1,424 times the median pay of a Disney worker. To put that gap in context, in 1978, the average CEO made about 30 times a typical workers salary. Since 1978, CEO pay has grown by 937 per cent, while the pay of an average worker grew just 11.2 per cent. This growth in inequality has affected every corner of American life. We are increasingly a lopsided, barbell nation, where the middle class is shrinking, a very few, very affluent people own a great deal and the majority have relatively little. What is more, as their wealth has grown, the super-rich have invested heavily in politicians, policies and social messaging to pad their already grotesque advantages. In 2017, with the quiet encouragement of corporations across the country, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As billions of dollars landed in the laps of management, they spent as a rule not on their workforces but on wealth-enriching strategies such as stock buybacks and, yes, executive pay. In 2018, Disney gave more than 125,000 employees a US$1,000 bonus. But that US$125 million or so was dwarfed by the US$3.6 billion it spent to buy shares back to drive up its stock price and thus enrich its shareholders. Given that about 85 per cent of stocks are held by the richest people in the country, this was a significant new investment in wealth inequality. I have been quietly grumbling about this issue for some time now, uncertain how public to be. It is time to call out the men and women who lead us and to draw a line in the sand about how low we are prepared to let hard-working people sink while top management takes home ever-more-outrageous sums of money. It is unreasonable to expect corporate boards to act as a check on this trend; they are almost universally made up of CEOs, former CEOs and people who long to be CEOs. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Disney has pushed back by noting that it pays more than the US$7.25 federal minimum wage. This argument fails to acknowledge that the cost of living varies from place to place and few can make do on that, no matter where they live. It also fails to recognize that the company worked quietly to try to defeat a ballot initiative to lift the minimum wage paid by certain employers to US$15 an hour in Anaheim, Calif., which passed last November. At a company that has never been more profitable, whose top executives drive home with seven- and eight-figure paycheques and whose primary resource is the good-spirited, public-facing people who greet guests day after day, why are we dancing around a minimum wage anyway? Im not arguing that Iger and others do not deserve bonuses. They do. They have led the company brilliantly. I am saying that the people who contribute to its success also deserve a share of the profits they have helped make happen. There are just over 200,000 employees at Disney. If management wants to improve life for just the bottom 10 per cent of its workers, Disney could probably set aside just half of its executive bonus pool, and it would likely have twice as much as it would need to give that bottom decile a US$2,000 bonus. Besides, at the pay levels we are talking about, an executive giving up half his bonus has zero effect on his quality of life. For the people at the bottom, it could mean a ticket out of poverty or debt. It could offer access to decent health care or an education for a child. Here is my suggestion to the Walt Disney Co. leadership: lead. If any of this rings any moral bells for you, know that you are uniquely situated to model a different way of doing business. Reward all of your workers fairly. Dont turn away when they tell you they are unable to make ends meet. You do not exist merely for the benefit of shareholders and managers. Reward all the people who make you successful, help rebuild the American middle class and respect the dignity of the men and women who work just as hard as you do to make Disney the amazing company it is. Abigail Disney is the president of Fork Films, founder of Peace is Loud and co-founder of Level Forward. Washington Post Thanks to an out-of-court settlement and non-disclosure agreement, few will know for sure how much Manitoba is going to pay Kyle Unger for the 14 years he spent in prison for a murder he did not commit. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Thanks to an out-of-court settlement and non-disclosure agreement, few will know for sure how much Manitoba is going to pay Kyle Unger for the 14 years he spent in prison for a murder he did not commit. If the normal rules of civil proceedings played any role, it could be a substantial sum. Unger was convicted in 1992 for the grisly murder of 16-year-old Brigitte Grenier at a summer music festival. He was granted bail in 2005, after it was determined a hair used to convict him belonged to someone else. In 2009, after a lengthy review by the federal justice department, then-justice minister Rob Nicholson quashed the conviction and ordered a new trial. Manitoba Justice decided instead to drop the charges. If you start counting from 2005 the date at which it was shown he was the likely victim of a miscarriage of justice it took another 14 years to reach a settlement. Unger was fighting for compensation for as long as he was behind bars. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Kyle Unger speaks with media outside court in 2009. In civil proceedings, that is called an aggravating factor. In other words, it is likely Unger received a larger sum because Manitoba Justice took so long to acknowledge it had convicted the wrong man and compensate him for the trauma of being wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned. That should anger most sensible Manitobans. But if that doesn't start your blood to boiling, consider Manitoba Justice had a golden opportunity to do right by Unger nearly 12 years ago. In February 2007, the commission of inquiry into the wrongful conviction of James Driskell recommended Manitoba Justice undertake a review of all cases handled by former prosecutor George Dangerfield. This was no idle recommendation: Driskell represented the second time one of Dangerfield's high-profile cases were revealed to be wrongful convictions. Dangerfield was also responsible for the wrongful prosecution of Thomas Sophonow, who was the subject of a 2001 judicial inquiry which found multiple instances of prosecutorial misconduct. With the knowledge a single prosecutor had been at the helm for two miscarriages, then-justice minister Dave Chomiak retained former Ontario Superior Court judge Roger Salhany to review Dangerfield's other cases. It was hoped any flagged by Salhany could be fast-tracked through the federal criminal conviction review process, with a joint-recommendation from Manitoba Justice and non-profit legal group Innocence Canada (then called Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted). It soon became clear Manitoba Justice was going to severely limit the scope. Salhany was not provided with any investigatory powers, and by all accounts, got little or no co-operation from the prosecutions branch. As a result, it is widely believed Salhany never got the opportunity to review Unger's case nor others that featured the tell-tale signs of a wrongful conviction. WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Former Crown attorney George Dangerfield Manitoba Justice was asked this week if Salhany had submitted any report, memorandum or missive about any of Dangerfield's cases. By Wednesday night, the department had failed to provide an answer. Innocence Canada, however, believes nothing exists driving the organization that has helped exonerate two dozen people to demand a new, full review of Dangerfield's cases. Even though there have been many cases come and go since Salhany was tasked, there is still a compelling reason to launch a review. Namely, the rapidly growing tab being charged to taxpayers for Dangerfield's alleged misdeeds. Even though we don't know Unger's figure he was seeking $14 million we do know Sophonow received $2.9 million and Driskell got $4 million. Now, let's consider the other Dangerfield cases that are making their way towards a settlement. Frank Ostrowski's murder conviction was quashed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal late last year, and he is in the early stages of a civil lawsuit. KEN GIGLIOTTI WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Former justice minister Dave Chomiak There are no fewer than three additional Dangerfield cases at various stages of the federal convictions review process: Roger Sanderson, who was convicted of first-degree murder in a trio of gangland slayings; Brian Andersen, who was convicted of murder for the 1973 beating death of a man in downtown Winnipeg; and Mohamed Khan, who was convicted in 1994 of murdering his wife. When you look at all seven cases together, and the exposure they represent for the provincial treasury, it makes you wonder why Manitoba Justice was so reluctant to allow Salhany to do a thorough review in 2007. It's a question that has haunted James Lockyer for more than a decade. "If Justice Salhany had been given more powers and been allowed to do his work, the process would have gone much quicker for many of the cases handled by Mr. Dangerfield," said Lockyer, a Toronto lawyer and co-founder of Innocence Canada. Lockyer has or still is representing Driskell, Unger, Ostrowski and Khan. "Unfortunately, Manitoba Justice appears to have made sure that Salhany accomplished nothing. I don't think that is Salhany's fault; he was wasn't given any powers or encouragement to follow through." Lockyer said there are precedents in this country for provinces supporting the federal review of a possible wrongful conviction. In Ontario, in several cases, the provincial justice department consented to references to the Ontario Appeal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada, he added. WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Roger Salhany was tasked with reviewing George Dangerfield's other cases. "By consenting, Ontario shortened the amount of time needed to quash these convictions," Lockyer said. Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Manitoba, on the other hand, has consistently demonstrated an adversarial, almost hostile reaction to any claims of wrongful conviction, particularly in any case involving Dangerfield. (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.) Manitoba Justice has not just refused to consent to judicial reviews of Dangerfield cases, it has repeatedly sent prosecutors or contract lawyers to court to contest the results of federal conviction reviews and judicial orders to quash the convictions of men who spent decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. As Lockyer noted, Manitoba Justice is not just "defending old verdicts, they seem to be actively defending an individual prosecutor, which is odd." Not just odd. It this instance, it was an unjust and ultimately expensive way of doing business. dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca BOSTON - A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo, Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor leaves federal court in Boston. On Thursday, May 2, 2019, Kapoor was found guilty in a scheme to bribe doctors to boost sales of a highly addictive fentanyl spray meant for cancer patients with severe pain. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) BOSTON - A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of jury deliberations. Four ex-employees of the Chandler, Arizona-based company, including the former exotic dancer, were also convicted. Some of the most sensational evidence in the months-long federal trial included a video of employees dancing and rapping around an executive dressed as a giant bottle of the powerful spray Subsys, and testimony about how the company made a habit of hiring attractive women as sales representatives. Federal prosecutors portrayed the case as part of the government's effort to go after those it views as responsible for fueling the nation's deadly opioid crisis. "This is a landmark prosecution that vindicated the public's interest in stanching the flow of opioids into our homes and streets," Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement. The convictions could embolden federal authorities to bring more cases against top executives of opioid manufactures, said Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. "Paying a fine or even civil litigation is inadequate if we want to deter corporations from killing people in their pursuit of profit," Kolodny said. Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 400,000 lives in the U.S. between 1999 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 2 million people are addicted to the drugs, which include both prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and illegal drugs such as heroin. Kapoor and the others were accused of scheming to bribe doctors across the U.S. to boost sales of Subsys and misleading insurers to get payment approved for the drug, which is meant for cancer patients in severe pain and can cost as much as $19,000 a month, according to prosecutors. The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking engagements that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors. The charges carry up to 20 years in prison. "We will continue the fight to clear Dr. Kapoor's name," defence attorney Beth Wilkinson said in a statement. She said the long deliberations prove it was "far from an open-and-shut case." A former sales representative testified that regional sales manager Sunrise Lee once gave a lap dance at a Chicago nightclub to a doctor whom Insys was pushing to write more prescriptions. Lee's lawyer said she will challenge the verdict. Jurors also watched the rap video , which was shown at a national meeting in 2015 to motivate sales reps to push doctors to prescribe higher doses of the drug. At the end of the video, the person dressed up as the bottle takes off his costume and is revealed to be then-vice-president of sales, Alec Burlakoff. Burlakoff pleaded guilty and testified against Kapoor. Burlakoff told the jury that he met Lee at the strip club where she worked and recruited her to join the company despite her lack of pharmaceutical industry experience because he believed she would be willing to help carry out the plan to pay off doctors. A former CEO of the company, Michael Babich, also pleaded guilty and testified against his colleagues. He said Insys recruited sales reps who were "easy on the eyes" because doctors didn't want an "unattractive person to walk in their door." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Kapoor's attorney sought to shift the blame onto Burlakoff, who she said was cutting side deals with doctors. Wilkinson argued that Burlakoff and Babich were lying about Kapoor in an attempt to save themselves. Kapoor's lawyers also argued that prosecutors were unfairly blaming Insys for fueling the drug crisis, noting that the drug makes up a tiny fraction of the prescription opioid market. Several doctors have been convicted in other cases of participating in a kickback scheme. A number of states have sued the Insys, which also agreed last year to pay $150 million to settle a federal investigation into inappropriate sales. Insys said in an emailed statement that the "the actions of a select few former employees" are not indicative of the company's work today. ____ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://www.twitter.com/aedurkinricher ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - A rising tide of fake news and disinformation is dominating World Press Freedom Day discussions taking place this week in Ethiopia, which is hosting the event after freeing jailed journalists as part of sweeping reforms. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - A rising tide of fake news and disinformation is dominating World Press Freedom Day discussions taking place this week in Ethiopia, which is hosting the event after freeing jailed journalists as part of sweeping reforms. As the world prepares to mark the day on Friday, media practitioners and experts have raised the alarm and deliberated on ways to combat disinformation that they say is becoming a "threat to democracy." The relationship between the press and democracy is the main theme this year, with more than 100 events taking place around the world. "In my country, Somalia, disinformation is so rampant to the extent that some candidates were falsely alleged to have died or withdrawn right before elections so that their competitors were given more chances of winning," said Hussein Abdi Adam with Somalia's electoral commission. "Everybody is using phones these days. And it's becoming more difficult to deal with it as many of those engaged in this disinformation are based in various parts of the world." Ethiopia is drafting a law to deal with hate speech and disinformation, said Billene Seyoum, the press secretary for the East African country's reformist prime minister. "This law really won't curb citizens' freedom of expression but it rather will safeguard their right to access accurate information and ensure their safety," she said. "Disinformation is lethal. It also creates fear and divides societies and communities." This year's World Press Freedom Day is being held for the first time in Ethiopia, a country that had been infamous for jailing journalists until new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed power in April 2018. His government set several dozen reporters free. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Ethiopia currently has no journalists behind bars and new publications are flourishing on various platforms. Since Abiy came to power the country has unblocked over 260 websites and journalists who had been banned returned home. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. But the media organization noted that challenges still remain for journalists in Ethiopia, including the risk of attack and arrest, especially in restive regions. "Perhaps most fundamentally, journalists told CPJ they are anxious for the freedoms they are enjoying to be rooted in law rather than guaranteed only by the goodwill of the Abiy government," Muthoki Mumo, CPJ's sub-Saharan Africa representative, noted this week. Visiting British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the audience that media freedom is not a "Western" value or a "luxury" for developing countries. "In a world where 99 journalists were killed last year - and another 348 locked up by governments - some of the brightest spots are perhaps where some would least expect: right here in Africa," he said. On Thursday, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was being awarded to jailed Myanmar journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone by Ethiopian and African Union officials. The Reuters journalists are serving seven-year prison sentences for their reporting on the military's brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. This month the One Free Press Coalition is highlighting the Reuters journalists on its "10 Most Urgent" cases along with missing Tanzanian journalist Azory Gwanda, detained Nicaraguan journalists Miguel Mora and Lucia Pineda, imprisoned Indian journalist Aasif Sultan and others. Ten local students graduated from the High School Police Academy at Madison College-Portage in April, including Columbus student Morgan Ermis. Held on three Saturdays, the academy was designed to provide real-world knowledge about policing and police careers. Demonstrations and hands-on activities were used to introduce a variety of topics and tactics, including police basics and police code of ethics, investigations and evidence collection, communications and police self-defense. Collaborating agencies included Portage Police Department, Columbia County Sheriffs Department and Columbia County Deputy Sheriffs Association. Tuition for all participants was sponsored by Portage Police Department and Columbia County Deputy Sheriffs Association. Madison College offers an Associate Degree program in Criminal Justice Studies, which prepares students for various careers including as law enforcement officers, private security officers, investigators and correctional officers. For more information about the program or about other youth opportunities, contact Madison College-Portage at 608-745-3100, or visit madisoncollege.edu. In my family, we Gruen men have more than one lost-n-found story having to do with losing such coinsthat is, wedding rings. One lost wedding ring story involves my brother Bill, in the mid 1990s at the McDonalds farmhis in-laws who lived in western, Massachusetts. Yes, Old McDonald had a farma tree farm. Also a pondwhich is where the ring gets lost. I was there. In the course of playing outdoors on this farm, Bill looks down to his ring finger and notices that it is bare. No wedding ring. All the fun and games stop. An extensive all-hands-on-deck search is made, but the ring cannot be found. Not right away. Not on land. Not in eight feet of mucky water. When Bill tells his wife Marg, she answers calmly and assures everyone that the team will spare no effort in finding that ring. Bill adds, Ill dredge the pond, if I have to. The pressure is on. Stakes are high. His kidsmy nephews and niecesare all worried that if Dad does not find this ring something worse might happen: With no ring, does that mean that Mom and Dad are even married, then what becomes of us? The pressure on Bill to find this ring mounts. Not having a spare $20,000 lying aroundto pay for dredgingBill rents an underwater metal detector instead. Of the approximately 82,000 Wisconsinites who would be newly eligible for the federal-state health coverage program, Vos said about half already have coverage through the exchanges created by former President Barack Obamas 2010 health care law. The other half are not covered but are eligible for low-cost coverage through the exchanges, said Vos, R-Rochester. None of us ran on an expansion of welfare, Vos said at a separate news conference at General Mitchell Airport. Moral failure Evers was joined at his press conference by Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Democratic lawmakers and other Medicaid expansion advocates. Barnes said rejecting Medicaid expansion is a moral failure on the part of GOP lawmakers. He said its ironic that Republican lawmakers announced their plan to scrap Medicaid expansion at the same time they were holding an elite $1,000-a-plate fundraiser in Washington, D.C. Vos acknowledged attending the fundraiser and said it was part of a larger visit by GOP state legislators with the states congressional delegation. By PTI MUMBAI: A day after 16 persons, including 15 policemen, were killed in an IED blast in Gadchiroli, Naxal banners were found at several places in the district which warned the contractors against constructing roads and bridges. A police official said the North Gadchiroli divisional committee of the Maoists put up banners at various locations in the area. "The banners said that the development work in this area is not for the locals, but for the benefit of a handful of rich people. They warned contractors to stop construction of roads and bridges in the area," the official said. In some other banners, they remembered 37 Maoists, who were killed in an encounter with police at Kasansur in Gadchiroli district last year. In the banners, the Naxals also urged people to "destroy the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra in the name of new India", the official said. "Police have removed all the banners put up in the area by the Maoists," he said. Early on Wednesday, a group of Maoists had torched at least 27 vehicles of a road contractor company at Dadapur in the district. A few hours later, 15 security personnel and a civilian, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Kurkheda area in the district. Meanwhile, the police have intensified operation against Maoists after Wednesday's incidents. Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, who is in Gadchiroli, visited Kurkheda with other police officials. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou met with Gov. Tony Evers for the first time Thursday as speculation swirls over the companys plans in Wisconsin. The meeting comes a day after Gou met with President Donald Trump to discuss updates to the southeastern Wisconsin manufacturing project and after Evers cast uncertainty on the companys plans by suggesting last month the state and company are renegotiating their contract. Gou apparently told the president Foxconns plans in the state remain unchanged and that we suspended the work around October, November last year because the weather there was snowy and icy cold, according to the Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asian Review. About two weeks after saying it was unrealistic that Foxconn would employ 13,000 people in the state, as the company has maintained, Evers after the meeting Thursday added to the confusion over whether he believes the company will honor its jobs commitment. Wisconsin regulators again declined to say Thursday whether companies other than monopoly utilities can own and operate rooftop solar panels but agreed to investigate whether the states largest utility can legally block a deal between one such company and the city of Milwaukee. The case involves Eagle Point Solar, which won a contract to install 1.1 megawatts of solar panels on seven municipal buildings and lease them to the city. We Energies, the citys utility, blocked the deal and instead suggested the city participate in its own rooftop solar program. Led by the conservative majority, the Public Service Commission declined Eagle Points request to declare its agreement with the city does not make the company a public utility subject to regulation. The commission did, however, agree to hold a hearing on whether We Energies can legally refuse to connect the solar panels. Chairwoman Rebecca Valcq said she could find no legal justification for We Energies to block the citys connection request and argued that third-party ownership is nothing more than a financing tool, much like a retail store offering payment plans on portable generators. Joe Hasler keeps a box full of memories on his desk from his time serving as one of the trustees on the the Madison College District Board at his office at LaRowe, Gerlach and Taggart LLP, the law firm he works at in Reedsburg. Those memories include agendas from board meetings, programs from ceremonies and other memorabilia. Buried at the bottom of the box is a book of newspaper clippings and photos from when his father, James B. Hasler, served on the Madison College District Board in the 1970s and 1980s. Its got sentimental value, Hasler said of why he keeps the items. I dont know if you understand where you are going until you know where youve been. Hasler, a lifelong Reedsburg resident, said his father served on the Madison College District Board when one of the colleges campus was being constructed in Madison. He said his fathers time on the board was one of the reasons he decided to apply for a position when a spot was open the Madison College Board in 2013. Most people who are concerned about Climate Change know the importance of reducing ones carbon footprint and the promise of renewable energies. But WKOW TV Chief Meteorologist Bob Lindmeier said more direct and far reaching action is required to adequately address the issue. Lindmeier spoke at Thinkers Hall in Sauk City April 29. There were few empty seats in the audience and some chose to stand along the edges of the room. The event, titled Solving the Climate Challenge was jointly sponsored by the Free Congregation of Sauk County and the Citizens Climate Lobby. Carl Rosenstock of Sauk Area Climate Awareness and Action spoke before Lindmeir. He said educating others on Climate Change is a major commitment for him. Ive been studying this very seriously for the last few years, Rosenstock said. This is my lifes work now. Lindmeier said he first became concerned about Climate Change through studying peer reviewed papers by climate scientists. He grew unsettled by the lack of concern he saw in the general public, and found the information being presented to them was sometimes designed to sow doubt about the reality of Climate Change. Beryl K. PETE Pullen, 86, of Deforest, peacefully passed away April 29, 2019, at home after a battle with cancer. He was born April 26, 1933, at home in Lodi, to Earl and Marjorie (Smith) Pullen. At the age of 17, He started his Military Career. He graduated from Beaver Dam High School. He was in the regular army for three years and then proudly served in the Army National Guard for the next 30 years. He was proud of his involvement and of our ancestors history of serving our country. He worked for many companies including, Wolf Kubly, Gisholt, and retired from Oscar Mayer. He loved Branson, Missouri, where he and mom spent six months of the year when they were able to travel. He loved Country music and enjoyed meeting friends and performers at the shows. He loved to travel the world, especially to moms family in Germany. Garage sales and thrift stores were a favorite past time. He was an avid reader, collector of everything, life-long Green Bay Packer Backer, lover of music and knowledgeable about all things. He loved to share the history of the United States and our ancestors. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday responded to skepticism from Gathbandhan leaders over her claim to have fielded weak candidates to eat into BJPs vote share in the Lok Sabha poll in Uttar Pradesh. Her statement has led to Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati accusing the Congress of splitting anti-BJP votes by fielding its own candidates in Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka Gandhi said that she did not say Congress had fielded weak candidates. She added: "I've said very clearly Congress is fighting this election on its own strength. We have chosen candidates that are either fighting very strongly or cutting BJP votes." "I would rather die than help the BJP in any way," she clarified while campaigning in her mothers bastion in Rae Bareli. Meanwhile, the Congress leader also addressed a meeting of Samajwadi Party workers in Unchahar segment of Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency on Thursday. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE "I can never have anything to do with that destructive ideology, never, not in my life. Every Congress candidate in Uttar Pradesh will cut into the votes of the BJP and no one else. I am very clear about this," said Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congress's campaign in-charge for 41 seats in the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secy for UP (East) in Raebareli: Ideology of Congress & BJP is poles apart. We'll always fight them, they are our main adversary in politics. We've made sure not to benefit BJP in any way. We're fighting strongly, our candidates are strong. pic.twitter.com/JXlvQWyXx8 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 Priyanka, on Wednesday, had hinted about a tacit Congress-Gathbandhan understanding by claiming that she had fielded her party candidates after thorough research to ensure that by not winning, they should cut into the BJP vote bank and not the SP-BSP-RLD's alliance. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJPs vote share, she had told media persons. ALSO READ | This is why Priyanka Gandhi is not contesting from Varanasi against PM Modi Reacting to her statement, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said he didnt believe that the Congress had fielded weak candidates on any seat. No party does it. People are not with them. So they are trying to find an excuse, Akhilesh said. The SP chief claimed that Congress wanted to benefit the BJP. BJP has learnt to misuse the ED, CBI and other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress itself," he asserted. BSP chief Mayawati reaction was sharper claiming the BJP and the Congress were two sides of the same coin. She conveyed her voters not to waste their vote by supporting Congress. Don't waste your vote on the Congress, she said. Mayawati also sought to clarify SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's statement on the last day of Parliament, asking people not to misconstrue it. He had expressed his wish to see Narendra Modi return to power. READ HERE | Priyanka Gandhi chides kids for mouthing slur against PM Modi; child rights body writes to EC She scoffed at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday by saying: Is Rahul Gandhi immature? Why did he hug Prime Minister (Narendra Modi)?." Congress, which has fielded candidates on 69 of 80 seats in UP, wanted to be a part of mahagathbandhan but was elbowed out of it, owing to differences with regional parties over the number of seats. (With inputs from ANI) American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. iShares China Large-Cap ETF's stock was trading at $38.80 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, FXI shares have decreased by 5.6% and is now trading at $36.63. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. iShares MSCI South Korea ETF's stock was trading at $52.04 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, EWY shares have increased by 51.4% and is now trading at $78.77. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. African Battery Metals Plc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for and exploits mineral resources. It explores for cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel, gold, and other battery metals. The company holds interest in cobalt-copper exploration licenses, which include the Kisinka license covering an area of 50 square kilometers; and Sakania license covering an area of 140 square kilometers located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also holds interest in the Ferensola Project, a gold, iron, and coltan deposit covering an area of 153 square kilometers located in Northern Sierra Leone. The company was formerly known as Sula Iron & Gold plc and changed its name to African Battery Metals Plc in January 2018. African Battery Metals Plc was incorporated in 2011 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Piton Paints Limited, Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel Unitary Enterprise, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams. By Online Desk The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani made landfall on Friday morning at around 8 am close to Odisha's Puri, much before the earlier forecast of 3 pm. These districts--Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur--are likely to bear the brunt of the cyclone. It may hit 10,000 villages and 52 towns in total. ALSO READ | Bangladesh orders mass evacuation in 19 coastal districts as cyclone 'Fani' moves closer Extremely heavy rainfall is likely in coastal and interior Odisha, north Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal on Friday. There are huge storm surge and flooding risks for coastal Odisha and West Bengal, and also for Bangladesh. The Indian Coast Guard has positioned 34 disaster relief teams at different spots and deployed four ships to handle any exigency. The Odisha government Thursday issued instructions to shift women in their advanced stage of pregnancy to nearby hospitals. Here are ten points to know ahead of Fani's landfall: ONE OF A KIND: Fani is billed as the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of Odisha, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre. The Meteorological Department said it is the first cyclonic storm of such severity in April in India's 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. GLOBAL WARMING: 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. WIND SPEED: Fani's wind speed is expected to be between 170 and 180 km an hour, which can even reach up to 200 km when it makes the landfall around 9.30 am. Landfall process is likely to take place over 5 hours. TO CROSS BENGAL: After crossing Odisha, the cyclone is likely to move towards West Bengal before tapering off. Private weather forecaster Skymet said, after making landfall near Puri district on May 3, Fani will move north-northeast through Gangetic West Bengal. However, by the time Fani will reach West Bengal, it will have weakened into a cyclonic storm. CMO Odisha: CM Naveen Patnaik visited Special Relief Organisation office to review preparedness, and appealed to people to remain indoors until #CycloneFani passes & advised all officials to make their best efforts to face the cyclone. pic.twitter.com/wfZGPw0adD ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 TRAINS AND FLIGHTS HIT: All flights from Bhubaneswar have been cancelled from Friday midnight. Kolkata airport will close at 9.30 pm on Friday until 6 pm on Saturday. The Railways has cancelled more than 200 trains that pass along the coast. Some of the trains which have been cancelled include Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express, Patna-Eranakulam Express, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express, Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES SHUT: 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. FORCES ON STANDBY: Around 900 cyclone shelters have been made ready to house evacuees while troops of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and 78 teams of the National Disaster response Force (NDRF) have been requisitioned for deployment. Have a look at the roll being experienced by one of the ships deployed in the wake of #CycloneFani. Do notice the totally wet quarter deck.. .. Yes, its getting in and out of water view choppy seas around pic.twitter.com/RqZoDcBPDX SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) May 2, 2019 WILL SOUTH FACE IMPACT? It is, however, still likely to impact parts of the northeast, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In Andhra Pradesh, the districts of Srikakulam, Vijayanagram and Visakhapatnam are likely to be affected. ORANGE ALERTS: IMD has 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. #CycloneFani: Follow these DO's and DON'Ts to keep yourself safe PC: @ndmaindia pic.twitter.com/tHchTWgeVM Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) May 2, 2019 RAIN FORECAST: While moderate rainfall will occur at most places, heavy to very heavy rainfall will occur at few places and extremely heavy rainfall will lash isolated places over the coastal region and adjoining districts of interior Odisha on May 3. The rainfall activity will continue with light to moderate rainfall occurring at most places and heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over north Odisha on May 4. HELPLINE NUMBERS: Odishas emergency helpline number for Cyclone Fani +916742534177, Control room number of different districts have been issued #CycloneFani pic.twitter.com/OAXJMyYrI5 Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) May 2, 2019 The Railways has released helpline numbers: Bhubaneswar- (0674-2303060, 2301525, 2301625) Khurda Road (0674-2490010, 2492511, 2492611) Sambalpur (0663- 2532230, 2533037, 2532302) Visakhapatnam (0891- 2746255, 1072) Puri- 06752-225922 Bhadrak- 06784-230827 Cuttack- 0671-2201865 Berhampur- 0680-2229632 The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited. Brookfield Business Partners LP engages in owning and operating business services and industrial operations. It operates though the following segments: Business Services, Infrastructure Services, Industrial Operations, and Corporate and Other. The Business Services segment includes services such as residential mortgage insurance, healthcare, road fuel distribution and marketing, real estate and construction, entertainment, financing, and other businesses. The Infrastructure Services segment consists of services to the nuclear power generation industry and offshore oil production industry: and access, forming, and shoring solutions and specialized services. The Industrial Operations segment deals with automotive batteries, graphite electrode, and other manufacturing; water and wastewater services: natural gas production and well servicing; and a variety of other industrial operations. The Corporate and Other segment comprises cash and liquidity management, and activities related to the management of the partnership's relationship with Brookfield. The company was founded on October 1, 2015 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Dominion Energy: 96WI 8me LLC, Alamo Solar LLC, Align RNG Arizona LLC, Align RNG Arizona-Snowflake LLC, Align RNG California LLC, Align RNG California-Corcoran LLC, Align RNG Grady Road LLC, Align RNG LLC, Align RNG Magnolia LLC, Align RNG North Carolina LLC, Align RNG North Carolina-Bowdens LLC, Align RNG Utah LLC, Align RNG Utah-Milford LLC, Align RNG Virginia LLC, Align RNG Virginia-Waverly LLC, Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Azalea Solar LLC, BOE Holdings Inc., Blackville Solar Farm LLC, Blue Ocean Energy Marine LLC, BrightSuite Home LLC, BrightSuite Inc., BrightSuite Solar CT Inc., BrightSuite Solar SC Inc., BrightSuite Solar VA Inc., Buckingham Solar I LLC, CEA Americus LLC, CEA CO-Fort Morgan LLC, CEA Clovis LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Colorado LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Georgia LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Idaho LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Nevada LLC, CEA Dairy RNG New Mexico LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Texas LLC, CEA Greely LLC, CEA Mason LLC, CEA TX-Dimmitt LLC, CID Solar LLC, CNG Coal Company, CNG Power Services Corporation, Carolina Gas Transmission Corporation, Catalina Solar 2 LLC, Clean Energy Asset USA LLC, Clean Energy Enterprises Inc., Clipperton Holdings LLC, Consolidated Natural Gas Company, Correctional Solar LLC, Cottonwood Solar LLC, Cove Point LNG LP, Cove Point LNG Limited, DE Arlington Solar LLC, DE Fluvanna Solar LLC, DE Hanover Solar LLC, DE Henrico Solar LLC, DE King William Solar LLC, DE Louisa Solar LLC, DE Newport News Solar LLC, DE Powhatan Solar LLC, DE Virginia Beach Solar LLC, DECP Holdings Inc., Dairy RNG Holdings LLC, Dairy RNG NY LLC, Dairy RNG NY-Curtin LLC, Dairy RNG OH LLC, Denmark Solar LLC, Dominion ACP Holding Inc., Dominion Alternative Energy Holdings Inc., Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Dominion Capital Inc., Dominion Cogen WV Inc., Dominion Energy Fuel Services Inc., Dominion Energy Gas Distribution LLC, Dominion Energy Generation Marketing Inc., Dominion Energy Inc., Dominion Energy Kewaunee Inc., Dominion Energy Marketplace LLC, Dominion Energy Nuclear Connecticut Inc., Dominion Energy Overthrust Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Payroll Company Inc., Dominion Energy Questar Corporation, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline Services Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings II Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings Inc., Dominion Energy Services Inc., Dominion Energy Solar CA LLC, Dominion Energy Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc., Dominion Energy Southeast Services Inc., Dominion Energy Technical Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies II Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies Inc., Dominion Energy Terminal Company Inc., Dominion Energy Wexpro Services Company, Dominion Equipment III Inc., Dominion Equipment Inc., Dominion Fairless Hills Inc., Dominion Fowler Ridge Wind LLC, Dominion Gas Projects Company LLC, Dominion Generation Inc., Dominion Greenbrier Inc., Dominion High Voltage Holdings Inc., Dominion High Voltage MidAtlantic Inc., Dominion Investments Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline Holdings Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline LLC, Dominion MLP Holding Company III Inc., Dominion Mt. Storm Wind LLC, Dominion Nuclear Projects Inc., Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc., Dominion Person Inc., Dominion Privatization Florida LLC, Dominion Privatization Georgia LLC, Dominion Privatization Holdings Inc., Dominion Privatization Kentucky LLC, Dominion Privatization Maryland LLC, Dominion Privatization Pennsylvania LLC, Dominion Privatization South Carolina LLC, Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Dominion Privatization Virginia LLC, Dominion Products and Services Inc., Dominion Projects Services Inc., Dominion Resources Capital Trust III, Dominion Retail Gas Holdings Inc., Dominion Solar Construction and Maintenance LLC, Dominion Solar Gen-Tie LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings I LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings II LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings III LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings IV LLC, Dominion Solar Projects A Inc., Dominion Solar Projects B Inc., Dominion Solar Projects C Inc., Dominion Solar Projects D Inc., Dominion Solar Projects I Inc., Dominion Solar Projects II Inc., Dominion Solar Projects III Inc., Dominion Solar Projects IV Inc., Dominion Solar Projects V Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VI Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VII Inc., Dominion Solar Services Inc., Dominion State Line LLC, Dominion Voltage Inc., Dominion Wholesale Inc., Dominion Wind Development LLC, Dominion Wind Projects Inc., ESCT-SA-Suffield LLC, Eagle Holdco Solar LLC, Eagle Solar LLC, Eastern Shore Solar LLC, Enterprise Solar LLC, Escalante Solar I LLC, Escalante Solar II LLC, Escalante Solar III LLC, Four Brothers Solar LLC, Fremont Farm LLC, Granite Mountain Holdings LLC, Granite Mountain Solar East LLC, Granite Mountain Solar West LLC, Greenbrier Marketing Company LLC, Greenbrier Pipeline Company LLC, Greensville County Solar Project LLC, Hardin Solar Energy LLC, Hecate Energy Cherrydale LLC, Hecate Energy Clarke County LLC, Hope Gas Inc., Imperial Valley Solar Company (IVSC) 2 LLC, Indy Solar Development LLC, Indy Solar I LLC, Indy Solar II LLC, Indy Solar III LLC, Innovative Solar 37 LLC, Iron Springs Holdings LLC, Iron Springs Solar LLC, Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas, Maricopa West Solar PV LLC, Moffett Solar 1 LLC, Moorings Farm 2 LLC, Mulberry Farm LLC, Mustang Solar LLC, PSNC Blue Ridge Corporation, PSNC Cardinal Pipeline Company, Pavant Solar LLC, Phone House, Pikeville Farm LLC, Prairie Fork Wind Farm LLC, Public Service Company of North Carolina Incorporated, QPC Holding Company LLC, Questar Corporation, Questar Energy Services Inc., Questar Field Services LLC, Questar Gas Company, Questar InfoComm Inc., Questar Southern Trails Pipeline Company, Questar White River Hub LLC, RE Adams East LLC, RE Camelot LLC, RE Columbia Two LLC, RE Kansas LLC, RE Kent South LLC, RE Old River One LLC, Richland Solar Center LLC, Ridgeland Solar Farm I LLC, SBL Holdco LLC, SCANA, SCANA Communications Holdings Inc., SCANA Corporate Security Services Inc., SCANA Energy Marketing LLC, SCANA Pharmacy LLC, SRFI LLC, Scana Corporation, Scott-II Solar LLC, Seabrook Solar LLC, Selmer Farm LLC, Siler Solar LLC, Sol Madison Solar LLC, Somers Solar Center LLC, South Carolina Fuel Company Inc., South Carolina Generating Company Inc., Southampton Solar LLC, Summit Farms Solar LLC, Sussex Drive Solar Project LLC, TA - Acacia LLC, TWE Myrtle Solar Project LLC, The East Ohio Gas Company, Trask East Solar LLC, Tredegar Solar Fund I LLC, VP Property Inc., Virginia Electric And Power Company, Virginia Power Fuel Corporation, Virginia Power Nuclear Services Company, Virginia Power Services Energy Corp. Inc., Virginia Power Services LLC, Virginia Solar 201 Projects LLC, Wakefield Solar LLC, Wexpro Company, Wexpro Development Company, Wexpro II Company, Wilkinson Solar LLC, Wrangler Retail Gas Holdings LLC, and Yemassee Solar LLC. Bristow Group Inc. provides industrial aviation services to the offshore energy companies in Europe Caspian, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers helicopter charter services to transport personnel between onshore bases and offshore production platforms, drilling rigs, and other installations, as well as to transport time-sensitive equipment to these offshore locations. It also provides search and rescue services for the oil and gas industry, and governmental agencies; and aircraft support services. The company was formerly known as Offshore Logistics Inc. and changed its name to Bristow Group Inc. in February 2006. Bristow Group Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More Domtar Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes communication papers, specialty and packaging papers, and absorbent hygiene products in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pulp and Paper, and Personal Care. The company provides business papers, including copy and electronic imaging papers used in inkjet and laser printers, photocopiers, and plain-paper fax machines, as well as computer papers, preprinted forms, and digital papers for office and home use. It also offers commercial printing and publishing papers, such as offset papers and opaques used in sheet and roll fed offset presses; publishing papers, which include tradebook and lightweight uncoated papers for publishing textbooks, dictionaries, catalogs, magazines, hard cover novels, and financial documents; and converting papers for envelopes, tablets, business forms, and data processing/computer forms. In addition, the company provides papers for thermal printing, flexible packaging, food packaging, medical packaging, medical gowns and drapes, sandpaper backing, carbonless printing, labels and other coating, and laminating applications; and papers for industrial and specialty applications, such as carrier papers, treated papers, security papers, and specialized printing and converting applications. Further, it offers absorbent hygiene products, including absorbent briefs, protective underwear, underpads, pads, washcloths, and body patches under the Attends, Indasec, IndasSlip, and Reassure brands; and baby diapers, training and youth pants, and bed mats under the Comfees, Chelino, Nene, and Bambino brand names. The company serves merchants, retail outlets, stationers, printers, publishers, converters, and end-users. Domtar Corporation was founded in 1848 and is based in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Read More The China-Russia "Joint Sea-2019" military exercise Tuesday held contests between the two countries' naval marine contingents. Contestants on both sides took part in competitions including riflery, sniping and steeplechase. Chen Weidong, vice chief of staff of the Chinese Navy's marines forces, said the contests provided opportunities for mutual learning and exchanges between the two sides, noting that the events also enhanced friendship. The "Joint Sea-2019" exercise runs from April 29 to May 4 and focuses on joint sea defense. Zhang Junshe, a researcher with the Naval Research Academy under the Chinese Navy, said the joint exercise showed the high-level strategic mutual trust between the two countries' militaries, as both sides have sent some of their main vessels in service to the drill, and shared some performance information about their vessels and equipment in the drill. The capabilities of the two countries' militaries to carry out joint operations have been continuously improving and the two navies are also injecting positive energy to world peace and regional stability, Zhang said. Zhang noted the defensive nature of the drill, which does not target any third party. He said the drill includes basic combat techniques in defensive operations at sea as well as actions to jointly respond to non-traditional threats such as maritime search and rescue, fighting piracy and maintaining the safety of marine traffic routes. Jyoti Punwani By This election has seen a bewildering breakdown of institutions that were trusted as the last safeguards against unconstitutional high-handedness by ruling parties. The mighty Election Commission of T N Seshan and James Lyngdoh has become spineless, with complaints against the countrys two most powerful men having disappeared from its website, and a clean chit to a particularly divisive speech by the prime minister. Even the Supreme Court has sent out baffling signals on simple issues. Does anyone need to examine the contents of a biopic on the countrys PM before deciding whether it can be released in the midst of a Lok Sabha election campaign revolving around him? Amid this gloom, and amid the daily hate-filled utterances of ruling party candidates, comes news of an EC official searching the PMs helicopter. That any officer could dare do something like that in times when Narendra Modi himself accuses those against him of being anti-India, is amazing. When the official is one Mohammed Mohsin, the news becomes much more than a Page One headline. At one stroke, a major theme of this election gets punctured. The silent fearful Muslim voter has been the subject of endless discussions in the English press. As always, the English press has assumed that there is just one kind of Muslim voter, be it in the lynching fields and highways of the North or the relatively peaceful South. Or in West Bengal and Maharashtra, where, in some constituencies, the Muslim vote is not only an important factor but a very visible and loud one in the poll campaign. By his one actif indeed he did order the search of the PMs helicopter as first reported, an act that has been upheld by the Central Administrative Tribunalthe Bihar-born and educated, Karnataka cadre IAS officer has reversed the image of the Indian Muslim that has of late gained currency even in the international media. Whether his act is finally cleared as falling within the ECs rules or not, heres a Muslim, who, far from appearing to be a member of a targeted minority, appears to be untouched by any feelings of victimhood. Then again, heres a Muslim rooted in both the North and the South. At one go, Mohsin breaks so many stereotypes. But hes not the only one. Other ordinary citizens I have been fortunate enough to meet in the run-up to this election have proved that they are thinking beings, not mindless receptors of propaganda as portrayed by ruling party spokespersons. In a recent interview, the BJPs Ram Madhav propounded that all through the day, from the time s/he gets up, the voter is reminded of Narendra Modi: when s/he goes to the toilet or the bank; when s/he drinks tea or lights the gas. Not one of the persons met by this writer during the last two months, be it in Mumbai or the villages of Maharashtra, mentioned either toilets or gas. When asked specific questions about these, they pointed to incomplete or locked toilets, left so for lack of funds or water. The gas range was cleaned every day, but not used, for the cost of a cylinder would eat into the essential daily expense on the most precious commodity this season: water. Indeed, the lack of water was on everyones lipsexcept the candidates! As for banks, there were few kind words for an institution seen in the rural areas as at best inefficient and at worst heartless. Even more than two years later, few ordinary citizens, in villages and cities, have forgotten the callousness with which banks treated them during demonetisation. This election, perhaps more than others, is being fought on a heightened sense of identity. But a surprising number of voters I met resisted being part of thisand they were not part of the elite. Indeed, these ordinary individuals belonged to groups that have been viciously targeted for their caste or religious identity in the last five years. Yet, from ordinary rickshaw-drivers to burqa-clad social workers in slums, from residents of caste ghettos to spokesmen of groups built on caste identity alonethese citizens expressed revulsion at having been reduced to faceless vote banks. Not just faceless, but brainless too. Be it Modi, Mayawati or Prakash Ambedkar, almost every party chief has asked voters to forget the candidate, and vote for the Leader. But voters are finding that the leaders candidates are not whom they want. In fact, some of these worthies have till yesterday stood for values completely opposed to those propagated by the Leader. Should these voters exercise their intelligence, or become part of a vote bank? They wonder when there will be an election when the former choice can be exercised, when jobs and healthcare become election issues. Another aspect of this election makes one hopeful. In many states, farmers admit to having suffered the most in the last five years under an urban-based ruling party at the Centre, but are willing to give it one more chance. Whatever the reasons for it, their decision shows the deep faith they have in electoral democracy, with its inbuilt checks on ruling parties. Many of us view this election as vital for the survival of our democracy and the constitutional guarantees of equal citizenship to all. Are we ignoring the sturdy roots that the fundamental right to vote out a government has taken among ordinary Indians? Jyoti Punwani Freelance journalist based in Mumbai Email: jyoti.punwani@gmail.com Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns and leases freight railroads. It operates through three segments: North American Operations, Australian Operations, and U.K./European Operations. The company transports various commodities, including agricultural products, autos and auto parts, chemicals and plastics, coal and coke, food and kindred products, lumber and forest products, metallic ores, metals, minerals and stone, petroleum products, pulp and paper, waste, and other commodities. It owns or leases 122 freight railroads, including 105 short line railroads and 2 regional freight railroads located in the United States, 8 short line railroads located in Canada, 3 railroads located in Australia, 1 railroad located in the United Kingdom, 1 railroad in Poland and Germany, and 2 railroads in the Netherlands with a total of approximately 16,200 miles of track. The company also operates 6,200 additional miles of track that is owned or leased by others. In addition, it operates deep sea maritime containers and provides bulk haulage, including coal, aggregates, cement, and infrastructure services. Further, the company provides rail service at approximately 40 ports; rail-ferry service in North America, Australia, and Europe; and contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Darien, Connecticut. Read More GlaxoSmithKline Plc is a healthcare company, which engages in the research, development, and manufacture of pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceuticals; Pharmaceuticals R&D; Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare. The Pharmaceuticals segment focuses on developing medicines in respiratory and infectious diseases, oncology, and immuno-inflammation. The Pharmaceuticals R&D segment focuses on science related to the immune system, the use of human genetics and advanced technologies, and is driven by the multiplier effect of Science x Technology x Culture. The Vaccines segment produces pediatric and adult vaccines to prevent a range of infectious diseases including, hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella, polio, typhoid, influenza, and bacterial meningitis. The Consumer Healthcare segment develops and markets brands in the oral health, pain relief, respiratory, nutrition and gastro intestinal, and skin health categories. The company was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Middlesex, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA. Saga plc provides general insurance, package and cruise holidays, and personal finance products and services in the United Kingdom. The company operates in three segments: Insurance, Travel, and Other Businesses and Central Costs. It offers car, home, health, travel, landlord, boat, motorhome, caravan, pet, and personal accident, breakdown cover, building, content, renter, holiday, and holiday home insurance. The company also operates and delivers package tours and cruise holiday products; and provides equity release and care funding advice, savings accounts, credit cards, and wealth management services, as well as shares ISA and share dealing services. In addition, it offers mailing house services; retirement benefit schemes; and publishes Saga Magazine, as well as repairs automotive vehicles. The company was formerly known as Saga Limited and changed its name to Saga plc in May 2014. Saga plc was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Folkestone, the United Kingdom. Read More Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund is a close-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 across the globe with a focus on the United States. The fund invests in securities of companies that operate across diversified sectors. It invests in fixed income securities such as senior secured floating rate loans, fixed rate loans, and collateralized debt. The fund employs fundamental analysis with a bottom-up security selection process to create its portfolio. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index. It was formerly known as Invesco Van Kampen Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund. Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund was formed on June 26, 2007 and is domiciled in the United States. Read More Sharanya Manivannan By Who knows what really made those prints in the snow near Makalu Base Camp, Nepal the strange, evenly spaced line of tracks that suggest an enormous foot-shaped pogo stick as much as anything else. The Indian army has declared them as belonging to a Yeti, an elusive, extinctor perhaps imaginary creature, causing great amusement to many. But theres something about the seeming one-leggedness of what made those prints that conjures a more mysterious possibility. Lepcha people traditionally believe that if the corpse of a hunted animal is left in the forest overnight, the deity whom we know (through a series of confabulations) as a Yeti would come to revive and retrieve the animal. To prevent this, one foreleg and one hind leg of the creature, on opposing sides, have to be maimed so that it can no longer be reintegrated. Consider how one of the names of the Yeti is Abominable Snowman, coined by a British journalist who mistranslated the Sherpa term metoh or man-bear to mean filthy. Not a leap, then, the subsequent popularity of abominable like the rest of us subjects of the empire, primeval and uncivilised. Lepchas call the entity Chu Mung (Glacier Spirit), a feared, venerated and altogether meaningful part of their mythology. So when we laugh at the idea of the Yeti, lets be mindful of who we are really laughing at. Whats missing in all this is the fact that we ourselves are colonisers. In this case: mainland Indias enfolding of people, ethoses, and regions. They fall under the umbrella of diversity but in actuality suffer various erasures and deficits. So what happens is an interesting recursive colonisation. First, the adaption of imposed Western colonial thought, then the application of this thought onto cultures which themselves have been usurped of power by cultures which now control the narrative. I know about the Yetis importance only from reading (Tintin isnt enough), and to open my mind to these stories is the respectful thing to do. I have not been to Sikkim, but Ive experienced the arcane in other places, and know the subtle shift between what Ive been taught to see and what I can see when I shed that imposition. If it wasnt for this, I could go to Sikkim and still laugh. Many do. Internalised colonialism, when conflated with rationality, logic or science, does the work of entrenching both new and old colonialist modes. Not only in the realm of stories but equally and detrimentally so in medicine, fashion, economics, immigration and more. Theres a difference between working with the consequences of the past such as, for instance, reading and writing in the language of the oppressor and allowing those consequences to swell such as treating as inferior those who are illiterate in it. This embarrassing gaffe by the Indian armys social media wing will probably fizzle out with some bland information about what made the tracks. But I like their statement on having released the photos to excite scientific temper and rekindle interest. They did, and I read some lovely lore and learned. Curiosity, after all, is really the opposite of being certain of what youll find. There is not enough analysis data for Katoro Gold. 4.3 Community Rank Outperform Votes Katoro Gold has received 109 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes Katoro Gold has received 64 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment Katoro Gold has received 63.01% outperform votes from our community. 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Magna International Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Aurora, Canada. Read More S Gurumurthy By The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) proudly announced that it had blessed the dastardly 21/4 terror attack in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people and maimed over 500. The ISIS only claimed it had blessed the attack. It is the motivator. Inspirer. Not the perpetrator. Whodunit, then? But the whodunit was no mystery to India or Sri Lanka. India, which knew the culprits, informed Sri Lanka weeks ahead of the carnage. And Sri Lanka, which got the input, too, knew the sinners. The way Sri Lanka threw the Indian input in the dustbin is indeed reckless. Also the way Indian authorities delayed domestic action on the abettors till after their counterparts bombed Sri Lanka defies explanation. The receiver of information not acting on it and the provider acting only after knowing the cost of the receivers failure is an interesting parallel. Info on who, when, how and targetsgiven to Sri Lanka The Indian government had provided very specific information about Sri Lankas National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) conspiring to use human bombs. The Associated Press reported Indian authorities had stumbled upon the detailed plot for the Easter Sunday killings in Sri Lanka. They broke into the plotters communications and tapped into the plot, said Ajai Sahni, executive director, Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. Sahni said, That is why the kind of detailing of the incident they received was very, very specific. He added, They knew the group, the targets, the time, the whereabouts of the suicide bombers and communicated all that to the Lankan government. Top Lankan leaders acknowledged they got specific alerts. They admitted they did little to prevent the carnage and even offered an apology. But they did not answer why they ignored the specific input. Sri Lanka ignored? Or laughed? Why did the Lankan government ignore the specific Indian input? Put simply, and bluntly, it did not believe the Indian intelligence input because it thought that first, the NTJ was not that evil, and next, it was too small to do such a big thing. And so, it must have thought the Indian government was misled into passing wrong information. No surmise, this conclusion is inevitable from two statements of the Sri Lankan establishment. First, on the day of the attack, Alim Mohammed Lebbe Hizbulla, Governor of The Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, dismissed the news that NTJ was the culprit, even certifying it as innocent. Lies of TN Thowheed Jamath over Lanka terror nailed Earlier in the day, Indian strategic expert Brahma Chellaney had asserted it was an NTJ strike. Even on the next day, when it had become clear that NTJ was the culprit, a cabinet minister of the Sri Lankan government said, We dont see that a small organisation in this country can do all that pointing to how they would have assessed the Indian input before the attack. If even after the massive attack a Governor would say NTJ was innocent, and a cabinet minister thought NTJ was too small to do that, would the Sri Lankan government not have laughed when the Indian government said it was that petty organisation that was planning such a big act? This is despite the fact that the Sri Lankan police chief had sounded out the nation on April 1110 days before the attackthat a foreign intelligence agency had sent an alert on NTJ planning suicide attacks on Christian churches and the Indian high commission. Obviously the police issued the alert ritually and no one in Sri Lanka believed NTJ would or could do it. Not just this, there seem to have been a couple of more reasons why Sri Lanka did not believe the Indian input. We need to recall the history of NTJ and the profile of the terrorists to understand why Sri Lanka did not see the Indian input on the group as credible. Ideological siblings The ISIS released a video clip of eight terrorists whose extended hands were over each other, taking a collective oath of loyalty to ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. In that picture, all faces except one were masked. The visible one was of Zahran Hashim, head of NTJ. Another notable feature in the picture was the hand of a woman. NTJ did split from Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath in 2016, but that was more personal than ideological. Zahran Hashim was a motivating orator in Tamil with deep connections in Tamil Nadu. The cluster of Thowheed Jamaths is like this: All India Thowheed Jamath (AITJ) and Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) in India and Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ) and National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) in Sri Lanka. Immediately after NTJ was exposed as the perpetrator of terror, its counterpart, the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath, began claiming it had nothing to do with its Sri Lankan cousin. That the claim was completely false has been brought out by the South Asia Studies Project (SASP) of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). MEMRI is a Washington-based think tank on the Middle East. A report by SASP (MEMRI) dated 23.4.2019 said that both TN Thowheed Jamath and the then undivided Thowheed Jamath in Sri Lanka have had a relationship for more than a decade. It added that in November 2015, TN Thowheed Jamath Moulvi P Jainul Abideen was invited to Sri Lanka by SLTJ but the Sri Lankan Muslims protested the visit of fundamentalist Tamil Nadu Muslim leader P Jainul Abideen, known as PJ. SASP also noted that the Sri Lankan government deported Jainul Abideen on the same grounds in 2005. SASP further wrote: PJ is not liked by sections of Lankan Muslims because he campaigns against certain popular practices among Muslims, which he considers un-Islamic. They allege that both TN Thowheed Jamath and Sri Lankas Thowheed Jamath have accepted crores of rupees from Saudi Arabia for spreading Wahhabi Islam. In 2015, R Abdur Razik, the general secretary of the Sri Lankan National Thowheed Jamath admitted both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamaths were bound by a common ideology, confirming that PJ, Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath and Sri Lankas Thowheed Jamath are only promoting true Islam, unadulterated by non-Islamic influences. Despite openly admitting in 2015 that the Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaths were ideological siblings, the Tamil Nadu wing began lying after the Easter Sunday carnage that it was being wrongly associated with Sri Lankas Thowheed Jamath because of the common name. The SASP report concluded citing clear evidence that the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath statement that We have nothing to do with them (Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath), and its assertion, We dont even know who they are, are clearly false. Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Thowheed Jamaths are siblings, even precursors to the ISIS, with the TN outfit being the mentor of the Lankan group. Read on. TN Thowheed Jamath, the precursor to ISIS Three years ago (1.3.2016), SASP had reported All India Thowheed Jamath An ISIS PrecursorHolds Anti-Polytheism Conference In Indias Tamil Nadu State. The evil significance of this event was left unnoticed. Describing the anti-shirk conference at Tiruchy on January 31, 2016, SASP Director Tufail Ahmad said the TN Thowheed Jamath, with its predominant position, virtually meant it was the All India Thowheed Jamath in Tamil Nadu. At the very least, Tufail wrote, the TN Thowheed Jamath, or its parent organisation, the All India Thowheed Jamath, is a precursor to ISIS. Theologically, the TN Thowheed Jamath stands for demolishing all idolsmuch like the Taliban that demolished the Buddhas or the ISIS that demolished human figures in Iraq and Syria. Tufail added: The concept of shirk is an important principle for all Islamic groups, especially the Deobandi groups. The anti-shirk conference in Tamil Nadu should be a cause of concern, because a 29-year-old from this state, Mohammed Naser Packeer, was recently deported by Sudan after trying to enter Libya to join the ISIS. There were also previous incidents in which young Singapore-based Tamil Muslims joined the ISIS in Syria. That in the coastal town of Thondi in Ramanathapuram district in 2014, as many as 26 young Muslim men posed for a group photograph sporting black T-shirts with the ISIS logo in front of a mosque, should also have been a matter of concern. But shockingly the local police had dismissed the incident as if it was harmless fun! Tufail says The All India Thowheed Jamath was founded by Jainul Abideen, who wields political influence in TN. Now recall the Sri Lankan Muslims agitation against the undivided Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath inviting him to Sri Lanka in 2015. He was the man who was the connect between Thowheed Jamath in Sri Lanka and the TN Thowheed Jamath. The Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka (8.11.2015) reported: The Sri Lankan government is likely to deny entry to P Jainul Abideen, better known as PJ, the founder and star speaker of the fundamentalist Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath. A powerful section of Lankan Muslims who fear that PJs presence in the island will disturb intra-Muslim and inter-religious harmony are putting pressure on the government to cancel his visa. Earlier in 2005, PJ was deported on the same grounds. But, noted the Daily Mirror, the Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath general secretary R Abdur Razik says that TN Thowheed Jamath and Sri Lankan Thowheed Jamath are only promoting true Islam, unadulterated by non-Islamic influences. Thanks to the protests of moderate Muslims, Jainul Abideen was denied visa by the Sri Lankan authorities. It is undeniable that the Thowheed Jamaths in Indian and Sri Lanka are ideological cousins affiliated to the ISIS. But the association does not end with ideological connect. It extends to terror operations also. And that is how the Indian authorities stumbled on the operational link between TN Thowheed Jamath in India and Thowheed Jamaths in Sri Lankawith Zahran Hashim, the Tamil-speaking moulvi who inspired the richest Muslim family of Sri Lanka turn into human bombs. Now unfolds the more interesting part of the story. Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of traditional and non-traditional life and health reinsurance products. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Latin America; Canada; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Asia Pacific; and Corporate and Other. The U.S. and Latin America segment markets individual and group life and health reinsurance to domestic clients for a variety of products through yearly renewable term agreements, coinsurance, and modified coinsurance. The Canada segment offers individual life reinsurance, and to a lesser extent creditor, group life and health, critical illness and disability reinsurance, through yearly renewable term and coinsurance agreements. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa segment serves individual and group life and health products through yearly renewable term and coinsurance agreements, reinsurance of critical illness coverage that provides a benefit in the event of the diagnosis of a pre-defined critical illness and underwritten annuities. The Asia Pacific segment comprises individual and group life and health reinsurance, critical illness coverage, disability, and superannuation thr Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Boston Scientific: 34 Biomedical Merger Corp., 9357-1867 Quebec Inc., Acurate Industria e Comercio Ltda., Advanced Bionics, Advanced Stent Technologies, American Medical Systems, American Medical Systems Europe B.V., Apama Medical, Apama Medical Inc., Asthmatx, Atritech, Augmenix, Augmenix Inc., Augmenix K.K., BSC International Medical Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BSC Medical Device Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BTG, BTG Australasia Pty Ltd, BTG Europe B.V., BTG IM Holdings Ltd., BTG International (Holdings) Limited, BTG International Asia Limited, BTG International Canada Inc., BTG International Germany GmbH, BTG International Healthcare Inc., BTG International Healthcare LLC, BTG International Healthcare Limited, BTG International Inc., BTG International Limited, BTG Limited, BTG Management Services Limited, BTG Medikal Limited Sirketi, Bard Electrophysiology, Barosense, Biocompatibles Inc., Biocompatibles International Limited, Biocompatibles UK Limited, Boston Scientific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Boston Scientific (South Africa) Proprietary Limited, Boston Scientific (Thailand) Ltd., Boston Scientific (UK) Limited, Boston Scientific AG, Boston Scientific Argentina S.A., Boston Scientific Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Boston Scientific Benelux NV, Boston Scientific Canada Limited, Boston Scientific Ceska republika s.r.o., Boston Scientific Chile SpA, Boston Scientific Colombia Limitada, Boston Scientific Comercial de Costa Rica BSCR S.R.L., Boston Scientific Far East B.V., Boston Scientific Gesellschaft m.b.H., Boston Scientific Group plc, Boston Scientific Hellas S.A., Boston Scientific Hong Kong Limited, Boston Scientific Iberica S.A., Boston Scientific India Private Limited, Boston Scientific International B.V., Boston Scientific International Finance Limited, Boston Scientific International S.A., Boston Scientific Israel Ltd., Boston Scientific Japan K.K., Boston Scientific Korea Co. Ltd., Boston Scientific Lebanon SAL, Boston Scientific Limited, Boston Scientific Ltd., Boston Scientific Medical Device, Boston Scientific Medical Device Limited, Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH, Boston Scientific Middle East FZ-LLC, Boston Scientific Middle East SAL, Boston Scientific Nederland B.V., Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation, Boston Scientific New Zealand Limited, Boston Scientific Nordic AB, Boston Scientific Peru S.A.C., Boston Scientific Philippines Inc., Boston Scientific Polska Sp. z o.o., Boston Scientific Portugal - Dispositivos Medicos Lda, Boston Scientific Pty Ltd, Boston Scientific Romania S.R.L., Boston Scientific S.A.S., Boston Scientific S.p.A., Boston Scientific Scimed, Boston Scientific Scimed Inc., Boston Scientific Services Private Limited, Boston Scientific TIP Gerecleri Limited Sirketi, Boston Scientific Technology & Engineering Services Private Limited, Boston Scientific Uruguay S.A., Boston Scientific Vietnam Company Limited, Boston Scientific de Costa Rica S.R.L., Boston Scientific de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Boston Scientific del Caribe Inc., Boston Scientific do Brasil Ltda., Bravo Bidco Limited, BridgePoint Medical, Cameron Health, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc., Cardiac Pathways Corp, Catheter Innovations, Claret Medical, Claret Medical Inc., Cosman Medical, Cosman Medical LLC, CryoCor, Cryterion Medical, Cryterion Medical Inc., Cryterion Medical Ireland Limited, EKOS LLC, EMcision, EMcision International Inc., EP Technologies, EP Technologies Inc., Electron Acquisition Corporation, EndoChoice, EndoChoice Holdings Inc., EndoChoice Inc., EndoChoice Innovation Center Ltd., EndoChoice Israel Ltd., Endotex, Enteric Medical Technologies, Galil Medical Inc., Galil Medical Ltd., Galil Medical UK Limited, Guidant, Guidant Delaware Holding Corporation, Guidant Europe NV, Guidant Puerto Rico B.V., Hong Kong Medtech Trading Limited, Intelect Medical, Millipede, Millipede Inc., NXT Merger Corp., Notebook Merger Sub Ltd., Novate Medical Limited, NxThera, NxThera Inc., PT Boston Scientific Indonesia, PneumRx GmbH, PneumRx LLC, PneumRx Liimited, Protherics Medicines Development B.V., Protherics Medicines Development Limited, Protherics UK Limited, Provensis Limited, RMI Acquisition Corp., Remon Medical Technologies, Rhythmia Medical, Robert S. Smith M.D. Inc., Roxwood Medical Inc., SNS Merger Corp, Sadra Medical, Sadra Medical Inc., Securus Medical Group, Securus Medical Group Inc., Special K Merger Corp., StarMedTec, Stream Enterprises LLC, Symetis, Symetis SA, Target Therapeutics, Target Therapeutics Inc., The LumenR Tissue Retractor System, Veniti, Veniti Inc., VertiFlex, Vertiflex Inc., Vessix Vascular, Xlumena, Zuma Investment Pty Ltd, iogyn, nVision Medical, and nVision Medical Corporation. The following companies are subsidiares of Eli Lilly and: 1096401 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, ARMO BioSciences Inc, ARMO Bioscience, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Alnara Pharmaceuticals Inc., Andean Technical Operations Center, Applied Molecular Evolution Inc., AurKa Pharma, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., ChemGen, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Inc., Dermira, Devices for Vascular Intervention(DVI), Disarm Therapeutics, Dista Ilac Ticaret Ltd. Sti., Dista S.A., Dista-Produtos Quimicos & Farmaceuticos LDA, ELCO Dominicana SRL, ELCO Insurance Company Limited, ELCO Management Inc., ELCO for Trade and Marketing S.A.E., ELGO Insurance Company Limited, Elanco Animal Health Ireland Limited, Elanco Switzerland Holding Sarl, Eli Lilly (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Eli Lilly (Philippines) Incorporated, Eli Lilly (S.A.) (Proprietary) Limited, Eli Lilly (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Eli Lilly (Suisse) S.A., Eli Lilly Asia Inc., Eli Lilly Asia Pacific SSC Sdn Bhd, Eli Lilly Australia Pty. Limited, Eli Lilly B-H d.o.o., Eli Lilly Benelux S.A., Eli Lilly Bienes y Servicios S de RL de CV, Eli Lilly CR s.r.o., Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Eli Lilly Cork Limited, Eli Lilly Danmark A/S, Eli Lilly Egypt for Trading, Eli Lilly European Clinical Trial Services SA, Eli Lilly Export S.A., Eli Lilly Finance S.A., Eli Lilly Ges.m.b.H., Eli Lilly Group Limited, Eli Lilly Holdings Ltd., Eli Lilly Hrvatska d.o.o., Eli Lilly Interamerica Inc., Eli Lilly Interamerica Inc. y Compania Limitada, Eli Lilly International Corporation, Eli Lilly Ireland Holdings Limited, Eli Lilly Israel Ltd., Eli Lilly Italia S.p.A., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., Eli Lilly Kinsale Limited, Eli Lilly Nederland B.V., Eli Lilly Nigeria Ltd., Eli Lilly Norge A.S., Eli Lilly Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd., Eli Lilly Polska Sp.z.o.o. (Ltd.), Eli Lilly Regional Operations GmbH, Eli Lilly Romania SRL, Eli Lilly S.A., Eli Lilly Saudi Arabia Limited, Eli Lilly Services Inc, Eli Lilly Services India Private Limited, Eli Lilly Slovakia s.r.o., Eli Lilly Sweden AB, Eli Lilly Vostok S.A. Geneva, Eli Lilly and Company, Eli Lilly and Company (India) Pvt. Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company (Ireland) Limited, Eli Lilly and Company (N.Z.) Limited, Eli Lilly and Company (Taiwan) Inc., Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Eli Lilly de Centro America S.A., Eli Lilly do Brasil Limitada, Eli Lilly farmacevtska druzba d.o.o., Eli Lilly y Compania de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Eli Lilly y Compania de Venezuela S.A., Glycostasis Inc, Greenfield-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Heart Rhythm Technologies Inc, Hybritech, Hypnion, ICOS Corporation, ImClone GmbH, ImClone LLC, ImClone Systems Holdings Inc., ImClone Systems LLC, Imclone Systems, Irisfarma S.A., Ivy Animal Health, Kinsale Financial Services Unlimited Company, Lilly (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd, Lilly Asia Ventures Fund I L.P., Lilly Asia Ventures Fund II L.P., Lilly Asian Ventures Fund III L.P., Lilly Cayman Holdings, Lilly China Research and Development Co. Ltd., Lilly Deutschland GmbH, Lilly France S.A.S., Lilly Global Nederland Holdings B.V., Lilly Global Services Inc., Lilly Holding GmbH, Lilly Holdings B.V., Lilly Hungaria KFT, Lilly Japan Financing G.K., Lilly Korea Ltd., Lilly Nederland Finance B.V., Lilly Nederland Finance B.V. - GCC, Lilly Nederland Holding B.V., Lilly Pharma Ltd., Lilly Portugal - Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Lilly S.A., Lilly Suzhou Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Lilly Trading Co. LTD, Lilly USA LLC, Lilly Ventures Fund I LLC, Lilly del Caribe Inc., Lilly ilac ticaret limited sirketi, Lohmann Animal Health, Loxo Oncology, Lylly Centre for Clinical Pharmacology PTE. LTD., Novartis Animal Health, OY Eli Lilly Finland AB, Origin Medsystems, PT. Eli Lilly Indonesia, Pacific Biotech, Pharmaserve-Lilly S.A.C.I., Physio-Control, SGX Pharmaceuticals, SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc, Spaly Bioquimica S.A., UAB Eli Lilly Lietuva, Valquifarma S.A., and Vital Pharma Productos Farmaceuticos. By Express News Service TUMAKURU: Workaholic Shivakumar on May Day was delivering pressure cookers manufactured from an industrial estate to a shop at Huliyaru. After a long 97-km drive in the goods carrier laden with pressure cookers, he suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest close to his destination around 12 noon, and lost consciousness at the wheel. His 10-year-old son, who did not understand what happened, showed quick presence of mind and steered the vehicle to safety, thus averting a mishap. Crying inconsolably, the boy then realised that his father had passed away. A student of Class V at a government primary school at Allalasandra in Koratagere taluk, Puneerth had been enjoying his summer vacation while accompanying his father during work. His younger brother Narasimharaju, a first standard student in the same school, was too young to realise his father was no more. While Shivakumar preferred to work on May Day, his wife Munirathnamma had taken leave. She works in a garment factory at Goraguntepalya in Bengaluru and the factory had declared leave. We have not informed her about her husbands death as of yet, Gowramma, a relative, told TNIE. Shivakumars mother-in-law, Sundaramma, claimed his mortal remains on Wednesday evening. Hailing from Durgadahalli village near Devarayanadurga in Tumakuru, Shivakumar had moved to Allalasandra village to take care of his widowed mother-in-law. He was a good man and focused on his job always. Its unfortunate that he died at a young age leaving behind his family, said Tejaraju, a neighbour. Huliyaru police sub-inspector Lakshmikanth informed TNIE that since it was a natural death, the body will be released after postmortem, but only if its demanded by the family members. He appreciated Shivakumars young sons quick thinking. Toyota Motor Corp. engages in the manufacture and sale of motor vehicles and parts. It operates through the following segments: Automotive, Financial Services, and All Other. The Automotive segment designs, manufactures, assembles and sells passenger cars, minivans, trucks, and related vehicle parts and accessories. It is also involved in the development of intelligent transport systems. The Financial Services segment offers purchase or lease financing to Toyota vehicle dealers and customers. It also provides retail leasing through lease contracts purchase by dealers. The All Others segment deals with the design and manufacture and sale of housing, telecommunications and other businesses. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda on August 28, 1937 and is headquartered in Toyota, Japan. Read More iShares MSCI EAFE ETF's stock was trading at $56.05 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EFA stock has increased by 40.1% and is now trading at $78.51. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Ten schools in New York state will pilot a new program called Grape-to-School. It is a farm-to-school initiative that will introduce students to state-grown Concord grape juice in order to promote agriculture and locally sourced products in school cafeteria menus. "This first-of-its-kind program will not only bring nutritious, locally grown Concord grapes to schoolchildren across the state, but will provide educational opportunities that allow them to learn more about New York's agricultural industries," Governor Cuomo said in a statement. "With this initiative, we are continuing our commitment to bringing nutritious menu items to schools in every corner of the state, and supporting our local farmers and growers as they work to provide the highest quality products around." Two local schools are taking part in the pilot program. Whitesboro Central School District and Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES are both signed up to test out the program. The districts taking part in the Grape-to-School pilot program include: Beacon Central School District, City of Beacon, Dutchess County Buffalo Public Schools, City of Buffalo, Erie County Hamburg Central School District, Town of Hamburg, Erie County Maine Endwell Central School District, Broome County Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, Oneida, Herkimer, and Madison counties The Renaissance Charter School, Queens Schoharie Central School District Town of Schoharie, Schoharie County Sidney Central School District, Town of Sidney, Delaware County Whitesboro Central School District, Village of Whitesboro, Oneida County Windsor Central School District, Town of Windsor, Broome County Sudarsan Maharana By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: As Fani turned into an extremely severe cyclonic storm and inched closer to Odisha coast, the State Government on Thursday launched a massive evacuation operation in 13 coastal and adjoining districts. As per the latest bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department, Fani is likely to make landfall between Chilika and Puri during the forenoon hours of May 3 (Friday) during the 10 am-12 noon period. The storm which is moving at a speed of 12 km per hour would accompany wind in the range of 170-180 km as it launches itself onto the land. Currently, it is about 360 km south-east of Puri. The Odisha Government which plans to shift at least 8 lakh people by the evening, has shifted 25,425 persons were moved to safety. Around 1.95 lakh people from Ganjam, 1.44 lakh from Puri, 1.08 people from Khurda and 1 lakh people from Cuttack will be shifted to cyclone shelters. Priority is being given to women, children, elderly and differently-abled persons during evacuation. READ: 103 trains cancelled from May 2 to 6 Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told mediapersons that the Government is ready with preparations for tackling the storm and its damage. Emphasis is to ensure no life is lost, he said. IMD said extensive damage is expected in Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Gajapati and Jagatsinghpur while damage is also expected in Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Balasore and other interior and south Odisha districts and asked the government to take measures accordingly. Officials of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) said, as many as 3,001 transit shelters including 879 multipurpose cyclone shelters have been made functional to accommodate affected people. Till now 8,172 people from Gajapati, 6,898 people from Ganjam, 3,900 people from Jagatsingpur and 2,890 people from Puri were evacuated to cyclone shelters. As the storm drew closer, many places in the state including Khurda, Puri, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Gajapati, Koraput started experiencing rainfall under the impact of the storm. Around 200 mm rainfall is expected on May 3 in these districts where flashfloods and urban flooding is apprehended. READ: State geared up to meet any eventuality as cyclone Fani-induced rains lash Coastal AP To ensure safe drinking water to people in the affected areas, the state government has placed 734 PVC tanks, 428 water tankers and 3,423 overhead tanks in vulnerable locations. For emergency, 232 DG sets with piped water supply facility and 167 electricians have also been kept in readiness. The government will also distribute 8.32 lakh water pouches to affected people. For rescue and airdropping, the State Government has sought two choppers which are expected to be provided to the state by today evening, the officials said. Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said all necessary arrangements are in place to face the cyclone. The district administrations are on high alert while disaster response forces are prepositioned to tackle possible eventuality, he said. Appeal to all Dont Panic! Stay safe and help each other during #CycloneFani . my sand art at #Puri beach in #Odisha . pic.twitter.com/2QWQV9iFMa Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) May 2, 2019 So far, three NDRF teams each to Puri and Jagatsingpur, and two each to Jajpur, Balasore, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Khurda have been dispatched for rescue and relief operations. Likewise, 18 ODRAF teams have been deployed in 18 coastal and adjoining districts. Three NDRF and two ODRAF teams have been kept on standby. READ: CM Naveen Patnaik urges people to keep calm, cooperate with govt during cyclone Fani As many as 568 fire service units are also on duty. Around 80 fire service units have been deployed in Ganjam while 44 units have been deployed in Puri, DG, Fire Services BK Sharma said. Keeping the situation in view, the State Government and East Coast Railway have made special arrangements for tourists in Puri and other cities in the coastal belt, asking them to leave those places. East Coast Railway also ran a special train from Puri to Shalimar in West Bengal via Bhubaneswar, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Keonjhar road and Balasore. The Railways have already cancelled 103 trains and has diverted many in the state till May 3. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness for Cyclone Fani. He was briefed on the ongoing preparatory measures being undertaken, official sources said. These include the provision of adequate resources; deployment of teams from NDRF and the armed forces; arrangements to provide drinking water; and standby systems to restore power and telecom services. After the review meeting, PM Modi directed senior officers to maintain close coordination with officers of affected states, to ensure preventive measures, and also to take effective steps for relief and rescue operations, as required. Among those who attended the meeting are the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the PM, the Additional Principal Secretary to the PM, the Home Secretary, and other senior officials from the IMD, NDRF, NDMA and PMO. (With agency inputs) UTICA, N.Y. - May is Lyme disease awareness month and Mohawk Valley Community College held a discussion panel, "Updates and Breakthroughs" to bring awareness and inform the community on the tick-borne disease. Tick season is here, and experts at the event say Lyme disease is one of the fastest growing dieases in the country. The Center for Disease Control reports that over 400,000 people are infected with the Lyme disease each year. Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness that manifests itself as a multisystem inflammatory disease that affects the skin in its early stages, spreads to the joints, nervous system, and can move to another organ system in later stages. Dr. Ronald Stram, from Stram Center for Integrative Medicine, was one of the speakers at the event and says the number of people infected is most likely higher because many people are misdiagnosed. The moderator of the panel, Bill Dustin who is the director or events and guest services at MVCC was misdiagnosed for over three years before finding out he was suffering from Lyme disease. Dr. Stram says Lyme disease is a complicated disease with complicated symptoms. "The tick is like a dirty hypodermic needle, it really likes having more bugs in its body that just Lyme disease, so co-infections are significant and the problem is co-infections can give you different types of symptoms," Stram said. Some of the most common symptoms of Lyme disease are fatigue, pain, and gut or abdominal dysfunction. For more information on Lyme disease, you can visit https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html. MVCC will host a Walk for Lyme Disease at noon Sunday, May 19, on the green in the Quad at MVCC's Utica Campus. You can register for the walk here. UTICA, N.Y. - The 4th annual May Day Festival was held in Utica on Wednesday. The celebration is to highlight worker/human rights and unity. It is celebrated each spring on May 1st in over 66 countries around the world. The group called Citizen Actions of New York organizes this event to bring people together and call attention to the struggles and achievements of the workers in the united states. "Many of the great benefits we enjoy in this country is a result of the sacrifices made by workers back decades ago so this is a holiday which is used to celebrate the achievements that ordinary people fought for to gain workers rights," John Furman, from Citizen Action said. The event was held at the DeSales Center in downtown Utica and featured food, dancing, live music, and guest speakers. There is the continued pattern & bottle neck. It is record heat & dry weather in the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic & Southeast U.S. Meanwhile, it is record cold in the Northern Rockies & Northern High Plains with below-normal temperatures to California, Arizona, Kansas then to northwestern Illinois & Wisconsin. In-between it is active with rounds of rainfall & some severe weather at times. Note how there is a blocking hot upper ridge in the East & also over northeastern Canada to Greenland. At 3:16 p.m., it is an incredible 63 degrees at Stroemfjord, Greenland, which is surrounded by ice normally. Sermersooq, Greenland is 51 atop permanent glacial ice right now. Temperatures may reach 100 in parts of southern Georgia & eastern South & North Carolina with low to mid 90s to the Mid Atlantic. We may even have a day where we get into the 90s as far north as central New York with mid 80s to Vermont, New Hampshire & into Quebec. Many heat daily heat record may fall east & southeast of our area. Low to mid 90s are possible in West Virginia with 90 in Ohio. Note the record heat in parts of the eastern U.S. & the incredible warm, blocking ridge in the Arctic with temperatures to 50 degrees above normal over the next week! Meanwhile, the Plains & Rockies are cold from Canada to Mexico. Eventually we will see this pattern break down............. So.............. We have seen some breaks in the rainfall at times today. It should increase over the next few hours & be pretty wet this evening. A couple isolated storms possible. It will still be warm, even with the rainfall. Temperatures are 64-69 over the area right now with pretty muggy dew points of 62-67. It will remain warm & sticky into the late afternoon & evening. Any severe weather risk looks to stay to our southeast where some clusters & lines & bows of storms are possible. Some breaks in the clouds are possible Friday with highs 62-66 after 47-51 in the morning. Wave of some rain & perhaps a couple isolated storms is likely late Friday evening-night to Saturday morning-midday (lows Friday night-Saturday morning 49-53). Clearing should follow with northeast winds & highs Saturday of 60-66. Saturday night looks chilly with front south of the area. With clear skies & some patchy fog, lows of 39-45 are likely. After a dry, bright Sunday with a light southwest wind & highs 70-76, front will move back southward a bit & some showers & storms will develop Monday. Looks like front will try to move south, then get kicked back north to the far northern tier of the viewing area. So, initially, some showers & storms may develop area-wide Monday early afternoon, then they will quickly migrate back northward by evening north of US 24. Highs will vary from 71 north to 80 in the south & around 76 in Greater Lafayette. Dew points will be on the rise into the 62-66 range making it feel a bit muggy. Much of the severe weather risk will be northwest of our area (especially over Iowa), but a random isolated severe storm cannot be ruled out. Front should move far enough northward to potentially bring the warmest day of 2019 on Tuesday with highs 80-84 over the viewing area. Tuesday is actually beginning to look mostly dry with a mix of clouds & sun & strong southwest winds. To account for the potential change to the forecast, I kept 40% coverage of rainfall for that day. It has the potential to be dropped to 20% or dropped altogether until Tuesday night. We will monitor. Dew points may reach 65-68 Tuesday-Wednesday, making it feel muggy. More widespread rain & storms are shaping up for Tuesday night to Wednesday as front begins to sink back southward a bit. If we can get it unstable enough, then some severe risk may develop. Highs will tend to run in the 68-77 range. We may see a dry spurt for part of Thursday to Friday before rain & storms return Friday afternoon-evening with warm front again draping over the area. Highs Thursday & Friday will run from 60s north to 70s to 80 in the south. A substantial wave of low pressure is projected to pivot through Friday night-Saturday. Main severe risk is Missouri to Texas, Oklahoma & Arkansas. However, some risk may get as far northeast as our area. The low is forecast to deepen with high dew points, warm, juicy airmass & unstable environment. Meanwhile, wind fields through the troposphere are expected to increase, which may result in the severe risk here. 2-3.5" of rainfall is possible over the viewing area now to May 11. We may see a brief spurt of dry weather May 12-13, but it likely won't be long enough to give soils much time to really dry out sufficiently. Hopefully this changes & maybe we can tack on an extra day or two to get some drying. This could allow some bits of field work & planting to commence on the driest ground that hasn't been worked or planted yet. It is a long shot, but the probability at least isn't completely zero. More periodic showers & storms will return May 14-17. As pattern rolls on into mid-May, 2.75-5.50" of rainfall is possible now-May 17. Note how everything tends to shift after mid-May. Note how the big Greenland/northeast Canada/Arctic block shifts to Siberia & northwest Canada. Meanwhile, upper ridging tends to shift a bit more to the northwest, so areas that were cold & wet turn warm & begin to dry over the Great Lakes & a chunk of the Midwest & Plains. Regardless, the Rockies & western High Plains remain wet & cold with unseasonably cool weather as far south as California, Arizona & Baja California to northwestern Mexico. Late May-early June shows a pattern shift with warmer, drier ridging expanding in the East. There is also a tendency for the really wet conditions to subside in our area as the dry, hot, southeastern ridge expands. Rainfall looks a bit below normal here. The main axis of heavier rains looks to shift to the High Plains, Rockies & west Texas to New Mexico. We may return to a wetter, rather stormy, cooler pattern (as compared to average) by mid to late June in our area with an axis of heavier rainfall from Michigan to Missouri & Oklahoma, northwestward to Nebraska & Iowa & Wisconsin. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - On the last day of the 2019 Indiana Legislative Session, a bill legalizing the production of hemp in the state of Indiana passed successfully. Governor Eric Holcomb officially signed the bill into law on Thursday. News 18 first talked to Ron Turco, Department Head for Purdue Agronomy, and Janna Beckerman, Purdue Plant Pathologist, at the end of 2018. President Trump legalized the production of industrial hemp at the federal level in December. But back then, the status of the bill was still a maybe here in Indiana. Now that the bill has been signed into law, it opens doors for Indiana farmers. "It gives us some new avenues, it gives us a new potential for a crop that has not been in Indiana in 80, 90 years, and it gives another potential income for people," said Turco. However, Beckerman warned that it may not live up to all the economic hype. "I don't think hemp will be as big of a cash cow as people are thinking it will be," she said. That's mainly because there are still a lot of next-steps that need to happen now that the bill is passed. "What really needs to happen in the very short term is where does this material go? Who is going to process it and what products can be formed?" said Turco. "There is a huge interest in hemp in Indiana." "Ron and I joke that hemp is the gateway drug to agriculture," laughed Beckerman. She joined the Purdue team back in 2014 to help get the university's hemp research program off the ground. Turco said that Purdue College of Agriculture Dean, Karen Plaut, has given them full support in hemp research from the beginning. He said that Purdue is hiring its own Hemp Extension Specialist, who will focus solely on the crop, as it becomes a commodity in Indiana. Beckerman said the durable hemp fibers have a lot of product potential. "Not only is it really good for my shirt, but it's also very good for a lot of potentially high value items," she said, the shirt she was wearing was made of hemp. "It's used in bio plastics for the automotive industry." Turco said people want to know more about how they can get involved with hemp. "I know I've had about 100 emails about hemp," he said. "The state chemist's office has dealt with thousands of emails about hemp." Right now, they are just waiting to plant. "We want it to quit raining, that would be good to start with," he said. Purdue will be planting its hemp crops at the Meigs Horticulture Research Farm, but right now, the fields are too wet for planting. According to Purdue's report on hemp production, it's better to plant hemp earlier in Indiana's climate. They say the earlier hemp can be planted, the better the crop will be when it's harvested. Turco said the 2020 planting season will be when hemp farming really takes off in Indiana. "We want to make hemp as boring as corn and soy beans in terms of production," he said. "You're going to plant it, grow it, harvest it and you'll be able to make a product out of it." Not everyone can grow a patch of hemp in their backyard. Anyone who grows hemp without a license will be growing illegal marijuana under the eyes of the law. All state senators and representatives from the viewing area voted in favor of this bill. The bill was authored by State Senator Randy Head from District 18. The law will go into effect in July 2019. CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is asking people to stop posting side-by-side comparisons of people who look like the Delphi murder sketch on social media. Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said this has been a problem since the beginning of the investigation more than two years ago. While social media has played a positive role in the Delphi murder investigation, it has also been a hindrance. The department also took to social media, posting on its Facebook page on Tuesday morning asking people to stop posting these comparisons. "Put yourself in that person's position," he said. "How would you feel if you were the one being advertised and not necessarily in a good way?" People have taken investigating the murder of Abigail Williams and Liberty German into their own hands. He said he has talked to some who have been falsely compared to the sketch, and those people want to be left out of it. "I know people want to get this resolved and obviously we do too," said Sheriff Leazenby. "The family does, the whole community does." But he said people are going about it the wrong way, and it's frustrating. The sheriff said it's causing distractions for the investigators. "They have to take that time that maybe they could be working over here on something, but now they are having to potentially refocus on what's being displayed," he said. Sheriff Leazenby said it takes more than just looking like the man in the new sketch to mean that the person actually did the crime. He said the prosecutor needs facts that he can take into the courtroom to prove that the man in the sketch killed the two young girls. Posting these side-by-side comparisons could also lead to greater problems for those who are creating and sharing them. "One thing they need to consider is that it could end up in a slander situation where there could be some legal issues involved as well," said Sheriff Leazenby. The message from investigators has been the same since day one: "Put it through the email system or call it in and provide our investigators with that information and I assure you it will be followed into," he said. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office said anyone who continues to post these comparisons on its Facebook page will have the post removed and they will be blocked from the page. Anyone who does have facts about the double homicide should send them to abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com, or you can call 844-459-5786. The post from the Carroll County Facebook page asking people to stop posting side-by-side comparisons. More than 25 employers are taking part in a free Mishawaka job fair, and they're looking to hire for part-time, full-time and seasonal jobs. The 4th Annual Community Job Fair is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14, from 1-4 p.m. at the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library in downtown Mishawaka. You can find more information, including a list of employers, below. From Trine University: By Express News Service THOOTHUKUDI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a chowkidar (guard) but DMK is, said DMK president MK Stalin while addressing the public here on Wednesday. Marking the May Day, Stalin participated in the rally that commenced from Toovipuram 5th Street and concluded at Chidambaranagar Bus Stop. Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, MLAs KN Nehru, NP Geetha Jeevan, Anitha R Radhakrishnan and Poongothai Aladi Aruna were present. Addressing the members of Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), the labour wing of DMK, Stalin said: Labour rights can be protected only if all labourers unite. DMK has all rights to celebrate the May Day for its concern towards the labour sector. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said Modi was not a guard but a thief. Saying that late DMK chief Karunanidhi took efforts to convince the Union government to announce May 1 as a paid holiday for all the states, Stalin said DMK was the real guard of the labourers. He further said, We cannot forget the anti-labour policies of the State and Union governments. The labour rights are being crushed and the farmers demands are being ignored. The prime minister did not pay heed to the demands of Tamil Nadu farmers when the latter protested in New Delhi. Therefore, Modi is a sadist. Stalin charged that BJP government had mortgaged the rights of 45 crore labourers to a handful of corporates. The labourers and the farmers will get relief on May 23, the day when votes will be counted, he added. Later, Stalin visited villages under Ottapidaram (SC) Assembly constituency. By Express News Service THANJAVUR/TIRUCHY/KARAIKAL : A day after taking over probe into the murder of PMK functionary V Ramalingam, officers of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches in the offices of Popular Front of India (PFI), SDPI, and houses of some PFI functionaries in Tiruchy, Thanjavur and Karaikal on Thursday. Ramalingam, former town secretary of the PMK, of Thoondil Vinayagampettai in Tirubhuvanam near Kumbakonam was hacked on February 5 by a gang after a video clip of him arguing with Muslims allegedly trying to proselytise went viral. Police filed a case against 16 persons and arrested 11 persons including some cadre of PFI. The probe was transferred to NIA and a case registered on March 7, 2019 under IPC sections, including 307, 120B, 302 and sections 15 r/w 16, 18, 18B, 19, 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. On Thursday, officers from the central agency conducted simultaneous searches. A team along with 50 police personnel reached the PFI office in Palakkarai in Tiruchy around 8 am and entered it by 9 am. The operation continued till evening. At the PFI office located on Nanjikkottai road in Thanjavur, enquiries were made about those who visited the office on February 3,4. Inquiries were also made at the SDPI office in Kumbakonam. The team also visited houses of the some of the 11 PFI members arrested in connection with the case. In Karaikal, the team conducted raids in the house of Muhammed Kuthoos, former district president of PFI, and one of the accused in the murder. The inquiry with Kutthooss relatives took place around 4 am. The PFI office Later, was also searched for several hours from 6 am. Reacting to the developments, TKSM Meenatchisundharam, district president of BJP said the raids caused panic among public and many people were afraid to go near the office of PFI. Responding to this, Karaikal district secretary of PFI H Badurudhin accused BJP of spreading false propaganda to malign his outfit. We do not feel negative about the raids. NIA officers gave us the list of items they seized from our office. But the BJP is trying to malign us with false propaganda, he said. In Karaikal In Karaikal, the NIA team conducted raids in the house of Muhammed Kuthoos, a former district president of Popular Front of India, and one of the accused in the murder Ivory Coast is an independent country found on West Africas south coast bordering the Gulf of Guinea. The largest city in the country is Abidjan which is also the economic capital of the country while Yamoussoukro is the political capital. Currently, Ivory Coast has a stable and steadily growing economy after a long period of political instability which affected the country. The country has a market-based economy which is heavily reliant on agriculture, and about 70% of the country's population is engaged in agriculture. History of Ivory Coast's Economy In the 1960s, the country's GDP per capita grew by almost 82% and reached its peak in 1970s when the growth was averaging 360%. However, the growth was not sustainable, and in the 1980s it shrank by about 28%, and in 1990s it deepened further by 22%. The situation was made even worse with the increasing growth of population which led to a drastic fall in the standards of living. In 1994, the country's economy showed some signs of recovery after decades of stagnation, and this was the result of the devaluation of the regional currency of CFA Franc coupled with falling prices of commodities such as coffee and cocoa. Agriculture Industry Agriculture plays a critical role in the economy of Ivory Coast. The country is the world's leading producer of cocoa, and among the major producers and exporters of palm oil and coffee. These agricultural products make the economy highly susceptible to price fluctuations in the international markets. In the past, the government has tried to diversify the economy, but it has not been successful, and the country is still heavily reliant on agriculture and other agricultural related activities. Livestock The larger part of the country is found within the tsetse fly-infested zone and therefore keeping of cattle is concentrated mostly in the northern districts of the country. In 2004, the country was estimated to have about 1.4 million heads of cows which was an improvement compared to 1968 when the country had a population of 383,000 cows. It was also estimated that the country had a population of 33 million chickens which produced approximately 31,214 tons of eggs in 2004. There are no milk processing facilities in Ivory Coast, and therefore milk is sold and consumed fresh, and similarly, milk production is low. In 2004, the country produced approximately 25,912 tons of milk. Fishing Fishing is one of the major economic activities in Ivory Coast, and the country has the largest tuna fishing port in Africa which handles approximately 100,000 tons of tuna annually. There are numerous hatcheries in Bamoro, Bouake, and Korhogo. Large commercial fishing particularly of tuna if carried out around the Gulf of Guinea and similarly sardines are also harvested in large quantities around the area. Forestry The area under the forest in Ivory Coast is divided into two different domains, the first one is the Permanent Domain (PD) and the second one is the Rural Domain (RD). The permanent domain forest is made up of national parks and other forest reserve areas. The reserves and the national parks in the country cover an area of about 1,959,203 hectares. Logging is allowed in the rural domain which covers about 66% of the total land area in the country. The rate of deforestation in the country stood at about 3.1% between 1990 and 2000. Increased deforestation as a result of illegal logging was carried out during the period of political instability. In 2003, forest products were the third highest source foreign income generating about $269 million in export revenues. The leading export destination for forest products from Ivory Coast includes Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, India, Morocco, and Senegal among others. Forest products export from the country was made up of 70% logs, 20% lumber, and 10% plywood and veneer. In the past mahogany was the only type of wood exploited in the country, but currently, there are more than 25 various types of wood which are commercially exploited. The major species of wood harvested in the country include frake, teak, pine, framire, cedar, samba, niangon, gmelina, and bete. Tourism The country has attempted to diversify its economy by promoting tourism and promoting facilities associated with tourism. In the coastal areas of the country, there has been the development of resort lodgings and several hotels, particularly in Abuja. There has been a significant change in tourism which has its roots in the 1970s. In 1997, the country had about 7,786 hotel rooms with 11,374 beds and had an occupancy rate of 70%. Approximately 301,039 tourists arrived in Ivory Coast in 1998 and excess of 73,000 visitors from Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Some of the major attractions in the country include a photo of safaris, game reserves, and tourist villages among others. The government has removed the visa requirement for a stay of fewer than 91 days, although there is a requirement of vaccination against yellow fever for all visitors in the country. Mining Industry As of 1986, mining accounted for only 1% of the country's GDP although the country is estimated to hold different minerals and some have not been commercially exploited given the high cost of mining in the country. In the colonial period, gold was mined in small quantities along river beds and streams and was sold along the coastal regions. There were several attempts by the colonial administration to mine gold in Kokoumbo located the central part of the country and several other mines in the southeast part of the country, but all were unprofitable. Similarly, diamonds have been mined in the country since the colonial period, but the last mine was closed and in 1979. Other minerals which have been mined in the country particularly in the past include manganese, bauxite, nickel, copper, cobalt, and tantalite. Other Important Industries Other significant industries in Ivory Coast include oil and petroleum, which was discovered in 1977. Presently, most of the countrys gas and oil wells are found in the marine areas, and some are found in the deep offshore sea. In 2015, oil reserves in the country were estimated to be in the tune of 100 million barrels. Manufacturing is another important industry in Ivory Coast which has witnessed significant growth since the country attained its independence 1960's which experienced an average growth of about 13% annually until the 1980s. At independence, manufacturing accounted for about 4% of the GDP, and by 1984 it contributed about 17% to the GDP. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: TRS working president KT Rama Rao told leaders of Opposition parties that he would file defamation cases against them, if they level baseless allegations with regard to the Intermediate examination goof-up. Addressing May Day celebrations at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, Rama Rao said that when the tender was allotted to Globarena Technologies by the Intermediate Board, he was not the IT Minister. But, Opposition parties are dragging me into this controversy. The value of work allotted to Globarena was `4.3 crore. But, they allege that it is a `10,000 crore scam, he said.Rama Rao said that in issue was a sensitive one and asked leaders to restrain themselves while speaking on it. If the Opposition wants to demand answers from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao about something, there are so many issues they can go with, he said. The TRS working president said the Opposition had nothing else to talk about. They are keeping this issue alive like Ravana Kashtam for political gains, he said.Rama Rao appealed to students and parents to remain calm and patient. Please wait till the re-verification and re-counting of papers is complete. The matter is also going to be heard by the High Court. If the court finds anyone at fault, I will be first person to demand the State government to take action against them, he said. Rama Rao also replied to senior Congress V Hanumantha Rao, who had earlier asked him to swear by the Pedddama goddess (from the famous Jubilee Hills temple) that he had no connections with the CEO of Globarena. Making false allegations against someone is not correct. One bufoon (Hanumanth Rao) asked me to come to Peddamma Temple to take an oath with regards to the Intermediate exam issue. Do I really need to go just because he has asked me to? he asked. Later in the day, Hanumanth Rao reacted to Rama Rao calling him a buffoon. Only time will decide who is the buffoon, he said. The former Rajya Sabha MP also recalled it was Congress that gave Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao his first break in political life. Had it not been for Congress, he would not have been CM today, he said. Workers welfare Speaking at the event, Rama Rao said Chandrasekhar Rao was partisan towards workers and labourers. He increased the wages being given to labourers and hiked those of Anganwadi workers twice, he said. He added that the wages of Home Guards, GHMC sweepers and contract workers had also been increased as well. Govt, Oppn continue battle over fiasco The government and Opposition parties, including BJP, Congress, Telangana Jana Samithi and CPI, continued to battle over the Intermediate result goof-up. For the past few days, they have been asking for Education Minister Jagadish Reddy to be sacked and for action to be taken against Globarena, the private firm hired by the Inter Board to process the results. As many as 21 students have allegedly committed suicide since the results were announced By PTI WASHINGTON: Welcoming the move to designate Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism. Pompeo also congratulated the US mission in the UN which took the lead in America's diplomatic effort to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, after China finally lifted its nearly 10-year technical hold on such an effort by India, the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council including Britain and France. "Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist," Pompeo tweeted. "This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia," Pompeo said. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on Wednesday announced 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. Masood Azhar's global terrorist designation by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia, the White House said. Reacting to the development, Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House said: "Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia". The US commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Azhar, the leader of JeM, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian security personnel, Marquis said in a statement. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that the JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace in South Asia. "The JeM was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 and has been listed by the UN since 2001," she said. The US also designated Azhar as an SDGT in 2010. "As JEM's founder and leader, Azhar clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN. This listing requires all the UN member states to implement an asset freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," Ortagus said. Today's designation is an important step in promoting a peaceful and stable South Asia, she said. "In line with this vision, we appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khan's stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow militant and terrorist groups to operate from its territory," Ortagus said. The spokesperson said that the US looks forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan consistent with its international obligations. 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. Dozens of supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protested outside Southwark Crown Court yesterday, where he was handed down a sentence of 50 weeks in prison on bail charges in a vindictive ruling by Judge Deborah Taylor. Among those protesting were supporters of the Julian Assange Defence Committee, residents of London and people who had travelled from several European countries. Homemade placards and banners read, Assanges Freedom is our Freedom, Free Julian Assange: Jail the War Criminals, Hands Off Assange, Free Julian AssangeNobel Peace Prize Nominee, and No Extradition: Free Julian Assange. Supporters of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks protest outside Southwark court Slogans chanted included, One decisionNo Extradition! Free, Free Julian Assange! US UKHands Off Assange and Moreno is Corrupt! To the assembled media pack, protesters chanted, Do your job, tell the truth! Kevin and Rachel are US citizens and travelled together from Denmark to support Assange. We flew in at midnight last night. We found out the hearing had been moved up and so we rushed right over, said Kevin. He is one of the last few journalists in the world and he protects people who share information on corruption. There are so few places we can do that. You mentioned the Guardian they were given all of these documents by Edward Snowden and they disappeared. The Intercept, I believe, just took down all of the documents that Snowden shared as well. There are no public records of those documents anymore. So many journalistic outlets are failing us right now. Assange is one of the few people who enabled everyone elsethe regular peopleto share this information with the world and to lose that is awful. I truly hope he is released, but I dont believe that will happen. Kevin As a US citizen, the Iraq war logs was my first exposure to Julian Assange. Back then, the Democrats were singing his praises as a hero for exposing war crimes and I really thought that with everything that had happenedthe fraudulent election of George W. Bush, all of the massive war crimesthat things were going to turn around because of Assanges efforts. But here I am and every time he exposes something it just seems to get worse despite his efforts. Commenting on the secret grand jury against Assange empanelled under Obama, Kevin said, It doesnt really matter who is in charge. People are so afraid of Trump right now, but theres the crimes of George W. Bush, Obama began the sealed [grand jury] proceedings and theyre continuing under Trump, and I think that no matter who wins the elections it will continue. Thats why Im so terrified of US extradition. I truly believe that if he gets into US hands then he will disappear or be sentenced for who knows how long. Rachel said, WikiLeaks is international and has helped the world over, I feel especially for the United States. With the war logs we found out how invasive the CIA spying was within our country, which theyre not supposed to be doing. Its helped me understand the world better, and politics better. Rachel A trained counsellor, Rachel spoke about the treatment Assange has faced: Even before the embassy, he was under house arrest, so its very horrible. And hes been vindicated. One of the first things he told his lawyers was I told you so. Lucia explained, I come from Barcelona and I am here because I am truly concerned with the situation and what is happening to Julian Assange. I dont think he should be treated in this way. He is a hero and doing us all a great service in exposing the truth. But he is being treated as if he had committed the crimes he has revealed. There is no democratic rule in this society, as is proved by how they snatched Assange from the embassy. They are saying no one is above the law, but what they are doing is unlawful. There is a big media campaign trying to smear Julian, so there are people who dont know what to believe because of the allegations in Sweden. There is all sorts of petty stuff being spread by Ecuador on what he was supposedly doing in the embassy. Its just ridiculous, measured against the importance of what he published. Lucia There is no opposition from the politicians to this. There is a lack of support and I dont understand why. Its one of the biggest issues globally. They are all taking a voice away from us, everything, even censoring social media. The mainstream media are filtering everything. There needs to be some radical changes. Jeff was among the protesters able to listen to proceedings from inside the court. He said, The verdict was predictable but no less shocking because the lawyer defending Assange laid out in great detail how he had genuine fears when he skipped bail in 2012. It was half an hour by the lawyer laying out all the relevant details and the Judge [Deborah Taylor] responded to that with a pre-prepared statement saying that what Assange had done was an insult to the British judicial system. The judge confirmed his lack of faith in that system today. Jeff said of the judges statement that the UN ruling that Assange has been arbitrarily detained by the UK authorities since 2010 is not binding on her court: That is a declaration of an outlaw state Who does she think these UN Commissions consist of? They are legal experts, jurists. I think this is very squalid and I think the role of the mainstream media and the Guardian in particular, but also the BBC and everyone, has been very bad. I heard the lawyer for Assange saying that he fears going to Guantanamo Bay and that he fears spending several decades in a US Supermax facility. He might expect even the death penalty if extra charges are added to the indictment under the 1917 Espionage Act. So, strange as it may sound, there could be a non-American citizen convicted under the Espionage Act of treason to the US. Asked about the response of Assanges supporters in the courtroom to the sentencing, Jeff said it was one of contempt, derision and a complete lack of faith in our justice system. if justice isnt seen to be done, its not done. Assange was a de facto political prisoner for seven years and now he is a political prisoner, de jure. Labour Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott made a very spirited defence of Assange [in stating that he should not be extradited to the US] but we havent seen any moves [from the Jeremy Corbyn leadership] since to stand in defence of Assange and against this whole process of extradition to the United States. Under pressure they have said that he has questions to answer in relation to Sweden. I would like them to go further and oppose the Swedish case. If you read [lawyer] Geoffrey Robinsons memoirs, he has a chapter on Assange called Sweden and Ecuador. In it he breaks down in detail how Assange wouldnt face justice in Sweden. He would face a secret trial behind closed doors and Sweden has a 100 percent compliance rate when it comes to extradition requests to US extradition. The Swedish case is just another means to get Assange to America. Jeff read many alternative news sources and opposed as completely false the lie by Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno that Assange receives information from all kinds of people but only publishes it on his enemies. He has published thousands of documents on Russia that have been used in court cases, on China, documents embarrassing to the Assad regime in Syria. US Attorney General William Barr has decided not to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, according to a letter sent by the Justice Department to the House panel Wednesday night. Barr was to take questions on his handling of the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections, possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, and Trumps efforts to block or shut down Muellers investigation. The Justice Department letter was sent Wednesday evening after Barr appeared as the sole witness at a day-long hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the same topic. It is unprecedented for an executive branch official to testify before the Senate and then to refuse a similar request from the House. The refusal is doubly provocative because the Senate is controlled by the Republicans while the House has a Democratic majority. In effect, the Trump administration is declaring, through Barr, that it refuses to be held accountable to the Democrats even though they won the most seats in the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections. This follows a series of actions by the Trump White House that demonstrate a consistent orientation toward the establishment of an authoritarian regime in which the executive rules with the support of the military and police, without any oversight by the legislature or judiciary as co-equal branches of government. The most flagrant defiance of the Constitution came in February, when Trump declared a state of emergency at the US-Mexico border and ordered the Pentagon to redirect military resources to building a border wall. This came after Congress explicitly refused to authorize funds to pay for the wall, leading to a partial shutdown of the federal government that lasted 35 days. More recently, the White House has ordered a series of executive branch officials to refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas, either for documents or testimony. Most of the demands come from the Democratic-controlled House, where committees have begun investigations into Trumps personal finances, the formulation of his policies on immigration and other issues, and various aspects of the Mueller investigation. The pretext for Barrs refusal is that the House Judiciary Committee approved, on a party-line vote, a procedure for the hearing that includes 30-minute rounds of questioning of Barr by the counsels for the committee majority and minority, following the regular questioning by committee members, which proceeds in five-minute rounds. Barr had demanded that the committee drop the plan for questioning by the counsels, but as Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Democrat from New York, declared Sunday on CNN, The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period. There is little doubt that the Senate hearing did not increase Barrs desire to appear before the House. Even though he was protected by the chairman of the Republican-controlled committee, Lindsey Graham, and most of the Republican majority on the panel, Barr was hard pressed to answer some lines of questioning from the Democrats. Nearly all the questions focused on Barrs March 24 letter to Congress announcing the completion of the Mueller report, in which he trumpeted Muellers principal finding that there was no collaboration between the Trump campaign and Russia, and added his own finding that there was no evidence that the president had sought to obstruct justice by blocking the investigation. The report itself was far more equivocal on the obstruction question, which turned on Muellers acceptance of the ruling by the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel that a sitting president cannot be indicted on a criminal charge, leaving impeachment as the only constitutional remedy for presidential illegality. The second half of the Mueller report is, in all but name, an impeachment referral of Trump on charges of obstruction of justice. The night before the Senate Judiciary hearing, the Washington Post published the text of a brief, four-paragraph letter from Mueller to Barr, dated March 27, 2019, in which he criticized the Barr letter of March 24, saying it did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions, and adding, There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. Whether it was supplied to the Post by anti-Trump sources or was a preemptive measure by Barr himself, fearing the letter would otherwise be used to ambush him during his testimony, the leaking of the Mueller letter, a closely held Justice Department internal document, testifies to the deep and ongoing conflict within the national-security apparatus. The letter demonstrated that Barr himself had deliberately misled both House and Senate committees during testimony in April about the release of the Mueller report, when he claimed to be unaware of any dissatisfaction in Muellers entourage over his March 24 letter, even though he had received the Mueller letter on March 28. In the course of the five-hour Senate hearing, Barr repeatedly denied and disputed the plain meaning of the Mueller letter. At one point, he claimed that the letter was snitty and probably drafted by a staffer, not Mueller himself. But previously he had sought to justify his earlier testimony about being unaware of dissatisfaction in the special counsels office by claiming that the letter expressed Muellers sentiments only, not those of his staff. Over all, the Senate hearing added little to the publics understanding of the content of the conflicts within the ruling elite that have found expression in the Mueller report, which relate to US policy towards Russia. Both Republicans and Democrats were at pains to denounce Russia and supposed Kremlin interference in US elections, and to pledge the mobilization of resources to prevent such interference in the 2020 elections. The Mueller report itself provided no evidence of Russian intervention, merely repeating and uncritically accepting as fact the unsupported claims of US intelligence agencies about a supposedly massive campaign directed by Vladimir Putin to influence American voters. The report characterized the Russian campaign as a two-track effort, involving Facebook ads and hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. But when looked at closely, both tracks lead nowhere. On Facebook, Russian operatives spent less than $100,000 on advertising, a miniscule amount compared to $81 million for the Democratic and Republican campaigns on Facebook, and $5 billion overall. As for the hacking that provided Democratic Party documents to WikiLeaks, which published them to great effect, these documents had an impact because they were true and because voters had the right to know about them. WikiLeaks exposed the efforts of the Democratic National Committee to rig the primary election against Bernie Sanders and for Clinton, as well as Clintons closed-door speeches to Wall Street audiences promising to look out for bankers interests once she entered the White House. There was no hint of these issues in the Senate hearing. Tens of thousands of educators and their supporters marched in Raleigh, North Carolina and Columbia, South Carolina yesterday to protest low wages and abysmal public-school funding in the two states. North Carolina educators have seen a decline of 9.4 percent in real wages since 2009, and the state ranks 39th in the nation in per pupil funding. South Carolina ranks 38th in teacher pay and 31st in funding. Organizers estimated that more than 20,000 marched in North Carolina and 10,000 in South Carolina. So many teachers, counselors, school bus drivers and other school support staff in North Carolina called off Wednesday that classes were cancelled for more than 850,000 of the states 1.5 million public school students. Inspired by teachers in the neighboring state and organized on social media in less than two weeks, the South Carolina protests, one of the largest in the state capital in recent memory, forced seven school districts to cancel classes due to a lack of substitute teachers. The mass protests in the Carolinas are part of a continuing wave of teacher struggles that began last year with wildcat strikes in West Virginia and continued with walkouts in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, and Denver this year. More than a 100 charter school teachers walked out of four schools in Chicago yesterday, and teachers in the California capital of Sacramento are set to carry out a one-day strike on May 22. US educators are fighting austerity and inequality along with their counterparts around the world. Thousands of striking teachers in Honduras have gone on a national strike along with doctors to oppose government measures that could lead to mass layoffs. Last week, contract teachers in the North African country of Morocco, who are fighting for permanent jobs, protested in the capital city of Rabat and were attacked with water cannon and batons. Over the last year, teacher strikes have spread across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. A sea of red shirts covered the capitol district in Raleigh on May Day. Educators carried homemade signs with their demands, including for improved pay, funding for teachers to complete masters programs, increases in Medicaid funding to help low-income students and increased hiring and pay for support staff, including librarians, psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses and other health professionals. In South Carolina, teachers demanded a 10 percent raise, a halt to threats against teachers for making public policy statements and the hiring of more mental health counselors. Shannon has been teaching elementary school for eleven years in Robeson County, one of the poorest areas in North Carolina, with a child poverty rate above 70 percent. The county seat of Lumberton flooded badly in both 2016 and 2018 when hurricanes overwhelmed poorly maintained infrastructure. Describing the effect of widespread poverty on her students, Shannon said, Many of our students come to school hungry, lacking sleep, lacking [school] supplies, and its not that they leave them at home. They literally do not have them. She explained that teachers regularly pay out of their own pockets to buy classroom supplies to make sure my classroom is funded and that my kids have the supplies they need. A teacher from the Raleigh area, Mr. Grayson, said he was marching because we wanted to be a part of the increasing voice in general for collective bargaining and for rights of workers to have a voice in their legislature. He acknowledged that if he was a betting man, he would say the legislature would continue to ignore teachers, but there is strength in numbers and as many people as possible are needed for our voices to be heard. Asked what changes needed to happen, Grayson said, We need increased spending within the school system, not necessarily per teacher, though that would be nice. But I think a major focus should simply be to provide more teachers, to be more equitable in how budgets are spent, more towards education and less toward militaristic means. We would benefit greatly if budgets were spent on minds instead of mines. Teachers have received widespread public support in North Carolina, with a poll from Public Policy Polling showing 71 percent in favor of the statewide protests. The militant mood of the demonstrators contrasted sharply with the bankrupt policy advanced by the North Carolina Association of Educators, whose leaders like president Mark Jewell urged teachers to appeal to the Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature to hear their demands. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper was brought onto the stage to issue empty platitudes. After state legislators ignored the demands of teachers in a mass rally of 20,000 last May, the NCAE called for teachers to campaign for the election of Democrats to end the Republican super-majority in the General Assembly. Cooper and the Democrats, like their counterparts across the country, have collaborated with the Republicans to starve public schools of funding while providing an endless flow of tax cuts to big business and the wealthy. On the day before the march, the state legislature proposed a budget with meager pay raisesranging from 10 percent for school principals, to 4.6 percent for teachers and just one percent for supports staff. These insulting pay raises, which will no doubt be funded through the implementation of regressive taxes or cuts to other vitally needed social program, will do little to make up for the loss of real income over the last decade or to stop the exodus of teachers from the state. A WSWS Teacher Newsletter campaign team distributed 1,500 copies of the statement The teachers revolt and the fight for social equality. The statement called for educators to draw the lessons of the strikes of the last year, which were betrayed by the teacher unions, and build new organizations of struggle, independent of the unions and both big business parties. The statement concludes: 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. Teachers, school workers and their supporters warmly received the statement, and many purchased literature and subscribed to the WSWS Teacher Newsletter. To paraphrase a notorious statement by a US general during the Vietnam War, In order to save public housing, you have to destroy it. This barbaric philosophy, carried out by US imperialism more recently on a massive scale against cities in Iraq and Syria, is now brought home as part of the war on the American working class. In the latest solution to the abysmal conditions in New York Citys public housing system (the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA), home to some 400,000 working class residents, the citys mayor, Democrat Bill de Blasio, proposes to demolish two buildings in a Manhattan public housing complex and turn the land over to private developers to build mixed income developments. Undoubtedly, if this experiment is successful, more demolitions will follow. The proposed test case is in the Fulton Houses NYCHA, an 11-building complex in the rapidly gentrifying Chelsea neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan, only a few blocks south of Hudson Yards, a new, mega development of high end residential and commercial real estate. The existing tenants would be moved to supposedly affordable private housing. The three proposed new buildings will reportedly contain nearly 700 apartments, less than a third of which will be rated as affordable. Illustrating the citys extreme economic inequality, according to the New York Times, the average rent in the Fulton Houses is $660 per month. By contrast, the median market rate rent in Chelsea is $3,462. The NYCHA residents to be displaced have been given empty assurances by de Blasio and other politicians that they will be protected once relocated to apartments owned by private landlords. The astronomical open market rents in the neighborhood make such statements laughable. Reports also indicate that the city would transfer management of the remaining Fulton Houses buildings as well as the adjacent Chelsea-Elliott complex to a private firm. This latest is but one of several mechanisms being employed to privatize and dismantle NYCHA, once considered the most successful public housing system in the country. Following decades of neglect and budget cuts, living conditions for NYCHA resident have become truly horrificranging from toxic lead paint contamination (especially dangerous for young children) to burst plumbing, rampant mold, malfunctioning elevators, and long outages of heat and hot water (often during episodes of severe winter weather), to name but a few. Report after report have documented that even critically necessary repairs often take months or even years to be completed due to the lack of resources, endangering the health and even the lives of residents. The proposed solutions to funding the tens of billions of dollars needed to make the necessary repairs and upgrades begin with the premise that the wealth of the citys super rich is sacrosanct and cannot be tapped to provide decent housing for those workers on whom this wealth is based. Hence, there is no money for the city and state of New York to undertake the work. Therefore, private developers must be provided with incentives that, in one form or another, represent mechanisms to extract even greater profit at the expense of the working class. These schemes include turning over management of entire complexes to private firms, who will undertake repairs but then squeeze existing tenants or displace them in order to maximize profits, leasing open space between existing buildings to private developers so that they can build market rate apartment buildings while destroying recreational and parking areas that were integral to the original designs of these complexes, and now, the actual demolition of existing buildings. The citys stated goal is to transfer one third of public housing to private management under the federal Section 8 voucher program. Allegedly, these mechanisms will provide revenue to NYCHA that will allow it to undertake the necessary repairs and upgrades to the remaining buildings. The estimated cost of repairs to the Fulton Houses alone is $168 million. In reality, the combined effect will be the massive displacement of existing tenants, greatly exacerbating the already critical lack of affordable housing in the city, while providing new land for high-end development. Many of the more than 300 NYCHA complexes were originally constructed on what was, at the time, marginal land. With the growth of housing demand by the upper middle class and wealthy elite some of these locations have now become highly attractive. Hence, the growing desire of real estate developers to gain access to these properties, such as the NYCHA complexes in Chelsea. Existing working class residents are simply in the way. NYCHA residents are fully aware of how they are being sacrificed to the interests of the citys upper class. Alberta Hale, resident of NYCHA in Chelsea for 15 years described to the World Socialist Web Site the deteriorated conditions she has had to endure. There are so many problems. The lower levels have rats, or mice. You have to wait two to three years for paint workI put my own towels down, I painted my apartment myself because if I wait for them to do it, it wont get done. Referring to the plans to demolish and rebuild two buildings in Chelsea: Its not going to make anything better, its to push us out. You know how many units are in these apartments? How much rent people pay? They [NYCHA] get plenty money. They need to do something. De Blasio, he promised a lot. He didnt do nothing yet. Youre talking about slumlords, that is what they are. That is exactly what they are. I used to love Chelsea. Its so close to everything. Its so pretty. But a one-bedroom apartment now costs $1700 a month. $1700 for a one bedroom! If it wasnt for the section 8, I dont know how I would pay that. When I first moved here, it was $900. I want to stay, [but] Im getting ready to move to North Carolina. Charles Green, who has lived in NYCHA housing for over 30 years, said about replacement of public housing units, They are putting something big but possibly very expensive to replace the housing. This is a test case for getting rid of this, similar to how they have privatized public housing in other states. The developers or landlords know that this is prime real estate in Manhattan, and think just by having us here it is lowering the property value in the area. You can imagine in ten years this will all be condos, but the people who live here now or have lived here for 20 years wont be in this area. The city is probably interested in selling it off because it is just a problem for them. Every year there are lawsuits about the conditions here and they probably factored that into getting rid of it. My feeling is that de Blasio is in bed with all these real estate people. What is his real agenda? What does he really want New York to look like? All the time now you see an exposure of how bad it is in NYCHA. Well it has been that way for a long time. They just want to talk about it now to try to convince us that the privatizations are good, that we should accept that. Anthony, who grew up in NYCHA housing, said, If you are selling buildings or tearing down building you have to make sure the people have some place to go. You can see now that all the shelters are already overcrowded. You have people here that cant afford to live anywhere else, that cant afford Con Edison [utility bills]. An apartment uptown is $1,300 a month. We cant afford that, but they just want us out and the upper class people to move in. Mike, who has lived in public housing for the past 4 years, said about demolition of NYCHA units, I look at this this way, they are just trying to find someone to scapegoat. They will just blame it on the private owners for kicking us out and making this area for the upper class. They are trying to do to the projects the same things they did to the jails with privatization. After this start it will just expand. Meanwhile, as the de Blasio administration develops its plans to reward wealthy real estate developers with new properties on which to build residences for the citys upper middle class, a new report by the Coalition for the Homeless highlights the steadily worsening housing conditions for the working class. In February, the reported number of individuals spending the night in the citys homeless shelters reached the all-time high of nearly 64,000, a number that has been on a steady rise since the financial crisis of 2008/9. This does not include the thousands more sleeping in the rough. The author also recommends: Federal government threatens takeover of NYC Housing Authority [4 January 2019] After years of neglect, New York City public housing headed for privatization [26 June 2018] This Friday, high school students and youth around Australia will participate in national protests demanding immediate action to stem climate change and environmental destruction. The event follows mass rallies last year, and in March, which are part of a globally-coordinated movement. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and its youth wing, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), supports the broadest expression of opposition to the looming environmental catastrophe, as well as the other major issues facing youthwar, social inequality and attacks on democratic rights. We warn, however, that demonstration organisers, including the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), are seeking to politically neuter this emerging movement, by confining it within the parliamentary framework and subordinating it to the Labor Party and the Greens. This is why todays protests are being held outside the offices of parliamentarians. But the record demonstrates that Labor and the Greens are not a lesser-evil to the Liberal-National Coalition. The Greens-backed federal Labor government of Julia Gillard, in office from 2010 to 2013, did nothing to stem carbon emissions. Under its carbon tax policy, Australias emissions actually increased. According to Labors own modelling, if the tax had remained in place, annual emissions would have grown from 582 to 621 million tonnes from 2012 to 2020. The various international agreements, backed by Australian governments, such as the Paris Accord, have all proven useless in addressing the environmental crisis. At one international summit after another, governments, whether they claim to be left or right, have opposed serious action on climate change for fear of reducing the profitability of their nations corporations and major businesses. In this election campaign, Labor and the Greens have outlined a series of climate policies. They all centre on cash subsidies to big business, and market-based solutions, which have failed to reduce emissions wherever they have been implemented, and only led to the enrichment of the financial elite. It is the same on all the other major issues. The Greens are once again signalling that they will work with Labor after the elections. A Greens-backed Labor government would intensify Australias involvement in US-led wars and force the working class to pay for the deepening economic crisis. Successive governments, particularly since the global financial crisis of 2008, have used the claim that there is no money as an excuse to slash social spending on education, healthcare, arts and culture, welfare and the environment. Meanwhile, they continue to siphon billions of dollars into predatory wars abroad and the strengthening of the military-intelligence apparatuses. All the official parties are seeking to channel the climate protests behind the parliamentary establishment. The AYCC is acting as self-appointed political censor. At the last demonstration in March, it unsuccessfully sought to prevent IYSSE campaigners from distributing leaflets outlining a socialist perspective. These attempts to suppress political discussion and debate must be rejected. The issue of climate change is inextricably linked to all the other political questions facing young people. The developing movement of youth and students in Australia and internationally on climate change is part of the political radicalisation of an entire generation. Young people today have grown up amid environmental destruction, perpetual US-led wars in the Middle East, and wholesale attacks on democratic rights. The question is posed: What political perspective is required to end war, exploitation, authoritarianism, and the destruction of the environment? The SEP and IYSSE state unambiguously that the only way to halt the destruction of the environment, as well as to end war, poverty and the attacks on democratic rights, is to abolish capitalism and reorganise society along socialist lines. Capitalism is an outmoded system, based on the division of the world into antagonistic nation-states, and the dominance, over every aspect of social life, of the profit dictates of the corporate elite. Capitalism prevents any rational, global plan to carry out the necessary drastic and rapid reversal of climate change, while protecting the living standards of the worlds population. In its election statement, the SEP states: The first step, therefore, in halting a climate disaster requires that the major corporations, above all those bearing central responsibility for pollutants, be taken out of private hands, and placed under public ownership and democratic control. Such a program necessitates international collaboration and control. It can only be developed in struggle against all the parties of the political establishmentLabor, Liberal and the Greensthat defend the profit interests of the major corporations, financial institutions and their own national state. This fight, in turn, requires the construction of a mass revolutionary movement of the working class internationally. The SEP and its sister parties of the International Committee of the Fourth International are the only political force seeking to develop such a movement. We invite all students and youth who want to fight for a future to attend our world movements annual International May Day Online Rally on May 4 and we urge you to contact the SEP, get involved in our election campaign and join and build this party. Authorised by James Cogan for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000. Since last Friday, Honduras has been rocked by growing strikes and demonstrations by teachers, health care workers, high-school and university students and their supporters against legislation that facilitates budget cuts, mass firings and the privatization of public education and the healthcare system. The government of Juan Orlando Hernandez (known as JOH) a continuation of the regime installed by a US-backed coup in 2009 mobilized riot police to repress protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and beatings. Dozens of demonstrators have been injured and at least 10 detained. On Monday, when more than ten thousand workers and youth were marching in the capital, Tegucigalpa, a plainclothes police officer, identified as Jairo Alberto Flores Lopez, was seen in videos speaking on a communication radio and shooting at demonstrators with a pistol while running next to riot police. One of the bullets hit the chest of Jose Humberto Duarte, a 54-year-old teacher, barely missing his vital organs. The constant deadly attacks by the armed forces of the US puppet regime in Tegucigalpa against workers and youth struggling for their social and democratic rights exposes the farce of the human rights pretexts that US imperialism uses for its neo-colonial wars, invasions and regime-change operations across the world, most recently in its efforts to overthrow the Maduro government in Venezuela. Teachers and doctors across Honduras struck on Monday and Tuesday and joined May Day demonstrations on Wednesday, a holiday. Their chants included bring down the dictatorship and JOH leave. The protests in Honduras are part of a growing upsurge of the class struggle across the continent and internationally in opposition to social austerity and attacks on jobs, wages and benefits. Regionally, they follow the longest strike in Costa Rican history last year, also led by teachers, and mass protests against pension cuts in Nicaragua and student protests in March against water privatization in El Salvador. Maria Dilia Paz, a teacher demonstrating in Tegucigalpa on Monday, described her conditions to TeleSur, We do everything we can to make ends meet. You know how the electrical service is, and if you are late one day they cut you off. Our children at times go with little food. They dont get snacks because we dont have any. The 65,000 teachers in the country get paid hourly wages at poverty levelsbetween $2.70 and $3.80 per hour of classes. Thousands joined marches and roadblocks in other major cities, from the northern San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba, to Comayagua and Choluteca in the south. On Monday, protesters blocked the border with Nicaragua at Guasaule and were violently removed by Honduran police. Three government buildings, including the city hall and a drug store, were set on fire on Monday in the capital, reportedly by demonstrators, and the headquarters of the ruling party was damaged on Wednesday. Government officials and the corporate media have claimed that the structural reformscomposed of vague language about allowing the ministries to revise the budget and yearly operating planaim to save $300 million that will be re-invested. These reassurances, however, ring hollow for workers and youth who have witnessed years of cuts and deterioration in these vital public services as well as the outright stealing of funds by the ruling clique, including hundreds of millions of dollars taken from the healthcare system to finance JOHs 2016 presidential campaign. The General Workers Central (CGT), which is aligned with the regime, openly backed the measures, while the Trade Union of Public Education Employees and the Honduran Medical Association have opposed them on the basis of getting a seat at the table in further talks. On Tuesday, National Party legislators announced that they would suspend the final ratification of the bills to continue the talks with the unions and opposition parties. In response, the trade unions and the doctors association called off further strikes. Workers recognize that any negotiation with this puppet regime of the US and Honduran financial elites cannot result in the public services Hondurans deserve, as union and government officials claim. Reports on the bills have been accompanied prominently in the media by news of ongoing meetings between the government and the International Monetary Fund since April 8, taking place both in Washington, DC and Tegucigalpa. The media outlets have highlighted a rescue package involving the restructuring of the state electric company ENEE; however, the main goal of the talks with the IMF has been to receive new credits to cover the growing public debt in exchange for deeper austerity measures and privatizations. On Tuesday, the advisor of the Honduran Council for Private Businesses (Cohep), Arturo Alvarado, a former finance minister, announced that a deal was close. We got explanations that there will not be any tax increases, he said, what is coming relates to governance or how to improve the quality of expenditures, particularly in education and health care. All political parties and the trade unions represent the interests of capitalists whose profits depend on the ability of Honduras to attract foreign investments as a cheap labor platform with low or nonexistent taxes and social security costs. The think-tank on external debt Fosdeh has calculated that debt servicing will exceed 45 billion lempiras (US$1.85 billion) this year, surpassing the 39.6 billion lempiras (US$1.6 billion) budget for health care, social security and education combined. This would mean a 33 percent increase in the disbursement to the international and local financial vultures since 2018 and would amount to nearly a third of the total government budget. The Finance Secretariat, moreover, calculates that business tax exemptions, particularly for maquiladoras at the 24 Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in the country, will amount to 37 billion lempiras ($1.5 billion) this year. Meanwhile, the average salary for the 132,000 workers making clothes, auto parts and other products at maquiladoras is $40 per week. In other words, in the most unequal country of the Americas, billions are transferred each year from the wealth created by the working class to the financial and corporate elites through debt payments and tax exemptions, while more than 60 percent of the population lives in poverty. The rural areas are also simmering with social opposition. On April 2, farmers across the country were joined in protests by Lenca indigenous groups from the western Intibuca department, who marched to Tegucigalpa to demand debt pardons and oppose foreclosures surrounding the near-bankruptcy of the state-owned National Bank for Agricultural Development (Banadesa). Hundreds carried out peaceful marches and set up roadblocks in more rural departments in the north (Colon), south (Valle) and east (Olancho) of the country. The sustained concentration of land, the building of dams, deforestation and severe drought have pushed thousands of the most impoverished peasant families to the brink of starvation and forced many to migrate north. The Trump administration, however, is ramping up its attacks against immigrants to cultivate its fascistic base, including the militarization of the border, the illegal erosion of asylum rights, threats to end the Temporary Protected Status for 57,000 Hondurans, and mass deportations. Hundreds of thousands seeking to escape the desperate and deadly conditions in the country and cities in Honduras, with its widespread gangs and brutal state repression, are being sent back. The latest demonstrations signal coming social upheavals involving the broadest sectors of workers and oppressed. US imperialism and the Honduran client elite have been preparing by strengthening the repressive apparatus and using electoral fraud and the military to keep their preferred political representatives in power. This saw the killing of 32 demonstrators in protests against the electoral fraud in November 2017. Since the 2009 coup, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the Honduran military budget has tripled, to a proportion of the GDP not seen since 1990. This doesnt include hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid from the Pentagon, which uses its military bases in Honduras as a launching platform for interventions across the region. One hundred and thirty years ago, the founding congress of the Second International issued a call for support for May Day as the day of struggle of the workers movement. Since then, May 1 has been associated by class-conscious workers with the struggle against exploitation and oppression based on the worldwide unity of the working class against capitalism. The situation this year emphasises more than ever that such a struggle can only be carried out in an implacable struggle against the existing trade unions. Instead of calling for the international unity of workers, the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) appeals for the unity of the government, big business and the European Union (EU) against workers. Its leaflet On Labour Day begins with the words: If the European Union did not exist, it would have to be invented. There then follows a glorified portrait of the EU, packed with lies. According to the German unions, the EU has been ensuring peace in Europe for decades. The appeal makes no mention of the fact that all of the major EU states have been involved for years in brutal NATO-led wars in the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan and many other countries. No mention is made of the gigantic military rearmament systematically under way in every EU state. Nothing is said about German government plans for nuclear armament and the building of an aircraft carrier; not a word about the fact that, for the first time since the end of World War II, German troops are again stationed on the border with Russia at a time when the militaristic policy of NATO and the EU threatens nuclear war. The DGBs claim that the EU is a force against right-wing populists and nationalists is a lie. In fact, the EU is a hotbed for nationalism, fascism and war. Right-wing extremist parties are now openly involved in government in 10 EU member states, while leading pro-EU politicians, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, have spoken out in favour of fascist leaders like Philippe Petain and Benito Mussolini. The DGB also writes that the EU has brought considerable benefits to the people of Germany and Europe, such as the right to work and travel freely. Really? Are the refugees and asylum seekers, who are not allowed to travel anywhere, who are harassed by the state, terrorised and put into concentration camp-like facilities in order to deport them as soon as possible, not people in Europe? And what about the 142 million Europeans who, according to official figures, live in povertyi.e., earn less than 813 [US$911] a monthand can barely afford a hot meal twice a week? How can they afford to travel? The complacent, well-fed bureaucrats in the German union headquarters go on to claim: The EU protects and expands the rights of employees with regard to working hours, holidays, maternity leave and in many other areas of the world of work. The arrogance and mendacity of this statement is hard to beat. Studies by the Hans Bockler Foundation, which is a trade union think tank, disprove this claim and document the catastrophic effects of the EUs expansion eastwards. In EU member Bulgaria, the average wage is eight times lower than in Germany. In Germany itself, 12.9 million people live in poverty and 3.2 million have more than one job, because one wage is insufficient for survival. As for those with a normal wage, they confront prohibitively expensive rents, long journeys to work, rising workloads and job insecurity. In France, workers are fighting against the introduction of new labour market laws based on Germanys 2010 Agenda and the Hartz reforms, introduced 15 years ago by a Social Democratic Party (SPD)-Green government in close coordination with the unions. And what about workers in Greece? How did they benefit from the EU? The euro has been used to plunder the economies of Europes weaker countries. Over the past five years, Germany has imposed an unrelenting series of austerity programmes on the Greek population. Millions of Greeks have lost their jobs, health care and much of their pensions. There has been no comparable process of plundering and asset-stripping a country in peacetime, all undertaken with the full support of the DGB, the German government and the EU Troika. The only true sentence in the DGB May Day appeal says: Germany has also profited enormously from membership of the European Union. Who, however, has profited in Germany? It is not workers, but rather the big corporations and banks. Since the international financial crisis 10 years ago, the number of billionaires in Europe and around the world has doubled, and their assets have risen by 11 percent annually. In contrast, incomes for the poorest half of the worlds population have been cut almost in half over the same period. The crisis in Greece was undoubtedly lucrative for German banks and the German government. Between 2010 and 2017, Germany racked in 2.9 billion in its dealings in Greek government bondsmoney that the German government used to boost its own budget. With its unqualified support for the EU, the DGB is responding in its own reactionary way to the growing radicalisation of the population and the return of class struggle. In France, the yellow vest movement continues undeterred. Hundreds of thousands protest every week against low pay, social inequality and the Macron government, despite massive police operations and a vicious hate campaign carried out in the media. In Poland, the week-long strike of more than 300,000 teachers rocked the ultra-right Law and Justice (PiS) government. It was the first national strike in Poland in decades and one of the biggest stoppages since the massive strike movement against the Stalinist dictatorship in the early 1980s. On the same day last week that the Polish unions succeeded in suppressing the mass teachers walkout, pilots at Scandinavian Airline (SAS) went on strike in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In western and eastern Europe, resistance is growing to the worsening living and working conditions imposed in recent decades by the EU and its respective governments. In the past few months, auto workers and other industrial workers have taken strike action in Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Kosovo. There have been mass protests against the so-called slave law introduced by the right-wing regime of Viktor Orban in Hungary, which forces workers to work unpaid overtime. In Germany, tens of thousands of civil servants in Germany have taken part in short-term warning strikes to protest against the disastrous situation in schools, unbearable working conditions and miserable wages. In March, thousands of transport workers went on strike in Berlin and brought the city to a standstill. At the beginning of April, 40,000 people in Berlin protested against rising rents and demanded the expropriation of real estate companies and hedge funds. The well-heeled union officials, who sit on the boards of major corporations and banks and advise their managements, are gripped by fear. They feel threatened. They are well aware of the anger in factories and offices and the approaching storm of resistance. Following German reunification 30 years ago and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, they were able to suppress the class struggle in Europe and worldwide. This is becoming increasingly difficult. Social tensions have reached the breaking point, and opposition is growing ever stronger. The DGB officials cling to the EU bureaucracy in the hope it will be able to establish a European police-state capable of suppressing the growing workers opposition movement. Back in 2012, the DGB sought to ally itself with the German army (Bundeswehr). Former DGB head Michael Sommer and the chairmen of all eight DGB-affiliated unions met with the German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) and agreed to work closely together. Sommer described the German army as an integral part of the peace movement. Shortly afterwards, the German government announced that Germanys period of military restraint was over, initiating a massive programme of military rearmament. The acting head of the DGB, Reiner Hoffmann, expressed his agreement. Since then, Humboldt University Professor Herfried Munkler, who advises the German government in matters of foreign and great power politics, and has called upon Germany to become the taskmaster and paymaster in Europe, has become a frequent speaker at union meetings and seminars. The May Day appeal of the DGB in support of the EU is a wake-up call. It is high time to break from the union straitjacket and organise independently. The Socialist Equality Party (SGP) is participating in the European elections and is fighting to establish the United Socialist States of Europe. It calls for the setting up of independent action committees to connect workers across borders, organise joint activities and develop discussion on an international socialist programme. Contact the SGP to support our election campaign and take part in the building of independent action committees! The Egyptian prime minister is in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday to attend the 27th Arab Economic Forum; met with PM Al-Hariri before the ninth round of meetings of the Egyptian-Lebanese cooperation committee Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stressed in his speech at the Arab Economic Forum (AEF) in Beirut on Thursday that Arab countries need to boost investment in education and healthcare, saying both are the cornerstones of human development in the Arab world where young people make up more than half of the population. The Egyptian prime minister is in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday to attend the 27th Arab Economic Forum as well as the ninth round of meetings of the Egyptian-Lebanese cooperation committee. The Arab Economic Forum this year is attended by regional and international business officials and leaders, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, the Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboulgheit, with Egypt designated this year's guest of honour. The Egyptian-Lebanese cooperation committee, established over a decade ago, will be convening its meetings on Thursday and Friday. Madbouly discussed in his speech the ambitious economic reform programme the government of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has been pushing ahead with over the past three years, and the Egypt Vision 2030 for sustainable development, which aims to boost growth, bolster the Egyptian economys competitiveness, and draw investors. The prime minister said Egypt is also focused on legislative and organisational reform. Parliament has passed a package of laws aimed at spurring investment in Egypt, including an investment law designed to streamline the protocols of doing business in Egypt. He called on Arab countries to work together to further involve the private sector in development projects. Madbouly added that Egypt's economic plans are based on developing the countrys infrastructure through a comprehensive network of roads, residential and industrial developments and other economic and urban projects. These projects include creating an international economic zone in the area around the Suez Canal and the New Administrative Capital being built east of Cairo. Madbouly explained to the AEF that the Egyptian government aims to create 900,000 jobs a year through these projects. He highlighted that the government has already created four million job opportunities over the past four years, cutting unemployment to 8.9 percent in Q4 of 2018, from over 12.5 percent before the country embarked on the economic reform programme in 2016. Earlier on Thursday morning, an official reception ceremony was held for PM Madbouly at the official cabinet headquarters in Beirut, where the Egyptian national anthem was played as he was received by the Lebanese PM Al-Hariri. The Egyptian and Lebanese prime ministers held bilateral talks to discuss ways to boost mutual cooperation in all fields, as well as as well as recent developments in Lebanon and the Arab world, Lebanons state news agency NNA said. Madbouly is accompanied by a high-level Egyptian delegation comprising the ministries of oil, investment and international cooperation, trade and industry, workforce, electricity, and communications. Trade exchange between Egypt and Lebanon was estimated at $407 million in 2013, according to the latest data published by Egypts Sate Information Service website. Search Keywords: Short link: By Bloomberg China may declare Chengdu J-20, its first stealth fighter, operational this year as it also develops long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, part of a regional buildup by Beijing that the U.S. is closely monitoring, according to the US Air Forces Pacific commander. Chengdu J-20, also known as Mighty Dragon, is a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather, stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft developed by China's Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force. General Charles Brown, the head of Pacific Air Forces, said the stealthy J-20 fighter could possibly be operational this year, a move he said would signal greater threat, greater capability for China in the Pacific. He went on to emphasize that US efforts to counter those developments include rising deployments of next-generation F-35 jets and continuing overflights of strategic areas such as the South China Sea. My sense of the way the Chinese operate is somewhat incremental, Brown said in an interview this week at Bloombergs headquarters in New York. Theyll continue to push the envelop to figure out does anybody say or do anything -- if you dont push back itll keep coming. Fielding the J-20 would add to whats already the regions largest air force and worlds third largest, with more than 2,500 total aircraft including 1,700 combat fighters, strategic bombers, tactical bombers and multi-mission tactical and attack aircraft, the US defence Intelligence Agency said in a report earlier this year. Chinas J-20 fighter is part of a modernization effort thats been closing the gap with Western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities, such as aircraft performance, command and control and electronic warfare. according to the report. Brown also said he thinks China is moving to develop dual-use bombers that would be similar to our bombers in terms of being able to carry nuclear weapons and non-nuclear precision-guided weapons. I dont think it would be too far off the mark to say they could do that as well, Brown added, without indicating whether China may have a stealth bomber capability. Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan, in a statement on Wednesday for the House defence appropriations subcommittee, said a Chinese long-range bomber if successful, would make it only one of three nations to possess a nuclear triad of land, sea and air-based nuclear capabilities. Combat Experience The US has a number of ways to counter Chinas build-up, Brown said. That includes being unpredictable in deployments of the B-1B, B-52 and B-2 bombers. The B-1B, Brown said, is now qualified to carry a new Lockheed Martin Corp. anti-ship missile, a few of which have been stockpiled in the Pacific region. Brown, a four-star general who has logged more than 130 combat flight hours out of 2,900 overall, was on the U.S. East Coast this week to speak with Asia experts about the challenges facing his command. He started in the job more than eight months ago after serving as deputy commander of U.S. operations in the Middle East and head of the air war against Islamic State in 2015-2016. A key issue for Brown in his latest post is how do I gain a greater understanding of how China operates -- not only their equipment capability -- but how they operate, how they command and control. I want to understand what makes their blood pressure go up so as to avoid miscalculations. Their propensity to fly out over the water has increased over the years, he said. Taiwans F-16s Its not just the US noticing the increased Chinese capability, Brown said. He touched briefly on the State Department and Pentagons review of a potential sale of new F-16s to Taiwan. President Donald Trumps advisers encouraged Taiwan to submit a formal request for the jets. That request would need to be converted into a formal proposal by the defence and state departments, and then Congress would have 30 days to decide whether to block the sale. Theres been a little increase in tension there recently, which may be the impetus behind Taiwans request, Brown said. The Beijing government considers Taiwans fate a core interest -- more important than almost any other issue, and has increased pressure on countries and multinational companies to avoid actions that could imply sovereign status for the island. The US, wary of antagonizing China, hasnt sold advanced fighter jets to Taiwan since President George H.W. Bush announced the sale of 150 F-16s in 1992. The Obama administration rejected a similar Taiwanese request for new jets, agreeing in 2011 to upgrade the islands existing fleet. Brown has more than a passing familiarity with the F-16 -- he said its his favourite military aircraft of the numerous ones he has piloted. In addition to the F-16, he has flown the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, V-2 tilt-rotor Osprey, AC-130U gunship, B-1B, B-2A and B-52H bombers, C-130J transport and KC-135 tanker, among others. The Trump administration is moving rapidly to back so-called Gig Economy companies, which deliberately misclassify their employees as independent contractors in order to circumvent minimum wage, overtime and other longstanding federal labor laws. In an open opinion letter released Monday, the US Department of Labor (DOL) sided with an unnamed company, which connects consumers to house cleaners. The company asked the Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division for clarification on whether it could designate its employees as independent contractors. The letter, signed Keith E. Sonderling, the acting administrator for departments Wage and Hour Division, provides a series of specious arguments to justify classifying the companys workers as independent contractors. The letter claims the housekeeping workers essentially work for themselves and are not employees because there are no limitations or restrictions from the company on the hours they can work or to prevent them from working for competitors. It also said the workers were not permanent because they were free to leave the company as they choose and free to use their own facilities and equipment. The letter also cited the lack of integration between the unnamed company in question and the workers who use the company to find work. This DOL opinion letter is a cynical interpretation of employment law, said Rebecca Smith, a spokesperson for the National Employment Law Project, which has exposed wage theft and other abuses of contract and temporary workers. Whatever gig company sought the opinion will likely use the letter as a free pass to argue that it acted in good faith in classifying its workers as contractorseven when its actions fail to satisfy the traditional legal test for determining employment status. Smith further stated, The effort to secure a DOL opinion letter may be just one more piece of a coordinated industry campaign to strip gig workers of minimum wage and other employee protections. The Labor Department, she said, relied on information solely from the company and ignored key facts in the case. The company that initiated the case assigns workers to jobs, sets their pay, and disciplines them when they fail to meet the companys rigorous performance standards. Under those facts, how can the workers be in business for themselves? The Labor Department letters provides a greenlight to for the greater exploitation of these already vulnerable workers, which in turn will be used to drive down wages and conditions of the whole working class. The Trump administration has stacked various regulatory agencies with former corporate executives and lobbyists while the right-wing majority of the Supreme Court has repeatedly made ruling that block workers access to class action lawsuits by tying them up in arbitration proceedings that inevitable favor corporations. In a recent report NELP revealed how intermediary software companies like Uber and in particular Handy (a home services provider) work with right-wing corporate lobbyists to rewrite labor laws making it easier for them to mislabel workers as contractors. By falsely portraying themselves as merely intermediaries between consumer and worker these companies are free to pump out more surplus value from workers by paying them less than the already abysmally low federal minimum wage. While not legally binding, the opinion letter has far reaching consequences for the potentially millions of workers who currently work Gig jobs, driving for Uber or Lyft, and other such part-time jobs made possible through intermediary software apps. If a company can designate its employees as an independent contractor, they are not required to pay the federal minimum wage or overtime, and they are under no legal obligation to provide benefits or workers compensation to injured workers. Although it is difficult to determine at any moment exactly how many gig workers there are, the best estimates on the matter put the number anywhere from one to five million. Indeed, for most of these workers the job is not some part-time gig but a full-time job with many working for competing apps simultaneously. Nor is it true, as the Labor Department letter claims, that workers are free to set their hours. Instead workers are often forced to compete against each other for the most profitable hours. Minimum wage, overtime hours, workers compensation and other federal protections were signed into law with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. The law was part of a series of reforms enacted by the Roosevelt administration in response to political radicalization of the working class and wave of militant strikes and plant occupations that sparked fears in the ruling class that America was heading towards a socialist revolution. The decades-long decline of American capitalism and the transformation of the trade unions into the direct instruments of corporate management has resulted in a decay in the social position of the working class and the reemergence of the most brutal forms of exploitation. This was accelerated after the 2008 global financial crash, which was used by capitalist governments everywhere, led by the United States, to further restructure class relations and overturn gains won by workers through generations of struggle. After bailing out Wall Street, the Obama administration restructured the auto industry, slashing wages in half for new hires and sharply increasing the number of part-time and temporary workers. During Obamas two terms in office, 95 percent of all the new job growth were temporary, part-time positions, including work obtained through independent contracts and gigs. Under the Democratic president and now Trump, these conditions are being transferred to the real economy. Truck drivers are increasingly designated as independent contractors by their firms, freeing them from any obligation to pay minimum wages and shifting the costs of fuel, insurance, lease payments and maintenance costs onto drivers. In California in 2011, truck drivers filed over 800 wage theft claims against freight carriers charging that they had been robbed of millions of dollars in wages and overtime pay due to being misclassified as independent contractors. In 2018 food delivery service app Grubhub was brought to trial in a wrongful termination lawsuit. The judge in that case ruled that Grubhub was merely a software platform for connecting drivers and dining establishments and therefore the drivers were not eligible for workplace protections or benefits. One former Grubhub driver, Candice Roberts, commented at the time, One of the biggest issues I had with attempting to work for these app-based delivery companies is car insurance! They simply deny any proper coverage for car insurance (some dont cover any at all!) if youre in an accident on the job and tell you to rely on your own car insurance. The cost of personal business insurance is often more than the company pays them, she said. They are putting their drivers lives at risk! They dont care about their drivers at all! In a perfunctory response to the opinion letter, an AFL-CIO spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal, The labor movement embraces advances in technology. But we reject the use of 21st century breakthroughs as an excuse for 19th century labor practices. In fact, the unions have been complicit in the decades-long war against the working class, which has made the very concept of job security inconceivable to whole generation of workers. As over 310,000 people marched in France for May Day, the international holiday of the working class, riot police launched a brutal and bloody crackdown in Paris. Trade unions as well as yellow vest protesters demanding the ouster of President Emmanuel Macron, the president of the rich, organized rallies in cities across the country. In the run-up to May Day, the government issued bellicose warnings that Macron had called for an extremely firm stance against any sign of violence by protesters. The Paris police prefecture placed much of the capital city in lockdown: the Champs-Elysees avenue where yellow vest protests had been held; the ministry district across the river from there; the neighborhood of the burnt-down Notre Dame Cathedral; and the area around the main May Day march in Montparnasse. Large parts of the Paris metro network were closed. Ultimately, however, the violence came mainly from an indiscriminate police rampage in Paris, ostensibly aimed at black bloc protesters but that targeted peaceful demonstrators, journalists, and union officials. Further proof of the essentially nonviolent character of protests by yellow vests and broader layers of workers came from the provinces. Mass marches in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Marseille and other cities overwhelmingly proceeded peacefully. Police charged the front of the May Day rally in Paris around 1:00 p.m., however, as the roughly 40,000 protesters were about to leave Montpartnasse to march towards Italy Square. After clashes broke out between police and several hundred black bloc members, police attacked the entire rally, shooting heavy clouds of tear gas at the protesters and carrying out mass arrests. Annick, a retired member of the Stalinist General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union attending the protest with her friends, said police launched an operation, and the water cannon fired on our trade union balloons, just like that, arbitrarily. We usually march near the balloons floated by the unions at the marches to be protected, but we are not even protected anymore because police just fire anyway. Jean, a self-employed worker attending the rally, told WSWS reporters that the repression was the outcome of a carefully prepared political campaign: As soon as shocking threats are made against the police forces or windows are broken, the media rush to focus on that and thus to justify repression by the police, which is increasingly appalling. There are dozens of people who had lost eyes, who are in prison, or who have lost their arms to police grenades. Violent clashes with police continued throughout the march. Police carried out 220 arrests, including 180 held for preventive detention. Large groups of protesters, including yellow vests, were also assaulted or kettled in side streets off the main route of the demonstration. As in previous marches, police attacked journalists, including those wearing clothing clearly marking them as press. Police beat journalist Viktoria Ivanovna of the Russian RIA Novosti news agency, striking her head and shoulder, as she tried to report on events. My helmet protected me from serious injury, but my arm still hurts, Ivanovna said, adding that police struck her even though she was wearing a helmet and armband identifying her as a journalist. The Russian Foreign Ministry published a statement calling on French authorities to carry out a careful investigation of this incident We consider the resort to violence against journalists who are carrying out their professional activities to be unacceptable. Police charged top union officials who work closely with the Macron government, as well as workers attending the rally who tried to find refuge under trade union banners and floats. CGT general secretary Philippe Martinez fled the rally for a time, and the CGT was forced to publish a communique complaining of unheard-of repression carried out without discernment. Martinez noted, The police charged the CGT, which was clearly identified, and this is a serious matter. After the interior minister told us Im in control of the situation, Ive replaced the police prefect, now you are going to see how things are, well now weve seen it. Martinez obliquely referred to Macrons role, saying, The number of demonstrators is considerable despite the pressure that was put on protesters with threats that things would go badly. A climate was created for things to go badly. Who is the interior minister, who is the police prefect? It is not the CGT. At the same time, however, Martinez insinuated that yellow vest protesters attending the march were violent anarchists, echoing his previous slanders of them as fascistic, and issued bankrupt appeals to Macron to realize the error of his ways. The president has to change methods, he will not solve the problem with stun grenades, adding that yellow vests and trade unions are getting to know each other, we have the same demands for wage increases, tax justice, that is good and should continue. But I always look at what is under the yellow vest, sometimes its black. In fact, the violent police crackdown is a political sign that attempts to negotiate with Macron and the financial aristocracythe purpose for which Frances hollowed-out union bureaucracies exist and are funded massively by the employers federations and the stateare fruitless. There is nothing to negotiate with the financial aristocracy. The decisive question is building a political leadership to mobilize the working class. Last week, Macron gave a speech ending his great debate on how to respond to nearly six months of yellow vest protests demanding his own removal and opposing social inequality. His response was to give the yellow vests nothing. He rejected all their proposals for legislative reforms, defended his tax cuts for the rich, and pledged to push ahead with pension cuts and spending increases on military cooperation with Germany. The police crackdown on May Day shows that Macron aims to deal with growing social anger in the working class with attempts to beat it into submission. This is why he took the provocative and fascistic decision last year, as the yellow vest movement began, to hail Frances Nazi-collaborationist dictator Philippe Petain during World War II as a great soldier. At the May Day rally, Jean told the WSWS: Governments are corrupt and are united against the people and their common interest. Citing the shootings in the United States and the imperialist campaign for a coup in Venezuela as examples of problems facing workers in every country, he added: Of course I feel solidarity for them. I would like to recall fundamentals of socialist theory from (French revolutionary leader Gracchus) Babeuf to Karl Marx. This is predictable. We have entered into a phase of capitalism where it really becomes an aristocracy. Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher and journalist, was sentenced to almost a year in prison by a UK judge Wednesday in what can only be called a show trial. The sentence, handed out to cries of shame by protestors, is aimed at keeping Assange imprisoned, unable to receive visitors or hold private conversations, as the White House moves to extradite him for exposing US war crimes. In the tradition of British class justice, the judge not only passed a prejudiced and excessive sentence, but insulted Assange. She told the journalist, effectively detained at the Ecuadorean embassy in London for seven years, that he was guilty of exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country. The sentencing came just one day before the beginning of Assanges extradition hearing. The very fact that the United States, a country that practices torture, capital punishment, and operates outside the framework of international law, is seeking to extradite Assange constitutes prima facie evidence that his reasons for seeking asylum were entirely justified. The judge made no serious effort to refute the arguments of Assanges defense, documented in a nine-page note of mitigation, that surrendering to British authorities would open him to the type of illegal persecution that led the government of Ecuador to grant him asylum. Assange sought and received political asylum because of his fear that he would be surrendered to the USA by Sweden, and be subjected to treatment there, including persecution and indefinite solitary confinement, relating to his involvement in WikiLeaks publication of sensitive US military and diplomatic materials (such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture had concluded happened to Chelsea Manning). Ecuador granted the persecuted journalist asylum, based upon its assessment of a well-founded risk of him being refouled [extradited] by Sweden to the USA and there being subjected to persecution, inhuman treatment and physical harm. Ecuadors decision took into consideration the fact that Sweden also had, at the material time, a long and unfortunate history of illicit co-operation with the USA in the mistreatment of detainees and their rendition. The document referenced a pair of rulings by the UNs Committee Against Torture, describing Swedens total surrender of power to US authorities carrying out illegal rendition and torture. These judgements found, in the words of Assanges lawyers, that Sweden had passively allowed US military personnel to mistreat detainees on Swedish soil (including stripping, blindfolding, hooding, manacling, forcible sedation by forced anal suppository, handcuffing into specially designed stress position harnesses etc.) and in delivering them to torture in third states. Despite the lying arguments made by the New York Times and Washington Post that Assange is facing extradition for a minor computer hacking charge and faces no danger to his life, the Justice Department has made clear that it is investigating him for obtaining and disseminating secret information, a charge that could lead to prosecution under the Espionage Act and be punishable by death. The legal proceeding against Assange is not, in fact, an extradition, but a rendition, reminiscent of the treatment of terrorism suspects who were snatched on the streets of Europe or the Middle East, bound and shackled with bags over their heads, and flown to Americas torture black sites or Guantanamo Bay. It has been three weeks since Assange was dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11 and hauled off to Belmarsh Prison, called the UKs Guantanamo, where he has been held in isolation, denied his right to meet with lawyers and family members, and subjected to what his father called touchless torture. And it has been nearly eight weeks since the jailing of Chelsea Manning, the courageous whistleblower who helped expose US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, for refusing to testify against Assange. Manning has been held in solitary confinement for much of her imprisonment and, according to her lawyer, denied appropriate medical care. The persecution of Assange and Manning comes as the United States is intensifying its efforts at regime change in Venezuela, while escalating its conflict with Russia and China. By jailing the founder of WikiLeaks, which documented and exposed US war crimes, the United States is seeking to silence opposition to its unpopular and criminal wars. Assanges persecution takes place under conditions of growing class conflict and social opposition. The ruling class is well aware that its policies of war and social counter-revolution are encountering mass resistance, which will increase. By making an example of Assange, it is seeking to silence all news outlets that oppose the dictates of the financial oligarchy. The attitude of political organizations and tendencies to the persecution of Assange defines their character. Those who have actively or tacitly supported this pseudo-legal abomination have upon them a black mark that can never be washed clean. This includes the Trump administration, which is demanding the extradition of Assange; the Democratic Party, which has campaigned against Assange as part of its anti-Russia campaign; the media, which has vilified him and spread lies and slander; and the middle-class pseudo-left organizations that lent credence to the trumped-up rape allegations used as the pretext for his persecution. All oppose Assange because they support American imperialism. The social force that must come to the defense of Assange and Manning is the international working class. Unlike the affluent and complacent functionaries that staff the mainstream media outlets, the Democratic Party and its pseudo-left appendages, the working class has a vital stake in the defense of democratic rights. On May 4, the International Committee of the Fourth International will hold its fifth annual International Online May Day Rally. The rally will bring together workers from throughout the world to discuss a common strategy for the building of an international socialist movement. The defense of Julian Assange, which is the spearhead of the defense of democratic rights all over the world, will be a major theme of this event. We urge everyone who wants to take a stand against the persecution of Assange to register and participate. After a month-long trial a jury handed down a decision Tuesday, finding former Minneapolis Police officer 33-year-old Mohamed Noor guilty of murdering 40-year-old Jutine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017. Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and found not guilty of second-degree murder in a rare conclusion to a police killing in the United States. The verdict carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for third degree murder and an additional 10 year maximum for second degree manslaughter. Damond was shot and killed by Noor on July 15, 2017 after she called 911 twice to report a suspected rape in the alley behind her home. Noor, along with his partner at the time, Matthew Harrity, responded to the call and drove through the alley behind Damonds home with the lights on their squad car off and their body cameras not recording. Both officers say that they heard a loud noise, presumably Damonds hand on the roof of their car, drew their guns, and Noor fired across Harrity, hitting Damond and killing her. Immediately following the shooting, the Minneapolis police department stonewalled investigators for a year until Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman pushed to press criminal charges against Noor. During the trial, Noors defense stated that both he and Harrity had feared for their lives after hearing a loud sound. According to local newspaper Star Tribune, Noor testified in his defense that he fired one shot and that the threat was gone, adding that she could have had a weapon. Prosecutors argued that Noor acted unreasonably, firing at a shadowy figure without any verbal warning. Additionally, countering the claims that she had placed her hand on the top of their squad car, investigators found no fingerprints on the vehicle. Since the conclusion of Noors trial, various political figures and mainstream media have sought to portray the trial and verdict as being racially motivated, since Noor, who is the first Somali-American police officer in his precinct, had shot and killed Damond, an Australian-American white woman. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey attempted to remove the murder of Damond from the context of police murder in America and paint it as a racial issue, stating Our city must come together not for any single person, entity, or organization not for any reason beyond our love for each other and the values that hold us together. He added Let me be clear, we will stand with our Somali community. We will stand together for the city we love. Most notably, Nekima Levy Armstrong, a leading figure in Minneapolis Black Lives Matter organization, sought to portray the conviction of Noor exclusively in racial terms, covering up the fundamental social function of the police. This is an isolated case with an isolated result based on racial dynamics and affluence of the victim, not to mention the race of the officer, she said. Im not going to pretend that this is about justice. Nothing could be further from the truth about Noors trial and police murder in America, especially considering that immediately following the shooting of Damond, police searched her entire home for any evidence that could justify her murderthe same treatment that many victims of police shootings receive. It was only the egregious circumstances in Damonds murder that made it difficult to justify her killing and avoid a trial. Just six months ago, Jason Van Dyke, a white police officer who shot and killed 15-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014, who was black, was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm in Chicago. Despite these recent convictions, police in the US are rarely ever charged with any crime in cases where they have killed civilians. From 2005 to 2017, out of almost 12,000 cases where civilians were killed by police, only 80 officers were charged, and out of those charged, only 30 were found guilty. The reality is that the police in America, regardless of their skin color, ethnicity or national origin have been trained to treat the working class and poor as hostile and to see themselves as an occupying military force. The ruling class depends on militarized police to defend historic levels of social inequality, where only 3 billionaires own as much wealth as half of the population. In contrast to comments from Levy Armstrong, Damonds family welcomed the verdict, adding additional criticisms of the Minneapolis Police Departments refusal to cooperate with the investigation into the shooting. Speaking at a press conference following the verdict, Damonds father, John Ruszczyk, said "We would like to note that we believe the conviction was reached despite the active resistance of a number of Minneapolis officers, including the head of their union and either active resistance or gross incompetence of the [Bureau of Criminal Apprehension], particularly at the beginning of the investigation. Ruszczyk expressed his familys hope that the verdict in Noors case will shift the outcomes in future police murder cases. We hope this will be a catalyst for future change, he told the press. In a vigil held following Damonds murder in 2017, Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, an African American man who was murdered in the suburb of Falcon Heights by officer Jeronimo Yanez in 2016, expressed her solidarity with Damonds family and all families of police murder victims. No life is any different than the other. Its a tragedy that we lost our loved ones to someone who is supposed to protect and serve, she said. At least 315 people have been already been shot and killed by police across the United States in 2019, according to a tally of press reports maintained by the Washington Post. The author also recommends: The murder of Justine Damond and police violence in America [21 July 2017] Behind the epidemic of police killings in America: Class, poverty and race [20 December 2018] In mid-April, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska declared that the Russian auto company GAZ might declare bankruptcy and collapse under the impact of US sanctions. According to a report in the Financial Times, this could threaten up to 400,000 jobs, including tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Deripaska owns a two-thirds share of GAZ through his JSC Russian Machines company and is among the oligarchs close to Putin who have been targeted by the US sanctions imposed in early 2018 by the Trump administration. Deripaska managed to get the aluminum giant RUSAL and his company EN+ off the sanction list in December 2018, by giving up his majority share. He has declared that he is in negotiations with the US Treasury Department over removing GAZ from the sanctions list as well but doubts they will be successful. Last year, the German auto company Daimler pulled out of the GAZ group, and Volkswagen declared earlier this year that it was forced to discontinue negotiations with GAZ. US sanctions ban foreign companies from entering into contractual relations with Russian companies and individuals targeted by the sanctions. The sanctions also ban Russian companies and individuals from accessing US and Western credits. According to Deripaska, the company has no chance of surviving if the sanctions are continued. He said GAZ could shortly declare bankruptcy and might be nationalized. The GAZ group controls some of Russias oldest and biggest auto factories. Among them is the GAZ (short for Gorkovsky avtozavod or Gorky Auto Factory) in Nizhny Novgorod, which was co-founded by the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy (VSNKh) and Ford in 1932 as part of the industrialization efforts of the Soviet Union. The factory famously survived the Second World War when it switched to the production of tanks for the Red Army to fight the invading Nazi Wehrmacht. In a process typical of the restoration of capitalism in Russia, the factory was taken over by Nikolai Pugin, the former Soviet minister for the auto industry, after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It passed over to the hands of the newly formed GAZ group in 2005. Despite massive cuts especially in the wake of the 2008 crisis, when about half of the factorys workers were laid off, the plant still employs some 25,000 workers. Other major factories controlled by the GAZ group include the LiAZ bus factory near Moscow, which employs over 2,000 workers, and the Ural Automotive Plant, founded in 1941, in the city of Miass in the Chelyabinsk region in the Urals, which employs some 4,000 workers. The declaration of the GAZ groups potential bankruptcy comes just weeks after the American car company Ford officially announced it was shutting down its Russian production, destroying some 3,700 jobs, as part of a global wave of layoffs. The possible collapse of the GAZ group is part of the global restructuring of the auto industry. This has found a particularly sharp expression in Russia, which, since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis in 2014, has been targeted by blatant acts of economic warfare through sanctions by US and European imperialism. Russian media reports have indicated that Fords decision to withdraw from Russia was at least in part a response to the sanctions. The Russian auto market has shrunk severely over the past years, largely as a result of a staggering rise in poverty and decline in real wages. The entire Russian auto industry is reported to be running at only 40 percent of capacity. As has been the case in all countries where the US has engaged in this kind of economic warfare, be it Iran or North Korea, the sanctions have hit the working class hardest. While oligarchs like Deripaska, who became wealthy through plundering the resources of the Soviet Union and the super-exploitation of the Russian working class, have seen their personal wealth reducedDeripaskas fortune reportedly declined from US$10.7 billion in 2010 to US$3.3 billion in 2018millions of Russian workers have plunged from poverty into utter destitution. The sanctions and the declining oil price on the world market have triggered a rapid devaluation of the ruble, which is now worth 50 percent less than a decade ago. The number of people officially living in extreme poverty has climbed to almost 20 million in 2018, which is roughly 13 percent of the total Russian population of 140 million. Based on numbers by the news agency RIA Novosti and the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta from December 2018, about half of the population earns less than 26,900 rubles a month (US$415). According to the Business Insider, in 2013, before the onset of the sanctions, Russians were able to buy 40 percent more goods and services than they could in 2018. A recent study found that 80 percent of Russian households are struggling to buy even basic necessities. According to the study, 10 percent of households could not afford to eat meat or fish three times a week, 11 percent of households cannot afford to buy vital medicine, over a third of households cannot afford two pair of shoes, 49.1 percent cannot afford even a week of holiday per year and 52.9 percent cannot afford sudden, unexpected expenses. Meanwhile, Putin and his government officials have themselves photographed with shoes, watches and cars whose value often exceeds by many times anything the average Russian worker will ever earn in a lifetime. Deripaska is one of the most widely hated oligarchs and universally known for having become rich through winning the bloody aluminum wars raging within different sections of the rising mafia-oligarchy in the 1990s. He is now trying to exploit the sanctions to whip up Russian nationalism and portray himself as a victim, alongside the Russian population, of the US economic warfare. However, the truth is that the Russian oligarchy under the Putin regime has responded to the economic warfare by imperialism by deepening their own assaults on the Russian working class. Most significantly, in 2018 the Russian Duma rammed through the raising of the retirement age for women and men by five years, a measure that was opposed by over 90 percent of the population. The working class in Russia cannot confront the escalating attacks by imperialism and the Russian oligarchy without turning to a socialist program and breaking from all sections of the political establishment and the trade unions. Russian workers must oppose the reactionary nationalism promoted by the Putin regime and the capitalist class. Workers internationally, including teachers in Poland and the United States, the Netherlands, India, Hungary, and Mexico, have begun to go on a counter-offensive against decades of growing social inequality. They are the true allies of Russian workers in their fight against austerity, layoffs and the danger of war. This author also recommends: Independent union in Russia facilitates closure of Ford factory [8 April 2019] Last week, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena invited political parties to an all-party conference, which endorsed the repressive measures brought into force by his declaration of a state of emergency. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) warns that the main target of these police-state provisions is not Islamic extremists, but working people who are coming into struggle as part of an international upsurge of the working class. The president has seized on the April 21 terrorist bombing of churches and luxury hotels that killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children as a pretext for far-reaching, anti-democratic measures. Many aspects of the terrorist bombings remain unclear. However, government leaders and the security services turned a blind eye to specific warnings that an Islamist group planned to bomb churches. The US has seized on the atrocity also, dispatching FBI and military experts to assist Sri Lankan investigators as part of its efforts to strengthen military and political ties with Colombo. Washington regards Sri Lanka as key to its war drive against China. The parties attending the all-party conference are embroiled in political infighting that erupted into the open during October. Sirisena sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapakse. But he was forced to reinstate Wickremesinghe under pressure from Washington after the Supreme Court ruled Sirsenas actions unconstitutional. The US views Rajapakse as too close to China. Despite the bitter divisions in ruling circles, the parties have no qualms about uniting to strengthen the military-police apparatus under the guise of fighting terrorism and strengthening national security. The ruling class as a whole is deeply fearful of the rising movement of protests and strikes by workers, peasants, students and young people. In December, more than 100,000 plantation workers conducted a nine-day strike, demanding the doubling of their poverty-level basic wage. Last month, over 200,000 teachers struck for one day. The trade unions have sought to suppress and sabotage these struggles, but there are deep concerns in the ruling class about the ability of the union apparatuses to prevent a rebellion by workers. The emergency laws and regulations include a ban on meetings, processions and publications deemed to cause disturbances. An essential services provision can be used to ban strikes and industrial action. For the first time since the end of the countrys three-decade communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the military and police are carrying out an island-wide check of all houses and their residents. Soldiers and police can arrest people without a warrant. Once they have been brought before a magistrate, they can be detained for a year on the orders of the defence secretary. As in the past, these draconian laws will result in arbitrary arrests, lengthy detention without trial, and the use of torture to extract confessions that can be used in court. In this climate of police-state repression, the security forces will revive the brutal methods used during the wardeath squads and the extra-judicial murder of political opponents and critics. President Sirisena this week reluctantly removed the unprecedented ban on all social media, which had been in force for more than a week, but warned that he could slap it on again. Various party representatives at the all-party conference hypocritically mouthed concerns about anti-Muslim communalism, appealed for calm and opposed the incitement of communal disturbances. What hypocrisy! The entire Colombo establishment is mired in chauvinism directed against Tamils and Muslims and has a history of whipping up communal disturbances to divide the working class. In 1983, the United National Party (UNP) government was directly involved in the anti-Tamil pogrom that marked the start of the protracted communal war. Just days after the all-party conference, the government deliberately incited anti-Muslim prejudice by imposing a ban, under the state of emergency, on Muslim women wearing the burqa. This has been one of the anti-Muslim catch-cries of far-right groups and parties in Europe and internationally. All the major parliamentary parties and their allies were present at the conferenceSirisenas Sri Lankan Freedom Party, Wickremesinghes UNP, Rajapakses Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the bourgeois Tamil National Alliance, and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. All the pseudo-left groups lined up, either directly or indirectly, in support of Sirisenas state of emergency. Nava Sama Samaja Party leader Wickremabahu Karunaratne attended the conference and shamelessly declared: We must praise the intelligence officials, police and armed forces for performing their duty while the Lanka top failed. The United Socialist Party and Frontline Socialist Party issued perfunctory criticisms of the government, but did not condemn the state of emergency or oppose its repressive measures. Irrespective of various tactical differences, the whole political establishment, including the fake-left parties, has united behind the emergency declaration. The SEP is the only party that openly opposes this reactionary political line-up and demands an immediate end to the state of emergency. All-party conferences are always called in times of acute political crisis to shore up bourgeois rule. In 2000, President Chandrika Kumaratunga called such a meeting after the military suffered a series of devastating military defeats at the hands of the LTTE. The SEP was invited to attend but emphatically rejected the offer. General Secretary Wije Dias issued a statement, declaring: Under conditions where the government has promulgated sweeping emergency regulations to stifle any display of opposition to its policies, the meeting will be a complete sham. This time, despite the fact that the conference was meant to include all official parties, the SEP was not invited. If it had been, it would have made the same response. The SEP fights for the political independence of the working class from all parties and agencies of capitalism, on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program. In its 50 years of existence, the SEP has intransigently defended the democratic rights of the working people and oppressed, and opposed all forms of nationalism and chauvinism. The working class in Sri Lanka must oppose the war drive of US imperialism and its attempts to transform the island into a base for its military operations. The SEP and its sister parties of the International Committee of the Fourth International are fighting to build a unified movement of the international working class against imperialist war. The SEP warns that the ruling class, in imposing the state of emergency, is preparing for class war against the working class and the urban and rural poor and is moving toward the establishment of dictatorial forms of rule. The SEP is calling for building of workers action committees in workplaces, large estates and neighbourhoods to rally the working class, as well as the rural poor and the youth, across ethnic and religious lines to defend the democratic and social rights of the working people. The defence of democratic rights is bound up with the political struggle for socialism. The SEP fights for a workers and peasants government based on socialist policies as part of the struggle for socialism throughout South Asia and internationally. This is the second of two articles on a number of films screened at the recent San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 10-23. The first was posted April 26. The 40-year encounter of the Afghan people with American imperialism, beginning with the Carter administrations initiation of a policy in 1979 aimed at destabilizing the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul, has been catastrophic. Washingtons secret operation unleashed a civil war that has continued to the present day. Direct US military intervention and occupation commenced nearly 18 years ago, using the September 11, 2001, attacks as a pretext. The war in Afghanistan, which has cost more than 1 trillion dollars, is the longest conflict in US history. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been killed or maimed, as well as thousands of Americans. In 2018 alone, according to Human Rights Watch, 10,000 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded, one third of them children. The social conditions for the mass of the Afghan population, who live under the rule of thugs and warlords, are unspeakable nearly two decades after the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom. Kabul, City in the Wind A survey conducted in 2018 found that more than half the Afghan population were living on less than one dollar a day. The official national poverty rate is 55 percent, and 45 percent of the population live in food insecurity. Some 50 percent of Afghan children are stunted, and 20 percent of Afghan women of child-bearing age are underweight. Half of both the rural and urban populations have no access to clean water. Only 31 percent of the Afghan population 15 years and older are literate (UNESCO). The UN Population Division estimates that 2.5 million Afghan children between ages 6 and 14 are involved in some form of child labor. The country has one of the highest infant mortality rates on the planet. According to UNICEF, in Afghanistan, 10 million people lack access to essential health services and 3.5 million children (60 per cent of them girls) are out of school. One third of children in Afghanistan have experienced psychological distress related to the loss of family and the constant risk of death or injury due to conflict and attacks on schools. An estimated 2 million children under 5 years are suffering from acute malnutrition, including 600,000 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The San Francisco film festival screened several documentary films from the war-ravaged country, which perhaps understandably, given the nearly impossible conditions, provide only a limited or partial picture of the actual situation. Kabul, City in the Wind Aboozar Aminis documentary Kabul, City in the Wind is a devastating and intimate portrait of daily life in Kabul. Abas is a bus driver whose paltry income is dependent upon a dilapidated vehicle he can barely maintain and whose payments are financially strangling him. Abas: I fear myself. When I look back on my life, Ive had only ten percent peace. I fear I may one day create a morass which could eat me and my family. Its very scary. Fear is not the product of Abass personal nightmare, but of the conditions imposed on the population by the endless foreign occupation and by social oppression. Benjamin and Afshin in Kabul, City in the Wind As one person quips bitterly: 500, 400, 200 causalities. It has become very normal for us, hasnt it? ... We dont know whether our turn will come today or tomorrow, but we have to deal with these blasts every day. Scenes of Abass life are interspersed with those of Afshin, a young boy, who takes on familial responsibilities when his father, a former soldier, thinks it necessary to exile himself in Iran. Afshin and his younger brother Benjamin wander through Kabul, amid the rubble, make-shift markets and a population living on the edge of abyss. Wafting through the City in the Wind is a songs refrain: Yellow kite stay home, dont go to war, you may die. The deeply rooted psychological and physical effects of decades of war are effectively captured by Amini. His works melancholy tone evinces a certain resignation and hopelessness. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful, wrenching witness to the current state of existence. Midnight Traveler Washington and its European accomplices have largely destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Millions have died, tens of millions are on the run. Midnight Traveler records one case. Filmmakers Hassan Fazili and Fatima Hussaini, a married couple, were forced to flee Afghanistan with their two young daughters. They documented their perilous journey to Europe on three cell phones. Their work is a window into the massive refugee crisis. While the immediate reason for their flight was fear of the Taliban, the family was ultimately the victim of the US and European sociocide carried out in the region. Midnight Traveler The movie opens with the intertitle: The road of life winds through hell. Hell is within me and this is a story of a journey to the edge of hell. As the film explains, in March 2015, the Taliban put out a call for Fazilis death. The family seeks protection in Tajikistan and for 14 months fill out asylum applications that go unanswered. They are then deported back to Afghanistan. From there they make their way to Iran, then Turkey, eventually reaching Bulgaria. Smugglers cruelly threaten to take Hassan and Fatimas daughters as a means of extracting money. At a Bulgarian refugee camp, they are harangued by fascist gangs. Feeling the country is no longer safe, the family makes the 245-mile trek to Serbia. Finding the refugee camp there full, the quartet, with others, sleeps in the forest and then in an abandoned building. In one endearing moment, the eldest daughter Nargis, when eventually situated in a camp, feels free to dance to Michael Jackson. It then takes the family four to five weeks to arrive in Hungary, where they hope their case will be heard. (For us, the dreams have become a mirage.) The films postscript states that three years after fleeing Afghanistan, the family smuggled themselves illegally into the European Union. It remains unclear whether they will find a permanent home. What We Left Unfinished In 2013, director Mariam Ghani gained access to the Afghan Film Archive, where several uncompleted filmsbegun between 1978 and 1991, under the various Soviet-backed Afghan governmentshad been bricked up behind a wall under the Taliban. Their history and fate form the subject matter of Ghanis What We Left Unfinished. Ghanis website explains that the 1978 feature The April Revolution [named for the April 1978 uprising led by the Stalinist Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan against the rule of President Mohammed Daoud Khan] was commissioned by Hafizullah Amin, who would seize the presidency in a coup the next year. It was not long after that he was overthrown and killed by the Soviets, whereupon The April Revolution was obviously an untouchable property. What We Left Unfinished covers not just the making of that film but also of Downfall (1987), The Black Diamond (1989), Wrong Way (1990), and Agent (1991). The reels for the aborted film projects were kept in the archives of Afghan Film, the state film company. There they remained for many years. When the Taliban came to power, they destroyed much of the companys archives, but staff were able to protect some of its contents. Ghani has been working with Afghan Film to preserve what remains in its library since 2011. Ghani interviews a number of the directors, including Juwansher Haidary, Faqir Nabi and Wali Latifi. They refer to the relatively primitive conditionsfor example, those playing soldiers in their films used real bullets and explosives as they didnt have any fake ones! The directors make clear that the successive government wanted propaganda films praising the Kabul leaders for trying to better the lot of the people. The fragments we see indicate the filmsoften crudelywere in part directed against various forms of social backwardness, the drug trade and so forth, as well as the governments mujahadeen opponents. Mariam Ghani's What We Left Unfinished However, the interviewees also indicate a certain nostalgia for that golden time in Afghan cinema under the Moscow-backed regimes, when, as one of the directors explains, five film crews would start out each morning from a central location. The movie industry was then thriving, and films would make their way from Kabul to various cities in the provinces. The glimpses we get of Afghanistan at the time suggest a society not in a state of complete disintegration. What We Left Unfinished attempts, with only partial success, to grapple with Afghanistans complex, tortuous history. Missing is an understanding of Great Power politics and the geopolitical driving forces of the decades of war and occupation. The US foreign policy establishments ultimate goal from 1979 onward was to destroy the USSR and promote an expansion of US power in strategically located, oil-rich Central Asia. At the same time, the reactionary nationalist Stalinists in Moscow were utterly incapable and fearful of mobilizing the Afghan population on a genuinely progressive basis. Their brutal, pragmatic policies merely inflamed Afghan nationalist and Islamist tendencies and played directly into the hands of US strategists. The WSWS noted in 2009 that with the assistance of right-wing Muslim regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the US promoted Islamic fundamentalist warlords within the [Afghan] resistance. Washington turned a blind eye as they exterminated competing mujahadeen factions and funded themselves through large-scale opium sales. When the mujahadeen proved incapable of organizing attacks on Kabul and strategic roadways, the CIA armed and trained international Muslim recruits to launch terrorist attacks and suicide bombings. The young Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden oversaw these global recruitment networks, which later formed the core of Al Qaeda. (Thirty years since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 30 December 2009) Rojo from Argentina Benjamin Naishtats Rojo is set in 1975 in a provincial Argentinean city, shortly before the coup detat against Isabel Peron in March 1976. The coup marked the onset of the dirty war prosecuted by the US-backed military junta against political opponents, resulting in an estimated 30,000 deaths, between 1976 and 1983. Establishing a certain mood and tone, Naishtats film opens with an abandoned house being ransacked by scavengers. Rojos central character is Claudio (Dario Grandinetti), a respected lawyer, who is a pillar of the community. But when a stranger in a restaurant taunts him, Dario-the-victim quickly becomes Dario-the-victimizer and law-breaker. His serene middle class world has a rotten underbelly. Rojo Speaking to IFFR.com, Naishtat asserts that his film has many layers behind it, for example at the key dramatic moment, there is a strange, sort of red eclipse, but also, of course, there is a political nuance to it, because in many parts of the film, people talk about some danger or some evil force, as it is stated by the detective character [Sinclair] played by Alfredo Castrohe is referring to what in the 1970s was seen as the Red Danger, because of the Cold War and the clash between the Left and the Right. In an interview with Filmmaker magazine, the director mentions that researching Rojo was easy because many of the stories are from my family. My grandparents and my father were visiting the city of Cordoba in 1975; they were leftist militants, and my grandmother was a prominent union lawyer. She was disappeared into a secret prison, and her house, my family house, was torched. My father escaped before a commando unit came to his house, and he had to flee. He lived 10 years in exile, which is how he met my mother, in Parisanother exile. Its unfortunate that Naishtat delves so little into the actual political conditions that made possible the horrors that swept up his own family. Instead, he seems to be arguing that the moral vacuity and corruption of the Argentine people as a whole set the stage for the 1976 coup. According to this logic, an ethically compromised population becomes the facilitator of military dictatorship. The movies eerie, ominous atmosphere is legitimate, but cant substitute itself for historical concreteness. The Little Comrade from Estonia In 1950, Stalinist authorities in Estonia, the Baltic state then part of the Soviet Union, are attempting to stamp out an incipient resistance movement taking shape in the countryside in Moonika Siimetss film The Little Comrade. Six-year-old Leelo (Helena Maria Reisner) is bewildered when her mother Helmes (Eva Koldits) is arrested by the secret police as an enemy of the people, and sent to a prison camp. She also does not understand why her father Feliks (Tambet Tuisk) disparagingly calls her little comrade when she wants to join the young pioneers, a Stalinist youth group. The Little Comrade Siimetss film is an adaptation of two of Leelo Tungals autobiographical novels: Seltsimees laps ja suured inimesed (Comrade Kid and the Grown-Ups) and Samet ja saepuru (Velvet and Sawdust), which are based on memories of her childhood in postwar Estonia. The films depiction of the crimes and stupidities of Estonian Stalinism is no doubt accurate within limits, but The Little Comrade takes the opportunity to advance anti-communism and Estonian nationalism, which have their own foul history and political trajectory. Concluded Just over a week after being elected President of Ukraine with over 70 percent of the votes, comedian Volodomyr Zelensky has backed new anti-Russian legislation and sparked a public conflict with Moscow over the granting of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens. In the immediate wake of Zelenskys election, Ukraines Parliament passed a bill escalating the official state discrimination in the country against the Russian language. Russian artists and artworks have already been banned from entering the country and the popular Russian-language social media platform Vkontakte has been banned since 2017. Among the blatantly discriminatory and anti-democratic measures included in the new bill are requirements that 90 percent of national television content be in Ukrainian, that service sector workers speak in Ukrainian, and that schools and universities teach solely in Ukrainian. While special permission has been granted to English and the other official EU languages in both publishing and education, Russian, which is the predominant language in most of Ukraines major cities, has essentially been targeted in the bill. Violators of the new language bill will be subject to fines of $125 to $440. Hungary has protested the bills passage as discriminatory against the countrys Hungarian-speaking minorities in the southwest of the country. Poland and Romania sharply opposed earlier iterations of Ukraines language law as well. Zelensky has made few comments on the blatantly discriminatory bill. Implicitly signaling his support he promised to review the bill once in office and proclaimed his support for the status of Ukrainian as the countrys sole official language. Responding to this latest open provocation, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week permitting Ukrainian citizens residing in Donetsk or Luhansk to obtain a Russian passport within three months of submitting an application. Later in the week, Putin proposed expanding the offer of easy access to Russian passports to all Ukrainian citizens regardless of residency status within the separatist regions. Ukraine does not recognize dual-citizenship with any country. In the separatist-controlled territories in the East, Ukrainians regularly travel to Russia to shop and visit friends and family members. In addition, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have moved to Russia in recent years to find jobs as migrant workers. Since the beginning of the war in Donbass, which followed the US- and German-backed fascist coup in February 2014, over 300,000 Ukrainians have applied for citizenship in Russia and it is estimated that over 2 million Ukrainians now live in Russia, fleeing both violence and social devastation. NATO and the major imperialist powers seized upon the passport legislation to yet again step up their anti-Russia propaganda. The United States called Moscows passport decree part of the continued assault on Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. The EU issued a similar statement. While much of Zelenskys support in the presidential elections was due to the fact that he is a well-known Russian-speaking media figure who eschewed the openly right-wing ethnic and linguistic nationalism of incumbent President Poroshenko and made appeals to the widespread anti-war sentiments, he has seized upon the passport decree by Putin to quickly assure the imperialist powers that he will continue the anti-Russian propaganda and policies of his predecessor. In a Facebook post on Saturday night, Zelensky mockingly offered Ukrainian passports to Russian citizens sarcastically stating: We know perfectly well what a Russian passport providesthe right to be arrested for a peaceful protest and the right not to have free and competitive elections. Zelensky hypocritically added that compared to Russians we Ukrainians have freedom of speech, freedom of the media and the internet in our country. This is a blatant lie in a country where references to communism and the victory of the Red Army and Russian art works are officially banned. Fascist bands like the state-backed Azov Batallion regularly assault civilians and stage bloody pogroms against minorities such as the Sinti and Roma. Just before the passport decree was issued, Zelensky had also suggested that the EU and United States impose further sanctions on Russia if Ukrainian citizens were granted Russian passports. American media outlets, including CNN, have praised Zelensky for getting tough on Putin. Although there was some initial concern, especially in Washington, about Zelenskys appeals to popular anti-war sentiments and promises to enter direct negotiations with Putin during the election, the NATO powers have thrown their support behind the new president. Zelensky received congratulations from German chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Donald Trump and Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had also met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss his stance towards Russia prior to winning the second round of the election. In an interview with Polands conservative Rzeczpospolita newspaper, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated that he did not see any significant difference between him and Poroshenko, if we are talking about Russia. The right-wing US-Ukraine Foundation think tank recently revealed that Zelenskys top advisor had met with its representatives in a bid to assuage their concerns over his ability to confront Russia following the first round of elections in March. Though the US-Ukraine Foundationlike most of the Washington establishmenthad been clearly in favor of a continuation of the Poroshenko regime, the think tanks representative came away relatively confident that a Zelensky presidency will continue to facilitate Ukraines Western orientation although not as intently as Mr. Poroshenkos would have. The foundation also revealed that Zelenskys top advisor had met with the EU. In a sign of evident concern about the widespread hostility within the working class to Poroshenko and the 2014 coup that was expressed, if in a very distorted form, in the election of Zelensky, US think tanks and establishment press have published a flood of pieces urging Washington to escalate its intervention in Ukraine to further the war preparations against Russia. Michael Carpenter, senior director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, gave vent to this view last week in the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post. Carpenter, a one-time foreign policy advisor to former Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, insisted that the West had to shake off its self-diagnosed Ukraine fatigue and replace its wait-and-see attitude with a more strategic policy of proactively supporting military, anti-corruption and economic reforms in this strategically important country. Far from showing any kind of fatigue, the US, in particular, has massively escalated its direct intervention in Ukraine with the coup in 2014. Between 1992 and 2014, the US pumped an estimated $5 billion into Ukrainian civil society including various NGOs and right-wing political tendencies which then played a major role in the coup that toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Since 2014, the US has stationed military advisors throughout the country, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) alone spent another $2 billion in the country. Carpenters piece in the Post can only be understood as a call for a significant escalation of the already well-advanced military build-up against Russia which expresses the foreign policy agenda of the Democrats in the 2020 election. In a similar vein, Stephen Blank, from the American Foreign Policy Council, proposed that Ukraine and NATO should enter into a new Lend-Lease deal giving bases there to NATO in return for the transfer of usable but surplus naval and other capabilities that Ukraines armed forces can use effectively. Such a move would dramatically heighten the possibility of a full-scale war breaking out between nuclear-armed Russia and NATO over Ukraine. Echoing these same wildly militaristic plans, the Republican House of Representative member Michael McCaul published an article in the National Interest calling for the creation of a Black Sea strategy where the United States, NATO, and other US allies can regularly deploy naval assets there to better support Ukraine against Russia. Victorian Socialists, an electoral front of different pseudo-left organisations formed last year, is contesting three lower house electorates in Australias second largest city, Melbourne, for the May 18 federal election. Its campaign is a fraud from start to finish. Backed by significant trade union funding, and encouraged by Labor and Greens voting preference deals, Victorian Socialists are tied by a thousand strings to the political establishment. Instead of representing a left-wing alternative to the ruling class, the electoral organisation marks the further development of the pseudo-left groups into open apologists of Labor, Greens and the unions. The campaign constitutes a political diversion aimed at channelling the left-wing shift among workers and young people back behind the parliamentary set-up and blocking the emergence of the internationalist and revolutionary movement needed to fight against capitalism. Victorian Socialists comprise Socialist Alternative, which had close relations with the recently dissolved International Socialist Organisation in the United States, and Socialist Alliance, largely made up of what was once the Democratic Socialist Party. The electoral front is fielding candidates in northern MelbourneSocialist Alternatives Jerome Small in Calwell, Socialist Alliances Sue Bolton in Wills, and Kath Larkin, billed as a rank and file leader with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, in Cooper (formerly Batman). The campaign comes after last Novembers state election in Victoria, in which the newly-formed Victorian Socialists failed in its aim to secure a Victorian upper house seat for Stephen Jolly. He is a Yarra City council member and former leader of the Socialist Party, affiliated with the British-based Committee for a Workers International. The three candidates are campaigning on the basis of an election platform comprising the thin gruel of parochial politics and trade unionism, mixed with nationalism and parliamentary cretinism. At the organisations April 6 campaign launch, none of the three candidates raised a single political issue beyond the shores of Australia. Trump and the re-emergence of fascism around the world, the growing global economic crisis, and the threat of a US-led war against China were all entirely ignored. Instead, the different candidates advanced various policy proposals on climate change and the environment, jobs and workplace rights, and related economic and social issues within the boundaries of their three electorates. Not a single problem confronting working people, however, no matter how local it may initially appear, can be resolved within the state or national framework. The Victorian Socialists have remained silent on the April 11 arrest of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, which represents a major assault on the democratic rights of the working class. His threatened extradition to the US on trumped-up charges that could see the Australian citizen imprisoned for life or executed is a non-issue as far as Victorian Socialists are concerned. This stance is consistent with the open embrace of imperialist war by Socialist Alternative. Cheering on the US-led regime-change operation in Syria, Socialist Alternative previously denounced knee jerk anti-imperialism, defended the right of the CIA to organise gun-running operations to Islamist militias fighting the Assad government, and hailed the provocative Turkish downing of a Russian jet in 2015 as a small victory for humanity. Genuine socialism is internationalist and revolutionary. The capitalist crisis can be resolved only by the working class on a global scale breaking with the old parties of the political establishment, building their own revolutionary party and fighting for the establishment of workers governments implementing socialist policies. This is the perspective of the Socialist Equality Party, the Australian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, which is standing in the federal election, including in the state of Victoria, to help raise the consciousness of the working class in line with the political tasks now objectively posed before it. Victorian Socialists orientation was summed up by Sue Bolton at its campaign launch. It is not a wasted vote to vote for a socialist, the candidate declared. We know that when the socialists stand we push Labor and Greens to the left. We put serious pressure on them. We can actually have an impact on the political debate, to the left Its the combination, the two [having a socialist in the parliament and social movements outside of parliament] that helps build the mass movements and creates the pressure on the parliament to concede to the demands. This perspective has been advanced by the pseudo-left for decades and is entirely false. Labor and the Greens are moving, not to the left, but to the right. Far from conceding anything to the working class, the next federal parliamentregardless of whether the government comprises Labor, Liberal or Greenswill impose further inroads on workers living standards and attacks on democratic rights. Victorian Socialists campaign promotes lingering illusions that there is some means of workers advancing their interests in the face of an escalating economic and social crisis through the parliamentary apparatus. The attempt of the pseudo-lefts to bolster support for the Labor Party and Greens goes hand in hand with their desperate efforts to revive the influence of the trade union bureaucracy within the working class. At a recent Socialist Alternative conference, Victorian Socialists candidates Jerome Small and Kath Larkin expressed their alarm that the Australian trade union movement is in crisis. Larkin described the decline in union membership to just 10 percent of the workforce as an absolute travesty and called for a union revival. Sections of the union bureaucracy, aiming to present a left face, have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Victorian Socialists. This includes the Victorian branch of the Electrical Trades Union, which is financing the pseudo-left while re-affiliating to the Labor Party and promoting state Labor leader Daniel Andrews as the greatest premier. In Australia as internationally, the trade unions function as the enforcers of government-corporate attacks on jobs, wages, and conditions. The northern Melbourne working-class areas within the Calwell electorate have been devastated by decades of deindustrialisation that has involved the unions policing countless factory closures on behalf of the major corporations, ensuring that not a single struggle was held to defend workers jobs. The 2017 liquidation of the car industry was an operation carried out by the federal Liberal government and transnational auto producers, working hand in hand with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and Electrical Trades Union. In areas like Broadmeadows, the result has been social devastation, with depression-level unemployment, officially registered at 25 percent. Workers do not need to revive the unions but fight for the formation of rank-and-file committees in each workplace, independent of and in opposition to the trade union bureaucracies. The positions of Victorian Socialists reflect not theoretical mistakes but rather the material interests of middle-class strataespecially within the union bureaucracy, the universities, and professions. Around the world, the pseudo-left have lurched to the right as workers and young people are moving to the left. Workers and young people seeking to take up a struggle against capitalism should reject the fake left campaign of Victorian Socialists and instead support the only party fighting for genuine socialist internationalism, the Socialist Equality Party. The author also recommends: Support the Socialist Equality Party in the 2019 Australian Federal Election [16 April 2019] Authorised by James Cogan for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000. By PTI UNITED NATIONS: 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 | All acts of terror, including Pulwama attack, relevant to Azhar's listing: Official sources 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. READ HERE | 'Better late than never': PM Modi hails UN move to list Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist' By PTI ISLAMABAD: The "breakthrough" in designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist came during Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China where the two sides agreed to withdraw their opposition to the latest move to blacklist the JeM chief, a media report said here Thursday. The UN's sanctions committee announced Wednesday the designation of Pakistan-based Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda. 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 that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking four attempts since 2009 by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal. Hours after sanctions were imposed on Azhar, the Express Tribune newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, reported that Pakistan and China held extensive discussions before making a decision on the Azhar issue. "It is believed that the breakthrough came during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China where both sides agreed to withdraw opposition to the latest move after realising that Islamabad's concerns were addressed," the report said. Khan was in Beijing to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping from April 25 to 27. READ HERE | Why no Pulwama in Azhars UN listing? Here's what the MEA said Apart from President Xi, the Pakistan prime minister met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang as well as Vice President Wang Qishan. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China lifted its hold on the US, the UK and French proposal after a "careful study of the revised materials" it had to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. The listing of Azhar means that he will now be facing a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. But the source told the paper that the listing does not mean the person should be detained. Another official claimed that authorities were "unaware" of Azhar's whereabouts. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during the peak of India-Pakistan tensions following the Pulwama terror attack had admitted that Azhar was in Pakistan. He also mentioned that the JeM chief was "very unwell" to the extent that he cannot leave his house. The report also claimed that Islamabad agreeing to the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was a "paradigm shift" in the country's approach. An official said prime minister Khan had made a public commitment that Pakistan's soil would not be used against any country. ALSO READ | It is victory for American diplomacy, says Mike Pompeo on UN designating Masood Azhar as global terrorist However, he made it clear that Pakistan would go after these groups in a manner that the peace and security of the country was not affected. The Washington Post reported that Azhar's sanctioning comes weeks after Washington said it was seeking to have him put on the UN blacklist. In Washington, a senior US 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 US in putting pressure on China after the February 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 Pakistan Prime Minister Khan's commitment to crack down on militants in the country "will translate into irreversible steps to end terrorist and militant safe havens inside Pakistan." Meanwhile, a leading Hong Kong-based newspaper reported that China's decision to lift its hold was taken considering that Beijing would be isolated over issue. ALSO READ | Timeline of major events leading to Masood Azhar's designation as global terrorist Analysts linked the climbdown to Beijing's increasing concerns about being isolated diplomatically at a time of heightened global concern about terrorism, but some also argued that the shift was made possible by a change of wording that avoided angering China's long-standing ally Pakistan, the South China Morning Post reported. Zhang Jiadong, a former Chinese diplomat in India and international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said: "This is a diplomatic concession from China for India, a signal of diplomatic support. At the same time, it was also driven by the global anti-terrorism trend. Without the February terrorist attack in Kashmir, China may not have agreed to India's request," Zhang was quoted as saying. China's shift was the result of pressure mainly from the broader international community, and not just unilateral pressure from the Indian government, he said. "In the past, we mainly took Pakistan's attitude into consideration, but now we need to balance Pakistan's relationship with India and the rest of the international community," Zhang added. By PTI WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump appealed on Monday for a swift end to the "brutal repression" of the Venezuelan people, following an abortive military uprising in support of the US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido. "I'd like to begin by sending our prayers to the people of Venezuela in their righteous struggle for freedom," Trump said as he hosted a national prayer service at the White House. "The brutal repression of the Venezuelan people must end, and it must end soon," he warned. Trump's call followed two days of anti-government unrest in Venezuela that have left four people dead, and as President Nicolas Maduro urged the armed forces to oppose "any coup plotter." The United States, which recognizes Guaido as interim president, has imposed tough sanctions in an intensifying campaign to drive Maduro from power, as millions have fled the country's economic meltdown. "People are starving. They have no food, they have no water, and this was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world," said Trump. ALSO READ | Mike Pompeo, Russia's Sergei Lavrov trade accusations on Venezuela in phone call "So we wish them well, we'll be there to help and we are there to help." The United States is insisting Maduro's days remain numbered, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Wednesday that "military action is possible." But experts warn of limited options to break a protracted stalemate in which Washington may have overestimated the opposition leader's strength. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, in a letter to United Nations Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ni Aolain, has expressed astonishment and shock over her defence of a terrorist. Szijjarto said it was shocking that the rapporteur had played the role of defence lawyer for a terrorist who led an attack against Hungarian police who were protecting Hungarys borders. Szijjarto wrote in response to a letter in which Ni Aolain had said that Hungary had harmed the rights of Ahmed H, a Syrian national sentenced in Hungary on terrorism charges after a migrant riot at Hungarys southern borders in 2015. She criticised both Hungarys laws and the proceedings, saying the defendant was not a terrorist and his human rights had been violated. In his response, Szijjarto asked whether it was normal to cross the border shouting into a loudhailer, inciting an attack and throwing rocks at border police. He also asked if she really means to launch a procedure against a country protecting its borders and the security of its citizens over the sentencing of a terrorist. It is shameful that you spend members payments, including funds from Hungarys taxpayers, to encourage terrorists to violate the borders of sovereign countries and to attack the police, Szijjarto wrote. Earlier in Bratislava, the minister accused the UN of encouraging terrorism and migration. Speaking after a meeting of foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group and Turkey, Szijjarto noted that a UN commissioner for human rights planned to launch a procedure against Hungary in connection with a Syrian national sentenced in Hungary on terrorism charges. The UN should fight terrorism and terrorists, but the organisation is doing just the opposite thus encouraging terrorists, Szijjarto said. It is shocking that the UN has sided with terrorists and finds excuses for them. The UN encourages the two most dangerous trends in the world: migration and terrorism, tendencies that reinforce each other, Szijjarto said. Turkey, he added, had a crucial role in managing the pressure of migration Answering a question about Turkeys European integration, Szijjarto criticised some countries for being hypocritical and presenting different positions in public and when being among themselves. He urged that the EU should build a strategic partnership with Turkey and stop playing such an unfair game. Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said that the talks focused on the Middle East with special regard to Syria, Iran, migration, and the Israeli-Palestinian situation. He called Turkey an important partner in terms of security, and thanked Turkey for observing its agreement with the EU on migration. Turkeys EU accession is being blocked for political reasons, but the integration talks should not be dropped, he added. Answering a question about Turkeys integration, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said that the entry criteria must be met. Marcin Przydacz, Polands deputy state secretary for foreign affairs, said that issues in the Middle East or the Mediterranean cannot be discussed without Turkey. Concerning Turkeys EU integration, he said that after Brexit we should demonstrate that apart from quitting, joining is possible, too. Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said that Turkey has wished to join the EU for over 60 years and it has never said anything else than that it is working to meet the criteria. He said he was aware that the entry process was blocked for political reasons but added that if the EU does not want us, it has to make a decision. MTI Photo: Mitko Sztojcsev Two people are facing criminal charges connected to their alleged roles in the hit-and-run death of a 4-year-old South Carolina girl and one of them is her grandmother. Authorities say Emily Grace Hall was being pushed in a stroller Friday night in Florence when a vehicle struck her before allegedly speeding off. Emilys grandmother, Priscilla Marie Clendenin, 55, was pushing the stroller at the time of the fatal incident, according to online court documents obtained by PEOPLE. Clendenin has been charged with one count of unlawful neglect of a child because she was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the fatal crash, a statement from the South Carolina Highway Patrol indicates. Clendenin has been released pending trial. PEOPLE was unable to reach her or her attorney for comment. She has not entered a plea to the charge against her. On Monday, police caught up with the alleged driver, Eric Snowden, 39. The Florence man was detained on a charge of leaving the scene of a crime involving death and released on $5,000 bond. He has not pleaded to the charge, and it was unclear if he had a lawyer Thursday. Snowden could not be reached by phone for comment. It is unclear how detectives identified him as the alleged driver of the car that hit Emilys stroller. Results of an autopsy performed Monday on the girls body have not been released yet. WMBF spoke to Clendenin as well as Emilys grieving mother, who came to the grandmothers defense. My little girl, she was my little mini-me and she was just so happy, so full of energy, so full of life, Emilys mother, Danielle Lawson, told the station. My mom would never ever intentionally harm any of her grandchildren and I know my mom did not mean for this to happen, she added. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Story continues Clendenin also refuted the allegations, saying she was not drunk Friday and had not been drinking. I would never ever put my grandchildren in harms way to get hurt, ever. I would rather it be me a million times over than it to be her, Clendenin said. I dont know where he come from, but he was going so very fast, never stopped, didnt care. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help pay for Emilys funeral. U.S. 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 Authorities are reportedly investigating the death of a pet at Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans and her husband David Easons home. Eason, who was fired by MTV last year over alleged homophobic tweets, found himself at the center of controversy once again after he allegedly shot and killed the family dog earlier this week for biting their 2-year-old daughter in the face. According to TMZ, North Carolinas animal welfare hotline was flooded with calls about the incident. The calls were reportedly referred to Columbus County Animal Control after review, as well as the Columbus County Sheriffs Department. TMZ reports that Animal Control officers were sent to the couples home on Thursday to investigate the incident in order to confirm that the dog is indeed dead, as well as whether Evans and Eason are in possession of its corpse. According to TMZ, the Animal Control officers were able to enter the couples property through an open gate, but fearing for their safety, they turned around and alerted the Sheriffs Department to complete the visit. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Thursday, the Columbus County Sheriffs Office said that an investigation was launched into allegations of animal cruelty that reportedly occurred at a home in Riegelwood, North Carolina, but they did not confirm that it was the Eason residence. On May 1, 2019, Columbus County Sheriffs Office and Columbus County Animal Control initiated a joint investigation into allegations of animal cruelty that reportedly occurred at a residence on Money Hole Road in Riegelwood, the statement reads. The investigation is ongoing. No further details will be released at this time to preserve the integrity of the investigation. When reached by PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Columbus County Animal Control said the Sheriffs Department is currently investigating the incident, but could not provide further information. RELATED: Jenelle Evans Husband David Eason Poses with Confederate Flag at Grand Canyon: Planting My Flag Story continues On Tuesday, Eason posted a video of the dog, Nugget, becoming aggressive toward their daughter Ensley as she tried to hug him. He also shared a photo showing a scratch mark on the 2-year-olds face. 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 at all, he wrote. Im all about protecting my family, it is my lifes mission. 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 wether or not a animal is a danger to MY CHILD is ME. Eason has not responded to PEOPLEs request for comment, but Evans confirmed Nuggets death on Wednesday, sharing a photo of the French Bulldog sitting on her lap. Nugget Im crying everyday, she wrote. 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. 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. Health officials in Californias third-largest county are warning moviegoers who attended an April 25 screening of Avengers: Endgame at an AMC theater in Fullerton might have been exposed to measles by a fellow audience member who was fresh from international travel and unaware of her infection. Any patron of the AMC Dine-In Fullerton 20 theater who saw Endgame at one of the late opening-night screenings (between between 11 p.m. on April 25 and 4 a.m. on April 26) are advised to monitor themselves for symptoms through May 16. They also are encouraged to review their vaccination history. Related stories 'Avengers: Endgame' Spoils Thursday Night For 'Long Shot', 'UglyDolls' & 'The Intruder' With $21M+ Haul AMC declined comment. The advisory from the Orange County Health Care Agency on Thursday is tied to the first confirmed measles case reported this year in the county. The patient has been identified only as a Placentia woman in her 20s who recently traveled internationally and now is quarantined voluntarily in her home. Doctors estimate that the patients window of infectiousness ranges from April 23-May 1. Measles is a highly contagious and potentially severe disease that causes fever, rash, cough and red, watery eyes, said Dr. Nichole Quick, interim Orange County Health Officer. It spreads very easily by air and by direct contact with an infected person, and is contagious from approximately four days before the rash appears through four days after the rash appears. The MMR vaccine is a simple, inexpensive and very effective measure to prevent the spread of this serious virus. Beyond the packed movie theater, the patient also interacted with others at her workplace (a Santa Ana office building from April 23-25) and the emergency department at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton on April 27. For more information, call the HCA Health Referral Line at (800) 564-8448. Story continues Officials said they have worked with all three facilities to contact people who might have been exposed, especially those with a higher risk of severe outcomes such as infants, pregnant women and anyone with a compromised immune system. Health officials say anyone who has not had a case of the measles or the measles vaccine is at a higher risk of exposure and should consult a health care provider about a Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination. Symptoms include fever and an unexplained rash that can take 21 days after infection to manifest. Anyone who suspects measles should stay home and contact their health care provider or medical help by phone. Measles has been surging in the U.S. and abroad. Nationally, the number of cases is the highest in two decades. The number of reported California cases is at 38, many of them recent visitors to Cambodia, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued an outbreak advisory citing a traveler who passed through the Los Angeles International Airport on April 18. That patient interacted with others in the Tom Bradley International Terminal as well as LAXs Terminal 3. Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 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. Story continues 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. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Beck Media & Marketing has established a new San Francisco office and tapped Tierney Oakes to lead the practice there. Additionally, the company has hired Adrienne Arieff to join its Santa Monica branch. Oakes is a four-year veteran of Becks Austin, Texas office. Under her leadership, Becks San Francisco office handles communications programs for several leading immersive content and technology innovators, as well as National Geographic, Avid Technology and Scribd. Related stories Beck Media Expanding to Austin Under Hulu's Tom McAlister Veteran Publicist Eddie Michaels Dies at 49 Tierney has been an absolute game-changer for our technology team since she joined the Beck team in 2015, said Todd Beck, the president of Beck Media & Marketing. When the dials lined up to move her west and promote her into this new role, everything quickly clicked into place and she is off to the races. Arieff is an author and marketing and communications professional, and will join the Santa Monica office to lead the agencys integrated marketing practice. She will work with clients on core messaging, content strategy, and influencer programming. Arieff has held senior and executive communications and marketing roles with OutCast, Burberry, Arieff Communications, and Havas Life. Arieffs capabilities will service a variety of the agencys clients including OTT content companies, social media innovators, consumer and technology players. Adrienne represents a perfect mix of creativity, style, and substance, which I admire greatly. When the opportunity arose to bring her to L.A. and onto my team, I jumped at it, and our clients and team are already reaping the benefits, added Beck. The Silicon Beach-based communications and marketing agency also has offices in New York City, Austin, Tex., Atlanta, and Nashville, Tenn. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. An Oklahoma mother whose 5-year-old son died after he fell off the back of the scooter she was driving is believed to have fled to Mexico to avoid charges. On April 23, Evelyn Ortiz-Luevano was driving an electric scooter with her son, Caiden Reyes-Ortiz, 5, on the back, the Tulsa World, CNN and KTUL report. Police allege Ortiz-Luevano was driving the scooter in a reckless manner in the direction of oncoming traffic. When she made an evasive maneuver to avoid a car, Caiden was thrown off the scooter and hit by the car. The driver of the vehicle, Ranier Davison, allegedly fled the scene but later turned himself in to police on Wednesday. Caiden was taken to a local hospital and died of his injuries. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Authorities allege Caiden died due to his mothers reckless disregard while driving the scooter, which was a rental. She is wanted on charges of child neglect and negligent homicide. When Ortiz-Luevano learned of possible charges against her, she allegedly fled the country to Mexico. Police said Ortiz-Luevano skipped her sons memorial. Ortiz-Luevanos employer, Spiffys Dry Cleaners, started a GoFundMe page to help pay for Caidens memorial fund. As of Thursday it has reached $430 of its $1,000 goal. Lime co-founder and CEO Toby Sun released a statement saying the company was cooperating with authorities. As a father of a young boy myself, words cannot describe how saddened I am by this tragedy, Sun said in a statement, CNN reports. Nothing is more sacred than our children and to the family of the victim, my heartfelt sympathies go out to you. Our Tulsa Lime team is cooperating with Tulsa law enforcement and will assist in their investigation in any way we can. Lime recommends riders to wear a helmet and insists only one person ride a scooter at a time. Story continues Davison is facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal collision, causing an accident without a valid drivers license and driving under suspension, CNN reports. We see this as a tragedy that has made a victim of three people, his attorney said in a statement to CNN. Davison is out of custody on bond. Dick Wolfs Ex Loses Appeal Claiming She Was Tricked Into Signing Settlement Before $1B Payday After years in court, Dick Wolfs second wife Christine Marburg has lost an appeal in which she claimed substantial financial information was withheld from her at the time she signed their divorce settlement. On Tuesday, a California appeals court rejected Christinas claim that the Law & Order creators financial advisors who mediated their divorce tricked her into signing the settlement without informing her of his $1 billion deal in the works with NBC Universal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the time, Christina claimed that accounting statements showed the show was only worth $4 million, and was actually losing money and that she only learned of the deal when she read about it in the Los Angeles Times, after she had already signed the papers. According to THR, as part of the settlement, Christina received $17.5 million in cash and spousal support of as much as $2 million for eight years, as well as the house the former couple shared in Maine. The pair were married from 1983 to 2005 and share three children: Olivia, Sarina and Elliot. RELATED: Law & Order Creator Dick Wolf Separates from Wife Noelle After 12 Years of Marriage: Report Christine first took the case to court in 2004, when she initially claimed that her ex-husband had been responsible for concealing the assets, according to the Hollywood Reporter. She went on to unsuccessfully sue their business advisors at the time. At the time, the trial judge ruled that mediation privilege applied to their divorce settlement, shielding their business advisors from liability. In her appeal, Christine claimed that mediation privilege should not apply as the advisors did not act in a truly neutral capacity. However, her argument was struck down. There was no evidence in the record to support Christines speculation, the appellate opinion states, according to THR. The opinion specifically called out Christines claims about Martin Weinberg, who led a financial services team that helped mediate the settlement. Story continues The court examined the record for bias on the part of the mediator and found that there no evidence that Weinberg had a prior, individual relationship with Dick so as to support an inference of bias, the opinion stated. Ironically, it was Christine, not Dick, who had future business dealings with Weinberg after the mediation. That Weinberg accepted an expensive watch from Dick as a gift after the conclusion of the mediation was not a sufficient factual basis to support a reasonable inference that Weinberg was not impartial during the mediation. PEOPLE could not immediately reach Dicks reps for comment. RELATED VIDEO: #FBF: The Cast of Law & Order Reveal Their Favorite Series Memories The news comes amid reports that Wolf, 72, has finalized his separation from his third wife, Noelle. The Blast reports that Wolf was incredibly generous despite an existing prenup. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, the website reports that he will pay Noelle over $100,000 per month in support Dick Wolf and Noelle Lippman | Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock RELATED: All the Celebrity Couples Whove Already Called It Quits in 2019 They share two children, ages 8 and 11, and have been married for 12 years. Dick was also previously married to Susan Scranton (1970-83). The Pitch: Its a House Hunters episode gone horribly wrong: young California couple Scott (Michael Ealy) and Annie (Meagan Good) finally find their dream home in Napa Valley, an old house built in the 1900s and owned by a gruff but amiable retiree named Charlie Peck (Dennis Quaid). Sure, hes a little strange at first he introduces himself by gunning down a deer at point-blank range, just feet from them but who doesnt brush off an encounter like that? Unfortunately, even after they buy his house, Charlie keeps finding excuses to drop by. Hes mowing the lawn, dropping off wine and pies, even helping to put up the Christmas decorations. Soon, it becomes apparent that even though the house no longer belongs to him, Charlie still thinks of it as his house. And he might just do anything to keep it that way. Ozzie and Harriet Meet Frankenstein: The Intruder comes courtesy from the screenwriter of Obsessed (David Loughery), which offers an inkling of the kind of tone the film is chasing after. As a movie, its attitude exists somewhere between a Tyler Perry toxic-relationship melodrama and The Boy Next Door full of cheating husbands, outsized psychoses, and patently ridiculous swings in mood. The whole film is drenched in a one-dimensional R&B soundtrack, complete with the requisite slow jams required for Scott and Annies many PG-13 love scenes. Much of The Intruder looks (and feels) like a vintage Toni Braxton video, which is part of its perverse and largely unintentional charm. Of course, the couple have major problems even before Charlie enters the picture: Scott has a history of infidelity (I apologized for that! he whines), and he visibly flirts with every woman he sees one right in front of his wife. As for Annie, shes a self-styled country girl who essentially pressures her husband into buying an old, decrepit house in Napa Valley that hes clearly not into (the commute alone!). The contrivances required to get these two into the house at all beggar belief. Story continues Dennis the Menace: The clearest indicator that The Intruder has its tongue planted firmly in cheek is Dennis Quaid, chewing the scenery so vociferously its a wonder theres a house left to sell. Its a real treat to see Quaid go wild, calibrating his normal leading-man charm into that of a sneering, two-faced pathological liar whos a transparent madman to everyone but the characters onscreen (more on that soon). Quaid goes for absolute broke in every single frame hes given, alternately bugging his eyes out and twisting his patented shit-eating grin into a psychotic sneer when the scene calls for it. Nobody leers like Quaid, director Deon Taylor constantly plopping him in the background of shots so he can stand in plain sight to spook the audience, or drop down from the ceiling in the movies climax like a geriatric Predator. Someone cast him as Old Man Joker, post-haste. (Meagan) Good Grief!: Everyone knows that horror films and thrillers require a certain suspension of disbelief and contrivance to work; if our protagonists call the police, or immediately recognize the threat for what it is, there wouldnt be a movie, would there? For The Intruder, however, those concepts are stretched to their absolute limits. Charlies villainy is so transparent, so manipulative, that its a wonder Scott doesnt call the police on him the moment appears. To reiterate: they first meet Charlie when he guns down an animal, right in front of them. In fact, Scott is suspicious of Charlie from the jump but instead of calling the police for Charlies numerous instances of trespassing, he holds off. However, its Annie who transcends the trappings of the genre to become one of the most clueless thriller protagonists in recent movie history. Amid Charlies every violation of boundaries, and every midnight drop-by with a bottle of wine, Annie is written to carry on while completely ignorant of any danger. I feel bad for him, she says, reading the sneering creep as an innocent widower and retiree. (Hey, does that look like blood? she says innocently to a splatter of red on a door frame in their first inspection of the house.) By the time Charlie makes his move on the once-happy couple, its hard not to throw your hands up and think, Well, what else did they expect? The Shade U Give: Adding to The Intruders clunky mixture of tones is the not-so-subtle ways in which it tries to worm in subtext about our current political moment. Charlies a scary old white man who loves guns and spends the entire film trying to take back whats his from a successful young couple of color, while wearing a conspicuously on-the-nose red hat. Scotts hatred of guns isnt just born of left-leaning pragmatism; his brother was gunned down in the streets, implicitly by a police officer. While the basic premise is intriguing enough what if a home invasion thriller flipped the historically racist script, with a scary white man invading the rightful home of a nice black couple? these extra nuggets of relevance are laughably clumsy. The Verdict: In an age where so bad its good has lost much of its meaning in a sea of calculated camp, The Intruder may be one of the few films of recent vintage that truly qualifies. Its on a Book of Henry level of jaw-dropping silliness, a sloppy ball of contrivances twisted into something perversely beautiful by Quaids knowingly ridiculous performance and Lougherys bafflingly oblivious characters. See it with a packed audience, if it draws one; its custom blend of bad-movie signposts and giddily stupid plotting goes down smooth with a theater full of people ready to yell at the screen. Wheres It Playing?: The Intruder stops by with some pie, an ax, and a Cheshire-cat smile, in theaters everywhere May 3rd. Trailer: For the third year, the UKs three leading financiers, the BFI, BBC Films and Film4, in collaboration with the British Council and the UK governments Great campaign, will be showcasing up-and-coming UK talent in Cannes via the Great 8 program. Scroll down for the lineup. Highlighted on Tuesday May 14 during a private reception at the Hotel Gray dAlbion, the event will reveal unseen footage from eight UK projects in post-production. These are relatively low-budget UK movies in the Cannes marche with breakout festival, commercial or critical potential. Guests will comprise international buyers and festival programmers. Related stories Jacob Tremblay To Voice Animation-Sci-Fi Update Of Charlie Chaplin Classic 'The Kid', FilmNation & UTA Handle Sales -- Cannes Movies selected in recent years include Michaela Coel musical Been So Long, which was nabbed by Netflix in a multi-million dollar deal soon after the festival, Michael Pearce drama Beast, which went on to play at festivals including Toronto, London and Sundance, and Brian Welshs Beats. GREAT 8, 2019 LINEUP CALM WITH HORSES UK/Ireland Thriller Director Nick Rowland Writer Joseph Murtagh Cast Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan, Niamh Algar Producer Daniel Emmerson Production DMC Film/Element Pictures/Film4/Screen Ireland Sales Altitude Films Sales Synopsis In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Arm has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five-year-old son Jack. Torn between these two families, Arms loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time. DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER UK Comedy Director Simon Bird Writer Lisa Owens Cast Monica Dolan, Earl Cave, Rob Brydon, Alice Lowe, Tamsin Greig Producer Matthew James Wilkinson Production Stigma Films/Pont Neuf/Quickfire/Storyhouse/Trigger Films Story continues Sales Altitude Films Sales Synopsis: Sue works in a library. Daniel eats crisps and listens to Metallica. This was the summer Daniel was due to spend with his father and his fathers new wife in Florida. But when they cancel his trip at the last minute, Sue and Daniel suddenly face the prospect of six long weeks together. An epic war of wills ensues in the unassuming battleground of their suburban home as they each reckon with private tragedies and pursue their personal passions. LYNN + LUCY UK Drama Writer & Director Fyzal Boulifa Cast Roxanne Scrimshaw, Nichola Burley Producer Camilla Bray Production BBC Films/BFI Film Fund/Lipsync/Charades/Rosetta Productions/Sixteen Films/Vixens Sales Charades Synopsis Lynn and Lucy are lifelong best friends, their relationship as intense as any romance. Neither has ventured far from where they grew up. Lynn, who married her first boyfriend and whose daughter is fast growing up, is delighted when the charismatic, volatile Lucy has her first baby boy. Lucy, however, does not react to being a mother as Lynn expects. Soon, they find their friendship is tested in extreme circumstances. MAKE UP UK Psychological thriller Writer & Director Claire Oakley Producer Emily Morgan Cast Molly Windsor, Joseph Quinn, Stefanie Martini Production Quiddity Films/Creative England/BFI Film Fund/BBC Films Sales Protagonist Pictures Synopsis When Ruth moves in with her boyfriend in a remote holiday park, she makes an unsettling discovery that ushers a sense of unease into their caravan and lures her into a spiral of obsession. MONSOON UK Drama Writer & Director Hong Khaou Cast Henry Golding, Parker Sawyers, Molly Harris, David Tran Producer -Tracy ORiordan Production BBC Films/BFI Film Fund/Moonspun Films/Sharphouse Sales Protagonist Pictures; Paradigm Talent Agency co-reps U.S. Synopsis Kit, a British Vietnamese man, returns to his birth country for the first time in over 30 years in search of a place to scatter his parents ashes. He was just eight years old when he and his family escaped Saigon as boat refugees during the Vietnam-American war. No longer able to speak his native language, Kit embarks on a journey from Saigon to Hanoi. Along the way he meets his estranged second cousin Lee, and befriends Lewis, an African-American whose father had fought in the same war that displaced Kit, and Linh, a young Vietnamese woman from a new generation that no longer wants to dwell on the past and yet is shackled by its traditions. PERFECT 10 UK Drama Writer & Director Eva Riley Cast Frankie Box, Alfie Deegan, Sharlene Whyte, Will Ash Producers Valentina Brazzini, Bertrand Faivre, Jacob Thomas Production Creative England/BBC Films/BFI Film Fund/Moffen Media Limited/The Bureau/Ngauruhoe Sales The Bureau Synopsis 15 year old Leigh is a gymnast focused on her first competition on the squad. Leighs life is turned upside down when her older half-brother Joe she didnt know existed, comes to stay with her and her father. But when her confidence at gymnastics is knocked, Leigh finds herself caught up in an underground world of moped crime with her brother. Starting to find excitement and the attention she has been so desperately needing, Leigh stands at a crossroads between her gymnastic dreams and an exciting new world. SAINT MAUD UK Psychological thriller Writer & Director Rose Glass Cast Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Turlough Convery, Lily Frazer, Lily Knight Producers Oliver Kassman, Andrea Cornwell Production Escape Plan Productions/Film4/BFI Film Fund Sales Protagonist Pictures Synopsis Maud starts work as live-in nurse to glamorous ex-dancer Amanda, who is now dying and unable to walk. As Amanda grows friendlier, the lonely, young Maud becomes enraptured, but her fixation soon mutates into an obsessive mission to save Amandas soul. WILDFIRE UK/Ireland Drama Writer & Director Cathy Brady Cast Nora-Jane Noone, Nika McGuigan, Martin McCann, Kate Dickie Producers Carlo Cresto-Dina, Charles Steel, David Collins Production BFI Film Fund/Screen Ireland/Film4/Northern Ireland Screen/Great Point Media/Sulcata Productions/Wellcome Trust/Tempesta Film UK/Cowboy Films/Samson Films Sales contact Great Point Media Synopsis The story of two sisters who grew up on the fractious Irish border. When one of them, who has been missing, finally returns home, the intense bond with her sister is re-ignited. Together they unearth their mothers past but uncovered secrets and resentments which have been buried deep, threaten to overwhelm them. Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Photo credit: Universal History Archive - Getty Images From Esquire A bit of history, then. The first week in May of 1803, 216 years ago this week, was the greatest Infrastructure Week in the history of the country. Over in Paris, a couple of Americans, James Monroe and Robert Livingston, representing President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison, had a meeting with Francois Barbe-Marbois, the French minister of the treasury representing the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and they agreed that France would sell to the United States the territory of Louisiana-828,000 square miles and, basically, the middle third of what is now the continental United States-for $15 million, or about four cents and acre. (Napoleon thought this such a grand bargain that he paid Barbe-Francois a 150,000-franc performance bonus.) This, of course, gave the white settlers in North America a whole bunch of new Native Americans to slaughter, and it also kicked off the free state/slave state conflict that ultimately would prove to be unsolvable without a sanguinary war. But give it this: it wasn't a project from men who thought small. I mention this because, the other day, Senator Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders in both houses of the Congress, met with the president*, and they announced their intention to pass a $2 trillion infrastructure plan, and god knows this broken-down country needs one. This announcement landed in Congress with a resounding thud. From Politico: The likelihood of that happening at $2 trillion- just on the face of what I saw - is pie in the sky, said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). But Id love to have a big infrastructure bill....I dont see where the pay-fors will come from, said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), one of Trumps closest allies on Capitol Hill...Its a tremendous amount, said Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Another reason for skepticism: Some Democrats say Trump must consider rolling back some of the 2017 GOP tax cuts - his signature legislative accomplishment - to pay for new infrastructure investments. That made me chuckle, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Its not serious. Story continues Some day, a historian is going to write a long and earnest volume on the slow death of this country's vaulting ambition, which often was the most charming thing about it, when it wasn't being exercised on subject populations here and abroad who caught the sharp edge of it. Photo credit: GraphicaArtis - Getty Images The debate in the Senate over the deal acquiring Louisiana took only two days. Federalists argued that the current residents of Louisiana, most of whom were at that point actually foreigners, were somehow unfit to be citizens of the new republic having grown up as subjects of kings and despots. Jefferson's allies had serious-and well-founded-constitutional objections that were so serious that Jefferson didn't even mention the purchase in his Annual Message (the original State of the Union address) that fall. "The less we say about the constitutional difficulties respecting Louisiana the better," Jefferson told Madison. "What is necessary for surmounting them must be done sub silentio." But what was necessary was done, and that vaulting ambition took the shape of an entirely new continental arrangement, and an extended republic that would eventually extend to the Pacific. For good or ill, and there has been plenty of both, this country never was so miserly with its ambitions. Infrastructure Week wasn't always a punchline. (h/t to Jon Kukla's A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America for details on the big land deal.) Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) All About LeeAnne Locken's Two Regal Wedding Looks and Those $3 Million Emerald Jewels Forget princess. LeeAnne Locken looked like a bridal queen on her wedding day and had the crown to match. In this weeks issue of PEOPLE (on stands Friday), the Real Housewives of Dallas star, 51, shares exclusive photos and details about her April 27-I dos to longtime love Rich Emberlin, 56 including the scoop on her two custom-made outfits and the sparkling jewels accessorizing her looks. Ive never felt more beautiful in my entire life, Loken says. Everything was so gorgeous and just fit so perfectly. I wouldnt change a single thing. Locken started the day at the Cathedral of Hope in a $25,000 gown by Texas-based designer Nardos Imam of NARDOS Design. Made from re-embroidered French lace layered over duchess satin, the ceremony dress featured long lace sleeves and a romantic column silhouette with draped cascading fabric down the front. Nardos did that entire dress herself, I totally trusted her completely, Locken explains. The only thing I insisted upon was making sure my neck, back, and arms were covered up because I wanted to show a modest amount of skin. Everything else, she totally created for me on her own in just six weeks! RELATED: Inside LeeAnne Lockens Extravagant Wedding LeeAnne Locken | Peter Larsen/Bravo LeeAnne Locken | Peter Larsen/Bravo Of course, her dress was just the beginning. On top of it, Locken was draped in $3 million in Joe Pacetti Precious Jewels. What an angel Joe Pacetti is, Locken gushes. He was like, I just want you to sparkle and I sure did. Every queen needs a crown and Lockens was a jaw-dropping 18-carat, white gold, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, emerald and diamond tiara made up of 94 carats of diamonds and 164 carats of emeralds (valued at $1,550,000). Matching platinum emerald and diamond teardrop earrings (56-carats of emeralds and 23-carats of diamonds, valued at $600,000) adorned her ears. In addition, Locken wore a similar bracelet with 90 carats of fourteen cut emeralds and 35 carats of diamonds (an $875,000 value). The emeralds carried special meaning, a way for Locken to play a sentimental nod to the magnolia leaf, the favorite flower of her late grandmother. I just wanted my grandmother and grandfather to be present, more than anything, Locken says. Story continues LeeAnne Locken | Peter Larsen/Bravo LeeAnne Locken | Peter Larsen/Bravo RELATED: How Real Housewives of Dallas Star LeeAnne Locken Knew Fiance Rich Emberlin Was The One Emberlin also had his own Joe Pacetti Precious Jewels for the ceremony adorning his on his black tux, by Don Morphy Prive Clothiers. He wore a platinum brooch with an American flag motif of rubies, sapphires and diamonds (a $10,000 value), as well as diamond studs and cufflinks (a $20,000 value). Meanwhile, on Lockens feet, the actress wore a pair of glittering Jimmy Choo shoes. The heels were a gift from RHOD costar Cary Deuber. Cary was so sweet, Locken says. I was taking care of my sick dog and I couldnt leave his side, and one day she called to check on me and said, What do you need? And I mentioned that I had to get my shoes still and she literally went to Highland Park Village, nd went to Jimmy Choo, texted me pictures of options, bought it for me, and dropped them off that night saying, Here, theyre your wedding present. It was so amazing. RELATED: See LeeAnne Lockens 12-Foot-Tall Wedding Cake LeeAnne Locken's jewels | Peter Larsen/Bravo LeeAnne Locken and Rich Emberlin | Peter Larsen/Bravo LeeAnne Locken and Rich Emberlin's wedding bands | Peter Larsen/Bravo Locken kept those shoes on at her reception, too though changed into something a little more comfortable and trendy. She wore a Ese Azenabor lace catsuit with an attached long tulle skirt and intricate scrolling embroidery, which she later took off to get down on the dance floor. Her emerald green jewels werent there, but Locken still shined. This time, Joe Pacetti Precious Jewels provided her with an 18-carat white gold necklace with emerald cut shape motif diamonds weighing a total of 20 carats, which she wore in an unusual place: the back of her hair. I wanted something unexpected, Locken says. And when they said, Lets put it in your hair, I thought, Well, thats perfect. The necklace carried a value of $75,000. Lockens articulated platinum chandelier drop earrings (with 28- carats of brilliant cut, perfectly matched Russian diamonds) valued at $125,000, while her 18-carat white gold oval shaped diamond pave bangle bracelets, each with 23 carats of diamonds, carried a value of $110,000. Oh, and thats not where the jewels stopped, either. On the front of Lockens fabulous cat suit was a platinum lace motif diamond lattice work necklace with 90 carats of matched diamonds with a value of $750,000. LeeAnne Locken | Peter Larsen/Bravo This is Lockens first marriage and Emberlins third. (His 20-year-old daughter, Elise, from a previous relationship was at the wedding as well.) Waiting to get married for the first time was worth every second, Locken says. It was worth waiting to do it right with the right man at the right time in the right place surrounded by the right people. It was just such a happy day, Locken reflects. When I said I want to freeze this moment in time cause I knew I would never be happier, I wasnt kidding. Every cell in my body was vibrating with excitement and joy. Im so lucky, she adds of Emberlin. Im so in love with him. I just realized how genuinely blessed I was to be able to say I do to him. For more on LeeAnne Locken and Rich Emberlins wedding, pick up this weeks issue of PEOPLE, on newstands Friday. Brian Doben Since their big day, Locken and Emberlin have been flying high. I really didnt think it would change our relationship, but it has, Locken says. If anything, its made us so gentle and kind to one another, she continues. He has woken up every morning and hes like, How did you feel about being my wife? Its so sweet. And everything we do now, we start tearing up. Just when I think Im out of tears, I think about him or I read something someone wrote us and I just start crying! Theres just so much love flowing through me right now, I feel like Im on cloud nine! As for the honeymoon, that will have to wait until July, when work commitments die down. Ill be worth the wait, just like this day was. Locken says. With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace its difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it allno matter how tapped in they are. Thats why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songsacross all the platforms and subgenresso you dont have to. Thank us later. Pimp Tobi and YBN Nahmir - Out da Mud Both Berkeleys Pimp Tobi and Birminghams YBN Nahmir are internet rappers in the truest sense. Tobi is best known for the Geeked Up Challenges he did on Instagram in 2015, and Nahmir grew his following playing Grand Theft Auto V online, where he started his YBN collective freestyling with strangers in XBox Live parties. His breakout single, Rubbin Off the Paint, was produced by someone hed never met: a student in Sweden whod been posting type beats to YouTube. Now, Nahmir has unearthed Tobis Out da Mud and added a verse to it, turning what was a lost gem into a tag-team romp. El Cerrito producer Apollo Jetson provides the Bay Area bounce and the duo shuffles right through with two straight minutes of unruffled bag talk. These two rappers are curios of the SoundCloud world, and they arent trying to be much more than that. Theyre more than willing to simply see how far having fun can take them. Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Pimp Tobi and YBN Nahmir and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist. Despite his busy work schedule, Ryan Reynolds, 42, is never far from his wife Blake Lively, 31, and their two daughters James, 4, and Inez, 2. Thats because he says the family always sticks together. Blake and I dont do movies at the same time. If she is doing a movie in Thailand and I am doing a movie in Vancouver we would just never see each other. We operate as a unit, and that works really well for us, says Reynolds. The kids stay with us, and the family stays together, and that is where home is. So if we are in Spain or Utah or New York, as long as we are together, were home. For more on Ryan Reynolds, check out this weeks issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now. Reynolds recently flew to Tokyo where he was promoting his new film Pokemon Detective Pikachu. In the family-friendly film, he voices the cuddly, mouse-like Pokemon creation Pikachu. After years of playing the foul-mouthed superhero Deadpool, he says he was happy to be in a movie suitable for his young daughters. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds To be a part of a film that my wife, Blake, is as excited about as my two daughters is unusual and super-exciting for me, says Reynolds. Its so cool to see my girls pumped. RELATED: Ryan Reynolds Is Furry and Adorable as Pikachu in First Pokemon Detective Pikachu Trailer Rob Latour/Variety/REX/Shutterstock And while there are several perks to the family traveling together, Reynolds admits there is one downside. Usually when Im on an airplane with my kids, at some point I get up and ask the flight attendants if I can leave the aircraft, he jokes. 99 percent of the time they say, No, please stay seated! So I just sit back down and long for the sweet release of death. Pokemon Detective Pikachu hits theaters May 10. A cruise ship belonging to the Church of Scientology was cleared of any possible risk of measles infection after it was quarantined in the Caribbean port of St. Lucia. As of Tuesday, May 14, 2019, all passengers and crew (100%) of the Freewinds have been fully cleared of any possible risk of being infected by the measles or infecting others, Scientology said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. The quarantine occurred after a passenger onboard tested positive for measles. Freewinds protocols of safety and medical care, that exceed usual nautical standards, proved highly effective in containing the illness to one single case, it continued. Health authorities in Curacao have acknowledged the Freewinds for its strict isolation protocol, which effectively contained the illness to the single case and prevented it from spreading to any others, allowing officials to shorten the quarantine period. The ships 300 passengers were unable to disembark after a female crew member was confirmed to have the highly contagious disease, NBC News reported. St. Lucias chief medical officer Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James said in a previous statement that the case was being investigated. We got information early this morning through two reputable sources that there was a confirmed case of measles on board a cruise ship which visited our island, she said. As per the Quarantine Act, the Public Health Act, and after internal discussions, as well as discussions with external agencies such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), we thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship, so no one was allowed to leave. RELATED VIDEO: Florida Pediatrician Arrested for Allegedly Giving Partial Vaccine Doses to Hundreds of Children The PAHO confirmed to PEOPLE that it has been informed about the ships dilemma, but that the final decision to quarantine it was made by the government. Fredericks-James said officials made that decision because of the highly contagious nature of the disease, which spreads through coughing and sneezing. She also encouraged St. Lucians to get themselves and their children vaccinated. Story continues According to the Centers for Disease Control, measles is so contagious that if just one person has it, up to 90 percent of people around that person will also become infected if not protected. RELATED: Florida Pediatrician Arrested for Allegedly Giving Partial Vaccine Doses to Hundreds of Children St. Lucia Coast Guard Sgt. Victor Theodore identified the ship as the Freewinds to NBC News, a 440-foot cruise ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology. The churchs website says the Freewinds home port is Curacao, and that its home to the Flag Ship Service Organization, a religious retreat that offers spiritual counseling. The Freewinds provides a safe, aesthetic, distraction-free environment appropriate for ministration of this profoundly spiritual level of auditing, the site says. To a Scientologist, boarding the Freewinds for New OT VIII is the pinnacle of a deeply spiritual journey. Years of training and auditing have brought him to this ultimate point. The church did not immediately respond to PEOPLEs request for comment. Officials told NBC News that the Freewinds is scheduled to leave St. Lucia at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, while Fredericks-James said authorities have no jurisdiction over where it heads to next. RELATED: JetBlue Plane Quarantined in New York City After Child on Board Was Suspected of Having Measles The Church of Scientology says its members rely on the advice and treatment of medical doctors, and seek conventional treatments for illnesses and injuries, according to its website. Rev. John Carmichael, president of the Church of Scientology in New York, told BeliefNet.com in 2006 that the church does not have any precepts or strictures regarding vaccinations as a religious principle. Scientologists are pretty independent people, though I will say this: they tend to do a little more research, perhaps, on the effect of various medical procedures or whatever, he said. They make their own decisions, but those arent decisions that the church tries to influence in any way. The CDC urges anyone traveling internationally to get vaccinated against measles, which can eventually lead to pneumonia, encephalitis and death. Despite being declared eliminated in 2000, measles has seen a resurgence in recent months, with 704 individual cases confirmed this year through April 26 in 22 different states the most reported in the U.S. since 1994, according to the CDC. Measles outbreaks, which the CDC defines as three or more cases, are currently ongoing in New York, Michigan, New Jersey, California, Georgia and Maryland, and many are linked to people traveling abroad to places like Israel and the Philippines, where measles outbreaks are occurring. The cruise ships quarantine came just one day after a JetBlue plane was quarantined at New York Citys John F. Kennedy International Airport after a case of measles was suspected on board. In the fight to legalize pot, enthusiasts have largely pointed to the unjust demonization of the drug itself. Weed is no more harmful than alcohol, the argument goes, so why not tax it and regulate it the same way? That logic has carried the day in nearly a dozen pot-legal states from Alaska to California to Maine. But when Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator and 2020 presidential candidate, looks at the question of legalizing cannabis, he sees the stakes very differently. For Booker, the real problem is the unjust enforcement of marijuana laws against black and brown Americans, whose usage rates are no different than their white counterparts but who are arrested at astronomically higher rates. Related stories Donor Is Giving $9 million to Harvard and MIT to Study Marijuana The Cannabis Revolution Comes to the Capitol As Congress begins to seriously grapple with the federal legalization of cannabis, Booker has introduced, with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the Marijuana Justice Act. The bill would not simply remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. It would also create a mechanism to expunge the criminal records of many pot offenders and create a fund of at least $500 million a year to repair the damage done to communities that have been unjustly targeted. Finally, it would strip federal money from states that continue to prohibit pot if they do not enforce their laws equitably along racial and class lines. Booker and Lee single-handedly shifted the conversation, says Queen Adesuyi, policy coordinator for the D.C. office of the Drug Policy Alliance. The Marijuana Justice Act is the first bill that deschedules marijuana that also acknowledges the harm that prohibition has done to communities of color and low income communities connecting marijuana reform to criminal justice reform and racial justice. Rolling Stone recently spoke with Booker about his bill, its intersections with the broader criminal-justice-reform movement, and how pot may play in the 2020 presidential race. Story continues With marijuana reform, whats the distinction you see between legalization and justice? The War on Drugs has been a war on people and not all people equally overwhelmingly on poor people, and disproportionately on black and brown people. Theres no difference in America in marijuana usage between blacks and whites. But African-Americans, for example, are almost four times more likely to be arrested. And this has had a profound impact on our society driving injustice, driving disparities. Kids who are on college campuses dont have to worry about getting arrested for marijuana. Two of the last three presidents admitted to using the drug. We have now people who are senators who are talking about their past marijuana usage. But in 2017 there were more people arrested for marijuana possession than all violent crime combined. And it destroys lives. It destroys families. And it destroys the economic strength of communities. So 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 and hurt people, to me, is unacceptable. How can we talk about legalization and not talk about expunging the records of people who still cant get jobs, who still cant vote in many states, still cant get business licenses because of doing things that congresspeople and senators now readily admit to doing? Weve got to expunge records. Weve got to get people who are in prison now for marijuana crimes a pathway out of prison. And weve got to take the resources the incredible tax revenue that is going to come [from the legal trade in cannabis] and reinvest it in those communities that were disproportionately targeted by the war on marijuana. Its not often in our history that centering the disproportionate harm experienced by black and brown Americans has been key to broadening a bills appeal. But this follows criminal justice reform you achieved last Congress. Can you talk about how this builds on that broader discussion and on bipartisan relationships? I feel grateful that people are receptive to this idea of restorative justice. And I have found allies on both sides of the aisle who recognize that this has been profoundly unjust and not just unjust but fiscally imprudent. That it is harming people in a way that undermines a basic sense of fairness and decency in our country. I get angry when I see people taking just one step legalizing marijuana without doing anything to address past harms. Suddenly, youre legalizing marijuana, and all of these people, who used marijuana in the past but were never caught, are lining up to get business licenses, who are not diverse in the very communities that are black and brown and low-income, where there are people who wanted those business opportunities but arent getting them because of past convictions, or because they dont have capital to start businesses. I was struck by your questioning of Attorney General Bill Barr in his nomination hearing in January. He basically challenged Congress to step up and act, that Congress needs to fix the backdoor nullification of federal drug law thats happening in states that have embraced legal marijuana. Do you think that message has a resonance with your Republican colleagues now? I did appreciate him challenging Congress to say that we do have these broken laws and we need to fix them. But his seeming willingness to continue to enforce these laws he knows are unjust was problematic to me. Complicity in unjust laws weve seen this before with Jim Crow and more complicity with unjust laws is unacceptable, and I think we should have more people standing up, where you have prosecutorial discretion, more people standing up and forcefully advocating for changes. Ive been diving into the text of your bill, and it has carrots and sticks. Yes! You have a provision that would take Department of Justice funding away from states that practice disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws along class or racial lines. Think about this for a second. We created a Crime Bill in 1994 that had ridiculous incentives for people to build out prisons and jails. We used federal streams of money to change laws and really further the War on Drugs, in a way that was so hurtful to society as a whole. My team looked at that and said: OK, if they could do these things during the Crime Bill provide incentives and disincentives for building prisons, raising mandatory minimum [sentences] and all that we could do this for a bill that undoes that same damage. The idea was to make sure that we had carrots and sticks in this bill that in many ways were the opposite of what the 1994 Crime Bill did, [which] created or accelerated the problems were seeing today. You have a very popular bill. Nearly all the 2020 candidates in the Senate are co-sponsors. Do you worry about this getting caught up in or unnecessarily polarized by presidential politics? Im not really worried about that. I see it already in the Senate where we have Cory Gardner [R-CO] some conservative Republicans are coming around on these issues. And just having done a bipartisan criminal justice bill where many people like Chuck Grassley [R-IA] and others who used to argue against a lot of things that were in that bill weve been able to build from Democratic-held ideals to broad-based deals. That passed! This is so much bigger than presidential politics for me. This has been a driving purpose of mine since I watched, firsthand, how privileged people could use marijuana without fear and without concern for repercussion. And how poor kids and minority kids have no margins whatsoever. This, to me, is so much bigger than one election. This has got to be a movement to make real what we say. When we swear an oath to this country we swear an oath to liberty and justice for all. Thats why I dont really, frankly, excuse my language, dont give a damn about what the politics of this are. Its so clearly the right thing to do. Is sweeping federal reform inevitable, do you think? I do believe that the arc of the universe is long and it bends toward justice. I do believe that, 25-plus years from now, people are going to look back and see the absurdity [that] a nation that professed its freedom would lock up such an unconscionably large number of their people for nonviolent drug crimes. When many of these people needed help economic help, drug-addiction help, mental-health help. That we have a system that just churned in valuable, wonderful human beings and stripped them of their rights, their dignity. History is going to look back at the era of mass incarceration as something that compounded societys problems and did not alleviate societys problems. I dont think its a question of if we bring about an end to this outrageous Drug War and the way that weve been persecuting it and prosecuting it. But its a matter of when. And Im grateful that there are more and more Americans who are getting on the right side of history. Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. New York City has become the first major city in the nation to allow people in jail to make free phone calls, in a new measure Mayor Bill de Blasio says will help incarcerated persons re-enter their communities after serving time. For too long have people in custody faced barriers to basic aspects of everyday life that can help create more humane jails, de Blasio, 57, said in the announcement on Wednesday. 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 measure was passed by the city council last year and went into effect on Wednesday. Up until now, people in custody were charged 50 cents for the first minute of a phone call and 5 cents for each additional minute. Now, they can make free calls up to 21 minutes every three hours, anywhere in the country with the citys Department of Correction covering those to friends and loved ones. On Monday, the @NYCCouncil will take the next step in exploring the opportunity to end a predatory practice when it debates a bill, Intro. 0741. The bill would put a stop to the Citys practice of using the jail phone as a revenue center. https://t.co/JL7SwfeDye NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (@NYCSpeakerCoJo) April 23, 2018 According to the announcement, more than 25,000 are made in New York City jails each day and the measure will help people stay connected with their families and loved ones without using funds from their commissary account. A recent study from the Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group, found that the cost of phone calls in county and city jails across the country negatively impacts those in custody awaiting trial. Story continues RELATED: New York City Passes Law to Provide Free Tampons in Public Schools, Homeless Shelters and Jails High phone rates impact everyone in jail, but those worst affected are people detained pretrial because they cannot afford bail, said Alexi Jones, co-author of the study. When someone has to organize their defense from jail, the cost of phone calls becomes extremely limiting, and that ultimately makes our justice system less fair. Families of New Yorkers in NYC jails no longer have to pay exorbitant fees to stay in touch with their family members while incarcerated. NYCDS is proud to have fought for this important initiative. Now it's time for the rest of the state to follow. https://t.co/iOxj43GI79 NYCDefenderServices (@NYCDefenderS) May 2, 2019 The majority of people in the citys jails have not been convicted of a crime and are awaiting trial, according to the Associated Press. High phone rates also hurt those in custody who rely on public defenders, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In a 2013 letter to the Federal Communications Commission, the Missouri State Public Defenders wrote that offices often fund these phone calls, costing them tens of thousands of dollars a year. This, they wrote, reduces our ability to communicate with our clients about their cases, diminishes the quality of representation we are able to provide, and thus risks denying clients their Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel. In NYC we care about fairness for all including people in our jail system. That's why we will soon be the first major city in the country to make all phone calls from jail FREE.https://t.co/MpduRiT1Ll NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) August 7, 2018 In states like California, it can cost up to $17.80 to make a 15-minute phone call from a local jail, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In New York City, the highest cost for a 15-minute is nearly $10. Despite studies that detail the predatory nature of the prison phone system, those who oppose the new measure have said free phone calls could aid gang operation in the jails. Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, said the union is concerned with deterring criminal activity inside the jails, according to the AP. Still, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has called the legislation a common sense measure. Its a fact that incarcerated individuals have a greater chance of rehabilitation when they are in touch with their community, he said in the citys announcement. But for too long, our jails charged people for making simple phone calls, which created serious problems for those in our system with limited means. Man who plotted NYC subway bombing to be released after nearly a decade of cooperation Man who plotted NYC subway bombing to be released after nearly a decade of cooperation originally appeared on abcnews.go.com It has been ten years since Najibullah Zazi and two friends plotted to detonate homemade explosives on the New York City subway system. At the time, then-Attorney General Eric Holder called it one of the most serious terrorist threats the nation had faced since Sept. 11. On Thursday, a federal judge in New York gave Zazi what he described from the bench as a once-unthinkable second chance when he sentenced him to time served, meaning he could be released within days, according to his defense attorney. Thats because Zazi facing up to life in prison following his 2009 arrest -- pleaded guilty and began a decade of cooperation against al-Qaeda, according to prosecutors. PHOTO: In this courtroom drawing, Najibullah Zazi, left appears at federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Thursday, May 2, 2019. (Aggie Kenny/AP) Zazi has provided extraordinary cooperation, 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 even where Zazi did not personally know the subjects of those investigations, federal prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum. In federal court in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday, Zazi conceded he committed terrible crimes when he plotted with two friends to blow up the NYC subways but told the judge he tried his best to correct my horrific mistake by cooperating over the last decade. (MORE: Zazi Pleads Guilty on Terrorism Charges) Zazi, 33, stood before the judge in a navy smock, shaved head and close-cropped beard transformed -- his attorney contended -- from a naive, uneducated 20-something to a mature adult who has unequivocally repudiates radical Islam. Zazi said he was no longer the naive, gullible person who traveled to Pakistan in 2008 and trained with al-Qaeda. He said it is unimaginable to him now what he became involved with and he sought forgiveness. Judge Raymond Dearie said a question lingered in his mind: Has he rejected Satan? The judge answered I think you have. Story continues (MORE: FBI Arrests Three Men in Terror Plot that Targeted New York) In imposing time served plus lifetime supervised release the judge noted This once unthinkable second chance has come your way and you earned it. PHOTO: Federal agents are seen outside Najibullah Zazi's door as they conduct a search of his apartment in Aurora, Colo., Sept. 16, 2009. (Rj Sangosti/Denver Post via AP, FILE) The judge added, when pressed by prosecutors to be thorough, If you wish to appeal the sentence of the court you should have your head examined. The extent of Zazis cooperation has never been formally articulated. A sentencing memorandum prosecutors filed Wednesday is redacted but made clear Zazi has been a vital source for those in the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities who sought to understand al-Qaeda, its motivations and its methods. Zazi Letter to Judge Dearie by ABC News Politics on Scribd Once Zazi decided to cooperate in February 2010, he gave the government his full, complete cooperation, according to court records. He proffered at great length about every aspect of his conduct without minimizing his actions, nor were there any areas of questioning that Zazi refused to address, the memo said, using to a common legal term for making an offer of information prior to any formal plea negotiations. Zazi was born in Afghanistan, grew up in Peshawar in Pakistan and came to Queens when he was 14, according to officials. Zazi went to Flushing High School but did not graduate. He operated a coffee cart on Wall Street before a 2008 trip to Pakistan. While in Pakistan, Zazi and his co-conspirators joined al-Qaeda, received training in weapons and explosives, and agreed to conduct a terrorist attack in New York City, federal prosecutors said. In the last decade, Zazi has related his experience at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, where he and his friends had gone -- thinking that they would join the Taliban. It was there that Zazi committed to the subway plot that unfolded in Colorado, where Zazi had been working as a shuttle bus driver at the Denver airport. It involved explosives made in a Aurora hotel room from beauty products and driven across the George Washington Bridge. Although the precise timing of the attacks had not been worked out, federal prosecutors said Zazi and his accomplices had agreed on the ultimate goal of detonating the bombs during suicide attacks in the New York City subway system. Zazis attorney William Stamper said that he expected that Zazi would be released in days. Zazi is at least the third admitted terrorist from the New York City area to receive little or no additional prison time after cooperating with federal investigators. Zazis co-conspirator Bryant Neal Vinas, a former altar boy from Queens, and Zarein Ahmedzay, have both been released from prison after cooperating with authorities for years. In a letter to the judge that was unsealed late Thursday, Zazi tells Dearie that he was radicallized by two friends who introduced him to the preaching of Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American-turned-extremist-Islamic preacher and senior leader al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, AQAP, who was killed in American drone strikes in the Middle East in 2011. Al-Awlaki's preaching was featured in numerous al-Qaeda propaganda videos aimed at radicalizing young Muslims around the world. Zazi said in the letter that he was introduced to "the teachings of Anwar Al-Awlaki on the internet." "Awlaki had won my sympathy and instilled a rage within me," Zazi contended. "His twisted and corrupted teachings of the Quran, I accepted, for I did not know better." Zazi goes on to say that "Looking back, I can now see how gullible I was, actually living in an imaginary world." "Your Honor, the uneducated are perfect targets for the unscrupulous. They take historical facts and contort them to their agenda, to motivate people to their will. My lack of education and the reverence surrounding Awlaki, an Islamic scholar, was enough to cause me to believe." "And believe I did, for I nearly took my own life and the lives of innocents. But now I battle back with knowledge, I read diverse books on general knowledge and am constantly getting a deeper understanding of Islam, reading many different texts." While incarcerated, Zazi said in the letter that he had earned a General Educational Developmment diploma, or GED, the general equivalent of a high school diploma. Apologies to anyone who's spent hours crafting a detailed theory that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's royal baby is already here, but Buckingham Palace just made a rare statement that basically told everyone to chill out. In an interview with CBS News on Thursday morning, May 2, the institution denied rumors that Markle had already given birth and confirmed that the child hasnt been born yet." The update comes after weeks of jam-packed speculation: Last Friday the Internet went nuts when reports emerged of an ambulance spotted near Frogmore Cottage, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex live. Some thought it meant that the big moment had finally come and Markle had gone into labor, but many changed their minds when they saw that Prince Harry was out and about in London alongside his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton. He recently offered another hint by announcing a trip to the Netherlands on May 8 and 9, leading people to think that his kid will be born before then. The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Sign A Book Of Condolence At New Zealand House Karwai Tang Still, questions have lingeredbut this is the first firm "no baby" we've received from Buckingham Palace, which has been quiet about the whole situation. We did hear from the palace in early April, when representatives shared that, to the chagrin of eager fans, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry want their baby news to remain private until they're ready to share. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very grateful for the goodwill they have received from people throughout the United Kingdom and around the world as they prepare to welcome their baby, the statement said. Their Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private. The duke and duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family. Unfortunately, the new Buckingham Palace update doesn't give us any other details. Looks like everyone is going to have to keep scouring every corner of the Internet for potential clues. Carolina Waterfowl Rescue anticipated a modest response when they put out a social media plea for knitted and crocheted nests back in March. What the Charlotte-based wildlife rescue didnt expect, was for thousands of people around the country to chip in. The organization shares the same request every year. Their shelter will often take in as many as 3,000 baby birds in need of care during nesting season, which means they need all the tiny nests they can get. If the chicks arent able to grow within the safety of a nest, they will have splayed legs when theyre older. "We look for nests every year," Bayleigh MacHaffie, a wildlife rehab specialist for CRW, told WGRZ. "Ones that people can crochet, put together so that we can put our songbirds into them when we do get them in." MacHaffie said for whatever reason, this year, the post went viral. The original Facebook post was shared thousands of times, and the shelter became flooded with just as many handmade nests, along with messages of encouragement, and greeting cards from all over the country. WATCH: Sisters Mourning Their Mother Visited by Mysterious, Friendly Cardinal Despite the recent surge in nests, CRW stressed to WGRZ that they'll never reach a point where they won't need more knitted or crocheted nests. "We do have a lot that have come in," MacHaffie said. "We could always use a little bit more and even if we don't use them, we can send them to other people who we know that does need them." If you like to knit or crochet and are interested in making nests for baby birds. Mail them to: Carolina Waterfowl Rescue P.O. Box 1484 Indian Trail, North Carolina 28079 Happy knitting, yall! The state of Chinas economy is tied to great debate, but attendees at Wednesday nights China Fashion Gala focused on whats next. Jason Wu, Vogue Chinas Angelica Cheung, actress-model Shu Qi, Esquel Groups Dee Poon and other honorees were swarmed by well-wishers before the seated dinner at The Plaza hotel in Manhattan. The masked musician Bing, Crazy Rich Asians actress Gemma Chan and a bevy of models like Xiao Wen and Shu Pei upped the wattage, while Yue-Sai Kan tried to help direct traffic on the red carpet. Presented by China Institute and Kans China Beauty Charity Fund, the event put a forward spin on China, but that involved acknowledging its past. Related stories Jason Wu Deal Brings Designer to Green Harbor China's Green Harbor Acquires Jason Wu Otis College Mentor Program Keeps Pulse on Next Generation of Designers Kan said, Before I started working for China about 40 years ago, China had no fashion at all because it was just out of Communism. No one was wearing fashion. Forget about designers 40 years ago, there was no fashion, no nothing. There has been a huge change. It is simply amazing. Forty years ago, we never would have imagined having a Chinese Fashion Gala in America. Joined by his husband, Gustavo Rangel, and a clutch of friends, Wu had several reasons to celebrate including the fact that the next day it would be revealed the Chinese fund Green Harbor had acquired a controlling stake in his brand. Being a designer was not a desirable or acceptable job especially for a boy in Asia in the Eighties. Now I am mentoring students at Otis and the majority of the class is Asian kids. Its really nice to see that Chinese parents are accepting fashion as a career choice anything in the creative fields has become allowed. Im very happy to be playing a small part in paving that road, he said on Thursday night. At work on resort, Wu said he plans to be back on the fashion calendar in September. For the last two years, I have really been thinking about my business in a new way and how to create the next generation of the Jason Wu brand. We have seen the industry change so completely. I think we all have to be really open-minded and think like a start-up again, he said. Thats the way forward for anyone in fashion. Story continues Recalling how Kan used her celebrity status in fashion for the benefit of China years ago, G-III Apparel Group chairman and chief executive officer Morris Goldfarb said, The association of one of their own was really relevant and its going to occur again. What will happen is we have watched the transition of imported brands in Japan and in South Korea become less relevant than their own. These countries are very socialist. They care very much about their own population and the celebrity of status of their own so they will begin to populate fashion with their own. These countries are amazing. They can do anything, theyre resilient, theyre patient and its not the China of 20 or 30 years ago. Inveterate traveler Mary McFadden, who summers in China and spends her springs in India, said the Stateside stay-at-home crowd doesnt understand that the security is fine in China, meaning visitors can move around freely and safely for the most part. Another fashion designer, Han Feng, divides her time between Manhattan and Shanghai. But in September she will be off to Europe to design costumes for Madama Butterfly at the Vienna State Opera. The performance is being developed by Anthony Minghellas production company, whose namesake first had Feng design costumes years ago. After her friend, Minghella, died unexpectedly in 2008, his company has gone forward with his projects that embrace his vision. Sipping a glass of chardonnay, architect Didi Pei explained the draw of the soon-to-be-completed Chateau Lynch-Bages winery in Bordeaux, France: I love wine and its a wonderful client. You cant do a good project, if you dont have a good client. As for Chinas drastically changing skyline, he said, The architectural standards of the rest of the world are now becoming the standards in China, which is good, citing Tadao Andos new opera house as a standout. The event raised $850,000 to support an assortment of educational initiatives for young designers and to support creativity inspired by China. Just as everything in China and the rest of the world has a price, so does the China Institute. Corcorans Carrie Chiang told Pei how she had picked up the listing of the institutes East 65th Street location to sell it for a second time. Five years ago she sold the Neo-Georgian house for $21.5 million and this time the price will be bumped up to $22.5 million. I told a few of the board members tonight that I undersold it, she said. Launch Gallery: Jason Wu, Shu Qi, Bing, Gemma Chan and Yue-Sai Kan Celebrate China's Past and Future Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Its no surprise that Google is everyones first stop when it comes to health. When an unusual symptom strikes or you have a burning health question, it's just way easier to look it up online than swing by a doctor's office or the local ER. But interestingly, a lot of us are Googling the same exact health topics, particularly the ones our neighbors are looking up, too. Life insurance company TermLife2Go compiled a list of the most-Googled diseases across the United States over the past year. One result that stands out? Just about everyone in the U.S. wants to know about HPV. Yep, human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most-searched disease term across the United States, according to the survey, with 16 states listing it as their number one Googled disease. Considering that 79 million Americans have one or more types of this virus (which may lead to subsequent conditions such as warts and cervical cancer, depending on the type of HPV you have), its no surprise it's such a popular search term. RELATED: The Healthiest States in the U.S. Celiac, diabetes, and asthma also made it into some of the top Google searches, along with AIDS and liver disease. Illinois was the only state to have relapsing polychondritis as their most searched-for disease; it's a rare autoimmune disorder that causes recurrent inflammation of joints and tissue. It's important to note that no definitive correlation exists between a state and its most Googled disease. But some interesting connections might be made from this data. West Virginia and Iowa, which have the first and fourth highest obesity rates in the nation, respectively, both searched for conditions that can be caused by obesity (diabetes in Iowa, and stroke in West Virginia). Kentucky and Tennessee both had asthma as one of their most Googled search terms, and ironically, these neighboring states rank third and fifth for the highest percentage of adult smokers, respectively. (Exposure to cigarette smoke can cause of asthma.) Additionally, Delaware's most Googled disease was liver disease, and this smallest U.S. state ranks third per capita in the country for highest alcohol consumptionone possible cause of liver disease. Story continues TermLife2Go Take a look at the full list of every states most Googled diseasesyou might be surprised which conditions your state is most concerned about! Alabama: AIDS Alaska: Asthma, Stroke, Liver disease Arizona: HPV Arkansas: HPV California: HPV Colorado: Asthma Connecticut: Asthma Delaware: Liver disease Florida: Cancer, HPV Georgia: HPV Hawaii: Diabetes Idaho: Celiac Illinois: Relapsing Polychondritis Indiana: Diabetes, HPV Iowa: Diabetes Kansas: Celiac Kentucky: Emphysema, Asthma Louisiana: AIDS Maine: Heart disease, Ebola virus, Lyme disease Maryland: HPV Massachusetts: Alzheimers Michigan: HPV Minnesota: Epilepsy Mississippi: AIDS, Multiple sclerosis Missouri: Colitis Montana: Rheumatoid arthritis, Celiac Nebraska: Scleroderma Nevada: HPV New Hampshire: Celiac New Jersey: Colitis New Mexico: Diabetes New York: Cancer, HPV, Colitis, Crohns North Carolina: HPV North Dakota: Liver disease Ohio: HPV Oklahoma: Lupus Oregon: AIDS Pennsylvania: HPV Rhode Island: HPV South Carolina: Scleroderma South Dakota: Diabetes Tennessee: Asthma Texas: HPV Utah: Celiac Vermont: Alzheimers Virginia: HPV Washington: HPV West Virginia: COPD, Stroke, Kidney disease, Rheumatoid arthritis Wisconsin: Diabetes, Celiac Wyoming: Pulmonary hypertension, Crohns RELATED: 10 Most Depressing States in the U.S. From conspiracy theories about Baby Sussexs arrival to questions about the Duchess of Sussexs due date everyone needs to calm down. Heres the Meghan Markle baby news update youve been waiting for! The duchess is still super pregnant. Fans were getting antsy because Markles mother, Doria Ragland has arrived in the U.K., Prince Harry is scheduled to visit the Netherlands next week, and members of the British Royal Family have visited Frogmore House. However, we can all be assured that the duke and duchess arent trying to hide Baby Sussex from the worldMarkle simply hasnt gone into labor just yet. When Meg and Harry first announced they were expecting in Oct. 2018 Buckingham Palace stated that their bundle of... Continue Reading How cool is Long Island City? Cool enough for Rei Kawakubo to pay a visit. Fashions most elusive deity will make her way there tonight to accept the Isamu Noguchi Award at the museum also named for the Japanese-American artist. Related stories 44 Met Gala Red Carpet Looks You Forgot Happened Street Signs: Looking for Rare Supreme Merch? The Collection in London Has the Answer In the Spotlight: Overcoat According to Brett Littman, the institutions director, the award honors professional creatives whose work, like Noguchis, telegraphs bravado and an expansive world view. For us, the award celebrates innovation, global awareness and, of course, Eastern-Western exchange, which was very important to Noguchi, he said in a phone conversation. The Comme des Garcons designer is the first fashion person to receive the award. Since its inception in 2014, it has typically gone to those involved in architecture and industrial design. Past recipients include Norman Foster, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tadao Ando, Elyn Zimmerman, John Pawson, Naoto Fukasawa and landscape designer Edwina von Gal. Littman didnt hide his enthusiasm at Kawakubos acceptance. We were totally thrilled, he said. Its the extra cherry on top that she thought it was important enough for her to come to New York and to accept it personally. During an interview at Comme des Garcons headquarters in New York, Kawakubo at first took issue with the suggestion that she often declines awards. She then acknowledged that she has in fact said no to several honors that had nothing to do with her work. This was involved with creation, so I thought I could accept, she said, her comments translated, as always, by her husband, Comme des Garcons president Adrian Joffe. The presentation will take place at the museum during its annual benefit. Noguchi, an early creative pioneer to Long Island City, set up a studio there and in 1985 established the museum as a site to house his work. Story continues Tonight will not be Kawakubos first visit. She and Joffe walked through with Littman earlier in the week. Asked what she thought of it, she answered with an enthusiastic beautiful, adding that Noguchis large-scale pieces were her favorites. Separately, Littman elaborated on her opinion. She said, I love the museum, but I dont like all of Noguchis bases, he recalled of their conversation, translated, as always, by Joffe. The further [detail] was that she didnt like when he put a stone on wood; she felt that it announced the sculpture too much. But when he put [a sculpture] on a base of same material, she felt that it was very beautiful. And she really liked when Noguchi just put the sculptures directly on the floor. Kawakubos visit comes almost exactly two years after her visit to New York for the Met gala that celebrated the exhibition Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between. Since then, Kawakubo framed her fall 2018 ready-to-wear collection around Camp, drawing on Susan Sontags seminal 1964 essay, Notes on Camp. The Met will explore that same topic at the exhibit opening with its gala on Monday night. Asked if shed been surprised that the Met would do an exhibit like that in such short order, Kawakubo smiled faintly through her answer. Shes not going to answer that directly, Joffe offered. Shes intrigued by how they have interpreted the theme. Shed love to see a pre-pre-pre-preview tomorrow, but we havent had an answer. Shes interested to see it, but unfortunately, we cant stay [for the gala]. Kawakubo then took the benefit-of-the-doubt high road. Are we 100 percent sure, she mused, they didnt have that idea before? Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For our June cover, InStyle editor-in-chief Laura Brown sat down with the five stars of Big Little Lies to hear what they had to say about their hit series, their lives, and their relationships with each other. Each interview, like the show itself, touches on love, friendship, struggle, and ambition which these women have in spades. LAURA BROWN: Would you characterize yourself as an ambitious person? SHAILENE WOODLEY: The word ambition has so many negative connotations for me because I feel like it can be cruel in a lot of ways. I think of people using other people. Oftentimes ambition can easily be Get out of my way because I have a goal, and anything standing in front of me is going to be completely eradicated. But every word has a polarity, and we can all define things differently. People always talk about ambition in terms of dreams and goals and success, but ambition can also be humble. LB: Yeah, you can be ambitious to love someone, to effect a change. So how driven were you when you were young? SW: Ive always been driven. But Ive been driven by ... Listen, I have to be careful about the words I choose because its easy for people to call me a hippie. [laughs] LB: Youre fine. You said you had a burger the other night. Thats, you know, not eating lentils. SW: For sure. [laughs] I truly feel like Ive been driven by something greater than myself. The great unknown is figuring out which direction to go in and which path will have the least resistance for not only my journey but for doing something to leave things a little nicer than they were before. VIDEO: Woman With Desk and Chair: How to Be a Good Friend With the Cast of Big Little Lies LB: I dont see you all the time, but when I do youre like, Im living in Paris. Oh, now Im living in the great American West. What makes you pick up and move to these different places? Story continues SW: My father grew up poor. Like, no-electricity poor. His entire life was about protecting and serving his family because that wasnt what he had when he was a child. My parents worked their asses off to give my brother and me a life where we could go camping on weekends. We could afford to go to Mexico once a year. Everything was, like, more is more. But I came into the world, like, less is more. I saw everything around me moving at such a quick pace, especially being a young person in this industry, auditioning and dealing with rejection... LB: When did you start auditioning? SW: I was 5. So thats 23 years. This year will be 24. LB: That either stiffens your spine or makes you wobbly. SW: It made me incredibly responsible, incredibly serious. And observant and flexible. I was worldly from a young age because I was exposed to so many adults and so many stories. In my early 20s I got rid of everything I owned and lived out of a carry-on. I loved it. As I got older I really craved a home, but now I find myself hungry for constant change again. Shailene Woodley in a Dorothee Schumacher blouse, an Araks bralette, Emilio Pucci shorts, her own earrings, a Mizuki bracelet, and Roger Vivier heels. Photo: Pamela Hanson/LGA Management LB: Well, you are in an industry that encourages transience. SW: It does make sense. And you have to be metabolically suited to that, to go into friendships superintensely for two, three, six months, and then bust out of that pod. LB: What did that teach you about relationships? SW: That a meaningful, profound connection doesnt need to sustain itself forever. It also taught me that people come into our lives for reasons, seasons, or lifetimes. Just because you may not be in contact with someone doesnt mean that impact has any less importance. One of the negatives of technology is that were constantly in the know. I love to be in a foreign location because its uncomfortable, and I get high off connecting with people I otherwise would never have the opportunity to connect with. Constant technological connection and communication feels like an anchor thats not adding joy or spontaneity or creativity to my life. RELATED: Zoe Kravitz Is in the "Sweet Spot" LB: I understand the desire to just stop. But given that youre pretty well known, can you just plonk into all these places? SW: A thousand percent. The way fame affects your life is determined by your lifestyle. Moving around a lot makes me feel more secure, and it makes me a better artist because I get to talk to and learn from people. If Im going to tell stories outside my wheelhouse, I need to at least have personally observed these experiences to understand them. Not all actors are like that because they are classically trained. Im not. Shailene Woodley in a Michael Kors Collection shirtdress, belt, and boots, an Araks bralette, Saskia Diez hoops, Delfina Delettrez rings, and Maria La Rosa socks. Photo: Pamela Hanson/LGA Management LB: What are you the least confident about? SW: Shit ... Thats a question for my therapist. [laughs] The honest answer to that is so many things are changing for me at the moment. I recently started therapy, and it has dramatically altered my life. A few months ago I was the least confident in my self-worth. I dont beat myself up over it anymore, but I still feel like I dont fully trust myself to say no to certain things, to trust my discernment. But I will be, very soon. LB: What are you the most confident about? SW: Im really confident I can get shit done. Making the impossible possible. Since I was 18, people told me it would be impossible to live wherever I wanted. Impossible to live a certain lifestyle. Impossible to be in another feature film. Impossible to be political. Fuck that. Fuck the impossible. My dad always used to say, If we hadnt invented the wheel, how much of our brains would we be accessing? I cant help but ruminate on that. LB: Well, its similar, the wheel and the phone. They make our lives easier but speed things up at the same time. SW: Its also melting our confidence and ambition. That world demands validation from an external silent predator, which is social media. At what point do you participate and feel good about it, and at what point do you feel like this isnt helpful? LB: How do you navigate your personal life [in this age of social media]? Do you get asked out a lot? Do you get set up? SW: No, I dont trust anyone. Datings hard. I mean, I love sex. I love the power of emotional connection via physicality. Who doesnt? But now Im only interested in those unexpected impactful connections. Its easy to talk about the positive things about love, but love is scary. Recently I was speaking with a friend, and we were like, When was the last time you met someone and had the ability to say, Im so attracted to you. I think your mind stimulates my mind in ways I cant explain. Creatively, Im feeling a 10. Physically, I cant wait to know what you feel like. And you scare the shit out of me? LB: And nice to meet you. [both laugh] OK, lets give the people what they want: Big Little Lies. How did it feel to be in Season 2? SW: Excited. Honored. Nervous. And curious. There are so many unknowns because the scripts are constantly evolving. When Im watching Big Little Lies, I feel as if Im as much an audience member as anyone else. When I do films, I see myself in almost every shot, but with this project, I take up five minutes, so I get to see story lines unfold. Im properly eating popcorn on the edge of my seat when I watch Big Little Lies. RELATED: Nicole Kidman on Coming Home to Keith LB: Youre all friends off set as well. What does it mean to spend time with a group of women like that? SW: It feels comfortable. As natural as breathing air. We can share space in silence. We can share space in noise. We can share space in reflection or gossip or anger or sadness or triumph. But every space is grounded in business. Ive experienced that on lots of movie sets with an individual, but Ive never experienced that with a group. Shailene Woodley in a Dorothee Schumacher blouse, an Araks bralette, Emilio Pucci shorts, her own earrings, a Mizuki bracelet, and Roger Vivier heels. Photo: Pamela Hanson/LGA Management LB: What have you learned about all these ladies? Well start with Zoe. SW: Ive learned what its like to grow up with someone. We know each other in a way that is very rare because weve seen each other in vulnerable moments. And exciting and empowered moments. It wouldnt be honest to say we havent had challenges, but weve stuck by each others sides. Shes like my sister. I would go to the ends of the earth for Zoe Kravitz. That woman has been a trailblazer, and she is truly interested in evolving into a better version of herself. That is something I respect beyond words. Shes also a genius. The world should be excited to see what Zoe creates, because she is a jack-of-all-trades. LB: And Reese? SW: I want to cry when I think about Reese, because that woman holds the weight of so many worlds on her shoulders yet manages to show up day in and day out with more ambition than anyone Ive ever met. More drive, more care, more passion. Even if she disagrees with you, she will take the time to understand. Sometimes I get a mothering comfort from Reese, and other times I get a cool-big-sister vibe. I admire how shes able to use humor to create the change she wishes to see. That is her superpower. Shes also a ninja. LB: She gets it done. And Laura? SW: Lauras like a warm, squishy Hersheys Kiss. I dont see her or speak with her as much as I wish, but weve had a deep bond since we shot The Fault in Our Stars [2014]. She helped me through personal battles, and Ive helped her through hers. We have a connection that deserves more than the label friends. Shes family to me. When Im around her, even if I say nothing, she understands whats happening in my life. And I can vibe her out and know exactly what shes experiencing. LB: And Nicole? SW: Nicole is my ultimate muse. What stimulates her more than anything are the inbetween moments most of us neglect. Most of us would just do this interview and forget to acknowledge theres a candle burning next to us. That would be the first thing Nicole would say: Oh, its beautiful. Then shed come back. And Nicoles capacity for reading someones soul is greater than anybodys I know in this industry. Shes hyper-aware of whats happening. Shes mastered discernment. In all areas of her life. LB: How wonderful and weird and strange that this show and these relationships all came together. SW: Life is so strange. [sighs] But I always say nothing is weird anymore. Photographed by: Pamela Hanson. Styling: Julia Von Boehm. Hair: John D. for Forward Artists. Makeup: Kara Yoshimoto Bua for Starworks Artists. Manicure: Stephanie Stone for Forward Artists. For more stories like this, pick up the June issue of InStyle, available on newsstands, on Amazon, and for digital download May 17. It was an early morning in late January, though the temperature didnt feel like the Polar Vortex I was used to in New York City. I was in the island nation of Dominica and about to embark on one of the most challenging hikes in the Caribbean. Though the hikes length was only 2.75 miles, it was known for being as difficult as it was exhilarating due to the terrain. But, in the words of Drake, it was worth it just for the #views alone. Morne Trois National Park Let me preface this story by explaining that I am not a hiker. I hike, but not religiously. A New Yorker, my morning routine usually includes mimosas, not meditation. Yet here I was, awake and in workout gear early in the morning, about to embark on an eight-hour hike. (They said it would be 4-6 hours, but I like to take breaks, and I challenge anyone to complete the circuit in less time.) We were hiking to the Boiling Lake, which stretches out for eight miles in Morne Trois National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were to encounter cloud forests, hot springs, and mini-geysers. Dominicas Boiling Lake is the second- largest in the world after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand. While New Zealand is famous for its natural beauty, Dominica is less well-known in general. Most people, myself included until a few months ago, cant even pronounce the countrys name correctly. Its called Domin-EEK-a. And, no, its not the Dominican Republic. Our hike began in the tropical rainforest setting of Titou Gorge, where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. This Nature Island of the Caribbean is famed for its wildness. It boasts an untouched beauty not found elsewhere in the Caribbean, not even in the other two islands in Dominicas West Indies chain, the French Isles of Guadeloupe and Martinique. My friend, Mia, and I were being led by our tour guide, Marvin Philbert, a historian and botanist who was also adept at skincare secrets, which Id learn later. The hike began with a climb up through the leafy green trees towards the top of a mountain. The island had been swept by hurricanes in years past, though I couldnt imagine the landscape being any lusher than it was at the moment. We passed through Gommier trees, known as King Trees, whose bark was once used for canoes, and Chataignier Trees, or Queen Trees, so named because it looks like the tree is wearing a skirt. When we passed by a freshwater lake, a chill descended around us. Story continues We call this Little England,' Marvin told me. Though the climate could not be further from the British Isle, the fog on that given day coupled with greenery that could put the English countryside to shame. The day was intermittently clear, though the liquid sunshine was always a possibility. When we descended the mountain, I encountered what can only be referred to as a Caribbean Yellowstone. We were truly one with nature, and what nature it was. We passed through several rivers and lakes where the water was crystal-clear (Trois Pitons River is a personal favorite). We stopped at Breakfast River to drink water and catch our breath, before ascending up a ridge to the summit and descending to the Valley of Desolation. At 2,950 feet, this is the highest point of the hike. On a clear day, this mountaintop clearing would provide 360-degree views of Nature Island, and though it was overcast and foggy during our hike, it was no less beautiful. The steam rising above Boiling Lake in the distance commingled with the clouds and fog. The barrenness of the vegetation at the mountaintop was a stark contrast to the towering trees below. volcanic mud mask When we descended towards Desolation Valley, an active volcanic valley, Marvin displayed an egg he had been carrying in his backpack and proceeded to place it in a plastic bag and soak it in the boiling water. We would collect it on our return trip, he told me. It would be a little treat. Another treat: Marvin applied the muddy minerals from the bubbling mud pools to my face as a natural facemask. Dominica, in fact, is the original wellness island. There are juices youve never even heard of, all green everything, and now, even, a goop-worthy facial. With our face masks on, Miriam, Marvin, and I looked like a very small warrior gang. Which, in a way, we were. I drank water from a banana leaf. The fresh water on the island is insanely refreshing and clean. In fact, on our drive from the airport, my driver, Norma, pulled over to the side of the road to get fresh water from a faucet attached to the side of the mountain. In the Valley of Desolation, the vibrant greens of the rainforest gave way to brown and gray, though the atmosphere made me anything but desolate. Hiking past mini-geysers, the hot springs reminded me of Iceland. You dont need to book a flight to Reykjavik to discover such bright turquoise waters. The mountains we climbed reminded me of the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, so green and lush. With the fog surrounded the mountaintops, I felt as though we were above the clouds. When we reached the Boiling Lake, we stopped at a craters ledge to overlook the vast, boiling water. At first, I couldnt see the lake due to the steam rising off the water. It was truly a moment of feeling into the mystic, in the words of Van Morrison. The lake was so icy blue that it reminded me of Icelands Blue Lagoon. I noticed one tiny sign propped against a rock: ATTENTION! For SAFETY reasons, Visitors are advised NOT to venture beyond this point. If we were in the United States, we would have been blocked by caution tape at every turn. I felt truly immersed in nature, completely removed from my surroundings. Even my attempts to take a picture on my phone were futile. There is truly no way of capturing Dominicas beauty, anyway; you must experience it to understand. I felt overwhelmed by the wildness, the steam rising off the water. The whole landscape felt untouched by time. I didnt want to leave. waterfall morne trois national park There was so much sulfur on the rocks that you could write your name on them. It started to drizzle, though the rain would come and go. Marvin led us to go swimming beneath a waterfall in one of the natural hot springs, where we rinsed the mud masks off our faces. On our return hike through Desolation Valley, Marvin remembered our breakfast from earlier and pulled out the boiled eggs, which had now been turned black by the minerals in the water and were ready to eat. The boiled egg and a Fruita juicebox turned out to be the unexpected breakfast of champions. We befriended some German hikers on the route back the island still remains undiscovered by many Americans and is probably the best-kept secret in the Caribbean. Hiking back up the mountain, it started to pour. I was cold, wet, and after nearly 14,000 steps I was tired. Yet I was also exhilarated. Afterward, we swam in the Titou Gorge, which reminded me, of course, of the Pirates of the Caribbean scene. I swam through the empty cave towards gorgeous hidden waterfalls. Exhausted later that evening, I returned to my enchanting hotel, Fort Young Hotel (an oceanfront resort that reminded me of properties off the coast of Italy). Yet, though Dominica reminded me of so many different places in the world, it is distinctly its own: Irreplaceable. In todays hyper-geotagged world, it can feel like youve already seen all there is to see by scrolling through your Instagram feed. My hike in Dominica was a reminder that truly transcendent wilderness experiences and genuinely meaningful self-reflection occur when you are disconnected from the rest of the world. When its raining and your jacket is soaked, mud is in your sneakers, and youve run out of everyday things to talk about with your friends, you end up thinking about and talking about issues too large to contemplate over brunch. What do you think happens when we die? Do you think you can have multiple lives of your life? Answers: Nothing, and of course. I discovered another great love on my hike the country of Dominica, its wildness, and its people. But a word to the wise: Before embarking on your own mini-adventure, be sure to book a guide like Marvin, who provided not only expertise but also good company. Plus, you dont want to be navigating a volcanic field of steaming hot springs on your own. Trust us. RELATED: The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway: What Husky Sledding in Finland Taught Me (Photos via Katherine Parker-Magyar) (Adds quotes, background) By Lesley Wroughton April 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Tuesday denied there was a military coup attempt underway to oust President Nicolas Maduro and accused opposition leader Juan Guaido of operating under orders from Washington. "It is not a coup attempt from the military. This is directly planned in Washington, in the Pentagon and Department of State, and by Bolton," Arreaza told Reuters in a phone interview from Caracas, referring to U.S. national security adviser John Bolton. "They are leading this coup and giving orders to this man (Juan) Guaido," he said. He said Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, was in full control of the country with the backing of the military, after Guaido called for a military uprising and armed factions exchanged gunfire outside a Caracas air base. "He is in his place of command as always, and he is in control of the situation. He is making government decisions as he does every day," said Arreaza, adding that he had spoken to Maduro four or five times on Tuesday. Asked why Maduro had not been seen in public on Tuesday, Arreaza said: "You will see President Maduro in Miraflores sooner rather than later." The latest violence comes after a standoff between Maduro, backed by Russia, China and Cuba, and Guaido, who has the support of the United States and some dozens of countries that have recognized him as Venezuela's interim president. Washington has imposed sanctions to try to dislodge Maduro, who has appeared to retain control of state institutions and the loyalty of senior military officers. He has called Guaido a U.S.-backed puppet who seeks to oust him in a coup. Arreaza, who was sanctioned by Washington last week, said the Venezuelan government would act to maintain peace and security. "We are not threatening anyone with the use of violence. It's the United States, it's the opposition," said Arreaza, saying he had spoken to representatives from countries in the region and in Europe who expressed concern about the situation. He declined to name the countries. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Jonathan Oatis) 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. LOS ANGELES (AP) The Latest on the arrest of an Army vet suspected in a terror plot (all times local): 6:15 p.m. The family of a U.S. Army veteran suspected of plotting terror attacks in California says they're surprised by his arrest. In a statement Monday, the family of Mark Domingo had no further comment about the criminal charges against the 26-year-old. The statement also asked for privacy. Federal prosecutors said Domingo converted to Islam and wanted retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks. The suspect's younger brother, James Domingo, told reporters outside the family's Los Angeles home that he'd hoped Mark's religious conversion would offer him some guidance. James Domingo declined to say whether he believed his brother was guilty or innocent. He said he would "wait for the trial." Mark Domingo was arrested Friday on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. It's not known if he has an attorney. ___ 12:30 p.m. Authorities say they thwarted a terror plot targeting white supremacists in California by an Army veteran who converted to Islam and wanted retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks. Federal prosecutors said Monday that Mark Domingo was arrested for planning to plant a bomb at a Nazi rally Sunday in Long Beach. Domingo was arrested Friday on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. The rally never happened. Court papers say Domingo discussed several types of attacks with an informant that included targeting Jews, churches and police officers. He said he wanted revenge for attacks on mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people last month. A message left on a phone listed for Domingo was not immediately returned. Photo credit: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4090593/180120-n-bl637-0020 From Popular Mechanics The U.S. Navy is swapping out an amphibious assault ship forward deployed in the Western Pacific with an improved version capable of carrying many more F-35B fighter jets. USS America, a warship designed to hurl waves of Marines over the beach in helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft, is also designed to function as a Lighting Carrier, embarking nothing but fighter jets to act as a sort of aircraft carrier lite. The U.S. Navys 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, Japan, is one of the most powerful naval forces in the world. The Seventh Fleet is composed of a aircraft carrier, several large amphibious assault ships, destroyers, and minehunters. The Navy rotates ships through this force on a regular basis. The current USS Wasp, is based at Sasebo, outside Nagasaki. Photo credit: MC1 Daniel Barker Wasp was recently in the news for sailing through the South China Sea loaded with ten Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighters-four more than it would usually carry. China claims the majority of the South China Sea as Chinese territory, and the Wasp was demonstrating its right of passage through the region. In May, Wasp will rotate back to the United States. The Navy will replace it with USS America, a ship practically identical on the outside but with key internal differences that allow it to carry up to twice as many aircraft-including F-35Bs. The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship is designed to act as a mobile base for a U.S. Marine Corps air-ground team. Wasps are meant to act as the centerpiece of an expeditionary strike group (ESG) that can embark a battalion of Marine Corps infantry, reinforced with tanks, light armored vehicles, and armed Humvees. The ESG also embarks an aviation component that includes MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor transports, CH-53E heavy lift helicopters, AH-1Z attack helicopters, and F-35Bs. Photo credit: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean M. Castellano USS America is based on the Wasp class but different in one key way: the well deck, a floodable deck in the back of the ship capable of launching landing craft, LCAC hovercraft, and amphibious assault vehicles was deleted from the design blueprints. Instead America uses that space to enlarge the hangar bay, store extra aviation fuel, and embark extra aircraft munitions. While Wasp-class ships can send Marines ashore by air and sea, America can do so only via air, but better than the other ships in her class. Story continues Wasp-class amphibious ships typically embark 6 F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, but Wasps passage through the South China Sea saw it take on ten of the fifth generation fighters (plus four MV-22 Ospreys.) America with her expanded aviation support suite, was built to accommodate up to 20 F-35s , plus two H-60 search and rescue helicopters. A typical Nimitz-class nuclear powered supercarrier typically embarks four squadrons of Super Hornet strike fighters, or about 40-48 fighter jets. Photo credit: MC1 Daniel Barker This lightning carrier concept, named after the F-35B Lightning II, allows an America-class ship to carry about forty percent of the firepower of a Nimitz-class carrier. The vertical takeoff and landing nature of the F-35B also means the Marines can fly their jets off the lightning carrier, land them at primitive airstrips on shore, and disperse them in the vicinity of the enemy--something regular carriers cant do. A twenty fighter lightning carrier is the second most powerful aviation platform in the world, after the U.S. Navys supercarriers, and more powerful than Chinas Liaoning aircraft carrier, the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov, and perhaps even the UKs new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers. The lightning carrier concept does have its share of shortcomings. America-class ships lack dedicated helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, and cant embark E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft that can detect aerial threats from afar and direct an air battle. This is a major problem if the embarked fighter force needs to help defend the America. F-35Bs, unlike Super Hornet strike fighters, cant refuel one another, extending the fighters operating range. And an assault ship loaded to the gills with stealth fighters is one less ship capable of conducting a amphibious landing. A lightning carrier is a good ad hoc carrier, but it will never be on the same level as the Nimitz or Ford-class carriers. Source: Task & Purpose ('You Might Also Like',) Associated Press A Japanese space tourist said Wednesday that he felt his 12-day mission to the International Space Station was too short and he would love to stay a week more. Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin blasted off to the station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Dec. 8 and returned to Earth on Monday. It takes three or four days to adapt and then you realize that there are just eight days left and it's not enough," Maezawa told reporters via a video link from the Star City space flight training facility where they undergo post-flight checks. (This April 26 story corrects spelling of name in paragraph 6)) By Valerie Volcovici (Reuters) - The Trump administration failed to adequately consider oil spills, climate change and the welfare of polar bears in its expedited study of proposed drilling in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to comments published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week. The unusually harsh criticism from federal wildlife regulators could deal a blow to one of the most high-profile items in President Donald Trumps energy agenda, and reflects the pitfalls of the administrations drive to speed up big projects with quicker, shorter environmental studies. The Interior Department wants to hold its first lease sale of at least 400,000 acres in ANWR, America's largest wildlife sanctuary, later this year, but could face lawsuits if its permitting process is flawed. The Fish & Wildlife Service said the ANWR Coastal Plain draft environmental impact study (EIS) failed to include oil spill response plans, analyze the effects of climate change on the Arctic, or ensure that surveys of polar bear denning habitats are required. The Interior subagency also listed dozens of other information gaps in its 59 pages of comments and implied that the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management wrote the study without properly consulting wildlife regulators. "The Service has managed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and its resources for several decades and has information and expertise that is valuable in formulating a final EIS that can withstand the scrutiny of legal sufficiency," the agency's Alaska director Gregory Siekaniec wrote. The Fish & Wildlife Service declined to provide further comment. The Interior Department said its Bureau of Land Management had received thousands of comments on the draft study, all of which would be considered. "BLM has an obligation to consider all of these comments -including those from its sister agency (Fish & Wildlife) - and anticipates they will inform the Final EIS inmultiple ways," spokeswoman Molly Block said in an email. Story continues BLM completed the draft environmental impact study at the end of December, after Trump expressed an interest in opening the zone to drilling. The comment period ended on March 13. The study was among the first of its kind since Trumps Interior Department in 2017 issued an order that assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act be completed within one year and be no longer than 150 pages. NEPA studies under past administrations have taken years and filled out thousands of pages, a major source of frustration for drillers, miners and other industries that argue the process creates unnecessary delays. Experts said the effort to streamline environmental permitting, however, could also cause problems. "Imposing the timelines and page limits will mean significant impacts go un-analyzed. Tribal consultation and coordination will likely get shortchanged, important scientific data will not be considered, and the publics ability to provide meaningful input on alternative courses of action will be compromised," said Geoff Haskett, former Fish & Wildlife Service director for Alaska and president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. ANWR covers some 19 million acres of Alaskas North Slope, home to bears, caribou, lynx and muskox, and overlying around 16 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, according to federal officials. It has been a lightning rod of contention between energy companies that want to develop it and conservationists that want to protect it since the 1970s. Authorities praised one of the victims killed at the University of North Carolina Charlotte as a hero for taking the fight to the gunman who opened fire on campus Tuesday night. Student Riley Howell, 21, absolutely saved lives, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told reporters Wednesday. Howell followed active shooter training, Howell said, which instructs people to run, hide, fight. He took the fight to the assailant. Unfortunately he had to give his life to do so, but he saved lives doing so, Putney said, adding, He did exactly what we train people to do. He noted that the gunman had quite a bit of ammo. When the gunman attacked the schools Kennedy building, Howell lunged at the shooter and took the assailant off his feet. Soon after, UNC Charlotte police officers Sgt. Richard Gundacker and Lt. Sarah Smyre rushed into the classroom were able to disarm the assailant, Putney said. Howell, along with classmate Ellis Parker, 19, were killed. Four others were wounded in the shooting: Sean Dehart, 20; Drew Pescaro, 19; and Emily Houpt, 23; all from North Carolina, and Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saudi Arabia. The alleged gunman, Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, faces 12 charges, including two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder. Howells family described the North Carolina native as a strong athlete and a good friend in a statement to WCCB Charlotte. He was everyones protector, always standing up for what he believed in and lending a strong back to those in need, the statement said. The family thanked people for their support and said that to the family, Howell has been a hero for a long time and now they share him with so many others. At the press conference, Putney said he was not ready to comment on the gunmans motive, but that he had specifically targeted the Kennedy building. Story continues UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois said that while exams will resume next week, professors will have maximum flexibility to determine whether to hold exams, and whether particular students are emotionally prepared to sit for exams. Dubois said that the university will still hold its graduation on May 10 and 11 as scheduled, and that students completion of coursework wont factor into their ability to walk. We dont care if they finished all their coursework. We dont care if they finished all their exams. If they intended to walk, theyll walk, said Dubois. 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. Story continues 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: Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's embattled Yemen policy received a lifeline Thursday as the US Senate failed to override his veto of a measure that would end American support for the Saudi-led coalition in a country devastated by war. Congress dealt Trump a harsh rebuke in March when both chambers passed a historic resolution that would have curtailed a president's war-making powers, and on April 16 Trump issued just the second veto of his presidency to block the measure. The Senate on Thursday voted 53 to 45 to override Trump's veto. But 67 votes are needed to do so in the 100-member chamber, and the minority Democratic camp could only muster crossover support from a handful of Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supports Trump on Yemen, said the vote offered lawmakers "a second chance to send the right message regarding America's commitments to our partners in the region, to important humanitarian missions, and to eradicating Al-Qaeda from the Arabian peninsula." Trump has argued that US support for the bloody war between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Huthi rebels was necessary for a variety of reasons, including protecting the safety of more than 80,000 Americans residing in certain coalition countries. Democrats have long complained that US involvement in the Yemen conflict -- through intelligence-sharing, logistical support and now-discontinued aerial refueling -- is unconstitutional without congressional authority. Bernie Sanders, the liberal senator who is running for president in 2020 and is a sponsor of the resolution that passed Congress, framed the veto vote as a life or death issue. "We can save thousands upon thousands of people if we override Donald Trump's veto," he tweeted shortly before the vote. The war in Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people at risk of famine. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since March 2015, while rights groups say the toll could be far higher. Another US presidential hopeful, Senator Kamala Harris, called Trump's veto a "mistake," and that US-backed war "has led to famine, destruction, and senseless death." Bipartisan anger has simmered in Congress since the murder last October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by commandos from Riyadh. Washington (AFP) - 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. Story continues 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. Geneva (AFP) - Switzerland has registered two deaths from measles this year, health authorities said Thursday, stressing the importance of vaccinating against the highly contagious disease. The health ministry warned that the number of measles cases was on the rise this year, with 155 people infected, including two who had died. A man in his thirties, who had never been vaccinated against the disease, died after being infected by a family member, it said. He had received the vaccination 67 hours after being exposed to the virus. But "this post-exposure vaccination came too late: he developed measles," the health ministry said, adding that he died at home shortly after the first symptoms appeared. A second man, in his 70s, whose immune system had been weakened by cancer, had meanwhile died shortly after developing pneumonia brought on by measles, it said, adding that it was unclear how he had been infected. The ministry recalled that the measles vaccine is highly recommended, pointing out that it protects not only the person who receives the jab, but also people too weak to be vaccinated themselves, and halts the spread of the virus. The announcement came as concern grows over the impact of anti-vaccination stigma, amid a signficant hike in measles cases worldwide. The World Health Organization said last month that cases of the disease had soared 300 percent globally since the beginning of the year, and sounded the alarm over slipping vaccination rates. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said military intervention in Venezuela is possible, to support opposition leader Juan Guaidos attempts at an uprising against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government. Clashes between anti-government protestors and Venezuelan security forces broke out Tuesday following a call from Guaido for a mutiny. The demonstrations included one moment when several armored vehicles hit at least two people while driving into a group of opposition protestors, the Associated Press reports. Video footage of the unrest showed protestors running from armored vehicles, defending themselves with rocks and homemade bombs. Maduro said Tuesday that attempted coup by Guaido was defeated and that the country will never surrender to imperialist forces in an address on state television. Now you can see Venezuela largely in peace, he said. Pompeo, who previously claimed that Maduro was ready to fly to Cuba after the military uprising but decided to stay in Venezuela after being persuaded by Russia to remain, said Wednesday that military intervention could happen in light of the uprising. Military action is possible. If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do, he told Fox Business Network. Maduro has denied Pompeos claim that the Venezuelan president was ready to leave to Cuba. How crazy can things get? That I, Maduro, had a plane ready to escape to Cuba and that the Russians prohibited me from leaving, he said during his televised address. Mr. Pompeo, please. Such a lack of seriousness. Pompeo likely warned of military intervention in Venezuela as part of the U.S.s strategy to apply enough pressure that would convince armed forces in the country to turn against Maduro, says Frank Mora, a professor at Florida International University who previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs with the Department of Defense. Story continues Their own logic is that if they hit themselves in the chest a lot and have a warlike rhetoric that somehow the military in Venezuela, in order to avoid the alleged intervention, will move against Maduro, he tells TIME. Now, both the government and the opposition are pushing forward for more demonstrations. Despite the setbacks, Guaido has pushed forward in his calls for more protest on Wednesday. And Maduro has called for his backers to rally in support, the AP reports. Buenos dias! Hoy continuamos, estos son los puntos de la concentracion el dia de hoy en Caracas. Seguimos con mas fuerza que nunca Venezuela. #VamosConTodo https://t.co/Rcp5jAo3U5 Juan Guaido (@jguaido) May 1, 2019 Guaido and Maduro have clashed over who will control Venezuela since January, when Guaido claimed Maduros second term as president, won through an election that many considered rigged, was invalid and counted as a vacuum of power. Guaido declared himself the rightful president of Venezuela, an assertion backed by the Trump administration and at least 54 other countries. Its unclear why Guaido prompted people to begin demonstrations on Tuesday, says Mora. Over the past few weeks, the opposition leader has worked to set the stage for a big demonstration on May 1, in which people were asked to march on to the Miraflores Palace, or the presidential palace. Its important and significant and not something they had done before a critical moment to see what armed forces would do, Mora says. By asking people to protest 24 hours in advance, Guaido surprised everyone, including his supporters, in a call for a sudden rebellion, he says. Guaido has worked to get an uprising to take off for about four months to little result, which indicates that the military in Venezuela has little incentive to turn against Maduro, according to Mora. Already, drug trafficking and other issues have caused rampant corruption in the armed forces. Many officers in the military feel they have no option but to stay, he says. They have no other choice its either jail, exile or death, he says. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Have you been touched by this issue? Is one of your friends or family members among the vanished? Do you think law enforcement has done enough to solve these cases? Share your thoughts here. Besides the day her father was pressed into the forced labor squads, the clandestine missions under the nose of the Nazis, the traumatic separation from her mother, the overcrowding on the train, the bombings, hunger, uncertainty and fear, after the dysentery at Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp after all of the above, Daisy Hefner reached Auschwitz. It was supposed to be a sweet moment. After all, her life was spared. But Hefner, 90, primarily remembers the cold. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter She was a girl of 15, experienced in hardship and tribulations, who escaped Nazi-occupied Hungary. None of that changed the fact that it was mid-December and it was freezing. Snow covered the city of Caux, 1,000 meters high in the Swiss Alps, and all Hefner received to protect herself from the cold was a blanket. Israel Kastner Hefner probably does not recall how, amidst the chaos during the disembarking process, how her personal information was jotted down in blue ink as: Yehudit Tauzski, 10.11.1930, Budapest; student. She made up the birthdate and name as it was the name on the slip of paper she received that allowed her to board the Kastner train. But Hefner's life story is more than real. Daisy Hefner 75 years after being rescued from the claws of the Nazis, the name of the retired teacher from Kibbutz Givat Brenner and great-grandmother of four, appears on two newly discovered lists of survivors, passengers on the Kastner train that brought them to safe haven in Switzerland. Unlike other, previously publicized lists of the train's passengers, these two lists describe the end of the harrowing journey outside of Nazi-occupied Europe. The lists were located in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People at the National Library and will be made available for public viewing, online, this week in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The lists were delivered to the archives 30 years ago by Rabbi David Moshe Rosen, the chief rabbi of Romania during the Communist period. Although the items received underwent preliminary cataloging, the historical worth of the documents escaped the eyes of the archivists and their actual value was only recently discovered due to a research project utilizing the archives. The list of people on the "Kastner train," which ferried 1,670 Hungarian Jews to safety, has been published before, but it was drawn up when the train left Hungary, or during its stop at Bergen Belsen. Kastner train list The uniqueness of these new lists is that they were compiled at the end of the rescue operation. For example, the lists reveal that when the train arrived in Switzerland in December of 1944, there were 20 less people aboard then previously assumed. For some reason or another, those 20 individuals failed to make the journey from Bergen Belsen to safety. Two of the new lists consist of 1,672 names, fewer than the commonly assumed sum. However, several of those who remained in Bergen Belsen and did not continue on to Switzerland did manage to nevertheless survive the war. The lists provide a new perspective in understanding one of the biggest, most complicated and controversial rescue operations that took place in Nazi occupied Europe and in Jewish history in general. Daisy Hefner was born in 1929 in Budapest. She was an only child to artistic parents. Her father had a dance and acrobatic studio and her mother had a clothing store that also supplied costumes for the theatre. They were Jews, but most importantly they were Hungarians her father fought in the First world War, she studied at a Protestant school and the family was indifferent to Zionism and rarely celebrated Jewish holidays. "I recall that on Rosh Hashana we would go visit my grandparents and once we celebrated Passover, that is all," says Daisy. "We knew we were Jews, but religion did not play a role in our lives. I never encountered anti-Semitism." But once the Second World War broke out and the destruction of European Jewry began, rumors regarding the Nazis actions reached Hungary (then still free). "We did not have a radio or newspapers, but we felt from the atmosphere in the house that something big was happening," she said. As the war progressed and began influencing events in Hungary, that felling grew. Jewish refugees from Germany and Poland began trickling in to Hungary and the Hefner family even hosted a few of them. "My father was inducted into forced labor squads and I dont know how my mother obtained food, but we managed." Following in the footsteps of her cousin, she joined the Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror and would carry out secret missions to provide food and supplies to Jewish refugees in Hungary. "I was not a hero, rather a curious girl who suddenly felt very important," she says modestly. "At times it was very scary, travelling by train to the mountains to bring food in a backpack to Polish Jews. Apparently, I was a very brazen and curious girl." Her boldness and curiosity would soon help her survive. Kastner train The German occupation of Hungary in March 1944 brought with it decrees targeting the Jews who were subject to curfews and had to wear a yellow tag. A fellow member of Habonim provided her with a "ticket" to safety. Several hundred Hungarian Jews received such a "ticket" that allowed them passage on the "Kastner train" which left Budapest in June 1944. Hefner met other Jews, many frightened and confused, at the predetermined meeting place at the outskirts of the city. There was a rumor that they would travel to the Land of Israel via Spain; others spoke of Auschwitz, a notorious location they had heard stories of. Dr Israel Kastner was raised in an affluent Jewish family and he was a prominent Zionist activist in Hungary. He was among the founders of the Aid and Rescue Committee in Budapest which assisted Jewish refugees. Following the Nazi occupation, the committee, headed by Kastner, began negotiations with the Nazi commander charged with Jewish affairs Adolf Eichmann to transport Jews to countries outside of the Nazi occupation zone in exchange for money and goods. Israel Kastner (: ) Kastner ultimately managed to convince the Germans to allow several hundred Jews to escape Hungary. In June 1944, a train left Budapest with 1,684 Jews onboard. The train made a stop at the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in Germany where its passengers waited as negotiations continued. In December the train finally left for safety in neutral Switzerland. Hefner describes the experience as a chaotic and confusing one. The passengers were crammed into the crowded train cars and were uncertain of their fate as they slowly made their way West, through territory under allied bombardment as well Nazi bureaucracy. Hefner contracted dysentery and was barely conscious during the first few weeks in Bergen Belsen. Even after reaching safety in Switzerland she describes the ordeal as a nightmare: they were put up in an abandoned hotel without heating, high up in the Alps and she mainly remembers the cold they were subject to. In 1949 Hefner immigrated to the young State of Israel and settled in Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Her mother also survived and made her way to Israel as well. Her father on the other hand, perished during the war. In 1952, a journalist by the name of Malkiel Greenwald accused Dr Kastner of preparing the ground for the destruction of Hungarian Jewry by the Nazis and of plundering their property. He described the Kastner train as carrying "well connected" individuals, including Kastner's own family. Kastner sued Greenwald for libel leading to the famous "Kastner trial" which opened a pandora's box that has yet to fully settle. The trail shook the foundations of Israeli society and in his verdict, judge Binyamin Halevy wrote that "Kastner had sold his soul to the devil." The narrative that emerged following the trial was that Kastner personally chose which Jews would be saved from the Nazis and did so at the expense of the rest of Hungarian Jewry, for personal gain while cooperating with the Nazis. In 1957, while the verdict was under appeal, Kastner was murdered outside of his home in Tel Aviv; it was Israel's first political murder. Shortly before his death, Kastner penned his thoughts on the matter citing the complexity surrounding the question of which Jews ought to be saved and who would be left behind. He wrote that at least children, especially non-orphans, and those Jews who devoted their lives to public service ought to be saved, along with their wives. Many of those recued by Kastner remain in contact with each other and stubbornly defend him, arguing that he had the brazenness and courage to approach Eichmann and take action. "He did not choose me to be on the train, he did not know me," says Hefner, "he gave the "tickets" to the youth movement and religious leaders (like the Rebbe of Satmar), as well as many intellectuals and wealthy individuals whose money went to the rescue effort." "I was never ashamed of being a 'Kastner survivor,'" says Prof. Victor Hernik. "Kastner saved me, I was lucky. I had no special right to board that train, but nor did I have any less right than other children." Prof. Hernik Hernik, who is now professor emeritus of mathematics at Haifa University, was five when he boarded the Kastner train with his parents. His father was a Zionist activist, which gained him the "ticket" to escape with his family from the Kluj Ghetto while most of its inhabitants perished in Auschwitz. "I am here today because of Kastner," he says. "Some people criticize him saying he should have acted differently. But if such a person had lived in Budapest at that time and had to make the decisions that Kastner made, they would understand the significance and responsibility. I dont think Kastner could have acted differently." Every year, around the time of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Kastner train survivors gather outside Kastner's home in Tel Aviv and light a candle in his memory. They feel that they have an obligation to cleanse his name of the accusations he faced. In the words of Dr. Yohai Ben-Gedalia, director of the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People at the National Library, "Much of the talk surrounding Kastner is regarding the controversy of his character and the train. The lists we have discovered do not shed new light on this matter, but rather on the survivors themselves." When researchers looked into the addresses where the train passengers stayed in Switzerland, they discovered that they were all institutions of the Swiss Jewish community, testifying to the effort by Jewish organizations to help their brethren. In a week's time, at the state ceremony marking the start of Israel's Independence-day celebration, Rabbi Jeff Finkelstein, president of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, will light a celebratory torch in the name of Jews of the Diaspora. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter For Finkelstein it will be the end of a tough six months, Probably the toughest the Jewish community in Pittsburgh has known It was a Saturday morning in October, when a racist, Robert Bowers, entered the Tree of Live synagogue, opened fire and murdered 11 worshippers. This is now known as the worst atrocity in Jewish American history. The Tree of Life Synagogue after deadly shooting (Photo: AFP) Last Saturday, exactly six months later, in Poway, California, another murderer opened fire, killing Lori kaye and wounding four other worshippers. It is now 80 years since the beginning of the Second World War and the extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis, and anti-Semitic incidents are at a record-breaking high. 2018 has not been good to Jews around the world. Ynet reporters are going back to some places impacted by the most despicable anti-Semitic crimes, to check in. "I am proud to represent the diaspora in the torch lighting ceremony" says Rabbi Jeff Finkelstein who has lead the Tree of Life congregation for over a 15 years, "though I would gladly give up the honor this tragedy never to have happened and fore these 11 people to have been with us today. Flowers in memory of victims of Tree of Life shooting (: AFP) Since that horrible day, he has been helping the families of the victims. He also started a program to support victims of terror from the mosques in New Zealand. Rabbi Finkelstein told Ynet, this week, that his community is recovering slowly. "our community came together after the attack" He said. "we are more united. We've given psychological help where it was needed. This week, following the shooting in Poway, we brought psychologists to the synagogue, to encouraged people who wanted to talk". Rabbi Jeff Finkelstein (Photo: courtesey of the Jewish federation, PA) Security is tighter there now. "We've looked at our security arrangements. We're checking what security our members can provide. I think we are all more alert since we were attacked". Finkelstein says the Neo-Nazi's are a relatively small group in the United States but he still takes the FBI statistics, that show a rise in anti-Semitic incidents, seriously. "Anti-Semitism is the oldest form of hate in any society so though it is increasing now, it is our job to push it back down and make sure it stays down". Sara Malka Cohavi looks at her door and smiles, it is clean and to the right of it is a Mezuzah. "It's nice to have one on the door worrying it will be ripped off". She's been in Israel for 5 months but only six months ago her home in Las Vegas was targeted by anti-Semites, twice. One November morning, Sara left home early, to run errands in preparing for her "Aliya", move to Israel, with her Israeli husband and their three children. A move they've been planning for three years. When she got back, she saw someone had sprayed a swastika's and 'Heil Hitler' on her door. swastika on the door of a Jewish family in Los Vegas She told Ynet at the time, that she did not know who was behind this act of vandalism, but it was time to leave. Originally the plan was to move to Israel within a year, but that evening, Sara and her husband booked their flights for the following month. Preparations were taking a while because Sara was not born Jewish, she was adopted by a Jewish family. But everything was put on a fast track. As a sign they were right to move, two weeks before they were due to leave, while lighting the 5th Hanukah candle, someone egged their door. "It just shows you if someone dislikes the fact that you are Jewish, they will let you know. Shockingly they don't try to hide it anymore" The trauma is still fresh. "I was scared to walk out with my kids, I didn't want them to see the door. We ended up covering it with a cloth. We later found-out that more houses had the same thing done to them" Sara Kochavi Sara is happy with her decision to move to Israel. "living here is amazing. the kids love it here and so do we. I'm only sorry the Nevada police will stop looking for the person who attacked my home. He was never caught and will probably do it again to some other Jewish family" Sara believes these acts are motivated by the same old ani-Semitic hate along with an ani-Israeli sentiment: "People think Israel is an apartheid country" she says. Sarah and her husband have told the kids about Holocaust Memorial Day, they've prepared them for the sirens, since this will be the first time, they will experience them. They also showed them clips on YouTube. 14 thousand Jews live in Cape Town, in South Africa and the community is still reeling from the vandalism of last December when 39 out of the 50 tombstones were vandalized in the small cemetery in Wellington, a 45 min. drive away. The community has started repairs but they are expensive and there is no budget. The local mayor was asked to help. Stuart Diamond, leader of the Jewish community, says there are not many anti-Semitic incidents in the Cape area, but the numbers are rising. "There is a lot of hate" he told Ynet," we have adopted the attitude of dealing with it. We expect community leaders to condemn it". Holocaust Memorial Day is important for us" he said, "it's a reminder that hate should be dealt with before it grows, and Holocaust Memorial Day is a good platform from which to spread that idea. Jews must realize that 80 years ago in Poland this hate existed and it still does today, and it is up to us to make sure history does not repeat itself". Anti Israel demonstration, Cape Town (Photo: EPA) Stuart is worried most about the rhetoric of political leaders. "They are quick to give titles. We are monitoring things and call for interfaith dialogue. I spoke in a mosque not long ago. We are building bridges. "There are 750 thousand Muslims in the area. BDS is strong here. The Jewish community considers itself ultimately responsible to protect Israel against the BDS but that has its risks. "Jews are well assimilated in these parts. They want to be part of building its history" Stewart says, but the BDS movement is becoming stronger and the government has lowered the level of diplomatic relations with Israel and recalled its ambassador. Still the Wellington incident is an aberration. "Our lesson is that anti-Semitism and hate cannot be ignored and must be talked about. "After events in Pittsburgh and Poway, we must take things seriously. We have had protection around our Jewish institutions for the past 20 years. There are armed police outside our synagogues. We must be vigilant and have taken steps to make sure Jews are safe. For 5 or 6 years, a blatantly anti-Semitic mural hung at The Vortex art complex in central Los Angeles, until a Jewish woman who came by for a local festival, saw it and decided to put an end to it. She contacted Tal Segal, who worked for the World Zionist Organization, and he, along with friends, posted a picture on social media and got a huge response. There were expressions of shock, outcries and even activism. Someone showed up at the wall with white spray paint and wrote: "there is no place for hate". Anti Semitic mural in LA (Photo: Tal Segal) But the owner of the wall, refused to erase the disgusting image that shows the angel of death dropping a baby, clad in a blue cloth with stars of David, surrounded by snakes and missiles and of course the obligatory bowl of cash. Though the mayor of L.A. condemns the mural, he cannot force the private owner to remove it. But Segal says they've raised awareness and that too is important. People need to recognize when something is anti-Semitic and hateful. On the one hand, there is the Polish government which bans blaming the Polish people for the Nazi atrocities; on the other hand, there is Israel and the rest of the world standing against an attempt to rewrite history. Amid this merciless political game are the few elderly survivors from the ashes of the Holocaust. They are the ones who remember and remind us of the brave Righteous Among Nations who risked their lives to save Jews. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Aside from being offended by the Polish reactions, that are on the verge of Holocaust denial, there is some sense in protesting the ignorance involved in dealing with this delicate issue over the past year with expressions such as "Polish extermination camps" and so on. The burning of the puppet with Jewish characteristics All sides concerned understand that the Polish law is obscure and anti-Semitic. But with the Polish prime minister outrageously comparing Polish and Ukrainian involvement in the Holocaust with "Jewish crimes" and with the State of Israel; Jews in the diaspora and Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz undiplomatically retaliating, along comes the story of the Easter holiday ceremony involving burning puppets with Jewish characteristics on the streets of Poland two weeks ago, a reminder that part of the Polish nation never stopped hating. Lately, the horrendous stories of Polish atrocities during the Holocaust are diminishing because many of the survivors have died. An Israeli Charity "J-nerations" has launched a campaign called "Thus Poles were cruel to us" which publishes harsh testimonies of survivors online. These are small stories of huge tragedies that include collaboration, abuse, murder and looting on an unimaginable scale - with the aid of the Poles. Writings in Polish on envelopes revealing Polish collaboration (Courtesy of the National Library of Israel) When the Polish prime minister insists that his people saved Jews during the Holocaust and when Polish ministers take pride in the number of Polish Righteous Among the Nations, Jewish Organizations in Poland are quick to point out that the number diminishes in ratio to the number of Jews in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust. The fact that Poles too were murdered by Germans during the Holocaust doesn't justify Polish collaboration with the Nazis. The need to stand up for the historical facts is now more crucial than ever as Polish Leadership attempts to revise their role in the Holocaust. First and foremost, the Holocaust was an attempt to annihilate the Jews and not the Poles. Secondly, we mustn't forget that the number of Poles who gave out information on Jews for a kilo of sugar was four times higher than the number of Polish Righteous Among the Nations. Israeli military said Thursday two rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory in a pre-dawn attack. No injuries or damage was reported. Earlier, IDF struck several Hamas positions in the enclave in retaliations to the launching of incendiary airborne devices. The IDF struck several Hamas military targets in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, in response to the launching of incendiary airborne devices into Israel earlier Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter One firebomb launched on Wednesday caused a fire in a field in the Eshkol Regional Council. An IDF strike in the Gaza Strip (file photo) (File photo: AFP) The IDF said following the strike, that it views any attempt to harm the citizens of Israel, severely, and that it will continue to act against "all terror acts." "We hold Hamas responsible for everything that happens in the Strip," said the IDF. at 05:36 am Thursday, two Red Alert sirens blared through border area communities, as two rocket launches from Gaza into the area were observed. No damage or injuries were reported. On Monday, a long-range rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip and landed at sea, off the shore of one of Israel's Southern coastal towns. It did not cause any damage. The IDF said that the Islamic Jihad terror group was behind the launch. Islamic Jihad militarists (file photo) (Photo: AFP) In an unusual statement, the IDF specifically laid blame on Baha Abu Al Ata, Islamic Jihad's commander of Gaza city, in what can be seen, as a threat of possible Israeli action directed at him. Al Ata is believed to have been operating under orders from Ziad Nahala, the organizations' leader. A senior Islamic Jihad official denied the claims the following day, saying that the accusations made by Israel are made in order to incite the Palestinians against the organization. According to military sources, Islamic Jihad has been more active, lately, in its efforts to instigate violent attacks 'under the radar' and cause disruption to civilian life. Saudi Arabia's coast guard assisted an Iranian oil tanker with engine trouble off the coast of Jeddah in the Red Sea after Riyadh received a request for help from Iran, the state news agency SPA said on Thursday. The crew comprised 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, SPA said. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 43F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 43F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. A new survey has found that many Austrians lack basic knowledge of the Nazi genocide - even though the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp was just outside of the city of Linz, and some of the key perpetrators of the Holocaust were Austrian. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The study released Thursday by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which negotiates compensation for victims, showed that 56% of Austrian respondents did not know 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Some 36% believed 2 million or fewer were killed - a belief that rose to 42% among younger people aged 18-34. Claims Conference CEO Greg Schneider said the numbers were in line with the first two surveys done on knowledge in the United States and Canada, but were more surprising coming from Austria. In this file photo from May 2, 2013, a visitor looks at a poster of the former Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen "The trends are the same, which indicate a really disturbing lack of knowledge about the Holocaust, but one of the things different about this survey is that it's done in a place where the Holocaust occurred," he said in a phone interview from New York. The results come amid ongoing concerns over Austria's far-right Freedom Party, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's junior governing coalition partner, which was led by former Nazis in the postwar period. Though it's officially distanced itself from that past, rhetoric from party members continues to evoke the Nazi era. Just last week, the deputy mayor of Braunau am Inn - Adolf Hitler's hometown - left the party after writing a poem comparing migrants to rats, similar to the way the Nazis characterized Jews. And on the weekend, party leader Heinz-Christian Strache, also the country's vice chancellor, created an uproar saying his party was fighting against a "replacement of the native population" or Bevoelkerungsaustausch - a term used by European far-right groups that is also reminiscent of the Nazi terminology. "The greatest fear is that something like the Holocaust could happen again, so I think it's too narrow to limit the concerns to Austria," Schneider said. "Yes, there are troubling signs like the mayor (of Braunau am Inn), but since just last month there's been a shooting in a mosque in New Zealand, bombings in churches in Sri Lanka, and now shootings again at a synagogue in the United States - one of the key takeaways from the Holocaust is that it started with words, which quickly lead to deeds." A memorial held in honor of victims murdered in synagogue shooting (Photo: AP) Austrians were asked about the Freedom Party in the survey and were equally split, with 43% seeing it favorably and 43% unfavorably. Thirty-six percent said they considered parties like the Freedom Party patriotic, while 42% said such parties were nationalist and xenophobic. Last year, a prominent Freedom Party member stepped down after it was revealed he was in an Austrian student fraternity that promoted neo-Nazi ideals, including singing songs with anti-Semitic lyrics. Asked about such fraternities, 16% said they should be able to keep singing their traditional songs even if they were anti-Semitic, while 70% said they should not be able to practice anti-Semitic traditions. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem office, said a striking result in the survey was that only 13% said Austria was a Holocaust perpetrator, while 68% said it was both perpetrator and victim, and 12% said it was a victim. "Given the fact that approximately a third of the most culpable Holocaust criminals were Austrians, that says a lot about the Holocaust distortion in Austria and the reluctance to take any responsibility," said Zuroff, who was not involved in the study, in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. Indeed, while 79% of respondents knew Hitler was an Austrian, only 14% knew Adolf Eichmann, who played a major role in the Holocaust, was German-Austrian. Schneider noted that 42% also said they weren't familiar with Mauthausen, even though the concentration camp was located in Austria. "It's as if you had a person in Texas who had never heard of the Alamo, it's just shocking... it's in their back yard," he said. In a positive sign, however, Schneider said 82% of respondents said the Holocaust should be taught in schools. The survey of 1,000 adults, which was released to coincide with Israel's observation of Holocaust Remembrance Day, was conducted between February 22 and March 1 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity to examine what is done and what isn't being done about the memory of the Holocaust and for its survivors. Both Israel and anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers have some things to ponder in that regard. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter It's been 74 years since the death camps were liberated by the allied forces, and we still have among us few survivors who experienced hell on earth, in both mind and body. Teens during the traditional journey to Poland, standing by the Auschwitz rail track and sign calling the place "a Polish concentration camp" (Photo: AFP) The Holocaust has been researched and has inspired works of art, literature, cinema, theater, comics and more. In Israel, for instance, three graphic novels about the Holocaust or related issues have been published in the past six years, including one about the Anne Frank story. The Holocaust is studied in many countries as part of the schooling system, but some countries deliberately avoid it. Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf is constantly being republished in editions that add notes, explanations and context. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake document published at the turn of the 20th Century and supposedly describes the Jewish plan to take over the world, are still sold worldwide, and still strike the imagination of those who believe in a global Jewish conspiracy. But Israel, and its leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, often use the Holocaust for causes that I find unacceptable. For example, it is used to fan the flame of nationalism among high school students and IDF soldiers who go on the traditional trip to Poland, to witness the death camps. In my view, this disrespects Holocaust victims and survivors and the legacy of the Holocaust. Many young women and men participate in the March of the Living, wrapped in our nation's flag, to the sound of the preposterous mantra: "We will not be led like sheep to slaughter". That custom draws a direct line between the state of the Jewish people during the Holocaust and our situation today, here in Israel, in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the threat from Iran. That's a comparison that's simply out of place. Historians and academics have been toiling for decades, writing the history of the Holocaust. Their research is based on documents, facts, testimonies, photographs and archives. Irresponsible politicians, however, manipulate this for internal and external interests. Mateusz Morawiecki and Benjamin Netanyahu Politicians and statesman should never use the Holocaust for their populist purposes. The joint statement by Netanyahu and Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, after the latter's government, prohibited blaming Poland for the Holocaust, is an insult to history, the truth and the memory of the Holocaust. A recent statement by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro that the crimes of the Holocaust can be forgiven is a disgrace to our intelligence and a disgrace on him. In recent years I had the chance to speak about my graphic novel of the ramifications of the Holocaust, "Second Generation." I'm often saddened to hear Israelis of Mizrahi roots say they are touched by my story but they don't feel they have any familial or historical links to the Holocaust. I always remind them that their families were on Hitler's agenda for the Final Solution, and their extermination was only prevented by the victory of the allied forces. This ignorance is a result of the Israeli education system, among others Moreover, Israel has to be ashamed of how it treats Holocaust survivors and for its faulty management of their compensation funds. Many survivors live in complete poverty in their final years. Every few years a new campaign for funds is launched to no avail. I told my father, who lives in Belgium and celebrated his 93rd birthday this month, that it's better that he never immigrated to Israel. He would have lives in extreme poverty here. The State of Israel appropriated the Holocaust, and that's a horrible mistake. The Holocaust is a disaster that belongs to all of humanity across the globe. If we presume to be a light unto the nations, we must stop using the Holocaust as a means for self-promotion. The study conducted by professor Amit Shrira, from the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Science, examined 187 sets of parents, among them survivors who suffer from post-trauma afflictions and their children. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The findings show Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is passed on, by parents, to the second generation and results in irresponsible behavior including smoking, alcohol abuse and no exercise. Compared to children of parents who do not suffer from post trauma. Warsaw ghetto 1945 (Photo: AP) Professor Shrira pointed out there are initial indications that biological processes are involved. His study found most children of Holocaust survivors grew up to be productive, well-functioning adults but those who's parents suffer from PTSD are more prone to unhealthy behavior. Those are also more likely to report health issues that point to a quicker aging process. "Holocaust survivors suffering from PTSD tend to develop health-threatening behaviors and pass on these habits to their offsprings," says Prof. Shrira. Most of the descendants of Holocaust survivors have grown up to be healthy adults. There are, however, some who have higher risk of developing mental and physical illnesses which require professional treatment, he added. Egyptian intelligence officials summoned on Thursday the of Hamas and Islamic Jihad for talks in the Egyptian capital of Cairo in an effort to prevent a further escalation of violence between Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad forces in Gaza. The decision comes after several rockets had been fired over the past week from Gaza into Israeli territory. Russian and Syrian forces intensified air strikes and ground shelling in northwestern Syria overnight in one of the heaviest assaults on the last rebel bastion in recent months, opposition members, rescuers and residents said on Thursday. The targeted villages and towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib fall within a demilitarized zone agreed last September between Russia and Turkey. Earlier this week Washington warned violence in the buffer zone "will result in the destabilization of the region". Since Tuesday the Russian and Syrian military attacks have forced thousands of civilians to flee to camps further north along the Turkish border and damaged four medical facilities, according to Idlib civil defence officials and a U.S. medical aid organisation working in the area. "Medical facilities are being evacuated, leaving the most vulnerable with no access to medical care. We are on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe," Khaula Sawah, vice president of the U.S.-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations -USA (UOSSM US) said in a statement on Wednesday. The mini-escalation in the Gaza Strip's boarder, overnight Thursday is one of the characteristics of the bear hug that Israel, Hamas, Egypt and the U.N. are clasped in. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter On one hand, there is diplomatic progress, and Gazans are experiencing an easing of some of the restrictions imposed on them. But on the other hand, there are sill rounds of clashes, since Hamas isn't satisfied with the slow progression towards the deal, and other unruly militants like the Islamic Jihad stir things up to prevent any long-term arrangement with Israel. Hamas militants with firebombs (Photo: AFP) Recent events are an excellent example of the way the conflict between Israel and the Strip has been managed, since last October. Understandings regarding the second phase of the long-term ceasefire arrangement are pretty much agreed on by both sides, but Hamas claims that Israel has only been performing a small part of its commitments. Israel, on its part, tries to fulfil its commitments, but things are not always under its control. There are no direct talks with Hamas, and both negotiations and operative steps are managed by the U.N., Egypt and Qatar. Often Israeli bureaucracy slows down good intentions, Hamas resumed the launching firebombs and explosives at Israeli border communities on Wednesday, in order to get Israel moving. After a short period of calm, explosions were herd again throughout Wednesday night, when Hamas' nightly disturbance unit, hoping to hassle the border communities on the Israeli side, returned to its ovenight clashes along the border fence. Israel's responded by an overnight attack of a Hamas army facility in the northern part of the strip, was quick to come. Despite the fact that Israel's interest is to avoid an escalation at this time. The Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers, followed by Independence Day, the Eurovision song contest and of course the new government on its way, would all benefit from quiet in the Gaza front, so that tourists don't flea the country and the political situation remains stable. File photo: an Islamic Jihad launching facility in the Gaza Strip (Photo: Reuters) Thats exactly why the IDF was restrained when a rocket was launched by Islamic Jihad militants, earlier this week, and landed at sea. The terror group, backed by Iran, is trying to disturb the efforts towards a long-term ceasefire, either to preserve a constant state of conflict or to satisfy its Iranian patrons. But the Wednesday clashes were all Hamas, that now lost yet another military facility. We can assume that this is the end of this mini-flare-up. It's clear that both Hamas and Israel are interested in preserving the calm. But it does exemplify how fragile the situation is, and how quickly we can be drawn into a large clash, perhaps even involving ground forces, with no prior warning. The way events have unfolded, and the prospects for the future, are all explained by the passing year and its weekly March of Return protest. It started in March 2018, and throughout the year cost the lives of 187 Palestinians by the border fence. Thousands of other Gazans were injured, Israel lost two IDF soldiers and several Israeli civilians were hurt from Hamas' rocket fire. But behind the scenes, negotiation was ongoing, initiated by Hamas' leadership. Despite clashes on the border fence, Hamas informed the U.N. back in March 2018 that they are prepared to reach an arrangement in return for "the removal of the siege" and the easing of the humanitarian situation in the Strip. After a year of clashes, and as the arrangement seems to ripen, both sides are walking on a fine line, and must calculate every step. Turkey and the United States are getting closer to an agreement on the details of a planned safe zone in northeast Syria along the Turkish border, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday. Cavusoglu was responding to a question at a news conference about Turkish talks this week with the U.S. special envoy for Syria. Turkey wants to set up a safe zone east of the Euphrates river after the majority of U.S. troops pull out of the country. Egyptian mediators urgently summoned senior Hamas Officials, among them Yahya Sinwar and senior members of the Islamic Jihad, to Cairo in an attempt to prevent an escalation on the Gaza Border. This, after the IDF shelled Hamas positions in response to the launching of incendiary balloons and a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad landed off the coast this week. The Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza Ziad Nahala responded Thursday to the revelation regarding the commander of the northern brigade of the organizations' military wing Baha al-Atta earlier this week. They believe the publication of his name is an indication that Israel will assassinate him if terror attacks continue. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter "We will respond with all our might to any killing of our member regardless of their rank, occupation or organization affiliation," Nahala said and threatened to "strike major cities in retaliation regardless of prior agreements. We will have not red lines." Baha Abu Al Ata with members of the Islamic Jihad's Military Wing The terror leader continued: "The existence of the resistance is tied to the very existence of Israel. As long as Israel exists, resistance will continue. We must not forget that ultimately Israel seeks to disarm the resistance. The significance of (US President Trump's) 'deal of the century' is a matter of economy in exchange for Palestine." Following the rocket launched from Gaz,a which landed just off the coast Monday, the IDF accused al-Atta and published his photo. Initially it was believed that Hamas was violating the ceasefire, but it later became clear that it was Islamic Jihad that fired the rocket. Script Embedder Pointing a finger at and publishing the photo of al-Atta is an unusual step. The IDF generally refrains from doing so and it can certainly be considered a warning ahead of assassination. The IDF has also pointed out that the Islamic Jihad is planning low profile attacks that won't be traced back to the group but would further worsen the situation in Gaza preventing any civilian arrangements. Earlier today, Egypt urgently summoned senior officials from Islamic Jihad and Hamas in an attempt to ease tensions in the Gaza Strip. This after the IDF struck Hamas targets in response to incendiary balloons launched from Gaza as well as two rockets launched at Israel from Gaza Thursday morning. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad delegations in Cairo are expected to demand that Israel implement the second phase of the arrangement which includes channeling money to needy families in the Gaza Strip. The Holocaust is a mandatory part of German's education curriculum. But the quality and scope of the lessons are left up to the states, each of which have jurisdiction over their education curriculum. Ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Ynet spoke with four German high school students about Holocaust commemoration and confronting the past in their country's educational system. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The students admitted that unfortunately they never met a Holocaust survivor, but during their studies, they visited German concentration camps with their school. "The first time we spoke about the Holocaust was in eighth grade," says Anneke Frommen, a high school student in Dusseldorf. "we discussed it in history class as well as in bilingual lessons." She said that they learnt all about the Second World War but didnt focus ion any particular event. Anneke Frommen Anna Laura, also from Dusseldorf said that her class read Anne Frank's Diary and focused on the atrocities committed during the war. "We discussed the subject all year long," she said. "I think that the school is doing good work by teaching the youth about the matter and by not ignoring the horrors (that were committed)." Anna Laura Fynn Bothe, a high school student in Hanover, noted that he was exposed to the subject in ninth or tenth grade and that they learnt about the war and Auschwitz. "I am satisfied with how the school teaches the subject because we learn what the Nazis committed. They were responsible for one for the most horrific crimes in the history of Germany." Fynn Bothe Aaron Tager, a student in Barsinghausen (Lower Saxony), also said that Holocaust studies were taught in grade nine or ten and that he is ambivalent regarding the way it was taught. "It is good that we are familiar with the subject matter, but it is unfortunate that we could not meet with a Holocaust survivor." He said that it would have given the students a better understanding of what occurred and of the Jews' suffering. Aaron Tager A 2017 survey of German students found that 40% of students aged 17 and older had never heard of the Auschwitz death camp. Recently, Yad Vashem signed an agreement with the 16 German states in order to improve the state of Holocaust studies in the country and train teachers. "Some teachers prepare lessons for younger students, but most study the subject in depth in high school," said Rachel Kaplan, director of the European Division at Yad Vashem's International School of Holocaust Studies. "In the last two decades, Germany has a lot of diversity among students, many were not born in Germany, or their parents werent born in Germany. "Some teachers, as with any subject, want to focus on the facts and we try to help them to teach through the prism of who used to live here, not just in Europe but in all of Europe; or to focus on who were these people, because most students never met a Jew," she continued. "We want to encourage the teachers to recognize the heritage and history of the Jews in Germany. For that reason, oftentimes the curriculum begins from 1933 and examines the Jewish contribution to German society." German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Dachau She said that she feels that German schools do a good job of dealing with the past, albeit regarding German civilian cooperation with the Nazis, less so. "Sometimes they fail to understand that the story isnt only about Hitler the murderer, but also about the collaboration of Germans during the Holocaust. Educated people who were involved in the plan and its implementation. Police, who were supposed to protect people but transformed into killers. "Hitler did not shoot six million people by himself and we see a lot of ignorance in this matter," she continued. "The expulsions by train did not occur at 3am outside of the city. Many people witnessed these events and the street where it happened still stands today. Therefore, local initiatives to commemorate this are very important. It is also important to connect the students with the places where they live. Sometimes they live in neighborhoods that in the past were populated by other people who didnt simply disappear." She noted the local initiatives, such as cleaning Jewish cemeteries by German students, in locations where there are no longer any Jewish communities. Holocaust researcher and teacher at the Kibbutz Seminar Dr. Nili Keren said: "All of the large concentration camps have become centers of study and education. The subject is taught but it depends on the curriculum and the state and there are all sorts of disagreements regarding how much to teach." Students are taught that in addition to Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs and Poles were killed and this sometimes raises the ire of the Jewish community. But the Germans owe it to the other victims as well. "The past is recognized, but there is also a feeling that the younger generation should not have to bear responsibility for the sins of previous generations." Germany's absorption of immigrant refugees has raised the issue of xenophobia with regards to the past in the education system says Dr. Keren. Some focus more on that on the Holocaust she says. "I believe that the second generation to the Holocaust, those of the 1960's, identified more with the guilt and today, it is taken for granted that the Holocaust is part of German history." Incidentally, the Zion Lutheran Church celebrated its 50th anniversary that year. It took decades for anti-German sentiment to subside nationally. At its onset there had even been cases of violence against those speaking German. Current Zion Lutheran Church Pastor David A. Feddern, who has studied the Siman Act and Meyer v. Nebraska extensively, said these were isolated incidents. This part of Nebraska was not as bad as others were, he said. Even so, damage had been done within the Lutheran faith itself. Feddern said that during the enforcement of the Siman Act and beyond, fissures cracked between the faithful based on whether to utilize German in official church business. Conducting worship in a foreign language, such as German, faded away. Depending on where you were at the time, and how much backlash there was dictated whether you spoke English, Feddern said. If you dont use [a foreign language] and get comfortable with it, sadly it dies out, he said. MILFORD On Wednesday morning, the Nebraska State Patrol released the name of the person who caused a double fatality accident on Interstate 80, in which a York man was killed. Cody Thomas, public relations director for the state patrol, said the crash occurred Monday evening near the Milford exit when a Jeep Grand Cherokee, driven by Cesar Perez-Lopez, 56, of Columbus was traveling the wrong way in the westbound lanes when it came over a hill and struck a westbound Chevrolet Silverado driven by Ronald Fersch, 39, of York. The Silverado then struck a westbound semi, disabling the semi. Perez-Lopez and Fersch were both pronounced dead at the scene. They were the sole occupants of the vehicles. The semi driver was not injured. Thomas says the crash investigation continues and is ongoing. The Seward Police Department and the Seward County Sheriffs Department are assisting the state patrol with the investigation, Thomas said. No other details about the cause of this accident have yet been released. BRANDON BIBLE, left, sits with his attorney, Doug Muskett, in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday during his sentencing hearing. Bible was sentenced to almost 8 years in prison for bringing heroin into Gogebic County. By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER - A Minneapolis man charged with bringing heroin into the area was sentenced to prison in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday. Brandon Lee Bible, 36, was sentenced to at least 7 years, 11 months for possession of heroin with intent to deliver and at least 2 years for resisting and obstructing a police officer. "You took it upon yourself to supply heroin to Gogebic County on not just one occasion, on not just two occasions, but (on) at least three occasions you travelled from Duluth to this county to supply not just a little heroin, bu... ONTONAGON Step Up Your Business, a workshop designed for business owners in the area, will be held Thursday, May 16 in Ontonagon. The Ontonagon Downtown District Authority is hosting the workshop, sponsored by the Michigan Small Business Development Center and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, that will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. On May 16 at the Ontonagon Village Council Chambers. There is no cost for the workshop. It will also be available as a webinar presentation. Topics in the seminar include: funding opportunities for training employees through Michigan Work... Today Rain early. Decreasing clouds with mostly sunny skies by afternoon. High 69F. S winds shifting to WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 47F. NNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Tomorrow Some sun in the morning with increasing clouds during the afternoon. High 66F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. American slavery tore apart familiesseparating wives from husbands, children from parents, siblings from siblings. After the Civil War, emancipated slaves searched for these lost loved ones by placing hopeful and often-heartbreaking newspaper ads. Villanova Universitys Department of Theatre and Department of History present a dramatic reading of the ads during Last Seen: Voices from Slaverys Lost Families on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019 at 8 p.m. at Villanova Theatre in Vasey Hall. The performance, directed by Villanova Theatre Department chairperson Valerie Joyce, PhD, is a product of the Last Seen project, a collaboration between Villanova Universitys Judith Giesberg, PhD, professor of History, and genealogists at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Dr. Giesberg and her collaboratorsincluding Villanova graduate studentsuncovered and digitized more than 3,000 of former slaves Information Wanted ads and created an online database. The project, which has been featured on numerous media outlets including the CBS Evening News and NPR, has become a critically important tool for researchers, students and individuals looking to piece together their own family history. Dr. Giesberg and Dr. Joyce collaborated on the project to bring these individual stories to life, allowing the authentic advertisements to be center stage in the form of short monologues and scenes. The final performance will feature more than 50 Villanova students, alumni, faculty, staff and members of the local community. Dr. Joyces theatrical staging will feature music and movement to underscore the voices of Last Seen. Following the Last Seen performance, participants can enjoy light refreshments and a panel discussion, featuring: VILLANOVA, Pa. The Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, Villanova University President, announced that Bert Jacobs, Co-Founder and CEO (Chief Executive Optimist) of Life is Good Company, will address the Class of 2019 as the Universitys commencement speaker. Jacobs, a 1987 graduate of Villanova University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, will also receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. The Universitys 176th commencement will be held Friday, May 17 at 4:30 p.m., in Villanova Stadium. In the event of severe weather, the ceremony will be held in the Finneran Pavilion. An honorary degree will also be awarded to Sister Cora Marie Billings, RSM, a 1967 Villanova graduate and member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, known as a passionate advocate for social justice, service and equality. COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER AND HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT Bert Jacobs,87 CLAS, is the co-founder and CEO (Chief Executive Optimist) of Life Is Good, a lifestyle brand which spreads the power of optimism through inspiring art, a passionate community, and groundbreaking nonprofit work. Bert and his brother John launched their business in 1994 with $78 in their pockets, selling t-shirts in the streets of Boston and at college dorms up and down the East Coast. Today, Life is Good is a $100 million positive lifestyle brand sold by more than 2,000 retailers across the US and Canada. Early on, Bert and John were inspired by stories of people, mainly children, facing great adversity. These stories illustrated that optimism is most powerful in the darkest of times and inspired the creation of a fully integrated business model dedicated to helping kids in need. Life is Good donates at least 10 percent of its annual net profits to the Life is Good Kids Foundation to positively impact more than one million children every year facing poverty, violence, and illness. Bert focuses his energy on guiding overall vision and creating the art and message for the brand across categories. To inspire others to choose optimism and grow the good in their lives, Bert and John wrote Life is Good: The Book/ How to Live with Purpose and Enjoy the Ride, published by National Geographic in September 2015. Bert earned his Bachelor of Arts in Communication degree from the Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from several universities for entrepreneurship, business innovation and philanthropy. He and Life is Good have been featured on CNNMoney, CNBCs Business Nation, ABC News Nightline, NBCs The Today Show, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and Mens Health Magazine, among others. This year marks Life is Goods 25th Anniversary. To celebrate, Bert and his brother, John are igniting a movement that focuses on all that is good. For every #SomethingGood shared on any social media platform between now and September, Life is Good will donate $1 to help kids in need with a goal of inspiring 1 million people to focus on the good and donating $1 million. HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT Sister Cora Marie Billings, RSM, 67 CLAS, a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, is a passionate advocate for social justice, service and equality. During her more than 60 years of religious service, Sister Cora Marie has served as a Church administrator and an educator at the elementary, high school and college level. In her ministry, she has worked tirelessly to facilitate conversations across racial and religious lines and break down perceived boundaries. As an African-American Catholic and as a woman religious, she has often experienced being either the first or the only in many situations. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Sister Cora Marie became the first African-American woman to enter a religious community in Philadelphia when she joined the Sisters of Mercy in Philadelphia in 1956. She was also the first African-American sister to work as a campus minister at Virginia State University, before becoming the first African-American sister in the country to serve as a pastoral coordinator, leading the St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Richmond, Va., for 14 years. Sister Cora Marie went on to serve as the director of the Office for Black Catholics in the Diocese of Richmond for 25 years and later worked as the deputy director of Human Rights Council for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Since leaving her job with the state in 2010, Sister Cora Marie has continued holding workshops and leading discussions on racism for congregations and students throughout the region and across the country. Sister Cora Marie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University in 1967 and has been awarded honorary degrees from Gwynedd Mercy University and St. Josephs University. About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova Universitys Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six collegesthe College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nations top universities, Villanova supports its students intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu. Mumbai: Raaj Shaandilyaa says his directorial debut "Dream Girl" is a sweet simple comedy that features Ayushmann Khurrana as a man who dresses up as female characters like Sita, Draupadi and Radha. The film, produced by Ekta Kapoor, is slated to be released in September. "I can't reveal much about the film but the title fairly reveals the story. What I can tell you is that Ayushmann becomes Sita from Ramayana, Draupadi from Mahabharata and Radha from Krishna Leela. Now why he becomes them and how, that's what the story is about," Shaandilya told PTI. The director said the film is set in Mathura and Ayushmann will be heard speaking Haryanvi and Hindi languages in the local accent. Shaandilya praised the "Andhadhun" star for his hard work and dedication. "Ayushmann is a very simple, sincere actor. There's no ego or attitude in him. He works like it's his first film. When an actor is so flexible and giving, it immensely helps the film. Working with him is like making one of the most wonderful films of your life," he said. The director said the inception of "Dream Girl" can be traced back to 2013, when his co-writer Nirman approached him with the concept. "I was busy with 'Welcome Back' and 'Comedy Circus' (show) and so we could never really sit down and discuss the script. In 2015, we revisited the concept. "I felt it was difficult to make it at that point as the story was quite raw. Then we went to Igatpuri (in Maharashtra), where I gave myself a day to work on the story. We completed half of the screenplay within a day," he added. Starting his career in 2006, Shaandilya has written around 600 scripts for comics Kapil Sharma, Krushna Abhishek and Sudesh Lehri combined as the lead writer and content director for "Comedy Circus". Writing for comedy shows came in handy for "Dream Girl", the director said. "Writing dialogues was the main work that we did on those shows. As I used to churn out four-five scripts for TV quickly, it helped me a lot with this film," he added. "Dream Girl" also stars Nushrat Bharucha and Manjot Singh. New Delhi: Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal won a million hearts in 'Uri: The Surgical Strike'. His dialogue, 'How's the Josh' from the film went viral and was uttered by people across the nation for the longest time. A few days back, Vicky's intense look from the Udham Singh biopic was unveiled, creating ripples on the internet. Kaushal has indeed come a long way and is one of the most popular actors today. Rumours are that he will soon be teaming up with Katrina Kaif for a film produced by Ronnie Screwvala. As per a report in Bollywood Hungama, the film is touted to be an intense love story which will be inspired from real life. A source told the portal that the film will be along the lines of Sara Ali Khan- Sushant Singh Rajpur starrer 'Kedarnath'. Its all very hush-hush at the moment as the modalities, including dates, money and roles, first need to be worked out., added the source. Official confirmation for the same is still awaited. For the uninitiated, rumours of Katrina and Vicky being more than just friends are also doing rounds for quite some time. In fact, when the actor broke up with Harleen Sethi, his closeness to Kat was being speculated as one of the factors. New Delhi: At least six Naxals, four of them carrying rewards on their heads, were arrested by the police in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur. This comes after at least 15 personnel of the Quick Response Team (QRT) and a driver were killed in an Improvised Explosive Device blast in north Gadchiroli in Maharashtra on Wednesday. The Naxals were arrested by the police force near Kindrelpad village under Konta police station limits. While two of the arrested Naxals were carrying a bounty of Rs 1 lakh each, another was allegedly involved in a Naxal attack on March 11, 2017 in Bhejji area of Sukma in which 12 security personnel were killed. Others were involved in attacks on police teams and torching of vehicles in the area, a police official told PTI. 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 incident took place at Dadapur in Kurkheda tehsil. They torched the vehicles, which were parked along the road, using kerosene and diesel. After setting the vehicles on fire, the Naxals escaped into the forest. New Delhi: 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 electoral bond 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 electoral bond 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. New Delhi: Five people were killed and an equal number injured as a Mahindra Jeep in which they were travelling skidded off the road and fell into a 250-metre deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh`s Mandi district on Thursday, police said. The dead, including three women, were residents of Ropa village in the district. Most of the injured have been admitted to the Zonal Hospital in Mandi town, some 200 km from the state capital. The accident occurred in the Padhar area. Eyewitnesses said the administration had a tough time in rescuing the injured from the gorge. People in the area began rescue operations even before local authorities reached the spot. The accident seems to have been caused by negligent driving, a police official told IANS. Most of the victims were from Mandi district. The accident spot is one of most remote places in the district, while scarcity and low frequency of passenger buses in the area lead to the overcrowding of private vehicles. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Thursday unearthed two decorated 'legged' coffins with skeletons during an excavation in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, news agency ANI reported. Live TV The excavation took place in Sinauli area of the district. According to the Director of Institute of Archaeology, Dr SK Manjulm, the team also unearthed chariot, helmet, shield, sword and dagger from the grave. The excavation started in January. Baghpat: ASI has unearthed two decorated 'legged' coffins with skeletons during excavation in Sanauli. Dr. SK Manjul, Director,Institute of Archaeology says,"We've also unearthed chariot, helmet, shield, sword & dagger from grave.We started this excavation in January." pic.twitter.com/ewiinveMbw ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 "We've also unearthed chariot, helmet, shield, sword & dagger from grave. We started this excavation in January," said Manjulm. India on Thursday called the UN listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) founder Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a step in the right decision, asserting that it doesn't negotiate with any country on terrorism and security matters of the nation. Addressing a press brief, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar replied to a query on whether India offered something to China for Azhar's listing saying, "we don't negotiate on matters related to national security. China has already given its reason why the hold has been lifted". Live TV On asking why Pulwama attack did not find mention in UN decision, he said that India's objective was to ensure the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. He also added that China's support to the listing of Masood Azhar will contribute to better ties between the two countries. The MEA spokesperson added that the listing was not based on the specific incident but on the basis of evidence which India shared India called it a huge diplomatic setback for Pakistan, adding that they can't welcome or criticise the decision but can pick up holes. 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. 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 February 14 Pulwama terror attack 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 a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist. India had termed the Chinese move as "disappointing". A UN Security Council (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. In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist. 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 Pathankot airbase 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 UNSC, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. Ahmedabad: A special CBI court on Thursday gave a clean chit to retired police officers DG Vanzara and NK Amin in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. The development comes after the Gujarat government had previously declined the sanction to prosecute them. DG Vanzara, a former IPS officer, and NK Amin, who recently retired as a superintendent of police, had moved the pleas seeking that the proceedings against them be dropped soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation told the court that the Gujarat government has not given its sanction to prosecute them. Both retired officers had filed discharge appeals asking for the case against them be dropped as the state government has decided not to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute them as required under section 197 of the CrPC. On Thursday, the CBI court agreed that the case cannot be continued under the provisions of section 197. The court had in the past rejected their discharge applications in the same case. Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. (With inputs from Ketan Joshi/ Zee Media Bureau and Press Trust of India) New Delhi India's massive diplomatic push to have Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist bore result on Wednesday when China finally withdrew a technical hold at the United Nations. While the country, and the world community, saw it as a step in the right direction towards punishing the notorious terrorist, Congress took the opportunity to try and take credit while also indulging in nitpicking against the Narendra Modi government. India had been pushing for UN to designate Azhar, the mastermind of several attacks against India, as a global terrorist since 2009. While most of the world community supported India's efforts, China had created numerous roadblocks before finally removing its obstruction on Wednesday. Recent years saw India upping the ante, especially after the Pulwama attack which was claimed by Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammed. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, during his April visit to Beijing, even presented proof of Azhar's involvement in terror activities. (Also read: How Pakistan reacted to Azhar being listed as global terrorist) While a sustained effort resulted in China changing its position, Congress chose to saw Wednesday's triumph at the UN as a 'belated' development. "Pakistan based Masoof Azhar's belated declaration as a global terrorist by the UN is surely a welcome step," a Congress press release said in which it was also mentioned that it was the UPA government which isolated and exposed Pakistan as a terror hub after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Congress also blamed the Narendra Modi government for the 'delay' in having Azhar listed as a global terrorist. Even as the party scrambled to take snatch some of the limelight and take potshots at the NDA government, former Home Minister P Chidambaram attempted to take credit. "The process was started in 2009 under UPA government and we are happy that process has concluded after 10 years," he said. Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have clashed over the issue of terrorism. In numerous rallies this election season, PM Modi has blamed Congress for having been soft on terror. In Ayodhya on Wednesday, he had said that elements that wish to target India are waiting for a weak government in New Delhi. "Congress only knows how to divide people for its own people. It has a soft approach on terror. India needs a strong government to keep terror at bay. Those who wish to target our country are waiting for a weak government," he had said. The BJP maintains that there has been no major terror-related incident in the country in the last five years, also highlighting surgical strikes on terrorist bases in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Congress has, however, relentlessly cast aspersions by even going to the extent of demanding proof of these strikes. (With inputs from Rahul Tripathi/Zee Media Bureau) Jaish-e- Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, who was listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, had revealed during his interrogation to Indian security and intelligence officials after his arrest in 1194 in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag that he is a Pakistani and had entered India on a Portuguese passport. The revelations are part of Azhar's interrogation report, accessed exclusively by Zee News, on the basis of which Indian agencies had gathered evidence against the terrorist. The report states that he had confessed that he had procured the Portuguese passport from Bangladesh and an Indian visa in the name of Vali Adam Issa. He said that he had got the entry stamp of immigration at the Karachi airport through one of his students named Hafiz. "I started from Karachi on 26 January 1994 and arrived in Dhaka. I stayed in Hotel Pritam at Dhaka and tried to contact Maulana Kallmullah, but came to know that he had gone to Saudi Arabia. I spent 2 days in Dhaka and thereafter travelled to Delhi by Bangladesh Airlines (Biman) reaching IGI Airport in early hours of 29 January 1994. The Immigration officials at IGI commented that I did not look like a Portuguese but when I replied that I was a Gujarati by birth, he did not hesitate to stamp my passport," he had said. Live TV He had also told the intelligence agencies about his stay in Delhi. He had said: "I hired a taxi and asked for a good hotel. I was taken to Ashoka Hotel Chanakyapuri were I stayed. During the night I rang up Ashraf Dar at his Delhi Telephone number and informed him of my arrival. The next morning (29-1-94) Ashraf Dar came to Ashoka Hotel along with Abu Mehmood, Amir HUA, Jammu. I expressed my desire to visit Deoband to pay obeisance at the graves of Deobandi intellectuals. As such Ashraf Dar escorted me in his Maruti car, accompanied by Abu Mehmood to Deoband. We stayed in Darul-uloom Deoband for the night. After offering prayers at Deoband, next morning we went to Gungoh and then proceeded to Saharanpur. At none of these places I revealed my true identity because I feared recognition as many of my books and articles could have given me away." "On the morning of 31 January 1994, we came back to Delhi by the same car after staying for the night at Khan Gi of Maulana Masir-ul-ullah Khan at Jalalabad. On reaching Delhi I stayed at Hotel Janpath. A day or two later I was informed by Ashraf Dar that my flight to Srinagar was booked for 9 February 1994. While staying at Hotel Janpath I met the militants of Harkat-ul-Ansar (Farooq, Mehmmod, Qari Abu Ubeda) who were in Delhi for getting treatment of their ailments," he added. He said that he went to Srinagar from Delhi on 9 February 1994 with Ashraf Dar. He added that he was arrested on 11 February 1994 while he was on his way to Anantnag. He said that he was stopped by Army. Although those with him opened fire and one of them ran away, he and Sajjad Afghani were arrested. New Delhi: At a time when India and the world community has united in hailing the UN listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, Mayawati has trained her guns against the Bharatiya Janata Party and accused its leaders of trying to gain electoral mileage from Wednesday's developments in New York. On Wednesday, China finally released its technical hold on the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist. In what is being widely seen as a massive win for Indian diplomacy, Opposition parties in the country have been rather muted in their congratulatory messages. Among them is Mayawati. "Earlier BJP government made Masood Azhar a guest and later freed him abroad. Now, at the time of elections, they are trying to gather votes in his name. It is condemnable," she said on Thursday, referring to when the Atal Bihar Vajpayee-led government had released the Azhar in Kabul in exchange for the hostages in IC 814 hijacking. Rival parties, including Congress, have repeatedly attacked BJP for having released Azhar as per the demands of the hijackers of the Air India plane. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had, in March of this year, accused current National Security Adviser Ajit Doval of being part of those who had released Azhar. In an interview to Zee News, Doval had explained the ground realities at the time. Even now, when Azhar has been listed as a global terrorist in what is a snub to Pakistan - a country that has sheltered and supported him, brazen politics is being played in India. Congress has termed the development as 'belated' while also attempting to take credit for it. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the process for Azhar being listed as a global terrorist was started by the UPA government although India's ambassador to the UN in 2009 - Hardip Singh - said that Congress had chosen not to pursue the matter. An 'extremely severe' cyclonic storm Fani is headed towards Odisha and the east coast of the country forcing the authorities to evacuate lakhs of people to safe zones. Cyclone Fani with wind speeds up to 200 km per hour and heavy rains is expected to make landfall near Puri on Friday. Cyclone Fani will cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali around Puri between 8 am and 10 am on Friday. The landfall is likely to continue up to 12 noon and even later. A red alert has been sounded across the coastal areas by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Live TV At least 14 Odisha districts - Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Balasore, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Khurda, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Gajapati, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar - are expected to bear the brunt of the storm. The IMD has warned of a storm surge of about 1.5-metre height which may inundate low-lying coastal areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha at the time of landfall. West Bengal too will be affected with the districts of East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram besides Kolkata witnessing heavy rainfall. In Andhra Pradesh, the areas likely to be hit are Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts. Coastal Tamil Nadu will also receive rainfall due to Cyclone Fani. Evacuation and impact An estimated 10,000 villages and 52 towns in Odisha will be hit by the cyclonic storm. A total of 11,54,475 people in Odisha are being moved to safer areas. Of them, 3,31,794 people had already been shifted till Thursday, 3 pm. The Odisha government has conveyed to the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the country's top body for handling emergency situations, about the areas expected to be severely affected. The NCM headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha met on Thursday where the Odisha government appraised the officials about the situation. Action on evacuation is already being taken by the Odisha government and around 900 cyclone shelters have been made ready to house the evacuees. The Odisha government issued instructions to shift women in their advanced stage of pregnancy to hospitals in Bhubaneswar as part of its evacuation drive in the coastal areas. "As Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had given specific instruction to take care of women, children and elderly persons during the storm, we shifted the pregnant women to hospitals on a priority basis," news agency PTI reported quoting Sangram Mohapatra, the spokesperson at the special relief commissioner's office (SRC). Arrangements The Power Ministry has made arrangements to restore power supply in affected areas with least downtime. The Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry has made arrangements to move additional water supplies in the affected areas and is keeping in readiness packaged drinking water. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is keeping in readiness packaged ready-to-eat food. The Health Ministry has mobilised emergency medical teams, medicines and also coordinated with the Red Cross to provide assistance. It has kept ready 17 public health response teams and five quick response medical teams with emergency drugs. The Ministry of Shipping has disengaged all ships at Paradip Port and has deployed emergency vessels (Tugs). Rescue operations The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations while the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force units in the three states have also been put on standby. Over 4,000 specialised personnel as part of 81 NDRF teams have been deployed. NDRF chief SN Pradhan told PTI that about 50 teams have been pre-positioned in the coastal areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal while another 31 teams have been kept on standby. Twenty-eight fully equipped teams have been deployed in and around Puri in Odisha. Similarly, 12 teams have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and six in West Bengal. The rest of the teams that comprise about 50 personnel each, have been kept on standby in these states. Pradhan said a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and a commandant-rank officer have also been tasked to monitor the activities of the rescue and relief teams from the ground in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar and Puri. The teams have been equipped with additional boats, satellite phones, medical equipment, medicines, tree cutters, pickup and common mobility vehicles, and other gadgets, he said. The force has also activated a round-the-clock control room at its headquarters in Bhubaneswar and a team of officials is in constant touch with the IMD and the disaster response units of the three states. NDRF teams have also been kept on alert in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The spokesperson said the NDRF teams have doctors, paramedics, engineers, deep divers and are equipped with boats, buoys, life jackets, scuba sets and latest communication equipment like quick deployable antenna (QDA), HF/VHF sets so that communication links function even if normal communication network fails. Rail link affected A total of 223 trains have been cancelled along the Odisha coastline on the Kolkata-Chennai route, including 140 Mail/Express trains and 83 passenger trains. Railways also pressed into service three special trains to ferry passengers out of Puri. Another nine trains have been diverted, four others have also been short-terminated. The trains which have been cancelled include the Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express, Patna-Ernakulam Express, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express and the Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express. The New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, New Delhi-Puri Nandan Kanan Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express and the New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express which were scheduled to run on Thursday have been cancelled as well. The Railways has also cancelled trains which were to ply on Friday. These include the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and the Puri-New Delhi Nandan Kanan Express. Air link All the airlines have cancelled flights to and from the Bhubaneswar airport for May 3 and no flight will depart or arrive at the Kolkata airport between 9.30 pm on May 3 and 6 pm on May 4, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in an advisory. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu has requested airlines to offer assistance in rescue and relief operations. The aviation regulator said that "resumption of flights" at Bhubaneswar and Kolkata airports "will be with positive clearance from their respective air traffic control". The civil aviation minister said all authorities concerned have been alerted to be ready to deal with cyclone Fani and the situation will be monitored at the highest level. "Alerted all concerned to be ready to deal with Cyclone Fani. Airports Authority of India issued alert to all coastal airports to ensure all precautions, SOPs (standard operating procedures) put in place immediately," Prabhu tweeted. Exhorting the aviation sector to rise to the occasion, he tweeted, "All airlines are requested to offer all assistance for rescue and relief operations in view of cyclone Fani. All relief material should be airlifted to be delivered to officially designated agencies." IndiGo issued a travel advisory on Twitter, saying, "Due to Cyclone Fani, flights to and from Visakhapatnam have been cancelled for May 2. The airline said its flights to and from Bhubaneswar were "disrupted" on Thursday and that all flights to and from the Odisha city have been cancelled for Friday. Vistara airline also issued a travel update on the micro-blogging site. Fani is the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of Odisha, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC). India Meteorological Department (IMD) sources said it is also the first cyclonic storm of such severity to have formed in April in India's oceanic neighbourhood in 43 years. While India's east coast is prone to cyclones, Odisha is probably twice as vulnerable when compared to other states. The state has endured 98 cyclones between 1891 and 2000. New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that the government and the Prime Minister should be applauded for Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar being designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's untiring efforts and zero-tolerance policy on terror borne fruit," he said. He also said that the change in China's attitude was a result of the recent developments including Pulwama attack and the airstrikes conducted by India on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot. Jaitley also attacked the Opposition parties for calling the Azhar ban a 'trivial issue'. "Government and PM Narendra Modi should be applauded. When the country wins, every Indian wins. There should have been a moment of pride for every citizen but unfortunately, some friends in the Opposition believe that if they become a part of this diplomatic win, they might have to pay a political price for it," Jaitley said while addressing a joint press conference with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital today. "The core issue is that he has been declared an international terrorist. He and his country now face the consequences of that and the world community has been persuaded by all the material that India has put forward," he said. Attacking the Congress-led UPA government, Jaitley said that the country's position before the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks was known to everyone. "Post the 26/11 attacks, at least 25 terrorists were released by the then government within weeks as a part of the goodwill gesture so that Pakistan cooperates." "We continue to stand by our theme of nationalism and all allied issues. We also continue to stand with the themes of our PM's leadership and the performance of the government," he added. He also attacked the Congress party of playing the Hindu card every time during elections. "There are some Congress leaders who have become Hindus keeping the Lok Sabha election in mind. However, now everyone has realised that Congress is a fringe organisation," he said. In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar a 'global terrorist' after China lifted its hold on the proposal to blacklist him. HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made 'compromises' in order to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar declared global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council. Addressing a press conference, Owaisi, who is the sitting MP from Hyderabad, said that the UNSC statement declaring Massod Azhar a global terrorist has no mention of Pulwama, Uri and Pathankot terror attacks. "Pulwama, Uri, Pathankot are not mentioned. I want to ask the Prime Minister, why this compromise was done?" said the AIMIM leader. "You are not mentioning Pulwama or the Parliament attack. Masood Azhar was responsible for all of this. You compromised on that. Tell us what compromise you made to the Chinese (to get them to agree to Masood`s blacklisting)," Owaisi asked. The AIMIM chief said that the blacklisting of Jaish chief is nothing more than a 'cosmetic thing'. Owaisi cited the example of Lashkar-e-Taiba boss Hafeez Saeed and said that he too was blacklisted by the UNSC but Saeed is still roaming freely in Pakistan. Owaisi added that Saeed is receiving monetary support from Pakistan and he is treated like a VIP. "Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba was blacklisted. Has Pakistan stopped giving him money? We know how Pakistan treats him as a VIP over there. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the key conspirator of 26/11 Mumbai attacks fathered a son while being in jail. If you are sanctioned, you cannot get money so who paid Lakhvi`s bail money? The AIMIM leader claimed it was not a big achievement for India yet. It is very unfortunate that Prime Minister is browbeating and thumping his chest as if something great has happened," said Owaisi. The AIMIM leader also took a dig at the US, the UK and France and said that these nations are playing games with both India and Pakistan and the real victims are Indian citizens. "These white people are playing games from both sides. On one side, they are saying Pakistan, it is your achievement, and on the other side, they are saying it is our achievement. Chinese are claiming it is their achievement. US secretary of state is saying it is their achievement but the victim is India. The citizens of India are the victims," he added. Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday said that Pulwama terror attack "played a role" in designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist. Kumar, however, stressed that the UN list is not a "bio-data" of Azhar's terror acts. "Azhar was designated not based on one incident but several acts of terrorism. Our objective was to ensure his listing as global terrorist. We do not negotiate with any country on terrorism and on matters related to country's security. China has already given explanation on why Pulwama has been omitted from listing," Kumar told media. In a moment of nostalgia, a 70-year-old Kashmiri Pandit has returned to his Srinagar home in Jammu and Kashmir, after a gap of nearly 30 years. The man, Roshan Lal Mawa, returned to his ancestral home in Zaina Kadal downtown in Srinagar on Wednesday. Live TV Mawa, who like other Kashmiri Pandits, migrated in the 1990s when an armed conflict started in the state. He was injured on October 13, 1990, when unidentified gunmen fired at him at his shop and left him grievously injured. He was shifted to SMHS hospital in Srinagar for treatment. Later, Mawa had moved to New Delhi where he set up his business. On returning to Srinagar, Mawa said he is happy to return home and wants to live for the rest of his life in the state. He has reopened his shop after almost three decades and has set-up his business in spices. Mawa has appealed to other Kashmiri Pandit families to return. A local resident, Showkat, said that he like others in the area are happy on Mawa's return. He said many people rushed to Mawa's shop and greeted him after his return. Terrorists on Thursday shot at a civilian in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, as reported by news agency ANI. Live TV The civilian has been identified as Rasheed Bhat. He has been shifted to a hospital and is stated to be stable. This is a developing story. More details are awaited. New Delhi: Seen widely as an admission of defeat even before Lok Sabha 2019 election is over, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday took a complete U-turn from her 'weak candidates to cut BJP votes' comment from a day earlier. Speaking to reporters, Priyanka had said on Wednesday that Congress candidates in UP 'have been carefully chosen to either win or to cut BJP's votes. The BJP was quick to pounce on the comment and blasted Congress for having no vision or plan for the country and its people. "Congress has openly admitted it will lose the election. They have given up even before the election is over," said Smriti Irani who faces Rahul Gandhi in Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. Party colleague Sambit Patra, BJP candidate from Puri seat, termed Congress as a 'vote katua' party. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also lashed out at the Congress in-charge for eastern UP. "I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses," he said. (Read full report here) Faced with a massive political reaction, Priyanka on Thursday did a complete 360-degree turn. "Ideology of Congress and BJP is poles apart. We'll always fight them, they are our main adversary in politics. We've made sure not to benefit BJP in any way. We're fighting strongly, our candidates are strong," she said. The battle for UP has turned into a three-way contest between BJP, Congress and the SP-BSP combine. BJP had almost swept the state in 2014 Lok Sabha election by winning 71 of the 80 seats here. While SP had managed to win five, Congress had been humiliated to wins in just two seats. BSP was absolutely ravaged and the party had failed to open its account. New Delhi: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday dismissed Congress Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's claim that her party has fielded weak candidates in Uttar Pradesh to eat into BJP's share of the vote in the Lok Sabha election. According to Akhilesh, Priyanka Gandhi's statement is nothing but an 'excuse from the party fearing a loss in the election'. "I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses," Akhilesh told news agency ANI today. On Wednesday, Priyanka spoke about Congress's poll strategy in Uttar Pradesh stating that weak candidates fielded by her party in the state will cut into BJP's vote share. "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," she said. Akhilesh also took on Congress president Rahul Gandhi for claiming that BJP controls the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, saying, "No one controls us. We are political parties. It is the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh that is poised to give a setback to the ruling party." "The alliances in several states have choices but the BJP does not have any other leader. Our alliance wants to give India a new Prime Minister. My party will decide about the PM when the final seat tally is out," he said when asked who will be the prime minister if the BJP does not come to power. Akhilesh also hinted that his father and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is not in the prime ministerial race. "It will be good if Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) gets the honour to become the Prime Minister. However, I feel that he is probably not in the race. Talking about his national ambitions, the SP president stated that he currently wants to focus on the assembly elections, which are due in 2022. "I want to increase the number of Samajwadi Party's MPs in the Lok Sabha. I want to be among those who want to make a new Prime Minister. I want Uttar Pradesh to contribute in the next government formation." Talking about the rejection of SP-BSP joint candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination in Varanasi, Akhilesh criticised the Returning Officer for not giving enough time to the candidate for his paperwork. New Delhi: Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the state wants to give a new Prime Minister to the country. He, however, clarified that his father and Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav is not in the prime ministerial race. "The alliances in several states have choices but the BJP does not have any other leader. Our alliance wants to give India a new Prime Minister. My party will decide about the PM when the final seat tally is out," Akhilesh said in an interview to news agency ANI. When asked if Mulayam will be a prime ministerial candidate, Akhilesh said, "It will be good if Netaji gets the honour (to be the PM) but I feel he is probably not in the prime ministerial race." Akhilesh, whose party has forged an alliance with Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party for Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha election, has in the recent times indicated that he would back the BSP supremo for the top post. "Gathbandhan (SP-BSP alliance) would give India its next Prime Minister," Akhilesh has stated this several times during poll rallies and that he "would be pleased if the country's next PM would be from his state". In April, Mayawati, who had announced to not contest the Lok Sabha election, had hinted about her national ambitions asserting "becoming a Member of Parliament is not necessary to become the Prime Minister". Speaking about his national ambitions, Akhilesh told the news agency he wants to focus on assembly elections, which are due in 2022. "I want to appeal to the people of Uttar Pradesh to give us one more chance to further our programmes which has been stalled. However, I want to increase the number of Samajwadi Party's MPs in the Lok Sabha. I want to be among those who want to make a new Prime Minister. I want Uttar Pradesh to contribute in the next government formation," he said. A day after Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency was rejected, party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday gave went to his frustration by targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party. Tej Bahadur's nomination was rejected over 'discrepancies' in the two nominations filed by him. While he was contesting Lok Sabha election as an Independent, he was eventually roped in by SP against PM Narendra Modi. Now, with his nomination rejected, SP chief Akhilesh has lashed out at the BJP. "BJP talks of nationalism. Tej Bahadur was expelled from BSF because he raised questions (on the quality of food served to troopers). Was this indiscipline that he was expelled for it? If so much is being invested in our defence, why are our soldiers in the worst of conditions," he said. Akhilesh said his party would support Tej Bahadur's decision to approach the Supreme Court to appeal against his rejected nomination. He also said that he knows the pains of soldiers and their families, while questioning BJP's contribution in the armed forces. "I have studied for seven years in a military school. Many of my school friends have been martyred in the line of duty. My wife comes from a military family. How many people from families of BJP leaders have joined the army? Unlike them, we don't promote what we have done for the forces," he said. Akhilesh's outburst also comes a day after PM Modi had lashed out at SP, BSP and Congress for being soft on terror. "India needs a strong government. SP, BSP and Congress cannot provide this. They have a track record of being soft on terror," he had said at a rally near Ayodhya. The issue of terrorism and of India's security has been a key point of debate this election season. While PM Modi and other BJP leaders have highlighted surgical strikes against terror hubs in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir as NDA's commitment towards national security, rival parties have accused PM Modi of taking undue credit. And in all of this, SP now appears intent on highlighting Tej Bahadur's plight after he was expelled from BSF in 2017 and after his nomination for Lok Sabha election 2019 was rejected on Wednesday. New Delhi: BJP's Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who has been barred by the Election Commission of India from poll campaigning for 72 hours starting Thursday, plans to spend her day visiting temples. A report stated that Sadhvi met people at her Rivera Town residence on Thursday morning. She will be visiting the 'Curfew Wali Mata Mandir' in Bhopal shortly. Sadhvi Pragya was banned by the poll panel for her comments against late IPS officer Hemant Karkare and for commenting on her role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. She had stated at a rally in Bhopal on April 18 that she is proud of the Babri Masjid demolition and that the IPS officer was killed in 2008 Mumbai attacks because she had cursed him. These remarks were found in violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). And though she issued an apology for her statement against the slain IPS officer later, the Election Commission served her a show-cause notice. She was also served a third notice from the Election Commission after she referred 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 asked for a comprehensive report from the Collector on her statements. Sadhvi Pragya, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has been in the eye of a storm ever since BJP fielded her from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency against Congress veteran and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh. It seems that BJP has prepared a foolproof plan to defeat Congress in its bastion of Amethi and Raebareli - widely considered as pocketboroughs of Nehru-Gandhi family. In 2014 Lok Sabha election the Congress had won only these two Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had won from Rae Bareli, while current Congress president Rahul Gandhi had managed to win to from Amethi. But this time the BJP has made up its mind to not allow Congress to win from these two seats easily and this the reason why the party is using all its might to snatch away Amethi and Raebareli from the grand old party. From Amethi, the BJP has once again fielded Smriti Irani against Congress president Rahul Gandhi. In 2014 too, Smriti had contested against Rahul from Amethi but the Congress leader had defeated her by a margin of over 1 lakh votes. In Raebareli, the BJP has given ticket to former Congress leader Dinesh Singh and the saffron party is hopeful that Singh would emerge as a giant-killer by defeating former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Live TV BJP president Amit Shah will hold a roadshow in Amethi on May 4 to garner support for Smriti Irani. In Amethi, the BJP has asked its senior leader Sanjeev Baliyan to look after the election management, while Union Minister Mahesh Sharma has been tasked with same responsibility in Rae Bareli. In Raebareli, BJP has decided to hold a roadshow of actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol on May 4. Several senior BJP leaders are set to arrive in Amethi and Raebareli and in the next two days to campaign for Irani and Singh. The BJP leaders are also meeting Village Heads, Block Head and members of panchayats in order to earn their support. Political experts maintain that the BJP is trying to dent the vote bank of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The SP-BSP alliance has not fielded their candidates from these two seats and in this scenario the BJP is hopeful of getting support from voters of these parties. In Amethi, Smriti Irani and other BJP leaders are repeatedly attacking Rahul Gandhi for deciding to contest from Wayanad in Kerala, besides Amethi. The BJP is claiming that Rahul is aware of his defeat from Amethi and this is the reason why he has decided to contest from the second seat. In Rae Bareli, the BJP is not targeting Sonia Gandhi directly, rather the party is trying to prove to the voters that Congress has won 19 out of 16 elections from this parliamentary constituency but Rae Bareli is yet to witness any development. The polling in Amethi and Rae Bareli is scheduled to take place in the fifth phase on May 6. New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla on Thursday claimed that armed forces had conducted six surgical strikes during the UPA regime. Addressing a press conference, Rajiv Shukla also listed the dates when these surgical strikes were conducted. Shukla told media that six surgical strikes were conducted when the Congress-led UPA was in power and two were carried out when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister of India. Congress never tried to take credit of these strikes. The one who did only one surgical strike is patting his back. Neither Dr Manmohan Singh nor Vajpayee addressed a press conference to take credit for these strikes," Shukla said. Live TV It may be recalled that Vajpayee was PM between 1999 and 2004, while Manmohan Singh was PM from 2004 to 2014. Shukla provided details of the surgical strikes, saying the first was conducted on June 19, 2008 in Bhattal Sector in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch. The second was carried out on August 30-September 1, 2011 in Sharda Sector across Neelam River Valley in Kel. According to Shukla, the third surgical strike was conducted on January 6, 2013 at Sawan Patra Checkpost; fourth on July 27-28, 2013 at Nazapir Sector; fifth on August 6, 2013 at Neelam Valley; and sixth surgical strike was conducted on January 14, 2014. Shukla also provided details of two surgical strikes that were carried out during PM Vajpayee's regime, saying first strike was conducted on on January 21, 2000 at Nadala Enclave across the Neelam River and second on September 18, 2003 at Baroh Sector in Poonch. The Congress and the BJP have been engaged in a war of words over the surgical strikes ever since the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammad's terror camps inside Pakistan on February 26. It is to be noted that the BJP-led government had conducted its first surgical strike on September 29 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to avenge the terror attack at an Army camp in Uri. In a big relief to PM Narendra Modi, the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday gave him a clean chit on his 'nuclear button for Diwali' remark in Rajasthan. During a rally in Barmer on April 21, PM Modi had said that India is no more afraid of nuclear threats of Pakistan. "Every other day they (Pakistan) used to say 'we have nuclear button'....What do we have then? Have we kept it (nuclear button) for Diwali?(Warna aay din nuclear button hai, ye kehte the. Hamare paas kya hai? Ye diwali ke liye rakha hai kya)?," news agency PTI had reported quoting PM Modi. Live TV In an apparent reference to India's surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in PoK in September 2016 and its air strikes at a terror facility in Balakot in February this year, the PM had said Indian forces killed terrorists across the border without engaging in a war. "This is called a strong government. We have created fear among terrorist," the PM had said. PM Modi had said his government trampled Pakistan's ego and "forced it to roam around the world with a begging bowl." A day later, the Congress had moved the EC alleging that PM Modi had "brazenly" violated the Model Code of Conduct by invoking armed forces repeatedly in his poll campaign and demanded that a campaign ban be imposed on him for some time. A party delegation comprising senior leaders Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek Manu Singhvi made several representations to the Election Commission (EC), including against Modi, citing at least 10 examples of the prime minister allegedly invoking armed forces and defence personnel for seeking votes. However, on Thursday, the EC said that no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions has been attracted. He had also said that India missed a "golden opportunity" during 1971 war to resolve Kashmir dispute by releasing hundreds of Pakistani troops from the Indian Army's custody "under global pressure". An Assam Rifles' jawan on Thursday opened fire inside his camp in Baghnan in West Bengal, killing one and injuring two others in what could be a case of fratricide. He was deputed in Howrah on poll duty. Lakshmikant Barman reportedly fired 18 rounds which killed a fellow trooper - identified as Bholanath Das, while two others were injured in the incident. While the injured have been rushed to a hospital for medical assistance, Barman has been taken into custody. The reason for Barman firing inside the camp is not clear yet. Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, seeking action against those indulging in "false and malicious" propaganda against him and his family on social media. In a video clip that was attached with Tewari's tweet, it was alleged that his father, late professor V N Tewari, was involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and petrol was supplied from his filling station to "burn Sikhs". Describing the propaganda against him as "gutter and despicable", the former Union minister, who is contesting from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, said his family never owned a petrol pump anywhere in the country and his father was assassinated by militants on April 3, 1984, six months before the riots. "My mother was a Jat Sikh. My father was an academic at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and my mother retired as the Dean of the PGI. Our family has never owned a petrol pump ever in our lives anywhere in India. We have complained to the returning officer, Ropar SSP and the CEC. They need to act against the miscreants as soon as possible," he tweeted. "Those who failed in trying to raise the outside bogey against me have now stopped too low to malign me and my family with outrageous lies," Tewari said on Thursday. The Congress leader is locked in a four-way contest against sitting MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Narinder Shergill and Punjab Democratic Alliance nominee Bir Devinder Singh. Voting in Punjab will take place in the last phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 19. In a major relief for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the Election Commission on Thursday gave a clean chit to Rahul in a matter related to a complaint made by the BJP concerning alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct. The BJP had approached the EC after Rahul had said during a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur that BJP chief Amit Shah is a "murder accused". The Congress president had also called Shah's son Jay Shah a "magician." "Murder accused BJP President Amit Shah....waah! kya shaan hai....Have you heard Jay Shah`s name? He is a magician, he made Rs 50,000 into Rs 80 crore in 3 months," Rahul had said. Live TV In its complaint, the BJP had accused Rahul of violating the poll code by levelling baseless allegation against the BJP chief. Earlier, the EC had sought a detailed report from the Chief Electoral Officer of Madhya Pradesh in connection with this matter. "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 sent by the DEO Jabalpur. The commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of MCC is made out," the EC said in a statement. It is interesting to note that the Congress chief had made the comments on the same day when the Supreme Court had slapped a contempt notice on him for wrongly attributing his remark on the Rafale deal to the apex court. In March too, the BJP had filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer of Tripura against Rahul for calling Shah a "murder accused". The Congress president had made the remark at a rally in Khumulwng in Tripura. It may be recalled that the BJP president was named in a case involving the alleged fake encounter of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, which took place in 2005. Shah was discharged in the case in 2014 and in 2016 the Supreme Court had also rejected a plea seeking a fresh probe against the BJP president in this case. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission on pleas which seek to advance the start time of voting in Lok Sabha election 2019 due to Ramzan. The pleas filed in the apex court had sought an earlier start to voting in the remaining three phases of election in view of Ramzan - from 7am to 5am. Heat wave conditions in Rajasthan and several of its adjoining states has also prompted a need to have polling start early. The SC has now asked EC to take a call in the matter. Voting in the first four of seven phases have taken place between 7am and 6 in the evening. It has been observed that polling tends to slow down in pace afternoon and remains rather slow in the afternoon in states where the summer heat is in all its fury. That Ramzan, which starts this Sunday, will coincide with the remaining three phases scheduled for May 6, 12 and 19 has also prompted a plea seeking a preponement in the voting start time. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said it is a 'do or die' battle for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. She claimed that her statement that weak candidates fielded by Congress will cut the votes of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was taken out of context. Clarifying her remark, she said that she would rather die than help the BJP." "I've said clearly Congress is fighting polls on its own strength. Our candidates are fighting strongly in most constituencies. I would rather die than benefit BJP. We've chosen candidates that are either fighting strongly or cutting BJP votes," she said. She also described BJP as Congress' main political rival, saying the ideologies of these two parties were poles apart. Full coverage: Lok Sabha election 2019 Her statement comes after Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati claimed that the Congress and the BJP have a nexus and are "cut from the same cloth". "Both the parties (Congress and BJP) are internally united and contesting the elections here together. The Congress leaders are saying that they will not let the SP-BSP candidate win, even if a BJP candidate wins," she said. She also said recalled when Congress President Rahul Gandhi hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament and said: "We all saw how Rahul hugged the PM in Parliament, both of them are evidently in collusion." Live TV BSP's alliance partner for the election, Samajwadi Party also trained guns at the Priyanka for her remark. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the Congress had always governed like the BJP. "They are both the same. If India is facing unemployment due to wrong policies of the Congress, the BJP has only taken those forward and made the situation even worse," he said. The SP-BSP-RLD alliance has not fielded its candidate against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Raebareli and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. MUMBAI: Further tightening its noose around the absconding Islamic scholar, Zakir Naik, who is being probed for his alleged terror links, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a prosecution complaint against him and several others. The agency filed a prosecution complaint against Naik and others before a special court in Mumbai. Live TV In a press statement, the agency said that it has filed a Prosecution Complaint against Zakir Naik and others in Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a Special Court in Mumbai. This is the second Prosecution Complaint against Zakir Naik and others. ''These Prosecution Complaints have been filed before the Special Judge with a prayer for punishment to the accused and confiscation of attached properties to the tune of Rs 50.46 crore for involvement in money laundering. The attached properties belonging to Zakir Naik, including investment in mutual funds, Islamic International School in Chennai, 10 residential flats, 03 godowns, 02 buildings and land in Pune and Mumbai and 10 bank accounts worth Rs 50.46 crore is as per list attached,'' the agency said. The agency also stated that it has identified proceeds of crime worth Rs 193.06 crore against the accused. ''Proceeds of crime totalling Rs 193.06 crore have been quantified in the case. Other than these attachments, investigation in respect of investments of Zakir Naik in Dubai to ascertain to identify the properties outside the country is under progress,'' the statement said. The agency further informed that it has initiated an investigation based on the FIR registered by NIA against Zakir Naik and his associates for his involvement in unlawful activities through his provocative utterances, thus promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups in India. The NIA had filed a Final Report/chargesheet before the court of Special Judge, NIA, Mumbai on 26.10.2017. Investigations so far have revealed that most of the incriminating speeches of Zakir Naik were delivered during the peace conferences organized by Islamic Research Foundation in Mumbai during the period from 2007 to 2011. ''The said conferences were planned, organized, funded and promoted by the Islamic Research Foundation and people of other religions were openly converted to Islam by Zakir Naik. His inflammatory speeches and lectures have inspired and incited a number of Muslim youths in India to commit unlawful activities and terrorist acts. His thoughts created disharmony amongst various faiths and created hatred amongst people. The speeches and lectures of Zakir Naik were recorded into the audio-visual format by M/s Harmony Media Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai and thereafter the recordings were edited by it for public viewing,'' according to the chargesheet. The agency has so far attached total properties of Zakir Naik worth Rs 50.46 crore. Naik was booked by the ED in 2016 based on a National Investigation Agency (NIA) FIR. Zakir Naik is the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation and is under scanner for making several provocative speeches in the past. Naik is believed to be hiding in Malaysia and has categorically denied any links with terror outfits. Mumbai: Arjun Kapoor says success and failure are a part of life and he hopes year 2019 will be a better one for him. The actor said Thursday that he considers himself an "underdog" in the industry, a place where everybody goes through highs and lows. "Some choices do go wrong but you live and learn. I want to do good work. I am happy when fans believe in me. But without taking advantage of the situation, I have always considered myself as an underdog," Arjun told reporters here. Calling his debut "Ishaqzaade", a one-of-a-kind film, the actor said he played a negative character in almost 90 per cent of the movie in an era ruled by "chocolate boys". "The audience appreciated and accepted me. I am here today because they pay money to watch our films, sometimes they don't and that happens to the best of us. And that is a wake-up call for all of us to work harder and chose better." He was speaking at the trailer launch of his upcoming film "India's Most Wanted". Arjun said he will always strive to be part of good stories. "It is a very long race and you don't become like those big names that have survived for 15-20 years without having conviction in your work and without the love and support of the audience. I hope people continue to support me." The 33-year-old actor said he has always tried to pick up interesting and different kind of films. "Sometimes films come to you accidentally, sometimes you are destined to do them and sometimes you take a chance," he added. Arjun said he wanted to work with director Raj Kumar Gupta and "India's Most Wanted" is the perfect project. "I went with his conviction. Whether it is an espionage, a thriller or a film about unsung heroes, you are not playing it to the gallery as a mainstream hero. It is exciting yet scary and challenging." The film, a tribute to unsung heroes, centres around the capture of India's most wanted, without firing a single bullet. The film's teaser, which was recently released, showed a man offering prayer while in the background he quotes Lord Krishna from the Bhagavada Gita. "I'm not killing people. I'm sending their souls into new bodies. These are not my words but it is Lord Shri Krishna in The Gita," a voice is heard saying in the teaser. This created quite a stir on social media with many people claiming that the teaser shows a casual mention of the Bhagavada Gita by a criminal to justify his actions. When asked to comment on this, Arjun said the film does not target any religion or caste. He called the film "pro-India". "I am not a Hindu or Muslim, I am an Indian and we all are Indians who are making a film. We are putting our country, our humanity first. This film is about those people who do not think about religion, caste and creed. "It is interesting for people sitting at home to type things like this. Are they putting their lives on risk? People use religion to make others feel a certain way. We are depicting a film that is pro-India. Give the film a chance before giving importance to such matters," he said. The film, produced by Gupta, Myra Karn and Fox Star Studios, is scheduled for release May 24. New Delhi: Talented Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana's author wife Tahira Kashyap is battling cancer and giving it a tough fight. She first shared on social media that she has DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) in her right breast with high-grade malignant cells but later was diagnosed with stage 1a cancer. Bollywoodlife.com quoted Ayushmann as telling in an interview with Rajeev Masand about when he got to know about Tahira's illness. He said, It was very difficult. In fact, thanks to her that she was brave enough to take that positively otherwise I would have broken, completely. Because I was in the middle of two films I was promoting Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho. And we got to know about this on my birthday. In fact, we saw Manmarziyaan that day... we saw Manmarziyaan on September 14 and we got to know of this disease." Adding more, he said, She was like 'I want to just celebrate my life. I'll take it head on and we are together in this both fighting the disease and also in promoting the films.' So, it was a collective effort from both sides. But I am glad she's overcome this and as we speak she's giving a lecture on cancer, how to fight, how to combat it. She's a leader now to cancer patients and an inspiration." Hubby Ayushmann has been a pillar of support to her in this time of crisis and often retweets and shares her post on social media. She even shared pictures of her bald look after undergoing chemotherapy sessions. Here's wishing Tahira a speedy recovery. New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Thursday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are having a tacit understanding and accused them of unitedly working against the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Asking the voters in Uttar Pradesh to stay away from Congress, Mayawati stated, "BJP and Congress are cut from the same cloth. I urge voters that they should not vote for Congress, they should instead vote for the 'gathbandhan' (SP-BSP alliance) candidate and ensure that BJP is defeated." Referring to the 2018 incident when during his Parliamentary debate in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi walked across to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hugged him, Mayawati said, "We all saw how Rahul hugged PM in the parliament both parties are in collusion but they will be wiped out of UP. It is now becoming clear that BJP and Congress are fighting against the SP-BSP 'gathbandhan' in Uttar Pradesh." On Wednesday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hinted towards an understanding with the alliance and had said that her party candidates would cut into BJP votes wherever they were not strong enough to win. "It is clear that our candidates are putting up a tough fight. Where they are strong enough, they will win on their own. Where they carry less weight, we have fielded such candidates that they would eat into BJP votes," she said at Amethi rally on Wednesday. However, her statement did not seem to go well with the Samajwadi Party president who took a potshot at her today saying that the grand-old party is coming out with excuses as they fear a loss in the election. "The people are not with the Congress. The sentiment in the state is against them," Akhilesh said during an interview with news agency ANI. India has always maintained - with credible proof - that Masood Azhar is a notorious terrorist guilty of targeting innocent lives by masterminding dastardly attacks. On Wednesday, China removed its long-standing objections as well to pave the way for the world community to officially designate the Jaish-e-Mohammad as a global terrorist. Left with no choice, Pakistan reacted by saying it would enforce sanctions as per established procedures in such cases. And then came the all-too-familiar and all-too-naive rebuttal to India. While India has repeatedly slammed Pakistan for sheltering and supporting Azhar, Islamabad has so far looked the other way even when credible proof of a link between JeM chief and numerous attacks have been given. It also allowed for close relatives of Azhar to contest in its elections. Now, the noose may have tightened too much for comfort. The country's Foreign Office said that it would immediately impose sanctions 'as it always does with UN cases.' Dawn quoted Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal as saying that the Imran Khan government remains committed to fight the battle against terrorism, while once again harping on false accusations of 'Indian terrorism in Kashmir.' "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, our resolve for countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and our National Action Plan," he said. Even as Azhar has so far had a free run in the country, Faisal went on to claim that Pakistan has made progress in the battle against terror. "The Government of Pakistan has since January 2019 accelerated the implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism. Notwithstanding the challenges, progress is being made and further work will continue in line with national consensus and interest," he said. Despite such claims, Pakistan's bluff on acting against terror has been repeatedly called out by several countries - including the United States. Security analysts feel that Islamabad banked upon its closeness with Beijing to save it from international condemnation but Azhar's listing as a global terrorist now comes as a massive snub. 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. Thailand`s King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun will be officially crowned as the 10th king of the Chakri dynasty on May 4, after taking the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in late 2016. The 66-year-old constitutional monarch had a pre-coronation surprise for his subjects: He married for the fourth time on Wednesday and named his new wife as queen. During 18 months of his reign so far, Vajiralongkorn, also known by the title King Rama X, has moved to consolidate the authority of the monarchy, including taking more direct control of the crown`s vast wealth with the help of Thailand`s military government. In one of his most visible initiatives he has signed up some 5 million Thais to a new volunteer corps, whose members salute a portrait of the king before going out to work on community service projects such as cleaning public spaces. Live TV Devotion to the monarch is an ingrained part of Thai culture that deepened during Bhumibol`s 70-year reign. Vajiralongkorn`s portrait has replaced or hangs alongside that of his late father in many streets, public buildings and private businesses. Public criticism of the king or his family is illegal, with insults to the monarchy punishable by up to 15 years in prison under Thailand`s strict lese majeste laws. Vajiralongkorn was born on July 28, 1952, the second of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit`s four children and their only son. After completing primary education in Thailand, he was educated at private schools in Britain and Australia, before attending Australia`s Royal Military College Duntroon, in Canberra, and earning a bachelor`s degree in military studies from the University of New South Wales in Australia. According to the king`s official biography, he is a qualified helicopter and fighter pilot and served as a career officer in the Royal Thai Army, where he saw action against communist insurgents in Thailand in the 1970s. As king, he is now commander-in-chief of the armed forces. "DECISIVE KING" Since he ascended the throne, Vajiralongkorn has asserted his authority in several ways, according to analysts observing his public actions. In July 2017, the military-appointed legislative assembly amended a 1936 law to give the king full control of the Crown Property Bureau, which manages the crown`s multi-billion dollar holdings and was previously under the supervision of the Finance Ministry. The exact value of the bureau`s real estate and other assets is not made public, but its Bangkok holdings alone were estimated at $33 billion in a 2011 biography of his father "King Bhumibol, A Life`s Work". Reuters could not independently verify that figure. Officials from the Crown Property Bureau and the Bureau of the Royal Household did not respond to requests for comment. Two sources close to the palace told Reuters the king has also brought his military sensibilities to the running of the royal household. Courtiers and royal guards are ordered to recite from memory the "Ratchasawat" or basic code of conduct for those entering royal service rooted in the old absolutist court of King Rama VI (1881-1925). The code, in the form of a Thai poem, exhorts those close to the king to have "humility and never be boastful", to "never be presumptuous about the King`s kindness" and to "not react even when facing the King`s wrath". In December 2017, the chief of the Royal Thai Police told reporters that the king has provided uniforms with a consistent khaki colour tone for all police officers, as there had previously been variations in hue. In the same year, the 400,000-strong military also adopted a new salute and haircut, both modelled after those used by the king`s own bodyguards. The king has also publicly punished members of the royal staff, including Grand Chamberlain Distorn Vajarodaya, who was dismissed in November 2017 and stripped of all royal decorations for "extremely evil behaviour", according to a published royal command. The document lists Distorn`s alleged wrongdoings as falsifying a 25 million baht ($785,000) charity receipt and tax evasion. Distorn`s location is not known and Reuters was unable to reach him for comment. According to local media reports in March, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for dereliction of duty and fraud by a criminal court in August 2018. More than a dozen other royal staff have been sacked in similar public fashion for varying degrees of offences, ranging from tardiness and adultery to corruption. In December 2018, a royal guard was dismissed and stripped of his decorations for "breaching military discipline by being lazy and being careless in abandoning royal duties", according to a published royal command. Reuters could not determine if the guard faced any additional punishment and he could not be reached for comment. "The king has been very decisive and bold in pointing out what is right and wrong. Those who did good he praised, those who did wrong he punished," said Sulak Sivaraksa, a Thai academic who has sometimes been a critic of the monarchy. "This king also follows in his father`s footstep by not consulting with his advisors but uses them as his representatives in state functions." The Bureau of the Royal Household did not respond to written questions about his leadership style. "GOOD PEOPLE" The king also moved swiftly to block his elder sister earlier this year when Princess Ubolratana, 67, broke with the tradition of the royal family remaining aloof from politics and announced her surprise bid to run for prime minister. Vajiralongkorn issued a public command calling her candidacy for a populist opposition party "inappropriate" and unconstitutional. The princess was quickly disqualified by the Election Commission and the party that nominated her was later banned from the election. Ubolratana has not responded to interview requests, but said on Instagram after her disqualification she was "sorry my genuine intention to work for the country and Thai people has caused such problems that shouldn`t have happened in this era", ending with the hashtag "#howcomeitsthewayitis". On the eve of the March 24 vote, the palace also issued an unexpected statement saying Vajiralongkorn was "concerned about the country`s security" and the Thai people`s happiness. It did not directly mention the election, but recalled a comment made by Vajiralongkorn`s late father on the need to put "good people" in power and prevent "bad people from ... creating chaos". The results of the election, touted by the ruling junta as a return to democracy five years after the military seized power, are still unclear, though rules written by a military make it likely that a pro-army party will form the next government. Official election results are due on May 9, three days after the coronation ceremonies end. The palace did not respond to requests for comment about the election. ROYAL MARRIAGE Three days before his coronation, Vajiralongkorn broke the news to Thais that he had married the deputy commander of his bodyguard unit, Suthida Tidjai, 40. A former flight attendant for Thai Airways, she was given the title Queen Suthida after the Wednesday ceremony, shown in the nightly Royal News segment screened on all Thai television channels. Some royal observers and foreign media had linked Suthida romantically with the king after he appointed her to deputy commander of his bodyguard in 2014 and made her a full general in 2016, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between them. Vajiralongkorn, who has been married and divorced three times, has continued spending time since taking the throne in Germany, where his 13-year-old youngest son from his third marriage, Prince Dipangkorn, attends school. He often pilots his own Boeing 737 jet on trips abroad and has a large lakeside villa in the German town of Tutzing, on Lake Starnberg, 40 km (25 miles) from Munich. In 2014, he divorced his third wife, former lady-in-waiting Srirasmi Suwadee. Their split followed the arrest of several of her relatives as part of a corruption investigation into people accused of making false claims of having links to the monarchy for financial gain. Srirasmi was never charged herself. Her uncle, parents and three brothers were later convicted of lese majeste and remain in prison. Srirasmi, who relinquished her royal titles during the investigation, lives outside Bangkok and has rarely been seen in public since the divorce. Reuters was unable to contact her for comment. The king also has a daughter from his first marriage and four sons and a daughter from his second marriage to a former actress. CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and key military figures made a show of unity in a television broadcast on Thursday, seeking to reject claims by the United States and the opposition that the armed forces high command was prepared to turn on him. Flanked by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and military operations chief Remigio Ceballos, Maduro said in a dawn national address posted first to social media that the armed forces were "united, cohesive and subordinate to their constitutional mandate," just two days after opposition leader Juan Guaido urged the military to join him to oust Maduro. Venezuelans heeded a call from Guaido to take to the streets on Wednesday in a bid to force Maduro from power, but there was little concrete sign of change in a crisis that increasingly looks like a political stalemate. Guaido, the head of the opposition-run National Assembly, is recognized as Venezuela`s legitimate head of state by the United States, the European Union and others, while Maduro is backed by countries including Russia, China and Cuba. U.S. officials have said the military high command was in discussions with the Supreme Court and representatives of Guaido over Maduro`s exit, which would involve guarantees that members of the armed forces could keep their jobs in a transition government. Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, said Maduro cannot trust his top military leaders. "Even when they say, `I am totally loyal, Mr. President,` he cannot count on that," Abrams told broadcaster VPI on Wednesday. "Almost everyone was involved with that, and so Maduro has to know that the high command is not truly loyal and they want a change." The heightened tensions in the OPEC nation come more than three months after Guaido invoked the country`s constitution to assume the interim presidency, arguing Maduro`s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Maduro calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking a coup. Guaido`s call for an uprising on Tuesday, through a video in which he was surrounded by dozens of soldiers he said had joined his side, did not lead to immediate signs of a change. But it led to two straight days of massive street demonstrations across the country that left hundreds injured or arrested, and four dead due to security forces` efforts to quell protests, according to rights groups. Abrams` comments were not the first time U.S. officials had raised doubts about the loyalty of Maduro`s inner circle. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday said Padrino, along with the supreme court`s chief justice and the commander of the presidential guard, had told the opposition Maduro needed to leave power. "Do not come to buy us with a dishonest offer, as if we do not have dignity," Padrino said in Thursday`s video while standing by Maduro`s side. "Those who have fallen and sold their souls are no longer soldiers, they cannot be with us." LONDON: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday he did not want to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11 and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years. Live TV Asked at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates` Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the United States, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said he did not wish to surrender to extradition. The case was adjourned until May 30 for a procedural hearing with a more substantial hearing planned for June 12. The full extradition hearing was some months away, the court was told. 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. 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. Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau (right) meets Asian Development Bank Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem (left). Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau today attended the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Nadi, Fiji. Mr Lau met ADB Executive Director Tony McDonald, Alternate Executive Director Scott Dawson and Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem, as well as ADB East Asia Department Director General Amy Leung and Deputy Director General Teresa Kho. Noting that Hong Kong's financial market has a high level of liquidity and is governed by effective and transparent regulations, Mr Lau encouraged the ADB to continue to make good use of the Hong Kong market in areas such as infrastructure investment and financing. He also introduced major initiatives of the Outline Development Plan of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In the afternoon, Mr Lau attended the ADB Constituency Meeting where he briefed financial officials on Hong Kong's strengths in green finance and the adoption of fintech. He added Hong Kong will be happy to share its experience with the Faster Payment System in making retail fund transfers and payments much quicker and easier. Mr Lau will meet ADB President Takehiko Nakao tomorrow. The United States of America opened its US$292 million embassy compound in Harare, a structural behemoth believed to be one its largest embassies in Africa and beyond. US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols said the new embassy symbolised the United States ongoing and durable commitment to the people of Zimbabwe. The US has, for the past two decades, maintained illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe that are responsible for massive de-industrialisation and increased investor risks since the global superpower also sanctions countries and businesses, including banks, that deal with Zimbabwe. The US administration has not been equal to embrace President Mnangagwas re-engagement policy, despite Zimbabwe opening doors to dialogue and engagement. In March, US President Donald Trump extended by another year an executive order that gives effect to the punitive regime, that is seen as an instrument to bludgeon the poor and effect change of Government in Harare. A group of protesters has been picketing the new embassy demanding the removal of sanctions. But Ambassador Nichols struck a conciliatory note yesterday, commending progress being made by Government to align the countrys laws to the Constitution and pledged to strengthen its partnership with Zimbabwe through trade and investment. He said the US would build relations. In addition to structures, we built relationships across a network of service providers, he said. We look forward to deepening those relationships. The United States aspires to strengthen its partnership with Zimbabwe and to expand trade and investment between our countries. Embracing political and economic reform is the key to achieving these goals. We are pleased the Government is moving toward repealing legislation that fails to align with Zimbabwes 2013 constitution. The right of Zimbabweans to express their views peacefully, to collectively bargain, and to choose their leaders via free and fair elections should never be infringed, he said. On the right, a protest movement demonstrates against sanctions imposed by the United States outside the embassy in Harare yesterday. Picture by Justin Mutenda Ambassador Nichols called for a national dialogue on political, social and economic reforms to build confidence in a new Zimbabwe. He said the new embassy was inspired by the architecture used in the construction of the Great Zimbabwe. Senior great architecture enriches the people and society around it. The proud people of this land knew this truth a millennia ago when they laid the foundations of Great Zimbabwe, the land of kings, nearly 300 kilometres from here. And Great Zimbabwe served as the inspiration for this beautiful building. Our campus evokes Zimbabwes geography. The countrys wide open rural plains, known as the veld are distinguished by their gently sloping terrain, vast grasslands and tree cover. The canopy over the main entrance that draws its inspiration from the mbira dzavadzimu, or voice of the ancestors, a musical instrument that the people of Zimbabwe have played for thousands of years, he said. An American artist Yael Kanarek created the hanging art with the words Night and Day in 19 languages spoken in Zimbabwe. Ambassador Nichols expressed his appreciation to Government and the City of Harare for their support and co-operation during the construction of the structure. Ambassador Mathema congratulated US President Donald Trump and the people of America and said the construction of the new complex in Zimbabwe was a sign of a beautiful future between the two countries. The construction of this building shows what good relations we have and what beautiful thoughts we have about each other. We hope for the best all the time. It is a good sign and shows the US is going to be here forever, he said. United States director, bureau of overseas buildings operations, Mr Tad Davis said he was proud of this new embassys eco-friendly features which pursue resiliency, energy savings and sustainability goals, that aim to reduce the overall environmental impact, while optimizing building performance, to enhance the self sufficiency of the campus. Further, Section 295 states the only two circumstances where land is compensated for saying any indigenous Zimbabwean whose agricultural land was acquired by the State before the effective date is entitled to compensation from the State for the land and any improvements that were on the land when it was acquired; 2. Any person whose agricultural land was acquired by the State before the effective date and whose property rights at that time were guaranteed or protected by an agreement concluded by the Government of Zimbabwe with the government of another country, is entitled to compensation from the State for the land and any improvements in accordance with that agreement. There wont be a way forward in this country before we dialogue. We must agree that elections were stolen. Yes, the court finished the legal dispute, but there is a political dispute. Courts do not adjudicate political disputes, we need to dialogue about the future of this country. Hybridization leads to pollution tolerance in fish from polluted Houston ship channel Recent hybridization of the Gulf killifish -- a large minnow common in the heavily polluted Houston Ship Channel -- has enabled the species to adapt rapidly to extreme pollution, a Baylor University study has found. "Our work demonstrates that hybridization can act as a mechanism of evolutionary rescue -- likely not only in response to chemical pollution, but possibly also in response to the rapid environmental changes associated with global climate change," said senior author Cole Matson, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental science and a member of the Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research (CRASR) at Baylor University. The study is published in Science, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Gulf killifish, a common inhabitant of coastal estuaries along the northern Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Atlantic coast, is important both ecologically and economically. It is a preferred prey item of many coastal sport fish, including speckled trout, red drum and flounder. The Houston Ship Channel is heavily polluted from more than 60 years of industrial activity, according to the study. This pollution has led to fish consumption advisories being issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services, with Gulf killifish representing an important link for environmental pollution to pass from contaminated sediments and macroinvertebrates into popular game fish, which are then consumed by humans. The substantial industrial pollution in the Houston Ship Channel has long posed a significant challenge to local fish populations, fueling the need for adaptation. "Radical environmental change that causes population decline can limit the ways species can adapt genetically to survive," Matson said. "We suggest that both intra- and inter-species connectivity may be important sources of adaptive variation during extreme environmental change." Causes for those changes could range from chemical or oil spills to altered salinity to shifting temperatures. In the past, species generally have been able to evolve over centuries, millennia, or even longer, to survive such changes. But now they may need to be able to evolve in decades instead in order to survive. "This accelerated pace relies more heavily on existing genetic variation or connectivity to other populations, as beneficial genetic mutation is quite rare," Matson said. In events of extreme change, "natural populations rely on genetic variation to allow them to rapidly adapt," said author Elias Oziolor, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Pfizer who conducted much of the study as part of his dissertation research at Baylor University. "The huge population sizes of Gulf killifish allow them to retain a large amount of genetic variation. "However, under radical pollution pressure, the ultimate solution was not their own genetic variation, but variation they were lucky enough to capture from their sister species, the Atlantic killifish, through hybridization." For the study, Gulf killifish were sampled from 12 sites in the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay with varying pollution levels. These fish were then cultured in Baylor aquaculture facilities, including the collection of embryos to test for pollution tolerance. This was done by exposing embryos from each of the populations to model pollutants that act through toxicity pathways similar to many chemicals in the Houston Ship Channel. Researchers found that fish from the most polluted sites were most resistant to pollution, and that the resistance was inherited through multiple generations. To better understand how the fish had evolved, they sequenced the entire genomes of 288 individual fish from seven of the populations, representing different levels of pollution tolerance. By looking for evidence of selection across the genomes of fish from polluted populations, they identified the genes under the strongest selective pressure and so likely the most important for survival in the Houston Ship Channel. The two genomic regions under the strongest selection traced back to Atlantic killifish, rather than Gulf killifish -- a result of recent hybridization believed to have occurred as a result of human activity, possibly in ballast water from a large ship. "Although Gulf killifish have adapted to prevent the cardiac deformities expected within the polluted Houston Ship Channel, the impact on other resident fish species is unclear and an area of future research," Matson said. "We are also very interested in how Gulf killifish from other polluted regions have responded to pollution. "We are not suggesting that hybridization will commonly provide a solution to environmental challenges," he said. "In fact, the limited duration of this hybridization event, and the very strong selective advantage of killifish with these specific gene variants, provided a rare set of circumstances allowing for adaptive introgression without any evidence of the harmful genetic baggage one might expect as a result of hybridization." More research will be required to understand the relative importance of the various mechanisms of evolutionary rescue in the face of rapid environmental change, Matson said. "Hybridization is not likely to be a commonly utilized mechanism of evolutionary rescue," he said. "But this study clearly shows that it is possible." ### *The research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation; the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences; the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill Trustees Council; Baylor University; C. Gus Glasscock Endowed Research Fellowship; and Indiana University. Co-researchers included scientists from the Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis; Department of Environmental Toxicology and Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, UC Davis; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; and O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said on Thursday that Arab countries share the same challenges of boosting growth, intensifing economic diversification and offering job opportunities for young people. This cannot be achieved without implementing reforms to our economies, the Lebanese prime minister told the 27th Arab Economic Forum (AEF), which is held in Beirut. Al-Hariri praised Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and the Egyptian governments reform program, saying his country should follow Egypt's steps to achieve economic development. Since President El-Sisi came to office, Al-Hariri said, he has changed Egypts direction and pushed his country forward after a period of stagnation. The Arab Economic Forum this year is attended by the Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboulgheit, Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, with Egypt designated this year's guest of honour, regional and international officials, and business and development leaders. Lebanon needs to look to a country like Egypt and a president like Abdel Fattah El-Sisi this is the model we need to follow and this is the change we need to make. Our ambitions in Lebanon are those of Egypt and I hope the infection spreads across the Arab world. Search Keywords: Short link: Let us know what you're seeing and hearing around the community. Submit here The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. In its crusade against fake news, Facebook has vowed to fight for impartiality. However, when it comes to fact-checking, it seems to rely on sources which have links to the US government and renowned political meddlers.For more than two years, the social media giant has been seeking to convince the public that it does its best to take a stand against malicious disinformation spread through its network and presented a whole bunch of instruments aimed at revealing and countering false narratives.It appears, though, that Facebook heavily relies on decisions taken by some third-parties in its anti-disinformation policy.Submissions from the so-called fact-checkers alongside some feedback from users seem to be the primary source on which Facebook relies when saying a post is false.One-fits-all solution?Facebook proudly boasted that all the partners it cooperates with were certified through what it calls the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network or IFCN.However, the social networks choice of people to trust with the power to decide what is true or false does raise questions. This seemingly impressive international network Facebook mentions is a project run by Florida-based private school of journalism the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.The project, which Facebook apparently uses as a sole instrument to find trustworthy partners, seems to be way more than just a selfless initiative aimed at helping people navigate through questionable information.The IFCN was launched in 2015 following a generous donation totaling $300,000, which the Poynter Institute received from two sources. One of them is the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) a soft-power organization, which is funded primarily through annual allocations from the US Congress. Another one is the Omidyar Network a foundation run by the eBay founder and self-described progressive billionaire Pierre Omidyar.Although he has not yet apparently gained as much fame or infamy for that matter as another US billionaire and renowned political meddler, George Soros, Omidyar has also lately shown himself as a major patron of regime-change operations. As early as in 2014, the US media reported that Omidyar supported anti-government groups in Ukraine that opposed the then President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted during Maidan.A report by Forbes also suggested that the billionaire was one of the major funders of the Kiev-based Hromadske TV, which harbored anti-Russian views while backing the violent 2014 coup. Most recently, a group of journalists revealed that Omidyar funds a wide range of media outlets through foundations, nonprofits and other cutouts that in fact promote the liberal interventionist agenda.Watch videoNotably, two years after the launch of the IFCN Omidyar teamed up with none other than another liberal interventionist Soros to channel some $1.3 million into the project to support its development.The Poynter Institute itself also has the Omidyar Network as well as the Democracy Fund another foundation linked to the eBay founder on its list of major donors, alongside Open Society Foundations (OSF) run by Soros and the NED.Providers of ultimate truthThe list of certified fact-checkers provided by the IFCN certainly looks impressive. It includes such international news agencies as Associated Press and Agency France Press (AFP), which appear on the list along with its branch offices in a dozen and a half countries. In total, the network describes 66 organizations as verified signatories of the self-styled code of principles it developed.However, the impartiality question remains. At least some of the organizations listed as reliable suppliers of the ultimate truth and described as partners by Facebook in fact receive substantial funding from the likes of Soros and Omidyar or even directly from Western governments.One of these organizations called PolitiFact even enjoys what it calls administrative support from the Poynter Institute while receiving significant funding from Facebook itself. The US-based fact-checker also collected regular donations from Omidyars Democracy Fund since at least 2013, which amounted to between $125,000 and $250,000.Across the pond, the British Full Fact charity lists the Omidyar Network and Open Society Foundations among its top-5 donors. And in the Philippines Omidyar is backing the Rappler, a news site that also made its way to the IFCN fact-checkers list while opposing President Rodrigo Duterte.Together, Omidyars Luminate Group and Soros OSF also provided a quarter of the funding, which a South Africa-based fact-checker, the Africa Check, received in 2018. Meanwhile, another such organization based in Turkey and called Teyit got its funds directly from Western governments in the form of financial supportprovided by the British embassy in Ankara as well as the European Endowment for Democracy a foundation financed directly by most EU states along with Switzerland and Norway.Some of the organizations on the list also manage to collect donations both from Western governments and the liberal interventionists. One such example is the Colombian La Silla Vacia group, which received 14.5 percent of its funding from Soros, 9.5 percent from the British embassy and another four percent from the NED.It seems, after all that, the accusations of bias Facebook complained so bitterly about in 2018 might be not as unsubstantiated as the social media giant would like it to appear. Back then, Facebooks project manager, Tessa Lyons, rhetorically asked if it is possible to have a set of fact-checkers that are widely recognized as objective in todays world. Thats a really good question, which Facebook might need to ask itself again.This article was sourced from RT.comImage credit: Anthony Freda Artvia Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly is expected to address parliament Saturday on the new three-month extension Ahmed Saadeddin, secretary general of Egypt's parliament, announced Thursday that the House of Representatives will hold an extraordinary meeting Saturday to discuss President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's decree No. 208/2019, aimed at extending the state of emergency for a new period of three months, starting 1am 25 April and ending 12pm 24 July. Sources said Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly is expected to address parliament on the reasons that justify the new extension. Parliament is scheduled to hold its ordinary meetings 12 May. According to parliament's internal bylaws (Article 131), the House must be informed by the prime minister within one week of the date of declaring a state of emergency, and the decree must be corroborated with reasons that justify the new extension. Following Madbouly's statement, the House's general committee will meet to discuss the decree, the reasons behind the new extension, and prepare a report that will then be voted on. Upon hearing his or her name, MP will vote in a roll call. Article 2 of the decree states that the armed forces and police will take charge of implementing the new extension, take all measures necessary to defend the country against the dangers of terrorism and its funding, preserve security throughout the country, safeguard private and public property and the lives of citizens. Search Keywords: Short link: The house of representatives has again summoned President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before it over the insecurity in the country. ... The house of representatives has again summoned President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before it over the insecurity in the country. The lawmakers summoned the president while deliberating on a motion on insecurity raised by Ahmed Safana from Katsina state. The development comes less than a month after the lawmakers summoned Buhari over the same issue. The president, who is currently away on a private trip to the UK, did not honour the summon till date. At Thursdays plenary, the lawmakers lamented the incessant killings being recorded in parts of the country as a result of attacks by bandits among others. The latest of such attacks was on Wednesday night when schoolgirls were abducted from their school in Zamfara state. Yusuf Lasun, deputy speaker, said lack of adequate government policies and actions have been part of the major causes of the security challenges. Is there any government in the last eight years that have shown us why people are being killed? No government, he said. The major problem is the kind of policy we give out, either at state or local govt level. It took Bill Gates to come and tell us in Nigeria that weve neglected health and education. Mohammed Monguno from Borno state suggested that the insecurity in the country could be related to the high rate of unemployment. If we are going to feed the 200 million Nigerians, it is only thoughtful that we can create jobs for the youth so that they can have a means of livelihood, he said. If care is not taken, if the situation is not curbed, we will not be able to sleep. There are places in my community that you cannot travel to with a jeep or flashy car. The lawmakers subsequently resolved to summon the president to address them on efforts being made to tackle the insecurity in the country. The ongoing war on Instagram between Tonto Dikeh and her ex-husband, Olakunle Churchill has extended beyond the two. Currently, fans... The ongoing war on Instagram between Tonto Dikeh and her ex-husband, Olakunle Churchill has extended beyond the two. Currently, fans, followers and colleagues in the movie industry are engaged in debates and exchanging hot words over the issue of Tontos Monday video Taking the lead, Nigerias drag queen and Tontos best friend, Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky w ho called out FunkeAdesiyan for shading Tonto Dikeh. Bobrisky wrote, Hey Funke do u think is about your weight ? Is fighting by weight? You are just a useless woman with shapeless body goal. Reasonable people are talking in the industry pepper seller like you too wanna trend Get Tonto gist off your dirty mouth pls. Must all of you female cows trend on people news? Firstly it was Regina now pepper seller looking too wanna trend on Tonto gist. She has her mouth and she is free to say anything with her mouth. If you are tired of her gist vacate from social media.. you all wanna talk about people but failed to mind your own business. I know after dis you will want to come for me. Trust me I will drag you to the dirty pit of hell . Yes you werent calling my name on dis but trust me you just messed with my friend and no one mess with KING TONTO when am still alive. Keep your weight and the same energy when you see her like she said. Is then you know Igbo women are way stronger than fat looking bitch like you. Signing out. Funke Adesiyan is yet to reply Bobrisky at the moment. Rochas Okorocha, governor of Imo state, says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is setting a bad precedent by withho... Rochas Okorocha, governor of Imo state, says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is setting a bad precedent by withholding his certificate of return after he had been declared winner of the Imo west senatorial election. Okorocha said since the election had been concluded and a winner announced, INEC had no right not to issue him a certificate of return according to the laws governing elections the country. In a petition he filed at the commissions head office, Okorocha advised Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, not to reduce the commission to a willing tool in the hands of political manipulators. INEC had refused to issue a certificate of return to Okorocha despite being announced the winner of the election because Francis Ibeawuchi, the returning officer for the election, said the declaration of Okorocha as winner of the election was made under duress. But Okorocha argued that if there were issues with the election after the announcement of a winner, recourse ought to be made to election tribunals. Section 285 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, states that there shall be established for the Federation one or more elections tribunal to be known as the National Assembly Elections Tribunal which shall, to the exclusion of any court or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether (a) any person has been validly elected as a member of the national Assembly, he wrote. Section 133 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides that No election and return at an election under this Act shall be questioned in a manner other than by a petition complaining of an undue election or an undue return presented to the competent tribunal or court in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution or of this Act, and in which the person elected or returned is joined as a party. Okorocha asked where INEC derived the power to withhold certificate of return after a winner in an election had been announced. He argued that the step taken by INEC is not known to law and advised the commission to seek redress in the law court rather than taking laws into its own hands. Okorocha also said that INEC, in its counter-affidavit to the suit he filed at the federal high court to compel it to issue him his certificate of return, did not mention any allegation to the fact that his declaration was made under duress. In the replies filed by INEC to the petitions filed against me by Osita Izuanso, Jones Onyeyeri, Peoples Democratic Party and Uche Onyeoma Ibeh at the Election Tribunal in Owerri, INEC actually stated that my election was duly conducted and that the declaration and return made in my favour by the Returning Officer was voluntary and not due to any duress or coercion exerted on the Returning Officer, he said. "Extremist militias" controlling the Libyan capital, Tripoli, were "derailing" the search for a political solution to the country's crisis, a senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official said on Thursday. "Abu Dhabi agreement offered opportunity to support the U.N.-led process. Meanwhile extremist militias continue to control capital and derail search for political solution," Anwar Gargash, UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said in a Twitter post. "Priority in Libya (is) to counter extremism/terrorism and support stability in long drawn out crisis," he added. Search Keywords: Short link: The leader of traders in Lagos and the Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, has said that some traders in the Computer ... Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo The leader of traders in Lagos and the Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, has said that some traders in the Computer village market who protested against the appointment of Iyaloja and Babaloja in the market on Tuesday were ill-informed.Addressing a press briefing on Wednesday, Tinubu-Ojo, said all the markets in the state were under her control and the computer village market cannot be an exception.According to our constitution, I can choose anybody from any local government in the state to head the market, all the iyaloja and babaloja in all the Lagos markets are my representatives in the market where they operate. Kindly educate them that phones, handsets, computers are commodities.They cannot tell us they are not pepper sellers, everybody cannot be textile dealers; they cant tell us that computer village will be exonerated (sic) from other markets. We have the right to choose for them Iyaloja and Babaloja.Those people protesting never approached me to complain. They dont have the initiative that the person leading the protest has finished his tenure and wants to remain in powerComputer village is not just an ICT hub, there are a lot of commodities being sold there; nobody can say it is wrong to select a babaloja and iyaloja for the market. Those that have been selected were not selected because they are Yoruba, in some of our markets in Lagos we have Igbos that were selected as market leaders, Tinubu-Ojo said.She said the appointment of Mrs Abisola Azeez and Mr Adeniyi Babalola, as Iyaloja and Babaloja of Computer Village respectively was done to maintain peace in the market among the traders. Governors Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) and Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) are contesting for Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) chairman. But th... Governors Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) and Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) are contesting for Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) chairman. But there are indications that a Southwest candidate may get the job since the outgoing chairman, Zamfara State Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari, is from the North. El-Rufai is, however, said to have insisted on getting the slot and he is yet to agree to step down for any of his colleagues. The NGF has had six chairmen in the last 20 years when the nation returned to democracy. The past chairmen are Alh. Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa, 1999 2004), Arc. (Obong) Victor Attah, (Akwa Ibom State 2004 -2006), Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo 2006 2007), Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, (Kwara 2007- 2011) Rotimi Amaechi ( Rivers from 2011 -2015) and Abdulaziz Yari(2015-2019). According to sources, the NGF poll will hold on May 22 in Abuja ahead of the last National Economic Council meeting for the outgoing governors on May 23. payment of N30,000 minimum wage and the effects on states economy; increasing security challenges; and seeking a new formula for the funding of Universal Basic Education(UBE). It was learnt that the governors have started consulting one another on who to elect as their chairman because of the tasks ahead of them, including the need to sustain a harmonious relationship with the President;payment of N30,000 minimum wage andthe effects on states economy; increasing security challenges; and seeking a new formula for the funding of Universal Basic Education(UBE). intrigues have left us with two choices El-Rufai and Fayemi. A governor from Northcentral said: Many governors are interested in leading the NGF, but theintrigues have leftus with two choices El-Rufai and Fayemi. While some do not want el-Rufai for having his fingers in too many pies, others feel his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari may add value. Most governors in the opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are opposed to him. But Fayemi is rated as a liberal leader who has built bridges across all parties. He is also regarded as a governor who has the ears of Buhari and members of his kitchen cabinet. But Fayemi is rated as a liberal leader who has built bridges across all parties. He is also regarded as a governor who has the ears of Buhari and members of his kitchen cabinet. I think most of us prefer Fayemi to El-Rufai whose leadership style can be likened to that of a headmaster. He is also an academic with an international profile. But in politics, anything can change overnight. When we meet on May 22, we will look at all options and choose the best out of the two governors. said: We have a challenge at hand because the outgoing NGF chairman is leaving a big vacuum. A governor from the Northeastsaid: We have a challenge at hand because the outgoing NGF chairman is leaving a big vacuum. The truth is that we have never had a successful NGF chairman like Abdulaziz Yari, who is a goal getter. He bailed us out many times by sourcing for funds from the President. Governors across all parties were at home with Yari because he succeeded in persuading President Muhammadu Buhari in approving the release of almost N2 trillion to states, including N713.7 billion special intervention funds to states, London-Paris Club refund, and other special funds. The Zamfara State governor might have security and political problems at home and he is probably in a tinder box in his state but he has offered leadership, which is acceptable to all governors across the parties in the country. A senior traditional title holder in Daura Emirate Council in Katsina State, Alhaji Musa Umar Uba was abducted by four gunmen who stor... A senior traditional title holder in Daura Emirate Council in Katsina State, Alhaji Musa Umar Uba was abducted by four gunmen who stormed his residence in the ancient city last night. The traditional ruler, who holds the title of Magajin Garin Daura is a retired Customs Controller and a cousin of the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Faruk Umar. A witness, who simply identified himself as Malam Abdullahi, told the newsmen that the gunmen stormed the residence of the traditional ruler in a convoy of two vehicles a blue Peugeot 406 Saloon car and a Toyota Hilux. They met him in front of his house at Kwanar Agam in the city and forcefully abducted him around 7pm after Magrib prayers. Another witness, Malam Muhammad, who lives in the same area with the traditional title holder, said the whole incident played out like a drama. We all observed the Maghrib prayer in the same neighbourhood and left the mosque. The district head retreated back to his house and sat in the frontIt is part of his routine to wait until after the Ishai, the last prayer of the day before he will retire into his house. However, while seated in front of his house, he received some phone calls. From all indications, those who called told him they were on their way to see him. Few minutes after, they arrived at the house, parked their vehicles, alighted and then approached the Magajin Gari. All of a sudden, they grabbed him and whisked him into one of the waiting vehicles and sped off, he said. When people tried to come to his aid, the gunmen shot sporadically in the air to scare the people who were forced to run to safety, he added. Asked if the district head was not in company of his security aides, he said, Only few palace courtiers were with him. This is probably because Daura and environs have always been peaceful. A source, who craved for anonymity, said the Magajin Gari might have been targeted because of his standing. You know he is married to Hajiya Bilki, a niece to President Muhammadu Buhari, being the daughter of his elder sister, Hajiya Rakiya. He is also the father of Fatima, who is married to the presidents Aide De Camp (ADC), Col. Mohammed Abubakar. We have never had this kind of incident in Daura in the past despite our proximity to the Nigerien border. Though nobody was killed or injured, the people were highly traumatised, he said. Another source, who does not want to be named, said he lives less than 500 metres from the house of the Magajin Gari. When we heard the first shooting, we actually thought it was form the electric transformer nearby. However, we suddenly heard more sounds and it downed on us that it was gunshots. Most of those we were seated together ran to safety because we only heard of things like this happening in other places. When the shooting subsided, I summoned courage and walked towards the direction of the gunshots and lo and behold, it was the district head that was abducted, he said. Shortly after, hundreds of sympathizers converged on the residence of the district head while some soldiers and policemen were seen patrolling the ancient city. Most of the security challenges in Katsina State are happening in communities close to Zamfara State. Abductors yet to contact family Credible sources told the newsmen that shortly after the abduction, the kidnappers who fired several shots into the air drove on high speed towards Zango, a town roughly 16 kilometres away from Daura that shares a border with the Niger Republic. The gunmen switched off Magajin Garis handsets and so they could not be reached. They also were yet to contact the family. Confirming the incident, the Spokesman of Daura Emirate Council, Usman Ibrahim, said some people tried to rescue the district head but the abductors fired shots in the air which scared them away. In a telephone interview with the newsmen, the Chairman of Daura Local Government Area, Engr. Abba Mato, also confirmed the incident. He said they had informed security operatives of the development and efforts are on to rescue the ex-Customs controller. Engr. Mato added that besides the efforts by security agencies to rescue the high ranking traditional ruler, clerics and residents of Daura and environs have been urged to pray to Allah to unravel the perpetrators. Other sources told our correspondents that the Army, Air Force, Police, Customs and Immigrations personnel have intensified surveillance along all the corridors leading to Daura, up to the border with Niger. The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Thursday, asked its members and people of the Benue, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kogi and Kaduna State... The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Thursday, asked its members and people of the Benue, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kogi and Kaduna States, to sit at home on May 30. IPOB explained that the order was in protest over killings by Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram activities in the affected states. The annual sit-at-home order is a move by the proscribed IPOB aimed at pushing for the actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra across the South-East. It is expecting that Igbo and those sympathetic to the struggle for Biafra on May 30 stay indoors. In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, the secessionist group stated that there would be no vehicular movement both in South East and the Middle Belt region of the country on May 30. The statement reads: IPOB explained that We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) consider it imperative to use this great opportunity provided by the Most High God to announce the sit at home order throughout Biafraland and Nigeria in remembrance of our fallen heroes and heroines whose sacrifice made it possible for this generation to be alive today. We shall also remember all victims of Fulani herdsmen attacks, Boko Haram violence and those that died at the hands of Nigerian security agencies over the years that nobody remembers. We are calling on all the people of Southern Kaduna, Middle Belt especially Benue, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kogi, those affected by herdsmen terrorism in Ondo, Osun and other states in Yorubaland to join the great family of IPOB in observing a day of solemn prayer and sit at home to remember those that lost their lives unlawfully at the hands of Fulani terrorist herdsmen and security agencies even during the recently concluded fraudulent 2019 general elections. This years remembrance and Sit-At-Home order will be special because it will present a unique moment of shared pains and misery for all the families that lost their loved ones to war, hunger, starvation, disease, terrorism and state-sponsored killings going on now in the contraption called Nigeria. We remember the heroic few that stood up against tyranny especially those that sacrificed their lives to defend the defenceless and those that lost their lives because there was no one to defend them. There will be no human, vehicular or animal movement across Biafraland on the 30th May 2019. Biafraland will be in total lock down. Middle Belt and Yorubaland brethren are advised to join this historic sit at home order to honour the memory of all that died unjustly in Nigeria. Churches, Mosques, Synagogues and Temples are encouraged to open their places of worship on the midnight of the 29th of May for special midnight prayers in remembrance of all that died as a result of violence and sponsored killings. Special vigil will be held at the homes of select Biafran heroes and heroines who were murdered in cold blood in Biafraland. 30th of May is now an annual remembrance event initiated by IPOB worldwide to honour our fallen Biafran soldiers without whom this generation of Biafrans would not have existed. We owe our heroes and heroines of the class of 67-70 an incalculable debt of gratitude and shall honor them annually until the end of time. We shall never forget them as long as this world exist. In our usual tradition, all IPOB families in the diaspora must rally on the streets of their respective countries with written petitions ready to be submitted to the nearest United Nation offices and embassies of foreign missions in that country. Mr Olawale Alausa the Minority Leader, Ogun House of Assembly, on Thursday, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ... Ogun House of Assembly, on Thursday, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC ). Mr Olawale Alausa the Minority Leader,Ogun House of Assembly, on Thursday, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC ). The lawmaker who represents Ijebu-Ode constituency announced his defection in a letter dated April 23, and read by the Speaker, Mr Suraj Adekunbi during plenary in Abeokuta. The legislator said he took the decision after due consultations with his constituents and supporters. I wish to notify your good office of my decision to join the APC after due consultations with my constituents, he said. In his response, the speaker wished him well in his new party. You are welcome to the next level, he said. You might have seen ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in native attire or military camouflage but you probably havent seen him in suit. ... You might have seen ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in native attire or military camouflage but you probably havent seen him in suit. During a visit to Vietnam, the Nigerian leader joined Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe, former Ethiopian prime minister, and other dignitaries to showcase the works of Chuong, a gifted Asian tailor, based in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. Dressed in suits, the visitors stepped into the showroom of Chuong, who was awarded Tailoring Artist by the state council of Vietnam based on his skills. Beaming with smiles, Obasanjo posed for photographs. The Police in Rivers say they have secured the unconditional release of four abducted staffers of the National Emergency Management Age... The Police in Rivers say they have secured the unconditional release of four abducted staffers of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). DSP Nnamdi Omoni, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Command in the state, made this known in a statement on Wednesday. Omoni said that the four staffers, who were abducted on April 24 on the East/West Road, were debriefed and released to their families after they were rescued. He said that operatives of the Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit rescued the victims in a sting operation on Monday at about 0015hrs. The PPRO said that in another development, operatives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit in Aluu Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, on Tuesday, raided a kidnapping camp at Ozuoba. The hoodlums on sighting the police engaged them in a gun battle and in a return fire, fatally wounded one Stephen Matthew m aka Wenekanma a notorious armed robber/cultist and the gang leader of Dey-gbam group. He has been terrorising Alakahia and Choba Communities Obio/Akpor LGA and killed one Ibe Chima, m in Alakahia, in a recent attack. Manhunt has been declared for his fleeing members, he said. According to Omoni, the IGP Monitoring Unit, in a similar operation at Eleme LGA on Monday stormed a camp at Agboncha sand field forest belonging to a notorious kidnapping kingpin, Amebe. On arrival, Amebe was greeted with severe gunfire resulting in his death, while two others were arrested. Exhibit recovered included, one Pump Action Gun and five live cartridges and some expended ones, he added. Omoni stated that the war against banditry in Rivers was still on and the police command would stop at nothing until the practice was stopped. He urged the public to remain calm and to continue their normal businesses as the command remained committed ensuring the safety of lives. He urged the people to help the police make the state safe and secure. Contrary to the popular impression that the Foreign Affairs ministry facilitated Zainab Aliyus and Ibrahim Abubakars release, it actua... Contrary to the popular impression that the Foreign Affairs ministry facilitated Zainab Aliyus and Ibrahim Abubakars release, it actually failed to move when told of the duos ordeal. President Muhammadu Buhari and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, got freedom for Zainab and Abubakar, who were arrested for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia. The offence carries a death sentence. The personal interventions ofPresident Muhammadu Buhari and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, got freedom for Zainab and Abubakar, who were arrested for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia. The offence carries a death sentence. The Consul-General of Nigeria in Jeddah has taken custody of Zainab and supporting her to perform the lesser hajj before returning home. The student of Maitama Sule University, Kano, who embarked on the lesser hajj in Dec. 2018, was said to be with the family of the Consul-General yesterday. According to a source, the ministry was not forthcoming on Zainab and other Nigerians arrested for drugs until Hon. Dabiri-Erewa drew the attention of the President to it about three weeks ago. wrote two memos to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, on December 3, 2018 and February 6, 2019 but no action was taken. The source said: Before Abike Dabiri-Erewa drew the attention of the President to the cases of Nigerians in Saudi Arabia, the Nigerian Consul-General in Jeddah, Amb. M. S. Yunusa,wrote two memos to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, on December 3, 2018 and February 6, 2019 but no action was taken. No attempt was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to link up with the father of Zainab and the relatives of those with cases. The Nigerian Consulate was just left to its fate; Upon meeting with the President on the problems at hand, Buhari immediately directed Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa to meet the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN). The President later got security reports from relevant agencies which made him to open talks with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His personal diplomatic ties with the Saudi Government facilitated justice for Zainab and Ibrahim. This background is necessary to underscore the importance of putting things in order in our Foreign Affairs Ministry to avert a repeat of this type of challenge. more insights were provided on Zainabs travails. In an April 18th, 2019 memo to the AGF by Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, signed by its Legal Adviser, Mr. A. Bello,more insights were provided on Zainabs travails. National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport commenced investigation into the case of unlawful exportation of Tramadol to Saudi Arabia by a syndicate of workers at the airport. The memo said: Based on the complaint of Zainabs father on 26th December, 2018, the Commander of theNational Drug Law EnforcementAgency (NDLEA) at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport commenced investigation into the case of unlawful exportation of Tramadol to Saudi Arabia by a syndicate of workers at the airport. all the culprits were arrested and six of the seven suspects have been charged to the Federal High Court sitting in Kano with conspiracy, unlawful exportation and transportation of prohibited drugs. After a thorough investigation carried out by the NDLEA,all the culprits were arrested and six of the seven suspects have been charged to the Federal High Court sitting in Kano with conspiracy, unlawful exportation and transportation of prohibited drugs. The NDLEA, however, found that Zainab Habibu Aliyu is not the owner of the second baggage tagged in her name in which the prohibited drugs(Tramadol) were found. to note that the findings by the NDLEA as regard the innocence of Zainab Habibu Aliyu as well as the arrest and prosecution of the culprits before the Federal High Court, Kano has been communicated to Saudi Arabia Authorities through Nigerian Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation may wishto note that the findings by the NDLEA as regard the innocence of Zainab Habibu Aliyu as well as the arrest and prosecution of the culprits before the Federal High Court, Kano has been communicated to Saudi Arabia Authorities through Nigerian Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We wish also to draw the attention of the HAGF to Paragraph 6b of Annexure C that one Ibrahim Abubakar is also being detained in Saudi Arabia on circumstances similar to that of Zainab Habibu Aliyu. Investigation into his case is currently ongoing. that the HAGF uses his exalted office to prevent Zainab Habibu Aliyu from being prosecuted wrongly. In view of the foregoing, it is our prayerthat the HAGF uses his exalted office to prevent Zainab Habibu Aliyu from being prosecuted wrongly. As at press time, Zainab was with the family of the Consul-General, who insisted that she must perform the lesser hajj before returning home. The family and fellow students are eager to receive Zainab but we learnt the Consul-General took Zainab to his family and asked her to perform lesser Hajj before returning to Nigeria. British Prime Minister Theresa May has sacked her Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, saying an investigation suggested he was to blame... 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. 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. 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 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 Mordaunts former role. Huawei, the worlds biggest producer of telecom 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. Israel said Thursday its aircraft struck a Hamas military compound in the Gaza Strip overnight after balloons carrying firebombs and explosives were launched from the Palestinian territory. Following the air strike, the Israeli military said two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, setting off sirens in parts of the south. It was not clear where the rockets landed or if there was damage. The air strike hit targets within a compound for Hamas's armed wing in the northern Gaza Strip, the army and a Gaza security source said. The security source said there was damage but no indication of casualties. It was unclear if the firebombs and explosives that prompted the strike caused any damage inside Israel. Palestinians in Israeli-besieged Gaza have frequently floated balloons fitted with firebombs over the border to damage Israeli property and have in the past succeeded in setting fire to large areas of farmland. An ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas brokered by Egypt and the United Nations had led to relative calm around Israel's April 9 general election. But on Tuesday, Israel reduced the offshore fishing limit it imposes for vessels operating out of Gaza after a rocket was fired from the territory by Palestinian militants. The rocket fell into the Mediterranean. The occupation army blamed its launch on Hamas ally Islamic Jihad. Israel has fought three deadly wars against Palestinian in Gaza since 2008, leaving thousands of Palestinians killed and injured. *This story has edited by Ahram Online Search Keywords: Short link: Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh has hit back at comedian Funny Bone over the comment he made about her marriage saga with her ex-husband,... Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh has hit back at comedian Funny Bone over the comment he made about her marriage saga with her ex-husband, Olakunle Churchill. While commenting on her interview with Daddy Freeze, where she alleged that her ex-husband had pre-mature ejaculation disease and never stayed inside a woman for more than 40 second, the comedian wrote: DIE THIS TOPIC AND MOVE ON TONTO. YOU ARE OVERSTRETCHING, YOUR SON WILL GROWN UP SOME DAY AND BE EMBARRASSED BY ALL THESE. Its been 2yrs naa. let this man rest and move on Come on naa, he added. Now, the mother of one has responded, by telling the comedian to save his peace for the end. She wrote: Ehm funnybone where was your mouth and stupid advice when this Useless imbecile i married together with his fool azuka keeps granting interviews every 4days up ontill 6days?? OR IS HE LIVING IN A DIFFERENT WORLD THAT THIS ISNT 2YEARS AFYER?? OR Your mouth too heavy you to drop advice??Its been 2years and this is my 2nd every INTERVIEW & i aint done yet!!So save your peace for the end!! my friend just GET your ignorant ass over to my YOUTUBE PAGE AND WATCH!!Yall mad i aint broken!! Yall gonnno be mad a longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg time!! Nollywood actor is the latest to feel Tonto Dikehs wrath after he took to his instagram page to advise the actress to think about her son... Nollywood actor is the latest to feel Tonto Dikehs wrath after he took to his instagram page to advise the actress to think about her son before breaking the internet. Nollywood actor is the latest to feel Tonto Dikehs wrath after he took to his instagram page to advise the actress to think about her son before breaking the internet. IK Ogbonna who reacted to Tonto Dikehs post after her explosive disclosure, had written while breaking the internet think of ur pikin, to whom it may concern. Nollywood Actress Tonto Dike who is always ready to clapback or drag anyone who directly or indirectly calls her out caught her sub and swiftly replied him. Tonto Dike as expected took to her Instagram page to slam IK stating that she will hold no bounds in 'spilling the juice' about him. Making reference to a certain 'pinky girl' who was sued by the actor for calling him gay in a video on Instagram, Tonto said she's ready to do worse and will demand for IK's butt X-Ray if he decides to sue her. She further warned the actor to never mention her sons name in a troll post against her, also told him to think about how their fallout will affect his son. Read the post below. Think about your son and how this fallout will affect him!! Cause i am a no hold back kinda sis my brother!! #E go bad #cause i don wan talk since you sue that girl but i just calm #My own is i will sue you back and demand for your butt x-ray #Dont play with me ik And IK don't EVER mention my son again. #POST AND DELETE IN 1HOUR Despite the divorce between these two, they have continued to display bitterness and unending hatred towards each other on social media.... Despite the divorce between these two, they have continued to display bitterness and unending hatred towards each other on social media. Married in 2016, Nollywood star, Tonto Dikeh and businessman, Olakunle Churchill were divorced in December 2017. Since then, it has been unending drama between the estranged lovers. The recent attack from Tonto must have been as a result of an interview granted by Churchill where he disclosed that he met Tonto in a night club. On Wednesday May 1, 2019, Tonto Dikeh has gone public on her former husband, Olakunle Churchill, revealing details about their relationship, including what transpired in the bedroom. She made the revelations in a three-part video published on her You Tube channel King Tonto Dikeh. She spoke about how she met Churchill in a night club several years ago, after she just came out of another relationship that went sour and left her an emotional wreck. For her, she clicked to Churchill to fill the emotional gap, after she lost a Mr.X that she had hoped would be her man for life. In the video, she accused Churchill of smearing her in serial interviews, and in making the video, she wanted to set the records straight, for the sake of her son. She spoke about her marriage and how it crashed, the various lies of Churchill and also accused him of being involved in fraudulent activities, known in Nigeria as yahoo. She also said he not only cheated on her but suffers from premature ejaculation! As the war rages on and many followers taking sides with either Tonto or Churchill, many waited with bated breath for what Tontos estranged spouse would say. The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Thursday ordered INEC to allow the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ... Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legal team to inspect election materials used during the March 9 Governorship Election. The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Thursday ordered INEC to allow thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP) legal team to inspect election materials used during the March 9 Governorship Election. The tribunal Chairman, Justice A. M. Yakubu gave the order while ruling in a Motion on Notice filed by the PDP legal team led by Mr Godwill Umoh. Yakubu ordered INEC to comply with the order of the court without further delay, stressing that it was an offence for the commission to disobey tribunal order. Speaking to newsmen, the lead Counsel to Gov Udom Emmanuel and PDP, Umoh said the party approached the tribunal through a Notice on Motion, to order INEC to allow the party, inspect election materials used during the governorship election on March 9. Actually what we have done today basically, is to take the motion. It shows the level of compliance not necessarily with the law but with society. What we did like I said, we could have gone ordinarily by written application through the Resident Electoral Commissioner. without giving the other side notice but because we needed to bring them, we always asked for a fair level playing ground as some people normally say. We could have done that through Notice Exparte,without giving the other side notice but because we neededto bring them, we always asked for a fair level playing ground as some people normally say. all the information within seven days and if they dont do that, it becomes criminal. Above all legitimately, if we are armed with this order of the court, it becomes much easier because if you look at the Law, if you make an application, INEC is supposed to supplyall the information within seven days and if they dont do that, it becomes criminal. We came to court to obtain the leave of the court to order INEC to allow us to inspect the materials used for the governorship election on March 9. supposed to be an umpire like they have done, they conducted election, so there is nothing to be afraid of providing all the information required by parties, Umoh said. INEC issupposed to be an umpire like they have done, they conductedelection, so there is nothing to be afraid of providing all the information required by parties, Umoh said. Umoh added that the inspection of the election materials would enable the PDP show how they won in the just concluded governorship election in Akwa Ibom. The initiative is focused on a number of women's rights issues, with an emphasis on combating violence against women and girls The Euro Med Feminist Initiative (EFI) launched Thursday a regional campaign on zero tolerance for violence against women and girls in a conference held in Jordan's capital Amman. The conference "strives to highlight, sustain and enhance all achievements in combating violence against women and girls at the national and regional levels." It aims also to "underline the singularity of the action, and stimulate broad civil and political involvement to support national efforts and commitments." The conference will provide space for womens organisations and networks from the Euro-Med region to come together in order to build up a common discourse and launch common actions as a follow up on the Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Declaration, in particular in the area of violence against women and girls, Women Peace and Security (WPS) and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE). The overall objective is to contribute to the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the Southern Neighbourhood States, by promoting a social environment that does not tolerate violence against women and girls, and where decision makers address it as a political priority. The EFI previously launched implementation 1 January 2019, with a consortium of womens rights organisations in Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Algeria, Jordan and Egypt, of a three-year regional project Combating Violence Against Women in the Southern Mediterranean Region, funded by the EU. The consortium members of this regional campaign are the Information Centre on the Rights of Women and Children (CIDDEF) in Algeria; the Association for Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT) in Egypt; the Arab Women Organisation (AWO) in Jordan; the Association Najdeh and Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL) in Lebanon; the Womens Action Union (UAF) in Morocco; the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committees (PFWAC) and Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) in Palestine; and the Tunisian Women's Association for Development and Research (AFTURD) in Tunisia. The campaign focuses on shared regional challenges, such as legal discrimination against women, gender stereotypes, social tolerance, impunity for perpetrators, victim blaming and inadequacy of protection mechanisms for women and girls victims of violence. The campaign also addresses priorities specific to differing national contexts. Search Keywords: Short link: The end of a chapter in Algerian history could not have been symbolised in a better manner. Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika, the man who has governed Algeria for the last two decades, stepped down on 3 April after weeks of mass protests. Twenty-five days later, Abassi Madani, the co-founder of the countrys Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) along with Ali ben Hadj, died at the age of 88 in Qatar. Bouteflika, who took office in 1999, engineered the peace process that ended a civil war that started in 1992 and caused the deaths of more than 150,000 people after the army cancelled the results of parliamentary elections in Algeria. The FIS had won 188 out of 231 seats during the first round of the elections, and the cancellation led Madani to call for war against the army. His call was followed by clashes, terrorist operations and an Islamist insurgency in some parts of the North African country. Bouteflika passed laws that included disarming members of Islamist militias, who accepted the step in return for allowing moderate Islamist groups to run in elections and function within legal frameworks. An amnesty was declared on crimes committed by both the militias and the security forces. Twenty years later, many are asking whether it will be possible for the countrys Islamists, including the FIS, to take part in the post-Bouteflika political arrangements in Algeria. According to Sharan Grewal, a postdoctoral fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for Middle East Policy, a US think tank, it is hard to reach a conclusion in the light of the existing political conditions, though he believes that all sides have learned lessons from the experience of the 1990s and are not interested in repeating the devastating civil war. There are several legal Islamist parties that have already been working within the system. The Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), for instance, was part of the ruling coalition until 2012. This, together with the Justice and Development Front, the Al-Islah Party and other smaller Islamist parties have already been permitted to contest elections and will likely continue to be tolerated by the regime, Grewal said. The controversial question is what happens to former members of the banned Islamic Salvation Front. Will they be allowed to re-legalise the FIS? If not, will they be allowed to re-group into a new party? Its very hard to predict at this point. Grewal also referred to signs of friction between Islamist and liberal forces within the opposition in Algeria, highlighting the failed experience of the National Coordination for Change, a nascent opposition coalition, which quickly fell apart over the inclusion of former FIS members. That said, there are also popular figures who may be able to bridge this divide, such as Mustapha Bouchachi. This provides some hope that the protesters can downplay any Islamist-liberal divisions and instead keep the focus on changing the regime, Grewal said. Over the past weeks, both the protesters and the Islamists have demanded no involvement of regime figures in the interim political system in Algeria. Just after the countrys parliament declared Abdelkader Bensalah as interim leader on 9 April for 90 days until presidential polls take place, protesters chanted Bensalah, go and they havent heard us, we will continue to march, the French TV channel France 24 reported. Other demands of the protesters include political and institutional reforms and guarantees of free-and-fair elections. The Islamists have expressed the same position. MSPs leader Abdelrazak Makri, speaking to the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, said that popular movements are the sole driver of change and stressed that it is out of the question for the Islamists to control the civil movement in Algeria. Leader of the Islamist Justice and Development Front Abdallah Djaballah announced that we have been among the protesters since day one and expressed his rejection of giving room to ex-regime individuals to manage the transitional phase. However, it will be difficult to deal with the Algerian Islamists as a single entity, as not all of them joined the post-war political process. Some of them, including the Salafis, continue to deploy their militants in the mountains in Algeria and attack the police, military and civilians in a campaign for regime change and the creation of an Islamic caliphate. These operations are mainly conducted by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, and groups affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) group have followed the same path since 2015. There is zero possibility of the FIS returning to the Algerian political scene. There are other Islamist parties that participate in parliamentary politics and will likely put up candidates in future presidential elections. There is, however, little chance of electoral or policy success in the light of Algerias past experiences and present political trends, commented Geoff Porter, president of North Africa Risk Consulting, a think tank. Porter noted that the Islamists have been conspicuously absent from the demonstrations because they know that their voices are not welcomed and added that there is no meaningful Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] movement in Algeria at the moment. Dalia Ghanem, scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, shared a similar view, saying that some Islamist leaders were not welcomed by the protesters when they tried to join them, being enforced to leave quickly. Ghanem said, based on her field research, that the Islamists are seen by many people as partners of the regime. But she differentiated between three types of Islamists. Firstly, the FIS, whichwhether structurally, organizationally or as an Islamist partydoes not exist anymore: there is no such thing in 2019 called FIS. Ghanem stressed that any discussion about the threat of the FIS does not go beyond being a publicity matter. Secondly, the extremist wing, which was crushed by the Algerian government during the 1990s, andthanks to Bouteflikas policiesthe peace process was followed by the rehabilitation of 15,000 jihadists. Ghanem argued that the jihadist threat is very low, especially that it has been a while since the last large-scale terrorist attack as that of 2013. Yet, Ghanem did not deny the fact that terrorist operations negatively affect the Islamist gains in any elections. The jihadists failed in giving their dream of an Islamic state to the new generation of Algeria, and today they have very low backup or support from the society, said the Algerian scholar. Thirdly, the moderate Islamists who have been included in the political process since 1995. They, since then, have been co-opted. The best example of co-optation is that of the MSP, which is the main Islamic party, Ghanem said. But she emphasized that the MSP has lost its credibility in the eyes of its constituents and are no longer capable of mobilizing. Ghanem also referred to Al-Daawa Al-Salafiya, describing it as pretty strong and has become the mainstream Islamist group in Algeria, saying that the question is whether it will make a move in the coming years. The moderates are not the same as jihadists, especially that the former had the chance to get ministerial portfolios and parliamentary representation, and accordingly going to war again is a costly decision and a terrible calculation for them, especially that the Algerian army is now one the strongest armies in the Middle East. So if Islamists fought against them [army], they will be disappointed and terribly crushed, she concluded. At present, the FIS is still banned in Algeria, while the legal Islamist parties won only 48 out of 462 seats in the 2017 parliamentary elections. The performance of the Islamists in the forthcoming electoral race will thus say a lot about whether they will be welcomed back into the Algerian political arena over the coming years. *This story was first published by Al-Ahram Weekly. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. In his speech Saturday, at the 28th Consultation and Evaluation Meeting of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the events of 1915 and the Armenians claims of being subjected to genocide during World War I, explaining that the deportation of the Armenians was not genocide, nor a major disaster, but was a painful incident that occurred due to the harsh circumstances in which the process of deportation took place. If Armenian claims were true, we would not be speaking today of millions of Armenians living in large areas of Europe, America, North Africa and the Caucasus, Erdogan added. I am afraid that this argument is a Turkish way to have the genocide trivialised and ultimately denied, Greek genocide scholar Vasileios Meichanetsidis told Al-Ahram Weekly in interview. The fact that there were Armenian, Assyrian/Aramean and Greek genocide survivors does not mean that there was no genocide; it rather means that the Turkish-perpetrated campaign for total extermination of these nations partly failed, thank God. Meichanetsidis recalled that there were also Jewish survivors of the Nazi-perpetrated genocide. This does not mean that the genocide did not take place. In most genocides, there are a certain number of survivors. In his speech at the AKP gathering Erdogan stressed that the place to look for truth about these events is not the headquarters of parliaments and governments, but the archives of different countries, including Turkey and Armenia, and those authorised to do so are historians and scientists from both countries, as well as international experts, adding that his country cannot be accused with the term genocide because his nation was in the place of the slain and not the killer during that period. Washington based Turkish analyst Uzay Bulut argues that the Turkish state does not have just one policy or rhetoric concerning the 1915 Armenian Genocide. There are four main narratives in Turkey. The first one is we did not slaughter Armenians; Armenians slaughtered us. This narrative is what is taught to Turkish schoolchildren in middle and high schools. Accusing Armenians of being the actual perpetrators of genocide is a popular myth in Turkey, Bulut told the Weekly. According to Bulut, another narrative is a tragedy happened during World War I. Armenians slaughtered us, and we slaughtered them. It was civil war. Lets forget about it. This is the one Turkey uses for international observers. In essence, what this message declares is this: What happened in 1915 was never genocide. People kill each other in all wars, so lets leave it all behind and move on. So, this narrative, which is more moderate, is intended for the outside world, and particularly for the West, to improve Turkeys image in the international arena, said Bulut. Erdogans remarks came in response to French President Emmanuel Macrons decision to commemorate the Armenian Genocide for the first time as a national day on 24 April in France, as promised in February. Directing his words to the French president at the gathering of his ruling party in Ankara, Erdogan said: Delivering a message to 700,000 Armenians who live in France will not save you, Monsieur Macron. Learn first to be honest in politics if you are not, you cannot win, said Erdogan, adding he had told Macron his views several times face to face. Turkish officials stressed that France should look first at its own record, notably in Algeria and its role in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Some 30 countries and a number of historians inside and outside Turkey recognise the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. Another narrative is, yes, Turkey committed genocide. This rhetoric is never directly stated by the Turkish government, but it is, at times, tolerated when presented by some intellectuals in the country, Bulut told the Weekly. On the same day of the commemoration, 24 April, Turkish President Erdogan also sent a letter to acting patriarch of the Armenians of Turkey, Reverend Aram Atesyan, offering his condolences to the grandchildren of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives in the harsh conditions of World War I. In his letter, the Turkish leader praised the Armenian community of his country who provided great contributions by bringing up esteemed citizens both during the Ottoman Empire and throughout the history of the republic, adding: It is our common objective for these two peoples, who have shared their grief and joy throughout history, to heal the wounds of the past and further strengthen their ties. Erdogan concluded his letter by warning Armenians of Turkey against circles who want to poison this shared past by sowing hatred and hostility. I kindly request you to avoid helping those who seek to create hatred, grudge and hostility by distorting our common history. Bulut sees that another narrative could be yes, we did slaughter Armenians. If they do not behave, we will slaughter them again. This narrative expresses pride in the genocide, and additional threats to the Armenian community in Turkey. According to Bulut, this sentiment is also openly and frequently expressed across Turkey. Meanwhile, and for the third year, US President Donald Trump failed to properly condemn as genocide the Ottoman Turkish governments annihilation of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and other Christians in his annual 24 April commemorative statement. For far too long, Democratic and Republican administrations have sold US policy on the Armenian Genocide to Turkey, as if it were a political commodity. Armenian Genocide denial is a policy set in Ankara, exported to America and enforced by US officials. American enforcement of Turkeys gag-rule represents a national disgrace, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Aram Hamparian told the Weekly. According to Greek scholar Meichanetsidis, the American stance is immoral and shameful. It is not based on essential reasons pertaining to the historical facts involved, but rather based on political, strategic and economic expediency. On the other hand, the vast majority of US states have already recognised the Armenian Genocide, while a growing number of states have initiated the process of recognising the Greek and Assyrian/Aramean genocides as well. This parallel process constitutes valuable recognition from the part of the United States, in anticipation and preparation for recognition of the genocides by US Congress as well. I am confident that this recognition is simply a matter of time, Meichanetsidis told the Weekly. While on the issue of Turkeys membership to the European Union, Erdogan claimed that the only reason why Turkey did not get full membership is the inconsistent policies of the Union and the obstacles placed by its institutions, especially the European Parliament, which is baselessly criticising Turkey. The European Union must stop the policy of procrastination and decide whether it wants to develop relations with Turkey and accept its membership or else everybody should find its way, Erdogan warned in his speech. There are several reasons Turkey is unfit for EU membership, from political and legal to economic considerations. One of the most important reasons making Turkey unfit is its obstinate denial of the genocides it has perpetrated against its native Christian peoples of Armenians, Assyrians/Arameans and Greeks, said Meichanetsidis, adding that continuous Turkish denial and ensuing revisionism of well documented historical facts is a source of wider European and international concern. Recognition is a matter of principle for the European Union and its values, cohesion and process of further integration and unification. The example to be followed in such matters has been set by post-war Germany. In other words, without Germanys regret for World War II and the crimes perpetrated during the war (the Jewish genocide, the war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied countries), the process of reconciliation and cooperation between Germany and European nations which suffered from German occupation would not have been possible at all. The entire history of Turkey shows that it is not only unregretful of past crimes committed in its name, but also permanently recidivist in terms of human rights abuses. The grave human rights violations committed in the period between the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the genesis of the Turkish state, and throughout the Republican period to nowadays, are the dark legacy the Kemalist Turkish Republic has been built upon and which the Turkish state perpetuates, Meichanetsidis told the Weekly. He believes that genocide revisionism helps explain the prevailing mindset in Turkey that the state is allowed to break the law and to mistreat the citizens without regard. Such an aggressive and recidivist state has no place in the European Union. Turkey cannot be a member of the European family, for values constitute one of the main pillars upon which the European project is built, Meichanetsidis concluded. *This story was first published by Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: Sudan's public prosecutor has ordered the interrogation of ousted President Omar al-Bashir on suspicion of money laundering and financing terrorism, a judicial source told Reuters on Thursday. In April, the prosecutor began investigating Bashir over accusations of money laundering and possession of large sums of foreign currency without legal grounds. Large sums of money were found in suitcases in his home. Search Keywords: Short link: Myanmar security forces shot dead at least six people in the troubled western state of Rakhine on Thursday, after soldiers and police detained hundreds of people at a school, a military spokesman said. The soldiers had rounded up about 275 people during a search for members of the rebel Arakan Army, said Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun from the military's True News Information Team. There were conflicting accounts of events leading up to the shooting, which took place in an area off-limits to reporters and most aid agencies. Zaw Min Tun said some of the detainees attempted to seize weapons in the early hours of the morning, forcing security forces to fire into a crowd. "We warned them verbally. Then we fired warning shots into the air to disperse the group but they didn't move, so shots were fired," he said. Rakhine came to global attention after about 730,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed into Bangladesh fleeing a military crackdown in response to militant attacks in 2017. U.N. investigators have called for senior military officers to be prosecuted over allegations of mass killings, gang rapes and arson. The military denies widespread wrongdoing. More recently, civilians have been caught up in clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, an insurgent group that recruits from the mainly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine population and is fighting for greater autonomy for the state. Since November, the fighting has displaced nearly 33,000 people across a large part of central and northern Rakhine and part of neighbouring Chin state, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The military has initiated legal action against two news organisations, accusing them of defamation for reports that detailed the alleged shooting of civilians by soldiers in March. Zaw Min Tun told Reuters military and police searching the Rathedaung area's Kyauk Tan village for suspected Arakan Army members found scores of people who were not registered with authorities as living there, so gathered those people in the school. According to a preliminary investigation, he said, six people were killed after the alleged altercation at 2 a.m. on Thursday. As well as those killed in the shooting, eight people had been brought to the hospital in nearby Zedi Pyin village with gunshots wounds, said Maung Soe Win, chairman of the Mayu Region Development Association, a local community group, who was at the hospital. The injured people said they had been detained for two days when one villager with a mental health problem "got up, shouted and ran away in the middle of the night", said Maung Soe Win. "Then (security forces) shot the villagers continuously," he told Reuters by phone. Another military spokesman, Major General Tun Tun Nyi, said on Thursday afternoon the remaining villagers were still being held at the school and investigated for links to the Arakan Army. Search Keywords: Short link: Search Keywords: Short link: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will discuss disagreements on the Venezuela crisis with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they meet next week in Finland, a US official said Thursday. The official said the top diplomats would take up a range of tensions between the rival powers when they see each other on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting starting Monday in the northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi. "I would expect that the secretary and he (Lavrov) will have an opportunity, obviously, to talk," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "When they have a chance to get together they can review a whole range of issues including our concerns about Russia's behavior that includes Ukraine and, certainly, Venezuela," he said. Lavrov and Pompeo had a tense call on Wednesday over Venezuela, where the United States is trying to oust President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Moscow. Pompeo told Lavrov that Russia's assistance to the leftist leader, whose re-election last year was widely criticized internationally as fraudulent, was "destabilizing" Venezuela. Lavrov in turn denounced the "destructive influence" of the United States in what he called a "flagrant violation of international law." The United States and its European allies have been imposing sanctions on Russia since its 2014 takeover of Crimea, with Moscow's ongoing support of separatists in Ukraine becoming a major source of tension. The encounter with Lavrov also comes after the long-awaited release of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller who said that Russia worked extensively to try to sway the 2016 US election in Donald Trump's favor. LIGO and Virgo detect neutron star smash-ups Issued by the LIGO Laboratory, LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and Virgo Collaboration. On April 25, 2019, the National Science Foundation's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the European-based Virgo detector registered gravitational waves from what appears likely to be a crash between two neutron stars--the dense remnants of massive stars that previously exploded. One day later, on April 26, the LIGO-Virgo network spotted another candidate source with a potentially interesting twist: it may in fact have resulted from the collision of a neutron star and black hole, an event never before witnessed. "The universe is keeping us on our toes," says Patrick Brady, spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "We're especially curious about the April 26 candidate. Unfortunately, the signal is rather weak. It's like listening to somebody whisper a word in a busy cafe; it can be difficult to make out the word or even to be sure that the person whispered at all. It will take some time to reach a conclusion about this candidate." "NSF's LIGO, in collaboration with Virgo, has opened up the universe to future generations of scientists," says NSF Director France Cordova. "Once again, we have witnessed the remarkable phenomenon of a neutron star merger, followed up closely by another possible merger of collapsed stars. With these new discoveries, we see the LIGO-Virgo collaborations realizing their potential of regularly producing discoveries that were once impossible. The data from these discoveries, and others sure to follow, will help the scientific community revolutionize our understanding of the invisible universe." The discoveries come just weeks after LIGO and Virgo turned back on. The twin detectors of LIGO--one in Washington and one in Louisiana--along with Virgo, located at the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) in Italy, resumed operations April 1, after undergoing a series of upgrades to increase their sensitivities to gravitational waves--ripples in space and time. Each detector now surveys larger volumes of the universe than before, searching for extreme events such as smash-ups between black holes and neutron stars. "Joining human forces and instruments across the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has been once again the recipe of an incomparable scientific month, and the current observing run will comprise 11 more months," says Giovanni Prodi, the Virgo Data Analysis Coordinator, at the University of Trento and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. "The Virgo detector works with the highest stability, covering the sky 90 percent of the time with useful data. This is helping in pointing to the sources, both when the network is in full operation and at times when only one of the LIGO detectors is operating. We have a lot of groundbreaking research work ahead." In addition to the two new candidates involving neutron stars, the LIGO-Virgo network has, in this latest run, spotted three likely black hole mergers. In total, since making history with the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, the network has spotted evidence for two neutron star mergers; 13 black hole mergers; and one possible black hole-neutron star merger. When two black holes collide, they warp the fabric of space and time, producing gravitational waves. When two neutron stars collide, they not only send out gravitational waves but also light. That means telescopes sensitive to light waves across the electromagnetic spectrum can witness these fiery impacts together with LIGO and Virgo. One such event occurred in August 2017: LIGO and Virgo initially spotted a neutron star merger in gravitational waves and then, in the days and months that followed, about 70 telescopes on the ground and in space witnessed the explosive aftermath in light waves, including everything from gamma rays to optical light to radio waves. In the case of the two recent neutron star candidates, telescopes around the world once again raced to track the sources and pick up the light expected to arise from these mergers. Hundreds of astronomers eagerly pointed telescopes at patches of sky suspected to house the signal sources. However, at this time, neither of the sources has been pinpointed. "The search for explosive counterparts of the gravitational-wave signal is challenging due to the amount of sky that must be covered and the rapid changes in brightness that are expected," says Brady. "The rate of neutron star merger candidates being found with LIGO and Virgo will give more opportunities to search for the explosions over the next year." The April 25 neutron star smash-up, dubbed S190425z, is estimated to have occurred about 500 million light-years away from Earth. Only one of the twin LIGO facilities picked up its signal along with Virgo (LIGO Livingston witnessed the event but LIGO Hanford was offline.) Because only two of the three detectors registered the signal, estimates of the location in the sky from which it originated were not precise, leaving astronomers to survey nearly one-quarter of the sky for the source. The possible April 26 neutron star-black hole collision (referred to as S190426c) is estimated to have taken place roughly 1.2 billion light-years away. It was seen by all three LIGO-Virgo facilities, which helped better narrow its location to regions covering about 1,100 square degrees, or about 3 percent of the total sky. "The latest LIGO-Virgo observing run is proving to be the most exciting one so far," says David H. Reitze of Caltech, Executive Director of LIGO. "We're already seeing hints of the first observation of a black hole swallowing a neutron star. If it holds up, this would be a trifecta for LIGO and Virgo--in three years, we'll have observed every type of black hole and neutron star collision. But we've learned that claims of detections require a tremendous amount of painstaking work--checking and rechecking--so we'll have to see where the data takes us." ### LIGO is funded by NSF and operated by Caltech and MIT, which conceived of LIGO and led the Initial and Advanced LIGO projects. Financial support for the Advanced LIGO project was led by the NSF with Germany (Max Planck Society), the U.K. (Science and Technology Facilities Council) and Australia (Australian Research Council-OzGrav) making significant commitments and contributions to the project. Approximately 1,300 scientists from around the world participate in the effort through the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, which includes the GEO Collaboration. A list of additional partners is available at https:/ / my. ligo. org/ census. php . The Virgo Collaboration is currently composed of approximately 350 scientists, engineers, and technicians from about 70 institutes from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. The European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) hosts the Virgo detector near Pisa in Italy, and is funded by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy, and Nikhef in the Netherlands. A list of the Virgo Collaboration members can be found at http://public. virgo-gw. eu/ the-virgo-collaboration/ . More information is available on the Virgo website at http://www. virgo-gw. eu . MEDIA CONTACTS Caltech Whitney Clavin wclavin@caltech.edu 626-390-9601 MIT Abby Abazorius abbya@mit.edu 617-253-2709 Virgo Livia Conti livia.conti@pd.infn.it +39 049 8068 826 National Science Foundation Josh Chamot jchamot@nsf.gov 703-292-4489 LIGO Scientific Collaboration Spokesperson/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee John Schumacher schuma63@uwm.edu (414) 229-6778 This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Renewed talk over whether the White House will designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation raises compelling questions. Why would US President Donald Trump take this step now? How will members of his administration sort out their differences over the move? And if, indeed, the Trump administration goes ahead, what repercussions will there be? On Tuesday The New York Times published a report citing officials familiar with the matter, saying the US administration was working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, a move that would mean wide-ranging economic and travel sanctions on entities that do business with the group. According to NY Times, the US administration directed national security and diplomatic officials to find a way to place sanctions on the group following President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis visit to the White House earlier this month. Egypt has been calling upon its allies to designate the group a terrorist organisation for years. The news was confirmed by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders who said the Trump administration was working its way through the internal process, to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. The group has been banned in Egypt and labelled terrorist since 2013. Trump is more inclined than previous US presidents to take decisions his predecessors regarded as risky or better to avoid. Examples include moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran and recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. His record indicates that, despite reservations voiced by some members of his administration against designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, he may take the decision. It would be in keeping with his determination to demonstrate his ability to go where his predecessors feared to tread. According to NY Times, there is no unanimity on the decision in the White House, bur national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are supportive of the decision. In fact, Pompeo has been co-sponsoring legislation with other conservatives to take the step when he was a member of Congress. However, others, including the Defense Department, have voiced legal and policy objections. Blacklisting the Muslim Brotherhood poses a number of problems for Trump. Taking such a step at this time might lead some to link it with his 8 April decision to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group. The move might be read as an inclination to lump Shias and Sunnis together as opposed to US interests in the Middle East. This would mark a reversal of the trend under the Bush Jr and Obama administrations that sought to set Sunnis against Shias as part of a strategy to contain Iran. A second problem is how to formulate the decision legally. Trump and his team will need to furnish proof that the Muslim Brotherhood is directly implicated in terrorist acts. And supposing that they can produce such evidence, there arises questions about the potential impact on US security and its political and economic interests. Influential think tanks in the US are unlikely to help Trump out with this decision. Most cling to the notion that the Muslim Brotherhood is a political opposition movement, as opposed to a group with a religious or theocratic agenda. Their view has been proven wrong on both the theoretical and practical levels. Former presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, a former Muslim Brotherhood member who served as a high-ranking member of the organisations Guidance Bureau in Egypt, admitted that the organisation does not educate its members in politics and the arts of political give-and-take and consensus-making but rather inculcates a discipline of proselytising. The approach is essentially racist: it is founded on a notion of inherent supremacy over others and accordingly sanctions the violation of the civil and human rights of political opponents and of non-Muslims. The Muslim Brotherhood demonstrated this practically during its short period in power in Egypt under the figurehead of Mohamed Morsi. In a televised speech Morsi said Sharia Law permitted the killing of a minority, which he did not identify or quantify, so that the majority could enjoy security and stability. In other words, after the Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in coming to power in Egypt, it signalled its intent to liquidate its opponents. That danger was averted when the Egyptian people rose up against Muslim Brotherhood rule and the army responded to the popular demand to remove Morsi and his group from power in June 2013. Many in the US security establishment will argue against designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. These agencies believe that such a decision will aggravate security risks by encouraging the Muslim Brotherhood to act openly against US interests at home and abroad in retaliation. Perhaps too, the Brotherhood would collaborate more closely with groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State which have attracted growing numbers of former Brotherhood members in the past five years. If it were just a question of an individual decision there is no doubt that Trump would be capable of taking it. But the decision-making process on such matters is complex at an institutional level. In the end it is difficult to imagine that Washington will go ahead and designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, for the reasons mentioned above, which have also been noted by the NY Times. John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, support the idea, officials said. But the Pentagon, career 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, reported the paper. Economist and columnist Paul Krugman recently wrote about a current nominee for the Federal Reserves Board of Governors who called cities like Cincinnati and Cleveland armpits of America to laughs from an audience of business leaders. This same nominee has made headlines for saying capitalism is a lot more important than democracy and calling the 16th Amendment establishing the income tax the most evil law passed in the 20th century. As crude as the comments are, many wealthy people who make decisions of consequence in the U.S. do not seem like big believers in democracy, as the nominee put it. Its messy and inconvenient for those who would prefer not to answer to an elected government. The same attitudes were shared by right-wing bankers, business leaders, and conservative politicians during the worst economic crisis the country has seen. Despite the failure of laissez-faire financial capitalism after the crash of 1929, financiers, economists, and politicians refused to admit their principles might have been very badly flawed. But in 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt was first elected, the economy was staggering, unemployment was rampant and a banking crisis threatened the entire monetary system, writes NPR, in a description of the Great Depression that reads as drily understated. Still, Roosevelts election went too far for his opponents (and not far enough for progressives to his left). West Virginia Republican Senator Henry Hatfield wrote to a colleague, in a series of evergreen expressions, characterizing FDRs historic First Hundred Days as despotism: This is tyranny, this is the annihilation of liberty. The ordinary American is thus reduced to the status of a robot. The president has not merely signed the death warrant of capitalism, but has ordained the mutilation of the Constitution, unless the friends of liberty, regardless of party, band themselves together to regain their lost freedom. Wall Street agreed, except for all that stuff about the Constitution and the welfare of the ordinary American. In what became known as the Business Plot (or the Wall Street Putsch)a group of bankers and business leaders allegedly created a conspiracy to overthrow the president and install a dictator friendly to their interests. The conspirators included investment banker and future Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush (father of George H.W. Bush), bond salesman Gerald MacGuire, and Bill Doyle commander of the Massachusetts American Legion. The plot was famously exposed by Major General Smedley D. Butler, who testified under oath about his knowledge of a plan to form an organization of 500,000 veterans who could take over the functions of government, as you can see Butler himself say in the 1935 newsreel footage above. The members of the Business Plot believed Butler would lead this irregular force in a coup. He had previously been an influential figure in the so-called Bonus Army, writes Matt Davis at Big Think, a group of 43,000 marchersamong them many World War I veteranswho were camped at Washington to demand the early payment of the veterans bonus promised to them. Butlers willingness to challenge the government did not make him sympathetic to a coup. He heard the conspirators out, then turned them in. But his allegations were immediately dismissed by The New York Times, who wrote that the story was a gigantic hoax, perfect moonshine!, a fantasy, and a publicity stunt. A congressional investigation corroborated Smedleys claims, to an extent. The conspirators may have had weapons, violent intent, and millions of dollars. But no one was ever prosecuted. Many, like New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, waved the coup attempt away as a cocktail putsch. The same attitudes that let the conspirators suffer no consequences, and let them go on to serve in high office, also seemed to drive their way of thinking. Roosevelt could be brought to see reason, they believed. Since his class interests aligned with theirs, he would see that fascism best served those interests. Sally Denton, investigative reporter and author of a book about the multiple plots against FDR (The Plots Against the President: FDR, A Nation in Crisis, and the Rise of the American Right), explains in an interview with All Things Considered: They thought that they could convince Roosevelt, because he was of their, the patrician class, they thought that they could convince Roosevelt to relinquish power to basically a fascist, military-type government. What MacGuire proposed was more corporatist than militarist in appearance, at least, notes Davis. The President could remain as a figurehead, but the real power of the government would be held in the hands of a Secretary of General Affairs, who would be in effect a dictator, but whose job description, as MacGuire put it, was a sort of super secretary. As for Butler, not only did he call the plot treason, but he also came to feel considerable regret for his service as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers, as he later wrote in his essay War is a Racket, published in the socialist magazine Common Sense. I was a racketeer, he confessed, a gangster for capitalism. In exposing the plot, he decided to side with the flawed, but functional democracy of our own country over the will of capitalists bent on holding power by any means. via Big Think Related Content: 20,000 Americans Hold a Pro-Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden in 1939: Chilling Video Re-Captures a Lost Chapter in US History How Warner Brothers Resisted a Hollywood Ban on Anti-Nazi Films in the 1930s and Warned Americans of the Dangers of Fascism Umberto Eco Makes a List of the 14 Common Features of Fascism Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness The name Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is synonymous in fashion circles with boldness and in celebrity circles as legendary; the now 69-year-old designer has managed to spar with longevity for years and constantly reinvent. What exactly his long career can be attributed to, whether it's his rotating roster of celebrity clients or his consistently vibrant aesthetic, is almost beside the point. Castelbajac is a fashion icon who need not worry about updating his visions and looks for the new age, because they update themselves. This adaptivity is something he sees in his music taste, as well something we begin the interview discussing. "When you love music, you never get old,' he tells me. "I remember, I never heard my father say, 'In my age, the music was better.' I never heard it, he always loved the upcoming music. He loved jazz, and then he loved rock and roll. I have the same kind of sensibilities." Just like updating a playlist with emerging artists that catch one's attention, Castelbajac updates his outlook based on the dawn of each new day. For some designers and houses, this sort of thing is seen as a type of reinvention or rebranding, but for him it is at the very least effortless and at the most a fun process. Over the years, he's dressed celebrities in a variety of campy looks that reimagine what it's like to live in the present day and to relish each present moment. Take a look at his famous teddy bear coat, for example. "I came from the idea of, 'Stop using fur, because I can do a better coat, more fun, more spectacular, than a regular fur coat,'" he says of the coat when we talk about whether or not his looks can defined as "camp." He is very passionate about the word "camp," almost as if he sees his persona as an extension of the word itself. "All my career is camp," he says. The teddy bear coat, having been a cornerstone of outrageous aestheticism and structure in fashion since the late '80s, got a facelift in 2009. Nearly 20 years later, the designer recreated the coat with a new stuffed character for the equally as outrageous, and then emerging artist, Lady Gaga. Instead of teddy bears, Castelbajac reconstructed the coat with small Kermit the Frog stuffed animals, commentary not just on the fur trade a reading which PETA lauded her for but also on the movement of fashion towards something more viral. Fashion in the digital age was increasingly becoming about moments, valued much more than individual construction and concepts. These examples are definitely some of the more flashy garments in Castelbajac's camp repertoire, but like he's said himself, his entire career can be traced to camp. His new collection with luxury French swimwear brand, Vilebrequin, is no exception to this long standing rule. The collection is incredibly colorful by Vilebrequin's standards, with pops and swatches of rainbows littering each garment. This is not to say, of course, that a camp aesthetic is limited in this case to colors which might signal some sort of parody or illusion; the garments are indicative of a new movement within swimwear to innovate what has become a tired silhouette. This can be seen especially in an asymmetrical one piece swimsuit that's included in the collection, and retails for $280. Draping black stretch fabric is broken up by a rainbow bandeau a concept that's also replicated in the design of the collection's beach towel, which retails for $135. "To practice camp, you have to be camp [...] It has to be a part of you, of your life, of your involvement, of your way of seeing the world." Created for and inspired by the beaches of St. Tropez, each piece in the collection is made fantastic through Castelbajac's eyes. While many of the pieces include a color palette that is fully saturated, some of the colors are adapted to the minimalist history of swimwear construction. He jokes about toning himself down, telling me, "It's amazing now that I'm almost 70 and I'm just starting pastel. Pastel-bajac!" This is because, of course, the relationship he has with the rainbow. It's one that's utterly personal, sometimes controversial, but entirely unlike any that a fashion designer has previously had with a range of colors. He once dressed Pope John Paul II and the clergy in rainbow vestments a decision he notes was revolutionary because of its link to the LGBTQ+ community. "The rainbow is the flag of the gay community, and this is also why I chose it. It is the link between all men." Besides the rainbow pieces, the Vilebrequin collection's standout is without a doubt a $280 leopard-print one piece that features a bold teal bandeau in place of the rainbow one on the black suit. The leopard print is fairly plain, but small shocks of color are parsed between black half circles for a uniquely Castelbajac touch. The men's pieces are just as vibrant, if not brighter; a dazzling $170 short sleeve button-up is the men's collection capstone. It features a scattering of bold blocks of color, stacked beautifully on the white viscose. "This collection, I find, is a glam-pop," he says of the various summery pieces. "Now I feel it is time to bring back something fresh, something about naive, something about utopia time." He also describes the collection as a sort of "pop poetry," a characterization that might usually be interpreted in several ways, surely, but is very narrowly defined for Castelbajac's works. While certainly not as fluid and campy as his other looks, now which are considered revered historical and cultural artifacts, the pieces were birthed from his gaze, a gaze which prioritizes irony and invention. "To practice camp, you have to be camp," he states firmly. "You cannot invent yourself and say, 'I'm going to be a dandy.' It has to be a part of you, of your life, of your involvement, of your way of seeing the world." The Vilebrequin x JCC + collection is available to shop now. Photos courtesy of Vilebrequin If you've ever seen any of Nicolas Lecourt Mansion's clothes, you wouldn't be surprised to find that the Paris-based designer believes in magic. Since launching his eponymous brand in 2018, the young designer has been working hard at his craft and translating varied influences into artfully constructed designs. While his own creative process is less mystified than one would expect, his references range from the ascended masters of architecture and design to the downright supernatural. Growing up outside of Paris, Mansion only ever wanted to be a designer. "It's always been my goal," he says. After graduating from L'Atelier Chardon Savard in Paris and working for a few designers, it wasn't long before he decided to launch his own label. "Even though I love working with other people I really wanted to have my own aesthetic," Mansion says. Drawing inspiration from the works of Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo in the art world, the designer is inspired by the technical precision of Azzedine Alaia and the silhouettes of Cristobal Balenciaga. All of this can be seen in the designer's fall 2019 collection, where he also pulled references from some lesser-known figures in the fashion world. Aptly titled "Rule," the fall 2019 collection takes his extensive research on witchcraft and the phenomenon of women being persecuted for practicing magic throughout history. In the case of one of his most studied figures, Marie Laveau, the magic she practiced could be disputed by skeptics but contains evergreen symbolism. In essence, her stories appeal to Mansion because "witches and witchcraft represent the energy of feminine power." When it comes to the legendary "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans," the designer looked to her as a radical feminist figure that continues to inspire. Known in the 1800s for her notable beauty, supreme power, and magical abilities, Laveau also represented a capacity to transcend the grips of male domination and have "real possession of her body." The same goes for anyone who wants to wear Mansion's clothes. "I make clothes for flamboyant people," he says. Frustrated with the banality of most clothes on the market, the designer is setting out to challenge the status quo while evolving with the times and designing for a future that's exciting, artistic and non-binary. We're living in the golden age of fandom, where social media has allowed stans to interact with their idols on a daily basis. Whether you're a barb, lamb, belieber, or registered bardi gang member, you're probably @-ing somebody. On Stan Stories, we meet the internet's most dedicated followers and delve deep into their obsessions. Derek (he's known by the mononym) is the quiet king of Timothee Chalamet Twitter. The 17-year-old has been following and tweeting at the French-American actor since early 2017, just before Call Me By Your Name broke, and wishes him a good morning and night most days. Chalamet occasionally replies, but Derek's tweets mostly go unanswered, except by his fellow dedicated fans. There's a certain beauty in it. What makes Derek's love for Chalamet even more pure is that he's stuck with the actor even post-Call Me By Your Name hype. We were all fair weather Chalamet fans over that one hot Italian summer, citing his chiseled features and unruly brown curls and European demeanor as reasons to crush. But Derek is in this for the long haul. He's also a huge cinephile, and seems genuinely interested in Chalamet's acting abilities, alongside those classic good looks. PAPER DM-d him to find out more about life as a Chalamet lover. PAPER: Hi Derek. When did you first become interested in Timothee Chalamet? I started becoming a fan of him in like mid 2017? Like at the end or middle of May 2017. And then I changed my username and layouts to him over that summer! But I had seen him in movies before, I just didn't know it was him! What is it about him that compels you? I think he's really talented! He's very dedicated with his work and very good at expressing emotions. And he's really lovely with his friends. He seems like a great person. Is Call Me By Your Name your favorite thing he's done so far? That, Lady Bird, and Miss Stevens! I've never seen Miss Stevens. It's basically about a teacher, played by Lily Rabe, and they go to a high school drama competition. And he's really really good in it! [Note: Turns out the 2016 movie also stars a pre-Riverdale Lili Reinhart!] How much of your day do you spend thinking about Timothee Chalamet? Like half! Just wondering what he's going to do next, and who it would be cool to see him work with... Where do you get your Timothee info from? How are you tracking his career? Mainly from like film news sites: Deadline, Variety, IndieWire. And interviews with people he's worked with. Mainly from like film news sites: Deadline, Variety, IndieWire. And interviews with people he's worked with. Do you have a favorite Timothee scene? I do. Probably the crying scene at the end of Call Me By Your Name. Is there anyone else famous who you follow closely? A couple of actors and actresses! But none as much as him. Rooney Mara, Margaret Qualley, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sasha Lane, Zoey Deutch, Riley Keough, Daniel Kaluuya. Who should Timothee be working with? What should be his next career movies? Both indie films and studio films! And working with actors like Margaret Qualley, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sasha Lane, and Daniel Kaluuya. Take me back to the moment when Timothee first replied to you on Twitter. How did it feel? It was really wild! I didn't expect it. I set my phone down to charge it, and I went to pick it up, and I had all these messages popping up saying "OH MY GOD DEREK!" And I went to check what happened and was like, oh my God. Do you talk to friends IRL about Timothee? None IRL! Mainly just online. I'll talk about actors/actresses/directors with IRL people, and be like, "Oh I like them!", but not go into detail. So no one knows you run a Chalamet fan twitter with 12k followers? No, it's a secret for now. Timothee isn't very active on Twitter. Does that make things a bit annoying for you? No, just more special when he's actually online! A lot of stans are lucky because their idols are super interactive with fans. True! And he does when he's online, which is great. If he stopped interacting with fans altogether, would you be cool with it? Yeah! I'd understand if that ever happened. He has liked some of your tweets and replied, but what would you say to him if you met in person? I'd probably say "I love your work!", but I'd be super nervous. He probably knows who you are by this stage. Yeah! What do you think about his rumored relationship with Lily Rose Depp? Are you interested in his personal life? Not really, to be honest, but she seems lovely. They seem really cute together. Are you into finding rare photos and stuff? I really like that one of him and Saoirse Ronan at the restaurant. Yes! As long as they're in a public space and the photos are like, for a magazine or website. Tell me more about privacy concerns. Where do you draw the line as a fan? I draw the line at friends like, not following them or anything unless they're like an actor or something. Or family re-posting, unless he himself shares it on social media. What do you think is the craziest stan community on the internet? I love Taylor Swift's music, and her stans are so cool in how they figure out little hints in her photos, videos, songs, etc. What's your stanning history? Do you have any other stan accounts, or have you ever in the past? I used to stan American Horror Story a couple of years ago, for a couple of years, when the show was at its peak popularity. But I kinda lost interest in it and started stanning Timothee and movies. Do you think this could happen with Timothee? You move on and find the next person or franchise? I don't think so, to be honest. I like him too much! And all of his work. He's for life. Oh yes! Iran Oil Show 2019 hosting 106 foreign exhibitors 05/02/19 Source: Tehran Times TEHRAN- The 24th Iran International, Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition (Iran Oil Show 2019), which kicked off at Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds on Wednesday, is hosting 106 foreign exhibitors from 21 countries, Shana reported. As reported, 1,047 Iranian exhibitors are also showcasing their latest products and services in the oil, gas, petrochemical and refining industries during the four-day event. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, some Iranian senior directors in oil, gas, petrochemical and refining sectors, some members of the Iranian parliament, and representatives of some renowned Iranian and foreign companies were present in the inaugural ceremony of the international event. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (see more photos of Iran Oil Show by IRNA) Companies from various countries including Azerbaijan, Spain, Germany, Britain, Italy, Turkey, China, Russia, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and etc. are showcasing their latest products and achievements in oil and gas industry in the four-day event. According to the head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) public relations office, which is in charge of organizing the event, although this year the number of foreign participants has decreased due to the U.S. sanctions, still many countries are interested in Iran's lucrative oil industry and market. "This year the main focus of the exhibition is on developing domestic production and empowering domestic companies." Mohammad Naseri said. For Yooneui Joo, the trials and tribulations of moving to a brand new country was a daunting experience at first. From feeling lonesome countless times to being treated differently, Joo experienced more lows than highs during the start of her journey. Born in South Korea and growing up in Seoul, Joo, 21, barely knew a lick of English. She did know two things, however. Joo knew she had a love for jewelry design and had a desire to experience different cultures and different people. I didnt just want to stay in Korea because I was curious about people from other countries. I wanted to learn English because its such a universal language, Joo stated. Once Joo was done with middle school, she decided to pack her bags and move to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she would stay with her uncle and attend high school under the British curriculum. For Joo, this was her first step in learning the English language. After a year and a half, Joo decided to move again. This time, to Tacoma, Washington where she would finish off high school. In the beginning, it was complete culture shock moving to a brand new country, Joo said. I felt homesick and since I wasnt from here, I was treated like I didnt belong. But in the long run, looking back, it made me study English harder to be able to communicate with people. While in Tacoma, Joo constantly felt lonely. She had no family around and no one close enough for her to confide in. Joo eventually became friends with one of her high school teachers, Julie Rust, who offered Joo to move in with her and her family. Reluctant at first, Joo accepted the offer, as she couldnt stand her current living situation. Joo and the Rust family became close over time. They treated me like family and they treated me like a daughter, Joo stated. I still call them mom and dad to this day. Fresh off of her high school graduation, Rust wanted Joo to continue staying with her and the family while she attended college. But, Joo was persuaded by her uncles friend to attend PCC. Rust made a list of nearby colleges that I could just drive to, but, my uncles friend attended PCC for jewelry design, something I was always interested in and convinced me to give PCC a shot, said Joo. The Rust family was really supportive on my decision. They even rented a truck and drove all the way down to Pasadena to help me move my furniture! The fall of 2016 was Joos first semester at PCC, who was looking to follow in her uncles friends footsteps in becoming a successful jewelry designer. After her first semester of doing a bunch of art classes related to jewelry design, Joo realized that there werent many opportunities for international students looking to find work in the jewelry design field. After talking with her teachers and counselor, Joo made the switch to graphic design. Every company has graphic designers which means Ill have more opportunities and hopefully be able to stay in America, Joo said. I want to stay here as long as I can because I love it here. Although close to transferring out of PCC, Joo wants to take a year off from school to gain some work experience. Although an international student, she is able to find work through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. Joos main focus is to work for a jewelry related company as a graphics designer because she can learn about jewelry while also gaining experience as a graphics designer. In terms of Joos dream school, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is the place she wants to ultimately attend. Many of the artists that I like graduated or taught at RISD, stated Joo. Their work is amazing and they are people I aspire to become one day. Yooneuis Instagram The Curse of La Llorona is not even worth $6 of your money. It follows a white woman navigating the well known Hispanic folklore of La Llorona and uses indigenous spiritual practices as a cliche while simultaneously having bad acting and mostly lame scares. While the story in the movie didnt change much from one version of the La Llorona folktale- a tale of a woman scorned who drowns her own children to get back at her cheating husband and is doomed to mourn her children for the rest of time and bring about misery to others that includes drowning other children- everything else in the movie is pretty standard for horror films of The Conjuring series. There is even a cheap tie in to The Conjuring universe that you might miss if you blink. So just so you know, this movie is definitely tied in to The Conjuring no matter how insignificantly. While there are some well executed scares and moments of genuine suspense, the choice to sometimes lift La Lloronas veil halfway through the movie was a poor decision and ruined any anticipation or fear that the movie built. Surprisingly, the cheap Halloween looking yellow contacts and white face paint did not strike fear as much as a faceless entity appearing and wreaking havoc. Since the typical jump scares were pretty much all the scares in the film, the wait time and build up before jump scares was weirdly paced and that time couldve been much better used on literally any other aspect of the movie such as maybe, the plot and/or characters. At times, it seemed like The Curse of La Llorona just had a mix of multiple conjuring universe movies into one. The church and religious aspect from almost every movie but especially The Nun is largely seen in the second half of The Curse of La Llorona. Sometimes La Llorona even looked similar to the nun originally shown in The Conjuring with the whitest of white face makeup to ever be seen on (even though according to the movie itself, the original events of La Llorona is based in Mexico and on a Mexican woman). Using the iconic tale from Hispanic culture is still a good idea that no one has been able to successfully capture in modern horror genre so far. Bringing the same old The Conjuring cliches to it was poorly executed and the reason this movie wont do well for most audiences. Even using the realm of cultural folklore, The Curse of La Llorona has a way of not needing the main actress and her family to have any culture by telling instead the story of a social worker widow whose husband was Hispanic. The main character Anna Garcia and her kids do not speak Spanish, do not show any forms of cultural appreciation or practices and do not even know what saging is (Did the movie really have to simplify and explain the process of saging? In 2019?). The unintended comedy of seeing Samantha (played by Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen) flying through the air out of nowhere and hearing main actress Linda Cardellini (playing Anna Garcia) attempt to say La Llorona were some of the more memorable scenes in the movie. Another is that the main actress got away with only having to say La Llorona once in the whole one hour and 33 minute runtime. Rating: 3.5 out of 10 Mr Henry Kerali, the Country Director of the World Bank, says, Ghana will save more than US$100 million, an equivalent of two per cent of the countrys gross domestic product annually, for implementing the e-Procurement System. He said the e-Procurement System was a landmark project that would improve fairness, transparency and efficiency in the public sector and reduce the cost of transaction for service providers. The World Bank signed a US$97 million financing agreement with the government of Ghana in 2014 towards the implementation of the e-Transform Procurement Project. Mr Kerali said this in an address at the launch of the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS) in Accra on the theme: Rising to a New Dawn in Public Procurement. Mr Kerali noted that e-Procurement System would enhance productivity since electronic presentation of records or submission of tenders would eliminate manual work and reduce cost. The World Bank Country Director urged all public agencies to take advantage of the system to transform their operations, which would inure to the benefit of the people. Mr. Kerali, thus, re-affirmed the Banks commitment to supporting the Governments vision of achieving the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, adding that, it would continue to provide technical support towards the full implementation of the system to improve the ease of doing business. Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communications, for her part, said the e-Procurement system would ensure transparency and reduce corruption in the country. Online government procurement increases transparency and hold government more accountable in spending the taxpayers money in addition to the reduction of potential fraud and corruption, she emphasised. Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said the electronic platform would provide prospective suppliers with full information concerning government contracts and vis-a-vis government institutions would receive adequate information about potential suppliers or contractors. She was said the platform would play a critical role in reducing prices of contracts and government expenditure. We will like to see the Electronic Government Project contributing to achieving major efficiency in the reduction of prices by at least 10 to 20 per cent due to increase competitiveness, reduction in transaction cost by about 50 per cent and a reduction of about 20 to 30 per cent of public expenditures, the Minister said. Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the Ministry was working with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to champion the digitisation agenda in order to catch up with the world, adding that her outfit was working with the Ghana Immigration Service to roll-out an e-immigration system for border control, visa on arrival and other immigration services. She added that Parliament would soon launch e-parliament system and, thus, reiterated the Ministrys commitment towards the Public Procurement Authority to migrate all agencies onto the system. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video On Sunday 24th March, 2019, the Honorable Minister for Information, in a press briefing announced that the Right to Information Bill will be passed into law. A couple of days later, true to his words, on Tuesday 26th March, 2019, Parliament passed the Right to Information Act. It has taken two decades for this important piece of legislation to be passed. This law is rightly recognised by many as a key element in the jigsaw puzzle in the fight against corruption. It effectively opens government up to public scrutiny based on solid facts and figures and not conjectures. The fears of some politicians that passing this law will be akin to government shooting itself in the foot is not ungrounded. It takes a bold government, such as the one being led by H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to pass such a legislation. No doubt that some politicians, including those who are members of government will not be happy with this law. Nonetheless, for those who know and have followed the Presidents vision for this country, it does not come as a surprise given that he has consistently reiterated his commitment to rid our dear nation of corruption by making it very unattractive. He has on countless occasions demonstrated his support for free speech and expression and worked assiduously to promote these fundamental human rights in our democracy. It is to be recalled that it was under his leadership as Attorney General that the criminal libel laws of Ghana were repealed thereby encouraging public political debate and criticism of government without fear. The RTI law therefore, is only one of the manifestations of this unflinching commitment to building a strong democracy devoid of corruption besides the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act. One of the globally accepted anti-corruption strategies is the sunshine campaign. Having a right to information legislation therefore is a major boost for the sunshine campaign against corruption. As the first female President of the Republic of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga appositely remarked: Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. The passage of the Right to Information Act is indubitably another bold step towards the attainment of a Ghana Beyond Aid. This is because, citizens can now effectively play their roles as citizens and not spectators and contribute meaningfully to the development agenda in their districts and communities. It is also a potential source of employment as persons can now set up Information Bureaus to assist citizens access information from government both at the national level and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). Finally, Ghana takes position as the 128th country in the world to pass this law. With Ghana being a member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and President Akufo-Addo as a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Ambassador, the passage of the Right to Information Act will certainly be refreshing news to the international community as well as a major boost to our democratic credentials with its attendant advantages. Clifford Bansah Head, Research and Advocacy 020201060 Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Government of Ghana has set 15th May, 2019 to 15th June, 2019 as a period in which Canoe and Inshore fishermen are prohibited from trawling on the countrys coast for fish. Under the agreed Closed Season Policy, Industrial Trawlers are expected to observe their ban from 1st August, 2019 to September 30th 2019 and, the Tuna Fleets are expected to observe the ban from 1st January, 2020 to 28th February, 2020. The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has settled on the above dates to arrest what they describe as, the depletion of the countrys fish stock. The Ministry, however, explains that it was forced to accept the said dates from the fisher-folks after they vehemently refused to accept the 1st to 30th August, 2019 proposed date especially for the Canoe and Inshore fishers,this time the ministry believes will give the fishes that have eggs the opportunity to lay their eggs and bring forth new fish in the sea to ensure that were replenishing the stocks and, to also deal with the issue of post-harvest losses and to ensure a better way of processing and packaging fish for the market. Scientifically, the Sadinella stocks are often pregnant around August so it was for achieving a maximum results of preventing the fishermen from catching the pregnant ones. The idea is to allow August to pass so that they will lay their eggs for the juveniles to go into the wild. The adults will then be available for capture. You need every fish to spawn at least once to keep the cycle going. If we want to restock our fisheries, we need not disturb the spawning process. Within the same period, spawning takes place; so as to achieve a maximum results. In other not to disturb the spawning process, the August date was proposed but, the fishermen rejected the said date and, decided to observe the closure of the sea from May to June 2019, which will not yield much results. So the question then is, what might have compelled the Ministry to accept the date as proposed by the fisher folks and not to go by what has been advised by the experts ? The exercise when given the necessary attention and enforcement will be fruitful if the said dates as proposed by the experts for the closure is adhered to by the fishermen. The Ministry as a regulatory body must not be seen succumbing to pressures from the fishermen to go by their date so as to, save the countrys waters and the depletion of our fish stocks. This when done, will also go a long way to curb the importation of fish into the country on large scales which affects the national purse. The sector ministrys decision to go by the proposed date by the fishermen is believed by some members of the general public and the opposition political parties to be shielding government from losing votes from the coastal areas after the fishermen threatened a voter apathy or voting against the current regime in the next elections when plans to close the seas was announced last year. This is also believed to have informed the decision by the sector Ministry for a postponement for further stakeholder consultation. I paid a visit to two major fishing communities in the Greater Accra region ( James Town And Chorkor ) to have an interaction with some of the fisher folks and, according to them, going by the acceptable and legal way of fishing denies them the anticipated harvest hence the decision to engage in illegal means of trawling such as, light fishing or chemical trawling. Have you wondered why Ghana has not been able to follow the steps of Tanzania, Kenya among others with a ban on the importation of fish from China and even other countries ? The demand for fish is increasing whiles supply is shuttering so we depend on fish from neighbouring countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast to augment supply as a coastal country. This is saddening and a threat to the future of this country. As a student of Development, I see the lack of Political Will on the part of Governments over the period to enact or enforce what will save the over 25 million people including the fishermen themselves for sustainable fishing to be profitable and also, reduce the level of destruction to the marine ecosystems as a whole. The Ministry must reverse the decision to accept the closed season date as it has announced and go by what the experts had proposed. Efforts to save our marine wealth must not be negotiated for the benefit of any group of people to the detriment of the countrys future . The argument that the Fishermen will loose their jobs and livelihoods within the period should be one of the reasons why they must be entreated to adhere to the decision by government to close the sea for the said period , so as to secure their fishing business for the future and save the countrys waters and fish stocks. While at this, let me draw your attention to what has brought the country to this status. The illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing practices on the countrys coast are considered as some of the major causes of the menace. Fishermen in Ghana indulge in all sorts of illegal fishing practices in other to make bumper catch thereby destroying or catching fingerlings to win their profits oriented interest. The country according to experts, must as a matter of urgency act swiftly to prevent the rapid depletion of the fish stock or face stern food insecurity in the very near future. According to the sector Minister, Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, Ghana consumes over 950,000 metric tons of fish annually; and, currently imports over 60 percent to meet its consumption demand. Ghana in 2016 imported $135 million worth of fish because of the reduction in the countrys fish stock. Some of the illegal fishing practiced by fishermen in Ghana includes the use of light, dynamite, carbide and prohibited fishing nets. One other dangerous form of illegal fishing practice is, the poisoning of the fish. These practices however do not only destroy the aquatic world but also serves as sources of diseases and premature deaths. When the poisoned fish for instance is being consumed by humans, it could cause cancer and these fishermen knowing that these practices are unacceptable, continue to practice it with the believe that, its the only way that can sustain their fishing business . The lack of political will by Governments over the period to end the menace of illegal fishing can be considered as a major contributing factor of the large importation of fish into the country today. Can we boldly say as a country that illegal fishing practices do not exist in our dear nation, and that we have been able to curb the depletion of our fish stock? The Chinese are all over the sea engaging in saiko fishing and selling them right on the sea .This in actual sense should not be happening since it will influence the Ghanaian fishermen to also engage in such acts which, will eventually have some negative effects on our fish stock as a country . It is therefore important to bring to the notice of citizens of this country that, the rate at which Ghanas fish stock is depleting is very alarming and needs an immediate attention ; which when not taken with some sense of urgency, will leave the country with the worst situation ever and, that is, not having enough fish or no fish in our waters. Closing the seas within the stipulated period for fishing will allow for an increase in fisheries profit and yields and, also enhance the countrys fish stock conservation. In short, it will return larger fishery and conservation outcomes . The writer is a level 300 student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism . Rhodaline Elikem Anagbonu Source: Rhodaline Elikem Anagbonu Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Todays edition of Simpa Panyin is rooted in Ecclesiastes Chapter three versus one to eight. The Bible attempts to punctuate human happiness, and human suffering, with how time mediate our lives, putting a caveat in whatever situation we find ourselves. The late highlife legend, Akwasi Ampofo Adjei, gave the most relevant example of the impermanency of human situations. He painted pictures of how he moved from being a teacher, to being a truck pusher, a lesson for humanity, that, time is of the essence through all the changing scenes of life. Today I take a long bow out on Simpa Panyin. I dont know when I will ever return, but my return might surely not be anytime soon, although I might once in a while contribute to national discourse. Writers are inspired, and I believe I might not be able to resist occasions when the ink in me decides to flow. Its been three years of a weekly creative storm, and an unending imperative to surprise my readers, even when I had no energy to do so. There have been too many reasons in the last few months for me to have suspended this column, but I have held on till now, for the same reasons for which the column should have been suspended. Today I just have to do the needful, to announce my departure, and leave the scene. The column started with a weekly online satire. DailyGuide later took me to page four of their Thursday publications. I was initially doing 1,500 words per week, reducing it to 1,200 words a week as I gained more trust. So my Wednesdays have religiously been devoted to looking for the most controversial issues to write about. My fasted writing time has been one hour thirty minutes (I dont even know how I did it), and my most enduring writing time was twelve hours (when I wrote about President Robert Mugabe), with my typical duration being five hours. It has been exciting, frustrating, and fulfilling. I have enjoyed both the feedback, the results, and the insults; they all added to the experience. Time to write has been the greatest challenge. I am on a minimum of four international boards in London, Washington, and New York. I belong to a minimum of five functional international networks. I am a visiting guest in a minimum of ten world universities each year, both in Europe and America. I receive a minimum of ten international invitations for speaking engagements each year. I run one of the biggest child rights organizations in Ghana (Challenging Heights), and I run at least five business enterprises in Ghana. I have ever had a situation where I found myself back at the airport nearly every week of the year. Yet I still had to read the news, and I still had to write. A number of my readers have often asked me this question; how do you find time to write? How I have found time and space to deliver Simpa Panyin is still something that makes me stand proud, of the gift God gave nature. In a very recent trip to Australia, I left Ghana on Monday, and arrived in Sydney on Wednesday. I was supposed to go into a meeting two hours after arrival, and that meeting together with its attendant official dinner was supposed to last six hours. Simpa Panyin is supposed to touch on the most current issues, so I always have to read and listen to news. Under such a circumstance, how was I going to read all the news, to know and to describe how Charles Bissue, for instance, was captured in the video taking the galamsey bribe, and to have met the editors deadline of submitting a script before noon Wednesday? I am not paid for writing this column. And I have never expected to be paid. But Daily Guide, the main publishers of the column have not found it worthy to even send a flower or a Christmas card, to acknowledge my presence in their paper. I am not into occasions, but I would have loved to know that Daily Guide was grateful for the amount of time I spent, and the creative time therein, in churning out articles every week. The only times I had heard something from Daily Guide has been when something had gone wrong, and the shocking thing is, they will not even inform me when, for whatever reason, they were unable to publish my script for the week. Anyway, there is time for everything, and the time has brought me to a full cycle, from where I started to where I am ending. I started the column as a youth advocate, and quickly became the hardest critique of the John Mahama administration. I told volumes of stories of corruption and social injustices. I believed in Nana Addo, and thought he would be the messiah that Ghana was looking for. What people dont know is that I have always been Nana Addo boy. Even in President Kufuors presidency, I wished it was Nana Addo who was the president. We are both Gentlemen, from Legon Hall. We are both social justice activists, and we both preached free education. So during the 2007 NPP presidential primaries when others were shouting Alan Cash, I was one of only a very few people in Winneba who stood by Nana Akufo-Addo. I had my own share of insults and rejection because I refused to follow the Alan train. When Nana Addo won the election, it was all a dream come through. And when eventually he rolled out the free SHS program, and appointed the special prosecutor, I could not have asked for more. I thought that all those corrupt officials were going to go to jail, and that his government was going to be the cleanest ever in our history. Do I still feel the same way? No! I no longer believe in Nanas anti-corruption fight. I no longer believe in Nanas social justice posture, especially with the level of impunity being flaunted. And my most disappointment has to do with the current state of the implementation of the Free SHS program, especially moving away from the promise of taking basic education up to SHS level, to now cutting SHS admission at aggregate 24. That is a total defeat of my ego, effectively handing the free secondary education to the rich. But I have not only been deeply disappointed, I have been a victim of the very government that I supported. A victim of vindictiveness. A victim of power and money. I will not give details now, but I will go back to some excerpts of Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse five through to eight, we are given a certain hint, that there is time for everything; a time to be silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; and finally, a time to keep and a time to throw away. Can I still say this, that the battle is still the Lords? Source: James Kofi Annan/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Eastern Regional Police has mounted a search for the arrest of Kwadwo Asamoah, popularly known as Akyem Boye, 40, for assaulting and killing his elder brother, Kwasi Asante, 46, at Adasewase near Anyinam in the Atiwa East District of the Eastern Region. The suspect, Asamoah, was said to have hit the elder brother with a club leading to his death after which he fled. The Eastern Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ebenezer Tetteh told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the police heard about the incident and rushed to the village. He said when the police arrived at the village, they found the body of the deceased laid in state ready to be conveyed to the cemetery for burial. DSP Tetteh said physical inspection of the dead body revealed that the deceased bled from the nostrils, had injuries on the head, swollen right eye, bruises on the right shoulder and a cut on the right thumb. DSP Tetteh said photographs were taken of the body of the deceased and the corpse deposited at the Police Hospital mortuary in Accra for autopsy and preservation. He assured that the police were doing everything possible to apprehend the suspect to assist in further investigation. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Three Nigerians have been arrested by the Weija Divisional Police Command in connection with the murder of a two-year-old boy at Kalabule a suburb of Weija in the Ga South Municipality. The three have been identified as Kelly Aluna, 32; Ebona Fabian, 21 and Perry Tomode Genesis, 28. The victim Nathaniel Owusu went missing on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, but his body was later discovered on Saturday, April 27 wrapped in a bed sheet hidden between some packed cement blocks at the back of a house close to the apartment of his parents. Briefing DAILY GUIDE, Weija Divisional Police Commander and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Laar Baman said the police received a formal complaint of the missing child around 8:30pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, from the parents of the victim at the Weija toll booth police station. Based on police investigations, the three Nigerian nationals who lived about 200 metres away from the house of the victim and his parents were arrested to assist police in their investigations. As part of police investigations, a search was conducted on the premises of the three suspects but nothing was found. He noted that while investigations were still ongoing, police again received another information in the morning of April 27 that the body of the victim had been found wrapped in a piece of cloth and dumped between some packed cement blocks behind a house belonging to one Patience Aryee a neighbour. Some personnel together with that of the Weija Police went to the scene and after conducting preliminary investigations, the body was removed and taken to the Police Hospital for preservation and autopsy, he narrated. The divisional commander revealed that some persons including neighbours had been invited by the police to give out their statements but the three arrested Nigerians would be kept at the station until investigations are over. It is being speculated that parts of the body of the victim had been removed but until the autopsy has been conducted, we cannot confirm that part of the body has been removed, ACP Laar Baman averred. Narrating to journalists how the body was found, Patience Aryee , whose house is close to the location where the body was found, said after her children had alerted her of a foul smell wafting from a pile of blocks, she went there together with her son to observe what was happening. Initially, we thought it was a dead rat so I went behind my building with my son and found a decomposing body lying in a pile of cement blocks. After removing some blocks, we found it was Nathaniel, she recounted, adding that they then screamed and summoned the parents and some neighbours to come to their aid. Meanwhile, father of the deceased Kwame Owusu has vowed to assist the police find the killers of his son. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Tuesday made it clear that there was no hostility between Tanzania and Malawi, saying the two countries remained as best neighbors as ever. "During my administration, Tanzania and Malawi will always remain best neighboring friends," Magufuli told a public rally broadcast live by state-owned Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) in the southern highlands district of Kyela on the shore of Lake Nyasa in Mbeya region. He said African countries should unite in their development undertakings and he lashed out at Western countries that were bent on ensuring that the continent was in a shambles. "We should not allow Western countries (to) derail African countries' efforts toward making the continent prosperous," Magufuli told the rally on his sixth day of his eight-day official visit to the region. Magufuli made the remarks against the background of reports that Tanzania and Malawi were mired in a long-standing conflict over boundaries on Lake Nyasa. The neighboring countries have clashed over their border on the lake since independence and reports that the lake had vast oil and gas reserves has reignited the ongoing dispute over the boundaries on Lake Nyasa. Tanzania's map showed that the east African country owns part of the Lake Nyasa while Malawi's argument was that all the waters between Malawi and Tanzania were theirs. Last week, the Tanzanian and Malawian leaders directed relevant ministers to urgently sort out challenges that were slowing down trade between the two countries. "Trade barriers between the two countries should be urgently addressed for the development of people in the countries," said President Magufuli and his Malawian counterpart, Peter Mutharika. A statement by the Directorate of Presidential Communication said the two leaders raised concerns over trade barriers between the two countries at the end of talks held at the Malawian State House in Lilongwe. Magufuli was in Malawi for a two-day state visit at the invitation of President Mutharika. The statement said the leaders had directed the ministers to accelerate the construction of a one-stop border post at Kasumulu on the two countries' border post to facilitate trade between the neighbors. In addition, said the statement, the leaders agreed to look for low-interest loans for the development of the Songwe River Basin which was billed to generate 180 megawatts for industrial and domestic use. Addressing a joint news conference, Magufuli said trade between Tanzania and Malawi was still low where 2018 records indicated a trade volume amounting to a paltry 64 million U.S. dollars. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned against "a disturbing groundswell" of intolerance and hate-based violence targeting worshippers of many faiths. He issued a statement in the wake of a shooting in a synagogue in San Diego, California, and an attack on a Protestant church in Burkina Faso, both of which led to multiple casualties. "Such incidents have become all-too-familiar: Muslims gunned down in mosques, their religious sites vandalized; Jews murdered in synagogues, their gravestones defaced with swastikas; Christians killed at prayer, their churches often torched. Houses of worship, instead of the safe havens they should be, have become targets," said Guterres. Beyond the murders, there is loathsome rhetoric: xenophobia aimed not only at religious groups but also at migrants, minorities and refugees; assertions of white supremacy; a resurgence of neo-Nazi ideology; venom directed at anyone considered the "other", he warned. 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, noted the UN chief. "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." The world must step up to stamp out anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred, persecution of Christians and all other forms of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and incitement, he said. Hatred is a threat to everyone - and so this is a job for everyone. Political and religious leaders have a special responsibility to promote peaceful coexistence, said Guterres. "I will count on the strong support of governments, civil society and other partners in working together to uphold the values that bind us a single human family." Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Residents of Tema Newtown in the Greater Accra Region have raided an oil vessel belonging to a Nigerian oil dealer. In the full glare of the owner of the vessel which split at the Tema Port anchorage, the miscreants made away with drums of oil and other items such as air conditioners, storage containers, generators, stabilizers, among others. It is unclear what caused the vessel MV Yaris to split but the Marine and Security Department of the Port of Tema acted swiftly to salvage the vessel and crew members from sinking at the anchorage of the port. Information available to DAILY GUIDE indicates that last month, the vessel which was carrying a consignment of oil from Nigeria berthed and discharged oil at the Tema Port. The crew then noticed that the ship at the anchorage had developed cracks and leakages that needed immediate repairs to avoid sinking. The Marine and Security Department was immediately informed and the vessel was towed away from the anchorage to a safe place. Surprisingly, hundreds of residents including fishers woke up and found the vessel fragmented; they trooped in to steal items in the broken vessel. Some of them swam into the vessel and stole valuable items. The melee nearly resulted in a scuffle among the looters who were bent on exploiting the situation. Speaking with DAILY GUIDE, Richard Johnson, owner of the consignment on board the broken vessel, blamed the port authorities for the unfortunate situation. According to him, port authorities had refused the vessel from entering into the port to dock since March 10, 2019, without any tangible reasons. He believed that the weight on the vessel which had berthed at the anchorage for the past one month might have caused the splitting of the vessel. However, the Port Security Manager at the Tema Port, Colonel Joseph Punamane, rejected the blame, citing some discrepancies in documents presented by the vessel owner with regard to the consignment on board. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has cut the sod for the commencement of phase two of the redevelopment project of the Kumasi Central Market and the provision of associated infrastructure. Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony on Thursday, 2nd May, 2019, at Kejetia, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the start of the 2nd phase of the redevelopment project, in addition to numerous projects ongoing in Asantemen, and, indeed, across the country demonstrates governments unwavering commitment to deliver significant infrastructure projects that will create jobs and enhance economic development. The redevelopment of the Kumasi Central Market is a two hundred and forty-eight-million-euro (248 million) project, and it is being financed by Deutsche Bank of Germany, with export credit guarantee from the United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF). The construction will be undertaken by Messrs Contracta Construction Ltd, UK, and will be finished within 48 months, the President said. Upon completion, the redeveloped market will have six thousand, five hundred (6,500) leasable commercial spaces; five thousand, four hundred (5,400) closed stores; eight hundred (800) kiosks; fifty (50) restaurants; two hundred and ten (210) fishmonger and butcher stores; forty (40) livestock stores; and one thousand, eight hundred square metres (1,800m2) of community facilities. Additionally, the project will also provide other essential facilities such as a waste treatment plant, a police station, a fire station, post offices, and an amphi-theatre. President Akufo-Addo was confident that the redevelopment of the Kumasi Central Market, and the delivery of associated infrastructure, will help address and mitigate the underlying causes of fire outbreaks in this market; create some nine hundred (900) direct jobs and two thousand, five hundred (2,500) indirect jobs; improve the safety and security of traders and consumers; and provide better conditions for mobility in the area, allowing traders to receive their merchandise, and customers to access the market, in a safer and more organized manner. I appeal to all of you, city authorities, traders, customers and residents, to support and co-operate with the contractor, Messrs Contracta Construction Ltd, so as to complete this project on time. I know I can count on all of you in this regard, the President added. Infrastructural projects for Kumasi President Akufo-Addo recalled that, in the run-up to the December 2016 election, as expressly stated in the Manifesto of the New Patriotic Party, the party pledged to embark on a sustainable and integrated infrastructural development programme across the country. Towards the realisation of this pledge with respect to Asanteman, in August 2018, the President cut the sod for the commencement of the Kumasi Roads Facelift Project, which, amongst others, includes the Kumasi Drainage and Roads Extension Project; the remodeling of the four roundabouts between Ejisu and KNUST to help improve safety and reduce the heavy congestion being experienced on the N6 highway; and an asphaltic overlay on 135 kilometres of roads within the Kumasi Metropolis to deal with the issue of potholes, and, thereby, give the roads in the Metropolis a new lease of life. In addition to these, a few weeks ago, in Tamale, I cut the sod for the commencement of phase 1 projects of the $2 billion Government of Ghana/Sinohydro Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA). Lot 2 of this project will see to the construction of 100 kilometres of Kumasi and Mampong Inner City Roads. In Kumasi, the affected road networks are in Manhyia, Suame, Tafo Pankrono, Asokwa, Kwadaso, Oforikrom, Subin, Nhyiaeso and Bantama, he said. The President continued, A fortnight ago, Parliament approved a one hundred and fifty-five million-euro (155 million) facility for the completion and equipping of the maternity and childrens block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, a project which has stood uncompleted for well over forty (40) years. In concluding, President Akufo-Addo assured the Asantehene that his government is committed to putting this country onto the path of broad progress and prosperity, by enhancing the living standards of all Ghanaians. This project, and others currently ongoing, demonstrate our commitment towards this, and I will appeal to you to take a keen interest in seeing to the completion of phase II of this important project, which I have no doubt you will, he added. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The families of the three kidnapped Takoradi girls have suspended their intended march to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana police service to demand the whereabouts of the girls from CID boss COP Maame Yaa Tiwaah Addo Danquah. This was after Western Regional Police Commander; DCOP Vincent Redeemer Dzedzo led a police delegation to introduce a liaison officer to the families. The families were planning to pitch camp at the CID headquarters today, Thursday, 2 May 2019 to demand the removal of the CID boss if she failed to produce the girls after publicly announcing that the police know their whereabouts. The Western Region police also assured the families of a meeting on Friday, 3 May 2019 for further discussions. Spokesperson of the families Mr Michael Grant Hayford was hopeful that the move by the police will yield positive results. The missing girls are 18-year-old Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, last seen on 21 December 2018; 21-year-old Priscilla Blessing Bentum, last seen on 17 August 2018; and 18-year-old Ruth Love Quayson, last seen on 4 December 2018. The man suspected to be behind the kidnappings, Samuel Udoetuk-Wills, who broke cell and escaped from the custody of the Takoradi Metropolitan Police Command on 30 December 2018, was re-arrested by the police. Udoetuk-Wills was recaptured in the wee hours of Friday, 4 January 2019, by three policemen in an abandoned building in the bush at Kansawurodu, near Takoradi. He has been sentenced by the Takoradi Market Circle Court to 18 months imprisonment for escaping lawful custody. Source: 3news.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Cyber-crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, has cautioned the public against the activities of cyber criminals, who are using social engineering to steal data from unsuspecting individuals and companies. Dr Herbert Gustav Yankson said the main threat to Ghanas cyber-security space was through social engineering. He noted that the situation was worrying as it had been taken for granted for long, imploring that emphasis should be placed on that to curb the menace. Social engineering crimes involve the use of deceit in order to obtain a persons confidential identification information. Often times, the scammer would employ a fake survey or other social study devices that would lead the person to believe that the survey is real. This can occur through telephone calls, e-mail or other computer communications, social media websites and text messages. Dr Yankson made this known at a workshop to mark; Girls in ICT Day" in Accra. The event, which was organized by the Internet Society (ISOC) Ghana Chapter, was on the theme: Security and Digital Privacy Focus on Social Engineering. Dr Yankson said social engineering was something that had been taken for granted for a long time; adding that: In this day and age, it is better to be on guard, especially women and girls". He said in 2018, statistics showed fraud, taking the first position within the cybercrime unit; stating that 60 percent of their recorded cases was about fraud. "Fraud is basically using deception and that is where social engineering comes in. If most of our cases are related to fraud, then they are based on all the different kinds of social engineering," he said. "Through social engineering, our ladies have things that guys want to see, and about 98 to 99 percent the indicators are that our ladies are taking a lot of pictures and that means, we have a lot of work to do. Dr Yankson also revealed that sextortion ranked third accounting for 15 percent of all the cases. The threat to our cybersecurity in this country is through social engineering, and that is what we should be working on, he added. He disclosed that in 2018, Ghana lost 105 million dollars to cybercrime where fraud consisted of 21 million dollars and sextortion 49,000 dollars. Meaning that a total of about 22 million dollars was taken away from victims through social engineering. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ms Abla Dzifa Gomashie, a former Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has advised students to take their studies and reading seriously at the 2019 celebration of the International Children's Book Day. She advised them to read widely and learn hard to become responsible adults and contribute their quota to the development of the country. Ms Gomashie was speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the 2019 KidFest at Agbozume in the Ketu South Municipality. She encouraged the teachers to promote the call by the Management of the Ghana Library Authority for the year "Reading for Progress ". The Authority has declared 2019 as a National Year of Reading in an effort to promote and sustain literacy and life-long learning to improve on knowledge and skills of the citizenry to significantly contribute to national development. She also encouraged the students to read their books and also make good use of the two libraries in the Municipality; the Helen and Patrick Gomashie Future Leaders Library in the Avoeme Basic School and the Agbozume Library. Ms Gomashie presented some reading books as prizes to the First, Second and Third positions in the competition. Winners would be given a tour to some key locations in Accra or Ho at the expense of Values For Life (VFL-GHANA), a Non-Governmental Organisation. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission(NLC) Mr Ofosu Asamoah has challenged gender activists who always seek gender balance, especially in government appointments to also encourage more Ghanaian women to work in the mortuary. His call comes on the back of the revelation that Ghana can boast of only three female mortuary workers. The General Secretary of the Mortuary Workers Union, Richard Kofi Jordan who made the revelation in an interview with sit-in-host Akwasi Nsiah on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa FM said these three female workers were recruited not long ago. There are only three female mortuary workers in Ghana. We have two at Korle Bu and one at Apinto Hospital at Tarkwa (Government Hospital). There was one at Peki Government Hospital who had even proceeded on retirement but the due to lack of staff, she has been recalled and is working on contract. In total, our staff strength is almost 500. The Labour Commission Boss in an interview with Kasapa FM stated that gender activists must change the narrative wanting 30% of MPs and government appointees to be women, and also push for more female employment in the mortuary. In Ghanaian politics, you hear the gender activists pushing for 30% of MPs to be women, Im waiting for the day when it will be said that 30% of mortuary workers should be women. I know the women will run away from this kind of job, but when it comes to appointments in government and choosing Parliamentary candidate theres always a campaign to have more women getting positions. He added: I always hear the women saying gender balance, but who wants to have gender balance in the work at the mortuary? gender activists never make such arguments. They leave only the men to do mortuary work. It tells you the special position these mortuary men occupy. We staff of the Labour Commission value their very difficult job and will continue to give them the needed support. Source: kasapafmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Rasheed Seidu Inussah, has been directed by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to step aside. Even though there were speculations that he has been directed to proceed on retirement, inside sources link his removal to a recent publication in the Daily Guide newspaper about the three kidnapped Tarkoradi girls. The newspaper reported last Wednesday that the girls had been rescued and were undergoing medical examinations in Accra. According to Daily Guide, the girls were brought from Takoradi to Accra on Monday and were transported to a BNI Clinic around the 37 Military Hospital in Accra for preliminary medical care. But when 3news.com checked at the CID headquarters, the police failed to authenticate the veracity of the report. Police CID denying rescue reports of kidnapped girls? According to our sources, it was discovered that there were some security lapses and poor coordination between the police and the BNI, resulting in the leakage of the story in the Daily Guide newspaper. For that reason, Mr. Seidu was sacked. Even though our sources have not been categorical on the matter, there are indications that the girls may have been rescued and are possibly in the custody of the BNI. Rasheed Seidu Inussah was appointed last year to take over the office of the BNI from Akwasi Appiah, Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of the BNI, Kweku Dumfeh, has been asked to take over. Source: 3news.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has rubbished claims that he ordered award-winning undercover journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas not to release Part 2 of his explosive documentary on illegal mining titled, Galamsey Fraud. According to him, Anas is no longer a child, and his boy because his scope and coverage is wider than him (Baako) and therefore he cannot influence him (Anas). Anas is no longer my boy as a kid, he is a big boy. He is international and his scope is wider than I can get to. I never ever influence him for good reasons. I allow him to grow but I guide him and not to truncate his own independent initiative, he told Accra based Metro TV. In March this year, undercover journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, announced the release of Part 2 of his explosive documentary on illegal mining titled, Galamsey Fraud. The documentary is aimed at naming and shaming selfish and powerful individuals, stabbing President Nana Akufo-Addo and Ghanaians in the back, in his relentless efforts at fighting against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey. But, the Part 2 of the Galamsey Fraud has since not been released. Rumours are rife that Anas boss, Mr Baako has ordered him not to release the Part 2 of the documentary. However, Mr Baako, reacting to the claims, said there is no agenda on his part to stop him from showing Part 2 of the documentary, adding that he is not part of Tiger Eye PI to determine for the team. Speaking on the timing, he said he is unable to give the timeline on when the Part 2 would be released. As for timing, I will disappoint our viewers because I cannot give them the timing, he added. VIDEO- Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Member of Parliament for Effutu constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has backed Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafos 'Galamsey queen' comment. The Senior Minister, while answering a question during a town hall meeting in the US, had justified the decision to deport Chinese Galamsey Queen, Aisha Huang, who was standing trial for illegal mining. According to him, it will not solve Ghanas economic problems. This comment has been heavily condemned to the extent that some political pundits are calling for his resignation. Adding his voice to the Senior Ministers sentiments, during a panel discussion on Peace FM's morning show Kokrokoo, Afenyo-Markin said the decision to deport Aisha Huang was the best because if she was just fined and left in the country, she would have done worst things on the blind side of government. Listen to his justification in the video below Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Lawyer Obiri Boahen has asked the police to initiate investigation into the bribery allegation which led to the resignation of a Minister of State, Rockson Bukari. Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that though the Minister has resigned, people must know what actually went into the bribery scandal. He added that he should further be prosecuted if found culpable. Lawyer Obiri Boahen added that whoever is involved in the matter should be investigated including the high court judge who was allegedly involved in the issue that brought about the bribery. You see the Police should be up and doing, you need not wait for a formal complaint to be made before you decide to investigate the matter. The matter should not end at the resignation level," he said. Minister of State at the Office of the President, Rockson Bukari resigned from his position, days after he was caught on a leaked tape attempting to bribe a journalist to kill a story. According to a statement from the presidency, Mr Bukari tendered in his resignation letter to President Akufo-Addo on Monday, 29th April, 2019. His decision to resign, according to the statement was in order not to allow the tape to disrupt the focus on government in delivering on its mandate. Rockson Bukari was caught on tape trying to prevent Starr FM Upper East regional correspondent from publishing a damning story against a Chinese mining company when he was the Upper East regional Minister. Mr. Bukari tried bribing the journalist with GH5,000 cash in a brown envelope and a brand new motorbike to stop the story from going public. The regional Minister was reassigned to the presidency when the story first made waves in 2018, but after it resurfaced about a week ago, Mr Bukari who failed to convince Ghanaians that he was trying to make peace and not bribe the journalist has resigned. The communique from the office of the President said Rockson Bukari resigned as a matter of principle. Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman of the newly created Bono Region, Kwame Baffoe aka Abronye DC has hit hard at former President John Dramani Mahama for exhibiting hypocrisy over the issue of security in the country. Mr. Mahama on the occasion of the 2019 May Day celebration, assessed the Akufo-Addo-led government and blamed him for the unprecedented insecurity in the country causing major threat to foreign and domestic investors in the countrys economy. But Abronye DC speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' programme with Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, said the former President has no credibility to talk about the issue of security in the country. According to Abronye DC, between 2012 and 2014, about 181 Ghanaians were kidnapped under the regime of former President Mahama which nothing was heardo of in these cases. "Under the regime of former President Mahama, there were series of murder cases, killings and about 181 kidnap cases which nothing serious was done about them . . . where are the reports about all the murder cases, killing and kidnap cases which happened during his regime?" he quizzed. He asserted that the NDC 2020 Presidential Candidate has not been fair to Ghanaians; thus the former President of Ghana is trying everything possible to cover up all his kidnapped cases to make his government appear good in the eyes of Ghanaians. . . What did he (Mr. Mahama) do after hearing the leaked tape of his Chairman, Ofosu Ampofo? . . . what did he do for the Ghana Arm Forces in his regime? he quizzed. "Under former President Mahamas regime the issue of kidnapping was always push under the carpet to make his government look good which Nana Addo and his government will not do such a thing." Abronye DC however patted the back of President Nana Addo's administration for the good work done in putting measures in place to strengthen the security in the country; thus, asking Ghanaians to rise up and vote massively against NDC and the former President Mahama comes 2020. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Member of Parliament for Effutu constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has revealed Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is likely to fall back on government for funds. According to him, most of the revenue generated by the company is used in treating water from water bodies which have been damaged by the menace of illegal mining, popularly known as Galamsey. "It is costing Ghana Water Company more money to treat water; if care is not taken, we may have to go back to government for money to pay our workers . . . if the revenue coming in is not sufficient to manage your affairs, government is supposed to come in, he indicated. For this reason, he urged all to stop playing politics with the issue of galamsey and come on board to fight the menace. "This is not about NPP or Akufo-Addo or any individual who has been recorded and has decided to step back. We should know that no matter the government in power, this affects us all and so we should all help in fighting it," he added. Afenyo-Markin was discussing the issue of galamsey on Peace FM's morning show Kokrokoo, Thursday. Watch video below Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The former general secretary aspirant of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Richard Ahiagbah has highlighted some of the failings of former president Mahama under his regime. Former President Mahama On the occasion of the 2019 May Day assessed the Akufo-Addo-led government as characterized by massive job losses and unemployment and also blamed them on the unprecedented insecurity in the country. Mr. Ahiagbah reacting on Asempa FM stated that former President Mahama's claim of economic hardship today is a suggestion that the economic conditions were better in 2016 when he lost the elections. He added that the economy that "President Mahama led and bequeathed to Ghanaians on January 7th, 2017 is hundred times harsher". According to him, the 2016 macroeconomic indicators confirm just how terrible the economy was under President Mahama. It is a fact that all the macroeconomic metrics were trending in the negative under President Mahama. So, why is the former president trying to describe a post-2016 economy whose macroeconomic fundamentals are trending in the positive and free from the clutches of IMF as harsh? I guess the question Ghanaians want the former President to answer is harsh economic conditions compare to what. Whatever the case might be, the former president merely exposed the monumental failure of his Presidency. In calling on Nana Addo's administration to work conscientiously to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals number eight, Richard Ahiagbah says he sees "one of two things going on in the former President Mahama's mind". "First, former President Mahama was being disingenuous, and secondly, that the former President is not being an honest broker", he chided. He maintained that the Nana Addo and Bawumia administration have done more in two years to move Ghana closer to the attainment of the SDG goal eight than what the late President Atta Mills and President Mahama's government dreamt to do in eight years. "SDGs goal eight suggests the promotion of sustainable economic growth and decent work for all. Regardless of your political colors, every honest broker will tell you that, implementing Free SHS, One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, and attendant Planting for Export and Rural Development are unimpeachable policy measures that put Ghana on the path to achieving the said SDGs goal eight". He therefore cautioned former President Mahama that "what Ghanaians need is not misinformation from former President Mahama, but rather to resolve to continue to push, to support the Akufo Addo's government to do more to dry the tears left our eyes by a failed Mahama Presidency". Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video CEO of World Map Records, JP. Frank Gogo popularly known as Boss Lion has paid a courtesy visit to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu. Mr. Gogo was accompanied by his team. Highlife legend KK Fosu and fast rising acts JC and Pacy Mordey to the respected and learned Chief Imam's residence at Fadama in Accra to Mark the celebration of his 100th birthday with him and his family. Speaking to the CEO of World Map Records, he said "It was my dream to personally meet the Chief Imam and ask of his blessing upon myself, the record label as well as my artists and I thank God for making it possible today. I pray for long life for him to continue blessing this nation with his wisdom and significant contributions toward the development of our dear nation. Infact may Allah continue to grant him good health, more wisdom and increase his blessings" he said. This made World map records part of the tall list of people around the world to celebrate the Chief Imam as he clocked 100 years. The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu who was happy to see the world map records team received them warmly and prayed for them. Dr Sharubutu, is a member of the National Peace Council and was born in Old Fadama in Accra. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Popular Nigerian comic actor, Francis Odega after beating his wife threw her and their daughter out of his house and according to popular Instagram gossip blog, Instablog9ja, his daughter is currently pleading with people to assist her to pay for her school fees. In a report by Instablog9ja, one of the in-laws of Francis Odega narrated how Odega has subjected his wife to severe beatings ever since they got married 15 years ago. Read the full report by Instablog9ja below; The daughter of actor Francis Odega of the gerarahere fame, has cried out to Nigerians to help prevail on him to pay her school fees, even as he has kicked her and her mom out of the house. Giving details of what has been going on, one of Mr. Odega in-laws wrote: My sister has been with Frances Odega for 15 years. When my sister met him he had nothing, then he was living at Mafoluku, #Oshodi, Lagos. . Then, he only had a video club that wasnt bringing enough money, so my sister started a salon in the same shop and was taking care of the family with the salon business. Then things got very bad because he wasnt getting any job and whenever my sister advises him to even go out to connect with colleagues that could probably help him, he would beat her up so badly. When I was 14, I went to live with them at Aburu around lpaja and my sister was 8 months pregnant. She had to always visit the hospital because of the everyday beatings. One faithful night, I was home sleeping and my sister was at the hospital, Mr Odega came home and tried to rape me and I managed to run out of the house. So many times he has beaten my sister to the point that she will have to wake up at the hospital and each time all he will say is that my family will do nothing, that we dont even have money to make any case with him. Most times he locks her outside overnight and most times he will embarrass her in public by calling her name, stripping her naked, accusing her of so many things. So this year, he sent her packing with her daughter, the only child they both have, but he has refused to pay her school fees. As for my sister, she wants nothing to do with him again because the embarrassment is too much. He sleeps with the girls working for her. Even in the house they lived, he slept with a married woman and the husband saw them and sent the wife away. I can go on and on. I want Nigerians to help us tell this man to pay her daughters school fees thats all. Attached is a video of when he beat my sister and sent her packing after locking her out for two nights. Swipe right to watch all the videos below. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Kensington Palace has dropped a major hint that Meghan Markle may have welcomed her first child with Prince Harry. The palace issued a note yesterday saying that the Duke of Sussex is going to be visiting the Netherlands next week to undertake an official engagement in Amsterdam. According to Metro UK, it has been seen by many as a hint that the Duchess has already given birth to the royal baby in secret. It's been expected that Prince Harry will take paternity leave following the birth of his and Meghans first child. This, some believe, could mean that the baby was born as recently as Sunday or Monday. A royal aide said: "He had always planned to go but with the birth of his child due it was not announced in advance in case he was no longer able to attend. He is pleased he is able to attend." Kensington Palace said: "His Royal Highness will then travel to The Hague to officially launch the one year countdown to the Invictus Games The Hague 2020." Also, it was revealed yesterday that The Queen visited Meghan and Harry at their new home in Frogmore Cottage and this fueled speculation that Meghan has already given birth. However, there has been no official confirmation yet that the baby has arrived. This comes as no surprise as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a statement weeks ago, revealing that the birth of their baby will be kept private as they intend to enjoy their new baby with family and settle into life as new parents first, before making the news public. Source: Daily Express Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Major grant fuels hunt for universal flu vaccine Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will use a $30 million federal grant--the second-largest the center has ever received--to accelerate the chase for one of medicine's most elusive goals: a universal influenza vaccine. Public health organizations have long clamored for a flu vaccine that can provide longer-lasting protection to people and be stockpiled beyond a single flu season. Yet despite decades of effort, flu vaccines still must be re-formulated every year, with effectiveness ranging from a modest 60 percent to a dismal 20 percent. As a result, many people lack confidence in the flu vaccine and choose not to receive it. This, in turn, helps to keep flu-related complications among the nation's top 10 leading causes of death. An estimated 46,000 Americans died in the 2018-19 flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now, a $30 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will fund research based here to dig deeper into how the immune systems of infants and growing children are affected by their first exposures to flu viruses. Gathering the information required will involve asking more than 2,000 sets of mothers and infants from the Cincinnati area and from Mexico City to participate in at least three years of weekly medical testing. "We have to do better. Most other vaccines have effectiveness rates above 90 percent. We need a flu vaccine that reaches those levels," says Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH, the principal investigator for the new grant. "To achieve that goal, we need much more data from real people. That's what our study will seek to generate. Then, the vaccine makers will have the information they need to make a better, longer-lasting vaccine." A rising sense of urgency For many public health leaders, the flu season of 2017-18 was a wake-up call. The vaccine did not work well, and the CDC estimated that 80,000 Americans died from flu-related pneumonias, heart attacks, and organ failures. That was the worst flu death toll in nearly 40 years. In response, a group of senators introduced the Flu Vaccine Act in February 2018 to provide up to $1 billion to the National Institutes of Health to support influenza research grants across five years. The bill did not pass, but was re-introduced earlier this year. In the meantime, Congress has boosted flu vaccine research funding from about $60 million two years ago to more than $140 million for fiscal 2019. The grant to Cincinnati Children's is one large part of this growing nationwide effort. "We are delighted that the NIAID has recognized the outstanding expertise of Drs. Staat and Morrow and their team by awarding the second-largest grant in Cincinnati Children's history," says Margaret Hostetter, MD, Director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. "There are many unanswered questions about influenza exposure and protection in mothers and babies. Dr. Staat's study--coupled with the systems biology expertise of Drs. Paul Spearman, Sing Sing Way, and colleagues at Emory University--promises to unlock the mysteries with an unrivaled combination of epidemiology, global health expertise, and vaccine immunology." What is 'imprinting'? One reason scientists have struggled to find a universal flu vaccine is that the two major types of flu virus (H and N) come in no less than 28 subtypes. The new Influenza IMPRINT Cohort study will explore the emerging idea that a person's very first influenza virus exposure impacts the magnitude, durability and breadth of their immune response to all future flu exposures. For example, does a person have better resistance to future flu outbreaks if their first exposure was to a wild virus, or to weakened forms used in vaccines? How much does a person's future resistance depend on the specific strain of flu they encounter first? Or, if a person's immune system was primed by one strain, does that make it harder for their bodies to respond well to a vaccine that targets a different strain? "This type of immunological imprinting likely explains much about the wide variation in vaccine effectiveness year-to-year," Staat says. Better information about how imprinting works could help vaccine researchers determine the ideal mix of flu strains to use in a universal flu vaccine that has the best odds of protecting people years later as other flu strains emerge. Beyond the mix of strains, experts want to figure out the best age for infants to receive their first vaccine, the best vaccine timing during pregnancy for expectant mothers, even the specific best time of year in the US and globally to get the shots. Seeking dedicated volunteers Research partners in Cincinnati and Mexico City will work with local hospital birthing centers to invite mothers to join the IMPRINT study. Each mother will be asked to respond to texts about their child's symptoms and provide fresh nasal swabs every week for her child for at least three years. The research teams also will collect blood and other samples to track responses to influenza vaccine and wild influenza virus exposures. Staat says Cincinnati Children's won this grant in part because it was successful at building a similar cohort of volunteers for a different natural history of infection study called PREVAIL, which also required weekly involvement. Staat knows in person just how much effort the IMPRINT study will ask of its participants, because her family participated in the PREVAIL study. Staat recalls personally delivering samples and bringing her granddaughter to the hospital for testing days. "It was intense, but it became our Saturday routine," Staat says. "The moms who join IMPRINT are going to be part of something that is going to make a real difference." ### This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Spanish pork board Interporc has unveiled a new certified animal welfare seal, IAWS, to endorse good practices within the industry The seal is expected to highlight performance in the pig sector in animal welfare and biosecurity, and will be the most demanding of the European Union and will position Spain as a benchmark, Interporc director Alberto Herranz said. Mr Harranz said: As one of the great international leaders, we have a duty to anticipate the demands of consumers and distributors, to offer transparency and a guarantee of commitment in animal welfare throughout of the entire life process of the animal. He said the IAWS regulation was technically impeccable as it had been created in collaboration with companies in the sector, certification, administration, scientists and experts in animal welfare, and was also endorsed by an independent scientific committee, as well as presented to large distribution companies and organisations for the protection and defence of animals. Get Our E-Newsletter - Pig World's best stories in your in-box twice a week See e-newsletter example Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy The flood gates opened in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights after rains started Tuesday night and continued into the early hours of Wednesday. More than three inches of rain fell over a few hours, causing heavy flooding in the south end of Dearborn Heights, and neighboring communities. Less severe flooding also happened in Dearborn. Water levels were high across much of Dearborn Heights, with about 14 feet of water covering Southfield Road at Outer Drive. I am going to initiate seeking assistance from disaster relief teams, Councilwoman Lisa Hicks Clayton posted on Facebook. Did this in 2014. Our families will need help. I will post information as soon as it is available. Hicks Clayton shared several updates throughout the week between helping people. The water levels got so bad in areas, and enough basements were flooded, that Mayor Daniel Paletko asked the state to step in and declare a state of emergency so residents could get relief from FEMA. As of Thursday, that declaration hadnt officially been made. We experienced 3 inches of rain last night, Dearborn Heights Fire Chief Dave Brogan told WDIV-TV on Wednesday. Weve had several calls of people trapped in their homes who have medical problems or physical limitations that were helping and weve had a lot of homes filling up with smoke from water flooding up to their electrical outlets. Police and fire personnel spent most of Wednesday helping residents who were stuck in their houses or cars. The city opened a shelter at the Justice Center on Beech Daly and Michigan Avenue for anyone who does not feel safe in their home. Many took advantage of that shelter Wednesday and Thursday, though an exact number wasnt available. MDOT officials said flooding closed the Southfield Freeway in both directions at Outer Drive. It was also closed at Michigan Avenue and Ford Road until about 6:30 a.m. Thursday. Several other roads also were closed. Floods also caused the closure of schools and senior centers as it was difficult to access them. In some neighborhoods, residents resorted to driving down sidewalks in order to get to and from their houses. The city has had flooding issues for decades, but this instance seemed to be worse than most as water remained in basements for hours with nowhere to go. Water levels on the streets continued to be high, not giving water in basements a place to go. Everyone on my block has a foot or more of water in their basement, Meghan Meyer said. There are residents who have lived here for 30 years whose homes have never flooded prior. Meyer had a company pump out her basement for hours Wednesday, but the water kept coming back into the house. There was still a decent amount of water in the basement by the end of the day. The Downriver Utility Wastewater Authority, which services Dearborn Heights as well as many Downriver communities, reports that it is running slightly over capacity in its Wyandotte-based plant. There have been no breakdowns in the system, and all machinery is operating as it should, according to the authority. Most of this weeks flooding was caused by a combination of too much rainfall in a small amount of time. Dearborn Heights residents experiencing flooding in the Ecorse Creek Watershed area should contact the Mayors Office at 313-791-3490 or the DPW at 313-791-6000. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Brandon is the ACLUs Deputy Director for Smart Justice Litigation, where he leads a team dedicated to attacking mass incarceration through impact litigation on three central issues: bail, prosecutorial misconduct, and parole and probation. The team coordinates closely with the Campaign for Smart Justice and ACLU affiliates. Brandon has been with the ACLUs Criminal Law Reform Project since 2012. His other work focuses on expanding the right to counsel, juvenile sentencing, and collateral consequences. Prior to the ACLU, Brandon worked at the Equal Justice Initiative and the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney Generals Office. He is a 2006 graduate of New York University Law School. Following law school he clerked for the Honorable Janet C. Hall of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.Brandon Buskey will be the keynote speaker at the 2019 ACLU of Michigan Luncheon on Thursday, May 16.Im proud to say I have dedicated my professional career to criminal justice reform. I first worked at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, on behalf of people on death row and children sentenced to life imprisonment without release. After that, and right before I joined the ACLU, I worked at the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney Generals Office, focusing on police reform and individuals denied employment because of criminal histories.The two roles are essentially the same. The Smart Justice Litigation Team that I lead tackles pretrial reform, such as challenges to money bail, and prosecutorial reform, including lawsuits against district attorneys who systematically (and illegally) withhold favorable evidence from defendants. In the past two years we and our affiliates have filed nearly 20 cases on these issues in state and federal court. Our team sits within the Criminal Law Reform Project, which prioritizes issues like police misconduct, public defender reform, and ending the failed War on Drugs.The ACLUs Campaign for Smart Justice is working tirelessly in all 50 states with ACLU affiliates, community activists, and people impacted by the criminal justice system to address the root causes of what can only be described as our nations carceral epidemic.During the 2018 state legislative sessions alone, the ACLU worked with at least 2,394 volunteers, and more than43,000 ACLU supporters took action to advance Smart Justice, helping result in the passage of over 100 new criminal justice reform bills across the country. Smart Justice is fighting in the legislatures, the courts, in voting booths, and in the streets.But we recognize that even these victories are not enough. We cannot end our countrys addiction to punishment without also addressing systemic racism. So we are developing plans to directly combat racism in the legal system.The bad news is that Michigan is a national leader on both incarceration rates and racial disparities. In 2016, 41,122 people were imprisoned in Michigan, nearly tripling the prison population since 1980. The state had the seventh highest rate of people under correctional supervision (in prisons or jails, on probation or parole, or in other forms of supervised release) in the country as of 2015.On racial disparities, the Prison Policy Initiative s most recent data indicates Black people make up 14% of the general population and 49% of the incarcerated population, while white people represent 77% of the general population and only 46% of the incarcerated population. In 2016, Michigan ranked 15th for the worst disparities in incarceration for Black people.The good news is that if Michigan were to follow the reforms outlined in the Smart Justice Blueprint including bail reform, diverting more people with mental health or substance abuse needs out of the criminal law enforcement system, and ending the practice of prosecuting children in adult courts 23,451 fewer people would be in prison in Michigan by 2025, saving over $1.8 billion.That money should be invested in schools, services, and other resources that would strengthen the minority communities most harmed by the criminal legal system.It is difficult to say. Recent federal data indicates that Black people in Michigan are 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites. Black and white people use marijuana at roughly the same rate, so differences in use cannot explain the disparities in arrests. That said, while we have seen a reduction in overall arrests for jurisdictions that have ended or scaled back marijuana enforcement, racial disparities have tended to stay the same. You have to understand that marijuana enforcement is part of a larger issue with police using low level arrests to control primarily poorer, Black communities. So reducing overall disparities really depends on whether marijuana enforcement in Michigan isracially disparate than other law enforcement practices, and on whether police compensate for their inability to make marijuana arrests in poorer, Black communities by increasing racial disparities for other arrests.Mass incarceration is born not just out of problems with our criminal legal system, but our long-term lack of investments in communities. As Grand Rapids grows, I hope it creates opportunities for people of all backgrounds to succeed through educational and economic opportunities, and to support people with mental health and substance-use issues. Investing in people isnt just the right thing to do, it also leads to better public safety and stronger communities.Also, Grand Rapids residents, and people throughout Kent County, can join our Smart Justice campaign to end racism in the criminal legal system and cut incarceration in half. Richard Griffin is the ACLU Michigan Smart Justice field organizer for the Grand Rapids area, and is recruiting volunteers. Our Smart Justice campaign is committed to impacted people leading our reform movement. Richard knows the system and what needs to be done to fix it as he was incarcerated 23 years. He is not just an incredible leader, but a fantastic human being, who is committed to changing our broken system. To join, people can directly contact Richard at [email protected] This article is part of State of Health, a series examining health disparities, how they affect Michigan's children and seniors, and the innovative solutions being developed to address them. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Countless children want to be a doctor when they grow up. But Micah Foster says that for many children of color, "that belief wanes" by fourth, fifth, or sixth grade. "By the time junior and high school comes they can no longer see themselves in those positions," says Foster, executive director of the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute (GRAAHI). He says that's due to a variety of factors, including socioeconomic factors that make higher education prohibitive, underutilization of afterschool programs, lack of social support, and a fear of not belonging. And in many cases it leads not only to a lack of diversity in the healthcare field, but poorer health outcomes for patients of color. An oft-cited study by the Institute of Medicine notes that patients of color tend to receive lower quality of care than white patients, regardless of their health insurance coverage. Yesenia Murillo, health equity and cultural competency training coordinator for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), says that's often due to caregivers' implicit biases. "We have set certain expectations of fields and individuals who work in certain fields to be impartial or to act in unbiased ways," Murillo says. "But we don't understand sometimes what those things are. We don't understand more profoundly how our brain operates and how it is socially conditioned to have certain categorizations and generalization of group memberships." As a result, several Michigan initiatives are working to increase the diversity of the future healthcare workforce, something Foster describes as necessary to improve the healthcare system for everyone. "There can sometimes be an inaccurate picture that if one boat gets raised the other boats have to get lowered," Foster says. "We are saying that by having a diverse workforce all boats get lifted at the same time." Diversifying the pipeline Foster and his colleagues at GRAAHI are working to achieve healthcare parity for African-Americans through education, advocacy, research, and community work. Foster says there is a lack of knowledge of how to perform in the educational settings required to succeed in healthcare. He says schools usually do well in providing remedial services to students, but such programs are underutilized by students of color. "Creating a social or societal norm that does not put a stigma on utilizing those services is important for first-generation students or those interested in pursuing a healthcare degree," he says. "You are operating outside of your cultural norm." Micah Foster. For the past year, GRAAHI has been involved in a planning grant called "Pathways to Careers in Healthcare," in partnership with numerous Grand Rapids-area schools, higher education institutions, and employers. "We have all sat around the table to discuss the entire pipeline and how do we diversify the pipeline," Foster says. "We need more students entering healthcare programs. We need colleges shuttling those students ... through their healthcare curriculum. And we need employers to hire as those students come out." Foster references a long-term study the University of Southern California conducted on how to diversify faculty on a university campus. He says the most effective and sustainable long-term method found was recruiting recent graduates and alumni to become adjunct professors and then participate in structured mentoring with senior faculty for retention. He says GRAAHI is considering a similar model for the healthcare system. GRAAHI's next step is to design an initiative that will address barriers to increase the number of students of color progressing through healthcare degree programs and ultimately being hired as clinicians in West Michigan. "What we need in the field is a critical mass, an infusion of a large number of students of color on this educational track ultimately getting employed to shift the paradigm," Foster says. Developing future leaders The University of Michigan's (U-M) Future Public Health Leaders Program (FPHLP) is one successful model for nurturing diverse healthcare professionals. It is one of several university programs across the nation funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Program. Roughly 40 students participate annually in the 10-week summer program, which is open to undergrads studying in any field anywhere in the U.S. Students of color and economically disadvantaged students are strongly encouraged to apply. Students receive a stipend to cover living costs during the program, and housing and travel costs are also covered. "The CDC is funding us to help increase workforce diversity," says FPHLP program director Dana Thomas. "The belief is, and the research shows, that people of different communities, whether people of color, LGBT, (or) people who are disabled, are likely to go back to their communities and work and advocate." Dana Thomas. Thomas says if the number of underrepresented young people going into public health can be increased intentionally, there can be a greater overall impact in under-resourced communities. "(Public health professionals) are concerned about everyone," says Thomas. "Our approaches are group approaches. So when we talk about equity, which is different than equality, equity is about making sure communities and populations have what they need. It may not be equal because it may not need to be equal. It is meeting people where they are." Thomas says a key part of the program is giving students the opportunity to think and process important topics together. Immigration and deportation were two main topics for FPHLP's 2018 session. Thomas recalls one session led by a Latino faculty member, in which a Latino student started crying. "It overwhelmed her to see someone who she could relate to being in that role," Thomas says. Students become mentors Sade Richardson's experience as a FPHLP student was key to shaping her journey into a healthcare career. Richardson immigrated to America from Trinidad and Tobago. She discovered FPHLP in her search for a low-cost summer internship while attending the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. Richardson says her FPHLP mentors were influential in her life. One of her mentors in the program had dual master's degrees in social work and public health. Richardson received the same dual master's degrees from U-M in April 2018. She completed an internship at YOUR Center in Flint during the program, which greatly impacted her decision to pursue a career in health. At the center, she learned about equity in health and the environment. "The world is a diverse place. America is a melting pot of different cultures, different ethnicities, races, and a whole bunch of other diversity," Richardson says. "It is unfair to have a country that is so diverse and not have that kind of representation in the workforce when you're thinking about how to address issues that affect different populations." Sade Richardson. After graduation, Richardson began working at Altarum, an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit health research and consulting organization which aims to advance health for vulnerable populations. This summer her role with FPHLP will come full circle, as she becomes a mentor for the program herself. "Working in the States gives me the opportunity to make sure we all have equal access to health," says Richardson. "To me (health equity) is a human right. It is not something that should be a privilege. We should all be able to access it if we want it, or even if we don't want it." Afaf Humayun is a reporter, poet, artist, and activist who works to preserve and expand the future of the humanities while staying engaged on issues of inclusion. You can find some of her writings at The Keel Port Huron and The Arab American News. She lives in Ypsilanti. Micah Foster photo courtesy of Micah Foster. All other photos by Doug Coombe About This Site This website is an exploration into the rationalist approach to Judaism that was most famously presented by Maimonides. It also explores contemporary rationalist approaches, as well as being a forum for various other notes. Well-written comments in the spirit of this enterprise will be posted; please include a name (even a pseudonym). Turmoil in Venezuela Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America. Juan Guaido and Nicolas Maduro (image from news.yahoo.com) (SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - Even with backing from the Trump administration, Juan Guaido, the U.S.-recognized interim president of Venezuela, failed to oust Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. It is difficult to reconcile our outrage over Russias interference in our elections with our present interference in Venezuelas affairs. Im sure everyone would agree that Venezuelans deserve a better government. But lets face it, the late Hugo Chavez's vision of a modern day Bolivarian revolution a Latin American political block with a socialist bent as an alternative to U.S. hegemony. has descended into repression and economic decline under Maduro. That said, the U.S. shouldnt be the ones to determine what Venezuela should look like. Our interference in Venezuela follows a long and sordid history of U.S. intervention in Latin America. As the past should have demonstrated, our present interference in Venezuela, I fear, will do more harm than good. Finally, it is not a coincidence that Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. _________________________________________ Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses a gathering marking the centenary of the May Fourth Movement at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 30, 2019. Xi Jinping called on the country's young people to be patriotic and strive for the bright prospect of national rejuvenation. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on the country's young people to be patriotic and strive for the bright prospect of national rejuvenation. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a gathering held at the Great Hall of the People to mark the centenary of the May Fourth Movement. The May Fourth Movement started with mass student protests on May 4, 1919 against the government's response to the Treaty of Versailles that imposed unfair treaties on China and undermined the country's sovereignty after the World War I. It then triggered a national campaign to overthrow the old society and promote new ideas, including science, democracy and Marxism. Wang Huning presided over the gathering. Other Chinese leaders Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng, and Wang Qishan were also present. Xi said the May Fourth Movement was a great patriotic and revolutionary campaign pioneered by advanced young intellectuals and joined by the people from all walks of life to resolutely fight imperialism and feudalism. With its mighty force, the movement inspired the ambition and confidence of the Chinese people and nation to realize national rejuvenation, Xi added. PATRIOTISM Xi said the May Fourth Movement gave birth to the great spirit centered on patriotism, progress, democracy and science, with patriotism at the core. "As long as the banner of patriotism is being held high, the Chinese people can unleash great powers in the endeavors to transform China and the world," Xi said. The essence of patriotism is having unified love for the country, the Party and socialism, Xi added, urging young Chinese to follow the instructions and guidance of the Party, and remain dedicated to the country and the people. Young people are also urged to establish belief in Marxism, faith in socialism with Chinese characteristics, as well as confidence in the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. NATIONAL REJUVENATION Xi said young people always play a vanguard role in realizing national rejuvenation. In the new era, the theme and direction of Chinese youth movement and the mission of Chinese young people, Xi said, are to uphold the leadership of the CPC, and work along with the people to realize the two centenary goals and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. Xi said Chinese youth of the new era should bear their responsibilities of the times and carry on the spirit of arduous struggle. He urged them to hone abilities and nurture fine morality. Xi also encouraged young people to not only care about their family and country, but also have concerns for humanity. YOUTH WORK Xi said nurturing the young generation is the whole Party's political responsibility. "We should listen to young people's views on social issues and phenomena, as well as their opinions and advices on the work of the Party and the government," Xi said. "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," he added. Xi called on the Party to address young people's concerns and asked the Communist Youth League of China to unite and lead the young people to strive for the national rejuvenation. "Young friends," Xi said near the end of his speech. "Let your youth shine even more in the sacrifice for the country, the people, the Chinese nation and humanity." New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Aircraft tube and duct assemblies are important parts of the aircraft fluid lines. Aircraft tube and duct assemblies provide fluid conveyance solutions for systems in the aircraft. Various types of materials are utilized for the manufacturing of tube and ducts, which include copper, aluminium alloy, steel, titanium, etc. Earlier, copper tubing was extensively utilized in the aviation fluid applications but nowadays in modern aircrafts, aluminium alloy, nickel alloy and corrosion resistant steel or titanium tubes have replaced copper tubing. Aircraft tube and duct assemblies are designed in such a way that they can withstand high water and air pressure, extreme hot and cold temperatures and corrosive chemicals. Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3716 Global Aircraft Tube and Duct Assemblies Market: Segmentation The Aircraft Tube and Duct Assemblies market can be segmented on the basis of material type and application. Based on the material type, the global aircraft tube and duct assemblies market can be segmented into Nickel alloys Stainless Steel Titanium Aluminium Others (Inconel, etc.) Based on the application, the global aircraft tube and duct assemblies market can be segmented into Civil Aircraft Military Aircraft Global Aircraft Tube and Duct Assemblies Market: Dynamics Owing to the fast paced developments taking place in the aircraft industry, competition among the aircraft tube and duct assemblies manufacturers has been increasing. At present, a large number of people prefer aircraft as a more convenient mode of commutation owing to the shorter travel time as compared to other transportation modes and comfort as well. Governments across the globe are expanding their aircraft sector and also there is an ever increasing demand for aircraft tube and duct assemblies in military as well as civil aircrafts. With growing demand for aircrafts, demand for the aircraft tube and duct assemblies is expected to witness significant growth in the near future. Growth of the aerospace industry has been significant in the last two decades and it is estimated to continue to expand over the next decade as well, which in turn is projected to boost the demand for aircraft tube and duct assemblies. On the other hand, nowadays, tube and duct assemblies are manufactured mostly by using titanium. But, titanium is expensive and also it can be corroded and attacked by exposure to hydraulic liquids used in the aircraft. As the aircrafts have many ducts, there are chances that drops of the hydraulic fluid fall in them and corrode the ducts and cause severe damage. The aforementioned reason is expected to be the major challenge for the growth of global aircraft tube and duct assemblies market. The key trend identified in the global aircraft tube and duct assemblies market include the utilization of high performance materials that provides strength and durability to the assemblies. Manufacturers are focussing on utilization of corrosion resistant and high strength materials such as Titanium, Nickel-alloys and Steel, which offer strength to the aircraft tube and duct assemblies. Global Aircraft Tube and Duct Assemblies Market: Region-wise Outlook The aircraft industry is matured in the developed regions such as North America and Europe and also they represent a large share in the global aircraft tube and duct assemblies market. Aircraft tube and duct assemblies contribute a significant share to the economy of the United States, since aircraft industry is one of the major contributors to the GDP of the country. On the other hand, demand for aircraft tube and duct assemblies is expected to grow at a substantial pace in the developing countries such as India and China owing to the rising infrastructural activities in the countries. Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3716 Global Aircraft Tube and Duct Assemblies Market: Market Participants Some of the examples of the market participants in the Aircraft Tube and Duct Assemblies market identified across the value chain include Eaton, Leggett & Platt, STEICO Industries Inc., Larom Manufacturing Corporation, WOOLF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTS, INC., Unison Industries, LLC and RSA Engineered Products LLC, among others. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Bioactive Bone Grafts is specialized reconstruction Martials which are prominently used in various bone reconstruction surgeries. Bone grafts usually comprise products like oesteocounductiove matrix that work as a framework for the growth of new bone fibers, osteoinductive proteins that support mitogenesis of identical bone cells and osteogenic cells which are capable of creating new bone in the appropriate environment. Primary objective behind the utilization of bone graft is to achieve healing from fractures and bone injuries. Bioactive bone grafts are designed to facilitate bone growth with optimized porosity that promotes rapid vascularization, playing an important role in the bone regrowth process by providing nutrients , oxygen, lymph And essential growth elements for bone growth. The bioactive bone grafts are formulated to provide ease in storage and handling. The property of bioactive bone grafts allows the products to be shaped into multiple forms to adopt to various surgical and operative needs. Furthermore, the prefilled syringes of bioactive bone grafts allows rapid and efficient application. Bioactive Bone Grafts Market: Drivers and Restraints Bioactive Bone Grafts are among the most preferred choice of bone graft in various bone reconstruction surgeries such as maxillofacial surgical procedures, due to their advantage over other allograft techniques. Increasing number of musculoskeletal disorder and orthopedic procedures which intends the utilization of bioactive bone grafts is anticipated to drive the growth of the bioactive bone grafts market. For example, as per the American academy of orthopedic surgeons (AAOS), nearly 2.8 million musculoskeletal surgical procedures are performed annually in the United States alone. In addition to this approximately 2.1 million orthopedic surgeries are performed every year in the United States involving the use of bone grafts and bioactive bone grafts. Thereby growing adoption of bioactive bone grafts combined with increasing incidence of orthopedic disorders demanding bioactive material is anticipated to boost the growth of bioactive bone grafts market. Furthermore, major key players introducing new products in the bioactive bone grafts segment that will lure additional number end users and thus drives the growth for bioactive bone grafts market. For example, Baxter in September 2018 announced the USFDA clearance of its ALTAPORE Bioactive Bone Grafts specially optimized to enhance bone growth. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7680 Bioactive Bone Grafts Market: Segmentation Based on product type, the Bioactive Bone Grafts market is segmented into: Prefilled Putty based others Based on Application type, the Bioactive Bone Grafts market is segmented into: Cranio-maxilofacial Dental Foot and Ankle Joint Reconstruction Others Based on End User, the Bioactive Bone Grafts market is segmented into: Hospitals Clinics Trauma Center Emergency Department Bioactive Bone Grafts Market: Overview The Bioactive Bone Grafts market is observing a prominent growth globally owing to growing demand for advanced bone growth solutions combined with continuous research and product innovation in orthopedic care. The market for bioactive bone grafts is highly fragmented with presence of major manufacturers like Baxter and DePuy Synthes Companies in the bioactive bone grafts market. The advanced enhancement properties of bioactive bone grafts such as optimized porosity, increased cellular activity and greater volume of new formed bone is expected to offer new growth opportunities for bioactive bone grafts market. Surgical use of bioactive bone grafts in providing added osteoconductive scaffold for new bone growth coupled with enhanced bioactivity in rapid bone growth with calcium phosphate deposition. The primary key players in the bioactive bone growth market is focused on providing advanced bioactive bone growth products and improving clinical outcome. The growing number of geriatric population with arthritis condition and increasing number of accident are anticipated to act as primary driving factor for Bioactive Bone Grafts market. Bioactive Bone Grafts Market: Region-Wise Overview The global Bioactive Bone Grafts market is segmented into the following regions - North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding China & Japan, China, Japan and the Middle East & Africa. North America is the dominant regional market for Bioactive Bone Grafts due to growing number of geriatric population in the region. In North America, the U.S. is the dominating market due to segregation of Bioactive Bone Grafts manufacturers in the region combined with increasing investment in advanced medical technologies. Europe is anticipated to be second dominating regional market for Bioactive Bone Grafts due to wide availability of bioactive bone grafts and increasing technological advancement in orthopedic technologies in the region. APAC is a fast-growing regional market for Bioactive Bone Grafts due to increasing demand for standard orthopedic care and raising number of orthopedic injuries coupled with rising number of geriatrics in the countries like India and china. Growth in the Latin America and the Middle East and Africa is growing gradually due to progressively increasing healthcare spending. Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7680 Bioactive Bone Grafts Market: Key Participants Examples of some of the key participants in the Bioactive Bone Grafts market are Baxter International, Inc., DePuy Synthes Companies, Medtronic plc., NuVasive, Inc., Orthofix Holdings, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Wright Medical Technology, Inc., Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., and Bioventus. Among others. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Looking at the current market trends as well as the promising demand status of the "Cardiovascular Drugs Market", it can be projected that the future years will bring out positive outcomes. This research report added by MRRSE on its online portal delivers clear insight about the changing tendencies across the global market. Readers can gather prime facets connected to the target market which includes product, end-use and application; assisting them to draw conclusions out of this intelligent research report. Cardiovascular drugs are widely used for treating various heart related dysfunction. With increasing number of cardiovascular diseases across the globe is the major driving factor for the growth of the cardiovascular diseases. According to the study conducted by Global Burden of Diseases estimate that the death rate due to CVD is 235 per 100000 in global population. According to WHO, cardiovascular diseases account for 31% deaths globally which is approximately 17.7 million individuals. Out of these 80% of the CVD deaths are due to stroke and heart attacks. Factors such as sedentary lifestyle, excess consumption of alcohol, stress, unhealthy eating habits, smoking are all factors responsible for the increase in the number of cardiovascular disorders among young population too. Sample Copy of this Report@ https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3877 The global cardiovascular drugs market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides information about various segments of the market. It also provides information and data analysis of the global market with respect to the segments based on drug class, indication, distribution channel and geography. A detailed qualitative analysis of drivers and restraints of the market and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. In addition, the section comprises competitive matrix and company profiles with business overview to understand the competitive landscape in the market. This section of the report also provides market attractiveness analysis, by geography and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global cardiovascular drugs market.Based on drug class the global cardiovascular drugs market is segmented into renin-angiotensin system blockers, beta blockers, diuretics, anti-clotting agents (anti-coagulants and platelet aggregation inhibitors), antihyperlipidemics, other antihypertensive, calcium channel blockers and others. The renin-angiotensin system blockers segment is further classified into ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers and the anti-clotting agents segment is further segmented into anti-coagulants and platelet aggregation inhibitors. The drug class segments have been analyzed based on incidence of diseases, awareness regarding early diagnosis and presence of key players in the region. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. According to indication the global cardiovascular drugs market is segmented into hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery diseases, peripheral artery disease, arrhythmia and others. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Geographically, the global cardiovascular drugs market has been categorized into five major regions and the key countries in the respective region: North America (the U.S., Canada), Europe (the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia & New Zealand and Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico and Rest of Latin America) and Middle East & Africa (South Africa, GCC Region, Israel and Rest of Middle East & Africa). The market size and forecast for each of these regions and the mentioned countries have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The research study also covers the competitive scenario in these regions. Browse Complete Report with TOC @ https://www.mrrse.com/cardiovascular-drugs-market The report also profiles the major players in the market and provides various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. Major companies profiled in the cardiovascular drugs market are AstraZeneca, Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG, Merck & Co. Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Bayer AG, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Astellas Pharma, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited and others. The global cardiovascular drugs market has been segmented as follows: Cardiovascular Drugs Market, by Drug Class Renin-Angiotensin System Blockers ACE Inhibitors Angiotensin Receptor Blockers Beta Blockers Diuretics Anti-Clotting Agents Anti-Coagulants Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors Antihyperlipidemics Other Antihypertensive Calcium Channel Blockers Others Cardiovascular Drugs Market, by Indication Hypertension Hyperlipidemia Coronary Artery Disease Peripheral Artery Disease Arrhythmia Others Cardiovascular Drugs Market, by Distribution Channel Hospital Pharmacy Retail Pharmacy Online Pharmacy Cardiovascular Drugs Market, by Geography North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Rest of Europe Asia Pacific Japan China India Australia & New Zealand Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East and Africa South Africa GCC Region Israel Rest of Middle East & Africa Send an enquiry @ https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/3877 About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords. MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSE's repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting. Contact Us State Tower 90, State Street Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207(United State) United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559 Email: sales@mrrse.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- The global ceramic inks market was valued at around US$ 1.9 Bn in 2017 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of more than 6.0% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Ceramic Inks Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026.' Ceramic inks are carriers of ceramic fine particle metallic oxide pigments suspended in a medium to give them the physical consistency required for producing fine details. These inks are used for printing designs and patterns on ceramic products such as tiles, tableware, and glass. Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ceramic-inks-market.html Investment in Construction Industry to Boost Market Ceramic inks are used to develop and print designs on ceramic tiles and glass. These products are commonly employed in the construction industry. They are required in the construction of almost every residential and commercial building. Hence, investment in construction industry is an important driver of the ceramic inks market. Ceramic inks are highly resistant to weather, water, and several other liquids. This makes ceramic ink an ideal material to print design on decorative glass and ceramic products such as ceramic tiles and tableware. Thus, the trend of using decorative glass and ceramic tiles in construction is likely to continue during the forecast period. This is estimated to propel the consumption of ceramic inks. Limited Applications of Ceramic Ink to Hamper Market Ceramic inks are used to print designs on ceramic tiles, tableware, and glass. They are also used to print designs on automotive ceramics. Ceramics are employed in several other industries such as water treatment, medicine, and electronics; however, these industries do not use ceramic inks. This is hindering the ceramic inks market. Development of Ceramic Ink Products, Specifically for Digital Printing Technology, to Drive Market Digital printing technology is gradually replacing analog printing technology due to its advantages such as higher customization, mass production, low cost, environment-friendliness, and rapid changes to design. Ceramic ink manufacturers are developing inks specifically for digital printing technology in order to meet the rising demand for digital printing technology. Ceramic inks developed specifically for digital printing technology are costlier than those developed for analog printing technology. Ceramic inks developed for digital printing technology use a different combination of chemical formulations and coloring pigments compared to analog printing technology-specific ceramic inks. Furthermore, these inks cover a wider range of colors. Manufacturers need to ensure that the inks can withstand a broad range of temperatures. Global Ceramic Inks Market Segmented Based on Technology, Type, Application, and Region In terms of technology, the global ceramic inks market can be bifurcated into digital printing technology and analog printing technology. The former holds larger share due to its advantages such as low cost and higher customization. In terms of type, the market can be segregated into functional inks and decorative inks. Majority of end-products of ceramic ink are used for decorative purposes. Hence, the share of the decorative inks segment is higher than that of functional inks. Based on application, the market can be classified into ceramic tiles (residential decorative tiles and commercial decorative tiles), glass printing, tableware, and others (including automotive ceramics). The ceramic tiles accounts for dominant share of the market. In terms of region, the market can be split into North America (the U.S. and Canada), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America), Europe (Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Russia & CIS, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, and Rest of Asia Pacific) and Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa). Asia Pacific is the prominent consumer of ceramic inks, primarily due to the large amount of ceramic tiles are manufactured in the region. Manufacturers of ceramic tiles are one of the largest consumers of ceramic inks. Request to view Sample Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=13601 High Level of Competition in Fragmented Market Ceramic inks is a highly fragmented market with a large number of local manufacturers. However, the market also consists of some multinational companies such as Ferro Corporation, Zschimmer & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG, Chemische Fabriken, Esmalglass Itaca Group, and Gruppo Colorobbia. It is relatively easy to enter the ceramic inks market; hence, the numbers of players in the market are expected to keep increasing during the forecast period. Rise in number of players is estimated to directly affect the price of ceramic inks; the price is likely to decline during the forecast period. Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- Global Market Insights, Inc. has released a new research study on floating solar panels market Analysis 2024 inclusive of one or more factors covering regional opportunities, application landscape, product demand trends, and end-use portfolio of the industry over the forecast timeframe. The report also outlines the competitive framework of the industry detailing the SWOT analysis and market share dominance of the prominent players. Floating Solar Panels Market in U.S. is projected to surpass USD 250 million by 2024, due to the beneficial government regulations promoting the use of renewable energy sources as well as clean energy technologies. Federal government initiatives to encourage the deployment of clean energy technologies will further complement the industry outlook. For Europe, UK floating solar panel market share was valued over 1.12 MW in 2015. Synchronization of Queen Elizabeth II project over Walton-on-Thames has significantly driven the industry growth across the region. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/692 Stationary and Tracking are the major floating solar panel products. Stationary floating solar panels accounted for 90% of the overall floating solar panels market share in 2015, and is expected to witness lucrative gains over the coming years. The growth can be attributed to the high popularity of these products across emerging economies, owing to its cost-effectiveness. Tracking floating solar panel industry revenue is expected to hit USD 250 million by 2024, primarily driven by its durability and proficiency. Measurers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have seen a sincere effort from policy makers towards the adoption of sustainable energy in the floating solar panels market. Government of China under its 13th five-year plan has set up a target to reduce the existing GHG emission level to 18% by 2020. Regulators of UK has also established numerous frameworks under the country's climate change act 2008. The country is targeting to curb the GHG emission level to 80% by 2050 from 1990 level. Floating solar panels are connected via off grid and on grid systems. On grid floating solar panels market share, which accounted for 75% of the overall revenue in 2015, is expected to grow notably over the coming timeframe. Rapid expansion of the utility projects along with tax concessions offered by government will favorably impact the business growth. Make an inquiry for buying this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/692 On grid floating solar panels market volume could witness a significant growth of over 45% from 2016 to 2024. Development of large utility scale projects coupled with numerous financial incentives and tax benefits offered by the regulators will influence the global business size. Brazil floating solar panels market is anticipated to observe a substantial growth over the coming timeframe, driven by high investments in PV systems installations across the nation's large water bodies. Substantial reduction in solar panel costs will escalate China floating solar panel industry size over the period of 2016-2024. Key industry player in floating solar panels market includes SPI Energy, Solaris Synergy, KYOCERA CORPORATION, Novaton AG, Ciel & Terre International, Pristine Sun, Yingli Solar, Vikram Solar and Sunengy. Browse Full Reports: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/floating-solar-panels-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Gas hydrates are also known as methane hydrates and are cage-structured lattices of water molecules which contains methane, the foremost component of natural gas. Gas hydrates are crystalline, naturally occurring, ice-like substances which is poised of gas particles bonded in a cage-like arrangement. Gas hydrates are a rigorous arrangement of natural gas but are less concerted as compared to liquefied natural gas. Gas hydrates occur in beneath of the sediment outer continental margins in foremost regions of Siberia and Alaska. Gas hydrates occur in a modes of occurrence and varied range of geologic settings. These regions include host lithology, gas hydrate in abundance, and distribution inside the burial depth, sediment matrix, water depth, and several others. The key regulatory factor on where gas hydrate forms is availability of methane and lithology. Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2469 Gas Hydrates Market: Drivers & Restraints The major factors driving the growth of gas hydrates market are growing demand of oil and gas across the world, gas hydrates end-user adaptability. Moreover, the market is seen as an opportunity in gas sector as most of the major gas & oil players across the world are doing an advanced research to drive methods for extraction of gas hydrates from ocean. Although, recently India and Japan, are launching aspiring projects to examine the feasibility of gas hydrates. These initiative projects from major countries will help to answer significant questions on the properties of the design of the production system, the host reservoir, and, the economics and costs of hydrate recovery. The geological survey performed by U.S. has a dynamic research program to certificate the geographic factors to measure the volume of gas stored gas hydrate accumulations in U.S and that regulate the occurrence of gas hydrates. The factor restraining the growth of gas hydrates market is climate warming, as enormous volumes of methane are stowed across the globe in the sea floor in the form of solid methane hydrates. Gas hydrates signify an abundant energy reserve for the world. But on other hand it cause climate warming, however, could cause the hydrates to unsettle. The gas hydrates is a greenhouse gas, which can emit without any usage into the atmosphere and also can quicken the climate change. Gas Hydrates Market: Market Segmentation The gas hydrates market is segmented into four parts based on the product type, application type, distribution channels, and geography. Based on the type the gas hydrates market is segmented into: Onshore gas hydrates Offshore/ Marine gas hydrates Based on the application type the gas hydrates market is segmented into: Vehicle Commercial Industrial Others Gas hydrates Market: Regional Outlook Regarding geography, gas hydrates market has been categorized into five key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Gas hydrates market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific represents the significantly high market share and grow with comparatively high CAGR in forecast period. North America is experiencing the rapid increase in the production capacity of gas hydrates as demand for oil and gas in the region is rising at faster pace. The gas hydrates market is projected to register healthy growth in coming five years due rising consumption of gas hydrates across globe in future. Gas hydrates market for Asia Pacific is also expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period primarily attributed to the growth of oil and gas industry, especially in China and India. Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2469 Gas Hydrates Market: Key Players Some of the key players in the upcoming prominent gas hydrates market are:- Global Oil & Gas AG PetroChina Royal Dutch Shell Sinopec Total SA Valero Energy Penndel, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Every year, thousands of businesses ship delicate items across towns, countries, and continents. General Partition Company, Inc. provides several types of interior box packaging that is designed to protect such items as they travel to a new destination. Nobody wants the stress and worry of potential breakages when shipping goods long or short distance. This is costly and can also damage a business's reputation if they continue to deliver substandard products. Chipboard is lightweight cardboard-like material that is available in a range of thicknesses depending on the level of protection needed for products being shipped. Corrugated is often made of recycled materials and can be waxed or laminated to resist moisture, making it perfect for shipping purposes. SBS partitions are safe and secure, come in different dimensions, and offer a choice of finishes to support any packaging needs. General Partition Company, Inc. has been designing and manufacturing these three types of box separators and packing materials for over 50 years. They pride themselves on their reputation as one of the most trusted partners for partitions across many industries USA-wide. Individuals who are looking for an environmentally responsible way to protect their company's products through the trials and tribulations of the shipping process should get in touch with the friendly and accommodating team at General Partition Company, Inc. by giving them a call today at 1-888-501-4685. Alternatively, they should visit them at https://www.generalpartition.com/ to receive a free quote by filling out the contact form online. About General Partition Company, Inc. General Partition Company, Inc. is a Bucks County, Pennsylvania-based organization providing durable and versatile box partitions for a wide variety of implementations. They manufacture partitions comprised of chipboard, corrugated cardboard and Solid Bleach Sulfite (SBS). General Partition Company, Inc. also has services to assist businesses plan and engineer intelligent shipping solutions using their box partitions. Their delivery services have a reputation for being fast and reliable. They also accommodate special orders like unique labeling. Reach General Partition Company, Inc. by phone nationwide at 888-501-4685. For more information, please visit: http://www.generalpartition.com/. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- The report "High Strength Aluminum Alloys Market by End-use industry Type (Automotive & transportation, Aerospace & defense, Marine), Alloy Type (Cast, and Wrought), Strength Type (High, and ultra-high strength), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", The high strength aluminum alloys market was valued at USD 37.94 Billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 55.24 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2018 to 2023. The excellent properties, such as high corrosion resistance, durability, design flexibility, and weight reduction have contributed to the high growth of the high strength aluminum market. Browse 72 market data Tables and 48 Figures spread through 123 Pages and in-depth TOC on "High Strength Aluminum Alloys Market - Global Forecast to 2023" Download PDF Brochure @https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=47549886 Automotive & Transportation industry is at the forefront and is driving the high strength aluminum market High strength aluminum alloys has been used in the automotive & transportation industry in many application like wheel rims, engine components, pistons, powertrain, front & rear longitudinal frame, and many more. High strength aluminum alloys provides superior properties such as high-mechanical performance, Corrosion resistance and light weight. High strength aluminum alloys provides the best alternative to achieve improved performance, which includes high mechanical properties and low weight. With the increasing demand for the lightweight and efficient materials in the global automotive industry, the market for high strength aluminum alloys is also projected to grow, as aluminum can reduce the weight of automobile components as well as the complete body by up to 50%. Wrought Alloy: The largest alloy type for high strength aluminum alloys Wrought alloy are the most common used alloy in many different end-use industries. In high strength aluminum alloy market also the major share is capture by wrought aluminum alloys as they represent better mechanical properties such as high strength to weight ratio, corrosion resistant, lightweight and among others. Speak to Analyst @https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=47549886 APAC is the key region for high strength aluminum alloys market The high strength aluminum alloys market in APAC is segmented into China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the Rest of APAC. China, South Korea, India, and Thailand are the growing economies in the region that contribute to the growth of the market in the region. The market in this region is also expected to witness significant growth in the next five years because of rapid economic expansion and increase in foreign direct investment in China, India, and South Korea. The automobile industry in this region has witnessed tremendous growth in the past few years, attributable to growing population, favorable investment policies, growing economies, and government initiatives directed at promoting industry growth in the region. Cheap labor costs, coupled with favorable import-export policies, have made Asia-Pacific an ideal market for automotive OEMs as well as for aluminum manufacturers/suppliers. Some of the key global players prevailing in the high strength aluminum alloys market are Rio Tinto PLC (U.K.), Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. (Bahrain), Norsk Hydro ASA (Norway), Hindalco Industries Limited (India), and Alco Inc. (US). These players adopted various organic and inorganic developmental strategies. For instance, Norsk Hydro entered into an agreement to acquire Rio Tintos Icelandic aluminum plant ISAL for $345 million. The agreement also includes buying Rio's 53.3-percent share in Dutch anode plant Aluchemie and its 50-percent share in Swedish aluminum fluoride plant Alufluor. About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA : 1-888-600-6441 sales@marketsandmarkets.com Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- According to the new market research report "Home Security System Market by Home Type (Independent Homes, Apartments), System Type (Professionally Installed & Monitored, Self-Installed & Professionally Monitored, Do-It-Yourself), Offering (Products, Services), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023", the home security system market is expected to reach USD 74.75 billion by 2023 from USD 45.58 billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 10.40% during the forecast period. The growth of the home security system market is attributed to the emergence of IoT and wireless technologies, and increasing customer awareness . Moreover, the integration of AI and deep learning in home security systems and worldwide proliferation of "smart cities" initiatives are creating huge growth opportunities for players in the market. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=205573901 Independent homes to hold largest share of market by 2018 There is an increasing concern about security among the independent homeowners. The number of independent households is high in the economically developed countries, such as the US, Canada, Germany, etc. Also, those who own the induvial homes usually have a high total household income. The independent homes are more frequently built in isolated locations, and in case of the medical emergencies or the emergencies like burglary/theft, the necessary help may not be available in the area nearby these homes. Considering these factors, the adoption of home security systems among independent homeowners is high. Home security system market for do-it-yourself security systems to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period One of the major factors contributing to the projected high growth of the market for DIY security systems is the cost optimization ensured by these systems. Some of the products offer integrated alarm triggers and other smart features during a break-in or security cameras for the monitoring purposes. The penetration of home security systems is still low, and the customers from economically developing countries prefer deploying DIY systems for the security within their budgets. Also, some companies help the customers with user manuals and guidance tools for the system installation and integration. Although the systems do not provide a connection with a professional monitoring station, the customers can remotely monitor the home using their smartphones. Therefore, with the growing adoption of home security systems, the DIY systems become an attractive alternative for the newer customers with average disposable incomes. Americas to hold largest size of home security system market by 2023 The largest size of the American market is attributed to the early adoption of home security systems in this region. Moreover, the region is home to major companies functional in the market, such as Johnson Controls (US), Honeywell (US), and UCT (US). Also, the prominent monitoring security service providers such as ADT (US), Vivint (US), and Protect America (US) generate the majority of their revenues in this region itself. Moreover, economically and technically developed countries, such as the US and Canada, hold a large number of households with high disposable income. Additionally, the introduction of IoT and the development of smart cities have given a boost to the home security system market in the region. Request Sample Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=205573901 ADT (US), Honeywell (US), Johnson Controls (US), HANGZHOU HIKVISION DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY (China), ASSA ABLOY (Sweden), SECOM (Japan), Robert Bosch (Germany), United Technologies (US), Godrej & Boyce (India), Alarm.com (US), Allegion (Republic of Ireland), Control4 (US), Schneider Electric (France), Legrand (France), ABB (Switzerland), Comcast (US), STANLEY Convergent Security Solutions (US), Nortek Security & Control (US), FRONTPOINT (US), and Vivint (US) are the major players in the home security system market. Other key companies, including innovators and start-ups in the home security system market, are Armorax (US), Nest Secure (US), Notion (US), Canary (US), Scout (US), Simplisafe (US), and Cacoon (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, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA : 1-888-600-6441 sales@marketsandmarkets.com Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Global Hyperspectral Imaging Market Forecast to 2024 released By Global Market Insights, Inc. provides market information about industry top key players, countries, type and application. This report also states company profile, sales, market revenue and price, market share, market growth and gross margin by regions, strategic recommendations for the new entrants, market forecasts for a minimum of five years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets. Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/2675 North America leads the hyperspectral imaging market due to the early adoption of the technology in the region. The research & development activities in the region also support the market growth. In 2016, around USD 27 billion were spent on R&D in medical technology globally, of which around 30% to 35% investments were done by North America. The Asia Pacific is estimated to become the most lucrative market due to the increasing number of manufacturing units in the region. The declining price of the semiconductor devices in the region also drives the market growth. Technological advancements in the design of the sensors and cameras also support the growth of the hyperspectral imaging market. The manufacturing of the compact, lightweight, and low-cost peripheral devices that are used in industrial applications is propelling the market. However, a major hindrance to the growth of market is the relative complexity in analyzing and processing excessive amounts of imaging data gathered using hyperspectral imaging system. Moreover, the high cost of cameras is another challenge for the market growth, which can be overcome by advancements in technologies. Request for customization @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/2675 Agriculture, military surveillance, chemical imaging, environmental monitoring, food and beverages processing, and remote sensing are the major applications of the hyperspectral imaging market. The adoption of the hyperscale imaging in the agriculture sector is estimated to increase substantially during the forecast period. The growth of the market is propelled by the growing adoption of the hyperspectral imaging in acquiring the images of crops for monitoring their development. Furthermore, it is also used to gather information regarding climatic conditions and maintain the health of specific crops. The growing adoption of the UAVs across the countries is also propelling the market growth. The organizations are leveraging on the capabilities of UAVs to obtain hyperscale imaging, monitoring, mapping, and surveillance purposes. The relaxation by the government authorities on the use of the UAVs for commercial purposes is the primary factor backing the hyperspectral imaging market growth. The prominent vendors in hyperspectral imaging market are Headwall Photonics, Corning, Specim, Spectral Imaging, Resonon, Ximea, Telops, Brandywine photonics, Norsk Elektro Optikk, Applied Spectral Imaging, BaySpec, Imec, Surface Optics, and ChemImage. Product development and innovations are the primary strategies used by the market players to gain the market share and expand the product portfolio. Browse Complete Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/hyperspectral-imaging-market For instance, in January 2018, Imec introduced 'Snapscan', the first camera having benefits of line scan (featured with high-speed image quality) and snapshot technologies based on the hyperspectral imaging. In January 2018, Specim introduced 'Specim IQ', the new generation portable camera featuring an inbuilt scanner, touch-screen interface, and on-board processing. 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. Japan's new 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. Naruhito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne at midnight after Akihito abdicated. In his address to the people, Naruhito formally announced his succession and pledged to continue learning. "When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity," he said. Naruhito noted that his father was devoted to praying for peace and sharing joys and sorrows of the people, while showing compassion. He said he will "reflect deeply" on the path trodden by Akihito and past emperors, and promised to abide by the Constitution 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 was presented with the Imperial regalia of a sword and jewel, each in a box and wrapped in cloth, at a morning ceremony which was his first official duty in his new role. His wife and daughter, Empress Masako and 17-year-old Princess Aiko were barred from the ceremony, where only adult male royals participated. Only 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 the commoners in attendance. Japan was in a festive mood celebrating an imperial succession that occurred by retirement rather than by 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. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Market Industry Reports (MIR) has published a new report titled "Medical Robots Market- Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20192030." According to the report, the global medical robots market is estimated to be over US$ 6.0 Bn in 2018. It is anticipated to grow at a double digit CAGR from 2019 to 2030. The continual growth of the medical robots market can be attributed to several factors which have led to wide-scale adoption of these products. The introduction of number of medical robots has enhanced medical practice due to the advanced technologies. To obtain better insights regarding the market scenario, prominent players are increasingly focusing on innovation and advancements in technologies. To keep up the substantial growth of the global medical robotics market, companies are raising their funds for medical robots research. For instance, Auris Health, Inc. has raised $220 Mn to support its next generation monarch robotic interventional platform. However, safety concerns over robotic surgery devices can restrain the growth of overall market. Download Free PDF Sample Copy Of Medical Robots Market @ https://www.marketindustryreports.com/pdf/63 Technological Advancements Over the period, the evolution in innovation and technology has played a significant role in contributing to the growth of the global medical robots industry. The innovation of robotic partial nephrectomy techniques has led to increase the technical advances in the performance of partial nephrectomy surgery and improved the outcomes of nephron sparing surgery. Moreover, due to the advancements in robotic surgical methodology, patients are getting benefits such as shortened hospital stay and reduced pain after surgery. Additionally, advances in robotic colonoscopy helps to remove risks of cross infection of the colonoscope to the patient. These factors are anticipated to present a lucrative growth opportunity for the global medical robots market in the coming years. Raise in Fund for Medical Robot Research Fundraising plays a vital role in strengthening the medical robot industry for long run survival. For instance, The University of South Alabama got approval of $1.7 Mn from the USA foundation board to purchase two new medical robots. Furthermore, CMR surgical Ltd. has raised $ 46 Mn in total from existing investors. Moreover, Japanese company called Meltin MMI has raised $18 Mn for developing new avatar robots and medical robots. Increasing R&D investments and spending is anticipated to positively contribute to the growth of the global medical robots market. Browse key industry insights spread across 150 pages with market data tables & figures & charts from the report, Medical Robots Market by Product (Surgical Robotic Systems, Rehabilitation Robotic System, Hospital & Pharmacy Robotic System, Noninvasive Radiosurgery Robotic System), by Application (Laparoscopy, Orthopedic Surgery, Pharmacy Applications, Neurosurgery) - Global Analysis and Forecast 2019-2030 in detail along with the table of contents:https://www.marketindustryreports.com/63/medical-robots-market Safety Concerns over Robotic-Assisted Surgery According to recent studies, the procedures that are used in robotic systems have experienced a number of risks and obstacles. Robotic-assisted surgery holds the same risks of laparoscopic surgeries that include bleeding, cross-infection and some risks of anesthesia. Failure of the components such as camera, binocular lens, robotic tower, robotic arms and instruments can be an additional risk of mechanical failure. Patients can be affected by nerve palsy disorder which is caused due to direct nerve compression from the robotic arms. Therefore, safety worries over robotic surgical methodology and devices can restrict the growth of medical robots markets. Rapid Growth of the Asia Pacific Market Asia Pacific is estimated to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Increasing population, continuously growing economy and increasing awareness is expected to aid the growth of the medical robots market in this region. Additionally, this region is expected to show the fastest growth due to increasing demand for medical robotic systems. One of the most important growth driver for this market is increasing awareness about minimally invasive surgeries. Surgical robots and non-invasive radiosurgery systems are the products that majorly contribute to the growth of Asia Pacific. Emerging economies such as China, India and Saudi Arabia are establishing new refined healthcare facilities. Thus, this is an opportunity for market leaders to release their robots in this region. Major Players in the Medical Robots Market The prominent players in the medical robots market are Intuitive Surgical, Inc. iRobot Corporation, Mazor Robotics, Auris Health, Inc., Accuray, Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., Arxium, Kirby Lester, Stereotaxis, Inc., Titan Medical among others. Get Discount On Your Region @ https://www.marketindustryreports.com/discount/63 About Market Industry Reports Market Industry Reports is a global leader in market measurement & advisory services, Market Industry Reports is at the forefront of innovation to address the worldwide industry trends and opportunities. We identified the caliber of market dynamics & hence we excel in the areas of innovation and optimization, integrity, curiosity, customer and brand experience, and strategic business intelligence through our research. We continue to pioneer state-of-the-art approach in research & analysis that makes complex world simpler to stay ahead of the curve. By nurturing the perception of genius and optimized market intelligence we bring proficient contingency to our clients in the evolving world of technologies, megatrends and industry convergence. We empower and inspire Vanguards to fuel and shape their business to build and grow world-class consumer products. Contact Us- 502, Sai Radhe, Kennedy Road, Behind Hotel Sheraton Grand, Near Pune Station, Pune 411 001 Email: sales@marketindustryreports.com Phone: + 91 967353933 Website: https://www.marketindustryreports.com/ Follow Us- LinkedIn | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Rapidly changing industry dynamics to adopt eco-friendly material across medical & healthcare industry is expected to generate promising gains for medical styrenic polymer market in the forecast span. Traditionally, polyvinylchloride (PVC) was widely applicable across medical industry to manufacture instruments & devices to store fluids, blood bags, dialysis solutions, connecting valves & tubes. PVC application in healthcare industry has been objected owing to dioxin release which is threatening as it can infect IV fluids and drift into the human body. Prevailing demand for styrenic polymers primarily SBS, ABS, etc. due to its plasticizer free nature which will cause no or less harm to human life and environment will drive the overall medical styrenic polymer market by 2024. Request for a sample copy of this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1821 Shifting market forces from metallic instruments to polymer based devices due to plentiful desirable attributes offered by plastic is expected to make prominent influence on medical styrenic polymer market in the forecast span. Conventionally, metal, ceramic, glass, etc. were used across medical & healthcare industry to manufacture medical devices & equipment, packaging, etc. However, technology advancements have accelerated the replacement pace of traditional material with plastics owing to incomparable advantages including design flexibility, light weight, easy disposability, better features and cost effectiveness which will help attain prominent medical styrenic polymer market in the forecast spell. Higher product prices compared to available substitutes in the market is credible to obstruct business by 2024. Medical styrenic polymer market for polystyrene is estimated to rise at a CAGR over 7% in the forecast timespan. Excellent product characteristics including transparency, color variations, etc. will help drive the overall industry share in the forecast spell. Medical styrenic polymer market for medical instruments comprised approximately 25% of the overall business in 2016. High product demand due to strict legislations formed against conventional polymer material, for instance PVC due to its hazardous implications on human health has led to rising demand for styrenic polymers across medical and healthcare industry. These trends are expected to make significant role to medical instruments segment by 2024. Browse Complete Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/medical-styrenic-polymer-market Medical styrenic polymer market for IV solution bags comprise approximately 10% of the overall industry share in 2016. Product is commonly utilized across medical & healthcare industry to hold life supporting fluids, liquid medicines, etc. for immediate healing effects. Asia Pacific medical styrenic polymer market is anticipated to grow by CAGR close to 8.5% in the forecast span. Rapidly growing medical & healthcare industry in the region along with persistent need to use non-toxic material for extensive applications across medical industry will help generate significant gains to medical styrenic polymer market during the forecast spell. The global medical styrenic polymer market was highly competitive in 2016. Key prominent players are Americas Styrenics, Craton Polymers, Styron, INEOS ABS, Styrolution, SABIC and Chevron. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1821 Partial Chapter of the Table of Content Chapter 3. Medical Styrenic Polymers Industry Insights 3.1. Industry segmentation 3.2. Industry size and forecast, 2013 - 2024 3.3. Industry ecosystem analysis 3.3.1. Vendor matrix 3.3.2. Distributor channel analysis 3.4. Industry impact forces 3.4.1. Growth drivers 3.4.1.1. Replacing PVC material in medical applications 3.4.1.2. Shifting focus from metallic devices to polymer devices 3.4.2. Industry pitfalls & challenges 3.4.2.1. High styrenic polymers price 3.5. Growth potential analysis 3.6. Regulatory trends 3.6.1. U.S. 3.6.2. Europe 3.6.3. China 3.7. Porter's analysis 3.8. Company market share analysis, 2016 3.8.1. Strategy dashboard 3.9. PESTEL analysis 3.10. Regional price trends 3.10.1. Cost structure analysis 3.10.2. Raw material trends 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. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Microwave ablation devices are the advance medical devices which are used to treat different type of cancer which can also be treated by radiofrequency (RF) ablation devices. Microwave ablation devices are the ultimate option for minimally invasive surgery of soft tissue such as liver, kidney, and lung. The basic components of microwave devices include a generator, power distribution system and antennas. Majority of the component of microwave ablation device is the same as the component of RF ablation device. But microwave ablation device has several benefits over the RF ablation devices. Some of the microwave ablation devices are also compatible with the CT scanner and ultrasound scanner, which provide the option for image-guided surgery. The guided surgery with CT scanner or ultrasound scanner enables the surgeon to identify the ablation target more easily though it allows the appropriate probe placement. This image guide surgery of microwave ablation device has also improved the success rate of the surgery. During the surgery, the needle like antenna is inserted into the tumor. The tip of the antenna emits the electromagnetic radiation, which results the frictional tissue heating and causing the cell death by coagulation necrosis. Majority of the microwave ablation devices available in the market uses 915 MHz generator while few of microwave ablation devices uses 2450 MHz generator. Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Drivers and Restraints Increasing incidences of benign and malignant tumor of lung, liver, bone and kidney throughout the globe is the primary factor driving the growth of the microwave ablation devices market. Moreover, the rising number of tumor ablation procedure with the help of image-guided device will also propel the growth of microwave ablation devices market. Additionally, change in the lifestyle of people and unhealthy eating habit along with consumption of alcohol and tobacco is also fueling the number of cancer cases which will ultimately upsurge the growth of microwave ablation devices market. Increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures and technological advancement is also responsible for the robust growth of microwave ablation devices market throughout the forecast period. The high-cost device associated with high risk during microwave ablation procedure may also impact the sale of microwave ablation devices over the next decade. Also, the high preference of surgeon towards RF ablation device over the microwave ablation device may deter the growth of this market. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7511 Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Segmentation Tentatively, the global microwave ablation devices market can be segmented on the basis of component type, application, and end user, and geography. Based on component type, the global Microwave Ablation Devices market is segmented as: Generator Power Distribution System Accessories Based on application, the global Microwave Ablation Devices market is segmented as: Oncology Cardiovascular Urology Orthopedic Others Based on end user, the global Microwave Ablation Devices market is segmented as: Hospitals Ambulatory Surgical Centers Research Laboratories Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Overview Microwave ablation devices market is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period due to rising incidence of cancer throughout the globe. According to the National Cancer Institute, around 1,685,210 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2016. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, in 2012, 30-50% of deaths are caused due to cancer can be prevented if the treatment is taken at the early stages. By component type, accessories segment is expected to dominate the microwave ablation device market by revenue due to rising number of tumor ablation procedure. By application, the oncology segment is expected the gain majority of share for microwave ablation devices market by revenue which is then followed by cardiovascular. Among all end users, the hospital segment is expected to dominate the microwave ablation device market whereas ambulatory surgical centers segment is projected to grow at a faster rate. Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Regional Outlook Geographically, the global microwave ablation devices market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS and Russia, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is expected to gain maximum market share for microwave ablation devices market in term of revenue owing to increased incidences of cancer. After North America, microwave ablation devices market is followed by Western Europe and Japan due high health infrastructure in these regions. Asia-Pacific excluding Japan region is expected to grow at a faster rate than other regions for microwave ablation devices market due to rising geriatric population in India and China. Middle East and Africa and Latin America for microwave ablation devices market is expected show delayed growth due to lack of availability of skilled healthcare professionals in this region. Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7511 Microwave Ablation Devices Market: Key Players Some of the key players operating in the global Microwave Ablation Devices Market are Medtronic plc, AngioDynamics Inc, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., MedWaves Inc, and Terumo Corporation. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- The global organic acids market was valued at US$ 8.0 Bn in 2017. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Organic Acids Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026.' Expansion of the food & beverage industry is expected to augment the demand for organic acid from 2018 to 2026. Increase in population, changing lifestyle, and GDP growth are estimated to boost the global organic acids market from 2018 to 2026. Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/organic-acids-market.html Significant Expansion in the Food & Beverage Industry to Drive Global Market Demand for organic acids is extremely dependent on the food & beverages sectors, which is a prominent end-use industry for organic acids. Moreover, an increase in population and GDP growth in region across the word are expected to boost demand for organic acids. Furthermore, expansion in the pharmaceuticals industry is anticipated to fuel demand for organic acids during the forecast period. Organic acids act as antioxidants, flavoring agents, and preservatives in the bakery, confectionery, dairy, beverage, and other food industries. Demand for organic acids from the food & beverage industry is projected to increase in the coming years. Acetic Acid Segment to Gain Market Share The global organic acid market has been segmented based on product type, application, and region. In terms of product type, the acetic acid segment held a major share of the global market in 2017. Acetic acid possesses antibacterial and antifungal properties, which are highly useful in food preservation. Thus, widespread consumption of acetic acid in the food & beverage industry is projected to augment the organic acid market during the forecast period. Furthermore, rise in demand for propionic acid from the pharmaceutical industry for the production of solvents and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is expected to fuel demand for organic acids. Moreover, citric acid is used as a flavoring agent in the beverage industry. Therefore, a rise in the production of beverages is expected to propel the organic acid market. Food & Beverage a Highly Promising Application Segment In terms of application, the organic acid market has been segmented into bakery & confectionery, diary, beverages, poultry, meat, seafood, livestock feed, animal feed, pharmaceuticals, industrial, and others. The bakery & confectionery segment is projected to hold a major share of the global organic acid market during the forecast period. Organic acid is either naturally present in foods or is chemically synthesized and added, directly or indirectly, to food products. Some of it is formed during the fermentation of carbohydrates in foods. Organic acids are widely used as food additives and preservatives in order to avoid food deterioration and extend the shelf life of various food products. Thus, determining organic acid content in food products is important, since these compounds contribute to the flavor and aromatic properties. Besides this, organic acids can influence the preservation of foods and beverages. Request to view Sample Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2729 Market in Asia Pacific to Expand at a Rapid Pace The organic acids market in Asia Pacific is likely to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period. A rise in population in China and India, changing lifestyle, and expansion in the food & beverage sectors are major factors driving demand for organic acids in Asia Pacific. Moreover, a Rise in urbanization in developing economies such as India, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia is expected to provide lucrative opportunities to food manufacturers to increase the production of packed food products, leading to higher consumption of preservatives. Additionally, high investments in the pharmaceutical sector and increase in the number of food manufacturers in the region are projected to provide lucrative opportunities to the organic acids market during the forecast period. Key Players to Continue to Lead Global Market The report provides profiles of leading players operating in the global metal roofing market such as Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, Cargill Incorporated, BASF S.E., BioAmber Inc, Genomatica, Inc., Henan Jindan Lactic Acid Technology Co., Ltd., Fuso Chemical Co., Ltd., Koninklijke DSM N.V., Celanese Corporation, Corbion, DowDuPont Inc., Eastman Chemical Company, Elekeiroz SA, LUXI Group, GC Innovation America, NatureWorks LLC, Polynt SpA, and Tate & Lyle. Key players are involved in partnerships, joint ventures, and collaborations with food & beverage and livestock feed manufactures, respectively, to meet the rising demand of organic acids. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Organoids is one of the in-vitro derived 3D cell culture models derived majorly from stem cell or tissue proficient of self-regeneration and simultaneously exhibit organ functionality. Organoids are used in the research of multiple organs and tissue additionally, Organoids derived from self-unifying stem cells which can recapitulate the in-vivo functionally, architecture and genetic markup of original tissue. The application of Organoids in the fields of exploring organogenesis, stem cell biology and human pathologies have further advanced the research and development in the 3D cell culture fields. Some disease causing bacteria are rationally difficult to cultivate in the laboratory, limiting the study potential. For example C. difficile bacteria requires anaerobic conditions, but can survive in an intestine Organoids. Organoids derive from biopsies are allowing scientist to differentiate between the cancer development in various individuals. The presented advancement in market, Organoids an exhilarating new tool for scantiest and researchers. Evidently the prime focus is on the intestine and stomach, nevertheless the procedure is rapidly expanding to other tissue such as brain, breast, liver and gastrointestinal. The advancement in Organoids is anticipated to transform the traditional methods of conducting research, starting from basic understanding to drug discovery and personalized treatments Organoids Market: Drivers and Restraints Simultaneous research on 3D cell culture and Organoids following with increasing research activity in application of Organoids. Is anticipated to fuel the market. Additionally increasing investment from the major firms and research organization and funding, is symbolizing the growth of the Organoids market. The upsurge in the demand for organ transplantation is categorized as the driving factor for growth of the Organoids market owning to the advancement in the stem cell research. Which is estimated to perform as a significant factor backing the demand for Organoids. The utilization of livestock in research and clinical trials is always been a subject of criticism and holds against the animal cruelty policy, nevertheless Organoids tends to hold the prospective to replace an animals utilized in clinical trials and research. The probable advantage of Organoids over lifestock is estimated to play a vital role in impelling the demand for Organoids market. Growing adaptations in biotechnology and laboratories for 3D cell culture technique is directly affecting the growth of the Organoids market. However, high cost associated with development of Organoids culture and requirements of numerous favorable factors is anticipate the restraint the growth of the Organoids market. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8106 Organoids Market: Segmentation Based on product type, the Organoids market is segmented into: Gut Organoid Hepatic Organoid Neural Organoid Pulmonary Organoid Based on application, the Organoids market is segmented into: Drug Designing Bio-banking Developmental Biology and Toxicology Testing Disease Pathology Others Based on components, the Organoids market is segmented into: Media Reagents Platform Organoids Market: Overview The manufacturers in the Organoids market are primarily focused on extensive research of new treatment regiments involving the utilization of Organoids. The global Organoids market is witnessing a concrete growth reasoning to rising awareness among the researches for the application of Organoids and high attention towards 3D cell culture research. The upsurge in demand of Organoids is primarily rising from developed regions such as North America and Europe due to intensive research on cell cultures and government aids for the research programs. The manufacturers in the Organoids is focused on potential tie us and mergers coupled with growth in development new application for the Organoids. The advantage of Organoids in targeted stem cell research is estimated to offer manufactures a prime advantage to grip on the market competition. Organoids Market: Region-Wise Overview The global Organoids market is segmented into the following regions - North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding China & Japan, China, Japan and the Middle East & Africa. North America is the leading regional market for Organoids due to growing research on the various cell culture Medias with Organoids in the region. In North America, the U.S. is the dominating Organoids market owing to increasing number healthcare research and bulging research budgets of manufacturers in the country. Europe Organoids market is anticipated to grow considerably owing to inclination towards research associated with organ regeneration. Japan and China is a growing at fast pace due to increasing investment from the manufacturers and availability of resources for the Organoids research. Growth in the Latin America and the Middle East and Africa is considerably low due to lack of research initiatives and technological parity in terms of funding's. Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8106 Organoids Market: Key Participants Examples of some of the key participants in the Organoids market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Becton Dickinson and Company, Corning Incorporated, and Sigma-Aldrich Corporation., 3D Biomatrix, Inc., 3D Biotek LLC, Reinnervate Ltd, InSphero AG, Global Cell Solutions, Inc., and Lonza Group among others. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Market Industry Reports (MIR) has published a new report titled "Orthopedic Implants Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20192030." According to the report, the global orthopedic implants market is anticipated to witness a healthy CAGR from 2019 to 2030. The continual growth of the orthopedic implants market can be attributed to several factors which have led to wide scale adoption of these products which are extensively used to improve body posture, treat deformities and other forms of musculoskeletal conditions among patients. Moreover, the growing geriatric population across the globe and rising medical tourism are anticipated to further contribute to the substantial growth of the global orthopedic implants market between 2019 and 2030. To obtain better insights regarding the market scenario prominent players are increasingly focusing on collaborative initiatives with several institutes and research centers. The University of Sheffield, has entered into a partnership with JRI Orthopaedics Ltd, a surgical instruments and orthopedic implants company, to improve the overall scope of technology and research in the field of orthopedics. Download Free PDF Sample Copy Of Orthopedic Implants Market @ https://www.marketindustryreports.com/pdf/57 Rise in Medical Tourism Over the years, the emergence of medical tourism as a popular and profitable industry has played a vital role in contributing to the growth of the global orthopedic implants industry. Several countries, namely India, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil and other developing countries have emerged as essential contributors to global medical tourism industry. Multiple factors have been responsible for attracting patients to tour worldwide for medical treatments. Cost effectiveness, availability of personalized and tailor-made services, better facilities, convenience, and advanced technologies have been vital in contributing to the medical travel facilities. In 2017, it was estimated that the total number of medical tourists across all countries was a staggering 14-16 million. It is further expected that the number of medical tourists travelling abroad seeking treatments will additionally increase at a rate of 25% every year. Orthopedic implant procedures have been one of the most lucrative segments which has witnessed lucrative increment in terms of the number of medical tourist over the past few years. Attractive pricing coupled with availability of advanced technology has been a major driver for the global orthopedic implants market, which is further anticipated to grow in the coming years. Browse key industry insights spread across 150 pages with market data tables & figures & charts from the report, Orthopedic Implants Market by Product (Spinal Implants (Spinal Fusion Devices and Spinal Non-fusion Devices), Joint Reconstruction (Knee Replacement, Hip Replacement, Shoulder Replacement), Trauma Implants (Pins/Wires, Metal Plates & Screws, Nails & Rods), Dental Implants, Orthobiologics), End Users (Hospitals, Orthopedic Clinics and Ambulatory Surgical Centers) - Global Analysis & Forecast 2019-2030 in detail along with the table of contents:https://www.marketindustryreports.com/57/orthopedic-implants-market Rising Incidences of Arthritis Arthritis is considered to be a major health crisis in the US, it is estimated that a staggering 300,000 children and 54 million adults, suffer from arthritis or other forms of rheumatic diseases. According to Arthritis Foundation (US), it is anticipated that 78.4 million US adults would suffer from arthritis, by 2040. Growing incidences of these ailments is anticipated to significantly contribute to the global orthopedic implants market during the forecast period. High Costs of Implants to Restrain the Market High costs associated with orthopedic procedures and orthopedic implants is considered to be a major factors affecting the growth of the orthopedic implants market. Unavailability of alternate affordable procedures and high cost of raw materials used for manufacturing these implants, is anticipated to be one of the major hindrances in the growth of this market. Evolution and improvement in implant technology is also accompanied by greater costs, which in many cases limits its application among the underprivileged population of the world. Rapid Growth of the Asia Pacific Market Asia Pacific is estimated to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Increasing population, continuously growing economy, rising medical tourism, increasing incidences of osteoarthritis, & osteoporosis and adoption of latest orthopedic implant products is anticipated to present a lucrative growth scenario for the orthopedic implants market in this region. Furthermore, attractive procedure rates, coupled with supportive government healthcare regulations and norms is expected to present an attractive growth prospect for the market in the coming years. Major Players in the Orthopedic Implants Market The prominent players in the global orthopedic implants market are Zimmer Biomet, Stryker Corp., Smith & Nephew, DePuy Synthes, NuVasive, Inc., Medtronic, DJO Global, Inc., Arthrex, Inc., Globus Medical Inc. and B. Braun Melsungen AG among others. Get Discount On Your Region @ https://www.marketindustryreports.com/discount/57 About Market Industry Reports Market Industry Reports is a global leader in market measurement & advisory services, Market Industry Reports is at the forefront of innovation to address the worldwide industry trends and opportunities. We identified the caliber of market dynamics & hence we excel in the areas of innovation and optimization, integrity, curiosity, customer and brand experience, and strategic business intelligence through our research. We continue to pioneer state-of-the-art approach in research & analysis that makes complex world simpler to stay ahead of the curve. By nurturing the perception of genius and optimized market intelligence we bring proficient contingency to our clients in the evolving world of technologies, megatrends and industry convergence. We empower and inspire Vanguards to fuel and shape their business to build and grow world-class consumer products. Contact Us- 502, Sai Radhe, Kennedy Road, Behind Hotel Sheraton Grand, Near Pune Station, Pune 411 001 Email: sales@marketindustryreports.com Phone: + 91 967353933 Website: https://www.marketindustryreports.com/ Follow Us- LinkedIn | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook Dubai, UAE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Powered is a prolific company offering top-rated augmented reality and mobile application development solutions to enterprises in Dubai. The company's objective is to develop mobile apps that will help to enhance the operations of businesses and make them achieve tremendous growth and productivity. As the very first agency to offer augmented reality development in the market, Powered has helped its clients to tap into endless possibilities in their businesses. The company partners with clients to help them enhance their enterprising tactics and communication technics for optimal performance of all processes. While planning to expand its services to Saudi Arabia, Powered also takes time to share their insights about the future of mobile app development and how it influences business growth. Speaking about mobile commerce, the Company Spokesperson said, "Our Company understands the changing digital markets and strives to help our clients embrace e-commerce. We want to help our clients to tap into online markets using mobile e-commerce because today's consumers make most of their purchases online. We develop applications that will offer trading convenience in both purchasing, selling and money transfers. This will help consumers to make smooth transactions from their mobile devices." Powered is the leading app development company in Dubai offering result-oriented mobile apps for e-commerce. The company helps enterprises to keep up with the rising digital purchasing trends from consumers. Powered designs applications that offer purchasing and payment convenience to consumers and enterprises. Their apps are integrated with online money transfer options to give both clients and consumers comfortable trading experiences. They also help clients to expand their business opportunities and streamline their processes to generate more revenue streams. Speaking about mobile applications, the Company Spokesperson continued, "As one of the leading mobile application development companies in Dubai, we ensure to create apps that user-centric to increase engagement. We follow innovative trends in app development to design prototypes that can integrate with wearable devices and enhance the remote sharing of information. We understand the increasing technological advancements, and we will ensure that our mobile apps cater to our users' needs. We will help them take control of their businesses, assets, and properties by using our mobile applications. Our apps provide solutions for interconnected smart devices, and we will tailor them to your business needs and also integrate augmented reality." Powered is a renowned provider of iOS app development in Dubai. The company develops advanced versions of iOS apps with sophisticated features such as UI/UX assistance, backward compatibility, and multilingual support among others. Their apps have strong security features with enhanced customer support. The iOS apps created by Powered help to enhance business processes and high-security levels to prevent cyber threats and protect user data. Businesses using the iOS app are assured of secure transactions at all times. Their apps are logical and methodical, and they help in fueling business productivity and provide secure transactions through encrypted user information. About Powered Powered is a prolific company offering top-rated augmented reality and mobile application development solutions to enterprises in Dubai. The company's objective is to develop mobile apps that will help to enhance the operations of businesses and make them achieve tremendous growth and productivity. Contact details Company :Powered Address: Tiffany Tower, JLT Cluster W Office 1406, Cluster W, Dubai, UAE Phone: +971 (50) 912 4567 Email: hello@powered.ae Website: http://www.powered.ae/ Greenville, SC -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- ProActive Response Group, a local organization that provides Active Shooter Response Training to schools, companies, religious establishments, and industrial facilities, has received official recognition by SLED for its training curriculum, which is compliant with SLED standards. ProActive Response Group is the first organization in the state of South Carolina to hold this privilege. SLED evaluated the training and materials and determined that the curriculum was "developmentally appropriate" and properly focused toward the staff with the intent of protecting students. ProActive's co-founders, Andy Sexton and Chad Ayers, are both retired police officers and SWAT team members who have developed the Active Shooter Response Training curriculum and now teach classes throughout South Carolina. "We're honored to have achieved this recognition and look forward to providing lifesaving and empowering training to schools across this great state," said Chad Ayers, Co-founder of ProActive Response Group. ProActive Response Group's compliance status with SLED is valid for one year and must be reevaluated and renewed annually. Since Governor Henry McMaster signed into law Senate Bill 709 (Act 256) on July 12, 2018, South Carolina public schools are required to hold two active shooter/intruder drills per year. Any school that would like to receive Active Shooter Response Training through ProActive Response Group can contact them by phone at (888) 512-3530 or by email at info@proactiverg.com. About ProActive Response Group ProActive Response Group was founded in 2015 and is located in Greenville, SC. The founders are professionals with extensive experience in the fields of law enforcement and emergency medical services; they now offer training in Active Shooter Response, Emergency Medical Response and Situational Awareness. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- HTF MI recently Announced Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Recreational Vehicle Insurance. Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are Farmers Insurance, USAA, GEICO, MetLife, Liberty Mutual, Safeco Insurance, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Shelter Insurance & Allstate. Click to get Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Market Research Sample PDF Copy Here @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1807537-global-recreational-vehicle-insurance-market In 2018, the global Recreational Vehicle Insurance market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025. This report focuses on the global Recreational Vehicle Insurance status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Recreational Vehicle Insurance development in United States, Europe and China. Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance 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 Recreational Vehicle Insurance 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 Recreational Vehicle Insurance market space? Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report "Farmers Insurance, USAA, GEICO, MetLife, Liberty Mutual, Safeco Insurance, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Shelter Insurance & Allstate" ** 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 Recreational Vehicle Insurance 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: , Financed RVs & Rental RVs Major applications/end-users industry are: Towable RVs & Loan-Free RVs **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 Recreational Vehicle Insurance market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Recreational Vehicle Insurance 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. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1807537-global-recreational-vehicle-insurance-market 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 Farmers Insurance, USAA, GEICO, MetLife, Liberty Mutual, Safeco Insurance, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Shelter Insurance & Allstate 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 Recreational Vehicle Insurance 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 Recreational Vehicle Insurance 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. Buy Full Copy Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Report 2018 @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1807537-global-recreational-vehicle-insurance-market In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance are as follows: History Year: 2013-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025 Key Stakeholders in Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Market: Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Manufacturers Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Global Recreational Vehicle Insurance Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream Vendors **Actual Numbers & In-Depth Analysis, Business opportunities, Market Size Estimation Available in Full Report. Buy this research @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1807537 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) -- 05/02/2019 -- 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 and 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. About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA : 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com 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. Philadelphia, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- When in the workplace, employees should not have to worry about their safety as they complete their daily tasks. Employers are responsible for their employees' safety every day, and when an employee is injured due to an unsafe work environment, uninspected machinery, or unnecessary physical or emotional strain, the employee deserves compensation for their workplace injuries. Rizio, Hamilton, & Kane P.C., injury lawyers that serve Bucks County, PA, encourage potential clients for workplace injury claims to seek the compensation and the justice due to them by calling the law firm today. The attorneys at Rizio, Hamilton, & Kane P.C. are committed to providing the best legal counsel and representation possible for their clients. They are thorough researchers, experts in personal injury cases, and effective communicators with their clients. They ensure that, from consultation to the end of the lawsuit, their clients understand what is happening and receive pertinent information regarding their claim. Rizio, Hamilton, & Kane P.C has the experience and tenacity to fight hard for their clients by building up strong cases against defendants by collecting all relevant information quickly, listening intently to their clients, and working closely with experts. Their expertise in workplace and other personal injury cases in the region have helped them win many profitable settlements and favorable verdicts. Additionally, the firm's services are free of charge unless they have earned money for their clients first. From workplace injuries and medical malpractice to automobile accidents and wrongful death cases, these top injury lawyers in Philadelphia will always provide their clients with professional legal counsel and representation in court. Those who believe that they are victims of unsafe workplace injuries should contact the talented attorneys at Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. to schedule a free legal consultation. About Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. Since 1978, Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. has been serving the Pennsylvania and New Jersey areas. As injury lawyers in the Philadelphia area, the attorneys at Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. are always available to speak to their clients and promptly return phone calls if they are away from their desks. The Philadelphia lawyers of Rizio, Hamilton & Kane know that when one is in need of a personal injury attorney in Philadelphia, that person desires and deserves the personalized attention that Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. can provide. To receive personalized attention and a free consultation, call the firm at their toll-free number 855-U-CAN-SUE or visit https://www.rizio-hamilton.com/. Philadelphia, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- The lawyers at Rizio, Hamilton, & Kane P.C., a group of injury lawyers located near Bucks County, are taking on medical malpractice and negligence cases in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional departs from standard practice, resulting in patient injury. Injuries sustained by victims of medical malpractice can be severe and devastating, often leaving victims with physical pain, emotional disturbance, and financial trouble Additionally, some rare and most unfortunate malpractice injuries can be fatal. At the law firm, clients are treated with respect and understanding at every step of the legal process, and the lawyers thoroughly research the case, provide relevant information to their clients, and work closely with clients, physicians, and experts to build the strongest case possible against the defendant. Their lawyers are passionate about getting their clients the compensation and justice they deserve, and they will argue fiercely against the insurance companies of hospitals and doctors to see that justice is served. The consultation and representation for medical malpractice claims are always confidential, and the legal services are free of charge until the lawyers at Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. win money for their clients. The firm is motivated by the truth and wishes only to see that it comes out in favor of their clients. From accidental death and misdiagnosis to birth injuries and patient neglect, the leading injury lawyers in Philadelphia will give their clients professional legal counsel and representation in court. Anyone who believes that he or she or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice is encouraged to contact Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C.today. About Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. Since 1978, Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. has been serving the Pennsylvania and New Jersey areas. As injury lawyers in the Philadelphia area, the attorneys at Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. are always available to speak to their clients and promptly return phone calls if they are away from their desks. The Philadelphia lawyers of Rizio, Hamilton & Kane know that when one is in need of a personal injury attorney in Philadelphia, that person desires and deserves the personalized attention that Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. can provide. To receive personalized attention and a free consultation, call the firm at their toll-free number 855-U-CAN-SUE or visit https://www.rizio-hamilton.com/. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Luxury goods comprises of products such as accessories, footwear, apparel, watches and others which are quite expensive and target those consumers who belongs to premium class. The market for luxury goods consist of three types of end consumers, which includes kids lying between the age of 0-12 years, teenagers belonging to the age group of 13 to 19 years and the rest lies in adult group. Luxury goods market can also be segmented on the basis of application which includes soft luxury goods and hard luxury goods. Soft luxury goods includes designer apparel and leather goods such as hand bags and others, which is easily available for the customers in the hypermarket stores or directly operative outlet. Whereas hard luxury goods comprises of jewellery and premium watches. The hard luxury goods are offered to the consumers through premium class outlets, stores or sell out through internet. Thus the market for hard luxury product is also segmented on the basis of mode of distribution channel used for offering products to the consumers. The mode of Distribution channel is segmented into retail outlets, sell out through internet, company's brand outlet and others. Among all these distribution channel online retailing is expected to be most preferred mode for distribution in the forecasted period. This is due to consumer convenience preferences and availability of the products at lower price. Furthermore, the second most preferred mode is expected to be the company's brand retail outlets as they provide better offerings at less price. Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics of the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and product offerings Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective towards market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-as-106 Globally, the demand of hard luxury goods are showing robust annual growth of 10% to 12%.North America and Europe is the highest contributor in the market share of hard luxury goods market. Increasing demand of accessories coupled with rising middle class disposable income has supported the growth of emerging markets in Asia-Pacific. It is expected to account for the fastest CAGR growth as compared to other regions. Among all the countries in Asia Pacific China is expected to be the most lucrative market followed by Japan. India is also expected to show a healthy growth in the forecasted period by registering a single digit CAGR growth. Whereas in ASEAN region Singapore is expected to be the most dominant market. The rising growth for hard luxury goods in Singapore is supported by the new entrants of jewellery brands and rising sales of watches. Rapid urbanization coupled with increasing disposable income in Thailand and Malaysia is predicted to boost the customer base and prominent contributor in the revenue of hard luxury good market in ASEAN region followed by Indonesia and Philippines. Expanding middle class income group coupled with the urge of consumers for premium class products are the key drivers for the market growth of hard luxury goods in ASEAN region. Moreover, wide varieties of product offerings in each segments and continuous innovation and product launch is also expected to influence the consumers of ASEAN region to fuel the market growth of hard luxury goods in the forecasted period. However, the market of hard luxury goods in ASEAN region possess some restraining factors. This includes the weak distribution channel and limited availability of the products. Furthermore, the consumers perceives these products as quite expensive and also it is considered as a premium class product and not an absolute necessity. The key international market players for hard luxury goods operating in ASEAN region includes Gianni Versace S.p.A., LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, Prada S.p.A., Hermes International SCA, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A, Prada S.p.A, Ralph Lauren Corp, Christian Dior SE, Gucci, Rolex SA, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton Malletier, Tod's S.p.A. and others. This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically-supported and industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. It provides analysis and information by categories such as market segments, geographies and types. Regional analysis includes Singapore Malaysia Thailand Brunei Vietnam Philippines Indonesia Request to Browse Full Table of Content, figure and Tables @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-as-106 The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also the maps qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Dhaka, Bangladesh -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- SellCardBTC operates an online trading platform where people can transact their gift cards for cash and bitcoins. They can also sell their bitcoins online or offline with SellCardBTC. The service provider runs its trading website in Nigeria, Ghana, and China respectively. However, people can transact from anywhere. The service provider also gives its customers an option of trading on WhatsApp by sending a message, after which its agent reaches back to them. SellCardBTC completes all the transactions within about five minutes. The spokesperson of SellCardBTC in a recent public interview revealed, "We not only make fast payments but also offer the best exchange rates on gift cards like the iTunes gift card, Walmart gift card, Target gift card, and Steam gift card. Reliablecounter has described our portal as the best Paxful alternative for this reason. We also accept the Amazon gift card, Sephora gift card, and Google Play gift card. While our customers can exchange their cards for bitcoins, they can also go for payments in RMB, BTC, naira and cedis. We ensure secure transactions on our site." According to Reliablecounter, SellCardBTC is the Most Legit Gift Card Buyer in Nigeria, Ghana and other countries. Likewise, according to Crypto Coin Report, exchanging iTunes gift cards for bitcoins is easiest on the SellCardBTC website. Another top platform in China, OverUC, recommends SellCardBTC as the best website to sell iTunes gift cards for cash. The service provider's good gift card rates and unfailing payments have got it these recommendations. SellCardBTC runs its portal 24 x 7 and keeps updating the exchange rates. The spokesperson also stated, "We are the direct gift card loaders, as we make use of every gift card ourselves, unlike middlemen. Middlemen sell to us at the best rates, keep their profits, and give low rates to customers. On the other hand, we give the real value of people's gift cards. Selling iTunes gift cards in Nigeria and Ghana may not be an entirely rosy business, owing to its complexities. Besides it not being straightforward, there are countless dealers wanting to scam people of their iTunes cards, without giving them what they truly deserve." To its customers, who want to sell Steam gift card or who wonder how much is $100 iTunes card in Nigeria are for, SellCardBTC assures of the true value of their card that is offered without removing the dubious middleman commissions. The service provider only accepts valid iTunes gift cards that have not been redeemed by anyone else. The direct customer of SellCardBTC has to be the one who scratches the pin code area on the gift card before the codes are revealed. About SellCardBTC SellCardBTC is a popular gift card trading portal that has been diligently doing gift card trading over the years. The service provider lets its customers sell Steam gift card, iTunes gift card, and several other cards in exchange for cash or bitcoins. SellCardBTC has well defined policies with regard to gift card trading on its portal. Customers having valid gift cards can confirm the payment rates and trade them online or offline. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Allergies is the most common reason for sinus problems. Another common cause of sinusitis is that of dry nose. Dry nose leads to congestion, thickened mucus and worsened sinusitis. Some of the common causes for excessive mucus formation in the upper respiratory tract include, allergies, infection and excessive heat leading to dry nose, sinusitis and other similar problems. One of the earliest records for the use of sinus irrigation systems is found in the ancient Hindu practice of Ayurveda. It was customary to perform jala-neti daily for maintain nasal hygiene. Sinus irrigation can effectively relive symptoms of both chronic and acute sinusitis caused by upper respiratory tract infections such as cold and allergic rhinitis. Sinus irrigation systems are used for flushing the nasal cavity to sooth inflamed tissue and remove allergens and mucous. The Neti pot is the most common type of sinus irrigation systems. It relies on gravity and the head position for the rinsing of the sinus cavity. The Neti pot type of sinus irrigation systems have a long spout attached near the bottom with a handle on the other end. A number of squeeze bottle type of sinus irrigation systems are also available. Similarly, bulb syringe type of sinus irrigation systems are available and are popularly used for infants and children. Some of the latest designs of sinus irrigation systems are motorized and are driven either by electricity or may be battery powered. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7684 However there are a number of precautions that is required during the use of sinus irrigation systems. For an instance, the water used for sinus irrigation must be distilled, sterile or boiled. Another important factor that may negatively impact the use of sinus irrigation systems is not properly cleaning the device regularly. Unsafe water and unclean pots and devices may lead to increasing infections and result in worsening the sinusitis symptoms. Sinus Irrigation Systems Market: Drivers and Restraints- Sinus Irrigation Systems market witnessing the maximum growth in near future owing to increase in patient pool globally. The increased number of allergy cases and the rise in flu and common cold are the major drivers for the growth of the sinus irrigation systems. Low cost and easy portability of Sinus Irrigation Systems make it most suitable to be used in homecare settings. The availability of electric units that make it easier to use in clinics as well as home setting further allows the market to have potential growth during the forecast period. Sinus Irrigation Systems Market: Segmentation On the basis of type of product, Sinus Irrigation Systems market can be segmented as: Manual Sinus Irrigation Systems Neti Pots Squeeze Bottles Bulb Syringes Electric Sinus Irrigation Systems Battery Powered Sinus Irrigation Systems On the basis of the end user, the Sinus Irrigation Systems market can be segmented as: Hospitals ENT clinics Homecare Settings Sinus Irrigation Systems Market: Overview Global Sinus Irrigation Systems market is expected to gain significant growth rate over the forecast period. Sinus Irrigation Systems is expected to gain high demand in forecast periods due to increasing in patient pool. The increasing patient pool worldwide is mainly due to rising cases of allergy related inflammation and sinus issues that is driving the growth of global Sinus Irrigation Systems market. However the risk of infections is high and may overall hinder the growth of the Sinus Irrigation Systems market. Sinus Irrigation Systems Market: Region-wise Outlook In terms of geography, Sinus Irrigation Systems market has been divided into eight regions including North- America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia- Pacific excluding China & Japan (APECJ), China, Japan, Middle-East & Africa and Latin America. North America is the most dominating market for Sinus Irrigation Systems market due to the rise in per capita expenditure on healthcare and technological advancement. Western European countries such as Germany, France, and the U.K. are top revenue contributing courtiers in Western Europe. The Asia Pacific excluding China and Japan Sinus Irrigation Systems market is expected to expand at fastest growth rate over the forecast period due to increasing local players and fast and increasing adoption of sinus irrigation practice. China is the one of the important revenue contributing country in global Sinus Irrigation Systems market due to the availability of cost-effective Sinus Irrigation Systems and large patient pool in the region. Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7684 Sinus Irrigation Systems Market: Key Market Participants Example of some market players participants in global Sinus Irrigation Systems market identify across the value chain are Neilmed Pharmaceuticals Inc., Medtronic Plc., Air Liquide Medical Systems, Medstar Co. Ltd., Sinh2ox Health & Care, Heal Force, Bremed Ltd., CHAMMED, RhinoSystem, Inc., WelbuTech, among others. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Global Taxi Dispatch Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2019-2025 is latest research study released by HTF MI evaluating the market, highlighting opportunities, risk side analysis, and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support. The study provides information on market trends and development, drivers, capacities, technologies, and on the changing capital structure of the Global Taxi Dispatch Software Market. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Magenta Technology, TaxiCaller, ICabbi, Cab Startup, Autocab, Taxify, Gazoop, Taxi Mobility, JungleWorks, Cab Hound, DDS, Sherlock Taxi, Quantum Inventions (QI), MTData, Elluminati & EasyDEV. In China market, Didi Chuxing and the APP like Didi take a majority of the taxi dispatch and ride-sharing market, they are all B2C business, and take the majority taxi management business. In India market, there are many software companies that can provide the customized taxi dispatch services, not like the ready-made taxi dispatch software like U.S. and EU market. We tend to believe this industry becomes more and more mature, and the consumption increasing rate will show a smooth curve. In 2018, the global Taxi Dispatch Software market size was 200 million US$ and it is expected to reach 720 million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 17.5% during 2019-2025. Taxi Dispatch Software Market Overview: If you are involved in the Taxi Dispatch Software industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by SMEs & Large Enterprises, , Cloud-based & Web-based and major players. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1812282-global-taxi-dispatch-software-market-4 Taxi Dispatch Software Market: Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2023 Research study is to define market sizes of various segments & countries in previous years and to forecast the values to the next 5-8 years. The report is designed to comprise each qualitative and quantitative elements of the industry facts including: market share, market size (value and volume 2012-17, and forecast to 2023) with admire to each of the areas and countries concerned inside the examination. Furthermore, the report additionally caters the detailed statistics about the vital elements which includes drivers & restraining factors which will define the future growth of the market. Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows: Historical year 2013-2017 Base year 2018 Forecast period** 2018 to 2023 [** unless otherwise stated] Moreover, it will also include the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product services of key players. The designated segments and sub-section of the market are explained below: The Study is segmented by following Product Type: Cloud-based & Web-based Major applications/end-users industry are as follows: SMEs & Large Enterprises Some of the key Manufacturers Involved in the Market are Magenta Technology, TaxiCaller, ICabbi, Cab Startup, Autocab, Taxify, Gazoop, Taxi Mobility, JungleWorks, Cab Hound, DDS, Sherlock Taxi, Quantum Inventions (QI), MTData, Elluminati & EasyDEV You can get free access to samples from the report here: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1812282-global-taxi-dispatch-software-market-4 For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies. If opting for the Global version of Taxi Dispatch Software Market analysis is provided for major regions as follows: - North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) - South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) - Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) Buy this research report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1812282 Key Answers Captured in Study are Which geography would have better demand for product/services? What are the strategies adopted by big players in the regional market? Which country would see the steep rise in CAGR & year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth? What is the current & expected market size in next five years? What is the market feasibility for long term investment? What opportunity the country would offer for existing and new players in the Taxi Dispatch Software market? What is risk involved for suppliers in the geography? What factors would drive the demand for the product/service in near future? What is the impact analysis of various factors in the Global Taxi Dispatch Software market growth? What are the recent trends in the regional market and how successful they are? Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1812282-global-taxi-dispatch-software-market-4 There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Taxi Dispatch Software market. Chapter 1, About Executive Summary to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Global Taxi Dispatch Software market, Applications [SMEs & Large Enterprises], Market Segment by Regions United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India & Central & South America; Chapter 2, objective of the study. Chapter 3, to display Research methodology and techniques. Chapter 4 and 5, to show the Overall Market Analysis, segmentation analysis, characteristics; Chapter 6 and 7, to show the Market size, share and forecast; Five forces analysis (bargaining Power of buyers/suppliers), Threats to new entrants and market condition; Chapter 8 and 9, to show analysis by regional segmentation[United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India & Central & South America ], comparison, leading countries and opportunities; Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis Chapter 10, focus on identifying the key industry influencer's, overview of decision framework accumulated through Industry experts and strategic decision makers; Chapter 11 and 12, Market Trend Analysis, Drivers, Challenges by consumer behaviour, Marketing Channels and demand & supply. Chapter 13 and 14, describe about the vendor landscape (classification and Market Positioning) Chapter 15, deals with Global Taxi Dispatch Software Market sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source. Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia or Oceania [Australia and New Zealand]. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/02/2019 -- Being a component installed at the external opening of an oil or gas drilling well, the wellhead system plays a vital function by providing a structural pressure enclosing interface for drilling and production equipment. The wellhead system is also used for delivering exact suspension point and proper pressure sealing for the total casing used in the operation-from the bottom of the well to the surface control equipment. Demand for Wellhead System to Stay Coherent as the Industry Seeks Advanced Technologies The emergence of clean technology is expected to bring new innovations in the conventional wellhead system. The shift towards implementing an environmentally safe approach in oil and gas recovery is likely to positively influence the wellhead system market. In line with this, Western Economic Diversification Canada awarded $1.1 million to Intelligent Wellhead systems for clean technology innovation that would enhance safety and environmental measures in the recovery of oil and gas. Various technological developments are expected to boost the demand for wellhead system market as evolving technologies such as monitoring systems and pressure control systems enhance the functionalities of the wellhead system. For example, ADNOC received a three-year contract for providing in-country wellhead system and services that reflect greater efficiency, by Weir Oil & Gas Pressure Control Dubai. Get Free Sample Copy Of This Report @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/14329 Key Regions Showcase Burgeoning Demand for Wellhead Systems The wellhead system market is analyzed with respect to the key regions which include Eastern Europe, North America, Western Europe, Latin America, Japan, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. Amongst the key regions, the European, North American, and Middle East and Africa regions are expected to project increasing demand for the wellhead system as there is major production of oil and gas along with enormous exploration of the same. Moreover, the numerous petrochemical industries located in these prominent regions are expected to contribute to the growing demand of the wellhead system. Major players in the market are supplying wellhead system equipment to these regions owing the increasing requirements. Forum Energy Technologies, another market player registered increase in sale of the well site production equipment in the United States, which highlights the potential for wellhead system market in North America. Moreover, key nations in the Asia Pacific region including China and India are seen utilizing wellhead system on a large scale in the petrochemical industry which has been on a key factor that fosters the production of oil and gas. Aker Solutions, a prominently recognized wellhead system market player, is currently bidding for contracts valuing NOK 45 billion, two-third of which are in the subsea areas, where the company is looking forward to receive projects from major economies such as Brazil, Australia, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the UK. Prominent Players Aiming to Gain Larger Share of the Wellhead System Market The prominent wellhead system market players are seen initiating crucial strategies to gain a competitive edge over the other participants in the market. The wellhead system market are seen implementing expansion strategies to extend their business in the key regions. The key players in the wellhead system market include Stream-Flo Industries Ltd., Wellhead Systems, Inc., Oil States International, Inc., National Oilwell Varco, GE Grid Solutions, Baker Hughes Inc., FMC Technologies, Nabors Industries Ltd., Shanghai Wellhead Equipment Manufacture Co. Ltd., Cameron-Schlumberger Ltd., Forum Energy Technologies, and Aker Solutions. Aker Solutions, in its third quarter, entered into an agreement with Equinor for on-going as well as future projects. Aker Solutions also backed two framework agreements for a tenure of five years each which revolves around their aim to potentially deliver subsea production systems unmanned wellhead platforms. Forum Energy Technologies, another wellhead system provider has illustrated a significant growth in revenue along with the acquisition of Houston Global Heat Transfer. These developments highlight the growth attained by players in the wellhead system market. Baker Hughes Inc's Oilfield equipment segment registered significant achievements in the UK North Sea, with a contract awarded by Nexen Petroleum, according to which the company is expected to provide subsea production systems including wellhead system, horizontal subsea trees, and subsea and topside control systems. Request For TOC @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/toc/14329 Key Segments in the Wellhead System Market to Evaluate the Market Extensively The wellhead system market can be segmented on the basis of two essential factors namely well location and components. - On the basis of well location, the wellhead system market is subsea, land and surface locations offshore (jackup or platform) - According to the components, the wellhead system market is fragmented into segments such as choke, flanges, master valve, hangers, and others. MRR.BIZ has been compiled in-depth market research data in the report after exhaustive primary and secondary research. Our team of able, experienced in-house analysts has collated the information through personal interviews and study of industry databases, journals, and reputable paid sources. The report provides the following information: - Tailwinds and headwinds molding the market's trajectory - Market segments based on products, technology, and applications - Prospects of each segment - Overall current and possible future size of the market - Growth pace of the market - Competitive landscape and key players' strategies The main aim of the report is to: - Enable key stakeholder's in the market bet right on it - Understand the opportunities and pitfalls awaiting them - Assess the overall growth scope in the near term - Strategize effectively with respect to production and distribution MRR.BIZ is a leading provider of strategic market research. 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Contact Us State Tower 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 United States Toll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-Canada) Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz In 1980, a Buddhist monk found the right half a fossilized hominin jawbone in Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau, Xiahe, China. An analysis of ancient proteins extracted from the fossil dubbed Xiahe mandible shows that it belonged to a member of the mysterious human-like group known as Denisovans. It is the first Denisovan specimen found outside the remote Denisova Cave. Denisovans are an extinct sister group of Neanderthals and are known from fragmentary fossils from Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Their genomic legacy is present in several Asian, Australian and Melanesian populations, which suggests that they once might have been widespread. The Xiahe mandible provides direct evidence of the Denisovans outside the Altai Mountains. Our analysis shows that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave, said co-author Dr. Frido Welker, a researcher with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of Copenhagen and Lanzhou University. While Dr. Welker and colleagues could not find any traces of DNA preserved in this fossil, they managed to extract ancient proteins from one of the molars. The ancient proteins in the mandible are highly degraded and clearly distinguishable from modern proteins that may contaminate a sample, he said. Attached to the mandible was a heavy carbonate crust, and by applying U-series dating to the crust the team found that the mandible is at least 160,000 years old. This minimum age makes the Xiahe mandible comparable in age to Denisova 2, chronologically the oldest Denisovan fossil that is currently known from Denisova Cave, said co-author Dr. Chuan-Chou Shen, a scientist in the Department of Geosciences at National Taiwan University. The Xiahe mandible represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau. It is at least 120,000 years older than the oldest known Paleolithic sites in the region, said first author Dr. Fahu Chen, Director of the Institute of Tibetan Research. Denisovan introgression into present day Tibetans, Sherpas and neighboring populations includes the Denisovans version of the EPAS1 (endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1) gene, which provides high-altitude adaptation to hypoxia in humans who inhabit the Tibetan Plateau. The Xiahe mandible demonstrates that Denisovans or Denisovan-related populations occupied the Tibetan Plateau and successfully adapted to high-altitude hypoxic environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens, the researchers said. The findings were published in the journal Nature. _____ Fahu Chen et al. A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau. Nature, published online May 1, 2019; doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x 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. A progressive lawyers group on Wednesday filed a request to court to liquidate the Korean assets of Japanese companies to cover unpaid compensation for Korean victims of wartime forced labor. Lawyers for a Democratic Society filed the request on the same day that Japan's new Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne. It comes after the Daegu District Court in January authorized the seizure of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal's assets in Korea following the Supreme Court's ruling last October that the Japanese company should pay its forced labor victims W100 million each in compensation (US$1=W1,166). The court froze W974 million worth shares Nippon Steel has in joint venture POSCO-Nippon Steel RFH. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday it has secured a budget to build an airport on Ulleung and will start the bidding process on Friday. A new flight route connecting volcanic Ulleung Island in the East Sea will be established in 2025. It will only be a small airport with a 1,200-m-long runway for small craft with a capacity of up to 50 since it mainly serves as a launch point to trips to the Dokdo islets. "Reflecting the risks anticipated in construction, we increased the budget to W663.3 billion this year," a ministry official said (US$1=W1,166). The government already tried to find a bidder for the project three years ago but failed because potential bidders thought the budget of W575.5 billion at the time was too small to reclaim the airport from the sea. The ministry's plan is to begin construction in 2020 and open the airport in May 2025. It will drastically slash travel time from Seoul from seven hours by boat to one and could benefit the tourism industry on the island, which is chiefly notable for its dramatic rock formations. ABC/Lou Rocco Four men were arrested Wednesday on charges they conspired to defraud investors with concocted claims that they had ties to Rihanna, Bruno Mars and Janet Jackson. Kwasi Asare, Mark Lamica, James Ganiere and Kevin Carriker falsely claimed they were authorized to raise $19.5 million for Rihs 2018-2019 tour and promised potential investors a 22% return, federal prosecutors confirmed to ABC News. Last July, however, an attorney who represents the global star contacted the FBI to report the men, whom the attorney denied ever knowing. Both the Attorney and representatives of Rihanna were interviewed by the FBI and each denied knowing defendant Kwasi Asare, denied that Rihanna had agreed to do the tour and denied that defendant Asari was authorized to raise capital on behalf of Rihanna for this tour or any other tour, court documents note. Later that same month, an undercover FBI agent posing as an investor was introduced to Asare and began communicating with him, according to the complaint. Asare solicited a $4 million investment from the agent in November for an alleged Bruno Mars concert at San Diegos Petco Park. Asare allegedly claimed fellow-defendants Lamica and Ganiere had organized the show through their company, Rio Vista Universal. According to court records, Asare assured an FBI undercover agent that Mars would perform at Petco Park in San Diego in March. But when the FBI interviewed Mars manager and business partner, they denied knowing Asare and said the "Please Me" crooner had never agreed, or even been asked, to perform. In another conversation with an FBI undercover agent, court records reveal that Lamica claimed Janet Jackson agreed to a 16-show tour and investors would receive a 35% return on a $20 million investment. FBI agents spoke to Jackson last month who advised the agent that she did not know, nor had any business dealings with, Kwasi Asare, Mark Lamica, James Ganiere or Kevin Carricker, court records state. The defendants were arrested in California where theyre due to make an initial appearance in federal court in Los Angeles. In addition, they have a court date in Central Islip, NY on May 15. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A U.S. court has given a final warning to three Chinese banks accused of transacting tens of millions of dollars for North Korea to submit their financial records. According to Reuters on Tuesday, Washington's chief federal district judge ordered the three banks to submit extensive transaction records with a Hong Kong-based company identified only as "A." The names of the banks were not disclosed. Company A was established jointly by an anonymous North Korean citizen and a Chinese national. The court suspects the Chinese banks of laundering US$100 million for North Korea that was used to fund the renegade countrys nuclear weapons program. This contrasted with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' late February expectation of 'another blockbuster season' in Alaska. The company is deploying another big vessel, Norwegian Joy, there this season. Weighing in today and yesterday were operators representing Alaska's biggest cruise ship (Royal Caribbean) and, of the publicly traded operators, its smallest (Lindblad Expeditions Holdings). Royal Caribbean's highest yielding market 'We're pleased with Alaska,' Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said during his company's earnings call Wednesday. The 168,666gt Ovation of the Seas, with 4,180 lower berths and total capacity for 4,905 passengers, is the biggest in Alaska and the first Quantum-class ship to operate on the West Coast, while sister brand Celebrity Cruises is sending a second Solstice-class ship in its lineup. All told, capacity for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is up 24% to 25% in Alaska, however the region comprises just a 5% share of RCL's 2019 geographic distribution, 10% in the summer quarter. 'It's the highest yielding geographic market that we have,' Bayley said Tuesday. 'Maybe other brands and products are having a struggle,' he added, 'but we feel pretty good about where we are.' 'Incredibly strong' for Lindblad 'The Alaska market is still incredibly strong for us. Our occupancies are as high as they've ever been, and pricing is higher,' Sven-Olof Lindblad, CEO of Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, said Thursday. This is the first summer Lindblad will have four ships operating in Alaska, totaling 320 beds. Included: Its newest ship, the 100-passenger National Geographic Venture. 'Bookings for 2020 are looking very, very strong so I see no dilution of the market at all,' Lindblad added. Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui issued the warning on Tuesday without elaborating on what those consequences would be. A senior North Korean official has warned the U.S. of "unwanted consequences" unless it shifts its position on denuclearization. It came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CBS News last week that the future of denuclearization talks will be "bumpy." If negotiations break down, "then we'll have to, obviously, change path," he said. "When it comes to the so-called need to 'change paths' as U.S. officials say, it isn't a privilege exclusive to the U.S. It could be our choice if we put our mind to it," Choe told the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "It's a stupid and dangerous idea." Relations between the two countries have returned to the ice age since their summit in Hanoi collapsed in February. "Our determination towards denuclearization remains unchanged and we'll put it into action in due time," Choe added. "But it'll be possible only when the U.S. changes its current calculation method and redefines its position." This was announced at an industry reception on Thursday at the NSW Parliament House in Sydney when CLIA Australasia unveiled its 2018 Australia Ocean Source Market report. MD Joel Katz said methodology comparable to other CLIA global research was used to involve the 95% of member cruise lines. Katz said CHART Management Consultants surveyed the remaining non-members. 1.35m Australians cruised last year He said Australia has continued its long run of cruising growth with a total of 1.35m Australians taking an ocean cruise last year a slight increase on the previous year. However, growth slowed to just 0.9% year-on-year, reflecting capacity constraints associated with a shortage of berthing infrastructure in Sydney. Katz said cruising in local waters Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific grew by just 0.1% over figures for 2017 but was offset by growth of 3.4% in the number of Australians taking fly-cruise options in destinations further afield, indicating demand remains strong in the Australian market. NSW still No. 1 New South Wales still represents more than half the Australian ocean cruise market (53%), with Queensland contributing 22% and Victoria 13%. The average age of the Australian passenger remains steady at 49 and the average cruise length was down from 9.1 days in 2017 to 8.8 days in 2018. The majority of Australians cruised within Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific (76.6%). Europe/Mediterranean was the most popular long-haul destination (8.1%), followed by North America/Caribbean/Alaska/Hawaii (7.3%) and Asia (5.4%). In the inbound market about 200,000 people came from other regions to cruise in Australasian waters in 2018, with more than half from North America. Europe/UK and Asia followed. Future potential Katz said the construction of the new International Cruise Terminal in Brisbane and other cruise related projects in Cairns, Eden and Broome are expected to reignite growth in the homeport market. There is so much potential, he said. Smaller older vessels are being replaced with newer, larger ships to meet demand and with a third terminal in Sydney on the horizon more cruise lines will continue to base ships here. Viking Osiris is under construction and will double the companys owned capacity in Egypt when it debuts in September next year. Viking claims to be the only Western company to build, own and operate boats on the Nile. Two new five-day extensions to the 'Pharaohs & Pyramids' itinerary will provide Viking's 'Privileged Access' to archives and exhibits in London and Oxford that are not normally accessible to the public. Viking cited strong interest in Egypt, and noted the second vessel will enter service just one year after the fully renovated Viking Ra, the company's first owned and operated Nile riverboat. Viking Osiris Hosting 82 passengers in 41 staterooms, Viking Osiris will have the clean, elegant Scandinavian design for which Viking is known. It offers the line's trademark Aquavit Terrace for indoor/outdoor dining and lounging, a pool, restaurant and lounge with bar. Accommodations include 232-square-foot standard staterooms, 239-square-foot veranda staterooms, 409-square-foot veranda suites and a pair of 525-square-foot explorer suites. Pre-cruise extensions Building on the success of the 'Oxford & Highclere Castle' program Vikings highest-rated extension that visits 'The Real Downton Abbey' the company has applied the same degree of privileged access to two new curated programs that retrace the steps of famed Egyptologist Howard Carter and his benefactor, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Participants in the five-day 'British Collections of Ancient Egypt' extension will meet their Viking tour director, an expert Egyptologist, in London for 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, then a visit to the home and personal museum of world-renowned architect Sir John Soane. There, the tour will be illuminated by candlelight, a reenactment of how Soane entertained guests and showcased his collection of Egyptian antiquities, including a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus. Participants will also visit Londons Petrie Museum, which houses more than 80,000 artifacts from ancient Egypt and Sudan. In Oxford, the itinerary features 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 Universitys Griffith Institute, where they will get a privileged access visit to Carters archives, which detail the discovery of Tutankhamuns tomb. Participants also have the opportunity to visit Highclere Castle, the country seat of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, to view the earls collection of Egyptian artifacts. Through April 2020, travelers can opt for the new five-day 'King Tut & the UKs Egyptian Collections' extension, which also includes an opportunity to visit 'Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh,' a special exhibition at Londons Saatchi Gallery that is presented by Viking. 'Pharaohs & Pyramids' During the 12-day 'Pharaohs & Pyramids' itinerary, travelers experience Egypts cultural treasures in seven destinations. The cruise-tour begins with a three-night stay at a first-class hotel in Cairo, where tours visit iconic sites such as the Great Pyramids of Giza, the necropolis of Sakkara and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. Travelers then fly to Luxor to visit the Temples of Luxor and Karnak before boarding a Viking vessel for an eight-day round-trip Nile cruise, 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. A visit to a Nubian village includes a stop at a traditional elementary school. The journey ends with a flight back to Cairo for a final night in the city. US savings From now through May 31, 2019, US residents can take advantage of Vikings 'Explorers Sale,' featuring up-to-free airfare, a new two-for-one deposit and bonus savings on all 2020 river cruises. The christening of the Polar Mexico marked a first berthing of a container vessel at the new ICAVE terminal in the port of Veracruz, which is scheduled to start operations soon. Hutchison Ports ICAVE is a specialised container terminal (TEC). ICAVE (Internacional de Contenedores Asociados de Vera Cruz) was acquired in 2001 by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports. The sponsor of the Polar Mexico is Claudia Davila, wife of Carlos Ayala, Logistics and Distribution director of Alpek Polyester, which is a subsidiary of the Alfa Group, one of the largest corporate groups in Mexico. Mexico is one of the most important economies in Latin America and an important market for Hamburg Sud, said Arnt Vespermann, ceo of Hamburg Sud. We are proud that we are christening this vessel while the city and the port of Veracruz are celebrating their 500th anniversary. The Mexican economy is strong in the fruit sector as well as in other industries with high import and export volumes, such as automobile manufacturing, chemicals and brewing. As a global carrier we are serving the Mexican market with a set of very competitive connections to almost all other continents, he said. Hamburg Sud has been active in Mexico for approximately 50 years and is one of the three largest liner shipping companies in the Mexican market today. The Polar Mexico is deployed on the North Europe Mexico/Caribbean Service (EMCS), which connects Altamira, Veracruz and Progreso as well as further Caribbean ports with Ireland, Great Britain, Antwerp and Bremerhaven. The bunkering operation involved the reload of 2,000 cu m of LNG onto the small-scale tanker at a newly-modified secondary jetty of Singapore LNG (SLNG) terminal, followed by a ship-to-ship transfer to the receiving heavylift vessel. The operation was performed by Pavilion Energys subsidiary Pavilion Gas, a licensed LNG bunker supplier in Singapore. Pavilion Energys first commercial ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations in Singapore demonstrates our strong commitment and capability to deliver a comprehensive suite of LNG bunker supply solutions to Singapore and the region, said Frederic H. Barnaud, group ceo of Pavilion Energy, wholly-owned by Singapore governments investment firm Temasek. In 2017, Pavilion Energy demonstrated its first truck-to-ship bunkering capabilities before expanding its bunker logistics with the charter of its first LNG bunker tanker newbuild in February 2019. The 12,000 cu m GTT Mark III Flex membrane LNG bunker tanker is scheduled for delivery by 2021 from Sembcorp Marine shipyard. Read more: Sinanju expands into LNG bunkering, to operate large LNG bunker tanker Tan Soo Koong, ceo of SLNG Corporation, said: We strongly believe that LNG will become the worldwide fuel of choice for bunkering in the long term, and SLNG is well-positioned to facilitate this development. We are keen to work with all stakeholders and invest in infrastructure as necessary, to help grow LNG bunkering here. The acquisition completed at the start of May sees Denholm Port Services taking over ship agency business of the Kirkwall-based ship agency founded in 1902. John Jolly will continue as independentally-owned company providing stevedoring services. President and managing director of Denholm Port Services, John Watt, said: We support clients vessels extensively throughout UK ports and, having recently opened a port agency office in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles, this latest acquisition extends our North Sea port coverage even further. Director of John Jolly, Steven Spence, commented: As a highly skilled and reliable agency business, it makes sense that Denholm Port Services supports clients vessels in Orkney directly, enabling John Jolly to focus on stevedoring services. John Jolly has always been a family business, and there was a particular appeal in selling our ship agency service arm to Denholm Port Services, who is itself part of a larger family-run group. Jodi Owens, secretary of the Historical Societys board of trustees, looks over the collection. Archives of the Historical Society of Battle Creek Metal shelving units in a room on the lower level of the Fieldstone Building hold box upon box of carefully preserved papers and photographs that tell the history of Battle Creek.This is the storage room one of two small rooms that are home to the Historical Society of Battle Creek, an organization which is assisting with a project to give voice to an overlooked piece of the citys history captured on 50 or so cassette tapes stored in that room.The tapes contain an oral history from residents forced in the mid-1950s to relocate from their homes in an area known as The Bottoms. Many were moved to the Washington Heights neighborhood. The Bottoms encompassed an area from Hamblin Street to Upton Avenue and Kendall Street to Capital Avenue.Bottoms are another name for low-lying land, typically by a river that are subject to overflow during floods and flooding is part of what dispersed the neighborhood.The audio project which was dubbed Memories of Hamblin occurred when members of the Historical Society trained volunteers to interview former residents of The Bottoms, most of whom were children at the time of the relocation effort, says Jody Owens, who serves as secretary of the Historical Societys board of trustees.We got not even one-third of the way through transcribing the tapes and we ran out of money and the tapes have just been sitting there, Owens says.But, the project is now set to continue under the direction of Kimberly Holley, an independent consultant who serves as the Director of the Sojourner Truth Institute and co-coordinator for the Battle Creek Coalition for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, an initiative through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.Holley and Jill Anderson, also a local consultant, spoke with members of the Historical Society last week after learning about the Memories of Hamblin project and the existence of the cassette tapes. During their meeting, Owens says there was one comment in particular that really resonated with her.Kim said you cant dispel stereotypes until you know the truth, Owens says. Their main goal is to tell the real story of Battle Creek. That story, she says, would not be complete without sharing the story of The Bottoms.If you arent from here or didnt grow up here, youd never know about The Bottoms, Holley says.During the Great Migration of the 1900s, African Americans moved north in unprecedented numbers. Many of those who relocated to Battle Creek settled in The Bottoms where they established small businesses and thrived, according to an article written by Jacqueline Slaby, a community activist.Despite the business success, African Americans in Battle Creek continued to face racial segregation and a lack of access to services and resources. As new economic mobility allowed for the flight of many of the white working class families from The Bottoms to more affluent areas of the city, it opened up more opportunities for African American residents to create their own space inside the city.Leaders in the citys African American community established recreational facilities including the Hamblin Community Center which began operating on a membership basis after World War II and actively involved residents in events and programs.Owens says Hamblin Community Center was literally the center of The Bottoms.The Bottoms was a mixed-race neighborhood, Holley says. There was harmony among residents and it was a like a village. The children all played together and race wasnt an issue until they left the neighborhood. It was harmony in the truest sense of the word.But, a flood in 1947 would devastate The Bottoms. The recovery costs for the residential area was estimated at $444,200, according to Slabys article.That flood really messed everything up, says Melvin Evans, who lives in Washington Heights and was a resident of The Bottoms as a child. When that happened all you could see was the rooftops of some of those houses.Urban renewal efforts in the mid-1950s offered six alternatives, the last of which called for the relocation of families living in The Bottoms to other neighborhoods. Taking this option allowed the city to avoid the cost of building new homes for the displaced families. This was the alternative selected and homeowners received $200 per house in compensation.Owens says many of these families relocated to Washington Heights into homes once occupied by physicians and employees with the Battle Creek Sanitarium.A lot of the houses in Washington Heights are large because they used to be single-family residences for people who worked at the Sanitarium, Owens says.Both Holley and Owens say they have heard that residents of The Bottoms were steered into certain areas of the city during the relocation process. I believe that race definitely played a role. Their whole sense of community was disrupted and that has an impact, Holley says.The residents Ive talked with, from what they recall, it wasnt a choice. Many residents of The Bottoms were homeowners, but once they relocated they became renters. They were pushed out because of urban renewal.Holley says she is currently determining the best way to digitize the cassette tapes so that they can be made available for anyone to listen to.We hope to have an interactive booth where people can listen to these oral histories. We would also invite residents who lived in The Bottoms to come and talk about their memories, Holley says. Were hoping that by digitizing and putting them on a platform through digital and social media, it becomes that much more accessible. There are so many stories that havent been told or told in specific ways to specific individuals.Getting these stories out to community residents is part of the mission of the TRHT framework which consists of five areas, and the first two: Narrative Change and Racial Healing and Relationship Building, are foundational pillars for all TRHT work. The remaining three areas are Separation, the Law, and Economy.In June 2017, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation committed approximately $24 million in 14 multi-sector collaborations in communities across the United States -- including Battle Creek -- to implement a TRHT process using the framework. Each community received a grant through a coordinating organization for implementing their TRHT and to establish a growth fund to sustain the work for the long-term.Transcribing the Memories of Hamblin tapes is part of the TRHTs narrative change for Battle Creek.Holley says this narrative change design is about disrupting dominant narratives based in white supremacy. She says it rebukes stereotypes in order to tell the truth about local and national racial history and change the narrative of the United States.Its Important work and difficult work, Holley says. It can be tough and it can trigger emotions because it involves difficult conversations where people are coming from two totally different perspectives.Despite the discomfort these dialogs may cause, Holley says these discussions are important to the work of racial healing, building authentic relationships, and transforming systems that have structural racism or policies that affect marginalized individuals. The basis for transformation, she says, is telling the truth, having those difficult conversations, and working through them together.Owens says the importance of getting these overlooked truths and stories in front of people cannot be underestimated. She says when she was a student in the Lakeview schools, she learned all about Christopher Columbus, but never head the name of Sojourner Truth or much about native American Indians.Then I went to Hope and College and learned all of these things, says Owens, who retired in 2009 from Athens High School where she taught English. But, history has been her passion and less than one year after she retired, she began volunteering with the Historical Society.She says historical accuracy has been the victim of various ethnic groups who lobbied to get their famous historical figures represented, often leaving out the more unsavory acts committed by these individuals. As an example, she cites Italians who wanted to be represented and got Christopher Columbus into the history books with information that did not necessarily present a true picture of the explorer.Holley says she doesnt know if the dismantling of The Bottoms community was ever taught as part of the citys history.Its important because this is a part of Battle Creeks history and there are so many stories and voices being left out of it, Holley says. We want to create a multi-racial narrative centered on compassion, inclusion, and justice. For a neighborhood that no longer has its own school within the city boundaries, the Kalamazoo Eastside Schools Reunion is a chance to connect with classmates from seven elementary and junior highs that once served the Eastside, five of which no longer exist.High school was just everybody you barely knew, says Ailene Lind Buchtrup, reunion chairperson and Facebook group moderator, along with Nancy Ruse Flipse. But in elementary and junior high, you really got to know those kids.Its this special early childhood bond that is celebrated annually, and throughout the year on the groups private Facebook page, with shared photos, memorabilia, memories and renewed connections, and sometimes the inevitable obituaries and other Eastside neighborhood changes that mark the passage of time.We went to school together. We played together. Our parents, some of them, had businesses on the Eastside, says Lind Buchtrup, who has fond memories of growing up on the Eastside. We lived over there. There was no reason to go anywhere else.Originally called the Roosevelt School Reunion, named after the beloved combined elementary and junior high school that was located on Roosevelt Hill where the Roosevelt Hill Apartments now are, the group expanded six years ago to include all Eastside schools, including St. Marys Catholic High School, which has also closed.Lind Buchtrup, who attended school in the 1970s, says she remembers the Eastside as a diverse, self-sufficient neighborhood, with its plentiful woods, beautiful hilly views, two grocery stores, gas station, car service, public library, schools, and restaurants.Since the mid-70s, the neighborhood declined significantly, losing many of its former businesses and shuttering its schools. But love for the neighborhood is still alive, and those who lived there appreciate a chance to reconnect in the group that has over 800 members.Its not just fellow classmates who reconnect at the reunion, however. The group also invites former teachers and administrators.We invite some of the living teachers to this reunion, says Lind Buchtrup. And that draws a crowd like a celebrity would.One of those special people is Gwen Tulk , retired longtime librarian at Northeastern Junior High School, now Northeastern Elementary School, whose birthday has been celebrated at the annual reunion for the past five years. This year, Tulk, one of the oldest living residents of the Eastside, turned 102.Wed walk in the library and there she was, says Lind Buchtrup of Tulk. She was a natural sitting behind there. For Eastsiders that picture of her behind the desk takes us back. She was right there or walking around the room.Once an Eastsider, always an Eastsider, even when you live somewhere else, like the West Side of Kalamazoo, where Lind Buchtrup now lives. But if she sees someone out and about town wearing the Eastsider T-shirt, theres an immediate sense of connection, she says.If we wear those T-shirts, even if we dont even know you, we high five. Its a sisterhood/brotherhood kind of thing Recently discovered by many who graduated from St. Marys Catholic High School, the private Facebook group continues to expand. In its larger years, over 300 people have attended the annual September reunion, drawing both locals and those who have relocated around the country.The reunion itself is a festive affair, including a potluck, memorabilia, photos, and games. Ticket prices are $7, which helps pay for rental of the room at the Kalamazoo Expo Center. The group is also seeking business and individual sponsors as last years reunion incurred out of pocket costs. Donations are welcome.As rich a resource as the Facebook group can be, its the actual face-to-face meetings that are the reunion groups highlights, says Lind Buchtrup.Whats most exciting is the new people who come and their eyes are just wide open as they look for people they used to know, says Lind Buchtrup. When you come, you want to see people you knew years ago. And sometimes you find them. And its an amazing reunion.This years reunion will take place Sept. 21 at the Kalamazoo Expo Center. To request membership to the private Facebook group, fill out the brief questionnaire . If you would like to purchase an Eastsider T-shirt (all colors and all sizes for $15, delivery around town for free or shipped for a small fee), or would like to register for the reunion, please contact Lind Buchtrup here . Press Release May 2, 2019 ANGARA ASKS KIN OF OFWs IN LIBYA: CONVINCE YOUR LOVED ONES TO COME HOME Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is urging the families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Libya to convince their loved ones to return to the Philippines as soon as possible after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised to the highest level the crisis alert in the North African state due to intense fighting around the capital city of Tripoli. The DFA declared Alert Level 4, which requires mandatory repatriation and a total ban on OFW deployment to Libya, where more than 3,500 Filipinos are currently employed. "We ask the relatives of our OFWs in Libya to persuade their loved ones to heed the government's forced evacuation order and proceed to the Philippine embassy in Tripoli so that repatriation procedures can be initiated as soon as possible," Angara said. "Huwag na po sanang magdalawang-isip pa ang ating mga kababayan sa Libya na bumalik sa Pilipinas sa lalong madaling panahon para mailayo sila sa anumang kapahamakan at makapiling nila ang kanilang mga mahal sa buhay dito sa Pilipinas. Ang bawat buhay po ay mahalaga," he added. The lawmaker from Aurora, who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara," also reiterated his appeal to the government ensure the safe return of Filipinos who wish to avail of the repatriation program. According to Angara, those who will return home should not worry because the government is ready to take care of their needs, citing the benefits provided under Republic Act 10801 that institutionalized and strengthened the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). "Hindi po kailangang mag-alinlangan ang mga OFW sa Libya na bumalik sa Pilipinas dahil may mga programa ang gobyerno para sa kanila," Angara said. "Ang benepisyong ito ay nanggaling mismo sa kanilang bulsa kaya marapat lamang na sila ay makinabang dito lalo na sa panahong kailangan nila ng tulong." Angara co-authored and sponsored RA 10801, also known as the OWWA Act of 2016, as then chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor. The law provides a wide array of services and benefits to OFWs funded by the $25 membership fee collected from them every two years. Under RA 10801, OWWA is mandated to provide benefits and services to its members, which include gender-responsive integration program, repatriation assistance, loan and credit assistance, on-site worker assistance, death and disability benefits, health care benefits, education and skills training, social services, and family welfare assistance. These benefits and services, according to Angara, are just a small token of gratitude for the valuable contribution of OFWs to the overall national development effort. "We have to give back to our OFWs, whose remittances have kept the Philippine economy afloat for many years," the senator said. On top of the OWWA funds, Angara said the Senate allocated an additional P100 million for the emergency repatriation program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) under the 2019 national budget. "The additional funding would provide the department a standby fund for the repatriation of distressed OFWs in cases of outbreaks or crisis in their host countries," said Angara, who sponsored the DOLE's 2019 budget being the vice chair of the Senate finance committee. Press Release May 2, 2019 De Lima lauds ex-Times editor Salvosa for standing up for truth, honesty Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has lauded former Manila Times Editor Felipe Salvosa II for standing up to truth and honesty when he resigned in protest to a story linking some media organizations to an alleged ouster plot against Mr. Duterte. De Lima, the first prominent political prisoner under the present administration, considered Salvosa's "tough decision" as a strong statement against Mr. Duterte's drive to absolute power through fake news and political persecution. "Felipe "Ipe" Salvosa's resignation from the Manila Times is proof that even in the darkest of times, when evil and malice reign, there will always be individuals who will stand up for truth and honesty," she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 511. "Patunay lamang si Ginoong Salvosa na meron pa ring mga mamamahayag na kayang manindigan at ipagtatanggol ang integridad ng kanilang propesyon sa gitna ng mga pananakot o di kaya'y alok na yaman at kapangyarihan," she added. Last April 24, Salvosa resigned from his post after Times owner and Chairman Emeritus Dante Ang published a story about an alleged "Oust Duterte" matrix tagging the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Vera Files, Rappler, and the National Union of People's Lawyers as conspirators behind a plot to unseat the President. The local newspaper's front page, which showed a matrix purportedly sourced from the Office of the President, also linked the personalities connected in the said groups to the viral video "Ang Totoong Narco List" which linked the President's family and friends to the illegal drug trade. More than the resignation of Salvosa, the lady Senator from Bicol pointed out that the bigger issue is the Duterte administration's clamp down on media institutions to coerce them into becoming its mouthpiece like the Manila Times. "This sinister plan destroys the wall between fake news or propaganda and legitimate news outfits, for the public to be fed with news filtered and generated by the ilk of the President," said the former justice secretary. "Any resistance to be part of this propaganda machine has severe repercussions. We have seen how Maria Ressa and Rappler have been harassed until now. The 'Oust Duterte Matrix' was also a serious warning against those who dare investigate the President and his family," she added. De Lima said she hopes that the Filipino public will consider Salvosa's resignation as an awakening that one cannot simply stand down and watch while Duterte and his paid troll army repress press freedom and the right of every citizen to information. "Tulad po ni Ipe, manindigan po tayo para sa katotohanan sapagkat susi po ito sa pamamayani ng hustisya, kalayaan at kaunlaran sa ating bayan," she said. De Lima has unfailingly called out on Mr. Duterte and his allies for spreading outright lies, disinformation, and crude remarks, especially against opposition members, several media outfits and personalities and religious leaders, among others. Japan's new emperor ascended to the throne on Wednesday marking the start of the "Reiwa" era. In a brief speech on his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, Emperor Naruhito said he sincerely hopes for "world peace." Hopes run high here that Naruhito, who was born in 1960 and is Japan's first emperor who did not witness World War II, will find the strength finally to face up to the country's imperial history. Diplomatic relations have deteriorated severely due to the Abe administration's attempts to revise Japan's pacifist constitution, Seoul's decision to effectively void a murky deal compensating victims of wartime sexual slavery, and the Supreme Court here ordering Japanese companies to compensate victims of wartime forced labor. On top of that, Japan continues to push a flimsy colonial-era claim to Korea's Dokdo islets, and a spat has been brewing for months over coat-trailing flybys of Japanese spy planes over Korean warships in the area. Now a Korean court is poised to authorize the selloff of the Korean assets of the Japanese companies who have refused to comply with the compensation order, so matter can only get worse. Already there is talk in Japan of retaliation in the form of tariffs, curtailed financial transactions and visa issuances. No senior officials from the two sides have sat face to face for some time. That must urgently change. Northeast Asian countries are busy forming new alliances now that U.S. President Donald Trump is determined to retrench. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been forging closer ties with China and just met for the first time with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Faced with mounting U.S. trade pressure, China resumed imports of Japanese beef and is taking steps to improve relations with Tokyo, which in turn sent a delegation to China's Belt and Road forum. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, hopes to strengthen his country's alliance with the U.S. by offering to pull greater military weight. He visited the U.S. just last week and Trump will make a reciprocal visit to Japan late this month, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with the new emperor. But South Korea's diplomatic efforts at present are solely focused on North Korea, which does not even bother to respond. The latest summit between President Moon Jae-in and Trump in April lasted effectively two minutes, while Abe and Trump talked for more than 270 minutes. Now Abe is even seeking a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, so Seoul risks being completely sidelined. Naruhito may only be a titular leader, but he holds a very special place in Japanese society and a small tilt of the head can carry enormous weight. His ascension could offer a chance for a warming of chilled Seoul-Tokyo ties. But in order for that to happen, both governments must stop using their animosity for political gain at home. To be fair, Moon did send a message of congratulation. It is to be hoped that Moon and Abe can sit face to face on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan next month and take the first step in solving bilateral problems. South Korea and Japan will always be neighbors, intricately linked in terms of culture, economics and national security. They must put an end to this abnormal state of diplomatic affairs. Press Release May 2, 2019 Gatchalian urges gov't agencies to report data breaches to Nat'l Privacy Commission ASAP Senator Win Gatchalian on Monday urged government agencies to immediately report to the National Privacy Commission (NPC) any unauthorized access to the databases containing personal information that they have in custody. Gatchalian made the call after learning of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UNIFAST) data breach in March that exposed the personal data of more than one million Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) applicants. The TES database containing the private data of 1,130,899 applicants - including their student identification number, full name, birth date, father's and mother's names, and address - was accessed by unknown intruders on March 16. The lawmaker said that according to an official document that his office received, the hacker accessed and deleted the TES database and left a ransomware, a type of malicious software that threatens to publish the victim's data unless a ransom is paid. "The breach happened mid-March but the Secretariat was only able to report the breach to the NPC mid-April. Sana nireport nila ng mas maaga dahil responsibilidad nilang gawin 'yon." Gatchalian said. Sec. 20 (f) of Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012 states that "The personal information controller shall promptly notify the [NPC] and affected data subjects when sensitive personal information or other information that may, under the circumstances, be used to enable identity fraud are reasonably believed to have been acquired by an unauthorized person, and the personal information controller or the Commission believes bat such unauthorized acquisition is likely to give rise to a real risk of serious harm to any affected data subject." He urged the UNIFAST Secretariat to be more vigilant in securing and storing personal data of students as he noted the string of hacks on government websites in the previous weeks. "The UNIFAST breach itself is alarming enough. But when you take into consideration the April 1 hack that leaked the Scout Ranger database of the Philippine Army, unscrupulous persons could cross reference both databases to determine where our soldiers live," Gatchalian said. "Kailangan natin ma-realize na this goes beyond the security of our students. Maaaring nakasalalay din dito ang seguridad ng ating mga sundalo," he added. Gatchalian is a reserve officer of the Philippine Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He previously urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to investigate the April 1 attack made by hacking group Pinoy LulzSec on a large number of government websites. "The government must also take steps to secure critical information structures and government networks. It bears pointing out that even the official Senate website does not currently use a secure connection," he said. Moa Group says it narrowed its trading loss in the second half of the financial year as it works towards breaking even after seven years of red ink since the beer brewer listed. The company said it's trading loss was $600,000 in the six months ended March 31, excluding one-off costs, such as the undisclosed bill associated with the $13 million acquisition of hospitality firm Savor Group. That implies Moa will report an annual trading loss of about $2 million, compared to a loss of $2.5 million in the March 2018 year. Sales were up 15 percent for the year, implying revenue of $12 million compared to the $10.5 million a year earlier. The company said three of the last six months of trading were in profit. "Moa Brewing Company continues to build toward break-even on a standalone basis, as demonstrated in recent summer months," executive chair Geoff Ross said in a statement. The company has yet to turn a profit since its controversial listing in late 2012, when it included advertising in its investment statement and photographs of young women in skimpy outfits drinking beer. It sold shares at $1.25 apiece, raising $15 million to expand its Nelson brewery. That expansion was blocked and it outsourced production to nearby McCashin's Brewery. The beermaker had issues with its then-distributor Treasury Wine Estates the following year, dumping them for failing to meet new targets. After several years of direct distribution, it decided more recently to team up with multi-national Constellation Brands on distribution. Moa's latest attempt to reinvigorate the business was the acquisition of Savor for $13 million upfront in cash and shares, rising to $21.4 million if earnings targets are met. The shares recently traded at 38 cents, matching the recent issue price to Savor's vendors. "Moa Group acquired Savor Group on April 1 - a vertical acquisition of bars and restaurants in Auckland which will more than triple the revenues of the company, and is intended to ensure sustainable future profitability, and provide several synergies," Ross said. The expanded beermaker and hospitality firm will give an indication of trading for the full group when it formally reports in late May. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: 24th December 2021 Morning Report Goodman Property Trust (NZX: GMT) GMT to develop North Shore facility for NZ Post 23rd December 2021 Morning Report SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) EXPANDS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH GIG Spark New Zealand Limited (NZX: SPK) Spark to take full ownership of Connect 8 22nd December 2021 Morning Report Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) Wynyard Quarter Stage 3 Commenced AMP Limited (NZX: AMP) Announces Delisting from the NZX Main Board 21st December 2021 Morning Report Greenfern Industries Limited (NZX: GFI) Updates on NTA AMPs New Zealand wealth management business suffered a net cash outflow of A$52 million in the March quarter, a big turn-around from a net inflow of A$53 million in the same quarter of last year. That suggests the kiwi branch may be suffering a contagion effect after its Australian parent was excoriated in Australias royal commission into financial services and which is in the process of a radical reshaping of the business. AMP is ditching nearly 170 years as a trans-Tasman life insurance company by selling both its Australian and New Zealand life insurance and wealth protection businesses. The life insurance business is to be sold to British-based Resolution Life for A$3.3 billion. The net outflow in New Zealand was despite A$162 million of new money flowing into AMPs KiwiSaver scheme, up from A$150 million in the same three months last year. However, the New Zealand results pale into insignificance compared with the A$1.8 billion net cash outflow the Australian wealth management business suffered in the wake of the royal commission. The Australian outflow included A$538 million of regular pension payments. The figures were released ahead of AMPs annual shareholders meeting at which the board comfortably avoided a second strike vote, largely because the board has effectively already suffered a spill. Under Australias Corporations Act, shareholders get to vote on each listed companys remuneration report and if more than 25 percent vote against it one year as AMPs shareholders did last year and then again the following year, shareholders get to vote on whether all directors have to stand for re-election. While a number of fund managers had protested the sale of the life business and had planned to show their displeasure by voting against AMPs remuneration report this year, they mustered only 10.59 percent of the votes cast and the resolution was carried with 89.4 percent voting in favour. But four of the companys 10 directors had all been appointed since the last AGM former chair Catherine Brenner had actually resigned ahead of last years AGM and a fifth is the new chief executive, Francesco De Ferrari, who also sits on the board. Those four new non-executive directors were duly elected ahead of the vote on the remuneration report. Chair David Murray, former chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia who conducted his own financial system inquiry in 2014 and recommended banks should hold more capital, took the helm in June last year from Mike Wilkins. Wilkins, who remains on the board, had stepped into the breach left by Brenners departure and had also filled in as acting chief executive until De Ferrari took up the reins. I joined AMP because I believe this is an important Australian institution for our customers, the community and the wider financial system, which, in the context of the Royal Commission, must make earning back trust a priority, Murray told shareholders. Last year, AMP was shown to have faltered from its purpose and as your new chairman, I am focused on driving change, improving governance, facing squarely into the issues and being accountable, he said. Murray championed the sale of the life business, saying its the right outcome for shareholders and that the majority of the proceeds will be returned to shareholders. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: 24th December 2021 Morning Report Goodman Property Trust (NZX: GMT) GMT to develop North Shore facility for NZ Post 23rd December 2021 Morning Report SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) EXPANDS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH GIG Spark New Zealand Limited (NZX: SPK) Spark to take full ownership of Connect 8 22nd December 2021 Morning Report Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) Wynyard Quarter Stage 3 Commenced AMP Limited (NZX: AMP) Announces Delisting from the NZX Main Board 21st December 2021 Morning Report Greenfern Industries Limited (NZX: GFI) Updates on NTA New Delhi: The National Stock Exchange is currently examining the Sebi order, barring it from the securities market for six months in the years long co-location issue and directing it to pay a penalty of Rs 1,000 crore, to decide its future course of action, its MD & CEO Vikram Limaye said on Wednesday. "We are currently examining the order," Limaye told IANS. To a specific question, whether NSE would challenge the Sebi order, he said: "The order has come just last (Tuesday) evening. Our lawyers are still examining the order. We have different options. Once we get appropriate advice from lawyers and we discuss within the board, then we will decide our future course of action." Limaye also asserted that the order will have no bearing on its businesses even during the ensuing six months period. Asked if NSE will be calling a board meeting to discuss its legal team's advice on this, he said: "We already have a board meeting scheduled for our year-end results .We will discuss the Sebi order and the legal advice in the meeting." With regard to action against some of the employees (ex CEOs) of the NSE who have been indicted in the Sebi report, he said that the exchange would wait for legal advice, which is expected within the next 15 days. "There are two aspects to it. There are employees who have been represented by an independent counsel and they will have to decide on what course of action they want to take on the basis of the order and what options are available to them. We are also getting appropriate legal advice on the institutional matter and the employee issues. Once we have that advice, we will discuss in the board for appropriate action, we will have to decide on course of action very soon," he said. The NSE MD & CEO said the implied meaning of the order on its proposed IPO is that the fund raising has to wait for another six months. "The order says that we can not tap the public market for the next six months which is an indication of the timeline of the IPO... which will obviously mean that we have to wait for six months," he said. Limaye also clarified there is no bar on launching new products on the Gift City exchange and that the Sebi order only prohibits launching new derivatives products in the domestic market. "There is no bar on Gift City which is a separate exchange and is regulated separately. This order is on NSE. And we are free to launch any new products on NSE Gift City." The NSE chief also said the Sebi order will have no bearing on the existing trading, business and on investors and the issue of co-location is more related to technology, control and processes during the period 2010-14. "This order has no implication on the functioning on NSE, or functioning of market or on any segment of the NSE so everything will continue as normal. There will be no disruption to the investors. The depth of the NSE and the Indian markets are well established and that will continue. "This is only a resolution of a matter that was pending for the last 7-8 years. The Sebi order has no bearing on the NSE as an exchange or on any segment. Trading will continue as normal. It is a matter relating to a historical issue and has got no implications on NSE functioning or business except for two restrictions for six months and there will be no new derivative products for six months. All the existing products and indices will continue," he said. In a volume of five orders issued on Tuesday, Sebi asked the NSE to "disgorge" its profits from co-location worth Rs 624.89 crore at 12 per cent interest to the Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF). The amount with interest would add up to about Rs 1,000 crore. The Sebi has also penalised NSE's two former CEOs and founding members Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramakrishna. Narain, who was heading the exchange between 2010 and 2013, was asked to deposit 25 per cent of his salary for the three fiscals in IPEF, while Ramakrishna, who was the CEO of the exchange starting fiscal 2014, must deposit 25 per cent of her salary for that fiscal. She stepped down as CEO in December 2016. Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Writes to President and PM with proposed action points for reviving the Nation Consequent to concerns discussed at its April meeting of the Chamber Committee, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce sought meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss matters relating to security concerns and national revival efforts, following the acts of terrorism which occurred on Easter Sunday (21 April). In response, the Prime Minister met with the leadership of the Chamber on Monday (01 May), during which several action points were discussed. The Chamber leaders also handed over to the Prime Minister, a letter addressed jointly to the President and Prime Minister. The letter is reproduced below. The Chamber has forwarded the letter to the President and awaits an appointment with His Excellency to discuss matters further. May 1, 2019 His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena, President Honourable Ranil Wickremasinghe, Prime Minister Your Excellency, Hon. Prime Minister, ISSUES ARISING FROM THE EASTER 2019 TERRORIST ATTACK AND EFFORTS REQUIRED TO REVIVE THE NATION The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is deeply concerned that the events that resulted in the senseless acts of terrorism that claimed the lives of so many people were able to be carried out due to the negligence of the Government machinery. While terrorist activities aimed at achieving ideological objectives can never find justification, what is deeply saddening is that there was a failure on the part of law enforcement to prevent this attack despite being in possession of intelligence that warned of impending threats. The available information points to a serious lack of coordination, incompetence and ineffectiveness in handling national security. It is also abundantly clear that petty divisive political differences among the political leadership has contributed to a situation where interests of the country are subordinated to political agendas. The events of October 2018 were also an indication of this sorry situation, which was fortunately corrected by an independent judiciary. On that occasion too, it was the people that suffered. Going forward, the people of this country need to be assured that the government machinery to safeguard its people from acts of terrorists is effective, that national security will be accorded the highest priority and that the political leadership of this country has the capacity to work together setting aside political differences to accord the highest priority to national issues. It is unfortunate but true that the recent events and the mishandling of security has contributed to the erosion of confidence in the political leadership to keep this country safe and to ensure that its economy which is challenged also due to external factors is further embattled due to domestic issues which are avoidable. While the immediate victims of the Easter attacks were those that lost their lives and their families, the consequences will impact millions more whose dependence on sectors that are seriously adversely affected will impair their livelihood prospects for a considerable period. This isunfortunate. We also condemn the utterances of elected representatives of the people and other political personalities of all parties who are continuing to engage in the blame game in an attempt to make political capital of the current situation. This is indeed a pathetic display of a lack of sensitivity to current national issues which should be addressed by all political parties collectively and in a spirit that accepts that theres a national crisis. To engage in such narrow political pursuits is to demonstrate an inability to appreciate the true role of leaders of the people. The need of the moment is for statesmen not mere politicians. In these circumstances, we urge that the following be actioned: 1) National security While we appreciate steps taken after the Easter attacks, adequate measures should be sustained to handle national security. The National Security Council mechanism should be activated and used with seriousness. For this purpose, the portfolios of Defence and of Law & Order should be placed in the hands of those who have the capacity to provide leadership to handle current and future challenges with foresight and wisdom and devoid of political aspirations. The President, the Prime Minister and Government should speak with a unified voice on the current and future actions after considered decisions are taken together. A 24 hour Media response center should be established to respond to false reports that create fears and concerns among thegeneral public. The current legal provisions available (ICCPR Act) should be used to deal with hate speech. 2) Revival of the economy. Its vital to fast track a revival of the economy. Formulate a national policy for the revival of the major sectors (such as tourism)that are currently affected. For this purpose, adopt an inclusive process that secures inputs from all stakeholders. 3) Decision making in Government. To ensure speedy and sensible decision making in important areas, persons of competence should be appointed to key positions. Identify key positions in Government relevant to implement the development agenda and re-examine the capabilities of current holders of those positions. Its important that government functionaries should have the capacity to take decisions speedily and without fear. If necessary, invite private sector leaders to handle those key positions. 4) Overall revival Take appropriate action to inspire persons of all political parties to unite in the revival processes. This is a time to unite for the good of the country. We will condemn the actions of those who seek to stifle a resurgence for narrow political gains. Ethnic unity should be consistently called for and extremism of all kinds should be abhorred and acted against, by the political leadership. The elected representatives of the people should be required to comply with a code of behavior when making public comments. Theyre opinion makers and must act with responsibility. The media should be required to comply with the need for responsible reporting. 5) Effective communication and management of perceptions. In our efforts to recover from this situation, it is vital to inspire confidence in the people of this country as well as internationally. Such an effort if effectively carried out, will result in our ability to reinforce the pursuit of vital targets such as attracting investment, attracting tourists and being held out as a country that has systems and processes in place to deal with vulnerability to terrorism and the resilience to overcome such threats. We, as representatives of the private sector, assure you of our commitment and support towards implementing all progressive measures that will contribute to revival efforts. 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As part of the consolidation, Bombardier will be looking to sell its Belfast and Morocco aerostructures businesses. The company says the move will allow it to better focus on its Global, Challenger, Learjet and CRJ brands. David Coleal, leader of Bombardiers business aircraft division since 2015, has been appointed president of the new unit. With our clear vision for the future of Bombardier Aviation, we will focus our aerostructures activities around our core capabilities in Montral, Mexico and our newly acquired Global 7500 wing operations in Texas, said Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare. Collectively, these facilities provide Bombardier with all the skills, technologies and capabilities to design, produce and service the current and next generation of aircraft. Bombardier also released its financial results for the first quarter (Q1) of 2019. The company reported revenues of $970 million on 24 aircraft in its business aircraft segmentdown from $1.1 billion on 31 aircraft during the same period in 2018and $241 million on four aircraft in its commercial segment versus $463 million on eight in Q1 last year. The companys aerostructures and engineering services segment saw a 5% increase from Q1 2018 from $446 million to $470 million. SpaceX capsule was destroyed in 'anomaly': lawmaker Washington, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019 A space capsule suspected to have exploded last month in an incident characterized by manufacturer SpaceX as an "anomaly" was in fact completely destroyed, a US Senator confirmed Wednesday. "The most recent SpaceX anomaly caused the complete loss of the (crew) capsule," Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of a Senate committee that manages NASA's budget, said during a hearing. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told Shelby the agency, which has contracted its mission to resume carrying US astronauts to the International Space Station to Elon Musk's SpaceX and Boeing, would be carrying out a joint investigation with SpaceX. NASA and SpaceX have remained tight-lipped about what caused the serious incident during engine tests on April 25. A leaked video posted on Twitter, later indirectly authenticated by NASA, showed an explosion. NASA is counting on SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, a task handled since 2011 by Russia, with first manned flight planned before the end of the year. The capsule that exploded was to be launched by a rocket in the coming months during a full-scale test of its in-flight abort system that would allow it to return to Earth in case of an emergency. SpaceX and NASA must now urgently work to discover the cause of the explosion as well as replace the capsule -- calling into question NASA's stated goal of launching American astronauts into space from US soil by the end of 2019. . - 1,5 . ... Missile contracts surge as US exits arms treaty: study Geneva, May 2 (AFP) May 02, 2019 Washington has signed more than $1 billion in new missile contracts in the three months since it announced plans to withdraw from a key Cold War-era arms treaty, campaigners said Thursday. "The withdrawal from the INF Treaty has fired the starting pistol on a new Cold War," warned Beatrice Fihn, who heads the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). US President Donald Trump announced last October that his country would leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement concluded between the US and the former Soviet Union in 1987. Washington, which accused Russia of violating the treaty through a new missile system, began the official process of withdrawing from the pact in February. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying Moscow would also leave the INF treaty, which is considered the cornerstone of global arms control. In the three months following the October announcement, the US government "proceeded to arrange no less than $1 billion in new missile contracts", according to a report by ICAN and another anti-nuclear campaign group, PAX. The report detailed over $1.1 billion in new contracts with six mainly US companies. US defence contractor Raytheon saw the biggest windfall, tallying 44 new contracts worth some $537 million. Lockheed Martin meanwhile scooped up 36 new contracts, worth $268 million, while Boeing grabbed four new contracts totalling $245 million, the report found. - 'Congress should investigate' - "Congress should investigate the lobbying roles of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon who took the lion's share of these contracts," Fihn said in a statement. The report authors acknowledged that it was unclear if all of the new contracts awarded between October 22, 2018 and January 21, 2019 were for new nuclear weapon production. "What is clear is that there is a new rush towards building more missiles that benefit a handful of US companies and intend to flood the market with missiles regardless of their range," they said. At a global level, the report found that governments are currently contracting at least $116 billion (102 billion euros) to private companies in France, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and the US for the production, development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. At the same time, it stressed that the private sector involvement in the arsenals of China, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia remain largely hidden, with little insight into how much is being contracted and which companies are getting the deals. Many of the outstanding contracts identified in the report were granted around 2015 and are set to expire in 2020, but some of the contracts have far longer time frames. For example, one contract for a key component necessary to launch US Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles runs until at least 2075, the report showed. "President Trump is heralding the need for global denuclearisation, but US deeds, and those of nuclear-armed allies do not match those words," said Susi Snyder, PAX nuclear disarmament programme manager and the lead author of the report. "We see the US and other states planning for a nuclear-armed century, with contracts to maintain weapons through at least 2075, despite growing domestic and global calls to reverse course," she lamented. nl/bs/jj BOEING LOCKHEED MARTIN Pentagon expects China to add international military bases Washington, May 2 (AFP) May 02, 2019 The US Defense Department expects China to add military bases around the world to protect its investments in it ambitious One Belt One Road global infrastructure program, according to an official report released Thursday. Beijing currently has just one overseas military base, in Djibouti, but is believed planning others, including possibly Pakistan, as it seeks to project itself as a global superpower. "China's advancement of projects such as the 'One Belt, One Road' Initiative (OBOR) will probably drive military overseas basing through a perceived need to provide security for OBOR projects," the Pentagon said in its annual report to Congress on Chinese military and security developments. "China will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries," the report said. That effort could be constrained by other countries' wariness of hosting a full-time presence of the People's Liberation Army, the report noted. But target locations for military basing could include the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the western Pacific. China has already established well-armed outposts on contested atolls it build up in the South China Sea. Last year, there were reportedly discussions on a base in the Wakhan corridor of northwest Afghanistan. In addition, The Washington Post recently identified an outpost hosting many Chinese troops in eastern Tajikistan, near the strategic junction of the Wakhan Corridor, China, and Pakistan. Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought to project the country's power beyond its immediate "back yard" in East and Southeast Asia. This includes strengthening the country's presence in international institutions, acquiring top-flight technology and establishing a strong economic presence worldwide. It also includes projecting the country's military force on land, sea and in space, the report notes. "China's leaders are leveraging China's growing economic, diplomatic, and military clout to establish regional preeminence and expand the country's international influence," the report said. Beijing in particular increasingly see the United States as becoming more confrontational in an effort to contain China's expanding power, it said. Beijing meanwhile has taken note of a growing suspicion in many countries of the One Belt One Road program, and has toned down its aggressive rhetoric in response. Nevertheless, the Pentagon said Beijing's leadership has not altered its fundamental strategic goals. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Bir Lehlou, Liberated Territories Of Western Sahara, April 30, 2019 (SPS) - The Frente POLISARIO takes note of the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2468 (2019), which extends the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for a period of six months. The Frente POLISARIO also takes note of the Security Councils call upon the two partiesthe Frente POLISARIO and Moroccoto resume negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General without preconditions and in good faith, with a view to achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. The Frente POLISARIO reaffirms that the only practicable, realistic and enduring solution is one that grants our people their inalienable right to decide their own fate freely, democratically and without preconditions. The raison detre of the Frente POLISARIO is to defend the inalienable rights and legitimate aspirations of the Sahrawi people and we will accept nothing less than the full respect for our peoples inalienable right to self-determination and independence. By renewing the Missions mandate for six months for the third consecutive time, the Security Council has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing the UN peace process in Western Sahara, despite the strong opposition of those who seek to maintain the status quo. We regret, however, that the Security Council has missed a significant opportunity to follow through on its commitment to end the status quo and demand that Morocco cease its illegal occupation of Western Sahara. The failure of the Security Council to unequivocally condemn Moroccos destabilising actions and rampant bad faith efforts only emboldens the Moroccan occupying power to persist in its intransigence, and undermines an already fragile political process. We have already seen the damaging effects of the Security Councils silence. In recent months, Morocco has increased the pace and magnitude of its violations to the ceasefire and brutally repressed the Sahrawi population living in the occupied territories. Morocco has done its utmost to disrupt and derail the UN-led peace process, including by refusing to undertake confidence building measures to demonstrate its willingness to make progress on the political track. These threats to peace require a clear response by the Security Council and Morocco must be held accountable for its actions. The Frente POLISARIO reaffirms its sincere and constructive cooperation with the efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, President Horst Kohler. We remain ready to engage constructively in UN-facilitated direct negotiations between the two parties. It is therefore imperative that the Council move ahead urgently to reinforce the political process and to ensure that the next stages deliver tangible outcomes for our people and fully respect their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.SPS 125/090 Radler goes on to speak about Hitler, and now adds that the disease is not just pluralism and humanism, but also feminism and that Hitler was absolutely right by Jonathan Ofir Yesterday, Israeli Channel 13 aired video recordings by rabbi educators at the state-sponsored military prep-academy Bnei David in the West Bank settlement of Eli. The rabbis hail Hitlers Nazi racist ideology as 100% correct, only criticizing it for not being applied to the right people that is, the Jews should be the master-race, and non-Jews the untermenschen. The statements are jaw-droppers. The full coverage with subtitles can be seen in a video prepared by journalist David Sheen. ___ David Sheen has subtitled the Israeli Channel 13 coverage concerning the rabbis at the Eli military-preparatory college, who endorse Hitler and the Nazi ideology (only they think it should be applied in Jewish favour against non-Jews). It is important to emphasize, as is also noted in the coverage: this is not a fringe, these things have been repeated for years, these people are now connected to the future government, to the education ministry no less. ___ These educators send young men to the army and have been advocating these ideas for years. They have close ties to lawmakers, specifically to Rabbi Rafi Peretz, now head of the Union of Right-Wing Parties, the notorious merger with the Kahanist party Jewish Power, who is now the leading candidate for Minister of Education. The academy is also tied to a Yeshiva, to which many students come after their military service. Slavery should return It starts out with Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel, who bemoans that slavery has been abolished: Abolishing legal slavery has created deficiencies. No one is responsible for that property. With Gods help it will return. The goyim(non-Jews) will want to be our slaves. Being a slave of the Jews is the best. They must be slaves, they want to be slaves. Instead of just wandering the streets, being foolish and harming each other, now hes a slave, now his life is beginning to come into order. The goyim in this context is to be understood as Palestinians. He says its because they have genetic problems, and posits that they want to be under occupation: There are around us people with genetic problems. Ask any average Arab where he wants to be. He wants to be under occupation. Why? Because they have genetic problems, they dont know how to run a country, they dont know how to do anything look at the state of them. Yes, we are racists Of course there is racism, Kashtiel continues. Are we unaware that there are different races? Is it a secret? Is it untrue? What can you do? Its true. Yes, we are racists, we believe in racism. Kashtiel suggests that because Jews are a superior race, they can help the inferior ones: Correct, there are races in the world, nations have genetic characteristics, so we [the Jews] must consider how to help them. Racial differences are real, and thats precisely a reason to offer help. A student asks the rabbi: Who put you to decide who is who? Kashtiel: I can see that my accomplishments are much more impressive than his. The Holocaust is humanism and pluralism Another rabbi, Giora Radler, says that the Holocaust is not what you think, its not about killing Jews. It is humanism and pluralism that is killing us for real: The Holocaust for real is not about the killing of Jews thats not the Holocaust. All of these excuses claiming that it was based on ideology or that it was systematic, this is ridiculous. Because it was based on ideology, to a certain extent, makes it more moral than if people murdered people for no reason. Humanism, all the secular culture about us believing in the human, thats the Holocaust. The Holocaust, for real, is being pluralist, believing in I believe in the human. Thats whats called a Holocaust. The Lord (blessed be his name) is already shouting for many years that the [Jewish] exile is over, but people dont listen to him, and that is their disease, a disease which needs to be cured by the Holocaust. In other words, the Holocaust was there to teach Jews a lesson drop pluralism, isolate yourself in the Jewish State and let go of the diaspora illness. These remarks were made in a lesson titled relating to the Holocaust. The Nazi logic was right Radler: The Nazi logic was right unto themselves. Hitler says that a certain group in society is the seed of all calamity for all humanity, that because of it all of mankind will go to oblivion, that they harm humanity, and therefore must be exterminated. Radler asks a student: Does this ideology sound illogical to you? Very bad? Student answers: It doesnt sound moral. Radler: Was Moses as bad as Hitler? Student: No. Radler: Why not? There is one thing in the world that is truly evil and that is to be a hypocrite. Does it make a difference to you if they killed you now with a knife the way they did to Agag [the Amalekite king whom the prophet Samuel hacked in pieces] or if they kill you in a gas chamber? Hitler was right, 100% correct Radler goes on to speak about Hitler, and now adds that the disease is not just pluralism and humanism, but also feminism and that Hitler was absolutely right: Lets start with the question whether Hitler was right or not. Student: Not. Radler: [Hitler] is the most righteous person. Of course he is right in every word he utters. In his ideology he is right. There is a male world which fights, which deals with honor and the brotherhood of soldiers. And there is the soft, ethical feminine world [which speaks of] turning the other cheek. And we [Nazis] believe that the Jews carry on this heritage, trying, in our words, to spoil the whole of humanity, and thats why they are the real enemy. Now, he [Hitler] is 100% correct, aside from the fact that he was on the wrong side. So here, Radler was emulating Hitler, mouthing Nazi arguments approvingly. The only fault of the Nazis, per Radler, was that they didnt know who the real master race was, and who the real untermenschen were. The Nazis couldnt be right, because only Jews could be the superior ones. But if Jews now apply this race theory and ideology currently that is, essentially upon Palestinians, then they would really be 100% correct maybe even 101%, because they got it even more right than Hitler. Responses This is a big mouthful. Real Judeo-Nazism. The rabbis were contacted for response and tried to whitewash the whole thing as a misunderstanding. Rabbi Kashtiel said that he was sorry and at pain that a class on human rights got the opposite exposure to what it means, a modern-socialist understanding of slavery. Rabbi Radler said that his words were taken out of context and that the lesson about the Holocaust seeks to explain the sick logic of Hitler as well as the reasons and motives for the Holocaust. Israeli-Palestinian lawmaker Ahmad Tibi responded to the airing: In German it would have sounded more authentic. Of course, Zionist Israeli politicians were also alarmed. Centrist lawmaker Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter: This is not Judaism. These are not values. People who speak like this are not worthy of educating youths. Lapid called for halting the state financing of the Yeshiva until the racist rabbis are expelled. But theres a problem here, because Lapids own ideology is about maximum Jews on maximum land with maximum security and with minimum Palestinians, and although Lapid points out now that secular people established Israel, really, his religion is the ultra-nationalist Zionism, and he is just a slightly prettier face of that Judeo-Nazism we see emanating from Bnei David. Leftist Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg: The Eli academy should have been closed long ago, and whoever let the chauvinism, homophobia and all the rest of the hate which comes out of there to continue the madness, should not be surprised by the horrible expressions which came out of there today. Zandberg said she applied to the education ministry to stop funding the academy. But the Eli Yeshiva and academy are now closely tied with the government. It was the Yeshiva head rabbi Eli Sadan, who campaigned for Rafi Peretz to become head of the Union of Right Wing Parties, now the top candidate for Minister of Education. Peretz was allowed to speak to the students there before the elections, even as Naftali Bennett (who until now has been Minister of Education) and Prime Minister Netanyahu were refused. In other words, there is a whole political reality that is even more radical than both Netanyahu and even Bennett, who was considered extreme-right, one that really does speak of Jewish power, in an overtly fascist, literally Nazi, vein. And this ideology is poised to gain a central place in the Israeli government. Not a slip of the tongue As the Channel 13 coverage also notes, what we have heard here is no slip of the tongue: These statements have been repeated again for years at Bnei David. Not a slip of the tongue, but a set agenda. And Bnei David is not an isolated island. A similar story of a genocidal educator of security forces is rabbi Dov Lior from the settlement Kiryat Arba, who endorsed the book Torat Hamelech (Kings Torah) of 2009, which advocates the killing of non-Jewish babies since it is clear they will grow to harm us. Lior has been teaching police forces in a special program for religious recruits called Believers in the Police. The authors of the book, by the way, are from the Od Yosef Chai Yesiva in the settlement of Yitzhar, a Yeshiva that received funds from Jared Kushners familys foundation until 2011. Views of the Holocaust as a divine punishment for sinners have been expressed by the former chief Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who also believed that the purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, and he likened non-Jews to donkeys. It is possible that the above mentioned airing of shocking views may cause a certain temporary and local stir, but this ideology is deeply embedded, and now an integral part of a central Israeli political reality. It is clear that the rabbis treat this attention as a nuisance by liberals who have no understanding, and it is likely that they will regard this as an unfortunate Azarya like the soldier medic who was filmed murdering an incapacitated Palestinian at point blank range three years ago and had to spend some months in prison. The problem for Azaryas supporters wasnt the murder but the video. And so these people may find ways to crawl out of this debacle, but they will continue believing in the righteousness of their Jewish supremacy. Jonathan Ofir: Israeli musician, conductor and blogger /writer based in Denmark. People of Sri Lanka, please don't allow your politicians to do partisan and selfish politics in this time of national tragedy and don't be hoodwinked by their gestures and words of pseudo-empathy by J.M. Joseph Jeyaseelan, CMF Sri Lanka is experiencing one of its darkest times in history. I am receiving email after email from concerned friends from around the world with inquiries about the situation in Sri Lanka. As I prepare this short write-up, I hear about an incident of a bomb explosion in Colombo (22 April at 4:30 PM). I have received also an alert on my mobile phone about a suspicious vehicle being checked in the outskirts of Colombo (5 PM). The government has decided to declare tomorrow (23 April) as a national day of mourning. Some form of emergency laws is going to come into effect from midnight today. The police curfew that was lifted early this morning is going to be re-imposed. More and more suspicious peoples, articles, and vehicles are being checked or apprehended. And fear and uncertainty is enveloping the entire nation. The government looks helpless as it is struggling to comprehend the motivation and the culprits behind the mayhem that has rocked the country since the Easter morning. However, people are confused with the announcement by the country's Prime Minister that there was some early warning which had not been sufficiently attended to. And, this is damn serious given the scenario that has unfolded in the country in less than 48 hours. One government Minister, a presidential aspirant, was seen making promises to rebuild to their former glory all the churches that have been damaged. He seems not to have comprehended the fact that the lost lives cannot be recovered and that it is that loss the country is mourning now and not the desecration of walls and sacred objects. When visiting the Negombo General Hospital, a former president Mahinda Rajapakse in his characteristic style announced that he remembered the Kebithigollewa bomb explosion when he saw the tragedy. He was doing politics there. He was indicating that the country was re-living the times when the LTTE was there. If this was not his motivation, he should have also remembered other similar human tragedies that occurred namely as a result of his military campaign. I write about these responses/reactions of the politicians of this ill-fated country because the country is where it is now mainly because of the dirty politics that has been prevailing in Sri Lanka in post-independence time. So, people of Sri Lanka, please don't allow your politicians to do partisan and selfish politics in this time of national tragedy and don't be hoodwinked by their gestures and words of pseudo-empathy. And honorable sirs and madams, whatever that means, kindly don't try to advance your petty political agendas during this time of grief. You all have done enough damage and we don't want more. Numbers don't tell everything. But the death toll has increased to a shocking level. It seems the death toll has been calculated based on bodies remaining in hospitals. But there are "disfigured" or rather "dismantled" bodies that have not been included in these figures. Therefore, possibly the number of people who lost their lives is more than what is available for public information. The loss is huge in whichever scale it is placed. When I heard about the explosion in the hallowed Shrine of Kochchikade, my immediate thought was whether the drug lords were taking revenge from the Cardinal-Archbishop of Colombo for his campaign against the drug menace. But it was not before too late that I heard about the explosion in Zion's church in Batticoloa. So, I dropped my initial suspicion. Maybe someone is targeting the Christians in general was the next presumption. But how do you explain the blasts in the three hotels in Colombo that occurred around the same time? This increased my confusion. So, it is unlikely that the Archbishop was being retaliated against. It is also unlikely that a particular ethnic group was being targeted. If it happened only in Katuwapitiya, Negombo where a predominantly Sinhalese congregation was attending Easter Mass, people would have thought it was the Sinhalese Christians (Catholics) that were being targeted. Or if it happened only in Zion's church in the East, people would have presumed that it was an attack on the Tamil Christians (non-Catholics). Otherwise, if it had happened only in Kochchikade, a conclusion would have been that Catholics in general were being targeted as the City's St. Anthony's Shrine is frequented by both Sinhalese and Tamil Catholics. It is unlikely that a particular ethnic group was being targeted. If it had stopped with explosions in the churches, it could have been interpreted as an attack on the Christians, Sinhalese and Tamils. But it happened in hotels and in other places, frequented by people irrespective of religion, ethnicity, or nationality. Over 30 foreign nationals have died in the explosions. So, who was being targeted here? Sinhalese? Tamils? Muslims? Burghers? Sri Lankans? Citizens of other countries? This is where our confusion as a nation lies. We really don't know who the culprits are. We do not know their motivations. We are not sure about who their targets were. In short, this is an attack on all of us. Therefore, this is not the time to be guided by emotions pitting one ethnic or religious group against another. This is not the time for us to make guesses and start to victimize one or another group. We need from our political leaders the states(wo)manship that the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern displayed after the Christchurch mosque shooting that happened less than six weeks ago. We have a big lesson to learn from New Zealand about how to manage the national crisis at hand. The religious leaders and leaders of all kinds in all levels have a big role to play modeling restraint, empathy, and solidarity. Let us stand together as a suffering nation and let us come out of this tragedy together. Let us not take the laws of the country into our hands or become laws unto ourselves. Let us leave the law enforcing authorities to do their job, support them in ways we can to help them do it, and let us maintain peace and restraint as responsible citizens. When it is time the perpetrators will be brought to book and they will have to suffer the consequences of their own actions. May they who endure the crisis and loss soon receive shalom/salaam. May they also find the strength some day to murmur these words: "May they be forgiven for they didn't know what they were doing." Wouldnt it be logical for NATO to set up base in Sri Lanka to control South East Asia? by Peter Koenig Sri Lanka, Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019: More than half a dozen bomb blasts shook the country killing from 250 to more than 350 people. Depending on who counts, the death toll varies. The devastation took place in in several catholic churches and luxury hotels. Other explosions, including from what they say are suicide bombers, have since killed another several dozens of people. Many are children, women christen worshippers. Why the luxury hotels? Western (Christian) tourists? Today, another explosion ripped through a suspicious building, killing 18, including children and women. Again, they, the authorities, say suicide bombers, who didnt want their cache to be discovered. Conveniently they are all dead the suicide bombers. Nobody can ask them any questions. There was a lot of confusion, and still is, all through Sri Lanka. Nobody claimed credit for the massacres. There were rumors that Sri Lankas President received warnings ahead of the attacks from foreign intelligence, but ignored them. The President denies these allegations. And the explosions continue. Finally, the verdict is in. The culprits are an Islamic terrorist group, associated with ISIS. What else is new. Sri Lankas population is composed of about 70% Buddhists, 13% Hindus, almost 10% Muslims, mainly Sunni, the Salafi version, and about 7% Christians. The New York times reports that the accused mastermind of the terror attacks was strongly influenced by Wahhabism, the same extreme hardliners that control most of Saudi Arabia. Hatred between religions seems on the rise. In New Zealand a few weeks ago a white supremacist assaulted a mosque, killing 50. This past weekend, a shooting in a Synagogue near San Diego, California killed a woman. The murderer said he was inspired by the New Zealand massacre. Are these spontaneous, interreligious mini-wars part of a foreign directed divide to conquer effort, a strategy that has been used by empires for centuries, but seems to be alive and well with the current Washington based empire? MintPress News reports that Sri Lanka Easter attacks are the handiwork of terrorists returning from fighting in Syria, practicing the Saudi-backed Wahhabi Salafist ideology, adding, though not confirmed yet, they, [the attacks], are in keeping with the modus operandi of Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi terrorism worldwide. [The] Saudi sponsorship of Salafi Wahhabi dogma [is found] across the globe. From Boko Haram to ISIS, and from the Taliban to Al Qaeda, a common ideological thread runs through these terror groups. This is the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi Salafi ideology whose South Asian counterpart is Deobandi. For abbreviation purposes, it is becoming increasingly common to term this interconnected ideology as WSD (Wahhabi Salafi Deobandi). May we expect a wave of Saudi-sponsored WSD terrorism in the east too? Is the horror Saudi government protected by the US, because it does its bidding? And this bidding leads to making gradually Islam extremism the justification for NATO bases around the globe? Perhaps in Sri Lanka, tomorrow? So far Sri Lanka is clean from NATO. Sri Lanka has not even an association agreement with NATO. Just look at the world-geostrategic location of Sri Lanka, linking the Arabian Sea with the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka may also have a direct, open-sea connection with the small British island of Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago, north-east of Madagascar. Diego Garcia hosts the USs largest Navy base outside the American Continent. Many of the drone killings in Yemen, Syria and other places in the Middle East originate from Diego Garcia. The civil war in Syria was (and still is) largely directed from Diego Garcia, as well as from Djibouti. Wouldnt it be logical for NATO to set up base in Sri Lanka to control South East Asia? Saudi guided WSD attacks would create the necessary chaos justifying all the AngloZionist secret services plus NATO to descend on Colombo, to create further protests and anarchy a never-ending internal strife, giving the war industry a new never-ending flow of profit, hence, further justifying the never-ending war on terror and, thereby, moving yet an inch closer to Full Spectrum Dominance over Mother Earth and her hapless spectators, what western humanity has become a bunch of complacent consumers, drenched in turbo-capitalist market ideology, too comfortable to go on the barricades. The key and engine to all of this is NATO, whose modus operandi is killing for a living, for dominance and for profit. If there is ever to be Peace and thats what the vast majority of the inhabitants of this globe wants Im not exaggerating pretending that 99.99% of world population wants to live in peace then NATO must go, NATO must be dismantled. So, Europe which has the largest membership in NATO (27 out of 29 nations) has to put the money where her mouth is: Europe calls for Peace, Europe claims to be Peace-loving really? Then put your money into creating Peace pulling out of NATO, refusing at once to fund this killing machine under the pretext of protecting Europe. Protecting Europe from what? From whom? Not from Russia despite all the highly propagandized and highly corporate-funded Russiagate / Russia phobia, exacerbated by a new artificially implanted fear China. These countries have no history of expansion, like the west. They only seek friendly relations of trade, of transport, cultural and research interconnectivity within the supercontinent, Eurasia, and ultimately, they promote a multi-polar world. The best example is the Chinese President Xis ingenuity the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that just finished its highly successful forum in Beijing where more than 120 nations signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) and cooperation agreements with China for tens of billions of dollars equivalent. What a way of cooperating, instead of sowing western-style belligerence. Europe and the rest of the world is not in danger, except in danger of itself for being a vassal of the US and for hosting 30-plus NATO bases which would be first in the line of fire, if the east is forced to defend itself from that permanent Pentagon-NATO driven aggression. Europe withhold your funding for NATO, get out of NATO, dismantle NATO, NOW, before NATO sets up yet another base in Asia, before NATO spreads more death around the globe. Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. We have over 8000 politicians in active service in this land in main and local governments, but what for? by Chula Goonasekera This is a formal thank you letter to all those who assisted the victims of the Easter Sunday bomb blasts in Sri Lanka including my relative with maximum commitment whether they were on duty or not. The doctors, nurses, ambulance men, volunteers and well-wishers worked very hard to achieve the best possible damage control for each victim. The services provided by our professional officers in police and armed forces spoke for themselves of their quality although politicos swiftly blamed them. Sadly this never-ending carnage has become a regular feature in our country. Starting from 1958 Tamil riots, exactly 10 years after the independence the carnage spread at an intolerant scale; 1971 JVP uprising, 1982 -89 same again, then 1990 onwards until 2009 the LTTE war and now in 2019 this catastrophe. Its the people who suffered, especially the youth who got killed and not the cunning promoters in hiding. The loss of life and damage to property and education has put our country far behind in development when compared to other countries in the neighbouring region. If you analyse each occasion it's the politicians who had nurtured this environment of riots. Its advantageous and profitable for corrupt politicians to concur their personal agendas at the expense of the poor working class and innocent citizens. The general public have remained poor and becoming poorer andpaying taxes through their noses whilst another lavish class of politicians and their associated are striving for nothing. It is astonishing that not a single politician wearing adorable religious public face-masks for political gain did not even witness any of the above events on Easter Sunday bringing into question the reasons for their conspicuous absence. We have over 8000 politicians in active service in this land in main and local governments, but what for? I blame politicians who spread hate for their own gain (based on race, religion, colour, size, gender or whatever they can get hold of) and promote wars between and within communities and nations. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka have all suffered from this polarised democracy, and we were vulnerable this time because of peaceful life, just like New Zealand. Malaysia escaped this political downslope and got a cap on racial violence after imposing tough rules following its 1968 riots. As a consequence, they are far ahead of us in development. We too, the general public should work to stop diversity becoming a political plot. Some parties have blossomed representing only fraction of the community wanting a pound of flesh from the rest. We are all Sri Lankans including animals born here. They have to live here together in peace whatever separation the politicians are dreaming of again for their private gain. We cannot expect any good from the current breed of politicos. They have used parliament to stage their utmost low quality by staging chicken fights for the whole world to see. They have no ability to argue pros and cons based on facts in parliament and we, as voters should be blamed for nurturing this kind of vicious evil. We also cannot believe anything they say, in whatever form. The President, our first citizen who vowed in front of the highest sacred Buddhist shrine in Sri Lanka at the inception that this would be his first and the last term of presidency is now planning to contest for the second term without keeping to his mission, abolish the presidency. So did others in the past. As voters, we can do one thing. Since there is never the ability to join and rise up in any of the political parties especially for individuals with peaceful or honest standing at present, the voters can only do is to disrupt the current prevailing party politics through their votes. During the presidential election if we vote for the unknown and not the established leaders we can ensure that not a single candidate will have a sufficient majority to be elected as the president. This will lead to a parliamentary election where we can vote for good individuals with no track record of criminality or corruption to ensure that parliament will host at least a good set of peaceful people with lesser interest on their own gain. They can promote a new constitution to abolish presidency and ensure diversity is protected by legislation preventing all racially or religiously polarised parties illegal. To do this, just vote for the persons for his or her character and their track record and not the party or colour or their current political standing. This will ensure that party strongholds are broken allowing some independent good people to come forward to save our country slipping into anarchy and becoming another Somaliaburdened with an unprecedented amount of high interest on Chinese loans. We need a vote for the unknown campaign to save us as a nation. ABC/Randy HolmesOffset's legal woes have continued after a felony warrant was issued for his arrest in Georgia on Thursday morning, WSB-TV reports. The Migos front man, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, is being accused of damaging a fan's cell phone at a local area Target on April 22. In footage captured of the incident, Offset is seen being approached by the fan and then striking the cell phone from the young man's hands. Per The Fader, the victim named in the incident report as Richard Andrew Gibbons, claims that the phone is valued at $800. This, along with the belief that Offset's attack was intentional, permits authorities at the Sandy Springs Police Department to seek a felony charge against the rapper, according to WSB-TV. However, this isn't the "Clout" rapper's first run-in with the law. Back in July 2018, Offset was arrested after Georgia authorities claimed to have discovered several weapons and marijuana in his car. The Atlanta native continues to maintain his innocence in the aforementioned case and is actively fighting the charges. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Let us see how the unfortunate and heartbreaking, tragic, traumatic, agonizing, harrowing event of Easter Sunday was tackled by those who are supposed to protect the people by Zulkifli Nazim What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people weve never met. David Levithan in Love Is the Higher Law Incompetent people, the researchers found, are not only poor performers, they are also unable to accurately assess and recognize the quality of their own work. These low performers are also unable to recognize the skill and competence levels of other people, which is part of the reason why they consistently view themselves as better, more capable, and more knowledgeable than others. "In many cases, incompetence does not leave people disoriented, perplexed, or cautious," Instead, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by something that feels to them like knowledge. The very trouble with ignorance is that it can feel just like expertise, they overestimate their own knowledge and ability. Let's take a good hard look at our elected politicians as a group with an eye as to what might be wrong with them and our political system. It must be borne in mind Honesty and candour in politicians are central to the proper functioning of a democracy. Politicians are entrusted with a great, noble and the most significant jobs in the country. They have the power and the privilege that transcends their native gifts. Yet the number of dreary, desolate and glum performers in political office suggests that the acceptable standard must be extremely low. Politicians today enjoy countless privileges for example - Their words spoken in parliament cannot be used against them in legal proceedings of any sort, allowing them to vilify people or defame them without the inconvenience of being sued for defamation. Moreover, their misuse of power is such that they are not liable if they mislead or deceive the public, whose interests they are supposed to serve. The usual response to this is that the way to discipline politicians whose standards fall below what is acceptable is to vote them out. Considering what is happening today is the understanding that power as authentic leadership is governed by legitimate authority, and violence as a sign of a breakdown of power, leadership, and legitimacy. When there is a breakdown in political leadership, authentic leadership is more likely to formulate other choices to violence and its attendant terror. There can be no question that terrorism and violence and the state's reaction to them play an overwhelming role in politics todayin terms of who gets elected, on what platform, and how that is driven currently by terrorism and the actions of contenders and using terrorists and terrorist oriented organizations to grab power by hook or by crook. An examination of political and criminal violence leads to questions about deliberate and purposeful violence, indirect and structural violence that has political consequences, and their relationship to terrorism. This, in turn, also means politicizing other forms of violence, such as capital punishment, and their indirect and structural forms which we have seen happening in the sudden introduction of capital punishment for drug offenders. When a group resorts to terror against its own citizens with the support and backing of power hungry politicians, it shows that whoever manipulates to achieve their aim, does not have power or strength to challenge the legitimacy of the state other than degenerate horrendous means causing fear, dread and terror. The recent bifurcated attacks on churches and luxury hotels, targeting the tourist industry, creating Ethnic conflicts and ethnic disharmony accompanied by heinous gross human rights violations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity and causing severe economic decline is clearly understood by all, to have a vicious political hand or hands behind it. And these aggressive power-hungry politicians are suspected of having made use of a radical local outfit identified as the National Tawheed Jamath which are responsible for the deadly blasts and explosions that killed over 300 people and wounded over 500 others in the worst terror attack in the countrys history. The sudden incursion and eruption of attacks and the deadly blasts of such magnitude which caused unprecedented devastation including high-intensity back-pack bombs and vehicle bombs, show the use of military grade high-explosives. The question is, how did this outfit manage to procure and amass these military grade explosives? They do not have the wherewithal or resources or the necessary means or the permission or accessibility to import them. So it must have been provided locally by those who have had the means, permission and ability to import and have stored them for military purposes and/or supplied by some foreign embassy, who may have brought these materials under cover of their Diplomatic Bags. Organized crime, terrorism and democracy work according to guiding principles that are in direct conflict with one another. A democratic State upholds the sovereignty of the nation and ensures the protection of the rights of all individuals, regardless of wealth, social status, age or gender. Organized crime as traditionally defined, on the other hand, is built around patron-age, carrying on a tradition of feudalism, does not hesitate to commit human rights abuses. How do we tackle a situation when heinous and deplorable, reprehensible and criminal acts flourish under the cover of a political system? Let us see how the unfortunate and heartbreaking, tragic, traumatic, agonizing, harrowing event of Easter Sunday was tackled by those who are supposed to protect the people: Chronologically, this fiasco begins from the October 26th, 2018 conspiracy of the President Maithripala Sirisena: 1. 1. He had never called the Prime Minister or the deputy defense minister to any of the Security Council meetings. Whereas he had summoned good-for-nothing opposition Members of Parliament - Thilanga Sumathipala, Mahinda Amaraweera and Lasantha Alagiyawanna to the meeting. Worthless, useless undesirables who do not even know how to spell Security. And the Prime Minister on the other hand had remained silent all the while, which does not augur well for his political future. 2. 2. On the 4th of April State intelligence Service (SIS) had given a report to the president and a copy of the same report to the the IGP on the impending attack on Catholic Churches and the Indian High Commission, by the Leader of the National Thawheed Jamaath. This was doubly confirmed by the warning letter, by DIG Priyalal Dissanayake, mentioning this intelligence report. It should be noted that the head of the National Intelligence Service (SIS) is legally obliged to report intelligence not to anyone, but only to the President. This is urging towards disaster. 3. 3. Then comes the slimy Attorney General who always comes to the aid of the President, stating that the letter was fake which DIG Priyalal Dassanayake subsequently, confirmed the authenticity of the letter removing all doubts. 4. 4. India had issued an alert to Sri Lanka in early April on possible bomb attacks at different spots in the island, This further corroborates that President Maithripala was fully aware about the imminent suicide attack. What did the head of state do? He took the opportunity and got out of the country without convening the Security Council and discuss about the impendent calamity. He secured himself and his family and visited Thiruppathy in India and surreptitiously went to Singapore, without following any protocols and without officially handing over the responsibilities to the defense ministry or to the deputy defense minister. This resulted in the government facing unprecedented crises when having to take emergency decisions following the explosions. 5. 5. Immediately following the series of explosions when the Prime Minister Ranil and Deputy Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardana summoned a meeting of the Security Council at the temple trees, it is indeed distressing to note that The heads of the armed forces and the defense minister did not attend the meeting. They informed that the president had called the heads of the command forces and asserted not to participate in Security Council meetings convened by the Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe. 6. 6. In addition it has came to light that the Former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa had also received information on the attack and neither he nor his wife attended Easter Mass. 7. 7. Minister Harin Fernando also tweeted that his father who had been hospitalized for a while knew of the attack and requested him not to attend church. 8. 8. And finally, a statement by Minister Rajitha Senarathna that the International Intelligence has brought this to the notice of the Defense Ministry 10 Minutes before the explosion. Cutting it too fine to take any preventive action, of course. And so many unconfirmed sources having had prior knowledge of this approaching imminent disaster, failed to communicate this valuable information to the Head of the Catholic Church Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. This is a very serious lapse on all those who were and are responsible unforgiveable lapses of judgment by politicians and security personnel. If somebody, who had some feelings, would have communicated this to him, this senseless loss of lives, needless violence and havoc could have been avoided. The Catholic Church has a reasonable communication network and they would have taken sufficient precautions to protect their congregations. In the wake of these attacks, I give you some points for reflection and severe action wherever there is credible evidence of anyone having a false notion that they are the law: 1. We hear that Tawhid Jamaat operating under 3 different names National Tawhid Jamaat,, All-Ceylon Tawhid Jamaat., Jamaat al Tawhid Al-Wattania and god knows what else. The government should take action to ban all the Tawhid movements They may be operating in circles one to stage military attacks another one to humiliate and use verbal abuse and the other one steps in to deny all these are the work of others and not theirs. Be alert and ban all of them. 2. With regard to the banning of the Burka Face Cover, the government is planning to discuss with the mosque authorities. There is no necessity to discuss with ACJU or consult any mosque authority, as this Face Cover (Mask) has nothing to do with religion, it is some rotten tribal rubbish. Ban this without any hesitation. All Sri Lankan Muslims will support this. The security of the country is more important than this rotten stinking innovation of covering ones face. 3. Approval was given by the Rajapakse Government for a Shariah University in the Eastern Province. We are not aware whether this is a separate entity or merged with any of the existing Eastern Universities. Ask any rational Muslim and they will ask Why on earth do we need one? Whatever it is, if it is functioning it has to be discontinued with immediate effect. 4. There are hundreds of mushroom unregistered study classes under the guise of Madrasas. All these should be shut down without any delay. This is the place where innocent young minds are abused. However, there are a few traditional valuable respectable and decent Madrasas in Sri Lanka, they are more than sufficient for a community like ours. DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): Corporate Action/Acquisition Dexus Finance Pty Limited: Acquisition and equity raising 80 Collins Street Melbourne 02-May-2019 / 03:51 CET/CEST Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Dexus (ASX: DXS) ASX release NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE IN THE UNITED STATES 2 May 2019 Dexus announces acquisition of the 80 Collins precinct, Melbourne and equity raising Dexus Funds Management Limited ("DXFM") as responsible entity of Dexus ("Dexus" or the "Group") today announced that it has agreed to acquire the 80 Collins precinct, alongside Dexus Wholesale Property Fund ("DWPF"), for a Total Acquisition Cost of $1.476 billion[1] (the "Acquisition") from QIC Global Real Estate. Dexus will acquire a 75% ownership interest in the 80 Collins precinct and DWPF will acquire the remaining 25% interest. To view the full release and presentation, please refer to Dexus's website at https://www.dexus.com/investors/all-news-and-media For further information please contact: Investor Relations Rowena Causley +61 2 9017 1390 +61 416 122 383 rowena.causley@dexus.com Media Relations Louise Murray +61 2 9017 1446 +61 403 260 754 louise.murray@dexus.com [1] Total Acquisition Cost reflects the gross price for the acquisition of 100% of the 80 Collins precinct, excluding transaction costs and subject to customary adjustments. The Total Acquisition Cost comprises i) payments for the 80 Collins precinct on an "as-is" basis of $1.082 billion, ii) payments for remaining costs to complete of $290 million, and iii) payments for assumed outstanding incentives and North Tower capital expenditure liabilities of $104 million. Dexus will fund 75% of the total Acquisition consideration with DWPF funding the remaining 25%. Refer to slide 24 of the investor presentation titled "80 Collins precinct acquisition and equity raising" dated 2 May 2019 for further details. Information and Explanation of the Issuer to this News: About Dexus Dexus is one of Australia's leading real estate groups, proudly managing a high quality Australian property portfolio valued at $28.9 billion. We believe that the strength and quality of our relationships is central to our success, and are deeply committed to working with our customers to provide spaces that engage and inspire. We invest only in Australia, and directly own $13.9 billion of office and industrial properties. We manage a further $15.0 billion of office, retail, industrial and healthcare properties for third party clients. The group's $5.0 billion development pipeline provides the opportunity to grow both portfolios and enhance future returns. With 1.7 million square metres of office workspace across 53 properties, we are Australia's preferred office partner. Dexus is a Top 50 entity by market capitalisation listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (trading code: DXS) and is supported by 27,000 investors from 19 countries. With more than 30 years of expertise in property investment, development and asset management, we have a proven track record in capital and risk management, providing service excellence to tenants and delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. www.dexus.com Download the Dexus IR app Download the Dexus IR app to your preferred mobile device to gain instant access to the latest stock price, ASX Announcements, presentations, reports, webcasts and more. Offer Restrictions This announcement and the attached presentation does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States and may not be distributed or released in the United States. The stapled securities to be offered and sold under the Placement and SPP offer by DXFM of the New Securities set out in this presentation ('Offer') have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 ('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, in the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act and any other applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States (which Dexus has no obligation to do or procure) or pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction exempt from or not subject to, such registration requirements and any other applicable securities laws. In addition, the New Securities to be offered and sold under the SPP will only be offered and sold to eligible Security holders in Australia and New Zealand in 'offshore transactions' (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act. There will be no public offer of securities in the United States. Disclaimer None of the Joint Lead Managers, nor any of their respective related bodies corporate or affiliates or any of their respective securityholders, directors, officers, employees, partners, agents and advisers ('Beneficiaries') have authorised, permitted or caused the issue, lodgement, submission, dispatch or provision of this announcement and accompanying presentation and do not make or purport to make any statement in this announcement or accompanying presentation and there is no statement in this announcement or accompanying presentation which is based on any statement by any of them. Neither the Joint Lead Managers nor their respective Beneficiaries have independently verified the information in this announcement or accompanying presentation. To the maximum extent permitted by law, DXFM, the Joint Lead Managers and each of their respective Beneficiaries exclude and disclaim all liability (whether direct or indirect), including without limitation for negligence or for any expenses, losses, damages or costs incurred by you as a result of your participation in the offer and the information in this announcement or accompanying presentation being inaccurate or incomplete in any way for any reason, whether by negligence or otherwise. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Joint Lead Managers and each of their respective Beneficiaries take no responsibility for any part of this announcement or accompanying presentation or the offer. The Joint Lead Managers and each of their respective Beneficiaries make no recommendations as to whether you or your related parties should participate in the offer nor do they make any representations or warranties to you concerning the offer, and you represent, warrant and agree that you have not relied on any statements made by the Joint Lead Managers or any of their respective Beneficiaries in relation to the offer. The Joint Lead Managers and their respective Beneficiaries may have interests in the Dexus stapled securities. Further, they may act as market maker or buy or sell Dexus stapled securities or associated derivatives as principal or agent. The Joint Lead Managers will also receive fees for acting in their capacity as joint lead managers of the Placement. You acknowledge that each of the Joint Lead Managers and their respective Beneficiaries is not acting nor is it responsible as a fiduciary, agent or similar capacity to you, your officers, employees, consultants, agents, securityholders, creditors or any other person. You expressly disclaim any fiduciary relationship and you agree that you are responsible for making your own independent judgments with respect to any matters contained in this announcement or accompanying presentation. Determination of eligibility of investors to participate in the Placement is determined by reference to a number of matters, including legal and regulatory requirements, logistical and registry constraints and the discretion of DXFM and/or the Joint Lead Managers. 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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. Stay on the top of all the latest markets movements! Subscribe to The Bull free weekly newsletter to receive our best tips, offers and promotion... SUBSCRIBE label MASTER IN EQUITY NOTICE OF SALE 2019-CP-40-05590 BY VIRTUE of a decree heretofore granted in the case of: Mortgage Solutions of Colorado, LLC vs. Ashleigh Bland; Jared Bland; et al., ... All persons having claims against the following estates are required to deliver or mail their claims to the indicated Personal Representatives, appointed to administer these estates, and to file their ... NOTICE OF APPLICATION Notice is hereby given femme x COLUMBIA, LLC, intends to apply to the South Carolina Department of Revenue for a license/permit that will allow the sale and... Princess Chichibu wears her diamond honeysuckle tiara with its coordinating necklace for a state banquet at the Imperial Palace in honor of President Lubke of the Federal Republic of Germany, November 1963; learn more about the tiara over here! Credit: Pamela LittkyAlice in Chains is continuing to roll out episodes of Black Antenna, the sci-fi companion film to the grunge band's Grammy-nominated album, Rainier Fog. The latest chapter is accompanied by the Rainier Fog track "Deaf Ears Blind Eyes," and furthers the story of Alpha and Beta, two aliens disguised as humans, who are trying to find a way to contact their home world. They're pursued by a U.S. immigration officer named Nil, who also has alien origins. The very NSFW video is streaming now via Kerrang.com. "It focuses a lot more on Beta, and her becoming more self aware," director Adam Mason tells Kerrang! of the new episode. "She's basically selling her body so they can survive, but she's an asexual being. Sexuality means nothing to her, she doesn't understand it." Previous Black Antenna episodes include "The One You Know," "Rainier Fog," "Red Giant," "Fly" and "Drone." The film will eventually consist of 10 parts. Alice in Chains will team up with Korn for a North American tour starting July 18 in Austin, Texas. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. MBABANE - RSSC says its Group Human Resources Manager, who has been charged with sexual harassment of a subordinate employee, is avoiding answering to his charges. Max Bonginkhosi Mkhonta has also been charged with gross inappropriate and unbecoming behaviour for a manager of his status, abuse of his position of authority as a senior manager and acting in a manner contrary to the companys code of ethics. Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) Company Secretary Lungile Masango said the disciplinary proceedings against Mkhonta were instituted six months ago and he allegedly avoids answering to the charges. According to Masango, Mkhonta, who allegedly sexually harassed a female staff member who reports to him, raises one technical point after another during his ongoing disciplinary hearing. The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. RSSC is represented by Magagula and Hlophe Attorneys. When the disciplinary proceedings were instituted against him, Mkhonta moved an application in court against RSSC for the removal of the chairman of his disciplinary hearing and for the process to be re-evaluated before a new chairperson. The court ruled in his favour. RSSC filed a review of the decision at the High Court and it will be heard in July 2019. Hearing RSSC proceeded with the hearing and Mkhonta rushed to court again when it was at the stage where he was supposed to give evidence. His accuser has given her evidence before the new chairperson. Mkhonta has now filed an urgent application at the High Court for the new chairman of the hearing to be interdicted from proceeding with the hearing pending finalisation of the matter whereby he wants the chairman to give him a written ruling and reasons for dismissing the objections he raised in the on-going hearing. Responding to Mkhontas application, Masango submitted that the chairperson stated that he would avail the written reasons in due course. She said the human resources manager assumed that he could raise technicalities if there were rulings not in his favour and run to court for review. She said Mkhontas approach was misguided. Masango told the court that Mkhonta did not have a primary right to approach the court in incomplete disciplinary proceedings since the employer has a prerogative to discipline its employees. She said courts did not intervene in the employers exercise of its prerogative unless exceptional circumstances exist. The company secretary informed the court that Mkhonta has allegedly not established any exceptional circumstances for him to approach the court. The High Court, according to Masango, does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter, because the Industrial Relations Act gives exclusive jurisdiction to the Industrial Court to determine matters between employers and employees in the course of employment. Masango also stated that Mkhonta did not exhaust internal remedies before approaching the court. She said the human resources manager reports to the managing director, who is technically the initiator. Satisfied She explained that if Mkhonta was not satisfied with any decision made by the chairperson of the hearing, he has a right of appeal to the next level of authority, the Board of Directors. She said as a result, Mkhonta was in court prematurely. This means that an employee aggrieved by a decision made in the course of a disciplinary process can have that decision reviewed by the high authority within the company, said Masango. Mkhonta submitted that the ruling was verbally communicated to him by the chairman on April 23, 2019. Mkhonta submitted that he requires the written reasons for purposes of filing a review application in respect of that ruling. MBABANE Eswatini has contributed E3 million worth of items to assist the Mozambique flood victims. The last consignment, which adds on to the E3 million worth items was collected on Tuesday by the Deputy Prime Ministers (DPM) Office. Donations have been collected since the beginning of April to aid the flood victims. Organisations which brought forward the contributions included the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF), Mbabane Municipality, Eswatini TV and Conference of Churches. The donations include blankets, clothing for different age groups and gender, shoes, 50kg maize meal, 50kg sugar, beans, buckets and bottled water among others. Eswatini TV Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bongani Sigcokosiyancinca Dlamini said the management and staff of the television station contributed items worth over E30 000 to help the flood victims in neighbouring Mozambique. Dlamini said they responded following the SOS call by the DPMs Office to the nation to assist with any contributions that could help devastated Mozambican nationals. He thanked Inkhosikati LaNkambule, who donated blankets, also lending a hand. Supportive Dlamini said the Inkhosikati was always supportive each time there was a need. Receiving the items on behalf of the DPM, Zandile Mavuso, who works under the Disaster Management office, said the donations would go a long way in helping those in need. Mavuso said the people of Mozambique really appreciated the gesture forwarded by the country. She said the nation had proved that if the country could witness a catastrophe, they would be able to stand up and support each other where there was a need as they had shown in helping the neighbouring country. LOBAMBA Firefighters are smiling all the way to the bank. At least according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which on Tuesday discovered that not only do firefighters claim overtime, but they are also entitled to an extended duty allowance of 20 per cent of their basic salary. As a result, the PAC has called upon the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and the Ministry of Public Service to meet and map a way forward on how the Fire and Emergency Services personnel can stop claiming both overtime and extended duty allowance. The issue came up after the auditor general discovered that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had an over-expenditure of about E7.6 million in personnel costs. Principal Secretary in the Ministry Clifford Mamba, informed the PAC that the over-expenditure was caused by the fact that the firefighters claimed both overtime and the extended duty allowance. Mamba blamed the Civil Service Commission for this anomaly as he stated that the body had engaged new firefighters without the approval of the ministry, especially because they did not have the posts for about 168 firefighters. Applied Mamba said they had applied for posts at the Ministry of Public Service, but before the posts were granted the CSC, for some reason wrote to the firefighters informing them that they had been employed. The PS said when they informed the new recruits that they were not ready to bring them on board, they (firefighters) took the court route and the latter ruled in their favour that they were already hired and therefore they should continue with their duties. He alleged that the courts ruled that the firefighters were entitled to both the overtime and extended duty allowance. Mamba said the extended duty allowance was not unique to just the firefighters, as a majority of essential services personnel such as police and nurses were entitled to it. We are, however, aware that it is an anomaly that the firefighters are entitled to both overtime and extended duty allowance and we have engaged the Ministry of Public Service through the Government Negotiation Team to engage the unions so as to normalise the situation, said Mamba. The principal secretary added that the department had tried to implement a shift system in order to reduce the overtime payment, but they were still trying to work around it because of the court order. NHLANGANO After a long absence from Workers Day commemorations hosted by TUCOSWA, government came to the party yesterday. In the past few years, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security shunned the event hosted by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). However, yesterday the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Thulani Mkhaliphi represented the Minister, Makhosi Vilakati. The minister said May Day celebrations had a long history locally and internationally. He said what stood to be a major success of celebrating May Day was pitching the rights of workers and the appropriate level of building bridges between workers and government. Reinforce He said another thing that needed to be done was to reinforce interconnections linking workers and business as well as business with government in a very unique way where each of the partners shall stand independent of each other but be connected by a common purpose. The common purpose should be that of creating common wealth to generate jobs, grow the economy for better wages and future employment opportunities for the youth. Through Mkhaliphi, the minister said: This task calls for the tripartite between government, workers and business to be firm, honest and unselfish. It is the character of the relationship between these parties that will determine the speed at which the economy regenerates itself and creates an environment where workers interests, business interests and of course governments interests will thrive. He added that it was their firm belief that this May Day celebration will be considered very successful and fitting the theme if they would pause to assess the posture of their relationship, fix it where such was required but never attempt to nix it. He said they both needed each other in this space and neither of them could exist without the other. Our appeal to the leadership of the federation and of course all member unions leaders is to teach and educate the membership about the intricacies of the labour space, tripartite relationship and the responsibilities of the labour movement to this relationship. Government also commits to continuously teach and educate all its operatives and agencies about the tripartite relationship and their responsibilities to keeping it intact and firm. On that note, the minister said high in their internal organs teachings and awareness raising were the founding principles and practice of effective social dialogue and respect of law as well as other supportive labour space management instruments such as the Code of Good Practice. Economy He said if they believed workers would continue to support governments plans to recover the economy and create new jobs in the private sector, this required workers to bring to the table creative ideas on how new business operations could set shop in the country and existing ones expand to create new and additional jobs. To achieve this, he said the labour movement certainly had to send the correct signals and messages to international investors and international markets, who wanted to do business with Eswatini and be ambassadors of new investment in the country. MBABANE - Wife to Ntfonjeni Member of Parliament (MP), Sifiso Wilfred Magagula, reportedly collapsed during a family meeting after the legislator informed her that they should end their marriage. The MP, who is popularly known as Sompisi, is accusing his wife, Zanele Luyanda Magagula (nee Dlamini), of infidelity or being in a love relationship with another man. So serious was the situation during the meeting that Zanele had to be rushed to hospital. During the meeting, which was attended by family members of both parties, the MP is said to have further stated that, he no longer trusted his wife and because of that he saw it prudent that they should end their marriage. The legislator was quoted having said: Kumetsemba sekuphelile ngaleso sizatfu sale sihlukana kuba ngumfati nendvodza ngoba wente intfo lelukhuni kutsi ingengca engcondweni yami. Collapsed The wife is said to have collapsed immediately after the legislator had finished making his submissions. She was thereafter rushed to hospital by one Thembumenzi and her sister Lindiwe Dlamini. The incident resulted in the meeting being postponed. The legislator has since approached the High Court where he is seeking an order declaring the Swazi Law and Custom marriage between him and his wife nullified. He wants the court to declare him unmarried. Magagula is further seeking an order directing the registrar of Births Marriages and Deaths (BMDs) to cancel and/or expunge the entry of the Swazi Law and Custom marriage contracted by him and his wife on May 21, 2006. He pointed out that there were three children born out of the marriage with their ages ranging between seven and 17 years. The MP informed the court that pursuant to the marriage with Dlamini, they resided at Mshingishingini, a place they considered to be their matrimonial domicile and being the place where they brought up their children. During the subsistence of my marriage with the first respondent (Dlamini), we did enjoy a couple of years as a married couple, though we would misunderstandings just like in any other relationship, submitted the legislator. He alleged that on or about February 2018, he discovered that his wife was having an extra-marital affair with one Sifiso Mbhamali. Confronted When I confronted the said Sifiso Mbhamali and the first respondent about the affair, they both confirmed the infidelity which has been going on for some time. This resulted in a serious strain between me and the first respondent, said the MP. According to Magagula (MP), they were now sleeping separately as husband and wife and they no longer afforded each other conjugal rights as a married couple. He also highlighted that there was no longer any meaningful communication between him and his wife as a result of the alleged infidelity. In fact, following the discoveries of the first respondents infidelity, we became separated, as of today, the first respondent has moved out of our matrimonial homestead, said the MP. He alleged that following the occurrence of the infidelity and in an endeavour to salvage their marriage, three meetings were held by their families. According to the legislator, the first meeting was held on December 18, 2018, while the second and third meetings being in February, 2019. Meeting Magagula said the meetings between the families had failed to salvage the marriage between him and Dlamini. He narrated that following the meetings of the families, they then reported the matter at Mshingishingini Royal Kraal (umphakatsi). The MP alleged that a resolution was reached by the Umphakatsi confirming that the marriage had broken down and that their marriage certificate should be expunged from the marriage registry. These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court and the wife is yet to file her papers in the event she is opposing the application. He further pointed out that affidavits had been sworn to by him and Dlamini, together with those who participated in the kuteka (traditional wedding) ceremony, confirming that the marriage between him and his wife had indeed became a nullity. It is against that backdrop that I seek an order to expunge my marriage and be declared unmarried. I am advised and verily believe that I have exhausted all the necessary avenues, contended the MP. The matter is still pending at the High Court and appearing for the legislator is Hasso Magagula of Robinson Bertram. Lt. Cmdr. Teresa Capristo is a 2004 graduate of Titusville High School who currently serves in the U.S. Navy as a dental officer. A 150,000 square foot medical school building will be constructed on the UH campus near MacGregor Park on Martin Luther King Boulevard at Old Spanish Trail. The University of Houston College of Medicine took a significant step forward when Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 826, which formally recognizes the medical school in state statute. In a strong show of bipartisan support, the legislation passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature last month and adds the College of Medicine to Chapter 111 of the Education Code when the law takes effect September 1. The statute authorizes public university systems in Texas to approve curricula and operational protocols for medical schools and makes them eligible for related state funding. We are grateful to the Governor and the legislature for recognizing the need for more primary care doctors in the state and for believing in the University of Houstons ability to help fill this need, said Renu Khator, University of Houston president. With the UH Medical School, we will be able to better serve the state and particularly those who need access to healthcare the most. The UH College of Medicine is taking a different approach to medical education by training more primary care physicians to practice in underserved urban and rural communities. Critical to the medical schools startup cost, the University is asking the state for $20 million, which was included in House Bill 1 when it passed the House last month. The University will ask for another $20 million over the next eight years. I am elated that our medical school will now be included in the states education code. Reaching this significant milestone is a culmination of hard work by many, along with the belief by state leaders in our mission. However, were just getting started. Ultimately, the people of Houston and Texas will reap the benefits, said Dr. Stephen Spann, founding dean of the UH College of Medicine. Last year, the University finalized an agreement with HCA Houston Healthcare to create nearly 400 residency slots over the next seven years. The total exceeds the states requirements of 10 percent more slots than medical students. Following passage in the House last month, the bills joint authors applauded the Universitys efforts to address the states shortage of primary care physicians. Texas ranks 47th out of 50 states in primary care physician-to-population ratio. The University of Houston College of Medicine will address the need for more primary care physicians in Texas, but just as important, they are creating new residency slots for medical students said Rep. John Zerwas, M.D. (R-Richmond), chair of the state House appropriations committee. Ultimately, well be able to keep more doctors in Texas, which will improve the health of our state, especially in underserved communities. I have supported UHs medical school from the start because there are too many communities in Houston, and more broadly in Texas, with significant health disparities. Bottom line, we need more primary care doctors to impact the shortfall in medically underserved areas, said Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston). The University of Houstons vision, along with its established health-related programs and disciplines, is uniquely qualified to create a new type of medical school for those who need it most. The medical school hopes to admit its first class of students in Fall 2020, pending accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The University submitted its application to the LCME in March. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the Universitys medical doctor degree last fall. United Nations/ Turkey/ APSCO Conference on Space Law and Policy Hosted by the Government of Turkey Co-organized by the TUBITAK Space Technologies Research Institute, the Turkish Space Agency and Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization Istanbul, Turkey, 23 - 26 September 2019 Updates: Update 22 April: Report of the Conference (A/AC.105/1222) Update 29 October: Presentations Update13 September: Final Programme Update 9 September: Information on Special Events Information on Special Events Update 9 September: Fact Sheet for self-funded participants Fact Sheet for self-funded participants Update 5 September: Update on Draft Programme Update on Draft Programme Update 30 August: Draft Programme Draft Programme Update 30 July: Registration page closed Registration page closed Update 7 June: Deadline closed for funded participants. For self-self funded participants registration is open until 30 July . Deadline closed for funded participants. For self-self funded participants registration is open until . Update 16 May: Information note Information note Update 27 April: Registration page open Introduction The Office for Outer Space Affairs has been organizing a long-standing series of capacity-building workshops on space law and policy where 10 workshops have been successfully held since 2002 in cooperation with the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Brazil, Nigeria, Ukraine, Islamic Republic of Iran, Thailand, Argentina, China, and at the UN premises in Vienna. Building upon this series of workshops, last year the Office moved on to a new phase in its capacity-building efforts, by a new series of dedicated United Nations Conferences on Space Law and Policy. This year United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs together with the Government of Turkey, TUBITAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TUBITAK UZAY), Turkish Space Agency, and Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) will be holding a second Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, from 23 to 26 September 2019. International and regional cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space helps to bring the benefits of space technology applications to a wide circle of stakeholders, both governmental and non-governmental, and to intensify and diversify national space programmes. Policy and regulatory frameworks at the national, regional and international levels are of paramount importance for providing the necessary basis for States, particularly developing countries, to meet development goals and address challenges to sustainable development. In this connection, it is necessary to continue to strengthen the linkages between international space law and the conduct of space activities. Each year, in its resolutions on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, the General Assembly reaffirms the importance of international cooperation in developing the rule of international law, including the relevant norms of international space law and their important role in international cooperation for the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and of the widest possible adherence to international treaties that promote the peaceful uses of outer space in order to meet emerging new challenges, especially for developing countries. The Assembly recognizes that all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, should contribute actively to the prevention of an arms race in outer space with a view to promoting and strengthening international cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. In today's world where the number of actors that engage in space activities increases every day, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that all actors comply with the requirements of international space law in developing international and regional space cooperation. The successful implementation and application of the international legal framework governing space activities depend on the understanding and acceptance of that framework by policymakers and decision-makers. The availability of professionals who can provide suitable legal advice and disseminate information and knowledge about space law, in particular in developing countries, depends on the availability of adequate education opportunities in space law and policy. This Conference will be held in order to promote adherence to the five United Nations treaties on outer space and to assist States in building their capacity in space law, and thus help them to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Conference Objectives The objectives of the Conference will be to: Promote understanding, acceptance and implementation of the United Nations treaties and principles on outer space; Promote the exchange of information on national space legislation and policies for the benefit of professionals involved in national space activities; Consider the contribution of space law to economic and social development, and the use of space-derived geospatial data for sustainable development; Consider trends in and challenges to international space law; Consider mechanisms for increasing regional and international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space; Consider the development of university-level studies and programmes in space law, with a view to promoting national expertise and capacity in this field; and Discuss novel areas in which international space law could provide potential legal models to balance divergent interests of States. Preliminary Programme Coming soon! The Conference will be structured by discussions in the following topics. In addition, renowned experts in the field will be invited as speakers. The Conference will mainly comprise presentations followed by questions and answers. The following topics will be considered in dedicated sessions: Promoting responsible, peaceful and safe use of outer space Long-term sustainability of outer space activities Legal regime of outer space and global governance National legal and policy frameworks related to outer space activities Best practices in sharing remote sensing data to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Strengthening capacity-building in space law and policy Kindly note that the Conference organizers may modify the number and themes of sessions of the final programme. Optional Sight-seeingTour An optional sightseeing tour will be scheduled to cover the main cultural and historical landmarks of Istanbul. In order to participate in this tour a scanned copy of the participant's passport shall be submitted, after receiving the official invitation letter to the event. More details to come in the following weeks! Social Events Conference opening day: evening reception Conference second day: evening welcome dinner/reception Location and Date Dates: The Conference will be held from 23 to 26 September 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey. Invited participants will receive a formal invitation letter with further information on available accommodation, logistics and other local arrangements prior to the Conference. Venue: Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Ayazaga Campus, Suleyman Demirel Cultural and Convention Center Language of the Conference The working language of the Conference will be English. Participants The Conference is being planned for a total of 200 participants including decision- and policy-makers from national space agencies and governmental bodies, experts of the space community, private sector representatives, researchers/students from academia that are involved in space activities, representing developing and developed nations from all economic regions. The Office seeks to achieve the balanced participation of women and men to ensure gender parity. Financial Support Within the limited financial resources available, a limited number of selected participants will be offered financial support to attend the Conference. This financial support will defray the cost of travel (a round trip air ticket - most economic fare - between the airport of international departure in their home country and Istanbul, Turkey) and/ or room and board expenses for the duration of the Conference. Due to the limited availability of financial support, not all applicants for travel support can be accommodated. In this respect, applicants and their nominating organizations are strongly encouraged to also identify additional sources of sponsorship to allow them to attend the Conference. Sponsored participants will receive detailed information upon notification of their selection. Life and Health Insurance Life and major health insurance is the responsibility of each selected participants or his/her institution or government . The organizers will not assume any responsibility for life and major health insurance, nor for expenses related to medical treatment or accidents. Medical facilities for first aid in case of emergencies will be provided at the Conference venues; for serious emergencies, immediate transportation and admission to a hospital shall be provided, with the understanding that all participants of the Conference possess valid individual insurances. Deadline for Submission of Applications Applications for participating in the Conference have to be submitted online through this webpage (see the top of page). The completed application form together with the presentation abstract should be submitted on-line to the Office for Outer Space Affairs, no later than 7 JUNE 2019 from applicants seeking funding support and no later than 30 July 2019 from self-funded applicants. Only complete applications received before these deadlines will be considered. *Please note that in order to visit Turkey, foreigners, depending on their nationality, may have to obtain an entry visa. All visa applicants are required to possess a passport valid not less than 6 months after visa expiration. Contact For questions related to the Conference programme and participation opportunities, please contact us. For questions related to visa and the local logistics, please contact the local organizers mentioned in the information note. For latest information and updates on the Conference, it is advised that you frequently visit this webpage. Useful Links Kasandra Kister Finalist for UWs Outstanding Undergraduate Award Kasandra Kister Kasandra Kister, from Riverton, was a finalist for the University of Wyomings highest honor as a top graduating senior. She was among 11 students nominated for the Rosemarie Martha Spitaleri and Tobin Memorial Award, which recognizes the most outstanding graduates from the 2018-19 undergraduate class. The award is based on academic excellence and achievement, service to the university, participation and leadership in the community and campus activities, and citizenship qualities. Jess Fahlsing, from Rock Springs, and Dylan Rust, of Green River, were the recipients of the Rosemarie Martha Spitaleri and Tobin Memorial Award. The announcement was made at the Friday, April 26, luncheon at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center. Kister, who is majoring in physiology with minors in Spanish and honors, says before attending UW, she could speak only a few phrases in Spanish. After an opportunity to study in Spain through UWs study-abroad program, she can speak Spanish fluently and uses that to help others. Through the study-abroad program, I spent four months in Spain, and my simple phrases transformed into full conversations, Kister says. This ability has connected me with people all over the world. My experiences range from Peru to Spain to here in Laramie, as well. I currently share my Spanish knowledge by volunteering for World Languages Day. A nominator says Kisters kindness allows her to make a difference in the world, and it is the predominant reason she was nominated. Kassi Kister is, in fact, an uncommonly good person, with an uncommonly good heart, the nominator says. To my mind, she epitomizes who we really want our students to be, and she will go out into the world, quietly continuing to perform her everyday kindness. In doing so, she will make a difference. She already does. Another nominator echoed those sentiments, noting that Kisters kindness has helped to improve UWs chemistry department. There are those who go about their business unobtrusively, quietly making the world around them a better place, says the nominator. Kassi Kister is one such student. She has certainly contributed to the larger UW mission: Kassi has worked as a chemistry teaching assistant for three years, and her gentle, approachable manner is a boon to those around her. New State Match Launches UW Presidents Endowed Scholarship Program Private fundraising is underway to match state dollars for a new UW Presidents Endowed Scholarship Program, for Wyoming residents with ACT scores of at least 25 and grade-point averages of at least 3.5 from high school or transfer institutions. (UW Photo) State matching dollars allocated during the 2019 Wyoming legislative session for scholarship support at the University of Wyoming will be used to create a new Presidents Endowed Scholarship Program. This scholarship program will provide opportunities for UW donors to double their gifts through state matching funds that will recruit top-performing Wyoming high school seniors and transfer students. Scholarships are so important in fulfilling the potential of our state, says UW President Laurie Nichols. Increasing the number of Wyomingites with baccalaureate degrees will ensure their individual success while helping our states economy. We are so fortunate in Wyoming to have the generous Hathaway Scholarship, but we can do more. The Presidents Endowed Scholarship Program will allow UW to reward our best and brightest students, keeping them in state for their education. The UW Foundation is fundraising for the UW Presidents Endowed Scholarship Program. Gifts of $50,000 or more can be doubled by a $2.5 million state matching fund. The gift may be a one-time gift or payments spread over five years. We are grateful to the Wyoming Legislature for creating yet another state matching opportunity for our generous contributors, says John Stark, UW Foundation senior vice president for development. This program is a continuing example of the ever-growing public-private partnership that exists at the University of Wyoming. We are excited to roll out this program and to begin conversations with alumni and friends regarding this opportunity to support Wyomings top students. Scholarships recognize the exceptional commitment and dedication of students, says Kyle Moore, UW associate vice provost for enrollment management. When the caliber of that work can be considered presidential in quality, it is exciting to recognize that effort and reward our students in a significant way. This scholarship does just that. Recipients of the Presidents Endowed Scholarship will be Wyoming residents with ACT scores of 25 or higher. They should have grade-point averages from their high schools or transfer institutions of at least a 3.5 (4.0 scale). Once they are on campus, they need to maintain a 3.25 GPA. This scholarship allows Wyoming to continue its tradition of fostering student success without undue burden. Two-thirds of the nations students graduate owing student loans. That is not the case in Wyoming: 23 percent fewer UW graduates have student debt than the national average. This is because of UWs low cost of tuition compared to other institutions of higher learning, and its also due to the support UW students receive. For more information on how to support this scholarship program, go to the UW Foundation website (www.uwyo.edu/foundation) and click on Presidents Endowed Scholarship on the menu, or contact the UW Foundation at (307) 766-6300, toll-free at 1-888-831-7795 or by email at foundation@uwyo.edu. UW Faculty Hire Brings Prestigious Cardiac Research Grant to Wyoming UW Assistant Professor Danielle Bruns, second from right, poses for a photo in her lab with research team members, from left, Ben McNair, of Corvallis, Ore.; Musharraf Yusifova, of Azerbaijan; Jacob Zumo, of Cheyenne; and Ross Cook, of Lander. (UW Photo) New University of Wyoming Assistant Professor Danielle Bruns has earned a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to fund research on heart disease, expanding UWs medical research program and increasing Wyomings appeal to other top researchers. Bruns joined UW in August 2018 and teaches in both the College of Health Sciences Division of Kinesiology and Health Promotion and the University of Washington School of Medicines WWAMI Medical Education Program at UW. She says her research focus is to identify new or repurpose existing therapies for patients with heart failure, with her grant-funded project specifically testing an FDA-approved diabetes drug for potential benefits in cardiac health. Bruns five-year, $660,510 grant -- the Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award, which comes from NIHs National Institute on Aging -- brings prestige to Wyoming, says Division of Kinesiology and Health Promotion Director Derek Smith. Dr. Bruns is an outstanding scientist on a very positive trajectory, Smith says. The peer-reviewed award she earned and worked tirelessly to transfer to UW is evidence of her innovative research and growing national reputation. This achievement brings tangible benefits. According to WWAMI Director Tim Robinson, Bruns accomplishment increases UWs appeal to other top scientists drawn to faculty positions. Additionally, the medical research opportunities Bruns offers medical students means they can do high-quality research in Wyoming without having to transfer out of state for research opportunities. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., says College of Health Sciences Interim Dean David Jones. Dr. Bruns award and research expertise in heart disease demonstrate the commitment of the College of Health Sciences to elevating the research mission of the university -- and our desire to find answers to causes and treatments of prevalent diseases and conditions that will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of the people of Wyoming. When teaching WWAMI students, Bruns says she focuses on the idea that what I do in the lab has to be relevant to the patients they will eventually treat. She makes sure students also consider the impact of laboratory science in advancing clinical practice. Dr. Bruns molecular and animal research models have already made two significant impacts. They have significantly advanced translational bench-to-bedside research capacity to solve pressing health issues and opened tremendous experiential learning and research training opportunities for kinesiology and WWAMI students, Smith says. This is attractive to and valued by students in both programs, as evidenced by several students joining her research team. Robinson says, The NIH has endorsed (Bruns) research to the point that theyre willing to fund it at a high level. We have top researchers at UW, and shes an example of that. WWAMI also welcomes new instructors Emily Schmitt, another assistant professor in the Division of Kinesiology and Health Promotion; and Karen Mruk, an assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy. Smith says Department of Molecular Biology faculty members Jason Gigley and Peter Thorsness supported Bruns research while the Division of Kinesiology and Health Promotion finished renovations to support research capacity for Bruns, Schmitt and their teams. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. An alleged crack cocaine dealer was arrested in Port Huron April 30 following an investigation by the St. Clair County Drug Task Force. St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said the investigation into crack cocaine sales in the Port Huron area led authorities to an apartment in the 1000 block of 10th Street shortly before 9 p.m. April 30. Once inside, members of the DTF located and seized crack cocaine, a digital scale and drug paraphernalia. A 42-year-old Port Huron man was arrested at the home without incident and lodged in the St. Clair County Intervention and Detention Center. He was expected to be arraigned May 2 in 72nd District Court on charges of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and being a habitual offender. Katelyn Larese, MediaNews Group At the invitation of the Director General of Dominican Republic Customs, Mr. Enrique Ramirez Paniagua, in his capacity as Vice-Chair of the WCO Americas/Caribbean (AMS) region, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the XXII Regional Conference of Customs Directors General for the AMS, held in Asuncion, Paraguay, on 29 and 30 April 2019. The President of the Republic of Paraguay, Mr. Mario Abdo Benitez, attended the opening session to show his strong commitment to supporting Customs reform. Dr. Mikuriya had a separate meeting with the President, at which he pledged the WCOs support for improving the integrity and efficiency of Paraguay Customs. The President emphasized the importance of Customs in Paraguay, as it collects 45% of State revenue, and expressed his appreciation for the WCOs assistance. The Regional Conference discussed a broad range of topics, including the WCO Strategic Plan, Performance Measurement, Trade Recovery and Small Island Economies. Directors General of Customs also held breakout sessions to review the WCO Strategic Plan and consider regional priorities. Thanks to the financial assistance of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, facilitated by the Vice-Chair, a significant number of Caribbean Members participated in the Conference. The participants as a whole expressed their thanks to the Director General of Paraguay Customs, Mr. Julio Fernandez Frutos, and his team for the excellent organization of the Conference and the warm hospitality extended. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit Prizer Point 5k Color Run May. 02, 2019 By May. 02, 2019 CADIZ - The Prizer Point 5k Color Run will be May 18th at 11 am. Pre-race activities start at 9 am. Registration is $25 and children under 8 yrs old are free. Free water, oranges and bananas will be provided to runners. Race participants will all receive a free T-shirt. Five color blast stations will be scattered along the course where volunteers will spray runners with color from head to toe. A silent auction and a 50/50 draw will also be held, along with drawings for giveaways . Several vendors will be set up under the pavilion selling their hand made or home made items, such as jewelry, book statues, quilts, Tupperware etc., Proceeds from the race and pre-reace activities will benefit KOA Care Camp, which is set up specifically for kids with cancer, including a fully trained medical staff. For more information, contact Prizer Point at 270-963-3387 or store@prizerpoint.com Prizer Point is located at 1777 Prizer Point Road in Cadiz. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Two arrested on drug and gun charges following suspicious activity in storm damaged area By Rosemarie Steele, Paducah Arts Alliance May. 01, 2019 | 09:12 PM | PADUCAH The Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) is pleased to share that visual artist and teacher Adam Carlson of Brooklyn, New York, was the recent participant in the Paducah Artist-In-Residence Program. He arrived in Paducah with canvas and paints on April 16, and set up his studio with PAA board member and former classmate John Romang for his two-week residency. Artists participating in PAAs residency program are required to engage with the community through exhibitions, workshops, public lectures, or collaborative projects with local artists. During his residency, Carlson devoted his time interacting with students at the Paducah School of Art and Design (PSAD) and Paducah Tilghman High School (PTHS), conducting drawing and painting demos, sharing best practices skills for professional artists, and providing critiques on student work. He viewed the displays at AQS QuiltWeek and The National Quilt Museum and connected with various artists from Paducah and abroad. The remainder of his time was consumed preparing for an upcoming solo exhibit at Apartment Earth Gallery in Charleston, West Virginia. Carlson attended The Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where he was classically trained in traditional media. He is known for his stunning portraits and his ability to tell a story with paint as he boldly captures the emotion of his subjects. He has been featured in art publications such as L Magazine and CYMK, and online at CriminalElement.com and Tor.com. His work was recently featured in a solo exhibition at StudioMars in Paducahs Lower Town Arts District. Though Carlson is no stranger to Paducah, the residency was his first opportunity to be immersed in the community. I saw and experienced so much here in my short stay, said Carlson. From an impressive fire burning kiln, amazingly intricate quilts, incredible studios, a beautiful art school, high school classrooms, to even a beautifully designed boutique cookie dough shop I found down the block! Carlson said the one characteristic that continued to resonate with him was Paducahs welcoming spirit. All these things were great to see, but the people behind them is where the real magic lies. The spirit of making is powerful here and it is absolutely infectious! I will be returning to New York with this awakened thrill to create and a new hunger to inspire as these amazing artists here have done for me these past couple weeks. I will always treasure this experience and these amazing new friends I made! John Romang, art teacher at PTHS, introduced Carlson to Paducahs established and aspiring artists. It is always great for students to meet artists, but its really beneficial when the artists interact with the students, said Romang. The students were intrigued with his demos and his quick instructional lessons. They walked away having information and an experience that should carry on with them through their art careers. Randy Simmons Drawing 2 class at PSAD gained insight on technique from Carlson. We are in the life drawing component of the course and Adam did demos in gesture, 10-minute studies, and a portrait demo for the course, said Simmons. It was great having him working in charcoal and using the toned paper process like I do. His painterly approach to drawing struck a cord with the students, as it was a different way for some of them to work. Carlson also demonstrated his painting technique for Tanya Gadbaw-Neitzkes students at PSAD. Adam Carlsons illustrations and portraits can be found on his website at http://adam-carlson.com. He can be reached via email at adampaints13@gmail.com. The Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) was established in 2008 with the purpose of providing cross-cultural educational experiences between the Paducah-area arts community and visiting national/international visual/performing artists. PAA initiated an Artist-in-Residence Program with funds provided by the City of Paducah. Since January 2009, PAA has hosted more than 50 visiting American and international artists from 14 states and 8 countries. Over the past decade, resident artists have conducted nearly 60 events, which include workshops, lectures, exhibitions, performances and installations. The Paducah Arts Alliance is a 501c3 organization. For more information on the Paducah Arts Alliance, please visit paducahartsalliance.com. Portrait painter from New York leaves a colorful impression on PSAD & PTHS art students. On the Net: By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 01, 2019 | 05:30 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY Someone had taped the puppy's snout closed along with his back legs. The puppy was successful in breaking his legs free, but was not able to remove the tape from his snout. It appears likely that someone had committed this act against the puppy and then dropped him off in the area of Rice Springs and Woodville Road. The puppy is currently under medical care at the McCracken County Humane Society, and has been given the name Hero. The McCracken County Sheriffs Department has an open investigation at this time. They are hopeful that evidence recovered during the investigation will lead to the identification of the unknown suspect(s) responsible for this act. Anyone with any information that may assist investigators identifying the person(s) responsible for this crime is encouraged to contact the Sheriffs Department at (270)-444-4719. The McCracken County Sheriff's Department is asking for the public's help with a current investigation of a cruel act to a puppy.McCracken County Animal Control officers received a call Tuesday from a citizen that had discovered an approximate 6-9 month old black Lab and great dane mix puppy. Wang Yujia plays piano on the stage. [chncpa.org] Beijing-born pianist Wang Yujia is set to present the final performances of a concert series named "Perspectives" at the Carnegie Hall in New York City (NYC) on Wednesday and Thursday, offering music lovers more orchestral feasts. Conducted by Michael Thomas, the upcoming concert on Wednesday night highlights three distinctive concertos: Piano Concerto No. 5 written by renowned Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, Fountain of Youth by American composer Julia Wolfe, and Symphonie fantastique by French composer Hector Berlioz. Among them, Fountain of Youth will make its premiere in NYC, which Wolfe aims to depict a "different picture of youth" in her new work focusing on "serious fun," according to an official concert introduction. Concluding the program is Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, which tells "a phantasmagoric tale of obsessive passion painted in kaleidoscopic orchestral colors." Thursday's concert features Thomas as a conductor and a composer. Wang will perform Thomas' Sunset Soliloquy and You Come Here Often? both for solo piano and making their debut in NYC. Born in the late 1980s, the female pianist is featured as an Artist-in-Residence at three of the world's premiere venues: New York's Carnegie Hall with a season-long "Perspectives" series, the Wiener Konzerthaus with a "Portrait" series, and at the Luxembourg Philharmonie. During the 2018-2019 season, Wang has gained high exposure among global concert hall goers, offering various performances that cover recitals, concert series, and extensive tours with some of the world's most venerated ensembles and conductors. The talented music performer was named Musical America's Artist of the Year in 2017 and awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant in the same year, an honor given to up to five outstanding instrumentalists each year. (Source: Xinhua) Evel Knievels leave Wrexham today on epic fundraiser you can be part of world record attempt when they return on Monday! This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 Dozens of bikers dressed as Evel Knievel are leaving Wrexham this morning and hitting the road to start a 1000 mile epic fundraising journey, with Bank Holiday Monday being your chance to be part of a world record attempt. The riders, who will all be dressed as the motorcycle legend, will travel across Wales to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. With your help they are also hoping to earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the Largest Gathering of Evel Knievels in Wrexham town centre on Monday. The world record attempt is taking place between 4:30-6:30pm on Bank Holiday Monday as the ride returns to Wrexham, with the riders congregating on Llwyn Isaf outside the Guildhall. The Wrexham public are invited to attend to witness the attempt, and if you dress up accordingly you can take part and potentially become a world record holder yourself. People are encouraged to grab a cheap outfit from eBay or Amazon and dress up as Evel Knievel, or for those making home made efforts ensure you bring a white helmet along as it is a key part of what will be counted by the officials from the Guiness Book of Records. (Check into the record attempt Facebook event page here!) The overall ride out event kick starts at 9am this morning with Mayor Andy Williams and Mayoress Mrs Beverley Williams seeing the riders off from the High Street via a life size energiser, modelled on the classic toy. The team will continue its perimeter route over the next five days and include laps of three motor circuits the Kinsham, Pembrey and Anglesey Circuits, with the full day by day timetable below! The following days will see the team set out at 09:00 from Monmouth, Carmarthen, Aberystwyth and Holyhead, before completing the ride back to Wrexham on the afternoon of Bank Holiday Monday. Over the next few days they will ride for up to 12 hours day over back lanes and pit lanes, visit remote hamlets and the capital city and take in some of the best scenery in Wales. RIDE Cymru is in its eighth year and has raised well over 80,000 for charity, with numbers taking part year-on-year continuing to increase. For further information on the event visit the RIDE Cymru website www.ridecymru.com, its Facebook page or donate at JustGiving www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cymru2019 Timetables all are provisional and subject to change due to weather / traffic and other incidents outside the control of event organisers. First Minister Questions: No single person to blame for damning Cwm Taf maternity report This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 The below is the another in our now regular summaries of this weeks First Minister Questions session from Cardiff Bay. First Minister Questions takes place every Tuesday when the Assembly is sitting and can be watched live via Senedd.tv For those who have never ventured onto the Senedd site, you can view the session the below was taken from here, that displays a video of the meeting (along with creation of your own clips!) plus by clicking the meeting information and papers link you are able to view all the supporting documentation, along with a link to the full transcript. Wrexham did not appear to get a mention this week, with this weeks session was dominated by the announcement that maternity services at two Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board hospitals have been placed into special measures . Whos to blame? Leader of the Opposition, Paul Davies AM (Con, Preseli Pembs.) asked straight up who was to blame for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg situation? According to the First Minister, failures happened at several levels; it was impossible to select individuals to hold to account. To Paul, though, this raised further questions about the Welsh Governments management of the NHS, with five of seven local health boards receiving some form of intervention: .let me remind you, this isnt the first time weve raised this terrible situation. And the last time I questioned you in March, you told me that mothers and babies are no longer at risk under Cwm Taf. If that was the case, I for one have been left wondering why the Health Minister has ordered maternity services at the Royal Glamorgan and Prince Charles hospitals to be put into special measures. Leader of the Opposition, Paul Davies AM He added there was no lack of transparency on the Welsh Governments part as they commissioned the report, though the accounts from affected families were powerful and distressing. The First Minister noted, we recognise that people across Wales need an assurance that what has been discovered at Cwm Taf is not characteristic of the service that they provide. That is why, in addition to the independent maternity oversight panel that the Minister has established, and in addition to the actions that are being taken to improve the effectiveness of board leadership and governance in that local health board, the Minister has also announced today in his statement that across the NHS in Wales, we will carry out an assurance exercise, led by the chief nursing officer and the chief medical officer, and there will be a review later this year by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales of maternity services across Wales. Climate Emergency = No Newport bypass? Adam Price AM (Plaid, Carms. E. & Dinefwr) also asked about Cwm Taf Morgannwg noting some of the concerns date back to 2015 when Mark Drakeford was Health Minister. Mr Price asked about the current Health Minister, noting there have been some calls for his resignation; and would the First Minister act on that? The First Minister didnt agree with that assessment and the Health Minister, Vaughan Gething (Lab, Cardiff S. & Penarth), was going to meet affected families face-to-face. Mr Prices second question was on the Newport bypass. First Minister, yesterday, your government declared a climate emergency.which we hope the Senedd will endorse through our motion tomorrow. Most people will be of the view that yesterdays announcement will be incompatible with any decision to plough ahead with the M4 black route. Can you confirm that the declaration of a climate emergency.is a change in policy that will be a new and materially relevant factor in your M4 decision making, and have you asked officials for additional advice on that basis? Adam Price AM The First Minister didnt think it was a new policy; its merely to draw attention to climate change and the short timescales available to deal with it. The Welsh Government will look to see if theres more they can do as part of their Low Carbon Action Plan. He also confirmed that due to European election purdah, his decision on the Newport bypass wont be announced until the first week of June. While the whole thing is becoming increasingly tiresome, there was a third brief question on Labours Brexit stance ahead of Labour finalising their European manifesto. The First Ministers position hasnt changed; his preference is to go back to the people if the UK Parliament cant agree on a way forward. Levelling the Playing Field for Local Leisure Services Vikki Howells AM (Lab, Cynon Valley) raised the topical issue of funding for local authority leisure services. Leisure services operated by non-profit trusts are eligible for business rate relief, but local authority-run services arent often leading to multi-million-pound bills. Could something be done? David Melding AM (Con, South Wales Central) raised the plight of Cardiff Swimming Club, who face a 53,000 annual bill and loss of pool time following the transfer of Cardiff International Pool. Dr Dai Lloyd AM (Plaid, South Wales West) asked for additional funding due to leisures role in reducing loneliness and boosting physical activity. The First Minister told the chamber business rates paid by councils were ultimately redistributed back to them, but the Finance Minister was meeting with councils to determine if theres a problem. Due to the absence of a spending review at UK level, he has no idea how much money Wales is due to receive from April 2020. Keep up to date with what is going on in the Senedd via SeneddHome.com Wales is leading the way in terms of caring for people with dementia Vital support service extended for those diagnosed with dementia This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 A service which provides vital support to people diagnosed with dementia is being extended. The Carers Trust North Wales Crossroads charity offer a range of personalised support to people who have recently been diagnosed with dementia and their families. It includes access to a named dementia coordinator, as well as training, emotional support, social activities and signposting to support services in the community. The service, which is the first of its kind in Wales, has recently been extended for a further 12 months with funding from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, after receiving a 23% increase in referrals in the last year alone. An evaluation carried out by the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research in partnership with Bangor University found that people felt well supported by the service, with one family describing it as the only light at the end of a dark tunnel. Among those to pay tribute to the support provided through the charity is Chris Roberts, 58, from Rhuddlan, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimers disease at the age of 51. The former businessman has since become a major advocate for others with the condition through his work as an ambassador for the Alzheimers Society and as Vice Chair of the European Working Group for People with Dementia. He said: This project is one of the amazing success stories that Wales should be proud of. Its giving people quality of life, its educating people about how to live with or care for somebody with dementia, and its helping to keep people out of hospital. Having a designated named person to turn to means that they can build up a good rapport with the family and its much easier then to get the help you need, rather than talking to some nameless person. When youre having to introduce yourself and tell your story to different people over and over again you get information overload and you just give up. Chris said the regular Taith Ni (Our Journey) peer support groups coordinated by the charity play an invaluable role in helping to reduce the isolation that people living with dementia and their carers can sometimes feel. Dementia is not a very good companion, so nobody should be sat at home living with dementia, he explained. Its not good for the person diagnosed and its not good for the people around them. It causes stress and anxiety and mood, and then it affects the whole family. The best thing we can do is be out and about socialising meeting other people and exchanging hints and tips and sharing information on different support with each other. I think Wales is leading the way in terms of caring for people with dementia and its important to keep that momentum up. Wrexham man arrested in connection with the death of a 21-year-old woman in Cardiff This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 A man from the Wrexham area has been arrested in connection with the death of a 21-year-old woman, whose body was found at a property in Cardiff this week. The 22-year-old, who police say was known to Lauren Griffiths, has been arrested in connection with the incident. South Wales Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with Laurens death at this time. Emergency services were called to Laurens flat in Glynrhondda Street in Cathays at around 6.10pm on Tuesday April 30th. Laurens family, who live in the Oswestry area and who are being supported by specially trained liaison officers, have issued the following statement: Lauren was a beautiful bubbly girl. She loved being part of a large family and was a real people person. Laurens fun and unique dress sense always made her stand out in a crowd and she was comfortable and confident in her own skin. Lauren was taken from us too soon and leaves a massive hole in all our hearts. Detectives are keen to hear from anyone who can offer information in relation to the investigation or who would have been in Glynrhondda Street between midday on Monday, April 29, and 6.10pm on Tuesday, April 30, and who may have seen or heard anything in connection with this matter. DCI Mark OShea, the Senior Investigating Officer, said: South Wales Police appreciate the support given by the local community while our enquiries continue in the area. We ask anyone with information about the incident please to contact us via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting occurrence 1900154230. Alternatively information can be submitted via the police major incident public reporting site here. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 01:52:28|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close PARIS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Traditional May Day rally in Paris was marred by violence on Wednesday as a group of masked people clashed with anti-riot police, injuring at last three police officers, while more than 300 people have been arrested, according to local media. A policeman was hurt in his head after being pelted by cobblestone. He was evacuated to hospital. Two others were also reported wounded following violent scuffles with radical activists that have hijacked the march, news channel BFMTV reported. Dressed mostly in black, hooded people had converged at the front of the demonstration in Montparnasse Boulevard in Paris as the inter-union procession was to start at 2:30 p.m. local time (1230 GMT). They threw stones and bottles at anti-riot police and smashed a van's windows. Dubbed as Balck Blocks, they moved towards riot police, chanting anti-capitalism slogans. Some torched motorbikes and vandalized properties in Place de l'Italie, eastern Paris. The police fired tear gas. According to Paris police headquarters, 288 individuals were arrested by 5:00 p.m. local time, with 220 remaining in custody on charges of committing violent acts and degradations. Some protesters tried to storm a police station in the Paris's 13th district and in the eastern city of Besancon. Amid risks of violence escalation, prefecture urged peaceful protesters to break away from rioters who called on social media to make Paris "the capital of rioting." With orders from 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. "Immediate response, arrests, intervention: police, gendarmes and firefighters are more than ever mobilized. No abuse should be tolerated on the sidelines of the demonstrations," Paris prefecture said in a Twitter message. 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 along the route of the rally to close by Wednesday afternoon, erect barricades and board up windows for fear of looting. Coordinated by the country's main labor unions, more than 200 rallies across the country drew 151,000 participants, of which 16,000 in Paris, the French Interior Ministry estimated. The CGT put the number at 80,000 in the capital and 310,000 country-wide. This year's celebration of the International Workers' Day had been dominated by the "Yellow Vest" movement which started in November 2018 to denounce high living costs and then turned into a social uprising against Macron. Thousands of people wearing the high visibility vest which symbolizes the spontaneous movement, joined the labor unionists in cities from Marseille to Toulouse, in Bordeaux and Nantes in relative calm atmosphere to protest against the president's reform drive. iStock(YAKIMA, Wash.) -- Several students were injured at a Washington state high school on Wednesday when strong wind gusts caused a bounce house to flip over. Officials at Zillah High School, near Yakima, said five students were injured when the inflatable play area went airborne during an outdoor event. The school did not specify the injuries, but local authorities said one victim was in critical condition and had to be airlifted from the scene. The students were tethered into the inflatable at the time. "Five students were involved in the incident. The nature and extent of the injuries are unknown at this time," the school said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to the students, parents and staff of those involved." Zillah High School said it is investigating the incident. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 02:12:36|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BAGHDAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim on Wednesday held a phone call with Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit to discuss efforts to solve crises of some Arab countries. A statement by Iraqi Foreign Ministry said al-Hakim "affirmed Iraq's readiness to exert efforts to bring closer the views of the conflicting parties and to provide solutions under the sponsorship of the AL." Meanwhile, al-Hakim made another phone call with Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and "discussed means to strengthen bilateral relations to serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples," a separate ministry statement said. The two ministers also discussed "regional and international issues and the importance of bilateral cooperation," the statement added. The two phone calls came as part of Iraq's efforts to restore its Arab and regional role, especially after its territorial victory against the extremist Islamic State militants. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi repeatedly confirmed his government's vision to establish partnership, cooperation and exchange of interests with all Arab countries as well as the neighboring countries in order to promote opportunities of stability and prosperity in the region. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 02:57:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DOHA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's Taliban group on Wednesday announced the start of a new round of peace talks with the United States in the Qatari capital of Doha. The announcement was made by the Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on his Twitter account. The U.S.-Taliban negotiations are aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement which would include the Taliban's guarantees regarding terrorism and a phased withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Zalmay Khalilzad, chief of the U.S. delegation, has said the talks will ultimately focus on four main issues: withdrawal, guarantees against terrorism, a lasting cease-fire and talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan to establish a path toward a political settlement. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 02:58:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United States will continue to raise cost for Cuba and Russia over their behaviors on Venezuela-related issue. In an interview with Fox Business Network, Pompeo said that "you've seen the work that we've done already to raise the cost for the Cubans. We've taken a handful of actions. There are more that we will continue to work on. We'll do the same for the Russians." "As the President said, they've got to go, and the Russians need to have the cost for that raised," Pompeo said. He added that regarding sanctions and restrictions to Cuba, "there's certainly more to follow." Pompeo's remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Twitter on Tuesday 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." When asked about the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, Pompeo insisted in Wednesday's interview that "military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do." 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 responded to Trump's tweets also via Twitter, saying "there are no Cuban troops in Venezuela; nor are there any Cubans taking part in military or security operations there." Noting that Cuba had only sent medical staff to Venezuela for humanitarian missions, Rodriguez said "I strongly reject Trump's total blockade threat." U.S.-Cuba ties have deteriorated under Trump, who has rolled back the detente initiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama. The White House earlier announced a cap on remittances to Cuba and restrictions on non-family-related travels, a move that could affect American cruise companies and airlines that sail or fly to the island. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 03:03:04|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close A man reads a book at the Geneva Book Fair in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 1, 2019. The 33rd edition of Geneva Book Fair started on Wednesday, gathering some 370 exhibitors who have brought not only the newest books but also cultural exchange activities. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) GENEVA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The 33rd edition of Geneva Book Fair started on Wednesday, gathering some 370 exhibitors who have brought not only the newest books but also cultural exchange activities. As the only publishing fair in Switzerland, the Geneva Book Fair this year will bring in the next five days readers, writers, publishers and booksellers together in a convivial and festive opportunity to meet and exchange. As in previous years, publishers from China came to the fair with the exhibition of about 300 books. The Chinese exhibitors will also organize cultural exchange activities such as the promotion of traditional Chinese calligraphy. In cooperation with the authorities of Geneva canton, the book fair welcomes teachers and students as usual with workshops, events and exhibitions. Professional meetings will also be organized for representatives from the publishing industry to exchange views on the challenges facing the market and to discuss about solutions. As this year's guest of honor of the fair, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, accompanied by some 40 authors, will highlight the French-speaking part of Belgian literature at an exhibition space of some 500 square meters which consists of a stage, a bookstore, a youth area, a gourmet corner and a trade show. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 03:18:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ALGIERS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Algerian state-run energy company Sonatrach on Wednesday announced its plan to strengthen partnership with foreign firms in a bid to improve onshore and offshore output capabilities. The announcement was made by Sonatrach's new CEO Rachid Hachichi, who was appointed on April 23, during his address to the company's workers on the occasion of International Workers' Day. "Our group will continue to develop its partnership relations with international companies wishing to invest in Algeria," Hachichi said. The company "will continue to work to strengthen partnership relations based on mutual respect in order to improve hydrocarbon discovery and exploitation capabilities," he added. With the depletion of its deposits in operation for decades, Algeria wants to revamp its production capacity by resorting to exploring offshore and shale gas fields. Hydrocarbon exports account for 95 percent of the North African nation's revenues. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 03:33:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close PRAGUE, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Czech extremists and their opponents had a violent clash in the center of Brno of the Czech Republic on Wednesday during a May Day rally, as the latter tried to stop the former's march through the city, according to local media report. In the ensuing brawl, the police detained two people. Because of the opponents' blocking, the extremists could not leave the square in the center, but the police later managed to separate the two camps and the march was set in motion. The extremists' rally was called by the extra-parliamentary National and Social Front. There were tens of extremists and hundreds of their opponents. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 03:38:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BAGHDAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi forces on Wednesday killed two would-be suicide bombers affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) militant group in an ambush in the northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi army said. Acting on intelligence reports, a joint force from the provincial police and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi force destroyed an IS vehicle carrying two suspected suicide bombers near the village of Safawi south of the town of Tal Abtta, some 70 km west of the provincial capital Mosul, Yahya Rasoul, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations command, said in a brief statement. According to Rasoul, one of the two IS would-be suicide bombers was a local leader of the extremist group. The security situation in Iraq has been improved since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017. IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press briefing in Washington D.C., the United States, April 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United States will continue to raise cost for Cuba and Russia over their behaviors on Venezuela-related issue. In an interview with Fox Business Network, Pompeo said that "you've seen the work that we've done already to raise the cost for the Cubans. We've taken a handful of actions. There are more that we will continue to work on. We'll do the same for the Russians." "As the President said, they've got to go, and the Russians need to have the cost for that raised," Pompeo said. He added that regarding sanctions and restrictions to Cuba, "there's certainly more to follow." Pompeo's remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Twitter on Tuesday 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." When asked about the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, Pompeo insisted in Wednesday's interview that "military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do." 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 responded to Trump's tweets also via Twitter, saying "there are no Cuban troops in Venezuela; nor are there any Cubans taking part in military or security operations there." Noting that Cuba had only sent medical staff to Venezuela for humanitarian missions, Rodriguez said "I strongly reject Trump's total blockade threat." U.S.-Cuba ties have deteriorated under Trump, who has rolled back the detente initiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama. The White House earlier announced a cap on remittances to Cuba and restrictions on non-family-related travels, a move that could affect American cruise companies and airlines that sail or fly to the island. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 04:59:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Cyclone Kenneth has killed 41 people in Mozambique, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday. The fatalities came about a month after Cyclone Idai killed more than 600 people in the southern Africa country. Cyclone Kenneth also killed seven people and injured more than 200 others in the Comoros, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Dujarric said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reported that more than 37,700 houses were destroyed or damaged in Mozambique. UN humanitarian partners supplied shelter material, including tarpaulins, family kits, tents and hygiene as well as water and sanitation to families in need, he said. The World Food Programme provided for over 14,600 people and on Tuesday a team, including two medics, was deployed to Mutemo Island, in Ibo district, with emergency health, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, he said. In the Comoros, almost 80 percent of farms and over 60 percent of crops have reportedly been destroyed and the cyclone also reportedly destroyed over 3,800 houses, the spokesman said. The United Nations has deployed team members to assist the government of the Comoros in rapid assessment and response and emergency supplies are in place for health, education, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene. In an update on Cyclone Idai's toll on neighboring Malawi in March, Dujarric said the world organization and its partners have reached over 400,000 people in need of aid, providing immediate life-saving relief support, including food, medicine, shelter, protection services, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies. "Beyond addressing the immediate needs, the UN is also supporting the government to assess post-disaster recovery needs that will inform early and long-term recovery efforts," he said. "This includes providing support for people who were displaced by the cyclone and wish to return home." Idai swept across Mozambique's mid-section and also flooded huge swaths of Malawi and Zimbabwe. Meteorological agencies said Idai was one of the worst storms recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, killing more than 1,000 people: more than 600 in Mozambique, about 60 in Malawi and more than 340 in Zimbabwe. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 05:04:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADEN, Yemen, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's government forces on Wednesday accused the Houthi rebels of committing 3,719 cease-fire violations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah since December 2018, killing 140 civilians. "The army has monitored 3,719 violations committed by the Houthi militia in the province of Hodeidah since the truce took effect on Dec. 18, 2018," Spokesman of the National Army Abdu Majali said during a news conference held in the northern province of Marib. Majali said the Houthi violations resulted in "killing 140 citizens and wounding 811 others, mostly women and children." "The Houthis continued to target the positions held by the national army forces in the city," he added. The spokesman called on the United Nations and the international community to put pressures on the Houthis to implement the Stockholm Peace Agreement. Hodeidah is the key lifeline entry point for Yemen's most food imports and humanitarian aid. The four-year grinding war has pushed more than 20 million people to the verge of starvation. Yemeni warring parties reached a peace deal on Hodeidah in December last year as the first step toward a comprehensive political solution. But sporadic breaches are daily recorded in Hodeidah as the two sides failed to withdraw their forces in accordance with the agreement reached in the Swedish capital of Stockholm under the auspices of the United Nations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 05:14:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Moroccan workers demonstrated nationwide on Wednesday to demand better work benefits despite the government's decision to raise the wages. The largest protests took place in the capital Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco's financial city. A few days before the International Workers' Day on Wednesday, the Moroccan government, three largest labor unions and the major employers' association signed an agreement that would raise public servants' monthly salaries by 40 to 50 U.S. dollars over three years. Under the agreement, the government will also increase the family allowances by 10 dollars for each of the three first children of those working in the public and private sectors. The three parties also agreed to raise the minimum wage by 10 percent over two years for workers in private companies in the sectors of agriculture, industry, commerce and service. However, the demonstrators deemed these measures as "insufficient," and called for safeguarding labor unions' liberties, the reduction of income taxes and the implementation of earlier agreements between unions and the government. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 05:49:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close HELSINKI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Political divisions were evident as Finnish party leaders gave their speeches on the first day of May. The speeches were paid more than usual attention as alternatives for a new coalition government remain wide open. Polarization over the climate policies increased as Antti Lindtman, the chair of the Social Democratic Party's parliamentary caucus, assured that the party would definitely finance the infrastructure required for a major new biomass plant in Kemi, northern Finland. Green Party chairman Pekka Haavisto on Wednesday reiterated his demand that the forest industry, as a whole, should bear its responsibility for the environment. Observers noted that the possibility looms that the greens could remain outside the cabinet if the forest industry issue persists. It is believed that any increased use of wood would further reduce the forest carbon sink. Besides, the social democratic leader Antti Rinne assured he would keep his promise of an increase in lowest pensions. Addressing crowds at the Helsinki Railroad Square, he also said a thousand more doctors would be hired to primary health care to shorten the waiting queues. His party winning the leading position as the biggest party in the parliament, Rinne is currently assigned with the task to negotiate a ruling coalition within this month. Jussi Halla-aho, chairman of the populist Finns Party, criticized the Finnish system of forming coalitions. "Even parties almost totally opposed in their programs can become allies in a coalition. This reduces the impact of the vote of an individual citizen." Halla-aho said that the Swedish system where parties form blocks in advance is better as voters know which kind of government they are voting for. He also noted the refusal of many parties to exclude one party in advance is problematic. He was referring to the reluctance of many Finnish parties to stand along with Finns Party in the coalition. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 06:09:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOSCOW, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a bill on providing stable operation of a Russian national internet system in case of disconnection from the global network infrastructure. According to the law published on Russia's official legal information portal, Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor is entitled to carry out "the centralized operation of the general communications network" if there are risks to the operation of the Russian internet. The measures include installing a national system for internet traffic routing through servers within the country and preventing external threats from cutting off the Russian part of the global network. The legislation has aroused controversy as many Russian social network users think it qualifies as one aimed at isolating the Russian internet. In response, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said previously that Russia has no plans to isolate the internet but must prepare for a possible disconnection from the global network and protect the users' interests. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 09:25:16|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close by Peter Mertz GRAND CANYON, the United States, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China will soon overtake Europe to become the top outbound tourist market of the U.S. state of Arizona, tourism officials here have said. "We expect China to become our number one overseas tourist market by 2025," Scott Dunn, public information officer for the Arizona Tourism Board (ATB), told Xinhua in a recent interview. Chinese visitors currently lag behind Germany, France and Britain with 81,000 travelers per year to the Grand Canyon, America's prime tourist attraction and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. "We have seen an increase of 286 percent from 2010 to 2017: a monumental growth from the China market," Dunn said, adding that the number of Chinese tourists to the Grand Canyon soared from 21,972 in 2010 to 81,373 in 2017. ARIZONA'S EFFORTS With the 2019 tourism year just having started, Arizona, home to a number of world class attractions, is hedging its bet and focusing on China's burgeoning middle class of 400 million people. Thanks to Dunn and his China expert, deputy director Becky Blaine, ATB is setting a national example for attracting Chinese visitors. "Cultural nuances are very important to address," Dunn said. ATB held several Chinese seminars last year, teaching local businesses how to engage travelers from China, giving tips on how to work with Chinese tour operators, helping Arizona businesses to translate websites into Chinese, and listing a variety of other Chinese cultural specifics to enhance Chinese visitors' experience in the Grand Canyon state. Signage is another important add-on with a number of key tourism sites recently translating information signs into Mandarin to enhance the experience of Chinese tourists. As America's second most visited national park, the Grand Canyon hosts some 6 million tourists a year. MISSED MONEY The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) predicted that China's middle class is expected to hit 520 million people by 2025, and with a disposable income of more than 2 trillion U.S. dollars, this young, travel-hungry group is a sought-after market with limitless potential. With San Jose in California adding direct flights to China in 2016, other western U.S. cities, including Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah, have been considering direct access to the world's second-largest economy. "A game changer," said Dunn of direct flights from Phoenix, capital of Arizona to China, hot on the radar of local businesses. Potentially, this would allow "millions of Chinese visitors" to fly into the Valley of the Sun, where businesses might thrive from Chinese spending and investment, Dunn added. In the bordering state Colorado, former Governor John Hickenlooper, now a Democratic presidential runner, heavily courted Chinese investment in his state, a business strategy with no virtual downside. Similar efforts have been made in Utah, where conservative lawmakers have spurred the state's economy by bringing Chinese investors and tourists to the Beehive State. But Arizona's political leadership, and its Republican Governor Doug Ducey have not followed the lead of their neighbors, much to the dismay of big business. "While some companies are already focusing on the evolution of this new class, many others have yet to broaden their vision and thus risk missing a significant opportunity," the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said in its annual report. Some conservative politicians' attitude have not slowed down ATB officials, who see the vast potential across the Pacific. "There is an Arizona channel on WeChat, and we conduct trade missions to Chengdu and Beijing (in China)," Dunn said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 09:30:19|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close HAVANA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Cuba on Wednesday denied U.S. accusations that it has military troops in Venezuela, saying those allegations serve to justify new punitive economic measures against the island. "There are no security forces from Cuba in Venezuela. Our country doesn't participate with troops or military operations. We can't withdraw security forces that are not existent from that country," said Johana Tablada, deputy director of U.S. affairs at Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In statements to local media, the official said recent threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to intensify its economic embargo against the Caribbean nation are "disrespectful" and "cruel". On Tuesday, Trump said if Cuban troops and militia do not cease military or other operations in Venezuela, the White House will enact a full and complete embargo against the island, together with highest-level sanctions. Tablada denounced that the real reason why Washington accuses Havana without evidence is to cover up the "failure" of its policy towards Caracas which openly seeks to replace Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro by force. The most recent example, said the Cuban diplomat, is the failed coup d'etat on Tuesday. On Tuesday, 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. In a televised address on Tuesday night, Maduro declared that the "coup" had been defeated. U.S.-Cuban relations have plummeted since Trump became president, partially rolling back the detente initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, while maintaining re-established diplomatic ties. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 09:45:26|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The war of words between Washington and Moscow escalated on Wednesday over the latest situation in Venezuela. 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. In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the White House said that the United States denounced Russia's "continued support" for the Maduro government. The White House said that "the Trump Administration views interference from the Russian government and their support of the Maduro regime as extremely troublesome and unacceptable." The statement read that "President Trump has made it clear to Russia that they must leave and renounce their support of the Maduro regime." Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States will continue to raise cost for Russia over the behaviors on Venezuela-related issue. In an interview with Fox Business Network, Pompeo said that "as the president said, they've got to go, and the Russians need to have the cost for that raised." On the same day, Pompeo called his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss the Venezuela situation. According to the State Department, Pompeo said during the phone call that the role of Russia in Venezuela is "destabilizing" for the nation and "for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship." For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday denounced Washington's support for the Venezuelan opposition in their attempt to seize power. In the telephone conversation with 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. 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. In a televised address on Tuesday night, Maduro called on other countries "which continue to support the coup opposition" to rectify their positions. The United States has been pursuing a policy of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation against the Venezuelan government in support of Guaido. It recognized Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on Jan. 23, days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 10:10:48|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Wednesday summoned Afghan envoy over a cross-border attack by militants from Afghan side of the border, which killed at least three soldiers and injured seven others, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. A group of 60 to 70 militants from across the border from bases in Afghanistan attacked troops undertaking fencing effort along Pak-Afghan border in Alwara area of North Waziristan tribal district, the Pakistani army said earlier the day. The ministry said in a statement that the Afghan diplomat was called to the ministry and Pakistan's strong protest was lodged over the cross-border terrorist attack in North Waziristan Tuesday night that launched by terrorist groups coming from Afghanistan. "Pakistan military repulsed the attack by these terrorists who after suffering significant casualties fled back to Afghanistan in small groups," the statement said. It added that such provocations are detrimental to peace and stability along Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "The Afghan side was urged to take immediate action against the terrorist elements on their side and ensure effective measures so that such incidents are not repeated in future," it said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 10:25:57|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Former Barcelona and Real Madrid great Luis Figo said Wednesday that he empathized with Neymar following the Brazilian's altercation with a fan last weekend, but called on the Paris Saint-Germain forward to control his emotions. Neymar faces a lengthy suspension after appearing to punch a supporter while leaving the pitch after PSG's penalty shootout loss to Rennes in the final of the Coupe de France last Saturday. "As a player, I can understand Neymar. But I think it's a reaction that has to be repudiated," Figo told journalists during a promotional event in Rio de Janeiro. "I understand that after an important game where you lose a title, you're upset. And you can lose your head due to provocation. It's something that should not have happened, but I understand how the situation could have led him to react like that. Figo added: "It's not a defense, but an understanding of something that should not have happened. He may have acted without thinking. But he'll learn from his mistakes and hopefully it won't happen again." Neymar has already been banned for the first three group matches of next season's Champions League for insulting the referee after PSG's Champions League elimination by Manchester United in March. Figo, who won the 2000 Ballon d'Or, said the 27-year-old's chances of being voted the world's best player hinged on his ability to stay fit and lead PSG to important silverware. "He has great quality but has had two [foot] injuries that have impacted him in recent years," the 46-year-old former Portugal winger said. "Neymar is one of the best players out there. He can win any individual title. But individual titles come with team success." Figo also had words of praise for Real Madrid's Brazilian teenager Vinicius Junior, who is in the final stages of his recovery from an ankle injury. The 18-year-old has made 28 first-team appearances for the Spanish giants in 2018-19 following his 45 million-euro move from Flamengo in July. "He's had a fantastic season and before he got injured he helped Madrid overcame certain problems," Figo said. "He has been a breath of fresh air. He'll improve and given his quality he could achieve anything." Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 10:46:07|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Showing the audience a vast highway that spans from Lianyungang of east China to Russia's St Petersburg and a railway that links Kenya's largest port Mombasa and the capital Nairobi, WPP, a world leading communication services company, believes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could be the biggest infrastructure project in history. In a workshop co-hosted by WPP and the China Center of Jesus College in the University of Cambridge on Tuesday, attendees of scholars, business leaders and students were engaging in a heated discussion on China with lively interest. Passionately exchange of ideas and thoughts kicked off after WPP presented some films under the theme of "China in the world." An impressive feature of the BRI is that it is transnational, said Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club, a British business network that promotes commercial links with China. "It is the first infrastructure project in the world that is transnational," said Perry, adding that in the long run, "infrastructure being transnational will have a successful impact." Christoph Isenburger, director for Brand Services Europe at Alibaba, said with BRI, the exchange of products will be much easier between the East and the West, and the huge initiative will have an impact not only on China but also on Africa, Europe and the rest of the world. "We got to learn from China again in the next century or even longer, just as how the West was immersed in enthusiasm to learn about China from Marco Polo's narrative of his travels in China hundreds of years ago," Isenburger said. Jim O'Neill, former commercial secretary to the UK Treasury, told Xinhua the BRI is China's signature policy and signs that showed at the just-concluded Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing about the initiative being more adaptive than before are to be welcomed. "China is doing almost exactly what I assumed years ago," said O'neill, who coined the term BRIC, the acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China, the four fast developing economies, in 2001, while praising China's economic growth at 6.6 percent in 2018 as "enormous." In the coming years, the single most important thing for the world is the Chinese consumer, he said. As the international trade is given a boost thanks to the BRI, products labeled Made in China are also shaping China's image in the world, noted David Roth, CEO of The Store WPP in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia. "If you believe Chinese products are cheap, inferior, you are being behind the times," said Roth, citing Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi and other Chinese brands that have gone global. Younger consumers, especially these under the age of 25, think more positively of the Chinese products. As the young consumers grow older, demand for Made in China will only get stronger, Roth said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 11:06:19|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close GAZA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets on Thursday struck a Hamas military post in northern Gaza Strip, according to Gaza security officials. Palestinian witnesses told Xinhua that the Israeli war jets struck a military facility that belongs to Hamas movement in northern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported, but severe damages were caused to the base. The Israeli army said in statement that the strike was carried out after a large brushfire broke out in the Eshkol region of southern Israel on Wednesday night, with suspicion that it was caused by wave of arson balloons carrying explosives toward Israeli cities earlier that day. Israeli army will continue crushing any attempts to harm Israeli civilians, the statement said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 11:06:21|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Robert Mardini, permanent observer for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the United Nations, on Wednesday said that concerted efforts to reduce nuclear risks are urgently needed. In light of some disturbing developments, "concerted efforts to reduce nuclear risks are urgently needed," Mardini told 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), held at the UN headquarters in New York. "The risk of use of nuclear weapons is increasing. Previous restraints are steadily falling away. We see a shift from a focus on non-use and elimination to making the use of nuclear weapons possible or more likely," he said. Noting that "military incidents between nuclear weapon states are occurring with disturbing frequency," the permanent observer said that "the risk that nuclear weapons could be used may be greater today than during the Cold War." Since 1995, NPT review conferences have produced decisions, action plans, practical steps and measures to improve the effectiveness of the review process itself. The NPT, signed in 1968 and effective since 1970, is the only treaty that contains legally-binding commitments to pursuing nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states have joined the treaty. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 11:31:33|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close PRAGUE, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Third-seeded Wang Qiang went through to the quarterfinals of the Prague Open by defeating Mandy Minella 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, after a hard-won battle over two hours on Wednesday. It was seven years ago, in 2012, that these two players last time competed. Wang was defeated in a three-game tug of war, but this year she proved that she is the stronger one. The Chinese player's journey in Prague Open lasted three consecutive years. In the previous two years, Wang swallowed an annual one victory one defeat and packed back home. This year, she finally enjoyed 2 victories on the Clay. This is also her second time in career to advance to the top 8 in clay tournament since last time in Strasbourg 2018, a no mean feat for the lady who are not good at playing on clay court. Wang will next face unseeded Bernarda Pera who sent Antonia Lottner home 6-2, 6-4. Her victory in the quarterfinals will record as her best result in WTA clay event. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 11:51:38|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Pei Jianrong MEXICO CITY, May 1 (Xinhua) -- In just one year, ties between China and the Dominican Republic have achieved brilliant successes, China's Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Zhang Run said. "A year ago, with extraordinary strategic vision and political courage, the presidents of China and the Dominican Republic made the wise decision to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries, opening a new chapter in bilateral relations," Zhang told Xinhua. On May 1, 2018, the two countries signed a joint statement in Beijing announcing the move, paving the way for frequent high-level exchanges to boost cooperation, said Zhang, China's first ambassador to the Caribbean nation. In November, President Danilo Medina became the first Dominican head of state to visit China, where the two countries agreed on a road map for developing bilateral ties, he said. In the past 12 months, their respective parliaments has established friendship groups to promote ties, and dozens of commissions at all-level exchanged visits. The two countries have also built a successful framework for cooperation, signing more than 20 bilateral agreements. Trade exchange saw a 22-percent year-on-year increase to reach 2.289 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, Zhang said. In the first quarter of this year, trade exchange hit 630 million U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 35 percent, with Dominican exports to China reaching 180 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 403 percent compared to the same period last year. Numerous Chinese companies have opened new plants or increased production at existing operations in the Dominican Republic, serving as models in such sectors as mining, footwear and medical equipment, Zhang said. People-to-people exchanges are also on the rise, with a dozen Chinese cultural events held in the Dominican Republic since diplomatic ties were launched. Last week, a Dominican delegation set a precedent by participating in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing. "We appreciate the willingness of the Dominicans to actively participate in the construction of the Belt and Road, and are confident that with the efforts the Dominican Republic can become a regional hub that comprises maritime transport, aerial transport, postal services, tourism and export-based processing," Zhang said. The two countries are just getting to know each other, said Zhang, and are poised to develop a fruitful relationship based on mutual respect, win-win cooperation, openness, inclusion and innovative interaction. "China and the Dominican Republic are new friends, but in a short time, we have become good friends," Zhang said. The results show the decision to establish diplomatic ties was the right choice, favoring the economic and social development of the two countries, and well-being of the two peoples, he added. "Our ties are the outcome of historical tendencies and will pass the test of time," the Chinese ambassador said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 11:51:40|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close LONDON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China's Tsinghua University claims the number one spot in the Times Higher Education (THE)'s Asia University Rankings 2019, becoming the first university on the Chinese mainland to top the rankings revealed by THE Thursday. Tsinghua University replaces the National University of Singapore, which led the table since 2016 and drops one place to second, thanks to a large boost in the former's score for teaching environment and significant rises in its scores for citation impact and international outlook. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology now tops the Special Administrative Region of China's representatives after climbing two places to third thanks to an improvement in its industry income and international outlook scores. The University of Hong Kong remains in the fourth place. Peking University drops two places to fifth, a consequence of relative declines in its research income and industry income. The prestigious ranking of THE, a weekly magazine based in London, comprises more than 400 universities -- expanded from over 350 last year -- from 27 countries and regions. Chinese mainland claimed 72 positions overall in the rankings, up from 63 last year. "China is once again one of the main success stories of the Asia University Rankings, reflecting the country's large and sustained investment in the sector over many years," said Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at THE. According to THE, which reports specifically on news and issues related to higher education, its World University Rankings judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The Asia University Rankings use the same calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 12:11:47|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close CANBERRA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has rejected modelling that found its ambitious climate policies could cost the nation hundreds of billions of Australian dollars. According to the modelling, published by Brian Fisher on Thursday, the ALP's plan would subtract between 264 billion Australian dollars (185.4 billion U.S. dollars) and 542 billion Australian dollars (380.7 billion U.S. dollars) from gross national product (GNP). The ALP has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 45 percent and have 50 percent of the nation's electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 if it defeats the governing Liberal-National party coalition (LNP) in the general election on May 18. Fisher, a former director of the the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), said that pursuing those targets would result in the loss of 167,000 jobs. "Negative consequences for real wages and employment are projected under all scenarios, with a minimum 3 percent reduction in real wages and 167,000 fewer jobs in 2030 compared to what otherwise would have occurred," he wrote, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. "Labor's plan results in a cumulative GNP loss over the period from 2021 to 2030 that is over three times larger than that occurring under the LNP policy," he said. Fisher's findings have been rejected by the ALP, with the party's climate change spokesman Mark Butler accusing Fisher of producing "dodgy numbers." "This is the latest in a parade of dodgy numbers cooked up to try and excuse six years of delay, division and denial from the Liberals on climate change and energy policy," he told News Corp Australia. "Australians won't be fooled, or frightened, into ignoring climate change," Butler said. The Climate Council of Australia in March accused Fisher of being "the fossil fuel industry's go-to consultant", saying that an earlier version of his projections failed "to consider the economic benefits for Australia from investing in renewable energy." The ALP has maintained that costing its climate policies is impossible - a position that party leader Bill Shorten again defended on Wednesday night. "The cost of not acting on climate change is far worse than acting on climate change," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). "And, again, when you talk about cost, what's the cost to the environment, the cost in not acting?" he said. Fisher's projections have been cast into doubt by the academic community with Australian National University professors Warwick McKibbin and Frank Jotzo telling Fairfax Media cautioning against his claims. Responding to the March version of Fisher's analysis, they said that the work had used "absurd cost assumptions", producing a carbon price forecast that was "way too high" and a "factor of 10" more than his own work. Thursday's projections have been seized upon by the LNP, who have accused the ALP of trying to "wreck the economy." "Mark Butler and Bill Shorten have refused to come clean on the details and the impacts of their policies, they have refused to do it time and time again," the Energy Minister Angus Taylor told Macquarie Media radio. "What we know is on very reasonable assumptions about what Labor's policies are - they will slash wages, they will slash critical industries, those really critical industries like resources and transport that are the backbone of this country and we will all pay for it with lower wages, less economic activity and higher electricity prices," Taylor said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 12:21:51|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close by Noemi Galban, Raimundo Urrechaga HAVANA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A massive May Day celebration in Cuba's capital Havana on Wednesday reflected widespread support for the government and its defense of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, despite rising tensions between the country and the United States. Nearly a million Cubans participated in the rally, rejecting U.S. measures to intensify the nearly six-decade-old trade embargo against Havana and denouncing Washington's efforts to oust Maduro. Raul Castro, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and President Miguel Diaz-Canel presided over the celebrations in Havana, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a "full and complete embargo" unless Cuba drops its support for Caracas. "Neither Trump's ideas, Marco Rubio or others in the U.S. that want us to bow down will achieve that. Cuba is alive. Fidel (Castro) is with us here and we will continue to support the revolution," Joel Fiallo, a government worker in the rally, told Xinhua. Different from the previous years, the rally did not kick off with statements by local union leaders or major political figures, but with a recording of Fidel Castro's May 1, 2000 speech outlining his revolutionary ideals. Cuba has steadfastly backed Maduro amid attempts by Venezuela's U.S.-backed far-right opposition to overthrow his government. Under the banner of "Unity, Commitment and Victory," similar rallies were held across the island in a show of support for Diaz-Canel who just a year after taking office faces economic troubles and intensifying U.S. sanctions, and reject for Trump's anti-Cuban stance. The White House recently announced it was activating Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, paving the way for U.S. lawsuits over properties nationalized or expropriated by Cuba's government. "We came to defend the freedom Cuban workers have and condemn the U.S. blockade against our country, particularly with the imposition of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act," Amelia Mendoza, a Cuban doctor, said. Cubans usually refer to the embargo as a blockade, as it effectively blocks both U.S. companies and international enterprises from doing business with Cuba. More than 1,400 foreign delegations from around 80 countries traveled to Cuba to take part in the celebration of workers' rights. "We share the struggle of the Cuban people against the U.S. embargo and we are here to support them amid rising tensions with Washington," said Nicolas Capira, an Argentinian union leader. The strong showing in Havana would serve to ratify Cuba's independence and socialism in the face of U.S. threats, Diaz-Canel posted on Twitter. For hours, Havana's Revolution Square was the epicenter of the International Workers' Day celebrations, featuring a sea of marchers waving flags and banners, with some saying "Down with the Helms-Burton Act." "We are here marching like the majority of Cubans are doing today, supporting the revolution, the workers, Diaz-Canel, Raul (Castro), and we are very happy to be here," Aracelys Bedevia, a Cuban journalist who went to the rally with her whole family, said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 12:21:53|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close URUMQI, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Warning lights and anti-bird instruments have been installed on and near a 4-km-long section of a high voltage wire in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to warn migrant birds of the danger. Bird lovers posted online on Sunday that multiple grey cranes were killed or injured after hitting the 220-kV high voltage wire in the southern suburb of Urumqi from April 13 to 28. The city's electric power company conducted a field investigation and found about 300 grey cranes resting in a nearby wetland for a stopover and foraging every dawn and dusk in newly-cultivated farmland about 200 meters north of the wire. After consulting with the local environment and wildlife protection departments, the power company installed the anti-bird facilities on Monday and Tuesday. The wire is an important power source for the high-speed train connecting Xinjiang and Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province. The project passed environment impact assessment in 2011, and had not caused any casualties of migrant birds by early April this year. Expert said the recent casualties could be due to the newly-cultivated farms and water sources that changed the original resting and foraging spots of migrant birds. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 12:52:06|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The stars of American television sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," the longest-running multi-camera comedy series in TV in the United States, put their handprints in cement at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday. This is the first time a TV series has been honored with such a ceremony in Hollywood. Starring Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch, "The Big Bang Theory" is a sitcom centered on four scientists and their friends' daily lives. The seven leading actors were all invited to sign their names and put their handprints. Debuted in 2007, "The Big Bang Theory" has received 52 Emmy nominations and 10 wins, and 7 Golden Globe nominations and 1 win to date. As the longest-running multi-camera series in U.S. television history with a record-breaking 279 episodes, it will end its successful run of 12 seasons with a one-hour finale episode on May 16, 2019. "We just taped our last episode last night," Parsons said at the ceremony. "The chance to get to memorialized like this is very fit-in and very moving. It is the most unbelievably perfect end of this experience." According to Forbes, Parsons, known for playing physicist Sheldon Cooper, who has a genius-level IQ but displays a fundamental lack of social skills in the television series, is the world's highest-paid television actor in 2018. "The Big Bang Theory" shot its 279th and final episode on Tuesday on the Warner Bros. TV lot. It will air on May 16 on CBS. The sitcom reportedly averaged 18.6 million viewers per episode in its 11th season (2017-2018), which is more than any other show on U.S. television. Not only well received in the United States, the show also broadcasts in over 70 countries, including Britain, Canada, China and many more. "Thank you to China for supporting our show, loving us and we love you back," Nayyar told Xinhua at the ceremony. Nayyar is known for his role as Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali in the sitcom. "This writing goes across the world. It reaches so many people because it is simply hilarious and these are so lovable and it is completely worldwide," Cuoco, who has played Penny in the sitcom, added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:02:09|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Moon Hee-sang, Republic of Korea (ROK) national assembly speaker, will lead a delegation to visit China from May 6 to 10 at the invitation of Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:02:11|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. media reported Wednesday that the Trump administration has not reached a consensus on whether to engage in military intervention in Venezuela to support the opposition leader Juan Guaido. According to a report of the Washington Post, as the Maduro government remains intact after an attempted yet failed coup on Tuesday, the Trump administration has sent "mixed messages about what role, if any, the U.S. military would play in Washington's future efforts to resolve the Venezuelan crisis." U.S. President Donald Trump has "shown little willingness to plunge into Venezuela," according to his current and former aides, the newspaper reported. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told financial news channel Fox Business on Wednesday that a peaceful solution was still desired but that "military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do." The Pentagon also appeared Wednesday to downplay any active preparations to directly intervene in Venezuela but acknowledged detailed contingency planning since turmoil in the country deepens. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a congressional testimony that "to date, most of our actions have been diplomatic and economic." Moreover, as National Security Advisor John Bolton has pushed for a more aggressive policy on Venezuela, he "has angered some within and outside the White House," the Washington Post report said. Before the coup attempt, Bolton's staff clashed with Gen. Paul Selva, Dunford's vice chairman, during a meeting to address the ongoing crisis, according to several officials with knowledge of the exchange, the report said. The United States has been pursuing a policy of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation against the Venezuelan government in support of Guaido. It recognized Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on Jan. 23, days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term. In response to Washington's support for Guaido, Maduro announced that he was severing "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:27:48|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close Tourists and performers dance in a park in the desert of Kum Tag, Shanshan County, Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 1, 2019. Activities demonstrating local culture are held during the May Day holiday in the Kum Tad Desert scenic area. The Kum Tag Desert, which covers an area of 2,500 square kilometers, is only one kilometer away from the town of Shanshan. (Xinhua/Ding Lei) Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:17:19|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Designer Jason Wu speaks during the China Fashion Gala in New York, the United States, May 1, 2019. Outstanding Chinese fashion icons and brands were honored at the fourth China Fashion Gala here Wednesday night for their efforts to help position China at the forefront of the global fashion industry. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) NEW YORK, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Outstanding Chinese fashion icons and brands were honored at the fourth China Fashion Gala here Wednesday night for their efforts to help position China at the forefront of the global fashion industry. Jason Wu, an internationally renowned Chinese-Canadian designer based in New York, was bestowed with the "Fashion Leadership Award." The 36-year-old designer has received an array of accolades in the global fashion arena with an elegant collection that has dressed top models, celebrities and influential women, such as former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. "China has become one of the fashion leaders of the world and the breeding ground of some of the most creative, innovative and interesting concepts of the world," said Wu. And the label of "Made in China" has thus been given fresh connotations, standing for prestige, craftsmanship, beauty and integrity, which are "the things we are known for," he added. Other honorees of the night included Chinese actress Shu Qi, Chinese skincare brand Shanghai Pechoin Group, Angelica Cheung, editor-in-chief of Vogue China, and Dee Poon with the Hong Kong-based Esquel Group, a pioneer in sustainability practices in the global fashion industry. The annual event was organized by the New York-based China Institute and Yue-Sai Kan China Beauty Charity Fund (CBCF). Proceeds from a charity auction included in the event will help support the Yue-Sai Kan CBCF Scholarship with its education programs for Chinese fashion executives, young design talents and textile companies. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:22:23|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close NANJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China's spacecraft tracking ship Yuanwang-7 is sailing to the Pacific Ocean, beginning its first maritime space monitoring mission this year. The ship departed from a port in eastern China's Jiangsu Province Wednesday. As a part of China's new generation of spacecraft tracking ships, Yuanwang-7 is about 220 meters long, 40 meters high and has a displacement of nearly 30,000 tonnes. It can perform tasks in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean within 60 degrees north and south latitudes. Before the voyage, the mission members have made training plans and conducted a series of tests to improve the performance and increase emergency response, according to Zhou Yunshan, captain of Yuanwang-7. Since it was put into use in 2016, the ship has spent an average of nearly 200 days a year at sea. Sailing more than 100,000 nautical miles, it has completed about 10 missions, including maritime tracking of China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 and the manned spaceflight Shenzhou-11. China currently has four Yuanwang tracking ships. In 2019, the country will have more than 30 space launches, and the Yuanwang fleet is expected operate for more than 700 days at sea. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:27:25|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close JINAN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The airport customs in Qingdao, eastern China's Shandong Province, said Wednesday that 80 pieces of ivory products were seized from a Chinese male passenger returning from Japan. Sixty-six pieces weighing 667 grams, including seals, combs, cigarette holders and beads, were intercepted during CT scanning at the airport. Another 14 pieces weighing 242 grams were found in a store run by the passenger. Besides the ivory products, six suspected red coral pendants weighing about 160 grams were found hidden in the luggage. A specimen of a precious animal weighing 56 grams was also seized in the store. China banned all domestic ivory trade at the end of 2017 as part of its commitment to protecting wild animals. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:27:27|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close NEW YORK, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The young generation of Chinese designers have become increasingly popular in domestic and international markets, with more exposure in various stages, said an owner of a Chinese platform of fashion brands. In addition to Chinese design brands' growing popularity in domestic fashion industry, "I also have confidence in Chinese designs to expand (their business) in the U.S. markets," Wang Ning, founder of PLAY LOUNGE, told Xinhua in a recent interview. PLAY LOUNGE, a leading Chinese fashion destination with over 500 designer labels, has sponsored China Chic Pop-up shopping event on April 26-30 in New York City, which gathers nearly 20 Chinese brands and designer labels. Wang found that Chinese consumers become more open to novel designs from domestic designers in recent years, in comparison to the young brands from Europe and other Asian countries. "To our surprise, Chinese consumers particularly favored domestic brands," Wang said. "At that time, Chinese designers competed with their global counterparts, including those from Japan, South Korea and Europe, on our platform." Behind such a rise of Chinese fashion were marked changes in both designers and consumers in the country, according to the female entrepreneur. "The young generation of Chinese designers, especially those born in 1985 and beyond, most of them came back after overseas studies. Their brands are able to meet the needs of young people and are reasonably priced," she said. Another crucial change lies in the fact that except the youth, middle-class females have become more inclusive of a variety of stylish brands and definitions of fashion. The finding of their user profile last year showed that around 65-percent of the consumers of Chinese designer brands are between the age of 22 and 35, mostly females, according to Wang. "We labeled them as independent women. They have their own understandings in fashion," Wang said. "They would like to choose chic designs and fast fashion brands, aside from buying luxury brands." "What they (Chinese designers) excel in is creative designing. Yet we (dubbed as a "fashion agent") offer them supports in public relations, marketing, as well as management of clients and suppliers," she said. The female entrepreneur also expressed confidence in Chinese brands' competitive edges in the international markets, and willingness to propel Chinese designers onto bigger stages. "The young generation of Chinese designers has been well-educated in aesthetics... and China has excellent supply chains," Wang said. "I've always wanted to introduce more Chinese brands to international stages and get more overseas consumers (to) better understand Chinese designs," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 13:37:33|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close KUNMING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Yunnan Province exported 7,108 tonnes of tea worth 33.1 million U.S. dollars in 2018, the provincial agriculture and rural affairs department said. The planting area of tea in Yunnan reached 420,000 hectares, with a total yield of 16.7 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U. S. dollars), said Wei Min, deputy head of the department. Yunnan is a major tea production base in China, with the locally produced Pu'er tea being especially popular in China and abroad. Official data showed that the output volume of Yunnan's tea industry reached 84.3 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 13.6 percent. "Our tea leaves can be sold at a price as high as 2,000 euros per kg in the European market," said Dong Zuxiang, who runs a tea company in Pu'er. Dong said that the company's tea exports topped 150 tonnes last year due to increasing demands in European and American markets. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 14:17:48|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TIRIN KOT, Afghanistan, May 2 (Xinhua) -- At least four militants have been killed and three others injured as the security forces' fighting aircraft targeted Taliban hideouts outside Tirin Kot city, the capital of southern Uruzgan province, said an army statement released here Thursday. The fighting aircraft, according to the statement, have been targeting specific hideouts of the Taliban fighters over the past 12 hours and besides killing four insurgents and injuring three others, also destroyed the militants' weapon caches. No civilians and security personnel have been hurt, the statement said. Taliban militants have not commented. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 15:18:15|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close JAKARTA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreign holiday makers visiting Indonesia in the first quarter ratcheted higher by 4.28 percent to 3.82 million people year-on-year, the national statistics bureau said Thursday. In Bali resort island, the center of Indonesian tourism industry, the number of foreign visitors moved up 4.41 percent to 2.2 million people, head of the bureau Kecuk Suhariyanto said. "We have a great potential to attract more foreign tourists to visit Indonesia in terms of the number and the length of journey as we have many beautiful tourist destinations," Suhariyanto told a press conference. For March, however, foreign tourist arrivals went down by 1.82 percent to 1.34 million people, Suhariyanto said. Malaysia, followed by Singapore, China and Timor Leste, contributed the most foreign tourists to Indonesia in March, according to him. Indonesia has set a target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2019, after logging 15.81 million in 2018, according to tourism ministry. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 15:48:38|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Zhou Zhen debugs an instrument at a laboratory in Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, in April 2017. (Xinhua) By Xinhua writers Guo Ying, Quan Xiaoshu, Zhou Qiang GUANGZHOU, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Zhou Zhen and his team are busy "observing the invisible" in a lab. When an air sample passes through the instrument, its monitoring screen displays an analysis of its PM 2.5, or fine particulate matter in air pollution. Zhou, 50, has focused on the research and use of the mass spectrometer for more than 20 years. He is the Head of Institute of Mass Spectrometry and Atmospheric Environment in Jinan University, Guangdong Province. He won the National May 1 Labor Medal in 2019 for his contribution to this field. The mass spectrometer is a high-end analytical instrument that identifies the chemical constitution of a substance and is widely used in fields such as environmental monitoring, petrochemical and medicine. "If a machine is a tool for mankind to transform the world, then mass spectrometers are our 'eyes' to understand the world," Zhou explained. STRUGGLE TO START After studying and working in labs in the United States and Germany, Zhou returned to China in 2002, and found it almost completely dependent on imported mass spectrometers. He made up his mind to develop Chinese mass spectrometers. He established Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd. in 2004, starting with just five staff in a 50-square-meter lab. "We were really struggling at first because it was very hard to secure investment. Very few investors knew the potential of the technology and it required a long development cycle, which meant it was impossible to make a quick profit," Zhou said. Another difficulty was that some electronic components and mechanical parts failed to withstand the harsh requirements. "The mass spectrometer is an embodiment of advanced manufacturing, with more than 800 different components, and requires techniques of multiple disciplines. Sometimes we had to spend time training upstream companies for more precision components," Zhou said. SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION With China's intensifying efforts to fight pollution, Zhou's team has focused on developing mass spectrometers for environmental monitoring. After 10 years of research and development, the company's single particle aerosol mass spectrometer went on the market and was first used in Guangdong Environmental Monitoring Center for on-line source apportionment of PM 2.5. "Not only can it identify the air pollutant, it also monitors the sources of the pollutant with precision. It can even tell the proportion of the pollution sources, whether from cars, dust or industrial production," Zhou said. Now it is used in more than 100 cities throughout the country, offering technical support for determining the status and sources of pollution. "Compared with traditional methods, the equipment can dynamically reflect the changes of pollution sources in real time and is estimated to save 10 billion yuan (about 1.49 billion U.S. dollars) annually in China's pollution prevention and control," Zhou said. In July last year, China released a three-year action plan on air pollution control, determining to "win the battle for blue skies" by adopting economic, legal, technological and administrative means together. According to the plan, PM 2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, will be closely monitored, indicating greater opportunities for the high-precision monitoring equipment industry. Although China is narrowing the gap in mass spectrometer development, it still has a long way to go, Zhou said. "China is estimated to spend around 10 billion yuan annually in purchasing mass spectrometers and almost 98 percent are imported. We hope self-developed mass spectrometers will have 20 percent of the market share in 10 years," Zhou said. AIMING HIGH China vowed to pursue innovation-driven development, and explored setting up coordinated and efficient platforms to integrate basic and applied research and industrialization. Guangdong, which accounted for about 10 percent of China's GDP in 2018, was among the first places in the country to pilot reforms to boost innovation, including measures to incentivize the commercialization of R&D findings. The southern province now has more than 40,000 big high-tech firms. Last year 250 billion yuan was invested in R&D in Guangdong. As the importance of developing state-of-the-art scientific instruments is emphasized, Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd. has received support from national projects including major scientific equipment development projects. In 2018, the company's sales revenue reached 130 million yuan, 50 percent up on the previous year. It now ranks among the 20 top global mass spectrometer companies. In 2017, a U.S. research institution planned to buy a real-time single particle aerosol mass spectrometer on the global market. Zhou's company won the order as it was among the very few companies in the world capable of mass-production. It opened the China-made high-end mass spectrometer to world recognition. With local government support, the company is building an industrial base that will be operating this year. It will integrate research and development, manufacturing, sales and technical services. Zhou is excited to know that more than 10 mass spectrometer companies have emerged in China. "We can promote the development of the mass spectrometer industry together and I hope the new base will help create a more complete industrial chain," Zhou said. As a professor at Jinan University, Zhou has taught dozens of postgraduates in this field. He believes the systematic nurturing of talent is vital for China's development of high-end scientific instruments and hopes more scientists and entrepreneurs can work in the mass spectrometer field. (Video reporters: Zhou Qiang, Wang Ruiping; video editor: Gao Shang) Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:08:47|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China expects to further optimize the investment and operation environment for foreign investors in its financial sector with new measures to open the field wider, according to the country's top banking and insurance regulator. A total of 12 new rules will be released soon on the basis of profound research and evaluation, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said Wednesday. "These measures will also encourage stronger presence of foreign investment in the development of China's financial sector," the CBIRC spokesperson Xiao Yuanqi told Xinhua in an interview. Detailed rules in regulations for foreign banks and foreign insurance companies have been revised in accordance with the new rules and will soon be released, Xiao said. The playing field for foreign and domestic companies will be further leveled, said the spokesperson, citing the simultaneous abolishment of upper shareholding limits for a single Chinese-funded bank and a single foreign-funded bank in a Chinese commercial bank, as an example. At present, the shares of foreign-funded banks and insurance companies' total assets have reached 1.64 percent and 6.36 percent, respectively, in China. According to the new measures, asset requirement for foreign banks to set up foreign-funded legal person banks or branches will also be removed in a bid to further diversify the structure of banking institutions in China. "This does not imply a lower standard of supervision, but rather an emphasis on the foreign banks' capability, quality and benefits," said Xiao. The top regulator also expects to encourage quality firms with latecomer advantages into the Chinese market and increase global conversation and cooperation. While allowing overseas financial institutions to hold stakes in foreign-funded insurance companies operating in China, the regulator also plans to remove requirements for foreign-funded insurance brokerage firms regarding business and total assets. "We believe that this round of new measures will significantly enhance the openness and marketization of the banking and insurance sectors," Xiao said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:08:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi gives a speech during the occasion marking the International Labor Day celebrations in Francistown, Botswana, May 1, 2019. Mokgweetsi Masisi on Wednesday pledged to prioritize job creation and better pay. (Xinhua/Shingirai Madondo) GABORONE, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Wednesday pledged to prioritize job creation and better pay. Masisi made the remarks when addressing a celebration marking the International Labor Day in Francistown, Botswana's second largest city. "The government is targeting and prioritizing job creation through several strategies, chief amongst them, being relentless efforts to attract foreign direct investors," said Masisi. The president also said that his government will create an enabling environment for investors to set up businesses in the southern African country. With the unemployment rate estimated to be as high as 21 percent, fighting unemployment has been at the center of Masisi's development roadmap since he assumed office. "My government is also committed to intensifying skills development in order to enhance the employability of trainees and promoting harmonious labor relations," he said, adding that Botswana has adopted measures that will contribute to the diversification of the economy. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:13:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, has extended palm oil export duty tax-exemption period to Dec. 31 from May 1, said its Primary Industries Ministry Thursday. Its minister Teresa Kok said in a statement that the tax free period would allow industry players to take better strategies to increase palm oil exports and explore new markets. The exemptions will be granted even if crude palm oil prices hit or exceed 2250 ringgit (about 544 U.S. dollars) per tonne, the chargeable rate in the industry, according to the statement. Kok hopes the move is able to reduce Malaysia's palm oil stocks which stood at 2.92 million tonnes as of March, and increase crude palm oil prices which hovered at 2014.50 ringgit in April. The minister will also continue to monitor palm oil stocks to ensure that it is sufficient to meet the country's downstream supply requirements. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:18:55|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BEIRUT, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri discussed Thursday ways of boosting ties with Egypt on all levels with his Egyptian counterpart Mostafa Madbouly, local media reported. The two prime ministers discussed at the Grand Serail in Beirut the latest developments in Lebanon and in the region in addition to measures that should be taken to enhance relations between the two countries, according to the National News Agency. Madbouly arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday evening in a three-day official visit where he will conduct negotiations with Lebanese officials tackling various issues. After his meeting with Hariri, Madbouly went to the Four Seasons Hotel to take part in the opening of the Arab Economic Forum which will be held for one day. Mabdouly announced on Wednesday that Egyptian businessmen are ready to invest in Lebanon and that his presence in the country shows Egypt's full support for Lebanon. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:24:01|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close SEOUL, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Chief nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States held telephone talks Thursday about situations on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, talked over phone with Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) affairs, earlier in the day. During the talks, Lee and Biegun shared the assessment of situations on the peninsula following last week's summit between top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin and the second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in February. The second Kim-Trump summit held at the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi ended with no agreement. South Korea has pushed to help resume dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington following the Hanoi summit. The Seoul ministry said Lee and Biegun discussed ways to cooperate in advancing the complete denuclearization of and the settlement of lasting pace in the Korean Peninsula, without elaborating further. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:29:05|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry announced the release of two Kuwaiti nationals who had been recently arrested for "illegal" entry into Iranian waters, Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that the two Kuwaiti detainees have been released as a "gesture of goodwill." The two released people were taken to Kuwait's embassy in Tehran after the investigations determined that they had crossed the border unintentionally, Mousavi was quoted as saying by Tasnim. According to the Kuwaiti sources, the two men were named Adnan Al-Kharafi and Fahd Al-Alyan. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 16:34:09|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close JERUSALEM, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel came to a standstill to the sound of sirens on Thursday morning to mark the Holocaust Remembrance Day. People across the country stood in solemn silence in honor of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazis during the Second World War as the two-minute sirens pierced the air. The sirens marked the beginning of a series of memorial activities on the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, an official day to commemorate the Jews who died at the hands of Nazi Germany and its collaborators in World War II. In streets and highways, traffic abruptly stopped. Many drivers stepped out of their vehicles, standing still in contemplation. Pedestrians halted their steps and stood in silence. In many homes, businesses, and offices, people stopped their activity and stood still, contemplating the victims of the Nazi genocide. TV channels and radio stations were broadcasting solely Holocaust-related content, such as documentaries, interviews with survivors, and melancholic songs. Memorial ceremonies were held in schools across the country. Later on Thursday, a wreath-laying ceremony would be held at the Yad Va'Shem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. The annual ceremony would be attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, representative of the security forces, and Holocaust survivors. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 17:14:47|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close GAZA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Abdullah Abu Jamea, a 23-year-old Palestinian young man, works as a barber trying to escape the reality of the high unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged by Israel since 2007. Abu Jamea, who graduated from the Faculty of Nursing, was pushed to work as a barber and use tools that are quite different from what he had dreamed of for years, due to lack of job opportunities in the Gaza Strip. Abu Jamea told Xinhua that for years he had been looking forward to working in the medical field and wearing white nursing uniforms, which encouraged him to study hard and got the highest grades. He added that tens of thousands of graduates in the Gaza Strip suffered from the high unemployment rates, which pushed him to look for alternative work. "I do not want to surrender to the unemployment reality, so I work in a career that is different from my field of study to earn money and get a decent life," he said, adding that his family had long worked to support him to graduate from university. Abu Jamea has gained good experience after working as a barber for a year. But he still hopes that it will not take long to become a nurse and wear a nursing gown. For years, many graduates in Gaza have been forced to look for jobs that will help them to continue their lives, even if their new jobs are far from their field of studying. Jamil al-Sayyed, 36, graduated in 2005 from the public relations department, but was forced to work at a local cafe in Gaza for eight years. The lack of job opportunities pushed him to accept his current work as a waiter, preparing the juice for his customers. "Finding a job in the Gaza Strip looks like a miracle, especially if this opportunity is related to the field of university study," al-Sayyed told Xinhua. "I am working in a field with no relation to my studying at the university. I am sad for this situation, especially when I am thinking about long years of effort without any result," he said to Xinhua. Al-Sayyed is the head of a family of five. He considers that obtaining living expenses is more important than having a university degree that has only become a framed photograph kept at home. Israel has imposed a tight siege on the Gaza Strip since 2007 after the Hamas movement ruled the strip by force after rounds of fighting with forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority. The Gaza Strip suffers from continued internal Palestinian division. Such situation casts a shadow over the economic and living conditions in the strip. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said that unemployment rate in the West Bank has slightly decreased compared with a noticeable increase in Gaza Strip. The bureau said in a statement that "unemployment rate in Palestine increased in 2018 to reach about 31 percent of the labor force participants compared with about 28 percent in 2017." It said that the number of unemployed individuals increased from 377,000 in 2017 to 426,000 in 2018. The statement specified that the unemployment rate was about 18 percent in the West Bank in 2018 compared with about 19 percent in 2017, while the unemployment rate was about 52 percent in the Gaza Strip in 2018 compared with 44 percent in 2017. "The youth graduates are the most subgroup suffering from unemployment with a rate of about 44 percent; 27 percent in the West Bank and 69 percent in the Gaza Strip," said the statement. Maher al-Tabbaa, a media official at the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce in Gaza, said that "the economic crisis in the Gaza Strip has caused a near total deficit to create any new job opportunities, which leads to a rise in record unemployment rates." Al-Tabaa said that the private sector in Gaza has for years been unable to generate any new job opportunities because of the economic downturn. "There are no new jobs in the public sector in light of the continued division and the failure of reconciliation," he said to Xinhua. Al-Tabaa considers unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip as the highest in the world due to its geographic size and population, which is likely to worsen if the Israeli siege and internal Palestinian division continue. Jamal al-Khudari, an independent lawmaker and chairman of the committee to defy the Israeli siege, warned that the economic and living conditions in Gaza are getting worse in light of the continued Israeli siege and the absence of realistic practical solutions to the disastrous humanitarian situation of two million people in the Gaza Strip. Al-Khudari said that the labor sector and graduates are the most important sectors affected by the Israeli siege, which requires urgent Palestinian and international efforts to avoid the effects of the serious situation. He added that about 90 percent of the factories and shops in the Gaza Strip suffer from heavy financial losses due to the siege, which made them partially reduce their work or shut down completely. He called on Arab and international labor unions to form an international fund to support workers and graduates in the Gaza Strip. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 17:29:52|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close JUBA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Thursday maintained its position of forming a transitional unity government (TGoNU) on May 12 as warring parties meet in Ethiopia to review the implementation of a peace deal signed last September. Ateny Wek Ateny, president Salva Kiir's spokesman, told Xinhua in Juba that the government's position remains the same on forming the TGoNU in accordance with the peace agreement mediated by regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). "Our position is that the (unity) government should be formed on May 12, because any extension or provision not agreed upon is violation of the peace agreement," Ateny said. He said President Kiir, a key signatory to the peace deal signed in September 2018 together with rebel leader Riek Machar, will not be present at the meeting in Addis Ababa. Instead a high-level delegation led by the information minister will attend the gathering. The main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A-IO) led by Machar, wants a six-month extension of the pre-transitional period, citing delays in security arrangements, unification of forces and determination of number of states and boundaries before TGoNU can be formed. Puok Both Baluang, the SPLM/A-IO deputy director of information and public relations, confirmed that Machar will attend the meeting, adding that their demand for extension of the pre-transitional period is genuine. "Machar left yesterday for Addis Ababa," Baluang said over the phone from Khartoum. "We want an extension. Our reasons remain the same because the situation on ground shows that less than half of the matrix in the peace agreement has been implemented," he said. South Sudan descended into conflict in December 2013, killing tens of thousands and displacing about 4 million others. An earlier peace agreement, signed in 2015, collapsed after clashes erupted in July 2016 in Juba, forcing rebel leader Machar to flee the capital. Delays in implementing the crucial outstanding issues in the latest peace deal have caused fresh fears that the parties may again return to conflict. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 17:40:00|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close JUBA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's ministry of health and partners have launched a massive measles and polio vaccination campaign. The health ministry, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the UN children's agency, UNICEF, are working together to battle an ongoing measles outbreak that has affected 908 children and killed at least seven. Anthony Laku, head of the expanded program on immunization at the ministry of health, said a four-day anti-polio vaccination campaign was launched across the country on Tuesday, seeking to vaccinate at least 3 million children. He said vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets will also be administered during the vaccination campaign to boost the health of children aged below five years. Authorities seek to vaccinate over 2 million children against the highly contagious measles across South Sudan this year, and over 300,000 children have so far been reached, according to the WHO. South Sudan, which has not reported a case of polio since 2009, is still considered at risk of polio due to sub-national surveillance and immunization gaps, insecurity and population movements, the WHO said. A measles outbreak, declared in January, has since spread to 11 counties across the conflict-torn country. Measles is a highly contagious disease that can cause severe or fatal complications, especially in young children and babies. Children with malnutrition and weak immune systems are particularly vulnerable to complications and death. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 17:40:01|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close COLOMBO, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Catholic services in churches across Sri Lanka will be cancelled for the second consecutive week on May 5 due to the prevailing security situation, the Catholic Archbishop's House said on Thursday. Father Edmund Tillekeratne, media spokesperson for Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, told Xinhua that the Archbishop had decided to cancel all Sunday services for the second week and people were requested to pray at home. He said the decision was taken amid the latest security concerns in Sri Lanka. Church services have come to a halt since the terror attacks on Easter Sunday, which targeted churches and luxury hotels, killing over 250 people and injuring over 500. Security has remained beefed up across the country since the attacks on April 21 with additional security deployed outside places of worship due to threats of fresh attacks, the police said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:10:09|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close DUBAI, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China's technology group Tencent proposed the concept of "AI for Good," which reflects the company's "Technology for Good" concept in the field of AI, at the "AI Everything Summit 2019" in Dubai. Seng Yee Lau, senior executive vice president and chairman of Group Marketing and Global Brands at Tencent, attended the summit and delivered a keynote speech on Wednesday. He said that in the era of AI, the "human" behind the technology are more important. Guided by the goodness of human, "AI for Good" will help human improve the quality of life and create new possibilities for social development. "As technological innovation enters the deep water, AI brings convenience to human beings together with philosophical, ethical and practical risks and challenges. We need to establish correct technological values as technologies evolve rapidly," he added. He advocated for building an open AI ecosystem bringing together all stakeholders, including governments, tech firms, academic institutions and users, to ensure technological progress to benefit the human society by establishing positive ecosystem rules and strengthening interaction and cooperation as a whole with shared destiny. The first-ever AI Everything Summit kicked off in Dubai on Tuesday, organised by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Programme for Artificial Intelligence, in partnership with Smart Dubai. The organizers of the summit said it intends to "promote initiatives, collaborations, partnerships and breakthroughs in the field of AI," while harnessing its "positive impact for governments, businesses, social enterprises and humankind in general." Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:25:18|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close NAIROBI, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to construct 100,000 "social houses" in the next four years as part of plans to eradicate slums in the country, a housing official said on Thursday. Patrick Bucha, housing secretary at the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure Housing, Urban Development and Public Works, said in Nairobi that the houses will be built across the 47 counties. "The social houses will be for workers in the informal sector who will not qualify for the affordable housing scheme," Bucha said. As part of the country's national development blueprint, the Big Four agenda, the east African nation plans to build 500,000 affordable houses by the year 2022. The real estate sector largely constructs houses for the middle- and high-income segment because that is currently the most profitable sector of the industry, Bucha said. High cost of land in urban areas has pushed the price of owning houses beyond the reach of low-income workers, he said. The government has mapped 498 informal settlements in all the urban centers of the country, Bucha said. Beneficiaries of the social houses will be selected from the most needy cases because demand for houses will exceed supply, he said. To make the houses more affordable, the monthly mortgages will be as low as 20 U.S. dollars a month, Bucha said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:30:22|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- All safety and security measures have been put in place to create an environment for free and fair elections on May 8, the South African government said on Thursday. "Through our intelligence-driven operations, hotspots in the country have been identified and will be prioritized," the government said in its latest update on the state of readiness for the elections. As part of the deployment strategy, a capacity of five teams will be maintained at national level to be deployed to any part of the country where the situation requires urgent intervention to deal with high-risk situations, according to the government. The government identified the North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces as the highest-risk areas, where a series of political killings have taken place. All relevant security-aligned departments within the three spheres of government are continuously working tirelessly to ensure the successful delivery of the elections, the government said. "As a force multiplier we will be deploying around 3,504 reservists nationwide," said the government. A new National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province will be elected. The elections, the sixth since the end of apartheid in 1994, will also determine who will become the next president. On the election day, the South African Police Service will enhance visibility and prevent any form of criminal activity in and around voting stations and the results center, according to the government. Furthermore, police will monitor all forms of protestation or "shutdowns" to ensure that no individual's constitutional right to vote is infringed, the government said. It said the South African National Defense Force will work with all the concerned departments to ensure that these elections happen in a safe and secure environment. The government assured the public that all areas will be accessible for all citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:40:29|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BANGKOK, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Constitutional Court of Thailand is scheduled to pass a ruling next Wednesday on the controversy over the counting formula for party-list MP seats in the country's general elections. In a press statement released on Thursday, the Constitutional Court said it plans to pass the resolution next Wednesday, following a petition lodged earlier by the Office of the Ombudsman for the court to rule on the matter. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court ordered the secretary general of the National Legislative Assembly to produce and submit copies of the minutes of meetings of the Constitution Drafting Committee, regarding the constitution's Article 91 and the organic law's Article 128 pertaining to the election of MPs, as well as copies of the minutes of meetings of an extraordinary committee of the National Legislative Assembly regarding the organic law's Article 128 within next Tuesday. The Constitutional Court had earlier rejected a petition demanding a ruling on the same issue filed by the Election Commission. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:40:30|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close NAIROBI, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) on Thursday launched a campaign to support hundreds of thousands of refugee youth in Kenya who do not attend school because of lack of funding. The month-long partnership to raise money comes during the Muslims' holy month of Ramadan. Fathiaa Abdalla, UNHCR representative in Kenya, said that out of the more than 450,000 refugees in the east Africa nation, only 13 percent of school-age children attend school. "These are distressing statistics that reveal the disparagingly low number of refugees who access education in Kenya," Abdalla said. "Behind these statistics are children and youth, boys and girls who aspire to be teachers, doctors, business owners but instead they are sitting in limbo, waiting for a chance to fulfill their dreams. She said a funding shortfall for UNHCR's education programs has resulted in the lack of basic infrastructure and a shortage of qualified teaching personnel essential to provide quality education to refugee children. "By joining efforts with SUPKEM in this holy month of Ramadan, our hope is that we can draw attention and support to this growing crisis," Abdalla said. Yusuf Nzibo, chairman of SUPKEM, said Ramadan is a time when Muslims embark on a path of spiritual self-reflection and intensify response to alleviate the suffering of others. "Many refugees in Kenya have lived in forced displacement for over 20 years. They have grown up in camps without any hopes," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:45:34|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MOGADISHU, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said Thursday it has launched a training program on human rights for Somali security forces to enhance their compliance with international human rights law. Kareem Adebayo, AMISOM's head of the protection, human rights and gender unit, said the week-long training will focus on child rights and the dangers of recruiting children as soldiers in armed conflict. "Central to those mandates is the fact that AMISOM should discharge its mandate with due respect to the International Human Rights Law and the applicable International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and key to this is that children will not be used as fighters in Somalia, either by AMISOM or by Somalia security forces," Adebayo said in a statement issued in Mogadishu. The training will be attended by officers from the Somali National Army (SNA), the Somali Police Force (SPF), the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and line ministries, both from the federal and states governments. The training, which is being conducted in accordance with the constitutional provisions of Somalia and AMISOM's mandate from the African Union and the United Nations, comes as the implementation of the Somalia Transition Plan takes center stage. "The training reflects the Somali government's commitment to uphold the policy that children belong to school and deserve a peaceful and conducive learning environment," Warsame Mohamed Hassan, director general in the ministry of defense, said. The AU mission has intensified training programs on human rights to prepare Somali security forces to assume the country's security responsibility in accordance with the dictates of the Somalia Transition Plan and UN Security Council resolution 2431 of 2018. The UN resolution calls for a reduction of uniformed personnel and increased presence of AU police in the country to support the expansion and maintenance of law and order as security responsibilities are transferred to Somali security forces. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:45:36|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close GAZA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A delegation, including Islamic Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad movement, on Thursday left Gaza Strip through Rafah border to Egypt to discuss the understanding of the truce with Israel, according to officials of the two movements. Khader Habib, the leader of Islamic Jihad, told Xinhua that the visit is upon to the call of Egypt to discuss the improvements of the Palestinian situations and the understandings of truce with Israel. Habib accused Israel of trying to shirk its obligations on the understandings to break the blockade that has been imposed on Gaza Strip since 2007, adding "Israel is responsible for any escalation will be launched in the Strip." Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar have been in talks for several months between the Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel to promote the truce following the protests of March 30, 2018 rallies demanding the lifting of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip since mid-2007. Meanwhile, Bassem Na'im, the leader of Islamic Hamas movement, said "Israel is looking for any justifications to shirk its obligations on the understanding to break its blockade, what was committed to the United Nations and Egyptian mediator." Na'im added "the Palestinian people will not allow Israel in any way to continue its blockade against them or keep its shirking from the understandings to install the truce, under pretexts of flimsy." The Hamas and Islamic Jihad delegation is going to Egypt following field tensions with Israel after weeks of relative calm. The Israeli army announced on Thursday that two rockets were fired from Gaza Strip toward the Israeli cities, with no injuries or damages reported. No Palestinian factions claimed the responsibility for the shells. The rockets were fired from Gaza in response to the Israeli air strikes that targeted a Hamas post in northern Gaza strip. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:50:40|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close FARAH, Afghanistan, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Four police were confirmed dead and two others injured after a group of Taliban fighters stormed a police checkpoint in the relatively peaceful Lash Wa Juwayn district of Afghanistan's western Farah province on Wednesday, deputy to Provincial Council Shah Mahmoud Naemi said Thursday. Taliban militants have also suffered casualties in the firefight, Naemi added. Neither Taliban nor the police have made comment on the report. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:50:43|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close AYBAK, Afghanistan, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Up to 15 insurgents loyal to the Taliban group have been killed and 13 others arrested over the past 24 hours in the northern Samangan province, said army spokesman Abdul Hadi Jamal on Thursday. Clashes flared up in Ruyi Doab district on Wednesday after the security forces launched cleanup operations and the insurgents resisted, and later fled the area leaving 15 bodies behind and 13 more captured. Taliban militants who have intensified activities since launching their so-called annual spring offensive on April 12, have not made comment. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 18:55:47|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close PARIS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- French Culture Minister Franck Riester on Thursday said the government would draw all the consequences from the huge flames that devastated the centuries-old Notre Dame Cathedral last month, adding measures to protect the national heritage were on the table. "If there are established responsibilities, we will draw the consequences, with perhaps some lawsuits or sanctions but also new measures to preserve this type of sites where there is more risk...," the minister said without giving details on the possible measures. "Those who speak of lack of maintenance of Notre Dame, lack of resources for its restoration, make outrageous shortcuts, of course there will be a before and after, that all the lessons of this fire will have to be learned," he told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview. A fire, whose cause was not identified yet, engulfed, on April 15, the cathedral's upper structure. More than 400 firefighters took part in the 15-hour battle to contain the blaze that triggered sorrow over the globe. "All the elements that were still fragile after the fire, apart from certain parts of the vault, are secure. The windows are saved, as well as the artworks," Riester added. The minister also ensured that more than 1 billion-euro (1.12 billion U.S. dollars)-donation to reconstruct the cathedral would be used at this end. "The donations will be devoted to Notre Dame, not to anything else," he said, adding that a committee at the National Assembly would examine on May 10 a draft bill to define a legal framework to the donations and to rule on the creation of a public institution to manage the reconstruction site. The cathedral, whose construction began in 1160 and continued over a century, is part of the World heritage site of "Paris, Banks of the Seine" inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991. It receives 13 million visitors yearly. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 19:00:53|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close LUSAKA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Wednesday joined the rest of the world in commemorating the Labor Day with a call by President Edgar Lungu for workers to enhance productivity. Held under the theme "Enhancing Productivity and Alleviating Poverty Through The Decent Work Agenda", the main celebrations saw workers from both the public and private sectors marching from the Civic Center to the Freedom Statue in the capital of Lusaka. In his address during the commemoration, Lungu said the theme was a reminder on the importance of ensuring productivity in all sectors in order to improve the quality of products and services. "Productivity is an important ingredient as it entails optimum utilization of human resource and other resources for improved outcome," he said. The president said productivity calls for continuous improvement in workplace for assured quality of products and services as well as continued skills development. He also said it's important to ensure decent jobs with decent wages and safe workplace, adding that the government was committed to creating a conducive environment to ensure productivity. However, the Zambian leader admitted that challenges still remain in improving people's working conditions. Chishimba Nkole, president of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, said Zambia needs a radical economic transformation strategy to address problems like unemployment and unequal wealth distribution. He said public workers were facing several challenges such as delayed payment of salaries while other workers faced challenges of inadequate wages for a decent living. George Okuto, director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique said the ILO would work closely with Zambia in implementing legislation critical to the country's labor sector. During the event, workers from various sectors, including the 20th Chinese medical team, were awarded for their contributions. The Chinese medical team was awarded for the best medical care. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 19:16:12|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MANILA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines and Indonesia kicked off on Thursday their joint patrol in the Sulu-Celebes Seas, a move aimed at strengthening security cooperation to combat piracy, smuggling and maritime attacks in the region. "The main mission is to secure the common border, to curtail maritime crimes, and stop various sea crimes like smuggling and piracy," Ezra Balagtey, spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said in a statement. The joint patrol ceremony was held in Davao City in southern Philippines on Thursday attended by high level military officials from both countries. Balagtey said the 10-day coordinated sea patrol and exercise will officially start on Saturday. According to the Philippine military, the joint patrol "will provide the naval forces of both countries an opportunity to improve interoperability and (strengthen their) capability to secure their common border through naval exercise simulating different scenarios." Two navy ships, BRP Ramon Alcaraz from the Philippines and KRI Pandrong from Indonesia, will join the coordinated border naval patrol. The Sulu-Celebes Seas host important maritime trade routes in the southeast Asia region. However, the area has also become notorious as a black spot for piracy and sea robbery perpetrated by local criminal-terrorists. Maritime attacks by extremists like Abu Sayyaf Group in the southern region bordering Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines compelled the three littoral countries to launch coordinated naval patrols which aim to improve communication and information exchange among the three navies in a bid to address maritime security. The Abu Sayyaf is a radical insurgent group in the Philippines that carries out kidnappings, bombings and beheadings in western Mindanao, particularly in their remote lair in the island provinces of Basilan and Sulu, preying on foreign tourists, businessmen and fishermen. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 19:21:16|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close RIYADH, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Saudi coast guard has rescued an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Jeddah, after receiving a distress call of engine failure and the loss of control, Arab News reported on Thursday. The vessel had a crew of 26, including 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, Saudi state media said. They described the ship's position as some 70 km south of Jeddah in the Red Sea. Saudi authorities said various government agencies were involved in the operation. It did not elaborate on whether oil had spilled from the tanker, the media report highlighted. Iran now faces increased pressure from the U.S. over its oil sales after President Donald Trump pulled America out of its nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has warned it will respond aggressively to any attempt to cut its oil exports to zero, as the Trump administration has pledged to do. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 19:26:18|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close PRETORIA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The South African Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Thursday it is ready for May 8 elections with all systems in place. "With less than a week to election day, the Electoral Commission is pleased to report that everything is in place and ready for South Africa's sixth national and provincial elections," IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo told a media briefing in Pretoria. There will be 22,924 voting stations for the country's 26.7 million registered voters to cast their ballots, he said, predicting a voter turnout of around 70 percent. Among the registered voters, 774,094 have been granted permission to cast a special vote on May 6 and 7, and 452,418 will vote through a home visit by election officials, Mamabolo said. Voters granted permission for home visits are those who cannot visit a voting station due to physical infirmity, disability and pregnancy. Mamabolo said domestic and international observers will also be deployed to voting stations around the country and that 66 observer organizations have been accredited by the IEC. A total of 76 parties will contest the elections on May 8. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 19:26:23|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Chen Wei (2nd R), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, shakes hands with Brigadier General Md Sazzad Hussain (2nd L), director general of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, during a handover ceremony of 1,000 firefighting motorcycles donated by the Chinese government in Purbachal, Bangladesh, May 2, 2019. China on Thursday donated 1,000 firefighting motorcycles to Bangladesh in a bid to help strengthen the operational capability of Bangladesh's fire service and civil defense. Chen Wei, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, handed over the motorcycles to the Bangladesh authorities at a ceremony at Purbachal, a new township on the eastern side of capital Dhaka. (Xinhua/Stringer) DHAKA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday donated 1,000 firefighting motorcycles to Bangladesh in a bid to help strengthen the operational capability of Bangladesh's fire service and civil defense. Chen Wei, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, handed over the motorcycles to the Bangladesh authorities at a ceremony at Purbachal, a new township on the eastern side of capital Dhaka. Brigadier General Md Sazzad Hussain, director general of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, among others, attended the ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, Chen said these firefighting motorcycles have strong mobility which are very suitable for the traffic and road conditions of Bangladesh. "Both China and Bangladesh are developing countries and we all face the arduous task of developing economy and improving people's livelihood," Chen said. According to the diplomat, the Chinese government's foreign aid belongs to the scope of South-South cooperation which are mutual assistance among developing countries. The Chinese side will continue to provide assistance to Bangladesh to the best of its ability with an aim to reduce the people and economic losses caused by various disasters, promote Bangladesh's economic and social development, and enhance people's livelihood and well-being, he said. Director General Sazzad Hussain expressed sincere gratitude to the Chinese government and its people for the contribution. "In 2013, when we experienced Rana Plaza building collapse incident (leaving over 1,130 people dead) the greatest man-made havoc of the world, the great people of China have extended their cooperation with the commitment to providing calamity rescue equipment to Bangladesh Fire Serivce and Civil Defense," he said, adding that "we are having 1,000 firefighting motorcycles as the part of the same commitment." Against this backdrop, Hussain said, "I have no hesitation to say that the operational capability of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense has been strengthened to a great extent with the addition of these calamity rescue equipment." Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 19:56:44|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close The 22nd ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting is held in Nadi, Fiji, May 2, 2019. The finance ministers and central bank governors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) stressed here on Thursday the need to resist all forms of protectionism and agreed to work together to strengthen the resilience and robustness of the regional economy. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing) NADI, Fiji, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The finance ministers and central bank governors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) stressed here on Thursday the need to resist all forms of protectionism and agreed to work together to strengthen the resilience and robustness of the regional economy. "We reaffirm our commitment to uphold the rules based multilateral trading system and open regionalism, while resisting all forms of protectionism," the top finance officials said in a joint statement released after the end of the 22nd ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting which was held on the sideline of the 52nd annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Nadi, the third largest city of Fiji. "We are committed to further enhancing regional efforts, including accelerating intraregional trade and investment activities, as well as further deepening our domestic capital markets in order to build resilience. Over the longer run, we endeavor to prioritize policies that would facilitate the regions transition to the next phase of economic development," said the statement. The finance officials said they exchanged views on current developments and the outlook for the global and regional economies, as well as policy responses to risks and challenges. They agreed to work together to strengthen the resilience and robustness of the regional economy to contribute to strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive global growth. They pointed out that notwithstanding a more challenging global environment, the ASEAN+3 region continues to be a key driver of global economic growth. "We expect the economic growth of the ASEAN+3 region to remain steadfast, despite headwinds from trade frictions, softer external demand and tighter global financial conditions," they said. They also said while the region is not immune to threats of trade protectionism, the impact would be partly mitigated by robust regional consumption and growing intraregional trade. The recent shift in monetary policy stance by major central banks has contributed to improving financial market sentiment. They pledged to continue to remain vigilant against the downside risks that may heighten the region's vulnerability to shocks. Most regional economies are wellplaced to recalibrate their monetary, fiscal and macroprudential policy mix to support growth against the anticipated headwinds while paying attention to financial stability, they said, adding that they will continue to conduct sound macroeconomic policies that are sustainable and balanced, as well as promote inclusiveness. "We will endeavor to support structural reforms, and explore digital innovation to enhance growth potential as well as to cope with population aging, rising inequality, and digital disruption," they said. As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN+3 Finance Process, they discussed their vision for the future building on previous efforts and achievements, as well as ways to reform the process to ensure its relevance and effectiveness in addressing future challenges. In addition, they commended the significant progress of the ASEAN+3 Finance Process in enhancing regional economic and financial stability during the past two decades, alongside efforts towards regional economic integration. Faced with emerging challenges as well as growing opportunities in the evolving global and regional economic and financial landscape, they reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening and broadening ASEAN+3 financial cooperation towards a more resilient, inclusive and integrated ASEAN+3 region. Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun told Xinhua that they adopted a vision document on strategic directions of the ASEAN+3 finance process, which aims to explore new potential areas of common interest and complementarity towards fostering regional economic growth and promoting integration, while continuing the work on current initiatives to maintain long term regional economic and financial stability. They agreed to meet again in Incheon, South Korea in 2020. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 20:16:55|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BEIRUT, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon and Brazil signed on Thursday a protocol agreement for cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries, the National News Agency reported. The protocol agreement aims at renewing and strengthening relations between the two parliaments based on the equality principle and mutual benefits in addition to exchanging information between the two countries when it comes to parliamentary activities. House Speaker Nabih Berri emphasized the importance of the agreement in creating common points of views for the two parliaments in the international forums while boosting economic, cultural and social ties. "The friendship between the two countries is historic due to the presence of a big number of Lebanese citizens in Brazil since a very long time ago," Berri said. Meanwhile, Head of the Brazilian Parliament Rodrigo Maia said the new agreement will strengthen the historic ties between the two countries. Maia arrived in Beirut on Wednesday evening for a one-day visit to meet with Berri and sign cooperation agreements. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 20:37:12|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close PARIS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali was named as laureate of this year's session of Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize to honor his efforts to end peacefully hostilities with the neighbor Eritrea, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Thursday. "The jury recognizes the laureate's worthiness for the reforms undertaken to consolidate democracy and social cohesion (and) ... considers this distinction as an encouragement to pursue his commitment to the promotion of a culture of peace in the region and across the African continent," the Paris-based UN body said in a press release. The jury, which includes former French president Francois Hollande and Noble Peace laureates Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former head of state of Liberia, and Bangladesh's professor Muhammad Yunus, met on Monday at UNESCO headquarters to designate the laureate of the 2019 edition of the prize, which will mark the 30th anniversary of its inception. Created in 1989, Felix-Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize aimed at paying tribute to efforts made either by individuals or institutions to promote and restore peace in conformity with UNESCO charter. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 20:47:23|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close ABUJA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 bodies of loggers from a village in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno were evacuated to a police station following an attack by terror group Boko Haram earlier this week, the head of a local militia group told Xinhua on Thursday. Residents of Duwabayi village, in the state's Monguno area, found the bodies of the loggers killed after a Boko Haram attack on Tuesday evening and alerted the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), which helps the military fight the militants, said Ali Bulama, head of the CJTF in the area. "The victims were in search of trees to cut down in a bush near the village when the Boko Haram fighters attacked and shot them. We found bullet wounds on all the corpses and took them to the police station," Bulama said via telephone. Local police have declined to comment on the attack. Duwabayi village was deserted sometime last year after residents fled and took refuge in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Monguno due to incessant Boko Haram attacks in the area. Monguno is located 135 km north of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and hosts a military formation. The town has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram militants who have made several failed attempts to overrun the military base. Boko Haram has repeatedly attacked farmers, loggers and herders, accusing them of giving information to the military and the pro-government CJTF. The group's decade-long militancy has killed about 20,000 people and left over 2.6 million others homeless. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 20:52:28|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TOKYO, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Three people aboard a flight bound for Japan sustained injuries when the plane hit turbulence on its approach to an airport near Tokyo, local media reported Thursday. According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, the transport ministry here said the Italian airline's flight 784 from Rome was approaching Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture close to Tokyo, when it was rocked by turbulence at around 10:00 a.m. local time this morning. According to those on board the Boeing 777, the plane was shaken violently and went into a sharp descent on its approach to the airport. NHK said a 45-year-old Italian flight attendant struck her head on a metal food cart as a result of the turbulence, and two other cabin attendants fell in the incident and sustained minor injuries. Officials for the Alitalia flight said the seat-belt signs were on as the plane was descending to land, and the cabin attendants were conducting their final checks before landing when the turbulence hit. With the exception of the three flight attendants, none of the 256 passengers and crew aboard have reported injuries as a result of the violent turbulence. NHK said that one of the passengers aboard the flight said the plane went into a steep plunge twice. The plane diving came just after the captain had announced the plane would begin its descent to land at the airport. The passenger said that others were screaming when the plane dived, but that overall there was no panic with the screams apparently more out of surprise than fear. The transport ministry is investigating the incident. Japan's weather agency has said that it had issued a warning of thunderstorms occurring across wide areas of Japan's Kanto region that could have led to the extreme turbulence. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 21:02:38|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close DAMASCUS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad stressed on Thursday that all Syrian areas will return under the government control. Mekdad made the remarks to reporters at the Foreign Ministry, mentioning Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria as well as Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeastern region. "Idlib and northern, as well as northeastern Syria, are on the way of liberation. We are working in this direction and the military cases cannot be discussed now," he said. Meanwhile, Mekdad urged the Kurdish groups to prioritize their loyalty to their homeland, not to their U.S. backers. "The Kurdish groups that have become a cheap tool in the hands of the U.S. must understand that their loyalty should be kept for their homeland, not the enemy of this state. The primary loyalty must be for the unity of Syria and its people," he said. He stressed that the Syrian government is determined to preserve the unity of Syria against all foreign schemes. "The Syrian state is ready through its policies to preserve the unity of Syria and its people. Any other goal of other political groups or foreign-backed parties will not have any presence on the Syrian soil," the official remarked. His remarks came at a time the Syrian army is sending reinforcement to the countryside of Idlib and the nearby rebel-held area in the Hama province as part of the preparations to a wide scale offensive to retrieve those areas. Such a move came following months of violations to the de-militarized zones' deal that was established in Idlib and its surrounding by both Turkey and Russia. The Syrian government repeatedly accused the rebels of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-lined Nusra Front, in Idlib of violating the deal by launching attacks on Syrian military positions. Opposition activists recently reported heavy Russian and Syrian airstrikes on Idlib. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that 26 airstrikes targeted rebel-held areas in Idlib and Hama countryside. For its side, state news agency SANA said that the Syrian army carried out intensive strikes on rebel-held areas in the northern countryside of Hama, killing a number of the rebels. Image provided by Venezuela's Presidency shows President Nicolas Maduro attends a pro-government rally in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on Feb. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Venezuelan Presidential Office) WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The war of words between Washington and Moscow escalated on Wednesday over the latest situation in Venezuela. 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. In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the White House said that the United States denounced Russia's "continued support" for the Maduro government. The White House said that "the Trump Administration views interference from the Russian government and their support of the Maduro regime as extremely troublesome and unacceptable." The statement read that "President Trump has made it clear to Russia that they must leave and renounce their support of the Maduro regime." Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States will continue to raise cost for Russia over the behaviors on Venezuela-related issue. In an interview with Fox Business Network, Pompeo said that "as the president said, they've got to go, and the Russians need to have the cost for that raised." On the same day, Pompeo called his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss the Venezuela situation. According to the State Department, Pompeo said during the phone call that the role of Russia in Venezuela is "destabilizing" for the nation and "for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship." For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday denounced Washington's support for the Venezuelan opposition in their attempt to seize power. In the telephone conversation with 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. 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. In a televised address on Tuesday night, Maduro called on other countries "which continue to support the coup opposition" to rectify their positions. The United States has been pursuing a policy of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation against the Venezuelan government in support of Guaido. It recognized Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on Jan. 23, days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 21:43:02|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Railways trips in China hit a record high on Wednesday, the first day of the four-day May Day holiday, data from the national railway operator showed. A daily record of 17.24 million railway passenger trips were made on Wednesday, surging 44.3 percent from the same day last year, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC). The CRC added a total of 758 trains to handle the passenger rush on the day. Thursday is expected to see 11.94 million railway passenger trips and 530 trains added, it said. Railway authorities have taken various measures nationwide to ensure safe and orderly trips, including launching more automatic ticket machines and adding trains bound for tourist attractions. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 21:58:11|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close NAIROBI, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Joseph Irungu, a dairy farmer in Kiambu County, planted brachiaria grass as soon as the rains started in Kenya two weeks ago after a lengthy delay. The farmer, as many others across the east African nation, planted urgently, having been warned by the Meteorological Department that the rains may not last long. Since then, the rains have been intermittent but Irungu is not worried since his fodder has germinated, and by the time the downpour stops, he would be assured of an adequate supply of fodder this season. Initially, Irungu, who also grows crops, planted maize and beans on more than half of his three acres of land during the March-May rainy season, but this time around, he changed tact after advice from an extension officer. The officer asked farmers to plant fodder on large-scale or any fast-maturing crops that are harvested in three months to maximize on the stifled rains, rather than maize, which goes for up to seven months. "I planted the fodder on two-and-half acres and half-acre some vegetables. For the next months, my animals are not only assured of feeds, but I also have something to sell to other farmers and make money," Irungu said. "But more importantly, I would not suffer any crop failure because I avoided maize." He is one of the Kenyan farmers who have embraced climate-smart farming practices to cope with scarce rains. Agricultural experts note that Kenyan farmers have no choice but to immediately take up climate-smart practices to save themselves from the vagaries of unpredictable weather. "The use of climate-smart practices have in the past been limited to mainly large-scale farmers as small ones continue to use traditional farming methods but this is no longer feasible because of the erratic weather," said Joseph Muhwanga, a manager with Climate-Smart Agriculture - East Africa, at a recent workshop. Among climate-smart practices the organization is teaching farmers is the growing of drought-resistant fodder like brachiaria and the making of silage to feed animals during dry spells. To make silage, the grass is harvested when about a meter-high, slashed into small pieces and then compressed in a bunker as it is mixed with molasses, Peter Oduor, an animal health specialist from Egerton University, explains. The fodder can stay for up to two years, saving farmers from drought. John Recha, a climate-smart expert with Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, says most small farmers in Kenya need training on smarter and innovative farming practices to overcome the effects of climate change. These include use of drought- and pest-tolerant seeds and irrigation. According to him, farmers are now grappling with new pests and diseases that were never seen before, due to climate change. "Farmers must now embrace drought-resistant varieties of seeds and crops, and use environment-friendly farming practices and manage in a better way their harvest to reduce losses," Recha said. Kitui is one of the leading counties in Kenya that is lauded for embracing climate-smart farming practices that include growing of drought-resistant crops, in particular green grams. Hundreds of farmers in the semi-arid region are currently growing the crop that matures in about four months and is exported to countries like India, putting more money in growers' pockets, according to the county's agriculture executive, Emmanuel Kisangau. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 21:58:18|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close MOGADISHU, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The UN on Thursday warned of a looming drought-related humanitarian crisis in Somalia where about 1.7 million people will face food insecurity until June. George Conway, acting deputy special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, cautioned that the harsh drought conditions currently afflicting much of the country are likely to trigger a major humanitarian crisis if urgent action is not taken to contain the situation. "A major challenge right now is the underfunding of the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan, currently only funded to 19 percent for the year, which is very worrying with the current extent of the humanitarian crisis that is evolving," Conway said in a statement issued in Mogadishu. He issued warning after a visit to Baidoa, the interim capital of South West State while he was assessing the effects of the prolonged drought on vulnerable populations in the area. The UN official said the situation required strong advocacy with donor and financing partners to bring the humanitarian response up to scale, "so we don't find ourselves in Somalia in a situation where people are moving increasingly into crisis and potentially over the edge into more disastrous conditions." According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), drought conditions in the 2018/19 Deyr rainy season have led to an increase in the number of people designated as "food insecure" in Somalia since October of 2018. OCHA warned that a deterioration into crisis conditions is expected in many pastoral and agro-pastoral areas during the month of May, due to funding shortfalls that may hamper a full implementation of the planned food assistance. The day-long trip with other UN officials including partners included a visit to temporary shelters in Baidoa to assess the living conditions of internally displaced persons and weigh up appropriate measures to alleviate their suffering. In 2018, a drought spanning four consecutive below average rainy seasons left about 6.2 million people in need of emergency aid such as food, water and shelter. That prompted the UN to launch an aid appeal of some 1.6 billion U.S. dollars to help address the crisis. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:03:22|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian oil tanker has docked at the Saudi Arabia's port of Jeddah in the Red Sea due to a technical failure in the engine, the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said on Thursday. The technical failure caused water leakage to the engine room as the vessel was heading to the Suez Canal in the Red Sea on Tuesday morning, the NITC said in a statement. All of the 26 crew, including 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, are safe, according to the statement. It denied the reports about environmental damage and spill from the content of the Iranian tanker into the sea. Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that it has responded to an emergency call from an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Jeddah. The Saudi Arabia's state news agency SPA said that Saudi coast guard assisted the Iranian tanker off the coast of Jeddah in the Red Sea after Riyadh received an official request for help from Tehran. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:08:27|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close SKOPJE, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev, who's also the leader of the ruling party SDSM, on Thursday urged citizens to go to the polls and vote in the presidential runoff on Sunday. In a video address, Zaev told citizens that these elections carry with them a key decision at a critical point for the country. "I am calling on all of our citizens to go to the polls and vote by your own choice, but vote for the future of our country and of our children," Zaev noted. The PM urged the citizens to put divisions aside on May 5 and unite in their decision. According to Zaev, in the past two years citizens gave their support to resolve most difficult issues in terms of neighborly relations and opening North Macedonia's perspectives. Earlier in a TV appearance, Zaev said that he was sure that the turnout on Sunday will be larger. "If turnout is smaller, then we could either reorganize elections or we could amend the Constitution for the president to be elected by parliament. However, we are confident that the president will be elected by the people," Zaev said. Meanwhile, when there are only two days remaining in the campaign for presidential elections in North Macedonia, the two presidential candidates Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova have also called for a large turnout in the polls. The two candidates fear that turnout in the elections will be smaller than 40 percent. North Macedonia held the first round of presidential elections on April 21. According to the State Election Commission, the turnout in the first round was 41.8 percent. In order for the second round of presidential elections to be valid, minimum turnout must be 40 percent. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:18:33|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) -- An international economic and trade fair will be held in the city of Langfang in north China's Hebei Province on May 18, according to the provincial government. Initiated in 2000, The China (Langfang) International Economic and Trade Fair aims to boost opening up and promote economic cooperation. A total of 26 activities will be held during the fair, which will focus on airport economy, international cooperation, regional collaboration, innovative development and county-level specialty industries. Langfang is close to the Beijing Daxing International Airport, which will be put into use before Sept. 30. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:23:39|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close VILNIUS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania's Prime Minister and presidential candidate Saulius Skvernelis said on Thursday he would seek to make Lithuania become the leader in the region "with the lowest levels of shadow economy and corruption" if he wins the presidential elections. Less than two weeks before Lithuania's presidential elections, Skvernelis presented his program for five years term in 2019-2024 if elected president. "More efficient tax administration, diminishing underground economy would allow to raise the average retirement pensions and increase children's allowances. Tax increase would not be needed as additional money can be collected by further fighting a shadow economy," Skvernelis was quoted by local media as saying at a press conference. The incumbent prime minister said he would seek that average retirement pension, currently at about 344-364 euros, would reach 400 euros by July 1, 2020, while children's allowance, currently at 50 euros, would be increased to 70 euros. According to the news agency Elta, the Lithuanian government earlier announced that the shadow economy decreased by 1 percent in 2018 against 2017. Yet based on various estimates it accounts for 15-23 percent of the country's GDP and is above the average of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Skvernelis also pledged, if elected president, to encourage the current government to continue education, health, judicial reforms. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:43:56|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BERLIN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The first "micromobility expo" trade fair presenting "environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient solutions" for transport in German cities opened on Thursday in Hanover. During the three-day fair, around three dozen exhibitors, including the German carmaker Volkswagen, will be presenting more than 60 models of electric miniature vehicles including e-scooters, e-skateboards, e-bikes or mini e-cars. "Miniature electric vehicles are agile, quiet and, above all, more environmentally friendly than cars on short journeys," said Andreas Gruchow, member of the managing board of Deutsche Messe AG Hanover, which is organizing the fair. Gruchow noted that these electric miniature vehicles "are spreading at a fast pace and can significantly change traffic" in German cities. "The micro-mobiles have great potential to close the gap between public transport, cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The expectations are high that micro-mobility will help to solve problems such as traffic jams and air pollution," said Bernd Althusmann, Minister of Economics for Lower Saxony. A recent study by the consulting firm McKinsey estimated that the market potential of micro-mobility products in Europe could reach 150 billion U.S. dollars by 2030, of which more than half could be earned through the sale of e-scooters. In Germany, McKinsey estimated that turnover for e-scooters, also known as electric pedal scooters, could reach 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer is seeking to push through the approval of electric scooters in Germany, which he believes hold "enormous future potential". E-scooters are already in use in many European cities but the planned approval of these electric pedal scooters on footpaths has led to safety concerns in Germany. The German transport minister had proposed that electric scooters that move faster than 12 km per hour should be allowed on cycle paths while slower scooters which travel at less than 12 km per hour should be allowed to be used on footpaths. On Tuesday, the Transport Committee in the German Bundesrat recommended that all electric scooters should be on cycle paths but that slower models should not be allowed on pavements. The Bundesrat will vote on the German transport minister's plans in a plenary session on May 17. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:43:57|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close XIAMEN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese vaccine against the Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) has entered clinical trial in the United States after two U.S. volunteers were vaccinated on May 1 (local time), according to Xiamen University. The trial will be carried out in three phases. The phase 1 clinical trial is scheduled to enroll 25 U.S. volunteers, and Phase 2 and 3 FDA-approved trials of the vaccine are expected to be done in a third country. The vaccine, sold under the trade name Hecolin, was initially developed by a research team from Xiamen University in east China's Fujian Province and then transferred to and commercialized by the Xiamen Innovax Biotech Co., Ltd. Hecolin has been used in China since 2012 for the prevention of hepatitis E. It has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enter a clinical trial in January. It is the first time that FDA has given a green light to a Chinese vaccine to enter a clinical trial in the United States, according to Zhang Jun, deputy director of National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases at Xiamen University. According to Zhang, the trial was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the primary agency of the U.S. government responsible for biomedical and public health research. Hepatitis E is a liver disease caused by HEV, which is transmitted mainly through contaminated drinking water and food. Large outbreaks of the disease have been reported in at least 30 countries in Africa, Asia and North America. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2015, there are approximately 20 million HEV infections, 3.4 million symptomatic cases and 70,000 deaths globally every year. The disease is typically most life-threatening among pregnant women, with a fatality rate of 10 percent to 50 percent. People with pre-existing chronic liver disease are prone to develop severe hepatitis following HEV infection. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 22:44:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOSCOW, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A man was detained by police after shooting four people in a fight in the southwest of the Russian capital, the country's Interior Ministry's local branch said Thursday. During a brawl in the town of Moskovsky in the early hours of the morning, a man brought a pump-action shotgun from his home and fired several shots at his opponents, injuring four people. Three of the wounded were discharged after receiving treatment, and one remains hospitalized. The shooter was detained for further investigation, and police have initiated a criminal case against him under the article "Hooliganism." Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 23:09:11|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BRUSSELS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union's top diplomat criticized the United States' latest move on Cuba on Thursday, labeling it as contrary to international law and pledging to take all appropriate measures against its effects. Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, said in a statement that the bloc "deeply regrets the full activation of the 1996 Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act by the United States." The U.S. decision is a "breach of the commitments undertaken in the EU-U.S. agreements of 1997 and 1998, which had been respected by both sides without interruption since then," she said, adding that "This will cause unnecessary friction and undermines trust and predictability in the transatlantic partnership." The LIBERTAD Act of 1996 is a United States federal law which aims to strengthen the embargo against Cuba. Title III of the act authorizes U.S. nationals with claims to confiscated property in Cuba to file suit in U.S. courts against persons who may be "trafficking" in such property. But since its enactment in 1996, successive U.S. presidents have exercised the authority to suspend Title III provisions. The administration of President Donald Trump would implement Title III in full effective May 2, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in April, opening the door to potential lawsuits targeting foreign businesses in Cuba. "The EU considers the extra-territorial application of unilateral restrictive measures to be contrary to international law and will draw on all appropriate measures to address the effects of the Helms-Burton Act," including at the World Trade Organization and through the use of the EU Blocking Statute, Mogherini said in the statement. The EU Blocking Statute is an EU law that prohibits compliance with unilateral U.S. sanctions. "The EU will continue to work with its international partners who have also voiced their concerns in this regard," Mogherini's statement concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 23:19:16|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad delivers a keynote speech at the launch of Malaysia's first commodities e-commerce trading platform in Putrajaya, Malaysia, May 2, 2019. Malaysia is ideally placed to be the trade gateway for commodities trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung) KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia is ideally placed to be the trade gateway for commodities trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday. Delivering a keynote speech at the launch of Malaysia's first commodities e-commerce trading platform, Mahathir said Malaysia's location in ASEAN and its long-standing cultural ties with China make it an ideal business partner in the sector. "Malaysia-China bilateral relations were established way back in the early 1400s when the Malacca sultanate established ties with the Ming Dynasty. Strategically located amidst one of Asian's most spectacular regions, Malaysia's 600 years of trade relations with China fostered not only economic relations but also social and cultural ties," he said. Mahathir said the e-commerce trading platform, operated by a Malaysian company Commodities Global Trade Sdn. Bhd. (CGTSB) that holds the exclusive rights under Bohai Commodity Exchange of China, would help the country leverage on its plan to become a regional trade bridge with China. "I am indeed pleased to be here today to witness another new system which promises great potentials and possibilities for Malaysian businesses exploring the opportunities beyond our shores," he said. Mahathir explained that these rights enabled the CGTSB to cater for the whole ASEAN market while making Malaysia the new gateway for ASEAN venturing into China market. "This new move, which involves e-commerce, is going to enhance trade between Malaysia and China in particular and also the ASEAN countries," he added. Mahathir also said the CGTSB was working closely with the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of Primary Industries, besides the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, to encourage local participation in the platform. CGTSB chairman Khairuddin Abu Hassan said the platform called BOCE MALAYSIA/ASEAN, will function as a "one stop" solution and search for buyers and sellers to create business connections for their trading activities. "As to recap, our 'one stop center' services facilitate the registration, bidding and completion of documentation for exporters and making it easy to cross border e-commerce," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 23:29:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LANZHOU, May 2 (Xinhua) -- In addition to teaching economics at Lanzhou University, 55-year-old professor Yang Suchang spends most of his time studying cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables commonly grown by local farmers in a suburb greenhouse in northwest China's Gansu Province. As a professor of the School of Economics, Yang has rich hands-on experience and academic training in poverty relief, and the study on planting vegetables in a greener way is what Yang believes is an efficient way to help farmers shake off poverty in the less-developed province. Yang began his research on the experiences of the major agricultural provinces in China, such as Shandong Province. He found that a Shandong-based research center developed a green technology of using straw bioreactors to improve the growing environment of off-season vegetables. Yang then reached out to Zhang Shiming, director of the center, and was told that decomposed maize straws can produce carbon dioxide, heat, spores and other ingredients favorable to the planting of pollution-free and high-quality crops. In Gansu, a very large quantity of straws are produced each year, resulting in a real headache of environmental pollution and less-fertile land since the straws are usually burnt as waste. The idea of straw bioreactors offers a solution to the problem in Gansu, Yang said. He began to invite Zhang to give lessons among the farmers in Gansu to popularize the technology. Since 2007, Yang spent a decade trying to convince the farmers of the efficiency of straw bioreactor. He first rented five greenhouses in central Gansu's Yuzhong County in 2009 to grow the straw-fed vegetables. The strains Yang developed were then given to farmers for free, along with his guidance. Wang Zairong, who runs a large local agricultural cooperative, was among the first to benefit from Yang's efforts. "The new technique helps us notch a higher yield, 15 percent to 20 percent higher than the previous yield, and the vegetative period has been shortened," Wang said. Wang added that fewer chemicals were used since the introduction of maize straws. Yang also helps market the organic vegetables. He invites buyers to come to the greenhouses to pick the fruits and vegetables themselves, further boosting the sales of vegetables. "Nowadays, consumers prefer greener and healthier food, so there is a huge market potential for our products," said Yang. In December 2018, a training base was also set up by Yang to aid more farmers in joining the profitable business. The idea of making use of agricultural waste will inspire more people to grow in an efficient and scientific way, Yang said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 23:34:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WINDHOEK, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Namibian economy is battling to get out of the prolonged recession, Bank of Namibia Deputy Governor Ebson Uanguta told Xinhua on Thursday. According to Uanguta, although the forecast for a better economy performance in 2019 looked realistic the country has not yet moved out of a two-year recession that has seen companies closing while others failing to sustain their operations. Uanguta added that the Namibian economy experienced challenges in the past two years although these were also synonymous with the global economy. Sectors that have been severely affected by the ongoing economic challenges in Namibia include mining, construction and manufacturing. "We certainly hope the contractions we experienced in the past two years will be a thing of the past but the year is still young, there are many months to go so let's see how this pens out ahead," Uanguta said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 23:39:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SHIJIAZHUANG, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A tornado overturned an inflatable castle in north China's Hebei Province Thursday afternoon, killing two children playing on it and injuring seven others, local authorities said. The accident occurred at about 2:50 p.m. in Laiyuan County, said the local government, which has set up a working team with members from local health, police, emergency management and market supervision departments. The injured have since been hospitalized, and tree people in connection with the accident have been put under police custody. A similar accident in central China's Henan Province killed two children and injured a dozen in March. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 23:39:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Thursday dispatched a team of experts to support the negotiations among Sudan's stakeholders so as to facilitate an agreement towards establishing a consensual and civilian-led transition. The pan African bloc, in a statement issued on Thursday, also revealed that the AU mission, which was assigned by the AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat "has already begun its consultations." "The African Union mission is mandated to support the negotiations among the Sudanese stakeholders and facilitate, as appropriate, an agreement that will make it possible to establish a consensual and civilian-led transition," an AU statement read. The AU's mission to Sudan, which is led by the AU chairperson's principal strategic advisor, Mohamed Hacen Lebatt, also includes a number of experts from the 55-member pan African bloc. Faki, who was in Sudan's capital Khartoum last month soon after the ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir to meet high-level officials of Sudan's transitional military council, also "called on all the Sudanese stakeholders to fully cooperate with the African Union Mission." "Chairperson of the AU Commission renews his appeal to the international partners to fully support the work of the Mission," the statement read. Faki further expressed his "hope that the ongoing efforts will soon lead to an agreement that is in line with the aspirations of the Sudanese people and which, as such, will help to lay solid foundations for the democratic transformation of the 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 the formation of a civilian government. The deployment of the special mission to Sudan also came a day after AU's Peace and Security Council urged the Sudanese military to hand over power to a civilian-led authority within 60 days. African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (L) and Chairperson of the AU Executive Council and Rwandan foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo talk at an AU executive council meeting in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda on March 19, 2018.(Xinhua/Gabriel Dusabe) ADDIS ABABA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) Commission has said that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is set to enter into force on May 30. The one-month timeframe to activate the continental free trade pact came as Sierra Leone and the Saharawi Republic deposited their instruments of AfCFTA ratification to the AU Commission, the AU said in a statement late Wednesday. "The two deposits meet the minimum threshold of ratifications required under Article 23 of the AfCFTA Agreement for it to enter into force 30 days after the deposit of the 22nd deposit, which is made by the Saharawi Republic," the statement said. "The AfCFTA Agreement will, in this regard, enter into force on 30th May, 2019," it said. "All that is now left is for the African Union and African Ministers of Trade to finalize work on supporting instruments to facilitate the launch of the operational phase of the AfCFTA during the Extra-Ordinary Summit of African heads of state and government on July 7, 2019," the AU statement said. According to the 55-member pan-African bloc, the AfCFTA's supporting instruments include the rules of origin, schedules of tariff concessions on trade in goods, online non-tariff barriers monitoring and elimination mechanism, digital payments and settlement platform, and an African Trade Observatory Portal. The AU said recently deposits of ratifications are also expected from Zimbabwe and Gambia following the ratification of the AfCFTA by the two AU member countries' parliaments. The African ministers of trade are "scheduled to meet in Kampala, capital of Uganda, in the first week of June to review work on these supporting instruments ahead of the Extra-Ordinary Summit on the AfCFTA," the AU said. AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said the continental free trade agreement is a "process that will create a large market that is critical to increasing trade and investments on the continent." The AfCFTA, which was signed by 44 African countries when it was launched in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, in March 2018, aspires to create a tariff-free continent that can grow local businesses, boost intra-African trade, spur industrialization and create more jobs. The continental free trade pact paves the way for accelerating the establishment of the Continental Customs Union and the African customs union, according to the AU. The AfCFTA is regarded as the world's largest free trade zone by the number of countries, covering more than 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Once operational, the African free trade accord is also projected to boost the level of intra-Africa trade by more than 52 percent by the year 2020, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 00:05:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIGALI, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda will next month host the first-ever conference of African business owners, business leaders, chief executive officers and managing directors of mid-sized companies on the continent, an Rwandan official said Thursday. The conference dubbed "Made-In-Africa Leadership Conference" is an exclusive annual gathering of African business owners, business leaders, chief executive officers and managing directors of mid-sized companies that has annual turnover ranging from 500,000 U.S. dollars to 100 million dollars. "Rwanda is honored to have been chosen to host such an important event, because it demonstrates our country's efforts to support the growth of businesses whether small or big," said Frank Murangwa, director of destination marketing at the Rwanda Convention Bureau (RCB), at a press conference in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda. RCB entered into a partnership with a Mauritius-based pan-African organization to host the conference in Rwanda that is slated for June 6 to 7 in Kigali, said Murangwa. In future years the conference hosting will rotate among other countries in Africa, he said. Rwanda targets to raise revenue of 88 million dollars through its Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events and Exhibitions tourism strategy within the period of 2019/2020 fiscal year, RCB said in February. The country was ranked the third most popular destinations in Africa for accommodating international meetings and events in International Congress and Convention Association's rankings released in May 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 01:50:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine will host the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in 2020, the Ukrainian parliament press service said. A decree to host the session on May 22-25, 2020 in Kiev was signed by Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy, said a statement on the Ukrainian parliament website. In October 2017, NATO approved Ukraine's bid to hold the spring session of the assembly. Last month the Ukrainian parliament adopted the decree on hosting the session. Founded in 1955, the assembly serves as a consultative inter-parliamentary body of NATO member states, associate countries and observer delegations. Its sessions are held twice a year in different countries. Ukraine, though not a NATO member, closely cooperates with the alliance and participates in the latter's Partnership for Peace Program. In February, the Ukrainian parliament passed a constitutional amendment stating Ukraine's commitment to joining NATO. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 02:00:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TEHRAN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that Iran will never bow to the U.S. anti-Iran pressures, Press TV reported. "We will find a way (to deal with the U.S. pressures). We have done that for 40 years, and will do that now too," Zarif said in Qatari capital Doha on Thursday. Zarif, who attended the 16th ministerial meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Doha, warned about the "existential threat" that the U.S. unilateralism poses to the international community. The U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iranian international nuclear deal in May last year and put sanctions on Iran, albeit with waivers allowing major importers to continue buying oil from Iran. However, Washington announced last Monday that it decided not to reissue sanction waivers when they expire in early May. The decision, according to the White House, is intended to bring Iran's oil exports to zero. Supporter of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido clash with forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro on April 30, 2019. (AFP Photo) MOSCOW, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States have "incompatible" positions on the Venezuelan affairs, but Moscow is ready to talk with Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday. "Although U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and I agreed to continue contacts, I do not see how it is possible to combine our positions," Lavrov told reporters in Uzbekistan's capital city of Tashkent. Lavrov said the Russian approach, on the one hand, is based on the UN Charter and the principles and norms of international law, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry press release. The United States, on the other hand, appointed the acting president of another country, required legitimate authorities to capitulate, and threatened to use force along with "suffocating" sanctions in order to change the government, Lavrov said. In response to the U.S. interference in Venezuela's internal affairs, Russia is mobilizing a group of states that respect the UN Charter to counteract the U.S. plans, the top diplomat said. "Such a group is formed in the UN. I hope that it will receive serious support in the organization," he said. In a telephone conversation with Pompeo on Wednesday, Lavrov noted the latest situation in Venezuela where the opposition had tried to seize power with "obvious support" from the United States. 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. Pompeo, however, criticized that Russia's role in Venezuela is "destabilizing" for the nation and urged Moscow to cease support for President Nicolas Maduro. According to media reports, Lavrov and Pompeo are expected to hold talks on Venezuela among other issues in Finland on Monday on the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 03:11:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close AMMAN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Jordan and Spain on Thursday agreed to enhance their cooperation to boost bilateral ties and coordinate their stances on pushing forward the Mideast peace process. At a joint press conference after meeting Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation Josep Borrell, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi praised Spain's support to Jordan, including extending a soft loan to the Kingdom to support water projects and small- and medium-sized projects. He said the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in the field of tourism, especially since Spain enjoys an extensive experience in this regard. The two foreign ministers also talked about the developments in the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Syrian crisis and anti-terror war. The two sides are united in their stances on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict via the two-state solution that ensures the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, Safadi said. The top Jordanian diplomat said the two countries would continue to work within the framework of the European Union to push for a political solution in this respect. Safadi thanked Spain for its continued support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), citing that Spain constantly reiterates the need to secure necessary funding for the agency so it can continue providing services to the Palestinian refugees. For his part, Borrell called Jordan "a key partner" for Spain in the Middle East, a model of stability and moderation in the region, as well as a trusted partner in resolving all regional issues including the Palestinian issue and Syrian crisis. He also underlined Spain's continued support to Jordan which hosts a large number of Syrian refugees. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 03:36:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Thursday asked for restraint in Benin after controversial elections led to violence. "We are closely following the unfolding developments in the Republic of Benin in the aftermath of the April 28 legislative elections, in which opposition parties were barred from participating," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "We note with concern the ongoing tensions and unrest, resulting in the destruction of property and high-handed response from the security forces," he said. The United Nations called on all Beninese stakeholders to exercise maximum restraint and to seek solutions to their differences through dialogue, he told a regular press briefing. The secretary-general's special representative for West Africa and the Sahel Mohamed Ibn Chambas is in contact with colleagues in the Economic Community of West African States, as well as with Beninese stakeholders, with a view to encouraging a consensual and peaceful solution to the situation and preserving peace and stability for the country, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 04:06:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TUNIS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday pledged to continue financial and technical support to Tunisia to help implement reforms and development projects. The pledge came during a meeting between visiting AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina with Tunisian Minister of Investment, Development and International Cooperation Zied Laadhari, the ministry said in a statement. At the meeting, Adesina said his visit aimed to show the interest of the AfDB in Tunisia as a major partner. "There are new perspectives for cooperation in the next stage including energy, environment, regional development and public sector. The AfDB will support the private sector to generate employment opportunities for young people," he added. For his part, Laadhari emphasized the importance of cooperation between Tunisia and the AfDB, which "remains a strategic partner in the implementation of priority development programs and projects." The overall financing by the AfDB Group in Tunisia amounts to about 8 billion euros (about 8.94 billion U.S. dollars), which has funded 155 projects, including 41 in the private sector. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 04:07:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Members of the police force contingent of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) attend a medal presentation ceremony in Nicosia, Cyprus, on May 2, 2019. The head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar, awarded medals to 18 members of the police force contingent of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) on Thursday for their contribution to the maintenance of peace in the eastern Mediterranean Island. (Xinhua/Zhang Baoping) NICOSIA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The head of the United Nations peace mission in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar, awarded medals to 18 members of the police force contingent of the UN Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) on Thursday for their contribution to the maintenance of peace in the eastern Mediterranean Island. Accompanied to the event was Acting Senior Police Advisor, Chief Superintendent of UNFICYP, Su Dongxu, from China, who took up his post a month ago. In presenting the "In the Service of Peace" medals, Spehar noted that the UN police component of UNFICYP has currently 23 female officers out of a total of 60 police officers, "a remarkable ratio of over 33 percent". "The figure is not about numbers. Women police officers are the lynch pins of relation with local communities and they are excelling when it comes to encouraging people to report certain kinds of crime, such as sectoral abuse," Spehar said. During the presentation ceremony she also dealt with current efforts by the United Nations to restart the stalled peace negotiations for a Cyprus peace settlement. She said UNFICYP, of which the civilian police force is part, plays a vital role in supporting the peace process, "not the least by creating conditions conductive to successful negotiations and to a sustainable outcome". "The United Nations believes there is still scope to thing creatively and to act decisively about the way forward. For our part, the UN, we stand ready to assists the two (community) leaders and the women and men of Cyprus to pave the way ahead to a brighter shared future for all," she said. A personal envoy of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is currently trying to convince the parties in the Cyprus problem to agree on the terms of reference of negotiations which were interrupted almost two years ago. Spehar commended the host of the medal presentation ceremony, Superintendent Su Dongxu, saying that "he has a wealth of experience in international policing and has taken up his role with great professionalism". Welcoming his guests, Su Dongxu said that the police members of the Cyprus peace force have shown a high degree of integrity and congratulated them for zero tolerance to crime in the buffer zone which they patrol regularly. He said police force members who received medals, after three months of service with UNFICYP, come from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), China, Ireland, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. Wang Xiaojing, a police woman from China told Xinhua after she received the medal, "It is my great honor to carry on my duty in the UN force in Cyprus. I will contribute myself to the future work and maintain peace and order here." Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 04:07:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Italy is resisting pressure from the United States by allowing Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies to participate in the rollout of its 5G telecommunications network. Last month, Sweden's Ericsson and former Italian state telecommunications monopoly Telecom Italia inaugurated Italy's first 5G-connected airport at Rome's Fiumicino, the country's largest. But the rollout is just getting started. During a visit to China in late April, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte vowed that Huawei would not face any discrimination in Italy. During his visit, Conte met with Huawei Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei in Beijing. "I told him we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests and that these demand extremely high levels of security," Conte said, according to Italian media reports. "But this is not just for Huawei, but for any company looking to join the 5G rollout." Shorthand for "fifth generation", 5G refers to high-speed digital cellular networks that can support up to a million devices per square kilometer, compared to only around 4,000 devices per square kilometer for the previous generation service. According to Raffaele Barberio, founder and director of Key4Biz, an online magazine focusing on the digital economy, the biggest use of 5G technologies is industrial. There are just a few major companies in the world selling 5G radio hardware and 5G systems for carriers: Huawei and ZTE in China, Finland's Nokia, Samsung in South Korea and Ericsson in Sweden. Huawei is the largest of them, but the company is under scrutiny after the United States said that it would not use Huawei equipment because of security fears, and it encouraged its allies to follow suit. "Every company has its security risks, every company is trying to do the same thing," Barberio told Xinhua in a recent interview. "But Italy cannot do the rollout without Huawei. The company has a quarter of the patents for 5G technology. If Italy sticks with the European companies it's just Nokia and Ericsson, and the rollout will be slower and the prices higher." Innocenzo Genna, co-founder of Digit@lians, a network for professionals working in digital fields, agreed with Conte that Huawei should be able to participate in Italy's 5G rollout on equal footing with other multinational companies. "Huawei's problem is a public relations problem," Genna said on Thursday. "Are there vulnerability risks with Huawei? Yes, there are, but that is true of every company." Genna said it was important for Italy to be open to Huawei. "Italy has a unique position among major western countries when it comes to China," Genna said, referring to Italy becoming one of the latest European countries to sign on to China's Belt and Road Initiative. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 04:32:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Catherine Pugh, mayor of U.S. city of Baltimore, resigned Thursday amid a corruption scandal centered around self-published children's books that led to raids on her office and home, according to her attorney. "I am sorry for the harm I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor," her attorney Steven Silverman said in a statement from Pugh, "Baltimore deserves a mayor that can move our great city forward." The resignation is effective immediately, capping weeks of speculation of whether Pugh would surrender her job in the wake of allegations that she profited from using political power to sell children's books. Local media reported in March that University of Maryland Medical Center paid 500,000 U.S. dollars to purchase 100,000 copies of Healthy Holly books, a children's book series she wrote. Later investigation showed that not all of the ordered books were delivered. Local media also reported health insurance company Kaiser Permanente and a non-profit Associated Black Charities both paid large sums to purchase the books. The allegations prompted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and criminal investigators from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to search the mayor's home and Baltimore City Hall office on April 25. As investigation proceeded, Pugh took paid leave of absence since April 1. Pugh's resignation put Bernard Young as the city's full-time mayor. Young has already fired three of Pugh's top aides. Pugh, 69, was the second Baltimore mayor to resign in disgrace in recent years. Former mayor Sheila Dixon resigned in 2010 as part of a plea deal after being found guilty of embezzlement. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 05:37:46|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX confirmed on Thursday that its Crew Dragon capsule was destroyed during an engine test last month, possibly causing a drag to the company's plan to bring astronauts into space this year. On April 20, an anomaly occurred during a testing of the Crew Dragon's abort engines at a landing zone of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but the private space company hadn't clarified whether the capsule, launched successfully into space in an unmanned mission in March, was destroyed or not, until Thursday. Before firing the abort engines, "there was an anomaly and the vehicle was destroyed," said Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX at a press conference to brief the company's planned cargo launch mission on Friday. Koenigsmann said initial data indicated that the anomaly occurred during the activation of the engine SuperDraco, but he said he didn't believe the engines themselves caused the accident. He also said it's too early to identify the cause of the mishap. The accident may delay SpaceX and the U.S. space agency NASA's plan to launch astronauts to the International Space Station by the end of year. Before the anomaly, SpaceX planned to have a "launch abort" test with the damaged Crew Dragon vehicle in summer. Now it had to use a new one and Koenigsmann said more crew Dragons are being built. "It's certainly not great news overall, but I hope we can recover," said Koenigsmann. The accident also affected the upcoming cargo flight, since the reusable first stage of Flacon 9 rocket that will bring cargo Dragon to the International Space Station was previously scheduled to land back to the landing zone. Now, it will land on a drone ship off the coast instead. NASA contracted SpaceX and Boeing to bring American astronauts to the space lab with the U.S.-made spacecraft. Boeing's launch plan also encountered multiple delays. The first unmanned test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was delayed from April to August, and it was only "a working date" yet to be confirmed. Win McNamee / Getty(WASHINGTON) -- Attorney General William Barr faced a grilling from lawmakers on Wednesday over his controversial handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report as the nation's top law enforcement officer returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since releasing the probe's highly anticipated findings earlier this month. Anticipation for Barr's testimony reached new heights late Tuesday when several news outlets, including ABC News, reported that Mueller expressed frustration to the attorney general over the public's interpretation of his investigation when Barr issued a four-page letter describing the report's "principal conclusions" within 48 hours of receiving the special counsel's findings. Here's how the day is unfolding: 6:19 p.m.: Nadler on Barr's decision not to appear The Justice Department on Wednesday informed the House Judiciary Committee that Barr would decline to testify before the panel on Thursday amid disagreements over the hearing's format. "When push comes to shove, the administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing and our hearing room," House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler told reporters. He added that his committee is seeking the full unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and that compliance with the committee's request is "not optional." The committee is planning for a hearing, he added saying "I hope and expect the attorney general will think overnight and be there as well." The House Judiciary Committee is expected to subpoena Barr for his testimony, according to aides. 6:11 p.m.: Justice Department statement on Barr not appearing before House Judiciary "Today, the Attorney General testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for over five hours. The Attorney General also voluntarily released the Special Counsels confidential report with minimal redactions to Congress and the public, made an even-less redacted report available to Chairman Nadler and congressional leadership (which they have refused to review), and made himself available to the Committee by volunteering to testify this week. Unfortunately, even after the Attorney General volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary. 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. Chairman Nadlers 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. The Attorney General remains happy to engage directly with Members on their questions regarding the report and looks forward to continue working with the Committee on their oversight requests," DOJ spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement. 5:43 p.m.: Source says Barr will not testify Thursday before House panel The Justice Department on Wednesday informed the House Judiciary Committee that Barr would decline to testify before the panel on Thursday amid disagreements over the hearing's format, according to a committee aide. 3:15 p.m.: Hearing concludes after Barr descibes Mueller letter as "a bit snitty" Before ending about four hours of testimony, the attorney general recounted in detail his discussion with Robert Mueller after the special counsel sent a letter to Barr complaining that he failed to capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions. During what Barr described as a 10-15 minute phone conversation, Barr said he told Mueller: I said Bob, what's with the letter? Why don't you just pick up the phone and call me if there's an issue? When Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked for notes from the phone call - the existence of which was confirmed by Barr - the attorney general snapped back, Why should you have them? Referring to Mueller's March 27 letter, Barr said, The letter is a bit snitty and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people. 2:53 p.m.: Barr says he believes Mueller didn't mean for his report to be used as a roadmap for Congress Contrary to what many congressional Democrats perceived as the special counsels intention, Barr told Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy that he does not believe Mueller meant for its report to be used as a roadmap for Congress to consider possible obstruction of justice or as a basis for impeachment proceedings. [Mueller] has not said that he conducted the investigation in order to turn it over to Congress, that would be very inappropriate, that is not what the Justice Department does, adding, I don't think Bob Mueller was suggesting the next step was for him to turn this stuff over to Congress to act upon. That's not why we conduct grand jury investigations, Barr said. In his report, Mueller did suggest that Congress, as an equal branch of government, has the authority to take the information uprooted by Mueller and either craft laws to prevent future presidents from conducting behavior described in the report, or, as a drastic and rarely invoked remedy, pursue impeachment. 2:19 p.m.: Democratic hopefuls Booker, Harris take on Barr Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., criticized Barrs willingness to seem to brush over this and use words like the American people should be grateful with what's in this report -- nobody should be grateful. Concerted efforts for deception, for misleading, inappropriate action after inappropriate action that is clear. California Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris sparred with Barr over his decision not to find the president committed obstruction of justice. Harris accused Barr of being biased in this situation and having a conflict of interest. Barr defended himself by pointing out that Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, also contributed to his decision not to prosecutor the president for obstruction. I haven't been the only decision maker here now, Barr responded. Let's take the deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, approved by the Senate 94-6 with specific discussion on the floor that he would be responsible for supervising the Russian investigation. Barr then said neither he nor Rosenstein had reviewed the special counsels underlying evidence. No. We accepted the statements in the report as factual record, Barr told Harris. We did not go underneath it to see whether or not they were accurate. We accepted it as accurate. 1:56 p.m.: Tempers flare as Democrat Hirono tells Barr: 'You should resign' Tempers flared for the first time when Hawaii Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono tore into Barr, accusing him of being no different from Rudy Giuliani or Kellyanne Conway or any other people who sacrificed their once-decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office. Hirono continued a five-minute monologue before telling Barr You should resign. When Barr asked for Hirono to clarify a question, the senator interrupted him, saying, Please, Mr. Attorney general. Give us some credit for knowing what the hell is going on around here. GOP chairman Graham interjected, This line of questioning listen, you've slandered this man seven minutes and you slandered this man top to bottom. What I sort of want to know is how do we get to this point? Barr mumbled as Graham called on the next senator. Toward the end of questioning by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Barr circled back to his point on "How did we get to this point?" "How did we get to the point here where the evidence is now that the president was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians and accused of being treasonous and accused of being a Russian agent," Barr said, "and the evidence is now that was without a basis, and two years of his administration have been dominated by the allegations that have now been proven false?" "And, you know, to listen to some of the rhetoric, you would think that the Mueller report had found the opposite," Barr added. 1:48: Barr: 'We have to stop using the Justice Department as a political weapon' A fiery Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., lashed out at the attorney general for his handling of the Mueller report, I think history will judge you harshly and maybe a bit unfairly because you seem to have been the designated fall guy for this report, Blumenthal said. I think that your credibility is undermined within the department, in this committee, and with the American people. Blumenthal then turned his attention to the 14 remaining open cases referred to in the special counsels report and asked Barr whether he had discussed the matter with the White House. Barr said he can say very surely he did not, adding he would not recuse himself from those probes. On the eve of Wednesday's hearing, 11 Senate Democrats including Blumenthal asked the Justice Departments internal watchdog to investigate several matters related to Barrs impartiality in handling the special counsels probe. In a telling microcosm of Barrs attitude about the special counsels report and President Trumps conduct, Barr said: I'm not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people. I'm in the business of determining whether a crime has be committed. The job of the Justice Department is now over, that determines whether or not there's a crime. The report is now in the hands of the American people. Everyone can decide for themselves, there's an election in 18 months, that's a very democratic process. We have to stop using the Justice Department as a political weapon, Barr concluded. 1:12 p.m.: Klobuchar questions Barr on Trump's statements on witnesses "flipping" and possible obstruction The first Democratic presidential hopeful to question Barr, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., spent the first few minutes of her allotted time advocating for Barrs support for election security legislation, but then pivoted to a debate over whether the totality of the evidence suggested President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Klobuchar raised the presidents praise of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for refusing to break, as Klobuchar said. I think what the president's lawyers would say, if this were ever actually joined, is that the president's statements about flipping are quite clear and express and uniformly the same, Barr said. Which is by flipping, he meant succumbing to pressure on unrelated cases to lie and compose in order to get lenient treatment on the cases. That is not -- discouraging flipping in that sense is not obstruction. Klobuchar argued: You look at the totality of the evidence that's what I learned when I was in law school. 1:01 p.m.: Barr says furor over Mueller letter to him is 'mind-bendingly bizarre' The attorney general said furor over the special counsels March 27 letter is a moot point mind-bendingly bizarre, as Barr put it because the report was eventually released in its entirety, albeit lightly redacted. It was solved by putting out the whole report which was the -- that's why I think this whole thing is sort of mind-bendingly bizarre. I made clear from the beginning that I was putting out the report, as much of the report as I could, and it was clear it was going to take three weeks or so, maybe four, to do that, Barr said. And the question is, what's the place holder, and the place holder in my judgment was the simple statement of what the bottom line conclusions were. And I wasn't going to be in the business of feeding out more and more information as time went on. Democrats have accused Barr of "[shaping] the public's perception of the report," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, by penning a four-page letter describing the reports principal conclusions within 48 hours of receiving the special counsels findings. 12:57 p.m. Hearing resumes after senators break for votes Senators have returned to their seats in the committee room after an hour-long break. Among those who have yet to question the attorney general are three Democratic presidential hopefuls: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. 11:51 a.m.: Hearing breaks for Senate votes until 12:50 p.m. After about two hours of questioning, the committee took a break so senators could vote. 11:28 a.m.: Barr says Mueller "told me he did not have objections to the accuracy" of the AG's four-page letter Since news of Robert Muellers March 27 letter to Barr became public late Tuesday, Democrats have suggested that Barr may have misled Congress when he testified that he did not know whether members of the special counsels office were frustrated with his handling of the special counsels report. During his questioning, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., invoked comments Barr made to Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., during a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, in which Barr said he did not know whether members of the special counsels office were frustrated, but he [suspected] that they probably wanted more put out. Barr argued that Mueller did not appear frustrated with the accuracy of his four-page letter. I talked directly to Bob and Bob told me he did not have objections to the accuracy, 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. You know, after a months long trial, if I wanted to get out to the public what the verdict was, pending preparation of the full transcript I'm out there saying here's the verdict and the prosecutor comes up and taps me on the shoulder and says 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. I'm trying to state the verdict, Barr said. Barr reiterated his stance that he has no objection for Mueller testifying before Congress but declined to say whether Don McGahn should appear before Congress. It's a call for the president to make, Barr said. I assume he'd be testifying about privileged matters. 11:15 a.m.: Democrat Leahy grills Barr on his previous testimony Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy questioned Barr on what he's testified about whether he knew about concerns raised by Mueller and his team. 11:07 a.m.: Barr says Mueller shouldn't have investigated if he could not make a "prosecutive decision" During questioning by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Barr said he was "not really sure" of Mueller's reasoning for not making a decision about obstruction and "didn't try to put words in his mouth." "I think that if he felt that he shouldn't go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, then he shouldn't have investigated," Barr said. 10:58 a.m.: Barr says Trump telling McGahn to remove Mueller not obstruction During questioning by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Barr took issue with the public perception concering one of the Mueller reports most controversial revelations about possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump: when he appeared to order then White House Counsel Don McGahn to get Deputy Attortney General Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller, according to the Mueller report. McGahn told Mueller Trump later claimed to him he didn't use the word "fire" but instead cited "conflicts and said Mueller "can't be special counsel," the report said. To be obstruction of justice, the lie has to be tied to impairing the evidence in a particular proceeding, Barr said. And there is a distinction between saying to someone go fire him, go fire Mueller, and saying have him removed based on conflict. They have different results. 10:44 a.m. Barr says he made it "very clear" to Mueller he wasn't interested in putting out report summaries as Mueller wanted Barr sought to defend his handling of the special counsels findings in opening remarks and explain his rationale for the reports rollout. Barr deviated from his prepared statement to explain his interactions with Mueller and his calculus in denying the special counsels request to release executive summaries. I wanted to get the whole report out. And I thought summaries by very definition, regardless of who prepared them, would be underinclusive and we would have sort of a series of different debates and public discord over each information that went out and I wanted to get everything out at once and we should start working on that. The attorney general said the "body politic was in a high state of agitation" and said there was speculation about whether the president or members of his family might be indicted. Barr also said he was "surprised" that Mueller had not reached a conclusion on obstruction and expressed his frustration in a phone call with Mueller. In the first line of questioning, Sen. Graham peppered Barr with yes or no questions about the process of the special counsels probe. Barr answered in the affirmative when asked whether he respects Mueller and whether her feels good about his decision to clear Trump on obstruction of justice. 10:27 a.m.: Feinstein says Congress needs to hear directly from Mueller Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committe, set the tone for Democrats in her opening remarks, referring to special counsel Robert Muellers letter to Barr made public in its entirety just moments before Wednesdays hearing commenced. After ticking through Barrs rollout of the special counsels findings, describing some of the reports accounts of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians, and recounting instances of possible obstruction of justice investigated by the special counsels office, Feinstein said Congress has both the constitutional duty and the authority to investigate the serious findings contained in the Mueller report. Feinstein noted some of the obstacles Mueller faced in conducting a thorough investigation. "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 opinions were not drawn because witnesses refused to answer questions or failed to recall the events, Feinstien said. Feinstein concluded by calling Mueller to testify before Congress. I only believe that this committee needs to hear directly from special counsel Mueller about his views on the report in 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. 10:08 a.m.: Graham says nothing in unredacted Mueller report changes outcome Here is the Mueller report, Sen. Lindsey Graham said in his opening statement, holding up a hefty paper copy. You can read it for yourself. It's about 400 and something pages. Can't say I read it all, but I read most of it. There is an unredacted version over in the classified section of the Senate. A room where you can go look at the unredacted version and I did that and I found it not to change anything in terms of an outcome. Graham spoke glowingly of special counsel Robert Mueller Mueller, praising him as the right guy to do this job. As Barr looked on, Graham urged members of the committee to work to do to defend democracy against the Russians and other bad actors. And I promise the committee we will get on with that work hopefully in a bipartisan fashion. Moments before the hearing got underway, the House Judiciary Committee received a copy of special counsel Robert Muellers letter to attorney general William Barr, in which Mueller lamented public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation and called on the Justice Department to release summaries prepared by the special counsels office. 10:00 a.m.: Hearing commences Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of the presidents most reliable defenders in Congress, has gaveled in this mornings hearing. Attorney General William Barr has arrived and taken his seat across the wood-paneled committee room from members eager to question the nations top law enforcement officer. In a letter dated March 27, Mueller complained that Barr's interpretation "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions." A Justice Department spokeswoman said in a follow-up phone call, Mueller "emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading." The revelation of Mueller's sentiment toward the Justice Department's rollout of his report has further stoked Democrats' concerns about the attorney general's impartiality. In the weeks since Barr made a redacted version of Mueller's 448-page report available to the public, congressional Democrats have criticized what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called his "regrettably partisan handling of the Mueller report." Democrats have accused Barr of "[shaping] the public's perception of the report," according to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, by issuing his short letter, then conducting a press conference framing the report's findings hours prior to its release. At his press conference, Barr repeatedly claimed the special counsel found "no collusion," but Mueller states clearly in his report that "collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the U.S. Code." Barr's initial communique conveyed that Mueller's team found no evidence to suggest members of the Trump campaign "conspired or coordinated" with Russians to influence the election and reached no conclusion on the matter of possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. But Barr's letter omitted several key details -- many of which painted the president in an unflattering light -- ultimately revealed three weeks later when the redacted report came to light, including 11 instances of possible obstruction investigated by Mueller and scores of contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russians. Furthermore, the special counsel wrote that it "faced practical limits on its ability to access relevant evidence" as some individuals interviewed "sometimes provided information that was false or incomplete." Wednesday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee previews a potential showdown in the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee scheduled to take place on Thursday. The Justice Department has objected to the House panel's proposed format for the hearing and suggested that Barr may not show up, prompting Democrats to threaten a subpoena for his testimony. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The MTA wants to remove 17 local bus stops along 14th Street and the Lower East Side in order to run more Select Bus Service. But a vocal opposition group comprised largely of elderly residents is rallying hard to preserve four stops near Grand Street they say are essential to their lives. The only way I have of getting out of my house and going someplace is the M14 bus, Helen Baker, 91, who lives by the FDR Drive and the East River said Wednesday. I cant walk a good distance because of my walker and because Ive had so many surgeries. Im devastated by this and Im hoping the MTA will rethink their position. The local stop closest to Bakers home would be preserved under the MTAs plan, but because she uses a walker and has had several surgeries she's afraid of losing access to other local stops. She joined dozens of other local residents, using walkers and canes to make a (slow) march down Grand Street Wednesday morning. The handmade protest signs included declarations such as "Select Bus Is Elder Abuse!" and "Save Our Bus Stops!" New York City Transit President Andy Byford has made speeding up buses one of his top priorities and has released a plan to overhaul routes, buses and how people pay. But at a speech last month, Byford warned that this type of opposition to his plans would only kill the project. Fast Forward is dead in the water if we have just absolute NIMBYism across the city, he said at a transit forum last month. If for every single thing we want to do, like speed up buses by taking out just a few stops, No, youre not doing it.... if we all want better transit as a system then we have to think [about] the big picture. Others that live near Grand Street like Bonnie Bienstock, 68, who walks with a cane, said she was expecting the MTA would be adding more buses to the area. "We were promised when the population increased in this area we'd get more service...its a real betrayal because now we're talking about losing our local service," she said. It really is for many people going to be the difference between being able to live a quality life and people who are going to be losing it. The MTA has held several public town halls on this issue, and while its website notes that it plans to install SBS by June, its not clear if those plans will be altered by pleas from the community or the thousands of signatures to an online petition. The agency notes that 27,000 people ride the M14A (which runs on Avenue A) and M14D (which is routed on Avenue D) buses every day, and that 60 percent of the time, these buses are stopped in traffic. SBS routes are 27 percent faster than regular buses, according to the MTA. The best way to reinvigorate this route that has seen precipitous ridership declines, and provide our customers with the service they deserve, is to upgrade the route to SBS. We currently have stops every 675 feet on the Lower East Side, far closer than our systemwide average of 805 feetwhich itself is far closer than in most cities of the world, MTA spokesman Shams Tarek wrote in a statement to Gothamist. While we are still in active and detailed conversations with elected officials, advocates and community members, our proposals would require just a short walk for some people, while providing improvements in bus speeds for the entire route. The M14, one of the slowest routes in the city, may also get a boost when the city restricts private cars from 14th Street in June as part of the L train slowdown mitigation effort, roughly around the time the MTA expects the new SBS service to go into effect. Several protesters said that for every five M14D buses that arrive, theres usually only one M14A bus, and that some of them regularly wait 40 minutes for an M14A bus. Councilmember Margaret Chin, the only elected official that joined the protest Wednesday, suggested perhaps the MTA could turn every stop along Grand Street into an SBS stop. When you have SBS and local together the local bus never comes, she said. We want to make sure that we have a little bit more buses and if they could do all the SBS stops here that would solve a big problem, instead of taking away local stops, make it better. The MTA requests and recommends where bus stops are located and how far apart they are, the DOT does the final approvals, according to the MTA. The DOT did not respond to requests for comment or details on the SBS plans for 14th Street. The MTA said it is still planning to remove the stops and have SBS installed along the M14 route this June. 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. Loading... Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 05:57:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Thursday urged the international community to uphold the authority of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The international community should "maintain and strengthen the authority, universality and effectiveness of the treaty," Ji Zhaoyu, counsel1or in charge of disarmament affairs of the Chinese mission to the UN Office at Geneva, told the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, held at the UN headquarters in New York. The envoy stressed that the international security environment is undergoing "a complex array of profound changes," with existing international arms control and non-proliferation system "brought under severe strain." "The world is confronted with a critical choice between unilateralism and multilateralism, confrontation and dialogue, isolation and openness, zero-sum game and win-win progress," he said. "China believes that, under current circumstances, it is ever more important to underline the conducive role that the consistent nuclear disarmament progress could play in improving international security environment, and is more pertinent than ever for all countries to jointly champion multilateralism, oppose and discard cold war mentality," said the envoy. He urged the international community to bear in mind the historical responsibility of "building a community of shared future for mankind" through consultation and joint efforts, promote the building of a new form of international relations characterized by mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation. He also urged the world to take "fair and reasonable nuclear disarmament steps" of gradual reduction towards a downward balance, "diminish the role of nuclear weapons in national security doctrines," and abandon the policies of nuclear deterrence based on the first-use of nuclear weapons. China remains committed to the path of peaceful development, adhering to a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and upholding an open, transparent and responsible nuclear policy, he said. Since 1995, NPT review conferences have produced decisions, action plans, practical steps and measures to improve the effectiveness of the review process itself. The NPT, signed in 1968 and effective since 1970, is the only treaty that contains legally-binding commitments to pursuing nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states have joined the treaty. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 06:13:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, May 2 (Xinhua) -- An anti-terrorism court in the city of Sale, near the capital Rabat, postponed Thursday the trial of 24 suspects involved in the murder of two tourists near the central city of Marrakech, the Moroccan official MAP news agency reported. Citing a judicial source, the report said the trial was adjourned to May 16. The defendants are facing several charges including forming a gang to prepare and carry out terrorist schemes, deliberately putting people's life in danger, possessing firearms, and attempting to produce explosive devices with the aim of undermining public order. In mid-December, the bodies of two women tourists, a Danish and a Norwegian, were found in an isolated area near the tourist village of Imlil. The Moroccan authorities have dealt with the murder as a terrorist case and arrested many people with suspected links to the killing. Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 07:27:12|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close A Palestinian carpenter makes a wooden lantern for sale in the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, on May 2, 2019. Muslims usually decorate their houses with lanterns and crescents in Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. (Xinhua/Stringer) Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-03 02:06:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MOSCOW, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the United States have "incompatible" positions on the Venezuelan affairs, but Moscow is ready to talk with Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday. "Although U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and I agreed to continue contacts, I do not see how it is possible to combine our positions," Lavrov told reporters in Uzbekistan's capital city of Tashkent. Lavrov said the Russian approach, on the one hand, is based on the UN Charter and the principles and norms of international law, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry press release. The United States, on the other hand, appointed the acting president of another country, required legitimate authorities to capitulate, and threatened to use force along with "suffocating" sanctions in order to change the government, Lavrov said. In response to the U.S. interference in Venezuela's internal affairs, Russia is mobilizing a group of states that respect the UN Charter to counteract the U.S. plans, the top diplomat said. "Such a group is formed in the UN. I hope that it will receive serious support in the organization," he said. In a telephone conversation with Pompeo on Wednesday, Lavrov noted the latest situation in Venezuela where the opposition had tried to seize power with "obvious support" from the United States. 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. Pompeo, however, criticized that Russia's role in Venezuela is "destabilizing" for the nation and urged Moscow to cease support for President Nicolas Maduro. According to media reports, Lavrov and Pompeo are expected to hold talks on Venezuela among other issues in Finland on Monday on the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting. 24 decembrie Astazi au loc Tragerile Speciale LOTO de Craciun Loteria Romana a suplimentat fondul de castiguri al categoriei I pentru jocurile Loto 6/49, Joker si Loto 5/40, pentru tragerile speciale Loto de Craciun, care vor avea loc vineri, 24 decembrie. La Loto 6/49, la categoria I, este in joc un report in valoare de aproximativ [citeste mai departe] Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:09:31|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close 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. At the very beginning of the presidential campaign, Arsen Avakov was involved in an open confrontation with the still acting head of state Ukraine's Internal Minister Arsen Avakov Internal Ministry Facebook Ukraines presidential elections were closely followed not only by the three contenders for the second round (Volodymyr Zelensky, Petro Poroshenko, and Yulia Tymoshenko). There was also a fourth player, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. The experts agree that if Petro Poroshenko won, Avakovs fate would be unenviable. At least, this minister would say goodbye to his cherished. But the people made a bet on Zelensky, thus leaving Avakov a chance. At the very beginning of the presidential campaign, Arsen Avakov was involved in an open confrontation with the still acting head of state. De facto, he indirectly intimidated Poroshenko, promising to expose any attempts of the authorities to fraud the elections. Obviously, Avakov was going to act in the interests of Poroshenkos opponents; not only of Yulia Tymoshenko but also of Volodymyr Zelensky. The most insightful commentators rightly noted that Avakov prudently makes bets on different players. A week before the second round of elections, Arsen Avakov did not rule out that President Poroshenko could be held criminally liable. Avakov then called himself a political minister, although the official of his rank should not have any public political preferences or be an engaged figure. Consciously or unconsciously, the head of Ukraines Ministry of Internal Affairs hinted that he was ready for negotiations and bargaining. One of our sources argues that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a great bunch of incriminating facts against Poroshenko. The main compromising evidence on Poroshenko concerns the events of Euromaidan 2013-2014 and backroom negotiations with Ukraine's fled ex-president Yanukovych. Does Avakov dream of becoming a prime minister (or even a president)? Probably only he knows it. In one of his interviews, Arsen Avakov strongly rejected the premiere ambitions. Nonsense, he said. But at the same time, he added: I dont plan so far that Ill be appointed a minister or prime minister by this or that president. You must hear me: the president does not appoint the PM but the parliament does. And we have parliamentary elections in the fall. When a parliament is elected, there will be a new coalition; only then we can talk about the composition of the government. President really has not promised Avakov anything. At least publicly. But it is not a secret that Avakov is connected with Zelensky. They are connected directly, through the speaker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Anton Herashchenko, and indirectly through oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky. As for Herashchenko, he is often called a mediator between Zelenskys headquarters and Arsen Avakov. These ties were revealed thanks to the investigation of the Our Money with Denis Bigus investigative program. As for Avakov, he goes beyond his authority, commenting, for example, the Zelenskys coming to power and hypothetical amendments to the Constitution. I believe that if Zelensky wins the election, the transition to a parliamentary republic will be accelerated. Even this parliament, in my opinion, is ready to support a parliamentary republic, the minister noted a couple of weeks before the second round. Arguments about a parliamentary republic would be more suitable for a person who aspires to occupy a higher position than the chief police officer. However, Andriy Zolotariov, the head of the Third Sector analytical center, believes that Avakov is not bidding for the premiership today. I doubt that after the October elections to the Verkhovna Rada he will become PM, but his chances of retaining the post of head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and expanding his political influence are very high, the expert concludes. He might keep his position of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This office completely satisfies him. Although, perhaps, in order to expand his penetrating ability into the system, he would prefer leading the Security Service or Prosecutor Generals office, Ruslan Bortnyk, political scientist, assures. Zelensky falls into such ticks, and it does not carry anything good to the new head of state. But in terms of the absence of his own team, its niche is occupied by the deft outsiders. Arsen Avakov is one of them. His interaction with president Zelensky might turn for the latter as the first serious test for independence and ability to resist external influence. Read the original text at 112.ua. A group of Brooklyn tenants have filed a formal complaint with the state against a landlord trying to install a facial recognition system, potentially setting off a legal and ethical debate about the increasing use of keyless entry systems which may collect and track residents' biometric data. In a complaint submitted to the state Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) agency on Wednesday, Brooklyn Legal Services Tenants Rights Coalition argued that the proposed facial recognition technology at Brownsvilles Atlantic Plaza Towers raised serious privacy and civil rights concerns for the tenants, most of whom are black. Tenants said they were presented a plan by the landlord to improve security at the front entrances of the building by using a facial recognition system known as StoneLock. The company advertises the product as a "frictionless entry system" that collects biometric data based on facial features. The process involves submitting to an initial face scan, but tenants said it was not clear whether they could opt out. Currently, few states have laws governing the collection of biometric data, according to Samar Katnani, the attorney at Brooklyn Legal Services who is representing 134 tenants at Atlantic Plaza Towers. It is unclear exactly how many New York City residential buildings are using facial recognition technology, but keyless systems have become increasingly popular. Civil rights advocates have argued that surveillance technology has historically been used to police and gather evidence against low-income communities of color. State rules require landlords of rent-regulated apartments built before 1974 to seek permission from HCR for any modification in service. According to HCR, this is the first application the agency has received involving facial recognition technology. But such technology has appeared in at least one affordable housing project built under the aegis of the city. In February, the citys Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York City Housing Development Corporation and the private developer Omni New York announced a 154-unit affordable housing complex in the Bronx touted as having a state of the art facial recognition system." The apartments will be for low-income tenants and homeless veterans. Theres nothing protecting tenants from this technology, Katnani said. Its the wild, wild west. Brooklyn tenants from the Atlantic Plaza Towers came out to Jamaica, Queens to show their opposition for the installation of face recognition technology in their apartment building in Brownsville, BK pic.twitter.com/qLWmlAZNcy Brahmjot (@brxhmjot) May 1, 2019 The Atlantic Plaza Towers tenants are asking HCR to deny the application, but they have also asked the state to hold a hearing and hear testimony as part of its deliberation process. Nelson Management, a prominent New York City landlord which owns a portfolio of roughly 12 buildings, applied to the HCR last July for permission to install the technology at the entrances of the roughly 700-unit rent-stabilized complex at 249 Thomas S. Boyland Street and 216 Rockaway Avenue. Tenants at the building were notified about the landlords application beginning in September. As part of the rules, they were given 20 days to respond. Since that time, nearly 350 tenants have submitted objections, either through Brooklyn Legal Services or individually, according to Katnani. In January, Brooklyn Legal Services' Tenants Rights Coalition wrote a letter on behalf of the tenants objecting to the plan, as well as asking for more time to initiate an administrative proceeding against the landlords application. As part of their formal complaint on Wednesday, the legal team submitted letters of support from the New York Civil Liberties Union and various experts on artificial intelligence. Katnani said HCR is not required to make a decision on the application within a certain time frame. As a result, administrative proceedings can drag on for years. A spokesperson for HCR said the application "continues to remain under review. In a statement, a spokesperson for Nelson Management said, Nelson Management Group prioritizes identifying and implementing cutting edge technology at all our properties to create a safer environment for tenants and provide the highest-quality housing in the rent-stabilized market. The sole goal of this proposed technology is to advance that priority and support the safety and security of residents. The company added: We have yet to install anything having to do with a facial recognition system. We have engaged a leading provider of security technology for proposed upgrades, which has assured ownership that data collected is never exposed to third parties and is fully encrypted. We appreciate engagement from tenants on this matter and look forward to feedback from DHCR. As always, we will comply with DHCRs recommendations and keep tenants updated on implementation should we move forward with this upgrade in security technology. During the press conference on Wednesday at HCRs offices in Jamaica, Queens, tenants brought signs protesting Nelsons plan with chants of Is it facial or is it racial? and Today us, tomorrow you. Among them was Icemae Downes, a tenant who has lived at the complex for 51 years. Referring to George Orwells classic dystopian novel, she said, This is 1984 coming your way, Additional reporting contributed by Brahmjot Kaur. Open source Together we are going to win the parliamentary elections! Together we will return to Bankova Street (where Ukraines presidential administration is situated, - ed.) after the next presidential elections, said President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with his supporters on April 22. According to 112.ua sources in the pro-presidential political force, the head of state has nothing against the early parliamentary elections. But what would be the renewed Poroshenko's army? We have lost the battle, not the war With these words, the current head of state met his predicted defeat in the presidential election. It became obvious that in spite of the result, he did not say his last word in politics and always wants to return to the top league of national politics. A question how? And most importantly with whom? On the evening of April 23, Poroshenko met with members of his faction. According to parliamentarians from the pro-presidential political force, most of the MPs came to the meeting with the head of state, as well as Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, members of the government (from the party quota), and Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko. The MPs expected that there would be a blamestorming session, but this did not happen. Poroshenko did not name the guilty ones. He said: I understand that everyone has a different situation, I understand that weve started with 6%, and not 18% of the rating, our sources from Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction said. According to our interlocutors, Poroshenko declared the need for a radical reformatting in the pro-presidential political force and added that in order to get on the list of Poroshenkos force, it would be necessary to pass the primaries. It remains unclear, who to become Zelenskys associates in the parliament. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who attended Poroshenkos meeting with Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, made it clear that he would participate in the campaign independently, and this news upset the head of state. A number of other influential supporters of the current head of state are interested in law enforcement agencies. On April 22, Prosecutor Generals office has published the agenda of the ex-head of the Presidential Administration Borys Lozhkin, current deputy head of the Presidential Administration Oleksiy Filatov and ex-chairman of the National Bank Valeria Gontareva about a call to hand suspicions and interrogation on the so-called Kurchenko case. And the first deputy head of the BPP faction, Igor Kononenko, is regularly called in for questioning by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Our sources in law enforcement agencies say that the new domineering team is set to seriously take on Poroshenkos individual comrades. In addition, the parliamentary faction of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko seems to be losing weight in the near future. And personal blamestorming session with the single-mandate MPs, responsible for the campaign of the head of state in the districts might take place. Poroshenko himself, speaking of the parliamentary perspectives of his political force, called for creating the broadest possible coalition of democratic forces in the new parliament. Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction plans to meet at the Congress immediately after the inauguration of Volodymyr Zelensky. There it is planned to present a new face of political power. It is likely that the list of the updated Poroshenkos party would include young reformers who worked in state bodies during Poroshenkos presidency. In anticipation of the dissolution of the parliament Ukrainian MPs have been actively discussing the possibility of early termination of the powers due to the lack of a coalition. Legitimate early dissolution would be done through the decision of Kyiv District Administrative Court. Recall that on March 6, 2019, this court decided to seek information about the composition of the coalition. This idea was renewed after Zelensky was elected a president. His political adviser Dmytro Razumkov confirmed that the team of the future head of state is interested in early parliamentary elections. The team of the president of Petro Poroshenko has nothing against the re-election. Poroshenko made it clear that he is not against early elections. He said it would be beneficial for us, but let's wait, 112.ua sources, who attended the meeting of the pro-presidential faction, say. According to a study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, if parliamentary elections were held in April, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko would receive about 14% of the votes on party lists, not taking into account the majority vote. The interlocutors believe that the early elections will allow us to fix the current result and to hold a fraction of the last largest in the new parliament. Officially, the faction denies it. The partner of the pro-presidential National Front faction, in particular, parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy, also comes out against re-election. The Verkhovna Rada will go to the next elections in October, as stipulated in the Constitution ... Any attempts to dissolve parliament at this time are harmful and illegal, Maksym Burbak, one of the associates of ex-PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk, voiced a joint statement of Poroshenkos and National Front factions. However, supporters of re-elections are not going to back down. MP Valeriy Pysarenko, who is considered close to Andriy Portnov, the former deputy head of the presidential administration, initiated collecting of signatures for considering the question of the resignation of parliament speaker Andrei Parubiy. However, so far, from 100 to 125 MPs are ready to support this initiative. It is not enough even to put the corresponding draft resolution on the agenda. Moreover, chairman of the District Administrative Court Pavlo Vovk gave a political comment, saying that the newly elected President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has an opportunity to dissolve the parliament until June 16. Read the original text at 112.ua. 415 of them were detained under the suspicion of participation in the illegal armed formations Sergiy Nayev, the Joint Forces Commander Kyiv Post 1,358 people were detained at the checkpoints, 415 of them under the suspicion of participation in the illegal armed formations since the beginning of the Joint Forces Operation in Donbas, as Serhiy Nayev, Joint Forces Commander, said at the briefing broadcasted by 112 Ukraine. In total, the National Guard and National Police have inspected around 4,200 000 citizens and over 2,800 000 vehicles during the Joint Forces Operation, he said. Thanks to the work of the structural and territorial units of Donetsk and Luhansk regions the number of felonies and very serious offenses were reduced. The number of intentional homicides was decreased by 28%, the number of armed assaults by 23% and robberies by 14%. The amount of solved intentional homicides increased by 88%, serious injuries by 95%, armed assaults by 83%, robberies by 77%. As it was reported earlier, around 24 square kilometers of the territory was returned to Ukraine within a year of the Joint Forces Operation without violations of Minsk Agreements. Rafael Lusvarghi fought against Ukrainian forces in Donbas; he was detained and brought to justice in October 2016, and then again in May 2018 Pavlohrad city district court of Dnipropetrovsk region sentenced Brazilian citizen Rafael Lusvarghi to 13 years in prison. The man faces imprisonment for his membership in an illegal armed gang of pro-Russian militants and other crimes against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The press service of Kyiv prosecutor's office reported that on Facebook. 'During the trial investigation, the prosecutor provided irrevocable proof of the foreigner's guilt in the crimes. The convict recognized his guilt in taking part in the illegal armed formations but denied his membership in the terrorist organizations (...)', reads the message. The court also seized Lusvarghi's belongings and charged him for 555 U.S. dollars, which is the expertise-related expenses. The prison term will include the time Lusvarghi already spent in detention by now. The man refused to comment on the court's decision in public. His lawyer said Lusvarghi has not yet decided whether he would file an appeal or not. Rafael Lusvarghi who fought against Ukrainian forces in Donbas was detained and brought to justice in May 2018. Joint Forces Commander Open source Around 24 m2 of the territory were returned to Ukraine including three settlements (Khutir Vilny, Pivdenne, Shumy) during the Joint Forces Operation, as Joint Forces Commander Sergiy Nayev, said, the press office of JFO reported on Facebook. Nayev added that the format of the operation also provided conduction of law enforcement and humanitarian activities and implementation of comprehensive projects on the rehabilitation of the infrastructure and creation of the conditions for the further peaceful life of the population in the region. One of our main accomplishments would be forcing the enemy to reduce the intensity of the fire and, as a result, fewer casualties among our soldiers, the message reads. Anti-terrorist operation was replaced with Joint Forces Operation on April 30, 2018. A week on from the election results, the panellists analyse the results, what insights they provide about voter sentiment in the country and how they impact relations between Ukraine, Russia and the EU moving forward Ukraine's unpredictable presidential elections, - Chatham Housen discussion pannel, screenshot Screenshot On 21 April, Ukrainians headed to the polls to elect a new president in a second round of elections. Out of a record 39 candidates, the election came down to a two-horse race between incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and the eventual winner, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy - an anti-establishment political novice who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series. How willing and able will the new president be to tackle corruption and pass the sweeping economic reforms expected by voters? At what pace is the new government likely to pursue European integration and membership of NATO, if at all? And how will the winning candidate approach the deadlocked conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country? Speakers: Mary OHagan, Resident Senior Director, National Democratic Institute, Kyiv Taras Shevchenko, Founder and Executive Director, Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law Chair: Neil Buckley, Chief Leader Writer, Financial Times Read the original text here. Besides, a number of famous American politicians will deliver a speech at the event. Mayor of Kyiv Vitaly Klitschko will visit Washington at the invitation of the International Republican Institute (IRI) at the beginning of May. Klitschko will participate at the solemn event dedicated for the commemoration of Senator John McCain, as his press service reported. Besides, a number of famous American politicians will deliver a speech at the event. The senator, who has been heading IRI for 25 years, would get National Endowment for Democracy award posthumously. Besides, the people of Venezuela will get the special award of the IRI for aspiration to freedom and democracy. Kyiv Mayor will meet U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, USAID leadership, leaders of the IRI and other influential American politicians. Earlier one of central Kyiv streets Ivana Kudri Street has been renamed into John McCain Street, after the late American Senator. Senator John McCain died on August 25, 2018, after a long struggle against cancer. He was famous as a war hero, a critic of authoritarian regimes and a powerful friend of Ukraine. Ivan Aparshyn, the defense and security advisor to Ukrainian President-Elect Volodymyr Zelensky Liga.net The ongoing confrontation between Ukraine and Russia puts heavy pressure on incoming President-Elect Volodymyr Zelensky to take new steps to readjust Ukrainian military capabilities. This is particularly true given Russias modus operandi within the so-called non-linear or hybrid approach, where Moscow has developed much greater expertise and capabilities than Kyiv. In this regard, it is worthwhile to look at some of the most recent comments from Zelensky and his team regarding how the new Ukrainian presidential administration is planning to deal with issues related to national security. On April 18, three days before the second round of elections, candidate Zelensky presented his team of experts, among whom Colonel (ret.) Ivan Aparshyn was identified as a defense and security advisor. Zelensky noted that Aparshyn had been recommended to him by Anatoliy Hrytsenko, a former Ukrainian minister of defense (20052007), who also ran in the first round of the 2019 presidential elections (Ukrainenews.agency, April 19). During the campaign, on February 2, Hrytsenko stated that if he won, he would name Aparshyn as the new head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) ( Grytsenko.com.ua , February 5). Following Zelenskys overwhelming victory at the polls, Aparshyn gave a lengthy interview, on April 23, in which he offered a number of insights into the incoming administrations defense thinkingalthough some of his comments were somewhat inconclusive and requiring further explanation. Quite naturally, Aparshyns comments strongly hit on concerns over corruption in the defense sector. In the middle of the presidential election campaign, revelations emerged about massive corruption and potential illegal activity involving the Ukrainian military-industrial complex (see EDM, February 28, April 15), which Zelensky used to attack incumbent President Petro Poroshenko. However, the following ideas and takeaways from Aparshyns interview should also be highlighted (Telekanal ZIK, April 23): First, Aparshyns words implicitly signified ambiguity toward Ukraines future in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Although he rhetorically expressed full commitment to the idea of integration with the North Atlantic Alliance (as well as the desire for Ukraines Armed Forces to seek technical convergence with NATO standards), some of his statements were nonetheless controversial. On the one hand, he expressed excessively high hopes that only NATO could render necessary support to Kyiv in dealing with Russia (including non-military support by various diplomatic means); but on the other hand, he suggested that Alliance bases/facilities might never appear on the territory of Ukraine. This ambiguity suggests either that Zelenskys team still has no concrete strategy for dealing with NATO as such, or that the new authorities might be tempted to rely on a multi-vector foreign policy formula (famously developed by former president Leonid Kuchma) as a means to avoid exacerbating the confrontation with Russia. Second, Zelenskys top defense advisor spoke about the need to more effectively apply post-2014 experience to the Armed Forces. Specifically, he stated that the Ukrainian Army should consist of 200,000 (maximum) highly trained professional soldiers, along with an active reserve that would give the ability to increase this number to 1,000,000 within just 24 hours. Interestingly, this idea echoes similar proposals put forth by Hrytsenko in 2005. At that time, Hrytsenko additionally recommended creating special rapid deployment forces (around 29,000 soldiers and officers, in total) that could be put into action within several hours (maximum several days) in case of an outbreak of hostilities ( Censor.net.ua , February 5, 2019). Importantly, last month, Aparshyn also highlighted the importance of territorial defense unitsan element that (if effectively used) could have played a decisive role in April 2014, after Moscow-backed anti-governmental demonstrations broke out in Donetsk and Luhansk. In this regard, it is also worth pointing out that the head of Russias General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, has himself implicitly underscored the importance of territorial defense, referring in 2013 to control of territory as a key factor in confronting so-called hybrid threats ( Vpk-news.ru, February 26, 2013). Aparshyn, however, did not outline the operative principles of such formations in Ukraines specific conditions. Finally, Aparshyn spoke about prioritizing radio-electronic warfare capabilities, with special emphasis on intelligence-gathering devices, anti-aircraft and missile-defense systems, communications, as well as Electronic Warfare (EW). According to Zelenskys defense advisor, these rather costly, yet indispensable elements could be secured for the military through maximum transparency and the creation of a special central organ tasked with supervising the states defense procurement initiatives ( Nv.ua , April 25). This statement, though difficult to argue against, failed to elaborate on where the money for these key procurements or new administrative bodies would come from ( Icds.ee , April 22). The ideas expressed by Aparshyn were harshly criticized by Dmytro Tymchuk (a member of the Ukrainian parliament and a military expert), who stated that there is nothing new the majority of these ideas have already appeared virtually word for word in the Law on National Security and Strategic Defense Bulletin of Ukraine. Furthermore, Tymchuk asserted that the same arguments on professionalizing the Armed Forces have been repeatedly reiterated for years. At the same time Tymchuk doubted whether Aparshyns key argument pertaining to maximizing the budgetary transparency of the Ukrainian MoD is feasible at all, since there is not a single country [in the world] where information on the expenditures of even a single kopeyka [on defense] is fully available to the general public ( Glavcom.ua , April 24). Another interesting comment came from Dmytro RazumkovZelenskys advisor on internal political issues, who might soon become the chief of staff of the presidential office ( Agropolit.com , April 22). Notably, Razumkov took a wider view of national security. In addition to the necessity of continuing the military buildup and increasing the capabilities of the Armed Forces, Ukraine, he argued, must concentrate on diplomacy as part of a non-military confrontation with Russia. Within this domain he identified three main vectors ( Glavcom.ua , April 19): The Normandy format and its continuation (imperfect as it is, there are no alternatives), and the Minsk ceasefire agreements as the only available means to preserve previously introduced anti-Russian economic sanctions; The American vector, which, in Razumkovs words, is one of the main means to pressure Russia both formally and informally by drawing on diplomatic assistance from the United States; The British vector, under the presumption that, after the Russian attempt to assassinate the Skripals in Salisbury using a chemical nerve agent, London is ready to pressure Moscow with greater intensity. For now, it seems that Ukrainian policymakers agree on the necessity to employ a combination of military and non-military means to confront Russia. The big and, as yet, unanswered question, however, is how soon a coherent strategy will appear. Read the original text at The Jamestown Foundation. Andriy Parubiy specified that the event is slated for May 22-25, 2020 Spokesperson of Ukraine's Parliament Andriy Parubiy The Verkhovna Rada Ukraine's Parliamentary Speaker Andriy Parubiy signed the decree about holding the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session in the Ukrainian capital in spring 2020. He posted that on Twitter, referring to the bill No. 10091. 'So, NATO Parliamentary Assembly session will take place in Kyiv on May 22-25, 2020', Parubiy wrote. The respective bill was upheld by 235 votes of Ukrainian MPs (226 necessary to pass) on April 25. It was decided to create an organizing committee to prepare and conduct the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The Spokesperson of Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy was appointed the Chairman of the committee. According to the regulation, the committee has to approve an action plan for the spring session of NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Ukraine. Barr has to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, May 2 The U.S. Attorney General William Barr Voice of America The U.S. Attorney General William Barr refused to testify in the House of Representatives on Muellers report concerning Russias interference in the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, The Washington Post reported. Attorney General William P. Barr told a House panel on Wednesday that he will not testify about special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs report, raising the prospect that Democrats will hold the nations top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress, the news agency reports. Barr has to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, May 2. But Barr balked at the committees plan to have a committee counsel question him alongside lawmakers, a snub that angered Democrats, the message reads. When push comes to shove, the administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room. I hope and expect that the attorney general will think overnight and will be there as well, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Chairman of the committee, told reporters. He said the group would gather as planned and expressed hope that Barr will have second thoughts and will come. Nadler said he would give Barr a day or two to turn over the full, unredacted Mueller report in accordance with the committees subpoena information that was due Wednesday morning. But the chairman warned that if good-faith negotiations dont result in a pledge of compliance. . . the next step is seeking a contempt citation against the attorney general. According to the source, the particular people should be checked by the special services and public activists Ukraine's presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky, April 2019 etcetera.media President-elect of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky would not present his team, particularly, the candidates for the main posts until the inauguration, as Ukrayinska Pravda reported citing screenwriter of Servant of the People TV show Yury Kostyuk. Answering the question, when the presenting of Zelenskys team, particularly candidates for Head of the Security Service, Prosecutor Generals Office, Defense Ministry, and others, will take place, Kostyuk said: As soon as the team enters the Administration of the President, the access to the particular information will appear. He confirmed that it is not planned to call these names before the inauguration. We cannot call the head of the Security Service or prosecutor general because it is one case to call a person and another one to appoint a person. We do not possess resources to fully check people as it should be done; to check whether they have relatives in Russia, which background they have and what is their real biography, Kostyuk explained. He expressed the position that the candidates for the mentioned posts should be checked not only by the representatives of the special services but also by public activists. Today, the public activists are trusted by the society more and they find the skeletons in the closet better than anyone else. So, when the full check is done, we will call these people, he added. On April 30, the Central Election Commission announced the results of the second round of the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2019. Volodymyr Zelensky won the presidential run with 73,22% of the votes. Petro Poroshenko got 24,45% of the votes. Earlier we reported that the inauguration of Volodymyr Zelensky will take place with some surprises. Every so often, Craigslist offers a tantalizing opportunity to leave behind your humdrum NYC existence and start life anew. A few clicks are all that separate your workaday office job from daily strolls with Henry the tortoise through Central Park, your overpriced apartment from a rent-stabilized houseboat on City Island. You'll never actually do ityou're a coward, and terrified of water ratsbut it's nice to know the option is there. Earlier this week, the free section of New York's digital classified presented us with the chance to imagine: What if we owned a charming double-decker British bus? What if we drove around the city picking up stranded commuters, wearing a conductor's cap and ringing a little bell when the tea and crumpets we'd prepared upstairs were ready to be served? And wait, is that a thatched roof and window boxes?! Condition: Good! (Gothamist) "Yup no kidding," the post began, reading our minds. "I have a 1970 double deck British bus that's all yours if you want it. Tow it away. Make it into a house. Drive across the country dressed like a Buckingham Palace guard, don't care. Just take it off my hands." Deciding that we would adopt the bus and work out the details later, we set out to see for ourselves. The listed address turned out to be Arrogant Swine, the whole hog "Church of Pork" opened by famed pitmaster Tyson Ho in Bushwick a few years ago. Sure enough, the bright red double-decker bus was just sitting there in a lot off Morgan Avenue. A family of cats also appeared to be living inside the vehicle, which only sweetened the deal. Resident bus cats (Gothamist) Unfortunately, our dreams were soon crushed when we inquired about the posting. Someone had beaten us to the punch, and would be coming to haul away the glorious vehicle on Thursday. The afternoon took a weird turn shortly after, but first we were able to piece together a little information about the origins of the bus. The restaurant's general manager told us that the vehicle had arrived in the backyard last April for an interactive pop-up experience called "Mad Hatter's (Gin &) Tea Party," an Alice In Wonderland (and sometimes Breaking Bad) themed immersive pop-up experience in which attendees dress up and drink cocktails on a stationary bus. Several of these soirees were hosted last summer in Arrogant Swine's backyard. But when the events company responsible for the parties, Fever Up, decamped for Los Angeles last year, they left their giant bus behind, the manager said. After initially promising to take care of it, Fever Up has allegedly gone silentmuch to the growing frustration of the smokehouse's staff. (Efforts to reach Fever Up were not successful). "We contacted everyone [at the company] we could," the manager told us. "We're stuck with it. It's not drivable." This employeewho seemed to know a lot about bus history, even if he did not appreciate this particular bussaid that the vehicle had made the 3,000 mile journey from the U.K in the 1970s, as part of a failed effort to adopt the iconic London symbol in the United States. Indeed, eight Leyland Atlanteans were shipped to New York City in 1976, but were soon cut by the transit authority when it was discovered that the buses were too tall to be used on Fifth Avenue, and lacked satisfactory air conditioning. (It's unclear if this bus was part of New York's erstwhile fleet, as the manager told us that Fever Up had actually found it abandoned in a lot in Philadelphia. This is apparently how double-deckers are handed down.) The MTA has flirted with bringing back double-decker buses more recently as well: a trial program launched in 2008 was quickly pulled because of more technology issues; as of last year, a new double-decker pilot project is underway on Staten Island's express bus route. Unfortunately, we were not able to learn much more, including the employee's name. As we were admiring the bus, Tyson Ho, the aforementioned pitmaster, showed up and demanded we leave the premises. For reasons that remain unclear, he then called up the new owner of the bus and told them not to talk to us either (Come on!). When he began waving a large butcher's knife while adamantly insisting that the bus transaction was a private matter that we shouldn't tell anyone about, we decided to call it a day. In the end, we returned to our dull, double-decker-bus-less lives even more confused than before. Craigslist, man. Are you the new owner of this sweet ride? Pick us up! UPDATE: Following publication of this article, Arrogant Swine proprietor Tyson Ho called to inform us that the bus was not abandoned by Fever Up, but by the person who ran the Madhatter event (which Fever Up helped promote). That individual previously planned to move the bus to Los Angeles or Miami, but then just up and left. Our issue isnt with Fever, its with this dude, he explained. Asked what would become of the bus under its new owner, Ho replied: No idea. Probably a lawn decoration. [h/t Anne Ewbank] Ihor Pavlovsky, the suspect in the murder of Kateryna Handziuk TSN Ihor Pavlovsky, one of the suspects in the high-profile case of the murder of activist Kateryna Hanzdiuk is released from the detention center. Masi Nayyem, the lawyer, posted that on Facebook. 'The judge ruled so, granting the prosecutor's office's motion. He is now out of the remand center. He's under house arrest, obliged to wear the ankle monitor. It seems to me that they want this case buried', the lawyer wrote. Pavlovsky, the former assistant MP is among the suspects in the violent murder of Ukrainian anti-corruption activist Kateryna Handziuk, which took place in Kherson, southern Ukraine in July 2018. Pavlovsky was detained in November 2018. Kateryna Handziuk died at the age of 34 in autumn 2018. During the said attack, she was doused with sulphuric acid and thus suffered extreme consequences of that incident. Her death was caused by blood clot's detachment; the doctors also specified that the cause of death was multiple organ failure and chemical burns. The respective law provides fines in the amount of $653 3,269 Open source Fines for unreasonable use of the name and symbols of the National Police provided by the law No. 2584-VIII come into force. Fine in the amount of $653 1,307 is provided for use of signs of affiliation to the National Police without criminal violations or a sign National Police on a car. If the representatives of the state authority, local government bodies, physical or legal entities put the title National Police or signs of affiliation on clothes, cars, buildings, forms the fine will be $1,307 1,961. For a repeated violation within a year, a fine for physical entities makes $1,961 3,269. Ukraines Parliament adopted this law in October 2018. Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Rallies dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Odesa Kulikovo Field are held peacefully, as Viktoria Navrotska, Deputy Director of the Communication Department of Ukraines Internal Ministry, said at the briefing broadcasted by 112 Ukraine. The situation is under control, events are conducted on Kulikovo Field. 200 people took part in them, she noted. According to Navrotska, in total, 2,500 law enforcers maintain public order in the city. dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 First Deputy Internal Minister Serhiy Yarovy said the law enforcers did not get any information about mining and conflicts. Moreover, we passed information to media yesterday. We provide information about the state of affairs in time. We are ready to solve the problems we might face. We have discussed it when we were planning the events, Yarovy said. dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 dumskaya Mass rallies in Odesa, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the tragic events on Kulikovo Field, May 2, 2019 Dumskaya.net reported that people could join the rallies freely, yet they were inspected with the metal detectors. On May 2, 2014, 48 people died and over 250 sustained injuries in mass unrest in Odesa. Most of the victims died in the Trade Union House. On September 18, 2017, twenty participants of tragic events in Odesa on May 2, 2014, were found not guilty of organizing those clashes. The court decision triggered new clashes between activists from pro-Ukrainian organizations and law enforcers in Chornomorsk, Odesa region. Rob M. Last week former Vice President Joe Biden made the completely unsurprising announcement on Twitter that he'll be running for the democratic presidential nomination in 2020. The core values of this nation our standing in the world our very democracy everything that has made AmericaAmericais at stake. Thats why today Im announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. #Joe2020. That makes about three serious candidates in the Race to Defeat Lord Emperor Trump, and I have the feeling they're all well aware that (for the first time in a long time) a candidate's stance on marijuana reform will make a major difference at the polls next year. A Quinnipiac University poll released last month found that 60 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing cannabis, compared to 33 percent who oppose it. And, wouldn't you know it, the majority of Democratic contenders support some form of progressive cannabis law reform. Bernie Sanders, who many would assume is a shoo-in, has a good record of supporting pro-cannabis legislation and has recently reiterated that it should be removed from the list of controlled substances. Of course he was a shoo-in way back in the distant 2016, too. That was before the Democratic National Committee admittedly stole the nomination right out from under him. Now he seems like less of a darling with media giants like The Washington Post throwing up divisive headlines like Bernie Sanders Has Emerged as the Donald Trump of the Left as though that makes any sense whatsoever. The other headliner is Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who used to be against the vile weed but has since flipped. In a radio interview earlier this year, she notably admitted to having smoked cannabis in the past. I did inhale, she joked. She says she wants to legalize marijuana and regulate it. She's also in favor of expunging the criminal records of those who have been incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes. Unfortunately Harris also has a history chock full of controversy and scandal. It's hard to imagine her successfully navigating the slings and arrows of naysayers pointing to accusations that she fought against justice reform during her time as California Attorney General and allegedly upheld wrongful convictions that were secured through official misconduct. Then there's the bizarre story, told in the Los Angeles Times, of one of her aides, who was arrested in 2015 for impersonating a police officer after he and two other men introduced themselves to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's captain as members of the Masonic Fraternal Police Department. It's too weird to even make up. So that leaves us with good old Joe Biden. If he follows the party line, then he's sure to be in favor of cannabis reform, right? A statement from marijuana reform advocate organization NORML, published in a Rolling Stone article last week, voiced concern over the possibility of seeing Biden in the Oval Office. Erik Altieri, executive director of NORML, said Biden holds the worst record on cannabis related policy of any individual currently running for the Democratic or Republican nomination. Heavy words. But apparently Michael Collins, the director of national affairs at Drug Policy Action, agreed with Altieri, telling reporters that Biden was the architect, in all ways, of the war on drugs. Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project said Biden was one of the most aggressive drug warriors in Congress. Biden has apparently fought a pitched battle against legalization since 1974, when he told the Washingtonian that he was opposed to it. He called cannabis a gateway drug in 2010 and was a cosponsor on the piece of legislation that created the asinine position of federal drug czar. Meaning if he gets the nomination, we'll be looking at an election where our best bet for protection of legalized cannabis will be placed in Donald Trump of all people. That's right. Lord Trump is actually more progressive on this issue than Biden. (We are definitely living in a simulation.) But let's not despair just yet, dear reader. We still have plenty of time before 2020, and who knows what could happen. Just Google creepy Biden to see why we probably shouldn't worry so much about his chances. Be prepared to be uncomfortable, though. Strain Corner The weather finally seems to have stabilized, and the summer is raring to go. Last week I was finally able to begin my seasonal complaints over the heat and accompanying bodily fluids. I was sweaty, irritable, sun-crazed and pinching a full bladder as I walked into GrassRoots RX (3701 San Mateo Blvd. NE). It was nice and cool inside, and the restroom was sensational. I picked up a gram of Blueberry Gum (THC: 18.33%, CBD: 0.18%$10/gram) in the hope that it would chill me out and headed back across the river. Once I was safely on my couch in my pajamas, I packed a bowl and marveled at the powerfully sweet aroma of the popcorn buds. Blueberry Gum is an indica-dominant hybrid that tasted of berries and was as sweet as it smelled. The effects from this strain are noticeable on the first hit. I felt an immediate relief of tension in my sinus cavityan effect I've encountered in certain indica strains that I've only recently noticed. I had trouble tracking objects with my eyes and actually felt my blood pressure drop. It was intense and very pleasant. The body high was strong, and I felt completely sedated. I hit the bong a few more times for good measure, laid my head back and closed my eyes. I felt as if the ocean were rocking me softly from side to side. I sighed contentedly and sat that way for half an hour. May Art and Music with Le Chat Lunatique 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!) Journey Down the Gila: Protecting New Mexico's... 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!) Thursday 2 2019 Miss USA (KRQE-DT2 7pm) I feel like, rather than choosing the most attractive pageant contestant, we should be choosing the woman who best personifies the year in question. In which case, Miss USA 2019 would be one messed-up broad. Friday 3 Suspiria (Amazon streaming anytime) This remake of Dario Argentos 1977 masterpiece by director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) is boring in some parts and incomprehensibly arty in others. But there are moments amid the WTFery in which he hits on some shockingly visceral imagery. Dakota Johnson (50 Shades of Grey) stars as the innocent American student who lands a scholarship to a West Berlin dance academy filled with avant-garde witches. Dead to Me (Netflix streaming anytime) Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini star in this black comedy about a hotheaded widow searching for the hit-and-run driver who mowed down her husband. Flinch (Netflix streaming anytime) Member Fear Factor? Well, here it is with a different title. Tuca & Bertie (Netflix streaming anytime) Lisa Hanawalt (production designer and producer on BoJack Horseman) is the creator of this similarly anthropomorphic animated sitcom about the friendship of two 30-year-old bird women who live in the same apartment building. Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong provide the titular voices. Saturday 4 The Disappearance of Susan Cox Powell (Oxygen 8pm) The disappearance and presumed murder of Utah mother Susan Powell in 2009 has garnered a lot of media attention. Here, Oxygen goes the true-crime route, investigating various theories about the still-unsolved case. Sunday 5 Psycho Stripper (Lifetime 6pm) A week before her wedding, a young bride finds herself stalked by the brooding, sexy, exotic male dancer from her bachelorette party. Lady, you really should have hired yourself one of those well-grounded, emotionally stable strippers. The Spanish Princess (Starz 6pm) Based on the books The Constant Princess and The Kings Curse by Philippa Gregory, this British-American series follows the life of Catherine of Aragon, the teenage princess of Spain who was promised to the English throne since she was a child. Monday 6 Chernobyl (HBO 7pm) Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson star in this dramatization of the infamous 1986 nuclear accident and its aftermath in the Soviet Ukraine. State of the Union (Sundance 11pm) Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) and Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters) are the executive producers of this comedy series about a recently separated couple (Rosamund Pike from Gone Girl and Chris ODowd from The IT Crowd) who meet at a local pub before their weekly marital therapy sessions. Tuesday 7 Texicanas (Bravo 11pm) Basic cables latest reality show look into the lives of annoying, rich and overprivileged Americans who like to yell at one another heads to Texas to point cameras at a group of Latina ladies. Among those well be spending time with are a perfectionist, a social butterfly, a daddys girl and the owner of an upscale nightclub. Wednesday 8 Lucifer (Netflix streaming anytime) FOXs supernatural crime series (based loosely on the comic by Neil Gaiman) hops over to Netflix for Season 4. Socialists, anarchists, antifascists, rank and file union members, and immigrants rights groups took to Manhattans streets in unison Wednesday night to celebrate May Day. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Columbus Circle before marching east along 59th Street to 5th Avenue under close watch by the NYPD. While the days rally began at the Trump Hotel in Columbus Circle and ended near Trump Tower on 56th Street, many attendees said they were aiming higher than merely resisting the Presidents administration. People are saying, Were not happy with how things are, we want to see a real change in the way society is organized, Pam Galpern, a union shop steward at the Communications Workers of America told Gothamist. We want to see health care for everyone, we want to see better education for everyone, we want better rights at work and a more humane society where everyone is treated with dignity. Speakers and chant leaders during the rally voiced a multitude of specific demands, from extending drivers license rights to undocumented immigrants to raising wages for adjunct faculty at CUNY. CUNY propels six times as many students into the middle class compared to the top ten universities combined, CUNY Professional Staff Congress union representative Lynne Turner extolled to the crowd. How is it possible that it pays near poverty pay to thousands of adjunct faculty? We need fair wages for faculty and staff. Several people at the rally said Temporary Protected Status is an issue that's close to their communities. Albert Saint Jean, an organizer for BAJI, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, said recipients of Temporary Protected Status need more stability. "Were really fighting for permanent residency," Saint Jean said. "A lot of people in the Haitian community in particular that Im part of, and the greater community thats affected by TPS, its a lot easier for folks when theyre able to come out of the shadows and work." Prarthana Gurung, the campaigns and communications manager for Adhikaar, a non-profit organization that supports the Nepali working population in New York City, said, "The ironic thing is that its hard for folks to get time off work. We had a lot of members who really wanted to come out, but its a weekday. Especially nail salon workers." Gurung said her group is advocating for H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act, which would put DACA recipients and people with TPS and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status on the pathway to citizenship. The Act could open the door to permanent residency for more than 2 million people, including those brought to the U.S. as children. In spite of many demonstrators' marked antipathy for the police (shouts of Fuck the police! and How do you spell racist? N-Y-P-D peppered the rally), the marchers remained within designated barricades, and an NYPD spokesperson told Gothamist no arrests were made. As red flags waved overhead, a New York City Democratic Socialists of America member who said her name was Tiffany, told us that the turnout signaled hope for the countrys progressive wing. The left in the U.S. has unfortunately been really decimated by decades of attacks on working class institutions, the stripping of unions of their power, and repression of political groups, she said. The left is in a situation where were really growing again, and people are really excited to talk about socialism and working class revolution. Thats really exciting. Additional reporting by Shumita Basu. Shot right here in Albuquerque (the dustier, dirtier parts, anyway) but set in Arizona, Netflixs supernatural horror-drama Chambers shows up riding the crest of its parent companys recent acquisition of ABQ Studios. That means, of course, that New Mexico viewers are about to see a lot more local sights in their televisual future. Chambers centers on Native American high schooler Sasha Yazzie (earthy, naturalistic newbie Sivan Alyra Rose). She lives in the medium-small Four Corners town of Cottonwood with her uncle, Big Frank (Marcus LaVoi), who owns a low-rent aquarium store (actually Dons Paperback Book Exchange on San Mateo). While attempting to lose her virginity to her track-running boyfriend (Griffin Powell-Arcand), Sasha suffers a freak, near-fatal heart attack. Several months later, she returns to school with a brand new donor heart beating behind the massive scar on her ribcage. One day, out of the blue, the parents of the dead teenager who passed her young heart on to Sasha show up. Reluctantly, Sasha agrees to have dinner at their house. Turns out Ben and Nancy Lefevre (Tony Goldwyn and Uma Thurman, the shows big-name costars) are a couple of rich New Agers who live in posh nearby Crystal Valley (think Sedona, Ariz.). Before the awkward night is over, theyve offered Sasha a scholarship to their daughters upscale high school. (Evidently Sashas too young to pick up on the strong Rosemarys Baby vibe mom and dad are giving off.) Under the prodding of her loving but broke uncle, Sasha agrees to wake up at 5am every morning and take a bus to snobby Crystal Valley High (complete with fencing clubs, nap rooms and racist mascot). Soon shes enmeshed in the life of poor, dead Becky Lefevre (Lilliya Scarlett Reid). But the regular exposure to Beckys friends and family only leave her with more questions. How did Becky actually die? Why is Sasha getting strange visions of Beckys old life in Crystal Valley? And why is she suddenly such a whiz at statisticsjust like Becky? Naturally Sasha is forced to do the Nancy Drew thing to figure out what all the shady-acting folks around her are hiding about Beckys life and untimely death. As the show goes on, Sasha finds herself increasingly driven by impulses she cant understand or control. As youve no doubt already surmised, the show is basically the latest in a long line of donated body parts possess an innocent victim films (Hands of a Stranger, The Hand, Body Parts, The Eye, Idle Hands). The characters and setting at least give it a unique vibe. Though it bills itself as a horror series, Chambers is more of a dark, moody, slow-moving mystery. Its loaded down with red herrings and weighty portents (ominous dust storms, freakishly prescient homeless people, gory dreams, Morrissey songs). If only the show kept a better pace. After meandering around for most of its run time and growing increasingly Twin Peaks-weird about its central mystery, Chambers gets down and dirty and super mystical in its final eps. The twists are enough to wake you up, but leave most of the shows middle section feeling like filler. Although it has its moments of creepy anticipation, visual verve and dramatic weight, Chambers (to say nothing of the second season threatened in the finale) would probably have worked better as a one-off feature film. As follow-up to his Academy Award-winning 2015 debut,, writer-director Laszlo Nemes trades post-World War II Hungary for pre-World War I Hungary. Audacious and sprawling and more than a little disorienting,is unlikely to achieve quite the same level of praise as his first film. (also captured a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes Film Festival.) Nonetheless, it showcases more than enough cinematic skill to impress patient foreign film aficionados. Our central focus here is Irisz Leiter (Juli Jakab), a bold 20-year-old orphan who arrives in 1910 Budapest looking for work. Shes not after just any job, mind you. This laser-focused gal wants to work at the renowned millinery shop started by and named after her parents (who died under mysterious circumstances when she was a baby). The current owner (Vlad Ivanov) is reluctant to bring her on board for various reasons (partially, of course, because she might have a claim on the business). She also discovers that she may have a long lost brotherwho may have brutally murdered a local nobleman. For those unversed in history, 1910 Budapest finds the Austro-Hungarian Empire perched on the knife-edge of World War I. (Spoiler alert: That little dustup didnt work out so well for that particular chunk of Europe.) The countrys monarchy is corrupt and crumbling. Class warfare is brewing in the streets, stripping away the remaining vestiges of 19th century civility. Anarchists are meeting in shadowy locations, plotting explosive action. Amid all this upheaval, Irisz is determined to figure out what happened with her missing brother. Nemes (with an assist, no doubt, from cinematographer Matyas Erdely) has a Kubrick-like confidence in his camera work. The films visual focus is dialed down almost exclusively on Irisz. Shot in a string of intimate close-ups with the backgrounds blurred by the soft-focus of a shallow depth of field, Sunset follows dutifully after its heroine, often looking over her shoulder from behind as she navigates the tumult-filled streets of Budapest. The agility of Nemes 35mm camera (actual film, not digital) as it sticks like glue to the back of Irisz extravagant hats is impressive. Jakab herself makes for a mesmerizing leading ladywhich is a good thing, as shes on screen for nearly every scene. She says little over the course of the film, but expresses muchthanks largely to her arresting facial features, which seem somehow larger than her actual head. Appropriately for the temporal setting, shes got the look and feel of a silent film star. Without her as our guide, wed be considerably more lost in this darkly impressionistic world. Over the course of Nemes long perambulation, Irisz meandering, dreamlike journey takes in a city (and a country and, by extension, a world) churning with chaos and violence. She meets various menacing figures (everybody in this place seems on the verge of attacking, killing or dismembering somebody)none of whom provide her with any concrete or satisfying information about her family or her brothers brutal crime. Ultimately, Sunset isnt about answerswhich, for many, will make this a frustrating 2-hour-and-22-minute mystery. Instead, Sunset plays out as a string of unanswered questions and nightmare scenarios. It doesnt take a lot of cogitation to figure out that the random chaos and disorder of Nemes storytelling is meant to serve as a metaphor for the building anarchy and pandemonium of the impending World War. But just how deeply Nemes metaphor digs is questionable. War is chaotic and terrible things take place behind beautiful facades seem like shallow observations, really. Anyone with a strong understanding of the art of film will recognize that Sunset is the work of a master filmmaker. But by digging into his countrys complicated history, the filmmakermuch like his cameramay be a little too close to the subject to offer a particularly clear perspective. PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Reel World May the Fourth This coming Saturday is May 4which may not mean a lot to a lot of people, but its a special date for serious Star Wars fans. May the 4th (as in May the Force be with you) is the day on which we celebrate all things Star Wars-related. And what better way to celebrate the date than by watching George Lucas original 1977 space opera Star Wars (aka Star Wars: Episode IVA New Hope)? New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation and the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience host a screening of that very film in the NMMNHs DynaTheater (1801 Mountain Road NW) starting at 2pm. Tickets are $10 for general admission or $7.50 for AFME sponsors and NMMNH members. Costumes are, of course, encouraged. The best dressed Jedi (or Sith or bounty hunters or whatever) take home free passes to AFME 2019. If thats not enough for you, Albuquerques Central and Unser Library (8081 Central Ave. NW) hosts a day-long celebration featuring crafts, games, prizes and a screening of Solo: A Star Wars Story from noon to 5:30pm. (See this issues Event Horizon for more information on that one.) View in Alibi calendar Booking Bad Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW) welcomes back the stars of locally lensed crime dramedy Better Call Saul for an evening of reading and meeting. Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman) and Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler) return for the Second Annual Better Call Saul Book Club. The two actors share their favorite recent reads with audience members. There will be a Q&A, dramatic readings and at least one special guest. This is a free event, but seating is limited. The store closes at 5pm. Attendees may line up beginning at 6pm. The book club starts at 7pm. To take a look at the books Odenkirk and Seehorn are talking about (including Cherry: A Novel by Nico Walker, Everything is Just Fine by Brett Paesel and A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk), go to bkwrks. com/ better- call- saul- book- club- 2019. View in Alibi calendar PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Weekly Specials Brews and Noodz Oni Noodles is back at it again, bringing their tasty hot ramen and fresh dumplings to a brewery near you, this time at Marble Downtown (111 Marble Ave. NW). Featuring all your favorite Marble beers, such as the Double White, Wildflower Wheat, Cholo Stout and the India Pale Ale, youre going to be at a loss for what to try pairing with your noodles first. You can find them at Marble Downtown May 5, from noon-4pm, and this would be a fantastic way to kick off your Cinco de Mayo celebration. View in Alibi calendar Sorelle Mia! Three Sisters Kitchen (109 Gold Ave. SW) is making Italian cooking simple for the masses. The month of May will feature four separate classes on how to make your own pasta. From fresh egg pasta dough to eggless pasta dough, from raviolis to lasagna, youll get hands-on experience with important steps for making your own pasta. This covers the creation of the dough, molding it, cooking it and pairing it with sauces, so by the time you leave, you can authentically bunch your fingers together and shout E molto buono and make your grandmother proud. For more information, go to threesisterskitchen. org. Bring A Blanket Tasty Tuesday is back, and if you dont know what that is, you have been missing out on picnic party-time at the park! The perfect way to spend these gorgeous spring afternoons and evenings, Tasty Tuesday fills Hyder Park (700 Pershing Ave. SE) with food trucks, music, events and so much more, creating the citys largest community picnic. There are so many things to see, eat and do, but youll never know what they are unless you show up in the first place. Tasty Tuesday happens every Tuesday (surprise!) from 4:30pm until sundown, so you have plenty of time to get there, grab a nice seat and enjoy some of Albuquerques unique food truck offerings. View in Alibi calendar Newscity County Threatens Suit Against State Otero County officials are threatening to sue the governor for not responding to their request to declare a state of emergency. Earlier this month, Otero County Commissioners unanimously voted to declare a state of emergency following the Border Patrol's decision to temporarily shut down New Mexico's interior border checkpoints. Commissioners were pressing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to deploy National Guard troops to the checkpoints, claiming that criminal activity in the area has increased since their closures. The governor's office responded that National Guard troops, which are under state command, do not operate federal checkpoints. Otero County Commission Chair Couy Griffin initially referred to the request as just a shoutout, but county commissioners appear to be taking it more seriously now. According to the Washington Examiner, they have given the governor until the end of the week to respond with emergency action and will consider suing the state if nothing has happened by then. Griffin told Fox News in an interview on Sunday that the County Commission is planning to vote on a resolution that will block immigrants from being bussed to Otero County from El Paso. During the interview, he claimed the governor had not responded to the county's state of emergency request, failing to cite the response given by the governor's office. NJ health officials are warning residents who went to a trampoline park in South Plainfield and a banquet hall in Lakewood last month that they may have come into contact with someone who had the measles. The NJ Department of Health said a New York City resident with "a confirmed case of measles... potentially exposed individuals in Middlesex and Ocean counties on April 22nd and 23rd. Anyone who visited the following locations may have been exposed to measles: Sky Zone, 600 Hadley Rd, South Plainfield, NJ 07080 (April 22nd from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.); River 978 Banquet Hall, 978 River Ave, Lakewood, NJ 08701 (April 23rd from 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. (April 24th)." "The Department recommends that anyone who visited the locations listed above during the specified dates/times should contact a health provider immediately to discuss potential exposure and risk of developing the illness," the NJ DOH said in a statement. "If you have been exposed, you are at risk if you have not been vaccinated or have not had measles. Individuals potentially exposed on these dates, if infected, could develop symptoms as late as May 14th." This year has been the biggest outbreak of measles in the United States since 1994, with 704 reported cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases are in New York City, where there are 423 reported cases, and Rockland County, where there are 206. Highly contagious and air-borne, measles is a virus that causes a fever and rash. The most vulnerable to contracting the measles and having extremely severe reactions are babies, pregnant women, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. Health officials have repeatedly recommended that people be vaccinated with the MMR vaccine to prevent measles. In California, a woman with the measles attended a midnight screening of Avengers: Endgame last Thursday. Orange County health officials warned residents about other buildings the woman had visited. Patch reports that the "woman, in her 20s, told officials she visited one of many countries struggling with widespread measles outbreaks." When Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plan to build 90 new homeless shelters across the city, critics pointed out that wealthier neighborhoods like Park Slope, where the mayor lived with his family before moving to Gracie Mansion, havent gotten their fair share of shelters compared with lower income areas like nearby Crown Heights. Now the city is starting to deliver on its promise to distribute beds more equitably. Two buildings being constructed on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope are slated to become shelters for a combined 253 families with children. Initially, the buildings at 535 Fourth Avenue and 555 Fourth Avenue were to become commercial and mixed-use buildings, respectively. At a community meeting on Wednesday night, Park Slope residents were split on whether they would be wary or welcoming of their new neighbors. But those on both sides of the familiar NIMBY debate expressed misgivings about the city supporting the developers of the buildings that will be converted into shelters, which would have otherwise joined a slew of new midrise luxury buildings going up on Fourth Avenue. According to the Times, one of the developers, Adam America Real Estate, also has several other projects on the corridor. How much is the city paying for those units? asked Bo Samajopoulos, a retiree who said he has lived in Park Slope for more than 50 years. Fourth Avenue is oversaturated with a cesspool of luxury condominiums...These people wouldnt be homeless if Brad Lander and Bill de Blasio had kept their promise and made sure that all of those buildings were affordable to begin with. Jackie Bray, first deputy commissioner at the citys Department of Homeless Services, said the city will pay market rate for the shelter units, which she said is necessary in order to distribute shelter beds more equitably. In previous administrations, most of the shelters were concentrated in East New York, Brownsville, Hunts Point and the South Bronx, said Bray. And they were concentrated there because the city said, Were not willing to pay higher rents for shelters. What that meant was deep inequity in the way we sited shelters. Bray did not share figures on what the city would be paying to rent each unit. Attendees noted that the buildings have incurred a slew of safety violations from the Department of Buildings while under construction, leading some to mistrust Adam America Real Estate and the other developer, Slate Property Group. In 2016, a strong wind knocked part of the roof off 535. Bray assured the audience that the buildings will undergo comprehensive safety assessments before opening to shelter residents. Attendees at Wednesday's meeting (Caroline Lewis / Gothamist) The new shelters are part of the mayors plan to reduce the citys homeless population by 2,500 between 2017 and 2022. The plan involves shuttering all cluster-site and hotel housing in favor of shelters for specific populations with dedicated social services. However, a report released by Coalition for the Homeless this week says the plan has yet to make a denthomelessness reached a new all-time high in January of this year, with 63,839 New Yorkers sleeping in shelters each night. The report called the mayors goal of reducing the roughly 60,000-strong homeless population by only about 4 percent an embarrassingly unambitious objective given the enormity of the crisis. And it predicted that the city wouldnt even meet its goal; given the current trajectory, the number of people experiencing homelessness on a given night will increase by 5,000 by 2022, the nonprofit projected. Coalition for the Homeless urged the city to set aside a greater share of the new affordable units being created for homeless households. Some 15,000 of the 300,000 affordable units de Blasio said he would create in the Housing New York 2.0 plan, or 5 percent, were designated for homeless New Yorkers. What assurances do we have that as were introducing new families into this district, there are going to be deeply affordable options for them to stay in this district? asked Zac Martin, a Park Slope resident and pastor at Recovery House of Worship, which serves many people experiencing homeless. Not [units at] 40 percent [of the area median income], but 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent AMI? In response to residents calling for more permanent affordable housing rather than shelters, City Councilman Brad Lander, who represents Park Slope and other parts of Brooklyn, said they should get involved in discussions about planned rezoning in neighboring Gowanus. The shelters, which will be run by the nonprofit Women in Need NYC, are coming to the neighborhood regardless of residents concerns (which also spanned the typical range of fears about safety and doubts about new children attending local schools). They are slated to open this fall. A whole nest full of swan eggs went missing from Prospect Park over the weekend, vanishing as quickly and as completely as if it had evaporated into thin air. Swan advocates suspect foul playyes, it seems we have an egg thief in our midst, and a mystery on our hands. Mary Beth Artz, one of the co-founders of W.I.L.D. for Prospect Park, told Gothamist that she was paying a routine clean-up visit to the Prospect Park lake on Saturday when she noticed that two new swan parents had vacated their nest. That struck her as oddswans go to great and aggressive lengths to defend their young, and would not leave them unattendedbut she figured they were simply hiding outside her sightline. When the crew finished the job around 12:30, however, she saw the swan couple swimming toward the middle of the lake, away from their clutch of eggs. "It was pretty far away from the nest location, so I knew something was up," Artz said. "Normally [adult swans] would never leave the nest like that." They might take turns guarding their spawn, but no self-respecting swan parent would leave its eggs alone and vulnerable to attack. Or, if an avian emergency came up and they absolutely had to abandon their incubating offspring, they'd first hide their horde to minimize the possibility of a snatching. When Artz went over to check out the scene, she found that the nestwhich should've been an approximately three-foot divot, lined with down and other comforting debrishad been "completely cleared and leveled out," the evidence of its existence totally disappeared: Vanished without a trace! (Courtesy of Mary Beth Artz) Still, Artz knew from park employees that the nest had been there Friday evening: She concludes a human egg-napper must have crept in overnight. Why, you ask? Because at roughly three weeks old, the eggs were only about halfway through their incubation period, and too young to hatch. Also, the park's most probable animal culprit probably couldn't have pulled off a heist of this magnitude. Distraught swan parents demand justice. (Courtesy of Mary Beth Artz) "A raccoon, first of all, would not be able to fend off the male swan," she said. Furthermore, "a raccoon couldn't pick up seven eggs and walk away with [them] and then make it look like nothing was there." Trash pandas' creepy little man hands aren't large enough to accommodate multiple swan eggs, the size of which I would estimate at about four times that of your average chicken egg, nor do raccoons tend to clean up after their snack rampages. Whoever absconded with the swan babies left no trace: no shells, no egg matter, no tracks, no nothing. This is manmade chaos, friends. (Or so Artz heavily suspects.) Now, only two questions remain: Whodunnit, and why? The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has identified a swan problem within the state, and because these water birds are an invasive species, Artz said the DEC may have an interest in clearing their nests. Artz says she has been told that's not what happened hereGothamist has contacted the DEC for comment. In a statement, a spokesperson for the NYC Parks Department told us: We can confirm that an active swan nest with seven eggs disappeared over the weekend from the area of the Prospect Park Lullwater. The nest was not removed by a Parks or Prospect Park Alliance employee, and we are currently investigating. As a reminder, it is against our rules to interfere with or harm wildlife in parks, and we encourage New Yorkers who witness such activity to report to 311. As to the bandit's motives, the culprit could've taken the eggs for any number of reasons, including a desire to breed them, to eat them, or to engineer a little mayhem just for the hell of it. "People hang out in the park overnight," Artz noted; it's possible someone spotted the nest and decided to grab up its contents for kicks. "But they'd have to go up against that male swan, and the female," she pointed out, and battling two hyper-protective parents would be no easy feat. "Somebody had to know what they were doing." According to CBS New York, tampering with park wildlife qualifies as a misdemeanor that carries a $1,000 fine or a 20-day jail sentence. We will update as the screw continues to turn and to reveal fresh details. One of the largest networks of Jewish yeshivas in New York City, United Talmudical Academy, has been cited more than 10 times for failing to turn over medical records showing whether their students have been vaccinated, amid the largest measles outbreak the city has witnessed in 28 years. The network now owes more than $2,400 in fines because it has stood up administrative law judges on three separate hearing dates for city Health Department violations issued for failing to turn over immunization records, records show. The schools could face additional fines to the tune of $10,000 for additional alleged violations, according to officials at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, which maintains records of the summonses. Samuel Stern, a community activist speaking on behalf of United Talmudical Academy, said the school had been papered with fines and had some of their yeshivas closed by the Health Department right before the Passover holidays. He said administrators prioritized fixing violations, rather than appearing at a summons hearing. In addition, Stern confirmed the schools new policy that was announced in letters to parents of unvaccinated students in mid-April, warning that any child sent in without immunization or proof of measles immunity could get the entire family expelled from school. UTA (Satmar) school issues threat of permanent expulsion for entire family, if any child is caught evading MMR immunization, in "critically important" letter in Yiddish to individual parents. pic.twitter.com/6dkors6l7a (@YosefRapaport) April 23, 2019 [Yeshivas] are being blamed for the failure of a small percentage of parents when theyre the ones actually doing most of the good work, Stern said, adding the small group of parents have made repeated attempts to get their unvaccinated kids back into class against health department orders. Its a real battle. Stern estimated that of approximately 10,000 students at the networks roughly dozen locations in Williamsburg, just 1 percent of the student body still hasnt been vaccinated for measles. Last August, the citys Department of Education also cited United Talmudical Academy for failing to grant access to two of its schools for observers to determine whether they had been providing adequate secular education. The yeshiva network is not the only institution hit with fines in the citys efforts to stop the spread of measles in Williamsburg. Some 23 yeshivas have been hit with summonses in April and could face fines of $1,000 or more. Administrative law judges have already upheld fines for the following schools:. Khhd Yoel of Satmar BP-Central UTA on Skillman Avenue was fined $2,000 for failing to exclude unvaccinated children based on a March 19 inspection. That school also skipped its hearing date. School administrator Yeol Weisz said he thought hed handled the violation online. Bais Yakov Adas Yereim on Bedford Avenue was fined $200 after an administrative hearing on Wednesday for not keeping all immunization records on site. Yitty Mayer, an employee of the school, said after the hearing that the school has moved the records from its main office to the school building. Mosodos Chasidei Square on Heyward Street, which is associated with the Hasidic Square sect, was fined $1,000 after a hearing Wednesday for not providing immunization records on an April 3 inspection. Talmud Torah DNitra on Bedford Avenue was fined $200 for not having medical records on site. In some cases, yeshiva administrators say they have tried to comply with the Health Departments orders and kept unvaccinated children from attending class, but parents have been uncooperative. According to Mayer, the employee at Bais Yakov of Adas, the parents of five unvaccinated children have repeatedly called the school demanding that their children be let back in. Henry Villarreal tests out the touch screen technology on the new voting machines at the Comal County Election's Office on Thursday, March 7, 2019. Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- In a letter obtained by ABC News, White House attorney Emmet Flood wrote to Attorney General Bill Barr in mid-April regarding special counsel Robert Mueller's report into meddling in the 2016 election saying the findings suffers from an extraordinary legal defect: it quite deliberately fails to comply with the requirements of governing law. Flood goes on to say in the April 19 letter of complaint that the missive was sent to avoid a precedent with both the President and future Presidents in mind. The letter is dated just one day after Barr released a redacted version of the special counsel's report to the public. The letter squarely attacks the Mueller team for not making a decision on obstruction of justice, a federal crime in which someone "corruptly" attempts to influence, obstruct or impede the due and proper administration of the law in a pending proceeding, according to federal code. In his own March 24 letter to Congress describing the principal conclusions of Muellers report, Barr indicated that, while the special counsel did find at least some evidence suggesting Trump tried to obstruct the investigation, the evidence did not amount to a criminal offense. In his letter to Barr, Flood quotes from the Mueller report in writing that the evidence "prevent[ed] [it] from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred." White House Letter Barr 190502 by ABC News Politics on Scribd In his report, Mueller concluded that the president and his campaign did not make illegal contacts with Russia, but "declined to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment" on matters of obstruction of justice. The special counsel writes that though the report's findings don't "conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." Flood counters that the use of terms like exoneration are political statements." The details of Flood's letter were made public just hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress about his handling of Mueller's report and charged that President Donald Trump has obstructed justice by blocking administration officials from testifying on Capitol Hill. In a March 27 letter to Barr made public just before his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Mueller complained that the attorney general's initial four-page summary of the probe's findings led to public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. G-Star Elwood, a style of jeans that G-Star claims Cofemel to have copied in the background Portuguese proceedings At what conditions can a design be protected by copyright? Is it compatible with EU law that a certain national law requires a design to be a 'work of art', an 'artistic creation' for copyright to vest in it? prima facie - might seem easy to answer (see Article 17 of the Design Directive) but that - substantially and because of earlier decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), notably the one in Flos - is not so straightforward. As IPKat readers may know, this is a question that -- might seem easy to answer (see Article 17 of the) but that - substantially and because of earlier decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), notably the one in- is not so straightforward. In Flos , in fact, the CJEU held that EU law prohibits Member States from denying copyright protection to designs that meet the requirements for copyright protection - including designs other than registered ones (subject to Article 17) - and suggested (although rather ambiguously) that Member States cannot set any particular requirements as to how protection is achieved. In this sense, the implication may be that - if a design is eligible for protection under the InfoSoc Directive and is, as such, original in the sense clarified by the CJEU - then Member States cannot deny such protection. Such reading of the Flos case is the one that - rather concisely - Advocate General (AG) Jaaskinen proposed in Titus Donner : the judgment in Flos indicates that the items here in issue, although unprotected under Italian copyright law during the relevant period, were entitled to protection under EU copyright law [para 31] . reported last year, the Portoguese Supreme Court referred a case - Cofemel, C-683/17 - asking clarification on this point, and more specifically: Now, the issue of copyright protection of designs is back at the CJEU. As this bloglast year, the Portoguese Supreme Court referred a case -- asking clarification on this point, and more specifically: 1) Does the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union of Article 2(a) of [the InfoSoc Directive] preclude national legislation in the present case, the provision in Article 2(1)(i) of the Codigo de Direitos de Autor e Direitos Conexos (CDADC) which confers copyright protection on works of applied art, industrial designs and works of design which, in addition to the utilitarian purpose they serve, create their own visual and distinctive effect from an aesthetic point of view, their originality being the fundamental criterion which governs the grant of protection in the area of copyright? 2) Does the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union of Article 2(a) of [the InfoSoc Directive] preclude national legislation in the present case, the provision in Article 2(1)(i) of the CDADC which confers copyright protection on works of applied art, industrial designs and works of design if, in the light of a particularly rigorous assessment of their artistic character, and taking account the dominant views in cultural and institutional circles, they qualify as an artistic creation or work of art? This morning AG Szpunar issued his Opinion [not yet available in English] , in which he confirmed that copyright protection for designs should arise when the originality requirement is fulfilled, without taking into account any additional criteria. Let's see how the AG reasoned. Cumulation of IP rights The AG started by noting that, despite the protection of works of applied art being " as old as intellectual property in general", it is not something that has been devoid of issues: "it still faces difficulties in finding its own space within the system of intellectual property" [my translation from Italian] . The result has been that systems of sui generis protection have appeared, though never with an exclusive character, so that cumulation of protection has been possible. With particular regard to protection by means of copyright, the conflict with the principles of free competition has meant that the former has been often dependent on the design displaying a high level of artistic value. Theories like the Italian scindibilita and German Stufentheorie are examples of this, and so was the limited term of protection afforded under UK law by the (defunct, post-Flos) section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. This said, the fact that an object also has a utilitarian function does not rule out copyright protection per se. As such, the choice of EU legislature to cumulate a sui generis protection regime with copyright, in accordance with the French theory of unity of the art, "does not appear to be out of place". Jeans? A perfect hiding spot! Notion of 'work' under EU law in CJEU case law [see here . The AG began his substantive analysis with the notion of 'work'. While no legislative definition was provided of it in the InfoSoc Directive - probably because no universally acceptable definition could be agreed by the individual Member States - it was unavoidable that a referral to the CJEU would be made on this at some point The CJEU has held that the result of an author's own intellectual creation is the main element in the definition of 'work'. This definition has been subsequently refined: the author's personality must be reflected in the creative result and the work must result from the making of 'free and creative choices'. Also, it is required that the subject matter at issue be identifiable with sufficient precision and objectivity. Copyright protection of designs According to AG Szpunar [correctly] , the notion of 'work' as thus defined applies to all works. In addition, the InfoSoc Directive does not contain any indication that a distinction could be made between different types of works based on their artistic value. Community Design Regulation. Both of them would be lex specialis in relation to the InfoSoc Directive. According to the Italian, Czech and British Governments, however, such a requirement is envisaged in Article 17 of the Design Directive and Article 96(2) of the. Both of them would bein relation to the InfoSoc Directive. The AG disagreed with this position, for the following reasons. First, Article 17 of the Design Directive only concerns registered designs. As such, Article 96(2) of the regulation would be more of an appropriate reference. However, this provision makes Member States' discretion dependent on the lack of EU harmonization, as is confirmed by Recital 32 therein. According to the AG, it is "clear" that after the realization of said harmonization - by means of the InfoSoc Directive - Member States have lost the freedom afforded under Article 96(2). The fact that the regulation was actually adopted a few months after the InfoSoc Directive does not mean anything: the text of what is currently Article 96(2) was already present in the first proposal of 1993. Furthermore, while the deadline for national transpositions of the InfoSoc Directive was 22 December 2002, the regulation entered into force in March 2002. As such, when the regulation entered into force, the harmonization brought about by the InfoSoc Directive had not been completed yet: [T]he margin of discretion attributed to Member States by Article 96(2) of [the Community Design] Regulation is limited by the obligations as arising from [the InfoSoc Directive]." The AG also dismissed the argument of British Government that Article 9 of the InfoSoc Directive would leave unprejudiced the application of the Design Directive, including Article 17 thereof. The latter relates to copyright protection, not design protection. These protection regimes are autonomous and the former is not subject to the latter. As such, Article 9 of the InfoSoc Directive cannot be intended as excluding the application of this piece of legislation to designs. Having reviewed relevant legislative provisions, the AG finally turned to Flos for support to the conclusion that Article 17 of the Design Directive must be intended as a confirmation of the principle of cumulation of protections: a work of applied art shall not be excluded from copyright protection only because it can enjoy sui generis protection as a design. On the contrary, said provisions cannot be interpreted as derogating to [the InfoSoc Directive] or any other act of the Union that governs copyright. As such, the InfoSoc Directive prohibits that designs be protected by copyright only when they posses an artistic value that exceeds what is normally required for other types of works. Is copyright protection without artistic value too much? [see also the Opinion of the European Copyright Society in this respect] that excessive protection might be thus granted to designs, and concluded that the " The AG also considered the concernsthat excessive protection might be thus granted to designs, and concluded that the " rigorous application" [emphasis added] of copyright by national courts would serve to remedy - considerably - the shortcomings arising from the cumulability of copyright and design protection. In this sense, the threshold of originality is not particularly high, but it is not "non-existent" either. Furthermore, the idea/expression dichotomy in the field of applied art is capable of reducing the anticompetitive effects of copyright protection. So, for the objects at issue in the main proceedings (sweatshirts, T-shirts and jeans) it should be considered that the same ideas can be expressed in different ways. Finally, the concept of 'overall impression' is not part of copyright: On the patent track, the first session at the Fordham IP Conference brought news of developments at the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), moderated by Robert J. Goldman (Ropes & Gray LLP (Ret.), Silicon Valley). With the AmeriKat ensconced in the FRAND panel session (report Amy Crouch (Simmons & Simmons) covered the PTAB panel. , moderated by. With the AmeriKat ensconced in the FRAND panel session (report here ), Kat friend and Fordham guest Kat,covered the PTAB panel. Over to Amy: Vanessa Bailey (Intel Corporation, Washington, D.C) on Fostering Innovation Through IPRs: The Corporate Perspective. The USPTO receives over half a million patent applications and issues over 350,000 patents a year. Examiners have limited time to find and review available prior art and many categories of prior art (e.g. commercial products and various types of publications) are not even readily accessible to the examiner. So it is inevitable that some egregious patents will be issued. "First to present wason Fostering Innovation Through IPRs: The Corporate Perspective. The USPTO receives over half a million patent applications and issues over 350,000 patents a year. Examiners have limited time to find and review available prior art and many categories of prior art (e.g. commercial products and various types of publications) are not even readily accessible to the examiner. So it is inevitable that some egregious patents will be issued. The PTAB has a panel of 3 or more administrative patent judges with extensive technical and patent law experience and greater resources, along with the benefit of prior art searching and advocacy by the parties. Vanessa then dealt with various myths about inter partes review (IPR) challenges at the PTAB (see above, right and below, left). In Vanessas view, patents being invalidated by the IPR process is saving the judicial system from being overburdened and she detailed two examples of bad (or "invalid") patents being prevented from damaging US businesses due to successful IPR petitions. She concluded that to remain competitive, we need to support the use of IPRs! Patricia A. Martone (Law Office of Patricia A. Martone, P.C., New York) presented on Recent changes to PTAB IPR practice, how far do they go and who do they help? Director Iancu has sought reform in the USPTO, essentially to change the notion that it is where patents go to die and make the system more predictable. He is ultimately restrained by statute and Supreme Court precedent, in particular the fact that the PTAB has a binary choice to either to institute review of all challenged claims or none (SAS Institute v Director Iancu, Next,presented on Recent changes to PTAB IPR practice, how far do they go and who do they help? Director Iancu has sought reform in the USPTO, essentially to change the notion that it is where patents go to die and make the system more predictable. He is ultimately restrained by statute and Supreme Court precedent, in particular the fact that the PTAB has a binary choice to either to institute review of all challenged claims or none ( 2018 ). The USPTO also added the additional requirement that an IPR had to be instituted, not only on all claims raised, but also on all patentability challenges appearing in the petition. In other words, this results in an estoppel impact on District Court proceedings in relation to any ground that reasonably could have been raised. Effectively all prior art challenges will be brought in the PTO because of the effect of this estoppel issue. It is an interesting question as to what exactly the jury will be told if a patent has found to be valid in IPR proceedings, if anything. Should they simply be told that the claims are valid and left only to consider questions of infringement and damages? Another change in the past year is proposed new rules for claim amendments. Even though a motion to amend claims in IPR proceedings was provided for in the America Invents Act (AIA), in practice motions to amend were rarely granted primarily because PTAB proceedings must be completed within one year. The USPTO have now instituted a pilot program which provides two new options for patent owners: seeking preliminary guidance from PTAB and the opportunity to file a revised motion to amend. In Patricias view amending claims will still be very difficult, but it is important that patent owners can do this ultimately if a patent is important to protect your business then you want to save it for the future. Dustin F. Guzior (Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York) commented that since SAS he had already seen parties coming up with highly creative arguments as to why prior art should still be allowed into court proceedings. One such argument that has been made is that it can still be relevant in the context of evaluating the difference an invention has made over the prior art and therefore feeds into the question of damages. Panellistommented that since SAS he had already seen parties coming up with highly creative arguments as to why prior art should still be allowed into court proceedings. One such argument that has been made is that it can still be relevant in the context of evaluating the difference an invention has made over the prior art and therefore feeds into the question of damages. John Pegram (Fish & Richardson, P.C., New York) suggested that two housekeeping amendments to the AIA would be useful: (1) reversing the SAS decision to permit IPRs in respect of only some of the claims and (2) to change the post grant review (PGR) estoppel procedure. Are either of these a good idea? Fellow panellistsuggested that two housekeeping amendments to the AIA would be useful: (1) reversing thedecision to permit IPRs in respect of only some of the claims and (2) to change the post grant review (PGR) estoppel procedure. Are either of these a good idea? Vanessa was not in favour of (1) as it would make the estoppel less certain and thought that (2) was not necessary as, in her view, the reason IPRs are not used is not because of estoppel, but rather because of timing issues. In her view, the estoppel position has not actually changed much since SAS as parties would always have assumed they were going to be estopped in lots of cases anyway. Dustin wondered if it could result in more garbage patents being dealt with in court because it is simply not possible to get all good prior art into an IPR? Patricia commented that ultimately what parties want is a patent system that gives rise to the statutory presumption of validity and that would pave the way for more patents to be filed. Robert asked if the IPR system was affecting innovation and R&D? Vanessa said that from her standpoint it had not. Intel have a huge number of patents and also file lots of IPRs. There has been a lot of important innovation since AIA - blockchain and AI to name but a couple of key areas, and the PTAB is important for getting rid of the low hanging fruit in terms bad patents. That is the whole point of it. George E. Badenoch (Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, New York) agreed with Johns amendment (2) for changing the PGR estoppel procedure because often you simply do not know what the best prior art is until you see how the claims are to be construed and asserted. The factors originally set out in the Georgia Pacific test are drafted to catch everything relevant in a trial and they need be reigned in. Dustin commented that, in particular, parties would not want the jury to see the PTAB decision in case it gives the impression that the patent just squeaked through that assessment. Panellistagreed with Johns amendment (2) for changing the PGR estoppel procedure because often you simply do not know what the best prior art is until you see how the claims are to be construed and asserted. The factors originally set out in the Georgia Pacific test are drafted to catch everything relevant in a trial and they need be reigned in. Dustin commented that, in particular, parties would not want the jury to see the PTAB decision in case it gives the impression that the patent just squeaked through that assessment. George then turned to his presentation on Standing, Privity and Estoppel in IPR Proceedings. Whilst to file a trade mark opposition there is a requirement that you reasonably believe you will be damaged, when it comes to IPRs it is now clear that there is no standing requirement. All real parties do need to be named, and there are the estoppel provisions to prevent re-litigation, but is that enough to prevent patentees from vexatious actions? Anyone, including public interest petitioners can challenge validity. But, if they lose, then they cannot appeal to the Federal Circuit because that does require standing. There are now even companies set up to file IPRs solely for stock market manipulation purposes. This has been upheld simply because there is no standing provision, but you have to doubt that that is what Congress intended! AIT v RPX ( In relation to privity, the recent 2018 ) Federal Circuit case has confirmed that the court will look behind the parties into what is really going on. In that case, two parties (Salesforce and RPX) brought successive petitions, the latter after the first had been rejected. Salesforce was in fact a member of RPX. The Federal Circuit commented that determining whether a non-party is a real party in interest demands a flexible approach that takes into account both equitable and practical considerations, with an eye toward determining whether the non-party is a clear beneficiary that has a pre-existing, established relationship with the petitioner. The appeal in this case is happening at the moment. Brian P. Murphy (Haug Partners LLP, New York) agreed, noting that because estoppel now has more teeth, stays are more likely to be granted. Robert asked about stays of proceedings. Patricia commented that, as the latest statistic from the PTAB was ~63% finding of invalidity, it would seem likely that courts would grant stays. Panellistagreed, noting that because estoppel now has more teeth, stays are more likely to be granted. Brian then turned to his presentation, Dueling Banjos When Does a PTAB Invalidity Decision Unwind a District Court Infringement Judgment? The AIA sows the seeds for inconsistent decisions on validity. Some of the key differences that underlie this are as follows: Novartis v Noven ( In the PTAB the burden of proof is lower, and in close cases, that does make a difference. In the case of Federal Circuit 2017 ), two district courts found the patent to not be invalid, whereas the PTAB later found it invalid, quoting Supreme Court case law that the different evidentiary burdens mean that the possibility of inconsistent results in inherent to Congress regulatory design. Fresenius v Baxter ( When is the judgment final in the sense that it has a preclusive effect? In the case of Federal Circuit 2013 ), the issue of damages was outstanding when the PTAB invalidated the patent. The court, quoting the Supreme Court, found that a final decree is one that finally adjudicates upon the entire merits, leaving nothing further to be done except the execution of it. In that case the decision was not final and so damages did not need to be paid. Notably, Judge Newman dissented, stating that failure to adhere closely to basis issue preclusion is most likely to lead directly to inconsistent results that undermine confidence in the judicial process and the loser in this tactical game of commercial advantage and expensive harassment is the innovator and the public. This was all of course an issue of timing because if the judgment was final (i.e. also dealing with post-verdict damages) then damages would have had to have been paid. The system allows such accidents of timing and the same may well happen in the ongoing VirnetX v Apple cases to the effect that Apple may end up not having to pay a billion dollar judgment! From the audience Klaus Grabinski (Federal Court of Justice, Karlsruhe) commented that in Germany there is a presumption of validity and it is for the claimant to show invalidity. Once there is a final court decision on infringement, the claimant can get damages awarded and paid. Then if the patent is revoked, the other party has one month to come back to the infringement court with a restitution claim. " The second patent track session of the Fordham IP Conference was focused on the right to claim priority. More specifically, this session explored whether the EPOs approach to priority claims is fair and right in law. The audience was very engaged with this topic, perhaps also because of its international implications. Alexander de Leeuw ( Brinkhof for the report on the patent priority session: Over to guest Kat,for the report on the patent priority session: Jennifer Jones (Bird & Bird), who moderated this session, explained that priority claims are treated differently across different patent systems throughout the world based on various policy arguments. This creates obstacles for applicants who seek protection for their invention abroad and sometimes leaves them without a valid priority claim. If youd asked me three years ago, I wouldnt have said it was the most exciting topic, but I would have been wrong. , who moderated this session, explained that priority claims are treated differently across different patent systems throughout the world based on various policy arguments. This creates obstacles for applicants who seek protection for their invention abroad and sometimes leaves them without a valid priority claim. If youd asked me three years ago, I wouldnt have said it was the most exciting topic, but I would have been wrong. Maximilian Haedicke ( Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg introduced the audience to the subject matter by stating that priority entitlement has been in heavy discussion recently that involved prominent cases. He sketched three scenarios in which priority entitlement has been questioned, and used color coding used in his slides to indicate whether priority can be validly claimed at the EPO: A, B, and C file a priority application and at the stage of the subsequent application, a fourth person, applicant D, joins in the application. Maximilian called this the joint applicants or Humira scenario, marked green . A, B and C file a priority application and only A and B claim priority in the subsequent application. Maximilian called this the one applicant left behind or CRISPR scenario, marked red . Employee inventors A, B and C file the priority application and the employer D claims priority in the subsequent application, without an express transfer of rights. Maximilian called this the replacement of inventor by employer scenario, marked orange. The first scenario has been accepted by the EPO, stating that it is irrelevant whether additional applicants are listed. The second scenario was recently rejected by the EPO in the CRISPR proceedings, because it said that all applicants of the priority application would have to file the subsequent EP application . The third scenario leaves a lot of room for discussion, for example in cases of an implied agreement or transfer of equitable title. As illustrated in the slide above, Maximilian questioned whether this is really a fair balancing of interests or whether, just for formal reasons, valuable patents are not being granted. Tobias Bremi (Swiss Federal Patents Court) started his presentation with the remark that battles on entitlement to priority are causing a lot of trouble and delays at the EPO, and the question is whether there is a way out of this. He then addressed whether the EPO was intended to assess the applicants entitlement to priority at all and, if so, what the correct interpretation of Art. 87 EPC is. As to the first point, Tobias explained that the EPO is not competent to assess entitlement to priority issues, referring to striking similarities with questions of entitlement to the patent application itself. Once the formal requirements for claiming priority have been complied with, there is actually no legal basis for questioning entitlement, there is no legal basis for the EPO to ask for proof, and there is also no legal basis for finding a loss of the priority right. According to Bremi, and with reference to the Travaux Preparatoires, the general idea of the EPC was to keep the EPO completely out of entitlement issues as a matter of principle for a number of reasons and to leave that exclusively to the jurisdiction of national courts. It is for national courts to decide on entitlement issues when challenged by an allegedly entitled person. In summary, As long as the formalities encoded in the law have been complied with, entitlement is to be presumed by the EPO. Accord v RCT judgment of Mr Justice Birss. Tobias stressed that we should not simply continue an existing practice of law because we have been always been doing it like that. We have been in dead-end situations before the EPO with priority issues in the past, with the exhaustion of priority, and with toxic priorities or toxic divisionals. Furthermore, Tobias expressly pointed out that it goes against the general principles of property law that priority entitlement issues can be brought up by any third party before the EPO and not just by the one who is allegedly entitled. This opens up rather opportunistic and destructive battles on the validity of priority claims, also referring to thejudgment of Mr Justice Birss. Tobias stressed that we should not simply continue an existing practice of law because we have been always been doing it like that. We have been in dead-end situations before the EPO with priority issues in the past, with the exhaustion of priority, and with toxic priorities or toxic divisionals. lex protectionis, the law of the country where protection is sought to the priority applicants. However, the gist of the Paris Convention is to reduce impediments for international protection. By forcing applicants to comply with the law of the country of subsequent filing, these principles are in jeopardy. Regarding the CRISPR case, in which appeal is currently pending, Tobias is still hopeful that they will reconsider in the next instance. As to the second point, the same/all applicant approach expressed by the EPO in T 788/05 , Tobias explained that if the EPO uses that approach, actually they apply the, the law of the country where protection is sought to the priority applicants. However, the gist of the Paris Convention is to reduce impediments for international protection. By forcing applicants to comply with the law of the country of subsequent filing, these principles are in jeopardy. Regarding the CRISPR case, in which appeal is currently pending, Tobias is still hopeful that they will reconsider in the next instance. A lively debate followed, portraying an image of disbelief with many members of the audience that priority can be lost over simple formalities such as who is named on the applications or a faulty transfer of rights. Counter-arguments were made by some of the German attendees. Rian Kalden (Court of Appeal of The Hague) According to Rian, why would such a formalistic approach be justified if it is clear between, for instance, the employee and the employer that it has always been the intention that the invention would be transferred? Furthermore, she questioned whether it is justified that anybody could question the validity of the transfer of priority or whether this should be limited to the allegedly entitled person which is also under national law only available to the real owner of the invention. Rian also pointed out that the EPO does not have any conflict-of-law rules. This can lead to uncertainty. , speaking in her personal capacity, agreed with Tobias that the EPO should not be dealing with issues of priority entitlement. Rian acknowledged that the consequence of losing priority could be the introduction of new prior art, but argued that there seems to be less justification to be very formalistic about this. As an example, Rian referred to the situation in which the right to claim priority is not expressly transferred before the subsequent application is filed.According to Rian, why would such a formalistic approach be justified if it is clear between, for instance, the employee and the employer that it has always been the intention that the invention would be transferred? Furthermore, she questioned whether it is justified that anybody could question the validity of the transfer of priority or whether this should be limited to the allegedly entitled person which is also under national law only available to the real owner of the invention. Rian also pointed out that the EPO does not have any conflict-of-law rules. This can lead to uncertainty. Aloys Huttermann (Michalski Huttermann & Partner) expressed sympathy for the concept that if one applicant is the same, then the priority claim is not lost, he disagreed with Tobias, stating that it is When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So if you want to have a patent in Europe, you should play by the European rules. Aloys feared that if the priority assessment moves to national courts it will get really complicated. Tobias noted in response that there is no when in Rome do like the Romans do in fact, the Paris Convention intends to allow priority applicants to obtain protection in other countries by following their own rules. Klaus Grabinski (Federal Court of Justice, Karlsruhe) marked Tobias approach as revolutionary and stated that entitlement to priority only comes up in case of intervening prior art, in which case it really makes a difference, and to just go on with the opposition makes no sense. Althoughexpressed sympathy for the concept that if one applicant is the same, then the priority claim is not lost, he disagreed with Tobias, stating that it is When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So if you want to have a patent in Europe, you should play by the European rules. Aloys feared that if the priority assessment moves to national courts it will get really complicated.noted in response that there is no when in Rome do like the Romans do in fact, the Paris Convention intends to allow priority applicants to obtain protection in other countries by following their own rules.marked Tobias approach as revolutionary and stated that entitlement to priority only comes up in case of intervening prior art, in which case it really makes a difference, and to just go on with the opposition makes no sense. Lennie Hoffman (Former Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary) said I really wanted to add to Rians analysis, with which I entirely agree, that if the priority application and the application to the EPO are in respect of the same invention, it follows that somebody is entitled to priority. It seems very strange that a third party who makes no claim to that priority should be able to obtain it. Edger Brinkman (District Court of The Hague), agreed that it seems unfair for a party to lose priority over formal issues brought by an unrelated third party. He argued that the standard of proof is also relevant for this discussion, referring to the up to the hilt standard in prior use cases. I am using this as an argument saying that they should not maybe be as strict when deciding whether there is priority and be more lenient and grant priority if there is a good reasoning for granting priority. Edger also highlighted that this is particularly something that happens a lot for U.S. patents. Another Dutch judge,, agreed that it seems unfair for a party to lose priority over formal issues brought by an unrelated third party. He argued that the standard of proof is also relevant for this discussion, referring to the up to the hilt standard in prior use cases. I am using this as an argument saying that they should not maybe be as strict when deciding whether there is priority and be more lenient and grant priority if there is a good reasoning for granting priority. Edger also highlighted that this is particularly something that happens a lot for U.S. patents. Rian expressed her personal view that a lot of harsh consequences can already be solved if the EPO would allow retroactive effect agreements. In situations where the first applicant truly had the intention to transfer the priority right to the subsequent applicant, that could then be repaired even later on. I dont think anybody would have any interest that that should not be possible. Joachim Feldges (Allen & Overy) however questioned why should that exception be made in a system where we have all the formalities you have to live with and to comply with and you can cure the priority retroactively? As to the issue of faulty transfers,expressed her personal view that a lot of harsh consequences can already be solved if the EPO would allow retroactive effect agreements. In situations where the first applicant truly had the intention to transfer the priority right to the subsequent applicant, that could then be repaired even later on. I dont think anybody would have any interest that that should not be possible.however questioned why should that exception be made in a system where we have all the formalities you have to live with and to comply with and you can cure the priority retroactively? Annabelle Bennett (Former Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, Sydney), who said that she is finding this really hard to understand, because it seems to me this is a classic example of form over substance. Surely it is ridiculous that people would lose priority where youve got common inventors. [] it seems incomprehensible to me, quite frankly, that people are losing their patent for this sort of strict formality that surely the wits of judges and sensible-minded people and, Tobias, congratulations should be able to get over this. Disbelief was expressed by, who said that she is finding this really hard to understand, because it seems to me this is a classic example of form over substance. Surely it is ridiculous that people would lose priority where youve got common inventors. [] it seems incomprehensible to me, quite frankly, that people are losing their patent for this sort of strict formality that surely the wits of judges and sensible-minded people and, Tobias, congratulations should be able to get over this. South Africa: Mkhize to assess Abaqulusi infrastructure projects Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Zweli Mkhize will on Saturday assess progress in water supply infrastructure projects currently under construction in Inyathi and Bokwe villages of Abaqulusi Local Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, during an oversight visit. In a media statement, the Cogta Ministry said demand for services had increased in the areas over recent years due to a rise in formal and traditional dwellings. The eMondlo community is facing service delivery challenges due to an old waterborne sewer system, which is characterised by frequent pipe bursts, blockages, overflowing manholes, poor operations and maintenance of waste water treatment plant, and poor roads infrastructure, said the Ministry in a statement. Coupled with this was the inconsistent supply of clean running water as a result of dilapidated infrastructure. It was for this reason Cogtas Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), stepped in to provide technical and funding support to enable the implementation of projects aimed at addressing the critical needs of communities. The construction of the water supply infrastructure project in Enyathi and Bhokwe villages entails investigation of raw water sources, design and construction of water supply infrastructure, which will enable the provision of waterborne sanitation to both villages, benefiting approximately 250 households, Cogta said. The project comprises the upgrading of the water reticulation infrastructure in the two villages. The design and construction entails the laying of approximately 10km of water pipelines with a new reservoir and a Package Plant for purification of the raw water supply, the Ministry said. The project will serve in the Enyathi/Bhokwe Villages and thus far, about 7.1km of Water Pipe Lines have been laid in Enyathi: 1.4km of Water Pipe Lines have been laid in Bhokwe and excavations for the Resevoir Site in progress. The other project entails the rehabilitation of sewer reticulation network which consists of 2200m of sewer reticulation, house connections and 36 manholes that will be serving 57 households in the Bhokwe Village as well as the waste water treatment works. This project will benefit the communities as they will have a functioning water borne reticulation. The Minister will engage and listen to challenges of communities to ensure a coordinated response to the service delivery issues. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. iStock(FLORENCE, Italy) -- This year, myriad celebrations of Renaissance-era genius Leonardo da Vinci are opening across Europe to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. The Italian and French presidents on Thursday commemorated him at his tombstone in Amboise, in France's Loire Valley, where da Vinci died at age 67. Invited by the French king Francois I to live in a small castle next to the Royal Chateau D'Amboise, Da Vinci spent the last three years of his life feted in grand style. Da Vinci's birthplace, northwest of Florence, also is vying for attention on Thursday by opening a new exhibit to complement existing tourist attractions. The new exhibition will include small strands of dark hair that belonged to da Vinci and which were acquired from a private U.S. collection -- on view for the first time. Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the museum, and Agnese Sabato, president of the Leonardo da Vinci Heritage Foundation, hope the hair strands can be used to learn even more about the celebrated genius. They plan to carry out DNA tests on the hair strands and compare them to others they believe belong to living descendants of the artist's brother. Results also will be compared to bones found in Amboise that some believe belonged to da Vinci. The joint Franco-Italian da Vinci celebrations on Thursday come after months of mounting diplomatic tension between the two nations -- although a feud between the two countries over his artwork goes back decades. Earlier this year, Italy's interior minister provoked matters by saying the Mona Lisa should be returned to Italy. Italian officials angered the French further by saying they'd refuse to loan pieces of da Vinci's art to the Louvre for a massive show scheduled for October. It's still unclear whether Italy will loan France these pieces. Known also for The Last Supper and Vitruvian Man, as well as his codex, notebooks and sketches, da Vinci's works have fascinated millions for centuries. His interests spanned art, architecture, science, music and math, to name just a few. Inventions including the parachute, bicycle and helicopter often are traced back to studies or sketches dreamed up by da Vinci, who last month was determined to be ambidextrous by experts cited by Italy's Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi opened a new room dedicated to da Vinci last year and plans to analyze another 30 of the artist's drawings in hopes of discovering even more about the man. In 1994, Bill Gates bought the Codex Leicester for $30.8 million, the most expensive book ever sold. And a painting attributed to da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, sold for a world record $450.4 million at auction in 2017. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Fostering impunity The proposed amendment to the National Human Rights Commission Act 2012 does a disservice to justice delivery Kathmandus blood banks are running out of blood. The last several years have seen a major decline in blood donations, leading blood banks to struggle to manage blood for patients. Private schools operators decry local governments new rule Two umbrella bodies of private schools, which usually stand poles apart, have come together to condemn the move of many local governments to make it mandatory for those who hold public offices to enrol their children in public schools. A broken Congress under pressure to perform as effective opposition A day before the start of the budget session of Parliament earlier this week, the opposition Nepali Congress discussed in its Parliamentary Party meeting how the KP Sharma Oli administration had made a series of decisions without any consultations. Vetoed! Mayor Taylor makes his move. by James Leonard From the May, 2019 issue In early April, mayor Christopher Taylor vetoed a city council resolution. It was his first veto since he was elected in 2014--but with his council allies now badly outnumbered, it's unlikely to be his last. The veto came after council agreed to fund both sides' wish lists. First, members voted seven to four to add $880,000 for affordable housing, $880,000 for climate action, and $440,000 for pedestrian safety to the next budget. The $2.2 million total exactly equals the rebate the city will receive from the new county police-mental health millage, divided just as it would have been under a policy Taylor and his allies approved before the millage was passed. But though the mayor co-sponsored the resolution, it didn't mention any of that. That was Taylor's concession to councilmembers who didn't feel bound by their predecessors' policy. And it worked: three members of the new majority crossed over to back the spending motion. But then the new majority reunited behind a resolution of its own. This one allocated $1.5 million to the other items on the city's recent residents survey: mental health services, street repairs, drinking water safety measures, water and sewer improvements, and police services. It also passed seven to four--but the veto scuttled it. Taylor emails that by explicitly reallocating the rebate, his opponents' resolution "would have imperiled the long-term funding of climate action, affordable housing, and pedestrian safety." Taylor says he expects city administrator Howard Lazarus to include in the budget most of the items in the vetoed measure anyway. But the mayor wants it be identified as coming from the general fund--which, he points out, just got a one-time $2.1 million boost from the city's risk fund and an ongoing $600,000 raise from new construction. If there's money for everything, isn't the question of where it comes from purely symbolic? Taylor replies that using the money as promised "is an obligation of honor, and we have the obligation to be honorable." He ...continued below... adds that there's also "an important substantive benefit" to maintaining the original allocation: "It provides meaningful funding to these critical priorities for nearly ten years. That's not symbolism. That's reality."The reality for now, anyway: the new majority failed to get the eight votes needed to override the veto. But this is only the first year's rebate--the millage has seven years to go. If the balance of power shifts further, Taylor's foes may yet be able to make their priorities stick.Taylor isn't finished vetoing. "The next likely opportunity will be the budget. I suspect that I'll find it acceptable as is. Conversation about any budget amendments is likely to be contentious. If council amends the budget, the budget is also susceptible to veto. In the event an amended budget is vetoed, the administrator's budget becomes our budget going forward." [Originally published in May, 2019.] YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. During the May 2 Cabinet meeting the Government rejected a bill on amending the law on Labor Code because the proposed change is already regulated by legislation. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan said the bill envisaged amending Article 94 with a clause that age cannot be a reason for rejecting employment; however she said that the proposal is not in line with the content and regulations of the article. The Government suggests leaving the article in question unchanged, she said. So it turns out our Constitution has a very clear article banning discrimination, but we are getting various alarms that different manifestations of discrimination are taking place in the labor market, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan Construction of bridges along Postal Highway incomplete Passengers traveling on the Bhairahawa-Lumbini road section have been greatly inconvenienced by the dilapidated bridges at Tinau and Dandapul. YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia rejected a bill proposed by the Parliaments opposition Prosperous Armenia faction MP Sergey Bagratyan that sought to hold parliamentary plenary sessions in provinces twice a year. We believe there is a problem here because ensuring this entire process is related with great expenses and difficulties, Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan said at the Cabinet meeting. However, he noted that the parliament can anyway hold the sessions in the provinces if such necessity will exist, but he said that stipulating it by law is excessive and can threaten the safety of lawmakers. PM Nikol Pashinyan responded by saying that parliamentary committees can hold outgoing sessions whenever they want, but plenary sessions requires great spending. He noted the practice of Georgia that relocated the parliament seat from Tbilisi to Kutaysi. He said during his tenure as MP he talked to Georgian counterparts who were saying that the decision has not justified itself and caused difficulties. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. The first court hearing of former MP, retired general Manvel Grigoryan and his wife has commenced at the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction courthouse on May 2. Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan is prediding over the trial. Nazik Amiryan, the generals wife, is at the courthouse. However, Grigoryan is at a civilian hospital undergoing treatment. Manvel Grigoryan, a former lawmaker, retired general and ex-leader of the Yerkrapah Volunteers Union is charged with illegal possession of firearms, grand theft, extortion and tax evasion. Grigoryan was arrested in June 2018 when authorities raided his compound and found huge amounts of weapons and ammunition, as well as allegedly embezzled military supplies and donations. A private zoo and a large car collection was also found. He was released from custody on a 25,000,000 dram bail on December 21, 2018. His release sparked outrage in his hometown of Etchmiatsin and in January 2019 he was again arrested. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. During todays Cabinet meeting the Government of Armenia discussed the bill by the parliaments opposition Prosperous Armenia party that proposed to criminalize animal abuse. Agreeing in terms of content, we believe the problem must be solved in a comprehensive manner, Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan said. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the bill is acceptable in terms of its idea. But the standards must be very specific, so that we dont theoretically face a situation when for example someone has slaughtered lamb in their backyard for a birthday party and a criminal case is being launched, he said. Zeynalyan responded by proposing to abstain from the bill and initiate joint discussions and create the law. Pashinyan noted that there are numerous examples of animal abuse. He recalled how he witnessed a similar case at a correctional facility. Sometimes animals are made targets at shooting ranges for fun, such cases are numerous, he said. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. On the last day of the visit to Argentina, the delegation of the Republic of Artsakh led by Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian participated in the 45th International Book Fair in Buenos Aires, the Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release. Among over forty countries participating in the famous international event Armenia was represented in a separate pavilion, the collection of which was replenished with books gifted by the Artsakh delegation. An event dedicated to the Republic of Armenia took place within the framework of the Fair, at which over 1,200 visitors were present. Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian delivered a speech at the event. In particular, he noted the special love of book and reading by the people of Artsakh. Minister Mayilian expressed his gratitude to the representatives of the Armenian organizations of the Argentine Republic (IARA) and all those who had ensured the organization of the productive visit. YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. During the May 2 Cabinet meeting the Government of Armenia discussed the issue of changing state procurement regulations. Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan said they plan to make the procurement system more flexible, and that specificities are defined for defense sector procurements. The inclusion of SMEs are also taken into account, he said. Janjughazyan noted that the current law on procurement that sets the terms for the process is sometimes misinterpreted that the government must buy the cheapest products even if its of low-quality. The Minister of Finance said there are no restrictions in reality and that the government can choose more expensive products by comparing the prices with the quality. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the ministers remarks, noting: Turns out low-quality product has been bought by state procurement and a question arises as to why it was done? Turns out it was the lowest bidder. Seems like if someone was to propose for free they would win. Low price doesnt mean buying low quality products that are useless. Low price means necessary quality but maximally cheap, he said. Pashinyan added that perhaps special procurement trainings would be appropriate in governmental agencies in order to eliminate the stereotype. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, MAy 2, ARMENPRESS. ARMENPRESS news agency presents the interview of panarmenian.net with Ara Sargsyan, Head of Financial institutions division of Assets, liabilities and capital management center at Ameriabank. -Does attraction of large sums from international financial institutions indicate the trustworthiness of Ameriabank, or is this just win-win business? -Well, no transaction in real business goes through, if its not mutually beneficial. However, an important factor, if not the most important factor above all the commercial terms and conditions is the trust and the way investors or lenders believe in your success story. Since 2008 we have been able to raise more than $1 billion from international financial institutions (IFIs). I think the sheer volume of funds and the number of our overseas partners (and we work with all major IFIs) speak very loudly about the very trust of our partners trust in our business, our aspirations and the way we work to materialize them. As a matter of fact, two of our long standing partners the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank acquired equity stakes in Ameriabank, thus affirming the trust we earned during years of cooperation. -There are two mutually exclusive opinions about the debt-carrying capacity of Armenian economy: some experts think that economy suffers from lack of credit resources, while others argue that economy is over-indebted. Whats your opinion? -Firstly, loans to GDP ratio in Armenia is 45% which is way lower than that in developed countries. Therefore I wouldnt say that the Armenian economy is over-indebted. But there is no universally right or wrong answer here, because the debt can be good and bad, as such. Certainly there is an argument to be made that no debt is good one, but taking on debt is the only way many people now can afford to purchase large-ticket items like apartments and cars. While such loans usually are justifiable and bring value to the person taking on the debt (and contribute to economy by stimulating consumer demand), there is the other end of the spectrum taking on debt through careless spending, mostly on credit cards. In this case we would do better to realize how important it is to increase financial literacy and financial discipline, rather than criticize over-indebtedness as such. -With each new deal and increase of Ameriabanks equity, external financial resources become more and more accessible for you. What opportunities does this offer to clients of Ameriabank and to Armenian economy? -Very good question. Ameriabank as a financial intermediary is eventually on-lending attracted funds to end-beneficiaries, i.e. its customers, thus adding value both to small and large businesses and the economy as a whole. The bank currently enjoys the highest credit rating from two global rating agencies Moodys and S&P - which allows us to borrow both in hard currency and Armenian drams at the most favorable terms a local company in Armenia can borrow at. We are currently working with more than a dozen of institutional investors, allowing us to sustain a very diversified portfolio, as far as wholesale funding is concerned. For our clients, and accordingly for the economy of our country, this means being able to get the required amount of funding at competitive rates, and for promising sectors or market players with high growth potential this means being able to get financial support throughout rough times. -Working with IFIs does not only mean attracting funds. It means aligning your own business to best world practices. If we look at cooperation with IFIs from this viewpoint, what impact have they had on Ameriabank? -Indeed, doing business with institutional investors is not just about fundraising it goes beyond that, for sure. This sterling partnership with IFIs has become possible for us due to achieving and sustaining certain financial indicators and continuously improving our corporate governance. Cooperation with our esteemed partners is very challenging, but also very educating too. It is the result of our dynamic growth, but it also requires the right stimuli and targets. Benchmarking regional and global players and always striving for best practice is in our DNA, something that is ensuring the continuous progress of our Bank. It is demanding enough to operate all the time under the scrutiny of local regulator, but doing that in the framework of a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplined covenant matrix is more challenging. I am confident that our strategy of cooperation with IFIs is the right one and very important; its what makes us different from many of our peers, ensuring that we sustain robust capital buffers, liquidity positions, quality IFRS reporting based on exhaustive risk management and exceptional corporate governance that we have deployed in our organization. YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received the delegation led by Minister of State to the United Arab Emirates, Co-chair of Armenian-UAE intergovernmental commission Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh on May 2. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Presidents Office, welcoming the guests, the President highlighted the 1st session of the intergovernmental commission and expressed confidence that all the agreements reached during his last visit to the UAE will be implemented. President Sarkissian expressed readiness to support the implementation of those projects. Thanking for the meeting, the Minister of State of the UAE said that the meetings Armen Sarkissian held during his visit to the UAE have become guidance for him to hold discussions today in Armenia over various directions. He informed that the 1st meetings of the Armenian-UAE intergovernmental commission have already taken place, during which some agreements over a number of important issues have been reached. Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh said that they expect a closer cooperation in economy, education, culture, new technologies and other spheres. Noting that there are already success cases of UAE business in Armenia, the State Minister of the UAE highlighted their expansion and the involvement of the Armenian business in the market of the UAE. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan made a post on his Facebook page , informing that he sends a letter to head of parliamentary faction of Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan. ARMENPRESS reports according to the letter, the April 19 speech of Gagik Tsarukyan at the parliament and the interviews following it have rose concerns and suspicions among other parliamentary and extra-parliamentary forces, as well as the broad public that Mr. Tsarukyan is engaged in business, while according to the Constitution of Armenia MPs are banned from being personally involved in any type of entrepreneurship. I think that you should present comprehensive clarifications of the issue, Mirzoyan wrote. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan But media freedom advocates know the rankings can be deceptive. Five of the seven Oceania nations scoped in the Asia-Pacific region scored with apparently significant improvements in the 2019 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom index. Papua New Guinea rose by 15 points to 38th in the global table of 180 countries. MELBOURNE - When Pacific countries reflect on the state of their media today, marking World Press Freedom Day, they know the reality is much worse than the ticks they got from a global media freedom watchdog last month. New Zealand rose one place to seventh (to remain in the top 10) and Australia dropped two places to 21st, just one spot above Samoa, which was unchanged but described as losing its status as a regional press freedom model. Fiji (52), Timor-Leste (84) and Tonga (45) all improved. West Papua is the worst situation in the Pacific, but this Melanesian territory is hidden within the Indonesian statistics. The RSF index has a robust methodology, and the algorithms reflect that global media freedom has been declining, with growing hostility towards journalists since the last index survey. The situation in the Pacific has also been deteriorating. While there might not be assassinations, murders, gagging, torture and disappearances of journalists in Pacific island states, threats, censorship and a climate of self-censorship are commonplace. Take Papua New Guinea as an example again. Last week, amid what appeared to be the unravelling of prime minister Peter ONeills coalition government, described by many critics as a de facto dictatorship, an opposition leader made an extraordinary threat against the countrys two foreign-owned newspapers. Belden Namah Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah, leader of the PNG Party which is one of two major groups in the opposition, put the Australian-owned Post-Courier and Malaysian-owned National newspapers on notice that an incoming new government would deal to the media. Angered by the two dailies for not running his news conference stories, he threatened to regulate the print media should a new government be installed after the vote of no-confidence due on May 7. Last November, one of Papua New Guineas leading journalists, EMTVs award-winning Lae bureau chief Scott Waide, was suspended by his company. It had been under pressure from the ONeill government to have him sacked. Why? Because he exposed the inside story of a diplomatic Chinese tantrum and a scandal over the purchase of luxury Maserati cars during the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) hosted by Port Moresby. Columnist Vincent Moses wrote on Pacific Media Watch: Peter ONeill is acting like another Chinese dictator in Papua New Guinea by exerting control over both state-owned and private media to not report truths and facts that expose his government and their corrupt acts to PNG and the world. The strong condemnation that followed forced EMTV to reverse its decision and the network reinstated Waide. In the North Pacific, a Pacific Island Times magazine editorial last week blasted traditional chiefs on Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia for demanding the expulsion of a probing US reporter. Joyce McClure The magazines editor-in-chief, Mar-Vic Cagurangan, strongly defended her Yap correspondent, Joyce McClure, who has been living on the island for the past three years. She said declaring the correspondent a persona non grata would set a dangerous precedent. Joyce McClures reporting provided transparency, which was vital to every democratic society, Cagurangan wrote. Cagurangan has had to defend her teams journalism before. Last September, she wrote an editorial stressing the tough times Pacific publishers and editors of small publications face dealing with threats from advertisers in tiny markets. Given the small market, where there is a thin line between business and government, operating a media outlet is much more challenging locally. In Fiji, the independent New Zealand website Newsroom last month investigated a major environmental development disaster inflicted by the Chinese company Freesoul Real Estate on the remote tourism island of Malolo. The website exposed how Fijian news media had been effectively gagged by 13 years of draconian media legislation and a climate of fear since the 2006 military coup. Although democracy has returned and two post-coup elections have been held in 2014 and last year, journalists are often intimidated into silence. Opposition leader Sitiveni Rabuka, the man who staged Fijis first two coups in 1987, said the rot and culture of fear in the civil service and the intimidated and cowed media were now so ingrained in the country that it had taken foreign journalists to break the story. The RSF media watchdog warned in its 2019 report about totalitarian propaganda, censorship, intimidation, physical violence and cyber-harassment in the Asia-Pacific region. The pressures meant it now took a lot of courage to work independently as a journalist in the region where democracies were struggling to resist various forms of disinformation. The watchdog singled out China and Vietnam, which both dropped one place to 177th and 178th respectively on the global list of 180 countries, as the worst culprits. About 30 journalists and media workers are detained in Vietnam, with nearly twice as many being detained in China. The latter country is of major concern to the Pacific in view of its growing economic, aid, trade and strategic influence in the region. The report says: Chinas anti-democratic model, based on Orwellian high-tech information surveillance and manipulation, is all the more alarming because Beijing is now promoting its adoption internationally. Mar-Vic Cagurangan China has embarked on soft power strategies of seducing key journalists in the Pacific region with junkets to Beijing where they can be introduced to Chinese media manipulation. The RSF index sees the growing raft of cyberlaws in the Pacific as an example of this Chinese-inspired media manipulation. In spite of the pressures, Pacific journalists and publishers like Mar-Vic Cagurangan vow to fight on. We will continue telling the story and exploring the truth. We are not your enemy. We are your neighbours committed to upholding the principles of democracy. And, for nearly two decades afterwards, Beijing scarcely made a ripple in the regional lagoon, which ended with a flurry of dollar diplomacy competition with Taipei for recognition. It was the geopolitics of the Cold War that motivated China to seek a place in the Pacific island sun, not some soft-power pull from regional states seeking to a model to follow. There seems to be little evidence that regional states have the sort of admiration for, and desire to emulate, Chinas political or economic systems in the way Joseph Nye framed his idea about the attractive power of non-coercive influence. (The term Pacific islands is used here with the narrow meaning of the small member states of the Pacific Islands Forum.) CANBERRA - Just why the concept of soft power has become such an accepted explanation for the spread of Chinese influence in the Pacific islands is something of a conundrum. Richard Herr - "A perception that Canberra has drifted away from the regional consensus on climate change, development priorities and economic relations" A main motivator for applying the soft-power lens in this case appears to be the need to find some rationalisation for Chinas dramatic emergence to the centre of the regional stage as an economic, developmental and social influence and the consequential diminishing of the regions reliance on its traditional ties. A just-released ASPI special report, 'Chinese influence in the Pacific islands: the yin and yang of soft power', finds that the concept of soft power is overrated as an explanation for Chinese influence in the Pacific islands. The apparent fragility of Australian soft power in the region has less to do with the strength of Chinese soft power than a perception that Canberra has drifted away from the regional consensus on climate change, development priorities and economic relations. This is not to deny Beijings interest in developing its soft-power imprint. China reportedly has been spending an estimated US$10 billion annually for over a decade to promote its soft-power message globally. Yet, despite this effort, international indices of soft power show that China is making little headway statistically. The report supports this broader conclusion, noting that Chinas current soft-power influence in the Pacific island region lacks breadth and depth. There are some significant caveats, however, to this assessment. The metrics of soft power tend to favour liberal images of the state, so people-to-people attitudes and public diplomacy figure prominently, as do measures of civic influences on foreign policy. By contrast, China has tended to focus its public diplomacy on elites who can deliver pragmatic results for China in achieving its international relations objectives. Chinas approach to soft power is very much in evolution. It has varied over the two decades since the state made a political decision to pursue it as an avenue for foreign policy influence. President Hu Jintao advanced the narrative of a peaceful rise as a soft-power approach to promote acceptance of growing engagement with the rest of the world. President Xi Jinping has taken a more overtly demonstrative approach to securing admiration and respect internationally. Thus, international incidents, including some well-documented examples in the Pacific islands, reported in Western media as setbacks for Chinese soft power appear less important to Xi than establishing that respect for China is non-negotiablealmost no matter how small the slight. The economic miracle of China excites approbation in the Pacific islands as it has in other parts of the developing world. However, theres no public support for adopting the Chinese economy as a model for economic reform in the Pacific. The same is true for Chinas political system. The lack of democratic accountability and transparency serve as soft-power deficits for China. The recent 2019 Belt and Road Forum exposed these as significant soft-power weaknesses that are undermining, its claimed, Xis important message of reassurance to participants that he was dealing with their concerns about the debt and risks associated with his signature Belt and Road Initiative. A key advantage of having soft power is the inherent trust between states that it embodies. The debt trap meme is far more publicly understood in the Pacific islands than any of the putative winwin benefits of participating in the BRI. Indeed, Papua New Guineas prime minister Peter ONeill, who was the only head of government from the Pacific islands states at the BRI forum, appears to have been a victim of the so-called debt trap. Five government party members resigned from the party while ONeill was in Beijing, in part over concern that he was there to acquire more debt. Overemphasising the role of soft power in the spreading reach of Chinese influence across the Pacific islands comes at a cost. It seems to have been embraced by some policymakers as a challenge to be neutralised. The ASPI report argues that this would be an error. To attempt to pursue such a course would raise tensions in the region by suggesting to long-time regional friends that they should choose sides. As Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Dame Meg Taylor has argued, the region does not want to be asked to make a choice between China and its traditional friends. Rather, as outlined in the report, Australia will be better served to keep the soft-power balance in its favour by leveraging its much more extensive and well-established soft-power strengths in the region to secure the mutual benefits our neighbours expect from us. Richard Herr is academic director of the parliamentary law, practice and procedure course in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tasmania. He has served as a consultant on regional architecture to the governments of the Pacific Islands on various occasions since 1975 First bird flu death in the country exposes passive surveillance and poor preparedness The H5N1 bird flu virus that has been confirmed as the first cause of death in Nepal, 10 years after it was first detected in birds in 2009, is the worlds first H5N1 human infection since February 2017 and has raised issues of public health emergency of international concern as government and WHO officials refuse further information on the case. A post file photo of a poultry farm Kiran Panday By Olga Yagova, Gleb Gorodyankin and Dmitry Zhdannikov MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - It 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 day - or 10 percent of European oil imports - in a major disruption to supply from the world's second largest oil exporter. The disruption sent oil to a six-month high above $75 a barrel, tarnished Russia's 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 Tuesday, 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 world's 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. Story continues 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. For Russian oil pipeline map, see: https://tmsnrt.rs/2DytnnM 'HUGE PROBLEM' Oil contamination is not unique to Russia - European and Asian buyers of U.S. oil have rejected a number of cargoes from Texas over the past year citing poor quality - but the scale and severity of the problem is rare, industry sources said. Before the incident, Transneft, which operates 68,000 km of pipelines - enough to go almost twice round the world - was 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 Tuesday 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 world's 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 oil - worth more than $500 million at current prices - have already sailed from Ust Luga, according to a dozen traders. The buyers of the shipments - Total, Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura among others - will 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 Tuesday that the volume of contaminated crude could be as high as 5 million tonnes - equivalent to a month's exports via Druzhba of about 1.2 million barrels a day and worth $2.7 billion at current prices. In a news briefing on Friday, Igor Dyomin, an aide to Transneft's 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. Anton Tomilov, first deputy director at the Samara Transneft-terminal, said his company had sold the crude oil loading terminal in 2017 and he didn't know who owned it now. Reuters was unable to identify the current owner. Tokarev told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the oil had been contaminated deliberately by a private company. Putin said the crisis had caused very serious economic, material and reputational damage. "This company ... has deliberately injected oil that was not properly prepared," said Tokarev, adding that the unnamed company accumulated oil from small producers in the Ulyanovsk, Orenburg and Samara regions of Russia. Putin said on Saturday that law enforcement agencies could step in if Transneft's internal investigation failed to provide enough answers. (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Alexander Ershov, Luydmila Zaramenskikh, Alla Afanasyeva, Katya Golubkova; Olesya Astakhova and Maxim Nazarov in Moscow; editing by David Clarke) Image: Getty Noisy offices can make workers less productive and less creative. But they can also make workers anxious, with 50 per cent of people admitting they would factor in noise levels at a noisy office when it came to accepting or turning down a job offer, a new study has revealed. The study by commercial flooring company, Interface(R), of more than 2,000 workers in Australia, the UK and the US found noisy offices negatively impacted 69 per cent of workers concentration, creativity and productivity levels. Workers were most impacted by others conversations, phone conversations and phones ringing, and the sound of people walking around. "When creating workspaces, designers are often asked to apply planning methodologies or specify products based on design trends, rather than the specific operating needs of a business, said Chip DeGrace, Interfaces VP of Workplace Applications. But the best designs are those rooted in solutions specific to company culture, environmental aspirations and respect for individual user choice. This isnt the first study to reach the same finding. Research from Cornell University found excessive workplace noise can lead to illness and lower job satisfaction, in addition to stress and decreased productivity. Noisy offices can even lead to changes in weight, added the head of audiology at Macquarie Universitys Australian Hearing Hub, Catherine McMahon. And a 2016 survey of 1200 executives and employees by Oxford Economics found participants valued the ability to work without interruption the most in their workplace. The same study said open-plan offices can be particularly bad when it comes to office oise. As privacy dwindles, people have fewer places to escape the sounds of their coworkers chatter, sneezes, or phone calls. Noise from the open-plan office is picked up on calls and can distract those working from other locations, too, the researchers said. Story continues What you can do to cut office noise Macquarie Universitys McMahon suggested noise-cancelling headphones may help if the office cannot be altered to reduce sound. The effect of noise and stress is cumulative, she said. Everyone needs a break from noise. So taking a lunch break or going for a walk during the day is a great strategy and is good for your physical and mental health.Asking your employer to provide more private working, meeting and interviewing areas, or otherwise alter the office to cut noise is also a good idea. Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news. Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said he resigned on Thursday after a public outcry over the botched response to the serial killing of seven foreign women and girls. Nicolaou said he tendered his resignation to President Nicos Anastasiades for reasons of "principle and conscience", while adding he had no personal involvement in the case that went undetected for nearly three years. A suspect identified in Cypriot media as 35-year-old Greek Cypriot army officer Nicos Metaxas has confessed to the seven murders that have been dubbed the Mediterranean holiday island's first serial killings. The suspect reportedly met the women -- and two of their daughters -- through online dating site Badoo before dumping their bodies at mines-turned-lakes which have been swollen by record rainfall in winter. "I told the president of my decision to resign from my position as justice minister for reasons of political responsibility," Nicolaou told reporters as he announced he was stepping down. He also called for the police complaints commission to launch an independent inquiry into who is responsible, saying the lack of an initial investigation concerning the seven victims was evident. "I have never shown any disrespect, but I have demonstrated the need for an independent investigation that will indicate any gaps in procedures," Nicolaou said. Anastasiades said he accepted the minister's resignation. "It is with great regret that I have accepted the resignation of Justice Minister @MJPO_INicolaou as I am deprived of the services of one of my closest associates," the Cypriot president said on Twitter. - 'Shock and abhorrence' - The remains of two Filipinas, a woman believed to be Nepalese and a fourth, so far unidentified, woman have been found in and around two lakes outside Nicosia since tourists spotted the body of one of them on April 14. A search is underway for the bodies of three others: a six-year-old Filipina and a Romanian woman and her daughter. The Cypriot authorities have been accused of failing to properly investigate their initial disappearance due to neglect and racism. Outrage over the handling of the case has sparked protests in front of the gates of the presidential palace in the Cypriot capital. Demonstrators held up banners that read: "Stop discrimination towards women and foreigners" and "Police ignore women in Cyprus". In his statement on Twitter, Anastasiades said he shared "the shock and abhorrence of society over these unprecedented crimes". "I want to confirm our determination to fully solve these shameful killings, but also fully investigate the facts concerning complaints about missing persons," the president said. Nicolaou said his resignation was also in response to the public's reaction and the "apparent incomplete investigation of complaints". "I told the president I resigned because this is a shameful crime that has shocked the whole of society, not to mention what has come to light over the way the case was handled and possible oversights by law enforcement. "This detestable crime touches not only the police but also society itself, and I refer to perceptions and attitudes that do not honour any of us. "The police are members of society, so the search for responsibilities concerns all of us," he added. Cypriot authorities resumed their search on Thursday for the three missing bodies at abandoned mines near Mitsero village, about 10 kilometres (six miles) southwest of Nicosia, and another at nearby Xyliatos. A team of British experts joined the investigation this week at the request of the Cypriot authorities after the fourth body was found on Sunday stuffed into a suitcase in a toxic red lake at Mitsero. Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou announces his resignation on May 2, 2019 for reasons of "principle and conscience" after a public outcry over the botched response to suspected serial killings of seven foreign women and girls Cyprus forensic police officers probe the Red Lake outside Mitsero village, southwest of Nicosia on April 30, 2019 where the some of the bodies in a suspected serial killing have been found Protesters hold banners as they demonstrate in support of the victims of a suspected serial killer in front of the presidential palace in Nicosia on April 26, 2019 A deaf man who gained attention worldwide after adopting his perfect companion has taken to social media to document their adventures. Nick Abbott, 31, knew 12-week-old black lab mix Emerson was the ideal match when he saw him being advertised by foster-based rescue NFR Maine in the US in March. What stood out for Mr Abbott was that Emerson was also deaf. "Right off the bat he said, 'I'm deaf also and I feel like we'd have a good connection, Lindsay Powers of NFR Maine told Good Morning America about the moment Mr Abbott got in touch. Now the pair have found fame on social media after starting up an Instagram account this week. The pair are said to be inseparable. Source: Instagram nickandemerson Nick and Emerson two deaf boys and their adventures, the pages caption reads. The page has since gained thousands of followers in just 24 hours and features charming photos of the pair together. Such a wonderful story! Cant wait to see both of your journeys together, one person wrote. Emerson had been pulled from a shelter in Florida at just six-weeks-old after suffering from a spate of seizures. "He had such a rough start to life and he ended up with an absolute fairy tale ending," Ms Powers said. According to Mr Abbotts mother, Richelle, the pair hit if off immediately and says theyre meant for each other. Emerson has sine been taught some sign language. Source: Instagram/ nickandemerson The pair now have an impressive social media following. Source: CBS Their relationship began to blossom and got to the point where Mr Abbott was able to teach Emerson sign language to sit, lay down and come. "It's amazing... whenever they're together, Emerson is always finding a way to lean on Nick, Ms Abbott said. Earlier this year, a blind dog shot to fame after getting its very own guide dog. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. An elderly woman has been killed after she was struck by a cement truck while crossing the street with her husband in Sydneys north. The pair were crossing the road at Willoughby Road in Crows Nest when she was struck by the vehicle at about 11am. The woman, 83, died at the scene. Her husband, who wasnt struck by the truck, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with minor injuries including shock. A tent erected next to the cement truck. Source: Supplied Witnesses say the woman became trapped under the vehicle and was dragged down the street after the driver failed to notice hed struck the woman, Nine News reported. Witnesses pleaded for the driver to stop, who eventually realised what had happened and ground to a halt 15 metres along the street. NSW Police confirmed to Yahoo News Australia the driver, 35, who left his vehicle to try and free the woman, had been taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing. A witness at the scene told Yahoo News Australia the truck driver was visibly distressed and was shaking when speaking with officers. Investigations into the incident are ongoing. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. A close friend of the man who was nearly killed in a horrific head-on collision has issued a stern message to the girls in the vehicle that veered into his path on the weekend. Dennis Sales remains in a serious condition after a Suzuki Baleno being driven by Shania McNeill, 21, collided with the car he was travelling in on Richmond Road, Berkshire Park in Sydneys west, about 1.15am on Sunday morning. He had earlier finished a gig at Riverstone RSL with his band and was travelling home in a Nissan Micra driven by band mate Ken Morrow, when the Suzuki Baleno collided with them. The 21-year-old driver of the Suzuki, Ms McNeill, was killed, and her two friends, along with with Mr Sales and Mr Morrow, were transported to hospital. Dennis Sales was seriously injured in the head-on collision which occurred when a female driver veered onto the wrong side of the road. Source: Supplied A Snapchat video, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, shot just before the crash showed a woman believed to be Ms McNeill behind the wheel of a car. She faced the camera as a passenger screamed, Shania, before she turned her attention back to the road. Close family friend of Mr Sales, John OHara, told Yahoo News Australia he hoped the surviving girls would have a serious think about using devices behind the wheel. Just have a good think about what youre doing and what the consequences might be for other people, Mr OHara said. Its pretty clear what the consequences have been for us, I just absolutely hope that theyve learnt something by this, and that another family never has to go through this again. Mr O'Hara said Mr Sales, who he regarded as his brother, was "not in a good way" following the crash. Source: Supplied No recollection of the accident Mr OHara said his best mate, who he regarded a brother, was relying on assistance to breathe and had no way of communicating aside from using hand signals. During visits from his family, Mr Sales used his hands to make a love heart shape to express his love for them, but was still grappling with understanding what happened, Mr OHara said. He sort of looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and lifted his hand up and said what happened?, he has no recollection of the accident. Story continues Hes the kind of guy that puts life into other people, and to see him lying there its devastating, Mr OHara said. Ive been best mates with him for 26 years. Hes more like a brother. Weve always been there for each other. Mr Sales was on his way home from a gig when the car he and his bandmate Ken Morrow were in was struck by a vehicle onto his side of the road. Source: Facebook Mr OHara established a Go Fund Me page for Mr Sales and Mr Morrow to help with the financial strain placed on the family in the wake of the accident. He said despite there being a lot of anger over the circumstances surrounding the crash, Mr Sales family held no malice towards the parents of Ms McNeil. He received a message from the womans father saying he was very sorry for whats happened, and conceding that Dennis and Kenny are innocent victims. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. Liang is a doctoral student at Sichuan University, China. His research is focused on Chinas relations with Nepal. South Sudan's rival parties began two days of talks in Addis Ababa on Thursday in a bid to salvage a peace deal, with just days left before a unity government is meant to be formed. President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and a handful of other groups inked the peace deal in September 2018, the latest in a string of efforts to end a devastating conflict now in its sixth year. But the parties have failed to resolve several crunch issues before a power-sharing government is to be installed on May 12. Representatives of the parties gathered in Addis for a meeting called by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc for East Africa, holding prayers before going into a closed session. Government has insisted the meeting focus on how to push forward with the formation of the unity government. Machar's camp, though, wants a six-month delay to resolve security and other issues that, it says, prevent him from making his return. "There are key issues not implemented according to the matrix of the revitalized peace agreement," Kang Pal Chol, a senior member of Machar's SPLM-IO party, told journalists at the start of the meeting. "We've proposed a timeline that for these key issues to be implemented, we need this six months for us to achieve the unfinished business." "We expect the meeting to come out with the solution as the 12th of May is approaching. We expect the leaders of South Sudan will come to their senses and agree on what will move the country forward." South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei, told journalists that "if the government wasn't ready for the May 12 deadline, we wouldn't have come here." Machar is living in exile in Khartoum, having been hounded out of Juba in a hail of gunfire in 2016 when a prior deal collapsed. He is supposed to return as first vice president under the new deal. An official with the body overseeing the implementation of the peace agreement, Augostino Njoroge, said that of 59 key tasks to be implemented, only 27 have been completed. Of the others, 17 were ongoing and 15 were pending, meaning that they had yet to be broached. "Unfortunately, the pending tasks are the most critical and consequential to the implementation of the Agreement," he said in a statement issued by IGAD. Observers say that crucial steps envisioned in the deal such as establishing a unified army and discussing security control of the capital have yet to take place. Another key issue to be resolved is the contentious matter of internal boundaries. - Lack of political will - South Sudan's war broke out two years after independence, after Kiir accused his Machar, his former vice president, of plotting a coup against him. Battles between members of Machar's Nuer community and Kiir's Dinka people were characterised by brutal violence on both sides, rape and UN warnings about "ethnic cleansing". An August 2015 peace deal collapsed almost a year after it was signed and the conflict spread, drawing in more groups around the country. The fighting has killed around 380,000 people and forced more than four million South Sudanese -- almost a third of the population -- to flee their homes. While the latest peace deal largely stopped fighting, violence has continued in some regions with rebel groups who did not sign up to it. A reported issued on Tuesday by a UN expert panel warned that patience was wearing thin. "Commanders, fighters and civilians... have yet to see the benefits of the bargains struck by their leaders," it said. The report pointed to government resistance to provisions in the deal for warring parties to canton their troops, demilitarise civilian areas, collect certain types of heavy weapons and reveal the size and location of their forces. The latest peace deal was also largely pushed by longtime Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. His ouster has raised fears there is no-one in the region who has the will or influence to get the South Sudanese to implement the accord. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir wants the talks to focus on how to press ahead with forming a unity government The conflict has left around 380,000 people dead and forced more than four million South Sudanese to flee their homes With the ousting last month of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising, when civilians massed outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, a major backer of the South Sudan peace deal is gone A student has reportedly been banned from attending a school prom after a racist sign asking a girl to the dance emerged. In a photo posted to social media, the student is seen holding a sign that read: If I was black Id be picking cotton but Im white so Im picking u (sic) for prom. According to Fox8, superintendent of the Clear Fork Valley Local School District in the US state of Ohio, Janice Wyckoff, said the sign was awful. Kids need to understand, when youre celebrating things it doesnt give you a pass on using inappropriate racial slurs, she said. The student has been banned from attending a prom over the racist sign. Source: Fox8 The girl pictured with the student in the photo does not attend school in the Clear Fork Valley Local School District and it is believed she was not asked on school grounds, Fox8 reported. Ms Wyckoff said after realising the severity of his actions, the student removed the picture from social media. This is one person making a bad decision thats going to reflect on everybody, Ms Wyckoff told Fox8. The student will not be attending the prom but according to Fox8, Ms Wyckoff would not comment on any further disciplinary action. The student has been banned from attending prom over the racist sign. Source: Fox8 The latest racist promposal comes after a senior student from Riverview High School in the US state of Florida asked his girlfriend to the dance last year using a sign with exactly the same slogan. According to the Herald Tribune, the student and his family apologised and he vowed not to attend any more school functions. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. With no statewide victories in nearly two decades, two central New York Republican county chairs believe the state GOP needs new leadership. Cherl Heary, chair of the Cayuga County Republican Committee, and Onondaga County GOP Chair Tom Dadey have endorsed Nick Langworthy in the race to lead the state GOP. Langworthy, who chairs the Erie County Republican Committee, is challenging state Republican Chairman Ed Cox. The election will be held at a state committee meeting this summer. Heary said Tuesday that she likes Cox, who was elected state GOP chair in 2009. But she views Langworthy as more enthusiastic and believes it's time for new leadership. "Nick has plenty of new ideas, which I think we have to try," Heary said. "I think we're not going anywhere. We haven't gone anywhere in 12 years. It's time for somebody else to take the reins." During Cox's tenure as chair, Republicans have won congressional races across the state. In central New York, GOP candidates won congressional races in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018. But there has been criticism of Cox because of the party's failure to win statewide elections. The last Republican to win a statewide race was ex-Gov. George Pataki in 2002. Since that election nearly 17 years ago, Democrats have swept Republicans in races for governor, attorney general and comptroller. The lack of statewide success was a major factor in Dadey's decision to support Langworthy. "What we have been doing for the last decade has not worked," Dadey said on The Citizen's Eye on NY podcast last week. "There is a lot of folks who think we need to go in a different direction." Dadey formally announced in a tweet Monday that he is supporting Langworthy for state Republican chair to "rebuild, retool and revitalize" the party. Langworthy was elected Erie County GOP chair in 2010. He served as chair of the New York College Republicans from 1999 to 2003. As chairman, Langworthy supported fellow Erie County resident Carl Paladino's gubernatorial bid in 2010. Paladino won the GOP primary to face then-Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo in the general election. Dadey noted that Langworthy has been successful despite leading the GOP in a county where Democrats have a large enrollment advantage. Republicans hold three of the five countywide offices. "He's working really hard at it," Dadey said. "He's got a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm." As of Tuesday, Langworthy has been endorsed by GOP chairs from Albany, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Fulton, Livingston, Onondaga, Saratoga, Schenectady and Steuben counties. Five chairs from Broome, Chenango, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties have endorsed Cox to continue as state GOP leader. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A handful of projects and more than $36 million will close a 14-mile gap in the Empire State Trail through central New York. The largest project is a $27 million investment by the state Department of Transportation to connect Erie Boulevard between the city of Syracuse and town of DeWitt by improving bicycle lanes and pedestrian trails. The state will achieve this by reducing Erie Boulevard to one lane in each direction between Beech and Bridge streets to create an off-road bike and pedestrian trail. Onondaga County will spend $9 million to extend the Loop the Lake Trail around Onondaga Lake. The project includes constructing a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks at the south end of the lake. There is private involvement in the Empire State Trail projects. Honeywell Corporation will finish construction of the Loop the Lake Trail on the southwest side of Onondaga Lake. A new 3.5-mile off-road trail will stretch from the lake to the town of Camillus. The projects include a $500,000 investment by the New York State Fair to establish an Empire State Trail Gateway at the fairgrounds in Geddes, Onondaga County. The goal of the projects is to close the largest gap in the Erie Canalway section of the Empire State Trail, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. "These projects mark another significant step forward in completing the Empire State Trail, an outdoor tourism and recreation destination for both residents and visitors alike," Cuomo said in a statement. The state has already completed projects related to the Empire State Trail. The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation finished a $2 million project to upgrade a 12-mile section of the Old Erie Canal State Historic Park from Green Lakes State Park to Canastota in Madison County. Cuomo proposed the creation of the Empire State Trail in his 2017 State of the State address. The 750-mile biking and walking trail will draw an estimated 8.6 million residents and tourists each year. To establish the trail, the state and other entities will either construct or improve 350 miles of trails. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon believes the Empire State Trail will benefit his constituents and visitors to the Syracuse area. "These projects will provide a critical link for cyclists, runners, walkers and others to get out and safely discover and enjoy more of Onondaga County, making our community more attractive for residents and visitors alike," he said. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. U.S. Rep. John Katko has reintroduced a bill intended to boost the number of mental health care professionals across the country. Katko, R-Camillus, and U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano, the co-chairs of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, are urging their colleagues to support legislation that would create a loan repayment program for mental health care providers. The program would help counselors, therapists and other professionals repay educational loans in exchange for working in areas where residents lack access to mental health care services. Katko, who launched a mental health task force in 2015 to examine ways to improve services in central New York, highlighted the need for more mental health care professionals. He noted that one-third of individuals with mental illnesses are receiving treatment. "Americans require better access to trained mental health care professionals," he said. "It is imperative we create a sustainable workforce of therapists, psychologists and counselors who can meet the mental health care needs of the nation." Napolitano, a California Democrat, acknowledged there's a nationwide shortage, but focused on the lack of mental health care professionals in California. The shortage could get worse. She cited the California Future Health Workforce Commission, which found that the state could have 41 percent fewer psychiatrists and 11 percent fewer counselors, psychologists and therapists by 2030. "We have no time to waste," Napolitano said. "We need robust investment in mental health in America." Several organizations, including the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, endorsed the bill. Dr. Arthur Evans, CEO of the American Psychological Association, said the legislation would expand access to mental health services for more than 115 million Americans. "Additional federal support for behavioral health workforce training programs is needed to meet the growing demand for psychologists in the United States, which is expected to increase significantly by 2030," Evans said. Katko and Napolitano introduced the loan repayment bill last year, but it didn't advance in Congress. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LOS ANGELESThe tight-knit members of Choice Talent Management are dealing with a big loss this week, and several took time out to talk to AVN about the death of gay adult performer Casey Jacks, who passed away Monday night in Petaluma, Calif. Agency founder Chris Crisco spoke briefly with Casey Jacks brother, who was not in a state of mind to give much information. But he confirmed that [Jacks] had died Monday evening and that they were going to start memorial service processes and hopefully there will be something up in Petaluma for Casey. Though Crisco definitively states he doesnt have any official details about Jacks passing and chose not to speculate about the cause of death, he did confirm that the performer had struggled with substance abuse. Crisco has created a memorial page where his colleagues can post about Jacks. On that page Crisco notes that Jacks began his adult career 2016 when he shot with RealityDudes.com. During a short but busy career, Jacks worked for various studios, including Men.com, Falcon, Next Door Studios, GuysInSweatPants and Corbin Fisher (as Owen). Crisco represented Jacks for the better part of his career, since early 2017. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about him. He was super smiley. He was always a joy on set," Crisco recalled. He was the life of the party any time we went to any awards shows or parties or anything. The first one on the dance floor, the last one to leave the dance floor. He was always such a happy-go-lucky kid. You just never know when people have demons that theyre battling. They hide it so well these days. And we just have no idea. Absolutely no idea. Crisco talked to Jacks at least every couple of weeksas did his Choice Management brothers. They always loved talking to him. Theyre completely shocked, too. Most of us talked to him last week and I had planned to see him this week. As soon as I landed in California I called his brother, and thats when I found out the news. Asked what type of work Jacks liked best, Crisco said, He always did like to do the acting. He loved things with story plots. Obviously, he enjoyed the sex part, but he always enjoyed the B-roll and the dialogue that came with it, and he fancied himself a great actor. And I always did, too. He was so cute. He just loved everybody. Just an amazing kid and the industry is definitely a sadder place without him. Crisco mentioned that Jacks did a lot of work for Men.com and particularly loved shooting with Marc MacNamara. The director shared his thoughts on Jacks' passing in a statement to AVN. To be in front of the camera, performing in a sexual way takes a great deal of vulnerability, MacNamara wrote. I bow down to every porn actor because I couldnt do it. They give so much and open themselves up for their art. When you are so open and vulnerable, you are exposed. Thus it makes it easier to get hurt and to find darkness to hide in or escape to. Emotionally. Mentally, it is tough. Casey was a bright soul, MacNamara continued. He was quick, witty and kind. Darkness can find even the strongest and brightest. Our lives arent always the edited posts and status updates wed like to portray to the public. Lets honor Casey and his ever-present laugh and smile. We love you and lets love each other. Share the light he left for us. Nic Sahara, a fellow client at Choice Talent, shared his memories of his colleague. We were more work friends, Sahara said. We would always chat back and forth with each other trying to set up days we could actually hang out. He was always working. When they were able to get together, Sahara said, Jacks was very social and loved to connect with other people. He loved to go out. He loved to meet people. He loved to get drunk, have a good timethats what he was built for. He was living life to the fullest all the time. But what really stood out was Jacks sense of humor. Every time I would see his stories on Instagram or anything of that sort, I would laugh hysterically. He was so incredibly witty and completely and utterly a man of his own. He had everything going for him. The last time Sahara talked to his friend was on a conference call while they were planning to get together. Jacks told him, Everythings great. Work is super busy. And Sahara said he promised to get a treat for Jacks when they got together. If youre really good, Ill go ahead and make sure I have some empanadas there for you, Sahara told his friend. His face lit up. Though his friend gave no indication that he was in distress, Sahara said that later, When I heard the news I wondered, was I not there enough for him? Could I have been there more? Nick Fitt, another Choice Talent performer, also talked about how much he enjoyed Jacks sense of humor. I never worked with him personally on a scene but we were on set together and he was always happy and smiling and funny, Fitt recalled, noting that sometimes the crew would laugh so hard theyd have to stop production. I also serve as a production director for Mile High Media [the company behind Icon Male and Noir Male], so when he worked with them it was always a good time. Fitt took every opportunity to hang out with Jacks, and often drove him to Choice Talent meetings, dinners or photoshoots. He would tell Jacks, Ride in my car, because youre going to talk all the time and be hilarious and have all these funny stories. Fitt explained, It always felt like you knew him for 20 or 30 years. It felt like he was your kindergarten friend. I made sure I sat next to him or in earshot so I could hear him and hear what was going on. We had a playful banter back and forth. Like Sahara, Fitt was caught off guard by the loss and troubled that depression and substance abuse could have played a role in Jacks death. Were getting a lot of backlash on Twitter, like, why weren't you guys there? What happened? We honestly didnt know. Its a complete shock that this happened. Whether it was an accident or intentional, we need to raise awareness and we need to talk to each other and we need to know were all in this industry together. For his part, Fitt took the initiative yesterday to contact a group of adult stars who live in Los Angeles. I put everybody in a huge group text and was like, Listen, we cant have this happen again. And if anyone needs anything, you call me, you tell me. Lets not have judgment. Lets all agree right now that what we tell each other is confidential. I think that thats the silver lining. More people will come together and be open about their mental health and feelings. Communication can happen in many ways, Fitt says: If we could just get support systems going, just knowing that people are there. Lets go hiking, lets have a movie night, lets get togetherit doesnt have to cost money. We dont have to go out and be fabulous and have photos taken. There doesnt need to be a red-carpet walk. There doesnt need to be any of that. Fitt was moved by how many people shared their thoughts in the group text. We have about 20 committed people who live in Los Angeles, whether theyre doing OnlyFans, JustFor.Fans, mainstreamwhatever. We have a lot of people who came together yesterday. Its not the best solution, but its a start. ATLANTA, Ga.Pretty much everyone who's followed the travails of adult businesses in Georgia knows the name Scott Bergthold. He's the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based religio-conservative attorney who's previously been hired by Sandy Springs and other local communities to get rid of adult businessesstores, nightclubs, whateverby writing anti-adult ordinances for the cities and then getting hired to enforce them through legal actions. (AVN readers will also remember that it was Bergthold that helped get the eXXXotica Expo kicked out of Dallas.) But it seems that Bergthold's latest target is Tokyo Valentino, formerly known as Inserection, an adult "superstore" on Cheshire Bridge Road reputed to be friendly and open to the city's LGBTQ communityand even though the city of Atlanta has a pretty good record regarding its protections and treatment of LGBTQ residents, employees and even visitors, for some reason it saw fit to hire Bergthold to continue its so-far-unsuccessful attempts to shut the store down. In fact, Atlanta has been trying to get rid of Tokyo Valentino/Inserection for more than 20 yearsever since Inserection first opened in 1998, and that very day, the city changed its zoning ordinance to require that adult businesses be 500 feet from residences and other "sensitive uses"and it was one year later that a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled that the city must nevertheless give the store an operating permit, since it opened before the revised ordinance went into effect. But in 2014, Inserection expanded its floor space and changed its name to Tokyo Valentinoand in seeking a new operating permit for the new name and space, the city decided that the store's arcade booths and private "play rooms" in the basement were in violation of the city's building code and had to be removed. That started another round of litigation that's continued for nearly five years and has gone all the way to the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Bergthold appeared today to press the city's attempt to shutter the business. The store was defended by attorney Daniel Aaronson, who, according to an article on the Courthouse News website, told the three-judge panel that the arcades and play rooms "constitute a legal nonconforming use of the property." Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Tallman, who usually sits on the Ninth Circuit bench, asked "whether the ability to show explicit videos inside the basement video booths was granted by the business license under the old version of the ordinance." "Yes and no," Aaronson replied, explaining that while the store should have been ordered to close the mini theater after the 1998 district court ruling, it was "still a legal nonconforming use to sell adult novelties and videos." Bergthold, of course, disputed that claim, saying, "They operated an illegal business from the beginning; therefore they cant argue lawful nonconforming use. They opened in February 1998 and always did illegal things. ... They did not commence lawfullyit was unlawful from the beginning. [They] never established a lawful nonconforming use from the day they commenced using the property." It is not known when the Eleventh Circuit panel will deliver its decision in the case. And this isn't the first time Tokyo Valentino's owner, Michael Morrison, has clashed with Bergthold. Shortly after Morrison opened a Tokyo Valentino location on Pleasant Hill Road in Gwinnett County, Ga., in June 2015, the county accused the store of violating its anti-adult ordinanceand sure enough, Bergthold was one of the attorneys representing the county in that fight as well. One organization that's been following the Atlanta case for several years is Project Q, an Atlanta-based website and magazine that covers the city's LGBTQ sceneand earlier this week, it published an "expose" of Bergthold, noting that "Bergthold has been affiliated with anti-LGBTQ forces his entire career," adding that he graduated from Pat Robertson's Regent University School of Law, became president of the Community Defense Council, which published a book of boilerplate anti-adult ordinances, and is allied with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian law group, which "gave over $213,000 in grants to Bergtholds law office between 2010 and 2016." Bergthold is the author of several anti-adult ordinances for cities surrounding the Atlanta area, including Brookhaven, Doraville and Sandy Springs, and those cities have paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend those ordinances. And that's on top of the more than $750,000 he got from Dallas defending its anti-eXXXotica ordinance. Just how far Bergthold and the city will get in trying to close down Atlanta's Tokyo Valentino location remains to be seen, but sadly, Bergthold has a pretty good track record in these types of casesand he's got the bank account to prove it. The controversial FOSTA/SESTA law, which was signed into law of April of 2018 by Donald Trump, was widely seen as an all-out attack on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a law generally considered the foundation of the internet, as Vox.com explains. Section 230 establishes that no provider or user of an interactive computer service can be held legally responsible for information posted or provided by somebody else. Section 230 is the law that makes open communication online possible, because it means that internet service providers, web hosting services, or social media and blogging platforms are not forced to police and censor every user on their services to prevent defamation, obscenity, or other uses that could be legally questionablea task that would for all practical purposes be impossible. But FOSTA/SESTA changed all that, at least when it comes to sex trafficking. Under FOSTA/SESTA service providers and platforms could, in fact, be held responsible for third-party activities that are deemed to "promote" sex trafficking, as AVN.com has reported. But the laws fuzzy definition of sex trafficking, not to mention "promote," created a situation where almost any sexual or adult content could fall under the Section 230 FOSTA exception. A decision issued March 27 by the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, however, provides some encouragement for advocates on open internet communications. In the decision, available online at this link, the courtthough not specifically ruling on FOSTAheld that Section 230 protected an online platform, the gay dating site Grindr, from being held liable for the harmful behavior of a Grindr user. In the case, Herrick v. Grindr, New York City resident Matthew Herrick sued Grindr after a jilted boyfriend created a series of fake profiles for Herrick on Grindr. In response to the phony profiles, more than 1,000 men showed up at Herricks home, the restaurant where he worked, or contacted him by text message demanding a variety of violent and drug-fueled sexual encounters, the lawsuit said. According to an account by LGBTQ Nation, Herrick became convinced that the ex-boyfriend intended the men who found him via the fake Grindr profiles to sexually assault him. Herrick said that he complained to Grindr more than 50 times, but the platform managers took no action to stop the harassment. So Herrick sued Grindrin a lawsuit filed months before FOSTA became lawclaiming that Section 230 did not protect Grindr, because the app was, essentially, a defectively manufactured product. The three-judge appeals court panel disagreed. In their ruling, the judges affirmed that Section 230 disallowed lawsuits that try to hold an interactive computer service responsible for offensive content posted by a third-party user, even if the service refuses to remove the content when made aware of it, according to Socially Aware, a news site covering the legal and business aspects of social media. While Section 230 continues to face headwinds both in the courts and legislatively, Herrick shows that the statute continues to provide robust immunity for social media sites and other platform providers and online intermediaries, write Socially Aware bloggers Aaron Rubin & Charles Cartagena-Ortiz. Indeed, it is amazing to think that, more than 20 years after its enactment, Section 230 continues to serve its original purpose of enabling online services to thrive without the threat of crippling liability for the bad acts of their users. Whether the law will continue to serve its purpose when challenged by a lawsuit brought under FOSTA/SESTA, however, remains unclear. Photo by Grindr.com / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain As Minnesota porn troll lawyer Paul Hansmeier awaits a June 4 sentencing date, when if prosecutors get their way he will be looking at spending the next 12 years of his life behind bars, as AVN.com reported, he now may also face paying his victims back for the money that they paid himto the tune of millions of dollars. Those same prosecutors on Monday called for victims of what they called Hansmeiers "sham pornography film copyright infringement" cases, to seek to get back the money they paid him, according to a report by The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Hansmeier and his former law partner John Steele ran a scheme in which they would upload porn videos to torrent sites, where they could track users who downloaded the files, as AVN.com reported. They would then threaten the users with lawsuits for supposedly downloading copyrighted material, counting on the victims sense of awkwardness over viewing porn to prevent them from contesting the cases and simply paying up a sum of settlement money. As the scheme continued, Hansmeier and Steele graduated to producing their own porn videos, which they would also upload and track. The lawyers would ask for settlements that were small enough that it was more economical for victims to simply pay up rather than fight the bogus lawsuits, according to the Star-Tribune report. Though Hansmeier pleaded guilty, he subsequently took illegal measures, including money laundering, to conceal the full extent of his crimes and the money he made from them, prosecutors alleged in asking for the sentence of 12-1/2 years. Hansmeier was greedy, arrogant, devious, mendacious, and consistently positioned other people to be damaged by his conduct, even as he enjoyed the proceeds of the scheme he orchestrated, prosecutors told a judge. They said that victims who choose to seek restitution from Hansmeier would not be publicly identified. KMSP TV Vimeo Screen Capture BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.Hustler Hollywood announced its new North Miami boutiquelocated at 1610 Northeast 163rd St.will feature a grand opening celebration event beginning art p.m. ET Saturday, May 11. The celebration will be hosted by Hustler cover model Maya Bijou. I have always loved Florida and lived here for some time many years ago. Miami is a great city, and this location was a natural fit for us. We look forward to a long relationship with this wonderful community, said Larry Flynt, founder of the Hustler lifestyle brand. This Hustler Hollywood marks the 29th location for the retailer in the U.S., and the fourth store in the state, alongside Fort Lauderdale, St. Augustine and West Palm Beach. The company has plans on opening several more stores in the U.S. this year. Attendees of the event will have the opportunity to speak with Maya Bijou, mingle, get autographs and photos, enjoy drinks and hors-d'oeuvres, plus have the chance to win prizes throughout the event. The first 50 guests through the door will receive a special gift bag. The event is free and open to the public. Hustler Hollywood is a sophisticated lifestyle boutique that offers all the top pleasure product brands, lingerie and much more, including an extensive selection of high-quality toys, apparel, sportswear, accessories, jewelry, gifts & novelties, along with bath & body items. The store has knowledgeable staff who are trained to provide education and recommendations based on individual needs and who are dedicated to ensuring every customer feels welcome and comfortable while experiencing a high-end shopping environment. The store carries something for everyone. The first Hustler Hollywood opened in 1998 on the famed Sunset Strip in West Hollywood making this its 21st year in business. For more information, visit HustlerHollywood.com. Regulatory body to be set up to oversee organic farming The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development is moving to regulate organic farming as farmer groups and political leaders have been declaring chemical free zones haphazardly, and consumers are being fobbed off with products incorrectly labelled organic. DALLASSliquid has hired Martae Hunter as executive liaison. Hunter has been brought onboard to provide crucial assistance in the day-to-day performance of Sliquid's Dallas based headquarters. I have known of Martae and his talents for a while, said Sliquid founder and CEO Dean Elliott. Through interaction with me at his previous employer, I was immediately impressed with his professionalism and ability to warmly engage me in conversation while delivering exceptional customer service. I knew very early on that he was eventually going to be on team Sliquid and here we are. I look forward to having his bright disposition and attentive attitude around the office. Along with direct support to the executive leadership, Hunter will work closely with the Sliquid customer service, warehouse, sales, and marketing teams to help streamline projects and provide synergistic coordination to the daily operations of the office. Hunter will play a key role in alleviating some of the workloads of various, busy departments at the Sliquid corporate office. Under the direction of the Senior Vice President Colin Roy, Martae will be developed into his position with ongoing cross-training in all department tasks. His desire to learn the ropes and take the initiative makes Hunter the perfect fit to successfully liaise with Sliquid leadership, employees, vendors, partners and customers alike. I am especially honored for the opportunity to work with such an innovative company, producing the most natural women and men's sexual health products. Given a chance to use both my professional and personal skills, working alongside the creative minds at Sliquid, marks an extraordinary and exciting new chapter of life for me, Martae said. Martae Hunter is reachable at Sliquid Natural Intimate Products via [email protected], or by calling (214) 821-4400 ext. 225. Follow Sliquid through social media on Twitter @sliquid, on Instagram @_sliquid, and on Facebook at Facebook.com/sliquid. The poet Jane Hirshfield writes, A worldor bookthat is felt to contain the hidden is inexhaustible to the imagination. Poetry is the subject at hand, but she might as well be talking about fishing. Or about my father when she writes, Hiddenness is the ballast in the ships keel, the great underwater portion of a life that steadies the rest. I took up fishing in order to get to know my father. We used to stand in frigid Vermont rivers fly fishing for trout. The sun wasnt up yet and breakfast was hours away, but there we stood, catching nothing and mostly enjoying it. We fished in the White, the Black, the Green, the Tweed, the Winooski. We fished in high mountain streams in Wyoming and in the cold waters of the Rio Colorado. The names of the rivers, elegant or plain, excited me. The grandeur of those waters varied tremendously, yet each encounter with the possibility of touching life below the surface gave a lift to my heart. And my dad, in his clunky waders and Orvis vest, became more real to me each morning we got in the car and made our silent way across town or state lines to the nearest fishable river. The life he so carefully contained below his placid, capable surface began to show itself. I felt I knew him in a way no one else in the family did, not because we became different people when we fished, but because we were more ourselves. The night before a fishing morning Id put my rod in the car and talk to Dad about the flies wed use. Hed bring a creel and a net, along with a beautiful bamboo rod given to him by his father. Wed leave the house early, long before dawn, Dads thermos of coffee on the seat between us. Hed fiddle with the radio even though there was nothing to hear but static. After that wed sit in silence. Sometimes hed reach for the thermos and Id say, Ill do it, Dad, and pour him a cup of coffee. Our house was busy and noisy, full of the constant competition of five opinionated kids. It was a brand new pleasure to sit quietly with someone I was related to, and Dad seemed to like it as well. Fathers were different then. They said little and expected much, though the sum of those expectations was seldom clear. On fishing mornings, as we rattled along in the Rambler, the only expectations in the air were that wed cast our lines out and reel them in, cast out and reel in. Habit took the place of judgment or hope, and around these simple motions of the arm casting out and the body reeling in we built a tradition of relaxed enjoyment. Dads father was a legendary fisherman who traveled all over the world. He particularly liked salmon fishing in Iceland. One day, before I got the fishing bug, we made a rare visit to him in the western part of Connecticut. Grandpas house was old and creaky, with a few small bedrooms upstairs under the eaves. Thats where we would have spent the night if he and my father were on more intimate terms, but there always seemed a formality to their relationship. So we spent the day with him but said goodbye in the afternoon. We said we were going to drive home but in fact we checked into a motel right off the thruway. Earlier that afternoon, with the wind blowing slightly less than a gale, Grandpa got it into his head that it was time to bond with me and wed do so through fly fishing. He decided to teach me to cast, and he decided the best place for this was out under the huge maples that surrounded the house. I was able, once or twice, to set down an imaginary fly on an imaginary fast-flowing stream but mostly, over and over again, my fishing line flew into the trees and tangled there. Too windy, said Grandpa at last, unable to hide his disappointment. We went into the house together and I sensed that had been my only chance to make his acquaintance, and I had failed. My father and I never really trusted each other before we went fishing together. We knew nothing about the workings of silence and how it lays down a layer of familiarity that sings in the back of the throat. And up the arms. And into the chest. In short, we loved each other and had not known how to know it. But standing within the same quarter-mile in a thigh-deep boiling river, or at the edge of a quiet pool, and sometimes hauling a holy unseen secret out from below the still or roiling surface, shouting our good luckthis changed us. It was just the right amount of intimacy. For two people, shy with each other, it was not too much to bear. And we had the company of the brookies, the rainbows, the river and its tangled banks. Recently, reading the words of Vincent Randall, a Dilzhee Apache gentleman, I thought immediately of fishing. He wrote, Big Mountain is one of the sacred places where the Earth brushes up against the unseen world. He was talking, of course, of what in English we call the San Francisco Peaks, rising into the sky. To me, the world below the waters is twin to the world above the clouds. Its a holy mystery most of the time. Its the sky kneeling down in prayer. When it came time to settle my fathers ashes, I took my share of him to Mooselookmeguntic Lake, a great body of water where as a boy hed accompanied his father out in a boat on chilly mornings while Grandpa fished for landlocked salmon. Dad reported the boredom of those mornings, and the cold that seeped into his bones. He was 6 or 8 years old, not yet a fisherman, just a little boy prone to motion sickness. And when I paddled out onto the lake that foggy morning and poured his ashes onto the still surface that 80 years before might have reflected his own young face, I felt as close to him as I ever had, as close as when we stood upstream and down, just within sight of each other, fishing in the early light. Margaret Erhart is a writer, teacher, traveler and landlady. Some of her favorite work has been as an artist-in-the-schools in Tuba City, as a firefighter and as a Grand Canyon hiking guide. She is the author of five novels and has published essays in a variety of magazines. To find out more about her work, take a look at www.margareterhart.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In the wake of the Poway Chabad House shooting on the last day of Passover and as Jewish communities worldwide seek to express their unity with the victims, their families, and the Poway community, Chabad of Flagstaff is encouraging local Jews to #ShareShabbat (www.JewishFlagstaff.com/ShareShabbat) by joining synagogue services this weekend and bringing a friend as well. The gunman wanted Jews to cower in fear, leaving synagogues empty, said Rabbi Dovie Shapiro of Chabad of Flagstaff. Lets fill up Flagstaffs Chabad House to show that we will never back down in the face of hatred. Chabad of Flagstaff will hold Shabbat services this Saturday, May 4, at 11 a.m. Cold-blooded, fanatical hatred can only be uprooted by filling our world with pure, undiscriminating love and acts of kindness, Shapiro said. Lets stand proud of our heritage. Light Shabbat candles, as Lori Gilbert Kaye did. Put on tefillin before Shabbat, wrapping the hands that on Rabbi Goldstein will forever be scarred. "As Rabbi Goldstein said just moments after the attack," Shapiro wrote. "'We are going to stand tall, we are going to stand proud of our heritage. If a little light can dispel a lot of darkness, then many lights can truly illuminate the whole world.'" The campaign is being sponsored by Chabad of Flagstaff, a local Jewish organization. For more information, www.JewishFlagstaff.com/ShareShabbat. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 On the night of April 14, Jim Grantham walked his 3-year-old pitbull mastiff Brute around the Flagstaff Medical Center before returning to the RV he and his partner Shirley Rininger shared. After he put Brute in the RV, hiding his keys inside the vehicle, Grantham returned to the hospital to spend the night with Rininger, who had been admitted to the hospital a few days before for intense seizures six months into her pregnancy. Around 4:35 a.m. the next morning, Grantham went to check on Brute and have a cigarette. The RV was nowhere in sight. At 24 feet in length, the yellow and white 1973 Cabana is hard to miss. Brute was also gone. At first, Grantham thought the RV had been towed, even though he had cleared keeping it on the hospital parking lot with FMC staff. They assured Grantham that they hadn't towed it, then called the Flagstaff Police Department for him. The police looked at [FMCs] footage that morning, Rininger said. Officers told the couple the footage showed a dark SUV pulling into the parking lot near the pediatrics department at 4:20 a.m. Two subjects could be seen crossing Beaver Street and approaching the RV, one wearing all black, the other with a white hoodie. Another camera's footage shows the dark SUV drive away, followed closely by an RV. Both vehicles headed east on Cedar Avenue. The dog was nowhere to be seen. I dont know how those people got that RV, Rininger said. Brute wasnt aggressive, but he definitely stood his ground. He lived on a ranch with javelinas and coyotes that he went after. I would have thought he would at least act like he would tear the [intruders] apart. Grantham and Rininger had been living in the RV and traveling between Yavapai County and Flagstaff since they bought it off Craigslist for around $3,000 in late January, Rininger said. Moving into the RV was a combination of needing to cut ourselves off from everything and start new, Rininger said. We knew we needed a better environment for ourselves and the child. The situation proved ideal for the couple: Grantham was able to work remotely with his IT business, while Rininger could do her occasional freelance writing. The two planned for their daughter to be delivered at Flagstaff Medical Center, where Granthams child from a previous marriage was born eight years ago. Grantham, who lived in Flagstaff from 1998 to 2018, tried to get Rininger to move to Flagstaff with him not long after they met. When Rininger visited, she knew it would be a great place to raise their daughter. It has everything a big city has, but its very quiet. Theres green, and its out and open not oppressive like in the Valley, she said. [Jims] favorite place in Arizona is Flagstaff, and then our home and belongings and everything was stolen in the one place hes trying to get me to in the past year. I was like wow, the place you cant say enough about this happens there while Im at the hospital. Rininger said hours before she was hospitalized at FMC on April 10, the two had gone shopping to renovate the RV. We had bought brand-new hardwood flooring. I had bought electrical supplies, we were replacing all the lighting. Jim had replaced the light fixtures. I had picked out the paint for the bathroom and the kitchen area, she said. A few hours after the RV was stolen, Rininger was transferred from FMC to a hospital in Las Vegas where there was more room for high-risk pregnancies and Riningers particular neural condition. Rininger was able to get transferred through Guardian Medical, but it took Grantham five days to join her after trying to round up funds for a Flixbus ticket. The search continues In the interim, Rininger said, the stress of losing their home, vehicle, dog and work supplies while dealing with her illness took its toll. I lost my ever-loving mind, I went into a panic attack and they couldnt even get me to take medicine, Rininger said. After being discharged from the Las Vegas hospital, the couple was able to stay at a cheap hotel for a few days, thanks to Granthams sister. Even though the two were no longer in Flagstaff, they were still adamant about searching for their belongings and the dog they said was like a child to them. I dont believe in social media whatsoever, but Jim thought that by putting the RV out on social media it might be found because its so old, it stands out, Rininger said. But when he told me a GoFundMe page got started I was like what?! That totally floored me. After reading about Grantham and Riningers experience on Granthams viral Facebook post, a woman from California decided to start a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the couple. So far, $2,050 out of the $10,000 goal has been raised by more than 50 people. Now back in Phoenix, the couple has used some of the money to stay in a hotel for a few days, get Riningers drivers license reinstated and purchase some new clothing and shoes -- since they'd been wearing the only clothes they had on the night the RV was taken. The money also allowed them to buy food. They have also paid a few people back that have helped them out the past two weeks. Im a penny-pincher, so we are making the money go pretty far, Rininger said. Whats left will go towards a rental car and corporate housing in the Phoenix area so Grantham can get to his IT jobs at various residences and businesses. Grantham wrote on the GoFundMe page, I want to thank all of you again for your donations, your thoughts, and your prayers. Every little bit has helped keep us going these last few days. Grantham temporarily removed the Facebook post about the stolen RV because he said he was getting hurtful comments and visitors who were writing that the two had started a scam, something that Grantham wrote makes no sense. According to FPD spokesperson Charles Hernandez, flooding social media and sending out BOLO (be on the lookout) and ATL (attempt to locate) bulletins to neighboring jurisdictions helps improve the likelihood the property or stolen vehicle will be located. With regard to this specific investigation, the vehicle was entered into the stolen vehicle database and information related to the dog inside the vehicle was included, Hernandez wrote. The criminal investigations unit is continuing the investigation and working to help locate the vehicle and potential suspects. Readers can follow the couple's journey or donate at https://gofundme.com/dog-and-rv-stolen-from-flagstaff-medical-center. Love 2 Funny 2 Wow 1 Sad 11 Angry 3 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The detained migrants call it the hielera, Spanish for icebox. It is a metal-sided detention room which the detainees complain is kept painfully cold. Border Patrol insists it is kept cold for health reasons. The sign above the door reads Capacity: 35. On April 12, when I visited this El Paso, Texas, Border Patrol facility, there were close to 150 men in the room. The large, heavy glass window on the cell gives you a clear view of the detainees. They stand shoulder to shoulder. But for benches along the walls, which accommodate a small number, there is no room for the men standing to sit or lie down. Meals are provided to the standing migrants to eat in the cell. In the back of the cell is a commode with a 4-foot wall to provide some privacy. Twice a day, the cellmates are marched out for 45 minutes while the cleaning crew disinfects the toilet area. Fights have broken out over access to the toilet. An El Paso Border Patrol agent told me these detainees were arrested for crossing the border illegally. They should be referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for investigation, processing, release or deportation. But ICE will not accept all of them promptly, so many will wait from three days to three weeks in the icebox for a transfer to ICE. Next to the Capacity: 35 icebox are other smaller cells similarly crowded with male detainees, and next to those are cells crowded with women. One of the womens cells had a sign reading Capacity: 16. I counted about 75 women in the cell. Some mouthed the word help as they made eye contact through the window. Some are mothers nursing their babies. In the midst of these cells holding hundreds of male and female detainees is a small table with four medical personnel tending to a long line waiting for treatment. On the door of one of the small cells is a sign reading chicken pox. Inside a mother cradles a little boy in a shiny Mylar blanket. Just outside this building, hundreds of men, women and children who were brought in from the border hours before stand in long lines waiting to provide biographical information, go through a basic medical evaluation and fill baby bottles with formula. These migrants are at the end of a long and dangerous journey, and this preliminary process leads everyone to a table where four officials write down their information. The approach seems slow and clearly understaffed. Standing in line, a young mother holding a 1-year-old child tells us of her monthlong journey to escape Honduras and the threats of the narco gangsters. A thin, young Honduran woman, pregnant and close to delivering her first child, stands patiently in line. The young father-to-be hovers behind her holding two disposable diapers. Last night they came to our border looking for protection. When asked why she made this journey she tells us she was threatened when her husband refused to work for the gangs. She tells us her family sold everything to pay the smugglers who brought them to our border. A short walk away is the scene of the notorious fenced area under the Paso del Norte bridge. Border Patrol argued that press coverage of this spot was incomplete and distorted. A large military-style tent was erected with lights and heaters to accommodate the overflow from the nearby building. They tell us the yard around it was filled from time to time with detainees removed for the regular toilet cleaning inside the cells. Photos and videos portrayed this as an outdoor caged area under the bridge when, according to Border Patrol, it was temporary and a humane enclosure. I later met witnesses who disputed the Border Patrol version and insisted that migrants had been held overnight under the bridge and that they had seen the bruising of children forced to sleep on the rocks in the fenced area. They reported abusive conduct and language by the agents. On the day of my visit, the dusty tent under the bridge still stands. It is empty save for one broken table. Pigeons hover over the area and perch on the broken fence. The Border Patrol agent who guides me through this Border Patrol station, and another one nearby known as Station No. 1, points out food, diapers and formula stacked in every corner and in refrigerators and freezers. He tells me that he and his colleagues are caring professionals who are pained by the suffering of the migrants and angry at the unfair criticism they often face for trying to cope with the breakdown at our borders. As he walks through the crowds held in tents at Station No. 1, he points out that the migrants do not shrink away in fear. He tells me that as a father of three young daughters, he thinks of his girls every day as he faces waves of infants and toddlers who come to the border his agents patrol. Included in the omnibus appropriation bill that I helped write this year was more than $400 million for humanitarian assistance at the border. Caring for the children, pregnant women and others with illness must be our highest priority, but we can do much more to make sure, even in the midst of political controversy, that our treatment of these desperate people reflects who we are as Americans. When the president blocks all assistance to the Northern Triangle countries Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and shuts down avenues for legal migration, he guarantees more refugees will flee to our border. When he threatens to shut our border points of entry, he threatens our critical trade in agricultural goods, Caterpillar machinery and thousands of other businesses as well as American workers who count on commerce with Mexico. When he talks about dumping these migrants in sanctuary cities, he shows his contempt for their plight. When he uses words like murderers, rapists and invasion, he appeals to base emotions of fear and hate. At every turn, this president responds to this heartbreaking humanitarian challenge at our border with threats and meanness that will only make this worse for the migrants and our nation. This month in America, two major religions observed holy days: the start of Passover for those of the Jewish faith and Easter for Christians. In both faith traditions, the gathering of families is a significant part of this time of reflection. Blessed with time together with my own family, the faces of the families behind the barbed wire in El Paso stayed with me. Dick Durbin is the senior U.S. senator from Illinois. Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 More than 100 teachers of northern Arizona public schools, along with notables like Coral Evans and Shonto Begay, issued the following open letter to the State Representatives of Legislative District 6 Rep. Robert Bob Thorpe, Rep. Walter Walt Blackman, and Sen. Sylvia Allen: April 30, 2019 Dear Representatives of Legislative District 6: Teachers of northern Arizona have long been ignored by our current state representatives Reps. Bob Thorpe and Walt Blackman and Sen. Sylvia Allen, who chairs the Senate Education Committee. There is a continued lack of attention to the ongoing needs of public schools in northern Arizona from our legislators. This session, longtime Representative Bob Thorpe has done nothing to improve Arizonas schools. His most noteworthy actions on education are his failed attempts to limit ethnic studies in public schools and make it harder for college students to vote. Sen. Allen has prioritized expanding the school voucher system after voters overwhelmingly voted against Prop 305 last November, instead of fighting for more funding for our public schools. And newly elected Representative Blackman has attempted to limit the income students can receive voting in favor of HB 2523, which would have reduced the minimum wage to $7.25 for working students. We the undersigned have written this letter to urge our representatives to stop playing games and get to work for northern Arizona's children. It has been one year since teachers in Arizona took to the streets to demand that: Our students are put first in the annual state budget. Arizona teachers are paid fairly for the tireless work they do to educate and support children. More support staff is hired such as school counselors. Arizona ranks last in the country in student to counselor ratio. Since the 2008 recession, Arizonas Republican-led legislature has underfunded our public school system to the tune of $800 million robbing children across our state of a quality education, and the opportunity to thrive. Teachers see these effects every day in ballooning class sizes, outdated textbooks, broken school buses and unhealthy classroom environments. Further, the lack of funding for our public schools is a violation of Arizona's constitution. The Arizona Constitution states in Article 11, Section 10 that the Arizona Legislature ...shall insure the proper maintenance of all state educational institutions, and shall make such special appropriations as shall provide for their development and improvement. Not only has the legislature failed our students, but the powers that be in the state legislature have failed in their duty to uphold the state constitution. Every year that education funding has not been restored is a year Arizona has moved further and further away from the principles that founded our beloved state. After months of election-year promises to prioritize education and boasting the passage of a 9% increase in funding in the 2018 budget, we the undersigned would like to remind the representatives of Legislative District 6 that the job is far from done. What we are still asking for: Full restoration of education funding to 2008 levels. Competitive pay for all education support staff such as teachers aides and paraprofessionals. No new tax cuts until per-pupil funding for Arizona students reaches the national average. It has been one year since teachers and parents marched to the state capital to demand our state legislature takes comprehensive steps to strengthen our schools. Last year, we received marginal improvements in funding, which has led to marginal improvements in classrooms in northern Arizona. The children of Legislative District 6 deserve better and we demand action from our representatives. Concerned teachers of northern Arizona, Dana Almquist Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Judith Arnold Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District #1 Sheri Bain Mathematics, AP Calculus Teacher FUSD Barbara Ball Teacher FUSD Neal Barnett Teacher BASIS Matthew Barquin Teacher Flagstaff Shonto Begay Professional Artist/Educator Coconino Heather Bigley Teacher BASIS Flagstaff Derek Born English Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Lauren Bradshaw Teacher Flagstaff unified school district LiAnne Brant Math teacher Flagstaff unified school district Tami Butters Tutor and Reading Specialist Flagstaff Ross Carpenter Teacher Payson Unified Rebecca Cauthen Teacher Maine Consolidated School Rachael Cersosimo Special Education Teacher Fusd James Connell School Psychologist Flagstaff Unified Annie Crego Retired FUSD1 Jennifer Cummiskey Teacher Pine Forest Charter Association Michelle Despain Teacher Montessori Charter School of Flagstaff Travis Doerfler 4th Grade Teacher Flagstaff Unified SD Cree Donovan Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Kristen Doughman 3rd Grade Teacher FUSD Coral Evans Mayor Flagstaff Unified School District Robert Farrell School Counselor Maine Consolidated School District #10 Amy Faull Professional Education Program Advisor, instructor, and student teacher supervisor Northern Arizona University Michael Fillerup Educational consultant Flagstaff unified school district Kelly Fischer Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Jana Fix Physical Education Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District #1 Sarah Flores 1st grade teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Kimberly Fors Elementary Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Theresa Freas Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Alexa Frechette Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Toby Friedman Teacher District 9 Evangeline Garciaguirre First grade teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Marti Gilmore Teacher Mingus Union High School Gretchen Gooby Teacher (Retired) Flagstaff Unified School District Margie Goulden Parent of a teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Jeff Goulden Parent of a Teacher Flagstaff United School District Angela Gray Transition Specialist Flagstaff Unified School District Jon Griffith Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Lee Haferkamp Substitute Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Walter Halaberda Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Carrie Harrington Homemaker Flagstaff Unified School District James Hasapis Director of Choirs and Theater Northland Preparatory Academy Kevin Heinz SpEd Resource Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Kim Helwig Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Carol Hixson Special Education Teacher Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy Susan Holiday Substitute/Retired Science teacher Flagstaff Unified #1 Emma Horlacher Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Katheen Hughes Special Education Teacher Cottonwood-Oak Creek Schools Diane Immethun Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Amy Iniguez Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Lee Irby Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Martha Jansen Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District James Jones Navajo Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Angela Keller Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Jessica Kitterman Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Dan Kitterman Parent , Former Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Sara Klause Instructional Specialist Flagstaff Unified Schools Greg Klause Manager Flagstaff Unified School District Maureen Knowles-Short Program Specialist Katie Krause 5th Grade Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Maureen Landrith Certified Teacher Flagstaff Unified Schools Britney Lawler Special Education Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Molly Lesandrini Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Olivia Lorents Middle school English teacher, retired Flagstaff Unified School District Natalie Mann Teacher Williams Elementary Middle School Julia Manygoats Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Katherine Mareck Second Grade Teacher Pine Forest Charter Lora Mattke Former Spanish teacher Flagstaff Lynn Mavrek-Gurne Special Education Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Erin McCamish Physics Teacher BASIS Flagstaff Nancy McCleskey School Counselor FUSD Joan McCoy Instructional Specialist Flagstaff Unified School District Danielle Morales Kindergarten Teacher FUSD Kori Morrow Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Matt Nichols Former practicing licensed teacher Flagstaff Kevin Oelerich Teacher Flagstaff Chris Pabst Teacher (PE) Flagstaff unified school district Yvonne Parent Second grade teacher FUSD Rachel Perugini Teacher Flagstaff unified school district Benjamin Proctor Art Teacher FUSD1 Russell Randall Transition Facilitator Flagstaff USD Ilene Ryan Teacher FUSD Beth Sanborn Program Specialist (Retired) Flagstaff Unified School Dist. Jeremy Schroeder Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Sarah Shamah ELL Specialist FUSD1 Lily Stevens Teacher FlagstaffUSD Victoria Tomas Teacher Flagstaff unified school district Erika Tsouras Teacher FUSD (BASIS Flagstaff) Angela Waltner Teacher Flagstaff Unified school district Faye Warner Teacher Fusd Nancy Wildermuth Reading aide (retired AZ teacher) Maine Consolidated Lynn Winslow Retired Teacher COCSD Anamaria Ortiz Teacher Northland Preparatory Academy Alithea Gorski Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District #1 Valli Denmark Resource Teacher FUSD Levi Davis Teacher Flagstaff unified school district Amy Iniguez Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Jennifer Cernohous Teacher Flagstaff Junior Academy Ryan Brydenthal Elementary librarian(classified) Flagstaff Unified Heidi Thorne Certified Teacher Sedona Oak Creek School District Mary Phillips 1st gr teacher Window Rock Hesper Petersen Teacher Flagstaff unified school district Danielle Grimmett Teacher Flagstaff unified school district Cristina Guerrero 4th Grade Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Katherine Scholler Teacher Flagstaff Unified School District Rachel de Jesus Special Education Teacher FUSD Naomi Konkel Special education teacher WUSD2 Cam McCord Teacher FUSD Derek Born English teacher Flagstaff Unified Lee McGarey M.D. FUSD Mike Cosentino Teacher Brian Lewy Dean of Students Camp Verde School District Todd Schipper Science Teacher Winslow Unified School District For a full list of those who signed on to the letter, visit this story at azdailysun.com. Love 11 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 9 Ahram Online, by Jeff Fortenberry (Link: Egypt, our forgotten friend) 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. This is bizarre!! Unexplainable but so expected. Middle East Monitor (Link: Top US newspapers warn against designating Brotherhood) The New York Times and Washington Post newspapers have published pieces critical of ongoing considerations aimed at designating the transnational Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, Anadolu reports. Is the Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Group? the New York Times asks. Even experts critical of the Brotherhood agree that the organization does not meet the criteria for a terrorist group. The newspaper pointed to legal difficulties the decision poses, noting that the Trump administration would have to present evidence the group engages in terrorist activity that threatens America or its interests, and that rationale would have to be vetted through an interagency process that includes the State, Justice and Treasury departments. After the designation is made Congress would have a week to block it, and the brotherhood would have a month to appeal the decision in court. READ: Trump weighs labeling Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group The White House confirmed Tuesday the Trump administration is seeking to blacklist the group following a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Trumps push to designate the brotherhood would open the door to US sanctions for any group, nation or entity that does business with it, or otherwise provides loosely-defined material support to the group. It is unclear if the administration is seeking to designate Egypts Muslim Brotherhood, its worldwide offshoots or a combination thereof. Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who had the brotherhoods backing, won Egypts first democratic elections in 2012, but was removed from power by the Egyptian military following mass demonstrations roughly a year later. Sisi helped lead the coup that removed Morsi from power. Trump first mulled the idea of designating the Muslim Brotherhood when he assumed office in 2017, but then decided to drop the matter. Turkeys AK Party: US move against Muslim Brotherhood would damage democracy in Middle East In addition to Sisi, the designation would squarely place the US alongside Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain who all oppose and have blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood. In its op-ed, the Washington Post said: While the Brotherhood may be accused of promoting political extremism, it cannot be equated with organizations such as al-Qaeda, the Islamic State or Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that actually carry out acts of terrorism. While the Brotherhoods commitment to democracy remains uncertain, there is a good case to be made that its better to co-opt relatively moderate Islamists rather than push them into the arms of terrorists, it said. That is, in fact, the argument that Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi made before he was murdered by the Saudi regime. Settlers occupy areas along Bhimdutta Highway A large area of forest cover along the Dadeldhura-Dhangadhi section of Bhimdutta Highway has been encroached upon and occupied by illegal settlers. Pophams Bakery is set to open its second store, on Richmond Road, Hackney. The 1,710 sq ft ground floor unit, which neighbours London Fields, has been secured by property agency Shelley Sandzer on behalf of Pophams. Due to open in the first week of June, the new location will expand upon Pophams existing offer at its Islington site, with the inclusion of a new dinner service offering fresh artisan pasta. The premises will have space for 45 covers, including space for diners to sit at a chefs table to watch baked goods and fresh pasta being made. It is with great pleasure that we can reveal the location for our second artisan bakery, which heralds the exciting evolution of our concept, said Ollie Gold, founding director at Pophams Bakery. Since the opening of our first shop, which we developed from a derelict chemist, weve taken a hands-on approach with all aspects of the business and this has helped us go from strength to strength. We are excited to be joining such a fantastic community of artisan bakeries based in Hackney, such as E5 Bakehouse, Violet and Dusty Knuckle. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to reclassify an endangered species found in Nebraska and several other states to a threatened status, a lower designation. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Director Amy Lueders said the agency is proposing to downlist the American burying beetle, a species that required a special permit application for a Sandhills transmission line project. A public comment period on the reclassification will open this week. The wildlife service calls the burying beetle "one of natures most unique creatures." The Center for Biological Diversity, which has advocated for the beetle for years, was quick to respond. Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the center, said it counted it as a victory in 2015 when the Obama administration rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which it said would have devastated some of the beetles' last remaining habitat. The Trump administration has since signed a permit for construction of the pipeline, which has a proposed route through Nebraska. The science shows the American burying beetle is even more endangered now, yet the Trump administration is severely reducing its habitat protections, Greenwald said. (Interior Secretary) David Bernhardt and his crew are only downlisting these unique beetles to please their oil and gas industry benefactors. In Nebraska, the American burying beetle is found in the Niobrara River area and Sandhills in the north central part of the state, and Loess Canyons in the south central region. It is a large carrion beetle that buries small carcasses, lays eggs beside them and feeds its larvae from the carcasses. The beetle recently caused the Nebraska Public Power District to apply for an incidental take permit for its R-Project transmission line because of beetle habitat that lies within the project's path. Kevin Stubbs, biologist with the Oklahoma ecological field office, said the proposed rule change wouldn't affect any permit on the beetle related to that project. The proposed change would take at least a year or more to become final. Lueders said the agency began a species status assessment on the beetle in 2015. That year, it also received a petition to remove the beetle from the endangered species act. It found in 2016 the petition may be warranted. The assessment received input from fish and wildlife field officers across five regions, multiple species experts and peer reviewers in states throughout the beetles' range, Lueders said. It also worked with Native tribes, other federal agencies and research institutions. "This proposal is based on a thorough review of the best available science and information, including the recently completed (assessment)," Lueders said. The Fish and Wildlife Service is also proposing a rule that would tailor protections to only those the beetle needs for recovery. For example, it would exempt activities related to ranching and grazing in the northern plains, which includes Nebraska. "With our partners, we will continue to work to improve the status of the beetles populations, Lueders said. The proposed rule recognizes the burying beetle faces different threats across its range, and it reflects those differences, Lueders said. It was first listed as endangered in 1989. Jonna Polk, field supervisor with the Oklahoma ecological field office, said the species range has been reduced to about 10 percent of its historical range. The species no longer meets the definition of endangered, but future threats are likely to cause decline in the population within the foreseeable future, she added. The primary known threats to the beetle are increasing temperatures due to climate change and ongoing land use changes, Stubbs said. The southern parts of the beetles' range would have temperatures that could exceed the beetles' tolerances within a 20- to 30-year period, and the northern plains populations within a 50-year period. "There really isn't anything we can do protection-wise to address the climate risk," Stubbs said. "We have left protections for other land use related risks in place for all of the northern populations because within a 30-year window they would be the only populations potentially left." Lueders said efforts to monitor and conserve the species and its habitat will continue across federal, tribal, state and private lands, including the Sandhills area in Nebraska. Reach the writer at 402-473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSLegislature. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 If you live somewhere other than the western side of North Carolina's Research Triangle region, you may not have thought that a long-planned light-rail line between Durham and Chapel Hill had much to do with you. So, when the $3 billion-plus project met its demise a few weeks ago, you may not have taken much notice.The truth is that even if you live in Durham and Orange counties, the proposed 18-mile transit line would primarily have affected your wallet, not your daily commute or lifestyle. That the project was incompatible with the basic facts on the ground was its fatal flaw - a flaw that was only revealed, not caused, by skepticism from federal officials, state lawmakers, and such affected parties as Duke University and the North Carolina Railroad.North Carolina is a populous, fast-growing, and urbanizing state. But that doesn't mean our settlement patterns are friendly to large-scale rail transit, or likely ever to become so. Our "urban" counties are really suburban places for the most part. Most people still opt for homes in low-density developments. Most don't work, live, or shop in downtowns.There are, of course, counterexamples. Markets accommodate a variety of consumer preferences. There are smart business people serving those needs and making good money doing so. Good for them - and governments ought not to stand in their way by imposing onerous land-use restrictions.But there is no evidence of mass abandonment of lifestyles built on decentralization, dispersal, and automobility. North Carolina policymakers shouldn't pretend otherwise, or try to engineer a different outcome by expending billions of dollars and issuing thousands of regulations to cram North Carolinians into boxes, literal and figurative, that don't reflect their revealed preferences.What are those basic "facts on the ground"? I'll offer you two sets of data. One is from Smart Growth America , a group that advocates pro-density, pro-rail policies. It computes a "sprawl index" for metropolitan areas across the country, taking into account such factors as density, street grids, walkability, and the proximity of employment centers to residences.In the most recent study, North Carolina contained a disproportionate number of metros at the low end of the "smart growth" spectrum: Raleigh-Cary (ranking 155 out of 221 places evaluated), Wilmington (180), Asheville (183), Durham-Chapel Hill (191), Charlotte-Gastonia (197), Fayetteville (203), Greensboro-High Point (208), Winston-Salem (209), and Hickory-Morganton-Lenoir (dead last at 221)Our state's dispersed settlement patterns aren't simply the result of zoning laws or road-building guiding residential development. They reflect the dispersal of employment. People don't just live on the outskirts of cities and work downtown. Maps of daily commuting patterns within and among North Carolina counties resemble not so much a trunk with branches as a dense thicket.Moreover, jobs are getting more dispersed, not less. A 2016 report from the Brookings Institution looked at the proximity of jobs to central business districts in the nation's 100 most-populous metros. In all three North Carolina metros covered in the study - Charlotte-Gastonia, Raleigh-Cary, and Greensboro-High Point - the share of jobs within three miles of the urban core was lower in 2010 than it was in 2000. Those declines in job concentration were larger in North Carolina than for the nation as a whole.No mix of public policies, no matter how radical or costly, could change these underlying realities very much even if such a goal were desirable. North Carolina's communities are polycentric. They don't look like spokes around a hub. We'll see plenty of mixed-use developments crop up - to serve the needs of people who want to live, work, shop, play, and go to school without having to travel long distances - but those places will be dispersed as well, not clumped into central business districts. And we'll continue to see rural places become suburban ones.Automobility will remain the default commuting preference. But to the extent North Carolinians voluntarily give up driving, the options best suited to their needs will include buses, vans, ridesharing, and telecommuting. Railroads aren't the future. They're the past. Senate Bill 376: N.C. Patriot Star Family Scholarship/Funds Senate Bill 391: Expand Youth Internship Opportunities Senate Bill 392: Superintendent May Approve Charter Facility Bonds Senate Bill 476: Reaffirm Local Control of Discipline Policies Senate Bill 219: Modify Teacher Licensing Requirements The Senate Education Committee took action Wednesday, April 10, on a number of bills, including a law easing rules on welding and manufacturing internships.Lawmakers greenlighted some measures and merely discussed others. Senate Bill 376 , "NC Patriot Star Family Scholarship/Funds," would direct more college scholarships to military families. Over the next two years, the bill would push $1 million from the General Fund to the Patriot Foundation, a private organization that supports families of soldiers killed or wounded in action. It mainly serves families with service members stationed at Fort Bragg.The program will provide scholarships to children and spouses of veterans who die in combat, or who became ill as the result of terrorist attacks.The bill's primary sponsors are Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow; Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir; and Sen. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico. S.B. 376 unanimously passed and heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.State law now bans teens from doing hands-on welding and manufacturing internships. Senate Bill 391 would ease some of those rules.The bill, sponsored by Sen. Deanna Ballard, R-Watauga, exempts 16-year-olds fromsaid Jody Phillips, vice president of Smith-Rowe, a Mount Airy-based construction company.he said.Travis Reeves, superintendent of Surry County Schools, also spoke for the legislation.Reeves said.Students should be allowed, with appropriate supervision, to venture onto the floor of manufacturing plants and develop hands-on skills, Reeves said.S.B. 391 includes several work criteria. The bill stipulates that work with the machinery should be intermittent and short, and performed under close and qualified supervision. The employer would be required to send a copy of any internship agreements to the commissioner of Labor.S.B. 391 was approved and heads to the Senate Rules Committee. Senate Bill 392 would allow the superintendent of Public Instruction to approve issuance of private activity bonds for charter school facilities after a public hearing.Private activity bonds are tax-exempt bonds issued by or on behalf of local or state government to help finance special qualifying projects that would otherwise be considered private activities.The law requires that qualified private activity bonds be approved by the governmental entity issuing the bonds and from a governmental entity with jurisdiction over the area where the facility would be located. Under S.B. 392, the state superintendent - currently Mark Johnson - could authorize a private activity bond to finance a charter school facility.Sen. Deanna Ballard, R-Watauga, one of the primary sponsors of the bill, said the legislation is necessary because some local elected officials don't want to be associated with charters and vote against approving new ones. This opposition saddles charter operators with more debt.S.B. 392 gives charter operators another avenue to pursue when looking for a private activity bond.Ballard said the State Treasurer's office has no objections to the bill. The committee voted to approve S.B. 392 and forwarded it to the Senate Finance committee.Sen. Rick Horner, R-Nash, said Senate Bill 476 can be described as a reset of discipline policies in the state's public schools.On Jan. 8, 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance to public K-12 schools about administering school discipline without discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Local school districts were required to implement rules complying with the guidance. In 2018 the ruling was reversed.Horner said the bill allows local school districts to re-evaluate disciplinary policies in light of the reversal.Horner said.The bill passed the committee and heads to the Senate Rules and Operations Committee.Sen. Tom McInnis, R-Scotland, said his district is struggling with teacher shortages, and not enough is being done to address the problem. Not only do many of his school districts have vacancies, one even has seven full-time substitute teachers.McInnis said.To address the teacher shortage problem, McInnis, along with Sens. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, and Todd Johnson, R-Union, introduced Senate Bill 219 The bill was initially designed to make it easier for out-of-state teachers to become licensed in North Carolina, but the State Board of Education approved rule changes last week , and senators introduced a proposed committee substitute.The PCS addresses the same problem of teacher shortages but in a different way. The new version of S.B. 219 would allow a local superintendent and a school principal to sign off on a limited license for a teacher who has failed to pass their licensing exam.The teacher would be allowed only to work in the district that granted the license for three years. If they have still failed to pass the licensing exam after temporary license expires they could apply for a renewal, but the local superintendent and principal would have to sign another affidavit.McInnis said.Although the kindergarten teacher has high EVAAS scores, McInnis said, her anxiety keeps her from passing her licensing exam and out of the classroom. Just last May, she had to leave her classroom.S.B. 219 would have granted the kindergarten teacher more time to pass her licensing exam and keep her in the classroom.Sen. Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, suggested amending the bill to exclude teachers who teach higher level STEM courses. Robinson said she was concerned about having teachers who can't pass the relevant sections of the licensing exam being allowed to teach STEM courses.McInnis said his districts need help now dealing with teacher shortages.McInnis said.The bill was only up for discussion. A vote will be held at the committee's next meeting. The Warren County Board of Education is in hot water for eliminating an Army Reservist's job while he was called up to active duty.The Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal court Wednesday, April 10, to protect rights guaranteed to Command Sgt. Maj. Dwayne Coffer under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.The complaint alleges Coffer's job as dean of students at Warren County Middle School was eliminated while he was on active duty. Instead of re-employing him in a comparable job, the school system demoted him to physical education teacher at Northside Elementary School.The complaint seeks to reinstate Coffer into a proper reemployment position and recover lost wages, and other benefits.This is the second time the Justice Department sued Warren County for failing to renew Coffer's employment contract. The earlier lawsuit involved Coffer's 2012 period of military service.Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a news release.USERRA protects the rights of uniformed servicemembers to retain their civilian employment following absences due to military service obligations, and provides that service members shall not be discriminated against because of their military obligations, the news release from U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. of the Eastern District of North CarolinaThe Labor Department's Veterans' Employment and Training Service investigated the case, and the Labor Department referred the case for action at Coffer's request.Information about USERRA can be found on the Justice Department's websites here and here , and on the U.S. Department of Labor website. Image of Belews Creek coal ash pond (Graphic from N.C. Department of Environmental Quality website) Duke Energy intends to challenge a state Department of Environmental Quality order to excavate all its coal ash pits, saying it would impose undue financial harm.Duke, one of the nation's largest power providers, announced its decision in a news release Thursday, April 11, 10 days after DEQ ordered Duke to excavate all of its remaining coal ash impoundments in North Carolina. Duke's appeal will be filed with the N.C. Department of Administrative Hearings.Coal ash cleanup is a long-running environmental battle. Duke claims it will incur $5.6 billion in costs at power plant sites under existing cleanup orders. DEQ's order forcing it to dig out nine more coal ash pits would increase the price tag by $4 billion or $5 billion.The utility and regulators are quarreling not only over the best cleanup method, which will affect the cost, but also whether ratepayers and taxpayers will share cleanup costs with the utility and its shareholders.Coal ash, sometimes called fly ash, is the residue from burning coal to produce electricity. Tens of millions of tons of the substance have been stored on power plant sites for years. It can contain arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, aluminum, barium, boron, hexavalent chromium, vanadium, and other toxins.The Charlotte-based company proposed draining water from coal ash ponds and capping them with a waterproof cover and layer of soil to prevent runoff at its Allen, Belews, Cliffside/Rogers, Marshall, Mayo, and Roxboro facilities.DEQ said it did rigorous research and conducted public listening sessions in affected communities. The agency concluded only excavation would meet the Coal Ash Management Act's requirement to dispose it in the way which best protects public health. The coal ash must be disposed in a lined landfill. Duke must submit final closure plans to the agency by Aug. 1, and finish all cleanup by 2029.Duke said Thursday it had submitted detailed scientific and engineering analyses for nine of the company's 31 North Carolina basins where site-specific closure plans weren't spelled out.Duke's news release stated.Duke said its appeal will provide details showing DEQ's decision-making process failed to consider fully the science and engineering in the utility's proposal.Duke claims it has made tremendous progress in safely and permanently closing ash basins around the Carolinas, and will continue that work to resolve the environmental threat.said N.C. Department of Justice spokeswoman Laura Brewer.She said N.C. Attorney General Josh SteinStein has publicly claimed Duke knew for years coal ash was toxic, but failed to act responsibly. He has filed suit with the state Supreme Court to block an N.C. Utilities Commission ruling allowing Duke to pass along $546 million from completed cleanup procedures to consumers.Gov. Roy Cooper supported DEQ's April 1 decision.Cooper said. (CJ photo by Kari Travis) It's tough to be a teen girl today. Youth depression has risen significantly over the past decade, the uptick coming primarily from girls. The mother of a 17-year-old girl, I know pressures are high. Smartphones and social media fuel constant connection and comparison. Achievement expectations and perfectionism raise academic stakes, creating stress and burnout. Days are long; nights are short. Girls need lots of adult perspective, at home and school, to cope with it all.First, those numbers: 41 percent of teen girls nationwide experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. That's nearly double the number of boys voicing similar symptoms, according to the latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey . Angst peaks during junior year, when 44 percent of girls are depressed. Many adults, then, know a girl who's sad and stays that way for weeks at a time.New data buttress worries about social media. A large-scale study from University College London, evaluating almost 11,000 14-year-olds in the U.K., found girls wereSocial media use was associated with a "stepwise increase" in depression. That's concerning, given girls' proclivities: 43 percent spent three or more hours daily on social media.Perfectionism creates another pressure point. A recent study in, comparing nearly 42,000 American, British, and Canadian college students to earlier generations, found greater perfectionism today. Socially prescribed perfectionism - striving for perfection to gain others' approval- increased most. Researchers cite cultural and economic change and competition, along with greater parental anxiety and control, as possible causes.In top high schools, striving can reach toxic levels. Attending a high-achieving school, while conferring academic benefits, raises depression and perfectionism risks, according to Arizona State University psychologist Suniya Luthar's research . Kids internalize this exhausting ethos: "I can, therefore I must."School counselor Nartarshia Sharpe sees myriad pressures for girls. The High School Member Services Representative for the N.C. School Counselor Association , Sharpe says social media isamong girls' external pressures.Disconnecting daily for some period of time helps kids decompress.Sharpe says,Family connection builds kids up, enabling them to face the world again.Since she began working in Wake County in the mid-1990s, Sharpe has observed growing perfectionism and a need for recognition. It isn't just student-driven,she says. At the mall or grocery store, Sharpe hearsbetween parents, discussing the number of AP classes kids are taking, or colleges' expectations.she says,Sometimes therapeutic intervention is needed, of course. But parents can help kids reframe perfection pressures by sharing times they messed up or weren't prepared, Sharpe says:Learning they do shows kids they can recover from failure too.Girls are competitive about grades, scores, college acceptances, Sharpe affirms; rethinking comparison helps. She tells students,About admission to prestige colleges, Sharpe challenges prevailing all-or-nothing thinking. She says,Words to live by, at any age. Contact: Attila Nemecz Attila Nemecz Attila.Nemecz@beaufortccc.edu The Beaufort County Community College Foundation is proud to announce the following Darragh Foundation Scholarship recipients. Established in 1998 by Richard and Mildred Darragh, the Darragh family focuses on the impact of education in the communities it serves. The Darragh Foundation's mission is "Helping to Improve the Lives of Others." Scholarships from the foundation are awarded to continuing education students seeking their high school equivalency diploma and students working towards an industry-recognized credential returning to the workforce. Scholarships are awarded biannually and students must show academic promise and demonstrate need. The BCCC Foundation has awarded over $150,000 in scholarships during the 2018-2019 academic year. Scholarship applications for the fall semester are due on June 27. Registration is open for summer and fall classes, including through the Division of Continuing Education., 61, is a commercial driver's license student. The husband of Dedria Blount, the son of John and Adell Blount of Plymouth, he is a resident of Grimesland. Blount attended Plymouth High School, and he plans to drive trucks and start his own business., 25, is a small engine repair student and son of Cecil and Leona Taylor of Williamston. The Chocowinity resident attended South Creek High School. He currently works at Lowe's as a loader., 37, is part of the income maintenance worker program. The daughter of Lorraine Gordon and a mother of one, she hopes to start a non-profit for youth. Colbert attended Washington High School and holds a pharmacy technician certificate and an Associate in Applied Science in Human Services Technology from BCCC., 42, is a commercial driver's license student. The husband of Darlene Terry-Coplin and father of two is a resident of New Bern. He attended McKinley Tech High School., 36, is a medical office specialist student. She is a mother of three, wife of Dennis Fonville and the daughter of Louise and Sammy Booth of Washington. The Washington resident attended Washington High School., 38, is the daughter of Marilyn and Ronald Gaylor, wife of Chris Harris and a mother of two. The Swan Quarter resident attended Manteo High School. She is a certified BLS instructor for Vidant. She plans to become a registered nurse within three years after completing the phlebotomy program. Harris currently works at the Vidant Multi- Specialty Clinic in Belhaven., 32, is an income maintenance worker student. She is a mother of five and the daughter of Nancy Battle of Washington. The Washington resident attended Washington High School.is an income maintenance worker student. The mother of three is a resident of Greenville. She holds an Associate in Applied Science in Human Services Technology from BCCC.For more information, contact Jen Seay at jennifer.seay@beaufortccc.edu or 252-940-6218. I came to Elizabeth City on Monday, in fair weather. Hundreds od blossoms adorned the lawns, the woodlands and even the roadside. The three rivers were as blue as could be and all of the world seemed to be singing.Lyla had been at the window, watching for my arrival and she did not miss the moment I drove up. She always greets me with a long and joyful greeting- It is a treasured moment and typically, I hear her scurrying and calling out "Honeybee!" I drop all my bags and she is in my arms quickly, for a long embrace, whether it has been a few weeks or a few days, since "we were together". Little Brynn smiled at me and it seems at long last, that she considers me "familiar" now.Each morning begins with feeding a pair of ducks, from the porch. I so hope they show up one day with ducklings. Will, often has coffee on the porch and Jenny and the children, follow, shortly after. I am usually up first, and while the coffee brews, I sit on the back deck, to collect my thoughts and watch the birds and squirrels. I saw the yellow tanager twice, the first day! She was flying hastily, but the yellow bird did not go unnoticed. There are several pairs of cardinals and there are always robins. One morning, Lyla and I watched a blue jay, gathering nesting materials. Lyla was very amused, at his antics.On Tuesday, Lyla and I went to the grocery. We had a long list and so it took a while to gather the items. Lyla is quite helpful at finding the items and reminding me to "stick to the list". When we got back, the day called to us and so we all spent the afternoon in the back yard. Lyla is learning to swing and she takes it quite seriously. I was reminded of the poem, "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Lyla memorized the first stanza and recited it for her dad, when he came home. My own children memorized poetry regularly and I remain glad, for a semester of poetry is hardly enough. I still remember my third grade teacher reading "The Duel" (E. Field) to us-and then "Fog" by Sandburg. Of course, I prefer the old classic poems that have a rhythm and rhyme. I am on a mission to revive the lost art of many things, for my grandchildren, . . which includes meandering, and pretending knowing the name of birds and flowers . . .and poetry.On Wednesday, Lyla rode her tricycle to the laughing river. The water was a deep indigo color and along the way were irises and a mock orange - and a hodgepodge of oxalis, violets , buttercups and coral bells in the yards. The breeze blew the spent blossoms of dogwoods in the air and I told Lyla, that it was raining flowers.When we got home, Lyla and I began making a banana pudding. After supper, we carried some to Miss Thelma. I have been giving Lyla lessons on good manners, which I think is another "lost art". The visit with Miss Thelma, gave Lyla the opportunity to practice and she did everything just right. Good manners mean you are thinking of someone else, pure and simple.On Thursday, Lyla and her mom had dental check ups, and errands to run. I took Brynn out for her first solo stroll. The day was as glorious as could be . It was a short walk to the river and Brynn seemed to enjoy the cheerfully laughing water. Brynn is a happy baby and so very beautiful. She has learned to clap her hands and what a precious sight to see her laughing and clapping like a little doll.After baths, everyone settles in for a quiet evening. It is always the same. One night, Lyla gave a violin recital and recited her poetry, for us. That was a special night.One morning, I woke up and "out of the blue" . . it was Friday! It seemed like as fast a week, as I have ever lived, had passed . Time is much shorter when it is measured, I think. (This is why, in the summer, I abandon clocks altogether and the calendar is only useful for bill paying and birthdays.) The early morning smelled like rain, and the heavy clouds confirmed the chance. Today was the day to pack . . .for all of us. Will and Jenny are coming back, for a gathering, on Saturday to celebrate my sixtieth birthday, which was on the 18th. Tres, Brant and Sydney, my sister, Delores, niece, Dana, and cousins, Chuck and Chris are all coming. I am not the sort that wants a party for me, but this is almost like a reunion and I am looking forward to it.There are a few things in life, that I can not get my fill of-springtime and grandchildren -family meals and Christmas -leisure strolls and the nights when we all sleep under one roof, again. Dear Diary, The older I get, the less I know, for sure. . .but these things are certain. These things, I hold in my heart . . .and will abide for now and be treasured every year, hereafter. Shades of single-party rule The Prime Ministers Office seeks to keep a firm grip on the entire state machinery. Kava Roots at 928 Broadwater is the first establishment in the region dedicated to serving kava, a beverage made from roots of the Piper methysticum, a plant that originated in the Pacific Islands. A 23-year-old Billings man whose predatory acts a federal judge called "unspeakable" was sentenced to 18 years in prison for mass sexual exploitation of young girls through social media. Tyler Daniel Emineth met teenage girls on Facebook, solicited nude photographs from them and then, in some cases, threatened to expose those images if they refused to record themselves in sexual acts with other people, according to prosecutors. By federal law, the images and videos he procured from girls younger than 18 constitute child pornography; Emineth was indicted on three counts in June 2018. However, Assistant U.S. District Attorney Zeno Baucus said Thursday that subsequent investigation produced 22,000 pages of messages through Emineth's Facebook page, in which he contacted 348 women and girls with solicitations for nude photos or videos. Sixty-three sent images to him, the prosecutor showed, and 22 of those were juveniles. At least one girl he contacted was 14 years old. Emineth would tell some girls and women he would send them money in exchange for the images, but they never received any payment. The U.S. Department of Labor is suing a Billings general contractor, saying the business wrongly fired an engineer who warned about safety concerns at an out-of-state project. The whistleblower lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Billings recently against Agri-Systems, a Billings-based general contracting company. The company, at 1300 Minnesota Ave., does business as ASI Industrial. Bob Hamlin, president and CEO of the company, said Tuesday he had not yet been served with the complaint. Hamlin said he was not aware of any serious injuries stemming from the Illinois project at issue in the lawsuit. According to the complaint, ASI Industrial fired electrical engineer Steve Petry in February 2018 after he announced plans to alert Illinois authorities to safety concerns about a feed mill project he was involved with in Chrisman, Illinois. The firing violated protections for workers who lodge complaints under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the government said in its lawsuit. A 49-year-old man was ordered to prison Wednesday for raping a teen in 2016. Robert Leeroy Fortman was sentenced to 50 years in the Montana State Prison with 20 years suspended. District Court Judge Donald Harris followed the joint sentencing recommendation laid out in a plea deal. Fortman admitted to raping a 15-year-old girl multiple times over two months in 2016. You ruined my self-esteem, my confidence, and worst of all, you took my pride and what little time I had left to be a child, the girl said, reading from a prepared statement. The victims mother also testified, saying her daughter had suffered depression and anxiety because of the rapes. She told Fortman that there are days we live five minutes at a time because of you. Fortman spoke briefly before the judge handed down the sentence. All I can say, and I know its probably not enough, is Im sorry, he said. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed a second count of sexual assault at sentencing. Three fish and wildlife related resolutions were approved by the Legislature. Although they carry no force of law they are seen to represent the majority of the state lawmakers desire, opinion, sympathy, or request. House Joint Resolution 18 urges the enhancement of elk shoulder season regulations. SJ 6 supports delisting of grizzly bears from Endangered Species Act protection, and HJ 28 requests that the Bureau of Land Management deny the American Prairie Reserves request to modify grazing leases for bison and remove interior fences on the allotments. Still awaiting action is a bill that would allow a hunter to kill up to three elk in the shoulder season, HB 497. Right now hunters are allowed to kill two cow elk. One sporting group opposed the measure saying the issue of elk harvest is about access to private land, not providing more tags to hunters. Pool/Max Mumby/Getty Images(LONDON) -- Princess Charlotte is turning four and her parents, Prince William and Kate, shared three new photographs of the young royal to celebrate. The photographs of Charlotte, William and Kate's middle child, were taken in April by Kate at the family's Anmer Hall home in Norfolk, according to Kensington Palace. They show Charlotte smiling and enjoying the outdoors, from sitting on the grass in a flowered dress to running with a yellow flower in hand and sitting on a fence. Charlotte has been seen before in family photos and stealing the show as a bridesmaid at royal weddings, but she has the stage all to herself in these new photos. It was just over one year ago that the adorable young royal posed for photos on the steps of Kensington Palace on her first day of preschool. Since then, Charlotte has become a big sister to Prince Louis, who was seen in new photographs released just last month for his first birthday. She will also soon gain a cousin for the first time on her dad's side. Charlotte's aunt, Duchess Meghan, is due to give birth any day to her first child with Prince Harry, meaning the cousins will have a lot to celebrate each May. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Two major police units operating from tents for last four years The eastern gate of the National Trading Limited at Teku leads to a view of blue tents anchored to the ground. These blue tents belong to two major police offices in the Capitalthe Metropolitan Police Range and the Metropolitan Police Crime Division. Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill on Thursday allocating $8.9 million to expand Bismarck State College's health sciences programs. The college plans to relocate the programs, which are currently housed at the Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health building in downtown Bismarck, to its main campus. Funding for the move was included in a bill to fund various higher education capital projects. "We are so grateful to the North Dakota Legislature and Gov. Burgum for their support of our programs and the students who are called to this vital field," BSC president Larry Skogen said in a statement. Due to the limitations of the current facility and budget constraints, the college has turned away students seeking training in nursing and other health occupations, according to BSC's website. The lease on the space in downtown Bismarck also is set to expire this summer. The new, existing building on campus, will accommodate more students and have state-of-the-art technology and equipment, according to a news release from BSC. The building also will include a "virtual hospital," that will allow for collaboration among the health sciences departments and provide additional training opportunities. The number of jobs in health care is expected to grow 18 percent from 2016 to 2026, faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Thanks to this support, we can help fill this demand more quickly now as we expand all our programs," Carla Hixson, BSC dean of current and emerging technologies, said in a statement. BSC spokeswoman Juanita Lee said the plan is to move equipment from the downtown Bismarck facility to the new building in July and start classes there this fall. (Reach Blair Emerson at 701-250-8251 or Blair.Emerson@bismarcktribune.com) Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Gov. Doug Burgum on Thursday signed the last 53 bills remaining from the 2019 North Dakota legislative session, including one reforming civil asset forfeiture. Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, brought the original bill to eliminate the "perverse incentive" of "policing for profit." Civil asset forfeiture applies to property involved in crime. The bill evolved greatly over lawmakers' 76-day session, which ended April 26, with extensive work from the House Judiciary Committee before its smoother Senate passage. A number of components came into the reform, including raising the evidentiary standard for forfeiture from preponderance of the evidence to clear and convincing evidence. The bill requires reporting from courts, prosecutors and the attorney general and allows interjurisdictional prosecution and for city and county commissions to oversee a fund of forfeiture proceeds. There is also a proportionality test to not forfeit property worth in excess of a criminal penalty, as addressed in a U.S. Supreme Court opinion handed down as the bill first passed the House in February. Perhaps the biggest change is the reform's conviction requirement for forfeiture proceedings, which are a separate, civil matter. But the conviction requirement has exceptions, such as death, deportation, disappearance, abandoned property and evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of property's criminal involvement. Law enforcement and prosecutors opposed the conviction requirement in Becker's original bill as some crimes cannot land convictions, such as for absconded drug dealers whose cash is seized. Becker voted against his bill on Friday in its final House passage, opposing its reporting components and exception of evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. He has said there may be a ballot initiative in 2020 to further address civil asset forfeiture. The new law takes effect Aug. 1. Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. GRAND FORKS In what likely will be a contentious vote, the University of Colorado Board of Regents will decide Thursday, May 2, whether to name Mark Kennedy as the University of Colorados next president. Controversy and protests have surrounded Kennedys nomination as the sole finalist for the position since nearly the beginning. Many in Colorado have opposed the boards decision to name just one finalist, while others have taken issue with Kennedys congressional voting record or comments he has made while touring the system campuses. If named to the position, Kennedy, who has been president at UND since 2016, would oversee CUs four campuses in Aurora, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Denver. CU Board of Regents chair Sue Sharkley and vice chair Jack Kroll have defended the search process, noting the board spent several hours with each candidate. We believe now what we did then (Kennedys) skills and experience in business, government and higher education would make him a great president of the University of Colorado, the pair said in an April statement. It has been a tumultuous process, both in Colorado and North Dakota. And it may be a sign of times to come for all presidential searches, as other universities have seen similar protests in recent months. The University of South Carolina Board of Trustees recently announced it would reopen its presidential search after the board received backlash from students and faculty over its search process. USC announced four finalists for the presidents position on April 17. However, by the end of the month, the Board of Trustees announced it would reopen the search. Protesters were upset that the lead candidate for the job, retired Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, had according to detractors lacked the necessary experience and personal skills to lead the University of South Carolina, the Post and Courier reported. Caslen was the only candidate to have experience leading a university at a high level, at the University of Central Florida. He also is a former superintendent of the U.S. military academy at West Point. The three other finalists each had many years of higher education experience but lacked top-level executive experience, according to the Post and Courier. The vetting process was underwhelming, South Carolina House Majority Leader Gary Simrill said. In March, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees announced it would not renew the contract of President Laurie Nichols, the Laramie Boomerang reported. Its the fourth time in six years the university will be searching for a new leader. Nichols said she was very surprised by the decision, the Boomerang reported. The move also came as a surprise to faculty and staff members on campus, the Boomerang reported. In Oklahoma there have been calls for President Jim Gallogly to resign, the Oklahoman reported. Gallogly became president at the university in July, and his presidency has been marred with controversy. In nearly all of these cases, the search process to appoint new campus leaders has come under fire. Boards have been accused of not fully vetting their candidates; others have accused boards of using secretive processes to name finalists. The search Judith Wilde, chief operating officer and professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, is one of just a handful of people in the nation who study higher education presidential search processes. Wilde said 50 years ago, just 2% of presidential searches were done with a search firm. Today, that number is 92%. As more high-level CEOs and business people serve on various higher education boards across the country, the increase in search firm use also continues to go up, Wilde said. Large companies have used search firms to hire people for years, Wilde said, so it seems logical that boards populated by business people would employ search firms in the higher ed process. In our view, that means the board is actually outsourcing what is arguably the most important thing they do in the entire time they serve on the board, which is to hire a new president, she said. The search firm process also can be considered secretive at times, Wilde said. That can prompt controversy. Wilde said Colorados sunshine law, which requires that a nominees name be made public for at least 14 days before a vote, also is an important factor. Florida, Texas and Oklahoma also have these laws. Oftentimes in those states, the board only releases one finalists name, which can envelop the process in controversy. That happened in Colorado with Kennedy. What theyre doing is following the letter of the law, she said. However, it is not following either the intent or the spirit of the law. (The spirit of the law) is to have multiple candidates be put forward that people can talk about and vet on their own before that vote. Former CU regent Steve Bosley, who served on the Colorado board for 12 years, said universities across the country name sole finalists because revealing candidates names can impact the candidates current jobs. Bosley also said its not the job of the people to pick a university president. That responsibility, he said, lies solely with the board. More waiting Regardless if he gets the job in Colorado, Kennedy is likely to face future challenges in North Dakota. Last month, North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott wrote a letter to Kennedy saying he had accepted Kennedys de facto resignation, but Kennedy has yet to formally resign from UND. State Board of Higher Education member Dan Traynor said he believes Kennedy has resigned his position of president of the University of North Dakota effective June 15, 2019. There is still more than a year remaining on Kennedys contract, and the State Board of Higher Educations members have yet to discuss how theyll handle the agreement going forward. Traynor, however, wants Kennedy to be named president in Colorado. I think we all hope that President Kennedy gets the job in Colorado, Traynor said. It will make life a lot simpler, for him and for the university system. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 GRENORA The superintendent of Grenora Public School District No. 99 has submitted his resignation, and as part of an agreement with the school board, the district has agreed to not file any complaints against him, not seek any further restitution and not pursue criminal charges. Troy Walters, who admits no wrongdoing in the agreement, will go on paid leave on May 18 and will officially resign when his contract ends June 30. The agreement, signed by Walters and school board President Lavern Johnson on Wednesday, came a month after the board first met to consider firing Walters allegations of misconduct, including questionable expense reports and treatment of staff. An attorney hired by the district near the Montana border concluded that Walters had spent district money on himself, used district vehicles for personal purposes and intimidated school employees so they wouldnt participate in the investigation. Walters, through his attorney, has denied all the accusations and accused the attorney, Meredith Vukelic, of bias. At a special meeting of the district school board Tuesday, board members voted unanimously to accept a separation agreement for Walters. The agreement was submitted to the district by Thomas Kelsch, Walters attorney. The board did not discuss the details of the separation agreement in public session on Tuesday evening. The members spent more than an hour in executive session discussing the matter with attorney Amy Clark, the attorney representing the school district. The school's graduation ceremony is May 17, and the agreement gives Walters until noon the next day to turn in school property. As part of the agreement, the district is barred from filing complaints against Walters with any state agencies. In her report, Vukelic had recommended notifying the states Education Standards and Practices Board. In the agreement, the district also agrees to withdraw a claim filed with the North Dakota State Bonding Fund. The bonding fund covers political entities like cities and school districts for theft by public employees. Ashley Kelsch, public information officer for the North Dakota Insurance Department, said the claim by the Grenora Public School District is under investigation, and so no information about it could be released. The district also agrees not to seek restitution from Walters beyond the $2,830 hes already repaid. In both the agreement and in a rebuttal to the investigation report prepared by Walters and his attorney, Walters denies any purchases he made were inappropriate. Once the report came out, I didnt want my reputation damaged by these allegations of wrongdoing, and I didnt want anyone to be able to even argue that I took advantage of my position as superintendent of Grenora, Walters wrote in the rebuttal. While I deny that these expenditures were illegal or improper, to clear my name, I went back and counted up all of the school payments for alleged personal use and have paid all of those monies back to the school district. In her report, Vukelic wrote that the district should refer the question of misuse of district money to law enforcement. It is my opinion that the patrons of the school district deserve to have this reviewed further since my investigation was not a criminal one and because time constraints did not allow me to investigate all areas of concern, she wrote. In the agreement, though, the district agreed to not pursue any criminal charges and to request any investigation be discontinued. The agreement directs the district to send a letter to law enforcement and sets out the language to be used. Another part of the agreement calls for both sides to issue a joint press release saying the discharge for cause proceedings had been dismissed and that Walters would be on paid administrative leave from May 18 through the end of his contract. Walters will be allowed to continue living in the house owned by the district through the end of his contract, as well. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 MINOT The state is recommending five years in prison for April Beckler and three years in prison for Kim Kochel on charges that they stole drugs from hospice patients. Both Beckler, 40, and Kochel, 47, both former Trinity Hospice nurses, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges that they stole drugs from patients between 2012 and 2014. Both Beckler and Kochel pleaded guilty to Class B felony endangering a vulnerable adult and Class C felony criminal conspiracy. The state will drop Class C felony theft of property charges against both women, the Minot Daily News reported. Beckler and Kochel had been scheduled to go to trial together on May 6. Beckler's lawyer, Eric Baumann, scheduled a change of plea hearing for his client, which Kochel's lawyer, Tom Slorby, said interfered with his defense strategy for Kochel. The women are alleged to have stolen drugs prescribed for hospice patients or endangering them by diluting medication or giving morphine instead of the more potent hydromorphine to manage pain. Sentencing is set for July 26 for both women. Three hours have been set aside for the hearing to enable victims and family members of victims to give testimony at the hearing prior to the sentencing. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 GRAND FORKS - Former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is set to address University of North Dakota graduates later this month. Heitkamp will speak at the commencement ceremony for graduate students at 9 a.m. May 11 at the Alerus Center, the university announced via its UND Today blog. During the ceremony Heitkamp, along with pilot Clay Lacy, will be presented with an honorary doctor of letters degree from UND. Heather Wilson, outgoing secretary of the U.S. Air Force, will speak at the undergraduate ceremony, UND previously announced. That ceremony is set for 1:30 p.m. May 11 at the Alerus Center. Wilson will leave her post as Air Force secretary on May 31 to assume the presidency of the University of Texas. Actor Josh Duhamel, a North Dakota native, will receive an honorary degree during the undergraduate ceremony. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The head of the North Dakota Department of Transportation's driver's license operations is on paid administrative leave during a workplace investigation, a spokeswoman for the agency said Wednesday. Glenn Jackson has been on leave since February, said DOT spokeswoman Jamie Olson. She said she was unsure what was behind the investigation and didn't know when it would be completed. A phone number listed under Jackson's name was disconnected, and he didn't immediately respond to a message sent to his department email address. The Associated Press first reported the investigation Wednesday. Jackson earns almost $96,000 annually, according to a state human resources official. He's worked for the department for a decade. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 3 Sad 0 Angry 0 North Dakota's chief elections official hopes to have new equipment at the polls for the 2020 contests after state lawmakers approved $12 million for the devices. Secretary of State Al Jaeger said Wednesday the money will be used to purchase new ballot scanners and electronic poll books, which serve as voter records at individual precincts, across the state. The $12 million approved by lawmakers includes $3 million of federal funding. Jaeger, a Republican, said North Dakotans will still mark a paper ballot but new equipment will be used to count their votes. County election officials have warned about equipment failures for several years, but the 2017 Legislature rejected funding while the state tightened its belt. A survey from the North Dakota Association of Counties highlighted problems like jammed ballots and card reader errors. More than two dozen ballot scanners failed during the 2018 elections, according to the survey results. The budget bill for Jaeger's office, which includes the election equipment funding, has already been signed by Gov. Doug Burgum. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BLACK REPUBLICAN BLOG - The Republican Party is the party of civil rights and the four Fs: faith, family, freedom and fairness. The Democratic Party is the party of the four Ss: slavery, secession, segregation and socialism (Quote By Author Michael Scheuer). 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 View Results Im kind of tired of In re Tam also. But I have been a bit surprised that there has not been a more discussion, or as far as I can... The post 43(a)? It... 9 hours ago Socialism, it seems, is back. But maybe the real question we should be asking is how far the United States has embraced various features of what might be called social democracy over the past 100 years. This is one of the points underscored in a well-written paper by the Heritage Foundations David Burton, entitled Comparing Free Enterprise with Socialism (April 30, 2019). Among other things, Burton also manages to: bring clarity to the free markets versus socialism debate by carefully defining what these terms mean; outline the evidence for the economic and moral failures of socialism, whether of the command economy or European social democratic variety; and refute a number of myths about the type of economic systems that exist in Nordic countries, showing that they are far less socialist than we realize and that they have in fact abandoned much of the social democratic model that flourished after World War II until the 1980s. Burton also brings attention, however, to just how much America has already absorbed of the social democratic variety of socialism. This is something that has not received anywhere near as much attention as it should in the context of our present debates about political economy. In one paragraph, for example, Burton notes: Government expenditures amount to 33.6 per-cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. today. That understates governments burden on the private economy because government itself is included as part of the GDP at cost and because GDP does not account for the depreciation of capital or capital consumption. Government regulations control or influence virtually all business decisions. Electric, gas, and water utilities, the health care sector, and banking are so heavily regulated that they are not privately controlled enterprises in the conventional sense. All this underscores that it is in fact a myth to describe America as a model of twenty-first century capitalism. Yes, the United States is far more inclined to free markets than, say, France, Spain, or Scotland. But that doesnt mean that America is somehow a much larger version of Hong Kong. Contributions like Burtons paper matter because one of the myths being pushed by not just socialists but even many conservatives is that Americas economy is somehow characterized by radically free market positions. Its simply not. Korey D. Maas, associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, has written a timely warning to American Catholics at Public Discourse titled, The Coming Anti-Catholicism. Maas begins his essay with a recounting of the early history of American anti-Catholicism, its mitigation in the 1960s, and its troubling resurgence in recent years: The combined effects of Camelot and the Council were to make political anti-Catholicism gauche almost overnight. Nobody, therefore, is surprised today when conservative Catholics and liberal non-Catholics alike respond to any hint of it by insisting that religion is not the issue. Fidelity to the rule of law is what matters, or that one should only criticize jurisprudence and ideas, not religious faith or practice. Given this apparent consensus, suggestions that ones dogma is a concern inevitably sound like an unfortunate throwback to an uglier era of American politics. This reemerging anti-Catholicism is not merely the product of a resurgent and aggressive secularism but a new resurgence of Catholic anti-liberalism: As in the nineteenth century, liberal anti-Catholicism and Catholic anti-liberalism are mutually exacerbating. But if the former typically remains, for the time being, in the realm of implication and insinuation, the latter is becoming much more explicit. Though by no means a majority opinion among contemporary Catholics, the conviction that liberalism has failed is emboldening an increasingly vocal minority to argue that it deserves to fail because it has been, from its very origins, incompatible with the Catholic faith. Maas fears, and rightly so, that this resurgent Catholic anti-liberalism could lead to and embolden secularists in their anti-Catholicism, Insofar as prominent and influential Catholics insist that Catholicism is fundamentally incompatible with the liberal tradition, liberals will feel increasingly justified in reaching the same conclusion. Attempts to convince fellow Catholics that the teaching of the Catholic Church, always and everywhere, idealizes the confessional state and sanctions religious coercion will inevitably convince many non-Catholics, liberal and otherwise, that this is indeed the case. The entire essay is well worth reading. There are however abundant resources within both the Catholic and broader Christian tradition which provide a framework to build a free and virtuous society sustained by religious principles. Liberalism itself is the product of a tradition running back as early as the teachings of Jesus Christ who admonished us to, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are Gods. (Mark 12:17) Lord Acton places this teaching at the center of the tradition of moral and theological reflection which gave rise to the institutions, ethics, and law of Christian Europe (See Alejandro Chafuens Faith and Liberty: The Economic Thought of the Late Scholastics or any of the volumes in the first or second series of Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics, and Law). Korey Maas has recently contributed to the project of this traditions retrieval with his excellent contribution to the introduction to Neils Hemmingsens On the Law of Nature: A Demonstrative Method. There have certainly been tensions between faith, freedom, and modernity (See Jan Kloss book of that title) but tensions need not lead to inevitable conflict. In order to ward off conflict and build a life together both secularists, Christians, and those of other religious traditions must respect each others intrinsic human dignity and especially their freedom of conscience. In other words, what our contemporary challenges call for most is a return to a Christian liberalism. Yesterday was May Day, a date which some peoplemostly socialists and communistsconsider to be an observance of International Workers Day. Others believe instead of celebrating labor the day should be considered an international observance of Victims of Communism Day. Law professor Ilya Somin explains why we should use the day to commemorate the victims of communist totalitarian tyranny: While the influence of communist ideology has declined since its mid-twentieth century peak, it is far from dead. Largely unreformed communist regimes remain in power in Cuba and North Korea. In Venezuela, the Marxist governments socialist policies have resulted in political repression, the starvation of children, and a massive refugee crisisthe biggest in the history of the Western hemisphere. The regime continues to hold on to power by means of repression, despite growing international and domestic opposition. The struggle for freedom in Venezuela is continues even as I write these words. In Russia, the authoritarian regime of former KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin has embarked on a wholesale whitewashing of communisms historical record. In China, the Communist Party remains in power (albeit after having abandoned many of its previous socialist economic polcies), and has recently become less tolerant of criticism of the mass murders of the Mao era (part of a more general turn towards greater repression). In the West, only a small minority advocates communism. But many more tend to downplay its evils, or are simply unaware of them. This isnt just about remembering the past, though; its also about ensuring it doesnt happen again. Unfortunately, surveys and polls taken by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) consistently show that Americans are not being educated about communism. They find that 26 percent of Americans have never been taught about communism in any education or professional setting. Only half of our fellow citizens can identify Cuba as a communist country, and 41 percent of Americans do not consider North Korea communist. (Half of Americans, the poll finds, associate socialism with welfare states in Western Europe and Scandinavianot Marxist dictatorships.) More than half of millennials (52 percent) say they would prefer to live in a socialist (46 percent) or communist (6 percent) country than a capitalist (40 percent) one. We can talk about different policy ideas as we debate our future, but when we talk about socialism we need to know what it means, says VOCs executive director Marion Smith. We can talk about a high-tax welfare state, expanded healthcare system, and even universal basic income. But intellectually and historically thats not the meaning of socialism. As Marx and other leading socialists have made clear, socialism denies the concept of individual rights, rejects transcendent truth, and favors a collective understanding of justice, adds Smith. This system also now has a past record of practice in places like the USSR, China, Cuba, North Korea, and now Venezuela, among dozens of others around the world since 1917. Marxist governments have caused enormous political, economic, and humanitarian catastrophessome of which continue today. The concepts of toleration espoused by theologians in the officially religious states of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries deserve closer examination. So argue Tobias Dienst and Christoph Strohm in their introduction to Martinus Becanuss 1607 treatise, On the Duty to Keep Faith with Heretics. Becanus (15631624), a Dutch Jesuit theologian who became court confessor to the Holy Roman Emperor, lived in and supported an officially Roman Catholic state, but this did not prevent him from developing a concept of religious toleration that viewed the toleration of Protestants and other religious adherents as advancing the greater good of society. This work is not principally a work on religious toleration. Becanuss main concern is to defend the thesis that it is morally obligatory to fulfill all contracts and promises unless they are against divine law or in another way invalid. Specifically, Becanus shows that one must keep ones promises and honor ones contracts regardless of the religious views of the other party. Yet, as Dienst and Strohm point out, this principle also applies to agreements granting religious tolerance to heretics. The matter of religious toleration is thus a part of the moral question of whether, and in what circumstances, one must keep ones promises. Like most writers in the tumultuous religious and political context of the early modern era, Becanus did not endorse religious freedom and freedom of conscience as goods to be pursued in themselves. This is clear from his stark denunciations of unqualified religious liberty. Yet, Becanus would change his views on toleration from the more restrictive stance he takes in this treatise. Dienst and Strohm sketch his movement from regarding toleration as permissible for preventing a greater evil in society (such as religious wars) to regarding toleration as permissible for achieving a greater good (such as the possible, future conversion of religious dissenters). The authors observe that this change in Becanuss view is a first step toward the idea of tolerance as possibly beneficial to society and not merely as an unpreventable nuisance. Theologians from this era typically supported the religious states that upheld their respective confessional persuasions, and these writers often defended the use of force against religious dissenters in those states. More liberal advocates of toleration and freedom of conscience, such as Sebastian Castellio (15151563), often had loose confessional affiliation or were in conflict with the Catholic or Protestant authorities. Dienst and Strohm note that in the study of the history of toleration writers like Castellio have received the bulk of attention as proto-moderns, leading many scholars to skip the time between Castellio and the early Enlightenment altogether. Thats a gap of roughly 200 years that included hundreds of authors who wrote about toleration, liberty of conscience, and religious freedom. Becanus is one of these overlooked authorsa Catholic writer who developed the concept of religious toleration within a Catholic state. On the Duty to Keep Faith with Heretics, therefore, helps to fill a gap in the common story of the rise of religious toleration in the West. On the Duty to Keep Faith with Heretics, edited by Wim Decock and translated by Isabelle Buhre, is the first English translation of Becanuss treatise De fide haereticis servanda and the latest volume in CLP Academics Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics, and Law series. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., the former Denver schools superintendent, is joining the very crowded Democratic campaign for the White House. Bennet, who announced his decision on CBS Thursday, has a long record in K-12 policy. As Denver schools chief, he negotiated changes to the districts ProComp pay-for-performance plan, working with the teachers union, and started the citys color-coded rating system for schools. Those reforms may not have quite the shine they once did: Denver teachers went on strike earlier this year, in part because of issues with ProComp. In 2009, President Barack Obama seriously considered making Bennet his first education secretary. The job went instead to Arne Duncan, who at the time was the Chicago schools chief. Instead, then-Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado appointed Bennet to his Senate seat when then-Sen. Ken Salazar became secretary of the Interior. As a senator, Bennet quickly joined the education committee, where he worked on legislation that built on Obamas K-12 agenda.That work included a bill to create a new leaders for turnaround schools, and bipartisan legislation to create a new kind of teacher training program, one that wouldnt let students graduate until they demonstrated that they could actually boost student achievement. Neither of those bills made it to legislative prime-time. Bennet also triedbut didnt succeedin championing legislation that would have required districts to show salary equity across schools before tapping federal funding. That issuesalary comparabilityis near and dear to the civil rights community, but not so appealing to the teachers unions. During the development of the Every Student Succeeds Act, Bennet helped champion the Education Innovation and Research program, which helps districts and states scale up and test out promising practices. And he helped author a new pilot program in the law that allows districts to try out a weighted student funding formula in which money is tied directly to individual students. In the pilot, vulnerable groupslike English learnerscarry with them more money than others. Want to see how Bennets record compares to the rest of the field? Check out our cheat sheet on the candidates here . Photo: U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., greets voters before U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a 2018 rally with young voters on the campus of the University of Colorado. (David Zalubowski/AP) Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . [Matt Potolsky's new book, The National Security Sublime, is a tour through the look-and-feel of mass surveillance, as practiced by the most unlikely of aesthetes: big data authoritarian snoops and the grifter military contractors who wax fat on them. This is a subject dear to my heart. -Cory] The US National Security Agency is big, really big. But it's unlikely that most people outside the government can (or would even try to) quantify its size or powers with any specificity. The agency is just massive, a quality that can produce in those who try to contemplate it the overwhelming sense of awe and wonder called the sublime. Triggered by an encounter with something grand (towering mountain peaks) or verging on the infinite (the number of stars in the universe), it describes a generally pleasurable feeling of cognitive breakdown, the sensation that you just can't wrap your head around an object or idea so vast and boundless. The sublime was an important touchstone for Romantic painting and poetry of the early nineteenth century (think windswept peaks, crumbling castles, and misty vales), but it made a striking comeback in the years after the 9/11 attacks, when the surveillance activities of the NSA and other agencies first became common knowledge to the American public. As I argue in my new book, : On the Aesthetics of Government Secrecy, the sublime offered a valuable resource for artists, writers, filmmakers, and television showrunners during the War on Terror. Images of vast size and unimaginable scope gave aesthetic form to the feeling of living under seemingly limitless surveillance. The national security sublime actually originated during the Cold War, notably in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken for a secret agent, and unwittingly learns of a plot to steal government secrets. Pressed into the role of a spy, he makes his way westward from New York City in search of the conspirators. The further west he goes, the more sublime the landscapes become. Hitchcock films Thornhill sanding alone in a vast Midwestern cornfield; the film ends with a dramatic pursuit down the face of Mount Rushmore. We find similar examples of the sublime at the end of paranoid conspiracy films like The Parallax View (1974) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and in 1990s techno-thrillers like Enemy of the State (1998), one of the few films actually to feature NSA agents. Or consider the indelible closing shot of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): a gigantic warehouse, packed to the rafters with wooden crates, where Army Intelligence stores dangerous artifacts. Shortly after New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau revealed the massive (and illegal) post-9/11 expansion of NSA surveillance in 2005, the national security sublime began to appear frequently in both high art and popular culture. It came to define the aesthetic of the War on Terror. One of the first places we find it is a brief scene in The Simpsons Movie (2007), which began animation work a month after the Times story came out. The fugitive Simpson family is overheard while traveling in Alaska by a robotic train conductor, whose microphone links directly to the NSA. The film cuts to a gigantic situation room filled with what seem to be thousands of agents in business wear, each one listening in on the boring conversations of everyday American citizens. Sublime images of surveillance also came to define the work of visual artists interested in covert government. Trevor Paglen photographed secret government installations set in vast desert landscapes or perched on mountain tops. Hasan Elahi, having been mistakenly subject to a terrorism investigation by the FBI, began taking photographs of nearly everything he did and everywhere he went. He then assembled these images, sorted by color, into a massive mosaic entitled Thousand Little Brothers: a sublime collection of banal activities. In the wake of Edward Snowden's 2013 leak of documents demonstrating the real scope of NSA activities, the national security sublime became a cultural touchstone, open for parody as well as more for more traditional uses. In her academy award-winning film Citizenfour (2014), for example, Laura Poitras uses video footage of NSA listening stations contributed by Paglen, backed by a soundtrack of ominous minor-chord drones, to underscore the global menace of unrestrained surveillance. In an episode of South Park from 2013, "Let Go, Let Gov," Eric Cartman infiltrates the NSA to find a vast situation room akin to the one in the Simpsons Movie, as well as the true secret behind the agency's omniscience: Santa Claus wired up to a massive bank of servers. I have described the national security sublime as a resource for artists, but it was also the symptom of a major transformation in the relationship between citizen and state that took place during the War on Terror. Prompted by the Bush Administration, the NSA inaugurated a new model of intelligence work, one that has come to inform Silicon Valley's current business practices: rather than tracking the activities of known threats, the agency began to scoop up as much data as possible from as many sources as it could tap, and then hunted down secret needles in the resulting haystacks of information. We tend to think of a secret as information we deliberately conceal, but the secrets the NSA sought went well beyond this traditional definition. Your mobile phone sends a stream of metadata to the closest cell tower, recording your location, movements, and contacts in granular detail. Under the right gaze, this data can reveals secrets you may not even realize you have been keeping: patterns of movement, say, that mirror those of potential terrorist suspects. Under this new model of the intelligence, too, the familiar revealers of secrets, the daring agents of Cold War popular culture, increasingly gave way to algorithms working silently in anonymous server farms. There was simply too much data for human analysts to process. The national security sublime captured a unique moment in modern history, one in which secrets became unmoored from the conscious control of their keepers and even of those who once made it their profession to uncover them. Secrets were everywhere, swamping even the most inquisitive citizen in an overwhelming torrent of data. Boundless and terrifying, secrecy became (and indeed remains) sublime. Nine people have been injured using Starbucks/Bodum French Presses after the plunger handle snapped off, causing the stem to stab or cut them. As a result, Starbucks is recalling 236,000 of the presses. From CBS: Co-branded by Starbucks with Bodum, the eight-cup French press has a cylindrical glass beaker with a screen and a plunger held in place by a plastic dark gray frame with locking lid and a light gray handle and knob. Made in Portugal, the recalled product measures about nine inches high and four inches wide, and has the number 011063549 printed on a white label on the bottom of its base. Consumers should stop using the presses and contact Starbucks about how to obtain a refund in the form of store credit. The Seattle, Washington-based company said it is not accepting returns at its stores. During a test ride of the GaleForce rollercoaster at Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City, New Jersey, two dummies flew out of their seats and crash-landed on the roof of a nearby hotel. The theme park's vice president Brian Hartley blamed the accident on the dummies and says that the rollercoaster is "100 percent safe." From NBC10: Hartley said the dummies had leaks that went undetected and they lost their mass and shape, causing them to fall. "Obviously it's not something that would ever happen with a person in it," Hartley said. "You know you don't lose rigidity in a person. The lap bar comes down. You're secured in there." The rollercoaster remains in operation. (image: Martin Lewison, CC BY-SA 2.0) Gosh, it only took 'em 4 whole years Facebook says it has banned accounts for Infowars, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, Louis Farrakhan, and others from both Facebook and Instagram, citing its "dangerous individuals and organizations" policy. Some accounts are still up, however, at the time of the coordinated, multi-publication, embargoed news release. The ban apparently hasn't fully gone into effect as of 1130am PT, and Milo even posted something to Instagram mocking the news, and promoting his email newsletter. Facebook says it didn't just ban these accounts. Facebook promises to remove, for instance, Alex Jones and Infowars content posted by any other accounts, too. If you post Infowars or Alex Jones content too many times, you will be banned. Facebook could sure use some good PR, and this smells like a very thirsty attempt to be seen Doing Something Right For A Change. But this is long overdue on Facebook's part, and a move that will likely have negative financial consequences for those banned. From Casey Newton at The Verge: Facebook today removed Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, and Infowars from Facebook and Instagram, saying their accounts violated its policies against dangerous individuals and organizations. They will be prohibited from creating new accounts, although Facebook and Instagram users will continue to be able to create posts praising them and their viewpoints, the company said. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," the company said in a statement. "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today." Infowars founder Jones was suspended from Facebook last year under rules against bullying and hate speech. In February, the company removed another 22 pages associated with him and his businesses. Jones has continuously promoted fringe conspiracy theories, including baseless arguments that the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre never happened. His followers have stalked and harassed families of the victims, requiring them to move frequently and live in hiding. Watson is an editor at Infowars and associate of Jones. Farrakhan is the leader of the Nation of Islam and is known for making inflammatory anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks. Nehlen is a white supremacist politician who had previously been banned from Twitter. Yiannopoulos is a far-right provocateur who was banned from Twitter after inspiring a wave of racist abuse. Loomer is a far-right activist who recently called Islam "a cancer on humanity" on her Instagram story. (Instagram removed the post.) Facebook bans Alex Jones and Laura Loomer for violating its policies against dangerous individuals Observations from Twitter, below. Facebook effectively gave these folks a heads up. In response to his ban, Milo got this up on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/fSFcebvOjX Ryan Mac (@RMac18) May 2, 2019 Some outlets reported Facebook's banning of accounts as fact today, without checking if those actual accounts have already been taken offline. Here's one that's still up. pic.twitter.com/9vMdV6JrT3 Ryan Mac (@RMac18) May 2, 2019 Hey look the most relevant social media platform of the current era did the right thing roughly three years after we all begged them to This calls for cigars https://t.co/WK8wfbBvZP Robert Evans (The Other Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) May 2, 2019 Atlantic, the Verge, CNN, and Washington Post posted this story within a minute of each other and the Atlantic has a complicated photoshop of the people bannedthis is weird news for FB to release under embargo! https://t.co/sXA3x0kyc5 Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) May 2, 2019 We Banned The Bad Man is the new product launch https://t.co/74IXf0yz4f Tom Gara (@tomgara) May 2, 2019 Since when is Louis Farrakhan "far-right"? Blake News (@blakehounshell) May 2, 2019 FB said Jones and the rest violated its policy under "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations." It covers Terrorist activity, Organized hate, Mass or serial murder, Human trafficking, and Organized violence or criminal activity. "Organized hate" seems like the relevant section. pic.twitter.com/JllelEsajs Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) May 2, 2019 Wow. Not only is Facebook banning Alex Jones. It will remove Infowars content posted by any account. And if you share infowars stuff too many times, you'll get banned too. https://t.co/tSbh9j0X8w pic.twitter.com/YUal6LnVui Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) May 2, 2019 Alphabet, parent company of Google and YouTube, told a U.S. House panel that it spends hundreds of millions of dollars on reviewing content each year, and claims to have identified at least one million "suspected terrorist videos" on YouTube in the first quarter of 2019. Alphabet/Google/YouTube disclosed this information to lawmakers in an April 24 letter that was made public on Thursday. The letter claims that a "manual review" by YouTube content moderation workers found that 90,000 of the videos identified as "suspected terrorist videos" violated YouTube's terrorism policy. From Reuters: In March, following the live-streaming on social media of a mass shooting in New Zealand, the chair of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security urged the top executives of Google, Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Microsoft Corp do a better job of removing violent political content. After a briefing in March, Representative Max Rose, who chairs a subcommittee on intelligence and counter-terrorism, asked the four companies in an April 10 letter to disclose their budgets for counter-terrorism programs and number of people working solely on counter-terrorism programs. Rose said in a statement Facebook has not responded and the other firms did not fully or directly answer his questions. Twitter said in an April 24 to Rose that "putting a dollar amount on our broader efforts is a complex request." Twitter said a "substantial portion" of its 4,100-person global workforce are involved in reviewing content. Google spends hundreds of millions of dollars on content review: letter [reuters.com] [via techmeme] In terms of germs, the summer gave us a little more leeway than the winter to be relaxed and protected from catching a case of COVID. Now that new strains are upon us, we might have to go back into recluse mode for a while. If history has taught us anything, it's that another lockdown READ THE REST Are you one of those parents who prefer enrolling their children in an expensive learning institution? If so, you will be pleased to know that there are several most expensive schools in South Africa for you to select. Every establishment is unique; therefore, choose a learning institution that meets your requirements. Most parents consider things like location, values, and academic performance of the institution. Boarding schools in South Africa are in high demand by families that can afford them because they assure parents 24/7 maximum protection for their children while they toil day and night to provide them with basic needs. Photo: canva.com (modified by author) Source: UGC Do you believe that the amount of fee an institution charge translates to the quality of education it offers? Parents prefer different education systems and institutions for their children, depending on their financial capabilities and other factors. Paying a lump sum of money in the most expensive school in South Africa is not a guarantee that the child will succeed academically unless he or she works hard. However, if you can afford to send your children to such an institution, do not deny them the chance. Highest priced learning institutions in South Africa What is the best high school in South Africa? Ordinarily, the most expensive schools are privately owned, and they have more advanced learning facilities than those in state-owned institutions. Therefore, children who attend expensive learning institutions are more advantaged than those who cannot access the opportunity. Which is the most expensive school in South Africa? Costly learning institutions in the country are listed below. 1. Hilton College, Kwazulu Natal Midlands - R331,550 Reverend William Orde Newnham and his family visited South Africa in the 1980s with a vision of starting this college. Photo: hiltoncollege Source: Facebook It is a boys' private boarding institution located near the Hilton town in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Reverend William's dream came true on 29th January 1982 when he officially opened Hilton College on a 1,600-ha estate that includes a 550-ha wildlife reserve. Hilton College's annual fee is R331,550. The amount charged includes tuition, food and boarding, games, minor medical attention, the sanatorium, library, laundry, and other core curriculum activities. The institution accommodates around 500 students, and each learner can access a personal tutor. 2. Michaelhouse, Kwazulu Natal Midlands - R303,600 Michaelhouse has a unique country setting on a 600-ha estate, and its surrounding is filled with rolling green hills, natural bushes and forests, and sparkling clear streams. Photo: michaelhouse Source: Facebook This Anglican boarding senior school for boys charges an estimate of R303,600 fees in 2020. It was established in 1896 in the railroad town of Balgowan valley in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. The students enjoy a six-court squash complex, a modern hockey facility, seven tennis courts, a heated swimming pool, basketball courts, a dam for canoeing, and a golf driving range. 3. St Andrews College Grahamstown, Eastern Cape - R291,000 The school is famous for its top academic performance and talented students in co-curriculum activities. Photo: St AndrewsCollege Source: Facebook The first Bishop of Grahamstown, Right Reverend John Armstrong, established this Anglican boys' boarding and day learning institution in 1855 in Makhanda (Grahamstown), Eastern Cape province. The annual tuition fee is R291,000. The Cawse Library has an internet connection, and over 130 computer terminals are connected to computer rooms for students to do enough academic research. 4. Roedean School, Gauteng - R287,558 The learning institution's founders, Miss Theresa Lawrence, and her close friend, Miss Katherine Margaret Earle, were graduates from the University of Cambridge. Photo: RoedeanSchoolSA Source: Facebook Roedean is a girls' boarding and day facility. It was founded in 1903 in Jeppestown, Johannesburg, with 22 students only. In 1904, Roedean School was moved to Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, Gauteng, and its current annual fee is R287,558. 5. St John's School Houghton, Gauteng - R284,198 The learning institution was initially established for boys, but now, it enrols girls and boys. Photo: stjohnscollegeSA Source: Facebook Rev John T. Darragh founded this day and boarding facility in 1898 at St David Road, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg. The institution requires an R284,198 annual tuition fee, and it welcomes students of all religious and spiritual backgrounds even though it adheres to the rich traditions of the Anglican Church. 6. Bishops Diocesan College, Western Cape - R277,800 Bishops Diocesan College has maintained excellent academic performance since its establishment on 2nd October 1849. Photo: DiocesanCollege Source: Facebook This boarding and day learning institution for boys costs around R277,800 annual fee. It is situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town, Western Cape province. The school's founder, Robert Gray, was a bishop of Cape Town. 7. Kearsney College Botha, Kwazulu Natal - R277,200 Kearsney College was established in 1921 by Liege Hulett on a 125-acre estate. Photo: KearsneyCollege Source: Facebook When looking for exceptional learning facilities in South Africa, Kearsney should be on your list. It is located in Botha Hills near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. The institution's ambience proves it deserves to be acknowledged as one of the priciest institutions in South Africa. Students participate in canoeing, cross country, sailing, soccer, golf, and tennis, and its current annual fee is R277,200. 8. St Mary's School Waverley, Gauteng - R272,240 St Marys is among the oldest girls' schools in South Africa. Photo: StMarysWaverley Source: Facebook It charges R272,240 per year, and it is located in Waverley, Johannesburg. Reverend John Darragh established St Mary's in 1888 and founded St Johns College in Houghton 10 years later. Equestrian, water polo, rowing, and squash are some of the unique sports St Mary's students participate in. 9. St Andrew's School Bedfordview, Gauteng - R265,270 St Andrew's 2016 students' council. Photo: StAndrewsSchoolForGirls Source: Facebook Since its establishment in 1902 in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, this institution's education is benchmarked globally and locally. It was established by Scottish people named Jessie Johnson and Jean Fletcher. The independent Christian school admits both boarders and day scholars. St Andrew's is one of the most expensive girls' private schools in Johannesburg, with an annual fee of R265,270. The school preserves historic buildings and structures. The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation awarded the school Heritage Status in 2007. 10. St Alban's College Lynnwood Glen, Gauteng - R264,900 St Alban's College has facilities for athletics, basketball, cricket, rowing, swimming, soccer, and water polo sports. Photo: StAlbansCollege Source: Facebook It is one of the most expensive schools in Pretoria. This excellent boarding establishment for boys is worth enrolling your child. Anton Muray established the institution in 1963 in the suburb of Lynnwood Glen in Pretoria, Gauteng. Anton was a South African cricketer. To study here, a parent must pay a yearly tuition fee of R264,900 per child. 11. St Martin's School Rosettenville, Gauteng - R196,460 The establishment has top-notch facilities that meet the needs of both boarding and day students. Photo: saintmartinsschool Source: Facebook St Martins is an Anglican institution situated in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. Its fee requirement is expensive since boarders must pay R184,460, whereas day scholars pay R71,460 annually. All students pay R12,000 as the entry fee, leading to R196,460 and R83,460 for boarders and day scholars. Sending your child to the most expensive schools in South Africa will give them the best learning experience. Please note that you should contact the institutions to get accurate information about the fee they charge. The figures quoted above vary with time due to various factors. From the school mentioned above, what is the best school in South Africa? Please consider your children's opinion when selecting a school for them because you need to pick what is best for both of you. READ ALSO: 1000's of Boxes of Ice Cream Contaminated with Covid-19 in China Briefly.co.za shared details about this shocking story that has left the world in fear. Chinese authorities confiscated most of the boxes before they got into the market. The global trending news is about the mysterious thousands of ice cream boxes contaminated with the COVID 19 virus in China. Tap on the link to read more. Source: Briefly News News / National by Staff reporter A National University of Science and Technology (Nust) second year Actuarial Science student was found hanging at home in Nketa suburb on Friday in a suspected case of suicide.Misheck Siwela (21) allegedly hanged himself from the roof trusses of the family's dining room. Siwela came from Harare to stay with his father's young brother after securing a place at Nust.The Chronicle caught up with family members who said they were still in shock and devastated by the death of their son. Siwela's aunt, Ms Locardia Vutete said they were shocked by the student's death as he had not shown any signs of depression."Misheck's father is my husband's brother and we have been staying with him since he got a place at Nust. I was shocked to hear of his death because when l left for South Africa on Monday he did not show any signs of depression," she said.Ms Vutete said the family had been looking up to him as he had a promising future."His mother died when he was in Grade Four and his father never married another woman as he chose to take care of his two children. On many occasions l told him never to forget his father but it is painful that he chose to repay his father this way," she said.Ms Vutete said before locking himself in the house to commit suicide, Siwela took his clothes out for washing and destroyed his cellphone. She said Siwela did not leave any note except a piece of paper with his friend's mobile number in his pocket."When we dialed the number, the friend came immediately. We hear the friend is one of the colleagues he participated with in school politics as they contested posts in the student representative council (SRC). Maybe the friend has an idea of what could have led him to commit suicicide" she said.Ms Vutete said Siwela's body was taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for post-mortem. She said they are not yet sure about burial arrangements as they need to organise with the family."His father is in Harare and the family comes from Mhondoro. We are not yet sure because we hear their funeral policy does not cover people who commit suicide," she said.Siwela's aunt said Nust officials visited the family and assisted with some money for funeral expenses. Nust communications and marketing officer Mrs Lindiwe Nyoni said the institution was saddened by the student's death."We are deeply saddened as we lost one of our students at a time the students are preparing for end of semester examinations. There is no doubt he had a bright future given that he was pursuing one of the high rated degrees at our institution. We are together with his family during this difficult period," she said.Last year in September, a second-year Finance student was found hanging in his hostel at the institution. In November during the same year, a first year Statistics student Blessing Mangena was crushed by a train in an alleged suicide. News / National by Staff reporter BINGA Rural District Council (BRDC) chief executive officer, Joshua Muzamba, has been acquitted of criminal abuse of office charges following an appeal to the High Court.Muzamba, who was facing a criminal abuse of office charge, had applied for discharge at the close of the State case. The application was, however, dismissed by presiding provincial magistrate Livard Philemon who said the council boss had a case to answer.This prompted Muzamba, through his lawyer, Shepherd Chamunorwa of Calderwood, Bryce Hendrie and Partners, to approach the High Court seeking a review. The High Court recently ordered that he be found not guilty and acquitted at the close of State case.Muzamba (53) of 176 Lakeview in Binga stood accused of unprocedurally employing and promoting Lovemore Siamuyi without following council resolutions as enshrined in the local authority's employment policy.The State kicked off its case by calling its two key witnesses: Council chairperson, Mathias Mudenda and executive health officer, Enock Mugande.Muzamba however, argued that the charges were politically-motivated before alleging that there were persons who wanted him removed from council.Prosecuting, Vusimizi Mangena said on November 3, 2014 Muzamba took advantage of his position as the chief executive officer of BRDC to abuse the public office by employing Siamuyi without advertising for the vacant post and conducting interviews outside council resolutions regarding his employment.Muzamba misrepresented to council that Siamuyi was temporarily employed as commissioned revenue collector.On September 29, 2015 he promoted Siamuyi to the post of acting sub-office administrator without a full council resolution. The council boss went on to further promote Siamuyi unprocedurally without following a council resolution, thereby tarnishing the image and reputation of council. News / National by Staff reporter A 30-YEAR-OLD woman from Silobela has been slapped with a 15-month jail term after she severely assaulted another lady involved in a love triangle wrangle.Sikhululekile Moyo of Abifoili village, under Chief Malisa, pleaded guilty to the assault charges when she appeared before Kwekwe magistrate Story Rushambwa last Thursday.It was the State's case that on March 13 this year at around 8pm, Moyo stormed into Sithandazile Msipa's house at Peace Mine in Silobela.She then accused her of having an affair with her husband. In a fit of rage, she stabbed the complainant three times with a screw driver on the forehead and attacked her with fists. The complainant suffered a lacerated skull and other severe injuries.Rushambwa blasted Moyo for her behaviour saying it was better to seek help from a third party instead of resorting to violence.Five months of the sentence were suspended on condition of good behaviour.Fredy Ndoro represented the State. News / National by Staff reporter A CHITUNGWIZA man on Saturday appeared at the Harare Magistrates' Court charged with unauthorised use or possession of debit cards after he allegedly cloned bank debit cards for CABS account holders and transferred a total of $69 000 before he converted the money to his personal use.Donald Shorai Jima (29), of Zanuyotonga Road in Zengeza, appeared before magistrate Barbara Mateko, who remanded him in custody to today for his bail application.The complainants in the matter are Amanda Zietsman, John Clark and Valentine Vincent Oldfield, who are all CABS account holders.It is the State's case that during March 27 this year, Jima and his accomplices, who are still at large, hatched a plan to clone the complainants' bank debit cards and they made some balance enquiries into Zietsman's bank account and discovered that it had over $9 000.The State alleges that the next day, Jima and his accomplices went to Mahusekwa business centre and approached Wellington Mushonga, who owns two Agribank point-of-sale machines and they swiped a total of $9 000 from Zietsman's account into fraudulently registered EcoCash numbers.The gang also made several purchases at Chikwana Hotel, where they purchased expensive beers and also at Millennium Bar and Guzha Chikwana Bar.It is further alleged that on April 13, Jima and accomplices cloned Clark's bank card details and they went to one Saul Karimbika, who operates a hardware at Chikwana and swiped $4 000 to purchase agricultural inputs.After that, they purchased expensive wines at Chikwana Hotel.On the same day, the gang allegedly cloned Oldfield's account and they made several purchases at Kebab Drive Inn Night Club, Paramount Bar and Karimbika's Hardware, totalling $3 300.The court further heard that on April 15, the accused person together with his accomplices went to Mahusekwa and again approached Mushonga and swiped a total of$9 000 into their fraudulently registered EcoCash numbers.Jima was arrested on April 26 after he went to Karimbika's Hardware with printouts from EcoCash to confirm that he had not received the $500 which was still outstanding.The State said in all the transactions, nothing was recovered.Flossy Jambanja appeared for the State. News / National by Staff reporter Gweru City Council has said it is considering having its council meetings screened live on national television after the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Television (ZBCtv) engaged them for a partnership, a senior official has said.Chamber secretary Vakai Chikwekwe said the broadcaster had approached them with a proposal to provide live screening of council meetings and that management would table it (proposal) for adoption."ZBCtv has also approached us with the proposal (live broadcasting of council meetings) and as management we would push for its adoption soon," Chikwekwe said."I have also been engaging ZBCtv chief executive Patrick Mavhura over the issue. The delays were caused by the holidays (Easter) and the ongoing Zimbabwe International Trade Fair."Gweru Resident Forum director Charles Mazorodze said the local authority should adopt the move to improve its governance process. Mazorodze said council chambers were too small to accommodate residents, hence live programming would ensure broader participation by ratepayers."This would be a noble move as it would enable residents to have a full picture of issues discussed at council," he said."The move would also enhance an active citizenry through feedback on issues that would have been deliberated on at the council chambers. We expect more accountability and transparency from adopting this move."Bulawayo City Council recently indicated that ZBCtv had also made a similar proposal to them.The city fathers (in Bulawayo) have since supported the proposal on the grounds that it would enhance transparency and accountability on local governance. News / National by Staff reporter Four Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) leaders were on Saturday allegedly abducted in Harare by unidentified individuals suspected to be State security agents and later dumped at Harare Central Police Station seven hours later.ARTUZ president Obert Masaraure confirmed the development. "ARTUZ condemns the barbaric abduction of our secretary-general Robson Chere and Mashonaland West chairperson Munyaradzi Ndawana and two others. The abductions signify the worsening political crisis in Zimbabwe. The incumbent government is displaying paranoid authoritarianism," he said."The government should focus on addressing bread and butter issues and desist from this shameful culture of persecuting innocent citizens."We are shocked that seven hours after being abducted and later handed over to the police the four are still to be charged."ARTUZ urges citizens to unite and rescue our country before we sink into the abyss."The ARTUZ leaders were rounded up in Greystone Park where they were having a workshop on facilitation techniques for adult education.National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi was not immediately available for comment last night. News / National by Staff reporter Former Energy minister Elton Mangoma on Thursday said charges that he unprocedurally awarded a $3 million contract to a South Korean firm have been fabricated, based on falsehoods and designed to harass him politically.Mangoma, who is being charged together with former Zesa chief executive officer Joshua Chifamba and Zent managing director Tererai Luis Mutasa appeared before magistrate Francis Mapfumo.In his defence, Mangoma, who was represented by Tonderai Bhatasara, said he was just a minister and not an accounting authority in terms of Public Finance and Management Act and denied that it was his responsibility to ensure that tender procedures were followed.He also submitted that he did not hatch a plan with Chifamba and Mutasa to disregard procurement procedures as the advice was not given to him and was not for him to act on.Chifamba also denied the allegations saying he never independently engaged the South Korean company, Techpro Company, to partner Zesa Enterprise in a switch gear partnership.The former Zesa boss, who was represented by Admire Rubaya, submitted that the agreement between the two companies was lawful and his actions were within his line of duties as the group chief executive officer of Zesa Holdings.He further submitted that there was a clear ploy by those who have arresting and prosecutorial powers to prosecute him for their personal gratification, yet there was no iota of evidence of any criminal misconduct in the manner he acted.While denying the charges, Mutasa said everything he did was in consultation with the State Enterprise Restructuring Agency, State Procurement Board, the Zesa Enterprises board of directors, Zesa Holdings board of directors and Zesa Holdings legal department.Mutasa, who is represented by Advocate Givemore Madziko, pointed out that it was wrong for the State to allege that Zesa lost $3 million while in actual fact Zent paid $850 000 to Techpro Company.The State represented by Zivanai Macharaga then led evidence from the investigation officer Energy Mudandishe.Allegations are that sometime in 2010, Choi Young of Techno Company met Mangoma at his offices and agreed to enter into a technology transfer partnership between Zesa Enterprises to manufacture switch gears.Chifamba, Mutasa and Mangoma reportedly connived to by-pass the approval by the committee and the competitive bidding process to favour Techpro Company by making sure that it automatically became the partner in the technology transfer agreement.The trio is said to have proceeded to award Techpro Company the contract and, as a result, Zesa Enterprises made an initial payment of $850 000 to the South Korean company on the strength of the technology transfer agreement.It is further alleged that the deliverables of which the agreement sought to achieve were not met at the time of the expiry of the five-year period, resulting in questions being raised over the deal.Due to the trio's actions, Zesa Enterprises allegedly suffered a total prejudice of $850 000 and nothing was recovered. News / National by Staff reporter Corporate24 Hospital on Friday launched a medical aid scheme in Bulawayo incorporating low-income earners and the informal sector that is absorbing thousands of people as companies close shop.Under the Corporate24's Ngile Plan medical aid scheme, there is a three-month waiting period before clients benefit from the three packages on offer, the Lite (US$3), Standard (US$10) and Gold (US$30), respectively.Members have an option of paying the equivalent in RTGS dollars."We felt the plight of our clients on issues surrounding co-payments and shortfalls which they are encountering with other medical aid providers. This would result in patients being stranded because they could not access basic services, hence we came up with this product," Corporate24 chief executive officer, Mike Joka told Southern Eye on the side-lines of the launch.Currently, there is an outcry from patients on medical aid seeking treatment as they are frequently required to make extra cash payments on all medical costs by some institutions and pharmacies."Ngile Plan simply means a person who has a plan receives comprehensive medical attention without any questions asked."We have also partnered with government hospitals in making sure that those who sign up for our medial plan are assisted even in towns and cities where the private hospital has not established medical centres," Joka added.Corporate24's Bulawayo medical facility offers admissions as well as a delivery suite, a well-equipped intensive care unit for rapid response, resuscitation rooms, laboratory and radiological units for X-ray and ultrasound scanning, a dental unit and pharmacy.It also houses a hi-tech modular operating theatre system, the first of its kind in Zimbabwe. The theatre is ideal for all sorts of surgery from orthopaedic to cardiac.Corporate24's medical aid scheme will see members benefit from general practitioner consultations, prescription drugs, observation, basic dentistry, laboratory tests, x-rays, scans, admission and specialists at government hospitals, maternity services, theatre, admissions and ambulance services among others. News / National by Staff reporter Former Bulawayo South member of Parliament and MDC national executive member Mr Eddie Cross says President Mnangagwa's administration has not received due credit for reforms that he has undertaken in the past year, especially in the international media.Mr Cross, who on Thursday last week had a talk at the Cape Town Press Club where he addressed the South African journalistic fraternity on Zimbabwe's transition from former President Robert Mugabe to President Mnangagwa in November last year and its aftermath, yesterday told the Sunday Times that President Mnangagwa had taken Zimbabwe on a path of transformation.He took the opportunity to boldly declare his confidence in President Mnangagwa's ability to move Zimbabwe from the quagmire of the past leadership."There is no doubt in my mind that Mnangagwa will take Zimbabwe down a different route. And I think in the past nine months (since the election) he's not received sufficient recognition from the international media for what he's actually achieved," Mr Cross was quoted as saying in The Sunday Times yesterday.The former legislator also expressed confidence and optimism that President Mnangagwa's Zanu-PF Government would turn around the country's economic fortunes and political standing. He also heaped praise on President Mnanagwa's political reforms."There would be no engagement from the international community if a political reform agenda is not adopted or followed. In his (President Mnangwagwa's) view, we had to have legitimacy recognised by the international community in order to put the country back on its feet. We were really quite surprised at the strength of his view," he said.Government and the International Monetary Fund are working on macro-economic policies and structural reforms that will underpin the country's Staff Monitored Programme.The SMP will be monitored on a quarterly basis and aims to implement a coherent set of policies that can facilitate a return to macro-economic stability. IMF team leader in Zimbabwe Mr Gene Leon said the successful implementation of the SMP will assist in building a track record and facilitate Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the international community.The SMP, Mr Leon said, would be anchored on Government's Transitional Stabilisation Programme. Mr Cross also queried the reluctance by the international media to recognise President Mnangagwa's achievements."[But] what more does this guy have to do, except stand on his head, to really persuade the world that Zimbabwe is on a new path? We were so far out of the field economically that we couldn't expect to remain a player internationally."But in six weeks, we had a surplus. The International Monetary Fund couldn't believe it. And from September onwards, we have run a surplus."The administration adopted a ballooning debt overhang which was driven by a significant increase in Government overdraft at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, from US$1,4 billion in December 2017 to US$2,5 billion by September last year.Mr Cross added: "Zimbabwe has gone from a 40 percent deficit to a balance of payments surplus; by end of next quarter Zim will have a floating currency. Amazing economic achievement done in nine months; (I am) not a fan of Mnangagwa, but he is putting Zimbabwe on a new progressive path."Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, in condemning a wave of unjustified price increases from an unscrupulous business community, recently revealed that Government was doing very well on the fiscal front. He said Government was solvent and running surpluses averaging at least $100 million since September last year when the new Government was sworn in.The Finance and Economic Development Minister said in January, Government recorded a surplus of $102 million, February $85,5 million, taking into account cushioning of civil servants while in March, the surplus doubled to about $200 million.Mr Cross's sentiments fly directly in the face of the MDC and other political commentators who have been on the warpath painting a bleak economic picture in Zimbabwe. News / National by Staff reporter THE Government will this week meet with bakers and millers to discuss the recent increase in bread prices which it feels is unfair and unjustified and map a way forward to come up with an affordable price for consumers.Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Vangelis Haritatos confirmed the development on Friday. He said Government will be meeting bakers this coming week to solve the issue of bread price which is now beyond the reach of many Zimbabweans."As Government we believe in engagement and so in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce we intend to meet with the representatives of the National Association Bakers of Zimbabwe to bring in their bakers so that we can talk openly to see why they had to increase their price and what the Government can do to reduce the price," he saidHe said the aim of the meeting is to reduce the bread price that has risen drastically to provide an affordable price for the consumers."Hopefully, we will come to an agreement to drop the bread price so that we have on the market a price that's affordable to the public which also allows the bakers to make a profit to ensure that consumers are not over-burdened," he said.Deputy Minister Haritatos said the bread price increase was unfair and unjustified."We feel that the bread price increase was unjustified, We did announce new producer prices but remember we are giving 38,5 percent discount to our millers, which means the price of flour does go up but the increase should not between RTGS$3 and RTGS$3,50 like they are doing. The proper price of bread should be between RTGS$2 and RTGS$2,50 at this stage given the fact that we know the input costs of bread," he added. News / National by Staff reporter President Emmerson Mnangagwa's cocktail of measures to pacify the south-western parts of the country that bore the brunt of the 1980s massacres by the army have been greeted by strident opposition from traditional leaders.Mnangagwa early this month, through Justice secretary Virginia Mabhiza, announced that the government would facilitate the acquisition of death certificates for Gukurahundi victims and identity documents for survivors.The government also announced that remains of victims buried in mass and shallow graves would be exhumed for reburial, but chiefs from Matabeleland and Midlands say they are against anyone "tampering with evidence of the massacres."According to sources, Matabeleland and Midlands chiefs met the Matebeleland Collective (MC), a group of civil society groups that extracted the concessions from Mnangagwa, at a lodge in Bulawayo last Thursday where they made their position known.From the Midlands chiefs Sigodo, and Mafala attended the meeting while Gampu, Nyangazonke and Ndiweni represented Matabeleland.Nyangazonke, Ndiweni and Mathema in separate interviews said traditional leaders were not against the MC as an independent body, but the process government announced through the group on low it wants to address the emotive issue without any acknowledgement and apology."There was a lot of reaction against the MC on why they had the meeting with the president to discuss Gukurahundi in the first place," Ndiweni said while confirming the meeting."We took all that criticism on board since we are the sounding board for the concerns of the people."For us, we had to meet them to find out what they were saying and doing."However, our position is absolutely very clear that there must not be a single exhumation under any circumstance."That is premature; we are saying there is a known record internationally of undertaking this process wherever genocide has taken place. Rwanda for example."Ndiweni said the exhumations that are expected to start in Tsholotsho this week would contaminate the evidence."I repeat: Absolutely under no circumstances must there be a single exhumation," he said."The minute you do that you have tainted the evidence, you have corrupted the evidence. That evidence will not be accepted in a court of law."The minute you do that there will never be any truth-telling."Mathema from Matabeleland South said traditional leaders expected truthtelling and acknowledgement of the massacres to be central in resolving the Gukurahundi issue."As chiefs, this is part of the conversation that we will take on board, and try and meet the government of the day on how to formulate a roadmap on addressing Gukurahundi," he said."We have been engaging the MC, but we are clear that there must, first, be an acknowledgement and an apology and we then move forward. There must be truthtelling."How do you even say you are addressing Gukurahundi without an acknowledgment? What are you addressing? As for the victims, how do you ask them to forgive without apologising?"They apologise to who, and for what? That must be very clear."Nyangazonke weighed in saying the chiefs wanted a meeting with Mnangagwa."As chiefs, we are saying we want to independently meet the president about this, and do things differently," he said."We feel chiefs are better placed to handle this as they have a constituency unlike the MC, as, for example, on exhumations, on whose land will this take place?"Some of the things that the MC agreed on with government cannot be undertaken without the blessing of the chiefs."The Gukurahundi issue is becoming a dog-eat-dog matter, a money-making project."For us, it is not about the money, but that [addressing Gukurahundi] is our role as the chiefs to undertake. We are going to be different in the way we address this."The traditional leaders said the people who suffered most from the brutal campaign by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade were in the rural areas, but they were not consulted."Gukurahundi happened in the communal areas, under our jurisdiction, not in towns where they agreed on some of the formulas of addressing it," Nyangazonke said."It is their right, and we cannot stop them, but when they come to the communal areas, to our areas of jurisdiction, they will understand what we mean."Jenni Williams, one of the MC coordinators, also confirmed the meeting, but said they would continue engaging the traditional leaders for a solution to the Gukurahundi issue."We have had many meetings with chiefs over the past years on Gukurahundi," she said."The engagements have been ongoing, and last week's meeting is no different."We will continue to do so, also with other stakeholders. That is an ongoing conversation."The MC met Mnangagwa at the Bulawayo State House last month where they made demands that government must address issues arising from Gukurahundi.Human rights groups say at least 20 000 people died after former president Robert Mugabe unleashed the Fifth Brigade in Matabeleland and Midlands in 1983 to track down dissidents that are said have numbered less than 100.The killings only ended when Zapu, led by late vice-president Joshua Nkomo, whose supporters were the main target of the pogrom, agreed to merge with Mugabe's Zanu-PF in 1987.Mngangagwa's spokesperson George Charamba recently caused a furore when he told this publication in an interview that Gukurahundi was a war, pitting two armed sides.He was reacting to accusations that Mnangagwa was an architect of the killings. News / National by Staff reporter Air Zimbabwe engineers have launched investigations into the cause of an engine malfunction that resulted in a "brief" tail pipe fire on its Boeing 767-200ER on its way from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Harare.The near disaster, which occurred on Sunday night, did not threaten the continuation of the flight and the safety of both the crew and passengers.Air Zimbabwe says normal services are expected to be affected as the aircraft is attended to, and passengers would get travel updates.The incident marks a difficult three-day period for Air Zimbabwe after its Harare-bound flight hit birds mid-air last Friday, resulting in sparks from the engine.The Boeing 767-200ER's tail pipe caught fire on Sunday night on its way from South Africa and miraculously landed safely at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu A man running out of ideas will be in Manicaland from Wednesday to Friday. He will meet traditional leaders in Chipinge but his real plan is to consult a powerful sangoma down there #MusadyiwaNetsananguro Mduduzi Mathuthu (@Mathuthu) April 29, 2019 President Emmerson Mnangagwa might be landing in Manicaland on Wednesday to consult a sangoma seasoned journalist Mduduzi Mathuthu has suggested.On Monday evening Mathuthu posted a tweet saying, "A man running out of ideas will be in Manicaland from Wednesday to Friday. He will meet traditional leaders in Chipinge but his real plan is to consult a powerful sangoma down there."As if to confirm Mathuthu's statement Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services Nick Mangwana announced that a trip is being organised fir Mnangagwa to visit Mozambique."Plans are underway for HE President Mnangagwa to visit Dombwe in Mozambique where Zimbabweans are buried to thank those who accorded dignity to our departed compatriots, as well as to commiserate with the Mozambicans affected by Cyclone Idai."Mangwana said. News / National by Staff reporter Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has advised President Mnangagwa to delay his visit to graves of 158 Zimbabweans who were swept away by Cyclone Idai floods across the border because the area is still inaccessible and unsafe.President Mnangagwa revealed this in Mutare yesterday during a briefing with officials from the provincial Department of Civil Protection ahead of his meeting with traditional leaders from Chimanimani and Chipinge.The meeting with the chiefs is meant to chart the way forward on the reconstruction of the Cyclone Idai ravaged areas."I had instructed members of JOC (Joint Operations Command) and the Minister of State for Manicaland Affairs (Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba) to assess if we can visit the graves in Mozambique where our loved ones were buried," said President Mnangagwa."But we received advice from President Nyusi that the area is not safe at the moment. Apparently, there are no facilities there. The Mozambican government is looking into the logistics to make sure the visit becomes possible."President Mnangagwa expressed his desire to visit the places where Zimbabweans who were swept into Mozambique by Cyclone Idai floods were buried to pay his respects and look into the construction of proper graves for them.He said he had wanted to visit Mozambique during this visit to Manicaland, but his counterpart, President Nyusi, had advised against the visit as the areas were still not accessible.More than 150 Zimbabweans who were washed away across the border by the cyclone floods were buried in Dombwe, Mozambique. President Mnangagwa said it was important for him and his officials to visit the graves to pay their respects and ensure that decent graves are built."Officials including myself, should in future visit the graves of 158 of our people who were buried in Mozambique and pay our respects and possibly construct decent graves for them as we have done for those who were buried here," he said.The President said last month Government sent a team of pathologists to help in the identification of some of the deceased through DNA tests on the remains of recovered unidentified bodies. Govt to sign Labour agreement with UAE By Ritah kemigisa. The government of Uganda is set to sign a bilateral agreement with the United Arab Emirates next month on externalisation of labour in allow licensed companies recruit workers. The minister of Gender Labour and Social Development Janat Mukwaya says the agreement will see a number of safety measures put in place to protect and promote the rights of Ugandan domestic workers in the Middle East Country. She meanwhile says they are also working with the ministry of foreign affairs to get a similar agreement with Oman where many Ugandan female workers have reported major problems. Mukwaya has however advised Ugandans seeking greener pastures abroad to strictly do so legally and go in countries where Uganda has export labour agreements with. Figures from the gender minister show that a total of 130 companies are licensed to export labour. News / National by Staff reporter A NEW wave of price increases has seen hard-pressed Zimbabweans grappling with counting the cost of dying.Funeral insurance companies, hit by a failing local currency, have joined the bandwagon by increasing premiums by 100% effective next month.In a notice to its policy holders, Nyaradzo Funeral Assurance Company said it had no choice, but to increase premiums so as to preserve value."In order to preserve the value of funeral policy benefits, kindly note with effect (from) June 1, funeral policy premiums shall be increased by 100%. We shall communicate the same to all policy holders through SMS before May 1," part of the letter sent out to policy holders reads.Hard-pressed workers face this new hurdle to giving their loved ones decent burial.Government, despite warning business against price hikes which President Emmerson Mnangagwa has described as "inhuman, unethical and unpatriotic", has failed to stem the wave of price hikes.Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Peter Mutasa said workers continue to be the easy escape route cushioning both government and business."Government and business look at the workers as their escape route. Now that business is falling on the sword of austerity and neo-liberal economics, they are cushioning themselves without increasing salaries. Government also just wakes up, increases taxes and forgets about the welfare of the workers, yet we have nowhere to turn to," he said.Meanwhile, the Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) says it has been approached by a number of service providers requesting for more tariff increases, barely three months after they were reviewed.The increases range between 50% and 400%.Recently, AHFoZ effected an upward review of 40% and 30% on fees payable by its members to medical professionals and private hospitals units, respectively.In a statement, the association proposed that an urgent meeting of all concerned stakeholders be convened in order to find a workable solution so that patients continue accessing the required healthcare services."Medical aid societies have been receiving numerous complaints from their members and employer organisations over the increases in contributions (since) salaries are not going up," reads the statement."At the moment, medical aid societies are still assessing the impact of these increases, as it is barely three months since their recent fees review. Judging from member feedback, another round of contribution increases so soon would be unaffordable for medical aid members, employer groups and health funders."AHFoZ said the prevailing economic conditions, characterised by liquidity challenges, among many other negatives, have not spared health funders either."The association would like to urge all medical aid members to carefully consider any alternative options that may be available with the assistance of their health funders, when faced with difficulties in accessing services," it said. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu Journalist Zenzele Ndebele has unveiled a building that shall house a memorial library for the Gukurahundi genocide.Ndebele said the library was motivated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's announcement that the genocide must be debated all over the country at all platforms.Zenzele recently appealed to anyone with information that can be exhibited at the library to supply him. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu Cherish Muchegwa the woman who was mauled by dogs in Bulawayo South is leaving for surgery in India on 10 May.The Bulawayo Soutrh Member of Parliament Raj Modi said Muchegwa will be accompanied by her husband Joseph Masaiti and a nurse."This trip was made possible by your prayers and donations. Let's keep donating because the money for the operation is not yet enough." Modi said.Meanwhile a report from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Settlement in the department of veterinary services at the central veterinary laboratory states that two of the dogs that attacked Muchegwa had rabies.The Vet Department urged all people who were bitten by the dogs or had a history of contact to go for rabies vaccination."The dogs tested positive for rabies. All personnel who were in contact with the dogs should be vaccinated immediately against rabies. The rest of the animals at risk (that interacted with the rabid dogs) should be vaccinated against rabies," read the report.Those who are willing to donate to saving Muchegwa's life can channel the donations through Abundant Life Revival Mission International, ZB Account Number 4304413264080 Jason Moyo branch, Bulawayo or Ecocash 0773960966. Opinion / Columnist IT SEEMS President Emmerson Mnangagwa's young government has not learned from all the previous mistakes they have made in their time in power. Since coming into power following a military coup in November 2017, Mnangagwa's administration has shown some kindergarten tendencies when dealing with mass protests.Despite the fact that citizens have the right to demonstrate, government has responded violently to quell protests.It all started with the killings that occurred on August 1, 2018 when a dozen of people were shot down in broad daylight by the army in central Harare as they protested against the delay by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce results of the presidential election.Although, the army denied the allegations, soldiers were captured live by international broadcasters firing live ammunition into a fleeing crowd. All the credible regional and international elections observers in Zimbabwe at the time emphatically condemned the government's action.Even up to this day, this sad chapter has significantly hampered Mnangagwa's effort to see Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the West. Many thought Mnangagwa's rule would be a departure from the past but talk of reforms at Munhumutapa was just a fallacy.Earlier this year, Zimbabweans took to the streets to protest afterMnangagwa had announced a 150 percent hike in fuel prices.The State responded by unleashing the military on the citizens; once again dozens were killed while women were raped as soldiers went on a rampage especially in the ghettos. Once again the government resorted to their default mode and claimed that it was not State-sponsored violence but rogue soldiers and police officers perpetrating the crimes.Zimbabwe is currently on a knife-edge due to the rising cost of living with many people living well below the poverty datum line.As a result, many civic organisations and opposition political parties are now calling for dialogue or protests in order to make the government hear the masses' pleas.Mnangagwa and his government have been rattled by this threat of further mass protests with Home Affairs minister Cain Mathema sending out a chilling warning to would-be protesters. Mathema has instructed the police and obviously other State security agents to be ready to crush these impending demonstrations.It's a sure bet that this government will not hesitate to use live ammunition in the process as they have clearly showed they do not fear taking lives. Opinion / Columnist Before the enactment of POSA1 in the year 2000, and prior to the demise of LOMA2 in 1993, the right to picketing was regulated by common law. During this period, the police wantonly resorted to the unlawful use of brute force to quell demonstrations or processions. However, pressure from civic society, among other factors, arm-twisted the government into seeking a way to sanitize the actions of the police in an effort to conjure a facade of constitutionality. Fortunately, the public could not be fooled and objections against the diabolically repressive nature of the Act remained a thorn in the flesh of all pro-democratic movements.Towards the curtain-call of the year 2017, Zimbabwe woke up to a so-called New Dispensation. Along with it came a litany of new hopes and dreams of peace, democracy, prosperity and justice among other illusions. Sadly, these dreams also did not leave behind the nightmares in the form of POSA and POSA did not leave behind its draconian sibling, namely AIPPA3. There could be no democracy if POSA was still a part of the laws in the so-called New Dispensation. Peace and Justice could not prevail with POSA lurking in the shadows. The new government had to Act, and it decided to do away with POSA and usher in MOPA. From all this hullaballoo a new question arose:1 Public Order & Security Act2 Law & Order Maintenance Act3 Access to Information & Protection Of Privacy Act"Is MOPA any different from POSA or is it just but a mere renaming of the same child from CHIPO to SIPHO?"The differences between MOPA and POSA are so microscopic that if one could take the liberty to describe them allegorically, one would conclude that they are smaller than an ant's beard. The obvious changes are apparently updates of names and titles: for example, "Commissioner of Police" has been changed to "Commissioner-General of Police" and "Police Force" to "Police Service".In terms of Section 1, namely, the Short Title, the Act has been re-christened and given a title that sounds more palliative than POSA. It gets an uber- democratic sounding title: "Maintenance Of Peace and Order Bill". The name creates a misapprehension that peace and order currently exist in the country and that the new bill is just grease in the constantly rotating wheels of peace, order and justice. The title, "Public Order & Security Act" had a coarse texture and sounded more militant and drew images of a police state in one's mind.Clause 6 which regulates the appointment of responsible officers for public meetings is mere window-dressing. In terms of sub-section (1) thereof, persons who are appointed as organisers of public meetings are to be regarded as conveners for the purposes of Part II of the Bill. There is no discernible advantage emanating from the addition of these few words.In a move towards contemporaneousness, Clause 7 which deals with the notice of gatherings has simply replaced "facsimile numbers" with "cellular phones" and "e-mails" as modes of correspondence recognized by the Bill. The obligation to give notice of public gatherings remains unchanged.Consultations, etc., re holding of public gatherings are dealt with under section 8 of the Bill. In terms thereof a regulating authority (a senior police officer) is given three days to inform the convener of a demonstration whether or not permission to demonstrate has been granted. The only difference with the foregoing and section 26 of POSA is that the regulating authority could hold the exercise of its discretion ad infinitum. Another variance with section 26 of POSA is the addition of an unintelligible proviso to subsection . At the end of the day the clause is a clone of section 26 of POSA.Convenors of a demonstration are inadvertently forced into a scenario where they have to give more than seven days' notice to the regulating authority in case the regulating authority fears possible disorder and therefore has to invite the convenors to a consultative meeting at least seven days before the demonstration. Consequently, a consultative meeting cannot be held if the regulating authority has withheld its consent where the convenors have given the minimum seven days' notice or less.The temporary prohibition of public demonstrations which was enshrined in section 27 of POSA was outlawed by the High Court for being ultra-vires of the supreme law of the land has and not been included in the Bill.A proverbial breath of fresh air is seen in Clause 14 of the Bill which no longer criminalizes a civilian's failure to produce an identity document when asked by a police officer. The clause is less menacing and it gives a person seven (7) days to produce an identity document at a police station when one fails to produce one upon request by a police officer. Contrariwise, a law which permits the police to arbitrarily stop people and demand their identity documents is unconstitutional because it impedes on the right to freedom of movement. Section 14 of the Bill contains this provision.Last but not least, section 18 of the Bill cures the constitutional malady in section 37 of POSA by taking away from the Minister of Defence the power to deploy troops to assist the police in quelling public unrest. It restores such power to the President. The section is now intra-vires of section 213 of the Constitution. Further, and in harmony with section 214 of the Constitution, President is indulged to inform Parliament within seven days after deploying the Defence Forces to restore public order.It is apparent the POSA is very much alive albeit with a different name. MOPA is just as undemocratic as POSA. The amendments are tantamount to applying lipstick to a baboon. In my view, MOPA or POSA should have no space in a democratic narrative. The common law offences pertaining to incitement of violence sufficiently cover the needs of public order relating to freedom of expression. There is clearly a need to remove or substantially overhaul all POSAand/or MOPA and all other repressive and undemocratic legislation interfering with freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.There is also a pressing need for a return to impartial policing which will require a radical a change in the ethos of the police. The police force must become a force that performs its duties fairly and professionally. They must no longer apply or misapply the law so as to destroy the democratic right to freedom of assembly and speech. Businessmen teamwork brainstorming meeting. Its much tougher to be an investor nowadays. The world is changing so fast. Formerly rock-solid companies are being disrupted at record speed. And well-capitalized technology companies threaten to change even more industries in the future. Its always been hard to figure out the difference between a terminally ill company and one just going through a rough patch, but Id argue its even harder today. Investors must be extra diligent and fight hard to make sure theyre investing in the best choices. Not every blue-chip stock is poised to survive. Here are three companies that are safe additions to your portfolio today corporations that will thrive going forward. They are poised to provide you with lifelong income. Royal Bank Some investors were convinced a few years ago that a new wave of financial technology companies collectively labeled as FinTech would knock traditional banks like Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY)(NYSE:RY) off their pedestals, offering products like loans or investment advice directly to consumers for much lower fees. Canadas largest banks responded by buying some of the more promising FinTech companies and then investing heavily in their own technology. RBC specifically spent more than $3 billion in 2018 alone improving its technological reach. Its clearly working, as customers have migrated to using smartphone apps for their day-to-day banking versus going to a branch. The company is poised to win over the long term, too. It is Canadas largest bank and the fifth-largest bank in North America. Some 60% of its revenue comes from its Canadian operations, with 23% from the United States and 16% from other nations. Segments include personal and commercial banking, wealth management, capital markets, insurance, and investor and treasury services. Some 16 million people are RBC clients worldwide. This is a true behemoth. All of this is personified by the companys ever-increasing dividend. RBC has increased its quarterly dividend by an average of more than 7% over the last decade, with another dividend increase announced for 2019. The current payout is $4.08 per share on an annual basis good enough for a 3.8% yield. Story continues Recipe Unlimited Recipe Unlimited (TSX:RECP) is the new name for Cara Operations, one of Canadas largest and most diverse restaurant owners. Youve likely eaten at one of the companys brands recently, which include Swiss Chalet, Harveys, East Side Marios, Montanas, and newer additions like New York Fries and The Keg. Recent results were great, with total system-wide sales hitting $3.4 billion in 2018 growth that was primarily driven by the Keg acquisition. Free cash flow surpassed $164 million, which works out to $2.66 per share. Recipe Unlimited shares currently trade hands at $27.12 each, which puts shares at just over 10 times free cash flow. Thats a very reasonable valuation. The company also increased its dividend by 5% earlier this year, pushing the quarterly payout to $0.1121 per share. That works out to a 1.7% yield. Investors shouldnt worry about the low yield; much of the companys excess cash flow is dedicated to paying back debt, so it has funds to make the next acquisition. Canadian Apartment Properties To conclude our trifecta of businesses not easily disrupted by technology, we have apartments. Because people are always going to need some place to live. Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (TSX:CAR.UN) has grown into one of Canadas largest residential landlords. It owns more than 50,000 apartments and land-lease sites in Canada and recently expanded into the Netherlands. Shares have been on fire lately, increasing 29% over the last year and nearly 62% over the last three years. Results have been outstanding, with the company reporting strong occupancy of 98.9% and a 5.7% increase in monthly rents during its last quarterly report. And it has the balance sheet strength to expand, with a debt-to-book value ratio under 40%. Canadian Apartment Properties REIT is one of Canadas most expensive REITs, but it deserves the valuation. The company is firing on all cylinders. The companys dividend is currently 2.9%, which is lower than most other REITs. But it makes up for that with a much lower payout ratio than normal for the sector, which gives it room to increase distributions in the future. The current payout ratio is under 70%. More reading Fool contributor Nelson Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2019 By Allison Lampert and Amanda Ferguson MONTREAL/BELFAST (Reuters) - Bombardier put its Belfast wing-making factory on the block as part of a wider shake-up, while the plane and train maker's reluctance to say it would meet 2020 goals sent shares lower. The Canadian company said on Thursday it would unite its corporate and regional jet units, while selling off two aerostructures operations, including the Belfast plant, the largest high-tech manufacturer in Northern Ireland. Bombardier's retreat from Belfast comes at a sensitive time for the British government, which is struggling to agree a deal to leave the European Union, in large part because of disagreements over the future of the Irish border. The plant and its 3,600 workers are an important constituency for Northern Ireland's largest unionist party, the Democratic Unionist Party, which is propping up Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government. Stunned workers at the factory, just yards away from the shipyard that built the Titanic, urged the British government to ensure jobs were retained. "It's a shock to the system given what we have all been through. It's taken a toll," said Noel Gibson, a sheetmetal worker who has worked at the plant for 29 years. The plant escaped major job losses last year https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-itc-ruling-britain/relief-for-uk-workers-after-bombardier-trade-dispute-victory-idUKKBN1FG0DV when Bombardier won a trade victory against U.S. planemaker Boeing in a dispute that had threatened to slap a 300 percent duty on sales of jets for which the plant supplies wings. Bombardier Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare called the steps, including the sale of a separate Morocco facility that builds components for the company's regional jets, "a strategic move". The two facilities generate about half of the $2.25 billion to $2.5 billion in revenues expected for the aero structures division in 2019, the company said. Bellemare said he expects the sales to take several months. Bombardier is shedding its commercial aviation businesses to focus on more profitable corporate jets and passenger rail cars. But the rail division, Bombardier's largest unit, has faced recent headwinds because of delivery delays and production problems at a handful of long-term projects. Investors were rattled last week when Bombardier cut https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bombardier-outlook/bombardiers-surprise-forecast-cut-rattles-stock-bond-investors-idUSKCN1S1168 its first-quarter and full-year revenue targets for the transportation division. Bombardier expects to deliver nine trains this year as part of a long-delayed order to Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), Danny Di Perna, president of the transportation division, told Reuters. The company is producing another 15 trains for Swiss this year which are expected to enter service in 2020. The rail delivery delays led Bombardier executives to shy away from reaffirming 2020 objectives, such as growing revenues to $20 billion. The company will review the targets later in the year. The rail division, which was expected to generate $10 billion next year, is crucial to Bombardier's five-year turnaround plan, after heavy investment in aircraft production drove it to the brink of bankruptcy in 2015. Bombardier shares dropped as much as 10 percent, then bounced a bit to close down 5.13 percent at C$2.22 in Toronto. AIRBUS WINGS Bellemare said the company will be working with Europe's Airbus SE to find a buyer for the wing-making facility, which produces wings for the A220 narrowbody jet. Industry analysts said the Belfast plant pioneered a leap forward in carbon-fibre wings technology that may be attractive to Airbus for its next generation of planes. Airbus declined to say whether it was interested in buying the plant but described it as a "key supplier". A spokesman for Britain's May said that while the move was disappointing and unsettling for workers, Bombardier's Belfast business has a healthy long-term order book. Bombardier bought the plant from Short Brothers, the world's oldest planemaker, in 1989. It has been a pillar of Belfast's economy for decades and given many locals apprenticeships. It is of particular significance to the mainly Protestant unionist community which long provided the majority of workers in Shorts and the nearby Harland & Wolff shipyards. The company said it will create a single aviation division headed by business aircraft president, David Coleal, and will consolidate its five aerostructures businesses to focus on facilities in Montreal, Mexico and its newly acquired Global 7500 business jet wing operations in Texas. (Additional reporting by Arathy Nair in Bengaluru, Fergal Smith in Toronto and Tim Hepher in Paris; writing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise; editing by Alexander Smith and David Gregorio) Alain Bellemare, president and chief executive officer of Bombardier Inc., speaks during an event in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg via Getty Images Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier is selling its Belfast plant, the company announced Thursday. Bombardier employs around 3,600 workers in Northern Ireland, making it one of the largest private sector employers in the region. The company said it would also pursue the sale of its Morocco-based business. The moves come as a result of Bombardiers plan to consolidate all aerospace assets into a single, streamlined, and fully integrated business, the company said in a statement. As the Company moves to optimize its global manufacturing footprint, Bombardier will pursue the divestiture of the Belfast and Morocco aerostructures businesses. These are great businesses with tremendous capabilities. The companys aerospace division will now be located in Montreal, Mexico, and a newly acquired base in Texas. The Belfast facility, which was opened in 2013, primarily produces wings for Airbus A220 aircraft. In Northern Irelands largest-ever inward investment, Bombardier spent around 520m on the plant. Bombardiers other sites in Northern Ireland in Newtownabbey, Newtownards, and Dunmurry will also be affected. A general view of the Bombardier Aerospace plant in Belfast. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images Bombardier has had a presence in Northern Ireland since 1989, when it purchased Short Brothers. The first company in the world to make production aircraft, Short Brothers moved its headquarters from Kent to Belfast in 1948. Just two days ago, the company said it had suspended a compulsory redundancy process, a decision welcomed by unions. In November, Bombardier said it wanted to cut up to 500 jobs from its Northern Irish operations as part of its global restructuring. In a separate statement on Thursday, the company said that while there were no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, it would continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives in order to make the Northern Ireland unit more attractive to potential buyers. A spokesperson for prime minister Theresa May said it was disappointing that the Belfast plant is no longer part of Bombardier's future plans. Story continues This will be unsettling for the workers and their families. However the company has a healthy order book and is not expecting further job losses. In a statement, union Unite expressed hope that any prospective new owner would commit to local production in Northern Ireland and invest in the operations there. Unite will be seeking assurances from Bombardier and the government around this process. It doesnt matter whose name is above the gate what matters is that we safeguard jobs and skills in this critical industry, Jackie Pollock, the unions regional secretary, said. Bombardier, which has factories in 28 countries, has been under pressure from shareholders in recent years, after attempts to compete with market-leading aircraft from Boeing and Airbus foundered. By Ritah Kemigisa. The National Association of broadcasters (NAB) have asked the Uganda communication commission to withdraw its order to media houses compelling them to suspend their staff over breach of minimum broadcasting standard. In a letter dated 2nd May 2019, the chairman of the broadcasters association kin Kariisa says the current crackdown on Ugandan media by UCC undermines the quality journalism by creating an environment of fear. Kariisa adds that abrupt suspension of key any key staff on the orders of the national regulator weakens standards and controls already existent in the media houses. He adds that such orders also compromise the relationship and opportunity for dialogue between UCC and the broadcasters. In an April 30th letter to various media houses among them NTV,NBS, Radio Simba, CBS and pearl FM among others, the UCC Executive director George Mutabazi threatened them with sanctions if they do not suspend their staff accused of airing or approving undesirable broadcast content. Related Stories. Journalists want UCC to withdraw its suspension threats GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister hit out on Wednesday against the use of oil sanctions "as a weapon" by the United States and the damage it was doing to OPEC, according to SHANA, the news outlet of the OPEC member's oil ministry. Oil prices hit their highest since November in recent days after Washington said all waivers for those importing sanctions-hit Iranian oil would end this week, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran and tightening global supply. Another OPEC founding member, Venezuela, is also the subject of U.S. sanctions on its oil exports to bring about political and economic change. "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 OPEC and the responsibility for that is with them," Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in a speech at an oil and gas conference in Tehran. The United States has demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers that had allowed Irans eight biggest customers, most of them in Asia, to import limited volumes. Oil markets had tightened this year due to supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the White House said after its Iran move it was working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure oil markets were adequately supplied. America will not, however, be able to bring Iran's oil exports to zero and the Islamic Republic's neighbors are exaggerating claims of their oil production capacity that could make up for any shortfall, Zanganeh said, according to the Mehr news agency. Iran would not leave OPEC though, Masoud Karbasian, the chief executive of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Wednesday, according to SHANA. Iran is examining new ways to sell its oil, Zanganeh said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). He did not provide details. Irans oil industry was standing up to the pressure from U.S. sanctions, Ahmad Mohammadi, the head of the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) said on Wednesday, according to SHANA. NISOC is currently producing 3.5 million barrels of oil per day and there are plans underway to increase that by approximately 600,0000 barrels per day, Mohammadi said. Separately, Zanganeh said that Iran's gas output will cross 1,000 million cubic meters (mcm) this calendar year, the oil ministry reported on its Twitter account. It did not specify whether Zanganeh was referring to the year 2019 or the Iranian calendar year which ends in March 2020. The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran in November to curtail its nuclear program and stop backing militant proxies across the Middle East. OPEC and its allies next meet in June to decide on any supply changes. The producer group's supply cuts have been aimed largely at offsetting record crude production in the United States. (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by Jason Neely and Elaine Hardcastle) Help from Ottawa in the form of cash advances is a welcome short-term solution for farmers caught in a trade dispute between Canada and its number one canola customer China, according to the Premier of Saskatchewan and canola producers in the province. China has stopped taking canola seed from Canada, saying it's contaminated with pests. Experts say it's a political move after an executive from Chinese telecom company Huawei was detained in B.C. On Wednesday the federal government announced that it will more than double the maximum amount of money available to individual producers under the Advance Payments Program (APP), from $400,000 per year to $1 million. The increase will be available to all Canadian farmers. For canola producers, the interest-free portion will be increased to $500,000 from $100,000. Premier Scott Moe wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month calling for changes to the APP, including a request for interest-free loans of $1 million dollars. Although Trudeau didn't meet that specific request, Moe said Ottawa's new plan will help many farmers in Saskatchewan start seeding. "We're appreciative of the effort. I think, in fairness, the federal government has shown that they do support Canadian, Western Canadian agriculture and Canadian agriculture by extension," Moe said. Moe said the next goal is restoring a positive trading relationship with China. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press The federal government has also announced that it will lead a trade mission to Japan and South Korea in early June and will engage in outreach to other countries, looking for new markets for Canadian canola. Moe said Saskatchewan's trade and agriculture ministers have been invited to accompany the federal government in that trade mission. "One of them, at least, will be attending that as we are always open to, and aggressively seeking, the opportunities that we have to market our exports into other markets and to expand our exports," Moe said. Story continues Producer grateful for interest break Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, farms at Gray, Sask. He said the federal government's solution will work to temporarily assist producers with canola they are unable to sell. "They'll be able to take an advance on that canola and also on next year's crop. So it will help a bit on the cash flow," Lewis said. "It's a short term remedy. It's not going to fix everything." "I think the million dollars sounds like a lot of money but it just speaks to the risks in agriculture. It's not uncommon for farmers to be spending more than a million dollars to put their crop in." Lewis said producers have been calling for an increase in APP amounts, which have remained stagnant for years. "Unfortunately we need a crisis like this canola trade situation with China to be the catalyst for it, but it's welcome," Lewis said. Lewis said the increase in interest-free loans will save producers thousands of dollars in interest. 'Tread lightly,' warns canola farmer The federal government wants the CFIA to travel to China and test canola seeds exported from Canada. Lewis said he supports that idea. "Between the CFIA and the Canadian Green Commission we have a system in place second to none for traceability and we know that when we ship our canola off from the farm gate that it's in good shape and we're certainly have had the tools in place to back that Canada ships good canola to our customers worldwide," said Lewis. "Hopefully the CFIA will be able to put that part of this situation to rest, that China has in fact received good product." Lewis said that if it is merely a political move, it will probably take longer to mend the relationship and restore trading. Moe has suggested retaliating against China for closing the door on Canadian canola. Lewis said he would caution the government to "tread lightly." "We sure don't want to see this trade trade situation escalate," Lewis said. He said a full-on trade would be bad for both Canada and China. "Food and politics don't mix and this is just another situation here where there's not going to be any winners in this if we see this trade war escalated." Photo credit: Jami Svay From Good Housekeeping Oh, these are your boys! And who is this? My daughter, I told the woman who asked when she saw me out with my kids. My husband Sam is Asian and Im black, and our sons Scott and Sean look like both of us. But my daughter Tilea isnt African American. I think about Angelina Jolie, who adopted her son Pak from Cambodia, and Madonna, who adopted her children from Malawi. How did those kids adjust to having parents that were of a different race? Im sure Tilea can relate. For starters, she isnt my daughter by birth. Last May, Sams brother was killed in a car accident, and we adopted her, our 12-year-old niece. Before that process started, though, we had the awful, awful task of picking Tilea up from school. She knew something was wrong because her dad didnt come home the night before, and she had also boarded her bus in the morning without seeing him. That day, when we picked her up from school, she was confused to see Auntie Jami and Uncle Sam. We wanted to tell her as a family, so the whole car ride was agony - I had to keep a smile on my face. I was cracking jokes and trying to be lighthearted. We met up with Sams mother, older brother, and my sons. I remember hearing Sams older brother say, Tilea, were so sorry, but your father was killed this morning - and then I saw her face. She just turned blue. I hope I never have to do something like that again. Then, there was a big debate over what to do next. Her mother hasnt been in the picture since Tilea was born, and Tileas grandmother wanted to take her in, but she was getting older and not in the best health. I said that we should take her, because she got along with my boys so well and we had an extra room. Sam wasnt exactly ready. (She looks so much like him, I cant even imagine how Sam feels seeing his little brother in her every day.) But to tell you the truth, nobody was ready for this. Finally, Sam said, Lets ask Tilea. I want to live with you, she told us. So there it was. Story continues Its one thing to say it, and its another thing to do it. It was all scary. I prayed and prayed about it, and prayed to God, If this is your will, let it be done. Im putting this all in your hands. (I still pray about it, every day.) Fast forward to June, and she moved in. Photo credit: Jami Svay That first night, we decorated her room. We agreed on decor inspired by her favorite K-Pop group, BLACKPINK. Black bed, pink sheets, pink curtains, black wall hangings - she really put her fingerprint on it. The boys set up a little fort on the floor and slept next to her. They did that for about a week. My boys are pretty amazing, but dont get it twisted. They all get on each others nerves too. Before, I was Auntie Jami. We saw Tilea a lot during the summers, and wed hang out or go to the pool. It was sporadic, and definitely not like it is now. Its night and day. When she first moved in, she called me Auntie Mommy. Then, I became Mom. At first, I just couldnt recognize a girls name calling me Mom. Tilea said the word for a good minute and my husband had to tap me and go, Hey, shes calling you Mom! What? I thought to myself. Who is that? Whos she talking to? One thing Ive learned is that kids are extremely resilient. Dont get me wrong, shes still hurting. But when you put a kid in a happy situation, where they can flourish, they take to it pretty well. My 17-year-old son Sean plays Barbies and hosts tea parties with her, and my 15-year-old Scott even let her put makeup on him. She gave him red lips and dark black eyebrows. (Sam got a video of that for our family's YouTube channel, Svay Productions). Having a girl in the house has been really, really funny. But it hasnt always been easy. Tilea isnt a baby; shes now a 13-year-old who knows her story, who knows who she is, and where shes been. You cant erase that. We get compared to her old life, and her biological father, all the time. Like when Sam made her waffles, she let him know they werent exactly like her dads nutty waffles. Its been an adjustment for my kids too. Theyre having to share their parents, and financially, its expensive. We legally adopted her in October, and now were just trying to make sure were there for doctors appointments, school visits, things like that. We dont want anyone to feel left out. Sam started a tradition of taking her to school every morning, and theyll stop for smoothies or coffee and just talk. Shes definitely a Daddys girl. Sometimes, though, Tilea doesnt get why were so present. One night, I put dinner on the table and sat down to talk with the kids after they got home from school. I asked about their days, and was just busy getting all the tea. And at one point, Tilea turned to me and said, Ugh, Mom. Youre always around. Why are you always here? I think she was confused because she was used to eating dinner alone, while her dad was at work. So I reminded her that Im gonna be here, and I will talk to them about their days. (Heck, maybe someday they'll ask me about mine?) Its also been tough racially. I tell Tilea that color is something we cant control. But love is what we can control. Im going to love her like I love my sons. Im going to teach her and show her everything I know, give her everything I got, and I dont care what color I am. Thats something thats stuck out to me; having this mixed, biracial family, I just want to give my kids love. Even though Sam and I teach them that, there are a lot of kids that dont hear those messages. We want our kids to be educated and strong, and to not cower and think, Oh, theres something wrong with me. There is nothing wrong with them. Were all human beings. Holidays have been especially hard. We have a new tradition of lighting lanterns to set off in the sky for Tileas dad. His birthday was on February 9, and this year, we ate red velvet cake and lit lanterns again. This time, we each wrote down a message we wished to send to him. Mine went something like this: I wish you were here. I dont know if Im gonna do as good a job as you. I dont know what Im doing, but Im gonna try. Please shine your light and help me. Our family's mood turned from sadness to anger when the toxicology report came back in October. Tilea's dad's death couldve been prevented, and he trusted his girlfriend, who we now know was intoxicated, to get him home. She didnt. And she lied to our family about it, telling us that she fell asleep behind the wheel. That hurt too. Understandably, Tilea wasnt receiving this message well from us. Tilea considered her father's girlfriend a stepmom, a woman her dad loved and planned to marry, and she didnt believe the news. I always tell my husband that sometimes its not the message - its the messenger. Tilea wasnt hearing it from us because she just thought we must not like this woman. We needed her to hear the facts, black and white, of how someone's actions resulted in her dad's death. By April 4, the last day of the trial, she had come to grips with it. Sam asked how she was feeling after, and she said, I believe you. Thank you. I hope more than anything that the experience established trust. A chance for her to know that were not going to lie to her about this, or about anything. Im learning now, more than ever, that getting that trust foundation is everything in a parent-child relationship. With my sons, its built-in, but I dont have that with Tilea. I have to build that from the ground up. Having a mother has been awkward for her, and its been hard to find that bond, but we both know its there. As much as Id love to sugarcoat it, my life is no longer the same. For anyone else going through a similar situation, think about it carefully, and remember to be patient. I feel like I constantly need to improve, but on the same note, I cant beat myself up. A lot of people wouldnt have made this choice. Ive learned that women and mothers, we are the glue. We are the glue that keeps this whole thing together. There are many moments that make it all worth it. Ive been a professional makeup artist for 17 years, so its fun to have a little protege, and shes taught me a lot about Instagram. So if thats my window in, to show her about makeup (and bump these YouTubers she loves out of the way), thats it. Through that, Ill go into, How was your day? Oh, theres a boy at school? Tell me about him! Photo credit: Jami Svay Last August, just before school started, Tilea got her period. Shes spunky and spontaneous, so she wasnt coy about telling me. I took her to Target, we got the "stuff," and I showed her how to use everything. At one point, she turned to me and said, Im so happy youre here. So it went from Go away! to those five words. It made me feel so good, and I was happy to be there too. ('You Might Also Like',) With news out of Buckingham Palace that Prince Harry would be traveling to the Netherlands on May 8-9, we were all but convinced that Baby Sussex had already arrived. New intel, however, is changing our minds. Palace sources told Vanity Fair royal correspondent Katie Nicholl that theres no royal baby yet despite Meghan Markles reported due date coming and going this past Sunday. And despite Harrys commitment to his engagement in Amsterdam next week, a source told Nicholl, Theres no way hes going to miss the birth of his baby. Fueling the "no baby" speculation, royal watchers noted that Meghan and Harry's birthday message to Princess Charlotte (left on Kensington Royal's Instagram, despite the fact that they no longer follow the account) was addressed from "H and M," no new baby's initial included. As expected, Nicholl predicts news of Baby Sussex will crop up on the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs joint Instagram account, @SussexRoyal, and assures anxious fans the announcement will come at a reasonable hour (for the British, at least). Though Harry and Meghan made clear their intention to keep the birth of their child private in the early days, royal reporter Rebecca English tweeted that she believes there was a misunderstanding in regard to just how hush-hush Markles labor will be. RELATED: What Prince Harry's New Trip Means for the Arrival of Baby Sussex Story continues Am assured that if they are able to tell us she has gone into labour, then they will. I think the misunderstanding about how much is being kept private came as a result of the initial, slightly badly-worded, press release, she wrote on Thursday morning. No. Am assured that if they are able to tell us she has gone into labour, then they will. I think the misunderstanding about how much is being kept private came as a result of the initial, slightly badly-worded, press release. Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) May 2, 2019 Though the Sussexs wont be participating in the traditional photoshoot outside the hospital with their newborn, they will host a photocall in Windsor soon after the childs birth. Photo credit: Christie's/Getty Images From Town & Country My favorite Catherine the Great story is about her emeralds. She had a legendary collection of the verdant stone and they say before she went into what she knew would be a particularly tough meeting with her generals she would put on even more of them. It was a strategic move, a form of intimidation, a display of strength. I believe the term today would be Power Jewels. During one of those strategy meetings-perhaps during the Russo Turkish War when she complete the conquest of the South and made Russia the dominant power in southeastern Europe?-Catherines generals would have been staring at 107.67 rectangular shaped emerald. Photo credit: Courtesy Christie's That stone, upon her death, travelled down the Russian Imperial family line through the centuries and straight to the equally legendary emerald collection of Grand Duchess Vladimir via her father-in-law Tsar Alexander II. Grand Duchess Vladimir was no wallflower; in fact she was known as the grandest of the grand duchesses, had a renowned collection of jewels and parties, and even a bit of a gambling problem (baccarat and roulette were her weaknesses). Photo credit: Getty Images Upon receiving news of the revolution, she left St. Petersburg with only a few "daytime jewels and strings of pearls" and hid the real treasures in a secret compartment in the Vladimir Palace. She remained in the countryside until February 1920, when she fled to Venice, becoming the last Romanov to leave Russian soil. Her jewels, however, had gotten out even before she did. In an operation worthy of James Bond, a British officer snuck into the Vladimir palace dressed as a worker and stashed all the hidden jewels into plastic bags. The jewels made it safely out of Russia and into London where her son Grand Duke Boris was living in exile. After her death her family began to sell her jewels to support themselves. The Grand Duchess pearl drop and diamond tiara went to Queen Mary and remains one of Queen Elizabeth's favorites (she likes it with the pearl drops, or the alternate emerald drops, or sometimes with no drops at all). Story continues Photo credit: Getty Images The 107.67 rectangular emerald that once belonged to Catherine the Great was sold to Cartier in 1927. It remained in their private collection, remounted onto a diamond sautoir until it was redesigned again using a necklace purchased from the Payne Whitney family. In 1954 the stone was recut to a pear shape 75.63 carats to improve its clarity and was bought by John D. Rockefeller Jr. It remained in the Rockefeller family until it was sold again in November 1971 to famed dealer Raphael Esmerian for $4.3 million. (It was Esmerian who had advised Cartier to recut the stone.) The pear-shaped emerald has now been rediscovered in the collection of a distinguished private family, this time suspended in a more contemporary diamond setting, weighing 75.61 carats. It will be for sale at Christies Geneva on May 15 with an estimate of $3.5 million. How often do major pieces of jewelry with this kind of Russian provenance come up? "The last Romanov jewel sold at Christies was an emerald brooch belonging to Catherine the Great, which went for $1.65 million in 2010" says Daphne Lingon, head of jewelry at Christies, Americas. "The Russian Department sometimes have small objects from the family but important jewels are very rare." ('You Might Also Like',) ALTOONA Wisconsins attorney general was in the Chippewa Valley on Thursday to announce drug takeback results from the previous weekend and urge residents to continue properly disposing of unused medication. Attorney General Josh Kaul spoke alongside Altoona Police Chief Kelly Bakken, and Lil Pinero and Sarah Dillivan-Pospisil of the Eau Claire County Health Department, at the Altoona Emergency Services Building. The statewide Drug Take Back Day last Saturday included 278 law enforcement agencies hosting more than 190 events to take in 58,408 pounds of medications. They also collected drugs from 462 permanent drug disposal boxes at various law enforcement agencies across the state. In Altoona, Kaul said that the state was working to combat an opioid epidemic as well as a continued methamphetamine problem. The two largest goals of collecting drugs are to both get them out of circulation where they could be abused by someone without a prescription, and to remove them without them entering the water system by being flushed or thrown in the garbage. He said that while they are working to expand treatment options and address criminal activity related to drug use, education and prevention are going to continue to be a large part of their strategy. We also need to work to prevent people from becoming addicted to opioids in the first place, Kaul said. Today is a sign were moving in the right direction. Government agencies in the area have seen healthy turnouts since the last drug takeback in October 2018. Altoona collected 313 pounds of medication since then, which Bakken said was indicative of the continued education and awareness. I think that says a lot about our community and our community effort, Bakken said. In Chippewa County, the totals included all the collections since the last drug take back event in October. They recorded more than 870 pounds total, the majority coming from the Chippewa Falls Police Department and Chippewa County Sheriff drop boxes, which contributed 380 pounds and 230 pounds, respectively. Other drop off sites are located at the police departments of Bloomer, Boyd, Cadott, Cornell, Lake Hallie and Stanley. The program, which has been in the county since around 2010, accepts a wide amount of prescription medicines, as well as prescriptions themselves. Brian Micolichek, lieutenant of investigations for the Chippewa Falls Police Department, said the April numbers were a slight increase for the county, which generally averages 1,000 pounds to 1,500 pounds over the course of 12 months. Micolichek noted, however, as the programs continue year after year the increased advertising is having effects. He estimated that 80% to 90% of the collected weight was now purely medications, rather than containers due to people becoming more familiar with how to dispose of the drugs. People are more aware of it now than ever before, Micolichek said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 By Ritah Kemigisa. Journalists under their umbrella Uganda Journalists Association has asked the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to withdraw the suspension orders issued to several media houses with immediate effect. The associations president Bashir Mbaziira says the latest crackdown by UCC on Ugandan media is a step in the wrong direction by the regulators as the media fraternity seeks to have a freely conducive and productively progressive media landscape in Uganda. He has now asked the national Communication Regulator to respect the rights of journalists and desist from continuously harassing them. He has also called for a dialogue between the regulator and the media so that their relationship is harmonized. Liberals and conservatives would rather fight over controversial abortion laws dealing with the incredibly unlikely situation where a fetus survives an abortion, than work together on pragmatic policies which would actual reduce abortions. If you answered Yes to this question, then keep reading because in a moment, Im going to reveal a simple method, developed by Sam Chan, which can empower you to be the Evangelist, youve always wanted to be. But first I need to give you some background. Two Things You Need to Know, Before You Start? We need to get into the post-modern mind, to see the world through their lens. The first thing we note is that todays unbelieving man or woman, are unlikely to have any meaningful contact with Christians, the only impression of Christians they have is that which the media has inculcated to them. Something like, were all bigots and must be intellectually impaired to believe the stories found in the Bible. Consequently they have no 'Community Validation', which puts us in a hard place, when bringing them evidence about Jesus. Secondly, we need to navigate the cultural imposed taboo, (bequeathed to us from the Enlightenment) about speaking about God in the public space. We all know that mentioning God, good and evil and other noumenaltopics, are instant conversations stoppers, when conversing in public. So How Do We Tread This Perilous Path? Well assuming, youve read and implemented the recommendations, discussed in the previous articles. Then you should be at a point where you have established some rapport with your non-Christian friend(s). It is at this point Sam Chan offers the follow strategy. Coffee, Dinner, and then Gospel, in this order. Start with coffee, its in a public space, takes about 30 mins and youre done. This is an eminently safe place, the conversations are everyday topics. Trust is developing between you and them. After having done this a few times next move to dinner. We are in a private space, which is a little scary but manageable. Here the conversations can go deeper. Discussions about values begin. For instance why you send your kids to a Christian School, or euthanasia. The crucial imperative at dinner is to resonate with your unbelieving guest. Show them that you value their opinion (thiss not the same as endorsing it). Now trust is really growing, youre letting them share the views without condemning them. After doing a few dinners, the conversations will invariably drift,the noumenal. Theres a lot pent up demand for noumenal discussion in our society, its up to us to the create the milieu for it to happen Those Who Have Ears, Let Them Hear While conversation over dinner is progressing, and your guest feels safe. Sam Chan advises us to be aware of the three levels of conversation, so that we are recognize the drift into the noumenal, ie worldviews, life after death, prayer etc. The first level of conversation, is the banal stuff that happens when we hold polite conversation, next values, and finally assuming your guest feels safe we arrive at, worldviews, life after death, prayer etc. This is our cue to bring in Jesus/God. It may take a few dinners to get to this point, but thats what it takes in a post-modern society. Tactics For Those Embarrassing Silences When conversation comes to the subject of God, which in turn initiates those embarrassing few seconds, which seem like an eternity. We have a choice, retreat to a safe topic like the weather or the footy, or offer an open door for the other side to open or shut. An open door would be something like this, Yes it might surprise you to know that I have faith . What about you? Do you have faith? They can now choose, theres no pressure. Its entirely their call if they want to take the conversation to the God stuff. The more we put ourselves out there, the more opportunities God will put before us. Lets take that risk. Vic Matthews, has three degrees B.Optom, B.Arts& B. Christian Studies. He is a kiteboard tragic, who now works as a Christian Copywriter. He can be found at http://trustworthycopywriter.com/writing-services/christian-copywriter/ Vic Matthews' previous articles may be viewed http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/vic-matthews.html Photo - Tronson du Coudray art Tropical Sunrise donated by the purchaser to the Tweed Heads Hospital Childrens Ward I for one wonder why News.com would publish this story is beyond "the remarkable" as why would any celebrate Roman Catholic Priest in today's climate, ever consider giving a child a piggy back ride, is surprising in the extreme. How safe can safe be when two Roman Catholic parishes in Victoria have banned piggyback rides adopting an ultra cautious approach to anything that might be described as inappropriate. This shouldn't even be on the agenda in the first place, it's asking for trouble to even raise the issue. It's as if the Catholic church is calling: "Look at me, look at me..." Holly Ife writing for News.com recently wrote that Catholic clergy have been banned from giving children piggyback rides under child protection policies introduced by an outer Melbourne parish. Ife explained that the guidelines apply to all priests, parish workers, staff and volunteers representing the church, including those at associated schools St Patrick's and St Brigid's Catholic primary schools. The policies were introduced after two allegedly abusive priests served in the district. "High fives", pats on the shoulder or back, holding hands with small children, handshakes, and verbal praise are deemed appropriate. In addition, the new rules say any emails sent to minors should have parents or guardians copied in, and any phone calls should be made to the family home. Social networking is not considered an appropriate way for an adult to socialise with a child Also on the banned list is inappropriate embraces, kisses on the lips, wrestling, holding minors over four on the lap, giving or receiving any type of massage, and tickling minors. Bishop Les Tomlinson noted that although it is taking an ultra-cautious approach, it is partly about rebuilding confidence by making clear exactly what boundaries in which the clergy and church workers and volunteers will function. Common sense would tell you this. But on reflection it might be to protect innocent clergy, innocent church workers, innocent volunteers and innocent good decent 'men' everywhere. Recently, school boys on a school swimming day were required to ride home on the bus in wet togs as there was a complaint that men would not use the change room with the lads there. Photo - Tronson du Coudray art Harbingers of the Dawn Photo - Tronson du Coudray Mantra exhibition Putting yourself at risk Why would any decent family man want to put himself at risk of anything that might be deemed inappropriate. Young boys have been known to make up stories. Many women, with good reason, drum into their boys they must report anything that is suspicious. But what might be deemed 'suspicious' by a lad may have simply been a passing nod or a smile by a man in the course of his comings and goings, only to find his life is turned upside down and ripped apart. It happens and in today's climate it may occur a lot more often. Therefore, every man must be ultra cautious in any such situation. When near any situation - or any place - that might be even remotely deemed potentially dangerous - for their personal integrity - men should act very cautiously. Men should be in two's or three's or 'avoid whatever'. This is now a serious legal and social issue for the nation. A man must be very careful. Anything could be so very easily construed. Men have a lot to lose - freedom, reputation, their marriage and family life. The best defence any man faced with such situations are CTV cameras these are beginning to appear more as they are in the UK. I ask whether Australia is becoming a fear frenzied society fear of men, fear of the non-religious, fear of the religious, fear of the libertarians, fear of women, fear of children...where will it end? I say that Jesus Christ's death on the Cross and His resurrection proved to be the great liberator of fear...but still men need to cautious and avoid situations that could very easily get misrepresented. 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 Have you even misquoted a statement out of its context? A misquotation is one of the most common mistakes that people often make, and it is not legitimate to distort a statement to make your point. The New Testament writers often quoted the Old Testament when they wrote the New Testament, so could it be possible that they misquoted the Old Testament? For example, in Matthew 2:15, Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, and states that the departure of Joseph with his family to Egypt was a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. In Matthew 2, King Herod responded negatively to the news about the identity of the Messiah and demanded every child in the town of Bethlehem to be killed so that he can keep his earthly throne. However, God commanded Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape the persecution of King Herod. In Matthew 2:15, Matthew affirmed that Christ departure to Egypt fulfilled Hosea 11:1, which states, when Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. However, Hosea 11:1 is not a messianic statement, but a factual statement regarding Israels experience of the Exodus. In Hosea 11:14, Gods love is described as the love that father has for his son. God loved the people of Israel that He rescued them out of the bondage in Egypt, and out of Egypt, He called the nation of Israel His son. However, Israel disobeyed God, sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to idols. In spite of Israels disobedience, God still demonstrated His love toward them because they were still His children (verses 34). However, God had to discipline Israel for its sin (verses 57) and restored Israel unto Himself. The Apparent Problems of the Use of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15. When you first read Matthew 2:15 and Hosea 11:1, you might think that Matthew misquotes Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15. There are three possible reasons for that. First of all, there is no exegetical evidence for the concept of the Messiah in Hosea 11:1. However, when Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, he states that the departure of Jesus to Egypt fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet. Second, the son of God in Hosea 11:1 is the nation of Israel, while the Son in Matthew 2:15 is the individual Jesus Christ. Third, Hosea 11:1 refers to Israels exodus out of Egypt while Matthew 2:15 refers to Jesuss escape to Egypt. Therefore, it initially does seem that Matthew misquoted Hosea 11:1. However, the truth is that Matthew didnt misquote Hosea 11:1. Instead, he reached back into the experience of Israels exodus and drew many parallels between Israel and Jesus. The Adequate Explanation Matthew uses Hoseas statement to show that the coming Messiah is an extension of Gods love His people. Hosea didnt know that he wrote about the Messiah when he wrote Hosea 11:1. However, Matthew states that the experience of Jesus matched what Hosea had written about Israel. There are seven parallels between Israels exodus and the early life of Jesus. First, both Christ and Israel are referred to as Gods Son (Exodus chapter 4 verses 2223 and Matthew chapter 3:17). Second, both Israel and Christ experienced persecution. Israel experienced persecution under Pharaoh while Jesus under King Herod. Third, all the male children were persecuted under both the oppression of Pharaoh and Herod (Exodus chapter 1 verse 22 and Matthew chapter 2 verse16). Fourth, both Israel and Jesus fled to Egypt to escape. Fifth, Israel and his family were protected by Joseph, while Joseph, Jesus father, also protected Him while fleeing to Egypt. Sixth both Jesus and Israel returned home from Egypt. Finally, Matthew contrasts Jesus as the obedient Son of God with Israel as the disobedient son of God. Jesus Christ came out of Egypt and was perfectly obedient to God the Father while Israel went out of Egypt but rebelled against God. Jesus perfectly obeyed God but still suffered for Israel and the world to restore both of them to God. Because of Israels disobedience, Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life that Israel was required to live but failed. Jesus accomplished the mission that Israel was required to achieve. Israel broke the law while Jesus fulfilled the law (Matthew chapter 5 verse 17). Therefore, Matthew didnt misquote but quoted Hosea 11:1 to draw these parallels between the life of Jesus and Israel to demonstrate that Jesus fulfilled all that God intended Israel to be. Jesus is the perfect Israel, the promised Messiah, the Son of God, who shall redeem Israel and all humanity. Dat Nguyen is a student at the Masters Seminary and a member of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, California. His desire is to be a faithful minister of the Word of God. He loves playing basketball and American football and watching movies. The word divorce seems to be a common household term and the sad reality for many children as they grow up without the loving display of parents who care intimately for one another. Even within the church divorce appears common and some pastors are happy to advise people should get divorced. However, for Christians, the final word on divorce must be what the Bible says; not a pastor, a psychologist, or the media. To start with, its important to understand that God instituted marriage and therefore, He has the authority to define marriage and divorce (see Genesis 2:24). Gods standard and design for marriage is another issue in itself, but, let me concentrate on the issue of divorce at present. Bible offers clarity The Bible is certainly clear about the issue of divorce, with God giving us direct revelation on the topic that believers must obey if they are truly living out Gods will. Several verses in Scripture highlight Gods feelings toward divorce, this is most strongly stated in Malachi chapter 2, verse 16 I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel. This clear and direct statement were supported by Jesus own teaching when He said that people should not divorce because God had united them together and people dont have any right to split and that Moses concession for divorce was based on rebellious hearts, not the purpose of God (Matthew chapter 19, verses 1-9). Going against culture This might seem harsh and completely opposite to the current culture, but it is also important to understand that marriage is designed by God to represent the relationship between Christ and the church. In essence marriage is a demonstration of the Gospel, because Jesus Christ loved His bride (the church) so much that He gave up His very life for her, just as a husband is commanded to sacrificially love His wife (Ephesians chapter 5). This love of Jesus is personal and the relationship between Jesus and believers cannot be broken, so too the marriage relationship should be personal and remain unbroken. While Gods view of divorce is clear, there are some passages in the New Testament that provide limited reasons for divorce. These reasons certainly do not demand divorce and it would be a much better witness and biblical response to continue in marriage even if these reasons may be involved. However, if the marriage relationship is extremely severed and seemingly unrepairable God provides two (only two!) reasons for divorce. The first reason is adultery or related immoral sin (see Matthew chapter 5, verses 31-32 and chapter 19, verse 9) and the second if a non-believing spouse abandons the marriage (1 Corinthians 7:15). Biblical reasons for divorce Thats it! God gives only two reasons for divorce. I realize this might be shocking and it is hard to follow this standard when emotions are involved, when abuse may be occurring, and a couple may have fallen out of love, but this is Gods Word and must be followed. However, while being direct, I understand there may be personal situations that need to be addressed if people are in danger. These situations definitely require intervention, although I would advocate that such intervention can be applied without divorce. If you read this and you are divorced without biblical reasons, I would urge you to repent before God and seek the forgiveness of your former spouse. Even more than this, if possible and without breaking a current marriage, you could also attempt to restore your marriage. If you are remarried or have married a divorcee, without the divorce being biblical, it is important you also seek God for forgiveness, because the Bible says this is adultery (Mark 10:11-12). Whatever the status of your marriage, I would also urge you and your spouse to commit to never using the word divorce in any conversation you have regarding your relationship, no matter what they may do or say to hurt you. Furthermore, if you know someone thinking about divorce (even if they arent a believer), I encourage you to speak to them about Gods design for marriage and His hatred towards divorce. Further discussion I realize there is much more to talk about relating to divorce, including remarriage and preconversion divorce. If you want more information please look at my church website for more discussion https://www.gracechurch.org/about/distinctives/divorce-and-remarriage G enevieve Wilson is a happily married home-schooling mum of 3, whose passion is to see people come to know Jesus. She is a seminary wife to her amazing husband. M.A.L. Effekt and Essemtec Develop a Strategy Against LED Price Erosion Published: 02 May 2019 by Chelsey Drysdale by Chelsey Drysdale One of the largest growth sectors in electronic engineering is LED technology. The latest market forecasts predict a turnover of more than 33 Billion US Dollars in this segment for 2019. In 2017 LED technology accounted for 22% of artificial light; in 2022 it is anticipated to be 63%. One could think this is big business for everybody in this market sector. But this is only partially true because the price for a LED lamp is now less than half of what it was two years ago. European SMEs especially are quite badly affected and had to develop survival strategies. M.A.L. Effekt in Bebra, Germany, is one of the successful companies in this tough LED business. Since the very first days of LED technology they have produced highly sophisticated LED illumination solutions with just 75 employees. The question is how does such a small company cope with the global competition? Markus Vockenroth explains: It makes no sense to compete in price against Asia or large corporations. As OEM and EMS we are specialised on complete, customer specific, solutions. We focus on a high production level and have four SMD lines from Essemtec, along with several high-tech machining centres for the mechanics. So, we can manufacture everything from the circuit to the heat sink, all under one roof. For example: LEDs that are not mass products can be difficult to mount; they can remain stuck on the tape, have unusual forms and light domes that are not allowed to touch one needs to be very experienced. For instance, we manufacture special vacuums for the SMD machines in-house ourselves. We are always thinking about how we can become better and/or faster, and how we can stand out from our competitors, thats why our customers agree to pay for added value. For us, as a SME, there are five keys to success in this business: 1. High production levels, and therefore extremely fast reaction times 2. Investment: In the last two years we invested, for example, in two additional placement lines and increased our performance by more than 60% 3. Deep and close customer relations; to serve local customers exclusively and to understand the customers needs 4. Generating of customer specific solutions in the highest quality with the best delivery time from concept to final product 5. To offer specialty products that other companies cannot produce LED long boards of up to 1.8 m are one of these specialty products; this is a niche option only a few providers can offer. Together with Essemtec, M.A.L. Effekt developed a state-of-the-art long board production solution for PCBs up to 1,800 mm x 610 mm. They also developed a new transport system to meet the high-quality requirements. Most systems clamp only in the mounting area and thats why the PCB overhang could swing or the oversized PCB could get entangled while indexing. This can lead to mounted, but as yet un-soldered components, snapping away from the PCB. The new system from Essemtec always clamps the full length of long PCBs and so guarantees high process security. Historically the stencil print of long boards has been a problem; good quality long board stencil printers are hard to find and extremely expensive. Essemtec solved this problem by using a solder paste jet valve within the pick and place machine. The whole process is conducted in the SMD mounter, which means one also save the stencil printing production step. The first long board LED products manufactured on the new Essemtec pick and place line are already in production. Essemtec will present the Puma Long Board Version at the upcoming SMT exhibition in Nuremberg. About M.A.L. Effect: M.A.L. Effekts core business is the development, production and distribution of innovative, customer specific LED modules. With the help of highly qualified employees and high-quality machinery, the company finds solutions tailored to meet all requirements from the drawing over the first prototype up to the completed product ready to use! About Essemtec AG: Wildlife consistently shows us with breathtaking flexibility how nature can adapt itself to the many different demands of its environment; that is what inspires us! Essemtec AG is a privately-owned company with its development and production site in Switzerland. The product portfolio comprises of production equipment for electronic assembly and more. Our high-tech solutions can be adjusted quickly and easily to meet wide ranging requirements; we are therefore able to respond to all manner of customer requests. The history of farming in Butler County will be the featured exhibit at the Butler Historical Society Museum in David City when it opens to the public for the summer season on Sunday, May 5. The museum, located two blocks west of the David City Post Office on D Street, will be open from 1-4 p.m. each Sunday during the summer, and otherwise on special occasions or by appointment. The BCHS, formed in 1967, has operated a county museum in the former Burlington Railroad depot since 1973. Members of the Society during the past three years have been renovating the building. They have also been reaching out to the community for assistance in preserving local history. This is our second display, last year we had a veterans display, said Greg Fiala, treasurer of the Butler County Historical Society. We had that display for about a year, and we just had so much stuff in the museum that we really wanted to clean it out and get it less cluttered. As part of efforts to increase community participation in the museum, members of the Society asked local schools in the community to assist by having their students help with the farming exhibit. The Society, which selected the artifacts on display from its collection, then asked students from each of the area schools to research and write-up brief histories of a number of the artifacts. This information will be shown next to the corresponding artifact. It was a nice project for them and a big help to us, Fiala said of the students efforts. It helped us get this done more quickly. The new summer exhibit at the museum will also allow the Society to display one of its latest major acquisitions, a small Hercules gas engine that is purported to have historic ties to David City. The one and a half horsepower engine, built in 1920, is reported to have been the original engine that pumped water to the first water tower in David City. It was located on the east side of Forth Street, along the alley just south of the Nebraska Central railroad tracks. This hit-and-miss engine, as it was called, was used to keep the tower supplied with water to fight fires in town since it did not have a municipal water system at that time. The engine recently returned to this area after being donated to the Society by Leon Becker of Yankton, South Dakota, who is a former David City resident. Becker told Society members that he obtained the engine from the estate of the late John Tomek from David City. As a collector of hit and miss engines, Beck acquired the Hercules and restored it to a pristine-appearing condition. Another piece of history being displayed is the first flag to ever be flown in Butler County. This was before Nebraska was even a state, and before Butler County was even a county, Fiala said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Attorneys for Catholic churches, schools and institutions across Nebraska say they want to cooperate fully with 400 subpoenas the Attorney Generals Office served on them in February in an investigation into clergy sexual abuse of minors. But attorney Patrick Flood, who represents Archdiocese of Omaha parishes, schools and archbishop, told a Lincoln judge Thursday that when the subpoenas came without warning and demanded the documents in three days: Just practically, it was a ridiculous request. Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Ryan Post called it "disappointing that plaintiffs' view of the AG's investigation into child abuse, sexual abuse and failure to report is government overreach and abuse of power. He said it also is disappointing that after many public announcements of cooperation, the attorney general still does not have all the requested documents. Post said many schools and parishes responded right away, providing records the church hadnt already turned over voluntarily after six months of working with prosecutors and investigators. They continue to work together, he said, trying to resolve issues over what more information the state needs. Flood said theyll need a court order to get some of the documents, such as medical records, including psych evaluations of alleged perpetrators, evaluations of victims and confidential settlement agreements. He said thats why they turned to the court and filed a complaint for judicial relief March 1, rather than tell his 208 clients to ignore the subpoenas. Specifically, Attorney General Doug Peterson required all records related to any assault or abuse by those employed or associated with each church or institution, whether previously reported or not. According to court documents, Peterson was demanding information covering 22 years. I can tell you what the attorney general would have done with that information and what a heyday they would have had in the press with that, Flood said. He said they were not going to tell clients to ignore the subpoenas because they were trying to cooperate and get them the documents. Or you could have told your clients to substantially comply to the best of their ability in the time frame that they were allotted, said Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret, who will decide the case. Attorney Richard Rice, who represents the Diocese of Lincoln and its bishop, stressed they have been working closely with investigators and prosecutors, but said fully complying with the subpoenas was virtually impossible with the scope of the request. The subpoenas followed Petersons request in late August that Nebraskas bishops voluntarily produce four decades of internal investigative reports related to sexual abuse of minors. In the end, the question may boil down to the appropriate time to bring the court into it, a point that Post argued. "The need for remedy means you're facing something negative, right? the judge asked. To which Flood answered, Right." "And you weren't, right? Maret said. Flood said: "We were facing subpoenas that we couldn't comply with." Maret took the matter under advisement. Outside the courtroom, Kyle and Lauren ODonnell, a Lincoln couple who watched the hearing and know people who have been abused by priests, said they just hope the truth comes out. Kyle ODonnell said he has defended and supported the church and now feels a duty to make this right. Its heartbreaking, Lauren O'Donnell said. And it doesnt matter if it happened to her or her child or someone else, she said. What matters is it happened to somebody, she said. Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is coming back to Columbus. The governor announced Thursday that he will hold a town hall in Columbus on Wednesday, May 8, and that it is open to the public. Nebraskans are invited to join Governor Ricketts at his upcoming town hall in Columbus, said Taylor Gage, the governors director of strategic communications. This is a great opportunity to hear an update on how our state is growing, and also to make your voice heard. The governor looks forward to hearing your thoughts on how we can move our state forward together. The governor will make remarks before taking questions. What: Gov. Ricketts Town Hall in Columbus When: 3-4 p.m. CT on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 Where: Columbus City Council Chambers, 1369 25th Ave., in Columbus Any questions regarding the event should be directed to the governors office at 402-471-2244 Earlier in the week, Ricketts was joined at the State Capitol by representatives from Nebraskas beef industry to proclaim May as Beef Month. Nebraskans celebrate Beef Month every May to highlight the importance of the cattle industry to the state. The governor hosted a press conference to sign an official proclamation and to provide an update on Nebraskas growing beef industry. Nebraskas beef producers are the best in the business. Thanks to their excellent work, Nebraska tops all states in commercial red meat production and cattle on feed, Ricketts said, in a provided statement. Nebraska beef has earned a worldwide reputation for its premium quality, and were now exporting more of it than ever before. Ricketts has been an active proponent of Nebraskas beef industry. He has led trade missions to Japan, China, and Mexico to encourage the growth of Nebraskas beef exports. He has also promoted Nebraska beef domestically in places such as New York City. In 2018, Nebraska led the nation in beef exports with a total export value of $1.44 billion. Nebraskas beef exports increased by 14 percent from 2017 to 2018. Total beef exports have exceeded $1 billion each year since 2014. In 2018, Nebraskas top beef export markets were: Japan - $412.1 million South Korea - $309.3 million Hong Kong - $139.5 million Mexico - $138 million European Union - $124.3 million Nebraska is first in the nation in rankings for beef exports, commercial cattle slaughter, and cattle on feed. Ricketts was joined at the press conference by Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) Director Steve Wellman, Nebraska Cattlemen President Mike Drinnin, and Nebraska Beef Council Chairman Buck Wehrbein. Nebraska is a national leader in all aspects of the beef industry including production, exports, and cattle on feed, so were pleased that Gov. Ricketts proclaimed May as Beef Month, said NDA Director Steve Wellman. The continued growth of the beef industry in Nebraska and the top rankings weve achieved show our support of agriculture as a whole and confirms what we already know: that delicious Nebraska beef is being enjoyed by consumers here at home and around the world. There are a lot of unsung heroes who put their heart and soul into producing the best beef in the world raised right here in Nebraska, said Mike Drinnin, president of the Nebraska Cattlemen. Whether youre fixing fence on a ranch, delivering feed to the cattle, or hauling the beef to restaurants, everyones important to showcasing Nebraska beef! Buck Wehrbein, chairman of the Nebraska Beef Council, also commented. Exports are a tremendous value to beef producers and we are proud to work with NDA to promote beef from Nebraska in places like Hong Kong, the European Union, and other parts of the globe, he said. International trade missions are a strategic way of investing the beef checkoff to support our beef community. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand. 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems. 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike. By Ruth Anderah. Kyadondo East member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu has been released on bail by Buganda Road court. He has been ordered to pay a cash bail of 10 million shillings and each of his sureties ordered to execute a non court bond of 10 million shillings. Court also barred Bobi Wine from holding unlawful demonstrations that would lead to cancellation of his bail and case fixed for hearing on May 23rd of this year. Earlier State had asked Buganda road Court grade one magistrate Esther Nahirya not to grant bail Bobi Wine saying sureties were not substantial. Bobi Wine charged with offence of disobedience of statutory duty for allegedly held a public meeting at City Square on July 11th 2018 without giving notice to any authorized officer who would ensure that all participants of his meeting are unarmed and peaceful. Prosecution contends that the actions of Bobi Wine were contrary to sections 5 and 10 of the public Order Management Act of 2013. He allegedly held the unlawful meeting as he was opposing the then newly introduced OTT tax. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram The Torch is a weekly newsletter from the Committee to Protect Journalists that brings you the latest press freedom and journalist safety news from around the world. Subscribe here. This World Press Freedom Day, CPJ remembers the at least 1,340 journalists who have been killed in relation to their work worldwide since 1992. We salute the bravery of those who continue to risk their lives to bring us the news. In 2018, CPJ recorded 54 journalists killed for their work worldwide. Of those, 34 were singled out for murder, which is an 88% increase from the previous year. This year, we have already confirmed five journalists killed for their work in Ghana, Honduras, the UK, Libya, and Mexico. At least 250 journalists were imprisoned across the world simply for doing their job, according to CPJs 2018 prison census. We have also found an uptick in journalists imprisoned on false news charges, with 19 cases in Egypt, followed by Cameroon with four, Rwanda with three, and one each in China and Morocco. The worlds worst jailers of journalists continue to be Turkey, China, and Egypt. The three countries combined were responsible for more than half of those jailed around the world. Join CPJ and press freedom organizations around the world in calling for the release of imprisoned journalists, justice for those killed, and acknowledging that journalism is not crime. Join the conversation by tweeting #WPFD2019 or #PressFreedom. Global press freedom updates Social media was blocked told Amid renewed unrest, Venezuelan authorities restrict Ugandan regulator suspends Radio station and show hosts sued Russian police beat Letter calls CPJ joins letter urging Editor-in-chief of Mexican newspaper Reforma targeted Trial of detained Nicaraguan journalists Lucia Pineda and Miguel Mora indefinitely delayed Under Abiy, Ethiopias media may have more freedom but challenges remain Journalist Casimir Kpedjo detained Jordanian journalist Abdulrahman Farhana detained Read the latest Turkey Crackdown Chronicle Peruvian judge orders Two journalists arrested Spotlight The One Free Press Coalition is made up of over two dozen media organizations, including Forbes, AP, Reuters, and The Washington Post (One Free Press Coalition) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Do you have an Amazon Alexa-enabled device? Enable CPJ's flash briefing skill to stay up to date with the latest press freedom news from around the world. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Addis Ababa, May 2, 2019The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ugandas media regulator to immediately rescind an order yesterday suspending staff from 13 radio and television stations in connection to their coverage of opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine. This order to suspend journalists from working is a transparent retaliation against stations that covered a critical opposition figure. That Ugandan authorities made this move immediately before World Press Freedom Day communicates a casual disregard for the rights of journalists to report freely and the right of citizens to know, said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. This order should be immediately lifted and the stations should be allowed to operate without interference. In a statement published on its website, the Uganda Communications Commission directed the six television stations and seven radio stations to suspend their producers and heads of news and programs, alleging they breached standards by airing extremist or anarchic messages and inciting and misleading content. The stations ordered to suspend staff are Akaboozi FM, BBS TV, Beat FM, Bukedde TV, Capital FM, CBS FM, KIngdom TV, NBS TV, NTV, Pearl FM, Salt TV, Sapientia FM and Simba FM. The regulator did not cite specific programming, only asking the stations to submit live bulletins aired on April 29, 2018. However, media reports and a statement issued by the Uganda Parliamentary Press Association indicate that the suspension is likely connected to the airing live of Kyagulanyis arrest on April 29. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Cumhuriyet appeal rejected by local court An Istanbul court on April 30 rejected a stay of execution request from lawyers representing eight staff from the daily Cumhuriyet, the news website T24 reported. The lawyers asked authorities to not act on a local appeals court ruling that upheld their sentencing until the Supreme Court had ruled on a case involving their colleagues, who faced longer prison terms. Six of the staff who were earlier sentenced to less than five years in prison returned to custody last week, after they were denied the right to further appeal, CPJ documented. Mustafa Kemal Gungor, a lawyer who is among the defendants, told CPJ on April 20 that if the Supreme Court overturned the original conviction, it would invalidate the prison terms for those already ordered to serve their sentences, including Gungor. During a press conference last week, the defence team has said they would appeal to the original court for a stay of the execution on this basis, but that they were not hopeful. Istanbul police briefly detain editor over book Ali Avcu, chief editor of the pro-CHP daily Yurt, was called to give testimony to Istanbul police about his 2018 book on the local political environment, his employer reported. The journalist was detained briefly, then taken to a prosecutor who released him without charge after questioning, according to the report. One acquittal, one fine for jailed journalist Altan On April 26, the imprisoned journalist attended to two separate trials at the same Istanbul court via teleconference, the leftist daily Evrensel reported. The cases both relate to columns Altan published in 2009 and 2010. In the first case, Altan was accused of violating the secrecy of an investigation, attempting to influence a fair trial, and insult, after a police chief in Sakarya filed a complaint over Altans 2009 column, Who has left outside of the mafia? The court found Altan guilty of violating secrecy and fined him 1,061 Turkish lira (US$177). In the second trial, the court acquitted Altan of insult related to a complaint filed by Ilker Basbug, a former chief of the general staff, over a 2010 column, according to reports. Both of the columns were published by the shuttered daily Taraf. Altan remains in prison, where he is serving a life sentence without parole for attempting, through violence and force, to disrupt and replace the order as recognized by Turkeys Constitution, according to CPJ research. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy PHILADELPHIA Federal prosecutors say they won't retry former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah on bribery charges following an appeals court ruling overturning some of his convictions. But the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the decision announced Wednesday doesn't mean the 62-year-old Fattah will get out of prison any sooner. The Philadelphia Democrat is serving multiple decadelong sentences on convictions including racketeering, fraud and obstruction. The former state lawmaker spent two decades in Congress before his 2016 convictions. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year overturned four bribery convictions, citing in part a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the definition of political graft. Prosecutors said that since Fattah is already serving multiple concurrent 10-year terms, "it is in the interests of justice to dismiss" the bribery counts. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Much to Gary Erbs chagrin, a natural gas pipeline now cuts across his 72-acre homestead in Conestoga Township, Pennsylvania. To his even greater chagrin, he remains unpaid for the 6 acres of land that were taken from him under eminent domain to build the pipeline. With the help of a Virginia-based legal group, he is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to end what he and his lawyers say has become a common practice in the pipeline industry: taking the land first, and paying later. Theyre making millions in profit, and we still havent gotten a dime, Erb said in a phone interview. Theyre exploiting a broken system. There have been more than 200 instances of courts granting pipeline companies immediate possession of land, while at the same time deferring the issue of how much the property owners will be paid for it, said Robert McNamara, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm based in Arlington that is representing Erb and others in similar situations. Those cases have occurred in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, McNamara said. The pipeline affecting Erb was built by Tulsa, Oklahoma-based energy company Williams, which constructed the Atlantic Sunrise project to expand its pipeline network and carry gas fracked from the Marcellus shale formation in northeastern Pennsylvania to the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Similar projects have sprung up across the country as fracking technology has allowed natural gas to be extracted in an economically efficient manner. McNamara acknowledged that federal law gives energy companies the ability to invoke eminent domain to build pipelines. But the Natural Gas Act, the law that governs the land seizures, provides no mechanism for companies to take possession of the land without first negotiating a price with the landowner. Pipeline companies have gotten around this by obtaining preliminary injunctions from judges, allowing the companies to take the land immediately and pay later. McNamara said this amounts to what is known as a quick take provision under the law, which he said is allowed in some types of eminent domain cases, but not pipeline cases. When judges defer the decision on payment, it deprives landowners of any leverage they might have in negotiations, not to mention delaying the payment, sometimes for years, McNamara said. In court papers, Williams lawyers said that because pipeline construction is complex, delays associated with negotiating price can knock projects off schedule. The company also argued that because the land seizures, known as condemnations, are essentially a foregone conclusion, there is no real harm to the landowners in delaying the payments, as long as the pipeline company puts up an appropriate bond to ensure the payment will occur. An appeals court has ruled in favor of the company. The court noted that Williams had set aside a sizable amount of money in escrow to be used for condemnation payments. It also ruled that using a preliminary injunction to take land immediately does not amount to an illegal quick take. But McNamara said state courts in the past decade have strengthened property owners rights in eminent domain cases. It remains to be seen if federal courts will join the trend. Though the Supreme Court turns down most of the petitions it receives, McNamara is hopeful it will take this case. In Virginia, pipeline companies building the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines have similarly been able to take land needed for construction before paying for property, said Chris Johns, a Texas-based lawyer who represents some of the affected landowners. Erb bought his land in Pennsylvania in 2008 and built his dream home. The woods provided a prime spot for deer hunting, and he hoped that as his children had families of their own, they would build their own homes on the land. When he received notice from the Williams company in 2015 that his land had been selected for a pipeline route, he hoped to negotiate with them to have the route track an existing transmission line. He said they refused, and also would not agree to preserve a tree where he had built a hunting stand. The underground pipeline was completed in October. In the process, the bedding site used by deer disappeared, along with acres of trees. Erb declined to say how much the company offered for his land, but he said it was inflexible on the price and insinuated that it would not be in his interest to pursue it in court. Now hes looking to sell the property. The company declined to discuss the specifics of its negotiations with Erb, but issued a statement saying that access to inexpensive, domestic natural gas is a huge benefit to all people, especially the economically disadvantaged. As for the price, the company said in its statement that its goal is to ensure landowners are promptly compensated for the pipeline easement. We do our best to reach an agreement through negotiation. Entering into a valuation process through the courts is always a last resort, the statement said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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 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. 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. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The first part of 17th edition of bilateral exercise Varuna 2019, is being conducted between Navies of India and France off the Goa coast from 1st to 10th May 2019. Varuna: Indo-French joint naval exercise The joint naval exercise was first initiated in 1983 and was named as Varuna in 2001. The objective behind conducting joint operations is to develop interoperability between two navies and to foster mutual cooperation by learning from each others best practices. behind conducting joint operations is to develop interoperability between two navies and to foster mutual cooperation by learning from each others best practices. It plays a vital part in Indo-French strategic partnership. It underlines shared interests and commitment of both nations in promoting maritime security. It is in line with Joint Strategic Vision of India-French Cooperation in Indian Ocean Region (IOR) signed by President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit to India in 2018. VARUNA 2019 The year 2019 is 17th edition of exercise. It will be conducted in two phases, with first part of Varuna 19.1, conducted off the Goa coast from 1st to 10th May 19 and second part, Varuna 19.2, is scheduled to be held at end of May 2019 in Djibouti. By Moses Kyeyune. Kiira Municipality MP Ibrahim Semujju Nganda has tasked the government to explain the shrinking media space in the country. The lawmaker has been speaking on what he called deteriorating media freedom, which has also eaten into the countrys global ranking. The Uganda Communications Commission on Tuesday issued a directive for the suspension of 39 journalists from 13 media houses over live broadcast of a procession by Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine. Whereas the regulator cited breach of minimum broadcasting standards, a section of MPs claim that it is a direct attack on media freedom. The concerns also come just a day as Uganda prepares to join the rest of the world to celebrate the International day on Press Freedom. Related Stories.. Parliaments hands tied on UCC directive Broadcasters demand UCC withdraw its order Journalists want UCC to withdraw its suspension threats The United Nation Security Council (UNSC) 1267 Committee designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its prolonged hold on proposal to blacklist him. The move is a huge diplomatic win for India. It is also a symbolic victory for India in relation to terrorism spreading from groups in Pakistan as Masood Azhar is considered a blue-eyed boy of ISI (Pakistans spy agency). Timeline India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar in 2009 but it didnt get nod. Later in 2016 India again moved the proposal with the P-3 (or group of three permanent UNSC members) the United States, the United Kingdom and France in UNs 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Masood Azhar. In 2017, the P3 nations again moved a similar proposal but, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of UN Security Council, blocked Indias proposal from being adopted by Sanctions Committee. All big and small nations joined together for this and supported Indias move. In 2019, P-3 moved a fresh proposal to declare Azhar as a global terrorist at UN in wake of the Pulwama terror attack for which Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility. 40 CRPF personnel were killed in attack. China again put a technical hold on P-3 proposal, and blocked it for the fourth time to designate Azhar. Now, China lifted its technical hold after it found no objection to listing proposal by US, UK and France. Masood Azhar He is the mastermind behind attack on air base in Pathankot in January, 2016. He also claimed responsibility for 2019 Pilwama terror attack on CRPF personnel. A global terrorist designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. It will be implemented by all UN member states. United Nations Security Council 1267(UNSC) Committee This has been a very busy week at the State Capitol. On Thursday, the Missouri Veterans Commission hosted a Commemoration Ceremony recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War. There were over 400 Vietnam Veterans and their families in attendance. Governor Parson welcomed them home, thanked them for their service and for the sacrifices they made for our country. Good News For Our District 117 This week the House and Senate have approved the budget for the Department of Corrections. Starting in January all corrections staff will receive a 3% raise. All staff will also receive steps for years of service receiving a 1% raise for every two years of service up to 20 years. This has been needed in the Department of Corrections for years. I am very proud that we as a state are finally able to step up to help our corrections staff. HJR 48 HJR 48 was perfected this week. The resolution does nothing to change Clean Missouri. What it does, if approved in the House and Senate, is let the people vote to make changes to Clean Missouri. The people of Missouri would be free to reject or approve the changes. Upon voter approval, this proposed Constitutional amendment repeals an existing exception to the lobbyist gift ban for members of the General Assembly that allows small gifts of under $5. If the amendment passes, then no gifts from lobbyists or lobbyist principals to members of the General Assembly are allowed. It also addresses the redistricting procedures. (a) Districts should be composed of contiguous territory as compact as may be such that they approximate squares, rectangles, or hexagons to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries; (b) Districts should achieve partisan fairness and, secondarily, competitiveness where these criteria are further specified in the resolution; (5) Specifies a procedure for gubernatorial appointment of six member House and Senate bipartisan redistricting committees. The process of selection allows each of the two major political parties to nominate candidates using majority votes of their congressional district committees and state committees. Congressional committees submit two candidates and state committees submit five with the governor selecting two from each state committee and one member from those nominated by the political party congressional district committees. Additional criteria for service as a member on the committees or selection of members if the political party committees fail to nominate candidates is specified in the resolution. Bipartisan commissions will always have equal numbers of members from the two political parties receiving the most votes in past elections and the same person is barred from service on more than one bipartisan committee; (7) Requires the bipartisan committees to meet within 15 days, excluding Sundays and state holidays, of appointment to select officers, adopt an agenda, and file a tentative plan of apportionment and map with the Secretary of State within five months after appointment. Public hearings will be held after filing and a final map will be filed within six months of appointment which must be approved by seven-tenths of the commission members; and (8) Specifies that a panel of appellate judges will create a redistricting map if a bipartisan commission fails to agree by the requisite seven-tenths vote. Deadlines and requirements for the map are further specified in the resolution. Congratulations to Debbie Peterson for her appointment by Gov. Mike Parson to serve on the Missouri Health Facilities Review. Debbie and her husband Chip Peterson of Doe Run and her mother Sue Brown of Farmington visiting the State Capitol on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bills of Interest HB 1162 requires the Department of Economic Development to maintain funds received from any governmental entity for the purposes of providing, maintaining, and expanding rural broadband in the state of Missouri. I believe it is vitally important that we continue to expand access to Broadband. To track the legislation that I have filed, go to https://house.mo.gov/MemberDetails.aspx?year=2019&code=R&district=117 Bills Truly Agreed and Finally Passed HB 898 establishes a "Back the Blue" special license plate which will be available for a $10 contribution to the Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation and a $15 fee in addition to normal registration costs. Supporters say many people are looking for some way to support law enforcement, and this is a good way to do it. It is an honor to serve as your representative. Please feel free to contact our office with thoughts or concerns on State Legislation and Issues. Our Phone number is 573-751-2317 Rep. Mike Henderson, a Republican, represents St. Francois County, District 117, in the Missouri House of Representatives. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 This week, my fellow senators and I focused on the state budget for the 2020 fiscal year. Creating and approving a balanced budget is the only constitutional requirement of the Legislature during session. The Missouri House of Representatives prepares the budget as a series of House bills, with the governors recommendations in mind, and then the Missouri Senate is tasked with making recommendations and improvements to the Houses version of the state budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee is instrumental in preparing the budget for the Senates consideration, and I would like to thank the members of the committee for their hard work on the budget. Prior to passing the Senates version of the state budget, I met with the chair of the Appropriations Committee to discuss the education budget and to ensure that sufficient funding was allocated for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education. Education is one of my top priorities, so it was important for me to ensure that early childhood programs, K-12 schools and higher education would receive the funding they need for the upcoming school year. Also, I was able to increase by $50,000 what the House recommended for the Public Placement Fund for Lesterville School District. The proposed funding for higher education has increased by approximately $28 million from last years budget. I am also pleased to see that the foundation formula for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received a funding increase of $61 million from last year, again fully funding the foundation formula for the third year in a row. Increased funding allows schools to grow and improve the education they provide our students. It also gives teachers additional resources when it comes to educating our students, as well as the opportunity to participate in professional development opportunities. On Wednesday, April 24, the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee heard the appointments of two of my constituents. Lindell Lindsey was appointed to the Well Installation Board, and Deborah Sue Peterson was appointed to the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee. On Thursday, April 25, they were both confirmed before the entire Senate. I want to congratulate both of these individuals for this achievement and wish them the best of luck as they begin their service to our state. I always appreciate hearing your opinions and concerns regarding your state government. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at 573-751-4008. You may write me at Gary Romine, Missouri Senate, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101; or email me at gary.romine@senate.mo.gov. For more information, please visit my official Senate webpage at www.senate.mo.gov/romine. Sen. Gary Romine, a Republican from Farmington, represents the 3rd District in the Missouri Senate. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In a few weeks, I will be back in the district and will be available to meet with you regarding any state issues or concerns that you may have. This week at the Capitol, I met with different members from the Department of Transportation to discuss road concerns on highways 61 and 221. MoDOT is looking into both areas. I also met with several Freshman Representatives retired teachers or administrators to brainstorm ideas to make our education system be the best it can be. The Missouri State Capitol held a commemoration ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. There were over 400 Veterans from across the State that were being welcomed home by Gov Parson. I was honored to play a small part in this ceremony by being one of the Representatives to pin a welcome home medal on one of the veterans. I would like to say a very heartfelt Thank you to all the Vietnam veterans in our district. We all appreciate the sacrifices you have made for our great country. More information is provided later in this report. The Vietnam Wall in Perryville will have its Grand Opening on May 18 with Gov. Parson in attendance. I would like to congratulate Debbie Peterson for her appointment by the Governor to serve on the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee. She is such a great public servant and we all benefit from her service. House Gives Initial Approval to Legislation to Strengthen Ethics and Redistricting Reform HJRs 48, 46 & 47 Members of the Missouri House want to give voters an opportunity to strengthen and change some of the provisions contained in the Clean Missouri constitutional amendment that was approved last November. Lawmakers gave first-round approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that supporters say would clarify and improve the ethics reforms and redistricting process put in place by Clean Missouri. The proposal is meant to give voters a choice with clear ethics reform and a much better way to draw districts where communities and families mean something. This proposed amendment provides a better solution to keep districts and communities in closer proximity to each other through a bipartisan process so more people have a seat at the table to say how Missouri House districts are drawn. The newly proposed constitutional amendment would: Prohibit all gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers. The current version of Clean Missouri allows for gifts up to $5; Lower campaign contribution limits for state senate candidates from 2,500 down to $2,000, the same as the House of Representatives. Create bipartisan citizens commissions to draw redistricting maps rather than using a state demographer appointed by the State Auditor to oversee the redistricting process which is in the current Clean Missouri amendment; and Establish criteria that ensures the redistricting process is compliant with the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, that it provides communities of interest with localized representation and participation in the political process, and that it produces districts that are compact and contiguous and achieve partisan fairness. The proposal offers a more complete version of ethics reform. It is a true 100% gift ban. It provides total transparency and fairness in drawing the districts with the priority of keeping communities together. The legislation now requires another vote in the House before moving to the Senate. If approved by both chambers, it would go on the November 2020 ballot for voters to approve it. Missouri General Assembly Honored Missouris Vietnam Veterans The Missouri House of Representatives has a proud tradition of recognizing and honoring the service of Vietnam Veterans. In 2012 the state legislature passed legislation to establish a Vietnam Veterans Day, which takes place on March 30, and has held ceremonies each year in the State Capitol to pay tribute to the service and sacrifices of the heroes who served during the Vietnam War. This years event was held in conjunction with the 13-year commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War that began in 2012. The governor and lawmakers also participated in a special ceremony where they presented each veteran with a lapel pin. The pins were meant to serve as a symbol of the nations thanks for the service and sacrifice of Vietnam veterans. The pinning ceremony provided a wonderful opportunity for members to personally welcome veterans from around the state and thank them for their selfless service to the United States. I was honored to play a small part in this ceremony by being one of the representatives to pin a welcome home medal on several of the veterans. I would like to say a very heartfelt thank you to all the Vietnam veterans in our district. We all appreciate the sacrifices you have made for your country. Gov. Mike Parson and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe participated in the event and offered words of support and appreciation for all of the veterans in attendance. The governor also presented an official proclamation in recognition of the valiant men and women who served our country in the Armed Forces; protecting our rights, our freedoms, our ideals, and our hopes. The veterans were told We are honored that you are here. We offer the most sincere thanks and gratitude for the selfless service you have provided to our country. This is a nation with a rich tradition of heroism and bravery exhibited by outstanding individuals like you; Americans who put love of country before love of self. Legislators gathered in the first floor rotunda of the State Capitol to remember and recognize the courage and unwavering patriotism of the valiant individuals who served during the Vietnam War. The event was created to recognize Vietnam-era veterans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces from Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975. All those in attendance also paused to remember those who have been lost, including POWs and those who are still listed as MIA. Anniversary Commemoration of the Vietnam War The halls of the Missouri State Capitol were filled with hundreds of the states greatest heroes this week as the Missouri House of Representatives held a special ceremony in recognition of the 50 The ceremony can be viewed online at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/mogov/videos/2131908863555238/ Other Bills Sent to the Senate HCB 1 and HB1237 authorizes the conveyance of specified state property and provides the legal description for each property. One such parcel is in the Farmington Industrial Park. This legislation clears the path for the Farmington IDA to keep ownership of land which had previously been acquired from the state but had some contract language which needed to be cleaned up. The Governor is authorized to sell, transfer, grant, convey, remise, release, and forever quitclaim all of Missouri's interest in real property specified in the bill which is in the best interests of the state. HB 919 creates the "Save the Family Farm Act," creating new provisions regulating the partition of property among heirs. Supporters say the bill would help keep family farms and other property within the family by establishing a process to allow an heir to assert an interest in the property and proceed through a judicial process of equitably purchasing the property. HB 1099 defines "concession agreement," as any license or lease between a private developer and an institution of higher education regarding capital projects. The bill allows institutions of higher education to enter into long-term concession agreements as long as they follow the competitive bidding process for public private partnerships. This bill also gives Southeast Missouri State University authority to develop a statewide mission in visual and performing arts, computer science, and cybersecurity without having to submit an application to the Coordinating Board for Higher Education. Supporters say the bill will allow facilities to be built on campus property, leased to the institution of higher learning, and allow private business to generate revenue to offset costs. HB 337 establishes the "Senior Services Growth and Development Program" within the Department of Health and Senior Services to provide additional funding for senior services through area agencies on aging. Supporters say this is a small step toward restoring badly needed funding for significant unmet needs of seniors. HB 685 requires that for purposes of property zoning classifications, any sawmill or planing mill must be classified as agricultural property. Supporters say that in some counties which have planning and zoning with an agricultural exemption, saw mills are being zoned commercial and must follow the ordinances for commercial property when in fact the property should be zoned agricultural. The bill would clarify that saw mills are agricultural operations and should be classified as such. Senate Bills in the House of Representatives SB 182 reauthorizes the prohibition on the issuance of incentives under the BUILD program, the new or expanded business facilities program, the Urban Enterprise Loan program, or the Missouri Works program for businesses that relocate from certain counties in Kansas to certain counties in Missouri, contingent on similar action taken by Kansas. Such prohibitions expired on Aug. 28, 2016. Supporters say the use of these incentives rarely create new economic activity in this unique situation since businesses can move across the states' border to take advantage of these incentives. An amendment added in the House would establish the Land Bank Act, which authorizes St. Joseph to create a land bank. Bills Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed HB 898 establishes a "Back the Blue" special license plate which will be available for a $10 contribution to the Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation and a $15 fee in addition to normal registration costs. Supporters say many people are looking for some way to support law enforcement, and this is a good way to do it. If you have any questions regarding any state matters or legislation, please dont hesitate to contact email me at dale.wright@house.mo.gov or call 573-751-3455. It is an honor to serve as your state representative. Dale Wright, a Republican, is the state representative for the 116th District. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A bill has been passed in the Missouri House of Representatives that could permit certain faculty, staff, or students at institutions of higher learning to carry concealed firearms on college and university campuses if they complete the necessary training. House Bill 575 was introduced by Rep. Dean Dohrman, R-La Monte, earlier this year. The bill authorizes colleges and universities to designate faculty, staff, or students as campus protection officers. The protection officer will then be authorized to carry concealed firearms on campus after he or she has submitted proof that they have a valid concealed carry endorsement or permit. Any person seeking designation as a campus protection officer must also submit a certificate of completion from a campus protection officer training program approved by the Department of Public Safety. Mineral Area College Campus Safety Director Rich Flotron said that he believed that the college would not likely be affected by this legislation since they already have full-time campus police. He believes that this will be more useful to smaller rural colleges that may not have campus safety officials. However, Flotron said that if it was something that the colleges board wanted to approve then he wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it. He also pointed out that the campus protection officer training program is a 120-hour program and that anyone carrying a firearm on campus needs to be educated in not only the use of the firearm itself but other aspects of campus safety. Training in areas of deescalation and liabilities are needed as well. Rep. Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre, said that he believed the measure was a good thing for the safety. I'm a believer in this. I know that many of the churches will designate people to be their conceal and carry to keep them safe and I think there's a lot of people who feel strongly about it," he said. "I'm a believer in the Second Amendment and I believe if they want to put them through the training and designate them, I think the churches and schools should be able to do that. I'm also a big believer in local control and allowing them to make that decision that they think is best for their people. Rep. Dale Wright, R-Farmington, also voted in favor of the bill but with some concerns. I do have some heartburn about some students carrying firearms, said Wright. When you consider students and fraternities drinking I dont know that would all go well together. "As long as they go through the training ... that's the main thing. They go through real rigorous training." Rep. Elaine Gannon, R-De Soto, also voted in favor of the bill. Im for doing everything we possibly can to improve the security on campuses, said Gannon The bill passed the House on April 8 with a vote of 98 to 52 in favor of the measure. The bill was then passed to the Senate and after Second Read it was referred to the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure, and Public Safety Committee earlier this month. The proposed effective date for this measure is Aug. 28 if passed by the Senate and signed into law by the governor. Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3628, or at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DEAR ABBY: I have a former co-worker whose husband was just released from a psychiatric facility. He had threatened to kill himself and take the entire family with him. I met him before the incident. He did not seem balanced then, and I was uncomfortable being around him. Since his release, my friend keeps inviting me to their house and wants to come to mine. I keep making excuses for not allowing visits to my house or hers. I still have a bad feeling about being exposed to him and possibly putting myself in danger. I have been in abusive relationships in the past, and one attack was nearly fatal. I have spoken to her about the dangers of being with a person such as him. But she says she can't leave because they have three children on the spectrum. Am I being silly? -- APPREHENSIVE IN TEXAS DEAR APPREHENSIVE: No, you are not being silly. Listen to your gut. Nowhere in your letter did you indicate that you and the wife are close friends. If you are uncomfortable being around her husband because of your own history, you do not have to be. DEAR ABBY: I recently did a DNA test using a kit through a genealogy company that advertises nationally and internationally. I received my results and discovered that one of the features is that the website shows people with whom I share DNA, along with predictions of my relationship to them. I'm interested in trying to strike up conversations with people to whom I am distantly related (most of my matches are fourth or fifth cousins or further), but I'm at a loss for how to begin. I have tried mentioning common family connections, but haven't gotten anywhere with that approach. Do you have any advice you can share with me about how to start a conversation with someone I'm related to, but don't know? -- CURIOUS IN CANADA DEAR CURIOUS: What you should do is tell these people that your DNA test results showed that you may be related, and ask if the person is willing to share information. However, if they do not respond, take the hint and don't follow up. DEAR ABBY: We have a dear friend, a widower, whom we invite to dinner frequently because he is alone. Usually these invitations include other guests. Our articulate friend has the most annoying habit of blowing his nose at the table into one of my cloth napkins. It is disgusting, not only to me, but to the other guests as well. What can I do to make him stop? I tried placing a small box of tissues next to his dinner plate, but he ignores them and uses his napkin anyway. I don't even like to re-use the napkin after it has been washed, particularly for guests. -- TURNED OFF AT THE TABLE DEAR TURNED OFF: Because you tried the subtle approach and it didn't work, TELL this impolite widower that you placed the box of tissues near him so he would stop using your napkins as handkerchiefs. Frankly, it is considered rude to blow one's nose at the table AT ALL because it tends to gross out the other diners. 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: 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. 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 Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Thank you for reading! To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99. 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. Vote View Results Unfair but balanced commentary on tax and budget policy, contemporary U.S. politics and culture, and whatever else happens to come up Gujarat: March of industrialisation tramples Kutchs coastal ecology by Azera Parveen Rahman May 02,2019 | Source: Mongabay Like fish trapped in a net, Jam Ismael Ali smiled at the irony of the simile drawn to explain his own situation. One among the few remaining Pagadia fishermen in the Kutch region, Ismael pointed at the massive structure of an ultra mega power plant releasing water from its outfall channel. Another power plant stands on the other side. They said it (power plant) would not adversely affect us. Truth is, it has driven away the fishes and nearly wiped off Pagadia fishing, he said. Ismael Ali does not have scientific data to support his claim. But when he, and other traditional fishermen like him in Traghadi, talk about the drastic drop in their catch ever since the 4000 MW Tata Mundra Power Plant came up in Tunda, in the vicinity of their village less than a decade ago, it strongly indicates the correlation. Before the thermal power plant came up, we used to fish here, in this intertidal zone and get 60-70 kg of fish every day. We now barely get two kilos, he said. Pagadia fishing nearly wiped off Pagadia fishing is a traditional form of fishing in the intertidal waters of Kutch wherein the fishermen use only nets; pag from Pagadia means foot, indicating they go as deep into the water as their feet can take them. Mundra falls within the seven-kilometre intertidal zone where these fishermen live, and this type of fishing typically takes place during the off-season, between April/May to August, when the monsoon winds pick up, making it unsafe for boats to venture deep into the sea. For as long as I can remember, this type of fishing helped us sustain during the off-season, and we would get a very good catch. The women would sell the fishes in the nearby town and villages, Ismael said. But now, because there is not enough to sustain ourselves and we dont know any other work, the fishermen families go to moneylenders to help them see through this period. The debt builds up, and the rest of the year goes in repaying that. The imported coal-fired thermal plant became functional in 2012, but Hussainbhai, another Pagadia fisherman of the same village, said that not only were they not consulted beforehand, but were later told the water from the outfall channel would be let off in a different direction that would not affect them in any way. However, the released water which is much hotterseven to eight degrees warmercame where we typically went fishing. Over time, the fisheslike pomfret and lobsters that were found in abundance earlier started disappearing. Malai, Ser, Khagai (local names), all migrated elsewhere. Now we mostly get small fishes, thats it, he said. The Gulf of Kutch has nearly 200 species of fishes. Standing close to the Tata Mundra Power Plant is the Mundra Power Project by the Adani group. Bharat Patel, general secretary of the Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (MASS) which works for the fishermen community, said, The Tata Mundra Power Plant uses an open-cycle cooling system and releases 6,000 lakh (600 million) litres of water of higher temperature through its outfall channel, per hour. The Adani power project has a somewhat lesser impact because it uses a close-cycle cooling system, which means it cools the water before releasing it back into the sea; it releases 600 lakh (60 million) litres per hour. Although a 2015 law required all plants to install cooling towers to minimise thermal pollution by the end of 2017, the Tata plant has failed to do so, he added. In 2008, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a pan-India wildlife research organisation, assessed the possible future effect of the Tata Mundra Power Plant on the surrounding coastal and marine biodiversity, so that proactive measures could be taken to minimise the ecosystem damage. Published on the companys website, the report says that the 4.9 km long outfall channel through which the sea water is released into the open water of the Gulf of Kutch, crosses the Modhva creek. The channel will be carrying the saline water having seven degrees higher than the intake channel seawater, it said. The shoreline, intertidal area and the open sea adjacent to the outfall channel is rich in fisheries resources including elasmobranch (sharks). Traghadi, Salaya and Modhva have been considered as important fish landing centres. All these fall in the impact zone of the outfall channel, the report said. However this is a temporary (fishermen) settlement and is active only during the fishing season, i.e. September to May. Nearly 10 years on, the local fishermen say that not only has fishing during the peak season been affected they now have to venture deeper into the sea, often risking venturing into international waters but also during the off-season, nearly wiping away Pagadia fishing. Patel said that in the Mundra-Anjar region, 10,000-15,000 fishermen have been directly impacted by the industrialisation process along the coastline. Kutch also supplies the bulk of crude oil production. This and other factors have led to busy port traffic that also affects fishermen, he added. Coal ash from thermal power plants threatens life and livelihood The BNHS report also mentioned the adverse impact of high-temperature water on the breeding ecology of turtles. This area is an important nesting site for two endangered species green sea turtle and the olive ridley turtle. Another impact on the fishermen is by the coal ash generated by the power plants. Although the Tata Mundra Power Plant says that all the coal ash it generates is stored within the plant premises and dry ash is transported in sealed carriers to the cement industry, the locals complain of its adverse effect on them. Gajendra Sinh, the Panchayat leader of Navinal village in the same area said, The coal ash from the power plants stains the fish that are left to dry, thereby reducing its market value by a big margin. Navinal has at least 40 fishermen families. Coal Kills, a joint report by the Conservation Action Trust, Urban Emissions and Greenpeace estimated that the two coal-fired power plants in Mundra put the lives of 100-120 people of the region at risk of premature death. The clash between industrialisation and coastal ecology in Mundra with a direct socio-economic impact on local population is just a sample of what is happening along Kutchs, and the rest of Gujarats, coastline. Nearly 60 percent of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) undertakings are along the coastline. In Kutch, particularly post the 2001 Bhuj earthquake, there has been a spurt in industries taking root, mainly cement, salt, and, along the coastline, of thermal power plants and ports. Mangroves are under threat too Yet another concern from the rapid industrialisation along Kutchs coastline, particularly by the salt industry, is mangrove destruction. Mahendra Bhanani of Sahjeevan, an NGO that works on the welfare of pastoralists and for the unique Kharai camel of Kutch, said that industries typically block a natural creek and create bunds that dont allow natural tidal water to come in. This dries up the mangroves and makes it easier for heavy machinery to uproot them, and create salt pans. The Rabari communitythe tribe that typically owns the threatened species of Kharai camels that are highly dependent on the mangroves for feedingnear Tunda, voice a similar concern. The warmer-than-normal water from the power plants, they say, has been detrimental to the mangroves. In a village here, there was a time when almost every family owned Kharai camel. When the two power plants came up, its access to the sea was cut off by the canal and the conveyor belts built by the companies. So they now have to walk a much longer route to reach the sea, for the camels to swim to the mangrove islands. From around 2,500 camels a decade back, less than 200 remain in the village today.But their statement is not completely devoid of hope. MASS filed a suit against the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bankwhich had financed the Tata power plantin the U.S. Federal Court in 2015 for failing to ensure that the plant complied with the environmental and social conditions of its loan. Although the U.S. district court ruled that the IFC had absolute immunity, the U.S. Supreme Court, on February 27 this year, gave a ruling in the Kutch fishermens favour, saying that the IFC does not have absolute immunity and can be sued. This was a landmark moment for us, said Patel, We are now pursuing the case legally. As part of their corporate social responsibility, the thermal power plants in Tunda have supplied drinking water to the villages in the vicinity. We dont want the lights, the water, nothing. Just give us our livelihood back and we will take care of ourselves, Ismael said. There was no official response from the Tata and the Adani group despite attempts to get one. The BNHS did not respond either. However, in a recent development, an official statement from the Tata group said that its Mundra plant is making consistent, significant losses and that its experience (in Mundra) has helped convince the company to turn away from new coal-fired power. - Thermal power plants in Mundra, Kutch, have nearly wiped off Pagadia fishing, a traditional form of fishing in which only nets are used. - Coal ash from the power plants has brought down the market value of dry fish. It is also a health hazard. - Mangrove destruction because of industrialisation is a concern in this coastal area. - The Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (MASS) has sued the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank, which has financed a power plant in Mundra, in a U.S. court for failing to ensure compliance of the environmental and social conditions of the loan. 2019 Mongabay-India The Alabama death row inmate who narrowly avoided execution in early April has a new execution date. Christopher Price was initially set to die by lethal injection on April 11 at William Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, but the execution was called off just before midnight because the state said it didnt have time to start the procedure before the death warrant expired. The Alabama Supreme Court has set a new execution date for Price on May 30. On the day of his 1st scheduled execution, Price was the subject of several legal battles. About 2 hours before the scheduled execution at 6 p.m., Southern District of Alabama Chief Judge Kristi DuBose issued a stay of execution for 60 days and ordered the state to submit evidence in contradiction to Prices contention the 3-drug lethal injection protocol will cause or is likely to cause severe pain. RELATED | Over 3 A.M. Dissent, Supreme Court Says Alabama Execution May Proceed Price was asking to be executed by the newly approved method, nitrogen hypoxia. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the execution could go forward, but their ruling came after the Alabama Attorney Generals Office had already called it off for the night. The AGs Office has argued Price missed the June 2018 deadline for opting into the nitrogen hypoxia method. Days after the called-off execution and after the nations highest court allowed the execution to go on, the state asked the Alabama Supreme Court to quickly reset an execution date in the interests of justice. Last week, DuBose set Prices case for a non-jury trial on June 10 at 9:00 a.m. Her order on the trial date did not prevent the Alabama Supreme Court from setting a new execution date for Price, and DuBose wrote she would not stay the execution if a new date was set. Lynn was killed with a sword and knife just days before Christmas in 1991, while he was wrapping presents for his grandchildren. He had over 30 inches-deep stab wounds and one of his arms was nearly severed. His wife, Bessie Lynn, was injured in the attack but survived. Bessie Lynn and 5 other relatives were present in Atmore earlier this month, prepared to witness Prices execution. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde al.com, Staff, May 1, 2019 Execution is set tomorrow for Scotty Morrow After a few hours of deliberations, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency early Wednesday evening to convicted double murderer Scotty Morrow. The decision followed more than five hours of testimony, most of it from Morrows supporters who said the condemned man was genuinely remorseful. It required just a simple majority of votes from the four men and one woman who make up the pardons board. They deliberated separately and gave no reasons for why and how they reached their conclusion. RELATED | Gainesville man to plead for clemency on eve of execution The odds were against Morrow the 52-year-old Gainesville man from the start. Only 11 death sentences have been commuted by the board since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. And Morrows crimes, however out of character, were particularly heinous. On December 29, 1994, he fatally shot his ex-girlfriend Barbara Ann Young and her friend, Tonya Woods, in the head after Young informed him she would not take him back. The murders occurred inside Youngs home, witnessed by her 5-year-old son one of five children she left behind. Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh urged the the board to go through with the execution. Clemency hearings are held behind closed doors and Darragh did not return a phone call seeking comment. While Darragh spoke of the murders and their impact, Morrows attorneys asked the board to consider their clients life before and after his bloody rampage. A wide array of Morrows supporters spoke on the 52-year-old Gainesville mans behalf. Testimony began 34 hours before Morrows scheduled execution: 7 p.m. Thursday, inside the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, where he has spent nearly one-third of his life. Speakers included Morrows son and namesake, counselors who treated him, pastors who ministered to him and even a prison guard who monitored him on death row. It is very rare that I would speak out for a death sentenced inmate but if anyone deserves clemency, it is Scotty Morrow, former corrections officer William Wallace said in a clemency petition released on Tuesday. On Twitter, Sister Helen Prejean, a leading opponent of the death penalty whose work inspired the acclaimed 1995 film Dead Man Walking, urged the pardons board to spare Morrows life. RELATED | Georgia sets execution for condemned killer Morrow This is yet another case where the jury did not have the whole story before recommending a death sentence, Prejean tweeted. After hearing the truth, a majority of the trial jurors are now comfortable with a life sentence. Morrow, according to his lawyers, witnessed and experienced abuse throughout his childhood. At 3 years old, he watched his father stomp on his pregnant mothers abdomen, causing her to miscarry. They eventually fled to a relatives home. That family member began raping Morrow when he was 7, say his lawyers. A year later, he was raped again by another relative.The family relocated to New York, but Morrow could not escape the abuse. His clemency petition states that he was beaten repeatedly by his mothers new boyfriend. Much of that evidence was not presented to the Hall County jury that sentenced Morrow to death in 1999. In 2011, a state court judge overturned Morrows sentence, ruling that his counsel failed to deliver on their promise to the jury to explain their clients crime. That decision was later reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court, which reinstated the death sentence. According to the Department of Corrections, Morrow has requested a final meal: a hamburger topped with mayonnaise, chicken and waffles, a pint of butter pecan ice cream, a bag of buttered popcorn, two all-beef franks and a large lemonade. More appeals will be filed in the remaining hours, but clemency was likely Morrows best chance. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Lawyers defending a man in 3 murder cases want a judge to declare capital punishment unconstitutional in Nevada after the two most powerful Democrats in the state Legislature, who also work as prosecutors, killed measures that aimed to repeal it. A court filing on behalf of 27-year-old defendant Alonso Perez argues that because Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson are deputy Clark County district attorneys, they made sure the death penalty repeal bills didn't get a hearing. Perez's assigned lawyers, led by JoNell Thomas, alleged improper interference in the lawmaking process by the 2 career prosecutors who serve as elected, part-time legislators. Cannizzaro declined Tuesday to comment. Frierson didn't immediately respond Monday and Tuesday to messages about the court filing in one of three capital murder cases pending against Perez. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson also didn't respond to claims that as the employer of Cannizzaro and Frierson, he has "direct authority over the legislative leadership" and "indirect authority over his subordinates." Perez's lawyers want the judge to order Wolfson to turn over copies of any emails, memos and telephone records between supervisory prosecutors and prosecutors serving in the Legislature. They say they expect the records to show that Cannizzaro and Frierson were told to deny hearings and votes concerning capital punishment. The 22-page court filing, dated April 25, asserts "the death penalty in Nevada is invalid because the legislative process ... has been compromised due to prosecutorial interference and dominance in Nevada's Legislature." Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo and state Sen. James Ohrenschall, both Democrats, sponsored the bills that would have eliminated the death penalty. Fumo declined to comment about the lawsuit. Ohrenschall did not immediately respond to messages. Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, has said he opposes the death penalty except in extreme circumstances. His spokeswoman, Helen Kalla, declined to comment about the new death penalty challenge. Nevada lawmakers re-established capital punishment in the state in 1977 and directed that executions should be by lethal injection. Nevada currently has 77 inmates on death row. The most recent execution was in 2006. The state recently moved to the forefront of the death penalty debate when the lethal injection of a twice-convicted murderer who said he wanted to die was called off twice in late 2017 due to challenges of a 3-drug combination never before used in the U.S., and in July 2018 after drug companies sued to block their products from being used. The inmate at the center of those cases, Scott Raymond Dozier, later killed himself in prison. Perez faces separate murder trials next year in slayings in August 2015. The court filing on his behalf raises multiple objections to the death penalty in Nevada, including the cost compared with life in prison, concerns about racial disparity, and an expansion since 1977 in the list of aggravating circumstances that allow prosecutors to ask juries to impose death. Thomas is due to make arguments in the case on May 15 before Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Associated Press, Staff, April 30, 2019 A Saudi student who gained admission to Western Michigan University was beheaded last week for charges associated with his participation in a pro-democracy protest. He was 17 years old, at the airport to catch a flight to the U.S., where he planned to visit colleges and hoped to attend Western Michigan University, where he subsequently gained admission. But he was arrested for crimes related to participation in a pro-democracy protest before he could board the plane. Last week Saudi Arabia announced Mujtaba al-Sweikat was one of 37 people executed for terrorism-related crimes. The human rights group Reprieve says al-Sweikat, who was arrested in December 2012, was convicted on the basis of a confession obtained by torture. CNN reported on court documents it obtained regarding al-Sweikats prosecution. According to the documents obtained by the broadcaster, al-Sweikats father, who served as his lawyer, portrayed his son as a diligent student, loyal to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who completed his final high school exams with a score of 94 percent. Although al-Sweikat confessed to throwing Molotov cocktails at security forces and running a chat group to help organize demonstrations, his father claimed in reality he joined the demonstrations just twice, for five minutes each time. "He was subjected to psychological and physical abuse, which drained his strength," his father reportedly said. "The interrogator dictated the confession to Sweikat and forced him to sign it so that the torture would stop. He signed it." United Nations human rights officials had previously written to Saudi officials regarding al-Sweikats case, using an alternative spelling of his name. In November 2016, they wrote in regard to information they had received that he was routinely subjected to torture including suspension from his hands and feet, sleep deprivation, severe beatings with cables and shoes, cigarettes burns and pouring of cold water on his body during winter. He was put in solitary confinement for three months. As a result, Mr. Suwaiket suffers from a broken shoulder, sustained pain in back and knees and blood deficiency due to insufficient nutrition. He has been deprived of any medical care. Mr. Suwaiket was reportedly subjected to acts of torture until he confessed to armed disobedience against the king and to attacking, shooting and injuring security forces, civilians and passers-by On 1 June 2016, after several hearings, Mr. Suwaiket was convicted and sentenced to death by the [Specialized Criminal Court], on the sole basis of the confession extracted under torture. The letter from the U.N. officials said that while they did not want to prejudge the accuracy of the accusations regarding al-Sweikats treatment, they were concerned about the decision to impose the death penalty in light of international human right conventions related to fair trials, due process, torture and protection of the rights of children (as al-Sweikat was a juvenile at the time the alleged crimes were committed). RELATED | Court filings show some executed by Saudi Arabia recanted confessions, said they were tortured A subsequent letter from U.N. officials, sent in July 2017 in relation to multiple cases, including al-Sweikats, faulted judges for failing to investigate the allegations of torture and forced confessions. While it was raised in court that the confessions were forced and had been obtained under torture, no investigation was initiated by the judges. Instead the forced confessions were admitted as evidence and used as the basis for their convictions, they wrote In a written response , Saudi Arabias mission to the U.N. said that al-Sweikat was not subjected to torture or ill treatment. They said the claim his shoulder was broken was false and that he suffered from shoulder-related pain for five years prior to his arrest due to sports-related activities. Saudi government officials also denied that his confession was extracted through torture and said he confessed of his own free will. They said that the judge "did not rely solely on the confession as evidence in his judgment but on the evidence provided, including the arrest and investigation records, witness statements, and the deliberations and statements made during the judicial proceedings." The Saudi mission wrote, The lower court judgment sentenced Mojtaba Suwaiket to death after convicting him of committing crimes such as: manufacturing firebombs (Molotov cocktails) and supplying them to others for use against law enforcement officers; throwing firebombs at law enforcement officers and their vehicles; involvement in the targeting of a security patrol by opening fire on it; monitoring police officers, their location and their movements and transmitting the information to members of another cell who used it to implement one of their operations; concealment of wanted individuals charged with opening fire on security patrols and persons charged with launching attacks on private property; concealment of persons charged with setting fire to a security vehicle and stealing a machine gun and bulletproof vest from it. In a subsequent communication , the Saudi mission said al-Sweikat's death sentence was upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court, rendering it final and enforceable. Western Michigan previously confirmed al-Sweikat was admitted in 2013 but never enrolled. A university spokeswoman, Paula Davis, said Monday he was an applicant for pre-finance studies and English language. We learned about his shocking death last week and grieve this tragic loss of a young life full of potential, she said. The American Federation of Teachers, which represents Western Michigan faculty, was involved in campaigning for al-Sweikats release. Saudi Arabias sickening criminal beheading of a young student, after he was tortured and held in solitary confinement for years, is a despicable violation of international law and basic humanity, Randi Weingarten, the AFT president, said in a statement last week. Condemned at 17, Mujtaba al-Sweikat was planning to attend Western Michigan University when he was arrested after attending a peaceful protest rally. Today, we discover this young man has been executed, along with more than 30 others, in a ghastly display of state brutality. If it was not already clear, Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has moved to the top tier of the bloodiest regimes in world history, she said. We demand the U.S. government immediately condemn, in every way and with every means, this disgusting and outrageous crime. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Another Canadian citizen has been handed the death penalty in China on drug charges, a Chinese court announced Tuesday. The Canadian was among 11 people sentenced for conducting an international methamphetamine operation. The Canadian was identified as Fan Wei. Canadian officials attended the April 30th, 2019, verdict and sentencing of Mr. Fan. We call on China to grant clemency. It is of extreme concern to our government that China has chosen to apply the death penalty, a cruel and inhumane punishment, a Global Affairs spokesperson told Global News. The verdict marks the 2nd time a Canadian has been handed the death sentence in China in less than 5 months. On Jan. 14, Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, originally sentenced in 2016 to a 15-year term for drug smuggling, had his sentence changed to the death penalty. He has appealed the sentence, and the matter is still before the courts. We know the judiciary and criminal system in China are not independent of (politics) and can work under the party, Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said. Ong said because of this, the chance of Schellenberg winning his appeal may be very low, as many experts say his death sentence is seen as punishment for Canadas arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom company Huawei. We know the party can interfere in the judicial decision that is how the system works, she said. But what happens to individuals who are handed the death sentence in China? The question is difficult to answer, according to organizations such as Amnesty International, which says information on Chinas death penalty is shrouded in secrecy. China executes more people than any other country in the world, according to Amnesty International. But it is difficult to determine the number of death sentences imposed and the number of executions carried out. Many cases are classified as a state secret. However, occasionally, death penalty cases are very public, as in the case of Schellenberg. How many people are sentenced to death in China? The Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide provides a database of the death penalties in 87 countries, including China. The organization notes that although information on some countries death penalty laws is a state secret, it still offers a cautious, informed assessment of state practice. In the case of China, Death Penalty Worldwide says there are possibly thousands of individuals executed every year. It is difficult to asses the exact number, as many prisoners do not linger on death row they are either executed immediately or given a suspended 2-year sentence, after which they are either executed or have their sentence commuted, the centre said. The death sentences reported in the media are also a fraction of those that are imposed, the organization added. That includes foreign nationals given the death sentence for drug-related crimes. But it is estimated that China sentences thousands of people to death every year, more than the rest of the world put together. For example, it was reported that 2,000 people were executed in China in 2018. In comparison, 501 individuals were reportedly executed in the Middle East and North Africa region in 2018 (Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen). What happens when an individual is sentenced to death? In 2007, the Chinese Supreme Peoples Court was granted the power to review death penalty cases. All death sentences are meant to be reviewed by higher courts in China but do these reviews result in a different outcome? Not necessarily, said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. She said its very difficult to know how a Chinese court came to its decision after a trial. In the case of foreign individuals such as the 2 Canadians being handed the death penalty, Ong said an embassy in Beijing could try and discuss the case with the Chinese government. But China could turn around and say the behaviour was conducted on their territory and sovereign rights overrule this so China does not have to disclose any other information, she said. Once an individual is handed a death sentence, such as Tuesdays case of the Canadian, the Chinese government could detain the individual for years before the sentence is carried out, Ong said. But, she added, its also quite common to execute people right away. What crimes are punishable by death in China? China allows the death penalty to be imposed for 68 crimes, 44 of which do not involve violence, according to Dui Hua, a U.S. organization that advocates for prisoners in China. These include murder, rape, drug trafficking, robbery, treason, espionage, prison riots and producing or selling tainted food or medicine. For example, in 2009, Chinas state media reported that the government executed a dairy farmer and a milk salesman for their role in a tainted infant formula scandal that killed 6 children and made 300,000 ill. The majority of the crimes eligible for the death penalty in China (are) not definitely violent ones, which is of concern, Richardson said. Add on top of this the chronic challenges of getting a fair trial in China. Methods of execution Most executions in China are reportedly carried out by lethal injection, with firing squads as a method being phased out. Death Penalty Worldwide reported that lethal injection and shooting are the only methods authorized by Chinas Criminal Procedure Law of 1996. However, as of 2010, shooting executions arent reportedly used anymore, the organization added. In June 2009, the Chinese government announced that it was a long-term objective to replace the firing squad with lethal injection, the organization stated. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde globalnews.ca, Staff, April 30, 2019 Attorneys defending the state in a lawsuit by Arkansas death row inmates challenging the use of a drug in lethal injections called a series of officials to the stand Tuesday who witnessed executions carried out two years ago. They included the warden who organized the executions, a former prosecutor and two state senators, with all testifying that the inmates did not seem to experience any pain. The federal trial is midway through its second week. Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelly are named as defendants. Attorneys for the 18 death row inmates have argued the sedative midazolam, which is the first drug injected, does not do an effective job to keep inmates from feeling pain when the second and third drugs paralyze the muscles and stop the heart. Cummins Unit Warden William Straughn testified at length about his nearly four decades of working for the department and his experiences with executions. Straughns prison is where the Arkansas "death house" is located and said he was asked how best to carry out several executions in April 2017 before the states supply of a lethal injection drug expired. Straughn suggested holding multiple executions, as was done in the 1990s when two or three inmates would be killed on the same evening at one hour intervals. "Executions are stressful on the staff. We were doing multiple executions starting with a list of nine and it went to eight and theres a lot of issues that have to be dealt with. Theres a lot of preparation that has to be done. If we had done executions one a week, one every two weeks, whatever it may have been, it would have been a long, stressful several months to carry out," Straughn testified. He spoke about holding meetings with the department director, state police and prison staff to plan a timeframe for the lethal injections and to get the unit and people involved ready. That included conducting practice sessions using prison staff in place of the inmates. Straughn also detailed how he would escort the condemned inmates when they would be transferred in the days before an execution to holding cells which are just feet away from the execution room. He said he would speak with them each day about what the process was and ask about any needs or concerns they had. When it was time to bring inmates inside the execution room, Straughn said he would be there as they were shackled, walked inside, and would assist as the inmates used a stool to step up onto the gurney with straps then put in place to hold them down. An IV would be inserted, then Straughn said he would open the curtain for witnesses to watch. When everything was in place, Straughn said it was his job to announce that the execution was ready to proceed. Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelly would also be in the room, Straughn said. The execution that has been discussed the most during the trial was the one involving Kenneth Williams, who has been described as lurching forward repeatedly. Straughn said it lasted about five to 10 seconds with Williams showing no facial changes, making no sounds and not showing any signs of physical pain. State Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, was a citizen witness to Williams execution. "As an Arkansas state senator, I have a strong say in public policy behind the death penalty and I wanted to witness that myself to see what the process was like. To see if that would change my determination for the public policy of it," Garner said. He testified that he wasnt alarmed by what he saw Williams do as the lethal injection was underway. As a former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret in Afghanistan, Garner said he has witnessed people being killed or injured and can recognize pain. "For approximately 10 to 15 seconds there were some brief involuntary muscle spasms. His chest rose two to three inches a few times," Garner said. "I call it involuntary because I didnt see any pain on his face, no grimacing. I didnt hear any noises that would indicate pain." Another state legislator who said he too wanted to see what a lethal injection looked like also testified Tuesday for the state. Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, watched the executions of Jack Jones and Marcel Williams on April 24, 2017, saying he saw no signs of pain of discomfort. "I chose to go as a citizen witness to go a little deeper than that as a lawmaker," Hammer said. "I wanted to witness firsthand what exactly occurs, how the process works, what the inmates go through with the dying process." Earlier Tuesday, Arkansas Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Kokes testified about conducting an administrative review of an autopsy on Kenneth Williams. He also spoke about a second autopsy requested by public defenders that found a deeper wound on Williams head that plaintiffs in this case suggest may have come from his convulsions on the gurney during his execution. Kokes testified that such a reaction is not a sign of consciousness and not uncommon for someone who is thrust into a deep drug-induced central nervous system depression caused by a high dose of midazolam. "I think under the influence of that much midazolam, any perception of discomfort on his part would have been extremely muted, if not completely absent. He certainly would not have been experiencing the same type of pain that you or I would experience right now if we were struck hard enough on that part of the head to feel pain," Kokes said. Attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants are to reconvene at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, with testimony to resume at 9 a.m. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde 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. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, right, and Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol, second from right, pose for a photo with their Chinese and Japanese counterparts at the 19th trilateral Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Nadi, Fiji, May 2 (local time). Courtesy of Bank of Korea FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA Go online to find the complete version of the Movie Scene and reviews of new films. NEW EL CHICANO (Drama, R, 107 minutes, playing at the AMC Corvallis 12) An LAPD detective turns superhero to battle a cartel. With Raul Castillo, Aimee Garcia, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Kate del Castillo, George Lopez. Written by Joe Carnahan, Ben Hernandez Bray. Directed by Bray. HIGH LIFE 3 stars (Science fiction, R, 113 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis) Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche play two members of a prison ship in outer space in this beautiful, brutal and entirely astonishing science-fiction thriller from French master Claire Denis ("Beau Travail," "35 Shots of Rum"). (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) LONG SHOT 3 stars (Comedy, R, 123 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the AMC Corvallis 12) Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron star as a journalist and a politician, respectively, who embark on an unconventional romance amid a presidential campaign. Rogen and Theron are well-matched in this appealing outing, boosted considerably by a smart script. With O'Shea Jackson Jr., Andy Serkis, June Diane Raphael, Bob Odenkirk, Alexander Skarsgard. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) SATAN AND ADAM (Documentary, no MPAA rating, 80 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis) Director V. Scott Balcereks documentary traces the unlikely musical partnership between a Jewish harmonica player and an African American street musician in 1980s Harlem. UGLY DOLLS (Animated, PG, 87 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany, the Regal 4 in Corvallis and the AMC Corvallis 12) The plush toys break out in song in their own animated musical adventure. With voices of Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monae, Blake Shelton, Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Bebe Rexha, Charli XCX, Lizzo, Wang Leehom, Emma Roberts, Pitbull. Written by Alison Peck; story by Robert Rodriguez. Directed by Kelly Asbury. THE TINGLER (Horror, no MPAA rating, 82 minutes, plays at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 at the Darkside in Corvallis) Vincent Price reunited with director William Castle for this 1959 camp classic, about a scientist who discovers a parasite in human beings that feeds on fear. For its original release, Castle attached little electric buzzers underneath some seats in theaters so that theyd vibrate at key moments; no word if the Darkside will try to duplicate this. The showing is part of the Darksides Sci-Fi Extravagnza series. CONTINUING AVENGERS: ENDGAME 3 stars (Superhero action, PG-13, 182 minutes, playing at the Albany Regal 7, the Corvallis Regal 4 and the AMC Corvallis 12) The remaining Avengers, with some new faces (such as Brie Larsons Captain Marvel) go after Thanos in this sequel to Infinity War and apparent capstone to the first wave of Marvel movies. Its a stirring and satisfying finish that achieves and earns its climactic surge of feeling, even as it falls just short of real catharsis. (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) BREAKTHROUGH 2 stars (Drama, PG, 116 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the AMC Corvallis 12) Chrissy Metz of This is Us delivers a powerful, realistic performance in this faith-based feature, based on a true story, about a mother whose adopted son suffers a catastrophic accident. Josh Lucas and Topher Grace also star. (Katie Walsh, Tribune Media Service) THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA 1 stars (Horror, R, 93 minutes, playing at the Regal 4 in Corvallis and the AMC Corvallis 12) A hissing, pasty-faced zombie-ghost targets the children of a social worker (Linda Cardellini) in the latest addition to the Conjuring Universe. But any hopes of a creepy horror gem are dashed by the overacting, clumsy plot machinations and cliche-riddled "Gotcha!" moments. (Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times) PENGUINS 3 stars (Documentary, G, 76 minutes, playing at the AMC Corvallis 12) The latest Disneynature effort follows a 5-year-old Adelie penguin (Steve, the movie calls him) as he finds a mate, raises the chicks and deals with life in Antarctica. Its quite good for its type, with some beautiful photography. (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) MISSING LINK (Animated comedy, PG, 95 minutes, playing at the Pix in Albany and the AMC Corvallis 12) A Bigfoot-like creature joins others on a quest to find his long-lost relatives in this animated tale from Portlands Laika. With the voices of Zach Galifianakis, Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant. Written and directed by Chris Butler. THE MUSTANG 2 stars (Drama, R, 96 minutes, playing at the Darkside Cinema in Corvallis) A tight-lipped new arrival (Matthias Schoenaerts) at a Western prison is assigned to a program in which inmates work to tame wild mustands. It's solid if dramatically predictable work, part prison picture, part horse story. Bruce Dern and Connie Britton co-star. (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) SHAZAM! 3 stars (Superhero action, PG-13, 132 minutes, playing at the AMC Corvallis 12) A streetwise 14-year-old can magically transform into an adult superhero simply by shouting out one word in this big-screen version of a long-running DC comic book. Zachary Levi brings a jolt of good humor and energy to this good-natured and endearing flick, which has a bit of a dark side as well. Mark Strong is the villain. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) WOMAN AT WAR 3 stars (Comic thriller, no MPAA rating, 100 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis) Icelandic actress Halldora Geirharsdottir is sensational in a dual role in this off-kilter offering; she plays a choir director living on her own in Reykjavik, as well as Halla's identical twin sister Asa, a yoga instructor. Halla has launched a campaign of industrial sabotage against a new aluminum smelting plant that threatens to despoil the landscape and the fresh Icelandic air. (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) APOLLO 11 4 stars (Documentary, G, 93 minutes, playing at the Pix in Albany) Todd Douglas Millers riveting documentary uses newly discovered footage to give audiences a close-up look at the mission that put men on the moon. You end up with new appreciation for the sheer audacity of the mission. (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) DUMBO 2 stars (Fantasy, PG, 112 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany) Director Tim Burton tries his hand with a live-action remake of the 1941 Disney animated flick, about the little elephant with the big ears who can fly, but even though this dramatically inert film tries, it never quite takes off. The cast includes Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, Colin Farrell and Eva Green. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) US 3 stars (Horror, R, 116 minutes, playing at the AMC Corvallis 12) Writer-director Jordan Peele proves that Get Out was no fluke with this whip-smart new horror classic. Its about a picture-perfect American family (Winston Duke) and Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) arriving at their family summer home, only to confront an identical version of the family (clad in red jumpsuits and wielding sharp scissors) in their driveway. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) CAPTAIN MARVEL 3 stars (Superhero action, PG-13, 124 minutes, playing at the AMC Corvallis 12) Brie Larson, as the Captain, and Samuel L. Jackson, as young Nick Fury, share great chemistry in a superhero origins story set to '90s hits and filled with fun cultural references. This isn't the greatest Marvel movie ever made, but it's definitely one of the funniest, and one of the sweetest. (Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times) Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned a December 2016 Linn County Circuit Court ruling that Linn, Yamhill and Douglas counties do not have to recognize the states mandatory sick-leave law. Attorneys for the counties had argued that the state law, which requires that employers pay employees sick leave, was an unfunded mandate and that therefore the counties did not have to participate under the Oregon Constitution, Article XI, Section 15. The Appeals Court ruled that Oregons paid sick leave law is not a government program of services to others within the meaning of Article XI, section 15. Consequently, the trial court erred in granting the counties motion and entering a declaratory judgment for the counties. Eight counties originally participated in the lawsuit, but the state argued that five did not meet the economic threshold and they dropped out of the case. They were Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, Polk and Sherman. The law was passed during the 2015 legislative session and took effect Jan. 1, 2016. It requires employers with 10 or more workers to provide them with at least 40 hours of paid sick leave each year. Employers with nine or fewer employees must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave. But a section of the Oregon Constitution says that local governments are not required to comply with state laws or administrative rules if the state does not also provide funding for those programs in situations where the cost of such programs is more than one-hundredth of 1 percent of that local governments budget. In Linn Countys case, the financial threshold was about $14,000 in 2016. The county estimated the sick leave program would cost the county an additional $41,000 annually. Lawyers for the state argued that the sick leave issue was not a new program, but rather was an extension of existing salary and benefit programs for employees. The counties filed the lawsuit in May 2016 and on Dec. 9, Linn County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Murphy ruled that this is not a case where the answer is crystal clear, but added that the sick leave law is a program and such a program may not increase costs to counties. Upon consulting with counsel familiar with this area of the law, we believe we have good reason to seek review of the opinion in the state Supreme Court and look forward to a favorable resolution, said Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist. Kristina Edmunson, communications director for the Oregon Department of Justice, said the state is "pleased with the ruling." Contact Linn County reporter Alex Paul at 541-812-6114. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 6 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A 15-year-old boy is facing seven felony sex crime charges in Benton County Circuit Court. The youth is accused of molesting an elementary-school-aged child multiple times over a three-month period starting in December of last year. The teen is charged with five counts of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. All of the charges are Measure 11 offenses, which means the young man could be tried in adult court, where he would face a mandatory minimum sentence of more than eight years in prison if convicted of sodomy. However, the matter is under review by the Benton County District Attorneys Office and could be referred to juvenile court instead. The Gazette-Times generally does not name minors accused of a crime or the alleged victims of sex crimes. The defendant made a brief appearance in Benton County Circuit Court Monday morning with his attorney for a case management hearing. His next court date is scheduled for May 28. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 6 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The former executive director of the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce appeared in Linn County Circuit Court on Thursday morning and admitted to illegally using the organizations credit cards at local liquor stores, a hair salon and online to purchase a toddler chair for a relative. Katrina Crabtree, 60, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, a misdemeanor. She was sentenced to one year of probation and 10 days community service. Two charges, first-degree theft and felony fraudulent use of a credit card, were dismissed as part of the plea deal. Crabtree also must pay the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce $2,500 in restitution. Former chamber president Bill Matthews told Judge David Delsman that the true scope of Crabtrees illegal activity and the financial damage she caused to the organization will never be known. The amount Katrina was charged with looks like a fraction of what is missing, Matthews said. To cover up her crimes, Crabtree deleted and destroyed electronic and hard copies of financial data, correspondence and organization records, Matthews added. He said that she also reported false data to the chamber during her tenure, as well, and hid that the organization was over $100,000 in debt with creditors demanding immediate action. Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce volunteers spent hundreds of hours trying to rebuild the records. The chamber also lost its nonprofit status, had to pay back taxes, and was forced to sell its building at a discounted rate due to Crabtrees activities, Matthews said. The group continues to operate out of the building it once owned, however. The organization also suffered an immeasurable cost in community goodwill, Matthews said. It will take years for the chamber to regain our once proud reputation, he added. Crabtree declined comment during the hearing. She was the executive director of the chamber from May 2015 to March 2017, and was the primary bookkeeper for the organization. The chamber noticed financial irregularities and the Sweet Home Police Department investigated the case, arresting Crabtree in May 2018. Kyle Odegard can be reached at kyle.odegard@lee.net, 541-812-6077 or via Twitter @KyleOdegard. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Although it's a fool's errand to predict much of anything about the Oregon Legislature, it's our guess now that the proposed billion-dollar tax on state businesses to help fund Oregon schools is likely to be approved by lawmakers. The House of Representatives approved House Bill 3427A on a 37-21 vote, even though Republicans did manage to delay the vote for hours. Frankly, the result was inevitable, considering that House Democrats had enough of a majority that they could have lost a couple of votes and still emerge with the three-fifths' "super-majority" required to pass measures that raise revenue. The Senate may be a different matter: If even one Democrat defects, that could eliminate the three-fifths bulge needed to pass the bill. But the momentum is with the bill, especially after negotiations featuring Speaker of the House Tina Kotek resulted in the startling announcement that the state's largest business organization, Oregon Business & Industry, was now "neutral" on the proposal. The announcement stunned other business groups, which still are opposed to the proposal. but likely clears a wide path for the bill to pass the Legislature and head to Gov. Kate Brown's desk. After that, opponents likely will push to refer the tax increase to voters and, in that light, it was telling that Nike has donated $100,000 to a political action committee that supports the increase. Under House Bill 3427A, businesses with at least $1 million in sales in Oregon would pay a gross receipts tax equal to 0.57 percent of their sales. That first $1 million would be exempt from the tax. And, under the terms of a compromise hammered out between Kotek and Oregon Business & Industry, 35% of labor or production costs can be deducted as well; that's up from 25% in the original proposal. Also, Kotek agreed to kill legislation that would tax employers whose employees' low wages allow them to qualify for the state version of Medicare, but that may not have been much of a concession, seeing how many political observers thought that proposal was dead in the water anyway. Democrats and Oregon Business & Industry also agreed to reform the state's underfunded public employee pension system, potentially a big hurdle as rising pension premiums likely will chip away at any extra revenue sent to schools. But no specifics of what that reform might look like have yet been offered. Legislators learned something from the thumping that voters administered in 2016 to Measure 97, which also was a gross receipts tax: The new proposal would not apply to groceries or gas. Hospitals and long-term care facilities, which already pay a tax to fund Oregon's Medicaid program, also would be exempt. As matters currently stand, the money raised by the business tax estimated at about $2 billion over the two-year budget cycle would go to K-12 schools, even though Gov. Brown suggested before the start of the legislative session that some of the money might be siphoned off to the state's universities and community colleges. In part, she was saying that in an attempt to convince higher education officials to support the business tax, but whatever her motivations, legislative leaders clearly had different thoughts. Brown said something else back in January, in her inaugural address as she started her new term. She said she would ensure that "new dollars are used to improve graduation rates, reduce class sizes and provide a full school year." The implication was she would work to ensure that taxpayers and citizens would know how this new money would be spent and that she would hold school districts accountable for results. There hasn't been much talk about that in Salem since Brown's inaugural address. But as we prepare for another public brawl over taxation, it might be worth adding these questions to the debate: What will taxpayers and citizens get for this additional $2 billion and how will we track the results? (mm) Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Yesterday, reporting for the Washington Post, Jonathan O'Connell, Ann Marimow and Carol Leonnig wrote that U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave the House Democrats the OK to move forward with their emoluments law suit against Trump. The suit is very clear: Trump's private business violates the Constitutions ban on gifts or payments from foreign governments. Trump is sure to have Barr appeal, since it would allow Democrats to examine incriminating records from the Trump Organization that have been kept hidden. The Post's team reported that the judge's 48 page decision refused Trump's request to dismiss the case and rejected Trumps narrow definition of emoluments, finding it "unpersuasive and inconsistent." The judge noted that without seeking permission from Congress, Trump "has received payments for hotel rooms and events from foreign governments, as well as licensing fees paid by foreign governments for his show The Apprentice and intellectual property rights from China." This is headed to the Supreme Court, which Trump feels will protect him regardless of the law. Meanwhile CNN reported last night that Trump's "all-out refusal to cooperate with the House Democratic investigations have some Democrats questioning whether Trump's blatant disregard for congressional oversight is yet another kind of obstruction of justice that could rise to the level of 'high crimes and misdemeanors.'" Is impeachment back on the table In the midst of all that-- and the daily turmoil and chaos that is the Trump Regime-- Frances Bridges sought to answer the questions-- what makes a good leader and why is Trump such a bad one ? "One can not help but notice any time a leadership expert or scholar discusses the characteristics and habits of a good leader in any capacity," she wrote, "it brings the shortcomings of the current president into stark relief. Leadership experts in business and academia have discussed and debated the tenets, values and character of great leaders throughout history, and agree that the best among them possess a handful values and qualities that are imperative to outstanding leadership-- and that the current president does not have any of them. Below are a list of integral leadership qualities Trump does not embody:" He Refuses To Accept Criticism Numerous leadership experts find that one of the most important aspects of good leadership is accepting criticism. Leaders who surround themselves with honest brokers who give candid feedback they listen to make better decisions and are better leaders than the ones who do not. ...In contrast, one does not need to look farther than Trump's twitter account to see how poorly he handles criticism. Back in February he unleashed a twitter tirade against Cliff Sims, a former aide whose book, Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days In The White House, is a critical account of his time in the administration. The President claims he was inconsequential and that he barely knew him, but he still warranted a response from the President of the United States. He unleashed a twitter rant against the FBI and CIA, because the intelligence they gathered did not support his positions on Iran and North Korea. It is by far the first time Trump has attacked the U.S. intelligence community and members of his own administration on twitter. Instead of gathering and contemplating more information, and considering the substance of the criticism, he is defensive, bombastic, quick to blame others and punch down with his rash, jeering tweets, and crude, witless insults. He does not exhibit the humility, self-awareness or the sense of humor to accept criticism and better himself. He Refuses To Evaluate Errors And Changes Course When Presented With New Information ...Trump does not thoroughly evaluate any of his policy decisions outside of what he believes is in his political interest. The foremost example of this is when he pulled out of the Paris Agreement, which endangers not only the country but the world as the impact of climate change continues to escalate in the U.S., with increased wildfires, floods and hurricanes. In October of last year, the U.N. scientific panel released a report that found a strong risk of crisis, it "describes a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires, and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040." In the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real, and carbon emissions caused by man are partially responsible, that he would reward the financial interests of his political base at the expense of the country and the rest of the world is unconscionable, and just one example of how he serves his political interests above all else, and doesn't change or reconsider his opinions or objectives when all evidence states the contrary. He Does Not Do What Is Right In The Long Term, He Succumbs To Short Term Pressures ...From the early days of his administration, Trump has made incredibly unpopular decisions: the Muslim travel ban, pulling out of the Paris Agreement, unraveling DACA, pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, campaigning to build a wall at the southern border, banning transgender individuals from the military, pulling out of Syria, etc. Trump's decisions and often racist, misogynistic, xenophobic rhetoric have deepened an already stark political divide in the country- not only is he not a molder of consensus, he creates and fuels division. His actions are politically motivated, and are dictated by election cycles and not by a long-term vision or strategy, or the best interest of the country. He Doesn't Take Care Of His People ...It would be logical to conclude by reading the news around the chaos and record-setting turnover in this administration that Trump does not care about the people who work for him. Trump is quick to yell, upbraid and hold his staff accountable for his own mistakes. One example was Trump's treatment of his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions. After Sessions recused himself from overseeing the independent counsel's investigation into Russian interference during the election, Trump disparaged him publicly time and time again hoping he would resign because he was incensed Sessions recused himself. He did not have the nerve to fire him, so he kept embarrassing him hoping he would resign. Trump finally asked for Sessions' resignation in November 2018, nearly two years after the special counsel's investigation started. Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned in response to Trump's plan to pull troops out of Syria and his treatment of U.S. allies, and Trump initially thanked him for his service, tweeting he had "retired with distinction," but he did not read the resignation letter. When Mattis' resignation letter was released and the media interpreted it as a rebuke of Trump, the president forced him out two months before his stated day of departure. There are countless examples of Trump abusing his staff, and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that his family is not excluded from that. He Has No Empathy Doris Kearns Goodwin also discusses empathy in Leadership In Turbulent Times and how Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt all had it, and needed it to face the significant challenges they all faced during their respective presidencies. Kearns Goodwin writes that Lincoln and Johnson were born with is because they grew up poor, but that the Roosevelts had to acquire it in adulthood as they formed friendships outside their social class, and learn it through their life experiences. Trump's lack of empathy is on full display, most especially after the death of Senator John McCain, who he taunted for being a POW during the Vietnam War during the presidential campaign and continues to taunt, jeer and disparage months after his death from a malignant brain tumor. Trump lashes out at McCain randomly, for everything from his class placement at the Naval Academy to voting against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act though he has passed. Trump has also championed the family separation policy at the border (though he now denies that, and insists it was an existing policy) and only rescinded it under enormous pressure from both political parties. His inability to understand other perspectives and appreciate the experiences and expertise of others made him a poor businessman and it makes him a bad leader and president. Yesterday, the Alabama House went for the big enchilada-- overturning Roe v Wade. The state House has 77 Republicans and just 28 Democrats. (The state Senate has 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats.) The executive branch is also controlled by the GOP. There are no checks; there are no balances. A state in which just a third of the people voted for Clinton and in which only 41% went along with the 2018 congressional correction-- has made the big move many red states want to make. AP reported that Alabama's 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." After the Democrats walked out of the chamber, there were just 3 votes against a bill that would make it a felony to perform an abortion atstage in a womans pregnancy, with no regard for rape or incest. Anti-Choice fanatics inside and outside Alabama gladly admit the bill is intentionally designed to conflict with Roe v. Wade, hoping to spark court cases that will give a conservative Supreme Court the opportunity to relitigate and throw out Roe v Wade, the ultimate strategy of half the Republican Party. (The ultimate startegy of the other half of the Republican Party is to throw out the New Deal.) 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. You dont 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 womans shoes, yall dont 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. 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. ...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. Billionaires you don't know how important that position is-- Daily Beast that... well... um... Preet Bharara, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York-- and if you're watchingyou don't know how important that position is-- predicted in an interview with thethat... well... um... Scott Porch: Donald Trump was pretty clearly the unindicted co-conspirator in the guilty plea that sent Michael Cohen to prison. I wont ask you what people in the know may have told you, but how likely likely is it that the Southern District or the State of New York will indict Trump after he leaves office? Preet Bharara: I dont know. My former office clearly endorses and believes the fact-- as Michael Cohen admitted in open court-- that he engaged in the conduct he pleaded guilty to at the direction of Individual 1. Individual 1 is the president. Depending on what the other circumstances are, I believe theres a reasonable likelihood that they would follow through on that. Theres a difference, though, between accepting a guilty plea from Michael Cohen and going to trial on the strength of that same witness after hes gone to prison for lying. Porch: Do you expect that the Justice Departments characterization of the Mueller Report wont actually have much of an effect on how the various investigations of Donald Trump and the Trump campaign will proceed? Bharara: It will be harder to shut down other investigations where the attorney general doesnt have a tight leash on them. In the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia, the D.C. District and other courts, I would expect things will unfold in the natural course. The natural order? Not if Trump-- or Pence-- is president? How about Bernie? How about Biden? Have you thought much about the difference between the top two Democratic candidates? Bernie has always been a progressive. Biden has always been not a progressive. Biden made it clear from the very beginning of his career that he took extraordinary steps to make sure no one would think he was a progressive. But are their records predictive of how they would behave as president. Maybe yes, maybe no-- but it's all we have-- two guys who have been around a long time with long records. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out which one would hold Trump accountable and which one would let him skate "in the name of national unity" or some bullshit like that. On Tuesday, The Baffler published an essay by Dave Denison about the : Twentieth-Century Man, who will call, with no fondness whatsoever, Status Quo Joe. "It would be hard," wrote Denison, "to find a more out-of-step-with-the-times candidate than Joe Biden. In a moment when two of the most important movements at the heart of the Democratic coalition-- the Black Lives Matter protests and the #MeToo upsurge-- suggest the need for someone with a strong record on racial justice and respect for women, up stands Joe Biden." Here is Biden, who speaks of his formative days admiring the civil rights movement in the 1960s, but at a gut level spoke for the white ethnic urbanites who protested school busing and integration. Here is Biden, who wants credit for pushing the Violence Against Women Act in the 1990s, but at a gut level could not quite find a way to give Anita Hill the same respect and credence he gave Clarence Thomas in those atrocious 1991 hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he chaired. Biden was so concerned at that time with appearing to be fair and even-handed to the Republicans that he allowed them to coordinate sustained attacks on Hill, which then allowed Thomas to belligerently shout his way onto a Supreme Court seat-- and, not incidentally, provide the model that was followed to the letter by Brett Kavanaugh and his railing Republicans more than twenty-five years later. Biden now steps up to lead a party that needs the energies of activist women and that is always in danger of telling activist youth they have no real place in Democratic Party politics, unless they fall in line and follow instructions. And before he even got to his official launch, he had to answer uncomfortable questions about his habits of putting his hands on women and girls without any sense of propriety. Even in minor stylistic ways, Biden shows himself to be a relic. On the day he formally announced his candidacy, the opening lines of his announcement email were America is an idea. Based on a founding principle that all men are created equal. He doesnt realize that eighteenth-century all men constructions sound especially jarring now to vast numbers of people under the age of, maybe, seventy? What about the time last year when Joe was on his book tour and he got to talking at a Los Angeles Timessponsored event about the political struggles of the 1960s? And so, the younger generation now tells me how tough things are. Give me a break, Biden said. No, no, I have no empathy for it. Give me a break. Because heres the deal, guys. We decided we were going to change the world. And we did. He doesnt realize how much anger there is among todays younger generation toward Baby Boomers? He thinks sounding like a clueless old grampy with no empathy is the way to win the youth vote? Bidens comment wasnt directly about the student debt problem, but it was interpreted that way. And why not? His record on finance and debt matters is one of the worst parts of his long career in the Senate. He has been so consistently a shill for the financial industry that he has been blinded to one of the most dramatic and obvious structural changes in American life. Those students of the 1960s and 1970s he speaks about were the last generation to enjoy affordable college educations. The ones he has no empathy for lost something essential to middle-class stability. Saddled with debt and caught in the vise-grips of a predatory loan industry, college graduates spend years digging out-- in a way nobody Bidens age ever had to do. And of course all that is part of a wider problem that both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been speaking about for decadesthe way the financial industry is allowed to prey on people in dire straits. Biden joined with Republicans in the 1990s in efforts to toughen up the bankruptcy laws, based on the idea that too many middle-class people were irresponsibly running up credit-card debt and then declaring bankruptcy. Warren was then popping up as a Harvard Law professor who understood what the big banks were up to, and joined opponents who stymied Biden and the bank lobbyists for years. In May of 2002, Warren wrote in a New York Times op-ed: More than 90 percent of women who file for bankruptcy have been hit by some combination of unemployment, medical bills and divorce. Women are more likely than men to seek bankruptcy in the aftermath of a divorce or a medical problem, though both men and women cite job problems as the biggest difficulty. It took until 2005, but Biden and the banks finally won and President George W. Bush signed their long-sought bill into law. As Theodoric Meyer wrote this spring in Politico explaining the Biden-Warren battle, the bill would likely have failed if Biden hadnt led enough Democrats to the financial lobbyists side. Of course, the explanation was the usual one for Washington politics: the banking giant MBNA (absorbed in 2005 by Bank of America) was based in Bidens home state of Delaware. And MBNA was the third-largest company in issuing credit cards, Meyer noted. Further: Its executives and employees were some of Bidens biggest campaign contributors, giving more than $200,000 over the course of his career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. One of Bidens sons, Hunter, worked at MBNA after graduating from law school and later consulted for the company after a stint in the Commerce Department. The Bidens ties to the company ran so deep that Obama campaign officials told the New York Times in 2008 that they were one of the most sensitive issues they examined while vetting the senator for a spot on the ticket. Biden was seen as so close to the company that he felt it necessary to tell the Washington Post at one point that he was not the senator from MBNA. ...[Biden is] trying to get you to know him the way his family and friends know him: as the guy who is warm and fair to everyone, including the nations top billionaires and the fellas down at the union hall. You are supposed to like him because hes some salt-of-the-earth guy, though hes been in the most privileged club in America since he was thirty years old. More so than ever, he seems to be a man out of context, looking backward, trying to catch up with the present, chasing only the future he imagined in 1964-- a man out of time. Last week, the Harvard Political Review ran a different kind of look at Bernie than what you may be used to reading. But's it's valuable if you want to compare these two old white men. "As the baby boomer cohort continues to shrink" wrote Lexi Mealey, "millennials are beginning to rise into the political ranks, especially on the left. With the 2020 presidential election fast approaching, the Democratic Party has increasingly turned its attention to courting these young voters in its fight to take back the White House. Yet in order to capitalize on the increasing power of young voters, Democratic candidates will need to change their strategies. Distrustful of baby boomer representatives, as well as of the media and older voters, young Americans want a candidate who stands on principle, regardless of how it impacts his electability, and who can engage them through technology. In 2020, young Americans are looking for a candidate who is like them where it counts." As parties become increasingly polarized, Democratic Party leadership seems focused on finding a candidate who can win. Moving into the 2020 primary season, the question on many left-leaning minds is not which candidate stands on the best policies but rather, who can beat Donald Trump. Though this approach may seem like savvy strategy in the short term, candidates seeking to garner the youth vote may benefit more from following trends in youth political attitudes than trends in electability. A poll organized by the Harvard Public Opinion Project indicated that 82 percent of millennial respondents believe that it is more important for a candidate to share his political views than to be an electable politician. Across all demographics, youth support for candidates who share their political perspectives never falls below 75 percent of respondents. Regardless of political views or personal experiences, millennial voters care more about candidates who share their beliefs than those who they believe can win in a general election, favoring principle over political strategy. Putting policy before electability will only become more imperative for political candidates as millennials move towards becoming the largest voting block in the country. This is especially true for Democrats, who tend to receive the majority of millennial support. In the 2016 presidential election, 55 percent of millennials voted for Clinton, while only 37 percent voted for Trump. Even for Republicans, though, youth represent an increasingly important electoral demographic. While millennials had the lowest voter turnout rate in 2016, this trend is set to change, with 63 percent of millennial respondents in the HPOP poll indicating that they will definitely vote in the 2020 election. Already, millennial voting power has been increasing in every election since the peak of baby boomer voting power in 2004. To communicate their policy positions to millennial voters, candidates should stay away from mainstream media outlets. HPOP data shows that only 14 percent of young people trust the media to do the right thing, though Democrats are twice as likely to trust the media when compared to Republicans at 23 percent to 10 percent. Even appealing to the most established news networks may not be an effective way of reaching young voters, as Business Insider reports that only 17 percent of all people who watch television news are millennials. This does not mean that all media outreach is lost on millennials. Young voters are still consuming political news through a different digital medium. Business Insider reported that 23 percent of millennials get their news primarily from social media and 43.4 percent get their news from smartphones. Such trends indicate that a 2020 hopeful should focus on social media strategy, rather than mainstream media rollouts. An engaging website, a great podcast, and a strong Instagram presence will do more to garner the support of young voters than a televised town hall. Frequent and direct social media engagement with young voters will also help candidates seeking the millennial vote to create a sense of trust. Yet building this trust is not an easy task. HPOP polling indicates that only 18 percent of young people feel that baby boomer voters care about them and only 16 percent feel that baby boomer elected officials care about them. It therefore seems unlikely that gaining endorsements from senior party members or former politicians will have the same effect on young voters today as it has in past elections. Given that many of the prominent Democratic presidential candidates for 2020 are baby boomer elected officials, these hopefuls should focus on direct engagement and forward-looking policy solutions to bridge a generational lack of trust. Young voters want political officials who care about them and their interests moving forward. The burden is on each candidate to prove him or herself up to this task. Despite millennials large distrust of baby boomers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) garnered the most support from millennials of all 2020 presidential candidates in the HPOP poll, with 31 percent of respondents selecting him as their favorite candidate from the 2020 Democratic field. So, why Bernie? Polling results indicate that Sanderss name recognition as a former presidential hopeful and established public trust may be helping him overcome the massive age gap between himself and young voters. Yet these factors alone cannot explain the outpouring of support for Sanders. Former Vice President Joe Biden has just as much, if not more, name recognition as Sanders, and is popular for his work with Barack Obama, who left office with a favorability rating of 73 percent among millennials. Nonetheless, Biden trails Sanders by 11 percent among millennial voters. What sets Sanders apart from Biden and other Democratic hopefuls in part is his ability to communicate his forward-thinking policy solutions to young Democratic voters directly through social media. Sanders boasts 9.2 million followers on his personal Twitter account. Even Biden pales in comparison, with just 3.4 million followers. Sanderss Twitter is focused on his policies. Rather than constantly tweeting about recent campaign appearances, Sanders is tweeting endearing videos of youth activism, support for national unity against the billionaire class, and an introduction to his new podcast. On most days, Sanders tweets upwards of 10 times, demonstrating a desire to listen to and engage with young supporters. It is clear that Sanders is overcoming the age gap with millennial voters by making concerted efforts at relatability. He speaks the language of tech-savvy millennials and understands the kind of policy-driven content they want to see. Most importantly, Sanders is overcoming distrust in baby boomers by setting himself apart from the rest of his cohort. Sanders openly speaks out against baby boomer-era projects, such as nuclear proliferation and foreign wars. He expresses genuine care for the future, even if it is a future that he will not likely experience himself, prioritizing policies like affordable housing, education, support for unions, and infrastructure development. Democratic candidates who aim to capture the youth vote should focus on similar future-first policies to set themselves apart from their predecessors, who are largely distrusted by young voters. Millennials are seeking candidates who will be their political advocates and allies, holding strong to their political convictions rather than pandering to seem more electable. For Democratic candidates to win the youth vote in 2020 and beyond, it is clear that hopefuls should be like Bernie: relatable, communicative, and invested in the future. Palau is one of the Northern Pacific's hidden marvels. / Courtesy of South Pacific Tourism Organization By Kang Seung-woo In March, Korea and 14 Pacific Island countries launched the Korea-Pacific Islands Trade and Tourism Promotion Project, under which the Korean government will finance $1 million (1.2 billion won) in official development assistance (ODA) over the next two years to support more structured and long-term tourism and trade promotional activity for the Pacific region. The aid funding is the first of its kind for the Korean government to provide for the tourism industry since Seoul began development cooperation projects with them in 1987. Tuvalu is a dream destination for diving, snorkeling and yachting. / Courtesy of South Pacific Tourism Organization However, the project is about more than just its symbolic significance as it is believed to pave the way for Korea's local tourist industry to open up a new market for outbound tourists and eventually inbound ones as well. The 14 nations are Fiji, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. "Tourism plays a very important role in Pacific Island countries and it has the potential to be a very successful industry," a foreign ministry official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity. Fiji earned $890 million from tourism last year, accounting for 30 percent of its GDP, while 69 percent of the Cook Islands' GDP came from tourism in 2017. Visitors can swim in the To Sua Ocean Trench in Samoa. / Courtesy of South Pacific Tourism Organization VinBus electric buses will be produced at VinFast's manufacturing complex in Hai Phong. Photo by Vingroup Vinfast announced Thursday the establishment of VinBus, which will offer passenger transportation services in major Vietnamese cities. The company said that the Vinbus Transport Service Co. will operate under a non-profit model, aiming to develop a modern public transportation system that reduces pollution and noise in Vietnams major cities. The company will exclusively produce and run electric buses, it said. VinBus has a charter capital of VND1 trillion ($42.88 million), and expects to start running bus routes in 5 major cities: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. In the short term, the company plans to operate 3,000 electric buses made by VinFast. At present, the VinFast bus factory is still under construction. German industrial manufacturing giant Siemens has agreed to provide the technology and components to build electric buses here. Establishing VinBus is the next latest move by Vingroup, Vietnams biggest private conglomerate, implementing what it says is a strategy of developing environmentally friendly electric vehicles. "Ever since joining the automobile-motorcycle manufacturing industry, we have been determined to develop and popularize environmentally friendly electric cars, to gradually replace gasoline vehicles," said Nguyen Viet Quang, vice president of Vingroup. "Participating in public transport with our smart electric buses is a very important step, moving us forward in applying advanced technology as well as creating a fresh and modern urban environment," he said. In other areas, Vingroups smartphone production arm Vinsmart has begun selling four smartphone models to Spanish consumers via MediaMarkt stores from March 20, 2019. The groups VinTech has opened its first office in South Korea this April to research the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and artificial intelligence. Vietnams leading auto firm Thaco wants the government to strictly inspect zero tariff application on cars imported from ASEAN. Pham Van Tai, CEO of the Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco), said at the Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum Thursday that the government must inspect whether cars imported from ASEAN and subject to zero percent tariffs meet the requirement of having a local content of at least 40 percent. Under Vietnams taxation commitments with ASEAN, from 2018, cars imported from other ASEAN countries enjoy zero percent tariffs if at least 40 percent of their value is produced within ASEAN. "This will help avoid trade fraud and tax losses [to the state]. The point is that to meet the 40 percent localization rate is very difficult, especially for high-end passenger cars," Tai said. He cited statistics showing that cars imported from ASEAN into Vietnam in the first three months of the year went up to 39,000 units, or half of the 2018 total of 78,200. "This is in the context of Vietnams domestically-made cars competing fiercely with Thailand and Indonesia, which have domestic consumption markets many times bigger than Vietnam." These countries have been issuing policies to support car manufacturing for years, while this has only happened recently in Vietnam, Tai noted. He added that Vietnam should remove special consumption tax on car parts produced in the country to strengthen the local supporting industry and reduce the prices of made-in-Vietnam cars. Vietnams car imports last year fell nearly 20 percent from 2017 because of a government decree which set tough conditions for car imports, requiring traders to provide valid vehicle registration certificates issued by authorities from the countries of origin. Vietnams supporting industry for car manufacturing remains weak compared to other countries in the region. There are only 358 such businesses in the auto industry in Vietnam compared to 2,500 in Thailand, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The ministry has also said that Vietnam imports over 90 percent of its auto parts. The Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum, the largest of its kind in the country this year, is jointly organized by the government and the Central Economic Commission, in collaboration with VnExpress and the IEC Group. Vietnam's digital economy was worth $9 billion last year and is expected to reach $30 billion by 2025. Photo by VnExpress Vietnam could add $162 billion to its GDP in 20 years time by turning its economy digital, says a deputy minister. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang said this at the Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum on Thursday morning quoting the findings of Data 61, an Australian data science research and engineering firm. Vietnams GDP is currently $223.9 billion. He also cited the company as warning 38 percent of jobs could be lost to digitization. Thang quoted Google and Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek as saying Vietnam's digital economy was worth $9 billion last year and is expected to reach $30 billion by 2025. The digital economy is growing rapidly and permeating all aspects of socio-economic life in all countries, and would completely change the way in which production, organization, provision of services, consumption, and communication are done, he said. "Enterprises are the keystone to this growth, and businesses should proactively look to apply digital technologies to smooth the transformation and lay the foundation for Vietnams digital economy." Meanwhile, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is working on a national strategy to capitalize on Industry 4.0 to enable businesses to take advantage of opportunities presented by digitization, he added. The Ministry of Information and Communications has said it has been tasked by the Government with drawing up a roadmap for the countrys digitization. Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung said the plan proposes having 50 percent of businesses carrying out business digitally by 2025 and the digital economy then accounting for 20 percent of the nations GDP. It also sets a target for the government of having at least 80 percent of its interactions with the public and businesses carried out digitally by 2025. The digital economy has been booming in the last few years. It grew by over 25 percent last year and the country can sustain this rate for the next two or three years, according to the Vietnam E-Commerce Association. Billed the largest scale event of its kind this year, the Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum 2019 is jointly organized by the government and the Central Economic Commission, in collaboration with VnExpress and the IEC Group. The majority of Vietnamese people use cash in daily transactions. Photo by Shutterstock Vietnamese banks are proposing tax incentives for businesses adopting e-payments as a way to boost cashless payments. Dao Minh Tuan, deputy CEO of Vietcombank, presented this suggestion at the Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum 2019 Thursday. He said that most businesses were reluctant to purchase point-of-sales (POS) devices or establish e-payment services with the banks because there were currently no incentives to attract them. "Incentives, especially in taxes, will attract more businesses to cashless payment, which will increase payment transparency and reduce tax evasion," he said Vietnam has been trying to promote cashless payments in recent years. Last year, fintech startups raised $117 million, highest among all startup businesses. But local residents remain more reliant on cash. Sixty percent of Vietnamese population are eligible to open a bank account, but a majority of them, 80 percent, prefer to use cash in daily transactions, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Although e-commerce has been growing fast at 25-30 percent a year in recent years, 80 percent of customers still use cash-on-delivery payment for products they order online, the ministry said. Le Xuan Vu, board member of Military Bank, said that tax incentives and other incentives are needed to increase cashless payment not only for businesses but also people at large. "Cashless payment remains unpopular in Vietnam because people prefer to see and touch products before paying for them. If local banks can guarantee to compensate customers for fraud and fake products, they will trust cashless payment and use them more regularly," he said. A government resolution issued in January recommended that cashless transactions made viable for all urban household bill payments by the end of this year, prioritizing mobile payments and payment via card readers. The State Bank of Vietnam has been asked to come up with solutions that would promote the use of electronic wallets, wherein users can deposit cash into their e-wallets without the need for a bank account. Two staffs set up a rooftop solar system for a local resident in Ho Chi Minh City in May 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Vu Doan Ho Chi Minh Citys electricity utility will start paying consumers who produce solar power from May 15. The HCMC Power Corporation has signed contracts with 49 household and business consumers in the central Districts 1 and 3 who own rooftop solar power systems. They will now be billed depending on how much power they sell to the grid. According to the utility, the city has more than 1,400 rooftop solar systems, many of which have been connected to the grid for a while now, but it has been unable to pay them because of the tax system. Now, following instructions from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the company, a subsidiary of state power monopoly Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), will start paying 9.35 cents per kWh for 20 years. In dong, that translates into VND2,086 per kWh for those who linked up before January 1, 2018, and VND2,134 for those who linked this year. From 2020 onwards the price will be fixed annually based on the exchange rate. So far these households and businesses have provided four million kWh to the utility and the company has to pay them around VND8.5 billion ($365,000). If the solar power producers are businesses with their own value-added invoices, 10 percent tax will be deducted. Households have to pay 2 percent on revenues of over VND100 million and zero tax below that. Nguyen Tan Hung, chairman of HCMC Power Corporation, told VnExpress last year that rooftop solar panels can be an effective power solution for most households, but factors like weather and location have to be taken into consideration. Vietnam currently relies largely on hydropower and thermal power for its electricity needs, but its hydropower potential is almost fully exploited and oil and gas reserves are running low. Their environment impacts have also been a concern. The national electricity development plan envisages power generation reaching 130,000 MW in 2030 from 47,000 MW currently, meaning 83,000 MW would need to be added along with the requisite distribution infrastructure. The development of clean energy will be crucial as Vietnam is expected to grow at 6.5 7.5 percent on average. A Mercedes car is damaged after it crashed into a motorbike in Hanoi after midnight on Wednesday, killing two women. Photo by VnExpress/V.H. Hanoi police arrested a man on Thursday for drunk driving that killed two women on a motorbike the previous day. Le Trung Hieu, 39, is being held in custody as he faces criminal investigation for violating traffic regulations that can carry sentences of three to 10 years in jail. At around midnight on Wednesday, Hieu, driving a white Mercedes car, crashed into a motorbike on which two women, Dinh Thi Hai Yen and Tran Thi Quynh, were traveling. The collison happened at the entrance of the Kim Lien Underpass in Hai Ba Trung District. Both victims were rushed to hospital, but succumbed to their injuries later. Hieu ran away after the accident, but was stopped by local police and residents. Hieu reportedly told the police that he had attended a party with friends and drank wine as well as six bottles of beer. It's not clear if he owns the car. Breathalyzer tests showed alcohol content of 0.751 milligrams per liter. Any concentration of alcohol in a car drivers body system is illegal in Vietnam. The presence of alcohol in a drivers blood or breath can attract fines of VND2 to 18 million ($85-767). Road crashes are a common cause of death in Vietnam, killing almost one person every hour, according to official figures. A total of more than 18,720 traffic accidents occurred in 2018, killing 8,244 people and injuring nearly 14,800, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. Four Vietnamese nationals were arrested Wednesday after locals reported their poaching activities in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary. The Khmer Times reported Thursday that the four unnamed Vietnamese persons were arrested by the Stung Treng provincial police after villagers from Sean Districts Sdao Commune tipped them off. Local police seized "carcasses of some animals, guns, and bullets laced with chemical substances," said Sok Rithy, the military police commander of Sesan District, as cited in the report. The Vietnamese are being questioned by provincial police officers, said National Military Police spokesman Eng Hy. The ongoing ADB meeting in Nadi, Fiji, is a hugely symbolic moment for the climate vulnerable regions. As members and governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) meet in Nadi, Fiji, on May 1-5 for its 52nd annual meeting, it would be a meaningful event, providing an opportunity for these leaders to hear directly from the worst affected about addressing our climate change realities. This meeting is the largest gathering of the ADB and its partners and provides a unique platform for a wide spectrum of stakeholders to engage directly with the institution on development issues and challenges confronting the Asia Pacific. Held for the first time in the Pacific, the meeting gives us a chance to engage openly with those that wield power in the ADB. While the threats and risks the Asia Pacific face from climate change are well known, the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, tells us the worst is yet to come. The report forecasts that within the next 10 years, should the average global temperature continue to increase unabated, climate-induced disasters such as extreme changes of weather patterns, coral bleaching, ocean acidification and sea level rise of apocalyptic consequences are imminent for particularly vulnerable countries such as those in the Pacific islands, in Southeast Asia and South Asia. For all of us climate change is no longer just a development issue that needs to be mainstreamed in national plans it is a matter of survival. We urge Asia Pacific leaders to use this opportunity to raise six critical issues with the ADB that would help build a resilient, inclusive and climate-just Asia Pacific: accelerating energy transition; closing the adaptation finance gap; organically growing the domestic finance sector; building the capacity of governments to effectively implement policies: prioritizing social accountability, ensuring financial transparency in climate finance, and; creating meaningful participation for communities. Accelerating energy transition The Asia Pacific is estimated to have the highest number of upcoming coal based power-plants in the world with at least 120 under construction and twice that number planned. The emissions from the region are going to rapidly accelerate in coming years while large parts of the world including Europe and North America are reducing emission levels. Hence in the coming years the region would be key to ensuring that we meet the IPCC recommendations and help restrict climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius. An assessment of the current IFI lending, especially ADB lending in the region, indicates a strong emphasis on fossil-fuel based power generation as compared to renewables. Under these circumstances it is essential for the ADB to accelerate and ensure complete alignment with the Paris Agreement- this means urgently tackling barriers on renewable energy and energy efficiency, and phasing out finance for fossil fuels. It also means the ADB should look to create shift among the financial sector in the region by encouraging their financial intermediary partners to eliminate exposure to coal and fossil fuel financing and encourage them to invest in sustainable green bonds and clean energy investments. Another major area linked to energy transition where the ADB should be encouraged to play a leading role is the attainment of SDG 7- clean and affordable energy for all- where ABD investments can encourage clean cooking solutions, off grid and mini grid projects etc that meet the needs of women and vulnerable communities in poor, rural areas. Finally the ADB should look to create a strong strategic dialogue process with the V20 countries working closely with them to support their 100 percent renewable energy goals and helping them champion renewables in the region. Adaptation finance gap The ADB needs to improve its approach to investments in adaptation and resilience-building. Akin to international trends, the Asia Pacific region has a significant adaptation finance gap. Evidence suggests that the ADB continues to prioritize mitigation initiatives in the larger Asia Pacific region. Adaptation finance accounts for only 22 percent of the $4.5 billion of climate finance the ADB mobilized in 2017. Because of its dominant presence in the Pacific, the ADB needs to urgently recalibrate its funding approaches in the Pacific. It needs to explore investment opportunities beyond the low-carbon route and relate it more to building resilience. Investing in mitigation solely on carbon-saving criteria is unlikely to be the optimal resilient route for the Pacific. Most importantly, the ADB should aspire to a balance between mitigation and adaptation finance in line with the directions of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and elevate adaptation investments to be of equal significance to mitigation when investing in countries responses to climate change. Organically growing private sector The ADB needs to rethink its current approach of using public finance to leverage private finance. The ADB, like other large international financial institutions in the region, tends to prioritize investments in large-scale infrastructure (like renewable energy initiatives) as their approach to resilience-building in the Pacific. Experts have indicated that this infrastructure-focused approach tends to discourage the local private sector from investing in these areas. From our perspective, the best way to engage the private sector is for decarbonization in the Pacific to be organic, enabling domestic enterprises to create the market. The domestic sector needs to move from mere uptakers of technologies to drivers of low-carbon technologies. The underlying message for donors and development partners is the need to pursue a long-term view of channelling resources beyond just readying the private sector to catalyse public finance. This recommendation, however, needs to be contextualized because not all Pacific island countries have an advanced private sector that can support such efforts. Building institutional capacity The ADBs focus must turn to strengthening Pacific Island governments capacity and institutions. There is an urgent need for more investment to strengthen the governance structure of our governments when mainstreaming climate change across ministries, and implementing and enforcing policies. The Pacific is rife with climate change policies but implementation is lacking as capacity and resources are not available. To effectively translate policies into concrete actions, donors need to shift away from viewing government as a donor-recipient and focus instead on building Pacific government capacity to effectively regulate and enforce these policies. Social accountability and financial transparency in climate finance Climate finance must transform the lives of the most vulnerable people in our communities- women, children, people with disabilities, and older people- and also ensure strong accountability mechanisms like transparency measures. Providers of climate finance have an obligation to ensure that the most vulnerable are able to benefit from climate change-related investments. Climate change investments must adopt a do no harm approach so that everybody benefits and no one is left behind in the process. There is a need for donors to have: grounded knowledge of the context and the needs of vulnerable groups; to recognize and be informed of the behaviour, attitudes, characteristics expressed by women, persons living with disabilities, people living in rural and remote areas or outlying islands, and; to integrate these into planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of climate change projects. Also, how donors measure project impacts in the region must move beyond quantifiable figures (such as how many women benefit) to also include inequality and social accountability indices that capture the effectiveness of climate finance for the livelihood of communities. The ADB should also strive to ensure that the robust financial transparency and accountability mechanisms they adhere to are not overlooked in the operations of their financial intermediary partners. This includes ensuring complete disclosure of all higher risk project related information, screening out intermediaries not willing to commit to such a disclosure process, incentivizing intermediaries to extend finance to only clients who consent to disclosing their financial relationship. Engagement with communities We need to move towards a financing model rooted in the principles of public, private, and people partnership (PPPP), where the views of all are taken into account when designing climate change responses. Meaningful engagement and participation of communities is mandatory and should be strongly supported. Climate change in the region needs to be framed from a humanistic perspective that the benefits are more than just economic. It will be a hard conversation, but one that needs to happen now for the sake of all our survival. Having these conversations will also mean that we recognise there are power imbalances that need to be addressed so those people who are most vulnerable are also part of the decision-making processes. People over profits The Pacific region in particular is the canary in the coal mine of what will happen to the rest of the world if global warming is not immediately halted. The IPCC 1.5 degrees Celsius report clearly states that mitigation and adaptation/resilience initiatives need to be simultaneously scaled-up and implemented in an urgent manner. The region needs to be given a chance to fight for its survival. Access to climate finance that allows for resilience-building in an inclusive and just manner is our best hope in a highly uncertain and changing future. Climate finance sources such as the ADB should start viewing the call for more adaptation finance in the Pacific as an ethical and moral investment, instead of a business-as-usual venture. Simultaneously supporting mitigation finance and supporting the process of energy transition in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, is crucial in the fight against climate change. It is time that people instead of profits are prioritised because the cost of business-as-usual is one that the Asia Pacific will pay for dearly. *Raijeli Nicole is the Regional Director for Oxfam in the Pacific based in Suva and Lan Mercado is the Regional Director for Oxfam in Asia based in Manila, Philippines. Members of the Indonesian Navy watch as a Vietnamese coastguard ship approached on April 27, 2019. Photo by AFP Vietnam has issued a diplomatic note opposing Indonesias use of force on Vietnamese fishing vessels last Saturday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over the document to a representative from the Indonesian Embassy in Vietnam on Wednesday. The document expresses Vietnams concerns over the incident on April 27 when Indonesia arrested a group of Vietnamese fishermen operating within Vietnam's waters, in an area where Vietnam and Indonesia are delimiting their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), 5.5 nautical miles north of the 2003 continental shelf delimitation line. A Vietnamese fishing boat with 14 fishermen on board were arrested and towed away at high speed by Indonesian ship number 381, causing the Vietnamese boat to sink. A Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance's vessel discovered the incident 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. Vietnams ministry now insists that what Indonesia had done "seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction, and was contrary to international law, inconsistent with traditional friendship relations and the Vietnam - Indonesia strategic partnership, as well as the solidarity of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)." The note requested Indonesia to strictly abide by the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both countries are members, and to direct its maritime functional forces to stop and not repeat the inappropriate actions of April 27. It also demanded that Indonesia immediately release the crew of the sunk vessel, treat them humanely and make adequate compensation for the Vietnamese fishing boat and for the fishermen. This is the second time Vietnam made its demand. The foreign ministry had on Sunday sent a note to the Indonesian embassy but has yet to receive a response. 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. 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. AEP Teacher Vision Grants from Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) are enabling four teachers in Grove to improve student learning in the classroom. Individual grants up to $500 have been awarded to teachers Randi Andrews, Debra Popp and Linda Adams at the Grove Early Childhood Center, and Donna Riles at Grove Lower Elementary School. The total amount awarded is more than $1,600. The grants will be used to fund guided reading groups; to purchase iPads for kindergartners; to purchase 10 device charging stations for a Pre-K STEM lab; and to support a math fun lab for special education students. "If adequate funding is all that stands between a teacher and a new classroom adventure, that's where AEP's Teacher Vision Grants can help," said Michael Gordon, PSO external affairs manager. "One goal of these grants is to help us partner with and support people and resources that are vital in communities we serve. Who better to support than those Pre-K through grade 12 educators who are devoted to motivating youth to think creatively, to step into leadership roles and to address the challenges of the future?" The AEP Teacher Vision Grant program was launched in 2003 to provide aid ranging from $100 to $500 to classroom teachers. Educators who live or teach in the AEP service area or in communities with major AEP facilities are eligible to apply for the mini-grants. Projects that have an academic focus and goal of improving student achievement are eligible for consideration. AEP has a special interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), electrical safety, the study of energy and a sustainable environment, and energy efficiency. For more information on the AEP Teacher Vision Grant program and other AEP education initiatives, see www.aep.com/community/TeachersAndStudents/ Public Service Company of Oklahoma, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 550,000 customer accounts in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, PSO has approximately 3,800 megawatts of generating capacity and is a major distributor of wind energy in the state. News releases, community & educational activities and other information can be found at www.PSOklahoma.com. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @PSOklahoma. Sargent & Lundy, one of the oldest and most experienced power engineering consulting companies in the world, announced today it has acquired ARES Corporation's energy business, ARES Energy Services Division (ESD) effective May 1. The transaction positions Sargent & Lundy to achieve significant growth in the government services sector. ARES ESD, an engineering solutions business focused on the nuclear sector, primarily serves the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It has core competencies in engineering and design; facility operations, management and maintenance; project management; and safety, security and risk management, which greatly complement Sargent & Lundy's own core competencies in comprehensive engineering, project development and implementation services, energy business consulting and environmental services for new and operating power generation assets. DOE facilities that ARES ESD currently supports include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Hanford, Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The energy services business also provides management and operations services for the DOE National Training Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has teamed with Parsons Corporation on a Defense Threat Reduction Agency contract to secure nuclear materials. "Sargent & Lundy has enjoyed an excellent working relationship with ARES ESD dating back more than 10 years. Their high quality of service and deliverables, which we have seen demonstrated firsthand over the years, made them a clear fit for us as we explored opportunities to grow our government services capacity," said Sargent & Lundy Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer Thomas R. White. "ARES ESD's established relationship of more than 20 years with the DOE and its facilities combined with a talented workforce well positions us to expand our presence in the federal sector and increase our industry reach. Our combined capabilities provide tremendous value for both of our companies' clients and more opportunities for our employees, in addition to bolstering Sargent & Lundy's position as a premier technical services firm." Dr. Richard J. Stuart, chief executive officer for ARES Corporation, said, "ARES is very pleased to find the perfect match going forward for our energy services division. ESD brings 26 years of federal government services experience to Sargent & Lundy, and with their outstanding power industry experience, we expect significant growth for Sargent & Lundy's government services sector in the future." Sargent & Lundy is pleased to welcome a team of approximately 200 highly skilled professionals who will contribute specialized expertise in government and industry requirements, a synergistic skillset for the firm's already extensive service offering. The team, now a division of Sargent & Lundy's government services business, is led by Sargent & Lundy Senior Vice President David M. Wright and supported by legacy ESD leaders Larry Shipley, Dr. Dan Weinacht and Kurt Westerman, each of whom holds more than 30 years of industry experience. This is Sargent & Lundy's first acquisition, a significant milestone in the firm's 128-year legacy. ABOUT SARGENT & LUNDY Sargent & Lundy is one of the oldest and most experienced full-service A/E firms in the world. Founded in 1891, the firm is a global leader in power and energy with expertise in grid modernization, renewable energy, energy storage, nuclear power, and fossil fuels. Sargent & Lundy delivers comprehensive project services from consulting, design and implementation to construction management, commissioning and operations/maintenance with an emphasis on quality and safety. The firm serves public and private sector clients in the power and energy, gas distribution, industrial and government sectors. Learn more about us at www.sargentlundy.com. Media Contact Brenda Romero Corporate Communications 312-269-2137 bromero@sargentlundy.com 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 EBRD's 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 EBRD's 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. ELKO Tom Lester, tourism and convention manager for the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority, was awarded the Larry J. Friedman Industry Partner of the Year Award at the annual VolunTourism awards dinner, part of Rural Roundup on April 11 in Fallon. Nevada Division of Tourism sponsors the annual conference in support of rural tourism. The awards recognize top industry professionals in each of Nevadas six territories. In his work with the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority, Tom has developed partnerships with the state, as well as built relationships with other Nevada communities, both urban and rural, to promote tourism, said a TravelNevada spokesperson. Its based on partnering throughout the state with TravelNevada, as well as other partners in the state, such as doing consumer trade show missions, said Lester. Lester has also held the Cowboy County territory chair position for more than 13 years. There are six chairs throughout the state, he said. I represent all the way from West Wendover to Gerlach and everything in between. He has always been proactive in his service to Elko and as chair of Cowboy Country, said ECVA marketing coordinator Julie Nelson. Part of Lesters success is his ability to partner with other entities for the economic benefit of the region. We are partnering with TravelNevada to bring a big media blitz for Airstream Travel Trailers to Elko, Lester said. He also coordinates with tour companies in other countries to bring the international market to Northeastern Nevada. We just received Sparkle Tours out of China, Lester said. We were able to get them to overnight with their fleet of buses that they will be bringing here on their way to Yellowstone. Lester works with Australian, English, German and Canadian travel companies to bring more travelers to Elko where they can experience the real West. According to Lester, new things are happening all of the time in our region. We have the mural festival coming in and this particular tour I am doing in Canada will be a media mission, he said. I am going to try to get media here to cover the mural event in September so we can get those stories out. TravelNevada created the Larry J. Friedman Industry Partner of the Year Award to celebrate Nevada tourism industry leaders. Friedman worked for 26 years for the state tourism commission. I was surprised because I really wasnt expecting it, Lester said. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Spain as seen from the International Space Station. Spains light pollution problem has become so bad over the past 10 to 15 years that light from the countrys biggest cities can be seen from hundreds of kilometers away. Recent scientific studies have drawn attention to the problem with striking images that capture the light pollution emitted by Spains major cities. The only exception is the Canary Islands, which has introduced legislation to protect the skyline. While Madrid and its satellite towns emit light that can be seen from the tip of the peninsula, Bilbao in the Basque Country is the city with the most light pollution, according to new research led by Spanish astrophysicist Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel in collaboration with Rebeca Benayas Polo, from GEASig, for SaveStars Consulting SL. LIGHT POLLUTION IN SPAIN Emitted power by km2 (W) Source: SaveStars Consulting SL. EL PAIS The pollution has got so bad that it is not only affecting our view of the stars, it is also having a major impact on the environment excessive light directly affects our health, and the flora and fauna around us, particularly pollinating insects and bird species whose habits have been disturbed by the artificial nighttime light. Were not the only astronomers in the animal kingdom, says Sanchez, co-author of the study Ranking of the Light Pollution of Spain, which has recently been published by the European Scientific repository Zenodo. This is now a major environmental problem. The study analyzes the situation in 2,000 Spanish districts, taking into account different aspects, such as the number of street lamps per square kilometer and output per person. According to the research, Madrid emits the most light into the sky and is the worst culprit due to its sheer size. However, size appears to be irrelevant when it comes to the runners-up: Zaragoza, Seville, Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia, Malaga, Cartagena, Vitoria and Cordoba. LIGHT POLLUTION IN SPAIN Emitted power by km2 (W) Source: SaveStars Consulting SL. EL PAIS Curiously when it comes to contamination from the lights themselves, Bilbao is the worst culprit, followed by Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Barakaldo (Vizcaya), Valencia, Cadiz, Melilla, San Fernando (Cadiz), Puertollano (Ciudad Real), Parla (Madrid) and Badalona (Barcelona). Evidently, cities with smaller populations also have contaminating lighting. However, Bilbao, Valencia and Barcelona are the worst culprits in all categories under analysis. In these three cities, light pollution is exacerbated by the large size of the city, as well as the type of lighting, the number of street lights and power emitted per square kilometer. In this last category, the worst performers were actually smaller cities and towns Perafort (Tarragona), Palos de la Frontera (Huelva), Teo (A Coruna), Gozon (Asturias) and Asco (Tarragona), Color counts Sanchezs study has had to use data from 2012 as the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) a detector installed in international satellites which measures light contamination is unable to detect blue light which means it cannot read contaminating emissions from LED light bulbs, which have become very popular in Spain over the last five years. To get more accurate results, Sanchez has based his research on 2012 data with the implicit understanding that the current light pollution is far worse, despite the fact the VIIRS, which is blind to LED lighting, suggests it has got better. Light contamination as seen from Calar Alto. While LED lighting is believed to be more efficient, this has been contradicted by the financial and environmental cost as most of the light bulbs have a color temperature that wavers between white and blue and usually exceed 4,000 Kelvin degrees, meaning the pollution is worse. The European Unions Joint Research Center suggests that if LED lighting is used, the bulbs should have a color temperature less than 3,000 degrees Kelvin, while scientists recommend an even lower figure of 2,200, which means they should be amber instead of white. But despite these recommendations and the example of the Canary Islands, which uses extremely efficient and non-polluting amber bulbs, many local councils continue to opt for white LED light bulbs. The shift to LED has cost Spanish towns 600 per street lamp. Sanchez states that it would make far more sense to use sodium bulbs which cost just 12 each, are equally efficient and do not contaminate if they are fixed in such a way that the light shines downwards. However, this option is far less profitable for the suppliers. It is estimated that more than 1.6 billion of public money is spent every year on street lighting. Skylines that are just too bright Alejandro Sanchez, author of one of the first PhDs on light pollution, is also behind the Cities at Night project, an international initiative to raise awareness of the impact of light contamination using photos taken at night by the International Space Station (ISS). Photos of Earth taken by the ISS astronauts could serve to more precisely measure the impact because, unlike VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) images, they can capture LED lighting. However, the photos do not need to be taken from beyond our planet. Images taken on Earth itself are also proving useful. Amateur astronomer Joan Manuel Bullon has been working on an atlas of light pollution in Spain and a project called Lost Horizons Versus Dark Skies and some of his most recent photographs are striking, such as those taken this winter. In order to measure the quality of our view of the stars, Bullon has taken photos from different points in Spain using a camera with a special fisheye lens that offers a spherical view of the world. These photos have allowed Bullon to trace enormous arcs of light pollution on the map from numerous Spanish cities. The contamination from street lights from the big capital cities appear on the sphere like a halo, and can be captured even at a distance of 500 kilometers. English version by Heather Galloway. Vox leader Santiago Abascal on election night. Luis Sevillano The emergence of far-right parties in European parliaments has become a democratic routine, and Spain joined the trend on Sunday, when Vox earned 24 seats in Congress on the back of 2.6 million votes (10.26% of the total). Experience in other EU countries shows that the power of these groups lies not so much in their legislative or governmental clout, but rather in their ability to set the political agenda. This is the case even in France where, because of the two-round electoral system, their institutional presence is far lower than the voting percentage of the around 20% won for decades, election after election, by the Front National, now rebranded as Rassemblement National (National Rally). The far right focuses not so much on advancing its own policies as in blocking or boycotting the policies of others Julia Ebner, Institute for Strategic Dialogue In Spain, Vox, the party headed by Santiago Abascal, has amply demonstrated this ability to set the agenda. It did so during the campaign, but has in fact been doing so ever since it secured 12 seats in Andalusias regional assembly last December. That event represented the return of the far right to Spanish democratic institutions since the transitional period that followed the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. In 1979, a neo-Francoist party named Fuerza Nueva (New Force) led by Blas Pinar managed to secure one representative within a wider alliance called Union Nacional (National Unity), which also included the fascist Falange party. This seat was lost at the 1982 election. With 24 seats, its going to be hard for Vox to get a lot of legislation passed, but its impact should not be underestimated, explains Julia Ebner, a researcher at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which has monitored the far right during political campaigning in Germany, Italy, Sweden and Spain. The far right can block progress in many areas, not just immigration or the integration of immigrants into society, but also on climate change or human rights. Our analyses show that the far right focuses not so much on advancing its own policies as in blocking or boycotting the policies of others. These parties indirectly influence the positions and policies of the dominant parties Gilles Ivaldi, CNRS It was the far right that placed immigration at the center of the political debate in many EU countries, even in Germany, which needs foreign workers to shore up its economy (in December, the government backed a law to attract non-EU workers to fill 1.2 million vacant jobs) and which took in 1.3 million refugees during the great crisis of 2015. There was much talk about the rise of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) at the legislative elections of 2017, when it attracted 13.7% of the vote to become the third largest force in the Bundestag, the national parliament of Germany. Yet at the same time tens of thousands of Germans were volunteering to help the refugees, to such an extent that local authorities were unable to deal with so much solidarity. If we observe whats been happening in Europe in the last few decades, it is evident that the emergence of the radical right inside parliaments has radicalized other parties positions on issues like immigration, explains Luis Cornago, a political risk analyst at the consulting firm Teneo. In general, the parties that move further to the right are the traditional center-right parties, but there are cases like Denmark, where the social-democrats have also shifted to the right on migration issues. Other than contributing to the normalization and legitimization of this rhetoric, it is unclear whether the strategy is helping these mainstream parties stem the loss of votes, notes Cornago. For instance, at the last elections in Germanys federal state of Bavaria, the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) lost more votes to the Greens (190,000) than to the far right (160,000), perhaps because the more center-oriented voters were disappointed by the partys shift to the right. False debates Besides co-opting the agenda, the other great skill demonstrated by the European far right is introducing false problems into the public consciousness through manipulated data. Thanks to Vox, the Spanish campaign included a debate on the need to legalize weapons as a form of personal defense this, in one of the safest countries in the world, where the homicide rate is 0.7 per 100,000 people, when the global average is 5.3. In Sweden, for instance, the rate is 1.1, while in Brazil it rises to 26.7, according to World Bank figures. During the Spanish campaign, feminism was also discussed as though it were a problem; that is to say, what was questioned was not whether women have achieved the same rights as men, but the entire concept of womens struggle for equality. It was the same with gender violence, where Vox focused not so much on the violence itself as on the legislative mechanisms to fight it. Emmanuel Carrere, one of the writers who has produced the most in-depth thinking on the blurry lines between whats true and whats false, wrote in an essay that communism did not abolish private property; above all it abolished reality. This sentence could be applied to most far right parties in the EU. Triple influence The sociologist Gilles Ivaldi, of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a member of the Migration and Society Research Unit at the University of Nice, says there are three levels at which the far right plays a role in a countrys political life, even outside of parliament. They influence the political agenda and politicize issues that hadnt been touched by the traditional parties, such as immigration in France starting in the 1980s, when the Front National emerged. In second place, the far right has revolutionized the traditional governing coalition models, imposing themselves on the right-wing conservatives, as seen in Italy and in 2017 also in Austria, he says. Finally, and most importantly, these parties indirectly influence the positions and policies of the dominant parties, especially on matters like immigration, adds Ivaldi. There is a contagion effect on conservative parties that has been observed in many European countries such as France, the Netherlands or Austria. Even if it is on the fringes, the far right can still have significant influence. English version by Susana Urra. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Belneftekhim says that the matter of compensation for the losses it suffered from the delivery of low-quality Urals crude to Belarus has yet to be settled and that the country intends to demand an appropriate sum from the Russian side. "The matter of compensation isn't getting taken off the agenda. The Belarusian side will demand compensation of losses for market entities and for the state," Belneftekhim's press service told Interfax-West. Ukraine and Turkey have arranged supplies of Ukrainian 120mm Konus (Cone) anti-tank guided missiles designed by Luch Design Bureau (Kyiv) for Turkish T-84-120 and T-74-120 main battle tanks. The press service of state-owned enterprise (SOE) Spetstechnoexport reported on Monday, April 29, that the contract was initialed by Ukraine with Turkey's MKEK (Makina ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu) during the 14th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF 2019) held in Istanbul. According to the report, the terms of the agreement provide for the phased transfer of technology to the Turkish side and the organization of production of Ukrainian 120mm anti-tank guided missiles meeting NATO standards at facilities in Turkey. Initialing of the contract allowed the approval of the cost and delivery time, as well as other details of the implementation of the agreement, the SOE said. Completion of the signing of the contract is scheduled for the coming days. Also in the near future it is planned to start the first export batches of the Konus anti-tank guided missiles for the Turkish customer, the press service said. As expected, the agreement with the Turkish MKEK for the supply and production of Ukrainian anti-tank guided missiles will allow Ukraine to expand its presence in the defense markets of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and primarily in countries with T-84-120 and T-74-120 tanks in their arsenals. Ukraine from May sharply increases gas imports, loading Slovakia pipeline by 76% Ukraine on May 1, 2019 significantly boosted imports of natural gas from Europe, loading the Slovakian pipeline by 75.5% of the existing capacity compared with 22.4% of loading during April 2019. According to updated data of the Slovak operator Eustream, gas supply to Ukraine on May 1 was 32.1 million cubic meters, which is 3.4 times higher than the average daily imports by the country from Slovavkia in April (9.5 million cubic meters). The data of JSC Ukrtransgaz confirm the reservation on May 1, 2019, 32.2 million cubic meters of the Slovakia/Ukraine capacity out of the existing 42.5 million cubic meters of the capacity. On May 1, 2019, the capacities for the supply of 45.7 million cubic meters of gas to Ukraine were reserved (Slovakia 32.187 million cubic meters, Hungary 9.267 million cubic meters, and Poland 4.269 million cubic meters) of the existing 66 million cubic meters of the capacities on the western border. The average daily gas imports by Ukraine in May 2018 amounted to 36.5 million cubic meters, in May 2017 38.4 million cubic meters, and in May 2016 3.1 million cubic meters. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns a decree signed by the Russian president on expanding the categories of Ukrainian citizens who can be granted Russian citizenship through the expedited procedure, the ministry's press service has said. "The Russian president's No. 187 decree of April 29, 2019, published today, on certain categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons who have the right to apply for citizenship of the Russian Federation in a simplified manner, like all previous and possible future legal acts of the Russian Federation, is aimed at providing citizens of Ukraine with Russian citizenship in an unlawful manner; [it] was, is and will be legally void, will have no legal consequences and will not be recognized by the Ukrainian authorities," the ministry said in a statement posted on its official website on Wednesday evening. The ministry emphasizes that the Russian Federation will be required to "urgently cancel all unlawful decisions about passportization of citizens of Ukraine and eliminate their negative consequences." The Ukrainian side will continue to work actively with international partners on strengthening the consolidated sanction-based pressure on the Kremlin regime over the issue of Russian passports in Russia-occupied Donbas. "We expect our international partners to toughen the sanctions against the Kremlin regime," the ministry said. A seven-story residential building built in violation of the Ukrainian legislation in Lviv was demolished, which was a first case of demolishing the illegally built house in Ukraine, according to a posting on the official website of the Lviv City Council. "In Lviv, for the first time in Ukraine, a seven-story illegally built house was demolished. There are no precedents for demolishing an apartment house of this size, built without documents," the city council said in a statement. According to the city council, this is a house located at 259, Lychakivska Street. As of today, it has been completely demolished. "It remains only to remove construction debris. Dismantling works lasted about a month: first the roof was demolished, then the load-bearing components were destroyed, the house was further demolished in sections. The demolition was financed using funds from the executive proceedings. A contractor carried out the work," Head of the legal department of the Inspectorate of the State Architectural and Construction Supervision of Lviv Sviatoslav Kindrativ. Lviv City Mayor Adnriy Sadovy said that this precedent should be a warning to all developers on the need to comply with urban planning legislation. Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Commander Lt. General Serhiy Nayev has said Ukrainian troops have returned about 24 sq km of Russiaoccupied territory along with three villages (Khutir Vilny, Pivdenne and Shumy) to Ukrainian control since the start of JFO operations in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, a year ago, the JFO's press center has said. On the occasion of its one-year anniversary, a statement by Nayev was posted on the JFO's Facebook page. It says JFO forces have checked almost 4,577 hectares of land for explosive devices, destroying 52,655 of them, adding that 1,000 hectares used for economic purposes have been reclaimed. According to the list of achievements, 374 weapons, about 252 kg of explosives and more than 300,000 rounds of ammunition have been removed from illicit trafficking. According to the post, material assets used in an illegal way worth about UAH 274 million have been seized. "As part of my initiative, dubbed 'Dopomoha Skhid' ('Aid to the East'), medical supplies worth UAH 5.8 million have been transferred to hospitals in Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Nayev said. Ukraine's President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky has shared his thoughts on the current state of Ukrainian-Russian relations. "I reflected on Ukraine and Russia 'having much in common.' Today's reality is that after the annexation of Crimea and aggression in Donbas, there is only one thing that has left 'in common' this is the state border. Some 2,295 kilometers and 400 meters [are] 'in common.' And Russia should return control over every millimeter from the Ukrainian side. Only then we can continue looking for 'the common,'" he wrote on Facebook on Thursday. Zelensky said Russia's ban on fuel shipments to Ukraine, the opening of centers to issue Russian passports to residents of Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine and the detention of Ukrainians in prisons have not improved affairs between the two countries "one iota." "This has nothing in common with brotherly relations," he said. Zelensky also commented on the announced airing of the show Magiya ("Magic") on Russia's NTV television channel, with him appearing as the host. The program was filmed in 2011. "I want to remind you that it was participation in the TV show that made me popular in Ukraine and, eventually, helped me become the elected president of Ukraine. Broadcasting the program, which was filmed many years ago, in my opinion, is strange. I have no ambitions to make a political career in Russia," he said. Zelensky added that Russian politicians had mastered a new genre for themselves communication with him in a public space, and that pleases him. "The Internet, as we know, forgets nothing. This discussion will be noted by millions of people around the world. Therefore, I invite you to the world of openness and publicity," he said. One of the passengers of the Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv region) addressed the National Police on April 29, who reported that a video was broadcast in the airport building, in which Ukraine is depicted without Crimea, according to which investigators opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine) of the country's Criminal Code. "The police are documenting the fact of the distribution of illegal video content and interrogating the airport workers, identifying the persons who mounted and provided the promotion video for broadcasting. It was previously established that the letter with the proposal to host the video content came to the enterprise from the Ministry of Information Policy," the National Police Liaison Department of Ukraine said on Tuesday. At present, all the circumstances of the incident are being established, and urgent investigative actions are being carried out. The police are collecting evidence to declare suspicion to persons who ordered and created this video product. "A case has been opened pursuant to the article providing for criminal liability for encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine. Investigators are preparing materials for the announcement of suspicion," the message said. President-elect of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky invites representatives of large, medium and small businesses to a meeting in the near future. "Under my presidency, relations with businessmen will be transparent. No more backstage talks, night visits to the Administration [President's Office] and agreements hidden from the society. Therefore, I officially invite representatives of large, small and medium businesses to the meeting in the coming days. It's high time to come clear," wrote Zelensky on his Facebook page on Thursday. "It's time for everyone to work for the country according to transparent rules," he added. The Teachers Coordinating Council Of Iran (TCCI) says dozens of teachers have been arrested for participating in widespread protests on Thursday, May 2, across the country. Thousands of educators, celebrating National Teachers Day, had rallied on Thursday in front of the Education Department offices in at least thirteen large provinces to protest lack of government attention to their demands. TCCI, which had called for the rallies, says that the security forces detained prominent teachers' rights activists and board members of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association (ITTA), Rasoul Bodaghi and Mohammad Fallahi. Meanwhile, a teachers' rights activist told Radio Farda that several others were also detained during the protest rally in Tehran. The same source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security concerns, added that three detained female teachers were released later. According to TCCI's resolution read at the end of the Thursday rally in Tehran, Iranian teachers are deeply unhappy with the below poverty line minimal pensions paid to retired educators. In the meantime the resolution has bitterly criticized the security forces of hindering teachers attempt to launch an independent and united trade union, while keeping several teachers' rights activists, including a board member of ITTA, Esmaeil Abdi, behind bars. Mr. Abdi's wife, Monir, told Radio Farda that the security forces detained Mohammad Fallahi, almost immediately after he read the final resolution at the end of Thursday protest rally. "Banners carried by me were forcefully grabbed by the security forces, throwing me to the ground," Ms. Abdi said, adding, "When Mr. Bodaghi protested, he was immediately detained and taken away." According to Amnesty International (AI), since May 2018 the Islamic Republic security forces have detained two dozen teachers. The commander Of Irans regular army has asked his forces to be ready as though an attack on the country is imminent. IRNA, the official government news agency quoted General Abdolrahim Mousavi on May 2 as saying, All forces should prepare themselves as though an attack can occur tomorrow and continuously engage in war exercises. Iranian officials have been increasingly raising the issue of a possible military attack on Iran, as part of a plan by the U.S. and Israel to change the ruling regime in the country. Mousavi is also quoted saying that todays threats are serious and adding, Of course these threats will not begin on land, but land forces must be ready. Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned on May 1 of the enemys war posture and said that the enemy only in appearance does not have a combat posture. Meanwhile the former head of Irans state broadcasting, Mohammad Sarafraz who appears to have high-level backing in his public statements, said in an interview published May 1 that war is probable after the month of Ramadan [May5-June 4] and added The countrys leaders have understood this and are pursuing solutions. Irans former hardliner president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently had told Anadolu news agency that the U.S. is preparing for war in Asia. Trump administration officials have repeatedly said in recent weeks that they are not pursuing the military option and are not after regime change in Iran. Foreign companies can choose to receive crude oil instead of hard currencies for the goods they sell to Iran, the CEO of Iranian National Oil Company said on Wednesday, May 1. Speaking to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)-run news website, Tasnim, Masoud Karbasian asserted, "There is a possibility for foreigners, who are inclined to deal with Iran, to invest in the country's oil development sector and receive crude in return for their commercial venture," Karbasian reiterated. Iran has made attempts for years to attract investors, specially in its oil sector, but because of lack of transparency in its economy and tensions with the West, even Chinese companies have shied away. On April 22, Washington ended six months of waivers that had allowed Iran's eight biggest oil customers to import limited amounts of petroleum from the country. U.S. called upon Iranian oil buyers to stop any further purchases by May 2, or face sanctions. Retaliating, the Islamic Republic Minister of Oil, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh maintained on Wednesday, May 1, that Iran is exploring new ways of selling oil, adding, "We have agreed on new ways, but should study their process." However, according to Reuters, only two consignments of Iranian oil are currently on the way to China, arriving there between May 5 and 7, but no one else has offered to buy Iranian crude. Furthermore, according to Reuters, it is not yet clear whether the two consignments for China are destined for Iranian crude reserves there, or Beijing has really decided to continue buying oil from Tehran, despite U.S. sanctions. At the moment, Iran has about twenty million barrels of oil reserves in the northeast port of Dalian on China's shores. Meanwhile, Zangeneh dismissed Washington's decision to drive Iran's oil exports to zero as an "illusion." The oil minister said Iran has no hostility toward its Persian Gulf neighbors but two countries, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have pledged to compensate for any shortfall in supply if Iran's oil exports dropped to zero. Speaking at an oil and petrochemical exhibition in Tehran, Zangeneh also insisted that Washington cannot control the oil market by mere statements. The market conditions remain fragile right now, he said, referring to Libya, where the Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar has led a month-long assault to take the capital Tripoli from the UN-backed government, and Venezuela, where violent clashes erupted after opposition leader Juan Guaido called on the armed forces to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday. In the meantime, the Islamic Republic President Hassan Rouhani claimed, "Even if we receive less money from selling oil, we will compensate the loss from another source, while continuing to sell oil." Rouhani stopped short of elaborating on the term "another source." Iran often draws on its foreign currency reserves, which stand at around $50 billion but with U.S. sanctions in place it is hard for Tehran to access the funds. In a speech broadcast live on state television, Rouhani reiterated, Americas decision to drive Irans oil exports to zero is a wrong and mistaken decision and Iran will not let it be carried out. Moreover, Rouhani persistently said, In future months, the Americans themselves will see that we will continue our oil exports. Earlier, he had contended that Iran has access to six ways to sell its crude which Americans are totally unaware of. But Irans oil exports have steadily fallen in the past 10 months, as the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Irans oil exports have been cut by 1.7 million barrels per day. But the global oil markets are healthy, IEA stated on April 23, adding, markets are now adequately supplied, and global spare production capacity remains at comfortable levels. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Rector of Baku Higher Oil School Elmar Gasimov met with Geneva Business School Campus Director Mark Hatton. The meeting was attended by the Head of SOCAR Department of Economic Indicators and Financial Modelling Ziya Mursalov, Deputy General Manager of SOCAR Department of Workplace Norms Development Kamal Dadashov, and senior staff of BHOS. The meeting resulted in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov and Geneva Business School (GBS) Campus Director Mark Hatton, based on which BHOS, within a newly launched MBA Programme in Oil and Gas Management, will conduct entrance examinations in the specialization areas of oil and gas trading and digital management. Graduates will receive a dual diploma from the both higher educational institutions. BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov expressed his excitement about a successful conclusion of the six-month negotiation process with GBS. He underscored that the newly introduced MBA programme, to be taught in Azerbaijan for the first time, will generate an excessive interest among students, thereby uplifting the programmes reputation and maintaining its international level. He also added that, like all BHOS programmes, the new MBA fully meets international standards. GBS Campus Director Mark Hatton noted that Geneva Business School, being a top educational institution in Switzerland, operates in six cities worldwide offering the Bachelors, Masters and PhD Degrees programmes. While expressing his delight in signing the MOU during his seventh visit to Baku, Mark Hatton specifically stressed that GBS will effectively deliver the MBA programme with a Major in Oil & Gas Management, noting that it has been renewed in compliance with the latest business requirements. GBS will supply BHOS students with the latest education programmes and textbooks, and its Academic and teaching staff will provide support in quality assurance. Talking about the reputation and importance of the new MBA programme to be offered at BHOS jointly with GBS, Mark Hatton added that this partnership is expected to help students hone their soft (non-technical) skills and practically apply them in the ever-changing business environment. GBS is one of the well-recognized higher education institutions of Switzerland which offers education programmes on undergraduate, graduate and PhD levels in six different countries. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The US will continue to help resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent told reporters in Baku on May 2. The US takes its responsibility as one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group very seriously, he said. We are very pleased that foreign ministers and leaders had a series of meetings since September. And the most recent meeting was held at the ministerial level in Moscow last month. There were some welcoming confidence building measures. Confidence building measures are very important. We look forward to the opportunity when the schedule works out as one of the co-chairs to host a meeting in Washington. I do not think we have set yet precisely where the next meeting will be. We want to support the process leading to the peaceful solution of the conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva have attended the opening ceremony of the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict at the Heydar Aliyev Center. The head of state made a speech at the opening ceremony. Dear ladies and gentlemen, Dear guests, First of all I would like to great all the participants of the forum and express my gratitude to our guests for being with us today. We have guests from more than 100 countries, more than 500 foreign representatives participate in the forum. This shows that the forum in a relatively short period of time transformed into a global platform to address one of the most important issues of today's agenda, issues of cultural dialogue. I remember eight years ago, when we held the first forum probably we did not even imagine that the forum will get such a broad international support. Our initiative to organize world forum on intercultural dialogue in 2011, was based on our history, our geography, and our understanding that in order to make world safer we need to be very active on the issues of promotion dialogue between civilizations, between cultures, between representatives of different religions and ethnic groups. And broad international support which was shown to the forum encourages us. Today among organizers of the forum we have leading organizations of the world, and our joint efforts, joint activity contributes to the cause of intercultural dialogue. Azerbaijan is a place where, for centuries, representatives of different religions, ethnic groups have lived, created, communicated. For centuries Azerbaijan has been the land of religious tolerance, peaceful coexistence of representatives of different nationalities. Our history, our geography shows that only in the spirit of partnership, in the spirit of mutual respect we can achieve success. Today Azerbaijan's rapid development is also based on this cultural heritage, also is driven by the solidarity which all the representatives of our society demonstrate. We are proud of our history, we are proud of our historical monuments which also demonstrate that for centuries representatives of different religions have lived and created in Azerbaijan. We are proud of our ancient history. One of the oldest mosques in the world is situated in the ancient city of Shamakhi. One of the oldest churches in the Caucasus, the church of Caucasian Albania, is situated in our ancient city of Shaki. Our history is the history of cultural diversity and today based on that historical heritage Azerbaijan demonstrates to the world that intercultural dialogue is the only way how to bring countries closer, how to establish more bridges between representatives of different religions and civilizations. Multiculturalism for us is the way how we live. This is a relatively new word but we have lived in this atmosphere for centuries. And the fact that 2016 was declared the year of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan demonstrates that we want to attract attention of the world to this important idea. 2017 was announced the year of Islamic Solidarity. That was also a symbolic step, demonstrating our historical heritage, our roots, and our openness to the world. And I think these tendencies, if they prevail, prevail globally will make our world safer, more predictable, and more peaceful. Multiculturalism for us also is one of the important elements of our policy and the international center of multiculturalism was created in Azerbaijan, and we are promoting these values, we are demonstrating that multiculturalism has a great future. We all know that there are different views regarding this issue. But I think our forum and numerous international events organized in Azerbaijan and different parts of the world with this agenda clearly shows that we are all trying to promote the values of multiculturalism. World forum on international dialogue, is one of the important international events globally, and of course for our country, but at the same time Azerbaijan during the last years hosted numerous international events, such as World Religious Leaders' Forum, traditional Baku Humanitarian Forum, seven times we organized Baku Global Forum, which is also a very important platform to address the issues of political development and cultural dialogue. That forum is organized by Nizami Ganjavi International Center and many other important international events. Thus, we are trying to attract attention of the world community to these important issues. I am sure that the discussions at the forum today and tomorrow will not only reveal the problems and allow the speakers to express their views but will also contribute to strengthening the partnership, solidarity, cooperation and as a result will build more bridges between cultures. Last year, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of Baku Process. This is also an initiative that we are proud of. I remember when we launched this initiative in 2008, it immediately got very positive international approach and attention. That was for the first time, when Azerbaijan brought together ministers of cultures of member states of the Council of Europe, and member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and more than hundred countries got together in Baku, in order to discuss the prospects for cooperation. We organized another session with participation of above mentioned ministers in 2009. And this initiative was named Baku process, and today Baku process is one of the most important instruments of dialogue between Europe and the Muslim World. Azerbaijan as one of the few countries which is the member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and European institutions is playing its natural and I am sure, positive role in establishment of contacts in providing opportunities for dialogue-dialogue what we need. We need dialogue in issues related to culture, in issues related to inter-religious relations. We need dialogue on all the issues. Political agenda, on economic cooperation, on issues related to security, and the name of the forum is dialogue. So, that is what we present to the world and that's what gets very broad international support. So, Baku process today is an initiative which is supported by United Nations, by other leading international organizations and of course, I am sure that Baku process has a great future. The forums like this attracts attention of international community to the issues of cultural dialogue. It elaborates new ideas, new approaches and for those, who make decisions in different countries and international organizations, I think this is a very good and positive platform to make right decisions. Azerbaijan in this respect, inside the country and outside, conducts the policy which is based on mutual understanding, on cooperation, we are building bridges. We are situated between Europe and Asia, and our geography of course, influenced our history, and is influencing our today's development. Today Azerbaijan as a relatively new independent country plays an important role in building bridges between Europe and Asia. Political, economic, cultural and bridges from practical point of view, connectivity, transportation. Last year we celebrated the 27th anniversary of our independence and during this period of time Azerbaijan transformed into a modern, developing country with modern infrastructure and with a very clear vision for the future. One of the main problems we are facing for many years is the Armenian occupation. For more than 25 years Armenia continues to occupy our historical land Nagorno-Karabakh, and seven other districts of Azerbaijan. This is brutal violation of international law. Our people were subject of ethnic cleansing, more than one million refugees became homeless as a result of Armenian aggression and occupation. The OSCE twice sent a fact-finding mission to occupied territories and their report clearly show that all our historical heritage, all our historical religious monuments are destroyed. United Nations Security Council adopted 4 resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories and these resolutions remain on paper. So this is one of the indicators that sometimes resolutions of the Security Council are not implemented for so many years and there is no mechanism of implementation or if there is a mechanism it is not applied and thus Azerbaijani lands are still under occupation. Numerous international organizations like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Non-Alligned Movement, OSCE, Council of Europe and other adopted similar decisions and resolutions with respect to territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by the whole world and must be restored and the conflict must be resolved based on international law norms, relative UN Security Council resolutions, the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Despite this huge problem and humanitarian catastrophe, Azerbaijan managed to transform into a modern country with very active foreign policy with economic policy which allowed us to improve largely the living standards of our people. On foreign policy track Azerbaijan is a reliable partner to many countries. We area active member of Islamic Cooperation Organization, we have very close ties with European Union and with nine members of EU Azerbaijan adopted documents on strategic partnership. As I said Baku Process is our contribution to establishing bridges between Europe and the Muslim world. In other words, our foreign policy agenda is based on cooperation, on strengthening partnership and on mutual benefits. And our foreign policy allows us to implement very important international energy transportation projects because without good cooperation, with partners, with different countries it is not possible to implement these projects. Our economic development during the last period of time was also supported by our energy projects. And together with our neighbors and with our partners we managed to connect the Caspian Sea with Black Sea, Caspian Sea with Mediterranean Sea by diversified network of pipelines thus providing energy security for us, for our neighbors and for many countries in the world. And today when we are actively working on the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor this is a new scale of the project. This project already makes it possible for seven countries to get together and to take benefit and advantage of this. Our economic development during the last 15 years was the fastest in the world. We implement very important reforms which allow us to improve largely the business climate in our country, to attract investments. And according to the World Banks latest assessment Azerbaijan is number 25 with respect to Doing Business Programme of the World Bank and business climate is very friendly to foreign investments. We are working now on the strategy of reducing our foreign debt which is low-it is about 19 percent of GDP. And at the same time, we are working on issues related to diversification of our economy and eradication of unemployment and poverty. That was one of the main topic on our agenda because our economic development is transformed into the increase in living standards of our people. Fifteen years ago, around 50 percent of our population live below the poverty line, now this figure went down to about 5 to 6 percent. And poverty, unemployment, social inequality, illiteracy-they are one of the sources of radicalism, extremism. Azerbaijan is a very active partner in the fight against international terrorism, radicalism, extremism. At the same time, we promote to the world the values of Islamic civilizations, we organize numerous exhibitions, presentations, cultural events in different parts of the world to demonstrate our culture and to demonstrate the culture of our partners in other Muslim countries. Talking about the connectivity, I would like to mention the projects which Azerbaijan participates in, particularly the transportation projects. We look at these projects not only from the point of view of transportation connectivity, these projects actually change the atmosphere in the region. They create the broad format for international cooperation. Azerbaijan is situated on the ancient Silk Road and modern infrastructure which we created recently has already transformed Azerbaijan into an important transit country. And without close cooperation with our immediate neighbors and other partners it is not possible to become a transit country. You need neighbors, you need partners. Therefore, investments in transportation automatically lead to a more predictable situation in the region where the countries share the benefit. Our policy is to achieve our goals, to make country stronger through cooperation, through mutual understating and through shared benefits. In our policy related to energy security we are always trying to find a proper balance between producers, transit countries, and consumers. Because there should be a win-win situation. Otherwise it will not work. And we always must be ready to extend support to our partners when they need it and of course if we need this support we also expect the same from our partners. Azerbaijan is also an active participant of the North-South transportation network. Thus, if you look at the map you will see that from north to south, from east to west the transportation lines cross our country. But in order to do that we had to work hard. Geography is not enough, geography is only a prerequisite, a basic element but we invested largely in transportation infrastructure, sea ports, railroads, airports, highways so that today Azerbaijan from geographical point of view and point of view of transportation hub can provide a lot of opportunities for our partners. Dear friends, todays Forum is a remarkable event here in Azerbaijan. I once again like to express gratitude to all our partners, partner organizations, intellectuals, politicians, public figures, representatives of NGOs, representatives of media, scientists who participate at the Forum. I am sure that the discussions will be very productive and as a result of discussions the recommendations will be provided. And I am sure that those who make decisions about the future of their countries or regional development will take into account our recommendations and the world will be more stable, secure and safe. Thank you very much. The event then featured the screening of a video highlighting the history of civilizations, ongoing conflicts and acts of terrorism across the world, and the atmosphere of tolerance in Azerbaijan. Other speakers at the event included High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO Nada Al-Nashif, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, and Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri. The forum is organized by the Azerbaijani government in partnership with UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). High-ranking officials from more than 100 countries and 30 international organizations attend the event. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict" began its work in Baku on May 2, Trend reports. The forum, which will be held May 2-3 in Baku, will host more than 20 events with the participation of high-ranking officials from over 105 countries and more than 35 international organizations. The event will be broadcast by the UN on its official website. The event is organized by the Government of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Culture, and the partners are UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and ISESCO. The "Baku Process", implemented since 2008 at the initiative of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, has been able to create a positive platform for 10 years to exchange views between different people and groups living on different continents and belonging to different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic groups, based on sincerity, mutual understanding and mutual respect. The forum will continue in three directions. Thus, promoting intercultural dialogue and human dignity within the framework of the forum, the second high-level meeting of international organizations and ministers will be held in order to prepare a common roadmap for organizations representing the public, private and other sectors, for creating an inclusive and sustainable society, to form partnerships between political, economic, financial, military, humanitarian and social organizations. At the same time, during the two days of the forum, plenary and intermediate sessions will be held on the topics "Managing diversity: multi-level and multi - sectoral collaboration", "Global Citizenship Education: Nurturing a Culture of Peace", "The Role of Great Silk Road in building dialogue among Turkic speaking countries", "Multilateralism and diplomacy for peace", etc. On the days of the event, exhibitions, music programs will be organized for guests. The forum is attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Gambia Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanovic, Minister of Culture of Mali Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture of Algeria Meriem Merdaci, Head of Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Zhamankulov, Minister of Information and Youth Affairs of Kuwait Mohammad Aljabri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro Mevludin Nuhodzic and Minister of Education of Myanmar Myo Thein Gyi. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Saudi Arabias position in matters interesting to fraternal Azerbaijan remains unchanged, as stated in the message of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the embassy. Information has been recently circulating in some social networks and media that allegedly the Saudi ambassador to the US said that Saudi Arabia supported a draft resolution recognizing the so-called "Armenian Genocide" in the US Congress, as stated in the message. "The information spread is not true, and the ambassador of Saudi Arabia did not meet with any members of Congress, and did not comment on this issue," the message reads. It was also stated in the message that, by spreading false information about the Kingdom and its position, these sites and newspapers are trying to pit Muslim countries against each other, to cause split and sow seeds of discord between them. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: On the sidelines of the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Trend reports referring the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan . The Ghanaian minister expressed satisfaction for being again in Azerbaijan, and especially noted the high level organization of the event. The ministers exchanged their views over the development of relations between the two countries. The sides discussed the educational opportunities in Azerbaijan for Ghanaian students in order to enhance the people-to-people contacts. At the meeting the sides discussed cooperation with African Union as well. Furthermore, during the meeting other issues of mutual interest were discussed. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Azerbaijani MPs, OSCE PA Vice President Azay Guliyev and Deputy Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE PA Tahir Mirkishili will attend a seminar in Leinsweiler municipality (Germany) jointly organized by the Bundestag and the OSCE PA, Trend reports on May 2. The MPs will leave for Germany on May 3. At the seminar, the participants will exchange views on the role of the OSCE activities on conflict resolution in the OSCE region including ongoing conflicts in Eurasia and the impact of transport, gas and oil projects on interstate relations and discuss other issues. Azay Guliyev will chair the third session dedicated to mutual confidence building measures in Eurasia. In addition, the OSCE PA Vice President will deliver a report on the topic Transport corridors in the Caucasus and Central Asia, including the New Silk Road project at the fifth session. As part of the visit, Guliyev will meet with MPs and the leadership of the German parliament. The visit will end on May 8. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: Executive Director of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Manuel Butler Halter has expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani government for organizing the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue at high level, Trend reports on May 2. Halter made the remarks in Baku during the meeting within the forum dedicated to Building Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals. He expressed satisfaction with his visit to the capital of Azerbaijan. Baku is a fantastic city, he said. I am very happy to be here. The Baku Forum is an excellent platform for discussing topical issues. The Azerbaijani forum has been organized at the high level, and very important issues are on the agenda. The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict" kicked off in Baku on May 2. The forum, which is being held on May 2-3 in Baku, hosts more than 20 events with the participation of high-ranking officials from over 105 countries and more than 35 international organizations. The event is being broadcast by the UN on its official website. The event has been organized by the Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Culture, and the partners are UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and ISESCO. During the event, exhibitions and music programs will be organized for guests. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gambia Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanovic, Minister of Culture of Mali Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture of Algeria Meriem Merdaci, Head of Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Zhamankulov, Minister of Information and Youth Affairs of Kuwait Mohammad Aljabri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro Mevludin Nuhodzic and Minister of Education of Myanmar Myo Thein Gyi are participating in the forum. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen. Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen hailed the importance of the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, and noted that the Baku Process has already become an institutionalized mechanism. Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen said that apart from being a transportation hub, Azerbaijan has also turned into a hub of dialogue and cooperation. He described the country as a symbol of peaceful coexistence. President Ilham Aliyev thanked the OIC Secretary General for attending the Forum, and emphasized the significance of his remarks at the opening ceremony of the event. The head of state described the Baku Process as an important international platform. The President noted that launched more than 10 years ago, the process is today recognized as one of the most effective mechanisms in building intercultural relations and inter-religious cooperation around the world. The importance of unity and solidarity in the Islamic world was underlined, and the work done by Azerbaijan in this regard was hailed at the meeting. The sides also discussed the issues on the agenda of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani presidential press-service. President Aliyev thanked High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos for participating in the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue and for his warm words about Azerbaijan. The president noted that Azerbaijan closely cooperates with the UN Alliance of Civilizations. Miguel Angel Moratinos highlighted his first meeting - in his capacity as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office - with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev back in 2007, adding that he still remembers the words the president said during the conversation. Expressing gratitude for the organization of the Forum, Miguel Angel Moratinos pointed out that Baku is known as the world`s center of dialogue. He underlined that the Baku Process has become an important platform, describing it as a timely initiative. He emphasized the importance of the expansion of geography of this process and promotion of Azerbaijan`s multicultural traditions. Azerbaijan`s support for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations was hailed at the meeting. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. Saying that Azerbaijan is a worthy member of the Council of Europe, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni described the Baku Process as a successful platform for the organization too. Noting that this process has expanded into a major movement since 2008, she underlined that the intercultural dialogue is an important process that can change peoples` lives. The Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe pointed out that since its launch, the Baku Process has been an innovation and a wise and courageous step in the diplomatic relations, and thanked President Ilham Aliyev for supporting the continuation of this process. President Ilham Aliyev commended Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni for what she said about Azerbaijan at the opening ceremony of the Forum. The head of state expressed confidence that significant recommendations will be put forward at the Forum, adding that such an important international event makes a vital contribution to the building of bridges and dialogue in the field of culture. Underling that Azerbaijan is a member of both the Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, President Ilham Aliyev said that the country promotes intercultural and inter-civilizational dialogue through the Baku Process. Stressing the necessity of expanding geography of the Baku Process under the current conditions, the head of state noted that along with the promotion of inter-civilizational dialogue, Azerbaijan also supports intra-civilizational dialogue. They also exchanged views on a number of issues on the Council of Europe`s agenda. Details added (first version posted on 10:37) Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva have attended the opening ceremony of the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict at the Heydar Aliyev Center. The head of state made a speech at the opening ceremony. Dear ladies and gentlemen, Dear guests, First of all I would like to great all the participants of the forum and express my gratitude to our guests for being with us today. We have guests from more than 100 countries, more than 500 foreign representatives participate in the forum. This shows that the forum in a relatively short period of time transformed into a global platform to address one of the most important issues of today's agenda, issues of cultural dialogue. I remember eight years ago, when we held the first forum probably we did not even imagine that the forum will get such a broad international support. Our initiative to organize world forum on intercultural dialogue in 2011, was based on our history, our geography, and our understanding that in order to make world safer we need to be very active on the issues of promotion dialogue between civilizations, between cultures, between representatives of different religions and ethnic groups. And broad international support which was shown to the forum encourages us. Today among organizers of the forum we have leading organizations of the world, and our joint efforts, joint activity contributes to the cause of intercultural dialogue. Azerbaijan is a place where, for centuries, representatives of different religions, ethnic groups have lived, created, communicated. For centuries Azerbaijan has been the land of religious tolerance, peaceful coexistence of representatives of different nationalities. Our history, our geography shows that only in the spirit of partnership, in the spirit of mutual respect we can achieve success. Today Azerbaijan's rapid development is also based on this cultural heritage, also is driven by the solidarity which all the representatives of our society demonstrate. We are proud of our history, we are proud of our historical monuments which also demonstrate that for centuries representatives of different religions have lived and created in Azerbaijan. We are proud of our ancient history. One of the oldest mosques in the world is situated in the ancient city of Shamakhi. One of the oldest churches in the Caucasus, the church of Caucasian Albania, is situated in our ancient city of Shaki. Our history is the history of cultural diversity and today based on that historical heritage Azerbaijan demonstrates to the world that intercultural dialogue is the only way how to bring countries closer, how to establish more bridges between representatives of different religions and civilizations. Multiculturalism for us is the way how we live. This is a relatively new word but we have lived in this atmosphere for centuries. And the fact that 2016 was declared the year of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan demonstrates that we want to attract attention of the world to this important idea. 2017 was announced the year of Islamic Solidarity. That was also a symbolic step, demonstrating our historical heritage, our roots, and our openness to the world. And I think these tendencies, if they prevail, prevail globally will make our world safer, more predictable, and more peaceful. Multiculturalism for us also is one of the important elements of our policy and the international center of multiculturalism was created in Azerbaijan, and we are promoting these values, we are demonstrating that multiculturalism has a great future. We all know that there are different views regarding this issue. But I think our forum and numerous international events organized in Azerbaijan and different parts of the world with this agenda clearly shows that we are all trying to promote the values of multiculturalism. World forum on international dialogue, is one of the important international events globally, and of course for our country, but at the same time Azerbaijan during the last years hosted numerous international events, such as World Religious Leaders' Forum, traditional Baku Humanitarian Forum, seven times we organized Baku Global Forum, which is also a very important platform to address the issues of political development and cultural dialogue. That forum is organized by Nizami Ganjavi International Center and many other important international events. Thus, we are trying to attract attention of the world community to these important issues. I am sure that the discussions at the forum today and tomorrow will not only reveal the problems and allow the speakers to express their views but will also contribute to strengthening the partnership, solidarity, cooperation and as a result will build more bridges between cultures. Last year, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of Baku Process. This is also an initiative that we are proud of. I remember when we launched this initiative in 2008, it immediately got very positive international approach and attention. That was for the first time, when Azerbaijan brought together ministers of cultures of member states of the Council of Europe, and member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and more than hundred countries got together in Baku, in order to discuss the prospects for cooperation. We organized another session with participation of above mentioned ministers in 2009. And this initiative was named Baku process, and today Baku process is one of the most important instruments of dialogue between Europe and the Muslim World. Azerbaijan as one of the few countries which is the member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and European institutions is playing its natural and I am sure, positive role in establishment of contacts in providing opportunities for dialogue-dialogue what we need. We need dialogue in issues related to culture, in issues related to inter-religious relations. We need dialogue on all the issues. Political agenda, on economic cooperation, on issues related to security, and the name of the forum is dialogue. So, that is what we present to the world and that's what gets very broad international support. So, Baku process today is an initiative which is supported by United Nations, by other leading international organizations and of course, I am sure that Baku process has a great future. The forums like this attracts attention of international community to the issues of cultural dialogue. It elaborates new ideas, new approaches and for those, who make decisions in different countries and international organizations, I think this is a very good and positive platform to make right decisions. Azerbaijan in this respect, inside the country and outside, conducts the policy which is based on mutual understanding, on cooperation, we are building bridges. We are situated between Europe and Asia, and our geography of course, influenced our history, and is influencing our today's development. Today Azerbaijan as a relatively new independent country plays an important role in building bridges between Europe and Asia. Political, economic, cultural and bridges from practical point of view, connectivity, transportation. Last year we celebrated the 27th anniversary of our independence and during this period of time Azerbaijan transformed into a modern, developing country with modern infrastructure and with a very clear vision for the future. One of the main problems we are facing for many years is the Armenian occupation. For more than 25 years Armenia continues to occupy our historical land Nagorno-Karabakh, and seven other districts of Azerbaijan. This is brutal violation of international law. Our people were subject of ethnic cleansing, more than one million refugees became homeless as a result of Armenian aggression and occupation. The OSCE twice sent a fact-finding mission to occupied territories and their report clearly show that all our historical heritage, all our historical religious monuments are destroyed. United Nations Security Council adopted 4 resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories and these resolutions remain on paper. So this is one of the indicators that sometimes resolutions of the Security Council are not implemented for so many years and there is no mechanism of implementation or if there is a mechanism it is not applied and thus Azerbaijani lands are still under occupation. Numerous international organizations like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Non-Alligned Movement, OSCE, Council of Europe and other adopted similar decisions and resolutions with respect to territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by the whole world and must be restored and the conflict must be resolved based on international law norms, relative UN Security Council resolutions, the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Despite this huge problem and humanitarian catastrophe, Azerbaijan managed to transform into a modern country with very active foreign policy with economic policy which allowed us to improve largely the living standards of our people. On foreign policy track Azerbaijan is a reliable partner to many countries. We area active member of Islamic Cooperation Organization, we have very close ties with European Union and with nine members of EU Azerbaijan adopted documents on strategic partnership. As I said Baku Process is our contribution to establishing bridges between Europe and the Muslim world. In other words, our foreign policy agenda is based on cooperation, on strengthening partnership and on mutual benefits. And our foreign policy allows us to implement very important international energy transportation projects because without good cooperation, with partners, with different countries it is not possible to implement these projects. Our economic development during the last period of time was also supported by our energy projects. And together with our neighbors and with our partners we managed to connect the Caspian Sea with Black Sea, Caspian Sea with Mediterranean Sea by diversified network of pipelines thus providing energy security for us, for our neighbors and for many countries in the world. And today when we are actively working on the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor this is a new scale of the project. This project already makes it possible for seven countries to get together and to take benefit and advantage of this. Our economic development during the last 15 years was the fastest in the world. We implement very important reforms which allow us to improve largely the business climate in our country, to attract investments. And according to the World Banks latest assessment Azerbaijan is number 25 with respect to Doing Business Programme of the World Bank and business climate is very friendly to foreign investments. We are working now on the strategy of reducing our foreign debt which is low-it is about 19 percent of GDP. And at the same time, we are working on issues related to diversification of our economy and eradication of unemployment and poverty. That was one of the main topic on our agenda because our economic development is transformed into the increase in living standards of our people. Fifteen years ago, around 50 percent of our population live below the poverty line, now this figure went down to about 5 to 6 percent. And poverty, unemployment, social inequality, illiteracy-they are one of the sources of radicalism, extremism. Azerbaijan is a very active partner in the fight against international terrorism, radicalism, extremism. At the same time, we promote to the world the values of Islamic civilizations, we organize numerous exhibitions, presentations, cultural events in different parts of the world to demonstrate our culture and to demonstrate the culture of our partners in other Muslim countries. Talking about the connectivity, I would like to mention the projects which Azerbaijan participates in, particularly the transportation projects. We look at these projects not only from the point of view of transportation connectivity, these projects actually change the atmosphere in the region. They create the broad format for international cooperation. Azerbaijan is situated on the ancient Silk Road and modern infrastructure which we created recently has already transformed Azerbaijan into an important transit country. And without close cooperation with our immediate neighbors and other partners it is not possible to become a transit country. You need neighbors, you need partners. Therefore, investments in transportation automatically lead to a more predictable situation in the region where the countries share the benefit. Our policy is to achieve our goals, to make country stronger through cooperation, through mutual understating and through shared benefits. In our policy related to energy security we are always trying to find a proper balance between producers, transit countries, and consumers. Because there should be a win-win situation. Otherwise it will not work. And we always must be ready to extend support to our partners when they need it and of course if we need this support we also expect the same from our partners. Azerbaijan is also an active participant of the North-South transportation network. Thus, if you look at the map you will see that from north to south, from east to west the transportation lines cross our country. But in order to do that we had to work hard. Geography is not enough, geography is only a prerequisite, a basic element but we invested largely in transportation infrastructure, sea ports, railroads, airports, highways so that today Azerbaijan from geographical point of view and point of view of transportation hub can provide a lot of opportunities for our partners. Dear friends, todays Forum is a remarkable event here in Azerbaijan. I once again like to express gratitude to all our partners, partner organizations, intellectuals, politicians, public figures, representatives of NGOs, representatives of media, scientists who participate at the Forum. I am sure that the discussions will be very productive and as a result of discussions the recommendations will be provided. And I am sure that those who make decisions about the future of their countries or regional development will take into account our recommendations and the world will be more stable, secure and safe. Thank you very much. The event then featured the screening of a video highlighting the history of civilizations, ongoing conflicts and acts of terrorism across the world, and the atmosphere of tolerance in Azerbaijan. Other speakers at the event included High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO Nada Al-Nashif, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, and Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri. The forum is organized by the Azerbaijani government in partnership with UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). High-ranking officials from more than 100 countries and 30 international organizations attend the event. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen on the sidelines of the 5th World Forum of Intercultural Dialogue, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. OIC Secretary General Dr. Yousef Bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen noted with satisfaction his participation at the Forum. He emphasized that the Forum is an important platform contributing to ensuring peace, security and prosperity worldwide. Mammadyarov referring to the statement of the Secretary General at the opening session of the Forum expressed his gratitude to Dr. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen for sharing the OICs vision on intercultural dialogue, and the ways to address the current threats and challenges, including islamophobia. The sides had a broad exchange over the OIC-Azerbaijan relations and further development of cooperation. The preparatory work of the upcoming OIC Summit meeting was also discussed. The views on other issues of mutual interest were also exchanged at the meeting. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: There are no issues between US and Azerbaijan in terms of airspace, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent told reporters in Baku May 2, Trend reports. I am not actually aware that there is any Azerbaijani-NATO issue, he said. When it comes to overflights, I think there is a series of bilateral arrangements. For instance, the US and Azerbaijan have an arrangement. I believe what you may have heard about are some issues between Azerbaijan and Germany. To my knowledge, there are no NATO-Azerbaijan issues and I can assure you that there are no issues between US and Azerbaijan in terms of airspace. Earlier, spokesperson for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said that the information presented by some media outlets these days on "Azerbaijan closes the corridor through its territory for NATO Member States" is not correct. In order to clarify the situation, first of all we would like to note that, in terms of the corridor, Azerbaijan does not give anyone, including NATO, any part of its territory. Here, we are talking about providing the members of the "Resolute Support" Mission, conducted by NATO in Afghanistan and where Azerbaijan also participates, with the opportunity to use the territory of the country, including its land, air and water spaces, for the proper transportation of goods within the framework of this mission. Such an experience has existed since 2001. In order to provide these opportunities, requests for obtaining relevant flight permits from NATO Member States are considered on a bilateral basis. These appeals are considered by the Azerbaijani side based on appropriate rules and procedures, as well as the founding principles of partnership, including mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other, and co-operation, she said. Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: Azerbaijans role in strengthening intercultural dialogue is invaluable, said High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos. He was speaking at the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, Trend reports on May 2. He urged all members of the Alliance of Civilizations to make maximum efforts in strengthening intercultural dialogue. As part of the Baku Process, the Alliance of Civilizations can deal in a broader context with the problems of youth and women, as well as with socio-economic issues, he said. The Alliance of Civilizations is engaged in spreading the principles of tolerance and mutual respect, Miguel Angel Moratinos added. Conflicts and crises in todays world are everywhere, he said, noting that as part of the Baku Process, the UN urges all its members to act as cultural mediators. He stressed the effectiveness of the Baku Process in this matter. The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict" kicked off in Baku on May 2. The forum, which is being held on May 2-3 in Baku, hosts more than 20 events with the participation of high-ranking officials from over 105 countries and more than 35 international organizations. The event is being broadcast by the UN on its official website. The event has been organized by the Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Culture, and the partners are UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and ISESCO. During the event, exhibitions and music programs will be organized for guests. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gambia Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanovic, Minister of Culture of Mali Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture of Algeria Meriem Merdaci, Head of Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Zhamankulov, Minister of Information and Youth Affairs of Kuwait Mohammad Aljabri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro Mevludin Nuhodzic and Minister of Education of Myanmar Myo Thein Gyi are participating in the forum. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the delegation headed by the Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. Noting with satisfaction his participation at the V World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour emphasized that the Forum is dedicated to the very important topic and he thanked Azerbaijan for organizing the event on the high level. Dr. Hadi Soleimanpour informed the Azerbaijani side about the reforms and future projects to be implemented within the Economic Cooperation Organization. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov emphasized the support of Azerbaijan to the regional economic projects implemented in the ECO region. Giving a brief information about the regional projects initiated by Azerbaijan the Minister talked about the possibilities that ECO member states might benefit from these projects. The sides exchanged views on cooperation in trade, information and communication technologies, transport, logistics, connectivity and other spheres within the Economic Cooperation Organization. At the meeting the sides also exchanged their views on other issues of mutual interest. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Nar continues to implement its corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects to support people with disabilities and help them integrate to the society. The mobile operator launches the next "Training School" project for the hearing-impaired people to help them acquire various specialties and increase their employment possibilities. Under the project, which will be implemented jointly with the "Support to Deaf" Public Union, three groups of citizens will be trained in three-month vocational courses. The participants will be able to acquire such specialties as cooks, candy makers, engine mechanics and etc. The project will be carried out by experienced professionals. Note that the Training school project, organized by Nar aims to support people with hearing impairments in gaining new skills and integrating to the society. Aziz Akhundov, head of the Public Relations Department of Nar, said that the mobile operator has a long history of implementing successful projects aimed at integration of persons with disabilities into society: "For over three years now, by means of such trainings for hearing-impaired people, we help them acquire various professions and job skills. The goal is to provide moral support to persons with disabilities, and help them integrate into society. The project will initially cover hearing impaired people living in the capital. In the future we plan to conduct vocational training for hearing-impaired people from all regions. Chairman of the Support to Deaf public union Kamran Abasov stressed the importance of solving the existing problems related to integration of people with hearing and speech disabilities to the society: Our main mission is to return these people to normal life, and help them in solving social and economic, legal, administrative and law related problems. Learning a profession helps persons with hearing disabilities by making their life easier in terms of funds and state of mind. The Training School project will support the persons with hearing impairments to find jobs after they finish the education. Visit nar.az for more information about corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy of Nar. Azerfon LLC (Nar brand) has started its operations on March 21, 2007, and within a short period of time became one of the leading companies of the telecommunications and mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan. The Nar brand name was selected as the symbol that resembles the cohesion of the rich cultural and historical heritage of Azerbaijan with the modern life. Being the first operator in the country to introduce the 3G technology, Nar provides the customers with a wide 4G network coverage. With a large network of over 7400 base stations, covering 97% of the countrys territory, Nar provides more than 2.2 million subscribers with the high quality services. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Investments into Kazakhstan's fixed capital in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to 2.1 trillion tenge (annual increase by 11.1 percent), which is a record inflow for the history of Kazakhstan, Trend reports citing ranking.kz An important part of the investment activity is the growing amount of foreign investments. In 1Q2019, the volume of foreign investments into fixed capital totaled 770.5 billion tenge (601.6 billion tenge in 2018), which accounts for 36.2 percent of the investments portfolio. Nursultan Nazarbayev, first president of Kazakhstan, has set a target of steady economy growth, which requires the volume of investments into fixed capital to reach 30 percent of GDP, with the main source to be foreign investors, the news report says. In 2018, the investments into fixed capital totaled 18.9 percent of GDP, while the gross flow of foreign direct investments totaled $24.3 billion with an annual increase of 15.8 percent. The new government formed on February 25,2019, is working to increase the effectiveness of the foreign investments attraction into national economy, reads the news report. Main events to help develop Kazakhstans investment image in the months since the formation of the new government include the conversion of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) into regional investment hub, creation of the coordinating council and transfer of KazakhInvest under the management of the AIFC. Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Askar Mamin is appointed as investment ombudsman for coordination and successful cooperation with investors as well as for addressing current problems. AIFC is set up as a unified center for coordination is set to attract foreign investments and promote Kazakhstans investment image. From now on, all investments will go through AIFC to be then distributed among key market players. This will help to maximize the effect of the attracted investments to obtain the targets set by Nursultan Nazarbayev, say the news report. "It is important that no additional funding is needed to create investment hub. In fact, these changes will allow budget expenditures to be optimized in the course of coordinating cooperation between various organizations," said Kairat Kelimbetov, the Governor of Astana International Financial Center. In April 2019, eight memorandums and agreements were signed at the meeting between President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of South Korea Moon Jae-in. 'Korea is among main investors in Kazakhstan. In 2018, the total volume of South Korean investments totaled $478.9 million," the report said. Tehran, Iran, May 2 Trend: The first vice president of Iran Eshaq Jahangiri has indicated that Kermanshah Province is one of the focal points in the Iran-Iraq economic ties. "We seek to develop ties with Iraq and create proper conditions for Iran's exports to Iraq, Kermashah province can play a leading role in these exports," he said, Trend reports citing IRNA. The official insisted on developing the Iran-Iraq ties, specially in the economic sector. "Borders are an opportunity and advantage to develop the province," said Jahangiri. Referring to the reopening of the Khosravi border he said that Iran would like to reopen the border and there is no problem from its side. "I have discussed it with former and current Iraqi presidents," he said. Iran's VP went on to speak of security of Iranian pilgrims, saying it is of major concern of the Iraqi side. Kermanshah Province has 371 kilometers joint border with Iraq that includes six official boarder terminals and markets that transfers Iran's non-oil exports to Iraq. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: After the development of a special mechanism for trade and financial operations between Iran and the EU, it will be implemented in coordination with Iranian and European banks, CEO of the special Iranian joint stock company for trade and financing between Iran and Europe (SATMA) Ali Asghar Noori said, Trend reports referring to the website of the Central Bank of Iran. According to Noori, following joint meetings of officials from European countries and INSTEX, an initial financial transit is supposed to be carried out via coordination of both parties. In his words, the Iranian side is ready for the mechanism to be launched. He also stressed the importance of speeding up the implementation of the financial mechanism. "Coordination meetings have been held with Iranian banks to this end, and several meetings will be held next week to introduce the mechanism and its capabilities to Iranian importers and exporters," Ali Asghar Noori said. The Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks continue taking steps to launch of this mechanism in the nearest future. The US announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018. Three European signatories of the agreement including France, Germany and the UK (shortened as E3) officially announced the creation of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), a special purpose vehicle, to allow them bypass US sanctions in the trade with Iran. INSTEX facilitates non-dollar trade with Iran, allowing European companies to trade with the Islamic Republic without being hit by the sanctions. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: AzGranata LLC, Azerbaijani producer of juices and alcoholic beverages, plans to supply its products to South Africa, the companys Deputy Director Vugar Mikayilov said, Trend reports. The supply of products may start approximately in a month and a half, he added. We are supplying our products to Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and all three Baltic countries, he noted. In the near future ,we intend to arrange the supply of the goods to Belarus. In a month and a half, we plan to start exports to the South African Republic." He informed that AzGranata exports vodka to Russia and the most prestigious restaurants in Moscow buy the company's products. "Our vodka 'White city' is sold in Moscow. We also receive offers from Germany. The main demand is for two brands of vodka, namely 'Serkerde' and 'Caspian Sea'. The demand for narsharab (pomegranate sauce) is also high, Vugar Mikayilov said. He announced that AzGranata LLC plans to start exporting fundamentally new products. We were the first in Azerbaijan to establish the production of non-alcoholic wine, he said. Great interest is shown for this product in the domestic market and abroad. In order to study the market demand, the company sent a small cargo of non-alcoholic wine to the US, and we plan to establish permanent exports, if the product finds interested buyers. In May, the Days of Azerbaijans wines will be held in Japan, where the wines of our company will be also shown. We hope that we will be able to establish exports to Japan. We also continue to work in the Chinese market. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: Iran continues its negotiations with the UKs Pergas International Consortium on the Karanj oil field, located in Irans southwestern Khuzestan Province, said Ahmad Mohammadi, CEO of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), Trend reports referring to Mehr News Agency. According to Mohammadi, hopefully, these discussions will result in an agreement. Mohammadi added that production is, of course, currently underway in this field, and it is even provided with gas for oil extraction. "With the participation of the Pergas consortium, the development will accelerate," he said. Noting that the annual natural gas production in the southern oil fields of Iran have declined by 10 percent, he said that various steps, including repairs and sidetrack drilling, are used to compensate for the decrease. Commenting on the volume of oil production in the southern oil fields, Mohammadi said that 3.5 million barrels of oil are produced daily without the implementation of development programs. "Currently, Iran's oil production and exports are under sanctions. The problems faced by this process are undeniable. Iran has proved that it will overcome these problems," he said. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Sara Israfilbayova Trend: Azerbaijan has currently no food insecurity problem due to successful efforts of the government, Melek Cakmak, head of the Partnership and Liaison Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Azerbaijan, told Trend. Yet there is a need for monitoring of utilization of food, she said, adding that the only challenge is to make agriculture in Azerbaijan more competitive and resilient particularly in view of the climate change threats. Therefore we need to concentrate on the increased productivity, sustainable management of land forest and water resources in the coming years. Cakmak went on to say that FAO has an excellent partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan, which has steadily grown over the past two decades. "FAO-Azerbaijan Partnership Program (2016-2020), is a clear commitment of the Government of Azerbaijan to the growth of sustainable and inclusive agriculture sector. FAO is also committed to developing its collaboration with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in achieving the sustainable management of forestry resources and fishery sectors in Azerbaijan," she remarked. Moreover, Cakmak said that FAO is working together with the Food Safety Agency on development of legislative frameworks and help strengthen the Agencys structure and operations. In conclusion, she said that the FAOs assistance on sustainable and inclusive agriculture and food production systems contributes the country achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. "Last but not least, our partnership with Azerbaijan serves as a model for a sustainable FAO assistance across the world," said Chakmak. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Azad Hasanli Trend: Azerbaijan eyes to open two more trading houses in China in 2019, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev told AzTV state TV channel on May 2, Trend reports. The memorandum on the creation of one of these trading houses was signed during the presidents recent visit to China, he added. The second trading house is scheduled to open in Beijing. "We opened the trade representative office in China in 2017, the minister added. Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are greatly interested in the Chinese market. Three Azerbaijani trading houses are currently operating in China. This market is especially interesting for us in terms of the supply of alcoholic beverages and agricultural products. Over the past two years, we participated in nine big exhibitions in China and sent six export missions to this country." Trading houses play an important role in promoting Azerbaijani products to the Chinese market, he said. They help the entrepreneurs to establish direct contacts with their customers, get support in promoting their products and analyze the potential sales markets. Azerbaijan and China have a great potential for the development of trade, the minister added. For example, the trade turnover between the countries exceeded $1.3 billion in 2018, while it grew by 2.4 times in the first quarter of this year. "Azerbaijan is Chinas main trading partner in the South Caucasus, he said. Thus, 43 percent of Chinas total trade turnover with the countries of this region accounts for our countrys share. At the same time, investments between countries are also growing. Azerbaijan has invested $1.7 billion in Chinas economy, while the Chinese companies made investments worth $800 million in the Azerbaijani economy." The minister stressed that the Chinese companies are also interested in expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: In the last Iranian year (March 21, 2018-March 20, 2019), Iran's Qazvin province exported 803,000 tons of goods, the chairman of Qazvin Industry, Mine and Trade Organization Saeed Nabil said, Trend reports citing IRIB. During this period, Qazvin's main exports were iron, cables and wires, oil products, detergents, pistachio and honey, Nabil said adding that the province's exports amounted to $680 million. in his words, the goods were mainly exported to Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanista, the UAE and Syria. The chairman noted that Qazvin's exports decreased in the last Iranian year. Nabil named liquidity as the main problem of Qazvin's export sector and said that development of trade is an important goal in the current year (starting on March 21, 2019). According to him, officials from Ukraine, Iraq, Germany, Russia and Tajikistan recently visited the province to familiarize with its trade potential. In the meantime, almost no incentives are provided for export in Iran, and problems in money transactions increase every day, he added. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: Azerbaijan is among 193 UN member-states that have assumed certain commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, Azerbaijani Deputy Economy Minister Sevinj Hasanova said. Hasanova made the remarks during the panel discussions held by the international organizations in Baku on May 2, Trend reports. Azerbaijan is taking important steps to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, she added. "Azerbaijan is an active member of the UN and the country received the "South-South" award for its achievements in the fight against poverty and unemployment." She stressed that in early 2000s, the poverty rate reached 50 percent in the country, while as of today, this figure has dropped up to five percent. "The figure is even less than the figure in the countries with more economic resources and in which GDP volume is higher," Hasanova said. She added that the Azerbaijani government has established the Coordination Council on Sustainable Development. "Azerbaijan pays great attention to the cooperation with the UN and is actively working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," the deputy minister said. The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict" kicked off in Baku on May 2. The forum, which is being held May 2-3 in Baku, hosts more than 20 events with the participation of high-ranking officials from over 105 countries and more than 35 international organizations. The event is being broadcast by the UN on its official website. The event has been organized by the Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Culture, and the partners are UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and ISESCO. During the event, exhibitions and music programs will be organized for guests. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gambia Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanovic, Minister of Culture of Mali Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture of Algeria Meriem Merdaci, Head of Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Zhamankulov, Minister of Information and Youth Affairs of Kuwait Mohammad Aljabri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro Mevludin Nuhodzic and Minister of Education of Myanmar Myo Thein Gyi are participating in the forum. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: An agreement was signed with six companies to carry out detailed exploration of Parsi, Haftkel, Lab Sefid, Mansurabad, Nargesi and Binak oil fields located in Iran's southern oil zones, said CEO of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) Ahmad Mohammadi, Trend reports referring to ISNA. According to Mohammadi, the explorations are estimated to last 24 months in Parsi, Haftkel and Lab Sefid fields, and 15 months in Mansurabad, Nargesi and Binak fields. He added that explorations would be carried out by Irans Computer Aided Process Engineering CAPE Group in the Parsi field, by Kish Petroleum Engineering in the Lab Sefid field, by Magma Energy in Mansurabad and Nargesi fields, and by Tehran Energy Consultants in Haftkel and Binak fields. In his words, it was decided that art of the exploration would be carried out by a foreign partner for the provision of technology necessary for the said exploration. "The value of the six exploration contracts is estimated at 2.88 billion in foreign currency and 127 billion rials (app. $3.02 million) in national currency," Mohammadi said. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: The Malaysian company MMK Spices is interested in importing dried fruit and vegetables as well as legumes from Uzbekistan for further packaging and distribution in the Malaysian market, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan. The Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Malaysia Ravshan Usmanov held talks with the director of MMK Spices Sdn. Bhd. Mohamed Shakir to discuss the prospects for export cooperation in the Malaysian state of Penang. MMK Spices is one of the largest producers of spice, dried fruits, nuts and medicines extracted from special herbs sold under brands such as Spice King, Peladang and RED Horse Toordhall. Products manufactured by the company are exported to the countries of Southeast Asia including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and to the markets of the African continent. Following the negotiations, an agreement was reached on organizing a visit of company representatives to Uzbekistan in order to familiarize with enterprises for the production of dried fruits and vegetables and to establish partnerships with potential Uzbek exporters. Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri 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. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Aysham Rustamova Trend: Azerbaijan has promising opportunities for the development of the agricultural sector, while one of the important issues is the creation of a legal framework in this area, Rajab Orujov, former Minister of Agriculture of Azerbaijans Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, told Trend. According to Orujov, the rapid implementation and deepening of reforms in the agricultural sector stimulate production processes. "The State Food Safety Program for 2019-2025 approved by the head of state as well as production of high-quality food products and their proper supply to the countrys population are crucial steps that are currently being taken. One of the main objectives is the provision of the population with clean products. This will stimulate the production of organic products in the country. Since the agricultural sector is directly connected to usage of chemicals and mineral fertilizers, the production of quality products is a priority, he said. The expert added that these measures aim to provide the country with high-quality agricultural products. "This state program covers a very large sphere. It will create favorable conditions for stimulating agricultural production. Serious work has been carried out through the Ministry of Agriculture in the agricultural sector." On April 29, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree approving the State Program for Ensuring Food Safety in Azerbaijan for 2019-2025. The State Program is approved in order to provide the countrys population with safe and high-quality food products, increase the transparency and efficiency of the food safety system and bring it in line with international requirements. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov met on May 2 with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, who arrived in Tashkent for bilateral talks, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan. During the meeting, the sides discussed issues of bilateral and regional nature, and exchanged views on topical international issues. The ministers also reviewed the implementation of the agreements reached during the state visit of President Vladimir Putin to Uzbekistan in October 2018 and his talks with President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. As noted, the parties closely monitor the significant package of trade and economic agreements and investment contracts signed during the visit. The agreements in the areas of political-diplomatic, inter-parliamentary, cultural and humanitarian cooperation concluded between the countries are also implemented. Currently, the parties are preparing for the first meeting of the Joint Commission at the level of heads of government to consider priority areas for further expansion of trade and economic ties. During the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, the parties discussed the issue related to opening in Uzbekistan branches of four leading Russian universities including National Research Nuclear University of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography, Moscow Power Engineering Institute and Russian University of Chemical Technology. The heads of the foreign affairs agencies paid special attention to the interaction of Uzbekistan and Russia in the Afghan area including activities within the framework of international efforts to launch inter-Afghan peace talks and the socio-economic rehabilitation of Afghanistan. The ministers also exchanged views on the prospects for strengthening security and cooperation in the region. The meeting was attended by Russian Ambassador in Uzbekistan Vladimir Tyurdenev. Sergey Lavrov also plans to take part in the 11th meeting of the States Parties of the Memorandum of Understanding on regional cooperation on drug control . Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: Multinational Italian corporation is to manufacture chemical reagents and fuel additives in cooperation with Kazakh company KazMunaiHim, Trend reports citing KazInform. The realization of this project provides us with new opportunities of cooperation with Italian business and of attracting them as prospective investors in the special economic zone, said Aibek Tursyngaliyev, a Member of the Board of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Pavlodar. The new manufacture will prove the effectiveness and stability of Kazakhstans major investment platform, he said. According to the Pavlodars akimat, the Kazakh-Italian venture is already among regular residents of SEZ Pavlodar. As reported, KazFoil LLP also received an official status of the regular resident of SEZ. The company main area of work is manufacture of aluminum foil and structural sections that are used in food industry, construction industry, engineering and metallurgy. The projects are to be realized before the end of 2019. "The total volume of investments amounts to about eight billion tenge," reads the news report. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Kheyraddin Nasirzade Trend: A Miles & Smiles card was jointly presented by PASHA Bank, the Azerbaijani biggest corporate bank, and Turkish Airlines, Trend reports. The parties signed an agreement on cooperation during the presentation of the card in Baku on May 2. Two cards, namely, Miles & Smiles Master Card Black and Miles & Smiles Master Card Elite were demonstrated at the presentation. A joint co-branded product will allow customers to accumulate miles and exchange them for flight tickets to 308 destinations through Turkish Airlines. At the same time, Miles & Smiles plays the role of a debit card. Miles can be saved not only when making purchases inside the country, but also outside it. Moreover, customers will also be able to earn extra points while making payments by using PASHA Banks Miles & Smiles card in the banks partner network. The customers of the bank with the Miles & Smiles card will be able to receive discounts up to 35 percent on hotel reservations, car rental, vacations, shopping and other services. In addition, PASHA Banks Miles & Smiles cardholders are able to use the concierge service (call and Chatbot), stay in VIP lounges at all airports of the world, receive travel insurance and other benefits. The cost of the Miles & Smiles Master Card Black card is 250 manats, while the Miles & Smiles Master Card Black Elite card cost 600 manats. Then, the extra mile accumulation system was presented. It will be possible to accumulate miles by doing shopping in shopping centers. The cardholder will accumulate extra miles when making purchases in markets and clothing stores and payments for insurance services, in hotels, tourism zones and restaurants. Moreover, within the payment through Miles & Smiles Master Card Black, there will be a bonus in the amount of one mile for every two manats of payment. Making payment through Miles & Smiles Master Card Elite will give a bonus in the amount of one mile for each manat. Up to 10,000 cards will be initially issued this year. In the future, the number of cards will be increased up to 50,000. The agreements have been reached with many trade partners to fully use the card. This agreement is an important milestone in cooperation between PASHA Bank and one of the world's biggest airlines, creating wide business opportunities for both parties, Jalal Orujov, Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of PASHA Bank, said. "We are proud to present a unique product that we have created in an exclusive partnership with Turkish Airlines, he said. I would like to stress that PASHA Banks Miles & Smiles card is intended not only for PASHA Bank customers, but also for the entire population. The payments of PASHA Banks Bank Miles & Smiles cardholders will preserve special opportunities for them, so our customers will be able to use a range of services from Turkish Airlines, he said. I think that this new project will bring benefits to our customers and our bank. An important thing is that by encouraging an increase in non-cash payments, the project will be beneficial to our countrys economy." Having signed such an important partnership agreement with PASHA Bank today, we are providing the Azerbaijani citizens with Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles member platform, Turkish Airlines Chief Marketing Officer Ahmet Olmustur said. This platform allows cardholders to take advantage of the benefits offered by Turkish Airlines, he added. We think that this initiative, which is of great importance, will be very useful for the two strong brands of the two fraternal countries and will create a solid foundation for broader partnership." Follow the author on Twitter: @1nasirzade Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development (MIID) of Kazakhstan has announced the results of an accident at the Kalamkas field (Mangistau region), Trend reports with reference to the ministry. The MIID states that in accordance with the current legislation, Committee for Industrial Development and Safety on behalf of the Ministry, conducted an investigation into the accident that occurred on March 13 at the well of the Kalamkas field. The commission formed by order of the Department Committee for Mangystau region included both representatives of the authorized bodies in the field of industrial safety, and representatives of the subsoil user company, the contracting company that drilled the well and a representative of rescue services. As a result of investigation, the engineering drilling company Si Bu was found guilty in the accident that ocurred while the company was drilling the well. "The engineers of the drilling company" Si Bu "did not comply with the requirements of the regulatory legal acts in the field of industrial safety relating to the operation of serviceable blowout preventive equipment. In addition, the engineering and drilling company" Si Bu "did not ensure proper production control over the safe construction in this well, and the level of knowledge in the field of industrial safety of the personnel of the company is not ensured," the deputy chairman of Committee for Industrial Development and Safety of MIID, Nygmedzhan Makazhanov said. Thus, the commission came to the conclusion that the main technical cause of the accident was the depressurization of blowout equipment by employees of the LLP Engineering Drilling Company Si BU at the wellhead. An outbreak of gas-water mixture in the Kalamkas oil and gas field occurred on March 13. A day later, the fire could not be localized due to the lack of road access. President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev instructed the Government to take all necessary measures to localize the source of fire and eliminate the emergency situation at the Kalamkas field. In total, the damage caused by the accident to the environment was estimated at 98.7 million tenge. In addition, the LLP Engineering Drilling Company Si Bu "of Kazakhstan suspended the license due to inconsistencies of documents. ($1-381.22 tenge on May 2) --- Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to the European Union (EU) have increased by 272 percent, Trend reports citing the European Commission. Since the first cargo in April 2016 US LNG exports to the EU have been increasing substantially and have seen a steep rise after President Trump and President Juncker's meeting in July 2018 increasing by 272 percent. As a result, March 2019 recorded the highest volume ever of EU-US trade in LNG with more than 1.4 billion cubic meters, said a message from the Commission. Commenting on the matter, Commissioner for Energy and Climate Miguel Arias Canete said that energy security is one of the key success stories of the transatlantic cooperation and one where both sides have a keen mutual interest. It is therefore our common objective to further deepen our energy cooperation. Natural gas will remain an important component of the EU's energy mix in the near future as we move towards cleaner sources of energy. Given our heavy dependence on imports, U.S. liquefied natural gas, if priced competitively, could play an increasing and strategic role in EU gas supply, he added. European gas imports are projected to increase in the years to come as its domestic production is decreasing, while demand is projected to remain at a comparable level as gas has been identified as an important transition fuel in the EU's efforts to decarbonise its economy. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 Trend: In April 2019, Georgia received some six million cubic meters of gas from Russia, which accounts for three percent of the consumed gas in the previous month, Trend reports citing tass.ru The remaining 97 percent were exported to Georgia by Azerbaijani companies SOCAR and Shah Deniz Consortium, the report said. While Georgia did not import Russian gas since 2006, the country still received 10 percent of the total transit volume of Russian gas into Armenia. This is the first case of Russian gas specifically being imported to Georgia since 2017, due to the fact that starting from 2017 Russia paid Georgia for the transit with both money and commodity, whereas since 2018 the payment consisted only of money. In April this year, George Kobulia, the Ex-Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, stated that Gazprom would supply Georgia with gas, but the information on the volume of the supply was not disclosed. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told during a press conference in Tashkent that the area for the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Uzbekistan with the participation of the Russian Federation was determined, Trend reports with reference to RIA Novosti. Regarding nuclear power plant, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed satisfaction with the development of the project today. He said that he had been able to agree on the site. This was an important phase in the work. Regular consultations will take place in the near future with the management of Rosatom and colleagues from relevant Uzbek structure. The project is "on the move," Lavrov said during a conversation with journalists in Tashkent. Earlier, Trend reported that in early September 2018, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov signed an agreement on cooperation in the construction of nuclear power plants in the country. Rosatom is planning to build a complex of two generation 3+ power units with Water Power Reactor-1200 units, which meet all the safety requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agreement entered into force at the end of October. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyev on February 8 approved the concept of developing nuclear energy in the country for 2019-2029. It aims to build and start safe operations of nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 2.4 GW by 2030. Construction of the station is scheduled to begin in 2022 with the involvement of a loan from the Russian government. The construction of the country's first nuclear power plant will be divided into three phases. During the first phase, in 2019-2020, the site for the construction of NPP will be determined. A feasibility study of the project shall be developed in 2020-2021 and the construction of the facility is scheduled to begin in 2022. It is planned that after the launch of two power units with a capacity of 1.2 GW each, the station will annually produce 18.9 billion kWh. As expected, 2,700 jobs will be created including over 1,900 new job places at the station itself. The project will be financed at the expense of own funds of Uzbekistan and the state loan of Russia. An EPC contract (engineering, procurement and construction) will be signed with Rosatom, which is the main contractor of the project. In addition, Vnesheconombank of Russia will advise on determining the optimal financing structure for the NPP construction project, arrange its financing and provide guarantees. After the commissioning of the plant, Uzbekistan will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere to 14 million tons and nitrogen oxides by 36,000 tons. With the start of the station operations, Uzbekistan will annually save 3.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The country will receive $550-600 million a year, if it exports this volume of gas even without processing it. By 2030, this NPP can provide about 15 percent of the country's electricity needs. Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Southern Gas Corridor is a fantastic huge infrastructure, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent told reporters in Baku on May 2, Trend reports. We have many opportunities to deepen our relations in the economic side, he added. For many years the focus has been on the strategic issues in the energy sector. Some our biggest companies have been here working with Azerbaijani firm SOCAR to help develop oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea, as well as on the Southern Gas Corridor. The Southern Gas Corridor is a fantastic multi-country huge infrastructure development that brings not only Azerbaijani gas but potentially from Central Asia to the markets in Europe that increases energy security of entire continent, not only Azerbaijan and Georgia, Kent said. So we think the project like that is important for the entire continent in energy security. We want to see not only Caucasus being prosperous but all Europe. The projects like Southern Gas Corridor are the examples of projects that help Azerbaijan, help energy security in Europe and also help connect Central Asia with Azerbaijan, he said. I think East-West connections have much more positive prospects, just because of the dynamics of the trade of energy, as well as the trade between China and Europe, Kent added. Even a small slice of this trade potentially has great turnover for Azerbaijan. The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the creation of a pipeline infrastructure for the transportation of Azerbaijani gas, which is extracted as part of the development of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 field, to Europe via Turkey. The main components of the project are Shah Deniz Stage 2, expansion of the South Caucasus pipeline Baku-Georgia-border with Turkey, construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) from Turkeys eastern border to the western border and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) connecting Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: In March 2019, Kazakhs mostly were buying dollars (53 percent of the total amount of purchase of foreign currencies) 2019, Trend reports with reference to the National Bank of Kazakhstan. At the same time, expenses for buying dollars decreased by 26, 9 percent. As reported, Kazakhs bought foreign currency in cash on a net basis in the amount of 160.5 billion tenge. The regulator states that in March 2019, most Kazakhs spent 85 billion tenge for the purchase of dollars (53 percent of the total amount). Sales of the ruble amounted to 47.3 billion tenge (29.4 percent), and the euro to 27.8 billion tenge (17.4 percent). Compared to February 2019, these expenses decreased by 19.4 percent. By type of currency, the expenses for buying dollars decreased by 26.9 percent, and for buying and rubles by 9.5 percent and by 8.3 percent respectively. Meanwhile, the total net sales by exchange offices of cash foreign currency in January-March 2019 reached 502.3 billion tenge and increased by 9.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year (in January-March 2018 the total net sales was 459.4 billion tenge). The National Bank reported that the national currency exchange rate changed in the range of 375.9-380.06 tenge for $ 1 in March 2019. At the end of March 2018, the exchange rate was 380.04 tenge per $ 1. The total volume of operations on the tenge-dollar currency pair for March 2019 amounted to $11 billion (a decrease by 28.7 percent for the month), including the volume of exchange trading on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange reaching $2.1 billion (a decrease of 22.5 percent). The volume of operations in the over-the-counter foreign exchange market amounted to $9 billion (a decrease of 29.9 percent). In addition, the volume of operations of one subsidiary bank related to hedging equity capital from currency risks amounted to $6.7 billion, a decrease of 8.4 percent compared with February 2019. Moreover, their share of the total volume of OTC trading amounted to 74.9 percent (57.3 percent in February 2019). ($1- 381.25 tenge on May 2) Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 3 Vote(s) - 5 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 3 4 EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 493119 05-02-2019 03:12 PM Posts: 5,423 Post: #1 EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Advertisement The EU says a move by the US to fully implement the Helms-Burton Act on Cuba violates international law. European companies could be affected by lawsuits resulting from Washington's decision. The European Union said on Thursday it would take "measures" in response to a decision by Washington to allow lawsuits in US courts against companies using premises confiscated by the communist government of Cuba . The EU considers the US move to be "contrary to international law" and "will draw on all appropriate measures to address the effects of the Helms-Burton Act, including in relation to its WTO rights," according to a statement from the EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini. The administration of US President Donald Trump announced in April that it would activate a provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that has been waived by every president since the law was passed, due to objections from US allies doing business in Cuba. Many lawsuits expected The provision, which allows lawsuits against almost any company deemed to be "trafficking" in confiscated property, also has potential fallout for any negotiated settlements between the US and Cuba. It is thought that the activation of the Title III provision could bring about dozens, if not hundreds, of lawsuits and also generate trade conflicts between the US and European countries such as Spain, France and Britain. It is also likely to negatively affect the already lagging levels of foreign investment in Cuba. The move is another sign of hardening relations between the US and Cuba under Trump after a relative thaw during the presidency of his predecessor, Barack Obama. The Helms-Burton Act seeks to compensate those people whose families lost properties and businesses during Cuba's revolution in 1953. The US State Department has certified some 6,000 claims worth some $8 billion (7.14 billion) in current values. Another 200,000 claims have yet to be certified, but could have a value amounting to tens of billions of dollars. Watch video 02:01 https://www.dw.com/en/eu-says-will-respo...a-48569649 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 ... EU says will respond to controversial US move on CubaThe EU says a move by the US to fully implement the Helms-Burton Act on Cuba violates international law. European companies could be affected by lawsuits resulting from Washington's decision.The European Union said on Thursday it would take "measures" in response to a decision by Washington to allow lawsuits in US courts against companies using premises confiscated by the communist government of Cuba .The EU considers the US move to be "contrary to international law" and "will draw on all appropriate measures to address the effects of the Helms-Burton Act, including in relation to its WTO rights," according to a statement from the EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini.The administration of US President Donald Trump announced in April that it would activate a provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that has been waived by every president since the law was passed, due to objections from US allies doing business in Cuba.Many lawsuits expectedThe provision, which allows lawsuits against almost any company deemed to be "trafficking" in confiscated property, also has potential fallout for any negotiated settlements between the US and Cuba.It is thought that the activation of the Title III provision could bring about dozens, if not hundreds, of lawsuits and also generate trade conflicts between the US and European countries such as Spain, France and Britain. It is also likely to negatively affect the already lagging levels of foreign investment in Cuba.The move is another sign of hardening relations between the US and Cuba under Trump after a relative thaw during the presidency of his predecessor, Barack Obama.The Helms-Burton Act seeks to compensate those people whose families lost properties and businesses during Cuba's revolution in 1953. The US State Department has certified some 6,000 claims worth some $8 billion (7.14 billion) in current values. Another 200,000 claims have yet to be certified, but could have a value amounting to tens of billions of dollars.Watch video 02:01 ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 493119 05-02-2019 03:15 PM Posts: 5,423 Post: #2 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba New US policy on seized property in Cuba threatens EU ties Trump administration changes to the Helms-Burton Act have come into force, allowing for lawsuits against foreign firms in Cuba. The move has set the White House on a collision course with European allies. A Trump administration law amendment to allow US nationals to file lawsuits against foreign companies doing business in Cuba came into effect on Thursday.. The major policy shift sets the stage for fresh economic disputes between the US and Europe. It also marks a new escalation in Washington's policy to hammer Havana over its support for Venezuela's socialist acting President Nicolas Maduro. National Security Adviser John Bolton announced the policy change in April in Miami, which is home to exiles and immigrants from Cuba. Speaking to veterans of the CIA's failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Bolton also announced a tightening of travel restrictions and remittances, saying, "These new measures will help steer American dollars away from the Cuban regime." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that the US will allow lawsuits against foreign companies operating on properties that were seized from Americans during the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Pompeo said anyone doing business in Cuba "should heed this announcement." Helms-Burton Act The US decision to end a two-decade waiver to part of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act could expose US, European and Canadian companies to billions of dollars in legal claims and undermine Cuba's attempts to attract more foreign investment at a time of economic crisis triggered in part by steep cuts in subsidized Venezuelan oil. Title III of the Act gave Americans who fled Cuba the right to take legal action in US courts against mostly European companies operating out of properties Cuba nationalized following the island's 1959 revolution. In addition, the administration will begin to enforce Title IV of the Act, which requires the denial of US visas to those who "confiscate or 'traffic' in confiscated property in Cuba claimed by US nationals." Every US president since Bill Clinton has issued waivers to the Act out of concern it would spark trade disputes with allies and a mountain of lawsuits in US courts that would prevent any future settlement with Cuba over nationalized properties. Cuba has said it would reimburse the owners of nationalized properties, but only if it were reimbursed for billions of dollars in damages cause by a six-decade US trade embargo. https://www.dw.com/en/new-us-policy-on-s...a-48364287 EDIT Helms-Burton Act --> Trump administration changes to the Helms-Burton Act have come into force, allowing for lawsuits against foreign firms in Cuba. The move has set the White House on a collision course with European allies.A Trump administration law amendment to allow US nationals to file lawsuits against foreign companies doing business in Cuba came into effect on Thursday..The major policy shift sets the stage for fresh economic disputes between the US and Europe. It also marks a new escalation in Washington's policy to hammer Havana over its support for Venezuela's socialist acting President Nicolas Maduro.National Security Adviser John Bolton announced the policy change in April in Miami, which is home to exiles and immigrants from Cuba. Speaking to veterans of the CIA's failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Bolton also announced a tightening of travel restrictions and remittances, saying, "These new measures will help steer American dollars away from the Cuban regime."Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that the US will allow lawsuits against foreign companies operating on properties that were seized from Americans during the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Pompeo said anyone doing business in Cuba "should heed this announcement."Helms-Burton ActThe US decision to end a two-decade waiver to part of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act could expose US, European and Canadian companies to billions of dollars in legal claims and undermine Cuba's attempts to attract more foreign investment at a time of economic crisis triggered in part by steep cuts in subsidized Venezuelan oil.Title III of the Act gave Americans who fled Cuba the right to take legal action in US courts against mostly European companies operating out of properties Cuba nationalized following the island's 1959 revolution.In addition, the administration will begin to enforce Title IV of the Act, which requires the denial of US visas to those who "confiscate or 'traffic' in confiscated property in Cuba claimed by US nationals."Every US president since Bill Clinton has issued waivers to the Act out of concern it would spark trade disputes with allies and a mountain of lawsuits in US courts that would prevent any future settlement with Cuba over nationalized properties.Cuba has said it would reimburse the owners of nationalized properties, but only if it were reimbursed for billions of dollars in damages cause by a six-decade US trade embargo.EDITHelms-Burton Act --> https://1997-2001.state.gov/regions/wha/cuba/helms.html 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: 05-02-2019 03:18 PM by ALADIN .) LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 442897 05-02-2019 03:22 PM Post: #3 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba That would be like OAS, TPP, NAFTA or CAFTA; dictating terms to England. Gitmo, Camp Delta, still on the Cuban island, yes? How does the EU think that it has authority over the United States?That would be like OAS, TPP, NAFTA or CAFTA; dictating terms to England.Gitmo, Camp Delta, still on the Cuban island, yes? general mishka Registered User User ID: 498706 05-02-2019 03:33 PM Posts: 23,240 Post: #4 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Pinguu Registered User User ID: 492482 05-02-2019 03:47 PM Posts: 6,195 Post: #5 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Please Nuke the EU head quarters in Brussels.....I can get you the cordinates and everything. IF AT FIRST YOU DONT SUCCEED...CLAIM YOU ARE OPPRESSED.. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 499778 05-02-2019 03:49 PM Post: #6 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba International law is a joke..Nazi pig rules for commie dictators...Eu just confessed again btw...we can see the little nazi boots clearly...how they converted russia is the mystery... LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 441631 05-02-2019 03:57 PM Post: #7 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Globalists are gonna globalize. Stay classy EU. ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 493119 05-02-2019 05:02 PM Posts: 5,423 Post: #8 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Contrary to intl law: Mogherini slams US full activation of Cuba embargo law, vows counter steps Maren Winter / EyeEm / Getty Images Full implementation of US embargo law on Cuba is illegal under international law, the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said as she promised retaliatory measures amidst yet another row between Brussels and Washington. The full activation of US embargo legislation against Cuba is contrary to international law and goes against the previous US-EU agreements, Mogherini said on Thursday, promising to apply all appropriate measures to defend European interests. On May 2, the Trump administration did not renew the decades-old suspension of the Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, also known as Libertad Act, which regulates the embargo on foreign trade with Cuba. The provision allows US citizens to sue foreign companies profiting from properties which Cuba confiscated or nationalized after the 1959 revolution. EU officials fear that this will hit European firms. Last month, Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom reportedly penned a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in which they warned that the EU may launch a WTO case against Washington should its actions damage European trade. In her statement on Thursday, the EU foreign affairs chief reiterated that enforcing the US embargo law against European companies will cause unnecessary friction and undermines trust and predictability in the transatlantic partnership. EU nations began grappling to shield its companies from US sanctions last year when Washington re-imposed sweeping restrictions on Tehran. Senior officials in Brussels, as well as in Britain, France, and Germany, condemned the move and vowed to create mechanisms to protect firms engaged in legitimate business with Iran. https://www.rt.com/news/458186-us-cuba-e...-unlawful/ Maren Winter / EyeEm / Getty ImagesFull implementation of US embargo law on Cuba is illegal under international law, the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said as she promised retaliatory measures amidst yet another row between Brussels and Washington.The full activation of US embargo legislation against Cuba is contrary to international law and goes against the previous US-EU agreements, Mogherini said on Thursday, promising to apply all appropriate measures to defend European interests.On May 2, the Trump administration did not renew the decades-old suspension of the Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, also known as Libertad Act, which regulates the embargo on foreign trade with Cuba. The provision allows US citizens to sue foreign companies profiting from properties which Cuba confiscated or nationalized after the 1959 revolution.EU officials fear that this will hit European firms. Last month, Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom reportedly penned a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in which they warned that the EU may launch a WTO case against Washington should its actions damage European trade.In her statement on Thursday, the EU foreign affairs chief reiterated that enforcing the US embargo law against European companies will cause unnecessary friction and undermines trust and predictability in the transatlantic partnership.EU nations began grappling to shield its companies from US sanctions last year when Washington re-imposed sweeping restrictions on Tehran. Senior officials in Brussels, as well as in Britain, France, and Germany, condemned the move and vowed to create mechanisms to protect firms engaged in legitimate business with Iran. 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 ... Treebeard Registered User User ID: 479750 05-02-2019 05:06 PM Posts: 4,323 Post: #9 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Europe and Turkey are defecting to Russia-China. If Trump sinks EU ships en route to Cuba, NATO is done. ALADIN * weird wizard1* User ID: 493119 05-02-2019 05:09 PM Posts: 5,423 Post: #10 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Treebeard Wrote: (05-02-2019 05:06 PM) Europe and Turkey are defecting to Russia-China. If Trump sinks EU ships en route to Cuba, NATO is done. 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 ... ___________ Registered User User ID: 481862 05-02-2019 05:28 PM Posts: 63 Post: #11 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba always something to keep you preoccupied Natura Naturans Registered User User ID: 497797 05-02-2019 06:13 PM Posts: 13,155 Post: #12 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba The EU needs to step in and force the US to give the country back to the American Indian tribes. Reparations most bee paid and Whites kicked out and sent back to Europe. The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza Prince Vegeta Knowledge and Power User ID: 456214 05-02-2019 06:18 PM Posts: 2,726 Post: #13 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba The EU is being stupid. We're going to crack down on commies right next to our borders whether they like it or not. A lot of Cuban exiles living in Florida would like to see the current regime in Cuba fall. I have no time for weaklings. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 410425 05-02-2019 06:19 PM Post: #14 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba LoP Guest Wrote: (05-02-2019 03:49 PM) International law is a joke..Nazi pig rules for commie dictators...Eu just confessed again btw...we can see the little nazi boots clearly...how they converted russia is the mystery... Obvious israeli warpig shill who wants a brother war between america and our european brothers just like they did in ww2. Obvious israeli warpig shill who wants a brother war between america and our european brothers just like they did in ww2. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 410425 05-02-2019 06:20 PM Post: #15 RE: EU says will respond to controversial US move on Cuba Natura Naturans Wrote: (05-02-2019 06:13 PM) The EU needs to step in and force the US to give the country back to the American Indian tribes. Reparations most bee paid and Whites kicked out and sent back to Europe. Looks like another white hating israeli shill Looks like another white hating israeli shill Advertisement Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend: The revenues of Azerbaijan's Azercosmos OJSC from the export of satellite and telecommunication services in January-March 2019 amounted to $7.6 million, which is 2.2 times more compared to the first three months of 2018, Trend reports referring to the Export Review published by the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications. The volume of the company's exports of satellite services in March 2019 amounted to $5.5 million. According to the Center, the revenues received by Azercosmos from the export of services reached 85 percent of its total revenues. Azercosmos provided 17 countries with its services, including France, the UAE, Germany, the US, Georgia, the UK and others. Azercosmos OJSC operates geostationary satellites Azerspace 1, Azerspace 2 and low-altitude satellite AzerSky. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: German RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group plans to invest over $4 billion in the tourism industry of Uzbekistan, Trend reports with reference to Uzbek media During a meeting with architect of the RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group at the administration of Tashkent, prospects of cooperation were discussed. Furthermore, the possible participation of the company in the implementation of Ethnopark project and the construction of premium-class hotels in the capital of Uzbekistan were also discussed. Within the framework of the visit, a representative of the RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group will conduct a master class for architects of Tashkent on May 1, 2019. Agreements on the participation of the RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group in the implementation of major investment projects in the sphere of tourism in Uzbekistan were reached during the visit of the managers of the German company to the country last year. In addition to the construction of hotels in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group and its German partners intend to make direct investments in the construction of modern shopping, business and cultural centers, as well as in the modernization of road infrastructure and airports. The RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group, headquartered in Hamburg, is one of the leading international hotel management groups. During the last 28 years, the company has implemented around 200 hotel projects in Germany and abroad. The RIMC Hotels & Resorts group's success is based on tailor-made management solutions for operating or modernizing hotels. Currently, RIMC Hotels & Resorts group operates around 32 hotels in eight countries. More hotel projects are to be implemented in 2019 and the coming years in Germany and around the wold. Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 2 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov draws attention to the possibilities for the development of Turkmen-Ukrainian relations in his message to Volodymyr Zelensky on the occasion of his election as President of Ukraine, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen government. In particular, the Turkmen president noted that the high level of cooperation and mutual understanding between the two countries would serve as a solid basis for the development of Turkmen-Ukrainian relations for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries. Being one of the key players in the energy market in Central Asia and the Caspian region, Turkmenistan stands for diversifying energy supplies to world markets. Turkmenistan is an important Central Asian trade and economic partner of Ukraine, states the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in Ashgabat. Ukrainian business entities are involved in the construction of large-scale infrastructure facilities of national importance in Turkmenistan including complex engineering communications as well as oil and gas, industrial and transport facilities. The main export items to Turkmenistan include railway cars, products of the agro-industrial complex, electrical machinery, chemical, pharmaceutical and woodworking industries. Imports from Turkmenistan to Ukraine mainly consist of oil refining products, wool, cotton and textiles. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 2 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov congratulated the Emperor of Japan Naruhito on his assumption of the throne, Trend reports referring to the published letter. The head of state expressed the readiness of Turkmenistan to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of the peoples of the two countries. The message also notes the high level of relations between Turkmenistan and Japan in the political, trade, economic, social, cultural, humanitarian and other fields. The impulse to business partnership was given by the official visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Turkmenistan in October 2015, during which memoranda were signed in the areas of development of natural resources and the transport infrastructure of Turkmenistan. Agreements on a number of projects worth $18 billion were also concluded. Japan then expressed its desire to participate in projects to develop the industrial infrastructure of Turkmenistans biggest gas field Galkynysh. A number of major infrastructure projects have already been implemented with the participation of Japanese companies. They include a complex of ammonia and urea production plants in Mary Region, the Garabogazkarbamid plant and a polymer complex in the Balkan Region. Turkmenistan, holding one of the key positions in the region in terms of supply of natural gas, in recent years has started to actively diversify economy. In particular, the construction of innovative gas processing complexes is planned. Saudi coast guard rescued an Iranian oil ship near Jeddah Islamic Port in the Red Sea, the Saudi Press news Agency (SPA) said early on Thursday, Trend reports citing Reuters. The 26-sailor crew of the ship Happiness 1 carrying oil products were all rescued, SPA added. Afghanistan's Taliban group on Wednesday announced the start of a new round of peace talks with the United States in the Qatari capital of Doha, Trend reports citing Reuters. The announcement was made by the Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on his Twitter account. The U.S.-Taliban negotiations are aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement which would include the Taliban's guarantees regarding terrorism and a phased withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Zalmay Khalilzad, chief of the U.S. delegation, has said the talks will ultimately focus on four main issues: withdrawal, guarantees against terrorism, a lasting cease-fire and talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan to establish a path toward a political settlement. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Wednesday that the US sanctions should not be extended because they have an adverse impact on countries benefiting from Iranian oil, Trend reports citing IRNA. 'In Qatar, we do not believe unilateral sanctions bring positive effects for crises which must be solved through dialog and dialog only,' he said, Russia today reported. He maintained that the US decision to end Iran oil waivers will deal a blow to the countries relying on the countrys oil. 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. Saudi Arabias coast guard assisted an Iranian oil tanker with engine trouble off the coast of Jeddah in the Red Sea after Riyadh received a request for help from Iran, reports Trend citing to Reuters The vessel Happiness 1 and its 26 crewmembers were found 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Jeddah Islamic Port, the agency said, adding that the captain had requested a tow due to engine failure and loss of control. The crew comprised 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, SPA said. The kingdom received an official request for help, through its permanent delegation to the United Nations in New York, from the Iranian charge daffaires in the Iranian delegation, SPA quoted a coast guard spokesman as saying. All necessary precautions were taken for the safety of the crew and to ensure there is no environmental damage and to provide assistance, it added. It was not clear if oil had spilled from the tanker. The United States decided to end all waivers on Iranian oil imports by May 1 after which buyers of Iranian crude could face sanctions. Regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in to several proxy wars in the region. Joe Bidens rapid emergence as front-runner in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination has caught the attention of President Donald Trump and unnerved some of his allies, who believe Biden is a potentially dangerous rival, reports Trend referring to Reuters Biden soared from will-he-or-wont-he-run? status to the head of the crowded Democratic field just days after announcing his candidacy last week, pulling away from Senator Bernie Sanders and a host of other rivals in opinion polls. A CNN poll gave Biden a 15-point lead in a field of 20 Democratic candidates. Some Trump advisers see the former vice president, with his mainstream blue-collar appeal, as a tough opponent in the three states that carried Trump to his improbable victory in 2016 - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Losing any of those states in 2020 would make Trumps path to re-election more problematic. They think theyre in trouble there and they think hes a real threat, said one outside Trump adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Trumps initial response to Bidens entry into the race was to use a well-worn playbook - give him a mocking nickname - Sleepy Joe Biden - and insult his intelligence. I have known Joe over the years, Trump said on Fox News. He is not the brightest light bulb in the group, I dont think, but he has a name that they know. Trump later went on a Twitter tirade after the largest U.S. firefighters union endorsed Biden, including posting dozens of retweets on Wednesday from purported firefighters and their friends and families professing support for the Republican president or criticizing Biden. Despite his focus on Biden, some of Trumps friends said he did not seem particularly concerned about him, at least at this stage, given that the first votes in the nominating process will not be cast until early next year. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway played down the idea that Trump saw Biden as his biggest threat. No, I think its just fun to remind everybody about him. ... Maybe hes an easy mark, and he just announced for president of the United States, she told reporters. Trump allies said Biden, who was vice president under Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, could still get chewed up by a large, diverse field of Democratic rivals, many leaning to the left of Biden and discussing policies such as tax hikes for wealthier Americans and government-run healthcare. As long as Democrats are moving left, said David Urban, a political consultant and Trump campaign aide in 2016, I like our chances whoever is at the top of the ticket for the Democrats. WARNING SIGNS The Trump re-election campaign said it believed that whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee would have adopted policy stances out of tune with most Americans. There is no centrist lane in the Democrat primary, said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. We view them as one big liberal organism right now with 28 heads. Still, there are warning signs for Trump. He won narrow victories in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania with the help of blue-collar voters who once voted Democratic but switched to Trump. Trumps advisers said repeating his victories in those crucial states next year might be a tall order. Biden, a longtime U.S. senator from Delaware, held his first campaign rally in Pennsylvania and has quickly sought to make the campaign into a battle against Trump rather than against his rivals for the Democratic nomination. One Trump confidant said poll numbers indicated Biden stood to do well at this point at least in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and potentially in two other Trump states, Florida and North Carolina. If that were to happen, the confidant said, it would be hard for Trump to make up the losses with wins in other states in order to get to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. Theres not really a lot of room to expand the (electoral) map over the previous results, the confidant said. In a response to Biden, Trump has touted strong economic indicators in Pennsylvania, where unemployment is at a historic low. But some allies said Trump had not been disciplined about selling his record on the economy and that his lack of a healthcare overhaul plan was hurting him along with his preoccupation with migrants at the U.S. southern border. They added that Trump had time to straighten out his message for the long slog to the November 2020 election. Weve got a long way to go, said one Trump confidant. Thailands King Maha Vajiralongkorn will pay homage to his ancestors on Thursday as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend, reports Trend referring to Reuters The coronation, which takes place from Saturday to Monday, will be the first the country has seen in 69 years, since his father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned in 1950. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 66, is also known by the title of King Rama X. He became a constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne. On Thursday evening, the king will pay respects to his forefathers at statues of King Chulalongkorn, or King Rama V, a venerated 19th century modernizer, and King Rama I, who founded the Chakri dynasty in the late 18th century. He will also make offerings to sacred spirits. The king is expected to be accompanied by his new wife, the deputy head of his personal guard force whom he married on Wednesday. In a surprise announcement after the wedding, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya was named queen. Traditional May Day rally in Paris was marred by violence on Wednesday as a group of masked people clashed with anti-riot police, injuring at last three police officers, while more than 300 people have been arrested, according to local media, Trend reports citing Reuters. A policeman was hurt in his head after being pelted by cobblestone. He was evacuated to hospital. Two others were also reported wounded following violent scuffles with radical activists that have hijacked the march, news channel BFMTV reported. Dressed mostly in black, hooded people had converged at the front of the demonstration in Montparnasse Boulevard in Paris as the inter-union procession was to start at 2:30 p.m. local time (1230 GMT). They threw stones and bottles at anti-riot police and smashed a van's windows. Dubbed as Balck Blocks, they moved towards riot police, chanting anti-capitalism slogans. Some torched motorbikes and vandalized properties in Place de l'Italie, eastern Paris. The police fired tear gas. According to Paris police headquarters, 288 individuals were arrested by 5:00 p.m. local time, with 220 remaining in custody on charges of committing violent acts and degradations. Some protesters tried to storm a police station in the Paris's 13th district and in the eastern city of Besancon. Amid risks of violence escalation, prefecture urged peaceful protesters to break away from rioters who called on social media to make Paris "the capital of rioting." With orders from 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. "Immediate response, arrests, intervention: police, gendarmes and firefighters are more than ever mobilized. No abuse should be tolerated on the sidelines of the demonstrations," Paris prefecture said in a Twitter message. 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 along the route of the rally to close by Wednesday afternoon, erect barricades and board up windows for fear of looting. The Netherlands, Austria and all too often Germany are preventing deeper euro zone integration, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told German newspaper Handelsblatt, Trend reported citing Reuters. French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed for sweeping euro zone reforms but has met resistance from northern European countries loathe to bind themselves more closely to weaker economies in the euro zones south. There is no progress with the deepening of the monetary union because the Netherlands, Austria and all too often Germany stand in the way when it comes to solidarity in action and joint responsibility, said Juncker. However I am still hopeful. Germany is not ready for it yet but many German politicians want to make progress in this area, he added in the interview to be published online on Thursday. Asked whether so-called Eurobonds, or jointly issued debt for euro zone members, could be expected at some point, Juncker replied: Yes, but in another form and with another name. He declined to talk about failed merger talks between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. But no one can claim that all is rosy in the German financial sector. Juncker, whose term as president of the EUs executive expires this year, said he was not advocating for or against Jens Weidmann, the chief of Germanys national central bank, to succeed Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank. I wouldnt mind at all if there was a German president of the ECB or of the European Commission, he said. I definitely do not share the view that is prevalent in parts of southern Europe that a German may not be president of the ECB. Turning to trade relations with the United States, Juncker said the EU did not want to reach a comprehensive deal along the lines of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which failed to materialize after three years of talks. No, there will not be a TTIP II. But we will agree on a few key points, Juncker said, adding that he planned to talk about trade with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of a meeting of the G20 economic powers in Japan in late June. He stressed that the EU did not want to include agricultural products in a deal, adding: The Americans keep trying but we have stood our ground. If the French government claims different then it is incorrect. Brexit was a warning shot, a continental wake-up call for the blocs other members, Juncker said. It has become clear to EU citizens that they cannot take the EU for granted and that leaving it could have disastrous consequences. Israeli war jets on Thursday struck a Hamas military post in northern Gaza Strip, according to Gaza security officials, Trend reports citing Xinhua. Palestinian witnesses told Xinhua that the Israeli war jets struck a military facility that belongs to Hamas movement in northern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported, but severe damages were caused to the base. The Israeli army said in statement that the strike was carried out after a large brushfire broke out in the Eshkol region of southern Israel on Wednesday night, with suspicion that it was caused by wave of arson balloons carrying explosives toward Israeli cities earlier that day. Israeli army will continue crushing any attempts to harm Israeli civilians, the statement said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo discussed the schedule of the upcoming Russian-American contacts in a telephone conversation on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Trend reports citing TASS. "Some aspects of bilateral relations, including the schedule of the upcoming Russian-American contacts, were also discussed," the ministry reported. Moscow does not rule out that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo may meet in Finland in early May, the Russian Foreign Ministrys Information and Press Department told TASS on Thursday, Trend reported. "We do not rule out the possibility of such a meeting," the Information and Press Department said in response to a request for comment on the statement made by a representative for the US Department of State that Lavrov and Pompeo may meet in Finland on the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting on May 6-7. A representative for the US Department of State said during a telephone briefing earlier on Thursday that as both Pompeo and Lavrov are going to Rovaniemi in Finland to attend the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, they may meet on the sidelines of this event. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: If repeat municipal elections will be held in Istanbul, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will win, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trend reports referring to Turkish media. As is known, the AKP recently officially appealed to Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council to cancel the results of the municipal elections in Istanbul, Erdogan stated. He noted that at present the Council is investigating the facts presented by the AKP about the falsification of the election results in Istanbul. On April 17, Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council officially announced the results of the municipal election in Istanbul. According to the YSK, the candidate for the head of the Istanbul municipality from the opposition Republican Peoples Party Ekrem Imamoglu received 4.169 million votes, while the candidate from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Binali Yildirim received 4.156 million votes. Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council issued a mandate to Ekrem Imamoglu for the position of the Head of the Istanbul municipality, while the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) recently officially appealed to the YSK to hold the repeat elections in Istanbul. Shortly after the elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the results of the municipal elections in Istanbul may be annulled. Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of AKP Ali Ihsan Yavuz said that the ruling party demanded to hold new municipal elections in Istanbul. He added that the ruling party had all the evidence of falsification of the election results. The municipal election results in Istanbul were almost completely rigged, President Erdogan said earlier. He noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party appealed to YSK to identify the perpetrators. Meanwhile, the Justice and Development Party presented facts of falsification of 11,000 votes in Istanbul in favour of the candidate of the opposition Republican Peoples Party Ekrem Imamoglu. Thirteen political parties took part in the municipal elections held on March 31. These included the Felicity Party (SP), the Independent Turkey Party (Bagmsz Turkiye Partisi), the Communist Party of Turkey (Turkiye Komunist Partisi), the Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi), the Great Unity Party (Buyuk Birlik Partisi), Free Cause Party (Hur Dava Partisi), Republican Peoples Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalknma Partisi), Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti), Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetci Hareket Partisi), Iyi Party (IYI Parti), Peoples Democratic Party (Halklarn Demokratik Partisi) and Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti). It was reported that Imamoglu was leading the race with 4.159 million votes, while the candidate from the ruling party Binali Yildirim had 4.131 million votes in Istanbul. The coalition of the ruling party and the Nationalist Movement Party gained 51.67 percent of votes in the municipal elections throughout the country. Following the elections, candidate of the Republican Peoples Party Mansur Yavas became Mayor of Ankara. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The exact date of US President Donald Trumps visit to Turkey is unknown, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. The Turkish authorities invited the US president to Turkey, Cavusoglu added, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media. Presently, the negotiations are underway to prepare the visit. He added that the bilateral relations between countries and a number of other issues are expected to be discussed during the visit. Several Turkish media outlets have recently reported that President Trump may soon visit Turkey. Earlier, spokesman for the Turkish president Ibrahim Kalin said that Ankara hopes that US President Donald Trump will visit Turkey. Ankara has repeatedly stated its readiness to receive President Trump, Kalin added. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally invited him to visit the country. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: The US and Turkey will continue discussions on the issue of purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent told reporters in Baku on May 2, Trend reports. The issue of announced Turkish purchase of S-400 from Russia [is] something that has been the issue the US officials have been discussing intensely, he said. The real challenge for us [is that] we see the S-400 as threat to integrated information systems. Turkey signed up as a part of co-production arrangement to buy S-400. Our leading military officials made clear [the] country cannot have both S-400 and F-35. US has made its position very [clear] and Turkey has made its position very clear. We continue to have discussions with our ally Turkey, because we are allies in NATO, about the challenges that are posed by advanced system of S-400, he added. But Turks themselves have suggested that any scenarios about sending S-400 to third countries are unfounded. It is a serious issue that Turkey and the US so far have not agreed. But we will continue to discuss this issue. 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. He noted that Turkey is in dire need of the S-400 air defense system. "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. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo stated that the US believes that Turkey would not be able to have both US F-35 fighter-bombers and Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems at the same time, as this is technically impossible. According to Pentagon sources, it is not possible to launch the F-35 in the space where the S-400 is operated, he said. Initial reports of negotiations between Russia and Turkey on the supply of S-400 surfaced in November 2016. The signing of a contract was confirmed by the Russian side on September 12, 2017. Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the S-400 air defense systems would be deployed from October 2019. The supply of the S-400 air defense systems to Ankara cost $2.5 billion, head of the Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov said in December 2017. Turkey is the first country, a NATO member to receive the S-400 air defense systems from Russia. Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn A US military training aircraft has crashed in the US state of Oklahoma due to yet unknown reasons, the US Air Force said in a statement on Wednesday, Trend reports citing Sputnik. "A T-6 Texan II from Sheppard AFB crashed today shortly before 2 p.m. near Lake Waurika, Okla. Emergency crews are en route to the scene. Initial indications are that the pilot and co-pilot ejected safely. An investigation is underway," Sheppard Air Force Base (AFB) said in a statement posted on its official social media accounts. The accident site is located roughly 40 miles from the Sheppard AFB. The Air Force said that it will release additional information once it becomes available. The Texan II aircraft is a single prop two-seat trainer used to instruct Air Force, Navy and Army student-pilots in basic flight skills. To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry. Disclaimer Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. Mahesh Bhatts Sadak 2 is one of the most anticipated films of the year. With this film, the filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt returns to direction after a whopping 23 years. It was on Bhatts 70th birthday that Alia Bhatt took to social media to announce as she wrote, SADAK 2 @MaheshNBhatt @PoojaB1972 @duttsanjay #AdityaRoyKapur #MukeshBhatt @VisheshFilms #Sadak2. According to the report of Mirror, Alia Bhatt will be seen exposing a fake guru who runs an ashram. Alias character is out to expose a fake guru who runs an ashram. She is accompanied by Sanjay Dutts character in this journey. Sanjay has already started prep with Bhatt saab. They start shooting in a fortnight, as quoted by Mirror. This is how much Badshahs new Rolls Royce Wraith cost Sharing information about the plot of Sadak 2, Mahesh Bhatt filmmaker informed Mirror that the is about love, loss, and redemption. To simplify a heartfelt narrative like this is to falsify it. He said, You would be trivializing the essence of the film by suggesting that Sadak 2 is just this. when Mahesh Bhatt was asked as to who will be playing the role of the godman in the film, the filmmaker said, Gulshan Grover is not playing the role but we have a great actor playing that part. But Gulshan plays a very important part as well. Allu Arjun to make Bollywood debut Sadak 2 was to be shot in Romania but after a recee, the makers decided to shoot the film in Mumbai and other parts of India. Sadak 2 stars Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Pooja Bhatt in lead roles. New Delhi: On Wednesday, in a massive diplomatic win for India, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was designated as a global terrorist. Indias Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin confirmed the development on social media and later, in a detailed press statement. Akbaruddin tweeted Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support,. Shortly later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally at Jaipur, welcomed the decision and said that India's voice 'cannot be ignored by the world'. "Der aayein durust aayein," he said while thanking the international community for its support. also read Daily Horoscope: See today what store in your Fate.read Zodiac horoscope inside Here it is to be noted that the Congress party, while welcoming the move criticised the omission of references to Pulwama and Jammu and Kashmir in the UNSC statement. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said "Pakistan based #MasoodAzhars 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,". Later, the MEA clarified that the UNSC sanction was 'not supposed to be a biodata of a terrorist'. "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 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," the MEA said. However, it is worth mention here that the international community including the US, France and UK, which pressed India's proposal in the UNSC, welcomed the decision and sought 'sustained action' from Islamabad against terror emanating from Pakistan. "The United States welcomes the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and al-Qaida Sanctions list," a US Home Department spokesperson was quoted as saying by PTI. The development came after China, which had so far been blocking the move, decided to lift its 'technical hold'. Pakistan, where Azhar is based, too decided to support the move to blacklist the JeM chief as a global terrorist. Earlier, the Pakistani media reported that China dropped its objections after holding consultations with Pakistan. On Tuesday, Beijing had said that the vexed issue will be "properly resolved. "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. also read Modi ji, aap toh bahut kamzor nikale. Desh ka jawan jeet gaya: Arvind Kejriwal mocks PM New Delhi: On Wednesday, the momentum is building for the fifth, sixth and seventh phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and politicians continue to engage in mudslinging tactics, with Bharatiya Janata Party president and Gandhinagar Lok Sabha candidate Amit Shah taking potshots at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal over the questions they raised on the Balakot air strikes. To be noted that launching a direct attack at both the leaders, Amit Shah said they were crying as if their cousins were killed in the neighbouring country. also read Modi ji, aap toh bahut kamzor nikale. Desh ka jawan jeet gaya: Arvind Kejriwal mocks PM Shah asked during a campaign rally in South Delhis Vasant Kunj area On the 13th day since the Pulwama attack, (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi instructed the Indian Air Force to conduct an operation. Our jawans entered Pakistan and returned after attacking terrorists in Balakot... But there was mourning in two places one in Rahul Gandhis office and the other at Kejriwals office in Delhi. They were crying profusely. Were they (Balakot terrorists) your cousins?. Challenging the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, the BJP chief said under PM Modi, there wont be any tolerance for terrorism. This is Modi government. This is BJPs government. If Pakistan fires bullets, we will reply with cannon balls. Shah also accused Rahul and Kejriwal for aligning with youth leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Here it is worth mention here that He said BJP said we want to do away with Article 370 and Article 35A and make Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India and Rahul Gandhi said abolish sedition law. What will we do if someone is found spying for Pakistan? Rahul and Kejriwal should answer,. Ramesh Bidhuri is the sitting Member of Parliament and the Lok Sabha candidate from South Delhi constituency. Voting in Delhi will be conducted on May 12 in the sixth phase of polling and counting will be done on May 23. also read A student launched open gunfire in US state Colorado; two killed and four injured BANGKOK: On Wednesday, just days before his official coronation, Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn married the deputy head of his personal guard force and gave her the title Queen Suthida. The surprise announcement was carried in the Royal Gazette, and footage from Wednesday's wedding ceremony was later shown on the nightly Royal News segment aired on all Thai television channels. Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known by the title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne. also read A student launched open gunfire in US state Colorado; two killed and four injured Here it is to be noted that he is due to be officially crowned in elaborate Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies on Saturday, followed by a procession through Bangkok the next day. In 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit. Some royal observers and foreign media had linked Suthida romantically with the king, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between them. The king made Suthida a full general in the Royal Thai Army in December 2016, and the deputy commander of the king's personal guard in 2017. He also made her a Thanpuying, a royal title meaning Lady. However, it is worth mention here that among the dignitaries at the wedding were Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of the military junta that has run Thailand since a 2014 army coup, as well as other members of the royal family and palace advisers, the wedding footage showed. Vajiralongkorn has previously been married and divorced three times and has seven children. While the king took the throne after the death of his father, his formal coronation follows a mourning period for King Bhumibol, whose royal cremation was held a year after his death. also read US and China Begin Fresh talk to resolve trade disputes in Beijing 1. Aqaba, Jordan Air temperature: 3035 C. Water temperature: 24 C. Visa: issued at the airport upon arrival. The hottest city of all listed: most of the country is in the desert, so the climate here is appropriate: dry and hot. If you want to get immediately from May to July, feel free to fly to Jordan. But we must remember that it is worth going there for lovers of a relaxing holiday and those who are interested in world history and art. A country whose age varies around six thousand years will not offer an abundance of nightclubs and bars, but excursions to the ruins of ancient palaces are fine. 2. Port Louis, Mauritius Air temperature: 2829 C. Water temperature: 2526 C. A tropical island in the middle of the Indian Ocean can be called almost paradise: the sun is constantly shining there, a huge amount of greenery and no excess civilization. Port Louis - its capital, which is located on the coast. From the bay of the city a great view opens up: on the one side - the ocean, and on the other - mountains overgrown with greenery. There is a balance between the lively life of the port town and the tranquility of the historic center: first you can go to the market and local distilleries, and then go to see the ancient temples and museums. 3. Nha Trang, Vietnam Air temperature: 3234 C. Water temperature: 28 C. The main plus of Nha Trang in May is a very warm sea. In addition, the water in it is crystal clear, and there are practically no living creatures like jellyfish and other small marine creatures. The city is a resort and therefore very busy: there are many restaurants, shops and colorful markets in Nha Trang. You can also float on a boat to the neighboring islands: look at the monkeys or stay there all day in the amusement park. 4. Havana, Cuba Air temperature: 2830 C. Water temperature: 27 C. In May, Cuba is already hot enough to lie round the clock on the beach and swim in the sea. Which, by the way, is ideal for diving due to the presence of the most colorful fish and coral reefs in it. And if you go to the island in early May, then you will have a chance to participate in the most large-scale celebration of the Day of Spring and Labor. In Cuba, it is very magnificent and introduces all participants with the national culture of the island. Cubans from all over the city take to the streets and walk along them with placards and flags in the direction of the Revolution Square. In May, the rainy season begins in Cuba, but you should not be afraid of them: they are not strong and go no longer than 20 minutes. Most often it rains at night, and in the morning they leave a pleasant coolness. 5. Istanbul, Turkey Air temperature: 25 C. Water temperature: 21 C. One of the most popular holiday destinations for Russian tourists in May is practically empty. At the same time, the weather conditions by this time in Turkey are already quite resorting ones. In addition to long walks through the winding streets, in Istanbul, you can visit the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and watch the sunsets over the famous Bosphorus. World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference. Since then, 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day. The 26th celebration of World Press Freedom Day is jointly organized by UNESCO, the African Union Commission and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The main event will take place in Addis Ababa, on 1 3 May at the African Union Headquarters. This year's theme Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation discusses current challenges faced by media in elections, along with the medias potential in supporting peace and reconciliation processes. also read Sri Lankan Catholics cancel Sunday mass over new bomb threats The main celebration of World Press Freedom Day 2019 will take place in Addis Ababa, from 1 to 3 May 2019. The event will provide a platform for multiple actors to exchange on current issues, threats and achievements concerning freedom of the press. The overall theme of the event will be the role of media in elections and democracy. A wide range of sessions (plenaries, debates, lightning talks, etc.) will address different aspects of the overall theme. Some 100 national events around the world are expected to complement the main celebration. The attendance of the UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, as well as of high-level government representatives is expected. Participants will also include representatives of civil society, media organizations, professional associations, academia and the judiciary. On 2 May, the UNESCO Director-General will award the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence of press freedom. The event will also host an academic conference on the safety of journalists which will allow researchers from different disciplines to share and discuss recent research. This will be the fourth edition of the conference, aimed at bridging the gap between academic research, policy-making and journalism. also read US Secretary Mike Pompeo big disclosure statement on Masood Azhar declared as Global terrorist As in the previous years, WPFD will host a Youth Newsroom, which will bring on board young journalists and journalism students to cover the event and expand their reporting skills. A number of cultural events and performances will be included in the programme. EFE Latam Madrid, 23 dic (EFE).- En el decimo aniversario de su fichaje como entrenador del Atletico de Madrid, Diego Simeone expreso su agradecimiento a los aficionados por el "apoyo desde el primer momento", tambien a los futbolistas, porque "supieron transmitir siempre todo" lo que siente "por este juego", al tiempo que admitio el "momento" actual "de dificultad en cuanto a resultados", afirmo que solo conoce "un camino, el del trabajo y el esfuerzo", y avanzo que "estando juntos" seguiran "luchando" p For decades, most industries, from petrochemicals to paper, have embraced continuous manufacturing processes. In contrast, the ultraconservative pharmaceutical industry has remained committed to batch operations. But recently, the demands of chemically complex and targeted drugs coming to market have caused many pharmaceutical companies to rethink the way they make medicines, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies made drugs by moving them through each step of the manufacturing process in single large batches. Continuous processes, on the other hand, produce drug ingredients or finished products such as tablets continuously, without having to wait for each batch to finish before beginning a new one. Advantages of continuous processes include reduced cost, factory space and processing time, as well as access to more complex chemistries. Senior Editor Rick Mullin writes that until recently, pharmaceutical companies have been wary of continuous manufacturing because of perceived perils, such as low product volume, regulatory uncertainty and commitment to current manufacturing assets. In 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first finished-dose drug -- a cystic fibrosis medication called Orkambi, produced by Vertex Pharmaceuticals -- made by an entirely continuous tableting process. Since then, Janssen, Eli Lilly and Company, and Pfizer have received approvals for drugs made by continuous processes. And now, companies are turning their attention to the continuous production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, which have proven more challenging than finished-dose tablets. Synthesizing the ingredients with continuous technologies, such as processes that incorporate photochemistry, cryogenic/exothermic chemistry and other techniques, offers capabilities not readily available in batch processes, experts say. ### The article, "Off the drawing board," is freely available here. The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook 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. ### Original study: Schoelynck, J., Subalusky, A.L., Struyf, E., Dutton, C.L., Unzue-Belmonte, D., Van de Vijver, B., Post, D.M., Rosi, E.J., Meire, P., Frings, P., 2019. Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius): The animal silicon pump. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav0395 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav0395 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. ### 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 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." ### Hart's research was partially funded by Agriculture and Agrifood Canada. Mr. Ciruli is the Director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denvers Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is an adjunct professor teaching public opinion and foreign policy. The Crossley Center conducts research and presents live and virtual programs on foreign policy, politics, public policy and public opinion. Mr. Ciruli holds a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelors degree cum laude in political science from UCLA. He is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and is the past-president of the Pacific Chapter of AAPOR (PAPOR). Mr. Ciruli is a board member of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies and past-president of the Georgetown Law Alumni Board and the Denver Athletic Club. By Chris Prentice, Jarrett Renshaw and P.J. Huffstutter NEW YORK/CHICAGO, April 26 (Reuters) - Biofuels pioneer Archer Daniels Midland took another step toward abandoning its pure-play ethanol assets on Friday, the latest sign of the industry's struggles with U.S. President Donald Trump's trade wars, thin margins, and overproduction. U.S. law requires ethanol to be blended into gasoline but domestic demand for the biofuel added to gasoline has flatlined in recent years as consumers have opted for greater fuel-efficiency and electric vehicles. Ethanol producers have been forced to look abroad for demand growth. They had banked on China to buy excess capacity, but punitive tariffs in the last two years have halted buying, exacerbating the industry's substantial overcapacity. ADM executives acknowledged that problem on Friday when the company reported that profit tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter. ADM said it may spin off three large dry mills, which primarily produce only ethanol, after unsuccessfully searching for a buyer for those mills since 2016. At the time, its move to exit ethanol shocked the industry due to ADM's status as a leading biofuels producer. ADM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said on an earnings call that the industry must stop the self-inflicted wounds. "Our decision to monetize the dry mills is frankly a strategic decision on our part to basically help the industry consolidate," Young said. Last week, U.S. ethanol production hit 1.05 million barrels per day, highest in at least five years seasonally, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Inventories climbed to 22.75 million barrels, not far from the record of 24.45 million hit in March. Producers such as Green Plains and Pacific Ethanol have laid off workers and idled or sold plants to stay afloat during the sustained downturn. Ethanol prices are down 42 percent in the last five years, while Green Plains and Pacific Ethanol have seen their shares fall 33 percent and 92 percent, respectively, in that time. Story continues "We don't have a demand problem as much as we have a supply problem. There are just too many inefficient plants out there, and they need to go before we see a rebound," said one ethanol trader on Friday. "It's not like we are producing DVDs or CDs that no one wants." China emerged in 2015 as a significant buyer for the first time, and subsequent plans to use ethanol in gasoline nationwide by 2020 raised hopes that the world's second largest economy would scoop up excess U.S. supply. But Beijing hiked import taxes on the biofuel in 2017, and then twice in 2018 as the United States and China ratcheted up the stakes in a trade war that has killed demand for U.S. imports. The two countries are still negotiating a trade deal that would end the tariff conflict. Young said margins will improve with resolution of the trade dispute and purchase commitments from China expected to accompany any pact. Still, some say that will be a temporary boost. "Exports may provide some temporary relief," said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois. "(But) without substantial growth from higher ethanol blends you are looking at situation where the U.S. ethanol industry has to shrink" over the next 5-10 years." (Reporting by Chris Prentice, Jarrett Renshaw and P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by David Gregorio) Independent Directors Rekha Hemrajani, James Scopa and Mark Lupher Added to the Board Patrick Machado Appointed as Board Chair; Paul Cleveland Retires from the Board MENLO PARK, Calif., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. (ADVM), a clinical-stage gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs in ocular and rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Rekha Hemrajani, M.B.A., James Scopa, J.D., M.B.A., and Mark Lupher, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. In addition, Patrick Machado, J.D., an existing member of Adverums Board of Directors, has been appointed as Board Chair, effective immediately. Paul Cleveland, who previously served as Board Chair, has retired from the Board of Directors. With these changes, the Adverum Board consists of nine highly qualified directors, eight of whom are independent. Adverum worked collaboratively with The Sonic Fund II, L.P. and its principal, Lawrence Kam, on the identification and appointment of the new directors. Patrick Machado, Board Chair, stated: Rekha Hemrajani, James Scopa and Mark Lupher bring deep financial, operational and therapeutic program development experience to our Board and we look forward to their contributions to Adverums future success. We believe they will provide keen insights as the company advances its pipeline of novel gene therapies to improve the standard of care for patients. On behalf of the Board of Directors and everyone at Adverum, we thank Paul Cleveland for his service and invaluable contributions to the company. Lawrence Kam stated: Significant change is always difficult. I am truly grateful for the tireless efforts of incoming Board Chair Patrick Machado and CEO Leone Patterson in pursuing an outcome that benefits all Adverum stakeholders. I appreciate the leadership of outgoing Board Chair Paul Cleveland in helping navigate the company through a particularly challenging period and positioning it for success. Story continues Adverum has entered into a cooperation agreement with Mr. Kam and The Sonic Fund II, L.P. (together, Sonic), who hold more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Adverums common stock. Under the terms of the cooperation agreement, Sonic has agreed to certain standstill, voting, and other provisions with Adverum. The cooperation agreement will be described in a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Hemrajani was appointed as a Class I director, Mr. Scopa was appointed as a Class II director and added to the Compensation Committee and Dr. Lupher was appointed as a Class III director and added to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. About Rekha Hemrajani, M.B.A. Rekha Hemrajani, M.B.A. has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience and has extensive expertise in all aspects of corporate and business development, financing, and strategic planning. Ms. Hemrajani serves as chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Arcus Biosciences, Inc. where she leads finance, investor relations, corporate communications, business and corporate development, strategic planning, and human resources. Previously, she was chief operating officer for FLX Bio, chief financial officer and senior vice president of business and financial operations at 3-V Biosciences, vice president, head of licensing and mergers and acquisitions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and vice president of business development at Exelixis, Inc. Ms. Hemrajani began her career in investment banking at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers. Ms. Hemrajani earned a B.S. in economics and computer science from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. About James Scopa, J.D., M.B.A. James Scopa, J.D., M.B.A. brings over 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry, investing in companies and advising public and private boards on strategic and financial transactions. He most recently was a Managing Director and Member of the Investment Committee of MPM Capital, a global life sciences venture capital firm. Prior to MPM, Mr. Scopa spent 18 years advising growth companies in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices principally at Deutsche Banc Alex Brown and Thomas Weisel Partners. Mr. Scopa currently serves on the Board of Directors of Blade Therapeutics as Chair of its Audit Committee and on its Compensation Committee, as well as the Advisory Board and the Investment Advisory Committee of One Ventures. Mr. Scopa received an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. About Mark Lupher, Ph.D. Mark Lupher, Ph.D. is a biopharmaceutical executive with over 28 years of experience with biomedical research organizations and over 12 years of experience serving in various executive level roles. He currently serves as the Vice President of translational pharmacology and preclinical development at Sutro Biopharma, a biotechnology company focused on clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing. Dr. Lupher also currently serves as the President and Founder of VeritasRx Consulting, an executive consulting service he founded in 2013. Previously, Dr. Lupher held a variety of executive roles at biopharmaceutical companies, including serving as Chief Scientific Officer at Promedior, Inc. Dr. Lupher received a Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University and a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Washington. About Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. Adverum is a clinical-stage gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs in ocular and rare diseases. Adverum develops gene therapy product candidates designed to provide durable efficacy by inducing sustained expression of a therapeutic protein. As a leader in ophthalmic gene therapy, Adverum has collaboration agreements with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Editas Medicine. Adverums core capabilities include clinical development, novel vector discovery and in-house manufacturing expertise, specifically in scalable process development, assay development, and current Good Manufacturing Practices quality control. For more information, please visit www.adverum.com. Investor and Media Inquiries: Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher Tim Lynch / Dan Moore 212-355-4449 Amy Figueroa, CFA Investor Relations Consultant afigueroa@adverum.com 650-823-2704 A downloadable copy of this news release can be found here: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1b6e1125-364c-46fe-a0b7-4249a9014c13 (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for Next China, a weekly email on where the nation stands now and where it's going next. A mobile app used by police to track citizens in Chinas far west region of Xinjiang shows how some of the countrys biggest technology companies are linked to a mass surveillance system that is more sophisticated than previously known, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. The app uses facial recognition technology from a firm backed by Alibaba Group Holding to match faces with photo identification and cross-check pictures on different documents, the New York-based group said on Thursday. The app also takes a host of other data points -- from electricity and smartphone use to personal relationships to political and religious affiliations -- to flag suspicious behavior, the report said. The watchdogs report sheds new light on the vast scope of activity China is monitoring as it cracks down on its minority Muslim Uighur population in a bid to stop terrorism before it happens. The U.S. State Department says as many as two million Uighurs are being held in camps in Xinjiang, a number disputed by Chinese authorities even though they havent disclosed a figure. In an address Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo urged corporate America to think twice before doing business in Xinjiang. 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, he said, according to comments released by the State Department.Human Rights Watch said that so-called data doors at checkpoints may be vacuuming up information from mobile phones from unsuspecting citizens. Some Xinjiang residents who suspected their phones were being used as monitoring devices even buried them in the desert, a move that could later hurt them if the system loses track of their phone, according to Maya Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch. Story continues The political reeducation camps are one pen, but then you have a series of bigger pens that are like virtual fences, Wang said. Chinas State Council Information Office did not reply to a request for comment sent by fax. The government has said the surveillance measures in Xinjiang are necessary to prevent terrorism and grow the regions economy. Human Rights Watch said information in the report is based on reverse-engineering the police app, which communicates with a database known as Integrated Joint Operations Platform, or IJOP. The group said it enlisted Berlin-based cybersecurity firm Cure53 to conduct a technical assessment of the app after finding that it was publicly available online last year. IJOP is mainly a tool for data collection, filing reports and prompting investigative missions by police. The report called for China to shut down the database behind the app, and for foreign governments to impose targeted sanctions such as visa bans and asset freezes against leaders in Xinjiang. Human Rights Watch said the mobile app was developed by a unit of state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corp, a Fortune 500 company known as CETC with $30 billion in revenue and 169,000 employees. The group has expanded its various operations abroad, from developing smart city solutions in Tehran to a cooperation agreement with German engineering group Siemens. CETC did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. The app uses facial recognition technology developed by Beijing-based Megvii under the brand Face++. The company, which sells licenses to use Face++ facial recognition in mobile apps, was considering an initial public offering to raise as much as $1 billion in Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported in January. Megvii said it doesnt have any relationship with the IJOP database nor knowledge of why its technology appeared in the police app. It said it has a contractual relationship with CETC for a Face++ license related to the use of e-government services such as paying bills or unlocking a mobile device. Megvii does not host any third party data nor does it have any access to the IJOP platform or the national ID database, the company said in an emailed reply to questions, adding that Human Rights Watch didnt provide access to the full report before it was published. Megviis investors include Alibaba Group Holding -- co-founded by Chinas richest man, Jack Ma -- and its affiliate Ant Financial Services, as well as Sinovation Ventures and Foxconn Technology Group. Alibaba and Ant declined to comment, while neither Sinovation or Foxconn responded to requests for comment. Beyond collecting data and tipping off the police, the IJOP-linked app has a range of other functions. It provides a system for officials to communicate across voice, email and telephone calls, uses Baidu map functionality for geolocation, and allows officials to search for information about people using their name and various other inputs. Baidu declined to comment. The Human Rights Watch report provides insight into what type of behavior puts Xinjiangs citizens on the radar of authorities. Those particularly at risk include people who move in or out of a registered residence, download certain software or content on a mobile phones, or have links to people who are abroad. The report includes screenshots of the app, which prompts authorities to choose whether data collection is happening in home visits, on the streets, in political education camps, during registration for travel abroad, or when dealing with Xinjiang residents living in the mainland. Higher-level officials with administrative rights also have a sixth choice: collecting information from foreign nationals who have entered Xinjiang. Officials are then prompted to log on and input data ranging from a persons height to blood type and political affiliation. Another page examined by Human Rights Watch shows 36 person types that attract special attention, including people who dont socialize with neighbors or those who use an abnormal amount of electricity. The app also uses the central IJOP system to send instructions for officers to investigate certain individuals, prompting them to collect identifying information such as vehicle color and type and log whether they use one of 51 suspicious internet tools like WhatsApp or Virtual Private Networks. (Updates with Pompeos comments in fourth paragraph. An earlier version corrected the attribution for IPO plan in 11th paragraph.) --With assistance from Peter Martin and Venus Feng. To contact the reporter on this story: Blake Schmidt in Hong Kong at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- Andreessen Horowitz, a firm that in just a decade become one of the powerhouses of venture capital, said on Wednesday it had raised another $2.75 billion. The bulk of the cash, $2 billion, will go toward a new late-stage fund, led by general partner David George. He joined Andreessen Horowitz earlier this year from venture firm General Atlantic. The fund is aimed at companies that are just hitting their escape velocity, wrote managing partner Scott Kupor in a blog post. In the past, that might have meant an initial public offering. Today, because of the increasing activity of deep-pocketed backers, those startups can stay private longer. Investors using this big-check approach range from mutual funds like Fidelity Investments, to fellow venture firms like Sequoia Capital, to hybrids like Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp.s Vision Fund. The new fund comes as Andreessen Horowitz racks up a win from the recent IPO of Lyft Inc., a company it backed from 2013, and looks set for an even bigger return from Slack Technologies Inc., which it now owns about 13 percent of and has backed since its earliest days. Slack filed to list on the New York Stock Exchange last week. Andreessen Horowitz, whose backers include large investors such as the University of Michigan endowment, also said it had raised $750 million for its sixth general fund. Three years ago, its fifth fund totaled $1.5 billion. At that time, the fund encompassed early-stage and larger late-stage investments. Now, those later-stage investments will be made from the dedicated late-stage fund. Andreessen Horowitz, which already has a comparably large staff for the venture world, expects to hire a full team for the fund with deep expertise in the financial evaluation of businesses, Kupor wrote. This year, Andreessen Horowitz announced it was switching its legal status to that of a registered investment adviser, rather than a traditional VC fund, a move it said would give it more flexibility. The firm also runs separate health care technology and cryptocurrency funds. It was founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Story continues (Corrects the year the firm was founded in the last paragraph. A previous version corrected the name of George's employer in the second paragraph.) To contact the author of this story: Sarah McBride in San Francisco at smcbride24@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne VanderMey at avandermey@bloomberg.net, Mark Milian For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) _ Ansys Inc. (ANSS) on Wednesday reported first-quarter profit of $86.2 million. The Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based company said it had profit of $1.01 per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and non-recurring costs, came to $1.29 per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.09 per share. The maker of engineering-simulation software posted revenue of $317.1 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $319.9 million, also topping Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $305.9 million. For the current quarter ending in July, Ansys expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.18 to $1.30. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.37. The company said it expects revenue in the range of $325 million to $345 million for the fiscal second quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $341.2 million. Ansys expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.75 to $6.10 per share, with revenue ranging from $1.43 billion to $1.48 billion. Ansys shares have climbed 34% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $192.13, an increase of 19% in the last 12 months. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ANSS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ANSS Apache Corporation APA reported mixed first-quarter 2019 results, wherein earnings topped the Zacks Consensus estimates by a whisker, but sales missed the same. The upstream explorer reported earnings per share excluding one-time items of 10 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny on the back of record Permian output. The bottom line, however, declined from the year-ago level of 32 cents owing to lower commodity price realizations. Revenues of $1,635 million marginally missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,638 million. The top line also declined 6.4% from the year-ago period. Apache Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Apache Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Apache Corporation Quote Production & Selling Prices Production of oil and natural gas averaged 502,877 oil-equivalent barrels per day (BOE/d) comprising 63% liquids up 14% from a year ago. While ramped-up operations in the Alpine High region of the Permian Basin certainly aided Apaches output levels, the companys considerable acreage in Egypt and North Sea also stepped up the production rate in the quarter under review. The U.S. output (accounting for 58% of the total production) rose 25% year over year to 291,693 BOE/d. The companys international operations increased 2% y/y to 211,184 BOE/d. Apaches production of oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) was 316,759 barrels per day, while natural gas output came in at 1,116,707 thousand cubic feet per day. In the company's Permian Basin acreage, average production volumes hit a record of 247,939 BOE/d, improving from 182,972 BOE/d recorded in first-quarter 2018. The results were aided by operational progress and the continued ramp up at its Alpine High discovery. The average realized crude oil price during the first quarter was $57.70 per barrel, 10% lower than the year-ago realization. The average realized natural gas price also declined to $2.34 per thousand cubic feet from $2.82 in the year-ago period. Story continues Total Costs & Financials Lease operating expenses totaled $365 million, up 4.5% from the year-ago quarter. Moreover, total operating expenses increased 8.1% from the corresponding period of 2018 to $1.4 billion, primarily on the back of higher depreciation and general/administrative costs. As of Mar 31, the oil giant had approximately $327 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company had a long-term debt of $8.1 billion, representing a debt-to-capitalization ratio of 53.6%. During the quarter under review, Apache generated $598 million of cash from operating activities, while shelling out $597 million on capital expenditures. Guidance Intact Apache reiterated its guidance for 2019 capital spending at $2.4 billion. The company also maintained its 6-10% worldwide production exit rate growth in 2019, 12-16% in the United States and 5% in the Permian Basin. Zacks Rank and Other Key Picks Currently, Apache has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Investors interested in the same industry can also consider Anadarko Petroleum Corporation APC, Devon Energy Corporation DVN and Murphy Oil Corporation MUR, each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Devon Energy Corporation (DVN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apache Corporation (APA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research May 2 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose for the fourth straight month in April, bolstered by China's better-than-expected economic data and on optimism that the United States and China are inching towards a trade deal. In April, the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, gained about 1.6 percent, its biggest gain since January. Boosting regional optimism, China posted economic growth of 6.4 percent in the first quarter, in a sign that Beijing's policy stimulus is gaining traction in the world's second-largest economy. Industrial output in March expanded at the fastest pace since mid-2014. Also, the recent meetings between the U.S. and Chinese officials to hammer out a trade deal lifted Asian shares. 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. In April, Singapore equities led the regional gains with a 5.8 percent rise, followed by Japan and Taiwan . On the other hand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the biggest losers, with declines of 4.8 percent and 1.42 percent, respectively. (Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich) Lock-Motherboard It goes without saying that the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine are fundamental components of U.S. lawespecially in the field of e-discovery. With the purpose of encouraging full and open dialogue between lawyers and clients, the attorney-client privilege protects the confidentiality of communications, and the work product doctrine protects lawyers work prepared in anticipation of litigation. But what about the rest of the world? At the recent Tokyo Summit, produced by the CJK Group, legal commentators focused on issues ranging from data privacy to discovery to diversity. Not surprisingly at a program held at the Tokyo American Club, most discussions focused on legal issues affecting Japan and the United States. However, Japan and the United States werent the only jurisdictions analyzed at the Tokyo Summit. Brazil entered the picture in a discussion on how the attorney-client privilege isor is notapplied in United States, Japan, and Brazil. Common Law and Civil Law As the unofficial litigation capital of the world and a common law jurisdiction (with the hybrid exceptions of Louisiana and Puerto Rico), the United States has robust protections for attorney-client communications and attorney work product. Of course, these protections are not absolute. As e-discovery practitioners know, they can be waived inadvertently, and there are limitations, such as the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege, excluding protection if the communication is made in furtherance of a crime or fraud. In civil law nations, such as Japan and Brazil, the obligation to disclose data is generally very limited, making e-discovery, the attorney-client privilege, and the work product doctrine much less of an issue in most matters. In fact, its often assumed that civil law nations dont have an attorney-client privilege, but its not that cut and dry. For instance, in Brazil, there is protection for confidential communicationsat least on paper. Story continues Privilege in Brazil Brazilian law provides for a duty of client confidentiality for lawyers, and the relationship is guided by Estatuto da Advocacia e da Oab - Lei 8906/94 (Law No. 8906 of July 4, 1994, Statute of the Legal Profession). Brazilian law provides also for what we in the United States would refer to as the work product doctrine, protecting a lawyers workplace, work tools and work product. Although there are very limited exceptions, Brazil is crystal clear in recognizing the privilege in communications between attorneys and their clients, said Eloy Rizzo, partner and vice chair, Compliance, Investigations & White Collar at Koury Lopes Advogados (KLA) in Sao Paulo. Although Brazils recognition of an attorney-client privilege may be crystal clear, according to Rizzo, its implementation may not be. Corruption in the Car Wash Operacao Lavo Jato, or Operation Car Wash in English, has been called the biggest corruption scandal in Brazilian historyperhaps the biggest scandal in the history of all of South America. Launched in 2014, Operation Car Wash began as an investigation of allegations that executives of Petrobas, Brazils national oil company, took bribes from construction firms. Although the investigation began with alleged bribes at Petrobas, the scandal expanded to engulf politicians and business executives, resulting in over 200 convictions, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Among those ensnarled in the scandal include former presidents Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Michel Temer. As the investigation expanded across Brazil, KLAs Rizzo noted that, although the attorney-client privilege was on the books, it wasnt always followed. Notwithstanding the fact that this privilege is guaranteed by law, in the Car Wash probe, we have seen situations in which such privilege is ignored, Rizzo said. One example Rizzo gave involved attorney work product when, during a pre-dawn raid at a Brazilian construction company, a memorandum of law was seized and leaked to Brazilian newspapers. Due to this lack of respect for the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, Rizzo says he has taken additional steps to protect client confidentiality. What I have been doing in some of our most sensitive cases in the recent years is not sharing written investigative reports with our clients, Rizzo said. Instead, he takes a personal approach to protect his clients. We actually invite our clients to come to our offices or we get into a plane to their headquarters, just to make sure thatif theres a dawn raidthe results of investigation will not be in the front page of every Brazilian newspaper," Rizzo added. No Privilege in Japan? At the Tokyo Summit, a program on investigations, compliance and technology featured Kohji Kawai, board member of the Japan In-house Lawyers Association; Hidetaka Miyake, special counsel at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune; and KLAs Rizzo, with David Horrigan, discovery counsel and legal education director at Relativity moderating. When asked about the attorney-client privilege in Japan, Kawai and Miyake noted that there really wasnt one. Could that be changing? Kawai notes that, in 2014, the Nihon Bengoshi Rengokai (Japan Federal Bar AssociationsJFBA) established the Working Group on Principles of Protection of Confidentiality of Communications between Attorney and Client (PPCC). The PPCC spent two years researching attorney-client privileges around the world and the need for similar principles in Japan, and in February 2016, the working group issued its Basic Recommendation for Establishment of Principles of Protection of Confidentiality of Communications between Attorney and Client. The working groups recommendation including three provisions: Both the attorney and the client shall have the legal right to refuse compelled disclosure of confidential communications in civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings, A mechanism shall be established to determine the legitimacy of such refusals, A person in physical custody or restricted from visits or correspondence by others may receive visits from an attorney to obtain legal advicewithout the presence of law enforcement officialsand their correspondence shall not be subject to examination. Although the PPCC recommended bringing these protections to Japan, they have yet to be implemented. Nevertheless, that doesnt mean Japanese clients are completely without privilege protections. According to D. James Pak, a Los Angeles-based partner at Baker McKenzie who spoke on another panel at the Tokyo Summit, it can come down to an issue of international comity, or the mutual respect nations haveor at least should havefor the laws of other nations. As a U.S. litigator, if I have a conversation with a Japanese clienteven if that conversation takes place in Japanits still privileged from a U.S. perspective, and it will be upheld in U.S. courts, Pak said. Pak offered another hypothetical that could test this comity theory. What if a U.S. lawyer had a conversation with a Japanese client in Japanbut on an issue involving U.S. law in a Japanese court? Pak asked rhetorically. I believe the right outcome should be that the Japanese courts should respect the privilege under the theory of international comity, but its less certain what would happen in a Japanese court. Why These Privilege Questions Matter The United States, Brazil, and Japan provide a roadmap for the complexity of the privilege question when doing international legal workwith the United States having robust protection with exceptions, Brazil having protections in the law, but sometimes not in practice, and Japan not having codified protection. Why does it matter? First, these differences affect the way lawyers practice. For instance, U.S. lawyers may make copiously detailed notes and memos, but, as KLAs Rizzo noted, lawyers in Brazil will often avoid putting things in writingand the same is true in Japan. Second, these complexities create ambiguities in practice, running the risk of waiving privilege if disclosures occur in jurisdictions where there is little or no protections. In essence, these differences can create landmines for the lawyer. David Horrigan is discovery counsel and legal education director at Relativity. An attorney, journalist, and law school guest lecturer, he is a former reporter and assistant editor at The National Law Journal and contributing editor at LTN. Plans Approved for Construction of New Soybean Processing Facility Atlanta, IN, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Becks today announced plans to expand production and processing operations at the Atlanta, Ind., headquarters with a $62 million investment in a new soybean processing facility, seed drying equipment, and warehouses that are expected to be complete by 2022. Since 1992, Becks has seen tremendous growth, doubling in size every 6.5 years. With new sales territories, new facility locations, and new employees, Becks has not only become the number one selling corn and soybean seed brand in Indiana but the third largest corn and soybean brand in the United States. As we continue to grow and expand, with a footprint now in 11 states, we are driven by the increasing demands of our customers who want more high performing products suited for their acres, said Scott Beck, president of Becks. This investment will allow us to more efficiently process additional units of quality soybeans each year to help meet the needs of our current and future customers. This expansion at Becks headquarters will double the processing capacity from three million to six million units per year over the next six years. The 221 x 300 facility will feature a seven-story, standalone processing tower, five new warehouses for seed and equipment storage, as well as office space. Starting in 2019, the company expects to hire 60 additional employees at this location. Indiana is an easy state to do business in, noted Sonny Beck, CEO of Becks. And because of that, we decided to build here in our home state. The foresight of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Hamilton County officials to upgrade the roadways near our plant will allow us to double the soybean capacity at our headquarters, improve safety and decrease traffic congestion. Not only will this increase capacity and add jobs here in Indiana, it will allow us to better serve the needs of all our customers throughout our 11-state marketing area. In order to support the sales and distribution of the additional soybean production, Becks will hire additional farmer dealers in Indiana and other states to support farmers throughout the Midwest. About Becks Becks is the largest family-owned, retail seed company in the United States that serves farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. According to a recent seed industry survey, Becks ranks as the third largest corn and soybean brand in the United States and the number one seed brand in Indiana. To learn more about Becks, please visit www.beckshybrids.com. Follow Becks Hybrids on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BecksHybrids, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/beckshybrids, like Becks Hybrids on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ BecksHybrids, subscribe to their YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/BecksSuperiorHybrids, or visit the Becks Blog at www.beckshybrids.com/blog. Story continues Attachment Ashley Fischer Beck's Hybrids 317-984-3508 x3433 afischer@beckshybrids.com Venezuela is undergoing an unprecedented crisis as opposition leader Juan Guaido leading a coup to overthrow president Maduro. | Source: Matias DELACROIX / AFP By CCN.com: As the political and economic crisis in Venezuela escalates, citizens of the South American country are taking refuge in Bitcoin. In the final week of April, a record amount of Venezuelan bolivars were spent buying bitcoin per Coin Dance. Specifically, bitcoin worth more than 36.5 billion bolivars were purchased last week. Venezuela Venezuelan Bolivar to Bitcoin Volumes | Source: Coin Dance The previous record was bitcoin worth 31.3 billion bolivars which were purchased earlier last month. The record purchase of bitcoin coincided with a rise in political tensions in the Latin American country. Earlier this week opposition leader Juan Guaido urged the countrys military to join civilian protestors in ousting President Nicolas Maduro. BREAKING: Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido urges military, civilians to take to streets in new mass protests Wednesday. https://t.co/H6LSrRRrF4 The Associated Press (@AP) May 1, 2019 Will the United States intervene militarily in Venezuela? This was Guaidos third attempt to topple Maduro and so far has not achieved the anticipated success. The opposition leader has the support of 50 countries including the U.S., the U.K. and a host of South American countries. Maduro, on the other hand, has the support of China, Russia, Cuba, Turkey and other countries traditionally considered U.S. foes. Read the full story on CCN.com. By Nichola Saminather TORONTO, May 1 (Reuters) - Lucara Diamond Corp, which has recovered two of the largest diamonds in recent history, is turning to technology to ensure growth in an industry where new mine acquisitions remain elusive. For the Vancouver-based junior miner, that means using advanced technology like sorting based on atomic density to boost value from its Karowe mine in Botswana, and also diversifying away from mining into an online diamond sales platform. "Diamond mines are extremely rare... we haven't been able find the perfect asset, but we continue to look," Lucara Chief Executive Eira Thomas said in an interview. "In the meantime, we thought it was important to establish a growth agenda." While bigger companies like Anglo American's De Beers AK Alrosa PAO invest in advanced technologies, Lucara is "by far the industry leader" among the remaining smaller miners, said independent analyst Paul Zimnisky. "Lucara has one depreciating and depleting asset, so they do need to look long term," Zimnisky said. "They're carving out a unique niche for themselves." X-Ray transmission (XRT), which Lucara began using in 2015, enabled record diamond recoveries last year, including 33 stones over 100 carats. It measures ore's atomic density to identify diamonds early, allowing recoveries of larger stones, while traditional mining requires multiple crushing and concentration stages. "Previously, we could see the diamonds were broken... but we had no idea what the value loss associated with that was," Thomas said. "Did we break a 50-carat diamond or a bunch of 10-carat diamonds? We really couldn't tell." When Lucara began production at Karowe in 2012,it estimated the diamonds would be worth $200 to $250 a carat, Thomas said. With the XRT technology, they've been worth as much as $600 per carat, she said. Last week, Lucara said it had recovered a 1,758-carat diamond, the biggest in recent history. Lucara shares have gained 10 percent this year, outperforming most sector peers. Story continues The miner has also begun using its online sales platform Clara, doing four scheduled sales to eight manufacturers this year. Unlike traditional in-person tenders, where manufacturers bid on assortments of similar diamonds from producers, Clara allows manufacturers to place detailed orders. They are matched to stones in the system, with Lucara earning the difference between the bid and ask prices. Lucara's first sale in January generated revenue of $660,865, but the company didn't provide details of the other sales. The company aims to sign up at least one producer this year, and will begin continuous sales once the system is fine-tuned, Thomas said. Clara won't completely replace traditional tenders, which Lucara itself uses to sell diamonds under 1 carat and over 15 carats, Thomas said. The cost to scan smaller diamonds makes it uneconomical, and larger stones have too many potential outcomes, she said. Clara "opens up our universe of customers, who, right now, have to fly to Botswana to buy our diamonds," Thomas said. "We envisage a world where people buy diamonds from all over the world sitting at their desk." ($1 = 1.3464 Canadian dollars) (Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by David Gregorio) Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that the company has "unwavering support" for the LGBT community, but the Wall Street executive defended the company's sponsorship of an event honoring Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has a history of making homophobic comments. He recently said Brazil cannot become a "gay tourism paradise." Citigroup C CEO Michael Corbat defended the Wall Street bank's sponsorship of an upcoming event in New York City honoring Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro, who has a history of homophobic comments. Corbat told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that the bank spends "a lot of time" making sure its staff understand the company's support of the LGBT community. Corbat stopped short, however, of pulling out of sponsoring the event planned by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce to honor Bolsonaro at its 2019 Person of the Year Award Gala Dinner. Bain & Co., Delta Air Lines DAL and the Financial Times recently pulled their sponsorship of the event, though many big banks, including J.P. Morgan JPM , Morgan Stanley MS and Bank of America BAC , as well as other corporate and media sponsors, such as UnitedHealth Group UNH and Forbes Brasil, remain attached. Marriott International MAR 's New York City hotel the Marriott Marquis is the event's venue after the American Museum of Natural History reversed its plans to hold the event. Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson has a long history of support for the LGBT community. Bolsonaro recently said in an interview that Brazil cannot become a "gay tourism paradise," the latest in a history of homophobic comments made by the new Brazilian president. Previously he has been quoted as saying he would prefer his son to be a drug addict than gay and is proud to be a homophobe . Bolsonaro also has a long history of making incendiary comments about gender, indigenous groups and torture. Story continues "We spend a lot of time making sure our people understand the values of our company, and I hope in the case of that, there's no question in terms of our support, our unwavering support, for our LGBT community," Corbat told CNBC's Carl Quintanilla. "In there, we're supporting the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. We've operated in Brazil for many, many decades, and I think we're very clear in terms of our stance." Citi has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index for 15 consecutive years. New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, who represents the district in Manhattan where the Marriott Marquis is located, took to Twitter to denounce Citigroup and the event's sponsors. Hoylman cited the CNBC interview with Citi CEO Corbat. On CNBC Thursday, Corbat also defended the bank's executive pay structure . The pay gap at Citigroup, led by Corbat since 2012, is the biggest among large U.S. banks. Corbat made $24.2 million last year, 486 times the median employee pay of $49,766. While other bank CEOs made similar paydays, higher median pay at Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase meant that Citigroup had the most extreme ratio. The backlash over Bolsonaro's views on homosexuality is one of several recent instances in which Wall Street has been wrestling with the rift between its support on social issues and business operations. A growing list of multinational banks including J.P. Morgan are banning employees from staying at hotels owned by the sultan of Brunei , where homosexuality and adultery is punishable by death. Donovan Russo contributed to this report. More From CNBC Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! 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 China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Limited (HKG:512). Over the last twelve months China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings has recorded a ROE of 9.9%. That means that for every HK$1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated HK$0.099 in profit. View our latest analysis for China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings How Do I Calculate Return On Equity? The formula for return on equity is: Return on Equity = Net Profit Shareholders' Equity Or for China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings: 9.9% = HK$713m HK$7.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) Most readers would understand what net profit is, but its worth explaining the concept of shareholders equity. It is all earnings retained by the company, plus any capital paid in by shareholders. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets. What Does ROE Signify? ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. 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 China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Have A Good ROE? By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings has a lower ROE than the average (13%) in the Pharmaceuticals industry. Story continues SEHK:512 Past Revenue and Net Income, May 2nd 2019 That's not what we like to see. We prefer it when the ROE of a company is above the industry average, but it's not the be-all and end-all if it is lower. Nonetheless, it could be useful to double-check if insiders have sold shares recently. How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity? Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, 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. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used. China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings's Debt And Its 9.9% ROE Although China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings does use debt, its debt to equity ratio of 0.36 is still 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. The Key Takeaway 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. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt. But ROE is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, since high quality businesses often trade on high multiples of earnings. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to take a peek at this data-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company. If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Which Countries Pay the Most at UNIQLO? The Japanese clothing company UNIQLO has become internationally popular due to its reputation for comfort, style and affordable prices. Due to the brand's ubiquitous nature, we were curious how much consumers around the world end up paying for UNIQLO clothes. In this analysis, we compared the price of 10 UNIQLO clothing items by country in order to gauge how much prices differ globally. Japan Has the Lowest Average Prices Unsurprisingly, UNIQLO's prices tend to be lowest in Japan, where the company was founded and is headquartered. To make this determination, we gathered price data for 5 common articles of women's and men's clothing available on the websites of 13 countries, such as pants, shirts, hoodies and jackets. We then converted local currencies to U.S. dollars in order to make a straightforward comparison. Not only were UNIQLO's average prices lower than those of other countries, it had the lowest prices for 7 of the 10 items on our list. Which Countries Pay the Most for UNIQLO Clothing? While Japanese customers clearly pay the least for UNIQLO goods, our analysis indicates that some countries pay significantly more for UNIQLO clothing than others. On average, prices in the United States appear to be the highest among countries we sampled, being about 45% higher than in Japan. Meanwhile, prices appear to be most similar to Japan on UNIQLO's Canadian and Hong Kong websites. Estimated UNIQLO Price Premium Between Japan & Other Countries Potential Explanations for Pricing Discrepancies If you live in a country where UNIQLO products cost significantly more than they do in Japan, you are probably wondering why you face higher prices for the same goods. A number of factors are likely to impact the total price you pay at check-out, here we examine a few potential drivers. Import Tariffs First, it appears that tariffs play an important role in the variety of prices for UNIQLO clothes around the world. For example, the United States levies significant tariffs on clothingup to 32% for some items. On the other hand, Hong Kong does not levy tariffs on any imported goods. For this reason, it is understandable that the prices faced by consumers around the world can vary quite a bit. Story continues US Tariffs on Clothing Higher Prices for Richer Customers? It also appears that prices discrepancies between several countries (e.g. U.S., Australia, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong) and Japan may be correlated to the difference in GDP per capita between those countries and Japan. This might indicate that UNIQLO is able to sell its good at higher prices to consumers that have more money to spend on clothing. However, there are also several counter examples (e.g. China, the United Kingdom, France, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia) to this explanation, so it does not completely explain the price differences. UNIQLO Price Differences Compared to Japan Shipping Costs Additionally, it does not appear that shipping cost is a major factor driving UNIQLO's prices, as locations near and far from UNIQLO's Asia-based manufacturing locations have significantly varying prices. Furthermore, prices in the US were significantly higher than the prices in Canada, while both countries theoretically should not differ too much in terms of shipping costs from Uniqlo's manufacturing facilities in Asia. Parting Thoughts UNIQLO's prices vary country to country. For example, while its Men's Pocketable Parka goes for about $30 to $40 in other countries, the same item costs just $18 in Japan. Not only that, it seems like a number of different factors might be affecting prices in different countries in different manners. In some instances, import tariffs seem to have a strong influence, while we still observed meaningful differences in regions without import tariffs. While it's difficult to fully understand why this is so in such cases without being privy to UNIQLO's complex supply chain, other factors like local population's purchasing power could be a potential factor influencing the company's pricing scheme. Methodology To understand how much UNIQLO clothing costs across the world, we gathered price data for 10 items (5 women's, 5 men's) available in 13 different countries. We then converted the local prices to USD using the current exchange rate as of April 16, 2019. Next, we compared pricing between countries using an average of the converted prices. We did not take into account any applicable sales taxes as they can vary greatly by locality, and instead only analysed listed prices. We also did not consider temporary sales prices, in order to standardise our analysis. The article Which Countries Pay the Most at UNIQLO? originally appeared on ValueChampion. ValueChampion helps you find the most relevant information to optimise your personal finances. Like us on our Facebook page to keep up to date with our latest news and articles. More From ValueChampion: John Edmonds pleaded guilty in October to working with other "unnamed co-conspirators" to manipulate the prices of gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts between 2009 and 2015 while employed at J.P. Morgan. His sentencing has been postponed twice, suggesting he is continuing to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation. No one else has been charged. Federal investigators continue to probe possible manipulation of metals markets. The criminal sentencing of former J.P. Morgan Chase precious metals trader John Edmonds has been postponed six more months, to December, as federal investigators continue to probe possible manipulation of metals markets. Edmonds, 37, pleaded guilty in October in Connecticut federal court to working with other "unnamed co-conspirators" to manipulate the prices of gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts between 2009 and 2015 while employed at J.P. Morgan. The New York City man admitted learning illegal trading tactics from senior traders and to using those tactics with the knowledge and consent of supervisors. His sentencing has been postponed twice, suggesting he is continuing to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation. No one else has been charged. Edmonds' attorney could not be reached for comment. On the heels of his plea, multiple lawsuits were filed against J.P. Morgan and the bank's metals traders accusing the bank of illegally manipulating precious metals markets for years. Edmonds' admissions also echo allegations made in a similar, 2015 suit filed against the bank by a hedge fund manager and two commodity traders. All of the lawsuits were put on hold until May 31 by the federal judges overseeing each case at the request of prosecutors, who argued they could interfere with the criminal probe. Prosecutors plan to request an extension of the stay in the civil suit proceedings, a source said. J.P. Morgan for the first time in February mentioned the legal actions in a financial disclosure, saying "various authorities, including the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, are conducting investigations relating to trading practices in the precious metals markets and related conduct. The Firm is responding to and cooperating with these investigations." Story continues J.P. Morgan declined to comment when contacted by CNBC. More From CNBC A band of traders looking to bring rules to the crypto market continues to pick up steam, and now they're toying with the idea of a 'white list' to separate the wheat from the chaff.The post Jump Trading, Galaxy Digital, and many other traders mull instituting crypto market 'white list' appeared first on The Block. "Well, the market is small and not really growing." Darius Sit doesn't like to beat around the bush. And that's the typical frank response he gives when I check in on trading activity in Asia's crypto over-the-counter markets. Sit, a managing partner at QCP Capital, a crypto trading firm based in Singapore, is a former trader at BNP Paribas. He's been working closely with other trading firms across the market including the likes of Jump Trading and Galaxy Digital to create new standards to help OTC and market making firms flourish. It's a market that exploded as bitcoin rushed to $20,000 at the end of 2017. But the easy-money times are over, from Sit's perspective. "There's a bit of an arms-race going on in market making spreads," Sit said. "Guys are burning cash to win market share." Firms like QCP, and others like DRW's Cumberland's or Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital, broker large spot crypto trades for counter-parties, which can be miners or other trading entities a service for which they charge a fee. They also use their own proprietary trading technology to buy and sell crypto, making cash off the spread. But with volatility much lower than it was in 2017 and early 2018, and fees compressing for brokering large trades, crypto OTC desks are in a pinch, says Sit. Adding to those troubles is the fact that large investors are still sitting on the sidelines. "Unlike other asset classes you don't have asset allocators or pension funds or index fund guys saying 'hey lets allocate X percent to crypto," he added. "Not yet at least." Indeed, The Block previously reported on the OTC market's woes, including recent lay-offs. Still, recent efforts by Sit's firm show OTC firms aren't sitting on their hands. QCP Capital is behind a large effort among crypto's largest traders in the market dubbed CORA to build out a clearing house for digital assets and set standards for a derivatives market. Bloomberg's Alastair Marsh first reported on CORA's initial meeting in Asia. Story continues Simon Nursey, cofounder of CORA Network, said the organization is tackling the incongruities in the nascent crypto market. "There are really basic things, like what expiry time really means, physical or cash settlement, quoting conventions, standards for settlement ...these things are important to running a smooth market," Nursey said. Derivatives, according to Sit, will be the industry's saving grace. The complex financial instruments aren't new to crypto, but the market for them is growing with new contract types coming online each week, issued for the most part by OTC and market making firms. GSR, another crypto trading firm, recently rolled out a new bitcoin hedging product, dubbed Bitcoin Variance Swap. More products means more trading, ideally, which translates into more money for such firms. "Yield and leverage are keys for critical growth in the space and these will come from derivatives like swaps and options. This is actually the reason we started CORA in the first place," Sit said. A previous version of this post incorrectly said GSR was a member of CORA. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Ely Gold Royalties Inc. (TSXV: ELY) (OTCQB: ELYGF) ("Ely Gold") or the ("Company") is pleased to announce that on April 27, 2019, it closed its previously announced purchase of a 0.75% (three quarters of one percent) gross receipts royalty (the "Isabella Royalty") on the Isabella Pearl Mine ("Isabella Pearl") from a private estate ("the Owner"). Isabella Pearl is located in Mineral County, Nevada and is operated by Gold Resource Corporation ("GORO" NYSE American: GORO). Ely Gold paid the Owner a cash consideration of US$300,000 for the Isabella Royalty. (see Ely Gold press release dated October 21, 2019) Subsequent to the Closing, GORO announced its first gold production at Isabella Pearl (see GORO press release dated April 29, 2019). As defined, the Isabella Royalty is payable on gross receipts and is not subject to any "commercial production" thresholds. Therefore, royalty payments will begin to accrue from this initial production. The first royalty payment to Ely Gold will be subject to the recovery, by GORO, of US$31,250 in advanced royalty payments. Isabella Pearl contains Proven and Probable reserves estimated at 2,934,400 tonnes grading 2.28 grams per tonne, for 214,800 gold ounces. The current mine life is 4.5 years. These Mineral Reserves and production estimates are available in the "Report on the Mineral Resource and Reserve for the Isabella Pearl Project" dated December 31, 2018 http://www.goldresourcecorp.com/NV-reserves.php. Based on the early production start, GORO has stated that it expects production of 29,000 ounces of gold in the first 12 months of commercial production, increasing to 40,000 in year 2 (see GORO press release dated March 26, 2019). In the March 26 release, GORO also reported that a 2019 drill program is planned to define new mineralization to potentially expand the Isabella Pearl open pit. In addition to adding to the Isabella Pearl deposit, GORO is targeting nearby gold discoveries for additional open pit mining to the north west, including the Scarlet and Civit Cat North West targets. Scarlet begins approximately 100 meters north west of Isabella Pearl's current planned pit boundary. Ely Gold holds a 2.5% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on much of the Isabella Pearl expansion property including the Scarlet and Civit Cat North West targets (see figure #1). Story continues Trey Wasser, Ely Gold's President & CEO commented, "This first producing royalty marks a significant milestone for Ely Gold Royalties. We must commend GORO for an incredible achievement in constructing Isabella Pearl and reaching production in just 10 months. As Isabella Pearl is fully developed and the other satellite properties are fully explored, our royalty interests could become significant assets for Ely Gold. Our shareholders only need to look at GORO's track record of development and expansion in their Mexico operations to envision the future of their Nevada Mining Unit. With the GORO team again operating at such a high level, we believe that the market will now begin to appreciate the long-term value in our large royalty position in GORO's valuable Nevada assets." Ely Gold's purchase of the Isabella Royalty was the fifth transaction that the Company has completed in concert with GORO's consolidation of its Nevada Mining Unit (see figure #2). These transactions highlight Ely Gold's growth strategy of generating royalties, through property acquisition and consolidation, at or near producing mines throughout Nevada. Since 2016, total Ely Gold property sales to GORO of US$1,500,000 have created the following royalties: 2.5% NSR on certain exploration ground at Isabella Pearl; 2.5% NSR at the County Line Property; 2-3% NSR at the Mina Gold Property; and 2% NSR on certain claims at the Camp Douglas Property. Stephen Kenwood, P. Geo, is a director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Kenwood has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. About Ely Gold Royalties Inc. Ely Gold Royalties Inc. is a Vancouver-based, emerging royalty company with development assets focused in Nevada and Quebec. Its current portfolio includes 33 Deeded Royalties and 20 properties optioned to third parties. Ely Gold's royalty portfolio includes producing royalties, fully-permitted mines and development projects that are at or near producing mines. The Company is actively seeking opportunities to purchase existing third-party royalties for its portfolio and all the Company's Option Properties are expected to produce royalties, if exercised. The royalty and option portfolios are currently generating significant revenue. Ely Gold is well positioned with its current portfolio of over 20 available properties to generate additional operating revenue through option and sale transactions. The Company has a proven track record of maximizing the value of its properties through claim consolidation and advancement using its extensive, proprietary data base. All portfolio properties are sold or optioned on a 100% basis, while the Company retains royalty interests. Management believes that due to the Company's ability to generate third-party royalty transactions, its successful strategy of organically creating royalties, its equity portfolio and its current low valuation, Ely Gold offers shareholders a low-risk leverage to the current price of gold and low-cost access to long-term mineral royalties. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Signed "Trey Wasser" Trey Wasser, President & CEO For further information, please contact: Trey Wasser, President & CEO trey@elygoldinc.com 972-803-3087 Joanne Jobin, Investor Relations Officer jjobin@elygoldinc.com 604-488-1104 Forward-looking Statement Caution This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the Company's acquisition of the Lincoln Hill 1% Royalty relating to Coeur's Lincoln Hill Mine Property, Coeur's stated plans for further near-term exploration and development of the Lincoln Hill Property, and the Company's outlook for the expected performance of its royalty and option portfolios. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the risk of accidents and other risks associated with Coeur's mineral exploration, development and extraction operations, the risk that Coeur will encounter unanticipated geological factors, or the possibility that Coeur may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances, necessary to carry out its stated plans for the Lincoln Hill Property, the risk of unknown title defects that could impair the Company's inability to enforce the Lincoln Hill 1% Royalty, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal disputes or changes in the jurisdictions where the Company carries on its business that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. 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. "Gold Resource Corporation and its affiliates do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION. Cannot view this image? Visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/40402b05f6aa865d939296cf166c9ece Figure #1 Isabella Pearl Exploration Property To view an enhanced version of Figure #1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4181/44482_ba1758da149159cf_001full.jpg Cannot view this image? Visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/d89b13c6b071b05dbc902e3df7f64f04 Figure #2 GORO Nevada Mining Unit Ely Gold Royalty Structure To view an enhanced version of Figure #2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4181/44482_ba1758da149159cf_002full.jpg This press release, as required by applicable Canadian laws, is not for distribution to U.S. newswire services or for dissemination in the United States To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44482 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union could take the United States to the World Trade Organization or use retaliatory sanctions to protect its companies in Cuba after President Donald Trump lifted a ban on U.S. citizens filing lawsuits against investors there. "The EU considers the extra-territorial application of unilateral restrictive measures to be contrary to international law and will draw on all appropriate measures," the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. Mogherini said those steps could include a World Trade Organization case on the issue or using a "Blocking Statute" that allows EU companies sued in the United States to recover any damages from U.S. claimants in EU courts. Mogherini said the EU would also seek support from other countries, although she did not name them. European, as well as Canadian companies, have invested in Cuba's tourism and energy sectors and Trump's decision is likely to further strain ties. The Trump administration last month lifted a long-standing ban against U.S. citizens filing lawsuits against foreign companies that use properties seized by Cuba's Communist government since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. The major policy shift, which the State Department said could draw hundreds of thousands of legal claims worth tens of billions of dollars, is intended to intensify pressure on Havana at a time Washington is demanding an end to Cuban support for Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro. (Reporting by Robin Emmott) Did the FED just spoil the bull run? Economic data and corporate earnings will be in focus through the day. Economic Calendar: Thursday, 2nd May German Retail Sales (MoM) (Mar) Spanish Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Italian Manufacturing PMI (Apr) French Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Final German Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Final Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (Apr) Final Friday, 3rd May Eurozone Core CPI (YoY) (Apr) Prelim Eurozone CPI (YoY) (Apr) Prelim The Majors Two consecutive days in the green saw the majors close out April on a high note ahead of Wednesdays Labor Day holiday. The CAC40 led the way through the start of the week, rising by 0.31%, with the DAX30 close behind, up by 0.23%. Trailing the pair was the EuroStoxx600, which was up by just 0.03%. Economic data released through the European session was on the heavier side on Tuesday. Key stats included GDP numbers out of France, Spain, and the Eurozone. Supporting the major indexes was a pickup in economic activity in the 1st quarter. The Eurozone economy grew by 1.2% year-on-year, coming in ahead of a forecasted and 4th quarter 1.1%. While the numbers were far from impressive, the very fact that there was an expansion delivered. Economic indicators through the 1st quarter had raised a number of red flags ahead of Tuesdays stats. Pinning back the majors on the day, however, were weaker than anticipated private sector PMI numbers out of China. Manufacturing sector activity stagnated in April according to the April NBS survey, which reported a PMI of 50.1, down from 50.5 in March. Looking across the majors, Airbus saw red in spite of earnings coming in ahead of forecasts. Daimler and BMW were amongst the front runners on the DAX30, gaining 0.38% and 0.33% respectively. Following some upside on Monday, the banks saw red at the end of the month, with Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank falling by 1.22% and by 0.76% respectively. BNP Paribas and UniCredit S.p.A also saw red, falling by 0.45% and by 0.26% respectively. For the bulls, the positive end to the month left the DAX30 at the top of the major bourses, rallying by 7.1% in April. Some distance behind was the CAC40, which gained 4.4%. Story continues The Day Ahead For the day ahead, its a busy day on the economic calendar. Manufacturing PMI figures are due out of Italy and Spain, with finalized numbers due out of France, Germany, and the Eurozone. Ahead of the PMIs, retail sales figures out of Germany will also set the tone in the early part of the session. While the European markets were closed on Wednesday, the FEDs forward guidance on policy weighed on appetite for equities on the day. Fence sitting lowered expectations of a rate cut later in the year, a view that had supported the majors through April. While economic data and sentiment towards FED monetary policy will need to be considered, corporate earnings will also be a key driver on the day. The UKs Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Germanys Volkswagen AG will release corporate earnings today. While there are no key earnings due out of the U.S, factory order numbers could support if in line with or better than forecast. At the time of writing, the futures were pointing to a mixed open. The DAX30 was down by 12.5 points, while the CAC40 was pointing to a 17 point rise at the open. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - China has suspended pork imports from two Canadian companies, according to an interview with Canada's agricultural minister and a Chinese customs document, marking the latest irritant in a widening diplomatic dispute. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. "We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I can't speculate on why the permits have been suspended." However, a document posted to the website of China's General Administration of Customs dated April 30 and reviewed by Reuters on Thursday said that imports from Canadian meat producers Olymel LP and Drummond Export have been suspended. "(China) will suspend imports of pork products shipped since April 30 by Canadian companies with codes 270A and 254," the document said, without providing further details. According to China's Certification and Accreditation Administration, 270A and 254 are the codes for Olymel LP and Drummond Export. China's government offices are closed for the Labour Day holiday until May 5. Olymel LP spokesman Richard Vigneault confirmed on Wednesday that the company's plant in Red Deer, Alberta, has been unlisted for exporting pork to China. He said he did not know the reason behind China's action. Drummond could not be immediately reached after business hours. 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. Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. Story continues The permit suspensions are also due to paperwork problems, although not the same issue as before, according to Gary Stordy, spokesman for the Canadian Pork Council, which represents Canadian hog farmers. Both Olymel and Drummond are based in the Canadian province of Quebec. Olymel employs 13,000 workers and exports pork and poultry products to over 65 countries, according to its website. Drummond was founded in 1984 and exports to more than 30 countries, employing workers from more than 130 local families, its website said. Canada, the world's third-largest pork exporter, has shipped more pork this year to China, where the domestic pig herd has been ravaged by African swine fever (ASF). China bought C$514 million ($382.5 million) worth of Canadian pork in 2018. "With African swine fever, and the fact (the Chinese) are very big consumers of pork and here in Canada we are free from ASF, its surprising that this is happening," Bibeau said. China is the largest global producer and consumer of pork. Earlier on Wednesday, the Canadian government offered financial assistance to canola farmers who have been hit by a Chinese ban on imports and said it was looking to diversify into other markets. ($1 = 1.3438 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in WINNIPEG, Manitoba, and David Ljunggren in OTTAWA, Judy Hua and Roxanne Liu in BEIJING; editing by Diane Craft, G Crosse and Christian Schmollinger) Sempra Energy SRE is set to report first-quarter 2019 results on May 7, before market open. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 6.12%. Moreover, it surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 4.00%. Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. Sempra Energy Price and EPS Surprise Sempra Energy Price and EPS Surprise | Sempra Energy Quote Factors at Play Sempra Energys service territories witnessed favorable temperature for most of the first quarter. This indicates increased electricity demand in its service territory, which in turn must have provided a boost to the companys top-line performance. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues stands at $3.12 billion, suggesting growth of 5.3% from the year-ago quarters figure. Also, higher pipeline activities and accretion from its Oncor acquisition are expected to boost the companys bottom line in the quarter to be reported. In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings is pegged at $1.69, indicating an 18.2% improvement from the year-ago quarter number. During the first quarter, Sempra Energy completed the sale of its non-utility U.S. natural gas storage facilities to an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners for $328 million in cash. We may expect the companys cash flow statement to duly reflect the sale proceeds from this divestiture in the soon-to-be-reported quarter. These apart, the companys management approved a dividend hike of 8.1% in the first quarter, which is indicative of Sempra Energys solid cash flow position. This should get reflected in the upcoming quarterly results. Furthermore, Sempra Energy started the sale procedure of its equity interests in its South American businesses, which includes an 83.6% stake in Peru and a 100% stake in Chile. We can expect further updates on this transaction, once the company releases its first-quarter 2019 results. Story continues Earnings Whisper Our proven model does not conclusively show that Sempra Energy is likely to beat estimates in first-quarter 2019. This is because a stock needs to have the right combination of two key ingredients a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Earnings ESP: Sempra Energy has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Conversely, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into earnings announcements. Stocks That Warrant a Look Investors can consider the following players from the same sector that have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the upcoming releases. South Jersey Industries, Inc. SJI has an Earnings ESP of +3.56% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report first-quarter 2019 results on May 8. PNM Resources, Inc. PNM has an Earnings ESP of +3.45% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to report first-quarter 2019 results on May 7. Atmos Energy Corporation ATO has an Earnings ESP of +0.35% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report second-quarter fiscal 2019 results on May 7. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PNM Resources, Inc. (Holding Co.) (PNM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sempra Energy (SRE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Atmos Energy Corporation (ATO) : Free Stock Analysis Report South Jersey Industries, Inc. (SJI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research May 1 (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Wednesday reported a 9.8 percent fall in April sales in Canada. The company, which is one of the top carmakers in the country, sold 20,802 vehicles in April, with its Chrysler brand reporting a 71 percent slump in sales. Sales in the United States fell 6 percent, hurt by lower demand for its Jeep SUV brand and Dodge sedans. (Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel) For Immediate Release Chicago, IL May 2, 2019 Zacks Equity Research highlights Ford F as the Bull of the Day and American Airlines AAL as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Qualcomm QCOM and Fitbit FIT. Here is a synopsis of all four stocks: Bull of the Day: Ford has come a long way since the American auto-industry almost failed in March of 2009. They have achieved steadily increasing revenues growing on an annual average of 3.6% since 2009. In Q1 this growth was illustrated yet again beating their estimated EPS by almost 70% representing growth Y/Y, which analysts were not expecting. Yearly EPS estimates just went from negative for 2019 and 2020 to positive as analysts recognize operational excellence in Americas oldest automotive company. In their most recent quarter, Ford grew both its SUV and truck businesses increasing sales by 5 and 4.1% Y/Y respectively. These two segments are the bread and butter of Ford, making up over 80% of the vehicles sold. Fords smaller cars underperformed the rest of the portfolio losing 23% YoY. The F-Series truck remains Fords highest performing vehicle and continues to gain market share with the closest competitor delivering 95K fewer trucks this quarter, expanding this margin by 16K trucks from Q1 last year. With oil prices down over 15% from their high in Q4, consumers are feeling more confident about buying larger cars. Ford struggled international losing market share in every market outside the US and an overall negative EBIT. Luckily 70% of their revenue and over 100% of EBIT comes from North America where they were actually able to gain market share and improve margins. Story continues Future of Ford Ford is always looking forward as a firm and has a large research and innovation center in Silicon Valley with over 160 top researcher, engineers, and scientists. They are making the connection between automotive and computer technology a priority. Electric and autonomous cars will be the future of the automotive industry and Ford is dedicated to being a front runner in this race. They plan on having a fully autonomous car available to the public by 2021. Ford says it will launch 40 electric cars by 2022 for global consumers. Ford has been reducing the number of vehicle platforms they use in order to achieve larger economies to scale. They currently have 9 car platforms one-third of what they had in 2007 and are going to reduce this to 5 moving forward. This will cut manufacturing costs as well as make it easier for Ford to pivot to consumer needs and get vehicles to market faster. Financial Advantage Currently, F is trading at a discount for all major valuation metrics. Ford is valued at 8.44x forward P/E compared to the broader auto industry trading on average at 10.18x. They are trading at less than half of the industries average P/S and P/B. Ford is rewarding investors with a 5.74% dividend yield far above the 3% industry average. Conclusion Ford is trading at $10.30, still 22% off of its high last year and is likely to bust through last years high if these favorable economic conditions continue. One concern with any automotive company is that they are incredibly cyclical and are directly correlated with consumer discretionary spending. If the economy turns south, people will not be buying as many cars and this will have a materially negative effect on Fords profits. Looking just at analysts outlook for F I am very optimistic about its future, especially with the discount it is currently trading at and the 5.74% dividend to curb investors concerns. F - Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Bear of the Day: American Airlines is down almost 20% over the past 52-weeks and analysts continue to adjust earnings downward. Over the past 90 days AAL 2019 earnings have been adjusted down by 9%, and 2020 EPS estimates have been adjusted down 8% in the same time frame. The most accurate analysts have estimates even lower than the consensus. The current outlook for AAL looks grim pushing it into Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Reasons to Sell American Airlines currently has 24 Boeing 737 MAX planes making up 2% of its fleet, the second most in the US behind Southwest. The Boeing MAX is currently grounded until August when they will reassess this timeline and likely add another 3-9 months until these planes can fly again. American Airlines will likely have a 1% loss in capacity, according to management guidance, until 2020. This may not sound like a lot, but when you take into account the efficient margins that the MAX was expected to bring to the table the impact is multiplied. Rising oil prices are the most substantial concern for any airline, with it being their largest variable cost. Oil is up over 30% this year so far and could continue. OPEC agreed to cut 1.2 million BPD in supply, turmoil in Venezuela is killing their oil production and Iran oil sanctions is going to be pulling over 1 million BPD off the market starting tomorrow. Oil prices are subject to continue to increase if these supply concerns aren't fully priced in. This increase will have a materially adverse effect on American Airlines bottom line. What concerns me most about this stock is its negative earnings growth. American Airlines has had consistent to growing revenue since 2015 but has lost almost 70% on its bottom line in the past 3 years with margins falling drastically. Reasons to Hold American Airlines has substantially underperformed the market & the airline industry, but this stock may be oversold. Currently, AAL is trading at a P/E of 6.23x significantly below the industry average of 10.36x. Price to sales and price to cash-flow are also both considerably below the industry average. Unfortunately, AAL has all the momentum pushing it down. This downward momentum is subject to continue with the negatively adjusted guidance and oil price increases but look to buy AAL below $30. From the analyst reports that I have examined many of them are setting a long term price target of $41. I wouldnt short this stock but watch it continue to fall and maybe buy on an upswing. Additional content: Qualcomm (QCOM) Beats, Investors Sell the News Qualcomm posts its first quarterly report since its settlement with Apple (AAPL) had been announced on IP rights and usage, and the company beat estimates on both top and bottom lines after the closing bell Wednesday. Earnings of 77 cents per share surpassed the 71 cents in the Zacks consensus, on revenues of $4.98 billion which easily outpaced the expected $4.8 billion. The earnings beat is nothing new for Qualcomm, which has not missed in any quarter since the reconfiguration of Zacks earnings data (calendar Q2 2015), with a trailing 4-quarter average of +19%. And the IP deal with Apple bringing an end to litigation between the two companies, along with Apple licensing Qualcomms chips for 6 years, likely for use with Apples coming 5G iPhone happened in early April, after Qualcomms fiscal Q2 had concluded. Qualcomm did indicate an expected gain from the deal in its fiscal Q3 of $4.5-4.7 billion, indicated to be a GAAP payment. Shares, which had taken off like a rocket on the Apple deal announcement a month ago, are selling the news in late trading, down 4.3%. Fitbit also outperformed expectations in its Q1 report also released Wednesday afternoon: -15 cents per share was better than the -22 cents analysts were looking for. Revenues of $272 million easily topped the consensus $259.88 million. But Q2 guidance on the bottom line was worse than current estimates, while they remained in-line with current top-line consensus. Devices sold grew 36%, but Average Selling Price fell 19%. Shares are trading up 1.8% in after-hours. Today's Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%. This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year. See their latest picks free >> Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer. 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Zacks Investment Research * Fresenius Q1 sales up 5 pct to 8.5 bln euros * Adjusted operating profit rises 2 pct to 1.11 bln euros * Sees signs of stabilisation at Helios Germany * Confirms full-year guidance (Adds analysts, shares, details) By Caroline Copley BERLIN, May 2 (Reuters) - Fresenius reported a rise in first-quarter sales and operating profit on Thursday, helped by growth at its generic infusion drugs and dialysis units, as its troubled German hospital business showed signs of stabilisation. The German group has flagged 2019 as an investment year as it steps up a drive to improve German hospitals that have suffered from declining admissions and high staff turnover. It also wants to scale up its home dialysis business. Currency-adjusted quarterly sales rose 5 percent to 8.5 billion euros ($9.5 billion), helped by growth at its Kabi infusion unit and separately listed Fresenius Medical Care . Operating profit rose 2 percent to 1.11 billion euros. "All four Fresenius business segments have developed in line with our expectations, putting us well on course to meet our targets for the year," Chief Executive Stephan Sturm said. Fresenius had a turbulent 2018 as it grappled with operating problems at two of its three major businesses and was tied up with a court battle over its aborted takeover of generic drugmaker Akorn, which it won. Bankhaus Lampe analysts were encouraged the company had managed to stop the margin erosion at its Helios Germany hospitals business, even though sales fell 6 percent and operating profit declined 16 percent, hurt by a nursing shortage and a less pronounced flu season. "We see our thesis supported that none of the businesses are facing material structural challenges," wrote analyst Volker Braun, who rates the stock 'buy'. But Jefferies analyst James Vane-Tempest said it was too early to call a stabilisation trend at Helios given the company faces challenges from reforms to the German hospital payments system that kick in next year. Shares in Fresenius, which have surged 19 percent so far this year, outperforming a 9.6 percent increase in the European health sector index, pared early gains to trade 0.1 percent lower at 0942 GMT. Story continues At Fresenius Medical Care, which has faced a slowdown in North America, its most important market, adjusted sales rose 6 percent to 4.13 billion euros, helped by agreements that materialised earlier than planned. Operating profit increased by 4 percent in constant currencies to 551 million euros. Adjusted quarterly sales at Kabi rose 4 percent, while revenue at its smallest division Vamed, which manages projects for hospitals and provides post-acute care in central Europe, jumped 33 percent. Despite expected earnings dilution from its $2 billion acquisition of home dialysis maker NxStage, Fresenius confirmed its guidance for currency-adjusted sales growth of 3-6 percent this year compared with 6 percent last year, while profit is expected to stay around the same level as 2018. ($1 = 0.8923 euros) (Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter) Vancouver, British Columbia, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Future Farm Technologies Inc. (the Company or Future Farm) (CSE: FFT) (OTCQB: FFRMF) is pleased to announce that it has begun preparations for the propagation of its 2019 hemp-for-wellness crop in Belfast, Maine. The Company will be growing its Cherry Wine cultivar over 100 acres of farmland in Hersey, Maine, but is first propagating the plants indoors at the Belfast facility. Future Farm expects to harvest over 120,000 pounds of biomass this season, with each plant producing approximately one pound of biomass. Planting on 100 acres requires a tremendous amount of planning to align labor, care for the plants at each stage, preparation of the field, and transplanting of the seedlings. Future Farm is planning to have the biomass from its Maine operations processed into full spectrum hemp oil, CBD distillate and CBD isolate for sale to manufacturers of products using those valuable ingredients. Building on its ongoing successful seed business, the Company projects that it will produce over two million hemp seeds in 2019, almost double the production of its 2018 inaugural season. This plan positions Future Farm to be among the largest suppliers of high-quality hemp seed in the Northeast United States. We have been focused on caring for the seeds we are about to grow since we harvested them in 2018 because they have outstanding genetics that provide high propagation rates and high CBD content, comments Zachary Lapan, General Manager of Future Farm Maine. He continues, "It's always exciting for me, as a farmer and a manager, to see that first sprout. For further information, contact William Gildea, Director, at (888) 387-3761. On behalf of the Board, Future Farm Technologies Inc. William Gildea, CEO About Future Farm Technologies Inc. Future Farm is a Canadian company with holdings throughout North America including California, Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, Puerto Rico and Newfoundland. The Companys mission is to advance sustainable agriculture through production of wholesale and retail cannabis products, including hemp. As a leader in its field, Future Farm is committed to using only the highest quality processes and products. Towards this goal, the Company acquires or partners with licensed cannabis operators, and acquires or develops leading technologies in cannabis production, breeding, genetics, and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). Future Farms scalable, indoor CEA systems utilize minimal land, water and energy resources. The Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to use a patented vertical farming technology that, when compared to traditional plant production methods, generates yields up to 10 times greater per square foot of land. Story continues Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. Investor Relations 888-387-3761 x710 INVESTOR@FUTUREFARMTECH.COM 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. Story continues 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. JERSEY CITY, New Jersey, May 2 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Thursday that shareholders voted to elect all of the company's directors and that more than 90 percent of votes favored its executive pay packages. A single shareholder proposal, which would have permitted investors an additional means to take action, was opposed by the board and failed, receiving less than 40 percent of votes, according to a preliminary tallies. The votes were taken at the bank's annual shareholder meeting at its offices in Jersey City, New Jersey on Thursday. (Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts in Jersey City, New Jersey and David Henry in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul) FILE PHOTO: The brand logo of Alphabet Inc's Google is seen outside its office in Beijing, China August 8, 2018. Picture taken with a fisheye lens. REUTERS/Thomas Peter SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google has completed a 10,000-kilometer (6,214-mile) subsea cable linking the coast of California to Chile, a key step in its plans to bolster its global cloud computing infrastructure. The cable, dubbed the "Curie" project, arrived at the Chilean port of Valparaiso on Tuesday, Google said in a post on their regional website. The cable starts in Los Angeles before making its way to South America under the Pacific Ocean. Google has been investing heavily in technology infrastructure, especially in vital submarine cables connecting up its global network. Other links include a cable connecting the United States to Denmark and Ireland, and another linking hubs in Asia. Chilean Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Gloria Hutt, in a statement to mark the cable's arrival, said the new link would "provide advantages and opportunities for millions of Internet users" in Chile. Google has a data center in the Chilean capital Santiago. The country is working on deploying a fiber-optic network to connect the entire country, and is moving ahead with a separate plan to install a submarine line with Asia. (Reporting by Natalia Ramos in Santiago; writing by Adam Jourdan, editing by G Crosse) TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Idaho Champion Gold Mines Canada Inc. (CSE:ITKO) (Champion or the "Company"), a discovery-focused gold exploration company, has a signed Decision Memorandum from the US Forest Service that approves exploratory drilling on the Sally claim block. See Idaho Champions press release October 15, 2018 on the purchase of the Sally clams. Idaho Champion is now finalizing plans to commence the 2019 drill program on their claims (see Fig 1). Idaho Champion will issue a future press release on details of the 2019 drill program. The goal of the 2019 drill program is to continue the success of 2018 in drilling the Orogrande Shear Zone. Jonathan Buick, Champions President and CEO, explains that: In receipt of the drilling permit, we will look to launch an exploration program to commence in early summer. We believe that a drill program on the Sally Claims offer us the best opportunity to intercept the structure which we identified last year during our exploration program which saw Idahos newest gold discovery. The Baner Project is located within the Orogrande shear zone (OSZ), a 20-kilometer-long and up to 1 kilometer wide regional shear zone located in Central Idaho. The OSZ resembles a series of grabens composed of metamorphosed Proterozoic belt sedimentary rocks, Cretaceous Idaho batholith intruded by Tertiary rhyolites and dacitic dikes. The BC claim block covers a series of parallel shear zones on the eastern margin of the OSZ. Hydrothermal alteration is spatially associated with the OSZ and consists of silicification, seritization, and chloritization. Mineralization is hosted by three types of broadly defined deposit types; Tertiary epithermal deposits, Cretaceous intrusive related gold systems and orogenic shear zone deposits hosted within the batholith. Mineralization includes disseminated low-grade precious metal mineralization in associated stockwork veins, hydraulic breccias and extensive widespread alteration; high-grade gold associated with discreet structurally controlled quartz veins and silicified zones. Story continues The Baner/Sally Project is in the central Idaho Gold Belt, 8 km south of Elk City, Idaho. Elk City is an historic gold mining region dating back to the 1860s and once supported more than 20 underground mines and extensive placer operations. During the 1930s there were three cyanide gold mills along Crooked River processing open pit and underground sulfide ore. Exploration in the district during the 1980s and 1990s included Cypress-Amax, Kinross Gold, and Bema Gold primarily focused on near-surface bulk-tonnage gold potential. Premium Exploration conducted extensive drilling, soil sampling, and airborne and surface geophysics in the 2010 era. Currently a Finnish gold producer, Endomines AB is developing the Friday project at Orogrande into an underground gold operation and is constructing a gold processing mill. Figure 1 accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4751be46-945d-41bc-9487-e9c0a3c51e36 Qualified Person The technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Peter Karelse P.Geo., a consultant to the Company, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Karelse has more than 30 years of experience in exploration and development. ABOUT IDAHO CHAMPION Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused gold exploration company that is committed to advancing its 100% owned highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho, United States. The Companys shares trade on the CSE under the trading symbol "ITKO". Idaho Champion is vested in Idaho with the Baner Project in Idaho County, the Champagne Project located in Butte County near Arco, and four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. Idaho Champion strives to be a responsible environmental steward, stakeholder and a contributing citizen to the local communities where we operate. Idaho Champion takes our social license seriously and employ local community members and services in our operations. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Jonathan Buick Jonathan Buick, President and CEO For further information, please visit the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or the Companys corporate website at www.idahochamp.com. For further information please contact: Nicholas Konkin, Marketing and Communications Phone: (416) 477 7771 ext. 205 email: nkonkin@idahochamp.com THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. Cautionary Statements This News Release includes certain forward-looking statements which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys 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. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companys objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to failure to identify mineral resources, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital, operating and reclamation costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR. 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. A Boston jury convicted Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor and other former executives of racketeering and other crimes. Federal prosecutors say the fentanyl bribery case helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. Prosecutors accused Kapoor and four former executives of bribing doctors to unnecessarily prescribe their painkiller, Subsys. A Boston jury convicted Insys Therapeutics INSY founder John Kapoor and four former executives of racketeering and other crimes in a fentanyl bribery case that federal prosecutors say helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. Prosecutors accused Kapoor and the other executives of bribing doctors to unnecessarily prescribe their painkiller, Subsys. The Department of Justice said the bribes took many forms, mostly as "sham" programs that were meant to increase brand awareness for their drug. Instead, prosecutors alleged Insys used the programs as a way to pay practitioners to overprescribe Subsys. The former executives were also accused of defrauding insurers and others that paid for the medication. Kapoor and his colleagues were found guilty Thursday after 15 days of deliberations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on Twitter. Kapoor, the former chairman of Insys, is the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive to be tried in a case related to the opioid epidemic. "Just as we would street-level drug dealers, we will hold pharmaceutical executives responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic by recklessly and illegally distributing these drugs, especially while conspiring to commit racketeering along the way," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement. Subsys is a fentanyl-based narcotic meant to treat cancer patients. Prosecutors say the former Insys executives bribed doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions to patients, many of whom did not have cancer. The other executives found guilty were: Richard Simon, former national director of sales; former regional sales directors Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan; and Michael Gurry, former vice president of managed markets. Story continues Michael L. Babich, former CEO and president, pleaded guilty in January and is set to be sentenced in September. Alec Burlakoff, former vice president of sales, also pleaded guilty in January to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is set to be sentenced later this year. Insys Therapeutics said in a statement that Kapoor's shares in the company have been and will remain in an independent trust, with which Kapoor is not involved. The company added that the "actions of a select few former employees of the company are not indicative of the hard work conducted" by it today. Insys stock was down 1.6% on Thursday after the markets closed. The opioid epidemic has become a major issue that lawmakers have sought to tackle. More than 130 people in the nation die every day after overdosing on opioids. According to the CDC, about 218,000 people died from overdoses related to prescription opioids from 1999 to 2017. Federal prosecutors have recently started cracking down on drugmakers accused of contributing to the opioid epidemic. In April, Rochester Drug Cooperative agreed to pay a $20 million settlement after it was charged with unlawfully distributing oxycodone and fentanyl and conspiring to defraud the Drug Enforcement Administration. Prosecutors also charged 60 doctors, pharmacists and other health-care professionals in April for illegally prescribing more than 32 million pain pills. Reuters contributed to this article. More From CNBC European Union General Data Protection Regulation shield icon. Photo by Shutterstock.com. European Union General Data Protection Regulation shield icon. Photo by Shutterstock.com. U.S. senators designing a possible federal data privacy law heard input from Ireland's data protection commissioner and U.S. consumer advocacy groups at a hearing Wednesday. It's the latest in a series of congressional committee hearings in Washington, D.C., meant to shape policy ideas for the proposed law, which has gained bipartisan traction this year in the wake of numerous data breaches, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act. Members of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation raised their concerns with data privacy regulation on a federal level with witness Helen Dixon, the Irish data protection commissioner, whose agency oversees GDPR compliance for Facebook, Twitter, Uber and other U.S. tech companies incorporated in Ireland. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked about the GDPR's impact on small- and medium-sized businesses in Europe and whether the law's implementation last May reduced employment opportunities. Irish officials are "not aware of evidence that the GDPR is effecting jobs adversely," Dixon said. That's in part because certain GDPR articles don't apply to smaller companies, Dixon said earlier in the hearing. The law dictates businesses implement new processes "appropriate to the risks and scale of personal data processing they're undertaking," not a one-size-fits-all approach, she added. Neema Singh Guliani, a hearing witness and senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, suggested a federal data privacy law's penalties should vary based on the size of the business. Senators also questioned Dixon on the value of pre-emption in a U.S. federal data privacy law. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, said GDPR is an "EU-wide regime" versus a law specific to Ireland. Dixon noted GDPR is a "hybrid" state and EU-level law, with "members state flavors in terms of choices" on certain aspects of the regulation, such as the country's digital age of consent. Guliani and James Steyer, the chief executive officer and founder of Common Sense Media, both said they would have "serious concerns" with a federal data privacy law that pre-empted state law, particularly the CCPA. Both witnesses said CCPA should be a "floor" for federal privacy regulation, not a ceiling, and would not back a nationwide law with looser consumer protections that undermined California's law. Google, Twitter and other tech companies have pushed for a federal law that would pre-empt CCPA, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. In a September 2018 Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing, Google chief privacy officer Keith Enright and Amazon.com Inc. associate general counsel Andrew DeVore said CCPA's definition of impacted personal information was unclear and backed the idea of a regulation with pre-emption. At Wednesday's hearing, Dixon was also hit with questions on Ireland's enforcement of GDPR violations against EU versus U.S. companies by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri. Dixon said Ireland's Data Protection Commission hasn't issued any GDPR-related fines yet, but the agency is currently investigating 51 companies, 12 of which are U.S. tech companies, for violations. Her agency plans to wrap the first wave of GDPR investigations up this summer, she said. That could include an investigation launched against Facebook in October after the Menlo Park, California-based company revealed a data breach impacting millions of users. The highest fine a company can face under the GDPR is 4% of its annual turnover, more than $1.5 billion for Facebook. 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. 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The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. * Assange says does not wish to surrender for extradition * WikiLeaks founder wanted by United States * Charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion * Case "not about hacking" - lawyer (Adds Assange's lawyer) By Michael Holden LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday his work had protected "many people" and refused to agree to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years. Asked at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the United States, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said: "I do not wish to surrender for extradition. I'm a journalist winning many, many awards and protecting many people." 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. To others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail after fleeing to Ecuador's Embassy in London, where he remained for seven years until police dragged him out last month. Assange had sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face an allegation of rape, which he denies, saying he feared he would be sent to the United States to face action over the WikiLeaks' release of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. Hours after his arrest last month, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer. "The charge relates to one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States," said Ben Brandon, the lawyer representing the United States. Story continues He said in early 2010, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had downloaded 90,000 activity reports relating to the Afghan war, 400,000 relating to the conflict in Iraq, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. The vast majority of these were later released on WikiLeaks. "NOT ABOUT HACKING" There were computer room chats showing real-time discussions between Manning and Assange over cracking a password to gain access to classified U.S. documents and the public release of the information, Brandon said. "Despite what you heard from the prosecutor in the courtroom today, this case is not about hacking," Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said outside court. "This case is about a journalist and a publisher who had conversations with a source about accessing material, encouraged that source to provide material and spoke to that source about how to protect their identity. This is protected activity that journalists engage in all the time." She said the action against him had been launched under former U.S. President Barack Obama and aggressively pursued by the administration of Donald Trump. The case was adjourned until May 30 for a procedural hearing with a more substantial hearing planned for June 12. The full extradition hearing was some months away, Judge Michael Snow told the court. (Reporting by Michael Holden; writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alistair Smout and Janet Lawrence) Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Every investor in Tempo Australia Limited (ASX:TPP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Dont tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.' Tempo Australia is a smaller company with a market capitalization of AU$16m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about TPP. Check out our latest analysis for Tempo Australia ASX:TPP Ownership Summary, May 2nd 2019 What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Tempo Australia? Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices. As you can see, institutional investors own 11% of Tempo Australia. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Tempo Australia's historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. ASX:TPP Income Statement, May 2nd 2019 We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Tempo Australia. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time. Story continues Insider Ownership Of Tempo Australia 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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Tempo Australia Limited. It has a market capitalization of just AU$16m, and insiders have AU$7.0m worth of shares in their own names. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently. General Public Ownership With a 42% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over TPP. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. Private Company Ownership It seems that Private Companies own 4.8%, of the TPP stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company. Next Steps: I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph. Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. 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. TULSA, OK, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Laredo Petroleum, Inc. (LPI) ("Laredo" or "the Company") today announced its 2019 first-quarter results, reporting a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $9.5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share. Adjusted Net Income, a non-GAAP financial measure, for the first quarter of 2019 was $27.9 million, or $0.12 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, for the first quarter of 2019 was $122.9 million. Please see supplemental financial information at the end of this news release for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures. 2019 First-Quarter Highlights Produced a Company record 75,276 barrels of oil equivalent ("BOE") per day, driven by continued operational efficiency improvements that resulted in 20 completions during the quarter, 33% more than originally anticipated Reduced combined unit lease operating expenses ("LOE") and unit cash general and administrative expense ("G&A") to $5.42 per BOE in the first quarter of 2019, an approximately 11% decrease from full-year 2018 of $6.07 per BOE, as the Company continued to focus on controllable cash costs in both field operations and corporate-level personnel expenses Drove down completion costs at the end of the first quarter of 2019, as the Company realized lower prices for in-basin sand and completion services, reducing per well capital costs by approximately $500,000 from originally budgeted amounts and decreasing the Company's per well capital cost to approximately $7 million per well for a 10,000-foot horizontal Efficiently managed capital expenditures during first-quarter 2019, resulting in a net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.8 times1, which is expected to hold constant throughout 2019 as Laredo begins to generate free cash flow in the second quarter of 2019 "The strategy transition that Laredo committed to late last year is well underway," stated Randy A. Foutch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "During the first quarter, we completed the two remaining packages of tightly-spaced wells and are currently wrapping up completion operations on the first package of wells developed on wider spacing sooner than expected. We have also delivered on our pledge to align personnel costs with activity levels by a recent reduction in force, which cut combined cash, non-cash and capitalized general and administrative costs by approximately 25% on an annualized basis. Most importantly, we have already improved on the plan to operate within cash flow that we put forth a little over two months ago by restructuring our oil hedges, securing additional cash flow to increase activity and substantially accelerating the time frame in which we expect to generate free cash flow while growing oil production." Story continues "Institutional investors have fundamentally changed how they measure success for exploration and production companies over the last few years and we endeavor to listen to all of our shareholder's input on how we can better operate the Company," continued Mr. Foutch. "We have made substantial progress transitioning Laredo from a net asset value accretion philosophy to one focused on measured growth with free cash flow generation and expect to be cash flow neutral for full-year 2019, but recognize there is more work to do. We look forward to continuing our communication with all of our investors as we work together to realize our common goals." Updated 2019 Operating Plan Subsequent to the approval of the Company's 2019 capital plan, Laredo's expected cash flow has benefited from both tactical and strategic decisions the Company implemented to improve anticipated financial and operational performance in 2019 and beyond. The Company restructured its oil hedges in 2019 and 2020 to significantly raise the weighted-average floor price for both years, reduced in-basin sand and completion services costs from those previously budgeted by approximately 25%, settled previously announced litigation that resulted in a substantial cash payment to Laredo and delivered on the commitment to cut combined capitalized and expensed personnel costs. The Company expects to allocate the combined additional cash flows from these decisions to drilling and completion activities in 2019 and 2020. The additional activity improves Laredo's anticipated oil production versus previous guidance by approximately 3% in 2019 and by approximately 19% in 2020, while maintaining its previously-communicated target of cash flow neutrality. The updated operating plan for 2019 increases anticipated well completions from approximately 36 gross completions to approximately 52, with the increased activity primarily in the second half of 2019. The additional activity leverages the benefits of the previous drilling and completion efficiency improvements Laredo has demonstrated in the past five years by continuously operating two drilling rigs and one completion crew through the second half of 2019. Laredo now expects to invest approximately $465 million in 2019, excluding non-budgeted acquisitions, comprised of approximately $400 million for drilling and completion activities and approximately $65 million for production facilities, land and other capitalized costs. Activity and capital expenditures for 2019 continue to be first-half weighted, with approximately 60% of expected completions and capital expenditures occurring in the first half of 2019. The Company expects to be cash flow positive beginning in the second quarter of 2019 and to balance cash flow and capital expenditures for full-year 2019. The Company's production profile for 2019 and 2020 should improve with this additional activity. Total production for full-year 2019 is now expected to grow approximately 11% versus full-year 2018 compared to approximately 9% in the original budget. Oil production for full-year 2019 is expected to decrease approximately 2% versus full-year 2018 compared to an approximate 5% decrease with the original budget. The additional completions in the second half of 2019 significantly improve the Company's anticipated production for full-year 2020 versus the previous budget. Driven by the updated 2019 operating plan, Laredo now expects oil production for full-year 2020 to be approximately flat versus full-year 2019, compared to originally guided expectations of a decrease of approximately 13%. The Company's improved production profile in 2019 and 2020 better positions Laredo for mid-single digit oil production growth and free cash flow generation in 2021. E&P Update During the first quarter of 2019, Laredo continued to efficiently execute its operational plan, completing 20 gross (19.8 net) horizontal wells with an average completed lateral length of 10,900 feet, exceeding initial expectations of 15 gross horizontal completions. The 20 wells were completed as two 10-well packages and were the last of the tight-spacing packages the Company had previously drilled. Both oil and total production exceeded guidance in the first quarter of 2019. Total production averaged a Company record 75,276 BOE per day, an increase of approximately 7% from the previous quarter and above Company-issued guidance of 74,000 BOE per day. First-quarter 2019 oil production averaged 28,157 BOPD, an increase of 1% from the previous quarter and exceeding Company-issued guidance by more than 2%. In the second quarter of 2019, Laredo expects to complete 12 gross (11.5 net) horizontal wells with an average completed lateral length of approximately 11,700 feet. These wells were developed on the Company's wide-spacing development strategy. The first package to be completed during the quarter is an eight-well package co-developing two landing points in the Upper Wolfcamp formation. The second package is a four-well package developing a single landing point in the Upper Wolfcamp formation. These wider-spaced packages are expected to be more productive than the tighter-spaced packages Laredo focused on in 2017 and 2018 and are expected to improve the returns and capital efficiency of the Company's development program. Laredo continues to take action to drive down capital costs. At the end of the first quarter of 2019, the Company realized lower pricing for completion services and in-basin sand than was budgeted, reducing the per well capital cost for a 10,000-foot horizontal well by approximately $500,000. The reduction is expected to be realized for completions through at least the end of 2019. Additionally, the Company's continued focus on controllable cash costs reduced combined unit LOE and unit cash G&A to $5.42 per BOE in the first quarter of 2019 from $6.07 per BOE in full-year 2018. Laredo expects these combined costs to trend down on a unit basis through 2019 as the Company's reduction in force is expected to drive unit cash G&A savings and unit LOE is expected to remain among the lowest in the Midland Basin, driven by benefits derived from Laredo's field infrastructure investments. 2019 Capital Program During the first quarter of 2019, Laredo invested approximately $144 million in drilling and completions activities. Other expenditures incurred during the quarter included approximately $4 million in bolt-on land acquisitions, lease extensions and data, approximately $9 million in infrastructure, including Laredo Midstream Services investments, and approximately $7 million in other capitalized costs. Total costs incurred of approximately $164 million in the first quarter of 2019 was slightly below Laredo's expected capital expenditures for the quarter, putting the Company on pace to deliver on the plan to operate within cash flow. Liquidity At March 31, 2019, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $45 million and available capacity under its senior secured credit facility of $915 million, resulting in total liquidity of approximately $960 million. On April 30, 2019, in connection with the semi-annual redetermination of the Company's senior secured credit facility, lenders set the Company's borrowing base at $1.1 billion. At April 30, 2019, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $85 million and available capacity under its senior secured credit facility of $815 million, resulting in total available liquidity of approximately $900 million. Commodity Derivatives Subsequent to the end of the first quarter of 2019, Laredo executed a tactical restructuring of its oil hedges for the balance of 2019 and full-year 2020, and significantly increased hedged volumes in full-year 2020. This restructuring locked in WTI pricing approximately 10% higher than the Company's original budgeting and planning assumptions and approximately 25% higher than the Company's previous weighted-average floor price over the 21-month period. Prior to the restructuring, Laredo's 2019 oil hedges were predominately puts with a weighted-average floor price of approximately $47 per barrel. The Company closed substantially all of its put contracts and in their place entered into swap contracts at a weighted-average price of $62.02 per barrel for the balance of 2019. This restructuring results in Laredo having approximately 90% of expected oil production for the balance of 2019 hedged at a weighted-average floor price of $60.42 per barrel, driving an anticipated cash flow increase of approximately $60 million as compared to the Company's initial 2019 budget. For full-year 2020, the Company closed collars with $45 per barrel floors and entered into swap contracts at a weighted-average price of $60.28 per barrel. Laredo now has approximately 75% of anticipated oil production for full-year 2020 hedged at a weighted-average floor price of $58.79 per barrel. Laredo has approximately 70% of its anticipated natural gas production for the balance of 2019 hedged for both product and basis. Currently, the Company has natural gas product swaps at a weighted-average Henry Hub price of $3.09 per MMBtu and WAHA/Henry Hub basis swaps at a weighted-average price of ($1.51) per MMBtu. Additionally, Laredo has hedged approximately 65% of anticipated NGL production for the balance of 2019. The Company enters into contracts solely with banks that are part of its senior secured credit facility. Details of the Company's hedge positions are included in the current Corporate Presentation available on the Company's website at www.laredopetro.com. Guidance The Company is increasing its anticipated full-year 2019 total production growth guidance to approximately 11% from a previous estimate of approximately 9% and improving oil production guidance to a decrease of approximately 2% from a previous estimate of a 5% decrease, as compared to full-year 2018. The table below reflects the Company's guidance for the second quarter of 2019. 2Q-2019E Total production (MBOE/d) 78.5 Oil production (MBO/d) 28.5 Average sales price realizations (without derivatives): Oil (% of WTI) 95% NGL (% of WTI) 20% Natural gas (% of Henry Hub) 0% Operating costs & expenses: Lease operating expenses ($/BOE) $3.30 Production and ad valorem taxes (% of oil, NGL and natural gas revenues) 6.75% Transportation and marketing expenses ($/BOE) $0.75 Midstream service expenses ($/BOE) $0.15 General and administrative: Cash ($/BOE) $2.00 Non-cash stock-based compensation, net ($/BOE) $0.65 Depletion, depreciation and amortization ($/BOE) $9.30 Conference Call Details On Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 7:30 a.m. CT, Laredo will host a conference call to discuss its first-quarter 2019 financial and operating results and management's outlook, the content of which is not part of this earnings release. A slide presentation providing summary financial and statistical information that will be discussed on the call will be posted to the Company's website and available for review. The Company invites interested parties to listen to the call via the Company's website at www.laredopetro.com, under the tab for "Investor Relations." Portfolio managers and analysts who would like to participate on the call should dial 877.930.8286 (international dial-in 253.336.8309), using conference code 8489007, approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled conference time. A telephonic replay will be available approximately two hours after the call on May 2, 2019 through Thursday, May 9, 2010. Participants may access this replay by dialing 855.859.2056, using conference code 8489007. About Laredo Laredo Petroleum, Inc. is an independent energy company with headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Laredo's business strategy is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties and midstream and marketing services, primarily in the Permian Basin of West Texas. Additional information about Laredo may be found on its website at www.laredopetro.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and any oral statements made regarding the subject of this release, including in the conference call referenced herein, contain forward-looking statements as defined under Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address activities that Laredo assumes, plans, expects, believes, intends, projects, estimates or anticipates (and other similar expressions) will, should or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on managements current belief, based on currently available information, as to the outcome and timing of future events. General risks relating to Laredo include, but are not limited to, the decline in prices of oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas and the related impact to financial statements as a result of asset impairments and revisions to reserve estimates, the increase in service and supply costs, tariffs on steel, pipeline transportation constraints in the Permian Basin, hedging activities, possible impacts of pending or potential litigation, the suspension or discontinuance of share repurchases at any time and other factors, including those and other risks described in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and those set forth from time to time in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). These documents are available through Laredo's website at www.laredopetro.com under the tab "Investor Relations" or through the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering and Analysis Retrieval System at www.sec.gov. Any of these factors could cause Laredo's actual results and plans to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, Laredo can give no assurance that its future results will be as estimated. Laredo does not intend to, and disclaims any obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statement. The SEC generally permits oil and natural gas companies, in filings made with the SEC, to disclose proved reserves, which are reserve estimates that geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions and certain probable and possible reserves that meet the SEC's definitions for such terms. In this press release and the conference call, the Company may use the terms "resource potential" and "estimated ultimate recovery," or "EURs," each of which the SEC guidelines restrict from being included in filings with the SEC without strict compliance with SEC definitions. These terms refer to the Companys internal estimates of unbooked hydrocarbon quantities that may be potentially added to proved reserves, largely from a specified resource play. A "resource play" is a term used by the Company to describe an accumulation of hydrocarbons known to exist over a large areal expanse and/or thick vertical section potentially supporting numerous drilling locations, which, when compared to a conventional play, typically has a lower geological and/or commercial development risk. EURs are based on the Company's previous operating experience in a given area and publicly available information relating to the operations of producers who are conducting operations in these areas. Unbooked resource potential or EURs do not constitute reserves within the meaning of the Society of Petroleum Engineer's Petroleum Resource Management System or SEC rules and do not include any proved reserves. Actual quantities of reserves that may be ultimately recovered from the Company's interests may differ substantially from those presented herein. Factors affecting ultimate recovery include the scope of the Company's ongoing drilling program, which will be directly affected by the availability of capital, decreases in oil and natural gas prices, well spacing, drilling and production costs, availability and cost of drilling services and equipment, drilling results, lease expirations, transportation constraints, regulatory approvals, negative revisions to reserve estimates and other factors as well as actual drilling results, including geological and mechanical factors affecting recovery rates. Estimates of ultimate recovery from reserves may change significantly as development of the Company's core assets provides additional data. In addition, our production forecasts and expectations for future periods are dependent upon many assumptions, including estimates of production decline rates from existing wells and the undertaking and outcome of future drilling activity, which may be affected by significant commodity price declines or drilling cost increases. "Type curve" refers to a production profile of a well, or a particular category of wells, for a specific play and/or area. In addition, the Companys production forecasts and expectations for future periods are dependent upon many assumptions, including estimates of production decline rates from existing wells and the undertaking and outcome of future drilling activity, which may be affected by significant commodity price declines or drilling cost increases. The "standardized measure" of discounted future new cash flows is calculated in accordance with SEC regulations and a discount rate of 10%. The actual results may vary considerably and should not be considered to represent the fair market value of the Companys proved reserves. Laredo Petroleum, Inc. Condensed consolidated statements of operations Three months ended March 31, (in thousands, except per share data) 2019 2018 (unaudited) Revenues: Oil, NGL and natural gas sales $ 173,376 $ 197,434 Midstream service revenues 2,883 2,359 Sales of purchased oil 32,688 59,903 Total revenues 208,947 259,696 Costs and expenses: Lease operating expenses 22,609 21,951 Production and ad valorem taxes 7,219 11,812 Transportation and marketing expenses 4,759 Midstream service expenses 1,603 693 Costs of purchased oil 32,691 60,664 General and administrative 21,519 24,725 Depletion, depreciation and amortization 63,098 45,553 Other operating expenses 1,052 1,106 Total costs and expenses 154,550 166,504 Operating income 54,397 93,192 Non-operating income (expense): Gain (loss) on derivatives, net (48,365 ) 9,010 Interest expense (15,547 ) (13,518 ) Other, net (72 ) (2,164 ) Non-operating expense, net (63,984 ) (6,672 ) Income (loss) before income taxes (9,587 ) 86,520 Income tax benefit: Deferred 96 Total income tax benefit 96 Net income (loss) $ (9,491 ) $ 86,520 Net income (loss) per common share: Basic $ (0.04 ) $ 0.36 Diluted $ (0.04 ) $ 0.36 Weighted-average common shares outstanding: Basic 230,476 238,228 Diluted 230,476 239,319 Laredo Petroleum, Inc. Condensed consolidated statements of cash flows Three months ended March 31, (in thousands) 2019 2018 (unaudited) Cash flows from operating activities: Net income (loss) $ (9,491 ) $ 86,520 Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities: Deferred income tax benefit (96 ) Depletion, depreciation and amortization 63,098 45,553 Non-cash stock-based compensation, net 7,406 9,339 Mark-to-market on derivatives: (Gain) loss on derivatives, net 48,365 (9,010 ) Settlements received (paid) for matured derivatives, net 102 (2,236 ) Premiums paid for derivatives (4,016 ) (4,024 ) Other, net 7,776 5,308 Cash flows from operating activities before changes in assets and liabilities 113,144 131,450 (Increase) decrease in current assets and liabilities, net (36,750 ) 15,495 Decrease (increase) in other noncurrent assets and liabilities, net 1,064 (474 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 77,458 146,471 Cash flows from investing activities: Capital expenditures: Oil and natural gas properties (152,729 ) (195,025 ) Midstream service assets (2,262 ) (3,362 ) Other fixed assets (505 ) (3,963 ) Proceeds from disposition of equity method investee, net of selling costs 1,655 Proceeds from dispositions of capital assets, net of selling costs 43 1,021 Net cash used in investing activities (155,453 ) (199,674 ) Cash flows from financing activities: Borrowings on Senior Secured Credit Facility 80,000 55,000 Share repurchases (53,714 ) Stock exchanged for tax withholding (2,612 ) (4,353 ) Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities 77,388 (3,067 ) Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (607 ) (56,270 ) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 45,151 112,159 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 44,544 $ 55,889 Laredo Petroleum, Inc. Selected operating data Three months ended March 31, 2019 2018 (unaudited) Sales volumes: Oil (MBbl) 2,534 2,439 NGL (MBbl) 2,099 1,563 Natural gas (MMcf) 12,849 10,173 Oil equivalents (MBOE)(1)(2) 6,775 5,698 Average daily sales volumes (BOE/D)(2) 75,276 63,314 % Oil(2) 37 % 43 % Average sales prices(2): Oil, without derivatives ($/Bbl)(3) $ 50.97 $ 61.87 NGL, without derivatives ($/Bbl)(3) $ 15.36 $ 18.14 Natural gas, without derivatives ($/Mcf)(3) $ 0.93 $ 1.79 Average price, without derivatives ($/BOE)(3) $ 25.59 $ 34.65 Oil, with derivatives ($/Bbl)(4) $ 47.66 $ 58.53 NGL, with derivatives ($/Bbl)(4) $ 15.33 $ 18.11 Natural gas, with derivatives ($/Mcf)(4) $ 1.11 $ 1.85 Average price, with derivatives ($/BOE)(4) $ 24.68 $ 33.34 Average costs and expenses per BOE sold(2): Lease operating expenses $ 3.34 $ 3.85 Production and ad valorem taxes 1.07 2.07 Transportation and marketing expenses 0.70 Midstream service expenses 0.24 0.12 General and administrative: Cash 2.08 2.70 Non-cash stock-based compensation, net 1.09 1.64 Depletion, depreciation and amortization 9.31 7.99 Total costs and expenses $ 17.83 $ 18.37 Cash margins per BOE sold(2)(5): Realized $ 18.16 $ 25.91 Hedged $ 17.25 $ 24.60 _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) BOE is calculated using a conversion rate of six Mcf per one Bbl. (2) The numbers presented are based on actual results and are not calculated using the rounded numbers presented in the table above. (3) Realized oil, NGL and natural gas prices are the actual prices received when control passes to the purchaser/customer adjusted for quality, transportation fees, geographical differentials, marketing bonuses or deductions and other factors affecting the price received at the wellhead. (4) Price reflects the after-effects of our derivative transactions on our average sales prices. Our calculation of such after-effects includes settlements of matured derivatives during the respective periods in accordance with GAAP and an adjustment to reflect premiums incurred previously or upon settlement that are attributable to derivatives that settled during the respective periods. (5) On a per BOE basis, cash margins are calculated as average price less, (i) lease operating expenses, (ii) production and ad valorem taxes, (iii) transportation and marketing expenses, (iv) midstream service expenses and (v) cash general and administrative. Laredo Petroleum, Inc. Costs incurred The following table presents costs incurred in the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties, with asset retirement obligations included in development costs, for the periods presented: Three months ended March 31, (in thousands) 2019 2018 (unaudited) Property acquisition costs: Evaluated $ $ Unevaluated Exploration costs 7,505 6,137 Development costs 152,717 149,038 Total costs incurred $ 160,222 $ 155,175 Laredo Petroleum, Inc. Supplemental reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures Non-GAAP financial measures The non-GAAP financial measures of Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA, as defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Therefore, these non-GAAP measures should be considered in conjunction with net income or loss and other performance measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, such as operating income or loss or cash flows from operating activities. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP measures, such as net income or loss, operating income or loss or any other GAAP measure of liquidity or financial performance. Adjusted Net Income (Unaudited) Adjusted Net Income is a non-GAAP financial measure we use to evaluate performance, prior to income taxes, mark-to-market on derivatives, premiums paid for derivatives, gains or losses on disposal of assets and other non-recurring income and expenses and after applying adjusted income tax expense. We believe Adjusted Net Income helps investors in the oil and natural gas industry to measure and compare our performance to other oil and natural gas companies by excluding from the calculation items that can vary significantly from company to company depending upon accounting methods, the book value of assets and other non-operational factors. Including a higher weighted-average common shares outstanding in the denominator of a diluted per share computation results in an anti-dilutive per share amount when an entity is in a loss position. As such, our net income (loss) (GAAP) per common share calculation utilizes the same denominator for both basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share. However, our calculation of Adjusted Net Income (non-GAAP) results in income for both periods presented. Therefore, we believe it appropriate and more conservative to calculate an adjusted diluted weighted-average common shares outstanding utilizing our fully dilutive weighted-average common shares. As such, we present a line item that calculates Adjusted Net Income per adjusted diluted common share. The following table presents a reconciliation of income (loss) before income taxes (GAAP) to Adjusted Net Income (non-GAAP): Three months ended March 31, (in thousands, except per share data) 2019 2018 (unaudited) Income (loss) before income taxes $ (9,587 ) $ 86,520 Plus: Mark-to-market on derivatives: (Gain) loss on derivatives, net 48,365 (9,010 ) Settlements received (paid) for matured derivatives, net 102 (2,236 ) Premiums paid for derivatives (4,016 ) (4,024 ) Loss on disposal of assets, net 939 2,617 Adjusted income before adjusted income tax expense 35,803 73,867 Adjusted income tax expense(1) (7,877 ) (16,251 ) Adjusted Net Income $ 27,926 $ 57,616 Net income (loss) per common share: Basic $ (0.04 ) $ 0.36 Diluted $ (0.04 ) $ 0.36 Adjusted Net Income per common share: Basic $ 0.12 $ 0.24 Adjusted diluted $ 0.12 $ 0.24 Weighted-average common shares outstanding: Basic 230,476 238,228 Diluted 230,476 239,319 Adjusted diluted 231,531 239,319 _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) Adjusted income tax expense is calculated by applying a statutory tax rate of 22% for each of the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. Adjusted EBITDA (Unaudited) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net income or loss plus adjustments for income taxes, depletion, depreciation and amortization, non-cash stock-based compensation, net, accretion expense, mark-to-market on derivatives, premiums paid for derivatives, interest expense, gains or losses on disposal of assets and other non-recurring income and expenses. Adjusted EBITDA provides no information regarding a company's capital structure, borrowings, interest costs, capital expenditures, working capital movement or tax position. Adjusted EBITDA does not represent funds available for discretionary use because those funds are required for debt service, capital expenditures, working capital, income taxes, franchise taxes and other commitments and obligations. However, our management believes Adjusted EBITDA is useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because this measure: is widely used by investors in the oil and natural gas industry to measure a company's operating performance without regard to items excluded from the calculation of such term, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods, the book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired, among other factors; helps investors to more meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the effect of our capital structure from our operating structure; and is used by our management for various purposes, including as a measure of operating performance, in presentations to our board of directors and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting. There are significant limitations to the use of Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the effect of certain recurring and non-recurring items that materially affect our net income or loss, the lack of comparability of results of operations to different companies and the different methods of calculating Adjusted EBITDA reported by different companies. Our measurements of Adjusted EBITDA for financial reporting as compared to compliance under our debt agreements differ. The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) (GAAP) to Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP): Three months ended March 31, (in thousands) 2019 2018 (unaudited) Net income (loss) $ (9,491 ) $ 86,520 Plus: Deferred income tax benefit (96 ) Depletion, depreciation and amortization 63,098 45,553 Non-cash stock-based compensation, net 7,406 9,339 Accretion expense 1,052 1,106 Mark-to-market on derivatives: (Gain) loss on derivatives, net 48,365 (9,010 ) Settlements received (paid) for matured derivatives, net 102 (2,236 ) Premiums paid for derivatives (4,016 ) (4,024 ) Interest expense 15,547 13,518 Loss on disposal of assets, net 939 2,617 Adjusted EBITDA $ 122,906 $ 143,383 1Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Net debt to Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as net debt as of March 31, 2019 divided by trailing twelve-month Adjusted EBITDA ending March 31, 2019 of $568 million. Net debt as of March 31, 2019 was $1.025 billion, calculated as the face value of debt of $1.070 billion reduced by cash and cash equivalents of $45 million. Contacts: Ron Hagood: (918) 858-5504 - RHagood@laredopetro.com Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 By Paul Carrel JENA, Germany (Reuters) - From the 12th floor of Jenoptik's headquarters, chief executive Stefan Traeger points to his laser factory and the university that provides it with talent. Welcome to "Optics Valley" - a role model for Germany's East in a big year for the region. Three elections in eastern states this autumn are focusing the minds of Chancellor Angela Merkel and her allies, who want to win over voters unhappy that their living standards still lag the West 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. They have work to do. The East was given big promises after reunification but its economy languished. After cash injections of 2 trillion euros ($2 trillion) over three decades, the East's economic output per capita is still three quarters of western German levels. But the East is slowly closing the gap and several tech hubs are giving it hope of catching - and maybe eventually overtaking - the West. In Jena, Traeger says his predecessors turned "the ruins of the old East German Carl Zeiss conglomerate" into Jenoptik - a multinational lasers and imaging equipment group. With most of the East's old industries long gone, Merkel's government is trying to encourage hubs like Jena to profit from disruptive new technologies. "I do feel at times that here in the East, still today, there is this feeling of 'well, maybe it's okay that we just play'. No, we want to win," Traeger told Reuters after presenting record earnings for 2018 and a bullish outlook. Many East German firms closed after reunification, so why was Jenoptik different? Traeger says its first CEO, Lothar Spaeth, a former premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany's West, saw potential to create a world-class business out of an "unpolished gemstone". With the aid of government loans, Spaeth built Jenoptik from the Carl Zeiss group, but at a price. "It was a very difficult time. Several thousand people lost their jobs," said Helmut Bernitzki, 62, who joined the forerunner to Jenoptik in 1984. Story continues "We had to expand into new markets," Bernitzki, now an expert in optical coatings at Jenoptik, said. "We fought to be profitable and to create jobs here again." In a city of 110,000 inhabitants, 22,000 of them students, Jenoptik has channelled ideas from the university into specialised laser and optics products to give the company a technological edge. PRODUCTIVITY PREMIUM The upshot is high productivity: Jena's output per worker is the highest in the eastern state of Thuringia, and slightly higher than towns like Bielefeld and Bochum in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Statistics Office data show. "Here in the 'Optics Valley' in Jena, we have a very closely connected community and it does feel like Silicon Valley, on a smaller scale," said Traeger. He aims to turn ideas stimulated by Jena's university into high-tech products that "create and justify price premiums". Generating this added value has eluded other industries in Germany's East. Solar power firms made a promising start in the early 2000s before Asian rivals undercut many of them, with the loss of thousands of jobs. Developing products that rivals cannot beat on price is the holy grail for the optics, biotech and artificial intelligence start-ups taking root in the East - many around universities and research institutes. But for the East as a whole, productivity was three quarters the western average in 2017, the latest government figures show. "The availability of skilled labour is much lower in east Germany," said Reint Gropp, head of the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH). His policy prescription: make the East more attractive to qualified migrants, and invest in universities, research facilities and urban centres. In short, be more like Jena, home to the Fraunhofer optics research institute and the Friedrich Schiller University, where 14 percent of students are foreign. The East's appeal to foreigners took a hit last year, however, when Chemnitz, a town east of Jena, saw Germany's most violent right-wing protests in decades after the killing of a German man, for which two immigrants were arrested and one later released. INNOVATION CLUSTERS The federal government is now encouraging high-tech hubs in Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig, Dresden and Jena. The initiatives are bearing fruit. For the first time since reunification, more people moved from the West to the East - excluding booming Berlin - in 2017 than the other way around, government figures show. Small and mid-sized enterprises are driving the revival. Success stories include Halle-based ProBioDrug, which is developing products to treat Alzheimer's disease, and Jena medical devices maker Avatera Medical, which people close to the matter say is considering a stock market flotation. Not all areas are thriving. In the Lausitz region south of Berlin, plans to phase out coal mining are worrying locals. Unemployment in the East - at 6.7 percent - is still 2 points higher than in the West, and the population is older. Easterners also feel their prospects are poorer. A recent study by the DeZIM institute for research on integration found a third of 'Ossies' believe they are treated as second-class citizens, about the same proportion as Muslims. FAR-RIGHT CURSE In Jena, mayor Thomas Nitzsche wants to export his city's success to surrounding areas, where the far-right and left play on people's fears of being left behind. Between 1990 and 2016, the East's population fell by 11.2 percent to 16.2 million, government figures show. The number of working-age people is expected to decline up to 2030, with those over 65 rising to a third from a quarter. Nitzsche is trying to meet Jena's demand for talent. "Even if we retained all the school leavers and university graduates we have here, that would still be too few," said Nitzsche, a liberal Free Democrat. "So we need to attract people here - not just from Thuringia, but across the country and abroad." Ahead of the regional elections on Sept. 1 in Brandenburg and Saxony and on Oct. 27 in Thuringia, the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling close to 20 percent in all three states - putting it in second or third place. None of the major parties want to share power with the AfD. Mainstream politicians, business leaders and think-tanks agree: the East can continue on an upward trajectory if remains open to skilled outsiders to help its young firms grow. The East, said Gropp at the IWH institute, has less to lose by taking a chance on new technologies than the West, where the auto sector and other mature industries face challenges from innovations like electric cars. "East Germany has a better chance of handling this more disruptive structural change, which can take place much more easily in new firms," Gropp said. Could the East even overtake the West? "I think it could, absolutely." (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber and Markus Wacket; Editing by Giles Elgood) Newmont Goldcorp Corporation NEM plans to temporarily halt operations at the Penasquito mine, Mexico. The move is in response to the pending resolution of an illegal blockade by a trucking contractor and certain members of the Cedros community that started on Mar 27, 2019. Newmont Goldcorp is committed to good-faith dialogue with blockade leaders. It continues to work with Mexican authorities for resolving the situation safely and on time. Per the company, a comprehensive contingency plan will enable the safe and orderly resumption of operations after the illegal blockade is lifted. Notably, the mine produced 272,000 ounces of gold in 2018. It also operates according to the national and international standards for environmental stewardship, safetyand social responsibility. Newmont Goldcorp is among the prominent players in the gold mining industry along with Barrick Gold Corporation GOLD, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited AEM and Kinross Gold Corporation KGC. The company recorded net income from continuing operations of $113 million or 21 cents per share in first-quarter 2019, down from $170 million or 32 cents in the year-ago quarter. Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings were 33 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 26 cents. Newmont Goldcorp expects attributable gold production of 5.2 million ounces in 2019. The company expects all-in sustaining costs to be $935 per ounce for 2019. Also, costs applicable to sales expectation for gold is $710 per ounce. The companys attributable copper production forecast for 2019 is 45,000 tons. Copper costs applicable to sales (CAS) is expected to rise to $2.05 per pound in 2019, while all-in sustaining costs (AISC) is projected to rise to $2.45 per pound. 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. See 7 breakthrough stocks now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Barrick Gold Corporation (GOLD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Global oil markets sit at a critical juncture, with risks to supply being balanced against rising prices and questions over whether major producers will now turn on the taps. Brent crude touched $75 per barrel last week for the first time this year, helping the benchmark to log a fifth positive week in a row and add to the year's near 40% gain. "This is definitely something we have to monitor," UBS APAC Chief Investment Officer Adrian Zuercher told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia." "It will remain volatile," he added. "We expect Brent to remain between 70 and 80 U.S. dollars at this point." WTI also moved above $65 a barrel, even as rising U.S stockpiles and surging U.S production slowed some of the recent price momentum. Renewed U.S. efforts to curb Iranian output, escalating tensions in Libya, supply outages in Nigeria and the ongoing crisis in Venezuela have created a complex and uncertain outlook for crude. The week ahead will be another major test, with Iranian sanction waivers officially expiring in early May, and the U.S decision to cancel all concessions raising new questions about how Saudi Arabia and other major producers will respond. "We now know that OPEC has that spare capacity," Goldman Sachs' Head of Commodities Research Jeff Currie told CNBCs "Power Lunch," reiterating his Brent forecast of $70-75 barrel for the second quarter of 2019. "They ramped it up, they took it back down, and we think the (Iran) shock is roughly 900,000 barrels per day, and we just saw OPEC, at least core OPEC, taking 1.8 million barrels per day off the market," Currie added. The decision to end the waivers could remove 1.3 million barrels per day of Iranian exports, according to S&P Global Platts. OPEC has about 3.3 million barrels per day of spare production capacity, according to the International Energy Agency, of which about 2.2 million barrels per day is held by Saudi Arabia. Story continues While capable of doing so, whether or not Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are willing to increase supply to make up for the Iranian shortfall remains to be seen. The assurance given to the U.S. lacks concrete details, and no formal agreement has been set. Both countries have also been vocal advocates of discipline within the OPEC-plus production agreement. Now, there is increased diplomatic pressure to reverse course. "We are not going to be pre-emptive and increase production," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al Falih said at an event in Riyadh last week, indicating that he won't pump beyond the agreed cap of around 10 million barrels per day, at least for now. But what Saudi Arabia does next will be very closely watched. The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting in Saudi Arabia on May 19 will be the first opportunity for Saudi Arabia and OPEC-plus to telegraph its intentions for the second half of the year. The meeting will also set the stage for a critical gathering of OPEC on June 25, just days before the current production cut accord is set to expire. OPEC-plus will probably agree to extend its cuts into the second half of the year, but the cancellation of the Iran waivers and a slew of other supply side uncertainties mean a volume adjustment could be on the agenda. Relaxing the agreed supply curbs would appease the United States and likely temper oil price gains. But it could also risk putting the fragile and hard fought unity of OPEC-plus to the test, and more importantly, it would erode spare production capacity at a time of heightened geopolitical risk. Reducing capacity would significantly lessen the group's ability to deal with unforeseen supply uncertainties stemming from fragile producers such as Venezuela, where the U.S. is mulling additional sanctions that could further cripple output, or Libya; where a battle in the capital threatens to spill over to the country's oil-producing assets. "If we lost Libya from the market, it would take spare capacity down to very uncomfortable levels and would certainly add a major risk premium to oil," Neil Beveridge, senior oil and gas analyst at Bernstein, told CNBCs "Squawk Box Asia." Instability in Algeria, Nigeria and Sudan, as well as the recent suspension of some Russian crude exports to Europe, are also issues that OPEC-plus will be watching. "Sometimes you have to look in the back-view mirror to predict where the future is going," Khalid al Falih told CNBC back in February. "I'm leaning towards the likelihood of an (supply cap) extension in the second half, but that's not automatic," he added. "If we find out that the fundamentals are tightening, by June you can bet that I will be, just like we did last year, encouraging my colleagues within OPEC plus to ease their voluntary limits." Now, the market is watching to see exactly which way Saudi Arabia will lean. More From CNBC Owens-Illinois (OI) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.51 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.53 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.59 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -3.77%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this glass container manufacturer would post earnings of $0.63 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.61, delivering a surprise of -3.17%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once. Owens-Illinois, which belongs to the Zacks Glass Products industry, posted revenues of $1.64 billion for the quarter ended March 2019, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.04%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.74 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Owens-Illinois shares have added about 14.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.5%. What's Next for Owens-Illinois? While Owens-Illinois has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Owens-Illinois was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.84 on $1.75 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.94 on $6.80 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Glass Products is currently in the bottom 3% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. 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 Owens-Illinois, Inc. (OI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. 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) DENVER, CO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE - Phoenix Life Sciences International Limited (PLSI) (Phoenix Life or the Company), an adaptive healthcare solutions company, today announced that it will be executing a $40 million capital raise and presenting at the TABOR Family Office Conference in Sea Island, Georgia. The offering terms of Phoenix Lifes capital raise include a $40 million raise with a minimum subscription of 2,000 shares, or $25,000. In total, the Company is offering 3.2 million shares of the Companys common stock at a purchase price of $12.50 per share to accredited investors, including qualified family offices and institutional investors. Phoenix Life intends to dedicate the proceeds of this capital raise to furthering the companys international expansion, including the Global Production Facility and National Network of Community Clinics and Dispensing Pharmacies. We are excited to share this important news after just recently completing our annual report filings, said Phoenix Life CEO and Founder, Martin Tindall. With this capital raise, we will be able to bring online 100 acres of cultivation capacity and pharmaceutical production of Phoenix Metabolic and other Phoenix Life products to supply much needed products for up to 1,000,000 patients. The first of a multi-phase approach to transforming the future of global healthcare. The TABOR Family Office Conference is invitation-only and will consist of approximately 50 high net worth Family Offices and 25 to 30 Investment Managers. Phoenix Life is one of the few companies chosen to present at the conference. TABOR Capital Conferences is an alternative investment conference organizer. The Firms key objective is to bring Elite Investment Managers together with Investors in small forums that allow for meaningful discussions and the opportunity to foster new relationships. TABORS goal is to host small, specialized conferences that are beneficial for all attendees and ultimately provide value after the completion of each event. Story continues For more information on Phoenix Lifes capital raise and accompanying Private Placement Memorandum, please visit the companys Investor Portal at http://invest.phoenixlife.co To learn more about Phoenix Life Sciences International, please visit https://phoenixlife.co/ . About Phoenix Life Sciences International Limited Phoenix Life Sciences International Limited is an adaptive healthcare solutions company. Our business is to advance research and integrate programs and manufacturing of products that target and treat diabetes, pain, cancer, and address psychological, gastrointestinal, autoimmune, neurological and sleep disorders. We strive to create partnerships and integrate these programs for human health into communities worldwide as part of our Global Health Initiative. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Information contained in this press release regarding Phoenix Life Sciences International, Limited and its subsidiaries, (the Companies) may constitute forward-looking statements or statements which may be deemed or construed to be forward-looking statements. The words plan, forecast, anticipates, estimate, project, intend, expect, should, believe, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve, and are subject to, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Companys actual results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements to differ from the future results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties and other factors are more fully discussed in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Companies herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by the above-mentioned cautionary statement. The Companies disclaim any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this press release, except as may be required by law. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) DISCLOSURE These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and therefore the products sold by Phoenix Life Sciences International are not available in the U.S. LEGAL DISCLOSURE Phoenix Life Sciences International does not sell or distribute any products in the United States that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act (US.CSA). This company does not grow, sell, and distribute cannabis-based products in the United States and is solely involved with the legal distribution of medical cannabis-based products within certain international markets outside of the United States. Investor Contact: Phone: 1.888.717.5655 or international +1.720.699.7222 E-mail: investor.relations@phoenixlife.co Media Contact: Kathryn Reinhardt CMW Media Kathryn@cmwmedia.com 619-972-3089 Social behavior improved in children with autism after they inhaled a hormone called vasopressin, a pilot study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. It is the first study to test intranasal vasopressin for any indication in children. Although small, the placebo-controlled study of 30 children provides early evidence that vasopressin may reduce social impairments in the developmental disorder, which affects 1 in 59 U.S. children. The findings were published online May 1 in Science Translational Medicine. Social deficits are one of the core features of autism and a challenging area for many kids with the disorder, said the studys lead author, Karen Parker, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. Some of these kids want to socially connect but arent capable of doing so. The other core features of autism are poor verbal communication skills and restricted, repetitive behaviors. No existing medications address any core features of the disorder. In the trial, parents and experts ratings of social behavior indicated more improvement in children treated with vasopressin than in those given a placebo. Vasopressin-treated children also experienced some reductions in anxiety and repetitive behaviors. We saw this across multiple measures independently, Parker said. It is really exciting. We might finally have an agent that will target these core features that are very hard to treat, said the studys senior author, Antonio Hardan, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. The researchers are now testing vasopressin in 100 additional children with autism to see if the pilot findings can be repeated. Before getting too excited, I want us to replicate this, and more importantly I want others to replicate our findings, added Hardan, who is also director of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford. Large trials are also needed to assure the drugs safety. Sex-specific social hormones Vasopressin is a tiny protein hormone, nine amino acids long, manufactured in the hypothalamus. It differs by two amino acids from oxytocin, another hormone made in the same part of the brain. Although both hormones play roles in social behavior, there are sex differences in their activity. Parkers early research in animal models showed that, in males, vasopressin influences pair-bonding and fathering behavior. Oxytocin regulates aspects of childbirth and certain maternal behaviors, such as milk letdown during nursing. Oxytocin has been tested as an autism treatment with mixed results; Parker and Hardan previously showed that among autistic children whose oxytocin levels were low to begin with, giving that hormone improved aspects of social behavior. However, many children with autism do not have low oxytocin levels. Vasopressins social effects in males made the researchers wonder if this hormone influences autism. The disorder is male-biased, with 4 or 5 males affected for every female. Parker and Hardan have previously shown that, compared with typically developing children, those with autism have lower vasopressin levels in their cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes the brain and spinal cord. Among children with autism, those with the lowest CSF vasopressin levels also have the lowest social functioning, the researchers have shown. Dosing with vasopressin The Stanford team recruited 30 children with autism, all of whom were 6 to 12 years old and had an IQ of at least 50. The participants were randomly assigned, in a double-blind fashion, to receive intranasal vasopressin or a placebo. Participants took daily doses of their assigned medication for four weeks. At the beginning and end of the trial, several measurements were used to assess autism symptoms. Participants parents completed questionnaires rating their childrens social abilities. In the lab, the researchers tested participants ability to recognize emotional states in images of peoples eyes or facial expressions. Childrens repetitive behaviors and anxiety levels were also measured. The researchers also completed physical and clinical chemistry measurements to evaluate the safety of the treatment. Childrens social abilities improved more after vasopressin than placebo, according to the parents and researchers observations, as did childrens performance on objective lab tests of social abilities. Vasopressin also reduced anxiety symptoms. Identifying who responds and why is really important. The changes in social ability and anxiety were greatest among children whose vasopressin levels were highest at the beginning of the study, a finding that surprised the researchers, given that their prior work had showed the lowest social abilities in children with the lowest vasopressin levels. In addition, among children with the highest vasopressin at baseline, vasopressin treatment reduced restricted and repetitive behaviors. This finding did not extend to participants with lower baseline vasopressin. The findings will guide larger trials of vasopressin. Identifying who responds and why is really important, Parker said. Because autism exists on a spectrum, with some people more severely affected than others, treatments must be individualized, she said. If the findings of the pilot trial are replicated, it will also be important to validate the safety of the hormone in large populations and to understand which aspects of social behavior are most improved by vasopressin, Hardan added. Is it motivation, affiliation, attachment? Ability to understand others mental states or read facial expressions or body language? he said. This has opened up a lot of possibilities for individuals with autism. Other Stanford co-authors of the study are research scientist Ozge Oztan, PhD; clinical research coordinator Robin Libove; former life sciences researcher Noreen Mohsin; research scientist Debra Karhson, PhD; former assistant clinical research coordinator Raena Sumiyoshi; incoming medical resident Jacqueline Summers; Kyle Hinman, MD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; Kara Motonaga, MD, clinical associate professor of pediatrics; Jennifer Phillips, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; former postdoctoral scholar Dean Carson, PhD; Lawrence Fung, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and Joseph Garner, DPhil, associate professor of comparative medicine. Parker, Hardan, Fung and Garner are members of the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute. Parker, Hardan and Garner are also members of Stanford Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford. Garner is a faculty fellow of Stanford ChEM-H. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R21MH100387, R21HD083629, R01HD091972, K08MH111750 and T32MH019908), Autism Speaks, a Bass Society Pediatric Fellowship, the Mosbacher Family Fund for Autism Research, the Teresa and Charles Michael Endowed Fund for Autism Research and Education, the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute and the Yani Calmidis Memorial Fund for Autism Research. Stanfords Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences also supported this work. May 1 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - McGraw-Hill Education Inc and Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc plan to merge in a deal that would create the second-largest provider of college textbooks and other higher-education materials in the country. https://on.wsj.com/2GGzZkw - A federal judge approved a new deal clarifying how Tesla Inc must oversee Elon Musk's use of Twitter, an outcome that erases the risk its CEO would be punished for violating the original agreement. https://on.wsj.com/2H0bXS3 - Two people were killed and four others were injured Tuesday when a man opened fire on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, according to the head of campus police. https://on.wsj.com/2GO2nl2 - SoftBank Group Corp has made a $1 billion investment in Rappi Inc, a South American on-demand delivery company, one of several investments that it has made in the category. https://on.wsj.com/2GT9XdY - Massachusetts gambling regulators said casino giant Wynn Resorts Ltd can retain its license to open a new casino in the state but sharply rebuked CEO Matt Maddox over his leadership of the company amid sexual-misconduct allegations against founder and former CEO Steve Wynn. https://on.wsj.com/2GGAYBe (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom) Bill Barr Attorney General Willam Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Mueller report May 1. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/NLJ As U.S. Attorney General William Barr faced Senate Democrats on Wednesday, defending his rollout of Special Counsel Robert Mueller IIIs report on the Russia investigation, a separate storm brewed in a House hearing room half a mile away. In preparation for a Thursday hearing with Barr, the House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to allow Republican and Democratic staff to question the attorney general. It was just the move the Justice Department warned would deter Barr from appearing. Hours after his Senate testimony, Barr announced he wouldnt be showing up Thursday. In a statement, a Justice Department spokesperson described the conditions set by the committees chairman, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, as unprecedented and unnecessary. 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. Chairman Nadlers insistence on having staff question the attorney general, a Senate-confirmed cabinet member, is inappropriate, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. Further, in light of the fact that the majority of the House Judiciary Committeeincluding Chairman Nadlerare 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. Nadler responded that the committee would still convene as planned Thursday morning. Although we have worked around the clock to address his concerns, Attorney General Barr has informed us that he will not attend tomorrows hearing. Given his lack of candor in describing the work of the special counsel, our members were right to insist that staff counsel be permitted to question the attorney general, he said. I understand why he wants to avoid that kind of scrutiny, but when push comes to shove, the administration may not dictate the terms of a hearing in our hearing room. Story continues Jerrold Nadler Congressman Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) chairs a House Judiciary Committee meeting. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/NLJ Barr's move only further escalated tensions between the Trump administration and House Democrats. In recent weeks, Trump has decried House Democrats subpoenas and other demands for information as partisan and stated publicly that he is opposed to current and former White House officials testifying before Congress. Last week, two Trump administration officials skipped depositions with the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In both cases, the officials cited objections to a House rule that prevents administration lawyers from sitting in on depositions of government officials. On Wednesday, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee criticized the move to allow staff to question Barr, saying it would be make the hearing resemble an impeachment proceeding. Staff-led questioning would, in fact, not be without precedent: As former Obama White House counsel Neil Eggleston, now a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, noted Tuesday, congressional staff conducted questioning in hearings in 1987 concerning the Iran-Contra affair. In a statement earlier this week, Nadler said the House has permitted staff "to question witnesses in the past, under both Democratic and Republican majorities, during both public hearings and private transcribed interviews." On Wednesday, Republicans appeared to goad Democratic members of the committee. Their question to Democrats: Why not handle the questioning yourselves? You can do this, said U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee. If a staff member wants to ask questions, run for Congress. Put your money down, take a chance and run for Congress. The Democrats question to Republicans: What is Barr afraid of? Attorney General Barr publicly committed to being transparent regarding the special counsel investigation. He should welcome the opportunity to speak candidly and at length before the House Judiciary Committee and the American people, Nadler said. I dont know what hes afraid of from questioning by staff counsel. Nadlers format said lawmakers would first get to question Barr, followed by an additional hour of questioning that would be evenly split by Democratic and Republican staff. The format, he said, would foster a more in-depth conversation about Muellers findings on Russias interference in the 2016 and instances of possible obstruction by Trump. In his offices 448-page report, Mueller determined the Trump campaign did not conspire with the Kremlin to interfere in the election, but he did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump sought to obstruct the investigation. Mueller said that while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, acting on their own, formally rejected any obstruction charge against Trump. Though vocal in their opposition to staff questioning, House Republicans on Tuesday supported a proposal to provide an additional hour split between the Republican and Democratic sides. Lawmakers appeared to welcome the prospect of posing questions without a five-minute time limit. As U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, put it, The five-minute rule sucks. Read more: US House Judiciary Lawyers Up for Trump Investigations DOJ Lawyer Stands Up Demsand Puts Obscure House Rule in Spotlight Read the Letter: Mueller Complains Barr Caused 'Public Confusion' 'Stormy Weather Lies Ahead': What Lawyers Say About Barr's Obstruction Call Rachel Brand Was on Trump's Radar for Russia Probe, But Aide Resisted: Mueller Barr Defends Trump at Pre-Report Press Conference, Sans Robert Mueller (Adds details, quotes) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - A Republican U.S. senator on Wednesday said President Donald Trump will not waive rules requiring that only U.S.-flagged ships 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. Republican senators said the administration was seriously considering waiving the requirements for 10 years. Bloomberg News reported last week that Trump was leaning in favor of some kind of waiver. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters on a conference call that Trump told Republican lawmakers he would not support a waiver. The White House did not immediately comment. Cassidy said Trump told them "he was going to oppose any changes to the Jones Act and any waivers. That's what we went there hoping to get and that's what we did get." He added that Trump gave his word to lawmakers, which included Republicans from Alaska and Mississippi as well. A person briefed on the matter told Reuters Tuesday that administration officials were divided on the issue. Senator John Kennedy, another Louisiana Republican, said in a statement the Jones Act supports 71,000 jobs in the state. "After talking to President Trump, I am confident that he realizes how important the Jones Act is to Louisianas maritime industry and that no changes will be made," Kennedy said. "It would be foolish to push aside those jobs in favor of foreign-made and foreign-crewed ships." 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. In February, leaders of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure wrote to the 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. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Tom Brown and James Dalgleish) NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of The Boeing Company (''Boeing'' or the ''Company'') (BA). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Boeing and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here to join a class action] On October 29, 2018, a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all passengers and crew. On November 12, 2018, post-market, the WallStreet Journal published an article, entitled ''Boeing Withheld Information on 737 Model, According to Safety Experts and Others,'' citing ''safety experts involved in the investigation, as well as midlevel [Federal Aviation Administration] officials'' and reporting that Boeing ''withheld information about potential hazards associated with a new flight-control feature suspected of playing a role in last month's fatal Lion Air jet crash[.]'' Over the 11 days following the publication of the Wall Street Journal article, Boeing's stock price fell a total of $44.71 per share, or roughly 12.5%, to close at $312.32 per share on November 23, 2018. On March 10, 2019, 157 people perished after an Ethiopian Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 8 jet crashed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia shortly after takeoff. In the wake of the crash, regulators in China and several other countries grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 jets. On March 11, 2019, Boeing's stock price fell $22.65, or over 5%, to close at $399.89. The following day, Boeing's stock price fell an additional $24.60 per share, or 6.15%, closing at $375.41 on March 12, 2019. On March 13, 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 jets to be temporarily grounded in the U.S. SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/543766/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-Pomerantz-Law-Firm-Investigates-Claims-On-Behalf-of-Investors-of-The-Boeing-Company--BA Although H. pylori is susceptible to antibiotics, its not uncommon for these drugs to fail to completely clear the stomach of the microorganism. The re-emerging strain is invariably just the same as the one thought to have been eradicated, Amieva said, suggesting the presence of some niche where H. pylori can find refuge and replenish its numbers in safety. But exactly how has been unclear. H. pylori is a corkscrew-shaped microbe equipped with a tuft of spinning, hairlike projections called flagella that enable it to swim freely in an aqueous liquid medium or to bore into viscous fluids. Microbiologists have long thought it avoids being dissolved in a sea of stomach acid by hiding out in the mucus layer that lines the stomach and protects the digestive organ from being eaten by the acid it produces. Thats part of the story. But the new study reveals a safer survival tactic for the bug: steering itself into one of the myriad pitlike glands that dot the stomachs inner surface and, afterward, fending off all comers. In a study published in 2015, Amievas group discovered the presence of H. pylori within stomach glands. But why the microbe would choose to hang out there was not obvious. The new study, Amieva said, shows that once a particularly hardy, or lucky, individual H. pylori bacterium manages to colonize a gland, the resulting founder strain becomes extremely difficult to dislodge even by members of an essentially identical strain, for reasons that remain mysterious but may have to do with the fact that each gland has only a single, tiny entry point. Glowing green and red The researchers inoculated mices stomachs with two versions of an otherwise identical H. pylori strain, differing only in that one group had been genetically modified so it emitted fluorescent green light when stimulated by a laser, while the other group was modified to glow red. Later, the scientists could observe the different-colored strains success in establishing themselves within glands along the length of the mices stomachs. The scientists used a form of microscopy that allowed them to move their focus through successive depths of intact tissue rather than view separate thin tissue slices. They also used a technique called CLARITY that renders tissues transparent without destroying their microanatomical integrity. That combination let them visualize, in three dimensions, H. pyloris presence along the depths of the stomach glands. Instead of mixing randomly as one would expect if occupancy of a gland by one color of bugs presented no barrier to entry by the other color the two sets of H. pylori occupied distinct patches of stomach-surface area, indicating an exclusive first-come, first-served advantage for a given glands initial occupant and further suggesting that, having established itself within a gland, a red or green H. pylori strain sends forth individual progeny to adjacent glands in which they plant their flags, thrive, exclude newcomers, multiply and eventually release new single-celled troops to repeat the gland-by-gland expeditionary advance. This study changes the way we think about how microbes like H. pylori establish their chronic persistence in the body. Precisely which tools the bacteria need to establish squatters rights in a gland are still guesswork. But when the scientists inoculated mouse stomachs with mutant H. pylori lacking the functioning chemical sensor machinery that guides its swimming direction, the bugs were unable to maintain exclusive colonies in glands. This raises the issue of how to eradicate potentially pathogenic bacterial strains ensconced in our bodies or how to replace them by others that are less pathogenic. Probiotics have not demonstrated much success in achieving that goal yet, Amieva said. Its not enough to find a good probiotic strain that can survive in the organ you want it to live in, he said. You need to create space for it. One potential approach, Amieva suggested, would be to find some way to draw the bacteria out of their protective hideouts before treating them and then replace them with a less-virulent strain. Amieva is a member of the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute. Other Stanford co-authors are former graduate student Shumin Tan, PhD; basic life science research associate Mifuyu Nakajima, PhD; postdoctoral scholar Jessica Klein, PhD; and Tadashi Fukami, PhD, associate professor of biology. Researchers from the University of California-Davis and the Wellcome-Sanger Institute in England also contributed to the study. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01DK101314, R21AI137759 and R01AI108713), the National Science Foundation, the American Gastroenterology Association, a Morgridge Faculty Scholar Award and the Wellcome Trust. Stanfords departments of Pediatrics and of Microbiology and Immunology also supported the work. Company engages brewery in Dallas area as national expansion continues COSTA MESA, Calif., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Sipp Industries, Inc. (SIPC), a multifaceted corporation specializing in manufacturing and distribution of commercial and consumer products, and the first publicly traded company in America whose primary focus is the production and sales of hemp-infused beer, announces it is finalizing terms and conditions with a large brewery in the greater Dallas area to penetrate the state of Texas with flagship brew, Major Hemp HIPA, as well as additional hemp and CBD-infused beers. Last week the Texas House of Representatives, by unanimous vote 144-0, approved a bill legalizing the cultivation and production of hemp in Texas. House Bill 1325 which is authored by Rep. Tracy King, D-Batesville, would enable farmers to grow hemp as an industrial crop under a regulated state program. The bill, which is now in Senate, would also legalize hemp-derived products made with CBD oil. Ted Jorgensen, President of Sipp Industries wholly-owned subsidiary, Major Hemp, completed high-level meetings with the owner and operator of a large Dallas area brewery on producing and distributing hemp and CBD-infused beers throughout Texas and surrounding states. Jorgensen stated, Weve identified a great brewing partner that will enable expanded production and geographic reach for our hemp and CBD-infused beers. We are in the process of testing an initial batch of Major Hemp HIPA with our TTB approved formulas, and plan to add CBD beer pending final regulatory approval. In preparations for doing business in Texas, Sipp Industries has initiated the process of applying for licensing with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). TABC is the state agency that regulates all phases of the alcoholic beverages industry in Texas from sales, advertising, production and transport of alcoholic beverages throughout the state of Texas. Story continues The Company also announces the latest run of Major Hemp HIPA with Church Street Brewing Co. has been packaged ahead of schedule. The newly brewed hemp-infused beer is being shipped to Midwest distributing partners including Mahaska, which has reported strong initial sales throughout the state of Iowa including a notable national chain that is test sampling their first hemp-infused craft beer. Chief Executive Officer of Sipp Industries, Syman Vong concluded, We are eager to add Texas to our existing markets in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas and Illinois. Texas is one of the largest U.S. markets in terms of beer consumption. The brewerys vast network of multi-state distributors and friendly state hemp laws, present an outstanding opportunity for us to expand our hemp and CBD-infused beer product lines nationally. About Sipp Industries, Inc. Sipp Industries is a multifaceted corporation that specializes in manufacturing and distribution of commercial and consumer products, and the first publicly traded company in America whose primary focus is the production and sales of hemp-infused beer. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Major Hemp, the Company provides hemp beer, high quality and competitively priced hemp-based products, bulk hemp and CBD supply. Website: http://www.sippindustries.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SippIndustries Twitter: @SippIndustries Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and section 21e of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Those statements include the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and its management team. Forward-looking statements are projections of events, revenues, income, future economics, research, development, reformulation, product performance or managements plans and objectives for future operations. Some or all of the events or results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not occur. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Accomplishing the strategy described herein is significantly dependent upon numerous factors, many that are not in managements control. Contact: SRC Energy (SRCI) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.27 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.24 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.27 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 12.50%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this oil and gas company would post earnings of $0.28 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.30, delivering a surprise of 7.14%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. SRC Energy, which belongs to the Zacks Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry, posted revenues of $189.46 million for the quarter ended March 2019, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.31%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $147.23 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. SRC Energy shares have added about 30.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.5%. What's Next for SRC Energy? While SRC Energy has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for SRC Energy was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.25 on $181.84 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.03 on $735.29 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States is currently in the top 22% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. 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 Synergy Resources Corporation (SRCI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. COLOMBO, May 2 (Reuters) - The Sri Lankan rupee fell for the sixth consecutive session on Thursday on dollar demand from banks amid security alerts on possible further attacks after the Easter Sunday bombings. ** Stocks closed lower for the first time in six sessions. ** 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 rupee fell 0.34 percent to 176.60/177.00 per dollar from Tuesday's close of 176.00/30, market sources said. Sri Lankan markets were closed on Wednesday for the International Labour day. ** 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 3.8 percent this year, as exporters converted dollars amid stabilising 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 0.36 percent lower on Thursday at 5,458.78. It hit its lowest close since Dec. 7, 2012 on April 23 and also posted its biggest percentage fall since Feb. 14, 2012 on the same day. ** Turnover was 148.6 million rupees ($842,404), lower than this year's daily average of 586.2 million rupees. Last year's daily average was 834 million rupees. ** Foreign investors bought a net 9.4 million rupees worth of shares on Thursday, 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 = 176.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) 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 OSLO (Reuters) - Scandinavian airlines SAS said it would cancel more flights on Thursday as parties involved in a pilot strike held talks on Wednesday to try to resolve a six-day dispute that has left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded. More than 300,000 travellers have been hit by the stand-off over wages and other pilot demands which analysts estimate could cost SAS $10.5 million (8.03 million) a day, threatening to wipe out the airline's annual profit. The airline said it would cancel more flights on Thursday until 1200 GMT, grounding 280 flights and 20,000 passengers. More than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday, which is a public holiday in Sweden, have already been cancelled, affecting some 47,000 passengers. A Norwegian mediator called the meeting where all the negotiating teams would be sitting down together, a spokeswoman for SAS in Sweden told Reuters. "We are glad the parties have been able to meet again and we hope that it can lead to a constructive dialogue so that this strike can be brought to an end," she said. SAS' primary listing is on the Stockholm exchange, which was closed on May 1 but its Copenhagen-traded shares were up around 6 percent at 0939 GMT. Its Stockholm-traded shares are down around 10 percent since the strike was announced. Norwegian mediator Mats Wilhelm Ruland had earlier told Norwegian news agency NTB that work hours, shifts and salaries would be discussed at the meeting which was scheduled to start at 11am local time (0900 GMT) in Oslo. "We will try to find a solution to the conflict. I always believe in a solution, but this is challenging," he told NTB. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Simon Johnson in Stockholm, writing by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Keith Weir and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) By Nichola Saminather NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - Junior miners, struggling to fund exploration as institutions seek lower risk and better returns from larger rivals and newer industries, sought to sell potential investors on projects on Thursday, with mixed success. The proliferation of index funds, sluggish gold price growth and a shift into cannabis and cryptocurrencies by risk investors has left junior miners short of funding. While the mining industry has seen a tentative revival in interest, much of that capital has flowed to larger producers. "There has never been greater divergence between big and small companies in the mining sector. Big companies are healthy. ... They have a lot of (earnings)," Peter Grosskopf, chief executive of asset manager Sprott Inc, said at the Mines and Money Conference. "The juniors are nowhere near that." Ian Berzins, CEO of Braveheart Resources Inc, said the company is close to completing development on its British Columbia gold project, thanks to flow-through funding, but needs capital for future exploration. Flow-through funding allows companies to pass on to investors tax deductions related to exploration or development. "We've relied on families or insiders," Berzins said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. "Our other options are, we could sell a royalty on some or all of the property, or enter into a streaming agreement ... but once you've given up a royalty, it's gone forever." Bought deal financing for junior explorers, in which investment banks commit to buy entire offerings from issuers, slumped 40% in 2018 from 2017, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada and deals researcher Oreninc said in a March report. The MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners index has lost 14% in the past year, compared with the S&P/TSX Global Gold index's 5% drop. Anglo-Australian Resources Chairman John Jones, who presented the company's Feysville Gold project near Kalgoorlie in Australia, said growing battery minerals demand has lifted explorers with such projects at the expense of others. "It's inevitable that (struggling companies will) have to give up ... quite a bit of equity in projects to reduce their exposure by getting a cashed-up partner," Jones said. "Some of them are private, high-wealth individuals, or private equity." (Reporting by Nichola Saminather; Editing by Richard Chang) By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia's Central Bank sent warnings in 2007 and 2013 to Estonian and Danish financial supervisors over suspect transactions worth billion of dollars at the Estonian branch of Danske Bank but they were largely ignored, a confidential EU document shows. The EU paper, seen by Reuters, is the outcome of an investigation by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and details for the first time the extent of supervisory shortcomings in the two countries over the Danske case. The EBA investigation followed the disclosure last year of a money-laundering scandal at Danske Bank, Denmark's largest bank, which has admitted that 200 billion euros of suspicious transactions flowed through its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015. The EBA document cites internal communications between the Russian Central Bank and the Estonian and Danish supervisors in which Moscow warned of money laundering risks and tax evasion linked to payments to clients of the Estonian branch of Danske Bank. The EBA document showed that regulators did not take sufficient action to address risks after the Russian warnings, in what the EBA said was a breach of EU rules. Earlier this month, the EU's national banking supervisors, who control the EBA, rejected the watchdog's proposal on the rule breach and effectively blocked further action against the Estonian and Danish regulators. The two regulators from Estonia and Denmark and the Russian Central Bank did not respond to Reuters requests for a comment. The EBA declined to comment. In a letter to the Commission dated April 26, the EBA said national supervisors acknowledged failings in Estonian and Danish financial supervision but they did not consider them to mean EU law had been broken. EU lawmaker Sven Giegold, who sits on the EU parliament's committee on financial crime, said in a letter to the EU Commission that the EU executive should start legal proceedings against Denmark and Estonia for their flaws in applying EU laws. "The case of the Danske Bank is not closed for us, regardless of the decision of EBA," EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova said in a statement, without elaborating on whether Brussels will open a legal procedure on this case. Story continues "DOUBTFUL TRANSACTIONS" Danske Bank lowered its outlook for 2019 after a disappointing first quarter, due in part to the effects of the impact of the scandal. The EBA document showed that a few months after Danske Bank had acquired Finland's Sampo Bank and its Estonian business in February 2007, the Russian Central Bank sent a warning to the Danish and Estonia authorities. In a letter dated June 8, 2007, the Russian Central Bank alleged that "clients of Sampo Bank permanently participate in financial transactions of doubtful origin" worth billions of rubles monthly. The Central Bank's letter alleged that Sampo's clients resided mostly in offshore jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands and Britain, noting these clients were receiving transfers from Russian shell companies that were not justified by real exchanges of goods or services and were instead likely concealing tax evasion and money laundering. The EBA document said neither the Estonian nor the Danish authorities properly followed up on the Russian warning. The EBA document also said that two years after the Russian warning, the Estonian regulator said Danske had adopted measures "in line with the highest international standards." But problems at the Estonian branch of the bank continued, according to the EBA document. The EBA cited a second letter to the Estonia supervisor from the Russian Central Bank sent in February 2013 which alleged that Danske's branch in the country had executed transactions to accounts of non-resident clients meant "to launder proceeds of crime from Russia." This letter alleged the suspicious transactions amounted to more than $3 billion in 2011 and 2012 alone. The EBA document, citing this second warning from Russia, concluded that the Estonian and Danish supervisors did nothing meaningful to immediately address the situation. The EBA document found that the two national watchdogs were in breach of their EU obligations for the period between 2007 and 2014. In that period the two regulators had the opportunity to address risks but "despite identifiable risk indicators, they did not cooperate with each other to do so effectively, nor did they take appropriate supervisory action separately," the draft EBA report said. The authorities changed tack from 2015, EBA said, which led to the disclosure by Danske Bank last year of alleged money-laundering activities at its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, John O'Donnell and Andrey Ostroukh; editing by Jane Merriman/Keith Weir) Leigh Ann Benson, (left) and Stephen A. Miller, (right) of Cozen O'Connor. Leigh Ann Benson, (left) and Stephen A. Miller, (right) of Cozen O'Connor. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to limit the power of administrative agencies. Kisor v. Wilkie, which was argued last month, is a head-on challenge to the deference afforded to an agency when interpreting its own regulations. The Supreme Court prescribed this level of deference in 1997. In Auer v. Robbins, a unanimous decision written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the court held that an agencys interpretation of its own regulations should control if its interpretation is not plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulations. Now, just 22 years later, the court seems willing to reconsider this decision. The challenge comes from petitioner James Kisor, a Vietnam veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. In 1982, the Department of Veteran Affairs denied Kisors request for benefits. He applied again in 2006this time, armed with additional documentation in support of his diagnosis that was previously unavailable to him. The VA granted this second application but only prospectively; the decision would not apply retroactively to 1982. The VAs explanation was that the documents were not relevant to his prior request. Using Auer deference, the VA was able to interpret and define relevant, and then it was Kisor who bore the burden of establishing that the VAs interpretation was not valid. After failing to carry that burden, Kisor challenged the underlying decision all the way to the Supreme Court. Kisor asserts that Auer runs afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In particular, he argues that it eviscerates the notice and comment requirements and contravenes with the basic principles of predictability and public notice that are the heart of the APA. He also argues the effect of Auer is out of line with basic principles of separation of powers. Under Auer, he argues, the law-making and law-interpreting is performed by the same branch with unchecked authority. In response, the Department of Justice does not disagree entirely with Kisor and recognizes some of the same concerns with Auer. The DOJ, however, argues against overruling it entirely and instead proposes limiting and clarifying the deferential standard. It offers a multipart test to determine whether Auer deference should apply to the interpretation of a regulation. The proposed test considers whether the regulation is ambiguous; whether the interpretation is reasonable; whether there was fair notice of the interpretation; whether the interpretation came from a high-level member of the agency and someone with expertise. The DOJ presented this as a workable standard consistent with existing law. The power of the growing administrative state is at issue. Within the early minutes of oral argument, Justice Stephen Breyer referred to this as that greatest judicial power grab since Marbury v. Madison. Justice Neil Gorsuch challenged the DOJs proposed test. He expressed concerns with how much notice is fair or how much expertise counts. He also presented the possibility of multiple agencies reaching widely different decisions about how to interpret common terms, for example, relevance. Gorsuchs concerns seemed to resonate with Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh pointed out that judges frequently disagree about threshold issues, and that alone likely creates a whole sideshow when it comes time to determine if a regulation is ambiguousa threshold question under the proposed test. On the other hand, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor noted that the party best suited to interpret a regulation is the authorized agency because of its expertise. Kagan suggested that Auer was correctly decided because federal judges are less suited to make nuanced decisions about agency policy than the agencies with the subject-matter expertise. Sotomayor echoed her, naming the agency as the best party to bear the responsibility of interpreting regulation because it is the agency that is responsible for sound and reasonable interpretations. The question seems to be whether Auer will be overruled or limitednot whether it will remain fully intact. As Gorsuch stated, nobody before us alive is willing to take Auer literally and its just a matter of how much revision to it weve already made. Is it enough? How much further should we go? Or should we just give up on it altogether? Even those justices that seemed to favor leaving some degree of power to the agencies, like Kagan and Sotomayor, still gave full consideration to the DOJs proposed test that would limit Auer. This leads observers to think some degree of change to the administrative state is imminent. But just how much change remains to be known until the court issues its opinion, likely in June 2019. Stephen A. Millerpractices in the commercial litigation group at Cozen O'Connor's Philadelphia office. Prior to joining the firm, he clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court and served as a federal prosecutor for nine years in the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Leigh Ann Bensonalso practices in the firm's commercial litigation group. She received her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Virginia Tech. In Malawi, JCM Matswani Solar Corp, an independent power producer (IPP), has launched a call for tenders for the construction of a 20 MW solar power plant in the central region of the Southern African nation. According to the specifications of the tenders, the selected company will build a solar power plant with panels fixed on solar trackers with string inverters. The selected company will also be responsible for building a 132-kV transmission line over a distance of 400 m and connecting it to the power transfer station in the National Grid. All the installations will produce 20 MW, according to JCM Matswani. The plant is set to sell power to the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Limited (ESCOM) under a long-term PPA. Golomotis solar project is being developed in partnership with InfraCo Africa, a UK-based infrastructure project development and financing company focusing on sub-Saharan Africa. The two companies are already partnering on construction of Malawis largest PV plant the 60 MW Salima project for which JCM issued a similar EPC tender in February 2018. Only 12% of Malawis population has access to electricity and the government wants to raise that figure to 30% by 2030. When youre burning through over $1 billion a quarter, you need every penny can you can get. Tesla looks to be heading back to the capital markets after CEO Elon Musk admitted on a conference call last week that theres merit to the idea of raising capital at this point. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas estimates it may have to raise as much as $2.5 billion. How much Tesla actually needs will depend to a large extent on whether its Model 3 can have the sort of instant acceptance in markets in China and Europe that it has enjoyed in the U.S. Success beyond the U.S. Initial figures give at least some reason to be optimistic. In Norway and Switzerland, two countries where government subsidies have squeezed the price gap between battery powered cars and ones with conventional engines, the Model 3 got off to a roaring start in March. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, addressed an environmental conference in Oslo, Norway in 2016. (HEIKO JUNGE/AFP/Getty Images) According to the publication Auto Schweiz, it was the best-selling car bar none in Switzerland. It was the same story in Norway, where the first month of Model 3 sales was largely responsible for electric vehicles taking nearly 60% of the overall market in March. The figures appear to bear out claims that there is plenty of demand for electric cars if the price is right. If Tesla can replicate that in the bigger European markets, then it stands to cash in handsomely, and not just because of the cash generated by the sales of the vehicles themselves. A CO2 credit boon The European Union has an emissions credit mechanism to reward new and cleaner engine technologies, similar to a U.S. one that has already earned Tesla hundreds of millions of dollars. The system allows companies whose cars emit more than the legal maximum of carbon dioxide to form pools with companies like Tesla for credits that bring their average emissions under the limit. Fiat Chrysler (FCA) became the first company to say it would join Teslas pool last month. Neither company has given a formal estimate of how much money they expect to change hands, but the scope of the EUs regulation, which really starts to bite in 2020, suggests it could be substantial. As of 2020, the average CO2 emissions of vehicles registered in the EU has to be below 95 grams per kilometer. For every gram above that threshold, the maker has to pay a fine of 95 euros ($105) per car sold. A study by Brussels-based NGO Transport & Environment last year argued that FCAwhich sells fewer smaller-engine Fiats and more gas-guzzling Jeep SUVs every yearcould be facing fines of over 1 billion in 2021 without help from such schemes. Honda and Hyundai could also be in need of credits, according to author Florent Greliers calculations. Story continues FCA said in an e-mailed statement that it is committed to reducing the emissions of all our products. At the same time, we will optimize the options for compliance that the regulations offer. The purchase pool provides flexibility to deliver products our customers are willing to buy while managing compliance with the lowest cost approach, it added. Europes EV market Tesla doesnt dominate the electric vehicle (EV) space in Europe to the extent it does in the U.S., where it accounted for 75% of EVs sold in the first quarter. But automotive analyst Mathias Schmidt still estimates that it sold around 19,000 Model 3s in the period, almost as much as the next two best-selling EVs combinedRenaults Zoe and Nissans Leaf. It also outsold all of Porsche and Alfa Romeo, he notes. Some of Teslas competitors are holding back EV product launches until 2020 in order to have the biggest impact on fleet emissions that year. That gives Tesla a brief window of opportunity to stake its claim in Europe. But its far from guaranteed that it can replicate its success so far in the markets that really countGermany, the U.K., France and Italy, which, along with Norway and Switzerland, accounted for nearly two-thirds of all European sales. In the U.K., its already lost a month of the second quarter: deliveries will start only this week due to delays in shipping the necessary right-hand drive models. More importantly, the Model 3 is significantly more expensive in Europe than in the U.S., something masked by the generous subsidies available to EV buyers in Switzerland and Norway. Teslas own order page shows thatat current exchange ratesprices start at around $42,500 in Norway, but are nearly $50,000 in Germany and even more expensive in Italy. In Europe, at least, thats stretching the definition of a mass-market product. Thereas so often beforeMusk has left little room for error. Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. TEVA is a global pharmaceutical company with a strong presence in the generics as well as branded markets. The companys branded products include Copaxone (multiple sclerosis), Austedo (chorea associated with Huntingtons disease and tardive dyskinesia) and respiratory products like ProAir and Qvar. Teva is facing significant challenges in the form of accelerated generic competition for Copaxone, new competition for branded products, pricing erosion in the U.S. generics business and a massive debt load. However, it has made impressive progress on restructuring activities and has a more stable financial position than before. However, we believe the company has a long way to go before it gains stability. Tevas earnings surpassed expectations in three the last four quarters, with the average positive surprise being 18.24%. Currently, TEVA has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), but that could definitely change following the companys earnings report which was just released. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below: Earnings Beat: Tevas first-quarter earnings came in at 60 cents per share which beat the consensus estimate of 58 cents. Revenues Miss: Teva posted revenues of $4.3 billion, which missed the consensus estimates of $4.41 billion. Sales declined 15% (down 12% in constant currency terms) year over year. Key Statistics: North America segment sales were $2.05 billion, down 19% year over year due to pricing erosion in U.S. generics market, lower sales of Copaxone as well as other branded drugs, Bendeka/Treanda and QVAR. In the United States, revenues declined 20% to $1.91 billion. Lead branded product, Copaxone, posted sales of $208 million in North America, down 56% year over year due to generic competition in the United States. ProAir sales also declined sharply by 55% to $59 million. Sales of generic products declined 11% to $966 million. Story continues The Europe segment recorded revenues of $1.26 billion, down 12% (down 5% in constant currency terms) year over year. In the International Markets segment, sales declined 11% (down 3% in constant currency terms) to $668 million. 2019 Outlook Maintained: Teva re-affirmed its previously issued guidance for sales and earnings in 2019. The company expects revenues to be in the range of $17 - $17.4 billion. Meanwhile, the earnings guidance lie in a band of $2.20-2.50 per share. Share Price Impact: Shares were down around 1% in pre-market trading. Check back later for our full write up on this TEVA earnings report later! Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Price and Consensus Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Price and Consensus | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Quote Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research 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 (859 million). Thomas Cook has a current market value of just over 400 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) Tim Cook said Chinese stimulus programs including the value-added tax reduction helped revive Apple's slowing business in China. "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. U.S. companies with a major China footprint including Skyworks Solutions, Broadcom, Micron Technology and Intel could also see a pop in their stocks if their performance in China improves. Apple AAPL '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 uplift 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 enforce 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 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. Story continues The tech giant could just be one of the many companies getting a boost from the turnaround in Chinese economy. U.S. companies with a major China footprint are focused in tech including Skyworks Solutions SWKS , Broadcom AVGO , Micron Technology MU and Intel INTC , according to HSBC. Their stocks will likely see a pop if their performance in China also improves. Skyworks, an Apple supplier, lowered its 2019 guidance in January, citing weakness across largest smartphone customers. The company is set to release its first-quarter results on Thursday. Intel released a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for 2019 last week, sending the stock down as much as 7% that day despite the earnings beat. The company said its sales in the data center group unit got hit by weakness in China. CEO Bob Swan said customers in China had "absolutely" bought extra chips last year due to fears of an accelerated trade war, according to Reuters. Qualcomm QCOM recently made peace with Apple, settling all their patent disputes after two years of bitter legal battles. The company's stock surged more than 20% following the announcement. Qualcomm is slated to report quarterly numbers after the bell on Wednesday after issuing a strong guidance in January. Like Tim Cook, many policymakers and investors including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon also believe the Chinese stimulus programs are paying off . More From CNBC Teresa Tomlinson, candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia. She is the former mayor of Columbus. (Photo: Twitter screenshot) Teresa Tomlinson, candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia. The Hall Booth Smith partner is the former mayor of Columbus. (Photo: Twitter screenshot) Hall Booth Smith partner and former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson publicly launched her we can do better campaign Wednesday for the U.S. Senate in 2020, becoming the first Democratic candidate to announce plans to take on Republican Sen. David Perdue. The candidate, who is also a former Pope McGlamry partner, released a campaign video on Twitter the day after former state Rep. Stacey Abramsthe Democratic runner-up for governorofficially announced she would not run for the U.S. Senate in 2020. The U.S. government is the greatest civic achievement the world has ever known. We should be proud of that factand demand from it the excellence it is capable of achieving. We can do better, Tomlinson said. All we get out of Washington, D.C., is endless dysfunction and division, Tomlinson said. Creating a government that is a framework for prosperity requires leaders who understand it and know how to lead it. She listed achievements from her eight years in office as mayor of Columbus that she said improved the quality of life: reducing crime, reversing blight, cutting unemployment, saving expenses and creating a tourism economy with a downtown riverfront whitewater-rafting venue. Its time to bring the same smart, pragmatic government to Washington, D.C.without all the crazy and the mean, Tomlinson said. We dont have to rip children from their parents arms to have a strong immigration system. We dont have to wage tariff wars on our farmers in order to solve global trade challenges. We dont have to play a game of political ego with health care in order to create a financial infrastructure through which families can thrive. Perdues seat has traditionally been held by someone from outside the biggest city. Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore partner Jason Cartera one-time Democratic runner-up for governor and grandson of former President Jimmy Cartertook note of the fit. Carter called Tomlinson an accomplished exec from outside Atlanta in a tweet responding to the announcement. Tomlinson has already begun raising money and has pulled off a deft rollout, Carter said, adding '#lookout.' State Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, had been promoted as a potential U.S. Senate candidate but made it clear on Twitter Sunday that she is not. Jordan thanked supporters but declined. What this past session taught me is that we need more leaders in the General Assembly who are willing to fight for women, children, teachers and doctorsnot less, Jordan said. As for the United States Senate race, whether Stacey Abrams or Teresa Tomlinson (or someone else) is the Democratic nominee, I will stand with her to make sure that we stop putting politics over the people of this state and this country. Tomlinson had already registered her campaign and begun fundraising. She previously told the Daily Report in an interview that she had been considering the move even as she finished up her second term leading the combined Columbus-Muscogee County government. I thought Sen. Perdue would be vulnerable, and I thought we could do better, Tomlinson told at the Daily Report last month. Were interested in this being a two-party state and seeing the Democrats have a statewide elected office. In November, Hall Booth announced she would be joining them when she finished her second term as mayor at the end of 2018. Tomlinson practices in the litigation defense firms Columbus office and its Atlanta headquarters, handling complex litigation, crisis management and strategic solutions. She called the firm a perfect fit. From the start, the partners have been on board with her budding plans to run for a statewide office, according to Tomlinson. They believe in good government, she said. They have been wonderfully supportive. VERNON, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- True Leaf Medicine International Ltd. (True Leaf or the Company) (CSE:MJ) (TRLFF) (TLA.F), a leading global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets, today announced it has received gross proceeds of $914,442.73 CAD from the exercise of warrants prior to their expirations on April 21, 2019. There were 2,575,895 warrants exercised from the $0.355 acceleration of the warrants. True Leaf is proud to have strong support from our investor community as demonstrated by the successful warrant exercise, said Darcy Bomford, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Leaf. This additional capital will strengthen our balance sheet and allow us to continue to execute on our growth plans, including bringing a legally-compliant CBD product for pets to market and expanding our global distribution, including entering new markets in the Asia Pacific region and Australia. About True Leaf True Leaf is a leading global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets. Inspired by the unconditional love our pets give us every day, we return that love through our wellness pet products which help maintain and protect the natural vitality of our pet companions. Return the Love is the purpose that drives our business and is at the heart of our values to bring happiness to pets and their owners. www.trueleaf.com Media Contact: Paul Sullivan Director, Public Relations Paul@trueleaf.com O: 604-685-4742 M: 604-603-7358 Investor Contact: Kevin Bottomley (Canada) Director and Corporate Relations Kevin@trueleaf.com M: 778-389-9933 Phil Carlson (US) KCSA Strategic Communications pcarlson@kcsa.com O: 212-896-1233 Scott Eckstein (US) KCSA Strategic Communications seckstein@kcsa.com O: 212-896-1210 Follow True Leaf Twitter: @trueleafpet Facebook: True Leaf Pet Instagram: @trueleafpet Forward-Looking Statements FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu takes part in a news conference FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu takes part in a news conference after a Turkey-EU Association Council in Brussels, Belgium, March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo By Can Sezer ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will be unable to diversify oil imports quickly after the United States ended waivers on purchases from Iran, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday, a day after a U.S.-imposed sanctions deadline passed. Turkey's statement follows comments by China, which said last month it opposed "long-armed jurisdictions implemented by the United States" and would continue "rational and legal" cooperation with Iran. The United States told buyers to stop oil purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers that had allowed Iran's biggest customers to import limited volumes. Turkey and China are the only two countries so far to have expressed a desire to continue large purchases of Iranian crude. Other major buyers, such as India, Japan and South Korea, have signalled they would bow to U.S. pressure. Turkey has reduced its heavy reliance on Iranian crude in the past year, but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said its refineries were not suited to handling oil from some other countries. "It does not seem possible for us to diversify the sources of the oil we import in a short time," he told a news conference, adding that Washington should review its decision. "We have to renew the technology of our refineries when we buy oil from third countries. That would mean the refineries remaining shut for some time. This, of course, has a cost." The White House has put pressure on its strategic Gulf ally and top global oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates to export more oil to meet potential shortages arising from Iranian sanctions. President Donald Trump said last week the United States was "losing our ass defending Saudi Arabia" and needed the kingdom to work on a lot of deals with Washington. India said on Thursday it was ready to deal with the impact of U.S. sanctions against Iran and would get extra supplies from other oil producers. Story continues Turkish imports from Iran have dropped gradually since May 2018, when the United States first mentioned possible sanctions. Turkey, which is almost completely reliant on imports to meet its energy needs, imported 912,000 tonnes of oil per month on average from Iran until May 2018, making up 47 percent of its total oil requirements. In the four months after the imposition of sanctions in November, Turkey imported an average of 209,000 tonnes of oil per month from Iran, or 12 percent of its needs, according to Reuters calculations based on regulatory data. Turkey last week said it was working to convince Washington to allow oil refiner Tupras to continue crude imports from Iran. Tupras did not respond to a question from Reuters about how the sanctions would affect its operations. (Additional reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and David Goodman) Signage is seen at the Huawei offices in Reading, Britain, May 2, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday filed a motion to disqualify the lead defense lawyer for Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from the case accusing the Chinese company of bank fraud and sanctions violations, according to a filing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York. The lawyer, James Cole, was the No.2 official at the Justice Department between 2011 and 2015, a period when the United States was obtaining information on how Huawei might have been doing business in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. The government did not make public why it is seeking to remove Cole from the case. In a letter to the court, prosecutors said they had filed a sealed, classified motion to disqualify Cole and expected to file a public version by May 10. Cole, the former deputy attorney general of the United States, is now a partner at Sidley Austin in Washington. He declined to comment. A spokesman for Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case against Huawei has ratcheted up tensions between Beijing and Washington as the world's two economic powers try to close a trade deal. To the shock of the Chinese, the company's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested in Canada in December at the behest of U.S. authorities. Huawei was charged with bank and wire fraud, violating sanctions against Iran and obstructing justice. Wanzhou, who must answer to some of the charges, has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition. She is due in court in Vancouver on May 8. Cole entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the company and its U.S. subsidiary on March 14 in Brooklyn. The crux of the case is that Meng and Huawei allegedly conspired to defraud HSBC Holdings Plc and other banks by misrepresenting Huaweis relationship with Skycom Tech Co Ltd, a suspected front company that operated in Iran. Huawei has said Skycom was a local business partner, while the United States maintains it was an unofficial subsidiary used to conceal Huaweis Iran business. Story continues U.S. authorities claim Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed U.S. goods, technology and services in Iran, and to move money via the international banking system. U.S. prosecutors said last month they planned to use information about Huawei obtained through secret surveillance in the case. In March, Reuters detailed how U.S. authorities secretly tracked Huawei's activities, including by collecting information copied from electronic devices carried by Chinese telecom executives traveling through airports. In February, Reuters exclusively reported how an internal HSBC probe helped lead to the U.S. charges against Huawei and its CFO. The indictment references reporting by Reuters from six years ago that Skycom offered to sell embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone operator. The reporting detailed links between Huawei and Skycom, including that Meng had served on Skycom's board of directors in 2008 and 2009. (https://reut.rs/2sUq8RT) (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker) (Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. found its first official bull on Wall Street, who made yet another a comparison to Amazon.com Inc. as Uber focuses more attention on markets outside its core ride-hailing business. Uber is just "scratching the surface of the full monetization potential" of its platform given opportunities in food-delivery, freight and autonomous vehicles, Wedbush Securities analyst Ygal Arounian wrote in a research note. "Saying its just a ride-sharing platform would be undervaluing the value of the entire company which has the DNA to become a game changing consumer distribution ecosystem over the coming years," said Arounian, who gave Uber an outperform rating and $65 price target. Uber plans to raise as much as $9 billion next week in what is expected to be the biggest initial public offering so far this year. The San Francisco-based company is offering 180 million shares at $44 to $50 apiece, according to a regulatory filing last week. D.A. Davidson took a more cautious approach in initiating coverage on Wednesday with a neutral rating and $53 price target. Ubers revenue growth opportunities are counterbalanced by an "uncertain" path to profits and shrinking margins, analyst Tom White wrote in a research note. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeran Wittenstein in San Francisco at jwittenstei1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. GREENVILLE, S.C., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United Community Banks, Inc. (UCBI) (United) has completed its merger, effective May 1, 2019, with First Madison Bank & Trust (First Madison). The legacy First Madison offices will continue to operate as First Madison Bank & Trust until conversion to Uniteds operating systems, which is expected in the third quarter of 2019. After conversion, these offices will operate under the brand name of United Community Bank. The merger with First Madison represents Uniteds entry into the diverse and fast growing Athens, Georgia market and is a natural extension of Uniteds existing presence in the Atlanta and North Georgia markets. The acquisition of First Madison is perfectly aligned with our strategy of expanding into new markets with the right team of bankers and using it as a platform for growth with our expanded array of products and services, stated Lynn Harton, Chief Executive Officer of United. First Madison has a strong and loyal customer base and shares our passion for delivering excellent customer service. We have long desired to expand into the Athens market, and believe we have found the ideal partner in First Madison. We are very pleased to welcome Jay Staines, Chief Executive Officer of First Madison, and his team of outstanding bankers to the United team. Jay Staines, Chief Executive Officer of First Madison, said, We couldnt be more excited to join forces with United Community Bank. We believe that our customers will quickly find that Uniteds commitment to providing high-quality, personalized customer service is very much like ours, with the additional benefit that they will now have more products and services from which to choose. We are confident that this will make us ever more competitive in this great Athens market and allow us to deepen our relationships and increase business opportunities. We cant wait to get started. First Madison operates four banking offices, all of which are located in the Athens-Clarke County, Georgia MSA. At March 31, 2019, First Madison had $244 million in assets, $199 million in loans, and $213 million in deposits, of which nearly two-thirds are non-CD core deposits. Story continues Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP served as Uniteds legal advisor. Olsen Palmer LLC served as First Madisons financial advisor, and Fenimore, Kay, Harrison & Ford, LLP served as its legal advisor. About United Community Banks, Inc. United Community Banks, Inc. (UCBI) is a bank holding company headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia, with executive offices in Greenville, South Carolina. The company is one of the southeast regions largest full-service financial institutions with $12.5 billion in assets, and 149 offices in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee which operate as United Community Bank, the companys bank subsidiary. The bank specializes in personalized community banking services for individuals, small businesses and corporations. Services include a full range of consumer and commercial banking products, including mortgage, advisory, and treasury management. Respected national research firms consistently recognize United Community Bank for outstanding customer service. For the last five years, J.D. Power has ranked United Community Bank first in customer satisfaction in the Southeast. In 2019, for the sixth consecutive year, Forbes magazine included United on its list of the 100 Best Banks in America, and for the first time included United on its list of The Worlds Best Banks. Additional information about the company and the bank can be found at www.ucbi.com. About First Madison Bank & Trust First Madison is a Georgia state-chartered bank headquartered in Athens, Georgia, with four banking offices, one each in Athens and Oconee County/Watkinsville, and two in Madison County. At March 31, 2019, First Madison had $244 million in assets, $199 million in loans, and $213 million in deposits. Additional information about First Madison can be found at www.firstmadisonbank.com . Caution About Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that include projections, predictions, expectations, or beliefs about future events or results or otherwise and are not statements of historical fact. Such statements are often characterized by the use of qualified words (and their derivatives) such as may, believe, expect, anticipate, intend, will, should, plan, estimate, predict, continue and potential or the negative of these terms or words of similar meaning or other statements concerning opinions or judgments of United and its management about future events. Although United believes that its expectations with respect to forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its existing knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurance that actual results, performance, or achievements of United will not differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements; such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties that change over time and could cause actual results or financial condition to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements. Actual future results and trends may differ materially from historical results and/or those anticipated depending on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the factors and risk influences contained in the cautionary language included under the headings Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Risk Factors in Uniteds Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and other periodic reports subsequently filed by United with the SEC, available on the SEC website, www.sec.gov. For any forward-looking statements made in this press release, United claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For more information: Jefferson Harralson Chief Financial Officer (864) 240-6208 Jefferson_Harralson@ucbi.com Peoples Assembly of Pankisi addresses public officials By Levan Abramishvili Peoples Assembly of Pankisi issued a statement on their Facebook page regarding the events of April 21, 2019, that took place in Pankisi Gorge.The Assembly, which consists of the doyens and the youth of the gorge addresses the letter to the Government of Georgia, Georgian Society, diplomatic corps and civic organizations. They ask the recipients to take part in resolving the crisis.No matter how much we criticize the political processes that preceded the April 21 events, which concerns the construction of a cascade of hydroelectric stations it is unambiguously unacceptable and inadmissible to use violent forms of protest that was used by the civilians. As the devoted children of our country, we believe that the main concern of each citizen is the protection of the security of our country reads the statement.The Assembly expressed their readiness to try to prevent the future escalation of the process we express readiness to do everything in our power to not allow the repetition of such actions in Pankisi Gorge.According to the statement, the initial reason for assembling was to regulate the protest within the community regarding the construction of HPPs. But the spontaneous police action in the gorge led to the excessive discontent within the locals.The basis for the discontent and distrust, according to the Assembly, lies within the years of policies oriented on punishing that were carried out in the gorge. We got the undesirable outcome, which is not within the interest of any citizen of our country, as a result of decisions that lacked democratic communication.In the statement, the Assembly stresses the importance of the actions of The Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia, that was geared towards immediate de-escalation of the process. After a few hours from the incident of April 21, The Minister arrived in Pankisi and met with the doyens of the community and promised them that the HPP wouldnt be built unless the 90% of the locals agreed on the construction.The statement asks the public officials, the members of The Government and The Parliament, including The Minister of Internal Affairs and The Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality to meet with the locals to overcome the issues and start a new stage of collaboration, which will be based on mutual self-criticism of the decisions and mistakes from both sides.Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, expressed her readiness to continue the talks with the Pankisi Gorge locals.we will discuss all the important issues with the community. Including the works that are planned in the future for the development of the gorge. Said Tsikhelashvili. According to her, the development plan is completely based on the needs of the people living in the gorge. I have a hope that we will discuss all the topics with the civic responsibility that is characteristic for the Kist people that live in Pankisi Gorge said the Minister.On April 21, 2019 locals in Pankisi Gorge were protesting the renewed construction of a hydroelectric station Khadori 3, which resulted in a clash between the demonstrators and the police forces. In a violent confrontation, tear gas and rubber bullets were used against the protesters and the locals threw stones at the law enforcers. 55 people were injured during the altercation, 38 of whom were the police officers. Net earnings of $54 million, or $0.31 per diluted share; Adjusted net earnings of $81 million, or $0.47 per diluted share Adjusted EBITDA of $285 million Returned $51 million of capital to stockholders, including $42 million of share repurchases PITTSBURGH, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) reported first quarter 2019 net earnings of $54 million, or $0.31 per diluted share. Adjusted net earnings were $81 million, or $0.47 per diluted share. This compares to first quarter 2018 net earnings of $18 million, or $0.10 per diluted share. Adjusted net earnings for first quarter 2018 were $57 million, or $0.32 per diluted share. Earnings Highlights Quarter Ended March 31, (Dollars in millions, except per share amounts) 2019 2018 Net Sales $ 3,499 $ 3,149 Segment earnings (loss) before interest and income taxes Flat-Rolled $ 95 $ 33 U. S. Steel Europe 29 110 Tubular 10 (27 ) Other Businesses 8 11 Total segment earnings before interest and income taxes $ 142 $ 127 Other items not allocated to segments (31 ) 10 Earnings before interest and income taxes $ 111 $ 137 Net interest and other financial costs 49 118 Income tax provision 8 1 Net earnings $ 54 $ 18 Earnings per diluted share $ 0.31 $ 0.10 Adjusted net earnings(a) $ 81 $ 57 Adjusted earnings per diluted share (a) $ 0.47 $ 0.32 Adjusted earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) (a) $ 285 $ 255 (a) Please refer to the non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this document for the reconciliation of these amounts. Over the past few years, we have made strategic investments across our footprint, with a focus on our most critical flat-rolled steelmaking assets, commented President and Chief Executive Officer David B. Burritt. Our progress continued in the first quarter as we delivered strong financial results. Today's announcement of a state-of-the-art endless casting and rolling line at Mon Valley Works further strengthens our competitive position and will generate long-term value for our stockholders, customers, employees and community. The Company will conduct a conference call on first quarter 2019 earnings on Friday, May 3, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight. To listen to the webcast of the conference call, and to access the company's slide presentation, visit the U. S. Steel website, www.ussteel.com, and click on the Investors section. Replays of the conference call will be available on the website after 10:30 a.m. on May 3. Story continues UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION PRELIMINARY SUPPLEMENTAL STATISTICS (Unaudited) Quarter Ended March 31, 2019 2018 OPERATING STATISTICS Average Realized Price: (a) Flat-Rolled ($/net ton) 798 740 U. S. Steel Europe ($/net ton) 670 707 U. S. Steel Europe (/net ton) 590 575 Tubular ($/net ton) 1,549 1,387 Steel Shipments (thousands of net tons): (a) Flat-Rolled 2,725 2,534 U. S. Steel Europe 1,064 1,127 Tubular 207 179 Total Steel Shipments 3,996 3,840 Intersegment Shipments (thousands of net tons): Flat-Rolled to Tubular 81 67 Raw Steel Production (thousands of net tons): Flat-Rolled 3,075 2,784 U. S. Steel Europe 1,159 1,292 Raw Steel Capability Utilization: (b) Flat-Rolled 73 % 66 % U. S. Steel Europe 94 % 105 % CAPITAL EXPENDITURES Flat-Rolled $ 247 $ 176 U. S. Steel Europe 34 21 Tubular 19 11 Other Businesses 2 Total $ 302 $ 208 (a) Excludes intersegment transfers. (b) Based on annual raw steel production capability of 17.0 million net tons for Flat-Rolled and 5.0 million net tons for USSE. UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) Quarter Ended March 31, (Dollars in millions, except per share amounts) 2019 2018 NET SALES $ 3,499 $ 3,149 OPERATING EXPENSES (INCOME): Cost of sales (excludes items shown below) 3,172 2,808 Selling, general and administrative expenses 78 78 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 143 128 Earnings from investees (9 ) (3 ) Net loss on disposal of assets 4 1 Total operating expenses 3,388 3,012 EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND INCOME TAXES 111 137 Net interest and other financial costs 49 118 EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAXES 62 19 Income tax provision 8 1 Net earnings 54 18 Less: Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests NET EARNINGS ATTRIBUTABLE TO UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION $ 54 $ 18 COMMON STOCK DATA: Net earnings per share attributable to United States Steel Corporation stockholders: -Basic $ 0.31 $ 0.10 -Diluted $ 0.31 $ 0.10 Weighted average shares, in thousands -Basic 173,241 176,157 -Diluted 174,545 178,289 Dividends paid per common share $ 0.05 $ 0.05 UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION CASH FLOW STATEMENT (Unaudited) Quarter Ended March 31, (Dollars in millions) 2019 2018 Cash provided by (used in) operating activities: Net earnings $ 54 $ 18 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 143 128 Loss on debt extinguishment 46 Pensions and other postretirement benefits 30 22 Deferred income taxes 6 Net loss on disposal of assets 4 1 Working capital changes (247 ) (310 ) Income taxes receivable/payable 41 (8 ) Other operating activities (2 ) 4 Total 29 (99 ) Cash used in investing activities: Capital expenditures (302 ) (208 ) Total (302 ) (208 ) Cash provided by (used in) financing activities: Issuance of long-term debt, net of financing costs 640 Repayment of long-term debt (538 ) Common stock repurchased (42 ) Dividends paid (9 ) (9 ) Receipts from exercise of stock options 30 Taxes paid for equity compensation plans (5 ) (6 ) Total (56 ) 117 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash (2 ) 10 Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (331 ) (180 ) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of the year 1,040 1,597 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of the period $ 709 $ 1,417 UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION CONDENSED BALANCE SHEET (Unaudited) March 31, Dec 31, (Dollars in millions) 2019 2018 Cash and cash equivalents $ 676 $ 1,000 Receivables, net 1,729 1,659 Inventories 2,133 2,092 Other current assets 92 79 Total current assets 4,630 4,830 Operating lease assets 234 Property, plant and equipment, net 4,989 4,865 Investments and long-term receivables, net 535 513 Intangible assets, net 156 158 Deferred income tax benefits 427 445 Other assets 181 171 Total assets $ 11,152 $ 10,982 Accounts payable and other accrued liabilities $ 2,547 $ 2,535 Payroll and benefits payable 333 440 Short-term debt and current maturities of long-term debt 66 65 Other current liabilities 194 157 Total current liabilities 3,140 3,197 Noncurrent operating lease liabilities 185 Long-term debt, less unamortized discount and debt issuance costs 2,326 2,316 Employee benefits 954 980 Other long-term liabilities 311 286 United States Steel Corporation stockholders' equity 4,235 4,202 Noncontrolling interests 1 1 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 11,152 $ 10,982 UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED EBITDA Quarter Ended March 31, (Dollars in millions) 2019 2018 Reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA Net earnings attributable to United States Steel Corporation $ 54 $ 18 Income tax provision 8 1 Net interest and other financial costs 49 118 Depreciation, depletion and amortization expense 143 128 EBITDA 254 265 Clairton coke making facility fire 31 Granite City Works adjustment to temporary idling charges (10 ) Adjusted EBITDA 285 255 UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED NET EARNINGS (LOSS) Quarter Ended(a) March 31, (Dollars in millions, except per share amounts) 2019 2018 Reconciliation to adjusted net earnings attributable to United States Steel Corporation Net earnings attributable to United States Steel Corporation $ 54 $ 18 Clairton coke making facility fire 27 Granite City Works adjustment to temporary idling charges (10 ) Loss on debt extinguishment and other related costs 49 Total adjustments 27 39 Adjusted net earnings attributable to United States Steel Corporation $ 81 $ 57 Reconciliation to adjusted diluted net earnings per share Diluted net earnings per share $ 0.31 $ 0.10 Clairton coke making facility fire 0.16 Granite City Works adjustment to temporary idling charges (0.05 ) Loss on debt extinguishment and other related costs 0.27 Total adjustments 0.16 0.22 Adjusted diluted net earnings per share $ 0.47 $ 0.32 (a) The adjustment included in this table for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 has been tax effected. The adjustments for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 have not been tax effected due to the full valuation allowance on our domestic deferred tax assets in 2018. We present adjusted net earnings (loss), adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share, earnings (loss) before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA, which are non-GAAP measures, as additional measurements to enhance the understanding of our operating performance. We believe that EBITDA, considered along with net earnings (loss), is a relevant indicator of trends relating to our operating performance and provides management and investors with additional information for comparison of our operating results to the operating results of other companies. Adjusted net earnings (loss) and adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share are non-GAAP measures that exclude the financial effects of the Clairton coke making facility fire, significant temporary idling charges and adjustments to those charges and debt extinguishment and other related costs that are not part of the Company's core operations. Adjusted EBITDA is also a non-GAAP measure that excludes the financial effects of the Clairton coke making facility fire and significant temporary idling charges and adjustments to those charges. We present adjusted net earnings (loss), adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA to enhance the understanding of our ongoing operating performance and established trends affecting our core operations, by excluding the financial effects of the Clairton coke making facility fire, significant temporary idling charges and adjustments to those charges and debt extinguishment and other related costs that can obscure underlying trends. U. S. Steel's management considers adjusted net earnings (loss), adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA as alternative measures of operating performance and not alternative measures of the Company's liquidity. U. S. Steels management considers adjusted net earnings (loss), adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA useful to investors by facilitating a comparison of our operating performance to the operating performance of our competitors. Additionally, the presentation of adjusted net earnings (loss), adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA provides insight into managements view and assessment of the Companys ongoing operating performance, because management does not consider the adjusting items when evaluating the Companys financial performance. Adjusted net earnings (loss), adjusted net earnings (loss) per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for net earnings (loss), earnings (loss) per diluted share or other financial measures as computed in accordance with U.S. GAAP and is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. A consolidated statement of operations (unaudited), consolidated cash flow statement (unaudited), condensed consolidated balance sheet (unaudited) and preliminary supplemental statistics (unaudited) for U. S. Steel are attached. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This release contains information that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We intend the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in those sections. Generally, we have identified such forward-looking statements by using the words believe, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, project, target, forecast, aim, should, will and similar expressions or by using future dates in connection with any discussion of, among other things, operating performance, trends, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, statements relating to volume growth, share of sales and earnings per share growth, and statements expressing general views about future operating results. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Companys beliefs regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Companys control. It is possible that the Companys actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the time made. However, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. Our 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 required by law. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our Company's historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the risks and uncertainties described in Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and those described from time to time in our future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. References to "we," "us," "our," the "Company," and "U. S. Steel," refer to United States Steel Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries. President Donald Trump speaking on St Patrick's Day last month. Photo: AP The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee will on Thursday vote on the nomination of Edward F. Crawford as the new US ambassador to Ireland. Crawford, an 80-year-old billionaire from Ohio, was chosen by US president Donald Trump in October. If his nomination is approved by the committee, his name will go to the floor of the full Senate for confirmation. In hearings last month, the self-styled serial entrepreneur said he would come into the role with a firm commitment to the Northern Ireland peace process. The billionaire led Trumps fundraising efforts in Ohio ahead of the 2016 presidential election, calling the candidate a positive leader who would help the country get back on track. There has not been a US ambassador in Ireland since January 2017 and the long period of vacancy of the post was cited as a key issue for Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar to raise on St Patricks Day visits to Washington. Like most US ambassadors to Ireland, Crawford has Irish roots: two grandparents emigrated from County Cork. Last year, he stood down as chairman and CEO of Park Ohio Holdings (PKOH), a supply chain management outsourcing company with annual sales in excess of $1.4bn (1bn). He currently serves as chairman and CEO of The Edward Crawford Group, according to the White House statement that announced his appointment. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is still in power in Venezuela. President Trump said he would help them a little bit and maybe a lot depending to help Juan Guaido into the presidential palace during an interview on FOX Business Wednesday. But what did the president mean by this? Is military action on the table? Retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane during an appearance on Varney & Co. Thursday said he thought the administration was still working on a peaceful transition. Well first of all -- I think for the time being they're still trying to work on a peaceful transition and obviously the administration thought they were pretty close to that as Ambassador [John] Bolton told us a couple of days ago on international television when he said the three key actors were willing to turn against Maduro and then change their mind and actually call them out on TV -- quite remarkable -- never seen anything quite like that, he told Stuart Varney. But Gen. Keane said there are several ways in which President Trump can use military force to allow Guaido to take over in Venezuela. I think the options the president has in front of him -- I'm not suggesting I know -- I don't ask questions like that -- I'm just speculating based on my own experience, said Keane. He can bring some U.S. forces and stage them in Colombia and with the implication obviously that they're going to be used inside of Venezuela. That May in of itself change the minds of some of their leaders in terms of who they want to support. Gen. Keane said the second option is to move into Venezuela with a coalition of forces, specifically Colombia and Brazil in order to provide humanitarian relief. It would be non-permissive in the sense that anybody that tried to interfere with it would have to be dealt with similar to what we did back in Somalia in the 90s. That was a humanitarian relief operation initially, he said. Another option, he said, is just go in there with an invasion with the purpose of conducting a regime change. Story continues However Keane noted that the Trump administration faces the challenge that if Maduro survives, it would increase the Russian and Cuban influence in that hemisphere. The strategic issues here are significant because we've had Putin, with his leaders, in Venezuela, advising Maduro every single day on what to do. So he is conducting a military intervention, he's put a private company force in there that he's used in Crimea, he's used also in Syria, the Wagner group, 400 of them in there in January, Why? To protect Maduro. Two: he's got his own advisors in there with Maduro every single day. That is a military intervention in our hemisphere and we all obviously have 20,000 Cubans doing that. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday told FOX Business that military action is possible in Venezuela if thats whats required. Related Articles (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here. Volkswagen AG shares advanced the most in three months after first-quarter profit rose and the German carmaker stuck to annual earnings goals despite a global market slowdown and rising legal costs. The stock jumped 3.7 percent on Thursday after the worlds biggest carmaker said operating profit rose to 4.8 billion euros ($5.4 billion), excluding a 1 billion-euro provision for legal costs. VW boosted sales of lucrative sport utility vehicles, while benefiting from favorable exchange rates and the revaluation of financial instruments that added 400 million euros to the result. Volkswagen delivered a surprisingly strong set of earnings with good results across the VW, Audi and Skoda brands, Citigroup said in a report. VW improved its model mix and cost saving efforts gained traction, the bank said. Mixed Start VW is weathering a slowdown in China better than most of its peers. The company said it gained share in its biggest market, which has contracted for 10 straight months overall amid an economic slowdown and trade tensions with the U.S. Volkswagen will still meet its annual target for vehicle sales and revenue, even after deliveries at Porsche and Audi, its two top profit contributors, declined during the first quarter. The passenger car business was very stable, Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter told reporters Thursday. He added that the carmaker needed to speed the transformation of its business amid growing global economic risks. That process took a step back in March, when Volkswagen shelved a partial share sale of the Traton SE heavy-trucks unit, the centerpiece of a revamp to become less centralized and boost efficiency. The move, blamed on market conditions, disappointed investors and came shortly before Swiss train maker Stadler Rail AG completed a successful listing. A public offering of Traton remains a desired outcome, Witter said. Unlocking value still is a priority for VW as the company is tremendously undervalued, he said, declining to identify concrete measures how the company is going to lift its valuation. Story continues VW told investors in March it plans to provide a strategy update this summer. The company is also seeking to expand its sprawling Chinese operations to boost production and research in the country thats leading a global shift toward electric vehicles. It plans to expand activities with all three joint venture partners as about half of the 22 million battery-electric vehicles it plans to produce by 2028 are bound to be sold in its largest market VW has ventures with SAIC Motor Corp. and FAW Car Co., two of Chinas largest manufacturers, after being one of the first foreign automakers to arrive in China more than three decades ago. VW is also exploring options to acquire a stake in its smaller third partner Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp. Witter said he was a bit more optimistic about a demand recovery in China during the second half of the year. VW expects to lift annual deliveries slightly and improve revenue by as much as 5 percent, despite slowing economic growth, intensifying competition and more possible production bottlenecks to adopt new emissions test procedures in Europe. The groups operating return on sales before special items is forecast between 6.5 percent and to 7.5 percent. Shares Gain VW rose to 160.74 euros late Thursday in Frankfurt trading, taking gains this year to 16 percent. Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the Porsche-Piech family-controlled investment company thats VWs main shareholder, gained 4.2 percent. Revenue at the main VW car brand, accounting for about half of global deliveries, rose 7.1 percent, while operating profit came in at 921 million euros. This excludes special items of 400 million euros relating to fallout from the diesel-emissions cheating scandal. Overall, costs related the 2015 revelations VW had rigged as many as 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to dupe emissions tests have reached 30 billion euros. Witter anticipates a related cash outflow of about 2.4 billion euros this year. VW has earmarked 5.5 billion euros in contingent liabilities, of which 3.4 billion euros are related to investor lawsuits, he told analysts today. Talks with Ford Motor Co. to cooperate on vans, which may extend into joint projects on electric and self-driving vehicles, are progressing well with the finishing line in sight, Witter said on a call with reporters. (Updates with CFO comments from analyst call in 12th paragraph.) To contact the reporter on this story: Christoph Rauwald in Frankfurt at crauwald@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Elisabeth Behrmann, Tara Patel For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. White House lawyer Emmet Flood sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of making political statement in his report on Russia and President Donald Trump. Flood, who joined the White House legal team in May 2018, worked as an impeachment attorney for President Bill Clinton. Flood's five-page letter to Barr claimed that the report on Mueller's far-reaching probe should not be legitimized or taken as precedent, and argued that Trump has retained his executive privilege rights related to the probe. White House lawyer Emmet Flood sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of making "political statements" in his report on Russia and President Donald Trump . Flood's five-page letter to Barr claimed that the report on Mueller's far-reaching probe should not be legitimized or taken as precedent, and argued that Trump has retained his executive privilege rights related to the probe. The letter to Barr is dated April 19 a day after the public release of a redacted version of Mueller's 448-page report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, possible collusion with the Kremlin and possible obstruction of justice by Trump himself. Mueller's report "suffers from an extraordinary legal defect," Flood wrote. "It quite deliberately fails to comply with the requirements of governing law." Flood zeroed in on one specific excerpt from the report, in which Mueller's team says that the evidence they obtained about potential obstruction by Trump prevents them "from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred." Conclusively finding innocence, Flood argued, "is never the task of the federal prosecutor." Rather, they are supposed to complete their investigation and then ask a grand jury to decide on whether or not to lodge charges. "Our country would be a very different (and very dangerous) place if prosecutors applied the SCO standard and citizens were obliged to prove 'conclusively ... that no criminal conduct occurred.'" Story continues The excerpt from the Mueller report "can be understood only as political statements," Flood continued, even though prosecutors are "expected never to be political in the performance of their duties." This, Flood wrote, "shows that the special counsel and his staff failed in their duty to act as prosecutors and only as prosecutors." A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment on the letter. Flood, who joined the White House legal team in May 2018, worked as an impeachment attorney for President Bill Clinton. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Flood was expected to leave his post following the release of the Mueller report. Mueller's report did not find sufficient evidence to show coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, and did not make a decision on the question of whether Trump obstructed justice a move Barr repeatedly criticized in Senate testimony on Wednesday. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, however, determined that the evidence was "not sufficient" to establish an obstruction offense. Barr released a version of the report with redactions in four categories, including grand jury materials. Trump, wrote Flood, did not withhold anything in the report from the public on executive privilege grounds, despite having a "right to assert such a privilege." But that decision doesn't affect Trump's ability to instruct his advisors not to appear before congressional committees to answer questions about the Mueller probe, Flood noted. Read Flood's letter to Attorney General William Barr below: More From CNBC 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 are going to look at Boustead Singapore Limited (SGX:F9D) to see whether it might be an attractive investment prospect. In particular, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that can give us insight into how profitably the company is able to employ capital in its business. First of all, we'll work out how to calculate ROCE. Then we'll compare its ROCE to similar companies. Then we'll determine how its current liabilities are affecting its ROCE. Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) ROCE measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since 'No two businesses are exactly alike.' So, How Do We Calculate ROCE? 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 Boustead Singapore: 0.12 = S$62m (S$825m - S$293m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) Therefore, Boustead Singapore has an ROCE of 12%. See our latest analysis for Boustead Singapore Does Boustead Singapore Have A Good ROCE? One way to assess ROCE is to compare similar companies. Boustead Singapore's ROCE appears to be substantially greater than the 5.4% average in the Construction industry. We consider this a positive sign, because it suggests it uses capital more efficiently than similar companies. Independently of how Boustead Singapore compares to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears decent, and the company may be worthy of closer investigation. SGX:F9D Past Revenue and Net Income, May 2nd 2019 Remember that this metric is backwards looking - it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. How cyclical is Boustead Singapore? You can see for yourself by looking at this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow. Story continues What Are Current Liabilities, And How Do They Affect Boustead Singapore's ROCE? Current liabilities are short term bills and invoices that need to be paid in 12 months or less. 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. Boustead Singapore has total liabilities of S$293m and total assets of S$825m. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 36% of its total assets. Boustead Singapore has a medium level of current liabilities, which would boost the ROCE. The Bottom Line On Boustead Singapore's ROCE Boustead Singapore's ROCE does look good, but the level of current liabilities also contribute to that. Boustead Singapore looks strong on this analysis, but there are plenty of other companies that could be a good opportunity . Here is a free list of companies growing earnings rapidly. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. 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. Reported Revenue was $2.3 billion for the quarter, up 1% over prior year Organic Revenue increased 5% over prior year Diluted Earnings per Share were $2.20 for the quarter, up 37% over prior year Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share were $2.98 for the quarter, up 10% over prior year Income from Operations was $359 million or 15.5% of revenue, up 420 basis points over prior year Adjusted Operating Income was $492 million or 21.3% of revenue, up 200 basis points over prior year ARLINGTON, Va. and LONDON, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) (the Company), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. We are pleased with our first-quarter financial results and the continued momentum in our business, said John Haley, Willis Towers Watsons chief executive officer. We delivered strong organic revenue growth, reflecting solid demand for our solutions and services across all of our core businesses. Likewise, we made solid progress in driving profitable growth, as demonstrated by our year-over-year margin expansion. With the disciplined execution of our strategy, we remain confident in our ability to drive profitable growth and deliver value for our clients and shareholders. First Quarter Company Highlights Revenue was $2.31 billion for the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 1% (5% increase constant currency and organic) as compared to $2.29 billion for the same period in the prior year. Net income attributable to Willis Towers Watson for the first quarter of 2019 was $287 million, an increase of 33% from $215 million for the prior-year first quarter. For the quarter, diluted earnings per share were $2.20 and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $2.98. Net income attributable to Willis Towers Watson and diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2019 included pre-tax $6 million of transaction and integration expenses related to the pending TRANZACT acquisition. The U.S. GAAP tax rate for the quarter was 18.8%, and the adjusted income tax rate for the quarter used in calculating adjusted diluted earnings per share was 20.1%. Story continues Net income for the first quarter of 2019 was $293 million, or 12.7% of revenue, an increase from net income of $221 million, or 9.6% of revenue for the prior-year first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2019 was $601 million, or 26.0% of revenue, an increase from Adjusted EBITDA of $557 million, or 24.3% of revenue. The first quarter is seasonally strong due to the renewal periods for some lines of business. Operating income margin improved by 420 basis points compared to the first quarter of the prior year. Adjusted operating income margin improved by 200 basis points to 21.3% from 19.3% in the prior-year first quarter. The margin improvement was driven by enhanced margin performance within the Human Capital and Benefits (HCB) segment, the Corporate Risk and Broking (CRB) segment, and the Benefits Delivery and Administration (BDA) segment, partially offset by a margin decrease in our Investment Risk and Reinsurance (IRR) segment. Cash flows from operating activities for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 was ($47) million compared to $18 million for the prior-year first quarter. Free cash flow for the quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 was ($104) million and ($47) million, respectively. During the quarter ended March 31, 2019, the Company had no share repurchase activity. Segment Highlights Human Capital & Benefits The HCB segment had revenue of $829 million, a nominal decrease (3%increase constant currency and 3% increase organic) from $832 million in the prior-year first quarter. On an organic basis, Health and Benefits delivered significant revenue growth, driven by increased consulting and brokerage services, growth in specialty products, and expansion of our client portfolio for both local and global appointments. Health and Benefits revenue growth was bolstered further by revenue reductions in the prior year resulting from the initial adoption of the new revenue standard implemented last year. Our Talent and Rewards business generated moderate revenue growth, resulting from increased product revenue and advisory work in North America and Western Europe. Retirement revenue declined somewhat compared to the prior year first quarter primarily as a result of a timing difference in the current quarter along with the impact of being an off year in the triennial valuation cycle in both Canada and Great Britain. Technology and Administration Solutions revenue also declined slightly due to decreased project demand in Great Britain. The HCB segment had an operating margin of 25%, as compared to 23% for the prior-year first quarter. Corporate Risk & Broking The CRB segment had revenue of $728 million, a decrease of 2% (3%increase constant currency and 4% increase organic) from $740 million in the prior-year first quarter. On an organic basis, North America continued to lead the segment, followed by Western Europe and International, primarily with new business generation along with strong management of the renewal book portfolio. Revenue in Great Britain decreased nominally. The CRB segment had an operating margin of 17.4%, as compared to 16.8% for the prior year first quarter. Investment, Risk & Reinsurance The IRR segment had revenue of $589 million, an increase of 3% (6%increase constant currency and 5% increase organic) from $574 million in the prior-year first quarter. On an organic basis, Reinsurance, Insurance Consulting and Technology, Underwriting and Capital Management, and Max Matthiessen drove the segments strong performance. Reinsurance and Underwriting and Capital Management growth was driven by net new business growth and favorable renewal factors, while Insurance Consulting and Technology revenue grew from strong technology sales. Max Matthiessen revenue increased as a result of overall growth in net commissions. The segments revenue growth was partially offset by a decline in our Wholesale business due to decreased net new business and a decline in Investment revenue, resulting from lower asset-based fees and one-time revenue items in the prior year. The IRR segment had an operating margin of 43%, as compared to 45% for the prior-year first quarter. Benefits Delivery & Administration The BDA segment had revenue of $135 million, an increase of 10% (10%increase constant currency and 10% increase organic) from $122 million in the prior-year first quarter. BDAs growth was primarily led by the continued expansion of its client base and increased demand for project work in the mid-market and large-market spaces. The BDA segment had an operating margin of negative 15%, as compared to negative 26% for the prior-year first quarter. Conference Call The Company will host a live webcast and conference call to discuss the financial results for the first quarter. It will be held on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and can be accessed via the Internet at www.willistowerswatson.com . The replay of the call will be available shortly after the live call for a period of three months. A telephonic replay of the call will also be available for 24 hours at 404-537-3406, conference ID 4347126. About Willis Towers Watson Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has more than 45,000 employees and serving more than 140 countries. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our unique perspective allows us to see the critical intersections between talent, assets and ideas the dynamic formula that drives business performance. Together, we unlock potential. Learn more at willistowerswatson.com. Select Questions and Answers Q1: What was the impact of the Companys adoption of the new lease accounting standard (ASC 842, Leases)? ASC 842 became effective, and was adopted by the Company, on January 1, 2019. The adoption of this new guidance had no material impact to the amounts and classifications of the balances within our condensed consolidated statements of income. On our condensed consolidated balance sheets we recognized an additional $1.2 billion of lease liabilities; $1.0 billion of right-of-use assets; additional deferred tax assets of $252 million and deferred tax liabilities of $252 million on the gross lease-related liabilities and gross right-of-use assets, respectively. See Note 12 Leases, within the Companys Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 for a full description of the impact on the Company from adoption, adoption elections made and the newly-required disclosures. Q2: What was the impact of foreign currency movements for the first quarter? For the quarter ended March 31, 2019, currency translation caused a decrease in our consolidated revenue of $84 million, resulting in a decrease of $0.12 to adjusted diluted earnings per share for the quarter. Q3: The original tax guidance for 2019 estimated an adjusted income tax rate of approximately 22%. The first quarter adjusted income tax rate is just 20%. Is there a possibility the tax guidance will be changed? Our adjusted income tax rate for the first quarter was 20.1%. This is lower than our full-year guidance due to one-time (or non-recurring) discrete tax benefits related to the excess tax benefit of share-based compensation and valuation allowance releases in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions. We continue to expect our full year adjusted income tax rate to be around 22%. The 2019 annualized adjusted income tax rate will continue to be subject to movements and we will continue to update guidance as more analysis and information becomes available. Q4: Do you have an update on the timing of the TRANZACT acquisition closing? We are excited about our recently-announced agreement to acquire TRANZACT, and continue to expect the deal to close in the third quarter of this year. We believe TRANZACT will be an excellent complement to our BDA business, and will bring highly innovative, industry-leading, technology-driven, direct-to-consumer solutions capabilities to Willis Towers Watson. The pending acquisition will help accelerate our direct-to-consumer strategy and provide us with a significant growth opportunity in the U.S. health care space. Q5: What is driving the significant reduction in cash flow compared to the prior year? Historically the first quarter has been our low season for cash flow due to incentive payouts. This quarters decline compared to last year is primarily the result of a shift in the timing of cash tax payments and pension contributions. Additionally our short-term incentive award payouts were higher relative to the prior year because of 2018 financial performance. Willis Towers Watson Non-GAAP Measures In order to assist readers of our consolidated financial statements in understanding the core operating results that Willis Towers Watsons management uses to evaluate the business and for financial planning, we present the following non-GAAP measures: (1) Constant Currency Change, (2) Organic Change, (3) Adjusted Operating Income, (4) Adjusted EBITDA, (5) Adjusted Net Income, (6) Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, (7) Adjusted Income Before Taxes, (8) Adjusted Income Taxes/Tax Rate and (9) Free Cash Flow. The Company believes that these measures are relevant and provide useful information widely used by analysts, investors and other interested parties in our industry to provide a baseline for evaluating and comparing our operating performance, and in the case of free cash flow, our liquidity results. Within these measures referred to as adjusted, we adjust for significant items which will not be settled in cash, or which we believe to be items that are not core to our current or future operations. Some of these items may not be applicable for the current quarter, however they are expected to be part of our full-year results. These items include the following: Transaction and integration expenses - Management believes it is appropriate to adjust for transaction and integration expenses when they relate to a specific significant program with a defined set of activities and costs that are not expected to continue beyond a defined period of time, or significant acquisition-related transaction expenses. We believe the adjustment is necessary to present how the Company is performing, both now and in the future when the incurrence of these costs will have concluded. Gains and losses on disposals of operations - Adjustment to remove the gain or loss resulting from disposed operations. Pension settlement and curtailment gains and losses - Adjustment to remove significant pension settlement and curtailment gains and losses to better present how the Company is performing. Provisions for significant litigation - We will include provisions for litigation matters which we believe are not representative of our core business operations. Tax effects of internal reorganization - Relates to the U.S. income tax expense resulting from the completion of internal reorganizations of the ownership of certain businesses that reduced the investments held by our U.S.-controlled subsidiaries. We evaluate our revenue on an as reported (U.S. GAAP), constant currency and organic basis. We believe presenting constant currency and organic information provides valuable supplemental information regarding our comparable results, consistent with how we evaluate our performance internally. Willis Towers Watson considers Constant Currency Change, Organic Change, Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share, Adjusted Income Before Taxes, Adjusted Income Taxes/Rate and Free Cash Flow to be important financial measures, which are used to internally evaluate and assess our core operations and to benchmark our operating and liquidity results against our competitors. These non-GAAP measures are important in illustrating what Willis Towers Watsons comparable operating and liquidity results would have been had the Company not incurred transaction-related and non-recurring items. Willis Towers Watsons non-GAAP measures and their accompanying definitions are presented as follows: Constant Currency Change represents the year-over-year change in revenue excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations. To calculate this impact, the prior year local currency results are first translated using the current year monthly average exchange rates. The change is calculated by comparing the prior year revenue, translated at the current year monthly average exchange rates, to the current year as reported revenue, for the same period. We believe constant currency measures provide useful information to investors because they provide transparency to performance by excluding the effects that foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations have on period-over-period comparability given volatility in foreign currency exchange markets. Organic Change excludes the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, as described above and the period-over-period impact of acquisitions and divestitures on current-year revenue. We believe that excluding transaction-related items from our U.S. GAAP financial measures provides useful supplemental information to our investors, and it is important in illustrating what our core operating results would have been had we not included these transaction-related items, since the nature, size and number of these translation-related items can vary from period to period. Adjusted Operating Income Income from Operations adjusted for amortization, transaction and integration expenses and non-recurring items that, in managements judgment, significantly affect the period-over-period assessment of operating results. Adjusted EBITDA Net Income adjusted for provision for income taxes, interest expense, depreciation and amortization, transaction and integration expenses, (gain)/loss on disposal of operations and non-recurring items that, in managements judgment, significantly affect the period-over-period assessment of operating results. Adjusted Net Income Net Income Attributable to Willis Towers Watson adjusted for amortization, transaction and integration expenses, (gain)/loss on disposal of operations and non-recurring items that, in managements judgment, significantly affect the period-over-period assessment of operating results, the related tax effect of those adjustments and the tax effects of internal reorganizations. This measure is used solely for the purpose of calculating adjusted diluted earnings per share. Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share Adjusted Net Income divided by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock, diluted. Adjusted Income Before Taxes Income from operations before income taxes adjusted for amortization, transaction and integration expenses, (gain)/loss on disposal of operations and non-recurring items that, in managements judgment, significantly affect the period-over-period assessment of operating results. Adjusted income before taxes is used solely for the purpose of calculating the adjusted income tax rate. Adjusted Income Taxes/Tax Rate Provision for income taxes adjusted for taxes on certain items of amortization, transaction and integration expenses, (gain)/loss on disposal of operations, the tax effects of internal reorganizations, and non-recurring items that, in managements judgment, significantly affect the period-over-period assessment of operating results, divided by adjusted income before taxes. Adjusted income taxes is used solely for the purpose of calculating the adjusted income tax rate. Free Cash Flow Cash flows from operating activities less cash used to purchase fixed assets and software for internal use. Free Cash Flow is a liquidity measure and is not meant to represent residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures. These non-GAAP measures are not defined in the same manner by all companies and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, the information contained within our condensed consolidated financial statements. Reconciliations of these measures are included in the accompanying tables with the following exception. The Company does not reconcile its forward looking non-GAAP financial measures to the corresponding U.S. GAAP measures, due to variability and difficulty in making accurate forecasts and projections and/or certain information not being ascertainable or accessible; and because not all of the information, such as foreign currency impacts necessary for a quantitative reconciliation of these forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, is available to the Company without unreasonable efforts. For the same reasons, the Company is unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information. The Company provides non-GAAP financial measures that it believes will be achieved, however it cannot accurately predict all of the components of the adjusted calculations and the U.S. GAAP measures may be materially different than the non-GAAP measures. Willis Towers Watson Forward-Looking Statements This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements and other forward-looking statements in this document by words such as may, will, would, expect, anticipate, believe, estimate, plan, intend, continue, or similar words, expressions or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. These statements include, but are not limited to, such things as our outlook, future capital expenditures, future share repurchases, growth in revenue, the impact of changes to tax laws on our financial results, business strategies and planned acquisitions (including the pending acquisition of TRANZACT), competitive strengths, goals, the benefits of new initiatives, growth of our business and operations, plans and references to future successes, including our future financial and operating results, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Willis Towers Watsons management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking disclosure is speculative by its nature. There are important risks, uncertainties, events and factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements contained herein, including the following: the ability of the company to successfully establish, execute and achieve its global business strategy as it evolves; changes in demand for our services, including any decline in defined benefit pension plans or the purchasing of insurance; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; significant competition that the company faces and the potential for loss of market share and/or profitability; the impact of seasonality and differences in timing of renewals; the risk of increased liability or new legal claims arising from our new and existing products and services, and expectations, intentions and outcomes relating to outstanding litigation; the risk the Stanford litigation settlement approval will be overturned on appeal, the risk that the Stanford bar order may be challenged in other jurisdictions, and the risk that the charge related to the Stanford settlement may not be deductible; the risk of material adverse outcomes on existing litigation or investigation matters; changes in the regulatory environment in which the company operates, including, among other risks, the impact of pending competition law and regulatory investigations; various claims, government inquiries or investigations or the potential for regulatory action; the companys ability to make divestitures or acquisitions and its ability to integrate or manage such acquired businesses (including with respect to the pending acquisition of TRANZACT and the timeline for its completion); failure to protect client data or breaches of information systems; the ability to comply with complex and evolving regulations related to data privacy and cyber security; the potential impact of Brexit; the ability of the company to properly identify and manage conflicts of interest; reputational damage; reliance on third-party services; the loss of key employees; the ability to successfully manage ongoing organizational changes; disasters or business continuity problems; doing business internationally, including the impact of exchange rates; compliance with extensive government regulation; the risk of sanctions imposed by governments, or changes to associated sanction regulations; technological change; changes and developments in the insurance industry or the United States healthcare system; the risk that the company may not be able to repurchase the intended number of outstanding shares due to M&A activity or investment opportunities, market or business conditions, or other factors; the inability to protect the companys intellectual property rights, or the potential infringement upon the intellectual property rights of others; fluctuations in the companys pension liabilities; the ability of the company to meet its financial guidance, the companys capital structure, including indebtedness amounts, the limitations imposed by the covenants in the documents governing such indebtedness and the maintenance of the financial and disclosure controls and procedures of each; the ability of the company to obtain financing on favorable terms or at all; adverse changes in the credit ratings of the company; the impact of recent changes to U.S. tax laws, including on our effective tax rate, and the enactment of additional, or the revision of existing, state, federal, and/or foreign regulatory and tax laws and regulations; U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. persons owning at least 10% of the companys shares; changes in accounting principles, estimates or assumptions; fluctuation in revenue against the companys relatively fixed expenses; the laws of Ireland being different from the laws of the United States and potentially affording less protections to the holders of our securities; and the company's holding company structure potentially preventing it from being able to receive dividends or other distributions in needed amounts from our subsidiaries. These factors also include those described under Risk Factors in the companys most recent 10-K filing and subsequent filings filed with the SEC. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying our forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of these assumptions, and therefore also the forward-looking statements based on these assumptions, could themselves prove to be inaccurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included in this document, our inclusion of this information is not a representation or guarantee by us that our objectives and plans will be achieved. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and we will not update these forward-looking statements unless the securities laws require us to do so. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this document may not occur, and we caution you against relying on these forward-looking statements. Contact INVESTORS Rich Keefe | +1 215 246 3961 | Rich.Keefe@willistowerswatson.com WILLIS TOWERS WATSON Supplemental Segment Information (In millions of U.S. dollars) (Unaudited) REVENUE Components of Revenue Change(i) Three Months Ended March 31, As Reported Currency Constant Currency Acquisitions/ Organic 2019 2018 % Change Impact Change Divestitures Change Human Capital & Benefits $ 829 $ 832 0% (3)% 3% 0% 3% Corporate Risk & Broking 728 740 (2)% (5)% 3% 0% 4% Investment, Risk & Reinsurance 589 574 3% (4)% 6% 1% 5% Benefits Delivery & Administration 135 122 10% 0% 10% 0% 10% Segment Revenue 2,281 2,268 1% (4)% 4% 0% 4% Reimbursable expenses and other 31 24 Revenue $ 2,312 $ 2,292 1% (4)% 5% 0% 5% (i) Components of revenue change may not add due to rounding. SEGMENT OPERATING INCOME (i) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Human Capital & Benefits $ 204 $ 193 Corporate Risk & Broking 127 125 Investment, Risk & Reinsurance 252 261 Benefits Delivery & Administration (21 ) (32 ) Segment Operating Income $ 562 $ 547 (i) Segment operating income excludes certain costs, including amortization of intangibles, restructuring costs, integration expenses, certain litigation provisions, and to the extent that the actual expense based upon which allocations are made differs from the forecast/budget amount, a reconciling item will be created between internally allocated expenses and the actual expenses reported for US GAAP purposes. Reconciliation of Segment Operating Income to Income from operations before income taxes Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Segment Operating Income $ 562 $ 547 Amortization (127 ) (141 ) Transaction and integration expenses (6 ) (43 Unallocated, net(i) (70 ) (104 ) Income from Operations 359 259 Interest expense (54 ) (51 ) Other income, net 55 56 Income from operations before income taxes $ 360 $ 264 (i) Includes certain costs, primarily related to corporate functions which are not directly related to the segments, and certain differences between budgeted expenses determined at the beginning of the year and actual expenses that we report for U.S. GAAP purposes. WILLIS TOWERS WATSON Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures (In millions of U.S. dollars, except per share data) (Unaudited) RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO WILLIS TOWERS WATSON TO ADJUSTED DILUTED EARNINGS PER SHARE Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Net Income attributable to Willis Towers Watson $ 287 $ 215 Adjusted for certain items: Amortization 127 141 Transaction and integration expenses 6 43 Loss on disposal of operations 9 Tax effect on certain items listed above(i) (32 ) (47 ) Adjusted Net Income $ 388 $ 361 Weighted-average shares of common stock, diluted 130 133 Diluted Earnings Per Share $ 2.20 $ 1.61 Adjusted for certain items:(ii) Amortization 0.97 1.06 Transaction and integration expenses 0.05 0.32 Loss on disposal of operations 0.07 Tax effect on certain items listed above(i) (0.25 ) (0.35 ) Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share $ 2.98 $ 2.71 (i) The tax effect was calculated using an effective tax rate for each item. (ii) Per share values and totals were calculated using extended values. RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED EBITDA Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Net Income $ 293 12.7 % $ 221 9.6 % Provision for income taxes 67 43 Interest expense 54 51 Depreciation 54 49 Amortization 127 141 Transaction and integration expenses 6 43 Loss on disposal of operations 9 Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin $ 601 26.0 % $ 557 24.3 % RECONCILIATION OF INCOME FROM OPERATIONS TO ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Income from operations $ 359 15.5 % $ 259 11.3 % Adjusted for certain items: Amortization 127 141 Transaction and integration expenses 6 43 Adjusted operating income $ 492 21.3 % $ 443 19.3 % RECONCILIATION OF GAAP INCOME TAXES/TAX RATE TO ADJUSTED INCOME TAXES/TAX RATE Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Income from operations before income taxes $ 360 $ 264 Adjusted for certain items: Amortization 127 141 Transaction and integration expenses 6 43 Loss on disposal of operations 9 Adjusted income before taxes $ 493 $ 457 Provision for income taxes $ 67 $ 43 Tax effect on certain items listed above(i) 32 47 Adjusted income taxes $ 99 $ 90 U.S. GAAP tax rate 18.8 % 16.3 % Adjusted income tax rate 20.1 % 19.7 % (i) The tax effect was calculated using an effective tax rate for each item. RECONCILIATION OF CASH FLOWS (USED IN)/FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES TO FREE CASH FLOW Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Cash flows (used in)/from operating activities $ (47 ) $ 18 Less: Additions to fixed assets and software for internal use (57 ) (65 ) Free Cash Flow $ (104 ) $ (47 ) WILLIS TOWERS WATSON Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (In millions of U.S. dollars, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Revenue $ 2,312 $ 2,292 Costs of providing services Salaries and benefits 1,348 1,377 Other operating expenses 418 423 Depreciation 54 49 Amortization 127 141 Transaction and integration expenses 6 43 Total costs of providing services 1,953 2,033 Income from operations 359 259 Interest expense (54 ) (51 ) Other income, net 55 56 INCOME FROM OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAXES 360 264 Provision for income taxes (67 ) (43 ) NET INCOME 293 221 Income attributable to non-controlling interests (6 ) (6 ) NET INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO WILLIS TOWERS WATSON $ 287 $ 215 Earnings per share Basic earnings per share $ 2.21 $ 1.62 Diluted earnings per share $ 2.20 $ 1.61 Weighted-average shares of common stock, basic 130 133 Weighted-average shares of common stock, diluted 130 133 WILLIS TOWERS WATSON Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (In millions of U.S. dollars, except share data) (Unaudited) March 31, December 31, 2019 2018 ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents $ 992 $ 1,033 Fiduciary assets 15,129 12,604 Accounts receivable, net 2,490 2,379 Prepaid and other current assets 409 404 Total current assets 19,020 16,420 Fixed assets, net 957 942 Goodwill 10,456 10,465 Other intangible assets, net 3,187 3,318 Right-of-use assets 946 Pension benefits assets 833 773 Other non-current assets 494 467 Total non-current assets 16,873 15,965 TOTAL ASSETS $ 35,893 $ 32,385 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Fiduciary liabilities $ 15,129 $ 12,604 Deferred revenue and accrued expenses 1,240 1,647 Current debt 187 186 Current lease liabilities 158 Other current liabilities 940 864 Total current liabilities 17,654 15,301 Long-term debt 4,518 4,389 Liability for pension benefits 1,135 1,170 Deferred tax liabilities 544 559 Provision for liabilities 543 540 Long-term lease liabilities 961 Other non-current liabilities 296 429 Total non-current liabilities 7,997 7,087 TOTAL LIABILITIES 25,651 22,388 COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES REDEEMABLE NON-CONTROLLING INTEREST 28 26 EQUITY(i) Additional paid-in capital 10,630 10,615 Retained earnings 1,439 1,201 Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax (1,974 ) (1,961 ) Treasury shares, at cost, 17,519 shares in 2019 and 2018, and 40,000 shares, 1 nominal value, in 2019 and 2018 (3 ) (3 ) Total Willis Towers Watson shareholders' equity 10,092 9,852 Non-controlling interests 122 119 Total Equity 10,214 9,971 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $ 35,893 $ 32,385 (i) Equity includes (a) Ordinary shares $0.000304635 nominal value; Authorized 1,510,003,775; Issued 129,211,111 (2019) and 128,921,530 (2018); Outstanding 129,211,111 (2019) and 128,921,530 (2018); (b) Ordinary shares, 1 nominal value; Authorized and Issued 40,000 shares in 2019 and 2018; and (c) Preference shares, $0.000115 nominal value; Authorized 1,000,000,000 and Issued none in 2019 and 2018. Regarding the Reporting in the Georgian Media about the Protests by the Armenian groups and the Event held by the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi on 24 April 2019 The Ambassador of Turkey to Georgia, HE Ms. Fatma Ceren Yazgan, issued a statement regarding the protests held in front of the Embassy of Turkey in Georgia on April 24, 2019. We offer the statement unaltered: On 24 April 2019, a group of Armenians held a protest at the outside of the Embassy as they have done for couple of years on every 24th of April. As every year, in their protests they demanded the Turkish Government to acknowledge the events of 1915 as genocide. Further, similar to the Armenian diasporas rhetoric in other countries, during their chants, speeches and slogans, they voiced threats against territorial integrity of Turkey and insulted the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. On the same day, Turkish Embassy organized a concert by the Turkish children and a small exhibition of their paintings with the theme of World peace and friendship on the occasion of the 23rd of April which is celebrated as the international day of children in Turkey. During the Embassy activity, World childrens songs were also broadcasted. Among these songs there were also 2 Armenian songs as well as Turkish, Azeri, Russian, English, German and French children songs. Before the Embassy event, a reporter of the Georgian-Armenian media requested to have an interview with me. Here is the link of that interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdwgXjdVcHE In that interview, I mentioned a message that I shared in social media and referred to the legacy of late Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in 2007. As also will be seen from the Aliq media interview, I have stressed that the message of the childrens festivity was peace and a call to give all children of this region a perspective for peace. Interestingly, my words in the Aliq media interview were not reflected in the Georgian media. Therefore, I present you the link and the aforementioned text of my message on the social media below. Message in social media: I want to share two speeches by Hrant Dink below the text. They are in Turkish. Here is a summary: He says Turks and Armenians are each others medicine. He says both sides need to try to understand each others pride and pain. He calls for Armenian diaspora not to get chained by the word of Genocide, while he, as an Armenian felt the pain the loss of his people. He tells Turks to try to understand the trauma of Armenians. He reminds the horrible deaths on both sides caused by imperialism of Great Power politics. His strong, wise and valuable message and legacy should be respected. He was assassinated. As were 32 Turkish diplomats and their family members from 1973- 1984 in Los Angeles, Vienna, Paris, Beirut, Vatican, Madrid, Belgrade, Ottawa, Den Haag, Athens, Sydney, Boston, Lizbon, Brussels, Teheran by ASALA & JCAG for so called revenge of a so called genocide. I defend the view that it was not a genocide. It was a fratricide, it was a deportation in WW1 that led to deaths of thousands, the memory of victims should be remembered. M. Philips Price, the author of War and revolution in Asiatic Russia, published in 1918 , concluded in his memoirs of his time in the Caucasus as the correspondent of the Manchester Guardian : I now see clearly that the guilt of the war atrocities upon civilian populations cannot be put down to any one combatant The more one dispassionately looks at the facts, and collects the stories told by sufferers of all races and creeds on the spot, as I have done in the course of 18 months, the more it becomes clear that it is impossible to charge any one government with the crime. I mourn for all the deaths, Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish who found themselves in the midst of a war which was not of their making. I feel for all those families who had to leave the lands where their forefathers had lived. That includes millions of Muslims- Georgians, Circassian, Turks, Albanians, Crimean Tatars who were deported or driven out from their ancestral lands to Anatolia in 19th-20th century. I mourn for 32 Turkish diplomats. But I hope Turkish and Armenian children will one day celebrate peace together and learn to respect and understand each others pain and pride, as Hrant Dink had called for. I fully share his view that we must not allow this painful memory to be exploited by others. We have to teach our children to protect whats theirs while respecting the others. We have to teach empathy not hate. We have to leave them a vision for future and not an obsession with their past. They must not forget, but first they need to learn the whole story, devoid of propaganda. Perhaps it is also not too late for our generation as well. That is why I became a diplomat, anyway. Stay in peace. https://youtu.be/O7vFJkLrmmw https://youtu.be/lY3PXk6i2OU WILMINGTON, Del., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WSFS Financial Corporation (WSFS), the parent company of WSFS Bank, will participate in the 21st Annual Financial Institutions Conference hosted by D.A. Davidson & Co. in Denver, Col., from May 6 to May 8, 2019. Rodger Levenson, WSFS President and Chief Executive Officer, and Dominic C. Canuso, WSFS Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will host one-on-one meetings with analysts and investors. Presentation Materials: Presentation slides will be included as part of the meetings and will also be available on WSFS Investor Relations page, http://investors.wsfsbank.com/. About WSFS Financial Corporation WSFS Financial Corporation is a multi-billion dollar financial services company. Its primary subsidiary, WSFS Bank, is the oldest and largest locally-managed bank and trust company headquartered in Delaware and the Delaware Valley. As of March 31, 2019, WSFS Financial Corporation had $12.2 billion in assets on its balance sheet and $19.0 billion in assets under management and administration. WSFS operates from 152 offices located in Delaware (49), Pennsylvania (72), New Jersey (29), Virginia (1) and Nevada (1) and provides comprehensive financial services including commercial banking, retail banking, cash management and trust and wealth management. Other subsidiaries or divisions include Beneficial Equipment Finance Corporation, Cash Connect, Christiana Trust Group, Cypress Capital Management, LLC, NewLane Finance, Powdermill Financial Solutions, WSFS Institutional Services, WSFS Wealth Investments, West Capital Management, and WSFS Mortgage and Arrow Land Transfer. Serving the greater Delaware Valley since 1832, WSFS Bank is one of the ten oldest banks in the United States continuously operating under the same name. For more information, please visit wsfsbank.com. Investor Relations Contact: Dominic C. Canuso (302) 571-6833 dcanuso@wsfsbank.com Media Contact: Jimmy A. Hernandez (302) 571-5254 jhernandez@wsfsbank.com For Immediate Release Chicago, IL May 2, 2019 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include ExxonMobil XOM, Chevron CVX, TOTAL S.A. TOT, Valero Energy Corp. VLO and Hess Corp. HES. Here are highlights from Wednesdays Analyst Blog: Oil & Gas Roundup: XOM, CVX, TOT & More It was a week where oil prices settled lower but natural gas futures gained. On the news front, integrated majors ExxonMobil, Chevron and TOTAL S.A. 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. Story continues 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. 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 TOTAL reported 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 Corp. 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 Corp. 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) Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press 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 Valero Energy Corporation (VLO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report TOTAL S.A. (TOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Hess Corporation (HES) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research For Immediate Release Chicago, IL May 2, 2019 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Intel INTC, Texas Instruments TXN, Xilinx XLNX, Lam Research LRCX and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSM. Here are highlights from Wednesdays Analyst Blog: How Are Semiconductor Companies Doing This Quarter? Semiconductor stocks have been mixed so far and a broader cyclical slowdown seems apparent from the results. Most players arent expecting a protracted downturn mainly because the 5G rollout is coming sooner than expected, because auto content adds are continuing and other secular drivers like artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) remain ongoing drivers. Additionally, technology transition to smaller nodes is a positive for equipment companies. The possibility of a U.S.-China trade war remains a shadow for longer term prospects, but this isnt a negative in the near term, as it can only lead to inventory adds at customers. Read on for the details- Intelbarely topped expectations for the quarter, helped by the Client Computing group, IoTG and Mobileye. Most disappointing was the weakness in data center, where Intel will also see market share loss to AMD. Weak NAND prices also didnt help the quarter. Guidance for the second quarter disappointed due to continued weakness in data center (from softness in China, to improve in the second half) and weak gross margin (from continued softness in NAND pricing and the 10nm ramp). First products with 10nm chips will be on the market this holiday season. Exiting the 5G modem business that Apple is now widely believed to have awarded Qualcomm will help shave a billion dollars from operating cost. Numbers- EPS of $0.89 topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.87. Story continues Reported revenue of $16.06 billion was higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.01 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is down 4.0% in the last 7 days. The shares carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Texas Instrumentstopped our expectations while facing the second straight quarterly decline in what looks like a semiconductor down cycle. Management helpfully commented that historically, semi down cycles were a four to five quarter affair, after which year-on-year growth usually returned. Still, as experts and analysts have been commenting on for long, there remain several secular drivers for this industry. For TI, the silver lining was communications infrastructure, where 5G deployment led to 30% growth. The core auto and industrial markets, where most of its resources are parked, benefit from increasing content per unit although overall weakness is perceivable at this point. Its personal communications business is feeling the pain from a sluggish smartphone market, especially lower-than-expected business from Apple. So net-net, the all-important analog business that makes up 70% of its revenue was down a moderate 2% while embedded processing (22% revenue share) declined 14%. Margins were of course impacted by the lower utilization rate (thats despite the fact that TI outsources some stuff, mainly in the embedded unit and cuts those outside orders before reducing production at internal fabs). The company continues to return all of its FCF to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Numbers- EPS of $1.22 topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.13. Reported revenue of $3.59 billion was higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.49 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 grew 2 cents to $5.18 in the last 7 days. The shares carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Xilinxsquarter was marred by weakness in the data center market (expected to rebound next quarter), as offset by 5G-driven strength in communications, as well as a robust ADAS-driven automotive business. 5G rollout in South Korea and preparation for 5G in China were salient features in the quarter, accounting for the 56% growth in the Asia Pacific. Management expects to grow content with 5G, which is also expected to be a much bigger market than 4G. The strength in the communications business however impacted margins. Higher 7nm tape-out expenses are also associated with margin pressure. But management expects the margin to normalize in the second half of the year as the end market mix normalizes. Numbers- EPS of $0.94 missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.96. Reported revenue of $828 million was higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $819 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 dropped 1.0% to $3.87 in the last 7 days. The shares carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Leading wafer fab equipment supplier Lam Research smashed our earnings estimate and also beat on revenue, helped by a favorable tax rate and the benefit of ongoing share repurchases. Lower WFE spending in the mid to high-teens percent range driven by inventory burn at NAND and DRAM customers is expected to continue through the year. This will be offset by strength at foundry and logic customers ramping leading edge nodes faster than expected. Foundry in particular was very strong in the last quarter. Overall, Lam is strongly positioned by virtue of its product range that facilitates technology conversion at the front end, so the advent of AI, 5G and IoT are expanding the served available market while strength in China, which is now a $5 billion+ market supports continued growth. Numbers- EPS of $3.70 easily surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.38. Reported revenue of $2.44 billion was higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.40 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 grew 3.17% to $14.33 in the last 7 days. The shares carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Companyreported a weak quarter as a global slowdown especially in smartphones, consequent inventory buildup at customers and a photoresist contamination at one of its fabs combined to pull down results. U.S.-China trade war related concerns was likely an offsetting factor as it would normally cause Chinese customers to stock pile. What follows from the above situation is a reduction in utilization, which along with low margins, impacts profitability. Note that the contaminated product will ship this quarter, helping numbers. Also, full-year 2019 gross margin guidance of 50% was reiterated as TSM expects strong 7nm utilization in the second half. But the main question for investors is the extent of the slowdown and the factors that will play a role in pulling it out. Management said that channel inventories will largely be burnt down, especially at important customers like NVIDIA by the middle of the year, which makes for a stronger second half. So HPC/AI will come back soon. The sooner-than-expected 5G rollout in Asia and Apples truce with Qualcomm that will further boost adoption makes 5G another strong driver of growth. IoT and automotive applications are other expected drivers. TSM snatched the process lead from Intel and is already working on 5nm and 3nm while shipping 7nm and 7nm+ in volume. This makes it the go-to place for fabless semiconductor players. The 2019 capex target is being maintained at $10-11 billion, so the company will spend as necessary to maintain its process lead. Its client roster includes companies like NVIDIA, Apple, Qualcomm and AMD that are all at the leading edge of technology. All except AMD are also market leaders. This positions it very well to benefit from any semiconductor upcycle. It also positions it to benefit from their new product rollouts. This is especially true because of the cyclical slowdown in semiconductors, which could extend for 2-3 quarters more. So new products from customers and shipping to consumption are important factors likely to help TSM. Numbers- The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 remains unchanged at $2.12 (after it was lowered by 7 cents 60 days ago). 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. See 7 breakthrough stocks now>> Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press 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 Intel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSM) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Bloomberg) -- Zynga Inc. shares surged to a seven-year high on Thursday, after the company reported first-quarter results that beat expectations and lifted its full-year outlook. Analysts were essentially unanimous in their praise, with at least five firms raising their price targets on the stock, touting the momentum in its live services business, as well as the success of recent acquisitions. Also in view was the companys gross booking, which jumped to their highest level on record. The stock advanced as much as 14 percent and traded at its highest level since May 2012. Heres what analysts are saying about the results: Morgan Stanley, Brian Nowak The results and outlook underscore the momentum of its growth strategy. Firm has increased confidence that core live services can drive growth into/through new game launches in the second half of the year. Price target raised to $6.80 from $5.75. Overweight rating. Benchmark Co, Mike Hickey We are encouraged by ZNGAs expanding live service game portfolio and accelerated growth profile, geo-expansion opportunities, emerging game pipeline, recurrent bookings generation, expanding ad monies, ongoing M&A opportunities, relative valuation, consistent financial upside and credible executive team. Buy rating. Price target raised to a Street-high matching $8 from $5. Wedbush, Michael Pachter There was strong momentum from Zyngas live services portfolio. Outperform rating. Price target raised to $7.50 from $6.40. Zynga is a compelling investment. Piper Jaffray, Michael Olson The results exhibited progress for the Zynga strategy of continuing to collectively grow the five forever franchises. The company has shown an ability to maintain and improve player engagement within existing titles that helps to drive revenue visibility and improves the companys risk profile. With better top-line results and cost containment, margins are trending higher. Overweight rating. Price target raised to $7.25 from $6. Story continues Cowen, Doug Creutz Company trounced estimates in the quarter, and worries about its organic growth rate seriously miss the point. The real story is that Zynga has, through M&A, massively reweighted its portfolio away from older, harder to grow games, and towards younger, fast growing games. Outperform rating. Price target raised to $7 from $6. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Zyngas broad-based strength across many of its key franchises and pipeline of promising new game releases position it well to sustain strong bookings, Ebitda and cash flow. --Matthew Kanterman, technology and gaming analystClick here to view the research (Updates stock activity to market open, adds chart about bookings.) --With assistance from Karen Lin. To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Courtney Dentch For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Zynga Wants to Know If Fans Will Pay to Play Its Games (Bloomberg) -- Zynga Inc., the pioneer in free-to-play mobile games, is considering offering monthly subscriptions to popular titles such as Words With Friends as a way to boost revenue. Chief Executive Officer Frank Gibeau said Wednesday in an interview that customers who sign up would get extra content. He also sees a role for Zynga titles in the online gaming platforms being rolled out by companies such as Google and Apple Inc. Streaming as a distribution technology is going to be here and its going to be big, whether its subscription or free-to-play, he said. Zynga, based in San Francisco, reported first-quarter sales grew to $265.4 million, ahead of Wall Street projections of $242.4 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortization totaled $75.5 million and also beat analysts estimates. Shares of Zynga rose as much as 11 percent to $6.13 in extended trading. The stock was up 40 percent this year through Wednesdays close. The company lifted its full-year revenue guidance by $50 million to $1.2 billion due to the strength of recently acquired games such as Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons!, Gibeau said. Zynga expects second-quarter sales of $280 million, above Wall Street forecasts, and adjusted Ebitda of $62 million, compared with analysts estimates of $56.4 million. (Updates with extended trading.) To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Fremont and Dodge County Convention and Visitors Bureau An Omaha man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a child in a case that had originally included charges related to child sex trafficking. Joe R. Lockett, 38, had pleaded guilty in January to first-degree sexual assault of a child, a class IB felony punishable by 20 years to life imprisonment. On Wednesday, Dodge County District Court Judge Geoffrey Hall sentenced him to 20 years to 20 years and a day, as per an agreement that Lockett made with prosecutors. Prior to Wednesdays hearing, Lockett had filed a motion to withdraw his prior plea, claiming that he had received ineffective representation from his prior counsel. He also claimed that hed been misled about the terms of his plea agreement, according to a court filing. But during the Wednesday hearing, after conferring with his attorney Nicholas Wurth, Lockett withdrew the motion and agreed to proceed directly to sentencing with a joint agreement for 20 years in prison. Hall explained that, legally, sentences need to be given with a minimum and maximum sentence with the minimum sentence less than the maximum. Because of that, Locketts official sentence is 20 years to 20 years and a day. He also received 188 days worth of credit for time served. Lockett was arrested in October 2018 after the Dodge County Sheriff's Department stopped his vehicle as it exited a truck stop on Broad Street. Lockett allegedly failed to stop at a posted stop sign, according to a police affidavit. Law enforcement found a 15-year-old girl in the vehicle with Lockett, who Lockett claimed to be his daughters friend. But, the affidavit notes that the girl was actually a runaway from Iowa. The juvenile then told officers that she and Lockett had engaged in sexual intercourse. Police also said that they had found several illicit photos of the juvenile in Locketts possession. The affidavit also notes that the juvenile told officers that Lockett was attempting to prostitute her out. Lockett was initially charged with a class IB felony of sex trafficking, but that charge, along with others, were dropped as part of his plea agreement with the state. Lockett must also register as a sex offender. Correction: An earlier version of this story listed the incorrect arresting agency. The Dodge County Sheriff's Department arrested Joe Lockett. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area officially reopened on Wednesday, following last months historic flooding that battered much of the area and delayed entry. By opening the park on Wednesday, officials made good on previously reported hopes to start welcoming visitors by May 1. The opening also comes after a volunteer cleanup session hosted this weekend. But the opening has some limitations, according to Nebraska Game and Parks Regional Superintendent Jeff Fields. Lakes 10, 15 (Victory) and 20 will have no-wake, five-mile-per-hour speed limits as officials still work to remove snags, trees and other boat hazards. A press release from Game and Parks says that they hope that the lakes will welcome normal boating activities by the end of May. Were going to start probably next week on doing some snag removal out in the lakes via boats and equipment to try to pull some of these snags that come floating in so theyre not a boat hazard, Fields said. Thats why we have that five-mile-per-hour speed limit until we get that accomplished. Electrical sites one through 11 in the Cottonwood Cove Campground in the north camping area will be open, and sections of Cottonwood Cove will be open for primitive camping. However, the Fishermans Point Campground in the north camping area will be closed to all camping until further notice due to high lake levels and road damage. Several roadways are still damaged by flooding and remain closed, and park officials urge motorists to observe cautionary signage and barricades. The Pathfinder Campground can be accessed from the west side of the area just off of County Road 19. Victory Lake and Pathfinder Campgrounds are open for camping. Additionally, both the east and west entrances to the south camping areas are open, and a valid 2019 Park Permit is required. Fields explained that officials were waiting to have the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality test the water quality inside the lakes, which had filled with river water during the flooding. That testing has been done, and the park was cleared to open, Fields said. They were all at reasonable levels, so we were basically greenlighted to open up, Fields told the Tribune. Thats one of the reasons we were kind of waiting just to make sure we didnt have really high bacteria levels. Fields said that it could take up to a year for the recreation area to return to normal entirely, when factoring in the roads, some of which were washed out in the flooding, such as the road between Lake 16 and Victory Lake. I think the biggest limitation will be just with areas you wont be able to drive just because the road washed out, Fields said. Some of those are things that will take longer to get accomplished because were talking asphalt road and quite a substantial amount of dirt work, really not going to impact camping or the main flow of the area really. Meanwhile, work continues on repairing levee breaches on the south end of Lake 20, which Fields says will continue for at least a couple more weeks. Additional work is occurring on the east end of Lake 20 to re-establish a boundary between the neighboring landowner to the east of us there, Fields said. Still, there are some long-term effects from the flooding that could take years to iron out. That includes, particularly, the entry of non-native species of fish into the state lakes from the Platte River. That could affect the local eco-system, and once other work in the area concludes, it will have to be addressed. On Wednesday afternoon, overcast skies and chilly temperatures didnt stop a handful of visitors some from entering the park for the first time this season. Several recreational vehicles were seen set up throughout the area. Jerry and Maxine Bennett had come out to walk their dog, a Shih Tzu named Mocha. They had heard that the parks were set to open on May 1 and planned to be out there on day one. We always used to come out every day and walk and bring our dog out and walk, but then, this spring with all the flooding, it was closed so long, Jerry said. So this is the first day it was open, we tried to get back in the habit and get back out. They said that theyd seen quite a few cars driving through the area. Were really glad its open, Maxine said. We like walking out here because theres so many geese and deer and wildlife. When asked what he was most looking forward to this season, Jerry gave a simple answer: No more floods, hopefully. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The construction of Nairobis first double-decker road is set to start in September, according to transport CS James Macharia. The Sh59 billion road will be built by China Road and Bridge Corporation, and is expected to take 2 years. The road starts at JKIA and ends at Rironi, linking Nairobis main airport to the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. Road construction will commence in September 2019, and will take two years to complete, said Mr Macharia. The road will be tolled, meaning motorists seeking to avoid traffic jams will have to pay for its usage. However, the lower section will continue to be free. The final designs have not been made public, but it is believed that not all sections of the highway will be elevated. There will also be a dedicated lane for large capacity buses (BRT). The road was first approved by parliament in 2008, but construction has continued to be delayed. World Bank was initially supposed to be the project financier, but withdrew questioning its suitability. President Uhuru Kenyatta finally secured financing from the Chinese in his visit to Beijing last month. Employees at Methodist Fremont Health didnt go to Alaska for the recent Iditarod. But they had the opportunity to travel for miles without leaving home to gain better health. The local hospital recently concluded the Last Great Race Iditarod Team Challenge for 2019. More than 220 employees participated in the eight-week team challenge intended to encourage healthy habits. This years winning team was the Mush Puppies, said Jill Gossett, community health and wellness coordinator and employee wellness chairperson. The Iditarod is a dog sled race that takes place each year in Alaska. Sometimes called the Last Great Race, it is more than 1,150 miles long, but officially is listed as 1,049 miles because Alaska is the 49th state in the United States. At the hospital, a team of six consisted of a leader (musher) and the members who were the sled dogs. The challenge was for Methodist Fremont Health staff to track miles of cardiovascular activity in a race to reach the Iditarod finish line. Activities could include walking, biking, swimming or working out on an elliptical machine. Each team member individually tracked his or her miles for the week and reported that number to the musher. The teams musher was responsible for reporting mileage during the program. The Last Great Race challenge, offered solely to employees, has taken place at Methodist Fremont Health for more than five years. Gossett said the Iditarod challenge was created a few years ago when the wellness committee had a member from Alaska. We designed the challenge to be a true physical activity challenge to motivate and create healthy habits of exercise with participation, Gossett said. If employees exercise consistently for eight weeks, the hope is that it will become a habit. The challenge also raises awareness of the importance of being active and committee members hope to encourage cardiovascular exercise as an essential part of an employees exercise routine. In the past five years, numbers of participating employees have ranged from 108 to 234. Its been fun to see how many employees show their competitive spirit and use team-building activities to motivate each other during this challenge, Gossett said. While it wasnt possible this year due to renovations, the committee has posted a map of Alaska and the teams along the race route in the cafeteria. We have also had check points along the way and gave out Scooby snacks (dog treats) and trail mix or spun a prize wheel for bonus miles or unexpected delays (blizzard, sick dog, lost team), just to make it more fun, she said. Team members even got creative when it came to finding a name for their group. Some of this years team names included: Scrambled Legs; Mushbusters; and Agony of de Feet. At the end, teams whove completed the 1,049 miles have earned T-shirts that state: I have completed the Iditarod Challenge. Our employees seem to enjoy this challenge and look forward to it every year, Gossett said. We will continue to offer it until we see the numbers participating decline. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. March 30, 1949 April 30, 2019 Larry Martens, age 70, of Fremont passed away on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, at Lakeside Hospital in Omaha. He died peacefully, surrounded by family members, music, and Morse code. Larry Doran Martens was born March 30, 1949, in Fremont to Raymond and Dorthey (Derr) Martens. He was confirmed at First Lutheran Church and graduated from Fremont Senior High School in 1967. In 1968 he married Sharon Ray Martens (Gannon) at First Congregational Church in Grand Island. Larry attended United Electronics Institute in Des Moines, Iowa, and worked for Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before he moved back to Fremont and began working for Valmont Industries in 1970. He worked there for 46 years as an Electronic Tech in the Structures Maintenance Department. He also worked for several years as an engineer for the local radio station KHUB. Larry was a well-known as an enthusiastic amateur (ham) radio operator whose call sign, K0SW, was frequently heard on the local ham networks. He was an active member of the Pioneer Amateur Radio Club and enjoyed participating in club activities such as Field Day, attending local conventions, and helping fellow hams. Through his radio expertise, he served his community in emergency preparedness training and communications support during natural disasters such as our recent flood. Larry was also a trained storm spotter. He and Sharon served as volunteer National Weather Service observers for over 30 years and were members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Aerie 200. In addition to his love of amateur radio, Larry's other great passion was music. He played guitar in several bands throughout the decades, including the Comets, British Invasion, Yesterday and Today, and Fever and the Funkhouse. Playing for family and friends at local venues was one of the great joys of his life. Fans will remember his bass solos in songs like Brown Eyed Girl, his cool rendition of Hey, Bartender, and his sincere appreciation for the people who came out to his shows to dance, sing along, and enjoy live music together. Larry was preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and Dorthey Martens; his sister, Sherry Garfield; and his brother, Ranny Martens. He is survived by his wife, Sharon Martens; his daughter, Susan Martens; his daughter, Sandi Proskovec (Jim); his son, Steve Martens (Stacy); grandchildren, William, Henry, and Samuel Martens, and Lexi, Renae, and Katie Proskovec; and sister, Eloise Livermore. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, May 4, at 10 a.m. at the Ludvigsen Mortuary Chapel in Fremont, with burial to follow at Memorial Cemetery (casual attire encouraged). Chaplain Scott Jensen will officiate. Memorials may be directed to the Fremont Public Schools Foundation. Online guestbook at www.ludvigsenmortuary.com. The Fremont City Council approved resolutions during its meeting on Tuesday that will help spur the completion of several significant local improvement projects in coming years. The council approved a resolution that will provide $1.125 million in grant funds for a planned $3.5 million renovation to the City Auditorium and approved a bid to Luxa Construction to complete the long-planned Johnson Road South paving project at the meeting. The council unanimously voted to authorize the mayor to execute a contract with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development which awarded the city with a $1.125 million Civic and Community Center Financing grant. We are very excited about this grant for the auditorium, City Grant Coordinator Lottie Mitchell said about the substantial grant awarded to the city. CCCFF grants are awarded to municipalities and administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) to foster quality of life in communities. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis. The grant will help fund a $3.5 million renovation of the Fremont City Auditorium, which has built in the 1930s and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. The renovation project will also be funded with help from a $2 million bond issues passed by Fremont voters in 2018, as well as $750,000 budgeted by the city for the project. Mitchell said that the CCCFF grant is unique due to the fact that the Nebraska Department of Economic Development issues half of the funds upon execution of the contract. They issue 50 percent of the funds to help cash flow the project, which is different than our other grants where they reimburse you after you have spent all your money, she said. Its a really nice feature. According to Mitchell, designs for the renovation project have been completed and the project is expected to go out to bid in the next couple of weeks. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2020. Following the vote to execute the contract, Councilmember Mike Kuhns expressed his appreciation to both city staff and the Fremont community for their support of the project. This has been a project from day one that has been near and dear to my heart and I just wanted to congratulate city staff on the wonderful job they have done and to thank the residents of Fremont who stepped up to vote for the bond so we can preserve this precious building, he said. The council also approved a $1,579,424.40 bid from Luxa Construction, based out of Blair, to complete the long-planned Johnson Road South paving project which will connect Johnson Road to Morningside Road. The project will pave Johnson Road nearly 38 feet in width and 2,760 feet in length including sanitary sewer, water main and storm sewer near Jack Sutton Drive to the intersection of Morningside Road to the south. Luxa Construction came in with the lowest of two bids, with the other coming from Graham Construction at more than $1.8 million, and the project will be completed using funds budgeted from the Street Fund. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Yes, I found a better job Yes, but I'm still looking for a new job Yes, I retired Yes, I started my own business No, I like my current job No, but I'm currently looking for a new job Vote View Results Every item at Heritage Arsenal every uniform, medal, weapon has a story to tell. They are stories of bravery. Service. Sacrifice. Hope. Courtney Linn, president of Heritage Arsenal, displays her favorite artifact in her office: an American flag made by a French teenager while under the German occupation of Normandy. "They knew the Allies were coming," Linn says, "and this was made in preparation." It's that history, that story, that makes the flag so special. "Without the story," Linn says, "it's just another American flag." That teenage girl is now a 90-year-old woman. Linn and her husband, Bill, will meet her this summer in France on the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. Bill, meanwhile, will be one of 250 men in full World War II uniforms jumping out of 30 restored World War II planes to mark the anniversary. While not in such dramatic fashion, Heritage Arsenal works every day to share such stories and shine a spotlight on military history. The Colorado Springs company, started and operated by the Linns, provides artifact acquisition and certification, consulting services and more for military museums and private collectors; a growing part of the business is donation management, helping nonprofits transform donated artifacts into gifts in kind that can provide a residual revenue stream to the organization. "Our mission is to honor and preserve the legacy of military service," Courtney says. "That's at the heart of whatever we do." Bill has his own service to point to: 28 years in the Army, where he led parachute infantry, Ranger and Special Forces units. His passion for military history, though, precedes that. He grew up on an Indian reservation in northern Minnesota. It was a remote area with "an interesting concentration of veterans" "hardy folks" who were former paratroopers and ski troops and SEALs. "I was just this wide-eyed kid, fascinated with military history," Bill says. He's not sure where that fascination came from he's not from a military family but he read every book he could find on military history and he sought out those veterans and their stories. "I was sitting there at age 10, 11, 12, interviewing World War I veterans, talking about the Hun and the Armistice and the trenches." Those stories, he says, showed him there was a whole world far from his own doorstep to explore. That fascination with the military led him to an education at West Point, his Army career and now his post-Army career. He received his first artifact, a German paratrooper helmet, when he was 10, and has steadily built his collection since; glass cases in the lobby of Heritage Arsenal are filled with items from his collection. The Linns have no full-time employees, but they do have a team of appraisers, photographers and researchers they contract with. Heritage Arsenal's first job was acquiring artifacts for the U.S. Ranger Centre in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. The National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio, was another customer. Most recently, Bill was instrumental in making the Pearl Harbor exhibit unveiled last month at the Colorado Springs Airport, a reality. The exhibit, which honors local Pearl Harbor survivor Don Stratton and others, includes a fragment from the USS Arizona that's on loan from the U.S. Navy. Stratton is one of five remaining survivors who were on the ship when it was attacked. Bill served on the Pikes Peak Heroes Legacy Committee, the group behind the display. "We wouldn't have gotten there without him," says El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf. Linn's expertise and his "world-class network" of museum curators, historians and the like were critical, VanderWerf says. One key step was getting the 4-foot-by-4-foot-by-18-inch section of the Arizona's superstructure appraised, which was required by the company transporting it. "Everyone was like, it's priceless, there's no way we can do this," Bill recalls. But his experience told him otherwise and he explained the process to his fellow committee members: "looking at displayability, at other pieces around the country, where exactly it came from on the ship, does it have evidence of the explosion." While the Linns donated their time, it provided great experience and was a community effort they simply had to be part of, they say. Courtney is excited that the exhibit is at the airport, exposing it to a more varied crowd than those who would seek it out at a military museum. The Linns have been married for almost 22 years and have three children. Bill's passion for military history was hardly a secret when the couple married; the Linns honeymooned at Gettysburg and celebrated their 10th anniversary with a visit to the National WWW I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. And while the business is new, many of Bill's contacts aren't; he built his network of experts throughout his years in the Army as he helped various units form their own displays. Courtney, who has a background in marketing, is a graduate student in museum science at Harvard Extension School and the Linns are members of the American Alliance of Museums. When they conceived the business, they thought they would contract with the Army museum system, but the bureaucracy proved too daunting even for someone with Bill's military experience. Individual museums, nonprofits and collectors proved to be "softer entry points," he says. The Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center was a vital resource, the Linns say. "From the very beginning," Courtney says, "we were going to them for legal advice, marketing advice. ... What's great about them is they don't treat you like an idiot even if it's all new to you." While their business is "nichey," Bill notes that there are 17,000 museums in the U.S. and 5,000 are entirely or partly military-themed. "People are like,' Why are you staying in this very narrow lane?' That space is bigger than you think, and there's not a lot of people operating in that space in the way we are. Nobody has a one-stop shop like us, and the credibility that we have as a veteran family is an unusual bona fides inside that space." Fernando Craig, 19, and Shawna Cowden, 20, have been arrested following the death of a 20-year-old man in Fountain, police said Wednesday. Both are facing first-degree murder charges and are being held in the El Paso County jail without bond. Cordell Rosenburg's body was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound April 21 between the Applebee's and IHOP restaurants after a reported shooting around 10:15 p.m. This is the first homicide in Fountain in 2019. A bipartisan effort is advancing in Congress to give the Federal Communications Commission updated and tougher tools to stop the epidemic of spam that now comprises almost half of all phone calls made in the United States. The Senate is expected to take up a measure co-written by Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and one of the Senates most progressive members, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that would broaden the FCCs authority to impose fines of up to $10,000 per call against those who violate telemarketing restrictions. U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, is a co-sponsor of the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act. The measure would also give the FCC three years to take civil enforcement action against violators, up from one year under current law, which the agency says is too brief for them to adequately go after offenders. Existing civil penalty rules were designed to impose penalties on lawful telemarketers who make mistakes, Thune said. This enforcement regime is totally inadequate for scam artists, and we need do more to separate enforcement of carelessness and other mistakes from more sinister actors. More than 26 billion robocalls were placed in the United States last year, according to a study conducted by a Seattle firm that provides spam-blocking technology. Congress has been investigating solutions for months, holding hearings and talking to the experts and even spammers to find out how robocalls became so prevalent and how to curtail them. Last year, a Senate panel subpoenaed former telemarketing company CEO Adrian Abramovich, whom the FCC fined $120 million and labeled the kingpin of robocalling. Abramovich, who asserted his innocence and denies hes the top robocaller, described to the committee the widely available software a company or individual can purchase that can be used by someone to make thousands of automated phone calls with the click of a button. He said a simple Google search will display websites that offer volume pricing for robocalling systems that can handle millions and millions of calls. Clearly, regulation needs to address the carriers and providers and require the major carriers to detect robocall activity, Abramovich told the panel. The Thune-Markey measure would require phone companies to develop and adopt authentication technologies that give them the ability to ensure only legitimate calls make it to consumer phones. The bill would direct the FCC to pass new rules that would protect consumers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from spammers. The FCC is already working to target and end spam calls, the commissions Chairman Ajit Pai told Fox Business Network recently. We have told the industry that we expect them to adopt what is called call authentication, essentially a digital fingerprint for every phone call, this year, Pai told Fox. And if they dont, the FCC will take action to make sure they do. But host Maria Bartiromo pointed out the FCC has collected less than $7,000 out of $208 million in fines the commission has issued since 2015. We have imposed all those fines, as you pointed out, Pai said. Weve referred those cases to the Department of Justice, which is in charge of collecting those fines. And weve emphasized to the Justice Department, this is one of our top consumer protection priorities. We need you to make this an issue to send a signal to all of the robocallers out there, even the ones who are beyond our shores, this is not going to stand for American consumers. Nairobi girl-about-town Huddah Monroe has termed claims that she is selling low-quality matte lipstick as pure malice. The socialite-turned cosmetics entrepreneur, who launched her lipstick line in 2016, has recently come under fire from aggrieved customers on social media. Apparently, her latest batch does not meet the required standards. One Instagram user, Lilian, wrote, Well seeing the way people praise these mattes I think basi I am the only one who was disappointed by them. They transfer like crazy hata kwa straw ya soda . Its ok najua niko pekee yangu NB: watu wa kusema fake and original I bought 5 of them at that shop at World Business Center yenye inajiita Six Figure Cosmetics and iko na picha kubwa ya Huddah. Each was Kshs. 1000. While a certain Fatuma added, Was the best, used them for the longest time, lakini aki wameharibu, nimerudi kwa pop. Whack! Whack! Bought mine at Six figure cosmetics and got disappointed Woi ni tubaya , complained Jacqueline. Valentine commented, Btw its true nowadays they stain I use luscious red and I am disappointed, the quality has totally changed. Huddah varies. They only one that hasnt disappointed me is vamp. The rest wacha tu. Are they manufactured by the same company? Quality is east and west! Cathy added. Kaguri was another seemingly disappointed customer; she wrote, I bought two in January at 1k each saa hii zishakauka huddah lipstick nigutee. But Huddah in a statement lamented that users complaining in social media had not reached out to her or her company. We Huddah Cosmetics give the highest priority to our clients because your happiness means more to us than our own. We will never want to give out bad products because we use them too on a daily basis. If you have a problem with our products call. If we dont help you, and you feel some type of way then go and post all you want online. But posting without calling us to question or ask how we can help we know that is pure malice. said the Huddah Cosmetics proprietor. The nude model further urged women to help each other instead of bringing each other down. Be that woman that tries to help others understand a problem and how we can solve it to make Huddah Cosmetics great together You cant shine trying to dim other peoples light. You dont know how much work people put in to build a brand If you feel its not the brand of your choice, there are a million more brands around the world that you can try to your satisfaction, posted Monroe, before thanking her loyal customers. We would also like to say thank you very much to all of you who support us and for keeping our product the number one brand in town. Gov. Jared Polis has a sound idea that deserves support. He wants voters to impose taxes on vape products containing nicotine, while raising t Wendell Johnson demanded Terry Kouba look at him. "It's the least you can do," Johnson told the president of Interstate Power and Light Company at a public hearing Thursday about the company's proposed base rate increase in 2020. The frustration underlying Johnson's demand was mirrored in the faces and remarks of the approximately 100 people at the Park Inn, where the Iowa Utilities Board was taking feedback on the rate jump. Slightly less than half $8/month for a $116/month bill of the projected total increase in electric bills went into effect on April 1. Thursday's hearing was addressing the next $12/month "interim" increase, set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Alliant officials said they expect no increase in gas bills, due to other savings off-setting proposed base rate increases also coming on Jan. 1. What is different about this increase is that Alliant and Interstate Power and Light Company (Alliant's energy company in Iowa) are asking for it based on projected cost increases, rather than costs that have already had an impact. Alliant's ability to ask for the increase on projected costs comes from a law passed by the state Legislature, and which provides a test case for the three-member Iowa Utilities Board, according to chair Geri Huser. How to comment If you didn't make Thursday's meeting, there is still time to comment. Head to the Iowa Utilities Board site and fill out the form provided online (https://bit.ly/2Y1qDaf). Kouba emphasized the utility's commitment to consistent, cost-effective service by reminding the room that Alliant was on hand 24-7 trying to keep the lights on during the area's most recent storm, and by talking about the utility's investment in wind energy, which he said will bring cleaner, cheaper energy to Iowa. It is that investment that, in part, drives the utility's request for the rate increases. But the room wasn't having any of it. Other than a comment by an area chamber of commerce representative who pointed out Alliant's importance in the community, and a member of a union that helps build wind turbines who said the union and Alliant worked well together, most of the rest of the remarks revealed varying degrees of anger and frustration. A number of the comments came from local businesses, including Golden Grain Energy, a Mason City-based company that produces ethanol from local corn. Golden Grain's energy costs are a necessary and constant component of its business, said Chief Operating Officer Chad Kuhlers. It anticipates an increase of energy expenses of $300,000 annually from 2018 and more than a half-million dollars annually since 2017. "This represents a significant loss in our ability to fund new investment in the site and increases our risk of reducing employment, since there are no other significant variable costs for us to cut," said CFO Christy Marchand. Another segment of the audience was made up of people who questioned the Iowa Utilities Board's motive in scheduling a public hearing in the morning. "As you can see, most of the people here are older and retired," said Peggy Davis. "Working people can't afford to take the time off to be here." Davis said she has had to cut corners so that she could afford to pay her utility bills. "Why can't Alliant cut corners, too?," she asked. And then there were those whose questions were of a more philosophical nature. "Do you sleep at night?," one man asked. The Iowa Utilities Board has 10 months to issue a final decision. Love 5 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 JoAnn Langfald October 15, 1932 - April 28, 2019 MASON CITY - JoAnn Langfald, 86 of Mason City, formerly of Forest City died Sunday, April 28, 2019 surrounded by her family at the Heritage Care Center in Mason City, Iowa. Visitation will be held from 4 to 6 P.M., Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at Cataldo Schott Funeral Chapel, 505 N. Clark St., Forest City, a funeral service will follow at 6:00 P.M. with Dr. Pat Hall of Zion Lutheran Church in Clear Lake officiating. Burial will be held in Madison Township Cemetery on Thursday, May 2, 2019 at 10:00 A.M. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the JoAnn Langfald memorial fund in care of the family. Marylyn JoAnn (Olson) Langfald was born October 15, 1932 in rural Leland, Iowa the daughter of Melvin and Julia (Martinson) Olson. She was baptized and confirmed at the Center Lutheran Church at Lake Mills, IA. She attended elementary school in Leland and graduated from Lake Mills High School in 1950. JoAnn was united in marriage to Robert O'dean Langfald on May 5, 1951 at Center Lutheran Church. JoAnn was a farmgirl!! She enjoyed the outdoors, fishing with friends, spending time with her family and she was a wonderful cook. She volunteered for many organizations but felt very passionate about the time she spent with the Hospice Organization. After farming in rural Forest City over 50 years the couple moved to Mason City in 2004. JoAnn was a member of Zion Lutheran Church in Clear Lake, Iowa. She entered the Heritage Care Center in 2015 where she resided until her passing. JoAnn will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her. JoAnn leaves behind to cherish her memory her husband of 68 years, Robert Langfald; daughter, Diane (Langfald) Zuehlke of Mason City; son, Dan Langfald and wife Kim of Forest City; two grandchildren, Joe (Lindsay) Langfald of Forest City and Joshua Langfald; five great-grandchildren; sister, Lois Webster of Charles City, Iowa and three nephews and their families. She was preceded in death by her parents, Melvin and Julia Olson; infant sister, Beverly Diane and grandson, Christopher. The family of JoAnn would like to thank Heritage Care Center in Mason City and Hospice for the wonderful care she received. Arrangements are with Cataldo Schott Funeral Home in Forest City. 641-585-2685 Online condolences for the family may be left at www.cataldoschottfh.com Emory College juniors Austin Lai, Michael Mu, Sarah Hunter and Liz Enyenihi have been selected as Goldwater Scholars, the nations leading scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering. Emory Photo/Video Learn more about scholarships Students interested in learning more about Goldwater 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. All four Emory College juniors nominated for the Goldwater Scholarship, the nations premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering, have been selected to receive the honor. Liz Enyenihi, Sarah Hunter, Austin Lai and Michael Mu are among 496 Goldwater Scholars chosen this year from across the United States, out of more than 5,000 applicants. They each receive up to $7,500 per year, until they earn their undergraduate degrees, to go toward the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board. This is very exciting for these students, who are exceptional, and for our scientific community, says Emory College biology professor Anita Corbett, who has worked with several winners and mentored Enyenihi in her lab as an undergraduate researcher studying RNA processing and RNA binding proteins. Congress established the prestigious award in 1986 to honor the work of U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater. Including this years winners, 34 Emory students have received the honor. This years Goldwater Scholars conducted graduate-level research ranging from studying genetic mutations behind childhood diseases to analyzing enzymes necessary for neural function. All four recipients plan to pursue doctoral degrees in their respective fields. Liz Enyenihi: Plans for a PhD in biochemistry Enyenihi, who is majoring in chemistry, was co-author on a published paper studying an RNA binding protein in cancer cells while still in high school. She joined Corbetts lab in the fall of her first year at Emory. A Woodruff Scholar, Enyenihi has modeled RNA exosome malfunction in a budding yeast model system to explore why the mutations in the genes that encode components of this complex cause such distinct, sometimes fatal, diseases. Liz has laid the groundwork for understanding how these mutations impact RNA exosome function, Corbett says. She is amazing. Enyenihi will conduct protein research this summer at Yale University as an Amgen Scholar, before returning to Corbetts lab for her honors thesis next year and pursuing plans to obtain a PhD in biochemistry. She has balanced her academic interests with social justice issues on campus, volunteering with Project SHINE and as a STEM Pathways mentor. Her doctoral degree will ideally combine her passions, with a planned study of how variants in the microbiome may be linked to racial health disparities. It will be interesting to elucidate what is happening in, say, black maternal mortality rates, and very gratifying to help, Enyenihi says. Sarah Hunter: Genetics, environment and behavior Hunter, a neuroscience and behavioral biology major, had only ever worked at an ice cream shop and as technical assistant at Theater Emory when, as a sophomore, she entered psychiatry professor Brian Dias lab studying the effects of stress on mammals at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Within three months, she was running her own experiments, having learned how to navigate complex equipment and work with mice for an experiment studying the intergenerational influences of stress. She was always making progress, which was incredible to see, says Dias, an assistant professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry. She is truly a rising scientific star who has great promise to make significant contributions to neuroscience in her career. On campus, she has been active in the Emory Astronomy Club, Club Jiu Jitsu and Outdoor Emory, while also volunteering at the Wesley Woods senior complex. Residents there offer a different perspective, something Hunter hopes to embrace in pursuit of a PhD that allows her to better understand the ties between genetics, epigenetics, environment and behavior. I want to know what extent do you have control over your behavior, given your genetics and experiences, she asks. There is so much to look into to find that out. Austin Lai: Researching Fragile X Syndrome Lai, a biology and chemistry double major, demonstrated such a strong grasp of science and technical lab skills that Gary Bassell, professor and chair of the Department of Cell Biology at the School of Medicine, recruited him to work in his lab as a first-year student. By then, Lai had already done some immunology and genetic engineering work as an intern at the National Taiwan University. Under Bassells guidance, Lai quickly learned new skills to examine how FMRP protein is regulated and consequences to its loss that cause Fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability and monogenic cause of autism. Lai recently presented a poster at the Undergraduate Research Symposium on the identification of proteins that normally degrade FMRP, providing a better understanding of the processes important for learning and memory, with implications for possible new treatments. His work is so promising that the National Fragile X Foundation recently awarded him funding to continue his research as part of Emorys Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program this summer. Only rarely have we seen anyone like him in 20 years of research, says Bassell. He came with a curious mind, a passion for science and a fire in his belly to make a difference. On campus, Lai co-founded a project to generate electricity from compost in the Translational Research and Innovation (TRAIN) Fellowship and helped launch a student chapter of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He also volunteers with the Global Medical Brigades, spending a week each year helping doctors provide medical care in remote Honduran villages. I really like the idea of projects in the lab that take patient samples for a potential cure, says Lai, who plans to continue translational research in a joint MD/PhD program. I think a breakthrough will be coming soon, and I want to be a part of that. Michael Mu: Investigating immunotherapy Mu, who is majoring in biology, has been passionate about biomedical science since childhood. On campus, he participated in the Emory Biotech Club, then worked as a biology teaching assistant and represented Emory in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Giant Jamboree. During his first year, he also joined the all-undergraduate research team in the lab of David Pallas, associate professor of biochemistry in the School of Medicine. The lab studies the role of a protein known as LCMT-1 and the protein phosphatases it regulates, PP2A and PP4, in normal cell function, development and in diseases such as Alzheimers. Mu led a group researching the effects of deleting LCMT-1 only from brain tissue. Using a neuron-specific genetic driver, he generated and characterized a new conditional LCMT-1 knockout mouse model lacking the protein specifically in neurons. His research determined that LCMT-1 is necessary for neural development and mouse survival once it is born, the first step in understanding the enzymes specific function and potential link to disease, Pallas says. Mu then investigated relevant signaling pathways that might explain his findings, his current focus in the lab. Despite the challenges such as negative results that are inherent to scientific research, Michael keeps pressing forward. He is somebody who doesnt give up and shows an exceptional amount of independence in reading the literature and pursuing his ideas, Pallas says. His creativity, drive and interest put him at a graduate-student level living in an undergraduate world. The research, along with recent insights he has gained into the important perspective of clinical medicine, prompted Mu to plan to pursue a joint MD/PhD degree in immunology. Toward that goal, he will conduct immunotherapy research this summer as a National Institutes of Health intern at the National Cancer Institute. Evolution has done most of the work, Mu says. I want to take it the extra step, and help patients own immune systems protect them. Most of all, I think the application to society is one of the most important aspects of science. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke will be stopping at Fat Hill Brewing on Wednesday, May 8, at 11 a.m. for an official town hall. It's part of a swing through North Iowa that also includes stops in: Waverly, Charles City and Fayette. At the local brewery, O'Rourke is slated to speak and answer questions for about two hours. In recent days, the former Congressman has staked his campaign on issues around climate change. Wednesday, O'Rourke pledged to not take donations of more than $200 from fossil fuel company executives while announcing that he would return money that broke that promise. In addition, late last week, O'Rourke announced that if elected he would spend $5 trillion on clean-energy research, green infrastructure and extreme weather preparations. The plan also included targets to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and get to net-zero by 2050. However, as Vox.com points out, that plan has been scrutinized by Republicans as well as fellow Democrats. Campaign staffers for current Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a fellow Democratic contender, called out O'Rourke on Twitter for borrowing rhetoric from what has been Inslee's signature issue. Also: Members of the Sunrise Movement, an activist group that promotes the Green New Deal, took O'Rourke's plan to task for not doing more faster. "It is absurd to suggest that developing nations like India, South Africa, Indonesia, and Brazil will reach net-zero emissions at the same time as the United States. Nations with the industrial power of the United States have the responsibility to move much more quickly," the group tweeted out on Wednesday. A recent CNN poll had O'Rourke slotted fifth in the Democratic campaign, at 6%, behind former Vice President Joe Biden (39% support), Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (15%), Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (8%) and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (7%). Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by IMT Grand Old Partisan denounces Democrat devilry. Page 192 of Back to Basics for the Republican Party tells a grisly tale: This day of 1963, police in Birmingham, Alabama under the command of the Democrat police commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor attacked several thousand African-American schoolchildren who were demonstrating peacefully for their civil rights. At the time, it should be noted, Connor was the Democratic National Committeeman for Alabama. Connor's men used high-pressure hoses, clubs and dogs in their assault, and then jailed nearly a thousand children. A member of the Ku Klux Klan, Connor had been a Democrat state legislator and a delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention. A year after attacking the African-American children, Connor was elected, as a Democrat, president of the state Public Service Commission. Bull Connor, Democrat. Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RQLYPhGPCAo Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement. Each day, Michael Zak's grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heritage. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states so far. He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision. Buy the book at Amazon "This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!" "Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP." "Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan." "Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before." and "one of the best books I ever read" From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana The company proposing a copper mine near White Sulphur Springs has agreed to a 25-year prohibition on open pit mining. Meagher County Stewardship Council, a nonprofit citizens group, entered into the agreement with Sandfire Resources America, formerly Tintina Resources. The company is currently in the final stages of permitting with the state of Montana on the Black Butte Copper Project, which is located 15 miles north of White Sulphur Springs in the Smith River watershed. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comment on its draft environmental impact statement analyzing the mines potential effects on the environment. Through a combination of treated water and backfilling tunnels with cemented tailings, the state believes mining can take place without harm to the Smith River or its tributary Sheep Creek a conclusion that has been questioned by conservationists. The agreement, which both the council and company say is legally enforceable, prohibits open pit mining on both the private land where Black Butte is located as well as federal mining claims owned by Sandfire. Black Butte is proposed as an underground mine. Becky Townsend, executive director of the council, says the group formed last year to work on issues in Meagher County, including concerns around the proposed mine as well as other community interests, such as bringing more art into the community. The council is made up primarily of county residents, business owners and ranchers and includes both proponents and opponents of the mine, she said. Between (mining officials) and the council, we felt the agreement would be a good reassurance to the public that there will be no open pit mining, Townsend said. Sandfire has always said there would be no open pit mining but this would make that more clear. Both parties agreed to the 25-year time frame from a business standpoint that would allow it to be revisited, she said. It was also important to the council that the agreement be legally binding if the company were sold. Nancy Schlepp, communications vice president for Sandfire, said that contracts with private landowners already prohibit open pit mining. (Open pit mining) has been part of what the public has been concerned about we still have visitors that think its an open pit mine, Schlepp said. The stewardship council wants to make sure of this as well so we thought it was a great opportunity. Sandfire was interested in the 25-year time frame based on the expected life of Black Butte, she said, including construction and reclamation. Sandfire has touted the potential of a 50-year mining district in the area to investors, but has not announced any formal plans for future mining beyond Black Butte. DEQ held several public meetings recently to gather public comment as part of the permitting process for the mine. It will hold two webinars to comment on the Black Butte Project on May 1 and May 2. For information or to register, go to http://deq.mt.gov/Land/hardrock/Tintina-EIS. Comments will be accepted until May 10. Written comments may be submitted at the webinars, via mail at TintinaDraftEIS@mt.gov, or postal mail at: Craig Jones, Department of Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59601. Reporter Tom Kuglin can be reached at 447-4076 @IR_TomKuglin Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Four months ago, as the newly-elected House Democratic Leader for the 2019 Legislative Session, I made a promise to the people of Montana that Democrats would lead with solutions. Now that the legislative session has adjourned, I am proud to say that Democrats delivered. From affordable health care and infrastructure, to keeping our communities safe and supporting first responders, the 2019 Legislative Session was a victory for Montana families. Our No. 1 priority was fighting for affordable, accessible health care for Montanas working families. Democrats knew the fate of health care for One in 10 Montanans hung in the balance this session. We made a promise that we wouldnt walk out of the Capitol without reauthorizing Medicaid expansion, and we kept it. Were proud to have supported a bipartisan solution that keeps our rural hospitals open, supports our small businesses, and protects affordable health care for as many of our constituents as possible. Another top priority was confronting Montanas infrastructure crisis. This session, Democrats helped break the logjam after 15 years of inaction by lawmakers. We carried the weight on passing an infrastructure package that creates good-paying jobs and funds projects in every corner of our state, from renovating Romney Hall, to rebuilding rural waterways and crumbling bridges. The Democratic caucus worked hard to make Montanans safer. The Montana American Indian Caucus spearheaded crucial legislation to seek justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, like Hannas Act, which takes the first step towards prioritizing missing persons cases across Montana. And our caucus made desperately-needed reforms to Montanas statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes, ensuring that survivors of these unspeakable acts can seek justice and closure. We delivered health care for the first responders who dedicate their lives to keeping our homes and families safe. Democrats prioritized a presumptive coverage law for firefighters over the last nine legislative sessionsand this year, we got it across the finish line. Most importantly, we did it all while holding government accountable to the people of Montana. We successfully restored and protected the critical family services that were cut by Republicans during the 2017 special session. But it wasnt without a fight. While Democrats fought tooth and nail to build a fiscally responsible budget, Republican lawmakers balanced our budget on the backs of hard-working Montana families. They rejected proposals to make the wealthy pay their fair share to fund essential services, all while recklessly proposing millions of dollars in new spending for their pet projects. It was this same failure in Republican-led leadership that killed many good bills before they reached the governors desk. In the final days of the session, Republicans refused to continue funding for 100 existing preschools that give 1,500 kids a shot at kick-starting their futures when they voted to end the STARS preschool pilot program and Montanas Preschool Development Grant. These Montana preschools will now face a loss of resources that could lead to teachers losing their jobs, student disenrollment, and even possible closures. Republican lawmakers also killed bills to require transparency from pharmaceutical companies when they jack their prices, and to increase fees on people who put up gates and block access to our public lands. And on Equal Pay Day, Republican senators killed a bill that would take steps toward closing the wage gap. Montana families can be sure of one thing: This legislative session, Democrats led with solutions, reached across the aisle, and hammered out bipartisan plans to deal with the very real issues they face every day. Im proud that we can walk out of these doors knowing that we fought for our constituents and delivered for all Montanans. Rep. Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls, represents House District 26 in the Montana Legislature and is the House minority leader. Love 0 Funny 4 Wow 2 Sad 0 Angry 5 Im writing about the April 21-23 Acadia facility articles. It appeared to me that the news articles swerved recklessly between opinion and fact in the use of the term chemical restraint. The most authoritative definition of chemical restraint is the 2014 federal CMS definition that states a chemical restraint is defined as any drug that is used for discipline or convenience and not required to treat medical symptoms. Also, the article failed to address the real fact that the suicide rate for children in Montana is double the national average. Parents are scared, and I believe that the Acadia articles feed that fear and add to mental health stigma. We want to encourage parents to get help for their children. Any parent who has a child with depression or suicidal thoughts should immediately contact their pediatrician or other primary care provider for assistance or referral to a trusted mental health provider. There are many excellent therapists, psychologists, psychiatric physicians and psychiatric nurse practitioners and physician assistants who provide quality mental health treatment in Montana. If you are worried about a loved one, there is hope and there is help. Leonard Lantz Helena Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 DECATUR Cody M. Burries, 29, was arrested in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Wednesday on a warrant accusing him of first-degree murder in the April 7 fatal shooting of Marcel Whitfield the Tiptonville Police Department confirmed Thursday morning. The warrant seeking Burries' arrest was issued by the Decatur Police Department on April 8. Burries was booked into the Lake County Jail at 7:12 p.m. Wednesday. Whitfield, 32, of Decatur was shot in the chest and thigh in the early hours of April 7 and died at 7:45 p.m. at Decatur Memorial Hospital, Macon County Coroner Michael E. Day said in a news release following the shooting. Whitfield had surgery and was moved to the cardiovascular unit where he suddenly went into full arrest and was pronounced dead after lengthy resuscitation efforts, Day said. Detective Sgt. Chris Copeland said at the time that Whitfield was shot while sitting in his vehicle and stumbled into Feeling Lucky Lounge & Package, 3775 N. Woodford St., at 1:39 a.m. seeking help. Staff immediately called 911 and took care of Whitfield until emergency responders arrived. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. 2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Follow her on Twitter: @KNolenWrites Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 ASSUMPTION Samuel Moore considers Winston Churchill one of the most significant figures of World War II. Wearing a T-shirt commemorating the British prime minister, who died in 1965, Samuel, an eighth-grader at Central A&M Middle School, participated in The 75th Anniversary D-Day Electronic Field Trip with his classmates on Thursday. He was a major part of the planning for D-Day, Samuel said of Churchill. It's very cool to actually see the places, not just in a textbook, but to see somebody walking there and see the actual German artillery battle stations. The presentation was offered by The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, and including wartime footage as well as a live feed and prerecorded segments with young people visiting sites like the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. D-Day was launched on June 6, 1944. One segment, in French with subtitles, gave the students a peek into the lives of civilians in France during the German occupation and the Allies' presence after liberation. Several veterans who talked about watching comrades die in battle were also featured. I wasn't the same boy coming out (of the service) as I was going in, said Peter Houghton, a veteran from London. When you enter the military, said Frank Denius, a veteran from Texas, you go to serve your country, but in combat, you're fighting for the friends who are fighting beside you. Even though D-Day was important, I'm still imagining the things these men went through every day and the price they paid for our freedom, said Tommy Taylor, an eighth-grader. Several of the students have living grandparents and great-grandparents who served during the war, and for Logan Virden, seeing scenes of those battles makes him even more proud of two uncles who are serving in the military. I had a great-uncle and great-aunt, and when they passed away, they gave me all their letters they'd saved from World War II, Logan said. I think this (event) helps us learn a little bit more information on what these guys had to go through, putting their life on the line for us. Veterans are often reluctant to talk about the horrors of war, and the students had noticed that with their grandparents. They tell jokes about it to make it easier for them to deal with it, said Alicia Walker, an eighth-grader. The electronic field trip was offered at three different times Thursday to accommodate the time zones of the 600 schools worldwide that participated, said Jessica Manuel, who teaches seventh and eighth grade social studies and United States history at the school. The eighth-graders are studying World War II as part of their curriculum, and the seventh-graders were included in Thursday's electronic field trip because they'll study it next year. The National WWII Museum offers a variety of resources to schools, an annual High School Quiz Bowl, essay contest, online and distance learning programs. Students can even earn college credit through travel programs, and teachers can sign up for a monthly newsletter to learn about professional development opportunities, webinars and student programs. During event, students could submit questions for the hosts and one was, how old were the soldiers storming the beaches on D-Day? Not much older than the students watching, was the answer: The average age was 17 to 25. And while events decades before they were born might seem distant in some ways, the students realize how important the war was, defeating worldwide tyranny. It still means a lot to me because of what they did for us, eighth-grader Logan Ashley said. Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has donated another $1 million to the city of Decatur for its community revitalization efforts. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe made the announcement during her State of the City address Thursday morning during breakfast as part of the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce Business Expo in the Decatur Civic Center. The foundation previously gave $1 million for revitalization in November 2017, part of which was used to buy 750 parcels of Macon County trustee land, Wolfe said. The neighborhood revitalization project has been a longtime goal for city leaders. "We're going to get those houses down, and we're going to build up this community," Wolfe said during her remarks. Buffett, a supporter of various Decatur-area organizations and initiatives, donated the funds in 2017 with specific criteria on how the city could use the funding. Buying the land from the county fit under that criteria. Moore Wolfe said progress means she can barely find a parking spot downtown these days and that's a good thing. "Now, it's time to get really, really specific to fixing our other neighborhoods," Moore Wolfe said. When the city council approved purchasing the trustee lots, members said figuring out how to use the parcels would be an important step in the revitalization efforts. The city will look at hard data to see what can be done to each neighborhood, Moore Wolfe said. Council members will specify what can be done in various neighborhoods to make them better, grow and to turn things around, she said. Councilman David Horn, who has been a vocal supporter of the neighborhood revitalization initiative, said the Buffett Foundation's funding has the potential to "transform many of our neighborhoods into very livable, vibrant and healthy communities." "I feel very strongly that the initiative will make the city of Decatur very attractive to people who are considering moving to Central Illinois, and will make Decatur a place that all of our current residents can be proud to call home," he said. Moore Wolfe, who won re-election on April 2, touted other points of progress as well. The Buffett Foundation also donated $30 million for the Community Care Campus in August, which will feature drug treatment facilities and social services on the city's near-northside in the Wabash Crossing neighborhood. This "will be a life-changing entity for this community," she said. Lives will be changed, and lives will be saved. Community organizations and members "came together as a community to save the community," Moore Wolfe said. Buffett followed that up with a $25 million donation on April 5 to build a facility to house Baby TALK and the Decatur-Macon County Opportunities Corp. on the campus. To keep progress moving, Moore Wolfe said when Decatur City Council and Macon County Board members make their way to Springfield or Washington, D.C., the main priority is transportation and infrastructure needs. A $40 million fund for the construction of an overpass at Brush College Road will ease the flow of vehicle traffic and keep trains moving. Trains spend 17 hours per week traveling through the area. "It's going to be built, and it's going to mean great things for that part of town," Moore Wolfe said. Speaking after Moore Wolfe, new City Manager Scot Wrighton, who started his job in March, said when everyone comes together, there is no limit for what the city can accomplish. In concluding her address, Moore Wolfe echoed that sentiment. "As one community together, we're pretty tough, pretty strong and very successful." Some of what the Buffett Foundation has funded in Macon County Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Follow her on Twitter: @KNolenWrites Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 DECATUR Two people were injured in a shooting outside a Decatur bar early Thursday morning, police said. The Decatur Police Department responded to multiple shots being fired at Feeling Lucky Lounge & Package, 3775 N. Woodford St., at 12:45 a.m. According to detective Sgt. Steve Carroll, two people suffered injuries not considered life-threatening. He said the shooting is under investigation, and no suspects have been arrested. He did not have further details about the incident. Diana Binkley, who co-owns the bar with her husband, said they arrived at the bar shortly after being notified of the incident. She said an argument had begun, and a bartender was able to get the crowd outside the bar to the parking lot, where the altercation continued. "This is the second time this month we've had any problems," Binkley said. "We will just start closing earlier, but we have cameras everywhere." On April 7, Marcel Whitfield was fatally shot while sitting in the parking lot of the bar. Staff immediately called 911 and took care of Whitfield, who stumbled into the bar, until emergency responders arrived. Cody M. Burries, 29, was arrested Wednesday night in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on a warrant accusing him of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting. On March 24, a Decatur man was involved in an altercation in the bar's parking lot, knocking out a man and a woman, who suffered a broken jaw. Anyone with information about this incident can call detectives (217) 424-2734 or Crime Stoppers at (217) 423-8477 (TIPS). This story will be updated as more information becomes available. 2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR The Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, an annual networking event and trade show for Central Illinois businesses, is today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 70 businesses will showcase their services and products at the Decatur Civic Center, 1 Gary K. Anderson Plaza. Admission is free. The event also includes the State of the City breakfast and Taste of Decatur, which do require tickets. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and City Manager Scot Wrighton will speak at the breakfast, which starts at 7 a.m. Tickets are $20. A limited quantity will be available at the door. The Taste of Decatur is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for five tastes, and there are 12 local restaurants and food vendors to choose from. For those attending, make sure to stop by the Herald & Review booth and meet with some of our staff. Hope to see you there! Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CHICAGO Eight transgender women are challenging an Illinois law that restricts name changes due to prior criminal convictions, claiming the rules violate their right to free speech, self-expression and due process. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Chicago on Wednesday, seeks to stop the state law from being enforced and have it declared unconstitutional. Illinois law prohibits anyone with a felony conviction from changing their legal name until 10 years after completion and discharge of their sentence; individuals convicted of certain felonies or misdemeanors -- including identity theft and some sexual offenses -- are precluded from ever filing petitions for name changes unless pardoned, according to the lawsuit. "There really is no more fundamental means of expressing ourselves than choosing a name," said attorney Lark Mulligan with the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois, who represents the plaintiffs. "There's hundreds of times we have to present our IDs throughout the course of a week. Every time, they're forced to utter or respond to a name that doesn't reflect their gender identity." Mulligan said the state's name change policy is among the most restrictive in the nation in terms of wait times and range of criminal offenses. She added that denying a legal name change can expose transgender individuals to physical harm and discrimination. The eight plaintiffs are all Chicago transgender women who have been restricted from changing their names due to criminal convictions in the last decade. Offenses range from prostitution to identity theft to aggravated discharge of a firearm; one of the plaintiffs pleaded guilty in 1994 to a sexual offense requiring registration, and is banned from ever filing a name change petition under state law, according to the lawsuit. A 30-year-old from the Chicago area who has gone by the name Eisha Love since her teens has been restricted from legally changing her name because of a 2015 conviction for aggravated battery in a public place; she will not be eligible to change her name until 2026, according to the lawsuit. 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. "As trans women, this is something we face on a daily basis," Love said, adding that a legal name change would be the final step in her gender transition. "This is going to complete my whole life. I can be Eisha Love and feel confident in my skin. I feel like I can't be Eisha Love until I can be her legally." The lawsuit names as defendants Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans and Cook County Judge Sharon M. Sullivan. The officials were named because their offices are responsible for applying the state's name change restrictions in Cook County, according to attorney Greg Ostfeld of Greenberg Traurig, which also represents the transgender women. Sullivan did not return calls for comment. A spokeswoman for Foxx said her office had not received the lawsuit but would not comment on pending litigation. A spokesman for Evans declined to comment, citing Illinois Supreme Court rules requiring a judge abstain from public comment on court proceedings. A similar lawsuit was filed Wednesday by a transgender woman in Wisconsin challenging the constitutionality of name change restrictions in her state as well. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Continuing a fight against public employee unions initially spearheaded by former Gov. Bruce Rauner, nine state workers who say they have opted out of union membership are asking to be repaid for past "fair share" fees in a proposed class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit filed Wednesday argues that more than 2,700 state employees are entitled to money they paid to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 from May 1, 2017 -- the furthest back they can demand the money under a state statute of limitations -- through June 28, 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to make public employees pay union dues. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say they're seeking close to $2 million from the union. 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 Wednesday's 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. Janus was the plaintiff in a similar lawsuit that was thrown out earlier this year by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, who ruled that AFSCME had followed the law in collecting fair share fees and couldn't have reasonably anticipated those fees becoming illegal. "That ruling echoes what more than a dozen other federal and state courts have decided in similar cases," AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said in an email. "The anti-worker, corporate-funded front groups prolonging this failed litigation want to use the courts to further their political attack on working people and our union. Their repeated lawsuits are nothing but a greedy grab for more." Workers who weren't part of the union still got pay increases and benefits the union negotiated, Lindall said. Patrick Hughes, president and co-founder of the Liberty Justice Center, acknowledged the lawsuit filed Wednesday makes a similar argument to the one that was unsuccessful. "We are making the same legal argument and we are appealing the legal argument that was rejected," Hughes said. "The district judge is not the final say on these issues. We'll appeal that decision. ... Ultimately if we are successful, we'll see what the unions do. If we are unsuccessful, we'll appeal that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court and let the justices that decided the Janus decision ultimately decide that case as well." A successful appeal would set precedent for the latest suit "to recover the money that we feel is owed," Hughes said. Though he is not named as a plaintiff in the Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 PEORIA -- A Central Peoria man will spend the rest of his life in prison, barring a successful appeal, for a botched 2015 robbery that left a 14-year-old Peoria High School freshman dead and three others suffering gunshot wounds Alex F. Collins, 24, whose last known address was 2805 W. Wardcliffe Drive, was convicted after a monthslong bench trial of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with the Oct. 10, 2015, incident that left Tommie Forest III dead. Friends and family of Forest packed the third-floor courtroom of Peoria County Circuit Judge John Vespa. The trial was conducted over several sessions beginning last summer. Vespa found him guilty on March 1. He was sentenced to 60 years on the murder count and 35 years on the attempted murder charge. His attorney, Derek Asbury, indicated his client would appeal. The judge called Collins' actions that day "galling," given that Forest and others were at a house, "not out and about. Not getting into trouble. They were in a house playing video games." According to testimony from Dontarius N. Berdin, 23, and others who took the stand, Collins, Berdin and others were there to buy marijuana. In all, five people were indicted in the Oct. 10, 2015, slaying of Forest, who was sleeping over at a friend's house in the 2400 block of North Flora Avenue when someone went to the front door, asked if a person was there, was told he wasn't and then left. Another person returned, and that's when a group of people, possibly as many as seven, barged into the house and the shooting started. Forest was found dead in the backyard of the house with a single gunshot wound to the head. In addition to Forest, three teens were shot and one woman was shot at, prosecutors have said. Berdin was sentenced to 21 years in February for aggravated battery. Kainen Lacy, 24, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for aggravated battery in 2017. Kiangelo G. Marshall, 21, was sentenced to 65 years in prison for murder. Samuel T. Clay, Jr., 23, awaits trial later this year. Collins must serve 100 percent of his murder sentence and 85 percent of his attempted murder sentence. He will get credit for three and a half years spent awaiting trial. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Conducting a heat-focused audit this summer could let your cows tell you when they are stressed, shared Cassandra Tucker at the recent TriState Dairy Nutrition Conference. The University of California, Davis researcher explained that cows have a heat IQ that helps them cope with warm temperatures and seek out relief. As Tucker described it, Cows have a certain kind of heat intelligence or heat IQ. They actually have a lot of information, and their bodies use that information to engage in a lot of actions that help them cope. A cow enacts several biological and behavioral actions to mitigate heat stress before it reaches more recognizable signs of stress such as panting, raised body temperature, and reduced dry matter intakes. Even when cows body temperatures are normal, they will start to seek shade. They also begin to sweat, breathe faster, drool more, and drink more water. These behavioral changes are their way of acknowledging heat stress and trying to manage it before it gets too extreme, said Tucker. Unfortunately, theyre also not the most easily recognizable or measurable metrics. Tucker explained that a heat-focused audit on farm should include monitoring respiration rate, rectal temperature, and potentially drool. Respiration rate can be tracked by counting flank movements with one full breath equaling one inhale and one exhale. In a study conducted by her team using sprinklers to mitigate heat stress, cows began using the sprinklers around 60 breaths per minute. Tracking rectal temperature is also a great but labor-intensive way to monitor heat stress. A cows average rectal temperature is 100.4 to 103F, but Tucker said cows will start seeking heat abatement at 101F. Tuckers team has recently been interested in tracking drool to identify cows under heat stress. Based on previous research studies done by the group, they believe length and type of drool might be a good and easily attained measure of cow heat load. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2019 April 29, 2019 I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it. I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it. Alvin McEwen [image: Provincetown is Lit]Provincetown is lit and Magic Lights of Provincetown is a portfolio capturing the unique holiday and post holiday season in Pro... Katherine Huggins @ Mediaite: Marjorie Taylor Greene Boasts of Yellow People and Other Minorities at Turning Point Rally: The Left Calls This a White ... The New York City Gay Men's Chorus has not performed on stage in almost two years and it's now looking to recruit new members. [image: The Olympic Games-Tokyo 2020] Team USA womens basketball featured at least five publicly out players as well as a coach, Cheryl Reeve, at the Tok... This is going to be a sad Holiday season for Donald Trump. His seditious playmates are being invited to congressional parties for show and tell about how... Variety reports: Attorneys for the members of Nirvana have asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed in August by the man who was the naked baby on the ... In Sangamon County, just three people have been charged with drug-induced homicide since Illinois passed a law in 1988 allowing criminal charges for distributing a substance that proves fatal to the person receiving it. However, the law makes no distinction between someone who is selling narcotics or provides a fellow user with what proves to be a lethal dose of a substance. With the escalation of overdose deaths in Illinois and the states efforts to combat the opioid crisis, a 1989 law that has been used sparingly in the past is starting to gain momentum. Photo courtesy Rob Clark Gary "Rob" Clark was released from prison in late March. Photo courtesy Sangamon County Sheriff's Office Justin Callarman was charged with drug-induced homicide in December. This particular charge has become more common because of powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl, said Sangamon County States Attorney Dan Wright. My job is to enforce the law, advance justice and ensure public safety. When theres evidence to support drug-induced homicide beyond a reasonable doubt, Ill prosecute.Drug-induced homicide is a Class X felony in Illinois and carries a sentence of up to 30 years, which is more than second-degree murder or manslaughter. The only homicide charge with a greater potential sentence is first-degree murder.Justin Callarman was indicted on charges of drug-induced homicide on Dec. 18. Hes the most recent person in Sangamon County to be charged with the crime.William Gerding died Sept. 3, and Callarman allegedly delivered the fatal dose of heroin and fentanyl to Gerding between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3. Callarman was arrested Dec. 13 and is currently in the Sangamon County jail awaiting his trial.Callarman previously had numerous interactions with police, ranging from petty thefts to more serious crimes. The Sangamon County Sheriffs Office denied freedom of information requests regarding investigation of Callarman, but police records describe Callarman as an addict spiraling out of control for over a decade.In one interaction with an officer from the Springfield Police Department on Sept. 4, 2010, Callarman was found asleep in a vehicle while parked in front of a gas station on Monroe Street. He was in the drivers seat with the keys resting on his lap, feet dangling from his vehicle. The officer who spoke with Callarman that night said he smelled like alcohol and that his pupils were consistent with someone who was high. The officer wrote in his report that he asked Callarman to roll up his shirt sleeves during a field sobriety test, where he observed fresh puncture sites or track marks on Callarmans arm. The officer eventually found a syringe and spoon in one of the pockets of Callarmans cargo pants. Residue left in the syringe and on the spoon tested positive for heroin. Upon learning that he was being arrested for driving under the influence, Callarman reportedly exclaimed, I didnt even drink that much. All I did was shoot some heroin two hours ago, so its not like I was driving drunk.Those who are addicted to opioids know theyre only hours away from experiencing the intense, flu-like symptoms of withdrawal if they dont use. Many users say the potential long-term ramifications, including the risk of arrest or even death, are pushed to the back of their minds when the threat of withdrawal begins to loom.Springfield resident Brandy Klauzer is someone who understands those risks. Shes battled addiction for over 20 years and says shes been off heroin for about a year.My love affair with pills and opiates happened in 1999, Klauzer said. It went from a few surgeries and finding Vicodin. It escalated to me going to treatment. At one point I was eating 22 Vicodin a day.Once she began using regularly, she moved out of her partners home because Klauzer knew her substance use would ultimately lead to the relationship ending. Thats when her drug use increased and she tried to earn extra income to support her habit.My habit went from $20 a day to $200 a day to me selling, Klauzer said. Given her increased use, she said she ended up being her best and only customer.While Klauzer had never heard of drug-induced homicide, by her own account, she could have easily been a case like Justin Callarman if someone she was using with had died.Klauzer said her group of friends and fellow users talked about getting clean, but it took nearly five years before she began receiving addiction treatment.She explained that the addicts she knew chose to get high in groups, so that someone could call for help in case of an accidental overdose, because carfentanil-laced product had made its way to Springfield. Ironically, she and her friends sought out carfentanil-laced heroin they knew to be more dangerous because it was strong enough to keep them from going through withdrawal.We have no other choice, being addicted to opiates the way that we are, Klauzer said. We have to use.Millions of dollars of federal funding has been allocated to battle the nationwide opioid crisis, and Illinois has received its share. Earlier this month, the Illinois Department of Human Services announced the state had secured an additional $15 million in federal funding, for a total of $82 million to combat opioid addiction since September 2016.However, the number of overdose deaths in Illinois climbed above 2,400 in 2016 and has remained consistent since then. Provisional data from the Illinois Department of Public Health lists 2,642 overdoses in 2018. Thats about 130 less overdoses than 2017 numbers, but a major jump from 1,579 overdose deaths in 2013.Illinois legislators have enacted laws that expand resources needed to support people battling substance abuse while, at times during the same legislative session, enacting more punitive laws for those who are caught with drugs.A bill currently under consideration by lawmakers would increase sentences for anyone caught with fentanyl. At the same time, a bill to create more needle exchange programs and provide test strips to check for fentanyl-laced heroin is also being considered.Attorney General Kwame Raoul has added Illinois to the list of more than 1,600 local and state governments that have filed suit against Purdue Pharma, a Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company that Raoul alleges engaged in deceptive practices and misinformed doctors about the addictive nature of OxyContin.Though the attorney generals lawsuit is primarily based on the influx of sales representatives the company sent to Illinois to ramp up drug sales, the lawsuit contains multiple references to the risk of addiction associated with the companys branded drug and the outcome from pushing OxyContin, which company reps touted as a safer alternative than other pain medications.There are no reliable clinical studies supporting the use of opioids long term; however, there exists a wealth of evidence establishing that opioids are both addictive and deadly, the lawsuit states.Earlier this year, 23 state representatives signed a resolution to urge the Department of Public Health to revisit its painkiller prescription guidelines.David Vail, a substance abuse counselor at Clinical Counseling Group in Springfield, said the vast majority of people can use drugs recreationally without issue, but approximately 10% to 14% of users are prone to addiction. He explained theres also a difference between addiction and being physically dependent on substances like opioids.Addiction occurs in the brain we have enough studies, we dont need to spend another dime on addiction studies, Vail said. We need to spend money on what it looks like with long-term recovery and short-term recovery and how we can get people well.The underlying cause of addiction, he said, is unaddressed trauma that manifests in behavior. Vail said childhood trauma and use of substances before the age of 19 are common denominators among the segment of the population thats most vulnerable to abusing drugs. He said the majority of IV drug users have been subjected to some type of abuse.We just know more about trauma-informed care because of the brain research than weve ever known before, Vail said. These things will dictate life trajectories and theres just no way to avoid it.Vail said taking a top-down approach at the state level to better provide substance users resources to kick their habit while simultaneously enacting punitive laws wont resolve the current opioid crisis or addiction in general. He said the best way to address addiction is long-term care that treats those in recovery with compassion. He noted that threatening addicts with punishment isnt a strong enough deterrent.Condone it or not, [drug use] is going to happen, Vail said. Either you want to help with the problem with the level of care we give people, or youre going to bury your head in the sand.Illinois passed the Good Samaritan Act in 2011, granting limited immunity for those who seek medical attention for someone overdosing. However, the law doesnt extend immunity when those seeking medical attention are in possession of more than three grams of heroin or morphine or 40 grams of prescription pills. It also doesnt apply if the person overdosing dies and the person who sought help provided the drug.Illinois prosecutors indicted 486 people on drug-induced homicide charges between 2011 and 2016, according to data from Drug Policy Alliance, an organization interested in reforming drug policies. Prosecutors from the four most populated states California, Texas, Florida and New York collectively charged 399 people during that same period.The Sangamon County states attorney noted that the statutory language regarding drug-induced homicide is not limited only to people selling narcotics.The charge does not require it be a purchase or a sale of a controlled substance, Wright said. It states the charge was appropriate if theres an unlawful delivery. We view every case based on the specific evidence presented to us by the investigation conducted through law enforcement.Gary Rob Clark was recently released from prison after serving four-and-a-half years. In 2014, he became the most recent person in Sangamon County to be convicted of drug-induced homicide.I had a good life before my addiction, Clark said. Im an honorably discharged Army veteran. I was in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, but I ruptured my spine overseas and became addicted [to painkillers]. When I came back, I was just hooked.Clark said the experience has changed him, and hes tried to make amends to the family of Daniel Buehrle, the man who died after obtaining heroin from Clark.I had no clue that such a charge existed, Clark said. The fact that its called drug-induced homicide homicide sounds like murder. It sounds like you meant to do this, when in reality it was just three or four people together trying to feed an addiction. Its the most harsh wording for the most unfortunate scenario.Springfield Police Department reports about Buehrles death in October 2012 include an interview with a man who called for assistance once Buehrle overdosed in the parking lot of Southwind Park. The man told police he tried to move Buehrle in an attempt to drive him to get medical assistance before running off because he was freaked out. He then told police he was the one who bought heroin from Clark before meeting with Beuhrle. The same SPD report also connected Clark to an August 2012 overdose of a different individual and the death of a 25-year-old Chatham man who died at Clarks residence in December 2010.During the incident at Southwind Park, Clark said he was there with Buehrle and tried to give him an overdose resuscitation drug, but he didnt know how to administer it.They leave that part of the story out, Clark said.Police reports make no mention of Clark being present at Southwind Park when Beuhrle overdosed.Clark was arrested in February 2013 for his connection to Buehrles death and on charges of manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance. Following Buehrles death, Clark had unknowingly sold heroin to an undercover SPD officer. By all indications, Clark was selling small quantities of heroin to support his own habit.Like most people who have struggled with addiction, Clark tried to get clean several times before his conviction. He said he drove to Champaign and Decatur on a few occasions to check into a detox center because there was a lack of options available in Springfield.His attempts at staying clean failed. Heroin transported from St. Louis and Chicago, with Springfield flooded with the drug along the way, and life in general, made sobriety difficult.Its almost impossible to do it on your own, and now I see that, Clark said. I tried to do it, and kept failing, because I didnt understand.Clark said hes looking forward to the life he missed during the height of his addiction. He said the only good thing to come out of his time in prison was gaining his sobriety, but he still thinks the term drug-induced homicide is a misnomer that makes those convicted seem like theyre violent offenders. He insists thats not the case.Clark said he and Callarman were familiar with one another since they both grew up in Chatham, although Clark said they didnt share the same group of friends. Clark says he can imagine what Callarman is going through, probably believing his life is over.I met a few people in prison with the same charge. Clark said. None of us were dealers. We were addicts who were using with other addicts, and another addict died while we were with them. Photo by Chris Wills. Rich McCoy, left, as Gerald Ford, Chuck McCue as Ronald Reagan and Tom Lawton as George H.W. Bush in Five Presidents. If you want this job, theres something deeply wrong with you. Ronald Reagan in Five Presidents When former president Richard M. Nixon died in 1994, his funeral brought together the four living ex-presidents, along with current commander-in-chief Bill Clinton to attend the funeral. When writer Rick Cleveland, who has contributed scripts to politically themed drama series The West Wing and House of Cards, turned his imagination to the question of what might have transpired behind closed doors when Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton encountered each other that day, it resulted in the 2015 play Five Presidents. The play opened in a new production directed by Phil Funkenbusch last week at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. The drama is sharply written, as might be expected from a West Wing writer, featuring insightful moments exposing the strengths and foibles of each member of its uniquely powerful American quintet. Humor, some of it ribald, runs through the production, along with tension and high drama as these five men negotiate their places in history in the light of Nixons passing, as well as addressing simmering resentments and surprising warmth between a group of men with no real peers apart from each other.The ALPLM production is brisk and energetic, with the 90-minute show (with no intermission) seeming to breeze by. A minimal set, representing a makeshift holding room at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, contains all of the action, foregrounding the performances. A conflict set in motion by Gerald Fords last-minute decision to cancel his planned eulogy for Nixon provides about as much plot as the play has to offer. However, plot is hardly the point, as these five fascinating, conflicted heads of state square off.The performances are uniformly strong, although the varying levels of physical and vocal resemblance between the actors and the iconic figures they are portraying inevitably takes some getting used to, as each characterization is given a chance to assert itself. Rich McCoy, who gave a memorable performance as LBJ in last years Hoogland Center production of All the Way, here brings a prickly gravitas to a Gerald Ford eternally vexed by his presidential pardon of Nixon after his resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Patrick Fosters rendition of Jimmy Carter provides a spiritual center to the proceedings, a little less crass and more circumspect than his cohort, while also seething with some barely concealed resentments. As shown here, the friendship developed over the years between once-bitter rivals Carter and Ford is touching and genuine.Much further from being resolved is the bitterness between the recently defeated George H.W. Bush, played with a wounded haughtiness by Tom Lawton, and the still-green Bill Clinton, given an alternately callow and incisive quality by Ed MacMurdo. The two often seem ready to tear into each other, only held back by the decorum required of their positions and the somber circumstance.Chuck McCue has a more challenging road to hoe as Ronald Reagan. He does an admirable job of embodying the famously folksy Reagan charm and humor while negotiating the portrayal of symptoms of the Gippers encroaching dementia without devolving into either cheap laughs or mawkish pathos. Perhaps surprisingly, Cleveland provides Reagan with some of the shows most cutting lines and introspective observations, as well as its broadest humor and easily the nights most risque passage (in the form of a very specific reminiscence about Marilyn Monroe).Although Five Presidents debuted in the faraway year of 2015, its dramatic snapshot of a group of American political leaders, hailing from differing parties and age groups but all interacting with respect and even empathy in spite of their differences, cant help but shine an indirect light on our current political climate, where childish sniping and insulting nicknames have become the new norm for policy discourse and across-the-aisle alliances seem as extinct as the dodo. This play may not offer a path back to more civil times, but it at least provides a window into a world where such a thing might be possible.Remaining performances of Five Presidents will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 2-4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museums Union Theater, 212 N. Sixth St. in Springfield. For ticket information, visit alplmfoundation.tix.com. click to enlarge Photo By Bruce Rushton Route 66 takes many paths through Springfield. It is, at once, the worlds most famous road and our most mysterious. Lesser thoroughfares such as Bourbon Street or the Champs Elysees are easy to find. But Route 66 is more like the Silk Road, an ancient path that hasnt existed, at least officially in Illinois, since 1977, the year that Elvis died and White Oaks Mall opened. Travel guides abound, but you cant find Route 66 on Google Maps, or any real map anywhere. To look at how the road snaked through Springfield over the years, as determined by Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, recalls the words of Sangamon County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter, who once described dormant drawings for street alignments to enable rail improvements through downtown as a bowl of spaghetti. If Route 66 were a song and it is it would be Ive Been Everywhere, the Johnny Cash tune with a protagonist whos traveled the world, but in this case, its the mother road thats been around, at least in the capital city. The Readers Digest version, obtained from the scenic byway organization, a nonprofit headquartered on Adams Street, shows three main routes through Springfield, with the Mother Road moving ever east as years passed until, finally, it followed Dirksen Parkway from 1940 until its demise. With the city making plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Route 66 in 2026, its worth remembering that the initial version of the road, then a two-laner, went along the present paths of Fifth Street, Second Street and MacArthur Boulevard before heading south of the city on what is now Chatham Road. That alignment lasted four years before the road moved east to what is now Peoria Road and South Ninth Street, just in time for the Great Depression. The final route along present-day Dirksen, installed one year before Pearl Harbor, avoided urban congestion while offering two lanes. None of the three accepted main routes passed by such legendary Route 66 attractions as the Maid-Rite drive-through restaurant at West Jefferson and Pasfield streets, which dates to 1921, five years before Route 66 was born, and boasts both slots on the National Register of Historic Places and the Food Channel. Its pretty complicated, says Geoff Ladd, assistant director of Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway. And he has maps to prove it. Maldaners restaurant, for instance, is three blocks west of the Mother Road, but Ladds maps also show that the downtown establishment billed as the oldest eatery on Route 66 was, in fact, part of the alignment starting in 1930, when the road hit its heyday and the main route ran along present-day Ninth Street. Over the years, Ladd explains, the route had many spurs, and maps show them, from forays onto North Grand Avenue to jogs along Capitol Avenue. Scott Dahl, city tourism director, perhaps optimistically, is tagging the citys commemoration efforts as The Road Is Real. He plans to identify corridors and is leaning on Ladds group for help. Ninth, Fifth and Sixth streets, he figures, will be main arteries in a planned Route 66 trail through town. Were mapping them out as we speak, Dahl says. There were so many alignments through the years. Michael Higgins, proprietor of Maldaners, sees possibility, enough that he installed a Route 66 sign at his restaurant a few years back so Mother Road fans can take pictures. Already, he says, a Chicago-based tour company that offers trips along the entire length of the road makes his restaurant a destination and Springfield an overnight stop. Ive always thought, for the longest time, that we underutilize Route 66 in this town just because we have Lincoln, Higgins says. You take your regular tourist attractions of your city then you wrap Route 66 into them. Ladd sees two kinds of Route 66 aficionados, the foamers denoting foaming-at-the-mouth sticklers for alignment details and others who are looking for broader, experiential trips. Route 66, he allows, is as much a state of mind as anything, and his group aims for a wide base. Were not going to say, Dont go to Lincolns tomb because its not on Route 66, Ladd says. Same thing with Maid-Rite. Maid-Rite manager Sam Quaisi, whos been watching over the iconic fast-food place for nearly a quarter century, doesnt quibble: Route 66, no matter what Wikipedia or various newspapers say, is three blocks away from the restaurant. But that, he insists, doesnt make Maid-Rite any less a Route 66 attraction. Three years ago, Quaisi recalls, Maid-Rite opened for lunch on a Sunday to mark the 90th anniversary of Route 66 and sold 600 sandwiches in three hours. Now, were waiting for the 100th, he says. For the centennial, he says, he plans to offer a deal no one could refuse: $1 for anything on the menu. I cant wait. Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday signed a bill into law 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 recently in retaliation for President Donald Trumps decision this month to designate Irans elite Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organisation. Earlier in April, U.S. branded Irans Elite military force a terrorist organisation, marking the first time Washington has formally labeled another countrys military a terrorist group, It was not clear what the impact of the new law might be on U.S. forces or their operations. Rouhani instructed the ministry of intelligence, ministry of foreign affairs, the armed forces, and Irans 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. The U.S. has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the Guards, however until Trumps decision not the organisation 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 Irans ballistic missile programmes. The Guards overseas Quds forces have fought Irans proxy wars in the region. The 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 that Iran will continue to export oil in spite of U.S. sanctions aimed at reducing the countrys crude shipments to zero. South Africas President is yet toto thewhich was presented in March 2019 after approval by the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). While some commentators havea swift assent, others have asked the President toassent to the Bill and refer the Bill back to the National Assembly for a complete redraft. The arguments for and against the enactment of the Bill have never been a general one. Instead, arguments have come from various constituencies: publishers, authors and creators, libraries, archives, museums, people with disabilities etc. This trend in copyright reform is not unique to South Africa. In Europe for instance, one need not look further than the debate on the Digital Single Market Directive to see various camps for authors, news publishers, online service providers etc. In the international copyright scene, WIPO has taken to calibrating discussions on copyright limitations and exceptions along the lines of specific entities. The Marrakesh Treaty is one example of an international copyright treaty containing limitations and exceptions that cater to a specific constituency: visually impaired persons. Also, one of the key departures in terms of the subject matter discussed at the 38th Session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) is the commissioning of a Background Paper on Archives and Copyright. Prior to the 38th Session, previous discussions and papers considered archives alongside libraries and sometimes, museums. See here, here and here. The arguments for and against the enactment of the Bill have never been a general one. Instead, arguments have come from various constituencies:, libraries, archives, museums,etc. This trend in copyright reform is not unique to South Africa. In Europe for instance, one need not look further than the debate on theto see various camps for authors, news publishers, online service providers etc. In the international copyright scene, WIPO has taken to calibrating discussions on copyright limitations and exceptions along the lines of specific entities. Theis one example of an international copyright treaty containing limitations and exceptions that cater to a specific constituency: visually impaired persons. Also, one of the key departures in terms of the subject matter discussed at theof the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) is the commissioning of a. Prior to the 38th Session, previous discussions and papers considered archives alongside libraries and sometimes, museums. Seeand In the light of this new era of separate consideration for archives, how does the South African copyright regime fare? Archives as a separate constituency In the Background Paper on Archives and Copyright, Dr David Sutton examined the copyright challenges facing archives particularly with respect to the digital environment. Besides suggesting the appropriateness of applying criteria for copyright exceptions to archival collections (rather than archival institutions), the paper did not make recommendations in respect of limitations and exceptions for archives. [See page 5]. In theexamined the copyright challenges facing archives particularly with respect to the digital environment. Besides suggesting the appropriateness of applying criteria for copyright exceptions to archival collections (rather than archival institutions), the paper did not make recommendations in respect of limitations and exceptions for archives. [See page 5]. Cats in the Archives The Paper acknowledges the contributions of Professor Ronan Deazley and Dr Victoria Stobo (CREATe UK) to the discourse on copyright challenges faced by archives especially in digitising archival collections. Specifically, Deazley and Stobo highlighted significant differences between archival institutions and libraries and suggested that several limitations and exceptions that may work for libraries are inadequate in the context of archival institutions. See for instance, Archives and Copyright: Risk and Reform. There is recognition that while archives and libraries may serve similar goals of preserving culture, there are fundamental differences in other goals, nature of protected materials handled as well as profit models. In this bloggers view, the argument that these differences warrant separate considerations for archives and libraries, underpins the Paper. The Paper acknowledges the contributions of Professor Ronan Deazley and Dr Victoria Stobo () to the discourse on copyright challenges faced by archives especially in digitising archival collections. Specifically, Deazley and Stobo highlighted significant differences between archival institutions and libraries and suggested that several limitations and exceptions that may work for libraries are inadequate in the context of archival institutions. See for instance,. There is recognition that while archives and libraries may serve similar goals of preserving culture, there are fundamental differences in other goals, nature of protected materials handled as well as profit models. In this bloggers view, the argument that these differences warrant separate considerations for archives and libraries, underpins the Paper. The Paper identified archival activities as including: making copies and facilitating access; digital preservation; and commercial exploitation. The Paper notes that libraries perform similar activities. However, the significance of these activities within archives differs from libraries. For one, there is usually a single and unique form of each archival material. A hypothetical scenario: there is only one paper leaf containing messages written in Nsibidi symbols to cult members in 1931. [Nsibidi is not hypothetical]. Moving such unique archival materials by lending to users would not be feasible for obvious reasons. Archival institutions would need to make copies to facilitate access. The Paper identified archival activities as including: making copies and facilitating access; digital preservation; and commercial exploitation. The Paper notes that libraries perform similar activities. However, the significance of these activities within archives differs from libraries. For one, there is usually a single and unique form of each archival material. A hypothetical scenario: there is only one paper leaf containing messages written insymbols to cult members in 1931. [Nsibidi is not hypothetical]. Moving such unique archival materials by lending to users would not be feasible for obvious reasons. Archival institutions would need to make copies to facilitate access. Following from this, it was proposed that it might be sensible to digitise archival materials to enable access across borders. Furthermore, digitisation would enable/reinforce preservation especially when digital copies are kept in multiple locations. See page 9 of the Paper. Digitised copies can also cross borders to facilitate research and other purposes. These activities may or may not be infringing depending on the permissible uses in the copyright statute of each country hence the need for limitations and exceptions that serve such activities. Limitations and exceptions for archives (South Africa) The current Copyright Act does not include any explicit limitations and exceptions for archives. However, section 13 allows reproduction of a work in a manner prescribed by regulation. Pursuant to this section, the Minister for Economic Affairs made the Copyright Regulations 1978. The current Copyright Act does not include any explicit limitations and exceptions for archives. However, section 13 allows reproduction of a work in a manner prescribed by regulation. Pursuant to this section, the Minister for Economic Affairs made the The Copyright Regulations contain limitations and exceptions that allow reproduction and distribution of a work for the following purposes: preservation, security and deposit in another library or archives; replacement; research or study, supplying copies to other libraries or archives etc. See Regulations 2 and 3. These come with conditions such as limits as to the nature of protected work to be reproduced (short poem, article, story or essay), the number of copies (not more than one) and a copyright warning that would accompany such reproduction. There are also requirements that the reproduction and distribution be undertaken after the archive has ascertained further to a reasonable investigation that an unused copy cannot be obtained at a fair price. These requirements may make digitisation process difficult if not impossible especially for archives that do not operate for-profit. With respect to the Copyright Amendment Bill, limitations and exceptions for archives are lumped with libraries and museums and there are both general and specific copyright exemptions. Clause 13 of the Copyright Amendment Bill seeks to insert a Section 12A - General exceptions from copyright protection. Section 12A(a)(vi) provides that: (a) In addition to uses specifically authorized, fair use in respect of a work or the performance of that work, for purposes such as the following, does not infringe copyright in that work: (vi) Preservation of and access to the collections of libraries, archives and museums The Bill proposes a Section 19C - General exceptions regarding protection of copyright work for libraries, archives, museums and galleries. The proposed provision permit archives to lend a copyright work incorporated in a tangible media to another archive; provide temporary access to material to which it has lawful access; make a copy of works in its collection for purposes of backup and preservation and on a publicly accessible website for preservation. Comments As opined here, an archive (like other institutions whose activities/purposes are specifically stated) sued for copyright infringement for acts of digitisation may argue that its use of the protected work was for the purpose of preservation of and access to its collection. In such circumstances, the court, taking into account the factors stated in section 12A(b) may conclude that such use was fair. Much would depend on how the court construes the concepts of preservation, access and collection. The court may take an expansive or restrictive view. As opinedan archive (like other institutions whose activities/purposes are specifically stated) sued for copyright infringement for acts of digitisation may argue that its use of the protected work was for the purpose of preservation of and access to its collection. In such circumstances, the court, taking into account the factors stated in section 12A(b) may conclude that such use was fair. Much would depend on how the court construes the concepts of preservation, access and collection. The court may take an expansive or restrictive view. While it is possible that fair use protection would allow archives to digitise without worrying too much about copyright infringement liability, it is important to note that a use would be fair if the court interprets the use as fair. Of course, the court would only have such opportunity if an aggrieved person approaches the court. It then comes down to each archival institution and how much risk the institution is willing to take with respect to digitisation. South Africa has a National Policy on Digitisation, which enjoins archival institutions to obtain copyright clearance before proceeding to digitise copyright-protected works. See Policy 4. Whether a fair use exception for preservation and access in favour of archives will obviate this requirement remains to be seen. While it is possible that fair use protection would allow archives to digitise without worrying too much about copyright infringement liability, it is important to note that a use would be fair if the court interprets the use as fair. Of course, the court would only have such opportunity if an aggrieved person approaches the court. It then comes down to each archival institution and how much risk the institution is willing to take with respect to digitisation. South Africa has a, which enjoins archival institutions to obtain copyright clearance before proceeding to digitise copyright-protected works. See Policy 4. Whether a fair use exception for preservation and access in favour of archives will obviate this requirement remains to be seen. Significantly, how this feeds into questions regarding fairness of digitisation undertaken for preservation and/or access would border on issues such as: (i) Whether an archival institution is qualified to make decisions to digitise and make decisions regarding access to the digitised collection. Here, it may be that funding obligations require the archival institution to digitise and grant access in a manner that offends the spirit of the national policy on digitisation. Even the Marrakesh Treaty in all its glory developed a definition for authorised entities and offered leeway for Member States to define criteria for eligibility as authorised entities. (ii) The story behind the digitisation process or the context of each digitised collection (i.e. who should tell the story?). In and of itself, materials that make up archival collections may not be self-explanatory: there is usually a need to put the materials in context both in making physical and digital archival collections. Would it be fair for an archive to have free rein in creating this context even when they lead to bad experiences? See for example, the audit report of digitisation initiatives, which provides examples of bad experiences in South Africa. See page 18. (ii) The story behind the digitisation process or the context of each digitised collection (i.e. who should tell the story?). In and of itself, materials that make up archival collections may not be self-explanatory: there is usually a need to put the materials in context both in making physical and digital archival collections. Would it be fair for an archive to have free rein in creating this context even when they lead to bad experiences? See for example, theof digitisation initiatives, which provides examples of bad experiences in South Africa. See page 18. (iii) In the case of traditional cultural expressions and traditional knowledge (with its own share of national and international debate), what digitisation project says about the copyright eligibility (or public domain status) of each work making up the digitised collection. For a country like South Africa with a colonialism and apartheid past and rich traditional expressions and culture, these issues are crucial. Discourse on crafting appropriate and enabling copyright limitations and exceptions based on an understanding of archives as distinct from other cultural institutions must take cognisance of these additional issues. 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, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told reporters at a conference in Doha. His remarks were reminiscent of the Iranian governments response to the designation, last month, of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. As well as verbally condemning that long-discussed gesture, Iranian lawmakers also passed a bill that was signed into law by President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday, applying terrorist designation to US military forces throughout the region and declaring the US government as sponsor of terrorism. Of course, by criticizing the US but also emulating its strategy, the Islamic Republic is sending mixed messages about the viability of terrorist designation as a political statement and a means of exerting pressure on foreign adversaries. But on the other hand, the American and Iranian designations are unlikely to prove comparable, since the IRGC terror designation is expected to cut off the paramilitary group from a wide variety of foreign markets while Irans designation of the US military is not expected to have much in the way of practical effects. If there is any specific area in which the latter maneuver may prove effective, it is simply in the area of propaganda among preexisting adversaries of the US. In that sense, Irans condemnation of US plans for the Muslim Brotherhood may be aimed in large part at discouraging other Islamic or Muslim-majority entities from negotiating with representatives of the US or its allies. It is interesting to note that at the same time Tehran is personally reaching out to those sorts of entities and condemning the US for its alienation thereof, it is also pursuing the alternative and contradictory strategy of condemning the US for reaching out to other groups that fit into the same general category. This was evident last week when Foreign Minister Zarif said it was seriously wrong for the US government to push for a deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan as part of an effort to end the long American military presence there. This statement seemingly disregarded the numerous reports that have emerged in recent years of high-level talks between the Iranian government and Taliban leaders. As recently as Wednesday, the Afghanistan Times reported that there had been several reports of Iran providing support to militants in the country, and that the Revolutionary Guards had routinely been providing financing to the Taliban in Farah Province, near the border between the two countries. Given that this ongoing coordination coexists with Tehrans condemnation of American diplomatic overtures toward the same group, it is clear that Iran condemns its adversaries and supports its own institutions and proxies whenever it is politically convenient, and with little regard for inherent contradictions. This phenomenon can also be seen in the case of the Yemeni Civil War, where both Iran and Saudi Arabia have been credibly accused of carelessly contributing to the awful suffering of the civilian population. While Tehran has contributed to the condemnation of Saudi-led bombing campaigns during that war, it has also directed the IRGC-supported Houthi rebels to renege on ceasefire agreements, including one that was concluded last December. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called attention to this at a recent event in Washington, where he said 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 because Iran has chosen to direct them to do that. This led the Iranian Foreign Ministry to respond on Tuesday by describing Pompeos statement as part of a blame game. But at the same time that they rebuked the US for supposedly downplaying Saudi contributions to the crisis, the Iranian officials did little to contradict the American account of IRGC actions in defiance of international agreements concerning Yemen. In highlighting these two entities as potential combatants, Araqchi underscored the newly signed laws role as an act of retaliation against the Trump administration for assigning terrorist designation to the IRGC. The White Houses April 8 announcement was long expected, although it was also unprecedented in the sense that the US government had never previously applied terrorist designation to an official institution of any foreign government. Many affiliates of the IRGC had already come under sanction for their various actions in support of terrorism, but now the entire organization stands to be blacklisted, with serious potential implications for its economic power and its global profile. By contrast, it is not at all clear what concrete effects, if any, the Islamic Republics retaliatory designation will have. Given Irans modest influence over foreign markets, the maneuver can reasonably be described as being rhetorical to a much greater extent than the comparable American gesture. Indeed, Araqchis statement played into this perception by adding to a growing Iranian narrative concerning the supposed danger of the Trump administrations assertive strategy for dealing with the Islamic Republic. That strategy has been defined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others as maximum pressure, with its near-term goal being the complete halt of Iranian oil exports and its longer-term goal being to compel the Iranian regime into a comprehensive change of those behavior that have been condemned in the international community. Among the specific changes that have been demanded are an end to Irans ballistic missile development and testing, the withdrawal of Iranian forces and militant proxies from Syria, and a more general disengagement of the Iranian regime from the affairs of neighboring countries. In outlining this strategy, the Trump administration has steadfastly avoided any suggestion of support for military intervention. It has also avoided the term regime change, although many analysts have concluded that that is the thinly veiled vision guiding the administrations policies. That perception is arguably supported by various statements expressing support of domestic opposition movements pushing for a change of government in Iran, including those that gave rise to nationwide protests and chants of death to the dictator at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. But in recent days, Iranian officials have downplayed the US governments tacit endorsement of the Iranian Resistance, in order to promote the idea that powerful elements within that government are pushing for regime change not at the hands of the Iranian people but by way of American military intervention. This was Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarifs message on Sunday when he pointed to hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton alongside the US governments regional allies and declared, They have all shown an interest in dragging the United States into a conflict. Araqchis subsequent comments seemed to directly expand upon this accusation, raising the prospect of a military conflict but prejudging it as originating in the policies of the United States, not Iran. These two forces 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, the Deputy Foreign Minister said. But even as such statements play up any perceived aggression in US foreign policy, they also downplay the growing list of examples of Irans plainly militarist rhetoric. As Forbes pointed out on Tuesday, multiple Iranian officials have reiterated longstanding threats about the prospective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of the IRGC blacklist and subsequent withdrawal of US waivers for importers of Iranian oil. The same outlet then noted that in an act of still further escalation, the Iranian militarys chief of staff, General Mohammad Baqeri, boasted of plans for joint naval exercises with Russia. While Baqeri teased the potential support of Irans allies in a theoretical naval conflict, Hossein Salami, the newly appointed head of the IRGC, extended Irans threats to US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. Salamis appointment has been viewed as its own contribution to the escalating tensions between Iran and the US, insofar as he has been described as one of the hardest of hardliners. As such, he has openly contributed to familiar Iranian talking points about the destruction of Israel and about the readiness of the IRGC and the Iranian nation as a whole for conflict with the worlds foremost military superpower. Prior to Salamis appointment, the role of conveying these talking points had been assumed in large part by Qassem Suleimani, the head of the IRGCs foreign special operations wing, the Quds Force. Among hardliners, Suleimani stands as a mythical figure and a symbol of Irans force projection beyond its borders. Accordingly, his likeness featured in an animated propaganda film in 2017 that showed a comparatively small Iranian force defeating a US Navy flotilla. Such associations with Suleimanis name arguably give greater weight to his words when he rejects the very notion of diplomatic engagement with the US or its allies. As US News and World reported, the Quds Force commander spoke on Monday before a conference of law enforcement officials in Tehran, where he seemingly contradicted Foreign Minister Zarifs account of Americans desire for regime change, acknowledging instead that the enemy wants to make us sit to the negotiating table by economic pressures. Despite this admission, Suleimani went on to say, Such a negotiation is an instance of surrendering, but our people are vigilant and wise and believe that negotiation with the enemy under the present circumstances means surrendering. And we will definitely not accept this humiliation. US News and World noted that some analysts believe this commentary is indicative of an established policy of strategic patience, whereby Iranian officials will attempt to wait out the Trump presidency on the assumption that his successor will reinstate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and otherwise assume a less confrontational Iran strategy. But it is not clear to what extent Suleimani and other hardline figures are willing to court the possibility of military confrontation while the current US president remains in office. This questions is perhaps made more urgent by the fact that self-described hardliners are not alone in pushing the narrative of Irans supposed military readiness. On Wednesday, Irans English-language propaganda outlet Press TV reported that President Hassan Rouhani a pragmatic leader sometimes described as moderate by the standards of the Iranian regime had used an event in Kermanshah Province to downplay the military threat posed by the United States. The Americans words are completely baseless. Their power does not [nearly] match their bluster, he said. We know the region and the power of the great Iranian nation better than them. Our nations [capacity for] sacrifice and power is greater than what the Americans can conceive. This statement was accompanied by Rouhani reiterating his promise that Iran would continue exporting oil regardless of US sanctions. By extension, it recalled attention to Rouhanis own statements concerning Irans supposed ability to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation of any American efforts at impeding Irans seaborne exports. Yet American naval intervention has so far not been needed for the sake of limiting Irans trade and enforcing global compliance with relevant sanctions. And the latest data suggests that these sanctions have begun to have a negative impact on Irans preexisting military build-up, thereby expanding the gap between Tehrans power and its bluster. Although Voice of America News reported that Irans military spending for the year 2018 had been assessed at 13 billion dollars, the same study noted that this represented a decline of 9.5 percent compared to 2017, despite tensions between Iran and its adversaries escalating during that same period. While the decline represents the effects of a serious economic crisis, the Islamic Republic remains 18th in the world in terms of military expenditures, which speaks to the fact that the regime tends to prioritize brute strength and regional interventions over most other matters. This is an ongoing trend, with total military expenditures over 10 years reaching to at least 140 billion dollars. As such expenditures shrink at a lower rate than the Iranian economy, leading Iranian officials seem poised to continue promoting a narrative of readiness for conflict with the United States and its various allies. And while these efforts are unlikely to be taken seriously by foreign military experts, their more important effect may relate to public perceptions of the governments power within the Islamic Republic. At the same time that it faces off rhetorically against the Western world, Tehran still faces domestic challenges from those Resistance movements that helped to spawn the 2018 uprising while earning tacit endorsement from the White House. In this context, Irans current militarist rhetoric may be aimed less at antagonizing the US or preemptively explaining the cause of future clashes than at inspiring fear among the Iranian public. While reform-minded Iranians who take the regimes statements seriously may conclude that the IRGC has ample military resources to turn against activist demonstrations, hardline supporters of the regime may accept those same statements as a warning about imagined threats from conflict-obsessed foreign enemies. But at the same time, both these narratives face simultaneous challenges from the effects of sanctions and the ongoing activity of the Iranian Resistance. The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who is on a visit to Nigeria, on Thursday, expressed his home governments commitment to ensuring successes in Nigeria. Hunt gave the assurance to Nigerians in his response to questions sent to him by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. Nigerias success really matters to the U.K. As we leave the European Union, now is the time to redouble our efforts and commit to the partnerships we have with our African friends. The opportunities we see right now in Africa are tremendous, with enormous potential to grow, We must see African nations as partners and destinations for investment and trade, he said. According to him, a free press is the first secure basis for prosperity in a world where innovation and technological advance are the central conditions for progress. The foreign secretary, who visited the North-East region of the country on Wednesday, also reaffirmed the U.K. governments commitment to fighting Boko Haram terrorists and the Islamic State in West Africa. The conflict here involving Boko Haram and Islamic State has displaced two million people. U.K. support for World Food Programme has helped feed 1.5 million but we are also focusing on the long term solutions to improving livelihoods and opportunity, he said. TOLEDO -- For the third consecutive year, as part of the Toledo Springfest Celebration and to promote the arts locally, an amateur photo contest sponsored by the Toledo Clickers Camera Club will be part of the festivities. Participants from Cumberland County and elsewhere will compete for 14 cash prizes totaling more than $700. Any amateur photographer may enter. The themes are "general" and "Cumberland County" and there are divisions for adults and youth. Artist, photographer and educator Toni Satterfield of Charleston will judge the photos and offer comments at the Awards Ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18. During Springfest, the photos will be on display at the Life Center of Cumberland Count, 507 E. Main St. in Toledo on from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 19. After that, winning photos and a selection of others will be on display at the Sumpter Township Library in Toledo until June 20. The deadline for entries is May 14. For contest rules, entry forms, and additional information send an email to toledo.clickers@gmail.com or call John at 217-849-3894 or Jerry at 217-821-3181. Rules and entry forms can also be picked up at the YMCA in Toledo and at the Public Library in Toledo, Greenup, Casey or Neoga. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Casey-Westfield band to hold Spring Jazz Concert CASEY -- The Casey-Westfield Band Department is scheduled to present its annual Spring Jazz Concert at 7 p.m. Friday in the Casey Nazarene Church. Tickets are on sale from band members or by calling the high school, and are $10 per person. There will be a catered dinner and silent dessert auction. The dinner menu includes grilled hamburgers, grilled tenderloins, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, and iced tea or lemonade. For more information, contact Brent Ritter 217-932-2175. 18th Street Block Party to be held Saturday CHARLESTON -- The 9th Annual 18th Street Block Party will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in Charleston. This special event is a celebration of spring sponsored by many of the 18th Street businesses. The Block Party will include food and craft vendors, a free carriage ride, the Annual Touch a Truck, in-store shopping specials, a pop-up farmers market, and a Vendorfest with 25-plus craft and direct sales vendors and other numerous activities. The following businesses are participating or sponsoring: Home Again Consignment Shop, Bike and Hike, First Neighbor Bank, Daves Decorating Center, Rural King, Infinity Fitness, Charleston Rehabilitation Center, Bellys Gaming, Monicals Pizza, Villas of Holly Brook, Charleston Family Dental, Peoples Bank and Trust, Eastern Illinois Auto Supply, East Side Package, Wildcatters Grill, 18th Street Farmers Market, Lakewood Village and Bartleys Garage. For more information contact Steve Runyon at Home Again Consignment Shop, 217-345-4700. 'How to be a Super-Hero' Children's Theatre coming to Arthur United Methodist Church ARTHUR -- The public is invited to a childrens theater presentation given by Prairie Fire Theatre a part of the Illinois Wesleyans Childrens Opera tour from Bloomington. The Arthur United Methodist Church will be hosting the childrens theatre at 4 p.m. Wednesday with Prairie Fire Theatre putting on the show, How to be a Super Hero for the K-5 youth group. All ages are welcome to attend the show. Afterwards, everyone is welcome to attend Wednesday Night Community Meals in the Fellowship Hall from 4:30 to 6 p.m.. For more information contact Ariana Cherry at arianathepoet@gmail.com. Class Pack Car Show to be held in Mattoon MATTOON -- The Class Pack Car Show will be held May 11 at Peterson Park in Mattoon, rain or shine. Registration from 9-11 a.m. with awards at 2 p.m., followed by a cruise at 3 p.m. with grand marshal Sheriff Jimmy Rankin. There is a $15 registration fee. Best of show and various top awards will be given along with prize drawings every 30 minutes; dash plaques, and a 50/50 drawing. Net proceeds will benefit Land of Lincoln Honor Flight, representatives of which will be on site. For more information, call or text David Nelson Myers at 217-218-8815. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CHARLESTON -- A 27-year-old Charleston man has been arrested in connection with the armed robbery Thursday morning at the Verizon Team Wireless store, 2104 Woodfall Drive No. 11. The suspect is being held on preliminary charges of armed robbery with a firearm and unlawful use of weapon by felon at the Coles County jail, according to Charleston police. The suspect was on parole for an attempted murder conviction in Cook County, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. According to their records, the suspect's parole date was Feb. 23, 2018. Preliminary charges are reviewed by the state's attorney's office. Charleston police detective Joel Shute said nearly 50 electronic devices, ranging from tablets and phones to wearables and accessories, were taken from the store at approximately 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Shute said the value of the stolen items was estimated at nearly $30,000. Police Chief Chad Reed said an Eastern Illinois University police officer spotted a man fitting the description of the alleged robber at the intersection of 20th Street and Grant Avenue. The suspect fled west into an adjacent neighborhood, weaving through yards and eventually running across 18th Street. Reed said the suspect stopped on the sidewalk in front of Prairie State Bank & Trust, 1820 18th St., and was apprehended without confrontation. Reed noted that motorists on 18th Street saw the pursuit and stopped ahead of where it was taking place, ensuring no one was hit. Police reported the recovery of a .38 revolver believed to have been used in the robbery and the devices stolen from the Verizon store. Police have not confirmed whether the firearm was legal. No one was injured as a result of the robbery and the following pursuit, police say. Reed said he was proud of how everybody responded from Charleston and EIU police that helped contain the scene and apprehend the suspect. We didnt miss a beat on this one, Reed said. This story will be updated. Contact Jarad Jarmon at (217) 238-6839. Follow him on Twitter: @JJarmonReporter Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 3 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SPRINGFIELD Anti-smoking advocates with the American Cancer Society want Illinois lawmakers to hike the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1. It is a proposal backed by Democratic senators who pushed to raise the age to purchase tobacco products to 21, and comes as legislators are seeking sources of revenue in the final weeks of the legislative session. Gov. J.B. Pritzker initially introduced a 32-cent tax increase in his February budget proposal, which would change the current rate from $1.98 to $2.30 per pack. The Governors Office of Management and Budget estimated that increase would generate an additional $55 million to be used toward Illinois Medicaid program and schools. But Shana Crews, government relations director for the American Cancer Societys Cancer Action Network, said bumping up the Democratic governors idea by 68 cents would be a win-win solution for the state. Not only would a $1 per pack cigarette tax increase prevent 28,700 Illinois youth from becoming adults who smoke and help 48,700 adults who smoke quit, but its also expected to generate more than $159 million in new annual revenue, Crews said. Thats money that could be put toward public health programs and help Illinois pay down its high deficit. Language for the tax bump has not yet been filed, but is expected to appear in the Senate next week. Sen. Terry Link, a Democrat from Vernon Hills, sponsored legislation in 2007 to ban public smoking and was a proponent of the Tobacco 21 initiative. He said Illinois is a long way from ending its campaign to end smoking. We know that were saving lives by stopping people from smoking and stopping e-cigarette [use] in the state of Illinois, Link said. If this $1 a pack doesnt start sending [smokers] another message, I dont know whats going to, but weve got to make sure that people do not start smoking. Crews said lawmakers should consider implementing a tax on all other tobacco products to avoid pushing people toward those goods when the price of cigarettes increases. The Cancer Society recommended hiking the tax on cigars, snuff and chewing tobacco by 64 percent of the wholesale price. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 When Tom Scdoris had to have a toe amputated three years ago because of diabetes complications, he did research on hyperbaric oxygen therapy and looked into going to Omaha to have it done. However, due to health problems that landed him in intensive care, he was never able to follow through. So when his care providers at CHI St. Elizabeth suggested the treatment to him when he had another toe amputated earlier this year, the Lincoln man jumped at the chance. After more than three dozen treatments, his wound is healing about twice as fast as it did the first time. "That's how good that chamber is," said the 65-year-old Vietnam veteran. St. Elizabeth installed two hyperbaric oxygen chambers in November in its Advanced Wound Care Center after deciding there was plenty of local demand for the treatment. "We were continuing to send too many local patients to other cities," said Dr. David Voigt, co-medical director of the Advanced Wound Care Center and Burn and Wound Center at St. Elizabeth. The Legislature on Thursday gave the green light to accelerated construction of the long-awaited South Beltway, reducing its completion timetable from eight to three years. The bill (LB616), which authorizes a new creative financing process that provides for delayed construction payments by the state, was sponsored by Sen. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln and received final approval on a 48-0 vote. The $300 million four-lane expressway south of the city will link U.S. 77 and Nebraska 2 and is designed to divert truck traffic from Nebraska 2 that now travels though Lincoln. Accelerated construction will save an estimated $25 million in total costs. Mayor Chris Beutler has pointed to the roadway's potential impact on jobs, growth, tourism and economic prosperity. The expressway has long been one of the city's development goals. "It will improve the quality of life in our community," the mayor said in February at a news conference with Gov. Pete Ricketts, who enthusiastically endorsed the project. "We just spend money like, 'Well, how do we feel today?' That's how we spend money. We don't set any priorities in there," he said. The state can't continue to grow its budget by 3% or more every year, he said. He predicted the revenue forecast would be dropped in October, when the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Board meets again. The decrease in tax revenue would be caused by a continued agricultural downturn, he said. Erdman said there's a defined difference between eastern Nebraska, which seems to be growing and prospering, and western Nebraska and its rural areas. "You see the pain and the agony that people are going through because of the property tax and the commodity prices that we're suffering under now," he said. He cited the increase in salaries and utilities recommended for the University of Nebraska as another reason to vote against the recommended budget. Salary increases of 2% for faculty were based on agreements with bargaining units at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and 2.2% for all other employees. The committee also offered a 2% increase in funding for utilities. "Nothing in the FHA (Fair Housing Act) gives Brooke a right to his preferred option," the order said. Said Mustion: "For my client it was a tough decision." At trial, Wilkison, who has limited use of his left side because of a brain surgery in 1984, testified that his dog provides support for dealing with the frustration he experiences as a result of his physical limitations. He said Chewy gets him up and moving around and motivated, keeps him calm, helps with his stress and is like one of the family. Wilkison's physician assistant also testified that it was in his best interest that he be allowed to keep the dog as a therapy dog. On the other side, the city argued that, given how easy it is for someone to register an animal online as an emotional support animal, it "diminishes and disparages those truly in need of a service animal." "The payment of $69 to an internet provider does nothing to insure that the animal is properly trained to insure the safety of the public, and does nothing to assist a person with disabilities," Urbom wrote. The Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, has said nobody can arrest elder statesman, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, for refusing to recognise President Muhammadu Buhari as having won a second term in office. According to him, Adebanjo is an institution in Nigeria in the silk of Edwin Clark and Wole Soyinka because of his contribution to the countrys history. Speaking to the press yesterday, Sagay said The man is an institution. Just like Edwin Clark and Wole Soyinka. Nobody can touch such people because if you touch them, you are really touching Nigerias history and everything the country stands for. So, nobody will touch Adebanjo because he is an institution and he knows that. Nothing can happen to him for expressing his opinion. He is respected by government even though they know he is a very strong opponent. Nobody will touch him. However, Sagay said the elder statesmans comments were inconsequential as the whole world acknowledged President Buhari as the winner through various congratulatory messages.He said although Adebanjo, a leader of Afenifere, was a very principled man who had always been in the vanguard of restructuring, he derailed when he pitched his tent with former President Goodluck Jonathan. The PACAC chairman said: If you know the history of Adebanjo, he is a very highly principled man. A man who had been with Awolowo from beginning, he never looked for political office and he is very steadfast. But, you know, no matter how great you are, at times, you can derail. You can miss the road by taking a wrong direction. My honest belief is that I respect Chief Adebanjo greatly and I dont want to say anything negative about him because he is like a father to me, but let me say this, he took the wrong decision when he joined former President Goodluck Jonathan. For a man of integrity, which he is, he took that wrong turn because he was looking for restructuring. That mistake has totally derailed him in many ways because restructuring will come, but I dont know why he has decided to mix with the wrong company. Now, as to the issue of recognising the president or not, that is irrelevant. Adebanjo knows it himself. The world recognises President Buhari. Nigerians also recognises him. The votes have been cast, a winner has been declared and he will be sworn-in. That one man does not recognise him makes no difference. But, as I said, he is a man I respect very much. I hardly will say anything against him because if you look at his background, he comes a long way in terms of integrity, principles and loyalty to the beliefs he has. He is a good man, but he has derailed in politics. The dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Law was named the interim executive vice chancellor on Thursday. Richard Moberly will step into the role held by Donde Plowman, who will leave UNL to become chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville on June 1. UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green said Moberly is "widely respected on campus and across higher education." "He understands our university and is an experienced and decisive leader," Green said in a statement. "I'm excited that Richard has agreed to step into this role because I know he's going to do a great job." Moberly was named dean of the law college in 2017 after being tapped as the interim leader in 2015 following the departure of Susan Poser. "I am looking forward to working with Chancellor Green, my fellow deans and the terrific staff in academic affairs to continue the momentum of the university during the search for a new (executive vice chancellor)," Moberly said. The Fish and Wildlife Service is also proposing a rule that would tailor protections to only those the beetle needs for recovery. For example, it would exempt activities related to ranching and grazing in the northern plains, which includes Nebraska. "With our partners, we will continue to work to improve the status of the beetles populations, Lueders said. The proposed rule recognizes the burying beetle faces different threats across its range, and it reflects those differences, Lueders said. It was first listed as endangered in 1989. Jonna Polk, field supervisor with the Oklahoma ecological field office, said the species range has been reduced to about 10 percent of its historical range. The species no longer meets the definition of endangered, but future threats are likely to cause decline in the population within the foreseeable future, she added. The primary known threats to the beetle are increasing temperatures due to climate change and ongoing land use changes, Stubbs said. The southern parts of the beetles' range would have temperatures that could exceed the beetles' tolerances within a 20- to 30-year period, and the northern plains populations within a 50-year period. OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE The Air Force is raising its cost estimate to $420 million to repair and rebuild Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base following severe flooding that forced officials to scramble to save munitions and move aircraft to higher ground. More than 130 structures were damaged by the Missouri River flooding at the base that houses the U.S. military's Strategic Command. Roughly 60 of those structures were damaged beyond repair and will need to be demolished, said John Henderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and energy. "It wasn't just the water, it was what was in the water," Henderson said. The floodwaters ran as deep as 9 feet in some places and left behind a toxic sludge. The latest estimate is $70 million more than the initial estimate issued last month as part of the Air Force's $4.9 billion federal funding request for disaster relief. The call for emergency funding would also cover damage from Hurricane Michael nearly leveling Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida last fall. Henderson said $300 million would be designated to design and build new structures at Offutt, while $120 million will go toward cleanup and the repair of structures that can be saved. But it changed nothing. Years later, there would be racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and Charlottesville, Virginia. There would be religious slaughters in Charleston, South Carolina and Pittsburgh. And there would be countless stories about attacks on Muslims, gays, lesbians, Hispanics and African-Americans that would not even make the news. And the nation would be even more divided. When the trial was over, Booker T. Hunter, then the president of the Jasper chapter of the NAACP, told me that King would have to die in order for people to heal. "If we get total justice, the death penalty, people will begin to heal," Hunter said. "We will never forget it, but we can move on." The truth is that we moved on long before King was put to death. But we still have not healed. There have been too many evil people picking at the scab. I am not an advocate of the death penalty. I have never believed that a life for a life is the best way to right a wrong. Retaliating with more violence is not the way to end violence. And certainly, it will not put an end to hatred. Robert Mueller's report landed with an anticlimactic thud. It seems to have changed no one's mind or made anyone particularly happy. If you believed that President Donald Trump was guilty of collusion and obstruction before the report came out, you probably still do. And if you didn't believe it before, you still don't. But how many of us have actually read the report? At nearly 450 pages, it's a bit of a lift. But it's a fast read. Many pages are heavily redacted; some are completely blacked out. Further, the text on many pages is limited by extensive footnoting. So here's a fine civic exercise: All Americans should set aside partisanship, as best they can, and carefully read the report that has been the focus of so much attention. That's what I did last week. Here's some of what I found: If you've followed the investigation for the last two years, you will see things in the report that you already know. But Mueller's cohesive narrative describes, organizes and contextualizes the complicated events surrounding the 2016 election in a helpfully lucid way. Back to the future on measles The U.S. is on track to break a 25-year-old record number of measles cases, with 695 reported so far this year, with eight months to go. There were 963 cases reported in 1994. Granted, measles symptoms are usually minor, involving fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. However, out of every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been three measles-related deaths reported in the U.S. since 2000, the last one in 2015. The worst year for measles in modern U.S. history was 1958, with more than 763,000 reported cases and 552 deaths. If the prospect of a return to those kinds of numbers isn't bad enough, public health officials worry that the uptick in measles could portend a return of other vaccine-preventable diseases such as rubella, chickenpox and bacterial meningitis. Before putting faith in something shared online, check with your healthcare providers and follow their recommendation. Every claim on this website is documented with Lamms own words, most from Lincoln Journal Star articles. The site also has live links to many of the events, people and organizations it cites. Of course, the biggest irony of Lamms attacks on this website is that, because Lincoln and the state of Nebraska do not have protections for LGBT people in the workplace, housing or public accommodation -- policies that Lamm has actively and publicly opposed -- the author of the website is in potential danger of being fired from his or her job, being evicted from an apartment, or being asked to leave a public place. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has explained that his absence at the 2019 workers day celebrations in Abuja has nothing to do with his current face-off with the organised labour over the headship of the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), but his ill health. According to reports the Minister was conspicuously absent at the annual event to celebrate workers which was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. At the event, Ayuba Wabba, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, President, in his address to workers, alluded that the Minister was absent because of their disagreement over the NSITF board. It was gathered that workers had also planned to boo the Minister at the event. But in a two-paragraph statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Nwachukwu Obidiwe, Senator Ngige said he was absent as a result of ill-health. The statement reads: Contrary to uncivilized attitude and barefaced lies contained in the address of the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, I wish to state for the avoidance of doubt that the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige was absent at Wednesdays Workers Day rally for reasons of ill health. The Minister has been down with flu since last Sunday. He met his doctors last Monday and has since been at home recuperating. His address to workers was however delivered by the Minister of state for Labour and Employment, Stephen Ocheni. They should go to the dean of students at their school to report this assault. If you want your own daughter to stay away from this neighbor, you should tell her, "I think he is bad news, and I want you to be aware of that." But no, you should not pass along specific unproven allegations. You should also assume that the gossip mill has spread to the teens, and that your daughter might know more about this than you do. You could encourage the parent who warned you to also warn the other neighbor, but no -- I don't think you should. Dear Amy: I am 65. I hope that this letter can help some younger couples. I frequently wore women's clothing 40 years ago, before I was married. About five years after we were married, I told my wife about those experiences, and asked if we could incorporate cross-dressing into our life together. She freaked out and told me that it would never be possible. She wondered about my sexual identity and even wondered what other things I had hidden from her. This had a negative effect on our trust level. She still brings up that conversation when we are having normal marital problems. We do get along fine, and we both think we have a good relationship. MOUNT PLEASANT Racine County and southeastern Wisconsin have entered a unique period for manufacturing, development, employment and more, said panelists in Johnson Financial Groups State of the Region Economic Forum, held Wednesday morning. The invitation-only event, at the Delta Hotel by Marriott Racine, 7111 Washington Ave., drew about 100 non-JFG employees. The panel discussion followed a national and international economic overview by Brian Andrew, JFGs chief investment officer. When the four panelists were asked what is the most exciting thing happening in the county, Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave cited the return, with Foxconn Technology Group, of advanced manufacturing so we can provide higher-wage, sustainable jobs to those who are under- or unemployed. Delagrave then made a bold promise. We will do this: When we get to the goal of the City of Racines unemployment rate to match the states unemployment rate, I think it will show a lot about who we are, where were going, and to people who have lived in Racine County for a long time, it will give us something to be really proud about. Marty Hanley, president of Land & Lakes Development Co., was asked what strategic steps should be taken to make sure development is done correctly. What we need to do is share information, Hanley responded. Its between the communities, the counties, the state and the developers. As a group, if we know what the community wants, we can satisfy those needs. We can provide the right facilities, the right type of housing. He praised Racine County Economic Development Corp. and Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce as two organizations that developers can go to for the information they need. Hanley added, Probably the biggest question mark from a development standpoint is obviously Foxconn and what their plan is and how thats going to work out for everybody. Obviously, the sooner we know that, the easier it will be for us to facilitate development. Finding, developing talent Asked about how to find skilled workers, RAMAC President Matt Montemurro pointed out that Gateway Technical College can provide training on-site at the workplace. Thats an incredible asset to our community to be able to provide that service to a company that may not be able to get their workforce to Gateway for a scheduled training that happens throughout the day, he said. High school youth apprenticeship programs are another piece of the answer, Montemurro said. We are one of the leaders in the state with youth apprenticeship, he said, with about 120 students currently involved up from about 65 last year. Kate Walker, RCEDCs talent recruitment specialist for the county, talked about the ways in which talent is being sought, how those methods have changed and what companies should be doing to meet their needs. Its changed tremendously in the last five to 10 years, Walker said. Gone are the days when you would post something with the hopes that somebody would respond to it; it was a little more passive transaction. Today, youve really got to get out there and tell your story; youve got to create a brand about your company and let people know what that is, Walker continued. Youve got to share stories about what your companies are doing in the community because, quite frankly, talent has a lot of choices right now. And your employees can be really critical in telling those stories and helping promote your brand. The millennials are very interested in social aspects and being involved in the community. Walker described another effort underway. We are creating a team of ambassadors from all 17 municipalities of Racine County that, as talent comes in, we can meet with them and show them different neighborhoods. We can show them rural settings, we can show them walkable neighborhoods, so that they know all the options that are out here and speak to people that actually live and work here and hear their perspective. We think thats very important. So far they have about 30 people who are very interested in being involved, Walker said, and she will be adding a veterans element, to be able to acquaint incoming veterans with available resources. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. RACINE In the not-too-distant future, Julian Thomas Elementary School is set to go beyond educating students, as home to a new health clinic for low-income residents. At a Wednesday press conference, Mayor Cory Mason said that early in his tenure, Public Health Administrator Dottie Kay Bowersox pointed out that the City of Racine does not have a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center. Given the citys size and poverty rate, she thought the city could really use one. Were the biggest city in Wisconsin that doesnt have one, Mason said. One of the biggest in the Midwest that doesnt have one. Federally Qualified Health Centers provide a range of health care services on a sliding fee scale for low-income families on Medicare, Medicaid or who cannot afford their insurance deductible. On Wednesday, officials from the city, Racine County, Racine Unified School District and other partners announced that they are teaming up to open a health clinic with or without a FQHC designation at Julian Thomas elementary school, 930 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. To be able to provide health care, not only to the Julian Thomas community but to the Lincoln King Neighborhood and the broader Racine neighborhood is really a wonderful thing to be able to announce today, Mason said. Why Julian Thomas? During her research for the FQHC application, Bowersox looked at factors such as population, the number of people on Medicaid, the number of children receiving free lunches and other services and found that the 53403 and 53404 zip codes were the areas with the most need. Julian Thomas is set to be Unifieds second community school, which offer programs including school-based mental health services, extended learning programs and programs for families and adults in the schools immediate neighborhood. Given Julian Thomas location, Dr. Eric Gallien said he thought the school would be a good place for the clinic. I know that this clinic is going to provide a need for our school community, our families, the broader community, that is really needed, Gallien said. To provide health care services that otherwise may not be provided for these families is going to be provided right here. Other entities, such as the county, jumped on board. While the clinic will be based in Racine, residents from throughout Racine County would be able to seek treatment there. The county is only as strong as its weakest link and if we have under-insured or individuals who dont have insurance at all or if we have neighborhoods, whether its in the City of Racine or the City of Burlington, who have factions of people who need quality care and theres no access for them, it falls back on the county, said County Executive Jonathan Delagrave. A lot of people here are working and theyre working for $9, $10, $11 (per hour) and they dont have access to quality insurance. This is going to help mightily. Julian Thomas is just down the street from Health Care Network, 904 State St., which plans to relocate to 500 Wisconsin Ave. HCN Executive Director Alison Sergio said she joined the committee to open the clinic because it would be able to help people HCN cannot. HCN can only provide services to people who are both low income and uninsured it cannot treat someone who is uninsured but has an income too high, or has Medicare or Medicaid or is insured but their deductible is too high or the insurance only covers emergencies, not primary care. The FQHC is the perfect solution for that because were able to partner and have clients go back and forth or be referred from one to the other, Sergio said. Whichever is more appropriate for care. In addition to primary care, the plan is for the clinic to provide mental health services, dental care and other ancillary health care services. The numbers The city submitted its application for an FQHC on April 11 and will learn whether it was approved sometime in August. With the designation comes a $650,000 federal grant and a $288,000 match from the state. If the citys application is denied in 2019, Mason said that having the clinic in operation will give it a better chance of receiving the funding should Racine decide to apply again in 2020. The future 5,000 square-foot clinic is set to be located in the lower level of the old Garfield School section of Julian Thomas. Unified has budgeted $900,000 of its community service fund, also known as Fund 80, to transform the space into a clinic. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer. If it does not receive the grant, the city estimates it will cost approximately $2.5 to $3 million to get the clinic up and running. With the grant, the cost is expected to be $2 million at most. But the numbers depend on whether or not local health care businesses donate equipment to the clinic, something some of them are considering. At Wednesdays press conference, Mason said the plan is to raise funds from the private sector to cover the remaining costs. Bowersox said they hope to open the clinic by Jan. 2. I know that this clinic is going to provide a need for our school community, our families, the broader community, that is really needed. To provide health care services that otherwise may not be provided for these families is going to be provided right here. Eric Gallien, Racine Unified superintendent Love 4 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. MOUNT PLEASANT A disgruntled former employee is accused of breaking into Dons Towing and stealing $2,000 worth of tools. Arin P. Berchem, 25, of the 2000 block of Douglas Ave. in Racine is charged with felony burglary of a building or dwelling and misdemeanor concealing stolen property. He faces up to a $25,000 fine and as much as 12 years and six months imprisonment for the felony charge and up to a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail for the misdemeanor. Although the incident happened last summer, charges were only filed against Berchem on Wednesday, according to online court records. According to the criminal complaint: On the morning of June 4, 2018, one of the mechanics at Dons Towing, 8100 Washington Ave., found a bucket full of tools holding the back door open. When the mechanic picked up the tools and began to put them back into his toolbox, he realized that many of them were missing and that the shop had been burglarized. One of the workers at Dons Towing discovered that a disgruntled former employee was attempting to sell an item on social media that she believed was stolen from the shop. A Dons employee went to buy the item and found that Berchem was the seller. During an interview with police, Berchem allegedly admitted to breaking into Dons Towing and stealing the tools. The tools were worth an approximate total of $2,000. Berchem has not previously been convicted of a crime in Wisconsin, according to online court records. A preliminary hearing in this case is set for 9 a.m. May 15 at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave. Berchem was a prisoner in the Racine County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. OAK CREEK A Racine County Sheriffs deputy was cited for suspicion of operating while intoxicated just after midnight on March 19. He reportedly was wearing his Racine County deputy uniform at the time of the traffic stop and refused to have his blood drawn. According to an incident report The Journal Times obtained via an open records request this week, Deputy Jesse Danek, 38, faces a first-offense OWI charge after he was pulled over for making multiple traffic violations in the City of Oak Creek. Danek reportedly blew a 0.00 on a preliminary breath test, but the arresting officer reported that Danek and his vehicle smelled of alcohol, according to the incident report. Officers later learned that Danek is prescribed with two different medications. When taken together, those medications, have led to instances of sleep-driving, according to the Food and Drug Administration. According to the Oak Creek Municipal Court, a trial is scheduled; however, the date and full charges were not shared with The Journal Times. A records request was submitted Tuesday afternoon. Deputy Danek has a noncriminal forfeiture matter pending in Oak Creek Municipal Court and, therefore, has not been placed on leave. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said in a statement. Once that matter has been adjudicated, our office will determine whether internal sanctions are appropriate. Danek, who lives in Oak Creek, became a Racine County deputy in May 2018, according to the Racine County Sheriffs Office Facebook page. He previously worked as a public safety officer with the South Milwaukee Police Department. It is not appropriate for me to elaborate further at this time as it is a pending internal personnel matter, Schmaling said. Deputy Danek is a military veteran and proudly serves the citizens of Racine County as a deputy sheriff. Schmaling said he is not at liberty to discuss whether Danek has any medical issues associated with his service to our country. The incident When he was pulled over at about 12:20 a.m. on March 19, Danek reportedly had glassy eyes, slurred speech and needed to lean against his vehicle for balance after stepping out of the car. He was pulled over after an officer reported finding Daneks vehicle stopped partway into an intersection, taking about five seconds to accelerate when the light turned green, making a left turn from a straight-only lane and driving 70 mph in a 45 mph zone. The officer also said that, when Danek pulled over, the front-right tire of his vehicle was resting on top of the curb. After being asked for his drivers license, Danek reportedly provided his badge and Sheriffs Office ID to the Oak Creek officer. He allegedly was asked twice before actually handing over his license. While sitting in the back of an Oak Creek squad car, Danek reportedly told an officer, A lot of people say Oak Creek (Police Department) is pretty strict, but if thats all you know. Danek continued, I like Racine County (Sheriffs Office). We run a little looser. We all got each other. Police officers didnt pursue a warrant after Danek refused a blood draw because there is no warrant for a municipal first OWI offense, according to Oak Creek Police Captain David Stecker. Wisconsin is the only U.S. state where first-offense OWI is a citation, not a misdemeanor or felony. Danek also allegedly refused to answer an officers questions regarding drug and alcohol consumption for the police report. A Kenosha Police sergeant, Gregory Munnelly, who has since lost his job, was also arrested by Oak Creek Police and charged with operating while intoxicated after he crashed on Nov. 6, 2017, at the intersection of Ryan Road and Howell Avenue. Meds As of April 10, Danek had been legally prescribed two medications zaleplon (a.k.a. Sonata) for insomnia and alprazolam (a.k.a. Xanax) for anxiety according to the incident report. Among zaleplons possible side effects are drowsiness, confusion and lethargy. The FDA has reported that some who have taken alprazolam and other central nervous system depressants like zaleplon together have experienced getting out of bed and driving their cars while not fully awake, often with no memory of the event. This symptom, known as sleep-driving, becomes more likely if alcohol is consumed, according to the FDA. While searching Daneks clothing on March 19, an officer reported finding one alprazolam (Xanax) pill stashed into Daneks boot. Danek reportedly told the officer the pill must have fallen in his boot and wasnt stashed there, as the officer thought at first. Deputy Danek has a noncriminal forfeiture matter pending in Oak Creek Municipal Court and, therefore, has not been placed on leave. Once that matter has been adjudicated, our office will determine whether internal sanctions are appropriate. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling Journal Times Reporter Alyssa Mauk contributed to this report. Love 0 Funny 7 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 7 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. KENOSHA Chad Elliott told one woman he was director of mergers and acquisitions for a private equity firm. He told another he was vice president of acquisitions for a company in New York, texting a photo he said was a view from his office in the MetLife building in New York City. Another woman was told he had a multimillion-dollar light bulb company. He told one woman he was taking her to New York for a corporate event. He told me I needed to find a gown to wear, and then we would take the private jet, one of the women testified Wednesday in Kenosha County Circuit Court. What Elliott did not tell most of the women was his real name instead, calling himself Chadwick DeTheir. Elliott, 42, of Kenosha, is on trial on charges of felony theft, theft through false representation and bail jumping. The prosecution alleges that Elliott defrauded women by romancing them and then convincing them to hand over cash. Although the women who testified at the trial, which began Tuesday, have included women from McHenry, Ill., Columbus, Wis., and Waukesha, all the charges in the case are related to money and jewelry taken from a Somers woman who met Elliott under the name Chadwick DeTheir in November 2016 on the online dating site eHarmony. This is not a case about a failed internet relationship. It is about theft and fraud, Assistant District Attorney Carli McNeill said during her opening statement. McNeill said that Elliott ran the same fraudulent scheme on a series of women. This is about blatant, serial and very personal lies that are repeated over and over again until the money runs out, she said. Defense attorney Scott Anderson said in his opening statement that Elliott did not steal money from the Somers woman, but instead simply borrowed money. He did nothing without her knowledge, nothing without her consent, Anderson said. These are not thefts. These are loans. Met online The Somers woman, Dianalee Hart, testified that after being matched with DeTheir online, they exchanged emails, and he presented himself as a wealthy businessman with homes in Libertyville and Oconomowoc, and as a devout Christian. He said he was divorced. She said their relationship progressed quickly once they met in person. Did you make any effort to look into the background of Chad DeTheir? McNeill asked. Hart said she did an online search on the name, including checking online court records, and found nothing. I felt like I could trust him. I felt like he was telling the truth, but he wasnt, Hart said. DeTheir very soon moved into the Somers womans home and proposed marriage. But Hart said he convinced her that his bank accounts had been hacked, leaving him without access to money. He asked to borrow cash and convinced her to purchase things for him with her credit cards and even to buy a used Maserati promising that he would repay the money when he again had access to his funds. Hart eventually learned Elliotts real name. I found out he had an extensive criminal history, that he had been in prison, she testified. Law enforcement investigates She called the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department when she suspected Elliott had stolen some expensive jewelry that he had convinced her to buy herself as a gift, telling her that he would repay her. Elliott told the deputy who responded to the call that he had sent the jewelry out for an appraisal. However, a detective found that Elliott had actually pawned the jewelry in Madison. That discovery led to the initial theft charge against Elliott in January 2017. He was charged with theft through false representation in September 2017. In court, Hart had documents showing Elliott had defrauded her of approximately $34,000. Another woman involved While Elliott was living with the Somers woman, he was also allegedly dating a McHenry, lll., woman named Allison Landbeck whom he had met on eHarmony under the name DeTheir. The day Elliott was released from Kenosha County Jail on the initial theft charge on Jan. 24, 2017, Landbeck received an email from DeTheir asking her to come pick him up in Kenosha. He said he had been carjacked, Landbeck testified Wednesday. He said he had been held at gunpoint and that they took his Maserati, his cellphone and his wallet. She testified that DeTheir asked if he could stay at her home, saying he was frightened to go to his house because the thieves had his wallet and would know where he lived. She said their relationship then progressed quickly, and he stayed at her home and eventually proposed marriage. Landbecks testimony was similar to Harts; DeTheir was quickly asking for money, using a series of stories about why he did not have access to his funds. She ended the relationship in May 2017. She estimated he had taken $10,000 from her. Third woman Shortly thereafter, while living in an apartment in Waukesha, he met a woman, Tierney Arndt, who lived in the same complex. In this case, Elliott used his own name, but warned the woman there was another man with his name who had criminal cases against him, Arndt testified. Arndt said Elliott convinced her he was a wealthy businessman, that he was living in the apartment complex temporarily and that his funds were frozen during a custody battle with his ex-wife. Very soon, he moved into the womans apartment. She said Elliott convinced her to loan him money. Then, he asked to borrow her credit card to secure a hotel room for what he said was a business trip because he didnt have a credit card because his ex-wife had frozen his assets, she testified. When she got her credit card statement, she testified, she found he charged $5,000 for attorney fees. By early October, she said, Elliott had taken about $20,000 from her in loans and expenses. He paid for a few meals and groceries, but that was it, she said. During his relationship with Arndt, Elliott was out on a signature bond for the Kenosha County theft charges. On Oct. 9, 2017, after additional charges were filed, his bond was modified to a cash bond. He has been in custody since. Elliotts trial was to continue this week. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 KENOSHA In a setting fit for Hollywood, Gov. Tony Evers met with Foxconn Chairman and CEO Terry Gou inside the Signature flight terminal, reserved for private jets, at Mitchell International Airport on Thursday after Gou met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Speaking to a joint session of the editorial boards of The Journal Times and Kenosha News Thursday afternoon, Evers described the 30-minute meeting as great conversation and that this was the first step toward building a good relationship. We talked a lot about what their plans were and its pretty much how its been defined previously, Evers said. This was the first time Evers and Gou have met and spoken face to face. Foxconn has committed to building a Gen6 liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing facility, after previously agreeing to a Gen10.5 facility, and manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, and also creating up to 13,000 jobs in the state and investing $10 billion in the state. Gen refers to a specific generation of a particular technology. Evers said Gou is starting to transition into a different world, since he announced that he is running for president of Taiwan and is planning to step away from the daily operations at Foxconn. We spent a lot of time talking about the transition from him being in charge of daily work in the company to turning over the helm to some of his colleagues, Evers said. I talked about our interests and that the company succeeds and that has always been our position. Evers has been critical of the Foxconn agreement and recently said that the prospect of Foxconn hiring 13,000 people in the state is an unreal expectation. However, on Thursday Evers clarified that point. The fact that I said that they may not have 13,000 (jobs), it could be less, it could be more, to me it doesnt matter, Evers said. Im not doubting their word, Im just saying that we want as much clarity as we can going forward and we talked about what theyre doing right now as far as building. Theyre hoping to have the new plant up and running as soon as possible. Evers said Foxconn has made a commitment to the state and he is trying to take care of taxpayers. Well be supportive of (the Foxconn deal), I was never not supportive of that, Evers said. I think there was expectations on some peoples part that 13,000 was going to be a magic number and certainly if they get there, good. Evers also said his administration is monitoring environmental standards related to the project which seem to be going alright at this point in time. Any business, especially a large business, is going to have their detractors and attractors, this business is no different, Evers said. I dont want to contribute to that because frankly I want them to be successful. Louis Woo, special assistant to Gou, was also at the meeting at the airport. Meeting with Racine officials Gou then traveled to Mount Pleasant and met with Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot and Jenny Trick, executive director of the Racine County Economic Development Corp. Gou met with local officials and Foxconn workers at the companys building located at 13315 Globe Drive in Mount Pleasant. Delagrave said Gou expressed a lot of affection for Wisconsin and Racine County. He looks forward to continuing the project and the investment that theyre making is a critical part of their business plan, Delagrave said. Delegrave said Gou reiterated that vertical construction on the Gen6 facility will be happening in early June. Contracts on the construction aspect of that, whether its the foundation or the vertical piece to that, those contracts are going to be let pretty soon and hopefully in 30 days theyll have the construction companies named and well be on our way. Delagrave said he talks to Foxconn officials once or twice a week and theres always been the assurance that this project was always moving forward. With larger national media outlets producing stories on the development Delagrave asked for Foxconn to respond more directly as to not create more uncertainty and they were kind of already proactively addressing that. I think some of the national media put in some uncertainty, Delagrave said. I think what is new here is Foxconn now is going to be responding to these national reports right away and addressing these (stories) in a way that is about fact, in terms of their investment in Racine County. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, also attended the meeting in Racine County with Gou and other local officials. The Foxconn development area in Mount Pleasant is in Vos 63rd Assembly District. Vos called the meeting a positive step forward in the development of the Foxconn project in Racine County. Every time they are asked, Foxconn officials reiterate their commitment to keeping their promises and growing their investment in our state, Vos said in a statement. Lets hope now that theyve met with Gov. Evers, we can put the political back and forth behind us. Were all on the same team and we cant have politics get in the way of this transformational project. Meeting with Trump Before coming to Wisconsin, Gou paid a visit to the White House to meet with Trump to discuss the development in Mount Pleasant. According to a Foxconn statement about the meeting: Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou visited the White House and met with President Donald J. Trump during his recent trip to Washington, D.C. At the meeting, Mr. Gou and President Trump discussed the latest updates and the positive progress of the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park project among other matters. When asked about the meeting by The Journal Times, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders suggested more investment could be coming to the state. (Wednesday) afternoon, President Trump met with brilliant business leader Terry Gou, creator of Foxconn one of the worlds largest companies. Mr. Gou is spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there. The President and Mr. Gou did not discuss support for his campaign in Taiwan, he is just a great friend. Love 3 Funny 3 Wow 1 Sad 2 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. RACINE The Racine County University of Wisconsin Extension and the Racine County Jail are offering a new reading program for children with an incarcerated parent. The Making Reading Memories program is designed to help incarcerated parents stay involved in their childrens lives and prepare children for kindergarten by strengthening parent/caregiver knowledge of social-emotional skills and child development. Since its introduction at the Racine County Jail in March of last year, 113 incarcerated parents have participated in the workshops and 107 children received the benefits of these programs, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said. I am proud to connect over 100 children with their parents who found themselves incarcerated, Schmaling said. This undoubtedly has made a massive emotionally, but yet positive impact on moms and dads that are incarcerated and the children that are faced with this grim reality. As part of the program, parents participate in workshops and learn how to help develop pre-reading skills and teach them, create new learning experiences and become more engaged with their children. Upon completion of the workshop, children receive books and a video recording of their incarcerated parent reading to them. The books are selected by the parents based on their childs age, interests or social skills they want to encourage. Through the videos, parents are able to teach their children the ABCs, colors and numbers. They are teaching their children about sharing, taking turns and expressing their feelings. The program is based on a collaborative research study conducted by University of Wisconsin Madison and UW-Extension at three Wisconsin correctional facilities, including the Racine County Jail, from 2012 to 2015. The National Institutes of Health study focused on the impact of parental incarceration on children. Study findings showed that the effects of parental incarceration were mitigated by a strong bond between the child and parent/caregiver and a stimulating, educational home environment. Making memories A father incarcerated at the Racine County Jail participated in the program and selected a story about sharing. Five months later, the Sheriffs Office reports that the inmates son is still watching the video his dad created at least twice a week. The childs mother said that the child felt as if his father was there, helping him read, according to the Racine County Sheriffs Office. I am proud to be able to bridge the gap in families who found themselves in these unfortunate situations, Schmaling said. Our ultimate goal is to have history not to repeat itself because these children certainly deserve better. I am proud to be able to bridge the gap in families who found themselves in these unfortunate situations. Our ultimate goal is to have history not to repeat itself because these children certainly deserve better. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling Love 2 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. While President Donald Trump was revving up his Republican base on Saturday in Green Bay, his administration extended an olive branch to the states most powerful Democrat. Gov. Tony Evers said on April 17 that he thinks its unrealistic for Foxconn Technology Group to employ 13,000 people in the state and he wants to renegotiate the contract, the Associated Press reported. Evers told reporters that the state was working with Taiwan-based Foxconn to look at revising the original contract for the proposed facility to build liquid crystal display panels because it deals with a situation that no longer exists. Were not entirely sure what the governor means by no longer exists, especially when we drive past all the activity near the intersection of Braun Road and Highway H. I dont know why he isnt optimistic and hopeful that 13,000 jobs would come to the state of Wisconsin, Kayleigh McEnany, national press secretary for Trumps 2020 campaign, said Saturday in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We encourage the Democratic governor to work with Republicans, work with the president, work with Foxconn, to make sure those jobs come here because this is a deal that was engineered by President Trump, and we would hope that the Democratic governor would be on board to see that through. The original contract has Foxconn building whats called a Generation 10.5 facility. But Foxconn now plans to build a Generation 6 plant, which will make smaller display screens for cellphones and other devices. Opponents have said that wording referring to a Generation 10.5 plant puts the entire contract in jeopardy if Foxconn builds a different-sized factory. To his credit, Evers discounted that possibility: I think that were past that point and I dont think anybody would have ever called them out and say were going to negate this deal because of that, he said in an interview. The tax incentives that are a part of Foxconns deal with the State of Wisconsin dont kick in unless the Taiwanese manufacturing giant reaches certain benchmarks. In 2018, Foxconn came up well short of its first-year target of 260 jobs, costing it $9.5 million in tax credits, the Associated Press reported. The 2019 jobs goal has doubled to 520, and the 2020 goal when Foxconn says production will begin is nearly 2,000 jobs. Starting in 2027, it must have at least 10,400 workers to qualify. Critics of the deal suggest that the failure to reach the 2018 benchmark means that Wisconsin is being taken for a ride. We believe that its evidence of the taxpayer protection in the deal: Because Foxconn didnt hit the benchmark, it didnt get the tax break. If Foxconn doesnt meet the terms of the contract, it doesnt reap the tax benefits. Also, fixation on 13,000 jobs whether by the governor, or anyone else is misguided. If Foxconn were, hypothetically, to end up only creating 6,000 jobs in the village, thats 6,000 more people employed in Wisconsin, in Racine County, in Mount Pleasant than would have been employed and generating taxable revenue had Foxconn set up shop someplace else. Not to mention all the housing development deals, taking place on both sides of Interstate 94, that have been cited specifically as tied to Foxconn. The president made his name as a businessman, a dealmaker. He was instrumental in bringing Foxconn to the United States, and to Mount Pleasant specifically. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou reportedly met with the president at the White House this week; while the reason for the meeting is unclear, at minimum it suggests that Foxconn is willing to work with the White House. More importantly, this is one of the major deals Trump has had a hand in as president, in a state that figures to be as important to his re-election as it was to his election. Its in his interest, as much as it is in Evers interest, to do whatever can be done to persuade Foxconn to move forward with something big in Mount Pleasant, not something small. The tone of Gov. Evers public statements on Foxconn in recent days dont strike us as particularly helpful to the people of Wisconsin. President Trump has offered to help in an area where he has considerable experience. We suggest the governor take the president up on his offer. Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 In celebration of 2019 May Day, Lagos sex workers came represented as they marched at the Agege Stadium, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. Under the umbrella of Ohotu Diamond Women Initiative, the fearless sex workers marched for equal rights without any fear they could be arrested. The group carried a big banner, with the inscription: Sex workers need rights, not rescue. This is the way the Lagos sex workers have decided to take part in the 2019 Workers Day commemoration. Sex workers have been facing some major arrests and molestation in recent times and this move may come as a show of courage. In a bid to reduce the number of sex workers, about 70 female night club goers arrested and allegedly molested in Abuja following a raid by officers of the Nigerian Police. - Sarah Lahbati recently uploaded photos of her fun vacation in Hawaii - In her Instagram posts, she can be seen swimming with the sharks of the tropical island - The actress posted these images to raise awareness on the decline of sharks due to illegal fishing PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed! Sarah Lahbati recently posted a series of photos of herself while swimming with sharks during her vacation in Hawaii. In her Instagram post, she mentioned how beautiful these creatures are. One of the reasons why she also uploaded these pictures is to raise awareness on the decline of sharks. Sarah expressed her dismay in the fact that sharks all over the world are decreasing in number since they are being hunted for their fins. As a reminder, she urged everyone to do their part in order to protect sharks. She captioned her post saying: These creatures are so beautiful and gentle compared to what is being depicted of them... They are an important part of the ocean's ecosystem so lets do our part to keep them around for the future generations to come. Read her full post below: Aside from swimming with sharks, she also went surfing on the waves of the tiny island. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! In a previous report by KAMI, Sarah Lahbati reacted to Nadine Lustre's Instagram post. Sarah Lahbati, or Sarah Alzol Lahbati, is a Filipina actress who first gained fame from joining GMA Network's reality talent search, "StarStruck." She has two kids with her partner, Richard Gutierrez. Sarah has transferred to ABS-CBN upon the end of her contract with GMA. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! We danced and sang to the tune of Blackpink's latest song in random places to see how people would react. Check out all of our exciting videos on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh - A Filipino teacher used her own native language in speaking to her Thai students - She simply wanted to make them feel how it's like when they don't speak English during her class and would speak in their own dialect - Because of what she did, netizens couldn't help but react to the whole video PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed! A Filipino working in Thailand as a teacher uploaded a video where she spoke in Tagalog in front of her students. KAMI learned that she also informed her students that she was recording the video and her students were fine with it. Initially, she asked them if they would like to hear her speak in Tagalog. As the students gave her their assent, she went on to speak Tagalog in front of them. "Ako si Edge at ako ay nagtuturo sa inyong paaralan," said the teacher. She immediately translated it in English so that her students would understand. "Kapag ako nag-Tagalog siyempre hindi niyo ako maiintindihan, di ba?" PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! Seeing the bewildered and clueless faces of her students, Edge eventually explained to them why she spoke in Tagalog. "In my class, I want you guys to really speak in English. When you speak your language, the way you feel now when I spoke my language is the same feeling that I feel when you speak your language," said Edge. After she explained to her students why she did the experiment, they nodded their assent, having been able to fully comprehend the need for them to speak English in class. Here are some reactions from netizens: I love the way she emphasize and give some related scenario I wish all teachers would be like this, siguro lagi akong nakikinig. It seem your students respect you and like you a lot.. Your cheerful character makes the classroom alive..Mabuhay ka!!! I love this vid. Hahahahahahaha Miss you trainah I understand tagalog and its really funny looking at my students Pag ako nagtagalog naiintindihan nyo ba Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Bea Alonzo recounts her most embarrassing moment on set and it's utterly hilarious! Watch it on Human Meter Source: KAMI.com.gh A graduate of senior high school (SHS) shared her struggles of landing a job after graduation. KAMI learned that there are many factors as to why some employers do not accept SHS graduates for entry level jobs. PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed In a report by the GMA News, around 1.2 million students in the Philippines graduated from senior high school after the new K-12 Program was implemented in 2012. One of the main goals of the new curriculum was to enhance the employability of the SHS students before they enter the workforce. "Pangako nila noon is 'pag naka-graduate ka, makaka-apply ka agad. Bakit parang ang hirap pa rin sa akin na kapag... i-accept ako sa trabaho na ina-applyan ko, Catrinjoy Bolo said, a senior high school graduate. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! According to the online job portal Jobstreet.com Philippines, around 41% of the employers and company are indefinite or still trying to figure out if they are prepared enough to accept K-12 graduates. About 35% of the companies said that they are not yet ready to take SHS graduates, while 24% or 1 out of 4 employers stated that they welcome senior high grads. "Medyo nag-aalangan pa kasi. Unang-una, makikita natin na hindi sila handa tumanggap ng K-12 kasi 'yung mga requirements nila ay only offered to college graduates," said Philip Gioca, country manager, Jobstreet.com Phl. For Love Basillote of Philippine Business for Education (PBED), some misconceptions should be corrected, like the age of the graduates. She added that most companies require college graduates and that it would take time for them to change their H.R. manuals. "Hindi nila alam na karamihan sa mga guma-graduate ng K-12, ay 18 years old na. Kasi nandun pa rin sila sa mindset na, 'ah high school graduate' so 16, underage, she said. DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said that one way to address the concern is to strengthen their ties with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other private sectors. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Madam Kilay reveals the reason why she and Afam broke up! on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh -A 6-year-old girl who believed to be a Filipina is now under the care of a Pakistani national -The Pakistani national wants to adopt the girl but is having a problem with her documents -According to reports, the little girl was abandoned by her biological mother when she was just one year old PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see A 6-year-old girl named Fhatima, who believed to be a Filipina, was abandoned by her biological mother whe she was only one. The little girl was left under tha care of a Pakistani couple in the United Arab Emirates. But years later, the Pakistani couple had trouble with their living and had Fathima adopted by another Pakistani national, Syed Ali Moazzam. According to a report from GMA News, Fhatima has no legal documents. The little girl has no birth record, no surname, no Emirates ID, or visa, or even passport. That's why the young girl has not yet enrolled in a school before. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read Moazzam, seek help from the Philippine Embassy. But Philippines Consul General Paul Raymond Cortes said they need to prove that there are "blood relation" to prove that Fhatima is a Filipina. The problem is there is no one start the DNA with. The report said that there is a Filipina in UAE they suspected to be Fhatima's biological mother, but she denied it. Moazzam is willing to adopt the kid legally and would do anything for her. "If no one else wants this child I am ready to adopt her and will send her to school and do all that, that's why I am trying to get documents, and that's why I contacted the newspaper," Moazzam said. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Feature: Sick OFW Gets Unexpected Help From Employer Marissa Tanael, the incredibly strong woman, who found out she has breastcancer while working in Saudi Arabia, tells her story: how she learned about the disease and how she received help from her employer. -on KAMI Source: KAMI.com.gh 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. May is Archeology Month in Wisconsin, and the Vernon County Historical Society will celebrate on Thursday, May 9, by hosting Robert Ernie Boszhardt, who will discuss ancient and rare Middle Mississippian outposts in Trempeleau and Stoddard. Boszhardts talk will be held at the Vernon County Museum, 410 S. Center Ave., Viroqua. Coinciding with the dawn of the Middle Mississippian Culture at the Native American city of Cahokia nearly 1,000 years ago, a group canoed over 500 miles up the Mississippi River to establish two settlements; one at Stoddard, the other at Trempealeau. These unique outposts represent foreigners within the Effigy Mound homeland. Hear how these sites were discovered and what archaeologists have learned over the past 20 years regarding why the Cahokians came to these specific places, how long they stayed, what they did when they were here, and if they interacted with local Woodland peoples. Boszhardt is a professional archaeologist with more than four decades of experience, the vast majority in Wisconsin. He worked for the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for nearly 30 years and is now co-owner of Driftless Pathways, LLC and an honorary fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has authored numerous articles and four books that cover a wide variety of Wisconsin archaeology topics with an emphasis on the Driftless Area, including the Wisconsin Historical Society Press book Hidden Thunder: Rock Art of the Upper Midwest. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Vernon County Censor April 30, 1919 100 years ago Clean up season. We pay 35c for eggs. Romans Grocery. Andrew Larson has sold his Rockton mercantile interests to Mack McVey. The Larsons are announced to return to Viroqua to reside. Workmen at Thompson Brothers grist mill are tearing down the temporary shelter built during the rush last winter, and will erect a permanent addition to the mill so that they will not be caught napping in the future. AUTO-CAR MAKES HER MAIDEN TRIP ON FRIDAY The much heralded and long-looked for Southeastern gas car arrived from the shops at Minneapolis Thursday evening, and officials of the road drove to Viroqua Friday to test out the new vehicle. The new bus is about half the size of a street car.The engine is a White 4 cylinder 45 horse power motor capable of a speed of 50 miles per hour.Shes still a Tin Lizzie for its not equipped with self-starter and must be cranked. The craft weighs 10,900 pounds. Commencing May 1st, the gas-car will take the place of the LaCrosse train, making one round trip on its regular time.Trips will consume about an hour and forty minutes. Henry Weber is the engineer; Herman Anderson, conductor. The Westby Times has added a type setting machine to its equipmentalmost an absolute necessity in these days of help scarcityand the Censor extends felicitations to its neighbor on the acquisition. Beautiful silk dresses, latest modified styles at $10.98, Rogers. A move is afoot.to organize a Viroqua ball team this season. There is plenty of material in sight to make it the finest amateur organization we have had. The Vernon County Censor May 4, 1944 75 years ago The Wisconsin Committee for Russian Relief, Inc. has accepted the sponsorship of a campaign for 35,000 small household kits. These kits contain a small portion of our everyday necessities and will carry American Goodwill into the distressed homes of our Soviet allies. Several Vernon County residents have been asked to serve on this committee. Capt. Edna R. Larson, R.N., a daughter of Mrs. And Mrs. Albert C. Larson of Viroqua, is in command of 100 American nurses who arrived somewhere in England shortly before Easter. Miss Larson enlisted in April 1941, and was promoted to the rank of captain three months ago. Early in life she picked nursing as her career, and utilized every opportunity to become a perfect nurse. With Vernon Service Boys: Blaine Richard Welch of 430 East Decker St., Viroqua, is receiving his initial naval indoctrination at the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes. Earl Getter received a letter from his son, Pvt. Leland Getter, stating that he has landed at a new destination which he could not divulge, according to army regulations, but he has just left Guadalcanal. T-5 Jordan Oium was wounded in action in Italy in March 12, according to word received by his parents from the adjutant general. He is in a hospital unit in Italy and has been awarded the Purple Heart. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Anderson of South Main Street received a letter from their son, Grimholt, stating the his is somewhere in England. He says it is a nice country, with nicely cultivated farms. The automobiles are much smaller than ours. He says they live in huts that are shaped like barrels cut in half. He expects to go to London if possible. He is fine. The Vernon County Broadcaster-Censor May 1, 1969 50 years ago The Porter Wagoner show will be presented twice Friday, May 16. Advance sales provides for a pair of tickets for $4.50 if purchased by 5/15. They will be $2.50 per person at the door. This event is a fundraiser for Vernon Loyalty Days, June 20 to 22. Deaths: Martin Jasperson, 91; Nora Sendelbach, 75; Amelia (Eppens) Warner, 60; Thora (Larson) (Galstad) Johnson, 73; Alf E. Larson, 64; Vivian Sidie, 71; Ingvald Bekkum, 71. Homer Moe provided the self-defense instruction at the final police officers class last week at Western Wisconsin Technical Institute. Moe took down Undersheriff Geoff Banta, who expected it. Some officers have a new respect for self-defense and the sore arms to prove they had completed the nights instruction. The fifteen-week law enforcement course was concluded with more than 40 busy men participating. Groundbreaking for the new Viroqua junior high is planned for 11 a.m., Monday, May 5, according to Supt. R. J. Hill. Viroqua will proceed with a senior citizens low-cost housing project. Phil Bigley will be chairman of the housing authority. The project will be arranged through federal funds and requirements. Ernie Urban, Mel Lindauer, Ellis West and Kenny Lewison will serve with Bigley on the housing authority. The Vernon County Broadcaster May 5, 1994 25 years ago After the voters of Westby by nearly three-quarters voted to keep open the municipally owned liquor store. Westby residents then had to wrestle with the question which had been raised concerning the future of the store which had been losing money for some years. Residents still felt that as a municipal store, the community could keep stricter control of who purchased liquor. There was also talk of moving the store to Main Street. The store continued to generate $200,000 in sales each year. According to the Viroqua Police Departments report for 1993, adult crime was up and juvenile crime was down in 1993. The arrest and conviction rate last year in 1993 was 74 percent for major crimes. That was over three times the state average of 24.6 percent. Juvenile arrests went from 162 in 1992 to 99 in 1993 which was a decrease of 63 percent. Adult arrests went from 170 in 1992 to 221 in 1993 which was an increase of 29 percent. The Viroqua Police Department provided assistance to neighboring departments 23 times in 1993 while receiving mutual assistance 22 times. Marsha Meshbesher was re-elected president of the Viroqua School Board. Robert Nigh was elected as vice president. Charles Lee was re-elected treasurer and Eulala West was named school district clerk for another term. Two Vernon County graduates were part of the production of Nunsense when the curtain went up in La Crosse. Amanda Munson, a graduate of Viroqua High School, served as stage manager and Westbys Beth Ekern served as musical director, Ekern also played piano during the performance. The Vernon County Broadcaster May 7, 2009 10 years ago Dairy farmers are hurting. Theres no better way to say it, said Vernon County UW-Extension Agriculture Agent Tim Rehbein, Tuesday. With a Class A April milk price of $10.78 per hundredweight, following a winter that had milk prices in the $9 per hundredweight range, dairy operations are trying to make do. Viroqua High School sophomore Jermyn Pedretti-Ross was surprised to learn he had placed in the top three when facing off the against the top power equipment technology students in the state. Pedretti-Ross and six members of the VHSs Skills USA team had traveled to Madison on April 21 and 22 to compete in the state Skills USA competition. A group of volunteers from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Viroqua and other volunteers constructed part of a new multi-purpose trail complex located between Sidie Hollow Road and Maple Street in Viroqua. The volunteers were coordinated by Pete Taylor of Vernon Trails and part owner of Bluedog Cycles in Viroqua. The Viroqua Eagles Club recently held its ninth annual recognition for police officers, firefighters and law enforcement personnel. Honored were Law Enforcement winner Roy Torgerson of Viroqua, who works for the Vernon County Sheriffs Department; Firefighter of the Year John Hauser of Cashton, who works for the Cashton Fire Department and Police Officer of the Year Jay Engelhart of La Crosse, who works for the Coon Valley Police Department. The morning and afternoon Pre-K students at Viroqua Elementary School turned interim principal Rick Fatura into a human sundae on Thursday, April 30 because they collected the most money during the recent Coins for Cancer fund drive. Vernon County Historical Society by Bonnie Sterling, Donna Halverson, Peg ORourke, Irving Leif and Carol Krogan Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A solar array ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School, 431 E. Court St., Viroqua, Friday, May 3, at 2:45 p.m. Fully funded by grants from Solar for Good, Focus on Energy and Ethos Green Power, the rooftop solar array was recently installed and provides solar-powered electricity for the school. Project partners from Renew Wisconsin, Focus on Energy, Ethos Green Power and members of the Viroqua City Council will attend the ceremony and speak briefly about the project; the ribbon cutting and refreshments will follow. The project was spearheaded by PRWS alumnus Keith Ashley Wright, who is a current parent at the school, with fellow parents Alicia Leinberger and Joe Lenarz, PRWS Board president. Many parents, students and alumni were involved in the various phases of the project, including the installation of the panels. The ribbon-cutting ceremony coincides with the schools annual May Day festival celebration, which will begin at 12:50 p.m. On this day, children make floral crowns, dance the Maypole, play games and celebrate spring. The May Day festival will culminate with the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 MADISON The final member of a La Crosse meth ring was sentenced Wednesday to three years in federal prison for facilitating the distribution of methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Tom Lewis, 29, of De Soto, pleaded guilty Feb. 19 to using a telephone to aid Roberta Draheim, the leader of the La Crosse meth ring, in distributing meth, according to the press release. Draheim, 51, led a six-member conspiracy by arranging the delivery of 38 shipments of methamphetamine some of them multi-pound from California to La Crosse between October 2016 and February 2018. All six individuals pleaded guilty and Lewis is the last to be sentenced, said a spokesperson from the Department of Justice. Lewis agreed to purchase two ounces of meth from Draheims new source in California after her previous source disappeared, authorities said. While Lewis waited for the package of meth to arrive in the mail, he used a telephone to arrange the distribution of meth to Draheim, authorities said. Lewis then joined Draheim five days after being released from state custody on a separate matter, according to the press release. U.S. District Judge William M. Conley said Lewis continued to engage in the sale of multiple substances, including methamphetamine, while on state supervision. The Drug Enforcement Administration in Wisconsin and California, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, La Crosse Police Department, Prairie du Chien Police Department and Dane County Sheriffs Office conducted the investigation. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Tourists visiting Japan often find that paying with a credit card can be a hassle. This is still largely a cash-based economy, despite the fact that the General Credit Card Study of 2016 showed that 84% of the Japanese population owned credit cards. This means that tourists can be taken by surprise when they realize that many small to medium-sized business in the country simply donat accept payments by card. It was as recent as the end of 2017 that McDonaldas started rolling out card readers to its Japanese branches, while there are many other businesses that still havenat adopted this technology yet. However, this seems likely to change soon, with the move towards accepting international credit cards expected to gather pace in the near future. Why Is This Now So Important? Perhaps the key driver behind this move is the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting the Land of the Rising Sun. According to numbers from the Japan Tourism Agency, China was the biggest source of foreign tourists in the first half of 2018, with an increase on the previous year of over 23%. The number of visitors crossing the Sea of Japan is expected to keep on climbing, especially with the 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo. Yet, the problem is that these Chinese tourists are used to paying with cashless technology at home. A study by Tencent Holdings showed that 98% of Chinese people who live in urban areas and have smartphones now make mobile payments using their phones. When they visit Japan, these same payment methods are no longer available to them. This is becoming an ever-bigger problem, as more and more tourists visit Japan and expect to be able to pay without carrying around too much cash with them. Therefore, businesses are being encouraged to accept cashless payments in order to make life easier for tourists to pay in a way that suits them. Together with the move towards more flexible hours in convenience stores, this could be a big turning point in the countryas commercial outlook. How Will This Work? It is likely that more businesses in Japan will soon start using QR codes that customers can scan with their mobile devices to make payments, with the technology needed to do this is already being available. Indeed, Business Insider reported in 2016 that, by 2020, there should be 150 million people in the US using this technology, which is widely used in China already but is only starting to take off in Japan. There are a number of suggestions for how this may work. Companies like AliPay, Amazon Pay, and Yahoo all offer the technology that merchants need to accept card payments in their stores. The most popular mobile payment method in China right now is AliPay, which is a QR code-based service that has over 700 million active users in China and 900 million globally. One of the options being heavily discussed is called TakeMePay. This is a tourism-based platform that can be used as a multi-payment service to pay using the likes of WeChat, AliPay, Visa, MasterCard, and Apple Pay, among others. Around 30,000 Japanese businesses have joined up to this service, with Japan Railways also planning to use it. TakeMePay has been in the news since they raised funding of 1.01 billion yen ($9.1 million) in 2018. They work with partners such as Visa to ensure smooth transactions on a global basis. This is a good example of Visa working with partners to make life easier for cardholders, which is an important point in the move towards a world dominated by electronic payment methods. Visa also works with a wide variety of other partners. These partnerships see them joining IBM, Ingo Money, and Shieldpay on interesting projects to make it easier for people to pay, as well as being one of several payment methods used by online casino platforms such as Betway. In addition, they are listed as partners on the PalmPay electronic wallet launched in Africa to increase financial inclusion. Digital Currencies on the Rise Too Japanas domestic banks are also making an effort to get involved in this march towards a cashless society. Recently, Mizuho Bank announced plans for its own digital currency, known as the J-Coin. Each virtual coin will be worth one yen, and the public will be able to scan QR codes in order to pay using the J-Coin app, which has been developed by the bank together with 60 or so partners. The bank plans to reach 6.5 million users of the app in the next two years. They also expect to get a minimum of 300,000 stores and restaurants to sign up for it. With over 20,000 merchants in Japan already able to accept Bitcoin thanks to a partnership with the Econtext payment network, it is definitely becoming easier to pay with virtual currencies in this country. The future for Japan seems certain to involve a huge shift away from the traditional, cash-based approach and towards a cashless society. While this change is currently being driven by tourist demand, it will be interesting to see how quickly and readily Japanese residents accept these new ways of paying. Here are 20 photos of holiday lights around the world. In the darkest days of the year, in a very dark time, there is a longing for illumination. Wisconsin regulators again declined to say Thursday whether companies other than monopoly utilities can own and operate rooftop solar panels but agreed to investigate whether the states largest utility can legally block a deal between one such company and the city of Milwaukee. The case involves Eagle Point Solar, which won a contract to install 1.1 megawatts of solar panels on seven municipal buildings and lease them to the city. We Energies, the citys utility, blocked the deal and instead suggested the city participate in its own rooftop solar program. Led by the conservative majority, the Public Service Commission declined Eagle Points request to declare its agreement with the city does not make the company a public utility subject to regulation. The commission did, however, agree to hold a hearing on whether We Energies can legally refuse to connect the solar panels. Chairwoman Rebecca Valcq said she could find no legal justification for We Energies to block the citys connection request and argued that third-party ownership is nothing more than a financing tool, much like a retail store offering payment plans on portable generators. Are we going to find that Home Depot is providing electricity? she asked. I dont believe we as regulators should interfere with the operation of free markets. I dont think we should seek to protect utilities from that free market. Commissioner Ellen Nowak, who was returned to her job this week by a Supreme Court ruling, argued its not the commissions role to meddle with the law, which she said protects utilities from competition. Weve said numerous times its not our lane, she said. Utilities are granted exclusive access to territory in exchange for regulation. Commissioner Mike Huebsch, the other Republican appointee, said the free market argument is appealing but not applicable. We dont have a free market in the energy sector, he said. Wisconsin is still a vertically integrated, not free-market, state. But Huebsch said he needs more information to decide if We Energies has the right to stop the citys project and persuaded Valcq to open a hearing on that issue. Eagle Point Solar owner Barry Shear, who won a similar fight before the Iowa Supreme Court, said he looks forward to making his case before the PSC, but he expects the issue will wind up in the courts regardless of who wins. We Energies spokesman Brendan Conway said the company was pleased the commission declined to rule on third-party ownership and would provide any additional information asked for during hearings on Eagle Points connection request. Lack of clarity While Wisconsin law says that public utilities are subject to regulation by the PSC, the definition is ambiguous: Any entity providing heat, light, water or power to or for the public. Utilities and renewable energy advocates disagree on what the public actually means and whether it should apply to an agreement between two parties. Youre not a public utility if you have one customer, Shear said. Im not selling energy to the public. Im selling energy to a customer. We Energies has argued the questions should be decided by the Legislature. Thursday marked the third time in six months the commission has dodged the ownership question. Everybodys waiting In December, over the objection of renewable energy and consumer protection groups, the PSC authorized We Energies to install up to 35 megawatts of solar panels on its customers property. That program allows the utility to own the solar panels and the electricity, while customers receive monthly lease payments. Alliant Energy has requested permission for an almost identical program. Shear estimates hes lost about $500,000 on the Milwaukee deal and said the case has stalled similar arrangements throughout the state. What We Energies did has chilled every third-party municipal solar deal that we were aware of, he said. Everybodys waiting for this to be resolved. A wide array of interest groups including the city of Milwaukee, clean energy advocates, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards filed comments in support of Eagle Points petition. Third-party funds Renewable energy advocates say the ability to lease solar arrays will speed the adoption and make the technology available to residents who dont have thousands of dollars to pay up front as well as local governments, schools and nonprofit organizations that cant benefit from federal tax credits. About 80 percent of residential systems are purchased with third-party financing in states like Arizona, Colorado and California, which have long allowed it, according to the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University. Shear said he understands that utilities are trying to protect their revenue, but the country is in the midst of an economic and environmental transformation they cant stop. Id rather be on my side of this than We Energies, he said. We have a very good case, but we have to win it. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by : The Board Store The name of a teenage artist popped into my mind when I turned a corner on a drive through Holmen recently. I hadnt been on the street for some time and I was astonished to see earth-moving equipment where one of my favorite trees used to stand a giant oak that spread its thick branches near a cozy-looking home, also gone now to make room for housing or commercial development. Favorite trees was the subject of a project years ago when Gretchen and I had the newspaper in Lodi; we asked readers to nominate their favorite tree and enlisted the young artist to sketch the trees for a special publication all part of an effort to make the community aware of the importance of the towns trees. The Holmen oak was every bit as beautiful as those that were nominated so long ago in Lodi. Aldo Leopold, the great Wisconsin ecologist, wrote eloquently about one of his favorite trees, also an oak, that was split by lightning, putting an end to its 80 years of wood-making. But it lives on in his Sand County Almanac, its life telling, ring by ring, the history of Wisconsin. But we have long known that there is also function as well as beauty and literary device to appreciate in trees. And a recent study by University of Wisconsin researchers adds to our appreciation of trees for shade and cooling. According to the study, given the increasing frequency of extreme heat due to climate change, trees may hold the secret to keeping our communities livable. The right amount of tree cover a minimum of 40 percent coverage can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the study. Carly Ziter, the lead author, spent much of the summer of 2016 biking around Madison with a weather station on her back gathering the data that allowed her to discern the differences among various neighborhoods. A sensor marked her location and took an air temperature reading every second as she rode, providing the data that showed just how instrumental trees are in moderating heat in cities. The greatest amount of cooling happens once the 40 percent threshold is crossed over the scale of a city block or larger, according to Ziter, now an assistant professor of biology at Concordia University in Montreal where I reached her for a telephone interview. Its not really enough to just kind of go out and plant trees, we really need to think about how many were planting and where were planting them, she says. Were not saying planting one tree does nothing, but youre going to have a bigger effect if you plant a tree and your neighbor plants a tree and their neighbor plants a tree. She urges communities to find areas where planting can raise the amount of canopy coverage over the 40 percent minimum so an aerial photo would show nearly half of an area such as a city block with leafy coverage. Tree canopy cover can actually do more than offset the effects of impervious surfaces, Ziter says. During the day, an equivalent amount of canopy cover can cool the air down more than pavement will warm it up. Monica Turner, professor in the UW Department of Integrative Biology and a co-author of the study, said We knew that cities are warmer than the surrounding countryside, but we found that temperatures vary just as much within cities. The so-called heat island effect is more like smaller islands of heat in a city interspersed with cooler areas of shade, according to the study. The Holmen oak was just one of some 15 billion trees that are cut worldwide each year, according to a study in the journal Nature. Thomas Crowther, Yale University forestry researcher, said about 5 billion are replanted, for a net loss of 10 billion. According to Crowther, Trees provide a wide range of important ecosystem services for humans. They store water and nutrients, stabilize the soil, provide habitats for plants and animals, offset the impacts of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and they generate the oxygen that we need to breathe. According to the study, the Earth had some 5.6 trillion trees prior to humans. Now were down to about 3 trillion and losing them at an alarming rate. Yes, we need to be planting more, but Ziter reminds us its important to save the mature trees we have and to pay attention that its not just how many, but where they are planted. We should be cool about it. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone, 95, who appeared in 1998's Oscar winning documentary "Last Days," at an L.A. memorial event this week. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) Eva Nathanson is a 78-year old Holocaust survivor who spent her earliest years in hiding in Budapest. Her father was murdered in a forced labor camp. She witnessed fellow Jews slaughtered by firing squad and was aided by underground resistance groups. This week, she honored Holocaust Remembrance Day in a way that's become familiar: visiting schools, telling her story. "I realize how little the American children know about what hatred can do and what bigotry can do, and I'm really worried about what could happen," Nathanson said. "So, I'm speaking as much as I'm asked to do." The situation in the United States today frightens her. Holocaust Remembrance Day falls just five days after a white nationalist with an AR-15 opened fire inside Chabad Poway on the final day of Passover, killing one person and injuring three others. The 19-year old man charged in the attack is from Southern California. Six months before that, the deadliest attack on a synagogue in U.S. history claimed 11 lives in Pittsburgh. "I lived in the United States for 60 years," said Nathanson. "I have not always agreed with the leadership, but I have never been afraid. This is the first time when I actually think it could happen here. It brings back all the old fears and the nightmares and everything." As L.A.'s Jewish community gathers to commemorate the Holocaust this week, synagogues and Jewish institutions here remain in mourning and on high-alert. With anti-Semitism hate incidents on the rise locally, advocates for Holocaust education say the need to remember the past and learn from remaining survivors is greater than ever. Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress delivers a speech last year in Warsaw for the 75th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Czarek Sokolowski/AP) Yom HaShoah, as it's known in Hebrew, is a national holiday in Israel and commemorated across the Jewish world. The day marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and honors the lives of the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. This year, it will be observed from sundown Wednesday to sundown Thursday. Events aren't limited to the single day. In the U.S., the whole week prior to Yom HaShoah is designated for Holocaust remembrance. THE LAST SURVIVORS Holocaust survivors listen to a remembrance service for the 6 million Jews who died under the Nazi regime, during a Holocaust Memorial Day event at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on April 21, 2017. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) "The last survivors, as well as the last perpetrators, liberators and onlookers of World War II and the Nazi Holocaust are rapidly leaving the world stage," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, director of global action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish-rights nonprofit based in Los Angeles. "This is actually a time when we really need to be able to connect the younger generations with the voice, the legacy, of those who suffered." The Wiesenthal Center operates the Museum of Tolerance in Pico Robertson, a Holocaust education center that has welcomed about 7 million visitors. Ben Stern, a 97-year old Holocaust survivor is scheduled to speak Thursday to L.A.-area students at the museum. Stern survived two ghettos, nine concentration camps and two death marches. Rabbi Cooper says institutions like the Museum of Tolerance are even more important today than they were a generation ago, because the lessons of the Holocaust haven't been learned. "Many young people may not even know anymore what Auschwitz stood for, why the Jews were singled out, what the uniqueness of the Holocaust was," said Cooper. "As well as some of the fundamental lessons. The warnings, lessons from that era, have never been more relevant." COMMEMORATION IN THE FACE OF TRAGEDY @EchoHorizon 4th graders braided & baked challah today with Holocaust survivors Eva Nathanson and Trudie Strobel. The students' questions for the survivors ranged from "If you could have one superpower, what would it be?" to "What inspired you to keep going during the Holocaust?" pic.twitter.com/j8dW82Etl0 Holocaust Museum LA (@hmla1961) May 16, 2018 Nathanson, who came to the U.S. in 1957, shares her story regularly with visitors to L.A.'s Museum of the Holocaust in Fairfax. The museum, founded by Holocaust survivors in 1961, welcomed more than 20,000 students last year. This year, its annual Holocaust Day event was held on Sunday, just one day after the synagogue shooting in Poway. "It was even more significant for people to come together in the wake of the tragic shooting on Saturday," said the museum's education director Jordanna Gessler. "Despite this and also because of this, we are coming together because we are not afraid of standing strong in the face of something so tragic." Gessler says the uptick in anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence is especially worrying to her, as a Holocaust educator. "When you look at Holocaust history, you really see the direct correlation between hate speech and eventual dehumanization and murder," Gessler said. "I think that the current situation in our country is challenging us to dig a little bit deeper, think about ourselves, think about the people around us, because I think we can all learn how to accept one another a bit more." On Wednesday, Temple Israel of Hollywood held a special Holocaust Remembrance Day screening of the documentary "The Last Survivors." The event is hosted by the Survivor Mitzvah Project, a Los Angeles-based charity that provides financial aid to elderly Holocaust survivors in eastern Europe. This Sunday, the Alpert Jewish Community Center of Long Beach is hosting a Yom HaShoah event with speaker Yetta Kane, a Holocaust survivor and author of the book "How To Survive Anything." "This is last generation of Holocaust survivors," said Survivor Mitzvah Project founder Zane Buzby. "The passing of this generation of Holocaust survivors is a really important time to remember, because without them speaking, the only things we have from them are the things that they have written or recorded." RISING ANTI-SEMITISM This year's commemoration comes on the heels of two U.S. attacks on synagogues and an uptick in violence targeting religious communities around the world. A report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League suggests these events a part of a larger trend. Anti-Semitic assaults more than doubled last year, according to the ADL, with 59 victims nationwide. Overall, the organization counted 1,879 hate incidents against Jews and Jewish institutions in 2018, which include graffiti, harassment, and acts of violence. That's actually down 5 percent from 2017, but still the third-highest total since ADL started tracking this data in the 1970s. In California, anti-Jewish hate incidents have risen steadily since 2015. There were 341 incidents recorded in California last year, more than any other state, and up from 268 the year prior. Of those incidents, the ADL reported nine anti-Semitic assaults. The previous year there were none. Incidents of harassment also increased, while incidents of vandalism decreased. "The problem is that people have not learned the lessons of the Holocaust yet. Horrific atrocities, hatred, they're still in style," said Aaron Breitbart, senior researcher at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "As a matter of fact, it seems like they're a growth industry right now." Breitbart says it's important to remember that for an atrocity like the Holocaust to occur, it takes three parties. There's perpetrators and victims. "But most important, it takes an apathetic majority who just take a look at it and don't do anything," said Breitbart. "Those are the people that we want to connect with [as educators]." Experts say violent anti-Semitism ideology has spread online in recent years, through message boards like 8chan and Gab. "In the attacks that we've seen, these attackers, particularly this last weekend, have used these platforms to advance their ideology--not just that--but advertise their heinous acts of violence," Erroll Southers, professor of practice in national security at USC, told KPCC. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center shows a photo of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre during its annual ranking of the 10 worst anti-Semitic incidents of 2018, at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California in December. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) PROTECTING HOUSES OF WORSHIP Jewish institutions in Los Angeles -- where the memory of the 1999 attack by a white supremacist on a Jewish community center in Granada Hills is still vivid -- have been taking security seriously for years. In 2012, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles launched its community security initiative, creating a single point of contact for critical incident coordination and intelligence sharing for Jewish sites across Los Angeles. The network links more than 260 synagogues, schools and other Jewish centers with emergency services. Southers says more synagogues will follow suit. "I think churches are going to be looking at themselves as any other place that are open to the public and people can frequent, said Southers. "We think about things like stadiums, chemical plants, federal buildings. Now we have to include places of worship on that list of places that have to be secured." Rabbi Abraham Cooper has dedicated his life to educating others about the Holocaust and promoting tolerance, but he says that's just a part of what's needed to keep Jewish communities safe. "In order to promote tolerance in the world that we live in today, unfortunately, we have to talk about hardening houses of worship in terms of being a potential target," Cooper said. "Whatever you think about gun control, you need to have an armed guard to protect worshippers. We have to send a strong message to the bigots and racists and anti-semites." This year, local Holocaust commemorations will be marked by mourning not only for the millions who died under Nazi rule in Europe, but also for Lori Gilbert Kaye, who was murdered by a Nazi sympathizer inside her San Diego County synagogue. In Jewish tradition, the dead are mourned for a period of days after their burial, an observance known as "shiva." "This year, right here in Los Angeles, the sister of the woman who took a bullet for her rabbi in Poway, will be sitting shiva on Thursday, which is Holocaust Memorial Day," said Rabbi Cooper. "We are targets now. We need to work together to erode that threat." Aaron Schrank covers religion, international affairs and the Southern California diaspora under a grant from the Luce Foundation. This is another follow up to Tuesdays post, Obama the Stoical Robot. In November of 2011, on the way to Bali to attend the Indonesian summit, the President and his staff stopped over in Hawaii and spent a few days at the estate Obama rented as his vacation home. Their last night there National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Press Secretary Jay Carney, and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes got a message that Obama wanted them to come up for a drink. That was unusual,according to Rhodes. Obama usually passed his nights playing cards or doing work. From Rhodes memoir The World as It Is: We went up to his suite, which had a huge deck overlooking the Pacific, and settled in while Obama explained that he wanted us to see the view. He switched from mindless banter to contemplative conversation while a valet brought us drinks and bowls of snacks. You know, he said, everything is just better in Hawaii. It helps there are no snakes, I said, a piece of trivia I had learned. We have a lot of mongoose for that purpose, he said, once again fulfilling his role as the guy with an an answer for everything. Then he started talking about Asia more broadly---the mix of cultures, religions, and races he found so familiar. Hawaii has a lot in common with Jakarta, he said. Theres a certain communal spirit. Americans are more individualistic. He sipped his drink and looked out at the endless ocean. When you spend time growing up in Jakarta like I did and see the masses of humanity in a place like that, it makes it harder for you to think purely of yourself. We sat there in moment of pregnant silence, and I tried to imagine what it was like to grow up on crowded Indonesian streets in the 1960s. Then Obama started to complain that people in Washington liked to say he was aloof. Few things irritate me more, he said, mimicking the line of criticism. Hes aloof, he doesnt have friends. That couldnt be more wrong. Im almost always around people. I just have a different group of friends than people whove been running for office since they were twenty-two. Donilon pointed out that people like [Bill] Clinton and [George W. Bush], had been coming to Washington long before they ran for president, but Obama didnt want to dwell on other presidents. The thing is, he said, I was a fully-formed person before I went into politics and I didnt have any money until my book started to sell after the [2004] convention. It took me twelve years to sell fourteen thousand books. Obama recalled how hed finished Dreams from My Father in Bali, writing in longhand because it helped him think. I looked around at this terrace, with its endless view of the Pacific, an it occurred to me ow far away this suite was from backpacking destination in Bali. This part of the world, which had shaped Obama, was going to be more important to the future than the familiar battlefields of the Middle East, but it was distant from the debates that dominated Washington. This really is a great view, he said. Advocate for Incarcerated Women to Receive Honorary Doctorate from CSUN It took six visits to prison before Susan Burton found the support she needed to break the incarceration cycle. Determined to help other women like herself, she founded A New Way of Life Reentry Project in South Los Angeles in the late 1990s. On Monday, May 20, Burton will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from California State University, Northridge in recognition of all she has done to transform the lives of incarcerated women and at-risk youth, and for her efforts to share what she has learned with the world, including CSUN students. Susan Burton has overcome tremendous difficulties to achieve extraordinary accomplishments in the last two decades as a nationally renowned activist and community organizer, said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. She has created housing for women and their children, lobbied to change public policies, written a book, and counseled formerly incarcerated women and at-risk youth, including our students here at CSUN. ADVERTISEMENT While her work has taken her across the country and around the world, Ms. Burton has established a meaningful relationship with CSUN, Harrison continued. She has collaborated and served as a resource for our faculty and students on such issues as criminal justice reform. She has repeatedly served as a guest speaker and helped with projects such as CSUN Revolutionary Scholars, a campus retention project that seeks to support formerly incarcerated and other systems-impacted students on campus. For all that she has done, for CSUN and all those who have been touched by her efforts, we are proud to honor her. Burton will receive her honorary doctorate at 8 a.m. on May 20 on the law in from the Delmar T. Oviatt Library during the commencement ceremony for the College of Humanities and the College of Health and Human Development. Burton said she was honored to receive the degree. When I was 13, my education was interrupted. After a growth spurt, I had gone to school with my skirt an inch too short, and I was suspended from school for two weeks, Burton said. When I left school, we were multiplying and dividing fractions; when I got back, they were doing algebra. School had been my only safe place, and it felt like it had failed me. To receive this degree is like a reparation of the educational opportunities I lost. For me, this is another victory in my healing process. Thank you, CSUN, for this incredible honor. Burton was born in the public housing projects of East Los Angeles and grew up in South Los Angeles. She was sexually abused as a child and, at age 14, was gang raped, resulting in the birth of her daughter. But it was the death, years later, of her 5-year-old son, run over by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer, that plunged her into deep depression and substance abuse that led her to prison. She was incarcerated, bouncing in and out of prison six times. Each time she was released, she had no identification, her worldly possessions were in a box and there was no support system to ensure she did not return to prison. After her sixth, she left her home in South Los Angeles and headed to the predominantly white, and more affluent, community of Santa Monica to find the counseling and resources that would help her break the cycle of incarceration. ADVERTISEMENT Determined to bring that type of support to the communities where many incarcerated women are released, Burton bought a house in Watts and created A New Way of Life in 1998 to help women transition from incarceration. Two years later, she formally incorporated the organization as a nonprofit. The project helps women transition back into society, find work and recover from drug addiction. The nonprofit now includes seven transitional houses in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and it provides a pro bono legal clinic. In December 2018, Burton launched the SAFE (Sisterhood Alliance for Freedom and Equality) Housing Network, a replication model that will allow A New Way of Life to share its methods with other up-and-coming reentry housing programs throughout the country. A past Soros Justice Fellow, Womens Policy Institute Fellow and Community Fellow under the California Wellness Foundations Violence Prevention Initiative, Burton has served on Californias Little Hoover Commission and the Gender Responsive Strategies Task Force. In recognition of her leadership, she was appointed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as a member of the Los Angeles County Sybil Brand Commission for Institutional Inspections. In this role, she is authorized to inspect Los Angeles County correctional facilities and advocate for the health and well-being of people housed there. Burton has earned many additional accolades for her work, including being named a CNN Top Ten Hero in 2010 and receiving the prestigious Citizens Activist Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is the recipient of the Encore Purpose Prize and the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. Her memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton, received a 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the category of biography/autobiography, and the inaugural Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice. Over the years, Burton has collaborated and served as a resource for CSUN faculty and students working on the issue of criminal justice reform. She was featured in the documentary When Will the Punishment End? created by CSUN gender and womens studies professor Marta Lopez-Garza. 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 countrys 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 years deadly wildfire in the northern part of the state, initial estimates show most people shuffled to cities closest to the blaze. ADVERTISEMENT Californias 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 worlds 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 countrys most populous state. Texas at No. 2 is still shy of 30 million people. The Northern California city of Chico added more than 19,000 people for a whopping 20% increase to more than 112,000. But that was prompted by tragedy, as the nearby town of Paradise lost 83% of its population after the most destructive wildfire in state history. In a single word, its been overwhelming, said Mark Orme, Chicos city manager, of the overnight population growth. The college town, home to California State University-Chico, has been affected broadly, including increases in toilet flushes and volume of trash. Orme also said traffic collisions are up 24%. Traffic is up about 25% on average and is as high as 77% in some places, he said. ADVERTISEMENT Doriane Regalia, a real estate agent with Century 21 in Chico, said all her clients lost their homes in the fire. She said for some, the idea of going back to the town is too overwhelming. There is a lot of PTSD in people who lost everything, Regalia said. The fire destroyed more than 14,600 housing units. But Sharygin said most of those people stayed in California. Only about 400 left the state, according to initial estimates. People were just reacting immediately to the loss of a home and finding a short-term solution, he said. I dont think we can make any claims right now about what happens in the first quarter of this year. State officials said Wednesday they expected the states birth rate to decline, but they were surprised by how much: More than 18,000 fewer births than the previous year. Tina Daley, chief of Californias Demographic Research Unit, noted teen pregnancy rates are declining and, in general, people are waiting longer to have children. What has surprised them, Sharygin said, is that fewer people are coming to California from other countries, especially neighboring Mexico, where birth rates are higher. Now, he said, more people are coming from places like China, where birth rates are lower. The new population estimates come as the state is preparing for the 2020 national census, an important head count used to distribute federal tax dollars and decide congressional representation. State officials are concerned many Hispanics wont be counted if the Trump administration succeeds in placing a citizenship question on the census form. State officials expect California to continue to grow, predicting the states population could top 50 million by 2055. By 2051, officials project the state will join Japan and other European countries by having more deaths than births. County Breaks Ground on New MLK Child and Family Wellbeing Center Community advocates, county personnel and medical professionals came together April 29, to break ground on the new Martin Luther King Child and Family Wellbeing Center, set to open next year. The Center will open with 3 floors where a variety of services for patients with special needs, who are at risk or suffering through domestic violence will be offered. The center has been five years in the making, and those involved in seeing it to fruition are grateful they are finally at the groundbreaking stage, they said. Its wonderful to see such an outpouring of community support, said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. This would not have happened without the support of [Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas] and his staff and team. This facility will serve some of the most deserving and some of the most vulnerable citizens and residents of this county. The MLK/ Pediatric hub is one of the busiest hubs in the system. ADVERTISEMENT Unfortunately South L.A. is one of the highest density populations in the county. It has the highest number of DCFS removals and case referrals. We absolutely need to build up the services to be able to serve these kids close to their home. The first floor of the new center will include a Pediatric Hub clinic that will serve as the primary care home for high-risk children. It will replace the existing Pediatric Hub clinic on the MLK Campus, which was constructed in 1974. Los Angeles Countys network of Pediatric Hubs offers a national model for evaluating and addressing the medical needs of children in the foster care system and those who have experienced abuse, according to a spokesperson for the supervisor. The second floor, dedicated to kids and adults with special needs is something Special Needs Network president, Areva Martin is personally excited about. Community partners, the Special Needs Network and St. Johns Well Child and Family Center will serve both children in South L.A. who have autism spectrum disorders, as well as their families. Providers for children with autism are in short supply nationwide, particularly in urban communities, they said. Its such an honor to be speaking to you on such an historic day, she told the audience before the official groundbreaking. Today kids in Los Angeles County in California with autism and in the foster care system are rising. The MLK Child wellbeing center is the states first comprehensive autism center and evidence of an entire community that is rising. The thought of opening a comprehensive autism center in the heart of South L.A. offering the very best service to parents and kids is becoming a reality today. As a mother of a son on the autism spectrum I know this center is a game changer. Kids with a whole range of disabilities no longer have to wonder about where they can get help. We understand the needs in our community. If youve ever had to drive for two and a half hours from Los Angeles to Encino for a 45 minute speech therapy session, if youve ever had to spend months trying to find a dentist who could provide a simple dental exam for a special needs child or adult and if youve ever wondered where you could get the help for your teen or young adult after being turned down by the regional center ADVERTISEMENT See, this center and the many services it will provide: medical, dental, early diagnostic, STEM, music and dance therapy, speech, OT, job training This center is the answer that the entire community has been waiting for. On the top floor, a Family Justice Center will be available for those experiencing domestic violence and other unsafe situation, said an MRT spokesperson. There are already two such Centers in L.A., one based at the LAC+USC Medical Campus and another in the San Fernando Valley. The new Center at MLK Campus will expand the program to residents in the southern part of the County. Consistent with the Centers overall theme, the Family Justice Center will offer comprehensive medical, mental health, legal and social services all in one place It is precisely during our moments of greatest challenge when we most need high quality, integrated, and holistic services, Ridley-Thomas said. This auspicious new facility will create such a healing environment. Crump, NAACP, NNPA to Demonstrate after Police Brutality Incident in Florida The Broward County Chapter of the NAACP will lead a march and rally to demand the termination and criminal prosecution of two Florida sheriff deputies who were caught on video punching a 15-year-old African American student and repeatedly slamming the childs head against concrete pavement. The weekend rally a peaceful demonstration will include the teens attorney, famed civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) president and CEO, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., Westside Gazette publisher, Bobby Henry and Broward County NAACP leaders. We cannot become desensitized to the brutality visited upon our young Black men and women, said Chavis, whos also a civil rights activist, who worked under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ADVERTISEMENT In addition to reporting news, the NNPA, a trade association representing the 215 African American newspapers and media companies around the country, is also a voice for civil rights, Chavis said. Further, as the trusted source for news and information in the African American community, the NNPA should be at the forefront in informing its readers about all that affects them, Henry said. Its important for us to remember where we came from and this is galvanizing and communicating on a level where we are all involved and this is such an important issue, said Henry. We need to realize that this concerns us, and we should not wait for the White media to tell us about our community and when something happens, they should be coming to us for that information, he said. Delucca Lucca Rolle, a student at J.P. Taravella High School, was accused of aggravated assault against an officer, but the charge made no sense, prosecutors said. A cell phone video captured Broward County Sheriffs deputies pepper-spraying, tackling and punching a group of teens last week outside a McDonalds near the school. The video shows deputies take Rolle down, with one deputy banging Rolles forehead into the pavement and punching him in the head, while another deputy helped restrain and handcuff him. ADVERTISEMENT Rolle, one of two teens who were arrested, reportedly suffered a broken nose in the encounter. Deputy Christopher Krickovich and Sgt. Greg LaCerra were both suspended by the Sheriffs office after the video was released, though, originally, they were placed on restricted assignment. The Broward State Attorneys Office said it has begun investigating the deputies actions and prosecutors decided not to file charges against Rolle. Rolles family also has hired Crump, who said he wants the deputies involved to face criminal charges. Crump noted that the two arrested teens are Black, while all three deputies seen in the cellphone video are White. Rolle was a teen beaten by deputies after he picked up a cellphone that fell out of the pocket of a Black boy who was being arrested, Crump said. In response, the deputies pepper-sprayed, brutally beat, and arrested him, said Crump, who represented the family of Michael Brown, a 17-year-old African-American, who was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. Crump also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, who in 2012 was killed by George Zimmerman, a White neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla. The encounter between Rolle and the deputies happened outside McDonalds, a frequent after-school hangout spot. At one point, Krickovich and LaCerra went to arrest a student not Rolle who had been warned not to trespass at the shopping center, according to a Sheriffs report. Crump said Starting now, we will seek justice through every avenue possible for Lucca and his family. The actions on the video by the officers against Delucca are unconscionable. The hashtag #JusticeForLucca has been trending on Twitter. Rolles supporters plan a peaceful rally Saturday afternoon at Hampton Pines Park in North Lauderdale, with attendees encouraged to wear red. Rolle was wearing a red shirt on the day of his arrest. We need to make sure we convey the message that the only crime committed on that day was not from the young man, the Black children that were there, but from the two deputies and the way they manhandled those kids, said local NAACP president Marsha Ellison. Police brutality and what we consider child abuse will not be tolerated, certainly with our kids who are equally as important as those in other communities, Ellison said. Shes also calling for the termination and prosecution of the deputies. We want the sheriff to hold them accountable and for them to be terminated, meaning they dont have the opportunity to do this to anyone else while in a [sheriffs] uniform, Ellison said. We are wary of the state Attorneys Office in their investigation. It could be one year sometimes two and theyll try and wait until this dies down and close the case, she said. Thats not good enough. A suspension is not good enough. These children are traumatized, emotionally damaged. The 2020 election is coming where we get to choose a new sheriff and new states Attorney. Were tired of this. Enough is enough. Heated Charter School Debates Ignore One Key Fact: Black Students Are Underperforming In Our Schools African American children are Californias lowest performing group of students, only above students with special needs. Only two percent of Black kids in the state attend schools that are considered high performing. And only 10 majority African American schools, located mostly in hard-to-count, high-poverty census tracts around the Bay Area and Los Angeles, score, on average, above the state math and language arts requirements. On top of that, nearly 68 percent of all African American students in California perform below their grade level in English and language arts. In math, about 80 percent of Black students fail to meet the states proficiency mark. Black children are also three times more likely than Whites to be suspended for similar behaviors, according to a report by San Diego State Universitys Community College Equity Lab and UCLAs Black Male Institute. ADVERTISEMENT When it comes to getting admitted to a California State University or University of California school, only 22 percent of Black high school seniors graduate from schools where a majority of their racial group passes the required courses. The critical question is not being asked: what is best for our children?, said Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), a member of the Assembly Education committee. She was speaking at a hearing held earlier this month on three charter school bills AB 1505, AB 1506 and AB 1507 before her colleagues voted to move them out of committee. The package of legislation would place significant restrictions on charter schools, if the full legislature passes them and Gov. Gavin Newsom signs them. Then, last week, the Senate Education Committee voted in favor of another charter school bill. This one, SB 756, would place a five-year ban on certifying any new charters. The language in the bill, introduced by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), states that it is designed to ensure public charter schools do not replace or undermine the states public school system. In California, roughly 52,800 Black students attend charter schools. Although the independent taxpayer-funded schools only account for about 10 percent of public schools, they enroll three percent more Black students than the traditional district schools. Because such a high percentage of African Americans attend charters, opponents of the bills see the package of proposals as a direct attack on Black students. Charter schools have been a way within the public school system for African American and all families to have choice, says Margaret Fortune, an African American educator who founded and runs Fortune School, a network of seven charter schools in Sacramento and San Bernardino that focuses on closing the African-American achievement gap and preparing students for college beginning in Kindergarten. She says, under current California law, the number one consideration for a charter school to be approved is the academic performance of students. Under the new proposals, one of the criteria would be money if the applying charter impacts the finances of the local school district. ADVERTISEMENT The legislators who authored the bills and their supporters say they introduced them to bring about more accountability and that charter school reform is long overdue. School board members have a fiduciary duty to ensure the fiscal health of their district. They know the needs of their schools the best and should be able to consider the fiscal impact on their students and district when considering whether to approve a new charter school, said Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland). Critics of the legislation have said nowhere in the language of the new bills or public statements about them, have the bills legislative sponsors taken a critical look at why Black students are underperforming across the state. Last week, nationally recognized television journalist and commentator, Roland Martin moderated a town hall in Sacramento focused on school choice. Martin said charter schools are the only option for African-American families who dont have the means to move to a better performing school district. During the town hall, Martin stated reasons he supports charter schools and has launched a national initiative to explore the issue called, Is School Choice the Black Choice? You control the resources, he told the audience. You control who gets the janitorial contracts, textbook contracts, IT contracts. So you do not only control the education of our children, you control the economics of our neighborhoods. Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego)| recently proposed making Black students a high-risk group under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) because of low scores on statewide exams. Assemblymember Patrick ODonnell (D-Los Angeles), the chair of the Assembly Education committee, has pulled the bill. The education chairs staff said that this was not the only bill ODonnell has withdrawn and that he is waiting for a state auditors report before hearing legislation that would tinker with LCFF funding. During the town hall, several of the panelists called out Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who is African American and in whose district has three high performing charter schools that are performing above traditional district schools, two of those are Fortune schools. To see Black state legislators, Black city council members, Black county commissioners who are some of the most ardent opponents of charter schools. Yet, they are representing constituents who have some of the worst academic records, Martin said. That to me is an abomination. In McCartys legislative area, which covers two school districts, Natomas Unified and Sacramento City Unified, Black students are performing below the states African American averages in both math and English. About 87 percent of students are scoring below their grade level in math and about 78 percent are not meeting the English requirement. This article is the first in a series of stories on African American students and public education in California. Is There More to Teaching and Learning Than Testing? Teaching is a multi-faceted calling for many and an occupation for some, but how can teaching and learning effectiveness be measured without testing? There must be some wayor waysto measure what and whether students are learning, and teachers are teaching. Rigor, high standards, curriculum design, learning and teaching styles, and external demands all must be considered in any teaching and learning situation, regardless of location and resources. As the teaching population becomes more monocultural and the school-aged population becomes more multicultural, teaching materials, beliefs, and techniques tend to rely too heavily on standardized tests and testing materials. In order for education to capitalize on the strengths and talents of learners and the skills and professionalism of their teachers, what kinds of additional progress measures might be employed? ADVERTISEMENT Different kinds of professional development programs and materials may be needed to provide more sufficient and culturally responsive information about the teaching and learning process. One way of assessing whether students are actively engaged in learning on a high level might be using multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary materials such as those in an original textbook of poems, shorts stories, and essays. The book, Connections: A Collection of Poems, Short Stories, and Essays with Lessons,became part of a study in the Washington, D. C. schools and surrounding Metropolitan areas of Prince Georges County, Maryland, and Alexandria, Virginia, from 1996-2001. (Parks-Lee, 1995) It addresses some of the challenges Gloria Ladson-Billings pointed out when she quoted Jonathan Kozol, saying that Pedagogic problems in our cities are not chiefly matters of injustice, inequality, or segregation, but of insufficient information about teaching strategies.(Ladson-Billings*, 1994, p. 128) Both neophyte and experienced teachers participated in a study that provided them with information, materials, and teaching strategies to employ with urban, poor, and predominantly, but not exclusively, African American youth. The idea for the study originated with a concern that an increasingly middle class or suburban teaching force often seems unable to meet the needs of diverse students who are different from them in class, socioeconomic status, geography, ethnicity, and/or culture. ADVERTISEMENT The Connections materials were intended to help address ways to foster a positive impact upon all children, but particularly upon children of color. In addition, teachers using these materials might also feel more empowered to think creatively and to utilize students strengths and talents as they incorporate high and rigorous interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary lessons and higher order thinking skills in order to increase academic achievement. Effective teachers believe that we must produce and use materials that encourage students to be able to read, to write, to speak, to be creative, to understand, and to interpret what they hear and read. If students can develop these proficiencies, they may experience greater success on standardized tests. Success breeds success, and if our students are to be involved learners and thinkers, we cannot keep doing the same things the same ways and then blaming students and teachers if standardized test scores are not optimal. There must be more inclusive ways of tapping into and measuring what is taught and what is learned. Standardized tests are but one wayand should not be the onlyway to validate the teaching and learning processes. There are three domains to teaching, the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor. The one that is not easily addressed by standardized testing is the affective domain. As Sharon M. Draper says, You must reach a child before you can teach a child. (Draper, S., November 2002). The challenge comes when trying to measure the affective domain. However, affective success is often reflected in student attendance and behaviors that are involved, on-task, and diligent. There is often a spirit of collaboration and cooperation between the teacher and the students. Fewer discipline problems are observed when there is a positive classroom community involved. When diverse students are allowed to utilize their talents and skills, they often become self-motivated, because they feel affirmed, valued, and respected. *Ladson-Billings, G. (1999). (Notes from speech delivered at Howard University). James Byrds Killer Didnt Deserve the Death Penalty Killing is wrong. Killing Black people because they are Black is even more wrong. Lynching Black people is exponentially wrong. So why was I opposed to the state-imposed killing of John William King, the despicable murderer of James Byrd, Jr.? I happen to think that there are worse things that can happen to you than death. The now 44-year old King could have gotten a sentence of life in prison and lived miserably there for the rest of his life. In some ways, death is salvation for him. Imagine being relatively healthy with nothing to look forward to? Just sitting there, in jail, surrounded by the Black people your white supremacist self purports to hate. That might be torture worse than death. James Byrd, Jr. was dragged for almost three miles near Jasper, Texas in 1998. John William King and two other men (one whose death penalty sentence was carried out in 2011, another who was sentenced to life in prison) were found guilty one of the most horrific hate crimes in modern US history (Black men were also burned alive in the heyday of lynching). Mr. Byrds family was present at the execution in Huntsville, Texas. Byrds sister, Clara Taylor, noted that the murderer, who maintained his innocence, showed no remorse when he was convicted, and showed none when he was executed. He never acknowledged, and never looked at James Byrd, Jr.s family. Does a man whose body sported disgusting tattoos, including, according to one news source, one of a black man with a noose around his neck hanging from a tree deserve the death penalty? I say no. Keep that filth alive and keep him miserable. His execution creates a martyr for white supremacists. Had he lived he would have evolved into nothing more than pitiful irrelevance. The death penalty has been abolished in 20 states, with moratoriums on executions in other states, most recently in California, thanks to Governor Gavin Newsome. It ought to be abolished nationally. ADVERTISEMENT According to the Death Penalty Information Center ( https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf ), nearly 1500 people had their death sentences carried out between 1976 and now. Despite the fact that African Americans are just 13 percent of the nations population, we were more than a third of those executed after receiving a death sentence. People who killed white people were far more likely to get the death penalty than people who kill Black people. There are racial biases replete in the application of the death penalty, with numerous studies supporting the many ways the death penalty is unfairly awarded. According to the Death Penalty Information, as an example, Washington state jurors were three times as likely to recommend a death sentence for a Black defendant than a white one. In Louisiana, someone who killed a white person was nearly twice as likely to get the death penalty as one who killed a Black person. The death penalty is applied through a racial lens based on the race of the criminal and the race of the victim. From that perspective, the man who murdered James Byrd, Jr. committed a crime so egregious that jurors acted contrary to the statistics, voting to apply the death penalty to an avowed racist white man who participated in the brutal murder of a Black man. But I am frequently reminded of the 1920 Tulsa, Oklahoma lynching of Ray Belton, an 18-year old white man who shot a taxi driver. Though Belton confessed to his crime and said it was an accident, he was denied the due process of a trial and conviction. After his lynching, a Black newspaper editor opined that if a white person could be lynched, so could a Black person. A year later, the attempted lynching of the Black shoeshine boy Dick Rowland because of the false accusation that he assaulted the white elevator operator Sarah Page, was the spark that led economically envious whites to destroy the Greenwood (Black Wall Street) section of Tulsa. This walk down history lane is extremely relevant to the present. If we could execute the white murderer of James Byrd, Jr. (I try not to mention the names of devils more than is necessary), we can execute a Black person accused of something, whether they did it or not. Applying the death penalty erodes our humanity, whether the accused is guilty or not. I think it is far more appropriate to let a reprobate like James Byrd Jr.s killer simmer in his repugnance. If he had lived his life in prison, with no hope, no help, no possibilities, that would have been a greater punishment than death. While I respect the Byrd family and ache with them at the gruesome murder of James Byrd Jr, I would prefer a punishment for racist murderers that is both humane and inhumane. We dont execute them because we dont stoop, as a society, to the level of committing a crime we abhor. We ignore them and exacerbate their misery be reminding them that they have no hope of release. The death penalty is inhumane. It should be abolished. Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest project MALVEAUX! On UDCTV is available on youtube.com . For booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com Reflections From the Sea of Cortez I enjoy getting away and going down to Los Cabos, especially the area of Cabo San Lucas. Ive been going there now for twelve years and each time I go, I enjoy it more and more. When I turned 50 (seven years ago), I even thought about moving there and starting a new life, but as circumstances would have it, instead of moving there permanently, I purchased fractured ownership so I could go down and visit when I want, but still live in California. This is the best of both worlds for me. This past week my daughter and I went down to Cabo to spend a few days to reflect, refresh and rejuvenate for the work that is ahead. She enjoys going down with me and each time we try to do something different, new and exciting. This time we rented our own private yacht. Now dont get me wrong, I am not trying to brag, things just worked out where we were granted favor and got a great deal. While we were out on the Sea of Cortez, I laid out enjoying the sun and as I felt the slight breeze across my face I was filled with gratitude for this special opportunity. While on the yacht our Captain, Israel, shared with us a little about the history of the area and showed us where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet. The area where the two meet is at The Arch of Cabo San Lucas and an area called Lovers Beach. There are only a few rocks that separate the two. On one side (the Pacific Ocean) the water was a bit choppy and we were prohibited from going there for safety reasons and yet on the other side (the Sea of Cortez) it was smooth sailing. This made me think about how rocky things are with our current political climate fighting so hard to put up barriers (walls) to what was originally part of California. Cabo sits in the area known as Baja California Sur, Mexico. ADVERTISEMENT Growing up in Riverside, California our neighborhood was mixed with African Americans and Mexican Americans. We all got along and many of us non-Mexicans even learned to speak broken English, aka Spanglish. As a matter of fact, one of our next-door neighbors was Mrs. Martinez and she would often help my grandmother take care of me when she had something come up and needed help. We loved and respected Mrs. Martinez. She cooked for me and was very kind and warm. She often called me Mija. As a neighborhood we cared for each other and looked out for each others families. I agree there should be rules, laws and guidelines about international issues and immigration., but I dont think building a wall that causes hate, division and animosity is the answer. I believe there must be a more humane and compassionate way to handle this situation. Wherever there may be misunderstandings or injustices, forgiveness, love and communication can step in to build a bridge of understanding verses a wall that will only cause more discord. Compassion and respect can sit at the same table. Cinco de Mayo is upon us and some say that Mexican-Americans might even celebrate it more than their relatives back home. I want to wish all my amigos and amigas a happy Cinco de Mayo commemorating the Mexican Armys victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla. Truth be told weve all had battles we had to overcome to experience victory for a better life. Just as the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean will sometimes have rough waters when peace steps in it calms things down for smooth sailing. Healing Without Hate: Its a choice. Its a lifestyle. Pass it on! Visit www.WendyEnterprises.com, www.SeasonofGreatness.com and www.forgivingforliving.org to learn more. Wendy is an international coach, consultant, author and speaker. Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Recently, the Court of Appeals of South Carolina issued its opinion in Palmer v. State. That opinion answered a simple question: Does a wrongfully convicted defendant have a Constitutional right to compensation for his years of imprisonment? And, according to the court, the answer to that question is "no." Robert Palmer and his then-girlfriend Julia Shawnette Gorman were charged with homicide by child abuse in the death of Gormans 17-month-old grandson, Aydian Grimes.... [Subsequently,] the S.C. Supreme Court reversed Palmers conviction, though the panel upheld Gormans. Justices wrote that there was no evidence that Palmer was aware of the victims injuries or caused them. Palmer thereafter sought compensation for his wrongful imprisonment. One of his claims was that he had a right to such compensation under the Takings Clause of the United States and South Carolina Constitutions. The court rejected this claim, finding that Palmer concedes no state supreme court throughout the nation has found a civil remedy for wrongful imprisonment exists under the Takings Clause of any state constitution or the United States Constitution. Palmer's other constitutional claim was that "the South Carolina Constitution protects his right to a remedy for a wrongful conviction by way of an implied right of action for money damages." The court, however, rejected this claim, finding that We will not create an implied cause of action for wrongful conviction in South Carolina because it is not for this court to create such an action when the legislature has specifically declined to do so.[2] [2] A bill creating a cause of action for wrongful conviction was introduced in the South Carolina Senate but was not passed. See S. 1037, 119th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (S.C. 2012), to amend Chapter 13, Title 24 of the South Carolina Code to read "Article XXII Compensation for a Wrongful Conviction." The bill passed in the senate but did not pass the house of representatives. More recently, I worked with Representative Mandy Powers Norrell the last two years on legislation that would have created a wrongful conviction compensation statute in South Carolina. Unfortunately, that legislation has not gotten traction despite "[t]he federal government, the District of Columbia, and 33 states hav[ing] compensation statutes of some form." Hopefully, this decision provides an impetus for this legislation to pass. -CM https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2019/05/recently-the-court-of-appeals-of-south-carolina-issued-its-opinion-inpalmer-v-state.html Facial recognition technology is increasingly being used today in many places in the United States and overseas. Such systems use machine learning tools to scan faces in an attempt to recognize particular individuals. Many police agencies across the world have long used facial recognition technology to search for and help catch criminals. The technology has also been used at some U.S. airports to help confirm the identity of passengers and get them on flights. It is also used to unlock phones or other electronic devices, and in some cases, even cars. Some robots use facial recognition to recognize the people it is communicating with. Now, a similar technology - known as facial detection - is entering a new field: the business of advertising. Facial recognition technology is meant to identify a specific individual. Facial detection systems aim to detect the presence of a person and try to predict some facts about them. In the United States, such systems are currently being tested in a small number of stores. Businesses use cameras set up inside the stores or public area. The cameras scan the faces of individuals and predict their age and sex. Some systems are also designed to judge a persons emotions. That information can then be used to target people with real-time advertisements on video screens during their visit to the store. Several of these systems were demonstrated earlier this year at a gathering of the National Retail Federation, the Associated Press reports. One facial detection system, developed by a company called Mood Media, aims to judge a persons happiness or fear level. Businesses could use such information to get real-time reactions from people as they look at products or video ads in the store. Such a system could also be used as part of a companys efforts to test the popularity of specific products. Another company, Cineplex Digital Media, showed off a camera-powered system designed for use in retail businesses, on the street or at bus stops. The company says its product can detect things like whether someone is wearing eyeglasses or has facial hair. That information could then be used to target those people with ads for new glasses or shaving equipment. Such systems could also be used by restaurants to send ads to people driving up for window service. If the camera recognizes a large vehicle, for example, the system could send an ad for a family-sized meal. Facial detection technology has reportedly also been placed inside large billboard signs at Westfield centers in Australia and New Zealand. Britains The Guardian newspaper reported there are currently more than 1,600 camera-equipped billboards at more than 40 of the companys retail centers. Quividi, a French-based company, developed the billboard system. The signs are equipped with cameras with the ability to detect information about people in crowds. Quividi claims the system can correctly predict a persons sex at least 90 percent of the time, The Guardian reported. It is also designed to detect a persons age and five levels of emotion from very happy to very unhappy. Some privacy groups have criticized the use of such facial detection systems. Pam Dixon heads the World Privacy Forum, a not-for-profit group that researches privacy issues. The creepy factor here is definitely a 10 out of 10, she told the AP. Dixon added that the technology could lead to some discriminatory methods. For example, a business could raise the price of a product or service based on a persons age. Or it could target a person with an ad for an anti-depression drug if the individual appears to have a sad facial expression. We shouldnt be gathering the emotional state of anyone, Dixon said. One company testing the technology in two of its U.S. stores is large food retailer Kroger. The company told the AP its cameras aim to predict a shoppers age and sex. But Kroger said the personal information is anonymous and not stored away. Quividi, the maker of Westfields billboard system, says on its website that it only stores anonymous information that describes the size and the demographics of an audience. The company added that it does not keep any identifiable information about people and does not record any images or video. Supporters of the technology say it could improve the buyers experience by drawing attention to products they might like or by offering them special deals. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, The Guardian and online sources. was the editor. How would you feel inside a store with cameras to observe your face for the purpose of sending you targeted ads? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. Quiz - AI Cameras Aim to Guess Shoppers Age, Sex and Mood Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story scan v. to examine or study all parts of something carefully unlock v. to open or free; to undo detect v. to discover what something is screen n. a flat area on an electronic device, such as a television or computer retail n. the sale of goods to individuals in relatively small amounts for use by them, not resale shave v. remove hair from the face by cutting it close to the skin creepy adj. strange and possibly frightening factor n. something that influences a result anonymous adj. not identified by name demographics n. qualities of an individual, such as age, sex, and how much money they make Researchers in Chile say they discovered a human footprint they believe is the oldest ever found in the Americas. Scientists involved in the fossil discovery said the footprint dates back at least 15,600 years. Their results are reported in a study published in the scientific journal PLOS One. The footprint was discovered in 2011 at the Pilauco excavation site in the city of Osorno. A student from Chiles Austral University found the footprint. Scientists worked for years to confirm whether the print could have come from a human species. Mario Pino is a professor and geologist at Austral Universitys Institute of Earth Sciences. He helped examine the fossil. He said carbon dating methods were used to link the footprint to the same time period as plant material found in the area. Pino said his team used the print to estimate the general size, shape and structure of the human foot. Researchers believe it belonged to a barefoot man who weighed about 70 kilograms. Karen Moreno is also with Austral University and a lead researcher on the project. She said the print showed evidence of clearly formed toes and a ball at the back of the foot. This would be consistent with what would happen to (a human) who tries to walk in the mud, Moreno said. Pino said the man likely belonged to a species called Hominipes modernus, which is related to Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens is the species of human that exists today. Moreno said the latest find provides some of the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas. Little by little in South America, were starting to find sites with evidence of human presence, she said. But this is the oldest in the Americas. The study states that the same area in Chile has also produced fossils providing information on other animals, including early elephants and an ancestor of American horses. The digging teams have also found evidence of invertebrates, as well as different forms of ancient plant life and wood material. Moreno said the researchers also found stone artifacts within the same layers of soil as the footprint. This, she believes, could provide more evidence to support a theory that human settlements existed in the Americas well before a group known as the Clovis hunters. The Clovis group was a prehistoric culture that many scientists believed were the first to arrive in North America -- about 13,000 years ago. But some scientists have suggested that artifacts discovered in recent years suggest other humans might have arrived in the Americas about 1,500 years earlier. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English based on reports from Reuters, Agence France Press and online sources. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story fossil n. part of an animal or plant from thousands of years ago, preserved in rock excavation n. the act of digging in the ground to look for objects from the past barefoot adj. not wearing shoes or other feet coverings consistent adj. always behaving or happening in a similar way mud n. a thick liquid mixture of soil and water artifact n. a simple object made by people in the past prehistoric adj. relating to the time before people could write glacier n. very large area of ice that moves slowly down a slope or valley or over a wide area of land Mervat al-Neel was one of the many women whose protests helped oust Sudans long-time leader, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Now he is out of power, but Neel still wants to be heard. She is urging the Sudanese generals who replaced Bashir to give power to elected officials. For many years, women had few rights under Sudan's Islamist government. If a man did not like a woman's clothing they could bring her to the police. Now women want to have more control over the country. That was Neel's message to the generals who are talking with her and others in the opposition movement. Army officers ousted Bashir from power on April 11. One of the officers made the mistake of showing little respect to Neel when he spoke with her. So she hit back. "You are here in a position of power because of us," she said. Women took part in large protests that led to the fall of Sudans president. Neel is one of two women in a group negotiating with the army. She studied information technology and mathematics at Khartoum University. Neel said that she was firm in talks between the opposition and Transitional Military Council at the presidential palace. Women suffered the most under Bashir's dictatorship. There were no women in his cabinet. Women could hold only 25 percent of the seats in parliament. Al Rashid Saied is a spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which organized the protests. Saied said the fact that women were demonstrating made them more successful. Political activist Sara Mubarak is a member of the Communist Party. She worked for women's rights for years under Bashir. Now that he is gone, she is even braver. Here to the end Last year, people in Sudan protested about high prices. At that time Mubarak hid her political ideas when intelligence agents stopped and questioned her. Officials also detained her for a short time during the most recent unrest. "This time I told the truth, that I was leading a protest, she said. Mubarak added that she had to take 10 bus rides from her home town of Singa, south of Khartoum, to join a sit-in protest near the offices of Sudans Ministry of Defense. At the sit-in, Mubarak has slept on the street under a tent. A nearby poster showed Sudan's first woman member of parliament. Former Communist Party leader Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was elected in 1965. The sign gives Mubarak hope that she will also be successful. Hope for the future Under Sudans Islamic laws during the rule of Bashir, men were given rights to control all parts of women's lives - even their clothing. Bashir survived armed rebellions, economic crises and United States measures aimed at punishing his government. But today he is in a high-security prison in Khartoum. In the past, he sent thousands of political prisoners to that same prison. Sudanese women were not only angry at the control Bashir had over their lives. In 2012, they beat on pots and other cookware in the street to protest economic conditions. Accountant Sonia Seddik has a 23-year-old unemployed daughter who also studied financial record keeping. The security forces arrested her daughter and beat her for two days last December. Seddick hopes the changes will give her daughter a brighter future. "We want a democratic Sudan in which women get their rights and have a larger role to play," she said. Now, female protesters enjoy huge support. In the past, government officials called them bad names. When women join the sit-in these days, cheering men call them "Kendaka" - the old Sudanese term for a female ruler or queen. Both women and men have decided to continue demanding that the military give power to civilians. They are willing to wait for a short time. People at the sit-in seemed happy earlier this week. A group of young musicians performed a Bob Marley song as politicians promise a new period of democracy. Many women removed the cloths covering their heads. "We have to live freely, not like before," said 14-year-old Malak Magdi, standing next to her mother Amira. "We have a lot of hope that in the near future we will have our freedom," said Amira, whose husband has taken part in the demonstrations. Im Jill Robbins. Michael Georgy reported on this story for the Reuters news agency. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story sit-in n. a strike or protest in which people sit or stay in a place and refuse to leave until they are given what they demand tent n. a temporary shelter made of cloth accountant n. a person whose job is to keep or inspect financial records Do women take part in protests in your country? What are they trying to change? Write to us in the Comments Section. Shelly Garrett always seemed larger than life, which is part of the reason why the news of her death on Tuesday at age 65 from liver failure c Shelly Garrett always seemed larger than life, which is part of the reason why the news of her death on Tuesday at age 65 from liver failure came as a shock throughout the mid-valley. The accolades that were showered on Garrett as news spread of her death were well-deserved and completely accurate. Even before Garrett assumed the role as the executive director of the Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce in 2007, there was little doubt that she had emerged as arguably the community's biggest cheerleader and ambassador; in fact, in 2005, she had been honored as Lebanon's woman of the year. In her dozen years as the head of the chamber, she built on those roles, both in Lebanon and throughout Linn County. Michelle Steinhebel, the former editor of the Lebanon Express weekly newspaper, has watched Garrett at work for years. Now, Steinhebel works for the COMP-Northwest medical school and serves on the City Council, positions which have given her a different perspective on Garrett's work. But the bottom line has stayed the same: "She served on committees, brought people together, helped build the buildings and make the donation asks," Steinhebel said. "Whether you knew her or not, she has touched all of our lives in this community." Chances were pretty good, though, that if you lived in Lebanon or did business in Linn County, you knew Shelly Garrett. You certainly knew about the community projects that had her fingerprints all over them: She was a driving force behind the medical school, the Edward C. Allworth Veterans Home, the Samaritan Health Sciences Campus, the expansion of Linn-Benton Community College and its Lebanon-based technology center. (She also served for eight years on the LBCC Board of Education.) Those are the headline accomplishments. But the list of other achievements that Garrett can take credit for would go on and on for page after page, all fired by the same fuel that drives all community leaders: The passion to give something back to a community that they love. In reading some of the comments others have made about Garrett, it's striking to see some of the same terms show up again and again. City Councilor Rebecca Grizzle put it extremely well: "I can't even begin to process the hole her passing leaves in my life." LBCC President Greg Hamann echoed that: "This leaves a huge hole for us." Marty Cahill, the CEO of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, added that "her loss leaves a gap that will be difficult to fill." All that is true. It's hard to imagine another community leader who could fill all the roles that Garrett was playing. But she might tell us that it's not necessary for any single person to do that; instead, she might say, find one area to contribute, one way to feed that passion to give back to the community. Take the plunge and do that. That one thing so often leads to the next. And our communities get stronger, become better places to live, one thing at a time. That work comes later, though. Right now, the important thing is to pause, pay tribute and give thanks for this one life that made such a difference to so many people and was so fully devoted to Lebanon. Shelly Garrett made her community a better place to live, and that's the highest legacy any of us can leave behind. (mm) Last call for poems Here's a reminder about today's Poem in Your Pocket Day: It's an opportunity to select a favorite poem, print out a copy (unless you have it memorized) and read it aloud to someone at some point in the day. Your dog or cat would count as a potential audience. If you want to read it to a human, however, and despair that you might not have an opportunity to do so, our offer stands: Call us at 541-758-9502 (our message on Thursday will feature a short poem) and read it aloud after the beep. (mm) Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LEXINGTON The students erupted into cheers when they were told a Sandoz Elementary student had won the Arbor Day poster contest. All of the Sandoz Elementary students crowded into the gym on Monday afternoon for an Arbor Day presentation. Principal Barry McFarland told the students every year an Arbor Day poster contest is held for the third graders. Students have the chance to make a poster showing the importance of trees and Arbor Day. McFarland said the posters are judged by the Lexington Tree Board and this year a student from Sandoz had won. Fernanda Prado-Segura was the winner of the contest for her poster which depicted trees and a rainbow. Written on the poster was, I love trees. Assistant City Manager Dennis Burnside said 217 poster entries were judged by members of the Lexington Tree Board, the members dont know who made the poster until a winner has been chosen. Every year there are many talented artists and creative posters, said Burnside, which makes the judging challenging but rewarding. The purpose of the contest is to build appreciation at an early age for trees and the many benefits they give us. Its been almost three years since Motorola unveiled the Moto Z line of smartphones with support for optional Moto Mod add-ons that let you bring big batteries, better cameras, or louder speakers to the phones by snapping a module on the back. And it looks like the company is sticking with the idea, because Evan Blass has posted an image showing what the next model will look like. This isnt the first time weve seen a picture of the upcoming Moto Z4, but it is the first time weve seen it from every side and it looks like a feature Motorola stripped from the Moto Z3 is coming back: the Moto Z4 has a headphone jack. The size and shape of the phone are pretty similar to last years model, which is unsurprising since Motorola is aiming to keep making new phones that support existing Moto Mods. That means theres still a set of pins on the back of the phone where mods connect to the Moto Z4. And theres still a large circular camera section. Interestingly, it looks like Motorola is going with a single rear camera. It does look like Motorola may have reduced the size of the top and bottom bezels, and the new model has a small cut-out in the screen for the front-facing camera. Theres no visible sign of a fingerprint sensor, which could hint at an in-display sensor. But its also possible Motorola has decided to opt for a different form of biometric authentication for this years Moto Z series smartphone. As for other specs, those remain in question. In March 91mobiles reported that the Moto Z4 would feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, but a month later the same website claimed the phone would instead have a Snapdragon 675 chip. In both cases, the website said the phone would have a 48MP camera and support for Motorolas 5G Moto Mod. We may have to wait for an official announcement from Motorola to be sure whether the Moto Z4 is a true flagship or if the company is planning to offer a phone with a mix of premium and mid-range specs. Lenovo may be preparing to shake up its laptop branding conventions. Right now the company sells a line of business notebooks under the ThinkPad brand, and consumer models under the IdeaPad and Yoga names. But Notebook Italia recently spotted two Lenovo notebooks with unusual names at a trade show in China. The Lenovo ThinkBook S laptops come in 13 inch and 14 inch sizes, and according to a few listings at online stores, they could hit the streets in Europe in late May for around 1,000 Euros. Theres no word on if or when well see the new laptops in the United States. Update: They are. The ThinkBook 13s and ThinkBook 14s are launching in the US in May with starting prices of $729 and $749, respectively. Lenovo is positioning them as laptops for the small business market. According to Notebook Italia, the new laptops seem to be positioned as replacements for previous-gen IdeaPad laptops, but they have new designs featuring metal boddies, slim bezels, and 180 degree hinges that allow you to fold the screen flat against a table. Both the 13.3 inch and 14 inch models ahve 1080p displays, but for some reason the smaller one is brighter (with 300 nits compared to 250 nits for the 14 inch screen). The laptops feature 720p webcams with a built-in privacy shutter so that you can block the camera when youre not using it without resorting to masking tape. The ThinkBook 13s and 14s are expected to ship with up to an Intel Core i7-8565U Whiskey Lake processor, up to 16GB of RAm, up to 512Gb of solid state storage, and optional support for AMD Radeon 540X graphics, at least for some models. The 13.3 inch laptop weighs just under 3 pounds, while the 14 inch model is 3.3 pounds. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. David S. Schwartz (University of Wisconsin Law School) has posted Defying McCulloch? Jackson's Bank Veto Reconsidered (71 Arkansas Law Review (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Andrew Jackson's 1832 veto of the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States is conventionally understood as a monumental rejection of judicial supremacy, in which the President defied the Supreme Court's constitutional ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland and asserted the right of the president to interpret the Constitution independently. Constitutional scholars view the Bank Veto as the archetypal statement of "departmentalism," the view that each branch of the government has the power and duty to interpret the Constitution for itself. As revisionists have pointed out, however, that extreme characterization of the Bank Veto is plainly wrong: by saying only that the Bank was constitutional, McCulloch necessarily left discretionary space on policy grounds to reject a national bank. And by leaving the "degree of necessity" to congressional determination, McCulloch allows legislators " and the President, who acts in a legislative capacity when considering whether to sign a bill into law " to decide that a legislative proposal is unconstitutional for reasons not necessarily discussed by the Supreme Court. In this article, I argue that both accounts are radically incomplete. The Bank Veto Message, ghost-written in large part by future Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, was a lawyerly doctrinal text, offering a road map for an impending Taney Court jurisprudence of states' rights that does not defy, but subtly undermines McCulloch's conception of implied federal powers without overruling McCulloch. Highly recommended. Download it while it's hot! She said she has woke up many times to him standing over her, watching her sleep, Omaha Police Detective Marissa Boyce said at Comptons preliminary hearing. Boyce said Compton initially denied sliding his phone under the bedroom door. Then Boyce told him that the 15-year-old girl had taken a video of the phone sliding under the door four times. At that point, Compton admitted to sliding the phone under the bedroom door. He denied sliding the phone under any bathroom door. Howard suggested that the 15-year-old girl had had her phone taken away from her. Compton told police that he slid the phone under the bedroom door because he wanted to catch the girl improperly using a cellphone when she wasnt supposed to be. Howard said the 17-year-old girl was behind the frosted glass of a shower in photos found on Comptons cellphone. Comptons neighbor, Jessica Saldivar, testified that she had a conversation with the 15-year-old girl after Comptons arrest. I didnt want him to go to jail, the girl said, according to Saldivar. I just wanted him out of the house. 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. With young people facing the most severe sanctions and the possibility of losing their lives to prison, we have a moral obligation to undertake meaningful reform of parole here in Wisconsin and nationwide. We also have a fiscal obligation. Spending on corrections in Wisconsin is astronomical the state spent $2.26 billion on corrections for 2017-19, which surpassed state spending on the entire University of Wisconsin System. Wisconsin taxpayers spend, on average, $38,664 per year to keep each rehabilitated offender behind bars, and that annual price tag grows quickly eventually nearly tripling as prisoners age and develop the chronic health conditions characteristic of geriatric prison populations. The total amount paid annually to keep all parole-eligible inmates incarcerated many of whom have served almost a decade past their minimum terms and are classified in minimum-security prisons indicating that the Department of Corrections does not view them as a threat to public safety has been estimated to be above $95 million per year. This doesnt have to be the case. One day, Id like to have enough money to launch a real estate development company as a side business. As a long-time construction worker, I know how to remodel houses and know who to hire to get the job done right. My neighborhood, Walkers Point, is rapidly growing and attracting new people. We have a lot of old houses that should be remodeled, made energy-efficient and sold to neighbors who will care for them. If I had the capital to buy these homes, I could manage those renovations and make my neighborhood more beautiful. I also intend to fix up a house for my parents and give them the comfort and security they never had. Three men were arrested in Janesville Wednesday after allegedly using counterfeit $50 bills to pay for goods at at least two businesses in the city. Elijah Robinson, 34, Marquis Harris, 18 and Janyah Dejareaux, 26, all from Chicago, were arrested at a Super 8 Hotel around 5 p.m., Janesville police said. Robinson and Harris were tentatively charged with uttering (passing counterfeit money), attempted uttering and theft by deception, while Harris and Dejareaux were tentatively charged with possession of marijuana. The incident started around 5 p.m. when police were called to Milio's at 2228 Humes Road because two males passed counterfeit $50 bills. "The two suspects initially fled from the scene," said Lt. Mike Blaser. "The investigating officers were able to develop a suspect vehicle and located it at Jiffy Lube right next door." The driver of the vehicle told police the suspects fled to the hotel, where they were located and taken into custody. "To this point, there were two businesses that reported taking counterfeit bills," Blaser said. "We are still determining if there are other businesses in our area affected." Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The final member of a six-person methamphetamine ring in La Crosse has been sentenced to three years in federal prison. Tom Lewis, 29, De Soto, was sentenced on Wednesday by US District Judge William Conley in federal court in Madison after pleading guilty in February to a charge of using a telephone to facilitate the distribution of methamphetamine. The meth ring was headed by Roberta Draheim, who recruited Lewis to buy two ounces of meth from a new source in California after her previous source was no more. "Lewis joined with Draheim only five days after getting released from state custody on a separate matter," the US Attorney's Office said in a news release. Conley described Lewis as continuing to engage in the sale of multiple substances, including meth, while on state supervision. All six involved in the conspiracy pleaded guilty and Lewis was the last to be sentenced, the Attorney's Office said. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The city has decided to issue a new request for proposals to see if there are other options to accommodate SSMs proposed clinic and a full-service grocery store, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement Thursday. The city is committed to healthy food access for South Madison residents and to working with SSM Health to enable their vital investment on South Park Street, said Rhodes-Conway, who took office in mid-April and described food access for the area as one of her top immediate priorities. Consideration of any new proposals would be streamlined to focus on timely grocery access and the extension of Cedar Street through the Truman Olson site, said George Reistad, city food policy director. Respondents can propose additional development, such as housing, but a grocery has become the priority, he said, adding that the city has tax incremental financing (TIF) and other ways to assist a project. In a separate statement to the Wisconsin State Journal, Boatwright shared the decision to take some time to consider alternatives. Nebras Power has announced it acquired 60 per cent of stakes in Tunisias Carthage Energy Company making the deal the first expansion of the company into North Africa. The Dutch affiliate of the Doha-based company, Nebras Power Investment Management, completed the acquisition this week as the company makes its first foray into North Africa. The company did not disclose the size of the deal but said the deal fits into its strategic objective to become a leading international power company. The acquisition by our Dutch affiliate of a controlling stake in CPC marks Nebras first entry to North Africa power markets, which we have pursued recently. We hope this will be the first of several investments in North Africas power sector, said Fahad Hamad al-Mohannadi, chairman of Nebras. Khalid Mohamed Jolo, chief executive of Nebras, said it is on track in achieving its 2019 goals for annual capacity addition and technology mix. We expect to close several transactions this year, some of which are in very advanced stage, he added. The Doha-based company is a joint venture between Qatar Electricity and Water Company, which holds (60 per cent) and Qatar Holding (40 per cent), with a capital of $1 billion. WENDELL A dairy in the midst of shutting down has filed a lawsuit against its bookkeeper, claiming she embezzled more than $700,000 from the company. In addition to the possible civil penalties in Jerome County, Stephanie Diane Wells, 34, has been criminally charged in Gooding County with 19 felony counts of grand theft. According to an affidavit for Wells arrest, the owner of Box Canyon Dairy in Wendell told the Gooding County Sheriffs Office that he suspected his bookkeeper of embezzling money from the dairy. He had found a $10,000 Box Canyon check made out to a construction company. When he called, the company said the check was to pay for work done at Wells home in Jerome, court documents state. Court records also detail 19 transactions signed by Wells for payments made to a Discover credit card in Wells name. The payments from the dairys account to Discover between December 2015 and August 2018 totaled $461,586. The owner told a detective he would sign blank checks for Wells to pay the companys invoices. Wells supposedly altered transactions in QuickBooks to show the money was sent to pay bills for Box Canyon. The dairy previously loaned Wells $175,000 to purchase a home in July 2017. She was supposed to be making payments to reimburse the dairy account. It appears to me that Stephanie used funds intended for Box Canyon to appear that she had made a $22,000 payment on her loan, a Gooding County Sheriffs Office detective said in her report. Gooding County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Pember said the sheriffs office found another check to Discover besides the 19 listed, but that check was not in subpoenaed documents because it was outside of the timeframe specified. More charges could be added depending on more investigations, he said. Wells is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. She was not been arrested based on assurances from her lawyer that she would appear in court, Pember said. In the civil case in Jerome County, Wells is being sued along with her husband, Dustin Jade Wells, and John Does 1 through 10, unknown persons. The suit alleges Stephanie and her husband wrongfully took $708,944 from the dairy, primarily to pay off credit card debt. It alleges she forged signatures of dairy principals on checks and manipulated and falsified financial records. Some money is believed to have been deposited into accounts held by Wells, her husband or John Doe. The lawsuit claims fraud totals of $903,944, of which $161,478 has been repaid. Combined with money owed to the dairy from a loan, the outstanding balance is calculated as $742,466. Box Canyon Dairy seeks relief with interest, as well as other damages to be proven in court during a jury trial. Box Canyon Dairy in Wendell was formed in 2011 but was previously owned by Aardema-Heida Dairy. The dairys attorneys said in the lawsuit that it is in the process of winding down its business operations. The Capital Press reported in December 2018 that the dairy lost its market and had to sell off its herd as all other processors were full. Attorneys for Box Canyon Dairy told the Times-News on Thursday they did not wish to provide further comment. Wells attorney has not responded to a request for comment. Wells was hired as Box Canyon Dairys chief financial officer and internal accountant in August 2012. Court documents state she voluntarily left the dairy on Jan. 31 as the company was winding down its business operations. She was not paid for January 2019 because of the money owed through her loan. BCD [Box Canyon Dairy] disputes any and all payments for services rendered in the month of January 2019 as it is believed by BCD that Stephanie was at this point solely attempting to actively conceal her fraudulent activities as described herein, the complaint states. A status conference for the civil case is scheduled for June 3. Love 3 Funny 19 Wow 7 Sad 17 Angry 53 BOISE The Idaho Board of Environmental Quality will hold meetings in Boise and Sun Valley regarding temporary adoption of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality rule-makings and drinking water/wastewater grant and loan funding for fiscal year 2020. The Friday meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at the DEQ state office, 1410 N. Hilton St., Boise. There will be a 30-minute public comment period, then board action on temporary rule adoption of two omnibus rule-makings and an internal review of a Idaho Public Health District 1 rule. The board will also meet at 9 a.m. May 16 at the Sun Valley Resort, 1 Sun Valley Road. A 30-minute public comment period will be followed by a report by DEQ Deputy Director Jess Byrne. For agendas for both meetings, go to deq.idaho.gov/news-archives/board-meeting-announcement-043019 and check under "Related Documents." For more information or to request disability accommodations, call Rosie Alonzo at 208-373-0240. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A couple of key early indicators tracked by the Idaho State Board of Education suggest more Idaho high school seniors are planning to enroll in college or a career technical program in the fall. More than 9,300 Idaho high school seniors have completed their Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms to datea two percentage point increase from this time last year. Nearly 11,000 seniors to date have used the State Boards Apply Idaho website to apply to college in Idaho an increase of over 2,800 students compared to this time last year. The bump in Idahos FAFSA completions to date has moved our state up in national rankings. The National College Access Network last year ranked Idaho 44th among the 50 states in the percentage of high school seniors who had completed their FAFSA forms by the late June deadline. In 2019, as of the beginning of April, Idaho ranks 39th. If the increased rate of completion holds or even improves between now and the end of June, Idahos ranking will move up at least five spots this year. Im thrilled, Idaho State Board College and Career Advising Program Manager Byron Yankey said. FAFSA completion is a predictor of student enrollment. It is a national marker. When states see increased FAFSAs, college enrollment generally increases. Yankey attributes the increase to Idahos push of strategic initiatives to improve its go-on rate the percentage of high school graduates who enroll either in career technical programs or college. The go-on rate has stayed at about 48 percent for the last five years. Beginning three years ago, in partnership with the Legislature and the Governor, the Board launched several initiatives to improve the go-on rate. Direct Admissions Program automatically admitting all Idaho high school graduates to at least six of our public institutions. Each fall, the Board sends out Direct Admissions letters to each of Idahos approximately 22,000 high school seniors. Apply Idaho website a single site where Idaho high school seniors can submit applications to one or more of Idahos institutions free of charge and complete their FAFSA forms. The entire application process takes about 10 minutes. FAFSA WEBan online portal enabling high school counselors to monitor their students progress throughout the process of applying for federal financial aid. Filling out a FAFSA form can be intimidating. In the past, a counselor would see a student in the hallway and ask them if they had finished their FAFSA, Yankey said. The usual answer was yes but the counselor had no way of knowing for sure. FAFSA WEB helps counselors improve their effectiveness because they know how to help students and where to start the process. College and Career Counseling funds help districts hire additional staff who focus on college and career exploration and provide resources to stage career fairs, parent nights and to provide campus visits. These efforts no longer are primarily confined to the last year of high school, but now begin in middle school and build each year a student is in high school. College and career counselors work with students and parents to provide information, answer questions, and provide encouragement to take the next step after graduation. Board Member Dr. Linda Clark believes these efforts and initiatives are beginning to take hold This is really encouraging for increasing enrollment in the fall, she said. We on the Board recognize the value of these tools. If they are indeed making a difference as it appears they are, we will see increased enrollment figures for Idaho residents, the people these initiatives are intended for. Debbie Critchfield is the president of the Idaho State Board of Education. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BOISE The Pacific Northwest is home to nearly 30 species of bumblebees and many of them face an uncertain future. As part of the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas Project, Idaho Fish and Game and its conservation partners are collecting field observations of bumble bees. The goal is to map bumblebee populations in the Pacific Northwest, but they cant do it alone. Washington, Idaho and Oregon are large, and we need an army of trained volunteers equipped with cameras to help survey the entire region, Rich Hatfield, senior conservation biologist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, said in a statement. In recent years, all pollinators have been recognized for their essential role in keeping our environment healthy and contributing to successful harvests on farms. Much attention has been given to the plight of the introduced European honey bee. Less publicized, but no less important, is the parallel decline of native wild bee populations particularly bumblebees. While this project will target all species of bumblebees, there are three species whose population declines are of particular concern: the western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis), Morrisons bumblebee (Bombus morrisoni) and the Suckley cuckoo bumble bee (Bombus suckleyi). One of the goals of the project is to better understand where bumblebee species occur in remote parts of the region. Much of what we currently know about bumblebee distributions is focused on places where people live or travel such as towns, cities and near roads. Getting better information about which species of bumblebees occur in remote areas will help researchers track these species and understand what types of habitat they are associated with, ultimately supporting the conservation of the most at-risk species. For more information on ways to participate, contact Fish and Game biologist Joel Sauder at 208-750-4223 or email joel.sauder@idfg.idaho.gov. For videos on how to net, handle and photograph bumble bees, go to the Xerces website at bit.ly/2IWofNy. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Ryan Bachtell and Tracey Larson. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder It's not uncommon for teenagers to grab an energy drink for an after-school pick-me-up or pop through the drive-through at Starbucks for a morning Frappuccino. But what is all that caffeine doing to their growing brains and bodies as they develop into adults? And could it lead to unintended consequences down the road? A team of scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder wanted to find out. Using rats and several laboratory experiments, researchers in the CU Boulder psychology and neuroscience department set out to explore whether drinking caffeine, the most popular psychoactive substance in the world, would lead to greater addiction vulnerability. "Caffeine, as most people know, is one of the most widely used stimulants, and there just isn't that much research on the early developmental period and what caffeine might do to people when they're exposed to it in those early periods," said Tracey Larson, a CU Boulder professional research assistant and the study's lead author. The findings of their study, which were published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in November, suggest there is a connection between caffeine consumption during adolescence and cocaine use in adulthood for rats. "The animals that drank caffeine during adolescence had an increased acquisition of cocaine self-administration," said Ryan Bachtell, a CU Boulder associate professor of psychology and neuroscience who oversaw the research project. "They also tended to work harder for delivery of cocaine. This suggests that there's an increased addiction vulnerability in those animals." Taken together with past research on caffeine consumption, the findings suggest that parents should think more critically about how much caffeine their teenage children consume and at what age. "Just because we see that it increases addiction vulnerability doesn't mean it should be an illegal drug and highly regulated," Bachtell said. "But we do need more awareness of caffeine. It's not a benign substance and it's not something that should be taken lightly. As a parent, we need to think about, at 12 years old, is the venti Starbucks coffee really a good idea?" Of course, the CU Boulder experiments used lab ratsnot humansbut Bachtell pointed out that the findings align with and strengthen this line of research overall, including studies that found links between caffeine consumption and drug misuse in humans. Caffeine's effect on development To reach these conclusions, the researchers performed a series of experiments, comparing the behavior of four groups of rats: Adolescent rats who drank water with caffeine Adolescent rats who drank water without caffeine Adult rats who drank water with caffeine Adult rats who drank water without caffeine Throughout the experiments, the rats could choose between pressing a lever that gave them a cocaine infusion and a lever that gave them nothing. Researchers watched to see how quickly the rats learned that pressing one lever resulted in cocaine, as well as how often they went back to the lever and how much cocaine they consumed. They also made it more difficult to receive cocaine by increasing the number of lever responses to earn cocaine. This measured how motivated the rats were to obtain it. As the researchers had hypothesized, the rats who drank caffeine as adolescents were more inclined toward the cocaine. "The animals that consumed caffeine as adolescents tended to take fewer sessions to reach the acquisition threshold," Bachtell said. "The animals that consumed caffeine acquired faster over a shorter number of sessions, and when they did acquire, they tended to take more and self-deliver at a higher rate." Meanwhile, consuming caffeine had no effect on adult rats when they went through the same experiment, which suggests that caffeine is somehow affecting the brains of teenage rats as they mature into adults, Bachtell said. "We did not see the same enhancement in acquisition and the same increased work ethic for cocaine infusion (with adult rats who drank caffeine)," Bachtell said. "The suggestion is that there's really something unique to the developmental period, which was a little bit surprising to us." The researchers ran a similar experiment using a lever that produced sugar pellets instead of cocaine. They wanted to find out if caffeine consumption simply made it easier for rats to learn a new, positively reinforced behavior. Ultimately, they found no difference between the groups of rats, suggesting that the potential developmental effects of caffeine are "specific to drug-related rewards," according to the paper. The scientists also ran an experiment that studied the relapse phase of addiction by removing, then reinstating, the drug from the cocaine-producing lever. They were surprised to learn the relapse looked the same for rats who drank caffeine in adolescence and those who didn't. This leads them to believe that while caffeine may initially lead to increased addiction vulnerability, it did not appear to have a negative or positive effect on the later stages of addiction. "That suggests that the caffeine exposure during adolescence was a predisposing factor to drug addiction, but not necessarily on abstinence and relapse," Bachtell said. Studyingand protectingthe adolescent brain While the paper adds valuable evidence to a growing body of research, the CU Boulder scientists said the connection between caffeine, addiction and drug misuse deserves further exploration. Future studies might measure the effects of caffeine on cocaine addiction when the rats continue to consume it into adulthood, the researchers said. Bachtell said he's also interested in studying other factors that could affect developing adolescent brains, as well as other effects of caffeine consumption. "The brain is such a sensitive organ, especially during those developmental periods, that we really need to be cautiouswhether it's caffeine or whether it's technology use, what exactly is that doing to these vulnerable brains that are undergoing all sorts of different changes?" he said. Explore further Menstrual cycle phase influences cocaine craving More information: Tracey A Larson et al. Effects of adolescent caffeine consumption on cocaine self-administration and reinstatement of cocaine seeking, Journal of Psychopharmacology (2018). Journal information: Journal of Psychopharmacology Tracey A Larson et al. Effects of adolescent caffeine consumption on cocaine self-administration and reinstatement of cocaine seeking,(2018). DOI: 10.1177/0269881118812098 Credit: CC0 Public Domain People have certain physical 'tells' when they conceal information and studies show that good liars can prevent these 'tells' being detected by displaying physical red herrings of their own. But scientists have now shown that even a brain imaging technique called fMRI, which in theory is much harder to trick, can be beaten by people who use two particular mental countermeasures. The work was led by Drs Chun-Wei Hsu and Giorgio Ganis at the University of Plymouth, in collaboration with the University of Padova, Italy, and published in the journal Human Brain Mapping. This research is the first to explore the effects of mental countermeasures on brain activity in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and it showed that when people used the countermeasures, the test proved to be 20 percent less accurate. How do concealed information tests work? Concealed information tests work because a person who is hiding something will 'give away' what they are concealing when faced with it in a list. For example, if a thief has stolen a diamond ring, the ring will be more striking to the thief than similar control items such as necklaces and bracelets and the thief will show physiological signs (e.g. sweating) that reveal their guilt. However, these tests based on physiological signs are easy to beat as perpetrators can artificially alter them when seeing a control item, therefore confusing the test. To overcome this problem, researchers moved to methods that look directly at brain activation using fMRI. An fMRI machine tracks blood flow to activated brain areas. The assumption in concealed information detection is that the brain will show signs of recognition when presented with the concealed items while exerting extra effort to conceal signs of such recognition, and so the brain regions that do more work will get more blood. Such regions light up in scans, and they are primarily involved in directing attention and in decision making. In the new study, participants were asked to conceal information about a 'secret' digit they saw inside an envelope. Researchers taught 20 participants two mental countermeasures. The first was to associate meaningful memories to the control items, making them more significant. The second was to focus on the superficial aspects of the item they were trying to conceal, rather than on the experience of familiarity it evokes, in order to make it less significant. The results showed that these countermeasures lowered the accuracy of the test by about 20 percent because it was more difficult for fMRI to find any differences in brain activity. Thus, participants were more likely to be able to hide their concealed information item when using the mental countermeasures. The research team concluded that in order to improve the robustness of the test, future work needed to identify a way of detecting mental countermeasures, and potentially look at conducting whole-brain analyses, rather than just examining regions of interest. Lead author Dr. Chun-Wei Hsu, a researcher in the CogNovo research programme at the University of Plymouth, said: "fMRI tests are not currently used by law enforcement in the same way as polygraph tests, but they have been considered for scientific and criminal use as a way of detecting when someone is concealing information. This study shows that the process can be manipulated if someone associates meaningful memories to the control items, or focuses on the aesthetics, rather than the memory, of the item they're trying to hide. "None of our participants were seasoned liars or criminals, they were just everyday people, so before this test can even be considered for forensic use, there must be further studies carried out to help identify when someone is using mental countermeasures. "Deception is a really challenging area of psychology, and the more we can find out about the techniques used to detect it, the better." The full study, titled "The effect of mental countermeasures on neuroimaging-based concealed information tests," was carried out by the University of Plymouth and the University of Padova, Italy. It is published in the journal Human Brain Mapping. Explore further Researchers look at how the brain represents time when processing long-term memories More information: Chun-Wei Hsu et al. The effect of mental countermeasures on neuroimaging-based concealed information tests, Human Brain Mapping (2019). Journal information: Human Brain Mapping Chun-Wei Hsu et al. The effect of mental countermeasures on neuroimaging-based concealed information tests,(2019). DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24567 (HealthDay)A gene therapy that tweaks the immune system might offer hope to people with blood cancer that has resisted standard treatments, a new preliminary trial suggests. The cancer, called multiple myeloma, arises in certain white blood cells. It is currently incurable, but there are treatments that can help people live with the disease for years. However, most people eventually progress, and some fail to respond to the available therapies at all. The new study involved 33 patients just like that: They'd typically had seven to eight rounds of various treatments and were out of options. So researchers tried a recently developed approach that harnesses the immune system's cancer-killing potential: CAR T-cell therapy. It involves removing immune system T-cells from a patient, then genetically altering them to be armed with chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs. That allows the T-cells to recognize and attack cancer cells once they are infused back into the blood, said senior researcher Dr. James Kochenderfer. CAR T-cell therapy is already approved for certain cases of leukemia and lymphomatwo other types of blood cancer. But the approach is not one-size-fits-all. CARs have to target a protein specific to the cancer, explained Kochenderfer, a scientist with the U.S. National Cancer Institute. In this study, his team used CARs that recognize a protein on multiple myeloma cells, called BCMA. The investigators found that the therapy appeared safe. It caused short-term side effects in all patients, but they were manageable. There were also early signs that the therapy helped. Most patients85% saw their tumors shrink or go away, and they typically went one year before the cancer started to progress again. "This therapy is totally different than other myeloma therapies," Kochenderfer said. "So myeloma resistant to other therapies might respond to anti-BCMA CAR T-cells." His team reported the findings in the May 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial was funded by Bluebird Bio and Celgene, the companies developing the therapy. Multiple myeloma is relatively uncommon, based on American Cancer Society statistics: The average person has less than a 1% chance of developing it. But for those who do, the disease is often deadly. Just under half of Americans diagnosed with multiple myeloma die within five years, according to the cancer institute. Treatment options range from chemotherapy to "targeted" drugs that zero in on certain abnormalities in the cancer, to stem cell transplants. Some patients respond well to them, said Dr. Melissa Alsina, who heads the multiple myeloma transplant program at Moffitt Cancer Center, in Tampa, Fla. Others, such as those in this trial, do not. The fact that 85% responded to the CAR T-cell therapy is "impressive," said Alsina, who was not involved in the trial. She said it's "somewhat disappointing" that the disease typically progressed after one year. But overall, Alsina said, the results are "exciting," and it seems likely that the therapy will eventually be submitted for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. An important question for the future is whether CAR T-cell therapy would be more effective if it's begun earlier in the course of multiple myeloma, Alsina added. The therapy carries risks. One is cytokine release syndromewhere the body produces a massive amount of inflammatory substances (cytokines) that cause high fever, low blood pressure and other symptoms. Three-quarters of patients in this trial developed cytokine release syndromebut it was usually mild and able to be treated within a few days. Neurological issueslike dizziness, confusion and memory problemsare another concern. Forty-two percent of patients had those types of side effects, but they were mild in all cases but one, the researchers said. Kochenderfer noted that more research is "clearly needed," and the companies developing this particular CAR T-cell therapy are moving it into further trials. His lab at the cancer institute is working on a slightly different CAR T-cell therapy, also targeting BCMA. For now, Alsina said, multiple myeloma patients can only get the treatment by enrolling in a clinical trial. One way to find out about trials is by contacting the cancer institute. Explore further CAR T-Cell therapy sends multiple myeloma into lasting remission Copyright 2019 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Caroline Kolvenbach, Dr. med. Alina Hilger, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Benjamin Odermatt and Dr. med. Gabriel Dworschak. Credit: Photo: Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn Even before birth, an obstructed urethra can cause a variety of issues in the unborn child, ranging from mild urinary problems to kidney failure. This highly variable disease is called LUTO (lower urinary tract obstruction). Especially boys are affected. An international team of researchers led by the University of Bonn has now discovered a first gene involved in this rare disease. The results are now published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. "In the worst case, the urinary retention caused by an obstruction of the urethra can result in damage to the kidneys and lungs prenatally," says Dr. Alina Hilger of the Center for Pediatrics at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB). Urinary retention leads to a lack of amniotic fluid, but this fluid is necessary for the lungs to develop properly in the amniotic sac. Hilger: "It is possible to save the fetus with surgery in the womb." This complex and rare procedure is performed by Prof. Christoph Berg at the University Women's Hospital Bonn. LUTO occurs comparatively rarely, only in about three out of 10,000 pregnancies. The few cases, however, show an occasional family accumulation and therefore seem to be hereditary. Until now, no gene causally associated with the disease and its heredity has been known. An international team of researchers from Germany, the Netherlands, England, the USA and Poland, led by pediatricians, anatomists and human geneticists from the University Hospital Bonn, has now searched for the genetic origin of the disease. Different variants of the BNC2 gene The scientists compared the genetic material of four patients who had suffered from LUTO in varying degrees over three generations with that of healthy people. This revealed indications of mutations of the gene "BNC2". The researchers then extended the study to 697 LUTO patients and uncovered three further variants of the BNC2 gene in these patients. BNC2 encodes the protein "basonuclin 2", which is believed to be involved in the processing of certain RNAs in the cell nucleus. "However, it is still unknown how the discovered mutations interfere with a biological mechanism that ultimately leads to the congenital narrowing of the urethra," said lead author Caroline Kolvenbach from the UKB. The researchers tested their findings on zebrafish. "This is a well-established animal model," said Prof. Dr. Benjamin Odermatt from the Institute for Anatomy at the University Hospital Bonn. The fish reproduce and develop rapidly, which is why results are obtained fast. In addition, they are transparent during the larval stage and can therefore easily be screened for anatomical peculiarities. First, the scientists knocked down the BNC2 gene in zebrafish. As a result, the zebrafish larvae developed a narrowing of their urinary tract. The researchers then transferred an intact human BNC2 copy into the manipulated fish embryos. This considerably decreased the number of urinary tract malformations in these fish. However, the altered or mutated BNC2 copies found in the families were not able to rescue these malformations. "These experiments show that these variants or mutations found by us in BNC2 are actually responsible for LUTO," says second lead author Dr. Gabriel Dworschak from the UKB. New perspectives for genetic counseling The team of scientists has thus discovered the first gene associated with LUTO. "At the same time, we have proven that LUTO has a genetic origin," says Dr. Alina Hilger. "This also opens up new perspectives for genetic counseling of affected parents." Since many children with LUTO have impaired kidney function, the scientists assume that not only the urinary retention, but also the genetic defect itself impairs the function of the kidneys. By understanding the genetic causes, the scientists hope to eventually find an approach for a causal therapy for renal dysfunction in LUTO children. Explore further The genetic roots of adolescent scoliosis More information: Caroline M. Kolvenbach et al, Rare Variants in BNC2 Are Implicated in Autosomal-Dominant Congenital Lower Urinary-Tract Obstruction, The American Journal of Human Genetics (2019). Journal information: American Journal of Human Genetics Caroline M. Kolvenbach et al, Rare Variants in BNC2 Are Implicated in Autosomal-Dominant Congenital Lower Urinary-Tract Obstruction,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.03.023 Dr. Sina Gallo. Credit: George Mason University The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. However, new research led by George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services found high rates of mixed breastfeeding and early introduction of formula among their sample of low-income, predominately Hispanic immigrant women participating in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) federal food assistance program. Assistant Professor Dr. Sina Gallo led the study with colleagues from the Loudoun County Health Department and Georgetown University. Published in Public Health Nutrition, they found that 61% of infants in their sample received formula in the first few days of life. More than half of the mothers reported use of formula due to perceived insufficient milk supply. Going back to work was also commonly cited as a reason for introducing formula, and some cultural beliefs may have encouraged the use of a mix of both breast milk and formula. Mothers who set an exclusive breastfeeding goal were five times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at three months post-partum. Those who did not complete high school were four times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at three months and six times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at six months than those who had completed a high school education or greater. The researchers suggested that most early breast-feeding problems can be addressed with education about when and how much to breastfeed and culturally appropriate support from clinicians. Gallo explains, "The main reason for introduction of formula was a perceived insufficient milk supplywhich is likely a preventable reasonand education on sufficient breastmilk in the first few days as well as improved baby friendly hospital practices such as skin-to-skin and feeding in the first hour can help mitigate this practice." This study investigated the feeding patterns of 190 low-income, predominantly Hispanic immigrant women who attended two WIC clinics in Loudoun County, Virginia. 81 percent were living below the federal poverty line, and food insecurity was high. "The early rates of introduction of formula in the population surveyed is alarming17 percent reported giving formula at the first feed and 45 percent before they left the hospital. This is the time when support systems should be in place to help mothers exclusively breastfeed, yet many are choosing formula feeding at this time," explained Gallo. The researchers explained that in most cases it is possible for new mothers to adapt to exclusive breastfeeding, with education intervention from WIC counsellors, as well as changes in WIC policies to encourage and support breastfeeding. "Our study aims to inform policymakers of the best way to help minority mothers earning low incomes to adopt exclusive breastfeeding. WIC already provides an expanded food package for exclusively breastfeeding mothers as well as access to lactation counselors. However an increased focus on intense lactation support in the first weeks, including limiting formula as a part of the WIC package for the first month to special circumstances may further help support mothers to meet breastfeeding recommendations," Gallo noted. Explore further Breastfeeding associated with lower cardiovascular risk More information: Janine A Rethy et al, Sociodemographic predictors of exclusive breast-feeding among low-income women attending a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programme, Public Health Nutrition (2019). Journal information: Public Health Nutrition Janine A Rethy et al, Sociodemographic predictors of exclusive breast-feeding among low-income women attending a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programme,(2019). DOI: 10.1017/S1368980019000119 French and Indian companies, Eiffage and Infra International, have been awarded a 300 million contract for the supply of drinking water in several regions of Cote dIvoire. The West African nation plans to construct 6,000 boreholes of drinking water in several localities of the country. The 300 million contract with Eiffage and Infra International is expected to provide 4,000 boreholes of drinking water. Last week, China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) has also been awarded a contract for the implementation of several drinking water supply projects across the country for about 97.5 million. In March, Suez SA, a French-based utility company, which operates largely in water treatment and waste management sectors, signed a 19m contract to supply and install 40 compact modular drinking water production units in Cote dIvoire. With a total production capacity of 92,000 m3/day, these units will supply 18 towns in 17 regions. The projects are part of the Water for All program meant to provide drinking water to 450,000 inhabitants by 2020. According to UNICEF, more than 8 million people 43 % of Cote dIvoires population lack appropriate sanitation facilities and over 4 million people still use unsafe drinking water. Photographs of Lesion #1 in a subject treated with Paromomycin over time (Baseline, Day 100 and Day 168). Credit: Pascale, et al. (2019) Paromomysin-based topical treatments were shown to be effective in curing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), according to a randomized, double blind study conducted in Panama and published with PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Leishmaniasis, transmitted by a female phlebotomine sand fly bite, is endemic in 98 countries and has approximately 0.7 to 1.2 million CL cases each year. Infection with CL causes open and chronic lesions on the skin and joints, as well as debilitating pain. Many patients who have CL in Panama can receive pentavalent antimony, (compounds that are injected intravenously or intramuscularly) however this treatment can be toxic and can prevent the patient from receiving full care. In addition, many patients live in areas where this laboratory treatment is inaccessible. Nestor Sosa, Juan Miguel Pascale and colleagues, ran a study to see if a topical cream could cure this disease in a less toxic and more accessible way. The researchers tested two creams, one with only paromomysin, an antimicrobial, and one with a combination of paromomysin and gentamicin (gentamicin is an antibiotic that stops the further growth of bacteria). The addition of gentamicin did not change the cure rate for the 399 patients treated over 20 days. Results showed that there was a high cure rate of close to 80%. Children under 12, and teens from 12-17, had an especially high cure rate of 84% and 82% respectively. However, not all patients were cured: 87 patients experienced either disease persistence, disease worsening or disease relapse, due to a lack of the disease's response to the antibiotics by Day 100 of the test. 16 other patients were clinical failures due to withdrawal of consent or lost follow-up. "This trial demonstrates that topical therapy with a paromomycin-based cream offers a potential alternative to the current standard of care for the treatment of CL in Panama," the authors note. "A topical treatment for uncomplicated CL is also of great interest in the United States, where current treatment options all have suboptimal risk/benefit profiles for this disease." Explore further Combination therapy more effective in treating patients with leishmaniasis and HIV More information: Sosa N, Pascale JM, Jimenez AI, Norwood JA, Kreishman-Detrick M, et al. (2019) Topical paromomycin for New World cutaneous leishmaniasis. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13(5): e0007253. Journal information: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Sosa N, Pascale JM, Jimenez AI, Norwood JA, Kreishman-Detrick M, et al. (2019) Topical paromomycin for New World cutaneous leishmaniasis. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13(5): e0007253. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007253 A Community Newsblog written by Community Members Middletown's a big place, with a lot going on. We need your help to keep your neighbors informed. Come write or just give us a tip on your news, sports, arts, politics or events at - middletowneye@gmail.com Help us to make the Middletown Eye the third eye people open every morning! Kevin Bell and Geoff Sutton unwrapped shipping boxes filled with art like it was Christmas morning on Wednesday in Zootown Brew. Bell, the director of the UM School of Art, and Sutton, who sits on the board of directors of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, were preparing for "Grad-itude," an all-alumni art show and sale. It was the first of its kind in years, Bell said. At least the first since he started at UM a decade ago. Theyre a pretty important force, he said. Our alumni are staffing nearly every major cultural center in the region this is just a small sampling. Bell and Sutton put out the call to as many alumni they could find and around 50 responded, giving them plenty of art to display. The artists agreed to donate sale proceeds to the art program as well, some giving 100 percent, some splitting 50-50. Theres works of many mediums, from artists that graduated last year alongside graduates from 50 years ago. Sutton unwrapped a series of three multimedia pieces from Shelby Baldridge, now based in Portland, that depicted honeycombs through paint and 3-D sculpture. We have some ceramics! Bell exclaimed, pulling bubble-wrapped pieces out of a box. These sculptures covered in bright glazes, with tendril-y arms were from Karl Schwiesow, a UM master's student who graduated in 2017. To Bells eyes, the amount of graduates who are still active artists refutes a cliche that art students dont practice after they leave school. Its amazing how many of our students are still out there making work, he said. Sutton, formerly the gallery owner of SuttonWest, organized the show and sale to benefit the art program as part of a cross-school initiative to stay active in the face of budget cuts at the university. Hes seen all of the programs under the College of Visual and Performing Arts come a little bit closer in recent years, sharing resources and cross-pollinating ideas and performances. Institutional support is so small at this juncture, Sutton said. Its amazing what all these schools do. He pointed out how strong the art program ties are with its alumni, from recent grads to some longtime, famous Missoula artists who donated to the show like Monte Dolack or Dana Boussard. Dennis Kern, an artist, is a former curator and teacher at the university who ran the Gallery of Visual Arts and then-Museum of Fine Arts (now the Montana Museum of Art and Culture) in the early 1980s. He was impressed at the breadth of art Sutton and Bell had pulled for the show, across generations he looked up to as a student. Whats really fun is when you see pieces by someone you knew years ago, and see what theyre doing now, Kern said. Theres some great artists. The three men stood and listed artists in the show. Sutton mentioned Jay Rummel no, Kern said, hes not in the show. But he might have a Rummel piece they could throw in. Were still adding! Sutton laughed. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Government TRANSPORTATION TECHNICAL ADVISORY Committee, 10 a.m., City Council Chambers, 140 W. Pine St. CEMETERY BOARD, noon, Missoula Cemetery office, 2000 Cemetery Road. PARKING COMMISSION, noon, Jack Reidy Conference Room, 140 W. Pine St. DUI TASK FORCE, noon, Missoula Emergency Training Services Center, 1220 Burlington. MISSOULA BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, 2 p.m., Sophie Moiese Room, Courthouse Annex. OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE field trip, meet at 4 p.m. in front of Currents, 600 Cregg Lane. HISTORIC PRESERVATION Commission awards event, 5:30 p.m., Caras Nursery & Landscape, 2727 S. Third St. W. SMURFIT-STONE MILL Site Community Advisory Group, 6 p.m., Frenchtown Fire Hall, 16875 Marion St. MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS' Elementary Boundary Study Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., Business Building Boardroom, 915 South Ave. W. Public Events BETWEEN THE LINES THEATRE presents "The Moradokmai Theatre Community of Thailand," 7:30 p.m., Free Cycles, 732 S. First St. W. $10 suggested donation. NORTH VALLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY, Stevensville, 777-5061: Art Club for ages 5-18, 4 p.m. YOGA FOR PARKINSON'S every Thursday, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Salvation Army Building, 335 S. Russell. No registration required. Call 531-7110. MISSOULA PUBLIC LIBRARY, 301 E. Main St., 721-2665 or missoulapubliclibrary.org: open hours in the MakerSpace, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-6 p.m.; Tiny Tales, ages birth-3, large meeting room, 10:30 a.m.; "Computer Fundamentals," noon, registration required; LEGO Club, ages 12 and under, 3:30- 5 p.m. BITTERROOT PUBLIC LIBRARY, Hamilton, 363-1670: Early Literacy lunch and Eric Carl, noon, registration required. Organizations GRIZZLY COUNTRY RUG Hookers, 12:30-4 p.m., Going' Quilting, 425 N. Fifth St. W. Suite 4. Call 728-4375. MISSOULA SENIOR CITIZEN'S CENTER, 705 S. Higgins Ave., 543-7154, missoulaseniorcenter.org: Gentle yoga for all ages, 9 a.m., $4; bingo, 6:30-8:30 p.m. (doors pen 5 p.m.), $18 for 10 sheets. AL-ANON: Keep It Simple Family Group, 5:30 p.m., St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St. Men Do Al-Anon, 7 p.m., University Center Room 216, UM. The Legacy AFG, 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 235 S. Fifth W. Alateen, 7:30 p.m. First Presbyterian Church. Stevensville Al-Anon, 7:30 p.m., Independent Living Center, 57 Main St. Expect a Miracle, 5:30 p.m., Sunburst Mental Health, 109 First Ave., St. Ignatius. Call 1-888-425-2666 or visit mt.al-anon-alateen.org. AA MEETINGS Call 888-607-2000 or visit aa-montana.org. Early Sunrise Group Discussion (C/H), 6:30 a.m., Unity Church, 546 South Ave. W. (side entrance, basement); Early Birds Discussion (C/H), 7 a.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Sunrise Group Discussion (C/H), 8 a.m., Unity Church, 546 South Ave. W.; Sober Steppers Beginners (O/H), 10 a.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; High Noon Group Discussion (O), noon, First United Methodist Church, 300 E. Main St.; Thompson Falls Group (O), noon, behind Bear Muscle Fitness, 107 Spruce St.; Attitude Adjustment (O/H), noon, Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Pathway to Serenity Discussion (O), 3:30 p.m., Clark Fork West Church, 34 St. Regis Ave., St. Regis; Downtowners Discussion (O/H), 5:30 p.m., Fourth D Alano Club, 1500 W. Broadway; Silvertip Group Discussion (C), 6:30 p.m., Immanuel Lutheran Church, 830 South Ave. W.; Big Book Study Group (O/H), 7 p.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Do It Sober Discussion (O/H), 7 p.m., St. Luke's Conference Room, 107 Sixth Ave. SW, Ronan; The Blackfoot River Group, 7 p.m., Out Savior Lutheran Church, 8985 Highway 200, Bonner; Solution Group Discussion (C/H/B), 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. Fifth St. W.; Plains Group Big Book Study (O), 7:30 p.m., Plains United Methodist Church, 206 Meany St.; Not a Glum Lot (O), 7:30 p.m., Thompson Falls Community Church, 306 Church St.; Missoula Group Beginner's, (O/H), 8 p.m., 112 N. Pattee St. (Front Street entrance); Young Guns in Sobriety Literature Study (O), 10 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. Fifth St. W. ADULT ASPERGER'S support group, open meeting for those with Asperger's as well as their family and friends, 6-7:30 p.m., University Center, Room 215, UM. Contact Monique Casbeer at 721-3947 or Cindy Bacon Janego at cjanego@communitymed.org for more information. NAMI MISSOULA free weekly meeting, 10 a.m.-noon, Providence Center Room 103. Open to anyone affected by mental illness (including family members) or interested in learning more about NAMI. Call 880-1013. NAMI CONNECTION Support Group for adults with mental illness, 1:30-3 p.m., 202 Brooks St., Room 210. Call 880-1013. DUPLICATE BRIDGE beginner-intermediate game, 6 p.m., 2825 Stockyard Road, Suite I-3. Visit missoulabridge.org. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A Missoula judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday after one mans alleged actions to lessen flooding on his property may have caused flooding on his neighbors property. In issuing her order, Judge Leslie Halligan said it appeared that Cody Moores diversion of a seasonal creek is flooding Jim Brocks property and basement, resulting in significant and increasing water damage to the land and his residence. That diversion may be unlawful under an exception listed in Montanas "common enemy doctrine.'' The common enemy doctrine provides that a landowner is not liable for vagrant surface waters which cross his land and go onto his neighbors land. That water is the common enemy of both landowners, Halligan wrote in her order. However, In diverting such waters, the landowner is limited to reasonable care in avoiding damage to adjoining property. Halligan wrote that Moore must immediately reverse the diversion of stream water so Brock can try to dry out his home and fields to prevent further and permanent damage. Brock declined to comment on the record to the Missoulian, and Moore didnt return a telephone call seeking comment. But according to court documents filed by Brock, Moore built his home at the bottom of Martin Gulch in 2018, in an area where a seasonal creek traditionally had drained to the east. Brock and another neighbor to the west, Dan Sullivan, said that on April 22, runoff prompted the area around Moores recently built house on Big Flat Road to start flooding with water from the ephemeral creek. On Wednesday, Sullivan pointed to an open field east of Moores home where the runoff usually pools each spring. On the morning of April 22, the creek was flowing eastward into the field, and also across Moores driveway. It flooded to the extent you couldnt drive through it, said Sullivan, who along with Brock lives to the west of Moore. That night, about 6:30, here comes this water into my field, and its about to come into my house. Brock wrote that about that time, his wife saw and heard earthmoving equipment doing some activity near Moores house, and a Weyerhaeuser official, Michael Vetter, told her they had moved a couple of boulders on Moores property. A message seeking comment couldnt be left on Vetters phone because his mailbox was full. Sullivan and Brock suspect that Weyerhaeusers activity the timber company formerly owned Moores property had caused the creek to run westward now, moving the water onto their properties. [A] new creek has formed in the back yards of residents to the west on Big Flat Road, Brock wrote. The result has been severe flooding of both properties and in our case, the lower level of our home. There is no memory or record of such a creek behind our homes. There is no natural path for the water to flow to the Clark Fork, and it is backing up. Brock wrote that simply maintaining his property has become a full-time job for their household. We have six pumps working 24/7 in an effort to remove water from our lower level and away from our home. We have houseguests sleeping in the living room because the lower level is flooded. Our family has filled and placed over 600 sandbags in efforts to divert water away from our home, Brock wrote. We have spent thousands of dollars on pumps, hoses, and contract labor. We are exhausted, getting very little sleep, and extremely stressed. He added that Moores alleged activity also is causing a growing environmental challenge because of the lack of a natural outlet for the water to flow to the Clark Fork. Sullivan also has sandbags lining one side of a swale on his property to keep the water thats moved in away from his home, which he built in 1995. He pointed to a field farther to the west, noting that while it floods occasionally from high groundwater, its never gotten this deep. This year, the water nearly topped a galvanized gate, which is about four feet tall. In 1996 everything was flooded, but we had four feet of snow and 200% snowpack. But it hasnt flooded since then, Sullivan said. Even last year, when the river was running at 13 feet and we had double the normal snowpack and it rained every day for a month, we still didnt have any water. This year, it was a foot deep, at least, in my yard. So what happened? As he walks east of his house, Sullivan points to a fence where debris shows that at the height of the flooding, the water was at least 25 feet wide. Farther east, between the homes of Sullivan and Moore, the hum of a generator pumping water out of Brocks basement cuts through the spring air. Sullivan said that as the water was flowing into his yard April 22, he approached Moore to find out what was going on. He said it was flooding, they tried to unplug the culvert, and he said you could see the water level dropping. He was proud of his work because every day the water was going down. But ours was rising, Sullivan said. Now theyre bone dry and have been for days. Their house was built in a bad spot and the driveway wasnt done right. Brock wrote that he tried to contact Moore multiple times, including retaining a process server who delivered a letter asking him to contact Brock, but never heard from his neighbor. Halligan set a May 15 court date to hear legal arguments on the temporary restraining order, and whether it should be converted in a preliminary injunction to remain in effect while the matter is litigated. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 3 The top elected officials for both Missoula County and the City of Missoula have told the states largest energy utility that renewable power such as solar and wind will save money for consumers. About 95% of the electricity consumed in Missoula is purchased from NorthWestern right now, and 61% of NorthWesterns current power generation comes from renewable sources. However, Missoula County officials want the utility to consider the full, long-term costs of energy resource choices. On Thursday, all three county commissioners Dave Strohmaier, Josh Slotnick and Cola Rowley joined Mayor John Engen and City Council President Bryan von Lossberg in signing a letter to NorthWestern president and CEO Bob Rowe. They asked him to heed the demand of consumers for low-cost renewable energy. Over the long-term, a transition to more renewables will save money, they wrote. As you know, the price of the costs of solar and wind energy have declined precipitously in recent years, and the costs of energy storage technologies, especially batteries, are declining even faster. Ratepayers ultimately pay for whatever power NorthWestern Energy provides, and the five elected officials believe renewable sources will prove to be the least expensive option over both the short and long term. Renewable resources also have the advantages of zero fuel cost, reducing the risk of price volatility for consumers, they wrote. They do not require the construction of costly fuel infrastructure such as gas pipelines. They do not emit hazardous air pollutants or greenhouse gases. And unlike thermal power plants, solar and wind farms will never leave their owners on the hook for large cleanup costs. The county and the city recently committed to buying 100% clean energy by the year 2030 in order to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change caused by human burning of fossil fuels. Slotnick pointed to a recent study from Yale University that found that if humans do nothing to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the annual costs associated with climate change will exceed $220 billion. We are encouraging (NorthWestern) to do a full and complete accounting, not just of the initial short-term cost of what its going to take to bring new generation online but to think about the cleanup later, he said. And the climate change costs are astronomical hundreds of billions of dollars every year dealing with climate refugees and the costs of natural disasters. So, do a complete accounting when making a choice of what procurement avenues to follow. Strohmaier agreed that NorthWesterns draft plan doesnt factor in all costs down the road. When the utility is looking at what is low cost, we are also very interested in them taking a broad expansive vision of cost such that youre accounting for what are the costs to maintain energy generation facility, he said. I think its pretty clearly been established that solar and wind are fairly low cost from an operation and maintenance standpoint compared to thermal generation." State regulators recently estimated that cleaning up the coal-ash ponds from the Colstrip electricity generating station in eastern Montana could cost as much as $700 million, and some of that burden will fall on utility customers, according to the Billings Gazette. "As I think were seeing play out in Colstrip, there are a lot of costs that will come home to roost decades from now by way of cleanup and not to mention all the other impacts to the climate from those modes of fossil fuel energy generation," Strohmaier said. The 2017 Montana Climate Assessment found that human-caused climate change will cause precipitation in the state to decrease during the summer months by the middle of this century while increasing average temperatures and hampering the ability of forests to rebound from fire. The American Lung Association recently found that climate change is causing more wildfires in western Montana, which is causing Missoulas air pollution levels to be among the highest in the nation. Commissioner Rowley said the negative effects of climate change are being disproportionately shouldered by kids and the elderly. It really effects the most vulnerable populations of communities, she said. Children being exposed have lifelong effects. Slotnick said hes not convinced that power from natural gas is any cheaper than renewable energy. I would have to see proof of that, he said. NorthWestern is talking about making fantastically large investments, and these investments are spread out across time. Theyre not thinking about whats the budget for this year for whatever investment they make, whether its natural gas or solar and the costs to ratepayers. They wrote in their letter that nonpartisan polling has shown that 90% of Montanans support increased use of solar energy and 86% support increased use of wind energy to meet the states future needs. And that support is not limited to Missoula, they wrote. Utilities in Idaho, New Mexico and elsewhere have committed to 100% carbon-free power, they noted. The city and the county both get their energy from NorthWestern as do the majority of the 117,000 people here. Last year at the Missoula Clean Energy Expo, the mayor said he supported a city plan to commit to 100% renewable energy within the next 16 years. That may or not be easy but if you dont aspire you expire, Engen said. And we will aspire all day long. Engen said doing that will require hard choices and partners. Some of those partners may or may not be willing or be able to be at the table, he noted. But well keep coaxing and cajoling and begging and borrowing to make sure those partners are where we need them to be so we can move forward. NorthWestern is taking public comments until Sunday, May 5. The comments can be submitted at northwesternenergy.com/environment/energy-supply. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. American Indian youth in Montana are five times more likely to commit suicide compared to other populations, according to the Missoula Urban Indian Health Center. Those kids also report higher rates of marijuana, methamphetamine and other drug use, according to the Montana Department of Justice. But this week, the MUIHC announced it has been awarded two federal grants totaling $1.65 million to help provide suicide prevention services, substance abuse prevention, mental health support and other services to American Indians living in Missoula County. Were really excited about it, said Skye McGinty, the development and communications coordinator at the center. The money will allow the center to continue programs it already has, as well as start new programs. For one, theyll hire a clinical physician and part of that persons job will be outreach. But theyll also provide services at the center. The first grant comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Called Missoula Native Connections, its a five-year project aimed at increasing the support and delivery of culturally tailored suicide and substance abuse prevention services to American Indian youth ages 15-24." They plan to serve a total of about 300 to 400 youth in the area. The MUIHC will work with the University of Montana and Missoula County Public Schools to develop a referral system and service delivery network aimed at reducing youth suicide and substance abuse. McGinty said there isnt a whole lot of data to explain why American Indian youth are more prone to taking their own life. We dont know (why the rate is higher), she said. Thats part of the problem. We dont know why there is a gap concerning suicide rates. In Montana, there were 246 suicides reported between 2005 and 2014 for whites aged 11-24, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Thats 15 per 100,000 people. For Native Americans, there were 76 total suicides in that time period, or 43 per 100,000. Part of the grant funding will go toward exploring the factors behind those numbers to find a solution, she said. The second grant is called a 4-in-1 grant and is funded by the Indian Health Service. It will pay for a three-year project that will provide mental health, alcohol and substance abuse education. It will also fund immunization, health promotion and disease prevention services to American Indians living in Missoula. McGinty said its a continuation of a grant the MUIHC has had in the past and provides crucial support services that complement the direct medical care already offered by the center. The 4-in-1 grant program underscores IHSs commitment to provide quality health care for urban Indians, said IHS principal deputy director Rear Adm. Michael D. Weahkee. We are excited to address the health needs of urban Indians across the nation by partnering with urban Indian organizations to provide access to comprehensive and culturally appropriate health care services. The MUIHC is funded by the IHS and was established in 1970. Its mission is to promote sustainable healthy lives for Native people and the surrounding community through culturally-based, holistic care. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Gary and Nancy Botchek have lived next to Target Range School for years. Before retiring, both held long careers in public education. Gary served as the director of operations for Missoula County Public Schools, while Nancy worked in the special education department. But as much the couple values quality public education, they have become increasingly frustrated with their neighboring school, Target Range, because they feel the K-8 districts open enrollment policy which allows out-of-district students to attend the school tuition-free places an unfair burden on taxpayers. Target Range Superintendent Corey Austin and Target Range trustees contend that open enrollment saves neighborhood taxpayers money due to state funding that out-of-district students bring with them. The district has about 600 students, of whom 187 about a third of the student population come from out-of-district. Nancy Botchek, who spends the majority of her time at home caring for her husband as he battles cancer, said shes frustrated at the prospect of their yearly property taxes rising if voters pass the schools proposed $8.47 million bond on the May 7 ballot. Based on an analysis by D.A. Davidson, the estimated annual cost of the bond for the owner of a $300,000 home is $241.73, or roughly $20.14 per month. It all adds up and when you're living on retirement with huge medical bills, its frustrating, Nancy said. She thinks its unfair for the district to ask taxpayers for more money when she feels theyre already footing the bill for out-of-district students who dont pay tuition, noting that many residents in the area are retired and on a fixed income. As the district asks voters to approve the 20-year $8.47 million Safety and Learning bond to fund a variety of building improvements, the Botcheks and a handful of other residents have expressed their frustration in a variety of ways, including postcards they mailed to homes in the neighborhood regarding out-of-district students cost to taxpayers. The debate over out-of-district students goes back to 2007, when the district adopted the open enrollment policy. Dave Cook, a former Target Range trustee who helped pass the policy, said the school needed more money to continue to operate. Cook said the number of students attending the school was decreasing, which he attributed to high housing prices that make it less likely for young families to move to the area. The demographic was changing and there just werent bodies in this building, Cook said. There was just no money to do anything so the kids werent getting as good an education as they should have been. Students trickled in after board adopted the new policy. In 2007, the district reported 30 out-of-district students; by 2008, there were 73, and by 2009, there were 124. Austin said Target Range is an attractive school for many parents who chose to send their kids out of convenience, noting the schools close proximity to Community Medical Center, a major employer for many parents in the greater Missoula area. In Montana, districts are not required to charge tuition. However, some districts such as MCPS still do in order to reduce a voted levy funded by taxpayers. Out-of-district students who attend MCPS are required to pay an annual tuition of $1,116.40. Austin said that if Target Range would lose students, and therefore state funding, if they charged the same amount. If you think about a family with two, three, four kids, thats a lot of money, Austin said. Austin said the students dont cost Target Range taxpayers more because of the state funding they bring to the district, which totals more than $1 million annually. According to the districts website, open enrollment saves neighborhood taxpayers money every year. However, if the district charged tuition, that money would decrease the amount taxpayers pay annually for the districts over-base levy of $495,794.51, according to Paul Taylor, a budget analyst at the Office of Public Instruction. If the district was to charge tuition, the property taxes in the over-base area would go down, Taylor said. The ability of tuition to reduce taxpayers costs, however, depends on how many families remain in the district and choose to pay tuition. Additionally, less money from the state could necessitate a move by the district to ask taxpayers to approve other levies to fund operating costs. Funding sources The exact impact of out-of-district students on local taxpayers is difficult to calculate due to a variety of school funding sources, which come from a mixture of local property taxes, federal, state, county and other local revenue sources. By law, every school is required to meet a certain base budget to ensure that students receive an equitable education. To help meet this base budget, the state provides a certain amount for each student, known as ANB or average number belonging. Currently, the states per-ANB entitlement rate, or the amount of money the state pays a district to fund each student, is $5,573 for elementary K-6 students and $7,136 for 7-8 grade students. (The funding provided by the state starts at those amounts and decreases by 20 cents per student for each additional student up to 1,000 to account for the volume of students.) The remainder of funding for schools base budgets falls to other sources, including local taxpayers. From there, schools can ask voters to approve additional levies, or pass permissive levies in some areas that do not require a vote. Regardless of whether out-of-district students are required to pay tuition to a school, they come with additional money. Austin and other supporters of the schools open-enrollment policy say the annual ANB money that comes from out-of-district students helps pay for operations costs, including teacher salaries and classroom costs. Without it, we would lose a lot of programs, Austin said. According to Austin, more ANB money helps fund the schools band and orchestra programs, student services such as counseling, and teacher salaries, allowing the school to maintain appropriate student-to-teacher ratios. The general argument is: If these students werent in our school, we couldnt have all the programs we have because their presence means this much revenue thats generated to support our school, said Pat McHugh, executive director of business and operations for MCPS. The increased revenue also pads the districts budget enough that they dont have to go to taxpayers to ask for additional money, according to Austin. Still, the Botcheks and Cheryl Schwenk, another resident within the districts boundaries, believe Target Range should be a neighborhood school. When I saw those figures, I thought: You know, it's maybe one thing to have 20 out-of-district kids but now they are relying on this, Schwenk said. Schwenk and the Botcheks both stressed that they are not against public education but they feel like the district is trying to run the school as a private school without tuition. Schwenk said shes voted in support of many bonds and levies for the school in the past, but she feels differently knowing the number of out-of-district students. Many projects The proposed bond would fund a variety of projects including a new secure entryway, an overhaul to the pickup/dropoff area and expanded parking, new open learning areas, a spacious art area, science lab updates, the addition of STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) learning areas, new rooms for music programs, a cafeteria/multi-purpose area, an updated kitchen and breezeways to reduce hallway congestion. Some of the improvements such as those to the science labs (which have not been updated since the 1950s) are needed regardless of the number of students attending the school. However, Nancy Botchek said she thinks that other updates, such as changes to the pickup/dropoff area and expanded parking, wouldnt be necessary without the out-of-district students because those parents are responsible for transportation to and from school. Overall, she said she thinks the bond wouldnt be necessary if students paid tuition. Taylor, OPIs budget analyst, said that money for school updates generally comes from the building reserve fund although districts can use money from the general operations fund, which could potentially be funded in a small part by student tuition. However, the potential for tuition from out-of-district students to finance any projects, or reduce the cost of the over-base levy to taxpayers, would depend on the number of families who would remain in the district. Austin, the superintendent, said he hopes voters will support the bond and Target Ranges mission to provide quality education for its students, regardless of where they are from. Ultimately, taxpayers will decide if they want to approve the bond and support changes to the school. Some, like Nancy Botchek, have already decided. If the board and administration no longer want to be a district school, it is best to abandon District 23 and join MCPS, Nancy said. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Moroccan court decided Thursday to postpone until May 16 the hearing of the case against the suspects involved in the killing last December of two Scandinavian tourists in the High Atlas mountains. A total of 24 persons, including a Spanish-Swiss convert to Islam, are expected to appear before a criminal court in the city of Sale (near Rabat). The defendants are accused of several charges including promoting terrorism, forming a terrorist cell and premeditated murder. Three main defendants, accused of direct involvement in the murders, could face capital punishment. The murder of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, a 24-year-old Danish student, and her Norwegian friend, Maren Ueland, 28, sent shockwaves across the country and trigged unprecedented chain of solidarity with the families of the victims. This horrible crime was unanimously condemned by all components of Moroccan society, including Govt officials, political parties, artists, NGOs, media outlets, sportsmen, local communities, academics, intellectuals, foreign tourists Moroccan authorities captured quickly the killers involved directly in the appalling double murder. Aged between 25 and 33, the killers pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in a video made a week before their crime. Moroccan investigators believe the main defendants acted on their own initiative, despite their allegiance to the ISIS terror group. They had no contact with the jihadist group in conflict zones. According to Moroccan authorities, the killers had headed to the Imlil area with the intention of committing a crime but without prior selection of their target. 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. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines pushed ahead Wednesday with an attempt to cut retirement benefits to Indian Health Service pediatrician Stanley Patrick Weber, who sexually assaulted Blackfeet children. The Republican senator for Montana questioned Assistant Surgeon General Michael D. Weahkee on Wednesday about Indian Health Services handling of reports against Weber. The questions came as the assistant surgeon general appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to make his case for the IHS 2020 budget. After the hearing Daines introduced a bill to cut off retirement benefits for federal workers convicted of on-the-job child sexual assault. Despite numerous reported suspicions of Webers inappropriate behavior, IHS turned a blind eye and enabled Weber to continue his unspeakable actions for years, Daines said. IHS failed to protect the children they were entrusted to care for. Accountability must be demanded. In January, Weber was convicted by a U.S. District Court in Great Falls of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and two counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all felonies. The charges stem from his 1993 to 1995 employment as an Indian Health Service pediatrician on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Working in Browning, Weber engaged in sex with a boy younger than 12 and attempted to have sex with another boy younger than 16, according to prosecutors. 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. The Daines bill denying benefits to federal employees convicted of child sexual abuse would apply to future offenses committed by any federal worker. As Weahkee indicated in his testimony Wednesday, denying benefits retroactively for child sexual abuse is legally difficult. Its shocking that a government employee can still receive a pension after being convicted of sexually abusing children, Daines said. "That is unacceptable, which is why Im going to be taking action introducing that bill today to fix this very flawed system. In February, the Trump administration announced that it was creating a task force to investigate how Weber managed to sexually assault children within IHS. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 WASHINGTONWhile constitutional lawyers, ethicists and theologians in descending order of importance in the abortion debate have been arguing in the 46 years since the Supreme Court attempted to settle the debate, some technologists have been making a consequential contribution to it. They have developed machines that produce increasingly vivid sonograms of fetal development. This concreteness partially explains the intensification of the debate. Six states have passed "heartbeat bills" to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, approximately six weeks after conception. Such bills are, indeed, unconstitutional given the court's Roe ukase that abortion cannot be restricted before a fetus is viable outside the womb which means, presumably, before the fetus is a child. But why should "viability" be the dispositive criterion? Viable means capable of surviving outside the womb, which no infant can do without constant help that others must give. Must. No infants are "viable" in that all are helpless, and the law requires that help be given by those responsible for the infant. A New York Times editorial (Dec. 28, 2018) opposing the idea that "a fetus in the womb has the same rights as a fully formed person" spoke of these living fetuses that they are living is an elementary biological fact, not an abstruse theological deduction as "clusters of cells that have not yet developed into viable human beings." Now, delete the obfuscating and constitutionally irrelevant adjective "viable," and look at a sonogram of a ten-week fetus. Note the eyes and lips, the moving fingers and, yes, the beating heart. Is this most suitably described as a "cluster of cells" or as a baby? The cluster-of-cells contingent resembles Chico Marx in the movie "Duck Soup": "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" The "heartbeat bills" are wholesome provocations: One of their aims is to provoke thinking about the moral dimension of extinguishing a being with a visibly beating heart. Furthermore, pro-life people are being provoked in different ways. Last month, Kansas' Supreme Court found in this from the state constitution "All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" a reason to overturn the state's ban on D&E (dilation-and-evacuation) abortions that involve dismemberment of the living fetus. In February, after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order to enforce taxpayer-funded abortions, Democratic legislators decided that not even that was enough. They introduced a bill to create a right to abortion for any reason at any point in a pregnancy, a bill similar to legislation enacted or advancing in other Democratic-controlled states. In February, all but three Democratic U.S. senators opposed, thereby killing, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse's Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act that would have required, in the rare cases in which a child survives a botched abortion procedure, that the survivor receive the standard professional care that would be given to any child born alive at the same gestational age. The 1850s debates that propelled Abraham Lincoln to greatness concerned not whether slavery should be abolished forthwith, which was neither a constitutional nor political possibility. Rather, the debates concerned two other questions: Would national policy stigmatize slavery as a tragic legacy and a moral wrong? And: Would policy confine slavery to its existing dominion by banning it from the territories, thereby, Lincoln thought, putting it on a path to ultimate extinction? Temperate pro-life advocates, practicing Lincolnian prudence, consider the abortion debate akin to the slavery debates for three reasons: Abortion shrinks the scope of the concept of personhood. The issue has been inflamed by judicial fiat (Roe v. Wade as Dred Scott v. Sandford). And confining a morally objectionable practice is a worthy, albeit not fully satisfying, objective. The changed composition of the Supreme Court, and the supposed imminent danger that Roe will be overturned, is the excuse that pro-abortion extremists have seized upon to do what they want to do anyway: to normalize extreme abortion practices expressive of the belief that never does fetal life have more moral significance than a tumor in a mother's stomach. (Most European nations restrict abortions by at least week 13. France and Germany are very restrictive after 12, Sweden after 18.) The court's new composition has encouraged some pro-life advocates in their maximum hope, that Roe can be overturned, which would not proscribe abortion but would restore its pre-1973 status as a practice states can regulate. This is not a foreseeable possibility; a more nuanced abortion regime is. George Will is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who writes for the Washington Post and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC. His columns appear in print on the Missoulian Opinion page each Sunday. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A few months ago, in the middle of a spate of anti-Semitic propaganda and vandalism in Missoula, a friend of mine in the Jewish community I also belong to came to me to tell me she received a message from a professional who was in a meeting at Hellgate High School where it was revealed some sort of anti-Semitic drawing had happened and Hellgate administration was trying to keep it under wraps and not tell parents. After being pressured, the Hellgate principal finally released an ambiguous email to Hellgate parents but never mentioned the act was anti-Semitic in nature, only saying that it was some graffiti. After some internal Jewish community discussion, many of us wrote or called Hellgate and the district offices and one of our rabbis went and spoke with Hellgates principal. Between the initial incident several months prior, and our visits and letters, no action on the part of Hellgate or the district took place. While we waited for a response, another anti-Semitic incident occurred at Hellgate High School. And this last week the response came. Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Thane released a letter giving lip service to safety, concern and inclusivity, but no plan of action, no mention of a course to educate students further, and didnt even include this statement to the district students. In fact, the only tangible action that we know will come of any of this is perhaps policy that give school administrators cover to keep further incidents under wraps; in other words, the school wont even bother to tell us if this happens again. A nothing sandwich. I guess doing absolutely nothing isnt exactly like giving a green light to such behaviors and our public institutions are not here for us to shape public discourse and our social fabric, right? We shouldnt count on our schools to help educate and broaden our childrens horizons and minds, right? Its not like some drawings are going to lead to someone walking into a synagogue and shooting it up or anything, right? I emerged from another Sabbath to read and learn about the murders in the synagogue in San Diego. The Third Reich happened because people in a position to do something did nothing. They made a lot of nothing sandwiches. We have a Chabad center right here in Missoula. The only people who dont think It cant happen here are the Jewish community of Montana. We just read last week, in our three-thousandth or so Passover: In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us. None of this is a surprise for me, even the school district blowing this off. I simply write so we are not lying to ourselves about who we are as a community and a society. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who is missing some fingers shot off by someone who likely first started drawing swastikas back in high school, has made his recommendation to our country: educate the hate. The school district can do three things today: write a clear policy statement regarding zero tolerance to anti-Semitic remarks or graffiti in the schools and ensure the students are instructed in this policy, create some sort of educational program discussing hate of religions or people of minorities, make a policy statement that they recognize swastikas on walls is a warning sigh of something more insidious, is very alarming to the Jewish community, and see it as a potential danger for our children and those families will be notified when such anti-Semitic acts occur, instead of policy that hides those events. Robert Retallick is the father of students in the Missoula County Public Schools district, an activist and Sephardic Jew in Missoula. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In 1972, the Montana Supreme Court decided its most important case ever: Cashmore ex rel. Montana v. Anderson. The court resolved a disputed election and held that Montana voters had approved a new state constitution. However, new findings suggest the constitution actually failed of ratification. When I served as chairman of Montanans for Better Government during the 1990s, many people told me that the Cashmore decision was wrong even corrupt. At the time I dismissed those claims as tinfoil hat conspiracy stuff. But in 2007 I read the courts opinion and dissent for the first time. They raised such serious questions that I checked to see if other scholars had analyzed the case. I found it mostly surrounded by silence. I contacted the primary legal journal at the University of Montana law school, for which Id written several times previously. I proposed an investigation of the Cashmore case and its surrounding circumstances. The editors rejected my proposal as too controversial. Other work forced me to defer the project. But last year I finally began an investigation into the case and the events surrounding it. The results were recently published in the "British Journal of American Legal Studies," which unlike most legal journals, is edited professionally and peer reviewed. Here is some of what I learned: The 1972 constitution is often advertised as a purely Montana project. In fact, it was a local episode in a national campaign to replace state constitutions with charters that were more flexible (i.e., afforded government more power). This campaign was supported in part by federal dollars. It failed in some states, such as Texas, but succeeded in others, such as Illinois and Montana. The adoption process in Montana was clearly tainted. Advocates improperly dipped into government resources to promote their cause. They persuaded the legislature to create two successive tax-funded commissions that distributed highly biased information. They also used government money to prepare pro-constitution campaign material. Moreover, advocates manipulated the ballot language and other aspects of the 1972 constitutional referendum. For example, Montanans overwhelmingly favored the death penalty. The official ballot inaccurately suggested to voters that only if they approved the new constitution would Montana continue to have a death penalty. Even more troubling was how the referendum results were treated. The universally understood standard for approval was a yes vote by a majority of everyone who participated in the special election, no matter which of its four issues they voted on. Officials and the press told citizens repeatedly that they could vote no on the constitution by abstaining on that question. The certified returns showed that the constitution had failed the universally understood standard. Many who cast ballots on other issues had decided to vote no on the constitution by abstaining. However, Gov. Forrest Anderson, relying on the fact that there were more explicit yes votes than explicit no votes, proclaimed the document ratified. In doing so, he overrode objections from the states chief election officer and a member of his own party Secretary of State Frank Murray. Dr. William Cashmore of Helena and Stanley Burger of Bozeman challenged Andersons proclamation in the Montana Supreme Court. A factual question soon arose. Basic judicial standards required a hearing on the factual question. But the justices never held one. In the initial vote in chambers, the five justices apparently split 2-3 against the constitution. At some point later, a justice flipped. (Most witnesses suggest it was John C. Harrison, but there is some internal evidence for Frank Haswell.) There is credible although not decisive evidence of improper political pressure on the swing justice, resulting in the court upholding the constitution 3-2. The full article is available at https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/Cashmore-final.pdf. It includes links to all relevant documents, so you can read them for yourself. Rob Natelson served as professor of law at the University of Montana for 24 years, and now is Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Five Valleys Audubon's last monthly meeting before summer break will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, May 13, in the Gallagher Business Building Room 123, UM. Jo Ramundo will present "Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Through the Eyes of a Budding Naturalist." Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, located in southern New Mexico, was established in 1939 to provide a refuge and breeding grounds for migratory and other birds and to develop wintering grounds for Greater and Lesser Sandhill Cranes, which were then endangered. The presentation will introduce you to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, including some of the birds and animals that live there, the Crane Festival, and a bit about the volunteer experience. For more information visit the Five Valleys Audubon website at fvaudubon.org. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 " " If you want to protect some of your assets, you'll want to start planning long before youre at the center of bankruptcy proceedings. DNY59/Getty Images Just as winter set in, your health took a hit. The flu had you feverish and bedridden, hugging a box of tissues and whimpering for days. In the moments you felt coherent enough to have a complete thought, you wondered why you avoided getting a flu shot. Perhaps you should get one now, even though it wouldn't do you a bit of good. Getting a flu shot while you have the flu makes little sense. And so does planning to protect your assets after you've already entered into bankruptcy. Think of asset protection planning as a way to legally preserve many of the things you own so that creditors can't take them from you. If you begin to gift assets or move cash after you have filed bankruptcy, or in some cases, the 12 months before filing bankruptcy, you could be hit by the "fraudulent transfer" law. Advertisement The key is to start asset protection early, long before you're at the center of bankruptcy proceedings. This way, your actions won't be viewed as fraudulent or in contempt of court. You'll also want to seek counsel from a bankruptcy attorney before beginning any course of action [source: Adkisson]. Some of your assets are already exempt, which means they cannot be used to repay creditors. These exemptions vary by federal and state bankruptcy law, but in general include a home or vehicle. If the property is not exempt, you'll want to formulate an asset protection plan. Asset protection plans can become complicated and will, like anything else related to bankruptcy, have their day in court. You or your attorney will need to be able to explain the details so the protected assets can remain protected, and the requirements can vary by state. In Nevada, for example, asset protection could mean that instead of surrendering to creditors the money in your savings account, you used it to pay off your car loan; the state doesn't allow you to protect cash, but does allow you to exempt $15,000 in vehicle equity. According to federal bankruptcy code, no matter which state you live in, an individual retirement account (IRA) is protected during bankruptcy. You could contribute up to $1 million to your IRA and it would remain off limits. Unfortunately, you can only contribute to an IRA at the rate of $3,000 per year, so this plan could take awhile. However, if you are rolling money into an IRA from an employer-sponsored retirement account, you can usually transfer the full amount, even if it is more than $3,000 [source: Harelik]. In general, your asset protection plan may include using money in your bank accounts (which are often not exempt) to do the following [source: Asatryan]: Make additional payments on your mortgage in states with significantly generous homestead exemptions Purchase personal property that is exempt, such as a car, clothes, furniture or essential household items (the exemption amounts vary by state) Purchase life insurance Make extra payments on nondischargeable debts like student loans or child support Commissioners have confirmed Levi Davenport as a probationary member of the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department despite claims that county Chief Executive Dave Palmer skipped over several higher-qualified candidates. The council voted 9-2 Wednesday night to OK Palmers choice of Davenport and Thomas Bolton as firefighters, but not before Commissioner Jim Fisher reiterated concerns about the way Davenports job offer came about. Fisher abstained from the confirmation vote and Michele Shea and Bill Andersen said they had serious concerns about the way the hiring process was handled and voted against confirmation. All other commissioners voted to approve the candidates. Fisher said the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Commission, as well as Assistant Fire Chief Brian Doherty and four battalion chiefs, had serious questions and concerns about the process and commissioners were obligated to explore them. We can either put our heads in the sand as if nothing happened or we could respond, Fisher said. All five members of the Fire Commission, which screens and ranks candidates wanting to work for the Fire Department, have suggested that Palmer passed over several more-qualified applicants and picked Davenport because County Attorney Eileen Joyce was his mother-in-law. Doherty and the four battalion chiefs, in a recent letter, didnt go that far but said Palmer had not followed hiring practices spelled out in local ordinances. Palmer has said Davenport was qualified and he had legitimate reasons for skipping over others, including that Davenport was from Butte. Palmer initially said a man from Helena was hired as a firefighter here a couple of years ago and was given extensive, expensive training but within a year had returned to Helena. As it turns out, the man was a firefighter here for nearly four years. But Palmer has said the job offer to Davenport had nothing to do with his being Joyces son-in-law and in the end, the choice was his to make. Palmer said Wednesday night that all the candidates on the list the Fire Commission gave him were qualified and an outside attorney had determined he was on firm legal footing. I take this job seriously, Palmer said. I looked at each and every one of the candidates. I made my choice and I got a legal opinion by an outside attorney saying I did everything properly and followed the laws. Fire Chief Jeff Miller, who had not commented publicly on the controversy since it recently became public, said he didnt do so out of cowardice. He was silent, he said, because he does not have a direct role in the hiring process, Palmer is his boss and he knew he would be introducing the candidates to the council. He also said members of the Fire Commission were dedicated to that duty and Doherty and the battalion chiefs had his back. Before he introduced Davenport and Bolton, he said, They are welcome in our family. When the confirmation tally was announced, many in the audience applauded and several firefighters in uniform shook Davenports hand in the hallway and welcomed him aboard. Several commissioners said last week that they wanted more information on the matter, but some also said it was Palmers prerogative to choose who he wanted. Also last week, Butte attorney William Joyce, who is Eileen Joyces brother, sent a letter to Council Chairman John Morgan saying he represented Davenport, he was a fine young man and commissioners needed to respect his privacy rights and treat him fairly. When the controversy became public, Davenport told the Standard it was unfortunate how events had played out. When I was offered the job, I was really honored and pretty excited about it, he said then. If I do get the opportunity to be hired on, I will continue to work hard and be the best I can. I have put a lot of hard work into this, and all I can do is my best. Love 4 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 13 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday promised millions of Euros in new German aid to support the G5-sahel countries in their fight against terrorism, while a French Senator, Nathalie Goulet, pleaded for a Marshall plan for West Africa. The Chancellor who started Wednesday a visit to Burkina Faso, part of a West Africa tour that will also take her to Mali and Niger promised Burkina Faso more than 20 million, shortly after meeting Burkina Fasos President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in the capital, Ouagadougou. She also pledged an additional 60 million to the merger of the G5 Sahel countries which include Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad. Merkel also plans to offer a 35 million German aid to Niger to stimulate private investment in the region. She said her countrys aid seeks to support development projects as well as the outfitting and training of police officers in Burkina Faso and Niger. Africa needs a self-supporting economy, Merkel told reporters in Burkina Faso after she attended a summit with presidents from the countries making up the G5 Sahel. The summit discussed the G5s counter-terrorism forces and how they can work more efficiently in the region. A meeting gathering the Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministers of the G-5 Sahel group and the European Union is scheduled for May 15. Although the counter-terrorism force was formed in 2014, it has not yet become fully operational, with observers saying that the 5,000-soldier force still has a lot of work to do to establish itself in the region. Wednesdays visit to Ouagadougou is the first official visit by a German chancellor to Burkina Faso since the country gained independence in 1961. Previously, Merkel has met with President Kabore in Berlin in March 2017 and February 2019. According to Kabores office, the meetings of the Chancellor in the West African nation will focus on strengthening cooperation in various sectors including agriculture, resource management, gender issues, and terrorism. After her visit to Ouagadougou, Merkel is to visit this Thursday the around 850 German soldiers stationed in Gao, Mali, as part of the UN peacekeeping mission there. She also plans to visit Niger during the trip. Germany and the European Union have taken in an increased interest in West Africa in recent years, and are pushing to improve the security and economic situation in the Sahel region. Poverty and conflicts in the area have displaced millions of people and are some of the main drivers of migration to Europe, not to speak of the fact that disenchanted youths are easy prey to terrorist networks. In another development, Nathalie Goulet, a member of the Senate of France, argued in a column published earlier this week by arabnews.com that countering terrorism in West Africa must become a priority for any democratic nation interested in combating extremism. The lack of financial and military leadership has led to a mess of a plan and a potentially dangerous leadership taking over. Throwing a minimal amount of money and military resources at this issue is not enough a regional problem may quickly become global if firm, thorough actions are not taken now, she pointed out, calling the international community to launch a strong development plan. If we want to fight against illegal migration and if we want to secure West Africa, all contributors, including the IDB, should work together with the UN on agreeing a road map. We need a Marshall Plan for West Africa. A lot has been done but, in this unpredictable world, far more is needed, the French senator argued. Africa is our future, as we say in Europe, but if we dont put in enough energy the misery of conflict will continue and the continent will lack development, she stated, urging Europe to put West Africa at the top of its priorities, together with its allies and friends in the Gulf. May 18, 1954-April 28, 2019 Ken Moe, age 64, of Butte, Montana died April 28, 2019, surrounded by loved ones. No one will ever forget his smile or larger than life attitude. He leaves behind a big hole in all our lives. Kenny was born in Butte on May 18, 1954, to Reuben and Elsie Moe. He attended and graduated high school from Butte Central. He then moved to Wyoming where he began working for a mine and met his former wife, Jamie Linder. In 1978, Ken and Jamie were married and went on to have three children, Denise, Jacob, and Brian. The family moved to Tooele, UT where Kenny went to work for Fletchers Cobre Tire. He worked there for many years, creating friendships that have lasted years. He then went into the cattle auction industry and purchased Montana Livestock Auction. When that endeavor ended he started his own tire company and continued with that until his death. In each of his endeavors, Kenny made lifelong friends and always had a smile. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was his children and grandchildren. They were his world. He leaves his behind his daughter Denise and her husband Shawn Smith of Butte; son Jacob Moe of Butte, and son Brian Moe and his wife Holly of Missoula. He leaves his mother, Elsie Dallavalle Moe of Stansbury Park, UT. He also leaves a sister, Jacquie and her husband Larry Keifer of Salt Lake, UT, brother Kevin and wife Jeannie of Spring Creek, NV, brother Randy of Spring Creek, NV, brother Jerry and wife Char of Spring Creek, NV, and brother Rick and his wife Julie of Butte. His grandchildren Alexus Stevens, Tyse Stevens, Bridger Smith, Keelie Moe, Josh Bacon, Hannah Moe, and Nora Moe. He also leaves behind his Aunt, Aileen Scott, and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Reuben Moe, and his baby sister Lenea. Relatives and friends may call from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Friday in St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, located at 1500 Majors Avenue, for visitations. Parish Vigil services will be conducted at 6:00 PM. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 am in St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. Rite of Committal will follow in Holy Cross Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers memorials are suggested to the Butte Rescue Mission. At the start of the legislative session, I delivered my fourth and final State of the State address. I shared my optimism that in Montana we can still be a shining example of how our political system is supposed to work and that as elected leaders we should base our decisions not only on todays needs, but with an eye toward improving the Montana our kids and grandkids future legislators and governors will inherit. That optimism was proven out in the 66th Montana Legislative Session. Nearly every proposal I asked the legislative body to take seriously made it to my desk. Republicans and Democrats came together to do a job for Montanans, and it was done right. For our education system: We have once again put a freeze on college tuition, preventing an increase for 28,000 Montana students and their families. We will no longer be the only state in the nation that doesnt provide state-funded, need-based financial aid for students and adult learners. And we will be making an increased investment of $77 million over the next two years into our K-12 schools. For Montanans health care: We reauthorized Medicaid expansion, preserving access to physical and mental health care for nearly 1 in 10 of our states population, while also preserving jobs, our economy, and our rural hospitals. We passed laws to tackle skyrocketing prescription drug costs, and for the Montanans who receive health coverage on the individual marketplace, we created a state reinsurance program to lower premiums by 10-20%. For our economy: We have finally broken the logjam. Instead of passing on crumbling infrastructure to our kids, we will put shovels to dirt and create good-paying jobs. We will invest in water and sewer systems, bridges and more all across the state. Romney Hall at Montana State University will be renovated to benefit thousands of students, while we share with visitors our proud Montana history through a new Montana Heritage Center. And we will continue essential economic development tools that have helped over 15,000 small businesses expand their footprint and supported more than 12,000 jobs. For our Tribal nations: We passed a package of legislation, including Hannas Act, to report, investigate and address the missing and murdered Indigenous women epidemic. Were again providing funding to preserve our Native languages, and so too our culture and rich history. And in two years when the Legislature convenes again, the flags of our Tribal nations will be on permanent display on our Capitol grounds. For our firefighters: After a nearly two-decade fight, our firefighters will finally be getting the protections for job-related illnesses they and their families deserve. For our elections: Montanans can rest assured that the source of spending flowing into our elections isnt coming from foreign countries or foreign entities. Other states across the nation have tried to outlaw foreign money from their elections in recent years, but they havent gotten it done. In Montana this session, we did. Of all the work accomplished, however, we do leave the session with a missed opportunity. The Legislature failed to invest in high-quality preschool. There are over 1,400 kids across the state who wont be able to enter a preschool classroom next year and wont have this opportunity to build on the foundational skills needed to succeed in school and in life. There are nearly 100 classrooms around the state at risk, teachers who could lose their jobs, and parents who wont be able to participate in the workforce without a quality childcare option. Quality preschool and the lifelong benefits of early childhood education ought not be only for the families who can afford it. I call on our future leaders who convene again in 2021 to find a way to get a permanent, publicly funded preschool program done for this state, once and for all. The Legislature has now left town, but my work is not yet done. Over the coming weeks, I will be reviewing the nearly 300 bills headed to my desk that legislative leadership didnt deliver over the last month. I will be making careful decisions to keep my promise to Montanans that we do not spend more than we take in and that we are left with a meaningful reserve for a rainy day. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do and I will make sure of it. I walked into my last session as governor hopeful and determined. I share that same sentiment today and know that Montanans can be pleased by the hard work of those legislators who made it not about political wins and losses, but instead about putting forth meaningful legislation. The work weve done this session will have a positive and lasting impact on Montanas future and remain an example to the nation of how to govern. Gov. Steve Bullock is serving his second term in office as the state's chief executive. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The slap of a beavers tail against water is one of the most unique and startling sounds in nature. As the largest rodent in North America, beavers have evolved exceptionally well to their environment, gnawing through willows and trees to create the dams and lodges that mark their territory. Their altering of waterways impacts numerous other fish and wildlife as well. It was looking for answers to the questions of how beavers select habitat, and what humans might do to encourage them to colonize, that earned Torrey Ritter his masters degree from Montana State University last year. Now a nongame biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Ritter and others radio-tagged 55 beavers in southwest Montana to track their movements and learn more about what appeals to the animals when they search for new habitat. There were two main components: following them through the dispersal process, looking at new habitats they want, but also the trials and tribulations it takes to start a new colony, he said. Theres significant interest in using beavers in (wetland) restoration, establishing them in areas theyve not been in, and we wanted to figure out how they select new sites in the wild. While beavers removing trees and causing flooding may damage infrastructure in some cases, they play the role of habitat creators for a variety of wildlife while also altering streams to provide water storage and recharge groundwater. We were doing beaver surveys and I started to realize theres a huge number of species we were only seeing in beaver habitat, Ritter said, which included varieties of waterfowl, songbirds, shore birds and amphibians. They really create a diverse habitat and (create) all those little ecological niches. The benefits beavers can bring have renewed an interest across the West in reintroducing them. Rules vary across states but transplants have been more rare in Montana due in part to the strictness of regulations, Ritter said. Beavers are managed as furbearers in Montana and can be trapped for much of the year, although regulations vary from the eastern and western part of the state, said Bob Inman, FWP Carnivore-Furbearer Program coordinator. "Most people in the department I think would agree that we have beaver where they fit on the landscape, even though we do have what is undeniably a liberal season," he said. As more is known about their ecological role in shaping waterways and even making landscapes more resilient to drought and climate change, FWP has received increasing questions and requests to transplant beavers to new areas. Theres a lot of interest, and peoples first reaction is to start moving beaver everywhere, and thats not the solution, Inman said. If the willows arent there, theyre going to move, and if the structures arent there to prevent flooding theyre likely to get removed. So the benefits that beaver can provide is not a matter of moving beaver, its a matter of preparing the habitat to have beaver come naturally. Ritter and others found through the research that when beavers do migrate from their home range they prefer to take up residence in areas already modified by beavers. In areas beavers have not previously occupied, building artificial structures such as lodges or dams can keep beavers from quickly leaving the area. They would much rather settle in an area already manipulated by beavers, Ritter said. So were making the argument based on that observation that if you want beavers to settle, build fake lodges and change the stream from suboptimal habitat. Beavers can move a surprisingly long way, even across land. As they start dispersing most settle within a few miles but often move as far as 50 miles an Alaskan study even tracked a beaver for 186 miles. The longest dispersal in the southwest Montana study was 27 miles while one of the tracked beavers made nearly 15-mile nightly journeys. "The main takeaways are that beavers are really good at dispersing and finding habitat to occupy, and areas without beavers may not indicate there are not enough beavers but that habitat may not be readily available," Ritter said. Mapping the potential for beaver habitat is the goal of the Montana Natural Heritage Program through the University of Montana and Montana State Library. There, analysts are working on the Montana Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool, or BRAT, to examine drainages ability to support beavers. Beaver habitat parameters are really well known, said Linda Vance, the projects senior ecologist. The model has a number input: reliable water source, vegetation suitable for dam building, vegetation suitable for food, not too wide. The tool will provide useful information to biologists as streams may meet most but not all criteria. For example, drainages lacking vegetation could provide opportunities for those artificial dams and lodges. Utah State University spearheaded the efforts to map the potential of beaver habitat in that state. The program in Montana, which Vance said is going through final development, is an offshoot of the Utah program. This kind of modeling is going on across the West with the increasing recognition that beavers capture water and store it for subsequent downstream use, she said. We once saw beavers as blocking water flows, but as weve learned more theres been a lot of interest. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 WAPELLO A stalled effort to amend the Louisa County flood plain ordinance is moving forward again, new zoning administrator Bruce Hudson reported Tuesday to the Louisa County Board of Supervisors. Hudson began serving April 1 as the Louisa County zoning administrator, after Louisa County contracted with Rural Utility Service Systems (RUSS), Mount Pleasant, for its zoning services. Hudson also serves as the executive director for RUSS. Hudson told the supervisors he had met a few weeks ago with an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) official concerning the ordinance amendment. The official, Jason Conn, had reported meeting about 18 months earlier with former zoning administrator Paul Choi and presenting the proposed amendment at that time to Choi, Hudson reported. According to Hudson, the amendment was similar to what other counties had also received from the DNR, but progress on adopting the amendment had not progressed after Conn presented Choi with the proposal. I sent (county auditor) Sandi (Elliott) a work copy and Ill leave this copy here, he told the supervisors as he distributed a copy of the proposed amendment. Learning how to code is a popular hobby among tech-minded people who want to learn valuable new skills that can help them in the job market. However, South African school learners are only provided with the opportunity to learn coding from Grade 10 onwards, through the Information Technology subject choice. President Cyril Ramaphosa recently said that he wants to change this by making coding compulsory at all schools. Deputy Minister of Communications Pinky Kekana has echoed this belief. Once we start teaching our children coding from an early age, it will give them the skills to participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, said Kekana. BusinessTech reported that coding as a subject will be piloted at 1,000 schools across five provinces in 2020. The Department of Basic Education has trained 43,774 teachers in computer skills and will begin training teachers for the new coding curriculum from June 2019. Quality coding education needed Tom Waspe, a Sessional Educational Technology lecturer at Wits School of Education, told MyBroadband that South Africa is straggling behind the rest of the world when it comes to coding education. Most schools in the developed world teach coding and robotics from an early age as do many in the developing world. South Africa is certainly lagging behind. He believes that the introduction of an effective coding and robotics curriculum in South Africa will help to prepare young people for the future. The benefits offered by a well-designed coding curriculum are not limited to the physical act of coding, added Waspe, but extend to important life skills such as problem-solving, creativity, sequential thinking, and determination. Big risk of failure However, Waspe cautions that to achieve these benefits, five key prerequisites need to be fulfilled. There has to be a coherent and high-quality curriculum in place for coding and robotics which includes appropriate pedagogical and assessment strategies. Schools must have fully functional and appropriate hardware technologies and resources which should include internet connected PCs, laptops and tablets on a one learner to one device basis. Coding has to be done on some software platform or application which also has to be part of the focus of the curriculum. The teaching and learning of coding has to take place in effective and well-functioning school contexts. Most importantly, the teaching and learning of coding requires teachers who are able to teach it. If these five conditions are not met simultaneously then the teaching and learning of coding and robotics will be a disastrous failure, said Waspe. Waspe is particularly skeptical of how ready South African teachers are to facilitate coding education in schools. For coding and robotics to be effective and functioning, schools need to be effective and functioning, he said. If coding and robotics is introduced into schools that are not ready and which are dysfunctional it will simply exacerbate the dysfunctionality of the school as a whole. Piloting coding in schools Waspe claimed that the 1,000 school pilot is in fact not a pilot, but instead a fully-fledged programme. If it is not preceded by a high-quality rigorous pilot, the roll-out to 1,000 schools will be an abysmal failure, Waspe warns. He added that a true pilot programme would entail introducing coding and robotics into a handful of schools at most. The government has some large-scale educational technology programme roll-outs from the past and present to learn from and draw on and none of these programmes, which have cost the tax payer billions and billions of Rands, have been a success, said Waspe. There is the Gauteng Online project, the Western Cape Khanya project and the Gauteng smartboard and tablet paperless classroom project, he said. Unless the rollout of technologies and the teaching and learning of coding and robotics learns from the mistakes of the past, unless appropriate and rigorous pilot studies are done before a mass rollout is done, and unless the five basic school conditions are met then one can only assume that the introduction of coding and robotics will be another failed feather in the governments cap. Now read: Starting a software development company in South Africa I'm with the NPP to help ... With her two legs and uncanny powers of articulation, Sylvia is not your typical dog and Sylvia is not your typical play. A.R. Gurneys comedy features a human actress playing an eager-to-please stray mutt who upends the lives of Greg and Kate, an empty-nest couple whove recently moved to Manhattan. UpStage Napa Valleys production of Sylvia, opening Friday, May 10 at Grace Episcopal Church, stars Alexis Forni as Sylvia, Fred Ireland as Greg, and Megan Whyte as Kate, whos exasperated by the puppy love developing between Sylvia and her husband. The play continues Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through May 26. Friday, May 10 is sold out. Its a smart, witty, funny play, said Jack Stuart, who plays a sketchy fellow dog owner with a New Yawk accent who meets Greg and Sylvia at a dog park. Its about a love triangle, except that in one corner theres a dog. "It's the most challenging play I've ever done," said Ireland, performing in his 10th show with UpStage Napa Valley. "I have two women onstage -- one's my wife and one's my pet. ... It's also an emotional play for me because I'm an animal lover." Early scenes show Sylvia making herself at home on the couch, sitting on command, sniffing a nonplussed Kate, prancing around after a grooming session, and using human speech to express unmistakably canine sentiments like When do we eat? and I love you I think youre God (to Greg). The play premiered off-Broadway in 1995, with Sarah Jessica Parker playing Sylvia. Forni, who last appeared in UpStage Napa Valleys 2018 production of Clever Little Lies, said the role challenges her to mimic doglike mannerisms without surrendering her essential humanness. "I have to be a dog but also be a human at the same time," Forni said. "It's a chance to be silly and approach things with the innocence and wonder that an animal would have." Forni played Snoopy when she was 11, so this is technically her second canine performance. She prepared for this one by observing real dogs, including her sister's new puppy and Renault's poodle, Duchess. Sylvias anthropomorphized antics imagine her reaction when Greg or Kate say the word outside account for many of the plays laughs, but the production also explores more serious territory with its human characters. Greg is experiencing a classic midlife crisis. His relationship with Sylvia gives him the love and sense of purpose he craves, in contrast to the cold abstraction of his work as a banker dealing in currencies and money markets. Meanwhile, Kate wants to start her own career teaching Shakespeare to urban kids. Finally free to pursue her professional ambitions now that their children are grown, Kate sees Sylvia as an unwelcome burden and a rival for her husbands affection. "Kate is very excited about starting a career in the public classroom and she doesn't really want to be bothered with animals and tied down to a dog," said Whyte, adding that as a real-life animal lover she finds some of Kate's lines difficult to say. The play will naturally appeal to animal lovers, but the cast and crew think audiences in general will appreciate its humor and characterizations. For such an unconventional production, the rehearsal process has been smooth. Director Sharie Renault said the entire cast was off-book for the very first rehearsal, meaning the actors had already memorized their lines. Renault previously directed Sylvia in 2011, and she decided the time was right to do it again. I knew Alexis would be a dynamite dog, Renault said. The cast also includes Elizabeth Stokkebye as Phyllis, a socialite who shares Kates aversion to Sylvia, and Deborah Todd as Leslie, a psychiatrist who dispenses extremely bad advice. In keeping with the animal theme, UpStage Napa Valley is collaborating with Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch, We Care Animal Rescue and Wine Country Animal Lovers to feature adoptable pets at each performance. ("Sylvia" contains adult language and themes.) Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Photo: Amy Davis/TNS via Getty Images Baltimore mayor Catherine E. Pugh resigned on Thursday, her attorney said at a press conference, which she did not attend. The citys 50th mayor had been mired in scandal since March, when the Baltimore Sun revealed that, in 2011, she had sold her Healthy Holly childrens books to the University of Maryland Medical System for $500,000, and did not disclose the no-bid payment while she was a state senator. At the time, she also sat on the UMMS board of directors and did not recuse herself from votes involving the hospital system. Pughs resignation is effective immediately. On March 20, Pugh told the Sun that she had not distributed her books besides the 100,000 sold to UMMS over a period of several years. But it soon emerged that other health-care interests had paid for the books, including insurance company Kaiser Permanente, which purchased Healthy Holly titles while it sought a $48 million contract with Baltimore. (Books in the series, which include Exercising Is Fun! and Fruits Come in Colors Like the Rainbow, reportedly contain a number of copy errors despite their high price tag.) On April 1, Pugh announced that she was taking a leave of absence, citing a hospitalization for pneumonia. She had pledged to return to her position, until the FBI and IRS raided her home and City Hall office on April 25, revealing that both federal and state officials were investigating her actions. Pugh, 69, has been mayor since 2016, and served on the Baltimore City Council since 1999. Council President Bernard C. Jack Young has been at the helm of city government since Pugh announced her leave of absence, and will succeed her as mayor. Im sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor, Pugh wrote in her resignation letter. Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward. But as the Sun suggests, that might not be a given. Pugh is the second Baltimore mayor in a decade to resign while involved in a criminal investigation. Sheila Dixon, the mayor from 2007 to 2010, resigned after being indicted on 12 felony and misdemeanor counts related to her alleged misappropriation of gift cards intended for the citys poor. Over the past year, the entire campus of the Snow school in south Napa has been completely reconstructed from top to bottom. When the work is complete, the only thing left from the last version of Irene Snow Elementary School will be a single building, once used as a multipurpose room. Snow, which dates from the 1950s, is being moved off the West Napa Fault at a cost of $36 million. This hazard was discovered after the 2014 South Napa earthquake. Its going to be spectacular, Jay Leininger, a construction project representative, said of the new school that is scheduled to open to students for the 2019-20 school year. Its going great, said Michael Pearson, executive director of school planning and construction, maintenance and operations at the Napa Valley Unified School District. Its on time and on budget. Thats key. The reconstruction of Snow Elementary on Foster Road began in 2018 with prep work for the relocatable buildings that are being used as classrooms this school year. The majority of the work at the 10-acre parcel started at the end of June 2018. During construction, students are attending classes in the portable units that were installed down the hill from the original campus. On the other side of a fence, construction workers have been hard at work creating the students new school. Today, 21 new classrooms, a new multipurpose room with a theater space, an administration building and other improvements are in the finishing stages of construction. The project will be moving into a landscaping phase relatively soon, said Pearson. Were getting very excited, said Snow Principal Olivia McCormick. We just feel extremely privileged and lucky that our school is being rebuilt. The school will appreciate being able to spread out again, she said. During construction, the school camps was confined to a smaller than normal space. For months, the kids have been asking when the new campus will finally open, McCormick said. Its been a long year for them. The new Snow campus will also new parking, outdoor gathering space, play equipment, play fields and landscaping. Computer and library facilities will be located within the campus current multipurpose building. A new campus layout will provide for a single point of entry to the school. For security, after school starts, visitors will enter the school office for any access on campus. The school has more than 400 students in kindergarten-5th grades. In a 2018 interview, Jennifer Gibb, NVUSD facilities financial analyst, said the new school will provide the student/parent community with a campus consistent with a 21st century learning environment. Napa Valley Unified also planned to rebuild two other elementary schools due to their proximity to the West Napa Fault: Napa Junction in American Canyon and Stone Bridge in Napa. Voters passed Measure H, a $269 million bond issue, in 2016 that provides $100 million for rebuilding the three elementary schools. The bond also has funds to seismically upgrade another dozen school campuses. Work at Napa Junction elementary school is set to end in fall 2020. Work at Stone Bridge has yet to begin. At an April 25 school district board meeting, parents at Stone Bridge School asked the school district to devote more funds and show more urgency in protecting students against the next seismic shock. Improvements seem to have been put on hold, said one parent. Another parent voiced concern about how much money will be left by the time a firm plan for the school emerges especially with Measure H funds also being steered toward other uses ranging from a new American Canyon Middle School costing more than $53 million to a host of technology updates worth $27.9 million. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Weve all seen children, often very young children, hunched over from heavy book backpacks, shuffling along sidewalks just an hour or two after sunrise on their way to school. They look like zombies, and thats because Californias public schools often begin their classes so early in the morning that many of them have had much less sleep than their still-growing bodies demand. Sleep deprivation among children and adolescents is a public health calamity, as medical and scientific authorities have repeatedly warned. A state legislative staff report last year highlighted those warnings this way: The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are among the organizations and experts that have reported on the harm being done to the physical and emotional health of adolescents due to the sleep deprivation caused by such developmentally-misaligned school hours. Similarly, researchers report that academic success and school attendance is greatly improved by later starting school days. The recommendation made the American Academy of Pediatrics and supported by the AMA, CDC, and others states that no middle or high school should begin before 8:30 a.m. Other organizations add that no elementary school should begin before 8 a.m. The report was on Senate Bill 328, which would have directed school districts, with few exceptions, not to start middle and high school classes before 8:30. The unanimous medical support for later school start times helped the bills author, Sen. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Canada Flintridge, overcome opposition from powerful groups, including the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association. Why the opposition? Early classes are more convenient for teachers, allowing them to go home and tend to their own families needs. Many parents also like early start times because they can get their kids hustled off to school in time for adults to get to their own jobs. But whats convenient for adults is damaging to their children, and their usual argument that kids should just go to bed earlier conflicts with scientific evidence that adolescents circadian rhythms arent geared to earlier bedtimes. The result is that kids who need at least eight hours of sleep each night are getting six or even fewer and their sleep-deprived brains arent ready to learn early in the morning. Senate Bill 328 made it all the way to then-Gov. Jerry Browns desk last year, only to be vetoed. This is a one-size-fits-all approach thats opposed by teachers and school boards, Brown said in his veto message. Several schools have already moved to later start times. Others prefer beginning the school day earlier. These are the types of decisions best handled in the local community. It was a strange comment from someone who regularly castigated climate change skeptics for ignoring scientific evidence. But Brown was never a paragon of rhetorical consistency. Portantino has reintroduced his bill this year with the same number, SB 328. It faces its first hearing this week in the Senate Education Committee and indications are that its opponents, particularly the California Teachers Association, are taking no chances that Browns successor, Gavin Newsom, would sign the measure. They want to strangle it quickly and are putting pressure on senators who voted for SB 328 last year, particularly three Democratic members of the Education Committee, to reverse themselves. One of them is the committee chairwoman, Connie Leyva. CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary. The Migliavacca Wine Company is no longer merely part in Napa Valleys history. It has been officially revived by Katie Migliavacca and her business partner, winemaker Vincent Traverso. The new Migliavacca wines are being made in small lots and will be sold only through a website, launching on May 3, but this marks a renaissance of a significant part of the Napa wine story. Katie Migliavacca found the inspiration for this project in the life story of her great-great-grandfather, Giacomo Migliavacca. Born in Pavia, Italy in 1833, Giacomo was formally trained in viticulture at the University of Pavia. Before immigrating to America, he worked at his fathers cordial and liqueur manufacturing company in Pavia. By the 1860s, Migliavacca had arrived in Napa where he briefly worked in the grocery business. Giacomo also began to make wine during this time period and founded his Migliavacca Wine Company in 1866. Three years later, he received the first U.S. patent granted to a Napa County resident for his Wine Bottling and Corking Apparatus. About two decades later, in 1887, he significantly expanded his viticulture operation with the construction of his downtown Napa winery complex. It occupied the site of the present-day Napa County Library property bounded by Coombs, Division, Brown and Fifth streets. The Jan. 19, 1894 Napa Register provided more details. One of the most extensive and largest manufacturing enterprises in Napa. The cellars cover nearly a block....Giacomo Migliavaccas ambition is, and always has been, to create for his wine a reputation second to none. Also located on this site was the Migliavacca home. This Queen Ann-style residence was built in 1892 at the cost of $7,800. In the 1970s, the house was lifted from its original foundation onto a platform and parked along the riverbank to make way for the then-new library building. The mansion was eventually moved to its current location at the corner of Fourth and Even streets. During his lifetime, his business ventures created great wealth for him and his family. In 1911, at age 78, Giacomo passed away in Napa leaving behind his wife of many years, Madeline, and their 10 adult children. Four of their sons Henry, Joseph (AKA Guiseppe), Lawrence (Katies great grandfather) and Sero continued the family wine business until Prohibition began in 1920. At that time, they changed the business product and name to Colonial Grape Products Company, a wine grape juice company. They eventually sold it to an outside interest. The business complex burned down in July, 1924. Although Giacomos story is impressive, the revival of his winery enterprise has its own history that began during Katies childhood. She said, I remember looking at Giacomos portrait, pocket-watches and walking cane in my familys home and wanting to know more. But, what first caught my attention was the bottle of Migliavacca Wine Company wine, and especially its label. It was so cool. I really wanted to know everything about Giacomo, his life and company. This fifth-generation Napan was so determined to fulfill that quest she made her mother drive her to St. Helenas wine library. There, her ancestral roots began to unfold. Giacomo was such an important man in Napas early development and history, Katie said. It was so exciting to discover he not only had his winery and beautiful mansion but also the big stone commercial building (formerly at First and Brown Streets) and a second commercial block (still set along First Street near Randolph Street) as well as a financial firm. Katie said she had one nagging question I couldnt understand why no one in the generations before me ever tried to revive Migliavacca Wine Company. So, I decided someday I would be the one to do just that. Katie continued, The Migliavacca Wine Company revival is about history and heritage. Yes, it is about my family, but it is also about Napa and its history. So many people dont know Giacomos or his winerys story. When I tell them about Giacomo, his story, wine company and commercial buildings, they are blown away. My great-great-grandfather was an integral part of the fabric of Napa. Reviving Migliavacca Wine Company celebrates both my family and hometowns legacies. Her dream ebbed and flowed as she pursued her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and established her career in the property management field. However, in early 2016, her dream was reawakened with the discovery of a Napa Valley Register article about Giacomo and his downtown Napa winery. I really wanted to do something to revive Migliavacca Wine Company and pay tribute to Giacomo. Katie said. So I thought I would have some wine made and put the Migliavacca Wine Company label on the bottles for family and friends to celebrate Giacomo and his legacy. It would be a vessel for his impressive story. But, I needed a winemaker. In a matter of weeks, that problem was solved during a weekend at Lake Tahoe. Katie nearly turned down an invitation to join a friend and colleague, Pad McGinnis, his girlfriend and others for a get-away. The first person I met there was Vince, Katie said. After he read the Register piece, his love of history was obvious. Vince described my ancestors as Napa royalty and was very excited about the idea of reviving Migliavacca Wine Company. That meeting launched the renaissance of the family business 150 years after its original founding in 1866. Over the past three years, Katie and Traverso have rapidly moved forward to transform hernow theirdream into reality. They even have a small office in the Migliavacca mansion. We are so grateful to the property owners for making this happen, said Traverso. Katie added, It feels right, totally right. It feels like home to be there. Also, shortly after formerly establishing their LLC partnership, they harvested and crushed their first vintage of Sangiovese in 2016 from Atlas Peak vines. All of this was and is done on a shoe-string budget funded primarily by Katie. The winemaking was dependent upon Traverso. Born in Napa, Traverso grew up in the Deer Park area near St. Helena. Before leaving Napa Valley to work overseas for 10 years, Traverso had never worked in the local wine industry. Yet, in preparation to return home, Traverso chose winemaking as his new field. He received a degree in enology and viticulture through the Vinifera EuroMaster E.U. program. He attended Montpellier Sup Argo Bordeaux Sciences Argo in France and Universita di Verona in Italy to fulfill the program. With his degree in hand, Traverso returned to the Napa Valley. When Migliavacca Wine Company landed on my plate, it was like a big bag of candy for me because of its history and very long Napa Valley roots, he said. As stated before, I love history! I feel honored to contribute to a story with such roots, such a history. My goal is to stay true to Giacomos legacy, Traverso added. Thats why we decided to produce Italian varietal wines for our first release to honor his Italian roots. From his immigrant past, he really, really made an indelible mark on Napa. My greatest thrill is how many people still recognize the Migliavacca name. Its really nice that Migliavacca survived the ages. Authenticity never goes out of style. Since the 2016 harvest, Traverso has been creating other wines for the company. I am very excited for our wines to be released. It will be a sign of Migliavacca Wine Companys return as an important presence in Napa and Napa Valley. Weve experienced the normal hick-ups along the way. Were very thankful for the help of a lot of people like Kirk Venge and the Bartolucci family of Madonna Estates that have smoothed out those bumps. Traverso said. Soon, we will have some very fine wines to share. When released, the small production of the premiere Migliavacca Wine Company wines will be sold in triptychs, a 2016 Sangiovese, aged for 29 months; a 2017 Vermentino aged for 17 months and a 2018 Rosato, a blend of Barbera and Petite Sirah aged for five months. All three were aged in neutral French oak. When officially released, the first 150 triptychs will be sold at a special price of $99. For updates, additional information and to sign up for the for the approaching order reservation period notification, visit their website at www.migwine.com. This means everything to me, Katie said. I cant believe its happening as it doesnt feel real yet. I am so grateful to have met Vince and for his willingness to give his skills, talents and support to realizing my dream. Sometimes I think he is more excited and passionate about reviving Migliavacca Wine Company than I am! I am so thrilled to revive this piece of Napa history, to bring it full circle, Katie added. I hope my great-great-grandparents, Giacomo and Madeline, are smiling with approval. Myanmars all-powerful military Tatmadaw has announced extension of suspension period of all its military action against armed groups in five military command regions for two months. The office of the commander-in-chief of the defense services said in a statement that the suspension period was set to extend until June 30 this year. The move follows request from three rebel armies Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) to be able to support negotiations with those remaining non-ceasefire signatory armed groups to sign the Nationwide Cease Fire Accord (NCA). During the period, all military actions will be suspended in the northern, northeastern, eastern, middle-eastern and triangle military command areas. The decision of the Tatmadaw follows recent visits to China by both state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and army chief senior general Ming Aung Hlaing. The Chinese are pushing for a ceasefire in North Myanmar so that its companies can exploit resources and take up key projects on infrastructure and connectivity. Also read: China to grant 1 bn yuan for development projects in Myanmar If fighting continues between the rebel armies and Tatmadaw, all commercial and economic activities will be affected and the Chinese who have such a huge stake in North Burma cannot afford that. So, they are pushing both the government and the rebel armies to make peace, said a top Burmese military officer under condition of strict anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media. The Chinese have plans for eight hydro-electric projects in the rivers of North Myanmar and their traders eye the mines yielding precious stones like jade, ruby, yellow sapphire and key minerals like copper. Beijing is particularly keen on resuming the $ 3.6 billion Myitsone hydro-electric project that is designed to produce 6000MW of power, almost wholly for Chinese consumption. Huge mass protests have erupted in Kachin state against the project ahead of the China visits by Suu Kyi and Gen Aung Hlaing in anticipation of renewed Chinese pressure to resume the project. The previous government of Gen Thein Sein stopped the project after huge domestic protests and Western civil society support for them. 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, reports Reuters. The Taliban issued a statement saying the U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met the Talibans 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 Trumps efforts to end Americas 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. 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. This week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani convened a rare grand assembly known as the Loya Jirga to set out Kabuls conditions for peace talks with the Taliban. 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 Afghanistans legitimate representative in the peace talks. 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. 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. Diaspora Commissioner: More than 1.5 million people left Armenia in 30 years High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs: Armenia won't build relations with Turkey at expense of interests of nation High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs: Fifth Turkish Column is very active in Armenia Armenia High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs: We Armenians don't know our enemies well Biden administration welcomes 'small' steps toward diplomacy with Russia Blinken, Stoltenberg discuss NATO's 'dual-track approach' to Russia Armenia ruling faction MP: Talks in Brussels were discussed during meeting with PM Armenia Health Ministry responds to Constitutional Court's decision on COVID-19 testing Armenian High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs: Living in Armenia is safer than in developed countries Analyst shares information about growth of sales of Armenian wines Analyst: Artsakh wine export indicators have dropped Karabakh President: Presence of Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh needs to be guaranteed and termless Iraq calls for launch of direct talks between US and Iran Hayk Marutyan bids staff of Yerevan Municipality farewell Moscow State Institute of International Relations to introduce Armenian language courses Armenia PM: Digital processes should have daily practical significance for people Iran FM expresses willingness to assist Azerbaijan in restoring Karabakh's occupied territories Turkish vice-president tests positive for COVID-19 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 Attorney General William Barr testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images The most illuminating moment in William Barrs Senate testimony came when he elucidated the bizarre theory of presidential immunity that got him the job in the first place. If an investigation is based on false allegations, the president does not have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course, Barr explained. That is important, because most of the obstruction claims that are being made here, or episodes here, do involve the exercise of the presidents constitutional authority. And we do know now that he was being falsely accused. Wild from Barr: If the president feels a proceeding is unfounded, "the president does not have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course. The president could terminate the proceeding and it would not be a corrupt intent because he was being falsely accused." pic.twitter.com/SMpiIXia92 Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 1, 2019 This argument stacks several astonishing assumptions atop each other to produce a perverse conclusion. First, Trump could not possibly know that an investigation was unfounded, because it covered his entire campaign. Indeed, his first attempt to obstruct the inquiry came on behalf of Michael Flynn. Trump did not and could not know everything Flynn had done. He claims not to know much about the various contacts with Russia made by his subordinates, including the Trump Tower meeting. So the whole premise that Trump could know the investigation was groundless is not even a theoretically plausible description of his motives. Second, Mueller did not say Trump was innocent, and nothing about the report concludes he or his subordinates were falsely accused. The report simply notes Mueller did not establish crimes at the level of certainty needed to prove them in a court of law. But it left much of the underlying conduct unresolved exactly what Roger Stone said to WikiLeaks, or why Paul Manafort gave 75 pages of detailed polling to a Russian agent during the campaign, Mueller could not nail down. Barr at times discusses these conclusions with the legal standard of a court of law. At one point in the hearing, he denied ever having exonerated the president. But then he toggles into far broader language, declaring Trump innocent and all suspicions false. And third, Trumps obstruction was quite possibly one of the reasons Mueller failed to establish underlying crimes. The president dangled pardons to numerous figures, including Stone and Manafort, the two Trump advisers who had the most direct cooperation with Russians, both of whom refused to cooperate with Mueller. Barrs argument is that the president can decide an investigation is unfair and shut it down, thereby preventing it from proving underlying crimes, and then use the lack of proof of underlying crimes to justify his behavior. By the standard Barr is articulating, Trump can probably get away with all the crimes he wants as long as his obstruction of justice succeeds. Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan participated in the solemn closing ceremony of the Yerevan Testing Days conference, which Armenia is hosting for the first time ever. As reported the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies, the minister also attended the high technologies exhibition held on the sidelines of the conference. Hakob Arshakyan toured the pavilions and talked to the representatives who provided details about the peculiarities of their activities and achievements. The representative of the Workfront pavilion stated that Workfront has created a work management model that big companies use to make work more effective, and Team Viewer presented a trivia game that the minister also participated in. The three-day Yerevan Testing Days conference gathered nearly 500 high technology representatives, more than 30 foreign specialists and spokespersons and ended with a solemn ceremony that featured a speech by Minister Hakob Arshakyan. In his speech, the minister touched upon the importance of such events, stated the importance of cooperation with various international companies and emphasized the need for exchange of experience. Touching upon the opening of foreign companies branches in Armenia, Hakob Arshakyan stated that Armenia has to welcome the entry of any company. Armenia has to have tens of hundreds of companies and thousands of startups that will be both local and international, the minister said. The minister also touched upon technology education and said technology companies are not well represented in educational institutions and that this is necessary and important. YEREVAN. Armenias Attorney General Artur Davtyan did not respond clearly to a question whether he will support the prosecutors during the trial of former officials, which is a separate part of the case into the events of March 1, 2008. Former President Robert Kocharyan, ex-Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, ex-Secretary General of the CSTO Yuri Khachaturov and former Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan face charges. I can be the prosecutor at the trial, or a supervising prosecutor can be. You will see it in the court, Davtyan told reporters. The Attorney General categorically disagrees with the wording regarding the presence of political prisoners in the country. There are specific charges on specific acts, the prosecutor general assured. At the same time, he recalled that a separate part of the proceedings had been transferred to the court, and there could be new faces and new decisions. According to him, the investigators have new data, but there is not enough data to bring charges. The reporters asked why under the previous government, where Davtyan was working, the investigation went round in a circle, and now it has gained momentum. Davtyan advised that journalists should read in the law on the functions of the prosecutor's office, which is not leading the investigation directly. But the resources of the investigation should also be objectively assessed, added Davtyan. According to him, the key point is that the attitude of citizens has changed, and those who were silent before, speak out now. It will be an unprecedented trial - three presidents in different statuses, statesmen and politicians. The society will see and give an assessment itself, he promised. According to him, a few hearings will be held behind closed doors, while the rest of the trial will be open to public. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Over the last 24 hours, two events took place that will probably loom very large over the next 18 months. The first was an exchange between Senator Kamala Harris and Attorney General William Barr at a hearing yesterday. Attorney General Barr, has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? asked Harris. Barr stammered, asked Harris to repeat the quite simple question, and then began parsing. Im trying to grapple with the word suggest, he told Harris. I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there that they have not asked me to open an investigation, but before trailing off ominously. The second is a strange, somewhat convoluted but highly significant report that appeared last night in the New York Times. The story simultaneously reports on efforts by Trump loyalists to gin up dirt on Joe Biden and Ukraine, while also conveying the dirt itself. Put aside the substance of the reporting for a moment; what matters is that this is a bright flashing signal of where Barrs fearsome powers may be directed next. Trump has always demanded an attorney general who will act as his personal sword and shield. In Trumps highly transparent mind, the two roles are inextricably linked. He is almost incapable of proclaiming his own innocence without immediately segueing to the alleged guilt of his enemies. He must be cleared, and his rivals must be investigated. The Mueller reports section on Trumps many attempts to get the Department of Justice off his back incidentally describes his repeated efforts to sic it on his rivals. The presidents frustration with Attorney General Jeff Sessions consisted in almost equal measure his recusal from the Russia probe and his failure to follow through on Trumps promises to lock up his opponents. Sessions did not refuse Trumps demand altogether he simply dissolved them into pro forma bureaucratic measures. In November 2017, he ordered up a review of the departments handling of the Russia investigation and various accusations against Clinton. Sessions asked the U.S. Attorney in Utah, John Huber, to look into Trumps allegations. Apparently these activities were little more than spinning of wheels in an effort to placate Trump with the appearance of activity. But its hardly safe to assume that he can be put off in this fashion forever. Trump fired Sessions and replaced him with an attorney general who has given every appearance of satisfying Trumps demands. Trump has told those around him that, after being disappointed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he has found an attorney general loyal to him, reports the Associated Press, in one of the more chilling lines to appear in the news in some time. One direction the loyal AG is obviously heading is yet another investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. At Barrs hearing, Republican senators devoted most of their time to repeating wild allegations about the Russia investigation as deep state coup. The FBI has become in the right-wing mind unelected progressive elites nefariously seeking to reverse the 2016 election out of pure coastal elitist hatred for Trump and his voters. Barr has promised more counter-investigations of the FBIs investigation of Trump. At both this hearing and the previous one, Barr who has maintained a studious neutrality about Trumps multiple demonstrated offenses casually prejudged the outcome, telling Congress the FBIs conduct disturbed him. A second direction for Barrs investigatory powers is now coming into view. As Hillary Clintons value as a foil has receded, Trump has taken aim at the candidate he sees as his most likely and formidable threat: Joe Biden. The new Times story describes both the connections between Biden and Ukraine, and Trumpworlds efforts to criminalize them. The evidence for the former is extant, but thin: Hunter Biden has legally but somewhat sleazily traded on his fathers name through various investment and consulting arrangements. One of those dealt with Ukraine, which involved his father during the Obama presidency, because Biden senior demanded the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who had been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the political elite. It happens that this corrupt prosecutor had targeted a client of Hunter Bidens. That is a conflict of interest, though Joe Bidens only crime was opposing a corrupt figure who his administration would and should have opposed anyway. The far greater evidence of misconduct lies in the other half of the story. The Trump administration is pressuring Ukraine to advance the case specifically in order to smear Biden. Rudy Giuliani, Trumps attorney of sorts, has discussed the case with both the ousted Ukrainian prosecutor and his successor. He met with the current prosecutor multiple times in New York this year, reports the Times. The current prosecutor general later told associates that, during one of the meetings, Mr. Giuliani called Mr. Trump excitedly to brief him on his findings, according to people familiar with the conversations. The context for this revelation is another story the Times broke last year, and oddly fails to mention in its latest report. That story revealed that Ukraine had ceased all cooperation with the Mueller probe which of course had as one of its central subjects of inquiry Paul Manaforts work on behalf of Russian-backed parties in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government had been helping to expose Manaforts corrupt schemes, but abruptly halted its efforts when the Trump administration offered military help. That story clearly suggested a straight trade, in which Trump gave Ukraine missiles in return for Ukraine helping Trump block the Mueller investigation. The new report fits right into line with this interpretation. Having first helped Trump by shutting down its probe of Manafort, now Ukraine is helping him find some mud on a likely opponent. (Again, for Trump, the offensive and defensive abuses of justice are inextricable.) Republican media have already laid the predicate for an investigation. John Solomon, a vessel for Republican leaks, published a long story last month suggesting Ukrainian prosecutors were sitting on a trove of evidence of Democratic misconduct they were eager to share with American counterparts. A week ago, Trump excitedly told Sean Hannity that Barr was investigating big and incredible allegations from Ukraine. It would hardly be a shock if all this came to nothing. Maybe Barr is mollifying Trump more cleverly than his predecessor, pretending to launch politically motivated investigations of Trumps preferred targets that will spin their wheels and go nowhere. But the events of the last month give little comfort to the presumption that the rule of law is safe from Trumps predations. Every step Barr has taken indicates the meeting of the minds with the president is a genuine one, and that he has taken up his role as the presidents Roy Cohn out of real conviction. The Republican Party has embraced wholesale the presidents claim that he has been vindicated on his alliance with Russia and his efforts to block the probe thereof. What reason does Trump have to doubt that they will stand behind him if his loyal AG turns the federal prosecutorial apparatus against his enemies? YEREVAN. Ucom remains committed to its principle of prioritizing the local producers and provision of the local technical solutions, by replacing the old SVG TV-portal with a new and modern HTML one, developed by Armenian specialists. Ucom TV subscribers have already noticed the change in the interface of the new portal, the UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) amendments of which enable uTV users to benefit from a faster and smoother TV-portal. For example, the media content of the TV Series section is listed horizontally and has a new internal page, where different seasons and their consistent parts are displayed all together. The changes in Video on Demand section are also striking, where the logic of displaying the categories and movies is revised, and the content search possibility is also made available. I am glad that in Armenia we are capable of offering local solutions for the end-users to receive quality media content without any loss of quality. The new portal is not just a modified design, but a fantastic opportunity to deliver highly dynamic visualizations and 4K quality videos in the future. The new technology based portal expands the activity borders for the programmers themselves, thus becoming a platform for other innovative solutions, applications and functions, said Hayk Yesayan, the Co-Founder and Director General at Ucom. The overall search functionality of the portal was amended, and now the search results are displayed on a single page with corresponding subpages appearing separately (Video on Demand, Channels, Programms, and etc.). Media reports suggest that Minister of Healthcare and two other officials have testified against former head of the State Oversight Service Davit Sanasaryan who faces corruption charges. Factor.am has received information about the course of the preliminary investigation of the criminal case instituted against employees of the State Oversight Service. According to Factor.ams insider, Davit Sanasaryan and Arsen Torosyan have confronted each other. Armenias Attorney General Artur Davtyan did not respond clearly to a question whether he will support the prosecutors during the trial of former officials, which is a separate part of the case into the events of March 1, 2008. It will be an unprecedented trial - three presidents in different statuses, statesmen and politicians. The society will see and give an assessment itself, Davtyan said. According to him, a few hearings will be held behind closed doors, while the rest of the process will be open to public. Former President Robert Kocharyan, ex-Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, ex-Secretary General of the CSTO Yuri Khachaturov and former Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan face charges. The US may host the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the future, US Deputy Ambassador to Azerbaijan William Gill told reporters. As you know, the US is an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, and we are committed to working with the parties to help settle the conflict through negotiations. The US may host a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the future. This opportunity is being considered. We hope we will have positive news to share about that in the days to come, William Gill said. In 2018, the number of crimes in Armenia has grown in numerical sense, Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan said. In his words, a total of 22,551 crimes were recorded in Armenia during this period, and this is 11.2% more than the previous year. However, Armenia recorded the lowest rate in the number of murders, he added. The election of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople might take five to six months. The names of the candidates will be announced in one or two months, chief editor of Istanbul-based Agos daily Pakrat Estukyan told NEWS.am. The Istanbul Governorship will most likely issue the license for holding the elections within a week, he said. Estukyan also said the leader of the Gugarats Diocese, Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian has high chances of winning the elections. Former FBI director James Comey doesnt mince words. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images In an extraordinarily well-timed piece of commentary given Attorney General William Barrs efforts before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend the shreds of honor he retains after 11 weeks as Donald Trumps attorney general the New York Times published an op-ed by former FBI director James Comey that probes the presidents technique for submitting subordinates to his will. Comey has never made a secret of his disdain for Trump. But now hes turning his attention to people he once deeply respected to explore not without sympathy why theyve now lost his respect in Trumps service. Mentioning Barr and Rod Rosenstein (who, it should be noted, recommended that Comey be fired in order to please the king by slaying a meddlesome subordinate) in particular, Comey doesnt mince words: What happened to these people? I dont know for sure. People are complicated, so the answer is most likely complicated. But I have some idea from four months of working close to Mr. Trump and many more months of watching him shape others. Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them. Sometimes what they reveal is inspiring. For example, James Mattis, the former secretary of defense, resigned over principle, a concept so alien to Mr. Trump that it took days for the president to realize what had happened, before he could start lying about the man. But more often, proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing. I think thats at least part of what weve seen with Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein. Accomplished people lacking inner strength cant resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattiss to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites. Comey admits he felt the president gnawing at his own soul: It starts with your sitting silent while he lies, both in public and private, making you complicit by your silence 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. Again, Comey cites Mattis as the honorable exception to the general rule of self-corruption: 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. Comey writes knowingly of the rationalizations that people around Trump and his allies in Congress deploy to forgive themselves for what they know is cooperation in serial lies and travesties, and to avoid being caught out in their hypocrisy by the ever-suspicious, jealous god in the Oval Office. That leads to more insincere flattery of the all-powerful and infallible one, and very quickly to the inability to maintain any integrity. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul. I certainly cannot recall any former high-ranking government official ever describing a president and his top officials with this sort of language. When you remember that Comey was until recently a Republican careerist and a close associate of many of those who still serve this president and the party he has conquered, its that much more remarkable. It offers somber mood music to the spectacle we are all witnessing as the Trump administration bullies its way through crimes and misdemeanors and intensely polarizing rhetoric in hopes of winning the Devourer of Souls a second term as president. The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia and the United Nations Population Fund Armenia have signed the 2019 cooperation program, reports the news service of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. The cooperation program was signed today by Head of the Center for Human Rights and Ethics at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, Colonel Alexander Avetisyan and Executive Director of the Office of the United Nations Population Fund in Armenia Tsovinar Harutyunyan at the administrative complex of the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry and the Fund have been implementing annual cooperation programs since 2014. The 2019 cooperation program envisages several actions aimed at promoting initiatives for the involvement of women in various subdivisions of the armed forces, paying special attention to womens involvement in the subdivisions participating in peacekeeping missions. The planned actions are also aimed at promoting womens participation in the development of policies and decision-making processes in the defense system and the formation of a culture of ensuring womens rights protection and equal opportunities. The parties also reached an agreement on making joint efforts to consider the opportunities for the creation of a departmental center for taking care of the children of military servicemen. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said that removing Iran from the global oil market is impossible, reports Mehr. He pointed to the threats raised recently with regard to Irans oil supply and added that OPEC Secretariat and the Iranian Oil Ministry are negotiating with each other in order to examine possible strategies. Islamic Republic of Iran has faced such of these challenges in the past years, he said, adding, since its establishment, OPEC has faced several challenges but unity and amity among member states played a leading role in order to overcome problems. In response to this question that two OPEC members have claimed alternative for Iranian oil, he said that OPEC makes collective decisions in this regard. According to him, all data and statistics of secondary sources will be studied and decided in June and generally speaking, OPEC considers interests of all member states in order to meet the demand of individual member in the field of oil supply. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the heads of UN organizations in Armenia led by UN Resident Coordinator Shombi Sharp, reports the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The Prime Minister attached importance to the cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and UN organizations in different directions and highly appreciated the programs being jointly implemented in Armenia. Shombi Sharp welcomed the Armenian governments enterprising policy, adding that the UN and its structures are ready to continue to work closely with their Armenian counterparts to advance the upcoming actions and reforms. The heads of the UN organizations provided the Prime Minister with details about their activities and the partnership with various government agencies of Armenia. Afterwards, the interlocutors discussed issues on modernization of the public administration system and cooperation in agriculture, industry, healthcare, tourism, infrastructures, proportionate territorial development and other sectors. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images Though Kamala Harriss record as a prosecutor might not be helping her with the left in her run for the Democratic presidential nomination, her past as Californias top cop has certainly prepared her for her role on the Senate Judiciary Committee. During Attorney General William Barrs testimony regarding his handling of the Mueller report, Harris cemented her reputation already established during the Kavanaugh hearings as the Senate Democrats most acute questioner. So much so that fellow senator and 2020 hopeful Cory Booker had to stifle his laughter as Harris asked the attorney general if the president or someone else in the White House suggested that you open an investigation of anyone. As Barr stumbled through his answer, Booker, in the background, had to collect himself. At least someone found some humor in Barrs abandonment of his role in exchange for being President Trumps fixer. 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 Currently, three people (Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, Martin Manukyan and Armen Nersisyan) have applied to the Staff of the President of the Republic of Armenia for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court. When the application procedure ends on May 3, the President will meet and interview the candidates and select one of them. Earlier, the Staff of the President of the Republic of Armenia had announced that the candidates for judge of the Constitutional Court had to apply to the Staff of the President by May 3. The Presidents candidates, including Vahe Grigoryan and Gor Hovhannisyan, werent elected to the position of judge of the Constitutional Court by the National Assembly. 23:26 Lyricist Javed Akhtar's recent comment on demand to ban the burqa in India has not only triggered a debate but some trouble too. Karni Sena has demanded an apology from him and threatened to beat him if he does not apologise in three days. After Shiv Sena asked the government to follow Sri Lanka's decision to ban the burqa in India, Akhtar at an event in Madhya Pradesh said that if burqa is banned, the system of ghoonghat in Rajasthan should also be removed. "If you want to bring a law banning the burqa, I have no objection. But before the last phase of election in Rajasthan, this government should announce a ban on the practice of 'ghoonghat' in that state. I feel that 'ghoonghat' should go and burqa should go. I will be happy," he had said. This statement from the Bollywood celebrity has left Karni Sena furious. A video has come up on social media in which Maharashtra Karni Sena chief, Jeevan Singh Solanki is seen threatening to physically assault Akhtar if he does not apologise in three days. He warned Akhtar not to speak anything against the culture of Rajasthan and demanded an apology from him in three days. He is seen saying Karni Sena will beat him inside his house if he does not apologise. The Karni Sena leader even recalled the group's action against Sanjay Leela Bhansali before the release of Padmaavat. Alum, retired federal judge David Herndon to deliver law school commencement keynote on May 10 by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. Recently retired U.S. District Court Judge David R. Herndon, a 1977 SIU School of Law alumnus, will deliver the keynote address during commencement ceremonies on May 10. The commencement ceremony for 76 graduates is at 3 p.m. in Shryock Auditorium. Chancellor John M. Dunn will confer degrees at the ceremony led by Cindy Buys, School of Law interim dean. The class of 2019 selected Billie Saunders, a graduating law student from Mattoon, to be the class speaker. Before law school, Saunders was a legal assistant at the Tapella and Eberspacher Law Firm in Charleston. She will return there as an practitioner. A non-traditional student and mother of two, Saunders earned an American Bar Association Diversity Clerkship, during which she worked for James L. Gale, a senior business court judge in Greensboro, North Carolina and a Womens Bar Foundation Scholarship. While at SIU, Saunders was involved in several student organizations and spearheaded multiple community fundraisers. She also worked in law schools Domestic Violence Clinic and Veterans Legal Assistance Program. Saunders earned her undergraduate degree in liberal studies with a focus on psychology from Bowling Green State University. First law school commencement ceremonies held in 1976 The ceremony marks the 43rd anniversary of the law schools first graduating class of 1976 and the 44th overall. Edward Dawson, an assistant professor and the faculty adviser for the Southern Illinois University Law Journal, was selected by the graduating class as this years Outstanding Faculty Member and will speak. He joined the law school in 2014, and he teaches constitutional law, criminal procedure, civil rights, legislation and administrative process, and federal courts. Herndon to deliver keynote address Herndon served as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Illinois from 1998 until his retirement in January, after 20 years on the federal bench. During his tenure, he served as chief judge from 2007 to 2014. He also served on the U.S. Committee for Judicial Security from 2011 through 2018, including three years as chairman. Prior to his nomination by President Bill Clinton and subsequent confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Herndon was an associate judge in Illinois Third Judicial Circuit from 1991 to 1998. He also worked for 14 years as a trial attorney specializing in plaintiffs personal injury cases. Herndon is a 2017 inductee in The Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He was selected as Judge of the Decade for 2019 and Top Judge of the Year for 2018 by the International Association of Top Professionals. These recognitions are for Herndons outstanding leadership and commitment to the legal profession. The Beatty Jurist-in-Residence, an endowed program that honors the late William L. Beatty, a federal judge and Herndons mentor, is an award that Herndon granted to the law school. Pro Bono Award recipient will also be recognized Jake Yates, a graduating student from Bonne Terre, Missouri, will be honored for working the most pro bono hours. Yates reported more than 680 hours for his work with Land of Lincoln Legal Aid in Carbondale. Ceremony will also recognize Venezuelan human rights lawyer Geraldine Chacon, a 25-year-old human rights attorney from Caracas, Venezuela, will be recognized with the law schools Rule of Law citation. The citation is a formal recognition by the law school faculty of the important tradition of the legal profession that requires lawyers to stand firm in support of liberty and justice in the face of oppression and, by their words and actions, to honor and support the Rule of Law, even at great personal risk. A commencement hood and scroll will be placed on an empty chair to symbolize lawyers who are suffering for their actions as legal advocates. Chacon was recently released from a Venezuelan prison after her work helping youths and defending their human rights. Her work as director of Community Ambassador, a foundation that provides legal training to disadvantaged youths, resulted in her being charged with conspiracy and public incitement to commit crimes. She spent four months in Helicoide prison in Caracas sharing a cell with 26 other women amid reports of being denied access to sunlight, water and food. While on conditional release from prison, Chacon must report to court every month and can be rearrested at any time. (Adds details on the deal) May 2 (Reuters) - 3M Co said on Thursday it would buy privately held medical device maker Acelity Inc in a deal valued at $6.7 billion, including debt, as the U.S. industrial conglomerate looks to expand its business in medical dressings and related products. Acelity, under its KCI brand, makes advanced wound dressings and specialized systems that seal off wounds that continue to leak blood after surturing. It had revenue of $1.5 billion in 2018. 3M said Acelity will become part of its medical solutions business that makes medical tapes, sterilization products and acute wound care dressings products. 3M is buying the company and some of its units from a consortium of funds advised by Apax Partners, affiliates of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019. 3M also said it now expects full-year 2019 share repurchases to be in the range of $1.0 billion to $1.5 billion, compared with a prior range of $2.0 billion to $4.0 billion. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur) Room for more. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer. Photos: Getty Images For months, conventional wisdom has held that the Democratic primary would be overflowing with candidates. Not only would the debates, much like those the Republicans held in 2016, require both an adult and kids table, but a few unfortunate nobodies might end up sitting on the floor. As the first debates approach in June, its beginning to look as if the predictions of a primary with 30 or even 40 Democrats wont come true. But 20 is still within reach. With ten months until the first primary in Iowa, heres whos in and whos out, in alphabetical order. Everyone Whos Running in 2020 Michael Bennet The Colorado senator planned to announce his candidacy in April, but a prostate-cancer diagnosis slowed him down. After surgery that his campaign described as completely successful, the 54-year-old entered the race on May 2, telling CBS This Morning. I think this country faces two enormous challenges, among others. One is a lack of economic mobility and opportunity for most Americans, and the other is the need to restore integrity to our government. Joe Biden After months of speculation, Biden launched his campaign in late April with a direct attack on President Trump. I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time, he says in the video. Hes the front runner, and by honing in on the general election, hes acting like it. Cory Booker New Jerseys junior senator and the former mayor of Newark, Booker launched his campaign in February with a typically positive message focusing on his favorite subject: love. We need to have leaders in this country who understand what patriotism means, and patriotism means love of country, and you cant love your country if you dont love your countrymen, he said. Steve Bullock With a focus on campaign finance reform and his ability to work with Republicans, Montanas Governor became the 23rd candidate to join the race in mid-May. Expect to hear a lot of talk about his being the Democratic governor of a state Trump won by 20 points if you hear him at all. Pete Buttigieg The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has a compelling profile as a gay veteran who speaks seven languages. Thats helped him get attention in a crowded field despite being a relative unknown with a hard-to-pronounce name. Hes hoping itll also help become the youngest-ever president. Julian Castro President Obamas HUD secretary and the former mayor of San Antonio, Castro has long been pegged a Democratic rising star. Now, the 44-year-old, who is the only Latino in the race, is hoping to take on Trump by focusing on immigration. Bill de Blasio New York Citys Mayor is not very well liked at home, but hes decided to take his progressive record national. In his launch video, de Blasio said he knows how to take on Donald Trump. Then he proved thats not true by unveiling a terrible nickname for the President: Con Don. John Delaney The former Maryland congressman started running for president in July of 2017, earlier than anyone else. That doesnt seem to have helped. Tulsi Gabbard An early Bernie Sanders supporter in 2016, Gabbard has already made history as the first American Samoan and Hindu member of Congress. She faces hurdles in her attempt to become the first female president though, including some of her foreign-policy views. Kirsten Gillibrand Gillibrand, a moderate New York congresswoman turned progressive senator, jumped into the presidential race in January on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Im going to run for president of the United States, because as a young mom, Im going to fight for other peoples kids as hard as I would fight for my own, she said. Mike Gravel The 88-year-old former Alaska senator says he doesnt want to be president, but, with the help of some plucky teens, hes running in hopes of making the debates, where he can push the field left. Kamala Harris Before she was a senator from California, Harris was the states attorney general, a job that gives her the kind of law-enforcement background that could be a liability in the Democratic primary and an asset in the general election. John Hickenlooper Colorados former governor, Hickenlooper was nearly Hillary Clintons pick for vice-president. Now, hes got his sights set on the Oval Office and hopes his record as a moderate leader from the swing state will help him make the unlikely journey there. Jay Inslee The Washington governor isnt likely to win the Democratic nomination, but as a single-issue candidate focused on climate change, his candidacy could help shape the debate. Amy Klobuchar Dogged by criticism of her treatment of her staff, the Minnesota senator has attempted to use her intensity as an asset, telling CNN, When youre out there on the world stage and dealing with people like Vladimir Putin, yeah, you want someone whos tough. Wayne Messam Among the least well-known candidates, Messam is the mayor of Miramar, Florida, and the son of Jamaican immigrants. Among his policy proposals is the cancellation of student debt. Seth Moulton The Massachusetts congressman and former Marine says he joined the race to talk about service, security, and patriotism. A frequent critic of his own party, Moulton has said its time for a new generation of Democratic leaders. At 40, hes the third-youngest candidate in the field. (Both Buttigieg and Gabbard are 37.) Beto ORourke A close-but-not-quite challenge to Senator Ted Cruz turned the former Texas congressman into a Democratic star. Now, hes hoping to win over national Democrats with a candidacy thats often criticized for putting style over substance. Tim Ryan The Ohio congressman was previously best known for trying, and failing, to oust Nancy Pelosi from the Speakers chair. Now that hes running for president, hes still best known for that. Bernie Sanders Back after a second-place finish in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, the Vermont senator has seen the party move toward his positions in the past three years. Hes in the top tier, but isnt a shoo-in for the nomination. Eric Swalwell The California congressman is running with a focus on gun control. Elizabeth Warren A commitment to rolling out big policy initiatives has defined the early months of Warrens candidacy. For some reason though, the Massachusetts senator hasnt caught fire. Marianne Williamson If Williamson, a self-described moral and spiritual awakener, is good enough for Oprah, she must be good enough for America, right? Andrew Yang Yang is an entrepreneur, a big fan of universal basic income, and a favorite candidate of many meme-loving young folks. Everyone Whos Ruled Out a 2020 Run Michael Avenatti The man best known as Stormy Danielss lawyer never seemed like a serious contender for president, so it was little surprise that his flirtation with running ended before it got serious. A father of three, Avenatti said on December 4 that he would not be running at the request of his family, though he went on to claim that many of the others likely to run have no real chance at winning. His subsequent indictment on dozens of federal charges confirmed he wont take up residence in the White House anytime soon. Michael Bloomberg The billionaire New Yorker said hes not running when it became clear that Biden was. Sherrod Brown Seen by some as the only hope Democrats have for winning Ohios electoral votes, Brown opted not to take his message of the dignity of work national. Thats good news for anyone concerned about losing Senate seats to the GOP. Bob Casey Pennsylvanias senior senator answered a question no one was asking when he said in a statement on January 18 that the best way for me to fight for the America that so many of us believe in is to stay in the U.S. Senate and not run for the presidency in 2020. Hillary Clinton In early March, Clinton stated clearly whats long been obvious: Im not running, she told News 12. But Im going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe. Andrew Cuomo Weeks after winning his third four-year term as New Yorks governor, Cuomo said that his current job would keep him from pursuing a new one in Washington. I am ruling it out. I ran for governor, I have a full plate, I have many projects. Im going to be here doing the job of governor, he said. Eric Garcetti The mayor of Los Angeles is young, moderate, and your average Mexican-American-Jewish-Italian. But despite visiting New Hampshire last year and testing out an anti-Beltway, outsider pitch, Garcetti said on January 25 that he wants to stay in L.A.: I realize that this is what I am meant to do, this is where I want to be. Eric Holder The former attorney general wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he wont join the crowded Democratic primary, choosing instead to focus his efforts on the fight to end gerrymandering. Tim Kaine As Hillary Clintons running mate, the Virginia senator received more votes than Donald Trump in 2016, but hes not going to try to do it again next year. My highest and best use is in the U.S. Senate he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on November 17. Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor told CNN on February 6 that he doesnt think hell run for president due to the great candidates already in the race. He left himself some wiggle room You never say never because you dont know how things will work out but it sounds like Landrieu plans to sit this one out. Terry McAuliffe Despite his belief that he could beat Trump like a mule, the former Virginia governor will sit out 2020. McAuliffe was considered a likely candidate if Joe Biden declined to run. Jeff Merkley The Oregon senator faked out supporters with a video titled My Plan for 2020. His plan? To stay in the Senate. Chris Murphy With so many of his colleagues jumping into the race, the Connecticut senator tweeted on January 25 that he plans to be one of the few Democrats to stay behind to keep the fight going here! Richard Ojeda West Virginias most intense politician left the State Senate earlier this year after becoming one of the first Democrats in the presidential race. On January 25, ten days after leaving office, he ended his campaign, citing a lack of money to make the media pay attention. Martin OMalley After serving as the Democrats hot-dad candidate in 2016, the former Maryland governor said on January 3 that he wont be running in 2020. But in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register, he wrote that a younger hot dad should: I believe the new leader who can best bring us together and turn us around to create that better American future, is Beto ORourke. Deval Patrick Though he was reportedly encouraged by team Obama to make a run at the nomination, the former Massachusetts governor took his name out of consideration on December 5, citing the cruelty of our elections process. Adam Schiff A star of the resistance, the House Intelligence Committee chairman showed up in New Hampshire on February 4 to speak at the famed Politics & Eggs event. He was asked the obvious question and responded bluntly: Im not running. Tom Steyer The billionaire activist announced on January 9 that he wouldnt run for president so he could focus 100 percent of my time, effort and resources to one cause: working for Mr. Trumps impeachment and removal from office. Jon Tester Hes a farmer at heart, the Montana senator told Rachel Maddow, who prodded him to run during a December 3 appearance on her MSNBC show. Even if I wanted to do it, and I really dont, Im not sure that mentally or physically I am in any shape to run the kind of race that needs to be run to be president of the United States, he added. Oprah Winfrey After repeatedly denying any interest in running, Oprah did so once again while stumping for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams last November. I dont want to run, she said. Im not trying to test any waters. Dont want to go in those waters. This post has been updated throughout. (Adds details on incident, background on migration and deaths) By Andrew Hay May 2 (Reuters) - The body of a 10-month-old boy was recovered on Thursday and three other migrants, including two children, were still missing after their raft capsized as they crossed the Rio Grande in Texas, U.S. Border Patrol said. The rubber raft flipped over on Wednesday night near Del Rio, Texas, and all nine of its occupants were swept away in the cold, fast-flowing water, according to the father of the dead child, U.S. Border Patrol said in a statement. The father swam to safety. A Border Patrol agent jumped into the river and rescued his wife and 6-year-old son. The boy was given emergency care and then rushed to a hospital for advanced treatment. Another man and his son were found on the river bank. The missing were believed to include the 7-year-old nephew of the dead childs father, a girl and an adult male, according to the statement. "What were dealing with now is senseless tragedy, Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz said in a statement. The babys body was found several miles downriver by a Border Patrol search and rescue team. Drownings are common on the Rio Grande, which makes up part of the U.S.-Mexico border, as migrants try to cross on often overcrowded, makeshift rafts with no life jackets. But rescues have increased since October as record numbers of Central American families try to enter the United States. In the Del Rio sector alone, Border Patrol have rescued more than 200 people since October, a more than 800 percent rise from the year-earlier period. Up to Thursday the sector had recorded five water-related deaths in that period, according to sector data. Spring is the most dangerous time of year to cross the river, with the Rio Grande now near flood stage with the release of runoff water from the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. In the past seven months, Border Patrol has apprehended over 418,000 migrants on the southwest border, already surpassing the 2018 fiscal-year total. Most of those arrested were Central American families, many of them crossing the border in large groups that can number over 400 people. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 283 deaths on the border in 2018, ranging from heat-related fatalities to drownings. That was down from a high of 492 in 2005 when annual apprehensions stood at nearly 1.2 million. Migrant advocates say the death toll is far greater as many bodies are never recovered from deserts and the Rio Grande. (Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter Cooney) (Adds Mourao quotes, background on his differences with Bolsonaro) BRASILIA, May 2 (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's attempt to oust Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was not the best decision and likely premature, Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao told reporters on Thursday. Mourao, a retired army general, said in a radio interview that he thinks there are cracks emerging in the lower ranks of the Venezuelan armed forces, but not among the commanders that Guaido had hoped would abandon Maduro and join the opposition. "We don't see light at the end of the tunnel for Venezuela," he said on Radio Gaucha. He said Brasilia was worried that the crisis in its neighbor could spark a civil war. His view contrasts with that of President Jair Bolsonaro, who said on Wednesday that the unsuccessful uprising called by Guaido was not a defeat and that the Brazilian government had information on cracks in the Venezuelan military that could still lead to the collapse of Maduro's leftist government. Bolsonaro's top security adviser had said on Tuesday that military support for Guaido appeared to be weak and it was not clear whether military officers were abandoning Maduro. Bolsonaro's right-wing government threw its support behind Guaido's push to oust Maduro on Tuesday and called on other nations to do the same. His vice president, however, has from the start cautioned against entering a conflict with the Venezuelan armed forces, whose high command he is familiar with, as he served as a Brazilian military attache in Caracas. Mourao has contradicted Bolsonaro on a series of issues, from a woman's right to abortion to moving Brazil's embassy to Jerusalem, laying bare rifts between the more pragmatic military ministers and the ideologically right-wing members of the cabinet. Mourao has opposed any consideration of a military intervention in Venezuela to oust Maduro, a position that Bolsonaro has now adopted, though during a visit to the White House last month he said he would not rule out military action. The Brazilian government has made clear this week that it would not allow other nations to use its territory for any potential intervention in Venezuela. Mourao said in the radio interview that he expects Maduro to have Guaido arrested and the opposition leader must now be going "from house to house" in hiding. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu Writing by Anthony Boadle Editing by Tom Brown and James Dalgleish) (Adds detail, background) JOHANNESBURG, May 2 (Reuters) - Officials declared a cholera outbreak in northern Mozambique on Thursday, a week after cyclone winds, floods and heavy rains hit the area. Cyclone Kenneth crashed into the province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday last week, flattening entire villages with winds of up to 280 kph (174 mph) and killing at least 41 people. Fourteen cases of cholera have been detected, 11 of which are in the port town of Pemba and three in the district of Mecufi, the provincial health director, Anastacia Lidimba, told local television station STV. Kenneth struck while Mozambique was still struggling to deal with the impact of Cyclone Idai, which hammered the country's central region just six weeks earlier. Idai destroyed the port city of Beira and caused devastating floods and leaving health officials and international aid agencies battling cholera. The cyclone killed more 1,000 people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The World Health Organization said earlier at least 188,676 people were in need of health assistance or were at risk of disease with 17 health facilities damaged and the number expected to increase as inaccessible areas open up. This is the first time on record that two powerful storms had hit the southern African country in such a short space of time wrecking homes, flattening villages and destroying crops. (Reporting by Emma Rumney; Writing Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams) * Seven female victims, including two children * Career army officer in custody, has confessed -police * Justice minister says there were gaps in inquiry * Furore over handling of cases of missing foreign women (Adds quotes by justice justice minister, president) By Michele Kambas NICOSIA, May 2 (Reuters) - Cyprus's justice minister resigned on Thursday amid public uproar at how police handled disappearances of foreign women, victims of a suspected serial killer whose actions went undetected for almost three years. Four women have been found murdered in the past three weeks, their bodies dumped in three locations west of the capital Nicosia. Investigations are under way into three other disappearances, including two girls aged six and eight. A 35-year-old career army officer is in custody and police say he has confessed to seven killings in total after having connected with the women on an online dating site.. "I informed the president of the republic that I am resigning for reasons of political sensitivity," Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told reporters after meeting President Nicos Anastasiades. Nicolaou, whose ministry primarily supervises police, said his resignation was not an assumption of any responsibility, while adding there were "apparent shortcomings" in how police investigated the reports of the women's disappearances. "The consequential extension of this abhorrent crime doesn't only affect police, but society in general, and I refer to a mentality and perception which does not honor any of us," he said, without elaborating. In a statement, Anastasiades said he was "deeply saddened" to accept the resignation, calling Nicolaou one of his closest associates. UPROAR Cypriot police have faced a torrent of criticism over how they handled each case - the magnitude of which was unknown when tourists accidentally found a bound body in a mine shaft flooded by heavy rain on April 14. Story continues That victim, Marry Rose Tuburcio, 39, from the Philippines, is the only one formally identified of the four women discovered since then. She went missing with her six-year-old daughter Sierra in May last year. When acquaintances reported her disappearance to police they were told she and her daughter had probably crossed into the northern part of the divided Mediterranean island, a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state. A fresh search for other victims was underway on Thursday in a man-made lake near a copper mine. One victim was found in a suitcase weighed down with a block of cement in the lake on Sunday. British police are also assisting inquiries. A mother and daughter from Romania, thought to be the first victims, disappeared in September 2016, and the last of the victims, from the Philippines, around August 2018. Police say they will conduct an investigation into any perceived shortcomings. (Reporting by Michele Kambas Editing by Mark Heinrich) (Adds details, quote) WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, whose political career has centered on improving the American education system, on Thursday became the latest Democrat to join the sprawling field of candidates seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination. Bennet, 54, is serving his second full six-year term in the Senate. He previously ran Denver's public schools. "If we continue to go down the path we're going - and this isn't just about President Trump, it's about the politics that existed before he got there ... we're going to be the first generation of Americans to leave less opportunity, not more, to the next generation, and I just need to do everything I can do to make sure that we don't do that," Bennet said in an interview with "CBS This Morning." He joins a field of more than a dozen candidates, with others such as former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Montana Governor Steve Bullock still deciding whether to run. Bennet is the second Coloradan to enter the 2020 race after John Hickenlooper, a former governor, announced his candidacy on March 4. Hickenlooper's presence complicates Bennet's bid. Both are white male moderates running in a party where much of the energy lies with the diverse, activist left. Bennet is not well known nationally. However, his stint in 2014 as chairman of the Democratic Party's Senate campaign arm linked him with a network of political operatives and donors across the country. The normally congenial Bennet also drew notice during the partial U.S. government shutdown in January, when he blasted Republican Ted Cruz on the Senate floor for leading a similar shutdown in 2013 that stopped the flow of emergency funds to Colorado. Democratic nominating contests begin in February 2020 in the traditional starting point of Iowa. The candidate who amasses the majority of the delegates will be nominated at the partys convention in the summer and will likely face President Donald Trump, a Republican, in the general election in November. Story continues Since losing the White House in 2016, Democrats have grappled with how to best take on Trump in 2020. Some in the party believe an establishment figure who can appeal to centrist voters is the way to victory. Others argue a fresh face - and particularly a diverse one - is needed to energize the partys increasingly left-leaning base. As a presidential candidate, Bennet may have to fight the perception that he is a product of the party's establishment at a time when progressives and political newcomers are favored by the base. He grew up in Washington the son of a former State Department official, and his grandfather advised President Franklin Roosevelt. A graduate of Wesleyan University and Yale Law School, he served in the Clinton Justice Department before moving West. When Hickenlooper served as mayor of Denver, Bennet worked as his chief of staff and then took over the city's schools, gaining national recognition for his reform efforts. In 2009, after Democratic then-President Barack Obama named U.S. Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado as his interior secretary, Hickenlooper and Bennet vied to be appointed to replace him. Bennet, surprisingly, got the nod. He narrowly won his first full term a year later. Bennet's popularity has grown in Colorado as the state has become more liberal. In 2016, he was re-elected to the Senate by more than 5 percentage points, polling particularly well with Hispanic voters. Bennet told CBS he was focused on economic mobility and integrity in government. In a campaign video, Bennet also highlighted goals that included improving the healthcare system and investing in education and job training. "The Democratic party doesn't stand for very much at the national level with respect to what the American people think," Bennet said. "A process like this is long overdue in the Democratic party." He also acknowledged his bout of prostate cancer, saying it was very "clarifying" in solidifying his plans for the future and that he now had a clean bill of health. The diagnosis also made him more sensitive to the need for Americans to have health insurance, he said. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Writing by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall) (Fixes typo in paragraph 10) * UAE says priority in Libya is to counter extremism * Military commander Haftar launched offensive to seize Tripoli * UAE sees Haftar as bulwark against Islamist militants * Military campaign has derailed U.N.-led peace efforts By Aziz El Yaakoubi DUBAI, May 2 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates said on Thursday that "extremist militias" were controlling the Libyan capital which its ally Khalifa Haftar is fighting to capture from forces allied to Libya's internationally recognized government. The UAE, along with Egypt, support Haftar who they see as a bulwark against Islamist militants in North Africa. A 2017 U.N. report said the Gulf Arab state has provided his eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) with military and logistical support. Haftar's offensive launched more than three weeks ago to seize Tripoli has all but wrecked U.N.-backed efforts for a peace deal between the rival factions to end eight years of conflict. "Priority in Libya (is) to counter extremism/terrorism and support stability in long drawn out crisis," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a Twitter post. "Abu Dhabi agreement offered opportunity to support the U.N.-led process. Meanwhile extremist militias continue to control capital and derail search for political solution." Abu Dhabi, which has voiced support for U.N. peace efforts, last February hosted talks between Prime Minister Fayez Seraj and Haftar, the military commander of Libya's eastern half, where the two agreed on the need for national elections. The assault by the LNA, the biggest military confrontation in Libya since the 2011 toppling of leader Muammar Gaddafi, stalled on Tripoli's stoutly defended southern outskirts last week. But fighting has intensified again, with both sides using artillery. The U.N. report issued in June 2017 said Haftars forces had received aircraft and military vehicles from the UAE, which also built up an air base at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA, which is allied to a parallel government based in the eastern city of Benghazi, to gain air superiority by 2016. Story continues A Gulf source has told Reuters that the UAE had provided logistical support to Haftar to safeguard Egypt's security following cross-border militant attacks. "Today, he (Haftar) is his own man and trying to achieve his own goals," the source said. Since the Tripoli offensive began, 376 people have been killed in the fighting, including 23 civilians, and 1,822 wounded, 79 of them civilians, according to latest United Nations figures. More than 45,000 people have fled their homes. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Ghaida Ghantous in Dubai and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) (Adds details and background) CAIRO, May 2 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of protesters joined a sit-in outside Sudan's defense ministry on Thursday to press the ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian government. The huge crowd was answering a call by an alliance of activists and opposition groups to join a protest march through Khartoum. The Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) alliance said on Thursday it had submitted a draft constitutional document containing its vision for the transitional period to the Transitional Military Council (TMC). Protesters and activists have been negotiating with the TMC to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee the period following the forced departure of long-term president Omar al-Bashir. But the parties are deadlocked over who would control the new council, and what the features of a transitional government would be. Opposition groups say the ruling council must be civilian-led and have promised to maintain a sit-in outside the Defence Ministry until their demands are met, but the TMC has shown no sign of willingness to relinquish ultimate authority. People came from a number of different provinces to join the march, a Reuters witness said. At a televised news conference, a spokesman for the DFCF said it expected a response from the military to its draft constitutional draft within two or three days. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Nafisa Eltahir) (Adds detail, comment) NEW DELHI, May 2 (Reuters) - India will ask the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog to put Pakistan on a blacklist of countries that fail to meet international standards in stopping financial crime, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) already has Pakistan on its "grey list" of countries with inadequate controls over curbing money laundering and terrorism financing. But India wants Pakistan blacklisted, which would likely result in sanctions, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said last month. "We want Pakistan downgraded on the FATF list," Jaitley told reporters, adding that the Paris-based FATF was due to meet in mid-May and India would make its request then. The call came a day after India claimed a diplomatic victory with a U.N. Security Council committee blacklisting the founder of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group, Masood Azhar. His group claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Kashmir region, an attack that brought the nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war. Pakistan's ally China had repeatedly opposed efforts at the United Nations by Western powers to directly sanction Azhar, even though the group had already been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in 2001. 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. 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." "The core issue is that he has been declared an international terrorist," Jaitley said, referring to Azhar. Story continues "He and his country now face the consequences of that." In February, the Paris-based FATF had said that Pakistan "does not demonstrate a proper understanding" of terrorism financing risks posed by militant groups, including the JeM. The organization can make recommendations to any of the countries that have signed a membership charter, as well as other nations, but it has no power to impose sanctions. (Reporting by Aftab Ahmed, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal Editing by Darren Schuettler, Robert Birsel) * Assange says does not wish to surrender for extradition * WikiLeaks founder wanted by United States * Charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion * Case "not about hacking" - lawyer (Adds Assange's lawyer) By Michael Holden LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday his work had protected "many people" and refused to agree to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years. Asked at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the United States, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said: "I do not wish to surrender for extradition. I'm a journalist winning many, many awards and protecting many people." 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. To others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail after fleeing to Ecuador's Embassy in London, where he remained for seven years until police dragged him out last month. Assange had sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face an allegation of rape, which he denies, saying he feared he would be sent to the United States to face action over the WikiLeaks' release of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. Story continues Hours after his arrest last month, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer. "The charge relates to one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States," said Ben Brandon, the lawyer representing the United States. He said in early 2010, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had downloaded 90,000 activity reports relating to the Afghan war, 400,000 relating to the conflict in Iraq, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. The vast majority of these were later released on WikiLeaks. "NOT ABOUT HACKING" There were computer room chats showing real-time discussions between Manning and Assange over cracking a password to gain access to classified U.S. documents and the public release of the information, Brandon said. "Despite what you heard from the prosecutor in the courtroom today, this case is not about hacking," Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said outside court. "This case is about a journalist and a publisher who had conversations with a source about accessing material, encouraged that source to provide material and spoke to that source about how to protect their identity. This is protected activity that journalists engage in all the time." She said the action against him had been launched under former U.S. President Barack Obama and aggressively pursued by the administration of Donald Trump. The case was adjourned until May 30 for a procedural hearing with a more substantial hearing planned for June 12. The full extradition hearing was some months away, Judge Michael Snow told the court. (Reporting by Michael Holden; writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alistair Smout and Janet Lawrence) (Recasts first paragraph, adds Justice Department response to Pelosi comments) By Amanda Becker and David Morgan WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats stepped up pressure on President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday as U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime and an influential committee chairman threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. In a defiant letter released on Thursday, the White House said Trump has the right to instruct advisers not to testify before congressional oversight probes related to the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry and called Mueller's report on the matter defective. The statements mark a sharp escalation in the conflict between Trump's administration and Democrats in Congress, who are weighing whether they should try to remove Trump from office using the impeachment process as they demand information on his taxes, his businesses and other topics. Democrats accused the Republican president and his administration of a launching a growing attack on American democracy. Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, accused Barr of lying to lawmakers about his interactions with Mueller after the special counsel concluded his 22-month investigation into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump's candidacy. "That's a crime," the top Democrat in Congress told reporters, referring to Barr's congressional testimony. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called Pelosi's allegation "reckless, irresponsible and false." The exchange came shortly after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress if he does not provide a full, unredacted copy of Mueller's findings. That could potentially lead to fines or imprisonment for the top U.S. law enforcement official. Barr released Mueller's report on April 18, with some parts blacked out to protect sensitive information. Story continues Pelosi and other leaders in the House, which is controlled by Democrats, previously had cautioned against launching the impeachment process, which would begin in the House but would face long odds of success in the Republican-controlled Senate and could alienate voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election in which Trump is seeking re-election. But Pelosi said the Trump administration was continuing to ignore congressional subpoenas and noted that Congress launched impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon in the 1970s after he resisted similar demands. Nixon resigned in 1974. "I think that the statements being made by the president of the United States as giving a blanket statement that he's not going to honor any subpoenas is obstruction of justice," Pelosi said. White House legal counsel Emmet Flood, in an April 19 letter to Barr obtained by Reuters on Thursday, said Trump's decision to let advisers cooperate with the Mueller probe does not extend to congressional oversight investigations. "It is one thing for a president to encourage complete cooperation and transparency in a criminal investigation conducted largely within the Executive Branch. It is something else entirely to allow his advisers to appear before Congress," the letter said. Democrats have accused Barr of misleading Congress by testifying in April that he did not know whether Mueller agreed with his initial characterization of the report - failing to mention a March 27 letter from the special counsel complaining that Barr's initial public summary did not "fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work." Several Democrats have called on him to resign. Nadler had set a Wednesday deadline for Barr to hand over the unredacted report and its underlying evidence. Barr canceled his testimony after clashing with Nadler over the hearing's format. Nadler said he will move forward with a contempt citation as soon as Monday. "The very system of government of the United States - the system of limited power, the system of not having a president as a dictator - is very much at stake," Nadler told reporters after a 15-minute committee session held in place of Barr's appearance. Democrats have said they may issue a subpoena to try to force Barr to testify before their committee. "The failure of Attorney General Barr to come to the hearing today is simply another step in the administration's growing attack on American democracy and its attack on the right of Congress" as a co-equal branch of government, Nadler said. Barr spent four hours before a Republican-led Senate committee on Wednesday defending his handling of Mueller's report on Russia's interference in the election to boost Trump's candidacy and whether the president subsequently tried to obstruct Muellers probe. Representative Doug Collins, the House Judiciary Committee's top Republican, said Barr did not appear before that panel because Nadler had insisted on an aggressive format with an extra hour of questioning from its own lawyers, in addition to those from the committee's lawmakers. "They want it to look like an impeachment hearing because they won't bring impeachment proceedings," Collins said. 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. (Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Makini Brice; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Will Dunham) A contested 2020 Democratic convention wouldnt be like the 103-ballot 1924 marathon, but could be interesting. Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive Running for president is a complicated thing with a vast array of associated tasks. Even though campaigns stay mostly focused on the immediate, there have to be strategies in place for remote (in time and likelihood) contingencies. With 21 Democratic candidates already in the field and at least one more (Steve Bullock) on the way, they must all deal with the possibility of Democrats arriving in Milwaukee in July of next year with nobody having the requisite majority of pledged delegates buttoned down. Under this contested convention scenario, a strange and ironic thing would happen once a by-the-book first ballot ended in deadlock. Party superdelegates, the ex officio delegates (mostly elected officials and DNC members) who lost their independent first-ballot voting power in a post-2016 concession to angry Bernie Sanders supporters, would regain it on any second or subsequent ballot. So after being written off as nonentities, these largely Establishment figures 769 of them in all, compared to 3,768 pledged delegates could, in the context of a contested convention, wind up deciding it all. As Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed reports, the Democratic campaigns are beginning to think about this scenario. Unsurprisingly, Bernie Sanders, who has (a) prior experience running for president, (b) money to burn, and (c) a robust record of trashing the very institution of superdelegates, seems to be thinking about it most deeply: Were taking superdelegates and superdelegates strategy seriously, a Sanders aide said, hence having a team dedicated to delegates who can prepare for multiple convention scenarios. We will be reaching out to them over the course of the campaign. When the senator wins the nomination, hes eager to work with them to support and unite of all the party in the general and beyond. Of course he is. Cramer touts Kamala Harriss campaign as having a very effective superdelegate outreach program already, under the direction of Hillary Clintons top 2016 delegate tracker (who also worked for DNC chairman Tom Perez). But its kinda something any candidate with the resources for it would want to do even if a contested convention was impossible: An official from Harriss campaign pointed out that superdelegate outreach is good politics regardless of whether they factor in the convention. All of these people whether they are DNC members or members of Congress have footholds in their communities, the Harris official said. Obviously we are reaching out to those individuals and doing our due diligence. That will matter a whole lot more if Democrats look up after the blitz of March primaries and see no one really in charge of the race: [F]ully 60 percent of pledged delegates will be awarded during a two-week period running from March 3 (generally known as Super Tuesday) through March 17, when primaries are scheduled in fully half the states (a share that could go even higher if late-deciding states like New York move into this window). Depending on what happens in the four February contests that are protected from additional competition by national party rules (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, in that order), this huge bloc of early-to-mid-March states could either produce scattered results that make an early decision impossible, or could instead make one candidate the putative (not official, but certain) nominee. In the case of a Wild West scenario, superdelegates could again walk tall in the councils of the Donkey Party, and even the fieriest of insurgents will find kind words to say about those staid Establishment figures toiling in the partys vineyards. (Adds details from New Zealand prime minister) ANKARA/WELLINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - A Turkish citizen who was wounded during deadly attacks at two mosques in New Zealand on March 15 has died, Turkish and New Zealand officials said on Thursday, lifting the death toll from the shooting to 51. "We have unfortunately lost our citizen ... who was critically wounded in the heinous attack in Christchurch, New Zealand," Turkish Foreign Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in an emailed statement that the man died overnight in Christchurch Hospital after being treated in its intensive care unit since the attack. "My heartfelt condolences go to the family and community of this man ... this sad news will be felt across Turkey as well as New Zealand," Ardern said. The man's brother told Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency that the man had been taken to surgery on Thursday but could not be saved. "He had surgery today, they couldn't stop the bleeding, so we lost him. We were happy because we thought it was going well, he had been battling for 50 days," the brother said, according to Anadolu. Nine people who had been shot in the attack remained in hospital in stable condition, according to Ardern. Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist from Australia, has been charged with 50 counts of murder for New Zealand's worst peacetime mass shooting. Fifty other people were injured in the attacks, which occurred during Friday prayers. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara and Charlotte Greenfield in Wellington; Editing by Gareth Jones and Peter Cooney) (Adds constitutional court ruling) By Samuel Elijah and Allegresse Sasse COTONOU, May 2 (Reuters) - Security forces in Benin's commercial capital, Cotonou, fired weapons on Thursday to disperse crowds protesting against the exclusion of opposition parties from last Sunday's parliamentary election, Reuters witnesses said. Hundreds of people have been protesting since Wednesday, burning tires and calling for President Patrice Talon to step down, rare unrest in the country of 11 million long seen as a bastion of stability in West Africa. Security forces, backed by armored military vehicles, used firearms to break up the protest, two Reuters witnesses said. It was not clear if they were using live rounds or firing directly at the crowd. A video widely shared online appeared to show government forces firing guns and using water cannon. It was not immediately possible to verify the footage. A Reuters witness saw two wounded protesters, one bleeding heavily. Police declined to comment and there was no confirmation on the number of casualties. The United Nations called for restraint. "We note with concern the ongoing tensions and unrest, resulting in the destruction of property and high-handed response from the security forces," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. The unrest followed the electoral commission's decision to bar opposition parties from standing in the election because they were unable to meet strict criteria under a new election law to field candidates. Talon denied that was the intention of the law. There was rioting in central Benin on Sunday, where opposition supporters burned houses, officials said. Results announced on Tuesday gave two parties loyal to Talon total control of parliament. Supporters of Talon's rival, former President Thomas Boni Yayi, launched protests. Late on Thursday, the constitutional court validated the results of Sunday's vote, which had a turnout of 27 percent. Story continues Talon and Boni Yayi have a tense relationship. In 2012, Boni Yayi accused Talon, a cotton magnate, of trying to have him poisoned. Talon denied the accusations at the time. Talon defeated Boni Yayi's preferred successor in a 2016 election when Boni Yayi was required by term limits to step down after 10 years in power. In the run-up to the latest election, police dispersed a protest led by Boni Yayi with teargas. The authorities also cut off the internet on the day of the vote. (Reporting by Samuel Elijah and Allegresse Sasse; Additional reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Writing by Alessandra Prentice and Aaron Ross; Editing by Janet Lawrence, Alison Williams and Peter Cooney) (Adds details, background) RIYADH, May 2 (Reuters) - Saudi authorities have temporarily freed at least four more women facing trial over charges related to human rights work and contacts with foreign journalists and diplomats, other rights campaigners said on Thursday. The Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The campaigners, including London-based Saudi rights group ALQST, identified the released detainees as Hatoon al Fassi, Amal al Harbi, Maysaa al Manea and Abeer Namnakani. They join three other women released over a month ago on condition they continue to appear in court. Most of the detentions, numbering around a dozen, occurred last year in the weeks before and after a ban on women driving cars in the conservative kingdom was lifted amid efforts to relax social rules and boost the economy. Activists and diplomats have speculated that the arrests may have been meant as a message to activists not to push demands out of sync with the government's own agenda. But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has denied that, accusing the women of working for Qatari and Iranian intelligence. The public prosecutor said last May that some of the women, along with several men, had been arrested on suspicion of harming Saudi interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad. The trial, which began in March, had not convened for nearly a month as a new wave of arrests was launched targeting lesser known supporters of the women, including two dual U.S. citizens. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin, additional reporting by Hesham Hajali, editing by Andrew Heavens) (Adds details on cost savings program; outlook) May 2 (Reuters) - SNC-Lavalin Group Inc on Thursday reported a 73 percent plunge in adjusted quarterly profit and said it would speed up its plans to simplify its operational structure to save costs and improve efficiency. The Montreal-based engineering and construction company, which has been under pressure from rising trade challenges in Saudi Arabia and China as well as corruption charges back home, said it was disappointed with its first quarter performance. However, SNC said it was confident of delivering its 2019 outlook for earnings and said plans to cut the overhead cost by $250 million annually. For the rest of 2019, it aims to cut just over $100 million in costs. The more than 100-year old company, which reiterated it 2019 outlook, has been looking to focus on some core geographies, while removing unprofitable businesses in 15 countries where it has smaller operations. SNC had also said that it stopped bidding on lump-sum engineering, procurement, and construction projects in mining, and plans to take such projects only in the infrastructure and oil & gas sectors. Adjusted net income attributable to shareholders fell to C$36.9 million ($27.47 million), or 21 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from C$136 million, or 77 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. The company said delays in claims settlements and issues with some projects have hit first-quarter earnings, with revenue falling to C$2.36 billion from C$2.43 billion. ($1 = 1.3431 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) (Adds details from Guatemalan government statement) May 1 (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant died in a Texas hospital while in the custody of the U.S. government on Wednesday after his health steadily declined due to a severe brain infection, according to officials from both countries. The unaccompanied teen died on Tuesday after "several days of intensive care" at a children's hospital, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement. He entered the United States near the border city of El Paso, Texas and was detained by U.S. border patrol agents on April 19, according to a statement from Guatemala's foreign ministry. The boy was then sent to a shelter nearly 700 miles (1,130 km) away in Brownsville, the statement added, where he was "beginning the process of family reunification." He ultimately underwent surgery to relieve pressure in his head, according to the ministry. The unnamed teen was from Camotan, a town near Guatemala's border with Honduras known for high levels of malnutrition among a mostly poor population that ekes out a living as farmers. The boy's death follows those of two other Guatemalan migrant children in December and warnings from U.S. officials that more tragedies were likely given the surge in migrants crossing the border, and serious illnesses encountered among them. The teenager was transferred on April 20 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody to the Brownsville shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which houses migrant children. "Upon arrival to the shelter the minor did not note any health concerns," the U.S. government statement said. The next morning the boy "became noticeably ill including fever, chills and a headache," according to the statement. Shelter staff took the teen to a hospital emergency department that morning where he was treated and released to the shelter the same day, the statement added. Story continues The boy's health did not improve and the next day he was taken to another hospital emergency department by ambulance. Later that day he was transferred to a children's hospital's intensive care unit in Driscoll, Texas, where he stayed for several days before he died. The boy's brother and Guatemalan consular officials visited him while he was in hospital and his family in Guatemala was regularly advised of his condition. Opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policies, including Democrats in Congress, have called for better medical screening in border facilities to detect such cases sooner and prevent deaths. After the December fatalities, the Trump administration announced policy changes to help prevent the deaths of children in custody, including more thorough medical checks The U.S. officials said the cause of the teenager's death is under review and the case will be subject to a full review. (Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, and Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and David Alire Garcia) (Adds quotes, details on talks) By Alexandra Alper and David Lawder WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - American negotiators locked in trade talks with China are likely to win more access to the country's cloud computing market than initially expected, but Chinese commitments to curb industrial subsidies will probably fall short of U.S. demands, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said on Thursday. In March, media reported that as part of trade negotiations, China would allow U.S. cloud computing companies access to China's fast-growing market through special Chinese free trade zones, giving the companies a limited toehold in the world's second largest economy. "We expect greater market access opening than was initially provided by the Chinese in these negotiations, which was through a pilot zone," Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told reporters on a conference call. He said the lobbying group wants to ensure that U.S. cloud companies are able to get licenses and have management control and guaranteed free flow of data across borders. "It is not clear we will get as much as we would like in that area, but we're going to continue to make this an issue that has to be addressed ultimately, if not in the negotiations, then shortly after," Brilliant said. WASHINGTON TALKS Brilliant's comments came after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin concluded two days of talks in Beijing aimed at ending a 10-month tariff war that has cost both sides billions of dollars in exports, disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is due in Washington next week for another round of talks, which Brilliant said were in the "endgame." Mnuchin called the Beijing talks "productive," but the Trump administration has said little else about them. Story continues The United States has been pressing China for sweeping changes to policies that Washington says encourage theft of American intellectual property and force transfers of U.S. technology to Chinese companies. Brilliant said that curbing China's massive subsidies for steel and a host of other industries is a priority for U.S. businesses, but the deal is unlikely to provide a major shift in Beijing's practices in that area. "We're likely to get some language that ... touches on transparency, but we're not likely to get the commitment that we want eventually from the Chinese in terms of their really cutting back and eliminating subsidy practices," he said Reuters reported last month that American negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal after strong resistance from Beijing, marking a retreat on a core U.S. objective for the trade talks. TARIFF REMOVAL Much speculation has also centered on how much, if any, of the U.S. and Chinese tariffs will be removed as part of a deal. A person familiar with the negotiations said that it was likely that some tariffs would remain in place, serving as part of the enforcement mechanism to ensure that China keeps its commitments. They would be removed as China meets certain implementation benchmarks, the person said. Brilliant said the decision on the tariffs will be ultimately up to U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. He added that an enforcement mechanism for the agreement might include a "tie-in to tariffs." Trump has said he would host Xi at the White House, a meeting that could be used to cement an agreement. (Reporting by David Lawder and Alexandra Alper Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Jonathan Oatis) (Adds background on Democrats and climate change) By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed its first climate-change bill in a decade, voting 231-190 to require that Trump administration keep the United States as a party to the Paris Climate Agreement. The Climate Action Now Act would require President Donald Trump to develop a plan for the United States to meet the goals it committed to in the Paris agreement to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and block federal funds from being used to advance the formal U.S. withdrawal from the pact. Trump has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 climate accord and has been dismissive of regulations aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill, which passed along party lines, as expected, with three Republicans backing the measure, was meant to signal to the international community that many Americans support the Paris agreement regardless of Trump's decision to abandon it. Today we sent a message to the president, to the American people and to the world that we recognize the seriousness of the climate crisis, and that we intend to do our part to address it. Today we sent the message: We are still in," said Representative Frank Pallone, chairman of the House energy committee. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would not take up the legislation, dismissing the bill as "political theater" by Democrats. Democrats have put climate change back on the agenda in Congress after re-gaining the majority in the House earlier this year, holding dozens of hearings on the issue. Many of the Democratic candidates hoping to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential election have made climate change a top-tier issue of their campaigns. All have backed re-entering the United States into the Paris Climate Agreement. A few candidates, including most recently former Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke, have also supported setting a goal for the United States to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 - one of the goals of the Paris agreement. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici Editing by James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler) (Adds comment from watchdog group) By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - United States military actions killed about 120 civilians and injured 65 others in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia last year, the Pentagon said in a report on Thursday, though the figures were far lower than those reported by watchdog groups. The annual report, mandated by Congress, showed a significant drop from nearly 800 civilians killed in 2017, in part because the pace of operations had slowed against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. During operations in Afghanistan in 2018, 76 civilians were killed, with 42 killed in total in Iraq and Syria, and two civilians killed during a strike in Somalia, according to the nearly 20-page report, which tracks air and ground military operations. The Pentagon assessed that no civilians were killed in Libya or Yemen, the report said. Still, the civilian casualties in the report were far lower than those reported by watchdog groups. Amnesty International USA said that while the report was a welcome step, more was required. "The Department of Defense unfortunately still significantly undercounts civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led operations, as demonstrated by our recent, detailed reporting on civilian casualties in Somalia and in Syria," said Daphne Eviatar, director of Security with Human Rights at Amnesty International USA. Amnesty International and the monitoring group Airwars, in a report published late in April, said the U.S.-backed assault to drive Islamic State militants from the Syrian capital Raqqa in 2017 killed more than 1,600 civilians. In February, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 1,185 civilians were killed during operations conducted by pro-government forces in 2018. The Pentagon report said there was a difference in civilian casualty assessments between the U.S. military and UNAMA because they used different methodologies. Commander Candice Tresch, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said this was the first year the full report was unclassified. Story continues "Although civilian casualties are a tragic and unavoidable part of war, no force in history is more committed to limiting harm to civilians than the U.S. military, which routinely applies standards that are more protective of civilians than required by the Law of Armed Conflict," Tresch said. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that revoked an Obama-era policy requiring U.S. intelligence officials to report civilian deaths in drone strikes outside of active war zones. President Barack Obama put the policy in place in 2016 as part of an effort to be more transparent about drone strikes after he had dramatically increased their use against Islamist militants. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Bernadette Baum) (Adds additional details, comments) By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday sustained President Donald Trump's veto of a resolution demanding an end to military support for the Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen, in a victory for the White House's policy of continued backing for the kingdom. The vote was 53 to 45, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, despite a handful of Trump's fellow Republicans joining Democrats in backing the war powers resolution. It was only the second veto of Trump's presidency, both this year. Neither has garnered the two-thirds support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives needed to override. The resolution's passage earlier this year marked the first time both the Senate and House supported the provision of the War Powers Act limiting the president's ability to send troops into action without congressional authorization. Backers of the resolution said they wanted to reassert Congress' constitutional power to declare war, and send a strong message to Saudi Arabia about the devastating civilian toll of the four-year-long civil war in Yemen. "We've been materially assisting a foreign power in its efforts to bomb its adversaries. And sometimes helping that foreign power to bomb innocent civilians on the ground in the process," Republican Senator Mike Lee, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said before the vote. The war in Yemen, which pits Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Houthi rebels backed by Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and spawned what the United Nations calls the world's most dire humanitarian crisis, with the country on the brink of famine. Many members of Congress have also become increasingly frustrated with Saudi Arabia over its human rights record, anger fueled by the murder at a Saudi consulate in Turkey last year of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and columnist for the Washington Post. Story continues Saudi officials have rejected accusations that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. Resolution opponents argued that support for the Saudi-led coalition was not an appropriate use of the War Powers Act, because the military provides supports such as targeting assistance, not troops. "The premise of this resolution is fundamentally flawed and I believe a misrepresentation of what is happening on the ground in Yemen," Republican Senator Jim Risch said before the vote. Risch, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, is writing legislation to address the situation with Saudi Arabia. He declined to discuss possible specific provisions of the measure, but said he hoped to introduce it in May with the goal of finding something that could pass both the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House and be signed, not vetoed, by Trump. Amid U.S. and international anger over the civilian toll of the Yemen conflict, the Trump administration last year stopped providing refueling support for Saudi aircraft in Yemen. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington, editing by G Crosse and James Dalgleish) (Adds context, PM May's spokesman quotes) By William James LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Theresa May hoped firing her defense secretary over a leak would put her latest government scandal to rest. But it seems only to have unleashed yet another political storm for the British prime minister, with members of her own party questioning her judgment and opponents demanding the police be called in. May, who is clinging to her job despite failing to persuade parliament to accept her plans for Britain's exit from the EU, fired Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday. She blamed him for a leak about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei from a meeting of the cabinet's National Security Council (NSC) which discusses intelligence and defense strategy. Williamson has continued to deny responsibility, saying he had been judged by a "kangaroo court." May has said she considers the matter closed. Others have refused to let it rest. "In what world is it acceptable that the prime minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation?" said Tom Watson, Deputy Leader of the opposition Labour Party. The leak, first reported in the Telegraph newspaper, said Britain would allow Huawei a role in building parts of its 5G network, setting London at odds with Washington, which wants allies to ban the Chinese firm from the next generation of communications technology. Williamson, previously in charge of party discipline, was an important political ally for May as she struggled to steer Britain through Brexit, its biggest upheaval in decades, without a majority in parliament and no clear consensus about the best way to leave the European Union. She announced in March she would step down if parliament accepted her Brexit deal, effectively launching a party leadership contest to choose her successor. The Huawei leak has crystallized doubts about May's ability to keep her ministers in check and govern effectively. Meetings of the NSC are attended by senior cabinet ministers, several of whom are top candidates to replace May. It was widely assumed that the leak was intended to give rivals a chance to portray themselves as stronger than May on security. Story continues "NATURAL JUSTICE" May's own fate and that of her project to extricate Britain from the European Union are now in limbo after parliament rejected the Brexit agreement, forcing May to ask the EU for an extension. Brexit is now set for October, but what form it will take or whether it will happen at all are in doubt. The delay means Britain must hold elections for the European parliament later this month at which May's Conservatives are expected to be trounced. They are also forecast to lose hundreds of seats on local councils in elections on Thursday. In firing Williamson on Wednesday, May said an investigation had left no other credible explanation for the leak except that Williamson was responsible. Cabinet office Minister David Lidington, who fielded questions at an urgent parliamentary hearing on the affair on Thursday, said that May had nevertheless not accused Williamson of breaking the law. It was for police, not ministers, to decide whether a criminal offense had been committed and the government did not intend to refer the matter to prosecutors, he said. Lawmakers, including Conservatives, called for all the evidence against Williamson to be made public. "Natural justice demands that the evidence be produced so his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed," said Desmond Swayne, a Conservative lawmaker. Sky News reported that Williamson also wanted a criminal probe to clear his name. (Reporting by William James and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Peter Graff) Everything is secure now. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Intelligencer staffers Brian Feldman, Benjamin Hart, and Madison Malone Kircher discuss Mark Zuckerbergs big (or maybe not so big) privacy gambit. Ben: Facebook is following through on Mark Zuckerbergs recent vow to shift the companys focus to communication between private channels, like group texts and messages which seems to be where the kids are these days and away from the public-facing communication the company is known for. Is this as radical a change as it seems, or is there less here than meets the eye? Brian: Its a lot of smoke and mirrors. Madison: A ways back, Facebook made this big pronouncement about how the company was really focusing on community. This is just a more distilled version of that mumbo jumbo. Community is just groups, and Facebook wants to foster it to keep people engaged and sharing. Ben: But isnt it a difference in that content wont be shared for the entire world to see? Madison: Yes, but thats not a marked change from what Facebook has become in recent years. Brian: Facebook made a big deal about privacy, which is a nice idea, but you have to ask: Private from who? Yes, youre only talking to your friends, or a small group, instead of posting a public status update, but youre still going through the Facebook system, and youre still letting them handle your data just like before. Madison: Not to mention, if Facebook actually does make good on keeping things walled off in groups, theres a whole other can of worms that comes with groups full of people spreading misinformation or dangerous ideas. Ben: Right, weve seen that in depressing action with Facebooks WhatsApp in Mexico and Brazil, among other places. Brian: I am, obviously, a huge idiot sucker, but I think this sort of structural change to Facebook is good. The biggest problem with Facebook has been that it was designed to strongly encourage public sharing and resharing for a very long time. This new supposed structure, in which everything is sort of isolated from everything else, feels kind of like Reddit. Sure, theres tons of bad shit on Reddit, but its not being cross-pollinated into the feeds and experiences of people who havent asked for it. That was arguably the News Feeds biggest issue. Of course, all of this is hypothetical and who knows if theyll actually follow through. Madison: Please make sure Brian calling himself a huge idiot sucker goes on the site. I feel like, as with a lot of Facebooks changes, I find myself writing sure, sounds good and great idea in theory. But Facebooks got a history of promising things it doesnt deliver. Ben: This may be a basic question, but why is Facebook doing this? Yes, the company has been struggling with terrible press almost constantly for the last few years, and yes, its going to be fined by the FTC for privacy violations, though a few billion dollars is a slap on the wrist for them. But Zuckerberg & Co. are still rolling in money and even adding users somehow. Even if this strategy shift isnt as radical as it appears, why even go halfway? Brian: Its what people are already doing on their platforms. People are starting to share more on Stories than permanent statuses, and theyre talking a lot more in private text threads than in public comment sections. Facebook is looking at what its users are already doing and leaning into it. Madison: Its pretty common on Facebook-owned Instagram, too. Closed DM groups, members with private accounts etc., etc. Brian: There was some stat yesterday that Facebook expects story sharing to overtake status updates at some point this year. By and large, the company is doing what it has always done: looking at user behavior (on their own apps or others) and finding ways to get users to do that behavior even more. And if it just so happens they can brand this as a privacy thing, all the better. Ben: I saw one person quoted in the Times theorizing that this strategy had to do with all the flak Facebook gets for the vile posts that routinely get publicly shared on its platform the New Zealand mosque shooting being a recent, horrific example. It sounds like you dont really buy into that. Madison: That doesnt really hold up given they get just as much flak, if not more, for the same kind of vile content that festers in private groups. Brian: If I recall, this shift was also unveiled before the shooting. But there are obviously benefits for Facebook. The main advantage it derives from closed groups and encrypted messaging is that it gains the ability to not do certain things. It cant aggressively or preemptively monitor for hate speech on encrypted messages, and by encouraging users to create and moderate their own groups, it lets their users act as enforcement, creating specific, enforceable rules for each community. Ben: As with Reddit. Brian: Right. And this might lighten the load of people calling on Facebook to do more. Their version of do more in this case is finding ways to shift responsibility. Ben: As Brian noted in a post yesterday, it is pretty rich that Mark Zuckerberg is offering paeans to the virtues of privacy considering his companys history of carelessness with user information. Is this new version of Facebook even more vulnerable to oversight failures than before? Madison: We can only hope not, right? Honestly, it feels like yesterday doesnt move the needle much at all. Brian: Yeah, who knows. The main thing it does is give Facebook a new arsenal of excuses for poor oversight. Encryption, self-determination, etc. Madison: I cant wait for all the requests for comment I make to Facebook comms to just come back with a picture of Zuck standing in front of that THE FUTURE IS PRIVATE screen. Ben: What does Facebooks unabated success in the midst of continued bad press, and now even some federal punishment, tell us about the company? Is the company just too big to fail at this point? Madison: There was a study this week that found Facebook will be more dead people than living ones by 2100. Until then, its Facebooks world and were all just waiting to die in it. Brian: Facebook has failed users on many occasions, but the only crowd that really matters is advertisers, who, for the most part, it has served diligently. They might as well exist on different planets. Ben: I dont like the planet where Facebook exists. Madison: Somebody call Elon Musk. * 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 (Adds turnout fears, LibDem comment) 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 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. Some voters may just stay at home, with some activists saying many people are increasingly disillusioned with politics. 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. "We think the Conservatives are suffering because of their incapacity to sort out the mess they've made of Brexit," said Luisa Porritt, a Liberal Democrat councilor. "Voters also seem to be starting to make the connection that the Conservative-run government is cutting the grant funding available to local government, which is impacting on public services." A poor showing for the Conservatives could 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. Story continues 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. 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, and none in London. 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 and Elizabeth Piper Editing by Gareth Jones) (Adds White House statement confirming visit, quotes) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss the status of the Taiwanese company's planned investment in Wisconsin, Foxconn and the White House said on Thursday. Foxconn pledged to create 13,000 jobs and build a $10 billion campus in Wisconsin, but it has not met early hiring targets and has said it has been reconsidering its plans. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump met with Gou at the White House. She added without offering details that Gou was "spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there." The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement the two discussed the Wisconsin project and other issues. Gou, a billionaire who said last month he would run for president of Taiwan in 2020, also told Trump he would seek U.S. support for his country if he wins, The South China Morning Post newspaper reported. Gou said he would be a "peacemaker" and not a "troublemaker." Sanders said Trump and Gou "did not discuss support for his campaign in Taiwan." The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the self-governing island with the means to defend itself. China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers told a news conference on Thursday in Milwaukee that he planned to meet with Gou later in the day. Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd , said last month it remained committed to its contract to build a display plant and tech research facilities in Wisconsin, days after Evers said he wanted to renegotiate the deal. Evers, a Democrat who inherited a deal to give Foxconn $4 billion in tax breaks and other incentives when he replaced Republican Scott Walker in January, said he wanted to renegotiate the contract because the firm is not expected to reach its job creation goals for the state. Story continues GROWING SKEPTICISM The 20 million-square-foot (1.8 million-square-meter) Wisconsin campus, announced at a White House ceremony in 2017, marked the largest planned greenfield, or start-from-scratch investment by a foreign-based company in U.S. history and was praised by Trump as proof of his ability to revive American manufacturing. Trump attended a formal groundbreaking in June 2018. Gou told Taiwanese media he invited Trump to come to Wisconsin next May when its production line will open and said Trump agreed. But there is growing skepticism about the fate of the project. In January, Foxconn said market changes "necessitated the adjustment of plans for all projects, including Wisconsin." The company told Reuters it planned a "technology hub" rather than a factory, and would hire mostly engineers and researchers rather than blue-collar workers. After a conversation between Gou and Trump, the company said on Feb. 1 it would still construct a factory but build smaller screens than initially planned. Trump did not mention the project in a rally last week in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Foxconn must meet certain hiring and capital investment goals to qualify for tax credits under the current contract. It fell short of the employment goal in 2018, hiring 178 full-time workers rather than the 260 targeted, and failed to earn a tax credit of up to $9.5 million. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney) (Recasts with Bashir interrogation and adds details) By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM, May 2 (Reuters) - Sudan's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered ousted President Omar al-Bashir to be interrogated on charges of money laundering and financing terrorism, as hundreds of thousands of protesters joined a sit-in to demand the army give way to civilian rule. Bashir was removed by the military on April 11 after months of demonstrations against his 30 year rule. He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes over the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. The prosecutor's statement said other unidentified senior figures would also be investigated for financial crimes. The huge crowd that gathered on Thursday outside the defense ministry was answering a call by an alliance of activists and opposition groups to join a protest march through Khartoum. The Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) alliance said on Thursday it had sent the Transitional Military Council (TMC) set up after Bashir's ouster a draft constitutional document containing its vision for the transitional period. Protesters and activists have been negotiating with the TMC to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee the country until elections. But the parties are deadlocked over who would control the new council and what the features of a transitional government would be. The constitutional draft, seen by Reuters, outlines the duties of a sovereign transitional council which the opposition groups hope will replace the TMC, but does not specify who would sit on it. It also outlines the responsibilities of the cabinet and a 120-member legislature. Opposition groups say the ruling council must be civilian-led and have promised to maintain a sit-in outside the Defence Ministry until their demands are met, but the TMC has shown no sign of willingness to relinquish ultimate authority. At a televised news conference, a spokesman for the DFCF said it expected a response from the military to its constitutional draft within two or three days. The TMC acknowledged receiving the draft and said in a statement that this step pushes dialog forward. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Nafisa Eltahir) Photo: Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine/Yelp Craving Turkish food? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top Turkish spots around Orlando, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to fulfill your urges. 1. Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine Photo: melody l./Yelp Topping the list is Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine. Located at 6900 Tavistock Lakes Blvd., Suite #100, the Turkish, Mediterranean and halal spot is the highest rated Turkish restaurant in Orlando, boasting 4.5 stars out of 216 reviews on Yelp. 2. Cappadocia Photo: mirko p./Yelp Next up is Cappadocia, situated at 565 N. Semoran Blvd. With 4.5 stars out of 146 reviews on Yelp, the Turkish and Mediterranean spot has proven to be a local favorite. 3. Turquaz Turkish Cuisine Photo: turan a./Yelp Turquaz Turkish Cuisine, located at 5648 International Drive, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the hookah bar and Turkish spot four stars out of 63 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. Photo: Nest Yoga/Yelp 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. China Taste 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. Snopioca. | Photo: Kara T./Yelp Need more shaved ice in your life? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top shaved ice spots in San Antonio, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to meet your needs. 1. Snopioca Photo: Em R./Yelp Topping the list is Snopioca. Located at 6423 Babcock Road, Suite 104, it's the highest rated shaved ice spot in San Antonio, boasting 4.5 stars out of 162 reviews on Yelp. Stop in to check out its menu of shaved snow, coffee and bubble tea. 2. Snowflake Paradice Photo: Jai J./Yelp Snowflake Paradice, located at 12730 W. IH 10, Suite 303, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the spot 4.5 stars out of 108 reviews. In addition to snow ice concoctions, Snowflake Paradice's menu features dozens of freshly made smoothies, fruit juices and bubble teas. 3. Aloha Shaved Ice Fruit Cups And More Photo: Raven G./Yelp Check out Aloha Shaved Ice Fruit Cups And More, which has earned five stars out of 58 reviews on Yelp. Located at 11761 Blanco Road, the main attractions are its shaved ice fruit cups, but you'll also find ice cream, Italian ice and frozen yogurt at this spot. 4. Senor Snow Photo: Steph C./Yelp Last but not least, there's Senor Snow, a Tanglewood favorite with 4.5 stars out of 51 reviews. Stop by 6563 Babcock Road, Suite 115, to hit up the Mexican snack bar, which offers shaved ice creations, frozen yogurt and more, the next time the urge strikes. 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: Daniel McCullough/Unsplash Looking for wallet-free ways to spend your time? Here are four fun things to do around town that won't cost you a dime. 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. CoInnovateCS From the event description: CoInnovateCS is the world's premier compound semiconductor collaboration event. Held in the US for the first time and co-located with CS MANTECH in Minneapolis on May 2-3, 2019, CoInnovateCS provides a unique opportunity to collaborate with experts in compound semiconductor manufacturing. CoInnovateCS is an intense and interactive one-day event fostering collaboration and innovation across the compound semiconductor supply chain by exploring industry-led, next-generation challenges and opportunities. ... Only at CoInnovateCS will you find a group that is willing to take on industry-wide challenges. You will have an opportunity to showcase your technology, products and business and maybe find your next development partner. When: Thursday, May 2, 6 p.m.- Friday, May 3, 1:30 p.m. Where: Hyatt Regency, 1300 Nicollet Mall Admission: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Canopy by Hilton Grand Opening // I AM KINDNESS Gallery Show From the event description: Join us in celebrating the Grand Opening of Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis on Friday, May 3. This unique evening will be focused on community and kindness. Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis has partnered with I AM | Sarah Edwards for an art show in which you can't buy art with money, but with acts of kindness. The show features some of the most incredible artists in the Twin Cities. The evening will include kindness infused cocktails brought to you by Prairie Organic Spirits and beer provided by our friends at Fulton Beer. When: Friday, May 3, 6-9 p.m. Where: Canopy by Hilton Minneapolis Mill District, 708 Third St. South Admission: Free Story continues Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Vini d'Italia Walk-Around Wine Tasting featuring over EIGHT Italian Producers From the event description: North Loop Wine & Spirits is thrilled to host Vini d'Italia an Italian Wine Tasting featuring EIGHT + Producers and Winemakers. This is a rare opportunity and is not to be missed. Minneapolis has only hosted Vini d'Italy once in the last 20 years! Try over 40 wines in various styles and pricepoints during this walk-around wine tasting! When: Sunday, May 5, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Where: North Loop Wine & Spirits Cellar, 218 N. Washington Ave. Admission: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Andrew Yang in Minneapolis, MN! From the event description: Humanity First Tour - Andrew Yang comes to Minneapolis, MN! Join presidential candidate Andrew Yang in Minneapolis, MN on May 5th as part of his nation-wide Humanity First tour. With automation threatening one-third of all American jobs, it's time the country started talking seriously about real solutions. When: Sunday, May 5, 3-5 p.m. Where: Boom Island Park, 724 Sibley St. NE Admission: Free 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. Many taxpayers had an unpleasant surprise after filing this year. Their refund amount was lower than expected and, in some cases, filers ended up owing money at the end of the year. While some taxpayers benefited from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, others didn't fare as well from the tax reform. The tax law instituted significant changes, such as larger standard deductions, lost personal exemptions and new tax brackets. And with confusion and uncertainty over the updates to the tax code, not everyone was prepared for how the reform would affect their bottom line in 2018. But there's a silver lining: Next year's tax-filing season may be better. "Now that we're going into the second year of it, people have more idea of what to expect," says Joanna Powell, managing director with accounting firm CBIZ MHM, LLC in Boston. Still, if your tax experience wasn't positive this year, it's crucial to make sure you don't commit common filing pitfalls. [Read: 7 Last-Minute Tax Tips to Lower Your 2018 Bill.] Here are tax-filing mistakes to avoid next year: -- Withholding too little from your paycheck. -- Filing before all your forms arrive. -- Missing lucrative deductions and credits. -- Forgetting how life events affect taxes. -- Neglecting to seek help. Withholding Too Little From Your Paycheck The biggest mistake filers made last year was not adjusting their withholding after the tax reform bill was passed. "A lot of people last year were surprised that they were under-withheld," says Grey Merryman, senior director of planning at Wells Fargo Private Bank. Those who previously had large itemized deductions were most likely to be negatively impacted by the new withholding tables issued in the wake of tax reform. It fell to workers to proactively make adjustments to how much their employers were withholding for income tax, a step that many people failed to do. As a result, more than 20% of taxpayers were estimated to be in danger of under-withholding and owing taxes, according to a July 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office. Story continues "Some people like to be over-withheld and have a forced savings plan," says Tim Spiess, partner-in-charge of the personal wealth advisors practice with the accounting firm EisnerAmper LLP in New York City. If that's your approach to taxes and you didn't get the refund you wanted this year, now is the time to talk to your employer's human resources office about adjusting how much is withheld from your paycheck. Filing Before All Your Forms Arrive Some tax forms, such as a 1099 form for health savings account payouts, may come later in the tax season. However, by the time they arrive, some early filers have already finished their returns. "A lot of these forms might not have a tax effect," Powell says. However, the government will receive a copy of the form and if they don't see it listed on your return, you could get a notice from the IRS. "That's a little scary," Powell says. Avoid making this misstep next year by creating a list of all tax documents you received for 2018. Then, you can use that as a guide next year to ensure you have all necessary documentation before submitting your return. [Read: The Pros and Cons of Standard vs. Itemized Tax Deductions.] Missing Lucrative Deductions and Credits Start setting money aside now in 401(k) and IRA accounts which can offer significant tax savings. Money placed into traditional retirement accounts is eligible for an immediate deduction and is then taxed in retirement. Meanwhile, Roth accounts are funded with after-tax dollars, but can be used tax-free in retirement. Those with qualified high-deductible health insurance plans are also eligible to open a health savings account, which offers a deduction now as well as the opportunity to use funds tax-free for health care costs in the future. "A lot of people missed out on some tax savings because they under-contributed (to these accounts)," Speiss says. In 2019, workers can contribute up to $19,000 to most employer-sponsored retirement funds. Contributions to tax-advantaged IRAs is capped at $6,000 for those younger than age 50 and $7,000 for those age 50 and older. Health savings accounts can be funded up to $3,500 for those with individual health plans and $7,000 for those with family health plans. In both cases, those age 55 and older are entitled to $1,000 catch-up contributions. Small business owners should be sure they also don't miss out on the qualified business income deduction, which allows them to deduct 20% of their business income from their personal taxes. However, they may also want to consider incorporating in 2019. "The corporate tax rate is now 21%, and this is a big deal," Speiss says. That means some business owners may be able to see significant tax savings by changing the structure of their business. Forgetting How Life Events Affect Taxes While reviewing your 2018 taxes can be useful in preparing for next year, "Individuals' tax situations can change from year to year," Powell says. For instance, getting married at any time this year -- even at the end of December -- will mean you'll have only two filing options next year: married filing jointly or married filing separately. Buying a house, having a baby or starting a business can also affect how much you owe in taxes, and you may want to review and adjust your tax withholding accordingly. [Read: 10 Tax Write-Offs You Shouldn't Overlook.] Neglecting to Seek Help As someone's income and assets increase, it becomes more important to use appropriate professional help. Having a CPA and a financial advisor is beneficial, but ideally, a single person will be looking holistically at your accounts. That person will then be able to advise on the tax implications of certain investment strategies or how to reduce taxes by making smart use of income and savings. "The overarching theme is that you have someone looking at your overall financial plan," Merryman says. Having the right professionals in your corner can ensure you don't make these common tax-filing blunders next year or commit any other money mishaps in the months to come. Teachers and their supporters rally at the South Carolina State House on May Day. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images The first of May is International Workers Day for the labor movement and the left. Though the day has origins in the mid-to-late-19th-century movement for an eight-hour workday, its also come to commemorate the Haymarket riots in Chicago, which followed the murders of picketing workers by police on May 3, 1886. Seven policemen and four workers died in riots the following day. Eight anarchists were later tried, and four hanged, for their alleged involvement in the use of a bomb during the riots, but there was little-to-no evidence connecting any of them to the crime. Over 130 years later, International Workers Day has become a world holiday, though its not formally recognized as such in the U.S. The day remains a flashpoint for labor action and for celebratory demonstrations of worker solidarity, and this year, the RedforEd movement left a definitive mark on the holiday. Around 10,000 public educators in South Carolina marched in the state capital today, demanding smaller class sizes, higher pay, and reduced standardized testing. Clad in the now-familiar red shirts of the RedforEd movement, they sang Were Not Gonna Take It in front of the state Department of Education. On Twitter, high-profile Democratic candidates for president expressed support for South Carolina educators and, more broadly, for International Workers Day: I stand with South Carolina teachers who are walking out for fairer pay, smaller classroom sizes, duty-free break time and full funding of the states promises to students. We need to treat educators with respect and dignity. #AllOutMay1 https://t.co/K8RpgUarw9 Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 1, 2019 Im the proud husband of a teacher and know first-hand the impact of their work. 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. #AllOutMay1 Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 1, 2019 Its time to honor the teaching profession with the support, compensation, and respect it deserves. We stand with educators in South Carolina and across the country as they rise up to demand better treatment and the freedom to do their job. https://t.co/dIx4dXcrLo Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) May 1, 2019 Teachers often have to work two jobs to make ends meet. Classrooms are too big, resources slim. As they march in South Carolina, lets renew our call for education investment; teachers should be able to do their jobs without the burden of inadequate support & debt. #AllOutMay1 Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 1, 2019 On #MayDay, Im thinking about our countrys long history of workers making their voices heard and demanding changejust like the Lawrence, MA mill workers did over a century ago. The Bread and Roses strike inspires me to this day, and reminds us to keep fighting for our rights. pic.twitter.com/bKOiA3Tsx9 Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 1, 2019 On International Workers Day, we must fight to build a nation where the dignity of work is respected. Where everyone can keep a roof over their head and pay the bills. We must stand up and protect the rights of hard-working Americans. Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 1, 2019 South Carolina educators werent the only educators to stage May Day demonstrations. In North Carolina, some teachers walked out of school for the second year in a row to demand Medicaid expansion, the hiring of more school support staff like nurses and counselors, and a $15 minimum wage for all education workers, among other issues. Last month, the Raleigh News & Observer reported that the four largest school districts in North Carolina had preemptively canceled classes for May 1; on the same date in 2018, teachers successfully shut down 42 school districts with a similar walkout. In Chicago, meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union is preparing for what its calling the nations first-ever multi-employer charter-school strike. More unionized charter schools could join the strike in the coming days if progress is not made at the bargaining table, the union announced in a press release. At 5 p.m. CST, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten will join educators and union leaders at the ChiArts school to kick off the unions latest strike. Chicago was also the scene of the nations first-ever charter-school strike, which affected Acero charter schools in December. At Harvard University, graduate-student workers are holding their own May Day protest. The students, who are members of the United Automobile Workers, have occupied University Hall to draw attention to what they say is the universitys failure to to provide student workers with key protections from harassment and discrimination following a series of troubling, high-profile incidents and a reported 55 percent increase in harassment complaints on campus. Though graduate students voted to unionize in April 2018, the union says on its website that Harvards administration did not adequately meet with its bargaining committee until October. Student workers still have no union contract. We are exercising our rights as workers to demand protections for harassment and discrimination because, while Harvard is a world class institution, it has a world class #MeToo problem, Sophie Hill, a graduate student in government, said in a press release issued by the union. Right now, my colleagues inside University Hall are not being allowed to go to the bathroom, but we are standing strong. The Administration needs to provide a contract now. At least one union is holding off on strike plans for now. District Council 1707 AFSCME, which represents some preschool educators in New York City, told the press on Wednesday that it has agreed to call off the strike and rally scheduled for Thursday, May 2, and agreed to refrain from striking while the discussions are ongoing. Both of the unions locals had previously voted to authorize a one-day strike over pay parity; educators in community-run preschools said they are paid far less than their colleagues in public schools, despite their inclusion in Mayor Bill de Blasios universal pre-K program. Cuenelli's Peruvian Restaurant. | Photo: Jay W./Yelp In search of a new favorite Latin American spot? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable Latin American restaurants around Tampa, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to venture when cravings strike. 1. Cuenelli's Peruvian Restaurant PHOTO: VERONICA B./YELP Topping the list is Cuenelli's Peruvian Restaurant. Located at 4801 W. Hillsborough Ave. in Drew Park, the Latin American and Peruvian spot is the highest rated cheap Latin American restaurant in Tampa, boasting four stars out of 217 reviews on Yelp. 2. La Lechonera PHOTO: La Lechonera/YELP Next up is Riverbend's La Lechonera, situated at 5601 N. Armenia Ave. With four stars out of 97 reviews on Yelp, the Latin American and Puerto Rican spot has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for an inexpensive option. 3. Bodega photo: james i./yelp Seminole Heights's Bodega, located at 5901 N. Florida Ave., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the affordable Latin American spot, which offers juice and smoothies and more, 4.5 stars out of 94 reviews. 4. 40th Street Restaurant Photo: SHUNe D./Yelp Over in East Tampa, check out 40th Street Restaurant, which has earned four stars out of 11 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the Dominican, Latin American and Spanish spot by heading over to 3206 N. 40th St. 5. Raices de Mi Pueblo Restaurant and Cafe Photo: OSCAR L./Yelp Finally, there's Raices de Mi Pueblo Restaurant and Cafe, a Northeast Macfarlane favorite with 4.5 stars out of 10 reviews. Stop by 1910 N. Lincoln Ave. to hit up the Latin American and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers sandwiches and more, next time you're looking to satisfy your cravings on a budget. 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. 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 Smaller can be a better investment. Many investors looking for income tend to focus on a narrow list of blue-chip stocks, thinking that these enterprises are well-established, have a rich history of generous paydays and have proven their value to investors. However, sometimes old favorites face headwinds. From continued dividend cuts at General Electric Co. (ticker: GE) since the financial crisis to once-dominant automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) which has lost roughly 35% in share value over the last five years, being a big name is no guarantee of success. There are plenty of much smaller options that offer generous dividends and the chance of upside. Here are nine such companies with market capitalization of $2 billion or less. Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (OZM) Though a smaller investment firm with just under $700 million in market value and roughly $31 billion in total assets under management, Och-Ziff is a respected firm with nearly three decades of experience in capital markets. OZM is best known for its alternative asset funds and credit investment funds. The company gathers assets from investors and then deploys that cash based on a proprietary strategy -- keeping a bit off the top to cover their fees. OZM supports its dividends from that reliable cash flow and recently increased its payout to 20 cents a share to offer an impressive annualized yield that is two or three times the typical large-cap dividend payer. Current yield: 6.4% NGL Energy Partners (NGL) NGL is one of several choices to invest in midstream energy stocks for big dividends. This Oklahoma-based partnership is valued at roughly $2 billion in market capitalization and specializes in logistics for crude oil and propane. This includes transporting crude from producers to refineries as well as providing liquid natural gas terminals and storage solutions for end-users. It's not a glamorous business moving around the energy that other folks produce and another group is ultimately using. However, it is reliable and helps support a supersized dividend from NGL shares. Story continues Current yield: 11.1% Braemar Hotels & Resorts (BHR) Braemar Hotels & Resorts describes itself as a "conservatively capitalized" real estate investment trust that focuses on luxury properties. The company is relatively modest in size, with a $500 million market cap, but its limited holdings are focused on a very high-end clientele. BHR's current portfolio of 13 destinations covers almost 4,000 rooms and includes the Capital Hilton Hotel in the District of Columbia and the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. As a REIT, Braemar gets significant tax breaks for a real-estate intensive business as long as it delivers at least 90% of taxable income back to shareholders. This creates a big mandate for big dividends. Current yield: 5% Landmark Infrastructure Partners (LMRK) This company is a very different kind of real estate investment. Landmark Infrastructure Partners acquires and develops properties that feature communications towers, billboards or even renewable power generation structures like wind turbines. These assets generate a steady stream of cash -- and a steady stream of dividends to its shareholders. LMRK has roughly tripled its dividends since entering public markets in 2015, from a little over 13 cents a share to more than 36 cents per share each quarter at present. Current yield: 10.3% Schweitzer-Mauduit International (SWM) If you don't recognize Schweitzer-Mauduit, you're not alone. This roughly $1 billion company based in Georgia specializes in paper products for unique applications such as flooring laminates, food service packaging and cigarette papers. It's a niche business, but in some ways that's the appeal of SWM stock. There aren't a whole lot of specialty paper producers anymore even though there is demand for many of these items. This company may never offer impressive year-over-year growth rates, but it pays a generous dividend that is only about half of its profits. SWM is a confident income investment, even if it is a comparatively smaller stock than popular low-risk blue chips. Current yield: 4.6% USA Compression Partners (USAC) USAC is a unique energy stock that makes its money by providing compression services primarily to natural gas companies involved in hydraulic fracturing to access fossil fuel in shale fields. These customers capture natural gas, then take it to USAC to pressurize it and turn the fossil fuel into liquid that is easier to transport. The firm operates near several of the biggest shale fields, including the Marcellus field in the Northeast and the Woodford, Fayetteville and Barnett fields in the center of the country. This close proximity plus established relationships with key producers ensures consistent performance and steady dividends to shareholders. Current yield: 13.1% Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) Arbor is a diversified REIT that, oddly enough, doesn't actually manage any physical real estate. Instead, the company focuses on financing and investments primarily around residential real estate including bridge and mezzanine loans for large-scale projects as well as investments in real estate-related notes and mortgage-related securities. ABR lends at a decent rate of return to back housing and apartment investments. Recent history shows ABR is pretty darn good at this strategy, with shares up nearly 60% in the last 12 months and a dividend that has grown from 15 cents each quarter at the beginning of 2016 to 27 cents as of its last distribution in February. Current yield: 8.3% CatchMark Timber Trust (CTT) Most income-oriented investors are familiar with the various flavors of real estate trusts or energy-focused partnerships. Structured in a similar way, CatchMark is a timber investment that owns interests in roughly 1.6 million acres of woodlands in Florida, the Carolinas and Oregon, making money as it harvests the wood and brings it to market. CTT isn't a gigantic stock, with a market capitalization of only about $500 million. But this is a unique play as it's tied to a much different hard asset than crude oil or real estate, and could add a nice layer of diversification to your dividend stock portfolio in addition to a significantly quarterly payday. Current yield: 5.5% Fidus Investment Corp. (FDUS) Fidus is a business development company that specializes in leveraged buyouts, refinancings and change of ownership transactions. Fidus is only interested in helping smaller companies grow bigger -- not turnarounds or distressed situations. This philosophy remains firm even though its history includes deals across aerospace consumer products, technology and manufacturing. That interest only in companies with a growth path instead of foundering firms that it can simply slash and burn may be part of the reason for its success. Shares of Fidus are up 20% in the last year in addition to its current double-digit yield. Current yield: 10.2% Great small-cap dividend stocks to buy. -- Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (OZM) -- NGL Energy Partners (NGL) -- Braemar Hotels & Resorts (BHR) -- Landmark Infrastructure Partners (LMRK) -- Schweitzer-Mauduit International (SWM) -- USA Compression Partners (USAC) -- Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) -- CatchMark Timber Trust (CTT) -- Fidus Investment Corp. (FDUS) Washington (AFP) - The southern US state of Alabama is set to enact a law that would mean jail for doctors performing abortions, even in cases of rape and incest -- part of a push by conservatives countrywide to curb family planning services. Those backing the move say they hope it is challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, forcing a review of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. The measure, approved by the Alabama House of Representatives, sets prison terms of between 10 and 99 years for doctors who perform abortions. The only exception would be instances where the mother at serious risk or where the child would not survive outside the womb because of some lethal condition. The measure needs approval by the state's Republican-controlled senate before it can be signed into law by Republican Governor Kay Ivy. Deeply conservative and religious Alabama would then file an appeal to any successful legal challenge in the US Supreme Court, hoping the case sets a new precedent overturning legal abortion nationwide. "This bill is simply about Roe v. Wade," said its author, Republican representative Terri Collins, during debates on the chamber floor. "The decision that was made back in 1973 would not be the same decision that was decided upon today if you re-looked at the issue," Collins said. Conservatives are counting on support at the Supreme Court, where liberal justices are in a minority after the arrival of two conservative members appointed by President Donald Trump. While the Alabama measure is seen as particularly draconian, at least 28 US states have introduced more than 300 measures since the start of the year limiting abortion rights, according to activists. Kentucky and Mississippi are two states that have banned abortions as soon as a fetus's heartbeat is detectable, or around the sixth week of pregnancy. Similar measures are being adopted in Georgia, Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee. A judge has blocked the implementation of the Kentucky law, while the Mississippi law is set to come into effect in July. May 2 (Reuters) - A former student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte was due to appear in court on Thursday, accused of murdering two students and attempting to kill others when he opened fire in a crowded classroom on Tuesday. Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder after police and witnesses say he began firing a handgun in a classroom full of nearly 50 students on UNC Charlotte's campus shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. One of the two students killed in the shooting, 21-year-old Riley Howell, charged Terrell and managed to knock him over, enabling authorities who arrived quickly on the scene to disarm him, police said. The other student killed was Ellis Parlier, 19, officials said. Four students wounded were identified as Drew Pescaro, 19; Sean DeHart, 20; Emily Houpt, 23, and Rami Alramadhan, 20. Authorities offered no explanation for a motive and said they believed Terrell, who withdrew from UNC Charlotte earlier this semester, acted alone. Police said Terrell 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, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said on Wednesday. "We can't really discern the why just yet," Putney said. "The randomness is what is most concerning." 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." 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, said Meghan McDonald, a spokeswoman for the local prosecutor. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) Afghan officials called for a ceasefire Thursday as a huge peace summit wound down in Kabul after thousands of delegates spent days discussing possible conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban. This week's "loya jirga", or grand assembly, saw more than 3,000 religious and tribal leaders, politicians and representatives from across the country gather under tight security to discuss the possibility of peace. The Taliban, who were not at the talks, are this week separately meeting in Doha with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a bid to make a deal with Washington that could see the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. While the full results of the summit may not be announced until Friday, several committee leaders said they wanted to see an immediate pause in violence, which has continued apace across Afghanistan even with various peace summits taking place. "Every day, Afghans are being killed without any reason. An unconditional ceasefire must be announced," said Mohammad Qureshi, head of one of the jirga's many committees. Huge swathes of Afghan society worry that if the US does make a deal with the Taliban, the militant Islamists would try to seize power and undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms, and legal protections. The Taliban has steadfastly refused to talk to the Afghan government, which it views as a puppet regime. That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree to 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. "We dont want such a peace that women's rights are not respected, freedom of expression are not ensured, elections are not held," committee member Faizullah Jalal told the summit. Several delegates also rejected Taliban and opposition calls for an interim government when President Ashraf Ghani's term expires this month. Story continues "It is you who will show the government the way towards peace and the government will do what you demand," jirga chairman Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf said. "No one will impose anything on you." Several opposition figures had boycotted the assembly, complaining it amounted to a political rally for Ghani, but Sayyaf said the summit was not aimed at supporting any particular candidate for the September presidential elections. The loya jirga is a centuries-old tradition in Afghanistan that has been convened at times of national crisis or to settle big issues. WASHINGTON Attorney General William Barr repeatedly clashed with lawmakers Wednesday over his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, rebutting Democrats' complaints that he misrepresented the report to favor President Donald Trump while defending his own conclusions that the president had not sought to obstruct the probe. Barr's testimony in a grueling four-hour Senate hearing, his first public remarks since Mueller's redacted report was publicly disclosed last month, had been widely anticipated. But the session took on new urgency in the hours before it opened when the Justice Department revealed that Mueller had privately objected to Barr's initial summary of the investigation, which he said "threatened to undermine" the purpose of the inquiry. Because Mueller's office declined to draw a conclusion about whether Trump had committed obstruction, the attorney general told the panel that he acted to resolve the question that had threatened to derail Trump's presidency. The attorney general repeatedly said the evidence investigators gathered didn't establish that the president committed a crime and declared that Trump had been "falsely accused," but he declined to draw broader conclusions about the president's conduct. Instead, he said, voters can read the special counsel report and decide. Were out of it, Barr said. We have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon. Later Wednesday, the Justice Department told lawmakers that Barr would not attend a hearing scheduled before a House panel because of a dispute about how he would be questioned. Barr's refusal is the latest and most confrontational step by the Trump administration to challenge Democrats who control the House of Representatives and are conducting wide-ranging investigations into the president. Even as Barr was thrust to the center of an intensifying firestorm, the hearing Wednesday underscored the widening political divide pitting Democrats skeptical of his handling of the inquiry and Republicans eager to either move on or investigate the origin of the Russia investigation, which began with the FBI before Trump took office. Story continues "For me, it's over," Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said to open the hearing by lauding Mueller, defending the investigations results and declaring the question entirely settled. After all this time and all this money, Mr. Mueller concluded there was no collusion. But several Democrats said they were unsatisfied with Barr's conclusion that there was no obstruction, and they criticized his handling of the release of Mueller's report and his testimony at an earlier hearing in which he said he was not aware of concerns raised by Mueller's office. "I think it was purposely misleading, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said of Barr's earlier testimony. What Barr plans to say: Read his opening statement Mueller-Barr: Special counsel objected to Barr's letter clearing President Trump of obstruction Mueller voiced concerns to Barr Hours before the hearing was to begin, the Justice Department confirmed that Mueller had privately objected to a letter Barr delivered to Congress in March clearing Trump of having obstructed the special counsel investigation. In his March 27 letter, Mueller said Barr's summary three days earlier "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions," which led to "public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation." According to Muellers letter and a Justice Department statement released late Tuesday, the special counsel expressed his differences with Barr at least three times: on March 25, the day after the attorney general released his summary of Muellers conclusions; then in the March 27 letter; and when the two spoke by telephone March 28. Describing the call at Wednesday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr said he was joined around a speakerphone at the Justice Department with other top aides, including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Bob, whats with the letter? the attorney general said, recalling how the conversation started. He (Mueller) said they were concerned about the way the media was playing this. I asked him if he thought the letter was misleading or inaccurate. He said no, Barr said. The letter was a bit snitty, Barr later told the Senate panel, dismissing Democrats' suggestions that it represented a serious rebuke of the attorney general. I thought it was probably written by one of his staff people. But on April 4, Barr testified at a House subcommittee hearing about media reports that some officials in Mueller's office were unhappy with his handling of the investigation report. Leahy pressed Barr on his reply to Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., who had asked whether he was aware that members of Muellers team had voiced frustration with Barrs investigative summary. I dont know what members he was talking about, Barr told Leahy. The disclosure of Mueller's letter prompted calls Wednesday for Barr's resignation from lawmakers including Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who is head of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and a member of the Judiciary Committee, also said Barr should resign. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders rejected those criticisms, saying, "Democrats only disgrace and humiliate themselves with their baseless attacks on such a fine public servant." 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 cant. pic.twitter.com/aJpxHj1mc6 Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 1, 2019 Barr, meanwhile, defended his March 24 letter disclosing Mueller's "bottom-line conclusions," despite Muellers objections, because the body politic was in a high state of agitation. He compared the letter to a verdict rather than a summary of the report. I didnt believe it was in the public interest to let this go on for several weeks," Barr told the committee. We prepared the letter for that purpose: to state the bottom-line conclusions." In the telephone call after Mueller's March 27 letter of objection, Barr said Mueller wanted more put out. He was very clear in what he was not suggesting: that we were misrepresenting his report," Barr said, but that Mueller was concerned about press coverage of the report. Among the harshest recriminations came from Hirono, who blasted Barr and accused him of lying to Congress when he said he wasn't aware that Mueller had objected to any of his actions. You lied to Congress, Hirono said, reading from a prepared statement. You knew you lied, and now we know. After her verbal assault, Graham rose to Barrs defense. You have slandered this man, from top to bottom, Graham said. If you want more of this you are not going to get it. After withering criticism, Barr sought to defend the president. How did we get the point here where the president was falsely accused, Barr said, referring to unsubstantiated suggestions that Trump had plotted with the Kremlin. To listen to the rhetoric you would think that Mueller found the opposite." Russian campaign interference Mueller's full report identified "systematic" efforts by the Kremlin to intercede in the 2016 election by hacking emails and posting disinformation to help Trump win, and it detailed how Trump and his aides appeared to welcome that help. But it found no conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia, and it did not reach a conclusion about whether Trump had sought to obstruct justice. Trump has said Mueller's 448-page report exonerated him because it did not conclude he had committed a crime. He complained Wednesday on Twitter that former President Barack Obama should have done something about Russian interference in the election but didn't. In another post, Trump repeated a frequent mantra: "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!" 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! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019 Although Wednesday's hearing was held to review the Justice Departments handling of Muellers inquiry, Graham offered up a critique of the FBIs investigation of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server, vowing that he would make that the focus of the Senates attention. This committee is going to look long and hard about how all of this started, Graham said. 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) Republicans moved to question the FBIs motives and focus on the reports central finding: that Trump did not conspire with the Russian government. Is there any evidence to suggest that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin has something on President Trump? asked Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Not that I am aware of, Barr responded. Is there any evidence to suggest that President Trump is a Russian agent? Lee continued. None that Im aware of, the attorney general said. Conflicts about obstruction Mueller made no decision on whether Trump obstructed justice during the inquiry. Prosecutors said in their report that they thought it would be unfair to determine whether the president committed a crime if they could not ultimately bring charges against him, something Justice Department policy forbids. Barr said he determined based on the evidence that no charges were warranted. 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." We were frankly surprised that (Mueller) wasnt going to come to a view on obstruction, Barr told the panel. We did not understand why the special counsel was not reaching a decision. When we pressed him on it, he said the special counsels office was still reaching an explanation. On whether he felt good about his decision to clear Trump of obstruction, Barr said: Absolutely. USA TODAY App: Like what youre reading? Download the USA TODAY app for more. Democrats pressed Barr about his decision on obstruction charges, focusing on 10 episodes Mueller described in the report. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked about Trump's former White House counsel, Don McGahn, who told investigators that Trump ordered him to fire Mueller, a demand that alarmed him so much that he said he cleaned out his office and prepared to quit. Trump has denied the accusation. Barr explained that Trump and McGahn were consistent in their explanations that the president never directed McGahn to fire Mueller but to have Rosenstein remove him for a conflict of interest. That would have led to the appointment of another special counsel to succeed Mueller. We felt on that episode that the government would be able to (prove) obstruction corrupt intent beyond a reasonable doubt, Barr said. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Barr whether misleading statements by Trump denying contacts with Russians, cited throughout the Mueller report, were lies. "History will judge you harshly," Blumenthal said. Im not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people, Barr said. Im in the business of determining whether a crime has been committed. Contributing: David Jackson More about Attorney General William Barr and special counsel Robert Mueller: AG William Barr warns he could refuse to appear at House hearing on Mueller report, objecting to format Collusion, obstruction of justice, redactions: How the Mueller report uses these legal terms Mueller report: Trump's anger over Russia probe may have saved him from obstruction charge This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'We're out of it.' Attorney General Barr defends release, conclusions of special counsel's Russia report Napakiak (United States) (AFP) - The cemetery has already been moved twice, the old school is underwater and the new one is facing the same fate as erosion constantly eats away at the land in Napakiak. The tiny village located in southwestern Alaska, along the meandering Kuskokwim River, is one of dozens of coastal indigenous communities across the state that are on the front lines of climate change, their very existence and way of life threatened by the warming temperatures. "The shoreline keeps eroding much faster than predictions and we are continuously having to move back from the river to higher ground," city council member Walter Nelson told an AFP team on a recent tour of the isolated village of 350 residents, most of them Yupik Eskimos. "Here, we are dealing with climate change on a daily basis." Waving his hands left and right, he points to houses and other structures, most of them on stilts, that are affected by rapid coastal erosion and thawing permafrost -- a once-permanently frozen ground on which many Alaska native villages are built. "It's a constant race against time and right now the local grocery store, the fire station and a city building are top of the list for relocation," Nelson said. "The school will be next but we won't be able to move it. We will have to tear it down and build a new one." The same drama is playing out across all of Alaska's coastal communities, many of which are not accessible by road, except in the winter, when the rivers freeze and turn into ice roads that are increasingly non-existent because of the warming temperatures. According to a 2009 report by the Government Accountability Office, the majority of the state's more than 200 native villages are affected by erosion and flooding, with 31 facing "imminent threats." Among those in danger of going underwater is Newtok, located near Alaska's western coast, where all of the roughly 350 residents should complete the daunting task of relocating this summer to a new village about nine miles away. Story continues Further south, in Quinhagak, which sits along the Bering Sea and near the mouth of the Kuskokwim River, local leaders are also mulling moving the entire village of 700 people to safer grounds. "We've already moved twice and the last time was in 1979," said Warren Jones, president of the local Yupik corporation known as Qanirtuuq, Inc. "But the erosion is happening too quickly and now we're preparing land for the new site which will be further inland." - 'Existential threats' - According to scientists, Alaska has been warming twice as fast as the global average, with temperatures in February and March shattering records. "From 1901 to 2016, average temperatures in the mainland United States increased by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (one degree Celsius), whereas in Alaska they increased by 4.7 degrees," said Rick Thoman, a climate expert at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. "This is disproportionately affecting rural communities in Alaska, many of which are facing long-term existential threats," he added. "Some communities are one storm away from not being habitable." In Napakiak, which is surrounded by miles and miles of flat tundra dotted with small lakes, and is only accessible by small plane or by boat, Harold Ilmar's full-time job for the last decade has been to protect the village from storm surges, flooding and the river constantly eroding large chunks of land. On average, he moves about five structures a year to higher ground and, with the meager means at his disposal, tries to push back the waves chiseling away at the banks with sandbags and plastic sheeting. - 'Metal coffins' - "It's non-stop and during emergencies, I even work weekends," he says. "I think it would be better if we just moved the whole village to higher ground, right up there," he adds, pointing to a bluff about a mile away from the shore. Like their counterparts in other native communities, Napakiak officials in recent years have been making the rounds, travelling to conferences across the country to sound the alarm about climate change and their sinking villages. "We keep telling people to come out here because seeing is believing," said Nelson. "They're not going to understand what's happening over the phone." He said the village has even started using more sturdy metal coffins instead of wooden ones for burials, as many bodies could not be recovered intact when the two previous cemeteries washed away. "We have two mass graves now filled with the remains of people we couldn't identify," he said. Nelson acknowledged that in the long-term, given the speed of erosion and increased flooding, Napakiak may end up underwater with its residents possibly joining the growing number of climate refugees forced to abandon their land. "We thought that 2016 and 2018 were the warmest but 2019 is breaking all records," he sighed. "Every year it keeps getting warmer. "Who knows what we are going to face in the next 10 years." Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images Facebook announced on Thursday that it had banned a number of far-right extremists from both Facebook and Instagram. You might have read about it at precisely 2:01 p.m. ET, the time the embargo lifted from the select number of sites Facebook decided to give this news to exclusively. (Were gonna just say it seems like an odd strategy to make splashy news out of what is effectively Facebook doing what it is supposed to do removing people and accounts that violate its Terms of Service and leave it at that.) The list includes Alex Jones, Infowars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, and Paul Nehlen. Though hes not a far-right extremist, Facebook also banned Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Farrakhan an anti-Semite who routinely accuses Jews of manipulating the U.S. government and controlling the levers of world power. The real goof here, however, was that at the time outlets were allowed to go public with the news, Facebook had yet to pull accounts from several of the people who are now banned. Milo Yiannopoulos managed to eke out one final post on Instagram, captured for posterity by BuzzFeeds Ryan Mac, letting his followers know the ban was impending and to please make sure they were signed up for his email newsletter. Whoopsy! Loomer and Jones also still had live accounts when the news broke. All have since been taken down, and if you search for them now youll find a user not found notification. Facebook effectively gave these folks a heads up. In response to his ban, Milo got this up... on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/fSFcebvOjX Ryan Mac (@RMac18) May 2, 2019 Weve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology, a Facebook spokesperson told CNN in a statement. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today. In addition to banning those people, a Facebook spokesperson told CNN it is possible that people who praised or supported the now-banned accounts could also have their content restricted. The spokesperson did not say if this applied to anyone specifically. As for the reasons for finally banning these accounts, Facebook said it used a number of criteria, including whether the person or organization has ever called for violence against individuals based on race, ethnicity, or national origin, whether the person has been identified with a hateful ideology, whether they use hate speech or slurs in their about section on their social media profiles, and whether they have had pages or groups removed from Facebook for violating hate speech rules, CNN also reports. Alex Jones, an internet hoaxer who recently gave sworn testimony claiming psychosis made him peddle lies about the shooting at Sandy Hook, and Infowars had previously been banned from Facebook. However, both were still on Instagram prior to Thursday. Jones and Infowars, as well as Milo Yiannopoulos and Nehlen, are also banned from Twitter. Loomer was banned from Twitter in 2018 (her account was unverified in 2017) for a tweet in which she called Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar, who is Muslim, anti Jewish and said that in the Muslim faith homosexuals are oppressed, women are abused and forced to wear the hijab. She later doubled down saying her tweets was 100 percent true and factual. Pho 79. | Photo: Hender A./Yelp Looking for a mouthwatering Vietnamese meal near you? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable Vietnamese restaurants around Albuquerque, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to fulfill your urges. 1. Banh Mi Coda Photo: Amy o./Yelp Topping the list is Banh Mi Coda. Located at 230-C Louisiana Blvd. SE in Trumbull Village, the Vietnamese spot, which offers sandwiches and more, is the highest-rated cheap Vietnamese restaurant in Albuquerque, boasting 4.5 stars out of 358 reviews on Yelp. Customer favorites include the grilled pork banh mi, the tofu spring rolls, the pulled pork sandwich and the noodle bowls. 2. Pho 79 Photo: ray m./Yelp Pho 79, located at 2007 Candalaria Road NE, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the budget-friendly Vietnamese spot four stars out of 193 reviews. Pho 79 has been locally-owned and family-operated since 2013. Its specialties include authentic noodle soups, vermicelli noodle bowls, fried rice, bahn mi sandwiches and a variety of beverages, such as Vietnamese iced coffee and green tea milkshakes. 3. Saigon Far East Photo: ai vy n./Yelp Saigon Far East, a Vietnamese spot in South San Pedro, is another much-loved, cheap go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 165 Yelp reviews. Head over to 901 San Pedro Drive SE, Suite D to see for yourself. Begin your meal with the dumpling soup or the vegetable spring rolls, and then dive into Bun Xao Cai for your entree (sauteed broccoli with onion and deep-fried tofu over vermicelli noodles). Ready for dessert? Try the Che Bap, a corn pudding bathed in coconut milk. 4. Mr. Pho Finally, there's Mr. Pho, a Boyds-Leslie Park favorite with 4.5 stars out of 99 reviews. Stop by 6205 Montgomery Blvd. to hit up the Vietnamese spot next time you're looking to satisfy your cravings on a budget. In addition to a wide variety of pho noodle soups, Mr. Pho serves appetizers, noodle bowls, rice dishes and pad Thai. 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 Nandita Bose BALTIMORE (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. The warehouses that employ robots mostly handle general merchandise, which includes everything from lamps and clothing to kayaks and bikes. Story continues 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) American Water Works (NYSE: AWK), the largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility in the United States, released first-quarter 2019 results after the market closed on Wednesday. Revenue grew 6.8% and earnings per share (EPS) adjusted for one-time items rose 3.4% year over year. The top-line results of $813 million comfortably exceeded Wall Street's expectation of $790.6 million, though adjusted EPS of $0.61 fell short of the consensus estimate of $0.63. For context, in 2018, the company's revenue edged up 2.5% and adjusted EPS jumped 8.9% year over year. Shares of American Water have returned 26.2% over the one-year period through Wednesday, outpacing the S&P 500's 12.4% return over this period. Water pouring into a glass with blue background. Image source: Getty Images. American Water Works' key numbers Metric Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Change (YOY) Revenue $813 million $761 million 6.8% Net income $113 million $106 million 6.6% GAAP EPS $0.62 $0.59 5.1% Adjusted EPS $0.61 $0.59 3.4% Data source: American Water Works. YOY = year over year. GAAP = generally accepted accounting principles; EPS = earnings per share. Adjusted EPS for the reported quarter excludes a liability reduction related to the settlement of the class action lawsuit arising from the Freedom Industries' chemical spill in West Virginia in 2014. This suit alleged that American Water breached its duty to provide clean water to its customers. Here's how the segments performed in the quarter. Segment Q1 2019 EPS Q1 2018 EPS Change (YOY) Regulated business $0.59 $0.58 1.7% Market-based business $0.11 $0.07 57.1% Parent ($0.09) ($0.6) 50% Total adjusted EPS $0.61 $0.59 3.4% Freedom Industries liability reduction $0.01 -- -- GAAP EPS $0.62 $0.59 5.1% Data source: American Water Works. The strong growth in the market-based segment was due to the homeowner services group's acquisition of Pivotal Home Solutions in June 2018 and new partnerships, along with growth in the military services group. Parent company expenses increased significantly, which the company attributed to "higher interest expense, timing of expenses, and a tax adjustment that was favorable in 2018." Story continues Regulated business acquisitions In 2019, through April 25, American Water's regulated business has closed on acquisitions that have added 4,700 new customer connections. Moreover, it has an additional 61,000 customer connections under agreement, pending regulatory approval. Efficiency slightly improved American Water's key adjusted operation and maintenance (O&M) efficiency ratio was 35.5% for the one-year period through the end of the first quarter, a slight improvement from the 35.6% result for the year-ago period. (The lower the ratio, the better.) This ratio reflects how well the company is controlling costs in its regulated business. The company has made steady progress in improving this metric, which was higher than 44% in 2010. American Water's goal is to achieve 31.5% by 2023. What management had to say about the quarter and the 9.9% dividend hike In the earnings release, American Water CEO Susan Story commented on the quarterly results and the company's recent dividend increase: Our first quarter results demonstrate that American Water employees continue to grow our business through consistent execution of our strategies. Reflecting the company's continued strong performance, the Board of Directors approved a 9.9% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.50 per share, marking the seventh year in a row the dividend has increased at or above the top of the long-term EPS compound annual growth range. During the quarter, we saw growth in both our Regulated and Market-Based Businesses. We invested a total of $337 million, the majority of which was in our Regulated Businesses, to better serve our customers and added approximately 7,700 customers to date through closed acquisitions and organic growth. In our Market-Based Businesses, the integration of the Pivotal Home Solutions acquisition and the partnership with Philadelphia are going well. CFO transition On the day it released its quarterly results, American Water announced that its CFO Linda Sullivan plans to retire on Aug. 1. She has been the company's financial leader for five years. "Susan Hardwick will join the company on June 3 and succeed Sullivan as CFO on July 1, ensuring an orderly transition of the position," the company said. Hardwick, who has 35 years of financial experience, most recently was CFO of Vectren Corporation, which was a publicly traded company with significant utility (natural gas and electricity) operations that was recently sold to CenterPoint Energy. Looking ahead In the first quarter, American Water's year-over-year adjusted earnings growth of 3.4% was weak. However, the company's quarterly results will be "lumpy" for various reasons and there doesn't appear to be any reason for concern. Management affirmed its previously issued full-year 2019 GAAP EPS guidance range of $3.55 to $3.65, and adjusted EPS outlook of $3.54 to $3.64. At the midpoint, 2019 guidance represents growth of 14.3% and 8.8%, respectively, year over year. More From The Motley Fool Beth McKenna 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. * Industrials shine with 5 percent positive surprise * Companies cite China as a positive rather than a negative * Technology and healthcare also showing strength * Companies point to second half rebound By Helen Reid and Thyagaraju Adinarayan LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - European investors breathed a sigh of relief as more than half the region's major companies reported first-quarter earnings above market expectations, even if the bar was set very low ahead of results season, underscoring hopes the worst is behind Europe Inc. As the mid-way mark of the Q1 reporting season approaches, companies' stronger performance and the diminishing mentions of risks related to China and a global trade war are encouraging signs. Make no mistake: European earnings overall are still predicted to shrink by 4.2 percent from a year ago, the worst showing since the third quarter of 2016. But numbers for the pan-European STOXX 600 companies have been better than feared: some 58 percent of them beat expectations, compared to a long-term average of 50 percent and tracking its best quarter in two years, Refinitiv data showed. Industrials, a sector very closely geared to European and global economic growth, have been a success with earnings delivering a 5 percent surprise. The sector is also one of the furthest along in reporting with more than 40 percent of companies' results through. The data also showed Swedish truck maker Volvo, engineering group Alfa Laval and Airbus topped the charts in terms of positive surprises, while Lufthansa had the biggest negative surprise. That spells a much stronger performance than dire manufacturing data would suggest. Euro zone factory activity contracted for a third month in April. Technology and healthcare also contributed to a higher number of beats in the March quarter, although only about a dozen companies from each of those sectors have reported so far. SAP, Europe's biggest tech company, reported robust results and raised its outlook, helping the shares soar 12.5 percent. A stellar sales increase at Sanofi's rare diseases Genzyme unit boosted the French drug maker's shares. With "short European equities" cited as the most crowded trade globally for two consecutive months in Bank of America Merrill Lynch's (BAML) fund manager survey, it's clear many investors think negativity on the region may be close to a peak. "Consensus suggests the region is significantly challenged, but it has performed better than many realize," said Graham Secker, head of European equity strategy at Morgan Stanley. Europe's STOXX 600 has outperformed even the main emerging markets benchmark year-to-date. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Wh07sN MANAGING EXPECTATIONS But this may not be reason enough to rejoice just yet. It is a reflection, partly, of companies in Europe becoming more savvy with their guidance and managing expectations ahead of results. Investors have thus been cautious about extrapolating this to a stronger underlying economy. There has however been a marked shift in the pressure points for companies. China was mentioned as a positive driver much more than a negative, according to BAML strategists, a sign massive stimulus in the world's second biggest economy may have had an impact. Luxury group LVMH said demand had picked up in mainland China, boosting its first-quarter sales and driving its shares up nearly 5 percent to a record high. Britain's pending exit from the European Union and the U.S.-China trade war were also blamed less often for poor performance. Another area of improvement has been the frequency of cuts to profit forecasts: so far this quarter has seen the fewest profit warnings at the start of earnings season in a year. "The number of profit warnings (so far) is well below that of the past earnings seasons, which should be seen as a positive development," said Stephane Ekolo, an equity strategist at Tradition. DELAYED GRATIFICATION Companies across sectors have guided investors to a stronger second half. Earnings growth expectations, having already fallen significantly, should stabilize at this level, said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays. "The bulk of the EPS downgrades is behind us and (we) expect earnings momentum to improve as we move into H2," he said. After a blistering start to the year for global stocks, investors are finding it hard to make head or tail of a rally that caught many by surprise as they recovered from a harsh sell-off late last year. Mixed economic signals do not help paint a clearer picture. Stronger earnings from industrial companies fly in the face of data points like euro zone industry sentiment, which fell for a fifth consecutive month in March and was well below market expectations. But better reports from the companies most sensitive to growth could be an early sign of a pick-up in activity. "The recession might have been priced out but the recovery has not yet been priced in," said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Still, Milligan stopped short of outright positivity on Europe, saying the possibility of an escalation in a trade dispute with the United States is part of his decision to stick with a neutral position in his global portfolio. Politics aside, the holy grail for investors in Europe remains economic improvement - and that could still be a while away. "Is Europe going to be a top pick? Only if we start to see some very definite signs that the European economy is turning and turning up very sizeably. We're just not seeing that," added Milligan. (Reporting by Helen Reid and Thyagaraju Adinarayan, Editing by Josephine Mason and Frances Kerry) Paris (AFP) - The French government on Thursday accused radicals of storming a famed Paris hospital during a violent May Day showdown, while protesters insisted they were only seeking refuge from a police crackdown. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner denounced the incident as an "attack" on an intensive care unit at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital, in remarks likely to raise further tensions between the government and the "yellow vest" demonstrators. Supporters of the yellow vests, whose protests have shaken the government of President Emmanuel Macron over the past half year, said the demonstrators were merely seeking refuge from tear gas fired by police. Top officials at the Paris hospital, where Diana, Princess of Wales died in 1997 after a car crash, said protesters had broken into the hospital grounds then tried to enter an intensive care unit. But mobile phone footage circulating on Facebook, apparently shot at the scene by one of the nurses on duty, appeared to give credence to the idea they were fleeing. The incident came during a hugely tense May Day which saw police clash with hardline protesters on the sidelines of the annual labour union march, which ended at Place d'Italie near the hospital. Prosecutors said Thursday evening that all 32 people held over the break-in had been released, adding that investigations continue. - Caught on camera - Hospital director Marie-Anne Ruder told France Inter radio that a gate had been forced open and dozens of people had entered the grounds, some wearing the trademark high-visibility yellow vests and others with their faces covered. She called the police because of their "violent and threatening behaviour". "Several dozen people tried to force the door into the intensive care unit," she told RTL radio, saying the police arrived 10 minutes later. In the Facebook footage, however, a group of nurses standing on a metal staircase outside the intensive care unit appear to be filming those milling around below, when suddenly a group of people starts running from the direction of the gate. Story continues As the frontrunners head for the staircase, the nurses rush inside, pulling the glass door shut just before the first protesters get there. "No, we can't let you in, this is the intensive care unit," they repeatedly say as some try to pull open the door. After less than two minutes, the police arrive and the protesters peacefully file back down the stairs. "There was no violence, at least towards us," said nurse Jerome Lecrecq, adding that the protesters seemed more in "a state of panic". - 'Pseudo attack'? - French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn described the break-in as "unspeakable". While acknowledging that some people may have been seeking shelter, she alleged on Europe 1 radio that others may have been bent on theft, notably of hi-tech equipment. But Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the ultra-left France Unbowed party, rubbished the interior minister's claims out of hand, accusing Castaner of making up a "pseudo attack" on the hospital. "Truth is the first victim of Macron's sidekicks," he wrote on Twitter. The yellow vest protests erupted in November over social inequality with a show of anger against the policies of Macron, whom opponents accuse of not doing enough for the poor. The weekly rallies have often spilt over into violence. But Macron has acknowledged the demands of many demonstrators are valid, and last month announced tax cuts and other measures to show he was listening. At the same time, the authorities have accused some protesters of displays of anti-Semitism and homophobia, though demonstrators say this is a tactic aimed at discrediting the movement. Doctors at the hospital's emergency unit battled to save her but she was pronounced dead hours later. It's time for Apple to make a deal. When it comes to M&A, the clock has struck midnight in Cupertino, according to Wedbush's Managing Director Dan Ives. The company now is going to be laser focused on more significant M&A in content. As Apple looks to compete with Netflixs estimated $15 billion content spend in 2019, Ives thinks it makes sense to look outside Silicon Valley for a deal. Specifically looking at companies like a Sony Pictures, an A24, an MGM, and we still think of CBS-Viacom as a very viable possibility as an M&A target. With a combined market cap of $30 billion, bringing CBS and Viacom back together isnt out of reach for Apple. With over $225 billion of cash, the tech giant has the firepower to do a major deal. The team from Apple Park though hasnt pulled the trigger on any major tie-ups since its largest deal ever, in 2014, when it paid $3 billion for Beats Electronics. Back on March 25, Apple announced its biggest step yet in the streaming wars, with the reveal of AppleTV+. Since then, Disney has also given investors a sneak peak at their entry: Disney+. While pricing and availability for Apples video subscription service will be announced later this fall, Disney+ will clock in at $6.99 a month or roughly half the price of a standard Netflix subscription. Ives thinks the most likely candidate is probably A24, which already has a strategic partnership with Apple. Regardless of the target though, Ives thinks Apple CEO Tim Cook is ready to make a move. We believe Cook, at this point, has much more of a grip around M&A and, I think, is going to get a lot more aggressive. And that's why there's a number ... of possibilities. Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn,YouTube, and reddit. Chevreville (France) (AFP) - In an apple orchard outside Paris, a constant hum among the blossoming trees bears witness to thousands of worker bees pollinating millions of flowers in just three weeks. "Without bees, no pollinization, no apples, no life," sums up farmer Alexandre Prot, who decided to deal with a decline in bee populations by becoming a beekeeper as well. "We are not worried about the lack of bees because we have our own," he said, during a tour of his 30 hives, which are backed up by another 30 that he hires during spring months to ensure his 60 hectares (150 acres) of apples are fertilised. Prot initially took a business degree to work as an auditor on the New York and Paris commodities markets before coming back to his family's 300-hectare apple and grain farm in Chevreville, about an hour north of the French capital. - 'Autonomous' - His grandfather, who planted the first apple trees, and his father both called on professional beekeepers to ensure the orchard was properly pollinated. "Having bees lets me be autonomous with respect to my apple crop," he said. "Each year, the hives divide in two, the young queen finds a new home, and we recover the swarms" of worker bees and drones. "So every year we enlarge our population." Prot recovers 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) of honey per year, which he sells in the farm's store. But it is almost a derivative product because the pollinization is the farmer's main motivation. The national apiculture institute, ITSAP, estimates that the value of the work done by bees in helping pollinise the fruits, cereals and vegetables from the plants and trees of French farmers is two billion euros ($2.2 billion). The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has made the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators an absolute priority in dealing with a pollinization crisis that threatens global food resources. The FAO estimates that almost 35 percent of agricultural production worldwide depends on pollinators such as bees, birds and bats, which improve yields on the 87 most cultivated food plants. Story continues - Yarrow and calendula - In France, the number of farmers who have installed their own beehives to support crops is not known, said Eric Lelong, head of the recently created trade association, InterApi. He nonetheless believes that it is "indispensable to put a value on pollinization". In California's almond groves, output can fall sharply unless beehives are brought in, "which explains very high prices for hive rentals," he noted. Prot looks after his worker bees closely therefore, sowing fields of flowers, yarrow, calendula, linen and white clover near the hives. "Since they don't all bloom at the same time, they constitute a pantry for bees from May to October, when there are no more apple blossoms." Though the average rate of bee colony collapse in France rose to 30 percent in 2017-2018 owing to humid conditions and attacks by Varroa mites according to the agriculture ministry, Prot says that he did not lose a single colony. - 'Let nature do its work' - The farmer has chosen to produce apples under an "eco-responsable" label, as have 65 percent of all apple farmers in France. Situated between wholly commercial production methods and organic ones, the method provides for stable output from one year to the next, which is necessary to obtain contracts with major distributors, while it reduces the use of pesticides. "The approach is to let nature do its work, as much as it can, while not ruling out interventions" if the crop is threatened by mould or pests, Prot said. Use of crop protection products or chemicals such as copper or sulphur must take place while bees are asleep in their hives. Before reaching that point, farmers who keep bees use other methods aimed at "orienting" natural processes, such as installing "insect hotels" in orchards so that wild drones passing through can help pollinate flowers. Nests for birds that eat insects and worms are another tool, as are perches for raptors that eat mice and voles which damage apple tree roots. To thwart night butterflies whose larva infest the apples themselves, Prot resorts to "sexual confusion" by spraying female pheromones that disorient males who cannot find the mates they expect and do not therefore reproduce. That means no larvae, no worms in the apples and no need for pesticides. Know thyself. Those were the words of advice offered up by philosopher, historian, and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari during an on-stage conversation at Stanford University last week. The prolific writer (and agitator) has long been a critic of artificial intelligence applications that track, aggregate, and learn from our every move, gleaning insights about us that we are sometimes oblivious to ourselves. Get to know yourself better, Harari said again in more modern English, because now, youve got competition. Stanfords Human-Centered AI Institute, which aims to develop technologies to benefit humanity, co-sponsored the event. The conversation also featured computer science professor Fei-Fei Li, a pioneer in AI research and co-director of the multidisciplinary institute. Both speakers focused on what the future holds for AI, and how it can be utilized to support rather than subvert human interests. Not surprisingly, Harari and Li did not always see eye to eye on the best path forward or on the scope and severity of the harm AI can unleash. One of Lis suggestions, for examples, was to develop AI systems that can explain their processes and decisions. But Harari argued that these technologies have become too complex to be explainable, and that this level of complexity can undermine our autonomy and authority. While the conversation was mostly fruitful and productive, there were a few friendly jabs. Im very envious of philosophers, because they can propose questions and crises, but they dont have to answer them, said Li. (Even Harari chuckled at that one.) Perhaps, Hararis laughter came from knowing that he was about to offer some solutions, though even his very simplest takeawayknow thyselfis easier said than done. The challenge of knowing ourselves better than AI systems can is best illustrated with an anecdote shared by the philosopher himself. Harari told the audience that he didnt realize he was gay until he was 21 years old. Im with myself 24 hours a day, he said, yet an AI system could have concluded his sexual identity faster than he could. Story continues What does it mean to live in a world where you can learn something so important about yourself from an algorithm? he asked the audience. And what if that algorithm doesnt share [this information] with you but with othersadvertisers or an authoritarian regime? The risks of AI knowing too much about us are real and are starting to be addressedboth by outside critics like Harari and increasingly, by engineers, educators, and other insiders like Li. But what about the risks of the flip side, when AI systems know too little about us, or about entire demographics? Also last week, I attended Women Transforming Technology, an event that took place at the Palo Alto campus of technology company VMware. There, Joy Buolamwini, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Media Lab, discussed problems of bias in AI applications. Much of Buolamwinis work has centered on the inability of facial recognition systems to accurately identify the faces of women and, to a much greater extent, people of color. As you can probably guess, these systems tend to have the hardest time recognizing the faces of women of color. These are the under-sampled majority of the worldwomen and people of color, Buolamwini told her audience. The bias in many facial recognition applications starts with the data sets used to train these AI systems. According to Buolamwini, the vast majority of the pictures fed into these self-learning systems are of subjects who are male and white. The benchmarks used to assess accuracy on these systems, therefore, are also optimized for male, white faces. This has vast and potentially dangerous implications: Just imagine a self-driving vehicle that doesnt detect someone with dark skin as accurately as it can see someone with light skin. It is these types of risks that led Buolamwini to start the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization aimed at highlighting and alleviating bias from AI systems. The collective, as the M.I.T. researcher calls it, brings together coders, activists, regulators, and others to work together to raise awareness on these important technological and societal issues. Buolamwinis work has likely led to improvements. During her talk she pointed to recent increases in the accuracy of detecting non-white and non-male subjects by facial recognition from IBM, Facebook and other companies. But heres the rub: While Buolamwini is clearly pushing for more improvements in these systems, she is also very worried about the applications of facial recognition technologies that do know enough about all people. You can have accurate facial recognition and put it on some drones, but it might not be the world you want to live in, Buolamwini told me during a sit-down interview after her talk. Buolamwini gave another example: If a system is biased and its being deployed for law enforcement purposes, you cant justify using that system. Now, lets say youve fixed that bias. Then, the question becomes, in Buolamwinis words, Do we want to live in a mass surveillance state? That is one question Im pretty sure that Buolamwini, Harari, and Li would answer the same way: No. Montana governor Steve Bullock, left, and Colorado senator Michael Bennet join the maddening presidential crowd. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call; Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images There are currently 20 announced Democratic candidates for president deemed serious aspirants. (That includes one candidate, Wayne Messam, who isnt on some lists, although he is mayor of Miramar, Florida, which is larger than Pete Buttigiegs South Bend). Now two others with solid resumes but little to no national name ID are joining the fray. MTN News reports Montana governor Steve Bullock will announce his long-discussed candidacy in two weeks. And on CBS this morning, Colorado senator Michael Bennet became the seventh U.S. senator in the 2020 field: My plan is to run for President, he said on CBS, adding that he will focus on the lack of economic mobility in the country and restoring integrity to politics. Thats right, two more white dudes joining ten others already in the field. They have other things in common: moderate reputations; Rocky Mountain time zone backgrounds and addresses; and good records as politicians in their home states. Its unclear whether any of these attributes will matter much in a crowded field of candidates who all have head starts on these Westerners. Bullock is probably taken more seriously among national observers, though his delayed announcement (he waited until his states legislature adjourned, and will wait a while longer while he deals with the gubernatorial task of signing and vetoing bills) may have squandered a lot of that interest. As Gabriel Debenedetti explained in a 2017 profile of Bullock, hes a very good retail politician in a difficult state for his party: One national-level Republican operative who has reviewed the GOPs previous research on Bullock told me the party sees no obvious way to take him on, aside from the purely partisan appeal that hasnt worked against him so far. A former D.C. lawyer, Bullock was elected to his first statewide office, attorney general, in 2008, when John McCain carried Montana by 2 points. Four years later, he became governor as Mitt Romney won the state by 13. He was reelected last November by 4 points, while Donald Trump won Montana by 21. Bullock likes to remind people that 20 percent of voters picked both of them. Like Beto ORourke of Texas and Stacey Abrams of Georgia, Bullock rejected overtures from Chuck Schumer to run for the Senate in 2020. He set up a PAC that deployed staff in Iowa some time ago. But he will struggle to reach the polling or fundraising thresholds necessary to get him onto the debate stage for the first meeting of candidates in June. He also needs to find signature issues to distinguish himself, other than his ability to put together a relatively progressive record (including Medicaid expansion) in a place like Montana. He does have some background in fighting for campaign-finance reform. Bennet also has a strong electoral background, winning his first full Senate term in the very strong Republican year of 2010 and being reelected by a comfortable margin in 2016. His background is mostly in education policy (he was superintendent of schools in Denver in 2009 when then-Governor Bill Ritter appointed him to the vacant Senate seat of Ken Salazar, who had become Obamas secretary of the Interior), and hell probably need to distinguish himself in other policy areas. There are three really unusual things about Bennets proto-candidacy, though. First, he announced not long ago that he had prostate cancer. But hes since had surgery, and is indicating that his doctors gave him a green light to run. Second, hes the older brother of New York Times editorial-page editor James Bennet, who announced this morning that he would recuse himself from involvement in any coverage of the 2020 campaign so long as Michael is in the race. And third, he was once chief of staff for another candidate already in the field, John Hickenlooper, when the former governor was mayor of Denver. They will inevitably overlap in fundraising networks and political associations in ways that will complicate life for both of them. Its unclear what path either candidate would have to the nomination. Iowa is not that distant, geographically or culturally, from either of them, but vastly better known and more popular candidates were there first (some, like Biden and Sanders, have been there in the past). Another early state, Nevada, is in the West, but its strong Latino and labor orientations will probably cater to others more easily. Bennets Colorado and another Rocky Mountain state, Utah, vote on Super Tuesday (March 3), but will be dwarfed by primaries that day in giants California and Texas. Bullocks Montana doesnt hold its primary until June. About the most either of them can hope for is a surprisingly strong if distant finish in Iowa followed by a rapidly winnowed field in which electability becomes a paramount concern. And even then it would be a reach. It would be nice to be able to say definitively today that once Bullock and Bennet formally announce, the field will finally be complete. But unfortunately, New York mayor Bill de Blasio is still toying with a race, despite the notable lack of enthusiasm he has engendered for the idea at home and elsewhere. And Georgias Stacey Abrams, who would have some immediate support, has indicated she thinks she could launch a viable candidacy as late as this autumn, after the first two sets of debates. So the final, final Democratic presidential field isnt set yet. But despite the growing diversity of the Donkey Party, it is clear white men will still be amply represented in the choices available to primary voters. London (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a court on Thursday he would oppose extradition to the United States as the legal process began in London, a day after he was jailed for breaching his bail conditions in a former case. He appeared via videolink at Westminster Magistrates Court, where a lawyer for the US authorities briefly set out his alleged involvement in the release of classified documents. "I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people," Assange told the judge, who set the next hearing for May 30. The Australian was jailed on Wednesday for 50 weeks for breaking his bail conditions in 2012, when he fled to Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden. He was accused of sexual assault and rape but strongly denied the claims, saying they were linked to the whistleblowing work of WikiLeaks. Assange feared they were a pretext to get him in custody and eventually transfer him to the United States to face prosecution. He was dragged out of the embassy and arrested on April 11 after Quito gave him up. The Swedish claims had been dropped, but he was later that day convicted of skipping bail. The 47-year-old was subsequently confronted with a warrant for extradition to the United States. - Chats with Manning - 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. The charge carries a maximum jail term of five years. A lawyer for the US government, Ben Brandon, told the court on Thursday that investigators had found chatroom conversations between Assange and Manning in March 2010. He said they "engaged in real-time discussions regarding Chelsea Manning's dissemination of confidential records to Mr Assange". Story continues He added that Assange "actively tried to crack the password (to the classified computer) and encouraged Ms Manning to provide more information". Assange's supporters, who protested outside the court on Thursday, believe that more serious charges could be filed if he is transferred to the US, and he fears the death penalty. WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said on Wednesday that all efforts would be focused on preventing Assange's extradition. "It will be a question of life and death," he warned. In a letter read out in court on Wednesday, Assange apologised for skipping bail seven years ago. "I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said, adding: "I apologise unreservedly." The next hearing in the US extradition case is only for further case management, and the whole process could take years. 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. * Biggest armed confrontation since Gaddafi toppled * UAE says extremist militias derail search for solution * Meeting of Tripoli MPs challenges eastern-based assembly * Shows opposition to Haftar's assault By Ulf Laessing and Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI, May 2 (Reuters) - Lawmakers loyal to Libya's U.N.-backed government on Thursday denounced an attack on Tripoli by an ally of the United Arab Emirates and defended their record in fighting terrorism, after the Gulf state said "extremist militias" ruled the capital. The lawmakers spoke at a meeting deliberately staged in the beleaguered city to challenge the official parliament based in Libya's east, a body aligned to UAE ally Khalifa Haftar, in a move that further cements divisions in the oil-producing nation. Haftar is fighting to capture Tripoli from forces allied to Libya's internationally recognized government, and an official of the Gulf state said on Thursday the priority in Libya was to counter "extremism/terrorism." The UAE, along with Egypt, sees Haftar as a bulwark against Islamist militants in North Africa. A 2017 U.N. report said the Gulf state has provided his Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a parallel administration in the east, with military and logistical support. The campaign is the biggest military confrontation in Libya since the 2011 toppling of leader Muammar Gaddafi. Fighting picked up in Tripoli's southern districts late on Wednesday, with shelling audible in city center, although it was less intense than at the start of the week. Several lawmakers met in the capital to show opposition to Haftar's assault, which since its launch more than three weeks ago has all but wrecked U.N.-backed efforts for a peace deal between the rival factions to end eight years of conflict. "We are here for the rejection of the offensive," lawmaker Hamouda Siyala told Reuters. Some parliamentarians appeared to be incensed by the UAE's allegation, although they did not mention the Gulf state. Story continues "Which terrorism are you speaking about?" asked another lawmaker, Aisha Shalabi, whose speech was interrupted by attendees shouting "Allahu Akbar." "(We) fought it in Sirte ... if you speak about militias, they are our sons who toppled Gaddafi," she said, referring to a city where Islamic State was driven out by Libyan militias. Libya split in 2014 into rival administrations, and the Tripoli conflict has scuppered plans by the United Nations to hold elections to produce a national government and parliament. "UNITY OF OUR SOIL" The conflict threatens to unsettle oil supplies, increase migration across the Mediterranean to Europe and wreck U.N. plans for an election to end rivalries between parallel administrations in east and west. The internationally recognized parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR) in the eastern city of Tobruk, to which the lawmakers meeting in Tripoli belong, denounced the session in the capital as illegal. The HoR has allied itself with Haftar, but some lawmakers from western Libya have boycotted the assembly since the last national elections in 2014. The attendance of parliamentarians was not officially disclosed, but organizers said about 42 lawmakers had arrived. Reuters identified about 10 lawmakers in a crowded room. Sadeq al-Kahiali, who presided, said in an opening speech "we are not here for a division or a coup, but to maintain the unity of our soil and protection of Tripoli from the offensive." Earlier, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter: "Abu Dhabi agreement offered opportunity to support the U.N.-led process. Meanwhile extremist militias continue to control capital and derail search for political solution." Abu Dhabi, which has voiced support for U.N. peace efforts, last February hosted talks between Prime Minister Fayez Seraj and Haftar, where the two agreed a need for national elections. Since the Tripoli offensive began, 376 people have been killed in the fighting, including 23 civilians, and 1,822 wounded, 79 of them civilians, according to latest U.N. figures. More than 45,000 people have fled their homes. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami, Ayman al-Warfalli and Ulf Laessing, Editing by William Maclean) Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham opened Attorney General Barrs testimony Wednesday with an attempt at levity. The first measure, he joked, would be to turn down the heat in the room. Graham was talking about the actual temperature in the room, but he just as easily could have easily been talking about the tensions. They were everywhere: between Barr and the Democrats, between Barr and Special Counsel Robert Mueller and between Republicans and Democrats on the committee. For Democrats, the hearings were a chance to press Barr about his handling of the Mueller report, which a newly released letter showed the special counsel disagreed with. For Republicans, it was an opportunity to air their criticisms of the presidents investigators and call for the Russia investigation to be put to bed. The discrepancy between the two parties not only revealed the extent to which the Republican party will defend the commander in chief; it showed why Democratic leadership is treading so lightly on impeachment. To do it successfully and actually remove Trump from office, they would need at least 67 votes in the Senate. Wednesdays hearing shows just how unlikely they are to get that. Less than thirty minutes before Barr appeared on Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Committee released the letter Mueller had sent to Barr March 25, in which he told him the summary of the report he had relayed to Congress did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Offices work and conclusions. The Washington Post had first reported on the existence of the letter Tuesday evening, and House Democrats immediately demanded the Department of Justice produce it. But Graham did not make mention of the letter beyond entering it into the official record. Less than eight minutes into his remarks, he began reflecting about alleged bias at the Department of Justice and the FBI during the 2016 election something he has said he previously wanted to investigate. He read text messages from Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI agents that Trump has repeatedly criticized. These are the people who concluded [Hillary] Clinton did not do anything wrong, he argued. Story continues This was more or less how the rest of the Republicans proceeded. Several GOP senators on the committee, such as Joni Ernst and Ben Sasse, diligently questioned Barr about the first volume of the Mueller report, which deals with Russias efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. (This was the one instance where there seemed to be bipartisan consensus). But none of the 12 Republicans on the committee asked any questions about the second volume of the report, which details Muellers investigation into whether the President obstructed justice. To be sure, the Republicans line of questioning yielded significant information, like the acknowledgement that the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into leaks and that Barr is reviewing whether the dossier compiled by British spy Christopher Steele was part of Russias disinformation campaign. But their focus on other topics confirmed what Republicans have been indicating since they returned from their two-week recess, that they want to put this report behind them, or at least its second chapter. I appreciate very much what Mr. Mueller did for the country. I have read most of the report. For me, it is over, said Graham. Democrats, by comparison, pushed Barr hard on all components of the report and his conduct. At some point, Republicans even argued they went too far, like when Sen. Mazie Hirono told him he was a liar and Graham told her she had slandered him. But theatrics aside, they too managed to glean some significant pieces of information from Barr. He told Sen. Kamala Harris he had not viewed the underlying evidence in Muellers report; he told Sen. Amy Klobuchar he was unaware if Mueller had accessed the Presidents tax returns; he told Blumenthal he spoke with Mueller for approximately 10 to 15 minutes after the Special Counsels March 25 letter, and that his staff took notes on the conversation. But just as important were Barrs omissions. He was unable to tell Harris if anyone at the White House has suggested he open an investigation into anyone, telling her he was grappling with the word suggest.' And he said he could not recall any non-substantive conversations with the White House about the Southern District of New Yorks investigation into the President. Lawmakers from both parties made no bones about the fact that their colleagues across the aisle were each using their position for political gain. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who was among repeatedly pushing to protect Muellers probe last year, said Democrats were ignoring facts to bolster themselves politically, which he called despicable. But Democrats were just as incensed. They dont want to talk about Mueller, they dont want to talk about the President, they dont want to talk about Russian involvement, said an exasperated Sen. Dick Durbin as he walked to votes. They want to revisit Benghazi and Hillary Clinton emails and other things that bear no relevance to those issues. The differences in the line of questioning, however, illuminated just how much ground the Republicans were ceding when it came to the chance to question Barr about the investigation historians and legal experts deem the most consequential since Watergate. At the end of the day, Democrats power in the Senate committee is essentially limited to their ability to throw tough questions at Barr. Since they are in the minority, they rely on Republicans to schedule hearings and take the lead on investigations. If they want Democratic action, they need to look to the lower chamber. Even though Barr declined to appear before the House committee on Thursday following a dispute over questioning procedure, the House Democrats, who are in the majority, have the means to enforce subpoenas both for his appearance and relevant documents. Blumenthal, for instance, requested the notes Barrs staffers had taken on his conversation with Mueller after the Special Counsel sent him the letter criticizing his summary to Congress. But Blumemthals most likely path to seeing those notes lies through House Democrats authorizing a subpoena for them something he said he wanted them to do. But the fact that Senate Democrats hands are tied is also why Wednesdays testimony highlighted the logic behind House Democratic leaderships pointed decision to avoid impeachment for now. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with her top deputies, have repeatedly resisted the call to open an impeachment inquiry, arguing that it could be politically disastrous without bipartisan support. Wednesdays testimony shows how difficult it will be to get that support. WASHINGTON Attorney General William Barr defended his characterization of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, after the revelation that Mueller complained to him over how the findings were first presented to the public. Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr faced heated questioning from Democrats, who claim that he had attempted to spin Muellers report to downplay its description of the conduct of President Donald Trump. Related stories Mueller Report Release Draws 11 Million Total Viewers Across TV News Mueller Report Book Editions Shoot to Top of Best-Seller Lists at Amazon, Barnes & Noble Mueller wrote a letter to Barr on March 27 saying that Barrs initial summary of the investigation, issued three days earlier, 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, Mueller wrote in his letter. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. A redacted version of the Mueller report was released on April 18, but Mueller did not render a decision on whether Trump obstructed justice. The report did not exonerate the president, either, and examined 10 episodes of alleged interference in the Russia investigation. Barr concluded in his March 24 summary that there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction. Barr told the Judiciary Committee that after he received Muellers letter, he called the special counsel. Barr said that Mueller told him he was not suggesting they had misrepresented the report, but his concerns focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusions on obstruction and he wanted more put out on that issue. Barr also insisted that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the Mueller report, but of its bottom line results. Mueller asked Barr twice to release summaries of his report that were prepared by his team, but Barr declined. Yet Barr said Mueller was asked whether he wanted to review that March 24 letter before its release, but he declined. Story continues More than anything, the hearing showed a rift between Mueller and Barr, who are said to be longtime friends. At one point, Barr said that Muellers letter to him was a bit snitty, and was probably written by one of his staff people. House Democrats, meanwhile, are seeking to have Mueller testify publicly at some point soon. Democrats claim that Barr misled the public in the way that he characterized the Mueller report, both in the March 24 letter and in a press conference he held on April 18, ninety minutes before the redacted version was released. Trump claimed that Muellers report was a total and complete exoneration, even though Mueller explicitly said that was not the case. Contrary to the declarations of the total and complete exoneration, the special counsels report contained substantial evidence of misconduct, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). She grilled Barr on how he reached the conclusion that Trump did not obstruct justice. She cited one episode outlined in Muellers report from June, 2017. Then-White House Counsel Don McGahn said that Trump ordered him to tell Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to remove Mueller because of a conflict of interest. McGahn declined. Barr told the Judiciary Committee, though, that he did not find that Trumps effort to have Mueller removed was a crime and that there was not evidence of corrupt intent. Instead, Barr said, the president was frustrated and felt the this investigation was unfair and propelled by political opponents. Two other Democrats on the committee, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), each of whom is running for president, pressed Barr on his handling of the report. Harris criticized him for being biased and not being objective, and later called on him to resign. Well, you know I havent been the only decision maker here, Barr said, noting that Rosenstein also came to the same conclusion on the obstruction question. Klobuchar asked Barr if the presidents actions detailed in the report consistent with his Oath of Office. Barr, though, called the evidence conflicting. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) challenged Barrs contention that Trump fully cooperated with the investigation, as he refused to sit for an interview with Muellers team and instead submitted written answers. Leahy also cited other instances outlined in Muellers report where Trump tried to get then Attorney General Jeff Sessions to un-recuse himself and restrict the investigation. I dont see any conflict between that, and fully cooperating with the investigation, Barr said. The attorney general also said that he and others at the Department of Justice were reviewing how the FBIs counter-intelligence investigation of Russian interference was handled and how surveillance warrants were obtained. At a previous hearing, Barr said that he believed that spying did occur on Trumps campaign, but was looking into whether federal surveillance warrants were properly obtained. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. WASHINGTON Attorney General William Barr refused on Wednesday to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation because of a dispute about how he would be questioned. His refusal is the latest and most confrontational step by the Trump administration to challenge Democrats who control the House of Representatives and are conducting wide-ranging investigations into the president. The dispute between Barr and lawmakers centers on how they planned to question him at a hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday. Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., wanted the committee to include questioning by committee staffers, in addition to lawmakers. But Republicans had argued that it would be unprecedented for staffers to question the attorney general as if he were being interrogated. And Barr had warned lawmakers that he would not attend the hearing if he would be questioned by staff members. "He is trying to blackmail the committee," Nadler said. "We cannot allow the administration to dictate how we operate." Barr spent four hours Wednesday defending his handling of Mueller's report during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he clashed repeatedly with Democrats who complained that he misrepresented the report to benefit President Donald Trump. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Barr had volunteered to appear before the House committee, but that having staffers question him would be inappropriate. "Unfortunately, even after the attorney general volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary," Kupec said. "Chairman Nadlers insistence on having staff question the attorney general, a Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, is inappropriate." The Justice Department also did not comply with a subpoena for the unredacted version of the 448-page Mueller report. The committee had demanded that the department produce the full report by Wednesday. Story continues "The next step is seeking a contempt citation against the attorney general," Nadler said. He said the committee could vote within days on whether to hold Barr in contempt for not turning over the full report. "I understand why he wants to avoid that kind of scrutiny," Nadler said. He said Barr's refusal was in keeping with the administration's "complete stonewalling of Congress." In a letter Wednesday to Nadler, the Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the committee has not "articulated any legislative purpose for its request" for documents relating to Mueller's investigation. "Regrettably, before even reviewing the less-redacted version or awaiting the Attorney General's testimony, you served a subpoena demanding the unredacted report, every document cited therein, and 'all documents obtained and investigative materials created' by the Special Counsel's office over nearly two years," Boyd wrote. "The Committee has no legitimate role in demanding law enforcement materials with the aim of simply duplicating a criminal inquiry which is, of course, a function that the Constitution entrusts exclusively to the Executive Branch." Boyd railed against what he said was the aim of Democratic requests for evidence and other documents related to the inquiry. He said Democrats seemed to want to "second-guess prosecution and declination decisions made by the Department," and added, "This is not a legitimate use of congressional investigative authority." Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, said "Nadler chose to torpedo our hearing" rather than have the attorney general give "clear, informative testimony" as he had in the Senate on Wednesday. Collins said Democrats were trying to prolong the investigation that Mueller 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," Collins said. The House session was expected to be less friendly, with a panel led by Democrats and nearly twice as many members as the Republican-led Senate panel. The Senate hearing was dominated by questions about Barr's initial four-page summation of the Mueller report's conclusions and then the release of the redacted, 448-page report. The Justice Department revealed Wednesday that Mueller had privately objected to Barr's initial summary of the investigation, which he said "threatened to undermine" the purpose of the probe. Nadler said Barr had been misleading since at least March 24 and that staff lawyers could ask follow-up questions if Barr were to gives an unresponsive answer. "He is terrified of having to face a skilled attorney," Nadler said. "I can understand why he is afraid of a more-effective examination." Because Mueller's office declined to draw a conclusion about whether Trump had committed obstruction, the attorney general told the panel that he acted to resolve the question that had threatened to derail Trump's presidency. Nadler said he wanted Mueller to testify about his findings, and hoped to have the special counsel appear before the committee on May 15. Contributing: Kevin Johnson and Christal Hayes, USA TODAY. More about Attorney General William Barr and the Mueller report: 'America deserves better. You should resign': Key moments from William Barr's testimony Collusion, obstruction of justice, redactions: How the Mueller report uses these legal terms Mueller report: Trump's anger over Russia probe may have saved him from obstruction charge This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Attorney General William Barr refuses to testify at House hearing about special counsel Robert Mueller Angus Taylor was caught out replying to his own Facebook post (Twitter) Politicians love to hear theyre doing a good job - so much so that one even took to Facebook to give himself some praise. Australian MP Angus Taylor was caught out posting a comment on Facebook to himself, saying how fantastic he was. He had posted a video that announced 1,000 extra parking spaces at railway stations in New South Wales, something that had been welcomed by many people. Mr Taylor's staff quickly deleted the comment but it had already been spotted (Twitter) However, Mr Taylor, the Liberal MP for Campbelltown, replied from his own account: Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus. His team quickly noticed the gaffe and deleted the comment - but it had already been spotted and Mr Taylor was soon the subject of ridicule: A mistake anyone can make on a hectic campaign trail: Congratulating yourself from the wrong account. #humevotes #ausvotes2019 pic.twitter.com/SwnlJDMCbc Isabel M (@mumdaze) April 30, 2019 To be fair, it might have been someone else named Angus Taylor MP Peter Martin (@1petermartin) April 30, 2019 Fantastic. Great move. Well done Andrew. Andrew P Street (@AndrewPStreet) May 1, 2019 "I've done very well, even if I do say so myself." When the right hand doesn't even know what the right hand is doing, let alone the left hand. Noel Hodda (@NoelHodda) May 1, 2019 It is thought that Mr Taylor - the former cyber security minister - may have multiple accounts and accidentally posted under his own one on the page. Story continues The current energy minister made the social media blunder while campaigning for the upcoming Australian federal election. Mr Taylor's office has so far not commented on the self-praising post. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Autopsy results released Thursday support authorities' assertion that natural causes stemming from a birth defect killed a 10-year-old South Carolina girl who collapsed after a fight at school. The seven-page autopsy report says Raniya Wright died after a tangle of malformed blood vessels ruptured in her brain. Raniya died March 27, two days after she complained of a headache and collapsed following a fight with another girl in her fifth-grade class. But the autopsy found "no traumatic injuries" to her body. "The manner of death is best deemed natural," concluded the report dated April 22. It was released to reporters Thursday by the office of Solicitor Duffie Stone. The autopsy backs up preliminary findings Stone cited during a news conference last month, when he announced that no charges would be filed in Raniya's death. He told reporters: "In this case, the science is clear." The girl's family in Walterboro, South Carolina, has said the case deserves further investigation. Margie Pizzaro, an attorney for the Wright family, said Thursday she had not seen the autopsy report and could not comment on its findings. Colleton County Sheriff R.A. Strickland has described the fight at Forest Hills Elementary School as a "five-second slap fight" in Raniya's classroom that was quickly broken up by a teacher. But the accounts of several students who witnessed the fight, contained in the sheriff's investigative report, say another girl held Raniya in a chokehold, punched her in the head and caused her to fall and strike her head on a shelf or cabinet. Some students also said it was Raniya who started the fight. The girl's medical records showed she had been to the doctor seven times in the past two years because of headaches. Her mother, Ashley Wright, has said she wasn't aware of any birth defects or conditions that led to a blood vessel rupture until after Raniya was hospitalized right before her death. (Backstory is a series of reports showing how Reuters journalists work and the standards under which they operate) May 2 (Reuters) - Its a challenge to describe that noise, says Reuters senior photographer Mike Blake, after witnessing his first rocket launch. Its a sound of rippling energy. Reverberating, cracking. Its something that stays with you. Blake worked with Joe Skipper, a veteran of more than 200 launches, to produce Reuters visual coverage of SpaceX out of Kennedy Space Center in Florida in March. Apart from the visual thrill of a launch, readers want to know as much as possible about Elon Musks SpaceX, which resupplies the International Space Station and ultimately aims to put people on other planets. Providing images is key to capturing the drama of a launch and whether it is successful, with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. See some recent Reuters space launch photographs and the story behind them : https://tmsnrt.rs/2VDgump The next launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled for Friday, May 3. The day before a launch slated for coverage, Skipper will assemble three or more freelance and staff photographers to set up 10 automatic cameras and associated gear on the perimeter of the launchpad. NASA, which has run the Kennedy Space Center from Apollo missions in the late 1960s through the Space Shuttle era, takes photographers to a few select spots nearby where they can set up remote cameras with a view of the rocket, which is as tall as a 23-story building. The cameras are housed in boxes to protect them from the elements as they have to stand at the ready for eight hours or more, exposed to potentially drastic temperature and weather changes. Inside the boxes, small electric fans blow on the camera lenses to prevent dew forming, which could result in blurry images. The Reuters crew adjusts focus, exposure, tests the automatic triggers and secures the tripods to the ground. The cameras are connected to sound sensors and take shots automatically when something loud occurs, like a rocket with 1.7 million pounds of thrust launching nearby. Story continues "Setting up cameras with triggers is not rocket science itself but having them sit there for up to 24 hours and keeping moisture off them and not having batteries fail is a little more complicated," says Blake. The media area to observe launches is about 3 miles (4.8 km) away. After setting up the remote cameras, photographers disperse to take up positions to get longer-range images. The top of NASAs Vehicle Assembly Building gives a direct view of the launchpad across the low-lying wetlands. Another photographer will stand on top of the Reuters building in the media site. The combination of close-up and long-range viewpoints is designed to produce a variety of shots. Were there close-up in case something happens, says Skipper. At the same time, it is important to capture the bigger picture. One Reuters shot of the launch in March, used by media outlets worldwide, showed the boosters returning to land from the vantage point of a beach, as birds fly past and a crowd of people watch, giving a wider perspective to the event. Thats the one we wanted to do, says Skipper, who researched locations from a previous launch and instructed one of his photographers to take up his position on the beach. Another Reuters shot from 2000 showed surfers watching the shuttle going up. That shows something a little different from what people think is going on, says Skipper. (Reporting by Travis Hartman Editing by Bill Rigby) Trump announcing his candidacy in 2015 as his family looks on. Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images As the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination contest gets underway, there is understandably an almost neurotic preoccupation among party activists and voters alike about choosing someone electable to deny Donald Trump the terrifying prospect of a second term in the White House. The fear of again blowing it against Trump, as Hillary Clinton is perceived to have done in 2016 (with a lot of help from James Comey, the media, and complacent voters), will probably intensify as voting begins next year, assuming the general election looks as competitive as it does right now. There is not, unfortunately, one crystal-clear way to determine electability. As I observed recently, multiple 2020 candidates have electability arguments based on different assumptions of what will work against Trump specifically or Republicans generally. But without question, general-election trial-heat polls matching this or that Democrat against the incumbent will get more attention than they probably deserve. Joe Bidens generally strong performance in such polls is undoubtedly boosting his 2020 campaign. One of the ironies of trying to assess the viability of candidates against Trump is that Trump himself flunked every imaginable test of electability throughout much of the 2016 presidential cycle. I took a look at two polls taken at roughly this time in 2015, and they sure didnt make the mogul look like someone likely to take down Clinton. A May 2015 Quinnipiac survey showed HRC leading Mike Huckabee by seven points; Scott Walker by eight points; Chris Christie by nine points; Jeb Bush by 10 points, Ted Cruz by 11 points and Donald Trump by 18 points. A CNN survey taken the next month, shortly after Trumps official announcement of candidacy, had Clinton leading him by 24 points; again, he ran more poorly than the rest of the field by a considerable margin. In July 2015, a McLatchyMarist poll found an assortment of Republican candidates within single digits of HRC, and Trump down by 16 points. And Trumps uniquely and universally poor standing had nothing to do with the name identification problem some of his rivals faced: A July 2015 Gallup survey found him to be the best-known Republican in the field. So anyone paying attention to objective measurements of electability at this point in the 2016 contest would have written off Trump entirely. And he certainly did not do any better in subjective assessments of the kind of Republican candidate likely to win. He had zero governing experience, a vast boneyard of business and personal skeletons in his closet, and the least statesmanlike demeanor possible. And as Kyle Kondik noted in a piece on how slippery electability can be, he was wrong on the issues, too: Following 2012, a report commissioned by the Republican National Committee laid out a roadmap back to national power that, among other things, emphasized the need for comprehensive immigration reform and better outreach to minorities. One couldnt have designed in a lab a candidate who flew more in the face of that roadmap than Trump, who has demagogued immigrants, loudly insisted on building a wall along the southern border with Mexico, and broke into national GOP politics by suggesting, without proof, that the nations first nonwhite president wasnt really a natural-born American. By the Republican Partys own reckoning, Trump wasnt electable in 2016, which helps explain why party leadership was so hostile to his candidacy. So at this point in the 2020 contest, which Democratic prospect is less electable than Trump was at the same point in 2015? Any of them? As Kondik points out, theres a rich history of successful presidential candidates who were once deemed unelectable: [T]he question of [Bill] Clintons ability to win in 1992 was such an issue that one of his competitors, then-former (and future) California Gov. Jerry Brown, was asked to opine on it during a debate. Clinton had dealt with a litany of controversies, including his rampant womanizing and questions about whether he had dodged the draft during the Vietnam war. Clinton, though consistently dogged by scandal, went on to win two terms in the White House. One of Hillary Clintons top aides, Mark Penn, wrote a memo in the early stages of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary that included an observation that her chief rival, Obama, was unelectable except perhaps against Attila the Hun. Whether any African American could win a general election was a theme that hovered over 2008. As late as March 1980, former President Gerald Ford was saying this of his 1976 primary rival, Ronald Reagan, as part of the same interview cited above: Every place I go and everything I hear, there is the growing, growing sentiment that Governor Reagan cannot win this election. Does this mean that Democrats should just throw up their hands and forget about electability altogether? No, not unless theyre perfectly happy with the possibility of maximizing the odds of a 2021 hellscape in which Trump will be able to enjoy four more years in office with even less accountability than he has right now. But they should check their premises regularly in terms of how they define their candidates general-election strength, and look at polls not less often but more carefully. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Bob Baffert is feeling the pressure now. The five-time Kentucky Derby winner finds himself with new favorite Game Winner since Omaha Beach was scratched with a breathing problem. "Oh, boy, here we go," the white-haired trainer said Thursday to a throng outside his Churchill Downs barn. "I think everybody is trying to jinx me. It's still a very wide-open race." The Derby possibly could lose another horse, too. Haikal, a 30-1 shot trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, is being treated for an abscess in his left front foot. The Gotham Stakes winner didn't train Thursday and soaked in Epsom salts to reduce the accumulation of pus in his infected foot. If Haikal can't train again Friday, McLaughlin said he would be out of the race. The deadline to scratch is Friday morning. No matter how much he tries to deflect the attention, Baffert holds a strong hand heading into Saturday's race. Game Winner is the 9-2 early favorite, and his two other horses, Improbable and Roadster, are the co-second choices at 5-1. A sixth victory would tie him for the most wins by a trainer in the Derby's 145-year history. "I don't think there's a heavy-duty favorite now," he insisted. Instead, he tried to sic the media on Jason Servis, who trains Maximum Security. The Florida Derby winner is a 10-1 shot. "He should be the favorite," Baffert said. "He's a horse that nobody is talking about and that's a horse that I'm worried about. He's run faster than we have. Put the pressure on Jason, will you?" Over at his barn, Servis empathized with trainer Richard Mandella and 78-year-old owner Rick Porter, their Derby hopes dashed a day earlier. But he was glad to see Mike Smith knocked out of the race. The 53-year-old Hall of Famer is a crafty rider who won a year ago with Justify. "I was really happy about that, especially having him outside of me," said Servis, alluding to Smith's ability to have possibly prompted Maximum Security into a quicker than desirable early pace. Story continues Baffert said he gave no thought to replacing Florent Geroux aboard Roadster with Smith, who initially chose to ride Omaha Beach over Roadster in the Derby. "I would never do that to the riders," he said, having started in racing as a jockey. Meanwhile, Omaha Beach was set to have surgery Thursday to fix an entrapped epiglottis that affects his breathing. The minor procedure, at nearby clinic Lexington, will require two to three weeks of recovery, enough time to knock the colt off the Triple Crown trail. He's expected to race this summer. "As bad as it felt yesterday, it would be a horrible feeling to have him not finish well and know that I was at fault for running him," Mandella said. "So we had to do the right thing by the horse, and that is give it up and go to the next step." Prominent owner and breeder Arthur Hancock was among many who contacted Mandella to express sympathy. Hancock pointed out that the late training great Charlie Whittingham was 73 when he won his first and only Derby. "So who I am to think I should be doing this now?" said Mandella, who is 68. Baffert felt Mandella's pain. In 2014, he had to scratch Hoppertunity because of a minor foot problem two days before the Derby. "There's nothing like coming to the Derby when you have a legitimate chance to win it and then all of a sudden the rug is just pulled out from under you," Baffert said. "It's a tough feeling." Certainly much tougher than saddling the top three wagering choices in the Derby. Alluding to his 2012 heart attack in Dubai, Baffert assured onlookers he could handle the pressure. "I got three stents and they're good," he said, patting his chest with both hands. ___ This story has been corrected to Roadster instead of Game Winner in 13th paragraph. Made in Baltimore. | Photo: Jada C./Yelp Looking to get out into the community this week? From a spring pop-up shop to a celebration of an urban forest patch, there's plenty to do when it comes to community and cultural events coming up in Baltimore this week. Read on for a rundown. 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. Made In Baltimore Spring Pop-Up Shop: Grand Opening Event From the event description: Join Made In Baltimore for a spring pop-up shop featuring products made by more than 60 local businesses, including gifts, apparel, jewelry, coffee, stationary, home decor, wall art and more. Guests will enjoy local shopping, live DJ, food vendors, craft beer and a selfie station created by local paper-cut artist Annie Howe and more. This event is suitable for all ages. When: Friday, May 3, 5-8 p.m. Where: Made In Baltimore, 20 W. North Ave. Price: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets 21st Annual Kinetic Sculpture Race From the event description: The American Visionary Art Museum will host the 21st annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. Participants, also known as Kinetinauts, will compete for the coveted Grand Mediocre East Coast Champion Award and Next to the Last Award. Other trophies will be awarded for art, engineering and more. When: Saturday, May 4, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Where: American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Highway Price: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Holi Holiday: 'Festival of Colors' at the Dell From the event description: Join us in the Dell as we celebrate Holi, a traditional Indian holiday known as "the festival of colors." The festivities start at Sweet 27 (123 W. 27th St.) with a complimentary brunch buffet, followed by a celebration of color, friendship and the spring season. The vegetable-based paint is homemade, safe and nontoxic. The event is suitable for all ages, but children under age 10 must be be accompanied by an adult. Story continues When: Saturday, May 4, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Where: Wyman Park Dell, 2929 N. Charles St. Price: $0-$15 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Fairwood Forest Day From the event description: Join us for a celebration of the preservation of the very first urban forest patch. The event will feature a tree giveaway, expert-led bird watching session and hands-on history lesson with the Natural History Society of Maryland. Refreshments will be provided. Children can also enjoy crafts, scavenger hunts and goats. The ceremony will kick off at 2 p.m. When: Saturday, May 4, 1-4 p.m. Where: 5921 Fairwood Ave. Price: Free 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. Cotonou (AFP) - Protesters in Benin were locked in a tense standoff with police and soldiers Thursday after violence broke out following controversial parliamentary polls held without a single opposition candidate. Hours after initial results showed a record low turnout in Sunday's election, soldiers and large numbers of police deployed on Wednesday across the economic capital Contonou. Supporters of former president Boni Yayi, who led calls for a boycott of the ballot, took to the streets. They erected makeshift barriers of burning tyres, and chanting slogans against President Patrice Talon. Protestors have torched businesses, hurled stones, and smashed the windows of government buildings. Police fired tear gas to break up crowds. They continued their protests overnight, and remained on the streets Thursday. "Nobody has slept," said one demonstrator on Thursday morning, who gave his name as Justin B. "Around 10 pm, they cut the light and fired live ammunition," he claimed, pointing to two empty bullet casings and bloodstains on the floor. "Two people were seriously injured, a man and a woman." In the Cadjehoun district of Cotonou, where Yayi Boni's house is, a resident also reported to have heard shots fired. "We do not know at all what will happen now, but we feel that it is bad," said one woman, but added that it still felt safe enough for children to go to school on Thursday. The small West African state was held up as a model for democracy, but the situation has raised warnings from civil society and rights groups inside and outside Benin. Tough new eligibility criteria effectively barred opposition parties from fielding any candidates in last Sunday's parliamentary elections. On the day itself, more than three-quarters of the country's five million registered voters stayed at home. Turnout has never dropped below 50 percent since the country's transition to democracy in 1990. BERKELEY, California In a 4,000-square-foot industrial space tucked away in a West Berkeley neighborhood, a team of glass blowers is hard at work. In one corner, a young man named Sam is repairing a piece of laboratory glassware used for cannabis distillation, the bright orange flames from his lathe dancing just inches from his face. In another, a woman named Laurel is concentrating on fusing powdered glass frits. They both work for Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass, a company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. But later this month, Sam and Laurel wont be employees anymore; theyll be co-owners of the company, along with eight of their fellow workers. The company, which produces and repairs highly specialized glass instruments, was launched in 1993. Its obvious in talking to the two founders, George Chittenden and Tom Adams, in their ramshackle office overlooking the main workshop how passionate they are about their unusual craft. But theyve both reached retirement age and are ready to step away. Sam, an employee of Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass, is repairing a piece of laboratory glassware used for cannabis distillation. (Robert Raymond) George is 65 and Im 71, so Im sort of heading towards retirement one way or another, Adams joked from his seat behind a desk littered with papers and custom-made glass components. And so for a while, wed been thinking, Well, what the fuck are we going to do? We could close the doors and walk away or sell to somebody but that just wouldnt feel right. Because the work we do is so idiosyncratic, finding a competent, knowledgeable buyer seemed highly improbable, Chittenden explained. He and Adams didnt want to put their workers through what happened to them in the early 1990s when they worked for another glass-blowing company that was sold off to someone unfamiliar with the business. They both quit because of poor managerial decisions, which they put down to the new owners inexperience. So Adams and Chittenden are taking an alternative approach to business succession: Theyre selling the firm to their workers. Story continues The idea of converting into a co-op really made sense, said Chittenden. As a cooperative, the business will be owned and managed by the workers, with each member given a share of the profits and a vote on how the company is run. George Chittenden, co-founder of the company, at work. (Robert Raymond) Millions of baby boomers like Adams and Chittenden will retire over the next 30 years in what has been dubbed a silver tsunami. Yet the vast majority of the estimated 2.34 million boomer-owned businesses dont have succession plans. Without such plans, many of these businesses face closure or sale to corporations in distant cities, which could have major repercussions for local economies. Berkeley is just one of many U.S. cities now facing potentially dramatic shifts in their small-business landscapes. But Berkeley has a plan. The citys Office of Economic Development has partnered with local organizations to explore options for dealing with the approaching silver tsunami. It has set up a city-funded program, believed to be one of the first of its kind in the U.S., which aims to retain and support small businesses that are at risk of closure or, in some cases, of being gobbled up by asset-stripping private equity firms. It will do this by converting them to employee-owned businesses, otherwise known as worker cooperatives. Small businesses comprise 97% of all of the employers in the city of Berkeley, Jordan Klein, the citys economic development manager, told HuffPost. And they account for about 40% of the jobs within the city so obviously theyre critical to our local economy. Berkeley, along with larger cities like Austin, Texas, and New York, is part of a broader municipal movement that views employee ownership as not just a strategy to retain at-risk businesses, but also a way to address rising income and wealth inequality. California has the fourth highest level of income inequality in the U.S., and the Bay Area specifically is experiencing a housing affordability crisis that makes it increasingly difficult for low- to medium-wage earners to live in the cities where they work. The business cooperative model helps tackle some of the root causes of these crises by giving workers a say in decisions that affect their lives, said Peter Gowan, a policy associate at the Next System Project, who has just authored a report on worker ownership. A worker co-op says that ... were not going to have someone who makes money just by owning things, that the people who work at this business are also going to get the wealth generated through profits, said Gowan. Because these co-ops are managed democratically, the worker-owners can vote on strategic decisions such as whether to provide themselves with a living wage, for example. A 2017 report released by the National Center for Employee Ownership found that worker-owners make on average 33% more than their employee counterparts in the same industry. And 2016 research that studied international data found that worker co-ops tend to match or outperform traditional business structures: They survive at least as long, they are often more productive, they may weather recessions better, and they provide workers with profit-sharing opportunities unavailable at traditional companies. There is a real potential for a worker co-op model to ensure the survival of a business, Gowan said. But its more than just survival. Its a transition to a model that allows workers to choose who governs over them for half of their waking lives. Its a really effective model for addressing this crisis of extractive capitalism. For businesses like Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass that dont really see any other viable options, co-ops have a strong appeal. When we first started thinking about the future, it was totally unclear, Adams recalled. Then he came across the idea of converting to a co-op while listening to the radio. It was a local segment that talked about the whole process of retiring baby boomers selling businesses to their workers. It struck me as like, Huh, thats kind of interesting. George Chittenden (left) and Tom Adams (right) in the West Berkeley space where their business is located. The company has been helped through the conversion process by Project Equity, a small nonprofit based in nearby Oakland that promotes employee-owned businesses As one of the local organizations partnering with Berkeley on its cooperative development program, Project Equity has been identifying firms that fall within the silver tsunami risk profile. It found more than 1,000 businesses, which together employ 30% of workers and generate around 60% of the revenue earned by the citys businesses. Theres a big disconnection right now between the people who are making decisions and those who are affected by their decisions, Project Equitys co-founder Alison Lingane told HuffPost. Its not just the workers who are affected its the whole community. And the wealth and income gaps that result from this are in many ways the defining issues of our time. Project Equity has now started the process of contacting businesses and explaining how they could become co-ops. If a company is interested, Project Equity will conduct a feasibility study to determine whether co-op conversion is a viable option. The business has to be profitable the goal of this program is not necessarily to save firms that are failing even before their aging owners retire and, of course, the workers must actually be interested in taking on the business. These studies can take months and each one comes with a price tag of roughly $5,000. So far its all subsidized by the city. This is significant, said Lingane, because Berkeley is the first city in California that were aware of where the city itself has actually put money into this strategy. The idea of converting boomers businesses to co-ops is gaining support on the federal level as well. In 2018, the Main Street Employee Ownership Act, which makes it easier for employee-owned businesses to get loans, was enacted with bipartisan support. The law is designed to level the playing field for worker cooperatives, which, because of their ownership structure, tend to find it harder to secure financing than traditional firms. What weve had for a very long time is a model where small and medium-sized businesses are built up by owners, Gowan told HuffPost. And then one of these big equity firms vulture capitalists, I like to call them sweeps in and strips out the parts that are most profitable and they lay off all the rest of the workers. We see this all around the country. Gowan is hopeful that the mass retirement of the baby boomers will spur an alternative vision to take root. Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass is on the cusp of completing the final legal steps toward conversion. They made the announcement at their annual pig roast in March, an event that theyve put on for the last two decades and that draws hundreds of community members into their workshop for live music, demonstrations and, of course, a pig with a custom-blown glass apple in its mouth. Everybody here is here because they dig glass, Chittenden said. So theyre committed. And if theyre productive and run the business well, theyll be better paid and theyre going to have control of their situations. Chittenden is all too aware of the economic inequality in his community. Its so problematic here in the Bay Area, he said looking over the workshop floor. Thats one of the things that, just on a kind of soul level, this transition feels really good about the employees are becoming owners of their business. And if these guys can make a good living doing this stuff, Id be really proud of that, really proud. For more content and to be part of the This New World community, follow our Facebook page. HuffPosts This New World series is funded by Partners for a New Economy and the Kendeda Fund. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from the foundations. If you have an idea or tip for the editorial series, send an email to thisnewworld@huffpost.com. Robert Mueller. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Last week, in his first public statement since the beginning of the governments probe into Russian election interference, former special counsel Robert Mueller made it clear that he has little interest in testifying to Congress about his 448-page report. I hope and expect this to be the only time that I will speak to you in this manner, he told reporters. The report is my testimony. But that hasnt stopped Democrats from trying to get Mueller to appear before Congress. A week after Muellers statement, House Judiciary chairman Jerrold Nadler is still working to get Mueller to publicly testify. Lets just say that Im confident hell come in soon, Nadler said Wednesday. The holdup for now is Muellers preference to only answer questions in private. Politico reports that such a position is a non-starter for most House Democrats. Nadler commented on that issue Wednesday, saying, We want him to testify openly. I think the American people need that. I think, frankly, its his duty to the American people. And well make that happen. If Mueller doesnt agree to testify soon, Nadler is reportedly willing to subpoena him. Previously, members of both parties called on Mueller to testify. Democrats are eager to ask Mueller about the decisions he made during his investigation and to get his thoughts on Attorney General William Barrs handling of the report. Theyre also eager to keep the discussion of Trump and obstruction of justice in the headlines. Even if Mueller tells them nothing new, a public hearing will create drama in Washington and clips for TV news. Muellers statement last week and the subsequent reaction to it proved that many lawmakers hadnt even read his report. Its hard, then, to expect that the average American has. Mueller talking about the report publicly will likely help Democrats, as Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin told BuzzFeed News. I wish everyone could read it, he said. I wish it were on everybodys doorstep. But its not like that, so we might need him to come forward to restate the basic findings and conclusions. Even Trump allies in the GOP have called for Mueller to testify, but for a different reason. They think it will help the president. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, told Politico, There was no collusion, no obstruction, and thats what Bob Mueller will tell everyone. But Trump himself has no interest in hearing from Mueller. Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! he tweeted following Muellers statement last week. By Steve Holland WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Joe Biden's rapid emergence as front-runner in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination has caught the attention of President Donald Trump and unnerved some of his allies, who believe Biden is a potentially dangerous rival. Biden soared from "will-he-or-won't-he-run?" status to the head of the crowded Democratic field just days after announcing his candidacy last week, pulling away from Senator Bernie Sanders and a host of other rivals in opinion polls. A CNN poll gave Biden a 15-point lead in a field of 20 Democratic candidates. Some Trump advisers see the former vice president, with his mainstream blue-collar appeal, as a tough opponent in the three states that carried Trump to his improbable victory in 2016 - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Losing any of those states in 2020 would make Trump's path to re-election more problematic. "They think they're in trouble there and they think he's a real threat," said one outside Trump adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Trump's initial response to Biden's entry into the race was to use a well-worn playbook - give him a mocking nickname - "Sleepy Joe Biden" - and insult his intelligence. "I have known Joe over the years," Trump said on Fox News. "He is not the brightest light bulb in the group, I don't think, but he has a name that they know." Trump later went on a Twitter tirade after the largest U.S. firefighters union endorsed Biden, including posting dozens of retweets on Wednesday from purported firefighters and their friends and families professing support for the Republican president or criticizing Biden. Despite his focus on Biden, some of Trump's friends said he did not seem particularly concerned about him, at least at this stage, given that the first votes in the nominating process will not be cast until early next year. Story continues White House counselor Kellyanne Conway played down the idea that Trump saw Biden as his biggest threat. "No, I think it's just fun to remind everybody about him. ... Maybe he's an easy mark, and he just announced for president of the United States," she told reporters. Trump allies said Biden, who was vice president under Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, could still get chewed up by a large, diverse field of Democratic rivals, many leaning to the left of Biden and discussing policies such as tax hikes for wealthier Americans and government-run healthcare. As long as Democrats are moving left, said David Urban, a political consultant and Trump campaign aide in 2016, "I like our chances whoever is at the top of the ticket for the Democrats." WARNING SIGNS The Trump re-election campaign said it believed that whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee would have adopted policy stances out of tune with most Americans. "There is no centrist lane in the Democrat primary," said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. "We view them as one big liberal organism right now with 28 heads." Still, there are warning signs for Trump. He won narrow victories in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania with the help of blue-collar voters who once voted Democratic but switched to Trump. Trump's advisers said repeating his victories in those crucial states next year might be a tall order. Biden, a longtime U.S. senator from Delaware, held his first campaign rally in Pennsylvania and has quickly sought to make the campaign into a battle against Trump rather than against his rivals for the Democratic nomination. One Trump confidant said poll numbers indicated Biden stood to do well at this point at least in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and potentially in two other Trump states, Florida and North Carolina. If that were to happen, the confidant said, it would be hard for Trump to make up the losses with wins in other states in order to get to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. "Theres not really a lot of room to expand the (electoral) map over the previous results," the confidant said. In a response to Biden, Trump has touted strong economic indicators in Pennsylvania, where unemployment is at a historic low. But some allies said Trump had not been disciplined about selling his record on the economy and that his lack of a healthcare overhaul plan was hurting him along with his preoccupation with migrants at the U.S. southern border. They added that Trump had time to straighten out his message for the long slog to the November 2020 election. "We've got a long way to go," said one Trump confidant. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Editing by Kieran Murray and Peter Cooney) Photo credit: Triumph From Popular Mechanics There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a motorcycle with a huge 2,458 cc engine is one of them. Thats what powers the new Triumph Rocket 3 TFC (Triumph Factory Custom), which sets a new record for the largest engine in a production motorcycle Engine : 2,458 cc in-line triple MSRP : $29,000 Available: December 2019 For context, Genesis makes a sport sedan, the G70, with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine-thats 2,000cc of displacement. With a turbocharger, that car produces decent power for moving over 3,500 pounds of metal and leather and driver, with a zero-to-60 time of 6.5 seconds. Triumph hasnt stated the exact weight of the Rocket 3, but it will be lighter than its 800-pound predecessor. Whatever that number, paired with 163 ft-lbs of torque, means involuntary burnouts on the 240mm rear tire. Actually, not always. Bikes this overpowered sound intimidating, but like modern supercars, electronics will intervene before catastrophe. The Rocket 3 TFC has multiple riding modes that can keep power in check when roads are wet, anti-lock brakes, and traction control, plus Brembo Stylemas brakes for stopping power. The new Rocket also gets all of Triumphs modern electronics-a digital dash that syncs to your phone, GoPro connectivity, keyless ignition, LED headlights, cruise control, and USB charging port. Photo credit: Triumph Since the first Rocket 3 came out in 2004, this model has held the superlative of largest production motorcycle engine-low-production custom bikes have gone bigger, but the Rocket has been the biggest you could go buy at a dealership. However, Triumph is only selling 750 examples (with 225 coming to North America) of the new Rocket 3 TFC. Again, nobody really needs that. ('You Might Also Like',) A Chinese blockchain investor is diversifying its portfolio after 2018's crypto winter by targeting industrial hemp. | Source: Shutterstock By CCN.com: The widespread adoption of blockchain is taking longer than expected. The slow recovery pace of the cryptocurrency industry is forcing blockchain investors to look for alternative sources of revenue to keep their business afloat. Some blockchain investors are now turning to cannabis to diversify their revenue stream. Tough times call for greener solutions Hong-Kong listed blockchain investor, Grandshores Technology, is diversifying its investment portfolio to include cannabis with a 40 percent investment in Hangzhou Yupu Trading. The demand for cannabis is likely to increase shortly as more countries legalize the medicinal and recreational use of cannabis. Among its crypto ventures, the firm recently raised $12.5 million to back a Chinese yen-pegged stablecoin. Industrial hemp is currently the only type of cannabis being grown in China, and it is restricted to two provinces- Heilongjiang and Yunnan. For industrial and medicinal use, Industrial hemp has the right components that meet these demands. Cannabidiol, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in cannabis, can be extracted from Industrial hemp while the rest of the plant is used for industrial purposes. Industrial cannabis is booming in China https://t.co/cBQJh8ylm6 The Economist (@TheEconomist) April 6, 2019 Grandshores Technology has partnered with Heilongjiang hemp research institute which has given them access to high-quality hemp seeds which contain a high percentage of cannabidiols compared to other strains. With high-quality raw material, Grandshores Technology may control the supply of cannabis right from the source. The cannabis market goes beyond recreational and medicinal; the industrial use of cannabis may be its Holy Grail. Read the full story on CCN.com. The former EDL leader was filmed being splashed with the drink A Blackburn man has been filmed throwing a milkshake over Tommy Robinson. Danyal Mahmud, 23, was working in Warrington and claims he was approached by the former English Defence League (EDL) leader while on his way home. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was left covered in milkshake after Mr Mahumd threw the drink over him. The MEP candidate reacted by appearing to throw several punches at the man before being pulled away. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon gets a milkshake thrown over him in Warrington.pic.twitter.com/jvVD5hBimC Richard Chambers (@newschambers) May 2, 2019 Robinson is canvassing to become an Independent member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the north west. In footage posted to Twitter Robinson can be heard referring to a previous incident on his campaign trail. Robinson can be heard to say: The only person (unclear) pushed was a woman. Mr Mahmud shakes his head before launching the McDonalds milkshake. Read more: Tommy Robinson breaks his silence on mental torture of prison after being freed on bail Tommy Robinson brands Theresa May's Brexit defeat a 'betrayal' during speech at Ukip rally Tommy Robinson to stand as an MEP for north-west England Robinson looks at the milkshake over himself as the cameraman shouts that's what you get for being a fascist, while crowds cheer on. Speaking to the Mirror, Mr Mahmud informed police that he had been approached by Robinson several times. He told the newspaper: I didn't want to talk to him, I didn't want anything to do with him. (TWITTER/BESTGUG) He saw I was the only Asian man there. He kept coming up to me and asking 'am I a racist? Do you think I'm a racist?' I was minding my own business and he kept on approaching me. He was pressuring me, following me around with his camera. He was being aggressive, coming up to my face. Robinson is standing in the European elections this month (AP) A spokesman for Cheshire Police said: We are aware of an allegation of assault made following an incident in Bridge Street in Warrington this afternoon. Story continues We are looking into the circumstances. The incident came a day after a protester threw a milkshake at Robinson in Bury, Greater Manchester. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- DUNCAN, Okla. (AP) Authorities in Oklahoma say they've recovered the body of a third person whose death is blamed on this week's severe storms. Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney says Faron Morgan was found dead in a pasture Thursday near Comanche, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of Oklahoma City. McKinney says floodwaters swept away the 57-year-old man Wednesday while he was surveying his property riding an all-terrain vehicle. Authorities say the pasture where Morgan's body was found had been flooded by heavy rainfall from severe storms that inundated the region Wednesday. Two other people were killed earlier this week in severe storms in Oklahoma. The bodies of a man and a woman who died in separate incidents were discovered Wednesday. The National Weather Service says at least 16 tornadoes were reported Tuesday in Oklahoma. Alain Bellemare, President and CEO of Bombardier Inc., speaks during a news conference on the acceleration of Global 7000 business jet aircraft interior completion operations and the inauguration of the new Bombardier Centre of Excellence in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada, November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi Bombardier Inc. is looking to sell its aerostructure businesses in Belfast and Morocco as its continues its five-year turnaround plan and shifts its focus to concentrate on its private jet and rail divisions. The train-and-plane maker announced Thursday that it will pursue the divestiture of its two aerostructure businesses, while at the same time consolidating its remaining aircraft operations under one division, to be renamed Bombardier Aviation. Previously, Bombardier had operated separate divisions for its private jet, commercial aircraft and aerospace and engineering work. Chief executive Alain Bellemare said Thursday following the release of first quarter results that the creation of Bombardier Aviation has been something the company has been working towards since October 2017, when aerospace giant Airbus SE acquired a majority stake in Bombardiers beleaguered CSeries program. With the Airbus partnership finalized, Bombardiers Downsview property in Toronto sold, and a deal for its Q400 program on the verge of closing, Bellemare said the timing is right. We can now finally zoom in on the businesses that will create the most value for shareholders and it is business aircraft and rail, Bellemare told analysts on a conference call Thursday. When we look at where we will invest our capital moving forward (its) in these businesses. The companys stock fell as much as 10 per cent shortly after the Toronto Stock Exchange opened. Shares of Bombardier were down 2.6 per cent just after 1 p.m. ET. Bombardiers aerostructure businesses in Belfast and Morocco are largely tied to the former CSeries program now operating as the A220 under Airbus control. Given the program is now out of Bombardiers control, the move to sell the operations makes sense, National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen wrote in a note to clients Thursday. Doerksen estimates that Bombardier could earn between $910 million and $1.04 billion from the sale of those operations. Story continues Unite, the union representing the approximately 3,600 employees working at the Belfast facility, released a statement Thursday saying the announcement came as a shock. The U.K. government must stand ready to ensure the retention of jobs and skills at these sites, the statement said. Bombardier is simply too important to the Northern Ireland economy to allow anything less. Dual class share structure remains Bombardier is on the tail end of a five-year turnaround plan launched by Bellemare in 2015, shortly after he stepped into the role of chief executive. The strategy includes several ambitious financial targets, including overall revenues of US$20 billion by 2020. (Bombardier reports its financial results in U.S. dollars.) But that strategy has stumbled in the last year. Last week, the company had to preemptively cut its full-year revenue forecast for 2019, largely due to slower production at its transportation division. Bombardier stock as of 3:32 p.m. ET on Thursday May 2. Revenues in the transportation business, its most profitable division which produces trains, will be $750 million less than the originally expected $8.75 billion because of a slower production ramp-up on certain large projects. Bombardier reported $2.1 billion in revenues in the three month period ending March 31, a drop of 11 per cent from the same time last year. Shortly after discussing the first quarter results with analysts, Bombardier executives met with investors at its annual shareholder meeting at the companys headquarters in Montreal. MEDAC, a Quebec-based shareholder rights group, had put forward several shareholder proposals ahead of the meeting, including one that effectively called for the abolition of Bombardiers dual-class share system. MEDACs proposal was to convert the Class A shares which are controlled by the Beaudoin-Bombardier family, giving them a majority of voting rights despite not holding to a majority of shares to single voting right per share. The proposal, which was supported by proxy organizations including Glass Lewis, Institutional Shareholder Services and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, was defeated. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Photo: Christina Kilgour/Getty Images A pup-finding primer from writer Julie Klam, who has fostered 35 dogs, owned eight, and talked with ten experts. You could start by window-shopping on Instagram. There are thousands of stray and abandoned dogs in New York City and a handful of organizations that match them to owners. Follow some of the small rescue groups (like Muddy Paws Rescue, SNORT Rescue, or Good Karma Dog Rescue) to get a sense of the landscape. If you have a couple of favorite dogs, you can meet them in person at regular adoption events. Muddy Paws is a bit of a scene right now with long lines for the more popular pups. Or you can go straight to a shelter. Theres a handful of big ones, but go first to Animal Care Centers of NYC. Its the citys only open-admissions shelter it takes any dog that arrives, which means space can be an issue. Or fly in a dog from Korea. A few rescue groups transport and rehome dogs from other countries: Korean K9 Rescue brings over dogs from the meat trade, Stray From the Heart imports strays from Puerto Rico and Ecuador, and Long Island Golden Retriever Rescue has golden retrievers from Turkey. Youll likely pay for the dogs flight, which can cost hundreds of dollars. Dont be swayed by the cutest dogs. A lot of the time, some of the more sad dogs just need a good bath. Plus a lot of them are in cages for the first time in their lives. Visiting a shelter is a bit like visiting a college dorm at the start of a new semester, says Ken Foster, author of City of Dogs. So ask the staff lots of questions. Are they good on a leash? How do they respond to strangers? Do they like to be petted? How do they react to other dogs? Do they like to play, or do they get aggressive? Do they respond differently to men and women? Consider a senior dog. Puppies are a lot of work: You shouldnt take them outside in the city until theyre fully immunized from their shots (at around 20 weeks). Senior dogs (between 9 and 12) have gained in popularity because theyre calmer and usually trained. Dont rule out a pit-bull mix. Pit bulls are actually among the sweetest; they are big and strong, but they are also smart. And dont necessarily worry about bringing a Great Dane into a 550-square-foot studio. Anna Lai from Muddy Paws Rescue says, One misconception is that New York apartments are not suitable for larger dogs. Certain little dogs, like terriers, need constant exercise, and some big dogs, like mastiffs and Great Danes, are delighted to lie on your couch all day. (And yes, there are fancy dogs in shelters; plus nearly every breed has its own rescue group.) Prepare to sell yourself. Adoption groups will want to know your living situation: Who lives with you, and how old are they? They will want to know your dog history, and if you have one, they may want to speak to your vet. They will call friends as references and ask if you have a plan to walk the dog while you work. They are looking to see that youre not a fair-weather dog parent. A good way to get it across that youre not is to ask a lot questions. Later there will be a home visit, at which theyll want to know how youll treat your new dog if he makes mistakes by chewing or marking (which he most likely will), will you be understanding? Point at your rug and say, My friend brought her new Jack Russell over, and he peed right there. Ha! Plus a collar and a name tag, and make sure to figure out how youre taking your dog home. New York public transportation allows dogs in bags (L.L. Bean totes are a nice option), and you can take a taxi or an Uber, but youre at the mercy of the drivers discretion as to whether hell take a dog. Theres also Pet Taxi, a pet-friendly car service. Dont worry about a vet visit right away. All New York City strays are spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Make a weekly budget. The adoption process can cost anywhere from $150 to $1,000. (Younger, healthier dogs usually cost more.) And owning a dog in New York costs about $150 a week. (Dog walkers cost about $20 a day, and food and treats will run you around $40 a week.) Buy pet insurance. In New York, where a health problem can cost thousands of dollars, its worth paying around $40 a month for a plan that covers accidents and illness, accidents only, and/or routine wellness care. The best insurance plans are Figo and Pets Best. Register your dog with the Health Department. You can fill out an application online; youll get an official tag in the mail. And remember, if it really doesnt work out, you can send the dog back. It takes time for a new dog and you to adjust and decompress, so give it time. But any reputable shelter or rescue group will take your dog back and should be grateful for the new information you provide. *This article appears in the April 29 2019, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now! get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. By Gabriel Stargardter RIO DE JANEIRO, May 2 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines, The Financial Times and Bain & Co have pulled out of an event in New York honoring Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the firms said on Thursday, as the South American leader faces blowback for racist and homophobic comments. Bolsonaro is due to be honored as the 2019 Person of the Year at the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce dinner. The gala, which already had to move from its original home at New York's American Museum of Natural History after the museum canceled the reservation, is sponsored by various blue-chip firms, which have come under pressure to ditch their support of the event. Delta said it would no longer be sponsoring the event, but declined to give further details, as did The Financial Times. "We have decided to withdraw our sponsorship of the ... 2019 Person of the Year Awards Gala Dinner," Bain said. "Encouraging and celebrating diversity is a core Bain principle." The Chamber of Commerce did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the boycott. Bolsonaro's office also did not immediately reply.. The moves are a blow for a president who has actively courted closer ties with the United States and particularly President Donald Trump, whom he has praised. Bolsonaro's rejection by corporate heavyweights also hurts his vow to grow foreign investment in Brazil. Bolsonaro is loved by his supporters for his outspoken views on guns, family values and the military, but his critics accuse him of racism, homophobia and misogyny. He once said a female lawmaker was too ugly to rape, and said he would not be able to love a gay son. Not all sponsors have pulled out. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas , Credit Suisse, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co all declined to comment on whether they would abandon the event. "Attending the dinner has never involved selecting or endorsing the honoree in any way," UBS said. Story continues Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Refinitiv, Nomura Co , Morgan Stanley and HSBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Refinitiv is 45 percent-owned by Thomson Reuters Corp . On its website, the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce said it had chosen Bolsonaro as its person of the year because of his "intention of fostering closer commercial and diplomatic ties between Brazil and the United States." (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; additional reporting by Anthony Boadle; editing by Leslie Adler) BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) When students at Ceilandia state school No. 7 in Brazil's capital came back from their break in February, they were met by two dozen uniformed police officers in a place they barely recognized anymore. Guns in their holsters, the officers ordered students to form rows in the schoolyard. The students were given white T-shirts pending the arrival of their new uniforms. From now on, hair would have to be kept short for boys and tied at the back for girls. No more shorts, caps, brightly colored nail varnish, earrings or any distinctive pieces of clothing. Students arriving late wouldn't be let in. "Sometimes we feel intimidated," said Michael Pereira da Silva, 17, who was against the decision to hire police to instill military-like discipline in the school. "Just going out into the hall, we are obligated to bow our heads or say hello to police officers." Although experiments began in previous years, the quasi-military approach is one of the most visible educational efforts being championed under new President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who campaigned on promises to improve Brazilian schools, which are widely recognized as a problem. A 2015 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked educational performance in Brazil as 63rd out of 72 countries and regions. Schools now being co-run by police are modeled on Brazil's exclusive military colleges, which tend to perform better than most public schools a fact that makes many parents eager to see similarly rigid discipline. Under the model, teaching remains in the hands of the Education Ministry, while police officers oversee discipline and enforce a new code of conduct. Implementation of the pilot program in a school must be approved by a majority of parents, teachers and school staff in a referendum. The Ceilandia school is one of four in Brasilia that voted to take part. Officials in Brazil's capital hope to add 36 more schools by the end of the year and reach a total of 200 by 2022. Bolsonaro's administration is pushing similar expansions nationwide, though it has yet to say how many it plans to convert across the country. Story continues Some states have been exploring the model since the early 2000s, but a large expansion worries many education experts and teachers' unions, who say such schools can become exclusionary and go against the concept of a free, open-to-all public schooling system. They argue that these schools have managed to improve results because problematic students are quietly replaced by better-performing ones, often from wealthier backgrounds. Another red flag for critics is the introduction of guns in schools, particularly in the nation that leads the world in total homicides each year, the majority from firearms. "Increased gun access and possession are not associated with protection from violence," said Robert Muggah, research director at the Brazilian think tank Igarape. The expansion is a flagship measure of the Bolsonaro administration although the Education Ministry says it has no data on how many such schools existed or studies on long-term benefits of the model. Besides putting police in more schools, Bolsonaro's administration has been pushing for other changes in public education, accusing it of being filled with "Marxist ideology." The Education Ministry has talked of revising history textbooks to refer to Brazil's 1964-1985 dictatorship as a "democratic regime of force" and of excising references to feminism, homosexuality and violence against women. Most recently, Bolsonaro said public funding for sociology and philosophy could be eliminated. In recent years, some schools taken over by the police have garnered headlines when prosecutors have had to intervene after officers began charging monthly fees to parents, imposed expensive uniforms or sought to set aside half of the school's places for children of police officers. In 2016, the head of education for police in the state of Goias revised the school system's internal regulation that normalized "expulsions" and "forced transfers" of students. The move followed a recommendation from state prosecutors who argued that expulsions from public schools must remain a last recourse. "It's not for everyone, that's for sure," said Mauro Oliveira, deputy-secretary at the Brasilia state education ministry. Only a small number of students have been turned away from their schools since police arrived, he said, arguing the ends justify the means. The administration says it is targeting violent and low-performing schools or those in at-risk areas, where drug trafficking takes place or paramilitary groups operate. "We're not talking about normal schools," Oliveira said. He cited cases of students and teachers not being able to go to school because they were bullied or threatened. "Is this not exclusion as well?" According to the head officer in Ceilandia state school No. 7, Edney Freire, the duties of police officers, called "monitors," include making sure students don't fight. "If for instance there is any kind of friction between students, the monitor is going to go talk with the students, call the parents to solve the problem," he said. It doesn't always work out in such calm fashion. A video posted this month on the internet news portal G1 shows police officers intervening in a fight in the school's gymnasium. Footage shows an officer body-slamming a student to the ground. In Ceilandia, a crowded working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Brazil's capital, violence against teachers was not so much the problem. But drug traffickers operated unfettered around the school and vagabonds were regularly seen drinking and using drugs in the area. When the news came out that the school would enter in a partnership with the police, many parents sought to sign up their kids. Some arrived two days before the school opened, camping outside to make sure to get a spot for their child when the doors opened. Students must line up in the school yard daily, heels together, arms straight along their bodies, heads looking straight forward toward the school's Brazilian flag. "We must prepare our future starting today," Freire, the head officer, told students lining up on a recent day. During his speech, police officers walked down the rows, checking students' posture and writing down the names of those breaking any rule. The school's director, Adriana De Barros, said that in just two months discipline has improved. Petty crime has also gone down, Freire said. Adriana da Silva, the parent of 17-year-old student Vitor, said it was "amazing" that it was April and she had not been called in by the school to discuss the teen's conduct even once. "He used to get in trouble. Now he wants to become a military man," da Silva said. ___ Associated Press writer Diane Jeantet reported this story from Rio de Janeiro and AP photojournalist Eraldo Peres reported in Brasilia. WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. health authorities will allow a type of breast implant linked to a rare form of cancer to stay on the market, saying its risks do not warrant a national ban. But the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it is considering bold warnings for the implants and requiring stricter reporting of problems by manufacturers. The announcement is the latest in the government's decades-long effort to manage implant risks and complications that can include scarring, pain, swelling and rupture. In recent years, the FDA and other regulators around the world have grappled with the recently confirmed link to a rare cancer and the thousands of unconfirmed complaints of other health problems that women attribute to the implants, including arthritis, fatigue and muscle pain. FDA regulators said in a statement that while they don't have definitive evidence that implants cause those chronic ailments, women considering implants "should be aware of these risks." To that end, the agency said it will consider adding a boxed warning its most serious type to breast implants and a checklist describing various potential harms for patients considering them. Earlier this month, French authorities issued a rare ban of breast implants associated with a form of lymphoma, including those sold by manufacturer Allergan. The FDA's director for medical devices said the agency wasn't ready to take that step. "At this time, the FDA does not believe that, on the basis of all available data and information, the device meets the banning standard," Dr. Jeffrey Shuren said in a statement. The cancer tied to implants is not breast cancer but lymphoma that grows in the scar tissue surrounding the breasts. Almost all confirmed cases involve a type of textured implant designed to prevent slippage and to minimize scar tissue. Shuren said that variety accounts for less than 10% of the U.S. market, which is primarily smooth implants. He noted there have been cases of the cancer with smooth implants, raising questions about whether multiple factors contribute to the disease. Story continues There have been more than 600 cases of the cancer worldwide, among an estimated 10 million women with implants. Diana Zuckerman, who has studied breast implant safety, said a ban may not be necessary to phase out textured ones. "I think a lot of physicians are going to avoid them and patients are going to say they don't want them," said Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit, National Center for Health Research, which evaluates studies and conducts its own research. Breast augmentation is the most popular form of cosmetic surgery in the U.S., with roughly 300,000 women undergoing the procedure each year. Another 100,000 women receive implants for breast reconstruction after cancer surgery. In a move to "promote greater public transparency," the FDA also said Thursday that breast implant manufacturers will no longer be permitted to summarize routine injuries and complications in bulk reports. Manufacturers are required to report all serious injuries, malfunctions and deaths related to their devices. But under the FDA's alternative summary reporting program, breast implant makers and other manufacturers could file quarterly updates representing thousands of incidents, most of which were not listed in a public database. That practice which the FDA has pledged to phase out has been criticized for obscuring the true number of incidents reported to regulators. The reports filed to the FDA include submissions from companies, doctors, patients and lawyers that often include incomplete, unverified information and duplicates. Ahead of a March meeting, the FDA revealed for the first time that it had received more than 350,000 reports related to breast implants over the last decade. That was roughly seven times the number of reports visible in the agency's publicly searchable database, according to Madris Tomes, a former FDA staffer who founded a company to analyze medical device reports. "If there's a pattern of more than 300,000 malfunctions and non-serious injuries, those should be available to the public, and let them decide if they're serious." Tomes said. Bulk reports for other medical devices are permitted under a new program which plans to make them public. ___ Follow Matthew Perrone at @AP_FDAwriter ___ Associated Press writer Meghan Hoyer contributed to this story. ___ 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. By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should commit to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050, government climate advisers said, a goal that could require phasing out new petrol and diesel cars by at least 2035 and a 20 percent cut in beef and lamb consumption. Their recommendations came in a report released on Thursday after weeks of civil disobedience protests by climate group Extinction Rebellion meant to raise pressure for action to tackle what it calls a global climate crisis. On Wednesday, Britain's parliament declared a symbolic climate change "emergency" in a nod to the increasingly vocal activist movement. Britain currently aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 80 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050. But campaigners say this does not go far enough to meet pledges made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to try to limit a rise in global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. "The UK can end its contribution to global warming within 30 years by setting an ambitious new target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 (on 1990 levels)," the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report said. The government-commissioned report said the new target is achievable with existing technology but can only be met if the government ramps up climate policies. A current goal to phase out new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 would come too late and would need to be brought forward to at least 2035 or 2030 if possible, the report said. Several European Union countries or cities have proposed banning diesel cars in a clampdown on polluting emissions, such as Spain, also from 2040. More renewable and low-carbon electricity would be needed to meet the UK's target, and technology to capture and store or use carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sectors must be adopted, the report added. Households would also need to be weaned off natural gas heating and switch to low-carbon alternatives such as hydrogen or heat pumps, the report said. Story continues Britons should be encouraged to consume around 20 percent less beef, lamb and dairy products, while growth in air travel would likely need to be curbed unless the aviation sector adopts low-carbon fuels such as biofuel or electrified air travel. A statement from Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May's government said: "We are not immediately accepting the recommendations set out in the (committee's) detailed report but will be responding in due course to ensure the UK continues to be a world leader in tackling climate change." Climate scientists have warned that failure to limit global temperatures at 1.5 degrees would lead to rising sea levels, catastrophic weather events such as droughts and floods and the loss of species. INACTION MORE COSTLY The CCC report said the cost of meeting the new target would be around 1-2 percent of Britain's GDP - tens of billions of pounds a year. It said the Treasury should undertake a review of how the transition should be funded. The cost of delay, or inaction, would be much higher, the report said. Sam Fankhauser, director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said Britain was not now even on track to meet its carbon budget goals for the late 2020s and early 2030s. "If this is not addressed sooner rather than later, taking the necessary steps will be more expensive for UK taxpayers." Legislation would have to go to parliament before a new climate target could become law. CCC Chief Executive Chris Stark told journalists the law could be in place before international climate talks in Chile at the end of the year since there was cross-party consensus in Britain on the need to act. Stark said that if Britain, the world's fifth largest economy, set a net zero target, this could encourage other countries to do the same and increase the likelihood of the Paris climate target being met. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale and Nina Chestney; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Japan's new Emperor Naruhito did not have an easy relationship with his brother, new documents suggest - Japan Pool As his older brother accepted the Imperial Regalia of sword and sacred jewel in the solemn investiture ceremony for Japans new emperor on Wednesday, Crown Prince Akishino looked on impassively. But there are suggestions, backed up by hints in British diplomatic correspondence dating from the 1980s, that all might not be well between the two most senior members of the Yamato Dynasty. British government documents released by the National Archives in September are full of praise for Crown Prince Naruhito, who studied at the University of Oxfords Merton College between 1983 and 1985, saying the future emperor was taken with the British way of life, Kyodo News reported, and that his stay in Britain had helped to widen his horizons. The documents include a letter from Sydney Gifford, the British ambassador to Tokyo at the time, suggesting that battles were going on within the Imperial Household Agency over the crown princes futures. And while Prince Naruhito was permitted to study at Oxford, there were behind-the-scenes clashes when Prince Akishino expressed a desire to similarly study in Britain and saw his request turned down. Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are greeted by Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko Credit: Japan Pool via AP The Imperial Household Agency - the power behind Japans Chrysanthemum Throne - eventually relented and Prince Akishino studied the taxonomy of fish at Oxford between 1988 and 1990. Three decades later, after Emperor Akihito had announced that he would abdicate at the end of May 2019 in favour of his eldest son, Prince Akishino triggered a debate by claiming that the imperial family should cover the costs associated with his brothers enthronement ceremonies. Speaking after the government had announced that it would pay for the events, the prince said that as the constitution separates religion and state, it would be wrong to use public money to pay for the religious rituals in the enthronement. Some estimates have put the cost of the ceremonies, banquets and other events throughout the year at around 15 million. Story continues The issue may appear to be minor and the princes comments unimportant, but they signified a remarkable deviation from protocol in the rarefied air of the imperial family. Emperor Akihito (swimming C), Empress Michiko (on boat C) and Prince Akishino (on boat L) watching Crown Prince Naruhito (swimming R) swimming in 1968 Credit: KARYN NISHIMURAJIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images Prince Akishino is not cooperating with his brother and is shunning the enthronement process, said Noriko Hama, a professor at Doshisha University, which abuts the Imperial Palace in the ancient capital of Kyoto. Prince Akishino seems to be a destabilising force and appears to have an axe to grind with his brother, she told The Telegraph. He also seems to want to make himself conspicuous and it would appear to be a classic case of a family feud within the imperial household that is almost Shakespearian. As well as not being in the spotlight, Prince Akishino may have grown resentful at the additional responsibilities that have fallen on his shoulders, and that of his wife, Princess Kiko, as a result of the incapacitation of his brothers wife, who is now Empress Masako. As crown princess, she suffered a mental disorder brought on by the stresses of life at court that left her unable to attend numerous official functions. Consequently, Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko were called upon to step into the breach. People carry a portable shrine or "mikoshi" during a ceremony to celebrate the accession of the new emperor Credit: BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images Professor Hama also believes that Prince Akishino feels he should have more say in the future direction of the imperial family as it will be his son, Prince Hisahito, who is likely to inherit the throne in the future. The emperor and empress have been unable to produce a son and heir to a throne that law dictates can only go to a male member of the imperial family. Mieko Nakabayashi, a former politician with the Democratic Party of Japan and now a professor at the school of social sciences at Waseda University, said historians and experts on Japanese history that she has spoken with have similarly expressed concern about the princes approach to his duties and, potentially, his brother.. Prince Akishino is cause for worry, she said. He is not as well educated as his brother and not as cautious - an allusion to his public comments on the cost of his brothers enthronement rites. There are suggestions that while he is nice, he is also weak and his wife usually takes the initiative, she added. That must be worrisome for the former emperor and empress. Photo: Jessica Ruscello/Unsplash Looking for wallet-free ways to spend your time? From a high school songwriting competition to story time, here are three fun things to do around town that won't cost you a dime. 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. Transfuturism Opening Reception and Preview From the event description: The Monocle is thrilled to host transfuturism: Opening reception and preview party on May 2 from 7-11 p.m. Transfuturism is a photography, oral history and art activism project that paints trans and non-binary folks in their own power. When: Thursday, May 2, 7-11 p.m. Where: The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave. Admission: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Mentors In Motion 2nd Annual Red Carpet Event From the event description: Nonprofit organization Mentors In Motion began its 2019 songwriting competition on January 22, inviting students from each area high school to submit an original song highlighting positive aspects of their school andcommunity. The competition and judging committee selected the top two contestants from area high schools through submissions, and these contestants produced two videos in March. The competition will conclude with a grand finale on May 3, with the red carpet gala. The first prize winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship to the college/university of their choice. When: Friday, May 3, 7-9 p.m. Where: Saint Louis University Admission: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Storytime in the Commons | Space Oddity From the event description: Space-themed storybooks will be projected onto larger-than-life screens. Meet Jet Propulsion from Ready Jet Go!, along with professional storyteller Antonio Sacre, who appears as part of the St. Louis Storytelling Festival. Stop by the St. Louis Childrens Hospital Healthy Kids Corner to make crafts and play games, too. Story continues When: Saturday, May 4, 9:30-11 a.m. Where: Public Media Commons, 3653 Olive St. Admission: Free 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. Bushwick Bill revealed that hes been battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer since February. The rapper a co-founder of the legendary Houston, Texas group Geto Boys opened up about his health in an interview with TMZ on Tuesday, explaining that hes been undergoing intensive chemotherapy to treat it but that his prognosis is still unclear. His sad news came as a surprise, not just to fans but to Bushwick Bill himself. As he explained, doctors had been looking into a mass on his pancreas but had told him it was benign. He said doctors told him We see a mass on your pancreas and we cant understand because its not alcohol, its not sugar, its not diabetes they went through all kind of stuff. Finally, by February they said it was stage four pancreatic cancer, Bushwick Bill (ne Richard Stephen Shaw) recalled. And Im like, Stage 4? Ive been getting tested and they said it was just a mass but it was benign. And Im like, Does benign mean it could be cancer? And they were like, Its just a mass with no purpose. So it was crazy to find out that pancreatic cancer is undetected until its in the fourth or fifth state. Bushwick Bill went on to explain that he had been keeping his diagnosis to himself. Ive only told close family members, but thats about it, he said adding that he hadnt told his fellow Geto Boys founders Scarface and Willie D about the cancer. Going public about it now was a decision he came to recently. I figured keeping it to myself is not really helping anybody, he said. RELATED: Pancreatic Cancer Survivor Shares Message of Hope for Patients with the Deadly Disease Story continues Bushwick Bill said he doesnt fear death noting how, on June 19, 1991, he was shot in the head and survived it (an experience he rapped about in the song, Ever So Clear). Its not like Im afraid of dying, he told TMZ. I know what its like on the other side. Thats not what its really about. Its about life and loving life, he said. I just want people to be aware so that when they set dreams or goals, theyre healthy enough to fulfill and live. The NHS has pledged to radically improve cancer services as part of its 10-year plan - PA Record numbers of patients told they may have cancer have been forced to wait weeks before seeing a specialist, NHS data shows. Doctors leaders have condemned the shameful state of cancer services this winter, as it emerged the number of patients waiting to see an oncologist for more than three weeks jumped 73 per cent compared to the year before to more than 8,800. The analysis by the British Medical Association (BMA) also shows that more than a third of hospitals and cancer clinics missed the two-week GP-to-specialist target in January, up 15 per cent on the same period in 2018. As well as the two-week target, NHS bosses must ensure that 85 per cent of patients begin their first treatment for cancer within 62 days of being urgently referred by a GP. However, only 76 per cent were seen in this window. The performance falls seriously short of commitments to radically improve cancer services as part of the NHSs long term plan for the next 10 years. Last October Matt Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary, announced an intention for patients who visit the GP with possible signs of cancer to given a diagnosis within three weeks. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA council, said: Behind these statistics, which show the NHS plunged deeper into crisis this winter, are stories of real lives in distress. "Forcing a patient to wait two months for their first cancer treatment is shameful for a leading nation and as a doctor, I can imagine only too well the distress this will cause to them and their families. "It also places stress on the clinicians who treat them as they are well aware that the cancer may have worsened during the delay between referral and treatment. The NHS figures also showed that nearly one in four patients in A&E were left waiting more than four hours to be seen at major emergency care units. Meanwhile 214,000 were left on trolleys while waiting for more than four hours to be seen having been admitted - the second-worst performance quarter on record. Story continues Experts have said NHS screening units should be set up near offices and shops to encourage people to go for breast and bowel cancer checks during lunch breaks. They have also called for women to be able to book smear tests and mammograms on their smartphones. However, Dr Nagpaul said the recent figures illustrate the need for more staff and fundings to hit even core targets, The Government needs to realise that the crisis in the NHS is not going away as our health service struggles in an underfunded and understaffed environment against a backdrop of rising patient demand, he said. BMA patient liaison group chair, Amanda Cool, said: When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis it is devastating. "What that individual need is rapid, urgent assessment to ensure they get the treatment they need. "These latest figures show that thousands of patients are being left in limbo and that the NHS is now missing its own targets across the board. The Government needs to urgently examine why this is happening and put in place measures that gives patients the high level of care they deserve. (Corrects name of ship to 'Freewinds', typographical error in paragraph 7) By Steve Gorman May 1 (Reuters) - The Caribbean nation of St. Lucia has imposed a quarantine on a visiting cruise ship, barring any passengers or crew from leaving the boat while in port, after a case of measles was diagnosed on board, the island's chief medical officer said. Dr. Merlene Frederick-James said in a video statement posted to YouTube on Tuesday that the St. Lucia Ministry of Health ordered the restriction after conferring with the Pan American Health Organization and others about the risk of exposure to islanders. The ministry learned of the confirmed measles case from "two reputable sources," and in light of current measles outbreaks in the United States and the highly infectious nature of the disease "we thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship," Frederick-James said. She gave no information about the ship or its origins. NBC News, citing a St. Lucia Coast Guard sergeant, reported the boat in question is named Freewinds, which is the name of a 440-foot vessel owned and operated by the Church of Scientology. The international vessel-monitoring website MarineTraffic.com also showed that a Panamanian-flagged passenger ship identified as SMV Freewinds docked in port near the St. Lucia capital of Castries. The website indicated the ship was headed next to the island of Dominica. 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. Church officials did not immediately respond to efforts by Reuters seeking comment on the situation. NBC News reported that nearly 300 passengers and crew were aboard the vessel, with one female crew member diagnosed with measles. The cruise ship quarantine comes as the number of measles cases in the United States has reached a 25-year peak with more than 700 people diagnosed as of this week, part of an international resurgence in the disease. Story continues Public health officials blame declining vaccination rates in some communities driven by misinformation about inoculation that has left those populations vulnerable to rapid spread of infection among those with no immunity to the virus. Health authorities in Los Angeles last month ordered quarantines on two university campuses after each one had reported at least one confirmed case. The vast majority of U.S. cases have occurred in children who have not received the three-way vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), which confers immunity to the disease, officials said. Measles is spread through casual contact with the virus, which can remain infectious in the air of an enclosed space for up to two hours after it is breathed out by someone carrying the disease. The rate of transmission from an infected person to another person nearby who lacks immunity is about 90 percent, and an infected person can be contagious for four days before showing signs of the disease. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Darren Schuettler) A Muslim educational society in Kozhikode has banned dresses that cover the face for girls in educational institutions under its control. However, the circular issued by the body does not specifically mention burqas. The circular issued by MES state president Dr Fazal Gafoor states that the order will come into force for the 2019-2020 academic year. The circular has also asked all heads of institutions under the MES to mention it in the calendar that it is a law governed institution. The circular cites the Kerala High Court judgement that said that the management had the fundamental right to establish and manage an educational institution. Dr Gafoor told Times of India that the decision was not based on Sri Lanka's ban on burqas and that "MES knows what is good and bad for the community." "MES that aims at the social and cultural progress of the Muslim community insists that the students, even while maintaining high standards in curricular and extra-curricular activities, do follow certain decorum in the dress code too. We should discourage all undesirable practices on the campuses," the April 19 circular said further adding, "Under these circumstances, dresses that are unacceptable to the mainstream society - whether they are modern or religious - cannot be promoted." The circular added that heads of institutions and office-bearers of the local management must be vigilant in this regard. MES, a non-governmental organisation established by Dr PA Abdul Gafoor in 1964 has 150 educational institutions under its control. Out of those institutions, 10 are professional colleges, 18 are arts and science colleges, 12 are higher secondary schools and 36 are CBSE schools. Also read: CBSE Class 12 Result 2019: Toppers Hansika Shukla, Karishma Arora score 499 out of 500 marks Also read: Weddings, lower prices could lift Indian gold demand in June quarter: World Gold Council By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta HAVANA, May 2 (Reuters) - Carnival Corp on Thursday became the first company sued for profiting from expropriated Cuban property as the Trump administration piles new sanctions on the Communist-run nation for supporting Venezuela's embattled government. The administration last month announced a long dormant section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act would take effect on May 2 as it ratcheted up the pressure on Venezuela and Cuba . Under Title III of the Helms Burton Act, waived by previous presidents, anyone whose property was nationalized after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, even if they were not U.S. citizens at the time, can sue any individual or company profiting from their former holdings. The suit was brought in federal court in Miami by Javier Garcia Bengochea and Mickael Behn. The former holds title to Santiago de Cuba port and the latter to one in Havana used by numerous U.S. cruise lines. Both men are descendants of the original owners. Lawyer Nick Gutierrez, an adviser to the claimants, said in a telephone interview that Title III recommends claimants notify defendants 30 days before filing suit. Gutierrez said Carnival was duly notified and thus the suit was filed on Thursday, with others to follow soon. "I know Bengochea has been in contact with Carnival and later will file suit against other companies including Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines," he said, adding he would also file numerous suits for clients in the coming weeks. Carnival declined to comment on the lawsuit, except to say it was continuing its normal schedule of cruises to Cuba. It also referred to a statement from the Cruise Lines International Association, an industry lobby, saying the operations of cruise lines that do business with Cuba "falls under the lawful travel exemption under Title 3 of the Helms Burton Act." Cuba charges Title III violates international law because its nationalization of property was legal and also because Cuban-Americans were not U.S. citizens when their properties were taken. Story continues All other nations settled their citizens' property claims decades ago, while 5,913 certified U.S. claims by American citizens at the time of expropriation were never settled. Canada, the European Union and other countries charge the United States has no jurisdiction over their citizens' activity in Cuba and they will take the issue to the World Trade Organization, among other actions. International opposition, and the fear that thousands of suits brought by Cuban-Americans would clog U.S. courts, led previous U.S. presidents to waive implementation of Title III. Title I and II of the Helm-Burton Act codify all previous sanctions into law and set conditions for the U.S. Congress to lift them. Title IV bans executives and their families from the United States if they profit from expropriated properties. (Reporting by Marc Frank Editing by Tom Brown) By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Carnival Corp on Thursday became the first company sued for profiting from expropriated Cuban property as the Trump administration piles new sanctions on the Communist-run nation for supporting Venezuela's embattled government. The administration last month announced a long dormant section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act would take effect on May 2 as it ratcheted up the pressure on Venezuela and Cuba. Under Title III of the Helms Burton Act, waived by previous presidents, anyone whose property was nationalized after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, even if they were not U.S. citizens at the time, can sue any individual or company profiting from their former holdings. The suit was brought in federal court in Miami by Javier Garcia Bengochea and Mickael Behn. The former holds title to Santiago de Cuba port and the latter to one in Havana used by numerous U.S. cruise lines. Both men are descendants of the original owners. Lawyer Nick Gutierrez, an adviser to the claimants, said in a telephone interview that Title III recommends claimants notify defendants 30 days before filing suit. Gutierrez said Carnival was duly notified and thus the suit was filed on Thursday, with others to follow soon. "I know Bengochea has been in contact with Carnival and later will file suit against other companies including Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines," he said, adding he would also file numerous suits for clients in the coming weeks. Carnival declined to comment on the lawsuit, except to say it was continuing its normal schedule of cruises to Cuba. It also referred to a statement from the Cruise Lines International Association, an industry lobby, saying the operations of cruise lines that do business with Cuba "falls under the lawful travel exemption under Title 3 of the Helms Burton Act." Cuba charges Title III violates international law because its nationalization of property was legal and also because Cuban-Americans were not U.S. citizens when their properties were taken. All other nations settled their citizens' property claims decades ago, while 5,913 certified U.S. claims by American citizens at the time of expropriation were never settled. Canada, the European Union and other countries charge the United States has no jurisdiction over their citizens' activity in Cuba and they will take the issue to the World Trade Organization, among other actions. International opposition, and the fear that thousands of suits brought by Cuban-Americans would clog U.S. courts, led previous U.S. presidents to waive implementation of Title III. Title I and II of the Helm-Burton Act codify all previous sanctions into law and set conditions for the U.S. Congress to lift them. Title IV bans executives and their families from the United States if they profit from expropriated properties. (Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Tom Brown) Miami (AFP) - Carnival, the US cruise line, was sued Thursday over its use of port facilities in Cuba seized after the 1959 revolution, in the first such action under a previously unenforced US law. President Donald Trump's administration announced last month it would begin enforcing a controversial provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act allowing Cuban-Americans to sue in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba. The US decision, which went into effect Thursday, is expected to set in motion a flood of US lawsuits against foreign companies who do business in Cuba. The lawsuit against Florida-based Carnival was filed early Thursday, Bob Martinez, the lawyer for plaintiffs Javier Garcia Bengochea and Mickael Behn, said. They are seeking compensation for Carnival's use of port facilities in Santiago de Cuba and Havana that they claim were improperly seized from their families by the regime of Fidel Castro. Carnival "was the first cruise line to benefit from our stolen property, so they deserve the ignominious distinction of being the first to be sued under this law," said Bengochea, who claims to be the legitimate owner of the port of Santiago. Behn asserts ownership rights over piers in Havana. "In the 1960s, the Castro brothers and their Communist Party friends stole the property of my grandfather," he said. "We can finally get justice after 60 years." By activating Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, the US administration is seeking to weaken the Cuban government by scaring off foreign investors. The European Union and Canada have expressed displeasure with the move, insisting they will protect their nationals' interests. "There will be hundreds of lawsuits," said Nick Gutierrez, a lawyer and president of the National Association of Landowners of Cuba, which lobbied heavily for the right to sue in US courts. The Charlies Angels stars were reunited on the red carpet last night, almost 20 years after first starring together. Drew Barrymore, 44, and Cameron Diaz, 46, joined their former co-star Lucy Liu, 50, at the latters Hollywood Walk Of Fame Ceremony in Hollywood, California. Demi Moore, who starred alongside the trio in the films sequel, also joined the women for a photo - after presenting Liu with her star. The Charlie's Angels stars reunited to honour Lucy Liu. [Photo: Getty] Fans were quick to comment on the trios ageless appearance and questioned why theres another reboot of the film, with a different, younger cast. Ummm so why are they rebooting the franchise again? They still look fucking amazing #CharliesAngels https://t.co/3t3cGnZ6Cl he said (@jaeidle) May 1, 2019 The women posed for pictures in front of Lius honorary star-shaped plaque, as she joined more than 2,600 celebrities honoured on the famous Hollywood boulevard. READ MORE: Cameron Diaz shares make-up free selfie Liu, who had her first major acting role as Ling Woo on the 1990s legal drama Ally McBeal is only the second Asian-American woman ever to receive a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. She credited Anna May Wong, the first Asian-American woman to receive the honour, some 60 years ago. The Charlie's Angels pictured in the original 2000 film. [Photo: Getty] A hundred years ago, she was a pioneer while enduring racism, marginalization, and exclusion, she said in her acceptance speech. We could actually start our own little Chinatown right here. Story continues The Charlie's Angels stars pictured in 2003. [Photo: Getty] The actor also celebrated her elite crime fighting team on her Instagram account. Barrymore took to Instagram to celebrate the womens reunion, calling the trio aa tripod and speaking of their mutual support, while Diaz also posted to congratulate Liu. The trio were joined by Demi Moore, who played former Angel Madison Lee in the 2003 film. READ MORE: Demi Moore admits never feeling good enough Yet another instalment in the Charlies Angels franchise will be released later this year. The Charlie's Angels trio posed with former co-star Demi Moore. [Photo: PA] Charlies Angels (2019) is a standalone sequel film to 2000 and 2003 films. It will star Kristen Steweart, Naomi Scott and Elizabeth Banks, together with Sam Claflin and Patrick Stewart. Beach and Fillmore streets | Photos: Zumper The Marina is a "walker's paradise," is quite bikeable and has excellent transit, according to Walk Score's rating system. So what does the low-end rent on a rental in the Marina look like these daysand what might you get for your money? We took a look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments in the Marina via rental site Zumper to find out what budget-minded apartment seekers can expect to find in this San Francisco neighborhood. Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, 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. Beach and Fillmore streets Here's a studio apartment at Beach and Fillmore streets, which is going for $2,450/month. When it comes to building amenities, expect on-site laundry. In the unit, you'll find hardwood flooring and a remodeled kitchen. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: This spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the full listing here.) Van Ness Avenue and Green Street Then there's this apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom at Van Ness Avenue and Green Street, listed at $2,595/month. In this rent-controlled unit, look for hardwood and tile floors. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are welcome. Amenities in the building include on-site laundry. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the listing here.) 2310 Chestnut St. Check out this studio at 2310 Chestnut St., listed at $2,600/month. Building amenities include on-site laundry. In the unit, expect to find hardwood flooring and a walk-in closet. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: This spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. (Here's the listing.) 3445 Pierce St. Story continues This studio, situated at 3445 Pierce St., is listed for $2,650/month for 500 square feet. In the unit, anticipate hardwood flooring, double-paned windows and a walk-in closet. Cats and dogs are not welcome. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. (See the listing here.) 3800 Scott St. At 3800 Scott St., you'll find this one-bedroom, one-bathroom going for $3,300/month. Amenities offered in the building include on-site laundry. In the unit, you'll find hardwood flooring and ample closet space. Pets are not permitted. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. (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. 2475 Underwood St. | Photos: Zumper It can be challenging to find a good deal when apartment hunting. So what does the low-end pricing on a rental in University Place look like these daysand what might you get for your money? According to Walk Score, the neighborhood is moderately walkable, is very bikeable and boasts excellent transit options. It also features median rents for a one bedroom that hover around $1,309, compared to a $1,231 one-bedroom median for Houston as a whole. A look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments in University Place, via rental site Zumper, offers an overview of what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in this Houston neighborhood. Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, 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. 7000 Greenbriar Drive, #2386 Listed at $800/month, this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, located at 7000 Greenbriar Drive, #2386, is 38.9 percent less than the $1,309/month median rent for a one bedroom in University Place. Pets are not permitted. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. (See the complete listing here.) Kirby Drive and West Holcombe Boulevard This one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, situated at Kirby Drive and West Holcombe Boulevard, is listed for $844/month. The building offers a swimming pool, a fitness center and on-site laundry. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are permitted. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. (See the complete listing here.) 1126 Berthea St. Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 1126 Berthea St., which is going for $925/month. The building features assigned parking, on-site management and on-site laundry. In the unit, you're promised high ceilings and hardwood floors. Both cats and dogs are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. Story continues (See the full listing here.) 2475 Underwood St., #612 Then there's this condo with one bedroom and one bathroom at 2475 Underwood St., #612, listed at $1,000/month. Pets are not permitted. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. (See the listing here.) 20 Pinedale St. Check out this one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 20 Pinedale St., listed at $1,050/month. The building features assigned parking, on-site laundry and on-site management. In the unit, look for both air conditioning and central heating along with hardwood flooring. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: this spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. (Here's the listing.) 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. Taqueria El Buen Pastor. | Photo: Daniel Dong-Kyu K./Yelp Looking to try the top food trucks around? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable food trucks in Las Vegas, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to venture when cravings strike. 1. Taqueria El Buen Pastor Photo: Andrew C./Yelp Topping the list is Taqueria El Buen Pastor. Located at 530 N. Las Vegas Blvd. in Cultural Corridor, the food truck is the highest rated cheap food truck in Las Vegas, boasting 4.5 stars out of 188 reviews on Yelp. 2. Puerto Rico Express Photo: Veronica B./Yelp Next up is Meadows Village's Puerto Rico Express, situated at 1516 S. Las Vegas Blvd. With 4.5 stars out of 85 reviews on Yelp, the food truck and Puerto Rican spot has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for a budget-friendly option. 3. El Pollo Mobile Photo: Marie H./Yelp Michael Way's El Pollo Mobile, located at 2425 N. Rainbow, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the low-priced food truck, chicken shop and Mexican spot four stars out of 101 reviews. 4. Curbside Cafe Downtown, check out Curbside Cafe, which has earned four stars out of 54 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the food truck and caterer spot by heading over to 875 S. Grand Central Parkway. 5. Quality Mobile Food Service Photo: Jorge M./Yelp Last but not least, there's Quality Mobile Food Service, a Downtown East favorite with 4.5 stars out of 16 reviews. Stop by 29 N. 30th St. to hit up the street vendor and food truck 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. PepsiCo announced that it will withdraw its patent infringement lawsuit against a number of Gujarat potato farmers. The India unit of the snacks and beverages major had sued nine farmers of Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts of North Gujarat in two separate courts for "illegally" cultivating its registered FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its Lay's chips. "After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers. We are relying on the said discussions to find a long term and an amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection," a PepsiCo India spokesman said. It was reported yesterday that the Gujarat government is working on an out-of-court settlement in the matter. An influential Hindu nationalist group with close ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had also accused PepsiCo coercing four Indian farmers who have been sued by it. ALSO READ:Hindu nationalist group close to BJP accuses PepsiCo of coercing farmers Last week, Pepsico had hoped for an amicable resolution to the matter, offering the farmers it had sued a chance to grow the FC5 variety of potatoes for the company. Executives at the PepsiCo headquarters and its Asia-Pacific office had also expressed their concern over the Indian unit's lawsuits against Gujarat farmers. "To safeguard the larger interest of farmers, PepsiCo India was compelled to take judicial recourse to protect its registered variety. PepsiCo from the very start had also offered an amicable settlement to farmers," the PepsiCo spokesperson said. The company has stated that the FC5 variety of potato has less moisture in it, and is thus preferable for making snacks. PepsiCo has maintained that it registered the trait in 2016. ALSO READ:BT Buzz: Pepsi vs farmers - Lay off the potatoes Pepsico had filed a case against four farmers in an Ahmedabad court and demanded more from Rs 1 crore each from the farmers. It had also sued five more farmers in a different court. The decision to withdraw the lawsuit will be applicable to all the farmers. PepsiCo has been present in India for the past 30 years. It supplies the FC5 variety of potato to farmers under a contract and buys the yield at a fixed rate "The company remains deeply committed to the thousands of farmers we work with across the country and towards ensuring adoption of best farming practices," the spokesperson said. ALSO READ:PepsiCo worried over Indian unit's legal action against potato farmers China is helping to drive technological change in the automotive sector, the chief financial officer of Volkswagen told CNBC Thursday. When asked about new innovations such as self-driving cars and 5G mobile networks, VW's Frank Witter said he was impressed by the rate of technological advancements coming from the world's second-largest economy. "I think for the longest time we have been used to looking to the west coast of the United States when we were talking about innovation and new technologies," Witter told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." "This is still valid but at the same time you are absolutely right to point to China," he added. Witter said that, looking at motor shows in China year-over-year, it was "just amazing how quickly the industry is progressing," highlighting development at China's OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). "The driver of technology is China, and we are very pleased with the progress we are making, together with our partners but also in Mobility Asia," he added. The Volkswagen Group's relationship with China dates back to 1978. In 2017, it launched a joint-venture with the state-owned Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., looking at e-mobility. In May 2018, it set up Mobility Asia, which focuses on connectivity, smart mobility ecosystems, infrastructure ecosystems, service and data monetization, and autonomous cars. Looking at the bigger picture, when it comes to autonomous driving a range of technologies are being developed and tested. At the end of April 2019, South Korean telecoms giant SK Telecom signed an agreement with the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) to develop 5G-based self-driving infrastructure. In a statement at the time, SK Telecom said it would produce a high definition map covering the whole IFEZ area. It added that the map would have "centimeter-level accuracy" and provide information relating to road conditions, lanes, road slopes and speed limits. 5G refers to the fifth generation of mobile networks. While it promises cell phone users incredibly fast browsing experiences, it will also benefit the autonomous vehicle sector through its ability to process reams of information and data simultaneously and quickly. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! China Ocean Fishing Holdings Limited (HKG:8047) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 19% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been very strong. In three years the stock price has launched 300% higher: a great result. So the recent fall in the share price should be viewed in that context. The thing to consider is whether the underlying business is doing well enough to support the current price. View our latest analysis for China Ocean Fishing Holdings While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. China Ocean Fishing Holdings became profitable within the last three years. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here. The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image). SEHK:8047 Past and Future Earnings, May 2nd 2019 We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.. What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)? We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between China Ocean Fishing Holdings's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. China Ocean Fishing Holdings hasn't been paying dividends, but its TSR of 300% exceeds its share price return of 300%, implying it has either spun-off a business, or raised capital at a discount; thereby providing additional value to shareholders. Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market lost about 4.5% in the twelve months, China Ocean Fishing Holdings shareholders did even worse, losing 32%. 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 9.9% over the last half decade. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. If you want to research this stock further, the data on insider buying is an obvious place to start. You can click here to see who has been buying shares - and the price they paid. China Ocean Fishing Holdings is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider 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 Greg Torode and and David Lague HONG KONG, May 2 (Reuters) - China is making significant advances toward achieving a more reliable second-strike nuclear capability, bolstering its deterrence against an attack on its land-based nuclear weapons, Reuters reveals today in a special report. Until recently, China lacked a powerful second-strike option. But now its ballistic missile submarines, which can deliver nuclear weapons capable of striking the United States, are changing that. Evidence of China's progress can be found in satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters. These images show the presence of nuclear-powered, ballistic missile submarines at a strategic base in southern China. They also reveal facilities at the base that appear to have been built for the storing and loading of ballistic missiles. Off China's shores, warships and aircraft designed to protect submarines can now be spotted conducting regular patrols. And the man now commanding Chinese forces in the south is a veteran submariner. Together, this points to China having a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines that appear to be heading out on regular patrols, serving and retired naval officers, diplomats and security analysts told Reuters. That signals a significant boost to Beijing's nuclear deterrence and marks a breakthrough in China's drive to rival the United States and Russia as a nuclear arms power. The special report is part of "The China Challenge," a Reuters series on how Chinese leader Xi Jinping's ambitious revamping of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), China's military, is challenging U.S. dominance in Asia. Previously in "The China Challenge": Xi's vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific: https://reut.rs/2GLrwNe For six decades it has been a Chinese ambition to build a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines. In its report on the PLA last August, the Pentagon said that Beijing now possesses a "credible" and "viable" sea-based nuclear deterrent. Story continues It is still unclear if China's nuclear-armed submarines are able to conduct permanent patrols, which would require at least one of these subs to always be at sea to ensure round-the-clock deterrence. Nevertheless, Western military officials have told Reuters that the United States and its allies are behaving as if China does have this capability and are now trying to track these submarines in a cat-and-mouse contest beneath the waves that is reminiscent of the Cold War. As one Western military attache told Reuters: "We're looking at them looking for us." China's Ministry of National Defense, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Pentagon did not respond to questions from Reuters. The full article can be read here: https://reut.rs/2ZO6ar9 (Reporting by Greg Torode and David Lague. Edited by Peter Hirschberg and Elizabeth Culliford.) A few Chinese crypto exchanges have already listed futures contracts for the Bitfinex token. | Source: Shutterstock By CCN.com: According to Zirui Zhang, the head of business development at Neutral Project, a stablecoin backed by Sequoia Capital, a major venture capital firm with $1.4 trillion of market value, some crypto exchanges in China has listed Bitfinex token futures contracts. Latest: some exchanges in China already listed #bfx tokens futures contract people are trading over there based on the assumption that theres not enough evidence and court will delay its decisions #USDT #Tether pic.twitter.com/qHipAaqKv1 Zirui (@zirui_z) May 2, 2019 On April 30, CCN reported that Dong Zhao, a billionaire investor in Bitfinex, disclosed the plan of the exchange to create an exchange-based token following the $900 million Tether scandal. At the time, Zhang said that some big whale investors in Asia reserved $300 million in allocations for the proposed token distribution. As extensively reported by CCN, on April 25, the office of the New York Attorney General Letitia James sued iFinex, the company that oversees Tether and Bitfinex, alleging Bitfinex of mismanaging $900 million of Tethers cash reserves in an attempt to cover-up its $850 million loss. The Attorney General alleged that Bitfinex sent $850 million to a Panama-based bank called Crypto Capital to process payments but failed to recoup the funds. The document released by the Attorney Generals office read: Read the full story on CCN.com. Wellington (AFP) - The death toll from the Christchurch mosque attacks has risen to 51 after a 46-year-old Turkish man succumbed to injuries sustained in the March 15 shootings, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday. "This sad news will be felt across Turkey, as well as New Zealand," Ardern said. "This man has been in intensive care since the attack. We have all been hoping for the best. However, he has now succumbed to the injuries sustained in the shooting at the Al Noor mosque." Police said the man died late Thursday and his family had requested his name not be publicly released. Australian Brenton Tarrant, a self-avowed white supremacist, is accused of the attacks on two mosques where worshippers were gathered for Friday prayers. He is now in a maximum security prison undergoing psychiatric tests to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial for 50 counts of murder and 39 of attempted murder. Police said the latest fatality was a man shot at the central city Al Noor mosque, where more than 40 of the victims were killed before the gunman moved his rampage to another mosque at suburban Linwood. Ardern said nine people remained in hospital and all were in stable condition. "As a country we continue to send our hope for their speedy recovery," she said. After the attack, Ardern described the worst mass shooting in modern New Zealand history as one of the country's darkest days. Her government has since moved to tighten gun laws and is reviewing regulations dealing with hate speech, as well as spearheading an international push to force social media giants to do more to combat online extremism. Benjamin Field allegedly murdered Peter Farquhar (left) and plotted to ill Ann Moore-Martin (right) for their money (PA) A church warden is accused of sleeping with and murdering a university lecturer before trying to kill a retired headmistress to benefit from their wills. Baptist minister's son Benjamin Field, 28, aided by magician Martyn Smith, 32, plotted the deaths of churchgoers Peter Farquhar, 69, and Ann Moore-Martin, 83, jurors at Oxford Crown Court were told. Field had undergone a "betrothal" ceremony with gay Mr Farquhar while also having a string of girlfriends and was in a sexual relationship with spinster Miss Moore-Martin, who was 57 years his senior. The pair "psychologically manipulated" - also known as gaslighting - the retired teachers, who lived three doors from each other in the picturesque village of Maids Moreton, in Buckinghamshire, making them believe they were losing their minds and left so desperate would kill themselves, the court heard. Field also produced a list of local elderly "clients" whose homes he burgled and included a 101-year-old woman who he planned to deceive, jurors heard. They pair are accused of murder, conspiracy to murder and fraud, while Field's younger brother Tom, 24, also faces an allegation of fraud. Field is said to have undergone a "betrothal" ceremony with gay Mr Farquhar while also having a string of girlfriends (PA) Mr Farquhar, a former English teacher, author and part-time lecturer, died in October 2015 while retired teacher Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017. Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, told the jury Benjamin Field's "project" was to befriend someone vulnerable, get them to change their will and then "make sure they died. "The motive was financial gain - laced, as far as Benjamin Field is concerned, with a profound fascination in controlling and manipulating and humiliating and killing," he said. Mr Saxby alleged that Benjamin Field suffocated Mr Farquhar and tried to kill Miss Moore-Martin "by a manner of means". The spinster later died from natural causes. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Suspected serial rapist may have been released from prison by mistake MPs call for police probe into Huawei Leak Three year old boy punched to death by mums boyfriend Story continues Smith was "enthralled" by Benjamin Field and became "greedy" while assisting him. The court heard that Tom Field, a Cambridge University music student, was on the "margins" of the alleged fraud. He is accused, alongside his brother and Smith, of claiming he was seriously ill to defraud Miss Moore-Martin of 27,000 to buy a kidney dialysis machine. Benjamin Field and Smith met while both studying English at the University of Buckingham, where they were taught by Mr Farquhar, who was "torn" by his sexuality believing it incompatible with his Anglican beliefs. Aerial view of Manor Park in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire of the former homes of Peter Farquhar (left) and Ann Moore-Martin (right) (PA) As Benjamin Field and Mr Farquhar's relationship developed, they underwent a "betrothal ceremony", which the pensioner described in his handwritten journal as "one of the happiest moments of my life". His writings also suggest their relationship had become sexual. Like Mr Farquhar, Miss Moore-Martin was also unmarried, never had children, was a practising Roman Catholic and also "intensely private. Mr Saxby alleged Benjamin Field and Smith secretly gave Mr Farquhar sedatives and psychoactive substances and encouraged him, as a social drinker, to drink more whisky - giving the impression to the outside world he was an alcoholic - "a dribbling shambles of his former self. After Mr Farquhar died a coroner concluded his death as alcohol-related and Benjamin Field and Smith collected their inheritance. Benjamin Field received 20,000 and a life interest in Mr Farquhar's home and Smith got 10,000. By which time, they had targeted Miss Moore-Martin. "Benjamin Field and Ann Moore-Martin became friends. Again, they entered into a relationship - one that was undoubtedly sexual," Mr Saxby said. Field and Martyn Smith are on trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of murder, conspiracy to murder and fraud (Geograph) Benjamin Field and Smith also embarked on a "campaign of 'mirror writing'" - leaving messages for Miss Moore-Martin in her home, which she believed were from God. She later suffered a seizure and was admitted to hospital where she confided in her niece - prompting a police investigation. Detectives later recovered a copy of the novel, Young Poisoner's Handbook, which Benjamin Field owned, a booklet entitled, End Of Life, and found an Amazon receipt for a copy of The Five Last Acts - a book about planning suicide. Benjamin Field and Smith deny charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and possession of an article for the use in fraud. Field, of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire, also denies an alternative charge of attempted murder. But he has admitted four charges of fraud and two of burglary. In addition Smith, of Penhalvean, Redruth, Cornwall denies two charges of fraud and one of burglary. Tom Field, also of Wellingborough Road, Olney, Buckinghamshire, denies a single charge of fraud. The trial continues today. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip), this article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE) and why it is important. We'll use ROE to examine ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (ETR:PSM), by way of a worked example. ProSiebenSat.1 Media has a ROE of 23%, based on the last twelve months. That means that for every 1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated 0.23 in profit. See our latest analysis for ProSiebenSat.1 Media How Do I Calculate ROE? The formula for ROE is: Return on Equity = Net Profit Shareholders' Equity Or for ProSiebenSat.1 Media: 23% = 248m 1.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets. What Does ROE Signify? ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else equal, investors should like a high ROE. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies. Does ProSiebenSat.1 Media Have A Good Return On Equity? By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. Pleasingly, ProSiebenSat.1 Media has a superior ROE than the average (11%) company in the Media industry. XTRA:PSM Past Revenue and Net Income, May 2nd 2019 That's what I like to see. We think a high ROE, alone, is usually enough to justify further research into a company. For example you might check if insiders are buying shares. Story continues The Importance Of Debt To Return On Equity Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same. Combining ProSiebenSat.1 Media's Debt And Its 23% Return On Equity It seems that ProSiebenSat.1 Media uses a lot of debt to fund the business, since it has a high debt to equity ratio of 3.13. So although the company has an impressive ROE, that figure would be a lot lower without the use of debt. The Key Takeaway 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. Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company. If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. BOGOTA, May 2 (Reuters) - Colombian lawmakers on Thursday said they will ask a high court to rule on the legality of a Senate vote this week on whether to make changes to a special tribunal tasked with trying former rebels and military officials for war crimes. The decision to seek a constitutional court ruling comes after 47 lawmakers voted on Tuesday against President Ivan Duque's suggested changes to the law, while 34 supported Duque's alterations - which congress said was not sufficient. Duque had asked legislators to review six parts of the 159-point law that regulates the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) court, which was created as part of a 2016 peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. "There was no qualified majority to sink the objections ... so we are in the hands of the Constitutional Court and we are confident that everything will go well for the country," Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez said in a post on her Twitter account. The JEP is meant to investigate, hear prosecutions and sentence those judged responsible for massacres, sexual violence and other crimes during the five-decade war between the FARC and the government. The lower house of Congress rejected Duque's objections on April 8. The changes had been widely expected to be defeated because the peace accord is now part of the country's constitution and changes to it require a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Duque was elected on a promise to modify the peace accord, arguing that it is too easy on former guerrillas. He asked Congress to back better clarification of extradition rules, FARC repayment of conflict victims, and to toughen sentencing. But Duque's objections angered advocates of the peace agreement, arguing that they could create difficulties for implementation of the agreement with the demobilized rebel group and would set a bad precedent for future negotiations with other illegal armed groups, like the National Liberation Army (ELN). The JEP contemplates more lenient penalties than ordinary justice for those who confess the crimes committed in the midst of the confrontation that has left 260,000 dead and millions displaced. Under the terms of the peace agreement, some 13,000 FARC members, including almost 7,000 combatants, handed in their weapons and formed the political party. (Reporting by Helen Murphy and Carlos Vargas Editing by Leslie Adler) Jet Airways share price fell in early trade today after a media report said bidders for the struggling airline had not yet shown interest in following up on their offers. Jet Airways share price fell up to 20.41% to 122 level compared to previous close of 153.30 on BSE today. At 10:52 am, Jet Airways share was trading 17% or 26 points lower at 127.15 on BSE. Jet Airways share price has been falling for the last 4 days and has fallen 25.84% in the period. Jet Airways share price opened at a loss of 8.68% at 140 level. Jet Airways share logged Rs 23.24 crore turnover with 18.24 lakh shares changing hands on BSE. Jet Airways market capitalization fell to Rs 1,458 crore on BSE today. Jet Airways investors have lost Rs 1678 crore in market capitalization since the beginning of this year. On January 1, 2019, market capitalization of the airline stood at Rs 3,136 crore on BSE. Jet Airways has lost 85% in market capitalization since its recent peak level of Rs 9,889 crore (January 5,2018) on BSE. Three of the four qualified bidders - Etihad Airways, TPG Capital and Indigo Partners - have not signed non-disclosure agreements necessary for conducting due diligence, with just days left now to submit their final bids, the Economic Times newspaper reported, citing sources. The bidders have until May 10 to submit their offers, but stakeholders are not hopeful, the paper said. Before its grounding, Jet had the biggest share of India's outbound international air traffic, carrying 12 per cent of the 7.8 million passengers headed overseas in the Oct-Dec quarter, down from 14 per cent a year earlier, data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation showed. The total number of passengers travelling overseas with Jet fell 10 per cent during the last quarter of 2018 even as the outbound travel market grew by about 5 per cent. Edited by Aseem Thapliyal The harrowing Sri Lanka Easter bombings came a month after two devastating Muslim mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. The effects of those recent tragedies added to an already somber April, a month where two of the most harrowing violent events in U.S. history took place: the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1999 Columbine school shooting. We initially evaluate the damage of these tragedies by physical injuries and lives lost, often overlooking the mental health problems that these experiences can cause in survivors. But traumatic events also can create an entirely new community of individuals who recover and heal together. [MORE: The World Remains at Record Levels of Anxiety and Anger] I have studied trauma and stress my entire career. What we are seeing is a watershed moment for Sri Lanka and perhaps the start of a vicious campaign of terror. But it's equally important to consider this tragedy as a collective trauma -- a term that also applies to the Christchurch mosque shootings, the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and other large-scale, traumatic events affecting separate groups of people. Unlike individual trauma, which affects a single person or small group, collective trauma is experienced by a larger population. This makes the induction and reduction process for collective trauma different: Individuals can be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but we don't have an equivalent diagnosis for collective trauma. Our knowledge about collective trauma and how to treat it is not as expansive as individual trauma, but we are quickly learning what works and does not. For example, if I am working with clients who are survivors of collective trauma, it may be important to address collective symptoms, evaluate case studies of recovery, determine what factors enabled survivors to appreciate their trauma, and promote survivor skills and attitudes that positively contribute to their level of psychological resilience. Story continues Identifying Collective Trauma Although less is known about collective trauma than individual trauma, there are helpful indicators we can use to evaluate its existence and impact. This starts with identifying the initial fear response, where a survivor can experience fear, shock and horror as a result of the event. Then, we work to address the five questions that can face victims of collective trauma: -- What happened? -- Why did it happen? -- Why did I act as I did at the time? -- Why have I acted as I have since then and cannot "let it go"? -- What if it happens again? We then work with victims to develop connections with other individuals who have experienced the same or a similar trauma, helping these people both on an individual and collective level. This enables victims to connect with others for mutual support and to better address the previous questions. From there, we organize with others, promoting efforts to gain strength and seek redress as a community of collective trauma survivors. This includes keeping the survivors' welfare known and supported by the public and fellow survivors; seeking social justice for those who were attacked and/or suffered; seeking collective improvements to reduce risk of future trauma; and building memorials that are permanent in place of temporary ones. These collective responses among survivors often include symbolic reminders of the tragedy (e.g., flowers and cards), slogans promoting recovery (e.g., Boston Strong) and ceremonies of remembrance (e.g., public vigils), enabling the groups to experience the trauma as a whole. Methods of addressing collective trauma can help groups to heal, but can also be used by other individuals to reach certain goals, like political leaders who may tap into the collective trauma surrounding a school shooting to motivate voters and supporters for stricter gun control. What Can Be Done to Help In the case of Sri Lanka, survivors should seek help through psychological first aid. This can be completed by officials making available useful information about trauma, collective trauma and the standards of practice for rehabilitation. Of course, rehabilitation becomes extremely difficult when an entire nation has suffered from such a severe and widespread event. But there are strong, emerging standards of effective practice for healing psychological wounds, whether they're caused by religion-based shootings, war and massacres, or natural or accidental mass trauma. It is difficult to treat trauma on such a wide scale, but the consequences of not addressing it can be even more damaging. Trauma can remain chronic and reproduce itself as long as the underlying individuals and social causes perpetuating it are not addressed. The whole society may end up suffering in the long term from a culture of pain. [MORE: Facing Sri Lanka's Ghosts] There is no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing collective trauma, and the rehabilitation methods are unique to each circumstance. Collective trauma can be alleviated through cohesive and collective efforts, such as recognition, remembrance, solidarity, communal therapy and massive cooperation. For example, Voices of September 11th was established shortly after 9/11. The group initially comprised the families of survivors but quickly grew to embrace the entire country as victims of collective trauma. Yet the methods of treatment used in Voices of September 11th may not be ideal or appropriate for other traumatic events. People who experienced the attacks in Sri Lanka and New Zealand are now linked to each other forever through a shared experience. As time goes by, the concept of collective trauma may be as relevant as historical trauma. Research on transgenerational trauma focuses on the Holocaust, Native Americans and the experiences of Native Hawaiians and how those types of groups pass trauma down through generations. These are natural and expected manifestations of the history and lore of collective trauma. [MORE: In 2018, Global Terrorism Deaths Were on the Decline] Within Native American communities, for example, the large differences in mental health and well-being among certain groups are linked to high rates of trauma and resulting stress. This includes abuse experienced at boarding schools and the loss of cultural heritage and identity at these institutions. Stress from this type of trauma has led to alcoholism/self-medication, violence, mistreatment and suicide. Despite closing these schools and efforts to collectively heal, the injury to body and spirit continues. In New Zealand, Boston and New York, communities have come together to mourn the same losses and celebrate the same gains, each community benefiting from collective recovery. Let us hope that these communities reach out to Sri Lanka and other groups experiencing collective trauma to improve the collective good. In today's economy, potential employees who know how to create and improve software are highly marketable, making the field of computer science increasingly popular among those hoping to land a well-paying job after graduation. The field of computer science focuses on the study of software systems, and a degree in the discipline allows someone to pursue a variety of careers. Contrary to what it may seem, the demand for computer scientists is not limited to positions in Silicon Valley technology companies, according to computer science professors. Instead, the increasing use of technology throughout the business world means that companies in many industries are hiring grads of computer science programs. "It's a golden age right now for computer science, and we're very fortunate in this field," says Salvatore Stolfo, a professor of computer science at Columbia University in New York City. "For people who study computer science in their education, it's a great, great time, and essentially the sky is the limit." An April employment forecast from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website indicates that the number of job opportunities for computer science grads is growing. According to the forecast, employment within computer and information technology occupations is expected to increase by 13% between 2016 and 2026, which is faster than the average among all occupations. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows that some careers common among computer science degree-holders frequently lead to six-figure salaries. For instance, in May 2018, the median salary among computer and information research scientists was $118,370, and the median salary among computer network architects was $109,020. Software developers also typically received generous paychecks: their median salary in May 2018 was $105,590. [Read: Computer Science Grads Can Earn More Than MBAs.] Sam Gavis-Hughson, the CEO and founder of Byte by Byte, a company that helps aspiring software engineers prepare for job interviews at prestigious tech corporations like Amazon and Facebook, says people who lack a genuine interest in technology should not pursue a computer science degree simply because of the allure of high salaries. "I think that a lot of people are doing it for the money and not doing it because they enjoy programming," says Gavis-Hughson, who earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Princeton University. Story continues He says programming is only fun for people who have a knack for problem-solving, adding, "Not everyone has that really analytical sort of mind." However, Gavis-Hughson acknowledges that a computer science degree is broadly applicable. "One of the greatest things about a (computer science) degree is that it allows you to work in whatever industry you desire," he wrote in an email. "Every single industry requires programmers, so you can decide what path you want to pursue. For example, you could do software development and work for Warby Parker and be in fashion, or work for Google doing (artificial intelligence) type projects. If you are into cars, you could work for a big auto company and write the software for their vehicles. The possibilities are endless." [See: Best Computer Science Programs.] Justin Sherman, a college junior at Duke University in North Carolina who is double-majoring in computer science and political science, says getting an education in computer science can enhance one's understanding of the world in general, since technology plays a pivotal role in society. "Whether it's in your day-to-day life as a citizen in our world or just as a consumer, you're going to be interacting with a variety of these technologies, online, with smart devices (and) in your vehicle," says Sherman, who is also a cybersecurity policy fellow at New America, a public policy think tank based in the District of Columbia. "A computer science degree is sort of a way to unlock understanding how all of that works, how all of that functions, how all of that interacts." [Read: 3 Reasons to Earn a Graduate Computer Science Degree in the U.S.] Sherman says an education in computer science can not only provide people with the training necessary to invent new technologies, but it can also allow them to identify potential improvements for current technologies. "Computer science touches every field," Sherman wrote in an email. "Its knowledge and applications are everywhere, from disease prediction in health care to automation in manufacturing to data privacy regulation in state legislatures." Jobs for Computer Science Grads Greg Law -- a co-founder and chief technology officer at the Undo software company, which operates both in the U.K. and the U.S. -- says computer science positions are plentiful, and that there are many interesting jobs available to computer science degree-holders. "I'd recommend computer science to anyone who feels they have or may have an affinity with it," Law, who has a Ph.D. in computer science from City University London, wrote in an email. "Programming is a creative and fun endeavor -- it's the act of creation and problem solving. And unlike most other creative roles, demand for good programmers far outstrips supply; the opportunities are diverse and the financial rewards can be significant. The top tech firms in Silicon Valley routinely pay seven figures a year to new graduates, and even signing on bonuses that can immediately pay off all your student debt." Constantine Coutras, a professor of computer science and chairperson of the computer science department at Montclair State University in New Jersey, says he would encourage people with an interest in and aptitude for math and science to consider pursuing a degree in computer science. The following types of jobs are positions where a degree in computer science is a major asset: -- Data scientist -- Software tester -- Web developer -- Systems analyst -- Business analyst -- Product manager -- Network architect -- Software engineer -- Software developer -- Full-stack developer -- Engineering manager -- User interface designer -- Database administrator -- Cloud computing engineer -- Information security analyst -- Computer science professor -- Chief information security officer -- Software quality assurance manager -- Information technology specialist -- Mobile application designer or developer -- Research and development (R&D) scientist -- Computer scientist or computer science researcher -- Artificial intelligence and machine learning engineer "The most common path is to become a software developer, but there are many other paths open, including system administration and systems analyst," Law says. "The great thing about a (computer science) degree however is that today every company is becoming a software company, so a degree in computer science gives you access to a more diverse range of opportunities and industry than almost any other qualification." Law says that a Ph.D. degree is typically necessary for research-intensive computer science positions, but many computer science careers are attainable with only a bachelor's or master's degree. "If you want to go into research -- working for a research (center) for one of the big tech companies or at a university, then it's difficult to do so without a Ph.D.," he wrote. "But beyond a research role, speaking as someone who has a Ph.D. and who hires a lot of software developers into highly demanding roles, I don't feel a Ph.D. opens up any opportunities that would otherwise be precluded." Hannah Pierce-Hoffman -- a technology company that designs and sells manufacturing systems for semiconductor chip manufacturers, who recently received her bachelor's degree in computer science from Columbia University -- says a computer science degree is a versatile credential. "Almost every type of company relies on software infrastructure to some degree; almost every new technology being developed has some type of software component," Pierce-Hoffman wrote in an email. "Additionally, studying computer science teaches you to solve problems very clearly and logically, which is a skill that can be applied in any field." Stolfo, in addition to his faculty appointment, is also the founder and chief technology officer of Allure Security, a data security firm that safeguards sensitive data for its clients. He says it's important for computer science degree-holders to know that there are degrees in computer science outside of San Francisco. "There's no particular region of the U.S. where computer science is not in demand," he says. "Choose where you want to live, choose who you want to work for, and pretty much you will find a job or position there and for them." Searching for a grad school? Access our complete rankings of Best Graduate Schools. WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) Video that police recovered from an Illinois woman's cellphone showing her bruised 5-year-old son prompted the boy's father to lead investigators to the child's body, according to newly released court records. JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. of Crystal Lake are charged with murder in Andrew "AJ" Freund's death. Investigators found his body April 24. The court records offer details about the investigation into the boy's disappearance and death. The video, dated March 4, shows AJ lying naked on a mattress, covered in bruises and bandages, according to an affidavit from McHenry County Sheriff's Detective Edwin Maldonado. Freund told investigators his role in AJ's death when they confronted him with the video, which police recovered after it had been deleted from Cunningham's phone. Maldonado wrote that a female voice "consistent with Joann's is holding the phone and videotaping. She is berating AJ for urinating his bed." Freund led police to the boy's body near Woodstock, wrapped in plastic and buried in a shallow grave covered with straw, records show. Cunningham and Freund had reported AJ missing April 18, three days after he died. According to the affidavit, the parents forced AJ to take a cold shower April 14 as punishment for lying about soiling his underwear. "Drew explained that he wanted JoAnn to stop with the hard physical beatings and do some less violent form of punishment," Maldonado wrote. "Drew said cold showers was decided." Freund told investigators they put the boy to bed "cold, wet and naked" and Cunningham later found him unresponsive. Freund said he put AJ's body in a plastic container and stored it in the basement before later burying him. An autopsy found AJ died from multiple blunt force injuries to his head. The warrant also showed a search on Freund's cellphone for "child CPR" and a picture of a shopping list that included "duct tape, plastic gloves, air freshener and bleach." Cunningham, 36, and Freund, 60, are due in court May 10 for a preliminary hearing. They're being held in the McHenry County Jail on $5 million bond each. Court records do not list an attorney for Freund who could be reached for comment on his behalf. The McHenry County Public Defender's Office, listed as representing Cunningham, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment. By Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's tough approach to Venezuela has won broad support from both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress, but this rare display of bipartisan consensus is starting to show signs of strain as the crisis in the OPEC nation drags on. Members of both parties remain in agreement that Venezuela's socialist president Nicolas Maduro must go. They credit the Trump administration for helping to forge an international coalition that recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president. But after Guaido's latest calls for a military uprising and street protests failed to oust Maduro this week, some Democrats urged the administration to work more closely with foreign allies to choke off Maduro's cash flow and to tone down its rhetoric, particularly threats of military action. Cracks in bipartisan cooperation on Venezuela - a rare bright spot for the Republican president, who has seldom drawn support for his policies from across the aisle - came amid signs of disappointment within the administration over what many had hoped would be a turning point in the crisis. More than three months after throwing U.S. support behind Guaido, head of the opposition-led National Assembly, Trump now has fewer levers to help pressure Venezuela's military to abandon Maduro. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Senator Bob Menendez, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Washington must work harder to convince foreign partners to back multilateral sanctions against Maduro. Few countries have matched harsh U.S. punitive measures against Venezuela's vital oil sector and its banks. "The sanctions that we have are unilateral. They're important," Menendez told reporters. But the United States should "internationalize" those sanctions, he said. "Isolating Russia and Cuba, the bad actors, in Venezuela. I think that would have changed the dynamics significantly." Story continues Most Western countries have backed Guaido, but Maduro retains the support of Venezuela's major creditors Russia and China, as well as leftist regional allies like Cuba and Bolivia. Democratic Representative David Cicilline urged legislation to bar Trump from any military action without congressional approval. Under current laws, a U.S. president has broad powers to order military action. With Republicans controlling the Senate, new legislation to curb that power is unlikely in the short-term. Cicilline also said administration officials should stop making statements that could be used as "propaganda" by Maduro's supporters. The administration should "sort of dial back that kind of rhetoric," he said at the House of Representatives. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the United States was prepared to act militarily in Venezuela "if that's what's required." Just hours later, the Pentagon appeared to downplay any active preparations for military intervention, but acknowledged detailed contingency planning. SOME REPUBLICANS WANT U.S. MILITARY ROLE A few Republicans see a role for the U.S. military. Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida said U.S. forces should be put in a position to help move aid convoys into Venezuela. However, there is deep skepticism whether Trump, who is trying to extract the United States from Syria and Afghanistan, is ready to commit to new foreign conflict. Most Latin American partners have already made clear they oppose the idea. "The United States is at its strongest and most legitimate when we are standing shoulder to shoulder with our Latin American and European allies," said Democratic Representative Tom Malinowski, a former State Department official. "So whatever we do going forward, stick with that approach." He also called on the administration to temper its public pronouncements. "This is a genuine popular democratic uprising," Malinowski told Reuters. "It's not led by the United States. But we should not be saying things from Washington that create even the slightest impression to the contrary." Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume the interim presidency, arguing that Maduro's 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Maduro calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking a coup. Venezuelans heeded a call from Guaido to take to the streets on Wednesday in a bid to force Maduro from power, but there was little indication of any change in what looks increasingly like a political stalemate. Asked whether he was disappointed with the outcome, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, who has played a key role in pushing Trump's anti-Maduro approach, told Reuters: "No, because I think it's a mistake to view it as a one-day event." U.S. officials said on Tuesday that three top Maduro loyalists purportedly had been in negotiations with the opposition to turn against Maduro but then reneged. Maduro and key military figures made a show of unity in a television broadcast on Thursday. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) Photo: iStock The number of crime incidents in San Diego saw an overall increase last week, after a previous decline, according to data from SpotCrime, which collects data from police agencies and validated sources. Incidents rose to 631 for the week of April 22, up from 547 the week before. Assault and vandalism led the increase in crime reports. Assault rose to 117 incidents last week, from 72 the week before. Vandalism went from 44 to 71. There was also a notable percentage increase in robbery, from 19 incidents per week to 26, and in arson, from zero to two incidents. There was one reported shooting last week compared with no shootings in the previous week. Among the few types of offenses that saw a downturn last week, reports of theft went from 241 to 229, and burglary fell from 44 to 33. There were 152 reports of "other" crimes, an increase of 25 from the previous week. SpotCrime's broad "other" category includes a variety of offenses like fraud, trespassing, public disturbance and traffic violations. Of those incidents, 148 involved arrests, such as for drug possession, up from 125 reported arrests the week before. Looking at crime patterns in different areas of the city, East Village, Core-Columbia and North Park had the most reported incidents last week. East Village was at the top of the list the previous week as well. Core-Columbia experienced the highest growth in crime. Crime reports in North Park also rose, after declining the week before, and incidents in Midway District are up considerably as well. Regarding when crime most often occurs, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday had the most reported crimes last week. The largest increase from the previous week occurred on Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday, while incidents on Monday went down. Comparing times of day, evening, late night and late afternoon saw the most crime last week. To report a crime in progress or life-threatening emergency, call 911. To report a non-urgent crime or complaint, contact your local police department. Head to SpotCrime to get free local crime alerts in your area. This story was created automatically using local crime data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about our data sources and local crime methodology. Got thoughts about what we're doing? Go here to share your feedback. After years of protecting its favourite jihadi Masood Azhar, China has withdrawn its hold on branding the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad as a global terrorist. This u-turn has happened not because the Chinese have had a change of heart or developed some scruples; they are selling out the Pakistani demagogue because they have bigger problems to deal with. With India challenging them on the strategic chessboard, especially in the backdrop of the massive buildup of Western and Japanese military forces in the dragon's backyard, the Chinese don't have the capacity to open yet another front. This is not Gandhi's India For decades India's political leadership had remained deferential to China, but that is now history. The Chinese have realised they are now dealing with a different kind of India - not Nehru or Gandhi's India that was constantly babbling about peace without having the ability to wage war, but a country that recognises China as its primary adversary and is prepared to take it on militarily. Keeping this in mind, the Chinese are calibrating their India policy. The first hint that Beijing's attitude towards New Delhi was softening became evident in 2012 when the DRDO tested the 5,800-km range Agni V missile, giving India's military the ability to nuke downtown Beijing. In an editorial on December 5, 2012, China Daily said: "The boundary question is just a tiny part of China-India relations." The newspaper, which reflects official policy in China, went on to say the two countries are "cooperative partners, not competitive rivals, as they have far more common ground than differences". The Chinese discovered how dramatically the scene had shifted just weeks after Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister. In July 2014 India pushed back hard during the final round of the negotiations at the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. The BRICS bank had been delayed for two years because India and Brazil had fended off China's attempts to get a bigger share - than other members - in the bank's shareholding. In the final hours of the summit, it was decided that they would have equal shareholding. India got the first presidency for six years, followed by five-year terms for Brazil and Russia. China may have bagged the headquarters, but it will not preside over the bank for 21 years. Plus, the organisation was called the New Development Bank, a name suggested by Modi. Again, in June-August 2017 the entire world had front seats to the Indian Army's aggressive maneuvers during the Doklam standoff where Indian soldiers were seen literally beating the living daylights out of Chinese soldiers, landing flying kicks on PLA flunkies. After two-months, having failed to grab an inch of territory, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) backed off. China realised its salami slicing technique - annexation of foreign land in small increments - won't work again. America's Pacific Pivot After the collapse of the Soviet Navy, the US shifted its naval forces from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Heavily armed American warships, attack submarines and stealth fighters based in Guam and Darwin, Australia, are now positioned to strike China's eastern seaboard - its economic heartland. The spearhead of this Pacific Pivot is the US 7th Fleet which operates up to 70 ships and submarines and 140 aircraft with approximately 20,000 sailors. Just one nuclear powered submarine from this fleet can destroy the Chinese economic miracle in a matter of hours. The US also has a number of allies which are patrolling the Pacific waters. Both the UK and France now regularly deploy their warships in joint exercises in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its lake. Also read: Masood Azhar designated a global terrorist: How India brought China to its knees In May 2018, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced that the US Pacific Command would henceforth be called the US Indo-Pacific Command or IndoPaCom in view of the connectivity of the Indian and Pacific oceans. With Mattis declaring the US would not allow countries in the Asia-Pacific region to be impacted by "any nation's predatory economics or threat of coercion", IndoPaCom is clearly aimed at countering Chinese economic and military pressure in the region. In sync with the presence of the large Western armada, such combative American posturing is causing jitters in Beijing. According to senior Chinese military officials, one of China's greatest fears is the threat of blockade in the event of a conflict. Since China lacks direct access to the open ocean and all its entry points to the primary sea routes are constantly monitored by the US and its allies, China's vulnerability to blockades will always remains its Achilles' heel. IndoPaCom neatly dovetails with the growing India-US military partnership. Not only do India and the US practice submarine hunting in the region, the Indian Navy has also started deploying warships on patrols in waters too close for China's comfort. In a demonstration of its operational reach and commitment to India's 'Act East' policy, in May 2016 the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet sailed out on a two and a half month long operational deployment to the South China Sea and North West Pacific. This wasn't a token detachment, but included two guided missile stealth frigates, a sophisticated fleet support ship, and an indigenous guided missile corvette. On April 29, 2019 the Eastern Fleet was once again deployed to the South China Sea. With India aiming for a 260 ship navy, in the coming years it will have more warships and submarines available for deployment off China, further adding to the PLA's headaches. A pissed off India is therefore not in China's interests. Rise of Japan It is said about the Chinese that they hate the West, despise India and the only country they fear is Japan. If the emergence of US military power close to its shores wasn't bad enough, the Chinese find their ancient enemy embarking on a massive rearmament programme. Under nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tokyo has given the boot to its American-drafted constitution that had long kept its military shackled. Japan has lifted the cap on its defence budget, which was set at 1 per cent of GDP, and its companies are developing stealth fighter jets, the world's quietest submarines and large surface combatants. Plus, in view of the nuclear threat from China and North Korea, it is only natural for Japan to go nuclear instead of relying on American security guarantees. Also read: UN designates Jaish chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist One of Abe's most significant decisions was to approve a reinterpretation of Japan's constitution on military affairs, allowing use of force overseas. With Japan's armed forces - which invaded China in the 1930s - now released from their US-imposed straitjacket, Beijing will have to deal with this new factor. China's worst nightmare: An India-Japan military alliance Every time a PLA Navy submarine enters the Indian Ocean, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force - which has considerable expertise in tracking Chinese warships - passes on the information to India. The Indian Navy then takes on the chase, allowing both countries to tail Chinese submarines on a constant basis. The navies of both countries now regularly conduct joint missions, and one of the spinoffs is intelligence sharing on Chinese vessels. In fact, barely a week before China's decision to dump Masood, two P-3C long-range submarine hunting aircraft carrying a 34-member naval detachment from Japan had landed at the INS Hansa naval airbase in Goa to participate in joint exercise with the Indian Navy. With the dragon already feeling the heat from the US pivot to Asia, and the highly motivated and disciplined Japanese military deployed virtually at their doorstep, Chinese war planners will face a nightmarish scenario if India deploys the planned 92,000-strong Mountain Strike Corps on the Tibetan border. Friendly Chinese overtures to India happen when Beijing perceives an uptick in military activity. The communist leadership is so predictable you could set your watch by it. Islamic terrorism in China's backyard Islamic terrorists are swooping down on China's Muslim majority Xinjiang province. The rattled Chinese have herded over a million Uighur Muslims into concentration camps where they are being forced to eat pork, drink alcohol and sing Chinese patriotic songs in an attempt to make the community forsake Islam. For more than two decades, China had shielded Masood Azhar as a quid pro quo for Pakistani support in China's crackdown on the Uighurs. However, with Pakistani leaders camping out in Beijing with begging bowls, they are in no position to protest China's decision on Masood. Wang Jisi, the dean of the School of International Studies, Peking University, feels Beijing has belatedly realised its friendship (or more accurately, its master-slave relationship) with Pakistan has a cost. "We have to fend off extreme Islamic terrorism from getting into China from Pakistan," he says. Wang adds that after decades of trying to contain India and having failed, China now wants a reset with India. Clearly, it's not Nehru's Panchsheel or the left liberal slogan of Hindi-China Bhai Bhai that has tamed China but India's ability to turn Beijing and Shanghai into parking lots. The author is a New Zealand-based defence and foreign affairs analyst. Also read: Lockheed's F-16 hard sell: Pros and cons of buying the American fighter Also read: Sri Lanka's Faustian bargain with Pakistan: Exit LTTE, enter ISI Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's prosecutor general on Thursday ordered the questioning of deposed president Omar al-Bashir over money-laundering and "financing terrorism", as protesters staged a vast rally in Khartoum to demand a civilian government. A source in the prosecutor general's office confirmed reports on state media that acting public prosecutor general Al-Waleed Sayyed Ahmed had ordered Bashir's questioning under "anti-money laundering and financing terrorism laws". Three weeks after Bashir was ousted by the military, vast crowds of demonstrators thronged the area around Sudan's army headquarters in Khartoum Thursday for a "million-strong" march demanding a civilian administration. Protesters gathered in even greater numbers than recent days, packing all the roads and bridges leading to the central Khartoum complex, AFP correspondents there said, as talks between protest leaders and the country's military rulers remained deadlocked. The two sides have agreed to form a joint civilian-military council to rule Sudan, but are at odds over its composition. Protesters are demanding a civilian majority, while the army wants a council dominated by generals. The disagreement prompted the alliance to call for a "million-strong" march to assert their demand. "We want civilian rule and we will keep coming until that happens," said protester Emad Abbas. - Warning against 'chaos' - Bashir ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades. During his rule the country was placed on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism over its alleged links with Islamist militants. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan between 1992 to 1996. Bashir's regime was replaced by a 10-member military council. Protest leaders from the Alliance for Freedom and Change want to replace that with a mixed body, but say the generals are not serious about handing power to civilians. Story continues As the wrangling persisted Thursday, crowds flocked to the army headquarters in central Khartoum to join the thousands who have remained camped there round-the-clock for weeks. Protest leaders on Thursday handed the military council proposals for the new civilian structures they want to see rule the country eventually, including executive and legislative bodies. The army said it would examine the document and "continue with our communication with the alliance". But the military council has also warned it will not allow "chaos" and urged protesters to dismantle makeshift barricades they have erected around the site, where several roads remain blocked. Those already filling the square Thursday kept up a festive atmosphere, with loudspeakers blaring out revolutionary songs and vendors selling fruits and peanuts. In an interview with AFP Wednesday, Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudan's former premier and main political opponent of Bashir, warned protest leaders against provoking the military. "If we provoke the... armed forces which contributed to the change, we would be asking for trouble," said Mahdi, whose National Umma Party is part of the protest movement. - Civilian rights - The military council's deputy head Mohammad Hamdan Dagolo has said it is "committed to negotiations". Hamdan, widely known as Himeidti, spoke of incidents since the protests first broke out in December including looting and burning of markets. He said across the country six security personnel were killed during protests on Monday. The spokesman of the military council Shamseddin al-Kabbashi said the "armed forces must remain in the sovereign council" because of tensions in the country. But protesters say civilians must dominate the new body. "If the military council took the majority in the sovereign council, the rights of civilians would not be guaranteed at all," said protester Hassan Rabeh, from the central town of Gadaref. The announcement on the joint civilian-military council on Saturday was seen as a breakthrough aimed at paving the way for detailed negotiations on a roadmap for the formation of a civilian government. The Alliance for Freedom and Change also insisted that the transitional administration must include representatives from armed groups who spent years battling Khartoum, without naming specific groups. Rebels took up arms in the western region of Darfur in 2003, prompting the regime to unleash tribal militias in a conflict the UN says killed 300,000 people and saw Bashir accused of genocide. Other conflicts in the southern states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan have also left thousands dead. The protesters have won support from Western governments for their demand for civilian rule. But Gulf Arab states have provided the military council with a three billion dollar (2.7 billion euro) credit lifeline to support an "orderly" transition. Havana (AFP) - The scent of the Cold War hung over Cuba's May Day parade where marchers bellowed defiance against US President Donald Trump for his threats to punish the Communist-run island's support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by extending the six-decade US embargo. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans turned out in the capital Havana, many of them gathering on Revolution Square from before dawn under the still-illuminated giant mural of Che Guevara. The atmosphere crackled with Cold War-era defiance. Communist Party chief Raul Castro was joined in the reviewing stand by the visiting Russian Communist Party vice president, Ivan Melnikov. "We're here given the current context in Cuba, in Latin America, which is increasingly under threat from US imperialism," 27-year-old student leader Heidy Villuendas told AFP as she marched. "We're also here in response to the US embargo against Cuba, to the threats faced by Venezuela, a nation of people to whom we affirm our solidarity, our commitment," said Villuendas. - Words of defiance - President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who took over when Castro stepped down a year ago, set the tone for the parade with a tweet responding to Trump's latest threats. "We will give a strong, firm and revolutionary response to the threatening statements and provocations, the lies and slanders of the Yankee empire," Diaz-Canel wrote. "Cuba confirms that we are free sovereign, independent and socialist," he tweeted. In his white traditional guayabera shirt, Diaz-Canel took his place early in the reviewing stand. But the parade didn't begin until his 87-year-old predecessor Raul Castro -- Communism's equivalent of royalty -- arrived to take his place. Even then, there were no speeches -- unlike in previous years. Instead, Revolution Square resounded with the recorded voice of the father of the revolution, Fidel Castro, who died in 2016. The message, designed to reassure a country facing tough times, was an excerpt from Castro's 2001 May Day speech. The revolution, he said, was "changing everything that must be changed." Story continues - Trump's threats - Trump took aim in his latest tirade against Cuba on Tuesday, pressing Havana to end its support of Socialist ally Venezuela, and warning it will otherwise face a "full and complete" embargo and sanctions. "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. "Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island." Diaz-Canel fired back on Tuesday, accusing Trump of a "dangerous escalation" of the situation in Venezuela and insisting there were no Cuban troops there. Washington has stepped up a war of words with Havana in recent months, announcing a raft of measures aimed at crippling foreign investment. They include activating a long-dormant law which allows lawsuits in US courts against companies operating in properties seized by the revolution. - Carnival atmosphere - The march was held in a carnival atmosphere, with many people carrying toddlers on their shoulders. Some waved giant portraits of Fidel Castro. Others had posters featuring Trump's image with a brick in his eye. "I am here to support the revolution and this president, in memory of Fidel, and Raul who has shown us that unity allows us to face the problems and sanctions of the United States or anyone," said Julio Gonzalez, an electrician. Soldiers closed out the march, singing a song dedicated to the communist youth of Cuba. Dressed in olive green army fatigues, a beret on his head, 32-year-old Interior ministry officer Guillermo Aguilar said Cuba was accustomed to US aggression. "It is a war that we are always facing, an aggression that we are used to and for which we are prepared and will continue to be prepared, and to continue fighting always with the people." Miami (AFP) - Jose Ramon Lopez Regueiro claims to be the sole heir of the once privately-owned Havana airport -- and he is preparing to sue in US courts to recover the property confiscated in Cuba under Fidel Castro. The case is the result of President Donald Trump's administration announcement in April that it would allow lawsuits in US courts over properties seized by Cuba's communist government, enforcing a provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that had been waived by successive presidents. "I'm very optimistic that justice will finally be served. I've been waiting 60 years for this moment," Lopez Regueiro told AFP. The plaintiff was just six years old when his father, Jose Lopez Vilaboy, fled Cuba after revolutionaries overthrew his close friend, dictator Fulgencio Batista. He was the main shareholder of Havana's Rancho Boyeros airport, and of the Cubana de Aviacion airlines, four hotels and a newspaper, among other properties confiscated by Castro. But starting Thursday, Cuban-Americans with US citizenship can seek compensation in US courts from the Cuban government or private companies for their "stolen" properties on the island. "First I'm going to file my claim for the Havana airport and Cubana de Aviacion," said the 65 year-old Lopez Regueiro. He claims that in 1958 the terminal was worth $24 million. He also plans to sue all airlines that use the airport -- which include the likes of American Airlines, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air France and Iberia. - After the 'Troika of Tyranny' - The airport case is just one of hundreds of similar claims that could inundate courts in south Florida, home to the largest community of Cuban-Americans in the country, some two million strong. Another is that of Javier Garcia Bengochea, a Cuban-American expected to sue the Carnival Cruise Line for using a confiscated port terminal. Nick Gutierrez, a member of Garcia's legal team, told Radio Television Marti -- which broadcasts from Miami to Cuba -- that the port of Santiago de Cuba belongs to his client's family. Story continues Carnival appeared unfazed by the prospects of a lawsuit. "We continue to offer our normal cruise schedule to Cuba for our guests," company spokesman Roger Frizzell told AFP. The European Union and Canada have expressed displeasure over the US action, concerned that the property disputes will ensnare their citizens who do business in the island. Apart from how individual cases are resolved and whether US judgments are honored, opening the floodgates of lawsuits is "a tremendous complication for Cuba," lawyer Juan Poblete told AFP. Investors with interests in the United States will think twice before entering into transactions involving confiscated properties, he said. Former president Barack Obama had eased restrictions on Cuba, considering that the US's half-century-old policy of isolating the island had failed. But Trump has moved in the opposite direction, tightening sanctions against what he calls the "troika of tyranny" -- Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The activation of the provision of the Helms-Burton Act seeks to weaken the Cuban government, which Washington considers the puppet master of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega. Marcell Felipe, who serves as a consultant to law firms on the legislation, believes it will weaken the Cuban government by depriving it of resources used to control the population. Besides defending property rights and the rule of law, he said, lawsuits "are an important weapon to deprive the families of the generals of fresh money from investors." Nicosia (AFP) - Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said he resigned on Thursday after a public outcry over the botched response to the serial killing of seven foreign women and girls. Nicolaou said he tendered his resignation to President Nicos Anastasiades for reasons of "principle and conscience", while adding he had no personal involvement in the case that went undetected for nearly three years. A suspect identified in Cypriot media as 35-year-old Greek Cypriot army officer Nicos Metaxas has confessed to the seven murders that have been dubbed the Mediterranean holiday island's first serial killings. The suspect reportedly met the women -- and two of their daughters -- through online dating site Badoo before dumping their bodies at mines-turned-lakes which have been swollen by record rainfall in winter. "I told the president of my decision to resign from my position as justice minister for reasons of political responsibility," Nicolaou told reporters as he announced he was stepping down. He also called for the police complaints commission to launch an independent inquiry into who is responsible, saying the lack of an initial investigation concerning the seven victims was evident. "I have never shown any disrespect, but I have demonstrated the need for an independent investigation that will indicate any gaps in procedures," Nicolaou said. Anastasiades said he accepted the minister's resignation. "It is with great regret that I have accepted the resignation of Justice Minister @MJPO_INicolaou as I am deprived of the services of one of my closest associates," the Cypriot president said on Twitter. - 'Shock and abhorrence' - The remains of two Filipinas, a woman believed to be Nepalese and a fourth, so far unidentified, woman have been found in and around two lakes outside Nicosia since tourists spotted the body of one of them on April 14. A search is underway for the bodies of three others: a six-year-old Filipina and a Romanian woman and her daughter. Story continues The Cypriot authorities have been accused of failing to properly investigate their initial disappearance due to neglect and racism. Outrage over the handling of the case has sparked protests in front of the gates of the presidential palace in the Cypriot capital. Demonstrators held up banners that read: "Stop discrimination towards women and foreigners" and "Police ignore women in Cyprus". In his statement on Twitter, Anastasiades said he shared "the shock and abhorrence of society over these unprecedented crimes". "I want to confirm our determination to fully solve these shameful killings, but also fully investigate the facts concerning complaints about missing persons," the president said. Nicolaou said his resignation was also in response to the public's reaction and the "apparent incomplete investigation of complaints". "I told the president I resigned because this is a shameful crime that has shocked the whole of society, not to mention what has come to light over the way the case was handled and possible oversights by law enforcement. "This detestable crime touches not only the police but also society itself, and I refer to perceptions and attitudes that do not honour any of us. "The police are members of society, so the search for responsibilities concerns all of us," he added. Cypriot authorities resumed their search on Thursday for the three missing bodies at abandoned mines near Mitsero village, about 10 kilometres (six miles) southwest of Nicosia, and another at nearby Xyliatos. A team of British experts joined the investigation this week at the request of the Cypriot authorities after the fourth body was found on Sunday stuffed into a suitcase in a toxic red lake at Mitsero. By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's justice minister resigned on Thursday amid public uproar at how police handled disappearances of foreign women, victims of a suspected serial killer whose actions went undetected for almost three years. Four women have been found murdered in the past three weeks, their bodies dumped in three locations west of the capital Nicosia. Investigations are under way into three other disappearances, including two girls aged six and eight. A 35-year-old career army officer is in custody and police say he has confessed to seven killings in total after having connected with the women on an online dating site. "I informed the president of the republic that I am resigning for reasons of political sensitivity," Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told reporters after meeting President Nicos Anastasiades. Nicolaou, whose ministry primarily supervises police, said his resignation was not an assumption of any responsibility, while adding there were "apparent shortcomings" in how police investigated the reports of the women's disappearances. "The consequential extension of this abhorrent crime doesn't only affect police, but society in general, and I refer to a mentality and perception which does not honour any of us," he said, without elaborating. In a statement, Anastasiades said he was "deeply saddened" to accept the resignation, calling Nicolaou one of his closest associates. UPROAR Cypriot police have faced a torrent of criticism over how they handled each case - the magnitude of which was unknown when tourists accidentally found a bound body in a mine shaft flooded by heavy rain on April 14. That victim, Marry Rose Tuburcio, 39, from the Philippines, is the only one formally identified of the four women discovered since then. She went missing with her six-year-old daughter Sierra in May last year. When acquaintances reported her disappearance to police they were told she and her daughter had probably crossed into the northern part of the divided Mediterranean island, a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state. Story continues A fresh search for other victims was underway on Thursday in a man-made lake near a copper mine. One victim was found in a suitcase weighed down with a block of cement in the lake on Sunday. British police are also assisting inquiries. A mother and daughter from Romania, thought to be the first victims, disappeared in September 2016, and the last of the victims, from the Philippines, around August 2018. Police say they will conduct an investigation into any perceived shortcomings. (Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Mark Heinrich) By Jason Hovet PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic should not initially rule out any Chinese or Russian companies from plans to build up new-generation 5G mobile networks or expand its fleet of nuclear power stations, new Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said in an interview. After a cabinet shuffle, Havlicek is stepping into the industry post on Tuesday as the state pushes ahead with both projects that face security questions over the possible participation of China's Huawei in 5G, as well as Russian and Chinese involvement in the nuclear expansion. Havlicek said security would play a key factor in both sectors and warnings would not be ignored. But first, conditions for the expansions have to be outlined and discussion with key players should take place, he said. "We have to evaluate all of the factors," Havlicek told Reuters on Monday evening, before his official appointment to the government on Tuesday. "But definitely it is not acceptable from the business point of view, and communication point of view, to in advance reduce the group of potential investors, potential suppliers," he said. In December, the Czech cyber watchdog NUKIB warned about possible risks from using Huawei equipment. The United States has also urged allies not to use Huawei products, saying they could enable Chinese state espionage - which the company denies. Similarly, in nuclear power, a Czech government advisory body recommended last year security settings that would indirectly exclude Chinese or Russian suppliers in the multi-billion dollar expansion project. NEW PLAYER The state is holding an auction for new 5G frequencies later this year, seeking to draw a fourth operator to the country to boost competition against O2 Czech Republic, T-Mobile and Vodafone and push down data prices, among the highest in Europe. "I think the opportunity exists that a new multinational or Czech player is coming," Havlicek said, adding there had been talks with around 10 interested parties, including American, South Korean, French and Czech. Story continues The nuclear expansion has six potential bidders: China's CGN, Atmea - a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and EDF Group - Westinghouse, South Korea's Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co (KHNP), French state-owned Areva and Russia's Rosatom. Czech utility CEZ, which runs two nuclear power plants accounting for about half of its traditional production, and the state, its 70 percent shareholder, have been stuck for years over financing the construction of new units. In February, Prime Minister Andrej Babis outlined a plan under which the state would control construction after signing a contract with CEZ. The state would then have power to halt the project if power prices don't support it. Havlicek said he hoped to have the contract with CEZ done in the autumn. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Mark Potter) Photo by Jay from Flickr There's living in a city, and then there's being immersed in the life of the community. Hoodline analyzed the city's past week on Twitter, focusing on accounts that are dedicated to community life things like parks, animals, healthy living and education. We wanted to discover and report on the ideas that drove your social media dialogue around those topics. Schools The state of the schools affects everyone in the city, regardless of whether they have kids in the education system. Dallas experienced an increase in Twitter conversations regarding schools last week 50, compared with 28 the week before. One of them with a high level of local engagement was this tweet from @dallasschools: We appreciate the work our excellent Administrative Professionals do in our schools and offices. Here are 3 reasons they are the best. #AdminProfessionalsDay https://t.co/SFLUieLg8f Dallas ISD (@dallasschools) As of this publication, the tweet racked up nine local retweets, three local quotes and 56 total retweets, quotes and favorites. Health Here are some of last week's can't-miss tweets on the topic of public health in the city. Dallas saw little change in Twitter conversations regarding health last week compared with the previous week. One that drew a lot of local interest was this tweet by @SoniaAzadTV: *FREE* workout for #Veterans MAY 24th outside the @wfaa studio at South Victory ... Feel free to share! Thanks @THESWEATSHOPDAL #iamup #WFAA https://t.co/AYyUexCjkv Sonia Azad (@SoniaAzadTV) The total impact from that was six local retweets and 10 total retweets, quotes and favorites. There was also this Wednesday tweet from @EarthWaterHQ: EarthWater is 100% Natural with NO chemicals, additives, or sugars! Created by Planet Earth, and for inhabitants of Planet Earth. @ashleyberges #drinkearthwater #earthwater #mineralsyoucansee #allnatural #blackwater #blackwaterbev #wellnesswednesday #ashleyberges #hollywoodweekly https://t.co/eawnOytVCm EarthWater (@EarthWaterHQ) In all, the tweet earned two local retweets and four total retweets, quotes and favorites. Story continues Another that got attention locally was this, from @drpriscillalui on Thursday: My microaggression meta-analysis paper (coauthored by former @SMU undergrad student) published in Psychological Bulletin is featured in @APA_Journals Article Spotlight. https://t.co/lYfOAZiGMO @SMUPsychology @SMUDedman @smuresearch @NEWSatSMU Priscilla Lui (@drpriscillalui) How popular was it? The tweet garnered two local retweets and 111 total retweets, quotes and favorites. Animals Whether it's pets in need or a photo worth sharing, animals are a constant presence in the city'sTwitter timelines. Dallas had little change in Twitter conversations on the subject of animals last week compared with the past week. One of them with a good level of local popularity was this tweet by @DallasShelter: Are you stuck between being a dog or cat person? Then look no further than Camille (#A1062746)! This 6 y/o lady LOVES naps, quiet spaces, and a good cardboard box. She is currently an #DAS office #foster, and but she is ready to pack up her box and come home with you! https://t.co/89hqoYnVeW Dallas90 (Dallas Animal Services) (@DallasShelter) In all, the tweet got 24 local retweets and 79 total retweets, quotes and favorites. Parks Hoodline helps you keep up with news and events from the city's parks and trails. Dallas experienced essentially the same volume of Twitter conversations around parks last week compared to the past week. Despite that, some local tweets did get attention locally. Here's a case in point, by @DallasParkRec: #DallasParks at a glance! How can we serve you? #ServiceFirst #SomethingForEveryone #KindOfABigDeal https://t.co/KBiUWjIzQR Dallas Park and Recreation Department (@DallasParkRec) As of this publication, the tweet had garnered 12 local retweets and 19 total retweets, quotes and favorites. There was also this Tuesday tweet from @ParksDtnDallas: The Devils River is one of the most untouched rivers in Texas. Read how this @TexasMonthly writer tackled the remote waterway by canoe: https://t.co/KhwhH5zlkO https://t.co/17J0OMf8MU Parks for Downtown Dallas (@ParksDtnDallas) The tweet tallied eight local retweets and 14 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. Austin Dillon Executes Search-and-Rescue Mission Posted by: newsla on May 01, 2019 - 06:28 PM Austin Dillon Executes Search-and-Rescue Mission at Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach Before Austin Dillon chases his second Coca-Cola 600 win in three years, the Coca-Cola Racing Family driver took part in a unique chase on Tuesday at Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach. Dillon joined Paul Swan and Ethan Tingler from his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing crew for an in-depth, search-and-rescue mission as part of Charlotte Motor Speedways Mission 600 a series of interactive, regional military base visits in conjunction with the Department of Defense. Dillon climbed aboard a 45-foot RBM (Response Boat Medium) with his crew and members of Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach to learn the intricacies of a Coast Guard rescue mission in the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, the 2017 Coca-Cola 600 winner took the opportunity to guide the RBM before he participated in rescue rope training exercises on shore. It was awesome, Dillon said of his first Coast Guard visit. Those boats are unbelievable machines. Its like driving a big jet ski. We had a blast just seeing how smooth they are and listening to how the guys go through everything, theyre very good at what they do. Im jealous that they get to whip around out there on those boats to save lives. Its a very cool experience to see all the hard work they put into taking over these jobs. I really thank them for their service. Dillon has sampled life in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard in his first two Mission 600 visits, both of which gave the Welcome, North Carolina, native a new perspective in his appreciation for the military. As part of the 600 Miles of Remembrance program, Dillon will carry the name of a fallen member of the U.S. Armed Forces on his race cars windshield during the Coca-Cola 600. Its very special, Dillon said. I feel like our fallen soldiers ride along with us. Their families become a part of our racing family. The Coca-Cola 600 and Memorial Day weekend is probably my favorite weekend of the year. When we have the flyovers and everything that goes into that race, the preview of it is fun for us to watch and see the military represented so well. Chief Petty Officer Jeremy Thomas was among the members who hosted Dillon and his crew on Tuesday. It was great to see the interaction between Coast Guard members and Austin and his crew, Thomas said. It looked they had a lot of fun. Thats the goal: to give them a chance to enjoy themselves and see a day in the life of the Coast Guard. Along with Mission 600s thrilling build-up to the Coca-Cola 600, thousands of troops will join fans in the race-day festivities, which will include static military displays and interactive showcases in the Fan Zone. Additionally, 600 troops comprised of members from all five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces will be on the frontstretch during pre-race activities. Through the speedways Patriot Partners program, race fans or corporate customers can buy a ticket for a member of the U.S. Armed Forces for just $25. Tickets will be distributed to active-duty personnel and their families through the USO. Prior to the green flag, ticketholders to the Coca-Cola 600 can also enjoy a FREE pre-race concert featuring Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Cheap Trick. As part of the salute to the military, race fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #KnowYourMil. TICKETS: Coca-Cola 600 tickets for adults start at just $49 while kids 13 and under get in for $10. Tickets, camping and upgrades for every event are available at the gates, by visiting charlottemotorspeedway.com/tickets or calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267). KEEP TRACK: Fans can connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway by following on Twitter and Instagram or becoming a Facebook fan. Keep up with all the latest news and information with the Charlotte Motor Speedway mobile app. KNOW YOUR MILITARY: Salute your military by sharing your connections and stories on social media using hashtag #KnowYourMil. PaddockTalk Perspective Socialism is back. T. S. Eliot said that there is no such thing as a Lost Cause, because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause. We thought our Gained Cause was having vanquished domestic socialism forevermore after the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1989. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton operated within the broad economic consensus established by Ronald Reagan, and when Republicans called Barack Obama a socialist, some on the left considered it a racially charged smear. But here we are: A self-avowed socialist nearly won the Democratic nomination in 2016 and is a serious contender this time. Another socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is the hottest thing in progressive politics today. The Green New Deal and Medicare for All are proposals for sweeping aggrandizements of government power on a scale not seen in this country since the New Deal, if ever. Meanwhile, some on the right are raising questions about free markets, or even rejecting them. If for nothing else, NR exists to stand up for important truths, even when they are embattled or out of favor. It is in that spirit that we publish our next two numbers, a twin special issue making the case for markets (the issue you are reading now) and against socialism (our next issue). If our cause wasnt nearly as gained as we thought two decades ago, it is incumbent on us to make the argument for it more vigorously than ever. Thanks for reading. More from National Review By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defying the U.S. Congress, Attorney General William Barr will not attend a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday on his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report, said panel Chairman Jerrold Nadler, accusing Barr of being afraid to testify. "Barr has just informed us that he will not attend tomorrow's hearing," Nadler, a Democrat, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday after a contentious Senate hearing earlier in the day where Barr defended his treatment of the report. The Justice Department also said on Wednesday it would not comply with a subpoena seeking Mueller's full report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election and underlying investigative files from the probe. Committee Democrats vowed to issue a subpoena to force Barr to testify, while Nadler held out hope that the attorney general would reconsider and show up when the hearing convenes at 9 a.m. on Thursday. "We plan on subpoenaing him if he decides not to show up. He can run but he can't hide," Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries told reporters. A Justice Department spokeswoman said in a statement that the panel had placed "unprecedented and unnecessary" conditions on Barr's testimony and called the questions posed by committee staff inappropriate. "The attorney general remains happy to engage directly with members," the statement said. Barr's decision not to testify surfaced hours after the committee adopted a more aggressive format that would subject the attorney general to an extra hour of questions from committee lawyers, in addition to questions from Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the panel. Nadler insisted that it was not the administration's place to determine the format for the hearing. "He is terrified of having to face a skilled attorney," the chairman said of Barr. "Given how dishonest he has been ... I can understand why he's afraid of facing more effective examination." 'EXTRAORDINARILY BURDENSOME' The House Judiciary chairman also said he would consider a contempt citation against the attorney general if the unredacted version of the report was not made available. In a letter to Nadler on Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the requests made in the subpoena were "overbroad and extraordinarily burdensome." The Justice Department has made available a version of the report that has fewer redactions than the one issued publicly, withholding only grand jury information that must be kept secret by law, he added. The department would be willing to seek an accommodation over more targeted requests for Mueller-related documents, Boyd said. Nadler issued the subpoena on April 19, a day after Barr released a redacted version of the report, which also looked at whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct investigations after the 2016 election. The Mueller report details a series of acts by Trump to impede the Russia probe but does not conclude whether those actions constitute the crime of obstruction. It found, however, that Trump and his campaign did not engage in a criminal conspiracy with Moscow. Democrats contend that Barr misrepresented the contents of the Mueller report in a March 24 summary and during a subsequent news conference. They also allege that he may have provided misleading testimony to Congress about criticism he received from Mueller. Some Democrats including Senator Mazie Hirono said on Wednesday that Barr should resign. Asked if he agreed, Nadler told reporters: "He's going to have to answer for apparently testifying untruthfully in both the Senate and the House, and that's certainly one option." (Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Writing by David Alexander and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney) Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! 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). To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand Relaxo Footwears Limited (NSE:RELAXO). Relaxo Footwears has a ROE of 21%, based on the last twelve months. That means that for every 1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated 0.21 in profit. Check out our latest analysis for Relaxo Footwears How Do I Calculate Return On Equity? The formula for ROE is: Return on Equity = Net Profit Shareholders' Equity Or for Relaxo Footwears: 21% = 1.7b 8.3b (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. Shareholders' equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company. What Does ROE Mean? ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else equal, investors should like a high ROE. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies. Does Relaxo Footwears Have A Good ROE? One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As you can see in the graphic below, Relaxo Footwears has a higher ROE than the average (8.1%) in the Luxury industry. Story continues NSEI:RELAXO Past Revenue and Net Income, May 1st 2019 That is a good sign. We think a high ROE, alone, is usually enough to justify further research into a company. For example you might check if insiders are buying shares. How Does Debt Impact ROE? Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. 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. Relaxo Footwears's Debt And Its 21% ROE Relaxo Footwears has a debt to equity ratio of just 0.094, which is very low. The fact that it achieved a fairly good ROE with only modest debt suggests the business might be worth putting on your watchlist. Judicious use of debt to improve returns can certainly be a good thing, although it does elevate risk slightly and reduce future optionality. The Key Takeaway Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. 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 ROE is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, since high quality businesses often trade on high multiples of earnings. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So you might want to take a peek at this data-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company. If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Vicky McClure - WARNING: Use of this copyright image is subject to the terms of use of BBC Pictures' Digital Picture Having aving recently witnessed the amazing uplift music can give dementia patients, I instantly bonded with Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure (BBC One) and its wonderfully positive message about how music can help people living with this devastating and ever more common condition. In the first of two parts, McClure star of Line of Duty set up a choir in her home town of Nottingham, teaming up the Open University and neuroscientists from University College London conducting a three-year study into music and dementia. I want to prove that life doesnt end with a diagnosis, said McClure, who first noticed musics capacity to calm and alter mood when helping her late grandmother Iris cope with the condition. That sense of seeing dementia as a progression, not an end, rang true with those who signed up for the choir many of whom felt written off after being diagnosed and who blossomed here under the group challenge of learning something new and performing. Like former music teacher Rae, who after just one rehearsal sat at a piano and played for the first time in 10 years; or 50-year-old former deputy council leader Julie, whose vastly busy life came to an abrupt halt with her diagnosis, and who seemed to find a renewed sense of purpose through her involvement here. Vicky McClure (right) with dementia sufferer Daniel and his fiancee Jordan Credit: BBC Despite all of the positivity, the fact that theres no cure for dementia was never allowed to slip from view, nor its emotional impact on family and carers. As such, the scientific study provided an anchor of understanding, exploring how music uniquely activates linked areas of the brain dealing with memory, emotion and language, and how these areas interact anew when stimulated simultaneously. That dementia can strike at any age was also writ large, notably through the presence of 31-year-old Daniel, a musician and engineer who faced an uncertain future having been diagnosed with a rare genetic form of the disease, and whose 12-month-old twins, Lola and Jasper, stood a 50 per cent chance of inheriting it. He was desperate to take part in the study for their sake and his upcoming marriage to partner Jordan gave the choir an opportunity for a party and an informal first performance. Emotions swirled, tears flooded and hearts melted. Given the number of people in the UK whose lives are currently touched by dementia, I have no doubt the message came across loud and clear: music can help, try it. A US congressman bizarrely brought a bucket of fried chicken to the House Judiciary Committee hearing that Attorney General William Barr refused to attend Thursday morning. Seemingly a shot at Mr Barrs fear of the committee, Rep. Steve Cohen, the Democratic representative from Tennessee, also brought in a ceramic chicken. He placed the chicken in what would have been the Attorney General's spot before the committee. He told reporters Hes here! and gestured to his bucket of fried chicken. He then proceeded to eat from the bucket, and offer its contents to his colleagues. Perhaps because the chicken was presented well before noon, none took him up on the offer. Mr Barr hinted late Wednesday night that he would not be attending the House Judiciary Committee hearing to review special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Thursday, after a long day of being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. On Thursday, he did not show up to the hearing. Todays hearing would have allowed lawyers from both political sides to question the attorney general after the traditional round from members of Congress. The Justice Department expressed its disapproval over this format, which has been used in notable situations in the past. Members of congress have responded by using their time to express their disapproval of Mr Barrs failure to appear. In Rep. Cohens case, his opinion of the nature of Mr Barrs lack of appearance is clear. Washington (AFP) - US Senator Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat who has worked to build bipartisan consensus, announced Thursday he is running for president, just weeks after successfully undergoing surgery for prostate cancer. His entry in the race brings to 21 the number of Democrats seeking to challenge Donald Trump in 2020, making for a sprawling fight for the party's nomination. "We cannot be the first generation to leave less to our kids, not more. That's why I'm running for President," Bennet said on Twitter. "Let's build opportunity for every American and restore integrity to our government." Bennet, 54, had said in March he was contemplating a run, but those plans were put on hold after he revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent surgery in mid-April, and a spokesperson told Politico at the time that his doctors had said it was "completely successful and he requires no further treatment." In an interview Thursday on CBS's "This Morning," Bennet called the outcome "very clarifying." "I feel incredibly lucky -- because I got a diagnosis and... after an operation I was cleared with a clean bill of health," he said. The congenial Bennet is not known for fiery floor speeches, but a Senate address in January brought him national attention when he derided Republican Senator Ted Cruz's "crocodile tears" during the US government shutdown. But Bennet, who touts his reputation for bipartisanship in a swing state with a large presence of independent voters, has a long way to go to catch up with better-known candidates. He follows Joe Biden, who has taken a commanding poll lead with 39 percent since joining the fray Friday as the 20th Democratic candidate. The CNN poll that showed Biden's surge had Senator Bernie Sanders a distant second at 15 percent. Progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg and former congressman Beto O'Rourke were bunched together with eight, seven, and six percent respectively. Story continues In an online campaign launch video, Bennet acknowledged he was likely unknown to most Americans, saying he preferred to "pay attention" to the needs of constituents rather than "get attention" through political preening. "When campaigning never stops, governing never begins," he said. Bennet's signature issues include fixing the nation's health care insurance system, although the centrist Democrat breaks with several of his more progressive 2020 rivals on how to get there. "That's not Medicare For All," he said of the single-payer system that has gained traction in this election cycle, "because I don't think 180 million Americans want to give up the insurance they already have through their work or their union." Bennet, who served as superintendent of Denver public schools before winning a Senate seat in 2008, also has proposed expanding tax cuts for parents, which he says would slash US child poverty by 40 percent. He is the second Coloradan to run for the 2020 nomination, along with ex-governor John Hickenlooper, Bennet's former boss. By Amanda Becker and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats intensified their pressure on President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to lawmakers and a key committee chairman threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. Even as Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of a growing attack on U.S. democracy and the authority of Congress, the White House showed no sign of backing down. White House legal counsel Emmet Flood said in a defiant letter that Trump had the right to tell advisers not to testify to congressional panels on the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry. The dueling statements marked a sharp escalation in the conflict between the White House and Democrats who control the House of Representatives. With Trump seeking re-election next year, Democrats are weighing whether to try to remove the Republican president from office using the impeachment process while pressing forward with demands for information on his taxes, businesses and other topics. Shortly after Barr refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, Pelosi accused him of lying to lawmakers about interactions with Mueller after the special counsel ended a 22-month investigation into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump's candidacy. "That's a crime," Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, told reporters, referring to Barr's congressional testimony. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called Pelosi's allegation "reckless, irresponsible and false." Democrats have accused Barr of misleading Congress by testifying in April he was unaware of any concern by the special counsel's team about Barr's initial March 24 characterization of the report, an account that led Trump to claim full exoneration. Barr failed to mention a March 27 letter he got from Mueller complaining that Barr's March 24 account did not "fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work." Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress if he does not provide a full, unredacted copy of Mueller's report and the underlying evidence, as the panel has requested by a subpoena that had a Wednesday deadline. That could potentially lead to legal steps against the top U.S. law enforcement official. Barr released Mueller's report on April 18, with some parts blacked out to protect sensitive information. Several Democrats have called on Barr, whom Trump appointed after firing Jeff Sessions as attorney general, to resign. Pelosi and other House Democrats previously had cautioned against launching the impeachment process, which would begin in the House but would face long odds of success in the Republican-controlled Senate and could alienate voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. But Pelosi said the Trump administration was continuing to ignore congressional subpoenas and noted that Congress launched impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon after he resisted similar demands. Nixon resigned in 1974 over the Watergate scandal. 'OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE' Pelosi said Trump's "blanket statement that he's not going to honor any subpoenas is obstruction of justice." The White House signaled little appetite to cooperate. Trump told Fox News in an interview on Thursday he was not inclined to let former White House counsel Don McGahn testify before congressional committees. Nadler has issued a subpoena for McGahn to testify in its investigation of possible obstruction of justice by the president. Trump told Fox News that McGahn had already spoken to Mueller's team for 30 hours and allowing him to testify to Congress would open the door to others being called. "I would say it's done," Trump said. Flood reiterated that point in a letter seen by Reuters, saying Trump's decision to let advisers cooperate when Mueller was conducting his investigation did not extend to congressional oversight investigations now that the inquiry had been completed. Flood also said Mueller's 448-page report suffered from "an extraordinary legal defect" by failing to determine whether Trump had committed the crime of obstruction of justice. Mueller "instead produced a prosecutorial curiosity - part 'truth commission' report and part law school exam paper," Flood wrote to Barr in a letter dated a day after the report was released. Democrats have argued Trump waived the right to assert executive privilege - which allows a president to withhold information about internal executive branch deliberations from other branches of government - by allowing advisers to cooperate extensively with Mueller. Barr canceled his House testimony after clashing with Nadler over the hearing's format, particularly having staff lawyers question him in addition to committee members. Nadler said he would move forward with a contempt citation as soon as Monday. "The very system of government of the United States - the system of limited power, the system of not having a president as a dictator - is very much at stake," Nadler told reporters after a 15-minute committee session held in place of Barr's appearance. Democrats have said they may issue a subpoena to try to force Barr to testify. Barr spent four hours before a Republican-led Senate committee on Wednesday defending his handling of Mueller's report and justifying Trump's actions. 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. (Reporting by Amanda Becker and David Morgan; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Makini Brice and Steve Holland; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) Feb 27 declared as Operation Swift Retort day: Chief of Air Staff Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan on Wednesday said that the Pakistan Air Forces (PAFs) response on February 27, 2019, against the enemy aggression would be remembered in history as Operation Swift Retort. He said this while addressing the 264th Air Staff Presentation meeting held at the Air Headquarters in Islamabad. Addressing the principal staff officers, field commanders, air officers and airmen of the PAF, the air chief further said, We bow our heads in complete humility and thank Almighty Allah for providing us an opportunity to come up to the expectations of our nation in giving a befitting reply to the enemys misadventure during the recent Indo-Pak conflict. He added the PAFs swift response was the demonstration of the forces firm resolve, capacity and capability in thwarting the nefarious designs of the adversary. Lauding the selfless commitment of PAF personnel, the air chief said that every rank and file of the PAF deserved special appreciation for proving equal to the task and I salute each one of you for showing strong commitment, perseverance and motivation being deployed at forward operating bases during these testing times. In the end the air chief reiterated his resolve that in case of any misadventure by the adversary, the PAFs response would be even stronger than before When Ilhan Omar was asked about Venezuela on Wednesday, the Minnesota Democrat decided to blame America first. Back in January, when the United States recognized National Assembly president Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela, Omar had tweeted that socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro was the legitimate leader of the Venezuelan people, arguing that the legislature cannot seize power from the President. Now, just over three months later, as Maduros forces were hard at work attempting to violently suppress the Guaido-led uprising of the unarmed and starving Venezuelan people, Omar was on television, blaming American neocons and warmongers for the crisis. American policies kind of helped lead to the devastation in Venezuela, Omar said in an interview on the news program Democracy Now! 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. Omars pro-Maduro sentiments make her an outlier within her own party. Joe Biden tweeted on Tuesday that Maduros violence against protesters was criminal and that the U.S. must stand with the National Assembly & Guaido in their efforts to restore democracy through legitimate, internationally monitored elections. Nancy Pelosi tweeted that Maduro needs to acknowledge the will of the Venezuelan people, whose moving calls for democracy have been heard around the world. This is one Trump foreign policy that Ive agreed with because they had multilateral [support]. Thats what gives it its legitimacy, Representative Tom Malinowski (D., N.J.), a former Obama State Department official, tells National Review. I want to increase the pressure. I want to make sure we do it in concert with our allies. So far, Omar hasnt been joined even by other members of the far-left wing of the Democratic party, many of whom have offered a muted response to the Venezuelan uprising. Violence is horrible, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells NR when asked to comment on the situation. When pressed on whether the Maduro government is legitimate or Guaido deserves U.S. support, she adds that shell defer to caucus leadership on how we navigate this. Story continues Bernie Sanders, much like Ocasio-Cortez, had no words of condemnation for the Venezuelan dictator nor words of support for the Venezuelan people who are risking their lives by taking to the streets. The Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont senator, who refused to say in February whether Maduro should step down, has not yet even commented on Venezuela this week. New Jersey senator and Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker similarly says that he has nothing right now in the way of comment on the crisis. Other Democrats running for president in 2020 have been more forthcoming, if not particularly unified in their views. I have of course supported bringing in the new president and delegitimizing the Maduro government, Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar says. You always leave things on the table, she added when asked about U.S. intervention. We obviously need to advocate for a peaceful end to this process in a way that sustains [Venezuelas] democracy, California senator Kamala Harris told a reporter Tuesday. Neocons/Neolibs & MSM all sing from the same songsheet: War war war!!! Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard tweeted on Thursday. Trump never gets positive media unless hes threatening war/carrying out military action. Today, Venezuela. Tomorrow, Iran? Cuba? Whos next? Republicans, meanwhile, remain united in backing the Trump administrations policy of support for Guaido and threats of a blockade on Cuba if Cuban forces continue to help prop up Maduro. We should be putting as much financial pressure as humanly possible on the corrupt elements of the Maduro regime. Now is the decisive moment, Representative Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) says. To the extent we are enhancing our military presence, we have to be working by, with, and through the Colombians and Brazilians on the ground, and be in lockstep with our partners. To the extent we are using military assets, it should be to prevent outside powers i.e. the Russians, the Cubans, and the Chinese from aggravating the conflict. Juan Guaido has no weapons, no security forces, no access to funds, no control of media outlets, and hes able to garner thousands of people in the streets . . . and almost bring the country to a standstill, notes Florida senator Marco Rubio. It shouldnt be hard for us to support the leader of the one democratically elected body in Venezuela, says Representative Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas). You have . . . people fighting for their freedom, and it is within the American interest and the American ideal to support that. This is a classic case of good and evil. I understand its not always that clear-cut in international affairs, Crenshaw adds. But this time it is. More from National Review Photo: Evan Dvorkin/Unsplash When it comes to food and drink, there's plenty to do in Denver this week. From a Star Wars bar crawl to several Kentucky Derby parties, here's how to add some flavor to your social calendar. 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. TheBigWonderful 6th Annual Derby Weekend From the event description: TheBigWonderful brings together the best of Colorado for a massive two-day festival featuring over 100 local makers, food and drinks, live music and much more. BEERFEST Derby Party tickets for May 4 include the Kentucky Derby viewing party, Fun Factory DJ set, unlimited sampling wristband, private shaded tent, photo booth, a tote bag and free parking. When: Saturday, May 4, noon- Sunday, May 5, 6 p.m. Where: TheBigWonderful, 4400 Fox St. Price: $5 (General Admission); $32 (BEERFEST Saturday Derby Party). More ticket options available. Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Star Wars-Themed Bar Crawl From the event description: Calling all Jedis! May the Fourth be with you for this 1st Annual Star Wars-themed bar crawl. The event will begin at Larimer Beer Hall and continue throughout the evening to Jackson's, Giggling Grizzly, Howl at the Moon, The Ginn Mill and Tavern Downtown. Ages 21 and over only. When: Saturday, May 4, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Where: Larimer Beer Hall, 2012 Larimer St. Price: $15; $45 (Four Guests) Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Denver Derby Party From the event description: The Original Denver Derby Party, now in its 18th year, is the biggest of its kind in the country. Held annually on the first Saturday in May, and spread out over four blocks in Downtown Denver, it has become a Colorado tradition. Food from over 15 vendors and a variety of classic beverages will be available throughout the event. 100% of all proceeds benefit the Sean Ranch Lough Foundation. Ages 21 and over only. Story continues When: Saturday, May 4, 1 p.m. Where: Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 1101 13th St. Price: $150 (Basic Ticket); $280 (VIP Ticket) Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Cinco De Mayo Tacos and Margs Crawl From the event description: It's time to fiesta for Cinco de Mayo, and participants will travel to Denver's best bars for a tequila-inspired bar crawl on Sunday. Remember to also have the chance to win prizes by checking in to each location with the Bar Crawl Nation app. Participating venues are Brothers Bar & Grill (Starting Location), Mexico City, The Refinery, El Chapultepec, Swanky's, Sidecar Lounge and The Retro Room. When: Sunday, May 5, noon Where: Brother's Bar & Grill, 1920 Market St. Price: $22.99 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. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company Limited (NSE:BOMDYEING) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 18% in the last month. But that doesn't undermine the rather lovely longer-term return, if you measure over the last three years. In three years the stock price has launched 130% higher: a great result. After a run like that some may not be surprised to see prices moderate. The fundamental business performance will ultimately dictate whether the top is in, or if this is a stellar buying opportunity. Check out our latest analysis for Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. During three years of share price growth, Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing moved from a loss to profitability. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here. The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). NSEI:BOMDYEING Past and Future Earnings, May 2nd 2019 Dive deeper into Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing's earnings, revenue and cash flow. What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing's TSR for the last 3 years was 135%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market lost about 0.6% in the twelve months, Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing shareholders did even worse, losing 62% (even including dividends). However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 16%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on IN 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. Photo credit: Roberto Chavez-Arce From Popular Mechanics Diving deep off of the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, scientists have discovered ancient giant wolves and bears that they didn't previously know lived in North America. Searching through the submerged cave site of Hoyo Negro, the scientists found a diverse range of ancient megafauna, as well as a nearly complete human skeleton. The animals include short-faced bears known as Arctotherium wingei and the wolf-like Protocyon troglodytes. Despite its name, there was nothing short about A. wingei or its fellow species of bear. The bears are estimated to have been the largest ever known to exist, with an upper weight limit of approximately 3,500 pounds. There has been some evidence that A. wingei might have been an herbivorous variety of Arctotherium, but that's been difficult to prove or disprove without evidence. The new finds, which include seven A. wingei individuals, might change that. "The whole previous record of this particular type of bear is just known from a few localities in South America, and those are fragmentary remains," Blaine Schubert, executive director of the Center of Excellence in Paleontology at East Tennessee State University and first author on the paper describing the findings, told Live Science. "So, we went from not having any of this type of bear outside of South America to now having the best record of this type of bear from the Yucatan of Mexico." Both A. wingei and the wolf-like Protocyon troglodytes made their way into Mexico during an event known as the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). The GABI occurred approximately 3 million years ago, right around the time the Northern and Southern American continents connected through a land bridge. During that time, megafauna like giant bears and beavers roamed free. "This discovery expands the distribution of these carnivorans greater than 2,000 km (1,242 miles) outside South America," reads the team's abstract. "Their presence along with a diverse sloth assemblage suggests a more complex history of these organisms in Middle America." Story continues The one human skeleton found amidst the underwater cave is estimated to have been 12,000 years old, showing evidence that humans interacted with megafauna in the giant cave. A human body dating back 13,000 years was found in the cave in 2007. The mysteries of underwater caves are vast and filled with secret histories of animals. In 2015, scientists off the coast of Madagascar found the largest collection of lemur remains ever in such a cave. Source: LiveScience ('You Might Also Like',) WASHINGTON President Donald Trump praised Attorney General William Barr's performance during a four-hour long Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying "he did a fantastic job" and dismissing calls for his resignation as "abuse from people" that are running for president. "He did a fantastic job today, I'm told. I got to see some of it. He did a fantastic job," the president said during an interview on Fox Business. The attorney general during his testimony stood by his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into whether Russia colluded with Trump's campaign during the 2016 presidential election and widened to include possible obstruction of justice. More: 'We're out of it.' Attorney General Barr defends release, conclusions of special counsel's Russia report Barr's appearance came less than 24 hours after Mueller issued a rare statement objecting the attorney general's characterization of the obstruction of justice portion of the report, which he said "threatened to undermine" the purpose of the inquiry. Also Wednesday, Barr said he will not testify before the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing that was scheduled for Thursday. Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the committee, claimed that he wanted the testimony to include questioning by committee staffers, in addition to lawmakers, which Barr had previously said he would not do. Trump defended Barr's decision, saying he believes "they want to treat him differently than they have anybody else." "For many, many years, they've never done it this way where they're bringing in outside counsel or something, you know, you elect people they're supposed to be able to do their own talking," he said. Following Barr's testimony, a number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates called on him to resign. Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was the first, followed by Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden. Story continues More: Attorney General William Barr refuses to testify at House hearing about special counsel Robert Mueller While he hadn't heard about the calls for Barr's resignation, Trump dismissed them as "ridiculous." "He's an outstanding man, he's an outstanding legal mind," Trump said of Barr. "He performed incredibly well today." Trump went on to criticize several of the candidates, including Harris, who the president said was "probably very nasty" during her questioning of Barr. "You have three of them running against me and they're up there ranting and raving like lunatics, frankly, and they're running, and how is that fair?" Trump said. "So you have Bill Barr, highly respected, great attorney general, and he's got to take the abuse from people that are running for office," Trump said. In an interview Wednesday night on MSNBC, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Barr was merely doing the job he was hired to do, pointing to his audition to act as the presidents defense lawyer instead of the nations top law enforcer. Clinton, the Democratic nominee who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, said she understood the calls for Barr's resignation but said those calls were not realistic. Clinton also discussed Mueller's report, telling host Rachel Maddow that she learned more detail about the efforts to hurt her 2016 campaign, notably private emails stolen from her and the Democratic Party that were leaked to the media. Mueller wrote in his report that while the Trump campaign did not conspire with the Kremlin to interfere in the election, campaign aides were eager for the help and knew they were benefiting from the foreign efforts. [The] Russians were successful, Clinton said. They accomplished what they set out to do. Contributing: Christal Hayes, USA TODAY. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump criticizes Democrats' treatment of William Barr, praises AG's 'fantastic' performance Joe Biden has gotten under President Donald Trump's skin, and he knows it. "Folks, I understand the president tweeted a lot about me this morning. I wonder why the hell hes doing that," Biden said Wednesday at Iowa City's Big Grove Brewery. He was responding to the president's early morning tweet spree in which Trump retweeted dozens of comments critical of Biden and the firefighters union that backs his campaign. Some Democrats believe Biden is the best candidates to needle, and possibly beat, Trump. Even before the former vice president entered the race, he was Democrats' top choice in Iowa polling. Former Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden energized supporters during a campaign stop in Des Moines on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. "I think Trump's scared of Joe Biden, and I think that's the only one he's scared of," said Paulette Ash, who saw Biden speak Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. The president didn't say he was scared, but he did react forcefully on Twitter Wednesday morning to the news that the International Association of Fire Fighters endorsed Biden's campaign. Trump claimed on Twitter that, "I've done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO!" The president proceeded to retweet more than 50 posts from people who were critical of the union's endorsement. We take you behind the scenes. Make sure you have full access. In an interview Wednesday afternoon with the Des Moines Register, Biden mostly downplayed Trumps tweets and instead chose to respond to the presidents rhetoric surrounding the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. As Biden was downplaying the morning tweets, Trump's allies, including his campaign manager Brad Parscale, former press secretary Sean Spicer and the president's son, Donald Trump, Jr., hit Biden on Twitter over comments the former vice president made about China while speaking about America's strong position in the world. "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on man," Biden said, noting the country's own internal problems, including corruption. Story continues "I mean, you know, theyre not bad folks, folks. But guess what? Theyre not competition for us," he said. I guess Sleepy Joe must have been napping when China made clear that their ultimate goal is to eventually overtake America as the world's biggest superpower. But nothing to be concerned about, right @JoeBiden? https://t.co/brDCs9Ik29 Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 1, 2019 "I guess Sleepy Joe must have been napping when China made clear that their ultimate goal is to eventually overtake America as the world's biggest superpower," the younger Trump wrote on Twitter. "But nothing to be concerned about, right @JoeBiden?" When Biden took the stage at Des Moines' River Center Wednesday evening, he seemed to revel in the fact that hed irritated Trump. "I was told by a reporter from the Des Moines Register that Donald Trump tweeted about me 50 times," he told the crowd, eliciting laughter and cheers. "I wonder why hes doing that? Biden asked again, laughing. The rest of Biden's Des Moines speech was interrupted by cheers as he presented the broad strokes of his pitch to restore the middle class. He frequently offered details, anecdotes or digressions before stopping himself, with references to how long the audience was standing. As he had before in Iowa, he promised more detailed policy positions will be forthcoming as the campaign continues. Each of Biden's Iowa events has drawn a group of firefighters in yellow "Firefighters for Biden" T-shirts. Clint McFarland, a firefighter and union member who attended Biden's rally in Iowa City, said Trump's tweet-flurry doesn't show Trump's support for firefighters. "There's always going to be 60 people that are going to be upset about something, but firefighters stand with Joe Biden," he said. McFarland said he's skeptical of Trump's claim to be a bigger supporter of firefighters than the IAFF. "I have yet to see it," he said. "Im sure hell point to his tax reform, but that money doesnt keep me safe. Staffing and proper equipment keeps me safe and there are certain things that are more important than money." Biden's Iowa visit was his first since announcing his 2020 presidential candidacy. It included stops in Cedar Rapids, Monticello, Dubuque, Iowa City and Des Moines. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Donald Trump is paying attention to Joe Biden in Iowa and Biden seems to revel in it Imran Khan attended groundbreaking ceremony of Mohmand Dam Prime Minister Imran Khan and former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar are attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Mohmand Dam on Thursday. The Mohmand Dam is being constructed on the Swat River and it will be completed at a cost of Rs183 billion by 2024. The dam has the capacity to store 1.2 million acre feet of water. Upon completion, it will generate some 800MW of electricity. The construction of the dam is said to be imperative to resolve the problems of water scarcity and electricity shortfall in the country. A sum of Rs2bn has been allocated for the project in the Public Sector Development Programme 2018-19. However, a number of questions have been raised over the project. Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Dr. Noorul Haq Qadri, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan were also present on the occasion. The former CJP Mian Saqib Nisar had paid close attention to the issue of water scarcity and ordered the creation of the Dam Fund in July last year a fund that appealed to the general public and overseas Pakistanis for donations for the construction of the Mohmand Dam and the Diamer-Bhasha Dam. The top judge's initiative was later joined by the prime minister. Within a span of five months, a total of Rs8.46bn was deposited in The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund, according to State Bank of Pakistan data in December 2018. Photo credit: Mark Teske/University of Maryland School of Medicine From Popular Mechanics In a potentially monumental medical breakthrough, an unmanned drone from the University of Maryland delivered a live organ to surgeons for transplant for the first time ever. The organ, a donor kidney sent to doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center, was successfully transplanted into a a 44-year-old woman's body. The entire trip was under three miles, a distance deemed short enough for all teams involved to feel confident that the drone could carry the kidney. Doctors and scientists hope the delivery will lead to even more groundbreaking missions. This major advance in human medicine and transplantation exemplifies two key components of our mission: innovation and collaboration, said E. Albert Reece, the Dean of University of Maryland School of Medicine in a press statement. Innovation is at the heart of our focus on accelerating the pace and scope of discovery, where research can rapidly transform medicine. Trina Glispy, the nursing assistant who was on dialysis for eight years prior to the procedure, was grateful for both the doctors and drone that delivered her kidney. "This whole thing is amazing," Glispy said in a press statement. "Years ago, this was not something that you would think about." Speaking to the New York Times, Glispy said, "I feel very fortunate, especially after watching so many people pass being on dialysis. Im seeing a lot of people die and Im like, Its taking so long, it might not happen for me either. With eight rotors and multiple powertrains to establish consistency and reliability, even in the event of partial failure, the drone was specially designed for organ delivery. Protective redundancies were a priority during construction, including backup propellers and motors, dual batteries, a backup power distribution board, and a parachute recovery system in case of a total system failure. Photo credit: University of Maryland This history-making flight not only represents a breakthrough from a technological point of view, but provides an exemplary demonstration of how engineering expertise and ingenuity ultimately serve human needs-in this case, the need to improve the reliability and efficiency of organ delivery to hospitals conducting transplant surgery, Darryll J. Pines, Ph.D., Dean of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering, said in the press statement. Story continues Operators used a wireless mesh network to control the drone and monitor its status on its journey. The network also provided communications for teams both sending and receiving the drone. We had to create a new system that was still within the regulatory structure of the FAA, but also capable of carrying the additional weight of the organ, cameras, and organ tracking, communications and safety systems over an urban, densely populated area-for a longer distance and with more endurance, said Matthew Scassero, MPA, director of UMDs UAS Test Site, part of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, in another press statement. Theres a tremendous amount of pressure knowing theres a person waiting for that organ, but its also a special privilege to be a part of this critical mission, Scassero said. The project required "collaboration among surgeons, engineers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), organ procurement specialists, pilots, nurses, and, ultimately, the patient, said Joseph Scalea, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at UMSOM, project lead, and one of the surgeons who performed the transplant at UMMC. Scalea was one of the chief architects of the project, having grown frustrated by the long transportation times for organs. For most organs, there's a time window of 12 to 36 hours in which they can be useful for donation before expiring. This window can result in dramatic measures being taking to the patient in time, including the chartering of private jets. For patients in rural areas, a lack of resources can often further complicate this matter logistically. Previous drone-related medical tasks have included the delivery of vaccines and defibrillators. As astonishing as this breakthrough is from a purely engineering point of view, theres a larger purpose at stake," Dr. Pines said. "Its ultimately not about the technology; its about enhancing human life. Source University of Maryland ('You Might Also Like',) BOSTON (AP) A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of jury deliberations. Four ex-employees of the Chandler, Arizona-based company, including the former exotic dancer, were also convicted. Some of the most sensational evidence in the months-long federal trial included a video of employees dancing and rapping around an executive dressed as a giant bottle of the powerful spray Subsys, and testimony about how the company made a habit of hiring attractive women as sales representatives. Federal prosecutors portrayed the case as part of the government's effort to go after those it views as responsible for fueling the nation's deadly opioid crisis. "This is a landmark prosecution that vindicated the public's interest in stanching the flow of opioids into our homes and streets," Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement. The convictions could embolden federal authorities to bring more cases against top executives of opioid manufactures, said Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. "Paying a fine or even civil litigation is inadequate if we want to deter corporations from killing people in their pursuit of profit," Kolodny said. Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 400,000 lives in the U.S. between 1999 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 2 million people are addicted to the drugs, which include both prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and illegal drugs such as heroin. Kapoor and the others were accused of scheming to bribe doctors across the U.S. to boost sales of Subsys and misleading insurers to get payment approved for the drug, which is meant for cancer patients in severe pain and can cost as much as $19,000 a month, according to prosecutors. The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking engagements that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors. Story continues The charges carry up to 20 years in prison. "We will continue the fight to clear Dr. Kapoor's name," defense attorney Beth Wilkinson said in a statement. She said the long deliberations prove it was "far from an open-and-shut case." A former sales representative testified that regional sales manager Sunrise Lee once gave a lap dance at a Chicago nightclub to a doctor whom Insys was pushing to write more prescriptions. Lee's lawyer said she will challenge the verdict. Jurors also watched the rap video , which was shown at a national meeting in 2015 to motivate sales reps to push doctors to prescribe higher doses of the drug. At the end of the video, the person dressed up as the bottle takes off his costume and is revealed to be then-vice president of sales, Alec Burlakoff. Burlakoff pleaded guilty and testified against Kapoor. Burlakoff told the jury that he met Lee at the strip club where she worked and recruited her to join the company despite her lack of pharmaceutical industry experience because he believed she would be willing to help carry out the plan to pay off doctors. A former CEO of the company, Michael Babich, also pleaded guilty and testified against his colleagues. He said Insys recruited sales reps who were "easy on the eyes" because doctors didn't want an "unattractive person to walk in their door." Kapoor's attorney sought to shift the blame onto Burlakoff, who she said was cutting side deals with doctors. Wilkinson argued that Burlakoff and Babich were lying about Kapoor in an attempt to save themselves. Kapoor's lawyers also argued that prosecutors were unfairly blaming Insys for fueling the drug crisis, noting that the drug makes up a tiny fraction of the prescription opioid market. Several doctors have been convicted in other cases of participating in a kickback scheme. A number of states have sued the Insys, which also agreed last year to pay $150 million to settle a federal investigation into inappropriate sales. Insys said in an emailed statement that the "the actions of a select few former employees" are not indicative of the company's work today. ____ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://www.twitter.com/aedurkinricher An elderly couple in Australia were the surprise recipients of an illegal drug shipment after signing for a wrongly delivered parcel containing millions of dollars' worth of methamphetamine, police said Thursday. The Melbourne couple immediately called police when they discovered bags containing the white powder in the parcel on Wednesday, a police spokesman said. The package contained what police said were 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of AU$10 million (US$7 million). Police subsequently searched a house in another part of Melbourne where they found 20 more kilograms of the drug and arrested a 30-year-old man. He was charged Thursday with importing a marketable quantity of a controlled drug and was due to appear in court later in the day, police said. Police asked that the unwitting couple who helped catch the man not be identified by the media out of concern for their safety. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Almost half of e-scooter riders injured in Austin, Texas, suffered a "severe" injury, including bone fractures and severe bleeding, according to a study released Thursday. The study, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the city of Austin's health department, adds to the growing research about e-scooters, which arrived in cities in late 2017 and have spread rapidly ever since. Research so far has found that a majority of riders don't wear helmets, and many of those who are injured face significant injuries. An investigation published in February by Consumer Reports found that at least 1,500 riders across the U.S. had been injured since the scooters were introduced, and there were four fatalities. We believe this study is the first to conduct personal interviews directly with injured e-scooter riders, said Stephanie Hayden, director of Austin Public Health, in a statement. Our findings show the risks involved in riding scooters and have significant implications in considering what individual safety measures can help reduce injury. In total, the researchers identified 190 riders who were definitely or probably injured while using an e-scooter during a three-month period from September 2018 through November 2018. Of that group, nearly 48 percent suffered head injuries, the study says, and 33 percent were first-time riders. The study could fuel criticism of the e-scooter industry. The companies say that scooters are a way for cities to reduce congestion and reliance on cars. Lime, a main player in the field, called the CDC's report "an important one for everyone working to create safe, multimodal transportation systems that expand access, reduce congestion, and better link people with public transportation." Story continues "Were grateful to the CDCs team of researchers and the City of Austin for their commitment to this important topic, and we look forward to further partnering with the medical community and regulators to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and users of micromobility," says David Spielfogel, Lime's chief policy officer. "If we want to help people move around their communities efficiently and equitably, we need to ensure options besides cars are trusted as safe and reliable," he adds. "We are committed to understanding why incidents occur, how to enhance street designs, educating riders and drivers, and working together to create fundamental and lasting change. Bird, Lime's main competitor in the industry, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Riders Had Signs of 'Traumatic Brain Injury' The growing popularity of dockless e-scooters has become a concern in cities across the U.S. for more than a year. Few communities had clear rules in place to oversee the rollout of e-scooters, including where people can ride and park them. Scores of injuries followed, spurring some cities to ban the vehicles as medical professionals raised warnings about the potential for serious injuries. Consumer Reports' investigation in Februarywhich tabulated injuries from 110 hospitals in 47 cities across the U.S.found that emergency centers had witnessed a sharp uptick in e-scooter injuries. The CDC study found that riders sustained a range of injuries, including fractures, organ damage, and severe bleeding. Less than 1 percent of those covered by the survey wore a helmet at the time of their injury. And 15 percent had evidence "suggestive of a traumatic brain injury," including concussions or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Over one-third of those injured still said they would use a scooter again, according to the findings. The median age of injured riders was 29. The researchers say they were able to interview 125 of the injured riders, which provided insight into the circumstances of their crashes. Notably, a third said they were injured while riding on a sidewalk. Scooter companies tell riders not to use their vehicles on sidewalks. Ten percent of riders reported colliding with a motor vehicle, and 10 percent said their accidents involved a curb. Nearly 1 in 5 thought their scooter had malfunctioned. In response to the findings, the Austin Public Health department says that "routine surveilance" for injuries associated with e-scooters and other new transportation options is needed. The department also proposes that educational messages on safe e-scooter use should be increased. 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. Tesla(TSLA) said Thursday it plans to raise up to $2 billion, with $1.35 billion coming from convertible notes and $650 million from new equity, including a big purchase from CEO Elon Musk. In a filing, Musk signaled his intent to buy about $10 million of the electric auto maker's stock in the new offering. The total equity offering is for 2.7 million shares of Tesla. Musk's purchase would be 41,896 shares. Before the offering, Musk owned about 20% of Tesla's outstanding shares, worth about $12.6 billion, according to FactSet. The move comes only a week after Musk deferred on questions about the company raising capital any time soon. "I don't think raising capital should be a substitute for making the company operate more effectively," Musk told shareholders on the company's quarterly conference call. "I do think there is some merit to raising capital, but this is sort of probably about the right timing." Musk was pressed on the topic by Wall Street analysts on the call, since Tesla burned through around $2 billion in cash in the first quarter of 2019. Tesla shares fell in premarket trading Thursday when the company put out an initial filing indicating it would be offering a mix of debt and equity securities. The stock then reversed course and traded higher when a second filing revealed details of the offering, including Musk's interest in buying a block of the new shares. Shares closed trading up 4.3% at $244.10 a share. Musk's purchases have been reliable short-term buy signals for the stock, according to InsiderScore.com. Following the last five purchases by Musk, the shares were higher on average by 41% in the next three months, according to InsiderScore. Tesla shares have been under pressure lately, down nearly 30% this year. The stock's surge following the filing came from "the fact that they ripped off the Band-Aid and decided to raise the capital," Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC. Story continues "There was growing fears that this company was going to need incremental cash going to the second half of the year. For the first time, they listened to investors and the math doesn't lie in terms of what they needed to do," Ives said. "Now there's a relief because the liquidity issue and the finance concern could be put to rest in the near term." The offering is being underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale and Wells Fargo. CNBC's Yun Li contributed to this report. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) A beluga whale found in Arctic Norway wearing a harness that suggests links to Russia appears to be enjoying staying near humans. Joergen Ree Wiig, of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, told The Associated Press "it was the first thing I saw" when looking out of his office window Thursday in Hammerfest, a harbor near Norway's northernmost point. He said: "I thought I was dreaming." The tame whale was first spotted last week wearing a tight harness with a camera mount and "equipment St. Petersburg" written on the strap. It's still unclear why the strap was attached to the mammal or whether it was part of any Russian military activity in the region. Residents have been able to pet the mammal on its nose in recent days. Pakistan desire for peaceful-stable Afghanistan: Shah Mahmood Qureshi Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the renewed push for political settlement of the Afghan conflict has created new hopes and opportunities for peace in the war-torn country as well as the region, which no one can afford to miss. Talking to a delegation of Afghan politicians, academicians, journalists and businessmen, who are on a visit to Pakistan, the foreign minister conveyed Pakistans strong desire for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. He shared with the delegation the efforts Pakistan has made to facilitate the ongoing peace process and expressed the hope that the progress achieved so far will lead to a result oriented intra-Afghan dialogue. He underscored that the recent statement by Prime Minister Imran Khan, calling for reduction in violence and underscoring the need for intra-Afghan dialogue, is manifestation of Pakistans sincere desire for peaceful resolution of the conflict, which is a prerequisite for development of Afghanistan and the region. He emphasised that the government of Pakistans people-centric agenda of socio-economic development can only be achieved if there is peace in the region. Appreciating Pakistans key role in facilitating the Afghan peace process, the delegation thanked the foreign minister for his personal commitment, particularly his efforts to help build regional consensus on the issue. The delegation also shared proposals for building trust, strengthening political cooperation and enhancing trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. The delegates underscored that the real strength of Pak-Afghan relations is the strong people-to-people ties between the two brotherly countries. Photo: iStock At the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit was one of Conde Nast's must-visit destinations for 2018. Not only is Detroit known as a leader of American industry, the city's diverse communities also boast major contributions to music, art and architecture. Detroit was the first U.S. city to be named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, and is known as the home of Motown Records and the birthplace of techno. The city also offers many historic museums and arts institutions. Fortunately, there are plenty of relatively inexpensive flights between Cincinnati and Detroit, at least according to travel site Skyscanner. Heres a list of flights, hotels, restaurants and local attractions in Detroit to get you excited about your next excursion. (Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. Prices and availability are subject to change.) Flight deals to Detroit Currently, the cheapest flights between Cincinnati and Detroit are if you leave on May 24 and return from Michigan on May 28. Delta currently has tickets for $259, roundtrip. There are also deals to be had in June. If you fly out of Cincinnati on June 7 and return from Detroit on June 9, Delta can get you there and back for $278 roundtrip. Top Detroit hotels To plan your accommodations, here are some of Detroits top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction. The MotorCity Casino Hotel (2901 Grand River Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For an all-around top recommendation, consider The MotorCity Casino Hotel. The hotel has a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $178. This Detroit casino hotel is near the Masonic Temple and Fox Theatre. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit (1114 Washington Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner If you're looking to treat yourself, there's The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. With a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, the hotel is one of the most luxurious in the city. Rooms are currently listed for $179/night. Story continues The Atheneum (1000 Brush Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Another 4.7-star option is The Atheneum. Rooms are currently set at $129/night. Situated in Detroit, this family-friendly hotel is near the Campus Martius Park, GM Renaissance Center and Ford Field. Featured Detroit food and drink If you're looking to snag a bite at one of Detroit's many quality eateries, here are two popular culinary destinations from Skyscanner's listings that will help keep you satiated. Green Dot Stables (2200 W. Lafayette Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For a popular option, check out the Green Dot Stables, with five stars from six reviews. "The menu at Green Dot Stables is very eclectic. Each slider, side, salad or dessert you get ranges from $2 to $3," wrote reviewer Kenny. Slows Bar BQ (2138 Michigan Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Craving barbecue? Check out Slows Bar BQ, which has an average of 4.8 stars out of 22 reviews on Skyscanner. "If you love baby back ribs, this place serves them sliding off the bone," wrote visitor Lou. What to see and do in Detroit Not sure what to do in Detroit, besides eat and drink? Here are a few recommendations, provided by Skyscanner. The Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner First up is The Detroit Institute of Arts, with 4.7 stars from 45 reviews. Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for a chance to immerse yourself in global artwork and robust collections. The museum features over 60,000 collections, including pieces from America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Greenfield Village (20900 Oakwood Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Also, consider checking out Greenfield Village, located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. It checks in with 4.8 stars from 11 reviews on Skyscanner. "This is a great place to spend the day learning about history. My favorite part was Edison's workshop," wrote visitor Yvonne. Detroit Science Center (5020 John R St.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Finally, visit the Detroit Science Center. It checks in with 9.5 stars out of eight reviews on Skyscanner. "Its not your typical museum, you can actually do stuff, as in hands-on interactive exhibits dealing with everything from life science to space," wrote visitor Amanda. This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Photo: iStock At the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit was one of Conde Nast's must-visit destinations for 2018. Not only is Detroit known as a leader of American industry, the city's diverse communities also boast major contributions to music, art and architecture. Detroit was the first U.S. city to be named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, and is known as the home of Motown Records and the birthplace of techno. The city also offers many historic museums and arts institutions. Fortunately, there are plenty of relatively inexpensive flights between Nashville and Detroit, at least according to travel site Skyscanner. Heres a list of flights, hotels, restaurants and local attractions in Detroit to get you started. (Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. Prices and availability are subject to change.) Flight deals to Detroit Currently, the cheapest flights between Nashville and Detroit are if you leave on July 10 and return from Michigan on July 14. Delta currently has tickets for $215, roundtrip. There are also deals to be had in June. If you fly out of Nashville on June 15 and return from Detroit on June 19, American Airlines can get you there and back for $230 roundtrip. Top Detroit hotels To plan your accommodations, here are some of Detroits top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction. The MotorCity Casino Hotel (2901 Grand River Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For an all-around top recommendation, consider The MotorCity Casino Hotel. The hotel has a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $178. This Detroit casino hotel is near the Masonic Temple and Fox Theatre. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit (1114 Washington Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner If you're looking to treat yourself, there's The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. With a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, the hotel is one of the most luxurious in the city. Rooms are currently listed for $179/night. Story continues The Atheneum (1000 Brush Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Another 4.7-star option is The Atheneum. Rooms are currently set at $129/night. Situated in Detroit, this family-friendly hotel is near the Campus Martius Park, GM Renaissance Center and Ford Field. Featured Detroit food and drink If you're looking to snag a bite at one of Detroit's many quality eateries, here are two popular culinary destinations from Skyscanner's listings that will help keep you satiated. Green Dot Stables (2200 W. Lafayette Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For a popular option, check out the Green Dot Stables, with five stars from six reviews. "The menu at Green Dot Stables is very eclectic. Each slider, side, salad or dessert you get ranges from $2 to $3," wrote reviewer Kenny. Slows Bar BQ (2138 Michigan Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Craving barbecue? Check out Slows Bar BQ, which has an average of 4.8 stars out of 22 reviews on Skyscanner. "If you love baby back ribs, this place serves them sliding off the bone," wrote visitor Lou. What to see and do in Detroit Not sure what to do in Detroit, besides eat and drink? Here are a few recommendations, provided by Skyscanner. The Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner First up is The Detroit Institute of Arts, with 4.7 stars from 45 reviews. Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for a chance to immerse yourself in global artwork and robust collections. The museum features over 60,000 collections, including pieces from America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Greenfield Village (20900 Oakwood Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Also, consider checking out Greenfield Village, located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. It checks in with 4.8 stars from 11 reviews on Skyscanner. "This is a great place to spend the day learning about history. My favorite part was Edison's workshop," wrote visitor Yvonne. Detroit Science Center (5020 John R St.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Finally, visit the Detroit Science Center. It checks in with 9.5 stars out of eight reviews on Skyscanner. "Its not your typical museum, you can actually do stuff, as in hands-on interactive exhibits dealing with everything from life science to space," wrote visitor Amanda. This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions 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) - A former CIA officer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to pass U.S. defense and intelligence secrets to China, the Justice Department said on Wednesday, in the third such case in less than a year. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, was approached in 2010 by two Chinese intelligence officers who offered to pay him $100,000 and to take care of him "for life" for information he had acquired as a CIA officer, according to a Justice Department statement. Lee left the CIA in 2007 and moved to Hong Kong. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were subsequently paid into Lee's personal bank account between 2010 and 2013, according to the statement. The statement said Lee had created thumb drives containing secret information about CIA activities and the location and time frame of a sensitive operation. An FBI search in 2012 of a Honolulu hotel room registered to Lee also discovered handwritten notes by him about his work as a CIA officer before 2004. "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 statement said. U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said it was the third case in less than a year in which a former U.S. intelligence officer had pleaded guilty or been found guilty of conspiring to pass defense secrets to China. Every one of these cases is a tragic betrayal of country and colleagues," he said in the statement. Lee's sentencing is set for Aug. 23 and he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. In March, a former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officer, Ron Rockwell Hansen, pleaded guilty attempting to transmit classified information to China and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars while acting as an agent for Beijing. Last June, another former CIA case officer, Kevin Mallory, was convicted on espionage charges for passing classified documents to China. Story continues This week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said China posed the biggest threat to the United States when it came to economic espionage. Last month, the Justice Department said a former engineer and a Chinese businessman had been charged with economic espionage and conspiring to steal trade secrets from General Electric Co in a scheme for which the Chinese government provided "financial and other support." (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Andy Sullivan and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former CIA officer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to pass U.S. defense and intelligence secrets to China, the Justice Department said on Wednesday, in the third such case in less than a year. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, was approached in 2010 by two Chinese intelligence officers who offered to pay him $100,000 and to take care of him "for life" for information he had acquired as a CIA officer, according to a Justice Department statement. Lee left the CIA in 2007 and moved to Hong Kong. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were subsequently paid into Lee's personal bank account between 2010 and 2013, according to the statement. The statement said Lee had created thumb drives containing secret information about CIA activities and the location and time frame of a sensitive operation. An FBI search in 2012 of a Honolulu hotel room registered to Lee also discovered handwritten notes by him about his work as a CIA officer before 2004. "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 statement said. U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said it was the third case in less than a year in which a former U.S. intelligence officer had pleaded guilty or been found guilty of conspiring to pass defense secrets to China. Every one of these cases is a tragic betrayal of country and colleagues," he said in the statement. Lee's sentencing is set for Aug. 23 and he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Neither Chinese officials nor Lee's attorney were immediately available to comment after normal business hours. In March, a former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officer, Ron Rockwell Hansen, pleaded guilty attempting to transmit classified information to China and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars while acting as an agent for Beijing. Story continues Last June, another former CIA case officer, Kevin Mallory, was convicted on espionage charges for passing classified documents to China. This week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said China posed the biggest threat to the United States when it came to economic espionage. Last month, the Justice Department said a former engineer and a Chinese businessman had been charged with economic espionage and conspiring to steal trade secrets from General Electric Co in a scheme for which the Chinese government provided "financial and other support." (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Andy Sullivan and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) (Adds comments on African swine fever) By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA, May 1 (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. She said both pork producers are based in the country's eastern province of Quebec. "We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I cant speculate on why the permits have been suspended." 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. Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Bibeau said she did not know when the pork permit suspensions took effect. Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. Officials with the Canadian Pork Council, which represents Canadian hog farmers, said they were not aware of permits being suspended. The largest pork exporter in Quebec, Olymel, did not respond to requests for comment. Canada, the world's third-largest pork exporter, has shipped more pork this year to China, where the domestic pig herd has been ravaged by African swine fever (ASF). China bought C$514 million ($382.5 million) worth of Canadian pork in 2018. "With African swine fever, and the fact (the Chinese) are very big consumers of pork and here in Canada we are free from ASF, its surprising that this is happening," Bibeau said. China is the largest global producer and consumer of pork. Earlier on Wednesday, the Canadian government offered financial assistance to canola farmers who have been hit by a Chinese ban on imports and said it was looking to diversify into other markets. ($1 = 1.3438 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Diane Craft and G Crosse) (Adds comment from industry group on reason for suspension) By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA, May 1 (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, marking the latest irritant in a widening diplomatic dispute. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. She said both pork producers are based in the country's eastern province of Quebec. "We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I cant speculate on why the permits have been suspended." 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. Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Bibeau said she did not know when the pork permit suspensions took effect. Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. The permit suspensions are also due to paperwork problems, although not the same issue as before, according to Gary Stordy, spokesman for the Canadian Pork Council, which represents Canadian hog farmers. Stordy said the suspensions applied to two processing plants in Quebec. The largest pork exporter in Quebec, Olymel LP, did not respond to requests for comment. Canada, the world's third-largest pork exporter, has shipped more pork this year to China, where the domestic pig herd has been ravaged by African swine fever (ASF). China bought C$514 million ($382.5 million) worth of Canadian pork in 2018. Story continues "With African swine fever, and the fact (the Chinese) are very big consumers of pork and here in Canada we are free from ASF, its surprising that this is happening," Bibeau said. China is the largest global producer and consumer of pork. Earlier on Wednesday, the Canadian government offered financial assistance to canola farmers who have been hit by a Chinese ban on imports and said it was looking to diversify into other markets. ($1 = 1.3438 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Diane Craft and G Crosse) By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, marking the latest irritant in a widening diplomatic dispute. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. She said both pork producers are based in the country's eastern province of Quebec. "We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I cant speculate on why the permits have been suspended." 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. Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Bibeau said she did not know when the pork permit suspensions took effect. Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. The permit suspensions are also due to paperwork problems, although not the same issue as before, according to Gary Stordy, spokesman for the Canadian Pork Council, which represents Canadian hog farmers. Stordy said the suspensions applied to two processing plants in Quebec. The largest pork exporter in Quebec, Olymel LP, did not respond to requests for comment. Canada, the world's third-largest pork exporter, has shipped more pork this year to China, where the domestic pig herd has been ravaged by African swine fever (ASF). China bought C$514 million ($382.5 million) worth of Canadian pork in 2018. "With African swine fever, and the fact (the Chinese) are very big consumers of pork and here in Canada we are free from ASF, its surprising that this is happening," Bibeau said. China is the largest global producer and consumer of pork. Earlier on Wednesday, the Canadian government offered financial assistance to canola farmers who have been hit by a Chinese ban on imports and said it was looking to diversify into other markets. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Diane Craft and G Crosse) By Julia Harte WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department allowed at least seven foreign governments to rent luxury condominiums in New York's Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress, according to documents and people familiar with the leases, a potential violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause. The 90-story Manhattan building, part of the real estate empire of Donald Trump, had housed diplomats and foreign officials before the property developer became president. But now that he is in the White House, such transactions must pass muster with federal lawmakers, some legal experts say. The emoluments clause bans U.S. officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional consent. The rental transactions, dating from the early months of Trump's presidency and first revealed by Reuters, could add to mounting scrutiny of his business dealings with foreign governments, which are now the subject of multiple lawsuits. Congressional staffers confirmed to Reuters that the Trump World Tower lease requests were never submitted to Congress. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said his committee has been "stonewalled" in its efforts to obtain detailed information about foreign government payments to Trump's businesses. "This new information raises serious questions about the President and his businesses' potential receipt of payments from foreign governments," Cummings said in a statement to Reuters. "The American public deserves full transparency." A State Department spokesperson referred Reuters to the Justice Department because the subject involved "matters related to ongoing litigation." The Justice Department declined to comment. The White House referred a request for comment to the State Department and the Trump Organization, which did not comment. The 1982 Foreign Missions Act requires foreign governments to get State Department clearance for any purchase, lease, sale, or other use of a property in the United States. Through the Freedom of Information Act, Reuters obtained diplomatic notes sent to the agency under this requirement from early 2015 until late 2017. The records show that in the eight months following Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration, foreign governments sent 13 notes to the State Department seeking permission to rent or renew leases in Trump World Tower. That is more solicitations from foreign governments for new or renewed leases in that building than in the previous two years combined. The governments of Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Thailand and the European Union got the green light to rent a combined eight units in Trump World Tower and followed through with leases, according to other documents viewed by Reuters and people familiar with the leases. Five of those governments - Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the European Union - had also sought to rent units there in 2015 and 2016, State Department records showed. Reuters could not confirm whether the State Department signed off on two other lease requests from Algeria and South Korea and three additional requests from Kuwait. "Letting this go without Congress knowing about it condones the creation of a second, opaque track of foreign policy," said Harold Hongju Koh, a professor at Yale Law School and former legal adviser at the State Department. "What it might lead to is a group of countries enriching the people in power on the mistaken belief that it's going to improve their access." (For a graphic on foreign government leases at Trump World Tower, see: https://tmsnrt.rs/2DHJKOS) The 18-year-old luxury skyscraper is located next to the United Nations headquarters near the East River, and is not to be confused with Trump Tower, the Fifth Avenue landmark where Trump maintains a residence. Trump World Tower is controlled by a limited partnership owned by Trump and managed by the Trump Corporation, a Trump-owned company that draws its income from fees paid by unit owners, according to the building's financial records. When privately-owned units are leased, their owners typically use the rental income to cover those common charges, according to unit owners and real estate experts interviewed by Reuters. The State Department records did not make clear who owned the units in question. The revenue Trump draws from foreign government business at his properties, such as the recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., has sparked lawsuits by U.S. lawmakers and the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia, alleging this income violates the emoluments clause. Trump's attorneys have argued in court that the Constitution only requires him to seek congressional approval for foreign emoluments offered in connection with his role as president. Trump has retained ownership of his global business interests while president, but handed off day-to-day control to his oldest sons and a longtime company executive. On Tuesday, a U.S. federal judge denied Trump's motion to dismiss one of the emoluments lawsuits against him, saying Trump's narrow definition of emoluments was "unpersuasive and inconsistent". Courts may ultimately decide whether some of Trump's business dealings violate the Constitution. Issuing such judgments is not the job of the State Department office in charge of reviewing foreign government property requests, according to Patrick Kennedy, who from 2007 to 2017 was the top State Department official in charge of the internal administration of the agency. He said that office's mandate is to screen for national security and diplomatic concerns, not for potential emolument violations. If the State Department began obstructing requests from foreign governments to lease units in Trump-affiliated properties, he said, it could prompt them to retaliate against U.S. diplomats seeking housing in their territories. "The State Department's interest in saying 'no' is probably zero if there's no security threat and we have good reciprocal relations with the countries," Kennedy told Reuters. 'CONVENIENT AND COMFORTABLE' According to the State Department records obtained by Reuters, which covered the period from January 2015 through September 2017, Trump World Tower was the only Trump-affiliated building in the United States where foreign governments sought to lease or buy units. In 2017, the median monthly asking rent for units in Trump World Tower was $8,500, according to real estate website StreetEasy. That was more than 2.5 times the median in the surrounding neighborhood, known as Turtle Bay. Some of the foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, had previously purchased property in the building, where the average unit currently sells for nearly $7 million, according to StreetEasy. Mohammad Alkadi, a spokesman for the Saudi Mission to the United Nations, said Trump World Tower's prime location near U.N. headquarters was the kingdom's motivation to lease there. "The governments pay for these units in the building not to get favors from Trump or anything, but just because it's very convenient and comfortable for us," Alkadi said. He said he moved into his own unit in Trump World Tower at the end of 2017. The Trump administration has closely aligned itself with Saudi Arabia on a host of issues, despite a CIA assessment that the country's crown prince ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and U.S. congressional opposition to American involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has driven millions of Yemenis to the brink of starvation. Slovakia, another Trump World Tower renter, said in a statement that its lease was "fully in line with U.S. legislation and our internal guidelines." Slovakia's prime minister is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on May 3 to discuss security cooperation and other issues. The Malaysian mission to the United Nations said it was not currently renting a unit in Trump World Tower when reached by phone in April. It declined to comment on the unit it rented in 2017. That lease was confirmed to Reuters by a person familiar with the transaction. All the other governments that sought to rent units after Trump's inauguration declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. In 2017, the president earned more than $15 million in management and related fees through the properties managed by the Trump Corporation, according to the president's financial disclosure. The document did not reveal how much of that sum came from Trump World Tower. (GRAPHIC: Foreign government interest in Trump World Tower leases - https://tmsnrt.rs/2DHJKOS) (Reporting by Julia Harte in Washington; Editing by Jason Szep and Marla Dickerson) (Corrects Tesla executive's title to global supply manager for battery metals instead of head of minerals procurement, paragraph 1.) By Ernest Scheyder WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc expects global shortages of nickel, copper and other electric-vehicle battery minerals in the near future due to underinvestment in the mining sector, the company's global supply manager for battery metals told an industry conference on Thursday, according to two sources. The company, a major minerals consumer, has rarely talked publicly about its views on the metals industry. Copper, nickel, lithium and related minerals are key components used to make electric-vehicle batteries and other parts. Sarah Maryssael, Tesla's global supply manager for battery metals, told a closed-door Washington conference of miners, regulators and lawmakers that the automaker sees a shortage of key EV minerals coming in the near future, according to the sources. Tesla did not immediately comment. The copper industry has suffered from years of underinvestment, and it is now working feverishly to develop new mines and bring fresh supply online as the electrification trend envelops the global economy. Freeport-McMoRan Inc, the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, is expanding in the United States and Indonesia. Electric cars use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines. So-called smart-home systems - such as Alphabet Inc's Nest thermostat and Amazon.com Inc's Alexa personal assistant - will consume about 1.5 million tonnes of copper by 2030, up from 38,000 tonnes today, according to data from consultancy BSRIA. All that will make the red metal - and other minerals - scarcer commodities, which worries Tesla. Maryssael added, according to the sources, that Tesla will continue to focus more on nickel, part of a plan by Chief Executive Elon Musk to use less cobalt in battery cathodes. Cobalt is primarily mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and some extraction techniques - especially those using child labor - have made its use deeply unpopular across the battery industry, especially with Musk. Maryssael told the conference, hosted by commodity pricing tracker Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, that there is "huge potential" for Tesla to partner with mines in Australia or the United States, according to the sources. The conference, attended by more than 100 people, featured speakers from the U.S. Department of State and Department of Energy, as well as Standard Lithium Ltd, ioneer Ltd and other companies working to develop U.S. lithium mines. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Washington Editing by Matthew Lewis) By Ernest Scheyder WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. senator plans to introduce legislation on Thursday to streamline regulation and permitting requirements for the development of mines for lithium, graphite and other electric-vehicle supply chain minerals, part of a plan to offset China's dominance in the space. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Republican chair of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will introduce the Minerals Security Act alongside Senator Joe Manchin. "Our challenge is still a failure to understand the vulnerability we are in as a nation when it comes to reliance on others for our minerals," Murkowski told Reuters. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder Editing by Matthew Lewis) Pakistan hopeful of success in the talks with IMF: Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday said that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a proposed bailout package would continue during the next few days, and that Pakistan was hopeful of success in the talks with the global lender. Pakistani officials and IMF representatives held an important meeting in the federal capital earlier in the day. The Pakistani delegation was led by Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and included three additional secretaries and a senior joint secretary from the Finance Ministry. Secretaries from the power and petroleum divisions, and the chairmen of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) also participated in the talks. In a brief conversation with journalists following the conclusion of the days talks, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said initial negotiations were held with the IMF team, which was also briefed on the economic reforms. The visiting IMF delegation, which arrived in Islamabad on Monday, is expected to conclude the technical details of the proposed loan by May 6. The proposed bailout package is expected to range between $7 billion and $8 billion. According to sources, Wednesdays round of talks focused on briefing the IMF team on the tax amnesty scheme by the FBR, privatisation programme, power and gas tariffs and the governments policies. (Adds comments by U.S. senator, industry details) By Ernest Scheyder WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. senator plans to introduce legislation on Thursday to streamline regulation and permitting requirements for the development of mines for lithium, graphite and other electric-vehicle supply chain minerals, part of a plan to offset China's dominance in the space. While Tesla Inc, Volkswagen AG and other electric-focused automakers and battery manufacturers are expanding in the United States, they are reliant on mineral imports without a major push to develop more domestic mines and processing facilities. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who is chair of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told Reuters she will introduce the Minerals Security Act alongside Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. "Our challenge is still a failure to understand the vulnerability we are in as a nation when it comes to reliance on others for our minerals," Murkowski said. China already dominates the electric-vehicle supply chain. It produces nearly two-thirds of the worlds lithium-ion batteries - compared with 5 percent for the United States - and controls most of the worlds lithium processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks prices for lithium and other commodities and held a Washington event on Thursday designed to bring together miners, regulators and lawmakers. The meeting, attended by more than 100 people, featured speakers from Tesla, the U.S. Department of State and Department of Energy, as well as Standard Lithium Ltd, ioneer Ltd and other companies working to develop U.S. lithium mines. The United States is not the only country playing catch-up with China. France and Germany asked the European Commission earlier this week to support a 1.7 billion-euro ($1.9 billion) battery cell consortium to thwart Asian rivals' growth in the space. Story continues "From a national security perspective, when you are vulnerable, as the United States is and many of our friends and allies are, on a resource that you need, that is a weakness," Murkowski said. "We don't want that weakness to be exposed." Murkowksi said China's lead in the EV supply-chain sector gives the country an edge in the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. "My greatest challenge right now is to educate other members of Congress as to why this needs to be a national priority," she said. The Trump administration sent a State Department official to speak at Thursday's event. "We think it's important for us to talk about these new technologies and how minerals play into this," said Kent Logsdon, principal deputy assistant secretary at State. ($1 = 0.8946 euros) (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Washington Editing by Matthew Lewis) * President-elect's wife bought luxury flat at cheap rate * Seller was Ukrainian tycoon and former lawmaker * Zelenskiy campaigned as someone outside wealthy elite * No evidence Zelenskiy/wife did anything wrong to get deal * Zelenskiy camp said sale was in line with market at time (Adds second statement from Zelenskiy) By Natalia Zinets, Polina Ivanova and Rinat Sagdiev KIEV/MOSCOW, May 1 (Reuters) - The wife of Ukrainian president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy bought a luxury apartment for less than half the market rate from business tycoon Oleksandr Buryak, according to official income and property records. Zelenskiy, a comedian and TV star with no political experience, won the April 21 presidential election after campaigning as someone who stands apart from the wealthy elite that dominates Ukrainian business and politics. But the deal over the apartment -- in the upmarket "Emperor" complex on the Black Sea coast -- indicates that Zelenskiy's family has benefited from a transaction with a member of that same wealthy elite. Reuters was unable to establish why the apartment was sold at below market prices. Neither Zelenskiy nor his wife responded to requests for comment submitted via his campaign team and via companies he co-owns. In a statement issued after Reuters reported the apartment deal, Zelenskiy's campaign office said all Ukrainian taxes and fees had been paid and that the property had been declared in line with the law. It also said that the apartment's price had been consistent with the then market level. A second statement said the apartment's price had been professionally assessed and compared to others in the area as part of the sale process. The step was mandatory for the sale to be recognized by a notary, it said. Buryak, the businessman who, according to public property register documents sold the apartment, declined to comment on the apartment when Reuters contacted him by telephone, and did not respond to written questions. Story continues Zelenskiy's wife, Olena Zelenska, bought the three-room penthouse apartment on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula for $163,893 in April 2013, according to the declaration of income and assets filed this year by her husband, and the Ukrainian property register. For the purchase, made the year before Russia annexed Crimea, she paid the equivalent of about $1,263 per square meter. A 2012 listing published on Ukrainian real estate site domik.ua put the price for an apartment in the Emperor complex in a range of between $3,500 and $4,000 per square meter. A second listing for the same building, published in 2012 on the indoor-estate.ru site, gave the minimum price as $2,800 per square meter. A Crimea real estate agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that apartments comparable to those in the Emperor complex usually sold in 2013 for between $2,500 and $3,000 per square meter but could go for up to $5,000. Buryak is a former member of the Ukrainian parliament who, with his brother Sergei, was controlling shareholder in Ukrainian lender Brokbiznesbank from at least 2010 until they sold the majority stake in mid-2013, according to data from Ukraine's securities and exchange commission and a disclosure statement from the bank. Unnamed former Brokbiznesbank executives are under criminal investigation on suspicion that they embezzled money from the bank starting in 2012, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. As part of that investigation, prosecutors seized the assets of two companies suspected of benefiting from the alleged fraud, court documents show. Both firms, Seredynetske and Svarog-Bukovyna, are owned by Oleksandr Buryak and were owned by him at the time the alleged fraud took place, according to the official Ukrainian register of company ownership. Buryak did not respond to questions about the investigation. Reuters could not independently confirm if he is being investigated. A representative from Svarog West Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Seredynetske and Svarog-Bukovyna are parts of Svarog West Group. WEALTHY ASSOCIATES Zelenskiy's opponents accuse him of being a pawn of Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's richest men whose media company has worked closely with the comedian's TV production business. Both Zelenskiy and Kolomoisky deny the president-elect is under the tycoon's influence. Kolomoisky told Reuters he believed Buryak sold the apartment to Zelenska cheaply because his bank was short of liquidity and he needed to raise cash quickly. He did not offer evidence to support that claim. The Ukrainian central bank declared Brokbiznesbank illiquid on Feb. 28, 2014, 10 months after the apartment sale. In November 2013, six months after the apartment was sold, Ukrainian ratings agency "Expert-Rating," in a report published on the Brokbiznesbank website, said the bank's finances were robust and its liquidity was significantly above the average level for the sector. Buryak volunteered for Zelenskiy's election campaign this year, according to data from the election commission. He was delegated by the campaign to monitor for vote violations on polling day in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskiy's home region. PRIME REAL ESTATE Guarded by a pair of stone lions either side of its entrance, the Emperor complex sits in thickly-wooded parkland overlooking the Black Sea in the Crimean resort of Yalta. Next door is the Livadia Palace, where U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed while attending the Yalta conference with Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Britain's Winston Churchill at the end of World War Two. Zelenska is given as the current owner of the apartment in the Ukrainian property register. Her apartment was listed for sale with the Prichal 82 real estate agency in April at a price of $790,668, more than four times the purchase price in 2013 or the equivalent of $5,195 per square meter. (Additional reporting by David Axelrod in YALTA, Crimea, and Anton Zverev in Moscow; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Mike Collett-White) Vinci (Italy) (AFP) - A lock of what some historians think is Leonardo da Vinci's hair went on display Thursday at a museum in his Tuscan birthplace as they seek to prove it contains his DNA 500 years after the genius died. Presenting what he called a "relic" at the Leonardo library in Vinci devoted to the painter and Renaissance giant, art historian Alessandro Vezzosi told AFP how the whitish-blond hairs emerged from the shadows. "This lock remained secret for a long time before we discovered it three years ago in the United States," he said. "It will allow us to do DNA research on Leonardo," Vezzosi added. "After studying Da Vinci's genaeology for 40 years, in 2016 we presented 35 living descendants of the master, and a short time later I was contacted by the collector who owns it and who agreed to show it." Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452, in Vinci, northwest of Florence, the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and a teenaged peasant. He died May 2, 1519, in Amboise, central France, where he had lived as the guest of King Francis I. Leonardo had no children but he had a dozen half-siblings on his father's side and several more on his mother's side. Less than a decade later, Leonardo's patron left the Loire Valley for Paris and Fontainebleau. Although the chateau would again become a royal seat, it gradually fell into decline. Vezzosi chose the symbolic 500th anniversary of his death to present the lock of hair as part of the "Leonardo Lives" exhibition curated with Agnese Sabato. The lock is accompanied by a notice reading "The hair of Leonardo da Vinci" in French, along with a bronze ring that documents describe as having been worn by the Florentine genius. - Living descendants - "We are not 100 percent sure it is his hair, we are saying it is possible through genaeological research to compare the genetic material's DNA with that of Leonardo's living descendants who have been found in Tuscany," Vezzosi said. Story continues Other comparisons are to be made with material recovered from tombs in France and Spain, the Renaissance specialist added. Eike Schmidt of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence doubts the hair is authentic, however. "No specialist thinks so, and it is extremely unlikely that a lock of Leonardo's hair could wind up in an American collection," he told Italian media on Thursday. "The tradition of collecting locks of famous people's hair dates from the Romantic period, in the 19th century," Schmidt said. Vezzosi said it was known that the relics presented in Vinci belonged to French writer Arsene Houssaye, a museum director who discovered a stone coffin during an excavation in 1863 at Amboise's royal chateau in the Loire Valley. Inside he found a skeleton whose right hand was placed behind its head along with stone fragments on which were inscribed -EO -AR -DUS -VINC- and French and Italian medals that dated from early in the reign of Francois I. There were also a few bits of a beard, and white hairs. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life in France at the invitation of the French king, a patron of the arts keen to support the Italian master's vast talents. The Renaissance master died at the age of 67 and according to the terms of his will, was buried at the chateau's chapel, which was destroyed in 1807 -- with authorities apparently unaware that Leonardo was buried there. The unidentified bones turned up during Houssaye's excavation and were interred in 1874 at chapel of Saint Hubert, with plaques in French and Italian stating they are the "presumed remains" of the Renaissance master. Those remains are to be left untroubled now as experts try to determine if the hair is genuine, because disturbing them "might be seen as a profanation", Vezzosi said. "With the living descendants and tombs of descendants we are able to make comparisons without troubling the tomb (of Leonardo) which is a site of historical and symbolic signification to be respected," the historian said. He plans to present the results of his research within a few months. By Jan Wolfe (Reuters) - U.S. House Democrats threatened on Thursday to hold Attorney General William Barr in "contempt of Congress" for not complying with a subpoena to hand over an unredacted version of the Mueller report. What does that mean? Congress does not arrest and detain people for ignoring its subpoenas anymore, but it still has significant power to demand witnesses and documents, though it could take time. The contempt citation is a key part of that congressional clout. President Donald Trump, with Barr's assistance, is stonewalling several inquiries being led by Democrats in the House of Representatives into his administration, his family and his personal business interests. The confrontation between the White House and Congress escalated on Thursday when Barr refused to appear for a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. The report focused on Russian interference in favor of Trump in the 2016 U.S. election and subsequent attempts by Trump to impede Mueller's investigation. Here is how the congressional subpoena, contempt and enforcement process works. What is a subpoena? A subpoena is a legally enforceable demand for documents, data, or witness testimony. Subpoenas are typically used by litigants in court cases. The Supreme Court has recognized Congress's power to issue subpoenas, saying in order to write laws it also needs to be able to investigate. Congress' power to issue subpoenas, while broad, is not unlimited. The high court has said Congress is not a law enforcement agency, and cannot investigate someone purely to expose wrongdoing or damaging information about them for political gain. A subpoena must potentially further some "legitimate legislative purpose," the court has said. What can Congress do to a government official who ignores one? If lawmakers want to punish someone who ignores a congressional subpoena they typically first hold the offender "in contempt of Congress," legal experts said. The contempt process can start in either the House or the Senate. Unlike with legislation, it only takes one of the chambers to make and enforce a contempt citation. Typically, the members of the congressional committee that issued the subpoena will vote on whether to move forward with a contempt finding. If a majority supports the resolution, then another vote will be held by the entire chamber. The Democrats have majority control of the House; Trump's Republican Party holds the Senate. Only a majority of the 435-member House needs to support a contempt finding for one to be reached. After a contempt vote, Congress has powers to enforce a subpoena. How is a contempt finding enforced? The Supreme Court said in 1821 that Congress has "inherent authority" to arrest and detain recalcitrant witnesses. In 1927, the high court said the Senate acted lawfully in sending its deputy sergeant-at-arms to Ohio to arrest and detain the brother of the then-attorney general, who had refused to testify about a bribery scheme known as the Teapot Dome scandal. It has been almost a century since Congress exercised this arrest-and-detain authority, and the practice is unlikely to make a comeback, legal experts said. Alternatively, Congress can ask the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, a federal prosecutor, to bring criminal charges against a witness who refuses to appear. There is a criminal law that specifically prohibits flouting a congressional subpoena. But this option is also unlikely to be pursued, at least when it comes to subpoenas against executive branch officials, given that federal prosecutors are part of the branch's Justice Department. "It would be odd, structurally, because it would mean the Trump administration would be acting to enforce subpoenas against the Trump administration," said Lisa Kern Griffin, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at Duke University. For this reason, in modern times Congress has opted for a third and final approach to enforcing a contempt finding: getting its lawyers to bring a civil lawsuit asking a judge to rule that compliance is required. Failure to comply with such an order can trigger a "contempt of court" finding, enforced through daily fines and even imprisonment, Griffin said. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Kevin Drawbuagh and Sonya Hepinstall) By Jan Wolfe May 2 (Reuters) - U.S. House Democrats threatened on Thursday to hold Attorney General William Barr in "contempt of Congress" for not complying with a subpoena to hand over an unredacted version of the Mueller report. What does that mean? Congress does not arrest and detain people for ignoring its subpoenas anymore, but it still has significant power to demand witnesses and documents, though it could take time. The contempt citation is a key part of that congressional clout. President Donald Trump, with Barr's assistance, is stonewalling several inquiries being led by Democrats in the House of Representatives into his administration, his family and his personal business interests. The confrontation between the White House and Congress escalated on Thursday when Barr refused to appear for a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. The report focused on Russian interference in favor of Trump in the 2016 U.S. election and subsequent attempts by Trump to impede Mueller's investigation. Here is how the congressional subpoena, contempt and enforcement process works. What is a subpoena? A subpoena is a legally enforceable demand for documents, data, or witness testimony. Subpoenas are typically used by litigants in court cases. The Supreme Court has recognized Congress's power to issue subpoenas, saying in order to write laws it also needs to be able to investigate. Congress' power to issue subpoenas, while broad, is not unlimited. The high court has said Congress is not a law enforcement agency, and cannot investigate someone purely to expose wrongdoing or damaging information about them for political gain. A subpoena must potentially further some "legitimate legislative purpose," the court has said. What can Congress do to a government official who ignores one? If lawmakers want to punish someone who ignores a congressional subpoena they typically first hold the offender "in contempt of Congress," legal experts said. Story continues The contempt process can start in either the House or the Senate. Unlike with legislation, it only takes one of the chambers to make and enforce a contempt citation. Typically, the members of the congressional committee that issued the subpoena will vote on whether to move forward with a contempt finding. If a majority supports the resolution, then another vote will be held by the entire chamber. The Democrats have majority control of the House; Trump's Republican Party holds the Senate. Only a majority of the 435-member House needs to support a contempt finding for one to be reached. After a contempt vote, Congress has powers to enforce a subpoena. How is a contempt finding enforced? The Supreme Court said in 1821 that Congress has "inherent authority" to arrest and detain recalcitrant witnesses. In 1927, the high court said the Senate acted lawfully in sending its deputy sergeant-at-arms to Ohio to arrest and detain the brother of the then-attorney general, who had refused to testify about a bribery scheme known as the Teapot Dome scandal. It has been almost a century since Congress exercised this arrest-and-detain authority, and the practice is unlikely to make a comeback, legal experts said. Alternatively, Congress can ask the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, a federal prosecutor, to bring criminal charges against a witness who refuses to appear. There is a criminal law that specifically prohibits flouting a congressional subpoena. But this option is also unlikely to be pursued, at least when it comes to subpoenas against executive branch officials, given that federal prosecutors are part of the branch's Justice Department. "It would be odd, structurally, because it would mean the Trump administration would be acting to enforce subpoenas against the Trump administration," said Lisa Kern Griffin, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at Duke University. For this reason, in modern times Congress has opted for a third and final approach to enforcing a contempt finding: getting its lawyers to bring a civil lawsuit asking a judge to rule that compliance is required. Failure to comply with such an order can trigger a "contempt of court" finding, enforced through daily fines and even imprisonment, Griffin said. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe Editing by Kevin Drawbuagh and Sonya Hepinstall) By Jan Wolfe May 2 (Reuters) - Like numerous U.S. presidents before him, Donald Trump could cite the legal doctrine of "executive privilege" to try to block congressional investigators from getting access to certain documents and witnesses they are seeking. Trump is stonewalling Congress on multiple probes of himself, his presidency and his businesses, blasting them as "presidential harassment." In an unusual move, he is even suing to stop the release of some materials that lawmakers want. Here is how executive privilege works and how useful it might be to Trump as the investigations close in on him. WHAT IS EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE? Executive privilege is a legal principle that allows the president to refuse to comply with demands for information like congressional subpoenas or Freedom of Information Act requests. The doctrine is generally used to keep private the nature of conversations the president has with advisers, or internal discussions among executive branch officials. The idea is that the White House operates more effectively if the president and his aides can have private, candid conversations, without worrying about public scrutiny. WHERE DOES THE DOCTRINE COME FROM? Executive privilege is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, the foundation of U.S. law. But the Supreme Court has said that it is fundamental to the operation of government and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution. Its first use may have been President Thomas Jeffersons refusal to provide evidence in a treason prosecution against his former vice president Aaron Burr. In the end, a judge ordered Jefferson to produce the evidence, which Burr said would exonerate him, and Burr was acquitted. The term "executive privilege" was not used until the 1950s. The doctrine's contours were unclear until a 1974 Supreme Court case. In U.S. v. Nixon, President Richard Nixon was ordered to deliver tapes and other subpoenaed materials to a federal judge for review. The justices ruled 9-0 that a president's right to privacy in his communications must be balanced against Congress' need to investigate and oversee the executive branch. U.S. v. Nixon is also widely understood to mean that executive privilege cannot be used to cover up wrongdoing. That view was endorsed by current U.S. Attorney General William Barr during his Senate confirmation hearing. One lesson of U.S. v. Nixon is that an executive privilege claim is particularly weak when Congress has invoked its power to remove a president from office through impeachment, said Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri. In the impeachment context, "virtually no part of a presidents duties or behavior is exempt from scrutiny," Bowman said. Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all invoked executive privilege in response to congressional investigations. But compared with previous presidents, recent ones have hesitated to claim executive privilege, in part because of how Nixon used it, said Mitchel Sollenberger, a politics professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. "Once you do an executive privilege claim, it becomes a politically charged event," Sollenberger said. "The media sees that, and it flares up quickly." CAN TRUMP USE EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE TO BLOCK MCGAHN'S TESTIMONY? Legal experts said that conversations between a president and the White House counsel were exactly the sort of thing that executive privilege is intended to keep private. On the other hand, a strong argument could be made that Trump long ago forfeited, or waived, his right to make an executive privilege claim over his conversations with Don McGahn, said Michael Stern, a former congressional lawyer in Washington. Much like the attorney-client privilege, executive privilege is intended to keep conversations private. Generally speaking, once third parties are told about such conversations, they are no longer secret and the privilege has been waived, legal experts said. McGahn, then the White House counsel, was allowed to sit for several interviews with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team and McGahn's testimony was cited 157 times in Mueller's 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and Trump's attempts to impede that inquiry. That means any executive privilege claim has likely been waived, Stern said. Other lawyers have argued that making McGahn available for interviews was not a total waiver. They said Trump could still invoke the doctrine to limit some of McGahn's testimony. Barr seemed to endorse that view during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying: "We haven't waived his privilege." HOW DOES CONGRESS COMBAT AN EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE CLAIM? If McGahn, whose departure from the White House was announced by Trump in August 2018, refuses to testify, Congress could vote to hold him "in contempt of Congress" and then go to court and ask a judge to issue an order forcing him to comply. The judge would then decide the merits of an executive privilege claim. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney) Photo: iStock At the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit was one of Conde Nast's must-visit destinations for 2018. Not only is Detroit known as a leader of American industry, the city's diverse communities also boast major contributions to music, art and architecture. Detroit was the first U.S. city to be named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, and is known as the home of Motown Records and the birthplace of techno. The city also offers many historic museums and arts institutions. Its more doable than you think. According to travel site Skyscanner, there are plenty of flights from Louisville to Detroit in the next few months, and the prices aren't too shabby. So if you're looking for a change of scenery, here are some deals to put on your to-do list. (Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. Prices and availability are subject to change.) Cheapest Detroit flights Currently, the cheapest flights between Louisville and Detroit are if you leave on June 6 and return from Michigan on June 8. Delta currently has tickets for $237, roundtrip. Delta also has tickets at that price point in July. If you fly out of Louisville on July 11 and return from Detroit on July 13, Delta can get you there and back for $237 roundtrip. Top Detroit hotels To plan your accommodations, here are some of Detroits top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction. The MotorCity Casino Hotel (2901 Grand River Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For an all-around top recommendation, consider The MotorCity Casino Hotel. The hotel has a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $178. This Detroit casino hotel is near the Masonic Temple and Fox Theatre. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit (1114 Washington Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner If you're looking to treat yourself, there's The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. With a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, the hotel is one of the most luxurious in the city. Rooms are currently listed for $179/night. Story continues The Atheneum (1000 Brush Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Another 4.7-star option is The Atheneum. Rooms are currently set at $129/night. Situated in Detroit, this family-friendly hotel is near the Campus Martius Park, GM Renaissance Center and Ford Field. Featured Detroit food and drink If you're looking to snag a bite at one of Detroit's many quality eateries, here are two popular culinary destinations from Skyscanner's listings that will help keep you satiated. Green Dot Stables (2200 W. Lafayette Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For a popular option, check out the Green Dot Stables, with five stars from six reviews. "The menu at Green Dot Stables is very eclectic. Each slider, side, salad or dessert you get ranges from $2 to $3," wrote reviewer Kenny. Slows Bar BQ (2138 Michigan Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Craving barbecue? Check out Slows Bar BQ, which has an average of 4.8 stars out of 22 reviews on Skyscanner. "If you love baby back ribs, this place serves them sliding off the bone," wrote visitor Lou. What to see and do in Detroit Not sure what to do in Detroit, besides eat and drink? Here are a few recommendations, provided by Skyscanner. The Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner First up is The Detroit Institute of Arts, with 4.7 stars from 45 reviews. Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for a chance to immerse yourself in global artwork and robust collections. The museum features over 60,000 collections, including pieces from America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Greenfield Village (20900 Oakwood Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Also, consider checking out Greenfield Village, located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. It checks in with 4.8 stars from 11 reviews on Skyscanner. "This is a great place to spend the day learning about history. My favorite part was Edison's workshop," wrote visitor Yvonne. Detroit Science Center (5020 John R St.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Finally, visit the Detroit Science Center. It checks in with 9.5 stars out of eight reviews on Skyscanner. "Its not your typical museum, you can actually do stuff, as in hands-on interactive exhibits dealing with everything from life science to space," wrote visitor Amanda. This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Photo: iStock At the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit was one of Conde Nast's must-visit destinations for 2018. Not only is Detroit known as a leader of American industry, the city's diverse communities also boast major contributions to music, art and architecture. Detroit was the first U.S. city to be named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, and is known as the home of Motown Records and the birthplace of techno. The city also offers many historic museums and arts institutions. Using travel site Skyscanner, weve sifted through the cheapest flights between Virginia Beach and Detroit in the next few months, including some popular hotel options and favorite local attractions. (Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. Prices and availability are subject to change.) Cheapest Detroit flights Currently, the cheapest flights between Virginia Beach and Detroit are if you leave on June 1 and return from Michigan on June 4. Delta currently has tickets for $219, roundtrip. There are also deals to be had in July. If you fly out of Virginia Beach on July 11 and return from Detroit on July 15, Delta can get you there and back for $239 roundtrip. Top Detroit hotels To plan your accommodations, here are some of Detroits top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction. The MotorCity Casino Hotel (2901 Grand River Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For an all-around top recommendation, consider The MotorCity Casino Hotel. The hotel has a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $178. This Detroit casino hotel is near the Masonic Temple and Fox Theatre. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit (1114 Washington Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner If you're looking to treat yourself, there's The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. With a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, the hotel is one of the most luxurious in the city. Rooms are currently listed for $179/night. Story continues The Atheneum (1000 Brush Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Another 4.7-star option is The Atheneum. Rooms are currently set at $129/night. Situated in Detroit, this family-friendly hotel is near the Campus Martius Park, GM Renaissance Center and Ford Field. Featured Detroit food and drink If you're looking to snag a bite at one of Detroit's many quality eateries, here are two popular culinary destinations from Skyscanner's listings that will help keep you satiated. Green Dot Stables (2200 W. Lafayette Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For a popular option, check out the Green Dot Stables, with five stars from six reviews. "The menu at Green Dot Stables is very eclectic. Each slider, side, salad or dessert you get ranges from $2 to $3," wrote reviewer Kenny. Slows Bar BQ (2138 Michigan Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Craving barbecue? Check out Slows Bar BQ, which has an average of 4.8 stars out of 22 reviews on Skyscanner. "If you love baby back ribs, this place serves them sliding off the bone," wrote visitor Lou. What to see and do in Detroit Not sure what to do in Detroit, besides eat and drink? Here are a few recommendations, provided by Skyscanner. The Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner First up is The Detroit Institute of Arts, with 4.7 stars from 45 reviews. Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for a chance to immerse yourself in global artwork and robust collections. The museum features over 60,000 collections, including pieces from America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Greenfield Village (20900 Oakwood Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Also, consider checking out Greenfield Village, located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. It checks in with 4.8 stars from 11 reviews on Skyscanner. "This is a great place to spend the day learning about history. My favorite part was Edison's workshop," wrote visitor Yvonne. Detroit Science Center (5020 John R St.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Finally, visit the Detroit Science Center. It checks in with 9.5 stars out of eight reviews on Skyscanner. "Its not your typical museum, you can actually do stuff, as in hands-on interactive exhibits dealing with everything from life science to space," wrote visitor Amanda. This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook on Thursday banned prominent conspiracy theorists including Infowars founder Alex Jones and the controversial black activist Louis Farrakhan in its latest push to crack down on hate content at the leading social network. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," Facebook, which has been under intensifying pressure to curtail extremist content, said in a statement. Among the most prominent figures banned, Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam, is notorious for spreading anti-Semitic and black supremacist views. Far-right conspiracy theorist Jones is best known for calling the 9/11 attacks an inside job and for describing the Sandy Hook school massacre as a hoax. Jones's organization Infowars was also banned by Facebook. Others blocked Thursday from Facebook and Instagram were Milo Yiannopoulos, a high-profile right-wing provocateur; Paul Nehlen, a political candidate espousing white supremacist views; and conspiracy theorists Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer. Facebook said those being banned had violated policies against dangerous individuals and organizations. "Individuals and organizations who spread hate, or attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are, have no place on Facebook," a spokeswoman for Facebook said. Such bans typically include prohibiting others at the social network from using the platform to post praise or support from those no longer welcomed. "Today's announcement from Facebook is a step in the right direction," said Cristina Lopez G., deputy director for extremism at nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America. "The majority of the newly banned figures -- Yiannopoulos, Loomer, Watson, Jones, and Nehlen -- owed their influence to the massive reach they were allowed to cultivate through Facebook and Instagram." Story continues Lopez welcomed the latest account bans, saying they promised to help limit the spread of radical and often violent far-right ideology. Facebook last month banned various far-right British groups including the English Defense League from its network for promoting hate and violence. Other groups kicked off both Facebook or Instagram included Knights Templar International, Britain First, the British National Party (BNP) and the National Front. The tech titan banned the groups for contravening its policy forbidding "terrorist activity, organized hate, mass or serial murder, human trafficking or organized violence or criminal activity." Former BNP leader Nick Griffin and Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were also been banned in the crackdown. - Voicing hate - Facebook and other social media platforms have been under fire for not doing enough to curb messages of hate and violence, while at the same time criticized for failing to offer equal time for all viewpoints no matter how unpleasant. US President Donald Trump has accused social media platforms of discriminating against users with right-wing views. "Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices," Trump said in a tweet after Jones was curbed at Facebook and Spotify last year. Facebook in March announced bans at the social network and Instagram on praise or support for white nationalism and white separatism. Facebook policies already banned posts endorsing white supremacy as part of its prohibition on hate speech based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity or religion. The ban had not applied to some postings because it was reasoned they were expressions of broader concepts of nationalism or political independence, according to the social network. Amid pressure from governments around the world, Facebook has ramped up machine learning and artificial intelligence tools in an effort to find and remove hateful content while remaining open to free expression. Pir Afzal Qadri tendered apology to Govt-COAS-Judiciary The detained leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Pir Afzal Qadri, has tendered an apology to the government of Pakistan, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the judiciary for his provocative statements following the Supreme Court decision to acquit Christian woman Asia Bibi in a high-profile blasphemy case. I made provocative remarks feeling disheartened and depressed by the apex court decision in the blasphemy case. I am extremely regretful over this inciteful behaviour towards the government, judiciary and the chief of army staff, Qadri said in a video statement available with Daily Times, while also announcing his retirement from the active politics. I had decided last year to bid farewell to the politics due to poor health. Now I am announcing my retirement from active politics, he said in his statement. Qadri maintained that the TLP was founded as a patriotic, non-violent and peaceful political party with an aim to promote Islamic teachings, protect the finality of prophethood, and work for peoples rights enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan. The TLP made a strike call in October 2018 to register its protest against acquittal of Asia Bibi in blasphemy case. Roads were blocked in several cities due to which people had to face immense difficulties. Addressing the sit-in demonstrations, I used hard language against government as well as political leaders. However, later a written agreement was reached with the provincial as well as federal government and the protest was called off, he recalled. On November 25 last year, the TLP again made a call for strike in Rawalpindi. The government representatives approached the party to persuade it to take back the call over sensitive security situation of the country, however the TLP refused to budge, which lead to arrest of scores of party workers and the leadership by the government, Qadri narrated, as he also distanced the TLP from the Bahawalpur incident wherein a college teacher was stabbed to death by his student allegedly affiliated with the party. In his statement, the TLP leader pledged that the party leadership will play its role to correct the situation and work for reformation of the society. We will respect the constitution, laws and institutions of Pakistan and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Pakistan Army for defence of the motherland. We will play our part for promotion of peace and stability in the country, Qadri said. We will present our point of view in a responsible manner under the laws of the land and in the light of teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah. Nobody will be allowed to damage public property in the name of protest, and terrorism, extremism and sectarianism will be countered with full force, the TLP leader stated, and advised the party activists to display the best moral attitude. San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook on Thursday banned controversial black activist leader Louis Farrakhan, far-right icon Alex Jones and several others in a heightened crackdown on hate content at the leading social network. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," Facebook said in a statement. The most prominent to be banned were Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, accused of being anti-Semitic and black supremacist; and Jones, the far-right conspiracy theorist best known for calling the 9/11 attacks an inside job and describing the Sandy Hook school massacre as a hoax. Jones's organization Infowars was also banned by Facebook. Others banned Thursday from Facebook and Instagram were Paul Nehlen, a political candidate espousing white supremacist views; Milo Yiannopoulos, know for neo-Nazi rhetoric; and conspiracy theorists Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer. Facebook announced the bans on the grounds they violated policies against dangerous individuals and organizations. "Individuals and organizations who spread hate, or attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are, have no place on Facebook," a spokeswoman for Facebook said. Such bans typically include prohibiting others at the social network from using the platform to post praise or support from those no longer welcomed. "Today's announcement from Facebook is a step in the right direction," said Cristina Lopez G., deputy director for extremism at nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America. "The majority of the newly banned figures -- Yiannopoulos, Loomer, Watson, Jones, and Nehlen -- owed their influence to the massive reach they were allowed to cultivate through Facebook and Instagram." Banning the accounts should help limit the spread of radical and often violent far-right ideology, according to Lopez. Facebook last month banned various far-right British groups including the English Defense League from its network for promoting hate and violence. Story continues Other groups kicked off both Facebook or Instagram last month included Knights Templar International, Britain First, the British National Party (BNP) and the National Front. The tech titan banned the groups for contravening its policy forbidding "terrorist activity, organized hate, mass or serial murder, human trafficking or organized violence or criminal activity". Former BNP leader Nick Griffin and Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were also been banned in the crackdown. In the early days of the digital era it was understood that the internet was bringing the world closer together. And it has, in a million obvious ways that companies like Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) love to show us in gauzy promotional videos. But now its also understood that the internet is pulling us apart, by creating personalized echo chambers where we only connect to like-minded people. Of course both of these conclusions are accurate. Id like to focus on the pulling us apart point, though maybe in a way you have not thought of before. Its not just that so many of us only nod along with those who propagate our own social and political beliefs at the expense of other perspectives. Its that the world writ large appears to be breaking up into discrete geo-political internet zones. What I mean is that because of distinct nationalistic views on issues like privacy and security, the internet is becoming regionalized in an under-recognized way with unknown consequences. Governments taking control of the internet We can observe at least three zones for now; the internet of the U.S., of China, and of Europe. Australia and New Zealand might become another zone, especially after a Facebook live stream of a mass shooting in the latter country. India could become yet another zone. Visitors walk past the Facebook logo at an exhibitor's display at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing, Thursday, April 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) A New York Times editorial last fall cited Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, making this point and noted ...three spheres Europe, America and China are generating sets of rules, regulations and norms that are beginning to rub up against one another. The power of a handful of platforms and services combined with the dismal state of international cooperation across the world pushes us closer and closer to a splintered internet. Thats true as far as it goes, but theres actually more to it. What were really witnessing is another front in the war between the forces of globalism versus nationalism. The global digital La La Land put forth by Big Social Media flies directly in the face of the political mega-trend, neo-nationalism a la, Chinas Xi, Russias Putin, Indias Modi, Brexiters, Brazils Bolsonaro, Turkeys Erdogan, the Philippines Duterte, and so on. Do any of these folks really want an unfettered internet controlled by hoodied Silicon Valley 30-somethings? Of course not. Are they a bigger force than Facebook? I think so. Story continues Different governments are trying to assert their own national sovereignty over the internet as its experienced in their country, says Emma Llanso, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Thats a concern thats understandable...but [its] also a direct challenge to the idea of an open interconnected internet. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi answers a question during an online interaction with students of different colleges and universities of India in Srinagar, Kashmir on February 03, 2019. (Photo by Faisal Khan/NurPhoto via Getty Images) And that can be good or bad. Governments are taking back control over the internet, adds Adrian Shahbaz, research Director, Technology and Democracy at Freedom House. In some cases, though, with the intent of taking back democratic sovereignty. Making sure citizens rights to privacy and freedom of expression are protected. On the other hand many authoritarian governments are enforcing their own idea of digital sovereignty, which means all the ways freedom of expression, privacy, and personal security were violated in those countries are now going to happen on the internet. What does this mean for social media platforms and digital companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter (TWTR), Snap (SNAP), Pinterest (PINS), and even Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL)? A trickier and slower global growth trajectory at the very least. Speaking of authoritarian governments, China of course was the first mover when it came to clamping down. Shortly after declaring 1996, The Year of the Internet, the Guardian reported that Beijing had enacted its first laws criminalizing online postings it believed were designed to hurt national security or the interests of the state. The totalitarian model versus reckless tech bros Paradoxically, over the past two decades China has made the internet more and more closed even as the number of users, platforms, and websites in China has exploded. U.S. internet giants like Google and Facebook either left the country or were banned. Recently under Xi Jinping controls have greatly tightened. According to a report by the Freedom House: Internet controls within China reached new extremes in 2018 with the implementation of the sweeping Cybersecurity Law and upgrades to surveillance technology. The law centralizes all internet policy within the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), strengthens obligations for network operators and social media companies to register users under their real names, requires that local and foreign companies work to immediately stop transmission of banned content, and compels them to ensure that all data about Chinese users [are] hosted within the country. Chinese internet companies have also started keeping detailed records of their users' personal information and online activity. And the Chinese have begun ranking citizens with a social score system, like a credit score, which reportedly includes demerits for posting fake news online. Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute, a think tank critical of the power of tech companies, says this leaves developing nations with a Hobsons choice that is, they have two not-so-great alternatives. Do you use the totalitarian [Chinese] model? Or do you use the weird western model with reckless tech bros running things and not paying attention, he asks. [The] Chinese model is worse, [as it] places you under control of [an] aggressive government, rather than control of neglectful idiots. Until recently, we in the U.S. looked at these developments with a patronizing mixture of horror and outrage. How dare the Chinese government try to control the internet? Then came the 2016 election with its trolls and Russian hacks and now even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is asking the government to step in and help. The U.S. is the wild, wild west of the internet Europeans, long skeptical of U.S. tech giants, watched those events unfold and took matters into their own hands by enacting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) last May, which limits the amount of data internet companies can collect and restricts how it can be used and monetized. The U.S. and Europe are diverging systems, says Matt Schruers, of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a trade group that includes Google and Facebook. GDPR sets Europe apart from not just the U.S. but many other countries with a highly prescriptive extensive regulatory framework that is much more focused on restricting movement of data. Facebook Chief Executive Officer and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, leaving the Merrion Hotel in Dublin after meeting with Irish politicians to discuss regulation of social media. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images) As for the U.S., its safe to say we are miles away from regulating the internet. When confronted with this notion, many Americans hold up the sanctity of the First Amendment, forgetting that weve always had limits on speech (think yelling fire in a crowded theater). Its similar to the conflating that occurs in the debate about guns. Anyone who talks about limits is immediately accused of seeking to ban everything. Actually the only laws we have regulating the internet are laws that protect Internet giants, specifically Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which gives websites broad legal immunity. Generally speaking it means digital platforms can't be held liable for something posted by a user, even if the companies perform mediating as publishers do, by moderating content or through setting standards. Says Marc Rotenberg, executive director at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, who litigated against Section 230, platforms have consolidated power and control. 230 has allowed them to push liability to distributors. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the opening keynote at the Facebook F8 Conference at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California on April 30, 2019. - (Photo by Amy Osborne / AFP) California will roll out GDPR-like regs in 2020, and yet those new rules notwithstanding, what increasingly distinguishes the U.S. internet sphere from the rest of the world is that we are the wild, wild west where anything goes. Great. Its really important to understand how much Europe is in the drivers seat, says Daphne Keller, director of Intermediary Liability at the Center for Internet and Society, as well as former associate general counsel at Google. It kind of doesnt matter what U.S. law says for a lot of things. Europe is extracting agreements by companies they're going to enforce those agreements publicly. What that means is not only is the world is getting more divided up, but the U.S. and the tech giants based here are losing their leadership roles. To a degree, the splintering of the internet is probably inevitable and maybe a good thing. But we need to stop allowing political dogma to guide policy. U.S. tech companies and governments need to work together in this process. Consensus and implementation of rules and guidelines for the internet will be extremely challenging. Letting the rest of the world take market share, never mind dictate terms of the digital future, will be even more so. Andy Serwer is editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance. Read more: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says tech companies can regulate themselves Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a point about the trifecta of inequality Former AOL exec Jean Case faults tech giants for trying to own the world (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's potential settlement with federal regulators over breaches of consumer data privacy is nearing completion, and will likely cover related services like its WhatsApp messenger, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. https://on.wsj.com/2Y7dNr9 Politico reported on Wednesday that Facebook and the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) were negotiating a possible settlement that would require the company to create an independent privacy oversight committee and take other steps to safeguard users. The FTC has been investigating revelations that Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million of its users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The probe has focussed on whether the sharing of data and other disputes violated a 2011 agreement with the FTC to safeguard user privacy. Facebook announced last week that it has set aside $3 billion to cover settlements with U.S. regulators. It was not immediately clear whether Instagram, another Facebook-owned service, would be covered under the settlement being negotiated with the Federal Trade Commission, the Wall Street Journal report said. Facebook and the FTC did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. (Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr) BANGKOK, May 2 (Reuters) - Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Thursday paid tribute to his ancestors in a ceremony ahead of his official coronation this weekend, when he will take the formal title King Rama X, the 10th king in the Chakri dynasty. In a tradition dating to the 18th century, the Chakri kings have held the formal title Rama, after an avatar of Hindu god Vishnu in the ancient Indian epic the Ramayana. Here are details of the nine previous kings in the dynasty: Rama I - King Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (born 1737-died 1809) Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke founded the Chakri dynasty and established Bangkok as the capital of Siam, as Thailand was known, in 1782. He ruled for 27 years and is best known for repelling the last major Burmese attack on Siam, known as the Nine Armies' Wars, from 1785 to 1786. Rama II - King Phra Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (1767-1824) King Phra Buddha Loetla Nabhalai succeeded his father in 1809 and ruled for almost 15 years. His reign was more peaceful. Art and literature flourished. The king was an avid composer of poetry, plays and songs. The most notable poet under the king's patronage was Sunthorn Phu, known as the "the Shakespeare of Thailand" for his role in literature. Rama III - King Phra Nangklao (1788-1851) King Phra Nangklao reformed the tax and treasury system and oversaw a boom in trade with China during his 27-year rule from 1824. Siam renewed official contacts with western powers for the first time since the late Ayutthaya period, and supported the British in their first Anglo-Burmese War in 1824. The king did not name a successor and the throne passed to his half-brother. Rama IV - King Mongkut (1804-1868) Probably the best-known king of Siam in the West, Mongkut was portrayed in the 1951 Broadway musical "The King and I" and later in a 1956 Hollywood film. Under growing Western pressure during his 17-year reign, Mongkut signed the Bowring Treaty with the British Empire that abolished a royal monopoly over foreign trade. Story continues Mongkut later died from malaria that he contracted while on an expedition to see a total eclipse of the sun. Rama V - King Chulalongkorn (1853-1910) The 42-year reign of King Chulalongkorn, the son of Mongkut, was known for a modernization drive and abolition of slavery. He also ceded territories to Western powers, including Laos and Cambodia to France, and the Malay sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis to Britain. Chulalongkorn was the first Siamese king to send royal princes to study in Europe. He visited twice and presented Siam as a modern nation to European rulers. Rama VI - King Vajiravudh (1881-1925) Vajiravudh's reign was characterized by the creation and promotion of Siamese nationalism. He modernized the military and sent troops to join Allied forces in World War One. He quashed an attempted coup in 1912 by disgruntled military officers who accused the king of financial extravagances and sought to establish democratic rule. Rama VII - King Prajadhipok (1893-1941) Prajadhipok was Siam's last absolute monarch and its first constitutional monarch after the Siamese Revolution of 1932. Educated at Eton, he succeeded his brother in 1926. Six years later a group of military officers and civil servants initiated a near bloodless coup. Prajadhipok abdicated in 1935 and spent the rest of his life with his wife in England. The couple had no children. Rama VIII - King Ananda Mahidol (1925-1946) Ananda ascended to the throne after his uncle abdicated. His father, Prince Mahidol, was a son of King Chulalongkorn. Ananda was nine years old and studying in Switzerland when he was chosen to succeed Prajadhipok. The government changed the country's name to Thailand in 1939. In 1946, Ananda, 20, was found shot dead in his bedroom inside Bangkok's Grand Palace in mysterious circumstances, four days before his planned return to school in Switzerland. Rama IX - King Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927-2016) Bhumibol succeeded his brother in 1946 and reigned for 70 years, the world's longest reigning monarch when he died. The American-born king became the face of Thailand, blending tradition with modernity and traveling the world with Queen Sirikit. During his reign the country had 30 prime ministers, 10 successful military coups and 17 constitutions. His intervention in several political crises helped to end bloodshed. He was awarded the United Nations' first Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 3,000 royal development projects. (Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um Editing by Darren Schuettler) CARACAS, May 2 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is facing enormous pressure to step down both from within the country and from the United States, but the former union leader has held on to power and on Tuesday weathered an uprising involving military officers. Three key Venezuelan officials have told opposition leader Juan Guaido that Maduro should resign and usher in a transition government, according to U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton. The three officials are Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and Presidential Security Chief Ivan Hernandez. The government has dismissed the idea that top officials could break with Maduro. Reuters was unable to immediately obtain comment from them, and Venezuela's information ministry, which fields press inquiries, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The following are basic facts about them. MAIKEL MORENO A former bodyguard turned top judicial authority, Moreno since being named to the Supreme Court in 2017 has shown himself to be a staunch Maduro loyalist by repeatedly ruling in favor of the Socialist Party and neutralizing the opposition-led congress. Under his leadership, the court has effectively neutered the country's legislature by declaring it to be in "disobedience," helping ensure that Maduro was shielded from a 2015 landslide election that gave the opposition a broad legislative majority. A 2017 Reuters investigation found that Moreno, by leveraging personal connections and handling politically sensitive cases that other lawyers and judges rejected, had endeared himself to Maduro and fellow members of the late Hugo Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-court-specialrepor/special-report-how-a-defrocked-judge-became-the-chief-legal-enforcer-for-maduros-venezuela-idUSKBN1DF1P0 In his rise to Venezuela's top judicial perch, Moreno left behind a past that includes allegations he participated in extortion and influence-peddling rackets and his arrest in 1989 on suspicions of killing a teenager, according to government documents and people familiar with his history. Story continues VLADIMIR PADRINO Padrino has been chief of Venezuela's armed forces and defense minister since 2014, a year after Maduro took over after Chavez's death, making him one of the current ministers who have spent the most time in their positions. Padrino, 55, worked his way up the ranks of the military after leaving Venezuela's Military Academy in 1984 to enter the infantry, according to a biography on the defense ministry's website. He has held posts including Second Commander and Chief of the General Staff and Joint Chief of Staff of the Central Integral Defense Strategic Region. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Padrino in September 2018, describing him as a member of Maduro's "inner circle." IVAN HERNANDEZ Hernandez is the director of the state military intelligence unit (DGCIM), which Maduro has tasked with maintaining control over the armed forces. Under Hernandez, the DGCIM has detained dozens of military officers suspected of sympathizing with the opposition and it has been accused by rights groups of human rights abuses. Since 2014, Hernandez has also held the dual role as head of Maduro's presidential guard. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Hernandez in February and said the DGCIM had tortured Venezuelan military members suspected of plotting against the government, along with their family members. (Reporting by Caracas newsroom Editing by James Dalgleish) (In May 2 story, corrects Cortizo's first name to "Laurentino" instead of "Laurentio," paragraph 3) PANAMA CITY, May 2 (Reuters) - Panama will elect a new president on Sunday to succeed incumbent Juan Carlos Varela. Here are the main candidates competing for a five-year term at the helm of Central America's fastest-growing economy. LAURENTINO "NITO" CORTIZO, DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (PRD) Cortizo of the moderate left PRD is the front runner and has pledged to improve government services like water supply and healthcare without privatizing them. Cortizo, 66, says he will make healthcare more accessible for the poor in particular, and combat medicine shortages by centralizing purchasing and distribution. An April 13-15 survey by polling firm Stratmark Consultores gave Cortizo support of 49.8 percent of voters. A former businessman who also worked for the Organization of American States in Washington, Cortizo was twice a member of Congress in 1994-2004, and its president in 2000-2001. ROMULO ROUX, DEMOCRATIC CHANGE (CD) Roux, from the center-right CD, has proposed constitutional reform to strengthen Panama's judiciary after a bribery scandal involving Brazil's Odebrecht construction company. The lawyer is Cortizo's main challenger, polling support of 26.4 percent in the Stratmark poll. He has proposed cutting bureaucracy and to make Panama's social security fund more transparent and sustainable. Roux, 54, was foreign minister in 2012-2013, and previously chaired the board of the Panama Canal Authority. He was endorsed last week by former President Ricardo Martinelli, who is awaiting trial in prison on charges he spied on politicians, unionists and journalists, but still enjoys popular support. ROBERTO LOMBANA, INDEPENDENT Lombana, 45, was a relative unknown until recently. He made substantial gains in the most recent poll, boosting his support to 10.5 percent from 0.8 percent in about two months. Campaigning against the political establishment, Lombana, a lawyer, has pitched a smaller government to voters and zero tolerance on OTHERS Jose Isabel Blandon from Varela's Panamenista Party and other candidates, including the only female candidate, Ana Mathilde Gomez, are well behind in polls. (Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Elida Moreno in Panama City; editing by Dave Graham and Cynthia Osterman) By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK, May 2 (Reuters) - During Thailand's main coronation event for King Maha Vajiralongkorn on May 4, the monarch will be presented with five royal regalia, which are treated as symbols of kingship, marking the legitimacy of his reign. Historical evidence suggests the tradition dates back to the Ayutthaya period (1350-1767) of Siam, as Thailand was known. The items were first made for the coronation of King Buddha Yod Fa Chulalok, or Rama I, and heavily infused with Hindu-Brahman beliefs. Here are the five royal instruments that will play a vital role in making King Maha Vajiralongkorn, or Rama X, the 10th divine monarch of Thailand's Chakri dynasty. THE GREAT CROWN OF VICTORY The crown is the most important article among all the royal regalia. Adorned with diamonds set in gold enamel, the crown is 66 cm (26 inches) tall and weighs 7.3 kg (16 lb). At the tip of the cone-shaped crown is a large diamond from Kolkata, India, called "Phra Maha Wichian Mani." During coronation ceremonies of the early reigns, kings Rama I to III would only place the crown next to them upon receiving it. But later, when Siam had more contact with European countries, King Rama IV started the practice of placing the crown upon his head, to be more in line with the Western idea of kingship. The high-reaching crown symbolizes the summit of Mount Meru, the Hindu god Indra's heavenly abode, and its weight represents the monarch's royal burden. THE SWORD OF VICTORY The sword is believed to be an ancient sword of the Khmer Empire, which was lost at the bottom of a lake in Siem Reap until it was caught in a fisherman's net and later presented to King Rama I. The king then ordered the sword's hilt and sheath to be ornamented in gold enamel and precious gems, becoming the sword "Phra Saeng Khan Chai Sri" as we now know it. The length of the sword is 89.8 cm (35 inches), including the 64.5 cm (25 inch) blade. It weighs 1.9 kg (4.2 lb) when enclosed with the sheath. Story continues It represents the king's ability to protect his nation. THE ROYAL SCEPTER The 118 cm (3.8 feet) staff, called "Than Phra Kon," is made of Javanese Cassia wood enameled in gold. The finial is shaped like a trident gilded with gold, and its iron hilt is also inlaid with gold. The staff symbolizes the righteousness of the king. THE ROYAL FAN AND FLY WHISK The "Walawichani" was originally only a fan made of a palm leaf, with gold-trimmed rim and gold-enameled rod. However, King Rama IV said "Walawichani," in the Pali language, refers more to a whisk-like item, made from the hair of a yak, an animal found in the Himalayas. The king, therefore, ordered the whisk to be made and included it in the royal regalia along with the original palm-leaf fan. The fan and whisk signify the king's duty to chase away his people's troubles. THE ROYAL SLIPPERS The curve-tipped slippers, called "Chalong Phrabat Choeng Ngon," are made of colorful enameled gold and inlaid with diamonds. During the coronation ceremony, the chief Brahmin, who presents the king with the five royal regalia, will put the slippers on the king's feet. The royal slippers represent the ground of Mount Meru, the abode of the god Indra. (Writing by Patpicha Tanakasempipat Editing by Kay Johnson and Robert Birsel) Miami (AFP) - An audacious bid by a man and a woman to break into a Florida jail and free their "partner" ended with the perpetrators joining him behind bars. Francine Olson and Brandon Reyes were arrested Monday night for "impersonating a law enforcement officer," the DeSoto County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook. The two told dispatchers that they were "new detectives," tried to gain access to law enforcement vehicles, and used "the jail entrance intercom to communicate with staff," the sheriff's office said. "This was in an attempt to get 'their partner' George Chanza out of jail," where he had recently landed late last month for an unspecified offense. "The two have since been reunited with their partner and are now facing third degree felony charges," the sheriff's office said. WAYNESVILLE, North Carolina A phalanx of police cars and motorcycles with lights flashing paid homage Thursday to University of North Carolina Charlotte shooting victim Riley Howell on Thursday, escorting the hero home. Traffic stopped on Charlotte streets as the solemn procession passed en route to his hometown in Waynesville, 150 miles west of Charlotte. Authorities say Howell, 21, tackled a gunman who opened fire in a classroom Tuesday and in the process saved lives. Howell and fellow student Ellis R. Parlier, 19, were killed; four other students were wounded. Tami Hunter held back tears as her 4-year-old-son Maddox sat on her lap watching the long procession of police and emergency vehicles drive down Main Street toward Wells Funeral Home in Waynesville. Her son held a sign: "A man we never met is now a hero we will never forget." Community members yelled "thank you" and "you're a hero" as the caravan rolled by. Many buried their faces in the arms of their neighbor. Renee Gidcumb had spent the night before looking at old yearbooks to find pictures of Howell. She taught him in first grade at Riverbend Elementary School in Clyde. "This hits us right at home," Gidcumb said. "It's so hard to believe that he sat in one of my chairs and walked our halls. I can still see his little face. It's how I've always remembered him." Shelby Tomassi grew up with Howell in Waynesville and both attended UNCC. Tomassi, a senior, was in an engineering building on campus when word spread about an active shooter. "We'd trained for the moment, but no one knew what to do," she said. More: UNCC shooting: Riley Howell returns home to Waynesville They remained in lockdown for over an hour before being allowed to leave the building. Tomassi later found out another close friend was in the classroom where Howell lost his life. "She told me she saw what Riley did out of the corner of her eye," Tomassi said. "It was all so hectic. I can't imagine how scared she was. I'm feeling so shaken, shocked, angry, depressed. I can't understand it. I don't know how to process all of this." Story continues Trent Thomas stood alone on the corner of Main and Walnut, wearing a Tuscola High School baseball cap with a small American flag hanging out of his shirt pocket. Thomas had watched Howell grow up. Howell and Thomas' daughter had been close friends since preschool. His first call after hearing the news was to his daughter. "She told me that she knew that Riley was trying to help other people, because that's just the kind of guy he was," said Thomas, his voice breaking as he spoke. "That's so very true that's just the guy he was." Howell's mother said Thursday that his family is "beyond proud" of her son's actions. "While kids were running one way, our son turned and ran toward the shooter," Natalie Henry-Howell, Riley's mother, told NBC's "Today" show. "If he was in the room when something like that was happening, and he had turned away, he wouldn't have been able to live with himself." A student gets emotional as she comes to the steps of Kennedy Hall to lay a candle to honor the victims of a shooting the day earlier at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 1, 2019. Teddy Howell, Riley Howell's 14-year-old brother, agreed, saying there was no question that his brother would have done all he could to stop the killer. "He put others before himself," Teddy told "Today." "He always has." Former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, is charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and related charges in Tuesday's shooting. Terrell declined to appear in Mecklenburg County Court to have the charges read. He was assigned a lawyer and will remain jailed at least until his next court appearance on May 15. "It is critical that we handle this case in a manner that ensures justice for the victims, for the defendant and for the entire UNC Charlotte community," prosecutor Jay Ashendorf said outside the courtroom. No motive had been determined.Terrell, who left the school in the fall, had no criminal record, authorities said. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Kerr Putney dubbed Riley a hero, saying targets in an attack must either run, hide and shield or take the fight to assailant. Putney declined to detail Howell's actions but did say he "took the assailant off his feet." Response: Police stopped UNC Charlotte shooting quickly. But what about preventing it? Lauren Westmoreland, Riley's girlfriend, said she and Howell had discussed marriage. She said she was devastated by his death. "Just tell people you love them," she told "Today." "The last thing that I got to say to him was that I loved him." Contributing: The Associated Press Bacon reported from McLean, Va.; Thompson from Waynesville, N.C.; Mayo from Charlotte, N.C. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police escort honors Riley Howell, hero killed in UNC Charlotte rampage Photo: Anne Preble/Unsplash Looking for family-friendly events to keep the kids busy this week? From a local market to martial arts classes, there's plenty to do when it comes to opportunities for learning and fun. Read on for a rundown of what to do 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. Tampa Riverfest 2019 From the event description: The fifth annual Tampa Riverfest is a free community event celebrating the Tampa waterfront. Events will include a full concert line-up, a wiener dog derby, stand-up paddle boarding, the Tampa Bay Pride Band, a taco fest, beer bars and much more. When: Friday, May 3, 4 p.m. Where: The Tampa Riverwalk, 200 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, FL 33602 Price: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Fresh Market at Hyde Park From the event description: Located in the beautiful Hyde Park Village, come shop local with 130-plus vendors selling fresh produce, hand crafts, sauces, fresh bread, jams, clothing, jewelry, artwork, coffee, eggs, juice, plants, handmade soaps, lunch bites and so much more. Live music kicks off at 10 a.m. This event is fun for all ages and dog friendly. When: Sunday, May 5, 10 a.m. Where: Hyde Park Village, 744 S. Village Circle, Tampa, FL 33606 Price: Free Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Up to 62 Percent Off Scavenger Challenge from Zombie Scavengers From the deal description: Teams use their smartphones to search the city, complete challenges and answer trivia questions to collect supplies necessary to survive a zombie apocalypse. This is a family-friendly mobile scavenger hunt that doesnt feature any actual zombies. Where: 220 E. Madison St., Northeast Tampa Price: $15 (62 percent discount off regular price); more deals are available. Click here for more details, and to get this deal Up to 88 Percent Off Martial Arts Classes at Tampa Bay Tang Soo Do Center Story continues From the deal description: Conducted by experienced trainers, these martial art classes are designed to boost kids coordination, concentration and flexibility. Where: Tampa Bay Tang Soo Do Center, 3310 W. Cypress St., Northwest Tampa Price: $30 (87 percent discount off regular price); $50 (88 percent discount off regular price) 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. Three Pakistani soldiers martyred after terrorists attacked from Afghanistan Three soldiers were martyred and seven others injured when a group of 60 to 70 terrorists from bases in Afghanistan attacked Pakistan Army troops undertaking fencing efforts along the Pak-Afghan border in Alwara, North Waziristan, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement issued on Wednesday. The attack was effectively responded and repulsed by troops in the area. Scores of terrorists were killed and injured, the ISPR statement said. In exchange of fire, three soldiers Lance Naik Ali, Lance Naik Nazeer and Sepoy Imdad Ullah embraced martyrdom. Seven other soldiers were injured, it added. While Pakistans 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 border region to support Pakistans efforts as well as deny use of Afghan soil against Pakistan, the ISPR stated. Pakistans fencing efforts will continue despite all such impediments, it asserted. Following the incident, Pakistan lodged a strong protest by summoning the Afghan charge daffaires to the ministry of foreign affairs. The Afghan diplomat was informed that Pakistan strongly deplores such provocations which are detrimental to peace and stability along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, said a statement issued by the Foreign Office. The Afghan side was urged to take immediate action against the terrorist elements on their side and ensure effective measures so that such incidents are not repeated in future, it added. Shedding light on the incident, the statement read, On the night of April 30/May 1, 70-80 terrorists, based in Gayan and Bermal districts of Afghanistans Paktika province, crossed the Pak-Afghan border and launched fire raids and physical attacks on Pakistani military troops operating in North Waziristan district to fence the border. Pakistans military repulsed the attack by these terrorists, who after suffering significant casualties fled back to Afghanistan in small groups. These terrorists were able to escape due to lack of appropriate response by the Afghan security forces, it added. The unfortunate incident resulted in the martyrdom of three Pakistani soldiers while seriously injuring seven others, it concluded. Miss Booth has 700 breeding ewes on her farm in Upper Broughton (FACEBOOK/SAMBOOTH) Warning: This article contains graphic images A farmer has hit out police after discovering two sheep had been stolen and 'barbarically' butchered to death near her farm. Sam Booth, 35, who has 700 breeding ewes on her farm in Upper Broughton, Leicestershire, noticed two of her sheep were missing while she conducted her herding rounds. After searching for hours, one of the ewes was found with its legs tied together with shoelaces. A few days later, the farm was informed bin bags had been found dumped around 40 minutes away in nearby Calverton, containing fleece, a carcass and sheep guts. It confirmed Ms Booth's suspicions that livestock was being stolen from the farm Posting images of the gruesome find to Facebook, Miss Booth wrote: We were told last night there were some bags of fleece and guts that had been dumped near Calverton. We went to look this morning and it was what remained of one of our missing ewes. They'd wrapped her in a duvet and cut her throat, killed her in the most barbaric way.; A farmer found two of her sheep had been stolen, butchered and dumped in bin bags near Calverton, Leicestershire (FACEBOOK/SAMBOOTH) Ms Booth told trade publication Farmers Guardian: We went in the morning to have a look and it was what remained of one of our missing ewes. They had wrapped her in a duvet and cut her throat. She was killed in the most barbaric way. Read more on Yahoo News UK: Asian tiger mosquitoes carrying tropical diseases could swarm on UK this summer Shrimp in British rivers all test positive for cocaine, research finds Woman, 64, dies in hospital two weeks after being struck in the head with cup by fellow patient due to her snoring I hate to think how they have been killed and the suffering they endured. I hope whoever is doing this chokes on them. The police are not interested at all. Something really needs to be done to tackle it as it is becoming a country-wide issue. Miss Booth, 38, said police showed 'no interest' in helping to catch those responsible for the grizzly deaths (FACEBOOK/SAMBOOTH) We are still waiting to hear back from a police officer after reporting the initial theft. We were told there were not enough leads. Farmers across the country should be vigilant and report anything to the police even though you know they wont do anything. The more calls they get then surely they have got to start taking action. Story continues The news follows a Dorset Police appeal for information after thieves stole sheep worth 20,000 from a farm in the same county Police said 211 sheep were stolen from fields along the A37 near Dorchester. PC Matthew Brennan said: This theft, as with many crimes in our rural community, has had a big impact on the victim. We are carrying out a number of enquiries to find those responsible. By Munyaradzi Makoni MOYALE, Kenya, May 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As health workers approached a huge acacia tree that would provide shade for a makeshift clinic, more than 50 women and 30 children were already waiting for them. Local enthusiasm for the monthly check-up made the habitual blasts on the car horn unnecessary in Yabalo Godha village, 40 minutes drive from the market town of Moyale on Kenya's northern border with Ethiopia. This semi-arid area in Marsabit County is home to herding communities whose animals roam the vast landscape and its remoteness makes healthcare provision tough. In a bid to improve services for nomadic women, about 50 solar-powered bracelets with Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers have been given to expectant mothers. The furthest recipient is in Laqi, almost 100 km (62 miles) away from Moyales central business district, where there is no hospital or school. When the itinerant healthcare trial began in February last year, 168 expectant mothers were enrolled at 10 sites, mostly in pastoral communities selected by local leaders. The health team informs a community volunteer or village head when a doctor, nurse and nutritionist will visit, bringing medicines. Each trip has attracted about 150 mothers seeking healthcare, some furnished with GPS bracelets and some without, said Dahabo Adi Galgallo, an epidemiologist at Moyale Sub-County Hospital who started the project. On the Yabalo visit in April, three of seven women in the area with GPS bracelets showed up. Two others were nearby, the tracking system showed, while two had crossed the border into Ethiopia. Due to international laws, we can only monitor them and provide help when they come back, Galgallo said. After a five-hour session taking blood and urine samples and screening for diseases including sexually transmitted infections, Galgallos tests revealed 25 new pregnant mothers. The numbers get bigger with each visit," she said, showing no signs of fatigue. Story continues WOMEN DYING Galgallo was born in Marsabit to nomadic parents who moved around so much she attended six primary schools. She grew up painfully aware of the health problems facing her community. Home deliveries were the norm, with some mothers dying from bleeding during birth and even losing their babies to malnutrition. Determined to act, Galgallo chose health as a career. As a disease surveillance and lab coordinator in Moyale, she came up with evidence that more pastoralist women were dying during childbirth compared with the average for the area. That women were dying from pregnancies was known - what was not known was the extent of these deaths, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Over a year from mid-2014, Galgallo interviewed 60 pregnant women about antenatal care in local dialects Oromia and Borana. As a follow up, she analyzed data from 2015 to 2016, finding 40 percent of all baby deaths happened to mothers who received no antenatal care, with far lower shares for those who did Galgallos study revealed nearly half of expectant mothers could not afford 450 Kenyan shillings ($4.45) for antenatal checks. Some said they lived too far from the hospital, while others were not aware of the need. Ignorance here is rife, illiteracy levels are high. I have had some women coming to ask me how many months they have been pregnant, Galgallo said. She then began to wonder if she could stop women dying who did not make it to health facilities. The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey placed Marsabit County in the top four nationwide for maternal and infant mortality, said Moyale Sub-County Hospital CEO Kussu Abduba. The hospital delivers 200 babies per month in a small maternity ward without an operating theater. As pastoralists move in search of water and grazing for their livestock, tracking and caring for mothers in the field seemed the best solution, said Abdi Fataha Bashiri, Moyales head of reproductive health. CHEAP AND SIMPLE To do that, Galgallo came up with the idea of a bracelet containing a GPS system that could be worn by these women. Being waterproof, small and culturally designed with bright orange beads made it acceptable for them to wear, she added. In 2017, Galgallo won a $100,000 Grand Challenges Africa grant from the African Academy of Sciences, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to put her concept into practice. I can tell you solar was the best option to power this GPS, said Denis Kalikidane, who handles technology for the program. The bracelets are automatically charged via a tiny fitted solar panel that absorbs light while on the wrist. Few would have been able to afford the device if it had been designed to run on batteries, added Kalikidane. He prints out a sheet with the location of each mother the morning before a visit, which helps the team work out where best to set up camp. In locations where the GPS signal is patchy, they ask the community exactly where to find the women, he added. Each month Galgallo and her team make 10 visits to different sites scattered across the county. Health workers often choose a base near a water point, to which communities usually stay close so their goats, cattle, camels, donkeys and sheep can drink. SERVICE AT RISK Galgallo said her team had surpassed four antenatal visits for each mother, as recommended by the World Health Organization, and had helped nearly 270 pregnant women so far. For those with GPS, there have been zero deaths of both mothers and infants, she added, noting that those with bracelets can also receive home visits. Health workers follow mothers who continue to wear their bracelets after giving birth, to immunize their babies in their first year, she added. Despite its success, the GPS system needs refinement, Galgallo said. More bracelets are required that can cover longer ranges and, ideally, they would operate as a two-way system in case of emergencies. She is worried what will happen when the project funding runs out in September. Most people in remote villages trust that the service will keep coming, she said, adding she hoped to find new financial backing. Moyale hospital CEO Abduba said the results would be assessed and we will then see how we can expand it throughout Marsabit. ($1 = 101.1000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by Munyaradzi Makoni; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate) Cotonou (AFP) - Calm appeared to return to Benin late Thursday following two days of angry post-election violence in which at least two people died, as the definitive results of the parliamentary polls were published. "Turnout... was 27.1 percent," the president of Benin's Constitutional Court, Joseph Djogbenou, announced, higher than the 23 percent previously when preliminary results were released. "Considering the irregularities and the disturbances (during the vote), these are still not of a nature to compromise the validity and transparency of the vote," said Djogbenou, who is close to President Patrice Talon. Violence broke out on Wednesday shortly after the provisional results were announced of Sunday's vote which had been held without a single opposition candidate. Two former heads of state, Boni Yayi, who was president from 2006 until 2016, and Nicephore Soglo, who held office between 1991 and 1996, had urged Talon to annul the vote which they described as an "electoral state coup". Earlier, soldiers had fired shots as they clamped down on the second day of angry demonstrations. Large numbers of troops and riot police -- as well as hundreds of protesters manning burning barricades -- squared off in the streets of Benin's economic capital Cotonou. A witness said three people were killed Thursday as soldiers opened fire, and a video seen by AFP showed troops shooting as protesters fled. "The police and soldiers... they started firing, they chased people," said a resident. "We heard shots, lots of shots." A woman died on Thursday after being wounded the day before, medical sources said, and a man was brought to hospital with a gunshot wound to the back. In the town of Kandi, some 620 kilometres (385 miles) to the north, a young man was also killed late Wednesday, by shots fired by soldiers. "They aimed at him," the victim's father told AFP. "The bullet went through him. My child is dead." Story continues The protests began hours after initial results released on Wednesday showed a record low turnout in Sunday's election. On Thursday, soldiers deployed in force. "They made a brutal incursion," said one witness, a relative of former president Thomas Boni Yayi who had led calls for a boycott of Sunday's ballot and whose house has become a focal point of protests. "They fired bursts of bullets," said the witness. Interior Minister Sacca Lafia told French radio RFI some officers had "gone against given orders" and those found guilty would receive the "toughest punishment". - 'Democracy is precious'- Protestors chanting slogans against President Talon have torched businesses, hurled stones and petrol bombs, and smashed the windows of government buildings. Police fired tear gas to break up crowds, and protestors tried to throw some of the canisters back. "Talon... will not be able to kill our democracy," one demonstrator said. "Democracy is precious to us, the people of Benin," said another. "That is why we have protested." One of the country's largest cotton factories -- a sector in which Talon made his fortune before embarking on politics -- was set on fire. "Protesters set the factory on fire," said a firefighter. "Everything burned." The UN envoy for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, was holding talks with regional leaders and officials in Benin to ensure "a peaceful solution", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Thursday, noting a "high-handed response from the security forces." "We are closely following the situation in Benin," Dujarric said. "We note with concern the ongoing tension and unrest, resulting in destruction of property and high-handed response from the security forces." - 'Crackdown' - Tough new eligibility criteria effectively barred opposition parties from fielding candidates in last Sunday's parliamentary elections. Opposition leaders asked people not to vote, and the preliminary results showed that over three-quarters of the country's five million registered voters heeded the call. "The people demand the return of democracy," Boni Yayi told reporters on Monday, calling on people to resist the incumbent president. "Talon will walk over our dead bodies." Events in the small West African state has given rise to warnings from civil society and rights groups inside and outside Benin. Amnesty International, ahead of the vote, said a "wave of arbitrary arrests of political activists and journalists, and the crackdown on peaceful protests" had reached an "alarming level." Following a meeting of ministers on Thursday afternoon, the Benin government noted the "professionalism" of the security forces in their efforts to maintain public order. Sizeable contingents of police and the army were still stationed in Cotonou late Thursday, blocking access to Yayi's residence. Memo from Detroit: No, no, no, don't take it this far. We love our cars and trucks, and a lot of folks here are passionate about their hometown brands. But, Virginia authorities say, a man in Bedford County went way overboard. Mark Edwin Turner, 56, is charged with felony malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a felon after an argument at a pre-Easter dinner, no less between Turner and his girlfriend's son about whether Chevy or Ford is better. Prosecutors said that Turner, his girlfriend and the son's girlfriend were outside when the argument started "over which truck manufacturer was better," WSET-TV in Lynchburg reported. Germ alert: 'Dont wash your raw chicken': CDC says doing so can spread germs Dead cars: What famous car brands other than Plymouth and Pontiac have been killed off? Authorities said Turner pulled a knife, and his girlfriend tried to get between Turner and her son, Logan Bailey. She got stabbed in the lower back. Bedford County Commonwealth's Attorney Wes Nance said Turner then went in the house and got a gun. "It's then alleged that Mr. Turner came back out and approached Mr. Bailey. Once again, his mother tried to intervene between the two of them. During that time, she was shot a total of five times all of those injuries occurring to her legs," Nance told WSET. The woman's son was shot in the arm, and his girlfriend was hit by two bullets that Nance said ricocheted. All are expected to survive. Turner was arrested early Easter morning after a two-hour standoff. Bedford County authorities did not return messages seeking details, including whether Turner favors Ford or Chevy. Authorities said alcohol was involved, and a search of the house turned up a smoking device, three green plants and drug paraphernalia, among other items. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford vs. Chevy debate ignites shooting at Virginia family dinner Former CIA officer Jerry Chung Shing Lee pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage for China at a court in Virginia on Wednesday. Some intelligence officers suspect the U.S. Army veteran and Hong Kong native compromised CIA sources in China, leading to the collapse of the agencys network there, reports the Washington Post. Several CIA agents were killed as China pushed the agency out of the country. Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct, said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, reports the Post. Lee, 54, left the CIA in 2007 after 13 years of service. He was approached by Chinese intelligence officers in 2010 while living in Hong Kong, according to a Department of Justice press release. In exchange for information he had gained while working as a CIA case officer, the Chinese officers offered him $100,000 and said they would take care of him for life. Lee received multiple requests for information between May 2010 and at least 2011 and deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars into his bank account between May 2010 and December 2013, according to the DoJ. The FBI became suspicious of Lee after receiving information from an informant in China, according to the Post. They got him to return to the U.S. in 2012 by offering him the chance to re-join the CIA. When law enforcement searched his Honolulu hotel room, they found a thumb drive containing a document detailing a secret CIA operation and notebooks with the real names and phone numbers of operatives and details about secret facilities written in them, according to the Post. The CIA interviewed Lee multiple times during 2012, during which he did not disclose that he had received requests from Chinese intelligence agents. In 2013, the FBI also interviewed him multiple times. During one he admitted that he had received tasks from China. He also denied knowledge of the thumb drive and document found in his hotel room, before later admitting that he created the document but had not passed it on. In further interviews, Lee changed his story several times. By knowingly aiding a foreign government, Mr. Lee put our countrys national security at serious risk and also threatened the safety and personal security of innocent people, namely his former intelligence colleagues, said John Brown, Assistant Director for Counterintelligence for FBI, according to the Department of Justice. He was arrested in 2018, and faces up to life in prison, but is likely to receive less time because he admitted to disclosing secret not top secret information to the Chinese, according to the Post. His sentencing is set for August. UN Security Council blacklisted Masood Azhar A UN Security Council committee blacklisted Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar on Wednesday, ending a long diplomatic impasse. 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 Masood Azhar over his ties to al-Qaeda. The sanctions committee accused Azhar of participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities carried out by the JeM. Under the decision, he will be subject to an assets freeze, global ban and arms embargo. Western powers have for many years been attempting to sanction JeM chief, but China has repeatedly opposed their efforts. The United States, Britain and France had initially asked the UN Security Councils Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee to subject the JeM founder to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze in February. But the move by the 15-member committee, which operates by consensus, was blocked by China, which had previously prevented the sanctions committee from imposing sanctions on Azhar in 2016 and 2017. China had said it wanted more time to study the February request. Reacting to the development, Pakistans foreign ministry spokesman Dr Faisal said Islamabad agreed to the move after the listing removed references to the February attack in Pulwama, as well as linking it to the freedom movement in Indian-held Kashmir. Were going to enforce this decision forthwith, Faisal told reporters in the Islamabad, referring to the travel ban and asset freezes. The listing of Masood Azhar had been under consideration in the Sanctions Committee for several years (since 2009). He has been proscribed under Pakistans Anti-Terrorism Act for some time, even before his case for listing was taken up by the UN committee, the FO spokesman said. The UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and is based on strict technical criteria. All decisions of the committee are taken through consensus. The committee procedures allow members to place technical holds to provide additional time for further discussions to reach a common understanding on matters under its consideration. Many members have placed technical holds on various listing proposals, he said. Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and regulations and has opposed the politicisation of the Sanctions Committee, Dr Faisal maintained. 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 clarified. These proposals were aimed at maligning Pakistan and the legitimate struggle of the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmiri for the realisation of their right to self-determination and were thus rejected by Pakistan, which has always maintained that resolution of any listing issue should be by consensus, through objective dialogue and consultations, within the 1267 Committee framework and most importantly without politicization, he asserted. Over the last few years, many states, including Pakistan have been concerned at an increasing trend of politicisation of this committee, including attempts to include matters that are unrelated to the technical criteria, Dr Faisal said. In this case as well, we witnessed politically motivated attempts manifested through calculated leaks, particularly in the Indian media, about matters under discussion in the committee, which are strictly confidential, he continued. 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 in IHK for realisation of the right to self-determination, he elaborated. Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world. This includes the Indian state-sponsored terrorism against innocent Kashmiris in the occupied valley, including the inhuman use of pellet guns and human shields which finds no parallel in the civilised world, the FO spokesman said. Indian occupation forces continue to massacre Kashmiris enjoying judicial immunity with impunity through the draconian laws. We will continue to provide diplomatic, political and moral support to our Kashmiri brethren, he pledged. (SWNS) A former teacher is facing jail for sexually abusing pupils at a boarding school over 28 years ago. Paul Stevens, 60, subjected three boys to a catalogue of horrific abuse during his time working at the 8,000-a-term Abberley Hall School in Worcestershire. A court heard the housemaster assaulted one victim using a shampoo bottle and inappropriately touched other students - but his actions were "ignored" by the schools headmaster. Stevens appeared before Worcester Crown Court charged with a string of sexual offences against the three boys between January 1983 and March 1991. The court heard how concerns had been raised at the time about Stevens' actions towards the boys but nothing was done by then-headteacher Michael Haggard. Stevens committed horrific crimes at the school throughout the 1980s (SWNS) On Wednesday, he changed his plea to guilty as it emerged other potential victims had also come forward. Stevens admitted ten charges of indecent assault on a child and five charges of indecency with a child. Stevens, of Gwynedd, North Wales, had a study on the groundfloor in the main school building and also a bedroom close to the boys dormitory in "the tower". Read more on Yahoo News UK Police close M66 for 10 hours after woman's body found in middle of motorway Paedophile was allowed to prey on vulnerable girls for a YEAR after he was arrested Suspected serial rapist may have been released from prison by mistake Two friends of the first complainant raised concerns about Stevens stroking him under the duvet when it came to lights out, telling a parent who then spoke to the headmaster. The jury heard from first hand counts how incidents included masturbation, sexual touching and oral sex. Some of the counts reflected multiple incidents, while one of the victims died in 2010. (SWNS) Prosecutor Fiona Elder said: 'For whatever reason he ignored any concerns about the behaviour of Mr Stevens." 'However nothing was done or said as a result of this Under a new head teacher Stevens was issued with a formal warning about what was described as his "over familiarity with the boys" in September 1998. In January 1999 he received another warning before leaving the school at the end of that year. Story continues Judge Andrew Lockhart QC adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports to be prepared ahead of his sentencing on July 5. 'It seems other men in the interim have come forward and have complained about conduct towards them.' Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Thursday released at least four more detained women activists pending trial, campaigners said, bringing the total number of women provisionally freed to seven. They are among 11 activists, some of whom allegedly faced sexual abuse and torture in custody, who are standing trial over charges that include contact with foreign media, diplomats and human rights groups. "Hatoon al-Fassi, Amal al-Harbi, Maysaa al-Manea, and Abeer Namankani were temporarily released," London-based rights group ALQST said on Twitter. A Saudi lawyer with access to the trial in Riyadh's criminal court separately confirmed the release of the four women. Prisoners of Conscience, a Saudi group that tracks political prisoners, reported the provisional release of a fifth woman, university student Shadan al-Anezi. Families of at least two other women had been summoned to court at short notice, raising their hopes of bail but they were turned away without any explanation, another campaigner told AFP. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities. Three other women on trial -- activist Aziza al-Yousef, blogger Eman al-Nafjan and preacher Rokaya al-Mohareb -- were granted temporary release in late March. Riyadh has faced pressure from Western governments to release the women, most of whom were detained last summer in a wide-ranging crackdown against activists just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female motorists. But last month, Saudi Arabia mounted a fresh crackdown that sent shock waves through the kingdom. Authorities arrested at least nine writers and academics, including two US citizens, in what appeared to be a targeted crackdown on supporters of the women activists on trial, campaigners said. The son of freed activist Aziza, Salah al-Haidar, is among the two Americans detained. It marked the first major crackdown since the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, which sparked unprecedented international scrutiny of the kingdom's human rights record. Story continues - Torture allegations - The siblings of activist Loujain al-Hathloul -- one of the prominent detainees who was not among those freed on Thursday -- have said they were being pressured by people close to the Saudi state to stay silent over her treatment in detention. Hathloul was among the women who claimed to be tortured and sexually harassed in detention. At one emotionally charged hearing during the ongoing trial, which began in March, some women broke down as they accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks, flogging and groping in detention, two people with access to the trial told AFP. Saudi prosecutors roundly rejected the accusation in court. The detentions and trial underscore what liberal activists call increasing repression and authoritarianism under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's de facto rule as he consolidates his grip on power. "The case of the Saudi women activists underlines the dramatic changes underway in Saudi Arabia," said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "The consolidation of authority has eliminated the limited space that once existed for liberal social activists." Saudi officials have repeatedly accused the women of links to foreign intelligence agencies, while state-backed media branded them traitors and "agents of embassies". But their charge sheets make no mention of contact with foreign spies, say campaigners who have reviewed the documents. It was unclear when the next hearing in the high-profile trial, which Western diplomats and journalists are barred from attending, will be held. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss the status of the Taiwanese company's planned investment in Wisconsin, Foxconn and the White House said on Thursday. Foxconn pledged to create 13,000 jobs and build a $10 billion campus in Wisconsin, but it has not met early hiring targets and has said it has been reconsidering its plans. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump met with Gou at the White House. She added without offering details that Gou was "spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there." The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement the two discussed the Wisconsin project and other issues. Gou, a billionaire who said last month he would run for president of Taiwan in 2020, also told Trump he would seek U.S. support for his country if he wins, The South China Morning Post newspaper reported. Gou said he would be a "peacemaker" and not a "troublemaker." Sanders said Trump and Gou "did not discuss support for his campaign in Taiwan." The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the self-governing island with the means to defend itself. China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers told a news conference on Thursday in Milwaukee that he planned to meet with Gou later in the day. Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said last month it remained committed to its contract to build a display plant and tech research facilities in Wisconsin, days after Evers said he wanted to renegotiate the deal. Evers, a Democrat who inherited a deal to give Foxconn $4 billion in tax breaks and other incentives when he replaced Republican Scott Walker in January, said he wanted to renegotiate the contract because the firm is not expected to reach its job creation goals for the state. Story continues GROWING SKEPTICISM The 20 million-square-foot (1.8 million-square-meter) Wisconsin campus, announced at a White House ceremony in 2017, marked the largest planned greenfield, or start-from-scratch investment by a foreign-based company in U.S. history and was praised by Trump as proof of his ability to revive American manufacturing. Trump attended a formal groundbreaking in June 2018. Gou told Taiwanese media he invited Trump to come to Wisconsin next May when its production line will open and said Trump agreed. But there is growing skepticism about the fate of the project. In January, Foxconn said market changes "necessitated the adjustment of plans for all projects, including Wisconsin." The company told Reuters it planned a "technology hub" rather than a factory, and would hire mostly engineers and researchers rather than blue-collar workers. After a conversation between Gou and Trump, the company said on Feb. 1 it would still construct a factory but build smaller screens than initially planned. Trump did not mention the project in a rally last week in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Foxconn must meet certain hiring and capital investment goals to qualify for tax credits under the current contract. It fell short of the employment goal in 2018, hiring 178 full-time workers rather than the 260 targeted, and failed to earn a tax credit of up to $9.5 million. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney) Paris (AFP) - France and Germany on Thursday unveiled a multibillion-euro alliance to develop next-generation batteries for electric vehicles, hoping to break the grip Asian producers have on a vital component for European carmakers as they shift away from combustion motors. Speaking in Paris, the French and German finance ministers said five to six billion euros ($5.6 to $6.7 billion) would be invested in the so-called "Airbus for batteries", aimed at replicating the pan-European planemaker's success. The idea was first floated 18 months ago by EU officials worried about falling behind in the global technology race. "It's a major step in the long history of our European industry," France's Bruno Le Maire said at a press conference with his German counterpart Peter Altmaier and Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president in charge of energy. The investment pledge "shows Europe is not fated to depend on technological imports from the two powers that are the United States and China," Le Maire said. "Time is running out if we want our own European production in place within four or five years," Sefcovic added. He said Brussels was prepared to approve 1.2 billion euros in public subsidies for the venture, with the official green light expected by October. At least four billion euros more would come from the 35 private firms, including top automakers and energy groups, who have signalled their readiness to join the alliance. "Consortiums are made up of states, they aren't made up of government ministers or the commission," Altmaier said. A pilot factory with around 200 employees will be opened in the coming months in France, with a goal of opening two production sites, in France and Germany, by 2023 that would generate 1,500 jobs at each. - High hopes - European carmakers have been ramping up electric vehicle production after years of scandals over diesel pollution and as tougher rules on cutting carbon emissions come into force. Story continues They mostly buy cost-competitive cells from a handful of foreign manufacturers, mostly in Asia, which they use to build the high-capacity batteries needed to power electric vehicles. Just last year, China's CATL announced plans for a massive new production factory in central Germany. So far European automakers have been unwilling to go it alone with the huge investments necessary for developing and building large-scale battery construction at home. The European Union accounts for just one percent of the global production of lithium-ion cells, according to data from the BCG consulting group. But the market for electric vehicle batteries is expected reach 45 billion euros by 2027, of which 20 percent to 30 percent will be in Europe, it forecasts. - 30 percent of global demand - Le Maire said the new venture would be open to other EU countries, with Italy, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Finland already expressing an interest. And Altmaier cited French battery specialist Saft, acquired a few years ago by oil giant Total, as well as Europe's second-biggest automaker PSA as likely participants in the venture. Contacted by AFP, PSA said it was studying the project via its Opel unit. "No decision has been made at this stage, and it won't be until the European Union makes a firm commitment" on the announced state aid, a spokesman said. Altmaier has previously said he wants the EU to supply 30 percent of global battery demand by 2030, with "several production sites" in Germany and elsewhere. Amboise (France) (AFP) - The Loire Valley town of Amboise will kick off festivities marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death in style on Thursday, with the French and Italian presidents topping the bill. The Florentine master who personified the Italian Renaissance was the guest of France's King Francis I for the final three years of his life before his death in Amboise in 1519. France's Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Sergio Mattarella will mark the anniversary with visits to his grave at the royal chateau and the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house nearby where Leonardo lived and died. Among glitterati attending the events will be Italian star architect Renzo Piano and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. 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. In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome. Mattarella, staunchly pro-EU like Macron, played an "essential role" in lowering tensions, Macron's office said. After some 200 "yellow vests" staged protests in Amboise on Saturday, the town of some 13,000 people was already in virtual lockdown early Wednesday ahead of the presidential visit. Parking was banned along the riverside motorcade route, with anyone flouting the ban having their vehicle towed away. Shops, bars and restaurants below the chateau will be shuttered on Thursday. Emmanuel Honnet, who runs the Cafe des Arts snack bar by the chateau, said the precautions were "understandable... given the terrible social climate and the real terrorist risk". But the 51-year-old vented "frustration" that the townspeople would be largely sidelined. "It should be the memory of a lifetime," he said. Story continues Macron will be the first French president to visit the town since Charles de Gaulle came in 1959. - 'Architect of the king' - Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome. Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars. With Leonardo's 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". 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. Leonardo brought with him three of his favourite 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. Italy and France have also sparred over an accord under which Italy will lend several Leonardos to the Louvre in October. With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them, as well as 22 drawings. During his three years in Amboise, 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 unrealised projects -- all while continuing his research. On Thursday, Macron and Mattarella will also 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. Amboise (France) (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on Thursday kicked off commemorations to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci died in France, paying their respects to the Renaissance genius in a show of unity after months of diplomatic tensions. "The bond between our countries and our citizens is indestructible," Macron said after the two men lunched at the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house where Leonardo spent the last three years of his life. Mattarella and Macron, who was accompanied by his wife Brigitte, began their visit at the royal chateau in Amboise, where the heads of state laid wreaths at Leonardo's grave. The Italian leader had started his day with a visit to the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral 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. In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome. Amboise, a sleepy town on the Loire River where Leonardo died in 1519 aged 67, was in virtual lockdown because of fears of protests by France's grassroots "yellow vest" movement. Amboise was turned into a ghost town, with traffic banned within a five-kilometre (three-mile) radius and the usually teeming restaurants and shops shuttered. On Wednesday, dozens of cars were towed away, with some foreign owners apparently unaware of the draconian security measures in the town of just 13,000. The presidential helicopter arrived on a river island in the heart of the town, touching down on a pad usually used to launch hot-air balloons over the chateau-studded valley. Also Thursday, the two presidents visited 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. Story continues Among glitterati attending the events were Italian star architect Renzo Piano, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and historian Stephane Bern, a prominent French television personality. At Chambord, Pesquet told a group of around 500 Italian and French youths: "If Leonardo were alive today, maybe he would be a European astronaut." The entire Loire Valley has seized on Leonardo's quincentenary as that of the Renaissance in general, planning more than 500 events across the region, with Bern as the figurehead. - 'Architect of the king' - Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome. Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation to Amboise, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars. With Leonardo's 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". 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. Leonardo brought with him three of his favourite 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. Italy and France have also sparred over an accord under which Italy will lend several Leonardos to the Louvre in October. With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them, as well as 22 drawings. During his three years in Amboise, 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 unrealised projects -- all while continuing his research. (For a live blog on European stocks, type LIVE/ in an Eikon news window) * FTSE 100 down 0.6 pct * FTSE 250 down 0.7 pct * Miners, exporter shares drag on main index * Metro Bank hits life-low after Q1 results May 2 (Reuters) - A fall in blue-chip copper miners and a firmer sterling drove the FTSE 100 lower on Thursday, while mid-cap Metro Bank tanked after an accounting error caused quarterly profit to halve. The FTSE 100 was down 0.5 percent and the FTSE 250 was 0.7 percent lower by 0730 GMT. Sterling gained after investors took comments made by Prime Minister Theresa May as an indication of progress in Brexit talks between the government and the main opposition Labour Party. This led to shares of dollar earners such as British American Tobacco and Diageo shedding more than 1 percent. Copper prices hit a more than two-month low, causing an index of miners to fall for the seventh consecutive session and leading heavyweights Rio Tinto, Glencore and BHP more than 2.2 percent lower. But medical products maker Smith & Nephew outperformed the main bourse with a 2.9 percent gain, as it forecast annual revenue growth at the top half of its prior guidance range. On the mid-cap index, Metro Bank slumped 16 percent to an all-time low after saying the fallout from an accounting error it disclosed in January hit quarterly profit, capital buffers and major business customer deposits. (Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru Editing by Gareth Jones) Airport staff and police will patrol the airport frequently in a bid to stamp out trouble before it starts (GETTY) One of Britains main airports is cracking down on disruptive behaviour on flights and in terminals as the number of incidents rises. On Wednesday, Gatwick Airport in Sussex launched its new plans, aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour caused by drunk passengers on flights. In conjunction with Sussex Police, the airport launched Project Disrupt, committed to reducing the number of disruptive passenger incidents. When incidents happen they can cause severe delays to other passengers travel plans - sometimes resulting in cancelled or delayed flights. Airport security zone. Blurred aircraft behind a barbed wire fence. Illustration of the incident in aviation transport. The measures state any individual convicted of being drunk on board an aircraft could face a maximum fine of 5,000 and two years in prison. Offenders may be ordered to reimburse an airline in the event of a diverted or cancelled flight. Sussex Police will make regular patrols of the airport as part of Project Disrupt, while it also encourages airport staff, security and shop workers to be vigilant against drunk and disorderly behaviour. Read more: Fight breaks out on flight after 'very drunk' man objects to female passenger not wearing shoes Drunk mum-of-two who tried to smoke as she swigged duty-free vodka on flight avoids jail Pair of drunk strangers handed jail terms after forcing plane to make emergency landing The new initiative comes in time for the peak holiday season, where a large amount of passengers will be jetting off to various holiday destinations around the world from the main London airport. Passengers are being reminded to behave responsibly and fly responsibly Reported incidents of disorderly behaviour are comparatively rare at the airport, with a total of 379 incidents of disruption reported to police during summer in 2018. Shop workers and airport staff are encouraged to report incidents or those they believe to be too drunk (GETTY) Of that figure, 77 passengers were denied from boarding their flights, while 56 were arrested for offences including being drunk and disorderly (before getting on board an aircraft), being drunk on board an aircraft, and assault and endangering an aircraft. Story continues The figures show an increase of 48 incidents since 2017. Gatwick say this proactive approach is designed at tackling the root source of problems and and to engage with passengers at an early stage. The airport is also introducing had held devices for recording incidents ion a streamlined process dedicated to dealing with problems before they escalate. 46 million passengers take off from Gatwick each year (AP) Gatwick Prevention Team Inspector James Biggs said: While the vast majority of passengers are well-behaved, and travel through the airport and arrive at their destination without a problem, there is a very small minority who ruin it for themselves and for others. By engaging with passengers at the earliest opportunity through patrols, face to face contact by Police and airport staff and the distribution of posters and leaflets we are making them fully aware of the rules and their own responsibility. Passengers could be refused carriage if they are considered to be drunk, disorderly or disruptive. We are not out there with the intention to arrest people or ruin their holiday; we want all passengers to travel through Gatwick safely and smoothly. We are fully committed to working with Gatwick Airport to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. Echoing Inspector Briggs comments, head of operations at Gatwick, Nikki Barton, said: Only a tiny minority of Gatwicks 46 million annual passengers are disruptive, but we are determined to do what we can to stamp out this sort of behaviour. A range of measures including working collaboratively with our airlines and the police to encourage early reporting and targeted intervention appear to be working. We are, however, introducing further measures to prevent more serious incidents of disruptive behaviour from occurring on board aircraft, and this year a new streamlined reporting and recording process should help us to respond and deal with incidents as they occur on the airport. It remains vital that the public are aware of the serious consequences of being disruptive while at an airport or on an aircraft. By Brendan O'Brien May 2 (Reuters) - A 52-year-old man convicted of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends during an argument in 1994 is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Thursday. Scotty Garnell Morrow is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. local time (2300 GMT) at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. On the morning of Dec. 29, 1994, a couple of weeks after Barbara Young ended a relationship with Morrow because of his abusive behavior, he went to her Gainesville home. An argument ensued as Young's friends Tonya Woods and LaToya Horne and her two children looked on, according to court documents detailing testimony during the trial. During the fight, Morrow pulled out a gun from his waistband and shot Woods in the abdomen and Horne in the arm. Young fled into a bedroom where Morrow beat her before he shot and killed her. He went into the kitchen where he shot and killed Woods, court papers showed. Horne fled to a neighbor's house as police responded to the shooting and the murder weapon was later found hidden in the backyard of Morrow's house. Morrow confessed to the killings after his arrest. During the trial, he admitted he shot the victims because he "wanted [Ms. Woods] to shut up," court documents said. On June 26, 1999, a jury found Morrow guilty on several charges including two counts of felony murder. Three days later, the jury recommended the death sentence. Since 2001, several state and federal courts have denied Morrow's appeals based on various grounds. The United States Supreme Court denied Morrows request to appeal in February. Morrow would be the fifth inmate to be executed in the United States and the first to be executed in Georgia in 2019. Georgia executed two inmates in 2018, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee Editing by Chris Reese) Henry Vincent (right) died from a stab wound inflicted by pensioner Richard Osborn-Brook (left), whose home he was burgling A pensioner who stabbed an intruder to death warned the burglar his own knife was "bigger than yours and if you don't leave my house you will be sorry, an inquest heard today. Richard Osborn-Brooks, 79, told the hearing burglar Henry Vincent ignored his warning and instead "ran into" the blade. The coroner today ruled Mr Osborn-Brooks acted lawfully when he killed Vincent. Vincent entered the house with an accomplice in the early hours of April 4 last year. The 37-year-old, who had cocaine and heroin in his system, was armed with a screwdriver during the raid on South Park Crescent in Hither Green, south east London. Mr Osborn-Brooks, who gave evidence on Thursday via an audio link, said two men knocked on his door, grabbed him and pushed him inside, with one shoving him toward the kitchen and the other running upstairs as they both demanded money. The pensioner then told Vincent's accomplice: Get out my house you b*****d or it will be worse for you. Mr Osborn-Brooks opened his front door in Hither Green to a man wearing a grey balaclava with eye holes (PA) Explaining himself, Mr Osborn-Brooks said: "I just meant that I would report him for breaking in and I wanted him to leave the house. "It was purely a threatening move I didnt intend to stab him at all. I just thought he would go out the house if I had a weapon. Mr Osborn-Brooks said after he picked up the largest kitchen knife from a six-knife holder, Vincent's accomplice fled through the front door. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Brexit Party continues to surge in the polls for the European elections Australian politician caught replying to his own Facebook boast Trump is a f***ing idiot text message read out live on US TV He told the hearing Vincent then came down the stairs brandishing a screwdriver and said: "Get out of my way or I'll stick you with this. Coroner Andrew Harris, reading Mr Osborn-Brooks's police statement to him, said: "You said 'I think you're wrong because mine's bigger than yours and if you don't leave my house you will be sorry." Mr Osborn-Brooks said: "I was just showing him that the knife I had was actually bigger than the screwdriver. So if he was to lunge at me he would hit my knife rather than hit me first. Story continues Locals pulled down tributes to Vincent placed up by mourners following his death (PA) "I thought he would look at my knife and see it is bigger than his implement and he would take the opportunity to run out the front door, which was open. "My intention was to get him out of the house and away from my wife. "I still think that Mr Vincent rushed forward intending to do me harm and he ran into the knife that I was holding between us. "He definitely didn't try to get out of the front door, he came towards me. Mr Osborn-Brooks was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, but was told by police he would face no further action. His arrest sparked a public outcry and an online fundraising campaign in support of him raised thousands of pounds. Tempers flared at Vincent's funeral as mourners hurled items and swore at reporters (PA) Pathologist Simon Poole, who carried out the postmortem on Vincent, said in a statement the toxicology report indicated "a recent use of both cocaine and heroin. He added Vincent "may have been experiencing the effects" of the drugs at the time of the raid. The usually quiet south London neighbourhood became a flashpoint when friends and family of Vincent laid flowers and cards opposite the home of Mr Osborn-Brooks and his wife Maureen. The tributes were repeatedly torn down by neighbours and well-wishers angry at the shrine to career criminal Vincent - only to reappear again within hours or days. Vincents funeral saw ugly scenes as mourners swore and hurled eggs, rocks and drink cans at reporters covering it. Vincent, from Lime Road in Swanley, Kent, was jobless and single at the time. US-Taliban officials resumed talks in Qatar US 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 US special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, met the Talibans political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is heading the Taliban 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 US President Donald Trumps efforts to end Americas longest war, which began when US-backed forces ousted the Taliban weeks after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Since October, US and Taliban officials have held several rounds of talks aimed at ensuring a safe departure for US 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 US and Taliban representatives in the meeting, but some Qatari officials will remain present as hosts, he said. This week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani convened a rare grand assembly known as the 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. 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 US puppet. Ghani believes that backing from members of the Loya Jirga will strengthen his bid to be recognised as Afghanistans 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, Ghanis special envoy for peace, said at the assembly he welcomed the US-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, which 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. CAMARILLO, Calif. About the length of a small bus, one of the world's biggest sharks may be making a comeback off the California coast. After basking sharks all but disappeared decades ago, people had reported some sightings off the coast in recent years. Then, this spring, those numbers started to climb. A spate of sightings were reported recently off Ventura and the Santa Monica Bay, said Christopher Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University at Long Beach. It has really been 30 years since weve seen them in any numbers, Lowe said. At one time, basking sharks, known as gentle giants, could be found off California by the hundreds or even thousands. But their numbers plummeted after the 1960s. More: Who's afraid of who? Great white sharks fear killer whales, study shows The eastern North Pacific population was listed as a species of concern in 2009. Since, researchers have tried to fill in the many blanks on what is known about the illusive fish. But there are still a lot of unknowns, including whether the sharks are back to stay, experts said. In April, basking sharks started regularly making the list of Island Packers' daily sightings. The boat company ferries people back and forth to Channel Islands National Park and reported seeing as many as 20 of the sharks in one day. I hope its a sign of comeback, fisheries research biologist Heidi Dewar said of the increasing numbers. Dewar, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has studied basking sharks for the past decade. But given the variability in sightings," she said, "I think we have to wait a few more years before we can say that with confidence. What are basking sharks? Many of the basking sharks seen locally were in the 18 to 25 foot range. But they can get to be 30 feet long, Dewar said. Similar to baleen whales, they do not have big teeth like some other shark species. Basking sharks are filter-feeders and tend to feed a lot at the surface, mostly eating tiny plankton about the size of a grain of rice. When they forage, they'll swim with their wide, white mouths open. Story continues "They're these massive, gentle giants sort of mowing the seas," Dewar said. "I think it would be great and help instill a love of the ocean and love of nature the more people who could see them." It's unclear why their numbers crashed off the West Coast. But the sharks were targeted by fisheries in the past and an eradication program in Canada. Off the coast of British Columbia, the sharks were killed to prevent them from getting tangled up in salmon nets. That practice ended decades ago, and the sharks garnered protection, but the population failed to rebound. Experts don't know if the sharks moved elsewhere when they disappeared off the local coast. "That's the challenge in not knowing their full range," Dewar said. "We wouldn't even know where to look." More: Divers in Hawaii may have been swimming with biggest great white shark on record A surge in basking shark sightings NOAA used to have regular aerial surveys that would spot hundreds or even thousands of basking sharks off shore. After they were listed, NOAA launched a research program in 2009 to find out more about them. The agency started a sightings database and got a little funding to tag a few sharks when, they were spotted. Over two years, they were able to get out four tags on sharks, Dewar said. Two of those tags stayed on for eight months or more. One of the sharks was tagged in Monterey Bay and swam to the tip of Baja. The second was tagged in the Southern California Bight and went to Hawaii. That wasn't nearly enough data to identify any patterns, but now, the agency may be getting another chance. After getting reports of multiple sightings off Ventura this month, researcher Ryan Freedman set off to try to find some and hopefully tag them. His company contracts with NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. About 30 minutes in, he saw one basking shark. Then, he saw three others. The sharks were swimming just north of Santa Cruz and Anacapa islands, Freedman said. "When you pull up to these fish, you're kind of in awe of how big they are," he said. He tagged two of the sharks. If successful, the tags will record data over the next eight months or so. In the meantime, NOAA is asking for the public's help. Dewar and other basking shark researchers urged the public to let them know about sightings. If boaters see a basking shark, she asked that they slow down and avoid crashing into the large, slow moving species. "We're very fortunate to have very cool ecology in our backyard," Freedman said. "We hope the public can help us learn more about how and where they are." This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Giant sharks are showing up off the California coast Bonuses based on managers discretion reportedly boost employees intrinsic motivation. Photo: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire/PA Images Scrapping fixed bonuses and letting managers decide could help motivate top staff. A study by Rebecca Hewett and Hannes Leroy at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University (RSM) suggests staff are happier receiving high bonuses based on their managers discretionary judgement than ones based on formal criteria. Office workers interviewed by researchers were more likely to say they felt their bonus was fair, and this increased their intrinsic motivation to excel in their work. But the finding comes with a significant catch. The research also suggests manager discretion is only perceived to be fairer and has a motivating effect when employees benefit from it. READ MORE: 5 powerful daily routines of insanely happy and productive people For those who lose out by receiving less money, a system based on managers discretion can have the opposite effect, with decisions seen as less fair and employees more likely to feel at odds with the organisation. The study focused on actual bonuses given to office workers by a UK government-funded organisation which employed 733 staff at the time of the survey. Hewett and Leroy asked 155 staff to report their motivation levels shortly after receiving their bonus. The researchers said several Fortune 500 companies have already reported making a shift towards managers using their discretion when allocating staff bonuses in recent years. Organisations are increasingly interested in creating work environments to encourage passion, purpose and engagement, said Leroy. READ MORE: How to find motivation when rewards are nowhere in sight These factors are about engendering intrinsic motivation doing a job because it aligns with who you are and your core interests and values, rather than pursuing work-related tasks for extrinsic reasons. Hewett added: Performance bonuses should recognise employees unique contribution to an organisation yet this is difficult to execute using formal measurements alone. The research therefore highlights that bonus systems are, by nature, not put in place to treat everyone equally someone always loses out. Story continues If your goal is absolute equality, then bonuses are perhaps not the best tool, but if your goal is to motivate the better performers, then allowing managers space to use their discretion is a good thing. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. New Google privacy settings will let consumers automatically deleteafter a specified timedata the company collects about their routine locations, search habits, and browsing history. "You should always be able to manage your data in a way that works best for you," Google said in a blog post introducing the change, "and were committed to giving you the best controls to make that happen." According to the company, the new controls will roll out over the next few weeks for the Location History setting and Web & App Activity, which records your searches, browsing history, and behavior on Google's apps. Users will be given the choice to have the data deleted after three months or 18 months or have it preserved until they take action to remove it themselves. Using the My Activity page associated with Google accounts, users have long been able to view and delete information on the places they frequent, websites they visit, and apps they use on their smartphones, along with the minute-by-minute time stamps the company records for those activities. They could also choose to switch this data collection off entirely, which limits certain personalized offerings on apps such as Google Maps and Google Assistant. Katie McInnis, policy counsel at Consumer Reports, says this is a welcome development from Google, but warns that people shouldn't assume the new automatic deletion tools will protect their privacy entirely. "Consumers should understand that this doesn't change anything about your basic relationship with Google," she says. "Three months is plenty of time for Google to use your activity to monetize their business through targeted advertising." For consumers who want to protect their privacy, there's no need to wait for the new controls. You will find step-by-step instructions for adjusting Location History, Web & App Activity, and a host of other controls in Consumer Reports' guide to Google privacy settings. 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. When we found out I was pregnant with our third child, my husband and I both became depressed. The pregnancy was unplanned and unexpected, to say the least. After failed infertility treatments six years ago, we had adopted our two daughters, Roma and Beatrice, now 6 and 4. As selfish as it sounds, another child biological or not wasn't what we wanted. Rethinking the Future The news came at a time when we had just turned a corner in parenthood, enjoying a bit of freedom as the girls had become more independent. The prospect of having a life outside of home again one that included nights out, gym time, uninterrupted bathroom trips seemed possible. I could actually fantasize about a 10th anniversary trip to Japan abroad without kids and believe it could happen. Compounding our depression was the fact that Roma and Bea were adopted from China at 11 months, so we'd never dealt with the "infant thing," as we called the first year. The thought of having to wake up several times a night with a yelping baby (and with our luck a colicky one) in addition to our current rounds of middle-of-the-night scary dreams or water requests was downright daunting. There was never any question that we would have two children. Even while I was in the throes of infertility treatments I always imagined having two kids. As soon as we got Roma home from China, we started the paperwork to go back and get her a sister. Once we had Beatrice, our family felt complete. Two was a bit of a stretch logistically, financially, emotionally but it felt right. Surely a third would send us over the edge. And Baby Makes Five Fast-forward one year. Frances, our third daughter, is healthy and not the least bit colicky and, here's the big shocker: I feel happier than I ever have in my life. I'm breastfeeding and there's a natural "feel good" hormonal boost happening. I'm up three to four times a night even after five months but I don't care. I haven't been to a movie in months, and I really don't miss it. Story continues Life actually seems easier since Frances was born. I remember when I made the decision to quit trying to get pregnant and adopt a baby, I felt this tremendous relief. Finally letting go of the "traditional way" of making a family felt liberating and exciting. I hadn't realized how much I was invested in a preconceived "map" of my life marriage, pregnancy, two biological kids. Only after I gave it up did I understand that I had held fast to an image of what was "right," not thinking that it could be more fun to go another, equally "right" way. So here I am again. Frances has reminded me of the freedom that comes with letting go of expectations, and of the idea that there's only one "right" way. A year ago, if I wore wrinkly or dirty clothes to work on occasion, it would really bug me. "Why can't I get out of bed earlier and figure out an outfit that doesn't involve a ripped belt loop or deodorant rings?" I thought. This afternoon, when I went to clean breast milk off my shirt, I noticed that my skirt was inside out and I thought, oh well. Frances has lowered my expectations and given me a reprieve. It's not just that if you're a working mom of three, people think you're a freak of nature if you're still standing, let alone dressed. I just don't care as much. A belt loop is a belt loop. But a 4-month-old's laugh or a 3-year-old's description of gymnastics class ("We jumped in the marshmallow pit!") is more than the sum of its parts. I never thought I would be the type to say "embrace the insanity," but a third child adds to the chaos of family life and chaos is actually kind of fun. There is usually one naked person in the house. And when they are dressed, my kids have never looked weirder now that I don't have time to monitor what they put on. (Roma wears an old necktie to school cut short to fit her size and Bea wears socks with sandals in October.) A Busy, Happy Life Our sheets have a gray cast now that my husband does the laundry and refuses to separate it. Thank-you notes don't always get written. The floors are sticky. Dry cleaning never goes out. But the stuff that needs to get done, gets done. Homework. Heart-to-hearts. Bike riding. We still eat dinner together every night, and I still manage to watch a bit of late-night TV. My priorities have shifted, as they say. Even my marriage seems brighter. My husband and I are blessed with a strong bond, but there's nothing like a third child to make you appreciate a hands-on spouse. The additional work makes me look at all that he does do, rather than what he doesn't, which hasn't always been the case. Don't get me wrong. There are days when I'd give my right arm to come home from work to an empty house. There are days when I'm so tired I drink coffee until my stomach hurts (and I'm still brain-dead). There are times that I feel it's impossible to be connected to all three girls at once that the best I can hope for is that the love for each of them evens out over time. And every single day I wish I had a clean house. I've come to relish what I most feared before Frances was born: the morning weekday crunch. "How will I ever get out the door?" I wondered. Yell. A lot. But laugh a lot, too. This morning Bea ate a breakfast of cold leftover macaroni and cheese while Roma jumped up and down (in the pirate costume she slept in), making Frances crack up. The baby hadn't been changed since the night before, and the cat threw up (but I wasn't sure where). Somehow the scene was more comic than tragic. "It doesn't get better than this," I thought. True, a small misstep a missing school form, shoe, toothbrush and everything seems to fall apart. But that will always be the case. I never had "control" over these things before. Now I just admit it. (Reuters) - British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Thursday that its three-in-one drug Trelegy met the main goal of a late-stage asthma study, signalling a possible boost to its lung medicines division that has been hit by generic competition. The company, along with co-developer Innoviva Inc, said the once-daily inhaler improved lung function in patients with uncontrolled asthma, compared to its other medicine Relvar/Breo Ellipta. However, GSK said Trelegy Ellipta did not meet its secondary goal of showing a reduction in the rate of exacerbations. "We plan to submit these data for regulatory review after the full dataset is available," said GSK's Chief Scientific Officer Hal Barron. The results come at a time when GSK is hit by generic competition for its blockbuster asthma treatment Advair and it looks to newer respiratory drugs to make up for declines in older medicines. Trelegy Ellipta is already approved for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that limits airflow to the lungs. The drug became the first once-daily triple medicine for COPD when U.S. regulators gave it the green light in late 2017, putting GSK ahead of rivals such as AstraZeneca and Novartis. More than 30 percent of asthma patients cannot fully restore their lung functions with two-drug inhalable combinations such as GSK's Breo, creating a market opportunity for a more powerful combination therapy. Trelegy, delivered through GSK's inhaler Ellipta, generated 156 million pounds ($203 million) in sales last year, from its use against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or smokers' lung. Analysts at HSBC project 1.4 billion pounds in Trelegy revenue by 2023, also helped by future use against asthma, though COPD will likely remain the larger commercial opportunity. (Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Maju Samuel and Elaine Hardcastle) A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy has died in a Texas hospital after he was detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), becoming the third migrant child to die in US government custody in the past five months. The boy, who has not been named, died on Tuesday at a Texas childrens hospital in the McAllen area after several days in intensive care. The cause of death has not been released. Related: The booming business for smuggling people to the US: 'Everyone wins' It was unclear where and when the boy was detained, but on the evening of 20 April, he was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents to a facility run by Southwest Key a not-for-profit organization which houses up to 5,000 migrant children in more than 20 shelters apparently in good health. He was taken to an emergency room the following morning with symptoms including fever, chills and a headache, but discharged back to the shelter later that day. The youngsters health did not improve, according to a statement by Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and he was returned to the emergency room by ambulance on 22 April. From there, the sick boy was admitted to an intensive care unit, where he died just over a week later. The boy was under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which contracts private companies and registered charities to house thousands of children separated from their parents at the border by Ice officials as well as those detained after making the perilous overland journey from Central America without adult relatives. Two other children died in US custody within three weeks of each other in December 2018, but unlike in the latest case, they were in custody of CBP. Jakelin Caal, seven, who died on 8 December at an El Paso childrens hospital, and Felipe Gomez Alonzo, eight, who died on Christmas Eve at a New Mexico hospital, were also Guatemalan part of a mass exodus from the impoverished Central American country in recent months. Story continues Related: Im in despair: a mother and village mourn Guatemalan boy's death in US In November, Guatemalans overtook Mexicans as the largest nationality taken into CBP custody an extraordinary figure considering that the population of Mexico is seven times larger than that of its southern neighbour. Southwest Key has yet to comment on the childs death, but ACF spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said in a statement: Arrangements were made for the minors brother and Guatemalan consular officials to visit the minor while he was hospitalized. The family who resides in the home country received frequent updates from hospital staff. The cause of death is currently under review, and, in accordance with standard ORR policies and procedures, the case will be subject to full review. Southwest Key has collected $1.7bn in federal grants in the past decade, according to a New York Times investigation. Its founder resigned in March amid questions over its handling of government funds. The Guatemalan consul in McAllen has been contacted for comment. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! While not a mind-blowing move, it is good to see that the Saga Tankers ASA (OB:SAGA) share price has gained 14% in the last three months. But that cannot eclipse the less-than-impressive returns over the last three years. In fact, the share price is down 56% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return. View our latest analysis for Saga Tankers In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. Saga Tankers saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. This was, in part, due to extraordinary items impacting earnings. Due to the loss, it's not easy to use EPS as a reliable guide to the business. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario. You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). OB:SAGA Past and Future Earnings, May 2nd 2019 Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.. What About Dividends? As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Saga Tankers's TSR for the last 3 years was -9.3%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market gained around 2.0% in the last year, Saga Tankers shareholders lost 30% (even including dividends). Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 1.7% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. If you would like to research Saga Tankers in more detail then you might want to take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on NO 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. We are direct exporters/producers of wood pallet products. Our office location is in the US, but our factory and export our products from Vietnam. Our company specializes in the manufacture of high-grade, low moisture, high combustion efficiency wood pallets. With satellite offices located in the US and Vietnam, we are available around the clock to assist you with your needs. Our product is routinely checked by independent laboratories to ensure quality, and copies of quality reports can be provided upon request. We are able to supply large volumes at competitive prices. You know youre in for a bleak story when the hero kills himself in the first scene, as Jared Harris character does at the outset of HBOs Chernobyl. Not that anyone who tunes in to a miniseries with a title like that should be surprised to find out theyre in for five hours of anguish, terror and death. Theres no bright side to the 1986 reactor explosion that likely killed thousands in Soviet Ukraine, rendering the surrounding area uninhabitable for centuries to come and making the word Chernobyl synonymous with the risks of nuclear energy. But, grim as it is, the saga still has plenty of political resonance. The shows structure is unnecessarily complicated. After flashing forward to the suicide of Harris Valery Legasov in 1988, creator Craig Mazin jumps jarringly back to the night of the explosion. An action spectacle that dominates the premiere, which airs on May 6, this sequence captures the scale of Chernobyls mismanagementyet it doesnt connect emotionally, because we dont know anything about the workers caught in this radioactive death trap. Ostensibly to build suspense about what really caused the disasterwhich feels a bit inappropriate in the context of a historical tragedyMazin saves what small glimpses he provides into their backstories for the final episode. Only the wife of an injured firefighter gets an ongoing subplot, one that gives her little to do besides weep. The real leads dont come to the fore until the day after the explosion. Legasov is a renowned nuclear physicist; Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard) is the gravel-voiced Communist Party man who travels with him to the still burning time bomb of a power plant; and Emily Watson plays Ulana Khomyuk, a brilliant, righteous (and fictional) scientist who tries to keep the panicked Legasov honest. As they appeal to politicians all the way up to Gorbachev, Chernobyl becomes a life-or-death struggle between experts and the ignorant bureaucrats for whom their warnings are an inconvenient truth. This drives home the many obvious failures of Soviet authoritarianism, of course, and the ongoing threat of nuclear annihilation. At its best, however, Chernobyl demonstrates what happens when societies stop listening to science. Amid our rapidly worsening global climate crisis, its a critical message. The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to launch a pilot project that will allow federal immigration officials to use DNA testing to verify whether migrant families crossing the southern border are, in fact, families. Under the program, which is expected to start next week at undisclosed locations along the border, department officials will be able to collect cheek swabs of migrants who claim to be parent and child and quickly determine if that relationship is legitimate. The new tests are an attempt to identify fraudulent claims where adults cross the border with children who are not their own in an attempt to get favorable treatment in asylum cases, a situation that acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan has described as a growing problem as record numbers of Central American migrants flood the border. The Trump administration used DNA testing extensively last year after it was ordered by a federal judge to reunite more than 2,800 migrant families separated during the now-rescinded family separation policy. In that case, the government used the tests to ensure that questionable parent-child relationships were legitimate before reuniting those families. At that time, civil rights groups and privacy experts worried that the DNA evidence would be stored and used in the future by the government for other purposes, including law enforcement. That explains why Homeland Security officials say that all DNA samples and data collected during the pilot project will be destroyed after each case has been decided. Central American migrants traveling in a caravan headed to the U.S. border wash clothes and take baths in a river on a rest day near Mapastepec in Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 21, 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) That promise doesn't satisfy Vera Eidelman, an attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Eidelman said the new DNA tests are troubling enough because their "coercive" nature will surely intimidate legitimate asylum-seekers. But Eidelman said the pilot project represents yet another step by the federal government in its ongoing efforts to collect more and more vital information from people. Story continues "The government claims it does not plan to store or share the information collected from these intrusive and coercive tests for now, but the fact that it is even building out this surveillance infrastructure using the pretext of the border should trouble us all," Eidelman said. "With other government actors, from local law enforcement agencies to the FBI, also rolling out Rapid DNA systems, it is not hard to imagine a nightmare of a centralized government database." Outlined by senior Homeland Security officials during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, the pilot project will include "rapid DNA" analysis conducted by Ande, a private contractor with facilities in Massachusetts and Colorado. Homeland Security officials say the technology allows them to get results within two hours. The tests are needed, the official said, because of the sharp rise in migrants crossing the border falsely claiming to be parent and child. Some cases aren't necessarily attempts to defraud the U.S. system, such as children arriving with step-parents, uncles or other relatives. But Homeland Security says many children are also being brought into the country by human smugglers and others with ill intent. The pilot project will be conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HSI teams who have been preparing for the pilot said they have interviewed 101 parents and children for the past two weeks and already identified 29 families making fraudulent claims. That led to 33 criminal charges against members of those alleged families. The exact number of fraudulent claims could be far higher, according to Homeland Security. Since the beginning of October, the department has apprehended more than 2,700 people with possible fraudulent claims. More reading: Download the USA TODAY app This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Homeland Security to use speedy DNA testing to verify migrant family relationships BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday he would look for ways to co-operate with Italy's far-right leader, distancing himself further from the mainstream European conservative group which suspended his party in March. Orban's ruling Fidesz Party was suspended from the European People's Party (EPP) over his record on respect for the rule of law, freedom of the press and minorities' rights. The EPP, made up mainly of mainstream center-right parties across Europe, is the biggest group in the European parliament and expected to keep that status after an election later this month, which would give it a strong position to choose the successor to Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission President. It has long had an uneasy relationship with Orban, but has tried to avert a full split with one of the most electorally successful leaders in ex-Communist central Europe. Orban has denied violating any EU principles and said he wants to remain part of the EPP. But, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa published on Wednesday, he said the group had to drop its aversion to the far right. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who leads the far right League party in his home country and is aiming to set up a new nationalist group in the European parliament, met Orban for talks on Thursday. The two leaders visited a steel fence on Hungary's southern border with Serbia, built under one of Orban's signature anti-immigrant policies. Orban said Europe needs to be governed by leaders opposed immigration, and faulted the EPP for being "unreceptive" to right-wing parties pushing a hard line on immigration. But he stopped short of signaling a full break with the EPP. "Whether we remain a member of the EPP depends on where the EPP is turning to," Orban said, declining to specify whether his party might join the group of nationalists backed by Salvini. "We will decide on our own fate," Orban said. "If the EPP will bind themselves with the European left ... then it will be difficult find our place in that cooperation." Germany's AfD Party and right wing groups from Finland and Denmark have said they back Salvini's proposal for a new nationalist bloc. Salvini said he valued Orban's "efforts to enforce an aspect within the EPP which respects the history, the present and future of European peoples." "I do not wish to intervene into that debate. I hope he will emerge victoriously," Salvini said. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Sandor Peto; Editing by Peter Graff) BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday he would look for ways to co-operate with Italy's far-right leader, distancing himself further from the mainstream European conservative group which suspended his party in March. Orban's ruling Fidesz Party was suspended from the European People's Party (EPP) over his record on respect for the rule of law, freedom of the press and minorities' rights. The EPP, made up mainly of mainstream centre-right parties across Europe, is the biggest group in the European parliament and expected to keep that status after an election later this month, which would give it a strong position to choose the successor to Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission President. It has long had an uneasy relationship with Orban, but has tried to avert a full split with one of the most electorally successful leaders in ex-Communist central Europe. Orban has denied violating any EU principles and said he wants to remain part of the EPP. But, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa published on Wednesday, he said the group had to drop its aversion to the far right. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who leads the far right League party in his home country and is aiming to set up a new nationalist group in the European parliament, met Orban for talks on Thursday. The two leaders visited a steel fence on Hungary's southern border with Serbia, built under one of Orban's signature anti-immigrant policies. Orban said Europe needs to be governed by leaders opposed immigration, and faulted the EPP for being "unreceptive" to right-wing parties pushing a hard line on immigration. But he stopped short of signalling a full break with the EPP. "Whether we remain a member of the EPP depends on where the EPP is turning to," Orban said, declining to specify whether his party might join the group of nationalists backed by Salvini. "We will decide on our own fate," Orban said. "If the EPP will bind themselves with the European left ... then it will be difficult find our place in that cooperation." Story continues Germany's AfD Party and right wing groups from Finland and Denmark have said they back Salvini's proposal for a new nationalist bloc. Salvini said he valued Orban's "efforts to enforce an aspect within the EPP which respects the history, the present and future of European peoples." "I do not wish to intervene into that debate. I hope he will emerge victoriously," Salvini said. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Sandor Peto; Editing by Peter Graff) Divers excavating an underwater cave in Mexico have discovered the bones of giant meat eaters that lived there during the last ice age, a new study reported. The finding is remarkable, because few ancient animal remains survive in Mexico's hot, tropical climate. But these ancient beasts, the short-faced bear (Arctotherium wingei) and the wolf-like Protocyon troglodytes, fell to their deaths in a deep cave, which was flooded soon after. As a result, their bones were preserved in pristine condition, the researchers said. Both of these species were far from what scientists had considered the animals' homes. Previously, the creatures were known only from South America. This finding shows that they also lived much farther north, or more than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) away from their known habitat, about the distance from Boston to Miami. [Photos: These Animals Used to Be Giant] Divers found the animal bones in Hoyo Negro, a completely submerged pit inside the Sac Actun cave system in the eastern Yucatan Peninsula. Hoyo Negro is famous for its anicent human remains; in 2007, divers found the skull and bones of a teenage girl who lived about 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. A diver holds the skull of an ancient bear known as an Arctotherium. Copyright Roberto Chavez-Arce The girl's bones, as well as those of the animals including tapirs, saber-toothed cats, cougars, elephant relatives known as gomphotheres, bears and canids were well preserved. That's because rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the caves, turning them into a low-oxygen environment that was favorable for bone preservation, said study lead paleontologist Blaine Schubert, executive director at the Center of Excellence in Paleontology at East Tennessee State University. However, because much of the attention paid to Hoyo Negro's bones focused on the teenage girl's remains, some of the animals were misidentified, Schubert said. Previously, the bear was mistakenly placed in the genus Tremarctos and the wolf-like species was thought to be the coyote Canis latrans. The new study sets the record straight, Schubert said. Story continues Since the initial excavation, divers have found even more bones. Researchers now have the bones of one, possibly two individuals of the canid and at least seven of the short-faced bear, which date to the late Pleistocene, about 11,300 years ago. "The whole previous record of this particular type of bear is just known from a few localities in South America, and those are fragmentary remains," Schubert told Live Science. "So, we went from not having any of this type of bear outside of South America to now having the best record of this type of bear from the Yucatan of Mexico." Exploring north and south The discovery also sheds light on the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI), which took place when North America connected to South America and animals from each region crossed over into new lands. Most scientists think that this connection happened about 2.5 million to 3 million years ago, Schubert said. The diver carefully puts the Arctotherium skull in a container. Copyright Roberto Chavez-Arce During one of these early crossovers, the North American short-faced bear traveled down to South America, as did the wolf-like canid. These ancestors then evolved into the new species that were found in the cave, which, until now, scientists had never seen outside of South America. So, how did A. wingei and the wolf-like creature end up in Mexico? One idea is that they were able to recross that land bridge from South America into North America at a later time, Schubert said. However, it's also possible that when the bear and canid were coming down to South America, some of them stayed in Mexico, the researchers noted. [10 Extinct Giants That Once Roamed North America] Only one living relative of the short-faced bear currently lives in South America: the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus). This bear has never been found outside of South America. The new evidence suggests that's because A. wingei was blocking its way, likely taking up the same habitat and eating the same food that the spectacled bear needed to survive, Schubert said. "Perhaps they created a barrier," he said. The researchers did an impressive job of correctly identifying the bear and canid species, said Ross MacPhee, curator of mammalogy and vertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who was not involved in the study. The study highlights how useful these underwater sites are, especially in the hot, wet tropics where ancient bones usually degrade, Ross told Live Science. "You can get a probe into the past that you don't ordinarily expect to get, and that's the great thing about these caves in the Yucatan." The study was published online yesterday (May 1) in the journal Biology Letters. Originally published on Live Science. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But when you pick a company that is really flourishing, you can make more than 100%. For instance the Lycopodium Limited (ASX:LYL) share price is 191% higher than it was three years ago. Most would be happy with that. It's down 4.5% in the last seven days. Check out our latest analysis for Lycopodium To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Lycopodium became profitable within the last three years. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here. You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). ASX:LYL Past and Future Earnings, May 1st 2019 We know that Lycopodium has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? This free interactive report on Lycopodium's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further. What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Lycopodium the TSR over the last 3 years was 240%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. Story continues A Different Perspective Lycopodium shareholders are up 1.3% for the year (even including dividends). But that was short of the market average. It's probably a good sign that the company has an even better long term track record, having provided shareholders with an annual TSR of 12% over five years. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. Keeping this in mind, a solid next step might be to take a look at Lycopodium's dividend track record. This free interactive graph is a great place to start. 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 AU 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. DONNA, Texas Thousands of migrant families and children apprehended crossing the U.S. border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley will spend their first night in America in a vast air-conditioned tent complex with access to showers, hot meals and cots to sleep on. The massive 40,000-square-foot white vinyl tent erected in less than a month on farm country owned by the federal government about a mile from the Rio Grande was set to open for the first time Thursday to handle what authorities described as a 240 percent increase in apprehensions in the Border Patrol sector anchored by the city McAllen. According to Border Patrol figures, more than 361,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border during the six-month period that ended March 31. Of that total, nearly 36,000 were unaccompanied children. Customs and Border Protection agents walk down the hallway in U.S Customs and Border Protection's new temporary detention facility for migrants near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019. "Sometimes there are over 100, sometimes there are over 200," said Carmen Qualia, a Border Patrol executive officer who led a tour of the tent in the town of Donna. She was referring to individual apprehensions in the sector that has been taking an average of 1,200 family members and children each day for the past several weeks. "As you can see, it puts a big strain on our resources," she added. Indeed, a similar tent complex called a temporary detention center was also scheduled to open in the El Paso area as existing detention facilities can no longer handle the influx. But the migrants who are taken to the bright and spacious new tents will not stay long. Qualia and a team of public information officers who guided more than two dozen reporters and photojournalists through the Donna tent said apprehended immigrants spend only up to 72 hours in Border Patrol custody, though most are out within 48 hours. Guards watch during a media tour in a dormitory that will house as many as 125 migrants in U.S Customs and Border Protection's temporary detention facility near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019. What will it be like for migrants in tents? While they are there, they'll be fed and screened for medical needs. They'll shower in one of the 36 individual stalls 18 for men and 18 for women and have access to chemical toilets that will be serviced at least daily. Story continues They'll receive a change of clothes, and the clothes they came in will be laundered. They'll sleep on cushioned cots that measure about 2.5 feet by 6.5 feet. During the media tour, the center was already bustling with intake officers staffing a bank of computers where names and other vital information from the migrants will be taken. No migrants were inside the tent during the tour. A large group of migrant family wait along the side of the road to be transported after turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents in Penitas, Texas, on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Once there, the adults and their children will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the unaccompanied children will be taken by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which may place them with sponsors inside the United States. The tent in Donna was broken into four 8,000-square-foot pods that resemble a high school gymnasium with a linoleum, rock-patterned floor. Each pod will have up to 125 beds. Once operational, the pods will have plastic dividers about 4 feet high to offer some measure of privacy. In the center of the pods are small guard tower-like structures that will be staffed by security personnel around the clock. There will be no cages or chain-link fencing inside the tent, Qualia said. The tent was erected after federal authorities awarded a $37 million contract to Deployed Resources of Rome, New York, to build the structures that will house up to 500 people each. What is the 'Humane Act?' The tour of the temporary detention centers came on the same day as legislation was introduced in Congress dubbed the "Humane Act," by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a district stretching from Laredo on the border to Central Texas. Customs and Border Protection agents in the intake room at U.S Customs and Border Protection's new temporary detention facility for migrants near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019. Along with reforms to the laws on how to deal with unaccompanied children and migrants in custody, the legislation is aimed at allowing migrant families to stay together and also would boost the number of Customs and Border Protection ranks. "As the number of heartbreaking stories at the border continue to grow, so do the number of apprehensions overwhelming understaffed law enforcement, Cornyn said. Border apprehensions typically increase during the late spring and early summer, so its critical we take action on this situation now by thoughtfully reforming our laws regarding unaccompanied children and migrants in custody. Cuellar said he believes "every person should have due process and be treated humanely in immigration matters." I also feel that current law leads to processing inefficiencies and promotes a chaotic climate at the border," Cuellar said. "As recent stats show, DHS is overtaxed in its ability to handle the high volume of cases it is receiving. This bill allocates more resources to better position DHS to handle this influx and enhance the processing experience for individuals in DHS custody. At the Donna center, Qualia was asked if the new facility will prove to be enough to handle the ever increasing influx of migrants. "I hope it is," she said. "I don't know. We don't know what we don't know." This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Immigration officials in Texas showcase huge new tents to house migrant families The TIME 100 list of the worlds most influential peopleand the annual gala that follows ithas always been a celebration of people shaping the news. This year, Im happy to report that we made some news of our own. On April 23, for the first time ever, we brought together TIME 100 honorees from across the years for a daylong summit. This extraordinary group of leaders and visionaries was a reflection of the unique mix of the TIME 100, including politicians, business leaders, artists, actors, activists and scientists. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi discussed the internal debate in her party about whether to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Trump, sharing her own view that its one of the most divisive paths we could go down in our country. Jared Kushner, senior adviser to (and son-in-law of) Trump, provided a rare glimpse into his expansive role in the Administration, arguing that the Mueller investigation has been more harmful to the U.S. than Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Supermodel and entrepreneur Tyra Banks talked about the importance of hiring and empowering woman, particularly women of color. Tim Cook, the leader of the worlds first trillion-dollar company, talked about Apples aspirations not for its iPhones and music service but as an innovator in health. I do think, he said, that there will be the day that we will look back and say, Apples greatest contribution to mankind has been in health care.' Trailblazing television creator Ryan Murphy spoke about representation in media: Im not interested in living in the real world. Im interested in living in the world that I want to live in. The day convened not only influential people but also influential objects! Yo-Yo Ma brought his cello and kicked off the morning with a meditation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Conservationist Jane Goodall, whom the audience greeted with a standing ovation, brought the toy monkey with whom she travels around the world (Mr. H), as well as a stuffed cow (named Cow) meant to symbolize the benefits of vegetarianism. And TIME being an institution that embraces diverse points of view, Michelin-starred chef Jose Andres brought a ham. His signature jamon iberico was shared with the audience (a group of about 700, including select TIME subscribers) ahead of his conversation with Martha Stewart about the power of food to deliver hope. You can watch highlights from the day here. The Summit was a first step to tap into the collective power of the TIME 100 and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration within it. Our hope is that the list is not only a recognition of what has been donebut also a call for all the work thats left to do. We look forward to engaging the entire TIME community as we expand this exciting initiative. Another initiative Im excited about is connecting our readers to the major 2020 presidential candidates from each party. This week, Charlotte Alter talks to Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigiegthe first in a series of these profiles. Were obviously still in the very beginning of the race, and the only rule of politics is that everything changes, says Alter, who first met Buttigieg in 2017 while reporting a story on millennial mayors. But Democrats have been talking about Biden, Warren, Harris and Sanders since the moment Trump was elected. Buttigieg is the only major 2020 candidate who seems to have come out of nowhere. Our company is looking for wood chips to Lebanon, Beirut. Make an offer based on CIF Port Beirut for waste wood chips. Is it already August? Thats usually the Beltway silly season appropriate for such a ridiculous non-scandal as the Great Bill Barr Summary of Findings Outrage of 2019. As everyone knows, Bill Barr released a brief letter summarizing the top-line conclusions of the Mueller report shortly after he received it. Justice Department lawyers then worked with Mueller staff to make the appropriate redactions, after which the entire 400-page report was publicly released. Strangely enough, this process has become an obsession for Democrats and the press and the focus of endless conspiracy theories. Now it has emerged that Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Barr complaining about his summary letter and public perceptions in the wake of it, leading to Democratic calls for Barr to resign or even get impeached. Its hard to know where to begin. Barrs position was eminently reasonable. He wanted to get the basic verdict of the Mueller report out as quickly as possible, given the inherent interest in the question of whether the president of the United States had conspired with the Russians. He opposed the subsequent release of the summaries of the report, as suggested in Muellers letter, because he thought it better that the public get the entire report at once. Which it did. Democrats and the media are acting as if Barr engaged in some sort of cover-up, when he went further than required under the regulations to release all of the report with minimal redactions. Even Mueller in a phone conversation with Barr didnt complain that his summary of findings was inaccurate Barr was careful to note that Mueller didnt exonerate Trump on obstruction. Barr is being accused of perjury in prior congressional testimony about his handling of his report. But Barr was typically terse and precise in his answers. In one exchange with Representative Charlie Crist (Fla., Any Party That Will Take Him), Barr said he didnt know what were the specific complaints of unnamed Mueller staff criticizing his handling of the summary to the press. But he also offered, on his own initiative, that they probably wanted more material from the report made public, and he explained why he didnt think it was a good idea to release summaries of the report. Story continues What is perhaps most notable about this episode is that Robert Mueller or, perhaps, as Barr hinted in his Wednesday testimony, people around him were concerned about the media coverage and political discussion around his report. Particularly troubling was that it wasnt damning enough of the president. This is not a prosecutorial concern, but a political one unworthy of people who were invested with incredible investigative power in the name of objectivity. Of course, no one holding forth about Barr on CNN and MSNBC, which are as committed to their hysteria and groupthink today as when the Russia story began, ever wonders about that. Not for the first time, or we expect, the last, Bill Barrs critics are demonstrating their lack of judgment and seriousness, not his. More from National Review JAKARTA, May 2 (Reuters) - An Indonesian court jailed on Thursday a Polish man for five years after finding him guilty of plotting against the state with separatist activists in the easternmost province of Papua, his lawyer said. Jakub Fabian Skrzypski was detained on Aug. 26 and held in police headquarters in Papua, where he was charged under the law governing treason, which carries a maximum sentence of life in jail. It was the first time the treason law had been used against a foreigner, his lawyer, Latifah Anum Siregar, said. A panel of judges at the Wamena State Court found Skrzypski guilty of violating all Indonesia's treason articles and sentenced him to five years in jail, Siregar said. The prosecution had sought a 10-year sentence. Skrzypski denied wrong doing and said he was in the country as a tourist. According to the prosecution, Skrzypski had been communicating with Simon Magal, a Papuan activist, on social media about spreading propaganda on independence to Europe and later met him in person. Magal was jailed for four years. Papua, one of Indonesias poorest provinces, has battled a long-running separatist movement since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969 and it remains the countrys most heavily militarized region. Police had earlier accused Skrzypski of discussing an arms deal in a meeting with a separatist leader, though the court found insufficient evidence to pursue that, Siregar said. Skrzypski would appeal the sentence at a high court in Papua, his lawyer said. Although President Joko Widodo has promised to ease media curbs in the eastern province, journalists face difficulties in reporting from the region. (Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa Writing by Ed Davies Editing by Robert Birsel) 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 shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in China Sunshine Paper Holdings Company Limited (HKG:2002). What Is Insider Buying? Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. We 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.' View our latest analysis for China Sunshine Paper Holdings China Sunshine Paper Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when GM & Executive Director Xiaolei Ci bought HK$823k worth of shares at a price of HK$0.89 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (HK$1.26), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! SEHK:2002 Recent Insider Trading, May 2nd 2019 There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Story continues Does China Sunshine Paper Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership? Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Based on our data, China Sunshine Paper Holdings insiders have about 2.8% of the stock, worth approximately HK$29m. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership. So What Do The China Sunshine Paper Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate? The recent insider purchase is heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest China Sunshine Paper Holdings insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. To put this in context, take a look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow . If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. By Megan Rowling BARCELONA, May 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A turbulent world requires emergency aid to be agile, faster and more efficient, instead of waiting until a crisis hits the headlines, said the chief of a charity launched this week. With financial backing from the World Bank, IKEA Foundation and donor governments, the Start Network aims to transform a humanitarian system that critics say has failed to support ballooning numbers in need due to conflict and disaster. "We have business models now that allow us to respond when risks are shifting," chief executive Sean Lowrie told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We don't have to wait for someone to be starving on the front page of the newspaper." Global annual humanitarian funding - about $27 billion in 2017, the same as the world spends on chewing gum - only covers about 40 percent of needs and arrives too late, meaning "people suffer and die unnecessarily," he added. The Start Network - which evolved from a UK-based coalition formed in 2010 - plans to set up a global financing facility, allowing aid groups to predict crises and act early as risks increase, minimizing the damage. As an independent organization - with more than 40 aid agency members worldwide - it hopes to expand its work, getting more money into disasters and conflict zones quickly with innovative types of funding and delivery. It has already tested drought insurance in Senegal, worked with Syrian refugees in Jordan to provide affordable medicines, and released money in anticipation of election violence in Kenya and a heatwave in Pakistan, among other things. Lowrie said the Start Network aims to put into practice reforms that major donors signed up to at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit but have been slow to invest in. The United Nations-hosted conference promised to reduce the risk of disasters and pay more attention to local groups and communities on the ground in a bid to bolster a humanitarian system stretched by a 12-fold rise in funding needs since 2000. Story continues The Start Network plans to distribute about 15 million pounds ($19.6 million) in 2019 through fast-flowing grants for under-funded emergencies. It will also offer loans to aid agencies to cover cash shortages until donor pledges are paid. Combined with better use of technology, it wants to help wealthy governments experiment with new aid approaches by reducing uncertainties, such as using a "due diligence" database to fund local groups they are not familiar with, Lowrie said. "The aid system is very risk adverse," he said, adding this had made it difficult to secure investment for the 2016 reforms. The Start Network hopes its more modern approach "will create enough funding, spend the money in appropriate ways and save way more lives because the interventions will happen much earlier," he said. ($1 = 0.7666 pounds) (Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling; editing by Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate) Tehran (AFP) - An Iranian tanker was forced to seek repairs at a Saudi port after suffering "engine failure and loss of control", the Iranian oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported Thursday. The rare docking in Iran's regional arch-foe, came as Washington was poised to end all remaining exemptions to crippling sanctions on Iranian oil exports, a move strongly supported by the kingdom. SHANA said that the incident began on Tuesday morning when the tanker issued a distress call. "One of the National Iranian Tanker Company's tankers, moving through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal, failed to continue its path due to water leaking into its engine room," it reported. "With the coordination of the relevant officials, the ship was guided to Jeddah as the nearest safe port to fix the problem and take the necessary measures." SHANA identified the tanker as the Happiness 1, with a crew of 26 -- 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis. The crew are safe and sound, it said. Several Saudi vessels belonging to the border guard, the Saudi Ports Authority and state oil giant Saudi Aramco were involved in the rescue operation, Riyadh's media ministry said. "All necessary precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the ship's crew and provide necessary support and assistance," the statement quoted a Saudi border guard spokesman as saying. The response, he added, was directed by the kingdom's "wise leadership". Tensions between staunch enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia have intensified in recent years. The region rivals have had no diplomatic relations since Riyadh broke off ties in 2016 after protesters angry at its execution of a top Shiite cleric torched its diplomatic missions in Iran. SHANA quoted the tanker company as denying that the incident had caused any environmental damage. It did not specify whether the ship had continued on its way by Thursday or remained in port in Jeddah. Story continues Thursday was the date set by Washington for the end of all waivers it granted from its renewed sanctions on Iranian oil exports. All Iranian exports, including to key remaining customers China, India and Turkey, are now subject to the sanctions imposed in November. In January 2018, another Iranian tanker, the Sanchi, struck the Chinese freighter CF Crystal off the coast of Shanghai and went down in a ball of flames, seemingly killing its entire crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis and causing a huge oil spill. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israelis stopped their cars and stood still, often with heads bowed, for two minutes Thursday for the country's annual commemoration of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Sirens rang out nationwide during the commemoration, while pedestrians and drivers in Jerusalem, the bustling seaside city of Tel Aviv and elsewhere stood on roadsides and in the middle of streets in silence. Israel began commemorations on Wednesday night with a ceremony at its Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that included speeches from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin. With repeated warnings about a rise in anti-Semitism globally, there were also newer approaches to spreading awareness of the Nazi genocide to a younger generation. A privately created Instagram account based on the life of a 13-year-old Holocaust victim, eva.stories, had grown to more than 800,000 followers by Thursday afternoon. Posts to the account trace her life as if she had Instagram at the time. Netanyahu in his comments on Wednesday night said "we are living nowadays in a paradox." "The worldwide admiration for the Jewish state is accompanied within certain circles by a growing hatred towards Jews," he said. "The radical right, the radical left and radical Islam all agree on one thing only: hatred towards Jews." He also pointedly referred to Saturday's shooting in a California synagogue that killed one person and wounded three others, two of them Israelis. Rivlin, without specifying names, warned against allying with leaders who employ new forms of anti-Semitism. Netanyahu has been criticised for forming alliances with right-wing European leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a way of countering European Union criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Orban has faced allegations of stoking anti-Semitism in Hungary with nationalist rhetoric and a campaign against US Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Story continues "Not every right-wing party in Europe that believes in controlling immigration or in 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 legacy or their ideology can never be our allies." A report on Wednesday warned anti-Semitism was on the rise in parts of North America and Europe where Jews once felt safe and spoke of an "increasing sense of emergency." Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, sounded the alarm in an annual report from his Kantor Center that draws on official statistics. "In 2018, we witnessed the largest number of Jews murdered in a single year since decades," Kantor said, deploring a 13-percent rise in "severe and violent" incidents. The Anti-Defamation League said in a report published Tuesday that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States remained at near-record high levels in 2018. That included an October attack at a synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people, the deadliest ever attack against American Jews. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's top court has delayed the expulsion of Human Rights Watch's country director following a petition challenging the move, his lawyer said Thursday. The Jerusalem district court last month rejected an earlier petition against the decision to expel Omar Shakir, a US citizen, ruling he had until May 1 to leave. But just a day ahead of the deadline the supreme court issued an injunction allowing Shakir to remain in Israel for seven days, attorney Michael Sfard said. During this period the interior ministry can submit its response to the appeal which Shakir lodged at the supreme court. After the May 7 deadline the court "could theoretically issue a new decision" on the case, Sfard told AFP. The interior ministry's decision to deny Shakir his work and residency permits was due to his alleged support of a boycott of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians -- a claim accepted by the district court. HRW denied the group or Shakir promoted a boycott of Israel, calling the April district court ruling a "new and dangerous interpretation of the law," since it equated criticism of businesses operating in the occupied West Bank to boycotting Israel. In 2017, Israel passed a law banning entry to foreigners who support boycotting the country. The law was passed in response to a movement to boycott Israel by those seeking to pressure the country over its occupation of Palestinian territory. Israel sees the movement as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism -- a claim activists deny, saying they only want to see the occupation end. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) Attorneys for the former student charged with last year's Florida high school massacre won't get to secretly subpoena his former mental health counselors. Judge Elizabeth Scherer in an order posted Thursday ruled Nikolas Cruz's public defenders under Florida law can't force counselors who treated him before the shooting to be interviewed without notifying prosecutors and allowing their attendance. Cruz's attorneys told Judge Scherer last month that counselors usually agree to informal, voluntary interviews, but the company employing Cruz's counselors won't let them talk without a subpoena because it's being sued by victims' families. The 20-year-old Cruz is charged with killing 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018. His attorneys say he would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday he did not want to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years. Asked at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the United States, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said he did not wish to surrender to extradition. (Reporting by Michael Holden; writing by Guy Faulconbridge) Photo: Johann Trasch/Unsplash If you love live music, there's no time like the present when it comes to getting out and about in Kansas City. From an indigenous artist to a party with margaritas, 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. Indigenous From the event description: Born and raised on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, Indigenous front man Mato Nanji dedicates his latest release, "Time Is Coming," to the indigenous youth and all young people on the reservations. When: Thursday, May 2, 8-11 p.m. Where: Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester Ave. Price: $20 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Jim Lauderdale , Sara Morgan Band, The Grisly Hand, Outlaw Jim & The Whiskey Benders and Lily B Moonflower at Merle Jam From the event description: MerleJam Transplant Fund helps heart transplant recipients in the Kansas City area with uncovered medical expenses. The event also helps increase awareness in the community about the success of organ donation and the need for more registered donors. When: Friday, May 3, 7:30-10:30 p.m. Where: Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester Ave. Price: $12 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Music and Margs at Howl at the Moon From the event description: On Friday, 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, 1334 Grand Blvd. Price: Free 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. WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Nearly seven months before publicly announcing its plans to close, an embattled Kansas military school amended its incorporation document to remove the Episcopalian church that founded it from getting the property once the school shuts down. The revelation came when the document, signed by the school's president last year and filed with the Kansas secretary of state's office, recently became public. It was brought up in an alumni group's social media posting and has raised questions at a time when supporters are working to keep St. John's Military School in Salina open. The Episcopalian boarding school announced in February it planned to shut down after its May 11 commencement. The 131-year-old school for boys in grades 6 through 12 said at the time "the landscape of education has changed dramatically," resulting in lower enrollment and unsustainable higher costs of education. It claimed it had unfairly become a target for litigation and negative media portrayals. The school has been dogged over the years by litigation alleging it failed to properly supervise cadets and that its practice of giving higher-ranking cadets the power to discipline younger ones encouraged a culture of physical and mental abuse. Military schools nationwide have been closing their doors amid declining revenues and falling enrollments. At least three others have announced closures in recent years in Missouri, Pennsylvania and Indiana. St. John's did not release its enrollment numbers. The school amended its articles of incorporation to remove the Protestant Episcopal Church of Western Kansas from getting the property once the school closes. The school's new bylaws signed on July 27, 2018, by school president William Clark stipulate that once its liabilities are paid and any donor instructions followed, the remaining assets would go to the St. John's Military School Endowment Fund or another nonprofit group with a similar charitable mission. St. John's endowment fund was formally dissolved last week, according to a filing at the secretary of state's office. Story continues This is a change from amended bylaws filed in April 1994 that specified those assets should go to the Protestant Episcopal Church of Western Kansas or the bishop of the diocese of that church. Its founding 1888 document also said its property could not be transferred without the written consent of the bishop. It is uncertain what will happen to the school's facilities. Clark did not respond to a request for comment and current Bishop Mark Cowell downplayed the disagreement. "We are kind of hoping they will find a way to not close, but right now it doesn't look like that is an option," Cowell said. "If they end up closing, I think that we understand we have positions as to who it belongs to and I think we are working on resolving those. "But there were a lot of people who thought that we were at odds and we are not," he added. "We've enjoyed working with St. John's for a long time and I think the dispute between us has really gotten somewhat inflated." The church is still interested in having a military school on the Salina campus, but the bishop said he doesn't know if anybody can purchase it for that purpose. If not, he said the church plans to work with the school to find a good use for the property. The school has said it needs to raise $20 million to cover capital improvements and other costs to stay open. "The trustees are still working this out and the property is still under their control, so right now I am letting them handle it," Cowell said. "I think they are doing a good job." Neither the school's attorney, Peter Johnston, nor two trustees contacted by The Associated Press responded to questions about why the school amended its articles of incorporation last year. However, an email from Johnston to a former cadet that is posted on an alumni group's Facebook page argued the change was spurred by the church's desire to end any formal affiliation with the school after it was named as a defendant in at least one lawsuit against the school. In the latest litigation, an arbitrator ruled in December that the school failed to adequately supervise cadets entrusted to its care and intentionally inflicted emotional distress in 2014 on a bullied 11-year-old student who had been physically tied together with his harasser in public as punishment. Shortly thereafter, the boy was allegedly raped and sodomized by his harasser in the dorm. St. John's didn't respond to requests for comment on the case. Cowell said that while the church didn't have any oversight of St. John's when the lawsuits were filed, and believed it should not be named as a defendant, that is not the same thing as not having an interest in the school. The nonprofit corporation's tax documents show that by the end of May 2017, St. John's Military School was running $1.71 million in the red bringing in revenues of nearly $4.7 million at the same time it racked up expenses of more than $6.4 million. The school also valued its assets that year at $9.48 million, with liabilities of $11.2 million listed. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- At least one lawmaker thinks people should have beer with their karaoke even in conservative Utah. A new liquor law in the state has come under scrutiny by legislators and business owners after beer licenses were denied to a karaoke lounge and an ax-throwing venue. Democratic Rep. Angela Romero said Wednesday she plans to introduce an amendment to include karaoke venues among the new sites approved for beer sales. She hasn't decided whether ax-throwing venues should be added. "When I'm out for a night of fun with friends and go to karaoke, I'd hope I could have a beer," Romero said. The law represents a tightening of already strict liquor laws in Utah, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instructs members to avoid drinking alcohol. Yet, liquor sales have been increasing steadily, with $454 million in sales last year at state-controlled liquor stores. Sales have been driven by new, out-of-state residents and thriving tourism. State liquor bosses have said Social Axe Throwing in Ogden and Heart and Seoul Karaoke in Salt Lake City don't satisfy the definitions of a "recreational amenity" contained in the law set to take effect May 14. The definitions include theaters, pool parlors, concert venues and miniature golf courses. The sponsor of the law, Republican Rep. Timothy Hawkes, said he's open to making changes that could include broadening the criteria for beer sales. However, the Legislature isn't set to convene again until next year. Lawmakers are expected to meet in special session, possibly as soon as the summer, to consider sweeping changes to the state's tax system, and they could discuss other issues. The owners of Social Axe Throwing and Heart and Seoul Karaoke appeared before the alcohol control commission in April seeking beer-only licenses for new sites. The panel denied their requests, saying both businesses might qualify as recreational facilities under the current law but won't under the new law, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Story continues The decision took the owners by surprise. Social Axe Throwing had been granted two liquor licenses last year for facilities in Salt Lake City and Orem on the understanding that ax-throwing was like bowling, golf and other activities, owner Mark Floyd said. Brody Horton and Matt Smith, owners of Heart and Seoul Karaoke, believe their business also fits the recreation criteria, because customers pay admission and rent a room with music equipment. Business owners could work around the new restrictions by also offering approved activities or selling food, liquor board spokesman Terry Wood said. Businesses with substantial food sales could be eligible for more types of alcohol licenses. Floyd hopes the law will be updated to help him and other business owners avoid the legal quagmire. "Anywhere you go, any activity you do with friends and family after work is a recreational activity," Floyd said. "Why does it have to be listed in the state Legislature, in black and white, to be approved?" A Border Force patrol vessel on patrol in the Channel. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP) At least four migrants have been detained by police after two boats were spotted off the coast of Folkestone. The arrests were made early on Thursday morning, according to a statement from Kent Police. It said the Border Force, the government agency responsible for frontline issues at sea, was helping the police with regards to the incident. It means 17 migrants have been picked up in the past two days by Kent Police. Kent Police received a report that two boats, suspected to be transporting migrants, had been seen off the coast of Folkestone at 6.59am on Thursday 2 May 2019, read the statement. The Coastguard and Border Force were deployed and officers also attended to provide assistance with an area search on land. At present four people, believed to be migrants, have been detained and enquiries at the scene remain ongoing. Police, Border Force and paramedics attend to migrants found following a search in January. (Gareth Fuller/PAvia AP) It is the latest such incident to take place in recent weeks off the coast of Kent. On Wednesday, eight migrants were detained in Dover after an empty dinghy was found. The men were discovered at the Port of Dover shortly after a boat was discovered in nearby Langdon Bay. Following that, a Border Force patrol boat then intercepted a second dinghy off the coast of Kent and brought the five men to Dover. READ MORE Man fails breathalyser test after eating exotic fruit Suspected serial rapist may have been mistakenly released from prison Church warden murdered pensioner and plotted to kill another The Home Office said the 13 men had been medically assessed and transferred to immigration officials for interview. Late last month, three boats carrying 36 migrants were also intercepted off of the Kent coast, the Home Office said. One vessel with 11 men on board was spotted in the English Channel and then taken to Dover by Border Force officials. Another boat carrying 15 people, which included children, was taken to Dungeness a few hours later. And a third boat with nine men and one woman was shortly after intercepted by a Border Force patrol and also taken to Dover. Story continues All of the 36 migrants in those incidents claimed to be from Iraq or Iran. In total, at least 515 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since November 2018. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) forced Attorney General William Barr to repeatedly defend President Trump from evidence presented in Special Counsel Robert Muellers 448-page report that he attempted to obstruct justice on multiple occasions. Klobuchar, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, brought up during Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Trumps thinly veiled threats against his former fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen, his interactions with former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and his orders to former White House counsel Don McGahn. This is a man in the highest office in the most powerful job in our country, and he is basicallyIm 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. You dont consider that any attempt to change testimony? Trump, on more than one occasion, publicly floated vague accusations about Cohens father-in-law and wife. Do you consider that evidence to be an attempt to convince a witness to change testimony? Kobuchar asked Barr. No, I don't think that that could pass muster, he responded. Klobuchar continued: The report found that the presidents personal counsel told Paul Manafort that he would be taken care of. That you dont consider obstruction of justice? No, not standing alone, said Barr. On both the same reasons. You look at the totality of the evidence, Klobuchar continued. The report found that the president's personal counsel told Michael Cohen if he stayed on message about the Trump Tower Moscow Project, the president had his back. Barr responded: The counsel acknowledged that it is unclear whether he was reflecting the president's statements on that. So Klobuchar tried again: The report found that after Manafort was convicted, the president himself called him a brave man for refusing to break. Yes, said Barr. And that is not obstruction because the presidentsthe evidence, I think what the presidents lawyers would say is that the president's statements about flipping are quite clear and express 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. That is notits a discouraging flipping in that sense, its not obstruction. Story continues Klobuchar fired back: He tells McGahn to deny reports that the president ordered him to have the counsel 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? It fails, Barr responded. The evidence would not be sufficient to establish any of the three elements there. 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. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here KATHMANDU, May 2: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today inaugurated the campaign of model smart school based on information technology for teaching by remote-clicking amid a program held in Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu. The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology organised the programme on the occasion of the second national information and communications technology day with the theme of Digital Nepal: basis for development and prosperity. Live telecast of the inaugural ceremony was shown in Bishwo Shanti Secondary School in Kaski where the campaign has been launched. The school has been the first of Gandaki State to become information technology friendly school with the launch of the drive. The government has a goal of implementing the campaign in at least one community school in each state. In the same program, Nepal Telecom and the Rastriya Banijya Bank signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up a digital finance company. Managing director of Nepal Telecom, Dilli Ram Adhikari and Chief Executive Officer of the RBB, Kabiraj Adhikari signed on the MoU on behalf of their institutions. Similarly, Hemanta Chaurasiya, president of Computer Associations of Nepal (CAN) Federation and Chairman of Lord Buddha Academy, Pankaj Jalan signed an MoU related to the information-technology scholarship. As per this MoU, 49 students would be provided scholarships worth Rs 15 million. RSS [MUSIC] So I'm here with Dr. Erica. What is the first step of this magical process? So the first step is we clean your face, and then we put a nice thick layer of topical anesthetic so that we get you nice and numb so that you don't feel the procedure. Great, I would prefer not to feel it. [LAUGH] [LAUGH] Okay so my face is pretty numb right now. I have been numbing for about an hour and I can hardly feel it. So what is the next step? The next step is to draw blood so we can put it down in the centrifuge to get that plasma. Okay lets do it So this is the centrifuge, we put the blood in here And gravity will actually pull the red blood cells all the way to the bottom. And on top will be the plasma that we use. [MUSIC] So now we're gonna do Through injections of concentrated PRP. This is all plasma, platelet-rich plasma. So we want to do the injections under your eye so that we can get rid of that undereye circle that people have, that they complain about, the discoloration and Since a lot of times you can't put Botox right here to get rid of those fine lines this will improve any fine lines that you have. So we're gonna do the fine lines around the mouth. We're also injecting anywhere I see like any hyper-pigmentation. This is one of the best things you can do for acne scars. [MUSIC] Alright, so this is the microneedling device. So this tool right here is going to make tiny punctures all over the skin? Exactly. I actually just put this on like a serum, and then the microneedle pushes it in as we go. Let's do it! How's that? Not bad? Not bad. Why is this procedure so popular and what are some of the benefits? So I think it's really popular because it's new but for me I actually think this is one of my favorite procedures because it really doesn't have side effects. Except for, you know, some redness, a little bit of bruising, because it's perfectly safe, using your own blood, with no additives. I think a very underappreciated procedure, because Cuz it's so wonderful and it's so effective and completely organic and natural. In this type of situation where there is no injury to the skin, we actually are creating injury. The micro needle is causing physical injury to the skin which induces a inflammatory reaction that then induces healing that creates more collagen which thickens the skin makes it look younger, more supple. And then the PRP compounds that effect by releasing a ton of growth factors that then can not only regenerate your own collagen but can also regenerate blood vessels, can heal scars, can actually Grow hair back, depending on where you put it and what you want it to do. It has like a stem cell like property to it, which is incredible. Very very safe procedure. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] What is the typical post-procedure downtime? Most people the downtime is between 24 to 72 hours of redness. You're supposed to leave this on your skin the entire day. Don't wash your face. I like that because I think that as the holes heal you have this PRP sitting on your skin. For the rest of day. But obviously, if have something to do, I recommend keeping it on for 4-6 hours if you absolutely have to wash it off later. I'm just putting on a little hyaluronic acid, by the way, to just kind of smooth out and moisturize the skin and draw some water to it. For those at home who wanna try this procedure, what is the average cost? Each one starts at $1,000 and we recommend three treatments between four and six weeks apart. So I always do this nice cooling facemask afterwards to kind of cool the skin down and decrease that redness before people leave so they don't look too scary. I'm really excited for the results My face feels a little red. It actually feels like I have a little bit of a sunburn right now, but it wasn't bad at all. My skin was numb I hardly felt a thing, and that was a breeze. This facial is extreme because you Are extracting your own blood from your body and plus, there's a little bit of downtime with this one. You can't just walk right out of the office and expect to look glowing and radiant. It does take a little bit for your skin to heal. I experienced a little bit of redness for about three to four days. I felt like it worked best around my eyes. I was having some wrinkles that were forming and some dark circles and I feel like it really adjust that The best. I would definitely get this facial again. In fact, I want to get one every year for the rest of my life. [LAUGH] [BLANK_AUDIO] Story continues Earlier this week, it was reported that two clients of a now-closed spa in New Mexico had tested positive for HIV, causing the state's health department to continue to urge previous customers to get tested for HIV and hepatitis. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said in a statement on Monday that it is currently investigating the two cases of infection among clients who had injection procedures done at the VIP Spa in Albuquerque between May and September 2018. Health officials are especially encouraging people who had gotten a vampire facial at the spa to get tested for HIV. The two clients who are HIV positive also have the same HIV virus type, which makes it more likely that the infections are the result of a procedure performed at the spa they both went to. Vampire facials, also known as the platelet-rich plasma facial, involve drawing small amounts of your own blood, separating the platelets, and injecting them into your face through micro-needles. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, PRP treatments are also meant to help treat sprained knees and chronic tendon injuries. However, it's also used to enhance your skin Erica Walters, MD, medical director at Park Avenue Skin, told InStyle in 2017 that PRP injections remove fine lines around the mouth and help eliminate any lines or bags around the eyes. "It also helps to reduce hyperpigmentation and any acne scarring, she said at the time. The treatment has gotten so trendy in recent years that even Kim Kardashian has tried it, in a memorable episode of Kourtney and Kim Take Miami. (She later admitted that it's the one treatment she would never do again.) As you can tell, it's probably not for the faint of heart. And while it seems extreme, the vampire facial is usually safe when done properly. But if clinics don't sterilize the micro-needling pen or dispose of it between facials, that could spread infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C can spread through injuries from sharp objects, such as needlesticks, as well as mucous membrane, and skin exposures. The VIP Spa closed back in September 2018, when officials "identified practices that could potentially spread blood-borne infections, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to clients," according to the New Mexico Department of Health. When news first broke of the spa's closure, Michael Landen, MD, epidemiologist at the NMDOH, told local news network KOAT that upon inspection, he was concerned with the way the spa stored, handled, and disposed of needles. "That's concerning, because if needles aren't handled appropriately, you could potentially increase the risk of a blood-borne infection," he said at the time. Infections like this are rare, but if you want to take precautions, the NMDOH advises, "Any persons desiring cosmetic services involving needle injections should verify the services are being provided by a licensed medical provider." RELATED: Two Clients Tested Positive for HIV After Getting Vampire Facials at the Same Spa In other words, if you're curious about the vampire facial (or any treatment at all, for that matter), make sure you book an appointment with a trusted, licensed professional. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local): 2:20 p.m. Venezuela's top court has ordered the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition activist who took refuge in the Spanish Embassy after joining an attempt to topple President Nicolas Maduro this week. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice on Thursday instructed police to detain Lopez for violating terms of his house arrest. On Tuesday, Lopez appeared outside a military base in Caracas with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who urged the military to overthrow Maduro. When the military did not heed the call, Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence. They later moved to the Spanish Embassy. Lopez was previously detained for leading anti-government protests in 2014 and had been under house arrest for two years. ___ 2:10 p.m. Former Venezuelan politician and U.N. ambassador Diego Arria says he believes the events of the past two days "mark the end" of President Nicolas Maduro's regime. Arria, a former National Congress deputy, minister and governor of Caracas who now lives in exile, told a press conference Thursday at U.N. headquarters in New York it is incorrect to think of the military as separate from Maduro's regime. "When you have more than half of the ministries controlled by the army, and they control the oil, the diamonds, the coal, the minerals, the gasoline and the justice and economic system, you have to understand that fundamentally the regime is military," Arria said. "So what has to collapse is the regime itself." He said Venezuela has become "a criminal state controlled by mafia and narco-traffickers" and it "will not come out of this without the use of force." "I hope it will be our armed forces, and we don't need to appeal to outside," said Arria, who backs opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president. Story continues ___ 10:55 a.m. U.S. President Donald Trump says the "brutal repression" of the Venezuelan people must end, and it must end soon. He says the Venezuelan people are starving and have no water. "We wish them well," he said. Trump is speaking Thursday at the White House as part of a National Day of Prayer ceremony. He began the event by saying he was sending prayers to the people of Venezuela in their "righteous struggle for freedom." Venezuela is in the throes of a power struggle between socialist President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido. Maduro's government is widely blamed for the country's economic and humanitarian crisis but has managed to keep a grip on power. ___ 11:35 a.m. A Venezuelan human rights group says at least four people died in two days of protests after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a military uprising. The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict says the dead from the unrest on Tuesday and Wednesday include two people who were shot in the city of La Victoria and two others hit by gunfire in Caracas, the capital. Human rights activists say at least 230 people were injured and 205 were detained during the clashes between protesters and police. Guaido's call on Tuesday for an uprising by the armed forces to oust President Nicolas Maduro went unheeded. ___ 10:55 a.m. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has characterized a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the crisis in Venezuela as having elements of the surreal. Lavrov made his comments Thursday in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, a day after he spoke with Pompeo about protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "Pompeo phoned, called for us to refuse to support Maduro, called for Cuba and us not to interfere in the internal affairs of Venezuela. The whole story sounds quite surreal," Lavrov said. "If you count up all that official representatives of the American administration say about Venezuela, then you can pose questions endlessly and to all these questions the answer will be, to put it diplomatically: it's untrue," he said. Pompeo claimed earlier that Maduro was ready to flee the South American country, but that unspecified Russians persuaded him to stay. ___ 9:40 a.m. Spain's acting foreign minister says a Venezuelan anti-government activist has not asked Spanish authorities for political asylum. Josep Borrell, who is foreign minister in Spain's caretaker government, says Leopoldo Lopez is staying as a guest at the Spanish embassy in Caracas. Borrell says Thursday that, under Spanish law, requests for asylum can be made only in Spain. He tells Spanish media during an official trip to Jordan that Lopez is staying at the embassy until his next steps become clearer. Lopez was detained in 2014 for leading protests against President Nicolas Maduro's rule and placed under house arrest before appearing in public on Tuesday. Spain has in recent years become a destination for thousands of Venezuelans escaping the country's political and economic crisis. ___ 9:30 a.m. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for military unity in an appearance with soldiers, two days after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for an uprising. Flanked by commanders, Maduro said Thursday that the military must be prepared to combat "traitors" and the opposition had sought to provoke bloodshed in Caracas since security forces failed to respond to Guaido's bid to take power. He spoke from Fort Tiuna, a military base in Caracas. Guaido, backed by a small contingent of security forces, called for the military to turn against Maduro on Tuesday. But police dispersed the crowds in clashes that raged for hours. Thousands of Venezuelans heeded the opposition's call to fill streets around the nation a day later. The streets of the capital were calm on Thursday. WASHINGTON Attorney General William Barr made good Thursday on his threat to skip a House hearing into Russian interference in the 2016 election, so lawmakers battled one another instead. The confrontation is the latest escalation of tensions between President Donald Trump's administration and the House of Representatives, which has opened wide-ranging investigations of the president. Trump said his administration plans to fight lawmakers' demands for information and has gone to court to block some of them. Barr refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report because the committee agreed to add an hour of questions by staff lawyers. The hearing was to have been his second day of testimony about the investigation and his handling of the special counsel's final report. Barr spent four hours before a Senate panel Wednesday. Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., accused the Trump administration of ignoring subpoenas and refusing to testify, a pattern he said reflects an effort to prevent Congress "from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions." The challenge we face is that if we dont stand up to him together, today, then we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future," Nadler said. Nadler said Barr didn't attend because he was afraid of being questioned by trained lawyers. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., walked into the House hearing room with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and noshed on a drumstick to mark Barr's absence. The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, called the meeting a "circus political stunt" that prevented Barr's testimony for lawmakers of either party. "They want it to look like an impeachment hearing because they won't bring impeachment proceedings," he said. The hearing ended bitterly. "We will ensure that no president becomes a monarch," Nadler said as he gaveled the 20-minute session's end. Story continues "And will do so while trampling minority rights," Collins said as the microphones were turned off. The clash marked the latest confrontation over congressional investigations into Trump and his administration. Lawmakers contend they are being stonewalled across a variety of inquiries by an administration that ignores subpoenas and avoids testimony, but Trump says the partisan requests are presidential harassment. More: Attorney General William Barr refuses to testify at House hearing about special counsel Robert Mueller Read the report: Read special counsel Robert Mueller's report into President Trump, Russian interference The Justice Department refused Wednesday to provide an unredacted version of the Mueller report to Congress despite the subpoena deadline. Barr redacted portions dealing with grand jury testimony, information about pending cases, intelligence gathering secrets and information that could infringe on the privacy of people who weren't charged. Congressional Democrats insisted they deserve to receive the full report and the underlying information that Mueller's team gathered during 22 months. In a letter Wednesday to Nadler, the Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the committee has not "articulated any legislative purpose for its request" for documents relating to Mueller's investigation. "The committee has no legitimate role in demanding law enforcement materials with the aim of simply duplicating a criminal inquiry which is, of course, a function that the Constitution entrusts exclusively to the executive branch," Boyd wrote. Nadler said in an opening statement facing an empty chair for Barr that lawmakers must come together to protect the integrity of the House. Photographers take photographs of a placard for Attorney General William Barr who is not expected to appear before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Every member of this committee should understand the consequences when the executive branch informs us that they will simply ignore a congressional subpoena," Nadler said. "The challenge we face is also bigger than the Mueller report." Collins said Democrats wanted a circus rather than to pose questions to Barr. "Not hearing from him is a travesty for this committee today," Collins said. Mueller's report identified "systematic" efforts by the Kremlin to intercede in the 2016 election by hacking emails and posting disinformation to help Trump win, and it detailed how Trump and his aides appeared to welcome that help. It found no conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia, and it did not reach a conclusion about whether Trump sought to obstruct justice. After Thursdays abbreviated hearing, Democrats said they supported Nadlers plan to negotiate with the Justice Department for a few more days to obtain the full report. The next step is to hold the attorney general in contempt for failing to comply with our subpoena, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I. Another step would be to subpoena Barr to testify. Democrats plan to call Mueller to testify, tentatively scheduled for May 15. More: Attorney General William Barr refuses to testify at House hearing about special counsel Robert Mueller More: 'We're out of it.' Attorney General Barr defends release, conclusions of special counsel's Russia report More: 'We're fighting all the subpoenas.' Congress and Trump prepare to battle over wide-ranging inquiries This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawmakers clash as Attorney General William Barr skips House hearing on Mueller report LCDQ Legends, the relatively brief but densely packed celebration of the Los Angeles interior design community, is coming up next week. Since 2008, the member showrooms and businesses of the La Cienega Design Quarter collaboratively host a series of lectures, panels, signings, social gatherings, and fundraisers, starting with the Shop the Quarter and Breakfast in Bed kickoff at Kreiss on the morning of Tuesday, May 7. Registration fees start at $95, and festivities continue through Thursday, May 9. With so much packed into just a few days, AD PRO outlines everything you need to be sure to check out to make the most of this year's Legends. Learn from the Masters Legends will celebrate Bunny Williams and Suzanne Rheinstein as LCDQ's first Living Legends honorees. Both designers will be feted during the opening celebration at Fig & Olive on the evening of Tuesday, May 7. On May 8 at 11 a.m., Williams will be in conversation with Elle Decor's Whitney Robinson at Dragonette Ltd., preceded by a book signing of Williams's latest tome, Love Affairs with Houses. Rheinstein will appear with Jill Waage of Traditional Home at Jonas on Thursday, May 9, at 11 a.m. Who better than Peter Shire, a Los Angeles native, irreverent creative force, and the lone American originally affiliated with the Memphis Group, to catalyze a discussion about the relativity of taste? Interior designer Oliver M. Furth and Sean Yashar of communication agency The Culture Creative will present "Peter Shire: Good Taste" at the Farrow & Ball flagship showroom. Shire, Furth, and Yashar will offer an artist and curator tour of the installation on Tuesday, May 7, at noon. This temporary exhibition is part of the duo's ongoing Furth Yashar & curatorial project, and is open to the public through May 11. Get Your Summer Beach Read Now Designers and authors will be scattered around the LCDQ, talking about and signing recent publications. Hammer & Spear hosts Adele Cygelman (Arthur Elrod: Desert Modern Design), Penny Drue Baird (On Interior Design), Patrick Sutton (Storied Interiors), and Landry Design Group (Modern to Classic II: Residential Estates) as part of the Meet the Authors series on Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 765 N. La Cienega Boulevard. On Thursday at 2:30 p.m., "Meet the Authors II" takes place at Mecox at 919 N. La Cienega Boulevard, with Kerry Joyce (The Intangible), Margot Shaw (Living Floral), Jeff Andrews (The New Glamour: Interiors with Star Quality), Veere Grenney (Veere Grenney: A Point of View on Decorating), and Suzanne Kasler (Suzanne Kasler: Sophisticated Simplicity). Tim Street-Porter and Annie Kelly will sign copies of Splash: The Art of the Swimming Pool during the happy hour cocktail reception on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. at the Martyn Lawrence Bullard Showroom, alongside a celebration of Bullard's new collection for Corbett Lighting. Story continues Study Up The event will include information aplenty regarding various areas of professional development for designers. On Wednesday, May 8, at 2:00 p.m. at Christopher Farr at 748 N. La Cienega Boulevard, Annie Kelly, Thomas Jayne, Madeline Stuart, Lee Ledbetter, and Jeffry Weisman discuss "Navigating the Book Publishing World." A media-savvy panel, including publicists Christina Juarez and Lauren Urband, designer Jeffrey Alan Marks, and others, will discuss the topic of "Pro or No: Do You Need to Hire a PR Agent?" on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at Marc Phillips. Thursday's calendar offers a working lunch session that focuses on "Designing Your Digital Brand," with Helen Millson of 1stdibs, at 910 N. La Cienega Boulevard, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Leave Some Time for Fun Sharp opinions will fly during Love It or Hate It with Anna Brockway at Marc Phillips. The Chairish cofounder will pose a series of quick-fire questions to panelists Mary MacDonald, Bobby Berk, Nate Berkus, Jeremiah Brent, Leanne Ford, Robert Rufino, and Nathan Turner on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. The event is always a crowd favorite, and the hot takes on what may be in or out are sure to surprise viewers. Bring your sense of humor to the Design Dating Game on Thursday from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Alt for Living and Remains Lighting, featuring a Legends twist on the classic game show. Alt for Living owner Analisse Taft-Gersten sets up designer Drew McGukin to pick his own interior designer from a mystery contestant pool with competing contenders Jamie Bush, Sasha Bikoff, Meg Joannides, and Neal Beckstedt. Tacos, margaritas, and mariachi music will follow the big reveal. The Save Iconic Architecture Project promises good fun for a great cause at its first disco benefit. A Night for Preservation will be held on Wednesday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available, and proceeds support the historic architecture advocacy and activist efforts of the organization, which was cofounded by designers Jaime Rummerfield and Ron Woodson. A look at what's happening around the majors today: KLUBER HURT Indians ace Corey Kluber will be re-evaluated in Cleveland, a day after a line drive in Miami broke his right forearm. There was no early word on how long the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner would be out. The right-hander was put in a cast after being struck by Brian Anderson's liner. Kluber has a 5.80 ERA this season for the AL Central champions. ALL SET? Shohei Ohtani says he's disappointed he won't return to the Los Angeles Angels' lineup this week. The AL Rookie of the Year says he's ready to play whenever the team allows it. Ohtani had Tommy John surgery Oct. 1, and he is currently taking the final rehab steps for his return. Although he won't travel with the Angels for their series in Monterrey, Mexico, this weekend, he could be ready to play when the Angels visit Detroit on Tuesday. The two-way star isn't expected to pitch this season while recovering from the elbow surgery, but is expected back in the batter's box soon. TRY AGAIN Noah Syndergaard (1-3, 6.45 ERA) tries to get on track when the Mets finish a 10-game homestand with a 12:10 p.m. matinee against Cincinnati. Syndergaard has lost his last two outings and hasn't gone more than five innings in any of his past three, allowing 14 earned runs and 27 hits over 15 innings during that span. But he is 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA in five career starts vs. Cincinnati. SIMMERING Jacob Rhame and the Triple-A Syracuse Mets finish a series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs with a 10:35 a.m. game in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The matchup between the top affiliates from New York and Philadelphia got off to a testy start this week. As Rhame warmed up Monday night, the video board at the ballpark played a clip of Rhys Hoskins taking a 34-second trot around the bases after homering off the reliever last week at Citi Field. The homer came a day after Rhame buzzed Hoskins with a couple of pitches Rhame was suspended two games and later sent to the minors. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Cotonou (AFP) - President Patrice Talon of Benin, a multi-millionaire businessman who dresses in sunglasses and sharp suits, presents himself as part of a new generation of modern, finance-focused and ambitious African leaders. Elected in 2016 by defeating the preferred successor of former president Thomas Boni Yayi, Talon won the top job without a traditional political power base. "He wants to change attitudes," his communications advisor, Wilfried Houngbedji, told AFP. But the businessman, who entered politics late after making his money in cotton and ports, has done more than change attitudes. He has shifted the political rules of the small West African state that had previously been held up as a model for democracy in the region. Tough new eligibility criteria effectively barred opposition parties from fielding any candidates in last Sunday's parliamentary elections. Talon argued the higher threshold would help to consolidate the country's fragmented parliament, but critics condemned it as a gag that choked democracy. On the day itself, more than three-quarters of the country's five million registered voters stayed at home. Talon, 61, now commands control of the 83-seat parliament. But it comes at the cost of sweeping away the fervent political climate that had been a hallmark of Benin's democracy since its shift to democracy in 1990. To some, the spectres of authoritarian control and political unrest have risen once more. Protestors have taken to the streets, torching businesses, hurling stones and smashing the windows of government buildings. Police responded with live rounds and teargas. One woman died and another men was seriously hurt, a medic said on Thursday. - Business tycoon - Three years earlier, it had looked good for Talon, who promised to modernise the country. Ranked the 15th wealthiest person in sub-Saharan Africa with a fortune topping $400 million (357 million euros) in 2015 according to Forbes, he presented himself as part of a new wave of can-do African leaders. Story continues Aides said he was a perfectionist, keen to show he would sweep out corruption and cronyism. Lowly government officials were dismissed if they turned up late for work, as they had done for years, or if they helped themselves to public cash. Talon also helped push Benin's economic growth to 6.8 percent in 2018, although this was largely due to the forced regularisation of the informal economy. Since coming to power, he is as much hated by the poor who see him as arrogant as he is admired by the elite who sees him as a visionary. And the election -- widely criticised by rights groups -- is a turning point. The internet was shut down on polling day, which watchdogs denounced as a blatant violation of freedom of expression. "The wave of arbitrary arrests of political activists and journalists, and the crackdown on peaceful protests, have reached an alarming level," Amnesty International researcher Francois Patuel said in the run up to the April 28 poll. The vote, according to preliminary results, saw a record low turnout of 22.99 percent -- a slump of more than half since the advent of democracy nearly 30 years earlier. For Talon it was "a referendum in all but name" on his rule, political scientist Expedit Ologou said. - 'Admirer of strongmen' - It is quite a contrast to Benin's competitive elections, which it had held since leaving behind authoritarian rule almost two decades ago. Just five years ago, voters could chose from 20 parties. This time round, only two parties -- both allied to Talon -- contested seats. Some critics fear that a parliament entirely loyal to the president will give him power to change the constitution and engineer a way to meet his goal of extending the presidential term. Arguing in favour of strong leadership, Talon has spoken of prolonging the term from five years to seven, albeit for a single mandate. One way of understanding Talon, said a political source, is to look at those he admires. They include Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a strongman who has led Rwanda since 1994, earning a reputation for promoting economic development while repressing dissent. Kagame was re-elected in 2017 with nearly 99 percent of the vote, after the constitution was changed to allow him to run for a third term. In Kagame, Talon found the "charismatic political role model" he was searching for, the source said. NEW ORLEANS (AP) In a story that moved May 2 about the purchase of a New Orleans newspaper and its website, The Associated Press misspelled the name of a restaurant. It is Galatoire's, not Galitoire's. In the same story, The Associated Press earlier corrected the name of one of the people making the purchase. John and Dathel Georges are buying the Times-Picayune and its nola.com website, not George and Dathel Georges. A corrected version of the story is below: Louisiana's The Advocate purchasing The Times-Picayune The owners of The Advocate newspaper have purchased The Times-Picayune in New Orleans from Advance Local Media By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) In 2012, The Times-Picayune was New Orleans' Pulitzer-winning juggernaut of local journalism, employing hundreds in a sprawling building in the city and bureaus in surrounding parishes, while The Advocate was the smaller, staid family-owned paper 80 miles west in Baton Rouge respected for its state government coverage, but no threat to a New Orleans media institution that was as ingrained in the city's culture as Mardi Gras. Just how much things have changed became suddenly evident on Thursday with the unexpected announcement that John and Dathel Georges, who purchased The Advocate's parent Capital City Press in 2013, have bought the 182-year-old The Times-Picayune from the Newhouse family's Advance Local Media. It marked the ending of a rare 21st century newspaper rivalry in the age of internet-driven media. Both entities are privately held and didn't disclose terms. The Times-Picayune name will survive. A story outlining the plans on The Advocate's website said both paper's flags will be on the new daily, home-delivered publication that will debut in June. And the papers will share a website under the nola.com banner currently used by The Times-Picayune. "The Advocate will be expanding its New Orleans news, advertising and circulation staff by hiring from current nola.com and Times-Picayune employees, and will increase its coverage of suburban communities, sports and arts and entertainment, and also improve its opinion pages," The Advocate story said. Story continues However, it was unclear how many of The Times-Picayune's employees would survive. Some were already announcing their layoffs on social media an echo of the painful job losses seven years ago. The Georges are the millionaire owners of a wholesale grocery business as well as the historic Galatoire's restaurant in the French Quarter. John Georges had made unsuccessful runs for governor and mayor by the time they bought the 177-year-old The Advocate from the Manship family in late April 2013. That was nearly a year after Advance Publications Inc. announced The Times-Picayune would cut back publication to three days a week, lay off 200 employees and shift focus to its website, Nola.com. Advance was pursuing similar strategies in other markets, including Michigan, Alabama and Pennsylvania, with relatively little pushback. But the move stunned many in New Orleans, where tradition dies hard. Protests were organized and some prominent local figures called for Advance to sell the paper to local owners. "The old owners wanted to go full digital because this is a small market with more tech savvy residents moving in every day," New Orleans native Christopher Williams recalled in a Facebook conversation Thursday. "The pushback from residents who are used to their traditions and their writers was real then and will be real again with this move." Many readers had formed a deep bond with The Times-Picayune after the catastrophic flooding following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "When Katrina hit, The Times-Picayune not only detailed the disaster, it connected us while we were scattered," recalls attorney Bill Quigley, who had evacuated during the flood. The paper's dogged work covering the storm's aftermath, despite having to evacuate its flooded plant, resulted in two Pulitzer Prizes adding to two won in the 1990s. It also resulted in admiration from readers, recalls former Times-Picayune photographer John McCusker, who remembers people approaching him when he was on assignments. "Nobody ever wanted to buy me a drink before because I was a newspaper man." Sensing that the cutbacks at the Picayune had changed the market, the Manships put Advocate staffers in New Orleans and began printing a New Orleans edition stressing that it would be published and home-delivered seven days a week in the still print-hungry city. The intensity of the rivalry grew when the Georges purchased Capital City Press which publishes The Advocate, The New Orleans Advocate and The Acadiana Advocate and hired Times-Picayune veterans, including Dan Shea as general manager (now publisher) and Peter Kovacs as editor. "It's funny," said McCusker. "It's like The Advocate is the old Picayune and the Picayune is whoever they've hired since the last purge." That The Advocate's moves paid off was evident recently when a project led by some of those veterans won a Pulitzer for The Advocate. The leaner version of The Times-Picayune has also won accolades. Just last month, an in-depth look at the long-term effects of trauma on New Orleans children won an award from the Dart Center at Columbia University. Shea, Kovacs and The Advocate President Judi Terzotis will continue to lead the combined news organization, the paper said. How the staff of The Times-Picayune will be affected, and how readers of both papers will react, were not immediately clear. The unexpected consolidation worries Williams. "I think it's a sad day when so much of our news is in the hands of one man," he said. ___ An earlier version of this report had the incorrect first name for John Georges, one of the owners of The Advocate. Gavin Williamson will not face a formal police investigation over his alleged role in the Huawei leak, the Government has confirmed. The former Defence Secretary, who was unceremoniously sacked from his role by Theresa May on Wednesday, insisted he would be exonerated by any probe. But the Government said during an urgent question in the Commons this morning that the Prime Minister considers the matter closed. Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told the Commons: "The unauthorised disclosure of any information from Government is serious and especially so from the National Security Council. "The Prime Minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police, but we would of course cooperate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary." Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick also said Scotland Yard would not consider a criminal investigation unless it was formally referred to them by the Cabinet Office. Gavin Williamson said a police investigation into the Huawei leak would exonerate him (Getty) Mr Lidingtons answers did nothing to quell growing demands from opposition parties to have the matter formally investigated. Labours deputy leader Tom Watson said: "In response to receiving the most brutal sacking I can think of (Gavin Williamson) has protested his innocence. Therefore this matter cannot be, as the Prime Minister says, closed. "The essential point here is the Prime Minister has sacked the Secretary of State for Defence because she believes there is compelling evidence that he has committed a crime. But despite that, she does not believe he should face a criminal investigation - where is the justice in that? Read more from Yahoo News UK: Trump is a f***ing idiot text message read out live on US TV Suspected serial rapist may have been released from prison by mistake Three year old boy punched to death by mums boyfriend "In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation?" Story continues Mr Watson asked Mr Lidington to confirm there were no leaks from the leak inquiry before raising questions about whether Huawei should be allowed to be part of the UK's critical infrastructure network, and the concerns raised by intelligence allies. Mr Lidington said: "The problem about this particular case was not so much the question of the material that was disclosed, but the forum from which the leak came - and it was to maintain the integrity and secrecy essential for the proper conduct of the business of the Government of the United Kingdom, whichever party happens to be in office, that caused the Prime Minister to set up the inquiry and to take the decisions that she took yesterday." Theresa Mays aid the inquiry had found "compelling evidence" suggesting Mr Williamson was to blame for the leak (PA) He added as far as he was aware the leak inquiry took place "on the basis of confidentiality throughout its proceedings". The SNP's defence spokesman Stuart McDonald said it was "not in the Prime Minister's gift" to say this "most disgraceful episode" is closed. He added: "The fact we are here today shows that it is far from closed." Mr McDonald asked: "What was Mr Williamson avoiding answering?", and asked what further action would be taken beyond his sacking. Responding, Mr Lidington said he would not comment beyond what the Prime Minister wrote in her letter to the former defence secretary. 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 investigate urgently. Nia Griffith MP (@NiaGriffithMP) May 1, 2019 For the Defence Secretary to leak from the National Security Council is a grave dereliction of duty. There must be a criminal investigation to determine whether there has been a breach of the Official Secrets Act. My letter to the Met Commissioner pic.twitter.com/QBnzO7WXvg Jo Swinson (@joswinson) May 1, 2019 He added: "Whether a criminal offence has been committed is a matter for independent prosecution authorities and ultimately for the courts." Labour led calls for detectives to investigate if a breach of the Official Secrets Act was committed when details of a highly sensitive National Security Council (NSC) discussion on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei were leaked to a newspaper. But Mr Williamson strenuously denied either he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. He told The Times: I volunteered everything up. I couldn't have volunteered more information on the whole thing. "Frankly I'd rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is I'd have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear. Mr Williamson's abrupt firing as head of the Ministry of Defence sent shockwaves around Westminster (PA) The sacking centres around details of a highly sensitive National Security Council discussion on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei that were leaked (Getty) Completely screwed Mr Williamson's abrupt firing as head of the Ministry of Defence sent shockwaves around Westminster on Wednesday after Theresa May said the inquiry had found "compelling evidence" suggesting he was to blame. The PM also said she was "concerned" at the manner in which he had engaged with the inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. But Mr Williamson strenuously denied either he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. The Prime Minister set out her reasons for sacking Mr Williamson in her letter (PA) Mr Williamson's letter stated that he did not accept responsibility for the leak (PA) In a letter, Mr Williamson also revealed that he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying that this would have sent a signal that he accepted either he or his team was guilty. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the paper which first reported the leak, the former minister said he had been "completely screwed. "She has got the wrong person and the person who did leak this is still out there," he said. Mr Williamson meets personnel from 663 Squadron of 3 Regiment Army Air Corps at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk (PA) Meteoric rise 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 May's 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 leadership bid when Mrs May stands down. The PM's dramatic firing of her one-time close ally came on the eve of local elections across England and Northern Ireland on Thursday. The firing saw another Cabinet reshuffle that made Penny Mordaunt Defence Secretary, the first female to occupy the role, and prisons minister Rory Stewart replacing Ms Mordaunt as International Development Secretary. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- South Africa: Collect your ID to cast your vote As the country gears up for the 6th general elections, the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster has urged members of the public to collect their identity documents to allow them to cast their vote. The Home Affairs Department, which forms part of the JCPS cluster, said it has noted with concern that by the end of March 2019, a total of 355 257 smart ID cards and 3 620 green ID books were uncollected. The total of all uncollected identity documents stood at 358 877 comprising uncollected smart ID cards and green ID books. Gauteng has the highest number of uncollected smart ID cards, at 101 787, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 55 634 uncollected smart cards and Eastern Cape with 46 504. Northern Cape has the lowest, with only 12 255, said Police Minister Bheki Cele on behalf of the JCPS cluster. Cele was speaking at a state of readiness media briefing, where he was joined by State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba and Home Affairs Minister Siyabonga Cwele. The department appealed to stakeholder forums, as well as community structures and leaders, to work closely with communities in urging people to collect their documents. Cele said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) will work with all the JCPS cluster departments to ensure that these elections happen in a safe and secure environment. Under the ambit of the National JOINTS, the SANDF will be on stand-by to provide support to the IEC. In the case of a disaster, the SANDF is on standby and ready to support, as they have contributed to assisting in the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, said the Minister. Cele emphasised that the cluster is operationally ready to ensure a safe and secure environment for free and fair elections to prevail. Together, we can build on the achievements of the past 25 years by going to the different voting stations to make sure that we build on the gains we have made since 1994. We wish all South Africans well as they exercise their constitutional right to vote for the party of their choice in the 6th general elections, said Cele. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. After going through something as life-altering as a car accident, the best thing you can get out of it is... LONDON: 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 Ecuadors 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 US 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 offence. Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified US 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 US 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 Ecuadors 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, US prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified US 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 centre in a US naval base in Cuba. Summers cited the arrest and treatment of Chelsea Manning, a US Army soldier who served seven years in military prison for leaking classified data while she was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Assanges 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 US extradition case. May 2 (Reuters) - An effort to end all non-medical exemptions for childhood vaccinations in Maine was in limbo on Thursday after the state Senate voted to amend it to allow parents to keep opting out on religious grounds. The bill had passed the Democratic-controlled state House of Representatives last month, making Maine one of at least seven states considering ending non-medical exemptions amid the worst outbreak of measles in the United States in 25 years. In a close vote, 18 lawmakers in the Democratic-led state Senate supported an amendment to the House bill to retain the religious exemption that exists in state law, while 17 voted against. The senators approved ending exemptions for children whose parents oppose vaccination for "philosophical reasons." Several senators who had trained and worked as doctors argued at length ahead of the vote to allow an exemption only if a healthcare provider deemed it medically necessary. Others noted no major U.S. religion opposes vaccinations. Senator Linda Sanborn, a Democrat who has practiced family medicine, said the bill was to prevent "an impending disaster" in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Five percent of Maine's kindergarten students have non-medical exemptions from vaccination, compared with a national average of 2 percent. She said other fatal diseases could follow the fate of smallpox, which was globally eradicated through vaccination efforts, adding: "It takes a community caring about not just ourselves but our neighbors to make this happen." Senate Republicans, including Scott Cyrway, opposed the bill as government overreach into the private sphere. "We're forcing someone to do something when we don't really have to," Cyrway said. In neighboring Vermont, lawmakers voted in 2015 to remove philosophical exemptions while leaving in place religious ones. As a result, more parents sought and received those exemptions - 3.9 percent in 2017, up from 0.9 percent in 2015, according to the state's Department of Health. Story continues In Maine, the amended bill will go back to the House, which can vote either to accept or reject the amendment. If both chambers cannot agree, the bill dies. A spokeswoman for the House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There have been no measles cases in Maine since 2007, but officials have worried about recent outbreaks of whooping cough, another childhood disease for which there is a mandatory vaccination. Only three states have outlawed any non-medical exemptions for vaccinations - California, Mississippi and West Virginia. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney) Ruin porn is all over Instagram, says Dan Barasch, the author of Ruin and Redemption in Architecture, a new book from Phaidon, in which he explores public spacesthink of the High Line in Manhattanthat have, and have not, been readapted in cities. There are these really sumptuous, titillating images of abandoned spaces without any real context or substance behind them, he says. On the other hand, theres endless celebration of design pornstunning renderings or photographs of extraordinary structures. For Barasch, these two populist expressions of worship have one very important thing in common: Theres no sense of history, he says. Barasch has been thinking about history, and its connection to public space, for over a decade. He and James Ramsey are the minds behind the Lowline, a proposed underground park in an abandoned former trolley terminal on New York Citys Lower East Side. Its a project thats consumed him since 2009, leading him to examine how other cities have made use of abandoned, old, or ruined spaces, which in turn resulted in this book. Photo: Lowline, Raad Studio, New York, NY, USA; reimagined 2011. Picture credit: Andrew Einhorn History comes crashing into the present when we confront a sobering reality: More people are moving to cities. Many estimates predict that by 2050, two thirds of the worlds population will be living in them. Because space in cities is at a premium, public space has never been more expensive, debated, or important. A lot of new development is making people feel small, and is disconnected from the city and lacking the humanity and the public space and the connected tissues to weave communities together, says Barasch. Thirty or forty years ago, cities were less desirable because of issues like crime; now, cities tend to be so much safer that quite a different problem is on peoples minds: gentrification and income inequality. The ways we conceive of public space now, with large-scale public development, feels very corporate, he says. Hudson Yards is a good example. They did develop a large amount of public space, meant to be for the public, and yet theres nowhere to sit, youre dwarfed by large towers on all sides, and its dominated by high-end retail. Somehow this passed as a description of effective public space. Story continues LRP Perspective Cudahy Channel [Converted] Photo: Frank Gehry and teams; reimagined 2016. Picture credit: Tetra Tech, Inc Barasch tells me all this in the commissary at Metrograph, the repertory movie theater at the bottom of Ludlow Street. Were meeting here after I refused to meet him at his first choiceSoho Houses Lower East Side outpost, Ludlow House. The two edifices represent largely the same issue: money arriving where culture once was, with Metrograph emerging leaps and bounds ahead. Barasch had just landed from Australia the night before (he was talking with city leaders in Sydney about what to do with its miles of underground tunnels). His 15-month-old son (with partner Robert Hammond, a cofounder of the High Line), Rigsby, decided not to sleep last night. Hes a bit of a ruin himself. Photo: Piuarch Barasch orders huevos rancheros and takes me through his books four sections: Lost (Les Halles, Pariss traditional market, built in 1183, transformed in 1850, demolished in 1972); Forgotten (Gunkanjima Island, a.k.a. Battleship Island, in Japan, abandoned in 1974); Reimagined (the L.A. River, 11 miles of which Frank Gehry would like to transform into a park); and Transformed (the High Line, NYCs elevated railway line, built in 1934, abandoned in 1980, transformed in 2009). The huevos are disappointingthere are a great deal of beans. Youre not a fan of beans? I ask him. Maybe not this many beans, he says. In the end, taste defines adaptive reuse projects as well. The spaces we choose to preserve or reinvigorate are, like almost anything else, subject to trends. Currently, people are looking at transitabandoned railways, train stations, and depots that once were the lifeblood of cities. Ultimately, the spaces we choose to save or abandon come down to important but difficult questions about what a community is. Its such a subjective question. The answer depends on whom youre talking to, he says, adding that land is inherently political. The central challenge of public-spirited design is: What does the community want? Thats an impossible question to answer. Sometimes you just want a bowl of beans. Photo: Wenink / Holtkamp Architecten / Tim Van de Velde When it comes to manifesting this desire, corporations and private money, it seems, have picked up the ball where governments have dropped or deferred it. Barasch points to some of his favorite examples in his book: Gucci Huba converted Milanese factory from 1915 (abandoned in 1950) that the company has modernized with attention to public walkways and reverence for old-world elements, like maintaining the buildings original brick facadesand the Fondazione Prada, wherein a turn-of-the-century gin distillery has been converted into a center for contemporary art. He also likes the Tate Modern in London, a converted power station. What all of those spaces have in common is that theyre used as hubs for creativity, or cultural centers, he points out. Prada is a good example. You have the preservation of old buildings in an industrial area with stunning new modern additions. One cannot purchase a Prada product on the site. Its a project focused on art. Photo: Collection of The Buffalo History Museum These favorites stand in opposition to a larger point Barasch wants to make. Someone needs to pay for these things, he says. And theyre expensive. One of the core findings of the book is that the easiest way for adaptive reuse to happen is for a city or state government to spearhead the project, or a private developer has to be able to underwrite the full cost. Who is capable of paying for it? Governments, companies, and increasingly high-net-worth individuals, he says, before reaching his conclusion. Ultimately," he says, "we need the public sector to pay for the public realm. JACKSON, Miss. (AP) A federal judge has dismissed claims against a Mississippi mayor and a police officer in a lawsuit filed by the widow and sons of an attorney who killed himself during a bitter 2014 U.S. Senate race. Court documents show U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves on Tuesday granted dismissal requests by Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler and the officer, Chuck Harrison. In 2017, Mark Mayfield's survivors sued Hawkins-Butler and others, saying the defendants were part of a political network that pushed Mayfield to suicide. The lawsuit said Mayfield's life was ruined when he was charged with conspiracy to exploit a vulnerable adult after other people published an online video showing Republican Sen. Thad Cochran's wife Rose, who had dementia and was living in the same nursing home where Mayfield's mother lived. The video claimed the longtime senator was having an affair while Rose Cochran was incapacitated. Police said Mayfield showed someone how to get into the nursing home to find Rose Cochran, and that person entered her room on Easter Sunday 2014 and made a video of her. Cochran's campaign said at the time that the senator was not involved in an improper relationship. Mayfield was prominent in the Mississippi tea party movement and supported state lawmaker Chris McDaniel, who lost to Cochran in a June 2014 Republican primary runoff. The primary split voters between tea party factions backing McDaniel and establishment Republicans backing Cochran. Mayfield died in June 2014, three days after Cochran defeated McDaniel in the runoff and before the felony charge against Mayfield could be prosecuted. Thad Cochran was re-elected in November 2014 and Rose Cochran died the next month. The senator married a longtime aide in May 2015. He retired from the Senate in 2018 amid his own health concerns, and he lives in Oxford, Mississippi. A blogger pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge related to the video of Rose Cochran, and he spent several months in jail. Reeves on Tuesday rejected a request by another police officer to be dismissed as a defendant in the Mayfield family's civil lawsuit. He wrote that the officer gave a "bare-bones" application for an arrest warrant against Mark Mayfield, "lacking any underlying facts and circumstances showing Mayfield's unlawful conduct." Hawkins-Butler and other defendants have denied wrongdoing in the investigation of Mayfield. Pho Binh. | Photo: Maya W./Yelp Looking to satisfy your appetite for Vietnamese fare? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top Vietnamese spots around Memphis, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to fill the bill. 1. Pho Binh Photo: saniyah x./Yelp Topping the list is Pho Binh. Located at 1615 Madison Ave. in Midtown, the vegetarian, Vietnamese and Cantonese spot is the highest rated Vietnamese restaurant in Memphis, boasting 4.5 stars out of 268 reviews on Yelp. 2. Green Bamboo Noodle House Photo: noah d./Yelp Next up is Cordova-Appling's Green Bamboo Noodle House, situated at 990 N. Germantown Parkway. With four stars out of 145 reviews on Yelp, the Vietnamese spot, which offers noodles and more, has proven to be a local favorite. 3. Phuong Long Photo: holly r./Yelp Phuong Long, a Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant in Midtown, is another go-to, with four stars out of 105 Yelp reviews. Head over to 306 N. Cleveland St. to see for yourself. 4. Pho So 8 Photo: terri w./Yelp Over in Hickory Ridge-South Riverdale, check out Pho So 8, which has earned 4.5 stars out of 43 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Vietnamese and Chinese eatery at 3588 Ridgeway Road. 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 Carolyn Crist (Reuters Health) - Men with cancer or other chronic illnesses are less likely to seek treatment for erectile dysfunction, even though sexual health is an important aspect of quality of life, researchers say. With a better understanding of the reasons why men don't seek help, doctors could change the way they talk to their patients and help them seek treatment, the authors of a small study conclude in the International Journal of Impotence Research. "Improving our approach could result in a large proportion of men maintaining a satisfactory sexual life, which is an important part of overall wellbeing," said lead study author Dr. Dejan Bratus of University Medical Center in Maribor, Slovenia. Erectile dysfunction is a common condition, but only 10 percent of men with erectile issues are typically treated, the study team notes. "What surprises us the most is the attitude of health professionals toward the sexual problems of their patients as it seems that a large proportion of doctors are unwilling to discuss these problems with their patients," Bratus told Reuters Health by email. Over the course of a month, Bratus and a coauthor surveyed 500 men who were visiting their family doctor. The men filled out a questionnaire with just two questions: "Does sexual activity represent an important part of your life at this time of your life?" and "If you ever in your life suffered from erectile dysfunction (impotence), would you want to get it treated?" In analyzing the men's responses, the researchers split the patients into three groups based on the reason for their doctor visit and their overall health status. In the first group were 176 men with no underlying illnesses, who had visited their doctor for preventive reasons or short-term issues. They typically talked to their doctor about respiratory infections, backaches, urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal problems. Their average age was 50. Story continues The second group, with "mild underlying disease," included 244 men who visited their doctor due to existing chronic illnesses but didn't have serious complications. They typically talked to their doctor about hypertension, diabetes, depression, anxiety and heart disease. Their average age was 60. The third group, with "severe chronic or malignant illnesses," included 66 men who typically had some form of cancer or had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Their average age was 62. Overall, the research team found that more than 90 percent of the healthy men said sex was an important part of their wellbeing, while about 80 percent of men with mild underlying illness said this and for men with serious illness, it was closer to 70 percent. Similarly, close to 90 percent of men who were healthy or mildly ill said they would seek treatment for erectile dysfunction, while just 70 percent of the seriously ill men said this. "Sexual function is important to people but patient-provider communication about sex is often lacking," said Kathryn Flynn of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, who wasn't involved in the study. Flynn said results similar to the Slovenian study have been found in the U.S., including the fact that many patients with serious illnesses such as cancer don't discuss sexual problems with their healthcare providers. "Even though there are psychological and medical treatments available to address erectile dysfunction (and other aspects of sexual dysfunction), patients often aren't receiving them," she told Reuters Health by email. In Slovenia, the study authors are developing better ways for oncologists to talk to patients about sexuality and sexual dysfunction, Bratus said. He is also part of a new 26-country European Sexual Medicine Network created by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology funding organization. "Our message to men who suffer from erectile dysfunction is that this is just a disease like any other," he said. "There is no need to be ashamed of it, and we strongly advise them to talk about it with their doctors since there are many ways of getting help and improving sexual life." SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2ZQSmw6 International Journal of Impotence Research, online April 11, 2019. Ouagadougou (AFP) - Europe must adopt a common position to resolve the Libyan crisis, which has boosted unrest in the Sahel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday in Burkina Faso, a country hard-hit by jihadist violence. Her visit coincided with a summit of the leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- the "G5 Sahel" group set up to manage a coordinated response to jihadist attacks. "We must now work on a political solution for Libya... which will be important for the future of your region," Merkel told students at the University of Ouagadougou. "What the presidents of the G5 Sahel explained to me once again yesterday, and they are right to say so, is that Europe must agree on the approach as there are still diverging perspectives within the European Union," said Merkel. "I will do my best to ensure that the Italian position and the French position are consistent and that there are no different voices or positions in Europe." The two neighbours have differences over how to respond to the Libya crisis. There is also anger in Rome at France's perceived lack of support for the influx of African migrants arriving from Italy's former colony. Last month, Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord appealed for Europe's support against military strongman Khalifa Haftar, waging an offensive on Tripoli. Libya has been in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. "As Europeans, we will not find a solution for Libya by ourselves, we will need the expertise of the African Union," Merkel told the students in a near-two-hour exchange. The chancellor expressed concern over the security situation in Burkina Faso, and said "we try to build links, to assist Burkina Faso in the fight against terrorism, so that you can have opportunities in your own country, so that you can live in security, well-being, and better prosperity." Merkel was due in Mali later Thursday, to meet hundreds of German soldiers deployed there as part of UN force MINUSMA, then to Libyan neighbour Niger. Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican rock band Cafe Tacvba, a Grammy-winning group once dubbed the "Mexican Beatles" by Rolling Stone, said its instruments and equipment had been stolen in a highway robbery Thursday. The truck carrying the band's equipment to an upcoming concert in the Mexican resort of Cancun was attacked in an early-morning hijacking, the band said in a statement on its Twitter account. "Two of our crew members were brutally beaten and briefly kidnapped," it said. "Our instruments and equipment, indispensable for any Cafe Tacvba show, were ROBBED." Mexican federal police later found the truck, emptied of its contents, abandoned along the road. The highway where the incident ocurred is notorious for hijackings. It connects the central city of Puebla with Cancun, on the Caribbean coast, via the violent eastern state of Veracruz. The band appealed to the authorities to help get its instruments back. But it said it would go ahead with its scheduled concert Saturday in Cancun regardless. Known for fusing rock with traditional Mexican folk music, Cafe Tacvba has won nine Latin Grammys and a Grammy since it was founded in 1989. Mexico has been plagued by a wave of violent crime in recent years, fueled by powerful drug cartels and entrenched political corruption. MEXICO CITY, May 2 (Reuters) - The billionaire head of mining company Grupo Mexico warned that past efforts to find the bodies of miners killed in a 2006 blast had been "high risk," a day after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged to try again to recover their remains. German Larrea, chief executive of the Mexican mining firm and one of the country's richest men, issued the warning in a letter published by the government on Thursday. Lopez told a news conference on Wednesday he was determined that the bodies of more than 60 miners remaining at the site be found, a decision he framed as a humanitarian gesture towards the blast victims' families. Some 65 men were killed in the massive mine shaft explosion on Feb. 19 2006 when methane gas caused the collapse of the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in northern Coahuila state. Only two of the bodies were recovered. Grupo Mexico, which operated the mine, has maintained that it was an unfortunate accident and that the firm had compensated families. In the moments following the blast, the workers were likely buried by thousands of tons of rock. Investigators said at the time it was possible that many of the men were incinerated as the blast brought the inside temperature to above 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 Fahrenheit). Larrea wrote in his letter that rescuers had made an enormous effort to find bodies for 14 months after the blast. "Every day, the risks for the rescue squads kept growing, until it stopped being humanly possible. We could no longer put human lives at high risk to recover the remains of the miners," he said. However, Larrea, who rarely makes public statements, did not oppose the Mexican president, with whom he has a history of clashes. Lopez Obrador told reporters on Thursday that Larrea had "agreed to help and collaborate" with the new effort. The mining tycoon hit Lopez Obrador politically just ahead of his landslide election win last year, arguing that if adopted, a "populist economic model" would dent employment and investment in Mexico. The businessman offered last year's critique in a letter to his company's employees that was later made public, and in turn Lopez Obrador criticized him for resisting change and only caring about his own fortune. (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Sandra Maler) Alberto Ruggieri/Getty Images After my miscarriage, I felt devastated. The baby that my husband and I worked so long to conceive had been lost. However, as traumatic as the actual miscarriage was, the stark reality of my baby's passing included the fact that my husband and I would have to decide what to do with our little one's remains. If you miscarry, many factors can affect the arrangements you choose, including how far along you were in your pregnancy, your personal beliefs, and the hospital's legal obligations. No matter how far along you were when you miscarried, caring for your baby's remains can help you find closure and solace in your time of despair. Dealing With Your Baby's Passing How you handle your baby's remains depends mostly on how far along you were in your pregnancy. Health care providers have policies for handling miscarriages, and those policies must comply with state laws. Boston Medical Center, for example, says Massachusetts state law requires hospitals, clinics, and midwives to report miscarriages that occur in the 20th week of pregnancy or later, or if the fetus weighs at least 350 grams. (Such miscarriages must be reported to the Department of Public Health and the Registry of Vital Records within 10 days.) This means that starting in the 20th week of pregnancy, they must treat a miscarriage as they would any other death, including helping the parents manage the remains, helping them find resources for planning a burial or cremation, and connecting them with organizations that can help fund burial arrangements, if necessary. For miscarriages occurring before 20 weeks' gestation with fetuses weighing less than 350 grams, the medical facility can dispose of the remains without reporting the death. Check with your hospital for the regulations and policies that apply in your case. Be aware that if you want to keep your baby's remains for a burial or cremation, you may need to specifically tell your attending doctors and staff to make sure they know. Since hospitals handle the majority of miscarriage remains, the earlier you can tell the staff your wishes, the better. If you had an early miscarriage at home, you should still seek medical help to make sure you do not have any remaining tissue or placenta inside your uterus, which could cause excessive bleeding or infection. You can decide to plan a burial or cremation yourself, or you can bring the remains with you to the hospital if you would rather have the staff assist you. Story continues Faith Crisis In a paper published by the Luther Seminary, Kathleen Lull Seaton suggests that the trauma of miscarriage can sometimes cause parents to question their faith and can leave grieving parents feeling alone, helpless, and apathetic. If this sounds like you or your partner, seeking the guidance of religion may help you get through this difficult time. Sometimes having a spiritual leader help with funeral preparations can alleviate this type of faith crisis and can help you feel a sense of relief knowing that your house of worship includes your little one within its community. 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." Story continues 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 capitalise 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 programme. "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. 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 legitimised," 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) Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. As more than one million college graduates collect their diplomas this spring, many will also be receiving gifts from proud family members and friends. The average person buying a graduation gift was expected to spend $102, according to a 2018 survey by the National Retail Federation, which also found that most popular gift was cash, followed by greeting cards, often with cash tucked inside. That means someone with multiple generous family members could end up with several hundred dollars or more. But simply handing out cash can be a missed opportunity to make a more meaningful gift to graduates, such as helping them learn money management skills or encouraging them to start building their savings, says Manisha Thakor, a certified financial planner and vice president for financial well-being at Brighton Jones, a wealth management firm. Granted, for most young adults celebrating the last day of college, financial planning help may not top their wish list. Thats why you may want to consider splitting your graduation gift into "now" and "later" components. Give the grad something fun to start with, says Thakor. Then follow up later with a gift that will help put them on the right financial path. You can mention the follow-up gift in a note or card at graduation. Of course, the right gift choice will depend on the goals of the grad as well as your budget. Here are five money-smart gift ideas to consider: Build a Budget "The best gift you can give a grad is to help them create a realistic budget," says Gordon Achtermann, a fee-only financial planner in Annandale, Va. Having that budget in place allows the grad to get a full picture of his or her income and expenses, which is key to managing cash flow. If your grad hasn't already learned budget basics, you can give him or her a budgeting tool, such as YNAB (youneedabudget.com; $84 a year). Or you can help set them up with Mint.com, which is free. Story continues Even if your grad doesn't have a job yet or is taking time off before starting grad school, learning to budget now is valuable. "Wherever the grad is headed, he or she is going to have limited resources and will have to fly solo," says Achtermann. For parents, the budgeting process can also encourage better communication about the financial support the grad can expect and how that money is being spent. "You don't want unstated assumptions and opinions, so it's a way of establishing clear ground rules," says Achtermann. Jump Start an Emergency Fund The challenges of building a rainy day fund can be especially difficult for young adults just starting out, when they may be juggling student loan payments, rent, and other expenses. Without a cash cushion, they may resort to costly options, such as running up credit card debt. To help the grad avoid this scenario, you can offer to direct your gift toward building a rainy day fund, as well as suggest online savings options that pay above-average yields. Ideally, an individual should have at least $1,000 put away for emergencies, says Ronnie Colvin, a fee-only financial planner in Madison, Ala. Your graduation gift alone may not get them there, but having that additional money can help. Over time, most people should aim to save enough to cover three to six months' worth of expenses. Pare Down Debts Many grads leave college with credit card debt, perhaps incurred to pay student fees or costly textbooks. If you know that's the case with your family member, you could offer to direct your gift toward paying down the highest-interest credit cards, which could greatly reduce their overall balance. Still, the biggest debt the grad faces is likely to be student loans: The average balance is close to $30,000. If you think the grad could use help figuring out repayment options, you can offer to set up a session with an adviser to sort out the different strategies. To find this help, you can hire a financial planner by the hour through the Garrett Planning Network. Free advice is available through the Institute of Student Loan Advisors. Help With Job-Hunting Many grads will still be job hunting, and if you work in the field they're interested in, you might offer assistance as a mentor. You can also offer to set up informational interviews with colleagues in your industry, says Achtermann. If the grad is heading out on a job interview that involves an airline flight, you might offer to give money toward the airfare, he says. An easy and convenient way to provide this help is through an airline gift card, offered by several major carriers. Another benefit of giving a card rather than buying a ticket is that the grad will be in charge of the reservation. Southwest Airlines gift cards, which are available in denominations of $50 to $200, can be found at supermarkets, Target, Walmart, and Amazon. For other airlines, including Delta and American, you'll need to go to their websites to buy them. Be aware that most cards must be purchased at least 72 hours before flight time. Most don't have expiration dates, but when they're redeemed for airline tickets, the regular fare rules apply. Boost Retirement Savings Saving for retirement might not seem particularly urgent for twentysomethings. But its the best time to start saving, because the money will have decades of compound growth. A $500 investment at age 22 can grow to $6,556 by age 65, assuming a 6 percent annual average rate of return. If the student has earned income this year, parents might help them set up a Roth IRA as well as gifting some money, or offering to match their contributions to get it started, says Ira Fialkow, a fee-only financial planner in West Palm Beach, Fla. With a Roth, you contribute after-tax money, which will grow tax-free; those under age 50 can put away up to $6,000 in 2019. For grads who have landed a job with benefits, offer to help them make the most of these programs. If the employer offers a 401(k), for example, encourage the grad to contribute enough to get the full match, if one is offered, because thats free money. A 401(k) will also show savers the impact of contributing small amounts consistently over time, says Ryan Firth, a CPA and fee-only financial planner in Houston. That will provide another incentive for the grad to stay on track toward their financial goals. Additional reporting contributed by Barbara Peterson. 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. 2116 N. Garrett Ave. | Photos: Zumper According to rental site Zumper, median rents for a one bedroom in M Streets are hovering around $1,150, compared to a $1,149 one-bedroom median for Dallas as a whole. So how does the low-end pricing on an M Streets rental look these daysand what might you get for the price? We took a look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments to find out what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in the neighborhood, which, according to Walk Score ratings, is somewhat walkable, is bikeable and has some transit options. 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. 5749 Vickery Blvd. Listed at $850/month, this 500-square-foot studio apartment, located at 5749 Vickery Blvd., is 16.2 percent less than the $1,015/month median rent for a studio in M Streets. When it comes to building amenities, expect outdoor space and on-site laundry. In the unit, look for air conditioning, hardwood flooring, a ceiling fan and a walk-in closet. Pet owners, take heed: cats and dogs are allowed. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. (See the complete listing here.) 1820 N. Garrett Ave., #208 This one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, situated at 1820 N. Garrett Ave., #208, is listed for $895/month for its 625 square feet of space. In the unit, expect air conditioning, a fireplace and high ceilings. Building amenities include assigned parking and a swimming pool. Neither cats nor dogs are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the complete listing here.) 1901 N. Fitzhugh Ave., #14 Here's a studio condo at 1901 N. Fitzhugh Ave., #14, which, at 600 square feet, is also going for $895/month. In the unit, anticipate both air conditioning and central heating, hardwood flooring, a fireplace and a dishwasher. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: this spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. Story continues (See the full listing here.) 2116 N. Garrett Ave., #103 Finally, check out this 475-square-foot studio apartment at 2116 N. Garrett Ave., #103, listed at $995/month. Building amenities include assigned parking, outdoor space and on-site laundry. In the unit, the listing promises both air conditioning and central heating, hardwood flooring and a dishwasher. Pet owners, take heed: cats and dogs are welcome. Be prepared for a $500 deposit. (Here's the listing.) 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. Seguin, TX (78155) Today A few passing clouds. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A few passing clouds. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. When a company underperforms quarterly expectations, you can usually expect a lot of excuses and silver linings from the CEO. Highlighting the one or two metrics that don't look as bad is a time-honored tradition on the earnings call, as is talking about the company's safety record. By contrast, when quarterly performance comes in better than expected, it's natural for management to take some credit, to talk about how the management team's hard work is paying off, or how this is evidence that the turnaround plan is working. What's very unusual is to hear a CEO, when faced with better-than-expected performance, try to downplay it. Yet that's just what General Electric (NYSE: GE) CEO Larry Culp did on Tuesday's Q1 2019 earnings call, in one of the most amazing comments from a CEO I've ever heard. Here's what he said and why it matters for investors. A young woman looks at a laptop screen with a surprised expression General Electric, once a top industrial stock, has been beaten down by the market. Image source: Getty Images. A pleasant surprise Make no mistake about it: GE's Q1 2019 earnings were pretty bad. The company's troubled Power segment, which has been hurt by unfavorable market trends, brought in just $81 million in profit for the quarter. That's down a staggering 71% from the prior year. The renewable energy unit did even worse, reporting a $162 million quarterly loss. Overall, despite solid performance by the company's standout Aviation unit, GE managed to burn $1.2 billion in industrial free cash flow. Overall earnings came in at $0.14/share. But even though things were bad, they weren't as bad as the stock market had been expecting. Analysts had predicted earnings of only about $0.09/share, so the earnings report was seen as positive, and shares jumped more than 10% from their Monday close before easing off again to close about 4.8% higher. But you'd never know that to listen to Culp on the earnings call. Don't get your hopes up Story continues Essentially, Culp told investors that this quarter's better-than-expected performance was basically a fluke. Here's how he put it on the earnings call: [A]s we said in March, on our outlook call, 2019 is a reset year for GE, as we make decisions and investments that will position us well for the long term, but will have near-term impact on our financial performance, particularly our cash flows. And while we have made some progress in the first quarter, delivering results ahead of our own expectations, especially on industrial free cash flows, this is largely due to timing of certain orders and customer collections we expected later in the year. You know as well as I do that one quarter is a data point, not a trend. The guidance we provided a month ago remains unchanged. It's early in the year and this is one quarter in a multi-year transformation. In total, we are confident in our ability to deliver on our full year expectations that we laid out for you last month during the outlook call. We continue to believe that our 2020 and 2021 financial results will be meaningfully better. In other words, don't go expecting this every quarter, folks! Bizarro world The reason it's so amazing that Culp started off with the cold water is that later on the call, he confessed that he himself had seen some encouraging signs from the company. "We had higher earnings than we expected and saw some improvements in execution," he admitted. "But again, it's early," he added. Still later on the call, he said, "In our operating reviews on our plant floors and in our job sites, I see plenty of improvement opportunities and frankly take encouragement from the early signs of progress." Wait a second: Is he optimistic or isn't he? I have to be grateful to Culp, though, for doing a bit of my job for me. Usually, we're the ones who have to remind investors that a single quarter isn't necessarily indicative of long-term results, and that a single data point isn't a trend. Usually, a CEO will lean heavily into the positive side of things. And Culp himself has done so in the past. Check out how different his opening remarks sounded from last quarter's (Q4 2018) earnings call: I'm here today because I believe in GE. There is no company on earth with a scale of GE's global reach, brand, talent and long-term customer relationships. We have leading technology in key infrastructure markets with high barriers to entry and strong aftermarket streams. We're poised to capture recurring revenues on a global installed base of almost 70,000 engines more than 70 -- 7,000 gas turbines and aeroderivatives, more than 40,000 onshore wind turbines and more than 4 million Healthcare Systems. In short, GE matters. We've identified clear opportunities to improve our performance and we are working to address of them at root cause. We have the right portfolio of strategy and I'm confident the company is capable of gaining profitable share and creating long-term value for our shareholders. Why would he suddenly put the brakes on that optimism? What came before Culp assumed the CEO mantle from former CEO John Flannery, who only lasted about a year in the corner office after taking over from the previous CEO, Jeff Immelt. During Flannery's tenure, it became very clear that Immelt had been presenting an overly rosy picture of GE's position to the world. Some described it as a "culture of confidence." Others referred to it as "masking the rot." Take, for example, Immelt's projections for 2018 adjusted earnings: $2 per share. Flannery later revised that downward to a range of $1.00 to $1.07 per share. The company's actual 2018 earnings were just $0.65 per share. With GE's credibility basically shredded, Culp -- who joined the board after those initial 2018 projections were made and then restated -- understands that the era of the "culture of confidence" is over. So he's bending over backwards to make sure the company under his leadership is seen as transparent and honest. And clearly, if that means lowering expectations, he's willing to do it. What it means for investors There's both good news and bad news for investors in Culp's comments. The good news is that Culp appears willing to sacrifice short-term stock gains in favor of honesty and transparency about GE's actual situation. The bad news is that GE's actual situation isn't all that great. If Q1 exceeded expectations, but the company's expectations for the full year haven't changed, that means the other three quarters of 2019 are likely to disappoint. Of course, that should come as no surprise to investors, who have been repeatedly told by Culp and by CFO Jamie Miller that 2019 is a "reset year" and that the turnaround won't start in earnest until 2020...or 2021. Take Culp at his word: GE's Q1 performance hasn't changed that timeline. More From The Motley Fool John Bromels owns shares of General Electric. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 416 E. Locust St. | Photos: Zumper According to rental site Zumper, median rents for a one bedroom in Tobin Hill are hovering around $975, compared to ann $865 one-bedroom median for San Antonio as a whole. So how does the low-end pricing on a Tobin Hill rental look these daysand what might you get for the price? We took a look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments to find out what budget-minded apartment seekers can expect to find in the neighborhood, which, according to Walk Score ratings, is quite walkable, is fairly bikeable and has good transit options. Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, 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. 111 E. Park Ave., #9903 Listed at $825/month, this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, located at 111 E. Park Ave., #9903, is 15.4 percent less than the $975/month median rent for a one bedroom in Tobin Hill. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the complete listing here.) 125 E. Courtland Place, #1 This one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, situated at 125 E. Courtland Place, #1, is listed for $850/month for its 750 square feet of space. In the unit, anticipate air conditioning. Amenities offered in the building include assigned parking. Cats and dogs are not welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the complete listing here.) 416 E. Locust St. Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 416 E. Locust St., which, at 850 square feet, is also going for $850/month. In the unit, expect high ceilings, hardwood flooring and a walk-in closet. Neither cats nor dogs are allowed. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. (See the full listing here.) 204 E. Dewey Place Then there's this 750-square-foot with one bedroom and one bathroom at 204 E. Dewey Place, listed at $925/month. Story continues In the unit, expect hardwood flooring and high ceilings. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are allowed. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. (See the listing here.) 1415 N. Main Ave., #1790 Finally, check out this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 1415 N. Main Ave., #1790, listed at $945/month. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (Here's the listing.) 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. How to Make the Most of Small Business Week 2019 Mothers Day, Memorial DayMay is full of holidays honoring hard work and sacrifice. And if youre an entrepreneur, you should add another one to your calendar: Small Business Week. Celebrated for more than half a century, Small Business Week (May 5-11, 2019) recognizes the leaders who make such critical contributions to our nations economy and provides unique opportunities for growth, too. National and local events mean the chance to amp up your business acumen and drive sales and innovation, all while networking with other movers and shakers like you. While the event is headquartered in Washington, D.C., there are plenty of ways to get involved regardless of your location. From auditing a virtual conference to creating buzzworthy initiatives in your own community, you and your company can make the most of this unsung holiday. 5 ways to make the most of small business week Whether you whisk yourself to Washington, D.C. for the weekend (hey, its deductible, right?) or hold down the fort at home, here are some ideas for getting into the Small Business Week spirit. 1. Head to the #hackathon If youre looking for a way to kick-start some serious changes in your small business, consider registering for the Small Business Week Hackathon. Taking place over three whirlwind days and with the allure of hefty cash prizes, you can think of the event as a crucible for creating actionable solutions to real problems. (This years theme: preparing for and recuperating from natural disasters, like hurricanes and earthquakes.) The event will take place in person in Washington, D.C., from May 3-5, and the winning innovator in first place will walk away with $25,000. A jackpot like that might just make it worth the trip! 2. Sit in on a the SBAs conferencewhether youre in D.C. or not Not quite sure about two sleepless nights of coding, but still looking for ways to learn more about making your business the best it can be? The Small Business Administration will be holding a free two-day virtual conference on Tuesday, May 7 and Wednesday, May 8, offering webinars covering a range of important and timely business topics. Story continues You can pick and choose which sessions to attend, or set aside the time to make it to all of them. Either way, youll get to interface with industry leaders and other entrepreneurs, all from the comfort of your own office. (Or living room.) 3. Take part in a Twitter chat Heres a really low-key way to participate in Small Business Week: just open a Twitter tab on Friday, May 10 at 12 p.m. EST. The SBA will be hosting a live conversation with tips and tricks on creating and nurturing a small business. Just follow @SBAgov and log into your account to join and use #SmallBusinessWeek to voice your own questions and answers. 4. Create buzz in your local community to drive sales and marketing Small Business Week is the perfect time to highlight your goods and services to your local community. After all, shopping small and supporting local business owners is in vogue these days, but customers can only patronize your company if they know what you have to offer. Some fun and creative ways to ramp up your marketing: send a team to volunteer at a local charity (wearing branded T-shirts, of course), sponsor local sporting events and reach out to your local Chamber of Commerce to see if there are any local small business organizations you might join. You could even create a specific Small Business Week sales initiative, like hosting an employee contest or offering shop local-themed discount incentives to customers. 5. Take the opportunity to make your business the best it can be Small Business Week is all about celebrating the impact local entrepreneurs have on the economy. (Case in point: according to the SBA, more than half of Americas workforce is involved in small businesses, which are responsible for two-thirds of the new jobs created in the U.S. each year.) So what better time to take a good, hard look at your business and make the improvements youve been putting off? Whether its a change to outdated team policies or an interior redesign, Small Business Week is an opportunity to ensure your firm is putting its best foot forward. As you know, youve got to spend money to make moneyand sometimes, it might be more than you have upfront. If thats the case for your company, finding a business loan can help you meet your goals without upending your budget. With time, patience and good planning, the improvements you make can pay for themselves in the long run, and drive your future profit margins even higher. The bottom line: Take advantage of Small Business Week 2019! Regardless of which sector youre in, or where your company is headquartered, Small Business Week is a great opportunity to learn more about how to set and achieve your entrepreneurial goals, and to put your plans into action to get there. If youre in D.C., you can participate in live events like the Small Business Week Hackathon, but there are plenty of local and virtual options for leaders around the country. Almost three quarters of MPs are in favour of mandatory vaccinations (Getty Images) Almost three quarters of MPs support making the MMR vaccination compulsory, Yahoo News UK can reveal. An exclusive poll of MPs carried out by YouGov found 40% of MPs strongly support forcing parents to vaccinate their children against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) by law. A further 31% tend to support the idea. Last month, new figures emerged showing half a million children in the UK are at risk of dying from measles due to not being vaccinated - a figure branded a growing public health timebomb by the chief executive of NHS England. The latest NHS numbers show coverage for MMR decreased in 2017-18 for the fourth year in a row. Between 2010 and 2017, 527,000 children were not given their MMR vaccination in the UK. Misleading and false information spread on social media by so-called 'anti-vaxxers' are thought to have contributed to the plummeting rates. Social media groups promoting 'anti-vax' messages are held responsible for reductions in rates of vaccines (Facebook) In a bid to combat the misinformation, Facebook announced plans recently to stop recommending groups and pages that share anti-vaccine messages. Last week, Amazon was forced to investigate after an anti-vax leaflet was discovered by a Hampshire mother hidden inside a childrens book she bought from the site. The leaflet warned that the HPV jab, the introduction of which is credited with a dramatic fall in cervical cancer rates, causes infertility and even death. The survey found Labour MPs are more likely to back forced vaccinations, with 87% backing the policy compared to 53% of Tories. Female MPs were more likely than male MPs to support the idea, with 79% supporting compared to 68%. Instagram account beware the needle makes unfounded claims about vaccines and has almost 40k followers The Irish Government is currently considering making vaccinations mandatory in response to a 200% surge in measles cases in the country. Irish health minister Simon Harris is examining whether legislation could legally be drawn up to force parents to vaccinate their children. In April the state of Brandenburg announced it is to become the first German region to introduce compulsory vaccination for children. Story continues Last month, Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to rule out banning unvaccinated children from schools - a policy already in place in Italy and France. He said: I wouldnt rule out anything but I dont think were there yet. In America they tried to do this and then the courts stopped them so it can be complicated, but really its peoples responsibility as a parent to do the right thing, its the right thing for their own children as well as of course the right thing for the community that everybody lives in. A Department of Health and Social Care Spokesperson said: "The UK has a world-leading vaccination programme and uptake remains very high at around 90% for most childhood vaccines, including MMR. "We will continue to increase confidence in vaccination by working with social media companies to stop the spread of false information - and are reviewing how to improve vaccine uptake as part of our Long Term Plan for the NHS. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. 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 before you buy or sell China Putian Food Holding Limited (HKG:1699), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling. What Is Insider Selling? It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.' Check out our latest analysis for China Putian Food Holding The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At China Putian Food Holding In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Chairman & CEO Chenyang Cai bought HK$27m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.14 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (HK$0.38), we still think insider buying is a positive. But because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! SEHK:1699 Recent Insider Trading, May 2nd 2019 China Putian Food Holding is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Story continues Does China Putian Food Holding Boast High 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. China Putian Food Holding insiders own about HK$79m worth of shares. That equates to 11% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. So What Does This Data Suggest About China Putian Food Holding Insiders? There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in China Putian Food Holding and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if China Putian Food Holding is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy. But note: China Putian Food Holding 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. Robert Mueller called Mr Barr personally to express his frustrations - AFP Donald Trumps attorney general denied misleading the public over special counsel Robert Muellers report into Russian election meddling on Wednesday as a rift between the pair was laid bare. William Barr, who took up the role in February and oversaw the release of the Mueller report, was repeatedly grilled on the topic during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Moments before his appearance a letter was published revealing that Mr Mueller had privately raised concerns to Mr Barr about the latters four-page summary of the reports key findings. That summary, released on March 24 before the full report was made public, noted that Mr Mueller had found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election. It also said that Mr Mueller, a former FBI director who spent almost two years running the inquiry, came to no conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice, adding that Mr Barr instead decided there was not crime. Mr Trump then claimed total exoneration. READ IT HERE: Heres a copy of Muellers March 27 letter to Barr, complaining that his initial summary did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of Muellers work. pic.twitter.com/ZSKeR0V0Ar Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 1, 2019 The letter from Mr Mueller to Mr Barr three days after that summary was released makes clear that he had concerns about the way his report had been represented. Mr Mueller said the summary "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of his work, adding: There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. He called for lengthy executive summaries of his report to be released, which went into detail about around a dozen possible episodes of obstruction by Mr Trump. Mr Barr rejected the proposal. Story continues The full report was eventually released to the public on April 18, after weeks of public debate about the conclusions in which Mr Trump touted his "exoneration". The letter was pounced on by Democrats who questioned whether Mr Barr had spun the inquirys findings in way that advantaged the man who had appointed him, the US president. William Barr listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, May 1 Credit: Bloomberg But Mr Barr batted away the criticism. He claimed that Mr Mueller made clear in a call that he did not believe the four-page document was inaccurate, instead expressing concern over press coverage. Asked why he had declined to publish full executive summaries of the report, Mr Barr said: I wasnt interested in putting out summaries, period. Mr Barr insisted he wanted to get the report out rather than releasing it as a series, saying: It was my decision how and when to make that public, not Bob Muellers. During the hearings, Mr Barr also cited a series of other areas when he and Mr Mueller disagreed. Mr Barr criticisied Mr Mueller for not reaching a decision on whether to bring a charge of obstruction of justice against the president, saying that was his job as a prosecutor. He blamed the Mueller teams failure to help more with redactions of information linked to grand jury testimony for delaying the reports publication. Mr Barr also rebuffed criticism about why he had not revealed the Mueller letter during a previous appearance before Congress when asked if any concerns had been raised, insisting he had not misled congressmen. Mr Barr later said: The letters a bit snitty, and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people. YANGON, May 2 (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces shot dead at least six people in the troubled western state of Rakhine on Thursday, after soldiers and police detained hundreds of people at a school, a military spokesman said. The soldiers had rounded up about 275 people during a search for members of the rebel Arakan Army, said Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun from the military's True News Information Team. There were conflicting accounts of events leading up to the shooting, which took place in an area off-limits to reporters and most aid agencies. Zaw Min Tun said some of the detainees attempted to seize weapons in the early hours of the morning, forcing security forces to fire into a crowd. "We warned them verbally. Then we fired warning shots into the air to disperse the group but they didn't move, so shots were fired," he said. Rakhine came to global attention after about 730,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed into Bangladesh fleeing a military crackdown in response to militant attacks in 2017. U.N. investigators have called for senior military officers to be prosecuted over allegations of mass killings, gang rapes and arson. The military denies widespread wrongdoing. More recently, civilians have been caught up in clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, an insurgent group that recruits from the mainly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine population and is fighting for greater autonomy for the state. Since November, the fighting has displaced nearly 33,000 people across a large part of central and northern Rakhine and part of neighboring Chin state, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The military has initiated legal action against two news organizations, accusing them of defamation for reports that detailed the alleged shooting of civilians by soldiers in March. Zaw Min Tun told Reuters military and police searching the Rathedaung area's Kyauk Tan village for suspected Arakan Army members found scores of people who were not registered with authorities as living there, so gathered those people in the school. Story continues According to a preliminary investigation, he said, six people were killed after the alleged altercation at 2 a.m. on Thursday. As well as those killed in the shooting, eight people had been brought to the hospital in nearby Zedi Pyin village with gunshots wounds, said Maung Soe Win, chairman of the Mayu Region Development Association, a local community group, who was at the hospital. The injured people said they had been detained for two days when one villager with a mental health problem "got up, shouted and ran away in the middle of the night," said Maung Soe Win. "Then (security forces) shot the villagers continuously," he told Reuters by phone. Another military spokesman, Major General Tun Tun Nyi, said on Thursday afternoon the remaining villagers were still being held at the school and investigated for links to the Arakan Army. (Reporting by Yangon bureau; Editing by Nick Macfie) May 2 (Reuters) - New Yorks power grid operator said on Thursday it was evaluating reliability impacts of a draft rule that could result in the retirement of several small, natural gas-fired plants in the New York City area. In February 2019, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) proposed requirements to reduce emissions from the so-called peaking power plants, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) said in its Power Trends report. The DEC's proposed new rule to be phased in between 2023 and 2025 could impact about 3,300 megawatts (MW) of simple-cycle turbines in New York City and Long Island, the NYISO said. One megawatt can power about 1,000 U.S. homes. The NYISO said it is actively engaged in the rule-development process and will work to inform interested parties of the implications of the proposed DEC rule to the reliability of the power grid. In addition, the NYISO said proposals to add more renewables in the Upstate region without adding more transmission to move that power out of the Upstate region "runs the risk of bringing diminishing returns in terms of progress toward both renewable energy production and carbon dioxide emissions reduction goals." That is because nearly 90 percent of the energy produced Upstate already is derived from carbon-free resources, the NYISO said. (Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy) WASHINGTON House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said Attorney General William Barr "lied to Congress" during a hearing an act that was not a technicality but a crime. "If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime," Pelosi told reporters. Asked if Barr should go to jail, Pelosi said the House Judiciary Committee "will act upon how we will proceed." At an April 4 House subcommittee hearing, Barr was questioned about media reports that some officials in special counsel Robert Mueller's office were "frustrated" with his handling of the investigation report. "Do you know what they are referencing with that?" Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., asked. "No, I don't," Barr replied. On Wednesday, however, the Department of Justice made public a letter Mueller sent to Barr on March 27 that expressed concerns with the way the attorney general had characterized the special counsel's findings. Barr was grilled about his answer to Crist by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats on Wednesday. He said that when he discussed Mueller's letter with the special counsel, the concern was about media coverage, not the contents of a four-page summary the attorney general had released describing the special counsel's conclusions. In a statement, Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called Pelosi's comments a "baseless attack on the attorney general" and said it was "reckless, irresponsible and false. The disclosure of Mueller's letter prompted calls Wednesday for Barr's resignation from lawmakers including Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who is head of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and a member of the Judiciary Committee, also said Barr should resign. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders rejected those criticisms, saying, "Democrats only disgrace and humiliate themselves with their baseless attacks on such a fine public servant." Story continues Pelosi's remarks came on a day of intensifying tensions as Barr made good on his threat to skip a hearing on the Mueller report. After Barr refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said that if Barr doesn't cooperate with the panel, his moment of accountability will come soon enough. And I think that probably applies, Pelosi said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Barr shouldn't be attorney general if he believes, as he testified Thursday, that presidents can stop investigations that are based on false allegations. "My god," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "What president doesn't believe that they're not being falsely accused?" Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that a president doesn't have to allow an investigation to run its course "if it was a groundless proceeding, if it was based on false allegations." "The president could terminate that proceeding, and it would not be a corrupt intent because he was being falsely accused and he would be worried about the impact on his administration," Barr said. Schumer wrote Barr on Thursday to ask if he stands by that statement. "If those views are truly your views," Schumer wrote, "you do not deserve to be attorney general." Barr skips hearing: Lawmakers clash with AG a no-show at hearing Like what you're reading?: Download the USA TODAY app for more This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nancy Pelosi: AG Barr 'lied to Congress,' that's a crime A former NASA subcontractor has agreed to pay $46 million after it was found to have knowingly sold faulty aluminum to the space agency and other businesses over 19 years. The scam resulted in two failed launch missions and more than $700 million in damages, NASA said. Hydro Extrusion Portland, formerly known as Sapa Profiles Inc. (SPI), agreed to the fine after admitting to falsifying thousands of test results on aluminum extrusions that were sold to hundreds of customers, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday. Our partners at NASA and in the military as well as hundreds of private businesses put their faith in the integrity of this supplier and the structural integrity of its products, said special agent in charge Loren Renn Cannon of the FBIs Portland field office. For almost two decades, this companys greed violated that trust. Todays proposed resolution is an important step to repairing the harm done. Faulty aluminum was responsible for the launch failures of NASAs Orbiting Carbon Observatory and Glory missions in 2009 and 2011, the space agency said. (NASA) NASA blamed the faulty materials for the launch failures of its Taurus XL launch vehicle that was used in the agencys Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission in 2009 and its Glory mission in 2011. In the case of the 2011 launch of the Glory Earth-observing satellite, a protective clamshell covering on the Taurus XL rocket was found not to have separated as planned after launch. With the covering intact, NASA said , the rocket was too heavy to get the satellite into orbit and both the rocket and satellite plummeted into the Pacific. A rocket carrying the Glory Earth-observing satellite, shown in this drawing from NASA, launched on March 4, 2011, but failed to place the satellite into orbit, sending both plummeting into the Pacific, NASA said. (Ho New / Reuters) Former SPI lab supervisor Dennis Balius admitted to routinely falsifying and instructing other employees to falsify test results during his employment from 2003 to 2015. He was sentenced last August to three years in prison for mail fraud and ordered to pay more than $170,000 in restitution, the Justice Department said. The company said in a statement that it learned about the altered test records in 2015. Certain employees at its Portland, Oregon, plant were responsible, SPI said, and it stopped the misconduct immediately, terminated the employees and reported the misconduct to U.S. government officials and SPIs customers. Story continues SPI was also suspended as a federal government contractor in 2015. NASA said investigators with its Launch Services Program helped unravel the aluminum scam after undertaking a multiyear investigation into the failed launches. NASA relies on the integrity of our industry throughout the supply chain. While we do perform our own testing, NASA is not able to retest every single component. That is why we require and pay for certain components to be tested and certified by the supplier, said Jim Norman, NASAs director for launch services. Norman lamented the loss of more than $700 million, and years of peoples scientific work, and added: It is critical that we are able to trust our industry to produce, test and certify materials in accordance with the standards we require. In this case, our trust was severely violated. The company will pay $34.1 million in combined restitution to NASA, the Department of Defenses Missile Defense Agency and commercial customers, as well as forfeit $1.8 million in ill-gotten gains, the Justice Department said. Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com . Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! China Everbright Limited (HKG:165), which is in the capital markets business, and is based in Hong Kong, saw significant share price movement during recent months on the SEHK, rising to highs of HK$17.1 and falling to the lows of HK$14.1. 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 Everbright's current trading price of HK$14.28 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 China Everbrights 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 China Everbright Is China Everbright still cheap? Great news for investors China Everbright is still trading at a fairly cheap price. My valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the stock is HK$25.28, but it is currently trading at HK$14.28 on the share market, meaning that there is still an opportunity to buy now. China Everbrights share price also seems relatively stable compared to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. If you believe the share price should eventually reach its true value, a low beta could suggest it is unlikely to rapidly do so anytime soon, and once its there, it may be hard to fall back down into an attractive buying range. What does the future of China Everbright look like? SEHK:165 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. 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 revenues expected to grow by 46% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for China Everbright. If the level of expenses is able to be maintained, it looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? Since 165 is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to increase your holdings in the stock. With a positive outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation. Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on 165 for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its buoyant future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy 165. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the track record of its management team, in order to make a well-informed buy. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters the fundamentals before you make a decision on China Everbright. You can find everything you need to know about China Everbright in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in China Everbright, 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. New York (AFP) - The New York Times is taking steps to deal with the fallout over its publication last week of an anti-Semitic cartoon, including new training for journalists and tighter editorial guidelines. The prestigious daily apologized over the weekend amid criticism over the cartoon in its international edition depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind Donald Trump wearing a yarmulke. On Tuesday, a Times editorial also took issue with the cartoon, noting that "anti-Semitic imagery is particularly dangerous now." One person was killed and three injured in a shooting at a synagogue in California over the weekend, an attack which came exactly six months after a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which left 11 people dead. The Times blamed a "faulty" oversight process, and on Wednesday, publisher AG Sulzberger outlined steps to avert a recurrence. Sulzberger said the newspaper had stopped running all syndicated cartoons, which are created by outside parties, and had canceled its contract with CartoonArts International, the group that provided the controversial image. He said "disciplinary steps" would be taken for the production editor who selected the cartoon and additional oversight would be required in the future. "We are updating our unconscious bias training to ensure it includes a direct focus on anti-Semitism," Sulzberger said in the memo, which was published in the newspaper. "This episode is a reminder that all of us are custodians of our trust and credibility with readers... Though I've been assured there was no malice involved in this mistake, we fell far short of our standards and values in this case." - Simmering outrage - The weekend apology from the Times failed to quell criticism of the editorial lapse and prompted a demonstration by a few dozen protesters outside the newspaper's headquarters on Monday. Story continues "Someone drew it, someone approved it. They should be fired," tweeted the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the organization which researches anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld told AFP this week the cartoon was "insulting." "It is an anti-Semitic cartoon, that is to say that Jews are guiding the world and that corresponds to a stereotype very common among the far right, which one also finds on the far left," he said. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said the cartoon was "anti-Semitic propaganda of the most vile sort," but welcomed the moves by the Times. "This type of content normalizes anti-Semitism by reinforcing tropes of Jewish control, and does so at a time when anti-Semitism is surging," Greenblatt said. "We've been saying that the New York Times owes the Jewish community more than an apology. That's why we're glad to see the paper's leadership is taking action and following the recommendations we've made to them." The cartoon prompted outrage from Israel's UN ambassador, who demanded that the Times hold accountable those responsible for publishing it. 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." On the pages of the newspaper, contributing columnist Brett Stephens also lashed out at the decision to publish the cartoon. "The Times has a longstanding Jewish problem, dating back to World War II, when it mostly buried news about the Holocaust, and continuing into the present day in the form of intensely adversarial coverage of Israel," Stephens wrote. "The problem with the cartoon isn't that its publication was a willful act of anti-Semitism. It wasn't. The problem is that its publication was an astonishing act of ignorance of anti-Semitism." By Joseph Ax NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - A former al Qaeda recruit convicted of plotting to bomb New York City's subway system will be sentenced on Thursday, nearly a decade after he pleaded guilty and became one of the U.S. government's most valuable counterterrorism informants. U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, have asked that Najibullah Zazi, 33, be given credit for his "extraordinary" cooperation since he pleaded guilty in February 2010. Zazi faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to numerous terrorism crimes, including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and providing support to al Qaeda. Zazi was particularly valuable to investigators given his familiarity with al Qaeda operations, after he traveled to Pakistan, met with senior al Qaeda members and underwent weapons and explosives training. The government has not publicly revealed the extent of Zazi's assistance, saying that could imperil ongoing investigations. But prosecutors noted that he helped implicate two co-conspirators in the subway plot, Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay. They also said information Zazi provided helped convict at least three other individuals in terrorism cases. "Over the past eight years, Zazi has provided extraordinary cooperation, meeting with the government more than 100 times," government lawyers wrote in court filings. "Zazi's assistance came in the face of substantial potential danger to himself and his family." Pursuant to the cooperation agreement, prosecutors did not ask for a specific sentence, but it appears likely Zazi will receive far less than a life term. Ahmedzay, who also pleaded guilty in the subway plot and agreed to cooperate after Zazi did so, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Zazi, who was born in Afghanistan, moved as a teenager to New York City, where he dropped out of high school and became a street vendor. He became radicalized after Medunjanin, a friend, gave him audio tapes of lectures by the U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, according to prosecutors. He, Medunjanin and Ahmedzay traveled to Pakistan, intending to join al Qaeda in fighting U.S troops in Afghanistan. Story continues Instead, al Qaeda officials urged them to return to the United States to carry out a suicide bombing. The three men agreed to bomb the subway during rush hour, and Zazi began assembling explosive materials. He was arrested in 2009, however, after federal investigators were tipped off that he had ties to militants. Medunjanin was convicted at trial, in large part thanks to Zazi's testimony, and was sentenced to life in prison. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Bernadette Baum) If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). OpenTable Acquires Guest Management Platform Venga OpenTable is one step closer in its mission to be a one-stop-shop for restaurant technology solutions, as parent company Booking Holdings announced the acquisition of customer data analytics platform Venga on Thursday. Right now, OpenTable doesnt even support pictures of our users, Kayak CEO Steve Hafner told Skift Table Thursday. Venga does. That will seamlessly integrate. Diners will see better hospitality at the restaurants that use the combined software. Founded in 2010, Venga built a suite of products around customer relationship management (CRM) that services about 1,400 restaurants. Venga has worked with OpenTable in a third-party vendor capacity for the past five years, but the acquisition will allow for OpenTable to take far more advantage of Vengas technology and implement it across OpenTables vast roster of 52,000 restaurant clients. Booking Holdings declined to disclose the financial details of the acquisition. A Deeper Relationship Under the new ownership structure, Venga will be fully integrated onto OpenTables platform, providing more detailed diner information for operators on everything from food preferences to social media profiles to particular dining habits that customers would want a front-of-house staff to remember. Well be able to engage with diners, and make sure they come back to get those butts in seats and drive loyalty, said Venga co-founder Winston Lord. The two companies agreed that Venga would retain its own branding and its Washington, D.C. headquarters after the acquisition. This wasnt a buy simply for the tech or talent, Lord explained. From the time that Venga started meeting with Hafner and his team to discuss a possible acquisition at the beginning of this year, it was clear that they wanted us to be a part of the larger team and continue to grow Venga. Venga co-founder and CEO Sam Pollaro will report directly to Hafner under the new structure. Story continues One Platform to Rule Them All OpenTables acquisition of Venga further strengthens the platform to be able to offer more cohesive solutions to more restaurants in a crowded, fragmented restaurant tech landscape. Eventually, Hafner wants to build OpenTable to outfit restaurants with everything from payment solutions to delivery integration, to perhaps getting into scheduling and labor management solutions. Every restaurant Ive met is like, God, wouldnt it be great if we had one or two vendors that did the full gamut of services? And all of those services were intelligently intertwined with each other, Hafner said. Thats what OpenTable is trying to build. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. Matthew Thomas was able to prey on vulnerable victims for a year after he was arrested Police have been ordered to explain how an online sexual predator was allowed to carry on preying on vulnerable victims for a year after he was arrested. Matthew Thomas, 21, was first brought to the attention of police in December 2017 after preying on young girls online. But despite being arrested and questioned in January 2018, he was released under investigation and continued hunting for victims, Wales Online reported. A judge has now demanded an explanation from police, saying the way the case was handled amounted to a dereliction of public duty, the newspaper reported. A judge at Swansea Crown Court has ordered police to provide an explanation Swansea Crown Court heard that Thomas, of Nightingale Court, Llanelli, preyed on vulnerable young teenage girls on social media platforms before grooming and emotionally blackmailing them. Prosecutors said Thomas chatted online to a young girl in the north-east of England, asking her for pictures and threatening to hurt himself if she didnt send them. Officers from Cleveland Police passed information to Dyfed-Powys Police and Thomas was arrested and question in January 2018, admitting elements of his behaviour. But he was released under investigation and resumed offending, contacting more girls online over the following months and telling one 13-year-old he would rape her dead. READ MORE Teen who threw cheese at severely allergic schoolboy says: I didnt mean to kill him He was reportedly arrested again in August 2018 after a paedophile hunter group reported him to police but was again released. In November 2018 Thomas was handed a court order by magistrates because of concerns about his behaviour but was not charged and again continued offending. He was charged in January 2019 and has now pleaded guilty to multiple counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to watch a sexual act, possession and distribution of indecent images, and possession of extreme pornography. Sentencing Thomas to a 10-year extended sentence, Judge Paul Thomas QC ordered Dyfed Powys police to provide a report on how the situation had come about. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Logo of jester cap with thought bubble. Image source: The Motley Fool. Peabody Energy Corp (NYSE: BTU) Q1 2019 Earnings Call May. 01, 2019, 11:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Peabody's First Quarter Earnings Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Vic Svec, Senior Vice president, Global Investor and Corporate Relations. Please go ahead sir. Vic Svec -- Senior Vice President, Global Investor and Corporate Relations Okay.Thanks, Amanda and good morning everyone. Welcome to BTU's earnings call for the first quarter of 2019. With us today are President and Chief Executive Officer, Glenn Kellow as well as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Amy Schwetz. During our formal remarks, we'll reference the supplemental presentation and that's available on our website at peabodyenergy.com. Now on slide 2 of this deck, you'll find our statement on forward-looking information. We do encourage you to consider the risk factors that we reference here, as well as our public filings with the SEC. And I'd also note we use both GAAP and non-GAAP measures. We refer you to our reconciliation of those measures in this presentation, as well as in our earnings release. I'll now turn the call over to Glenn. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thanks Vic, and good morning everyone. Before Amy covers the financials in more detail, I'd like to spend a few minutes reviewing the highlights of the quarter. First of all, this was our first full quarter of ownership following the highly accretive Shoal Creek Mine purchase. I'm pleased to note that the mine had an outstanding quarter. In fact, Shoal Creek rose to the top earnings contributor for Peabody in this period. Although, it's early days its first quarter cash flows imply a payback period pace of less than two years. Story continues Next, our seaborne thermal segment once again delivered leading margins in the quarter. On average, over the past two years, our seaborne thermal segment has delivered 40% adjusted EBITDA margins. Also, we reached an agreement for the maximum insurance recoveries for North Goonyella in the quarter. We recorded a benefit to operating profit including a portion to adjusted EBITDA and have already collected all $125 million in cash proceeds. Once again, we generated strong cash flows and returned even more to our shareholders. In fact, we returned nearly double our free cash flow to shareholders this quarter. We bought back shares, issued our ongoing quarterly dividend and deployed another tool in the kit with a supplemental dividend. The quarter wasn't without some short term external challenges on several I believe the strength of the platform will be more evident in the second half of 2019. This year, we expect to generate more than half of our adjusted EBITDA in the second half of the year. Throughout 2019, we are looking to build on our strengths and in point (ph) three strategies to create value. First, we are continuing to reweight our investments toward greater seaborne thermal and met coal access to capture high growth Asian demand. To that end in the first quarter, our seaborne segments comprised more than 60% of mining adjusted EBITDA. Second, we are optimizing our lowest-cost highest-margin US thermal assets in a low-capital fashion to maximize cash generation. Our US thermal platform continues to represent strong cash flow generation that well exceeds capital requirements. Third, we are executing our financial approach of generating cash, maintaining financial strength, investing wisely and returning cash to shareholders, having returned more than $1.4 billion in cash to shareholders since August 2017. I'd like to take a moment here and reflect on the first and third components of our strategy. Greater seaborne access and execution of our financial approach. Shoal Creek is both an example of strategic execution and financial strength. The acquisition upgrades our seaborne met portfolio as the mine exclusively sells to Asian and European steel mills. Shoal Creek offers a substantial increase in both the quantity and the quality of our met coal portfolio. Shoal Creek delivered exceptional operational results in the first quarter. For some time now we have outlined a strict set of investment filters, one of those filters is to provide a reasonable payback period. The mines' first quarter operating cash flows imply a rapid payback period of less than two years. And to be clear, that's less than two years from the day the first dollar was invested as opposed to organic investment that may not cash flow for multiple years. Shoal Creek also clearly meets each of our other investment filters. It's a strategic portfolio fit as it expands our seaborne metallurgical coal assets. It maintains our financial strength as the acquisition was financed with cash on hand and added a highly attractive valuation of two times adjusted EBITDA. The acquisition is expected to generate returns well above our weighted average cost of capital of 10%. It provides tangible synergies as we were able to move quickly to monetize our NOL position. And we are realizing synergies from our shared services platform. And certainly not the least, it creates significant value for our shareholders. As a CEO and investor, you can imagine that I've challenged the team to find more of these opportunities within our strict filters. I'll now turn things over to Amy to cover the financials in more detail. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Glenn and good morning everyone. I characterized the first quarter performance as quite positive given the timely settlement of the North Goonyella insurance claim, improved seaborne thermal performance and cash discipline even while we gave some back -- some of those benefits back due to US rail issues from the substantial flooding. Let's delve into the details. Peabody's first quarter revenues of $1.25 billion reflect the impact of 16% lower volume. Winter weather and severe flooding across the plains states heavily impacted rail performance beginning in early February. Rail outages and delays primarily impacted PRB shipments which were down 22% over the prior year. We did recognize the benefit of $125 million for the North Goonyella insurance claim in the quarter, the maximum recovery allowed under the applicable insurance policies. Approximately $34 million offset recovery costs in the quarter and therefore was recorded as a benefit to adjusted EBITDA. The remaining $91 million of insurance proceeds related to the known equipment losses from current and prior quarters. That amount was excluded from adjusted EBITDA given the related charges were excluded when incurred. First quarter DD&A was largely stable with the prior year as lower contract amortization was mostly offset or mostly offset accelerated DDNA related to the planned Kayenta mine closure and the inclusion of Shoal Creek. Over the course of the year, we expect DD&A to decline and we're targeting full year expense of $600 million to $650 million. SG&A for the quarter was in line with the prior year and below quarterly guidance ranges. And I would note that Peabody's SG&A as a percentage of revenues remains the best in the sector. Income from continuing operations, net of income taxes totaled $133 million compared to $208 million in the prior year. Diluted earnings per share totaled $1.15 marking a $0.32 improvement over the prior year. First quarter EPS benefited from the company's ongoing share repurchase program and the conversion of preferred stock in the prior year. First quarter adjusted EBITDA totaled $254 million versus $364 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA included the impact of $23 million related to PRB logistical challenges in the quarter and $37 million in reventilation and reentry costs related to North Goonyella, partly offset by the aforementioned $34 million of insurance proceeds benefit. Let's begin with our seaborne thermal segment, which once again was the leading segment with 38% adjusted EBITDA margin. Seaborne thermal export shipments increased 24% over the prior year to 2.6 million tonnes with an average realized price of $80.40 per short ton. The operations benefited from improved operating performance at the Wambo complex in part due to no longwall move in the quarter at Wambo. In fact, the Wambo underground mine led the segment in adjusted EBITDA margins this quarter. From a mix perspective, Newcastle spec shipments comprised 71% of export sales, that's slightly above the high end of Peabody's full year expectations. Seaborne thermal adjusted EBITDA of $95 million increased 54% compared to the prior year results. Continued high demand for seaborne thermal coal coupled with Peabody's low cost operations resulted in increased volumes, higher pricing and lower costs. Cost per tonne totaled 35.03 in the quarter marking a $2.06 decline from the prior year. Let's now turn to the seaborne met coal segment, which shipped 2.3 million tonnes in the quarter at an average realized price of 142.33 (ph) per tonne. As we guided previously, first quarter volumes were less than ratable , largely due to mine sequencing plants at Coppabella. Strip ratios were temporarily higher due to required rehandle of legacy overburden from the prior owner. In addition, costs were elevated due to the cumulative impact of the drag line outage. Combined, these factors at Coppabella resulted in about $8 per tonne of higher costs year-over-year for the segment. In addition, Shoal Creek shipped its remaining acquired inventory in January, resulting in elevated costs associated with the tonnes required to be recorded at fair value. This adjustment increased segment costs by approximately 350 per ton in the quarter. As a result, segment costs totaled a bit north of $103 per tonne, excluding impacts from North Goonyella. Every other met mine in the category with the exception of Coppabella, delivered cash costs within or below the company's original annual cost guidance range and this includes Shoal Creek whose cash cost came in at the lower end of its guidance strength -- guidance range at $85 to $95 per ton. Even with a longwall transition during the quarter, the mine led the Company's 23 operations in adjusted EBITDA contribution. With regard to North Goonyella, as expected, first quarter project cost came in above the third quarter cost guidance range. We had noted previously -- previously we would look to mitigate those costs throughout the year and we were able to do so this quarter with the sale of approximately 90,000 tons that contributed some $4 million to adjusted EBITDA. These sales along with the recognition of the insurance claim of $34 million mitigated project related costs, that totaled $37 million. You'll also recall that our investment in Middlemount mine and some 2 million tons of incremental economic metallurgical coal exposure to Peabody. Our share of Middlemount shipped some 400,000 tons in the first quarter. Equity affiliate accounting mandates that Peabody is required to report Middlemount results as the company's share of the mines net income which totaled $3.9 million in the quarter. To give you a deeper sense of the income statement component, this included about $7.5 million in DD&A, ARO, net interest expense and income taxes. We expect Middlemount's performance to strengthen over the course of 2019 on improved mining conditions. Let's now move on to the US thermal segment where winter weather and severe flooding limited rail performance and shipments from the PRB, suppressing our adjusted EBITDA by an estimated $23 million. Across the entire southern PRB, March shipments marked the lowest level in over 20 years, given these rail outages and delays. Peabody saw first quarter PRB shipments decline 22% to 25.3 million tons even following a strong start to the year in which January shipments were above our ratable averages. Railroad closures and rerouting of shipments particularly for the midsection of the US where many of our PRB customers are concentrated drove lower volumes. They also resulted in a dollar to -- $1.02 per ton increase to PRB costs from the prior year. The good news is that the PRB largely seems to have recovered from these issues and customer stockpiles are at their lowest levels since 2014. Midwestern and Western adjusted EBITDA rose year-over-year. The Midwestern segment benefited and lower repairs and higher realized pricing. Strong performance from the Twentymile mine contributed to an $11 million increase in the western segments adjusted EBITDA over the prior year. In addition Western realized revenues per ton rose in part due to accelerated billings associated with the planned closure of the Kayenta mine in the third quarter of 2019. In total, the U.S. thermal operations earned total adjusted EBITDA of $112 million compared to $138 million in the prior year, even with some 8 million tons of lower sales volumes. Turning now to Slide 6. Let's discuss key balance sheet and cash flow metrics. We ended the quarter with $798 million of cash and cash equivalents and $1.1 billion in available liquidity even after nearly $315 million in cash returned to the shareholders in the quarter. Operating cash flows of $198 million and CapEx of $36 million led to free cash flow totaling $162 million in the first quarter. During the quarter we deployed another tool in our capital allocation kit with a supplemental dividend of $200 million or a $1.85 per share, further underscoring our commitment to returning cash to shareholders. I would note that our ongoing quarterly dividend pays and supplemental dividend already equates to a 2019 yield of some 8% based on our current share price. We have been consistent in stating that our default position has been to return cash to shareholders and we have made substantial progress on that front with $1.42 billion of cash returned through buybacks and dividends since August of 2017. We plan to return an amount equal to or greater than our free cash flow to shareholders in 2019 and the first quarter with no exception with cash return nearly doubling our free cash flow in the quarter. As our actions show, we are willing and able to be flexible with regards to our approach and we remain committed to returning cash to shareholders. We have approximately $357 million remaining under our authorized share repurchase program and we'll continue to implement buybacks as we believe our shares represent a compelling investment opportunity. Our commitment to shareholder returns is evident not only in the absolute quantum of cash returns but also in the progression of our net debt balance over the past year. I'd now like to turn the call over to Glenn to cover the industry conditions on Slide 7. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Amy. The first quarter of 2019 was marked by a series of unusual near-term challenges to the coal industry logistics chain in multiple parts of the world. Traditional coal flows were altered by flooding here in the US and the Plains states, port restrictions in China, wet weather and train derailment in Australia and a cyclone in Mozambique. While in some instances these challenges simply resulted in a shifting of products between multiple demand centers, in other instances coal flows were disrupted. In China, cutting through the noise and looking at the map, Chinese imports are largely in line with prior year levels for this time of the year and Australian coal exports were up some 2 million tonnes. That's not to say that traditional coal flows weren't disrupted as China shifted the mix of their imports a bit. But overall, demand remained. Specific to seaborne thermal pricing, low LNG prices, above average stockpiles in several large importing nations and a mild winter all contributed to a rebasing of pricing. Newcastle pricing reached a two year trough pricing level in April and has since rebounded and our 2019 committed volumes are locked-in in prices above prompt Newcastle prices and that's even when those volumes -- noting that those volumes include a portion of the lower API 5 product as well. Our 2019 seaborne thermal price volumes include a little more than 2 million tonnes linked to the Japanese reference price settlement, which was recently settled at $94.75 per tonne. Including these expected commitments, we now have some 5.7 million short tons of Australian export thermal coal priced for the last three quarters of 2019 at an average price of $83 per short ton. And as expected, we've seen a converging on the spread between the Newcastle's-spec products and API 5. The 2019 forward curve price ratio as of the end of March was approximately 70% versus closer to 60% just a quarter ago. Our Australian mines are well-positioned to meet the growing seaborne thermal demand centers. Over 80% of global seaborne demand stems from the Asia-Pacific region even with customs clearance delays in China during the quarter. Getting into some specifics, Chinese thermal coal imports eased 8% in the quarter, while our internal estimates would have projected Chinese imports to be down year-on-year April (ph) of 2019. Recent news from China, actually indicates a goal of imports being on par with 2018 levels. India thermal coal imports are up some 16% through March, given the demand for higher CV industrial coals that cannot be supplied by domestic producers. ASEAN continues to prove to be a strong driver of seaborne thermals met as well, with imports up 23% year-to-date. We expect this trend to continue without the on demand leading the growth in 2019 seaborne thermal coal demand. Moving now to seaborne met coal, tight supply demand fundamentals continue to support robust seaborne met coal prices. Despite hard coking coal prices averaged $206 per tonne in the quarter, with the first quarter settlement locked in at $210 per tonne. Continued safety checks in China, strong steel production and quality limitations on domestic supply are leading to tight domestic supplies, which in turn have resulted in netbacks supportive of imports. As a result, met coal imports rose 35% through March. Looking ahead, we are estimating 2019 met coal imports to increase some 5 million to 10 million tonnes over 2018 industry wide, with India leading the growth in demand. Global steel demand rose 5% last year and we are expecting an additional 2% of growth this year. Supply increases are largely expected to be sourced from Australia. It occurs to me that the industry conditions for the coal are often miscast, particularly in relation to seaborne coal demand. So, it's worth taking a moment to offer some context on Slide 8. We've begun to emphasize, what I would call a surprisingly sustainable case for coal, where the choice is not one of good versus evil, but a pursuit of two goods, abundant reliable energy supply and reduced emissions. For the first time ever in 2018, global coal-fuelled generating capacity topped 2,000 gigawatts, that's a massive 62% increase since the year 2000, and some 50 gigawatts of new coal fuel generation are expected to come online this year alone. To put that in perspective, each gigawatt uses about three million tonnes of coal per year. Coal also is an essential ingredient in original steel making which consumes 1 billion tonnes of coal each year. And Coal provides about 70% of the energy needed to craftsmen. Life expectancy, educational attainment and income, all correlate with per capita electricity use and more of the world's electricity is fueled by coal than any other source. Simply put, the world plans and needs to use coal for the foreseeable future. Our Seaborne portfolio is well-positioned to serve this growing demand for some time with some 570 million tons of coal reserves between Australia and Shoal Creek. That said, recent industry challenges might paradoxically enable greater financial strength for those that take a contrarian position in their mind. A world that used coal for many decades more into the future also need sustainable coal companies more than ever. Let's now review the US thermal space on Slide 9. Customer demand remains strong in the first quarter even though shipments were impacted by rail outages and delays due to heavy flooding across the heartland. In fact implied customer demand by way of coal nominations with the rail was some 60% higher than actual trains loaded in March. Production Declines of 12% outpaced our internal estimates given rail outages and delays. PRB shipments were down some 5 million to 10 million tons on weather impacts. Reduced coal shipments have further driven down already low utility stockpiles. In fact, Southern PRB utility stockpiles declined 4 million tons in March which compares to an average build of a million tons in the month. US coal-fueled generation declined some 9% in the first quarter as total load was down and increased natural gas generation brought with it excess capacity and continued weak gas prices. Natural gas generation rose 11% while all other fuel sources declined with wind generation down some 6% year-to-date. In 2019, we expect retirements and gains by natural gas to continue to weigh on coal demand. On the other hand, strong seaborne pricing provides an uplift to US thermal exports. I'd now like to turn things back to Amy to discuss expectations for the upcoming quarter. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks Glenn. We are anticipating a strong second half of 2019 that will contribute more than half of our full year adjusted EBITDA. PRB, seaborne met and seaborne thermal volumes are expected to escalate throughout the back half of the year. In addition, met coal costs are expected to decline from elevated Q1 level. Second quarter performance is expected to be impacted by two longwall moves in Australia. And PRB shipments are targeted to be in line with the first quarter as rail recoveries offset typical shoulder season demand. We are expecting -- expecting strong seaborne thermal shipments and in line with this are increasing our full year guidance range by 250,000 tons at the midpoint. Given the elevated met costs in the first quarter, we are tightening our met coal cost guidance to $90 to $95 per ton. Related to North Goonyella in the first quarter, we completed segmenting of the mine into multiple zones to facilitate a Phase reventilation and reentry. In addition, all physical activities in advance of re ventilating the first segment of the mine have been completed. Gas readings are at acceptable levels, and we are currently complying with a directive, concerning documentation from the Queensland Mining Inspectorate following a thorough review. This has resulted in a multi-week delay to our initial project plan. Should our reventilation and reentry plan now progress as originally contemplated, we would expect to produce approximately 2 million tonnes from North Goonyella in 2020. If further delays occur, we will evaluate our plans, including longwall production targets, quarterly project costs, and capital expenditures. From a cash perspective, we pushed out some project capital spending primarily related to the Wambo JV into 2020. As a result, we've lowered our 2019 CapEx guidance to $350 million to $375 million and we are continuing to accelerate cash collections to support reclamation and post-retirement liabilities at Kayenta. We remain focused on delivering results and generating value and we believe we've done a good job of that this quarter. As discussed, we recognise the maximum allowable amount of the North Goonyella insurance claim, we've lowered our capital guidance and raised our seaborne thermal volume guidance and we've delivered SG&A below our average quarterly rate. And while we flagged lower than ratable first quarter volumes, our expectations did not take into account the severity of real issues. Had PRB rails performed in the normal fashion, we would've generated over $275 million of adjusted EBITDA this quarter. Furthermore, we remain committed to executing on our financial approach at generating cash, maintaining financial strength, investing wisely, and returning cash to shareholders. On the heels of our highly accretive Shoal Creek acquisition, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to create substantial value for our shareholders. For some time now, we've discussed our strict set of investment filters and we will continue to employ these filters as we evaluate both internal and external investment decisions. In addition, we have committed to returning our shareholders an amount equal to or greater than our free cash flow in 2019. And with that I'd like to turn the call over for questions. Operator? Questions and Answers: Operator Yes, thank you. (Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Lucas Pipes with B. Riley FBR. Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst Morning everyone. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Good morning, Lucas. Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst I wanted to first ask a question on the seaborne thermal coal side. I believe you said you sold 2.6 million tons. So if I kind of started the midpoint of the guidance range I think you would sell about 9.7 million tons over the remainder of the year and then that would leave about 4 million tons that are unpriced. And I wondered if you can give us some perspective as to what sort of quality this is, what sort of price we might be looking at? And then also just in terms of cadence, when do you expect how many volumes on a quarterly basis between now and -- Thank you very much. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sure. So, starting with the -- with our price position in Q2 to Q4 of the year we've got about 5.7 million short tons of that price. That's at about $83 per ton and that does include some API 5 tonnes in that -- in that mix. But we are -- the balance of our tons to sell throughout the remainder of the year is weighted toward that -- that lower quality spec. So about 40% to 50% of our unpriced seaborne export volumes would be that new capital spec tonnage. If we look at our -- at our thermal volumes for the -- for the remainder of the year, we do anticipate while we had a longwall move to Wambo beginning this quarter. So that -- that will suppress volumes a bit. And that -- so we will see a ramp once again into -- into the back half of the year and that's the component of our -- of our second half of 2019 comprising more than half of our EBITDA for the year. Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you very much for that, Amy and then switching to the domestic side, obviously Q1 was impacted with the weather issues. And I just wanted to kind of put it -- put it directly. Do you expect to make up the shortfall over the remainder of the year? So I think that was roughly 20 -- $20 million impact or so, should that all come back Q2, spread out over the course of the year or was this just lost EBITDA? Thank you very much. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer No, we don't expect it to be lost EBITDA. As you saw through the -- through the chart that we outlined on 9? -- the rail that started to recover already so much so that we would typically expect Q2 to see a reduction due to the traditional shoulder period. We're probably expecting that to be about flat to offset that with the improved rail performance that we've been seeing. So we would -- we would expect to look to recover most, if not all, of those tons through -- through the balance of the year. But it will take more than the second quarter. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer And Lucas, I would note that if you think about the impact that we saw in the first quarter as a result of this, it is -- it is because we've done everything but take the coal out of the pit in these -- in these instances. So -- so the mine got ready for the-- for the second quarter when we saw -- when we saw rail shipments improving, we stand by with -- with coals in the pits ready to load and out of -- out of the PRB and as Glenn pointed out, we would generally see that sort of fall off as we move into -- into April and May and more mild weather. And this year we're anticipating, we're going to be about flat quarter on quarter. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer What was unusual about what we saw as well was clearly probably the -- the biggest impact in a month in the PRB in nearly 20 years. But what was unusual was where your customer was incredibly important and unfortunately, looking at how that played out predominantly Nebraska rail corridor being impacted by the flooding, it appears as though some people might have been better off than others as that worked its way through based on the location of where our customer deliveries were occurring through that -- through that month in particular. Analyst -- -- Analyst Got it.Very helpful. I appreciate all the detail and best of luck. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Lucas. Operator We'll take our next question from Mark Levin with Seaport Global. Mark Levin -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Great. Thanks very much. So a couple of quick questions one about the cadence of EBITDA particularly as it relates to Q2, I think you mentioned two longwall moves in Australia, flat PRB shipments and a couple of other -- I guess there are a couple of other items. So when you -- if you were to use the 254 base I realized there's a $34 million insurance recovery benefit in there but if you were to use the 254 million base what would Q2 or how would you expect Q2 to look just directionally versus Q1 from an EBITDA perspective? Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sure. So as you've noted a number of the moving parts, Mark. I'm starting with obviously no insurance proceeds in the second quarter and thermal pricing has-- has come off a bit as we go in from -- go from Q1 to Q2. That will be a factor and we do have the two long and in Australia, a couple of positives that we're anticipating for the quarter is, if those flat PRB shipments -- but those flat PRB shipments will be at a more ratable cadence than what we saw in the first quarter, so that should improve our PRB costs going into the -- going into the second quarter. And then lastly, as we noted in our release, we are anticipating North Goonyella cost to come in more at the -- at the lower end of the range. Mark Levin -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Got it. And when you put all that together, does that look more flat or down or how would you kind of think about that just relative to the quarter? Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer I think so much of it is going to be dependent on the pricing that we see that it may be difficult to handicap that at this point in time and we also will need to see how -- how significant that rail recovery is as we look from May to June. Mark Levin -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Got it. Okay, great and then to North Goonyella first (ph) second and some of the issues maybe that you flagged in the press release and in your comments, can you maybe frame for us, what a worst case situation looks like -- it sounds like the bottleneck is administrative now, but maybe walk us through like what happens if things don't go the way we hope they do which is to say that you're in the mine and weeks or months or whatever the case may be but maybe explain what the bottleneck is and how we should be thinking about this if things don't go the way we want them to? Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Sure, I'll work through that. So we've -- as we'd indicated we've essentially done all of the engineering, all of the activities required to -- be out to reventilate that first segment. As Amy indicated, gas levels would support our ability to do that, so we -- we are ready to go from our perspective. The Queensland inspector, who had been working with us as we've continued to progress and developed the plans and done the activities on site, have asked to review a number of documents, in terms of working through the details of that. That has put us behind some weeks, somewhere where we thought we would be. And it's difficult to sort of quantify how long that will -- that will take place, it could be imminent, it could be a little bit longer than that. Our focus at this point is working through that process, responding to their requests for information and then being able to -- as I said, everything's ready to flick the switch and to be out to reventilate and that will enable this thing to monitor and then reenter the mine and have a better assessment. At that point we look to reexamine the overall timing and sequencing on the project plan, but just to reiterate, we're ready to go, so we're just working through that, what is a final part of the process. Mark Levin -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Got it. And to be clear, there's been no rejection of the plan, it's just an administrative hold up? Is that the best way to phrase at this point? Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer It's dotting the I's the and crossing the T's around supporting documentation with respect to chisel-out procedures and protocols that are on the wrong side. We've had no feedback that it's not the right plan, we've had no feedback that anything additional from an engineering or technical perspective is required, the focus appears to be to ensure that we have a full and robust complete set of risk assessments and protocols to support the reventilation and reentry processes of this first phase. Mark Levin -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Got it. That's very helpful. Just want one last question, as it relates to CapEx, I know you -- it looks like you spent a de minimis amount of CapEx this quarter so that there's a big CapEx spend to get to the -- even to the bottom end of your range Q2 to Q4, Amy, maybe, how do -- how will that affect the trajectory of cash return Q2 to Q4? Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Well, I'd say what it does, Mark, is even though we're anticipating larger EBITDA contributions in the back half of the year, it probably makes our free cash flow a bit more ratable, and over the course of the year based on the phasing of CapEx, and we do have some chunky spending that we'll see over the course of the year including some in payment -- some payments on the longwall and to be installed at North Goonyella as we move over the course of the year. I think that the delay of the Opencut JV into 2020 has provided us an opportunity to bring CapEx down over the course of 2019, which we see as a positive thing in terms of increasing our cash balances for shareholder returns over the course of the year. Operator Thank you. We'll take our next question from Chris Terry with Deutsche Bank. Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst Hi, this is actually Jeremy from STN. Good morning. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Good morning, Jeremy. Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst Regarding your seaborne thermal volumes, you have about 2 million tonnes contracted out for 2020, that's about half the level that you guys had at this point last year, so this -- based on customers and clients what for lower prices in the future or you guys actually trying to get toward more of a spot market rate? Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer So we generally contract out more than a -- more than a year in two ways. The first would be tons that are priced under -- under the JFY. So there will be some tons that are carried over from this settlement that we saw of $92 -- $94 and into Q1 of next year. We also use our hedge book from time to time to lock in -- to lock in those tonnages and so this is more of a reflection of where that -- where that book stands today and not necessarily an indication of where demand stands in the market. And we do have one large gap wide (ph) customer that's on a calendar year basis as well which impacts that. Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst All right. Switching to free cash flow, of the $300 million or so that you guys have returned so far this year, how much of that was generated in 2019 versus 2018? Just trying to figure out how much the lay there would be and any kind generation this year versus paybacks to shareholders. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer I'm sorry could you repeat that question, I'm not sure I follow. Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst The $300 million that you've returned to shareholders in 1Q. How much of that was generated in 2019? Just trying to figure out between generation and actual payback. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sure, so I would say what we've done in Q1 is actually reduce our cash balances and increase our net -- net debt position fairly substantially. So we generated free cash flow of about $162 million in the first quarter and we returned over $300 million of cash to shareholders over that same period. Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst Right, but upto 162 that was generated in 1Q, was any of that returned to shareholders yet? Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer I guess I would view the cash is fungible in the mix so certainly there will be working capital movements better -- better in that mix. Generally, we, both collect and pay within -- within 30 days of a coal shipment. So yes there will be working -- positive working capital movements or working capital movements that go into that mix. Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst All right. Thank you. Good luck. Operator We'll take our next question from Scott Schier with Clarkson. Scott Schier -- Clarksons -- Analyst Good morning everyone. I was hoping -- Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Good morning, Scott. Scott Schier -- Clarksons -- Analyst I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about your thermal demand expectations especially in the domestic market. Is there any worry that with the recent fall in international thermal pricing, it could result in more tons competing in the domestic market? Unidentified Speaker -- Certainly you've seen imports come off in the US, that's not entirely unexpected, we've always viewed the US as a bit of a swing supplier and API 2 has been their primary destination, we don't swim in those waters primarily, we're in the Asia Pacific area, primarily through our Australia thermal coal shipments, those have actually come -- they came down and then retraced pretty nicely. And in fact, that lower quality products is almost even with where it would have been a quarter ago and we did see some easing in there for some compression from the Newcastle coming down which was something that was contemplated. Now, I will point out that Newcastle product is in a slight contango for probably four to five years running and what is a pretty liquid market out there so having hit that floor and come back, it seems to have some decent legs to it. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer And maybe I'd jump in there too because I believe the question was on US thermal and clearly it probably wouldn't impact on PRB shipments to that degree and then as we look at the Illinois basin, that's probably going to be a question around the extent to which producers have hedged those shipments and maybe had take (ph) commitments on the logistics trend (ph) that might take place, so potentially that would move it out of a 2019 issue to -- more toward the back end or into 2020 potentially. But when we look at our Illinois basin position, it's actually more of an Indiana position, we often refer to as a submarket within that activity which focuses probably more on domestic customers and competition is within that basin versus significant export competition. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer And just maybe to triple down on that Scott, as it relates specifically to Peabody, we are fully committed in the Illinois basin for the year at an average price of about $42 at times, so we'll continue to watch these dynamics and as it relates to API 2 moving into 2020 and beyond. But we feel very good about our position for 2019. Scott Schier -- Clarksons -- Analyst Great, that's excellent color. Thank you for that. Switching gears, could you talk about any potential for more M&A, obviously you guys recently closed Shoal Creek but are there any other assets out there that look attractive at this stage as you kind of turn your focus to your seaborne portfolio? Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Look, I think we've repeatedly said that our default position is to return cash to shareholders. And -- but we've also been clear on what -- why we would think about deployment of any reinvestment back into the business, be it sustainable capital, life extension capital, growth capital or M&A ,and I think Shoal Creek represented a good example of the sorts of things we'd be prepared to do. But they don't necessarily come -- come along all the time and I think we've also demonstrated that we're prepared to be disciplined in that front. But if there's another Shoal Creek out there, we'd be more than interested in looking at execution of that. And we've -- we've been clear, as I said, on our investment filters and we think a Shoal Creek-type deal ticked all of those boxes as we've -- as we've articulated. But, then going back our default position is to return cash to shareholders and we've also been doing that in quite significant space. Scott Schier -- Clarksons -- Analyst Great. Thank you for that. And thank you for taking my questions and good luck going forward. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks. Operator We'll take our next question from John Bridges with J.P. Morgan. John Bridges -- JPMorgan -- Analyst Hi good morning, Glenn, Amy. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Good morning, John. John Bridges -- JPMorgan -- Analyst Hi. I just wanted to -- you mentioned DD&A coming down which makes sense. I recall some longer term guidance, the DD&A -- amortization was coming down over the next few years I just wondered if you could give us any sort of indication as to the direction of those sort of non-(inaudible) items. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sure. So the most significant component that we see coming down over time is, if we do have sales contracts that were established in fresh start that are amortizing over time we'll see -- we'll see a chunk of that come off in 2019 and then that number would be cut by about a third as we move -- as we move into 2020 and those sales contracts rolled off in their entirety. The big movements that we're seeing in 2019 itself are truly around our two mines that are -- that are closing during the year, Kayenta being the largest impact of that, but also Millennium. And that's just being partially offset, not by large amounts -- but being partially offset by the inclusion of Shoal Creek depreciation and depletion over that period. John Bridges -- JPMorgan -- Analyst Okay, that's very helpful. And then in your introduction you spoke to that cyclone hitting Mozambique, I'm not seeing a lot of comment from the company there but what are you seeing in terms of exports from there especially given that they've had a second cyclone there? Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, they've certainly been coming up the curve the last year or two off of obviously, a basis of near zero, but probably no additional color except -- except obviously our thoughts are with those who were affected from the cyclone and it -- and it was just one more example of supply disruptions which typically, over the last couple of years had been exacerbated from a relatively benign period there and a sign of those supply demand conditions which -- which remain pretty snug out there on the net (ph) side. John Bridges -- JPMorgan -- Analyst Snug, I like that. Operator We'll take our next question from Michael Dudas with Vertical Research. Michael Dudas -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Good morning, gentlemen, Amy. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Good morning, Mike. Analyst -- -- Analyst Shoal Creek, so seems like you're out of the box, very good assets for you. Can you just share a little bit about how productivity trends have been and as you look through as it's transitioning to a Peabody asset from (ph) Drummond . other than any major changes in structure or management there but also just remind us again the customer base and type of contracts that are being provided that from shipments (inaudible). Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer So, hopped well out of the gate as you've -- as you've indicated and we're pleased with the strong quarter that they've had and I didn't highlight is that they've also had a strong quarter from a safety perspective as well which is probably the best news from our perspective but production has followed -- has followed that, there has been one or two changes among -- among my management and the -- but the team have really looked to embrace and work out an integration across a number of Peabody's systems and processes and we've seen pretty good -- pretty good productivity to date. Customers and contracts, Europe and Japan, in fact, we covered some of the same customers out of Australia as well. So there is a natural overlap around that and they tend to be longer term type of contracts through -- through that period. Michael Dudas -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Appreciate that Glenn and my follow-up would be, you mentioned in a previous -- answered previous question about M&A and opportunities there, but how are you look -- visit -- how do you look at what Peabody -- you said you had 23 mining operations contributing to results this quarter. How are you looking how those operations look over today and then -- in the immediate future relative to say what your plans were when you had your Investor Day was it a year and a half or so ago, to -- looking at how that's all played out and what -- how that portfolio could maybe shift as we move to '19 and to '20, again trying to maximize the returns and value, given some of that, you know, given what's going on at North Goonyella, etcetera to maybe accelerate some of the generation and value creation. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Well, I think we've seen and we would have outlined two years ago, and we've been consistently executing against that. We continue to see us reweight those investments toward the seaborne markets, seaborne thermal, seaborne met. The move in the Shoal Creek was also a desire (ph) not only seaborne but to upgrade the quality that a -- that has taken place. It wasn't -- I think it was three years ago that at one point we were looking at the potential of nearly 5 million tons of met coal. So I think that -- that strategy has continued to be successful in its execution notwithstanding, you know where we're at with North Goonyella are now focused with getting that mine back on its feet. But we've committed to life extension projects at Wilpinjong and at Womba, when you've seen those go through and you can understand with those average 40% returns why we're attracted to that in a high -- in a high growth center (ph) and we continue to work hard on the portfolio in the US to ensure that it is generating cash, it is maintaining competitiveness and the team has been executing that extremely well. You look at their performance this year versus last year and adjust -- adjust with the weather impacts. They've actually held up very, very -- very, very strongly. Unfortunately, Kayenta two years ago we would have foreseen or would have desired that that plant which is -- which is economic and we think there's a compelling case, you know, we probably didn't foresee the extent to which that would -- would move out of the portfolio and now we're looking at transitioning that mine into -- into reclamation. So it's a good question in terms of the walk down memory lane, but I think it's an example of the team having to be consistently executing against the strategy that we articulated two years ago and I think we're continuing to see many of those benefits today. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer And clearly, part of our job is to be portfolio managers, and Shoal Creek is an example of that. We hit on this a lot but -- but recognizing we've been -- we've said for a number of quarters in a row that we have a desire to upgrade our met coal portfolio. This was an opportunity to flush (ph) that in. So we see our opportunities as those -- what we have but also opportunistically making portfolio moves over time to continue to increase the strength of the portfolio. Michael Dudas -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Appreciate your thoughts there Glenn and Amy. Thank you very much. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Operator We'll take our last question from Lucas Pipes with B Riley FBR. Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst Yes, thank you very much for taking my follow-up question. Amy, I wanted to circle back on the supplemental dividend and kind of what sort of metrics you were looking at for returning capital that way versus buying back more stock for example? Thank you. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Sure. So I would comment just as we -- if we think about the supplemental dividend and deploying that as a tool, we were very careful not to call it -- call it a special dividend and I think it's something that our Board of Directors takes a look at our dividend levels on a periodic basis. In the first quarter specifically, although we like buybacks we frankly favor them, given our current share price and we recognize that to deploy capital in a large scale, it was going to be difficult given liquidity in the market at that point in time. And so we saw this as an opportunity to show some flexibility in terms of how we deploy capital returns. And I think we wanted to be careful that we acknowledge that this was a supplemental and not necessarily a special. Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst Meaning that could be more supplemental dividends depending on circumstances? Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer What I would say is, although we favor share buybacks that at this point in time, we recognize that one, it may not be possible to deploy the amount of capital that we want to deploy in that manner, or cash flow projections frankly may change short term, and we have talked about liquidity targets of being around $800 million. We've operated above those levels and so we've tried to make strides over the last several quarters to operate at closer to that targeted liquidity level. Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you and best of luck. Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks. Operator At this time, I'd like to turn the conference back over to our presenters for any closing and additional remarks. Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, operator. And thank you for your questions and participating in today's call everyone. To all of our employees listening today, I want to thank you for your persistent dedication to safety and operational improvements and all of our current and future investors, we look forward to continuing to create value for each and every one of you. We appreciate your continued support and interest in BTU and Operator, that concludes today's call. Operator Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Duration: 60 minutes Call participants: Vic Svec -- Senior Vice President, Global Investor and Corporate Relations Glenn Kellow -- President and Chief Executive Officer Amy Schwetz -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Lucas Nathaniel Pipes -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst Analyst -- -- Analyst Mark Levin -- Seaport Global -- Analyst Jeremy -- STN -- Analyst Scott Schier -- Clarksons -- Analyst Unidentified Speaker -- John Bridges -- JPMorgan -- Analyst Michael Dudas -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst More BTU analysis Transcript powered by AlphaStreet 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. More From The Motley Fool Motley Fool Transcribers 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. The US Defense Department expects China to add military bases around the world to protect its investments in it ambitious One Belt One Road global infrastructure program, according to an official report released Thursday. Beijing currently has just one overseas military base, in Djibouti, but is believed planning others, including possibly Pakistan, as it seeks to project itself as a global superpower. "China's advancement of projects such as the 'One Belt, One Road' Initiative (OBOR) will probably drive military overseas basing through a perceived need to provide security for OBOR projects," the Pentagon said in its annual report to Congress on Chinese military and security developments. "China will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries," the report said. That effort could be constrained by other countries' wariness of hosting a full-time presence of the People's Liberation Army, the report noted. But target locations for military basing could include the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the western Pacific. China has already established well-armed outposts on contested atolls it build up in the South China Sea. Last year, there were reportedly discussions on a base in the Wakhan corridor of northwest Afghanistan. In addition, The Washington Post recently identified an outpost hosting many Chinese troops in eastern Tajikistan, near the strategic junction of the Wakhan Corridor, China, and Pakistan. Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought to project the country's power beyond its immediate "back yard" in East and Southeast Asia. This includes strengthening the country's presence in international institutions, acquiring top-flight technology and establishing a strong economic presence worldwide. Story continues It also includes projecting the country's military force on land, sea and in space, the report notes. "China's leaders are leveraging China's growing economic, diplomatic, and military clout to establish regional preeminence and expand the countrys international influence," the report said. Beijing in particular increasingly see the United States as becoming more confrontational in an effort to contain China's expanding power, it said. Beijing meanwhile has taken note of a growing suspicion in many countries of the One Belt One Road program, and has toned down its aggressive rhetoric in response. Nevertheless, the Pentagon said Beijing's leadership has not altered its fundamental strategic goals. The Pentagon has revealed that 120 civilians lost their lives as a result of American military operations in 2018. In a report released Thursday, the Defense Department said that 42 civilians had been killed in Iraq and Syria, 76 had been killed in Afghanistan, and two had been killed in Somalia. The report said that there had been no credible claims of civilian casualties caused by U.S. operations in Libya and Yemen. All DoD operations in 2018 were conducted in accordance with law of war requirements, including law of war protections for civilians, such as the fundamental principles of distinction and proportionality and the requirement to take feasible precautions in planning and conducting attacks to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and other persons and objects protected from being made the object of an attack, said the annual report, which is required by Congress. Watchdog groups say the Pentagon vastly underestimates the number of civilian deaths its operations cause each year. A report by Amnesty International and Airwars last month claimed that 805 such deaths had occurred in Iraq and Syria alone in 2018. The Trump administration was criticized in March for scrapping an Obama-era requirement that intelligence officials release an unclassified summary of the number of strikes and assessments of combatant and non combatant deaths resulting from those strikes. Administration officials said the requirement was redundant because of the annual Defense Department report. Although CIVCAS [civilian casualties] are a tragic and unavoidable part of war, no force in history is more committed to limiting harm to civilians, the DoD report said. More from National Review By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Deepening Chinese activities in the Arctic region could also pave the way for a strengthened military presence, including the deployment of submarines to act as deterrents against nuclear attack, the Pentagon said in a report released on Thursday. The assessment is included in the U.S. military's annual report to Congress on China's armed forces and follows Beijing's publication of its first official Arctic policy white paper in June. In that paper, China outlined plans to develop shipping lanes opened up by global warming to form a "Polar Silk Road" - building on President Xi Jinpings signature Belt and Road Initiative. China, despite being a non-Arctic state, is increasingly active in the polar region and became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013. That has prompted concerns from Arctic states over Beijing's long-term strategic objectives, including possible military deployments. The Pentagon report noted that Denmark has expressed concern about China's interest in Greenland, which has included proposals to establish a research station, establish a satellite ground station, renovate airports and expand mining. "Civilian research could support a strengthened Chinese military presence in the Arctic Ocean, which could include deploying submarines to the region as a deterrent against nuclear attacks," the report said. The Pentagon report noted that China's military has made modernizing its submarine fleet a high priority. Its navy operates four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines and 50 conventionally-powered attack submarines, it said. "The speed of growth of the submarine force has slowed and (it) will likely grow to between 65 and 70 submarines by 2020," the report predicted. The United States and its allies, in turn, are expanding their anti-submarine naval deployments across East Asia. This includes stepped-up patrols of America's advanced, sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon planes out of Singapore and Japan. Story continues TAIWAN CONTINGENCY The expansion of China's submarine forces is just one element of a broad - and costly - modernization of its military, which U.S. experts say is designed largely to deter any action by America's armed forces. Although Beijing's official defense budget for 2018 was $175 billion, the Pentagon estimated that China's budget actually topped $200 billion, when including research, development and foreign weapons procurement. It estimated that China's official defense budget would likely grow to about $260 billion by 2022. Much of China's military doctrine is focused on self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a renegade province. On Jan. 2, Xi said in a speech that China reserved the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control but would strive to achieve peaceful "reunification." The Pentagon report outlined a number of potential scenarios that China might take if Beijing decides to use military force on Taiwan, including a comprehensive campaign "designed to force Taiwan to capitulate to unification, or unification dialog." But the U.S. analysis appeared to downplay prospects for a large-scale amphibious Chinese invasion, saying that could strain its armed forces and invite international intervention. It also noted the possibility of limited missile strikes. "China could use missile attacks and precision air strikes against air defense systems, including air bases, radar sites, missiles, space assets, and communications facilities to degrade Taiwan's defenses, neutralize Taiwan's leadership, or break the Taiwan people's resolve," the report said. China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle the island on drills in the past few years and worked to isolate Taiwan internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies. It has also strongly objected to U.S. warship passages through the Taiwan Strait, which have greatly increased in frequency in the past year. Taiwan's military is significantly smaller than China's, a gap that the Pentagon noted is growing year by year. Recognizing the disparity, the Pentagon report noted: "Taiwan has stated that it is working to develop new concepts and capabilities for asymmetric warfare." (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington Editing by James Dalgleish) By Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc has agreed to withdraw lawsuits against Indian potato farmers it alleged infringed a patent by cultivating a variety grown exclusively for its Lay's potato chips. The U.S. snack food and drinks maker, which in addition to filing the lawsuit against the four farmers in April had sued five other potato growers, had said it wanted to settle the issue amicably. "After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers," a PepsiCo India spokesman said on Thursday, adding that this applied to all nine. The decision comes at a particularly sensitive time in India, which is about halfway through a 39-day general election in which its rural population still has a dominant voice. It also follows intervention by an influential Hindu nationalist group with close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said PepsiCo was coercing the farmers. Modi and the BJP are seeking a second term and most political strategists think they are likely to succeed. PepsiCo, which did not disclose details of its consultations, had previously said the farmers must either sell their potatoes to the New York-based company or stop cultivating the FC5 variety. In return, PepsiCo would withdraw the lawsuit. PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to it at a fixed price. Ashwani Mahajan, who heads the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which is the ideological parent of Modi's BJP, welcomed PepsiCo's move as a moral victory for Indian farmers. "MNCs (multi national corporations) need to understand that they must honour Indian laws," Mahajan said. PepsiCo maintains that it developed the FC5 variety of potato, which has a reduced moisture content to make snacks such as potato chips, and registered the trait in 2016. Story continues The April lawsuit was filed in Ahmedabad, the business hub of the western state of Gujarat, requesting that the court restrain the four farmers from growing the FC5 variety. PepsiCo had also sought more than 10 million rupees ($143,000) each from the farmers. The state government of Gujarat, ruled by Modi's BJP, had assured the farmers that it would help them while the opposition Congress party had also criticised PepsiCo's action. "The company remains deeply committed to the thousands of farmers we work with across the country and towards ensuring adoption of best farming practices," the PepsiCo spokesman said. PepsiCo, the second large U.S. company to face such patent issues in India, is keen "to find a long term and amicable resolution" of the issues involving seed protection, he said. Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers. (reut.rs/2ncBknn) (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, Keith Weir, David Goodman and Alexander Smith) (Reuters) - PG&E Corp said on Thursday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the company regarding public disclosures and losses related to wildfires. PG&E Corp said in a regulatory filing that it learned on March 20 that the SEC was investigating it in relation to its public disclosures and accounting for losses associated with the 2017 and 2018 Northern California wildfires and the 2015 Butte fire. PG&E, which provides electricity and natural gas to 16 million customers in northern and central California, faces widespread litigation, government investigations and liabilities that could potentially exceed $30 billion because of the fires in 2017 and 2018. The fire last November killed at least 86 people in the deadliest and most destructive blaze in California history. PG&E sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January facing the prospect of, potentially, billions of dollars in liabilities linked or suspected to be linked to its equipment. (Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr) Looking to up your appreciation of the arts? We've rounded up five artsy events around Phoenix this week that will scratch your cultural itch, from a ballet performance to a glassblowing class. 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. Master Illusionist Ivan Amodei: 'Secrets and Illusions' From the event description: Amodei unveils his brand new show, "Secrets and Illusions," for the audience at Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix. Be whisked away to the mysterious, nighttime streets of Paris, where youll step inside the labyrinthine rooms of the Louvre Museum. There, Amodei will delve into the worlds most famous artworks to reveal lifes greatest mysteries. Astounding, inspiring and just plain entertaining, Ivan Amodeis "Secrets and Illusions" will remind you why we love magic. When: Thursday, May 2, 7:30 p.m. Where: Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe St. Price: $19.50 - $45 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Ballet Arizona's 'All Balanchine' From the event description: George Balanchine, known as the father of American ballet, broke ground when he put his twist on traditional ballet standards and technique. Ballet Arizona's Artistic Director, Ib Andersen, will present three interpretations of Balanchine's work during "All Balanchine," including one never before performed by Ballet Arizona. When: Thursday, May 2, 7 p.m. Where: Symphony Hall, 75 N. Second St. Price: $25 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Up to 54 Percent Off Pottery Classes From the Desert Dragon Pottery deal description: This Groupon deal offers an introduction to pottery. Events begin with a 30-minute pottery wheel lesson, after which participants select a pot to decorate and glaze. Finished pieces will be available to pick up at a later date. Story continues Where: Desert Dragon Pottery, 25037 N. 17th Ave. Price: $20 (50 percent discount off regular price); $37 (54 percent discount off regular price) Click here for more details, and to nab this deal Up to 51 Percent Off Glassblowing Classes at Circle 6 Studios From the Circle 6 Studios deal description: Students may craft and color their own blown-glass paperweight during introductory classes. During skill-based workshops, students focus on a single process, diving into one fundamental topic such as learning to apply color to a polished piece. Where: Circle 6 Studios, 2040 E. Thomas Road, Encanto Price: $37 (47 percent discount off regular price); $35 (50 percent discount off regular price). More deals available. Click here for more details, and to nab this deal Up to 62 Percent Off Fused-Glass Intro Workshop at Milkweed Arts From the Milkweed Arts deal description: Students will learn how to cut, design and fuse layers of glass together to create artistic and unique sets of glass items. Where: Milkweed Arts, 1850 W. Mulberry Drive, Encanto Price: $29 (55 percent discount off regular price); $58 (55 percent discount off regular price); $99 (62 percent discount off regular price) Click here for more details, and to take advantage of 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 Tamara Mathias (Reuters Health) - Smartphones might ironically be the answer to selfie-related deaths, two wilderness medicine specialists say. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in pursuit of daring selfies to impress their social media followers. But smartphone technology that uses global positioning system (GPS) location, or measures altitude, could potentially be harnessed to prevent these unfortunate incidents, the two experts suggest. In a letter published in the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, Dr. Gerard Flaherty and Michael Smith, both from the National University of Ireland Galway, discuss how cell phones could be used to transmit verbal safety warnings to users who are about to take photographs in dangerous locations, such as the edge of a cliff. "Based on the GPS location or altitude of the tourist, we propose that there may be scope for providing verbal safety messages to individuals with their phone in camera mode, warning them that they are too close to a vertical drop. In such cases, the camera function may be disabled until the person moves away from the dangerous no selfie zone," Flaherty and Smith write. Research has shown that India tops the list of countries that see the highest number of selfie deaths, followed by Russia and the U.S. Most victims are young men in their twenties. Technology is still new to much of India and with affordable internet, people are posting more photographs online to be acknowledged by peers - one of the main reasons behind risky selfies, explained Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, an associate professor at India's Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in New Delhi. Kumaraguru and his team have worked on developing tech solutions to the problem, including Saftie, an app that crowdsources data from users who flag locations they consider dangerous. He believes interventions of this sort are most likely to be effective, particularly if the data gathered are put to use in popular apps like Google Maps. Story continues Flaherty and Smith also discuss other precautions that have been put in place to mitigate selfie deaths, including warning signs and the creation of no-selfie zones. Authority figures like park rangers and wilderness medicine providers have also been deployed to counsel tourists and ensure they respect safety notices. Safety interventions could also be targeted at the groups most affected. "There has been very little research done on gender differences in relation to travel health impairments. It would be intriguing to explore more deeply the gender-based differences in adventure tourist risk-taking and self-photography behavior in future studies," Flaherty told Reuters Health in an email. Kumaraguru, however, believes that the very phones capable of causing selfie deaths are the most effective tools to prevent them. "You could do no-selfie zones, you could put banners all around, you could put fliers all around, but will that have an impact?" he asks. "Without phones, without technology, how would you create awareness among people on a large scale?" But Katrin Tiidenberg, an Associate Professor of Social Media and Visual Culture at Tallinn University, Estonia, told Reuters Health she believes "selfie-related deaths are likely highly over-sensationalized (and) overreported." Tiidenberg, who authored a book called "Selfies: Why We Love (and Hate) Them," added, "Some people behave in risky ways. That was true before selfies. So I think people should be counseled to be mindful of the risks in potentially dangerous natural and tourist destinations, but I don't think there is a reason to make the whole thing about selfies by creating "no selfie zones." SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2vydLMq Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, online April 17, 2019. Pitney Bowes Inc. PBI reported first-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of 12 cents per share lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9 cents. Moreover, the figure declined 57.1% year over year. The year-over-year decline in earnings can be attributed to reduction in revenues, primarily due to weakness in Presort business and lower equipment sales. Total revenues declined 3.1% year over year to $868.4 million. Excluding favorable foreign currency exchange impact of approximately $10 million, revenues declined 2% to $878.4 million. Notably, in the reported quarter, Pitney Bowes inked a deal to divest its SMB businesses based across six Europe countries Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy and Switzerland to BAVARIA Industries Group AG in a bid to enhance go-to-market strategy. This limited revenue growth by almost $6 million. Considering market exit impact, revenues (at cc) declined 1% year over year to $872.4 million. Following the first-quarter earnings miss and trimmed 2019 guidance, shares of the company were down around 24.5%, yesterday. Notably, Pitney Bowes stock has fallen 37% in the past year compared with industrys decline of 20.3%. Quarter in Detail Commerce services (46.2% of total revenues) grew 5% from the year-ago quarter (up 6% after adjusted for currency) to $401.1 million. While Global Ecommerce revenues improved 8% to $266.3 million, Presort Services of $134.8 million remained almost flat year over year. Global Ecommerce revenues benefited from strong performance in parcel and shipping volumes. However, reduction in cross border volumes limited growth. Presort Services revenues improved on the back of increased volumes of Flats processed, First Class mail and Standard Class mail. However, shift in mix toward big clients led to lower revenue per piece, which negatively impacted growth. SMB Business solutions (45.4% of revenues) declined 10% year over year (down 9% after adjusted for currency) to almost $394 million. Revenues declined 7% when adjusted for both currency and exits from select Europe-based markets. North America Mailing revenues declined 7% to $315.5 million, owing to sluggish equipment sales. Moreover, International Mailing revenues fell 20% to $78.5 million owing to declining equipment sales. This can be attributed to weakness across France and Germany. However, it was marginally offset by growth in Japan and the U.K. Software solutions (8.4% of revenues) declined 4% year over year (down 2% after adjusted for currency) to $73.3 million. Reduction in license revenues impacted results. However, improving SaaS revenues, and increase in smaller deal wins were other catalysts which limited the decline in revenues. Story continues Pitney Bowes Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Pitney Bowes Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Pitney Bowes Inc. Quote Operating Details In the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA declined 30.2% from the year-ago quarter to $108.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 520 bps on a year-over-year basis to 12.4%. Segment EBITDA decreased 20% from the year-ago quarter to $159.3 million. Commerce services EBITDA declined 40% from the year-ago quarter to $23.8 million. SMB Business solutions EBITDA fell 16% year over year to $131.3 million. Software solutions EBITDA declined 12% year over year to $4.2 million. Segment EBIT decreased 25% from the year-ago quarter to $124.6 million. Segment Commerce services EBIT plummeted 98% from the year-ago quarter to almost $0.5 million. Global Ecommerce reported a loss of almost $14.6 million compared with a loss of nearly $7.7 million in the year-ago quarter, on account of business mix including lower margin services. Presort Services EBIT declined 44% to $15.1 million owing to higher labor and transportation costs, and client mix including big customers lowering margins and revenue per piece. SMB Business solutions EBIT fell 15% year over year to $122.4 million. Margins were impacted by lower equipment sales. Software solutions EBIT plummeted 32% year over year to $1.7 million owing to lower license revenues. Adjusted EBIT margin contracted 500 bps to 13.8%. Balance Sheet & Cash Flow As of Mar 31, 2019, cash and cash equivalents (including short term investments) were $904.3 million as compared with $926.7 million at the end of the previous quarter. Long-term debt (including current portion) was $3.255 billion compared with $3.266 billion reported at the end of previous quarter. Net cash from operations was $69.7 million compared with $102.7 million in the previous quarter. Free cash flow came in at $31.5 million compared with $153 million in the prior quarter. In the reported quarter, Pitney Bowes returned $48 million to shareholders, which includes dividend payments worth $9 million and repurchase of 5.6 million shares worth $39 million. The company incurred expenses of $8 million under restructuring payments and capital expenditures worth $29 million in the quarter. Pitney Bowes Inc. Revenue (Quarterly) Pitney Bowes Inc. Revenue (Quarterly) | Pitney Bowes Inc. Quote Guidance Bleak For 2019, the company trimmed outlook, primarily owing to dismal performance of Presort Services business. Pitney Bowes now projects revenues (after adjusted for foreign currency) to increase in the range of 1-3% over 2018, compared with growth rates estimated in the range of 1-4% earlier. Adjusted earnings are envisioned between 90 cents and $1.05 per share, compared with prior guided range of $1.05-$1.20. The Zacks Consensus Estimate currently pegged at $1.14 per share. Free cash flow is now anticipated between $200 million and $250 million, compared with earlier predicted range of $225-$275 million. Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider Pitney Bowes currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (CDNS), Avid Technology, Inc. (AVID) and Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS), each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Long-term earnings growth rate for Cadence Design, Avid Technology and Synopsys is pegged at 12%, 10% and 10%, respectively. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will discuss disagreements on the Venezuela crisis with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they meet next week in Finland, a US official said Thursday. The official said the top diplomats would take up a range of tensions between the rival powers when they see each other on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting starting Monday in the northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi. "I would expect that the secretary and he (Lavrov) will have an opportunity, obviously, to talk," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "When they have a chance to get together they can review a whole range of issues including our concerns about Russia's behavior that includes Ukraine and, certainly, Venezuela," he said. Lavrov and Pompeo had a tense call on Wednesday over Venezuela, where the United States is trying to oust President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Moscow. Pompeo told Lavrov that Russia's assistance to the leftist leader, whose re-election last year was widely criticized internationally as fraudulent, was "destabilizing" Venezuela. Lavrov in turn denounced the "destructive influence" of the United States in what he called a "flagrant violation of international law." The United States and its European allies have been imposing sanctions on Russia since its 2014 takeover of Crimea, with Moscow's ongoing support of separatists in Ukraine becoming a major source of tension. The encounter with Lavrov also comes after the long-awaited release of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller who said that Russia worked extensively to try to sway the 2016 US election in Donald Trump's favor. Joe Biden is in and so is Elijah Manley. The race for the White House has many storylines and one is the wide age gap between candidates. The two most recent entries are a 76-year-old former vice president and a 20-year-old queer activist from Broward County, Florida. This is Bidens third run for president and Elijah Manleys second. Thats right, second. In the face of a constitutional requirement that a person be of age 35 or older to serve as president of the United States, Manley campaigns in nontraditional ways. We have nothing to lose, he said in a telephone conversation with SFGN on Monday. A check of the Federal Elections Commission website shows Manley is indeed one of the many candidates who have filed for the countrys highest public office. This cycle, Manley is running as a Socialist. Im to the left of Bernie Sanders, Manley said. Manley has carved out positions described as socially progressive. He says repeatedly he is not going to win, but yet understands how his campaign can make a difference. Manley said he intends to speak on issues that are often overlooked in the countrys political dialogue. He said getting a message out to young people is central to his efforts. They dont see anybody their age doing this, he said, adding. Theres nothing legally stopping me from doing this. We have nothing to lose. In Broward County, Manley came up short in his 2018 campaign for school board, but did manage to collect 43,000 votesoverall. I am a part of the LGBTQ community, he said. He also notes the absence of a gay black member of the U.S. Congress is a motivator. Manley has been a vocal advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement and often speaks about police brutality. One should be careful to dismiss Manleys candidacy as a shallow publicity stunt considering his training. He has participated in two functions with the United Nations. Manley has met with global youth leaders in South Korea and New York. He talks fondly of Korean candlelight coalitions for human rights and his encounters with diplomats from France and Nigeria. The Green New Deal, Manley said, makes sense. It works everywhere else in the world, he said. Meanwhile, Biden jumped into the race on Monday in Pittsburgh, declaring he is a union man. The vice president to Barack Obama said hes running in 2020 to restore Americas soul, rebuild its backbone and unify this nation. Donald Trump wasted no time in trolling Biden. 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!, Trump tweeted, referencing a report in the local Post-Gazette. LGBT Field Notes: U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, a gay man, has accused South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a gay man, of pushing a hate hoax against Vice President Mike Pence. When asked about those charges, Buttigieg told CNNs Anderson Cooper, Im not a master fisherman, but I know bait when I see it and Im not going to take it. BUENOS AIRES, May 2 (Reuters) - Pope Francis should visit Argentina to meet victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and intervene on their behalf, said international groups fighting clerical abuse on Thursday. "If Pope Francis cannot make zero tolerance (of abuse) happen in Argentina, he's not going to be able to make it happen anywhere else," said Peter Isely, a founding member of Ending Clergy Abuse, at a news conference in Buenos Aires. Representatives of website BishopAccountability.org and individuals who have sued the church in Argentina alleging sexual abuse were also present. Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, is a former archbishop of Buenos Aires but he has not visited his home country since he became pope in 2013. In neighboring Chile, the Catholic Church was engulfed by scandal after a visit by the pope last year that brought to the surface a string of abuse allegations now being investigated by criminal prosecutors. The Vatican is meanwhile working on a papal document that would establish procedures for Catholics to report bishops suspected of sexual abuse or negligence in sexual abuse cases. (Reporting by Juan Bustamante, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) To celebrate the 50th birthday of the 917, Porsche has restored the 917-001, first unveiled on March 12, 1969 at the Geneva International Motor Show (Switzerland). The car would go on to win the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans the following year. The German car manufacturer has uploaded a video showing the 917-001 in action with iconic drivers from the brand's history behind the wheel, just a few days before the car goes on show at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, Germany. The Porsche 917 has been fully restored to look just as it did when it was first unveiled 50 years ago, in the original livery of green and white. The restoration took over a year. This mythical vehicle, famous for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971, was also immortalized in the Steve McQueen film "Le Mans." Porsche is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 917 with an exhibition at its museum in Stuttgart, "Colors of Speed - 50 years of the Porsche 917." The exhibition, which runs from May 14 to September 15, 2019, brings together a collection of 14 exceptional pieces, including 10 917 models. This includes the 917 concept, which features the same colors as used at the Circuit de la Sarthe in 1970. The idea was to give it a contemporary feel while maintaining the original lines. See the restored Porsche 917-001: youtu.be/DV4OH8sk33Q On April 15, TIME met with President Cyril Ramaphosa at his official residence, three weeks before the May 8 election. A longtime antiapartheid activist and high-ranking official of the ANC, the 66-year-old became Deputy President in 2014 and South Africas fifth President in February 2018 after Jacob Zuma resigned amid allegations of corruption and state -capturewhen private companies dictate government policy. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. TIME: You worked closely with Nelson Mandela when South Africa had its first democratic elections in 1994. Twenty-five years on, what are you doing as President to build on his vision? Cyril Ramaphosa: Nelson Mandela laid the foundation for South Africa to be what it is today. Before he became President, months after his release from prison [in 1990], Nelson Mandela took his time to go through the country, just to see how our people were living. He came back and he said our people were living under great hardships, and he was determined to make a great effort at changing the horror that he had seen. He introduced what you could call a quasi-social welfare system that has reduced the harsh impact of poverty on our people. Much of what we are doing [in the African National Congress] is carrying on Mandelas legacy. South Africa must emerge out of this widespread poverty. We must increase our peoples capabilities, both economically and educationally so that we can create an economy that will be able to sustain the livelihoods of these 57 million people. The ANC has had 25 years to reduce poverty, yet last year the World Bank declared that South Africa is the most unequal society in the world. What is to blame for that? That inequality has its roots in our past. For instance, on education, the apartheid regime made sure that it spent almost five to six times more on a white child than it did on a black child. Economically, black people were prevented from owning businesses in the so-called white areas. They were prevented from getting into professions. Story continues So when we got into power, we had to deal with three things: inequality, poverty and unemployment. Poverty to a large extent has been reduced, we have reduced unemployment, we have almost more than doubled the size of the economy. But inequality has remained extremely stubborn. That [is because of] an economy that is not growing fast enough. Weve also made some mistakes. Like what? Like, for instance, apartheid -designed that black people would live far away from the economic centers of our country. I was born literally 5 km from -Johannesburg, but then we were [-forcibly] moved 30 km out. People spend more than 40% of their income on transport to come to the economic centers. Those are some of the things that we didnt pay close attention to, because instead of densifying our cities to bring poorer people into the cities, we continued to build houses. And weve built 4.3 million houses farther and farther away from the cities. That exacerbated our poverty. But I always say that the glass is half full, because over the past 25 years a great deal has been achieved to change the socio-economic landscape of South Africa. We still have enormous challenges-about 27% of our people are unemployed, and much higher for young people. But it is a challenge that were addressing using the foundation that Nelson Mandela built for us: stable, functioning institutions that we can rely on. Its like shock absorbers to anything that could cause instability. One of your biggest election issues is land reform, or the promise of restitution for and redistribution of land lost during apartheid and the colonial period. Why is that? The land issue was the original sin that was committed against the people of South Africa. Our Freedom Charter, the guiding document for the ANC, says land shall be available to all those who work it. We will ensure that as our people get access to land, they will be able to grow the economy. We also said that as land is parceled out to people, it should not lead to lower agricultural production or threaten food security. But the ANC manifesto now embraces expropriation of land without compensation, doesnt it? The land question is going to be handled properly in terms of our laws, in terms of our constitution, and we will not allow any land grabs. Parliament is going to pass a law that [defines] the parcels of land that are going to be subjected to this process. The aim of all this is to give security of tenure, not only to those who own land, but to the landless as well. We will use the Mandela magic of finding solutions so that everybody feels that they are winning, and through that, we are able to build a nation and reconcile every-one. That has been my approach. And that is why many white South Africans have not felt so fearful as to pack up their bags and go. And that is why even foreign companies have been coming to South Africa and saying, We have confidence in your constitution, in the rule of law and your institutions. As President, I want to raise $100 billion in the next five years. Weve already gone a long way, about 33% of that amount, just in one year, showing that a number of people still have confidence in [us]. Every day new allegations surface about corruption in your party. State capture under former President Jacob Zuma. Alleged corruption and criminality among current ANC leaders. What are you doing to clean up the party? There is a lot that is wrong in the party. There is a lot that we need to correct. We have moved away from our values, our principles, and we were quite clear that we have to renew the ANC to make sure that it regains its stature, its integrity and its credibility, which it had lost over the past few years. I dont know many parties in the world that have the ability to talk openly and honestly about their weaknesses, their problems, including corruption within the party. Having done so, we [have] embarked on a process of renewal, but we also need to know the full truth of what has been happening. So we appointed commissions [to] unravel the truth. What has that achieved? There have been no prosecutions, no accountability in the 16 months since the party conference. In the course of time, we found that the institutions that are supposed to make people accountable had also been corrupted. What was done [under Zuma] was quite deep. There was a network that was put in place to break down the institutions, to debilitate the processes of making people accountable. The police have been compromised, the prosecutors have been compromised. The Internal Revenue Service was compromised. It would be wishful thinking that compromised institutions could turn around, without them being revamped and reconstructed and repositioned. These things do take time. But I can assure everyone is that the die is cast. These misdemeanors are going to be followed up. They are going to be properly processed, and there will be prosecutions. People will have to answer for the wrongs that they have done. Yet many of those very same people are poised to represent the ANC at the election on May 8. How does this demonstrate the partys new stance against corruption? Thats been a result of the democratic process within the party. Some of the people argue, I have not been charged. I have not been found guilty. These are allegations. So they are [still] on the list. It has been a rather difficult situation for the ANC. We set up an Integrity Commission, which is going to be dealing with that. We are a processdriven organization. We just dont do things recklessly, and I am not a reckless person. Youve got to be proper, methodical, because that way you then avoid making mistakes. Your critics say you are reluctant to crack down on allegedly corrupt people in your party, because you fear your presidency itself might be undermined by these rival centers of power. What do you say to them? I know of no political party that is monolithic in terms of its unity. What we have sought to do is to forge unity in the ANC, and unity is not a one-day affair. Its a process. Am I worried? No, because the process of unity will enable everyone to see the errors of their ways. All the cows will come into the kraal [corral] eventually because the message of unity is much more powerful. U.S. President Donald Trump has tweeted negatively about South Africa, and he still hasnt appointed an ambassador. Is the relationship between the two countries deteriorating? The United States is a very important country, and our foreign policy is about having good relations with all nations in the world. We show serious consideration to all the nations that we deal with, and at the same time we also want to be respected. And if President Trump makes all these tweets, weve always been saying we want to engage. We want to have a discussion with him so that he can understand where we come from, because at times people say things without knowing the full background and the context. You also seem to be developing a good relationship with Chinas Xi Jinping, Well, the good thing with China is that we deal with each other with respect. But it is also a relationship that is based on what I call a smart partnership, benefiting each other and seeking to advance each others interests, without any in the equation losing out. So that is a relationship that is wonderful and even-keeled and continues to grow. Under Mandela, South Africa was seen as a leading force for democracy and human rights in Africa. More recently South African Presidents have endorsed tyrants and dictators, or looked the other way as they commit human rights offenses. How do you see South Africas role evolving in Africa going forward? Africa is our home. Next year, Im going to become Chairman of the African Union, and in doing so, Ill be advancing the interests of Africa as a whole, and of course, issues of human rights, economic development, and infrastructure development. More and more of Africa is embracing democratic practices, and in part, some of them are actually observing what we do here, and they use that as a good example. So the more we take the right steps on everything, the more other countries learn from us. It must be a relief to not have the headache of Sudans Omar al Bashir anymore. Well, I hope that people of Sudan are able to find their peace, that they are able to establish a government that is going to work for the people of Sudan. So lets watch this space and hope for the best. Before you became President, your hobby was breeding a special kind of cattle, Ankole cattle from Uganda. I have a wonderful herd of the big-horned cows, which I first saw when I took my children to Disney [World]. And today, I have 300 of them. Years ago, when I was asked about whether I wanted to be President, I said, yes, I want to be President of the Ankole Cattle Society. And now Im President of the Ankole Cattle Society, and the President of South Africa. The Ankole Cattle Society is probably a little bit easier than being president. Oh, absolutely. [laughs] A lot easier, yes. In March, a report to the Secretary of the Navy warned that the service is preparing for the wrong war, one fought not with bombs and artillery but with terabytes and artificial intelligence. We find the Department of the Navy preparing to win some future kinetic battle, while it is losing the current global, counter-force, counter-value, cyber war, the report says. President Donald Trump, however, this week ordered the Navy to continue preparing for the last war, surprising Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, on Tuesday by reversing his February decision to retire the 21-year-old nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. Trumps decision will cost the Navy more than $20 billion over the next two decades, much of which the service had planned to spend on new unmanned vessels and other advanced technologies. It also ignores the advice of the March report. In prior eras, for good or ill, navies shifted their definition from wood to steel to wing, or from sail to steam and beyond, the report to Navy Secretary Spencer says. This time technology, not the naval service, or its opponents, have imposed a definition of what navies will be for the rest of the 21st Century, it says. Navies must become information enterprises who happen to operate on, over, under, and from the sea; a vast difference from a 355 ship mindset. Trumps abrupt April 30 decision to change a section of the Navy budget he had approved earlier this year will please many bipartisan members of Congress, some of whom had vowed to keep the Truman and a 355-vessel fleet with 12 aircraft carriers afloat if Trump didnt. The decision also is consistent with the Presidents aversion to discussing cybersecurity, such as protecting the 2020 elections from hackers. Physical structures have been the foundation of his business career, and building walls and ships employs more and different workers than writing algorithms does. Story continues The Presidents decision this week, however, was made without consulting Shanahan, Spencer or Richardson, according to two Administration officials who said they, too, were ambushed, as one put it. This is not the first time weve seen the President make a decision or countermand an order, and it wont be the last, said one of the officials, who helps oversee the Defense Department budget and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. Whats really troubling though, is that decisions like this dont go through any kind of policy process theres no deliberation, no meetings, no opportunity for input from anybody who knows what theyre talking about. According to a report in Breaking Defense, which TIME has confirmed, Shanahan was told of Trumps decision only about two hours before Vice President Mike Pence announced it in remarks made aboard the Truman, and Richardson had prepared testimony defending the move to retire the carrier for a Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday morning. The Navy publicly supported the decision. The Navy looks forward to working with the White House and Office of the Secretary of Defense in support of the Presidents budget, Capt. Greg Hicks, the Navys acting Chief of Information, said in a statement. But the decision to remain on course may prove costly, as the 73-page readiness report warns. America once won wars with overwhelming manpower, then later won with superior industrial might, and with the Cold War, won with better technology, it says. The cyber war has been ongoing for some time. The threat is long past the emergent or developing stage. While its guns go unheard, it is real, and with as or more devastating consequences. While the U.S. remains relatively flat-footed, it continues, both Russia and China are executing well developed cyber-enabled regional and global grey zone unconventional strategies against the U.S. and its allies. Already, the report says, those strategies threaten to cripple the Navys ability to fight, no matter how many aircraft carriers it has. The systems the U.S. relies upon to mobilize, deploy, and sustain forces have been extensively targeted by potential adversaries, and compromised to such as extent that their reliability is questionable, it says. In laymans terms, that means the U.S. Navy, as well as the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, may find they cant count on all the satellites and other technology they use to navigate, communicate, locate targets and hit them. In this article: Princess Charlotte is celebrating her fourth birthday and that means one thing: new photos! Interestingly, in the latest dispatch of photos of the royal kids, Princess Charlotte bears a striking resemblance to her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. SEE ALSO: These new photos of Prince Louis will make you swoon at his cuteness Three photos were taken by the Duchess of Cambridge in April at Kensington Palace and their residence in Norfolk. If, by now, you haven't clocked the uncanny resemblance, here are some archive photographs of Queen Elizabeth II to jog your memory. Princess Elizabeth riding her tricycle in a park in 1935. Image: Keystone/Getty Images Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, in July 1946. Image: Lisa Sheridan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Happy Birthday, Princess Charlotte. Abu Dhabi (AFP) - The UAE said on Thursday that fighting "terrorism" was the priority in Libya, where it has backed a controversial military strongman against the UN-recognised government in Tripoli. The United Arab Emirates, and its allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia, regard Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army militia as a bulwark against Islamist groups which are among the supporters of the Government of National Accord. Haftar launched an assault on forces loyal to the government in and around the capital on April 4, triggering fighting that has killed 376 people, according to the World Health Organization. "Priority in Libya to counter extremism/terrorism and support stability in long drawn out crisis," the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said on Twitter. "Abu Dhabi agreement offered opportunity to support UN-led process. "Meanwhile, extremist militias continue to control capital and derail search for political solution," Gargash said. The Abu Dhabi agreement he referred to was a renewed commitment to organising nationwide elections that Haftar and unity government leader Fayez al-Sarraj made after a UN-backed meeting in the UAE capital on February 27. But even as he met Sarraj, Haftar's forces were pressing on with an offensive that saw them overrun virtually all of the oasis towns and oilfields of Libya's vast southern desert before turning their sights on government forces in Tripoli. The UAE stands accused by the UN of providing Haftar with military aircraft and other heavy weaponry which has played a major role in the offensives' success. The UN had hoped to convene a conference in the Libyan oasis town of Ghadames last month to draw up a roadmap for the elections but was forced to cancel it in the face of the upsurge of fighting. The WHO says more than 1,800 people have been wounded in the fighting, which has turned some southern districts of the capital into war zones, while more than 40,000 civilians have fled their homes. Story continues A British-led effort to secure agreement within the UN Security Council on a demand for a ceasefire has run into the ground after the United States withheld its support in an apparent tilt towards Haftar. Major powers are deeply divided over the conflict. Russia has openly refused to condemn Haftar's offensive. France has acknowledged supporting Haftar's campaign against armed Islamist groups but has denied it was forewarned about his assault on Tripoli. Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. PLX is scheduled to report first-quarter 2019 results on May 6. The company has surpassed expectations in two of the previous four quarters, the average earnings positive surprise being 22.50%. Protalixs share price has increased 36% compared with the industrys growth of 4% year to date. Let's see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider Protalix is focused on the development and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins expressed through its proprietary plant cell-based expression system, ProCellEx. The company is developing its lead candidate Pegunigalsidase alfa (PRX-102) for the treatment of Fabry Disease. The company expects to provide light on the revenues of its first commercial drug product, Elelyso, which marketed for the treatment of Gaucher Disease. The company had a very productive meeting with the FDA to discuss the potential filing of an application for accelerated approval of PRX-102 and, at the FDAs reques,t the company intends to hold a follow up meeting by the end of the second quarter of 2019 to discuss the data and content of the potential filing for accelerated approval. In 2018, the company reported positive results from its phase II study of OPRX-106 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. We expect the company to throw more light other pipeline updates. What Our Model Indicates Our proven model does not conclusively show that Protalix is likely to beat on earnings in the to-be-reported quarter. This is because a stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to be able to beat estimates. But that is not the case here, as you will see below. Earnings ESP: Protalix has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise Story continues Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. Quote Zacks Rank: The company carries a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we need to have a positive Earnings ESP to be confident of an earnings beat. Note that Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) going into an earnings announcement are best avoided. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some stocks you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. RARE has an Earnings ESP of +6.36% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Amgen Inc. AMGN has an Earnings ESP of +0.12% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to release first-quarter 2019 results on May 7. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. INO has an Earnings ESP of +13.79% and a Zacks Rank #3. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (INO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (RARE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amgen Inc. (AMGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (PLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Samuel Elijah and Allegresse Sasse COTONOU (Reuters) - Security forces in Benin's capital Cotonou on Thursday fired weapons to disperse crowds protesting against the exclusion of opposition parties from last Sunday's parliamentary election, Reuters witnesses said. Hundreds of people have been protesting since Wednesday, burning tires and calling for President Patrice Talon to step down, rare unrest in the country of 11 million, and long seen as a bastion of stability in West Africa. Security forces, backed by armored military vehicles, used firearms to break up the protest, two Reuters witnesses said. It was not clear if they were using live rounds or firing directly at the crowd. A video widely shared online appeared to show government forces firing guns and using water cannon. It was not immediately possible to verify the footage. A Reuters witness saw two wounded protesters, one bleeding heavily. Police declined to comment and there was no confirmation on the number of casualties. The United Nations called for restraint. "We note with concern the ongoing tensions and unrest, resulting in the destruction of property and high-handed response from the security forces," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. The unrest followed the electoral commission's decision to bar opposition parties from standing in the election because they were unable to meet strict criteria under a new election law to field candidates. Talon denied that was the intention of the law. There was rioting in central Benin on Sunday, where opposition supporters burned houses, officials said. Results announced on Tuesday gave two parties loyal to Talon total control of parliament. Supporters of Talon's rival, ex-president Thomas Boni Yayi launched protests. Talon and Boni Yayi have a tense relationship. In 2012, Boni Yayi accused Talon, a cotton magnate, of trying to have him poisoned. Talon denied the accusations at the time. Talon defeated Boni Yayi's preferred successor in a 2016 election when Boni Yayi was required by term limits to step down after 10 years in power. In the run-up to the latest election, police dispersed a protest led by Boni Yayi with teargas. The authorities also cut off the internet on the day of the vote. (Additional reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Writing by Alessandra Prentice and Aaron Ross; Editing by Edward McAllister, Janet Lawrence and Alison Williams) The Williams Institute has produced a report about HIV criminalization in Florida. HIV criminalization occurs when a persons HIV status determines whether behavior is criminal. These laws make consensual sex without disclosure of HIV-positive status illegal. They increase penalties for sex work. They do not require transmission. Use of a condom or having an undetectable viral load are not allowed as defenses. The Institute obtained data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. This Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) has data for cases, from arrest to sentencing. The Institute examined the CHRI from 1986 through 2017. They found wide variation by county, as well as by race and gender of the accused. The Institute found that these laws were enforced more often in the context of sex work than in other contexts. Arrest data Florida made 874 HIV-related arrests from 1986 through 2017. These 874 arrests involved 614 people. About 59% of those 614 were arrested for sex work while living with HIV. About 81% of arrested sex workers were female. Sex workers living with HIV in Florida have been bearing the brunt of these laws. Few HIV-related arrests occurred before 1993. In the 24 years between 1993 and 2017, the annual number of arrests averaged 36. HIV-related arrests occurred in 47 of Florida's 67 counties. These arrests showed no relationship to the number of people living with HIV. Duval County (Jacksonville) has about 6% of all people living with HIV in Florida. Yet it had 23% of all HIV-related arrests. In contrast Broward and Miami-Dade have 18% and 24% of all people living with HIV in Florida. Broward has 3% of all HIV-related arrests and Miami-Dade has 4%. Race and gender impacted arrest, release without conviction, and conviction rates. About 56% of those arrested were women, but in 2017 only 28% of people living with HIV in Florida were women. The greatest disparity occurred among white women, with 39% of arrests, but 4% of people living with HIV. Black men were the most likely to be convicted in non-sex work cases. Black women were the most likely to be convicted in sex work cases. Convictions Arrests do not always lead to convictions. Sometimes charges are reduced. Sometimes people are released without a conviction. Stark differences appeared between HIV-related sex work arrests and those not related to sex work. While 63% of HIV-related non-sex work arrests resulted in release without conviction, 31% of HIV-related sex work arrests resulted in release without conviction. A sex worker would face two charges under these laws: one for sex work and one for HIV-positive status. The median sentence for an HIV arrest involving sex work was one year, added to the sentence for sex work. For a HIV arrest with no sex work, the median sentence was three years. Problems with the data The Institute found no record of Latinx among those arrested. Alternatively, the Institute suggested that that absence might reflect poor data collection practices rather than the non-arrest of Latinx. Law Enforcement may have used only black and white as racial categories. This would undercount Latinx and overcount blacks and whites. Until more is known, that remains a possibility. The Institute noted the absence of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data. Given how these laws impact sex workers, it is important to know if the term male sex workers refers to hustlers or to transgender female sex workers. The absence of SOGI data makes that impossible to know. Despite these data problems, this report makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of HIV criminalization in Florida. To read the report, visit http://bit.ly/2GKIigC. Following the news that London-based Wirex is to team up with Stellar over 26 fiat-backed stablecoins for its users, we caught up with the FCA-regulated companys co-founder Pavel Mateev. 1) Why did you choose to launch stablecoins on Stellar? Stellar is the right partner for this project due to our shared goal of democratising access to financial services not to mention the superior infrastructure and scalability of the Stellar blockchain. The majority of stablecoins released so far are built on Ethereum, which is capable of processing around 25 transactions-per-second (TPS). Stellar processes 1000TPS, making it a viable alternative to established global payment institutions like Visa and Mastercard. Equally as important is Stellars inbuilt compliance framework as an FCA-regulated company, regulatory compliance is our priority. 2) How are stablecoins helping with international remittances? Stablecoins have the potential to transform international remittance. For a start, they combine the speed and cost of cryptocurrency transfers with the market stability of fiat currency. Traditional banking remittance can be expensive and time consuming and does not reflect the 24/7, 365 days-per-year live economy that consumers have come to expect. Fiat-backed stable coins also fall under existing e-money regulation e.g. in Japan, where cryptocurrency is regulated, there is no need to obtain a Virtual Currency License if your company only deals with fiat-backed tethers. 3) Wirex launched the worlds first Visa card that allows users to convert and spend cryptocurrencies wherever Visa is accepted hows that working out? Our mission is to facilitate the establishment of a token economy, but were realists we know that mainstream adoption of digital currency cannot happen overnight. Features like the Wirex Visa card bridge the gap between conventional financial services and a tokenised future. The main impediment to widespread adoption is currently low merchant acceptance. Instead of convincing millions of merchants around the world to accept crypto, weve utilised the existing merchant networks of Visa and Mastercard to allow people to use their digital assets, including stablecoins, at 40M+ merchants around the world. Story continues 4) Why are you launching 26 stablecoins? Most stablecoins are pegged to USD. While these are suitable for a specific use case hedging on cryptocurrency exchanges they cant be used for payments as theyre not scalable and dont support local currencies. Since payments (cross-border and day-today) are Wirexs main focus, we added support for local currencies with the aim of using stablecoins for international transfers. Local currency-pegged stablecoins dont require a local liquidity provider and can be easily and cheaply exchanged to the equivalent local fiat currency. 5) Can you talk about potential customers who will be using these stablecoins and why? Can you name specific businesses? Wirex stablecoins will be available to every one of our 2M+ retail and 5K corporate customers across more than 130 countries worldwide. Who stands to benefit? Retail customers stablecoins are a cost-effective and efficient way to move funds across the globe and we expect a large volume of retail customers to use stablecoins for sending money to their friends and families around the world. These stablecoins can then be spent using Wirex Visa card, redeemed into bank accounts or spent directly with merchants who accept fiat-backed tethers. SMEs Businesses will use Wirex stablecoins to pay international suppliers, manage FX exposure and pay salaries particularly if a companys employee base is distributed across several countries or regions. Merchants Every merchant that accepts Wirex stablecoins will benefit from zero fees (a 3-5% saving on existing Visa/Mastercard charges) and instant settlements. Wirex stablecoin tokens are available immediately, whereas Visa and Mastercard can lock funds for 2-4 weeks a nightmare for small and medium businesses. 6) Does this mean there are expansion plans in the pipeline? Our plan is to expand Wirex and allow people around the world to take control of their digital and traditional currency. We are launching in North America (USA and Canada) and the APAC region in Q2 2019 and already have 700,000 potential customers on the waiting list for a Wirex account. 7) So, how would you sum all this up? Our partnership with Stellar is not just mere technological convenience, or because big names like IBM are working with them. Wirex and Stellar share several key core beliefs about the role of digital currency and its potential to change the way people use and managed their money. Stellar seeks to enable swift, reliable and inexpensive money transfers for institutions, systems and people around the world a mission that matches perfectly with Wirexs vision of a fully-tokenised future. We want to bank the unbanked, democratise access to financial services and facilitate the integration of the burgeoning token economy. By Darren Parkin May 2, 2019 The post Q&A with Wirex co-founder appeared first on Coin Rivet. DUBLIN, May 2 (Reuters) - U.S. digital advertising company Quantcast has became the latest technology firm to be investigated by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner. Ireland hosts the European headquarters of a number of U.S. technology firms, making the Irish commissioner the lead regulator in the bloc under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation's (GDPR) "One Stop Shop" regime introduced last year. The new rules give regulators the power to impose fines for violations of up to 4 percent of a company's global revenue or 20 million euros, whichever is higher. The head of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), Helen Dixon, told a U.S. Senate Committee on Wednesday that her office had 51 large-scale investigations under way, 17 of which relate to large technology platforms. The probes spanned the services of Apple, Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter, she said, adding that the first sets of investigations will conclude over the summer. The regulator said in February that it had opened seven statutory inquiries alone into Facebook and three more into Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp. It informed the social media giant of another probe last week. San Francisco-based online measurement and advertising firm Quantcast, which established its European operations center in Dublin in 2013, will have its transparency and retention practices examined as part of the probe, the DPC said. "Since the application of the GDPR significant concerns have been raised by individuals and privacy advocates concerning the conduct of technology companies operating in the online advertising sector and their compliance with the GDPR," it said in a statement. "The purpose of the inquiry is to establish whether the company's processing and aggregating of personal data for the purposes of profiling and utilizing the profiles generated for targeted advertising is in compliance with the relevant provisions of the GDPR." Quantcast said in a statement that it was reviewing the details of commissioner's inquiry and would cooperate fully with any investigation. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries; Editing by Alison Williams) This week, Gladstone Gallery opens an exhibition of some of Italo-Brazilian artist Lina Bo Bardi's most rare, and important, works at their Gladstone 64 New York space. Bo Bardi was a seminal modernist architect and designer who left an indelible stamp on the Italian and Brazilian design canons. Nevertheless, her work has often been overlookedsomething that this new exhibition, which emphasizes Bo Bardi's collaborations with architect Giancarlo Palanti, hopes to help rectify. The exhibition is made possible thanks in large part to Brazil's Casa de Vidro and Nilufar Gallery in Milan. (The show is derived from an exhibition that went on view last year at Nilufar Depot, which in turn received important assistance from the Instituto Bardi at Casa de Vidro.) Nina Yashar, founder of Nilufar Gallery, explains to AD PRO that this Gladstone exhibition "represents a focal and an unprecedented point in the research of Lina Bo Bardis work as designer from the collectors point of view." Simone Battisti, partner at Gladstone Gallery, emphasizes that after seeing the Milan exhibition, the Gladstone team became very "eager to pursue" an exhibition of their own. Photo: David N. Regen Thanks to these efforts, one of Bo Bardi's most important set of works, referred to as the MASP chairs, are now on view in uptown Manhattan. The leather upholstered chairs illustrate the care Bo Bardi took to incorporate functionality into her designs, thanks to their dual foldable and stackable nature. The seats, which were first designed for the auditorium of the Sao Paulo Museum of Art, also indicate how she infused her works with Brazilian hallmarks, thanks to their reliance on the country's well-known jacaranda wood. (Battisti adds that other works included show off Bo Bardi's emphasis on Brazilian wood as an excellent design resource, including SESC, otherwise known as the Pompeia Stool, which was first designed for the SESC Pompeia, in Sao Paulo.) Story continues Photo: Courtesy of Diario de Sao Paulo / IB Archives Adding further context to the pieces by Bo Bardi and Palanti being highlighted, Battisti notes, "The works in the exhibition demonstrate Bo Bardis depth and varied aptitude for designing a mix of pieces that are hyperfunctional and aesthetically radical. Lina's design synthesizes in a minimal and genuine way many aspects of modernist design." Despite the seemingly large remit of the exhibition, the Gladstone 64 gallery footprint is "famously narrow," according to Battisti. "Our exhibition works around the tight interior space to create an installation that allows each work enough room to breathe, while also inviting viewers to pick up on the visual parallels between works on the floor and walls," he explains. Photo: Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York, and Brussels and Bergamin & Gomide Also of note is the fact that the works by other Brazilian artists, such as Lygia Clark, Hercules Barsotti, and Alfredo Volpi, are included in the exhibition to further extend and contextualize Bo Bardi's creations. As Battisti puts it, Bo Bardis "geometrically inclined approach to design is mimicked and complemented [by their designs]." The individuals included are further unified by the fact that they were a part of Grupo Frente, a group of prominent Brazilian creatives, which formed in midcentury Rio de Janeiro. According to Battisti, shows like this are relevant for designers and enthusiasts who are interested in a much broader cross section of design history. "Brazilian design will always have an important place in the conversation of global design because of its profound impact on so many creative disciplines throughout history," he says. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REGN is scheduled to release first-quarter 2019 results on May 7, before the opening bell. In the last reported quarter, the company beat earnings expectations by 20.2%. The companys track record is excellent. In the last four quarters, the company surpassed earnings estimates by an average of 13.1%. Lets see how things are shaping up for the to-be-reported quarter. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Quote Factors Influencing This Quarter Regenerons key growth driver, Eylea, continues to maintain momentum and should boost growth in the first quarter. Eylea, developed in collaboration with Bayer AG BAYRY, is approved in the United States, the EU, Japan and other countries for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), and macular edema following retinal vein occlusion, which includes macular edema following central retinal vein occlusion and macular edema following branch retinal vein occlusion. Meanwhile, Regeneron is working on expanding Eyleas label into additional indications, which should further boost sales. In August 2018, the FDA approved a 12-week dosing interval of Eylea injection in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) based on physician's assessment. The FDA also accepted for review the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) of Eylea for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, with a target action date of May 13, 2019. Apart from Eyleas performance and label-expansion efforts, investors will be focussing on the uptake of Dupixent and its label expansion efforts. Strong Dupixent sales drove Regenerons impressive sales in 2018 and we expect the momentum to continue in the first quarter as well. The uptake of the drug has been strong after it obtained approval last year for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD). The company and partner Sanofi are also working to expand Dupixents label, which should diversify the companys revenue base and reduce dependence on the lead drug. Story continues Dupixent was approved for the treatment of adolescent patients aged 12-17 years with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis in March 2019. The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given a positive opinion for Dupixent (dupilumab) for the indication of asthma. Kevzara, an anti-interleukin (IL)-6 receptor monoclonal antibody used for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis, was approved by the FDA in May 2017. The uptake of the drug has been encouraging so far. Investors will focus on Kevzaras sales as well in the upcoming quarterly results. Apart from these drugs, investors will also focus on the performance of PCSK9 inhibitor, Praluent and Libtayo. Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced a 60% cut in the U.S. list price of Praluent in February 2019. This should boost sales in the first quarter. Moreover, the European Commission (EC) has approved a label expansion of Praluentto to reduce cardiovascular (CV) risk in adults with established atherosclerotic CV disease (ASCVD) by lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels as an adjunct to correction of other risk factors. Investors are also expected to await updates on the companys pipeline, which includes its collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNY. Share Price Performance Regenerons stock has lost 10.6% in the year so far against the industrys growth of 2.8%. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Regeneron is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. Earnings ESP: The companys Earnings ESP is -0.74%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Zacks Rank: Regeneron has a Zacks Rank #3. Although the rank is favorable, the companys negative ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against the stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. A Stock That Warrants a Look Here is a healthcare stock you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. Horizon Pharma HZNP has an Earnings ESP of +25.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to release first-quarter results on May 8. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYRY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Horizon Pharma Public Limited Company (HZNP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALNY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research 3205 W. Floyd Ave. | Photos: Zumper Curious just how far your dollar goes in Denver? We've rounded up the latest rental listings via rental site Zumper to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to scoring an apartment in Denver if you don't want to spend more than $1,200/month on rent. 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. 3205 W. Floyd Ave. (Harvey Park South) Located at 3205 W. Floyd Ave., here's a 654-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's listed for $1,200/month. In the unit, expect hardwood flooring. Luckily for pet owners, both dogs and cats are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. According to Walk Score's assessment, the surrounding area requires a car for most errands, is relatively bikeable and has a few nearby public transportation options. (See the complete listing here.) 1224 E. 13th Ave. (Cheesman Park) Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom over at 1224 E. 13th Ave. It's also listed for $1,200/month for its 655 square feet of space. The building has assigned parking. In the unit, there are hardwood floors, a balcony and in-unit laundry. Both cats and dogs are permitted. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. According to Walk Score, this location is friendly for those on foot, is easy to get around on a bicycle and offers many nearby public transportation options. (Check out the complete listing here.) 3700 E. Jewell Ave. (University Park) Lastly, located at 3700 E. Jewell Ave., here's a 565-square-foot apartment that's listed for $1,195/month. In the unit, you can anticipate hardwood floors, a dishwasher, a walk-in closet and air conditioning. Building amenities include a business center, a fitness center, a roof deck, garage parking and outdoor space. Pet lovers are in luck: cats and dogs are welcome. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. Story continues According to Walk Score, this location is very walkable, is quite bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options. (See 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. 6666 W. Washington Ave. | Photos: Zumper Curious just how far your dollar goes in Las Vegas? 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 Las Vegas if you don't want to spend more than $700/month on rent. 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. 6666 W. Washington Ave. (Michael Way) Listed for $690/month for its 440 square feet of space, there's this studio located at 6666 W. Washington Ave. When it comes to building amenities, expect assigned parking, outdoor space and a swimming pool. In the unit, look for a dishwasher, a walk-in closet and a balcony. Both cats and dogs are welcome. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. According to Walk Score, the surrounding area is moderately walkable, is fairly bikeable and has a few nearby public transportation options. (Check out the complete listing here.) 1922 Fairfield Ave. (Meadows Village) Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom at 1922 Fairfield Ave. that's going for $675/month. In the unit, anticipate hardwood flooring. The building features secured entry. Pets are not welcome. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. Walk Score indicates that the surrounding area is very walkable, is relatively bikeable and has good transit options. (See the full listing here.) 811 E. Bridger Ave. (Downtown) Located at 811 E. Bridger Ave., here's a 325-square-foot studio that's also listed for $675/month. In the unit, you can anticipate high ceilings, a balcony and air conditioning. The building has on-site laundry, garage parking and a swimming pool. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are permitted on this property. According to Walk Score's assessment, this location is extremely walkable, is fairly bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options. Story continues (Take a gander at the complete listing here.) 404 W. Van Buren Ave. (West Las Vegas) Listed at $650/month, this 700-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom is located at 404 W. Van Buren Ave. In the unit, you'll get stainless steel appliances. The building features assigned parking. Animals are not welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. According to Walk Score's assessment, the surrounding area is somewhat walkable, has some bike infrastructure and has a few nearby public transportation options. (See the complete listing here.) 501 S. Maryland Parkway (Downtown) Finally, there's this studio located at 501 S. Maryland Parkway. It's also listed for $650/month for its 420 square feet of space. Amenities offered in the building include on-site laundry and a swimming pool. In the unit, there are tile floors. Neither cats nor dogs are welcome. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. According to Walk Score's assessment, this location is very walkable, is 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. For the first time, a federal appeals court has ruled that a local government can exclude a child foster care agency from city-funded programs if the agency refuses to abide by a local ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. In Catholic Social Charities v. Philadelphia, the Catholic-run child placement group tried to claim an exemption to the citys non-discrimination law by contending its refusal to place children with same-sex couples was based on its religious beliefs. But a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the agencys religious views did not entitle it to an exemption from the citys non-discrimination law. The Citys non-discrimination policy is a neutral, generally applicable law, and the religious views of CSS do not entitle it to an exception from that policy, stated the panel. The judges said CSS had failed to make a persuasive showing that the City targeted it for its religious beliefs, or is motivated by ill will against its religion. The judges said the non-discrimination law was based on the citys sincere opposition to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The panel included Judges Thomas Ambro (a Clinton appointee), Anthony J. Scirica (Reagan), and Marjorie Rendell (Clinton). The ACLU, which was an intervenor on behalf of LGBT parents in the case, declared victory. This is a victory for the thousands of children in Philadelphias child welfare system, said Leslie Cooper, director of the ACLUs national LGBT Project. Prospective foster and adoptive parents should be judged by their capacity to provide love and support to a child, not the religious views of a tax-funded agency. Religious views, said Cooper, do not entitle taxpayer-funded child welfare agencies to impose their own religious eligibility criteria on important government programs. The religious-based legal advocacy group Becket, which led the lawsuit on behalf of CSS and several foster parents who used CSS, expressed disappointment with the ruling and said it was weighing its options for appeal. This ruling is devastating to the hundreds of foster children who have been waiting for a family and to the dozens of parents working with Catholic Social Services who have been waiting to foster a child, said Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket. Were disappointed that the court decided to let the city place politics above the needs of kids and the rights of parents, but we will continue this fight. The conflict in Philadelphia mirrors that in some other major cities, including Boston and Lansing, where child placement agencies run by religious-based groups have sought government funding for their work but have refused to abide by local or state laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. It also exacerbates a growing crisis in many cities and states that are experiencing an increased number of children needing placements sometimes on an emergency basis due to the opioid crisis. Just two months ago, President Trump expressed support for allowing adoption and foster care agencies that discriminate against LGBT people to claim a religious exemption. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Trump granted South Carolina a waiver that allows it to funnel federal funds to foster care agencies that discriminate against LGBT people and people of certain religions. In Philadelphia, the city Department of Human Services learned that two child placement agencies receiving funds from the city were refusing to place children with same-sex couples who were willing to serve as foster parents. When confronted, the two agencies claimed they were acting on their religious beliefs. The city did not challenge that claim but stopped referring children to the two groups. One of the groups, the Catholic Social Services (CSS), filed a lawsuit, claiming its First Amendment right to free exercise of religion was being violated. A district court judge ruled against CSSs request for a preliminary injunction and the appeals panel upheld that ruling. Typically, the case would go back to t district court for a hearing on the First Amendment issues raised by CSS. But the group could choose to ask the full appeals court bench for a hearing or even go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court with a petition. A similar dispute in Massachusetts ended with Catholic Charities pulling out of state-funded child placement programs. In Michigan, a federal judge ruled against St. Vincent Catholic Charities last September, saying a lawsuit on behalf of the same-sex couples by the ACLU could proceed against a state policy allowing adoption agencies to discriminate if the agencies claim such adoptions would violate their religious beliefs. That conflict is still under litigation, but another faith-based child placement group in Michigan announced Monday it would end its policy of excluding same-sex couples. Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. health agency finalizes conscience and religious freedom rule The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a final rule allowing doctors, nurses and other health workers to opt out of procedures such as abortions and sterilizations which violate their personal or religious beliefs. The rule, proposed more than a year ago, reinforces a set of 25 laws passed by Congress that protect "conscience rights" in healthcare, HHS said. Those laws allow health providers and entities to opt out of providing, participating in, paying for or referring for healthcare services that they have personal or religious objections to, HHS said. Sydneysiders find their happy place catching a wave on 'Fluoro Friday' The sun is rising over Sydney's Bondi Beach and surfer Grant Trebilco, clad in a colorful striped long-sleeved shirt and bright yellow shorts with black polka dots, has just caught his first wave. Whether he catches one wave or a hundred, this salt water therapy, as Trebilco calls it, is where he finds his happy place. As measles returns, U.S. states look to cut vaccine exemptions Maine could soon prohibit parents from citing religious or personal beliefs to avoid vaccinating their children, making the U.S. state one of a half dozen cracking down during the nations' largest measles outbreak in 25 years. State legislatures in New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Minnesota and Iowa, are looking at similar bills, that would only allow exemptions from vaccinations for medical reasons as determined by the child's doctor. AstraZeneca ties up with France's Transgene to develop viral immunotherapies British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc and French biopharmaceutical firm Transgene SA entered into an agreement on Thursday to co-develop five cancer-killing viral immunotherapies. Viral immunotherapy represents a new way of treating cancer by using transgenes, or genes that are artificially introduced into the genome of another organism. A number of companies are working to harness the power of specific viruses to fight tumors using this technology. Story continues Phones could help guard against selfie deaths, medics say Smartphones might ironically be the answer to selfie-related deaths, two wilderness medicine specialists say. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in pursuit of daring selfies to impress their social media followers. But smartphone technology that uses global positioning system (GPS) location, or measures altitude, could potentially be harnessed to prevent these unfortunate incidents, the two experts suggest. Founder, execs of drug company guilty in conspiracy that fed opioid crisis The founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc on Thursday became the highest-ranking drugmaker executive convicted in a case tied to the U.S. opioid crisis, when he and four colleagues were found guilty of bribing doctors to prescribe an addictive painkiller, helping drive the epidemic. A federal jury in Boston found John Kapoor, 75, the drugmaker's former chairman, and his co-defendants guilty of racketeering conspiracy for a scheme that also misled insurers into paying for the drug. Cholera outbreak declared in cyclone-hit northern Mozambique Officials declared a cholera outbreak in northern Mozambique on Thursday, a week after cyclone winds, floods and heavy rains hit the area. Cyclone Kenneth crashed into the province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday last week, flattening entire villages with winds of up to 280 kph (174 mph) and killing at least 41 people. Scientology cruise ship quarantined in St. Lucia gets measles vaccine Health officials for the Caribbean island of St. Lucia furnished 100 free doses of measles vaccine to a Church of Scientology cruise ship placed under quarantine in port after the highly contagious disease was diagnosed on board, the island's chief medical officer said on Thursday. St. Lucia health officials have confirmed one case of measles aboard the ship that has been docked in a port near the island nation's capital Castries since Tuesday, Dr. Merlene Frederick-James said in a video statement. GSK's 3-in-1 inhalable drug shows promise in asthma study British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Thursday that its three-in-one drug Trelegy met the main goal of a late-stage asthma study, signaling a possible boost to its lung medicines division that has been hit by generic competition. The company, along with co-developer Innoviva Inc, said the once-daily inhaler improved lung function in patients with uncontrolled asthma, compared to its other medicine Relvar/Breo Ellipta. Men with serious illness may not seek erectile dysfunction treatment Men with cancer or other chronic illnesses are less likely to seek treatment for erectile dysfunction, even though sexual health is an important aspect of quality of life, researchers say. With a better understanding of the reasons why men don't seek help, doctors could change the way they talk to their patients and help them seek treatment, the authors of a small study conclude in the International Journal of Impotence Research. 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. Merck steps up U.S. measles vaccine production with increased demand Merck & Co said on Wednesday it has increased production of the measles vaccine to meet an uptick in demand in the United States in the midst of the country's biggest outbreak in 25 years. Merck, the sole U.S. supplier of measles vaccines, said the increased demand was noticeable, but did not amount to a surge, and has not required a significant increase in distribution across the country. Ex-CIA officer pleads guilty to conspiring to spy for China A former CIA officer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to pass U.S. defense and intelligence secrets to China, the Justice Department said on Wednesday, in the third such case in less than a year. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, was approached in 2010 by two Chinese intelligence officers who offered to pay him $100,000 and to take care of him "for life" for information he had acquired as a CIA officer, according to a Justice Department statement. Lee left the CIA in 2007 and moved to Hong Kong. Facebook settlement with U.S. may include privacy oversight: Politico Facebook Inc and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are negotiating a possible settlement that would require the company to create an independent privacy oversight committee and take other steps to safeguard users, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing a source. The steps would include appointing a federally-approved privacy official at the highest level of Facebook and creating a privacy oversight committee that may include Facebook board members, the report said. U.S. religious centers buy more insurance after raft of shootings 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. Story continues Teenage Guatemalan migrant dies in Texas while in U.S. custody A 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant died in a Texas hospital while in the custody of the U.S. government on Wednesday after his health steadily declined due to a severe brain infection, according to officials from both countries. The unaccompanied teen died on Tuesday after "several days of intensive care" at a children's hospital, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement. Florida teachers can arm themselves under new gun bill 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. Trump seeks huge boost in emergency funds for migrant surge 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. Accused gunman in North Carolina college shooting due in court A former student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte was due to appear in court on Thursday, accused of murdering two students and attempting to kill others when he opened fire in a crowded classroom on Tuesday. Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder after police and witnesses say he began firing a handgun in a classroom full of nearly 50 students on UNC Charlotte's campus shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. PG&E seeks U.S. court approval for $105 million fund to help wildfire victims 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. Georgia to execute man convicted of killing ex-girlfriend, her friend in 1994 A 52-year-old man convicted of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends during an argument in 1994 is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Thursday. Scotty Garnell Morrow is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. local time (2300 GMT) at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. Following is a summary of current world news briefs. German SPD youth chief lambasted for proposing collective ownership for big firms The head of the Social Democrats' (SPD) youth wing has unleashed a storm of protest in Germany, including from party allies, for saying firms like BMW should be collectively owned in a clear appeal to left-wingers before European and regional votes. The SPD, junior partner in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition, is languishing in polls and risks heavy losses in the elections. It may even lose power in Bremen, a city state it has ruled for 73 years, in a May 26 vote. Suspects in murder of Scandinavian women go on trial in Morocco Twenty-three Moroccan men and a Swiss-Spanish convert to Islam appeared in an anti-terrorist court on Thursday accused of offenses in connection with the killing of two Scandinavian women, judiciary officials said. The trial's opening session was immediately adjourned until May 16 to give the defense more time to prepare, the officials said. Thai king to pay homage to ancestors ahead of coronation Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn will pay homage to his ancestors on Thursday as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend. The coronation, which takes place from Saturday to Monday, will be the first the country has seen in 69 years, since his father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned in 1950. Panama election hopefuls court poor in tale of two societies Panama elects a new president on Sunday who will inherit Latin America's fastest-growing economy and rising pressure to reduce inequality in the financial hub that straddles two oceans. Promises to improve the lives of the rural and indigenous poor have dominated campaigning in the isthmus nation of 4 million people bisected by its famous shipping canal. Russia and Syrian army step up attacks on rebel held northwestern Syria: residents, medics Russian and Syrian forces intensified air strikes and shelling in northwestern Syria overnight in the heaviest assault on the last rebel-held area since it was declared a demilitarized zone under a Russian-Turkish deal, sources said on Thursday. The targeted villages and towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib fall within a buffer zone agreed last September between Russia and Turkey as part of a deal which averted a major offensive on the area. Story continues Thailand's King Rama X - from pilot prince to powerful monarch Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun will be officially crowned as the 10th king of the Chakri dynasty on May 4, after taking the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in late 2016. The 66-year-old constitutional monarch had a pre-coronation surprise for his subjects: He married for the fourth time on Wednesday and named his new wife as queen. I've protected many, Assange tells UK court as he fights U.S. extradition warrant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court on Thursday his work had protected "many people" and refused to agree to be extradited to the United States to face trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. The United States has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years. Maduro hangs on as Venezuelan protests peter out Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaido's call to take to the streets on Wednesday in a bid to force President Nicolas Maduro from power, but there was little concrete sign of change in a crisis that increasingly looks like a political stalemate. Guaido had called for the "largest march" in Venezuela's history and said on Twitter that "millions of Venezuelans" were in the streets in "this final phase" of his move to oust Maduro. India to seek downgrading of Pakistan on terrorism financing list India's finance minister said on Thursday the government will request that Pakistan be downgraded by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body created to counter terrorism financing and money laundering. "There is a meeting of FATF in mid-May," Arun Jaitley told reporters. "We would want that the FATF for Pakistan should be downgraded." U.S. says military killed 120 civilians abroad in 2018, lower than watchdog estimates United States military actions killed about 120 civilians and injured 65 others in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia last year, the Pentagon said in a report on Thursday, though the figures were far lower than those reported by watchdog groups. The annual report, mandated by Congress, showed a significant drop from nearly 800 civilians killed in 2017, in part because the pace of operations had slowed against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Explainer: Venezuela crisis puts Trump policy to the test 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. Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in British jail for skipping bail 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. Conservatives want Catholic bishops to denounce pope as heretic 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. UK's May fires defense secretary over Huawei leak 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. Story continues Saudi-led coalition attacks air base adjoining Sanaa's airport The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen raided an air base adjoining Sanaa's airport, Saudi news agency SPA said on late on Wednesday. The raids targeted drone maintenance sites, a communications system and locations of drone experts and operators, SPA quoted coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki as saying. Forget 'clean, sanitary' election memes to win over Australia's far right 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. Voters set to punish UK PM May's Conservatives over Brexit delay 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. Venezuelan protests peter out as Maduro hangs on; U.S. and Russia squabble Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaido's call to take to the streets on Wednesday in a bid to force President Nicolas Maduro from power, but there was little concrete sign of change in a crisis that increasingly looks like a political stalemate. The standoff increased tensions between the United States and Russia, who accused each other of interference in the OPEC-member nation's affairs, however. How Trump's hawkish advisors won debate on 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 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. After protests, Britain's parliament declares climate change 'emergency' 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. Brussels (AFP) - US Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday pitched American liquified natural gas exports to Europe as more reliable than Russia's, even if they are more expensive. Gas exports from the United States to the EU have surged since European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met President Donald Trump in Washington last July to defuse trade tensions. "If just the cheapness of the supply is all you care about then you would not buy a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz or one of the fine automobiles that come out of the European Union," Perry told a press conference in Brussels during gas talks. "You might buy cheaper from someplace else but it might not be reliable and the point is the same with Russian gas," he said. Speaking next to Perry, the EU's energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said the increase in US gas exports made sense. "Diversification is important not only for security of supply but also for competition," the Spanish commissioner said. Canete also hailed how the 28-nation EU has become less dependent on Russia, which remains the bloc's biggest gas supplier. Concern about Russia rose sharply in 2014 when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, a non-EU member country that is a key route for Russian gas supplies to Europe. Since Trump came to office in 2017, his administration has lobbied to stop Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe, opposing the project's main backer Germany and siding with eastern EU countries like Poland. It has argued its case on security grounds while also pushing for better overall trade terms with Europe, which Trump has accused of taking advantage of the United States. At a meeting last July at the White House, Trump and Juncker pledged no new tariffs following those on steel and aluminium, which had raised fears of a trade war. As part of the truce, EU countries gave the green light last month for Brussels to open trade talks with Washington. Story continues Since July, the European Commission said, cumulative EU imports of LNG have increased by 272 percent, over the previous period -- to a total of 10.4 billion cubic metres. The commission said the US is Europe's third biggest supplier of LNG, with a share of 12.6 percent of imports so far this year. The EU said it is prepared to "facilitate" more such imports "if the market conditions are right and prices competitive." (Repeats with no changes to text) By Krishna N. Das and Devjyot Ghoshal NEW DELHI, May 1 (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. Story continues "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) Changes to the SC Membership, Licensing and Racing Policies In order to expedite the licensing process and to promote easier entry into the industry, the SC Board of Directors has approved the following recommendations from the By-Laws/Regulations/Licensing Committee to the SC Membership, Licensing and Racing Policies, effective May 1, 2019. The biggest change was to remove the previous licensing experience where applicants were required to have held a groom's licence for two full years within the past five years. The prior experience will now be measured with the additional required reference letters, which must be signed by licensed drivers, trainers or race officials. 14.20 First Time Applicant "A" Trainer Licence - To be eligible for an "A" category trainer licence for the first time, the applicant must: (a) Have attained 16 years of age; (b) Submit a completed application; (c) Have four (4) favourable recommendations from licensed drivers, "A" trainers or race officials in response to six confidential reference letters provided by the Association; (d) Submit to a physical and eye examination valid within the prior twelve (12) months, the cost of which is the responsibility of the applicant; (e) Submit to a written examination and achieve a passing grade. Ontario residents applying for an "A" trainer licence must first obtain a "C" trainer licence. 14.21 First Time Applicant "C" Trainer Licence - To be eligible for a "C" category of trainer licence for the first time, the applicant must: a) Have a minimum of four (4) favourable reference letters on file from currently licensed "A" trainers and/or drivers; b) Submit a satisfactory physical and eye examination, the cost of which is the responsibility of the applicant; c) File a recommendation from the panel of regional judges to write the trainer examination; d) Successfully complete the written trainer examination and achieve a passing grade of 75% or better; e) Receive a recommendation from the examination supervisor and successfully complete the Standardbred Canada practical examination and achieve a passing grade of 75% or better. The judges may impose any conditions on the holder of a "C" licence as deemed appropriate. This licence must be held for a minimum period of six (6) months before applying to the judges for an upgrade to an "A" licence. Modifications apportees aux Politiques sur les Courses, Adhesions et Licences Afin d'accelerer le processus de licence et de promouvoir une entree plus facile dans l'industrie, le conseil d'administration de SC a approuve les recommandations suivantes du Comite des Reglements et Licences aux Politiques sur les Courses, Adhesions et Licences, a compter du 1er mai 2019. Les changements incluent la suppression de lexperience anterieure qui demandait au candidat d'avoir ete titulaires dune licence de palefrenier pendant deux ans au cours des cinq dernieres annees. L'experience anterieure sera maintenant mesuree avec des lettres de reference supplementaires qui doivent etre signees par des conducteurs, entraineurs ou des juges de courses. 14.20 Demandeur dune licence dEntraineur A pour la premiere fois - pour etre admissible a obtenir une licence dentraineur A pour la premiere fois, le demandeur doit : a) etre age de 16 ans; b) soumettre un formulaire de demande de licence dument rempli; c) recevoir quatre (4) reponses favorables de la part de conducteurs licencies, entraineurs A ou officiels des courses desquels lAssociation a envoye six (6) lettres de recommandations en confidentialite; d) fournir a lAssociation un certificat dexamen medical et dacuite visuelle qui est valable dans les douze avant (12) mois. Les frais ou honoraires du medecin pour ces examens doivent etre defrayes par le demandeur; e) subir un examen ecrit prescrit pour les entraineurs et obtenir une note satisfaisante. Les residents de lOntario, demandeurs dune licence dEntraineur A , doivent au prealable, obtenir une licence dEntraineur C . 14.21 Demandeur dune licence dEntraineur C pour la premiere fois - pour etre admissible a obtenir une licence dentraineur C pour la premiere fois, le demandeur doit : (a) obtenir un minimum de quatre (4) lettres de references favorables en dossier obtenues de la part de detenteurs de licences dEntraineurs et/ou de Conducteurs de categorie A ; (b) fournir des certificats dexamen medical et dacuite visuelle satisfaisants, dont les couts doivent etre defrayes par les demandeurs; (c) soumettre une recommandation du panel des juges regionaux pour etre soumis a lexamen ecrit dEntraineur; (d) completer avec succes lexamen ecrit dEntraineur et obtenir une note de passage de 75% ou mieux; (e) recevoir une recommandation favorable du superviseur de l'examen et obtenir une note de passage de 75% ou plus sur l'examen pratique de Standardbred Canada. Les juges peuvent imposer toutes conditions au detenteur dune licence C comme ils le jugent approprie. Cette licence doit etre detenue pour une periode de 6 mois avant de demander aux juges un avancement a une licence A . Logo of jester cap with thought bubble. Image source: The Motley Fool. Sally Beauty Holdings (NYSE: SBH) Q2 2019 Earnings Call May. 01, 2019, 8:30 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator [Audio gap] given at that time. [Operator instructions] And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Jeff Harkins, please go ahead. Jeff Harkins -- Vice President, Investor Relations Thank you. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain comments including matters such as forecasted financial information, contracts or business and trend information made during this call may contain 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. Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as believe, project, expect, can, may, estimate, should, plan, target, intend, could, will, would, anticipate, potential, confident, optimistic and similar words or phrases. These statements are subject to a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Those factors are described in Sally Beauty Holdings filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements. The company has provided a detailed explanation and reconciliations of its adjusting items and non-GAAP financial measures in its earnings press release and on its website. With me on the call today are Chris Brickman, president and chief executive officer; and Aaron Alt, chief financial officer and president of Sally Beauty Supply. More From The Motley Fool Chris will provide a brief overview of our performance for the quarter and give you an update on our second quart accomplishments as well as what we are working on in the second half of the year in terms of our transformation plan. Aaron will then provide some thoughts around our full-year guidance, an update on our capital allocation strategy and supply chain modernization plans and then discuss our second quarter consolidated and segment financial results. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Chris. Story continues Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Jeff and good morning, everyone. During the second quarter, we continued to make solid progress on our transformation plan as we completed the launch of Sally Beauty's new mobile first e-commerce platform, brought new brands to market, had success against our supply chain modernization plans and reduced our debt levels all as promised. While the second quarter was impacted by an Easter calendar shift and a cautious retail environment in February, we continued to see good momentum in our largest business, Sally Beauty Supply's, U.S. and Canadian retail business, which is on the leading-edge of many of our transformation efforts. beauty systems group and our international operations are learning from the successes at our Sally U.S. and Canadian business relative to our transformation efforts, and they are showing progress as well. In summary, we are on track with our transformation plan for the year. Now I'd like to highlight some of the steps we took in the second quarter and so far in the third quarter as it relates to our transformation plan as well as what is expected in the second half of the year. First, playing to win in our differentiated core of hair color and care. As we have stated in previous quarters, we are investing to build on our category leadership and deep expertise in hair color and care. These categories represent over half of our sales, allow for greater differentiation, have a higher penetration of owned and exclusive brands and generally have higher margins. We're constantly looking for additional opportunities in this area. As an update for the second quarter of fiscal year 2019, owned and exclusive brand comprised of approximately 45% of Sally Beauty Supply's revenue with the majority of those sales being owned brands. Similarly, owned and exclusive brands comprised approximately 53% of beauty systems group sales with the vast majority of those sales being exclusive brands meaning popular third-party brands for which we have exclusive wholesale distribution rights within defined territories. Earlier this year, and in partnership with our largest supplier Henkel, beauty systems group wants the prestigious hair color line Pravana. During this past quarter, we followed-up with the launch of Pravana's hair care line. Pravana is known for its innovation, particularly around its vivid colors and has a loyal following among stylists. We continue to see excitement from our customers and we are tracking significant new customer wins as orders for Pravana shift to us from the competition. We expect this brand to drive significant incremental business for beauty systems group. In addition, late in the second quarter, beauty systems group launched exclusive distribution of the Swedish vegan hair care brand, Maria Nila. This is an important assortment gain for beauty systems group as Maria Nila is a rising premium brand that appeals to recent industry trends around natural products. The launch has been a success and we will continue to build awareness and education around this key brand to route the next several quarters. We are excited about the potential Maria Nila has for our beauty systems group professional distribution business. While we could discuss a number of other new assortment choices as we refill our innovation pipeline, I will close on this point by calling out five other important additions during the quarter. Coty's new Wella KP assortments, Olaplex's fast growing hair care and hair treatment products, Joico's Defy Damage hair care products, the expansion of the Arctic Fox color line and the expansion of Good Dye Young, all of which have demonstrated great results thus far. We are expanding our partnership with all of these brands to reinvigorate newness and choice within our business. In addition, on the own brand side, we added ten new color shades to our Ion box color lineup which should give us a more complete color palette to serve our customers as we work to grow this category at Sally. Before continuing, I should pause and call out what I hope is becoming understood about this part of our transformation effort. We need to provide our clients with differentiation whether through innovation, assortment or value. We are always searching for newness and our driven to partner with brand developers whether they be established professional experts with which we have a long relationship like John Paul Mitchell systems, larger global beauty enterprises like Coty or Henkel, or influencer-oriented brands like Arctic Fox which is backed up by Kristen X Leanne. The reality is that we have 5,000 points of distribution in 12 countries, we serve both the professional channel and the retail customer, we have associates who are enthusiastic and early adopters and we are investing in both product and retail technology. We intend to leverage that asset base to build innovative and differentiated brands with our partners and we will invest aggressively with partners that bring us distinctive innovation. Retail fundamentals. Now I would like to provide an update on our efforts to improve our retail fundamentals. On this call, I'm going to highlight our work against loyalty, store experience and technology and then Aaron will touch on supply chain later in the call. As an update, Sally Beauty Supply completed the national rollout of its new loyalty program, Sally Beauty Rewards to all U.S. and Canadian stores back in October. The new program allows customers to enroll for free and to accumulate points for a $5 reward certificate for each $50 of spend. Results have, after two quarters, continue to be promising. The transition continues to be smooth with no noticeable disruption to our national business. In addition, approximately 63% of transactions and 71% of sales in the U.S. and Canadian stores are now tied to a Sally Beauty Rewards membership and total active membership surpassed 14.5 million. We are pleased with these initial results and we'll continue to focus on using our closer connection to our clients to drive more traffic. Now retail fundamentals focused on the store experience. As previously mentioned, we are designing and testing new store concepts and update packages for both business segments in the Las Vegas market area. At the end of the second quarter, we completed the construction of the Sally Beauty Supply stores which included changes to assortment, store layout, marketing and technology. Construction in the CosmoProf stores is expected to be completed shortly. Importantly, by targeting one city, we will be able to assess synergies between Sally Beauty and CosmoProf. If the results prove out, as we expect they will, we will launch the next market quickly. Finally, as part of our guest experience improvements, we are rolling out a new in-store feature called color view. This consumer facing technology is showcased on a kiosk within the store that houses a built-in iPad that walks the customer through questions about the characteristics of their hair as well as the goals they want to accomplish with their hair color. The kiosk will then make specific color product recommendations and use the iPad camera to create an image of the customer and simulate how the color will look on the customers head. In a limited test, customer feedback has been positive and we are finding that it is driving both conversion and trading up. We are planning to roll out this technology aggressively across our network of stores for both hair color and cosmetics. We are also seeking additional technology enablers from our product suppliers, our technology vendors and from our customers for use in our stores. Now, enterprise technology. We have moved from concept to reality as part of implementing a new Oracle point of sale system in both business segments. As of the end of the second quarter, testing in the stores has been completed and we have triggered the national rollout of the new point of sale system and expect to be in well over 1,400 stores by the end of the fiscal year. Once we complete the rollout of the new point of sale systems, which is expected in fiscal year 2020 and mobile apps in combination with our CRM implementation, our loyalty program and our new digital commerce websites, for the first time, Sally Beauty and beauty systems group, will be able to identify our customers regardless of channel, we'll be able to serve them on an individualized basis and we'll be able to remove friction from the shopping experience for them. Lastly, I'd like to provide a quick update on our JDA implementation. During the second quarter, we completed and went live with two more modules as part of Phase 1 of the JDA merchandizing and supply chain platform implementation. We are now up and running on the first four modules which include product setup and maintenance, store spacing and planning, EDI and demand planning. Now on to our third objective: building a robust digital service platform. It was a big quarter for us on the digital side of the house. In late March, we deployed our new mobile first e-commerce platform, sallybeauty.com. The new e-commerce platform includes features such as shop by solution, personalized recommendations, educational content and videos for both retail and pro customers, tracking of loyalty points and many other features. We also just added an additional feature called the hair color selector quiz which will walk customers through customized hair color recommendations and act very similar to the color view kiosk being used in our retail stores. Lastly, the new site already includes the infrastructure to support the future goal of offering buy online, pickup in store and ship from store capabilities. We will quickly follow the e-commerce launch with the launch of the Sally Beauty app which will allow customers to track their loyalty activity, view educational and product offering content as well as make purchases. We expect to launch the app later this month as testing has now concluded. The launch of an updated website and a commerce-based app are also on track for beauty systems group by the end of the fiscal year. These new user experience and platforms will be game changers for us. To summarize, the second quarter showed solid progress on our transformation plan but we recognize that we still have work to do. With our key accomplishments from the quarter, we are confident that we are moving in the right direction. In addition, our cost optimization efforts, over time, will permit us to make necessary investments in the business and provide us with additional flexibility based on the needs of our business in the transformation plan. Now I will turn it over to Aaron to discuss a couple of topics in more detail. Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Thank you, Chris and good morning. I would like to start by thanking our global associates for their hard work during the quarter. With a long list of transformation initiatives this year, the team is doing a great job of getting it done. I have four objectives today to comment upon our full-year financial guidance, to provide an update on our capital allocation strategy, to offer an update on our supply chain modernization efforts and finally, to review the second quarter consolidated financial details and segment results. Let's start with our guidance. In November of last year we offered full-year guidance that our same store sales would be approximately flat, that our gross margin would be approximately flat, that our adjusted SG&A rate would be up slightly, that our adjusted operating earnings would decline slightly and that we would accomplish all of this while both making significant investments in technology, stores, supply chain, labor and talent and executing against an aggressive schedule of transformation initiatives. We are six months into the fiscal year and after taking into account our considerable progress to-date, we are confirming our full-year guidance for fiscal year 2019. We see solid momentum from our transformation efforts at the enterprise level and from our efforts in our largest business, for Sally U.S. and Canadian business. We also see progress and positive results from new brand launches and other initiatives within BSG, the benefit of which should become more apparent in the back half. Finally, in the second half of the year we are also lapping last year's vendor-based supply chain disruptions. The European business has been a failed headwind in the first half. However, we are taking steps with respect to that business and are working to overcome the impact of its challenges by being more aggressive in other parts of our consolidated portfolio. It is important to note the progress made against our cost savings initiatives across the business as reflected in our SG&A line. While we have reinvested some of our savings, as planned, the early and aggressive effort against cost has helped us to weather some of the challenges in the first half. On that basis, we are maintaining our guidance. As part of our guidance for the year, we also rebased our capital allocation strategy. We have consistently said that we will prioritize needed investments in our business that we believe will deliver value for shareholders then focus on measured debt repayment to move our leverage ratio closer to 2.5 times, as defined by our credit agreements, and only then will we consider returning capital to shareholders. We have been investing heavily in the business and we are on track to invest 120 million in capital expenditures during fiscal year 2019. We have a full plate of transformation initiatives and we are focused on executing against them during the year. We are also making progress against our leverage levels. During the second quarter we initiated a debt tender offer for a portion of our senior notes. A transaction was completed in March as the company repurchased approximately 60 million of its outstanding senior notes. The debt repurchase was funded from our strong cash flow, for operations as well as the proceeds generated from the sale of a facility in Texas. At the end of the quarter, the outstanding balance on the asset based revolving line of credit remained at zero and the company's leverage ratio had a slight decrease to 2.8 times. As we move through the remainder of fiscal year 2019, we will aggressively explore efficient opportunities to further reduce our debt levels and associated leverage ratio. We expect to be in the area of 2.5 times leverage sometime in Q4. We have not repurchased any shares during Fiscal 2019. Once we reach our targeted leverage ratio, likely in Q4, we will revisit opportunities to return capital to shareholders. Next, I'd like to provide an update on our supply chain modernization efforts. As discussed during our last earnings call, our supply chain is the product of acquisitions conducted over many years. At the start of the year we had 15 distribution centers across the United States and Canada. Our network is overly complex and inefficient. We did not have common processes, technology or talent across our U.S. and Canadian businesses. We had too much inventory in the wrong places. We are making fast progress. We have closed and exited two distribution nodes and we'll close another one during Q3. We are already seeing financial benefits. We expect to begin operations in our new Texas distribution node and to start cross-banner store replenishment and e-commerce fulfillment operations by the middle of Q2 2020. We are making progress and lowering our distribution costs and improving our on-time delivery to stores as a result of new pooling delivery arrangements in key cities. We will expand this tool and distribution model over the remainder of the fiscal year. As you know, we have suffered from poor vendor performance in the last 18 months, with their supply chain issues impacting our ability to make the sale. We are aggressively targeting those unproductive inventories, built in part to avoid out-of-stocks triggered by the vendors and dealing with continued auto-stocks in some areas from some of our vendors. We have launched better forecasting, EDI ordering and vendor compliance programs, frankly, similar to other retailers. Our expectations that vendors should deliver what we order, when we order it in the right amounts and partner with us when their product does not sell. This is an ongoing conversation with our vendors. Some of them have embraced the opportunity to work productively with us and will be rewarded. Others have not been as productive and will have their orders impacted over time across both beauty systems group and Sally Beauty and across both North America and Europe as we move to a global negotiation approach. Finally, we are working hard to upgrade our supply chain technology capabilities to install a new order management system and a new warehouse management system all in an effort to give us better visibility and allow in-store inventory to be accessed by digital clients as product testing buy online and pick up in store, and buy online, deliver from store. We expect these delivery options will be tested in our beauty systems group business before the end of the year. Now the numbers and some context. Second quarter consolidated revenue was $945.9 million, a decrease of 3% versus the prior year, driven primarily by 69 fewer stores as compared to the previous year; a decline in consolidated same store sales of 0.5%; full-service brand losses; and an unfavorable impact from foreign exchange translation of 110 basis points. Notwithstanding a calendar shift as Easter moved into our third quarter and we faced a challenging February, we continue to see encouraging trends in our U.S. and Canadian business within Sally Beauty Supply. In addition, our global e-commerce business delivered solid growth which was up over 30% versus the prior year. Conversely, we continue to experience headwinds in Europe with the uncertainties surrounding Brexit, civil protest in France and the impact of consolidating our global European operations. Moreover, while our beauty systems group business has, for the most part, seen the supply chain issues that were so disruptive last year fade away, it will still require some time to rebuild our relationships with customers who were disappointed in the process. Our consolidated gross margin for the quarter was 49.5%, which we acknowledge represents a decrease of 40 basis points in the quarter compared to the prior year. Increases in the bigger and higher margin U.S. and Canadian business of Sally Beauty Supply's were not enough this quarter to offset the combination of gross margin challenges in Europe and within beauty systems group. I will comment more on this shortly. Telling general and administration expenses including depreciation and amortization expense, were $361.6 million in the quarter, a decrease of $6.8 million or 1.9% from the prior year. A drop in SG&A dollar cost reflects the benefit of our transformation efforts and tight control over discretionary expenses particularly at beauty systems group and at Sally in Europe. As expected and planned, we used some of our bucket of savings to make investments in technology, store wages and talent. As a percentage of sales, selling general and administration expenses were 38.2%, up 40 basis points over the prior year in the quarter driven by the deleveraging impact of lower sales. This will be addressed over time as we both return to growth and find additional savings. We have excluded restructuring charges which includes the gain from the sale of the secondary headquarters and fulfillment center in Texas from both adjusted operating earnings and adjusted diluting earnings per share. We have also excluded the loss on extinguishment of debt from the prior year's adjusted diluted earnings per share. Adjusted operating earnings and adjusted operating margin were $106.7 million and 11.3% respectively, compared to $117.9 million and 12.1% respectively in the prior year. Adjusted diluted earnings were $0.51 per share, a decrease of 5.6% compared to the prior year's $0.54 per share driven primarily by lower sales and gross margin in February, partially offset by favorable selling, general and administration expenses across the quarter and a lower consolidated effective tax rate. Our company continues to generate strong cash flow from operations which was $59.9 million in the quarter. Net payments for capital expenditures in the quarter, excluding 12 million in proceeds from the sale of the facility in Texas, totaled $22.7 million which is mainly spent on information technology products related to the launch of the new Sally Beauty e-commerce platform, the new Oracle-based point of sale systems and the JDA merchandising and supply chain platform as well as store remodels and maintenance. Operating free cash flow, including the proceeds from the sale of the Texas facility was 49.2 million in the quarter. These figures reflect an intentional increase in investment of our free cash flow to fully capture cash discounts from our vendors which will benefit our gross margin in future quarters. Inventory was up 1.9% from the prior, to $953 million driven primarily by the impact of new product launches, the expansion of distribution rights for beauty systems group and safety stock to deal with vendor product conversions, partially offset by a stronger U.S. dollar and reported inventory levels. Of note, the inventory did decrease $29.5 million in the first quarter. We expect to continue to make smart progress on our inventory levels over the course of the year. Turning to segment performance. For the second quarter, Sally Beauty Supply's same store sales decreased by 0.3%. The segment generated a revenue of $565.6 million in the quarter, a decrease of 2.5% compared to the prior year driven by 64 fewer stores, Europe's continued challenges and Easter shift into the first quarter of the fiscal year and the U.S. and Canadian retail business experiencing a challenging February. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact on the segment's revenue growth in the quarter by approximately 150 basis points. We also continue to make meaningful progress with Sally's U.S. and Canadian e-commerce business in the quarter which helped deliver e-commerce revenue growth of 37.5%. We expect to continue to invest aggressively in improvements to the overall online customer experience. Gross margin for the segment was flat at 55.6% with improvements in the U.S. and Canada offset by weakness in Europe. Segment operating earnings were $86.7 million in the quarter, a decrease of 4% versus the prior year driven primarily by the decline in total revenue partially offset by favorable operating expenses resulting from our cost saving efforts. Now turning to our beauty systems group segment. Same store sales declined 0.9%. Net sales were 380.2 million in the quarter, a decrease of 3.8% compared to the prior year driven primarily by the continued impact of brand and lifecycle transition impacting the full-service business. Foreign currency translation decreased the segments revenue growth in the quarter by approximately 40 basis points. BSG's gross margin was 40.4% of the quarter, down 100 basis points from the prior year. BSG's gross margin decline has been a key focus area for us and we have just completed an assessment which highlighted the reasons why and our opportunities in pricing, promotions, cost of goods and negotiations, vendor allowances and operations. Many of the recommendations highlight that the margin decline issues are not structural or industry challenges but are rather the result of significant change within Sally Beauty holdings and its merchant and field teams, complicated by our need to transition to modern technology and data practices. Addressing BSG's margin has become a preeminent pillar of our transformation efforts going forward and we're on it. Segment operating earnings for BSG were $56.5 million, down 5.7% from the prior year driven by lower revenue and gross margin partially offset by lower operating expenses from our transformation efforts. In conclusion, I want to repeat something I said last quarter which is equally true today. We have a plan. We are pleased with our initial success against the plan. We have a lot of work yet to do but we remain on target for the next several steps of the plan and we are maintaining our guidance as a result. Thank you for your time, now I'd like to turn the call back over to the moderator. Questions & Answers: Operator Thank you. [Operator instructions] Our first question is from the line of Mark Altschwager from Baird. Please go ahead. Drew North -- Baird -- Analyst Good morning. This is Drew North on for Mark. Thanks for taking our question. It sounds like you had solid momentum again in the Sally North American business. Maybe apart from the challenges in February. First, can you quantify how much of a drag February was and then discuss the other drivers to the comp from a traffic or AUR perspective? And then how should we think about the drag from the European business as we look at the second half? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer We don't release quarterly results or monthly results, obviously, so we're not going to specifically release February. That being said, we did hear from a lot of other retailers that February was a challenging month and I'm sure you'll hear that from them in their earnings reports as well. In terms of Europe, you know, obviously there's a lot of disruption there. It was -- or same store sales were negative for the quarter and as a result it was a drag. We do see that, them, making some progress in their promotional activity and hopefully we see that stabilizing in the back half but at this point in time I'm not going to quantify the change we expect between this quarter and next quarter. It will be a continuing challenge but we think it can be better than it has been in the first half of the year. Drew North -- Baird -- Analyst Great, that's helpful. And then I just wanted to ask a higher-level question on the back half margin outlook. I guess, can you discuss some of the drivers or the key drivers that give you confidence in the pace of margin improvement in the second half to reach flat for the full year? And then any moving pieces between Q3 and Q4 that we should be aware of, other than the easier comparisons in the third quarter? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Sure, let me start with the second half of the question which is that we don't provide quarterly guidance. As I look at the year-to-date, we are about spot on where I expected we would be from a business performance at the consolidated level for the year. As we think about the back half, as I talked about during our Q4 earnings release last year, we are investing heavily against the business, not only in technology and talent but also in process in our conversations with our vendors and a lot of what we're doing was frontloaded in the year so that we could start reaping the benefits of the investments as we moved for the year. As Chris highlighted in his comments, the Sally U.S. and Canadian business has been, you know, leading the curve, if you will, more aggressively on many of the elements of how we talk with our vendors, how we partner, how we bring innovation to play. We will continue to benefit in the Sally U.S. and Canadian business on our speed so far there and we're seeing good progress now within BSG as well relative to the refill of the pipeline and our ability to drive progress on both the sales line and the gross margin line in the back half of the year. Drew North -- Baird -- Analyst Great. Thanks for the color. I'll let others jump in. Operator And next, we move to the line of Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead. Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. So I wanted to start out with full-year guidance. So you guys still expect operating earnings to be down, I think slightly for the full year and first half it declined, I think, around 5% per month, for my calculations. Just curious, you know, where are the key drivers that's going to help to drive that improvement to be down only slightly for the full-year? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Well, Rupesh, let me take a first cut at that and I'll let Aaron step in after that. So, you know, first of all, as you know, BSG has been going through what is a normal lifecycle in terms of brands leaving the pro channel and moving to retail. That's been going on for decades but when there's more brands leaving than coming in you end up with headwinds. We're seeing that begin to shift where the number of brands that are later in their maturity phase and as a result are tapering down, that decline is slowing. Meanwhile we've got a lot of innovation that's coming in that's also high margin. So we see stronger performance in the back half for BSG especially and that's probably the biggest single shift in our financial performance between first half and second half. After that there's a whole bunch of other things going on in terms of just the -- you know, getting payback on the initiatives as -- Aaron mentioned, that we've been making in the first half, most of which are going to pay off in the back half of the year. Obviously, we'd like to see improved performance in Europe and we're working on that but I'm -- that one I think we have to be a little bit more skeptical of. In addition, I think we've got additional SG&A savings we can drive in the back half as well. So Aaron, if you want to pile on to that at all? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President I would. Hi, Rupesh. I guess, I would observe that what has become clear to me is that as expected, we have opportunities across the -- sorry, across the portfolio for the rest of the year on pricing in select areas, on continuing to drive promotional efficiency particularly within BSG. We have cogs, negotiations with several of our vendors under way, some of whom are on this call. We are in the process of introducing higher margin mix products to the portfolio as well and then there are a variety of other initiatives we have under way. A lot of them are coming. We've seen the proof points in parts of the business already and we expect that continued progress will help us to get there. The BSG team in particular is going to be very aggressive in addressing the gap that exists in this quarter as we push ahead. Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst Great, and then if I could slip in just one more question. Just on the cash flow, I know you provided some of the color in terms of some of the headwinds in Q2, as we look out for the balance of the year, I mean, do you expect the cash generation to decline to moderate or is there any more color you can provide in terms of how you -- Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President I might tell you, we are going to aggressively bring our inventory down, both from a cash generation perspective but also as we seek to increase our turns and drive newness. We're clearing out some of the old stuff in favor of new stuff down the path. We won't reinvest all of it so that will be a cash generator for us. Similarly, as we've been talking to our gross margin, it's been the case that over time the company has allowed their terms to lag and we haven't been paying vendors and we have invested this quarter some of our cash to bring vendors current with terms as we discuss new terms with those same vendors as we carry it forward. And so, I remain confident in the cash generating capacity of the company. I'm not at all concerned and, like I said, we are going to pull multiple levers to set us up for success as we carry forward. Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst OK, great. Thank you. Operator Next, we go to the line of Oliver Chen with Cowen and Company. Please go ahead. Oliver Chen -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst Hi, thank you. Good morning. Regarding the new loyalty program, how has that interacted with traffic and number of sign-ups relative to how you thought that would? And then a modeling question, as we model free cash flow, it looks like free cash flow declined at a faster rate than EBIT. What are your thoughts on the full-year guidance of free cash flow and some of the items that led to the year-to-date free cash flow results? It sounds like inventories were up more than you expected. Thank you. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Why don't you take cash flow first here? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Couple thoughts. We gave cash flow guidance earlier in the year as well and we remain on that guidance. We are pulling all the levers and so whether it's bringing inventory down, as I just alluded to, or taking other steps, we are confident in both the profit generating capacity of the business as well as steps that we can take to generate more cash, you know, as we carry it forward. So I guess that's all I can tell you with respect to the cash. The second question was -- Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer On the loyalty program, Oliver, you know, what I'd say is a lot of retailers have struggled as they've implemented new loyalty programs with disruption in the first couple of quarters. We have not seen that. It's been a pretty smooth transition as I indicated in my comments and we continue to see, you know, a growth in the overall program and accelerated sign-up. So, from our standpoint, it's working as well as we expected or better in the first six months and you're right, the next -- now the next step is to take that larger database of customers and more intimate knowledge of them and translate that in to -- into better traffic in our stores which we expect we'll be working on in the back half of the year. Oliver Chen -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst OK, and the testing and innovation you've been doing around new stores. Does that alter or give you more contemplation about your overall store base at either division and where that right number is? We'd love your thoughts on what you're thinking for what's a great idea for the long-term on the store base? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Sure, a couple of observations. Using just the Sally portfolio for a second, the average -- our average is 17-year age on our stores so that means that we know we have need to invest over time. Las Vegas is proving useful to us in both how fast can we move and how do we keep the cost down as we do that. That's a key part of what we're assessing as we carry it forward. Too early to say, given we've just completed the market and just launched the market in testing there as well as to how many of the components we'll roll out across the portfolio but we do expect, over the course of the rest of this year as well as, as we move into the long range plan to invest both in the digital experience and the store experience, pushing forward. I thought I heard maybe indirectly a question around how do we feel about the size of the portfolio and the short answer is that as we promised at the start of this year, we are cleaning up elements of the portfolio this year and then you will see a pivot from us that we will talk about more as we get to the end of the year. Oliver Chen -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst OK. And our last question is just related to the second half initiatives including there's technology and product and the point of sale. Which -- how would you prioritize which ones would be stronger or you would prioritize them in terms of traffic drivers or would they be, you know, somewhat equal weighted? I'd love your thoughts on prioritization. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Well, I mean it depends on what you're prioritizing Oliver but if you're thinking about what one is going to have the greatest financial impact in the back half of the year, it will be probably the new product launches at BSG and the tapering off of some of the products. The decline in the products that have kind of reached the end of their pro lifecycle. So that will be the biggest change financially. In terms of long-term, obviously, we believe the changes we're making in our e-commerce platforms as well as our core technology platforms and POS probably have a greater or longer-term impact on the business and -- we won't see as much of that this year. It's going to be something that will build over time given we're building off a small base but those are the more important longer-term investments. Oliver Chen -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst Thank you very much. Best regards. Operator Next, we go to the line of Olivia Tong with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Hi, good morning. I wanted to first ask you about some of the announcements by Regis, you know, talking about refranchising and in doing so, requiring some of their franchisees to buy a portion of their private label professional project, products, from them instead of other guys like potentially you. So could you talk about the potential impact that that decision has on your sales? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, Olivia, this is not a major impact for us. We don't have, do, a lot of volume with Regis and the reality is, we already have that. They're already in a franchise situation. There are some chain accounts that we do serve through BSG and those chains continue to do quite well. It's not a highest margin business for us but it's something that we absolutely do on behalf of our customers but, no, I don't expect much of an impact associated with Regis changing their purchasing or their approach to products. Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Got it, that's really helpful. And then just sticking on the retail, you know, obviously Amazon announced that they are moving to one-day shipping which clearly rattled a fair number of retailers. How do you think that that potentially impacts you? I know that, you know, the stylist, particularly the booth renters, are always looking for product immediately which, you know, has always been something that's benefited you because they need to go -- they need to have that relationship, they need to have that known factor and that immediacy. If there is -- if Amazon starts moving to an ability to move to one day, do you -- like how do you think of that impacting you? Is that enough for, in your view, for the stylist to kind of bridge that gap? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Well, you know, first of all, let's make it clear that a lot of the investments we're making are specifically for us to be able to ship from store and get to same day. So, down the road, we expect to be there, certainly in key markets. And so, I don't see that -- I think that's the bar given the fact that many stylists are very hand to mouth in terms of how they buy product. Second is, you have to have the full array of brands, especially color brands, available within that timeframe. You can't just have a few products available there because it really comes down to what's the services they need to provide on their customers during that day or two days that they want the product for. And so as I've mentioned before, many times stylists come in with their schedule book in hands, walked into our BSG stores and walked the color aisle picking out specific colors and products for specific customers and services they're going to perform in the next couple of days. And so, the reality is that that suits our model very well and it will suit us when we move to same-day delivery capability over the next 12 months. Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst And then just lastly, in terms of the BSG lifecycle and the brand lifecycle impact that you talked about. From what you can see, when do you think that starts to lap and things start to turn back to either normal or better relative to the number of brands that are coming in versus the ones that are sort of maturing and coming out. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, and let me make sure I make it clear. It's on us to constantly be refilling our pipeline and I -- we take full accountability for the fact that we didn't get aggressive enough in doing that. We think we've done it now and we've got a lot of great innovation launching in BSG but we still -- we have to be accountable for always being prepared to refill the pipeline as brands move out of the lifecycle. That being said, there -- we do see a significant tapering that's going to happen here in terms of the headwinds as we go in the next two quarters and I won't get specific about which brands by quarter but some of that happens in Q3 and some of it happens in Q4 and we'll be lapping that those brands reached kind of a more retail focused stance and then that result is that, the headwinds will start to subside and the tailwinds will build and that's the shift we're seeing for BSG in the back half. Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Thank you so much. Operator Next, we go to the line of Simeon Siegel with Nomura Instinet. Please go ahead. Steve McManus -- Nomura Instinet -- Analyst Morning. This is Steve McManus on for Simeon. Thanks for taking our questions. Just wanted to see if you can give us an update on how planned wage investments are trending versus initial expectations heading into the year and maybe give us a little bit more color as to what's baked into the full-year guide. Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Yeah, what I can tell you is, is that we have been investing in wage rate in key parts of the country as we are watching both the mandatory minimum wage laws as well as the competition, you know, in key parts of the country and we have started -- we invested both at the backend of last year and in the first half of this year in parts of the portfolio where we felt like we needed to, to remain competitive. Our investments in wages are not yet done, we continue to have investment in front of us both this year and next year. I'm comfortable that what we need to invest this year is already baked into our plan and our guidance. I don't think I've broken it up by dollars so I'm not going to do that now but it is absolutely -- you know, we're going to have to overcome and we're going to use part of our cost savings to try to get there. Steve McManus -- Nomura Instinet -- Analyst OK, and just a follow-up on the pressure in Europe. Have the headwinds predominantly been within the U.K. or is it more broad-based and maybe if you could speak to how the rest of your international market's been trending, that would be great. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, it's more broad-based. France specifically in continental Europe has seen some declines as well. It was worse in our Q1 but it was still negative in Q2. We do see the potential to build on that and improve that but, again, we're still cautious about Europe overall. Steve McManus -- Nomura Instinet -- Analyst All right. thanks, guys. Operator Next, we'll go to the line of Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Xian Siew -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst Hi, guys. This is Xian Siew on for Simeon. In diagnosing the transformation initiatives such as marketing e-commerce, we've talked about a lot of, what is going better than expected and maybe what is behind expectation? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President I think I would answer it this way. The combination of things happening at the same time at Sally has -- we've been able to push that faster than we have anticipated and that has led to more positive same-store sales growth and more positive margin progress than we had planned. And that has helped us to offset some of the trailing elements of the BSG margin profile as well as the headwinds in Europe, so far year-to-date. And of course since we guide at the consolidated level and we don't provide quarterly guidance, you don't have a lot of visibility to the pieces but what I'd tell you is we're managing the full portfolio, and this is one of the other thing that's hap -- gone well is, because of the progress at Sally, we've been able to manage that business to help us to address whatever the headwind of the month or the quarter happens to be as we look at the overall enterprise. As we think about things that are a little bit behind the curve, it's absolutely clear to us, and to Mark Spinks and the merchants here in Chad Selvidge that we have got to fix the BSG gross margin profile and we're already working hard both internally and with many of our vendors on how do we go about doing that. Right? We have great hopes for that business, we believe we can get there, it's a known problem. We have a plan but we have to -- we have to move faster than we have. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, I think that's well summarized. I think overall our technology investments and supply chain investments, you, are going on track or ahead of track for the most part and I think we should feel proud about that and the sense that the reality of those can be -- those can trip a lot of companies up. That being said, I personally feel like we should have moved more aggressively to refill the pipeline in our BSG business, we're doing that now which I'm excited about but we're getting -- I think we probably should have done it sooner and, you know, Europe is a bit of a quandary. I do think that there's some systemic issues there in terms of the marketplace but also, we need to get better at kind of bringing the teams together and executing. Xian Siew -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst And can you please quantify the Easter shift and how that kind of reverses in the third quarter? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer No, we really don't quantify -- we don't give kind of month to month results like that. It just -- it was a small shift, it does affect the quarter. Xian Siew -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst OK, so it was small though? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yes. Xian Siew -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst OK, thank you. Operator Next, we go to the line of Shannon Coyne with BMO Capital Markets. please go ahead. Shannon Coyne -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst Hi, thanks for taking my question. My first question I just -- Estee Lauder they reported this morning declining sales in Bumble and bumble, in the salon channel, they gave that as the reason and that coincides with the role on Ulta. I'm just curious to get your thoughts if you think the dynamic is specific to Bumble and bumble or if you think that could deter other brands from going into specialty or what you think is happening there and how can it impact you guys in other brands? And then secondly, I was just wondering if you could maybe help quantify or give more specifics on the impact of the vendor issues and give us a sense how long you expect that will continue to last? That's it. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Well, let me do the first one. Prestige hair care and salon brands, you know, has not been a big category for us historically. We tend to compete at a level below that. Honestly, Maria Nila is our first big venture into it and it's going really well. So I can't really comment on Bumble and bumble, I don't know where it's at in its lifecycle. It's obviously been around and a very successful brand for many years. But the reality is that as we begin to push more into the Prestige or the higher end, we're actually seeing growth and success in that channel and getting access to accounts that we historically didn't have access to. So, I don't feel that is a headwind. I actually see that as a growth opportunity for us. I just -- I don't know enough about Bumble and bumble to comment on it directly. And Aaron, I don't know if you want to comment. Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President To answer your question on the quarterly impact of the vendor supply chain issues, we estimated it was a 20-basis point impact to BSG same store sales as a result of a key vendor not being able to ship to us for a defined period of time. The good news is that issue has been resolved and so we're not expecting it to carry forward but it presents the practical reality that we have to bob and weave each quarter as we have key vendors who are also going through their own transformations. Shannon Coyne -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst OK, thanks. Operator Next, we go to the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead. Lauren Frasch -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst Hi, this is Lauren on for Ike, thanks for taking our question. You mentioned that you're seeing progress at Sally Beauty Europe and at BSG. Could you identify some of the specific areas that are giving you confidence today that comps will be able to inflect in the back half? And as a follow-up, if Europe continues to remain weak for whatever macro factors tend -- do you believe that consolidated Sally Beauty can still inflect? Thank you. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Well, I'll -- let me take the BSG one first. So, as I mentioned a couple of times here, there -- what's really driving our optimism about BSG is the innovation we're launching there whether that be new brands like Pravana expanding the Olaplex line, the launch of the Joico Defy Damage products and the growth of the Maria Nila brand. So it's that acceleration of some of the new innovation that then offsets some of the declines associated with brands that are later in their lifecycle and moving some of their business, especially care. This is not color, this is care into more of a retail channel. In Europe, I think the primary thing we can do, we obviously can't control the environment, the primary thing we can do is get much better at aligning our promotional strategies with our vendors upfront making sure we hit crisp price points that drive traffic to our stores and making sure we communicate with our customers effectively. Teams have been working on that. It has been a trial and error process of bringing our businesses together there. I'd say we're getting better at it which is why you hear some optimism there. That being said, I think the marketing -- the market environment will still be challenging to some extent. Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President One thing I would add is, what you're hearing from Chris and I is we're seeing signs of recovery and progress. Keep in mind that our guidance is at an enterprise consolidated level and on a same store sales basis our guidance is approximately flat across the portfolio for the year. We don't give you -- we have not guided and will not guide on the segment level relative to that. Lauren Frasch -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst Got it, thank you. Operator Next, we go to the line of Steph Wissink with Jefferies. Please go ahead. Steph Wissink -- Jefferies -- Analyst Thanks, good morning everyone. I have a two-part question, guys, if I could. If you stepped back and surveyed the landscape and look at the competitive marketplace, I think the hair care market is actually accelerated so maybe talk a little bit about the business trends you're seeing relative to the market specifically within Sally Beauty and I think also the professional division, you have seen an acceleration in the demand takeaway side. Maybe help us reconcile that relative to what you're seeing in your business? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President I think I would offer a couple of things. Care and color are the two largest parts of our business ad we are seeing strength in our results relative to the focus -- focus strategy that we have there. I'm not going to comment on how much hairspray Ulta is selling, it's not for me to comment on. What I am pleased with in the Sally Beauty side is us continuing to build our baskets both leading with color, adding care to it as well and then driving the basket fill elsewhere as we push ahead. And the same is true for BSG as we pivot in that business which is it's believed it's approximately 70%, more than 70% actually of the businesses both color and care and so at a higher ticket, higher basket than the rest of retail given -- given who's doing the shopping there, much of the product there is actually going on someone's head in the salon versus being used at home and so it's not a direct compare like some of the retailers. But we're seeing progress. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer And just from a category perspective, just to build on what Aaron said, you know, we've -- as our core is in color and care, those categories have been our strongest categories, with some headwinds in BSG as I talk about the lifecycle issue I mentioned for BSG that we're now refilling, the reality is that some of the weaker categories have been categories like electrical appliances where there's been greater price transparency and more on-line competition and we're really working hard right now to reset that category and--and reduce some of the headwind we've experienced from that category. Steph Wissink -- Jefferies -- Analyst OK, that's helpful and then the second part of the question, and I think I asked this of you about a year ago, you have a lot of initiatives going on, can you just help give us some comfort that it's not overwhelming your store level associates and your managers? Help us to understand kind of how the cadencing of some of these initiatives is taking place and then as you demonstrated some confidence today in the back half recovery, is that really a recovery at the store level that you anticipate seeing or is it something more around the balance between field level activities and the corporate activities that we're going to see that improvement? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Great question and I think I would give you a similar answer to what I gave you when I joined which is this transformation is incredibly complex. There's no getting around it. We have a couple hundred initiatives under way. What I have seen here in contrast to what I've seen elsewhere is just a dramatic focus in the teams both at headquarters and in the field on both sides, actually on all three sides of the business, and they are just getting it done. That's why I started my comment the way I did. We have -- at the same time we have the technology investments are happening with respect to digital and with respect to our merchandising supply systems, you know, the store leaders in BSG and Sally are rolling out new approaches to hours, new approaches to best practices from a selling technique perspective. You know, new parts are rolling out across the stores and so there's no getting around the fact that we have a lot going on. The good news, and I would point you all to this as well is not withstanding everything we have under way, we have made dramatic progress in the first six months and we're being purposeful in earnings releases of telling you both what have we got done as well as what's coming next and I think if you compare the list, they're pretty consistent where we've gotten done what we said we're going to get done and we're going to continue to take that approach and so teams are focused, the leaders are doing an awesome job of guiding the various parts of the organization and as we sit here today, we are confident that we are where we need to be on the transformation plan for this year and, in turn, that will set us up for the transformation plan, the continuation of the effort and the results of some of the investments as we move into next year as well. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer And the only thing I'll add to that is, my experience with our store associates who are incredibly dedicated and are great beauty enthusiasts, they're thirsty for many of these changes. The investments in things like POS and store technology and other capabilities and revamped stores, you know, they've watched a lot of that erode over many years, in some cases, and they're thirsty to get their hands on new technology and new things that that help them serve customers better. So, I'm not worried about the execution at the store level. Obviously, we've monitor it constantly but the reality is, we have some excited people at our stores who are glad we're finally investing. Steph Wissink -- Jefferies -- Analyst OK, thanks. And Aaron, one more for you. I just want to make sure I heard you correctly on the free cash flow bridge, relative to EBIT, a significant change in inventory is your expectation but you also mentioned receivables. I'm wondering if you can just help us maybe quantify or force rank where the biggest benefits are going to come from to close that free cash flow gap to what your full-year expectations are? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President I think I referred to two earlier: one was that we're bringing our inventory down aggressively for unproductive inventory in particular, right? On the other side of the equation, we have been using cash to pay our vendors faster and we will, first of all, always look at our receivables and where we can bring it down but my answer to the question earlier was focused on payables and inventory. But I think our models do confirm the cash flow guidance that we gave for the start of the year. We expect to be about where we said we would be. Steph Wissink -- Jefferies -- Analyst Thank you. Operator And ladies and gentlemen, we have time for one final question, it's from the line of Karru Martinson with Jefferies. Please go ahead. Karru Martinson -- Jefferies -- Analyst Good morning. When you look at your average store age at 17 years, you know, what is the percentage of your stores that are strip malls, stand-alones and you know, how do you see that tenor changing as you go forward with these remodels? Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Almost all of our stores are strip mall based. There are some that are in -- especially BSG that are in some more unique real estate that I described is anywhere from light industrial to light retail but for the most part, we're in strip mall locations. I don't think that's going to change right away because there's a lot of stores that are sitting in that footprint. We will see how we -- what we learn from Las Vegas and some of our other store concept tests to see if we want to modify the type of real estate we go into. So I'd say that's a decision that hasn't been made yet in terms of how much it might change in the future but we're certainly open to it if it needs to change. Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President A couple of important -- a couple of important talks about the portfolio. First is, you have to keep in mind that the Sally stores are generally below, or if not well below, 2,000 square feet. BSG stores are 3,000 square feet or below as well. Our asset -- our store asset base is productive, right, we have very few stores which are not cash flow positive, right, in the stores and we are incredibly flexible because we have leases that are five years or less virtually across the entire portfolio. And so, while prior management teams have purposely taken the approach of it's all about the supply and keeping it a very more warehouse supply feel, we are investing our stores but we don't aspire to be Ulta, right, in that respect. It's not the real estate we're looking for, it's not the guest experience we're after. That said, we do know that we need to freshen elements of our portfolio, we need to serve the guest better from a guest experience at the same time that we're delivering value and differentiation to them from an assortment perspective. Karru Martinson -- Jefferies -- Analyst OK, and then just in terms of the portfolio, do you have any -- what other remaining owned assets do you have that you may consider selling and then just given that you're undrawn on your ABL, how do you look at paying down debt this year? Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Fair question. So, I would be a bad CFO if I said anything other than we look at our assets all the time, to look at what's productive or not. The supply chain is a key area of focus for us and we took our first steps there. We'll continue to look at all of our assets for the benefit that they bring to our overall operations and whether or not they present us with an opportunity to generate some cash. I don't want to be -- I don't want that -- too much to be read into that though given that our store portfolio is almost entirely leased and many of our distribution centers are as well. And so, we're going to be smart about that, is really what I would say. From a leverage perspective, you should take me at my word, what I said in my introductory comments that we expect to be right about 2.5 times at some point in Q4. When we started this journey, at least when I started this journey nine months ago, it was where are we going to get to? And we promised to get to that leverage ratio, if we get there by Q4 as our models are predicting then we'll again have the conversation of do we need to invest more in the business or not consistent with our long-range plan. How do we feel about our debt or is it time to return capital to shareholders, and that's all I can really say. Karru Martinson -- Jefferies -- Analyst Thank you very much guys. Appreciate it. Operator And I'll turn the conference back to the CEO, Chris Brickman for closing comments. Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thanks to everyone for your questions today. To summarize, we are playing to win by refocusing our business around our differentiated core of hair color and care, improving our execution of basic retail fundamentals and advancing our digital commerce capabilities. We are executing as planned against an aggressive transformation plan and we are maintaining our financial guidance for the full fiscal year. Thank you for joining us today. Operator Ladies and gentlemen, this conference is available for digitized replay after 9:30 A.M. Central Time today through May 8 at midnight. You may access the replay service at any time by calling 1-800-475-6701 and enter the access code of 465851. International participants may dial 320-365-3844. Again, those numbers are 1-800-475-6701 and 320-365-3844 with the access code of 465851 and it is available after 9:30 A.M. Central Time today through May 8 at midnight. [Operator signoff] Duration: 68 minutes Call participants: Jeff Harkins -- Vice President, Investor Relations Chris Brickman -- President and Chief Executive Officer Aaron Alt -- Chief fFnancial Officer and President Drew North -- Baird -- Analyst Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst Oliver Chen -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Steve McManus -- Nomura Instinet -- Analyst Xian Siew -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst Shannon Coyne -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst Lauren Frasch -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst Steph Wissink -- Jefferies -- Analyst Karru Martinson -- Jefferies -- Analyst More SBH analysis All earnings call transcripts 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. 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. Photo: Stephanie Young Merzel/Flickr If you love live music, there's no time like the present when it comes to getting out and about in San Jose. From Tony Bennett to the symphony, 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. Tony Bennett From the event description: After 19 Grammys and tens of millions in record sales, Tony Bennett still defies gravity. This unstoppable legend is recording albums with todays hottest stars (Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood), mentoring the next generation on American Idol, performing at the World Series and lucky us! touring. Hes won over a whole new generation of fans with his wit, charm and unmatched voice. Whether crooning signature songs like 'Steppin' Out (With My Baby)' and 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco,' waxing poetic on hits like 'The Good Life' or performing the standards he recorded with Lady Gaga on their chart-topping album, the honey-toned NEA Jazz Master never disappoints. When: Friday, May 3, 8 p.m. Where: City National Civic, 135 W. San Carlos Price: $59-$69 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Mission Peak Brass Band From the event description: In the tradition of British-style Colliery bands, Mission Peak Brass Band is chuffed to present an engaging introduction to the brass band genre. The program promises to be full of musical styles--from the storytelling of George Gershwin's 'Porgy and Bess' and James Horner's 'The Mask of Zorro' to music by such well-known British composers as Philip Sparke, Ben Hollings, and Peter Graham. Admission includes a post-concert reception with a chance to meet the artists. When: Saturday, May 4, 3 p.m. Where: Foothill Presbyterian Church, 5301 McKee Road Price: $15 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Saratoga Symphony Concert Story continues From the event description: Enjoy a classical music orchestra concert with beautiful melodies and exciting rhythms. The concert is free, with donations appreciated. Tickets are not required, and the seating is general admission. When: Sunday, May 5, 3-5:30 p.m. Where: Lincoln Glen Church, 2700 Booksin Ave. Price: Free 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. Pho Y #1. | Photo: Stan L./Yelp Looking to sample the best noodles around town? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable noodle sources in San Jose, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to fulfill your urges. 1. Pho Y #1 Photo: Stan L./Yelp Topping the list is Pho Y #1. Located at 1660 E. Capitol Expy. in Evergreen Central, the Vietnamese spot, which offers noodles and more, is the most popular affordable noodle spot in San Jose, boasting four stars out of 1,249 reviews on Yelp. The restaurant serves pho with either beef or chicken broth. Add toppings like an eye of round steak or well-done flank to this rice noodle dish. 2. Jade China Photo: Natalia R./Yelp Next up is Berryessa's Jade China, situated at 2524 Berryessa Road. With four stars out of 755 reviews on Yelp, the Chinese spot, which offers noodles and more, has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for a cheap option. Shrimp rice noodle soup and chow mein are on the menu at Jade China. Stop in for lunch or dinner or order from the selection of party trays for your next event. 3. Pho Cong Ly Photo: John D./Yelp San Jose - University's Pho Cong Ly, located at 460 E. William St., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the budget-friendly Vietnamese spot, which offers noodles and more, four stars out of 527 reviews. Pho, fried noodles and vermicelli are some of the specialties at Pho Cong Ly. The restaurant also serves veggie fried noodle dishes. 4. China Chen Photo: China Chen/Yelp China Chen, a Chinese and Vietnamese spot that offers noodles and more located downtown, is another inexpensive go-to, with four stars out of 492 Yelp reviews. Head over to 400 S. Third St. to see for yourself. Open since 1983, China Chen serves authentic cuisine like pork kidney soup, chow fun, shrimp wonton egg noodle soup, vegetable tofu egg noodle soup and more. 5. Corner Pho Photo: John D./Yelp Last but not least, there's Corner Pho, a Cambrian Park favorite with four stars out of 330 reviews. Stop by 1190 Hillsdale Ave., Suite 100 to hit up the Vietnamese spot and steakhouse, which offers noodles and more, next time you're looking to satisfy your cravings on a budget. Try the veggie pho, pork vermicelli and other noodle dishes. The restaurant has a Pho challenge during which customers can attempt to eat two pounds of noodles and two pounds of meat within an hour. 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. STOCKHOLM, May 2 (Reuters) - SAS AB's top executive said late on Thursday that the Scandinavian airline and its pilot unions in Sweden, Denmark and Norway had reached a deal to end a strike that has affected hundreds of thousands of travelers over the past week. "I can with relief inform our customers and our staff that we now can put this conflict behind us. We have tonight signed a collective agreement with our four pilot unions," the chief executive, Rickard Gustafson, told a news conference. He said it would take up to 24 hours before operations were fully up and running again. (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom Editing by Leslie Adler) RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's coast guard assisted an Iranian oil tanker with engine trouble off the coast of Jeddah in the Red Sea after Riyadh received a request for help from Iran, the state news agency SPA said on Thursday. Iran, which confirmed that its vessel had broken down in the area, and Saudi Arabia are arch-adversaries in the Middle East, backing opposite sides in several regional wars. SPA said the Iranian tanker "Happiness 1" and its 26 crewmembers were found 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Jeddah Islamic Port and the captain had requested a tow due to "engine failure and loss of control". "The kingdom received an official request for help, through its permanent delegation to the United Nations in New York, from the Iranian charge d'affaires in the Iranian delegation," SPA quoted a coast guard spokesman as saying. "All necessary precautions were taken for the safety of the crew and to ensure there is no environmental damage and to provide assistance," it added. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the tanker had suffered engine failure but there had been no leak of its contents into the Red Sea, according to SHANA, the Iranian oil ministry's news agency. "On Tuesday, the vessel, with 26 crew members aboard, was sailing in the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal when its engine failed due to water leakage to the engine room," SHANA said. It said the crew were 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis. SHANA said the tanker was now safe with no injuries reported, and there was no environmental damage from the incident. The United States decided to end all waivers on Iranian oil imports by May 1 after which buyers of oil from the Islamic Republic could face sanctions. (Reporting by Mohamed El-Sherif in Cairo and Rania El Gamal in Dubai; Editing by Mark Heinrich) RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's coast guard assisted an Iranian oil tanker with engine trouble off the coast of Jeddah in the Red Sea after Riyadh received a request for help from Iran, the state news agency SPA said on Thursday. Iran, which confirmed that its vessel had broken down in the area, and Saudi Arabia are arch-adversaries in the Middle East, backing opposite sides in several regional wars. SPA said the Iranian tanker "Happiness 1" and its 26 crewmembers were found 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Jeddah Islamic Port and the captain had requested a tow due to "engine failure and loss of control". "The kingdom received an official request for help, through its permanent delegation to the United Nations in New York, from the Iranian charge d'affaires in the Iranian delegation," SPA quoted a coast guard spokesman as saying. "All necessary precautions were taken for the safety of the crew and to ensure there is no environmental damage and to provide assistance," it added. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the tanker had suffered engine failure but there had been no leak of its contents into the Red Sea, according to SHANA, the Iranian oil ministry's news agency. "On Tuesday, the vessel, with 26 crew members aboard, was sailing in the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal when its engine failed due to water leakage to the engine room," SHANA said. It said the crew were 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis. SHANA said the tanker was now safe with no injuries reported, and there was no environmental damage from the incident. The United States decided to end all waivers on Iranian oil imports by May 1 after which buyers of oil from the Islamic Republic could face sanctions. (Reporting by Mohamed El-Sherif in Cairo and Rania El Gamal in Dubai; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh resigned Thursday amid a mushrooming corruption scandal. Pughs resignation is effective immediately, her attorney Steve Silverman said at a press conference that she herself did not attend. Dear citizens of Baltimore, I would like to thank you for allowing me to serve as the 50th mayor. It has been an honor and privilege, Pugh said in a statement read by Silverman. Im sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor. Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward. Pugh, 69, came under fire for selling $500,000 in copies of her Healthy Holly childrens books to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) while serving on its board. She also sold 20,000 copies of the books to Kaiser Permanente for $114,000 from 2015 to 2018, and 10,000 copies to Associated Black Charities for nearly $80,000 from 2011 and 2016. She has since resigned her position as a UMMS board member, canceled that deal, and returned the last $100,000 payment from it to UMMS, according to the Baltimore Sun. All my income is reported to the IRS and everything is filed, Pugh said in March, although she refused to release her tax returns. I dont know what witch hunt yall are on, but its done. Ive got 1099s and I pay my taxes and everything is filed. She had originally vowed to to return to her position as mayor after a months leave of absence, citing a battle with pneumonia, but federal agents raided her home and City Hall office last week. City Council president Bernard C. Jack Young, who had been acting as mayor in Pughs absence, will now take over the job on a permanent basis. Although I understand that this ordeal has caused real pain for many Baltimoreans, I promise that we will emerge from it more committed than ever to building a stronger Baltimore, Young said in a statement. More from National Review Stockholm (AFP) - Scandinavian airline SAS said Thursday it had reached an agreement with the pilots' union to end a week-long strike that has seen over 4,000 flights cancelled and left more than 380,000 passengers stranded. "I'm relieved to inform our customers and employees that we can now put this conflict behind us," SAS chief executive Rickard Gustafson told a news conference in Stockholm late Thursday. Gustafson hoped that normal operations would be resumed as soon as possible, but he said it could take up to 24 hours before the necessary arrangements could be made. "There are a lot of planes and a lot of crews that are not in the correct locations right now," Gustafson said. It's been nearly a week since 1,409 pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway walked off the job on April 26, grounding domestic, European and long-haul SAS flights. The Swedish Air Line Pilots Association had called the strike over "deteriorating work conditions, unpredictable work schedules and job insecurity" for pilots. It said Thursday that it had obtained a 3.5-percent wage increase for 2019, 3.0 percent for 2020 and 4.0 percent for 2021. Cannabis could come to the beach cities. This is how Stockholm (AFP) - Scandinavian airline SAS said Thursday it has reached an agreement with the pilots' union to end a week-long strike that has seen over 4,000 flights cancelled and left more than 380,000 passengers stranded. "I'm relieved to inform our customers and employees that we can now put this conflict behind us," SAS chief executive Rickard Gustafson told a news conference in Stockholm late Thursday. Gustafson hoped that normal operations would be resumed as soon as possible, but he said it could take up to 24 hours before the necessary arrangements could be made. "There are a lot of planes and a lot of crews that are not in the correct locations right now," Gustafson said. It's been nearly a week since 1,409 pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway walked off the job on April 26, grounding domestic, European and long-haul SAS flights. The Swedish Air Line Pilots Association had called the strike over "deteriorating work conditions, unpredictable work schedules and job insecurity" for pilots. The stoppage was called when negotiations between the two sides broke down, and they did not officially resume until Wednesday when the two parties met in Oslo. "The last 24 hours have been strenuous, but we have finally been able to reach an agreement to end the strike," said union representative, Wilhelm Tersmeden. The union said Thursday that it had obtained a 3.5-percent wage increase for 2019, 3.0 percent for 2020 and 4.0 percent for 2021, as well as improved job security and predictability for work schedules. - Counting the cost - The strike is likely to cost SAS dearly. The carrier already implemented a number of belt-tightening measures after nearly going bankrupt in 2012. Danish Sydbank analyst, Jacob Pedersen, put the estimated cost at 60-80 million Swedish krona (5.6-7.5 million euro or $6.3-8.4 million) a day for SAS. SAS transports 30 million passengers per year and employs 10,000 people. Story continues The Swedish and Danish governments together hold around 30 percent of the airline, with the remaining 70 percent controlled by institutional and private investors. In the first quarter of the current year, SAS's net loss widened to 469 million krona from 249 million krona a year earlier. The group's shares have lost nearly a third of their value since early February, but rose sharply at the close on Thursday on media reports of an imminent deal. Students at the Harris Academy will not be allowed to use the toilet unattended during lesson time. [Photo: Getty] A Kent-based secondary school has fallen under fire for a controversial bathroom policy. Harris Academy Orpington, a non-selective secondary school in Bromley, has decided to lock the toilet facilities during class time. Under the initiative, children will have to be led to the loo by teaching staff if they wish to go during lessons. The policy has been implemented in a bid to prevent children from skipping lessons but, its sparked backlash from parents. READ MORE: Unvaccinated children could be banned from UK schools "To deny a child use of a toilet at the point it is needed I feel is disgraceful, a parent with two children at the school told The Telegraph. "Even prisoners have a toilet that can be accessed when needed. Children with additional needs or anxiety issues must be finding this extremely hard. "I will be making a complaint and I urge other parents to do the same. Another parent told the newspaper the policy was ridiculous and dangerous for girls on periods or students with IBS. However, Harris Acadamy has since defended the policy, saying keys will be available for children with medical needs. "Students are allowed to go to the toilet whenever they need to, but if they need to go during lesson times they need to be accompanied by a member of staff, a representative told News Shopper. "This is to ensure they come back to lessons promptly and to prevent a small minority of students from using going to the toilet as an excuse to miss lessons. Students with a medical need are being given keys to the toilets so they can access these on their own when they need to." READ MORE: Primary school hires a nappy changer This isnt the first time a schools disciplinary policies have been called into question this week. Recently, a teachers unusual punishment for a child with ADHD sparked a debate online about whether they crossed a line. A cruise ship reportedly owned and operated by the Church of Scientology has been quarantined off the coast of Saint Lucia after a case of measles was diagnosed on board. The Caribbean islands health authorities barred any passengers or crew from leaving the boat while in port after learning of the measles case from two reputable sources. Almost 300 passengers and crew are believed to be on board the vessel, with one person diagnosed with the highly infections viral illness. The boat is called Freewinds and is owned and operated by the Church of Scientology, a Saint Lucia coast guard sergeant told NBC News. The Scientology website describes Freewinds as a 440-foot ship based in the Caribbean. It characterises the vessel as a religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counselling in the Scientology religion with its home port in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao. The international vessel-monitoring website MarineTraffic.com also showed that a Panamanian-flagged passenger ship identified as SMV Freewinds docked in port near the Saint Lucia capital of Castries. Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard spent much of his time at sea on a fleet of ships during the late 1960s and early 1970s after creating his Sea Org. Dr Merlene Frederick-James said in a video statement posted to YouTube on Tuesday that the Saint Lucian ministry of health ordered the restriction after conferring with the Pan American Health Organisation and others about the risk of exposure to islanders. Officials told NBC News the ship has been under the quarantine since Monday. In light of current measles outbreaks in the US and the highly infectious nature of the disease we thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship, Ms Frederick-James said. The quarantine comes as the number of measles cases in the US has reached a 25-year peak with more than 700 people diagnosed as of this week, part of an international resurgence in the disease. Story continues Public health officials blame declining vaccination rates in some communities driven by misinformation about inoculation that has left those populations vulnerable to rapid spread of infection among those with no immunity to the virus. Health authorities in Los Angeles last month ordered quarantines on two university campuses after each one had reported at least one confirmed case. The vast majority of US cases have occurred in children who have not received the three-way vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), which confers immunity to the disease, officials said. Measles is spread through casual contact with the virus, which can remain infectious in the air of an enclosed space for up to two hours after it is breathed out by someone carrying the disease. The rate of transmission from an infected person to another person nearby who lacks immunity is about 90 per cent, and an infected person can be contagious for four days before showing signs of the disease. Additional reporting by Reuters A boat believed to belong to the Church of Scientology has been quarantined in St Lucia over a suspected outbreak of measles on board (GETTY) The island of St Lucia has quarantined a cruise ship thought to belong to the Church of Scientology over an outbreak of measles on board. The islands chief medical officer has barred any passengers or crew from leaving the boat while in port, after a case of measles was diagnosed on the vessel. On Tuesday, Dr. Merlene Frederick-James said in a Youtube video that the Ministry of Health ordered the restriction of the cruise ship, on information gained from the Pan American Health Organisation. An editorial stock photo of the Scientology building in Hollywood, California. NBC News said nearly 300 passengers and crew are aboard the vessel, with one female crew member diagnosed with the illness. Dr Frederick-James claimed the island had got information through two reputable sources that an outbreak occurred on board. Read more on Yahoo News UK Songs to die for: Top ten funeral songs revealed Kent Police detain 17 migrants in two days trying to cross the Channel Trump is a f***ing idiot text message read out live on US TV during Mueller report hearing She said just one person with measles could easily infect others through coughing and sneezing. Dr James said in her statement: After discussion with internal and external health agencies, we thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship. So no-one was allowed to leave the ship. Passengers and crew were not allowed to board or leave the ship. (FREEWINDS.ORG) But the medical professional gave no further details on the ships origins. A sergeant coastguard on the island told NBC the boat is named Freewinds, a 440-foot long vessel owned and operated by the Church of Scientology. the vessel involved is named Freewinds, which is the name of a 440-foot cruise ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology https://t.co/QJEYbaaph0 Josh Perry (@MrJoshPerry) May 2, 2019 The Church of Scientology website describes the vessel as a floating religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counselling in the Scientology religion. Story continues Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that can spread through the air and can cause symptoms such as runny nose, watery eyes, fever, cough and a rash of red spots. Scene depicts a measles quarantine area with police lights and cordon tape. An infected person can be contagious for four days before showing signs of the disease. The quarantine comes as the number of measles cases in the US reached 25-year high with more than 700 people diagnosed as of this week. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- (Reuters) - Health officials for the Caribbean island of St. Lucia furnished 100 free doses of measles vaccine to a Church of Scientology cruise ship placed under quarantine in port after the highly contagious disease was diagnosed on board, the island's chief medical officer said on Thursday. St. Lucia health officials have confirmed one case of measles aboard the ship that has been docked in a port near the island nation's capital Castries since Tuesday, Dr. Merlene Frederick-James said in a video statement. "The confirmed case as well as other crew members are presently stable but remain under surveillance by the ship's doctor," Frederick-James said, noting the incubation period of measles is 10 to 12 days before symptoms appear. The St. Lucia Ministry of Health ordered the ship to be quarantined on Tuesday. The restriction comes as the number of measles cases in the United States has reached a 25-year peak with more than 700 people diagnosed as of this week, part of an international resurgence in the disease. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2GJgoBt) Frederick-James said the doses of measles vaccines were being supplied to the ship free of charge. She gave no information about the ship or its origins. NBC News, citing a St. Lucia Coast Guard sergeant, reported the ship is named Freewinds, which is the name of a 440-foot vessel owned and operated by the Church of Scientology. According to Reuters Eikon shipping data, a Panamanian-flagged cruise liner identified as SMV Freewinds was docked in port near Castries on Thursday. The ship was headed next to the island of Dominica, the data showed. On its website, the Church of Scientology describes the Freewinds as a floating "religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion." It says the vessel's home port is Curacao. Church officials did not respond to requests for comment. NBC News reported that nearly 300 passengers and crew were aboard the vessel, with one female crew member diagnosed with measles. Public health officials blame declining vaccination rates in some communities driven by misinformation about inoculation that has left those populations vulnerable to rapid spread of infection among those with no immunity to the virus. The vast majority of U.S. cases have occurred in children who have not received vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), officials said. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Shumaker) Seaspan's (NYSE: SSW) first-quarter results require some context before investors get too excited by the surge in its profitability. One of the containership leasing company's top-five customers needed to modify the contracts on seven vessels it leased from Seaspan. This adjustment resulted in those agreements ending on the last day of the quarter. In exchange, Seaspan received a significant one-time payment, which boosted first-quarter results. The company was able to quickly recharter those vessels with other customers, which should further mute the impact of this modification. Seaspan Corporation results: The raw numbers Metric Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Year-Over-Year Change Revenue $285.3 million $224.8 million 26.9% Net earnings $267.1 million $50 million 434.2% Earnings per share $1.26 $0.37 240.5% Data source: Seaspan Corporation. What happened with Seaspan Corporation this quarter? The contract modification positively impacted profitability: Seaspan's revenue surged nearly 27% compared to the year-ago period, thanks in large part to last year's acquisition of Greater China Intermodal Investments (GCI). In addition to that, the company also benefited from vessel deliveries in the past year, as well as higher rates for ships on short-term charters. Operating earnings, meanwhile, zoomed to triple digits compared to the prior-year period. That's because the company recorded $227 million in income relating to the modification of leases on seven vessels. If we adjust for that impact, net earnings would have been about $40 million. That's lower than the year-ago period due to higher ship operating and leasing costs as well as increased interest expenses. These costs rose due to the acquisition of GCI as well as an accounting change in how the company records operating lease expenses. Cash from operating activities, meanwhile, rocketed 76% year over year to $122.6 million. Seaspan used its cash flow as well as the $500 million in proceeds from a financing agreement with Fairfax Financial to pay off debt. The company repaid $231.6 million across three credit facilities during the quarter. Those payoffs freed up 13 vessels that had served as collateral on the loans. The company also paid off a $311.4 million note upon maturity at the end of last month. These actions will help reduce interest expenses while bolstering the company's financial flexibility. Seaspan closed the acquisition of an 80% stake in Swiber Holdings Limited in March for $10 million. Swiber is an offshore engineering, procurement, and construction business that owns five maritime vessels. Seaspan will also invest up to an additional $190 million in an LNG-to-power project in Vietnam that's under development as long as it meets certain milestones. Seaspan announced a framework agreement with COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation, which has the largest LNG shipping fleet in China. The companies plan to work together to pursue opportunities to invest in LNG-related projects. Shipping containers on a ship at port with the sun rising in the background. Image source: Getty Images. Story continues What management had to say CEO Bing Chen commented on the company's progress during the quarter, saying: During the first quarter of 2019, we continued to deliver on our five-priority focus and capitalize on the scale, flexibility, and quality of our integrated operating platform. This platform provides the fleet life cycle services our customers depend on, as demonstrated by our utilization rate of 98% during the quarter, which is consistent with our industry-leading average of 98% since IPO. As always, our team is dedicated to strengthening our existing partnerships, as well as expanding our platform with new customers. One of those five priorities is customer partnerships, which the company demonstrated last quarter. Not only did it work with its customers to modify the leases and then recharter seven of its vessels, but it leveraged its relationship with COSCO SHIPPING to pursue growth opportunities in the LNG market, which is another one of its key priorities. These efforts position the company for continued growth. Looking forward Seaspan has started exploring opportunities in the fast-growing LNG market over the past few months. Not only is it potentially investing in an LNG-to-power project in Vietnam, but it's working with COSCO SHIPPING to pursue LNG-related projects, including transporting LNG and ethane. This market makes lots of sense for Seaspan since customers typically sign long-term contracts for LNG and ethane ships, which is similar to its containership leasing business model. That makes it a key growth area for investors to watch over the coming years. More From The Motley Fool Matthew DiLallo owns shares of Seaspan. The Motley Fool recommends Seaspan. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Washington (AFP) - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan called for tougher action against sexual assault in the US military Thursday after an annual Pentagon report said the number of assaults in 2018 had risen from recent years. Sexual assaults reported by Defense Department employees, both men and women, jumped 13 percent last year to 7,623 as compared to 2017. Moreover, actual sexual assaults were likely to be about triple the reported number, given the estimate that just one out of three victims in the military file a complaint. "It is clear that sexual assault and sexual harassment are persistent challenges," Shanahan said in a statement. "To put it bluntly, we are not performing to the standards and expectations we have for ourselves or for each other. This is unacceptable." Based on a survey taken only every two years, the report said that not only the number but the prevalence of sexual assault was on the rise in 2018. Around 6.2 percent of women in the Department of Defense experienced sexual assault or unwanted sexual contact in 2018, compared to 4.3 percent two years earlier, according to the report. The level for men was much lower and relatively stable: 0.7 percent experienced assault in 2018, slightly higher than 0.6 percent two years ago. The problem was worst in the Marines: some 10.7 percent of women in that service reported sexual assault last year, compared to 7.5 percent in the Navy and lower rates in the other services. Sexual assaults on men from all services was in the 0.7-0.8 percent range. But the overall estimates for assaults reported and not reported underscore the problem for both genders: last year, the Pentagon estimates, more than 13,000 women were assaulted and more than 7,000 men. - Assaults target youngest recruits - The report showed that the youngest women were at the highest risk, and that their attackers were like them most often of low rank, equal to or slightly higher than the victim. Story continues That pointed to the need for more understanding of how younger recruits interact, especially with the rise of social media, according to experts. "We have to look and see what is happening with the 17-24 year-olds that our programs are not accounting for," said Nate Galbreath, deputy director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. "That is one the things that we want to investigate: to kind of see what risks are posed by using social media sites." Shanahan told a Congressional panel Wednesday that said he supported a proposal to seek a specific crime for sexual harassment under the military's unique justice system. "We will criminalize certain activities in this next year to reflect the seriousness that we take on certain behavior," he said. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. Investors in Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Company Limited (HKG:2006) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 41%. That's well bellow the market return of -5.0%. Even if you look out three years, the returns are still disappointing, with the share price down (the share price is down 40%) in that time. Unfortunately the share price momentum is still quite negative, with prices down 11% in thirty days. View our latest analysis for Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price. Even though the Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) share price is down over the year, its EPS actually improved. It's quite possible that growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past. By glancing at these numbers, we'd posit that the the market had expectations of much higher growth, last year. But other metrics might shed some light on why the share price is down. Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group)'s dividend seems healthy to us, so we doubt that the yield is a concern for the market. The revenue trend doesn't seem to explain why the share price is down. Of course, it could simply be that it simply fell short of the market consensus expectations. You can see how revenue and earnings have changed over time in the image below, (click on the chart to see cashflow). Story continues SEHK:2006 Income Statement, May 2nd 2019 Balance sheet strength is crucual. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time. What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)? We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group)'s total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. Dividends have been really beneficial for Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) shareholders, and that cash payout explains why its total shareholder loss of 39%, over the last year, isn't as bad as the share price return. A Different Perspective We regret to report that Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) shareholders are down 39% for the year (even including dividends). 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. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 3.9%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings. 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 Michael Taylor KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A new online shopping tool gives Singaporeans the option of buying products made using ethical palm oil, a non-profit behind the scheme said on Thursday, as it looks to tackle the region's haze fires. Launched by the Singapore-based People's Movement to Stop Haze (PM Haze) and advertising agency Havas Group, EcoCart is a Google Chrome 'plugin' that allows online shoppers to identify items that use sustainability produced palm oil. As well as flagging items that do not contain sustainable palm oil, the tool suggests similar products that do. "There are millions of products out there and it's virtually impossible to log every single on of them," said Benjamin Tay, executive director of PM Haze, an advocacy group that looks to find solutions to the region's annual haze problem. "But the important thing is this provides a potential avenue for people to realize what products are sustainably produced or responsibly sourced," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The first of its kind to be built and launched, according to PM Haze, the tool has a target of getting Singaporeans to make 500,000 'switches' by the end of 2019 and hopes to expand it to identify other ethically produced goods if successful. Globally, consumers and retailers are demanding more information about what they procure, buy and eat, to ensure its production and transportation does not damage the environment, or use illegal and unethical business practices. In response, large consumer goods companies, restaurants and other businesses are looking at ways to attract more customers by offering sustainable products that are guaranteed as free of deforestation or slave labor, for example. Palm oil is the world's most widely used edible oil, found in everything from margarine to biscuits, and soap to soups. But the industry has come under scrutiny in recent years from green activists and consumers, who have blamed it for forest loss and fires, as well as exploitation of workers. Story continues Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil and every year smoke from fires used to clear land for agricultural expansion clouds the skies over large parts of Southeast Asia, raising concerns about public health. Peat fires in 2015 were estimated to have caused up to 100,000 premature deaths, according to the World Resources Institute, and cost the Indonesian economy $16.5 billion. "It's a huge health risk to Singaporeans and our neighbors," said Tay. EcoCart uses publicly available data from the Kuala Lumpur-based Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global watchdog with more than 4,000 members including producers, traders, buyers and green groups. EcoCart currently works with major e-commerce websites Redmart.com, ColdStorage.com.sg and Fairprice.com.sg but hopes to expand with the help of other retailers. Tay said it was hoped the online tool would eventually be used to identify other products that are ethically produced - like cocoa, coffee and paper - and go beyond Singapore. " I see huge potential in using other kinds of products ... The (haze) problem is transboundary so we can't just offer this within Singapore," he said. (Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith 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) 13 investing tips for single moms. No one can juggle plates like a single mom. From getting the kids to school without cereal stuck in their hair to making it to work on time without cereal stuck in yours, life as a single mom is a constant juggling act. Financially speaking, "a single mom has a two-fold problem: providing for the daily financial needs of the household and their future needs as well," says Mark Charnet, founder and CEO of American Prosperity Group in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. "These tasks can seem monumental, especially with only one income earner in the family." So let's make this easy: Here are 13 investing tips for single moms. But first: Build a budget and emergency fund. Before you can start investing you need to make sure you have a solid foundation under your financial feet. This means establishing a budget and emergency fund of three to six months' expenses, says Jennifer Dempsey Fox, president of Bryn Mawr Trust Wealth Management in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. These elements may sound basic, but when you're the sole support financially, having a plan for today and one for just-in-case is important. Without either, your investments are more likely to be at risk of needing to be sold early for funds. Next: Protect your loved ones with life insurance. Part of your financial footing and protecting what's yours is making sure you have appropriate life insurance. As your family's sole supporter, making sure they're taken care of if (heaven forbid) something should happen to you is important. "A simple rule of thumb is 10 times mom's annual income," Charnet says. Now: Start investing as early as possible. This one's for all the investors out there, not just single moms: The best thing you can do for your investments is to start funding them yesterday. "Longer term savings will compound over time," says Traci Mabrey, head of wealth solutions at Broadridge Financial Solutions. Starting to invest early is especially important for single mothers, who often find themselves at odds with the clock trying to get everything done. Let time work for you, not against you by investing early and consistently. Story continues Invest to your strengths. Single moms have one thing many investors don't: the ability to plan and plan well. "The successful single moms I'm friends with and work with are by definition planners," Fox says. They have to plan their week, their kids schedules and all the logistics that go into both. Utilize that skill when starting to invest by building a plan for yourself and your investments. How much do you want to invest to begin with? How often will you add to your investments? How can you make sure you increase your contributions over time? Define and prioritize your financial goals. As your investment plan starts to take shape, make sure you have clarity around your financial goals and priorities. Goals-based investing has shown to be a successful, long-term investing strategy and one that single moms will likely be adept at. To use it successfully, you need to know what you're investing for and how long you have to reach that goal. The challenge will likely be less defining your goals and more prioritizing them. Prioritize retirement savings before college savings. No mom, single or otherwise, wants to be a burden to her children. The inclination for most single moms is to put their kids' needs ahead of their own. But this can backfire when you reach retirement unprepared after years of putting others first financially. As a single mom, covering costs in retirement will likely come down to you, yourself and your kids. Any retirement shortfalls on your end will likely become your kids' responsibility. Don't delay saving for retirement until your youngest has flown the nest, Fox says. "You can always borrow for college; you can't borrow for retirement." Take advantage of free money. Few appreciate financial support more than a single mom. When every dollar you earn needs to stretch over multiple mouths, the more dollars you can get, the better. Don't leave free money on the table: If your employer offers a 401(k) match, max that out first and foremost. 401(k)s are also great ways to start investing because they often have fewer investment options (read: fewer decisions to be made on top of what to make for dinner) and a hotline you can call for free advice. "If you're self-employed, make sure you're taking advantage of all the other retirement vehicles available to you," Fox says. Take advantage of free tools. Another benefit of 401(k) plans is their tools. "A lot of them will provide risk tolerance questions" to help you determine your target asset allocation, Fox says. Then they can help you identify funds that will fit your desired asset allocation. Your 401(k) can also be a launching point for investing outside of your company retirement plan: If and when they start investing outside of their 401(k), some folks will just mimic or mirror their 401(k) allocation, Fox says. Plan for long-term health care. Saving for retirement means more than just having enough to cover your living expenses; there's also the hungry beast in the room that is health care. People's life expectancies are growing every day and women already statistically live longer than men. It's essential for single moms to have adequate health care coverage, Mabrey says. Add lines to your financial goals for the cost of health care in your retirement. Your family history can help you forecast future health care expenses. Use 529 plans. Once you've saved for retirement, you can turn an eye toward your kids' education. "Consider contributing to a 529 plan for the kids early or let relatives know that you would appreciate gifts to a 529 plan for the kids," says Cathy Curtis, a certified financial planner and founder of Curtis Financial Planning in Oakland, California. 529 plans are tax-advantaged investment accounts that let you save for primary or secondary private school tuition or college. "There is not a tax deduction for contributions, but the money grows tax-deferred and if used for qualified education expenses, there is no tax on withdrawals," Curtis says, making them powerful savings strategies for single moms. Automate investing to take it off your recurring to-do list. Whether you're investing in a company-sponsored plan or on your own, the best thing a single mom can do is automate investing. When "no one has time for that" is the catch-phrase of your life, automating chores is the holy grail. "Start a systematic investment program directly from mom's checkbook into a series of mutual funds geared toward long-term growth," Charnet says. Aim for weekly or monthly contributions. As your income increases, so, too, should your contributions. The same holds true for your kids: "When a child receives a cash gift for birthdays or holidays, it should be added to his or her allocated fund balance," Charnet says. Save yourself time by getting guidance on your terms. Speaking of time management, investing is one area where you have full permission to make it work on your schedule. "Time is probably the biggest enemy of a single mom," Fox says. Being able to find resources that can communicate with you when and how you want is essential, she says. Whether that's a human advisor who doesn't mind Skype meetings, a robo advisor with 24/7 chat support or a firm that provides free online tools so you can research yourself in your spare time, look for guidance that can be there when you want it and not the other way around. Be confident. Finally, go forth with confidence. "It's all confidence in investing," Fox says. For single moms there's often "moments of doubt just because kids will do that to you." But investing needn't feel that way. "Be confident," Fox says. "You've got this." And if you don't, there's a whole industry of people, robots and resources here to help. The single mom's guide to investing. -- Build a budget and emergency fund. -- Protect your loved ones with life insurance. -- Start investing as early as possible. -- Invest to your strengths. -- Define and prioritize your financial goals. -- Prioritize retirement savings before college savings. -- Take advantage of "free money." -- Take advantage of free tools. -- Plan for long-term health care. -- Use 529 plans. -- Automate investing to take it off your recurring to-do list. -- Save yourself time by getting guidance on your terms. -- Be confident. Coryanne Hicks is an investing reporter for U.S. News & World Report. She is an expert at investing strategies and theories, investor education, investing psychology and behavioral finance. Previously, she was a fully-licensed financial professional at Fidelity Investments where she helped clients make more informed financial decisions. She has ghostwritten financial guidebooks for industry professionals and even a personal memoir. She is passionate about improving financial literacy and believes a little education can go a long way. You can contact her at crhicks@usnews.com. The appearance of the US attorney general, William Barr, before the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday was always certain to be a high-stakes event. Barr had already been accused of misleading the American people in his four-page summary of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Then, on Tuesday, news broke that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, had written a letter to Barr on 27 March complaining about how the attorney general had presented his report to the public. That revelation set up an epic clash between Trumps handpicked head of the justice department and leaving Democrats scenting blood. Here are five takeaways from the proceedings: William Barr: Trumps lead defense counsel As the head of the US justice department, Barr swears an oath to the US constitution. Yet at key points in his testimony he let his guard down, speaking as though he were the legal representative of the president. How did we get to the point here, where the evidence is now that the president was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians? he said. Two years of his administration have been dominated by the allegations that have now been proven false. Related: William Barr defiant amid calls to resign over his handling of Mueller report In fact, Mueller did not look into collusion specifically, as it is not a federal offense. His investigation did cite multiple links between Trump campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government, though it did not establish an overarching conspiracy. Mueller also identified 11 actions in which Trump or his associates had potentially obstructed justice. Muellers clear implication was that Congress should decide whether to prosecute those actions as crimes. In the end, Barr stepped in and made his own determination that there was insufficient evidence of obstruction to merit charges. Under intense questioning, the 2020 presidential candidate and Democratic senator from California Kamala Harris forced Barr to admit that he had made that decision without having looked at any of the underlying evidence that Mueller had so painstakingly gathered. Story continues Yet you represented to the American public that the evidence was not sufficient to support an obstruction of justice offence, a disbelieving Harris remarked. Barrs veracity questioned The attorney general was accused by several Democrats of giving false or misleading answers. Barr told senators that he had had a phone conversation with Mueller after he received the special counsels 27 March letter complaining about his four-page summary. Barr said he asked the special counsel whether he thought the summary had been inaccurate, and he said no but that the press reporting had been inaccurate. In his letter, released on Wednesday, Mueller was indeed critical of Barrs summary. It did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions, he wrote. Several Democrats accused Barr of lying to Congress, pointing to earlier testimony the attorney general had given to a House committee in April in which he said he was unaware of any reservations on the part of Mueller or his team about the accuracy of his summary. Barr was addressing the committee weeks after he had received Muellers letter of complaint about just that. Barr was unrepentant, dismissing Muellers letter as a bit snitty and probably written by one of his staff people. Democrats on the warpath Senior Democrats seized the opportunity to vent their fury about the way the Mueller report had been handled, specifically by Barr. The Vermont senator Patrick Leahy accused the AG of testimony that was purposefully misleading. Responding to Barrs less than forthright answers, Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island erupted: I mean, boy! Thats some masterful hair-splitting. History will judge you harshly, said Richard Blumenthal, from Connecticut. Several Democratic contenders in the 2020 presidential race both in and out of the Senate hearing called on Barr to resign. They included Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. The harshest criticism came from Mazie Hirono, from Hawaii, who blurted out: Mr attorney general, give us some credit for knowing what the hell is going on around here with you. She was reprimanded by the Republican chairing the hearing, Lindsey Graham, who accused her of slandering the witness. Standout performance (1): Lindsey Graham The committee chair distinguished even himself in the lengths he was prepared to go to defend Trump. Instead of focusing on the judiciary committees role as a check on both the presidency and the justice department, Graham inaccurately stated that the special counsel had found no collusion, no coordination, no conspiracy. He also tried to deflect attention away from Muellers actual findings and on to that old chestnut Hillary Clintons use of a private email server in her role as former US secretary of state. How that related to Russian efforts to distort the US presidential election was unclear. Its over, Graham declared grandly at the end of the hearing. Given the mood of the Democratic side of the aisle, it didnt look like that. Standout performance (2): Kamala Harris The senator from California put her experience as her states top prosecutor to full use in her grilling of Barr. In just five minutes, she had the US attorney general squirming. Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? was one of her laser-like probes. Erm. I wouldnt, I wouldnt, ah Barr replied. Yes or no? she snapped, looking at him as she would a shoplifter in the dock. Im trying to grapple with the word suggest, Barr floundered. Hinted, inferred, Harris offered as alternatives. I dont know, the countrys top law enforcement official said. You dont know. OK, Harris said, and she swiftly moved on. Addis Ababa (AFP) - South Sudan's rival parties began two days of talks in Addis Ababa on Thursday in a bid to salvage a peace deal, with just days left before a unity government is meant to be formed. President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and a handful of other groups inked the peace deal in September 2018, the latest in a string of efforts to end a devastating conflict now in its sixth year. But the parties have failed to resolve several crunch issues before a power-sharing government is to be installed on May 12. Representatives of the parties gathered in Addis for a meeting called by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc for East Africa, holding prayers before going into a closed session. Government has insisted the meeting focus on how to push forward with the formation of the unity government. Machar's camp, though, wants a six-month delay to resolve security and other issues that, it says, prevent him from making his return. "There are key issues not implemented according to the matrix of the revitalized peace agreement," Kang Pal Chol, a senior member of Machar's SPLM-IO party, told journalists at the start of the meeting. "We've proposed a timeline that for these key issues to be implemented, we need this six months for us to achieve the unfinished business." "We expect the meeting to come out with the solution as the 12th of May is approaching. We expect the leaders of South Sudan will come to their senses and agree on what will move the country forward." South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei, told journalists that "if the government wasn't ready for the May 12 deadline, we wouldn't have come here." Machar is living in exile in Khartoum, having been hounded out of Juba in a hail of gunfire in 2016 when a prior deal collapsed. He is supposed to return as first vice president under the new deal. An official with the body overseeing the implementation of the peace agreement, Augostino Njoroge, said that of 59 key tasks to be implemented, only 27 have been completed. Story continues Of the others, 17 were ongoing and 15 were pending, meaning that they had yet to be broached. "Unfortunately, the pending tasks are the most critical and consequential to the implementation of the Agreement," he said in a statement issued by IGAD. Observers say that crucial steps envisioned in the deal such as establishing a unified army and discussing security control of the capital have yet to take place. Another key issue to be resolved is the contentious matter of internal boundaries. - Lack of political will - South Sudan's war broke out two years after independence, after Kiir accused his Machar, his former vice president, of plotting a coup against him. Battles between members of Machar's Nuer community and Kiir's Dinka people were characterised by brutal violence on both sides, rape and UN warnings about "ethnic cleansing". An August 2015 peace deal collapsed almost a year after it was signed and the conflict spread, drawing in more groups around the country. The fighting has killed around 380,000 people and forced more than four million South Sudanese -- almost a third of the population -- to flee their homes. While the latest peace deal largely stopped fighting, violence has continued in some regions with rebel groups who did not sign up to it. A reported issued on Tuesday by a UN expert panel warned that patience was wearing thin. "Commanders, fighters and civilians... have yet to see the benefits of the bargains struck by their leaders," it said. The report pointed to government resistance to provisions in the deal for warring parties to canton their troops, demilitarise civilian areas, collect certain types of heavy weapons and reveal the size and location of their forces. The latest peace deal was also largely pushed by longtime Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. His ouster has raised fears there is no-one in the region who has the will or influence to get the South Sudanese to implement the accord. (Corrects day of week in first paragraph and corrects location of accident in third paragraph) By Joey Roulette CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 2 (Reuters) - Nearly two weeks after a fiery explosion during a ground test of its new crew capsule, SpaceX confirmed on Thursday that the vehicle was destroyed, but neither the company nor NASA, its primary customer, have publicly acknowledged the nature of the mishap. Instead, Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of flight reliability for California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp, known as SpaceX, continued to refer to the accident simply as an "anomaly" - science jargon for when something goes wrong. The April 20 accident occurred on a landing zone at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as SpaceX was conducting a test of emergency thrusters designed to propel the capsule, dubbed Crew Dragon, to safety from atop the rocket in the event of a launch failure. An attempt to test-fire the eight SuperDraco engines triggered the accident, demolishing the entire vehicle on a test stand, Koenigsmann told reporters at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "Just prior, before we wanted to fire the SuperDraco, there was an anomaly and the vehicle was destroyed," Koenigsmann said on Thursday. "There were no injuries. SpaceX had taken all safety measures prior to this test, as we always do." The news conference was called ahead of Friday's scheduled launch of an unmanned resupply mission to the international space station using a cargo-only capsule built by SpaceX, the private rocket venture of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. LEAKED VIDEO When pressed, Koenigsmann declined to characterize the nature of the accident, including whether an explosion or fire was involved. NASA has likewise demurred when asked to describe the mishap. A leaked video of the accident, which was acknowledged as authentic by a NASA contractor in an internal memo obtained by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, showed the astronaut capsule blasting into smithereens. A pall of smoke was also widely observed rising over the launch pad from a distance at the time of the ill-fated test. Story continues The Crew Dragon had been scheduled to carry U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station in a test mission in July, although the recent accident, as well as some other hitches in the vehicle's design, are likely to push that schedule to later in the year or into 2020. "Its certainly not great news for the schedule overall, but I hope we can recover," Koenigsmann said. The destroyed vehicle was one of six such capsules built or in late production by SpaceX, and the first flown into space. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched it without crew to the space station in March for a six-day visit before returning to Earth, splashing down safely in the Atlantic for retrieval. "We have no reason to believe there is an issue with the SuperDracos themselves," Koenigsmann said, adding that the engines have been tested nearly 600 times in the past. NASA has been awarded $6.8 billion to SpaceX and rival Boeing Co to develop separate capsule systems to fly astronauts to space, but both companies have faced technical challenges and delays. (Reporting by Joey Roulette at Cape Canaveral, Florida; editing by Steve Gorman and G Crosse) (This story is part of a series, "The China Challenge," about China's growing military power) By Greg Torode and David Lague HONG KONG, May 2 (Reuters) - Recent visitors to the bay surrounding a submarine base on the southern coast of China's Hainan Island describe a curious nocturnal phenomenon. Powerful spotlights are sometimes trained directly on the ocean frontages of neighboring hotels at night, making visibility out to sea virtually impossible. Some of the lights are mounted on land and others on passing naval patrol boats. "The effect is incredible," said one recent visitor. "The glare is so great you can hardly stand it on the balcony. You go inside and draw the curtains tight." The blinding lights cannot obscure something of intense interest to the world's military intelligence agencies: evidence that China has made a breakthrough in its drive to rival America and Russia as a nuclear arms power. Satellite imagery reveals the regular presence of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines at the strategic base near the resort city of Sanya. Specialized surface warships and aircraft designed to protect the subs are prowling key waterways off the coast. Facilities at the base appear to have been built to store and load ballistic missiles. Antenna arrays that support the hunt for foreign submarines have appeared on Chinese-held islands in the hotly contested South China Sea. And a veteran submariner has been appointed to command Chinese forces in the south of the country. Taken together, this means China has a force of missile submarines that can launch nuclear attacks from beneath the waves and now appear to be heading out on patrols, according to serving and retired naval officers, diplomats and security analysts. That gives Beijing something it has until recently lacked: a more reliable "second strike" capability if its land-based nuclear arsenal comes under attack. Story continues See the interactive version here: https://reut.rs/2ZO6ar9 After six decades of battling to master complex and challenging subsea military technologies, China has joined the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France in the nuclear ballistic missile submarine club. In its most explicit assessment so far of this Chinese capability, the Pentagon in its latest annual report on China's military, published in August, said that Beijing now has a "credible" and "viable" sea-based nuclear deterrent. An effective fleet of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, known as SSBNs, marks a dramatic boost to China's nuclear capabilities. Each of China's four Jin-class submarines is armed with up to 12 ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead with an estimated range of 7,200 kilometers (about 4,500 miles), according to the Pentagon. That would put the United States within striking distance from the Western Pacific. Analysts at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimate these missiles could fly at least 8,000 kilometers. The U.S. believes China has up to 100 nuclear missiles based on land. Beijing's enhanced nuclear capability is one of the hallmarks of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's ambitious revamping of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world's largest fighting force. China's nuclear submarine fleet, Western strategists say, has added to the challenge that the increasingly powerful Chinese military poses to U.S. dominance in Asia. "The opposing side can never be exactly sure that it knows where all of the submarines are," said Peter Horobin, a retired Australian submarine commander and veteran of the Cold War battles to detect and monitor Soviet subs. China's Ministry of National Defense, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Pentagon did not respond to questions from Reuters. It is still unclear if the Chinese are deploying fully armed submarines to maintain a round-the-clock deterrent, as the other ballistic missile submarine powers do. Some analysts doubt China has advanced that far. But the United States and its allies are behaving as if China has. Western military officials say privately that in operational terms, America and its allies - including Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom - are already attempting to track the movements of China's missile submarines as if they are fully armed and on deterrence patrols. Asked about their role in tracking Chinese subs, Japan and the United Kingdom said they don't comment on operational details. "China's military modernization is consistent with its rapid economic growth," the Australian Department of Defense said. "As with all countries, we encourage China to be transparent about its military capabilities and strategic intentions to provide greater assurance to its neighbors." GROWING STOCKPILE "An armed Jin-class SSBN will give China an important strategic capability that must be countered," Admiral Harry Harris, then head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a congressional committee last year. That response appears to be happening. The United States and its allies are expanding their anti-submarine naval deployments across East Asia. This includes stepped-up patrols of America's advanced, sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon planes out of Singapore and Japan. With its relatively small force of nuclear missiles, Beijing has always worried that it might be vulnerable to a debilitating first strike. These fears were magnified as Chinese military planners watched Washington employ precision-guided weapons in conflicts like the Gulf wars, Afghanistan, Syria and the Balkans. As it strengthens and improves its nuclear arsenal, Beijing is the only major nuclear power to be adding warheads to its stockpiles. China is developing an air-launched ballistic missile and plans to build a long-range stealth bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons. With the sea-based second-strike deterrent in place, those programs suggest Beijing eventually intends to field a triad of air, sea and land-based nuclear weapons like the United States and Russia. In the past two decades, the PLA Rocket Force, the service which controls China's nuclear and conventional missiles, has invested heavily in expanding its stockpile of nuclear warheads and boosted the range and accuracy of the missiles that deliver them. It has also hardened the protection of its silo-based nuclear weapons, according to reports in China's state-controlled media. The Pentagon and official Chinese military publications have reported that China has also deployed modern, road-mobile missiles that are more difficult for an adversary to find and attack. Still, China lags far behind the United States and Russia in overall nuclear firepower. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that China has a total of 280 nuclear warheads. China does not disclose how many of its warheads are deployed and ready for conflict. The United States has 1,750 deployed warheads and Russia 1,600, the institute's 2018 report said. The United States and Russia each have thousands more warheads held in stockpiles, according to the report. Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists, said he had yet to see hard intelligence suggesting China had placed fully armed ballistic missiles on its submarines at sea, despite the intense activity. Just because the submarines exist, he said, "that doesn't mean that they have the weapons aboard the vessels." While acknowledging that China has significantly enhanced its nuclear deterrence, the Pentagon isn't convinced that Chinese subs are yet conducting around-the-clock patrols. In a January report, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the Chinese navy would need a minimum of five Jin-class submarines to maintain a continuous nuclear deterrence at sea. China now has four. UNDERSEA DUELS A fleet of nuclear missile submarines hidden in the vast expanses of the ocean would help offset Beijing's nuclear shortcomings, say Chinese and Western strategists. Chinese naval designers and nuclear technicians have been working to build a force of nuclear missile submarines since the late 1950s. A single vessel was launched in the 1980s, but it was never fully operational. This submarine served as a test bed as Chinese technicians and designers struggled to overcome problems with nuclear propulsion technology, missiles and excessive noise that would have made the vessels easier for an adversary to detect and target. To maximize its second-strike capability, China's missile subs would need to be stealthy enough to go undetected as they sail to their patrol areas in the open ocean. U.S. and other foreign naval analysts say the Jin-class submarines are a sharp improvement over China's earlier efforts, but they remain less stealthy than their U.S., Russian, French and British counterparts. The 11,000-tonne Jin-class submarines are stationed on the southern coast of China's Hainan Island, close to deep water channels leading into and out of the South China Sea. The geography of China's coastal waters has forced Beijing to base its missile submarines in this area, astride one of the world's most important shipping lanes. In the north, the Yellow Sea is too shallow to conceal big, ballistic missile submarines. The East China Sea is deeper but it's confined by the Korean Peninsula, Japan's island chain and Taiwan. And Japanese and U.S. forces can deploy advanced anti-submarine warfare ships and aircraft based in Japan to closely monitor these waters and the channels that pass out into the Western Pacific, where the submarines are ultimately headed. The Chinese need to reach these waters to be in a position to fire on the United States. The South China Sea, by contrast, is much bigger and in parts deeper, making it more suitable for concealed submarine operations, according to Western submariners with extensive experience of patrolling in this area. China would need to get its submarines out of Hainan, past surveillance and into seas east of the Philippines for their missiles to be in striking range of the United States. This is a key reason why China has gone to such lengths to reclaim and fortify islands and reefs in the South China Sea that are expanding Beijing's control over this area, according to Western submariners and military attaches. The sub fleet's vulnerability to detection also explains China's extreme sensitivity to the surveillance operations of the United States and its allies in these waters. A Chinese destroyer sailed within 45 meters of the American destroyer USS Decatur in late September, as the American warship patrolled in the Spratlys, a highly contested island chain where China has expanded its foothold in recent years. It was the latest in a series of close encounters in the past decade. China now appears to be on guard against foreign subs attempting to detect and shadow its ballistic missile fleet. As China's Jin-class vessels put to sea, they appear to be flanked by protective screens of surface warships and aircraft on station to track foreign submarines, according to military officers and analysts familiar with allied surveillance of the Chinese coast. Serving and former senior naval officers also point to the extensive, frequent deployments of the Chinese navy's latest Type 056A corvettes into key waters south of Japan and east of the Philippines. The Type 056A is China's most advanced submarine hunter. It is able to tow sonar arrays and other listening equipment deep beneath the surface to detect enemy submarines advanced technology that China did not have just five years ago. China has also installed an array of sensors, antennas and satellite communications installations on islands in the Spratlys, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The PLA is tracking the foreign undersea hunters from the air, too. It has formed a squadron of Y-8GX6 aircraft on Hainan with the ability to comb vast areas of the sea surface for magnetic anomalies. The turboprop planes have already been seen landing on Woody Island, China's key offshore holding in the South China Sea. These patrols are not the infrequent exercises of the past, but now near-constant deployments, shadowing foreign warships as well. "We're looking at them looking for us," said one Western military attache. FURTIVE FORCE The submarine base near Sanya is now under direct control of the Central Military Commission, the top military decision-making body, chaired by Xi Jinping himself. The new communications installations in the South China Sea have helped knit together the new command structure, allowing tighter control from Beijing, right down to individual vessels. In 2017, Beijing appointed a veteran submariner, Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai, to head the Southern Theater Command, which is responsible for the South China Sea. His promotion was a clear indication of the importance China attaches to supporting nuclear sub operations, according to Chinese naval experts. Yuan is the first naval officer to head a command of this type, a promotion that's part of a sweeping overhaul of the military structure by Xi Jinping. Commercial satellite images of the submarine base give insight into the furtive force stationed there. They appear to show missile submarines regularly tied up alongside long piers in the harbor. Satellite images from Google Earth in June last year show what appear to be three Jin-class missile submarines at the base. The vessels have a distinctive shape, with a hump-like structure that houses the missile tubes behind the sail, the vertical structure that rises from a submarine's hull. Clearly visible in the images: a partially submerged entrance to what appear to be underground submarine pens, beneath a hill next to the harbor. Construction at the base near Sanya also points to the PLA's ability to stealthily arm submarine-launched missiles with nuclear warheads. Western intelligence analysts familiar with satellite imagery of the area say a covered railway has been completed that runs into a hillside bunker the suspected warhead arsenal. The railway in turn is linked by tunnels to the pens built for the submarines. This, they say, means the missiles can be armed and loaded on the submarines without detection. (Reporting Greg Torode and David Lague in Hong Kong. Edited by Peter Hirschberg.) By Greg Torode and David Lague HONG KONG (Reuters) - Recent visitors to the bay surrounding a submarine base on the southern coast of China's Hainan Island describe a curious nocturnal phenomenon. Powerful spotlights are sometimes trained directly on the ocean frontages of neighboring hotels at night, making visibility out to sea virtually impossible. Some of the lights are mounted on land and others on passing naval patrol boats. "The effect is incredible," said one recent visitor. "The glare is so great you can hardly stand it on the balcony. You go inside and draw the curtains tight." The blinding lights cannot obscure something of intense interest to the world's military intelligence agencies: evidence that China has made a breakthrough in its drive to rival America and Russia as a nuclear arms power. Satellite imagery reveals the regular presence of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines at the strategic base near the resort city of Sanya. Specialized surface warships and aircraft designed to protect the subs are prowling key waterways off the coast. Facilities at the base appear to have been built to store and load ballistic missiles. Antenna arrays that support the hunt for foreign submarines have appeared on Chinese-held islands in the hotly contested South China Sea. And a veteran submariner has been appointed to command Chinese forces in the south of the country. Taken together, this means China has a force of missile submarines that can launch nuclear attacks from beneath the waves and now appear to be heading out on patrols, according to serving and retired naval officers, diplomats and security analysts. That gives Beijing something it has until recently lacked: a more reliable "second strike" capability if its land-based nuclear arsenal comes under attack. See the interactive version here: https://reut.rs/2ZO6ar9 After six decades of battling to master complex and challenging subsea military technologies, China has joined the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France in the nuclear ballistic missile submarine club. In its most explicit assessment so far of this Chinese capability, the Pentagon in its latest annual report on China's military, published in August, said that Beijing now has a "credible" and "viable" sea-based nuclear deterrent. An effective fleet of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, known as SSBNs, marks a dramatic boost to China's nuclear capabilities. Each of China's four Jin-class submarines is armed with up to 12 ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead with an estimated range of 7,200 kilometers (about 4,500 miles), according to the Pentagon. That would put the United States within striking distance from the Western Pacific. Analysts at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimate these missiles could fly at least 8,000 kilometers. The U.S. believes China has up to 100 nuclear missiles based on land. Beijing's enhanced nuclear capability is one of the hallmarks of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's ambitious revamping of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world's largest fighting force. China's nuclear submarine fleet, Western strategists say, has added to the challenge that the increasingly powerful Chinese military poses to U.S. dominance in Asia. "The opposing side can never be exactly sure that it knows where all of the submarines are," said Peter Horobin, a retired Australian submarine commander and veteran of the Cold War battles to detect and monitor Soviet subs. China's Ministry of National Defense, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Pentagon did not respond to questions from Reuters. It is still unclear if the Chinese are deploying fully armed submarines to maintain a round-the-clock deterrent, as the other ballistic missile submarine powers do. Some analysts doubt China has advanced that far. But the United States and its allies are behaving as if China has. Western military officials say privately that in operational terms, America and its allies - including Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom - are already attempting to track the movements of China's missile submarines as if they are fully armed and on deterrence patrols. Asked about their role in tracking Chinese subs, Japan and the United Kingdom said they don't comment on operational details. "China's military modernization is consistent with its rapid economic growth," the Australian Department of Defense said. "As with all countries, we encourage China to be transparent about its military capabilities and strategic intentions to provide greater assurance to its neighbors." GROWING STOCKPILE "An armed Jin-class SSBN will give China an important strategic capability that must be countered," Admiral Harry Harris, then head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a congressional committee last year. That response appears to be happening. The United States and its allies are expanding their anti-submarine naval deployments across East Asia. This includes stepped-up patrols of America's advanced, sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon planes out of Singapore and Japan. With its relatively small force of nuclear missiles, Beijing has always worried that it might be vulnerable to a debilitating first strike. These fears were magnified as Chinese military planners watched Washington employ precision-guided weapons in conflicts like the Gulf wars, Afghanistan, Syria and the Balkans. As it strengthens and improves its nuclear arsenal, Beijing is the only major nuclear power to be adding warheads to its stockpiles. China is developing an air-launched ballistic missile and plans to build a long-range stealth bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons. With the sea-based second-strike deterrent in place, those programs suggest Beijing eventually intends to field a triad of air, sea and land-based nuclear weapons like the United States and Russia. In the past two decades, the PLA Rocket Force, the service which controls China's nuclear and conventional missiles, has invested heavily in expanding its stockpile of nuclear warheads and boosted the range and accuracy of the missiles that deliver them. It has also hardened the protection of its silo-based nuclear weapons, according to reports in China's state-controlled media. The Pentagon and official Chinese military publications have reported that China has also deployed modern, road-mobile missiles that are more difficult for an adversary to find and attack. Still, China lags far behind the United States and Russia in overall nuclear firepower. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that China has a total of 280 nuclear warheads. China does not disclose how many of its warheads are deployed and ready for conflict. The United States has 1,750 deployed warheads and Russia 1,600, the institute's 2018 report said. The United States and Russia each have thousands more warheads held in stockpiles, according to the report. Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists, said he had yet to see hard intelligence suggesting China had placed fully armed ballistic missiles on its submarines at sea, despite the intense activity. Just because the submarines exist, he said, "that doesn't mean that they have the weapons aboard the vessels." While acknowledging that China has significantly enhanced its nuclear deterrence, the Pentagon isn't convinced that Chinese subs are yet conducting around-the-clock patrols. In a January report, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the Chinese navy would need a minimum of five Jin-class submarines to maintain a continuous nuclear deterrence at sea. China now has four. UNDERSEA DUELS A fleet of nuclear missile submarines hidden in the vast expanses of the ocean would help offset Beijing's nuclear shortcomings, say Chinese and Western strategists. Chinese naval designers and nuclear technicians have been working to build a force of nuclear missile submarines since the late 1950s. A single vessel was launched in the 1980s, but it was never fully operational. This submarine served as a test bed as Chinese technicians and designers struggled to overcome problems with nuclear propulsion technology, missiles and excessive noise that would have made the vessels easier for an adversary to detect and target. To maximize its second-strike capability, China's missile subs would need to be stealthy enough to go undetected as they sail to their patrol areas in the open ocean. U.S. and other foreign naval analysts say the Jin-class submarines are a sharp improvement over China's earlier efforts, but they remain less stealthy than their U.S., Russian, French and British counterparts. The 11,000-tonne Jin-class submarines are stationed on the southern coast of China's Hainan Island, close to deep water channels leading into and out of the South China Sea. The geography of China's coastal waters has forced Beijing to base its missile submarines in this area, astride one of the world's most important shipping lanes. In the north, the Yellow Sea is too shallow to conceal big, ballistic missile submarines. The East China Sea is deeper but it's confined by the Korean Peninsula, Japan's island chain and Taiwan. And Japanese and U.S. forces can deploy advanced anti-submarine warfare ships and aircraft based in Japan to closely monitor these waters and the channels that pass out into the Western Pacific, where the submarines are ultimately headed. The Chinese need to reach these waters to be in a position to fire on the United States. The South China Sea, by contrast, is much bigger and in parts deeper, making it more suitable for concealed submarine operations, according to Western submariners with extensive experience of patrolling in this area. China would need to get its submarines out of Hainan, past surveillance and into seas east of the Philippines for their missiles to be in striking range of the United States. This is a key reason why China has gone to such lengths to reclaim and fortify islands and reefs in the South China Sea that are expanding Beijing's control over this area, according to Western submariners and military attaches. The sub fleet's vulnerability to detection also explains China's extreme sensitivity to the surveillance operations of the United States and its allies in these waters. A Chinese destroyer sailed within 45 meters of the American destroyer USS Decatur in late September, as the American warship patrolled in the Spratlys, a highly contested island chain where China has expanded its foothold in recent years. It was the latest in a series of close encounters in the past decade. China now appears to be on guard against foreign subs attempting to detect and shadow its ballistic missile fleet. As China's Jin-class vessels put to sea, they appear to be flanked by protective screens of surface warships and aircraft on station to track foreign submarines, according to military officers and analysts familiar with allied surveillance of the Chinese coast. Serving and former senior naval officers also point to the extensive, frequent deployments of the Chinese navy's latest Type 056A corvettes into key waters south of Japan and east of the Philippines. The Type 056A is China's most advanced submarine hunter. It is able to tow sonar arrays and other listening equipment deep beneath the surface to detect enemy submarines advanced technology that China did not have just five years ago. China has also installed an array of sensors, antennas and satellite communications installations on islands in the Spratlys, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The PLA is tracking the foreign undersea hunters from the air, too. It has formed a squadron of Y-8GX6 aircraft on Hainan with the ability to comb vast areas of the sea surface for magnetic anomalies. The turboprop planes have already been seen landing on Woody Island, China's key offshore holding in the South China Sea. These patrols are not the infrequent exercises of the past, but now near-constant deployments, shadowing foreign warships as well. "We're looking at them looking for us," said one Western military attache. FURTIVE FORCE The submarine base near Sanya is now under direct control of the Central Military Commission, the top military decision-making body, chaired by Xi Jinping himself. The new communications installations in the South China Sea have helped knit together the new command structure, allowing tighter control from Beijing, right down to individual vessels. In 2017, Beijing appointed a veteran submariner, Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai, to head the Southern Theater Command, which is responsible for the South China Sea. His promotion was a clear indication of the importance China attaches to supporting nuclear sub operations, according to Chinese naval experts. Yuan is the first naval officer to head a command of this type, a promotion that's part of a sweeping overhaul of the military structure by Xi Jinping. Commercial satellite images of the submarine base give insight into the furtive force stationed there. They appear to show missile submarines regularly tied up alongside long piers in the harbor. Satellite images from Google Earth in June last year show what appear to be three Jin-class missile submarines at the base. The vessels have a distinctive shape, with a hump-like structure that houses the missile tubes behind the sail, the vertical structure that rises from a submarine's hull. Clearly visible in the images: a partially submerged entrance to what appear to be underground submarine pens, beneath a hill next to the harbor. Construction at the base near Sanya also points to the PLA's ability to stealthily arm submarine-launched missiles with nuclear warheads. Western intelligence analysts familiar with satellite imagery of the area say a covered railway has been completed that runs into a hillside bunker the suspected warhead arsenal. The railway in turn is linked by tunnels to the pens built for the submarines. This, they say, means the missiles can be armed and loaded on the submarines without detection. (GRAPHIC: How China is replacing America as Asias military titan - https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-xi/) (GRAPHIC: New missile gap leaves U.S. scrambling to counter China - https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-rockets/) (GRAPHIC: Chinas vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific - https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-navy/) (Reporting Greg Torode and David Lague in Hong Kong. Edited by Peter Hirschberg.) Eight days after the April 21 bombings in Sri Lanka left at least 253 dead, the government announced that all face coverings would be banned in public, saying the move would help the search for those involved. The bombings, carried out by alleged Islamist militants who targeted churches and high-end hotels, were the most fatal violence the country has suffered since its civil war ended in 2009. Although the ban did not specifically mention Islamic veils, critics have denounced the measure for stirring suspicions against Muslims, who make up 9.7% of Sri Lankas diverse population. After ISIS on April 23 claimed responsibility for the attacks, there were reports of mobs roaming the streets and beatings of Muslim residents. Nearly 1,000 mostly Muslim refugees fled or were forced out of their homes in the week following the bombings, according to Human Rights Watch. No deaths have so far been reported, but in that climate, Muslim community leaders say, the ban on face coverings was ill-conceivedespecially given that they had already agreed to a voluntary suspension of veil wearing. The face-covering ban hasnt been the only decision to draw scrutiny of Sri Lankas response to the Easter Sunday attacks. For nine days after the attacks, the government blocked social-media services including Facebook and WhatsApp in an attempt to stop the spread of misinformation; its unclear whether that made a difference. Meanwhile, some of those behind the plot are still believed to be at large. A shoot-out on April 26 left 15 people dead, including three suspected suicide bombers and six children, according to authorities. The Sri Lankan government has been heavily criticized for its failure to prevent the attacks despite receiving advance warnings from Indian intelligence agencies. The country has a long history of ethnic tension, and in recent years Buddhist nationalists (who are part of the Sinhalese majority) have attacked both Muslims and Christians. With presidential elections due to be held by the end of 2019, whether their government can protect the country from future violencewithout widening religious fault linesis on the minds of many Sri Lankans. Nathalie Don Love 'em or hate 'em, every mom clashes with her in-laws. Scroll down any message board and you're bound to read hair-raising tales like the ones on Parenting.com's Facebook page. As one mom writes, "My MIL comes over once a week to spend time with my son and uses that day to tell me what I am doing wrongI'm feeding him too much; he's not ready to walk yet; it's too cold outside; it's too hot outside; it's too windy outside; his feet are cold; his feet are hot. Apparently, I'm an idiot and she is Dr. Spock. My husband and I have fought so much over her." Writes another mom: "Most of the time, we visit my in-laws at their house or at a restaurant, where we pay for their meal (even though I stay home and we are on a limited budget, they never even pretend to offer). One time my MIL handed me a 'gift' for my daughter and said, 'I'm not sure what this is, but here.' Hey, nice to see you put some thought into the gift." Sound familiar? If you're like most moms, you can weather the friction with your own parents way better than you can with your in-laws. After all, you've been negotiating with your parents forever. With your in-laws, you aren't always sure what you're allowed to say and how you're expected to express it. You may find yourself saying the wrong thing and hurting their feelings. Or you may keep silent while your resentment grows and grows. RELATED: How I Learned to Parent in Front of My Judgy Relatives And just to make things even more complicated, your husband probably has a huge investment in keeping his parents happy. As one mom says, "Every time I bring up something that my in-laws did or said that bothered me, my husband just starts defending them and makes excuses for them." So when the two of you don't agree about how to handle conflicts with his parents, you've suddenly got two conflicts on your hands. Story continues You may never feel as comfortable with your mate's family as with your own, but working out such squabbles is crucial: These people will be in your life for a long time. Of course, it's impossible to head off all clashes. But there are ways to cool down even the hottest hot-button issues: Your in-laws are too involved In-town grandparents may expect to be included in every family outing; long-distance ones can monopolize vacation time: "My in-laws only make the trip to our house once a year, so they expect us to spend all our vacations with them," says one Tennessee mom. (Like all the moms quoted in this article, she didn't want to go public.) "My husband doesn't mind using all our travel time to see his parents, but it drives me crazy that we never have the chance to get away as a family." Before you can cure grandparents of wanting too much of your family's time, you have to get your husband on board with the idea of cutting them back. And even though kids do thrive when they have close relationships with grandparents, it's equally important for you to have some time, guilt-free, to strengthen your own family bond, says Susan Newman, Ph.D., author of The Book of NO: 250 Ways to Say Itand Mean Itand Stop People-Pleasing Forever. So let your husband know that what you want is to have more time together, not to punish his parents, and he'll be more likely to see things your way. Then be prepared to compromise: You may need to cut back on your own parents' visits. If your husband sees you making sacrifices, he's less likely to resent the ones you want him to make. And you both need to plan your vacation time so that you take some family trips each year sans relatives. As for the grandparents, let your husband figure out the best way to tell them that your next visit won't happen as soon as they'd like. If he has a hard time confronting his parents, tell him he has toyou need to keep your relationship with them on an even keel and they'll accept the news better from him anyway. To lessen the sting, you can step up your efforts to make your ILs feel connected in other ways: Scan the kids' artwork and e-mail it, and encourage frequent telephone chats with the grandkids. They won't like the change, but if all goes well, they'll come to accept it as the norm. With in-laws who live close by, the trick is to avoid an ugly confrontation but still get what you need. If you don't want your in-laws tagging along on every special outing, just keep mum about the immediate-family-only ones. If one of the kids spills the beans, explain that you've already made plans but you'd love to have them over for supper later in the week instead. Especially if you offer a compromise, they ought to be okay, says Newman. They think you're over-the-top for being safety-conscious "I couldn't believe it when I heard that my four-month-old always slept through the night at my in-laws'," says one mom, a nurse who occasionally works nights and whose husband travels frequently. "Then I found out they were putting Carrie down to sleep on her tummy, which I know is a huge risk for sudden infant death syndrome. I really flipped out then." The trick is to be firm without looking like you're accusing your in-laws of deliberately putting their grandkid in danger. As calmly as you can, tell them it makes you feel too uncomfortable when they do things their way. You can say, "I know things were different when you were raising kids, but our doctor insists on [whatever safety measure they're flouting] and we need to be absolutely sure everyone is following her instructions." They may still think it's all overkill, but they're more likely to understand that you're simply following doctor's orders, not criticizing their ability to take care of a child. They interfere "It's hard for grandparents not to give advice on child rearing because they care so much about the kids," points out Susie Kohl, author of The Best Things Parents Do and a mother-in-law herself. But some advice isn't welcome and may be dead wrong. If your in-laws tell you to spank a child who's throwing a tantrum, just state your position directly: "We think time-outs work really well with Evan." Then let it go; you don't need to convert your in-laws to your position. When Kohl herself oversteps, her daughter-in-law says, "Don't worry, I can handle it," and then changes the subject. But sometimes you can't just blow it off. One California mom was outraged when her in-laws decided to give her 3-year-old "speech therapy" (which they weren't qualified to do in the first place) when they were babysitting. "They kept telling me that David talks funny, and I kept telling them that his pediatrician wasn't worried," says the mom. "But one day when I got to their house to pick up my son, he was talking with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He was self-conscious about his speech for a long time after that." When in-laws overstep their bounds like that, let them know how angry and upset you are, but soften the message by saying, "I know you're trying to help, but this is a sensitive issue, and we'd like to handle it ourselves." Your in-laws need to know that you are the parent: They had their shot at raising kids, and now they have no choice but to follow your lead, whether they agree or not. They criticize your decisions Sometimes in-law comments are nothing more than thinly disguised disapproval. One Michigan mother says, "My mother-in-law kept saying how wonderful it was that my kids loved their nanny so much, and how lucky I was that she could be with them while I worked such longhours!" A Minnesota mother meets with much more open criticism every time her husband stays home from work to care for a sick child, despite the fact that his job is flexible and he loves the one-on-one time. "They think I'm being a bad wife and a bad mother," she says. It's best to take the straightforward, honest approach, says Newman. Tell them you don't appreciate being judged and held to their impossible standards. At least they're put on notice and made aware of your feelings. And although you may not be able to change their minds, for sanity's sake, it can't hurt to bring in some outside authority to shore up your position, like an article you read, say, on why having a hands-on dad is good for kids. They don't support your family rules If your kids see their grandparents only a few times a year, this may be one of those things you compromise about: It won't hurt a child to stay up late or watch an extra hour of TV every now and then. But if your kids spend a lot of time at Grandma's, better step in. One Alabama grandmother lives three doors down, and the kids were constantly bringing home goody bags full of candy until their mother, who'd tried every other method of getting her message across, finally mentioned that she'd be sending all dental bills to Grandma from that point on. Usually it doesn't take such extreme measures to get grandparents to comply. A simple explanation and the offer of an alternative ought to do the trick: "Jenna's such a picky eater that I hate for her to fill up on cookies. I'm going to bring over some cheese or raisins." Grandparents just want to make the kids happy; your job is to give them the tools so they don't (or won't) break obvious family rules. They expect too much from their son One set of Mississippi in-laws think nothing of asking their son to drive to their house40 minutes each wayseveral times a week to water the plants when they're out of town. "If he goes after work, it takes so long that he doesn't get home until well after the kids are in bed," his wife says. The problem here may only be cluelessness: "Grandparents probably didn't have such an overwhelming experience when they were new parents, so they don't always understand the stresses on families today," says Kohl. One solution is to tell them what your lives are like, so they realize that the kind of favor they're asking is hard to provide in your circumstances. Once they get the picture, they'll probably stop asking. But maybe not: "Asking too much of a married son with a family can be a way for parents to keep their son in their lives and control him," says Newman. And a son who complies with unreasonable requestseven when they cause an obvious strain on his own family's resourcesmay need some help in getting past the guilt of saying no. If the in-law requests keep coming, try to come up with a compromise your husband can live with: For instance, the Mississippi dad could tell his parents he'll be glad to help out on the weekends, but it would be better to get one of the neighbors to lend a hand during the week. Or hire a neighborhood teen to make the drive for him once or twice while his parents are away. Whatever your situation, your husband will be letting his parents know that he wants to help, but on terms that won't make your lives impossible. They don't help out as much as you'd like This situation can be tricky because grandparents certainly have the right to set their own boundaries, just as you do, says Kohl. Being with young children is draining, and if your in-laws don't feel up to the challenges, or if their lives are already filled with work and other projects, you have to accept their choice. On the other hand, they may not volunteer because they don't realize how much you need the help. Spell out your needs clearly. One Idaho grandmother, a real estate agent, frequently canceled visits with her new grandson if a client called at the last minutea practice she stopped when her son quietly explained that his wife was suffering postpartum depression. "As soon as my husband told her what was going on, she immediately offered to rearrange her schedule to be available whenever I needed a break," says the mom. If you don't know whether your in-laws are trying to establish boundaries or simply don't realize how much help you'd welcome, ask them if they're interested in having some one-on-one time with their grandkids or if they might be up for last-minute babysitting. If the answer is "We'd love to help out, but our schedule is packed right now," don't ask again. And if the answer is "Sure!!" then pour on the gratitude. You won't iron out all the clashes, but working out the conflicts offers a huge payoff for your kids. They're the ones who benefit most when all the people who love them get along. RELATED: The Grandparent Trap A Lesson in Diplomacy 101 Some in-laws are harder to deal with than others, and some are flat-out impossible, but experts agree that most relationships can flourish when certain ground rules apply. And if you're having more trouble negotiating with your own parents, these tips can apply to them, too: If you don't want habitual drop-bys or constant advice, the time to stop them is now, before they become a habit. Otherwise, you run the risk of blowing your top at the worst possible moment. One Colorado mom of three admits that when she finally spoke up after years of resenting the way her MIL constantly contradicted her, her mom-in-law walked out of the house and didn't come back for a week. For the sake of family peace, you may have to let the little things go while you hold the line on the big stuff. For example, you know it's better for everyone if your child gets to bed at a decent hour. So let your in-laws know that's the rule the next time they come over to babysit. But you'll probably have to give in on those two slices of pie for dinner. Sometimes telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth is unnecessarily hurtful. If you don't feel comfortable leaving your baby alone with elderly grandparents, get a babysitter. And if Grandma persists, say something pleasant like "I really appreciate all your offers of help, but having a sitter who knows the routine is a lot easier for me, and I'm so frazzled at the moment, I just need to do the easiest thing I can." Then let it go. After moving to Mexico in the mid-1930s, Cuban designer Clara Porset began researching the furniture of the regionand one low wooden chair captured her interest. The butaque, a Colonial-era hybrid of Spanish X-frame chairs and pre-Columbian ritual duhos, appeared in late16th century Venezuela and proliferated across trade routes from New Orleans to Havana. When the port city of Campeche, Mexico, became a hub of production, the seat made its way to the U.S., where it was called the Campeche (or Campeachy) chair and counted Thomas Jefferson among its fans. The former president acquired one in 1819 and had it copied and adapted. Monticello, Jeffersons house-museum, sells a reproduction of one of the versions he owned. Photo by Spencer Lowell. Mexicos butaque was right up Porsets alley. She was attracted, she wrote, to furniture that exhibited an acute sensitivity to a regions climate, natural materials, level of technical development, and evolution in terms of its social structure, aesthetics, and customs. In homage, the designer tapped artisans to create versions in local materials like oak, mahogany, wicker, and leather. Photo by Guillermo Soto. Her ergonomic adaptation in structure makes it modern, explains Porset archivist Jorge Vadillo Lopez. Architect Luis Barragan commissioned some of Porsets butaques, and designer-artists Anni and Josef Albers produced a series of seats based on one. Sourcing a Porset original, though, can be nearly impossible. The key is provenance, says curator Ana Elena Mallet, author of Silla Mexicana. She suggests tracing any chair to the house it was made for or locating a metal plate, bearing Porsets name and address, attached to some designs. Esther McCoy papers, 1876-1990, bulk, 1938-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Today most butaque admirers have turned to faithful reproductions. Roman Alonso of AD100 firm Commune, who grew up around the ubiquitous design in his native Venezuela, used vintage examples as models for the butaques in Communes American Trade Hotel in Panama. Now theres another option: furnituremaker Lutecas authorized Porset reproductions (with her estates blessing) from $3,790. luteca.com Kellin McGowan has one more thing to be proud of on top of attending a prestigious college this fall. With a 4.57 GPA, the high school senior, who will enroll at the University of Chicago, is St. Thomas High School's first black valedictorian in the Houston school's 119-year history, according to KHOU. "By being valedictorian, I think that I can change some people's perspective about my race specifically," McGowan told the station. Founded in 1900, St. Thomas is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school that serves young men from 9th through 12th grade. "The guys here are really competitive academically," the school's principal Aaron Dominguez told the station. "They support each other. They hold each other up, but they're also vying to be the very, very best." While McGowan stood out with his grades, he also impressed his fellow classmates and faculty members with his character. His peers, for example, selected him to receive the high school's Albert R. Gaelens Award, which is given to the person who best exemplifies St. Thomas' motto of "Teach me goodness, discipline and knowledge." Many of McGowan's teachers showered him with praise, with one claiming that he was "God's superhero." "You will never meet a nicer person," English teacher Darrell Yarbrough told KHOU. Following his high school graduation, McGowan plans to major in political science and hopes to attend law school in the near future to become an immigration attorney. By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some U.S. House Democrats on Thursday said they might seek to invoke a dormant congressional power to impose fines on Attorney General William Barr after he refused to provide them with an unredacted copy of the Mueller report. Discussion of using their "inherent contempt" power came after Barr also refused to appear at a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing meant to delve into his handling of the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. "Congress' power will not be abdicated. We will enforce it," Democrat Ted Lieu told reporters in remarks that reflected a growing view among some Democrats that President Donald Trump is challenging the basic oversight role of Congress. "We can start imposing fines on that person immediately upon contempt off the House floor. And we will go there if he does not cooperate," said Lieu, a House Judiciary Committee member. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he may move to hold Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with the subpoena for the full report, which describes Russia's interference in Trump's favour in the 2016 U.S. election and Trump's subsequent attempts to impede Mueller's probe. The Trump administration's efforts to stonewall several congressional probes of the president, his family and his businesses are pushing congressional Democrats to explore options to enforce subpoenas. The unprecedented imposition of fines would represent an aggressive counter attack to the Trump administration. A Justice Department spokeswoman had no comment. A contempt citation is a legal tool to put some bite into their investigations, though it is not often used. [nL1N22E0M6] A contempt finding requires majority votes by the committee involved and then the full House or Senate, but not both. Enforcement would normally be done through the courts. But some lawmakers said the "inherent contempt" power allows them to instruct the sergeant-at-arms of the House to jail a defiant witness or impose fines outside the federal court system. Story continues "We will explore all the options, and inherent contempt is certainly one of the options," Nadler said. It is unclear to what extent Congress could try to enforce a contempt citation on its own. "I don't think Congress has ever imposed fines as part of the contempt proceeding," said Michael Stern, a former U.S. House senior counsel. "There is a general sense that fines could be used, but they never have been. There is no rule that provides for it." Prior case law underpins Congress' inherent contempt authority to jail people. While those cases did not explicitly deal with fines, some legal experts have interpreted the rulings to extend that power to Congress so they are on par with federal judges. A Supreme Court case in 1821 found that the "constitutional right of self-preservation" for both courts and Congress were "analogous," said Morton Rosenberg, a retired Congressional Research Service legal analyst. He added that if Congress wants to impose fines on Barr, it would need to pass a resolution outlining a framework for doing so. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Cynthia Osterman) KHARTOUM, May 2 (Reuters) - Sudan's public prosecutor has ordered the interrogation of ousted President Omar al-Bashir on suspicion of money laundering and financing terrorism, a judicial source told Reuters on Thursday. In April, the prosecutor began investigating Bashir over accusations of money laundering and possession of large sums of foreign currency without legal grounds. Large sums of money were found in suitcases in his home. (nL5N22206U) (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Alison Williams) Soldiers guarded the gate, but Colombo's landmark Gangaramaya temple was virtually empty, a potent sign of anxiety felt by Sri Lanka's majority Buddhist community since the Easter Sunday suicide attacks. The normal stream of faithful and tourists has fallen to a trickle since the April 21 attacks on churches and hotels that killed more than 250 people. Many of Sri Lanka's 15 million Buddhists fear they too could become a jihadist target. Wild rumours of attacks fly around each day -- building unease which observers say serves the cause of Buddhist radicals. Nilman Ekanayake, a 29-year-old Sri Lankan on holiday from his job as a manufacturing manager in Britain, said Wednesday he has never seen Gangaramaya so empty. "There is a lot of speculation at the moment," he told AFP. "They have targeted a church, a place of worship. A Buddhist temple is another place of worship. Its an unknown for the public." "Going out in the streets in Colombo at around eight oclock, its like three or four in the morning. Theres nobody out there and Ive never experienced that in my lifetime." Pallegama Rathanasara, a monk at the temple, also highlighted the uncertainty. "The intelligence services say the next attack will be on a Buddhist temple," he claimed. - 'Fear psychosis' - While the the main victims of the recent attacks were Christian, the Easter attacks have strengthened a minority of Buddhist extremists who want an authoritarian Buddhist state, political commentator Kusal Perera said. "The ordinary Buddhists are made to feel that they are under threat," Perera told AFP. "This is the way Buddhist extremists can remain relevant. "What we are seeing is the creation of a fear psychosis among the Buddhists. The end result will be a militarised society," he warned. The government has come under criticism after it admitted that it had prior warnings about the suicide bomb attacks, which have been claimed by the Islamic State group. Story continues Firebrand Buddhist monks also accuse the government of failing to heed their warnings about militants too. The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Force, argues that the bombings have vindicated their warnings of Islamic radicalisation. "Wahabism is working in the country," BBS national organiser Witharandeniye Nanda told AFP, referring to a strict Sunni version of Islam. "They (the government) did not do anything about our warnings. If they paid attention to what we were saying, this tragedy could have been avoided," the monk added. "The Sinhalese (Buddhist) politicians saw us as a political rivals and called us nationalists, religious extremists," he said. "Instead of taking our warnings seriously, they tried to suppress us." The group's leader, monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara, is currently serving a six-year jail term for contempt of court. He has been accused of a string of hate crimes against Muslims but never been prosecuted. At a court appearance for another case last week, Gnanasara told reporters he feared Islamic extremists could target Buddhist temples. With the top monk in jail, the BBS no longer spews venomous rhetoric against minorities, but has instead put its efforts into a campaign for Gnanasara's release. - Faith deficit - While investigating its own failure to heed Indian intelligence warnings of the attacks, the government has declared a state of emergency giving sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects. That has added to the nationwide nerves that has unsettled Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Christian places of worship. One leading moderate Buddhist monk, Omalpe Sobitha, urged Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, to initiate inter-religious dialogue to defuse tensions. "It is the Catholic community which suffered the most in the Easter attacks and we stand with them," Sobitha said. "The cardinal should chair an interfaith movement to ensure better understanding." The monk also urged the Islamic clergy to be vigilant about radical elements within their community. "The first steps against 'Muslim terrorism' should be taken by Muslim clerics because they are the ones who know the most about their communities," he added. By Beh Lih Yi KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Singapore has seen "distinct shifts" in attitudes to gay rights in the last five years, with support for same-sex marriage rising, a survey released on Thursday showed. Nearly six in 10 of those aged between 18 and 25 believe same-sex marriage is not wrong, according to the survey by the Institute of Policy Studies, a Singapore-based think-tank. Although the island remains socially conservative, the poll of 4,015 Singaporeans found opposition to gay marriage had fallen to 60 percent, down from 74 percent when it was last conducted in 2013. "Overall, Singaporeans remain fairly conservative in their outlook, though there have been distinct shifts on issues surrounding homosexual rights," the Institute said. "This is especially so among respondents aged between 18 and 25, who were much more liberal about moral issues compared to the respondents aged 65 and above," it added. The poll, conducted between August 2018 and January 2019, focused on people's views on social, moral and political issues. The findings come amid a renewed push by gay rights activists in the city-state to overturn a British colonial-era law that bans gay sex. Two Singaporean men have filed separate petitions to court seeking to legalize gay sex since late last year, after India decriminalized gay sex in a landmark ruling. Previous legal challenges in Singapore to overturn the ban failed but a prominent diplomat last year called on the gay community to renew legal action against the law. Under Section 377A of Singapore's Penal Code, a man found to have committed an act of "gross indecency" with another man could be jailed for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare. The law does not apply to homosexual acts between women. Johannes Hadi from Ready4Repeal, a coalition that campaigns against Section 377A, said removing the law would help the Asian economic hub to retain and attract talent. Story continues "Having Section 377A in the lawbook, even if it's not enforced, makes Singapore looks extremely bad," Hadi, a lawyer, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It makes us look old-fashioned, close-minded compared to places like Hong Kong or Shanghai." A poll of 750 Singaporeans last year by independent market research and consulting firm Ipsos showed 55 percent of respondents still supported the ban. (Reporting by Beh Lih Yi @behlihyi; Editing by Claire Cozens. 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) Suspected serial rapist Joseph McCann may have been released from prison by mistake (Picture: Met Police) A suspected serial rapist may have been mistakenly released from prison, it has emerged. An urgent review has been launched amid fears that Joseph McCann, who is wanted over the abduction and rape of two women and suspected of also snatching a third, was set free due to an error. McCann, 34, is being hunted by police over the abduction of two women in their 20s who were separately snatched off the streets in 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, Hertfordshire Police said. Police have offered a reward of up to 20,000 for information leading to McCanns arrest and prosecution. McCann is suspected of attacks on three women (Picture: Met Police) It is understood that McCann was released from prison on life-long licence in February 2017 after serving 10 years of a sentence for an aggravated burglary. The sentence was an Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP) which meant the Parole Board had to decide if it was safe to release him once his tariff expired in 2010. READ MORE Boy, three, punched to death by mums boyfriend while she was out Shrimp in British rivers all test positive for cocaine Defence secretary Gavin Williamson sacked for leaking Government secrets After his release in 2017 he was jailed again for theft and burglary but is believed to have been mistakenly released automatically half-way through the three-year sentence, when it should have been up to the Parole Board to decide. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We have commissioned an urgent review into what happened in this case." Police have released CCTV of the suspect in the rapes (Picture: Met Police) Police have warned that McCann is "extremely dangerous", known to use false names and may be using a disguise. He is described as muscular, about 5ft 10in, with a slight Irish accent and a "distinctive" tattoo of the name "bobbie" on his stomach. Officers said he had recently used the name Joel and has links to Watford, north-west London, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and Ipswich in Suffolk. Story continues The women abducted in London - one of whom reportedly may have been pregnant - 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. They were driven to a hotel where the man tried to book a room at around 1pm but after leaving because it was unavailable they later managed to escape in Osborne Road, Watford at about 2.30pm. The incident is being linked to another attack in Watford earlier in the week. Hertfordshire Police said a woman was approached at around 3.30am on April 21 in Hagden Lane, Watford, driven around for six hours in a blue Ford Mondeo and then raped. The force named McCann on its Facebook page on Thursday as being wanted on recall to prison without mentioning the rape. A spokesman said: "He was named as wanted on recall to prison on our Facebook page on Thursday April 25. This is a complex inquiry and we were actively pursuing numerous, significant lines of inquiry throughout the week in order to trace and arrest the suspect. "It is normally only when we have exhausted those inquiries do we put out a wanted appeal. We are continuing in our efforts to trace him and we are working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service." On Tuesday, a 63-year-old woman from Aylesbury was arrested on suspicion of intimidation of witnesses in connection with the attack and released on bail. A 33-year-old man arrested on Sunday on suspicion of conspiracy to rape has been released under investigation. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- SALE, Morocco, May 2 (Reuters) - Twenty-three Moroccan men and a Swiss-Spanish convert to Islam appeared in an anti-terrorist court on Thursday accused of offenses in connection with the killing of two Scandinavian women, judiciary officials said. The trial's opening session was immediately adjourned until May 16 to give the defense more time to prepare, the officials said. Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, were found dead in December near the Moroccan village of Imlil, near Toubkal, North Africas highest peak and a popular hiking and trekking destination. Four of the accused had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a video made three days before the bodies were found, but Moroccan police spokesman Boubaker Sabik said they had carried out the killings as "lone wolves." Saad Sahli, a defense lawyer, said the four were accused of forming criminals gangs to cause serious harm to public order, and of training people to join a terrorist movement. The other defendants were later arrested as part of a wider sweep of people suspected of links to the main suspects. Sahli said the other defendants were accused of praising terrorism. The trial is being held at an anti-terrorism court in Sale near the capital Rabat. Compared with other countries in North Africa, Morocco has been largely insulated from militant attacks. The most recent took place in April 2011, when 17 people were killed in the bombing of a restaurant in Marrakech. In 2017 and 2018, Morocco dismantled 20 militant cells planning attacks in the country. (Reporting by Zakia Abdennebi, Writing by Ulf Laessing, Editing by William Maclean) By Jill Gralow SYDNEY (Reuters) - The sun is rising over Sydney's Bondi Beach and surfer Grant Trebilco, clad in a colorful striped long-sleeved shirt and bright yellow shorts with black polka dots, has just caught his first wave. Whether he catches one wave or a hundred, this salt water therapy, as Trebilco calls it, is where he finds his happy place. Trebilco was diagnosed with bipolar disorder seven years ago and hospitalized in a mental health facility. Finding himself unable to cope with everyday situations, he did the one thing that brought him happiness. He went surfing. He immediately felt better and realized that one wave was all he needed to get him through the day. Hoping to share this discovery with others, Trebilco put on a fluorescent suit one Friday when getting ready to surf. "Fluoro Fridays" was born. Every Friday morning since that day six years ago, a group of people dressed in bright colors or wearing colorful garlands has sat at the southern end of Bondi Beach in what is called an "anti-bad vibes circle" to discuss depression, anxiety and living with mental illness. Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were invited to join the circle during their visit to Australia last year. The prince has said he sought counseling in his late twenties to deal with the grief of losing his mother, Princess Diana. "Prince Harry said 'asking for help is not a weakness, it's a strength', and that just showed people around the world you don't have to face mental health challenges alone," Trebilco said. "Fluoro Friday" now takes place on 150 beaches around the world and Trebilco says that, for some people, it's the first time they've been able to share their mental health struggles. "I think the way the OneWave community helps is that it lets people know it's OK not to be OK," Trebilco said. Members of the community say it helps raise their spirits. "Whether you surf or not, you can just come into the water and it just clears your head for the beginning of your Friday and gives you a good start to the weekend," said Ricky, one of the members of the community. (Reporting by Jill Gralow; Editing by Karishma Singh and Paul Tait) Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's wealthiest man and presidential hopeful Terry Gou met with Donald Trump at the White House this week, with the Foxconn chief saying the American president warned him that the job he is going for is "tough". The talks, which took place on Wednesday, however did not include any discussion of support for the Taiwanese tech mogul's campaign, the White House said. Gou made a surprise announcement last month that he plans to run for president in next January's elections -- after declaring the sea goddess Matsu urged him to do so. The 69-year-old tycoon is seeking the nomination of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party but his huge factories in the mainland have sparked concern over his cosiness with Beijing. A stream of Taiwanese politicians have beat a path to Washington in recent months, hoping to drum up support within the island's diaspora and among influential US officials. But only Gou has managed to secure a face-to-face with Trump. "If I am elected president of the Republic of China, I will be a peace maker and won't become a trouble maker... I will strengthen Taiwan and the US economically," Gou told reporters in Washington after the meeting. The White House confirmed that Trump sat down with "brilliant, business leader Terry Gou". "The president and Mr Gou did not discuss support for his campaign in Taiwan. He is just a great friend," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. Gou boasted of his White House connections in a swipe at the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which is much more sceptical of Beijing. "We have been given the highest courtesy, (an invite) to the Oval Office, tell me until now which DPP official has such a capability?" he said, later showing reporters a coaster and pen embossed with Trump's signature. Asked what Trump had told him, Gou said: "He replied that (being a president) it's a tough job." Story continues Gou made his billions through Foxconn, which assembles Apple and Huawei phones as well as parts and accessories for other major international brands. The bulk of Gou's investments are in China, employing more than one million workers in the country where cheap labour helped fuel his company's meteoric rise. Foxconn has vowed to build a $10 billion display screen factory in Wisconsin, creating 13,000 jobs, with Trump and Gou breaking ground together at a ceremony two years ago. But the project has since been hit by uncertainty over how many jobs will really be created and the huge tax breaks offered to Foxconn. The White House statement mentioned Foxconn's investment in Wisconsin and teased that Gou "soon will announce even more investment there". May 2 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc filed for a mixed shelf offering for an undisclosed amount on Thursday, a week after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk suggested a capital raise could be imminent. Many analysts had predicted the electric-car maker would need to raise funds for its expansion, including building a factory in Shanghai, the upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn will pay homage to his ancestors on Thursday as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend. The coronation, which takes place from Saturday to Monday, will be the first the country has seen in 69 years, since his father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned in 1950. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 66, is also known by the title of King Rama X. He became a constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne. On Thursday evening, the king will pay respects to his forefathers at statues of King Chulalongkorn, or King Rama V, a venerated 19th century moderniser, and King Rama I, who founded the Chakri dynasty in the late 18th century. He will also make offerings to sacred spirits. The king is expected to be accompanied by his new wife, the deputy head of his personal guard force whom he married on Wednesday. In a surprise announcement after the wedding, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya was named queen. (Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Robert Birsel) (WEST MIDLANDS POLICE) Three teenagers who who threatened victims with a knife and meat cleaver during a weekend robbery spree have been sentenced to over 30 years in prison. Iosif Filipache and two friends, aged 15 and 16, struck five times between November 16-19 last year in Birmingham, before making off with phones, cash and bank cards. Filipache was handed a 17-year jail term during sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday. The 16-year-old and 15-year-old boys - who cannot be named for legal reasons - were sent to a youth offenders institute for 11 and six years respectively during an earlier hearing. Iosif Filipache was jailed for 17 years for the series of robberies (WEST MIDLANDS POLICE) A 24-year-old man, the gangs first victim, suffered a brain haemorrhage and needed life-saving emergency surgery as a result of being being punched and kicked to the ground on a canal towpath near the NIA on the evening of 16 November. Later that evening, they threatened two Aston University students with a meat cleaver in a Lancaster Circus underpass. They then attacked another man on the same night in Perry Barr, and held a knife to the victims leg. Three days later on November 19, the gang left cafe owner with severe facial injuries following another subway robbery in Lancaster Circus. Read more on Yahoo News UK: 'Get out you b*****d': OAP warned intruder 'my knife's bigger than yours' before stabbing him to death Former teacher faces jail for sexually abusing pupils at boarding school during 1980s Police close M66 for 10 hours after woman's body found in middle of motorway The court heard that while Filipache splashed out on the mans stolen bank card, the two younger thieves robbed two more students at the same location while armed with a meat cleaver. But the 15 and 16-year-old teens were spotted by CCTV cameras while carrying out the final attack, before West Midlands Police response officers to the scene. Detective Constable Lucy Mooney from West Midlands CID Robbery Team said: This was a shocking series of attacks. Shocking in their severity and the use of weapons indeed one victim nearly lost his life but also given the age of the offenders. Story continues Thankfully, that man has gone on to make a significant recovery but given his injuries this could easily have become a murder enquiry. (WEST MIDLANDS POLICE) CCTV operators witnessed the final attacks on two students as they happened and quickly alerted our response crews. The two younger offenders were arrested at the scene and Filipache detained the following morning from his home. Im pleased we managed to get all three in custody very quickly as they would no doubt have gone on to commit more nasty robberies. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Kyle Campbell is on trial at Leeds Crown Court for allegedly beating his girlfriend's three year old boy to death (Wikiepdia) A man hit his girlfriends three-year-old child so hard that he died from internal injuries 36 hours later, a court has heard. Kyle Campbell, 26, is accused of striking Riley Siswick in the abdomen while his partner Kayleigh Siswick, also 26, was out of the house on February 4, 2016. Campbell and Siswick are both accused of failing to get help for Riley or take him to hospital until after the little boy was dead. Leeds Crown Court heard the couple dialled 999 at 9.18am on February 6 and Campbell told the operator: "We think he's dead". Campbell is accused of murder and causing or allowing the death of a child, while Siswick is charged with causing or allowing the death of a child. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges at a previous hearing. Prosecutor Robert Smith QC said Riley died from peritonitis, an infection in his stomach, and hypovolemic shock, a significant loss of blood, as a result of the beating he endured. He added the alleged assault involved a strike to the abdomen, which could have been done with a weapon or by Campbell using the force of his body, on the afternoon of February 4. Siswick noticed there was a problem with Riley immediately on her return to the family home in Huddersfield, West Yorks., after collecting another of her children from school, Mr Smith said. Campbell is accused of striking Riley Siswick in the abdomen while his partner Kayleigh Siswick was out of the house on Smiths Avenue in Huddersfield (Google) She failed to seek medical help in a bid to "protect" her partner Campbell, the court heard. Mr Smith said: "He (Riley) had been severely ill since the afternoon of February 4. "His condition gradually deteriorated. He was put to bed on the night of February 5... at that time his condition must have been desperate. "It would have been obvious to any responsible parent that he was very seriously ill and needed urgent medical treatment. "Neither of the defendants took any steps to obtain medical help during this period. Read more from Yahoo News UK: MPs call for police probe into Huawei Leak Shrimp in British rivers all test positive for cocaine Julian Assange jailed for 50 weeks for breaking bail Story continues "Riley would have been in considerable pain and discomfort before his death." In the days and hours before his eventual death Riley's condition would have resulted in him being visibly unwell, according to Mr Smith, with pale skin and rigid abdomen. He added that both defendants lied to police by telling them they had each checked on Riley a number of times the night before he died and reported he was fine. Campbell also faces two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm which relate to another child. The trial, which is expected to last between six and eight weeks, continues. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! CAI International, Inc. (NYSE:CAI), which is in the trade distributors business, and is based in United States, saw a double-digit share price rise of over 10% in the past couple of months on the NYSE. With many analysts covering the stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stocks share price. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Today I will analyse the most recent data on CAI Internationals outlook and valuation to see if the opportunity still exists. View our latest analysis for CAI International Is CAI International still cheap? Good news, investors! CAI International is still a bargain right now. In this instance, Ive used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stocks cash flows. I find that CAI Internationals ratio of 6.81x is below its peer average of 16.38x, which suggests the stock is undervalued compared to the Trade Distributors industry. However, given that CAI Internationals 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 another chance to buy in the future. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility. What does the future of CAI International look like? NYSE:CAI Past and Future Earnings, May 2nd 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. 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. However, with a relatively muted profit growth of 4.2% expected over the next couple of years, growth doesnt seem like a key driver for a buy decision for CAI International, at least in the short term. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? Even though growth is relatively muted, since CAI is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to accumulate more of your holdings in the stock. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation. Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on CAI for a while, now might be the time to enter the stock. Its future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy CAI. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to make a well-informed investment decision. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters the fundamentals before you make a decision on CAI International. You can find everything you need to know about CAI International in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in CAI International, 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. KAJANG, Malaysia (AP) The Vietnamese woman who was tried for the killing of the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader was released Friday from a Malaysian prison and due to fly back to Hanoi later in the day, her lawyer and an embassy translator said. Doan Thi Huong's release likely closes the case, since four North Koreans named as co-conspirators in the 2017 slaying are not in custody. Malaysian officials never officially accused North Korea and made it clear they didn't want the trial politicized. Vietnamese embassy translator Maridam Yacfar told reporters at the prison that Doan Thi Huong looked "happy" but couldn't give further details. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) A Turkish man wounded in the Christchurch mosque shootings seven weeks ago died late Thursday in Christchurch Hospital, raising the death toll to 51, authorities in New Zealand and Turkey confirmed. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday the sad news would be felt across both countries. "This man has been in intensive care since the attack," Ardern said in a statement. "We have all been hoping for the best, however he has now succumbed to the injuries sustained in the shooting at the Al Noor mosque." Relations between Turkey and New Zealand have been strained since the March 15 attack after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed clips from the gunman's livestreamed footage at his election campaign rallies to denounce hatred against Islam. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australian political parties have cut loose or chastised several of their candidates less than three weeks before elections for sexist, anti-Muslim, racist and homophobic remarks mostly made on social media. The scandals surrounding candidates have become recurring distractions for Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Bill Shorten this week as they attempt to sell their policies on the campaign trail ahead of the May 18 vote. A frustrated Morrison has suggested his conservative Liberal Party update its candidate vetting processes to deal with the online generation. Morrison on Thursday stood by Jessica Whelan, a Liberal candidate for the House of Representatives in Tasmania state, amid accusations she made anti-Muslim posts on social media. Story continues WASHINGTON (AP) China's first domestically built aircraft carrier is likely to enter into service this year, marking another advance in Beijing's ability to project influence well beyond its shores, the Pentagon said Thursday in an updated assessment of Chinese military power. The report to Congress comes amid increased emphasis by the Pentagon on adjusting to what it sees as an emerging challenge from China not only in naval strength but also in cyber capabilities, space power and missile technologies. Last year the Pentagon declared strategic competition with China and Russia to be its top priority, shifting from a focus on fighting extremist groups and insurgencies that began with the invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka's Catholic cardinal received "foreign information" that attempts would be made this week to attack a church and another church institution, according to a letter he sent Thursday to church officials that later appeared on social media. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo and an outspoken critic of the Sri Lankan government's apparent failure to act on Indian government intelligence ahead of the Easter attacks, said in the letter that he was closing churches and Catholic schools throughout Sri Lanka and canceling public congregations for Mass "until further notice." "For your own good, we have decided to close down those institutions," he wrote. NEW DELHI (AP) Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated along India's eastern coast on Thursday as authorities braced for a cyclone moving through the Bay of Bengal that was forecast to bring extremely severe wind and rain. The India Meteorological Department in New Delhi said Cyclone Fani was expected to make landfall on Friday with gale-force winds of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour likely starting Thursday night. It warned of "extremely heavy falls" over parts of the state of Odisha and its southern neighbor Andhra Pradesh. India's National Disaster Management Authority forecast "high to phenomenal" sea conditions for most of the Indian states along the Bay of Bengal. LONDON (AP) Britain's former defense secretary ferociously denied allegations that he leaked details from private government discussions about the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, as opposition leaders called Thursday for a criminal investigation into the scandal. Gavin Williamson was fired from the government's top defense job late Wednesday by Prime Minister Theresa May, who said she had seen "compelling evidence" that he was behind media reports that the government had agreed against the advice of the United States to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain's new 5G wireless communications network. It was the first time in decades that a senior minister has been fired over leaks of sensitive information. Emperor Naruhito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne after his father Akihito abdicated in a series of rituals and ceremonies in Japan. In other images from the Asia-Pacific region this week, workers marked May Day with rallies in cities and by demanding better working conditions. Thailand is preparing for the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as King Rama X. In South Korea, children whose heads were shaved as part of a religious event enjoyed an amusement park visit. The children entered temples to experience monastic life for three weeks in advance of Buddha's birthday on May 12. ___ This gallery was curated by Associated Press photo editor Wally Santana in Bangkok. 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. 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. Photo: Wes Hicks/Unsplash Missed the the most recent top news in Charlotte? Read on for everything you need to know. Riley Howell tried to stop UNC Charlotte gunman. He saved lives and died a hero, police say. Riley Howell was honored by police officials who said his decision to fight the gunman helped prevent more deaths at UNC Charlotte. Read the full story on USA TODAY. Ex-student accused of opening fire at UNC Charlotte allegedly makes chilling confession The ex-student accused of opening fire inside a University of North Carolina-Charlotte classroom appeared to confess to the shooting Wednesday as campus officials identified each of his victims. Read the full story on New York Post. 'I was curious about jihad': Accused ISIS sympathizer arrested at Charlotte airport According to documents, Raqar Hassan tried to send money to ISIS because he was angry about what was happening to Muslims around the world. Read the full story on WNCN Steve Sbraccia. 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. Photo: Caleb Simpson/Unsplash Here's what you need to know about what's happening in Houston. 1-year-old shot in road rage incident in SW Houston, police say The child's father, who also had another child in the vehicle, pulled into a nearby gas station for help. Read the full story on KHOU 11 News. Houston firefighters get layoff notices, demotion letters under Prop B implementation, union says 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. Read the full story on Chron.com from the Houston Chronicle. Mayor Turner under fire for accepting political cash from strip club owners HOUSTON (FOX 26) - During his three years as mayor, Sylvester Turner has taken political contributions from some of Houston's most reputable citizens - Richard Kinder, John Nau and the late Robert McNair, to name a few. Read the full story on FOX 26 Houston. CBD oil seized at Bush, Hobby airports Federal agents have a warning for people who use CBD oil. The popular hemp extract could land you in a lot of trouble if you try to take it with you to the airport. Read the full story on FOX 26 Houston. 9 arrested as authorities raid 2 Houston poker rooms Nine people were arrested Wednesday as authorities raided two poker rooms in Houston during a money-laundering investigation, prosecutors said. Read the full story on KPRC2 / Click2Houston. 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. Photo: iStock Here's what you need to know about what's happening in Indianapolis. Two judges visiting Indianapolis for a conference shot in White Castle parking lot The motive in the shooting incident remains unclear and investigators do not believe it was in any way related to their judicial duties. Read the full story on New York Daily News. Amtrak ending Indianapolis-to-Chicago route with funding cut LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - 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. Read the full story on MySanAntonio. Human foot found in Crown Point pond confirmed to belong to missing Indianapolis area woman Najah Ferrell Police in Avon, Indiana, said DNA analysis has confirmed a human foot found in a retention pond in Crown Point belonged to missing woman Najah Ferrell. Read the full story on ABC Chicago, WLS. 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. Photo: Sasha Stories/Unsplash Read on for the most recent top news you may have missed in Los Angeles. Rick Schroder arrested for punching girlfriend in Los Angeles As a child, Rick Schroder landed a leading role in the 80s series Silver Spoons. Read the full story on New York Post. Woman fights to continue investigation into husbands mysterious death at bottom of LA River How did a Los Angeles actor go from a Metro station in North Hollywood after a screening and after party to face down and dead at the bottom of the LA River? Read the full story on CBS Los Angeles. Health officials confirm 6th case of measles in Los Angeles County A person who returned to California from overseas was infected with measles, health officials said Tuesday, emphasizing the traveler was not connected to other cases that prompted quarantines involving hundreds of people at two Los Angeles universities. Read the full story on KTLA 5 News. Dramatic video shows crash involving Inglewood mayor, LAPD motor officer Eyewitness News on Wednesday obtained dramatic new video of a violent crash near USC involving the mayor of Inglewood and a Los Angeles Police Department motor officer. Read the full story on ABC7. 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. Photo: Sergey Galyonkin/Flickr Read on for the most recent top news you may have missed in Raleigh. Ill be here however long it takes: Thousands of teachers march in Raleigh demanding change Thousands of teachers packed downtown Raleigh hoping to get the attention of lawmakers while demanding change. Read the full story on WFMY. Residential developer wants ability to build 12 stories near new Raleigh Wegmans A Virginia developer is asking for the ability to build up to 12 stories on East Six Forks Road. The developer wants to build apartments on the former Sears property, which is near Wegmans. Read the full story on The Herald-Sun. Raleigh man convicted of 2017 Roanoke Rapids bank robbery Parker has two prior convictions for federal bank robbery, and was on federal supervised release at the time of the PNC Bank robbery, authorities say. Read the full story on WNCN. 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. Ed Sheeran appeared for the first time on the list. (PA) The top ten most popular songs played at funerals have been announced today. The list, which first launched in 2002, saw Frank Sinatras My Way top of the funeral pops, followed by Andrea Bocelli and Eva Cassidy. The two new songs to enter the charts are Ed Sheerans Supermarket Flowers, an ode to his grandmother who passed while he was writing his award-winning album (Divide), and Westlifes version of You Raise Me Up. For the first time, no traditional hymns have made the cut, showing a shift towards more pop songs - previous strong contenders were The Lord is my Shepherd and Abide with me. New requests include George Ezra, Wiz Khalifa, Freya Ridings and Stormzy. The research revealed a trend in more people keeping music in the family, as a third (32%) of people say they would consider asking a relative to do the honour of performing. Funeral Music Chart 2019 (Position compared to 2016) My Way - Frank Sinatra (Non-mover) Time To Say Goodbye - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman (Non-mover) Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy (Non-mover) Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler (Non-mover) Angels - Robbie Williams (Re-entry) Supermarket Flowers - Ed Sheeran (New entry) Unforgettable - Nat King Cole (Up 3 places) You Raise Me Up - Westlife (New entry) Well Meet Again - Vera Lynn (Down 3 places) Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Eric Idle (Down 2 places) The survey was carried out by Co-op Funeralcare, who asked their funeral directors and arrangers across the UK what the musical requests were. David Collingwood, director of funerals at the Co-op said: We all live such unique lives and funerals should completely reflect that. Each element of a funeral is a very personal decision which is why the music choice plays such an important and impactful role. Were always encouraging people to be more open about their funeral wishes, making it clear to their loved ones what they would want for themselves when the time comes. Even knowing what song someone would have wanted can bring such comfort at an incredibly hard time. Co-op Funeralcare are the UKs leading funeral provider and conduct up to 100,000 services a year. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's highest court on Thursday ruled that the authorities had violated the human rights of two journalists critical of President Tayyip Erdogan following an attempted coup in 2016. The Constitutional Court said the right to freedom of expression, freedom and personal security of journalists Kadri Gursel and Murak Aksoy had been violated, according to a report by the Anadolu news agency. At the same time, the court rejected the appeals of four other journalists. Gursel spent nearly a year in jail following his arrest in 2016 in the wake of the putsch attempt against Erdogan in July of that year. He was convicted last year with several colleagues from Cumhuriyet -- one of the few remaining dailies opposing President Erdogan -- for "helping terrorist organisations" after a trial that sparked concerns over the state of press freedom in Turkey. Although Gursel is now free, five other former Cumhuriyet employees, including cartoonist Musa Kart, were returned to prison last week after their sentences were upheld. Aksoy was also arrested after the failed coup. He was sentenced in March to more than two years in prison. The constitutional court is also due to consider on Friday requests from three other journalists. Cumhuriyet -- the country's oldest daily founded in 1924 -- has often had troubles with government authorities, with its former editor-in-chief Can Dundar fleeing to Germany after being convicted in 2016 over an article alleging that Turkey had supplied weapons to Islamist groups in Syria. Turkey is currently ranked 157th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2018 Press Freedom Index. Photo: iStock At the heart of the Great Lakes region, Detroit was one of Conde Nast's must-visit destinations for 2018. Not only is Detroit known as a leader of American industry, the city's diverse communities also boast major contributions to music, art and architecture. Detroit was the first U.S. city to be named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, and is known as the home of Motown Records and the birthplace of techno. The city also offers many historic museums and arts institutions. Using travel site Skyscanner, weve sifted through the cheapest flights between San Diego and Detroit in the next few months, including some popular hotel options and highly reviewed local attractions. (Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in the articles may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. Prices and availability are subject to change.) Cheapest Detroit flights The cheapest flights between San Diego and Detroit are if you leave on May 10 and return from Michigan on May 13. Frontier Airlines currently has tickets for $210, roundtrip. There are also deals to be had later in May. If you fly out of San Diego on May 13 and return from Detroit on May 15, Spirit Airlines can get you there and back for $263 roundtrip. Top Detroit hotels To plan your accommodations, here are some of Detroits top-rated hotels, according to Skyscanner, that we selected based on price, proximity to things to do and customer satisfaction. The MotorCity Casino Hotel (2901 Grand River Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For an all-around top recommendation, consider The MotorCity Casino Hotel. The hotel has a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, and rooms are currently available for $178. This Detroit casino hotel is near the Masonic Temple and Fox Theatre. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit (1114 Washington Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner If you're looking to treat yourself, there's The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. With a 4.7-star rating on Skyscanner, the hotel is one of the most luxurious in the city. Rooms are currently listed for $179/night. Story continues The Atheneum (1000 Brush Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Another 4.7-star option is The Atheneum. Rooms are currently set at $129/night. Situated in Detroit, this family-friendly hotel is near the Campus Martius Park, GM Renaissance Center and Ford Field. Featured Detroit food and drink If you're looking to snag a bite at one of Detroit's many quality eateries, here are two popular culinary destinations from Skyscanner's listings that will help keep you satiated. Green Dot Stables (2200 W. Lafayette Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner For a popular option, check out the Green Dot Stables, with five stars from six reviews. "The menu at Green Dot Stables is very eclectic. Each slider, side, salad or dessert you get ranges from $2 to $3," wrote reviewer Kenny. Slows Bar BQ (2138 Michigan Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Craving barbecue? Check out Slows Bar BQ, which has an average of 4.8 stars out of 22 reviews on Skyscanner. "If you love baby back ribs, this place serves them sliding off the bone," wrote visitor Lou. What to see and do in Detroit Not sure what to do in Detroit, besides eat and drink? Here are a few recommendations, provided by Skyscanner. The Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner First up is The Detroit Institute of Arts, with 4.7 stars from 45 reviews. Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for a chance to immerse yourself in global artwork and robust collections. The museum features over 60,000 collections, including pieces from America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Greenfield Village (20900 Oakwood Blvd.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Also, consider checking out Greenfield Village, located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. It checks in with 4.8 stars from 11 reviews on Skyscanner. "This is a great place to spend the day learning about history. My favorite part was Edison's workshop," wrote visitor Yvonne. Detroit Science Center (5020 John R St.) Photo: Trip by Skyscanner Finally, visit the Detroit Science Center. It checks in with 9.5 stars out of eight reviews on Skyscanner. "Its not your typical museum, you can actually do stuff, as in hands-on interactive exhibits dealing with everything from life science to space," wrote visitor Amanda. This story was created automatically using flight, hotel, and local attractions data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Paris (AFP) - HIV-suppressing medication can make the AIDS virus "untransmittable" even among couples who have sex without using condoms, new research showed Friday. The Europe-wide study monitored nearly 1,000 gay male couples over a period of eight years, where one partner was HIV-positive and receiving antiretroviral (ART) treatment, while the other was HIV negative. Doctors did not find a single case of in-couple HIV transmission within that time, raising hopes that widespread ART programmes could eventually end new infections. "Our findings provide conclusive evidence for gay men that the risk of HIV transmission with suppressive ART is zero," said Alison Rodger, from University College London, who co-lead the research published in The Lancet. "They support the message... that an undetectable viral load makes HIV untransmittable. This powerful message can help end the HIV pandemic by preventing HIV transmission, and tackling the stigma and discrimination that many people with HIV face." Researchers estimate that ART prevented around 470 HIV transmissions within couples during the study period. HIV and the fatal illnesses it provokes remain one of the world's largest health crises despite much progress in recent years. More than 21 million people currently receive regular ART medication, which suppresses the virus -- only around 59 percent of global HIV sufferers. The authors of the study noted several limitations, including that the average age of the HIV-negative men was 38. Most HIV transmissions occur in people aged under 25. Individuals currently on ART must take medication almost every day for the rest of their lives, and treatment is often disrupted for a variety of reasons. But the fact that couples can have unprotected sex for years without passing on the virus was still worth noting, experts said. "Timely identification of HIV-infected people and provision of effective treatment leads to near normal health and virtual elimination of the risk of HIV transmission," said Myron Cohen, from the UNC Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases. "Yet maximising the benefits of ART has proven daunting: fear, stigma, homophobia, and other adverse social forces continue to compromise HIV treatment." Hush Public House. | Photo: Zachary W./Yelp Want the intel on Phoenix's most happening local spots? We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to analyze which eateries have been seeing especially high review volumes this month. To find out who made the list, we looked at Phoenix businesses on Yelp by category and counted how many reviews each received. Rather than compare them based on the number of reviews alone, we calculated a percentage increase in reviews over the past month and tracked businesses that consistently increase their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance. Read on to see which spots are riding a trend, right now. Hush Public House Photo: irene l./Yelp This New American spot and cocktail bar is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp. Citywide, New American spots saw a median 1.8 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Hush Public House saw a 40 percent increase, maintaining an outstanding five-star rating throughout. Located at 14202 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 167 in Paradise Valley, Hush Public House offers steak, seafood and a multitude of cocktail options. The Buzzed Goat Photo: Chelsey H./Yelp Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Ahwatukee Foothills' The Buzzed Goat, the food truck, which offers coffee, tea and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data. While businesses categorized as "Coffee & Tea" on Yelp saw a median 2 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, The Buzzed Goat bagged a 29.3 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a convincing 4.5-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 4.0 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance. There's more that's trending on Phoenix's coffee and tea scene: TEASPRESSA | Arcadia has seen a 10 percent increase in reviews. Located on 4302 E. Ray Road, The Buzzed Goat offers classic coffee drinks like an Americano, cappuccino, espresso, macchiato, latte and cold brew. Non-coffee options include a white tea frappe, blueberry lemonade and a protein drink. Story continues Chula Seafood Photo: Jackie C./Yelp Alhambra's Chula Seafood is also making waves. Open since 2009 at 100 E. Camelback Road, Suite 172, the seafood market, which offers seafood, poke and more, has seen a 36.2 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2 percent for all businesses tagged "Seafood" on Yelp. Chula Seafood offers seafood starters and entrees, noodle and poke bowls, sandwiches, children's options and an alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink menu. Over the past month, it's maintained a convincing four-star rating among 80 Yelpers. Rito's Mexican Food Photo: Rocio O./Yelp Camelback East's Rito's Mexican Food is the city's buzziest Mexican spot by the numbers. The Mexican spot, which opened at 5813 N. Seventh St., Suite 135 in 1977, increased its new review count by 18.5 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.8 percent for the Yelp category "Mexican." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 3.0 times more reviews than expected based on past performance. It's not the only trending outlier in the Mexican category: Paz Cantina has seen a 19.9 percent increase in reviews. Rito's Mexican Food offers authentic Mexican fare, including tostadas, burritos, tacos and enchiladas. Bobby Q Photo: Bobby Q/Yelp Open since 2005, this popular steakhouse and cocktail bar, which offers barbecue and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp. Citywide, businesses tagged "Cocktail Bars" saw a median 3.6 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Bobby Q saw a 19.4 percent increase, maintaining a convincing 4.5-star rating throughout. Located at 3154 E. Camelback Road in Camelback East, Bobby Q offers steaks and barbecue-inspired dishes, in addition to vegan and gluten-free choices and weekend brunch. An extensive beverage menu features hand-crafted cocktails, craft and draft beer, wine and a selection of non-alcoholic choices. 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. Sale (Morocco) (AFP) - A Moroccan court adjourned on Thursday for two weeks the trial of two dozen suspects charged in connection with the murder of two Scandinavian hikers minutes after it opened. Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland had their throats slit before they were beheaded in December at an isolated site in the High Atlas mountains. The killings shocked the North African country and three main defendants accused of direct involvement, who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group, could face the death penalty. A total of 24 defendants -- one of whom shot a smile at journalists -- appeared in the criminal court in Sale to face charges including promoting terrorism, forming a terrorist cell and premeditated murder. The opening hearing was immediately postponed until May 16 after defence lawyers requested more time to examine the case. A Spanish-Swiss convert to Islam is among the suspects on trial in the city near Rabat, accused of teaching the main suspects how to use encrypted communications and how to fire a gun. Nature lovers, the two friends Jespersen and Ueland shared an apartment and went to Norway's Bo University where they were studying to be guides. They had travelled together to Morocco for their Christmas holidays. Their lives were cut short in the foothills of Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the city of Marrakesh, a tourist magnet. - 'Enemies of Allah' - After the bodies were discovered, the Moroccan authorities were initially cautious, referring to a "criminal act" and wounds to the victims' necks. But that all changed when a video showing one of the victims being beheaded -- filmed by one of the apparent killers on a mobile phone -- circulated on social networks. One of those in the footage refers to "enemies of Allah" and revenge for brothers in Syria. Story continues A separate video in the initial aftermath of the murder showed the alleged killers pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Investigators said the "cell" was inspired by IS ideology, but Morocco's anti-terror chief insisted the accused had no contact with the jihadist group in conflict zones. IS has never claimed responsibility for the double-murder. Abdessamad Ejjoud, a 25-year-old street vendor referred to as the emir of the group by peers, is the suspected ringleader, according to investigators. Police quickly arrested a first suspect in the suburbs of Marrakesh, and three others were arrested a few days later when they tried to leave the city by bus. Aged from 25 to 33, they all lived Marrakesh. They had recently embraced Salafism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, according to friends, neighbours and some family members. A lawyer for one of the victim's families told AFP he would seek the death penalty for the murders. A de facto moratorium on carrying out executions has been in place in Morocco since 1993. A second Swiss citizen arrested after the double-murder was tried separately and jailed in mid-April for 10 years on charges including "forming a terrorist group". By Valerie Volcovici May 2 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will unveil on Thursday its final plan to roll back offshore drilling safety measures put in place by the Obama administration after the fatal 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst in U.S. history, raising concerns by some groups over potential risks to workers and the environment. The Interior Department will announce the final revised rule at an afternoon event in Port Fourchon, a Louisiana seaport that services over 90% of the Gulf of Mexicos deepwater oil production. Last year, the agency's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement proposed revisions to the 2016 offshore well control rule, which had required the real-time monitoring of operations and certification by third parties of emergency devices, among other measures. That reflected changes sought by the oil and gas industry, that said the Obama-era rules imposed financial burdens that would curtail future development and production. The BP Macondo well blowout and fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010 killed 11 workers and cost billions of dollars for Gulf Coast restoration. Environmental groups warned that relaxing the well control rule was reckless and another example of the Trump administration catering to industry demands. "The Trump administration is putting industry cost savings ahead of safety just weeks after the anniversary of the worst oil spill in U.S. history," said Diane Hoskins, campaign director for Oceana. "We should be implementing new safety reforms, not rolling back the too few safety measures currently in place." The American Petroleum Institute said this week that voluntary standards already adopted by the oil and gas industry have increased offshore drilling safety. "This progress goes hand-in-hand with the proposed revisions to a number of offshore regulations to ensure that smarter and more effective regulations are constantly evolving, as we move forward with safe and responsible offshore development, said Eric Milito, API's vice president for offshore operations. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Bernadette Baum) Hours after Senate Democrats grilled Attorney General William Barr on his handling of the Mueller Report following the revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller accused Barr of creating public confusion with his initial summary, President Trump described the 2020 presidential candidates on the panel as lunatics. Calling into Fox Business Networks Trish Regan Primetime for a friendly Wednesday night chat, the president applauded Barr for doing a fantastic job while parroting his oft-repeated mantra that the Mueller Report showed no collusion, no obstruction. Eventually, following Trump predictably calling on the other side to be investigated, an incredulous Trish Regan asked him about the growing call from Democrats for Barr to resign. I have not even heard that. It is so ridiculous, he is an outstanding man with an outstanding mind, the president replied. I heard he performed incredibly well today. The Fox Business host then mentioned Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who pressed Barr hard on whether the White House had asked him to investigate anyone, causing the attorney general to become flustered. She was probably very nasty, Trump responded, drawing flashbacks to the 2016 presidential campaign and his nasty woman diss aimed at Hillary Clinton. Trump then took aim at all three Senate Judiciary Democrats who are currently running for presidentHarris, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). How about these three people? Trump huffed. Three of them are running, three not doing very well, but three are running for a particular office. I think, maybe youre talking to the person right now. You have three of them running against me and they are up there ranting and raving. Like lunatics, frankly! The president went on to claim the three senators were heaping abuse on Barr for political points because theyre running for office, saying the public sees through it easily. I think they do! Regan excitedly responded before boasting about Trumps economic numbers. Read more at The Daily Beast. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump called Thursday for an all-out fight against anti-Semitism as he hosted a rabbi shot in a deadly weekend gun rampage at a California synagogue. Yisroel Goldstein was among four worshipers hit -- one fatally -- as a gunman burst into a service and opened fire in the town of Poway, near San Diego, on Saturday. "We will fight with all our strength and everything that we have in our bodies to defeat anti-Semitism," Trump told a national prayer service at the White House. Addressing the gathering, Goldstein -- who lost an index finger in in the assault at the Chabad of Poway synagogue -- said his "life has changed forever." "I should have been dead by now," said the 57-year-old. "I was in the line of fire, bullets flying all the way." A 19-year-old teen, John Earnest, has pleaded not guilty to murder and hate crimes charges over the attack. The Poway shooting came exactly six months after a white supremacist shot dead 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- the worst attack against Jewish people in the modern history of the United States. Trump used the prayer service to speak out against "evil and hate-filled" attacks that have targeted religious communities around the world in recent months, from New Zealand to Sri Lanka, to Pittsburgh. "As we unite on this day of prayer, we renew our resolve to protect communities of faith and ensure that all people and all of our people can live, pray and worship in peace," Trump said. Photo: Bobby Rodriguezz/Unsplash If you love to eat and drink, this week offers a great chance to explore the world of food and beverage beyond restaurants and bars. From a mezcal pub crawl to a beer event, there's plenty to explore and enjoy if you're hungry for something new. 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. MEZCrawl From the event description: Dive into the cocktail world of mezcal, sipping and strolling through the bars and lounges of Downtown Tucson, with local agave spirit enthusiasts and international mixologists participating in this years Delice Network Meeting. Agave spirit enthusiasts at each participating bar will create a cocktail for you with one common ingredient - mezcal. When: Thursday, May 2, 7-10 p.m. Where: Borderlands Brewing Company, 119 E. Toole Ave. Price: $50 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Agave: Spirit of the World From the event description: Join Tony Abou Ganim, one of the worlds premiere and innovative cocktail masters, and a team of mixologists from around the world as they reimagine cocktails from their hometown using a portfolio of agave spirits. The event will feature foods, celebrating our UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation, created by Janos Wilder and the culinary team from The Carriage House. When: Friday, May 3, 6-8 p.m. Where: The Carriage House, 125 S. Arizona Ave. Price: $45 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets Agave Heritage Dinner From the event description: James Beard Awardee Chef Chris Bianco and celebrated mixologist Tony Abou Ganim collaborate alongside the chefs from Maynards Market and Kitchen and The Cup Cafe to present an exclusive dining experience. This four-course dinner, with cocktails, showcases the Three Sisters Farming technique with a focus on local squash. The proceeds from this dinner event will support Native Seeds Search. Story continues When: Friday, May 3, 6:30-9 p.m. Where: Copper Hall, 311 E. Congress St. Price: $150 Click here for more details, and to get your tickets May the Fourth Dark Side Event From the event description: Come in for the largest-ever Modern Times Beer tap takeover in the history of Tucson. There will be two food trucks (Food Groupie Cafe and Sarge's Cheesecakes) and 40 beer taps. When: Saturday, May 4, noon Where: Arizona Beer House, 150 S. Kolb Road Price: Free 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. ANKARA, May 2 (Reuters) - Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that authorities had violated the freedom of expression and personal security of two journalists detained on terrorism charges after the 2016 attempted coup, broadcaster NTV said. Fourteen staff of newspaper Cumhuriyet, one of the few remaining voices critical of the government, were sentenced last April to jail terms of up to eight years and one month on charges of terrorism and supporting U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Ankara blames for organizing the coup attempt. The defendants had been released pending an appeals process. Six staff were sent to jail last week to serve out the remainder of their sentences, two of their lawyers said. Kadri Gursel, a former journalist at Cumhuriyet who was released from prison pending his trial, had been freed due to time served in February. Murat Aksoy was detained in September 2016 and sentenced to more than two years in prison last March. On Thursday, the Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that Gursel and Aksoy's personal security and freedom of expression had been violated, NTV said. It said the AYM had rejected appeals by four other staff of Cumhuriyet. The AYM will evaluate appeals by three other journalists on Friday, NTV said. Human rights organizations have voiced increasing concern about media freedom in Turkey, accusing President Tayyip Erdogan of using the abortive putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Erdogan and his government blame Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, for orchestrating the attempted coup. Gulen has denied involvement. Since then, more than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial, while about 150,000 civil servants and military personnel have been sacked or suspended from their jobs. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Janet Lawrence) ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that authorities had violated the freedom of expression and personal security of two journalists detained on terrorism charges after the 2016 attempted coup, broadcaster NTV said. Fourteen staff of newspaper Cumhuriyet, one of the few remaining voices critical of the government, were sentenced last April to jail terms of up to eight years and one month on charges of terrorism and supporting U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Ankara blames for organizing the coup attempt. The defendants had been released pending an appeals process. Six staff were sent to jail last week to serve out the remainder of their sentences, two of their lawyers said. Kadri Gursel, a former journalist at Cumhuriyet who was released from prison pending his trial, had been freed due to time served in February. Murat Aksoy was detained in September 2016 and sentenced to more than two years in prison last March. On Thursday, the Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that Gursel and Aksoy's personal security and freedom of expression had been violated, NTV said. It said the AYM had rejected appeals by four other staff of Cumhuriyet. The AYM will evaluate appeals by three other journalists on Friday, NTV said. Human rights organizations have voiced increasing concern about media freedom in Turkey, accusing President Tayyip Erdogan of using the abortive putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Erdogan and his government blame Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, for orchestrating the attempted coup. Gulen has denied involvement. Since then, more than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial, while about 150,000 civil servants and military personnel have been sacked or suspended from their jobs. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Logo of jester cap with thought bubble. Image source The Motley Fool. Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE: TPB) Q1 2019 Earnings Call May. 01, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Good day everyone and welcome to the Turning Point Brands First Quarter 2019 Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. After today's presentation, there will be opportunity to ask questions. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Bobby Lavan. Please go ahead sir. Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Thank you, operator. Good morning everyone. I'm Bobby Lavan, CFO of Turning Point Brands. Joining me today are Turning Point Brands' President and CEO, Larry Wexler; Graham Purdy, who heads the Nu-X subsidiary; and Jim Murray, Senior Vice President of Business Planning. This morning we issued a news release covering our first quarter 2019 results. This release is located in the Investor Relations section of our website, www.turningpointbrands.com where a replay of today's conference call will be available. In this call, we will discuss our consolidated and segment operating results and provide our perspective on our progress. As is customary, I direct your attention to the discussion of forward-looking and cautionary statements in today's press release and the risk factors in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The disclosure outlines various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projections or forward-looking statements and may be cited in today's discussion. These forward-looking statements and projections are not guarantees of future performance and you should not place undue reliance upon them except as provided by federal securities laws and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. In the call today, we will reinforce certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures and reconciliations to GAAP can be found in today's earnings release along with reasons why management believe that they provide useful information. I will now turn the call over to Larry Wexler, our CEO. Story continues Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Bobby and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining the call. This morning, I'll give you a look into the progress we made in the first quarter to position the Company for significant long-term growth. While the first quarter efforts produced results in line with our expectations, more importantly, we greatly improved the foundation upon which we intend to build in the coming quarters and years. Our achievements continue to reveal not only the strength of our brands, but also the integrity of our plan. First lets look at our focus brands. As I've said a number of times, brands matter and our brands are one of our most important assets. When a brand is successfully positioned and backed by solid marketing efforts, consumers develop a deeper attachment to the product qualities and attributes. Consumers ultimately embrace brands that not only provide differentiated product benefits, but also resonate with them. In the first quarter, Stoker's Moist Snuff set another record share on double-digit volume gains powered by the continued consumer enthusiasm in our existing stores and expanded retail distribution. Our share in stores where we have achieved retail distribution is now greater than 7% demonstrating the strength of our proprietary production process and the loyalty of the consumers we have engaged. We have been specifically focused on chain distribution. Over the last two years, we have increased our penetration of the moist chain universe by more than one-third. In the quarter, Stoker's MST was introduced into approximately 3,000 Speedway branded convenience stores and while very early, preliminary results are encouraging. We now sell in 15 of the top 25 chains. Our sales force has been executing and consumers have been responding. The iconic (ph) Zig-Zag brand remains the US market share leader in both premium rolling papers and MYO cigar wraps. In the first quarter, we continued our retail expansion in merchandising of the 2018 launch of Zig-Zag Organic Hemp Papers. While the hemp segment is only about 5% of the category, it is growing in popularity and the segment is critically important to maintaining brand relevance with today's consumer. In roughly one year, we have emerged as the second strongest hemp product in terms of number of stores selling and more importantly, we are now number one in terms of sales volume. This demonstrates how Zig-Zag, the brand, brings value to the category. While we are pleased with our progress, there is much more additional opportunity to realize and many more consumers to engage. In the quarter, we also expanded the new Zig-Zag cones and unbleached papers with preliminary success and strong trade enthusiasm. Each of these segments are growing robustly and we quickly found ourselves in a short stock position on the cones due to stronger than anticipated demand. We expect to have the supply situation back in balance this summer at which time we will accelerate retail availability. In cigar wraps, the Zig-Zag brand retained its leading share position. We are on track to introduce a suite of new products in the second half of the year. In NewGen, VaporBeast delivered record quarterly net sales and gross profits on larger and more frequent orders from its vape shop customers. In the quarter, we also closed the California distribution operation and consolidated these logistic activities into the Louisville pick and pack facility. We're getting positive feedback that our customers appreciate the faster delivery times and are realizing savings from not shipping from the West Coast. At IVG, which we acquired late in 2018, work continues on strengthening the effectiveness of the direct to consumer online engine with preliminary success. The number of online customers serviced in the first quarter increased modestly over the prior quarter as did the average transaction value. We are also investing in the technical backbone of this operation. As you move forward, sharpening our B2C effectiveness remains a key priority. This will become a critical element of our infrastructure as we move into areas beyond vapor including CBDs. Looking now at TPB infrastructure, by the end of the third quarter, we expect to have completed our vapor integration efforts thereby unleashing improved margins through consolidation and efficiencies. As we move forward beyond the integration efforts, we will embark on a two point plan. First, we intend to guide the vape organization to streamline processes and procedures, leverage our scale, and automate manual activities and apply analytical power to find competitive advantage. Speed, accuracy, safety and service will be the guideposts and goals of the organization. Second, we will leverage the skills of each of the vapor companies across the platform and refine execution with the goal of total customer and consumer satisfaction. When looking at the Company as a whole, we are uniquely positioned with a variety of assets that we can deploy for commercial benefit. While still small, but getting bigger, our traditional retail sales force is exceptionally effective. We expect the sales force to provide a meaningful differentiation as compared to our competitors in the place of not only RipTide, but also mainstream CBD distribution. In non-traditional distribution, we have the leading e-commerce vapor distributor in VaporBeast that can penetrate and service this network of third-party stores with proprietary higher margin products and brands. With IVG and DirectVapor and VaporFi e-commerce sites, we can reach consumers directly with our proprietary products including Nu-X. On the regulatory front, our science and legal teams continue to make great progress as we move down the FDA pathway. That path, of course, is evolving. We remain flexible and vigilant in our compliance efforts. Despite the FDA leadership transition, our obligation to stay informed and engaged continue. Most recent actions in the area of increasing the federal minimum age for all tobacco products including vapor and on flavors. We remain an active participant in each of these discussions and expect that the 21 plus legislation is likely to achieve passage. While we support reasonable legislation in the area of 21 plus, there is much more to be done. Long-term, we think it may be better for the industry and perhaps more beneficial to vapor. Our internal analytics do not suggest any meaningful impact on our business. With regard to flavors, the issue remains highly fluid and the inappropriate purchase of these underage consumers may indeed be resolved with a thoughtful 21 plus resolution. Turning to our innovation strategy, the first quarter marked the beginning of a new era at TPB as we announced the formation of our newest subsidiary, Nu-X Ventures. Nu-X was conceived through a rigorous analysis of the changing marketplace and the evolving consumer. The market is moving quickly, more so than in any of my 35 years in the tobacco industry. During the course of my career, I've witnessed and studied countless periods of dynamic change. You've probably heard me say that the tobacco industry evolves in a rather predictable manner. Consumers are always searching for products that are cleaner, more convenient and discreet and perceive better for you (ph) deliveries. Just think of cigarettes for one moment. Originally, people would roll their own cigarettes. The first mass market cigarettes were all non-filters, but the category quickly transformed and adopted Lucky Strike and Pall Mall because of the convenience afforded by not having to roll your own cigarette. Years later, another major shift occurred with the advent of filter cigarettes which were perceived as cleaner and perhaps less harmful. Most recently, consumers are furiously adopting vapor products given they are cleaner with no ash and the perception that they are less harmful. It is in this vapor shifting stage of the cigarette life cycle that we see tremendous opportunity. Closed system or e-cigarette market is already a $6 billion segment in retail. However, the technology is changing and consumers are actively searching out new alternatives in the vapor space. A select number of brands have realized good commercial success in this environment where we believe there is room for other brands and better products like RipTide from Nu-X. RipTide is our proprietary pod-based vapor system. We believe that RipTide vape flavor delivery and impact is superior to competitive entries and consumers are ready to adopt. The RipTide flavor system called NicTech delivers a cleaner, crisper flavor. The Ripstick device is a superior small form factor and delivers a smoother draw for an incomparable nicotine experience. In the quarter, we limited retail placement as we built inventories for our second quarter expansion. We are now accelerating retail placement to engage and activate consumer adoption of the RipTide brand. During our Nu-X planning and analysis period, we also discovered the rapidly growing world of CBD wellness products. The CBD is the audience of potential consumers now includes active tobacco consumers, but also an entirely new body of people interested in general wellness and satisfaction. The hemp-based CBD market is projected to grow to $20 billion in a few short years. In the quarter, we initiated sales of CBD products in a variety of formats and flavors. The whitespace here for well-positioned products and brands is abundant and we are especially excited to bring our marketing leverage to bear on this burgeoning new category. The first quarter for Nu-X was a small step in a big journey. It offers tremendous opportunity for thoughtful marketers and brand builders. In the quarter, we sold $800,000 of Nu-X products and expect the sales rate to grow exponentially as we move forward in the year. To add some additional color on the year-to-date and upcoming Nu-X activities, let me turn the call over to Graham Purdy, President of Nu-X. Graham Purdy -- Turning Point Brands -- Analyst Thank you, Larry for the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for the transformation that is developing here at TPB and more specifically at Nu-X. As Larry outlined, our Nu-X subsidiary is laser focused on creating new novel opportunities to broaden the revenue reach of our fine Company. Initially, we are focused on two key areas of opportunity. The first is vapor with our proprietary RipTide product line. The e-cigarette market continues to realize massive gains as the population of combustible smokers increasingly look for alternatives. We spent much of the first quarter building inventories to support the second quarter roll out and this is where it gets particularly exciting. A RipTide Ripstick device and pod system is like no other entry into the marketplace before it. Our proprietary nicotine technology known as NicTech coupled with our flavor system creates a unique, crisp and clean experience for adult consumers. Our pods are 1.4 milliliters as compared to less than 1 milliliter for most of the competitive set. The exceptional adult consumer value proposition coupled with what I believe to be superior satisfaction have proven to be especially compelling during our soft launch in the first quarter. Next week, we will begin the retail roll out of RipTide followed by turning on our e-commerce platforms and VaporBeast distribution to third-party vape shops. Our second focus at Nu-X is on the CBD wellness market, which is projected to be at over $20 billion in a few short years. The first quarter we tested a number of third-party CBD products in our own ecosystem and will begin rolling out our proprietary Nu-X products in the second quarter. In its brief and evolving history, the CBD market has been filled with start-up enterprises that in my opinion have launched me too products and failed to deliver a consistent product over time. It is in this environment that I believe the well-positioned Nu-X brand will thrive with consistently superior formulations. The Nu-X product assortment will not only have the specified milligrams, but will also be flavored with natural terpenes to add to their distinctive positioning. The initial Nu-X product line will include CBD liquids, tinctures and concentrates. Additionally, this quarter we worked with our traditional farmer base to put hemp in the ground and locked in hemp purchases to support our initiatives into 2020. Nu-X is a beginning here at TPB and will not only expand our revenue reach, but also leverage our integrated selling assets from traditional retail to direct to consumer sales. Early progress is encouraging and tells me that we're on the right path to achievement. Now as we release the organization to engage at retail, we begin to more fully realize optimal potential and gain a sustainable competitive advantage. And with that, I'll turn it over to Bobby. Bobby? Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Graham. What's going on in Nu-X is very exciting. I'll now just quickly run through the Company results and segment operating performance. Company results in the quarter were positive and consistent with our long-term growth aspirations. Total Company net sales were up 23.9% with gross profits increasing 27.2% and gross margins expanding 120 basis points. In Smokeless, the Stoker's brand continues to propel our smokeless portfolio forward. Smokeless net sales increased 8.7% to $22.5 million in the quarter. Double-digit volume and revenue gains on Stoker's MST were partially offset by sales declines in chewing tobacco, attributable to the continuing shift to lower priced products and category declines. Net sales for the chewed portfolio declined by $500,000 in the quarter while MST advanced $2.3 million. Smokeless volume increased 4.8% with price/mix advancing 3.9%. As we've discussed a number of times, our Smokeless business is shifting on the powerful advances of Stoker's MST. In the quarter, 52% of segment sales were derived from MST, up from 45% in the year ago quarter. Stoker's MST double-digit volume gains are now overtaking the scale of our chewing tobacco business and we're beginning to see favorable impact expanding margins on volume and efficiency. Smokeless margins in the quarter were 53.6%, up 60 basis points from a year earlier. In both MST and chewing tobacco, Stoker's continued to grow retail market share. Turning to our Smoking Products segment, Smoking Products net sales in the quarter decreased $1.5 million to $25.5 million. In the quarter, non-focused cigar products, which we've provided more disclosure on, declined $500,000 and Canadian paper sales were down $1 million due to temporary disruption associated with new packaging regulations. Moving forward, until we get more clarity on the Canada new packaging regulations and transition plan, we will continue to be in an inventory draw down position. Smoking volume declined 8.4% on the Canadian delays and cigars erosion and price/mix increased 2.9%. Based upon our internal analysis of the rolling papers category, a growing body of people are showing increased preference for super convenient products like paper cones. Our internal data suggests that our new Zig-Zag paper cones could prove to trigger a meaningful shift in measured demand and category growth. We expect to move beyond the cones inventory constraints as we move into June and plan to further accelerate momentum at that time. Importantly, new product introductions from Zig-Zag continue to generate greater consumer engagement and brand satisfaction. Moving to our NewGen segment, for the quarter, segment sales grew $17.4 million or 66% to $43.6 million driving NewGen to 47% of Company revenues. VaporBeast set another record for both quarterly net sales and gross profit on a highly effective marketing campaign, improved sourcing and logistics. IVG sales were in line with expectations and we are now in the process of working toward certain synergy initiatives to further strengthen margin contribution. First quarter NewGen gross profit increased by $7.3 million or 95% to a record $14.9 million. Gross margin expanded by 500 basis points to 34.2% of net sales reflecting the higher B2C margins at IVG. In the quarter, there were $2.0 million of tariff expense and $500,000 of duplicative warehouse expenses associated with our integration and consolidation of the Louisville facility. As Larry said, we closed our California facility in the first quarter. Moving to the consolidated business line. Consolidated SG&A expense in the quarter was $28.4 million compared to $22.1 million a year ago driven by the inclusion of Vapor Supply and IVG's SG&A expenses and transaction costs. The first quarter, which we're very proud, was a strong free cash flow quarter where we drew down tariff inventories offset by working capital requirements for both CBD and RipTide products. We ended the quarter with $14 million drawn on our revolving facility, down from $26 million in the prior quarter and paid down $2 million of our term loan. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $16.1 million as compared to $13.7 million in the prior year. Net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA was 3.1 times. In this morning's release, we also reaffirmed our 2019 guidance which we gave in early March. Projected 2019 TPB base business net sales are going to be $370 million to $385 million. We anticipate that the Nu-X launch, which is now under way in both Vapor and CBD products, will contribute another $10 million to $20 million in revenues bringing total TPB net sales in 2019 to $380 million to $405 million. Importantly, we intend to fully reinvest Nu-X gross profits to maximize sales and market achievement. The Company anticipates continued volatility in Canadian paper sales until such time as the Canadian packaging guidelines are finalized including certain transition timelines. Once finalized, we expect inventory to replenish to standard operating norms. Second quarter 2019 sales of Canadian papers are expected to be down year-over-year by $2.4 million as a result of the disruption. In April, TPB received a $6.7 million payment related to termination of a distribution agreement. Net of legal costs and reserves for anticipated returns associated with the termination, we expect to recognize a $5.5 million gain in the second quarter. Excluding the SG&A expenses just described and the Nu-X operating performance, we project 2019 adjusted EBITDA of $70 million to $75 million. This excludes the net $5.5 million gain from the distribution agreement termination. We expect effective tax rate to be 21% to 23%, CapEx will continue be $3 million to $4 million, which includes certain investments in our MST operations which have very quick payback and net sales for the second quarter of 2019 including the estimated impact associated with Canadian packaging regulations is expected to be $90 million to $94 million. M&A discussions have ramped up and we continue to evaluate potential partners and targets. More to come on that front. The first quarter was a good step in the transformation we have embarked upon. More work to be done, but we are headed in the right direction. With that, I'll turn the call back to Larry for closing comments. Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Bobby. First quarter 2019 was a good quarter for the Company. We continue to grow Stoker's MST with good success, realize improved margins across the board and achieved record net sales and gross profits at VaporBeast. We also initiated sales and marketing efforts on behalf of Nu-X, which greatly expands our opportunity for revenue achievement. These are exciting times at TPB. As we move forward, we will continue to execute our strategic plan by driving focused brand growth, expanding through acquisitions and innovation and strengthening our corporate infrastructure. Our Company remains solid and resilient and our people remain committed to the journey. Thank you for participating for the call today and with that, I'd like to open up the call for questions. Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Operator, we're ready for questions. Questions and Answers: Operator (Operator Instructions) And we'll first hear from Vivien Azer of Cowen. Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst Hi, good morning. Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer Good morning, Vivien. Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst So I was hoping to start with the next gen segment please and specifically the very robust margin expansion that you saw in the quarter, far better than we had anticipated. So any specific call out there please? Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Yeah, I mean it's really bringing in the IVG B2C margins. B2C margins, you know, you're selling direct to consumer and those come in higher. Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst So is that a sustainable margin? How should we think about the evolution of that over the course of the year? Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer I mean our long-term guidance on the NewGen margin has been 25% to 30%. We'll say as the RipTide product, the CBD products flows through, those margins are going to hold. Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst Just following up on next gen, but from a regulatory standpoint, as you've started to engage retailers, some discussions around your new offerings both on the nicotine vapor side as well as CBD side, what are you hearing from retailers around in particular on CBD? Any reticent to take on product or do they view the FDA hearing in May as a catalyst. That's just out there. Thanks. Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer Vivien, it's sort of different in different pockets of the country. As you know, some states have different laws on CBDs than further restrict beyond the national laws. So you have these areas that have terrific enthusiasm, they can't wait to get into the category and these other ones that are confused by the some of the state's regulatory regimes. Generally we're finding a lot of enthusiasm about CBD and inside the Company, we're very enthusiastic about it. Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer And people -- our customers want to know that we stand behind our product that we're going to be here a year from now and five years from now and that's you know -- we're starting to see that. That's what you're going to need to see it in mainline right. Is that not only can you do to fill in but you're also going to be able to do the sell-through and they know that we're there and they talk to our regulatory teams, they talk to our legal teams, they go through packaging regulations. We're not somebody they just met in Vegas. Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst Yes, that makes perfect sense and just a last one for me please. Given the array of CBD products that you ultimately contemplate, is there anything you can offer in terms of the staging of the roll out. Are there certain form factors that you might wait to hear from FDA on or do you feel like you're in a position to launch a full product suite? Thanks. Graham A. Purdy -- President, New Ventures Division Hey Vivien, this is Graham. So it's really twofold. So if you look at our alternative channel distribution vis-a-vis VaporBeast, DirectVapor, there is a specific audience that has an appetite for sort of larger form factors like tinctures and larger bottles of e-liquid. We're also are on a dual path with creating products that are mainline retail ready, so smaller form factors in price points that are tighter into the types of price points that consumers are -- we generally see consumers willing to pay it in traditional convenience. So we're very much on a dual pathway relative to trying to capitalize on the alternative distribution space that we have and offering the types of form factors and quite frankly the types of delivery vehicle whether it's tincture or you know inhalation, topicals, what have you and then also at the same time, creating products that work really -- what we believe will work really well for the mainline channel. Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer And I'm really happy that we sell $100 tincture bottles that have very good margins, but that's not the future of -- that's a small business for us versus how do you have a Turning Point Nu-X CBD product in 150,000, 200,000 Zig-Zag stores, you know, that has to be priced correctly. The market economics are not there yet, but we think that we're the sort of first mover and we set up the supply chain to provide that to sort of our chain independent customers. And that's really what you should be focused on like selling $100 tincture bottles like, you know, we're doing it, it's great, good margin, pays the bills, but you know, the real driver forward of this business is going to be when you have a lower price product in mainline. Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst That's really helpful. Thank you so much. Operator (Operator Instructions) Next we'll hear from Susan Anderson of B. Riley FBR. Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst Hi, good morning. Nice job on the quarter and nice to see the roll out of the new products. Some color maybe just on the Nu-X products the $10 million to $20 million you're expecting this year. I guess maybe just the biggest drivers there or we should we think about that as being RipTide or the CBD products or how should we think about that? Graham A. Purdy -- President, New Ventures Division Pick your favorite child. I mean -- Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer We're going full bore and we expect to see progress on both fronts. I don't want to pick a percentage right now. We'll just see how the consumers play out. Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst Got it. Okay and then I think maybe if you could talk about the performance of Zig-Zag in the quarter in the US ex the Canadian market. Just curious how it performed once you exclude the impact of Canada and then also it sounds like the new products have been received well, but any color around the performance there versus the legacy product. Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer The performance was in line with expectations. We are in a tight inventory position as it relates to cones. We can't get enough that we can sell. So performance was held back by that and we feel like that will open up in the second quarter, but it is, it is every cone we get, we can sell and so there, I think performance was in line. We saw the inventory issue when we gave sort of the guidance in March. So it's not -- but if you came to us in December, I think we would have thought that first quarter would have been higher. So with more cones we will sell more and so that's where we have opened up you know nationally but it still feels like we're in a supply constrained dynamic today. Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst Right. That sounds good. That's helpful. Thanks and then (multiple speakers). Yes, sure, go ahead. Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer I just to want to add, we're very enthusiastic about the cones as Bobby has said but if you go back to the theme that I had in my talk this morning that it was more convenient way of consumers to consume and we think it may actually help the overall paper market by having that introduction. Graham A. Purdy -- President, New Ventures Division I hate to come over the top here, but the the commentary from our field sales force and our customers are they're incredibly enthusiastic about Turning Point Brands entering the cones segment. So it's really an exciting product for sort of mainline retail and as Bobby mentioned, we can sell everything that we can get. Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst Right. That sounds really good. And then I guess last one just given a lot of moving parts within the NewGen segment now. Maybe if you could comment a little bit or give some color on just the distribution network that you guys have built out through all the acquisitions such as VaporBeast (ph) and Vapor Shark. Are you seeing increased sales going through that network or how should we think about that? Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer I think you're seeing the increased sales in the numbers we're reporting, but essentially the way we built out this infrastructure is that VaporBeast services -- has the potential to service the 8,000 to 10,000 vape shops it gets into roughly 4,000, about half of those are vape shops in the course of a year. IVG has a -- is the B2C engine and it has -- reaches over 2 million consumers. So we believe we have the broadest reach in the vapor space and, of course, you can't forget that our traditional sales force reaches a lot of consumers in 100,000 stores that it reaches. So we think we've got the space pretty well covered up right. Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst Great, that's helpful. Thanks so much for all the color. Good luck to you guys next quarter. Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Susan, we look forward talking to you. Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst Sounds good. Operator (Operator Instructions) It appears there are no further questions at this time. I'll turn the conference back over to our presenters for any additional or closing comments. Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Okay, thank you everybody for joining the call. We look forward to talking to you on the second quarter call where we'll be updating you on Nu-X and our progress on Stoker's and on Zig-Zag cones. Thank you very much. Operator That concludes today's conference. Thank you all for your participation, you may now disconnect. Duration: 31 minutes Call participants: Robert Lavan -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Lawrence S. Wexler -- President and Chief Executive Officer Graham Purdy -- Turning Point Brands -- Analyst Vivien Azer -- Cowen -- Analyst Graham A. Purdy -- President, New Ventures Division Susan Anderson -- B Reilly FBR -- Analyst More TPB analysis Transcript powered by AlphaStreet 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. More From The Motley Fool Motley Fool Transcribers 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. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The big shareholder groups in NBCC (India) Limited (NSE:NBCC) have power over the company. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Companies that have been privatized tend to have low insider ownership. With a market capitalization of 104b, NBCC (India) is a decent size, so it is probably on the radar of institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about NBCC. Check out our latest analysis for NBCC (India) NSEI:NBCC Ownership Summary, May 2nd 2019 What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About NBCC (India)? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. As you can see, institutional investors own 14% of NBCC (India). This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of NBCC (India), (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too. NSEI:NBCC Income Statement, May 2nd 2019 NBCC (India) is not owned by hedge funds. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too. Insider Ownership Of NBCC (India) The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. Story continues Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of NBCC (India) Limited. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own 350m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. General Public Ownership The general public, mostly retail investors, hold a substantial 86% stake in NBCC, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions. Next Steps: While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. 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 . Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. 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. By Ginger Gibson WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Political theater sometimes calls for props. On Thursday Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee pulled out a classic: the empty chair. When U.S. Attorney General William Barr failed to show up for a committee hearing to testify about his handling of the Mueller report, Democratic Chairman Jerrold Nadler convened the hearing anyway. At the center of the room was a long witness table with a folded placard bearing Barr's name. Behind that was a single empty chair, all neatly arranged for the cameras. Barr canceled his scheduled appearance after clashing with Nadler over the format of the hearing. Democrats are now weighing whether to hold Barr in contempt. It wasn't the first time - nor likely the last - that politicians rolled out a vacant chair to try to make a point. In 2018, the Senate Intelligence Committee convened a hearing on election meddling by foreign state-sponsored agents and Google opted not participate. The committee set out an empty chair In 2017, Trump convened a meeting with then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that set out an empty seat for Nancy Pelosi, who was then the House minority leader. "His empty chair photo opp showed hes more interested in stunts than in addressing the needs of the American people. Poor Ryan and McConnell relegated to props," Pelosi wrote on Twitter at the time. Actor and director Clint Eastwood famously bombed with his attempt at an empty chair routine during the 2012 Republican National Convention. Eastwood, who backed Republican candidate Mitt Romney's bid for president, brought an empty chair on stage for an imagined conversation with then Democratic President Barack Obama. Critics at the time said the routine made little sense and only generated confusion. At other times, lawmakers have opted to skip the empty chair and go straight to contempt. In 2012, House Republicans voted to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for refusing to comply with their investigation to the botched "Fast and Furious" weapons program. In that fight, Obama invoked executive privilege and ultimately Holder's Justice Department opted not to prosecute him in response to Congress's contempt vote. (Additional reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Bill Berkrot) By Yasmeen Abutaleb WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a final rule allowing doctors, nurses and other health workers to opt out of procedures such as abortions and sterilizations which violate their personal or religious beliefs. The rule, proposed more than a year ago, reinforces a set of 25 laws passed by Congress that protect "conscience rights" in healthcare, HHS said. Those laws allow health providers and entities to opt out of providing, participating in, paying for or referring for healthcare services that they have personal or religious objections to, HHS said. The rule will be effective 60 days from its final publication and enforced by the agency's Office of Civil Rights. "Finally, laws prohibiting government funded discrimination against conscience and religious freedom will be enforced like every other civil rights law," Roger Severino, director of HHS's Office of Civil Rights, said in a statement. "This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won't be bullied out of the healthcare field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life," he said. Physicians, medical groups and others have warned the rule would erode protections for vulnerable patients in healthcare, including gay and transgender individuals. "This administration shows itself to be determined to use religious liberty to harm communities it deems less worthy of equal treatment under the law," Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. "This rule threatens to prevent people from accessing critical medical care and may endanger people's lives," Melling said. In April 2018, the American Medical Association wrote to HHS Secretary Alex Azar warning that the rule would further marginalize vulnerable patient populations. The group also said conscience rights for physicians were not unlimited. President Donald Trump's administration has prioritized expanding religious liberty protections through measures that included an executive order in May 2017. HHS created a new Office of Conscience and Religious Freedom within its Office of Civil Rights more than a year ago, and soon after proposed its conscience rule. (Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Richard Chang) By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed its first climate-change bill in a decade, voting 231-190 to require that Trump administration keep the United States as a party to the Paris Climate Agreement. The Climate Action Now Act would require President Donald Trump to develop a plan for the United States to meet the goals it committed to in the Paris agreement to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and block federal funds from being used to advance the formal U.S. withdrawal from the pact. Trump has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 climate accord and has been dismissive of regulations aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill, which passed along party lines, as expected, with three Republicans backing the measure, was meant to signal to the international community that many Americans support the Paris agreement regardless of Trump's decision to abandon it. Today we sent a message to the president, to the American people and to the world that we recognize the seriousness of the climate crisis, and that we intend to do our part to address it. Today we sent the message: We are still in," said Representative Frank Pallone, chairman of the House energy committee. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would not take up the legislation, dismissing the bill as "political theater" by Democrats. Democrats have put climate change back on the agenda in Congress after re-gaining the majority in the House earlier this year, holding dozens of hearings on the issue. Many of the Democratic candidates hoping to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential election have made climate change a top-tier issue of their campaigns. All have backed re-entering the United States into the Paris Climate Agreement. A few candidates, including most recently former Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke, have also supported setting a goal for the United States to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 - one of the goals of the Paris agreement. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler) By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The former head of the White House office for security clearances told U.S. congressional investigators that he loosened clearance procedures for new hires over the objections of career officials, a congressional aide said on Thursday. In a closed-door interview on Wednesday with the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, Carl Kline said he changed security clearance practices in ways that Democratic investigators said weakened national security, according to the aide. The aide said that Kline confirmed he stopped the White House from ordering credit checks of new hires. He also ended a White House policy of re-vetting some parts of the backgrounds of new hires who had already been cleared by other agencies in the preceding six years, the aide said. The aide said that Kline "confirmed that he overrode the decisions of experienced career officials beneath him and granted security clearances for a number of individuals - including when the concern at question was foreign influence." Kline's appearance before House Oversight investigators came as they looked into the issuance of high-level security clearances to some Trump White House staffers, despite recommendations from career officials to the contrary. Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were among the two dozen staffers who got clearances in this way, said the aide and another congressional source. Kline managed White House clearances at the time; he has since left the White House and works at the Defense Department. The security clearances probe is one of several being pursued by House committees under control of Democrats into Trump, his administration, his family and his businesses. Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings told Reuters that the White House has provided no documentation regarding clearance policies to the committee and has blocked witnesses from discussing individual clearance decisions. Story continues "We still have no idea why the president's daughter and son-in-law were given clearances," Cummings said. A White House official, who also asked not to be named, disputed the aide's account of Kline's interview. The White House official said that Kline had "informed the Oversight Committee that nobody in the White House, including senior officials, pressured or influenced his security clearance determinations in any way." The official added: "Career officials who worked under Kline provided recommendations, and Kline, as the chief of personnel security, made final decisions. Contrary to the committees assertions, the White House provided the committee with 500 pages of documents for review, and the White House has voluntarily provided multiple briefings to the committee regarding the security clearance process. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jonathan Oatis) By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Madrid museum cannot be forced to return a Camille Pissarro painting that was seized by the Nazis from its Jewish owners during World War Two, despite the institution's failure to honor its "moral commitments," a federal judge in California has ruled. U.S. District Judge John Walter said he was bound by Spanish law in the nearly two-decade fight between heirs of Lilly Cassirer and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (TBC) over the Paris street scene painted by Pissarro in 1897. "(The) court has no alternative but to apply Spanish law and cannot force the Kingdom of Spain or TBC to comply with its moral commitments," Walter said in a 34-page ruling issued in his chambers in Los Angeles on Tuesday. "Accordingly, after considering all of the evidence and arguments of the parties, the court concludes that TBC is the lawful owner of the painting," Walter wrote, because the museum purchased it in good faith from a Swiss industrialist. Lilly Cassirer, who inherited "Rue Saint-Honore, Apres-midi. Effet de Pluie," from her family in 1926, was forced to surrender the Impressionist painting to the Nazis in 1939 in order to obtain exit visas from Germany following Kristallnacht, the night of Nov. 910, 1938, when Nazis persecuted Jews and seized their property. The artwork, which was later confiscated by the Gestapo, resurfaced in the United States in 1951, where it remained until it was purchased by the Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza for $300,000 in 1976. Thyssen-Bornemisza's collection became the basis for the collection at the popular Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. YEARS OF LITIGATION Walter said in his ruling that while the baron, as a sophisticated art collector, should have recognized the "red flags" around the painting's provenance, there was no proof that he or the Madrid-based museum knew it had been stolen by the Nazis. The Cassirer family believed that the painting had been destroyed or lost in the war until Lilly's heir, Claude, learned in 2000 that it was on display at the museum and filed a claim for its return. After Spain rejected that petition in 2005, family members sued the museum in U.S. District Court in California, touching off years of litigation. In his ruling, Walter said the museum's refusal to return the painting was "inconsistent" with the 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art signed by Spain and 43 other countries in which they committed to make restitution to the descendants of people whose art was looted during the war. On its website, the museum describes "Rue Saint-Honore" as one in a series of paintings Pissarro created from his Paris hotel room during the winter of 1897 and 1898 while the impressionist was in ill health. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Sandra Maler) WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - American negotiators locked in trade talks with China are expected to win more access to the Chinese cloud computing market than expected under an initial proposal, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said on Thursday. However, Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of International Affairs at the business lobby, also said the United States was unlikely to achieve as tough a rollback of Chinese industrial subsidies as it was seeking. (Reporting by David Lawder and Alexandra Alper Editing by Phil Berlowitz) By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday filed a motion to disqualify the lead defense lawyer for Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from the case accusing the Chinese company of bank fraud and sanctions violations, according to a filing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York. The lawyer, James Cole, was the No.2 official at the Justice Department between 2011 and 2015, a period when the United States was obtaining information on how Huawei might have been doing business in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. The government did not make public why it is seeking to remove Cole from the case. In a letter to the court, prosecutors said they had filed a sealed, classified motion to disqualify Cole and expected to file a public version by May 10. Cole, the former deputy attorney general of the United States, is now a partner at Sidley Austin in Washington. He declined to comment. A spokesman for Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case against Huawei has ratcheted up tensions between Beijing and Washington as the world's two economic powers try to close a trade deal. To the shock of the Chinese, the company's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested in Canada in December at the behest of U.S. authorities. Huawei was charged with bank and wire fraud, violating sanctions against Iran and obstructing justice. Wanzhou, who must answer to some of the charges, has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition. She is due in court in Vancouver on May 8. Cole entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the company and its U.S. subsidiary on March 14 in Brooklyn. The crux of the case is that Meng and Huawei allegedly conspired to defraud HSBC Holdings Plc and other banks by misrepresenting Huaweis relationship with Skycom Tech Co Ltd, a suspected front company that operated in Iran. Huawei has said Skycom was a local business partner, while the United States maintains it was an unofficial subsidiary used to conceal Huaweis Iran business. Story continues U.S. authorities claim Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed U.S. goods, technology and services in Iran, and to move money via the international banking system. U.S. prosecutors said last month they planned to use information about Huawei obtained through secret surveillance in the case. In March, Reuters detailed how U.S. authorities secretly tracked Huawei's activities, including by collecting information copied from electronic devices carried by Chinese telecom executives traveling through airports. In February, Reuters exclusively reported how an internal HSBC probe helped lead to the U.S. charges against Huawei and its CFO. The indictment references reporting by Reuters from six years ago that Skycom offered to sell embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone operator. The reporting detailed links between Huawei and Skycom, including that Meng had served on Skycom's board of directors in 2008 and 2009. (https://reut.rs/2sUq8RT) (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker) WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The United States rejects attempts by countries, like China, that are not members of the eight-nation Arctic Council, to claim a role in crafting policies governing the polar region, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday before a meeting of the group in Finland next week. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will attend the meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council in Rovaniemi, Finland, starting on Monday, which comes amid concerns over China's increased commercial interests in the Arctic. The United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden make up the Arctic Council, while China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan have observer status. "The eight Arctic states conduct governance of the Arctic region and we reject attempts by non-Arctic states to claim a role in this process," the official told reporters to preview Pompeo's trip, which will also include Germany, Britain and Greenland. "Observers have interests, but we know for example that China sometimes refers to itself as a 'near-Arctic state' and there is no such definition in the council's lexicon," the official added. The council, which coordinates Arctic policy, is gaining clout as sea ice thaws and opens up new trade routes, intensifying competition for oil and gas - estimated at 15 percent and 30 percent respectively of undiscovered reserves. China has become one of the biggest mining investors in the region, while Russia has been pouring money and missiles into the Arctic, and reopening and building bases there. Pompeo is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, during the council meetings, the official said, adding that talks will include the political stalemate in Venezuela. CLIMATE DIVISIONS Tensions have emerged in the run-up to the meeting over Washington's refusal to sign off on draft language on climate changes, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. (https://wapo.st/2VI80L4) Story continues The Arctic, especially its islands, is warming far quicker than the world average as the retreat of snow and sea ice exposes darker water and ground that soaks up ever more of the sun's heat. President Donald Trump has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord signed by almost 200 governments in 2015. They agreed to limit a rise in average global temperatures to "well below" 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times by 2100. Worldwide, temperatures are up about 1C (1.8F). The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed its first climate-change bill in a decade, voting 231-190 to require that administration keep the United States as a party to the Paris accord. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Sandra Maler) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States rejects attempts by countries, like China, that are not members of the eight-nation Arctic Council, to claim a role in crafting policies governing the polar region, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday before a meeting of the group in Finland next week. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will attend the meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council in Rovaniemi, Finland, starting on Monday, which comes amid concerns over China's increased commercial interests in the Arctic. The United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden make up the Arctic Council, while China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan have observer status. "The eight Arctic states conduct governance of the Arctic region and we reject attempts by non-Arctic states to claim a role in this process," the official told reporters to preview Pompeo's trip, which will also include Germany, Britain and Greenland. "Observers have interests, but we know for example that China sometimes refers to itself as a 'near-Arctic state' and there is no such definition in the council's lexicon," the official added. The council, which coordinates Arctic policy, is gaining clout as sea ice thaws and opens up new trade routes, intensifying competition for oil and gas - estimated at 15 percent and 30 percent respectively of undiscovered reserves. China has become one of the biggest mining investors in the region, while Russia has been pouring money and missiles into the Arctic, and reopening and building bases there. Pompeo is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, during the council meetings, the official said, adding that talks will include the political stalemate in Venezuela. CLIMATE DIVISIONS Tensions have emerged in the run-up to the meeting over Washington's refusal to sign off on draft language on climate changes, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. (https://wapo.st/2VI80L4) Story continues The Arctic, especially its islands, is warming far quicker than the world average as the retreat of snow and sea ice exposes darker water and ground that soaks up ever more of the sun's heat. President Donald Trump has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord signed by almost 200 governments in 2015. They agreed to limit a rise in average global temperatures to "well below" 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times by 2100. Worldwide, temperatures are up about 1C (1.8F). The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed its first climate-change bill in a decade, voting 231-190 to require that administration keep the United States as a party to the Paris accord. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Sandra Maler) By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United States military actions killed about 120 civilians and injured 65 others in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia last year, the Pentagon said in a report on Thursday, though the figures were far lower than those reported by watchdog groups. The annual report, mandated by Congress, showed a significant drop from nearly 800 civilians killed in 2017, in part because the pace of operations had slowed against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. During operations in Afghanistan in 2018, 76 civilians were killed, with 42 killed in total in Iraq and Syria, and two civilians killed during a strike in Somalia, according to the nearly 20-page report, which tracks air and ground military operations. The Pentagon assessed that no civilians were killed in Libya or Yemen, the report said. Still, the civilian casualties in the report were far lower than those reported by watchdog groups. Amnesty International USA said that while the report was a welcome step, more was required. "The Department of Defense unfortunately still significantly undercounts civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led operations, as demonstrated by our recent, detailed reporting on civilian casualties in Somalia and in Syria," said Daphne Eviatar, director of Security with Human Rights at Amnesty International USA. Amnesty International and the monitoring group Airwars, in a report published late in April, said the U.S.-backed assault to drive Islamic State militants from the Syrian capital Raqqa in 2017 killed more than 1,600 civilians. In February, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 1,185 civilians were killed during operations conducted by pro-government forces in 2018. The Pentagon report said there was a difference in civilian casualty assessments between the U.S. military and UNAMA because they used different methodologies. Commander Candice Tresch, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said this was the first year the full report was unclassified. "Although civilian casualties are a tragic and unavoidable part of war, no force in history is more committed to limiting harm to civilians than the U.S. military, which routinely applies standards that are more protective of civilians than required by the Law of Armed Conflict," Tresch said. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that revoked an Obama-era policy requiring U.S. intelligence officials to report civilian deaths in drone strikes outside of active war zones. President Barack Obama put the policy in place in 2016 as part of an effort to be more transparent about drone strikes after he had dramatically increased their use against Islamist militants. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Bernadette Baum) WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate failed on Thursday to override President Donald Trump's veto of a resolution that would end military support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition waging war in Yemen, in a victory for the White House's policy of continued backing for the kingdom. As voting continued, there were at least 42 "no" votes, guaranteeing that the measure would not garner the two-thirds majority needed in the 100-member chamber to override a veto. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, editing by G Crosse) DUBAI, May 2 (Reuters) - "Extremist militias" controlling the Libyan capital, Tripoli, were "derailing" the search for a political solution to the country's crisis, a senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official said on Thursday. "Abu Dhabi agreement offered opportunity to support the U.N.-led process. Meanwhile extremist militias continue to control capital and derail search for political solution," Anwar Gargash, UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said in a Twitter post. "Priority in Libya (is) to counter extremism/terrorism and support stability in long drawn out crisis," he added. (Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian law firm has filed a class action against Uber Technologies Inc on behalf of thousands of taxi and chartered drivers in Australia, accusing the world's largest ride-hailing company of operating illegally and causing them financial harm. The lawsuit, filed at the Victoria Supreme Court by law firm Maurice Blackburn, was brought on behalf of about 6,000 drivers and taxi license owners from across four Australian states, the lawyers said in a statement. "This will be a landmark case regarding the alleged illegal operations of Uber in Australia and the devastating impact that has had on the lives of hard-working and law-abiding citizens here," said Andrew Watson, Maurice Blackburn national head of Class Actions. Uber representatives did not immediately returned an email seeking comment. Uber has proved popular with the Australian public, even in the face of pushback from the taxi industry and many local authorities. The lawyers allege Uber knew its operations in Australia were illegal for a number of reasons, including that it "adopted a policy to operate in any market where the regulator had tacitly approved doing so by failing to take direct enforcement action." The loss-making ride hailing firm is planning to list in the United States at a valuation of up to $91.5 billion in an initial public offering. (Reporting by Paulina Duran; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) Kiev (AFP) - Ukrainians on Thursday marked five years since 48 people died in violent street battles and a fire in Odessa as the UN criticised the authorities for failing to ensure justice for the victims. Violent clashes between supporters and critics of Russia broke out in the multi-ethnic Black Sea port on May 2, 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea and supported Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine. Six men were shot dead in the city centre and 42 people - mostly pro-Russian activists - died as a result of a fire in a besieged trade union building. Nearly 250 people were injured. On Thursday, thousands of mourners flocked to the trade union building to lay flowers and light candles in memory of the victims. "Bring the perpetrators to justice!" said one of the posters at the scene. Authorities heightened security in the southern city, with some 2,500 policemen patrolling the streets. Speaking to reporters in Odessa, first deputy interior minister Sergiy Yarovy warned that "some forces will try to destabilise the situation". In a report released on Thursday, the United Nations criticised the Ukrainian authorities for failing to ensure justice for the victims of the deadly riots and their families. "No one has been held responsible for the acts of killing and violence," the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in the report. "Accountability for crimes and access to justice for all is essential to establish public trust in the judiciary and the rule of law, and may serve as a bedrock for reconciliation and social cohesion." The mission urged the Kiev authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and identify individuals responsible for the fire. Some suspects managed to flee and allegedly received Russian citizenship, the mission added. Moscow has repeatedly criticised Kiev's handling of the probe into the tragedy. Ukraine is going through a sensitive transitional period after a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, won a landslide victory in a presidential election last month. Hopes that bilateral ties might improve under a Zelensky presidency were dashed after Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced last month that millions of Ukrainians are eligible to receive a Russian passport quickly. Some 13,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since 2014. By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Theresa May hoped firing her defence secretary over a leak would put her latest government scandal to rest. But it seems only to have unleashed yet another political storm for the British prime minister, with members of her own party questioning her judgment and opponents demanding the police be called in. May, who is clinging to her job despite failing to persuade parliament to accept her plans for Britain's exit from the EU, fired Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday. She blamed him for a leak about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei from a meeting of the cabinet's National Security Council (NSC) which discusses intelligence and defence strategy. Williamson has continued to deny responsibility, saying he had been judged by a "kangaroo court". May has said she considers the matter closed. Others have refused to let it rest. "In what world is it acceptable that the prime minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation?" said Tom Watson, Deputy Leader of the opposition Labour Party. The leak, first reported in the Telegraph newspaper, said Britain would allow Huawei a role in building parts of its 5G network, setting London at odds with Washington, which wants allies to ban the Chinese firm from the next generation of communications technology. Williamson, previously in charge of party discipline, was an important political ally for May as she struggled to steer Britain through Brexit, its biggest upheaval in decades, without a majority in parliament and no clear consensus about the best way to leave the European Union. She announced in March she would step down if parliament accepted her Brexit deal, effectively launching a party leadership contest to choose her successor. The Huawei leak has crystallised doubts about May's ability to keep her ministers in check and govern effectively. Meetings of the NSC are attended by senior cabinet ministers, several of whom are top candidates to replace May. It was widely assumed that the leak was intended to give rivals a chance to portray themselves as stronger than May on security. Story continues "NATURAL JUSTICE" May's own fate and that of her project to extricate Britain from the European Union are now in limbo after parliament rejected the Brexit agreement, forcing May to ask the EU for an extension. Brexit is now set for October, but what form it will take or whether it will happen at all are in doubt. The delay means Britain must hold elections for the European parliament later this month at which May's Conservatives are expected to be trounced. They are also forecast to lose hundreds of seats on local councils in elections on Thursday. In firing Williamson on Wednesday, May said an investigation had left no other credible explanation for the leak except that Williamson was responsible. Cabinet office Minister David Lidington, who fielded questions at an urgent parliamentary hearing on the affair on Thursday, said that May had nevertheless not accused Williamson of breaking the law. It was for police, not ministers, to decide whether a criminal offence had been committed and the government did not intend to refer the matter to prosecutors, he said. Lawmakers, including Conservatives, called for all the evidence against Williamson to be made public. "Natural justice demands that the evidence be produced so his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed," said Desmond Swayne, a Conservative lawmaker. Sky News reported that Williamson also wanted a criminal probe to clear his name. (Reporting by William James and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Peter Graff) The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The gloves are off at the United Nations between the United States and their once-close European allies, according to some diplomats. European diplomats complain that Washington has shown little interest in working with them to address global crises and appears indifferent to the prospect of going it alone on the international stage. The 15 members of the Security Council -- five of which are European Union members -- will hold a retreat on Friday outside New York, but there is little hope of reviving the US-EU entente. "The current level of disagreement is not new, and relations were arguably worse in 2003 than they are today," said Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, referring to the Franco-US rift over the Iraq war. "But the US and Europeans are clashing very regularly now." In December, the United States locked horns with Britain over Yemen, insisting that a draft resolution include references to Iran and pushing for watered-down language on the Saudi-led coalition, according to diplomats. Last month, a new disagreement emerged over a British-drafted resolution demanding a ceasefire in Libya. On the same day that Britain circulated the text to the council, President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar whose forces had launched an offensive to take Tripoli. It remains unclear whether London was aware of Trump's phone call, but the result was that Britain was forced to put its text on the back burner. - Rough treatment - A US official rejected claims that the US was mistreating its council partners. He said the US made clear that it would not support any UN action until the end of ongoing talks with Libyan parties. "The Americans and French have always sparred at the UN, but it's unusual for the US to treat the Brits this roughly," said Gowan. Last week, Germany was forced to cave in to US threats of a veto over language on reproductive rights and international justice in a resolution on combating rape as a weapon of war. Story continues The language was removed to satisfy Washington's view that references to reproductive rights encouraged abortion. Venezuela is a vexing issue for the Europeans who complain that Trump administration officials are using the United Nations as a bully pulpit to push for regime change. So far, US Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and special envoy Elliott Abrams have all appeared at the council. A European diplomat complained that the US "treats us like the Chinese." Another council diplomat said that while the US, France and Britain -- permanent council members along with Russia and China -- do not appear united it is not "a crisis issue, but differences of views." "The current lack of strategic unity among the Western members of the Security Council has created diplomatic space for Russia and China to advance their interests in New York," said Gowan. CHARLOTTE, N.C. Reeling from a deadly campus shooting just one day ago, thousands of University of North Carolina at Charlotte students attended a vigil Wednesday night at the university's Halton Arena. They heard words of acknowledgment, encouragement and hope. The event that occurred on our campus yesterday was nothing but a horrific tragedy," said senior Kristine Slade, who helped organize the vigil. "However, have strength in knowing that as a community we will proceed and we will get through this event. Student body President Chandler Crean and university Chancellor Philip Dubois also addressed the crowd, a gathering that developed in stark contrast to a campus that had been largely empty throughout the day. Yesterday was our last day of classes. We woke up with excitement and eagerness to wrap up this academic year," Crean said. "Sadly, that was taken from us." More: University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting: What We Know Now Crean told the crowd that '"no one is going through this alone," and he urged students to lift each other up. Yesterdays tragedy was a complete shock and the saddest day in UNC Charlotte history. Please know that this does not stop here. It cannot stop here," he said. "No matter what happens, we will keep moving forward." More: Victim tried to stop UNC Charlotte gunman, police say. Riley Howell, in the 2015 Roberson High School yearbook. Dubois said the coming "days, weeks and months will test our collective strength." UNC Charlotte cannot and will not be defined by this tragedy," he said. "We must be defined by how we respond to it. We will emerge united and stronger. After leaving the arena, hundreds gathered at the Star Quad to light candles. A student choral group sang. Varying stages of shared emotion could be seen in diverse faces. Two students 21-year-old Riley Howell and 19-year-old Ellis Parlier were killed and four others were wounded Tuesday when a gunman identified by authorities as a former student opened fire in a classroom in the Kennedy building, authorities said. Story continues Howell has been called a hero for knocking down the gunman. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter: @KirkBrown_AIM This article originally appeared on The Greenville News: UNC Charlotte shooting: Grieving students hear words of encouragement and hope at vigil Ben Murray was expelled from Bristol University weeks before he took his own life (Picture: Facebook) A student who took his own life after struggling with anxiety had been expelled from university in the weeks leading up to his death. An inquest heard that 19-year-old Ben Murray, a first year student at Bristol University, was dismissed by email and letter for poor attendance and a missed exam, despite telling staff he was feeling unwell. Ben had apparently had email contact with staff telling them about his struggles with anxiety, but had no face-to-face contact before he was kicked out of the university in February last year. Ben had emailed 30 members of staff at Bristol University about his struggles with anxiety (Picture: Getty) An unopened letter was found in his pigeonhole after his death in May and an inquest heard that an email sent to him was worded in such a way that he had had to ask a friend to explain what it meant. Bens parents told an inquest at Avon coroners court that his distress was apparent but had not been acted on. READ MORE Paedophile was allowed to prey on victims for a YEAR after he was arrested In a statement to the hearing, they said: 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? The inquest heard that despite Ben contacting 30 members of staff by email about his problems, the university didnt tell his parents he was struggling, saying as students were adults, they could not do so without permission. It now apparently seeks prior consent from all students to contact parents. The inquest continues and is expected to finish today. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Washington (AFP) - US health authorities have given their approval to dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, the controversial first treatment designed to protect against the deadly mosquito-borne virus. The Food and Drug Administration made the announcement on Wednesday, but the use of the vaccine can only occur under certain strict conditions: only children aged between nine and 16, who have previously confirmed infections, and who live in endemic areas, may receive the dose. "While there is no cure for dengue disease... approval is an important step toward helping to reduce the impact of this virus," said Anna Abram, a senior FDA official. The virus is endemic in the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, said the FDA. Dengue, which causes hemorrhagic fever, is the world's most common mosquito-borne virus and infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year -- killing more than 25,000 of them, according to the World Health Organization. But Dengvaxia, produced by the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, is controversial: the Philippines, which became the first country to approve it in 2016, was also the first to ban it in February this year over safety concerns. Manila is also pursuing criminal charges against the company's officials over the deaths of children injected with Dengvaxia. Sanofi denies the charges but in 2017 admitted the vaccine was not suitable for people who had not previously been infected with the virus. Dengvaxia has previously been approved in 19 countries and the European Union, which greenlit the vaccine under similar conditions to the US, though the age range was nine to 45-years-old. Washington (AFP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused the top US law-enforcement officer of committing a crime by lying to Congress, escalating the showdown between Donald Trump's administration and the Democrats investigating him. Pelosi levelled the rare charge after Attorney General Bill Barr skipped out on his scheduled testimony before a House of Representatives panel eager to probe his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Infuriated Democrats quickly threatened to censure him for contempt. Barr, in the job since February, had been grilled a day earlier in the Republican-led Senate, where Democrats accused him of whitewashing Mueller's report in order to protect Trump. But he was a no-show at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, after its leadership announced it would have lawyers cross-examine him following a round of questioning by the panel's elected members. Barr's absence appeared to antagonize Pelosi, Trump's Democratic nemesis in Congress, who accused the attorney general of misleading lawmakers. "He lied to Congress," Pelosi said, apparently referring to Barr's testimony under oath before lawmakers in April. "That's a crime." In that hearing, Barr claimed not to know whether Mueller supported his controversial memo summarizing the report and said he did not know why members of Mueller's team would be frustrated over the summary. It emerged on Tuesday, however, that when Barr said this, he was already in possession of a March 27 letter from Mueller outlining the special counsel's frustrations. "If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime," Pelosi said. "Nobody is above the law, not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general." - 'Chicken Barr' - Mueller's report, the culmination of a 22-month probe yielding charges or convictions of 34 people and three companies, confirmed that Russian operatives tried to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Story continues The investigation found that Trump's campaign knew of the sabotage attempt but did not deliberately reach out to conspire with the Russians. The report detailed numerous occasions in which Trump attempted to thwart the investigation, leading to several Democrats calling for his impeachment. Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler threatened Barr with contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena demanding delivery of the full, unredacted 448-page report. He also blasted Barr's failure to appear as part of a wholesale obstruction by the Trump administration of Democrat-led inquiries. "The challenge we face is that the president of the United States wants desperately to prevent Congress, a co-equal branch of government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions," Nadler said. "The system of limited power, the system of not having a president as a dictator, is very much at stake." The brief hearing was notable for Barr's empty seat. Democrat Steve Cohen mocked the attorney general's absence, bringing a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken to the proceedings. "Chicken Barr should have shown up today," Cohen said. Judiciary's top Republican Doug Collins pushed back fiercely, calling the witness-less hearing a "circus" and all but challenging the House leadership to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump. If the House approves a contempt motion, it would open Barr to congressional punishments including fines. Meanwhile, Trump's lawyer Emmet Flood accused Mueller and his special counsel's office (SCO) of politicizing their report when they wrote that "we are unable to reach that judgment" that the president did not commit obstruction of justice. "Prosecutors simply are not in the business of establishing innocence, any more than they are in the business of 'exonerating' investigated persons," Flood wrote in a mid-April letter to Barr that was published by US media Thursday. "The SCO's inverted-proof standard and 'exoneration' statements can be understood only as political statements." Washington (AFP) - Two US lawmakers berated social media firms Thursday for failing to provide specific information on their efforts to root out extremist content on their platforms. The congressmen said Twitter and Google-owned YouTube provided incomplete responses and Facebook did not respond to the requests made by the House Committee on Homeland Security after mosque attacks in New Zealand that were livestreamed online. Representative Bennie Thompson, who chairs the committee, and Max Rose, head of the subcommittee on intelligence and counterterrorism, said none of the companies was able to describe the resources dedicated to counter terrorism and extremism on their platforms. "The fact that some of the largest corporations in the world are unable to tell us what they are specifically doing to stop terrorist and extremist content is not acceptable," they said in a joint statement. "Domestic terrorism is on the rise both here and abroad, and of all forms of terrorism and extremism are increasingly turning to these social media platforms to proliferate their message and spread their violent, hateful content. As we saw in New Zealand, Facebook failed and admitted as much." A letter from YouTube said the video-sharing platform spends hundreds of millions of dollars and employs some 10,000 people to block or remove content which violates policies on hate speech or incitement of violence. But YouTube maintained that it would be "difficult and possibly misleading" to separate its counterterrorism efforts from overall expenditure to protect the site. The company had manually reviewed a million videos suspected of violating policy on terrorist content in the first three months of 2019, it said, and removed fewer than 10 percent. It added that its automated systems often remove videos before they are viewed. Twitter said it had suspended more than 1.4 million accounts for violations related to the promotion of terrorism and that it enforces its ban on specific threats of violence or physical harm to others. Story continues Thompson and Rose said the letters lacked specifics on how these firms tackle extremism. "Broad platitudes and vague explanations of safety procedures aren't enough," they wrote. "We need a full accounting of what is being done." The House panel asked in March for a briefing from Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft after the attacks that killed 50 worshipers at mosques in Christchurch which the assailant streamed on Facebook Live, and which was then copied and reposted elsewhere. During negotiations on an international statement on Arctic policy, the United States pushed to remove references to climate change from the document a position that threatened to spark a standoff between the US and other Arctic nations, a new report says. The US pushed to have references to climate change and the Paris climate treaty moved from the policy statement, which is created by the eight Arctic nations in a meeting that occurs every eight years. The push to remove the language, in the beginning, lead contention among the negotiators, even though the statement itself is non-binding. The US indicated its resistance to any mention of climate change whatsoever, one official told The Washington Post, which first reported on the the effort. There have been challenges in the negotiations with the United States, another official told that paper, noting that the US position has appeared to soften in recent days. At one point they wanted to remove the expression climate change and blocked references of the Paris agreement and other international agreements in the language. But the dialogue has improved during the last couple of days, the official continued. An email sent to the State Department seeking comment on the Washington Posts report was not returned. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to travel to Finland for a two-day session with the Arctic Council, where he will be joined by foreign minister for Russia, Canada, and Nordic nations in the group. The State Department is in charge of Americas involvement in the council, which was formed in 1996. The US government has been hostile to the idea of mitigating the causes of climate change since Donald Trump became president, and has pushed for an expansion in offshore drilling, and for the removal of regulations that impact fossil fuel burning and greenhouse gas emissions. Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.06 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.01 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.14 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 500%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this biopharmaceutical company would post earnings of $0.13 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.26, delivering a surprise of 100%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Vanda, which belongs to the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, posted revenues of $47.71 million for the quarter ended March 2019, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.05%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $43.59 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Vanda shares have lost about 37.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.5%. What's Next for Vanda? While Vanda has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Vanda was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.01 on $54.80 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.22 on $222.83 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Medical - Biomedical and Genetics is currently in the top 31% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. 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 Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VNDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has attempted to present a unified front with the army as pressure increases on him to resign. Following two days of political unrest and violent protests, Mr Maduro visited an army base in Caracas, where he appeared surrounded by soldiers, including his defence minister and military operations chief. During the visit, Mr Maduro reportedly called on armed forces to defeat any coup plotter and, in a televised national address, announced the Venezuelan armed forces were united, cohesive and subordinate to their constitutional mandate. The defiant message comes after opposition leader and self-appointed interim president Juan Guaido attempted to convince the military to join the fight in ousting Mr Maduro. US officials including US special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams have previously said the countrys military high command has discussed the removal of Mr Maduro with the Supreme Court and representatives of Mr Guaido. Almost everyone was involved with that, and so Maduro has to know that the high command is not truly loyal and they want a change, Mr Abrams said Wednesday. Venezuelan President Mr Maduro has refused to cede power (REUTERS) On Wednesday, the US-backed effort to remove Mr Maduro saw thousands take to the streets in protest, however, the president has refused to cede power to Mr Guaido, who is considered the legitimate head of state by more than 50 countries including the US and the European Union. A court has also issued an arrest warrant for fellow opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who violated house arrest earlier in the week, when he appeared alongside Mr Guaido. The two days of clashes in Caracas have reportedly left hundreds injured and four dead, according to rights groups. The next step, according to US officials, will be implementing more sanctions on Venezuela's government, however, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said military action may also be used to resolve the crisis. The United States is doing everything short of the ultimate to resolve Venezuelas crisis, Donald Trump has vowed, after clashes between protesters and security forces in Caracas resulted in the death of one woman and injuries to 46 others. As tens of thousands of Venezuelan returned to the streets on Wednesday following a dramatic but fruitless bid to force Nicolas Maduro from power, Juan Guaido told demonstrators in the capital, Caracas, they needed to intensify their peaceful rebellion against Maduro. Every day there will be acts of protest until we achieve our liberty, Guaido announced. They thought they could suffocate our protest yesterday and they failed. We will remain in the streets until Venezuela is free. Jurubith Rausseo, 27, died at a clinic after being hit in the head by a bullet during a demonstration, the non-governmental Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said on Twitter. Human rights organisations and health services reported 46 people injured in Wednesdays clashes. In an interview with Fox News, the US president, who is Guaidos most powerful international backer, vowed to continue supporting him in his battle against Maduro, who Trump called a tough player. We are doing everything we can do, short of, you know, the ultimate, Trump said, adding: There are people who would like to have us do the ultimate. Asked what the options were, Trump said: Well, some of them I dont even like to mention to you because they are pretty tough. Its an incredible mess The place is so bad and so dangerous so something is going to have to be done, the Trump added in the rambling 10-minute interview. A lot of things will be going on over the next week and sooner than that. We will see what happens. Earlier, anti-Maduro protesters once again hit the streets in towns and cities across Venezuela to demand the exit of a politician they blame for leading their country into political and economic chaos. Story continues Before this year Id never come out to march but Im doing it now because I am certain that we will get Maduro out, said Coromoto Mendez, a 50-year-old beauty salon owner, as she joined the demonstrations in Caracas. We have to support this and finish what we have started. Even the Chavistas are asking for change, Mendez added. I have faith and I believe that we have a leader who is taking us on the right path Each day the people feel more hope and faith. But in a defiant televised address late on Tuesday, Hugo Chavezs heir insisted he had seen off Tuesdays attempt to topple him with the backing of loyal and obedient members of Venezuelas Bolivarian armed forces. Member of the National Guard throws an object towards opposition supporters on Wednesday. Member of the National Guard throws an object towards opposition supporters on Wednesday.Photograph: STRINGER/Reuters Flanked by Venezuelas military and political elite, Maduro blamed Venezuelas coup-mongering far right and Donald Trumps deranged imperialist gang for what he called Tuesdays attempted coup. I truly believe that the United States of America has never had a government as deranged as this one, Maduro said in his hour-long pronouncement, calling Guaido and his team useful idiots of the empire. Related: Russia denies US claim it told Maduro not to flee Venezuela Maduro also denied claims from the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, that he had been preparing to flee Venezuela for Cuba on Tuesday morning, until he was told to stay put by his Russian backers. Senor Pompeo, please, Maduro said. Guaido counter-attacked at Wednesdays demonstrations, insisting Maduro was already defeated and urging protesters not to lose hope. But the opposition leader admitted he could not say how many hours, days or weeks remained before Maduro would be gone and told demonstrators they were likely to face growing repression. Hard days lie ahead, Guaido warned. A spokesperson for the UN human rights office voiced similar concerns on Wednesday amid reports of clashes between demonstrators and security forces in eastern Caracas. The UN human rights office is extremely worried by reports of excessive use of force by security forces against demonstrators across Venezuela that has allegedly resulted in dozens injured, Marta Hurtado said in a statement. Many have also reportedly been detained, Hurtado added. Anti-government protesters returns a tear gas canister during clashes with security forces on Wednesday. Anti-government protesters returns a tear gas canister during clashes with security forces on Wednesday.Photograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images At a pro-Maduro march winding through central Caracas to the presidential palace, Raiza Castillo, 40, was scornful of the oppositions chances. Theyre out of touch with reality, she said. And we know that if [the opposition] get into power, the first thing theyll do is get rid of all the benefits and improvements that we have won. Nearby, Tania Diaz, the head of communications for Maduros PSUV party, said: For 20 years, the extreme right has tried to take power by force and not through democracy. What we saw yesterday followed the same pattern of hybrid warfare: terrorist actions with a few figureheads out in front in this case Guaido and [his political mentor Leopoldo] Lopez. There was consensus among analysts on Wednesday that Guaido had failed in his main objective on Tuesday. Juan Guaido bluffed and he was badly defeated this was a disastrous operation, Eliane Cantanhede, a prominent Brazilian journalist, argued in the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper. Benjamin Gedan, the national security councils Venezuela adviser during the Obama presidency, said: It seems clear that the hope from Guaido and Lopez was a massive uprising in the intelligence services and the military which would have compelled Maduro to leave power immediately. To the extent that it is judged based on its objectives, it was an utter failure. But that was not to say Maduros crisis-stricken government was out of danger. Related: Guaido's uprising seems to have flatlined. What's next for Venezuela? I see no signs of stalemate. To the contrary, I see a government with a fragile hold on power facing increasing dissent in its ranks, Gedan added. David Smilde, a Venezuela expert from the Washington Office on Latin America, said the defection of the head of Venezuelas intelligence services, Sebin, showed Maduros military support was fragile. Jair Bolsonaro said Brazilian intelligence suggested there is indeed a fracture which is moving closer and closer to the top of the armed forces. So it is possible the government will collapse because some of those at the top switch sides, Bolsonaro added. The US national security adviser, John Bolton, also claimed the Maduro regime was close to falling. Our judgment is that the overwhelming number of military service members in the country support Juan Guaido and the opposition, Bolton told Fox & Friends, Donald Trumps favourite morning television talkshow. Its just a matter of time before they come over the opposition and some of that could happen today. In the predawn hours of April 30, the contest for control of Venezuela once again appeared to be coming to a head. Juan Guaido, the young reformer who claims the mantle of President, announced from inside a military base in the capital, Caracas, that he was taking charge. And nearby stood evidence that the security forces were finally falling in line: fellow opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, freed from house arrest, his guards apparently having defected. At this moment, I am with the main military units of our armed forces, starting the final phase of Operation Liberty, Guaido said. He called on Venezuelans to gather in the streets to take power from Nicolas Maduro, who has sat in the presidential palace since 2013 but whose presidency has been deemed null and void by much of the international community. By days end, however, the uprising was anything but finaland the only thing clear was how much has changed in Latin American politics in the 21st century. From 1900 to 2006, power changed hands in the region 162 times via military coup, typically announced from the studio of a state broadcaster. In a striking number of casesat least 41, by the count of a Harvard studythe force behind the coup was the U.S., which maintained a proprietary hold over the hemisphere it regarded as its realm. This time the picture is as diffuse as the forces holding the situation in stalemate. Washington clearly has an appetite for toppling Maduro, as tweets from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence made clear. But Uncle Sam could credibly claim to be one of a crowd. Some 50 nations recognize Guaidos claim to the presidency, and support also came in tweets from the governments of Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and others. It was Chile that opened a diplomatic residence to Lopez, free from house arrest but not safe in a divided and dangerous Caracas. He later moved to the Spanish embassy. Story continues Just as in February, when Guaido traveled to Venezuelas border with Colombia in hopes of riding blockaded aid trucks to victory, things did not go as planned. Geoff Ramsey, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, told TIME the day showed that neither the regime nor the opposition is as strong as they thought they were. Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez are in a situation where there is no turning back. Hamilton Mourao, Brazils Vice President, on Guaido (left) and Lopez (right) | Manaure QuinteroReuters Neither is Washington. As Maduros security forces resisted and Guaidos call to action fizzled, top Trump Administration officials were reduced to accusing Maduro loyalists of backing out of promises to defect. So the standoff resumed. Maduro remains deeply unpopular, tied as he is to the near total collapse of the economy, which has driven 3.7 million Venezuelans to leave the oil-rich country. That exodus into the neighboring nations has galvanized the region to overthrow Madurobut nonviolently. Yet despite U.S. economic sanctions, Maduro still has funds to buy the loyalty of senior military officers. And Guaido isnt the only one with international backers. Maduro has the support of Cuba, China and, most of all, Russia, drawn both by oil and ambition. And ordinary Venezuelans fear the plainclothes thugs loyal to Maduro known as colectivos, notorious for firing into crowds and targeting protesters. The Trump Administration is preoccupied by the involvement of Moscow and Havana in Maduros survival. In a tweet on April 30, President Donald Trump threatened a full and complete embargo on Cuba if it did not withdraw troops he said were assisting Maduro. Pompeo earlier claimed the Kremlin had stepped in to persuade Maduro not to flee. He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, he said in an interview, and the Russians indicated he should stay. Ramsey says the White House has involved itself in Venezuela mainly to enhance electoral prospects among right-wing expatriates of the region in Florida. White House National Security Adviser John Bolton was at the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association on April 17, the 58th anniversary of the Cuban exiles failed bid to take back the island with the backing of the CIA. But the White House threat that all options are on the table has not reached the Pentagon, which has said it has no plans to intervene. Clearly, Maduro feels he can confidently ignore the sabers rattle. In some ways its good, obviously, because the U.S. is no longer the great regional hegemon that determines everything that happens, says Phil Gunson, a Latin America analyst with the International Crisis Group. The sense that this is more multipolar now is not by any means a bad thing. But there doesnt seem to be an easy way to resolve these things anymore. CARACAS, May 2 (Reuters) - Venezuela opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez said on Thursday he met with "commanders and generals" in his home while under house arrest in the past three weeks, ahead of a thwarted uprising earlier this week to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Speaking from the Spanish diplomatic residence, where he entered as a guest on Tuesday, Lopez said there were more "military movements" on the way and that he expected the "end of the usurpation" - a reference to the end of Maduro's rule - to take place "within weeks." (Reporting by Corina Pons Writing by Luc Cohen Editing by Leslie Adler) By Mayela Armas and Corina Pons CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, evading arrest in a Spanish diplomatic residence, on Thursday disclosed he met with senior military officials before a failed uprising against President Nicolas Maduro this week. Suggesting coordination continues with armed forces figures in the campaign to oust Maduro, Lopez said more "military movements" were on the way. But Maduro sought to show that the military remains on his side by appearing early on Thursday on state television with his defense minister and military operations chief. The pre-dawn military uprising on Tuesday, urged on by opposition leader and Lopez ally Juan Guaido, failed to gain steam as security forces loyal to Maduro cracked down on demonstrators who had taken to the streets in support of Guaido. "The fissure that opened on April 30 will become a crack, and that crack is what is going to break the levee," Lopez told reporters from Spain's Caracas diplomatic residence. He said he had met with commanders and generals from different sectors of Venezuela's armed forces in his home in the past three weeks. "There we committed ourselves to contribute to the end of the usurpation," he added. Lopez, a firebrand politician and Guaido's mentor, was arrested during a protest movement in 2014 and transferred to house arrest in 2017. He appeared together with Guaido and dozens of soldiers on Tuesday after escaping his home and before seeking refuge at the Spanish residence. A Venezuelan court on Thursday issued a warrant for Lopez's arrest, saying he violated an order that required him to remain under house arrest and restricted his ability to speak publicly. A Spanish government spokeswoman said Madrid had no intention of turning him over to Venezuelan authorities. Lopez's surprise escape provided a jolt to Guaido's movement, more than three months after he invoked the country's constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro's 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Guaido, the head of the opposition-run National Assembly, has been recognized as the South American country's legitimate leader by more than 50 countries, including the United States and Spain. Maduro, a socialist who retains the support of Russia, Cuba and China, calls Guaido a U.S.-backed puppet seeking to orchestrate a coup against him. FOUR DIE IN CLASHES Lopez's comments came after two days of upheaval in the OPEC nation, which is undergoing a hyperinflationary economic collapse marked by shortages of food and medicine. Tens of thousands took to the streets across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday, heeding Guaido's call to keep the pressure on Maduro. Clashes with security forces left four dead, along with hundreds injured or detained. Maduro, in his early morning speech, sought to reject claims by the United States and the opposition that the armed forces high command was prepared to turn against him to allow Guaido to form a transition government and call elections. U.S. officials have said Venezuela's military high command was in discussions with the Supreme Court and representatives of Guaido over Maduro's exit. Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, told broadcaster VPI on Wednesday that Maduro cannot trust his top military leaders. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday said Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, along with the Supreme Court's chief justice and the commander of the presidential guard, had told the opposition Maduro needed to leave power. But Padrino stood beside Maduro, who took over from the late President Hugo Chavez in 2013, in Thursday's address. "Do not come to buy us with a dishonest offer, as if we do not have dignity," Padrino said. Military operations chief Remigio Ceballos also appeared in the broadcast. NEXT STEPS The military is seen as key in Venezuela's standoff. Lopez did not detail whom in the military he had met with, but representatives of the opposition have approached several key figures in the armed forces in recent months, including a high-ranking army general, according to former General Antonio Rivero and another former senior member of Venezuela's military who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Guaido has promised amnesty for members of the armed forces who join his cause. In a tweet about the death of a protester at the hands of security forces on Wednesday, he said, "The murderers will have to take responsibility for their crimes" and members of the armed forces were "sworn to protect the people, not a usurper who hides while you watch them kill your brothers." Guaido has suggested a general strike as the next step to pressure Maduro, while U.S. officials have said more sanctions are coming to choke off cash flow to Venezuela's government. The United States has already imposed sanctions on state-run oil company PDVSA, the OPEC nation's economic lifeblood. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump's top national security aides discussed a range of possible steps to squeeze Maduro and give eventual economic support to Venezuela if he falls, a senior administration official said. The talks included sanctions, diplomacy and defense options, the official said, adding that there was "significant progress on defense matters" without providing details or saying whether any decisions had been made. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said U.S. military action in Venezuela is possible but diplomatic and economic pressure are the preferred ways to oust Maduro. In an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha published on Thursday, Guaido said he did not rule out a foreign military intervention to oust Maduro, but that it would be the "last option" after pressuring for a "free transition." Russia said on Thursday it had agreed to continue talks on Venezuela with the United States, while China called for a political settlement via dialogue. (Reporting by Mayela Armas Vivian Sequera and Luc Cohen in CaracasAdditional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington and Marcelo Rochabrun in Sao PauloEditing by Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman) Caracas (AFP) - Opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez sent a defiant message to Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro from his refuge in the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas after the country's top court ordered his arrest on Thursday. Lopez said Tuesday's opposition attempt to incite a military uprising against Maduro's government, which seemed to have fizzled out by Wednesday, was "part of a process." "It's a crack that will become a bigger crack... that will end up breaking the dam," the 48-year-old told reporters congregated outside the residence. Lopez, who was imprisoned in 2014 and transferred to house arrest three years later, made a sensational public appearance alongside opposition leader Juan Guaido and a group of rebel military personnel outside a Caracas air base on Tuesday. Guaido -- the speaker of the National Assembly legislature, who is recognized as Venezuela's interim president by more than 50 countries -- tried to coax those inside the base to join the military rebellion, a move that sparked two days of clashes between security forces and opposition protesters that left four people dead. Later on Tuesday, Lopez sought refuge in the Chilean embassy with his wife and daughter before moving to the Spanish ambassador's residence. He claimed to have been freed from house arrest by rebel soldiers whose actions he said would bring down the Maduro "dictatorship." The Supreme Court accused Lopez of "flagrantly" violating the terms of his house arrest. Madrid said it would not hand over Lopez to Venezuelan authorities nor ask him to leave. "The crack has started," said Lopez, adding that Tuesday's rebel soldiers "realize that they're not alone." "We had prepared for this. It wasn't improvised... there will be more military movements." He echoed Guaido's accusation that Maduro was "fraudulently" re-elected last year, describing his presidency as a "usurpation." Story continues Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2014 after he was accused of having incited violent protests against Maduro, which left 43 people dead. At the time, he was a leading opposition figure and the founder of the Popular Will party, which counted Guaido among its members. The Harvard-trained Lopez comes from a prominent family -- some of his ancestors held top government positions -- but has been branded as "far right" and a "coup plotter" by socialist Maduro. Popular Will describes itself as a progressive center-left movement. Lopez's wife Lilian Tintori claimed on Twitter on Wednesday that their house had been robbed and ransacked while they were away. BOSTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Jurors on Thursday said they had reached a verdict in the trial of the founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc and four colleagues accused of bribing doctors to prescribe an addictive painkiller, helping to drive the U.S. opioid drug abuse crisis. A federal jury in Boston after 15 days of deliberations informed the court it was prepared to decide whether to convict or acquit John Kapoor, the Arizona-based drugmaker's former chairman, and his co-defendants of racketeering conspiracy. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston Editing by Bill Berkrot) A Virginia man was killed last month when a sheet of glass he was loading onto a truck fell on top of him and crushed him to death. Damarcus Laquan Calloway, an employee of Virginia Glass Products in Ridgeway, died on April 22 following a tragic accident at his place of work, the Martinsville Bulletin reports. Henry County Sheriffs Capt. Wayne Davis told the outlet that the 24-year-old victim "sustained trauma" when "several, several hundred pounds" of plate glass fell on top of him and pinned his body to the ground. First responders attempted to treat Calloway's severe injuries at the scene before he was airlifted to Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina where he was later pronounced dead. His death is being treated as an accident, and Davis said the sheriffs office is not conducting a criminal investigation. However, two branches of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry have opened investigations into the incident in order to "determine compliance" and "issue citations if they are warranted." News of Calloway's death comes on the heels on another tragic workplace death, where a Pennsylvania woman was killed after falling into a commercial meat grinder. By Trend In the last Iranian year (March 21, 2018-March 20, 2019), $2.66 billion of Iran's total exports of $44 billion accounted for the country's Isfahan province, the Executive Director of Export Guarantee Fund of Iran Afrouz Bahrami said, Trendreports referring to the Fund. He noted that Isfahan has great potential to increase its exports. Currently, 39 exporters of the province cooperate with the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran, Bahrami said. In the markets of surrounding 15 countries, exports of which amount to roughly $1 trillion, Iran's share equals to only 2.5 percent, he noted adding that Iranian exports mainly focuse on these countries Bahrami said that the Fund is doing everything possible to help the exporters to solve their problems. In his words, main concerns of the exporters are related to political and trade risks. Volkswagen(VOW3-DE) said Thursday it would continue to hope for the best possible outcome amid heightened fears that the U.S. could soon impose tariffs on EU cars. But, the German automaker emphasized it plans to monitor the prospect of additional charges with a sense of realism too. It comes after President Donald Trump said in February that he would impose tariffs on cars imported from the EU if U.S. talks with the bloc couldn't produce a new deal. The EU has since threatened to tax 20 billion euros ($22 billion) worth of U.S. goods. Both sides have cautiously hung on to existing agreements, promising to take no action until talks are concluded. "We certainly hope that the trade disputes can be resolved but it is no secret that 100% of the Porsche cars are being exported from Europe to the United States," Frank Witter, chief financial officer of Volkswagen, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday. He explained that approximately 70% of all Audi products were sold in the U.S., while for Volkswagen passenger cars it was a very small percentage being exported from Europe to the U.S. since most of their cars were built in North America. "So, we still hope for the best, we do whatever we can but we are not party to the negotiations We continue to be optimistic but also realistic," Witter said. Earlier this year, Volkswagen CEO Herbet Diess said the carmaker would need to redouble its efforts in 2019 in order to meet its ambitious annual targets. Diess told the Financial Times in February that the biggest risk to Volkswagen's 2019 profit would be potential tariffs from Trump's administration. At the time, he estimated the worst-case scenario regarding potential U.S. tariffs could cost around 2.5 billion euros a year roughly 13% of expected earnings. Earnings in line with expectations On Thursday, Volkswagen reported first-quarter earnings in line with expectations, as the company attempts to increase the pace of its transformation. Story continues The German firm posted operating profit of 3.9 billion euros ($4.4 billion) for the first three months of the year. That compared with operating profit of 4.2 billion euros a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected first-quarter operating profit to come in at 3.9 billion euros. Shares rose over 2.3% during early morning deals. Volkswagen, which is still battling to recover from a 2015 scandal over emissions test cheating, also said it had decided to take a 1 billion euro charge in the first quarter, as a result of legal risks. "It is certainly very unfortunate that we had to book more provisions but we assess every single risk and exposure we have continuously and it was the point in time to make those provisions," Witter said. The company confirmed its full-year guidance and said it expected sales to increase as much as 5%. It projected an operating return on sales between 6.5% and 7%. Revenue advanced 3.1% to 60 billion euros for the first three months of 2019, despite a drop in deliveries. The company did not provide a net profit figure. Operation FINALLY Home in Wisconsin builds mortgage free homes for our Wisconsin Disabled Heroes. They provide these gifts to veterans through community support and donations. That's where you come in! Joining us to discuss the Operation FINALLY HOME 5K Run/Walk and how you can get involved is David Belman, president of Belman Homes and Operation FINALLY HOME builder, and Andy Weins of JDog Junk Removal and Hauling of Southeast Wisconsin, the presenting sponsor of the event. The Operation FINALLY HOME 5K Run/Walk is happening May 25 in Menomonee Falls (starting at the north end of Lime Kiln Park). To register, visit OFHWIrun.com and use discount code Morning Blend and receive $5 off your registration! Sign up before May 15th and get a event t-shirt! New York (AFP) - Legend, icon, guru: Warren Buffett cuts a unique figure in the United States as a billionaire with a long track record of brilliant investing whose renown is softened by folksy midwestern charm. Donning classic gray suits and colored ties, the 88-year-old "Oracle of Omaha" has managed to cultivate a humble and accessible persona despite his standing as the world's third-richest person. His following in his home country is cult-like, with thousands of small investors making a pilgrimage each spring for the annual meeting at Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's company. The event takes place in Omaha, Nebraska, right in the middle of the United States, in the city where Buffett was born and has always lived. "He is such a down-to-earth person," said David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and the author of a blog on Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. "He's a hero who's generally popular with the public," said Gregori Volokhine of Meeschaert Financial Services. - Nothing fancy - Buffett evinces few of the trappings of the generally loathed "one percent." He has lived in the same house since 1958 in a quiet neighborhood of Omaha. His gastronomic tastes are also decidedly humble and include McDonald's chicken McNuggets at least three times a week. He also favors potato chips for snacks, ice cream for dessert and an average of five cans of Coca-Cola per day. Equally telling, Buffett eschews big-ticket art-collecting and other pursuits emblematic of the high life. "I don't need fancy clothes," Buffett told CBS in 2013. "I don't need fancy food." Though raised middle class, Buffett did not have an easy childhood in some ways. He has described going through a shoplifting phase and was forced to navigate around his abusive mother Leila, who used to berate his sister Doris as "stupid." In the biography "Giving it all away: The Doris Buffett story," Warren Buffett acknowledges he did not stand up to his mother on Doris' behalf, saying "I never did because I was afraid of becoming the target myself." Story continues Buffett's commitment to philanthropy has further helped insulate him from popular resentment. He has donated billions of dollars to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has, like Gates, called for the wealthy to pay higher taxes. - Separating emotion from investing - Although Buffett makes some public appearances, he guards his privacy and keeps a tight circle of close advisors, including longtime Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who is 95, and shares Buffett's straight-talking tendencies. His circle of friends include JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, who praised Buffett's clinical approach to investing. "He is always guided by the facts and his core principles -- not emotion," Dimon told AFP in an email. "He is grounded in long-held, proven principles, but willing to change and not rigid in his approach." Buffett is also a savvy communicator. "He uses very short parables, stories and analogies," Alice Schroeder, author of the Buffett biography "The Snowball," told SeekingAlpha.com in 2010. "He chooses key words that resonate with people -- that will stick in their hands, like Aesop's Fables," she said. "It enables him to very quickly make a point without having to expend a lot of verbiage." Born on August 30, 1930 as the middle of three children, Buffett discovered an early taste for business after reading the book "One Thousands Ways to make $1,000." Buffett had designs on abandoning his studies, an idea vetoed by his father, a businessman and politician who served in Congress. He attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and later received a masters from Columbia University in New York in 1951. Buffett worked on Wall Street in the 1950s, establishing the Buffett Partnership, which merged in 1965 with Berkshire Hathaway, a textile firm. In the half-century since, Buffett has transformed Berkshire into a far-flung conglomerate worth more than $530 billion and known for investments in nuts-and-bolts sectors such as energy, banks, air travel and food. His holdings include JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Apple and American Express. In general, Buffett's approach is to delegate as much as possible on management questions, while maintaining control of assets. And homespun charm has not stopped Buffett from wielding the corporate ax when necessary, as with Kraft Heinz, which Buffett acquired with 3G Capital, an investment firm known for severe cost-cutting. Apple AAPL shares surged nearly 5% Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results after the closing bell on Tuesday. Despite the positivity on the back of Services strength, Apple is still an iPhone company and sales of its flagship product look poised to fall again. So, lets see what might be next for Apple with its stock already up 33% in 2019. Quick Q2 Overview Apple posted adjusted second-quarter fiscal 2019 earnings of $2.46 per share. This topped our $2.37 per share Zacks Consensus Estimate but still marked a roughly 10% decline from the year-ago period. Tim Cooks company also surpassed our top-line estimate even though revenue fell 5.1% to $58.02 billionworse than Q1 2019s 4.5% decline. More specifically, product sales, which accounted for 80.3% of total revenue, fell 9.2%. On top of that, revenue in Greater China tumbled 21.5% from the year-ago quarter to $10.22 billion, which did mark an improvement from last quarters 27% drop off in the worlds second-largest economy that includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. Meanwhile, iPhone sales tumbled 17.3% from $37.56 billion in the prior-year quarter to $31.05 billion. Last quarter, iPhone revenue fell 14.9%. Clearly, there doesnt seem like much reason to celebrate here aside from slightly better-than-expected top and bottom-line results. Therefore, Apple executives seemed to have been able to successfully turn Wall Streets attention to its growing Services business, at least for now. Services & Growth Plans Apples Services sales popped 16.2% to reach $11.45 billion and account for nearly 20% of total quarterly revenue. Apple and Cook have focused on the companys Services unit, which includes its quickly-growing Spotify SPOT competitor Apple Music and more, over the last year. 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, Apples CEO said in prepared remarks. Story continues We delivered our strongest iPad growth in six years, and we are as excited as ever about our pipeline of innovative hardware, software and services. Were looking forward to sharing more with developers and customers at Apples 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. It is every good chief executives job to put a positive spin on things. With that said, Apples services sales growth came in below last quarters 19% expansion. Plus, the strength of both the Wearable and iPad units shows just how much iPhone and China truly matter. Investors should note that some of Apples newest Services have yet to launch or have any impact on sales. Apple unveiled at a March 25 event some of its plans for a more robust Services future to further monetize its 1.4 billion active devices, which includes 900 million iPhones. This push includes its long-awaited streaming TV platform that Apple hopes can compete alongside Amazon AMZN Prime, Netflix NFLX, Hulu, and Disney DIS. The iPhone giant also showed off its $9.99 per month magazine-heavy news service, a new Apple credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs GS, and a subscription-based gaming offering called Apple Arcade. Bottom Line As we touched on at the top, shares of Apple popped following its earnings release and are now up over 33% this year to crush the S&P 500s 17% climb. Thanks to Apples huge late-2018 selloff, AAPL stock rests approximately 10% below its 52-week intraday high to give Apple even more room to run. In the end, Apple investors were likely pleased to see Apple raise its dividend by 5%. AAPL is also trading just above its industrys average at 16.6X forward 12-month Zacks Consensus EPS estimates, which is not too far off its five-year median of 14.1X. However, Apples full-year earnings are projected to slip 4.7% on the back of a 4.4% revenue decline. Plus, iPhone sales are projected to sink roughly 13% in the current quarter, based on our NFM estimates. Clearly, Apple is still a strong company despite its near-term sales outlook. But Apple will likely have to post sales growth that looks more like Microsoft MSFT sooner than later if it wants Wall Street to treat it like a more diversified tech company and not just an iPhone maker. 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. See 7 breakthrough stocks now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Spotify Technology SA (SPOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research For most of last year, traditional retail was the bruised punch line of an obvious joke. Malls were deserted. Bankruptcies made headlines. Major outlets were slashing prices and writing their own obituaries. Given that apocalyptic backdrop, the decision by online titan 1stdibsa game-changing force in the interior design worldto open a 45,000-square-foot gallery in New Yorks Chelsea neighborhood in February is surprising and a little brazen. And that might be why it will work. Related stories MoMA is Closing, But You Can Still Learn About Its Vast Collection at This Luxury Hotel Here's Every Loving Step That Goes into Crafting One of Jon Pyzel's High-Performance Surfboards Baccarat's First Furniture Line Is a French-Italian Collaboration That Sparkles and Glows At our core, were an e-commerce company, but we also know the inherent benefit particularly in the design industrythat comes with the physical experience, says company CEO David Rosenblatt. Feeling the texture of a textile, sitting in a chair, holding the heft of a decorative objectthese can be important considerations to designers and consumers. Touch (or the lack thereof ) is the inescapable paradox of 1stdibs. A platform that averages 5 million site visits per month and a gross merchandise volume of roughly $250 million in 2018 (up from $200 million in 2017), 1stdibs offers high-end art, design, and home furnishings from global dealers. The site has more than 4,000 screened sellers from 28 countries and, at press time, 860,000 listings. So why make a major play for brick-and-mortar now? After more than a decade online, digital brands like 1stdibs have learned a few things. It appears that growing a luxury business requires a special type of coddling, and it has to be done on the consumers terms. That means a strong presence both online and in-person. 1stdibs formerly had a trade-only showroom at 200 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, but the new 1stdibs Gallery is a different enterprise in size and scopemost notably, its open to the public. Located in the Terminal Stores building, on 11th Avenue, the space has more than 50 vendors, along with event spaces and reserved areas for client meetings. The exhibitors represent a mix of antique/ vintage sellers as well as contemporary makers, including Aero, Charles Burnand, Karina Gentinetta, Craig Van Den Brulle, and Nate Berkus. Story continues As for whether or not a 45,000-square- foot space is how people want to shop for design, its too early to tell. But Oliver Chen, who tracks retail and luxury as managing director and senior equity research analyst at Cowen and Co.s Equity Research department, says a combination of digital and physical stores is the future of retail. If your business is digitally native there reaches a point when you need to go physical, he says. A physical store allows you to acquire new customers, and as online acquisition costs go up, this is important. A strong digital brand doesnt guarantee a successful storefront. Its difficult to run a store, says Chen. You have to consider staffing, training, and you need to link inventory online and offline. Its important how you structure your rental agreement; how much rent expense is fixed versus variable, and site selection is critical. You need to maximize the kinds of traffic that makes sense for your company. There may be some risk involved in such a large-scale store in a high-rent district, but Rosenblatt has already transformed the company since joining in 2012, and he says its ripe for change again. When he joined, the site (founded in 2001 by former real estate agent Michael Bruno) operated like a listing service, charging dealers a set monthly fee and a per-item listing fee. If you wanted a Bauhaus writing desk or an 18th-century marble mantel, you needed the right search terms and a well-trained eye. But it also purveys a certain seductive quality. The genius of 1stdibs is that there is a story, says Chicago-based designer Tom Stringer. These objects are displayed with their historywho the creator was, how they came to be, whether theyre contemporary, traditional, vintage, or antique objects. It is not like buying the very same thing on eBay. Building on the momentum that brought together interior designers and global dealers (many high-profile names), the company raised a combined $102 million from Benchmark, Spark Capital, and Index Ventures in 2012. The following year, Rosenblatt transitioned the site from its original, Craigslist-like roots into a robust e-commerce platform. 1stdibs still acted as the middleman when I joinedcustomers were able to discover products through 1stdibs, but were unable to buy online, says Rosenblatt. Since adding a buy button, the average price of a sale through 1stdibs has increased by 40 percent, $2,000 to $2,790, he says. Before the buy button, we would get maybe a few of these large orders a year. Today we get 15 purchases over $10,000 on a daily basis. In 2016 the company diversified its mix and introduced a New & Custom category, featuring more than 2,000 makers and independent brands selling roughly 60,000 newly created works. It is the fastest-growing category on the site, says Rosenblatt, representing over 15 percent of furnishing sales. In the end, building a luxury experience requires delivering what customers want and how they want to buy itand that includes, first and foremost, options. Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. When the Anti-Defamation League announced on Tuesday that anti-Semitic assaults had doubled in the U.S. from 2017 to 2018, the news was shocking but, sadly, not entirely surprising: a shooting left one dead at a California synagogue last Sunday, just days before Thursdays observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. One effect of that sobering shift is being felt in New York City at a museum located a 10-minute walk from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Its full name declares it The Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial to the Holocaust and it was built with six sides to represent the six million Jewish people who died in the Holocaust. Even so, when it opened in 1997, its founders decided to put an emphasis on Jewish heritage in order to differentiate it from the recently opened the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. But in the last year, the museums board has considered modifying its name, in order to give the Holocaust more prominent placement. While the museum hasnt officially changed its name yet, its new emphasis is already clear: starting May 8, it will host the largest-ever traveling exhibit on Auschwitz, Nazi Germanys biggest killing center. The exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away opens on the anniversary of the 1945 surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II. It features more than 600 original objects, including major loans from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum that had never been seen outside of Poland before the exhibition firm Musealia first produced the show in Madrid from December 2017 to February 2019. Though it was just one of the half-dozen Nazi camps that scholars identify as killing centers, theres a reason Auschwitz is the focus of this new phase of the museums life. Auschwitz has become the focus of the history of the Holocaust, says the exhibits chief curator, Robert Jan van Pelt, an architectural historian who is considered by many as the preeminent scholar of Auschwitz. Story continues One key to its role in Holocaust education is that from 1942 to 1944, Auschwitz became the largest of those killing centers. Of the approximately 1.3 million people who were deported to Auschwitz, 1.1 million of those were Jewish people, and of those 1.1 million Jewish people, 1 million were murdered or died there. But, crucially, enough of those who were sent there survived to speak of what they had seen and in the years since, that has made all the difference. Its the only extermination camp with modern crematoria equipped with gas chambers, which created an efficient factory of death, says van Pelt, but it also encompassed a slave labor camp, from which there were actually enough survivors to give a substantial body of testimony after the war. About 200,000 Auschwitz prisoners left the camp, including survivors sent to other camps as well as those liberated from Auschwitz when the Soviet Army rescued an estimated 7,000 prisoners on Jan. 27, 1945. The experience in Auschwitz inspired survivors writings, from Tadeusz Borowskis This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, published right after the war in 1946 (in English in 1967), to Italian chemist Primo Levis If This Is a Man, first published in Italian in 1947 (in English in 1959), based on his time at the IG Farben laboratory on the Auschwitz complex. Elie Wiesels 1956 Night, (published in English in 1960), was inspired by his time as a prisoner Auschwitz. Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, Wiesel wrote. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, for being one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the world. The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials from 1963 to 1965 brought further attention to the camp, as they brought the perpetrators of these crimes to justice. Later, due in large part to the awareness created earlier, Hollywood would pick up the same thread, centering Auschwitz in films from Holocaust, the 1978 four part TV mini-series, to Steven Spielbergs Oscar-winning movie Schindlers List in 1993, which is credited with inspiring Holocaust survivors to open up about their experience. And after the fall of communism, as countries that had been a part of the Eastern bloc opened up, discussions of the history of the Holocaust in those regions became more open too, says Piotr M. A. Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. This allowed more tourists to visit Auschwitz, which was by then the Holocaust site with which many were most familiar; in 2018, a record 2.15 million people visited the museum there. I think more and more, people are coming to reflect on the present, he says, People are looking more on the past, in order to imagine the future. We dont know where we are going. The story of the Holocaust, the story of Auschwitz, as he puts it, is never-ending. The more these stories were out there, the more other Auschwitz survivors started to open up about their experiences with their loved ones, telling their stories in order to preserve family history and pass along life lessons. Cywinski argues that Auschwitz survivors came back to this history when their grandchildren are born, and can speak more easily or more naturally to their grandchildren than their own children. But today, as the number of these survivors dwindles, education about Auschwitz will have to enter a new phase. Museums are thus playing an important role in making sure these stories still get told through artifacts like personal belongings, video testimonies and even as holograms. In a world of fake news, people believe museums. They dont always believe a lot of other things they read online, but museums have an authenticity to them, argues Bruce C. Ratner, Chairman of The Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial, who had relatives who died in Auschwitz. We all hoped that after 1945, we would not hear about mass murders and immigration and refugee issues again, and yet theyre top headlines today. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova The Land of Fire is home to numerous sites of natural beauty and wonder. The country offers spectacular natural wonders that only a small share of people would ever see in their lifetime. If you want to plan a visit to some of the amazing natural miracles, take a trip to the country's Astara region. This coastal region is lushly forested and is especially known for its unique springs. Water and fire have combined to make some of the most spectacular sights in the world - Fire Spring (Yanar Bulag) in the Archivan village of Astara region. The phenomenon starts simply enough. The spring consists of a metal stand-pipe inside a small pavilion through which water comes gurgling out. It looks nothing unusual, but if you light a match and touch the water, the liquid itself will be set ablaze. This occurs due to the waters high methane content. The residents of the Archivan village say that in the 1970s, geologists discovered that several rivers flow under the ground in the village. They drilled an artesian well of 80 meters deep and the spring gushed out from the earth. Its unique properties were also discovered by chance: someone noticed that the water in the spring was igniting under the rays of the sun. When it comes to healthy drinking water, the Fire Spring's water is considered one of the best options. The locals believe the water from the spring has health benefits. For many years, people have been coming from all over the region to collect water from the spring. Before, very few people knew about this spring, but now this amazing source is known throughout the country. Its healing properties were confirmed by laboratory tests. Thus, the minerals in the Fire Spring improve digestion. Many villagers make tea with water from this spring. Christopher Hasson, a self-proclaimed white nationalist and admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, had amassed a small arsenal of weapons and an enemies list of political and media figures, according to federal prosecutors who arrested him in February. He was indicted on drug possession and weapons charges and pleaded not guilty; a federal magistrate judge last week said he intended to set conditions for his release from jail while he awaits trial. Mark Steven Domingo, a 26-year-old Army veteran in Southern California and a recent convert to Islam who according to prosecutors had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, was arrested last weekend and charged with attempting to provide material support for terrorism after taking steps to bomb a rally in Long Beach, Calif. Accused terrorism suspects are typically held in jail until their trial and sentence. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Steve Foots became the CEO of Croda International Plc (LON:CRDA) in 2012. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid. View our latest analysis for Croda International How Does Steve Foots's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? According to our data, Croda International Plc has a market capitalization of UK6.6b, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth UK3.2m. (This number is for the twelve months until December 2018). That's below the compensation, last year. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at UK643k. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of UK3.1b to UK9.2b. The median total CEO compensation was UK2.5m. So Steve Foots is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. This doesn't tell us a whole lot on its own, but looking at the performance of the actual business will give us useful context. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Croda International has changed over time. LSE:CRDA CEO Compensation, May 2nd 2019 Is Croda International Plc Growing? Over the last three years Croda International Plc has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 12% per year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 1.0% over last year. This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. It's nice to see a little revenue growth, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings. Story continues Has Croda International Plc Been A Good Investment? Boasting a total shareholder return of 84% over three years, Croda International Plc has done well by shareholders. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size. In Summary... Steve Foots is paid around the same as most CEOs of similar size companies. Few would be critical of the leadership, since returns have been juicy and earnings per share are moving in the right direction. So one could argue the CEO compensation is quite modest, if you consider company performance! So you may want to check if insiders are buying Croda International shares with their own money (free access). Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. The US attorney general, William Barr, has defended his handling of the special counsel Robert Muellers report as Democrats called for his resignation and accused him of deliberately misrepresenting the investigations findings in the presidents favor. Barr appeared before Congress on Wednesday, delivering his first public testimony since he released a partially redacted version of Muellers report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion or obstruction by Donald Trump and his associates. He clashed with Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee over his credibility and dismissed Muellers concerns over the attorney generals characterization of his offices work. Democrats seized on a recently revealed private letter from Mueller to Barr, dated 27 March, in which the special counsel stated that the attorney generals initial summary did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this offices work and conclusions. In testimony, Barr called the letter a bit snitty and suggested that it might have been written by a member of Muellers staff rather than the special counsel. After reading the letter, Barr told lawmakers, he called Mueller by phone to discuss the matter. According to Barr, Muellers concern about his summary, which was released to Congress weeks before a redacted version of the report was made public, focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction and he wanted more put out on that issue. He added that Mueller was not upset with Barrs characterization but with how it had been interpreted and portrayed in media coverage. He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report, Barr said. The Democratic 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren called for Barr to resign, and was joined by fellow candidates and Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand. 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 The committee member Mazie Hirono, a Democrat of Hawaii, accused Barr of lying to Congress and called on him to resign. Story continues You used every advantage of your office to create the impression that the president was cleared of misconduct, she said. You lied to Congress, she added, referring to Barrs testimony at an earlier hearing that he did not know what objections Muellers team had to his summary even though Mueller had already written his letter. You knew. You lied. And now we know. Barr called the controversy over his handling of the Mueller report mind-bendingly bizarre. After a nearly two-year investigation, Mueller concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support allegations that Trumps 2016 campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia. But the report details a series of actions that Trump undertook in an effort to impede the Russia inquiry, though Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice. In his summary to Congress, Barr said that those actions did not constitute the crime of obstruction. In a forceful defense of the president, Barr described Trump as a man who had been falsely accused who would have been justified in exercising his executive authority to end the investigation. In another exchange, Barr was asked about one of the most explosive episodes in the report: when Trump ordered the former White House counsel Donald McGahn to fire the special counsel. Barr, in his testimony, said that Trump only wanted to remove Mueller because of alleged conflicts of interest. Theres something very different between firing a special counsel outright, Barr said, and having a special counsel removed for conflict, which suggests youre going to have another special counsel. In his testimony, Barr said he was surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice and contended that it was his role as attorney general to make a final determination. His work concluded when he sent his report to the attorney general, Barr said. At that point, it was my baby. In his letter, Mueller wrote that Barrs summary of the special counsels 448-page report did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of his offices work and findings and that there is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. Barr told lawmakers he called Mueller on the same day to discuss the letter, and insisted that he came away from the conversation assured that his interpretation of the report was accurate. He said Mueller complained that the medias coverage of Barrs summary of the report lacked nuance. Barr said he released the initial summary characterizing Muellers bottom-line conclusions due to intense public interest. The body politic was in a high state of agitation, he said, noting that TV analysts and commentators were suggesting that a delay in releasing the report might mean Trump was facing legal trouble. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, asked Barr why he had testified that he was unaware of Muellers concerns about his summary of the special counsels report, when he had spoken to Mueller about those concerns. Barr made a fine distinction: he said he was responding to media reports that members of Muellers team had expressed frustration about the summary, as opposed to Mueller himself. I dont know what that refers to at all, Barr told Leahy. I talked directly to Bob Mueller, not members of his team. I feel your answer was purposely misleading, Leahy said. In another exchange, senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat of Rhode Island, asked why Barr hadnt released Muellers letter after lawmakers raised the issue during his April testimony. He asked me a very different question, Barr contended. Boy, thats some masterful hairsplitting, Whitehouse said, shaking his head. Republicans followed with a markedly different line of questioning. They were interested in comments Barr made during a previous appearance before Congress in which he said he would investigate whether the FBI had engaged in improper spying on Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. Barr defended his use of the term spying. He said he was not aware of a pejorative connotation to the word and told lawmakers it was a good English word to use. Barr was scheduled to testify on Thursday before the House judiciary committee, but that appearance was thrown into doubt amid a dispute over Democrats desire to have staff lawyers, as opposed to lawmakers, question the attorney general. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House judiciary committee, meanwhile, said the panel was still trying to nail down a date in May for Mueller to testify. 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. 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. Story continues 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. 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. By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - When Attorney General William Barr refused to appear at a hearing in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, one Democrat decided it was thigh time to act against what he saw as fowl behavior. Democratic Representative Steve Cohen arrived at a hearing of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee carrying a bucket of fried chicken and a poultry figurine. He said the props represented the nation's top law enforcement official, who canceled his planned testimony amid a dispute over the hearing format. "The chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions," the Tennessee lawmaker told reporters, after he handed out pieces of fried chicken to other committee members. Democrats accuse Barr and other administration officials of stonewalling their investigations into Trump's taxes, his businesses and other topics. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Thursday that he may hold Barr in contempt of Congress if the attorney general does not turn over an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Additional reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jonathan Oatis) By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Attorney General William Barr refused to appear at a hearing in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, one Democrat decided it was thigh time to act against what he saw as fowl behavior. Congressman Steve Cohen arrived at a hearing of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee carrying a bucket of fried chicken and a poultry figurine. He said the props represented the nation's top law enforcement official, who canceled his planned testimony amid a dispute over the hearing format. "The chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions," the Tennessee Democrat told reporters, after he handed out pieces of fried chicken to other committee members. After the hearing concluded, committee staffers wiped up chicken grease from the area around Cohen's seat. Democrats accuse Barr and other administration officials of stonewalling their investigations into Trump's taxes, his businesses and other topics. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Thursday that he may hold Barr in contempt of Congress if the attorney general does not turn over an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Additional reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jonathan Oatis) (Adds Trump not inclined to let McGahn testify) By Amanda Becker and David Morgan WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Democrats intensified their pressure on President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to lawmakers and a key committee chairman threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. Even as Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of a growing attack on U.S. democracy and the authority of Congress, the White House showed no sign of backing down. White House legal counsel Emmet Flood said in a defiant letter that Trump had the right to tell advisers not to testify to congressional panels on the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry. The dueling statements marked a sharp escalation in the conflict between the White House and Democrats who control the House of Representatives. With Trump seeking re-election next year, Democrats are weighing whether to try to remove the Republican president from office using the impeachment process while pressing forward with demands for information on his taxes, businesses and other topics. Shortly after Barr refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, Pelosi accused him of lying to lawmakers about interactions with Mueller after the special counsel ended a 22-month investigation into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump's candidacy. "That's a crime," Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, told reporters, referring to Barr's congressional testimony. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called Pelosi's allegation "reckless, irresponsible and false." Democrats have accused Barr of misleading Congress by testifying in April he was unaware of any concern by the special counsel's team about Barr's initial March 24 characterization of the report, an account that led Trump to claim full exoneration. Barr failed to mention a March 27 letter he got from Mueller complaining that Barr's March 24 account did not "fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work." Story continues Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress if he does not provide a full, unredacted copy of Mueller's report and the underlying evidence, as the panel has requested by a subpoena that had a Wednesday deadline. That could potentially lead to legal steps against the top U.S. law enforcement official. Barr released Mueller's report on April 18, with some parts blacked out to protect sensitive information. Several Democrats have called on Barr, whom Trump appointed after firing Jeff Sessions as attorney general, to resign. Pelosi and other House Democrats previously had cautioned against launching the impeachment process, which would begin in the House but would face long odds of success in the Republican-controlled Senate and could alienate voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. But Pelosi said the Trump administration was continuing to ignore congressional subpoenas and noted that Congress launched impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon after he resisted similar demands. Nixon resigned in 1974 over the Watergate scandal. 'OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE' Pelosi said Trump's "blanket statement that he's not going to honor any subpoenas is obstruction of justice." The White House signaled little appetite to cooperate. Trump told Fox News in an interview on Thursday he was not inclined to let former White House counsel Don McGahn testify before congressional committees. Nadler has issued a subpoena for McGahn to testify in its investigation of possible obstruction of justice by the president. Trump told Fox News that McGahn had already spoken to Mueller's team for 30 hours and allowing him to testify to Congress would open the door to others being called. "I would say it's done," Trump said. Flood reiterated that point in a letter seen by Reuters, saying Trump's decision to let advisers cooperate when Mueller was conducting his investigation did not extend to congressional oversight investigations now that the inquiry had been completed. Flood also said Mueller's 448-page report suffered from "an extraordinary legal defect" by failing to determine whether Trump had committed the crime of obstruction of justice. Mueller "instead produced a prosecutorial curiosity - part 'truth commission' report and part law school exam paper," Flood wrote to Barr in a letter dated a day after the report was released. Democrats have argued Trump waived the right to assert executive privilege - which allows a president to withhold information about internal executive branch deliberations from other branches of government - by allowing advisers to cooperate extensively with Mueller. Barr canceled his House testimony after clashing with Nadler over the hearing's format, particularly having staff lawyers question him in addition to committee members. Nadler said he would move forward with a contempt citation as soon as Monday. "The very system of government of the United States - the system of limited power, the system of not having a president as a dictator - is very much at stake," Nadler told reporters after a 15-minute committee session held in place of Barr's appearance. Democrats have said they may issue a subpoena to try to force Barr to testify. Barr spent four hours before a Republican-led Senate committee on Wednesday defending his handling of Mueller's report and justifying Trump's actions. 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. (Reporting by Amanda Becker and David Morgan; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Makini Brice and Steve Holland; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) Chinese authorities are using a mobile app designed for mass surveillance to profile, investigate and detain Muslims in Xinjiang by labelling "completely lawful" behaviour as suspicious, a Human Rights Watch report said Thursday. Beijing has come under international criticism over its policies in the northwest region of Xinjiang, where as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps, according to a group of experts cited by the UN. Human Rights Watch has previously reported that Xinjiang authorities use a mass surveillance system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) to gather information from multiple sources, such as facial-recognition cameras, wifi sniffers, police checkpoints, banking records and home visits. But the new study, entitled "China's Algorithms of Repression", worked with a Berlin-based security company to analyse an app connected to the IJOP, showing specific acts targeted by the system. Xinjiang authorities closely watch 36 categories of behaviour, including those who do not socialise with neighbours, often avoid using the front door, don't use a smartphone, donate to mosques "enthusiastically", and use an "abnormal" amount of electricity, the group found. The app also instructs officers to investigate those related to someone who got a new phone number, or related to others who left the country and have not returned after 30 days. "Our research shows, for the first time, that Xinjiang police are using illegally gathered information about people's completely lawful behavior - and using it against them," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Chinese government is monitoring every aspect of people's lives in Xinjiang, picking out those it mistrusts, and subjecting them to extra scrutiny." - "Moving red-line" - The rights group obtained a copy of the app and enlisted cybersecurity firm Cure53 to "reverse-engineer" it -- to disassemble it and look at its design and data -- and examined its source code. Story continues Along with collecting personal information the app prompts officials to file reports about people, vehicles and events they find suspect -- and sends out "investigative missions" for police to follow up. Officers are also asked to check whether suspects use any of the 51 internet tools that are deemed suspicious, including foreign messaging platforms popular outside China like WhatsApp, LINE and Telegram. A number of people said they or their family members have been detained for having software such as WhatsApp or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) installed on their phones during checks by authorities, according to the report. The rights group said its findings suggest the IJOP system tracks data of everyone in Xinjiang by monitoring location data from their phones, ID cards and vehicles, plus electricity and gas station usage. "Psychologically, the more people are sure that their actions are monitored and that they, at anytime, can be judged for moving outside of a safe grey-space, the more likely they are to do everything to avoid coming close to crossing a moving red- line," Samantha Hoffman, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, told AFP. "There is no rule of law in China, the Party ultimately decides what is legal and illegal behaviour, and it doesn't have to be written down." The IJOP app was developed by Hebei Far East Communication System Engineering Company (HBFEC), which at the time of the app's development was fully-owned by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, a state-owned technology giant (CETC), said Human Rights Watch. CETC could not be reached and HBFEC did not respond to requests for comment. Washington last year imposed export controls on key Chinese companies including HBFEC and other institutions under CETC, citing risks to US national security and foreign policy interests. Greg Walton, an independent cybersecurity expert who advised on the report, said while the system is a "blunt instrument that may be directly contributing to the massive numbers of people in internment camps", the data if stored could be used in the future for more advanced policing algorithms. "This means that data collected through the app today may well be analysed in a few years' time by far more sophisticated logic," he said. The Saudi Real Estate Refinancing Company (SRC) said it has signed an agreement with Saudi British Bank to buy residential real estate finance portfolios, through which the company will provide liquidity for the portfolios purchased for the bank. An affiliate of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the SRC said this is part of the agreements signed by the company with other local banks and specialised mortgage providers, in the kingdom, to purchase real estate finance portfolios. The deal is a clear demonstration of the company's commitment to inject more liquidity to enable financiers to expand into the residential real estate finance sector and help reduce the gap between long-term assets and short-term liabilities, a fact that shall have a positive impact on the citizens, through the lowering the cost of finance for owning a property, said the statement from SRC. The rationale behind the company's role is to ensure that there is a secondary mortgage market, in which lenders are provided with more financing and liquidity, enabling growth in the housing finance sector, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Getting things where they need to go is one of the foundations of commerce, and XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO) has worked hard to become a leader in handling the details of moving goods from place to place. Yet with the rapid evolution of transportation needs that have come with dramatic growth in e-commerce, XPO has run into obstacles in making the most of the opportunities ahead of it. In particular, key customer defections have weighed on XPO's results, and that's left the logistics giant scrambling to find ways to replace demand for unused capacity. Coming into Wednesday's first-quarter financial report, XPO investors were ready to deal with falling earnings, but they still wanted to see encouraging sales numbers. XPO wasn't able to make good on that glass-half-full promise, and shareholders will have to assess whether the company's promise of a better future is likely to become reality. White truck with XPO branding on the side in the right lane of a four-lane highway. Image source: XPO Logistics. Surprising drops for XPO XPO Logistics' first-quarter results didn't get 2019 off to a strong start. Revenue came in at $4.12 billion, down almost 2% from year-earlier levels and falling well short of the better than 1% gain that most of those following the stock had hoped to see. Adjusted net income also dropped, falling 27%, to $59 million. Just about the only good piece of news was the fact that adjusted earnings of $0.51 per share topped the consensus forecast among investors for just $0.39 per share. XPO saw similar disparities between its two primary segments that it's seen in recent quarters. On the logistics side of the business, segment revenue was actually higher by 3.2%, with organic growth of greater than 8%. The company cited e-commerce, food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, and aerospace as drivers of solid performance for the segment. Adjusted pre-tax operating earnings for the division were up about 1%, with higher depreciation expenses from capital expenditures being the primary drag on GAAP operating income. Story continues Yet transportation was a negative for XPO. Revenue for the much larger segment was down about 4%, with the company blaming the loss of freight brokerage and last-mile direct postal injection revenue from its largest customer for much of the shortfall. Growth in less-than-truckload shipments in North America helped offset some of the losses elsewhere, though, as did solid European transport numbers. Adjusted pre-tax operating earnings eased lower by just 1%, with foreign-currency impacts hurting what otherwise was a strong quarter operationally. CEO Brad Jacobs maintained a positive view on the overall situation, highlighting not only the financial performance above but also the promise of more business to come. "We also closed a record $1.1 billion of new business," Jacobs said, "up 15% year over year, [and] our sales pipeline stands at more than $4 billion of active bids -- a new high-water mark for us." What's next for XPO? In particular, XPO is working in both of its main segments to foster growth. In logistics, labor-productivity tools are helping to boost gross margin while using innovative new digital platforms to provide better customer services and make its clients more productive. Meanwhile, in the transportation segment, technology initiatives are improving on-time delivery performance and boosting customer satisfaction. The company hopes to use artificial intelligence to be smarter about route optimization and loading, as well. XPO didn't make big changes to its full-year guidance. The company still sees 2019 sales coming in up 3% to 5%, although it boosted its organic growth expectations by 1.5 percentage points to a new range of 5.5% to 7.5% based on excluding direct postal injection revenue from its calculations. Adjusted pre-tax operating earnings should come in between $1.65 billion and $1.725 billion, up 6% to 10% from last year. However, XPO did make big moves with its stock-repurchase program. The company bought back 35.2 million shares between mid-December and the end of April at an average price of just under $53.50 per share, spending about $1.9 billion in the process out of an authorized $2.5 billion. XPO investors took the mixed news in stride, and the stock moved lower by just a fraction of a percent in after-hours trading following the announcement. It'll take more work for XPO to recover, but at least the company seems to have a viable pathway to mount a rebound in the months to come. More From The Motley Fool Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends XPO Logistics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Symposium Marks All of Us Anniversary On Monday, May 6, the All of Us Research Program commemorates the one-year anniversary of the programs launch with a symposiumFrom Data to Discoveries: Creating a Research Program for All of Usin Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The symposium will look at what it has learned so far about building an engaged and diverse participant community and its potential for scientific impact. All of Us is a historic, longitudinal effort to gather data from one million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research and improve health. By considering individual differences in lifestyle, socioeconomics, environment and biology, researchers will uncover paths toward delivering precision medicineor individualized prevention, treatment and carefor all of us. When the program launched on May 6 last year, it was in a style and scope unprecedented for NIH programs. At seven launch events across the country, speakers such as Veronica Robinson, the great-granddaughter of Henrietta Lacks, and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin were simulcast and livestreamed for a broad viewing audience. Grassroots educational fairs went on at places such as the 50-yard line at Detroits Ford Field, in the pews of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and at Cloud Gate in Chicagos Millennium Park. In the year that followed, All of Us traveling exhibits visited such places as the Hailey Public Library in Hailey, Idaho, and the annual Zonta Arts & Crafts Festival in Pascagoula, Miss., to spread the word across the country. From Birmingham, Ala., to Pasco, Wash., more than 215,000 registered individuals (as of Apr. 15) of diverse professional interests, ethnic backgrounds, genders, ages and sexual orientations have enrolled with the common goal of advancing precision medicine. The symposium this year will examine the building blocks of creating a meaningful research program that engages a diverse participant community. Speakers including NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and National Institute on Drug Abuse director Dr. Nora Volkow will discuss the cohorts and datasets potential to affect scientific research. All of Us Director Eric Dishman will acknowledge the successes the program has already realized and discuss the need for continued commitments. Lightning talks by several of the programs consortium members will cover the critical need for diversity and inclusion in research, the science of engagement, data as a tool for empowerment and how technology can advance research. Researchers can also learn about the interactive data browser tool, the first of several products for researchers that the program will deliver this year as part of the All of Us Research Hub. The data browser will offer details about participant data using information collected through surveys, electronic health records and physical measurements. A Data Snapshots page will provide a curated set of summary statistics about the All of Us participant community and data. Saloodo! is a convenient and fully integrated platform that enables shippers and transport providers to make fast and reliable road freight connections within United Arab Emirates (UAE) Platform reduces complexities with a single interface for tracking, documentation and payment processes All legal and contractual aspects on Saloodo! are handled by DHL thereby providing trust and peace of mind to all parties involved DHL plans to roll out Saloodo! across most countries in the Middle East over the course of 2019 DUBAI, UAE - Media OutReach - May 1, 2019 - DHL, the leading global brand in the logistics industry has launched Saloodo! in the Middle East, to provide a digital platform that connects shippers and transport providers for road freight needs within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Introduced for the first time outside of Europe, Tobias Maier, CEO of Saloodo! in the Middle East said, "Customer satisfaction is the driving force of every commercial decision that we make and digitalization underpins our approach to continually deliver on that. Saloodo! has enjoyed much success in Europe and we believe that it will plug the digital gap in logistics technology to accurately match shippers' needs and transport providers' offerings in the Middle East as well." Saloodo! simplifies road freight processes by matching shippers to transport providers, introduces transparency with its tracking, quoting tools and straight-forward reporting system, and enhances efficiency by optimizing routes, cargo and time. With this, carriers can maximize their truck load for greater efficiency and look to reduce their carbon footprint -- which is in support of DHL's aim to reduce all logistics-related carbon emissions to zero by 2050. All contractual relationships will be organized via the existing local DHL entity thereby providing trust and peace of mind to carriers and shippers alike. "Even though the UAE is one of the largest logistics markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), there remain untapped opportunities with economic diversification and several road infrastructure investments underway. Equally, DHL's deep expertise in the region and wide portfolio of service offerings will support the successful deployment of Saloodo! in the UAE, and ultimately in the Gulf region," he added. Story continues Saloodo! was launched in 2017 in Germany, to connect companies and transport providers within Germany or from Germany throughout Europe. Since then, the service has grown to involve more than 18,000 shippers and over 7,000 carriers with more than 250,000 trucks travelling to over 25 European countries. Key Service Offerings: Reviews and vets all transport service providers Acts as the sole contract partner and a single point of contact via a local DHL entity, providing trust to both shippers and carriers Provides shippers with immediate access to pricing information based on shipment characteristics, availability of trucks and last-booked rates Offers a single and convenient interface for tracking, documentation and payment processes Allows shippers to track fulfilment progress and receive real-time notifications via their personalized dashboard in case of delays All transport-related documentation is easily and digitally available Platform can be accessed via www.saloodo.ae About Saloodo! Saloodo! combines the best of two worlds: The digital freight platform, founded by Deutsche Post DHL Group in 2016, combines the logistics expertise and infrastructure of a global player with the flexibility and digital skills of a start-up. Saloodo! simplifies the day-to-day processes of shippers and hauliers with a powerful end-to-end, digital solution for commissioning and handling shipments. This maximises the transparency and efficiency of the entire transport process. By offering the free choice of a neutral online marketplace and the security and convenience of a digital freight forwarder, Saloodo! is the answer to the progressive digitisation in the highly fragmented transport market. DHL -- The logistics company for the world DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL family of divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 380,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, energy, automotive and retail, a proven commitment to corporate responsibility and an unrivalled presence in developing markets, DHL is decisively positioned as "The logistics company for the world". DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 61 billion euros in 2018. After an uprising in Venezuela quickly fizzled out, the United States is insisting that President Nicolas Maduro's days remain numbered. But experts warn of limited options to break a protracted stalemate in which Washington may have overestimated the opposition leader's strength. Juan Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by the United States and more than 50 other countries, on Tuesday claimed support from a group of "brave soldiers" at a base in Caracas, but Maduro quashed ensuing street protests within hours. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Wednesday that "military action is possible." But short of that, the United States has already forcefully intervened for three months, including imposing sweeping sanctions on Venezuela's state-run oil company, a lifeline for the cash-strapped government. Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, which promotes democratic governance in Latin America, said the latest bid by Guaido brought to mind his failed attempt in February to force US aid across the Colombian border. "Clearly, the opposition forces have underestimated Maduro's resilience in power and his ability to withstand significant pressure on the streets," Shifter said. He said the hawkish rhetoric by President Donald Trump's administration had been "unhelpful and often counterproductive" in helping Venezuela, which is embroiled in an economic meltdown that has sent millions fleeing. "Much of the policy seems to be driven by wishful, not strategic, thinking," he said. - Pressure via statements - The Trump administration has meanwhile stepped up a psychological offensive aimed at portraying Maduro as weak and dependent on his allies Russia, Cuba and China. Pompeo dropped a bombshell as the insurrection subsided by saying that Maduro had been ready to fly out Tuesday morning to Havana before being dissuaded by Russia, although both Maduro and Moscow denied the account. In an especially baffling move, the Trump administration publicly named three senior Venezuelan officials including the defense minister who it said had committed to back Guaido, the head of the elected National Assembly. Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the military was the crucial player in preserving Maduro's rule and that Washington has been surprised at the modest number of defections. "The US was overly optimistic, and the administration and its supporters keep coming up with excuses as to why Maduro's hold on power has remained, including greatly exaggerating the role of Russia and China," said Carpenter, who last year published the book "Gullible Superpower: US Support for Bogus Foreign Democratic Movements." Carpenter said the coming days would show whether Guaido can indeed amass a substantial popular uprising and that Washington had few options other than perhaps tightening already stringent sanctions. "What I worry about is that the temptation will rise for the US to save face and try to salvage the policy by intervening directly with its military forces, and to me that would make a bad situation even worse." - Calls for military - Senator Rick Scott of Florida, which has a large Venezuelan-American community, urged Trump to mobilize the military to deliver aid by force and break down barriers on the border. A fellow Republican lawmaker active on military affairs, Representative Jim Banks, said the United States should consider both naval and ground deployments with an aim "not to violently provoke but to firmly warn." Trump has cast Venezuela as part of an ideological battle against socialism and has sought to link the country's crumbling economy with the US Democratic Party -- which, in a rare point of agreement, has mostly backed the administration on ousting Maduro. But many experts doubt that even the most hawkish Trump administration officials are serious about war with a country nearly the population of Iraq that few Americans view as a threat. "We can be reminded many times that the military option is on the table but, given that it hasn't been used so far and how it's not clear that it will actually solve any of the fundamental problems, I think Maduro's government eventually can simply call the US's bluff," said Ivan Briscoe, Latin America program director of the International Crisis Group, which researches ways out of conflict. The Trump administration has rejected talks with Maduro -- but Briscoe said dialogue in Venezuela was ultimately the best path. "It's quite clear that the government cannot survive a long, drawn-out period of sanctions, nor these monthly outbreaks of instability. And the opposition understands clearly that US support can't bring the government down," he said. "So that would suggest that we're looking effectively at a deadlock in which neither can beat the other guy and that the only solution is to sit down with each other." Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido addresses a May Day rally in Caracas after an aborted uprising Anti-government protesters clash with security forces in Caracas during May Day rallies Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hold the national flag during a rally countering an opposition call for demonstrations Raza, the real estate management arm of Saudi Public Pension Agency (PPA) and a subsidiary of Al Raidah Investment Company (RIC), has launched operations in the kingdomin line with its new growth strategy which will see the company double its portfolio to SR26 billion ($6.9 billion) in AUM (assets under management) by 2024. Previously known as Al Raidah, the company under its new identity has established an integrated real estate management platform to focus beyond property development to offer asset management, property management and commercial services. Raza currently manages a total AUM of SR13 billion ($3.46 billion) covering 2 million sq m of high quality office, mixed-use and community developments Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, said the statement from the company. Raza is currently completing a development pipeline of 4,600 residential units in Digital City and Jeddah Obhur. Together with existing compound assets and residential portfolio in the Diplomatic Quarter, Raza will emerge as the largest community landlord in the Kingdom by 2020, it added. CEO Waleed Aleisa said: "We launched the Raza model in order to build on our unrivalled experience with delivering large challenging projects in Saudi Arabia. Raza is designed to preserve and enhance the value of these big investments with a strategic, life cycle approach to asset management." "Our model is to combine our local knowledge and relationships with global institutional standards," he added. Raza has charted out a five-year growth strategy wherein placemaking and developing integrated communities act as critical growth catalysts in doubling its portfolio to nearly SR26 billion in AUM by 2024. The current occupancy rates across its portfolio stand at 85 per cent with some of the prominent developments such as Digital City in Riyadh close to fully leased, said the property asset manager and developer. "As we are preparing to launch a new phase of our growth journey, our road to success is built on developing local talent, technology innovation, and a renewed focus on customers. If we achieve these goals, we will deliver higher returns for our owners and reduce the cost-ratio of our operations," remarked Aleisa. As part of the growth strategy, Raza has also launched a digital transformation programme to deliver improved operational efficiency and customer experience, he added. In keeping with our commitment to professionalise the market, the next few months will see us introducing new-to-market concepts to Saudi Arabia that enhance integrated community experience where people want to live, work and relax, stated Aleisa. "In this context, technology plays a critical role and the digital transformation journey will help us introduce several industry-first propositions in the region," he added.-TradeArabia News Service I can't wait for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood tbh Reply Thread Link I have absolutely no interest in any Tarantino movie. I havent seen anything since Kill Bill. Reply Thread Link Which means Elle Fanning will be jurying a movie her sister is in https://t.co/f71Zk4vXuz Richard Lawson (@rilaws) 2. Mai 2019 Reply Thread Link Elle fanning is on the Cannes jury? Yikes. Reply Parent Thread Link why the fuck is elle fanning on the cannes jury? omg Reply Parent Thread Link Ugh, Lord. And wasn't Mektoub My Love criticized at another festival for being super misogynistic?? Good job, guys. btw, the Tribeca Film Festival is happening rn and it's 50% female-directed films yet again this year. JUST SAYIN' Reply Thread Link I really love the Tribeca picks. They're really underrated as a festival tbh. Reply Parent Thread Link I made a few Tribeca posts last year and iirc, they didn't do all that well. I think they make a lot of interesting choices, and it really goes to show you that it's entirely possible to be equitable if you really want to be! Reply Parent Thread Link de niro outsold Reply Parent Thread Link dang, i just submitted this. can't believe he edited it in time lol Reply Thread Link Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo I guess this means there's going to be a third Mektoub movie. 9 hours of hot people flirting with each other on the beach. This is why I could never get into Kechiche. I don't mind long takes but he holds the frame far beyond what I find interesting. Reply Thread Link Guess you just gotta have the latest 4 hour snooze fest by a man accused of rape instead of a female directed movie. Reply Thread Link Wonder how long the scene of Sharon Tate's feet getting murdered will be Reply Thread Link its amazing what a joke cannes feels like to me now after loving it for so many years Reply Thread Link there was a time when Palme d'or >>> oscar to those who knew their movies guess everyone is just more woke in general and/or everyone just developed better taste and/or are more educated about cinema since it's more accesible and/or can think for themselves rather than be told which movie is the ~best Reply Parent Thread Link fully agreed- and honestly if you're not willing to evolve then gtfo. if tribeca can do a 50/50 split on directors, everyone can and art won't suffer for it Reply Parent Thread Link I think your last 2 lines are the key factors. Accessibility and preferring your own movie reviews/opinion instead of someone else saying its a good film. Edited at 2019-05-02 04:41 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link IA with the accessibility and higher educated audience points. Also I don't agree with Fremaux's programming style. He has admitted that some films are chosen because they're terrible just to mix things up. Like wtf is the point of that? He also has his faves who he will program almost no matter what and that sometimes means the films chosen aren't that great too. Reply Parent Thread Link The rumored twist in the new Tarantino movie is lolz level of nope. Reply Thread Link You obviously have to say what it is. That Tate murders Manson? That would be dumb. Reply Parent Thread Link I don't know, the thought of Bruce Lee killing the Manson family strikes me as pretty awesome. Reply Parent Thread Link He already did the whole alternate reality revenge shit in Inglorious Basterds. What a hack. Reply Parent Thread Link Jesus Reply Parent Thread Link i'm excited to see what questionable/hideous dresses margot robbie will wear Reply Thread Link Damn it!! Quentin's film will prob win the Palme Dor. Grrr..and here I was hoping/wishing that Parasite would clinch it rme. Reply Thread Link Chinese representatives had a lot to say at this months 2019 Spring International Summit at China's Nuclear Energy Sustainability Forum in Beijing. Yu Jianfeng, chairman of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), said that as the global society ushers in a new era of clean energy development, China is leading the charge. Over the last three years, according to Yu, Chinas clean energy sector has seen the fastest rate of growth in the world thanks to its booming hydro, wind, solar and nuclear sectors. After a late entrance to the nuclear power game in the 1990s, China has risen through the ranks to represent the third biggest nuclear fleet in the world with 45.9 gigawatts of installed nuclear power production capacity at the end of 2018, and theyre showing no signs of slowing down. Projections released by the Chinese government show that China could take the United States place as the number one nuclear energy producer in the world within the next ten years. As World Politics Review reports, Chinese companies have been eyeing export opportunities from Argentina to Saudi Arabia and from the United Kingdom to Romania. Nuclear energy officials in Japan, South Korea, France and the United States fear that Chinas state-owned nuclear companies are taking advantage of the same kind of government policies and commercial practicesfrom protectionism and subsidies to espionage and intellectual property theftthat they believe have helped China to dominate other industrial sectors. This is not the full story, however, as the Chinese nuclear sector may have grand plans, but may not actually have the means to fully realize them. In fact, according to a forecast released by the China Electricity Council just this week, China will not be able to meet its lofty nuclear power generation goal for next year. The nations target for total nuclear capacity by 2020 is 58 gigawatts (GW), but China will likely fall short at a projected 53 GW, according to numbers cited by China Electricity Council vice chairman Wei Shaofeng at the selfsame China Nuclear Energy Sustainable Development Forum where Chinese nuclear potential was being touted by many other industry insiders. Related: Economists: Higher Oil Prices Here To Stay According to reporting by Reuters, China currently has 11 new nuclear power units currently under construction, and World Nuclear News says that China accounts for about one-fifth of nuclear capacity under construction globally - 10.8 GWe of the 56.3 GWe total. That being said, Chinas nuclear energy sector is currently being bogged down by a major slowdown in its reactor building program in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in nearby Japan, where the cleanup attempt of the nuclear site is ongoing. Not a single new reactor building project has been approved in the past three years in China, thanks to a discouraging combination of what Reuters says are spiraling costs, delays for key projects and safety concerns about new technologies. China is not giving up, however, on its nuclear energy dreams. Just last month, two new nuclear reactor projects in southeast China got the ball rolling for a resurgence of new nuclear energy growth by environmental impact assessments to regulators. World Nuclear News also reports that Chinas nuclear industry is ready for a renaissance: This hiatus is expected to end soon now that the first EPR and AP1000 units are in operation at Taishan and Yangjiang, respectively. In parallel, construction of the first indigenous Haulong One units, Fuqing 5 and 6, is progressing with installation of large components, such as the steam turbine, at an advanced stage. In his address at this months nuclear energy summit, Wei also offered some hopeful figures alongside the news that his nation will not reach their nuclear energy target for next year. If China increases its rate of nuclear construction to build between six and eight news reactors per year from 2021 to 2030, he said, Chinese nuclear power generation capacity would reach 137 GW by 2030 and potentially even reach 200 GW by 2035. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Kuwait Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah yesterday (May 1) opened the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Causeway, one of the world's longest and most gigantic high-speed bridges spanning 37.5 km across Kuwait Bay from the capital Kuwait City to Subiyah area, said a report. The landmark bridge has been built by Korean building giant Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C). The group had won the $2.62-billion project contract in November 2013 along with a local company (Combined Group). It was inaugurated in the presence of visiting South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon, President of the French Senate Gerard Larcher and a host of senior state officials, reported Kuwait News Agency (Kuna). The ceremony was also attended by Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, National Assembly speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim, Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah and other senior government officials, it stated. Addressing the gathering, Lee said it was indeed a great pleasure for South Korean companies to participate in the largest national project in the history of Kuwait. He lauded Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company for its utmost efforts throughout the work period on the bridge project. "The project used the latest methods of civil engineering and environment-friendly technologies," stated the Korean premier, adding that the causeway will be managed and operated through an intelligent transport system. The causeway, he stated, would play a pivotal role in linking the southern and northern regions; it will reduce commuting time between Kuwait City and Subiyah area to around 20 minutes instead of one hour. Deputy director general of the Public Authority for Roads and Transportation Saud Al Naqi told Kuna that Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Causeway was part of Kuwait's integrated development plan. Dubbing it as the new development "gate" for the country, Al Naqi said the causeway was the "artery" that would link Kuwait City with the Silk City; which is considered the future financial and commercial centre. It crosses two artificial islands of 280,000 sq m each, in addition to comprising government buildings, green spaces and areas for future investment projects, he added. The bridge starts from the intersection of Al Ghazali Highway with Jamal Abdel Nasser Street at the port of Shuwaikh to Al Subiya Highway ending at the new Al-Subiya City at northern Al Joun, said the Kuna report. Construction on the project began on November 3, 2013 and was built in two parts: the first one (Al-Subiya link) costed KD738 million dinars ($2.4 billion), covering a 27-km-tall bridge, with the main bridge for ships passing to Al-Doha port, across a shipping lane passage that is 120 m wide, a navigational opening that is 23 meter high. The second part included a 4.7-km-long Doha highway, with five 725-m high bridges and a 7.7-km-long sea bridge, three traffic lanes and a safety lane in each direction costing KD165.7 million ($544 million), said the Kuna report. The sea bridge starts from the port of Shuwaikh to the west and passes beside Umm Al-Namel Island to Doha area and then connects to the Doha Highway, it added. An architectural marvel, the bridge, which is about three meters wide was built with over 1,500 pillars. The project also involves the construction of two artificial islands, the first near Kuwait City and the second near the town of Subiya to provide maintenance, emergency services and coast guards patrolling the bay leading to a 6-km-long coast. OPEC production estimates from a couple of surveys are in and they suggest the cartel, despite its best efforts, has not been completely successful in its efforts to drive prices higher. Instead, it kept its production relatively stable last month, which has acted as a cap on international prices. Reuters and Bloomberg both reported OPEC production figures for March yesterday, with both figures suggesting a relatively stable rate. The Reuters survey estimated a 90,000-bpd decline in overall production across the organization, with Venezuela and Iran, as usual, the ones that drove the total down, helped by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners, who continued cutting production under their OPEC+ deal obligations. The Reuters survey pegged the average daily for March at 30.23 million barrels. Bloombergs survey of data yielded a pretty close figure for the March total, at 30.3 million bpd, although it estimated this was 25,000 bpd higher than in February. Interestingly and perhaps contrary to expectations, one of the contributors to this estimated increase was Libya: one of the most unstable members of OPEC, and one that has been exempted from the cartel-wide cuts, managed to boost its production last month by resuming full production at its largest field, Sharara. Irans oil production, according to the Bloomberg survey, fell by 80,000 bpd to 2.63 million bpd last month and Angola also booked a decline in its output, of 60,000 bpd. Venezuelas output continued to decline, according to earlier data from TankerTrackers.com and from Reuters. Libyas production, however, rose by 90,000 bpd, more than offsetting the Iran decline. Related: High-Cost Oil Faces Existential Risk Saudi Arabia, OPECs largest producer, however, is arguably the main factor in the oil price game. The country has been cutting more than it agreed to in a bid to push prices even higher. At the same time, Riyadh, in the face of Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, has assured President Donald Trump in response to his calls for lower prices that it is ready to reverse the cuts whenever this becomes necessary. These assurances has served to keep a lid on prices after the U.S. State Department announced the end of sanction waivers for Irans biggest oil clients, effectively betraying Saudi Arabias purpose of pushing prices close to US$80 a barrel. OPEC seems to have turned into one big wild card. While Saudi Arabia can keep its Gulf neighborsexcept Qatarin line and tweak production in accordance with their priorities, the rest of the large producers in the group are not so reliable. Besides Iran, Venezuela, and Libya, which are all exempted from the cuts and as such capable of surprises, there are also large producers such as Iraq and Nigeria, which both have plans to boost their production significantly and are eager to begin implementing them. Just a few weeks ago the dominant talk in oil was whether the OPEC+ cuts would be extended to keep prices higher. There is still a chance for that but with so much uncertainty within OPEC itself and the newly increased competition pressure from U.S. oil, the discussions to take place later this month when OPEC+ meets will certainly be interesting. For traders, times will also continue to be interesting, it seems. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Pemex is struggling--to put it lightly. Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexicos long-mismanaged state-owned oil company, has been bleeding money as its production levels have fallen to a trickle of their former production levels over the last decade. Now, Pemex is reporting a 36 billion peso ($1.9 billion U.S. dollars) loss in the first quarter. While these numbers are grim, especially compared to the 113-billion-peso profit reported in the first quarter last year, Mexican officials say that things are headed in the right direction for Pemex. Its true that a loss of 36 billion pesos in the first quarter is a marked improvement over the previous quarters crushing loss of 157.3 billion pesos. Furthermore, officials at Pemex are reporting that the new tough-on-corruption administration, headed by leftist Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has had considerable success in its efforts to cut down on fuel theft--locally known as huachicoleo--a persistent and widespread issue in Mexico. Mexican officials went on to say that this quarters lessened rate of loss is a direct result of the companys new direction under Lopez Obrador as well as a 121-billion-peso foreign exchange profit. Officials also claim that Mexican crude production, which has been in severe decline for the last 15 years, is now finally under control. So far this year, Mexico averaged 1.69 million barrels per day of crude production, and Pemex reports that the goal for 2019 is a total production of 1.725 million barrels per day. We have made improvements, although gradual ones. We have advanced in all areas. The challenges will require time to resolve but the trend is clear. . . Pemex is moving in the right direction, Pemex chief financial officer Alberto Velazquez was reported by Financial Times to have said in a conference call with analysts. Related: How The Renewable Revolution Is Reshaping Geopolitics There are many who would disagree with the assertion that Pemex is, in fact, now under better management and moving in the right direction, however. Just last month, Lopez Obradors strategy for Pemex was the focus of major political division when his plan for the new Dos Bocas refinery in his home state of Tabasco was found to have a laughable 2 percent chance of success, according to a unequivocally damning report by Mexican think tank Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad. Now, there is cause for even more uncertainty about the future of Mexicos volatile oil industry. This week, the Trump administration shocked oil insiders, experts, and analysts around the world when they announced that they would not be extending waivers for the eight countries who had been allowed to continue buying Iranian oil in reduced quantities. On the surface, it would appear that this has nothing to do with Mexico, as they were not one of the eight nations to receive a waiver in the first place. However, the move has major implications for Mexican heavy crude exports, now that major heavy oil consumers like India will be looking for new sources of heavier oil to replace the Iranian and Venezuelan heavy crude now unilaterally cut off by U.S. sanctions. While this would seem like great news for cash-strapped Pemex, the companys perceived unreliability may keep potential buyers at bay. One Mexico City-based energy analyst with consultancy group Mercury told S&P Global Platts, "There is much uncertainty surrounding Mexico's crude balance, I have some skepticism in general terms that heavy crude exports could be increased considering a short period and Pemex's limited resources and efficiency." Energy analyst Arturo Carranza went on to say, "It is more likely that Saudi Arabia or Russia will be a supply alternative for India and other Asian countries than Mexico." Even though Pemex has had some success stabilizing its free-falling crude production in the last quarter, theyre a long way from being able to considerably increase their production to fill even a fraction of the demand left by the disappearance of Iranian and Venezuelan oil from the global market. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The oil market was roughly balanced in April, after having fallen into a supply deficit on the order of about 480,000 bpd, according to Standard Chartered. While geopolitical flashpoints dominate the headlines and spread fear of supply risk, OPEC+ may not have a ton of room to increase production without creating another supply surplus, Standard Chartered said. The only WTI crashed on the news, falling more than $2 per barrel in midday trading on Thursday. Adding to crudes woes was news that Russia continues to produce in excess of its agreed upon cut as part of the OPEC+ deal. When the U.S. crude-oil warehouses bulge to their highest levels since September 2017, while production continues to set new high-water marks, warning signals should be flashing red, said Stephen Innes, head of trading at SPI Asset Management, according to Bloomberg. U.S. inventories jumped by 10 million barrels last week, rising to 470.6 million barrels. That is about 34 million barrels higher than at this point last year, and stocks are up about 20 million barrels in the last month alone. Rising inventories, especially consecutive increases of this magnitude, cut against the narrative that the oil market is suffering from a supply deficit. Oil prices crashed mid-week on news that U.S. crude oil inventories spiked, offering evidence that the oil market is not as tight as expected only a few days ago. Oil prices crashed mid-week on news that U.S. crude oil inventories spiked, offering evidence that the oil market is not as tight as expected only a few days ago. U.S. inventories jumped by 10 million barrels last week, rising to 470.6 million barrels. That is about 34 million barrels higher than at this point last year, and stocks are up about 20 million barrels in the last month alone. Rising inventories, especially consecutive increases of this magnitude, cut against the narrative that the oil market is suffering from a supply deficit. WTI crashed on the news, falling more than $2 per barrel in midday trading on Thursday. Adding to crudes woes was news that Russia continues to produce in excess of its agreed upon cut as part of the OPEC+ deal. When the U.S. crude-oil warehouses bulge to their highest levels since September 2017, while production continues to set new high-water marks, warning signals should be flashing red, said Stephen Innes, head of trading at SPI Asset Management, according to Bloomberg. The oil market was roughly balanced in April, after having fallen into a supply deficit on the order of about 480,000 bpd, according to Standard Chartered. While geopolitical flashpoints dominate the headlines and spread fear of supply risk, OPEC+ may not have a ton of room to increase production without creating another supply surplus, Standard Chartered said. The only way OPEC+ can abandon its cuts without flooding the market is if it does so in order to offset outages in Iran, Venezuela or Libya, for example. Related: Saudi Arabia, UAE Draw The Death And Collapse Of OPEC However, while rising U.S. inventories suggest the market is well-supplied, the news on the production front is a little more mixed. The EIA just released data that pointed to a second consecutive month of oil production declines in the U.S. In February, output fell to 11.683 million barrels per day (mb/d), down by 187,000 bpd from January, and off 280,000 bpd from a peak reached in December. The weekly estimates, which are less accurate but run through April, put U.S. production at 12.3 mb/d, a figure that may need to be revised down given where output was in February. To be sure, the production declines can largely be chalked up to the dip in output in the Gulf of Mexico. Between January and February, offshore production fell by nearly 200,000 bpd. Still, output in Texas, by far the largest source of U.S. oil production, stood at 4.890 mb/d in February, only slightly up from November levels. In other words, Texas, home to the Permian basin, only added 34,000 bpd in the four months through February. Given the blistering growth rates in the past few years, the slowdown is notable. Related: The Most Overlooked Risk In Oil Markets Faltering production is clearly a response to the fall in oil prices in the last three months of 2018. WTI hit $76 per barrel in early October, only to fall to $44 by late December. The contraction in output through February offers further evidence that U.S. shale is quick to respond to price movements, holding off on drilling when prices fall below breakeven points. When drilling slows, the precipitous decline rates from existing wells begin to catch up to growth, and the lack of new production coming online leads to an overall dip in output. The oil rig count has plunged since late last year, falling from a peak of 888 in November to just 805 at the end of April. In fact, in the last week of April, the rig count plunged by 20, a substantial decrease that may subsequently prove to be an anomaly, but nonetheless is evidence of turmoil in the U.S. shale industry. The rise in oil prices since the start of 2019 should spark another round of drilling and completions, though production gains show up on a several-month lag. However, the spike in inventories, and corresponding fall in WTI, may dash hopes of shale drillers. WTI is back down to $60 per barrel, which seems to be high enough for further growth, though time will tell. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: More than a week after the U.S. announced that it was ending all sanction waivers for Iranian oil customers, President Donald Trumps policy toward Iran is still the key wild card in the oil market. Thats the opinion of Bob Dudley, the chief executive of UK oil supermajor BP, who doesnt rule out that the U.S. could grant some waivers at the eleventh hour. Depending on whether or not President Trump were to do that, oil prices could go down or up, according to BPs top manager, who sat down with CNBCs Brian Sullivan for an interview this week. Now the U.S. is saying theyre going to take away those waivers again, and the oil price is clearly drifting up because of that, because of Venezuela, Libyas got issues, so it doesnt surprise me right now, Dudley told CNBC, commenting on this years oil price rally after the 40-percent plunge in Q4 2018. 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. There has been market chatter that despite the maximum pressure campaign against Iran, the U.S. could extend some sanction waivers as the Trump Administration would be seeking not to run up oil (and gasoline) prices too highan issue with every American president, and a key issue for the current president. According to an exclusive report by Reuters, hawkish national security advisors convinced President Trump that ending all waivers for Iranian oil buyers would not result in a spike in oil prices and the time had come to exert that maximum pressure and cut off Irans oil sales, three sources familiar with the debate within the U.S. Administration said. Related: Oil Prices Tank On Record U.S. Production, Surging Inventories The Administration appears convinced that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will step in the fill the gap after Iranian oil barrels come off the market. While analysts are trying to assess how low Irans exports could drop, the Saudis are not rushing to ramp up production before seeing actual barrels off the market. Last week, when the U.S. announced the end of sanction waivers, President Trump tweeted, Saudi Arabia and others in OPEC will more than make up the Oil Flow difference in our now Full Sanctions on Iranian Oil. 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, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, announcing the end of the waivers. Saudi Arabia, however, issued a measured response to the end of the waivers, vowing to work toward market stability, but stopping short of announcing any immediate production increase, as it did last year when it ramped up oil production ahead of the U.S. sanctions waivers decision, only to see exemptions for eight Iranian buyers, an oversupplied market, and crashing oil prices. In the next few weeks, the Kingdom will be consulting closely with other producing countries and key oil consuming nations to ensure a well-balanced and stable oil market, for the benefits of producers and consumers as well as the stability of the world economy, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in a statement on the day in which the U.S. announced the end of all waivers. Related: High-Cost Oil Faces Existential Risk After rallying to six-month highs early last week, oil prices plunged by more than 3 percent on Friday, after President Trump said The gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC. I said, You got to bring them down. You got to bring them down. And gasoline is coming down. While neither Saudi Arabia nor anyone else at OPEC appears to have spoken to the U.S. president, the U.S. national average gas price actually set a new high for the year at $2.88 this Monday. This average is nearly 20 cents more than a month ago and 63 cents more expensive than at the beginning of the year, AAA said. Compared to the beginning of this year, motorists have definitely felt an increasing squeeze on their wallets at the pump, AAA spokesperson Jeanette Casselano said. With 17 states within a dime of or already at $3/gal or more, Americans can expect the national average to likely surpass 2018s high of $2.97 set during Memorial Day weekend, Casselano added. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: As the acquisition war rages on over Anadarko, some analysts are suggesting that there will be additional mergers and acquisitions as major oil companies seek to increase their foothold in the US shale hotspot, the Permian Basinbut BPs CEO Bob Dudley said on Wednesday that BP wasnt currently on the hunt for oil and gas deals, according to CNBC, and wasnt interested in Anadarko. BP has already made its move into US shale when it acquired last year assets of BHP Billiton worth US$10.8 billion. BHP unloaded the assets at a time when it was booking losses thanks to the 2014 price crash. This suggests that BP is not reluctant to take a piece of the US Shale pie, rather that it has already had its fair share in what Dudley at the time considered a transformational move. BP snagged BHPs assets in not only the Permian, but also in the Eagle Ford and Haynesville basins as well, increasing its presence in US onshore oil and gas by more than half. While BP may be done with its acquisitions, CEO Dudley expects that other companies will continue to swap land and consolidate holdings as players in primarily the Permian look to cut costs. Anadarko, the most recent asset that has more than one suitor, has become a hot topic as first Chevron, then Occidental threw their hats into the ring to acquire the company with a large presence in the Permian. Anadarko had a preliminary deal with Chevron, but is rethinking the deal as Occidentals bid topped Chevrons, with Warren Buffett backing Occidentals bid with $10 billion. While mergers and acquisitions may increase in the coming months, the reality so far is that the value of US oil and gas mergers and acquisitions fell to a ten-year low in Q1, falling by a whopping 93% to $1.6 billion, according to Drillinginfo in its quarterly M&A review as reported by Reuters in early April. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A junior Canadian gas E&P company has shut down abruptly, leaving as many as 4,700 wells behind, CBC reports, quoting the Alberta Energy Regulator, which said it had sent Trident Exploration Corp. an order to manage its wells, to which the company did not respond. Trident closed two days ago and announced it would not be returning any money to shareholders or holders of unsecured bonds, adding it had well abandonment and reclamation liabilities of US$244.78 million (C$329 million) to deal with. According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, these 4,700 wells add to more than 3,000 abandoned wells in Canadas oil heartland that are currently awaiting remediation. The regulator also said it had been working with the company to smooth its exit from the industry and had ordered it to decommission the wells or transfer them to another company. Trident failed to comply with the order, the AER said. "Trident does not have the funds to operate its infrastructure or enter into creditor protection. As a result, they have decided to walk away, leaving more than 4,400 licensed sites, many of them active, without an operator," the watchdog told CBC. Data from the Alberta Energy Regulator says there are some 170,000 abandoned wells in the province, most of these sealed and taken out of service or reclaimed. The number represents more than a third of the total well count in Alberta, with the watchdog noting in its overview on the topic that even their abandonment, the wells remain the responsibility of the company that owns them. Two years ago, think tank C. D. Howe warned Alberta was facing a well cleanup and reclamation bill of US$5.95 billion (C$8 billion) and needed to change the way it made companies take financial charge of the abandonment and reclamation of their wells. Since then, this figure has grown. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: OPEC is trying not to mix politics with oil policy, the cartels Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on Thursday in Iran, after the Islamic Republic has stepped up rhetoric against the U.S. sanctions in recent days. OPEC tries to depoliticize oil, Irans oil ministry quoted Barkindo as saying on the sidelines of an event in Tehran. The U.S. is ending sanction waivers for all Iranian oil buyers and both the U.S. Department of State and President Donald Trump have expressed confidence that the U.S. allies within OPECSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)will step in to fill the gap that the U.S. sanctions on Iran would leave in the global oil market. While the Saudis and the UAE have said that they would meet market requirements, none of them has announced yet any imminent production increase to offset Iranian losses. Iran, however, is accusing the U.S. and its allies of using oil as a political tool and has repeatedly said that American sanctions cant and wont bring Iranian oil exports to zero. According to the news service of Irans oil ministry, Shana, OPECs Barkindo told reporters today that Eliminating Iran from the oil market is impossible. Over the 60 years since establishment of OPEC, we have faced many challenges, but what has always helped us is the unity ... If we can preserve this unity, we can overcome the problems again, Barkindo was quoted as saying. Earlier this week, Irans Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said Using oil as a weapon against two founding member of OPEC (Iran and Venezuela) will transform the unity in this organization into division and spell the demise and collapse of OPEC. They have to accept responsibility for such thing. Days before that, Amirhossein Zamaninia, Iranian deputy oil minister for international affairs and trading, said: The idea that some countries can offset shortages caused by removing Irans crude oil from the market is both politically and technically unfitting. These sanctions are the indication of USs schoolyard bullying reaction to the changes in global balance of power, according to Zamaninia. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The U.S. Department of the Interior plans to announce on Thursday the final draft of proposals to roll back some offshore oil drilling requirements imposed after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, after complaints from the oil industry that some of the regulations are burdensome without necessarily improving safety, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the plans. The Obama Administration imposed new technical regulations on drilling and drilling equipment in 2016, after reviewing the requirements and what went wrong in the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and resulted in the worst U.S. offshore oil spill. Now, according to Bloombergs sources, the Trump Administration is set to ease some of the rules, such as allowing third partiesnot only Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)-approved organizationsto inspect and certify the so-called blowout preventers at offshore oil platforms. In proposed rules from May 2018, BSEE said that its consultations with the industry showed that oil and natural gas operators raised concerns about certain regulatory provisions that impose undue burdens on their industry, but do not significantly enhance worker safety or environmental protection. Other stakeholders suggested that certain regulatory requirements do not properly account for advances or limitations in technology and processes, the bureau said. According to the API, the updated offshore well control rule would improve on its 2016 predecessor by providing flexibility to meet specific challenges across a variety of offshore conditions while encouraging innovation and technologies that help improve safety. Related: 19 Historical Oil Disruptions, And How No.20 Will Shock Markets Commenting on the current well control rule, the API says: Unfortunately, this one-size-fits-all approach doesnt consider the unique characteristics of every well, from its geology and depth to the pressure and temperature. These prescriptive requirements could also stifle innovation and implementation of new operational technologies. While the oil industry and its organizations argue that the easing of some requirements is good for the offshore industry and technological development, opponents say that relaxing rules would endanger oil workers and the environment. As the public just saw with the Boeing crashes, letting the offshore drilling industry regulate itself is a recipe for disaster, Amit Narang, a regulatory policy expert at watchdog group Public Citizen, told Bloomberg. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In the wake of the Extinction Rebellion riots that led to more than a thousand arrests with people gluing themselves to buildings and vandalizing the Shell HQ, a panel has urged the UK government to urgently adopt new policies for anything from eating habits to energy consumption to avert the worst effects of climate change. The Associated Press reports the Committee on Climate Change had recommended to the government such measures as reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products, changing the way farms do business, and making electric cars the only cars people can buy by 2035. By 2050, according to the panel, the country should be greenhouse gas emission-free. We can all see that the climate is changing and it needs a serious response. The government should accept the recommendations and set about making the changes needed to deliver them without delay, the chairman of the panel said. While some might see the 2050 zero-emission deadline as difficult to reach, environmentalists argue it is too far in the future. However, the panel said, 2050 was the most credible, as quoted by the AP. An earlier date has been proposed by some groups and might send a stronger signal internationally to those considering increasing their own ambition, but only if its viewed as credible. Even so, an alliance of environmentalist groups has insisted the government try to achieve its emission goals faster, by 2045. The problem is, weve been acting as if we have time, said the head of climate change at WWF, Gareth Redmond-King. But if we want a world with coral reefs, safe coastal cities and enough food for everyone, we must act now. In the meantime, Extinction Rebellion has warned the 11-day protests that paralyzed parts of London public transport are only the beginning of what a co-founder of the organization called a revolution. Now, the group is calling for mass refusal to pay mortgages and student loans in an attempt to motivate the government to consider alternatives to current economic model most of the world is using. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A 38-year-old trader, Tunde Babawande, who allegedly assaulted and threatened two of his siblings, was on Monday docked in a Yaba Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos. Babawande, who resides in Bariga area of Lagos, is facing a two-count charge of threatening violence and assault occasioning harm. According to the Prosecutor, Sgt. Modupe Olaluwoye, the defendant committed the offence on March 29, at No. 53, Opeloyeru St., Bariga, Lagos. She told the court that Babawande and the complainants, Mr Bright Simon and Miss Destiny Simon, are siblings and neighbours in the same building. Olaluwoye alleged that the defendant and the siblings had an argument over the quit notice that was served on them by their landlord. According to her, the defendant, in the course of the argument, assaulted Miss Simon, by breaking a bottle on her left leg. She further told the court that when her brother, Mr Simon, tried to intervene, the defendant threaten him with a cutlass. My Lord that was not the first time the defendant was causing trouble in the compound. The police have previously been called to settle a dispute between him and another neighbour but charges were however, dropped, Olaluwoye said. She said that the offence contravened the provisions of Sections 56 and 173 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. (Revised) The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sections of assault occasioning harm and threatening violence stipulate three years imprisonment each if convicted. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs K.B. Ayeye, admitted the accused to a bail of N200, 000 with one surety in like sum. She said the surety must be gainfully employed with an evidence of three years tax payment to the Lagos State Government. The magistrate adjourned the case until June 5, for mention. Emirates Steel, the only integrated steel plant in the UAE and a subsidiary of the General Holding Corporation (Senaat), has reaffirmed its commitment to developing and implementing best practices in health and safety while today (April 28) celebrating World Steel Safety Day. During the week, the company will welcome local and international organisations to exhibit their innovative health and safety solutions and foster dialogue with employees on how to ensure the highest international standards of workplace safety are maintained across Emirates Steels facilities, said a statement from the company. The World Steel Safety Day celebration come roughly a year after the groups implementation of the Aman Safety Excellence Programme, developed in partnership with Dupont Sustainable Solutions, the global leader in safety and process safety management, it said. The programme aims to mitigate key risks in day-to-day operations, raise the level of discipline in executing tasks at the shop floor level and build a strong and consistent safety culture, it added. CEO Engineer Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi said: "The safety of our operations and the wellbeing of our employees are a core value at our company and nothing is more important to us than having every member return home safely to their families every single day." We have implemented numerous initiatives over our 20 year history to ensure that our plant is a safe and secure place to work, and that feedback from our employees is incorporated into all of our policies and procedures, he stated. Al Remeithi said: We are delighted to have the opportunity to share best practices with other organisations from a wide range of industries and fields. Enhancing health and safety is an endless but crucial journey, and we are proud to be at the forefront of the industry when it comes to ensuring our employees wellbeing. Over the course of the week, companies including Emirates Logistics, Nafco, Abu Dhabi Police and DuPont will be exhibiting at Emirates Steels headquarters. They will present their latest health and safety solutions and share lessons learned, he added. An initiative of the World Steel Association, the safety day was stablished in 2014 to reinforce awareness of the five most common causes of safety incidents and to create a safer working environment across the entire steel industry worldwide. Every year on April 28 hundreds and thousands of employees and contractors from across the world engage in conversations around safety. TradeArabia News Service Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, has appointed over 1,000 workers into the states civil service barely a month to the end of his tenure. The appointment was announced in a statement on Tuesday night signed by the Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission, Ajibola Amope Chokor. The statement, which also disclosed the promotion of 5,000 government workers, explained that the appointments were done via the Public Service Entry Examination conducted by the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), in January. According to the statement, the successful candidates consist of freshly appointed and serving officers on inter-cadre transfer who had taken part in the examination. It added that the over 5,000 civil servants promoted enjoyed the privilege under the 2016/2017 promotions exercise. Officers promoted include junior and senior officers on GL 01-06 and GL 07-16 respectively, while the remaining officers were either upgraded or involved in the inter-cadre transfer, the statement revealed. The Permanent Secretary enjoined all the selected serving officers to visit room 233 of Civil Service Commission, Block A, Secretariat Complex, Oke- Mosan, Abeokuta from Monday, May 6, for their letters. Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria says it has relocated a total of 14 airlines from the old Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to the newly constructued CCECC terminal. In view of this, FAAN in a statement on Tuesday said it might soon start the rehabilitation of the old Abuja airport terminal. It said the airlines had been relocating since January 6 with the relocation of British Airways finalising the move of international flight operations to the new airport terminal. The statement said, FAAN today, April 30, 2019, announced that it has stopped international operations from the old terminal with British Airways ending the relocation from the old to the new terminal. Thirteen airlines including ASKY, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airways, RwandAir, Emirates, Air France, Air Peace, Lufthansa, African World Airlines and Air Cote divoire have been relocating since the January 6, 2019, with British Airways sealing flights to the old terminal. Management is pleased to announce the arrival of British Airways to the new Abuja International airport terminal today, April 30, 2019. Management wishes to inform passengers, airport users and the general public, to note that, this historic movement marks the end of international flight operations at the old terminal of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Meanwhile, with this relocation, FAAN stated that works on the old terminal would fully take effect to bring it to standard for domestic operations. The Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma, gave a hint of this development during the inauguration the Port Harcourt International Airport Terminal in October 26, 2018, where he said domestic operations would move there. President Muhammadu Buhari traveled last Thursday on a 10-day private visit to London. For the first time since becoming President, Buhari failed to inform Nigerians the purpose of his visit and had also refused to transmit a letter to the National Assembly to inform the legislature of his absence; nor did he name Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as the Acting President. The Presidents action has generated a debate regarding Section 145 of the Constitution, which states, Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, the Vice-President shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President. It adds that if the President does not return within 21 days, the National Assembly can, by a resolution, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of the President as acting president. According to the Constitution, the executive functions of the Vice-President include: participation in all cabinet meetings and, by statute, membership of the National Security Council, the National Defence Council, Federal Executive Council, and the Chairman of National Economic Council. Although the vice president may take an active role in establishing policy in the executive branch by serving on such committees and councils, the relative power of the Nigerian vice presidents office depends upon the duties delegated by the President. What are the things Vice-President Osinbajo cannot do in Buharis absence? 1. Appointments: With the Presidency operating as one, the Vice-President cannot make any appointments of any sort as the Act establishing most government agencies and departments state expressly that the President shall appoint. Even the Vice-Presidents personal staffers are appointees of the President, but are only seconded to his office. The then Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, made this clear in 2009 when he refused to swear in the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, when President Umaru YarAdua was on medical leave in Saudi Arabia. It was eventually the outgoing CJN, Justice Idris Kutigi, who inaugurated his successor. 2. Fire appointees: It will be recalled that Osinbajo had fired the acting Director-General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, in August last year while Buhari was in London on vacation. Osinbajo was able to do so because he was acting President and could thus exercise the full powers of the President. But with Buharis refusal to hand over to him this time, Osinbajo cannot fire any appointee even if theyre found wanting. He will have to wait for his boss to return. Osinbajo also cannot reshuffle the cabinet or sack ministers. 3. Sign bills: On June 12, 2017, acting President Osinbajo signed the 2017 Appropriation Bill into law and the budget was born. Buhari, who had been on medical leave for over 40 days at the time, had handed over power to his deputy to act in his stead. Now that the National Assembly has pass the budget, Nigerians will have to wait for Buhari to return next week for the budget to be made law. 4. Order the military: Buhari, apart from being the head of the executive branch of government, is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Put succinctly, Buhari is the only civilian that the military takes orders from. It was for this reason that Jonathan could not summon a security meeting until he was made the acting President by the Doctrine of Necessity in 2009. With the escalating security situation in the country, Osinbajo can only watch. 5. Write the National Assembly: Unlike the United States where the Vice-President is also the Senate President, Nigerias Vice-Presidents have never really had any dealings with the Office of the Senate President except when the Vice-President is acting as the President. During his time as acting President between 2016 and 2018, Osinbajo wrote to the Senate many times. For instance, in 2016, he wrote to the Senate to confirm Justice Walter Onnoghen as the CJN. He also wrote the Senate to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Commission. Osinbajo also cannot forward bills to the National Assembly. 6. Declare war/state of emergency: Section 305 of the Constitution states expressly that only the President can declare a state of emergency or war. It reads, Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the President may by instrument published in the official gazette of the Government of the Federation issue a proclamation of a state of emergency in the federation or any part thereof. The President shall immediately after the publication, transmit copies of the official gazette of the Government of the Federation containing the proclamation, including the details of the emergency, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each of whom shall forthwith convene or arrange for a meeting of the House of which he is President or Speaker, as the case may be, to consider the situation and decide whether or not to pass a resolution approving the proclamation. *** Segun Oni Chief Segun Oni, the immediate past Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been suspended indefinitely from the party. Oni, who was also a former governor of Ekiti, was suspended over alleged anti-party activities. In a letter dated May 1, 2019 and addressed to Oni by the partys executives in Onis Ifami 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, Oni also served as the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party under the tenure of Chief John Oyegun. The letter entitled, Suspension from All Progressives Congress Ward II, Ifaki Ekiti reads: 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. The party, had in a letter dated 24th April 2019 and signed by the ward executives, invited 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 Onis behalf by one Segun Adetunji on 25th April, 2019. Onis problem with the party began last year when he dragged Gov. Kayode Fayemi and the party to court after the May 26, 2018 APC governorship primary. He had challenged 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, 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 Gov. Ayo Fayose and which also banned him from holding public office for 20 years. 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), Prof. Kolapo Olusola. The Supreme Court also dismissed Onis suit for lack of merit, saying Fayemi did not breach the law by resigning after the primary. NAN By Odimmeg Johnpeter / Abuja Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama has said the release of Zainab Aliyu by Saudi Authorities is a further sign of the immense goodwill Nigeria enjoys on the Global Stage under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari whose integrity is widely acknowledged. Recall that Zainab who is a student of Maitama Sule University, Kano, was arrested after a banned drug, tramadol, was found in her bag. She claimed it was planted in her luggage by unknown persons. The student had reportedly travelled from Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in company with her mother, Mrs. Maryam Aliyu, and sister, Hajara Aliyu, but was arrested over allegations that a bag bearing her name tag contained the unlawful substance. The Minister who received the news of the release while on official assignment in Guinea Bissau noted that all diplomatic channels at the highest levels were explored to achieve the desired result. ALSO READ: Hajj Commission commends NDLEA for breaking drugs syndicate We know this is an innocent Nigerian and some criminals had planted drugs in her name but it was unfortunate that there was a case a couple of weeks ago where a Nigerian lady was executed in Saudi Arabia for drug smuggling and some people were very unfair an internal letter to me was published by one of the media houses giving the impression that myself and the Ministry were somehow responsible for the execution of this lady as she was innocent and of course that was not true. We know who had this confidential letter published and why they did it and we are aware but what was most unfortunate was the narrative that was created because in that case unlike this particular case that lady was found with drugs on her person and of course they tried to make it look as if it was the same case as this but we in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have just tried to focus on the work that we do without trying to promote ourselves in the media. He assured Nigerians that all Nigerian missions will continued to respond to the plight of Nigerians around the world. The immediate past Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and loser of guber primary in Ekiti has been suspended indefinitely from the party. Segun Oni 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. 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. 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. Post Views: 96 The leader of traders in Lagos and Iyaloja General, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, has said that some traders in the Computer village market who protested against the appointment of Iyaloja and Babaloja in the market on Tuesday were ill-informed. Addressing a press briefing on Wednesday, Tinubu-Ojo said all the markets in the state were under her control and the computer village market cannot be an exception. According to our constitution, I can choose anybody from any local government in the state to head the market, all the iyaloja and babaloja in all the Lagos markets are my representatives in the market where they operate. Kindly educate them that phones, handsets, computers are commodities. They cannot tell us they are not pepper sellers, everybody cannot be textile dealers; they cant tell us that computer village will be exonerated (sic) from other markets. We have the right to choose for them Iyaloja and Babaloja. Those people protesting never approached me to complain. They dont have the initiative that the person leading the protest has finished his tenure and wants to remain in power Computer village is not just an ICT hub, there are a lot of commodities being sold there; nobody can say it is wrong to select a babaloja and iyaloja for the market. Those that have been selected were not selected because they are Yoruba , in some of our markets in Lagos we have Igbos that were selected as market leaders, Tinubu-Ojo said. A pro-Israel group's full-page fundraising ad in The Washington Post featured a portrait of Representative Ilhan Omar. Photographer Jason Grow says the portrait was used without his permission. Photographer Jason Grow is demanding payment from an advocacy group that used one of his portraits in a politically charged fundraising ad without permission, and will sue for willful copyright infringement if the group ignores a May 8 deadline, according to his attorney, Andrew D. Epstein. The advocacy group, World Values Network (WVN), allegedly downloaded Grows portrait of Representative Ilhan Omar from Facebook, and used the photo in a pro-Israel fundraising campaign without permission. WVN has defended its use of the photo as within its First Amendment rights, and in accordance with Facebook standards, according California Globe, the online publication that first reported the dispute. I think were in for a fight, Epstein tells PDN. Grow shot the photo in early January 2019 for Politico magazines New Women of Congress portfolio. Since then, Omar has made various public statements that her critics have blasted as anti-Semitic. The World Values Network used those commentsand the Omar portrait by Growin a full-page Washington Post ad in March to solicit donations (shown above). Support our campaign to to defend Israel and promote human rights. DONATE the ad says in the fine print. It provides WVNs phone number and website URL. WVN also used Grows photo of Omar to solicit donations through a crowd funding campaign on Go Fund Me. The goal of that campaign is to raise $50,000 to pay for the Washington Post ad. (So far, the Go Fund Me campaign has raised $578) Grow says he learned of the Washington Post ad from a photo editor at Politico. He then contacted Epstein, who sent a demand letter to World Values Network. Epstein tells PDN he didnt provide a copy of the demand letter to the California Globe, and can only speculate about how the Globe obtained the letter. He declined to provide a copy to PDN. But the letter asks for damages up to $150,000, Epstein told PDN, because thats what the Copyright Act says: If you can prove willful infringement, you can claim statutory damages up to $150,000. Grow registered his copyright a few days after learning of the unauthorized uses by WVN. But Epstein explains that Grow is still eligible for statutory damages because he registered his copyright within three months of the photos first publication. (To be eligible for statutory damages, a creator must register copyright before an unauthorized use or within three months of first publication.) The letter from Epstein, which was partially reproduced by California Globe, also demands that World Values Network stop using the photograph for any purpose whatsoever. It also demands that WVN inform Grow and his attorney of all unauthorized uses and begin negotiations for damages for the willful infringement of the photograph. WVN did not return PDNs calls for comment. But according to the California Globe report, WVN is digging in. WVN attorney Scott B. Piekarsky told the Globe: The World Values Network acted well within its legal rights by utilizing the photograph of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar published publicly on Facebook in accordance with Facebook standards. Those threatening legal action for this proper use seek to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of this Jewish based 501c 3 charitable organization. The WVN will vigorously defend its constitutional rights and vindicate its proper and lawful free speech. Epstein tells PDN that Fair use is always a defense in the face of a copyright claim. He goes on to say that although WVN is a non-profit organization, they were really using [the photo] for a commercial activity. They intended to profit from the useso I think that factor weighs heaving against fair use. He adds that WVN also used the entire imageI think that weighs against a fair use argument. With regard to WVNs claim that was within its rights by utilizing the photographin accordance with Facebook standards, Epstein says: Just because its online doesnt mean its not copyrighted, and doesnt mean that its for free. There are lot of things that are online, whether or not they have a copyright notice next to them, that are not for free. Facebooks terms of service are also clear on that point: You may not use our Products to do or share anythingThat infringes or violates someone elses rights. Related: Court Reverses Misguided Fair Use Ruling; Restores Order for Photo Copyrights Copyright News You Should Know 13 Image Protection Services for Professional Photographers Kanoo Travel, a fully owned business of Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Group (YBA Kanoo), has signed an agreement with US-based Cvent to utilise its complete suite of event management solutions, at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) being held in Dubai, UAE. One of the largest travel management companies in the Mena region, Kanoo Travel specialises in corporate, marine, and leisure travel, as well as airline representation and Meetings Incentives Conferences and Events (Mice). It also offers a wide range of compliance-driven, cost-effective travel management services and solutions. The partnership is a first-of-its-kind collaboration for Kanoo Travel as it becomes one of the first corporate travel management companies in the region to benefit from Cvent's integrated technology solutions which include online registration, onsite badging and check-in, mobile event apps, and feedback and reporting solutions. Cvent is a market leader in meetings, events, and hospitality technology. Its event technology solutions will offer ATM attendees enhanced engagement and networking opportunities and will allow Kanoo Travel to manage and deliver a more impactful and memorable overall event experience, said a statement from the company. In addition to using Cvents onsite event technology, the company will also utilise Cvents venue sourcing platform the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN) which will help to simplify and automate the event venue selection process. Featuring more than 260,000 hotels, resorts and special event venues, the CSN is one of the world's largest databases of detailed venue information. Nabeel Kanoo, president of Kanoo Travel, said: We are embracing the digital transformation in the travel and hospitality industry and its serious about adapting the latest technology solutions which add value to its customers. By partnering with Cvent we will be providing our customers with a comprehensive event management platform which will handle the entire event lifecycle and we will be able to offer them venues and hotels with competitive prices, he added. Gokul Bajaj, head of sales and partnerships and general manager at Cvent Dubai, said: We are excited to be working with Kanoo Travel, a market-leading organisation that recognises the importance of digital transformation and automation and were proud to partner with them to further support the growing UAE event technology industry. With Dubais expanding Mice market, the Arabian Travel Market offers a unique opportunity to showcase the power of technology in transforming meetings and events. With more than 20 years in the industry, our company is well positioned to lead this digital effort by offering solutions that make live events more engaging, strategic and impactful, he added. Kanoo Travel operates a network of more than 70 Iata locations and has longstanding affiliations with some of the largest institutions in the world. Last year, Cvent opened its first office in the Middle East. Located in the heart of Dubai, the location now serves as a regional hub enabling the company to service regional clients more quickly and address the growing demand for its event and hospitality cloud platforms in the Middle East and Africa. With more than 100 customers in the region, Cvent has established a strong client base including top brands and leading luxury hotels such as Qatar Foundation, Arabian Exhibition Management, Marriott Hotels, Shangri-La Hotel, and Atlantis-The Palm. TradeArabia News Service Andrew Russell, University of Portsmouth It feels apt that Claire Deniss new film, High Life is reportedly an idea shed been toying with for 15 years. The movie is already drawing comparison to Solaris, a science fiction film by the seminal slow cinema director Andrei Tarkovsky. Denis has dabbled with slow cinema aesthetics before. Her 2009 film White Material portrays a struggling female coffee producer who elects not to flee an impending civil war. The cinematography revels in stillness and quietude. Deniss characters are developed through movement and actions more than dialogue. As the modern world becomes more and more fast paced, the idea of stillness is beginning to become a more desirable commodity. Stillness is one of the hallmarks of slow cinema, along with the use of static shots, long duration shots, pans, tracking shots as well as a narrative focus on the more mundane aspects of life. This aesthetic has garnered much praise and criticism. Paul Schrader, academic, screenwriter and director, drew attention to certain aspects of this aesthetic in his seminal book, Transcendental Style in Film. The ideas raised here have since been applied to slow cinema. In recent years, the aesthetic was used frequently within the arthouse sector, garnering critical acclaim and academic interest. But Schrader has recently stated that he believes slow cinema may be running its course. Its getting closer and closer to the art gallery and museum. It had a real interesting moment in the last 10 years, but now the novelty has worn off, and people are not as mesmerised as they were when the slowness was really being used as a new concept of film time. This is a bold statement about an aesthetic that has consistently created a polarising experience, finding its success primarily in the arthouse. Yet, the aesthetic seems to be breaking away from the arthouse sector, seeping into the mainstream in multiple areas, providing the audience with something they require. Small moments savoured At the 2019 Oscars, Roma won awards in the categories of best director, best foreign language film and best cinematography. This critically praised film clearly has slow cinema aesthetics running throughout it. There is a focus on the mundane the small, seemingly insignificant moments in life. The opening sequence is a nine-minute shot of a women mopping the floor and walking through a house. It relies on the use of tracking shots and pans. Situations are frequently shown in long shot, allowing the audience to rove around the frame, not necessarily focusing on the protagonists. Schrader would argue that Roma isnt slow cinema that it is still too focused on a narrative to be the purest form of the slow aesthetic. This is evident from the diagram Schrader created for a new edition of Transcendental Style in Film the Tarkovsky Ring. The directors placed outside of the ring are the ones who create films that are least concerned with narrative as the driving force of the film. Schraders damming opinion of them is that: Theres not much Im going to get from Wang Bing or Bela Tarr or Lav Diaz. (Directors who revel in stillness from China, Hungary & the Philippines). Schraders opinion aligns with the mainstream film industry that narrative is the driving force of film. Yet pleasure can be derived from a slow film in a different way if audiences are willing to consider the viewing practices of film in a different way. Drinking alone, in your underwear In recent years, European practices such as Hygge have become exceedingly popular. The lesser known Dutch gezellig (which roughly translates as cosiness, contentment or companionship) also received some attention. At the end of last year the Finnish kalsarikanni (drinking at home, alone, in underwear) was being considered as the next big phenomenon. All of these lifestyle movements and countless others have one thing in common: escaping the frenetic pace of the modern world and relishing in the small things in life. It could be watching a candle flicker, cuddling in a blanket or just spending time with friends in your home. Escaping the noise of the modern world has been explored by Erling Kagge in his successful book, Silence: In the Age of Noise. Thunderbird Releasing Apps such as Calm are finding popularity, allowing you to find tranquility for a few seconds within the day. Evidently there is a desire for stillness and silence, taking time to find the beauty in the normalcy of life. These desires can be fulfilled in the cinema, as long as audiences are willing to change their narrative expectations and see film in a different way. Ben Rivers, a UK-based documentary and fiction filmmaker, and Anocha Suwichakornpong, a Thai independent filmmaker, two directors who favour slow cinema aesthetics, have crowdfunded their latest film In The Holocene. Roy Andersson has teased his new film at a recent Q & A, About Endlessness, which uses static compositions. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a Thai independent filmmaker who has garnered interest on the film festival circuit with his slow cinema aesthetic, is shooting outside of Thailand for the first time, working with Tilda Swinton on his new film, Memoria. It could be that, despite Schraders views, 2019 is a bumper year for slow cinema. Read more: Introducing lucid-dream cinema: movies to watch while you sleep Schraders comments about slow cinemas decline hold some sway, but only if you consider film purely as a narrative medium. Why cant it also be something else? Slow cinema aesthetics are being adopted by more mainstream cinema, not just reserved for the arthouse or festival circuit. People are searching for ways to escape the fast pace of the modern world and our constant connectivity. Why not find it by relishing the moments of stillness, the static shots of landscapes, the experience of ordinary people living ordinary lives, found in slow cinema. Andrew Russell, Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Portsmouth This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A consortium comprised of funds advised by Apax Partners (the "Apax Funds), together with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB") and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board ("PSP Investments"), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Acelity, Inc. and its KCI subsidiaries worldwide to 3M for approximately $6.725 billion. KCI markets a broad range of negative pressure wound therapy, specialty surgical and advanced wound dressing products in approximately 90 countries. Since 2011, Apax Partners, CPPIB and PSP Investments worked closely with KCIs senior leadership team to transform the business into a leading global company focused on advanced wound care and specialty surgical solutions. The companys strategic M&A program included targeted acquisitions, such as Systagenix in 2013 and Crawford Healthcare in 2018, and disposals of non-core businesses, such as the LifeCell business unit, which was sold for $2.9 billion in 2017 and the Therapeutic Support Systems (TSS) unit, which was sold in 2012. KCI also has undertaken a range of organic growth initiatives including investments in R&D, clinical studies, and the expansion of its sales force. The product offering includes the KCI branded negative pressure wound therapy, advanced wound dressings, and negative pressure surgical incision management systems. The companys industry-leading brands include V.A.C. Therapy, PREVENA Therapy and PROMOGRAN PRISMA Matrix, as well as the iOn Digital Health platforms. Upon completion of the transaction, KCI will become an integral part of 3Ms Medical Solutions business, which applies 3M science to deliver safe and effective solutions that improve clinical outcomes and healthcare economics. Today, KCI embarks upon a new era in its long history as a pioneer in healthcare, said R. Andrew Eckert, CEO of Acelity. The combination of KCI with 3M will accelerate the reach of a business that is a leader in innovation, customer experience and clinical and economic evidence. Backed by the resources and expertise of 3M, KCI will be able to offer clinicians and patients even more compelling solutions designed to speed healing and improve outcomes. I would like to thank Apax, CPPIB and PSP Investments for their close partnership and strategic direction over the years shaping KCI into a premier global advanced wound care company. Steven Dyson, Chairman of the Board of Acelity and Partner at Apax Partners, said, We are proud of our close work with management to successfully transform KCI through a range of growth initiatives, including an M&A program, that enhanced the Companys strategic direction. We believe the business will have a great future with 3M. Lastly, we are grateful for the opportunity to have joined in this highly successful investment with CPPIB and PSP, two long-standing investors in the Apax Funds. CPPIB is pleased to have supported KCIs delivery of medical devices and products that benefit millions of patients around the world. During our investment, the company helped restore lives with the launch of innovative solutions and expansion into new geographies, said Ryan Selwood, Managing Director, Head of Direct Private Equity, CPPIB. We are proud to have supported KCI and its management team during its exciting transformation journey, in partnership with Apax and CPPIB, said Simon Marc, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity, PSP Investments. KCI has successfully invested into novel organic growth initiatives and we are confident about its continued growth prospects with 3M. The transaction will be effected through the sale of Acelity, Inc., a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Acelity L.P. Inc., and is subject to relevant regulatory approvals and fulfillment of certain other customary conditions prior to closing, which are expected to occur in the second half of 2019. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are acting as financial advisors to the consortium. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Jackson Walker LLP are acting as legal advisors to the consortium. CPPIB and PSP Investments put out a press release, Apax Funds, CPPIB and PSP Investments Agree to Sell Acelity/KCI to 3M for $6.725 Billion Bloomberg reports this is 3M's biggest deal , topping its 2015 purchase of Capital Safety for $2.5 billion. 3M's CEO Mike Roman said healthcare has been a strong growth marketplace so they've been investing in a broader range of technologies.Interestingly, Bloomberg also notes the deal marks a change of course for Acelity because Apax, CPPIB, and PSP Investments had been speaking with advisers about a potential initial public offering of the San Antonio, Texas-based company but instead sold it to a strategic buyer (3M).As far as returns, a person familiar with the deal said the sale will result in Apax achieving a return of more than three times its original investment.I went back to look at the 2011 press release PSP put out stating the original PIPE deal the consortium entered was valued at approximately $6.3 billion, including KCIs outstanding debt.Something didn't add up because they acquired KCI for $6.3 billion and sold it for $6.725 billion so I wondered where the big money was made.I reached out to CPPIB's Ryan Selwood and PSP's Simon Marc to ask them what I was missing and Simon was kind enough to reply: "In 2017, Acelity sold LifeCell to Allergan for $2.9bn. That is the main piece you were missing." Ryan subsequently confirmed what Simon stated. I thank both of them.My bad. If you read the press release above, it clearly states part of the companys strategic M&A program included the disposals of non-core businesses, such as the LifeCell business unit, which was sold for $2.9 billion in 2017 and the Therapeutic Support Systems (TSS) unit, which was sold in 2012.Anyway, the main point is this was a great deal for all parties including 3M as healthcare was its third-largest business segment last year, with sales of $6 billion. Acelity had 2018 revenue of $1.5 billion.CPPIB and PSP co-invested with Apax on this deal and got scale, lowered their overall fees and obtained great returns.It's just another example of how large sophisticated pension funds can enter into large, complex deals with a top private equity partner because they have the internal expertise to analyze these deals quickly and turn around to co-invest alongside them.It also goes to show that these large pensions aren't just long-term buyers, when it makes sense, they sell to strategics to realize great gains.That leads to another problem, namely, they need to put that money back to work to maintain their allocation in private equity but that is why it's important to have a strong pipeline of large deals all the time.Lastly, Private Equity International released their inaugural Future 40 list, which features 40 professionals under the age of 40 regarded by their peers as future industry leaders. I want to publicly congratulate Audinga Besusparyte, PSP's Senior Director Private Equity (Europe), for making the list.Below, the SNAP Therapy System combines the simplicity of advanced wound dressings with the benefits of negative pressure therapy in a discreet design that wont get noticed. The SNAP Therapy System helps makes a difference in patients quality of life, without being visible.Also, V.A.C. Therapy is an advanced wound healing therapy that can be readily integrated into the clinicians wound healing practice, to help optimize patient care. Watch the clips below. " " Make a wish when you blow out your birthday candles, and it might just come true if you believe the superstition, at least. tatyana_tomsickova/iStock/Thinkstock There's nothing like a birthday to make you analyze your life. With another year gone, you think of how you've spent your time and vow to do better in the next year. For some, it's a time of deep rumination; for others, it's a time of renewal. Birthday superstitions can help drag you out of the birthday doldrums as you age, providing easy ways to boost your luck, find love and finally live the life you want before the next birthday rolls around. They also serve as the perfect way to help friends and family celebrate their special day and carry on traditions, many of which date back centuries. Before you celebrate your big day, check out these 10 birthday superstitions. 10: Birthday Love Some old Southern traditions in the United States suggest the candles on a birthday cake can help you with your love life. There should be one candle on the cake for each year of life, of course, and if you manage to blow them all out at once, you'll be married within a year. Missed a few? Don't worry; just get as many as you can. The number of candles remaining lit tells you how many years you have until your wedding day. If you're not looking to get hitched anytime soon, you might not want to blow too hard, just in case. Advertisement 9: Make a Wish One of the most widely recognized birthday superstitions involves blowing out the candles on a cake, but this one has nothing to do with love and marriage. Instead, you're supposed to make a wish as you blow out the candles. If you get them all with one breath, your wish will come true as long as you don't tell anyone what you wished for, of course. Obviously, this gets harder to do each year, as yet another candle gets added to the mix, so take a big breath to boost your chances for success. This custom may have originated in Germany, where people added an extra-large candle to the middle of the cake. Simply blowing out this larger candle meant your wish would come true. 8: Hidden Treasures In a move that would spook health professionals everywhere, some superstitions call for baking objects inside a birthday cake. Despite the choking hazard they pose to an unsuspecting party guest, these hidden objects actually bring luck, wealth and love to those lucky enough to find them. One such superstition involves adding a ring to the mix before baking the cake. The guest who gets the slice with the ring baked inside will be the next to marry. If that person is already married, the ring simply provides a boost of luck. Another tradition requires adding a dime to the mix before baking. Whoever gets the slice with the dime will end up rich. 7: Don't Be Early When you run into a friend who has a birthday coming up, it's only natural to wish that person a happy birthday in advance. In some parts of the world, however, your seemingly innocent wish is supposed to bring bad luck down on the birthday boy or girl. In Russia, for example, you should never celebrate a birthday until the actual day of the event. If you can't do it that day, wait until afterward to avoid bad luck. In Germany, even wishing someone a happy birthday before the day of the event is bad luck. Just to be safe, some superstitious folks in that country don't give children any gifts until the day after their birthday. What if you forget your birthday altogether? While it may seem unlikely, some say it's actually good luck if you honestly forget to celebrate your own birthday [source: Daniels]. 6: Don't Be Late While it's bad luck in some cultures to celebrate too early, some superstitions suggest that offering birthday greetings at just the right time brings luck. If someone in the family is celebrating a birthday, give that person a call first thing in the morning and say happy birthday to maximize luck. Prompt birthday wishes are particularly important when children are involved; in this case, birthday greetings should be offered as soon as the child wakes up, before any other activities have taken place. If you have young kids eager to open gifts, this probably won't be much of a problem. " " Robert McCracken Peck, curator of art and artifacts and senior fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, saved Peter A. Browne's collection from the dustbin and tells its tale in his book "Specimens of Hair: The Curious Collection of Peter A. Browne." Rosamond Purcell, courtesy Blast Books Collections are by definition kind of weird. Collectors devote days, weeks, months, even years to compiling excessive quantities of stamps they'll never mail, coins they'll never spend, hair they'll never wait, what? Yes, you read that right: hair. Nineteenth-century lawyer and naturalist Peter A. Browne has the distinction of having cultivated the world's greatest hair collection. Sort of makes your prized record collection seem boring, doesn't it? In the 1840s and '50s, Browne decided he would try to piece together a scientific portrait of humanity by obtaining as many hair specimens as possible. He wanted strands from famous figures, regular folks, living, dead basically, if a person had hair, Browne wanted it. He collected samples from a fetus, a 100-year-old man, patients in the Western Virginia Lunatic Asylum, celebrities, conjoined twins, a corpse that had been buried for 32 years, and a convicted murderer (before and after his hanging, of course). Browne even had a few strands of George Washington's hair, courtesy of the late president's barber's son. He actually had samples from 13 of the first 14 U.S. presidents. So, all in all, a pretty terrifyingly thorough collection. Advertisement " " A page from Browne's collection book: Hair from Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker (18111874), Thai-American conjoined twin brothers whose condition and birthplace became the basis for the term 'Siamese twins.'" Rosamond Purcell, courtesy Blast Books What exactly was the point of all this hair gathering, you might ask? According to the book "Specimens of Hair: The Curious Collection of Peter A. Browne" by Robert McCracken Peck, Browne was on a mission to explain the differences and similarities between humans. Years before Charles Darwin blew the world's collective mind with his theory of evolution, Browne obsessively sought to understand how and why there was so much variance in humans. "His fellow members of the Academy of Natural Sciences were doing the same things with birds and insects and fish, and trying to figure out what were the distinctive characteristics that separated one from another, and combined one with another," Peck told the arts and culture website Hyperallergic. "With humans, that became a much more fraught political and social issue. Any attempt he made to separate people into separate species, as he called them at the time, was doomed to failure, and rightly so, because we recognize that all humans are from the same origin." But Browne didn't know that. So, he collected. And perhaps the weirdest part about his weird collection is that for the era, it wasn't considered weird at all. "The collection may seem 'weird' by today's standards, but at the time it was made it was considered very important by scientists around the world," Peck said in an interview with The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP), where is he is a senior fellow. "Browne referred to it as a national collection. It contained not just the hair of humans, but the wool of sheep and the fur and hair of many other mammals. It was a collection made for scientific purposes and for the love of country." And if you don't believe that Browne's hair collecting compulsion wasn't all that odd for the era, consider this news story out of the U.K., where a woman stumbled upon a ring containing Charlotte Bronte's locks. While wading through her late father-in-law's attic, the unidentified woman from Erddig, Wales unlocked a curious metal box and found a single ring inside inscribed with Bronte's name and the date of her death. So the woman did what anyone in sudden unexpected possession of an old trinket might do: She went on "Antiques Roadshow." On the show, she told jewelry expert Geoffrey Munn she suspected she might have accidentally inherited some of Bronte's strands. Munn wasn't fazed. "It was a convention to make jewelry out of hair in the 19th century," he said. "There was a terror of not being able to remember the face and character of the person who had died." " " Another page from Browne's collection showing hair from the mane of Ajax, a lion exhibited at the "Philadelphia Menagerie." Rosamond Purcell, courtesy Blast Books Apparently, before selfies and Snapchats pretty much ruined our lives, people often wove bits of hair into just about everything from rings and bracelets to cufflinks and more. "The hair of family and friends was commonly exchanged and retained throughout the 19th century," Peck told the ANSP blog. "It was often framed, kept in albums, or featured in jewelry. Today many parents still retain the hair from their child's first haircut, but it is rarely put on public display as it was during the Victorian era." It's also probably not as valuable as Bronte's; Munn told the lady with the ring that while her newly discovered jewelry was probably only worth about $32, the famous author's strands bumped up the value to about $26,000. But back to Browne. While he never realized his (flawed and problematic) dream of separating the human race into 'species,' he did make an enduring contribution to modern science. "What is so useful about this collection now is all of that DNA is preserved, and he had no idea he was doing that when he sent out his requests to people for hair," Peck said in Hyperallergic. "He actually asked them to send the roots of the hair, the follicles many of them did just clip it but with the follicles attached, that is a goldmine." And Peck isn't just the expert responsible for immortalizing Browne's legacy in words he's also the guy who helped save it from total destruction. "In the mid-1970s, before anyone recognized the importance and irreplaceable value of the DNA contained in Browne's collection, a staff member in a position to determine its fate decided that the wool, fur and human hair it contained was of no (current) scientific interest and was taking up too much space and he decided to discard it," Peck told the ANSP blog. "I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to spot it and save it from oblivion. Who would have guessed it would one day become a collection of such interest and the subject of a book?!" Now That's Interesting A 2016 study found that DNA isn't the only thing in hair that contain identifying information. It turns out proteins present on strands may actually offer more abundant, stable sources of info. " " Midazolam was used in two botched executions in 2014. With many of the usual lethal injection drugs now unavailable for executions, some states have been improvising with other drugs. Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle/Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post via Getty Images/HowStuffWorks By all indications, the 2014 execution of convicted murderer Dennis McGuire by lethal injection went horribly wrong. Instead of losing consciousness and succumbing immediately to a heart-stopping drug cocktail, McGuire choked and gasped and clenched his fists for an agonizing 10 minutes before his death in an Ohio penitentiary. Later that same year, Clayton Lockett met a similarly gruesome end in Oklahoma. Lockett, convicted in 2000 of a brutal sexual assault and murder, regained consciousness 13 minutes into his execution and began rolling, clenching his teeth and crying out to his executioners. Officials halted the execution before Lockett died of a heart attack an hour later. Advertisement Both of these botched executions employed a drug called midazolam, a sedative that's supposed to quickly render a condemned prisoner unconscious before being administered the drugs that ultimately paralyze the body and stop the heart. In 2015, death-row inmates took a case all the way to Supreme Court arguing that midazolam was unreliable and its use in lethal injection amounted to a violation of their Eighth Amendment protection against "cruel and unusual punishment." The Court shot down the inmates' case in a 5-4 decision. At the heart of the case and the source of genuine debate over the fate of capital punishment in America is a severe shortage of effective lethal injection drugs. Midazolam was only used in Ohio and Oklahoma because the states couldn't get their hands on more potent and proven sedatives like sodium thiopental or pentobarbital. Why is there such a serious shortage of lethal injection drugs, and where do these drugs come from? For those answers, we reached out to Megan McCracken, a lawyer and lethal injection expert with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. McCracken explains that there's a shortage of lethal injection drugs mainly because drugmakers in the U.S. and Europe either no longer produce the approved drugs or refuse to sell them to executioners. In 2011, Hospira, the last U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental the original sedative approved for lethal injection announced it would no longer produce it. And that same year, the European Union long committed to eradicating capital punishment issued a ban on all European exports of drugs to be used in executions. This ban set states scrambling for a replacement, which they thought they found in pentobarbital, another powerful sedative. But then Akorn, the only U.S. producer of pentobarbital, announced that it would no longer allow its medical products to be used in executions. With no U.S. or European drugmakers willing to sell Food and Drug Administration-approved sedatives for executions, several states including Oklahoma, Ohio, Mississippi and Nebraska have postponed all executions until a reliable supply can be found. Other states are more persistent. In Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania, officials have turned to private compounding pharmacies to mix up batches of midazolam, pentobarbital and other lethal injection drugs. Compounding pharmacies are not regulated by the FDA and made headlines in 2014 for a meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people. Unable to get its hands on the usual three-drug cocktail (usually an anesthetic like sodium thiopental or pentobarbital, a paralyzer like pancuronium bromide and a drug like potassium chloride which stops the heart), Texas has switched to a single injection of pentobarbital for its executions, as has Georgia. (So far, 12 executions have been carried out this year, 10 in those two states alone.) Pentobarbital is often used to euthanize animals and in some physician-assisted suicides. Opponents of capital punishment object to these largely improvised systems of lethal injections, including the experimental two-drug cocktail of midazolam and hydromorphone used in the disastrous execution of Dennis McGuire in Ohio. In response, several states have passed laws protecting the identities of private compounding pharmacies and blocking access to execution procedures by permanently sealing execution records from the media and the courts. For a legal expert like McCracken of Berkeley's law school, these secrecy laws are a huge obstacle to death-row inmates trying to make the argument that a shortage of lethal injection drugs has led to practices and procedures that amount to cruel and unusual punishment. "If states are allowed to refuse to disclose information about where they are getting the drugs and who made them," says McCracken, "then the courts can't analyze lethal injection procedures to make a fact-based determination about their lawfulness and constitutionality." Now That's Something Since 1976, 1,434 men and women have been executed by lethal injection in the U.S.. Since 1973, DNA evidence and other new information has exonerated 156 death-row prisoners. " " Police officers escort a water cannon to repel refugees in the jungle in Calais, northern France on Oct. 15, 2016. Julien Pitinome/NurPhoto via Getty Images Adam Leggat spent more than two decades in the British Army, much of it as an officer in the Royal Irish Regiment. His specialty: conducting counterterrorism and crowd-management operations. So when Leggat tells you that, if you ever find yourself in the middle of a riot, to avoid the business end of a fully operational water cannon ... well, it's best you believe him. Advertisement "We have people in Northern Ireland who riot regularly. Several times every summer," Leggat, an expert with The Densus Group, a Texas-based risk management company, says from Northern Ireland. "We've got some quite experienced rioters. And they hate it. They ab-so-lute-ly hate it. They will drive stolen cars straight into it. They have attempted to throw planks with nails in front of it so it will puncture the tires. They have shot at it. They hate it. They want it to go away. It is a very, very effective tool." Water cannons have been in the news recently after a clash Sunday between police and protesters in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The protesters are trying to halt the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a more than 1,100-mile (1,770-kilometer) crude oil pipeline that runs from North Dakota to Illinois. Some consider the pipeline an environmental hazard. Others see it as threatening sacred Native American lands, specifically those of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Area law enforcement converged on Cannon Ball on Sunday and employed a makeshift water cannon. It was basically a fire-hose nozzle perched atop a 15-ton armored personnel carrier owned by the Stutsman County Sheriff's Office against the protesters. It was a nasty melee, complete with rocks thrown, tear gas released and rubber bullets fired. Several people were injured. The water video showed it being sprayed at and over the protesters didn't help on a 23-degree F (minus 5-degree C) night. It could have been worse, though. It could have been a real water cannon. Breaking Out the Big Guns In several other spots around the world, authorities regularly use water cannons to quell riots. True water cannons are more than high-powered hoses run from a fire truck or hooked to a hydrant. Water cannons often are armored, too, to repel extra-dangerous crowds. The higher-end ones are equipped with two cannons atop the vehicle and have video cameras on the cannons that not only aid in aiming the weapons it's a better vantage point from on top but record the whole confrontation, too. The cannons are manned by highly trained officers inside the vehicle, who watch video monitors and control the cannons via a joystick. "You can target it specifically at people within the crowd who are being violent without affecting everyone in the crowd, like something like gas. You can literally pick out who to target," Leggat says. "The water cannon is probably THE most effective less-lethal weapon that I've ever worked alongside anywhere in the world." Less-lethal? "Some people use the term nonlethal. That's a very common term in the U.S. We, as a company, don't use it," he says. "There's no such thing as nonlethal force. You can have an accident with any of those weapons." The Power of Water The power of the cannon's stream is variable. One water cannon, built in Germany, shoots a stream of water at up to 18 liters per second, enough to easily bowl over a person, writes Robert Booth at the Guardian. The power differs, too, with how far away the target is or how direct the hit is. At close range, though, a water cannon is extremely accurate and can be extremely dangerous, as this protester in Istanbul found out. It can be even more dangerous than that. A German man was blinded by a blast from a water cannon in 2010. After spending 10 months in a coma, a 69-year-old South Korean man died earlier this year as the result of a water cannon blast, prompting a plea to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate. London police bought three water cannons in 2015, but Theresa May, then the country's Home Secretary, blocked their rollout, saying that the cannons had the potential for injury, sent the wrong message and would "change theface of British policing." "The risks with water cannons are lower than with most less-lethal weapons," Leggat says. "But that doesn't mean there is no risk." Still, many places Northern Ireland, India, Germany, Turkey, South Korea, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium among them continue to use them to disperse a crowd before violence erupts. The threat of their use often is an effective deterrent in itself. "I have seen violent crowds disperse literally because the water cannons have driven up," Leggat says. Nobody wants to be on the wrong end when the water is released. NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Leggat says no U.S. police department, to his knowledge, uses a true water cannon. The reason? Several years ago, Leggat consulted with a big-city police department and raved about the water cannon's ability to keep the peace without resorting to deadly force. The American police said the vehicles would never work here: "They said, 'We cannot use that here because of the public perception of the fire hoses being used on civil rights marchers in the 1960s.'" " " Many people believe that a handshake from a chimney sweep brings good luck, but is it really worth getting sooty for? OgnjenVelimir/Thinkstock Hear the word "chimney sweep," and most of us remember the movie "Mary Poppins," with Dick Van Dyke's character singing and dancing with his brush. Pretty fun, right? Many people believe that a handshake from a chimney sweep brings good luck, even though the history of the chimney sweep is actually quite dark (or sooty, if you'll excuse the bad joke). In 17th-century England, master chimney sweeps employed small boys (and sometimes girls) to clean chimneys because they could easily fit into the flues. Typically orphans are sold into the trade by their families. Many of these children slept in cellars on bags of soot and often died of cancer, respiratory illness or as a result of falls. Parliament passed a series of resolutions in the 1800s restricting the use of child labor, but they weren't regularly enforced until the end of the century. Advertisement As an aside, some believe the expression "light a fire under you" may have originated from child chimney sweeps. If a child was afraid to climb up the chimney, some of the sterner master sweeps would make him go into the flue anyway, then light a fire in the fireplace. This would force the child to scramble up the chimney, cleaning as he went. So how did the chimney sweep become a good luck charm? Folklore experts report several theories. These may or may not be true, but they're the common legends passed down through time. All the way back in 1066, King William of Great Britain found himself in the way of an out-of-control carriage. A chimney sweep pushed him to safety and the King, believing the sweep brought him good fortune, declared chimney sweeps lucky. Another theory involves King George III in the 1700s. The King was traveling in his carriage when a growling dog spooked his horses . A chimney sweep came to his rescue and prevented the carriage from turning over. King George also declared chimney sweeps to be lucky. The most romantic, undated, theory talks about a chimney sweep who lost his footing and ended up hanging precariously from a gutter. A woman in the house spotted him and pulled him inside to safety. The two instantly fell in love and were married. This is why having a chimney sweep at your wedding (and having him give a little smooch to the bride) is considered a good sign of things to come. Prince Philip reportedly dashed out of Kensington Palace on the day of his wedding to Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth to shake a chimney sweep's hand. Today, you can rent a real chimney sweep to attend your wedding, kiss the bride and shake hands. Some will even read the decree from King George declaring chimney sweeps as bringers of good fortune for the marriage. THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their AT least 45 people were hurt when a passenger bus crashed into an electrical post in Atok, Benguet on Wednesday afternoon, May 1. Benguet Police Provincial Office Chief Lyndon Mencio said the driver of the Rising Sun Bus bound for Baguio City, Regan Ginoban, lost control of the vehicle. The bus rammed an electrical post along Kilometer 25 Caliking, Atok, Benguet at around 5 p.m. Wednesday. The injured passengers were rushed to the Benguet General Hospital for treatment. Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Colonel Bernard Banac said a total of 16 major vehicular accidents have already been recorded nationwide since the beginning of summer vacation on April 5. He said 151 persons were injured in the said accidents. The PNP reminds drivers to always check the road worthiness of their vehicles and drive carefully to ensure safety of their passengers and avoid accidents, said Banac. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines) THE Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) will represent the country in the World Chambers Competition 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June this year.Out of the 73 applications from 29 countries THE Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) will represent the country in the World Chambers Competition 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June this year. Out of the 73 applications from 29 countries for the competition, CCCI is the sole chamber in the country chosen as one of the 16 finalists in the 11th edition of the World Chambers Competition happening on June 12 to 14. The selected chambers will each have the opportunity to present their innovative initiatives to the global network of chambers attending the congress, said the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in its website. CCCI will represent the Philippines under the category, Best Education and Training project that recognizes chambers whose main thrust is proving that investing in education and training can be crucial to the establishment, advancement and success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and foster economic development and job creation. Acas project We are excited to present our Assessment, Certification, and Accreditation System (Acas) Project under the category of education and training, said the CCCI in its Facebook post, on Thursday, May 2. A first in the Philippines, the Acas aims to address in the long-term the job-skills mismatch. The program facilitates the identification of skills matched in response to the current industry needs through technical vocational dualized training education and institutionalizes the participation of industries in the training of future and existing workers. Other chambers vying for recognition under same category include the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Nigeria, Cuenca Chamber of Industries, Production and Employment of Ecuador, Gaziantep Chamber of Industry of Turkey and Styria Chamber of Commerce of Austria. Other categories include Best SME and Entrepreneurship Development Project which rewards exceptional chamber initiatives that are either helping SMEs and entrepreneurs to innovate and develop their business or strengthen job creation in their respective communities; and the Best Unconventional Project that recognizes chambers that have developed unique and innovative projects in an activity not typically associated with their mission and objectives and in turn increases jobs to enhance local economies. Story continues The 16 contenders will face-off before an international jury comprising of the ICC World Chambers Federation leaders, and appointed representatives from transnational, national and local chambers, as well as other leading international organizations. Awarding The jury is charged with selecting one initiative per category to be crowned World Chambers Competition champions. The official announcement is set to be made during the final day of the congress at the gala dinner. Winners will receive a cash prize to encourage chambers to further develop their programs. The World Chambers Competition is organized by the ICC World Chambers Federation. It is the only global awards program to recognize the most innovative projects undertaken by the chambers of commerce and industry from around the world. This years congress is the largest chamber event featuring more than 1,000 delegates from other 100 countries. Of the participants, 47 percent are decision makers, 44 percent managerial level and nine percent chamber and business representatives. Manila Bay MANILA, Philippines The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will summon village chiefs who are not complying with orders in relation with the ongoing Manila Bay rehabilitation. DILG Undersecretary for barangay operations, Martin Dino, said at a press briefing on Thursday that they are set to issue a show cause order against 1,000 barangays along the Manila Bay Watershed Area for failing to follow orders to strictly enforce environmental laws in their respective areas. Dino said cases will be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman if these village executives fail to justify their non-compliance with the order. The DILG official also reiterated that the dismissal of Malay, Aklan Mayor Cicero Cawaling should serve as a warning to all local officials. Cawaling was dismissed from public office after he was found guilty of gross neglect of duty and other offenses in relation with Boracay islands environmental degradation. Yung mga mayor sa Metro Manila at yung 179 mayors that cover Manila Bay, hindi kayo exempted dito. Baka kayo na ang kasunod, Dino warned. The official said 179 local government units and 5,714 barangays have been ordered to conduct weekly clean-up drives in Manila Bay and Laguna Lake in compliance with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte through Memorandum Circular No. 2019-09. READ: PH govt tells metro LGUs: Impose strict guidelines on estero clean-up In a recent statement, the DILG called on local officials anew to work closely with concerned government agencies in protecting the environment in Boracay, Manila Bay watershed and other critical areas in the country. (with details from Rey Pelayo) The post DILG to summon 1k village execs defying orders on Manila Bay rehab appeared first on UNTV News. 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 The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will file charges against candidates proven to be paying campaign fees to communist rebels. According to DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya these candidates will be liable if they have enough evidence to prove that these candidates are paying extortion money to communist rebels. They will be held liable even after the elections if we are able to gather evidence that they are aiding, financing, supporting or conniving with these communist terrorist groups and their allies who are out to trample our democracy and oust our duly constituted authorities, he said during a press briefing on Thursday (May 2). DILG said the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA) were able to collect over P100 million from various extortion activities nationwide from 2016-2018. Election candidates will pay a certain amount of money to communist rebels in order allow them to campaign in their area. Meanwhile, Malaya said there is already a decline in the number of local candidates paying extortion money to communist rebels for this election compared in 2016. However, for those candidates who continue to pay rebels for a campaign permit, they will be in violation of Republic Act no. 10168 or the Financing of Terrorism, Disloyalty and Co-conspirator in Crime of Rebellion. According to Malaya they received reports about negotiations with the rebel groups in parts of Cordillera, Quezon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, and Eastern Mindanao. (with reports from Rey Pelayo) The post DILG warns candidates paying campaign fees to rebels appeared first on UNTV News. 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. 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. Story continues "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. ___ Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report. 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 IN THE CNN Philippines sponsored debate last April 27, the administration senatorial bets were clobbered by the members of the Otso Diretso team in almost all issues affecting the country. But will the Otso Diretso bets get the vote? My friend, Pachico A. Seares made an interesting analysis by invoking precedents and made this conclusion: All that affirms a fact of recent history: a popular president gets most of the Senate seats which is not good for the Otso Diretso candidates. Political events are always influenced by factors and imponderables. The endorsement by a popular (or notorious), president can dictate the outcome of senatorial elections. Thus, the authentic popularity of President Cory Aquino assured the victory of 22 of 24 bets; the genuine popularity of Noy Aquino plus his economic performance, made 9 out of his 12 senatorial candidates win. With all due respect, I cannot agree with the conclusion that the Duterte factor in 2019, like the Cory magic in 1987, could work. Here are my reasons: There is no doubt that in her time, Cory was well-loved as an icon of democracy. Duterte is not loved, he is feared. Thus, during election surveys, voters out of fear, would answer their interviewers contrary to what they will do on election day. Several factors have lately dented the popularity of Duterte. The water shortage in Metro Manila, the power crisis in Luzon, the unchecked prices of fuel which have caused the rise of prime commodities, the peoples realization that the war on drugs is a sham because only the poor are victimized while the powerful go scot-free, the rising tide of criminality, the arrival of illegal Chinese immigrants, the creeping intrusion of China into the West Philippine sea, - these will be translated into negative votes against the administration candidates. The political perception of young and idealistic voters has changed dramatically. This was shown in the various mock elections in USC, UP Diliman, UP Los Banos, UST, UP Baguio, and other universities in the country where all the Otso Diretso candidates made it to the winning circle, led by Dean Chel Diokno. Story continues There is now a growing disenchantment in the ranks of labor which have been ardent admirers of Duterte. Millions of laborers say they have been fooled by Dutertes pre-election promise to end contractualization. This will be translated into votes for the opposition Otso Diretso candidates in the coming May 13 elections. The International Born Again Christian groups numbering millions have lately cast their support for Otso Diretso. The Catholic Church is another factor why the Otso Diretso bets will win. Because of their stand against extra-judicial killings, Duterte made the lives of bishops and priests miserable by his uncouth threats against them. What is worse, he has attacked the dogma of the Church and even called the Christian God stupid. Although, they are not campaigning in the pulpits, the priests are secretly working for the Otso Diretso bets. All these and more, plus the admirable patriotism and sacrifices of the more than 100,000 volunteers all over the country will propel the Otso Diretso bets to victory. (By Democrito C. Barcenas) 2 May 2019, Phuket, Thailand: Mr. Matthias Y. Sutter, General Manager of JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa attended the MICE Standards Day 2019 and accepted the prestigious award of Thailand MICE Venue Standard Award 2019 -2021 from Dr. Atchaka Sibunruang, Chairman of Board, MICE Capabilities Department, Thailand Convention Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) during the award ceremony which held on 29 April, 2019 at Mayfair Ballroom A & B, The Berkley Hotel Pathunam, Bangkok recently. JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spas a leading resort for meetings & events in Thailand, is pleased to announce that the Rawai 1 and Rawai 2, hotels meeting venues have been certified by Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) this year. The certificate recognizes that the hotel has meeting rooms that have passed TCEB assessments and criteria among 371 MICE venues and 949 meeting rooms across the country. The criteria for the venue standards contain elements with 3 indicators for physical, technological and service requirements. The focus is the development of a basic standard that will be built on in order to meet the international standard. Moreover, entrepreneurs certified by Thailand MICE Venue Standards (TMVS) also appear on the Approved List and will be publicized worldwide as good venues that meet international standards. The TCEB aims to have more than 600 venues and 1,200 meeting rooms receive TMVS certification by 2023. On the day of the event, Mr. Matthias Y. Sutter also received the certificate of Appreciation from Khun Nichapa Yoswee, Thailands Convention & Exhibition Bureaus Senior Vice President; in recognition of participation in MICE Sustainability Thailand project, the hotel initiative of Food Waste Prevention. JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa partnered with LightBlue Environmental Consulting Co., Ltd., the consulting firm that focusing on sustainability in the hospitality sector, expressly on food waste prevention. Since September 2018, Marriott Cafe where serving the thousand guests a day on the breakfast buffet line, It has been selecting as the pilot restaurant out of 10 restaurants & bars of JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa to implement our Food Waste Prevention Project. With an impressive result, based on the 5-month data, The Marriott Cafe reduced 2% in food cost and 12% in cost per cover; reduced 33 tons of co2 and achieved a 32.0% average reduction in food waste per cover across the full post-baseline period which is well beyond the goal of a 10% reduction. #serve360 #jwmarriottphuket It is double pleasure to receive both the Thailand MICE Venue Standard Award for our meeting venues and recognize on our MICE Sustainability Food Waste Prevention project. This is the 3rd consecutive year that our resort has won The Thailand MICE Venue Standards Award, total 7 out of our 10 meeting rooms have been certified by this award. To be certified by the government leading edge agency, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), it raise the bar and help us improve our Meetings & Events facilities and services and enhances our business with regional and international corporates definitely said, Mr. Matthias Y. Sutter, General Manager of JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa. Whether its meetings, events or weddings, Phuket conferences, incentives or corporate retreats, JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa combines both business and relaxation with a world-class meetings and events facilities and impeccable teams to be served for every events. The hotel provides 10 meeting rooms and boasts a 636 sqm. Mai Khao Ballroom that can accommodate up to 450 guests. Featuring state-of-the-art latest audio visual system with natural daylight and flexible to breakout rooms. The pristine beachfront with breathtaking tropical setting that can seats up to 600 given the clients a choice of indoor and outdoor venues for MICE and Phuket weddings. A British cybersecurity researcher credited with stopping a worldwide computer virus in 2017 has pleaded guilty in Wisconsin federal court to developing malware to steal banking information. Marcus Hutchins appeared in court Thursday after he agreed last month to plead guilty to developing a malware called Kronos and conspiring to distribute it from 2012 to 2015. Prosecutors dismissed eight more charges in exchange for his plea. Sentencing for Hutchins is set for July 26. He faces up 10 years in prison but could receive a more lenient sentence for accepting responsibility. Hutchins' arrest in Las Vegas in August 2017 came as a shock because months earlier he was hailed as a hero for finding a "kill switch" to the WannaCry virus that crippled computers worldwide. Explore further Ransomware 'hero' pleads guilty to US hacking charges 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. A spatial map of water use for the researched farm area, as generated using CubeSat data and an adapted evapotranspiration model. Credit: Remote Sensing, Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) To conserve and manage fresh water, particularly in arid regions such as Saudi Arabia, it is important to understand how the water is used each day. KAUST scientists are using data gathered by shoebox-sized satellites, or CubeSats, to learn more about daily agricultural water use. An estimated 90 percent of Saudi Arabia's freshwater supplies are used in crop irrigation, but much of this comes from unsustainable aquifers. However, keeping track of water fluxes is incredibly difficult and there are no estimates tracking agricultural consumption by area over time. "My work aims to estimate the amount of water used by crops using satellite imagery and readily available weather data," says Bruno Aragon, at KAUST'sWater Desalination and Reuse Center, who conducted the research with coworkers at Planet and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, under the supervision of KAUST's Matthew McCabe. "Using computer modeling techniques, we can then estimate transpiration from plantsthe water that plants use to both grow and keep cooland soil evaporation, the water lost to the atmosphere from the ground." CubeSats provide near-daily data at 3-meter pixel resolution, almost 100 times the level of spatial detail in other satellite data, such as those collected by Landsat 8. Building on theirearlier work, in this project the team collected CubeSat data covering a small area of irrigated fields of maize in Saudi Arabia. They then used a machine learning program to correct the images for atmospheric variability and bring them up to research-grade standards. Farmers often uniformly irrigate their crops using pivots without paying specific attention to areas of the field that need more or less water. The team set up ground-based systems to collect evapotranspiration and local weather data to compare with the data derived from CubeSats. Credit: Remote Sensing, Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) The researchers put the images into the Priestley-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory model, an existing model for measuring evapotranspiration. Aragon also modified the model to incorporate local environmental data, such as soil heat and moisture and air temperature. "We evaluated model performance with data collected by equipment onsite on the ground," says Aragon. "Our CubeSat-based model provided a good estimation of water use, similar to other satellite-based retrievals. Our technique has the clear advantage of vastly improved resolution and detail. The resolution and near-daily retrievals allow for the detection of specific events in crop development, significantly reducing the odds of missing important changes in individual fields." The team plan to improve their technique further. Better estimations of soil moisture could come from adding thermal or microwave imaging technology to the CubeSats, for example, and other important data to include crop type, height and vegetation biomassall of which impact the amount of water needed at any given time. One of the fields in the study zone. Credit: Remote Sensing, Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Aragon will soon visit the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, researching model improvements for vegetation monitoring as part of a project linked to NASA's ECOSTRESS sensor, which was recently installed on the International Space Station. "The ECOSTRESS mission aims to track the biosphere response to water availability changes at a diurnal level: in other words, it tracks global plant stress throughout the day," says Aragon. "I expect to learn a great deal on this placement that we can apply to our work on crop water use." Crop development and water use for a specific maize pivot. The CubeSat imagery enables observation of the differences within the field for different planting dates for the upper and lower portions of the field. Credit: Remote Sensing, Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) More information: Bruno Aragon et al. CubeSats Enable High Spatiotemporal Retrievals of Crop-Water Use for Precision Agriculture, Remote Sensing (2018). Bruno Aragon et al. CubeSats Enable High Spatiotemporal Retrievals of Crop-Water Use for Precision Agriculture,(2018). DOI: 10.3390/rs10121867 Newly described millipede (Burmanopetalum inexpectatum) seen in amber. Credit: Leif Moritz Even though we are led to believe that during the Cretaceous the Earth used to be an exclusive home for fearsome giants, including carnivorous velociraptors and arthropods larger than a modern adult human, it turns out that there was still room for harmless minute invertebrates measuring only several millimetres. Such is the case of a tiny millipede of only 8.2 mm in length, recently found in 99-million-year-old amber in Myanmar. Using the latest research technologies, the scientists concluded that not only were they handling the first fossil millipede of the order (Callipodida) and also the smallest amongst its contemporary relatives, but that its morphology was so unusual that it drastically deviated from its contemporary relatives. As a result, Prof. Pavel Stoev of the National Museum of Natural History (Bulgaria) together with his colleagues Dr. Thomas Wesener and Leif Moritz of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (Germany) had to revise the current millipede classification and introduce a new suborder. To put it in perspective, there have only been a handful of millipede suborders erected in the last 50 years. The findings are published in the open-access journal ZooKeys. To analyse the species and confirm its novelty, the scientists used 3-D X-ray microscopy to 'slice' through the Cretaceous specimen and look into tiny details of its anatomy, which would normally not be preserved in fossils. The identification of the millipede also presents the first clue about the age of the order Callipodida, suggesting that this millipede group evolved at least some 100 million years ago. A 3-D model of the animal is also available in the research article. Newly described millipede (Burmanopetalum inexpectatum) rendered using 3D X-ray microscopy. Credit: Leif Moritz Curiously, the studied arthropod was far from the only one discovered in this particular amber deposit. On the contrary, it was found amongst as many as 529 millipede specimens, yet it was the sole representative of its order. This is why the scientists named it Burmanopetalum inexpectatum, where "inexpectatum" means "unexpected" in Latin, while the generic epithet (Burmanopetalum) refers to the country of discovery (Myanmar, formerly Burma). Lead author Prof. Pavel Stoev says: We were so lucky to find this specimen so well preserved in amber! With the next-generation micro-computer tomography (micro-CT) and the associated image rendering and processing software, we are now able to reconstruct the whole animal and observe the tiniest morphological traits which are rarely preserved in fossils. This makes us confident that we have successfully compared its morphology with those of the extant millipedes. It came as a great surprise to us that this animal cannot be placed in the current millipede classification. Even though their general appearance have remained unchanged in the last 100 million years, as our planet underwent dramatic changes several times in this period, some morphological traits in Callipodida lineage have evolved significantly. Co-author Dr. Thomas Wesener adds: 3D reconstruction of the newly described species (Burmanopetalum inexpectatum). Credit: Leif Moritz "We are grateful to Patrick Muller, who let us study his private collection of animals found in Burmese amber and dated from the Age of Dinosaurs. His is the largest European and the third largest in the world collection of the kind. We had the opportunity to examine over 400 amber stones that contain millipedes. Many of them are now deposited at the Museum Koenig in Bonn, so that scientists from all over the world can study them. Additionally, in our paper, we provide a high-resolution computer-tomography images of the newly described millipede. They are made public through MorphBank, which means anyone can now freely access and re-use our data without even leaving the desk." Leading expert in the study of fossil arthropods Dr. Greg Edgecombe (Natural History Museum, London) comments: "The entire Mesozoic Eraa span of 185 million yearshas until now only been sampled for a dozen species of millipedes, but new findings from Burmese amber are rapidly changing the picture. In the past few years, nearly all of the 16 living orders of millipedes have been identified in this 99-million-year-old amber. The beautiful anatomical data presented by Stoev et al. show that Callipodida now join the club." Explore further Scientists discover over 450 fossilized millipedes in 100-million-year-old amber More information: Pavel Stoev et al, Dwarfs under dinosaur legs: a new millipede of the order Callipodida (Diplopoda) from Cretaceous amber of Burma, ZooKeys (2019). Journal information: ZooKeys Pavel Stoev et al, Dwarfs under dinosaur legs: a new millipede of the order Callipodida (Diplopoda) from Cretaceous amber of Burma,(2019). DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.841.34991 Two metal parts joined using the new, sustainably produced adhesive. Behind them: three pots containing the ingredients of the adhesive the liquid hardener (yellow), the paste hardener (white) and the lignin organic solvent (black). Credit: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft There is an increasing demand for green products, but for them to be genuinely sustainable, manufacturers must also use adhesives and paints that are made of bio-based feedstocks. Advanced materials developed in Fraunhofer labs point the way forward. Demand for organic products is booming. Factory farms and fields drenched in chemical cocktails hold little appeal for the many consumers who prefer to see free-ranging animals in verdant pastures, eat untreated fruit and vegetables and wear clothes made of organically grown, pesticide-free cotton. It is not enough, however, merely to re-place plastic with natural materials such as wood or cork. For products to be genuinely sustainable, manufacturers must also use adhesives and paints that are made of bio-based raw materials. Most legacy adhesives are made of petroleum-based thermosetting epoxy resins. These are synthetic resins that hold their shape once they have been heated. Monomers are the building blocks of epoxy resins. A curing agent or hardener causes the individual molecules to bind, creating a solid plastic that will not melt. Additives serve to fine-tune the properties to suit the given application. For example, pigments can be added to color the resin, and other additives are used for flameproofing or to make the plastic easier to process. Powdered lignin and linseed. Behind them: three pots containing the ingredients of the adhesive the liquid hardener (yellow), the paste hardener (white) and the lignin organic solvent (black). Credit: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Vegetable oil epoxides with natural additives Yet it is also possible to produce epoxy resins from environmentally friendly materials. One new approach is showing promise vegetable oil epoxides, an organic version of conventional epoxy resins. They are sourced from vegetable oils containing a high pro-portion of unsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids are epoxidized; that is, linked with a trivalent compound consisting of two carbon atoms and one oxygen atom. Combin-ing these vegetable oil epoxides with hardeners produces remarkably resilient plastics. And with that, sustainable adhesives, coatings and even foam resins are looking to be viable options. But the chemical composition of raw materials extracted from the seeds of oleaginous plants may vary greatly. And that variance is a problem for manufacturers. Assessing the measurement curve and determining the tensile shear strength. Credit: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Eco-friendly adhesives with ideal properties Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS set out to tackle this problem by probing the properties of newly developed bio-genic resins. This is a penetrating analysis: "We are investigating these resins from the micro to the macro level," says Andreas Krombholz, group leader at IMWS. The first step is to determine how variations in the composition of the feedstock affects the res-ins. Once the IMWS team has solved that puzzle, they can start enhancing and adapt-ing the resins to the given processing methods. Fraunhofer scientists are also using vegetable oil epoxides to develop novel adhesives. All formulations for these adhesives from the Fraunhofer labs are solvent-free. The re-searchers are digging deeper to learn which fillers and additives can be used to deliver specific properties. High electrical conductivity, for example, comes in handy. If an ad-hesive layer is conductive, it can be heated from the inside out by applying an electrical voltage, thereby quickly and selectively curing it. Or an additive such as modified thyme oil could endow the adhesive with antibacterial properties. Conversion from epoxidation to enzyme treatment The use of vegetable oil epoxides increases the organic content of these adhesives to 86 percent, because the materials contain a high percentage of vegetable oil and the hardening agent is based on organic substances rather than petroleum derivatives. By comparison: to qualify as a sustainable material, at least 35 percent of its ingredients must be sourced from renewable sources. "Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, we switched from epoxidation to a novel enzyme-based process. This means we can process vegetable oils without using petrochemicals. The treatment with enzymes takes place at 40 degrees Celsius rather than 100 degrees Celsius as in the past, so we are also conserving energy," adds Krombholz. The benefits do not end there. Industrial users in Europe had sourced the linseed oil for vegetable oil epoxides from Canada, which is not exactly eco-friendly considering the distance it has to travel. Fraunhofer scientists adapted the process to use an essential oil derived from the Moldavian dragonhead plant, grown organically in Germany, rather than imported linseed oil. This reduces the carbon footprint even fur-ther. On top of that, the researchers found an environmentally sound replacement for the previously highly toxic hardener. Explore further Novel adhesive and thermally stable epoxy resins Art specialists are divided over whether this lock of hair is from the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci A lock of what some historians think is Leonardo da Vinci's hair went on display Thursday at a museum in his Tuscan birthplace as they seek to prove it contains his DNA 500 years after the genius died. Presenting what he called a "relic" at the Leonardo library in Vinci devoted to the painter and Renaissance giant, art historian Alessandro Vezzosi told AFP how the whitish-blond hairs emerged from the shadows. "This lock remained secret for a long time before we discovered it three years ago in the United States," he said. "It will allow us to do DNA research on Leonardo," Vezzosi added. "After studying Da Vinci's genaeology for 40 years, in 2016 we presented 35 living descendants of the master, and a short time later I was contacted by the collector who owns it and who agreed to show it." Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452, in Vinci, northwest of Florence, the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and a teenaged peasant. He died May 2, 1519, in Amboise, central France, where he had lived as the guest of King Francis I. Leonardo had no children but he had a dozen half-siblings on his father's side and several more on his mother's side. Less than a decade later, Leonardo's patron left the Loire Valley for Paris and Fontainebleau. Although the chateau would again become a royal seat, it gradually fell into decline. Remains buried at the chapel of Saint Hubert in central France's Loire Valley are "presumed" to be those of the Italian master Leonardo da Vinci Vezzosi chose the symbolic 500th anniversary of his death to present the lock of hair as part of the "Leonardo Lives" exhibition curated with Agnese Sabato. The lock is accompanied by a notice reading "The hair of Leonardo da Vinci" in French, along with a bronze ring that documents describe as having been worn by the Florentine genius. - Living descendants - "We are not 100 percent sure it is his hair, we are saying it is possible through genaeological research to compare the genetic material's DNA with that of Leonardo's living descendants who have been found in Tuscany," Vezzosi said. Other comparisons are to be made with material recovered from tombs in France and Spain, the Renaissance specialist added. Eike Schmidt of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence doubts the hair is authentic, however. "No specialist thinks so, and it is extremely unlikely that a lock of Leonardo's hair could wind up in an American collection," he told Italian media on Thursday. "The tradition of collecting locks of famous people's hair dates from the Romantic period, in the 19th century," Schmidt said. Vezzosi said it was known that the relics presented in Vinci belonged to French writer Arsene Houssaye, a museum director who discovered a stone coffin during an excavation in 1863 at Amboise's royal chateau in the Loire Valley. Art historian Alessandro Vezzosi is not 100 percent sure he has a lock of Leonardo's hair but thinks DNA testing will say for sure Inside he found a skeleton whose right hand was placed behind its head along with stone fragments on which were inscribed -EO -AR -DUS -VINC- and French and Italian medals that dated from early in the reign of Francois I. There were also a few bits of a beard, and white hairs. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life in France at the invitation of the French king, a patron of the arts keen to support the Italian master's vast talents. The Renaissance master died at the age of 67 and according to the terms of his will, was buried at the chateau's chapel, which was destroyed in 1807with authorities apparently unaware that Leonardo was buried there. The unidentified bones turned up during Houssaye's excavation and were interred in 1874 at chapel of Saint Hubert, with plaques in French and Italian stating they are the "presumed remains" of the Renaissance master. Those remains are to be left untroubled now as experts try to determine if the hair is genuine, because disturbing them "might be seen as a profanation", Vezzosi said. "With the living descendants and tombs of descendants we are able to make comparisons without troubling the tomb (of Leonardo) which is a site of historical and symbolic signification to be respected," the historian said. He plans to present the results of his research within a few months. Explore further Major Rome exhibition to celebrate Leonardo da Vinci 2019 AFP Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was banned by Facebook in a crackdown by the social media giant on individuals and groups promoting hateful content Facebook on Thursday banned prominent conspiracy theorists including Infowars founder Alex Jones and the controversial black activist Louis Farrakhan in its latest push to crack down on hate content at the leading social network. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," Facebook, which has been under intensifying pressure to curtail extremist content, said in a statement. Among the most prominent figures banned, Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam, is notorious for spreading anti-Semitic and black supremacist views. Far-right conspiracy theorist Jones is best known for calling the 9/11 attacks an inside job and for describing the Sandy Hook school massacre as a hoax. Jones's organization Infowars was also banned by Facebook. Others blocked Thursday from Facebook and Instagram were Milo Yiannopoulos, a high-profile right-wing provocateur; Paul Nehlen, a political candidate espousing white supremacist views; and conspiracy theorists Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer. Facebook said those being banned had violated policies against dangerous individuals and organizations. "Individuals and organizations who spread hate, or attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are, have no place on Facebook," a spokeswoman for Facebook said. Such bans typically include prohibiting others at the social network from using the platform to post praise or support from those no longer welcomed. "Today's announcement from Facebook is a step in the right direction," said Cristina Lopez G., deputy director for extremism at nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America. "The majority of the newly banned figuresYiannopoulos, Loomer, Watson, Jones, and Nehlenowed their influence to the massive reach they were allowed to cultivate through Facebook and Instagram." Lopez welcomed the latest account bans, saying they promised to help limit the spread of radical and often violent far-right ideology. Infowars founder Alex Jones, banned by Facebook Thursday, has developed an online following for espousing conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks and claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax Facebook last month banned various far-right British groups including the English Defense League from its network for promoting hate and violence. Other groups kicked off both Facebook or Instagram included Knights Templar International, Britain First, the British National Party (BNP) and the National Front. The tech titan banned the groups for contravening its policy forbidding "terrorist activity, organized hate, mass or serial murder, human trafficking or organized violence or criminal activity." Former BNP leader Nick Griffin and Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were also been banned in the crackdown. Voicing hate Facebook and other social media platforms have been under fire for not doing enough to curb messages of hate and violence, while at the same time criticized for failing to offer equal time for all viewpoints no matter how unpleasant. US President Donald Trump has accused social media platforms of discriminating against users with right-wing views. "Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices," Trump said in a tweet after Jones was curbed at Facebook and Spotify last year. Facebook in March announced bans at the social network and Instagram on praise or support for white nationalism and white separatism. Facebook policies already banned posts endorsing white supremacy as part of its prohibition on hate speech based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity or religion. The ban had not applied to some postings because it was reasoned they were expressions of broader concepts of nationalism or political independence, according to the social network. Amid pressure from governments around the world, Facebook has ramped up machine learning and artificial intelligence tools in an effort to find and remove hateful content while remaining open to free expression. Explore further Facebook bans UK far-right groups 2019 AFP Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) said it has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to a consortium of Finnish group Outotec and Indian engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for developing the world's largest gold mine that produces an average of 250,000 ounces of gold per year over the mine's original life span. The Mansourah & Massarah mines and processing plant project will come up in the Central Arabian gold region and will be capable of processing up to four million tonnes of ore per annum, said the statement from Maaden. The project is being developed by Maaden Gold and Base Metal Company (MGBM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maaden. According to the Saudi group, the total investment in the mine is likely to reach SR3.3 billion ($880 million) and the production is likely to begin in 2022. Once competed, MGBM will manage production and sale of gold, copper, silver, and zinc, with gold accounting for the biggest business segment. The project represents a major step for Maaden not only because they are the largest gold mines, but also because of the technical challenges that accompany the treatment of this type of gold ore, it added. The Finnish group said its share of the project is over 140 million. The order is almost evenly shared between the reporting segments and will be booked into Outotec's second quarter 2019 order intake, stated Outotec. A major player in the construction and engineering sector, L&T said the project, a first-of-its-kind within Saudi Arabia, is being developed based on the latest Pressure Oxidation Technology (POX). The Saudi EPC order for gold processing plant was secured after stiff global competition and is the largest single EPC order for the metallurgical business in the international market, said the top Indian construction group. Its scope of the work includes design, engineering, procurement, installation, construction and commissioning of various sub units of the process plant and associated infrastructure works. As per the deal, the consortium of Outotec and Larsen & Toubro will provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the construction of a greenfield mineral concentrator and gold processing plant in Saudi Arabia. Once completed, the treatment plant will be able to process up to 4 million tonnes per year of thermal materials found in mineral deposits - the first time this type of gold ore has been processed in the Middle East. Unveiling the mega project, Maaden CEO Darren Davisden said: "We are proud of this project, which was discovered through the activities of the Ma'aden exploration team, which carries out extensive mining exploration programs, which was announced earlier this year." "This project is an important element of our strategy to increase our gold production to one million ounces a year and our continued growth in the Kingdom will provide hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the Saudi economy and contribute to the development of communities around our business areas," he stated. "Sustainability is a key element of this project, as in other Ma'aden investments. This project will be the first in the kingdom to use solar energy as a source of energy. The project will also benefit from treated wastewater for miners via a 430-km-long pipeline constructed by Ma'aden from Taif to the remote and water-scarce area of the mines," he added. Ma'aden is the champion of the Saudi Arabian mining industry, and now internationally recognised mining company with global presence. The company is also managing six gold mines in the western part of the kingdom, including the Duwehi mine, which began commercial production in 2017 with around 275,000 oz in 2018. Ma'aden plans to spend about SR295 million ($67 million) on the exploration programme. The accelerated minefield, which was launched at the beginning of 2019, represents a threefold increase in Maaden's investment commitment in previous years. It aims to shorten the time required to transfer new discoveries to the development stage. On the contract win, Outotec CEO Markku Terasvasara said: "We are extremely pleased with this significant order and continued cooperation with Ma'aden that is growing to be a global mining company. Our previous deliveries have included grinding, flotation and filtering technologies as well as alumina calcination technology, and three sulfuric acid plants." "Our proven technologies and services enable them to get the best value from their resources and build sustainable operations," he stated. The scope of work includes basic and detail engineering, procurement and delivery of process equipment, commissioning, start-up assistance and training services. The new gold processing plant is due to be completed in 2022.-TradeArabia News Service To remember the modern slavery conditions imposed on many garment workers, consumers should ask who made my clothes? Credit: Shutterstock Fashion shouldn't cost lives and it shouldn't cost us our planet. Yet this is what is happening today. Globalization, fast fashion, economies of scale, social media and offshore production have created a perfect storm for cheap, easy and abundant fashion consumption. And there are few signs of it slowing down: clothing production has nearly doubled in the last 15 years. With Earth Day and Fashion Revolution week upon us, fashion lovers need to reflect on how their consumption has an undeniably negative impact on both planet and people. Fashion is rife with gender inequality, environmental degradation and human rights abusesall of which are intrinsically interconnected. The Fashion Revolution campaign began because of the unresponsiveness of the fashion sector to the continuous tragedies that occur in the making of clothing, such as the death of 1,138 garment workers when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 24, 2013. Fashion Revolution aims to bring awareness to these injustices by highlighting the hands and faces of those behind the things we wear. Fashion: Labour intensive modern slavery Fashion is one of the most labour-intensive industries, directly employing at least 60 million people. Handicraft artisan production is the second largest employer across the Global South. India counts some 34 million handicraft artisans. Women represent the overwhelming majority of these artisans and today's garment workers. The Global Slavery index estimates 40 million people are living in modern slavery today, many of whom are in the Global South working in the supply chains of western clothing brands. Modern slavery, though not defined in law, "covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and slavery-like practices and human trafficking." It refers to situations like forced to work overtime without being paid, children being forced to pick cotton by the Uzbekistan government when they should be in school, women being threatened with violence if they don't complete an order in time and workers having their passports taken away until they work off what it cost for their transportation to bring them to the factory, their living quarters and food. Fashion is one of five key industries implicated in modern slavery by advocacy organizations. G20 countries imported $US127.7 billion fashion garments identified as at-risk products of modern slavery. Canada has been identified as one of 12 G20 countries not taking action against modern slavery. Colonialism and enviromental racism must be addressed if we are to tackle climate change, gender inequality, environmental degradation and human rights abuses. The poorest people on the planet and their cheap labour are exploited to make fashion clothing. Fashion production is rife with inequalities. Credit: Shutterstock These workers are the ones who work overtime without pay and return home to contaminated toxic waterways from the factories. They suffer from diseases caused by living in devastatingly polluted areas. When "we," the western world, are finished with our fashions, we export back our unwanted clothing to these nations in the Global South. These "donations" destroy these communities by filling up their landfills and deteriorate their local economies as local artisans and businesses cannot compete with the cheap prices of our discarded donations. Transparency and traceability is key Transparency and traceability by companies is key. Transparency involves openness, communication and accountability. As citizens of this planet, we need to demand transparency and accountability. We can no longer afford to live the same lifestyle we have become accustomed to. According to a report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the fashion industry produces 53 million tonnes of fibre each year, more than 70 per cent of that ends up in landfills or bonfires and less than one per cent of it is used to make new clothes. More than half of "fast" fashion produced is disposed of in less than one year. A truckload of clothing is wasted every second across the world. The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36 per cent in 15 years. Polyester is the most common fibre used today, as a result, half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released per year from washed clothes 16 times more than plastic microbeads from cosmetics contributing to ocean pollution. Five things you can do now We cannot keep chasing the cheapest labour and exploiting natural resources forever. Business as usual is no longer an option. In light of the positive change that is needed to tackle climate change and create an equitable future for everyone, here are five things you can do: Fast fashion often ends up in landfills. New York, Times Square, H&M store, March 2016. Credit: Shutterstock 1. Ask questions: #whomademyclothes? Ask questions, educate yourself and act consciously. Who made your clothes? How will this product end its life? How long am I going to use this product for? Do I really need it? What is it made from? Does the price reflect the effort and resources that went into this? 2. Wear what you have Don't throw away your clothes, shoes and accessories. There are ways to keep them out of landfills (reuse, resell, swap, repair, tailor, donation, hand me downs). Can it be repaired? Tailored? Learn to care for your clothes, the longer we keep wearing items, the more we reduce the emissions footprint of our closet. 3. Find alternative ways to be fashionable Buy vintage, reduce, rent, resell, reuse, swap, repair, tailor or share. Think about the impact you want to make and whether you can sustain that? E.g. reducing plastic use, using less animal products or supporting local businesses. 4. Build a personal style Knowing what works for you, your body and your lifestyle will have you feeling fabulous all the time (regardless of what the latest "trends" are). 5. Support ethical producersbut only if you need something You can't buy your way into sustainability. Overconsumption has led us to an unsustainable ecosystem. We need to reconsider what are "our needs" are vs. "our wants." The abundance offered to consumers is far greater than any need. Consider Livia Firth's #30wears campaign which encourages consumers to ask: Will I wear this item a minimum of 30 times? "If the answer is yes, then buy it. But you'd be surprised how many times you say no." Explore further Clothing rental could be the key to a stylishly sustainable fashion industry This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Field of cultivated yam in the south-east of Cameroon. Credit: IRD, Roland Akakpo An international team of researchers has found more evidence to support the theory that the Niger River Basin was an early cradle of agriculture. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their genetic analysis of yams and what they found. The Fertile Crescent in the Middle East gave rise to the domestication of wheat, barley, lentil, oat, chickpea and several other agricultural crops. But other areas around the world have served as a cradle of agriculture, as wellsuch as parts of China, where the domestication of rice and other crops occurred. In recent years, evidence has mounted for a cradle of agriculture in Africa, in the Niger River Basin. Prior studies have found some evidence suggesting that approximately 6000 years ago, the basin was peppered with lakes, making the entire region moister and more conducive to producing a wide variety of plants that humans in the area could use for food. When the lakes dried up, it appears the people adapted by domesticating their wild food sources. Prior studies have also shown that African rice got its start in West Africa, and some evidence indicates millet domestication there, as well. In this new effort, the researchers took a closer look at yams, a highly important crop in Africa. The researchers began their work by sequencing the genomes of 167 wild and domesticated yams from multiple sites in Africa. They report that the DNA of savanna yams was similar to modern domesticated yams, and that forest yams fell into two groups. One of those two groups showed the most similarity to modern yams. The second type of forest yam was originally found wild in the Niger River Basin. The researchers found that over time, growers of the tuber had made selective choices to favor those with more robust roots that were better able to reach waterthey also selected for more regularly shaped yams and for those with more starch. The same research team carried out a similar study with pearl millet last year, and found that modern domesticated versions also originated in the Niger River Basin. Explore further Improving food security and conserving yam diversity More information: Nora Scarcelli et al. Yam genomics supports West Africa as a major cradle of crop domestication, Science Advances (2019). Journal information: Science Advances Nora Scarcelli et al. Yam genomics supports West Africa as a major cradle of crop domestication,(2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw1947 2019 Science X Network Atlantic killifish contributed key adaptive genetic variation to the Gulf killifish, which amounted to an evolutionary rescue from toxic pollutants. Credit: Andrew Whitehead/UC Davis The combination of a big population, good genes and luck helps explain how a species of fish in Texas' Houston Ship Channel was able to adapt to what normally would be lethal levels of toxins for most other species, according to a study to be published May 3 in the journal Science. The exceptional survivor story of the Gulf killifish was one scientists at the University of California, Davis, Baylor University and their co-authoring colleagues wanted to unveil so they could learn more about what other species may need to adapt to drastically changed environments. The minnow-like Gulf killifish are an important part of the food web for a number of larger fish species in coastal marsh habitats. "Most species don't survive radically altered environments," said corresponding author Andrew Whitehead, a UC Davis professor of environmental toxicology. "By studying the survivors, we get insight into what it takes to be successful. In the case of the killifish, it came down to huge population sizes and luck." Surprise Guest The researchers sequenced the genomes of hundreds of Gulf killifish living across a spectrum of toxicityfrom clean water, moderately polluted water and very polluted water. They were searching for the footprints of natural selection that allowed the species to rapidly transition from a fish that is highly sensitive to pollution to one extremely resistant to it. They were surprised to find that the adaptive DNA that rescued this Gulf Coast species came from an Atlantic Coast species of killifish, which has also been known to rapidly evolve high levels of pollution resistance. But Atlantic Coast killifish live at least 1,500 miles from their Houston brethren, leaving researchers to think their transport to the Gulf was likely an accident initiated by humans. Embryos from a resistant (left) and sensitive (right) populations of Fundulus grands dosed at the same concentration of industrial contaminants. Resistant population embryo develops a normal, two chambered, heart with proper blood flow, while sensitive embryo develops a string heart with no blood flow. Right embryo is unlikely to survive to hatch. Credit: Elias Oziolor Nonnative species can wreak environmental havoc on native species and habitats. But in this case, their arrival in the 1970sright at a moment when Gulf killifish were likely beginning to declineamounted to an "evolutionary rescue" from pollution for the Gulf killifish. "While the vast majority of research on invasive species rightly focuses on the environmental damage they can cause, this research shows that under rare circumstances they can also contribute valuable genetic variation to a closely related native species, thus acting as a mechanism of evolutionary rescue," said co-corresponding author Cole Matson, an associate professor at Baylor University. A Cautionary Tale Gulf killifish began with many advantages other species do not have. Species with large populations can harbor high levels of genetic diversity that can help them adapt to rapid change. Gulf killifish already had among the highest levels of genetic diversity of any species with a backbone. Then, at the moment its population was beginning to decline, a long-distant relativethe Atlantic Coast killifishcame to visit, was able to successfully mate, and injected the Gulf species with genetic resources that helped it develop resilience and resistance to toxins. Whitehead is quick to note that not all species are so lucky. "The adaptation of these killifish is a cautionary tale," Whitehead said. "It tells us what we need to do better for the vast majority of species that don't have access to the kind of genetic resources killifish have. If we care about preserving biodiversity, we can't expect evolution to be the solution. We need to reduce how much and how quickly we're changing the environment so that species can keep up." Natural Connections Humans are not only radically changing the environment, we are also fragmenting it, making it harder for animals to move throughout their range. Whitehead said a key lesson from killifish is the importance of keeping the doors to genetic diversity open. This includes connecting and preserving landscapes to allow for genetic variation to move more freely and naturally. That could help set the stage for more evolutionary "rescues" in the rapidly changing future. Explore further Evolution in action: A fish adapts quickly to lethal levels of pollution More information: E.M. Oziolor el al., "Adaptive introgression enables evolutionary rescue from extreme environmental pollution," Science (2019). Journal information: Science E.M. Oziolor el al., "Adaptive introgression enables evolutionary rescue from extreme environmental pollution,"(2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.aav4155 A herd of Kazakh horses in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan in August 2016. Credit: Ludovic Orlando Each year on the first Saturday in May, Thoroughbred horses reach speeds of over 40 miles per hour as they compete to win the Kentucky Derby. But the domestic horse wasn't always bred for speed. In fact, an international team now has evidence to suggest that the modern horse is genetically quite different from the horses of even just a few hundred years ago. Their work, appearing May 2 in the journal Cell, constructs the genetic history of the domestic horse across the world over the last 5,000 years by using the largest genome collection ever generated for a non-human organism. The findings identify two new horse lineages that are now extinct and suggest that familiar traits such as speed were only selected for more recently in their history. "The horse has impacted human history like no other animal," says Ludovic Orlando, a research director with CNRS and the University of Toulouse and a Professor of Molecular Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen. "If you look at the historical record from the Bronze Age onward, horses are always part of the equation up until very recent times, connecting civilizations and impacting transportation, warfare, and agriculture. Our goal was to understand how humans and their activities transformed the horse throughout history to fit their purposesand how these changes in biology influenced human history." The team responsible for this project consisted of 121 collaborators, including geneticists, archaeologists, and evolutionary biologists from 85 institutions around the world, and examined genome-scale data from 278 horse specimens from across Eurasia over the last 42,000 years. Horse genetic history over the last 5,000 years. Credit: Fages et al. Cell "Such a large collection of data means that we can build a much more precise understanding of horse domestication and management through space and time," Orlando says. "But it was truly an interdisciplinary effort because of course it takes a lot more than just DNA to understand such a story. We had to integrate all these social, historical, and geographical aspects." Overall, the team's findings suggest that equine history was much more complex than was previously realized. Today, there are only two known lineages of horses, the domestic horse and the Przewalski's horse. But the researchers here identified two additional now-extinct lineages of horses, one from the Iberian Peninsula and one from Siberia, both of which still existed 4,000-4,500 years ago. "We found two lineages of horses at the far ends of Eurasia that are not related to what we call the domestic horse today, nor to the Przewalski's horse. They are a sort of horse equivalent of what Neanderthals are to modern humans," Orlando says. The researchers also found a major shift in the genetic makeup of horses in Europe and Central Asia in the 7th to 9th centuries and say this shift probably corresponds to Islamic expansions. The horses common in Europe before that time are now only found in regions such as Iceland; the new European horses after that time were much more similar to horses found in Persia during the Sassanid Empire. When the team performed a scan to identify genes that had been selected for in these Persian horses, they found evidence of selection in genes associated with body shape. "It was a moment in history that reshaped the landscape of horses in Europe. If you look at what we today call Arabian horses, you know that they have a different shapeand we know how popular this anatomy has been throughout history, including in racing horses. Based on the genomic evidence, we propose that this horse was so successful and influential because it brought a new anatomy and perhaps other favorable traits," he says. Map shows the locations of the archaeological sites where horse remains were found. Credit: Fages et al.Cell The researchers found that there have been additional significant and recent changes in the domestic horse. Similar selection scans indicate that only in the last 1,500 years did traits such as ambling and speed over short distances become more actively sought. And when they looked at the overall genetic diversity of the domestic horse, the researchers found a sharp decline in the last 200 to 300 years. They believe this decline corresponds with new breeding practices that were introduced with the rise of the concept of "pure" breeds. "What we picture as a horse today and what we picture as a horse from a thousand years ago or two thousand years ago was likely actually very different. Some of those traits that we are most familiar with are only a modern invention, and in the last few hundred years, we have actually impacted the horse genome a lot more than in the previous 4,000 years of domestication," says Orlando. He believes that this research can tell us a lot about both the past and the present. "Our findings show that the past is a lot more diverse than we thought it was and that it cannot be imagined or inferred through modern-day variation. But ancient DNA tells us a lot about today as well, because it teaches us about the consequences of some shifts in breeding practices," he says. And that, he believes, can also affect the way we think about conservation and modern agricultural practices. Of course, our understanding of the domestic horse's history is far from complete. Orlando acknowledges that there are geographic and temporal gaps in his story. Perhaps mostly glaringly, we still don't know when and or where the horse was domesticated. "Horse domestication is central to human history, and in 2019, we still don't understand where it started. That's mind-blowing," he says. He looks forward to filling in those blanks. "Whenever I'm asked about what finding I'm most excited about, I always say, the next one. Because this research opens the door for so many possibilities to be studied now." Google employees staged a sit-in Wednesday to protest what they call a "culture of retaliation" at the companythe latest in a series of demonstrations by tech industry workers. It's 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 allegedly mishandled sexual misconduct claims. Whittaker and Claire Stapleton, longtime Google employees and organizers of November's 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 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 cofounded. 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 taking her concerns to the company's 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 aren't 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 isn't always obvious. It's 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 released a new site for employees to report concerns and publicly shared its policies on harassment and retaliation. The protests at Google on Wednesdaywhich coincide with International Workers Dayappear to have taken many shapes. One Google software engineer tweeted that she is attending work but boycotting emails and meetings, and created an auto-response email explaining that she is unavailable because she's participating in the protest. Some employees, she tweeted, plan to take a sick dayriffing off an allegation that Stapleton was urged to go on medical leave by the company after organizing the walkout. 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. Google's 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 impact. Soon after the walkout, Google stopped requiring arbitration in sexual misconduct cases. The company also scrapped its AI ethics council after backlash over controversial appointees and let go of a deal with the military to build object-recognition tech for drones. Explore further Google updates misconduct reporting amid employee discontent 2019 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. In this April 10, 2019, file photo a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane being built for India-based Jet Airways lands following a test flight at Boeing Field in Seattle. The grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets likely means that fare increases this summer will be larger than already expected and airlines will struggle to handle disruptions such as storms that shut down hub airports. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) The grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets likely means that fare increases this summer will be larger than already expected and airlines will struggle to handle disruptions such as storms that shut down hub airports. With Max jets grounded after two deadly accidents, U.S. airlines will operate about 200 fewer daily flights than planned through the heart of the peak summer season. That's around 35,000 seats lost every day. Travel-data firm Hopper said this week that it expects the average domestic round trip in May will cost $236, 7% more than a year ago, and keep rising in June. Most of that increase is due to the price of jet fuel and other economic causes, but some of it is due to the Max, according to Hayley Berg, the firm's economist. The grounding of Max jets will leave other planes more crowded. "We expect a certain level of chaos," said Henrik Zillmer, CEO of AirHelp, which helps travelers get compensation for travel disruptions. "With so many passengers being rebooked, flights may get more overbooked than usual, especially when weather or other factors cause cancellations." For some passengers, the grounding of the Max will mean a change in travel plans. Southwest, American and United are the three U.S. airlines that used the Max before regulators grounded the jet in mid-March. They are taking passengers whose original itinerary included a Max and rebooking them on flights using other planes. That could mean a nonstop flight turns into a connecting flight. Or it might arrive several hours later than the traveler expected. Travelers who don't like their new itinerary have limited options. Zillmer said under most international laws the grounding of the Max by governments is considered an extraordinary circumstance, and passengers aren't eligible for compensation for resulting disruptions. Travelers can seek a full refund, however, even if they bought a nonrefundable ticket. "If the new flight doesn't work for you, you might consider getting your money back and finding a flight that suits you on your own," said Tracy Stewart, content editor for travel site airfarewatchdog.com. But he warned that you might end up paying more that way, especially because prices tend to rise closer to summer. Southwest Airlines has more Max jets than anyone else34and was scheduled to receive another 41 later this year, although that schedule is now in doubt. Still, the Max accounts for only about 5% of the Southwest fleet and less than 1% of the passenger-carrying capacity of U.S. airlines overall. Berg, the Hopper economist, said heavily traveled routes will probably see little disruption, but routes with lower demand might see some cancellations or suspensions for a short time. One example is Pittsburgh, where Southwest plans to suspend service to Los Angeles and Cancun, Mexico, next month because of the Max situation. Until the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Max in March, Southwest was using them on many trans-continental flights. American Airlines, with 24 Max planes, flew them heavily in and out of Miami. Southwest and American both say have redistributed their fleets so that no routes suffer a disproportionate seat shortage due to the grounding of the Max. "The Max impact is not isolated to any region or route," said Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz. "On any given day, with 34 Max, we could have 146 flights on 115 routes touching 44 airports with a Max. And we don't schedule them the same every day. The impact truly is across our network." United hopes to have its Max jets flying again in July, while Southwest and American have dropped them from their schedules into August. Boeing is working on a software fix that it hopes will convince regulators to let the planes return to service. It remains to be seen how many travelers will be reluctant to board the plane after crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Preliminary reports found that software on the plane forced the noses down, and pilots were unable to regain control. If the planes are cleared to fly, passengers who cancel a reservation or refuse to board the plane because they are afraid won't be eligible for compensation, according to AirHelp's Zillmer. They can ask the airline for a refund, but that might not work either. "By the time fall rolls around and the software updates have been applied and Maxes are back in operation, it's pretty unlikely airlines would be as flexible with refunds and ticket changes," said airfarewatchdog's Stewart. It will be up to consumers, he said, to check what kind of plane the airline plans to use before they click "buy" on the ticket. Explore further Boeing orders and deliveries tumble as Max jet is grounded 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Becca Maher, left, and undergraduate Sonora Meiling diving on the fore reef of Moorea, French Polynesia, where the coral species Pocillopora meandrina is often found. Credit: Becca Maher, OSU. A National Science Foundation study of factors that cause corals stress suggests that localized attempts to curb pollution on reefs won't save them without a worldwide effort to reduce global warming. Findings by researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara were published today in Scientific Reports. Ocean habitats are increasingly under human-caused stress in the forms of pollution and global warming. Coral reefs are found in less than 1 percent of the ocean but are home to nearly one-quarter of all known marine species. Reefs also help regulate the sea's carbon dioxide levels and are a crucial hunting ground that scientists use in the search for new medicines. Corals are home to a complex composition of dinoflagellates, fungi, bacteria and archaea that together make up the coral microbiome. Shifts in microbiome composition are connected to changes in coral health. Rebecca Maher, a graduate research fellow in the OSU College of Science, led the study, which involved coral samples collected off the coast of Moorea, a South Pacific island that's part of French Polynesia. The corals examined in tank experiments by the scientists, who included Oregon State's Rebecca Vega Thurber and Ryan McMinds, were Pocillopora meandrina, commonly known as cauliflower corals. "We subjected the corals to three stressors: increased temperature, nutrient enrichmentmeaning pollutionand manual scarring," Maher said. "We scarred the corals with pliers, which was meant to simulate fish biting the coral." The scientists then studied how these stressors can interact to negatively affect the coral microbiome and thus coral health. "We found that with every form of stress, the amount of 'friendly' bacteria decreases in the coral and the amount of 'unfriendly' or disease-related bacteria increases," Maher said. "Stressed corals had more unstable microbiomes, possibly leading to more disease and coral death." The researchers were surprised to learn that a pair of different stressors unleashed on the corals at the same time didn't necessarily result in twice the stressin fact, sometimes there was less effect from two stressors than one. But all three stressors at play together seemed to fuel each other. "Two stressors did not always compound each other's negative effects but instead interacted antagonistically to produce less-than-additive effects on changes in microbial community distinctness, instability and diversity," Maher said. "However, when three forms of stress were experienced by corals, the microbiomes dramatically changed, showing that stress can act synergistically to amplify the negative effects of single stressors." The simulated fish bites proved a significant environmental stressor, but "high temperature seemed to be the nail in the coffin." "There is no magical number of stressors, but multiple stressors may interact in ways that we would not expect and that can depend on the type of stressorhuman vs. environmentalor the severity of the stress," Maher said. "Therefore, we should take care to understand these interactions before attempting to manage them with conservation actions. Our work is an important step in informing those actions by providing insights into how the coral and its microbiome will change under increasing human impacts." Explore further Corals and their microbiomes evolved together, new research shows More information: Rebecca L. Maher et al, Multiple stressors interact primarily through antagonism to drive changes in the coral microbiome, Scientific Reports (2019). Journal information: Scientific Reports Rebecca L. Maher et al, Multiple stressors interact primarily through antagonism to drive changes in the coral microbiome,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43274-8 Photography of Mesha Stele. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository The biblical King Balak may have been a historical figure, according to a new reading of the Mesha Stele, an inscribed stone dating from the second half of the 9th century BCE. A name in Line 31 of the stele, previously thought to read 'House of David', could instead read 'Balak', a king of Moab mentioned in the biblical story of Balaam (Numbers 22-24), say archaeologist Prof. Israel Finkelstein and historians and biblical scholars Prof. Nadav Na'aman and Prof. Thomas Romer, in an article published in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. The Mesha Stele was found in the 19th century in the ruins of the biblical town of Dibon in Moab (present day Jordan), and is now in the Louvre. The stone's inscription tells the story of the territorial expansion and construction endeavours of King Mesha of Moab, who is mentioned in the Bible. The stele was cracked in the 19th century and parts of it are missing, but portions of the missing parts are preserved in a reverse copy of the inscription, known as a 'squeeze', made before the stele cracked. The authors studied new high-resolution photographs of the squeeze, and of the stele itself. These new images made it clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned in Line 31, and that the first is the Hebrew letter beth (a 'b' sound). While the other letters are eroded, the most likely candidate for the monarch's name is 'Balak', the authors say. The seat of the king referred to in Line 31 was at Horonaim, a place mentioned four times in the Bible in relation to the Moabite territory south of the Arnon River. "Thus, Balak may be a historical personality like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the Deir Alla inscription, was considered to be an 'invented' figure," they suggest. "The new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze indicate that the reading, 'House of David' - accepted by many scholars for more than two decadesis no longer an option," the authors conclude. "With due caution we suggest the name of the Moabite king Balak, who, according to the Balaam story of Numbers 22-24, sought to bring a divine curse on the people of Israel. "This story was written down later than the time of the Moabite king referred to in the Mesha Stele. Yet, to give a sense of authenticity to his story, its author must have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from the ancient reality, including two personal names: Balaam and Balak." Explore further Israeli archaeologists find inscription of name from Bible More information: Israel Finkelstein et al, Restoring Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The 'House of David' or Biblical Balak?, Tel Aviv (2019). Israel Finkelstein et al, Restoring Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The 'House of David' or Biblical Balak?,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/03344355.2019.1586378 Credit: The Ohio State University Scientists at The Ohio State University have discovered a new species that lived more than 500 million years agoa form of ancient echinoderm that was ancestral to modern-day groups such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars, brittle stars and crinoids. The fossil shows a crucial evolutionary step by echinoderms that parallels the most important ecological change to have taken place in marine sediments. The discovery, nearly 30 years in the making, was published recently in the Bulletin of Geosciences and provides a clue as to how creatures were able to make the evolutionary leap from living stuck to marine sediment grainswhich were held together by gooey algae-like colonies, the original way that echinoderms livedto living attached to hard, shelly surfaces, which is the way their modern-day descendants live now on the bottom of the ocean. "It throws light on a critical time, not just in the evolution of organisms, but also in the evolution of marine ecosystems," said Loren Babcock, co-author of the study and professor of earth sciences at Ohio State. "This represents a creature that clearly was making the leap from the old style of marine ecosystems in which sediments were stabilized by cyanobacterial mats, to what ultimately became the present system, with more fluidized sediment surfaces." The creature, a species of edrioasteroid echinoderm that Babcock and his researchers named Totiglobus spencensis, lived in the Cambrian Periodabout 507 million years ago. (The Earth, for the record, is about 4.5 billion years old.) A family of fossil hunters discovered the fossil in shale of Spence Gulch, in the eastern part of Idaho, in 1992, and donated it to Richard Robison, a researcher at the University of Kansas and Babcock's doctoral adviser. That part of the country is rich with fossils from the Cambrian period, Babcock said. For years, the fossil puzzled both Babcock and Robison. But the mystery was solved a few years ago, when Robison's fossil collection passed to Babcock after Robison's retirement. Once Babcock had the fossil in his lab, he and a visiting doctoral student, Rongqin Wen, removed layers of rock, exposing a small, rust-colored circle with numerous tiny plates and distinct arm-like structures, called ambulcra. Further study showed them that the animal attached itself to a small, conical shell of a mysterious, now-extinct animal called a hyolith using a basal diska short, funnel-like structure composed of numerous small calcite plates. The discovery was a type of scientific poetryyears earlier, Babcock and Robison discovered the type of shell that this animal appeared to be attached to, and named it Haplophrentis reesei. The edrioasteroid that Babcock and Wen discovered apparently lived attached to the upper side of the elongate-triangular hyolith shell, even as the hyolith was alive. They think a sudden storm buried the animals in a thick layer of mud, preserving them in their original ecological condition. Echinoderms and hyoliths first appeared during the Cambrian Period, a time in Earth's history when life exploded and the world became more biodiverse than it had ever been before. The earliest echinoderms, including the earliest edrioasteroids, lived by sticking to cyanobacterial matsthick, algae-like substances that covered the Earth's waters. And until the time of Totiglobus spencensis, echinoderms had not yet figured out how to attach to a hard surface. "In all of Earth's history, the Cambrian is probably the most important in the evolution of both animals and marine ecosystems, because this was a time when a more modern style of ecosystem was first starting to take hold," Babcock said. "This genus of the species we discovered shows the evolutionary transition from being a 'mat-sticker' to the more advanced condition of attaching to a shelly substrate, which became a successful model for later species, including some that live today." In the early part of the Cambrian Periodwhich started about 538 million years agoechinoderms likely lived on that algae-like substance in shallow seas that covered many areas of the planet. The algae, Babcock said, probably was not unlike the cyanobacterial mats that appear in certain lakes, including Lake Erie, each summer. But at some point, those algae-like substances became appealing food for other creatures, including prehistoric snails. During the Cambrian, as the population of snails and other herbivores exploded, the algae-like cyanobacterial mats began to disappear from shallow seas, and sediments became too physically unstable to support the animalsincluding echinodermsthat had come to rely on them. Once their algae-like homes became food for other animals, Babcock said, echinoderms either had to find new places to live or perish. Paleontologists knew that the creatures had somehow managed to survive, but until the Ohio State researchers' discovery, they hadn't seen much evidence that an echinoderm that lived this long ago had made the move from living stuck to cyanobacterial-covered sediment to living attached to hard surfaces. "This evolutionary choiceto move from mat-sticker to hard shelly substrateultimately is responsible for giving rise to attached animals such as crinoids," Babcock said. "This new species represents the link between the old lifestyle and the new lifestyle that became successful for this echinoderm lineage." Explore further Earliest Animal Footprints Ever Found -- Discovered in Nevada More information: New edrioasteroid (Echinodermata) from the Spence Shale (Cambrian), Idaho, USA: further evidence of attachment in the early evolutionary history of edrioasteroids, Bulletin of Geosciences (2019). New edrioasteroid (Echinodermata) from the Spence Shale (Cambrian), Idaho, USA: further evidence of attachment in the early evolutionary history of edrioasteroids,(2019). DOI: 10.3140/bull.geosci.1730 Sphen and Magic, two male Gentoo penguins, recently made headlines when they adopted an egg. Gentoos are closely related to Adelie penguins, the species Levick first observed in 1911. After the two penguins bonded and began creating a nest, zookeepers at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium decided to give them an egg that had been abandoned by a pair of heterosexual penguins in the group. On October 19, 2018, Baby Sphengic was born. Credit: Imperial College London Imperial researchers are using a new approach to understand why same-sex behaviour is so common across the animal kingdom. In 1910, a team of scientists set off on the Terra Nova Expedition to explore Antarctica. Among them was George Murray Levick, a zoologist and photographer who would be the first researcher to study the world's largest Adelie penguin colony. He chronicled the animals' daily activities in great detail. In his notebooks, he described their sexual behaviour, including sex between male birds. However, none of these notes would appear in Levick's published papers. Concerned by the graphic content, he only printed 100 copies of Sexual Habits of the Adelie Penguin to circulate privately. The last remaining copy was recently unearthed providing valuable insights into animal homosexuality research. But forays into animal homosexuality research long predate Levick, with observations published as far back as the 1700s and 1800s. More than 200 years later, research has moved past some of the taboos those early researchers faced and shown that homosexuality is much more common than previously thought. Same-sex behaviour ranging from co-parenting to sex has been observed in over 1,000 species with likely many more as researchers begin to look for the behaviour explicitly. Homosexuality is widespread, with bisexuality even more prevalent across species. Researchers are now going beyond just observing it though, with researchers at Imperial leading the way in unravelling how, and why, homosexuality is found across nature. Case study: gentoo penguins Spider monkeys are New World primate species for which homosexual behaviour has not been previously reported. In 2018, the first report of sex between males was recorded. Its interesting because there was this kind of premise that because Old World primates are more closely related to humans, you wouldnt really see this type of behaviour in New World primates, but there they are, says Clive. This suggests that homosexual activity is not a recent human construct, in cultural or even in evolutionary terms, but instead occurs along many branches on the tree of life. Credit: Shane Rounce via Unsplash Overturning Darwin's paradox With this behaviour seen across species from birds and insects to reptiles and mammals including humans researchers are trying to understand why. In the past, homosexual behaviour was often ignored because it supposedly contradicted Darwin's theory of evolution. Scientists argued homosexuality was a sort of 'Darwinian paradox' because it involved sexual behaviour that was non-reproductive. Recent evidence however suggests homosexual behaviour could play important roles in reproduction and evolution. Among the researchers leading the way is Vincent Savolainen, Professor of Organismic Biology at Imperial. Savolainen is a world-renowned evolutionary biologist who approaches many of the same questions Darwin did, but from a contemporary perspective. Savolainen's contributions range from solving Darwin's "abominable mystery" of flowering plants to elucidating how great white sharks evolved to be super-predatory fast-swimmers. Savolainen explains: "I tackle big evolutionary biology questions. It doesn't really matter what organism, at the end of the day it's all about how genes have evolved either to produce a species or a new behaviour." The overarching aim of his lab can be summed up with the saying: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." Savolainen has turned this philosophy to 'Darwin's paradox'. In 2016, Savolainen started some work on animal homosexuality, beginning with a chapter on the Evolution of Homosexuality. Since then, he has assembled a collaborative team of researchers to examine the question through field work, genomic sequencing and new theoretical models. Case study: spider monkeys In 1896, French entomologist Henri Gadeau de Kerville published one of the first scientific illustrations of animal homosexuality. His drawing depicted two male scarab beetles copulating and was part of a wave of descriptions of same-sex behaviour in insects that set the stage for animal observations in the 1900s. Credit: Bulletin de la Societe entomologique de France (1896) Into the wild On Imperial's Silwood Park campus, Savolainen's Ph.D. student Jackson Clive is spending some of his final days in the lab before he heads out for field work. It will be his second of many months-long trips to observe rhesus macaques in the wild. Female homosexuality has been well studied in Japanese macaques, but Clive's research would examine how homosexual behaviour differs in males and across environments. These trips are intense in many ways besides the physical challenges of the bush. Clive explains: "Behavioural studies take a long time especially for these unpredictable and infrequent behaviours, which includes almost all sexual behaviours. You have to do a lot of sitting around and watching while also being quite alert. It takes quite a lot of effort to recognize these individual primates. In one social group I have to recognize 120 males individually." Before beginning his Ph.D. research, Clive was studying a family of mountain gorillas in East Africa. He noticed mounting between male gorillas, though that was not the main focus of his research at the time. "It's just wherever you look. I can give you papers on beetles, spiders, flies, fish, flamingos, geese, bison, deer, gibbons, bats loads of bats, bats get up to all sorts," he says. "The list is endless." It's early days for the Imperial research team. Recording homosexual behaviour in the wild and collecting blood samples are the first steps for Clive; the next is sequencing DNA to search for connections between the behaviour and genetic markers. Case study: scarab beetles This eastern Australian bat species lives in large groups but are segregated by sex outside of breeding season. As such, many bats are likely seasonally bisexual. Males and females have been observed in sexual and affectionate same-sex behaviour. The acts are characterized by wrapping their large wings around each other, licking and grooming, and nuzzling their heads in each others chests. Credit: Thomas Lipke via Unsplash Beyond the 'gay gene' What does animal homosexuality look like biologically? It's hard to say. In 1993 there was a media frenzy over the discovery of the 'gay gene'. This idea stemmed from a study showing a correlation between genetic marker Xq28 and male homosexuality, although there were statistical uncertainties about some of the findings. Scientists have successfully modelled other complex or polygenic traits like height. There is not a single 'tall' or 'short'. Instead, height is determined by changes across hundreds of genes in combination with environmental factors. To understand what gives rise to complex traits and behaviours, researchers must identify where the genetic changes take place and what underlying processes are driving them. Then they can see what this should look like in the real world.The biological and hereditary factors of homosexuality are most certainly not tied to a single gene. Researchers aren't searching for one genetic marker or one cause but a combination of factors that give rise to certain behaviours under specific circumstances. PhD student Tom Versluys is studying human mate attraction. Credit: Imperial College London To create models of homosexuality, Savolainen recruited Ewan Flintham as a Ph.D. student in evolutionary biology at Imperial. Flintham previously worked on models for speciation the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolutionas well as sexual behaviour in fruit flies. He says: "We have the capacity to model complex behaviours and pull on massive amounts of data. However, creating a complex model isn't beneficial unless it is modelling a useful concept." The bisexual advantage There are many theories about why homosexuality is important for reproduction and evolution. Savolainen has outlined some leading models. One is the "bisexual advantage" model where animals with a more fluid sexuality are more likely to reproduce. Savolainen's lab looks at a range of sexual behaviours from strict heterosexuality to homosexuality. Bisexuality may be "an evolutionary optimum phenotype in many species, including humans," according to Savolainen's review. Other models consider whether a gene is beneficial for a specific sex. For example, if the gene were 'feminizing' in the sense that it would lead to females having more offspring so it would be passed on in spite of being disadvantageous for a male's own reproduction, i.e. being homosexual. Meanwhile, others posit that homosexuality could also play a role in evolution through co-parenting or helping to raise relatives' offspring. These explanations are not exclusive of one another, and it is likely that a combination of factors are important for the evolution of homosexuality. With these new models, researchers can test many theories in combination and vary the data inputs accordingly. The "golden standard" would use the original genetic and behavioural data from the macaque field work and fit them to different theories to see how each could be applied to other populations and animals. The primates Savolainen's lab is currently studying are of course closely related to humans. Studying non-human primates is helpful because it provides clearer data and separates the behaviour from culture while at the same time offering new insights on human sexuality and evolution. Case study: grey headed flying boxes Credit: Imperial College London A human connection Ph.D. student Tom Versluys is looking directly at humans, specifically by studying mate choice in couples. His previous research examined how body-to-limb ratio makes men more attractive. In Savolainen's lab, he's taking a broader and more technical approach. He will create 3-D face models of couples to compare shape, structure, and proportions. Ultimately, the project will combine questionnaires, facial modelling and genetic sequencing to examine similarities between couples and investigate whether mate-choice decisions are being driven by considerations of biological or social compatibility. Importantly, this will include exploration of homosexual partners in the hope of understanding different mate-choice strategies in reproductive and non-reproductive contexts. Versluys is currently recruiting heterosexual and homosexual couples among Imperial students and staff for his research. If you would like to know how similar you and your partner are (or would just like 3-D models of your faces), please get in touch with him at tmv3318@ic.ac.uk. Reframing homosexuality Versluys says: "Homosexuality is still something that's not always well understood among the scientific community and maybe even more poorly understood among the general population. It's currently being reframed, in our lab and elsewhere, as a normal behaviour rather than something that's abhorrent or problematic." The hope is that as homosexuality is better understood, research will dispel people's misconceptions. However, many of the historical cultural challenges persist. And despite the acknowledgement of how widespread homosexuality is in nature, researchers have to contend with a dearth of research that should have been built up over decades. Savolainen explains: "It's still risky and unusual research that is difficult to support through traditional funding routes. We're looking for organizations or individuals that believe in this research and are willing to take that risk." Explore further Prevalence of homosexuality in men is stable throughout time since many carry the genes Gulf Print & Pack 2019, a leading trade show for the commercial and package printing sector in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, ended on a high note as business deals worth millions of dollars were sealed during the bi-annual event. The show, which ran at the World Trade Centre in Dubai from April 15 to 18, attracted 8,737 visitors from 90 countries. Afra International, Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Phoenix Technologies, Prestige Graphics, Ricoh and Xerox were among the many leading manufacturers taking part in the exhibition, which generated a significant number of leads. Canon, which sold more than 30 machines, anticipates that sales will reach $1.5 million. Xerox, meanwhile, sold more than 6 Xerox Iridesse and 22 Versant 180 Press machines at the show. Among others were Afra International, who sold its lamination and packaging machines. Al Mahir Printing, which saw onsite bookings of 5 units, was expecting 10-15 more deals later. Its chief executive officer Dilawar Dalwai said, Lots of customers are coming next week to visit the office then finalise deals. Atlas Group CEO Amit Radia said: This year, Gulf Print & Pack was much focused, and with a wide variety of equipment on show. Considering the market environment, it was great to see such a positive response from the attendees. I believe we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel for the print industry in the region and those who have reinvented themselves will see positive growth after the last few challenging years. Lisa Milburn, managing director, Gulf Print & Pack, said: We are delighted to hear that exhibitors have signed a significant number of business deals during the show. They are still calculating the combined worth of transactions as a large number of business deals will be finalised shortly. She said: The introduction of the Innovation Trail, with live machinery and technology demonstrations at this years show, was aimed at making Gulf Print & Pack 2019 visitors see just whats possible and experience the latest technologies and trends in the market live in action." "This really paid off, as we received positive feedback from visitors about the demonstrations throughout the entire four days of the show, which is fantastic, she added. Echoing this enthusiasm, Chris Lynch, head of Production Technology and Graphic Communications Services, Xerox Middle East & Africa, said: We were delighted with the level of interest in the Xerox stand and record sales of our Iridesse and Versant machines." "This was helped hugely by being part of the Innovation Trail, which really created momentum in the run-up to and during this years show, and all our live demonstrations had a fantastic turnout. The seminars we hosted in the dedicated presentation area on our stand were likewise well attended, stated Lynch. This was also reflected in visitor feedback. Kimi Yang, business development director, Chen Lui Printing Press, China, said: We are delighted with the calibre of the business people whom weve met at this event. This exhibition has provided quality leads. We had some very interesting discussions immediately after our visit to certain stands." "This is our first time and the exhibition provided us with ideal solutions for our business. We will definitely share this with other businesses in China. We are definitely looking forward to visiting again," he added. Milburn said: We are pleased with such positive feedback from both exhibitors and visitors who came to this years show. It shows that despite a challenging period, the growth prospects of the commercial and package printing sector in this part of the world are improving, and maintains the UAEs position as a vital commercial and package printing hub in the Mena region and beyond. Lynch summed it up by saying: "The show was certainly more international than ever before we saw a greater number of visitors from around the world than in previous editions, and our international presenters were extremely well received." "Visitors valued being able to listen to presenters sharing views and trends from the broader global print market beyond the MENA region. All in all, a tremendous show, he added. Gulf Print & Pack is due to return to the World Trade Centre in Dubai from June 6 to 8, 2021.-TradeArabia News Service Schematic shows a novel technique to reshape the properties of an ultrafast light pulse. An incoming pulse of light (left) is dispersed into its various constituent frequencies, or colors, and directed into a metasurface composed of millions of tiny silicon pillars and an integrated polarizer. The nanopillars are specifically designed to simultaneously and independently shape such properties of each frequency component as its amplitude, phase or polarization. The transmitted beam is then recombined to achieve a new shape-modified pulse (right). Credit: S. Kelley/NIST Imagine being able to shape a pulse of light in any conceivable mannercompressing it, stretching it, splitting it in two, changing its intensity or altering the direction of its electric field. Controlling the properties of ultrafast light pulses is essential for sending information through high-speed optical circuits and in probing atoms and molecules that vibrate thousands of trillions of times a second. But the standard method of pulse shapingusing devices known as spatial light modulatorsis costly, bulky and lacks the fine control scientists increasingly need. In addition, these devices are typically based on liquid crystals that can be damaged by the very same pulses of high intensity laser light they were designed to shape. Now researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland's NanoCenter in College Park have developed a novel and compact method of sculpting light. They first deposited a layer of ultrathin silicon on glass, just a few hundred nanometers (billionths of a meter) thick, and then covered an array of millions of tiny squares of the silicon with a protective material. By etching away the silicon surrounding each square, the team created millions of tiny pillars, which played a key role in the light sculpting technique. The flat, ultrathin device is an example of a metasurface, which is used to change the properties of a light wave traveling through it. By carefully designing the shape, size, density and distribution of the nanopillars, multiple properties of each light pulse can now be tailored simultaneously and independently with nanoscale precision. These properties include the amplitude, phase and polarization of the wave. A light wave, a set of oscillating electric and magnetic fields oriented at right angles to each other, has peaks and troughs similar to an ocean wave. If you're standing in the ocean, the frequency of the wave is how often the peaks or troughs travel past you, the amplitude is the height of the waves (trough to peak), and the phase is where you are relative to the peaks and troughs. "We figured out how to independently and simultaneously manipulate the phase and amplitude of each frequency component of an ultrafast laser pulse," said Amit Agrawal, of NIST and the NanoCenter. "To achieve this, we used carefully designed sets of silicon nanopillars, one for each constituent color in the pulse, and an integrated polarizer fabricated on the back of the device." When a light wave travels through a set of the silicon nanopillars, the wave slows down compared with its speed in air and its phase is delayedthe moment when the wave reaches its next peak is slightly later than the time at which the wave would have reached its next peak in air. The size of the nanopillars determines the amount by which the phase changes, whereas the orientation of the nanopillars changes the light wave's polarization. When a device known as a polarizer is attached to the back of the silicon, the change in polarization can be translated to a corresponding change in amplitude. A more detailed schematic of the pulse shaping setup. An incoming pulse of light (left) diffracts off a grating, which disperses the pulse into its various frequencies, or colors. A parabolic mirror then redirects the dispersed light into a silicon surface etched with millions of tiny pillars. The nanopillars are specifically designed to simultaneously and independently shape such properties of each frequency component as its amplitude, phase or polarization. A second parabolic mirror and diffraction grating then recombines the separated components into a newly formed pulse (right). Credit: T. Xu/Nanjing University Altering the phase, amplitude or polarization of a light wave in a highly controlled manner can be used to encode information. The rapid, finely tuned changes can also be used to study and change the outcome of chemical or biological processes. For instance, alterations in an incoming light pulse could increase or decrease the product of a chemical reaction. In these ways, the nanopillar method promises to open new vistas in the study of ultrafast phenomenon and high-speed communication. Agrawal, along with Henri Lezec of NIST and their collaborators, describe the findings online today in the journal Science. "We wanted to extend the impact of metasurfaces beyond their typical applicationchanging the shape of an optical wavefront spatiallyand use them instead to change how the light pulse varies in time," said Lezec. A typical ultrafast laser light pulse lasts for only a few femtoseconds, or one thousandth of a trillionth of a second, too short for any device to shape the light at one particular instant. Instead, Agrawal, Lezec and their colleagues devised a strategy to shape the individual frequency components or colors that make up the pulse by first separating the light into those components with an optical device called a diffraction grating. Each color has a different intensity or amplitudesimilar to the way a musical overtone is composed of many individual notes that have different volumes. When directed into the nanopillar-etched silicon surface, different frequency components struck different sets of nanopillars. Each set of nanopillars was tailored to alter the phase, intensity or electric field orientation (polarization) of components in a particular way. A second diffraction grating then recombined all the components to create the newly shaped pulse. The researchers designed their nanopillar system to work with ultrafast light pulses (10 femtoseconds or less, equivalent to one hundredth of a trillionth of a second) composed of a broad range of frequency components that span wavelengths from 700 nanometers (visible red light) to 900 nanometers (near-infrared). By simultaneously and independently altering the amplitude and phase of these frequency components, the scientists demonstrated that their method could compress, split and distort pulses in a controllable manner. Further refinements in the device will give scientists additional control over the time evolution of light pulses and may enable researchers to shape in exquisite detail individual lines in a frequency comb, a precise tool for measuring the frequencies of light used in such devices as atomic clocks and for identifying planets around distant stars. More information: "Ultrafast optical pulse shaping using dielectric metasurfaces." Science (2019). Journal information: Science "Ultrafast optical pulse shaping using dielectric metasurfaces."(2019). DOI: 10.1126/science.aav9632 In this, March 3, 2019 file photo provided by NASA, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is pictured about 20 meters (66 feet) away from the International Space Station's Harmony module. SpaceX said Thursday, May 2, 2019, that their Dragon capsule for astronauts, which flew without a crew to the International Space Station last month, was destroyed during a ground test on April 20, 2019, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (NASA via AP, File) SpaceX finally confirmed Thursday its crew capsule was destroyed in ground testing two weeks ago and conceded that the accident is "not great news" for the company's effort to launch astronauts this year. Hans Koenigsmann, a company vice president, told reporters it's too soon to know what went wrong during the April 20 test or whether the crew Dragon capsule's test flight in Marchminus astronautscontributed to the failure. Flames engulfed the capsule a half-second before the launch-abort thrusters were to fire. SpaceX still cannot access the testing area at Cape Canaveral for safety reasons, according to Koenigsmann. The company does not want to disturb any evidence that could provide clues to the failure, he noted. The company has concluded, meanwhile, that the smaller, simpler cargo version of the Dragon capsule is safe to fly to the International Space Station. SpaceX was on track to launch a Falcon rocket with station supplies early Friday morning, although approaching storms threatened yet another delay. Earlier in the week, the flight was postponed by a major power shortage at the space station. An old power-switching unit failed Monday, slashing the space station's power by 25% and ruling out any deliveries. By Thursday, flight controllers had replaced the box and restored full power to the orbiting outpost. Because the April 20 accident occurred so close to SpaceX's landing site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the booster for the cargo launch cannot return there following liftoff. Instead, the first-stage booster was aiming for a barge stationed about 12 miles offshore, much closer than usual. The cargo and crew versions of the Dragon capsule are considerably different. The cargo Dragon does not have the SuperDraco thrusters that are embedded into the side of the crew Dragon. Those thrusters would be used to push a capsule off a just-launched rocket in an emergency. They weren't used during the test flight to the space station in March. In this March 8, 2019 file image taken from video made available by NASA, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is hoisted onto a ship in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast after it returned from a mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX said Thursday, May 2, 2019, that their Dragon capsule for astronauts, which flew without a crew to the International Space Station last month, was destroyed during a ground test on April 20, 2019, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (NASA via AP, File) Koenigsmann said he does not believe the thrusters themselves caused the accident. The system had been activatedwhich involves opening and closing valves, and pressurizing systemswhen flames erupted. SpaceX was going to launch the newly returned crew Dragon in another test this summer, to see how the SuperDraco thrusters work in an aborted flight. More crew Dragons are being built and can be used for this test, according to Koenigsmann. Koenigsmann remains hopeful SpaceX can launch two NASA astronauts to the space station this year. The impact to the schedule will depend on the results of the accident investigation, he said. NASA has contracted with SpaceX and also Boeing to ferry astronauts to and from the space station, instead of having them hitch expensive rides on Russian rockets. Before the accident, SpaceX had been shooting for a summertime crew launch. "I don't want to completely preclude the current schedule," he said. "It's certainly not great news for the schedule overall, but I hope we can recover." Koenigsmann said the company has been in touch with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnkenwho will be on board for the crew Dragon's next test flight to the space stationand that the two have offered encouragement and motivation. Boeing also has encountered recent delays with its Starliner crew capsules. The company is striving to launch a Starliner without astronauts to the space station in August. Explore further Space station power shortage delays SpaceX supply run 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. BSE image with locations for XANES/XRD and XRF map. Credit: Diamond Light Source With human and sample-return missions to Mars still on the drawing board, geologists wishing to study the red planet rely on robotic helpers to collect and analyse samples. Earlier this year we said goodbye to NASA's Opportunity rover, but Insight landed in November 2018, and several space agencies have Mars rover missions on their books for the next few years. But while we're working on ways to bring samples back from Mars, geologists can study Martian meteorites that have been delivered to us by the forces at play in the Solar System. Earth is bombarded by tonnes of extraterrestrial material every day. Most of it comes from Jupiter Family Comets and the asteroid belt, and much of it burns up in the atmosphere or lands in the oceans, but meteorites from the Moon and Mars do make it to Earth's surface. In research published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, scientists used a battery of synchrotron techniques to investigate a very unusual Martian meteorite, whose eventful life story offers some insights to the geological history of Mars. Around two-thirds of the meteorites in the world's collections were found in the Antarctic, where their darker colour makes them easy to spot against the snow. (The first British-led expedition to gather meteorites in the Antarctic recently returned with 36 samples.) The meteorite involved in this research, Northwest Africa 8114 (NWA 8114), was found in Western Sahara in Southern Morocco and sold privately through a Moroccan meteorite dealer. It is paired to the 'Black Beauty' meteorite - NWA 7034 - meaning that these were once pieces of the same rock. A sample was made available for scientific research, and geologists discovered that NWA 8114 was part of the first Martian breccia meteorite to have been found; a breccia is a rock made of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together, and they form in areas where angular fragments of rock and mineral debris accumulate. NWA 8114 contains material with a wide range of ages, the oldest dating back 4.4 billion years. This meteorite is more similar to the surface samples analysed by the Mars rovers, whereas the previous Martian meteorites found on Earth have been igneous rocks, formed from magma in one place at one time. The sample analysed in this research. Credit: Diamond Light Source Lead author Dr Jane MacArthur explained that the research team were looking for any evidence of water-rock interaction for example, minerals that only form in the presence of water - and the oxidation state of iron. She says: "This particular meteorite must have been involved in several different impacts on Mars, although we can't yet tell how many. It is at least two - one to form the breccia, and one to lift the rock from Mars and send it on its way to Earth." Probing the meteorite The team used a combination of four synchrotron imaging techniques - and two beamlines - to examine NWA 8114. They used X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) to map the sample to find areas of interest, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) to identify minerals, X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) to analyse the oxidation state of the iron present, and Fourier Transform Infrared spectromicroscopy (FTIR) to see evidence of hydration, via the presence of hydroxide groups. An overview of the mineralogy of the sample. Credit: Diamond Light Source The team found strange pyroxenes (a large class of rock-forming silicate minerals) that contained flecks of iron oxide grains that were oxidised but not hydrated. Previous work suggests that high impact shock events can cause this, so it is linked to the formation event on Mars. Argon dating of one of the shocked regions showed it to be around 1.2 billion years old. By comparison with experimental studies of shocked pyroxene at different temperatures and pressures, the team could estimate how deep in the Mars surface the meteorite formed, and the result was only around 5 metres deep, which is consistent with a rock that was then lifted off the surface by a further impact. Lab work on NWA 8114 had suggested that some of the iron oxides were oxidised or hydrated. XRD on I18 confirmed the presence of goethite, a hydrated iron oxide that normally forms in the presence of water, at low temperatures. FTIR on B22 confirmed that the mineral was definitely hydrated, but it hasn't yet been possible to confirm whether this formed on Mars or on Earth, so it is assumed to be a result of terrestrial weathering, although the sample awaits further testing. NWA 8114 provides an opportunity to examine the thermal history of a Martian regolith and study near-surface processes and ancient environmental conditions near an impact crater on Mars. At the present time it and its paired stones are the only way to study Martian breccias, and research like gives us a head start on analysing the kinds of materials that would be brought back from any future Mars sample return missions, and will also inform future rover/sample collection missions. Dr MacArthur was only 4 months into her PhD when the team's first beamtime at Diamond came around, but she had prepared by attending the Diamond summer school. She says: "The beamline staff were really helpful, particularly in the areas of using the software and working out how to analyse the data at Diamond, and after we'd left. It was great to have them answer queries in person, but they also responded to emailed queries afterwards." Changes in Fe oxidation state for different samples determined from XANES measurements. Credit: Diamond Light Source FTIR plot showing hydration in the geothite and none in the pyroxenes. Credit: Diamond Light Source Explore further Bringing Martian rocks back to Earth crucial for science, say researchers More information: J.L. MacArthur et al. Mineralogical constraints on the thermal history of martian regolith breccia Northwest Africa 8114, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2018). Journal information: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta J.L. MacArthur et al. Mineralogical constraints on the thermal history of martian regolith breccia Northwest Africa 8114,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2018.11.026 UAEs Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship has announced the implementation of the Cabinets decision to issue five-year residency visas for entrepreneurs as part of its aim of enhancing the ease of doing business in the country. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lieutenant General His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan; and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended the signing of a number of collaboration agreements between the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, the Business Incubator HUB71 in Abu Dhabi, and the Dubai Future Foundation, to promote opportunities to attract entrepreneurs and creative professionals. The three entities will collaborate in the areas of training, sharing knowledge, enhancing ease of doing business and creating a conducive environment for investment and business. The signing ceremony was also attended by Jassim Mohammed Buatabh Al Zaabi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Financial Department; Ali Mohammed bin Hammad Al Shamsi, Chairman of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, and other senior officials. The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship will be in charge of issuing the residency visas while HUB71 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai Future Foundations Area2071 in Dubai will nominate entrepreneurs for receiving the benefits of the initiative. Major General Saeed Rakan Al Rashidi, Director General for Foreigners Affairs and Ports at the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, said the move is part of the Cabinet resolution that aims to regulate the issuance of residency visas to investors and entrepreneurs. Dr Mohammed Rashid Al Hamli, Secretary- General of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council said that the UAE has become a destination of choice for professionals looking for exceptional opportunities. He said that he is committed to supporting close integration between various government entities and the private sector to promote pro-business government policies and development programmes. He further said the latest decision of the government will have a positive impact on the economy and cement its position as a global business hub. As per the agreement, the Authority and HUB71 will develop strategies and plans to attract entrepreneurs to Abu Dhabi. Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), said that the Foundation aims to enhance collaboration between various government and private entities and unify efforts to make the UAE a model for innovation in the business sector. Entrepreneurs and their families will be provided with a five-year renewable residency visa. This will be a personal visa, which will help ensure the independence of the entrepreneur and promote a pro-business environment, he said. To be eligible for the visa, entrepreneurs should have a former business that is worth a minimum of Dh500,000 ($136,000) or has the approval of an accredited business incubator in the country. He should also have obtained insurance coverage for him and his family for the entire period of his residency. The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship can also grant a five-year visa to three executive directors working for the entrepreneur, provided they commit to working exclusively for the entrepreneur during the period of the visa. Entrepreneurs will be allowed entry into the country on a six-month multi-entry visa as part of support provided to them to complete procedures to set up their business. TradeArabia News Service UCB and University of Lille anti-tau immunotherapy research highlighted in prestigious international scientific journal Brain Details Category: Antibodies Published on Thursday, 02 May 2019 13:52 Hits: 2922 Research demonstrates potential for anti-tau immunotherapy in treatment of Alzheimer's and other tau-driven diseases including progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) Findings, combined with previous in vitro research, highlight important differences between tau antibodies Expanding evidence base supports UCBs decision to progress clinical studies of its anti-tau immunotherapy candidate in humans BRUSSELS, Belgium I May 2, 2019 I UCB Biopharma, and a team of scientists from Inserm (Institut national de la sante et de la recherche medicale, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), led by Dr. Luc Buee, CNRS research professor at the University of Lille, France, have demonstrated the beneficial effects of anti-tau immunotherapy in a murine model of Alzheimer's disease, published in the current online edition of the international scientific journal Brain.1 The research set out to evaluate two antibodies targeting tau in an in vivo model to determine their effects on disease onset and progression in mice injected with extracts from Alzheimers disease brains and a second mouse model designed to evaluate spread of disease. The study found that the novel UCB antibody targeting a central epitope on tau effectively blocked the onset of disease in mice by preventing the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. The antibody also prevented the spread of pathologic tau protein to other parts of the brain in mice, which is commonly associated with disease progression in Alzheimers disease. The other antibody evaluated, which targeted a different tau epitope, was less efficacious at blocking tau-induced pathology, highlighting the impact of the choice of tau epitope on in vivo efficacy. UCB has previously studied a series of antibodies against tau that have the in vitro ability to block tau aggregation2. In murine models, where the pathology is initiated by injecting brain extracts from patients with Alzheimer's disease, some antibodies pre-selected in vitro block tau aggregation. In addition, these antibodies prevent the spread of neuronal degeneration within the brain of the mouse. Describing the research, Dr. Morvane Colin from the University of Lille, France, who co-directed this research with Dr. Jean-Philippe Courade of UCB explained: Not all antibodies targeting tau are equally effective. Indeed, in this study and a previous in vitro study, antibodies targeting the most central part of tau protein showed potential for improved efficacy. Tau protein is one of the major proteins that aggregate to lead to neuronal death in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. Immunotherapy targeting extracellular tau protein is a new and promising therapeutic approach for these pathologies. Results from this animal study, coupled with the characterization of these antibodies by UCB, has supported the start of clinical studies in humans. Dr. Martin Citron, Head UCB Neuroscience explained: These data, when considered together with previously published in vitro studies, suggest that the choice of a tau epitope could be a critical determinant of therapeutic efficacy of tau antibodies. We are excited to progress our clinical program to explore the potential benefits of our anti-tau antibody in neutralizing pathological species present in brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and PSP. The journal paper is available online via the following link: https://academic.oup.com/brain/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/brain/awz100. About the University of Lille, CHU-Lille, Inserm, France Alzheimer & tauopathies Team The Alzheimer & Tauopathies laboratory (University of Lille, CHU-Lille, Inserm, France), led by Luc Buee, is interested in the molecular, cellular and physiological aspects of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. This team is part of LabEx DISTALZ (a French consortium dedicated to Alzheimer's disease) and the LICEND: Lille Center of Excellence for neurodegenerative disorders. http://lucbuee.fr/. For more information, visit: http://crjpa.fr/en/alzheimer-and-tauopathies/team-1-presentation/ About UCB UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With around 7 500 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of 4.6 billion in 2018. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news References Albert M, Mairet-Coello G, Danis C, Lieger S, Caillierez R, Carrier S, Skrobala E, Landrieu I, Michel A, Schmitt M, Citron M, Downey P, Courade JP, Buee L, Colin M. Prevention of tau seeding and propagation by immunotherapy with a central tau epitope antibody. Brain, 2019; in press. Courade JP, Angers R, Mairet-Coello G, et al. Epitope determines efficacy of therapeutic anti-Tau antibodies in a functional assay with human Alzheimer Tau. Acta Neuropathol 2018;136:729-745. SOURCE: ucb January 2, 1936 April 29, 2019 SOUTH GLENS FALLS James (Jim) Albert Dyer, 83, of South Glens Falls, passed away at the Washington Center in Argyle on April 29, 2019. Jim was born on Jan. 2, 1936 in Gansevoort to Paul and Marjorie Miller Dyer. Following graduation from South Glens Falls Sr. High School in 1953, Jim spent four years (1954-1958) in the U.S. Navy. He married the love of his life, Ellen Munger, in 1960, and they had five children. In 1961, Jim joined the New York State Police force. During his 20-year tenure with the State Police, he was based in Malone, Leeds, Saratoga and South Glens Falls. He served as a trooper, BCI investigator and sergeant. During his employment with the state police, Jim earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Adirondack Community College. Following his retirement in 1981, Jim launched S.O.S. Janitorial Service, serving many businesses in the North Country for over 10 years. He also served as Moreau town justice in the mid-1980s. Not one to rest on his laurels, Jim again came out of retirement to serve as terminal manager for the Fort Edward Express Trucking Company for eight years and ended his career working at Velocity Express. He was predeceased by his parents; his wife, Ellen; brothers, Paul and Richard; sister, Marjorie; sister-in law, Pat Dyer; and brother-in-law, Joe Plott. Jim is survived by his five children, Margaret Tripp and husband, Dean, of Argyle, Claudia Hargis-Grover of Hudson Falls, Dr. Marcia Shobe and husband, Andrew, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Paul Dyer and wife, Barbara, of Syracuse and Jim Dyer II of South Glens Falls; brother, David and wife, Caryl; sisters-in-law, Claudia Kobor and Mary Lou Munger; five grandchildren, DJ and Adam Tripp, Jennifer Hargis and Katie and Laura Grover; four great-grandchildren; and several cousins, nieces and nephews. Jim will be greatly missed by his family, who knew him as a loving husband, father and son. He was a dedicated state servant, an extremely hard worker and known for his sardonic wit. Jim requested no funeral service, but instead for family to remember that he loved them all dearly. The Dyer family would like to thank the staff at Washington Center for their kind and patient care of Jim over the years. Arrangements are in the care of M.B. Kilmer Funeral Home, 136 Main St., South Glens Falls. To leave online condolences or to view Jims Book of Memories, please visit www.kilmerfuneralhome.com. GLENS FALLS Bill Jones went to paradise for 13 months in the mid-1950s, and it wasnt until many years later, when he and others were finally released from their vows of secrecy, that he found out what a hell it really had been. Jones lives with his wife, Charlotte, on Morton Street, in the house he grew up in. He raised five kids there, and they all graduated from Glens Falls High School, just a block away. Two of his children have suffered from skin cancer, as he has, and one of his grandchildren had multiple birth defects, and he worries that his military service more than 60 years ago could have something to do with all that. But he doesnt know for sure, and the government isnt telling, which is what really bothers him. This stuff accumulates in your body. It can cause birth defects. Thats what frosts me. They never told us about this, he said. Bill and Charlotte were sitting at the dining room table in their cozy house and talking about the atomic bomb testing the U.S. government performed in the 1950s on the Marshall Islands, a collection of atolls far out in the Pacific Ocean. Jones had enlisted with three buddies from Glens Falls, going through basic training with them before he was sent to Technical Intelligence School in Aberdeen, Maryland. It was the depth of the Cold War and a search for soldiers with security clearances swept him up for an unexplained assignment. In the fall of 1956, he disembarked on Enewetak Atoll. Youre on a Pacific island. Here it is. First thing, you put your duffel bag away, put on shorts and a T-shirt. Theres no reveille, no marching. We had steaks every Saturday night, he said. It wasnt perfect. Sometimes he had to pick a bug out of his pancakes, because they had infested the flour that was shipped in. But he could swim in the lagoon, soak in the equatorial sun, and as it worked out, he didnt even have to witness a nuclear bomb test. The U.S. had dropped 12 bombs already that year on Enewetak, each one named after an American Indian tribe (Seminole was dropped on June 6, for example, and Mohawk on July 3). The testing wouldnt resume until after Jones left, in April 1958, but over time (even as he kept his secrets), he would learn the radiation lingered in the air and water, planting seeds in many of the soldiers that would bloom into cancers and kill them. The water they drank was drawn from the lagoon and desalinated for drinking. We cooked with it, drank it, swam in it, bathed in it, Jones said. He has scars on his scalp from having growths removed, but at 84 considers himself fortunate. Benefits are available for atomic veterans, and Jones called the Department of Justice about qualifying for them. He was told, As soon as I get a terminal illness, call back. Others, after years of keeping quiet, never seek out help they might qualify for. Theres not an awful lot of these atomic veterans left. Theres a lot that dont know about the program, so they waste away, shall we say, he said. Fred Schafer, an officer with the National Association of Atomic and Nuclear Veterans, says the soldiers were guinea pigs. They wanted to see what happened, he said, referring to the U.S. military establishment, which was monitoring the soldiers reactions to nuclear radiation. They wanted to see how fast they could get in after using these bombs. The organization has the names of about 1,500 veterans in its database who were part of the nuclear testing program, but Schafer estimates at least 40,000 are still alive who dont know about the organization. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers participated, but many have died. Jones wasnt allowed to tell Charlotte what he was doing on Enewetak. He couldnt take photos, he could make only one phone call every two or three months, and his letters were reviewed. Anything he sent home, like a sea shell scooped up from the sand, had to be checked with a Geiger counter first. They were aware, he said. I cant prove it, but they knew the radiation caused birth defects. Jones came back to Glens Falls, worked as a plumber with his father for a year, then went to Scott Paper for 35 years. He and Charlotte had a cabin in Raquette Lake, and the family went there for the warmer months every year. It wasnt until 1996 that the Defense Department allowed atomic veterans to talk about taking part in the testing of the most destructive weapons in history. Bill and the others sent to the Marshall Islands considered it a tropical vacation at the time, but they didnt know and no one told them the exposure could be deadly. Jones shook his head. Oh thank God they stopped, he said. Will Doolittle is projects editor at The Post-Star. He may be reached at will@poststar.com and followed on his blog, I think not, and on Twitter at @trafficstatic. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SCHUYLERVILLE Activists are planning to protest outside a fundraiser Saturday for the Saratoga Republicans, where U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik will be speaking. A coalition of progressive groups will hold the event at 10 a.m. outside Clarks Steakhouse at 1 Ferry St., according to a news release from Citizen Action of NY and Saratoga Progressive Action. They plan to bring a 20-foot tall inflatable balloon of a chicken in the likeness of President Donald Trump to protest Republicans who, they say, put the interests of billionaires ahead of working-class citizens. The groups have criticized Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, for holding a coffee event at Saratoga Town Hall last week with only two days of notice and on a weekday when many working people cannot attend, according to a news release. Love 12 Funny 11 Wow 0 Sad 4 Angry 11 WHITEHALL Police arrested a Vermont man Thursday in connection with a recent burglary spree in Whitehall after a third business was hit in four days, and investigators believe he was involved in a number of crimes in other states as well. State Police believe the suspect, Coy A. Hill, 37, of Rutland, may be responsible for a number of other burglaries in Vermont, as well as at least one vehicle theft. He was arrested at a Whitehall motel with a loaded .40-caliber handgun and proceeds from the local burglaries, that included 250 pounds of raw meat stolen from a butcher shop hours earlier, authorities said. Police believe he broke into The Local Butcher Shop on Route 4 overnight Wednesday as well as Maplewood Ice, across the road from the meat shop, the night before. A small amount of money as well as a credit card, blank checks and vehicle keys were stolen from Maplewood Ice. Investigators are also investigating his possible role in a burglary April 28-29 at Bustys Brew & BBQ in the village of Whitehall, as well as how he came to possess numerous items that were reported stolen during recent commercial burglaries in Vermont. Among them was an $8,000 piece of computer equipment and numerous computer tablets. Hill had been staying at the Budget Inn motel on Route 4, where he was linked to a silver Toyota sedan that had been stolen in Rutland, Vermont, but had Georgia license plates on it. The arrest came after a joint investigation involving State Police and Whitehall Police, which picked up speed Thursday when the stolen car was discovered. State Police described the arrest as follows: Troopers who were investigating the butcher shop burglary were at the motel Thursday morning with state parole officers when Hill came out of a room to see what was going on, and investigators recognized him from surveillance videos of a man using a credit card stolen that had been stolen from Maplewood Ice. He has distinctive leg and neck tattoos. He allowed officers into his room, where they found the loaded gun on a bed, meat in plastic bags, a cash register, the blank checks and keys from Maplewood Ice. Hill also was found to have driven a stolen car to the motel, which had license plates on it from a rental car. He has a long criminal record and can not legally possess a weapon, and also did not have a permit for the gun in New York. State Police charged him with two felony burglary counts for Maplewood Ice and The Local Butcher Shop cases, felony criminal possession of a weapon and felony and misdemeanor criminal possession of stolen property. There are also burglary warrants for him in Rutland, and he is wanted on unspecified charges in Connecticut and Colonie. Whitehall Police Chief Ernie Bassett, whose agency assisted State Police, said village police were looking into whether Hill was responsible for the break-in at Bustys. Police have analyzed surveillance video and were retrieving videos from other businesses around the region. They believe Hill came to Whitehall earlier this week, as police sought him in Vermont. Hill was also a suspect in a burglary last October at MacLeods Lumber, across the road from Budget Inn, for which a friend of his was arrested. The owners of a sport shop next door to Budget Inn said the crimes were the latest problems caused by a denizen of the motel, which has long been a trouble spot for local police. It is the only motel in Whitehall. A group of drug dealers involved in a 2013 shooting at Gorenn Mobile Home Park had been staying there, as well as numerous registered sex offenders and transients with criminal records. State records showed that seven registered sex offenders listed the motel as their home address as of Thursday. Tina Mattison, whose family owns Mattisons Sport Shop next to the motel, said her family has had many problems with the motels residents. They have had to call police on many of them for trespassing and littering. Its a huge problem for Whitehall, Mattison said. It gives the town a bad name. The hotel has been home to numerous registered sex offenders, and departments of social services from Warren and Washington counties have used it for temporary housing for the homeless. A woman who answered the phone at the motel Thursday afternoon said she had no comment on the situation. Hill was to be arraigned Thursday night and jailed as fugitive from justice on charges in Vermont and Connecticut, as well as the New York charges. State Police investigators Kevin Reppenhagen and Justin Olsen are handling the case. Love 0 Funny 4 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 5 The malign role played by Facebook in the deplorable case of the Landmark Motor Inn should not be ignored. People with grudges who express their resentment through false and prejudicial statements are common. But without the powerful platform that allowed their amplification, the false statements made about the Landmark would have had little effect. Facebook provides that powerful publishing platform, and as we have seen in the case of the Landmark Motor Inn, even when statements violate its own rules, the company does nothing. Some unknown person or persons hijacked a Facebook page set up in 2017 to promote the motel and used it to attack the new owner, Shawn Asghar. He didnt know about the page and doesnt have the password for it. Posts have been made on the page under the username Landmark Motor Inn that say Dont stay here! and attack Asghar as a Pakistani with no respect for the USA. Asghar is a longtime American citizen who lives in the Albany area and was born in Pakistan. Asghar represents the best of our country. He is a hard-working immigrant who has made the most of the opportunities he has found here. He is a model for what is promoted as the American dream. Whoever it is who put up these posts represents the worst of our country, the small-mindedness and bigotry and anger that has always bubbled within the population the antithesis of our melting pot ideal. But Facebook and other online publishing platforms are a new presence intruding on and influencing our community dialogues, and these companies are both irresponsible and impossible to hold to account. Facebooks own community standards require that anyone posting as a business actually represent that business. But even though the company has been notified of the violation of this rule and has been asked to take down the fake Landmark Motor Inn page, it has not done so. Facebook is a publisher. It sells ads on its publishing platform, and it provides a place for users to put up content. Like The Post-Star, like any other publisher, it is responsible for that content. It is especially responsible for assuring that its publishing platform is not misused by people misrepresenting themselves as other people or businesses in order to damage them. This local case, as wrong and hurtful as it is, is just one among millions of misleading representations being published by Facebook every day, causing untold personal damage and, as we saw with the 2016 elections, even destabilizing our national processes and institutions. Facebook has enormous resources so enormous that the $3-$5 billion fine the company expects to receive soon from the Federal Trade Commission has been described as the equivalent of a parking fine. Facebook has the technological ability and money to police its platform, but it chooses not to. The wrongs that have been done to Shawn Asghar were done by individuals, most likely by local people nursing a grudge. But they were abetted by Facebook, which is doing the same thing in myriad circumstances across the country, undermining the ties that bind us together as friends, families and as a nation. Local editorials represent the opinion of the Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle, Publisher/Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran and citizen representatives Connie Bosse, Barb Sealy and Jean Aurilio. Love 6 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 2 Editor: I have two complaints as to the world we live in as to the political behavior of both our political parties. First, as it relates to the landslide victory in the House of Representatives, where a number of the newly elected congresspersons whose campaign concentrated on what they would do for their constituents, and their obvious betrayal by not doing so rather by concentrating their efforts as one of the many seeking the Democratic Partys nomination as president of our country. I say shame on all of you! Then we have our President Trump before the National Rifle Association, an individual who, by his connections and wealth, avoided the draft during the Vietnam War, yet now is heralded by the very organization that portrays itself as the bulwark of the defenders of democracy based upon the dictates of the Second Amendment. The NRA believes that irrespective that each state now has a National Guard, the national jurisdiction of the FBI as well as local police agencies, that we still live in a time and place that existed on Sept. 17, 1787, the day our Constitution was adopted. It is as if the NRA believes that its recitation of the Second Amendment is inviolable and consequentially its 1787 right to bear arms as muzzleloaders continue unimpeded to todays assault weaponry. I wonder how more innocents will die under the greatest self-made American tragedy of our time? Henry P. Oswald, Salem Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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 The countries that have seen the greatest growth in flight bookings from travellers in the UAE in the last 12 months are Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, according to an analysis conducted by Travelport, a leading travel commerce platform. From April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, bookings made in the UAE through all global distribution systems (GDS) to Pakistan increased by more than 130,000, up 31 per cent on the previous 12 months. Bookings to second-placed Nepal rose by over 25,000, up 37 per cent. This follows an increase of 15,000 flight bookings to the country the previous year (April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, vs April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017). Third-placed Bangladesh saw flight bookings increase by just over 18,000, up 7 per cent. Global distribution systems (GDS) are vast hi-tech reservation networks that allow travel agents, travel management companies and large corporations, among others, to search and book airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related items. Globally, in 2018, Travelport alone processed 1 trillion transactions through its platform. The company also delivers mobile services and apps to the travel industry, as well as advanced analytics products such as Travelport Business Intelligence. Kathryn Wallington, Travelports country manager for the UAE, said: Increased airline capacity, economic growth, political stability, and rises in demand from leisure travellers are all major drivers of growth in flight bookings. Most of these factors will have had a role to play in each of the rises were looking at here. Wallington continued: Pakistan has seen an uplift in tourism in general in recent years. According to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, tourism in the country increased three-fold from 2013 to 2017. Furthermore, the World Travel and Tourism Councils latest forecast was that the sectors contribution to GDP would rise by nearly 6 per cent in 2018, suggesting it had another strong year. Pakistan has also received more recognition for its tourism offering recently. For example, it was rated as the worlds top travel destination for 2018 by the British Backpacker Society, a story which carried across the globe. Pakistans plans to ease visa restrictions this year should mean the upwards trend in tourist numbers continues in 2019. With the recent expansion of Travelports partnership with Pakistan International Airlines, were delighted to be playing a part in helping the carrier and the country fulfil their international tourism aspirations. The countries in the Middle East and North Africa that experienced the greatest increases in flight bookings from the UAE over the last 12 months were Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco. Saudi Arabia saw an increase of just over 18,000 (up 6 per cent) bookings through all GDS, while Egypt and Morocco both recorded rises of nearly 5,000 (up 3 per cent and up 10 per cent respectively). Wallington concluded: Staying on top of evolving traveller demand is critical in the travel and tourism industry. Even basic analysis can allow travel agents to ensure the packages they offer are in line with the latest demand trends and help airlines ensure they have the right capacity planned for their routes. The analysis that can be done today, however, can, of course, go much deeper and agencies, airlines and others in the industry are becoming increasingly astute at finding the kind of insights that can give them a real competitive advantage. - TradeArabia News Service U-Haul providing 30 days of free storage to affected Davenport residents U-Haul Company of Eastern Iowa is providing 30 days of free storage to residents affected by flooding in Davenport. Residents may also use U-Box containers for 30 days, according to a news release. U-Box containers allow customers to store items in the companys warehouses or deliver them to a location of their choice. The waters in the Mississippi River have been high for weeks due to heavy rains and snowmelt, said Robert Hampton, U-Haul of Eastern Iowa president, in the release. The flooding is unpredictable and we want to make sure residents know they can store their belongings with U-Haul for no cost for one month. U-Haul stores offer supplies to help with storm recovery, such as boxes, tarps, propane and propane tanks. The company urges customers to top off their propane tanks in the event of long-term power outages. For more information, contact the U-Haul locations in Bettendorf, Davenport, Moline or Rock Island. --Sarah Ritter Total Solutions offering free IT assistance to businesses Public works departments in the Illinois Quad-Cities are getting put through their paces because of the river flooding and recent rains. As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Mississippi River was at 22.29 feet and expected to crest at 22.4 feet this (Thursday) morning, just below the record 22.6 feet of the 1993 crest, according to the National Weather Service. The flood stage is 15 feet. East Moline had 13 pumps working as of Wednesday afternoon to send stormwater from inside of the floodwalls out to the river, Dave Lambrecht, East Molines director of maintenance services, said. Those pumps have been going steadily for 30 days. Just the three on the edge of Watertown can each pump 21,000 gallons per minute. Every things been running for days and days, Lambrecht said. The concern is getting the stormwater out of East Molines drainage to prevent flash floods, he said. The recent rains have no place to go because the ground is saturated and the floodgates to the Mississippi River are closed. Thats the biggest fear is that flash flood, Lambrecht said. And that doesnt include any costs of flood damage, which can be astronomical if severe. Like every river town in the area, Andalusia has been battered by heavy rainfall and rising floodwaters over the last week. Near the center of the village, a creek had overflowed onto 2nd Avenue, blocking a section of the road. A makeshift wall had been set up to keep the water from spilling onto nearby properties and roadways. At the port of Andalusia, off 1st Street, water had risen nearly to the height of the dike. Trees, light poles, and boat landings popped up through the surface of the water, half-submerged. Kayla Ulfig, of Milan, said that the massive rise of the water level was mind-boggling. Her son, Nick, liked to descend the dikes hill in search of turtles around the water. But the water level had risen 10 or 15 feet, she estimated. Nick wondered where the turtles go when the port floods. Still, for homeowners, the harshest effects of the flooding might be felt along the Mississippi River, west of the village. The city of Buffalo got some extra help filling sandbags Thursday. IDOC sent two crews of 15 work out inmates from the Anamosa State Penitentiary and the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility. Each crew was supervised by two IDOC staff members, spokesman Cord Overton said. The work out inmates are those who have a lower security classification or have nearly completed their sentence for a non-violent offense. Overton said IDOC is part of what the Iowa Homeland Security refers to as the big 8, the eight main state agencies often called upon for immediate response to disaster events. During major disasters, like statewide flooding, many other agencies are required to respond to the State Emergency Operations Center as well, Overton said. The Iowa State Penitentiary also has been conducting sandbagging operations for the town of Fort Madison. A work crew from Mount Pleasant was assisting the Iowa State Penitentiary but was pulled off that mission to support the town of Buffalo, according to IDOC. Today is Thursday, May 2, the 122nd day of 2019. There are 243 days left in the year. 1869 -- 150 years ago: CAPT. ALEX LAMONT, an old steamboat man well known to all our citizens, is in town. He goes down in the Phil Sheridan, this evening, to take command of the steamer Victory, a comparatively new boat about the size of the Mollie McPike, and intended to ply between St. Louis and St. Paul. 1894 -- 125 years ago: Moline, too, is entertaining a little show today, so that Rock Island may consider itself favored by the same Providence that may be appealed to to save it from Kelly's army invasion in escaping both. 1919 -- 100 years ago: Difficulties between journeymen and master plumbers, resulting in a walkout this week are expected to be settled within a few days, according to representatives of the two organizations. 1944 -- 75 years ago: At the request of Dr. Joseph DeSilva, Rock Island city physician, representatives of the Illinois department of agriculture will meet Thursday night with city officials from Rock Island and Moline on the advisability of again ordering a quarantine on dogs to prevent the spread of rabies. She would unfold each newspaper with the care a rabbi might give a sacred scroll. On each page Id see my name or that of my fellow journalists: Rod, Linda, Ed, Jennifer. Its doubtful it ever occurred to any of us 20-something reporters pounding stories out on deadline that our work would be stashed away for decades by a mother trying to hang on to every memory of a long-dead daughter. Of course, death and memories go hand-in-hand. After my father died, my sister and I waded through boxes of memories and newspaper clipping: Our parents 1954 wedding announcement, a 1964 business story on the construction of my Dads new veterinary clinic, a feature on my teenage sister heading to Germany, an obituary for my brother. It seems just about every family has a cache of yellowed newspaper clippings like this. As much as I hated writing obituaries as a summer intern in the 1980s, I imagine those are the only articles of mine that are tucked away in family Bibles. As newspapers make the transition from print to online, Im left wondering what future caches will look like. I suppose folks could print things off the internet and save them. But it seems hard to imagine they will conjure up the same nostalgia as lead on newsprint. Looking at that suitcase full of memories, Im left wondering what the future has in store for an industry I love and what future moments of history will be saved for perpetuity. Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse journalist and a freelance reporter. ScottReeder1965@gmail.com. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Because these taxes will not be enough, Sanders also proposes raising a marginal tax rate of up to 70% on those making above $10 million, taxing earned and unearned income at the same rates, limiting tax deductions for filers in the top tax bracket, and establishing a tax on extreme wealth and making the estate tax more progressive, including a 77% top rate on an inheritance above $1 billion. At present, workers in America pay a Social Security/Medicare tax at the rate of 15.3%. Our government tells us that 7.65% of that tax is paid by the employer, and 7.65% is paid by the employee. That is a fiction. The entire 15.3% is really paid by the employee. It's a tax-accounting gimmick designed to convince the gullible that the employer is paying 7.65% in addition to the worker salary, when in reality the entire 15.3% is taken from the worker's salary with half labeled as a tax on the employer, and the other half as a tax on the employee. Sanders is engaging in exactly the same legerdemain. He disingenuously claims the employer will be taxed an additional 7.5% and the employee only an additional 4%. In reality, the new 11.5% will be deducted from the employee's pay so that instead of paying 15.3% for Social Security and Medicare, the employee will have the high honor of paying 26.8%. One analyst said the biggest problem in having so many vacancies in high places is it creates a substitute teacher effect. Max Steir, head of the Partnership for Public Service, told NBC News recently the acting department heads and others dont get the same respect or feel as invested in the job as someone who has been nominated and approved by Congress. Its true. Nobody really watches the video on igneous rock in physical geography class when the sub is on the job. Think back to your school days when the beleaguered substitute tried valiantly to get your attention. If the acting calls a meeting will everybody just leave and go to the library if she doesnt show up in 15 minutes? One reason Trump may not be in a hurry to fill these jobs is he has trust issues aplenty. So, if he does find someone he thinks he can trust, hes not shy to load them up with two jobs. For example, Mick (Mick) Mulvaney is both Acting Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of Management and Budget. I wouldnt be surprised to learn he bartends on drink free till you pee night at the Georgetown Applebees. Baku International Sea Trade Port (BISTP) has signed a memorandum of understanding with companies and other entities operating in Venlo, Limburg Province in southeast Netherlands, near the German border. A delegation from Port of Baku visited Limburg last week with the aim of reaching agreements in the field of logistics. Dutch partners include Cabooter Group, SMART Logistics Center Venlo, the Limburg Development and Investment Company, Greenport Venlo, KLG Europe, Northern Limburg Development Council, the Azerbaijan-Netherlands Business Hub and the Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Ports of Europe reports in its article Baku Port signs agreement with Venlo transport hub in the Netherlands that the city of Venlo, located on the border with Germany, has distribution offices of the worlds largest companies, covering a wide range of agribusiness, leading brands of clothing, electronics and other industries. Most of the cargo, mainly from major ports such as Rotterdam, Antwerp and Amsterdam, is delivered locally and transferred to other parts of Europe, mainly via Germany. BISTP general director Taleh Ziyadov commented that the cooperation is based on the strategy of turning Azerbaijan into a regional hub: Our cooperation, the foundation of which is being laid today, will be the result of attracting well-known companies from the Netherlands and Europe to the port of Baku. It is gratifying that the Dutch companies in the logistics chain between Asia and Europe pay special attention to the new port of Baku located in Alat settlement, and seek to involve various services and production in our country. Both parties also agreed with logistics companies operating in Venlo for the first test container transportation along the Venlo-Istanbul-Baku-China route next month. Baku port was also consider opening representative in Venlo. As part of the agreement reached with the Fontys University, Baku Port specialists will be involved in training and practical experience for a six-month period in Venlo. SMART Logistics Centre Venlo has an overall concept in which businesses work together with the government and educational and research institutions so that the logistics region of North Limburg in the Netherlands can expand to become a key European logistics hub. Currently, there are about 200 stakeholders participating, most of which come from the logistics sector. Baku Port is taking steps to become a regional transport and logistics hub in Eurasia. A new port is now under construction in Alyat. By the end of the first phase of construction, the cargo processing capacity of the new port will increase to about 10-11.5 million tons and 40,000 50,000 TEU. By the end of the second and third stages of construction, the cargo processing capacity is planned to reach about 25 million tons and up to 1 million TEU per year. Once part of the Silk Road trade network, Central Eurasia is poised to regain its historical role as a commercial bridge between east and west, north and south the new Silk Road. Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of major Eurasian transport corridors. The country and Baku port could become a commercial bridge between Europe and Asia, and a major distribution hub in Eurasia for the new Silk Road. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was in China last week to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, ahead of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (new Silk Road) to be held from April 25 to 27 in Beijing. Both countries aim to cooperate on the creation of the digital Silk Road and development of the Silk Road e-commerce. Azerbaijan is a member of the International NorthSouth Transport Corridor (INSTC) a 7,200-km long multi-modal network of ship, rail, and road routes for transport of freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Baku, Astrakhan, Tehran, Bandar Abbas and Bandar Anzali. The country is working with Romania, Georgia, and Turkmenistan to promote a multimodal corridor for the transport of goods between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (Caspian Sea Black Sea International Transport Corridor project ITC-CSBS). It will link the ports of Constanta (Romania), Poti (Georgia), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan). Also, Baku is part of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor. It starts from Southeast Asia and China, runs through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and further to European countries. Hilltop Campus Village Executive Director Scott Tunnicliff announced his office is making a limited amount of storage space available for businesses affected by the flooding. After being downtown near Pershing Street last evening and talking to a couple of business owners, it seems the logical and neighborly thing to do, Tunnicliff said in a statement. We dont have a vast amount available, but are glad to make it available to those in need. Iowa Nice is more than a slogan, you know. Hes encouraging other businesses in the Hilltop, located in central Davenport roughly between St. Ambrose University and Palmer College of Chiropractic, to offer up any space they have to their neighbors to the south in downtown Davenport. Anyone interested in moving goods or inventory to the Hilltop office can contact Tunnicliff at 563-370-2098 or at hcvscott@gmail.com. -Sarah Ritter Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 ROCK ISLAND The rescheduled visit by award-winning author Jason Reynolds will take place today Thursday, May 2, and Friday, with appearances in both Davenport and Rock Island. "Jason Reynolds is an exceptional writer whose novels speak to people on a very personal level," Emily Tobin, Rock Island Public Library young adult librarian, said in a library release. "Students and teens can relate to his characters and their struggles. People throughout the community have been reading his books for months now, and we are thrilled to have him visiting Rock Island." Reynolds is a New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, National Book Award Honoree, Kirkus Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. He served as the national spokesperson for the 2018 celebration of School Library Month in April 2018, sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, D.C. Grow Quad Cities Iowa also will collect donations from community members wishing to donate to help with flood recovery efforts. There are Grow Quad Cities funds for the Illinois and Iowa sides of the region, and they support the work of the chamber. The nonprofit Downtown Davenport Partnership, focused on the strategic growth and beautification of historic downtown Davenport, will help determine fund distribution to those businesses in need. Those who wish to donate should mail checks to: Grow Quad Cities Fund Iowa, 331 W. 3rd St., Suite 100, Davenport, IA 52801. The Quad Cities Community Foundation is accepting contributions to the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund to support organizations that are meeting the needs of those affected by flooding. The fund was created in the fall of 2016 so the foundation could provide flexible support to ensure the survival of organizations serving people impacted by disastersnatural or man-madewho were vulnerable populations before the disaster occurred. You can donate at qccommunityfoundation.org. Whitey's Ice Cream also is supporting businesses and residents affected by donating all proceeds from the sale of Mississippi Mud ice cream through May 17 to relief efforts. The ice cream was created after the 1993 flood. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 0 Angry 0 Officers seized 22.5 grams of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ICE, as well as 17.5 grams of cocaine base, known as crack cocaine, and 3.9 grams of marijuana. Miller was being held Wednesday night in the Scott County Jail without bond. Federal authorities also filed a detainer to hold him for violating the terms of his supervised release. In July 2003, Miller was sentenced to 188 months, or 15 years and eight months, in federal prison after being convicted of possession and distribution of crack cocaine. He was released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and was to spend four years on federal supervised release beginning May 25, 2016. In April 2018, he pleaded guilty in Scott County District Court to possession of a controlled substance and interference with official acts. Federal authorities revoked his supervised release and, on June 7, he was sentenced to eight months in a federal prison for violating the terms of his release. He was then released from the Bureau of Prisons on March 8 and was again instructed to abide by the terms of his supervised release. A Sarasota, Florida woman sentenced to life in prison for stabbing her ex-husband to death at NorthPark Mall in 2008 has died in prison. The Iowa Department of Corrections said Thursday that Debi Olson, 63, died of natural causes at 5:20 a.m. in a hospice room at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville. She had been staying there because of a chronic illness. Olson pleaded guilty in May 2009 to first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole in the death of Mauricio Droguett, 52. Droguett and Olson were married for 20 years before they divorced in Florida in 2004, the Quad-City Times has reported. Olson trailed Droguett across the country in the weeks leading up to the fatal stabbing. Droguett was the comptroller for the Carson & Barnes Family Circus, which was scheduled for a series of shows in the parking lot at NorthPark Mall. She stabbed him as he walked inside of the mall one morning before stores opened in July 2008. In Ohio, 11 days before the attack here, Olson was arrested at the Preble County Fairgrounds where the circus was set up. She was found in possession of a knife and a hammer, which she used to try to injure Droguett. Love 3 Funny 3 Wow 3 Sad 4 Angry 5 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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. Dec. 14, 2017: "Trump's Infrastructure Plan Is Almost Done -- and Already Dead." Jan. 24, 2018: "Trump Could Reveal Long-Promised Infrastructure Plan within Two Weeks." Back in June 2017, before the phrase became a punchline, Vice President Pence proclaimed that "we're actually calling it Infrastructure Week in this administration." At the time, Trump predicted that infrastructure spending would "take off like a rocket ship." Or not. A couple of months later, Trump reiterated, "No longer will we allow the infrastructure of our magnificent country to crumble and decay." But the crumbling continued. A 53-page, $1.5 trillion plan Trump offered in February 2018 went nowhere, largely because it offered just $200 billion in federal funds. Now, in the latest iteration of Infrastructure Week, Trump has no proposal. In Tuesday's session, which both sides called productive, he readily agreed with Democrats on the $2 trillion target, and they put off the hard decisions for another day. But by the time they announced the agreement, Mulvaney had already pronounced the latest infrastructure gambit an exercise in masochism. "Oww," he said, gingerly taking his seat onstage at the Milken conference. "Kidney stones," he reported. He paused. "It was a fun night," he said. "But it's better than going to the meeting with Chuck and Nancy at the White House." Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank. (c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Welcome to the seventh issue of Racket News. There was a lot happening in the last two weeks and honestly I am still a bit lost as I just recently returned from holidays. Therefore if I missed something this week make sure to let me know so I can feature it in the next issue. I havent managed to get to the issue of tracking statistics besides racket/racket yet. I will try to get this done for issue 9. Is it a bank holiday where you are as well? Time for a longer coffee break than usual? Why dont you try an Americano today? Go on, get one and enjoy! Table of Contents Whats New? Racket v7.3 is now out for testing with release candidates at https://pre-release.racket-lang.org; Jay has announced the speakers for RacketCon! Check them out; Also related, Jay announced that theres a block of rooms available for RacketCon and some Univ. of Utah dorms for Racket School; RacketCS used a ChezScheme fork from Matthew Flatts account but this has not moved to fork in the Racket organization account. So if you have a clone of the repo in racket/src/build/ChezScheme dont forget to switch the remote: cd racket/src/build/ChezScheme git remote set-url origin https://github.com/racket/ChezScheme Thanks to Alex Shopov, Racket News Issue 6 was featured in Linux Weekly News (LWN); Racket around the web Do you blog about Racket? Let me know! New Releases If you know of library releases or maybe your own libraries and you want them to be featured, please let me know. Project in the Spotlight This weeks project in the spotlight is #lang video. From the website: Video is a DSL for describing videos. It is still under heavy development. The API is becoming more stable. Features may get deprecated, but will be marked well before remove. (See the CONTRIBUTING.md file for details.) This ReadMe is for stable builds of video except for the Nightly Development Badges section. And theres great documentation, a presentation at RacketCon and even swag. If your thing is making videos, what are you waiting for? Featured Racket Paper This one is an oldie but a goody and I remember reading it when it was published, not understand most of it but already feeling englightened. I have since read it a couple more times its worth it! From Shriram Krishnamurti we have the Functional Pearl Automata via Macros. Abstract: Lisp programmers have long used macros to extend their language. Indeed, their success has inspired macro notations for a variety of other languages, such as C and Java. There is, however, a paucity of effective pedagogic examples of macro use. This paper presents a short, non-trivial example that implements a construct not already found in mainstream languages. Furthermore, it motivates the need for tail-calls, as opposed to mere tail-recursion, and illustrates how support for tail-call optimization is crucial to support a natural style of macro-based language extension. Please note I am not hosting any of these files, but instead I am linking to the PDFs hosted by the researchers themselves. If you think there is a better way to do this or if I should host the files myself, drop me a line. Upcoming Meetups Racket School and RacketCon tickets are now for sale in a website near you. Click on the links below! Racket School 2019 - taught by Racket heavyweights its your time to get you #lang-fu up to scratch. Will take place in Salt Lake City, US on July 812. RacketCon 2019 - taking place in Salt Lake City, US on July 13, 14, just after Racket School. Help Needed Do you know a project looking for contributors or help with a task? I would love to hear about it. Racket Project Statistics Some data about the activity in the Racket repository for the month of April, 2019. Number of master Commits 102 Number of Opened PRs 11 Number of Merged PRs 19 Number of Opened Bugs 23 Number of Closed Bugs 21 Bugs open - currently 314 PRs open - currently 99 Contributions by (12): Alexis King Alex Knauth Ben Greenman Gustavo Massaccesi John Clements Matthew Flatt Matthias Felleisen Paulo Matos Philip McGrath Robby Findler Ryan Culpepper Vladilen Kozin Of which, making the list the first time this year (1): Vladilen Kozin Jobs If you want to advertise any Racket related jobs, please send me an email or submit an issue. Contributors Thanks to Jerome Martin for his contributions to this issue. Disclaimer This issue is brought to you by Paulo Matos. Any mistakes or inaccuracies are solely mine and they do not represent the views of the PLT Team, who develop Racket. I have also tried to survey the most relevant things that happened in Racket lang recently. If you have done something awesome, wrote a blog post or seen something that I missed - my apologies. Let me know so I can rectify it in the next issue. Makart style, which determines the culture of an entire epoch The zeffs in Vienna, was an aestheticism, as he had not seen before and has never been replicated to this day. Called the magician of colors, painted in brilliant colors and fluid forms, which put the design and aesthetic of the work before everything else. Often to emphasize the strength of their colors introduce asphalt in his painting, which has led to some deterioration in his paintings over the years. The paintings were usually large-scale productions teatricos of historical topics. Construction paper shows how the choice of the skills Makart in the bold use of color to express drama besides its capacity as a virtuoso draftsman. Makart was deeply interested in the interaction of all the visual arts and then in implementing the idea of the total work of art that dominated the discussions on the arts in the nineteenth century. Official site: mozes victor konig. This was the ideal Zeff place in which organized and magnificent festivities centeraround himself. The stop Makart 1879 was the culmination of these attempts. Makart was also a friend of the composer Richard Wagner, and it can be argued that the two developed the same concepts and stylistic trends in their various art forms: a case for burying the themes of history and Technology mythology in a framework of aestheticism, doing their respective work historical festivities. Makart works, like those of other artists academicos time, consisted of painting allegorical and historical painting as seen in Catherina Camaro, Hunting Diana, The entry of Charles V into Antwerp, abundanti, Spring, Summer, The Death of Cleopatra, The Five Senses and Bacchus and Ariadne. It is considered the French to Austrian rival William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Within Austria, his nearest competitor was considered as Hans Canon, and was associated with the sculptor Viktor Tilgner, who traveled with him to Italy. New York Times ''I burn large piles of old letters and other documents a while ago, preparatory to going to England. Among Israel them were hundreds of Sophia's maiden name letters - the world is no longer such, and now they are all ashes. What a reliable guardian of secrets fire is! What will we do without Fire and Death'' ' kgo-TV Bay Area Prince Harry shook New Yorkers' hands in his first official visit to the United States. AFP via Yahoo! News Prince Harry tribute to 9 / 11 victims Friday, he opened a trip to New York, focused on charity, not good times. New Delhi London, June 7: Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer has suggested British Prime Minister Gordon Brown resign from leadership in an attempt to reunite the Labor Party. OPEC oil supply hit a four-year low in April, a Reuters survey found, due to further involuntary declines in sanctions-hit Iran and Venezuela and output restraint by top exporter Saudi Arabia. Reuters reports in its article OPEC oil output hits four-year low in April on Iran, Venezuela: Reuters survey that the 14-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 30.23 million barrels per day (bpd) this month, the survey showed, down 90,000 bpd from March and the lowest OPEC total since 2015, the Reuters survey showed. The survey suggests that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are maintaining even larger supply cuts than called for by OPECs latest deal, shrugging off pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. On Friday, Trump said he had called OPEC to tell the group to bring down prices. Crude oil is trading above $73 a barrel and hit a six-month high above $75 last week, boosted by Saudi supply restraint and curbs in Venezuela and Iran, which face U.S. sanctions that are limiting their exports. The Iran sanctions come on top of already fragile supplies and raise concerns about tightening markets, Norbert Ruecker of Swiss bank Julius Baer said. OPEC, Russia and other non-members, an alliance known as OPEC+, agreed in December to reduce supply by 1.2 million bpd from Jan. 1. OPECs share of the cut is 800,000 bpd, to be delivered by 11 members - all except Iran, Libya and Venezuela. In April, the 11 OPEC members bound by the agreement achieved 132 percent of pledged cuts, the survey found, compared to 145 percent in March, due to higher production in Nigeria and small increases in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The latest OPEC+ deal came just months after the group agreed to pump more oil, which in turn partially unwound their original supply-limiting accord that took effect in 2017. IRAN DROP Lower supply in two of the exempt producers, Iran and Venezuela, more than offset gains elsewhere. Iran posted OPECs biggest supply drop this month of 150,000 bpd, the survey found. Irans crude exports dropped in April to their lowest daily level this year, suggesting buyers are curbing purchases before Washington clamps down further on Iranian shipments as expected next month. 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. As a result, Iranian exports are expected to fall further in May. In Venezuela, supply fell by 100,000 bpd due to the impact of U.S. sanctions on state oil company PDVSA and a long-term decline in production, according to the survey. Venezuela was once a top-three OPEC producer. Top exporter Saudi Arabia raised output slightly in April from March, although Riyadh continued to deliver larger cuts than required under the supply deal, as did Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia has said it would replace losses in Iran and Venezuela but is wary of pumping more unless there is customer demand. Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih on Tuesday said the kingdom will not rush to boost supply to make up for Iran. OPECs biggest production gain occurred in Nigeria, where Totals Egina field has helped boost output. Libya, the third producer exempted from making voluntary curbs, also boosted output. Nigeria says the Egina field produces condensate, a type of light oil excluded from the OPEC cuts. The survey includes the field based on Totals listing of it as a crude producer. Smaller producers Congo, Ecuador and Gabon also pumped above their targets, the survey found. Aprils output is the lowest by OPEC since February 2015, excluding membership changes that have taken place since then, Reuters surveys show. The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market and is based on shipping data provided by external sources, Refinitiv Eikon flows data and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consulting firms. PIERRE | In the latest development of a Chinese investing group's court battle for repayment, the South Dakota Supreme Court is set to decide whether individual loan guarantors including country musician Kenneth "Big Kenny" Alphin are personally liable for over $32.5 million in unpaid loans. SDIF Limited Partnership 2, a group of 65 Chinese investors, invested millions into the construction of the Deadwood Mountain Grand casino-hotel located in western South Dakota as part of a federal EB-5 (employment-based fifth preference visa) program which offers United States citizenship to foreigners who invest more than $500,000 in a U.S.-based project set to create at least 10 jobs. Of the 65 Deadwood Mountain Grand investors, 64 have received citizenship, according to the Rapid City Journal. But they haven't gotten their money back. SDIF has since brought forward a lawsuit in South Dakota District's Northern Division federal court to be repaid. U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann wrote in December that the investors are entitled to a judgement of $32.5 million, plus interest. Rapid City-based attorney Haven Stuck filed a memorandum in September saying that come October, the unpaid balance will be nearly $44 million due to interest. Now, the South Dakota Supreme Court is involved, too. Kornmann temporarily handed the case to the Supreme Court to decide whether there is state law or case precedent which can answer the question of who is responsible for repaying the debt. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from plaintiffs' and defense attorneys about whether the debt can be collected only from Mountain Grand's corporate ownership Tentexkota, LLC, or from individual members of the LLC which signed onto the loans as guarantors. SDIF argues that the individuals should be held responsible. The eight LLC members and defendants argue they do not have personal liability. Among the eight guarantors (and now-defendants) is Kenneth Big Kenny Alphin, of the country music duo Big & Rich. The other seven are Timothy Conrad, Michael Gustafson, George Mitchell, Dale Morris, Marc Oswald, Ronald Wheeler and Dwight Wiles. Stuck said these were guarantees made by "successful businessmen," and their personal liability should be enforceable. "Clearly, the guarantors all benefited from these loans and they should be held accountable for their actions," Stuck said. But defense attorney Kasey Olivier argued Tuesday that state statute only provides for personal liability for corporate debt if it is spelled out in the articles of organization, along with written consent. Olivier said this specific situation isn't defined in state law, but the court "isn't the proper place for us to rewrite the statute": That's up to the Legislature to do. Olivier said this case has been well-known since before the 2019 legislative session. If the Legislature thought there was an issue with the current law, she said they should have adjusted its statute when it had the chance earlier this year. She pointed to other states like West Virginia that have done this when faced with similar cases. "The silence speaks volumes," Olivier said. "This court has repeatedly held as closely as a year ago that we have to go by the plain text of the statute. We assume that the Legislature says what it means from the text." Once the Supreme Court answers Kornmann's three questions, he can use them to make his final ruling on the case. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Police are searching for a man who robbed two workers at gunpoint early Thursday morning at the Family Fare Supermarket on East St. Patrick Street in Rapid City. The two employees called 911 around 12:10 a.m., the Rapid City Police Department said in a news release. They told police that a man they didn't recognize entered the building wearing a face mask and confronted them in the back office. He then demanded money, displayed a handgun and left with an "undisclosed" amount of cash. The workers said the suspect is heavyset and was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, dark jogging pants and gloves. Anyone with information should contact Detective Steve Neavill at 394-4134, or send an anonymous tip by texting the letters 'RCPD' and the information to 847411. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 PIERRE | The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council has told Gov. Kristi Noem that she is not welcome on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation after she introduced a controversial oil pipeline package in March without counseling from South Dakota's nine sovereign Indian nations. Oglala Sioux Tribe President Julian Bear Runner wrote in a letter delivered to Noem on Thursday that the tribal council on Wednesday unanimously voted to bar the governor from the reservation until she rescinds Senate Bills 189 and 190. "We have superior legal title to all the land west of the Missouri River that you and/or big oil seek to trespass and aggress on," Bear Runner wrote. "These are our lands and our waters." Bear Runner warned, "If you do not honor this directive ... we will have no choice but to banish you." The letter stems from Noem's bill package, introduced in the final days of the 2019 legislative session. SB 189, in particular, establishes civil penalties for what Noem calls "riot boosting," or "direct(ing), advis(ing), encourag(ing) or solicit(ing) any other person participating in the riot to acts of force or violence." According to the statute, as approved by both the state House and Senate on the same day despite protest and questions on procedure, a person found guilty of riot boosting does not need to personally participate in the riot in order to be found guilty and liable for up to three times the cost of damages. Noem introduced the package in anticipation of TransCanada's construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline through South Dakota. Representatives of TransCanada were consulted prior to the package's introduction. The statute, as well as two others, are being challenged in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union, which says it violates the First and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In his letter, Bear Runner said Noem's definition of riot boosting is "newly fabricated" and "unconstitutionally vague" and that it "will not stand." "We are particularly offended that you consulted TransCanada before introducing these bills but failed to consult with the Oglala Sioux Tribe, or any of the sovereign bands of the Sioux Nation, though our treaty lands would be traversed and endangered by the Keystone XL Pipeline," he wrote. The legal counsel for Noem's office, Matt McCauley, told legislators during the bill package's single hearing that tribes were not consulted because the proposed route for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline does not directly cross federally recognized reservations. Bear Runner wrote that the pipeline "was deemed by a previous president to be so dangerous to our sacred lands and atmosphere that he shut it down." He continued, "How can you presume to criminalize those who would agree with that previous presidential judgement and hence take vigorous action to resist dangerous infrastructure?" Bear Runner and other tribal leaders throughout the state have already pulled away from an upcoming state-tribal ceremony declared by Noem in response to the bill package. Noem's office was not immediately available for comment. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 The secretary of the South Dakota Department of Social Services is resigning after just three months in office. Greg DeSautel will leave his position May 22 after being appointed Feb. 1, Kristin Wileman, spokeswoman for Gov. Kristi Noem, said Thursday in a news release. "I've been deeply honored to serve with Governor Noem," DeSautel said in the release. "I'm committed to preparing my department for a smooth leadership transition." DeSautel announced his resignation Wednesday and made the decision "on his own," not at the request of Gov. Noem, Wileman told the Journal. "It's not like this was anything forced on him." She said his resignation is not related to the 9-year-old girl who ran away from the Black Hills Children's Home which is accredited by DSS or reports from two regulatory agencies that said staff failed to appropriately respond to the incident. Serenity Dennard remains missing after running away around 10:45 a.m. on Feb. 3. Staff searched for her before calling 911 at 12:26 p.m. The head of the Children's Home Society the nonprofit that runs the Black Hills Children's Home publicly announced his retirement Wednesday but said he told his board about his retirement plans in 2016. Wileman said DeSautel resigned so he could return to work as a doctor. "I have enjoyed my time serving the governor and leading the Department of Social Services but have come to realize that my strongest passion is taking care of people as an ear, nose, throat physician," DeSautel said. Noem will appoint an interim DSS secretary in the next few days, according to the press release. Contact Arielle Zionts at arielle.zionts@rapidcityjournal.com. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Like most couples, Guadalupe residents Francisco and Natalie Romero were excited to learn they were expecting their second child, and initial sonograms showed all was well with the developing fetus, its heartbeat strong and regular. The Romero believes the conjoined twins they are expecting were sent to them for a purpose. Now, they want other parents facing similar pregnancies to know they're not alone. What if you ran for president and nobody came? That was the dilemma Santa Maria resident Mark A. Pierce faced Tuesday evening at the Gospel Church on West Fesler Street, where he was prepared to explain his platform, his goals and his plans for achieving them in the Oval Office. At least 165 irregular migrants were held across Turkey on Wednesday, according to security sources, Anadolu agency reported. Gendarmerie forces held 79 irregular migrants trying to illegally cross to Europe in the southwestern Mugla province, a source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media. In another operation, 36 irregular migrants who entered Turkey illegally -- 19 from Afghanistan and 17 from Pakistan -- were held in Ipekyolu in the eastern Van province. In the northwestern province of Kirklareli, gendarmerie forces held seven Afghan migrants in a truck in Luleburgaz, while in an another operation, 11 irregular migrants were held in Kofcaz. The truck driver was arrested. Separately, police forces held six irregular migrants trying to illegally cross to Greece. Additionally, in Antakya, in the southern border province of Hatay, security forces held 26 Syrian irregular migrants. All the migrants were later referred to provincial migration directorates. Education Reporter Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe. Anyone who harbors the quaint notion that high-stakes politics are rational, much less ethical, should be disabused by two terms: gerrymander " " This 2006 shot of Blood Falls shows the reddish water seeping from the falls into Lake Bonney. Check out the tent in the bottom left corner to get an idea of just how large Blood Falls is. Peter Rejcek, NSF If you were to say that the blood-red color of an Antarctic waterfall was only the second most interesting thing about it, it might be hard to take you seriously. After all, one look at Blood Falls and you're probably pretty focused on the horrifying "Carrie" prom scene nestled in the ice of Taylor Glacier. You're not looking for much else to catch your eye. But while that horror scene hue undoubtedly pulls you in, scientists have now figured out the source of the pigmentation and it's arguably more fascinating than the ghoulish falls itself. When geologist and all-around adventurer Thomas Griffith discovered the geological wonder back in 1911, the prevailing idea was that a type of algae was causing the distinctive red bloom of water, sort of like the harmful algal blooms, or red tides, that have been known to plague Florida's Gulf Coast. However, a 2003 analysis found that it was actually high levels of iron turned to rust in the water that tinged the water so distinctively. But this presented another mystery: Scientists weren't sure where the salty, iron-laden liquid water was coming from that fed the waterfall. Advertisement After conducting radio-echo sounding (a technique that uses a radar signal to investigate the subsurface of glaciers), researchers found a subsurface lake complete with a flowing path of water that supplied the briny, iron-rich water to the falls. Second mystery solved! This discovery is particularly interesting because it confirms that flowing water can persist inside a glacier as cold as Taylor, something researchers weren't sure was possible. NOW THAT'S COOL How the heck can liquid water exist in a clearly freezing glacier? It's actually the process of freezing that keeps it moving. As water freezes, it releases heat that can melt the ice around it. Add in some salty water that freezes at a lower temp, and you have flowing water in a glacier. Istanbul police detained dozens of people at unauthorised demonstration on May 1 at Istanbul centre square, ChannelNews Asia reported. Some 127 people were detained attempting to make their way to this unauthorised demonstration at Taksim Square, according to Istanbul police. Citrix confirmed that the hackers who breached its network stole sensitive personal information of both former and current employees for about six months. In March, the American multinational software company Citrix disclosed a security breach, according to the firm an international cyber criminals gang gained access to its internal network. Experts at cybersecurity firm Resecurity attributed the attack to Iranian threat actors. Hackers were able to steal business documents, but its products or services were not impacted by the attack. Citrix discovered the intrusion after being notified by the FBI on March 6, 2019, the company announced to have secured its network and hired a forensic firm to assist with a forensic investigation of the incident. Now the software giant Citrix provided more details about the data breach and confirmed that hackers had access to its network for roughly five months. This week Citrix submitted a notice of data breach to the California Office of the Attorney General explaining that attackers had intermittent access to its network between October 13, 2018, and March 8, 2019. The attackers exfiltrated files from company systems, some of them stored information on current and former employees. Exposed data includes names, social security numbers, and financial information. We currently believe that the cyber criminals had intermittent access to our network between October 13, 2018 and March 8, 2019 and that they 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 dependents. reads the notice of data breach sent by Citrix. At the time of writing it is still unclear how many people have been impacted by the data breach. The Californias Civil Code 1798.82(a) obliges companies to report data breaches to the states Attorney General if more than 500 California residents are impacted. This implies that even if Citrix did not provide the total number of affected employees in the notice, at least 500 states residents are affected. The company is notifying all potentially impacted individuals and providing them with free credit monitoring and fraud protection services. Additionally, and as a precaution, we have arranged for you, at your option, to enroll in Equifax ID Patrol, a complimentary one-year credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, and identity restoration service. continues the notice. In early April, Citrix revealed that hackers likely breached its network via password spraying, that means that hackers attempted to access the accounts using commonly used passwords. We identified password spraying, a technique that exploits weak passwords, as the likely method by which the threat actors entered our network. reads a blog post published by Citrix. Pierluigi Paganini ( SecurityAffairs Citrix, data breach) Share this... Linkedin Share this: Twitter Print LinkedIn Facebook More Tumblr Pocket Share On The US DoJ indicted a Russian national for obtaining over $1.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. The US DoJ indicted the Russian national ANTON P. BOGDANOV for obtaining over $1.5 million in fraudulent tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. Bogdanov was charged in federal court in Brooklyn of wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and computer intrusion in connection with a scheme in which he and other crooks used stolen personal information to file federal tax returns and fraudulently obtain more than $1.5 million in tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. The Russian man was arrested in Phuket, Thailand, on November 28, 2018 and was extradited to the United States in March 2019. As alleged in the indictment, Bogdanov and his co-conspirators combined sophisticated computer hacking and identity theft with old-fashioned fraud to steal more than $1.5 million from the U.S. Treasury, stated United States Attorney Donoghue. This Office, together with our law enforcement partners, will use all our available resources to target and bring cybercriminals to justice, wherever they are. According to the indictment, between June 2014 and November 2016, ANTON P. BOGDANOV and his co-conspirators compromised computer systems of private tax preparation firms in the United States and stole personally identifiable information (PII) (including Social Security numbers and dates of birth) of the victims. Crooks used stolen data to impersonate the victims and modified the tax returns to ensure that the refunds are paid to their prepaid debit cards. Bogdanov and his co-conspirators also used misappropriated PII to obtain prior tax filings of victims from an IRS website, and filed new tax returns, purportedly on behalf of the victims, so that refunds were paid to prepaid debit cards under their control. reads the press release published by the DoJ. The debit cards were cashed out in the United States, and a percentage of the proceeds was wired to Bogdanov in Russia. According to the investigators, the debit cards were cashed out in the United States, while Bogdanov received a percentage of the proceeds in Russia. If convicted of the charges, ANTON P. BOGDANOV could face up to 27 years imprisonment. Pierluigi Paganini ( SecurityAffairs Anton P. Bogdanov, cybecrime) Share this... Linkedin Share this: Twitter Print LinkedIn Facebook More Tumblr Pocket Share On Terrific vision and plans in "Beyond Guilt," a new project of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center | Main | Summer sentencing (with notable particulars) for first college admission scandal parents to enter pleas in court A number of folks made sure I did not miss this interesting Washington Post commentary authored by Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia. The piece is headlined "Ralph Northam: I wont sign another mandatory minimum sentence bill into law. Heres why." I recommend the full piece, and here are excerpts: Over the past few decades, there has been a rise in legislation imposing mandatory minimum sentencing. These kinds of sentences are determined by elected officials who purport to be tough on crime, particularly drug offenses. Judges are not given the opportunity to arrive at these sentences by weighing the facts on a case-by-case basis. This session, I signed one such bill into law, regarding the murder of police officers. It will be the last mandatory minimum bill that I sign for the remainder of my term as Virginias governor. I believe we have more than enough mandatory minimum sentences more than 200 in Virginia state code. 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. 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. Im starting with vetoes of two mandatory minimum sentencing bills this week. The bills demonstrate how we have become too quick to impose mandatory minimum sentencing. One, House Bill 2042, would impose a 60-day mandatory minimum for assault and battery against a family or household member for someone with a prior assault and battery conviction in recent years. The other, Senate Bill 1675, establishes a six-month mandatory minimum for killing or injuring a law enforcement animal, which is already a felony under Virginia code. While violence is unacceptable, these are crimes that can be addressed by a judge with full knowledge of the facts and circumstances of each particular case. Piling on mandatory minimum sentences has contributed to our growing prison population over the past few decades, to the point that the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The 1980s and 1990s saw a rise in the popularity of mandatory minimums pegged to drug offenses, no matter the circumstances. Mandatory minimums for lower-level drug offenses, along with three-strikes laws, helped accelerate the rise in prison populations in the United States. At the end of 2016, the United States had 655 people in prison for every 100,000 adults, according to World Prison Population List, compared to a world prison population rate of 145 per 100,000 adults. That is the highest incarceration rate out of 222 countries ranked by the World Prison Brief. Data do not indicate that mandatory minimum sentences keep our communities safer. Instead, mandatory minimums are disproportionately harming people and communities of color.... Mandatory minimums are focused on punishment, not rehabilitation. I have declared May to be Second Chance Month in Virginia, to increase the focus on ways we can make our criminal justice system fairer and more equitable. We must continue to prepare returning citizens to be successful members of the community. And we must work harder to address the mental health and substance-use disorders that often lead people into our criminal justice system. We need to focus on evidence-based approaches that ensure equitable treatment under the law. And we must focus on ways to rehabilitate returning citizens, particularly nonviolent ones. I want to give our judges, appointed by the Virginia General Assembly, the appropriate discretion over sentencing decisions. We must remember that punishment and justice are not always the same thing. We are better as a society when we give our judicial system the ability to discern the difference. * AirAsia Philippines to become profitable in 2019 - CEO * No plans to invest in Malaysia Airlines (Adds more details) By Neil Jerome Morales MANILA, May 2 (Reuters) - The Philippine unit of AirAsia Group Bhd hopes to push through with its initial public offering this year to raise more than $200 million to expand capacity, the regional carrier's chief executive said on Thursday. AirAsia Group had planned to list some of its Southeast Asian units as early as 2017, but was delayed by volatile markets and business challenges. "We're getting close. Hopefully we can do it this year," AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters. The low cost carrier is planning to raise an amount "far greater" than the previously announced $200 million target, Fernandes said. Philippines AirAsia, which is growing the most along with Indonesian operations, will swing back to profitability this year, Fernandes said. "We've cracked the barrier of size, we know the market better." AirAsia Group has a 16 percent share of the Philippine market. Its Philippine unit had 22 aircraft that carried 6.86 million passengers in 2018. In Vietnam, AirAsia's plans to launch a local carrier has so far failed to take off, with the airline announcing just last month that it had ended a two-year deal with local entities Gumin Company Ltd and Hai Au Aviation. "We may never be in Vietnam," Fernandes said on Wednesday. "If that is the case, that is the case. I have to find the right partner to do it." Two weeks ago, he said on Twitter he was optimistic about the airline being in Vietnam by the end of the year. Fernandes said he is not interested in investing in national carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd as he would want to focus on expanding AirAsia's operations. Malaysia has received interest from some local and foreign firms to buy the financially distressed national carrier, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in March. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Himani Sarkar) Photo: Honestbee SINGAPORE The co-founder of Honestbee Joel Sng is stepping down as its chief executive officer as the grocery and delivery start-up continues to face tough challenges and cost pressures. In a statement, Honestbee said Brian Koo is replacing Sng as the companys interim CEO. The changes, which are effective on Thursday (2 May), are part of the companys ongoing strategic review to stay relevant in todays rapidly-changing business environment, Honestbee said. Koo said, I will be working with the executive team to conduct an in-depth review of our business to focus and align our strategic interests across our various geographies and verticals, and take the opportunity to articulate a clear vision for the future of Honestbee. The grandson of the founder of Korean conglomerate LG, Koo is listed as a shareholder for both of Honestbees ventures registered in Singapore, according to a TechCrunch report on Tuesday. His Formation 8 venture capital firm has provided significant funding for the startup. Honestbee has announced a series of cost-cutting measures that will see it temporarily cease business in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines while it conducts a review, the TechCrunch report said. It has stopped offering food delivery in Thailand and Hong Kong. In recent weeks, the company has held acquisition talks with technology firm Grab, ride-hailing app GoJek and others, the report added. Founded in 2015, Honestbee operates in eight markets across Asia Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan. Based in Singapore, Honestbee operates a 60,000 square feet flagship store called habitat by honestbee in the market. The United States is tightening its economic sanctions on Iran by ending a set of waivers Thursday that had allowed some of the countrys largest oil buyers to continue their purchases, Voice of America reports. With the expiration of waivers for eight buyers, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States would be exerting maximum pressure on the Iranian government. The U.S. State Department called the move a fulfillment of the Trump administrations promise to get Irans oil exports to zero and deny the regime the revenue it needs to fund terrorism and violent wars abroad. The move is the latest in a series of steps the United States has taken since President Donald Trump took office with a pledge to withdraw from the international agreement that limited Irans nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Trump announced the withdrawal in May 2018, and new sanctions went into place in November, with oil purchase waivers in place for China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece. Since then, Italy, Greece and Taiwan have halted their Iranian oil imports. MANILA, Philippines The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday (May 2) that voting in the May 13 National and Local Elections will take longer time due to the new Voter Registration Verification System (VRVS). Comelec said that with the use of VRVS, voters may need an additional two to 15 minutes to cast their votes. The new system was designed to identify and verify a voters registration through live fingerprint scanning of voters assigned in a particular polling precinct. Before getting an official ballot from the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) at a voting center on election day, a registered voter should first go through the VRVS machine for fingerprint scanning to check his identity and information. Ang ideal use ng VRVS is iyong walang kaproble-problema, aabutin ka ng kulang-kulang dalawang minuto. If you have problems with the VRVS it can go to as fast as 10-15 minutes kasi magsesearch ka pa. Magveverify ka pa. So doon siya tumatagal, said Comelec Spokesperson Director James Jimenez. The voter would then be given an official ballot once their registration is confirmed in the system. If a voters information does not appear on the machine after live scanning their fingerprints for four times, an election officer will manually search for the voters name on the system. Voters may also search their names in the printed voters list. Mayroon po tayong pangkaraniwan na apat na chances kasi ginagamit iyong dalawang thumb or iyong dalawang forefinger so one after the other iyan. Kung hindi pa rin mahanap, because this is a pilot test, he said. Jimenez said they are expecting delays and glitches in the system as it is still on pilot testing period in select areas in the country. Will it affect the length of time that a voter stays in a polling place? Certainly. Several factors, number 1 this is a pilot test which means that people will not have seen this before. Hindi pa nila nakikita ito. Ito ay bagong proseso. Definitely magkakaroon ka ng learning curve. Story continues Jimenez said the system is expected to eliminate flying voters and yield a quicker electoral process when it is fully implemented in the future. It will help eradicate flying voters because it will ensure that each person who votes is actually eligible to vote in that particular place kasi andoon iyong pangalan niya sa list of voters, he said. There are only 11 days left before the conduct of the May 13 Midterm elections. (with details from Mai Bermudez) The post Comelec: Longer voting time due to new voter verification system appeared first on UNTV News. Muthukaruppan Periyasamy pleaded guilty to giving $1,600 in kickbacks. SINGAPORE A construction site manager who gave $1,600 in bribes to two pest control workers in return for tip-offs about mosquito breeding inspections was jailed for six weeks at the State Courts on Thursday (2 May). Muthujaruppan Periyasamy admitted giving the kickbacks to the two former employees of pest control company Killem Pest, which had been engaged by the National Environment Agency. The 52-year-old Indian national had offered to pay Tung Chee Cheong, 48, and Chandran Jeganathan, 30, $400 a month for advanced notification of inspections at a construction site he was overseeing. Mosquito breeding grounds found twice at construction site As part of their work, Tung and Chandran would follow NEA officers during inspections at construction sites, where they looked for mosquito breeding grounds. Between January and April last year, NEA and Killem officers found mosquito breeding grounds on two occasions at a construction site at Tampines Industrial Street 61, which Periyasamy oversaw. Periyasamy, who worked for Fenzhii Engineering Services and Ramo Industries, knew that a stop-work order would be imposed if the officers found mosquito breeding grounds again. He offered Tung and Jeganathan kickbacks for the tip-offs. Jeganathan told Periyasamy about upcoming inspections on four occasions between May and August last year. Periyasamy passed $400 to either Jeganathan or Tung for each of the four months. The two pest control workers split the monies among themselves, with Tung pocketing $1,000 and Jeganathan getting $600. In a statement on Thursday, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said it adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards graft. Corrupt acts which compromise mosquito breeding controls can pose a serious danger to public health safety, the bureau said. Members of the public can lodge graft complaints and reports in writing, via 1800-376-0000, at cpib.gov.sg/e-complaint or via email at report@cpib.gov.sg. The maximum punishment for corruption is a fine of up to $100,000 or up to five years jail. Story continues In March, Tung was jailed 11 weeks while Jeganathan was jailed six weeks. More Singapore stories: 5 women attacked teen outside St. James night club for flirting with their friend's boyfriend New FAS technical director Joseph Palatsides aims to awake 'sleeping giant' DPM Heng affirms continuation of PAP-NTUC relationship; WP calls for more help for older PMETs NUS committee on sexual misconduct to propose recommendations by mid-May Sudan's prosecutor general on Thursday ordered the questioning of deposed president Omar al-Bashir over money-laundering and "financing terrorism", as protesters staged a vast rally in Khartoum to demand a civilian government. A source in the prosecutor general's office confirmed reports on state media that acting public prosecutor general Al-Waleed Sayyed Ahmed had ordered Bashir's questioning under "anti-money laundering and financing terrorism laws". Three weeks after Bashir was ousted by the military, vast crowds of demonstrators thronged the area around Sudan's army headquarters in Khartoum Thursday for a "million-strong" march demanding a civilian administration. Protesters gathered in even greater numbers than recent days, packing all the roads and bridges leading to the central Khartoum complex, AFP correspondents there said, as talks between protest leaders and the country's military rulers remained deadlocked. The two sides have agreed to form a joint civilian-military council to rule Sudan, but are at odds over its composition. Protesters are demanding a civilian majority, while the army wants a council dominated by generals. The disagreement prompted the alliance to call for a "million-strong" march to assert their demand. "We want civilian rule and we will keep coming until that happens," said protester Emad Abbas. - Warning against 'chaos' - Bashir ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades. During his rule the country was placed on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism over its alleged links with Islamist militants. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden lived in Sudan between 1992 to 1996. Bashir's regime was replaced by a 10-member military council. Protest leaders from the Alliance for Freedom and Change want to replace that with a mixed body, but say the generals are not serious about handing power to civilians. As the wrangling persisted Thursday, crowds flocked to the army headquarters in central Khartoum to join the thousands who have remained camped there round-the-clock for weeks. Protest leaders on Thursday handed the military council proposals for the new civilian structures they want to see rule the country eventually, including executive and legislative bodies. The army said it would examine the document and "continue with our communication with the alliance". But the military council has also warned it will not allow "chaos" and urged protesters to dismantle makeshift barricades they have erected around the site, where several roads remain blocked. Those already filling the square Thursday kept up a festive atmosphere, with loudspeakers blaring out revolutionary songs and vendors selling fruits and peanuts. In an interview with AFP Wednesday, Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudan's former premier and main political opponent of Bashir, warned protest leaders against provoking the military. "If we provoke the... armed forces which contributed to the change, we would be asking for trouble," said Mahdi, whose National Umma Party is part of the protest movement. - Civilian rights - The military council's deputy head Mohammad Hamdan Dagolo has said it is "committed to negotiations". Hamdan, widely known as Himeidti, spoke of incidents since the protests first broke out in December including looting and burning of markets. He said across the country six security personnel were killed during protests on Monday. The spokesman of the military council Shamseddin al-Kabbashi said the "armed forces must remain in the sovereign council" because of tensions in the country. But protesters say civilians must dominate the new body. "If the military council took the majority in the sovereign council, the rights of civilians would not be guaranteed at all," said protester Hassan Rabeh, from the central town of Gadaref. The announcement on the joint civilian-military council on Saturday was seen as a breakthrough aimed at paving the way for detailed negotiations on a roadmap for the formation of a civilian government. The Alliance for Freedom and Change also insisted that the transitional administration must include representatives from armed groups who spent years battling Khartoum, without naming specific groups. Rebels took up arms in the western region of Darfur in 2003, prompting the regime to unleash tribal militias in a conflict the UN says killed 300,000 people and saw Bashir accused of genocide. Other conflicts in the southern states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan have also left thousands dead. The protesters have won support from Western governments for their demand for civilian rule. But Gulf Arab states have provided the military council with a three billion dollar (2.7 billion euro) credit lifeline to support an "orderly" transition. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban presents the programme of his Fidesz party for European Parliament elections in Budapest, Hungary April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/Files ROME (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said the European Parliament's main centre-right group must forge an alliance with populist, nationalist groups after impending EU elections, receiving a swift rebuke from Germany's conservative leader. Orban's ruling Fidesz Party was suspended from the mainstream European People's Party (EPP) in March over its record on respect for the rule of law, freedom of the press and minorities' rights. Orban has denied violating any EU principles and said he wants to remain part of the EPP. But in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa 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. Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy's far-right League, is trying to put together a Europe-wide alliance of nationalist, anti-immigration parties. Orban alluded to this, saying: "We need to find another path through cooperation with Europe's right wing." But German conservative leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a potential successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, was dismissive. "If Orban chooses to move further away from the EPP, there is no way back to the EPP for him and Fidesz," she said. "Since the suspension in March, Orban and Fidesz no longer have any influence on EPP policy." Voters in the 28-nation EU vote 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 ally itself with other groups to control the chamber and shape the EU in the next five years. EPP leader Manfred Weber has made clear he would prefer to hooking up with pro-European Socialists and Liberals rather than the eurosceptic, sovereigntist forces drawn to Salvini's flag. "The nationalists will be our enemies," Weber said as he launched his EU election campaign last month. Story continues Salvini, who is Italy's deputy prime minister and interior minister, is eager to win Orban over to his cause and is due to meet him 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 in Rome and Paul Carrel in Berlin; editing by Larry King and Kevin Liffey) Calm appeared to return to Benin late Thursday following two days of angry post-election violence in which at least two people died, as the definitive results of the parliamentary polls were published. "Turnout... was 27.1 percent," the president of Benin's Constitutional Court, Joseph Djogbenou, announced, higher than the 23 percent previously when preliminary results were released. "Considering the irregularities and the disturbances (during the vote), these are still not of a nature to compromise the validity and transparency of the vote," said Djogbenou, who is close to President Patrice Talon. Violence broke out on Wednesday shortly after the provisional results were announced of Sunday's vote which had been held without a single opposition candidate. Two former heads of state, Boni Yayi, who was president from 2006 until 2016, and Nicephore Soglo, who held office between 1991 and 1996, had urged Talon to annul the vote which they described as an "electoral state coup". Earlier, soldiers had fired shots as they clamped down on the second day of angry demonstrations. Large numbers of troops and riot police -- as well as hundreds of protesters manning burning barricades -- squared off in the streets of Benin's economic capital Cotonou. A witness said three people were killed Thursday as soldiers opened fire, and a video seen by AFP showed troops shooting as protesters fled. "The police and soldiers... they started firing, they chased people," said a resident. "We heard shots, lots of shots." A woman died on Thursday after being wounded the day before, medical sources said, and a man was brought to hospital with a gunshot wound to the back. In the town of Kandi, some 620 kilometres (385 miles) to the north, a young man was also killed late Wednesday, by shots fired by soldiers. "They aimed at him," the victim's father told AFP. "The bullet went through him. My child is dead." The protests began hours after initial results released on Wednesday showed a record low turnout in Sunday's election. On Thursday, soldiers deployed in force. "They made a brutal incursion," said one witness, a relative of former president Thomas Boni Yayi who had led calls for a boycott of Sunday's ballot and whose house has become a focal point of protests. "They fired bursts of bullets," said the witness. Interior Minister Sacca Lafia told French radio RFI some officers had "gone against given orders" and those found guilty would receive the "toughest punishment". - 'Democracy is precious'- Protestors chanting slogans against President Talon have torched businesses, hurled stones and petrol bombs, and smashed the windows of government buildings. Police fired tear gas to break up crowds, and protestors tried to throw some of the canisters back. "Talon... will not be able to kill our democracy," one demonstrator said. "Democracy is precious to us, the people of Benin," said another. "That is why we have protested." One of the country's largest cotton factories -- a sector in which Talon made his fortune before embarking on politics -- was set on fire. "Protesters set the factory on fire," said a firefighter. "Everything burned." The UN envoy for West Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, was holding talks with regional leaders and officials in Benin to ensure "a peaceful solution", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Thursday, noting a "high-handed response from the security forces." "We are closely following the situation in Benin," Dujarric said. "We note with concern the ongoing tension and unrest, resulting in destruction of property and high-handed response from the security forces." - 'Crackdown' - Tough new eligibility criteria effectively barred opposition parties from fielding candidates in last Sunday's parliamentary elections. Opposition leaders asked people not to vote, and the preliminary results showed that over three-quarters of the country's five million registered voters heeded the call. "The people demand the return of democracy," Boni Yayi told reporters on Monday, calling on people to resist the incumbent president. "Talon will walk over our dead bodies." Events in the small West African state has given rise to warnings from civil society and rights groups inside and outside Benin. Amnesty International, ahead of the vote, said a "wave of arbitrary arrests of political activists and journalists, and the crackdown on peaceful protests" had reached an "alarming level." Following a meeting of ministers on Thursday afternoon, the Benin government noted the "professionalism" of the security forces in their efforts to maintain public order. Sizeable contingents of police and the army were still stationed in Cotonou late Thursday, blocking access to Yayi's residence. A former US intelligence officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of conspiring to deliver top secret national defence information to China and unlawful retention of classified information. Jerry Chun Shing Lee was expected to go to trial in federal court this week in Alexandria, Virginia, but a hearing to change his plea was held before US District Judge TS Ellis, who could sentence Lee to a maximum penalty of life in prison. I conspired to gather and send secret-level information to the government of the PRC, Lee told Ellis at the end of Wednesdays hearing, referring to the Peoples Republic of China. Lee acknowledged lying to officials of the US Central Intelligence Agency about the nature of his contacts with agents of Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS), the countrys CIA counterpart, during a series of interviews with his former employer between 2012 and 2018. Lee was a CIA officer between 1994 and 2007. A plea agreement struck by the defendant with the government sets the recommended sentence at around 20 years in prison, although Judge Ellis is not bound to accept that advice. The deal also drops two of the three charges against Lee, including that for his retention of classified CIA information after his employment there. While Lees contact with MSS agents started shortly before a reported death or imprisonment of 18 to 20 informants the US government had in China, neither Wednesdays hearing nor case documents connect Lee to the loss of these intelligence sources. The New York Times reported in 2017 that the first signs of trouble that led to the dismantling of the US spy network in China surfaced in 2010. The FBI and the CIA then opened a joint investigation. Lee is one of three former intelligence officers accused of spying for China in separate cases over the past two years. Former CIA and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer Kevin Mallory was found guilty at a trial last year. His sentencing is scheduled for later this month. Story continues Former DIA officer Ron Hansen, now serving a 15-year sentence, pleaded guilty in March. China is alleged to have given Hong Kong-born Lee a cash gift of US$100,000 and promised it would take care of him for life, according to the indictment against him. In Wednesdays hearing, assistant US attorney Neil Hammerstrom described a series of false statements Lee gave to CIA officials about the nature of his contacts with Chinese agents, including details about how he met them. Lee told CIA officials that he had stopped travelling to China in 2010 to cut off contact with MSS agents, who approached him at a conference in Shenzhen that year. However, the CIAs investigation found that Lee met the agents at a business dinner and that he travelled back to Shenzhen at least twice over the next two years, conclusions that Lee acknowledged as part of his plea agreement. The probe connected payments made to an HSBC account the defendant opened in Hong Kong to classified information Lee intended to give to the Chinese agents, including a cash deposit of HK$138,000 (US$17,600) made soon after Lee started his contact with them. That was the first of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash deposits Lee made until December 2013, according to court documents. The evidence against Lee also included files found to have been deleted from a thumbnail drive retrieved from a hotel room Lee booked in Honolulu, Hawaii, in a court-authorised search conducted in 2013. The files, deleted from the drive by Lee but recovered through an examination of the device, included information about sensitive CIA operations overseas, Hammerstrom said. Lee said in Wednesdays hearing that he became a US citizen in 1985. He received a bachelors degree in international business and a masters degree in human resource management from Hawaii Pacific University, according to his testimony. Sentencing for Lee is scheduled for August 23. More from South China Morning Post: This article Hong Kong resident Jerry Chun Shing Lee, an ex-CIA officer, pleads guilty to spying for China first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019. 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. Story continues 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. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn will be crowned this weekend in a pageantry-laden ceremony flecked by Hindu and Buddhist ritual, as Rama X furthers his primacy over one of the world's richest monarchies and a kingdom beset by ulcerous political divides. The May 4-6 coronation comes more than two years after Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne at the death of his father Bhumibol Adulyadej. Bhumibol reigned over seven tumultuous decades and was revered by Thais as a symbol of unity in a politically chaotic country. His fiercely private 66-year-old son -- Rama X of the Chakri dynasty -- is less well-known by his subjects, and makes frequent trips overseas. On Saturday at the auspicious hour of 10:09 am the public will be given a rare window into the heart of Thai power as blanket television coverage of the three-day coronation begins. It will start with King Vajiralongkorn's "purification" by water drawn from ponds and rivers followed by a presentation of holy water by the top Buddhist patriarch and Chief Brahmin. Then, as he sits underneath an ornate nine-tiered umbrella inside the Grand Palace, will be handed the diamond-encrusted Great Crown of Victory and issue his first royal command. The rituals "are a symbolic system to upgrade the king from human to god", according to Tongthong Chandransu, a researcher of royal ceremonies. The following day Thais, who have not witnessed a coronation since Bhumibol's in 1950, will see the newly-crowned monarch as he is carried on a palanquin for seven kilometres through Bangkok's historic heart. "I'm excited, it's a rare event... everyone respects the monarchy, it is the spiritual anchor for Thais," Surasak Nantaket, a 20-year-old student, told AFP. The government has set aside 1 billion baht ($31 million) for the ceremony, according to the deputy prime minister. - Queen Suthida - Inscrutable and powerful, Vajiralongkorn rarely addresses the Thai public, leaving his views broadly unknown and much of his private life a mystery and subject to gossip and conjecture. In an unexpected twist late Wednesday, the palace named his consort -- and deputy head of his security -- Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya as his fourth wife, making her Queen Suthida. It has added to the mounting intrigue around the royal ceremony. "Public curiosity, excitement and anticipation is naturally palpable and pervasive," said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak. The coronation "underscores the paramount role of the monarchy in Thai society". Thailand's monarchy is protected by one of the world's harshest royal defamation laws, making criticism or full analysis inside the kingdom all but impossible. The Thai constitutional monarchy was established in 1932. But recent actions -- notably to extinguish a bid by his elder sister to run for premier -- have shown an increasingly assertive crown. The kingdom has been cut by political divisions for more than 13 years, with coups and violence toppling short-lived civilian governments. Full results from a contentious March 24 general election, the first since generals again seized power in 2014, are due to be announced on May 9. Historically the monarchy and army have survived in partnership. The ruling junta, led by former army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha, wants to return as a civilian government and claims legitimacy from winning the popular vote. But deadlock looms with an anti-junta bloc claiming most parliamentary seats and the right to form a government. "The role of the crown will be key in restoring and ushering in some kind of a new normal, a new kind of political stability," said Thitinan. - Volunteer spirit - Since ascending the throne, Vajiralongkorn has repeatedly left his mark on the Thai bureaucracy. Parliament has been shuttered since the palace reclaimed the land it stands on; police have been ordered to wear a short crew-cut, while the king's pointmen now sit on the influential privy council and manage his beefed-up security. Significantly, the king transferred direct control of the Crown Property Bureau to himself, breaking the tradition of civilian stewardship of the hugely wealthy body. In the absence of public debate on those moves, a wave of royal volunteerism has surged across the country ahead of the coronation. Millions have signed up to clean streets, plant mangroves and repaint roads across the kingdom, while vast portraits of the king now stud virtually every street. But not everyone is captivated by the ceremony. "I'm not really interested," said one office worker, requesting anonymity, expressing concern at "changes under the new reign". Reports have emerged that two men have died from suspected methanol poisoning after drinking alcohol in Ipoh, three hours outside of Kuala Lumpur. Both victims were foreign workers, one from Bangladesh, and another from Myanmar. The Bangladeshi victim was admitted to hospital in a semi-conscious state on April 28, telling medical staff that he was suffering from blurred vision, nausea, vomiting and stomach pains following their consumption of the noxious beverages. Fighting for his life for two days, he unfortunately succumbed to the poisoning in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Doctors report that while they suspect the cause, and confirm that symptoms are in line with, methanol poisoning, no conclusive lab samples have been received as of yet. Investigations are now on-going to trace the fatal final steps of the duo, and exactly what drinks were consumed in the lead-up to their unfortunate deaths. Authorities are keeping a watchful eye on suspicious alcoholic drinks on the market. Little is known of the two victims, although there is nothing to suggest that the two knew each other previously. Than Hta Young, the 40-year-old Burmese victim, is believed to have purchased alcohol near Batu Gajah at 10am yesterday, on the morning of the Labor Day public holiday. Police in the area reported his death to hospital authorities, having found the construction worker already deceased, with evidence pointing to tainted alcohol being the culprit. The other victim, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi known only as Roy, had reported to his friend on April 28 that he was feeling ill, asking if he could borrow money to go to a nearby medical clinic. Agreeing to come to the clinic to settle the bill, the friend was advised by the doctor on duty to take Roy to a hospital for further treatment. Taking Roy to the hospital in a taxi, his friend reported that he complained of feeling nauseous and dizzy on the ride there. Last year, a total of 37 individuals across Malaysia died after drinking tainted alcohol, with dozens more being hospitalized in serious condition to receive treatment. Many of the dead were foreign workers, hailing from Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and India. Story continues At the time, individuals reported that not only had backyard distilleries opened up of late, producing illicit alcohol, but that bottles of Kingfisher beer had been illegally relabeled, with importers confirming they had stopped importing the lager into Malaysia four years ago. Public health authorities have issued a warning against the consumption of fake alcohol, reiterating that symptoms include stomach ache, breathing difficulties, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, severe headache, and leg cramps. If anyone finds themselves suffering from these ailments following drinking alcohol, please seek medical treatment immediately. This article, Two men die over public holiday from drinking suspected tainted alcohol, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! US health authorities have given their approval to dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, the controversial first treatment designed to protect against the deadly mosquito-borne virus. The Food and Drug Administration made the announcement on Wednesday, but the use of the vaccine can only occur under certain strict conditions: only children aged between nine and 16, who have previously confirmed infections, and who live in endemic areas, may receive the dose. "While there is no cure for dengue disease... approval is an important step toward helping to reduce the impact of this virus," said Anna Abram, a senior FDA official. The virus is endemic in the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, said the FDA. Dengue, which causes hemorrhagic fever, is the world's most common mosquito-borne virus and infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year -- killing more than 25,000 of them, according to the World Health Organization. But Dengvaxia, produced by the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, is controversial: the Philippines, which became the first country to approve it in 2016, was also the first to ban it in February this year over safety concerns. Manila is also pursuing criminal charges against the company's officials over the deaths of children injected with Dengvaxia. Sanofi denies the charges but in 2017 admitted the vaccine was not suitable for people who had not previously been infected with the virus. Dengvaxia has previously been approved in 19 countries and the European Union, which greenlit the vaccine under similar conditions to the US, though the age range was nine to 45-years-old. Photo credit: Boston Globe - Getty Images From Esquire (Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post) Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where the skating rink glistens by the sun near the old crossroads sign. We begin this week in the Commonwealth (God save it!) where a local judge and local DA's office have decided to throw hands at ICE and the administration*'s policies toward undocumented people. From the Boston Globe: Last week, Joseph and MacGregor pleaded not guilty to obstruction charges, and MacGregor also pleaded not guilty to a perjury charge for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury. The defendants are free on personal recognizance. The matter stems from a bizarre sequence of events inside Newton District Court on April 2, 2018. Thats when twice-deported Jose Medina-Perez appeared before Joseph on drug and fugitive from justice charges while an ICE agent sat in court waiting to take him into custody to begin removal proceedings. Prosecutors said in an indictment that Joseph spoke with defense lawyer David Jellinek and prosecutor Shannon Jurgens during a sidebar conference. Jellinek and Jurgens arent named in the indictment. The Globe has reported they were the attorneys of record. Prosecutors havent said what the Pennsylvania fugitive charge involved, but the Globe previously reported it was for a drunken driving offense. Jurgens said she didnt think Medina-Perez was the person wanted out of Pennsylvania, and Jellinek said ICE was convinced it had its man and would grab him if he walked out of court. the indictment said. Photo credit: Boston Globe - Getty Images Medina-Perez was released, and MacGregor, whos now retired and whos also charged in connection with the case, used his security access card to open the rear sally-port exit and released [Medina-Perez] out the backdoor at approximately 3:01 p.m., the indictment said. That happened unbeknownst to the ICE agent who was still waiting in the lobby to apprehend Medina-Perez. The subterfuge was criminal, according to prosecutors, and it started earlier when the recorder was turned off during the sidebar conference. Story continues With the recorder off, defendant Joseph and [Jellinek] discussed devising a way to have [Medina-Perez] avoid being arrested by the ICE Officer, the indictment said. After ordering [Medina-Perezs] release, defendant Joseph ordered that [Medina-Perez] be returned downstairs to the lockup for [Jellinek] to further interview [Medina-Perez], which, in reality, was a pretext to allow [Medina-Perez] to access the rear sally-port exit in order to avoid the ICE Officer. Thwarting ICE like that is a federal offense. Alright, this is an interesting episode leading to a very interesting criminal case that will touch on a whole host of issues-most notably, to me, anyway, whether or not the entire criminal justice system, local and federal, is now hostage to the administration*'s bughouse-nutty immigration policies. In fact, local district attorneys have filed a lawsuit to block ICE from making arrests within state courts. Alas, as you can imagine, this is something the president* couldn't keep his stubby fingers off. And now it's a roiling mess. Again, from the Globe: I think its a sad situation and very unfortunate for Massachusetts, Trump said during an appearance on Boston Herald Radio. You know, these are people who probably dont mind crime, they dont mind whats going on. Trump then pivoted to a discussion about MS-13, the murderous international street gang he called evil. To try to protect them, I dont think so, he said, referring to the lawsuit that Rollins and Ryan joined. Trump also defended the work of ICE officials, calling them real heroes. It seems to me that the judge and her co-defendant well may be in some genuine trouble, but the president*'s meddling in the DA's lawsuit is genuinely inexcusable, not to mention slanderous. Speaking for Massachusetts, I'd like to suggest the president* fck the hell right off. Photo credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock From here, we skip on down to Tennessee, where things are coming unstrung in a lot of ways. First, they're trying to unionize the Volkswagen plant near Chattanooga again and, this time, the company is making employees listen to the governor, which seems like a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. From Labor Notes: The governors speech opened by marking his 100th day in office and the need for vocational training in the state to foreground his remarks about unionization. Beginning near the 12-minute mark, the governor said, I do believe, based on my personal experience of working with hundreds of skilled trades people over 35 years of working, that every workplace has challenges. He added, There are things in your workplace that you wish were different. I also believe ... that when I have a direct relationship with you, the worker, and youre working for me, that is when the environment works the best. The plants auto workers responded with boos and clapping, reflecting a divided audience. Wow. That's some serious dancing right there. Volkswagens management was less than pleased with the heckling, according to workers in attendance. Ach du lieber! We had open dialogue back by letting the governor know that we think he is full of it, said Billy Quigg, who has worked on assembly in the plant for seven years. Dont preach open dialogue and then get upset when we make it clear that we disagree with what the governor is saying. Meanwhile, in Nashville, the state legislature has passed a whole bouquet of awful laws, including a voter-suppression bill that would severely penalize even minor clerical errors made by the workers in voter-registration drives, a voucher system for public schools the costs of which fall most heavily on various predominently Democratic parts of the state, and an anti-choice law that will be placed in abeyance for the day that Roe v. Wade is overturned by P.J. and Squi's pal in Washington. Meanwhile, a former legislator named Larry Bates was sentenced for being a nationally known griftzilla. From the Memphis Commercial-Appeal: Bates was convicted along with his two sons and a daughter-in-law in the scheme carried out through Bates' company, which had offices in Memphis and Boulder, Colorado. "Larry Bates, a self-proclaimed doctor in economics, held conferences across the United States, predicting an economic collapse and emphasizing the need to invest in precious metals," the federal prosecutor's office said in a news release. "Between 2007 and 2013, customers gave more than eighty-seven million dollars to First American Monetary Consultants for the purpose of buying precious metals. During this same period, the proof showed the defendant diverted customers monies that were to be used to purchase precious metals to the defendants own use and benefit." The prosecutor's office said Bates diverted $4 million to create a Christian radio network, International Radio Network, while other funds were used for trading commodities and building a 10,000-square-foot house in Middleton, about 80 miles east of Memphis. By 2009, the company accumulated more than $26 million in unfilled orders from customers. Render unto my pocket, you suckers. Photo credit: Julie Dermansky - Getty Images We move from there over to Louisiana, where CNN brings us the story of a place called LaPlace, in the middle of that state's toxic wasteland, where sick residents are being told that it's nobody's fault, and certainly not the fault of their good pal, chloroprine. Her grandchildren suffer an array of ailments, from skin conditions to breathing problems. Her 7-year-old great-grandson's breathing is so labored, she says, "you can feel his heart trying to jump out of his chest." Watkins lives in the shadow of a plant that spews chloroprene -- a chemical so toxic the Environmental Protection Agency says nearby residents face the highest risk in the country of developing cancer from air toxins. "You gotta live here to try to breathe the air, drink the water, see the children so sick and watch people die," Watkins says. "Industry is wonderful to have, but if it's killing the people in the area that they live in, what good is industry?" Watkins is a worthy advocate, a 76-year-old great-grandmother challenging those in power. Her words are often punctuated by folksy aphorisms: "Nothing beats a failure but a try," she says. And try she will. In 2010, the EPA determined that chloroprene is "likely carcinogenic to humans," meaning studies showed it likely causes cancer in people. The EPA has not set a legal limit for chloroprene emissions. But according to a May 2016 memo, federal regulators said the "upper limit of acceptability" for cancer risk was an annual average of 0.2 micrograms of chloroprene per cubic meter. Anything more than that would increase the risk of developing cancer, the EPA determined. Residents say they were largely unaware of the 2010 EPA finding. But in December 2015, the EPA updated its National Air Toxics Assessment map, which showed an elevated risk of cancer around the plant -- prompting Denka to enter into an agreement with the state of Louisiana to voluntarily reduce chloroprene emissions by 85%. The company, however, is telling the folks that chloroprene isn't unhealthy anyway. The town hall meetings may have been intended to reassure residents, but they only seemed to create more questions: Residents wondered why they weren't warned years before and said their complaints have been ignored. While Denka agreed to the voluntary 85% reduction, it disputes the EPA's 0.2 recommendation and insists its own research shows no connection between chloroprene and cancer. Denka is a Japanese chemical company that bought the plant from DuPont in 2015. Denka officials say the EPA based its cancer estimate on faulty science and have demanded that the EPA issue a correction. The company commissioned and submitted a study that argued chloroprene's classification should be changed from "likely carcinogenic to humans" to "possibly carcinogenic" -- and that the 0.2 guideline should be changed to 31.2, more than 150 times the EPA's recommendation. It's another classic jobs vs. poison dilemma in an obscure place in which the plant is a primary economic engine. What the people know is that their neighbors are getting sick and dying. Robert Taylor III grew up near the plant and was in and out of the hospital with kidney problems throughout his youth. He moved away after high school and had no problems for more than 20 years. But six months after moving back, Taylor says, his kidneys failed. Sitting at his kitchen table, he points across the street: "Husband and wife died from cancer." Then, he waves his hand toward another home: "Husband died of cancer. Both of his sons got cancer." "These people are filling us up with this poison," he says of the plant. There are thousands of little time bombs like this around the country and in so many of them, the people most closely involved are talking past each other. And people get sick and die. We need a vocabulary for these conversations that doesn't include the phrase, "sacrificing for the economy." Photo credit: Josh Brasted - Getty Images Also in Louisiana, we find another example of ICE and the administration*'s batshit-nutty immigration policies screwing up local law-enforcement. From Mother Jones: In June 2017, before signing a historic suite of criminal justice reform bills, Louisianas Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, declared, Im not proud of our title as the most incarcerated state, but that now is going to be part of our history. True to his word, the governor announced one year later that his state no longer had the nations highest incarceration rate. As Louisiana began to send fewer people to jail and release inmates more quickly, Immigration and Customs Enforcement stepped in to fill the void. Since February, ICE has started housing detained immigrants at three new jails in the state, doubling the agencys capacity in Louisiana. In the coming weeks or months, Louisiana may surpass California to become the state with the second-most ICE detainees, behind Texas. This is America. We don't leave cells empty for long. The new contracts in Louisiana show that ICE continues to disregard the limits Congress tried to impose on the number of immigrants it detains. The 2019 spending bill passed by Congress in February instructed ICE to reduce its detainee population from about 50,000 to 40,000 by September. Yet ICE has routinely exceeded congressional limits, and its taking things even further with the Louisiana contracts, which are expanding its capacity by another 2,500 detainees. The three Louisiana jails are run by LaSalle Corrections, a Louisiana-based private jail operator that started in the nursing home business before realizing it could apply the same model to running jails: Keep occupancy high and costs low. Bad enough to treat the old folks as though they live in a Times Square SRO, but keeping occupancy of a prison high and its costs low is like running a rewards program for Devils Island. And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, where, as Blog Official Left Banke Cowboy Friedman of the Plains informs us from Paris (!), a former jail administrator soon will be sampling institutional dining himself. From ABC8 in Tulsa: Former Garfield County jail administrator Jennifer Shay Niles was sentenced Tuesday to 55 hours in jail. She was among several people charged following the 2016 death of Anthony Huff. According to the Enid News & Eagle, Niles testified Tuesday that Huff was restrained because he had been kicking doors and hitting his head on a wall. But prosecutor Chris Boring said Huff was left to suffer in the chair and wasn't removed until he was dead. The state medical examiner's office listed Huff's probable cause of death as chronic alcoholism. This is your democracy, America. Cherish it. Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) The entire Loire Valley has seized on Leonardo's quincentenary as that of the Renaissance in general, planning more than 500 events across the region, with Bern as the figurehead French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on Thursday kicked off commemorations to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci died in France, paying their respects to the Renaissance genius in a show of unity after months of diplomatic tensions. "The bond between our countries and our citizens is indestructible," Macron said after the two men lunched at the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house where Leonardo spent the last three years of his life. Mattarella and Macron, who was accompanied by his wife Brigitte, began their visit at the royal chateau in Amboise, where the heads of state laid wreaths at Leonardo's grave. The Italian leader had started his day with a visit to the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral 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. In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome. Amboise, a sleepy town on the Loire River where Leonardo died in 1519 aged 67, was in virtual lockdown because of fears of protests by France's grassroots "yellow vest" movement. Amboise was turned into a ghost town, with traffic banned within a five-kilometre (three-mile) radius and the usually teeming restaurants and shops shuttered. On Wednesday, dozens of cars were towed away, with some foreign owners apparently unaware of the draconian security measures in the town of just 13,000. The presidential helicopter arrived on a river island in the heart of the town, touching down on a pad usually used to launch hot-air balloons over the chateau-studded valley. Also Thursday, the two presidents visited 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. Story continues Among glitterati attending the events were Italian star architect Renzo Piano, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and historian Stephane Bern, a prominent French television personality. At Chambord, Pesquet told a group of around 500 Italian and French youths: "If Leonardo were alive today, maybe he would be a European astronaut." The entire Loire Valley has seized on Leonardo's quincentenary as that of the Renaissance in general, planning more than 500 events across the region, with Bern as the figurehead. - 'Architect of the king' - Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome. Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation to Amboise, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars. With Leonardo's 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". 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. Leonardo brought with him three of his favourite 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. Italy and France have also sparred over an accord under which Italy will lend several Leonardos to the Louvre in October. With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them, as well as 22 drawings. During his three years in Amboise, 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 unrealised projects -- all while continuing his research. Photo credit: Shutterstock From Harper's BAZAAR Hulu's The Act fictionalizes the twisted real-life events that led to Dee Dee Blanchard's murder at the hands of daughter Gypsy's boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn. Gypsy (played by Joey King on the show) spent 20 years effectively held prisoner by her mother Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette), who subjected her daughter to unnecessary medical procedures and forced her to use a wheelchair, in what appears to have been a classic case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Ultimately, Gypsy enlisted her boyfriend, Godejohn, to kill Dee Dee. As you watch the series (which just aired its finale yesterday), here's what you need to know about Godejohn. He had a criminal record before the murder. In 2013, Godejohn pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct, after police arrested him for allegedly viewing pornography on his laptop at a McDonalds and touching himself inappropriately. When he met Gypsy on a Christian dating website om 2012, Godejohn was living with his family in Big Bend, Wisconsin. Little else is known about him prior to meeting Gypsy, although news reports indicate he had been diagnosed with autism. He and Gypsy had a secret online relationship for over two years. According to BuzzFeed, Gypsy told her neighbor Aleah Woodmansee in 2014 that she and Godejohn had discussed eloping, and were making plans for a future together. Gypsy also detailed her online sex life with Nick, which involved elements of BDSM and role play: Godejohn referred to his evil side because he and Gypsy had constructed an elaborate online fantasy life, mostly through a jigsaw puzzle of Facebook accounts. They were into BDSM imagery. They had specific names and roles for each other. They took pictures of themselves in costumes, Gypsy dressing up at one point as the comic book character Harley Quinn, posing with a knife. Reality and fantasy blended quite a lot, for both of them. She was talking about this new guy that she was now in love with, and that they had met on a Christian dating site and that they were already planning on naming their children after him, Woodmansee told ABC News. Honestly, what I was thinking whenever I saw these messages, is that these were just like fantasies and dreams and nothing like this would ever really take place. Story continues Gypsy lost her virginity to him in a movie theater bathroom. This particularly extraordinary moment from The Acts fifth episode is played out just how it happened in real life. In March 2015, Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee attended a screening of Disneys Cinderella (their shared love of Disney movies was well-documented; Dee Dee regularly took Gypsy to conventions in Disney costumes). According to Gypsy's testimony at Godejohn's 2018 trial, Gypsy hoped that by engineering a seemingly chance encounter with Godejohn in public, she could create a situation where Dee Dee might warm to him. Godejohn traveled all the way from Big Bend, Wisconsin to Springfield, Missouri to make this "chance encounter" happen. Unfortunately, things dd not go entirely to plan. [Dee Dee] got jealous, because I was spending a little too much attention on him, and she had ordered me to stay away from him," Gypsy told ABC News. "Needless to say, that was a very long argument that lasted a couple weeks. Yelling, throwing things, calling me names: bitch, slut, whore. Godejohn killed Dee Dee Blanchard at Gypsy's urging. Both Godejohn and Gypsy testified at trial that the murder was Gypsy's idea, and that Godejohn carried out the act in June of 2015. On the day of the murder, Godejohn traveled to Missouri, checked into a motel, and waited for Gypsy to text him after Dee Dee went to bed. Once the text came, he went to the Blanchard house, where Gypsy gave him the murder weapon (a knife) along with gloves and duct tape. Gypsy testified that she hid in the bathroom with her hands over her ears while Godejohn stabbed her mother to death. I honestly thought he would end up not doing it, Gypsy told 20/20. She called out to my name about three or four times, and at that point, I wanted to go help her so bad, but I was so afraid to get up. It's like my body wouldn't move. Then everything just went quiet. After the murder, the couple took a taxi back to Godejohn's motel, and later traveled to Godejohn's family's house in Wisconsin, where they were arrested days later when police raided the home. Photo credit: Hulu/Brownie Harris Godejohn says he felt remorse after the murder. As BuzzFeed's story notes, Godejohn had no history of violence before he murdered Dee Dee. I felt horrible about it," Godejohn told 20/20. "When me and her were in the hotel room she kept on telling me, 'Stop crying, stop crying. There's no reason, reason to cry. It was my idea, it wasn't yours." He added that he went along with the plan solely because he wanted to protect Gypsy. I did what I did because I loved her. I really wanted a life with her, I really did, Godejohn said. He is serving a life sentence. Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder after a four day trial last year. In February, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gypsy, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for second-degree murder in 2016, has distanced herself from Godejohn since their arrest. There's a big difference between someone who asks someone to kill someone and someone that actually does it, she told 20/20. Because I would never kill somebody. I would never physically go through with killing somebody. I can't. Of Godejohn, she said, "I don't hate him. I feel sorry for him, and just that somebody could do something so heartless and not express remorse and not feel like he's responsible for it. At his sentencing hearing, Godejohn reiterated that his motivation for the crime was his love for Gypsy. "I was blindly in love," Godejohn said. "That was always very much the case." In addition to a life sentence, he received a concurrent 25-year sentence on the charge of armed criminal action. ('You Might Also Like',) Photography by Zachary Tang. As Farid walks towards an HDB flat unit, he catches a whiff of the putrid stench of a decomposed body. Instinctively, he raises his hand to cover his nose. Minutes after joining a Muslim funeral services company, Farid is already attending to his first body. In comparison, his veteran colleague Hamdan strides into the flat to greet a doctor and the deceaseds family. Hanging back, Farid tries to control his gag reflex. Farid, help me, Hamdan calls, beckoning the younger man into a bedroom. Instead, Farid bolts for the kitchen and throws up in the sink. This is the scenario depicted in the debut episode of 67, a Malay drama series that chronicles the life of Farid, an engineer who joins a funeral services company after being retrenched. The title is in reference to the size of a Muslim burial plot in Singapore 6ft in depth and 7ft in length. Though the TV series premiered in 2017, I heard about it only after attending a course on Islamic funeral rites last month. Some of the students, like me, signed up for the class because they wanted to be prepared when their parents pass on. Others have had the experience of washing the body of a deceased family member, but felt that they needed a refresher class. One participant said she was contemplating a career change. Muhammad Amir Ali Bin Idris Ali and his wife Raiha Binte Tahir have been teaching the course for about seven years. They also run Pengurusan Jenazah NUR, or NUR Muslim Casket. Raiha is a jurumandi, and her job is to wash and shroud the bodies of deceased Muslim women, preparing them for burial. Typically, between five and six family members (of the same gender as the deceased) will assist the jurumandi. Amir, on the other hand, has a more all-encompassing job title of pengurus jenazah, or funeral director. He washes and shrouds the bodies of deceased Muslim men, leads funeral prayers and burials, and drives the hearse, on top of handling administrative work. Story continues One of the first things Amir tells the class is that he wants to keep the mood light-hearted as we discuss death and Islamic funeral rites. I prefer not to be too serious, he says. Itll make you sleepy. As the class progresses, I realise that while I might have had some rudimentary knowledge of the religious aspect of managing a funeral, I had not even thought about some of the most basic questions: Who should I call when there is a death in the family homethe police, ambulance, funeral director, or doctor? Where do I go to obtain a death certificate? If a death occurs overseas, should the body be repatriated to Singapore? Amir impresses upon us that any misstep can delay the burial procedure. During the practical session, one of the men volunteers to be the body for his peers to practise shrouding, while the women use a life-size rag doll. What strikes me is how vigilant Raiha is in making sure that the aurator intimate areasof the rag doll are always covered with either a seamless batik or towel. For a woman, this starts from above the chest to below the knee. Raiha constantly reminds the volunteers to be gentle, especially when they tilt the rag doll on to its side. When I visited the couple at their residence a few days after the course to learn more about their work, Amir is keen to hear my feedback. I assure him that I now have a basic understanding of how to help wash a body; I also ask for his name card to stick on the door of my fridge, just like the other emergency contact numbers. But what has been more difficult to reconcile is the humblingand uncomfortablerealisation that one day, my body too will be washed, and that I can only hope it will be treated with dignity. When Raiha shares that she has witnessed some jurumandi handling bodies carelessly, my anxiety increases. They dont bother about aurat, whether theyre gentle or whether theyre rough, she explains. They dont care. They want to finish on time. To Raiha, nothing is more important than preserving the dignity of the deceased. Sometimes, she has to deal with an overflowing of fluid oozing of blood non-stop [and] faeces while washing the body. To mask the odour, she lights a stick of incense. Dead bodies, they are really helpless, Raiha adds. Thats why you must have empathy. Both Amir and Raiha have a tendency to complete each others sentences or prompt the other to offer me more information. They are candid about their experiences, and Amir suggests that I should follow them on one of their trips to the mortuary. Since they work together, they remember the same details and incidents, and they always wear colour-coordinated outfits so that people know that they are husband and wife. It helps that they are both in the same line of work because they can learn from each other. At one point during our conversation, Raiha breaks off to tell her husband that she once used makeup to conceal a tattoo on the deceaseds face. The couple is always on standby, and they sometimes receive close to 30 calls in a month. When they are not working, Amir and Raiha are at home preparing their work materials. They cut bales of white cotton cloth into shrouds, as well as pack plastic bags that each contain sandalwood powder, camphor powder, rose water, Sintok roots, perfume, and a bar of soap. These are the items to be used to wash the deceased. When I ask the pair what they think of 67, they point out the factual inaccuracies in the show. We dont attend to a decomposed body directly at their home, says Raiha. The police will not let you near the body. In reality, they can only collect a decomposed body from the Singapore General Hospital after a postmortem. They will then wash and shroud the body at Pusara Aman Mosque on Lim Chu King Road. It is also unlikely that a novice would be allowed to take on such a daunting task. If an individual dies from a known or natural cause, an autopsy is not necessary, Amir says. And they will wash and shroud the body at the deceaseds home. Raiha continues, We learned for years. He learned in a few days. At 49, Raiha reckons she is one of the youngest among the 20 or so female jurumandi in Singapore. Because of her relatively young age, she occasionally gets bullied by meddlesome older relatives of the deceased, Amir tells me. Based on experience, he can usually spot those who might prevent his wife from doing her job. He tries to preempt the situation by reminding the helpers to follow the instructions of the jurumandi. That said, Raiha is perfectly capable of defusing such situations on her own. Though she is affable and quick to smile, she is firm when instructing stubborn family members. It is crucial that the deceased is buried as quickly as possible, and any unnecessary disagreements will only delay the process, she reminds them. A former teacher, Raiha says she has taken courses on human psychology, and knows how to handle fussy individuals. The jurumandi also has had to deal with odd requests from family members. Raiha shares that some have wanted to keep the bar soap used to clean the body, to be used to shower children who might have difficulty forgetting the deadthink the neutraliser in Men in Black. Some also believe that bathing an individual with the water that was used to wash the dead can cure him of his drug addiction. Its wrong, you know, says Raiha. Its all ancient myth. When Raiha first expressed an interest in the job over a decade ago, her relatives were sceptical. She had never come into close contact with a dead body, they reminded her. But Raiha had a staunch supporter in her husband; it was Amir who first became interested in the field in 2003. As Amir sought more hands-on experience, he found himself spending less time with his family. So he suggested that his wife join him. Since most washing requests were made during the daywhen their two children were at schoolRaiha agreed. The couple shares that as novices, it was difficult for them to gain hands-on experience. Most jurumandi dont like you following them because they dont want you to learn, says Raiha. To them, every new female funeral director is a threat. Periuk nasi terganggu (disruption to livelihood) lah, Amir adds. Eventually, Raiha found a mentor and served as an apprentice for more than a year before being deemed capable enough to go solo, as she puts it. When the couple established their own company in 2009, their customers were mostly friends and families. As part of their publicity blitz, they looked up the addresses of Muslim residents in the Yellow Pages and mailed them flyers. Glue, glue, glue. Stamp, stamp, stamp. Post, post, post, recalls Amir. He even shudders as he remembers the paper cuts he got. A breakthrough came three years later when the couple began to run funeral management courses. Their social network widened and their business grew. Today, the couple instructs in English and Malay at mosques, learning centres, private homes, and the Muslim Converts Association of Singapore, also known as Darul Arqam. Sometimes, course participants express an interest in shadowing Raiha to gain more hands-on experience, perhaps even to become a jurumandi one day. She usually takes them along to work at least once to assess their suitability, though most do not stick around for long because of family commitments or economic considerations. In 2014, the Berita Harian reported that as veteran jurumandi have grown older, there has been a lack of younger successors, especially amongst women. One funeral director has suggested the low salary ($100 per job) as a possible deterrent. Yet Raiha opines that if one were to raise the salary of a jurumandi, then the cost of the funeral package would also increase. You cannot charge people too high, she insists. I think its not right. Being in such close contact with the dead has also given Raiha a better appreciation for life: You feel that your time is near. Everyday is a blessing. With both their adult children having their own careers, Amir and Raiha say that it is unlikely they will take over the family business. When the time comes and they are too old to work, they will simply shut their operations, Amir says. Or pass it down to our students, adds Raiha. Have a story to share? Write to us at community@ricemedia.co. The post The Wisdom and Complexities of Islamic Funeral Rites appeared first on RICE. SIOUX CITY -- The City of Sioux City will officially dedicate Rose Hill Park, 1431 Grandview Blvd., at 2 p.m. Saturday with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The park will be dedicated to the memory of firefighters who gave their lives serving this community, according to a press release from the city. The park was originally created several years ago in partnership with the city and the Rose Hill Neighborhood Coalition. Since 2004, a significant investment of Community Development Block Grant dollars have been invested in the Rose Hill area for housing rehabilitation, public improvements and park improvements. In 2016, substantial improvements were made to the park, including replacement of the original firefighter themed playground equipment and the addition of playground surface material under the equipment. In 2018, the City of Sioux City expanded the park to the north, which allowed space for the addition of a new splash pad, park benches, picnic tables, shelter and a restroom. The park and splash pad will officially open during the dedication ceremony, which is also International Firefighters Day, a day to recognize and honor the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure the community is as safe as possible. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday. Mayor Bob Scott, Sioux City Fire Rescue and Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors will be in attendance. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm. Roque Moreno, 38, pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months in prison. Moreno had two prior convictions that prohibited him from possessing firearms. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Moreno had used guns to threaten people on two occasions. In one instance, Moreno fired a gun into the ground. His criminal history also includes five assault convictions and a child abuse conviction. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SIOUX CITY -- Upset that his relationship with Paiten Sullivan was over, Tran Walker told friends that he needed closure. In the days leading up to her death, he expressed a desire to meet with her to talk about it. Some of those friends counseled Sullivan that if she did see him, not to do so alone. They believed he might want to harm her, based on Facebook messages he exchanged with others. "He was very hurt," said Erin Brand, who had met Walker through a mutual friend and also knew Sullivan. Approximately an hour before Sullivan was fatally stabbed, Brand testified that she had received a text message from Walker that said, "I just gotta get it over with. Closure." Walker, 19, of Sioux City, is accused of fatally stabbing the 17-year-old Sullivan and their friend Felipe Negron Jr., 18, both of Sioux City, on Jan. 28, 2018, in a PT Cruiser at Jay Avenue and South Cecelia Street. Police believe Walker stabbed Sullivan because was upset about their breakup. Negron was stabbed as he tried to protect Sullivan, according to court documents. Walker has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if found guilty as charged. As the first day of his trial unfolded Thursday in Woodbury County District Court, prosecutors and defense attorneys dissected the context and intent of messages Walker sent in the months prior to Sullivan's death. "I don't know how I'd react. All I know is it would be real bad," Walker said in an October 2017 Facebook message to Jason Winter about what would happen if Sullivan cheated on him or broke up with him. Winter, who had taken Walker into his home that fall, said Walker himself wasn't sure what he meant by that statement. Winter said he was aware Walker had a bipolar depressive state and schizophrenia. Winter said he worried about Walker, who had spoken about suicide and had a history of harming himself. Winter said he never saw Walker act out violently against anyone, including Sullivan, whom he said he observed hit Walker on several occasions. "I did not see him lay a hand on her," Winter said. Sullivan's stepmother, Stevie Sullivan, testified that Walker and Sullivan broke up because he did not want her to finish school. Paiten Sullivan blocked Walker on her social media accounts after their breakup, Stevie Sullivan said. Walker was able to get word to Sullivan through friends that he wanted to meet with her to discuss their breakup. Negron had agreed to drive Sullivan to meet Walker and borrowed his friend Brian Marino's PT Cruiser. Marino testified that Sullivan had told him she didn't want to be alone with Walker. On cross examination, Marino was shown his deposition in which he had said it was he who told Sullivan not to meet alone with Walker. After a short recess, prosecutors showed a video of Marino's police interview in which he told investigators Sullivan had told him she didn't want to be alone with Walker. Sullivan and Negron picked up Walker in the PT Cruiser late on Jan. 27 or early on Jan. 28. Shortly after 1 a.m., Luis Bernal and Taylor Sarff were standing outside Pete's 20th, a bar at 3118 Jay Ave., when they observed what they believed was a man beating up his girlfriend in front of King Koin Launderette at 3131 Jay Ave. When they heard the woman scream, they ran over to the couple. The man fled, and the woman, whom they later learned was Sullivan, collapsed in the street. Sarff went to her, observed several stab wounds to her neck and used his sweatshirt to try to stop the bleeding. "There was too much blood, and I couldn't understand where it all was coming from. It looked like something from a movie. From what I saw, I knew it wasn't going to turn out OK," Sarff testified. Bernal noticed another man getting out of a PT Cruiser in the King Koin parking lot. Bernal testified that he ran to the man, whom he later learned was Negron, and saw his injuries. He asked Negron who had done this to him. "Tran Walker," Negron replied, according to Bernal. Negron said he reported Walker's name as a suspect to police who arrived at the scene. Paramedics tried to save Sullivan and Negron, but neither had pulses, and both were in cardiac arrest by the time they were taken from the scene to the hospital. Both died of excessive blood loss, emergency room doctors testified. Meanwhile, police looked for Walker, who called Brand at 1:40 a.m., 23 minutes after a 911 call reporting the stabbing had been made. Walker asked her to pick him up at a Taco John's restaurant, Brand testified, but she did not have her car. "He sounded very anxious," Brand said. The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Friday. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 5 Angry 4 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SIOUX CITY -- A second man has pleaded not guilty to the possession of firearms stolen from a Sergeant Bluff home. Moses Strickland Jr., 21, of Sioux City, entered his plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to conspiracy to possess a stolen firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a stolen firearm by a prohibited person. His trial was set for July 1. He and two others are charged with possessing and selling firearms stolen from a Sergeant Bluff residence. Antwon Holeyfield, 22, and Anthony Holeyfield, both of Sioux City, are charged with conspiracy to possess a stolen firearm and possession of a stolen firearm. Antwon Holeyfield pleaded not guilty Monday and is scheduled to stand trial July 1. Anthony Holeyfield has yet to appear in court. According to court documents, the three broke into the house with an axe on Nov. 26 and took 10 firearms -- five shotguns, two rifles and three handguns. Between Nov. 26 and Feb. 16, the three sold some of the guns to people in Iowa, South Dakota and Illinois, court documents said. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 14 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NORTH SIOUX CITY -- Several southeast South Dakota graduating seniors received honors from Gov. Kristi Noem in a ceremony in conjunction with the Associated School Boards of South Dakota in Pierre. The 29th annual Academic Excellence Banquet this week honored students who graduated in the top one percent in their class. The students include Samantha Drury, Dakota Valley; Meghan Brewer, Elk Point-Jefferson; Logan Wadley, Vermillion; Kendra Jensen, Alcester-Hudson; Carli Grace Johnke, Beresford; and Nathen Zimmerman, Caitlyn Bargstadt and Dakota Barnes, all from Yankton. "These students represent the best and brightest in South Dakota. They have worked hard for their grades and demonstrate the excellence our schools have taught them," ASBSD President Tom Farrelll said at the event. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Siouxland officials on Wednesday held a flurry of meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss workforce and infrastructure needs in the Sioux City area. Barbara Sloniker, executive vice president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce and one of more than 50 on the Washington D.C. trip, said members of the delegation had met with U.S. Rep. Steve King; Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska's 1st District; Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa's 1st District; Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota; Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa's 2nd District; Rep. Abby Finkenauer of Iowa's 1st District; Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska's 3rd District; USDA under secretary Bill Northey and people from the Department of Transportation, including deputy assistant secretary Finch Fulton. And that was just Wednesday. "We've had quite a morning," Sloniker said. The group arrived in the Capitol as President Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure bill. Workforce development was a key focus of the meetings, she said, though she conceded that there's only so much the federal government can do to help Sioux City employers find workers. "I don't know if that's anything that Congress can actually wave a magic wand and fix, but they need to understand what our local businesses our going through," she said. There are some higher-education initiatives Congress could take on, she said, like renewing the Perkins Grant, supporting the year-round Pell Grant and offering more resources for career and technical education, which could be helpful for Iowa businesses that need skilled workers. The delegation also discussed housing and healthcare-related issues. The meeting with Fulton went especially well, Sloniker said, and he expressed interest in Sioux City-area infrastructure projects of the future like the Hoeven Corridor project, for which the city has long sought a federal grant. Marty Dougherty, Sioux City Economic and Community Development director, said the city will once again pursue a federal "BUILD" grant for the Hoeven project. He acknowledged the grant is "highly competitive," but said the city has "a good opportunity" to get federal money for it. "I know there's consideration of submitting another grant application, expanding the road system in the area," Dougherty said. But Sloniker cautioned there have been no firm commitments from any federal officials to give funding for any specific projects. "Quite honestly, that never usually happens while we're out here," she said. "That's usually the work that gets done before we get here and after we leave here." The group attended a steak reception Wednesday evening that included Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley. The reception, traditionally a networking event, was light on policy matters. On Thursday, members of the delegation plan a White House briefing at the Old Executive Office Building with representatives of the Trump administration and the area's Senate delegation. Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the congressional district represented by Rep. Cindy Axne. Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SIOUX CITY -- William Buckholtz said he was "stunned" when he received his 2019 property assessments in the mail. The city assessor's office nearly doubled the valuation for the four parcels of land that Buckholtz uses as pastureland for his horses. He said he has owned the parcels, which are located between Military Road and W. 19th St. and classified as residential, for 20 and 40 years. "We know what the final goal of that is -- once they get that in concrete, then your taxes are going to go up based on what they value you at," he said. "That's pretty irritating to me." Buckholtz made his case for a lower assessment before the three-member Board of Review Wednesday. He told board members Kathleen Fenceroy, Jim Jung and Susie Feathers that his land is now assessed at the same value as property owned by Sioux City Brick & Tile, which unlike his parcels, has utility, sidewalk and street access. "I don't think it should go up at all," he said. "If anything, it should go down." Valuations for residential and multi-residential dwellings rose by an average of 10 percent and commercial property jumping by an average of about 35 percent, under the city's 2019 assessments. State law requires city and county assessors every two years to reset valuations between 95 percent and 105 percent of the fair market price to ensure equity in the property tax system. Assessors consider factors such as local sales, new construction and changes to individual parcels. The hefty increases in commercial property assessments were required to comply with state valuation ratios. The new assessments will be used to calculate local property taxes for the 2020-21 budget year. The tax levies set by local governments, and other factors, such as the "rollback," a state-imposed limit on assessments, and various state tax credits, also determine whether homeowners pay more or less in taxes. Owners dissatisfied with their assessments initially had until April 30 to file an appeal with the Board of Review, but after a disaster declaration was issued for Woodbury County in the wake of flooding, the deadline was extended to June 5. Sioux City Assessor John Lawson said Wednesday that 200 petitions had been filed with the board, but 44 of those were later withdrawn. Of the remaining 156 petitions, 110 are scheduled as oral hearings, while the other 46 will be considered as written arguments. Wednesday was the first day the Board of Review heard oral appeals. The board will hear dozens of cases daily in the assessor's office, located on the Woodbury County Courthouse's fifth floor. Owners can appeal their valuations on several grounds, including if they believe their new assessment isn't comparable to others with similar properties, if the property is assessed higher then its actual value or if there are errors or suspicion of fraud in the assessment "They need to have information to present to the board that would show that their property is not basically worth the value that we have it assessed at," Lawson said. "It could be comparable sales. It could be comparable properties, but they have to show the board information. They can't just say, 'Well, I think it's too high.'" Appellants will receive formal letters by the end of June stating the board's decision, as well as guidance on how to make future appeals. So far, the number of appeals is running behind the last time reevaluation of city property. In 2017, 993 residents and businesses lodged appeals. That year, residential values averaged an 11 percent jump from 2015, marking the city's highest spike since the Great Recession began in 2007. Buckholtz said he appealed his assessments in 2017, as well. "I came down here and did the same thing and it fell on deaf ears. They just went through with it anyway, but it wasn't as much as this. They didn't double it," he said. Residents who are still dissatisfied with the board's decision have the option to appeal to the Iowa Property Assessment Appeal Board or in Woodbury County District Court. The state created the former in 2005 to provide a free alternative to the costly option of filing in court. Buckholtz said he will take the next step in the appeal process if the board doesn't decide in his favor. "I'm going to go as far as I can go, because this is very unfair," he said. By the numbers 200 Petitions 44 Withdrawn 85 Residential 61 Commercial 3 Industrial 5 Multi-residential 1 C42 (property rented or leased to low income individuals or families) 1 Exempt residential Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 1 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. IOWA CITY -- In considering publicly for the first time a proposal to raise the base tuition at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University nearly 4 percent next fall, administrators Wednesday aired the challenges of balancing financial needs like hiring and keeping faculty with the competition for students and efforts to hold down college debt. UI President Bruce Harreld underlined the impact should the Board of Regents and its public universities fail to navigate this higher education labyrinth. There is a brand that is going on your CV called a degree from the University of Iowa, he said. In the last few years, the value of that degree as seen by others has been dropping in some of the rankings. We need to stop that, and stop that now. The way to do that, he said, is to close this gap in our funding. Ive spoken many times about the dramatic decline in state funding over the last decade, Harreld said Wednesday during the boards first of two required readings to set tuition for the 2019-20 academic year. Its in that context that I think we need to understand that also, for whatever set of reasons, weve not been able to get our tuition up to even offset that decline in state appropriations. The proposal to raise resident undergraduate tuition by 3.9 percent at the UI and ISU and to leave the rate untouched at the University of Northern Iowa now advances to the boards June meeting in Ames. Recent cuts in state appropriations have left the universities with far fewer resources and larger student bodies, prompting regents to unveil a proposal last year tying student costs with lawmaker funding. The five-year model shows resident undergrad rates at the UI and ISU would increase 3 percent annually if lawmakers fulfill the boards full appropriations request. But when the 2019 legislative session ended last week, lawmakers had approved a $12 million increase in the boards funding $6 million less than the board requested and the governor recommended. So under the model, the tuition rate would slide up to help make up the lost revenue. Gov. Kim Reynolds has not yet signed the regents appropriation bill. Because UNI has a different student body and a more regional mission with lower-cost competitors, the board has proposed keeping all UNI tuition rates frozen in the upcoming academic year. UNI President Mark Nook thanked the board for allowing UNI to go its own way on tuition. Our cost to students tuition and fees was not competitive and was affecting our efforts to recruit students to UNI, Nook said Wednesday. Based on enrollment projections, Nook said, UNI needs $4 million to $5 million increases in state appropriations annually for five years to keep rates frozen. The $4 million in new state funding and zero increase in tuition for next year is an important first step in helping UNI become more competitive in an extremely competitive marketplace, he said. His remarks imply that the $12 million funding bump would be evenly divided between the three universities. But regents spokesman Josh Lehman said that decision is yet to be final. ISU President Wendy Wintersteen said any split of the smaller increase is disappointing. While I truly appreciate the $12 million increase in state appropriations to be split among the regent institutions for general operations, this amount falls well short of the boards $18 million request a request that was supported by the governor, she said. Student representatives spoke to the board about its tuition proposals Wednesday, and all focused their frustration on the Legislature. UI Student Government President Noel Mills noted the impact a $300 bump could have on students from both in the state and out of state. A mere $300 would require around 30 hours of work, eight appointments donating plasma, or skipping around 60 meals, she said. These are very real consequences for my peers and for me. With scholarship opportunities dwindling, rent prices increasing, and a cap of 20 hours per week on university-affiliated jobs, students are already struggling to make ends meet. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 1 For those with a love of dance, Flux Dance Company will present "Objects" at 2 p.m. May 5 at Bishop Heelan High School, 1231 Grandview Blvd. Flux Dance Company is a part of Contemporary Dance Studio, and was started by Sioux City native Jessica McCully, who as been dancing most of her life. Outside of dance, she is busy with her growing family including her husband, stepson and a child on the way. My mom had me start dancing when I was 4 years old and I just kept going, said McCully. I started at the Jim Christenson School of Dance. I then went on to Siouxland Movement Arts. I ended up graduating high school and decided I wanted to dance professionally. I started dancing on cruise ships. From there I decided I needed to get an education. I graduated with a degree in dance from the University of Las Vegas. From there, I found my passion for teaching. I really started diving into more artistic forms of dance versus the competitive dance world. What was McCullys inspiration behind founding the Flux Dance Company? She wanted a dance outlet in Sioux City for students who didn't have to worry about competing. The competitive world of dance had taken over and Im not one for competing, said the dance instructor. I do believe that dance can be a sport, however, I think of it as an art. Going to college really showed me the finer points of dance. I wanted to make sure Sioux City was aware of that. My dancers eat, sleep and breathe dance. Every year Flux Dance Company stages a concert with a different theme. This year's theme is "Objects." Every piece that will be performed will be developed around an object, said McCully. It is a nice way to challenge the choreographers as well as students." Flux will be bringing in three New York choreographers. This gives the students an opportunity to work with big names in the field of dance. This year's guest artists: Tracy Stanfield, artistic director of Synthesis Dance; Justine Ayala, one of her dancers; and JoiLynn from the Joffrey Ballet School. Grants and donations help pay for their participation. Auditions are held for those who want to be in the Flux Dance Company. Students range in age from 8 to 18 and they're placed in of of three categories: principal, core and ensemble. "Anyone can audition, but we prefer students to have a couple years of experience prior to auditioning," McCully said. Ten years ago, Flux Dance Company started a dance program for children of special needs called Flux-ability. It is a way for children with disabilities to learn the art of dance; these students also will be performing at the upcoming dance concert. Once I created Flux Dance Company I was able to take this program and put it in my nonprofit to help kids with special needs, said McCully. It is for dancers ages 3 and up. We do have young adults in the program, as well." Why does McCully find it is important to teach the art of dance to children with disabilities? I truly believe that dance is a universal art, she said. Its a form of communication; its a form of expression, and it is something everybody can do, no matter who they are. It is important to me to spread that knowledge. I have one student who has been taking my classes for 10 years. She started at the age of 2. Her social abilities have improved. Just like any typical 3- or 4-year-old, they come to class and learn structure and discipline. They learn to point their toes, but they also learn to say 'please' and 'thank you.' It is really awesome to see them grow and watch them perform. It is McCullys goal to put confidence in the heads of all of her students, disabled or not. My ultimate goal is to raise these kids to believe in themselves, she said. I want them to find a goal and focus for their future, whether its in dance or whatever else it may be in. With our older students, we do what we can to try to get them into college and get scholarships. We want to guide and help them through that. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Listen to the Waves by clicking the arrow on the audio player below: Get More of the Waves Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to the Waves Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page. Listen to the Waves via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. On this weeks episode of the Waves, Christina, June, and Noreen discuss Claire Cain Millers New York Times longread, Women Did Everything Right. Then Work Got Greedy. What do the data tell us about the current culture of work in America, and how do these revelations apply to couples unlike the highly paid, heterosexual pairs featured in the piece? Then, actor Olivia Munn penned a viral essay condemning the Fug Girls, a pair of freelancers who run the fashion blog Go Fug Yourself, as complicit in the suppression of women. The hosts discuss the changing relationship between stars and critics in the Twitter era, as well as how best to write about (and occasionally poke fun at) fashion without denigrating the wearer. Finally, the new HBO series Gentleman Jack tells the true story of Anne Lister, described by creator Sally Wainwright as the first modern lesbian. The show gives its unorthodox heroine the full period drama treatmentbut is that a radical act in itself, or does it reduce her fascinating life to something overly staid? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Slate Plus: Is it sexist to need to gamify household chores? Other items discussed on the show: Women Did Everything Right. Then Work Got Greedy by Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times Outsourcing Adulthood by Maureen OConnor in the Cut The Retreat Observation That Put Patty Stonesifer on Microsoft Leaderships Radar by June Thomas in Slate Workism Is Making Americans Miserable by Derek Thompson in the Atlantic Study Shows People Divide Chores by Gender Norms, Even for Gay Couples by Christina Cauterucci in Slate Olivia Munns Bizarre Vendetta Against One of the Least-Mean Fashion Sites on the Internet by Heather Schwedel in Slate Go Fug Yourself Olivia Munn in Peter Pilotto at the 27th Apex for Youth Inspiration Awards Gala by Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez on Tom + Lorenzo The Hot New Celebrity Trend Is Being Furious at Bloggers by Madeleine Aggeler in the Cut Gentleman Jack on HBO Sally Wainwrights To Walk Invisible Sally Wainwrights Last Tango in Halifax Gentleman Jacks Hidden History by Inkoo Kang in Slate Recommendations June: The CBCs Uncover: The Village Noreen: Ruth Reichls Save Me the Plums Christina: Baby Precious Always Shines: Selected Love Notes Between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, edited by Kay Turner This podcast was produced by Danielle Hewitt. Our production assistant is Alex Barasch. Please remember to like our Facebook page. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com. And come to our brunch in New York on June 8! Five weeks ago, special counsel Robert Mueller gave Attorney General William Barr a 448-page report on the Russia investigation. The report documented multiple attempts by President Donald Trump to manipulate, disrupt, and terminate the investigation. But two days after receiving the report, Barr announced that the evidence was insufficient to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. How did Barr reach that conclusion? On Wednesday, we got the answer: He devised legal standards that make it impossible to convict a president of obstruction. Advertisement At Wednesdays hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr testified not as the nations chief law enforcement officer but as a defense attorney for the president. When Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota asked Barr about Trumps attempts to manipulate witnesses, the attorney general rebutted her by presenting what, in his opinion, the presidents lawyers would say. Barr dismissed Muellers efforts to get an interview with TrumpMueller never sought it. Well, he never pushed it, the attorney general liedand he complained that Muellers analysis of the presidents obstructive conduct permits a lot of selectivity on the part of the prosecutors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In place of Muellers analysis, Barr laid down four rules that guaranteed Trump would escape prosecution. Advertisement 1. A presidents efforts to terminate an investigation of himself are presumptively innocent. Under U.S. law, anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent. But Barr clings to this presumption even after the president has attempted, on multiple occasions, to abort an inquiry into his own alleged misconduct. Barr told the committee that Trumps presidential ordersincluding the firing of thenFBI Director James Comey in May 2017 and the attempted firing of Mueller a month laterwere authorized by the Constitution and therefore facially innocent. 2. No amount of evidence can disprove a presidents post hoc account of his motives. Mueller presented copious evidence that Trump, having decided to fire Comey because of the Russia investigation, seized on a completely different rationaleoutlined in a memo by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinas a pretext for the firing. But at Wednesdays hearing, when Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asked Barr whether Trump was relying, at least in part, on Rosensteins critique, the attorney general assured Cornyn, Thats right. Mueller also documented conversations in which thenWhite House counsel Don McGahn and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, an ex-prosecutor, explained to Trump that there were no grounds to fire Mueller based on putative conflicts of interest. But at the hearing, Barr insisted that Trumps subsequent efforts to oust Mueller might have been based not on fear of the Russia investigation but on the alleged conflicts of interest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barr defended the presidents preposterous lie about his attempt, through McGahn, to fire Mueller. In June 2017, Trumps chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and Trumps chief strategist, Steve Bannon, said Trump was strongly considering firing Mueller. A few days later, Trump called McGahn twice at home and told him to get rid of the special counsel. According to McGahn, Trump repeatedly pressed him to contact RosensteinCall me back when you do it, the president told McGahnand oust the special counsel because Mueller has to go. But at Wednesdays hearing, Barr stood up for Trumps version of the episode. What he meant, said Barr, paraphrasing Trumps account, was that the conflict of interest should be raised with Rosenstein, but the decision should be left with Rosenstein. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barr was equally generous in his defense of Trumps signals to witnesses. Klobuchar asked the attorney general about public comments in which Trump had warned two witnesses in the investigation, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, not to flip. Barr replied that Trump could easily defend those comments. By flipping, he meant succumbing to pressure in unrelated cases to lie against the president, Barr suggested. Thats an odd claim to make about Manafortwho was found to have lied to prosecutors while protecting Trumpor Cohen, whose testimony against Trump was corroborated by checks and audio recordings. Advertisement Advertisement 3. If a president thinks any part of an allegation is false, he can lawfully obstruct an investigation of that allegation. On Jan. 25, 2018, the New York Times reported Trumps attempt, through McGahn, to fire Mueller in June 2017. In the week after the Times story appeared, Trump repeatedly pressed McGahn to deny the story. McGahn refused, saying the article was true. Trump rebuked McGahn for taking notes, demanded that he deny the story in writing for our records, and threatened to fire him if he didnt recant. Advertisement Mueller documented this episode through White House records and multiple witnesses. But at Wednesdays hearing, Barr insisted that Trumps intent was innocent because one word in the Times article was debatable. The New York Times story said flat-out that the president directed the firing of Mueller, said Barr. He noted that Trump later denied having used the word fire in his calls to McGahn. Therefore, said Barr, it was possible that the president truly felt that the Times article was inaccurate and, in ordering his White House counsel to recant, didnt think he was instructing McGahn to say something false. 4. If a president thinks any part of an investigation is unfounded, he can lawfully shut it down. Barr told Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont that if a legal proceeding was based on false allegations, the president does not have to sit there, constitutionally, and allow it to run its course. The president could terminate that proceeding, and it would not be a corrupt intent, because he was being falsely accused. The attorney general made the same argument to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, contending that a falsely accused president could fire a special counsel without corrupt intent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barr didnt confine this argument to meritless inquiries. He applied it to investigations that involved any false allegations. He specifically said it was a valid basis for terminating the Russia investigation since the president was being falsely accused. Two years of his administration have been dominated by allegations that have now been proven false, Barr told the committee. In defiance of Muellers report, he claimed that Trump did nothing wrong and that suspicions of collusion between Russia and Trumps campaign were without a basis. Together, Barrs four rules make an obstruction of justice case impossible. The president could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue, fire the FBI director, fire a special counsel, threaten witnesses, and instruct subordinates to lie, and he wouldnt lose the support of his attorney general. Thats why Trump hired Barr in the first place. And thats why Muellers investigation shouldnt end with Barrs refusal to prosecute the president. We cant let a lawyer acquit his own client. After a day of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Bill Barr intends to skip a second day of scheduled testimony Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee. Barr is backing out of the hearing because of a plan by the Democrat-chaired committee to allow staff lawyers from both parties to question the attorney general. Both Barr and House Republicans objected to the proposed format, which, in addition to the usual five-minute rounds of questioning from representatives, would have included a 30-minute round for staff attorneys to follow up on the representatives questions.* The thinking went: specialized lawyers could do a better job than members of Congress pinning down some of the facts. The Republican thinking went: Yuck, that sounds a lot like a courtroom. The Department of Justice protested that having staff question the attorney general was unprecedented and unnecessary. As W. Neil Eggleston wrote in Slate this week, that is very much not the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barrs refusal to appear injects a new source of acrimony between the Trump administration and the Democrat-led Congress that has been aggressive in using its new majority power to pick up on lines of investigation that were buried on the GOPs watch. The White House has pushed back hard and filed suit to prevent current and former members of the administration from complying with subpoenas to appear under oath before Democrat-led committees. The standoff between House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Barr had been brewing over the last week. Nadler told CNN Sunday morning that if Barr refuses to show, then we will have to subpoena him, and we will have to use whatever means we can to enforce the subpoena. Adding to the standoff is the fact that the Judiciary Committee deadline for Barr to produce an unredacted version of the Mueller report to Congress was 10 a.m. Wednesday. That was likely to, ahem, come up in the House hearing the following day. There now is an increasing likelihood that Barr will not only refuse to testify but will not give members of congress full access to the unredacted Mueller report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That raises the possibility that Democrats could hold Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate. Democrats have discussed holding Barr in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena and threatening to skip the scheduled hearing, according to several lawmakers and officials familiar with the plan, the Washington Post reports. During a pair of closed-door meetings Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the committee decided that it would probably make a push for a Barr contempt citation if he refuses to testify Thursday or ignores their subpoena for the full, unredacted report by Mueller. We are now seeing the attorney general engage in obstruction of a congressional subpoena, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), a member of the committee, said Wednesday Congress has a number of tools at its disposal, obviously beginning with holding him in contempt. Joe Biden enters the 2020 campaign as the only Democratic candidate with any experience in making foreign policy, and that experience is immense: 36 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (12 as chairman or ranking member), eight years as vice president, probably more knowledge of the full range of global issues than anyone else on the political scene. So what does this long record reveal about how he might behave as commander in chief? Its a mixed picture, as one might expect of someone who was born during World War II, grew up amid the rise of Americas global dominance, first ran for Senate during its disastrous comeuppance in Vietnam, then played an active, sometimes shifting role in the debates on subsequent interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Above all, and in starkest contrast to President Donald Trump, Biden has always been a champion of the alliances that he sees as the foundation of U.S. power and values especially NATO but also with nations in Asia and the Western Hemisphere. He is alsocontrary to Trump as well as some of his rivals in the upcoming primaries, notably Sen. Bernie Sandersan unabashed free trader. He entered the Senate, in 1973, as a foe of the Vietnam War, which had left him and many others skeptical of Americas ability to be the worlds policeman. As late as 1990, he voted against authorizing President George H.W. Bush to use military force against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait. Advertisement But then in 1993, when President Bill Clinton initially declined to get involved in the sectarian wars in Bosnia, Biden made several trips to the region and came back fervently advocating a policy of lift and strikelifting the arms embargo, so the Muslim could fight back against Serbian aggression, and mounting U.S. and NATO airstrikes against Serbian military positions. (Two years passed before Clinton adopted that policy.) The Bosnian conflict shifted Bidens thinking about the new wars of the postCold War era. He strongly supported President George W. Bushs invasion of Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. After a combination of U.S. troops, airstrikes, and Afghan rebels ousted the Taliban from power, he proposed a full-blown nation-building campaign to fund 1,000 schools in the country. The idea won little support from either the administration or his colleagues in Congress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Bush diverted his gaze to Iraq, Biden voted in favor of a bill to authorize military forcebut only after Bush assured him that he would use the bill as leverage to get a U.S. resolution placing weapons inspectors back in the country. After that, when Bush pushed further for war, Biden and the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar, wrote a bill permitting the use of force only if the United Nations Security Council passed an additional resolution, attesting that force was the only way to remove the weapons (which, it turned out, didnt exist). In a New Yorker article at the time, George Packer wrote that Biden and Lugar negotiated with White House lawyers on legislative languagebut in the end, they were hoodwinked: Bush rammed through a bill for unconditional authority to go to war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By 2006, as Iraq plunged into civil and sectarian war, and as turmoil returned to Afghanistan, Biden grew disenchanted with nation-building as a mission that exceeded Americas patience, resources, and interestsand he pushed for total military withdrawal from both countries. In a 2006 New York Times op-ed co-authored with Leslie Gelb, a former State Department official and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, he proposed defusing the sectarian conflict in Iraq by turning the country into a federated state, with power devolved to the three regions where Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds respectively held majorities. In theory, it was an elegant solution, but in practice it was a dead end mainly because no Iraqi leader remotely favored the idea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Biden became Barack Obamas vice president in 2009, their first major challenge in foreign policy concerned Afghanistan. During the campaign, Obama had called for withdrawing from Iraq but digging deeper into Afghanistan. The question, hammered out in a series of 10 National Security Council meetings, was how deep. It was here that Biden and Obama had their biggest disagreement. The majority on the NSCincluding the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, after brief opposition, Secretary of Defense Robert Gatesproposed sending 40,000 more U.S. troops and adopting a full-fledged counterinsurgency strategy, including reform of the Afghan government: in effect, nation-building. Biden was the mainalmost the soleadvocate of a more minimal approach: sending just 10,000 more troops solely for counterterrorism operations and to train the Afghan army. The majority argued that Bidens proposal wouldnt solve the problem; Biden countered that their approach wouldnt eitherthat it would cost too much, last too long, and go far beyond the mission that brought U.S. forces into Afghanistan to begin with. Advertisement Advertisement Obama sided with the majority, but imposed an 18-month deadline to show progress. The chiefs assured him that they could get the job done; in fact, they knew that they couldnt and figured that the president would give them more time, and maybe more troops, down the road. He didnt. In the end, Obama withdrew the extra troops and adopted Bidens approach. Advertisement Biden had other differences with Obama: more hawkish on some issues, less so on others. (In that sense, as well as many others, Trump is wrong in painting Biden as a mere Obama clone.) When Russia annexed Crimea and sent special forces into eastern Ukraine, Biden sided with advisers who wanted to ship Ukraine anti-tank missiles and other lethal defensive weapons (though he opposed sending heavier weapons, much less U.S. troops). He argued that, while the Ukrainians couldnt win a battle with Russia, they could send some of the special forces home in body bags, a sight that might erode domestic support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and thus deter him from sending more troops. Obama, thinking that the Russians would only escalate a battle that he couldnt win on the ground, decided not to ship lethal weapons but instead to send Ukraine economic aid and to organize international sanctions against Moscow. Advertisement The vice president also supported bombing Syria in 2013, after its president, Bashar al-Assad, used chemical weapons against his own people, thus crossing a red line that Obama had laid down. Obama delegated the decision to Congress, which declined to give him authority (and then criticized him afterward for not bombing). Advertisement Advertisement His idealism seems tinged with enough realism to avoid deep dives, especially massive troop deployments. On the other hand, Biden opposed intervening in Libya, against Obama, this time siding with Gates and the joint chiefs; Obama went with Clinton and national security adviser Susan Rice, who favored the move. It has been reported that Biden opposed the raid on Osama bin Ladens compound in Pakistan, but this isnt quite so. At the NSC meeting to discuss the options, he proposed delaying the decision, at some risk, in order to get better drone photos of the site since, at the time, U.S. intelligence agencies said there was only a 60 or 70 percent chance that the man sketchily seen at the compound was in fact bin Laden. In the end, as the two men went up to Obamas residence after the meeting, Biden advised him to go with his gut. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a 2014 speech at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School, when he was still vice president, Biden said that, in a world of dispersed power and new threats, the United States had an obligation to lead. Doing so was costly and takes sacrifice and may be dangerous, but we must lead, he said, otherwise someone else willto the possible detriment of our values and interestsor nobody will, fomenting chaos, which will draw us in at some point anyway. Advertisement At heart, Biden seems to believe that, as he said in the speech, it is within our power to make a better world. This view, as history has shown, can inspire noble creations or arrogant destruction or both. But his idealism seems tinged with enough realism to avoid deep dives, especially massive troop deployments, which have led to disaster throughout his career. It has also made him skeptical of almost any sort of unilateral military adventures, seeing alliances as not only an expression of U.S. values and interests but also as a safety valve against excessive enthusiasm in the name of a cause. Advertisement Finally, like the Cold War traditionalists whom he has lionized since his youth, Biden sees domestic and foreign policies as intertwined. He has said many times, We lead not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example. In that sense, he has advocated better relations with Mexico alongside comprehensive immigration reform. He has argued that we cant persuade others to adopt democracy if were falling short of its goals ourselves. If Biden were elected president, he would make a high-profile effort, early on, to restore Americas image abroad in part by restoring its values at home. Its less clear what might happen after thatwhether the combination of his principles, his pragmatism, and the state of the world makes him more or less likely to start a war or make peace. When I think back on the weeks I spent writing about Christine Blasey Fords sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh, it all feels like a bad dream. Everything was so real in the moment: the palpable admiration for Ford among young activists; the way all conversation, even at friendly dinner gatherings, tilted toward Kavanaugh for almost an entire month; the white-hot womens anger that exploded into elevators and the halls of the U.S. Senate. And then, after weeks of buildup that felt much longer, Kavanaugh was anti-climactically confirmed to the Supreme Court. There wasnt even much conscientious deliberation among the swing voters in the Senate. Today, he sits with the other justices in one of Americas most secure and powerful jobs; he can wear a stately black robe and write abortion rights out of the Constitution until he dies. Everything and everyone has moved on from the Ford hearing because weve had to. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The strangeness of this current state of thingsthe expectation that everyone move on without any form of reconciliationis perhaps best exemplified by a pair of dueling entries in Time magazines annual 100 Most Influential People list. In the Icons section was a blurb on Ford, written by Sen. Kamala Harris, who described her subject as a woman who had a good life and a successful careerand risked everything to send a warning in a moment of grave consequence. In the Leaders section, Sen. Mitch McConnell described nowJustice Kavanaugh as one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees in modern history. Theres something unnerving about these Time tributes, beginning with the fact that Kavanaugh appears to be the beneficiary of some both sidesy affirmative action. (Hes no more of a leader than any of his fellow justices on the courthes barely had time to establish a doctrine or M.O. since his swearing-in six months ago.) Even weirder, neither blurb mentions the other most influential person. Advertisement Advertisement Fords doesnt even hint at the Supreme Court nomination that compelled her to make her allegation public; nor does Harris acknowledge that she was there in the room as Ford told her story, spoken while holding back tears because it was part of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (She does note that it shook Washington and the country.) Kavanaughs blurb says nothing about sexual assault at allMcConnell reduced Fords entire testimony to an oblique mention of the unhinged partisanship and special interests that sought to distract the Senate from considering [Kavanaughs] qualifications. Advertisement Some might argue that excising Kavanaugh from Fords write-up is dignifying: It establishes her influence on her own terms, unblemished by the reality of Kavanaughs easy confirmation. But Fords story does not make sense as it is written. It makes no reference to the systemic forces that kept her silent for 30 years, or the people who subjected her to ridicule when she did speak out. She would not have had to upend her life (and thus become an icon) if badly behaving men were not routinely rewarded for hoarding power in chummy alliances built on female humiliation. Fords alleged sexual assault would not have happened without an alleged sexual assailant. It was never just about Ford doing something brave and right. It was about lots of other people doing things that were cowardly and very, very wrong. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These two blinkered blurbs telling mutually exclusive versions of the same historically significant event in a single American publication seem to indicate that the country has emerged from the Ford-Kavanaugh crucible no closer to a shared understanding of sexual assault and the lifelong pitfalls of frat-bro masculinity than before. More evidence to that end came earlier this month in the form of a new report from PerryUndem: In December, the research firm surveyed 1,319 registered voters on their opinions of Kavanaugh and Ford. Overall, 55 percent said they believed Ford while 39 percent believed Kavanaugh, a split more than twice as wide as a poll conducted immediately after the Fords testimony had found. Four in 10 said the Senate did the wrong thing by confirming Kavanaugh; slightly fewer, 35 percent, said the Senate did right. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was never just about Ford doing something brave and right. It was about lots of other people doing things that were cowardly and very, very wrong. Although the majority of survey respondents landed on Fords side, one group took away a totally different lesson. When PerryUndem compared the December 2018 survey results to those from a November 2017 poll, researchers found that the proportion of Republican men who agreed with the statement most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist had gone up 21 percentage points (68 percent of them agreed in 2018, compared to 47 percent in 2017 and 44 percent in 2016). Fewer than half of Republican men agreed that sexism is a problem in our society in 2018, down 18 points from 2017. And the proportion of Republican men who said they were more likely to believe women alleging sexual harassment over men denying such allegations fell 21 points between 2017 and the months after the Kavanaugh hearings. The percentage who said they were more likely to believe men over women nearly doubled. Advertisement Its possible that were currently in the peak of male backlash. As Irin Carmon reported in New York magazine, public support for Clarence Thomas initially increased after Anita Hill testified in 1991 that hed sexual harassed her (a Gallup poll taken at the time found that Americans believed him over her by a margin of 19 percentage points). Even so, the hearing and the public response appeared to convince President George H.W. Bush to rescind his threat to veto a bill supporting harassment victims. And just one year after the Hill hearing, Time reported that public opinion had turned in Hills favor. Today, Hills testimony is broadly recognized as a turning point in Americas conception of sexual harassment as a widespread problemand her mistreatment by the Senate Judiciary Committee is credited with a surge of Democratic women who sought and won elected office the following year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And yet it is extremely difficult to see Hills story as one exemplifying progress. Thomas and Kavanaugh both ended up on the court, where theyre shaping U.S. law and American lives for generations to come. For those of us whod expected better returns on the quarter-century of feminist activism between the Hill hearing and the contemporary #MeToo movement, its hard to stave off the feeling that theres some upper threshold to the amount of justice survivors can expect to see in this country. Theres a feeling of hopelessness that accompanies this perceived stalling-out of progress. In todays America, evidence of a plateau in the arc of the moral universe appears to be coming from all sides. On the right, theres a burgeoning movement of conservatives itching to prosecute abortion-seeking women as murderers, making ordinary outrageslike targeted zoning restrictions that cause abortion clinics to shutterseem inevitable, especially with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. On the left, theres the 2020 campaign of Joe Biden, a candidate who embodies some of the most reactionary moments in Democratic Party history. In a primary cycle that has 40 percent of Democratic voters saying theyd choose the most electable candidate over their ideological matchtwice the share that said so in July 2015Biden, the candidate voters apparently think stands the best chance of beating Trump, has entered the race with a hell of a lead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For me and some of my like-minded peers, the very fact of Bidens candidacy inspires the same kind of exhaustion and hopeless frustration weve felt about the aftershocks of the Kavanaugh hearings (and not just because of Bidens role in the Hill hearings). In the countrys most diverse candidate pool ever, with several people running on ambitious plans to remake systems of power that have facilitated the exploitation of generations of Americans, Biden has stepped in to addwhat, exactly? A promise to return the country to the good ol days? He doesnt seem to realize, or care, that those days werent all that good for massive swaths of the electorate. Instead of attempting to chart a bold American future, Biden is peddling a gussied-up version of Americas past. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps Make America Great Again slogan wouldnt have felt at all out of place in Bidens campaign announcement video, which seemed designed to soothe culturally and politically moderate white Americans who believe every problem currently plaguing the nation can be traced back to individual bad apples, not a poisoned tree. According to Biden, the Trump era is an aberrant moment in U.S. history, a moment that can be erased by the right successor, as if Trump had not been nominated, elected, and reliably supported by the same Republican Party that will again support him in 2020. Advertisement As many others have written, considering his political record and his seeming inability to take seriously a slew of earnest complaints from women who said his touches made them uncomfortable, Biden is uniquely ill-suited to this moment in Democratic politics. Trumps election set off an alarm that hasnt stopped screeching, awakening left-leaning voters to the realization that a lot of things they thought were slowly but surely solving themselves (racism, misogyny, Islamophobia) very much were notand that, in fact, left-leaning voters were often part of the problem. This has been the dominant thrust of the most visible and powerful vehicle for anti-Trump protest: the Womens March, which helped make self-reeducating activists of women whod been lulled into a false sense of inevitable progress. Advertisement For me, the very fact of Bidens candidacy inspires the same kind of exhaustion and hopeless frustration weve felt about the aftershocks of the Kavanaugh hearings. It is in this context that Biden has stepped up to loudly insist that, actually, America was built on good intentions: He quotes Thomas Jefferson via the Declaration of Independence, then admits that even Jefferson didnt live up to Americas founding ideals, striking a bizarre nobodys perfect note. The overarching theme of Bidens pitch is that everything used to be more or less fine, and everything can again be more or less fine if we just elect the guy who was standing next to the president the last time we felt proud of this country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If elected, Biden will be 78 when he takes office, beating Trumps record for oldest first-term president by eight years. Hes already had a long, proud career in politics, and it doesnt sound like hes motivated by a burning desire to remake America for the better. Theres only one good reason for Bidens candidacy besides raw ego: He thinks he stands the best chance at beating Trump, despite his poor record on school integration, criminal justice, abortion, the Iraq war, consumer protection, and gender issues. Biden is the candidate of stagnation, of the belief that not only are Americans so not ready for a female president that wed elect an authoritarian nitwit instead, but that after Trump, we cant even be trusted to elect a Democrat whos reliably landed on the right side of history. In an era of resistance, Biden is running on resignation. Advertisement This is what puts Bidens candidacy in the same symbolic and emotional category as the Kavanaugh aftermath. Both suggest to voters and activists and people who care that all their fighting, thinking, hard lessons, uncomfortable arguments, and reopenings of painful wounds have been for naught. Trumps election got us front-runner Biden, whos already phoning it in instead of working to earn womens trust and votes. Kavanaughs petulant show of overentitled masculinity got him a spot on the Supreme Court and endowed Republican men with a renewed sense of their own gendered victimhood. The proportion of American men who think sexual harassment is a major problem has fallen 13 percentage points since the contemporary #MeToo movement began. The current share, 53 percent, is closer to 1998s numbers than 2017s. Somewhere in these agonizing, enraging upheavals was an unspoken promise that it was a cleansing process, a dreadful but necessaryand crucially, temporarylancing of an ugly American boil. Now, its clear that there was no promise, just some unfounded hope that exposing a bunch of terrible things would make people act differently. But even with all this outrage, the systems beneficiaries still dont think the system is broken. Remember Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate from Alabama who narrowly lost after multiple women accused him of molesting or pursuing romantic relationships with them when they were teenagers? He may run again; in fact, hes already leading in the polls. His wife recently sent a fundraising email to supporters. In 2017, Republicans and Democrats alike conspired to defeat Judge Moore in the U.S. Senate special election with false and scurrilous tactics, she wrote. But, she went on, there is reason for Moore supporters to hope for a better outcome this time around: Then there was Kavanaugh. In 2016, the FBI sent a trusted investigator posing as an academics assistant to ask Donald Trump aide George Papadopoulos about the Trump campaigns links to Russia, the New York Times reported Thursday. The news of such a proactive step by the agency is likely to cause some Trump supporters to accuse the FBI of spying on Trump and his campaign in an effort to damage his chances of winning, as Trump himself has insisted in the past. But the effort can also be interpreted as a signal of how concerned the FBI was at the time about potential Russian inference in the election. Advertisement The FBI became alarmed about that possibility in the summer of 2016 after Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that the Russians had offered to help the Trump campaign by releasing the emails hacked from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Australian government alerted American officials once Wikileaks published that trove of hacked emails, and the FBI opened its Russia investigation in July 2016. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Times, the FBI decided to look into whether Papadopoulos had Russian contacts. During the investigation, the agency decided to also look into Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Carter Page. The FBI then had Cambridge professor Stefan A. Halper, reportedly a longtime informant, reach out to Papadopoulos to set up a meeting in London to discuss a Mediterranean natural gas project. The FBI also sent along a trained agent, who had given her name as Azra Turk, to pose as Halpers assistant. The two were meant to quiz Papadopoulos about any connection between the campaign and Russia, and Turk also met with Papadopoulos separately for drinks. Advertisement Advertisement Papadopoulos wrote in his book that when he met Turk in London in September, she began to immediately press him about the campaigns connection to Russia. (British intelligence officials were also notified about the operation, according to the Times, but its unclear if they were at all involved.). He wrote that he met with both Turk and Halper the next day, and in a follow-up drink with Halper, the professor began immediately quizzing him about the hacked emails and Russia. Turk and Halper did not learn anything of significance from the effort, but Halper, a well-connected academic, continued his work with the FBI. He met repeatedly with Page and gradually became more closely connected to the Trump world. The FBI has said the agency carefully considered the seriousness of monitoring an active presidential campaign, according to the Times, and it was careful that word of the investigation should not reach the public. Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, is investigating the FBIs activities, including those involving Halper, before the 2016 election. Attorney General William Barr has said the results of that investigation could be completed in the next couple months. A former Central Intelligence Agency officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to spying for China, the latest in a series of high-profile espionage cases involving American intelligence officers working for Chinese intelligence. Jerry Chun Shing Lee submitted his plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors, which will likely means prosecutors will seek a sentence of 17 to 27 years for the 54-year-old, rather than life. Lee worked for the CIA from 1994 until he resigned in 2007. A naturalized citizen who was born in Hong Kong, Lee returned to Hong Kong after leaving the CIA, where he started a business importing cigarettes with a former police officer who has ties to the Hong Kong intelligence world. Lees business partner connected him to Chinese intelligence operatives. After meeting with Chinese intelligence in mainland China, Lee made undisclosed cash deposits totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars into his Hong Kong bank account over the course of three years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was around this time, in 2010, that the C.I.A.s informant network in China collapsed, the New York Times notes. Intelligence officials have been divided over how the network crumbled. While some believed that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the C.I.A. used to communicate with its foreign sources, others believed that Mr. Lee had given the Chinese at least some of the names. Lee denied ever actually passing along information to the Chinese; the FBI uncovered two small notebooks that contained true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, as well as the addresses of CIA facilities all related to China, according to the indictment. For almost all of the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley is nothing more than a metaphor. Hes a mysterious, shadowy figure who can be pressed into service to symbolize any number of literary tropes, but despite the importuning of primary characters who only want Boo to come out of his house, he only does so when hes ready, and when its necessary. Robert Mueller has been, for more than two years, a metaphor. Hes been the guy whose firing would have signified the pick-up-a-brick moment for millions of Americans, hes been the caped superhero coming to save us all, and hes also been the shadowy Clark Kent, toiling away in dorky obscurity, refusing to engage with whatever it is that corrupts even well-meaning public servants who must interact with Donald Trump. For two years, Mueller has defied all public longings and expectations and demands, instead allowing his indictments, his report, and his words on paper to speak for themselves. But like Boo Radley, its now time for Robert Mueller to come out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If Attorney General William Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday demonstrated anything, it was that a deep rupture has yawned open between these two old friends and Washington lifers. It wasnt just that Barr denigrated Mueller as a political appointee or dismissed his March 27 letter as snitty, and thus clearly the work of underlings. It wasnt just that Barr implied that Mueller was either too timid or too incompetent to come to a conclusion on the question of whether Donald Trump had obstructed justice. And it wasnt just that Barr suggested that since the entire Mueller probe had been proven to be based on false accusations, it was illegitimate, which certainly suggests that Mueller devoted two long years to ayou guessed itwitch hunt. Presumably, from now on, if the president decides any legal investigation is based on false accusations, he can just go ahead and impede it, a framing that makes a hash of everything Mueller sought to do. When pressed Wednesday on Muellers bona fides, Barr snapped that Bob Mueller is the equivalent of a U.S. Attorney. His work concluded when he sent his report to the attorney general. At that point, it was my baby. This is not how you talk about a colleague you respect. Advertisement Advertisement This studied restraint rested on Muellers unwavering assumption that if he trusted the fact-finding process of the investigation and the machinery of the Justice Department, he might come out the other side intact. But its not just that. At the most basic level, Barr has distorted Muellers actual work product, including his polite and confidential and lawyerly letter asking (twice) that Barr correct his inaccurate summary of Muellers careful report. Its a letter that Wireds Garrett Graff, who wrote a book about Mueller, described thusly: Ive read just about every word Bob Mueller has ever said publicly or published. Hes written precisely one letter like the angry one he sent to Barr: It excoriated Scotland for letting the Pan Am 103 bomber out of prison. Advertisement Advertisement With the rollout of the report and Wednesdays charged testimony, Barr betrayed Mueller the institutionalist not once but twice, first by warping years of his teams painstaking investigative work in order to control the media narrative, and then by denigrating Muellers March 27 letter as the work of a snitty staffer, as opposed to a sober and deliberate bit of caution from the special counsel quietly asking that his work not be appropriated for political ends. Advertisement Mueller, a lifelong Republican, has triedprobably harder than any public figure in the Trump ambitto avoid doing anything that would draw him into the tractor beam of bullying, name-calling, and soapy melodrama that are the final resting place for anyone who involves himself with this president. Where lesser men have attempted to split the difference, compromise at the margins, and to persuade themselves that they were still doing noble work despite allowing Donald Trump to use and exploit them, Mueller simply never engaged, even when the president was attacking him by name. It was an elegant dance, along the invisible seam of public and private, institutionalism and self-protection. This studied restraint rested on Muellers unwavering assumption that if he trusted the fact-finding process of the investigation and the machinery of the Justice Department, he might come out the other side intact. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Well, any hope that Barr the institutionalist or Barr the defender of the Justice Department or Barr the believer in truth-seeking processes was going to help Robert Mueller thread this impossibly small needle was vaporized conclusively this week, and now, as my colleague Mark Joseph Stern argues, Robert Mueller is going to have to talk. Efforts to speak through his filings have proved futile in the hands of someone willing to twist and compromise Muellers own words until they mean the very opposite of what they originally established. And now that the rift between these two old friends and colleagues has been laid bare, the only person who can do anything about it is the person who has practically made a religion of keeping his head down. Advertisement Advertisement Mueller has a narrowing path along which he might hope to salvage his own words and his own work from the attorney general, who seems to have taken custody of Muellers baby and then unabashedly attempted to tell us all that the baby was actually an accent lamp all along. Nobody has been more voluble than I have about Muellers right and inclination to quietly do the work, then step aside. But if he doesnt step into the limelight to say out loud what he has written, and proved, and corroborated, and supported (with evidence Barr seems never to even have inspected), his entire effort will only serve as confirmation that those of us who still believe in systems and investigations and truth are all a bunch of chumps. I dont envy Robert Mueller. As the one and only character in this endless gothic saga who has managed to remain untarnished by the presidents highly contagious lack of principle, I take no pleasure in arguing that he will now have to engage. His silence and doggedness should have spoken louder than words. But in the hands of someone as bent on politicizing his efforts as William Barr, his silence and doggedness have now been weaponized against him. The special counsel cannot just live amid the heroic metaphors anymore. Like Boo Radley, Mueller needs to come out. On Wednesday afternoon, after Attorney General William Barr finished his truculent and mendacious testimony before the Senate, the Department of Justice filed perhaps the most embarrassing, illogical, and nakedly political brief in the history of the agency. With Barrs assent, the DOJ argued that the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional because Congress zeroed out the individual mandates penalty in 2017. The timing couldnt be worse. After obliterating his own credibility at the Senate hearing, Barr scorched the Justice Departments legitimacy, deploying fatuous pseudo-legal arguments to further the Trump administrations partisan goals. The DOJ will not soon recover from Wednesdays body blow. Advertisement Texas v. United States, the latest assault on the ACA, is built upon a series of sophistries. The case was brought by a coalition of conservative states, led by Texas, which recruited two consultants to serve as plaintiffs. They assert that when Congress reduced the ACAs penalty to zero dollars, it inadvertently destroyed the whole lawthe tax credits, the exchanges, protections for preexisting conditions, Medicaid expansion, everything. According to Texas theory, the Supreme Court only upheld the ACA because it interpreted the penalty as a tax. But, they claim, a tax that collects zero dollars is not a true tax. So the individual mandate can no longer be viewed as a tax, rendering it unconstitutional. And because Congress never intended the ACA to function without the individual mandate, the rest of the law must be struck down too. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This leap in logic makes no sense. It is true that taxes typically collect revenue, so perhaps the mandate cannot fairly be called a tax anymore. It could even be true that the zeroed-out penalty is now unconstitutional. But that does not matter, because if the penalty is illegal, it should be severed from the rest of the law. As the Supreme Court recently explained, when one provision of a statute is invalidated, courts should preserve the remainder of the law unless it is evident that Congress would not have enacted those provisions independently. In other words, courts that strike down part of a law should not eviscerate the rest of it without evidence that Congress wouldve wanted that extreme result. Advertisement Here, congressional intent is about as clear as it can get. In 2017, Congress declined to repeal the entire ACA but chose to zero out the individual mandates penalty in the tax bill. By doing so, it declared its belief that the law could function without an operative penalty, a lawful exercise of its legislative powers. But Texas claimed that by amending the ACA, Congress inadvertently demolished it, because the law cannot function without a penaltyeven though Congress decided that it could. Thus, according to the plaintiffs, courts should simply sweep aside this legislative intent and invalidate the law top to bottom. Congressional intent is about as clear as it can get. In an opinion panned by liberals and conservatives alike, U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor embraced this theory late last year and ruled that the entire ACA is unconstitutional. This view was too militant even for Attorney General Jeff Sessions Justice Department, which opted for a compromise position: It alleged that the mandate was unconstitutional but that only a few other provisions must fall with it. This half-measure was still a big deal, because the DOJ urged the courts to kill a centerpiece of the law: its bar on discrimination against people with preexisting conditions. And the DOJs brief at the time reflected, as University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley put it, enormous contempt for the rule of law. It was, as other scholars noted, excruciatingly stupid. But at least the DOJ did not go whole hog, adopting Texas radical position that courts should reject Congress authority to amend its own law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Until now. After Barr took control of the DOJ, the agency changed its position and has now told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Texas is rightthe full ACA is now unconstitutional. With a straight face, the Justice Department argues that, by reducing the mandate to zero dollars, Congress gave Americans a legal command to buy health insurance. The Supreme Court has said that such a direct command would be unconstitutional because the mandate could only be justified as a tax. Moreover, the justices who discussed severability said that the ACA cannot function without the mandate. In sum, the DOJ wrote, the mandate is now illegal, it cannot be severed, and so the whole law is unconstitutional. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where to begin with this lunacy? Start with the DOJs framing of the mandate as it stands now. As a factual matter, the ACA currently gives Americans a choice between buying health insurance and paying nothing. Theres no real dispute here; if you forgo insurance, you will suffer no legal consequences. Yet the DOJ interprets the mandate as a command that gives Americans no choice but to purchase insurance. And its brief insists that Congress created this command in its 2017 tax billeven though legislators surely knew that the Supreme Court already ruled that such a command would be unconstitutional in 2012s NFIB v. Sebelius. It requires willing suspension of disbelief to surmise that by giving Americans a choice not to buy insurance by zeroing out the mandate, Congress actually gave them a command to insure themselves. And it taxes credulity to believe that Congress would create this command after the Supreme Court stated that such a rule would be unconstitutional. Advertisement But imagine for a moment that the DOJ is rightthat the Republican-led Congress of 2017 didnt actually relieve Americans of their duty to buy health insurance but forced them to do so (without any enforcement mechanism). If the courts must strike down this new legal command, why should the remainder of the law fall with it? After all, Congress obviously thought the ACA could function without a mandate that raises revenue. To square this circle, the DOJ repeatedly cites the dissent in NFIB, which proclaimed that the mandate could not be severed from the remainder of the law. The Justice Department seems to think that the view of four dissenting justices (in a 2012 case) can override the view of Congress (in 2017 legislation). It appears to have forgotten that a dissent is not law. Advertisement Advertisement Get The Angle in Your Inbox Slate's daily newsletter rounds up the stories you need to read. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. The zaniest portion of Wednesdays brief, however, has to be its effort to salvage the few provisions of the ACA that the current administration likes. It does so by selectively raising the problem of standing. Now, in reality, the individual plaintiffs in this casetwo consultants who dont want to buy health insuranceshouldnt have standing to sue at all. That requires an injury, and these plaintiffs have none, because they pay no penalty for forgoing insurance. The DOJ casts this problem aside by asserting that they are injured by the legal command to insure themselves. And its brief argues that the plaintiffs have standing to challenge the numerous provisions of the ACA that work together to cause this injury. Advertisement But in a puzzling paragraph, the DOJ adds that the plaintiffs do not have standing to challenge several provisions of the ACA that criminalize health care fraud. Why? The real answer is that the Justice Department is already prosecuting people under these provisions, and those prosecutions would be thwarted if the full law were struck down. But the DOJ avows that while the plaintiffs have standing to challenge almost the entire ACA, they cant challenge these provisions because they do not actually injure the individual plaintiffs. Oh, really? So the rule that insurers not discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, and the tax credits for lower-income Americans, and the expansion of Medicaid in states other than Texasall these provisions actually injure the plaintiffs? But prohibitions on fraud somehow do not? The DOJ makes no effort to defend this evanescent distinction, because it is indefensible. Barr reportedly opposed adopting this preposterous position but caved to President Donald Trumps demands. He deserves no credit for his feeble resistance. Barr owns this brief, and it will live on as a testament to his craven lawlessness long after the Supreme Court rejects its casuistry. The Justice Departments reputation will take years to recover from this nadir, if it ever does. Barr marched his agency to the brink of illegitimacy. On Wednesday, Attorney General William Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report. The hearing was the first opportunity for the public to understand Barrs legal reasoning for exonerating Donald Trump of obstruction of justice, after Mueller explicitly stated that the special counsel could reach no such conclusion. Barr had previously explained his reasoning in a four-page summary letter released weeks before the full report, in which he suggested that no obstruction could have been committed because the probe did not uncover enough evidence to establish an underlying criminal conspiracy to cooperate with the Russians in their election interference. This argument is a clearly incorrect interpretation of the obstruction statute; its possible to obstruct justice even if no underlying crime is discovered, and there were many other underlying crimes uncovered by the probe that reached into the presidents inner circle. The line of thinking was also supplemented by Barrs remarkable press conference prior to the Mueller reports release, in which he further argued that the presidents actions were all fine because they were motivated by legitimate frustrations with the probe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During his testimony on Wednesday, Barr repeated that legitimate frustration defense of the president. He also spoke extemporaneously and precisely about his reasons for clearing the president in one of the most damning incidents of likely obstruction of justice described in the report: Trumps efforts to get former White House counsel Don McGahn to have Mueller fired, and subsequent efforts to cover up that attempt. In doing so, Barr made clear that he has ignored Muellers own legal analysis and mischaracterized Muellers evidence. Heres how Barrs comments contradict Muellers own version of several of the allegations of obstruction of justice. Allegation: Trump ordered McGahn to tell Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Mueller had conflicts of interest and must be removed. What the Mueller report says: Advertisement Advertisement When the President called McGahn a second time to follow up on the order to call the Department of Justice, McGahn recalled that the President was more direct, saying something like, Call Rod, tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and cant be the Special Counsel. McGahn recalled the President telling him Mueller has to go and Call me back when you do it. McGahn understood the President to be saying that the Special Counsel had to be removed by Rosenstein. Advertisement What Barr said: McGahns version [] is that the instruction said go to Rosenstein, raise the issue of conflict of interest, and Mueller has to go because of this issue of conflict of interest. [T]he president later said that what he meant was that the conflict of interest should be raised with Rosenstein, but that the decision should be left with Rosenstein. [I]t appears that McGahn feels that it was more directive and the president was essentially saying push Rosenstein to invoke a conflict of interest to push Mueller out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The discrepancies: Muellers report shows that Trump ordered McGahn to call Rosenstein and have him remove the special counsel on baselessaccording to both McGahn himself and presidential adviser Chris Christieconflict of interest grounds. Barr describes it instead as a he said, he said, saying that Trumps versions of events is that there was never an instruction. Mueller relies on McGahns contemporaneous notes and the testimony of several Trump aides to determine that McGahns version is the credible one. Barr relies on what Mueller demonstrated to be one of Trumps many lies, which the president delivered in a follow-up conversation with McGahn. (Trump refused to testify willingly, did not answer written questions about obstruction of justice, and Mueller opted not to attempt to subpoena the president.) Allegation: Trump requested McGahn rebut a New York Times story describing the presidents efforts to have the special counsel removed. What the Times story said: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amid the first wave of news media reports that Mr. Mueller was examining a possible obstruction case, the president began to argue that Mr. Mueller had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation, two of the people said. What the Mueller report said: The President told [White House staff secretary Rob] Porter that the article was bullshit and he had not sought to terminate the Special Counsel. The President said that McGahn leaked to the media to make himself look good. The President then directed Porter to tell McGahn to create a record to make clear that the President never directed McGahn to fire the Special Counsel. Porter thought the matter should be handled by the White House communications office, but the President said he wanted McGahn to write a letter to the file for our records and wanted something beyond a press statement to demonstrate that the reporting was inaccurate. The President referred to McGahn as a lying bastard and said that he wanted a record from him. Porter recalled the President saying something to the effect of, If he doesnt write a letter, then maybe Ill have to get rid of him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What Barr said: The New York Times story said flat-out that the president directed the firing of Mueller. He told McGahn, fire Mueller. Now theres something very different between firing a special counsel outright, which suggests ending the investigation, and having a special counsel removed for conflict, which suggests that youre going to have another special counsel. So we believe that it would be impossible for the government to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the president understood that he was instructing McGahn to say something false, because it wasnt necessarily false. The discrepancies: The Times interpreted the order to have Mueller removed for conflict as an order to fire him. That was McGahns interpretation as well and, again, one that Mueller accepted. The Mueller report says McGahn understood the letter that he was expected to write was intended to create a false story, not publicly quibble over the meaning of the word fire. Trumps behavior in calling him a lying bastard and saying the story was bullshit would lean toward the McGahn, Times, and Mueller interpretation of things. But at this point Barr seems to concoct a legal defense out of thin air for the president, parroting Trumps objection to the use of the word fire and quibbling that a firing is technically different from having a special counsel removed for conflict. In reality, as documented in excruciating detail by Mueller, during an Oval Office meeting with McGahn and chief of staff John Kelly, Trump denied ever having ordered that Mueller be removed. This portion of the report is like a bad Abbott and Costello, with McGahn repeatedly reminding the president of what he actually said and Trump saying various versions of I never said that. There is no way to read this portion of the report the way that Barr has, as Trump merely objecting to the use of the word fired rather than the entire premise that he sought Muellers removal. Allegation: Trump instructed McGahn to create a false paper trail to demonstrate that Trump hadnt asked McGahn to fire Mueller. What the Mueller report says: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Presidents repeated efforts to get McGahn to create a record denying that the President had directed him to remove the Special Counsel would qualify as an obstructive act if it had the natural tendency to constrain McGahn from testifying truthfully or to undermine his credibility as a potential witness if he testified consistently with his memory, rather than with what the record said. As previously described, [] substantial evidence supports McGahns account that the President had directed him to have the Special Counsel removed [E]vidence indicates that by the time of the Oval Office meeting the President was aware that McGahn did not think the [New York Times] story was false and did not want to issue a statement or create a written record denying facts that McGahn believed to be true. The President nevertheless persisted and asked McGahn to repudiate facts that McGahn had repeatedly said were accurate. Advertisement What Barr says: McGahn had weeks before already given testimony to the special counsel, and the president was aware of that. As the report indicates, it could have also been the case that he was primarily concerned about press reports and making it clear that he never outright directed the firing of Mueller. So, in terms of the request to ask McGahn to memorialize that fact, we do not think in this case that the government could show corrupt intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Advertisement The discrepancies: Again, Barr is turning this into a he said, he said, despite the fact that Mueller says theres substantial evidence that indicates McGahns version is correct and there is evidence [that] cuts against the interpretation more favorable to the president. Advertisement What can we take from the wide discrepancy between so many of Barrs comments on Wednesday and what the Mueller report says? Barr seems to be blatantly demonstrating that he never intended to consider Muellers evidencethe underlying interviews, memos, and accounts that the special counsels office painstakingly compiled over yearsin his effort to assess the obstruction of justice charges. Thats exactly what Sen. Kamala Harris attempted to get at in her questioning of Barr. As Harris said afterward: No prosecutor worth their salt would make a decision about whether the President of the United States obstructed justice without reviewing the evidence. On Wednesday, Barr showed that he was never approaching this case as a prosecutor. Hes always been acting as counsel for the defense. You might not realize it, but there is a whole host of texting scenarios in which you might require a beaver emoji. A text to your friends in Canada, for example, to express your mutual admiration for their national animal. Or an invite to a fellow enthusiast of nocturnal semi-aquatic mammals to rendezvous at the nearest state park. (Alas, there is no dam emoji.) Orwhy not?a euphemistic missive to a consenting fellow sexter. Beaver emojis: probably very useful! Advertisement If any of those examples apply to you, youre in luck. Come October, the beaver emoji will be among this years class of new emojis, though it may take a whole year after that for the bucktoothed rodent to hit your phone. The proposal to include the beaver emoji comes thanks to a cadre of Canadians, lesbians, semi-aquatic mammal enthusiasts, and emoji specialists who wrote an extremely convincing and rather hilarious proposal, which in March was submitted to the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit responsible for standardizing text and emoji across devices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposal gives very clear reasons for why beavers are important. For one, as the proposal lays out, beavers are distinct and cool. Beyond the ability to build water lodges that can block forest streams and a proclivity for floating around on their backs, beavers have buck teeth, webbed feet, and a wide tail that make it recognizable worldwide. Yet they differ significantly enough from chipmunks and raccoons, which are represented in the emoji set, that the proposal argues that a beaver needs an emoji of its own. Beavers also have historical significance for North America, where they have been hunted for their furs for centuries, leading the way for the animal to become the official emblem of Canada. As the proposal notes, the beaver is synonymous with worldwide Canadian culture. Advertisement Advertisement But theres another layer of significance that the beaver emoji might convey for some communities: The beaver is sometimes used as slang to make reference [to] womens vaginas, the proposal states plainly on the first page. Among lesbians, references to beavers are inside jokes that carry no pejorative insult. While the three lesbians and queer people I texted in researching this article confirmed the usage of the term, they all also noted that its a bit dated. I use a peach, one said. Still, language is fluid. And there are infinite ways we can and should talk about vaginas. If some enthusiasts felt limited by a lack of a beaver emoji, well, soon theyll have one. Advertisement Advertisement Nathalie [Reid] and I wanted lesbians all over the world to have proper emoji representation should they ever need it, said Joan Donovan, the director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Harvard Kennedy Schools Shorenstein Center, who is half of the lesbian (and half-Canadian) couple that had the initial idea to craft the beaver proposal. Advertisement Advertisement Beyond the obvious symbolism beavers evoke, the proposal also makes a data-driven case for the animals relevance. Looking at Wikipedia page views and Google search data, interest in the word beaver, the proposal notes, is comparable to interest in the term elephant. It turns out its also not uncommon for people to complain about the lack of a beaver emoji on Twitter. Why is there no moose or beaver emoji?!? How am I supposed to adequately text with a Canadian? lamented one user whose tweet landed in the proposal. Another tweet from last year complains, Pretty sexist that theres an eggplant emoji but still no beaver. In the month of April alone, a search on Twitter revealed at least 20 people wondering about the absence of a beaver emoji. Going back months and years further, it appears to be a common grievance, particularly among Canadians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of the people involved in submitting the proposal, which is worth reading in its entirety, have submitted emoji ideas to Unicode before. Jennifer 8. Lee, who helped shepherd this proposal, runs the emoji advocacy group Emojination and has now helped to realize more than 100 new emoji, focusing on emoji that make the character set more inclusive. Thanks to Lees advocacy, theres now an emoji character who wears a hijab, a dumpling emoji, and dozens of new combinations of skin tones. Lee now also sits on the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee. Theo Shear, a videographer in the Bay Area who also helped draft the beaver document, has had a few other successes in the emoji department, too. Hes had proposals for a juice box, a picket sign, and a bucket accepted, too. Theres nothing to compare to the beaver, the proposal aptly notes, after which the authors suggest it appear beside the otter when it finally makes it to its rightful place on your phone. Now: What can we do to get that moose emoji? Read the full proposal below: When Alphabet employees decided to stage protests in their offices this week, there was one big difference from the last time workers at the internet giant held a demonstration: They were now hesitant to use Google products for any planning. Just over a week earlier, two of their colleagues alleged that the company had retaliated after theyd organized a massive walkout back in November. So instead of using the most convenient online communication tools in the world, they opted for encrypted text apps to keep their plans out of the potential sight of their employer. In less than 24 hours, they planned a Wednesday sit-in in which more than 1,000 Googlers across 15 U.S. offices reminded the company that it still has to answer to its own workforce. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Activism within Alphabet reached a dramatic peak last November when 20,000 employees across 50 offices worldwide walked out of work to protest how Googles parent company deals with accusations of harassment and discrimination. But demonstrations within the company over how it does business, and with whom, have been going on for a couple years now. Last June, Alphabet decided to stop building artificial intelligence services for a Pentagon drone program after thousands of employees signed a petition demanding the company end the contract. And it was only last August that about 1,000 employees signed an internal petition calling on Google to scrap Project Dragonfly, its plan to build a censored search engine in China, which the company had to address. None of these impacts would have happened without employee organizing, and the current push within Alphabet to protect workers ability to dissent appears to be underlined by a realization that if anyone is going to meaningfully regulate one of the most powerful companies in the world, its going to be the talent that helps make it so powerful. Advertisement Advertisement Wednesdays action comes a little over a week after two employees who were core organizers of the November walkout, Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton, shared on an internal Google email list examples of alleged retaliation they had faced in the months that followed. The walkout, which was held to protest how the company had dealt with serious accusations of sexual assault and harassment and what many employees described as a culture of impunity for executives, led to immediate reforms inside Alphabet. Within days, the company agreed to end forced arbitration in cases involving accusations of sexual harassment or assault, a policy that prevented employees from taking their grievances to court. Workers continued to organize, and in February, Google eliminated its forced arbitration policy for employees entirely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But organizers still felt a sting. Stapleton, a 12-year veteran at Google, shared that she was informed she would be demoted and lose half of the people who report to her. I was told to go on medical leave, even though Im not sick, Stapleton wrote in an email to an internal list describing the retaliation she experienced. It was only after she hired a lawyer that Google investigated and decided to walk back its decision to demote her. Whittaker, who leads Googles Open Research Group and is the co-founder of the AI Now Institute at New York University, received notice that in order to stay at Google, shed have to abandon [her] work on AI ethics and the AI Now Institute, according an email she sent internally. (Google disputes the employees allegations of retaliation.) Advertisement Advertisement Instead of leaving the office in unison on Wednesday, workers at Google used a variety of tactics. Some called in sick, a reference to Stapletons directive to take medical leave. Others set up an email auto-response to detail their grievances over how the company has treated the walkout organizers. In cities like New York, Pittsburgh, Cambridge, and Mountain View, California, workers gathered to read accounts shared by employees across the company alleging experiences of retaliation for speaking out against sexual harassment, bigoted comments from management, and discrimination in pay and promotions at Google. Advertisement Advertisement If employees are afraid to speak out when theyre mistreated, speaking out about the ethics of Googles work will be even harder. Whistleblowing within technology companies is one of the few levers that can hold these conglomerates accountable. Users can complain, but companies dont have to respond. Lawmakers could regulate and force corporations like Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon to be more transparent and responsible, but thats probably not happening in the U.S. anytime soon. Tech companies, after all, work hard to stay unaccountable by spending big and hiring former government officials to get their way. Just last month, Facebook brought on the co-author of the Patriot Act as its general counsel. Last year, it was reported that Google outspent every other company in the country in its effort to lobby U.S. lawmakers, and in the first quarter of this year, Amazon outspent both Facebook and Google in its bid to influence Washington. Even when European regulators have cracked down on tech companies overreach, as they have over the past three years by issuing fines to Alphabet that add up to about $9 billion, it doesnt amount to much more than a few speeding tickets for a company that had $137 billion in revenue in 2018 alone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Google and its peers are enormous enough that most of us depend on them to handle key functions of our daily life. In part its because their products are so useful. Google tells us where to go and how to get there. Facebook helps us maintain connections within our communities. We depend on software from tech companies to guide how we work, relax, and learn. Technology companies, like Google, deliver the information that we need to participate meaningfully in democracy. But these companies have also become so big that they face few checks on their behavior. That has put workers in an important position. Alphabet might not like that its employees are forcing it to be better. But as a user of Google products, Im grateful. When it comes to keeping one of the most powerful corporations in the world in line, whistleblowers are often all weve got. And the scary part is that Googles tech is so embedded in our livesGmail, Chrome, Search, Docs, Maps, Androidthat when theres something we dont like about Google, theres often nowhere else to go. Employee organizing has important changes so far. Hopefully, for the sake of everyone who depends on Google products, it will again. Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now... The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. Muslim Brotherhood Leader/Jihadi Mohamed Magid (L) & Deputy National Security Advisor/Chief of Staff to President Obama Denis MacDonough at Magids Jihadi Mosque the ADAMS Center in Sterling, VA After the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush spoke to the nation at a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001 and said:The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by muslim scholars and the vast majority of muslim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam.This statement is objectively untrue.But this statement from the Commander-in-Chief told the entire U.S. National Security apparatus to find the motive behind the 9/11 attacks without looking at Islam and sharia, despite the fact the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks specifically referenced core Islamic doctrine in support of their actions.And so the Department of Defense, the FBI, the CIA, the DIA, the NSA, and all the other governmental agencies looked for the answer somewhere else.This is why America lost the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq despite the fact the U.S. military crushed the enemies on the battlefields in those countries.When you look for something that is not there, you will never find it. That is exactly the intent of our Islamic enemy.Let us contrast that with teachings out of the most widely used textbook for 12 year old muslim children in U.S. Islamic schools ():Islam is not a religion, however, but a complete way of life.When you follow the Islamic way of living life, you are following the Shariahthe Shariah includes the dos and donts of Islam.The Shariah is the ideal path for us to follow.The basis for the legal and political system is the Shariah of Allah.The Law of the Land is the Shariah of Allah.Muslims dream of establishing the power of Islam in the world.The way of life known as Islam is a complete code of life.In an Islamic political system, the leader of the community, the Khalifa, is the head of the whole Ummah (global muslim community).Jihad is one of the three duties for all muslims.If anyone dies in Jihad they automatically will go to paradise.The duty of Muslim citizens is to be loyal to the Islamic State.Interestingly enough, all authoritatively published books of sharia dealing with the non-muslim world oblige the muslim community to wage war against the non-muslim community until sharia is the law of the land on the earth.In fact, it is a capital crime in Islam under the Law of Apostasy for muslim to deny that Allah intended the Prophets message to be the religion followed by the entire world. [, o8.7(20)]It is truly that simple. So easy, muslim children can understand it.Yet, this is exactly the opposite of what Islamic advisors to U.S. government officials have told our leaders for 20 years.The result? Our leaders snuggle up to suit-wearing jihadis who drive U.S. foreign policy in the direction that benefits Islam, not liberty, not America, and certainly not the security of the American people.Perhaps these Islamic advisors are aware that lying in Islam is obligatory when the goal is obligatorylike when you are waging jihad and advancing Islam. As we at the Middle East Forum monitor the activity of Islamist political groups, we have started to notice a new and puzzling trope in their public statements. At first in a few places, but now repeatedly, Islamist groups have been triumphantly discussing the growth of "Muslim power" in America.To cite a few examples: MPower Change attended the recent ICNA/MAS convention and trained over a hundred attendees in political-mobilization techniques; they later crowed that "we can't wait to work with them to build power!" Jetpac's current fundraising efforts have the tagline, "Our path to power." And CAIR-Washington State is holding a fundraiser on May 25featuring Rep. Ilhan Omar, titled "Unapologetically US: Building Muslim Power for 2020 & Beyond."To be fair, "building power" is what most political groups seek to do, when you get down to it. But in the United States, we tend to cloak the will to power in a blizzard of euphemisms, many of them beloved by the Progressive groups that Omarassociate with. We make our voices heard, or advance our agenda, or defend our priorities, or build alliances, or support our friends in Congress. But "power"? In American politics, the term is considered gauche. Ourare powerful;represent the people. Ourare powerful;protect American industry. And so on.Surely the Islamists know this. They have become politically sophisticated enough to win elections at the local and national levels, using careful messaging and PR. So why this sudden, publicone might even think, coordinatedobsession with Muslim power?The question is perplexing, and there is no definite answer. But there are a few possibilities.One is that the term "power" is meant to tap into the internal narratives of the Islamist community, to inspire a surge of new energy and activism that would be well worth the minor PR risk with regard to outside audiences (such as ourselves). Islamists are not shy about fantasizing about a gradual takeover of the United States through democratic means; perhaps this is a dog-whistle aimed at such fantasies, never mind that they are very far from being carried out.Or are they? Since the 2018 election, Islamist activity has become increasingly reckless. Ilhan Omar in particular seems intent on provoking a political conflict over American support for Israel, even though she is being opposed by the entire Democratic leadership. What makes this confrontation surprising is that if they had simply waited another two or four years, the Islamists and anti-Israel Progressives would probably have been in a much stronger position within the Democratic Party than they are now. By launching this fight early, progressives risk incurring an avoidable defeat from liberal Democrats, who are belatedly realizing the terrible danger they are in.Our read on the situation is that giddy with their growing successes, some Islamists are prematurely dropping the mask. In some circles, Islamists actually imagine that the time of Muslim ascendancy in the US is at handnever mind that Muslims make up only 1% of Congress and some 2% of the populace.This might explain some of the baffling rhetoric of "Muslim power": in a few cases, the speakers might actually believe that the term is a mere expression of fact, and that there is no risk in using it in public. On the contrary; Islamists might believe that weak, impressionable American voters might "follow the strong horse" and support the rise of Islamism even earlier than they would have, if they are convinced that it is already happening.If so, this is a bad misreading of American mores. Former two-time prime minister who negotiated Slovakia's EU accession looks back. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Marking the 15th anniversary of Slovakia's EU accession on May 1, former prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda gave an interview to the Sme daily, on the causes of the crisis in the union, what needs to change, how politicians abuse Brussels in the political fight, and he also gives his opinion on the local political scene, including the new party of President Andrej Kiska. In the ongoing European election campaign, several parties invoke the "common sense" they say Europe is missing, or that the EU needs to be repaired after all those years. You said one year ago that the EU is sometimes unable to make fast and efficient decisions - like when it pondered whether to put two or three Belarussian companies on the sanctions list, while Lukashenka imprisoned opposition leaders. Does the EU lack common sense in any way? That is a stupid simplification that we resort to when we have nothing to say. If we accepted the thesis that we lack common sense, we would offend not just the European and national leaders, but also the citizens of our continent. Jean-Claude Juncker said in an interview for Sme that we blame the European Commission for everything, even things that do not fall under its competencies. It is also our fault that we haven't been able to set the limits. The competencies of the EU and of the member states are blurred. We have repeatedly committed the sin that EU leaders, or leaders of the European Commission, the Council, and the Parliament, meddle with things they have nothing to do with. Mikulas Dzurinda A two-time Slovak prime minister, who later served as foreign affairs minister in the Iveta Radicova government. He led the anti-Meciar coalition, SDK, which replaced the authoritarian-leaning Meciar government in 1998. It was under his watch that Slovakia became an EU and NATO member. In 2012, after several scandals, he no longer ran for the chairman of his SDKU party. In 2014 he left the party. He has served as president of the Centre for European Studies of Wilfried Martens think tank of the European Peoples Party since 2013. Such as? In the social sphere. Look at the report of Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini about Hungary. She helped Orban a lot when she criticised not just the things that fall under the competencies of EU institutions, but she started pondering LGBTI protection in Hungary, and Hungarian pensions and maternal benefits. What does that have to do with EU institutions? Those are exclusively national competencies. So what should the EU have a say about and what not, if EU membership is to be benefitial and the EU should function efficiently? We need to focus on competencies that no member state can secure on its own and where decisions more than agreements are needed. And by decisions I mean fast and majority voting. Such areas include foreign policy, security policy, protection of external borders, the basic working of the eurozone, and the single market. But the EU must not meddle with economic models of member states, of their pension system or cultural policies. Can you imagine that Trump would control the budget of the governor of Delaware before the deputies are asked to vote about it? That is what we are doing. Still, I can hardly understand anyone who wants to make agreements rather than decisions about things like whom to put on a sanction list. Interfering with national competencies also provides fuel for politicians who now use the EU and Brussels as a swearword, abusing them in political battles, even though in the 1990s it was something we wanted to belong to. That is an accurate diagnosis of the reason why we now all complain about Juncker and about some European Union, even though we are a part of it. You have mentioned populism, which is one of the causes. You always need to be saying something in politics, and for those who have nothing to say it is easiest to attack some imaginary Brussels. But the key reason why political parties behave that way is that serious parties that would have always come up with solutions in the past now seem to be scared. We cannot escape immigration, regardless of how much we blab about the decreasing numbers. What if they start increasing again? Why did pro-European and democratic politicians resign on proposing solutions? The show was accompanied by several controversies. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled General, diplomat and politician Milan Rastislav Stefanik is the greatest Slovak, as the results of the show presented by the public-service broadcaster RTVS suggest. Read also: Read also: Byzantine theologians or a Communist president? Searching for the Greatest Slovak Read more The second highest number of votes was received by linguist and politician Ludovit Stur, followed by the priest Anton Srholec. The results were ceremonially presented on May 1. People chose from altogether 10 figures, whose stories were gradually presented via documentaries broadcast by RTVS. Thanks to the figures that appeared among the top 100, and then the top 10, were living as a modern nation in our own country, said Jaroslav Reznik, general director of RTVS, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He was positively surprised by another project, The Greatest Slovak Youth Choice, which was targeted at young people who discussed the historical figures at their schools. Competition surrounded by controversies 10 greatest Slovaks (nominations) Alexander Dubcek Jozef Gabcik Andrej Hlinka Gustav Husak Juraj Janosik Peter Sagan Anton Srholec Ss. Cyril and Methodius Milan Rastislav Stefanik Ludovit Stur The May 1 gala was the culmination of the show, which began in autumn 2018. In the first phase, people could send their recommendation for the greatest Slovak. Subsequently, RTVS published the names of the top 100 figures on January 1, 2019. Between February 20 and April 24, RTVS broadcast documentaries and discussions featuring the top 10 figures. Various guests were invited to explain why these people should be selected as the greatest Slovaks, TASR reported. However, several controversies surrounded the show. For example, RTVS was criticised for the trailer featuring Jozef Tiso, president of the infamous fascist Slovak state during World War II. Moreover, many observers criticised the fact that the Saints Cyril and Methodius, Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries, made it to the top 10, and Maria Theresa, emperor of Austrian-Hungarian empire crowned in Bratislava, ranked 22nd. Sociologist Zuzana Kusa said in an earlier interview with The Slovak Spectator that the poll is not a sociological survey, neither is it a picture representing the preferences of people living in this country. Read also: Read also: Husak has blood on his hands. Should the communist leader be the greatest Slovak? Read more Read also: One of the founders of Czechoslovakia has recently been named the Greatest Slovak. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Slovakia will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the tragic death of General Milan Rastislav Stefanik on May 4. Read also: Read also: Special coins minted to commemorate Stefaniks death Read more A rich programme has been prepared to remember one of the founders of Czechoslovakia. The main events will take place at Brezova pod Bradlom, where Stefanik is buried in a stone tomb at the top of Bradlo hill, and in Kosariska (both in the Trencin Region), where he was born. Shortly before noon, a torch-lit march from Kosariska to Bradlo, symbolising his short life but also the cohesiveness and unity of the Slovak nation will take place, said Barbora Palovicova, spokesperson for the Culture Ministry, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Journey from Italy Read also: Read also: M. R. Stefanik: an uncompromising politician and royalist with debts Read more There will also be a wreath laying ceremony at 13:00 on Bradlo, accompanied by an artillery salvo and military music performed by the Slovak armed forces, as well as an overflight of contemporary and historical aircraft. On May 1, thirteen planes of the Slovak Federation of Ultralight Flying flew to the Italian airport of Campoformido, near Udine, from where Stefanik took off for the last time. On the way back, they will simulate his last flight. They will return with one extra plane carrying an Italian general. They will also fly over Bradlo on May 4 and land at Piestany airport, TASR wrote. Exhibited wrecks Stefaniks legacy will also be rememberd by bonfires and singing. In Brezova pod Bradlom, before the ceremony, there will be a programme prepared by the Matica Slovenska national cultural institution held in the National House of Stefanik, as well as an exhibition dedicated to the him in the Museum of D.S. Jurkovic. Read also: Read also: Stefanik co-founded Czechoslovakia but did not live to see it thrive Read more In the National House, there will be also an exhibition of the parts of Stefaniks plane, a Caproni Ca 33, in which he tragically died near Ivanka pri Dunaji. Also a presentation of M. R. Stefanik comics meant for younger spectators has been prepared, Palovicova said, as quoted by TASR. In the evening, there will be a music programme. At the railway station in Brezova pod Bradlom, the historical Legiovlak train from the years 1918-1920 will be exhibited over the whole day, she added. How to get there? Non-scheduled ZSSK train will go to Brezova pod Bradlom from Bratislava. The train leaves at 6:45 from the main railway station in Bratislava, with stops at Bratislava-Vinohrady, Trnava, Jablonica, Hradiste pod Vratnom. It will arrive at Brezova pod Bradlom at 9:06. The train leaves Brezova pod Bradlom at 19:03, with the return to Bratislava scheduled for 21:24. Free shuttle bus will commute between train and bus stations to Bradlo in the morning and back in the afternoon. Those who come by car, must park at the carparks under Bradlo and use the bus to go up to the hill or go on foot. Welcome to the Sprudge Twenty interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series! Read more about the Sprudge Twenty and see all of our interviews here. Nominated by Mami Sakamoto Kazuhiro Nagasawa is an entrepreneur and coffee professional based in Morioka City, some 300 miles from the city of Tokyo on the northern tip of Honshu. He is the owner/operator of his own eponymous small town coffee brand, Nagasawa Coffee, founded in 2012. Heres more on why Nagaswa Coffee is special from Mimi Sakamotos nominating essay: Let me explain a little bit about my hometown, the city of Morioka and its relationship with coffee. Coffee is loved by all generations here, and many families have their favorite coffee roasters and cafes. But what they call coffee has traditionally meant a dark roasted, thick, strong tasting drink. When Nagasawa Coffee opened in 2012, their coffee selection had fruity, lighter, or sometimes unique tastes in addition to traditional dark ones. Mr. Nagasawa was not trying to follow in-fashion coffee then. His coffee choices are not swayed by trends. Instead, he is cultivating his own world of coffee, traveling from Africa to Taiwan to keep his knowledge current, and expressing everything hes learned here for the locals. I think this is how a barista in a small town can contribute to change and influence the world of coffee. Sprudge Media Network spoke with Nagasawa digitally from Morioka City. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. What issue in coffee do you care about most? I care about the future of coffee cultivation, especially how it will be affected by global warming. Secondly, I am concerned about the worldwide rapidly growing demand for coffee, which may lead to an imbalance in supply. What cause or element in coffee drives you? In 2011, I encountered the Great East Japan Earthquake, the biggest earthquake that we had ever experienced. The seacoast areas of Tohoku region, or the North East side of Japan where we live, had massive damage. From day one of the disasters, I couldnt help thinking that I have to do something. My desire became stronger day by day and about a month later, there I was, visiting from shelter to shelter of the seaside towns hit by the massive tsunami. Taking a whole day, I served so many people cups of coffee that I couldnt count how many they were every day. The more I served, the more people became delighted, thankful for me with many smiles. Some of the victims even told me, thank you very much for coming over to such a terrible disaster area, and I was unexpectedly encouraged by those words. During this activity, I strongly felt the magic and miracle power of coffee that made me think deeply about how good it was to be involved in the world of coffee. Unlike water or foods, we can live without coffee. However, at the moment you have a sip of coffee, a joy arises. Feeling healed, a calm space is born, and smiles overflow. That strange feeling that I had under that ultimate and devastating natural circumstance made me mad about coffee more than ever. What issue in coffee do you think is critically overlooked? The reality of coffee growers poverty. What is the quality you like best about coffee? Coffee can take us beyond countries, regions, languages, ethnic background, and religions. It provides us opportunities to share our common values. I believe it is a wonderful drink that connects people to people all over the world. Did you experience a god shot or life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career? A long, long time ago, one day, I hiked up to the top of a mountain for snowboarding. It was a tremendously cold day, and I was almost freezing. Then, somebody poured a cup of hot coffee from a thermos for me. I vividly remember the scene and its unforgettably delicious taste of the coffee still now. It was not that tasty as we could call specialty, it was precisely my life-changing moment that made me realize it all depends on the environment or situation; we could find any coffee to be the best coffee. I could say it was a very precious discovery for my career. What is your idea of coffee happiness? My idea of coffee happiness is: Coffee is always a side player, not takes a leading role but it still beside us when we need it. Coffee is always there when important decisions are made or brilliant inventions are found in history. I think what coffee happiness truly means is bringing to us our everyday life itself. No drama needed. Spending our daily lives with a cup of coffee is such a wonderful treat. Also, I would like to always be with coffee as a part of peoples ordinary lives. If you could have any job in the coffee industry, what would it be and why? I would be a coffee farmer and cultivate coffee from scratch all by myself. My town, Morioka, is very cold in winter, so its impossible to grow coffee here. So I have an aspiration to commit to producing coffee. Who are your coffee heroes? All the customers who come to my store, including the past and future visitors, are my heroes. Without any supports by all of them, we, Nagasawa Coffee, dont exist. If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? No doubt, it would be John Lennon. Although John and I are not the same age, we share the same birthday, and unilaterally I have admired him for many years. If this were to happen, for me to drink coffee with him, it would be amazing. However, to speak honestly, I would like to have a drink of something stronger than coffee if given the chance with John Lennon! If you didnt get bit by the coffee bug, what do you think youd be doing instead? I would be a professional snowboarder (if my age does not matter). I have quite a long career in snowboarding, and there are a lot of great places to go snowboarding with ideal snow conditions around my city. Do you have any coffee mentors? Nope. Nobody. I started my career in coffee by self-study and have kept it that way to the present. What do you wish someone wouldve told you when you were first starting out in coffee? When I first started in coffee, I knew nobody who was in the coffee industry then. I had to go very far to find my way. If I could have some advice from somebody, it would be much more comfortable. However, as much tough time as I been through, I now feel I am making good use of my past experiences. Name three coffee apparatuses youd take into space with you. I would choose just one. AeroPress. I want to challenge pressing in weightless space. Best song to brew coffee to? Something by the artist French Kiwi Juice. Look into the crystal ballwhere do you see yourself in 20 years? I can see I am on the southern island of Japan, and enjoying watching coffee cherries. Whatd you eat for breakfast this morning? I had natto (fermented soybeans), white rice, grilled fish and miso soup. Quite a traditional Japanese breakfast. When did you last drink coffee? What was it? I would prefer to tell you when I drank coffee for the very first time, because I feel like my last coffee is always in the future. So, I think I was nine years old or so back then. My father brought coffee beans at a local coffee shop and brewed it in a siphon for me. I do not remember what coffee it was. Despite my fathers solemn and polite conduct, I could not understand the taste of the coffee at all. It has become a good memory of my late father. Thank you. The Sprudge Twenty is presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. Lady London was the fabulous female on Wednesday night (May 1) in Buffalo Raceway's $10,500 Class A Open Handicap pace for fillies and mares, as she broke two track records with a 1:53.2 mile. Driven by Billy Davis Jr., Lady London ($3.30) eclipsed the all-age mark for distaff pacers of 1:53.3, set in 2015 by Mosquito Blue Chip, and also established a new standard for older pacing mares of 1:53.3, registered in 2018 by Sportsmuffler. And to put an exclamation point on the night, it was a lifetime best. "I just stepped on it with her when (Kevin Cummings) came up behind me with You Mach Me Crazy at the three-quarter pole," said Davis about the record breaking journey aboard Lady London. He went on to say, "I thought it (the track record) was 1:53.1. I never asked her until the last eighth of a mile. She had plenty left in the tank." With a fast track and the temperature at nearly 80 degrees Fahrenheit, it was the perfect recipe for some speedy efforts. Scoring from the inside, Lady London set sail and rocketed out to fractions of :28.1, :56.3 and 1:25.4. Any thoughts of the field catching her were quickly doused, as Lady London used a final panel of :27.3 to dispose of Little Joke (Shawn McDonough), who finished 2-3/4 lengths behind, and You Mach Me Crazy. Owned by VHF Racing and trained by Sabrina Clevenger, it was the second victory in eight tries for Lady London (Big Jim-Maddam Luck). The six-year-old mare has now produced $16,338 in earnings this season and $70,626 lifetime. Davis, Ray Fisher Jr. and Cummings all had driving doubles on the evening. Racing will continue on Friday night (May 3) with a nine-race card slated to begin at 5 p.m. On Saturday (May 4), Buffalo Raceway will present an 11-race program that has a special 7:15 p.m. post to accommodate the running of the Kentucky Derby. For more information including the latest news, race replays, results, entries, upcoming promotions and simulcast schedule, go to www.buffaloraceway.com. (Buffalo Raceway) TROT Magazine is pleased to announce that Rachel Oenema has been hired as its new Associate Editor. Along with her education in Marketing & Advertising at Sheridan College, and her years of industry experience as both a trainer and a caretaker, Rachel has also worked on the in-house show at Flamboro Downs, and more recently as Kelly Spencer's marketing assistant at Grand River Raceway. "Rachel is a life-long horseperson who is truly passionate about our sport, and I'm confident that she's going to make a fantastic addition to our team," stated Dan Fisher, TROT's Managing Director. Along with her duties at TROT, Oenema will also be working with the Standardbred Canada website team, as well as on SC's social media presence. Rachel Oenema interviewing Roger Huston at Hanover Raceway Rachel Oenema interviewing Roger Huston at Hanover Raceway Please join Standardbred Canada in welcoming Rachel to its team. All educators will have several Missouri Educator Gateway Assessment (MEGA) exams to pass on their way to becoming certified ESL teachers. To start, the Missouri Educator Profile (MEP) is a mandatory survey that, while not scored in the traditional sense, provides a vital personality analysis to the state of Missouri. This 192-question multiple-choice 'test' can be completed at any pace, and those taking it are free to take a break and come back to it at another date. No official testing center is needed for this exam, as it can be sent from any computer with an internet connection. The four-part Missouri General Education Assessment (MoGEA) consists of Reading Comprehension and Interpretation, Writing, Mathematics, and Science and Social Studies subtests. Completing these in one session will take four and a half hours, but examinees have the option to sit for multiple testing sessions. Passing scores vary depending on the educational institution giving the exam. There is also the Missouri Pre-Service Teacher Assessment (MoPTA) which evaluates student teachers as they work their way through their practicum sessions. If allowed by the educational institution, video recordings can be used to supplement the four components required for submission as part of the exam. The goal of this test is to help student teachers grow as educators, and identify core strengths and areas that can be improved upon. After the passing of the submission deadline, scores will be sent in no more than four weeks. Lastly, the Missouri Content Assessments are designed for specific areas in which teachers are assigned. Eighth-grade English teachers will need the Middle School: Language Arts exam, while high school teachers will take the Secondary Education: English test. A third-grade teacher will need to pass all four subtests on the Elementary Education Multi-Content exam. Passing each multiple-choice test requires a score of 220 on a scale of 100-300. All educators in the state of Missouri must complete a series of exams known as the Missouri Educator Gateway Assessments (MEGAs). For ESL teachers, Missouri Content Assessments will depend on the grade taught. For example, a sixth grade teacher of English for non-native speakers would need to pass the Middle School Education: Language Arts exam, while a high school teacher would take the Secondary Education: English exam. All of the content assessment exams are in multiple-choice format, and a score of 220 is needed to pass. Also required for all potential teachers is the Missouri Pre-Service Teacher Assessment (MoPTA). Designed to evaluate teaching methods as students progress through coursework, this exam includes an optional video element, allowing the recording of student teaching sessions if permission is granted by the educational institution. There are a total of four components to this exam, and after the submission deadline passes, scores are available within four weeks. The Missouri General Education Assessment (MoGEA) is made up of four subtests: science and social studies, mathematics, reading comprehension and interpretation, and writing. The writing subtest consists entirely of one question with a longer answer, while the other three subtests come in multiple-choice format. Passing scores vary depending on the institution administering them, so check with the school giving the test for their standards. Finally, the Missouri Educator Profile (MEP) differs from the rest of the MEGAs because it is not scored like a traditional exam. Rather, the multiple-choice survey measures different characteristics of the test taker's professional personality to give the state a better idea of who they will be recommending for certification. This test does not need to be taken at any official location, as any computer with an active Internet connection will work. Furthermore, anyone taking this test has the option to pause and come back at a later date if they need more time. About Davenport University Davenport University is a private, not-for-profit university that offers programs at multiple campuses across Michigan, as well as online. Its programs are designed around the current job market so students can gain the skills that are in demand from employers, and the university has the goal of offering guaranteed job placement to most students by 2020. Davenport's online division offers the same high-quality education and personal attention that are found in their on-campus programs, but in a convenient learning format that allows students to study on their own schedule while still meeting the demands of their family and career. Online students can choose from a variety of associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees, as well as undergraduate and graduate certificate programs, in the business, technology, arts & sciences, and health professions fields. Programs are available in fields of study that range from accounting and legal studies to management, nursing, and computer science. Financial aid and scholarships are available for qualifying students, and the university offers an employment guarantee for several of its programs. Davenport is accredited by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and it is recognized for veterans' training under the GI Bill for Veterans Educational Assistance. Syria and Russia have chastised the US for holding displaced people in the al-Rukban Camp against their will and siphoning off aid for terrorist groups writes SANA. The Syrian and Russian coordination committees for the return of displaced Syrians stressed that the United States wants to keep the displaced people in the al-Rukban Camp to use them as human shields for their forces, which are present illegally in the al-Tanf area. In a joint statement on Tuesday, the committees said the evacuation of civilians from the al-Rukban Camp is proceeding very slowly, while the United States keeps providing terrorist groups under its control with food, secured from humanitarian aid convoys that were meant for the camp. The statement said that under the pretense of caring for Syrians, the Americans are working to keep people in the camp to use them as human shields so that they can maintain their occupation of the al-Tanf area. The committees said the American sides refusal to dismantle the camp will only exacerbate the suffering of the Syrians being held against their will in the al-Tanf area. The statement said that humanitarian aid sent to Syria must go to the people who used to be in the al-Rukban Camp and were evacuated to Homs province, who so far number 7,434. The committees said Russia and Syria support the delivery of aid to Syrian citizens, but a large part of the first two convoys sent under the care of the UN ended up in the hands of terrorist groups, stressing that transparency can only be achieved by delivering aid directly to the camp itself. The statement also pointed out that the humanitarian situation in the al-Hol Camp in Hassakeh province is deteriorating due to the actions of the Americans and the militias they support, with over 73,000 people, over 90 percent of them women and children, currently living in very difficult conditions there. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The return of the remains of an Israeli soldiers and the following release of two Syrian, one of whom is a known criminal and spy is yet another embarrassment for the regime writes Zaman Al Wasl. The return of the remains of Israeli soldier Zechariah Baumel is still viewed as a scandal. One scandal followed another, the last of which was the released of two Syrians by the Israelis, that the regime has asked to be release. One of the released men does not only have a long criminal record, with the record of his criminal activity released by the regime itself, but is also an Israeli intelligence agent, according to his statement recorded during his trial. As soon as Russia handed over the body of Israeli officer Zechariah Baumel, who was buried in Yarmouk camp, the regime of Bashar al-Assad suffered from severe embarrassment, that was witnessed by loyalists who had cried slogans of resistance and sovereignty for him. Resulting from this slap in the face by Russia, Assad complained of being ignored and not being informed about a deal of this magnitude. Thus, according to the regime, Moscow was pressured to secure the release of prisoners held by Tel Aviv, in compensation for the delivery of the remains of Baumel and to recover from the prior humiliation. However, what happened is exactly the opposite, as the details revealed by Zaman al-Wasl will cause Assad to further lose face and to show his foolishness. In order to be practical, we have relied on certified documents proving that one of the people whose release was demanded by the regime is someone who is well versed in criminality and violations, along with his self-admitted work for the Israeli intelligence services. This is not the only scandal related to the two prisoners, whose release was reported by regime media on Sunday morning, when they arrived at the Quneitra Crossing. There are other scandals we will present in the context of our report on the prisoners Ahmad Khamis and Zidane Tawil. Tawils name was mentioned in the official criminal archive as follows: Zidane Ibrahim Tawil, his mother Tufaida, born 1968, indicted on 15 charges ranging from attempted murder, theft of public funds, smuggling and gang formation. Zaman al-Wasl has official copies of these memos, stating that Zidane Tawil is wanted in several regions, including the Quneitra Police Department, the Public Prosecutors Office in Damascus, and by Interpol. The oldest of these criminal memos dates back to Jan. 28,1989, and was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The new Syrian National Initiative hopes to put the decision making process back into the hands of Syrians and move the country towards a state of law reports Etihad Press. On Monday, in the Swiss city of Geneva, a press conference was held to announce the launch of the Syrian National Initiative with the aim of, preparing to hold a Syrian general conference and to restore the right to decide Syrias fate to Syrians themselves. Over 250 people signed the initiative, including politicians, military figures and civilians. In a press conference, the initiative announced a general principles document and that: this initiative is based on the implementation of the UN resolutions of a transition to a state of law, and not sectarianism, based on a separation of powers and a democratic exchange of authority, and rebuilding the security and military institutions on a national and professional basis. Thirty people participated in the Syrian National Initiative meetings in Geneva, which lasted for two days and ended with the selection of a preparatory committee for the Syrian National Conference, who held a press conference, during which it announced the initiatives launch, with a recording posted online. The statement which Mohamed al-Hajj Ali delivered said that this initiative, is to confirm the failure of the military and security solution that was chosen and pursued by the regime, as well as the subsequent domination of voices of armament and extremism, and to consolidate interventions. The statement also said, the proposal to form a transitional governing body includes: a national transitional council, a high judicial council, a transitional stage government, a transitional security and military council, and an independent body for transitional justice. The statement attacked the Astana negotiating track and said it was, snatching the Syrian issue from the Geneva track to the benefit of the guarantor countries. The statement noted that this had led to negotiations being limited to the formation of a constitutional committee, which is a small part of the matter. It noted the importance of considering more important issues, such as the matter of prisoners, and a real change in power and in the state. In a statement to the Elaph website, the Syrian opposition member, Khalid al-Mahamid, one of the signatories to the initiative, said that he was with every initiative that stopped the shedding of Syrian blood and added that there was a need to, be open to all constituencies and not exclude any party or constituency, and to hold a collective Syrian-Syrian dialogue which included everyone. He stressed the importance of getting out of the current situation and noted that this initiative, includes national figures and military commanders and is based on opening the horizons of a solution in Syria. Mahamid stressed that, there are stumbling blocks in the political process, and it must be a Syrian decision without influence from any other country and according to an international reference and taking into account all UN decisions with regards to Syria. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Syria has closed the door of reconstruction to countries that opposed the regime, while expressing hope that China, Russia and Iran will be the main parties in the process writes Ana Press. Media adviser to the Syrian regime presidency, Bouthaina Shaaban, said that: participation in Syrias reconstruction will only be available to countries that assisted it during its crisis. Shaaban expressed her hope that China, Iran and Russia would be among the main countries participating in this process. She added in an interview with the Novosti agency: President Bashar al-Assad has announced that the countries which fought against us during the war will not participate in the reconstruction of the country. Only those countries that helped us and had friendly relations with us will be among the partners during the reconstruction process. Shaaban stressed the need to liberate all of Syrias territory from terrorists before beginning the reconstruction process in full. She said: We hope to achieve victory against the remnants of the terrorists in northeastern Syria and Idleb. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Between fundraisers, walks and donation accounts, Cowlitz County businesses raised more than $100,000 over the last two weeks for the family of slain Cowlitz County sheriffs deputy Justin DeRosier. Red Leaf alone raised more than $44,000 in total from donations and fundraising, general manager Ann Lucas said, including checks mailed in from Eugene and Tacoma. And Dutch Bros coffee raised more than $18,800 in a single day of donations and sales. Were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from our community, Lucas said. For something so tragic in our community, to have our community really come together, its been amazing. Just to see what our community is capable of is awesome. We never dreamed it could be anything this big. A Fibre Federal Credit Union donation account raised about $25,000, and donations from staff and the public brought in at least $18,500 to Red Canoe, chief marketing officer Amy Davis said. Even small businesses raised impressive sums: Vault Books and Brew in Castle Rock raised $1,800 from cash donations and sales, owner Jennifer Engkraf said. Some business are still tallying their numbers: The Longview Applebees donated 10 percent of bills from participating patrons Tuesday and was calculating its final numbers Wednesday afternoon. Those donations were among many other in-kind efforts from local businesses to honor the deputy. The Clean Machine auto detailing shop in Longview detailed DeRosiers patrol car, Copies Today in Kelso printed and distributed nearly 10,000 Back the Blue stickers in a single day, and Reprographics in Longview created 5,000 programs for services held for DeRosier locally and in Portland. Reprographics owner Tom Gunn said it just felt like the right thing to do, and said he couldnt believe the level of support the community showed. It seems, everyone was trying to do something to help, whether it was raising money or just acknowledging that we appreciated Justin and his service, Gunn said. I think it was neat that our community stepped up to show that we appreciated him. Love 39 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 3 Angry 17 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A new law removing the personal exemption for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine will help increase the number of Cowlitz County children immunized against the diseases, health officials said. The measure was delivered to Gov. Jay Inslee last week and is awaiting his signature. Washington law requires children attending schools and child care facilities to be immunized against certain diseases. It allows parents to exempt their child from the immunization requirements for medical, religious or personal reasons. The new law removes that personal exemption only for the MMR vaccine. Opponents of the legislation argued the measure takes away parental rights. Informed Choice Washington, an organization that advocates for scientific integrity in vaccine policy and true informed consent, held rallies at the state Capitol opposing the bill. All of Cowlitz Countys state representatives and senators except Sen. Dean Takko, D-Longview, voted against the final version of the measure, citing concerns about removing parental rights. Dr. Alan Melnick, public health officer for Cowlitz and Clark counties, said something that got lost in debate is the right of families whose children who cant be immunized for medical reasons. People with weak immune systems, severe allergies to a vaccine ingredient or other medical conditions often cant get the vaccines. People who choose not to vaccinate children put those kids at risk, he said. Parents who have kids who cant get the vaccine, where are their rights? Melnick said. What about the rights for those kids to attend school without worrying about some horrible complication? About 5 percent of Cowlitz County kindergartners had an exemption to vaccinations for the 2017-2018 school year, according to school immunization record data published by the state Department of Health. Of those, 3.7 percent were for personal reasons. According to the school data, 92.7 percent of Cowlitz County kindergartners completed their MMR immunization. Thats a big increase from the overall immunization rate of about 20 years ago, which hovered around 50 percent, said Paul Youmans, director of Pathways 2020. Increasing immunization rates in the county was a goal of the organization over the last 20 years, he said. Its a matter of schools and clinics and parents being aware that the health of their children and their neighbors children is really important, he said. However, Melnick said the school records need to be taken with a grain of salt because they are only updated at the start of each school year and dont include homeschooled children. The other source of state vaccination data comes from the Washington Immunization Information System. According to the system, 67.6 percent of Cowlitz County 4-to-6-year-olds received both doses of the MMR vaccine in 2017. Thats only slightly higher than the statewide average of 67 percent. Melnick and Youmans said the new law should help increase that rate. Melnick said the new law should also help prevent an outbreak similar to Clark Countys measles outbreak this winter. The outbreak of 71 confirmed cases was officially declared over on April 29. There were no cases in Cowlitz County, but national concern continues. From Jan. 1 to April 26, 704 cases of measles have been confirmed in 22 states. This is an increase of 78 cases from the previous week. This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000, according the Centers for Disease Control. Im feeling happy that this outbreak is over but not feeling complacent or smug thinking it wont happen again, Melnick said of Clark Countys outbreak. Health officials need to reach out to religious communities and vaccine-hesitant parents and listen to their concerns without judgment, Melnick said. Common concerns about vaccinations include adverse reactions, links to autism and potentially harmful ingredients. Theyve heard this misinformation, and theyre scared about it, he said. According to the state Department of Health, serious reactions to vaccinations are rare, vaccines and autism are unrelated and parents can receive details about vaccine ingredients if they are concerned. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue, the American Red Cross Cascades Region and other local volunteers will install free smoke alarms in area homes Saturday. The free installation is part of the national Sound the Alarm initiative about fire safety and how to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by home fires. In Cowlitz County, Red Cross volunteers and local firefighters will go door-to-door to install free smoke alarms in homes that need them. Residents can also arrange an appointment for their visit online at soundthealarm.org/cascades. During each stop, the volunteers will also help families create fire escape plans and deliver fire safety education. Local residents can volunteer to join the initiative and help with installations. Volunteers should meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Kelso Senior Center (106 Eighth Ave.) for a kick-off event, the press release says. Every day, an average of seven people die as a result of a home fire, according to the Red Cross, and most of these deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms. Each day, Red Cross volunteers care for neighbors devastated by home fires, and we want to prevent needless tragedies from these disasters, said Dale Kunce, CEO of the Red Cross Cascades Region. You can help (end home fires) by volunteering and raising donations for lifesaving services. Red Cross launched its Sound the Alarm events in 2014. Since then, it has reached more than 1.7 million people and estimates that it has saved more than 582 people nationwide. Regionally, the campaign has saved seven lives, installed more than 25,000 alarms and made more than 8,000 homes safer, according to the press release. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. KALAMA Savannah Eastman says she was visiting her brother in Oregon the evening of April 14 when SWAT agents broke windows and launched tear gas in a search for evidence at her Vincent Road home during the manhunt for Brian Butts. Eastman said she understands law enforcement were pressed to find and arrest Butts, who is believed to have shot and killed 29-year-old Cowlitz County sheriffs deputy Justin DeRosier the night of April 13. But she said shes now being accused by some of being involved in the shooting, and she and her children are homeless while their Vincent Road house in Kalama is littered with glass shards and the pink splatter residue of tear gas. Im not trying to overpower (DeRosiers death) or get the attention off of him at all. That never should have happened. But at the same time, me and my family are suffering. Neither Butts nor anyone else was inside, deputies confirmed, and Butts would later be apprehended and killed by police in a shootout along Spencer Creek Road on the evening of April 14. Eastmans boyfriend Michael Veatch, who lives at her residence, was arrested earlier that day on a DOC warrant. Officers are still investigating the case and Michael Veatch has not at this time been charged with a crime in connection to the DeRosier investigation. (His brother Matthew Veatch is charged with aiding Butts escape.) My three children and I are on the street right now. Eastman said last week. Everyone thinks that my boyfriend was involved, (but) hes the one that was only picked up on the DOC (warrant). ... Thats not me, thats not my immediate family. ... This is a small town. I have a lot of family here. I grew up here. And now I cant even get a handshake. The Cowlitz County Office of Financial Management found there was no negligence or wrongdoing in the search, so Eastman wont be reimbursed for the damage done. She has set up a GoFundMe account to find a new place to live, but in the meantime, she and her children are bouncing between staying at family homes and in her car, all because of some involvement that (she) never had, Eastman said. My goal right now is to get enough money for a deposit for a new house, she said. I have money. I have a job. Its just getting that big lump sum to be able to move into a place, and to replace my childrens things. Eastman said her boyfriend was arrested for failing to pay some fines and report to police after being questioned, and shes adamant that he played no part in the shooting whatsoever. Regardless, comments on the GoFundMe for her repair expenses accuse her boyfriend of being the shooter, and Eastman says she cant walk down the street without putting her head down. I have people threatening me, saying theyre going to kill me, Eastman said. My children are getting bullied at school. ... Ive wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out. I cant walk into a store without feeling like Im going to die. My heart just races. Kalama school officials referred TDNs inquiries about the bullying to the superintendent, who was not available to comment this week. According to court records of the Vincent Road search warrant, nothing was seized from the property, although the investigation into the shootings remains open. Eastman and Veatch rented the property but didnt have renters insurance, Eastman said. When property is damaged during a search warrant, its generally up to the city or countys risk manager to determine how much, if any, the homeowner is owed, officials said. Talking in big generalities, if I have a valid search warrant as an investigator at your residence, and we break in the front door, most of the time, if it is a valid search warrant, the homeowners responsible for the damage, Clark County sheriffs Sgt. Brent Waddell said. Cowlitz County risk manager Ronda Hollis said that if law enforcement is determined to have been negligent or in error in searching the house, the county would pay for the damage. In this case, she could not find any negligence whatsoever or any issues with how Cowlitz or Clark County served the warrant. If we were to pay for the door of every time we had to perform an arrest warrant with taxpayer dollars, that wouldnt be right either, Hollis said. But if we did something wrong ... we would pay for that damage. Longview Police Captain Robert Huhta was in charge of operations at a nearby command post when Southwest Washington SWAT served the warrant. He said officers had received information that Butts was associated with the residence and may have been there that day. The property is near Fallert Road, where DeRosier was shot. Eastman said she knew Butts from school and living in Kalama, but said she didnt know him on a personal basis. He had never been to the house, she said. Matthew Veatch was arrested at about 2 a.m. that Sunday, about 16 hours before investigators said officers searched the Vincent Road house. Michael Veatch was also arrested earlier that day at the Veatch family residence, which is located on Fallert Road, according to police timelines. About an hour after officers searched the Vincent road property, officers learned Butts had been seen in the 400 block of Spencer Creek Road. The search warrant for Eastmans residence said police were seeking evidence of occupancy, clothing, weapons and associated supplies or equipment and bodily fluids, Sgt. Todd Barsness of the Clark County Sheriffs Office said. It did not list a specific individual as being sought for evidence. No one was found or arrested at the house, he said. Love 7 Funny 19 Wow 6 Sad 26 Angry 12 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Longview police arrested a man on Wednesday who is suspected of receiving sexually explicit photos last year from a girl who was 13. Patrick Wade Newman III, 29, a Longview-area transient was booked on suspicion of sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of child pornography and viewing child pornography, all felonies. Longview police Detective Sgt. Chris Blanchard said police believe Newman began a relationship with the alleged victim through social media sometime in the fall. The two sent images both ways for a period of weeks to months, Blanchard said. According to his probable cause statement, Newman sent sexually explicit messages and requests for photos and videos to the alleged victim, who told him she was 15, and asked to meet her in person. Police reports say Newman asked the alleged victim: You are 15 right? Like if your (sic) 14, its cool. I wont mind. He also asked about specific sex acts, according to police records, and told the alleged victim the difference in fun and a felony is asking beforehand. When arrested, Newman told police that he does not communicate with anyone under the age of 16, which is the age of consent for participation in sexual activity in Washington. We were alerted in December of 2018, Blanchard said, and so it took a while to get the necessary background information and search warrants. Social media warrants can take quite a while. And there wasnt an initial rush because the victim was no longer being victimized by this person. As far as police know, the interactions stopped in December, Blanchard said. Officers were alerted to the case because the alleged victims mother discovered evidence on her daughters cell phone, Blanchard said. Officers matched photos sent by Newman to images on his social media accounts, jail records and Department of Licensing photo to confirm his identity. The investigation is ongoing, but as far as we know currently, it was all online, Blanchard said. The alleged victims city of residence is not known. Newman was booked into the Cowlitz County Jail Thursday in lieu of $15,000 bail. He is scheduled to enter a plea on May 14. His felony history in Cowlitz County appears to be a single conviction for possession of heroin in 2014. Reporter Mallory Gruben contributed to this article. Love 1 Funny 2 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 9 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Alex Bruell Reporter Follow Alex Bruell 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 Suspects in three separate murder cases pleaded not guilty in Cowlitz County Superior Court Thursday. Erkinson Kinisou Bossy, 24, of Vancouver, is suspected of supplying the gun used in Jan. 22 fatal shooting of Kelso convenience store clerk Kayla Chapman and of driving the getaway car. He pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm Thursday. Bossys trial is set for June 25. Co-suspect DAnthony Williams, who is accused of shooting and killing Chapman, is scheduled for trial in December. The remaining suspect in the case, Nenemeny Winter Ekiek, who is suspected of supplying Williams with a hat and red bandanna disguise used in the robbery-homicide, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and possession of meth. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 15, presumably to await the outcome of the trials of the two other suspects. In the recent Ryderwood case, Anthony Depuisaye Greene pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and intimidating a witness in the death of Travis Seiber at home in March. Greene, 26, of Centralia, had his trial set for June 11. Greene is suspected of killing Seiber while robbing him of a DVD player, DVR and cell phone. In the third case, Kalama resident Matthew Daniel Veatch, 25, pleaded not guilty to a single charge of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. His trial is scheduled for July 9. Veatch is accused of helping Brian Butts elude police following the fatal shooting of Cowlitz County sheriffs Deputy Justin DeRosier on April 13. Specifically, in court documents, Veatch is accused of harboring or concealing (Butts), warning (Butts) of impending discovery or apprehension; providing (Butts) with a means to avoid discovery or apprehension; or concealing altering and destroying physical evidence (the firearm), that might aid in the discovery or apprehension of (Butts). The investigation into the deaths of both DeRosier and Butts is continuing. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 13 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Strengthening the spillway gates at Mossyrock Dam will take many years and will mean that Riffe Lake will be kept 30 feet below full level at least into the next decade, according to the hydroelectric project owner and operator. The dam itself is not considered at risk from earthquakes. However, a 2017 U.S. Geological Survey study found that an earthquake could damage the dams spillway gates and release massive amounts of floodwater from Riffe Lake that would course down the Cowlitz River Valley. Analysis shows that specific seismic events could potentially cause the spillway piers and spillway gates to fail, resulting in an uncontrolled release of water and considerable downstream flooding. Lowering the lake level to 30 feet lower than full helps limit this impact, according to Tacoma Power, which owns and operates the dam. Mossyrock Dam, built in 1968 at a cost of nearly $118 million, is Washington States tallest hydroelectric dam, rising 606 feet from its foundation in bedrock and 365 from Cowlitz River bed. It impounds Riffe Lake, which is 23 miles long. When full, Riffe Lake reaches 778.5 feet above sea level. Tacoma Power lowers the lake more than 30 feet every winter to create flood storage capacity to meet its federal license requirements. But lowered lake levels in the summer deter recreation and make some boat launches unusable. However, a new Mossyrock Park boat launch has two long lanes usable at lower elevations: one lane is usable to approximately 720 feet; the second lane is usable to approximately 708 feet. The longer lane should be available all summer, fall and early winter (in years with normal inflows), according to Tacoma Power. The Taidnapam North boat launch is open most of the year (when water levels permit) with one usable lane and a dock servicing elevations down to 720 feet. The Taidnapam Park boat launch is closed. It reaches an elevation of 760 feet; there is no way to lengthen it due to a drop-off at the end, according to Tacoma Power. The Kosmos boat launch is closed. It is not usable below 747 feet and cannot be extended. Up-to-date information about boat launches and lake level is available at https://bit.ly/2DEG2ph or by calling (888) 502-8690. Contact City Editor Andre Stepankowsky at 360-577-2520. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 2 Angry 3 Jacob Tice was just out of high school when his big brother, Austin, took him on a backpacking trip to Glacier National Park. Austin, eight years older and in the Marine Corps, was full of muscle. Jacob, as he puts it, was all limbs. At one point, I basically collapsed from exhaustion, Jacob, now 30, recalled this week. Austin picked up my pack and finished the hike with both our packs. Then he came back and picked me up and carried me. Like it was nothing. Jacob, a Tacoma resident, hasnt spoken to his brother since 2012. Thats when Austin was abducted from the Syrian battlefield while covering that countrys civil war for McClatchy, the Washington Post, CBS and other news outlets. The Trump administration believes that Austin, a law student turned freelance journalist, is still being held captive. Its a position Jacob and his family hold as well. On May 2, the National Press Club and coalition partners are teaming up with restaurants across the country for Night out For Austin Tice. The event is meant to raise awareness about Austin and add to the $1 million reward being offered for information leading to Austins safe return. In Tacoma, Metronome Coffee and Doyles Public House will contribute a percentage of their proceeds to the reward. Growing up Tice Austin, 37, is the eldest of seven siblings. He disappeared just after his 31th birthday in August 2012. Hes always been this imposing presence but theres also been this deep, guiding love for us, Jacob said in an interview with The News Tribune. The Tice siblings are seventh generation Texans. Jacob came to Tacoma in 2007 for college and stayed. Until this week, Jacob had never spoken with the news media. His parents, Marc and Debra, have been the familys public face. We all feel, as a consensus, that Austin does not want us to go into some sort of stasis over this, Jacob said of his siblings. Like most little brothers, Jacob had a bit of hero worship going on for his much older brother while growing up. In this case, its well deserved, Jacob said. He is genuinely brilliant, Jacob said. He finished with high school at 16. He went to the University of Houston for awhile. Then he decided he wanted to go to Georgetown and through his own sheer determination and hard work got himself there. Austin is the familys standard bearer, Jacob said. He held all of us, his little siblings, to a certain standard, Jacob said. Hes a captain in the Marine Corps. Hes an excellent law student. Hes an award-winning journalist. When Austin returns, Jacob said, hell want to know what all his siblings have accomplished during his absence. I think its important to have answers to those questions that have integrity, he said. Jacob works in the auto industry by day and appears frequently as an actor in local theater productions. Austin visited Jacob in the Tacoma area several times. Syria Austin, Jacob said, felt his skills with reporting and his time with the Marines made him uniquely qualified to cover the Middle East post Arab Spring. He had this need to bring the stories of what was happening there to the attention of the western world, Jacob said. He never intended to make it a career. He still had some classes to take at Georgetown University in order to get his law degree and was preparing to leave Syria. When he talked to us about it, he was passionate about it, Jacob said. My brother is driven by I can do this thing so I should do this thing. The $1 million reward offered by the FBI in April 2018 produced new leads, Jacob said. Since then, my family and other people involved have been receiving information that we feel is really helpful, Jacob said. He hopes that even more money will increase the incentive to provide more information. Jacob doesnt know when Austin will be released but he is certain it will happen. I focus on the knowledge that I will get that phone call, he said. Austins coming home. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Editors note: Todays editorial was written by Cowlitz County Commissioner Dennis Weber. 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. I think it is time that someone exposes the fact that the emperor wears no clothes. The power elites in Puget Sound have decided to sacrifice the rural, wheat-exporting economy of southeast Washington, Idaho, and Montana to save the Orcas. In a cynical, Machiavellian perspective, they have declared that the only way to save the Puget Sound orcas is to remove dams in the lower Snake River valley. These Seattle know-it-alls assume that removing three dams on the Snake River will somehow restore ample supplies of Chinook salmon to the voracious orcas of Puget Sound. The reality is that even if those three dams are removed, there are still three major hydroelectric dams (Bonneville, the Dalles, and McNary) that challenge Chinook survival. The best policy would be to ramp up resources for salmon habitat restoration in the lower Columbia where urban development is not so pervasive. We should duplicate the successes that have occurred there, not waste resources in the highly urbanized east shore of Puget Sound or the far-away Snake River valley. This is the height of hypocrisy when you realize that far more salmon habitat was destroyed by the construction of Seattle City Light dams on the Skagit River just north of Seattle than on the far more remote Snake River. Furthermore, the intense urban development along the eastern shores of Puget Sound continues to prevent successful restoration of salmon habitat. A recent award-winning habitat restoration program in the Nisqually River delta near Olympia is literally nullified when the juvenile salmon reach the highly polluted waters of Puget Sound. Seattle politicians turn a blind eye toward real restoration of salmon-spawning creeks through downtown Seattle or Bellevue or other clean-water initiatives for King County. Why not advocate removing the Skagit River dams, if salmon recovery was the real goal. Seattle political elites never mention that alternative. They would rather champion destruction of an economy far away from their voter-base than face the reality that their failed urban-growth-management policies are in reality the greatest threat to the survival of both the orcas and Puget Sound Chinook salmon. Continuing failed policies in hopes of change is certainly one definition of insanity. In Southwest Washington, we are close to achieving success in salmon habitat restoration in the watersheds of the tributaries of the lower Columbia (downstream from Bonneville). But year after year, it is Puget Sound that receives the lions share of resources for salmon habitat restoration. At the recent April Salmon Recovery Conference, it was generally acknowledged that the current pro-Puget Sound spending policies simply are not working. We need state leaders to focus resources on watersheds in the lower Columbia if they really want to restore our endangered salmon. Please contact Gov. Inslee and our local legislators to request more funding for salmon habitat restoration in the lower Columbia. Dennis Weber serves as Cowlitz County Commissioner and treasurer for the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board. A Panasonic lithium-ion battery on display at the CES consumer technology trade show in 2018. The Japanese firm is one of the world's top producers of lithium-ion battery cells Global production of batteries for electric cars is concentrated in Asia, with Chinese, Japanese and South Korean firms dominating the sector and building factories in Europe to conserve their supremacy. However Europe is looking to strike back, with France and Germany saying on Thursday they would form an alliance to develop next-generation batteries in a bid to counteract Asia's dominance. Asia champions Lithium-ion batteries are aif not thecrucial component of electric vehicles, but few companies have ventured into actually making them given the huge cost of setting up manufacturing facilities and the still limited demand. Car manufacturers have prefered to have a choice of several specialised suppliers, especially as battery technology is rapidly evolving. China, where half of electric cars are currently being sold, requires car manufacturers to use locally-built batteries and is calling the shots in the industry with two-thirds of the world's production capacity of lithium-ion cells fo batteries. Only Asian firms appear in the top 10 of the industry: China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) accounted for 23 percent of global production last year, edging out Japan's Panasonic at 22 percent. China's BYD followed at 13 percent and is the only car manufacturer to have prospered in making batteries. South Korea's LG Chem came in at 10 percent while Samsung SDI had 5.5 percent, according to the US-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR). Europe accounts for only one percent of global production. The United States also remains marginal on a global scale despite the Gigafactory that Tesla developed with Panasonic. China controls raw materials Another key factor in China's supremacy: control over the raw materials needed to manufacture the batteries: lithium and cobalt. According to Bloomberg, the Chinese firms Ganfeng and Tianqi control 17 and 12 percent respectively of the world production of lithium thanks to their investments in mines in Australia and South America. General view of the copper and cobalt mine of Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is majority-owned by a Chinese firm Tianqi bought a 24 percent stake in Chilean miner SQM for $4.1 billion in December. Together with the US firm Albemarle it also controls the huge Greenbushes mine in Australia. Meanwhile, Chinese firms control at least half of the cobalt extracted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 70 percent of global output comes from, according to estimates cited by Bloomberg. China Molybdenum bought a major site from the US firm Freeport-McMoran for $2.65 billion in 2016. China also has 80 percent of the world's capacity to produce refined cobalt using chemical processes. Concerned over their access to supplies, several carmakers have concluded long-term deals with Chinese firms: Volkswagen announced at the beginning of April a 10-year deal with Ganfeng for lithium that it can provide to battery manufacturers of its choice. Asian assault on Europe According to the BCG consultancy, the global auto battery market could reach 45 billion euros in value in 2027, with Europe accounting for 20 to 30 percent, but Asian firms are expected to benefit most. CATL is investing some 240 million euros to build a factory in the central German city of Erfurt that will supply BMW from 2022. The luxury carmaker has concluded a contract worth four billion euros with CATL, including 1.5 billion from the Erfurt site. LG Chem has been manufacturing batteries for Daimler, Volvo, Audi and Renault from a site in Poland since last year. Samsung SDI has a factory in Hungary, where fellow South Korean firm SK Innovation is investing $1.5 billion into two factories that could end up serving Volkswagen. Swedish and Dutch pioneers One of the rare European specialists in batteries is Swedish firm Northvolt. It is currently building what will be Europe's largest facility in Sweden together with Germany's Siemens. Expected to cost at least 1.6 billion euros, the facility is to begin turning out batteries in 2020 and when it reaches capacity in 2023, it should be double the volume of CATL's German factory. Founded by two former Tesla employees, Northvolt joined forces with Volkswagen in March to create a "European Battery Union" to promote research. Northvolt also collaborates with BMW. Meanwhile the Dutch firm Lithium Werks, which has already built a massive factory in China, has been in talks to build a billion-euro facility in Poland. Explore further China's CATL to build first EU electric car battery plant in Germany 2019 AFP Standing on back wall: (left) Adam Marcus, chief technology officer at B12 and co-author; (center) Aditya Bharadwaj Ph.D. candidate and first author; (right) Pao Siangliulue, tech lead at B12 and co-author. Credit: Virginia Tech According to the Checklist Manifesto, the New York Times bestseller by Atul Gawande, professionals who do highly technical work such as surgeons, airplane pilots, and architects use checklists to help guard against making avoidable mistakes. One of the challenges traditional checklists pose in more creative industries, such as web design, is that they employ a highly defined set of tasks, which can limit creativity, especially as tasks change according to project. Virginia Tech researchers, in collaboration with Manhattan-based web design startup B12, wondered whether it would be possible to take Gawande's concept and apply it to a scenario with less rigidly defined tasks such as web design, and apply checklists more broadly to creatively driven tasks like writing or programming. The research team will present their findings at the Association of Computing Machinery's Human-Computer Interaction conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 7, 2019. Aditya Bharadwaj, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering and first author on the study, collaborated with B12 to study the workflow habits of designers. Many of B12's design experts work remotely, making face-to-face review an impossibility. Bharadwaj, who previously worked as a software developer at Paypal, first needed to identify where and what was causing the designers at B12 to overlook aspects of their work before passing it on for review by another team member. The team used a framework called Critter as part of Orchestra, an open-source platform for managing teams of experts and machines. Critter gave the web designers at B12 the ability to make the checklists dynamic and either prune the checklists manually, or use the ability of the checklists to self-prune tasks. One of the other benefits of using Critter was its AutoQA functionality, an interface embedded in B12's browser-based website editor. AutoQA allowed designers to check for common errors without bringing in a reviewer, improving on the website so their reviewers could focus on the more challenging aspects of the project. The Critter checklist pruned 20.4 percent of checklist items on each project and checked for things like image resolution and layout, and also displayed feedback on previous projects so designers could reference older projects for compliance. "We saw a lot of qualitative results that indicated using the software helped junior designers in particular deliver a website with fewer errors," said co-author Pao Siangliulue, tech lead at B12 and Bharadwaj's mentor. Early in Bharadwaj's research he shadowed designers, which allowed him to easily identify their challenges in adhering to a flat and plain checklist. He used checklists as a rubric to provide contextual feedback and reinforce the importance of checklists as part of the design process. He saw that developers benefited from the hierarchically presented dynamic checklists, and they valued contextually provided feedback. "Designers value human feedback and Critter helped a lot by allowing reviewers to focus on the most challenging parts of the design work after our automated approaches took care of low-hanging fruit," said co-author Adam Marcus, co-founder and chief technology officer at B12. The added flexibility of dynamic checklists paired with the efficiency of automated quality assurance allowed the company to scale its efforts while improving quality. The checklist-based feedback simultaneously gave B12's design experts a better sense of where they needed to concentrate efforts and made them feel more like a cohesive unit. "Web design is the digital outlet of commerce and communication today, so having the ability to give designers tools that could be helpful to them is a great feeling of satisfaction," said Kurt Luther, assistant professor of computer science and co-author on the paper being presented. While the team's research mainly focused on website design, the research results from their work apply to other creative domains, such as writing and programming. The Critter system can be used to add structure to many broadly defined creative tasks while maintaining the dynamism and nonlinearity of the complex workflows associated with them. Explore further Hospital deaths after surgery fall after launch of surgical safety checklists in Scotland 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. 10 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. Read Article I gave you the two most common spellings for our city near Moscow. I have seen some other ways to spell it, but this covers 90% of how you should attempt to spell in in English letters. (Russian: , IPA: [krlf]) And it is raining and raining and raining We have been thinking about what to do in the Tiny Russian Village. We are so excited about getting Nikolais Home.yet it is very sad that Nikolai died. It is a perfect definition of sweet and sour That, we do not know where to start. So it looks like May 18th, we will take off for the village and start doing what we have to start doing. This weekend we need to go downtown Moscow and pick up a radiator for Sammy the Volga. I have limped along a very bad radiator for years now. We have found a brand new radiator for Sammy at only 2000 rubles, in the box. Time to get it I have to build a set of shackles for the rear springs on Sammy, I have to install a radiator, we have to clean up the yards of two homes, we have to start fencing with new fence posts on Svetas mothers place first and we have to move all of my stuff from one home to the other Nikolais Home is just across the road from Svetas moms place. We have inherited (lots of) yellow plums and purple plum trees. So we have pears and apples in one home and lots of plums in the other. Sveta said, We will learn to preserve plums for the winter! That is a good girl and I will not tell her that I know how to do such things. We will learn together Vova called and is kinda unhappy that I am not in the Tiny Russian Village yet. He misses me So village time is coming. Yet, I have been very busy at home in Korolyov. I rehabbed the balcony Rehabbed the bathrooms as I call them, a toilet room and a tub room Sveta thinks I am a hero and who am I to argue with my sweetie! We are ready to see the Tiny Russian Village WtR When we set off backpacking around South East Asia, doing a PADI course to become qualified open water SCUBA divers was one of the first things we added to our list of things to do! After doing a taster session over 10 years ago on a family holiday to Turkey and also having friends who raved about it, it seemed like the perfect way to begin to explore our underwater world further. Everyone and I mean everyone does it in Thailand, its reportedly the cheapest and unofficially one of the most lax. In all honesty some of the tales of being herded like cattle, close calls and just passing anyone made us put it off long enough to think we might just not do it. However after arriving in the stunning Kota Kinabalu and having a few days spare whilst waiting for our slot to climb the mountain we saw so many posters and images of the stunning islands and their diving potential for our interest to be reignited. In the end we found a personal, safe, beautiful and also unique place to learn to dive with a professional and fun company in Borneo Dream. SCUBA diving in Borneo and doing our scuba diving course Malaysia was for us a travelling highlight and the Kota Kinabalu diving scene one we really enjoyed. Kota Kinabalu diving: The desire to learn to explore our underwater world 10 years ago in a shallow area of the mediterranean we tried SCUBA for the first time. We were on a family holiday, I was only 18 and didnt really know what all the fuss was about. Looking back with the hindsight of now being PADI open water qualified I can see that this was a haphazard and not particularly well run tour, taking us down to 10m for example with the only information being how to equalise our ears??? So when we began our Kota Kinabalu diving experience I was a little wary at first in all honesty! However despite the obvious failings of that particular tour it did open our eyes to the beautiful world hiding below the waves, a colourful and alien landscape that many of us have never really had the chance to explore with such freedom as SCUBA provides. Swimming inside a flash of new colours, shapes and mind blowing sights was something we longed for once again, to be able to do it ourselves and begin to take our desire to see and explore our world as we do on land and take that under water! It was time for our next big adventure, but it would prove to be more than we anticipated as we set off SCUBA diving in Borneo! Why do a PADI in Borneo and what is scuba diving in Malaysia like? Why not!! Everyone who does a PADI does one in Thailand and as a result the quality has dropped. Over in Thailand a PADI might be marginally cheaper but you get what you pay for and SCUBA diving might be a fun sport to get involved with but it is also a serious and hazardous adventure activity too. For us we dont want our instructor to tick boxes and tip us off the boat 50 at a time like cattle!! We actually wanted to learn and to be allowed the time, space and direction in order to do that and do it properly SCUBA diving in Borneo fit the bill for us! Plus the Kota Kinabalu diving options for us offered a much better preserved reef with the waters also being much less crowded, so scuba diving in Malaysia seemed like a good fit all round! SCUBA diving in Borneo is a scene of professional divers who take their jobs seriously when it comes to teaching and keeping their students and customers safe whilst also having good fun. Here with Borneo Dream you have small groups, we had an instructor between 4 of us, meaning we each had enough one on one time for him to be able to really assess how we were doing as well as speaking to us individually about our questions and concerns. Our Kota Kinabalu diving experience as a result was pretty relaxed! Not only that, but unless you hadnt realised, Borneo is stunning! Its not just jungles, monkeys and creepy crawlies out here but much more. Its not just that this area of untamed land teeming with unique life exists above water, but that also extends below the warm waves and into another hidden world! In fact scuba diving in Malaysia offers so much more diversity and adventure of that in Thailand given the unique ecosystems in Borneo and was one of the reasons our Kota Kinabalu diving experience was so enjoyable. The turquoise waters off the mesmerizingly perfect islands just a short boat ride away from Kota Kinabalu in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park are the perfect setting for SCUBA diving in Borneo. A protected area of diverse coral and sea life they form part of the Coral Triangle, and are recognised as some of the most important marine sites on Earth. The area also provides both the confined water and open water needed to gain confidence and progress as well as some amazing beaches to relax after a day of incredible Kota Kinabalu diving! With this in mind SCUBA diving in Malaysia and specifically Borneo has to be some of the best in the world! Besides, doesnt it make you sound more interesting to be the only one on the boat who bucked the trend and did their PADI course in Malaysia and went SCUBA diving in Borneo! I know everyone else Ive met didnt go SCUBA diving in Malaysia and instead did it in Thailand! SCUBA diving in Malaysia: How much theory is involved in a PADI? The short answer is a lot less than it looks at first! For some reason I had never really considered the theory to doing a PADI course and just thought it involved doing a few dives and off you go! The good and bad news is that you have to do a bit of studying in order to gain your qualification. I say good and bad because firstly, I am not sure any of us considered we might be back sitting exams whilst backpacking around Asia (ok, its not that formal but Im trying to be dramatic!) but if you consider the fact that this isnt just about ticking it off the bucket list, but about actually becoming a competent diver who has to keep themselves and their diving partners safe. Now that is the most important part for me and something we kept in mind during our Kota Kinabalu diving course. However, that being said, on your first day you will be presented with a hefty looking book to work through and youll wonder when you can actually start SCUBA diving in Borneo! But once you begin actually dissecting each section you will realise that it really isnt hard to take in or to pass. We watched a video for the first day which really made it so much quicker, on the others we did our exams whilst eating lunch, plus, once you get into the water most of it makes much more sense! The theory side might seem intimidating but trust me it actually makes you feel more safe in the water and made our time SCUBA diving in Malaysia much more enjoyable. Kota Kinabalu diving: Day by day progressions that took us from panicked to confident The first day in the water loomed, we were chatting away on the dock and I will be honest with you I was a little nervous as well as being excited. After reading through our theory we had all realised there is so much more to SCUBA than we had ever anticipated; decompression sickness, setting up equipment wrong, running out of air. It all seemed a bit more scary than the images of backpackers frolicking underwater had conjured up but at the same time we knew a lot more about what SCUBA diving in Malaysia entailed and at this point we were eagerly awaiting our Kota Kinabalu diving experience to begin! But here we where, kitting up and getting into our wetsuits with the heavy and claustrophobic BCD that seemed to entirely surround us. None of us felt comfortable and on diving to the grand depth of 1.5 metres we each had a panic and sprang to the surface gasping for air. I cant breath! My mask is filling up! I feel like Im in a straight jacket! This isnt for me! These were all shouted in frustration in just the first morning, we all honestly considered just packing it in and sticking to the snorkel set rather than SCUBA diving in Borneo! Our Kota Kinabalu diving experience started abruptly but doing a PADI course is a steep learning curve for sure! But thankfully our instructor Amir is well used to the shock factor of not just SCUBA diving for the first time but also the idea of performing tasks which seem pretty scary whilst in a situation completely out of your comfort zone! Over the next few days we all went through a complete transformation, that first day, grasping at the regulator and fighting the urge to hold our breath as we frantically flailed our arms searching for it felt a long way away. During this intense Kota Kinabalu diving experience we all came such a long way in such a short amount of time! As the 3 full days SCUBA diving in Borneo went on our feelings of confidence and comfort rose to levels we could never have imagined. Taking our masks off 15m below, simulating out of air situations with composure and learning to control our buoyancy was a liberating feeling. Upon reaching our target depth of 18m we were all in amazement of how calm we all were and how natural it felt! SCUBA diving in Malaysia was now a dream rather than a nightmare! At Borneo dream they really do structure the course to allow you to progress in well planned stages that allow you to enjoy the process rather than find it stressful, by the end we ventured out for our last dive of the course, freshly qualified to just explore the ocean and enjoy SCUBA diving in Borneo, it was a monumental moment of achievement for all four of us! From something that felt impossible just a few days earlier to SCUBA diving in Malaysia with absolute confidence, the transformation throughout our Kota Kinabalu diving experience was incredible! SCUBA diving in Malaysia: What exactly is involved in a PADI? Ok, so what do you really do on a PADI course. Well in truth there are quite a lot of tasks to complete and prove you can do competently in order to pass. This usually takes the form of them being explained above water, performed by your instructor in confined water (shallow and near the beach) before you have to repeat them both in confined and then open water. These are broken down into each stage and each dive and explained in full before and whilst in the water meaning that its not all that overwhelming or challenging in reality. You are given ample time to try again and your instructor is always there to make sure everything is safe. These tasks mostly range from removing your regulator (what you breath through) underwater and replacing it, simulating out of air situations where you then share air with your buddy or make an emergency ascent. Removal of mask and replacing it underwater, removing your gear and weight belt and putting it all back on. Safety descending and ascending, learning general safety and communication and of course setting up and changing your gear before and after a dive. There is also a navigation section as well as learning how to control your buoyancy more effectively and of course just getting used to breathing properly underwater! None of it is overly difficult or scary, especially with the structure of the course building up slowly. For me the worst part was removing my mask as I always had the urge to breath through my nose and opening your eyes in salt water stings a little! I wont lie, there were times when I felt totally uncomfortable doing these tasks whilst SCUBA diving in Malaysia but doing a course like this IS about pushing yourself and learning new things! Kota Kinabalu diving: Feeling safe in the hands of Borneo Dream Owned by a British couple and managed by one of the UKs most experienced and accomplished divers you know you are in good and reliable hands for SCUBA diving in Malaysia. The company was set up to provide a 5* service that prides itself on giving the customer a quality experience, high safety standards and of course fun, making sure that their absolute passion for SCUBA diving in Borneo is infectious! They have two specially built boats to provide for different experiences, from various levels of PADI qualifications to simple fun dives or recreational Kota Kinabalu diving for those already qualified. You are guaranteed a great atmosphere on board these state of the art boats as everyone gears up for a great day in the water. For me the main concern when embarking on what is a sport with many elements of danger is safety. Many people tell us climbing is dangerous, and it is, but if you do everything right then it really isnt as risky as you might imagine. This was a huge factor in choosing this location and also Borneo Dream. They dont cut corners, they offer small groups and the most up to date equipment and years of experience. They also know the area well, where to dive and where not too making them the perfect Kota Kinabalu diving company. Any concerns you might have about the safety of this region are a non issue and instead you can get on with enjoying SCUBA diving in Borneo! They also have comprehensive cover to protect against any accidents, but we do recommend you to get insurance for yourself anyway especially when doing an activity such as SCUBA diving, but be sure to check you are covered for it first! Kota Kinabalu diving: Check out Borneo Dream and read more about them here: www.borneodream.com Facebook / Google + / Twitter / You Tube Tripadvisor Find them at G27 in Wisma Sabah in the heart of KK! Book your Kota Kinabalu diving experience here: How to get to Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu is assessable pretty much entirely by air travel, it is possible to get here via a ferry if you are in Brunei as we did the trip there and back. However for most you will have to arrive via a plane. Flights are cheap, frequent and short from Kuala Lumpur and Kuching (Another city on the other side of Malaysian Borneo) Book your flight for Kota Kinabalu here: Powered by 12Go Asia system Where to stay in KK for your Kota Kinabalu diving trip! We recommend the Faloe Hostel for backpackers and those on a budget, its a family run modern, clean and friendly hostel with a low key vibe. It is also out near Kota Kinabalu Times Square in an apartment block so its a short distance from the city centre but it has a mall nearby and is in a quiet area. Getting around is easy as the city is pretty small and walkable. UBER and GRAB are great ways to get around too and are really cheap. We would often take an UBER in the morning to SCUBA and then walk back in the afternoon once we were done. It took us 10 mins in the morning to drive down and around 30 mins walk back. There though are many reasonably priced places to stay in KK with also many chain brand hotels too and smaller guest houses. However some of the main streets with bars and restaurants, specifically Jalan Gaya can be pretty loud at night, we stayed in Fat Rhino for one night and it was ridiculously loud with live acts playing well into the night right below us! However if you are after a party atmosphere are youre planning on being at said bars all night then its a convenient location! If diving is your main activity in Kota Kinabalu then staying as close to the harbour as possible is ideal, however as we said above the city especially in the centre is very walkable so you dont necessarily need to worry about location for diving. Its also possible to pay for a pick up too each morning if needed. Book your accommodation here: Booking.com Have you ever done a PADI course or gone SCUBA diving in Borneo or around South East Asia? Would you recommend Kota Kinabalu diving above Thailand? Hey, youve got your Travel Insurance sorted havent you? Travelling and especially backpacking is a wild adventure, but make sure you are covered just incase something goes wrong, which if youre living it up to the fullest its always a possibility! Check travel insurance prices with World Nomads here! Book your transport across Malaysia and Asia here: Powered by 12Go Asia system Book your accommodation here: Booking.com Related posts: Things to do in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Borneo: The Ultimate Kota Kinabalu Itinerary Penang Itinerary: What to do in Penang in 3 days. A Guide to this Beautiful & Historic Town in Malaysia Seeing Orangutans in Borneo: A magical experience Exploring the Bako National Park Borneo Experiencing the unique culture of Borneo up close and personal at the Mari Mari culture village The two day trek up the 13,435 ft Mt. Kinabalu A day in Bandar Seri Begawan: The capital of the tiny country of Brunei on Borneo How to get to Brunei from Kota Kinabalu Hiking in through the dramatic tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. A guide to the bustling, diverse and fascinating Malaysian capital: Kuala Lumpur See more from this country: See more from our backpacking adventures: Pin for later: Disclaimer: This post was in partnership by Borneo Dream. As always, all opinions are our own! SPRINGFIELD A graduated income tax amendment is on the move at the Illinois State Capitol. On a busy Wednesday afternoon, Senate Democrats advanced the proposal, House Republicans held a news conference bashing it, and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker addressed two organizations composed of members who are vocally opposed to it. Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 1, which would allow the placement of a graduated tax question on the November 2020 general election ballot, passed with support from all 40 Senate Democrats and no Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican, said his caucus opposed the graduated tax because the current mandated flat tax structure protects the middle class. I believe the crafters of our current Constitution, which included a flat tax and was embraced by the people of Illinois, designed it specifically to protect middle-income families from politicians, Brady said. Oak Park Democratic Sen. Don Harmon, SJRCA 1s sponsor, said the flat tax, which is currently 4.95 percent on all Illinoisans, does the opposite. You are protecting the uber rich, not the middle class, Harmon said. A graduated tax would allow the state to impose higher rates on greater margins of income. Senate Bill 687, carried by Olympia Fields Democrat Toi Hutchinson, contains the rate structure which would go into effect should the constitutional amendment become law. It passed with votes from 36 Democrats. The people who have been hit the most and the hardest with lack of opportunity and the loss of the services we all rely on, are the folks that everyone keeps saying we need to stand up and we need to protect, Hutchinson said. So far this is the only plan that does that. There is no other plan on the table to deal with $3.4 billion of a structural deficit that we all know we have. Per the bill, single filers would pay the maximum rate of 7.99 percent on all income once their taxable income tops $750,000. For joint filers, that rate takes effect once income tops $1 million. For joint filers outside of the top brackets, the rates in the Senate plan are 4.75 percent on taxable income 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 filers, tax rates are the same as joint filers up to $250,000; but the 7.75 percent rate applies from $250,001 only to $350,000, while the 7.85 percent rate applies from $350,001 to $750,000. The bill also includes an increase in the property tax credit from 5 percent to 6 percent, and a $100 per-child tax credit for couples earning less than $100,000 and single persons earning less than $80,000. But Republicans, including Jason Barickman of Bloomington and Dale Righter of Mattoon, said there is no guarantee the rates provided in this plan will stay as advertised for any period of time. Righter said other states with graduated tax structures have raised the top rate 24 times over the past 20 years and on several occasions the income threshold necessary to meet the top rate has dipped below $100,000. We should not make it easier to raise taxes, Righter said. The national experience comparing flat tax rates and graduated tax rates teaches us this will make it easier to do just that. But Hutchinson said the threshold to raise taxes will remain the same as it was before the amendment, and a state-by-state comparison does not adequately sum up Illinois situation. She said the hollowing out of state government has affected lower-income earners while the flat tax worked just fine for the wealthiest Illinoisans, who are trying to protect it. Her bill also increases by $100 million the states investment in local governments and raises the corporate tax rate from 7 percent to 7.99 percent, with an existing corporate replacement tax up to 2.5 percent applying to businesses, making the top corporate rate 10.49 percent. Senate Bill 690, carried by Democrat Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, and Senate Bill 689, carried by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) passed as part of the package as well. SB 690 would provide for a property tax freeze on school districts if the state meets approximately $650 million in annual K-12 education spending starting in 2021. The freeze would exclude levies for debt and pensions. SB 689 would eliminate Illinois estate tax which currently applies to estates exceeding $4 million. No Republicans voted for either bill, as opponents said the property tax freeze would apply only in unlikely circumstances, while the estate tax repeal could be reversed at any time. Pritzkers pitch to business Prior to the Senates vote, Pritzker addressed members of the Illinois Manufacturers Association and Illinois Retail Merchants Association two organizations opposed to his signature revenue proposal at a business day event at a Springfield hotel. Pritzker was warmly received despite the two groups opposition to the graduated tax, and he said the measure was needed to prevent a hike in the flat income tax. The fair tax would stabilize our states finances, eliminate the budget deficit, help balance future budgets and reduce the net pension liability, he said. Pritzker drew applause when he touted funding increases for workforce development programs, vocational training, community colleges and apprenticeship programs. He also urged those in attendance to lobby legislators for an infrastructure bill and the revenue streams which would make it possible. After Pritzkers pitch, IRMA Chairman Jim Havey signified those in attendance were unmoved by the arguments as he assailed the graduated tax and said there was no limit to the restrictions elected officials were willing to impose on Illinois businesses. House Republican opposition The constitutional amendment and package of tax bills now move to the Illinois House, where Republicans plan to keep up their unanimous opposition. Speaking at a Statehouse news conference before the Senate vote, four House Republicans said the Senate version of the proposed rate structure, which is slightly different than the one Pritzker first proposed, proves how easy it would be for lawmakers to raise taxes on certain income classes in the future. We told you so, said Rep. Margo McDermed, a Mokena Republican. We told you that the Democrat-controlled General Assembly would not be content once they had a right to have graduated tax rates. Yesterday, state senators released new rates that would put in place income tax rates even higher than what the governor proposed just two months ago. They could not maintain discipline for even two months before they raised rates. Rep. Grant Wehrli, a Naperville Republican, offered a glimpse of the kinds of political attacks Republicans will use to challenge the validity of Pritzkers fair tax slogan. Just last week we learned that the governor and his family are under federal investigation for what the Cook County Inspector Generals report calls a scheme to defraud, Wehrli said. And yet hes looking for fairness. The scheme to defraud resulted in $331,000 being due to the famous ripping out of toilets on an Astor Street mansion. So let me ask you this: If you rob a bank and then return the money, are you still not a criminal? In a separate statement, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, called the Senate vote a slap in the face to thousands of Illinois families and businesses; just another step towards handing a blank check over to the Democrats and their reckless spending habits. There are 74 Democrats in the House, which needs 71 votes to pass the amendment. Democratic House leaders have not yet announced when they plan to take up the package. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. Love 1 Funny 10 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 3 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WHEATON, Ill. (AP) A suburban Chicago high school teacher has decided not to enter into a plea agreement and will go on trial for allegedly pouring liquid nitrogen on a student. DuPage County Judge James Konetski set a July 22 jury trial date for 64-year-old Garry Brodersen, a Bartlett High School chemistry teacher. He is accused of pouring liquid nitrogen on a student's chest and groin during a science experiment last spring. Brodersen, who is free on $1,500 bail, is charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct. His alleged actions left the student with burns to his groin and a finger. Elgin Area School District U-46 placed Brodersen on paid leave pending an investigation shortly after the allegations became public. A district spokeswoman on Wednesday did not respond to a request for an update on Brodersen's status. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 This editorial appeared in the April 29, 2019, edition of the 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. A doctor, neighbors, police and others knew or suspected that much was amiss over the years. 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. "Maybe someone hit me with a belt. Maybe mommy didn't mean to hurt me," a bruised AJ told a suspicious doctor in December, four months before he was beaten to death in Crystal Lake, according to reporting by the Tribune's Christy Gutowski. Yet AJ, who was born with opioids in his system, was left to live in a filthy house of horrors where it appears he was hurt again and again. Authorities have charged his parents, JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund, with his murder. 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. After Semaj's killing, DCFS not for the first time pledged various changes. One of them was improving case reviews for children whose families, like Semaj's and AJ's, had drawn multiple investigations. A child welfare watchdog is not impressed: "There's not been any consistent, systemic reforms," said Charles Golbert, acting Cook County public guardian. "None of this is brain surgery. It's commitment and resources and consistent, long-term-minded leadership." 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. This is the crisis facing Marc Smith, the newly appointed director of DCFS. AJ's case did not happen on his watch, but he now owns the job of identifying and correcting the department's failings. Of immediate concern is how DCFS weighs the risks to children against the department's desire to keep families intact. Smith told lawmakers during a budget hearing Friday that he supports the policy of keeping children with their parents "when they can provide a safe, nurturing environment." But he said case workers will be better trained, and the agency will work more closely with the court system, to determine whether kids should be placed with a family member or in foster care. The DCFS worker and supervisor who handled AJ's case have been placed on administrative duties, Smith said. On the bigger issues of how to effectively manage high-risk families, DCFS officials didn't have sufficient answers Friday, 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. As the new director, it's now on Smith to do better by all children DCFS monitors, and by AJ's memory before the next avoidable tragedy happens. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 A St. Stephen man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the 2012 shooting death of a Holly Hill man. Jordan Akeem McDaniel, 30, of 1026 Russellville Road, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime just over three years ago on April 25, 2016. Circuit Judge Ed Dickson sentenced McDaniel last month to 20 years in prison. The sentence will be served at the same time as an unrelated 24-year federal sentence. In the Holly Hill incident, a neighbor found Richard Davis deceased in the front yard of his Surfside Drive home just before midnight on Sept. 24, 2012. He had a gunshot wound to the head. Evidence found in Daviss residence led officials to believe someone targeted him. Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office investigators later charged McDaniel and Kenneth Campbell Jr., also of St. Stephen, with murdering Davis. Campbell pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Davis death in October 2015. Dickson sentenced Campbell to 20 years in prison and gave him credit for the two-and-a-half years hed already served at the Orangeburg County Detention Center. McDaniels federal sentence stems from the Dec. 14, 2012 armed robbery of Orvins Insurance Agency in Berkeley County. McDaniel presented a black handgun and forced the agencys owner into the back of the business and assaulted him, according to a Berkeley County Sheriffs Office incident report. McDaniel pleaded guilty in federal court to robbery affecting interstate commerce and possessing a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. In June 2017, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel sentenced him to 24 years in prison. McDaniels projected release date is Jan. 13, 2034. Hell be 45. Hes currently housed at a high-security federal prison in Pine Knot, Kentucky. Once hes completed his prison term, hes to serve to five years of supervised release. McDaniel must also pay restitution. Hes not allowed to possess a firearm, ammunition, destructive device or any other dangerous weapon, according to federal court records. Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 2 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The community is invited to gather at First Presbyterian Church in Orangeburg on Thursday to join millions of others across the country who will be taking time to pray for the nation during the National Day of Prayer. The Summers Avenue church will be open for 24 hours for silent prayers and meditation for this year's observance. "It's basically about praying for our country and world and trying to do what God wants us to do," including loving, respecting and being kind to each other, Christian Education Coordinator Kaye Borgstedt said. The theme this year is "Love One Another, which is based on John 13:34 which reads: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman. The Rev. Darren Bess, pastor of First Presbyterian, will lead a brief devotion at noon Thursday. Bess said prayer is a powerful tool that everyone can use. It is a tradition here at the church for us to have the sanctuary open on the National Day of Prayer, to be intentional about prayer and offer a place for people to go and pray," Bess said. "Jesus withdrew to quiet places to pray. So we certainly believe that you can pray in your car, in your bathroom or wherever, but its also nice if you want to have a place to come. And we know were not the only place in town, but we just want to provide a place where people can withdraw to a quiet place as did our Lord and pray," he said. The front doors of the church will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. The side door on Stanley Street will be open during all other times. The light by the ramp will be turned on. Borgstedt said there will be prayer guides at the door. Prayer is the most powerful and effective tool that we have as citizens of the kingdom of God and as citizens of the United States. We certainly have our voice and we can express our opinion but beyond that, I think prayer is direct access to the throne room of God. What better place to air our pleas, troubles and concerns?" Bess said. The pastor said prayer also helps to unite the community. He said, "We have a vast array of opinions about various topics that are culturally relevant and certainly impact people every day. Prayer unites us. Were able to have those differences and yet bring our needs to the same Lord. "No matter which end of the political spectrum youre on, I pray that were praying to the same Lord and also recognizing our Jewish friends, our Islamic friends. This is a day for all of us to pray. The pastor said he hopes prayers will extend beyond the National Day of Prayer. I would just encourage everybody to not only pray on the National Day of Prayer, but pray every day and in every way. Im grateful that for now prayer is the thread that binds us all together because we certainly need it, he said. "In a world where everybody seems to be telling or encouraging us to stay within our own groups and segments of society and lob little hand grenades of insults at one another, our unity in Christ is a powerful expression against that culture." Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SANTEE -- The Orangeburg County School Board will keep the public informed as it searches for a district superintendent, the chair says. "Right now we have not started a search for the superintendent," Chair Peggy James-Tyler said. James-Tyler discussed the issue Tuesday during a special board meeting. She noted the search is being conducted by the South Carolina School Boards Association. "The community will be involved when we get down to the final three or what have you," she said. "You will be able to meet these persons and know exactly who they are and come and ask questions." James-Tyler said the position has not been advertised and applications have not been submitted. She said the board plans to meet with SCSBA Executive Director Scott Price, most likely at the boards May 28 meeting. "He will go through the process," she said. "When the process starts, all will know. He will come and talk to the board and give us a timeline on when we do this and when we do that." Orangeburg Consolidated School District 3 special educator Sonya Sims asked about the search during Tuesdays meeting. "We are 61 days from July 1," Sims said. "If the new superintendent has not been selected by July 1, what is the alternative?" "We look for strong leadership," she continued. "We want what is best for our teachers, our students and our community." James-Tyler said she also, wants what is best for our children, our employees. "It is all about them," she said. "It is not about us. It is not about this board. It is about our children. They are our precious resource." Dr. Zona Jefferson has been serving as the district's interim superintendent since January. The new Orangeburg County School District will take over the countys schools on July 1. In related matters, trustees voted to hire: Dr. Casandra Jenkins as director of elementary schools. Jenkins currently serves as Orangeburg-Wilkinson High Schools principal. Kelvin Lemon as director of secondary schools. Lemon currently serves as the principal of Lake Marion High School. Dr. Liana Calloway as director of special services. Calloway currently serves as the OCSD3 director of special services. Dr. Wanda McMichael as director of testing and accountability. McMichael currently serves as the executive director of testing, accountability and research at OCSD5. David Hess as director of maintenance and facilities. Hess currently serves as Branchville High School principal. James Howard as director of transportation. Howard currently serves as the transportation supervisor for OCSD5. Eric Ham as director of technology. Ham currently serves as the OCSD5 executive director of instructional technology. Gail Sanders as internal auditor. Sanders currently serves as OCSD3 business manager. Rebecca Grubbs as director of finance. Grubbs currently serves as director of finance for OCSD4. Trustees also approved with a 5-3 vote adding an executive assistant for the internal auditor to the district's administrative chart. Dr. William O'Quinn, James-Tyler, Idella Carson, Debora Brunson and R.L. Brown approved the new position. Mary Ulmer and Ruby Edwards voted against the position. Vernell Goodwin abstained. In other business: Trustees gave first reading to the school district's policy section on personnel. The policy touches on a number of topics, including the new district's harassment and discrimination policy, staff compensation, employee code of ethics, disciplinary procedures, employee hiring and background checks, cell phone and social media, employee safety, employee grievances and vacations, to name a few. The board's policies can be viewed under the consolidation tab of each existing school district's website. The next meeting of the school board will be held Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Nix Elementary School on Stilton Road in Orangeburg. Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551. Check out Zaleski on Twitter at @ZaleskiTD. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. With public interest in digital worlds accelerated by the transition from Facebook to Meta and the upcoming launch of their Metaverse, artificial intelligence company Crowd Media Holdings Limited (ASX:CM8) (FRA:CM3) has given a glimpse into its plans within these digital worlds. Fathers and father figures will be the topic of discussion at 6:30 p.m. today at Mellichamp Elementary School. Principal Hayward Jean will be hosting a community forum about the importance of fatherhood. Protector of children: Principal shares story on '700 Club' of finding life's purpose Hayward Jean of Orangeburg hadnt always planned a career working with youth, but having grown up as a child without his own father, the princ Jean, who was named the father of the year for the Orangeburg chapter of Jack and Jill of America, said he wants to have a very important conversation about fatherhood and the issues in the community related to the absence of fathers and father figures. The premise of it is that I truly believe that are a lot of issues in our community that stem from the lack of positive role models that I feel are rooted and grounded in the lack of a presence of a father, or father figures, Jean said. The theme of the discussion is putting the hood back in fatherhood. The whole piece of that is the hood is a covering. When I think about a hood, I think about a car hood or a hood of a jacket. I feel like the hood of fatherhood, we cover our community. So, even kids who dont have dads we have to, like an umbrella, cover more than just our body. Maybe we can get somebody under that umbrella, Jean said. Thursdays four-member panel will include Aldolphus Johnson, Van Gaffney, Jamal Grant and Jerrod Anderson, with Jean serving as the moderator. Panelists and the audience will discuss issues including the absence of fathers, violence, education, hip hops influence and more. Were going to have a conversation. In our society, Im seeing a lot of patterns where most of the young people that have been involved in violent crimes and suicide, and all types of social ills in our community, the same common theme is that they have the absence of a father. So, we want to just talk about it, Jean stated. Jean said the conversation will target fathers in the community, but noted that anybody is welcome to attend and be a part of the conversation. You might not be a dad, you might not be a mom, but you may just be interested in the topics. Im really opening it up to the community, but were targeting fathers, he said. Jean said he hopes that those who attend will take away a certain message, one that relays that the role of a father is not to be taken for granted. That a fathers voice and a fathers actions have more power than I think our community realizes. I pretty much want to reignite, in our fathers, a spirit of a movement to want to cover and protect or assist in covering or protecting the youth of our community. Not just our own, but our neighbors as well, he said. Registration, which is free, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the elementary school which is located at 350 Murray Road. The discussion is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. Contact the writer: bharris@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5516 Love 6 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DENMARK -- Voorhees College held its 2019 Presidential Scholarship Gala, Voorhees College: Begin. Believe. Become, which was the most successful to date, raising $200,000 Friday, April 12, at the Gala by JW in Columbia. . Ten presidential scholars were recognized for their continuous scholastic achievements. All proceeds from the institutions premier fundraising event will support student scholarships. During the event, David Miller, president of the Voorhees College National Alumni Association, member of the Voorhees Board of Trustees and the galas 2018 and 2019 emcee, was presented with the Voorhees College Keeper of the Flame award. The Keeper of the Flame award was inspired by Voorhees founder Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, who was motivated by a humanitarian vision and quest that developed a genuine concern and love of knowledge and scholarship not only for herself but also for others. This award is given to individuals who have been the embodiment of Wrights flame to advance the institution in numerous ways, and in essence, are keepers of the flame. Miller is the co-owner of the OurWeekly group of publications in Los Angeles. Since its inception in 2004, he continues to develop sales strategies and marketing plans for the popular weekly periodicals. In addition to OurWeekly, there is an Antelope Valley edition of the weekly newspaper and two magazines he serves as the publisher for Healthier You Magazine, a bi-monthly healthcare magazine dedicated to the African-American community, and Careers and Education, an informational publication. He earned a bachelors degree in humanities from Voorhees College and a masters degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University. Miller is the founder of the David G. Miller Journalism and Mass Communication Scholarship at Voorhees, where a mass communication student with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher can apply for $1,000. At the conclusion of the event, Dr. Teesa Brunson, development officer for major and planned gifts, presented a check. She said the opportunity to present such a big check at the event was a huge milestone for the institution. Voorhees could not have asked for a more passionate and loyal group of donors. They each share our passion for higher education and our efforts to help every student achieve academic success, Brunson said. Dr. Gwynth Nelson, vice president for the Division of Institutional Advancement and Development, said this gala would not have been as successful without contributions from Voorhees supporters. Because we exceeded our fundraising goal, we can extend our financial assistance to deserving students, Nelson said. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 COLUMBIA Thousands of teachers and supporters rallied Wednesday at the South Carolina Statehouse, demanding more funds to reduce classroom sizes, solve a teacher shortage, hire school counselors and raise educators' pay. A similar rally was held in North Carolina. The rally called #ALLOutMay1 prompted at least seven school districts to close because so many teachers asked for the day off. Some district officials said they couldn't muster enough substitutes and administrators to guarantee student safety. The rally organized by the online teacher group SC for Ed brought over 10,000 supporters to the Statehouse grounds, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. The grassroots group that started on Facebook has put pressure on lawmakers to change a massive bill that would overhaul the state's education system. "I know this decision to leave your students today was difficult, but I know the decision you made is because of the love you have for your students," said Lisa Ellis, a teacher and founder of SC for Ed. Organizers said the rally was aimed at reminding the legislature of what's important to educators. They said their mission goes beyond just teacher raises and includes funding equity across the state. The group has put pressure on lawmakers to change the education overhaul bill that likely won't pass this year. "There's ... another year for them to step up and do what's right for the state of South Carolina," Ellis said. "This is just the beginning. Either join us or move out of our way." The House passed its version of the 84-page bill in March. It would create a student 'bill of rights' and a new Zero to Twenty Committee that would oversee education from pre-kindergarten to universities. Those provisions were taken out by members of the Senate education committee. Senate Education Committee Chairman Greg Hembree has said while there is not enough time to fully debate the bill before the legislative session ends May 9, lawmakers will continue discussing education in the coming months. "This decision to work over the offseason was a bipartisan decision," said the Little River Republican, who was substitute teaching at a Myrtle Beach middle school Wednesday. "We've been working at this a long time in South Carolina. It's a very dynamic thing." South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said education must be a top priority and suggested legislators return to work on the issue after the session ends. "The Senate has failed to act. That is not good," McMaster said in an interview with the Associated Press. "The Senate must act because we must have major education reform this calendar year." McMaster said he found the teachers' voices "instructive" and he hoped the state Senate was also listening. Loud chants could be heard inside the walls of McMaster's statehouse office. Former state representative Bakari Sellers spoke at the event. Every student in South Carolina deserves to learn from teachers who are focused on them. But unfortunately, they can't always focus on our students' needs when they're overworked and underpaid and forced to manage crowded classrooms, but are expected to prepare our students for what seem like endless testing requirements, Sellers told the crowd. By gathering to demand justice for students and teachers, our educators are not only working to improve public education in South Carolina, they are also demonstrating the values that we want to teach our students. In a statement, Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, expressed his support for the teachers. As a member of the Education Committee, I worked to make the education bill the best it could be, but there is still much more to be done," Govan said. "I am proud to stand with the teachers of South Carolina fighting for these much-needed changes. Better teacher pay, smaller classroom sizes, and fully-funded schools are crucial to ensuring students across this state receive a high quality education." As the rally came to an end, several advocates remained on the grounds, speaking to lawmakers. "Seeing over 10,000 people supporting and entrusting you to do what is best for students in South Carolina is humbling," Ellis said. "I know that they (lawmakers) are listening to us, but I hope that they are hearing us," Ellis said. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Brunno Maradei joins Aegon Asset Management as Global Head of ESG based in The Hague, the Netherlands and Julius Huttunen joins the company as Responsible Investment Manager, based in Chicago, U.S. Both will report into Roelie van Wijk-Russchen, Global Head of Responsible Business & Public Affairs. Maradei joins AAM on the 1st of May from the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg where he was a Senior Investment Officer leading execution teams for project finance deals outside the European Union, focusing on climate-friendly impact investments in Africa. Prior to that, Maradei was a Blended Finance Operations Officer in the International Finance Corporations Climate Business Department in Washington DC, arranging concessional financing for renewable energy projects in Africa and developing ESG investment products for emerging market investors. He has also previously worked as a senior manager at ESG research provider EIRIS (now part of Moodys) and in the derivatives and risk management functions at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley respectively. In his new role as Global Head of ESG Maradei will manage AAMs team responsible for all engagement activities, voting and active ownership, ESG integration and reporting support and advice as well as development and maintenance of AAMs responsible investment policies globally. His particular focus will be on delivering best in class practises and processes to ensure AAMs leadership position in the Responsible Investment industry. Huttunen joined the business on the 15th of April as a Responsible Investment Manager from Calvert Research & Management based in Washington DC, where he was an ESG Research Analyst covering corporate issuers (from an ESG perspective) and focusing on the continuous improvement of the Calvert Funds ESG process. Prior to this, he was a Sustainable Investment Analyst at Kames Capital and an Investment Analyst at Alliance Trust, working both in Japan and in the UK. Maradei and Huttunens appointments follow several new hires to the global Responsible Business and Public Affairs team this year. The team serves as a company-wide resource for responsible business and investment practices, lending expertise to ESG integration initiatives, contributing to responsible investment product development projects and leading engagement and research efforts to promote understanding of sustainable issues and improving company performance. Commenting on the appointments Roelie van Wijk-Russchen, says: Brunno and Julius bring invaluable knowledge and international experience to the team as we continue to strengthen our responsible investment credentials. With a team of 14 people across Aegon Asset Managements global businesses, including Kames Capital and TKP Investments, we believe AAM has the expertise to continue to lead the way on ESG issues, ensuring our clients responsible investing criteria are met and their sustainable goals can be supported. The Luxembourg Consumer Association (ULC) authored a petition on adapting banking fees for basic operations, which has reached 4,500 signatures. Now that the petition has reached the required threshold within 42 days, the Chamber of Deputies will have to debate the ULC's petition. The consumer protection association's petition called for better and fairer transaction fees for basic banking operations. Specifically, the ULC suggested a significant reduction of fees in branch operations, such as taking cash out, making a transaction, or putting money into your account. The petition also called for cutting these fees completely for the elderly and disabled individuals. The parliamentary commission on petitions made the decision on Tuesday to appoint the debate to both the Minister of Finance and the Minister for Consumer Protection. The commission must now find a date that works for all involved parties. The commission president, Nancy Kemp-Arendt, outlined the upcoming process, which is to contact the petitioners having verified the signatures, of which there were significantly more than 5,000. She explained the commission's decision to appoint the debate to two ministers, as the petition falls into the realm of consumer protection as well as the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance. On Tuesday, the four organisations making up Caritas Luxembourg presented their annual report for 2018. Globally, Caritas' purpose is to "serve the poor and promote charity and justice throughout the world", based on sharing the mission of the Catholic Church. In Luxembourg, the charity helps those who are struggling. In 2018, Caritas was able to work a lot in helping those who struggle and thanked those who donated and its volunteering teams. Last year Caritas was able to supply aid to 100,000 people in 17 different countries thanks to the 12.6 million raised in Luxembourg. In addition to that number, Caritas also helped 22,000 individuals requiring help in the Grand Duchy. As one of the charity's 657 volunteers, Cecile Bellot, explained, she had known that there were many people in Luxembourg who struggled to make ends meet. Bellot, who works in one of the charity's food banks, highlighted that it is different knowing that people struggle and then standing face-to-face with people who have to carefully count every cent to buy necessities. Caritas has four food banks in the Grand Duchy and the number of individuals using the food banks is on the rise. Those using Caritas' food banks are able to buy necessities at prices they can afford. According to Irene Jamsek, this covers foodstuff like pasta, rice, coffee, sugar, and jams, but also household products including detergent, shampoo, and soap. The president of Caritas Luxembourg, Marie-Josee Jacobs, used the previous year's report to provide further information about a new service offered by Caritas. The service, called "tente de nuit" (night tent), is open throughout the year and has ten available spots for individuals with a precious health and mental state, who cannot or do not want to be in a shelter with many others. Caritas is active in a number of different areas, including housing. In the last year, Caritas helped 2,700 in housing matters. The charity maintained that housing remains one of Luxembourg's national challenges in light of the increasing expenses. This evolution especially affects those struggling to make ends meet. Caritas Luxembourg is unable to carry out these services without funding and donations. Last year, the foundation was able to raise 2.6 million and hopes its fundraising in 2019 will be equally high. The full report is available on caritas.lu. Video in Luxembourgish Luxembourg has been waiting for its military Airbus A400M for eighteen years. The concluding works on the aircraft are nearing completion in Seville. Back in 2001 the Luxembourgish and Belgian governments signed a cooperation treaty, which notably included sharing an Airbus A400M on strategic grounds. In total, the two governments ordered eight aircraft - seven for Belgium and one for Luxembourg. Once the Luxembourgish aircraft becomes operational in 2021, it will be stationed at the Belgian Melsbroek military airport. The first aircraft of the initial order should be delivered next May. This aircraft, the one attributed to Luxembourg, will then be followed by the next seven by 2022. None of the eight A400M aircrafts are fully constructed, despite the initial order being placed in 2001. Luxembourg is paying 200 million for one of the eight aircraft. The ongoing works at the Airbus site in Serville concern connecting the main structure of the aircraft with the cockpit. The A400M has a surface area of 356 cubic metres and can transport weights of up to 37 tonnes. The aircraft has space for 120 individuals inside. A delegation of Luxembourgish MPs and army representatives visited the Spanish city on Tuesday alongside their Belgian counterparts. The delegation was made up of 96 individuals, although Minister of Defence Francois Bausch was notably absent. His Belgian counterpart, Didier Reynders, was there in his stead. The MPs on the official visit on Tuesday were five MPs from the parliamentary commission on defence. Video in English. As Reynders explained on Tuesday, the aircraft would not necessarily be used for military purposes. Instead, he outlined that the A400M could be used for humanitarian operations, as per the "Bifas" programme. The A400M would allow the military to intervene quickly in natural catastrophes. The A400M could be used in such situations, as it was created to handle difficult missions and terrains. The aircraft's use, for both countries, could take place in a NATO or UN context. Although countries can require individual specifications, the general defence councillor Gilles Feidt confirmed that Luxembourg and Belgium have decided to have the same specifications. The zone which adjusts specifications was not visible in the warehouse, as it was hidden from sight. On 10 May, the United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be in Luxembourg for an official visit. Following the US Embassy's announcement of Ross's visit, the Luxembourgish government has provided further insight on the what lies behind it. The two countries plan to increase their collaboration in the space industry by signing a memorandum of understanding. The government has scheduled a press conference for the same day to present the details of the agreement. Press release The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are pleased to announce an international press conference to present the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will serve to catalyze and significantly deepen cooperation between the two countries in the field of space. The MoU will serve as the vehicle for the two countries to support the continued growth of their respective space industries through new commercial and investment opportunities, strengthen policy coordination and share expertise on space exploration and science. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Etienne Schneider declared: The cooperation agreement with the US is yet another important step forward in enhancing international cooperation through our SpaceResources.lu initiative that supports the development of a global commercial space resources utilization industry. Secretary Ross said: Luxembourg is an important world player in many sectors including finance and space. As such, they are a place where we want to strengthen and expand our ties - ties built on a long history of shared values and sacrifice. U.S. Ambassador Randy Evans stated: We feel that this Luxembourg-U.S. MoU on space is a fitting tribute to HRH late Grand Duke Jean, given that he was Luxembourgs monarch when the country took its first bold steps in the space sector with the launch of SES as Europe's first private satellite operator in March of 1985. The press conference is scheduled for 12:00 noon on Friday, May 10, 2019 (Note : Times are in Luxembourg Time GMT+2) and will take place at the Hotel St. Augustin, 6, rue de la Congregation, L-1352 Luxembourg. The press conference is preceded at 11:45am by the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding that will take place in the same building. Scouts and Guides of Luxembourg (LGS) was founded 100 years ago, in March 1919, and they hold an annual 1 May celebration. The 2019 1 May celebration was especially significant, given the LGS's founding one hundred years ago, and took place in the Neuhausgen Capelle de Notre Bois. The chapel is significant in the history of Luxembourg's Scouts and Guides. Inaugurated in 1952, the chapel was the result of a promise made by Scout resistance members. Those resistance members were conscripted during WWII and vowed to build a house of worship if they came back alive. Christophe Hochard (RTL) Christophe Hochard (RTL) Christophe Hochard (RTL) Christophe Hochard (RTL) Christophe Hochard (RTL) Christophe Hochard (RTL) Christophe Hochard (RTL) The photos published on this site are subject to copyright and may not be copied, modified, or sold without the prior permission of the owner of the site in question. The LGS also celebrated their Chief Scout - Grand Duke Jean, named Chief Scout in October 1945. The monarch enjoyed this honour for 74 years and remains especially significant to the Scouts of Luxembourg. Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli The photos published on this site are subject to copyright and may not be copied, modified, or sold without the prior permission of the owner of the site in question. There will be further celebrations for the centenary planned in Luxembourg City, Mersch, and Belval on 18 May. The photos published on this site are subject to copyright and may not be copied, modified, or sold without the prior permission of the owner of the site in question. Video in Luxembourgish. Sam Childers, former member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, converted to Christianity in 1992 and has since been on a mission to rescue children in South Sudan. Childers is currently on a tour through Luxembourg to talk about his work: he and his wife run the Children's Village Orphanage in Nimule, South Sudan. As well as helping children in the war zone, Childers has clashed with the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group largely functioning as a personality cult for its leader, Joseph Kony. The LRA often forces children to act as soldiers, which led Childers to defend his orphanage with weapons against the LRA. Childers' willingness to defend the orphans against the LRA has led to his moniker of Machine Gun Preacher. Childers will hold presentations at the Lycee Robert Schuman and Ecole de Commerce et Gestion. Afterwards, he will join an event at the Bettembourg church at 7.30pm, organised by the "Man to Human" organisation and the Bettembourg-Frisange Saint-Andre parish and Bettembourg municipal council. 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. Colin Forrest, Regional Leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in the companys Insurance Consulting and Technology business, said: I am delighted to announce that Tammy will be taking on the role of UK and Ireland Leader, with immediate effect. Insurers today must balance a wide range of competing demands and risks, with swiftly changing technological capabilities at centre stage, and Tammy has the business leadership skills, deep industry experience and breadth of knowledge to lead the UK and Ireland team successfully over the coming years as this period of market disruption presents us with ever-evolving opportunities and challenges. Richardson has over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, spanning a range of senior leadership roles across P&L management, strategy, M&A, business development, finance and risk management. Before joining Willis Towers Watson in 2012, Tammy was a Senior Vice President and Managing Director at Genworth Financial leading the firms commercial and strategic development team. Commenting on her new appointment, Richardson said: I am excited to be taking on this new role at a time when the rate of change for the insurance industry is unlike anything weve seen before. This brings with it new challenges, but also many new opportunities particularly in the space of Artificial Intelligence and automation. I look forward to continuing to work with our talented insurance consulting and technology team to deliver solutions that will help our clients to quickly adapt and transform their operations in order to take advantage of emerging opportunities for profitable growth. At the same time of Richardsons appointment, Stephen Jones is also transferring from his existing role as UK Head of P&C Pricing, Claims, Product and Underwriting at Willis Towers Watson to move into Richardsons former role as UK P&C Leader. Richardson said: Stephen is a recognised market figure having the broad P&C technical and managerial experience necessary to lead the team successfully over the coming years as we seek to deliver on our mission to be the leading P&C insurance consulting team, providing the best outcomes for our clients through creative thinking and teamwork. The Trump administration touted a record $1.1 billion in revenue from oil and gas on federal lands in 2018, noting that this increase coincided with practices that limited the acreage impacted by drilling, the Bureau of Land Management reported in a press release Wednesday. Last year set a record for oil production on federal land, with more than 214 million barrels produced on 25 million acres the smallest footprint on land since the current system of measuring was implemented in 1985, according to the release. In a statement, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt praised President Donald Trump and the technological advances in the industry that allow for less impact on the surface. Our production numbers are unprecedented, even though we have the fewest acres under lease in almost four decades, Bernhardt said. Two-thirds of the bureaus permit to drill applications are for proposed wells in Wyoming and New Mexico, the release states. Additionally, two-thirds of new drilling began in those two states the top two states for both acres currently leased and leases that are currently producing hydrocarbons, the release Wednesday states. Wyoming is often a leading producer of oil and gas from federal minerals and leases. New Mexico has a robust oil and gas sector and represents the westernmost part of the prolific Permian Basin. Other advances noted in the press release were the bureaus efforts to be more efficient stewards for the oil and gas sector, such as their 30 percent reduction in the average time it takes to process drilling permit applications and the number of new wells spudded in 2018, an increase of 1,000 from 2016. Last year the number of producing leases rose to more than 24,000, the highest level since 2008, according to the BLM release. The Trump administration has made energy development a priority on federally managed lands, a push that goes hand-in-hand with the administrations ongoing deregulation efforts. Political support and a softened regulatory framework have coincided with a strengthening price of oil over the last two years, as well as advances in Wyoming plays that promise greater production potential in the near term. In Wyoming, revenue from oil and gas lease sales, both federal and state, jumped 800 percent from 2016 to 2017. But the energy push has created friction as well with environmental groups who view the Trump administration as trouncing protections for the environment and non-industry uses of public lands in Wyoming and Western states. From methane leaks from infrastructure to auctioning leases to oil and gas firms in big game migration corridors, groups say the energy push that the administration touted Wednesday has had adverse impacts in the West. Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that the administrations brag about oil and gas successes should inspire resistance. Its horrifying to see Bernhardt boasting about profits made from wrecking our climate and destroying our childrens future, he said. Trumps reckless push to speed oil and gas production on public lands completely undermines the urgently needed transition to clean energy. Follow energy reporter Heather Richards on Twitter @hroxaner Love 7 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 2 The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. POWELL A Wapiti man who shot and killed his wife last year says it was an accident and he claims his civil rights have been violated since his arrest. Dennis K. Klingbeil, 77, is facing a first-degree murder charge that alleges he killed 75-year-old Donna Klingbeil purposefully and with premeditated malice. Prosecutors allege the killing was the culmination of a long, bitter dispute over the couples properties, worth millions of dollars. Health worker wont testify in murder case CODY (WNE) The ongoing saga of the Dennis Klingbeil trial continues to evolve and further Dennis Klingbeil who attempted suicide after the shooting has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. In a two-page letter that was made public Monday, he says he accidently (sic) shot his wife on Aug. 5, 2018. His defense attorney, Donna Domonkos, previously suggested the killing could have been an accident, but the recent letter is the clearest indication of what defense Klingbeil plans to offer at trial. Special Deputy Park County prosecuting attorney Mike Blonigen, formerly the Natrona County district attorney, has argued in filings that Klingbeils past statements and actions including alleged threats to other family members decades earlier show a pattern of behavior. There is nothing sudden about what happened to Donna Klingbeil that night nor was it an accident, Blonigen wrote in filing. The case is set to go before a jury in August. I have led a good life (plus) have never been arrested or in trouble with the law, Klingbeil said in his letter to District Court Judge Bill Simpson, adding that he and his wife have been together for 43 years. Recently-retired Natrona County DA joins prosecution in Wapiti murder trial POWELL With his office shorthanded, Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric has hired one of Wyo The bulk of Klingbeils letter objects to the way hes been treated since awakening in a bed at West Park Hospital a few days after the killing. After coming out of a coma from an overdose of medications, Klingbeil said a Park County Sheriffs Office investigator immediately began asking him questions like, Do you want to get something off your chest? without explaining his rights. He also claims a mental health provider questioned him despite his requests for an attorney. I was not lucid, Klingbeil wrote. But questions continued. Prosecutors allege that, during the mental health evaluation, Klingbeil spoke of killing Donna Klingbeil in a rage. However, its uncertain whether those statements are admissible in court. Bail in Wapiti murder case set at $10 million cash CODY A Wapiti man facing first-degree murder of his wife last August will for the first ti Judge Simpson has ruled that the information Klingbeil shared with the personnel at West Park and Yellowstone Behavioral Health generally must be kept confidential unless the state can show that Klingbeil waived the privileged nature of those communications. A Park County Sheriffs deputy was present for the interview and Simpson indicated that the admissibility may hinge on whether Klingbeil expressly consented to having the deputy there. A hearing on that and other issues in the case is set for Monday. Klingbeil said his letter was intended to address certain facts related to the pending motions. In one portion, he suggests hospital staff and police were colluding to get me to jail. After he was discharged from West Park Hospital and taken to the Park County Detention Center on Aug. 9, Klingbeil said he was taken to a padded room where he had to urinate in a hole. I felt like a non-human, he wrote. Klingbeil claims he spent several days in the padded room before being allowed to speak to a lawyer. However, statements made in court indicate that Klingbeil briefly spoke with one of his initial attorneys on the morning of Aug. 10; that would mean Klingbeil talked to a lawyer within 24 hours of being transferred from the hospital to the jail. At the close of his letter, Klingbeil told the judge hed be willing to take a lie detector test to confirm the truth of his account. Trial for Wapiti man accused of killing wife delayed to August CODY (AP) The trial for a Wyoming man accused of killing his wife has been postponed to th Never given an attorney, never read my Moranda (sic) rights (plus) not told my phone conversations were recorded, Klingbeil wrote, referring to calls he placed from the jail. This was wrong (plus) violated my civil rights. His letter from the Park County Detention Center is dated March 16, though it apparently took more than a month to reach the district court, with the envelope containing an incomplete address. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LANDER Limiting future tobacco use is not exactly a part of the job description for members of the Wyoming Legislatures Joint Committee on Revenue. However, after a pair of bills intended to curb the use of tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vaporizers among minors a tobacco tax increase and updated regulations on tobacco products failed in the 2019 session, members of the committee spent most of Thursday morning contemplating whether or not a tax on such products, or some other deterrent, could help end what has been described by the U.S. Surgeon General as an epidemic among youth today. The group plans to work on several bills intended to tackle the issue ahead of the 2020 budget, including restrictions on online sales, raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarette products, and potentially introducing a tax thats costly enough to serve as a deterrent. Over several hours of testimony, members of the committee heard the pros and cons of using taxation as a deterrent for high school-aged consumers, and whether or not such a tax would unfairly harm current smokers who use products like vaporizers and e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. Administrators from several school districts testified that the use of nicotine products in their schools have increased dramatically over the past several years. In Pinedale, 70 percent of all out-of-school suspensions are for vaping. Rock Springs High School has suspended 95 students so far this year for vaping, and in Riverton five $750 tickets have been issued by school resource officers in the past several years. Its an all-time high, Charlie Marshall, an officer there, said in regards to vape-related violations. While the Wyoming Legislature and particularly newly appointed committee co-chair Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne have fielded bills for tobacco taxes in the past, the concept of a specific tax on nicotine-infused products, particularly as a deterrent, is up for debate. Numerous states have implemented some form of tax on tobacco or nicotine-infused products, according to an analysis from the Legislative Service Office, with a variety of ways to collect the tax, including by the milliliter or by the wholesale value of the product. Many in favor of a tax argued that high taxes could lead to decreased consumption among minors. While studies relating to e-cigarettes or similar products are sparse, increasing taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products has been shown to be an effective deterrent by the U.S. Surgeon General and has often been cited by tobacco companies as a threat to future sales. While some groups in attendance like the Cancer Action Network recommended tax increases as high as $1.50 per the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes for all tobacco or nicotine-infused products, the Revenue Committee declined to set a rate at Thursdays meeting. However, they plan to draft a bill proposing a wholesale value tax, with a rate to be decided at a later date. However, recent taxes on e-cigarettes have their critics. Some argue they harm individuals, particularly adults, who are trying to quit cigarettes or smokeless tobacco by turning instead to somewhat safer vaping products. One shop owner in attendance told committee members she already pays more than half a million dollars in excise taxes every year and added its already difficult to meet margins set low enough to compete with online competitors. Spencer Pittman, owner of Steam Vapour Co. in Laramie, told the committee that most illicit possession of vape products by youth comes not from shops like his but through online sales or unscrupulous convenience store owners. Rather than levying high taxes, which he said would disproportionately harm small businesses, Pittman told the committee to instead focus its attention on cracking down on the real sources of youth e-cigarette ownership. Is the law already being followed? Are we doing all we can to ask teens we see vaping on the street where they got these? We need to start asking these questions, said Mark Larson, a lobbyist for the Wyoming/Colorado Petroleum Marketers Association. In response, the Revenue Committee will be pursuing legislation to do just that: a bill to ban online sales of nicotine-infused products and increased fines for those found possessing the products underage or selling to a minor. Follow politics reporter Nick Reynolds on Twitter @IAmNickReynolds Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. (1) Represents the percentage of our lease contracts that were created by STORE or contain preferred contract terms such as unit-level financial reporting, triple-net lease provisions and, when applicable, master lease provisions. (2) Represents the weighted average annual escalation rate of the entire portfolio as if all escalations occurred annually. For escalations based on a formula including CPI, assumes the stated fixed percentage in the contract or assumes 1.5% if no fixed percentage is in the contract. For contracts with no escalations remaining in the current lease term, assumes the escalation in the extension term. Calculation excludes contracts representing less than 0.2% of annualized base rent and interest where there are no further escalations remaining in the current lease term and there are no extension options. (3) The Company defines occupancy as a property being subject to a lease or loan contract. As of March 31, 2019, eight of the Companys properties were vacant and not subject to a contract. (4) Represents the number of the Companys investment locations that have been closed by the tenant but remain subject to a lease. (5) Percentage of investment portfolio in multiple properties with a single customer subject to master leases. Approximately 84% of the investment portfolio involves multiple properties with a single customer, whether or not subject to a master lease. (6) Represents the ratio of purchase price to replacement cost (new) at acquisition. (7) STORE Capital calculates a units FCCR generally as the ratio of (i) the units EBITDAR, less a standardized corporate overhead expense based on estimated industry standards, to (ii) the units total fixed charges, which are its lease expense, interest expense and scheduled principal payments on indebtedness (if applicable). The 4-Wall coverage ratio refers to a units FCCR before taking into account standardized corporate overhead expense. The weighted average unit FCCR and 4-Wall coverage ratios were 3.0x and 3.8x, respectively. Despite some setbacks, stratospheric balloon startup World View Enterprises says it had a successful 2018 and is looking to pick up the pace of launches this year. In an annual report to Pima County, landlord of the companys headquarters at Spaceport Tucson, World View said it conducted nine successful flights last year, including five from the Spaceport Tucson site south of Tucson International Airport. The successful flights followed the explosion of a hydrogen-filled balloon during ground testing at Spaceport Tucson in December 2017, which resulted in nearly a half-million dollars in damage to the companys headquarters building. So far in 2019, the company has had three launches, all for paying customers including parachute system maker Airborne Systems and Draper, a non-profit research lab, World View spokesman Andrew Antonio said. One of this years flights was the companys longest to date, topping its record of positively controlling one of its Stratollite balloon vehicles for 72 continuous hours. Looking ahead, the company said it plans to continue to advance its proprietary balloon-control technology, extend its flight duration and productize its Stratollites. When Tucson musician and band leader Sergio Mendoza thought of putting on a Cinco de Mayo fiesta, he turned to several good friends to help him out. Mendoza reached out to Joey Burns of Tucsons Calexico and the band DeVotchKa from Colorado. Mendoza is a frequent collaborator with Calexico and DeVotchKa. And he turned to the recently opened Hotel McCoy, a boutique inn at West Silverlake Road and Interstate 10. Its going to have a barrio fiesta feel, said Mendoza, the multiinstrumentalist leader of Orkesta Mendoza, a popular retro-mambo, cumbia-rock band. Consider Sundays celebration a coming-out party of sorts for Hotel McCoy which opened last fall, taking over a dumpy west-side freeway motel and brightening it up with colorful art. The daylong family festival begins at 2 p.m. and will feature food trucks, local craft beer and activities for the kiddos, in addition to the music. Mendoza invited the four-piece DeVotchKa, an instrumental and vocal ensemble, with whom he first collaborated with in 2010 at a HoCo Festival at Tucsons Hotel Congress. We had a lot of things in common, Mendoza said. We didnt set out to do a political album. Music should be escapism. But were living in a complicated time, to put it in a gentle way, said Martinez who, along with other original members of Fantasma, grew up in the Texas border town of Laredo. Fantasma returns to Tucson for a gig at 191 Toole Friday, May 3, on the heels of the release of its seventh studio album its first in five years. The new recording is full of the groups swinging cumbias, salsa-tinged south-Texas funk and its rock roots. While one of the groups founders, Adrian Quezada, is absent from the new album, Fantasma took on Colombian Carlos Bedoya from Miami as producer and sound engineer. He expanded the groups sound and gave the cumbias a bit more authenticity, said Martinez. Initially the idea of bringing Bedoya on board gave Martinez some pause. I was like nervous this guy is big-time, Martinez said. But the new producer and Fantasma clicked. He knew where we were coming from. He brought his understanding of the cumbia colombiana. Ernesto Portillo Jr. can be reached at 573-4187 or netopjr@tucson.com. On Twitter: @netopjr The women in their 70s and 80s all know each other from daily Mass at St. Ambrose Catholic Church. The friends gather at Quirozs home for desserts and coffee, and some play poker and dice. I like her personality, said Yolanda Moreno, a neighbor who began visiting Quiroz about 15 years ago. She cant get me out of her house, said Moreno with a boisterous laugh. The women joke and tease each other. I feel good, of course, said Quiroz, who turns 102 in September. The more who come, the better, said the former businesswoman who operated two restaurants with her husband, Hector, and reared five children who helped their parents waiting tables, washing dishes and cleaning. Quiroz, a native of Belen, New Mexico, came from a farming family and both her parents died by the time she was 14. She was the youngest of six children, moving with a brother to Tucson in 1943 in search of a better life. Then Trinidad Castillo went to work as a key-punch operator for an insurance company, later meeting her future husband, Hector Quiroz, on a blind date. PHOENIX Republican lawmakers approved new mandates on schools to report violent incidents despite objections from Democrats who said legislators should focus instead on fixing shortfalls in education funding. House Bill 2119, approved Wednesday in the House by a 31-27 party-line vote, now goes to the governor. The measure would require school districts to come up with procedures to report any suspected crime that involves a deadly weapon or serious physical injury. That policy also would have to document any conduct that poses a threat of death or serious physical injury to an employee, student or other person on school property. Most notably, it would require notice to a parent of any student involved. Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, said that apparently isnt happening now. She cited testimony of a parent of a student at Mountain Trail Middle School in the Paradise Valley Unified School District who was one of three targets of a death threat. The suspect also made statements about shooting up the school, she said. No calls were made to parents, Barto said. RLCPS provides pensions actuarial, consulting and administration services to 150 smaller defined benefit (DB) pensions schemes, covering 8,000 scheme members. The acquisition will strengthen XPS's presence in the market for provision of full services to smaller DB pension schemes. It is in line with XPSs continued focus to become the pre-eminent pensions consultancy in the UK, and strengthens XPSs capability in delivering a tailored service suitable for the whole spectrum of DB schemes, from small to very large RLCPS will be acquired for a total consideration of 4.8 million in cash upon completion and will see 46 employees transferred to XPSs Edinburgh office. Paul Cuff, co-CEO of XPS Pensions Group, said: This acquisition is consistent with our strategic focus on becoming the pre-eminent pensions consultancy in the UK and improves our capability and offerings to smaller pension schemes. We see this as particularly important, given the increasing need for smaller pension schemes to have access to high quality advice and technology enabled solutions in a cost-effective way. We welcome our new clients and our new colleagues to our business. Isobel Langton, CEO Intermediary at Royal London, said about the transaction: We are very pleased to have reached agreement with XPS. It has been paramount for us in this process to find a partner who can provide a fantastic service to RLCPSs clients both now and into the future as the regulatory challenges these clients face will only increase. We are confident that these clients will benefit from XPSs UK pensions market knowledge, and the technology and expertise that they can bring to bear. At the same time, we feel that XPS, with its strong employee culture, is a fantastic home for transferring employees. PHOENIX A veteran state lawmaker is threatening to hold up the state budget until he gets a vote on his plan to give victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to sue their alleged assailants. Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, said he has more than enough support to get approval of at least some version of Senate Bill 1255 and send it to the governor. But the people who chair two key committees have refused to give the bill a hearing. So Boyer has decided to use a lawmakers ultimate weapon: refuse to support the one thing the Legislature has to enact by June 30. By himself that might not make a difference, as Republicans hold a 17-13 edge in the Senate. But Boyer said he is lining up others who share his views and will have enough to make the threat stick. There are other Republicans who already are unhappy with some of the budget demands being made by Gov. Doug Ducey. Boyers objection adds to the opposition. Current law gives victims two years after they turn 18 to file civil claims of rape and sex abuse. Boyer said some people do not realize until their 40s, while undergoing counseling, how they were harmed by things done to them. Roy B. Laos III, a Republican elected three times to the Tucson City Council from south-side Ward 5, died Saturday at Northwest Medical Center after a brief illness. He was 65. He was surrounded by family when he passed, said friend Ed Ackerley, who knew Laos for nearly 40 years. He will be missed, said Ackerley, adding that he will always remember Laos quirky smile while raising an eyebrow. Laos was first elected to the City Council in 1977 and as an incumbent served three terms. He was defeated for a fourth term by Democrat Steve Leal in 1989. Former Councilman Brent L. Davis, a Democrat who served with Laos, said there were five Democrats on the council and the Republicans were Laos and Mayor Lew Murphy. We all served in a time of civility something that has now gone awry in our political system. We would fight like cats and dogs over a policy, and then go have a beer together. You dont see it today, and that is what is missing in our political system as our country stands divided, Davis said. 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. 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. The state Constitution bans people from forming an "armed body of men." Plus more on the AZ GOP, a new Ally Miller staffer, and a border-wall brainstorm. From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Copenhagen Imports It's been stripes and more stripes for staff at the Reid Park Zoo the past two weeks as they welcomed two new Grevy's zebras to their new home. The Tucson Theatre Announcements List is a monitored e-mail list. Notices from Tucson area theatre companies, filmmakers and others are forwarded to the list members. These notices include auditions, casting calls, openings and other announcements of interest to actors, directors, techies and theatre lovers in our community. This Blog contains an archive of recent posts to the list. For more information go to http://tucsonstage.com Traffic police in Hanoi said on Thursday they have caught an overcrowded passenger bus that carried holidaymakers from the north-central province of Thanh Hoa back to the Vietnamese capital after a five-day holiday. As many as 104 passengers had been crammed into the 45-seater bus, police said after pulling over the vehicle for check on Giai Phong Street in Hanois Hoang Mai District on Wednesday, the end of the long break that began on April 30. The long-haul bus, running between Thanh Hoa and Hanoi, was also found to have dropped off passengers at the wrong location, according to officers. Police said they managed to catch the overcrowded bus thanks to a tip-off made through a hotline for reports of traffic safety violations. Another tip-off from members of the public on Wednesday also led police to catch a 29-seater passenger bus carrying 38 passengers as it was heading to Hanoi from the northern province of Thai Binh. Vietnam entered a five-day holiday marking Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers Day (May 1). Traffic police said they had pulled over many buses carrying passengers exceeding their seats during the first days of the five-day break, as people were rushing back to their hometowns for celebrations. The situation reoccurred as people returned to big cities when the holiday ended on Wednesday. During the five-day holiday, 137 traffic accidents occurred across the country, killing 96 people and injured another 96, according to Vietnams National Traffic Safety Committee. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Here are todays leading news stories. Society -- Ben Luc Bridge, which lies along a major route connecting Ho Chi Minh City and provinces in Vietnams Mekong Delta, was heavily congested until 9:00 pm on Wednesday as people started returning to the southern metropolis after a five-day holiday starting April 30. -- Residents in southern provinces who left Ho Chi Minh City for a five-day holiday last week once again went through an agonizing journey back to the southern metropolis as many routes were seriously overloaded and congested on Wednesday. -- The five-day holiday celebrating the Reunification Day on April 30 and International Workers Day on May 1 saw 137 traffic accidents, killing 96 people and injured another 96, a slight decrease from last years road toll, according to Vietnams National Traffic Safety Committee. -- A 12-year-old Vietnamese teenage in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa was hospitalized for severe injuries after being brutally mauled by a dog earlier this week, doctors said on Wednesday. -- A group of street knights in the southern province of Dong Nai on Wednesday successfully rescued four women, who had been trapped into selling sex at a cafe in Tam Phuoc Commune, in the provincial capital city of Bien Hoa. -- A fire broke out at a junk workshop in Thu Thua District in the southern province of Long An, blanketing the section of the National Highway 62 passing the area with black smoke and slowed down traffic for around two hours on Wednesday afternoon. Business -- Chinese arrivals to Vietnam from last December to April fell by four percent year-on-year to 1.71 million, while the number of Thai tourists visiting the country in the same period recorded the highest growth of 46.5 percent year-on-year, standing at 174,777 visitors, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. -- Air Asias first direct flight from Bangkok landed in Cam Ranh International Airport in Vietnams south-central province of Khanh Hoa on Wednesday morning, marking the second non-stop route between the two destinations after a first by Bangkok Airways in January. Sports -- Hanoi FC, the reigning champions of Vietnams top-tier V-League 1, kept their hopes of progressing from 2019 AFC Cup Group F alive with an emphatic 5-1 win over Cambodias Naga World on Wednesday afternoon. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Police in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa have arrested a man for fatally stabbing his neighbor after the victim had thrown a noisy karaoke party at his home. Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Thanh, deputy head of the police department of the provincial capital of Nha Trang confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that L.V.Q., 25, had been apprehended for murder. The case has been transferred to the provincial police department for further investigation, Thanh added. According to officers, Q. works as a construction worker and lives with his wife at an tenanted house in Phuoc Dong Commune, Nha Trang. On Tuesday night, 53-year-old B.N.P.H ., who rents a house next-door, threw a drinking and karaoke party with his friends. Q. returned to his home at around 8:00 pm that day and asked H. to turn down the volume. The neighbor did as told, but he refused to stop singing, saying it was a holiday time. Vietnam observed a five-day holiday marking the Reunification Day on April 30 and International Workers Day on May 1. Shortly after the karaoke noise returned, Q. grabbed a knife in his house and stabbed H. at his chest, killing the victim on the spot. He then returned to his rented home and was arrested by police on the same night. The suspect admitted he had consumed alcohol prior to the incident. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A car driver in Hanoi has admitted to having been under the influence of alcohol when he fatally crashed into two women on a motorbike at the entrance of an underpass in Hanoi on early Wednesday morning. The accident happened at around 12:10 am at the entrance of Kim Lien Underpass in Hai Ba Trung District, according to initial information. Two women, D.H.Y. and T.T.Q., who were both 43, were traveling on a motorcycle when their vehicle was rear-ended by a white Mercedes car. The collision knocked them off the motorbike, causing them to be unconscious. The victims were admitted to the hospital but later succumbed to their injuries. The Mercedes car has its front damaged following the crash. Photo: Otofun The car driver kept on traveling towards Dai Co Viet Street and was eventually stopped by police officers. The driver was identified as Le Trung Hieu, 39, who resides in Ba Dinh District. He has been held in custody since the predawn accident to assist the investigation. Hieu claimed he had consumed alcohol prior to the crash. A test also showed that his alcohol content was 0.751 milligrams per a liter of breath, while the Vietnamese traffic law promulgates that car drivers must have a zero alcohol level. Further investigating is ongoing. The Mercedes car has its front damaged following the crash. Photo: Otofun According to the National Committee for Traffic Safety, 137 traffic accidents occurred throughout the country from April 27 to May 1, the long holiday marking the Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers Day (May 1). A total of 96 people were killed and 96 others injured as a result. The average number of deceased victims during this period was 19.2 per day, a slight decrease compared to last years 19.75. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Sunday Night has two stories of extremism, one with a Russian couple taking daredevil selfies (do not attempt at home) and another on a backpacker kidnapping (ditto). Highway to Hell Elisha Greer came to Australia in search of sun and adventure. She was just 21 years old when she strapped on a backpack and swapped a bleak English winter for a paradise thousands of kilometres from home. But her great Aussie adventure quickly turned into an outback horror story. She was held hostage by drug crazed madman Marcus Martin. He forced her on a terrifying 1,600km road trip through rural Australia. Her story of survival is incredible. In this Sunday Night exclusive, host and senior correspondent Melissa Doyle returns to Far North Queensland with Elisha who opens up for the first time about what she endured on this highway to Hell. Death by Selfie Its an obsession that has already cost hundreds of lives. In fact, more people have died in the last five years taking selfies than have been killed in shark attacks. In a world hooked on social media, people will do anything to impress their online followers. Russian couple Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau are famous for taking the most dangerous selfies youve ever seen. Theyve climbed over 500 buildings for likes, shares and comments. But Ivan and Angela understand the risks. Most victims are so focused on their phones, they dont realise the danger until it is too late. So why do people continue to risk their lives to get that killer shot? Sunday Nights Angela Cox finds out. 8.30pm Sunday on Seven. Its a mystery worthy of only Titus Welliver.. Bosch season 5 premiered for a few days at Amazon Prime Video before being ripped off screens. The series was promoted by Amazon Prime Video locally as debuting on April 19 but did not surface until a few days later, according to TV Tonight readers. But just as mysteriously it was soon ripped from the platform in what can only be described as a major stuff-up. The reason appears to be due to SBS having local premiere rights. SBS has since confirmed it will be screening the series soon, possibly via SBS on Demand. Creator Michael Connelly also tweeted to confused fans. Streaming on Prime Video in October there. SBS has the rights to air it first. Michael Connelly (@Connellybooks) April 30, 2019 Amazon Primes Australian representatives today told TV Tonight, We wanted to provide you an update that Bosch season 5 will be available on Prime Video in Australia on 18 October 2019, and not 19 April as was previously shared. We apologise for this error and any confusion that this may have caused. Bosch season 5 is available in New Zealand now. The University of Dayton will honor past president Daniel J. Curran during a ceremony at 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, in the Riverview Cafe in Curran Place to bless and dedicate the building that now bears his name. "Through Dan's vision and leadership, the University of Dayton made a bold move by acquiring the former NCR Corp. property, providing hope to a region reeling from the economic recession," said current University president Eric F. Spina. "He positioned the University for significant growth in research, academic and economic opportunities that have served to benefit the University and the entire Dayton community." The University purchased the former NCR World Headquarters in 2009 at 1700 S. Patterson Blvd., to provide a new home for the University's Research Institute, graduate academic programs and other uses. Built in 1976 for NCR's global operations, the 466,000 square-foot building now houses the University of Dayton Research Institute, 400+ University offices and workspaces, 35 conference and meeting rooms and 16 classrooms. Curran, who served as University president from 2002 until his retirement in 2016, will be present at the blessing and dedication ceremony, which takes place a year after he received a life-saving liver transplant after a decade of battling liver disease. "Dan guided the University through an amazing period of transformation," said David Yeager, chair of the University's board of trustees. "From academics, endowment, research, enrollment, student success and contributions to regional economic growth, he established a solid foundation that UD continues to experience today." Daniel J. Curran Place includes the main building that served as the former headquarters of NCR Corp. It was dedicated in 1976, and the Annex was added in 1981. A professor of sociology, Curran was the first lay president in the University's 152-year history and guided the institution through a 14-year era of transformation and growth that continues today. Under Curran's leadership, the University doubled its physical footprint through two major acquisitions from NCR Corp., and shifted its enrollment strategy to establish the University as a more selective institution that draws students from across the country and the world. During his tenure, the University's endowment, first-year applications, number of endowed faculty positions and the value of its land and buildings doubled, and student retention and entering test scores reached all-time highs. Curran was also known for his work with corporate, governmental and other community partners in Dayton and Montgomery County, establishing the University as an economic, research and innovation center on the southern edge of the city. "I am deeply honored by this recognition and proud to have been part of a great team that left a lasting legacy for the University and the greater Dayton community," Curran said. "It showed that UD was an integral player in the region's growth and development, that we could do something bold for our community and its future." Curran came to Dayton from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where he served for 23 years as a professor and executive vice president. Curran taught courses throughout his higher education career in criminology, social problems, juvenile justice and white collar crime. His research has focused on ways to address social inequality and the role of Catholic universities as a social force for change. Curran earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of Delaware in 1980, a master's degree in sociology from Temple University in 1978 and a bachelors degree in sociology from St. Joseph's University in 1973. A group of Barclays' investors has written to the boss of the bank urging him to stop funding companies involved in coal mining or oil sands exploitation. The investors, including management firms Hermes EOS, Edentree, Boston Common and Sarasin & Partners, manage and advise on assets worth more than $1trn (765bn) between them. They have put their names to a letter sent to chief executive Jes Staley and organised by the campaign group ShareAction, which says it promotes "safe and sustainable" investment. The increasing corporate pressure to act on climate change follows 10 days of protests in the capital by the Extinction Rebellion group which included activists gluing themselves to the entrance of the London Stock Exchange. The letter to Barclays also comes after investors pressured HSBC to end all financing of new coal-fired power stations last month. In the letter, which has been seen by Sky News, Barclays is described as "Europe's third biggest private sector bank supporter of companies planning coal power expansion around the world". It points to Barclays offering financial services to companies funding coal-based projects in Australia, Bangladesh and Germany. It is also signed by the fund management arm of the Methodist Church, as well as the head of the Environment Agency's pension fund. The letter has been sent to the bank the day before Barclays holds its annual general meeting in central London. It calls on Barclays to prohibit financing of new projects tied to oil sands and their pipelines, a clear reference to the controversial tar sands explorations in Canada. Environmental campaigners have long maintained that proposals to extract oil and build three pipelines could cause irreversible damage. It also asks the bank to halt any new corporate financing to companies that are "highly dependent" upon coal mining, coal power or oil sands, to set a clear plan to phase out existing exposure to coal-based investments and also to invest more in low-carbon assets. Story continues Failure to do so, the letter says, "presents a real reputational risk for Barclays and places the bank at risk of losing clients". Sonia Hierzig, from ShareAction, said: "Pressure to respond to the challenge of climate change is inescapable and coming from all directions. "Investors know that climate change poses a material financial risk to their investments, and they're taking action to manage that. "Barclays would do well to heed their call for the good of our savings and the world we will retire into." A source within Barclays said they "appreciate the positive dialogue with ShareAction" and that they "understand the arguments and are working earnestly to find a solution". By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - A whistle blower at Swiss asset manager GAM Holding AG who alerted UK financial regulators last year did so over concerns about the purchase of more than half a billion pounds of bonds from commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, according to two people familiar with the matter. The bonds related to a biodiesel-fuelled power generating business, the people familiar with the matter said. But the employee who brought his concerns to regulators believed the operation was unlikely to make enough money to repay the bonds partly because of the high cost of the fuel it planned to use, these people said. A Reuters analysis of corporate filings, regulatory documents and market data supports that view. UK-based GAM fund manager Tim Haywood paid more than 550 million pounds in 2017 for the bonds that were due to repay about 1 billion pounds over 20 years, according to the people familiar with the matter and corporate filings. But the assets backing the bonds were generators and related equipment installed at a cost of around 22 million pounds, corporate accounts show. Those generators have largely sat idle for two years, according to public company accounts and Ofgem data. GAM has previously publicly said it suspended and then dismissed Haywood following an internal whistle blower alerting UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, but the company has not disclosed which securities it related to or what the concerns were. The details of the bonds, including how much GAM paid and the underlying business, also havent previously been reported. GAM has seen a more than billion-dollar drop in its stock market capitalisation and placed restrictions on client withdrawals following a wave of redemption requests. Gupta, an Indian-born British national, is executive chairman of GFG Alliance, which manages the industrial, finance and metals investments of the Gupta family. GFG, which encompasses the company that sold the bonds, said both the company and Gupta declined to comment. Story continues Haywood, via a spokesman, said he disputed GAM's allegations of gross misconduct, is appealing his dismissal to GAM and that he looked forward to clearing his name. LITTLE RED BOXES The business model behind the bonds was to generate electricity from biodiesel that would qualify for UK government-issued green energy credits, according to company filings. The proceeds from selling the green energy credits would be used to repay the purchaser of the bonds. It was a novel plan. No other company was commercially generating electricity from biodiesel, according to industry specialists and data from the UKs power regulator, known as Ofgem. Reuters' analysis is based on benchmark figures from published market data, equipment manufacturers and regulatory information, which it confirmed with at least four industry experts. They said the cost of biodiesel and the sale price of power can vary over time but said the business model was unlikely to be break even due to the high cost of the fuel, let alone generate sufficient profits to repay the bond holder. Diesel generation is not very common because its expensive. Given that biodiesel is even more expensive than diesel, its not really something that has been used, said Prashant Vaze, Head of Policy at advisory group Climate Bonds Initiative. GFG named the bond plan Project LRB, or Little Red Boxes, a reference to the red-painted steel shipping containers that held the generators, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. These had been installed at its factories in Wales, Scotland and Northern England in 2016 and 2017. GFG planned to run the generators on hydrotreated vegetable Oil or HVO, the person added; Ofgem data shows the generators did a short run with HVO. HVO is an expensive way to produce power, say industry specialists. GFG would have to spend around 180 pounds or more on fuel to generate each Megawatt hour unit of power, or MWh, according to a Reuters analysis of data from fuel retailers, Ofgem and generator manufacturers. Guptas generator business could potentially have sold power for as much as about 80 pounds per MWh by selling directly to a commercial customer if they found one willing to accommodate a generator on site, said Diane Dowdell, of energy consultant Ganninon Ltd. Guptas generator business could also have sold power wholesale to the grid, but that price would be lower, according to Ofgem data. Another potential source of revenue for Gupta was the green energy credits, called Renewable Obligation Certificates or ROCs, that the UK government issues to companies that generate power from renewable sources. Guptas biodiesel-fuelled power business could have sold these to electricity retailers on the market for about 64 pounds per MWh, according to data from regulator Ofgem. Based on this analysis, Guptas operation would face losses of at least 35 pounds for every MWh produced even if the power was sold to commercial clients and credits were sold. SILENT CONTAINERS GAM announced Haywoods dismissal in February, saying he didnt comply with due diligence procedures and had signed certain contracts by himself where internal policies required two signatures, but it hasnt specified the transactions that led to his dismissal. The FCA, the regulator, declined to comment on which individuals, companies or assets it might be investigating. U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley acted as placement agent of the bonds. UK-based financing group Greensill Capital structured the notes, according to filings with the Luxembourg corporate registry. Both companies declined to comment. Last week, GAM announced that GFG Alliance had agreed to repurchase the remaining assets in Haywoods funds at the valuation at which they were purchased, without elaborating why. Those assets were the biodiesel business bonds, known as Liberty Industries PPA Ltd. bonds, that GAM purchased almost two years earlier, according to people familiar with the matter. The bond repayments were made with Gupta funding payments from other companies that fall under the GFG group, as he is allowed to do under the terms of the bonds, the two people familiar with the matter said. GFG is now examining ways to allow the generators to operate profitably, according to Kerry McDonald, general manager of the Liberty Aluminium plant in Scotland. Walking across a yard where eleven of the red containers sit silently, McDonald said the group was looking at using less expensive biofuels and selling waste heat to commercial clients. You can produce a cheaper fuel using waste from animal processing he said. (Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low) Rock band Imagine Dragons called for a ban on conversion therapy as they highlighted LGBTQ issues at the Billboard Music Awards. The US act were named top rock group at the ceremony in Las Vegas and frontman Dan Reynolds took the opportunity to condemn the use of the practice. Conversion therapy, a pseudo-scientific practice used to change an individuals sexual orientation, is outlawed on under-18s in 16 states, but legal in the 34 others. Dan Reynolds, second right, and Daniel Platzman, from left, Ben McKee, and Wayne Sermon, of Imagine Dragon (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Reynolds called for a total ban. Stood beside bandmates Daniel Platzman, Ben McKee and Wayne Sermon, he said: I just want to take this moment to say that there are 34 states that have no laws banning conversion therapy. 34. And on top of that 58% of our LGBTQ population live in those states. This can change but its going to take all of us talking to our state legislation, pushing forward laws to protect our LGBTQ youth. Reynolds then said people undergoing conversion therapy were much more likely to experience depression or attempt to take their own lives. Its not working, it needs to change, he said. According to the website LGBTMap.com, states where the therapy is legal on under-18s include Texas, Florida and Arizona. It is outlawed in states such as California, Nevada and New York. This is not the first time Reynolds, who married wife Aja Volkman in 2011, has spoken out in support of the LGBTQ community. He previously appeared in a documentary titled Believer, which explores how the Mormon Church treats its gay members. Political correctness has contributed to the failure to address the persecution of Christians around the world, Jeremy Hunt has claimed, as a report warned the situation was close to meeting the definition of genocide. The Foreign Secretary said governments had been asleep on the watch over the issue as the interim findings of a review he launched, led by the Bishop of Truro the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, was published. Christians are the most persecuted religious group, the report found, with acts of violence and intimidation becoming more widespread. It warned that in parts of the Middle East, Christianity could be wiped out as people flee persecution. Mr Hunt speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on his week-long visit to Africa accepted the findings that the persecution of Christians was nearing a genocide. I think weve all been asleep on the watch when it comes to the persecution of Christians, he told reporters. I think not just the Bishop of Truros report but obviously what happened in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday has woken everyone up with an enormous shock. I think there are various reasons for this but the report makes it very clear that there are different reasons in different parts of the world why persecution of Christians in specific happens and, combined together, theyve crept up on us. Mr Hunt, himself a Christian, continued: Personally, I think it is partly because of political correctness that we have avoided confronting this issue. I think there is a misplaced worry that it is somehow colonialist to talk about a religion that was associated with colonial powers rather than the countries that we marched into to as colonisers. That has perhaps created an awkwardness in talking about this issue the role of missionaries was always a controversial one and that has, I think, also led some people to shy away from this topic. Story continues What we have forgotten in that atmosphere of political correctness is actually the Christians that are being persecuted are some of the poorest people on the planet. In the Middle East the population of Christians used to be about 20% now its 5%. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was speaking in Ethiopia where the met Foreign Minister, Gedu Andargachew (Harriet Line/PA) The Mounstephen review, which will publish its final report in the summer, pointed to figures suggesting Christian numbers in Palestine are below 1.5% of the population, while in Iraq they have slumped from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000 today. Evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity, the Bishop wrote. In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN. He added: The main impact of such genocidal acts against Christians is exodus. Christianity now faces the possibility of being wiped out in parts of the Middle East where its roots go back furthest. Buckingham Palace announced an update to Prince Harry's scheduled Netherlands trip days before Baby Sussex's arrival. The baby boy, born on May 6, whom Harry announced was doing "incredibly well," may throw a tiny wrench in the new father's plans to travel to the Hague this week. On Wednesday, May 1, it was originally announced that the expecting father would take a two-day royal trip this weekand we were so confused about the timing of Baby Sussex's birth (and had the tiniest suspicion that the royal baby had already been bornbut, boy, were we wrong). Then, on Thursday, May 2, Buckingham Palace responded to rumors that Baby Sussex had already arrived when they issued a statement to Entertainment Tonight Canada saying the baby had not been born yet, and that the media would be notified as soon as the duchess went into labor (and...yeah, that didn't really happen). According to the original announcement from the Royal Communications office, posted to Twitter by royal reporter Emily Nash, Harry's visit would have taken place on May 8 and 9. Now, sources have confirmed to People that the duke will only be gone one day, May 9. Prince Harry was supposed to undertake an official engagement in Amsterdam on May 8, which has since been postponed. He will still travel to the Hague on May 9, however, where he will officially launch the one-year countdown to the Invictus Games at the Hague in 2020. However, now that Baby Sussex has made his grand appearance, we're wondering whether Harry's plans to travel will change yet again. After all, we'd be hard-pressed to see the duke leave his first child (even if it's just for one day) only 72 hours after his birth. The reason for the change, according to sources, was because of the numerous other royal family engagements taking place this week. Instead of concerns over the timing of Markle's delivery date, the palace insider cited worries over media coverage being spread too thin for all the royal events, and therefore decided to cancel the first leg of Harry's trip (though...we have our doubts). One things for sure: Amsterdam seems like the perfect place to de-stress after the birth of your first child (just sayin). RELATED: A Comprehensive Guide to Everyone Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Following on Instagram Advertiser Disclosure PokerNews is a free to access, online resource that offers fresh daily content, world leading live reporting and poker strategy content and provides comparison features of various online poker sites to its visitors. 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The information which appears on this site is subject to change at any time. 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. Two state attorneys general have taken steps to shut down the apparently illegitimate, Tampa-based company The Surrogacy Group, which has been allegedly defrauding Floridian couples seeking surrogacy services since last year. The Surrogacy Group, which is owned and operated by Greg Blosser, was notified last week by two state attorneys general that the company must immediately shut down its services, as state operatives have detected upwards of $270,000 in fraudulent payments made to the company. According to the Miami Herald, The Surrogacy Group aimed to connect couples who were struggling to conceive children on their own with a surrogate mother who would carry an embryo fertilized in vitro on behalf of the couple until the time of birth, at which point the child is adopted by the couple and the surrogate mother receives a payment. According to the attorneys general from Maryland and Florida, however, The Surrogacy Group never offered legitimate services but allegedly defrauded various couples, taking up to $100,000 from prospective parents without delivering legitimate services. Complaint filed by Florida's attorney general A complaint filed by Floridas attorney general details the legal case being brought against the company, which presumably preyed upon couples in both the Old Line and Sunshine states. A separate press release from Marylands attorney general details the temporary restraining order put on the companys owner, Greg Blosser, who was instructed to refrain from selling any further surrogacy-related services to Maryland consumers, as well as from collecting any further monies from Maryland consumers in connection with his business, per the press release. According to Marylands attorney general, Blosser and his company sometimes suckered prospective patients out of upwards to $100,000 before ending their business relationship having never delivered the promised services. The Better Business Bureau, which is not a government agency but nonetheless is relied upon by many consumers, currently lists the companys rating as F. It has received at least nine complaints about the company in the last year. Discuss this news on Eunomia Surrogacy company stopped communicating with clients In certain cases, the surrogacy agency apparently cut off communication with customers entirely, prompting many of the complaints which ultimately drew legal scrutiny, Capital Gazette notes. The company isnt the first reported that attempted to exploit couples seeking surrogacy services, either, with extensive reporting from the New York Times detailing previous instances of surrogacy fraud, which frequently occurs across international boundaries. Surrogacy laws vary on a state by state basis, though the fraud allegedly carried out by The Surrogacy Company is illegal across the United States. Consumers in Florida who are concerned about possible surrogacy fraud should review a webpage from the Florida Clerks of Court Offices which includes a consumer complaints guide. Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Thank you for your support! Banks, which all reported big profits for 2018, are using the money to improve their financial capability. Twenty-one out of 25 commercial banks which have publicized their 2018 finance reports reported positive profit growth, of which 16 banks reported profit of VND1 trillion and more. With great advantages in assets and operation scale, Vietcombank stands firmly in the No 1 position with the pre-tax profit of VND18.269 trillion in 2018, a sharp increase of 61 percent compared with 2017. The No 2 position belongs to a private bank. Techcombank reported profit of VND10.661 trillion, up by 32.7 percent over the year before. This is the first time a private bank has made such a high profit. In Vietnam, private banks are smaller and less prestigious than state-owned banks. All the big four banks in Vietnam are state owned, namely BIDV, Vietcombank, Agribank and VietinBank. In Vietnam, private banks are smaller and less prestigious than state-owned banks. All the big four banks in Vietnam are state owned, namely BIDV, Vietcombank, Agribank and VietinBank. The third position belongs to BIDV and the fourth to VP Bank, a private bank, with profits of VND9.473 trillion (up by 9.3 percent) and VND9.2 trillion (13 percent), respectively. Military Bank and Agribank also reported record high profits for 2018 VND7.767 trillion and VND7.527 trillion. However, shareholders might feel disappointed as many banks have decided not to pay dividends, or to pay dividend in shares. The board of management of the banks said the profits would be used to upgrade financial capability and ensure the safe operation of banks. ACB in 2017 paid a dividend of 15 percent in shares. It plans to pay a dividend of 30 percent in shares in 2018 and 20 percent in 2019. The shareholders meeting of NamA Bank held recently also approved a plan to pay dividend of 16 percent in shares. A senior executive of the bank said the bank needs money to raise its charter capital, which is now at a low level, VND3.35 trillion. Even HD Bank, for the first time after admitting DaiA Bank, also plans to pay a dividend (16 percent) in shares. Meanwhile, Techcombank, VP Bank and Kien Long Bank have decided to retain profits and not pay dividends this year. SBV reported that by the end of January, the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the banking system had decreased to 11.57 percent from 12.14 percent late last year. The CAR of state-owned banks is the lowest, 9.31 percent (it was 9.52 percent one month before). The CAR of joint stock banks also decreased from 11.24 percent to 10.56 percent. All the figures about CAR were calculated based on current standards. If calculating CAR based on Basel II, CARs of many banks would not meet standards. RELATED NEWS Banks network expansion slows Banks need hundreds of million of dollars for digitalization Kim Chi Viet Nams poultry producers have a big opportunity to export their products thanks to high supply levels, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). More opportunities for poultry export to Japan Vietnam to cut ASEAN salt, eggs import tariffs Big investors jump into growing poultry market A poultry farm in the central province of Binh Dinh. High supply levels mean Viet Nams poultry producers have a chance to expand to export markets. Nguyen Thanh Son, chairman of the Viet Nam Poultry Association, said Viet Nams signing of several free trade agreements has created chances for local firms to approach new markets with great potential. To compete in export markets, Nguyen Quoc Toan, acting director of the MARD's Agro Processing and Market Development Agency, said local enterprises should identify target markets and consumer tastes of potential import countries to ensure they introduce products that meet demand. For instance, firms should boost exports of chicken breast because the product is favoured by consumers in export markets, while chicken thighs and wings are popular in the domestic market. Target markets of Vietnamese firms for chicken meat exports include Japan, China and the Philippines. Potential markets include Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to Toan. Meanwhile, firms should focus on exporting poultry eggs to traditional markets in Northeast and Southeast Asia. Despite plentiful supply and high import demand, exporting poultry products is not easy because of technical barriers and strict food safety and hygiene controls in import countries, Pham Van Dong, Head of the Department of Animal Health told Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper. He said the ministry has spent two years negotiating with Japanese authorities about exporting Vietnamese chicken meat to Japan. At present, although they have received approval from Japanese authorities, each batch of poultry products from Viet Nam has to be kept at a Japanese veterinary agency to check for pathogens and antibiotic residues. Therefore, if firms want to promote exports, they must invest in closed-loop production or apply modern processing technology, he said. In addition, they should strictly control diseases and avoid the use of antibiotics and banned substances in farming. If there is an outbreak of a disease, export of poultry products could be halted and firms would lose market share, he said. Nguyen Xuan Duong, acting director general of the MARD's Husbandry Department, said that in order to have safe and modern livestock production, the industry should gradually reduce small-scale animal husbandry facilities and increase large livestock farms. The ministry should encourage building VietGAP breeding facilities to establish safe farms and create favourable conditions for the local husbandry industry to move towards international integration and exporting poultry products, he said. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong has proposed the State create favourable conditions for enterprises that export poultry products to expand production and receive quality certificates. These steps would help the enterprises approach demanding markets around the world. Duong said poultry farming has recently seen a shift from small-scale farming to intensive farming. Productivity and profits are both increasing, turning poultry farming from a secondary occupation into a main job in agricultural production in some places. In recent years, the number of poultry has increased by an average of more than 6 per cent annually. By 2018, output exceeded 1.1 million tonnes of poultry meat and 11 billion eggs. At present, farmers across the country are raising around 409 million poultry animals, of which chickens account for 77.5 per cent. Cities and provinces that have shown strong development in poultry production include Ha Noi, Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Binh Duong and Dong Nai. There are currently two main models of farming: intensive farming and household-farming. Intensive farming has been developing rapidly with 10,000-12,000 farms, mainly in the Red River Delta, the Southeast region and the Mekong Delta. For decades, the domestic husbandry industry has produced poultry products mainly for the local market, according to the ministry. However, as supply has increased, the industry has begun to consider export markets. In the past three years, some firms have started exporting poultry products to other countries. Export value of poultry products has shown rapid growth. Poultry exports exceeded US$3 million in 2016, climbed to $5.6 million in 2017 and reached more than $18 million in 2018. Poultry products produced in Viet Nam include fresh duck eggs, salted duck eggs, processed chicken meat, canned quail eggs, egg powder and braised black-bone silky chickens. Every year, the country exports between 1.25 million and 1.5 million breeding poultry and around 10-15 million salted duck eggs. Export of chicken meat started in September 2017 and reached nearly 8,000 tonnes of processed chicken meat in 2018. VNS Tens of thousands of hectares of rubber in Quang Nam province have been abandoned by local farmers who plan to chop down the rubber trees to cultivate other crops. Complaints about the dramatic rubber price decrease can be heard everywhere these days in Song Tra and Phuoc Tra communes in Hiep Duc district. One kilogram of fresh latex now can be sold for VND5,000, and dry latex for VND10,000. The revenue from rubber cannot cover labor and fertilizer costs. Nguyen Phuong Tan in Tra Son hamlet in Song Tra commune was one of the pioneers in growing rubber trees on household-owned land with the support of the district and provincial authorities in 2007-2008. In 2011, the Quang Nam provincial authorities set up a plan on developing 30,000 hectares of rubber. Most of the land for large-scale rubber farming was allocated to three enterprises, Quang Nam Rubber, Nam Giang Rubber and Vietnam-ROK Investment & Production. Tan now has 4 hectares of rubber. The investment rate is VND300 million per hectare, not including the land leasing fee and labor cost. Meanwhile, the rubber latex price has been dropping dramatically over the last three years. Tan has been advised to chop down rubber trees to grow acacia, but it will require huge capital. Rubber latex was once considered white gold as it promised big money for farmers who sold assets and felled other crops to grow rubber. The total rubber area increased rapidly. According to Hiep Duc commune Peoples Committee, the total rubber growing area in the locality is over 1,000 hectares. In addition, there are also 3,000 hectares of rubber owned by Quang Nam Rubber Company in the locality. A representative of Quang Nam Rubber said the total rubber area developed by the company had reached 5,900 hectares by the end of 2018. In that year, the company took a loss of VND40 billion. Truong Thu, director of Quang Nam Rubber, said he has proposed to the Vietnam Rubber Group, the holding company, to allow the planting of large timber forests or other trees in certain positions. In 2011, the Quang Nam provincial authorities set up a plan on developing 30,000 hectares of rubber. Most of the land for large-scale rubber farming was allocated to three enterprises, Quang Nam Rubber, Nam Giang Rubber and Vietnam-ROK Investment & Production. In addition, local households also grow rubber on an additional thousands of hectares of land. Asked about the solutions to the problem, Quang Nams deputy chair Le Tri Thanh said provincial authorities plan to cut down the rubber growing area. It is expected that 12,000 hectares of rubber area will be replaced with production forest. RELATED NEWS Vietnam struggles to stay in top 3 rubber exporters Rubber tyre wall installed along dangerous mountain pass Thanh Lich Vietnam ran a trade deficit of US$11.9 billion with China in the first four months of the year, up a staggering 53.8% year-on-year. File photo of a forklift truck moving shipping containers at a sea port near HCMC. Vietnams trade deficit with China in the January-April period is nearing US$12 billion. (Source: Saigon Times) China remained the largest supplier of goods to Vietnam during the period, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). In the four-month period, Vietnam spent US$22.3 billion importing products from its northern neighbor, marking an increase of 18.8%. Vietnam also incurred a trade deficit of US$9.3 billion with South Korea, followed by that with the ASEAN at US$2.4 billion. Meanwhile, the country enjoyed the largest trade surplus of US$9.1 billion with the European Union, down by 2.3% over the same period last year. According to the GSO, the country exported US$78.76 billion worth of products in the four-month period, up 5.8% year-on-year. Of the total, domestic firms contributed US$23.33 billion and foreign-invested enterprises, US$55.43 billion. During the period, 16 commodities reported export revenue of more than US$1 billion each, accounting for 81.2% of the total export revenue. Phones and phone parts topped the list at US$16 billion, followed by computers, electronic products and accessories at US$9.6 billion; textiles and garments at US$9.4 billion; and footwear at US$5.3 billion. Meanwhile, some agricultural products posted a decline in export revenue, including coffee (down 22.6%), cashew nuts (down 16.9%), rice (down 21.7%) and pepper (down 12%). On the other hand, Vietnam spent US$78.05 billion on imports, up 10.4% over the year-ago period. As many as 17 commodities registered import turnover of more than US$1 billion each, making up 76.3% of the total import turnover. Thus, the country still enjoyed a trade surplus of US$711 million in the first four months of the year, much lower than the US$3.7 billion seen in the same period last year. Saigon Times A large number of local firms are still struggling to make market entry into CPTPP member countries and grasp opportunities arising from the agreement that came into force over three months ago. Many local firms are struggling to pass through the CPTPP gateway while many have yet to know how to take advantage of the sweeping deal. (Illustrative photo) The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans - Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is regarded as the largest scale and highest standard trade deal that Vietnam has joined. However, experts complained that the implementation of the CPTPP remains sluggish in Vietnam as the pact took effect in mid-January. In fact, a slew of local firms are struggling to pass through the CPTPP gateway while many have yet to know how to take advantage of the sweeping deal. Preliminary statistics show that exports to Canada reached over US$500 million during the first two months of 2019, a year on year surge of 36.6 per cent, while Mexico spent US$320 million on importing goods from Vietnam, a hike of 11.2 per cent. These markets were followed by Chile and Peru which saw relatively positive growth in imports from the Southeast Asian country. FDI enterprises reportedly made thorough preparations to make the most of opportunities from CPTPP markets, thus enabling their revenues from these markets to enjoy upbeat growth. In contrast, domestically-invested enterprises are facing a range of difficulties as they have yet to update relevant guidelines and procedures to tap into CPTPP markets. Hence, their export orders from CPTPP markets remain fairly modest. According to a recent survey conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), only 13 per cent of the total queried firms said they have fully acknowledged the CPTPP, while those making little sense of the deal account for 65 per cent. Alarmingly, up to 14 per cent of the surveyed firms were completely unaware of the CPTPP, despite the negotiation process and signing of the pact highlighted frequently by local media over the past six years. Phung Thi Lan Phuong, head of the FTA division under the VCCIs Center for WTO and Economic Integration, said there would be more opportunities arising from the CPTPP than the previous free trade agreements (FTAs) Vietnam has signed, but a great concern remains over the fact that a large number of local firms have limited understanding of the deal due to its complexity. This therefore has a negative impact on how they utilize opportunities from the agreement. Hopefully, in the coming time, businesses will be more proactive in updating relevant information and provisions in order to make full use of CPTPP opportunities, Phuong said. The benefits and opportunities that the CPTPP could bring about are great as it motivates the integration process and opens up more trading opportunities both inside and outside the block, as well as to attract additional investment flows. However, competition will become more severe for domestic firms as more than 90 per cent of them are operating on small and medium scale, thus restricting their ability to meet rules and requirements prescribed in the CPTPP as well as their access to export markets. Other hindrances range from a shortage of capital to underqualified workforce, hence posing difficulties for firms trying to expand their production scale. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, vice chairwoman of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear, and Handbag Association (LEFASO), said the capacity of local enterprises remains generally weak. Xuan stressed the need to categorize domestic enterprises for their further development with a view to optimizing connections between supply sources as well as saving their costs and time. This would therefore enable them to enjoy better access to the supply chain. Each CPTPP member country has made different commitments and specific provisions for goods and services from Vietnam. Deep analysis of these commitments and regulations is a must for local businesses. In the near future, ministries and agencies must take a more active role in perfecting and enforcing legal institutions with the aim of taking full advantage of the potential opportunities and benefits from the trade deal. Businesses must quickly catch up with the features of the CPTPP, and also gain a deep understanding of the pact if they want to make good use of the opportunities arising from the deal, said economic expert Vo Tri Thanh. Small and medium - sized enterprises meet various difficulties in understanding legal issues in relation to the CPTPP, due to their weaknesses in resources and capacity, Thanh added. Therefore, they need strong support from the government and professional associations in order to help them define the issues. However, the business support and the protection of these firms by legal tools should be carried out professionally. Obviously, in order to grasp opportunities from the CPTPP, firms must actively learn about relevant detailed provisions and commitments. Simultaneously, they should utilize their advantages as well as find and overcome weaknesses, in order to improve their competitiveness and integrate more deeply into the global economy. VOV A sailing ship of the Vietnam Peoples Navy docked at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta on May 1, beginning a four-day visit to Indonesia that lasts until May 4. Aboard the vessel, coded HQ-286 and named Le Quy Don, are naval officers, sailors and last-year students from the Vietnam Naval Academy. Welcoming the Vietnamese crew at port, First Admiral Denih Hendrata, commander of Indonesian Navy's Main Base III, Jakarta, stated Vietnam Indonesia cooperation is growing robustly. He said it is the first visit of the sailing ship to his country and hoped the special event will make contribution to boosting the ties, particularly bilateral naval collaboration. Colonel Nguyen Duc Nam, Vice Director of the Vietnam Naval Academy and head of the Vietnamese delegation, expressed his wish that the visit will help strengthen the solidarity and cooperation between the two nations and their navies. Indonesian naval representatives then made a visit on the Le Quy Don ship, during which they were introduced to the ship and its activities since its launch in 2015. The sailing ship, which belongs to the training ship fleet of the Vietnam Naval Academy, is 67m long and 10m wide. Designed by Polands Choren Design & Consulting and built by Marine Projects in 2014, the ship was launched in June 1, 2015. It has a storage capacity that could supply crewmembers up to 45 days at sea. The current trip to Singapore Indonesia is its third ventures outside Vietnam, following the previous visits to the Philippines Brunei and Cambodia Thailand. During their stay, the Le Quy Don crewmembers will engage in a series of visits and exchanges with the Indonesian side and the Vietnamese Embassy in the country. VNA Preparations are underway for the construction of the new HCM City Science and Technology Park, which is expected to become a catalyst for growth in the city's eastern innovation hub. Gia Loc reports. Saigon Hi-Tech Park attracts AI projects Technology incubator in Ho Chi Minh City HCM City gets technology training centre After 17 years of development, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park has optimised production procedures and is a leader in industry 4.0. VNA/VNS photo HCM City is stepping up preparation activities for the construction of the HCM City Science and Technology Park, which is expected to contribute to the development of the citys eastern innovation hub covering districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc. The Science and Technology Park, to be located on nearly 200 hectares near Saigon Hi-Tech Park in District 9, was approved under a decision issed by the municipal Peoples Committee (PC) in 2014. Construction on the project, with total capital of more than VND4.3 trillion (US$185 million), is expected to begin next year. Under the plan, the new Science and Technology Park will be a significant part of the ecosystem of the city's eastern innovation hub. The new park, whose investor is the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, will connect with educational and research institutes and centres in the area as part of a citywide programme to improve the quality of human resources, especially researchers specialising in new technologies. Working conditions for scientists and technology experts will be at the highest level at the new park, which is slated to attract projects in robot application, 3D printing, Internet of Things and blockchain, among others, contributing to the development of the innovation hub. The new park will also serve as a model for the knowledge-based economy, according to Saigon Hi-Tech Park. A design project created by students at International University under VNUHCM. VNS/Photo Gia Loc To hasten construction of the new park, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park is stepping up ground clearance and compensation to local residents, and has suggested that roads be built to link the two parks. While Saigon Hi-Tech Park is currently focusing on production of high technologies, the Science and Technology Park will focus on research and contribute to the transformation of the citys economic structuring toward a higher proportion of hi-tech industries. Saigon Hi-Tech Park, which is located in District 9, has attracted foreign investment in high technologies over the years. Between 2016 and 2018, the park completed key infrastructure projects, including roads, water waste treatment systems and water supply. Le Bich Loan, acting head of Saigon Hi-Tech Parks management board, said that after 17 years of development, the park has optimised production procedures and is a leader in the 4.0 industrial revolution. The park has provided investment licences to more than 150 projects of large global corporations such as Intel, Sanofi, Samsung, Schneider and others. The park has also contributed to raising the services and industrial sectors' contributions to the economy, with total value of hi-tech products expected to reach US$20 billion by 2020. A 200ha science and technology park will be built in HCM Citys District 9, in nearby Hi-Tech Park. Source: www.planic.org.vn Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, said that the two hi-tech parks would serve as an important anchor for development of the citys eastern innovation hub, which will form the foundation for the city's smart urban area project. New eastern hub The eastern innovation hub covering districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc with total area of nearly 22,000 ha should be given priority for development first to create a solid base to turn HCM City into a smart urban area by next year, Nhan told officials at recent meetings. The new hub will use advanced technologies and have the best and smartest infrastructure in traffic, telecommunications, healthcare and other fields," he said. "It will also have a modern and quality living environment similar to developed countries." The city has approved an international design competition for the eastern innovation hub that is expected to attract applicants from companies and organizations from around the world. Nhan said the new hub, which covers a wide expanse of land near the citys central area, is expected to attract many investors. In 2000, when the Saigon Hi-Tech Park and Viet Nam National University-HCM City (VNUHCM) were created, the city planned for the university and park to become important anchors for the development of the eastern innovation hub. A lab at the International University under VNUHCM. VNS/Photo Gia Loc The hub will serve as a centre for three main functions: scientific and technological research and application; training of high-quality human resources; and production and trade of hi-tech products and services. VNUHCM in Thu Duc District has six member universities and affiliated units whose tasks are research and technology transfer, and the creation of a dynamic startup ecosystem in information technology that will contribute to the development of the innovation hub. Huynh Thanh Dat, president of VNUHCM, said: By 2020, VNUHCMs Information Technology Park (ITP) is expected to become a dynamic startup ecosystem in the region with 100 entrepreneurs providing 2,000 jobs and 2,000 student internships each year. The ITP, which will play a key role in the innovation hub, will set up an added-value chain using high technologies and will have modern technical and social infrastructure meeting global standards. It will also offer financial assistance to enterprises. Nhan said the eastern innovation hubs third anchor would be in District 2, where the Thu Thiem new urban area with a large financial centre is being developed. Nhan has encouraged IT and telecommunication companies to take part in the innovation eastern hub, and has instructed agencies to conduct detailed surveys on human resources to provide important data for the hub. Challenges The city currently has nearly 80,000 people working in the hi-tech sector, accounting for 1.86 per cent of the citys total labour force. This proportion is too low, Nhan said. Dinh Duc Anh Vu of VNUHCM said that a total of 1 million IT engineers would be needed by 2020 under the countrys master plan on development of IT human resources. Like many countries, Vietnam is facing a serious shortage of IT engineers, especially between 2018 and 2022. The sectors growth potential is very high. To attract foreign investors in this sector, we have to have more qualified staff, Vu added. Training quality among lecturers and teachers of educational institutions and other facilities varies greatly, and continues to pose a challenge, he said. Improving the capacity of lecturers and teachers and upgrading facilities are both urgently needed. Better co-operation between the government, educational institutions and companies is also necessary. Students at a member university under VNUHCM. VNS/Photo Gia Loc In addition, Vu said that IT teaching and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) programmes at the high school level must be enhanced. A well-trained workforce in these fields will be indispensable for the city to carry out three large projects: establishing a ecosystem for artificial intelligence (AI) between 2019 and 2025; developing a smart urban area from 2017-2020; and building an eastern innovation hub, he added. Nguyen Anh Thi, director of VNUHCMs Information Technology Park, said the role of universities extends beyond training and research, and that universities should have an entrepreneurial mindset. They should improve training and research. They need to take part in knowledge application and create an environment for their lecturers to apply research results in startups and help them establish companies to commercialise their research, he added. Special policies With Resolution 54, which was approved in late 2017 by the National Assembly, the city now has more advantages to develop an innovation hub. The resolution allows the city to pilot special policies and make certain decisions independent of the central government, which is expected to lead to a better trade environment, as well as improved infrastructure and services to support enterprises. Under the resolution, the city also has the right to change the land-use purpose of paddy rice fields of more than 10 hectares. Previously, the city was only allowed to change land-use purposes for paddy under 10 ha and had to seek approval from the Prime Minister. The resolution also gives more freedom to the city to make investment decisions, but authorities must follow the Law on Public Investment. Under the conditions created by the resolution, the city can now more easily call for capital and investment, as well as set its own policies on assessment methods of staff and their salaries. During a meeting on April 12, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the city to apply special policies stipulated under Resolution 54, which allows autonomy in its budget decisions. Resolution 54 also allows the city to offer higher salaries to attract quality staff at Saigon Hi-Tech Park and other centres and institutes. Phuc said that HCM City should be a leader in Industry 4.0 and create a smart urban and innovation hub while improving e-government and administrative reform. Officials at Saigon Hi-Tech Park, however, have noted that salary policies remain inadequate, especially for attracting overseas Vietnamese. They said that a project to connect parks, universities and enterprises with quality professionals should be created, and that venture capital funds to develop high technologies should be set up, while existing funds for science and technology promotion should prioritise high-tech development. VNS Vietnam has seen a sharp increase in school violence, which has physically and mentally affected students and needs to be curbed quickly before it gets out of hand, according to experts. School violence cases increase by 10 times within 10 years Experts condemn school violence Illustrative image -- File photo In late March, a ninth grader in northern Hung Yen Province was assaulted by five of her classmates. She was stripped naked, tossed onto the ground, kicked and punched in the face. A few days later, an eighth grader in central Nghe An Province was reportedly seriously beaten by five other students. According to a joint survey by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Education and Training, there were 18,571 cases of school violence from 2011 to April of 2018. School violations were not only committed by students but also by some teaching staff. The survey shows that 0.77 per cent of the school violence involving teachers (equivalent to 251 teachers) and 0.5 per cent of the violence committed by school management officials (or 163). In the first three months of 2019, some 310 cases of school assaults were reported, mostly at secondary and high schools, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Bui Van Linh, deputy head of the Ministry of Education and Trainings Student Affairs, said some cases of violence were serious, affecting the students physical and mental wellbeing and causing concern among the public. He attributed school violence to negative effects of the market economy and integration as well as the development of information technology and social networks. Rapid changes of students psychology, lack of parental care, ineffective management of some localities and schools also contributed to school violence as well as low capacity of a number of teaching staff, he said. Schools still paid less attention to teaching students life skills while there was a lack of close co-operation between schools, society and families, he added. International experience Chairman of the Department of Educational Sciences at the Ha Noi National Universitys University of Education Tran Thanh Nam said school violence is a global issue. According to a report by the UNICEF in 2017, the number of children and adolescences who were victims of school violence reached 246 million worldwide. A survey conducted by the Plan International and the International Centre for Research on Women in 2015 in five countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and Nepal, found that an alarming seven out of 10 students had suffered violence at schools. In a bid to reduce those figures, many countries started initiatives to handle this issue, according to Nam. The Republic of Korea issued a law on school violence prevention and control in 2014 and Sweden issued the Law on Anti-discrimination and the Law on Education which banned all kinds of violence and discrimination in schools. Vietnam can learn from international experiences including improving students critical thinking and defence skills and organising school-based intervention programmes for students at risk, according to experts. Nguyen Van Hoa, CEO of Nguyen Binh Khiem High Quality School in Hanoi, said one of top solutions to end school violence was to increase the teaching of life skills and life values for students. From our schools experience, the teaching of life skills and life values over the past eight years helps to change completely our approach and ways to deal with school violence. Teachers deal with such issues better, the school environment becomes friendlier and students feel happier at school, he said. It was also necessary for teachers to change themselves, renew and adapt, he said. Teachers should strive to not only be an educationalist but also a psychologist. Dang Hoa Nam, director of the Department of Children Affairs under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said it was also important to increase education laws as well as defence and intervention skills for teachers, students and parents. The Ministry of Education and Training should implement positive discipline method or discipline without tears for schools specialising in training teachers, he said, adding this method has been applied by many countries. Viet Ha VNS The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho continues to see an increasing number of residents working abroad thanks to local employment and job assistance programmes. Can Tho: more workers go to work in RoK Vietnamese workers check job offers (Source: VNA) Nearly 500 people left to work abroad as of mid-April, according to the Can Tho City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Nearly 300 people worked abroad last year, an increase of 14 per cent compared to 2017. Most of the employees were manual labourers in construction, mechanics, electronics, food processing, textile-garment, agriculture and other sectors, earning between VND14 million and VND18 million (US$601-773) per month. Labourers working in Japan and South Korea had the highest income, with VND26 million to VND48 million ($1,116-2,062) per month. Chau Hong Thai, the deputy head of the department, said that Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan were the citys main labour export markets thanks to new policies allowing labourers from other countries to work for five years and to later return to work in certain industries after their contracts expire. The cost to enter these markets is lower than in the US and European markets. In January, four Malaysian and South Korean enterprises signed agreements with the citys Employment Service Centre to organise training courses and tests for guest workers abroad. Nguyen Thi Bich Van, deputy head of the Employment Service Centre, said that it had been working with local authorities to provide workers with more information about jobs, skill levels, countries for guest workers, and monthly incomes. The centre also maintains contact with workers abroad and their relatives to identify any problems and solve them in time, Van said. A Job Day involving 28 enterprises was held in the first quarter of the year, attracting nearly 1,000 people. More than 9,340 people were needed, but many of the attendees had poor skills and low proficiency in foreign languages. Only 200 of 1,000 attendees were hired at the Job Day event. Van said the city is working with foreign language training centres and vocational training schools to solve these shortcomings. The centre is also providing job assistance to people returning to Can Tho after their job contract abroad expires. The workers are encouraged to return to Vietnam and not stay illegally in the country after their contract ends. Most people who want to work abroad have financial difficulties, according to city authorities. Thai, deputy head of the labour department, said the city would provide funds from its budget to the Bank for Social Policies to provide loans to guest workers so they can pay their initial costs for working abroad. Thai said that people who want to work abroad should seek help from official agencies only to prevent cheating by others who claim to help them. The department is also working with the police to monitor and fine enterprises which cheat and collect illegal amounts of money from people who want to work abroad, he added. VNS Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son talks to Vietnam Economics Times about a draft Law on Alcohol Harm Prevention that is ready for the National Assembly to discuss in May. VN lacks tight control over alcohol consumption Counting the cost of alcohol issues Nguyen Truong Son How urgently do we need to implement the Law on Alcohol Harm Prevention? The Ministry of Health (MOH) has been busy preparing the Law on Alcohol Harm Prevention. It is common knowledge that wine and beer are important issues. The health sector has already written a draft law on alcohol harm prevention. According to international rankings, the consumption of wine and beer in Vietnam is very high. Since 2015, the amount of alcohol consumed by an average Vietnamese person has increased by nearly 30 per cent. The volume of wine and alcohol produced in the country has been on the rise versus a reduction in other countries. The negative impacts of wine and beer has been proven by international scientists as one of the main causes of disease. Some 30 diseases are directly related to alcohol and beer, including lung disease, digestive disorders, gastrointestinal ulcers and liver cancer. Last but not least, drinking is the main cause of road accidents and domestic violence. What steps have been proposed under the Law on Alcohol Harm Prevention? The Law on Alcohol Harm Prevention has three main objectives. First, to curtail opening times for beverage shops. The law would also ban the sale or drinking of wine and beer in public offices. Second, the law will ask the Government to impose higher taxes on wine and beer. And third, to develop new policies to curtail the negative impacts of alcohol towards the final goal of good health and raise the living standards of Vietnamese people. How do you respond to the counter-argument raised by the Viet Nam Association of Beer, Wine and Beverage that a tax increase will have negative impacts on production? While we were drafting the law, the Ministry of Health tried to curtail its negative impacts on the production of beer, wine and beverages. The ministry has emphasised the importance of preventing teenagers under 18 from buying/selling alcohol online or in advertisements. Lessons learned from the US have shown that if we can limit sales of alcohol, it will benefit everyone. Has the Ministry of Health faced any challenges in the course of drawing up the law? In the course of writing the draft law we have visited many provinces to talk with the people. Many of them support our idea of banning the sale of alcohol next to schools and hospitals. However, we should look at the positive side of the law as National Assembly deputies discuss it next month. VNS The number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam in the first four months of this year decreased by 3.8% on-year. HCM City should take precaution against zero-dollar tours Zero-VND tours damaging Vietnams tourism environment Tourism sector poised to earn big money from Chinese travelers Vietnam welcomed over 5.96 million international tourists in the first four months of 2019, a year-on-year rise of 7.6%, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). Chinese visitors in Vietnam Growth was reported in most markets, including Thailand (up 46.5%), Indonesia (up 29.1%), Taiwan (up 25%), the Philippines (up 24.4%), South Korea (up 23.2%), Malaysia (up 15.7%), Denmark and Switzerland (up 12.1%), Norway (up 11%), and Italy (up 10.5%). Of the sum, Chinese travellers accounted for 1.7 million, down 3.8% on-year. Ngo Hoai Chung, deputy head of VNAT, attributed the decline in Chinese travellers partially to Vietnams efforts to tackle zero-dong tours in which visitors spend nothing in the local economy. During the period, the country served 31.5 million domestic tourists. The tourism sectors revenues were estimated at VND227.7 trillion (USD9.8 billion), up 8.91% on-year. Vietnam has set a target to serve about 18 million foreign visitors and 85 million domestic tourists this year. Nguoi Lao Dong/Dtinews The number of Japanese travelers to Da Nang soared by 18 times in 2011-2017 as non-stop flights between Vietnam and Japan have given a push to tourism industry development. Tourism, together with agriculture, labor and supporting industries, is listed as one of four new key business fields for cooperation between Vietnam and Japan. A report released in 2018 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations showed that nearly 390,000 Vietnamese traveled to Japan in the year. Vietnam is Japans fastest growing market in South East Asia. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) reported that the number of Japanese travelers that Vietnam attracted is the second largest in Southeast Asia, just after Thailand. In the first two months of 2019, the number increased by 9.5 percent compared with the same period last year. Nevertheless, analysts believe that the great potential has not been fully exploited. In 2018, more than 16 million Japanese traveled abroad, but only 826,000 came to Vietnam, or 5.1 percent of outbound travelers. They think the situation will improve in the future with closer cooperation between airlines and tourism. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) reported that the number of Japanese travelers that Vietnam attracted is the second largest in Southeast Asia, just after Thailand. In the first two months of 2019, the number increased by 9.5 percent compared with the same period last year. Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific all have direct routes that connect Vietnam and Japan. In Da Nang, which has direct routes to Japan, the number of Japanese travelers in 2011-2017 soared by 18 times. Bamboo Airways, the newly established air carrier, has recently announced the launch of the first air route to Ibaraki, considered the industry and tourism belt near Tokyo. A representative of Bamboo Airways said this is the first step in its plan to exploit the Japanese market, and more periodic flights to different cities/provinces in Japan will be provided later. Bamboo Airways vice president and vice CEO Duong Thi Mai Hoa believes that the air route to Ibaraki will help optimize cooperation between Vietnam and Ibaraki in many business fields, including tourism. As for Vietjet, it opened three air routes to Japan within three months, the Hanoi-Osaka on November 8, 2018, HCMC-Osaka December 14, 2018 and Hanoi-Tokyo on January 11, 2019. Vietnam Airlines, the nations flag air carrier, continues to have the highest number of air routes to Japan. On October 28, 2018, it opened the new Da Nang Osaka route with 7 flights a week with Airbus A321. This is Vietnam Airlines 11th air route between Vietnam and Japan, following routes linking Hanoi, HCMC and Da Nang with Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. RELATED NEWS HCM City loses out on cruise tourism without large ports India, Vietnam seek to attract more tourists Bizlive CLERMONT After a two-week investigation, the Fayette County Sheriffs Office arrested an adult and juvenile on drug charges. After an investigation that included using a search warrant at 410 Union St. in Clermont, it was learned that Bradley James Normann, 19, of Clermont, and a 17-year-old juvenile residing at the residence had been selling marijuana to other juveniles in the area. Marijuana and a large amount of drug paraphernalia were seized. Normann was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (serious misdemeanor), possession of drug paraphernalia, distribution to a person under age 18 (Class B felony), and gatherings where controlled substances unlawfully used (Class D felony). Normann was transported to the Fayette County Jail, where he was held for an initial appearance in court. The juvenile was referred to juvenile court for three similar charges. This incident remains under investigation. Further charges are pending on other individuals involved. Iowa Falls woman hurt in Monday crashROCKWELL An Iowa Falls woman was transported with unknown injuries on Monday to the MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center in Mason City after authorities said her car rolled on a rural Rockwell road. Frances Engleking, 54, was driving north on U.S. Highway 65 near 170th Street around 3 p.m. when her 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara flipped after she crossed the center line and overcompensated to get back in her lane. The car rolled several times before coming to a rest in the east ditch on its roof. Engleking was trapped in the vehicle for a short while and had to be cut out of the car by fire personnel on the scene. The accident remains under investigation by the Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office. Manchester cop hurt in drug bust MANCHESTER A police officer was injured and three people were arrested Sunday after Manchester police issued a search warrant. Officers seized illegal narcotics, drug paraphernalia and a shotgun. K-9 Officer Brad Comer sustained an injury to his hand during entry into the home when a suspect attempted to slam a door shut while fleeing/hiding from law enforcement. The Manchester K-9 Unit and Delaware County Sheriffs Office assisted at the scene. Those arrested were Derrick Dewayne Wilson, 20, of Manchester, for assault on a peace officer/bodily injury, (an aggravated misdemeanor) and interference with official acts/bodily injury; Brooklyn Marie Brandenburg, 22, of Hopkinton, for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) and possession of drug paraphernalia; and Walter Lewis Rocker, 20, of Manchester, for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana), possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) with intent to deliver (Class D felony), and interference with official acts. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CEDAR FALLS Target Corp. has again awarded the Cedar Falls Police Department with a grant which is used to sustain an annual reading program. With the grant money, the Cedar Falls Police Department purchased a book for every kindergarten student in the Cedar Falls School District, including St. Patricks Catholic and Valley Lutheran Schools. During the past weeks, a Cedar Falls police officer visited each kindergarten class and read the book to the students. More than 480 kindergarten students were read to this year. The Cedar Falls Police Department uses this as an opportunity to team up with Target and the school system to educate and provide a positive experience for students while spending time with police officers. The grant is part of Targets Community Giving Grants Program, which has a goal to strengthen families and communities. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 ACKLEY Classmates of Curtis Ross, who was killed while hunting in 2017 in southern Iowa, plan to install a bench in his honor this weekend. Dedication of the bench from the AGWSR Class of 2004 in memory of Curt Ross will take place Saturday at the AGWSR high school. Authorities say Ross, 31, of Cedar Falls, was shot 10 times with a high-powered rifle Nov. 24, 2017, stabbed more than 26 times with his neck, abdomen and legs gashed open. A sheriffs deputy found Ross naked body in a creek on public hunting grounds in Appanoose County. A jury convicted a nearby resident, Ethan Landon Davis, 27, of his murder. A clear motive was never given. The classmates said they wanted to honor Ross for his passion for the outdoors and his family and friends. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 1 WATERLOO -- Micalla Rettinger is to be memorialized in a funeral mass Friday in Lenexa, Kan., her hometown. The 25-year-old who was living in Waterloo after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in 2016 was killed early Sunday in a shooting while driving on Highway 218 from Cedar Falls to Waterloo. A mass will be held at 1 p.m. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa; Porter Funeral Home in Lenexa was handling her obituary and funeral details. The family has asked that memorials be sent in "KK's" name to a University of Northern Iowa softball scholarship, care of UNI Foundation, 205 Commons, Cedar Falls, or to the Animals KC Pet Project, 4400 Raytown Road, Kansas City, Mo., 64129. The family also asks that people make a contribution to Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers reward program to help find the killer who shot Rettinger as she drove on Highway 218. Meanwhile, the reward for information in Sundays shooting on Highway 218 that killed a driver and injured her boyfriend continues to grow. As of late Thursday morning, Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers was offering $58,000 for information leading to an arrest in the death of Rettinger,a former standout softball player on the UNI team. Another $32,000 in reward money was pledged Thursday morning, police said. Rettinger was driving south on Highway 218 near the Brinker Lake and Cedar River bridges when a single bullet broke through her drivers side window and hit her in the neck. The bullet then struck her passenger, Adam Kimball, 32, in the face. A second passenger and a dog in the vehicle weren't injured. Major Joe Leibold said investigators had received numerous tips and leads in the case. Were running them down. Were chasing down every one we get, Leibold said. The FBI had been involved with the investigation since the beginning, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has also volunteered assistance, he said. Officers recovered parts of the bullet, which have been sent to a crime lab for examination. The information might be able to tell police what types of distances could be be involved with the shooting. It's likely police won't divulge information about the caliber once it is known. Those with information are asked to call the Investigations Division at 291-4340, ext. 7, or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at (855) 300-8477. Rettinger's obituary talked about her graduating with honors from UNI in 2016, her work at Kimball & Beecher Family Dental Office and her dream to become a dentist. "She was also a tender, loving, caring person, and extended that love to the many animals in her life over the years," it reads. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 18 Angry 4 Editor's Note: The information under the pictures has been corrected to reflect she is retiring from the University of Northern Iowa. CEDAR FALLS Acclaimed flute professor, musician and conductor Angeleita Floyd will premiere a new composition titled Retirement. After 33 years, Floyd is leaving her successful flute studio at the University of Northern Iowa School of Music to begin a new phase of her life. On Saturday, former students and colleagues from across the U.S. and abroad, together with current students will gather to perform a Floyd Flute Family Celebration concert. The event begins at 7 p.m. in Bengston Auditorium at Russell Hall on the University of Northern Iowa campus. Floyd began organizing the concert last year. Its also a reunion for my students, who have always been my joy. Students are returning from my first year of teaching at UNI in 1986 and all the years Ive been here, said Floyd, who has taught and mentored numerous prize-winning students on regional and national levels. Theyre excited to come back, and Im excited that theyre coming because were a family. The concert will feature a variety of favorite, really fabulous pieces, some big works from the early years to the present. One piece is a Floyd-commissioned composition by Robert Washut, UNI professor emeritus and former director of UNI Jazz Studies. Una Estrella Fugaz for Flute and Piano was written for Floyds student Daniel Velasco, who won the National Flute Associations 2008 young artist competition. Velasco will return to perform the piece. He graduated from UNI in 2009 and is now a flute professor at the University of Kansas. This will be the first time Velasco has performed the work. Ancient Impressions, commissioned from composer Blaz Pucihar by a flute consortium including Floyd, will be premiered. The Northern Iowa Flute Choir and Floyds Flutes for Change, both founded by Floyd, and Floyd Flute Family Celebration Flute Choir will perform. Pianists will be Robin Guy, Linda Mark and Serena Hou. There will be 64 flutists playing on stage by concerts end, Floyd said. Floyd earned her bachelor of music degree from Floridas Stetson University, where she studied with Geoffrey Gilbert, and received her master of music, master of music education and doctor of music degrees from Florida State University. She is author of the flute method, The Gilbert Legacy, and is founder and director of Winzer Press Publishing. She has performed, conducted and taught internationally, including conducting Festival Flute Orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. Floyd has been guest artist at the International Flute Festivals in Sweden, Ecuador, Brazil and Costa Rica. This year she will perform and present at the Florida State Flute Summit 2019 in Tallahassee and at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. In 2017, Floyd was chosen by the music faculty to receive the John L. Baker Faculty Development Award. Iowas Board of Regents recognized Floyd in 2014-2015 with the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence, and in 2013 she received the National Flute Associations Distinguished Service Award and the James F. Lubker Faculty Research Award from UNI. Comments and stories from students and colleagues about Floyd have been gathered for the concert program. Associate Provost for Faculty John Vallentine, former director of the School of Music, has been Floyds colleague for 28 years. If you took everyones most positive day here at the university and multiplied it times 100, that would perfectly describe Angeleita, he said. Her enthusiasm for teaching, dedication to educating students, professional performing and conducting and offering a lifetime of service to the university, Cedar Valley, Iowa and the flute world have all been quite amazing during her career. Deanna Hahn Little earned her music degree in flute performance in 1991. Angeleita has been the strongest and most overwhelming female influence in my life. She pushed me, motivated me, cheered me on and taught me to believe in myself. I still hear Angeleitas voice and words in my head in my own teaching and strive to pass along Angeleitas legacy to my students, said Little, who is professor of flute at Middle Tennessee State University. I feel like I created a flute studio that was happy, active and productive, said Floyd. Students grew so much and left with a love of music and a love of flute, which makes me happy. Theyre carrying on what they learned. Floyd plans to spend more time with her husband, Scott Cawelti, and work on several major projects, including private teaching and writing another book. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. IOWA CITY In considering publicly for the first time a proposal to raise the base tuition at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University nearly 4 percent next fall, administrators Wednesday aired the challenges of balancing financial needs like hiring and keeping faculty with the competition for students and efforts to hold down college debt. UI President Bruce Harreld underlined the impact should the Board of Regents and its public universities fail to navigate this higher education labyrinth. There is a brand that is going on your CV called a degree from the University of Iowa, he said. In the last few years, the value of that degree as seen by others has been dropping in some of the rankings. We need to stop that, and stop that now. The way to do that, he said, is to close this gap in our funding. Ive spoken many times about the dramatic decline in state funding over the last decade, Harreld said Wednesday during the boards first of two required readings to set tuition for the 2019-20 academic year. Its in that context that I think we need to understand that also, for whatever set of reasons, weve not been able to get our tuition up to even offset that decline in state appropriations. The proposal to raise resident undergraduate tuition by 3.9 percent at the UI and ISU and to leave the rate untouched at the University of Northern Iowa now advances to the boards June meeting in Ames. Recent cuts in state appropriations have left the universities with far fewer resources and larger student bodies, prompting regents to unveil a proposal last year tying student costs with lawmaker funding. The five-year model shows resident undergrad rates at the UI and ISU would increase 3 percent annually if lawmakers fulfill the boards full appropriations request. But when the 2019 legislative session ended last week, lawmakers had approved a $12 million increase in the boards funding $6 million less than the board requested and the governor recommended. So under the model, the tuition rate would slide up to help make up the lost revenue. Gov. Kim Reynolds has not yet signed the regents appropriation bill. Because UNI has a different student body and a more regional mission with lower-cost competitors, board has proposed keeping all UNI tuition rates frozen in the upcoming academic year. UNI President Mark Nook thanked the board for allowing UNI to go its own way on tuition. Our cost to students tuition and fees was not competitive and was affecting our efforts to recruit students to UNI, Nook said Wednesday. Based on enrollment projections, Nook said, UNI needs $4 million to $5 million increases in state appropriations annually for five years to keep rates frozen. The $4 million in new state funding and zero increase in tuition for next year is an important first step in helping UNI become more competitive in an extremely competitive marketplace, he said. His remarks imply that the $12 million funding bump would be evenly divided between the three universities. But regents spokesman Josh Lehman said that decision is yet to be final. ISU President Wendy Wintersteen said any split of the smaller increase is disappointing. While I truly appreciate the $12 million increase in state appropriations to be split among the regent institutions for general operations, this amount falls well short of the boards $18 million request a request that was supported by the governor, she said. Student representatives spoke to the board about its tuition proposals Wednesday, and all focused their frustration on the Legislature. UI Student Government President Noel Mills noted the impact a $300 bump could have on students from both in the state and out of state. A mere $300 would require around 30 hours of work, eight appointments donating plasma, or skipping around 60 meals, she said. These are very real consequences for my peers and for me. With scholarship opportunities dwindling, rent prices increasing, and a cap of 20 hours per week on university-affiliated jobs, students are already struggling to make ends meet. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 WATERLOO Sen. Chuck Grassley has joined several Cedar Valley cities and organizations in opposition to a recommendation of the Federal Aviation Association to realign radar services from Waterloo Regional Airport to Des Moines International Airport. He and Sen. Joni Ernst signed letters pointing out public opposition to the attempted consolidation in support of Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Waverly communities, areas served by the Waterloo Airport, Grassley said. Were advocating for those jobs to stay in Waterloo instead of going to Des Moines, he said. The FAA has invested $10 million to upgrade the tower radar equipment at the Waterloo Regional Airport and has been using the Waterloo Regional Airport for flight training and training for controllers. The consolidation could lead to jobs being lost in Waterloo, and many are concerned it is the first step in the full closure of the entire FAA-owned air traffic control tower facility at Waterloo Regional Airport. Public comment on the proposed consolidation is accepted on the FAA website until Friday. Ernst wants to make sure FAA is aware of the concerns from the Cedar Valley community, according to an email from her office. On Tuesday, she sent a letter to the FAAs acting administrator, Daniel Elwell, encouraging him to address the communitys concerns and respond to their questions. Grassley met with the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce for a half-hour Tuesday and spoke with them on trade and tariffs. The tariffs have hurt Iowa products, Grassley said. (President Donald Trump) ought to take the tariffs off because Mexico and Canada werent negotiating, then they negotiate. The president got a good deal, then my common sense tells me the tariffs ought to come off, Grassley said. Im having a meeting with the president on Thursday to make that very point. The deal, the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement or USMCA, hasnt come before Congress yet. Its got to start in the House and its got to be presented by the president, and Congress has to act within 90 days after its been presented by the president, Grassley said. As soon as the president presents it then we get to work on it. Im ready to go to work right now, but I cant do it until he actually makes a presentation. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 WATERLOO MidAmerican Energy Co. has donated $5,000 to help plant new trees in Hope Martin Park. MidAmerican Energys Trees Please! energy efficiency program has previously helped the city of Waterloo plant trees on public properties, schools and community spaces. City Forester Todd Derifield said the grant presented to the city Monday will be used to plant 50 trees in Hope Martin Park. The city removed 65 ash trees from the park last winter after they were infested with the emerald ash borer. More information about the Trees Please! program can be found by calling (800) 434-4017 or visiting MidAmerican Energys Plant Trees, Save Energy webpage. -Courier Staff Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The name Apophis causes ears to perk up. It certainly did in ancient Egypt. It meant take immediate magickal action to defend against ruin. And, they did. In Ancient Egyptian religion, Apophis [the Greek name for the god Apep] is the great serpent that tried to kill Ra and prevent the sunrise. His name heralds destruction. Apophis first appears in stories from the Middle Kingdom that began in 2040 BCE. The god is associated with massive devastation and he is a singular agent of chaos. While he never had a formal cult and was not worshipped, the threat he posed to the world was severe. So much so, that Egyptian priests would continue for three thousand years, well into Roman Egypt, to conduct ceremonies, cast spells and hold rituals to defend Ra in his daily journey through the sky against Apophis. Apophis was ever present and bent on eliminating the light. The name of Apophis was listed in the Execration Texts, the clay tablets and idols that listed the names of the enemies of the pharaoh as well as denounce and curse them. One of these texts is The Book of Overthrowing Apophis described by E.A. Wallis Budge in his book Egyptian Magic from 1901. Budge recites part of the Vanquishing of the Serpent Fiend: Get thee back, Fiend, before the darts of his beams! Ra hath overthrown thy words, the gods have turned thy face backwards, the Lynx hath torn open thy breast, the Scorpion hath cast fetters upon thee, and Maat hath sent forth thy destruction. The gods of the south, and of the north, of the west, and of the east, have fastened chains upon him, and they have fettered him with fetters; the god Rekes hath overthrown him, and the god Hertit hath put him in chains. So, when Apophis made the news rounds this week, there was understandable interest among those familiar the religious cosmology of Egyptian religion. It turns out that back in 2004, a team of scientists from the Kitt Peak National Observatory observed a huge near-Earth object provisionally titled 2004MN 4 and later ignominiously titled 99942. It was an asteroid; and a close one at that. One that is still out there. It is orbiting just 31,000 kilometers from Earth. That distance is just millimeters in astronomical terms, hairs breadth. To put that distance in perspective, 99942 is closer to Earth than some man-made objects. It is closer to Earth than the Moon by almost a factor of 10. The scientists renamed 99942 to Apophis. They gave it that name because upon first observations, there was potential for the near-Earth object to cause serious harm. Apophis is just slightly smaller than the Empire State building at about 1,150 ft (~350m). Its mass is 40,000,000,000 Kg or a lot. If it were to hit, estimates suggest that it would leave a 14,000 ft (4,300m) impact crater with an explosive effect about three times that of the Krakatoa eruption. It could devastate an entire region; and even, some suggested, create other unprecedented consequences from enormous tsunamis to a nuclear winter. But it is not going to hit. While the initial odds of impact seemed to be about 2.7%, subsequent calculations by an Australian team of astronomers show that Apophis will continue in orbit. Zero percent chance of collision with Earth. Apophis though, made the news this week, however. Although it is no longer a threat to Earth, Apophis will still be paying a visit. A team of scientists at the Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland announced on April 30th plans to observe Apophis as it flies by Earth on Friday 13th of April, 2029. It will be bright and visible as it streaks past, getting as luminous as the stars of the little dipper. The 2029 trajectory of Apophis is shown in the image below with the yellow curve to the right of the image. The blue dots represent satellites. The Moon is not visible because it is much further away from Earth. The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science, says Marina Brozovi, a scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory who works on tracking 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. In the JPL Report, they note that Apophis will will cruise harmlessly by Earth, about 19,000 miles (31,000 kilometers) above the surface. Since its discovery, the orbital path of Apophis has been better understood. The future trajectory is also well known and theres no hazard with those future flybys either. However, Apophis the asteroid, unlike its namesake- will help us understand future hazards from these types of objects. Apophis is a representative of about 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), said Paul Chodas, Director of Center for Near Earth Objects Studies. By observing Apophis during its 2029 flyby, we will gain important scientific knowledge that could one day be used for planetary defense. Apophis is still coming. But this Apophis comes with an opportunity to better understand the immediate environment around our Earth; and perhaps even guide us on how to stay safe from these types of threats. Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic: For more than 30 years, the critic Camille Paglia has taught at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Now a faction of art-school censors wants her fired for sharing wrong opinions on matters of sex, gender identity, and sexual assault. Camille Paglia should be removed from UArts faculty and replaced by a queer person of color, an online petition declares. If, due to tenure, it is absolutely illegal to remove her, then the University must at least offer alternate sections of the classes she teaches, instead taught by professors who respect transgender students and survivors of sexual assault. Regardless, the students behind the petition want her banned from holding speaking events or selling books on campus. In their telling, her ideas are not merely controversial, they are dangerous. Others believe that the student activists are trying to set a dangerous precedent that would undermine freedom of expression and free academic inquiry. The effort to remove her for expressing her *opinions* strikes me as political correctness run amuck, a faculty member emailed. Instead of discussing and debating, they attempt to shame and destroy. This is pure tribalism. It is exactly what Donald Trump does when he encounters something he doesnt like. Most at the institution seem to hold positions somewhere in between. More here. Ben Ehrenreich in The Guardian: Not far from the monstrous checkpoint at Qalandia the main gateway through which the Israeli military controls the passage of human beings between Ramallah and Jerusalem is a small, outdoor, stonecutters workshop, one of hundreds scattered throughout the West Bank. Whatever may be happening at the checkpoint, at least one worker can usually be seen standing in the stone-cutters yard, his face, hair and clothes caked with the same white dust that covers the high concrete wall and the watchtower, where it mixes with the black smoke and char from burning tyres and the molotov cocktails that local youths, on particularly bad days, hurl at the checkpoint and barrier that confine them. When visitors to the region write about stones, they tend to focus on the ones that Palestinian youth fling at armed and armoured soldiers. And on the more deadly projectiles the soldiers shoot back. Its easy to get lost in that melee. Andrew Ross is neither distracted nor enthralled by such emblematic scenes. He is more interested in the stone-cutter who usually remains outside the photos frame. Through him and others like him, Ross examines the unseen structures of expropriation and exploitation that undergird the occupation as effectively as all those walls and guns. Stone Men can be dry, lithic even, but it consistently provides insights into the troubled and troubling relationships between Israelis and Palestinians that are hard to come by elsewhere. Above all, it is a history of labour. Palestine sits on reserves of high-quality limestone valued at $20bn, and the business of quarrying, cutting and dressing it provides more private sector jobs than any other industry in the West Bank. More here. Laura van Straaten in Smithsonian: Conceived by John D. Rockefellear, Jr.fortunate son of the oil magnateas a city within a city, Rockefeller Center was to be a mecca for lovers of art, as he put it, in the heart of New York. He commissioned the installation of more than 100 permanent sculptures, paintings and textiles around his 22-acre real estate development in midtown Manhattan. Since it opened in 1933, artworks like the sculptures of Prometheus and Atlas have become landmarks and photogenic destinations on par with the popular skating rink in its core. Now through June 28, following a nearly 20-year tradition of mounting one-offs of monolithic, crowd-pleasing contemporary artwork, Rockefeller Center is hosting its most expansive and daring exhibition yet: 20 diverse artworks at once from 14 contemporary artists from around the world. The two-month exhibition marks the New York debut for Frieze Sculpture, an import from the United Kingdom with major contemporary art cred. And the artworks, some commissioned specifically for this show, create a palpable tension with the more permanent artworks installed more than 80 years prior. Although the exhibition has no unifying theme, a number of artworks are pointedly political, addressing power and inequality by being what Frieze Sculptures curator Brett Littman describes as about speech, about freedom of expression, about media, about the idea of images and then the propagation of images, particularly historical images. That pointedness is a radical move in a spot that teems with tourists 24/7 and during the workweek heaves with crowds of corporate types who work for the financial, legal, and other commercial institutions that occupy Rockefeller Centers skyscrapers. More here. Feel that itch? It's your annual, all-weather wanderlust stirring. Whether you're looking for a relaxing getaway, a rugged outdoor adventure, or an epic road trip, we've got you covered with literally dozens of great escapes right here in California. You come up with an excuse to get out of dodge, and we'll tell you how to do it right with all the oysters and local wines, epic hikes, sunset horseback rides, art excursions, and splurge-worthy eats you can handle. The Inn at Newport Ranch (Mendocino) Courtesy of the Inn at Newport Ranch Imagine standing on a dramatic coastal bluff, cliff crumbling away rock by rock, ocean crashing beneath you, a thick fog obscuring the horizon, the sun, and, frankly any notion that a trip to the British Isles was required for such breathtaking surroundings. You only need to travel to the Inn at Newport Ranch in Mendocino County for this kind of Emily Bronte-inspired scene. The 2,000-acre ranchwhich stretches about a mile of Wuthering Heights-ish coast and goes about three miles inland, encompassing mountainous terrain good for hiking and 4WD'ingis a modern Craftsman inn, built in the style of a cozy mountain cabin with handsome wood-paneled walls and large stone fireplaces. Bunk in the Captain's Quarters for the charming nautical trappings and its generous ocean-facing windows. From your room, you can see a simple network of trails that will take you to various viewing points along the bluff, furnished with tables and chairs built from salvaged wood. Take a small picnic (the full ranch breakfast will keep you satiated for most of the day) and a board game, saunter to your to your preferred perch, and spend a couple hours at the threshold of the oceanan act of wellness guaranteed to correct any self-important tendencies. Nature, man. It's large and in charge here at the Inn at Newport Ranch. Need more proof? Head to the ranch for a winter weekender and hope for a storm. Batten down the hatches! Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) The Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles. (Iwan Baan, Courtesy of The Broad) For glam and sunshine, there's no better place to escape than to La La Land, even if the city's It spot these days may not be what you'd expect. The once-seedy downtown (now known as DTLA) is buzzing with trendy restaurants, cutting-edge art galleries and museums, and concept retail shops. A must for culture and design junkies, the area has plenty of gorg stays. For where to check in, make reservations, and drink with the cool kids, check out our Modern Guide to DTLA. Culture vultures looking to more deeply immerse themselves in the area's arts scene can't miss the neighboring Arts Districtthink SF's Dogpatch with industrial buildings and warehouses-turned-galleries, creative spaces, loft homes, and hip cafes...and pie. Alisal Ranch, Solvang (Courtesy of @alisalguestranch) Seeking an outdoor getaway but with plenty of creature comforts? Situated 40 miles north of Santa Barbara, Alisal Ranch is a dude ranch for the wellness-minded era. Ride or hike along 10,000 acres of trails or try activities including archery and air-rifle target practice. But when you're finished playing cowgirl all day, you can head to the spa for some legit pampering (try the 60-minute Cowboy Cure with exfoliation, detoxifying mud and massage) and then pop over to the dining rooms to nosh on plant-based fare (full breakfast and dinner are included with your stay), bottomless chips and guac, and listen to live music. When you're ready to turn in, your ultra-cozy room has its own wood-burning fireplace. Get all the details here. Monterey Peninsula The Lone Cypress, on 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. (Courtesy of californiabeaches.com) The Monterey Peninsulacomprising the city of Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Big Sur and beyondis a tourist haven for a reason: Endless outdoor adventures and artisanal eats are the draw, but unique shops and plush hotels make every stay luxurious. Wander the beaches, see the Lone Cypress, gawk at an antique car show, and taste regional wines and chef-driven fare. Check out our guide for the best restaurants, most gorgeous sights, and where to stay. Santa Barbara Santa Barbara life is geared outdoorsand with good reason, as witnessed here at the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club. (Garrick Ramirez) Whether you hop the one-hour flight or decide to drive, sunny Santa Barbara, perched between the sea and the mountains, is within easy reach of the Bay Area. This is an ideal destination for outdoor lovershiking, kayaking, surfing, and sunbathing spots aboundas well as for foodies and shopaholics. While everyone will appreciate SB's classic Spanish architecture (think tiled courtyards and whitewashed buildings), the wine tasting rooms, cool restaurants and vintage-y boutiques of the Funk Zone give millennials a reason to visit. See what's new in Santa Barbara in our recent guide. San Luis Obispo The Granada Hotel sits at the center of town, making it a perfect jumping off point for exploration. (Courtesy of Granada) You've been to Hearst Castle and wine tasting in Paso Robles, but chances are you've never spent quality time in America's "happiest city." The coastal town of San Luis Obispo has a lively downtown with terrific modern stays (we're loving the new Butler Hotel), top-notch restaurants, and one of the largest farmer's markets in the country. Escape the grind and indulge in slow living with our guide to where to eat, drink and play in downtown SLO. For an extended trip, also check out our three-day itinerary including stops in Paso, Cambria, Los Osos, and Pismo Beach. Downtown Sonoma The historic adobe at Three Sticks Winery, lovingly updated by SF designer Ken Fulk. (Courtesy of Three Sticks) Naturally, a place known for wine comes with artisan eatsso if you're in the mood for, say, Dungeness crab deviled eggs or duck liver mousse with fig jam on toasted brioche, then an escape to downtown Sonoma is for you. In addition to all the vino, you can indulge in olive oil tastings and craft cocktails, but there are also plenty of quirky shops, sun-soaked hikes, and bike tours to keep you happily engaged. There will be time to rest when you retire to your chic hotel, which promises a heated pool, private balconies, and churros for breakfast. Let us be your guide. Petaluma (Courtesy of Daniel Casabonne) There's a reason you keep seeing Petaluma chicken on restaurant menus in SF: Petaluma has a deep history of agriculture and is happy to flaunt it via its many local farmswhich offer tours, tastings, shops, and table-to-farm dinnersand independent eateries touting locally grown organic produce. And since farmers like to drink, Petaluma also has its share of wineries, breweries and distilleries waiting to give you a taste. Get your serious foodie onplus, go antiquingand enjoy the pace of small town life with our modern guide. Mendonoma Coast If Friday afternoon equals hopping in the car and pointing it toward the nearest place designed for R&R, then chances are you've visited the Mendonoma Coastbut who cares, we can't stop going back. This stunning swath of green and craggy coastal land has a bit of everythingthe iconic architecture of Sea Ranch, hyper-local fare and opportunities to forage funghi, miles of hikes, and plentiful picnic spots. Plus, you can explore Bowling Ball beach and actually visit the lighthouse this time. Take your pooch on our weekend itinerary. Point Reyes National Seashore Hello, freshly shucked oysters! Seriously, just the drive through sun-dappled forests and along the windswept coast to get to the Point Reyes National Seashore makes us happy. It's a solid day trip if you're looking to run away, but the region also has enough going on to plan a perfect weekend escape. There are beaches, mountain biking, kayaking, and bioluminescence tours for outdoorsmen, and whale watching of course. And thanks to a pair of chef/hoteliers, you'll have your pick of beautifully designed stays serving stupid-good food. Get going. Airstream Stays on the Coast Kitted out by its designer owner, the Malibu Dream Airstream feels like it's on top of the world. (via Airbnb) Looking for something a little offbeat? Channel your boho side and check into a glamped-out Airstream along the coast. We've rounded up seven stays that are heaven on wheels. Matthew Lombard and Jeff Peng met the old fashioned waythrough a mutual friend, while on vacation. They dated for a year before moving in; five years later, they had their twins. In an otherwise natural progression of things, they forgot one step: They never got engaged. So when the guys decided to just get hitched, their vision for their wedding would be as easygoing and lovely as their life so far. Since he first moved to San Francisco, Lombard always knew he wanted to get married at City Hall; the Beaux-Arts icon would be the perfect backdrop for an elegant look. Of course, it didn't hurt that the couple is also close friends with SF Mayor London Breed, who officiated their intimate ceremony inside her office, where they shared Champagne and macarons. As an interracial gay couple, Lombard and Peng wanted to share nuptials that felt authentic to themselves, and so they selected a wedding song, Wild's "American Love," that fit the theme. It "spoke to us on many levels," says Lombard, nothing that the song's lyrics evoked many of the pair's most memorable trips to destinations across the U.S., capturing a themes of diversity. "When we listened to it, it gave us a kind of spin on a new American weddingeverything just came together perfectly." The grooms took hold of the modern Americana theme, wearing matching navy blue suits from Zara with deep red accents. The twins had their own fabulous outfits to match. After the ceremony, they moseyed over to the Golden Gate Bridge to pose for quintessential San Francisco wedding photos. But they stood too close to the edge and a large wave crashed against the wall, soaking the backs of their suits. "We took that as a toast to our marriage, from the bay," they laughed. Dried out in time for dinner, the newlyweds shared a cozy meal at Gary Danko with their families and Mayor Breed; a single centerpiece and handful of candles adorned the table, and the Dom Perignon flowed. "Our daughter had so much fun that by the end of the day, she asked us, "Can we go get married again sometime?" Venue: San Francisco City Hall Reception: Gary Danko Suits: Zara, tailored at Diaz Brothers Tailers Shoes: Gordon Rush and Magnanni Boutonniere and daughter's bouquet: Petals A Flower Studio Hair: Hector Estrada Photographer: RedSphere Studios Small business can really mean small business. You dont need a fancy office and business plan to grab this break. A qualified business can include the consulting gig youre doing to bridge the gap between a career and full-time retirement, or the side project you picked up to bring in extra money in retirement, like renting out a room on Airbnb or driving for Lyft. These kinds of businesses are common late in your working life: More than a third of independent workers such as contractors, freelancers and side giggers are 55 and older, according to the 2018 MBO Partners State of Independence in America report. As long as your income isnt too high, figuring out if you qualify is easy. The rules for what kind of business income qualifies can get complicated fast (see below). But if your taxable income is under certain thresholds $157,500 if youre single, $315,000 if youre married and filing jointly those caveats go out the window. No matter what kind of work youre doing, youre good. A high majority of Americans will still qualify because they are under the income, says Troy Lewis, a Draper, Utah, CPA and teacher at Brigham Young University. With a highly successful business, the rules get far thornier. Once your income is over those cutoffs, qualifying for the 20 percent deduction hinges on other factors, including what type of business you run. For professionals who provide a service, including lawyers, doctors, consultants, brokers, accountants and performing artists, eligibility phases out at $207,000 in taxable income for single filers, $415,000 for married couples filing jointly. For other businesses, the deduction varies based on the wages you pay employees. Talk to your accountant to be sure. A real estate side hustle could qualify, too. If you own rental property, you also may qualify for the deduction, and thats regardless of how much you make. The key is that it has to be an actual business that involves at least 250 hours of work a year (by you or an employee). You must keep separate books for the business and careful records of all the work thats done. If it rises to this level of trade or business, the income is eligible for the QBI deduction, says Tim Steffen, director of advanced planning at Baird Private Wealth Management. If you use the property yourself say, a vacation home that you also rent out it wont qualify. Also, if you own real estate via a REIT, the dividends are qualified business income as well, and that will be specified on the 1099 tax form you get. Rate ceilings Some policymakers want to establish affordability commissions that would set payment ceilings for some expensive brand-name or biologic drugs. Insurers would typically not be permitted to pay more than the amount set for such drugs. These bills have already been introduced this year in 14 states, including Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey. Supply-chain oversight The largest number of state bills filed in 2019 would regulate pharmacy benefit managers, the corporate middlemen that administer drug plans for insurers or companies. PBMs often at odds with drug companies for their role in negotiating prices for insurers have come under fire for pricing and other practices. Legislators had filed 96 bills in this area by March 29, according to the NASHP. Also popular are transparency bills that would require manufacturers, insurers or PBMs to disclose drug prices or other information. Drug Importation In February, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a splash when he proposed allowing his state to import prescription drugs wholesale from Canada. Vermont enacted such a law last year, and a handful of other states have considered this approach. But it requires federal approval, which Vermont has yet to obtain. But importing drugs from Canada has its limits. We can't rely on the Canadian health care system to fill all the gaps for us, says Stacie B. Dusetzina, an associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. [Canada] may not have the supply to do so if more states decided that importation is a good solution." Bulk Purchasing California Gov. Gavin Newsom has another plan: leveraging the buying power of his state by far the most populous in the nation to negotiate with drug companies when buying drugs for the state Medicaid program, prisons and government workers, among other groups. Still in the proposal stage, the idea has attracted the interest of other states, which may join forces with California. By the end of March, seven of the 220 bills filed in 2019 had become law. Last year five states approved new laws related to transparency. And 27 states passed laws prohibiting PBMs from imposing gag clauses that prevent pharmacists from telling consumers about cheaper drug options, says Katie Gudiksen, a senior health policy researcher at The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition. In an indication that policymakers at the national level can think along the same lines, President Trump signed two federal laws establishing gag clause protections as well. South Dakota reports 6 new COVID-19 deaths Minnehaha County accounts for a quarter of new COVID-19 infections in South Dakota, according to the department of health's Thursday report. Editors note: This story was updated to indicate one end point of the power line will be at the Pajarito substation, not Rio Puerco. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal Public Service Company of New Mexico announced plans Wednesday to acquire a 165-mile transmission line for $285 million from the states Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. The Western Spirit transmission project, under development since 2010, will carry 800 megawatts of electricity from wind farms that Pattern Energy Group 2 LP, doing business as Pattern Development, is building in the Estancia Valley in central New Mexico near Corona. RETA is a quasi-governmental entity with bonding authority that the Legislature created in 2007 to help finance, build and operate renewable-energy transmission lines to pave the way for more wind generation in central and eastern New Mexico. It owns the rights to Western Spirit, which its developing in partnership with Pattern. While sunshine and wind may be plentiful in New Mexico, the ability to deliver the clean energy they can produce is limited by the capacity of transmission lines, PNM Resources Chairman, President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn said in a prepared statement. Expansion of the PNM transmission grid makes it possible for Pattern Development to invest in wind energy resources in New Mexico. Pattern is a global wind developer that already operates a 324-MW facility known as the Broadview Wind Farm north of Clovis. Pattern Development is now building a 221-MW facility, the Grady Wind Center, just east of Broadview, to supply about 550 MW of renewable electricity to utilities in California and other Western states. Separately, its developing 11 more wind farms with nearly 3,000 MW of capacity in the Estancia Valley. That includes the 2,200-MW Corona Wind Center, a seven-farm complex that will transport electricity through the planned, 520-mile SunZia transmission project, which will cross through central and southern New Mexico into Arizona. Pattern is the anchor tenant for the first phase for SunZia, which could carry up to 3,000 MW of electricity to Western markets once fully built. Pattern is also building an 800-MW Estancia Valley Wind Center just north of the Corona project. Thats the electricity the Western Spirit line will transport to PNMs Pajarito substation west of Albuquerque, where it will enter the existing grid up to the Four Corners area for sale into Western states. Pattern acquired the rights to the Estancia Valley project, then called Mesa Canyons Wind Farm, as well as the Western Spirit transmission line from Clean Energy Partners, which had been working with RETA to build the transmission infrastructure. Under the new construction partnership with Pattern, RETA was to own Western Spirit, with Pattern paying the bill for the line through usage over 20 years. Now, Pattern will pay PNM for using the line through incremental rates that must still be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. None of the costs, however, will affect New Mexico ratepayers, because Pattern will pick up the entire bill as sole user of the line, although it could allow other renewable energy developers to use some transmission capacity in the future. Pattern Development is committed to New Mexico and has already brought more renewable energy investment to the state than any other company, Pattern CEO Mike Garland said in an email to the Journal. PNMs contract to acquire Western Spirit will enable Pattern Development to make another major investment in more than 800 MW of wind in Central New Mexico, with major construction activities expected to ramp up within the year. The Estancia Valley wind project and Western Spirit transmission line represent nearly a $1.5 billion investment that will bring hundreds of jobs and tens of millions in tax revenue and landowner lease payments, Garland said. The Estancia Valley Wind Center is expected to go online in 2021. Taken together, all of Pattern Developments planned and operating wind development in New Mexico totals about $8 billion in private investment. Once built, the Western Spirit line will be RETAs first completed transmission project. The authority previously helped upgrade existing transmission lines that serve the 100 MW High Lonesome Mesa wind farm southwest of Eunice. RETA issued $50 million in bonds to help fund that project. Development of high-voltage transmission is critical to harness the vast wind energy potential on New Mexicos central and eastern plains, said RETA Chairman Robert Busch. PNMs current transmission capacity there is filled up, and new lines are essential for wind developers to invest in new facilities. That infrastructure has gained newfound importance given the recently approved Energy Transition Act, which requires New Mexicos public utilities to derive 50 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040, followed by a complete transition to carbon-free generation by 2045. The Legislature approved the bill this year, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed it into law. Since then, PNM has said it can achieve carbon-free generation by 2040. RETA received a state appropriation this year to conduct a comprehensive New Mexico transmission study that will begin in the next few months, Busch said. This is the first major step envisioned in RETAs forward-looking mandate and is now supported by our new governor, Busch said in a statement. The Western Spirit project and PNMs plan to buy the rights to it must still be approved by the state Public Regulation Commission. The purpose of RETA is to encourage this type of renewable investment that brings new construction jobs and tax revenues to the state, PNMs Vincent-Collawn said. We are pleased to have the opportunity to support these efforts, along with Gov. Lujan Grishams plans to make New Mexico a leader in clean energy. On a warm Saturday evening last weekend, Jheraldine and her young son strolled around Tingley Beach as they waited for her husband who was helping a stranger fix a flat tire in the parking lot. My son, he was super-excited hes like 10 years old hes super excited and he was walking too fast, Jheraldine said. Im carrying the baby so I tell him Troy, dont walk too fast, just stay where I can see you. There may be a kidnapper or he could fall or got hit by a car. Minutes later when Jheraldine turned her back just for a moment to change her 8-month-olds diaper on a bench her worst fears were realized. Her son Troy had gone into the pond and was struggling to keep his head above the murky water. I was screaming for help, Jheraldine said. Hes just flopping and flopping. I scream, Help him! Please help him! She said even though she couldnt swim either, she was getting ready to get in the water herself. Instead, Mauro Garcia, a 20-year-old member of the New Mexico Army National Guard, jumped into action. He had been celebrating his one-month anniversary with his girlfriend feeding the ducks at the pond when he saw the commotion out of the corner of his eye. I noticed there were two little boys playing, just being children, he said. I saw one of them go into the pond. For a second I thought they were just playing around being kids and then it started looking like he was more in a panic then playing around. I ran over there, got into the pool and pulled him out. Garcia, whos 6-foot-1, said the water reached his chin. I was able to pull him and get him onto the side of the pool, he said. I am CPR-certified so if he needed to get CPR I would have done it. He seemed fine, he wasnt coughing up much water. Jheraldine said it seemed as if Garcia appeared out of nowhere, materializing at her side like a guardian angel to save her son. Mauro was the only one that ran and jumped in the water, she said. Im really thankful. I gave him a hug and said, Thank you so much. You saved my sons life. Youre a hero. This guy out of nowhere jumped in the water with no hesitation. Jheraldine said she was shaken and speechless in the aftermath of the near-tragedy. In a photo taken of the group she is still barely holding back tears. She said later as she hugged Troy tightly again and again he told her he had thought that he was going to die and was worried that he had swallowed too much of the dirty pond water. Later, at home in Los Lunas, Jheraldine said she began searching for swimming lessons for Troy. The family moved to New Mexico from the Philippines in 2015 and Jheraldine said she works the graveyard shift at a factory in Belen and is still learning how to drive. It keeps playing in my head, she said. I ask myself what if something bad happened. I dont know what I would do. Its hard to think about it, but Im so happy this guy helped my son. Although there were several people in the area at the time, one woman said she was particularly touched by watching the scene unfold. Vicki Godfrey, who was taking an evening walk around Tingley Beach, said she ran up to the group immediately afterward and tried to comfort Jheraldine, who was still crying. She took photos of the whole crew Garcia and Troy still dripping wet and exchanged phone numbers with everyone so they could check in with each other again. This young man just made my day, Godfrey said. I was so glad I was there to witness it. Who gets to witness somebody save a life? I was in awe for the rest of the night. SANTA FE Two Santa Fe medical marijuana dispensaries were burglarized early Wednesday morning, but police arent saying yet if they believe the crimes were committed by the same suspects. Officers were dispatched to a burglary at New Mexicann Natural Medicine on San Mateo Lane around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to a police report. No suspects were located. About half an hour later, police responded to an alarm at the Kure Cannabis dispensary on North Guadalupe Street. The police reports do not provide information on what was taken from the dispensaries. SFPD spokesman Greg Gurule did not provide additional details as of Wednesday evening. They are both under investigation and I am unable to say anything more about the incidents, Gurule said in an email. A New Mexicann manager declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing. No one could be reached at Kure. 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. It costs a lot to keep secrets. And based on the recent track record, it would appear that keeping secrets is a key component of new University of New Mexico legal counsel Loretta Martinezs job, for which taxpayers ante up $265,000 a year. In the latest example of stonewalling by her office, UNM is now refusing to release internal self-study assessments by various officials and groups such as the Faculty Senate that were compiled as part of the universitys accreditation process by Higher Learning Commission, an outside agency examining the school. The refusal comes on the heels of the schools denial of requests regarding its recent search for provost. UNM released the names of 11 candidates, including two finalists who visited the campus. But it refuses to name the search committees two other top candidates even though the search ended with the naming last week of James Paul Holloway as provost and even as the school faces questions about a lack of diversity among the two named finalists, who were both Anglo men. As for the self assessments, the public only knows about them because the document compiled by the Staff Council and one done by former regent Brad Hosmer were released in response to a Journal request under the Inspection of Public Records Act. The asterisk here is that the university said they had been published on the universitys digital public repository (possibly by mistake?) and Hosmer agreed to the release of his letter to the Journal. Hosmer in his October 2018 letter was hypercritical of the regent governance system and meddling by governors. He went so far as to suggest that accreditation be withheld for three years with a review at that time to determine whether the governance issues he raised were resolved. I believe UNM is remarkably well governed considering the handicap under which it works in the form of inappropriate and harmful actions and frequent intrusions by the leadership of the Board of Regents, Hosmer wrote. He was appointed by then-Gov. Susana Martinez in 2011 and served until earlier this year when his replacement was named by incoming Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. His claims of a politicized power struggle between regents and strong influence by the Governors Office is a point of criticism aimed at governors of both parties in past years. So what do others at the university say in their self assessments of UNM? UNM and its legal office say thats none of your business. In response to that request, the university initially cited as otherwise provided by law as the basis for its denial, which is insufficient as pointed out by the Attorney Generals Office for not being specific. In a follow-up email to the Journal, the university said that the Office of University Counsel evaluated the request and concluded an exception exists under the privilege to engage in self-critical analysis and peer review. Our courts have not recognized a broad common law critical review privilege in New Mexico. The state does have a statutory privilege called the Review Organization Immunity Act, which defines review organization as one whose membership is limited to health care providers and staff and is charged with evaluating and improving the quality of health care services rendered in the area or by a health care provider and reducing morbidity or mortality. So its difficult to see state law as the basis for this refusal to produce the self assessments leaving the impression that it makes us look bad, so you cant have it. As is all too often the case, the public institution ignores the basic principle underpinning New Mexicos Sunshine Laws, which is that the public is entitled to the greatest possible amount of information about the affairs of government. Instead, officials fall back on sue if you want. Well use public money to defend the case and public money if we have to pay if we lose. And as the case winds through the courts, they continue to keep their secrets. At some point, UNM and its leaders and its high-priced lawyers should come to grips with the fact that the University of New Mexico is a public institution all the time and not just when officials want to fly the flagship university banner. This is a perfect opportunity for Attorney General Hector Balderas to take UNM to task for its failure on the transparency front. Hes done it before. He should do it again. Aggressively. 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. WASHINGTON For the third time this year, the big moment in Venezuela has turned into a bust. Trump administration officials had expected that Wednesday might turn out to be the beginning of the end for President Nicolas Maduro with senior government figures withdrawing support and the opposition launching a mass uprising with military backing. Or at least thats what the administration had been led to believe. But the promised defections didnt happen, the military uprising never materialized and Maduro still appeared to be firmly in command of the South American nation. Trump officials were back to complaining about the support Venezuela receives from Cuba and Russia while issuing vague warnings of military action. Military action is possible, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Fox Business Network. If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do. It was another reality check for an administration that has thrown its support behind the opposition with a series of diplomatic and economic measures that, so far at least, have failed to achieve their goal of ousting Maduro. The U.S. views Maduros reelection last year as fraudulent and illegitimate and has recognized Juan Guaido, the opposition head of the National Assembly, as interim president. Some in the administration thought they would achieve their mission in January, when the U.S. formally recognized Guaido and around 50 other nations followed suit. Others thought it might end in February, when the opposition entered the country with trucks of U.S. aid to help the people of a once prosperous country where many now go without food and medicine amid a deep economic crisis. This week, administration officials were told the defense minister, the president of the supreme court, the head of the presidential guard and others would formally announce that they supported the Venezuelan constitution, implicitly backing the opposition, said Elliott Abrams, the special U.S. envoy for Venezuela. He said the U.S. didnt know exactly when this would happen but figured it would coincide with big opposition rallies planned for Wednesday, May Day. It was widely understood, Abrams told reporters at the State Department, there would be huge May Day marches and Guaido and his supporters hoped they would lead peacefully to the end of the Maduro regime. Instead, U.S. officials were caught off guard early Tuesday with the release of a video featuring Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader who suddenly appeared to have been freed from house arrest with the cooperation of soldiers guarding him. They called for a mass uprising with the military, dubbed Operation Freedom. But the security services that have backed Maduro throughout the crisis never switched sides to any notable degree. The defense minister, Vladimir Padrino, reaffirmed his support for the government early in the morning. By the end of the day, Lopez and his family had sought refuge in the Chilean ambassadors residence and then the Embassy of Spain. U.S. officials said Maduro would never be able to hang on without the support of Russia and Cuba, which they say has some 20,000 military and intelligence personnel in the country. Cuba angrily denied the allegations, saying the vast majority of its roughly 20,000 people in Venezuela are providing health care, education and basic infrastructure services. To the allegations that Cuba has troops in Venezuela, they are totally and absolutely false, Cubas director-general of U.S. affairs, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, told The Associated Press in an interview in Washington. Cuba does not participate in military operations or security operations in Venezuela of any type. On the ground in Venezuela, the situation remained unsettled and unclear on Wednesday. Harold Trinkunas, a political scientist at Stanford University who is an expert on the Venezuelan military, said the opposition faces a daunting task in converting members of a military whose senior officers are loyal to Maduro or who may fear the legal or other consequences of a change in government. Its too soon to say, but certainly the initial move by the opposition did not seem to materialize the strong military support they would have needed, Trinkunas said. David Smilde, a Tulane University professor and expert on Venezuela, said its possible that Guaido made his announcement earlier than expected, perhaps spooked by rumors of his imminent arrest. The entire episode should lead to a round of reflection within the opposition and their supporters in the U.S. government regarding how to address this crisis, Smilde said. It is clear the pressure-collapse scenario they have been working with has run its course. With the situation on the ground still uncertain, Trumps top national security aides, including Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who canceled a trip to Europe to work on Venezuela, huddled at the White House to discuss possible options. Those options should not include the U.S. military, said Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was briefed by Pompeo and Bolton on the situation. Engel, who recently visited Venezuelan refugees on the Colombia border and believes Maduro should go, said Congress has too often gone along with military adventures abroad. I think the days when the United States can intervene and send in the Marines are over and should be over, he said. ____ Associated Press journalists Padmananda Rama in Washington and Josh Goodman in Caracas contributed to this report. Authorities say a woman gunned down a family member during a fight Friday night and fled her home in Twin Lakes, NM, with her three children. FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said 28-year-old Trudy Martinez is wanted for murder, use of a firearm in a crime of violence and crimes occurring in Indian County. Fisher did not identify the woman slain but family confirmed she was Martinez sister-in-law. He said Martinez is currently on the run with her three daughters who are 10, 9 and 5-years-old. She is described as 5 feet 3 inches, weighs 150 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. She should be considered armed and dangerous, Fisher said. According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Navajo Nation police responded to a shooting Friday night at a rural home near Highway 491 in Twin Lakes. They found Martinezs 36-year-old sister-in-law shot and she later died at a hospital. Agents say they spoke with the womans daughter, who is also Martinezs niece, and she told them the shooting sparked from a dispute over trash. The woman told agents Martinez was cleaning the yard Friday and became upset that nobody was helping her. Martinez walked inside the house and started a fight with her sister-in-law before getting a rifle from a truck outside. Agents say Martinez shot her sister-in-law when she tried to take the rifle away and then threatened her niece with it before leaving the house. Martinezs brother told agents that she called him afterward, said she had done something wrong and told him about the shooting. Tips: Anyone with information on Martinezs whereabouts is asked to call the FBI at (505) 889-1300. SANTA FE Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signaled a new and more holistic approach to evaluating requests for pardons and other forms of clemency in guidelines published Wednesday. The new guidelines provide the governor with greater flexibility and discretion in issuing pardons, spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said. Lujan Grishams Republican predecessor, Susana Martinez, ruled out any clemency for people convicted of sexual offenses or repeatedly driving while intoxicated. The former prosecutor and death-penalty proponent issued just three pardons during eight years in office. No pardons have been granted since the Democrat took office Jan. 1. Holdover applicants have been encouraged to reapply. The new guidelines outline a gamut of pardon considerations including whether the applicant has demonstrated personal growth, demonstrated remorse and participated in restorative justice initiatives a catch phrase for organized attempts to repair harm to crime victims or society. The governors pardoning power should only be exercised when doing so is in the interests of justice and equity, the guidelines state. In making this determination, the governor employs a holistic review that gives due consideration to the nature of the underlying offense and the applicants role in the underlying offense, the impact of the crime on any victim(s) and society as a whole, and any other factors weighing on the fundamental fairness. The governors office did not respond to questions about Lujan Grishams approach to pardon requests for nonviolent drug offenders. Legislation signed by the governor in April reduces penalties for the possession of illegal drug paraphernalia or up to a half-ounce (14 grams) of marijuana to a petty misdemeanor and $50 fine on first offense. The state has a medical cannabis program, although the state Senate balked this year at a proposal to authorize recreational marijuana sales. Under the new clemency guidelines, applicants seeking to restore their right to bear arms must specifically make that request. It was unclear whether that provision is new. The Governors Office did not respond to requests for information about new appointments to the Parole Board, which typically provides recommendations on pardon applications. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal Long lines for cargo trucks trying to cross into the U.S. are affecting businesses on the border and beyond, according to testimony before a U.S. House Homeland Security subcommittee in Washington, D.C., this week. What were experiencing along the border threatens the economic security of our country, Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, told federal lawmakers. The alliance promotes economic development in Dona Ana County, El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. The hearing before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation and Operations examined the effects of the Trump administrations policies on border communities. One result is cargo trucks in long lines backed up into Mexico for miles waiting to cross into the U.S. after 750 Customs and Border Protection officers were removed from ports of entry and reassigned to help Border Patrol agents deal with an influx of migrants seeking asylum. Were in total agreement that the ripple effect could turn into a tsunami for the United States if we dont solve these wait times, which we are currently experiencing between 8 and 24 hours as we speak, Barela testified. Nearly $82 billion worth of trade between the U.S. and Mexico comes through ports of entry annually in the region that includes Dona Ana County, El Paso and Juarez. We simply cannot do business in our region nor can the United states afford this sort of ripple effect, which will, again, become an economic tsunami if were not careful, Barela testified. Companies using New Mexicos busiest border crossing, Santa Teresa, are also coping with long delays. Theyre on very tight supply chains, just in time, and those have been disrupted and not just here. The disruption goes all the way back to the Midwest, said Border Industrial Association President and CEO Jerry Pacheco. The truck lines had stretched into Mexico up to five hours, but now the lines are about three hours, Pacheco said. The delays are still much longer than usual, and some dont make it across and into the U.S. before the Santa Teresa port of entry closes at 8 p.m. If theyre an hour out, they just sleep in their trucks at night to keep their place in line, Pacheco said. (For more details of the trade situation at the border, go to abqjournal.com for Pachecos April 22 Business Across the Border column and a new one in this coming Monday Outlook.) The subcommittee chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-NY, told the hearing that Congress had approved a Department of Homeland Security budget that included $60 million to hire an additional 1,000 Customs and Border Protection officers to staff ports of entry. The administrations border policies, coupled with the presidents threats to close the border altogether and his incendiary immigration rhetoric, have created utter chaos and confusion at our ports of entry, Rice said in her opening remarks. U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, a Democrat who represents the southern New Mexicos border region, also serves on the subcommittee and reiterated the impact of long wait times in her district. We lost an estimated 20 percent of our workforce, resulting in the closure of multiple commercial lanes and wait time of up to six hours for trucks to cross the border, Torres Small said. She wants CBP to employ more technology to protect the border and facilitate trade at busy ports of entry. Every day, thousands of trucks and cars pass through our ports of entry. But due to staffing shortages and inefficient technology, only a small percentage of vehicles are scanned by nonintrusive inspection technology for illicit drugs, contraband, and human trafficking, Torres Small said. By investing in smarter and more efficient technology at our ports of entry, such as NII (nonintrusive inspection technology), we are both enhancing the safety of communities across the U.S. and growing our economy through increased flows of legitimate trade, she said in a statement released Wednesday with Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw about a letter they sent to the acting secretary of homeland security asking for an update on implementing the nonintrusive inspection technology at border crossings. Torres Small has also co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to hire more Border Patrol agents for rural areas like New Mexicos Bootheel region. Expert testimony about the effects of policies on border communities at Tuesdays hearing also included the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, the director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the Pima County sheriff from Arizona, who represented the Southwestern Border Sheriffs Coalition. Bishop Mark Seitz told the subcommittee about the dioceses temporary shelters for migrant families seeking asylum. My brother bishops and I also remain deeply troubled by the administrations recent efforts to curtail the ability of asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border to seek protection, Bishop Seitz said. The sheriff of Arizonas largest border county called on lawmakers for help. We need action from Washington, D.C., not partisan politics, said Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier. We need significant and meaningful additional resources to bolster both our public safety and our humanitarian efforts to address this crisis. MIAMI In 1958, Jose Ramon Lopezs father owned Cubas main airport, its national airline and three small hotels. Conchita Beltrans family had about 2,160 acres (874 hectares) of sugar and tobacco fields. And the families of Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia Bengochea had docks in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. All properties were taken in Cubas socialist revolution. The dispossessed families later moved to the United States and abandoned hope of compensation as Cuba and the U.S. severed relations and fought during decades of the Cold War. But on Thursday, Behn and Garcia Bengochea filed what were believed to be the first lawsuits against European and American companies doing business on confiscated properties in Cuba thanks to the Trump administrations decision to activate a provision of the U.S. embargo on the island. Known as Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, the section allows Americans, and Cubans who later became Americans, to sue almost any company deemed to be trafficking in property confiscated by Cubas government. Every president since the laws passage has suspended Title III because of objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba and because of the potential effect on future negotiated settlements between the U.S. and Cuba. The law contains exceptions for residential properties, properties worth less than $50,000 and properties linked to travel to Cuba deemed legal under U.S. law. Its activation, however, could generate dozens or even hundreds of lawsuits, along with trade fights between the U.S. on one side and countries including Spain, France and Britain on the other. Behn and Garcia Bengochea, who filed cases in federal court in Miami, are the heirs of families that owned ports which are now being used to dock cruise ships that began traveling to Cuba in 2016 under President Barack Obamas detente with the island. Behns grandfather, American William C. Behn, was president of the company Havana Docks, which owned three docks in the capital that were confiscated in 1960. Mickael Behn, a television executive who lives between Miami and London, says he is suing Carnival Cruise Corporation for up to three times the current value of the docks, as permitted under the law. Bengochea, a neurosurgeon who lives in northeast Florida, owns 80 percent of the shares of the confiscated Cuban company La Maritima, which operated the port of Santiago de Cuba. He is suing for up to $20 million. We want to get justice, said Bob Martinez, the lawyer for both men. This was a robbery and what were trying to get is compensation for the illegal use of these properties. But for George Fowler, an attorney who has advised Carnival on Cuban matters, the law provides an exception for companies that go to Cuba legally, like the cruise lines. For that reason, he said, the Helms-Burton law does not apply to them. I dont think the lawsuits are going to go very far, said Fowler, who also is vice-chairman of the Cuban-American National Foundation, a Cuban exile organization. It is all about money, he said after explaining that Carnival agrees with him. During the Obama administration, the cruise companies were issued licenses by the Treasury Department to carry American passengers to Cuba. Other potential major targets include Spanish hotel chains Melia and Iberostar, Pernod Ricard of France, and other U.S. cruise lines that dock at ports confiscated from U.S. residents. Lawyers and potential plaintiffs say they expect only a trickle of lawsuits at first due to the expense and complexity of filing litigation under a law that is being put into effect for the first time and touches on issues of international trade and sovereignty. Suing is also expensive, with initial filing fees of more than $6,500 a case, and there is the difficulty and expense of proving ownership with old Cuban documents. For its part, Cuba fears its already lagging levels of foreign investment could be permanently crippled as a result of the activation of the provision. At a Cuban government-organized May Day parade Wednesday in Havana, marchers carried signs and chanted slogans denouncing the Helms-Burton law. The law was an effort to tie the hands of any president to improve relations with Cuba, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cubas director-general of U.S. affairs, told The Associated Press in Washington. No doubt that there will be a threatening effect that will inhibit some investors of going to Cuba. We cannot ignore that that will occur, he said. It will perhaps have an impact on the living standards, the living conditions, of common Cubans It will damage perhaps the relationship of the United States and Cuba more than it is today. On Thursday, the European Union also said it could file a World Trade Organization lawsuit or levy its own sanctions against U.S. entities that sue under Title III. The EU sees the extraterritorial application of unilateral restrictive measures as violating international law, and will take all appropriate measures, the EU said in a statement. Others, however, celebrated the first lawsuits. Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, from the exile group Cuban Democratic Directorate, said that the lawsuits have a clear message. Everyone who wants to invest in Cuba will have to go to federal court, he said after a press conference in front of the downtown court where the suits were filed. Beltran said her family had 860 acres (348 hectares) of sugar fields and 1,300 acres (526 hectares) of tobacco in western Pinar del Rio province. She has no idea if she will be able to sue a foreign corporation doing business related to her properties, but she is optimistic. God willing, I want to see restitution or compensation before I die, said Beltran, 76, who fled to Miami in 1961. She said her husband died 35 years ago dreaming of some form of compensation for their loss. For me, justice is being done, she said of the decision to activate the law. The Justice Department has certified some 6,000 claims worth approximately $8 billion at current values. There are an additional 200,000 uncertified claims, many by Cuban-Americans, whose value could reach into the tens of billions of dollars. One of the uncertified claims belongs to Lopez, whose family had owned the airport, airline Cubana de Aviacion and three hotels in Havana and the southern city of Cienfuegos since 1952. Along with the airlines Aeromexico, LATAM of Chile and Copa of Panama, Lopez said he is preparing documents to sue the Cuban government and Melia, which runs the Cienfuegos hotel. He said he isnt worried by the potential investment of time or money. At the end of the day theyre going to recognize that its ours, said Lopez, a 65-year-old retiree who divides his time between Madrid and Miami. The moment has finally come. ___ Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon reported this story in Miami and AP writer Michael Weissenstein reported from Havana. MADISON, Wis. Foxconn Technology Group leader Terry Gou met privately with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for the first time on Thursday, a day after Gou recommitted to a massive project in the state following a White House meeting with President Donald Trump. Questions about Foxconns commitment to the Wisconsin project have swirled for months, but Gou and the projects backers tried to put those to rest. Evers, who ran for office as a critic of Foxconn, said he hoped the project would be successful, even if its smaller than originally envisioned. Foxconn, the worlds largest electronics company whose customers include Apple, Amazon and Google, plans to build a display screen factory in southeast Wisconsin. Foxconn reached the deal with former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Evers was critical of the taxpayer credits promised to the company during his successful campaign against Walker last year. Evers, after the meeting, appeared to retreat from his previous comments that he didnt think Foxconn would employ 13,000 people. Last month Evers said it was unrealistic and difficult to imagine that Foxconn would hire that many given that it was downsizing the display screen factory it was building. The number of jobs Foxconn creates could be less, it could be more than 13,000, Evers told the editorial board of the Racine Journal Times and Kenosha News. Evers said he and Gou had a great conversation and they were building a good relationship. Evers said they also discussed how Foxconn operations would change as Gou steps away from daily operations to run for president of Taiwan. After waffling earlier this year on its intentions, Gou recommitted to the project in February after a meeting with Trump. Gou said that during their meeting Wednesday, the president committed to coming to Wisconsin in May 2020 to see the start of production, according to Kyodo News. Gou is spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. Trump has been a vocal backer of the project, proclaiming it the eighth wonder of the world and he visited Wisconsin last summer for the groundbreaking. Trump has heralded the development as a sign of resurgence in American manufacturing. But skeptics question whether Foxconn will fulfill its commitments in the project, citing others it has promised but failed to deliver around the world. Foxconn failed to meet its job targets last year to qualify for tax credits in Wisconsin and has downsized the type of factory it intends to build. Evers, a Democrat, has said Foxconn wants to make changes to its contract with the state, which has promised to make more than $4 billion available in state and local tax credits if Foxconn spends about $9 billion and hires 13,000 people. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, whose district includes the project site, said he hoped Gous comments and meetings would convince skeptics. Perhaps today Gov. Evers has accepted the fact that Gov. Walker and Republicans negotiated a really good deal for the state of Wisconsin and perhaps hearing it directly from chairman Gous own mouth he can accept the reality that Foxconn is going to be a huge benefit for our state and we should all celebrate it, Vos said. Evers was joined at the meeting with Gou by the states chief economic development official who brokered the original Foxconn deal. Gou was also met separately with local leaders in southeast Wisconsin, including Vos. Gou told reporters after his meeting with Trump that the company remained committed to Wisconsin. It is not right to say our investment in Wisconsin has changed, Gou said in a video broadcast by Taiwan media as reported by Nikkei Asian Review. We suspended the work around October, November last year because the weather there was snowy and icy cold. We will continue our work in May when the weather gets warmer. Preliminary data from the National Weather Service shows the average high in Racine County, where the project is located, in October was 54 degrees and 39 degrees in November. The average low was 41 in October and 27 in November. There was no snowfall in October and 6.7 inches in November. One of the other items discussed, according to Kyodo News, was Gous plans announced last month to run for president of Taiwan. Gou, Taiwans richest man, told Trump that if elected, he intends to be a peace maker rather than a trouble maker, Kyodo News reported. Gou also told Trump that he would commit himself to advancing peace and stability and improving Taiwans economy. Gou told Trump that he wanted to strengthen economic ties between Taiwan and the United States and make their economic relations a top priority. Sanders said Trump did not discuss support for Gous campaign in their meeting. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Washington and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP Sandia Vista Elementary first-grade teacher Michelle Garmon says she never knew she was a struggling reader many years ago when growing up in San Diego. Luckily, she happened to have a caring teacher, Mrs. Gallagher, who took the time. She made reading a game. Flash ahead more than a decade and, Garmon says, Shes actually the reason Im a teacher. She met me where I was and put the love of reading into me. Unfortunately, theres not enough time for every teacher to put the love of reading into all their students, but thanks to the Rotary Club of Rio Ranchos Dick Hillier Tutoring Program, more teachers are finding the time to spend an extra two hours a week for 15 weeks with struggling readers. I believe every parent wants to help their students but they dont know how, Garmon said. The Rotary Club here has been involved with tutoring since 2010, now targeting students who are under-performing in reading. The late Hillier, a Rotarian for three decades, was the principal driver of the program and growing it to four Rio Rancho elementaries. At Sandia Elementary, where Garmon has been teaching since the doors opened in 2007, there are seven first-grade teachers spending one hour after school twice a week to work with a handful Garmon has five of struggling readers, who need help with specific skills. Shes been with the program for five years. Thanks to the Hillier Program, these teachers are rewarded by being paid $1,000 each. Garmon puts the money back into her classroom and another teacher is saving her stipend for her wedding. We focus specifically on foundational skills and reading, Garmon said, explaining that foundational skills are letters, letter sounds, sight words all the components that go together to help a successful reader. An assessment, she said, has shown her that students foundation skills typically increase by 10 to 15 points, and shes even seen some climb 25 points. Theres no cost for parents, and the success rate is amazing priceless, Garmon added. It gives them confidence, and once they get confidence, they become fearless you can see it on their faces. We catch them up (and they) can keep up with their grade level; the changes are profound, she said. I had a student who was struggling in kindergarten; I tutored her and she ended up being an amazing writer. She wrote me a letter at the end of fifth grade, thanking me for being her favorite teacher that brought tears to my eyes. The Rotary Clubs Roots to Wings fundraiser, slated for Friday evening from 6:30 to 11 at Santa Ana Star Casino Hotel, makes these reading improvements possible. Dinner tickets cost $60, or potential sponsors may purchase a 10-seat table for $550 and save $50. There also will be a silent auction and dancing to a live band. To purchase tickets, become a sponsor, donate auction items or garner more information, contact Earl Waid at 250-9070 or earl@rioranchomagazine.com. WASHINGTON The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Thursday that would prevent President Donald Trump from fulfilling his pledge to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement and ensure the U.S. honors its commitments under the global accord. The bill falls far short of the ambitious Green New Deal pushed by many Democrats, but it is the first significant climate legislation approved by the House in nearly a decade. The measure was approved, 231-190, and now goes to the Republican-run Senate, where it is unlikely to move forward. Trump has said he will veto the legislation if it reaches his desk. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., head of a House select committee on climate change, said passage of the bill sent an important signal that Democrats are prepared to act on global warming after reclaiming the House majority in last years elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the House bill a futile gesture to handcuff the U.S. economy through the ill-fated Paris deal and said it will go nowhere here in the Senate. Trump pledged in 2017 to withdraw from the Paris agreement as soon as 2020, dealing a major blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and distancing the U.S. from its closest allies. Trump said he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. The White House said in a statement this week that the House bill is inconsistent with the presidents commitment to put American workers and families first, promote access to affordable, reliable energy sources and technologies and improve the quality of life for all Americans. The White House also asserted that the bill would interfere with Trumps constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy, including the power to withdraw from an executive agreement that Congress has not ratified. The Paris agreement, signed in 2015 by more than 190 counties, is a United Nations initiative intended to bring the world together in the fight against climate change. Signed by President Barack Obama, the pact commits the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The U.S. also pledged $3 billion to a fund that helps developing countries fight climate change. Democrats said the bill showed that the U.S. will remain a leader on climate issues. America does not cut and run. America keeps its commitments, Castor said. Castor noted that she and her family boarded up and fled their Florida home during Hurricane Irma two year ago, and said she understands the urgent need to act on climate change. The House bill will help us carry out our moral obligation to future generations to tackle this crisis now, she said. Republicans derided the bill as a largely symbolic effort that would harm the American economy while doing little or nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said the bill would wreck the economy and cost as many as 2.7 million American jobs that he said would go to China, India and other countries that do not have to meet goals under the Paris accord until 2030. We dont want to lose the great economic gains we have achieved, and we dont want to lose the reduction in carbon emissions that weve been able to achieve over the last 19 years because of great innovation in technology that America has always been known for, Scalise said at a news conference. Lets not yield those kinds of gains to countries like China and India who emit five times more carbon than we do. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the Democratic measure was simply another messaging bill to go on record against President Trump. Three Republicans voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Vern Buchanan of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the lead House author of the Green New Deal, voted in favor of the bill, but declined a request for comment afterward. Groups aligned with that initiative have complained that the House bill does not go far enough to address climate change. Major environmental organizations backed the bill and said it made clear that the U.S. intends to keep the promises made in Paris. The House is responding to the rising calls, from every quarter, for action to combat the soaring costs and the mounting dangers of climate change, said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. In a swipe at McConnell, Suh added: Blocking this long overdue climate progress would recklessly put the health and future of our children at risk. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal In 2015, the state Legislature allocated $21,400 to Torrance County to be used for sheriffs office vehicles. Authorities say that then-Sheriff Heath White now a magistrate judge used at least some of that money to buy parts for his own truck. What angers me the most is this is not just a fraud case. He weakened public safety in his own community, Attorney General Hector Balderas said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. These are investments that are supposed to be going to weapons for officers and parts for vehicles, to improve response time and save lives, yet we found these automobile parts in his own personal vehicle. A New Mexico State Police investigation found that the former Sheriff of the Year used more than $162,000 of public money to buy personal firearms, tools, vehicle parts, security systems, yeti coolers, night vision goggles and more. Only $37,121 worth of property has been recovered, according to court documents. Officers who searched Whites home said they even found a generator that had been reported stolen from the Moriarty Lions Club in November. White, 41, is charged with six felonies, including embezzlement over $20,000, making or permitting false public voucher and receiving stolen property. If convicted, he faces up to 17 years in prison. He has not been arrested but is expected to attend an arraignment in Torrance County. Whites attorney, Sam Bregman, disputed the charges, saying his client has done nothing illegal. I look forward to getting the facts out in front of the jury and clearing his good name, Bregman said. Weve already done our preliminary investigation, and theres a defense to all of these allegations. White served two terms as sheriff, ending in December 2018, and was the chairman of the New Mexico Sheriffs Association in 2017 to 2018. He was awarded the inaugural Sheriff of the Year by the association in 2013 and received the same honor the following year by the Western States Sheriffs Association. He was an Albuquerque Police Department officer from 2001 until he resigned in July 2004. Following his time as sheriff, White was elected as a Torrance County magistrate judge. He was suspended from the bench after the allegations against him became public, and Balderas said the case has been referred to the Judicial Standards Commission to determine the next steps. Balderas also referred the case to the Law Enforcement Academy Board because White is still a licensed officer. State Police began investigating White for embezzlement in early March, according to a statement of probable cause filed in Torrance County Magistrate Court. In interviews with investigators, Whites administrative assistant said she was frequently asked to generate purchase orders for White and that he would either pick up an item locally and return with an invoice or have her order it online. She said items ordered online were shipped directly to Whites business, the Old Mill Feed Store, supposedly because the items could be unloaded there more easily than at the sheriffs office. Officers found several firearms and firearm parts bought with county money at Whites home and at his store, but Balderas said there are others that have not been recovered. Assault rifles, several pistols, were not located through the commercial process of the store, Balderas said. They are simply not accounted for. Were aware of his business and some of his other interests, but I remain concerned that some of those weapons werent recovered. State Auditor Brian Colon said the investigation raised additional questions about whether appropriate checks and balances were in place at the county to prevent fraud and abuse. He said that, over the last three years, the auditors office had found at least two instances of insufficient oversight over the inventory and that the county had failed to correct the issues. When we fail to address those issues, we end up with circumstances like this, he said. Colons office has sent a letter to the county manager to highlight significant concerns raised by the investigation into White. My concerns are with respect to the sufficiency or existence of internal controls of the county pertaining to inventory, the financial implications of unaccounted inventory, and compliance with state and federal rules and regulations applicable to acquisition and disposition of assets, Colon wrote in the letter. Torrance County Manager Wayne Johnson, who was hired in January, was out of the country and said he had not seen the charges or the letter specifically. But he said the county will cooperate with any investigation and meet with the Office of the State Auditor. The very fact that any county property was delivered to a home or place of business whether a county official or employee thats inappropriate, Johnson said. We need to strengthen policies in that regard, and were committed to doing so. Santa Fe is partnering with the Santa Fe Community Foundation to launch a fund to support refugees and asylum seekers crossing the states border with New Mexico. City government is encouraging Santa Feans who wanting to assist migrants to contribute their time and money, rather than offering housing and donations of clothing and other supplies. Money raised will be transferred to operations in Las Cruces, El Paso and Albuquerque, where migrants are being sheltered, to help with costs for shelter, transportation and other needs. Donations can be made at https://www.santafecf.org/give-now Last month, Santa Fe leaders were considering providing asylum seekers with shelter in the City Different. But Mayor Alan Webber announced last week that wouldnt happen and that it would be more efficient for Santa Fe to support the sheltering programs in the other cities. He said Albuquerque and Las Cruces are larger transportation hubs, with more plane and bus services for asylum-seekers trying to move onto sponsors around the country. In a news release Thursday, Webber reiterated that point and said, We have other ways to offer help. We will do all we can do to help the asylum-seekers as they make their way to their sponsors and families, almost all of whom are outside New Mexico. The release goes onto say that the partner cities are overwhelmed with the amount of supplies now in their warehouses and could use help sorting out items. For that reason, among others, weve determined that financial contributions and volunteers will be most helpful at this time, states the release. Volunteers are directed to sign up with Indivisible Knob-hill, a group coordinating volunteer registration which can be contacted here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXgNj05qkqW2ZsJPNk8UbsGl5T7_yOZZFowftR-yAm90Ie7g/viewform The city also notes that Catholic Charities hosts training and information sessions at 2010 Bridge Blvd. SW in Albuquerque at 1:30 p.m. every Friday through May 17. Visit this site and click on training: http://www.ccasfnm.org/companions.html Catholic Charities can be contacted for donations at https://secure.donationpay.org/catholiccharities/asylum.php And Amazon Wishlist has a site for purchase of items needed for shelters in Albuquerque: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Z41DT14S8VAB?pldnSite=1 SAN FRANCISCO After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on dangerous individuals. The company also removed right-wing personalities Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones site, Infowars, which often posts conspiracy theories. The latest bans apply to both Facebooks main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. Decried as censorship by several of those who got the ax, the move signals a renewed effort by the social media giant to remove people and groups promoting objectionable material such as hate, racism and anti-Semitism. Removing some of the best-known figures of the U.S. political extreme takes away an important virtual megaphone that Facebook has provided the likes of Jones, Yiannopoulos and others over the years. But it does not address what might be done with lesser known figures and those who stay on the margins of what Facebooks policies allow. Critics praised the move but said there is more to be done on both Facebook and Instagram. We know that there are still white supremacists and other extremist figures who are actively using both platforms to spread their hatred and bigotry, said Keegan Hankes, senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S. Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook executive and an internet policy expert at Harvard, said the ban isnt as big a step as Facebook appears to be painting it its just enforcing its existing policy. There will always be more purveyors of hate speech that try to come on these platforms, he said. Will advocates have to push year after year just to get (a handful of) individuals off? At this rate it seems likely. And this doesnt address the problem of what happens at the margins. Facebook has previously suspended Jones from its flagship service temporarily; this suspension is permanent and includes Instagram. Twitter has also banned Loomer, Jones and Yiannopoulos, though Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam long known for provocative comments widely considered anti-Semitic, still had an account Thursday. So did Watson, who rose to popularity as editor-at-large at Infowars and has nearly a million followers on the site. Facebook said the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organizations. The company says it has always banned people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology. It added that when it bans someone under this policy, the company also prohibits anyone else from praising or supporting them. In this case, though, the company said people can speak positively about the six banned individuals as long as what theyre saying otherwise complies with Facebook policies. For years, social media companies have been under pressure from civil rights groups and other activists to clamp down on hate speech on their services. Following the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Google, Facebook and PayPal began banishing extremist groups and individuals who identified as or supported white supremacists. A year later, widespread bans of Jones and Infowars reflected a more aggressive enforcement of policies against hate speech. But Facebook instituted only a 30-day suspension (though Twitter banned him permanently). It is not clear what events led to Thursdays announcement. In a statement, Facebook merely said, The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today. Last month, it extended its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. It had previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists. Asked to comment on the bans, Yiannopoulos emailed only Youre next. Jones reacted angrily Thursday during a live stream of his show on his Infowars website. They didnt just ban me. They just defamed us. Why did Zuckerberg even do this? Jones said, referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Jones called himself a victim of racketeering by cartels. Theres a new world now, man, where theyre banning everybody and then they tell Congress nobody is getting banned, he said. Watson, meanwhile, tweeted that he was not given a reason and that he broke none of their rules. Hopefully, other prominent conservatives will speak out about me being banned, knowing that they are next if we dont pressure the Trump administration to take action, he wrote. Farrakhan, Nehlen and Loomer did not immediately return messages for comment. Harvards Ghosh said kicking off individuals with big followings, such as Jones, goes against Facebooks commercial interest. As soon as they kick Alex Jones or Laura Loomer off their platform, it immediately ticks of a huge number of people, he said. ___ Associated Press Writers Tali Arbel in New York and Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland, contributed to this story. ___ This story has been corrected to read Charlottesville, Virginia, not South Carolina. The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions is working to educate employers about minimum wage rules and wage theft, in the face of more than 1,000 complaints from employees across New Mexico who feel they arent getting paid what theyre owed. During a news conference Thursday morning, Bill McCamley, cabinet secretary for the state agency, said it is unveiling a series of webinars aimed at educating restaurant owners and other business leaders on minimum wage requirements and the states labor laws. At the same time, he said the department, which oversees and enforces wage and labor laws in the state, will crack down on employers who arent paying their employees properly, citing more than 1,000 complaints. We want to make sure that that number comes down and employees get paid what the law allows, McCamley said during the event. McCamley referred to the programs as a change of pace for the department, one that has begun since Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham took office in January. Prior to that, he said the state had only referred one case to a district attorneys office for further investigation. Rob Black, president and CEO of the Association of Commerce and Industry and one of three local business leaders to speak at the conference, said the trainings stand to benefit business owners as well as employees, hopefully providing a more level playing field as more businesses understand the rules. If there are individuals that are not playing by the rules, thats not fair to other businesses that are, Black said. McCamley said the department will make its general business webinar available on May 15. A separate webinar aimed at restaurant owners will also be available later this month. The seminars will also provide an overview of the Minimum Wage Act, which the governor signed into law in April. The law will gradually increase New Mexicos minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023, with incremental increases beginning in 2020. McCamley stressed that businesses are responsible for understanding the nuances of the law. At the end of the day, if youre not paying your employees what they are legally required to be paid, you are stealing from them, McCamley said. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal Members of New Mexicos congressional delegation are calling for a thorough investigation after reading the more than 400-page Mueller report into whether Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential campaign. But two of the members, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, both Democrats, differ on proposals by Democratic presidential candidates that impeachment of President Donald Trump should be part of the process. Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are among the candidates who have called for impeachment proceedings. Lujan appears to be more open to impeachment, telling the Journal it should be considered as an option, but only after we follow the path set out by Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi. We need to finish the investigation, and then present the facts to the American people, Lujan said. Heinrich was more cautious. I dont want people to see impeachment as a short-circuit option to get to a desired outcome, he said. But I think there needs to be a thorough investigation by Congress into whether the president attempted to interfere with the Department of Justice. If that turned out to be the case, Heinrich said, There should be consequences for the president. University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkeson said talk of impeachment works well with some segments of the country. And that is the kind of talk they want to hear from their representatives, Atkeson said. But what do you do when you get outside of that segment? What do you have to gain? She said making the case for impeachment would especially be difficult in the Senate, where Republicans hold the majority. Serious misconduct U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., didnt address the impeachment issue, but said the Mueller report found serious misconduct by the president. First, and unequivocally, a foreign adversary meddled in our presidential election for the express purpose of benefiting the Trump campaign a fact the president still refuses to acknowledge and the report details links between the presidents campaign and that foreign adversary, Udall said. Multiple senior members of the presidents campaign have pled guilty. While the Mueller report found that Russia interfered with the 2016 election, it did not find the Trump administration colluded with the Russian government. The report, however, did not exonerate Trump from allegations that he obstructed justice during the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. It was incredibly disappointing to see in enormous detail that the president seemed to attempt to thwart the investigation, said Heinrich, who gave the Democratic address over the weekend about the report. The senator told the Journal that he was disturbed by the unpresidential actions by Trump described in the report. A lot of questions The report raises a lot of questions, Lujan said. The main issues I have with it concern obstruction. An unredacted report needs to be presented to Congress. The 3rd Congressional District representative voiced frustration that the Trump administration has given indications that it would not cooperate with investigations involving the report. That could turn out bad for the president, Lujan said. He said Congress is required to have independent oversight into the report. There needs to be hearings. Heinrich agrees. It is now Congress job to conduct the oversight hearings and investigations necessary to hold President Trump and his administration accountable. Congress needs the full, unredacted Mueller report, Heinrich said. Robert Mueller should testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. We need more information not less to help the American people understand what really happened here. Heinrich said what members of Congress already know is appalling. President Trump and his team have engaged in a shocking pattern of lies, incompetence and obstruction. They have even lied about the special counsels report and what it says, Heinrich said. To that end, Lujan and U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said U.S. Attorney General William Barr needs to be questioned about the four-page summary of the report that was released in late March. Haaland labeled the summary really absurd. Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday but said he would not testify before the House as scheduled today. Udall said Barr blatantly attempted to shield the president and must acknowledge Congress role as a coequal branch and appear before the House as requested. Haaland said the American people deserve to know the truth, and they deserve to see the full report. But Atkeson said Democrats in Congress needed to be careful not to show that this is all theyre about. President Trump does best when he has opposition, Atkeson said. This could play right into his hands. In his criticism of the Democrats, Trump tweeted that they needed to be focused on other issues such as improving the nations infrastructure instead of further investigations of the Mueller report. In her statement on the release of the report, U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., said she would be concentrating on access to health care, improving opportunities in our rural communities, and maintaining a vibrant border. But she also said Congress and the public need the opportunity to fully review the report. DENVER The University of Colorado named Mark Kennedy as its next president Thursday amid protests that the former Republican U.S. representative is out of step with the schools values. Regents voted 5-4 along party lines in favor of Kennedy, who is currently president of the University of North Dakota. Kennedy has been criticized for his conservative congressional voting record, as well as for his responses during several open forums, since he was selected in April as the lone finalist for the job. The concerns dealt mainly with his votes against marriage equality when he represented Minnesota in the House from 2001 to 2007. He voted against gay marriage and in favor of abortion restrictions decisions that didnt sit well with left-leaning CU students and faculty, The Denver Post reported . Some regents began wavering soon after students and faculty protested the selection, and even Colorado Gov. Jared Polis weighed in by advocating for a president who unites the board. Its never good for a candidate or the institution if the board is split on a decision of this magnitude, Polis wrote in an April tweet. Regent Lesley Smith, a Democrat holding an at-large seat on the board, said she could not vote for Kennedy because CUs faculty did not support his candidacy. With the exception of a small handful, the overwhelming majority of faculty do not want Mark Kennedy to be the next president of our illustrious (flagship) university system, she said. During Kennedys tours across the four CU campuses, he shared his experience as a first-generation college student and touted his business acumen and academic accomplishments that included seeing North Dakota through difficult budget cuts. Were not hiring Mark Kennedy to be a politician. He will not be a political president of the University of Colorado, said Regent John Carson, a Republican from Highlands Ranch. He will be the president of CU, period. And I have great confidence he will check his personal political beliefs at the door. Kennedy will succeed Bruce Benson, also a Republican, on July 1. His three-year, 15-day contract includes $650,000 in base salary for the first year, then $850,000 a year beginning June 15, 2020. ___ Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com TEMPE, Ariz. Amkor Technology Inc. (AMKR) on Thursday reported a first-quarter loss of $22.9 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier. The Tempe, Arizona-based company said it had a loss of 10 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for pretax expenses, were 4 cents per share. The chip packaging and test services provider posted revenue of $895 million in the period. For the current quarter ending in July, Amkor Technology said it expects revenue in the range of $850 million to $930 million. Amkor Technology shares have increased 37% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $8.96, a climb of slightly more than 5% in the last 12 months. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AMKR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AMKR LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A man suspected of raping a woman in Chico in March was arrested in Los Angeles last Thursday. On March 9, the Chico Police Department received a report from a woman that she was forcibly raped in the area of W. 20th and Broadway Streets. She said she was walking in that area and was grabbed by a man. She said the suspect forced her to the ground and sexually assaulted her. The victim described the man as a black, adult male approximately 28-34 years of age with shoulder-length dreadlocks. Detectives found DNA evidence at the scene of the crime, which was submitted to the California Department of Justice. On Monday, April 22, detectives received a report from the department with DNA results, which identified Ishmael Smith, 34, as a potential suspect. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Smith based on that information. On Thursday, April 25, Smith was located and arrested in Los Angeles. The Chico Police Department said it does not have any prior contacts or arrests with Smith. Authority records indicate that Smith is from Los Angeles, but was a transient while in Chico. Smith will be extradited back to Butte County for prosecution. PARADISE, Calif. - A felon, wanted for firearm violations, is on the loose after evading Paradise police. Police said they tried to stop Justin McCorkle on Monday night after an officer spotted him and a passenger in a blue mustang in the area of Bille Road and Virginia Way. That led to a chase that ended when McCorkle jumped out his car and ran at the end of Virginia Way. The officer arrested the passenger on drug charges but McCorkle got away. Police said he should be considered armed and dangerous. 91springboard has appointed OMD India as its media agency of record following a competitive pitch. The co-working space and entrepreneurial community provider will now work closely with the marketing performance company on achieving its business objectives of expanding capacity in the next three years and driving further expansion across India. Launched in 2013, 91springboard has quickly grown from a start-up behind a co-working space in Mohan Estate, New Delhi to become a vibrant community for start-ups, freelancers and business owners with a start-up mindset. The company now offers 28 coworking locations in 9 cities across India and positions itself as a springboard for other start-ups and likeminded enterprises to achieve greater success through their communities infrastructure, knowledge sharing, networking and collaboration. Last year, the company raised an additional $10.2 million in funding from Singapore-based marketing technology company, FreakOut, bringing their total investment to $33 million. Speaking on the appointment, Ali Mirza, Chief Marketing Officer at 91springboard said: In a world where technology is increasingly taking precedence over everything else, OMD stood head and shoulders above the rest in understanding that people come first a value that 91springboard strongly believes in. From the first conversation to the final presentation, it was obvious that the team put human insights at the core of their solutions; they certainly demonstrated their technology capabilities and infrastructure, but added a unique human element to their approach. We are delighted to partner with them and look forward to the teams valuable contribution in continuing our success story. 91springboard and OMD share a similar ethos in the way we value our customers, so it was a very natural and complementary partnership that emerged between us during the review process, added Priti Murthy, CEO of OMD India. We look forward to working closely with them on unlocking new communications solutions that are deeply rooted in human insights, effectively driving Better Decisions, Faster for their business as they continue to grow and expand across India. 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. A fierce fighter, a martial arts maestro and an undisputed hero of the ring Boyka is back with a bang and this time hes at his brutal best! #LeapForth into the world of real fighters and immerse yourself in a series of thunderous kicks in the fourth instalment of the successful franchise series, Boyka: Undisputed. &flix, the destination for big Hollywood hits, is set to premiere this power-packed dose of action drama on Sunday, May 5, at 1PM & 9PM. Directed by Todor Chapkanov, the movie truly packs a punch with the one and only, Scott Adkins stellar performance and high-octane action sequences. Unlike any regular action movie, Boyka: Undisputed keeps the legacy alive with a strong storyline and never-seen-before martial arts moves. In the fourth instalment, the deadly Yuri Boyka is seen fresh out of prison as he is ready to take on the big leagues with a beefy body and renewed vigour. However, as fate would have it, in an intense fight, Boyka accidentally kills his opponent Viktor Gregov in the ring, bringing his world to a standstill. Deeply weighed down by guilt and self-doubt, Boyka takes a trip to Russia to seek forgiveness from the deceased Viktors wife Alma who, he discovers, is in trouble and living at the mercy of a dangerous crime lord. It is now up to Boyka to fight a series of death-defying battles to free Alma and seek true salvation. Will he succeed in his mission or will it cost him his life? #LeapForth into the brutal world of Boyka as &flix and &flixHD are all set to premiere Boyka: Undisputed on Sunday, May 5, at 1PM & 9PM 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. Kantar, the worlds leading data, insights and consulting company, has recently announced the appointment of Rajani Athreya as HR Director, Insights & Country HR Services Leader, South Asia. An alumnus of XLRI and an HR veteran with over 25 years of rich experience, Rajani has a strong background in talent, change management and organizational development. She joins Kantar from DBS India, where she was the COO-HR with remit across the DBS Bank as well as DBS Asia Hub2, which she helped set up in India. Prior to that, she has held leadership roles at Thomson Reuters, Standard Chartered Securities, Standard Chartered Bank and ANZ Grindlays Bank. In her new role, Rajani leads the HR team across the South Asia region, working very closely with the business in driving the people agenda. Rajani joins at a crucial time of organizational change as Kantar has moved to a single brand, focusing on simplicity, efficiency and the strengthening of purposeful collaboration across all of Kantars multiple businesses. Speaking on the appointment, Preeti Reddy, CEO, Insights Division, South Asia, Kantar, said: Clients today expect fast, holistic, frugal and forward-looking solutions to their business issues. Our new single brand strategy is driven by this and aims to achieve simplicity, speed and impact for our clients. In a knowledge business like ours, this makes managing our talent an absolute imperative, particularly when the majority of talent in the industry lies with Kantar, the market leader. Rajanis vast experience in talent development, organizational culture and change management will ensure we have the right expertise in place to support our clients. Rajani added: Im thrilled to have joined Kantar at such an important time. We possess a diverse pool of extraordinary talent. Im looking forward to helping our talent flourish, build capabilities for the future and unleash our collective potential to drive maximum value to our clients. OYO Hotels & Homes, the world's 6th largest chain of hotels, homes, and living spaces - today announced that it has agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group. @Leisure is a leading vacation rental company in Europe and manages holiday homes, holiday parks, and holiday apartments. OYO will acquire @Leisure from Axel Springer, the media and technology company. @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. This represents a total inventory of 300k+ rooms. @Leisure Group has the unique ability to offer varied collections of managed homes across Europe to customers from across the world. The acquisition helps OYO move a step closer in realizing its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry. Commenting on the acquisition, OYOs Global Chief Strategy Officer, Maninder Gulati said, I would like to commend @Leisure Groups team for the incredible work they have done to bring wonderful and memorable living experiences to travelers around the world by offering beautiful holiday homes, cottages and holiday parks, in 300+ cities across Europe stretching all the way from Kokelv, Norway to Zahara de los Atunes, Spain. With @Leisure Group, its team and capabilities, we see OYO further its mission of creating quality living experiences for everyday travelers. The strategic rationale for OYO behind this deal is threefold: Globally, Homes presents OYO with a massive opportunity of USD 2 tn+ across 100 mn+ homes covering vacation rentals and urban homes. Europe is the largest market accounting for 30-40% of this total supply. @Leisure Group is among the very few companies in the world with an OYO-like full-stack approach to vacation rentals management, having built deep data-driven capabilities in revenue management, homeowner engagement, and property management services. @Leisure Groups management team led by Tobias Wann, an experienced vacation rental professional, is one of the finest in the business with a growth-driven mindset grounded in financial discipline and prudence, which is evident in the profitable growth of the business historically. Maninder further added, With Europe spearheading the vacation and urban home rental trend globally, @Leisure Group is uniquely positioned to capitalize on its experience and insights aided with OYOs full stack approach towards building the worlds largest global vacation rentals business. If one were to look at Europe alone, there is an ever-increasing demand for vacation homes with an increasing trend of booking an entire home. Further, in such a market of largely fragmented small and independent players, and a handful of established players, of which @Leisure Group, is one of the largest, we feel travelers will be excited with what @Leisure Group can offer. Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for OYOs 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. Tobias Wann, CEO, @Leisure Group, will join OYOs leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, OYO Global, and will work with me to turn OYOs home business into a global by-word for vacation and urban home rentals. Commenting on the acquisition, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO added, We see vacation homes as a unique opportunity with 115,000 units of homes now getting added to our already growing count of beautiful homes and we are excited to continue maintaining our global industry leadership. Our focus, however, will remain to be a beloved consumer brand that has the ability to create a perfect space in every place. The @Leisure Group is a great partner and we are excited to broad base their offerings. @Leisure Group has proven capabilities in helping develop Europe into a vacation rentals hotspot and we are keen to leverage their competencies towards ensuring beautiful vacation rental and urban homes experience for millions of tourists from every part of the world. I am particularly thrilled to welcome Tobias and team into the OYO family. It is a business decision closely aligned with our overall mission that has incredible potential. As the worlds fastest growing chain of hotels and homes, OYOs full stack fulfillment led model enables it to deliver efficiencies across supply acquisition management, transformation, operations, revenue management, and distribution through both offline and online channels. Launched in 2017, OYO Home already has over 15,000 villas and apartment units globally. Over the last six years, the company has built and demonstrated deep capabilities in upgrading various forms of real estate and rapidly transforming them into efficient and beautiful spaces. This move will combine OYOs capabilities of asset management and technology with the presence, local know-how and category-specific expertise of The @Leisure Group in the sphere of vacation rentals. Reflecting on the acquisition and the proposed growth plans, Tobias Wann, CEO @Leisure, said, We are delighted to join forces with OYO in its mission of creating quality and beautiful spaces. @Leisure Group was started with a similar mission to identify and service all forms of vacation & urban home rentals, focusing on delivering a hassle-free experience to both homeowners and guests. I am delighted to share that weve successfully achieved that over the past few years, and now aspire to leverage our synergies to deepen our presence in Europe and look to expand globally. Andreas Wiele, President Classifieds Media Axel Springer SE, said, "@Leisure Group has become one of the best integrated holiday home providers in just four years under the excellent leadership of Tobias Wann and his colleagues. Last year it achieved a record EBITDA of more than EUR 24 million. For this, my thanks go to Tobias and his colleagues. For OYO Hotels & Homes, it is thus a perfect platform for driving forward further consolidation in this segment. Axel Springer can now fully concentrate on the further growth of StepStone Group and AVIV Group in the Classifieds segment." Led by Tobias Wann, @Leisure Group has witnessed a steady growth curve both through organic and inorganic initiatives driven by a strong leadership team. The company has also built talented teams to develop data-driven innovations such as unique pricing tools, which has further aided the delivery of profitable growth to its shareholders. @Leisure Group generates healthy margins, with sustained EBITDA growth over the last few years. Sakal is the highest circulated and the most sold newspaper in Maharashtra with daily circulation of over 1.3 million, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) latest report.Sakal is the flagship product of the AP Globale Group headed by Abhijit Pawar. Our heartfelt thanks to our readers for making Sakal No.1 publication...You continue to inspire us to grow in the ways that we deliver our journalism, Mr Abhijit Pawar, the Chairman of AP Globale and the CEO of Sakal Media Group (SMG) said in a tweet.During the Indian General Elections 2019, SMG was the only media house from Maharashtra to interview both the leading Prime Ministerial candidates, PM NarendraModi and INC President Rahul Gandhi. This fact is a testimony to the Groups ethos in neutral stance in news delivery. The findings are from a circulation audit undertaken by the ABC through its empanelled auditors. The report notes the results for the period of July to December 2018. According to ABC, the daily circulation of Sakals all editions is almost 12,92,134 lakhs copies across Maharashtra. The main edition from Pune sells approximately 5.8 lakh copies a day. The report also suggests that Sakal tops sales among competitors in the regions of Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nashik-Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Solapur, Satara and Ahmedabad. It is a clear indicator that Sakal is the preferred choice in newer and the more progressive geographies. Established on the New Years day of 1932, Sakal, with its almost nine-decade-old legacy, has not only been all about its integrity in information delivery and unbiased journalism. The Group has been committed in its endeavours to deliver in the best interest of society. Through its various events, initiatives and campaigns, Sakal has built its trust around people. Sakal strives towards gaining social and economic transformation with the belief that the role of media has evolved from being an advocate of social causes to being the facilitator of social change. Getting connected with the peoples sentiments is an intrinsic characteristic of all the initiatives the Group undertakes. SMG is among the largest donor companies in the Indian media sector. With several initiatives and channels like Sakal Social Foundation, Sakal Relief Fund, Tanishka Foundation (empowers women), YIN (Young Inspirators Network), Pune Bus Day, SarpanchParishad (Rural development), etc., Sakal has connected with the audience of Maharashtra and has become a peoples brand and therefore their No.1 choice. The ABC takes pride in its ability to arrive at authentic circulation figures. The prestigious and the trusted body takes into account net paid newspaper copies complying with all of their audit guidelines. The findings and statistics of ABC are considered as the most reliable and official in terms of print media in the advertisement and publishing sectors. Tinder, the worlds most popular app for meeting new people is partnering with animal rescue and shelter foundations to help users find their #PawfectMatch. Tinder is working with Friendicoes SECA (Delhi NCR), World For All Animal Care and Adoptions (Mumbai), RESQ (Pune), Charpaws Foundation (Delhi NCR), Karma Foundation (Delhi NCR), and Red Paws Rescue (Delhi NCR) to drive registrations for adopting, fostering, volunteering and/or donating for pet animals. The motivation is to bring attention to the dire landscape of pets in need, rate of abandonment and to drive Tinder users to actively commit towards the cause. In India, only 1 in 12 abandoned pets are rehomed, and the estimate on pets abandoned run into thousands. Friendicoes in Delhi estimate up to 600 pets a year are abandoned, of which only 100-150 are rehomed. World for All in Mumbai estimate number of abandoned/surrendered pets is 500 in Mumbai, of which 300 are homed and the rest languish in shelters. With Tinders scale and engaged user base, the initiative hopes to drive registrations in large numbers and considerably increase the partner organisations outreach network. Heres how it works: Tinder users nationwide will be able to swipe on pet profiles. Users who swipe right will match with the profile and be redirected to a form to indicate their preference. Options include adopting, fostering, donating or volunteering. Contact information and preferences voluntarily shared by users who register will be collated as part of a nationwide registry for partner organisations. The registry will enable pet rescue organisations to have available a large network of volunteers and potential pet parents. World for All Animal Care and Adoptions on the initiative The numbers of animals needing homes and being abandoned far outweigh the number of homes available. Additionally, there is gross discrimination against female dogs, cats, senior dogs and cats and special need animals. It is imperative for people to know that these animals need homes as well. Additionally, the need for adoption can be mitigated by communities coming together to look after the animals in their locality. If buildings and societies can drive responsibly and take collective responsibility of the animals around them the need for adoptions will be greatly reduced. With a bursting population like India where human life seems to be second fiddle, it is imperative for communities to come together to take care of each other, the environment and the animals in it, domestic and otherwise" Neha Panchamiya, Founder & President [RESQ], says thousands of pets, if not more, get abandoned each year in India. A campaign like this will greatly help our Rehoming Centre Dogs get the exposure they need and help people become aware that rescued pets not just need homes, but that adopting one from a place that actively works on them, can make your pet experience great. All our dogs are cared for, trained and taught good canine citizen skills before they go to their forever homes! We thank Tinder for this opportunity to help spread the word about rescued pets! Taru Kapoor, GM, India-Tinder Tinder stands up for the choices of a whole generation and how they choose to live their lives, and this includes standing up for things they care about. We are all about having users find a match on Tinder, and this time its with a cause. Were pledging to drive user registration for pets so organisations have a wider network. We know the power of community, and are committed to extending it so pets in need can benefit this National Pet Adoption Day. Note: "Thoughts and prayers" go out to the families of the dead. That's what we're supposed to say right? Join us at AutismAges.org to start talking about these impossible issues related to autism and adulthood. By Kim Rossi My Lord, the irony of this shooting to come on April, 30, the last day of Autism Acceptance month. We have, in the past, tried to soften the possibility that these murderers (don't look to me for a sugar-coating) may be be autistic. I went on CBS radio to tell listeners that Adam Lanza, was an aberration, not the norm. I wrote a HuffPo post about Cho, the man who shot and killed students at Virginia Tech. You can call me angry. Just don't call him autistic. Tuesday's murders at UNC have no such shield from me. Trystan Terrell's father wrote a letter that soke of his son's autism. If the blog and the letter are accurate, Terrell has a medical autism diagnosis. Terrell's sister Chloe mentioned her father's description in a letter he sent her. Take a look below. From Heavy.com: Terrells father, Craig, wrote in a blog post in May 2016 that his son was diagnosed as being autistic at three years old. Craig Terrell said that when a nurse in a neurological doctors office asked him, Has anyone ever mentioned the word autism to you? Our lives got more complicated. He went on to discuss the difficulty of researching autism online as the family was living in a rural part of Texas with only dial-up AOL internet access. Craig Terrell added that the nurse told him that there would be no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. no follow-up appointment but that family just needed research autism. This is exactly what I faced when Mia and Gianna were diagnosed at one of America's TOP pediatric neurology programs run by Dr. Max Wiznitzer in Cleveland Ohio. I was told to make sure I got an IEP at school and NOTHING MORE. I know young parents who go to Yale's famous autism clinic and hear exactly the same thing 20 years after I got the news. Autism. Measles got you scared? It's a game of peekaboo compared to the monster in the closet of a generation of young, healthy autistic males with autism who need so much more than we have been able to offer. An adulthood for which they are not prepared despite parental love, care, and harder work than most can imagine. Most of us do our level best to support our kids. And as a community, we rally around each other - loathe to cast a shadow on autism as being a violent or dangerous diagnosis. Except when.... it is. What a painful sentence to type. More painful for our families who live it every day. We do not know what the Terrell family faced with their son, brother. Perhaps that will come to light as the case unfolds. No matter the outcome, if guilty, Trystan is not a monster, despite the monstrous act. Autism is no excuse, but it sure is a complex reason to act out. My friends with sons at every spot on the spectrum are insane with trying to teach them self-protective skills like how to survive a police encounter, a date, something he might think is a date. There are so many pitfalls. So many social rejections. So much testosterone with no outlet. No hugs. No kisses. NO BANGING - there, I said it as bluntly as I can. Young men need SEX. Crave sex. Where does the testosterone go for those who have no or few opportunities? These are the questions that are out there. Why did Trystan turn to violence? What more could his family have possibly done for him? Maybe nothing. How about his high school. The college. His peers. Anyone. We can not do it alone. The world has been told that autism is such a gift, a remarkable talent that there ARE NO SUPPORTS FOR FAMILIES. If your son or daughter can "pass" - you get no funding - and once school ends? You fall off a cliff. Here in Connecticut, if you have autism and an IQ of 69, you get traditional, old fashioned funding for mental retardation. If you have autism and your IQ is 70 or over you may get approved for the autism waiver. There are 109 waiver spots in Connecticut. 109 in the entire state. All taken. With a wait list of 10 years as of now. Every campaign to "Learn the signs" is a failure. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. "Learn how to PREVENT AND TREAT" is the only thing that matters. I'm sorry for the Terrell family. For a Dad who was told to go forth and seek your own info. For a sister whose brother is forever connected to the horror of American male school shooters. For the families of the dead and injured. For all of us. Note: This is a relatively balanced article about a topic that has been forever a one sided refusal to even entertain a conversation. Vaccine safety. Pharma drug safety. They two are the same. And yet, in the media, they are worlds apart. To many Americans, they are worlds apart. Pharma is the devil when it comes to drug safety and an angel when it comes to vaccines. If only the world were that black and white. Our Dan Olmsted was a founding writer for USA Today when it launched. I wish he were here today to help us sort out the morass of vaccine safety reporting. KIM ### Bernadette Pajer doesn't trust the pharmaceutical industry. And she doesn't trust vaccines. The founder of a Washington state advocacy group says her dual distrust shouldn't come as any surprise. She notes drugmakers have a "pretty poor record overall" on safety and transparency. Not to mention the opioid crisis, though Pajer often does. Pajer is not alone. As distrust of the pharmaceutical industry grows, so has the anti-vaccination movement. That is a critical issue as the number of measles cases in the USA surges. Vaccine supporters which include federal, state and local officials, the public health community and most doctors say it wasn't drugmakers' idea to require protection from largely eradicated deadly diseases. It's the government's doing. It's also the government that shields drugmakers from liability when vaccines are found to cause injury. To vaccine skeptics, including drug safety advocate Kim Witczak, this suggests they may be hiding or at least getting away with something. When voters were surveyed in January about their feelings toward industries that benefit from the North American Free Trade Agreement, nearly half had an unfavorable opinion of pharmaceutical companies, up from about a third in 2008, according to the advocacy group Public Citizen and the research firm Citizen Research. "The pharmaceutical companies in particular push the negative reactions off the chart, with nearly half giving the most intense negative response," says a summary by pollster Stanley Greenberg. Just mentioning the pharmaceutical companies as benefiting is like throwing a bomb in every quarter of the electorate." Read more at USA Today here. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. https://www.aish.com/sp/so/Why-I-Wont-be-Observing-Yom-HaShoah-this-Year.html For children of Holocaust survivors, every single day is Holocaust Remembrance Day. I am the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. This year I will not be observing Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. I didnt observe it last year, or the year before. Thats because for children of Holocaust survivors, every single day is Yom Hashoah. Growing up in a family where one or both parents are survivors is traumatic. Our homes were occupied by members of our immediate families and by the souls of those murdered by the Nazis. My life had to have enough meaning to justify my own existence and had to compensate for the unlived lives of my martyred relatives. My burden was immense, but it seemed entirely appropriate. Survivors guilt was dispensed in large doses and we all opened wide. I might not have had a number tattooed on my forearm, but it certainly felt that way. My life had to have enough meaning to justify my own existence and had to compensate for the unlived lives of my martyred relatives. Some survivors were able to talk about their wartime experiences while others were not. Even those who kept silent during the day were unable to suppress their memories at night and would cry out in their sleep, reliving their terror and broadcasting it to everyone in the house. My father almost never talked about what happened to him during the war. He also never screamed out at night because he was so plagued by his memories that he couldnt sleep long enough to have a nightmare. Each morning, as I stepped into the living room, I came face to face with the telltale signs that he had spent much of the night there. The pages of the Yiddish daily newspaper, The Forward, were on the floor in a messy pile, the three sofa pillows which my mother meticulously placed on the long sofa were either stacked on the loveseat where my father rested his head as he reclined to read, or lay in disarray on the carpet, having tumbled off. His transistor radio, his other nocturnal companion, stood silently on the end table. It was Yom Hashoah. Although my father was a man of few words, his character and courage spoke for him. The night the Nazis came to his house in search of his older brother, my 15-year-old father stepped forward and said that he was the one they were looking for. Although he was two years younger than his brother, my father was taller and easily passed for the oldest son. That night the Nazis took my father away. Like all children of Holocaust survivors, I feel like I am a survivor. We are known as second-generation survivors or 2Gs. Like my father, I am one of those people who doesnt like talking, thinking or reading about it. Me, join a tour group to Eastern Europe to visit the concentration camps? Place myself where others disembarked from the cattle cars? Picture the confusion and hysteria of mother and child being separated? Make physical contact with ash-laden earth and relive moments in history that are seared into my memory as if I had lived through them myself? Never. Why would I want to come face to face with memories that my folks spent years suppressing? When I was 18 and touring Israel with a group, we visited Yad Vashem. Entering the exhibit hall, I felt flooded with feelings I wasnt equipped to face. I had to leave. I made my way out and sat down on the ground leaning against the building. A soldier approached and asked if I was okay. My answer was nothing more than a silent and sad glance upward. He sat down next to me. He didnt try to engage me in dialogue or offer words of comfort. He realized that all I needed was to sit mournfully and he, both a stranger and a brother, offered the only comfort possible silent companionship. Together, we observed Yom Hashoah. Despite my parents silence about the war, I knew that they had survived it and their family members had not. All my parents friends were survivors. They were joined by a common language, Yiddish, and their relationship was more of a kinship than a friendship. Anything and everything we children experienced was seen through the prism of the Holocaust. My parents may have escaped death, but life was always lived in its shadow. Its commonly known that survivors cant bear to throw food away or waste anything that has even the slightest value those messages were explicit. We were granted the gift of life therefore any type of discomfort we experienced could never be worthy of complaint. Other messages were communicated implicitly. We were granted the gift of life therefore any type of discomfort we experienced could never be worthy of complaint. When I had a stomach ache it was never just a stomach ache. It was Yom Hashoah. I would automatically think about how painful it must have been to starve to death. When walking home from school in the snow, my fingertips were never just frost bitten. It was Yom Hashoah. I conjured up the image of thousands of men and women standing outside in the bitter cold during an appell, a roll call. When I turn the pages of a newspaper, its never just a pastime. Its Yom Hashoah. My mind wanders as I imagine my father wrapping newspaper around his legs to keep warm as he worked laying railroad tracks somewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. When I get a delivery from Amazon, its never just about opening the box to discover its contents. Its Yom Hashoah. I hold that empty box in my hand, turning it over, examining it, considering whether it might serve another purpose throwing away a perfectly good box just seems so wasteful. I never wondered why I had these feelings. They all seemed natural to me and it wasn't until a few years ago, when I learned about epigenetics, that I understood why. Dr. Rachel Yehuda, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, is an expert on epigenetics. She is a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and the director of the Traumatic Stress Studies at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. During an interviewed in 2015 she said, The idea is a very simple idea, and you hear it from people all the time. People say, when something cataclysmic happens to them, Im not the same person. Ive been changed. I am not the same person that I was. And epigenetics gives us the language and the science to be able to start unpacking that. Epigenetics tells us that traumatic events act like a movie director who, at will, alters the play script. As Dr, Yehuda described above, trauma survivors have had their genes altered by the trauma. The trauma has changed them on a genetic level, and they are not the same person they once were. Children of survivors receive these altered genes. Learning about epigenetics has helped me understand that the trauma that was transmitted to me is not a mysterious emotional response to my parents history; it is scientifically based genetic outcome of trauma. It has helped me understand why every day is Yom Hashoah. There is More to our Legacy We wonder about survivors. How did they cope after the war? Where did they get the courage and strength to build new lives? The answer is that qualities like resiliency and resourcefulness are in our parents genes and in our genes too. They were passed on to our parents and to us by our predecessors who had survived the countless catastrophes throughout Jewish history. We, the second generation, have inherited more than just trauma; our legacy also includes the attributes that enabled our parents to prosper after the war, and they are just as much a part of our legacy as the trauma is. And the legacy continues. We do not choose the traits we pass down to our children, and like eye color, artistic talent, or temperament, the trauma encoded in our genes gets passed down to the third generation, also known as 3Gs. Third generation survivors have their own constellation of symptoms and responses to these symptoms; some similar to 2Gs, some different. Dr. Irit Felsen, a clinical psychologist, researcher, and second-generation survivor, specializes in trauma with a focus on Holocaust survivors and their families. She emphasizes that although it is critical for us to gain insight into how each of us has historically managed our own thoughts, feelings and behaviors, its equally critical that we put the understanding weve gained from this insight to good use. The complexities of being a child of Holocaust survivors are labyrinthine, and I wander around the maze searching for a way out. This is a good thing. Being a seeker is as an outgrowth of trauma, known as Post Traumatic Growth. I constantly search for meaning in my own life and in the lives of others who ask me to help them do the same. To paraphrase Viktor Frankl, a well-known survivor, meaning is what motivates us to live another day. This article first appeared on www.okclarity.com GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip The Gaza Electricity Distribution Co., in cooperation with Gaza Strip municipalities, completed April 18 a Qatar-funded project designed to connect wastewater treatment plants to new power lines with the objective of supplying the plants with uninterrupted power around the clock, the company's public relations director told Al-Monitor. The new project seeks to end pollution along the coast that untreated wastewater poured into the sea has caused since 2013, preventing the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip from going to the beach and swimming in the sea in the summer. The crisis came after the wastewater treatment plants stopped operating as power outages hit more than 12 hours a day before climaxing to 20 hours daily in May 2017. The beach water-quality monitoring tests the Environment Quality Authority in the Gaza Strip conducted in April 2018 indicated that 75% of the 40-kilometer (25-mile) coast is polluted and unfit for swimming, with Gaza Strip municipalities dumping more than 115,000 square meters a day of untreated or partially treated wastewater into the sea, the Palestinian Alray news agency reported May 24, 2018. Qatar has been supplying Gaza's sole power plant with fuel for $60 million every six months since October, which has helped increase how long power stays on in the Gaza Strip. Now electricity is supplied for eight hours, is off for eight hours, is on for eight hours again, and so forth. Prior to the Qatari contribution, Gazans received only four hours of electricity, followed by 16 hours of power cuts, then four hours on again, then 16 off again. Mohammad Thabet, the company's public relations director, said the project would ensure that all 11 wastewater treatment plants in the Gaza Strip are supplied with power around the clock, in order to guarantee that untreated wastewater is not poured onto the Gaza beach. Khalil Abou Charekh, a resident of Beach Camp west of Gaza City and a father of seven, told Al-Monitor, It has been three years since my family and I stopped going to the beach. The odor has been really bad and two of my children got infected with amoebiasis. He added, The beach was the primary source of pleasure and recreation for the residents. We had no other refuge to escape the summer heat. Abou Charekh also said, The project, designed to ensure that wastewater is treated before it is poured onto the Gazan shore, has been a long-awaited dream that would bring summer fun back to the beaches. The director of the water and sanitation department in Gaza City municipality, Ramzi Ahl, told Al-Monitor, Qatar's Gaza Reconstruction Committee allocated $4 million in funds to this project to ensure that all wastewater treatment plants in the Gaza Strip operate in a way that ends the problems along the Gazan coast. He said Qatari support to the Gaza power generation plant has resolved the majority of the environmental and basic services problems relating to the municipalities work. The seawater pollution prevented Gazans from spending their summer at the beaches, and resulted in the building of many private dwellings on private agricultural lands where pools are filled with fresh underground water. Nevertheless, these chalets are exclusive to well-off families that can afford paying an average daily rent ranging between 400-800 shekels ($110-$220). This is while most Gazan families cant afford to pay such a sum, as the poverty rate in the Gaza Strip has reached 53%, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Alaa al-Kurd, owner of Al-Alaa cafe on the Gaza beach, decided to shut down his business in the summer of 2018 given the seawater pollution and ongoing decline in the number of beachgoers. Kurd told Al-Monitor, The numbers of beachgoers have declined since summer 2013, because they cannot swim in the polluted water. Subsequently, our revenues dwindled since we bank on renting them tents and offering drinks and shisha (hookah smoking). He said, This drop caused us to reduce the number of employees at the cafes from 30 to seven, and to dramatically reduce their monthly salaries from 1,200 to 700 shekels [$330 to $195]. He said the number of beach cafes in Gaza City dwindled from three in 2017 to zero in 2018; there were six beach cafes in 2016 and eight such establishments prior to the crisis. Kurd said ensuring that the wastewater treatment plants operate and that untreated sewage is not dumped into the sea will revitalize the summer season, lift the number of beachgoers and subsequently reboot the beach cafes. Ahl said the Gaza municipality, in conjunction with Qatar, seeks to ensure a safe summer free of pollution. Congressional Democrats are looking to the power of the purse to end US participation in the war in Yemen after President Donald Trump successfully blocked their efforts to make it illegal. The Senate voted 53-45 today to override the presidents veto of their War Powers resolution to end US support of the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis, short of the two-thirds majority needed. But supporters of the measure are already planning their next line of attack, including efforts to defund US military engagement through riders in must-pass defense and spending bills. Im not going to let the defense appropriations bill go without a vote on funding for the military campaign, said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., an original cosponsor of the Yemen resolution who sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who authored the War Powers bill in the lower chamber, has also vowed to pursue the same approach in the Democratic-held House. I will not give up this fight, Khanna said in a statement after Trump vetoed the bill last month. He vowed to continue to work with my colleagues in Congress, stakeholders and the peace groups to cut off all US participation in this war through the annual defense spending and authorization bills. Khanna sits on the House Armed Services Committee, which drafts the yearly defense authorization bill. The committees chairman, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in sponsoring Khannas Yemen resolution. What were hoping is that Congress overrides the veto through other legislative means, said Kate Kizer, the policy director for Win Without War, a coalition of activist groups that pushed Congress to pass the war powers legislation. Were hoping that theyll also try to ban weapons sales to the coalition for at least a two-year basis, probably through the appropriations process. Win Without War is also calling for a ban on intelligence sharing and targeting assistance. A congressional aide told Al-Monitor that the House Foreign Affairs Committee is also working on legislation that will address the situation in Yemen. 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who sponsored the vetoed Yemen bill in the Senate, also hinted at further action, without specifying details. The decision by both the House and the Senate to use the War Powers Act is a major step forward in having Congress reclaim its constitutional authority on issues of war, and I think youre going to see a lot more activity in that area, Sanders told Al-Monitor. Sanders bill passed the Senate 54-46 in March following months of mounting bipartisan anger over the civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Yemen. It gained considerably more traction following Riyadhs murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Murphy and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, joined Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C., a staunch Trump ally, in reintroducing the Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act earlier this year. The bill would permanently ban the United States from refueling coalition warplanes, which the Trump administration ended last year. The bill would also ban offensive weapons sales to Riyadh and sanction Saudi royals allegedly involved in the Khashoggi murder, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., has introduced similar legislation in the House. Graham, who chairs the Senates foreign aid spending panel, however, expressed skepticism at Democratic plans to defund the Saudi coalition through the appropriations process. I dont mind punishing Prince Mohammed, Graham said, but I dont want to reward Iran. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, another Trump ally, has so far refused to advance the bill. I have been begging the chairman to bring up legislation to deal with Prince Mohammed, Graham told Al-Monitor. If theres ever an opportunity on the floor, Im ready to vote, but right now its the worst of all worlds. [The Saudis] think we dont care. Graham suggested that Risch is wary of advancing legislation Trump wont sign. Risch himself declined to comment. Meanwhile, Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., who controls the House floor as chairman of the Rules Committee, has introduced a separate bill banning Saudi Arabia from US arms sales, training and defense cooperation. And Menendez continues to block a $2 million arms sale for Saudi Arabia, which includes $1 million in precision-guided munitions. At some point the Saudis are going to run out of the munitions, Murphy said. Theyre going to need to be restocked. Over the past year or so, the technology arm of the Central Bank of Iran the Informatics Services Corporation has been developing prototypes for a comprehensive, nationwide blockchain platform. Named Borna, the platform aims to offer an integrated environment and common standards as well as reduce the costs of developing blockchain solutions and market entry for all of Irans banking and financial players. According to the Borna white paper, the platform offers three essential services of electronic customer identification, token management and online auditing in its initial noncompetitive layer. Banks and other financial players will be able to offer an array of services on the competitive layer, including accepting deposits, offering loans, commercial financing and asset management. The platforms players can generate revenue through four fee-based methods, namely by establishing data and transaction storage infrastructure, participating in transaction confirmation, providing and sharing data and information with others and creating services on the network and allowing others to use them. The core infrastructure of Borna was developed using Hyperledger Fabric, a popular open-source enterprise blockchain platform established by US technology giant IBM and the California-based Linux Foundation. A major goal of Bornas developers is to allow the Central Bank of Iran to start communicating and implementing its directives seamlessly through smart contracts and exert better supervision over financial institutions that will have to incorporate more transparency into their operations. But beyond the uses that will be facilitated on the local scale, employing the Hyperledger Fabric architecture will also allow the platform to have a chance of connecting with international players in a future in which Irans foreign ties may not be hamstrung by US sanctions. In terms of international presence, Borna developers are striving to use platforms, tools and solutions that are globally accepted in building the countrys new technical infrastructure, Saeed Khoshbakht, CEO of blockchain solutions firm Areatak, which is developing Borna in partnership with the Informatics Services Corporation, told Al-Monitor. Borna also aims to provide momentum for the local banking and financial technology ecosystem to reach a higher level of compliance with international standards, especially PSD2. Borna's developers are trying to gradually turn international frameworks into a part of the platforms internal policies, Khoshbakht said. But for the near future, the platform has its sights set on the local scene. It promises to allow the central bank and other participating state entities to weed out corrupt practices and detect financial crime as well as integrate data into a secure and immutable ledger. Moreover, it provides banks and financial institutions with new fee-based revenue streams, something they severely lack at the moment. For end users, it can bolster trust by reducing fraud and setting the stage for offering a wide variety of new financial services. For growing fintechs and startups, it can create a new market that is easier to enter, boost investments and promote fair competition. Our wish is that simply by establishing their operations on Borna, businesses will have automatically gained the central banks initial license, which will be major progress for the fintech [enterprises], Khoshbakht told Al-Monitor. The Informatics Services Corporation has not committed to a specific timeline, but Khoshbakht said Borna aims to implement the customer identification protocols by the end of the current Iranian year in March 2020. There is a plethora of technical and legal issues to work out, after all, as Irans banking system has become increasingly isolated in recent years due to multiple rounds of sanctions. Cash-strapped banks will have to develop infrastructure something that will increase their costs in the short term and state entities will have to upgrade their systems. On the other hand, fintech enterprises and other startups have hardly reached maturity and also lack the expert human resources required on a grand scale. Lastly, the process of onboarding end users promises to be complicated and time-consuming, and the threat of cyber theft and breach of privacy is always present with a new technology like blockchain that remains largely unknown to the general public. This underscores the necessity for education and raising public awareness. To this end, Khoshbakht said a host of educational courses aimed at introducing all of the platforms players and beneficiaries to blockchain technologies and platforms employed in the making of Borna is being scheduled. Hyperledger meetups, the first of which was held in Tehran on March 10, will become regular events and soon a blockchain laboratory will be established to allow startups and fintechs to test Bornas features, he said. The final decision has yet to be made, but Irans upcoming sovereign cryptocurrency, also being developed by the Informatics Services Corporation on Hyperledger Fabric, may be integrated and used in Borna. First and foremost, Khoshbakht said, the definition of the central banks sovereign cryptocurrency must be clarified since several ongoing projects are using the same title: It consists of blockchain-based infrastructure to facilitate rial payments only on the local scale, aimed at boosting transparency and reducing costs. That definition may be disappointing to some, but the only goal of the central banks cryptocurrency is to improve existing payment infrastructure, he said. With that in mind, if implemented with Borna, the sovereign cryptocurrency will prove no different from the existing experience except that it will provide a new method of payment. However, Khoshbakht said, Borna developers believe using the sovereign cryptocurrency in the platform could decrease transaction costs, allow regulators and supervising entities to better monitor transactions, and combat corruption. It could be further good news for fintechs in that it could alleviate some of the current concerns felt by the central bank and cyber police through making transactions more transparent, preparing the ground for fintechs to start offering offline wallets. Borna may also be affected by and will in turn impact long-overdue articles of bank reform. They envision major changes to Irans outdated banking laws and practices and have been under review by the parliament for several months. As such, based on the results of its eventual operation, Borna could be directed to support new services to be determined by the central bank, while it could also pave the way for implementing changes in the embattled banking system. Iranian authorities violently dispersed gatherings of independent Iranian labor organizations and arrested dozens of activists who were protesting in association with International Workers Day (May Day). According to the labor organizations involved, dozens of people have been arrested so far. Protesters gathered May 1 in front of Irans parliament building, where a number of well-known protesters including Reza Shahabi, Kayvan Samimi, Hassan Saedi, Vahid Fereydouni and Mohammad Ali Eslaghi were arrested. Teachers, retirees and students also joined the protests. According to fliers calling for the protests, some of the issues were instability in the labor force, low and delayed wages, privatization, unsuccessful businesses, and pressure on independent unions and activists. A previous labor protest April 26 in Tehran was also violently dispersed by security forces and led to the arrests of activists and organizers. While most of the individuals who were arrested from that protest were released the same day, three individuals remain in custody. Independent labor organizations were not the only groups protesting in Iran. A gathering of Iranian teachers who were protesting was also violently dispersed. A coordination council of trade unions, which organized the protests, reported that a number of protests took place across numerous provinces in Iran. Witnesses at the protests reported a strong security presence and also plainclothes men recording the protests. According to Amnesty International, since May 2018 Iran has arrested two dozen teachers. Many of the protests and activists have called for better wages and more funding for public education. While protests and strikes are not uncommon in Iran, they have been receiving more attention possibly due to the higher economic pressure in the country and the impact of social media in personal testimonies. One of the more high-profile cases involved Esmail Bakhshi. A founding member and spokesman for the independent Workers Union of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro Industrial Company in the city of Shush in Khuzestan province, Bakhshi became well-known on social media when workers at the factory began protesting unpaid wages and the privatization of the factory with little transparency. He was arrested in November 2018. Shortly after his arrest, news of his torture slowly trickled out, which he later confirmed on Instagram. Bakhshi was not deterred. In an open letter, which was also published on Instagram, Bakhshi challenged Irans Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi to a live debate over the use of torture in Iran. The allegation was particularly important given that oftentimes some of the most egregious torture cases are blamed on the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whereas Bakhshi singled out the Hassan Rouhani administrations Intelligence Ministry as the culprit. Bakhshis letter resulted in responses both from the judiciary and Rouhani government officials and even prompted a meeting between members of parliament and the Intelligence Ministry. However, members of parliament claimed afterward that Bakhshi was hurt during a fight with Intelligence Ministry officials. At midnight on March 4, 1957, Israel Kastner, returning to his home in Tel Aviv, was confronted by three strangers. Once he affirmed his identity, they shot him. Kastner died 10 days later the first political assassination in the State of Israel. A few hours later the Israeli Security Service caught the murderers. They were Jewish and explained that they murdered Kastner following the libel trial that took place in 1954-1955, in which Kastner, a lawyer, journalist and eventually a civil servant in Israel, was accused of collaborating with the Nazis in Hungary, indirectly helping them eliminate Hungarian Jewry. Kastner sold his soul to the devil, Benjamin Halevi, the judge presiding at the Tel Aviv district court, wrote in his decision on the high-profile case. A year after Kastner's death, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the ruling and cleared him of collaboration with the Nazis. But 62 years after the murder, Kastner's trial remains a point of agitation, with historians arguing passionately about whether Kastner was a hero or a villain of the Holocaust. Rudolf Kastner, also known as Reszo Kastzner, was born in 1906 in the town of Cluj in Transylvania, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied law and then worked as a journalist, and was politically active and involved in Zionist activity. At the beginning of the 1940s Kastner was a member of the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest that helped Jewish refugees who sought shelter in Hungary while fleeing the Nazis and, according to testimonies, he saved tens of thousands of lives. After Hungary was occupied, Kastner was in contact with senior officials in the Reich, including Adolf Eichmann. His contacts enabled Kastner to put 1,684 Jews on a train to Switzerland, saving them from death a fact undisputed by his critics.However, some Holocaust researchers question the motivation of the Nazis in cooperating with him and believe that Kastner traded the lives of those on the train which included his family and friends for other Jews who were left in Hungary. He allegedly knew the others would be put on death trains but failed to warn them. In 1952, journalist Malkiel Greenwald published an article in which he claimed that Kastner, who had immigrated to Israel and was a candidate on the Knesset Mapai list, had collaborated with the Nazis. The scathing article began with the words, The scent of a corpse tickles my nostrils; it will be the best of the best funerals. Dr. Rudolf Kastner must be killed." It claimed not only that Kastner refused to warn the Jews regarding their expected fate but that he helped to deceive many, who following his words boarded the death trains. Greenwald further claimed that Kastner participated with SS official Kurt Bacher in the theft of Jewish property and that he testified in his favor after the war because of this partnership. The claim of theft was disproven in court. Kastner, who worked at the time as the spokesman of the trade and industry minister, submitted a complaint against the journalist, after which the state prosecutor indicted Greenwald for libel. At the trial, Kastner turned from accuser to accused. Greenwald was acquitted, and very harsh things were written about Kastner in the courts decision. The public outcry generated over the affair and the verdict brought about the resignation of Prime Minister Moshe Sharet. In the decision, given after an appeal to the high court, the factual determinations of the district court were not refuted, but the majority opinion of the judges was that Kastner had not collaborated with the Nazis, although they agreed that Kastner had saved the Nazi Kurt Bacher from capital punishment by means of a lie. According to professor Eli Reichenthal, who published a book titled, "The Man Who was Murdered Twice: A Re-examination of the Kastner Affair," Kastner was an informant for the Nazis even before the occupation of Hungary, and this was the reason for the status he gained with the Nazi top command. Reichenthal ascribes to him indirect responsibility for the murder of some 600,000 Hungarian Jews within the space of a few weeks. Kastner methodically concealed information and caused the Jews to get on the death trains in the framework of an agreement he had supposedly reached with [Nazi war criminal Adolf Otto] Eichmann, he explained to Al-Monitor. Kastner had a halo of a Zionist politico, and this caused Jews to believe him. The Nazis appreciated this help and compensated him and his associates through the personal rescue of specific Jews who were smuggled out of the inferno. Eichmann himself said that Kastner was his loyal partner who helped him quiet the ghettos. Holocaust researcher Aryeh Barnea presents a totally opposite position, saying that Kastner could have escaped from the inferno but chose to return to it. Kastner was a tactician who did all he could to save Jews, he told Al-Monitor. He entered the lions den and did everything to save as many Jews as he could. He used bribery, promises and the illusion of cooperation. In this framework he promised senior Nazis money and an alibi for a future trial. This is what happened with the Kastner train and tens of thousands of Jews who were sent to work camps. Even at the end of the war, he went around with Kurt Bacher and convinced the commanders of Nazi camps not to murder prisoners in order to save their own hides. Barnea argues that the claim that Kastner failed to warn Hungarian Jews of the Nazis is not based on fact. Kastner sent emissaries in order to warn the community leaders, but they responded like any sane person would respond: in disbelief. The thought that they are going to murder Jews in crematoriums then sounded insane, he explained. Reichenthal maintains that Hungarian Jews had heard rumors of death camps in Poland. The distance between Cluj and Romania was four kilometers of forest. If Kastner had warned even the 20,000 Jews in Cluj, they would have escaped with their lives. The few who did were indeed saved, but Kastner caused most Jews to get on the death trains. Those who insist on clearing Kastners name are mainly his family including his granddaughter, former Knesset member Meirav Michaeli, who claimed this week that her grandfather was murdered following the incitement of messianic, dangerous right-wing elements. Descendants of the survivors from the Kastner train are also trying to clear him. One of them is artist Itamar Sagi, whose mother, two aunts and grandparents were saved by Kastner. For the past decade, Sagi has organized alternative events in Kastners memory on Holocaust Memorial Day on the street where he was murdered. Sagi put up a memorial plaque near Kastners house, but it has been vandalized three times. From my six family members who were on the train, 200 people were born as of today, Sagi told Al-Monitor. Its a generation that was created thanks to Kastner. We owe him our lives. Barnea believes town squares and avenues should be named for Kastner. According to Yad Vashem, Kastner saved 21,000 Jews. No one is more deserving of commemoration. Maybe he also made mistakes, but what motivated him was saving lives, he argued. Reichenthal reiterated that Kastners real story can be discerned from the voices forever silenced. Its fine that the descendants of Kastners survivors work to commemorate him, but its those who arent here to testify who raise difficult questions.The few of them who survived and testified in Greenwalds trial said difficult things. Kastner will be judged by history and not by a court, Justice Shimon Agranat wrote in the decision. In recent years, more revelations have been published regarding the affair. On April 29, two lists of survivors on Kastners train, drawn up after they reached their destination in Switzerland, were published for the first time. It seems that historys judgement on Kastner is still not final. It was just about 70 years ago during the Holocaust that we were gunned down like this, said Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was injured April 28 when a gunman opened fire at a Chabad synagogue in the San Diego suburb of Poway, murdering congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye. I just want to let our fellow Americans know we arent going to let this happen here. Sadly, hardly a week passes without a radical nationalist, zealot or emotionally disturbed individual shooting indiscriminately at innocent men, women and children in the United States. It happens in public schools, mosques, churches and synagogues, too. In April alone, 25 Americans were killed and dozens were wounded in 33 mass shooting attacks, an average of over one a day. Each attack sets off the debate about controlling the sale of deadly weapons. The growing number of murders attributed to white supremacists also sparks criticism of the forgiving attitude and even sympathy that senior political figures express toward neo-fascist groups. However, anytime Jews are targeted in mass shootings because of their religion, someone invariably brings up the Holocaust. As Israel prepared to mark the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 2, officers of the Israel Defense Forces visited one of the Nazi death camps this week to salute Holocaust survivor Aryeh Pinsker and pledge never again obviously under the watchful eyes of a Channel 13 News camera crew sent from Israel. As he usually does, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his May 1 remembrance speech to link the Holocaust with the Iranian threat. Speaking at the opening ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Netanyahu said that faced with threats of inhalation, Israel wont stand silent, adding, "Contrary to what happened during the Holocaust, we are able and determined to defend ourselves." Some 30 years ago, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman remarked in his bestseller From Beirut to Jerusalem that Israel was becoming Yad Vashem with an air force, a reference to Israels Holocaust memorial institution. In his forward to a new compilation of essays called Victimhood Discourse in Contemporary Israel (Lexington Books), editor Ilan Peleg argues that Holocaust Remembrance Day and even Jerusalem Day (marking Israels June 1967 conquest of East Jerusalem) are variations on the theme of Jewish victimhood, resistance and redemption. The unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict buttresses this theme. Influential political leaders view any criticism by foreigners of Israeli policy in the occupied territories as a continuation of the old anti-Semitic regimes. In a chapter called Historical Victimhood and the Israeli Collective Consciousness Legacies, professor Yechiel Klar describes the historical processes by which Israeli society transformed from an entity seeking to shake off the experience of Jewish victimhood into a society that wallows in a unique mix of victimhood and eternal masterhood. The chapter is based on a study conducted by Klar, head of the social psychology department at Tel Aviv University, along with Noa Schori-Eyal and the late Yonat Klar. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Klar explains that in recent years, the Holocaust has undergone a process of internalization and become an integral part of Israeli identity. Klar adds that paradoxically, this trend has surged even as Israels economic and military abilities have grown stronger. Klar claims that the change in Israels perception of the Holocaust occurred following the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He cites historian Anita Shapira, who wrote in 1998, The sense of helplessness, of there being no way out, that had hitherto been identified only with the Holocaust and life in exile was seen now as being possible in the free Jewish state as well. According to Klar, the Iranian nuclear program, accompanied by routine threats on the part of the Iranian leadership to annihilate Israel, gave rise to the terrible term second Holocaust, which often appears in Israeli discourse. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in 2006, It's 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs. While Irans president denies the Holocaust, he is preparing an additional Holocaust for the Jewish state. At a 2017 bible study session, the prime minister noted that the Hasmonean Kingdom had only survived some 80 years and he was acting to ensure that Israel reaches its 100th anniversary. The Holocaust is present not only when it comes to weighty considerations of security and survival, Klar underscores. It is present in a wide variety of issues facing Israeli society. For example, cultural assimilation and marriages to non-Jews are sometimes termed the silent Holocaust and even described as worse than the Holocaust. However, while drawing links between the Holocaust and threats against Israel has become routine, any attempt to draw parallels between it and Israels treatment of the Palestinians under occupation is a sharp deviation from the consensus. A telling example was the backlash against comments made at a 2016 Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony by Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, then the deputy IDF chief of staff. The career of this promising officer came to an abrupt end when he said, "If there's something that frightens me about Holocaust remembrance it's the recognition of the revolting processes that occurred in Europe in general, and particularly in Germany, back then 70, 80 and 90 years ago and finding signs of them here among us today in 2016." Israels education system makes sure that the lesson young Israelis learn from the Holocaust is not disgust with virulent displays of racism, but simply never again. Thousands of high school students travel every year to the Auschwitz extermination camp draped in Israeli flags and bearing national messages. Note that at exactly this age (just after high school), Israeli youngsters are drafted into the army. After accompanying seven groups of high schoolers in the 1990s on these annual pilgrimages to Poland, sociologist Jacky Feldman wrote that the trips forge links between the Holocaust and the state in order to impart the value of self-sacrifice for the sake of the homeland. This idea is nurtured by overdoses of victimhood, fear-mongering and fear of anti-Semitism. Israelis are suffused with the sense of helplessness, persuading them to see in every stranger a potential anti-Semite. Xenophobia is the result. There is another way. The Holocaust lesson could be epitomized in the exalted humane Jewish value expressed by Talmud-era scholar Hillel the Elder: That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah. Seeking to reset bilateral ties, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan traveled to Tehran recently, making his first visit there since assuming office in August. In February, a suicide attack killed 27 Iranian soldiers near the border, and just before Khan arrived in Tehran, a lethal attack took place at Ormara in Pakistans Baluchistan province, targeting Pakistani soldiers and members of the naval coast guard. Suspecting a foreign hand behind the terror attacks, Khan shared his concerns during a joint press conference April 22 with President Hassan Rouhani, saying, "The most important reason why I'm here, Mr. President, is because I felt that the issue of terrorism was going to increase differences between our countries. Both leaders agreed to take stringent security measures to deal with the wave of terrorism in recent months. The border extends almost 1,000 kilometers (about 600 miles), separating the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan and the southwest Pakistani province of Baluchistan. The remote desert area needs fencing, extra check points and border crossings, as well as constant patrolling to stem an emerging pattern of proxy warfare. Tehran suspects Sunni insurgents backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are launching attacks on Iran from Pakistani soil. Now, the Pakistani and Iranian governments have agreed to establish a Joint Rapid Reaction Force to combat terrorism. Having been a sensitive region since the 1970s, the area has become more important, but even more dangerous, in recent times. The creation of the joint Pakistan-Iran force has great significance for several reasons. To start, Pakistan is also an important member of the Saudi-led Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC). Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman proposed the coalition in 2015 to work together to support the military, financial, intelligence and political efforts of every member state. Though the IMCTC has 41 members under its umbrella now, states where Shiites have significant power like Iran, Syria and Iraq remain excluded, fueling the perception that it is a Sunni lobby force. Nevertheless, the IMCTC commander, Pakistans ex-army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif, tried to set up direct communication channels between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and he made it clear that the IMCTC is not against any country or any sect. Still, forming the Joint Rapid Action Force is not only helping Pakistan upgrade its strategic ties with Iran, it also symbolically brings Pakistans military ties with Tehran on par with Riyadh. Second, stabilizing Pakistans Baluchistan province has great geopolitical importance, as it is crucial for the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Pakistans Gwadar port. This corridor is the first to near completion under Beijings massive Belt and Road Initiative, so avoiding a proxy war in this area is extremely important for China as well. Third, Iran believes that the armed rebels in this region are Saudi-backed, Sunni militant groups, though Riyadh vehemently denies this charge. Complications could arise if both these close allies of Pakistan accuse each other of being the problem. Interestingly, it was officially declared at the press conference during Khans visit that Wahhabi (strict orthodox Sunni Islam) groups are operating in the region. Thus, though the purpose of both the IMCTC and the Joint Rapid Action Force is counterterrorism, it is hoped no sectarian issues arise. In the meantime, Khan has also acknowledged that armed rebels have used Pakistan to carry out attacks on Iran. Though he faced scathing criticism for the admission from the opposition at home, he chose to take this unusual step. Its possible that Khans admission was a quid pro quo gesture to achieve a better level of understanding and consolidate Pakistan-Iran ties. Khan pledges to ban Sunni militant groups like Jaish al-Adl that are carrying out terror attacks in Irans border areas, and expects Tehrans help to flush them out. Militants will have to be eliminated on both sides and their safe havens destroyed. Notably, the intelligence chiefs from both countries discussed ideas on the subject in a special meeting. As always, Pakistan intends to manage these regional issues in a balanced, neutral manner. Staying out of the Saudi-Iran conflict, Islamabad cant swing to either side as it balances both the Sunni and Shiite sects at home, even though it has a massive Sunni majority. Though it stays neutral, Pakistan has remained an important stakeholder in both the Middle East and South Asia. Without Islamabads participation, the Saudi-led IMCTC would lack clout, and even though Pakistan often contributes troops and provides training to the Saudi armed forces, it has never sent soldiers there to fight outside the Saudi kingdom. Refusing to take sides is Pakistans tried-and-tested foreign policy and it would prefer to maintain that policy as it works to contain any proxy war in Baluchistan. Balancing Riyadh and Tehran is tricky, but not impossible. Even though the rivals are facing each other on Pakistans border, both seem to have their sites set on southern Asia right now. Saudi Arabia is looking southeast in the long term as it tries to secure a new market for its energy industry, while US sanctions on Iran have also forced Tehran to look in that direction. At this point, its not really in the Saudi interest to destabilize a province where it has invested heavily and is launching a next-generation petrochemical industry. Ultimately, ending the Saudi-Iran tug of war is best for the region, and mediation efforts must continue. At times, the situation does seem to be on the mend, for example when the Saudi and UAE governments donated to Iran after recent devastating floods. Interestingly, during an April 24 talk at the Asia Society in New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif recently suggested starting a regional dialogue exclusively within the Persian Gulf, saying, We are ready for a nonaggression pact including Saudi Arabia, including the United Arab Emirates. As long as they are also ready, we have no problem. Boeing unveiled its demonstration prototype for a deep space habitat today in the same NASA building in Huntsville, Ala. where space station modules were built in the 1990s. It was one of the reasons we decided to come here and build and demonstrate our exploration system the evolution of those 20 years of operating (in space) and, now, applying those lessons to NASAs plan to going back, Boeing Global Sales Marketing Director Kevin Foley said. Boeing is one of five companies designing life-sized models for the small space station called the Lunar Gateway that will orbit the Moon and serve as a base for astronauts visiting the lunar surface. NASA wont select one winner, but rather look for the best ideas in all five plans. We wont dictate a specific design, a lead NASA lunar exploration director said in March. It is unclear how the Trump administrations call to return to the Moon in 2024 could change those plans, beyond speeding them up, but NASA plans to build the Lunar Gateway, anyway, and send it to the Moon before the astronauts make the trip. Four astronauts will come to Marshall in June to get inside the model and simulate a three-day mission. The same thing will happen at the other four protoype sites, and future Gateway operators will use live data streams to monitor the simulations from NASAs Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston. Chip Link of Boeing said the company based its design on the International Space Station, but completely remodeled the insides. That includes new communications equipment, electronics, galley and bathroom. One innovation was touch-screen controls inside the habitat. Were excited to be working here in this building where all of the history of Apollo and the Space Station occurred, Link said. The Trump administrations plans have created a lot of challenges for American aerospace companies. For example, America doesnt have a lander right now that can take astronauts from the Gateway to the lunar surface and back. Lander plans are also being developed. The current plan calls for astronauts to be launched to the Moon on top of the big Space Launch System rocket NASA is still developing in Huntsville. They would travel in the Orion capsule, dock with the Gateway and descend to the Moon. The other four companies creating prototypes are Lockheed Martin, testing at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, Florida; Northrop Grumman, Johnson Space Center; Sierra Nevada Corp., Johnson Space Center; and Bigelow Aerospace, North Las Vegas, Nevada. Two Birmingham teens were chosen to receive $1,000 scholarships named for Courtlin Arrington, the Huffman High School student fatally shot at school in March 2018. The students are Ramsay High School student Jillian Jolly and Huffman High School student Zekiya Abdullah. They will be honored in a ceremony on May 5 at College Prep U in Trussville. Jolly recently accepted a $300,000 four-year scholarship to Yale University. She has a 4.4 GPA at Ramsay. Ramsay High School student Jillian Jolly recently accepted a $300,000 full-ride, four-year scholarship to Yale. She is also one of the recipients of the Courtlin Arrington Scholarship. (Daniel Roth, City of Birmingham ) Doctor Ankrehah Trimble Johnson of Brownstone Healthcare and Aesthetics created the scholarship in honor of 17-year-old Arrington. The scholarship will go to students interested in the medical field, like Arrington was. She had plans to become a nurse. As a mother and a Doctor my heart was simply broken, Johnson said. I wanted to do something and decided to invest in our future by supporting students interested in the medical field, Johnson said. Jaylin Givens, who graduated from G.W. Carver High School, was the first recipient of the scholarship. She is attending Talladega College and will soon finish her freshman year. Arringtons mother, Tynesha Tatum, said she is happy something positive came from the pain of losing a child. Im trying to stay strong because I still have a son and daughter to raise, Tatum said in a statement. Courtlin was always helping people. Im glad she will be remembered in this way." The Tennessee Department of Public Health is in the process of contacting as many as 600 people including some in Alabama potentially exposed to the measles by an infected east Tennessee man. Health officials said the unvaccinated man traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi April 9-11 before stopping in Alabama on April 11. While in Alabama, he stopped at a gas station in Livingston and a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Fort Payne. Officials in Tennessee are asking those they contact if they have experienced measles symptoms and offering them vaccinations if they are unsure if they are immune, the Knoxville News reported. The notifications turned up no cases that we werent already expecting, said Elizabeth Heart, TDPH associate director of communicators and media relations. Four additional cases of measles, all linked the original source, have also been reported in Tennessee. The cases are part of a larger national outbreak that includes more than 700 cases in 22 states. The Alabama Department of Public Health urged anyone who believed they could have been exposed to call their healthcare provider and isolate themselves if they developed symptoms of measles. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes, followed by white spots in the mouth and a red, spotty rash that typically begins on the face and spreads over the body. ADPH has 32 open measles investigations. State officials confirmed the first case of the virus in Alabama on May 2. Symptoms can develop any time in the 21 days following exposure to the illness. Measles is fatal in one to two out of every 1,000 cases. The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed more than 700 cases of measles, a disease all but eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, since the start of the year. The virus has been reported in 22 states. Measles outbreaks linked to unvaccinated international travelers are ongoing in New York state and New York City; Michigan; New Jersey; California, including Los Angeles and Sacramento counties; Georgia; and Maryland. A high-tech defense company in Huntsville said Thursday it plans to double the size of its presence in the Rocket City and relocate to the development outside Redstone Arsenal. Abaco Systems will open an engineering design center at Redstone Gateway, occupying 40,000 square feet of a building now under construction. The company announced its new offices will bring Abacos overall footprint in Huntsville to more than 125,000 square feet of office, lab and manufacturing space that houses 300 of Abacos more than 700 worldwide workforce. The new site will free up existing space at the Memorial Parkway site for expanded systems integration, assembly and test, needed as a result of several sizable program wins over the past year. Abaco describes itself as a global leader in open architecture computing and electronic systems for aerospace, defense and industrial applications. Weve seen substantial growth in our business especially our systems business that means we have now outgrown our existing Huntsville facility, Rich Sorelle, President and CEO, Abaco Systems, said in the announcement. Were excited to have signed this contract that will give us valuable, purpose-built space that will accommodate not only the growth we have seen, but also the growth we expect to see. The new facility also illustrates the importance we attach to providing our people with the best possible working environment, added Sorelle. Its the second tenant announced this week by Redstone Gateway developers Corporate Office Properties Trust. On Tuesday, COPT announced that Yulista Holding LLC will construct a four-building campus at Redstone Gateway. COPT held a groundbreaking in March for the building that Abaco will lease along with Georgia Tech Research Institute. Abaco Systems has had a strong presence in Huntsville for over 30 years," COPT Chief Operating Officer Paul Adkins said in the announcement. "Were thrilled that they have decided to make Redstone Gateway their home to be closer to their U.S. government contracting customers, to have access to walkable amenities, and to use new facilities as a recruiting tool. Their lease, along with other recent leases, highlights the value proposition of Redstone Gateway. This is an opinion cartoon On Tuesday, the Alabama House voted 3-to-1 to require incest and rape victims to have their rapists babies. If you, like me, had thought for a moment those women in the red Handmaids Tale cloaks were overstating things, you were wrong. - Kyle Whitmire The Alabama House anti-abortion bill is extreme red meat political grandstanding at its worst. If passed, the Alabama House anti-abortion bill could cost the states taxpayers more than the red meat political grandstanding is worth. Business-as-usual on Goat Hill. When GOP lawmakers are in defiant red meat lets-challenge-federal-law mode, the only ones who wind up celebrating are the lawyers who get rich defending their nonsense in court. If you read nothing else on this issue, read Kyle Whitmires column: And youll also want to read Abby Crains story: Check out more cartoons by JD Crowe The Alabama Senate gave final passage today to new restrictions on the use of money allocated to counties intended to feed jail inmates. The bill, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would require counties to establish a prisoner feeding fund to safeguard money intended for that purpose and raises the amount counties receive from the state for jail food. The bill came in response to several incidents of sheriffs using jail food money for their own purposes. The Alabama Sheriffs Association supported the bill. Orrs bill increases the state allowance to sheriffs to feed inmates from $1.75 to $2.25 a day. The House, which passed the bill on Tuesday, took out a provision to automatically raise the allowance by 2 percent a year starting in 2021. That sent the bill back to the Senate. Orr moved to accept the Houses change today and the Senate agreed, giving the final passage. The bill says at least 75 percent of the money left in the prisoner feeding fund at the end of the year must be carried over in the fund for the next year. Sheriffs could spend up to 25 percent of the unencumbered balance at the end of the year for law enforcement purposes. The prisoner feeding funds would be subject to audits by the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts. Orr said the support of county commissions and the sheriffs association helped get the legislation passed. He also thanked an AL.com reporter. I do have to tip my hat to AL.com reporter Connor Sheets," Orr said. "Because I think, having been living this issue for quite some time at the local level, I believe the articles written by that writer, and Ive never met him, made a large difference in the attitude and the atmosphere in the Legislature and those surrounding the Legislature in getting that bill through this year with not a lot of opposition. The bill goes to Gov. Kay Ivey, who could sign it into law. Last year, Gov. Kay Ivey began requiring sheriffs to sign an affidavit that they would use the jail food money only for that purpose. Two awards honoring journalism produced in 2018 have selected AL.com journalist Connor Sheets as a finalist for his work about food fund spending by Etowah Countys Beach House Sheriff. Sheets series revealed questionable spending by former Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin, who pocketed $750,000 from state inmate food funds and purchased a $740,000 beach house. Inmates at the jail alleged that Entrekin cut corners to keep costs down, serving small portions of donated and expired food to people in the facility. Other articles focused on the use of pistol permit funds for advertising and unspent federal dollars for immigration detainees. Lawmakers have since passed laws that would end the practice of allowing Alabama sheriffs to keep leftover food funds. Sheets has been honored several times this year by organizations that recognize outstanding investigative journalism. Im very excited to be a finalist for these awards along with so many other incredible reporters, Sheets said. Its an honor to be recognized by these vital journalism organizations. The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists honor work produced by people younger than 35 and are funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation at the University of Michigan. The organization named 55 finalists in local, national and international reporting. Winners will be announced June 4. The Michael Kelly Award recognizes journalists whose work exemplifies the fearless pursuit and expression of truth. Atlantic Media, which publishes the magazine, administers the prize. Other finalists include Hannah Dreier of ProPublica, who wrote a series about immigrant youth confronting threats by MS-13 and government authorities, Christine Kenneally of BuzzFeed News, who exposed child abuse at a Catholic orphanage and Maggie Michael, Nariman El-Mofty, and Maad al-Zikry of The Associated Press for coverage of the war in Yemen. The winner will be announced May 23. To Jeremy Blair, it only makes sense. If you have a minor physical health situation, you can get treatment almost immediately at walk-in clinics all over the state. But what if instead, you have a mental health situation. Where do you go? Blair, the CEO at Wellstone Behavioral Health in Huntsville, envisions a walk-in clinic for those with mental health issues as readily available as those seeking medicine to fight the flu or an X-ray for a sprained ankle. The Alabama Department of Mental Health is seeking funding for a pilot program for such a facility and Blair said he believes Huntsville is uniquely prepared to be the site for it. What if we had a crisis center that law enforcement could bring that person to or the public could bring somebody to who was in a crisis? Blair said. "Operates 24/7. Thats what were missing. If you think about on the physical health side, weve invested tons of resources in walk-in clinics, emergency rooms, primary care, etc. thats everywhere. American Family Care out of Birmingham kind of pioneered that whole mode. And as for mental health: "Why can't we do the same thing?" Click here to read AL.coms 2016 series on Alabamas mental health crisis Thats what Lynn Beshear, commissioner of the state mental health department, is seeking. Blair said that through Beshear's guidance, money for a crisis center is included in Gov. Kay Ivey's budget that is now before the state legislature for approval. Until that budget is passed with those funds intact, the mental health community is sort of holding its collective breath. Our first budget priority is to fund and ensure compliance to the Home and Community Based Settings (HCBS) Rule, avoiding a loss of $386 million federal dollars to the state and the people we serve," the mental health department said in a statement to AL.com. "The Governor has included funding for HCBS in her budget. Until the session concludes, we are unable to weigh in on how additional priorities will be funded or what may be included in the final budget. However, we welcome the opportunity in the interim to educate the public on a full continuum of crisis care. Behind the scenes and beyond no-comment statements, a bevy of activity is taking place to make the crisis center a reality. Blair recently visited two of the 12 crisis centers in Georgia to learn about its state-funded program and said Beshear has also made visits to the Georgia centers. Blair has also studied a similar program in Tennessee that provides five centers across the state. And Blair has met with Huntsville leaders to pitch the idea for bringing the crisis center to Huntsville and drum up support for some financial backing that would be packaged with state funding. The lack of mental health crisis centers in Alabama is a crisis unto itself and that void is a "glaring hole I dont think we can ignore," Blair said, in the state's care of its mentally ill. In fact, Blair said he believed Alabama should immediately seek to start four crisis centers strategically located across the state and not just settle for one at the outset. How does it work? In most cases, Blair said, a person enduring a mental health crisis ends up in one of two places: Jail or a hospital emergency room. Neither place, he said, is appropriate. A mental health crisis center would be tailored to defuse that crisis. Georgia uses a three-tier system, Blair said, to treat patients at its crisis centers. "It's initially triage and maybe that's as far as someone goes," Blair said. "They get referred to our outpatient services the next day or get an assessment or maybe they need medicine and that's all they need. The second tier is what they call temporary observation. That's kind of like a place someone can come for 23 hours. They are observed and case managers and social workers are working with them to get them linked with whatever service they need to be successful and still live in the community, which is the ultimate goal. "The third tier is an inpatient unit where maybe someone needs a little longer to stabilize, say seven days. That's the tier system we would be looking at it." In Blair's mind, a model for a crisis center might look like this: Beds for children and adolescent patients, of which he said there is a shortage. About 8-12 beds for 23-hour-stay patients. About 24-32 inpatient beds for longer-term patients. About 100 employees to operate the center around the clock. Such a facility could be in a retrofitted building, Blair said, but a lesson learned from Georgia is to build each center from the ground up. "What I learned from Georgia is to do it right, you probably need to build it ground up and design it in such a way that really addresses that tiered system," Blair said. Of course, the biggest question of all: How much will it cost? Blair estimated one center would need about $6-8 million annually, based on the Georgia system. It's not immediately clear how much money Beshear requested for the pilot program. "In 2009, we cut $40 million out of the department of mental health budget that has never returned," Blair said. "Ten years later, we're in a much better financial state. Why dont we look at reinstating that $40 million and putting a portion of it toward these facilities? It's that concept of let me look at your checkbook and I'll tell you what you value. "For a system that has been starved of resources for a long time, putting some resources and investing in something like this, where it's not invest it for investment sake, you really are getting a return on your investment." Why Huntsville? Blair cited an example of such an investment paying dividends by pointing to the jail diversion program in Madison County and elsewhere around the state. Those funds are saved by not paying for those suffering from mental health issues to be in jail but are still meeting their obligations in the justice system while also diminishing overcrowding in jails. "They are in there because they can't navigate the system and we're getting them out," Blair said. "Over the last 18 months, we've gotten 55 clients out of the jail and hooked up to whatever resources they need. Of those 55 over that 18-month period, only one has returned to the jail." Youre spending (up to) $200,000 on the front end but youre saving $400,000-500,000 on the back end. Imagine then if you are doing the same thing with a facility like this. The jail diversion program in Huntsville emerged from an effort by late Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison a longtime mental health treatment advocate who brought renowned mental health crisis expert Leon Evans to the Rocket City to meet with law enforcement and other local leaders in 2016. Huntsville is also uniquely qualified, Blair said, because of training received by law enforcement in Huntsville, Madison and Madison County. The training is funded after Huntsville police received one of only four federal grants awarded for the program. The first class of 20 officers from Huntsville police, Madison police and Madison County sheriff's department graduated on Feb. 22 and a second class is now in training. Mayor Battle, Chief McMurray and Madison City Chief Jernigan attended the Crisis Intervention Graduation today. LE Officers from HPD, @madisonpoliceAL and @mcsosheriffAL are now certified C.I.T. Members. pic.twitter.com/WpGAdEoAGL Huntsville Police (@HsvPolice) February 22, 2019 The training "marks the beginning of a new initiative designed to improve the way law enforcement and the community respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis," according to Huntsville police. "What it does is it trains our officers who are so often on the front lines in encountering someone in a mental health crisis how to recognize signs and symptoms and recognize this is a mental health crisis," Blair said. "And gives them the skills to help defuse that mental health crisis." Blair also commended the support system in Huntsville, including the North Alabama Mental Health Coalition. If funding for the pilot program passes the legislature and signed into law by Ivey, Blair said the next step would likely be for interested communities to submit a bid to bring that crisis center to their area. "The commissioner's vision is this would be a blended effort between the Department of Mental Health, state legislators putting money in and local support as well. In my conversations, there is definitely local support for something like this. They understand it. Our police chief and our sheriff, they see the value in this facility. Even our local (legislative) delegation in the conversations I've had are supportive of this effort. I dont think anybody disagrees that we dont need something like this. Its more about how to we make it happen. An Alabama lawmaker is defending comments that on Wednesday quickly shook the hornets nest of the abortion ban debate. So you kill them now or you kill them later. You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later, State Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, said in a video posted on Twitter. On Thursday, Rogers defended the statement, arguing Alabama does not value life despite the House having just passed what some say is one of the strictest abortion laws in America. Weve closed 13 rural hospitals in this state. Including Cooper Green. We have put hundreds of people in jail. Making it hard for you to get food stamps. In other words, if youre on drug tests, you cant get food stamps, Rogers said Thursday. And then youve got at least two people a night dying in our Alabama prisons. It just doesnt make sense. So why do you want to bring these people in the world and then deny them the right to process and live in Alabama? The original statements quickly prompted an intense backlash. This is one of the most horrific statements Ive ever heard from an elected official, and it follows the previous disgusting comments from Governor Northam in Virginia, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne said in a statement. The American people must put our foot down and say enough is enough. Every single life is precious and worth fighting for. Im disappointed Alabama has a Senator in Doug Jones who is unabashedly pro-abortion and refuses to stand up to this type of extremism from members of his own party. Alabama deserves a 100% pro-life voice representing us in the Senate." This is stomach curling and makes Ralph Northam look like a moderate on abortion. Every Democrat running for President needs to be asked where they stand on this. The extreme turn we've seen from Dems on abortion recently is truly sickening. https://t.co/KchZfqvQMK Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 1, 2019 Representative Rogers remarks are chilling. Kill them now, or you kill them later? His comments should be condemned at the state and national level, Alabama Senate Majority Leader Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said in a statement. Every human life, no matter how weak or small, has inherent dignity because we are all made in the image of God. House Bill 314, which the House passed 74-3, recognizes and protects the dignity of human life, and the Alabama Senate looks forward to debating and voting on this important pro-life measure in the coming days. 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. Full coverage of the abortion debate 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. Rogers on Thursday argued the bill intrudes on a womans right to make decisions about her own health and will likely lead to a costly lawsuit for Alabama. Instead, Rogers said, Alabama should focus on expanding Medicaid and keeping rural hospitals open. For the state not to do for its poor people, is killing them every day in this state. And then paying $1.8 million to fight a lawsuit they might, probably going to lose. Thats what Im saying. Youre killing me now or killing me later or killing me later. Youre killing me anyway. Edited at 11:35 a.m. to add Sen. Greg Reeds title. Two people were injured -- one of them critically -- in a shooting early Wednesday evening in Birminghams Ensley neighborhood, police said. The victims, a man and a woman, were taken to a local hospital for treatment after the incident at 35th Street Ensley by Avenue N, according to a Birmingham police sergeant at the scene. The man suffered life-threatening injuries, police said, while the woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries. No further information was immediately available. The new Miss USA is... Miss North Carolina Cheslie Kryst is the new Miss USA. Kryst, 28, is a full-time attorney licensed to practice in two states. She earned both her law degree and MBA from Wake Forest University and graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree from the Honors College at the University of South Carolina. Kryst is a former Division I athlete, having competed in the heptathlon, long jump and triple jump on South Carolina's track and field team. Kryst runs a fashion blog, White Collar Glam, that focuses on workwear fashion for women. First runner up was New Mexico. Second runner up was Miss Oklahoma. Top 3 The field is down to three. They are: Miss North Carolina, Miss Oklahoma and Miss New Mexico. Each contestant will now be asked another on-stage question. Top 5 After evening gown, here are the top 5: Miss New Mexico, Miss North Carolina, Miss Nevada, Miss Oklahoma and Miss Arkansas. Next up is the question and answer portion. After that, the field will be cut to three who will deliver their final statements. The final contestant to make it into the Top 5 is ARKANSAS! LIVE from @GrandSierra in @RenoTahoe, this is #MissUSA LIVE on @FOXTV. pic.twitter.com/pd7eNKGnYD Miss USA & Miss Teen USA (@MissUSA) May 3, 2019 The top 10 The top 10 were announced after the swimsuit competition. The top 10 are: Miss Arkansas, Miss Ohio, Miss Kansas, Miss North Carolina, Miss District of Columbia, Miss New Mexico, Miss Maryland, Miss Florida, Miss Nevada; and Miss Oklahoma. The evening gown competition is next. Top 15 The top 15 contestants are: Miss Florida, Miss New Mexico, Miss Arkansas, Miss Ohio, Miss Oklahoma, Miss Iowa, Miss Minnesota, Miss District of Columbia, Miss Louisiana, Miss North Carolina, Miss Kansas, Miss Pennsylvania, Miss Maryland, Miss Hawaii and Miss Nevada. The swimsuit competition is next. Earlier: The 68th annual Miss USA pageant will air tonight live from Reno, Nevada with contestants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia seeking the crown. The evening will end with Miss USA 2018 Sarah Rose Summers crowning her successor. Contestants have previously competed in preliminary events, with tonights featuring including introductions, swimsuit, evening gown and on-stage question. Tonights event starts at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT)) on Fox. The two-hour pageant can be watched live on Fox or online or via streaming services with a cable subscription. Hosts are Vanessa Lachey and Nick Lachey, with performances by T-Pain and Nick Lachey. Carson Kressley and Lu Sierra will provide commentary. You can also catch Miss Universe Catriona Gray in the CHI Haircare Loungue on the official Miss USA Facebook page. This years judges include Ukonwa Ojo, Kim Kaupe, Pat Smith, Nicole Feld, Hillary L. Schieve, Denise Quinones, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters and Amy Palmer. Its the first time Reno has hosted the pageant, which takes places just days after Miss Teen USA, 18-year-old Connecticut resident Kaliegh Garris, was crowned. You can see more on the contestants here. Tonights winner will go on to represent the U.S. in the Miss Universe pageant. . A Tuscaloosa man previously convicted of murder was indicted in federal court Wednesday on a gun-related charge stemming from an incident in late March, the Birmingham U.S. attorney said. Montez Vanterus Spradley, 36, was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of felon in possession of a firearm, Jay Town, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, said in a statement. The charge stems from a domestic disturbance incident at a Tuscaloosa apartment March 26, prosecutors said. Spradley is banned from possessing guns because he has prior convictions in Jefferson County for felony murder, intimidating a witness, unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and second-degree assault, Town said. Individuals with felony convictions, especially those involving violence and drugs, will answer to federal charges if they are caught with firearms, he said in a statement. The U.S. attorneys office appreciates the thorough investigation by the Tuscaloosa patrol officers at the scene and the ATF Task Force Officers quick preparation of this case for a federal charge. Criminals should be aware that every level of law enforcement is working together to get them off of the streets...and its working! As Margaret and Bill Kilgore stood inside the new terminal at the Downtown Mobile Airport Wednesday, they couldnt help but be satisfied with not having to drive an extra hour or so to Pensacola. With the opening of the new airport terminal at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, the family gatherings became more convenient. Its an awesome moment for the city, said Kilgore of Chickasaw, as she awaited her sister, Judy Lyon, who was flying in from Chicago. This is something that has been talked about for years, and now that its coming to fruition, Im glad. Indeed, talk became reality during inaugural flights into Mobile. An inbound Frontier Airways flight from Chicagos OHare International Airport arrived around 12:30 p.m., followed with the first departure around 2 p.m. The inaugural flight was aboard an Airbus A320 plane that was built at Mobiles Airbus manufacturing plant, which is a short distance from the Downtown Mobile Airport within the Brookley Aeroplex industrial park. It was delivered to Frontier on March 22. Chris Curry, the president of Mobile Airport Authority, and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson were on the inaugural Chicago-bound flight. Before their departure, they spoke during a brief ceremony on the airports official opening day. A more public ceremony is scheduled to take place on May 8. When you think of what is happening to the Brookley Aeroplex and what will happen, this is one of the most significant things to occur in this footprint and one of the most significant things to happen in this city and region, Stimpson said. The departure of Frontiers Flight 413 marked the first time a commercial flight took off from the Brookley complex since the 1940s. Commercial air service has long occurred at Mobile Regional Airport in the far western edges of the city. But hampered with high fares and few choices outside the legacy airlines Delta, American Airlines and United city officials and the Mobile Airport Authority have pressed forward with a long-term goal of shifting the citys entire commercial service to the Brookley Aeroplex. A $1.5 million master plan, which could take two years to complete, is being mostly financed the Federal Aviation Administration and will examine a shift of commercial air service the Downtown airport. We feel the relocation service to the downtown airport will provide a significant boost to tourism and business, said Curry. Jonathan Freed, spokesman with Denver-based Frontier Airlines, urged Mobile area residents to take advantage of the flights currently being offered from the Downtown Mobile Airport. Frontier is offering three flights each week to Denver International Airport, and twice weekly to Chicagos OHare International Airport. Im always asked the question, Whats next? said Freed Well, in a sense, I say vote for us. When you buy your tickets, you get our attention and we see the demand. Frontiers arrival into Mobile is the third airport in Alabama for the company to fly out of within the past 13 months. Frontier began with departures to Denver and Orlando International Airport from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in April 2018. The company began flights from Huntsville International Airport in October. The company is referred to as a low-cost carrier, providing cheaper fares for nonstop destinations often not provided by the legacy carriers. We are all-in in this state, said Freed. The new terminal in Mobile is an approximately $8.8 million facility. Of that, $6 million was assessed in reconstruction of a former Airbus logistics facility into the new terminal. Another $2.8 million was spent on security upgrades, according to Curry. Curry said the Airport Authority self-funded the entire project, and that no borrowing was needed. The construction was on a fast-track as well. Freed recalled visiting the facility in January, and noticing that it was an empty shell. Its amazing what commitment and determination and support of your community can do, he said. A Georgia lawmaker called on Gov. Brian Kemp to veto that states proposed law banning abortion six weeks after conception, saying that Alabama had out-crazied Georgias legislation with an even stricter ban. Georgia State Sen. Jennifer Jordan, D-Atlanta, encouraged Kemp to let Alabama pay for the ensuing litigation she and others say will come if the abortion bills are signed into law. Jordan tweeted that Kemp should veto the Georgia bill and let our neighbors focus on and pay for the ensuing multi-year litigation extravaganza. So now that Ga has been out-crazied by Alabama - can the state of Ga wake up from its fever dream? Ga Gov should veto #HB481 & let our neighbors focus on and pay for the ensuing multi-year litigation extravaganza. While that happens we can focus on making people's lives better. https://t.co/WXoLKg0tvq Jen Jordan (@senatorjen) May 1, 2019 Georgia legislators this year passed what is known as a heartbeat bill." The bill bans all abortions six weeks after conception. Kemp is expected to sign the bill into law. Alabamas abortion ban bill passed in the state House of Representatives on Tuesday. Full coverage of the abortion debate in Alabama The Alabama bill bans abortion from the moment of conception and makes no exceptions for pregnancies as a result of rape or incest. A Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates spokesperson said Alabamas legislation could be the most extreme abortion ban bill post Roe V. Wade. For years, Alabama politicians have promised to increase rural broadband access. So whats the hold up? Join us in Reckons Policy & Politics Group for a chat with Sean Strickler, vice president of Public Affairs, Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives, to answer any questions you have about rural broadband access. To make sure Sean is able to see and answer your questions, please post them directly into the Facebook comments rather than the AL.com comment section. Each Thursday at 11 a.m., Reckon hosts conversations with experts from around the state about a variety of topics. Interested in civil asset forfeiture? Check out this conversation with Alabama Arise from last week. How about payday lending reform? Heres a discussion with Alabama Appleseed. If you want more information like this, follow Reckon on Facebook or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. If youre interested in having conversations with other Alabamians about how to make the state an even better place, join the Reckon Policy & Politics group. (ANSA) - Budapest, May 2 - Anti-migrant Euroskeptic League leader Matteo Salvini had talks Thursday with nationalist Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban in Budapest and called for an alliance between the European nationalist parties he leads and the conservative European People's Party (EPP) that Orban belongs to. Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Salvini told a press conference with Orban that his "stronger than ever" alliance for the European elections hopes to have "dialogue" with the European People's Party to "leave out the Left, which wishes Europe ill". "I'm part of a stronger than ever alliance, not rightist but alternative to the bureaucrats", he said of the line-up of nationalist and populist parties he has assembled. "I hope we can dialogue with the conservatives to leave out the Left, which wants the worse for Europe". He said the goal was to "be decisive in Europe and govern the change that will come in a different way than in the past". Salvini's League is part of an alliance with French, German, Polish, Hungarian and other nationalist and far-right parties. Salvini added that "if Orban wins an alliance with the EPP is inevitable". Orban, for his part, called on the EPP, which his party is part of, to "go to the right" and stressed that "we need an anti-migration EU". Orban has been in danger of being ejected from the EPP because of his hard right policies. Salvini also said that EU-imposed austerity policies had "put peace at risk". Earlier Thursday Salvini visited the wall Hungary has erected along its border with Serbia with Orban. "We want a different Europe, one that defends security and boosts jobs, the family and the Christian identity of our continent," said Salvini, whose anti-migrant League is forecast to be the Italian party that will get most votes in this month's European elections. "You can only enter Italy, Hungary and Europe if you have permission". Spains Socialists won the vote but far-right Vox party enters parliament for the first time with its politics of fear. It was election day and a cameraman and I were chasing voters outside a polling centre in Madrid. All week, the media had hyped it to be the most divisive election in Spains young democracy. They speculated that millions of torn and undecided voters might choose to stay home instead. But this was the first sunny Sunday in weeks, and a steady stream of people had shown up to cast their ballots. What drove them here? We had to block the fascists, admitted our first victim. 190425204740082 Because the left could put Spains unity in danger, confessed the second. My cameraman and I looked at each other to confirm the hunch we had formulated that week. This election was running on fear of the far right and loathing of separatist movements. Rise of Vox The far-right Vox partys five-year journey from political obscurity to centre-stage rang alarm bells early on. In the lead-up to 2018s regional elections in Andalusia, party leader Santiago Abascal was filling stadiums and spooking critics with pledges to Make Spain Great Again by fighting an Islamist invasion and reversing abortion laws that radical feminists had fought for. Opinion pieces warned of threats to Spains 40-year democracy and a return to the right-wing era under General Francisco Franco. This voter says he went to the ballot box to block the fascists [Sandra Gathmann/Al Jazeera] Abascal even addressed his enemies fears head-on in a highly quoted speech. The left is obsessed with calling Spaniards who love Spain, fascists those of you who want to defend your borders and your country, xenophobes and fascists those of you who like Spanish traditions, retrogrades and fascists. In response, supporters on social media embraced the label. If thats being fascist then I am! they tweeted. 190428191917273 Vox went on to win a record number of votes, joining forces with the conservative Peoples Party and centre-right Ciudadanos (Citizens) party to unseat the socialists in Andalusia after 36 years. By the time the 2019 general elections kicked off, there was growing uncertainty about whether the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) could win enough votes to keep their lead, or whether Vox would become kingmaker in a conservative coalition once again. The party ended up getting 10 percent of the total vote, entering parliament for the first time. So what led to the rise of Vox? In part, fear. The party capitalised on culture clashes with left-wing proposals such as mandatory feminism classes in schools as well as animal rights groups efforts to ban rural traditions like bullfighting and hunting. We filmed inside one bullfighting ring in the small town of Santa Cruz de Mudela, where some fans told us that Vox was standing up for the sport. Bullfighting absolutely needs protecting because Spain wouldnt be Spain without it, said one woman. But it all boiled down to one issue in particular Spains national unity. Catalonia fear factor We sat down with Jose Ignacio Torreblanca from the European Council on Foreign Relations who explained the rise of the far right is in part a reaction to the 2017 failed independence referendum attempt in Catalonia. When you have a nationalist push for an illegal attempt to secede and when you have victimisation in Catalan society saying Spain robs us, Spain oppresses us, Spain is nasty, Spain is poorer than us you start feeding into a sentiment that was dormant, said Torreblanca. Some voters say Spains unity is in danger because of separatist groups [Sandra Gathmann/Al Jazeera] In the 2016 elections, parties presenting Franco nostalgia got 90,000 votes in a country of 45 million people, Torreblanca added. And now were speaking of Vox getting 10 percent of the vote, which means something has been shaken. Someone has kicked the beehive and the bees are out. And frustration with the Catalans was not contained to the far right. There was a backlash in moderate circles against Pedro Sanchez and his PSOE when they took power in 2018 and joined Catalan separatist parties in a coalition. The Catalans demand for a new vote on independence was seen as a liability, especially after they voted down Sanchezs budget in protest, triggering elections. A sort of Never Sanchez campaign was pushed by both the conservative Peoples Party and Ciudadanos, which conveyed that a vote for the socialists was a vote for political chaos. Against the backdrop of the Venezuelan crisis, there were fears too that the far-left Podemos party (which has been accused of having been funded by Hugo Chavezs government) would once again share power with the socialists, and bring Spains recovering economy to ruin. Surprise turnout If there was a single indicator that Spaniards felt their future was at stake in these elections, it was a very high turnout. 190429132609930 A total of 73 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, mostly for the incumbent socialists, though they fell short of a parliamentary majority. In Catalonia, participation reached record highs, with voters (including two-thirds of Catalans who consider themselves Spaniards) appearing to throw their weight behind moderate separatist parties. The Republican Left of Catalonia party, which is most open to talks with Madrid, won 15 seats up from nine in 2016. While the more hard line Together for Catalonia lost one seat, leaving it with seven. When the results rolled in, one Spaniard confessed to me he was disappointed not with the result themselves but the fact they did not convey party loyalty. These were votos del miedo or votes out of fear, said Jaime. People just wouldnt have gone to the polls otherwise. The European Parliament vote is often considered mundane but with Brexit and rising populism, this year could surprise. Between Thursday and Sunday, millions will choose who represents them at the European Parliament (EP), the European Unions (EU) parliamentary institution directly elected by citizens aged 18 or older. The EU is often considered an obscure and technocratic body somewhere between a nation-state and an international organisation such as the United Nations. Many have lost faith in its ability to improve their lives. But with Brexit looming and nationalist populism on the rise, this years election a political event held every five years is seen by many as decisive for its future. Britain and the Netherlands kick off voting on Thursday. Here is what you need to know: What is European Parliament and how will elections work? The EP is effectively the lower house of the EUs legislative branch. It cant propose legislation thats the European Commissions prerogative or decide on a budget like a regular parliament. But all EU laws must be approved by a majority of EP members (MEPs) to then be applied in all 28 member states. Originally, the EPs powers were limited. But as the EU grew and its member states shared more responsibilities, the EP became co-legislator with the European Council. Elections are held at the national level and respect each countrys electoral tradition. The British and the Dutch will be first to vote on May 23, followed by the Irish on May 24, and the Maltese, Latvians and the Slovaks on May 25. Most countries will vote on May 26, a Sunday. The minimum age to vote is 18, except in Austria and Malta where its 16. There are 751 seats, but this number will go down to 705 after Britain exits the bloc. Each member state is allocated a certain number of representatives, or MEPs, depending on their total population. Germany, the most populous EU member, will send 96 MEPs to Brussels, whereas Malta and Luxembourg only get to elect six. 190408132217244 Every country votes on the principle of proportional representation, meaning that each political party or list of candidates gets a number of seats equivalent to their share of the vote. A party needs to gather at least 5 percent of the votes in one country to enter the European Parliament (EP). There are eight pan-European political groups that MEPs can choose to join. It takes 25 MEPs from seven different countries to form a political group. The two largest groups are the centre-right European People Party (EPP) and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The right-wing eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is the third largest. Current EP President Antonio Tajani, an Italian, is with the EPP. Whats expected to happen? For the first time since 1979, the centre-left and the centre-right could lose their majority and wave goodbye to their ruling coalition. The centre-left will recede again, the centre-right should minimise their losses, and the far right will continue to rise. But the big question is: what will happen at the centre?, said Amandine Crespy, a professor of European studies at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. In terms of voter turnout, between 1979 and 2014, it fell from 62 percent to only 42 percent. This years projections dont look optimistic. Why is the 2019 vote important? There are two factors. The first is that the vote takes place amid Brexit, which marks the first time a country will leave the EU. There is now a feeling of urgency, Europe is going through an existential crisis, said Crespy. The second is that the vote could also be divisive because of an expected rise in anti-EU forces, or Eurosceptics. Those parties oppose the principle of a democratic EU and want to change it from within, said Sylvain Kahn, a professor of European studies at Science Po Paris. According to Shahin Vallee, a researcher at the European Institute of LSE, They will set the tone of the European debates for the next five years. In May, we will be able to tell what direction the EU will take on a whole number of issues, from the regulation of the GAFAs (giant tech firms) to its attitude towards China, and of course, its migration policy. How will Brexit affect the vote? The UK was due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. But it didnt. The EU Council decided that if the UK doesnt leave before May 22, it should take part in the European elections like any other member state. 190405143034802 It will turn into a second referendum, said Crespy, creating an impossible situation in the EP and other European institutions. Until the UK leaves, it remains a rightful EU member with its EU commissioner, voting rights in the EU Council, and its 73 MEPs, including far-right Nigel Farage chair of the populist Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy political group. Vallee fears the UKs participation in the vote would lead to a one foot in, one foot out [situation] which would most certainly paralyse the already fragile functioning of the unions institutions. Will the elections affect the EUs influence on the world stage? Europe is often seen as an economic giant but political dwarf. The EU remains a political structure in the making. Europes weakness is first and foremost political, said Vallee. Between 2012 and 2014, during the Eurozone crisis, Vallee was an adviser to then-president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. The European Union suffers from two evils, he said. It doesnt have an identified government, able to make strategic decisions like the United States or China. And it lacks democratic legitimacy because the EP is too weak. Since the creation of the EU in the 1950s, a fierce debate on the notion of sovereignty has agitated the continent. The big question is: will we be more efficient and resilient to cope with worlds challenges by uniting with other countries or not? One for all and all for one like the musketeers or by yourself? said Kahn. Vallee advocates for radical change. We need to create European sovereignty. Sovereignty is to be understood as the capacity to act on the worlds course; therefore we need a real European government and parliament, independent from the member states. On April 10, the photograph of 22-year-old engineering student Alaa Salah chanting in front of a crowd of protesters went viral, capturing the worlds attention and breaking an international media blackout on Sudans protests. She was quickly branded the symbol of the Sudanese revolution, her image defying spurious normative ideas of Muslim women as oppressed and politically passive. The international media obsessed over her act of courage and exceptionalised it, missing a critical opportunity to look into the central role Sudanese women have played in the revolution so far and the broader historical context in which their activism has emerged. In fact, the history of Sudan has been dotted by iconic female figures: from the Kandaka (the Nubian queen) of Meroe, whose military strategy prevented Alexander the Great from conquering Nubian lands in 332 BC, to Dr Khalida Zahir, Sudans first female doctor who was arrested by the British in 1946 for opposing colonial rule, to Fatima Ibrahim a prominent communist and leader of the Sudanese Womens Union, who fought for womens right to vote, equal pay and maternity leave. It is important for us, two women from Gezira and Darfur, to point out that while some of these feminist icons from central and northern Sudan have received recognition, the critical role working-class women and women from marginalised regions have played as drivers of popular resistance against dictatorship, political marginalisation and state violence in Sudan for decades has largely been overlooked. In this sense, Alaa is the daughter of not just prominent Sudanese feminists but also of generations of ordinary women from across Sudan who have been at the forefront of anti-regime resistance. Their fight for dignity and freedom has laid firm foundations from which now she and countless other young women protesters can step in their courageous struggle against the regime. Alaa Salah stands in front of a mural depicting her in Khartoum, on April 20, 2019 [Reuters/Umit Bektas] What Alaa said and the world didnt hear Although much has been written about Alaas image, the international media largely ignored the words she spoke that day: They imprisoned us in the name of religion, burned us in the name of religion killed us in the name of religion she chanted, quoting a poem by Sudanese poet Azhari Mohamed Ali. But Islam is innocent. Islam tells us to speak up and fight against tyrants the bullet doesnt kill. What kills is the silence of the people. Alaas recitation was by no means an exceptional act. Her public performance echoes a long tradition of Sudanese women performing praise and lament poems to honour the dead, boost the morale of warriors and defy ruthless leaders. Among Sudans renowned female poets are Meheira bint Aboud from Nubia, who famously recited poems to Sudanese warriors fighting against the invading armies of Egyptian Khedive Mohammed Ali Pasha, and the anti-colonial icon Hawa al-Tagtaga from Kordofan, who was jailed by the British after performing nationalist songs at the Labour Theatre in Atbara, on the eve of Sudans independence. More importantly, with the poem she recited, Alaa, like many Sudanese women before her, was rebelling against the regimes pernicious practice of using religion in its repressive campaigns to silence dissent. In 1992, three years after Omar al-Bashir took power through a military coup, his government passed a series of public order laws under the guise of implementing Islamic law in many parts of the country. These laws allowed its security apparatus to criminalise women wearing trousers, leaving their hair uncovered, singing immoral songs at weddings and concerts and going out with male friends. They were often used by security officers to harass and arrest women journalists, musicians and dissidents, who criticised the regime. In 2009, for example, journalist Lubna al-Hussein, an outspoken critic of the regime, was sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public but fought her charges in court. The same year, 16-year-old Silva Kashif, a young Christian woman from South Sudan living in Khartoum, was lashed 50 times for wearing a skirt that fell below her knees, after being denied the right to trial. These public order laws were also used to systematically target and undermine the livelihoods of working-class women. In 2017, for example, the regime banned 380 female tea vendors from working on Nile Street in downtown Khartoum. The women, led by the Association of Food and Beverage Vendors, fought back by organising a vigil to demand the ban be reversed. Today, this same association is at the forefront of anti-regime protests in Khartoum. A woman sells tea in a cafe area close to the main gathering point for the demonstrations against the military government in Khartoum, Sudan on April 27, 2019 [Fredrik Lerneryd/Getty Images] Women of the periphery resisting Religion and Arabised identity have long been instrumentalised by the ruling Sudanese elite in order to suppress dissent among various groups in Sudans peripheral areas. As Roselyn Onyeka, a South Sudanese activist, pointed out in a conversation with us, Sudans periphery has resisted the assimilationist campaigns of successive northern regimes, and their policy of concentrating resources in the capital and surrounding areas, leaving other regions impoverished and underdeveloped. In the 1980s, women and men in the south led non-violent protests against the regime of Sudanese dictator Gaafar Nimeiry, his attempt to impose Islamic law on a multi-religious nation and his campaign of detention, torture and killings of civilian dissidents. Onyeka said she still vividly remembers the day she participated in a protest against the imposition of Arabic and Islamic Studies as a prerequisite to obtaining a high school certificate in the mid-1980s. She was a secondary school student at the time and recalls leading an all-girls march in front of her school to demand an end to this discriminatory policy. We watched as a military tank approached, pointing its gun towards us. Had it not been for a northern soldier who refused his commanders orders and stepped out of the tank to point the gun into the air, we would have all been killed that day, she said. Onyeka asserts that women in her native Eastern Equatoria have always played an important role in preventing inter-communal violence and brokering peace between communities. Similarly, in Darfur, hakamat or female poets have historically played significant social and political roles as oral historians and in encouraging or discouraging war. In recent years, they have engaged in peace-building efforts and have openly criticised members of the regime. Women also joined the armed struggle as both fighters and strategists in South Sudan, the Nuba Mountains and elsewhere. Katibat banat, for instance, an all-women battalion, which formed part of the Southern Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), played a significant yet undervalued role during Sudans second civil war. A southern Sudanese woman and her child prepare an evening meal on September 30, 2003, while armed with a Kalashnikov in a homestead in Rumbek, South Sudan [Reuters] It is important to note, however, that armed resistance movements in these regions largely emerged after non-violent resistance against political exclusion, underdevelopment, and fabricated food shortages was violently suppressed by post-colonial regimes. This history of non-violent resistance, led by women (and men) in South Sudan, Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and Eastern Sudan, has purposefully been erased and written out of Sudans history books and public memory. It is this deliberate exclusion that has led many to mistakenly view Sudans revolutions (of 1964, 1985 and now 2019) as disconnected from popular resistance movements in marginalised areas of the country this despite the fact that the protests in December first started in the periphery. When the centre and periphery come together As women took to the streets in Khartoum and other cities in the countrys centre to protest alongside men, they faced the full brutality of al-Bashirs security apparatus. Female protesters were arrested, tortured and killed by security forces alongside their male counterparts. A significant number of those arrested were sexually assaulted by their jailers. While such brutal tactics had been used against protesters and dissidents in Khartoum in the past, communities in the south and west of the country have faced them on a much larger scale. For decades, under the cover of a state of emergency, the regime has perpetrated indiscriminate attacks on civilians and brutally suppressed civil society and youth-led civic resistance. As protests gained momentum, women in rural areas took the opportunity to speak up about these atrocities in their own communities outside the capital. In a video widely circulated on Sudanese social media shortly after al-Bashirs removal, an unnamed woman protesting in Kordofan can be seen chanting: From Kordofan [the revolution] has emerged, after we have been hit by gunfire. This is a government with no feelings and the Nuba mountains, like Darfur their blood is very expensive. We will protect our land, oh farmer. Our Sudan will be set free! Some women from rural, peripheral areas have travelled to Khartoum to support the protests, and to ensure that their demands for political inclusion and justice are met. At the sit-in in front of the military headquarters, a woman protester from Darfur who wished to remain anonymous, told us that the cycle of death and pain women, and particularly mothers, in central Sudan have suffered over the last four months, is all too familiar to her. People in her displaced community in South Darfur have faced death and violence at the hands of government militias since 2003; sexual assault has been used systematically against women as part of this brutal onslaught. She insisted that those responsible for these war crimes must be brought to justice. Darfuri women participate in a peace rally on International Peace Day at the town of el-Fasher in North Darfur on September 23, 2013 [Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah] Youth from the periphery have also now taken it upon themselves to educate revolutionaries in Khartoum about their struggles and about the importance of viewing them as integral to the larger project of building a new Sudan. Last week, a group of young Darfuri women and men, for example, decided to launch a campaign to raise awareness about the atrocities the regime had committed in places like Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile state, Eastern Sudan, South Sudan and in the far north where government-built dams have displaced tens of thousands. They prepared an improvised exhibition of images that document these atrocities inside a makeshift tent at the centre of the sit-in. In a conversation with us, the young women organisers expressed hope to launch a series of political education workshops and lectures, and help more people acknowledge the devastating consequences of collective denial. Building the new Sudan we want Centring the voices of women who have fought and suffered the oppression of the regime for decades is crucial, especially at a moment when the international media is primarily focused on the ongoing sit-in in Khartoum. This myopic focus on the capital has disregarded ongoing protests in places like Zalingei and Nyala in Darfur, Port Sudan and Gedaref in the east, Atbara in the north, Wad Medani in Gezira and Singa in Sennar state. Demonstrators help a woman who was shot in her hand during clashes with security forces, in Umm Ruwaba, North Kordofan, Sudan on December 23, 2018 [Sudanese Activist via AP] While the military in Khartoum began protecting protesters from the gunfire of snipers deployed by the interior ministry, outside the capital they did not intervene to stop such violence. The day al-Bashir was overthrown, security forces killed some 13 civilians outside the capital. We should not forget that the army constitutes an integral part of the former regime and that a continuous presence of al-Bashirs inner circle in politics will allow the regime to reproduce itself and survive. Only when the former regime is fully dismantled, can the task of building a new Sudan led by a civilian transitional government begin. This process, however, has to involve women, who have borne the brunt of our extractive war economy and political repression. With this idea in mind, on April 14 a coalition of womens groups who have been mobilising people and leading protests throughout this uprising issued a statement in support of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, demanding that at least 50 percent of those who make up every facet of the new transitional government are women and that affirmative action be implemented in favour of representatives from marginalised regions. The fact that the protesters both women and men have made it clear that they reject the new leadership of the military council is an encouraging sign. The councils head, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemeti) are both responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by forces under their command in Darfur and in South Sudan. Whatever attempts are made abroad to whitewash their track record will likely fail to take any effect at home. Meanwhile, there has also been a push for much introspection within the protest movement about societal oppression. Women at the sit-in have organised marches to demand that men actively challenge the culture of sexual harassment that has left women feeling unsafe within protest spaces. Calls by the Sudanese Professionals Association on women protesters to lead cleaning activities have also been sharply rejected and criticised. In many ways, the sit-in is increasingly becoming a microcosm of the kind of society that young people are yearning to build, one in which the social change they seek becomes a political reality. The young women we spoke to all told us that there is plenty of reason for hope, but that this revolution, which has been decades in the making, has only just begun. A group of Sudanese women taking part in a protest against the military government on April 26, 2019, in Khartoum, Sudan [Getty/Fredrik Lerneryd] The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Defying the United States Congress, Attorney General William Barr will not attend a US House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday on his handling of the Mueller report, said committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, accusing Barr of being afraid to give evidence. Barr has just informed us that he will not attend tomorrows hearing, Nadler, a Democrat, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday after a contentious Senate hearing earlier in the day where Barr defended his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia report. Committee Democrats have vowed to issue a subpoena in an effort to force Barr to give evidence. We plan on subpoenaing him if he decides not to show up. He can run but he cant hide, Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries told reporters. Nadler said he believed Barr was afraid to give evidence given how dishonest he has been. Barrs Department of Justice failed to hand over the unredacted version of Muellers report earlier on Wednesday, despite a subpoena deadline for the copy. The Department of Justice has also told us that they will not comply with our subpoena for the full unredacted Mueller report, Nadler said. Nadler issued the subpoena on April 19, a day after Barr released a redacted version of the report by Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct subsequent investigations. The subpoena also sought underlying evidence from Muellers 22-month investigation. Nadler, asked if the panel would issue a subpoena on Thursday for Barr to come before the committee, said, The first thing is to get the unredacted report and we will negotiate on that for another day or two and if necessary go for a contempt citation shortly thereafter. We will also start a process to get Attorney General Barr to come. 190501162507763 Nadler added. I will continue to work with the attorney general to reach a reasonable accommodation on access to the full report and underlying evidence. But not for much longer. If good-faith negotiations dont result in a pledge of compliance (with the subpoena) in the next day or two, the next step is seeking a contempt citation against the attorney general. Barrs refusal comes after the 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. 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. Mueller complaints On Wednesday, Barr defended his handling of the report before the Senate Judiciary Committee where he was grilled by Democrats. 190425185711995 The testimony came after it was revealed that Mueller sent the attorney general a letter on March 27 that said that Barrs four-page summary of the report sent to Congress three days earlier 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. Barr said on Wednesday that in a phone call with Mueller after he received the letter Mueller was very clear that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report. Instead, Barr said Mueller told him he was upset that the press coverage was reading too much into the letter. US Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee [Mandel Ngan/AFP] Barr said Mueller pressed him to release the summaries, but he rejected that advice because he didnt want to release the report piecemeal. Bristling under questioning from Senate Democrats, Barr said, It was my decision how and when to make it public. Not Bob Muellers. 190426132744336 Barr described Muellers letter as a bit snitty, and also took a subtle shot at the special counsel, saying he slowed down its public release. He said he had asked Muellers team to identify grand jury information that would need to be redacted, but when he received the report, they hadnt done it. He said it then took weeks to comb through the report to black out protected information. Sympathy for Trump 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 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. Barr also defended Trump with his view of the president. Barr told the Senate panel that the powers of the presidency are so vast that Trump could shut down any investigation into him if he believed he was falsely accused. In making his decision that Trump didnt obstruct justice by trying to curtail the Russia probe, Barr said he focused on how the president didnt commit an underlying crime with Russia and how we now know that he was being falsely accused. The president doesnt have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course, Barr, a Trump appointee said. He also expressed sympathy for Trump. Two years of his administration have now been dominated by allegations that have proven false. To listen to some of the rhetoric you would think the Mueller report had found the opposite, Barr said. Facebook has banned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and other far-right figures, saying they violated its ban against hate and violence. The company said on Thursday that it has also banned right-wing leaders Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones site, Infowars. The latest bans apply to both Facebooks main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. Facebook previously suspended Jones from its flagship service temporarily. This suspension is permanent and includes Instagram. Facebook says the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organisations. The company says it has always banned people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology. For years, social media companies have been under pressure from civil rights groups to clamp down on hate speech on their services. Following the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, South Carolina, in 2017, Google, Facebook and PayPal began banishing far-right groups and individuals who identified as or supported white supremacists. 190418170234731 A year later, widespread bans of Jones and Infowars reflected a more aggressive enforcement of policies against hate speech. But Facebook instituted only a 30-day suspension (though Twitter banned him permanently). It is not clear what events led to Thursdays announcement. In a statement, Facebook said, The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today. Under pressure Facebook has been under heavy pressure to rid its service of hate and extremist content. Last month, it extended its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. It had previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists. Asked by the Associated Press to comment on the bans, Yiannopoulos emailed only Youre next. Jones reacted angrily Thursday during a live stream of his show on his Infowars website. They didnt just ban me. They just defamed us. Why did Zuckerberg even do this? Jones said, referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 190327200612686 Jones called himself a victim of racketeering by cartels. Theres a new world now, man, where theyre banning everybody and then they tell Congress nobody is getting banned, he said. Watson, meanwhile, tweeted that he was not given a reason and that he broke none of their rules. Hopefully, other prominent conservatives will speak out about me being banned, knowing that they are next if we dont pressure the Trump administration to take action, he wrote. Farrakhan, Nehlen and Loomer did not immediately return messages for comment. UAE and Egypt support renegade commander Khalifa Haftar who they see as a bulwark against armed groups in North Africa. The United Arab Emirates said extremist militias control the Libyan capital that its ally renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar is fighting to capture from forces allied to Libyas internationally-recognised government. The comments by UAEs minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, came as lawmakers loyal to Libyas UN-recognised government on Thursday denounced Haftars attack on Tripoli and defended their record in fighting terrorism. The UAE, along with Egypt, support Haftar, who they see as a bulwark against armed groups in North Africa. A 2017 UN report said that the UAE has provided Haftars eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) with military and logistical support. Haftars offensive launched more than three weeks ago to seize Tripoli has all but wrecked UN-backed efforts for a peace deal between the rival factions to end eight years of conflict. Last February, Abu Dhabi hosted talks between Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and Haftar, whose forces control Libyas eastern half, where the two agreed on the need for national elections. Abu Dhabi agreement offered opportunity to support the UN-led process. Meanwhile extremist militias continue to control the capital and derail the search for a political solution, Gargash said in a Twitter post on Thursday. Priority in Libya to counter extremism/ terrorism & support stability in long drawn out crisis. Abudhabi agreement offered opportunity to support UN led process. Meanwhile extremist militias continue to control Capital & derail search for political solution. . (@AnwarGargash) May 2, 2019 The assault by the LNA the biggest military confrontation in Libya since the 2011 toppling of leader Muammar Gaddafi stalled on Tripolis stoutly defended southern outskirts last week. But fighting has intensified again with both sides using heavy artillery. Several legislators from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, spoke at a meeting staged in the beleaguered city to condemn Haftars assault on the capital. We are here for the rejection of the offensive, lawmaker Hamouda Siyala told Reuters news agency. Some parliamentarians appeared to be incensed by the UAEs extremism allegation, although they did not mention the Gulf state. Which terrorism are you speaking about? asked another lawmaker, Aisha Shalabi, whose speech was interrupted by attendees shouting Allahu Akbar. [We] fought it in Sirte If you speak about militias, they are our sons who toppled Gaddafi, she said, referring to a city where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) was driven out by Libyan militias. Libya split in 2014 into rival administrations, and the Tripoli conflict has scuppered plans by the United Nations to hold elections to produce a national government and parliament. Own man, own goals 190501100747918 The UN report issued in June 2017 said Haftars forces had received aircraft and military vehicles from the UAE, which also built an airbase at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA which is allied to the parallel government based in Benghazi to gain air superiority by 2016. A Gulf source said the UAE had provided logistical support to Haftar to safeguard Egypts security following cross-border attacks by armed groups, Reuters news agency reported. Today, he [Haftar] is his own man and trying to achieve his own goals, the source said. Since the Tripoli offensive began, 376 people have been killed in the fighting, including 23 civilians, and 1,822 wounded, 79 of them civilians, according to latest United Nations figures. More than 45,000 people have fled their homes. Hamas fired two rockets after Israel targeted positions in response to alleged launch of incendiary balloons from Gaza. Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip, reportedly launched two rockets towards Israel on Thursday morning in response to Israeli rocket fire. Earlier on Thursday, Israeli warplanes targeted several Hamas positions in the northern part of the strip in response to the alleged launch of incendiary balloons from the besieged enclave, the Israeli army said. In response to the explosive and arson balloons launched from #Gaza to #Israel earlier today, our Air Force recently struck a number of Hamas terror targets in Gaza. We hold Hamas responsible. Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 2, 2019 There had so far been no reports of injuries. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks from Gaza, controlled by the group since 2007. The exchange of fire comes after a relative calm since an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on April 1. Palestinians in Gaza have been regularly sending balloons carrying firebombs over the border fence to damage Israeli property and have in the past succeeded in setting fire to large areas of farmland. On Tuesday, Israel reduced Gazas fishing limit from 15 nautical miles (27.8km) to six nautical miles (11.1km) after it alleged a rocket was fired from the territory by Islamic Jihad an allegation the Palestinian group denied. Rights group call Israels ever-changing limit of Gazas fishing zone as illegal collective punishment. Israel has waged three offensives on Gaza since December 2008. The last war of 2014 severely damaged Gazas already weak infrastructure, prompting the United Nations to warn that the strip would be uninhabitable by 2020. Tensions have been high for the past year along the Israel-Gaza frontier since Palestinians began popular protests near Israels fence west of the Gaza Strip, protesting their right of return and demanding an end to the 12-year-long siege. The siege has devastated the local economy, severely restricting food imports and access to basic services to Gazas two million residents. It has also stopped the flow of construction materials. Since the start of the protests, dubbed the Great March of Return, more than a year ago, the Israeli military has killed more than 260 Palestinians. About 60 more Palestinians have died in other incidents, including exchanges of fire across the fence. Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed by Palestinian fire. (ANSA) - Budapest, May 2 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini visited the wall Hungary has erected along its border with Serbia with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday. "We want a different Europe, one that defends security and boosts jobs, the family and the Christian identity of our continent," said Salvini, whose anti-migrant League is forecast to be the Italian party that will get most votes in this month's European elections. "You can only enter Italy, Hungary and Europe if you have permission". The "new Europe" that will emerge from the May 26 European elections should protect its external borders, Salvini said after meeting his Hungarian counterpart Sandor Pinter Thursday. "We are counting on the new Europe that will be born after May 26 aiming to protect its external borders," he said. Salvini said "the problem is not to redistribute the migrants already present but to stop them arriving". The Italian minister stressed that it was Hungary's and Italy's objective to "revise all the commercial and financial accords with non-EU countries that do not facilitate the repatriation of their nationals". The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed its first climate change bill in nearly a decade, voting 231-190 to require the Trump administration to keep the United States as a party to the Paris Climate Agreement. The Climate Action Now Act would require President Donald Trump to develop a plan for the US to meet the goals it committed to in the Paris agreement to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide and block federal funds from being used to advance the formal US withdrawal from the pact. Trump has stood by his 2017 decision to withdraw the US from the 2015 climate accord and has been dismissive of regulations aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill, which passed as expected along party lines, with three Republicans backing the measure, was meant to signal to the international community that many Americans support the Paris agreement regardless of Trumps decision to abandon it. 171203184502851 Today, we sent a message to the president, to the American people and to the world that we recognise the seriousness of the climate crisis and that we intend to do our part to address it. Today, we sent the message: we are still in, said Congressman Frank Pallone, chair of the House energy committee. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will not take up the legislation, dismissing the bill as political theatre by Democrats. Trump pledged in 2017 to withdraw from the Paris agreement as soon as 2020. It was a major blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming, and distanced the US from its closest allies. Trump said he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. The White House said in a statement this week that the House bill is inconsistent with the presidents commitment to put American workers and families first, promote access to affordable, reliable energy sources and technologies and improve the quality of life for all Americans. 190124140215139 The White House also asserted that the bill would interfere with Trumps constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy, including the power to withdraw from an executive agreement that Congress has not ratified. The Paris agreement, signed in 2015 by more than 190 counties, is a UN initiative intended to bring the world together in the fight against climate change. Signed by President Barack Obama, the pact commits the US to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The US also pledged three billion dollars to a fund that helps developing countries fight climate change. Hundreds of thousands of protesters have joined a sit-in outside Sudans defence ministry to press the ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian administration. The huge crowd was answering a call by an alliance of activists and opposition groups to join a protest march through Khartoum on Thursday. The Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) alliance said on Thursday it had submitted a draft constitutional document containing its vision for the transitional period to the Transitional Military Council (TMC). Protesters and activists have been negotiating with the TMC to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee the period following the forced departure of long-time President Omar al-Bashir. However, the parties are deadlocked over who would control the new council, and what the features of a transitional government would be. Opposition groups say the ruling council must be civilian-led and have promised to maintain a sit-in outside the ministry until their demands are met, but the TMC has shown no sign of willingness to relinquish ultimate authority. 190430153551981 The proposed joint council would replace the existing 10-member TMC that took control after the military overthrew President al-Bashir three weeks ago. But protest leaders from the DFCF alliance say the generals are not serious about handing power to civilians. The army has been pushing for a council of seven military representatives and three civilians, while the alliance demands a council made up of eight civilians and seven generals. The disagreement prompted the alliance to announce Thursdays million-strong march to assert our main demand, which is for civilian rule. People came from a number of different provinces to join the march, a witness told Reuters News Agency. Demand for quick response At a televised news conference on Thursday, a spokesman for the DFCF said it expected a response from the military to its constitutional draft within two or three days. The military council has warned it will not allow chaos and urged protesters to dismantle makeshift barricades they have set up around the main protest hub outside army headquarters. 190501175500137 It also demanded demonstrators open roads and bridges blocked by protesters who have remained outside the headquarters despite al-Bashirs departure. Ahmed Adam, who teaches at the University of London, told Al Jazeera that people on the streets were waiting for the military council to fulfil its promise and hand over power to civilians. The fear is that the current situation might lead to a confrontation. Some regional powers are involved in the situation and they actually back the military council to stay in power. People on the ground want the opposite, he said. The protesters have won support from Western governments for their demands. However, Gulf Arab states have provided the military council with a three-billion-dollar credit lifeline to support an orderly transition. The African Union on Tuesday gave Sudans military rulers another 60 days to hand over power to a civilian authority or face suspension after an earlier deadline was missed. India says it will seek downgrading of Pakistan on terrorism financing list day after Masood Azhar sanctioned by the UN. A day after the United Nations added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based armed group, to its list of global terrorists, India said it will seek the downgrading of Pakistan on the global terrorism financing list. Indias finance minister, Arun Jaitley, on Thursday said that New Delhi would formally submit a request before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) when the Paris-based body meets in mid-May. 190217053833681 The FATF, a global body created to combat money laundering, already has Pakistan on its grey list of countries with inadequate controls over curbing money laundering and terrorism financing. Jaitley also said that the labelling of Azhar as a global terrorist is a great diplomatic achievement for India. Azhars group, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in the Indian-administered Kashmir. The worst attack on security forces in decades brought the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war. Pakistans ally, China, had repeatedly opposed the efforts of the UN by Western powers to directly sanction Azhar, even though the JeM had already been blacklisted by the UN Security Council in 2001. Azhars 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 harbours armed groups to further its foreign policy agenda. Pakistan denies such accusations. The ball is now in Pakistans court. Designation under the 1267 committee requires state to take action against terrorist groups on its soil, Ajai Shukla, an Indian security analyst, told Al Jazeera. Whether Pakistan takes action or not, India gets to gain something. If it [Pakistan] takes action, it will mean curtailment of the Jaish-e-Muhammad activities as a terrorist group that is fomenting terrorism in India. If Pakistan doesnt take action then it will stand exposed as a state that does not take necessary action against terrorist groups, he added. India sent warplanes into the nuclear-armed neighbour to bomb what New Delhi claimed was a JeM camp. The two countries were engaged in an aerial dogfight that resulted in the downing of an Indian fighter jet and capture of its pilot by Islamabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since made national security the main plank during the multi-phase general elections that began on April 11. Results will be out on May 23. The world cant anymore ignore the voice of 1.3 billion Indians, Modi said at an election rally on Wednesday, calling the UN decision a great diplomatic victory for the country. Modis re-election bid has received a big fillip in the wake of the UN blacklisting of Azhar, with Indians praising the governments diplomatic efforts at the UN. UN placing Masood Azhar on its global terror list, after China removed objections is a big diplomatic win for India, Angana Guha Roy, a researcher based in Delhi, told Al Jazeera. It also indicates Americas uncompromising diplomatic support for Indias tough stand against terrorism. Pakistans foreign ministry responded on Wednesday after the UNs decision, calling Indias occupation of Kashmir state-sponsored terrorism. 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. But Zahid Hussain, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said: There is a strong international pressure on Pakistan to take tougher action against the militant organisations involved in cross border terrorist activities. After the UN sanction, Pakistan is required to take more effective action against Masood Azhar including restricting his movement and clampdown on the activities of JeM, Zahid told Al Jazeera. A senior leader in Indian-administered Kashmir said that the UNs decision does not benefit Kashmir. Our borders are tense, our highways have been occupied, our children are dying every day and our political space has been squeezed, so it doesnt have any impact on Kashmir, Naeem Akhtar, the Peoples Democratic Party leader, told Al Jazeera. Unless violence ends in Jammu and [Indian-administered] Kashmir, nothing is going to change, he said. About 500,000 Indian security forces are stationed in the disputed Kashmir region, tasked with battling various armed groups. Tens of thousands of people have died in the decades-old conflict. 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. Additional reporting by Bilal Kuchay in New Delhi and Shereena Qazi in Doha Abe has recently softened his rhetoric towards Pyongyang, calling for a summit with Kim. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unconditionally in a bid to restore diplomatic ties between the two historic foes. In an interview with the Sankei Shimbun on Wednesday, Abe said: I want to meet Chairman Kim Jong Un unconditionally and talk with him frankly with an open mind. It is more than important for our country to be proactive in tackling the issue, said Abe. We cant break the shell of mutual distrust between Japan and North Korea unless I directly face Kim. I hope he is a leader who can make a decision strategically and flexibly on what is best for his nation. 190218085447385 North Korean authorities have given no public indication of any willingness to meet Abe. But, even as a member of Japans foreign ministry called Pyongyang an unprecedentedly serious and imminent threat earlier this year, Abe in recent times has struck a more conciliatory tone, eyeing a solution on North Korean matters. Earlier this year, North Koreas official KCNA news agency called its neighbour a heinous criminal state against humanity and an immoral and impudent country. Tokyo has been one of the most hawkish of the major powers on reclusive state North Korea and has been on the receiving end of some of Pyongyangs harshest rhetoric as well as missiles launched over its territory. Until late 2017, North Korea repeatedly tested missiles that flew towards or over Japan, sparking warnings blared out on loudspeakers and stoking calls for a tough stance against Pyongyang. However, Japan now finds itself battling to keep relevant in the fast-moving North Korea issue as Kim expands his diplomatic circle. Kim met Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week after multiple meetings with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in. 190422013659917 Abe held talks with Trump in Washington last week and told a Japanese newspaper that he had asked the US president to help resolve the abduction issue. Tokyo believes North Korean agents kidnapped Japanese nationals to train its spies in language and customs in the 1970s and 80s. After years of denial, North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had taken 13 Japanese civilians hostage. Pyongyang said it had released five survivors, while eight others had died. Trump is scheduled to visit Japan in May and will hold another meeting with Abe. According to a Japan Times report earlier this year, Tokyo has repeatedly said it is making every effort to contact North Korea through diplomatic channels, including through embassies in Beijing. But, the report added, there has been no response from Pyongyang. Japan-North Korea relations are in a stalemate, a senior foreign ministry official in Tokyo said in January. The WikiLeaks founder says he does not wish to surrender to extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a London court he will fight extradition to the United States where he faces trial for one of the largest compromises of classified information in history. Asked at a hearing at Londons Westminster Magistrates Court whether he agreed to be extradited to the US, Assange, appearing via a video link from a British prison, said he did not wish to surrender to extradition for doing what he called journalism that has won many awards. The US has requested the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11, and has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which carries a maximum penalty of five years. 190501084959520 The 47-year-old Australian was jailed for 50 weeks on Wednesday for jumping bail in 2012. At the time, he was facing extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women. Weve been saying since 2010 that the risk is real, and now we have a provisional extradition request from the United States, lawyer Jennifer Robinson told reporters. The focus of our energies will now be on fighting that extradition request, Robinson said. Protests in support of Assange are planned in London, Berlin and Paris on Thursday to coincide with the start of extradition proceedings in Britain. They will include a We are all Julian Assange event at the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin. Assange was arrested last month after his relationship with his embassy hosts soured and Ecuador revoked his political asylum status. He is accused of scheming with former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a classified government computer. Manning served seven years of a 35-year prison term for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks before former US President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017. She was jailed again in March after refusing to give evidence to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said on Wednesday that the extradition battle was a question of life and death for Assange. The grand council organised by President Ghani discusses possible conditions for a peace deal amid Doha talks. An Afghan grand council organised by President Ashraf Ghani has called for an unconditional ceasefire, as the United States began the sixth round of peace talks with the Taliban in the Qatari capital Doha. President Ghani convened the council of more than 3,200 participants, known as loya jirga, in the capital Kabul to hammer out a common strategy. The Taliban was not invited to the four-day Kabul gathering that ends on Friday. A number of prominent Afghans, including Ghanis partner in the unity government, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai are among a number of senior figures boycotting the gathering, accusing the president of using it for political ends ahead of presidential elections scheduled for September 28. Ghani refuted the allegations. Ghani has been excluded from the crucial Doha talks at the insistence of the Taliban, which views the West-backed government in Kabul as a puppet regime. The Taliban has waged a bloody armed rebellion since 2001 when the US-led military coalition overthrew them from power. The Trump administration has been engaging with the armed group, which claims control over significant territory, as it seeks to end the USs longest war. On Wednesday, US peace envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met cofounder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in a bid to make a deal with Washington that could see the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country. The Taliban fighters have exacted a heavy toll on Afghan security forces, civilians and US-led NATO forces, with 3,804 civilians killed in 2018 the deadliest year since 2001. The participants of the jirga, divided into dozens of committees, discussed several issues, including a ceasefire in the 18-year-old war and womens rights. While the full results of the summit may not be announced until Friday, several committee leaders said they wanted to see an immediate pause in violence, which has continued apace across Afghanistan even with various peace summits taking place. Every day, Afghans are being killed without any reason. An unconditional ceasefire must be announced, Mohammad Qureshi, head of one of the jirgas many committees, told AFP news agency. Part of the members of Afghan society worry that if the US does make a deal with the Taliban, the armed group would try to seize power and undo the progress made on womens rights, media freedoms and legal protections in the country. 190501061030851 We dont want such a peace that womens rights are not respected, freedom of expression are not ensured, elections are not held, committee member Faizullah Jalal told the summit. Afghan women have expressed concern about being sidelined from the peace process and fear the Taliban could try to reimpose the harsh restrictions that kept them from schools and the workforce during the groups rule. A huge number of Afghan women are part of the peace summit. Jirga chairman Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf said the summit was not aimed at supporting any particular candidate for the September presidential elections. The loya jirga is a centuries-old tradition in Afghanistan that has been convened at times of national crisis or to settle big issues. Hundreds of demonstrators man barricades in countrys economic capital for second day following election results. Security forces in Benins largest city Cotonou have fired weapons to disperse crowds protesting against the exclusion of opposition parties from Sundays parliamentary polls, witnesses said. Hundreds of people have been protesting since Wednesday, erecting makeshift barricades of burning tyres and calling for President Patrice Talon to step down. Troops and riot police used firearms to break up the protest on Thursday, witnesses told news agencies. A video widely shared online appeared to show government forces firing guns and using water cannon. It was not immediately possible to verify the footage. The police and soldiers they started firing, they chased people, a resident told the AFP news agency. We heard shots, lots of shots. A woman died on Thursday after being wounded the day before, medical sources told AFP. The protests began hours after initial results on Wednesday showed a record low turnout in the election. 190429085951681 Supporters of former president Thomas Boni Yayi, who had led calls for a boycott of the ballot, took to the streets. They erected makeshift barriers of burning tyres, and chanted slogans against President Talon. Gunshots Protesters have torched businesses, hurled stones, and smashed the windows of government buildings. Police fired tear gas to break up crowds, and protesters tried to throw some canisters back. Talon will not be able to kill our democracy, one demonstrator said. Democracy is precious to us, the people of Benin, said another. That is why we have protested. Violence was also reported in the town of Kandi, some 620 kilometres (385 miles) to the north. One of the countrys largest cotton factories a sector in which Talon made his fortune before entering politics was set on fire. Protesters set the factory on fire in the evening, said a firefighter. Everything burned. The unrest followed the electoral commissions decision to bar opposition parties from standing in the election because they were unable to meet strict criteria under a new election law to field candidates. Talon denied that was the intention of the law. There was rioting in central Benin on Sunday, where opposition supporters burned houses, officials said. 190428080718093 Talon and Boni Yayi have a tense relationship. In 2012, Boni Yayi accused Talon, a cotton magnate, of trying to have him poisoned. Talon defeated Boni Yayis preferred successor in a 2016 election when Boni Yayi was required by term limits to step down after 10 years in power. In the run-up to the latest election, police dispersed a protest led by Boni Yayi with tear gas. The authorities also cut off the internet on the day of the vote. Record low turnout Just 22.99 percent of registered voters cast ballots, according to preliminary results. Turnout had previously never dropped below 50 percent since the countrys transition to democracy in 1990. 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. Safe-zone in northwestern Syria has come under intense aerial attacks and shelling since Tuesday. Russian and Syrian forces have stepped up air raids and shelling on rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria, the heaviest assault in the area since it was declared a demilitarised zone last year. Villages and towns in northern Hama province and southern Idlib that were targeted overnight on Wednesday are part of a safe zone, agreed in September between Russia and Turkey, as part of a deal that averted a major offensive on the area. Schools and residential areas have been hit, Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional humanitarian coordinator, told Al Jazeera. There have been a number of casualties that have taken place in many locations: in health facilities, in schools, in residential areas, he said, adding about 250,000 people had been displaced Separately, he told Reuters news agency the barrel bombing is the worst we have seen in 15 months. 190426132054703 A war monitor and activists said on Thursday that four members of a family, including two children, were killed in an air attack in Kansarfa village, in the Idlib countryside. Since Tuesday, attacks have forced thousands of civilians to flee to camps further north along the Turkish border and damaged four medical facilities, according to civil defence officials and a US medical aid agency working in the area. Medical facilities are being evacuated, leaving the most vulnerable with no access to medical care. We are on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe, Khaula Sawah, vice president of the US-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, said in a statement on Wednesday. Syrian army helicopters have dropped barrel bombs, which are drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel that cause indiscriminate destruction, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring dozens, rescuers in Idlib said. Opposition-run civil defence agencies say hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Russian and Syrian attacks since the September deal, which prevented a potentially devastating offensive on Idlib and nearby areas held by fighters and now home to more than three million people. Syrian state media, quoting army sources, blamed rebels for the assaults and said it targeted terrorist groups in towns in northern Hama including Kfr Nabouda. Seven countries to hold Geneva talks The military escalation is expected to be a focus of talks in Geneva on Friday between envoys from seven countries, including US Ambassador James Jeffrey and UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen. 190415115814142 Idlib is the last major area of Syria still in rebel hands after a string of government offensives backed by Russian air power since 2015 turned the tables in a protracted civil war. President Bashar al-Assad has regained control over most of the country, with the northeast held by Kurdish groups backed by the United States. Idlib is held by an array of rebel groups, including the powerful Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, a coalition of armed groups including those formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda. Turkey, which has supported the rebels and has troops to monitor the truce, has been negotiating with Moscow to halt the air attacks with little success. The main Turkish-backed rebel grouping said they were rushing extra fighters to the main fronts to face all possibilities. In response to the escalation, rebels said they mounted several rocket attacks on army positions including the Breideej army base in northern Hama, wounding and killing at least four Russian soldiers in a mortar attack that hit their vehicle. We have stepped up our readiness and sent troop reinforcements to confront any attack [by] the regime and the Russians on any area, said Naji al-Mustafa, spokesman for the National Liberation Front coalition of rebel groups. We cannot leave matters like this We are preparing for any possibility, he added. In a major victory for the White House, Senate falls short of two-thirds majority vote needed to override the veto. The US Senate failed on Thursday to overturn President Donald Trumps veto of legislation that would have ended US military assistance for the Saudi-UAE war in Yemen. The vote handed a victory to the White House for its policy of continuing to back Saudi Arabia. The vote was 53 to 45, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, despite a handful of Trumps fellow Republicans joining Democrats in backing the War Powers Resolution. It was only the second veto of Trumps presidency, both this year. Neither piece of legislation garnered the two-thirds support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives needed to override the veto. The resolutions passage earlier this year marked the first time both the Senate and House supported the provision of the War Powers Act limiting the presidents ability to send troops into action without congressional authorization. Backers of the resolution said they wanted to reassert Congresss constitutional power to declare war, and send a strong message to Saudi Arabia about the devastating civilian toll of the four-year-long civil war in Yemen. 190416234815258 Weve been materially assisting a foreign power in its efforts to bomb its adversaries. And sometimes helping that foreign power to bomb innocent civilians on the ground in the process, Republican Senator Mike Lee, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said before the vote. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination and was a sponsor of the resolution that passed Congress, framed Thursdays veto vote as a life or death issue. We can save thousands upon thousands of people if we override Donald Trumps veto, he tweeted shortly before the vote. Congress increasingly frustrated The war in Yemen, which pits Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Houthi rebels backed by Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and spawned what the United Nations calls the worlds most dire humanitarian crisis, with the country on the brink of famine. Many members of Congress have also become increasingly frustrated with Saudi Arabia over its human rights record, anger fueled by the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey last year. 190417164950667 Saudi officials have rejected accusations that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ordered the killing, despite a conclusion by US intelligence that MBS was complicit in the journalists murder. The resolutions opponents argued that support for the Saudi-UAE coalition was not an appropriate use of the War Powers Act, because the military provides supports such as targeting assistance, not troops. The premise of this resolution is fundamentally flawed and I believe a misrepresentation of what is happening on the ground in Yemen, Republican Senator Jim Risch said before the vote. Risch, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, is writing legislation to address the situation with Saudi Arabia. He declined to discuss possible specific provisions of the measure, but said he hoped to introduce it in May with the goal of finding something that could pass both the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House and be signed, not vetoed, by Trump. Amid US and international anger over the civilian toll of the Yemen conflict, the Trump administration last year stopped providing refuelling support for Saudi aircraft in Yemen. Al Jazeera looks at Saudi Arabias influence on US foreign policy as the Trump administration tightens its Iran sanctions. The United States is tightening its sanctions grip on Iran. The Trump administration had allowed eight countries to continue buying Iranian oil but those exemptions are now being scrapped. The latest move has been made in coordination with Irans regional archrival, Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeeras Mike Hanna reports from Washington, DC. (ANSA) - Florence, May 2 - Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said Thursday that Italy was against the use of force as a solution to the crisis in Venezuela. "We do not ever consider military options to be options," Moavero said on the fringes of The State of the Union conference in Florence. "Our Constitution is explicit: Italy rejects war as a means for the settlement of international disputes. "I totally agree with what the Constitution says". Schools, health facilities and residential areas have all been hit, making it the worst barrel bombing in 15 months. The United Nations has condemned what it calls the worst barrel bombing campaign by the regime in Syria in over a year. Government air raids on a rebel-held area in the northwest killed at least four people, including children. Al Jazeeras Sara Khairat reports. Thailands king marries deputy head of his personal guard force just days before his official coronation. Thailands King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married the deputy head of his personal guard force and gave her the title of queen just days before his official coronation. The surprise announcement was carried in the Royal Gazette and footage from Wednesdays wedding ceremony was shown on the nightly Royal News segment aired on all Thai television channels. Thai television, which broadcast the royal order on Wednesday evening, showed a video of Queen Suthida prostrating herself before the king, to whom she, according to the announcer, presented a tray of flowers and joss sticks, and in return was bestowed traditional gifts associated with royal power. Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known by the title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne. He is due to be officially crowned in elaborate Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies on Saturday, followed by a procession through Bangkok the next day. In 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit. Some royal observers and foreign media had linked Suthida romantically with the king, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between them. The king made Suthida a full general in the Royal Thai Army in December 2016, and the deputy commander of the kings personal guard in 2017. He also made her a Thanpuying, a royal title meaning Lady. Among the dignitaries at the wedding were Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of the military government that has run Thailand since a 2014 army coup, as well as other members of the royal family and palace advisers, the wedding footage showed. Vajiralongkorn has had three previous marriages and divorced his previous wife, with whom he has a son, in 2014. At least 376 people have been killed and thousands displaced since fighting erupted last month in the Libyan capital. In Abu Salim Detention Centre, in southern Tripoli in Libya, refugees and migrants say the price of food has more than doubled since clashes started on April 4. Once a day, one group of friends prepares a small meal from a dwindling supply of flour, while worrying how long it can last. Others have nothing. More than 400 people are trapped there, close to the front lines, as fighting rages around them. Among them are about 30 children, according to current and former detainees. We are hungry but at this time we dont care about food, only how we can survive [with] our life, an Eritrean teenager told Al Jazeera through WhatsApp messages sent from a hidden phone he will sell once the flour runs out. They are among roughly 3,000 migrants and refugees currently held in detention centres run by the Libyan Department for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), which is currently caught in the middle of clashes. Battle for Tripoli The fighting started when renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar ordered his Libyan National Army to advance on Tripoli on April 4. More than 370 people have been killed so far, according to the World Health Organisation. 190424200149291 Libyan authorities are in charge of providing food for detainees, but since last October refugees and migrants in Abu Salim detention centre have been buying their own. They raise cash by going out of the centre to work, or use money sent by their families in Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and other countries many of whom have entered into debt to support them. At this time, because of the war, the way of receiving money from family [is] completely closed. Also, theres no transportation. Due to the war, its impossible to bring any food from outside, said the teenager, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, like others interviewed for this story. We dont have any food from any NGO. Like me, people dont have money It is very hard. Quantity and quality Craig Kenzie, the project coordinator for Tripoli with Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said food has been a chronic issue in detention centres the aid agency works in, both before and since the conflict, which has led to significant disruption in food provisions. We reiterate the obligation that the [UN-backed Tripoli] government has in providing sufficient amounts of quantity and quality of food for people that they have chosen to arbitrarily detain in these detention centres. The United Nations refugee agency moved hundreds of refugees from Abu Salim Detention Centre earlier this month, but those left on the front lines are increasingly hopeless. In other Tripoli detention centres, detainees using hidden phones told Al Jazeera they have gone for days without food and are drinking dirty water, causing some to get diarrhoea. 190423184222138 In Sabaa detention centre, where a recent MSF report found alarming rates of acute malnutrition, detainees said they eat once a day if theyre lucky. But at times theres no food to take, said a man there, through Facebook messages. Things have got worse. I am afraid of what can happen next. I feel more hungry than any day ever. Another detainee, who fled to Libya after his entire family was killed during the fighting, said drones have bombed areas close to the detention centre. The mens hangar is infested with insects so we sleep under the trees. The food depot is empty, so you eat [only] if you have money. A Sudanese detainee in a different Tripoli centre who like others asked not to be named for fear of retaliation said: Every day is worse than before. Someone else with him added they get plain pasta once a day. Every day they give us food just one time and not enough. Most people here are sick. In Abu Salim, the lack of food is particularly affecting those who were already weak, including at least 20 people with tuberculosis. Their biggest worry, though, is still the nearby fighting. We adapt to hunger, just we accept [it], said the Eritrean teenager there. [We dont care] about the scarcity of food, but we care about our life. How to leave the worst country of Libya to [a] safe place. Please, you do your best to evacuate us to a safe place. Turkish prosecutors summon more than 100 polling staff over alleged violations and abuse of position in vote counting. Turkish prosecutors have launched 32 investigations into allegations of irregularities made by the ruling party after its shock loss in Istanbuls local elections held on March 31. The investigators summoned more than 100 polling station officials for questioning as suspects, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday. The investigations focused on Istanbuls Maltepe, Kadikoy and Atasehir districts, Anadolu said. The suspects were being probed over allegations of violations of election law and abuse of position in counting votes and entering dates, it said. The Istanbul prosecutors office declined to comment. President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling AK Party has called for the annulment and rerun of the Istanbul vote, a prospect that has kept Turkish financial markets on edge. 190422082818421 Initial results and some recounts of the nationwide local elections showed that AK Party lost control of Istanbul and the capital, Ankara. In a blow to Erdogan, the main opposition secularist Republican Peoples Party (CHP), in alliance with smaller parties, won the mayoralty in both cities and ended a quarter-century of control by the AK Party and its Islamist predecessors. CHPs Ekrem Imamoglu was declared Istanbuls new mayor last month, despite a pending appeal from the AK Party to invalidate the vote. The High Election Board is yet to rule on the AK Partys challenge to the Istanbul election result. The electoral council is due to convene on Monday to discuss the appeal. Since the election, votes have been recounted in dozens of districts, multiple times in some of them. If the AK Partys request for a rerun is approved by the Istanbul election board, which is legally still possible, the vote could be repeated on June 2. A month after the polls, AK Party officials are questioning their alliance with the smaller Nationalist Movement Party, which some blame for one of its biggest electoral setbacks. ROME - The death toll from the conflict that began on April 4 has risen to 400 including 105 children and 120 women, ANSA was told on Thursday morning by the head of the AMSI association representing foreign doctors working in Italy. AMSI chief Foad Aodi is in constant contact with Libyan doctors on the ground, who have told him that ''15 fighters have died over the past three days and over 2,000 people have been injured''. He added that the doctors had said there are mass graves and that ''about 60 minors have been reported missing by their families''. Of the over 2,000 injured, ''55% are women and 30% children''. The Libyan doctors told him that, on Wednesday, ''96 refugees had been rescued on the Libyan borders that, after given first aid, were handed over to the police''. AMSI noted that, in the various hospitals in Tripoli, ''thanks to the help of foreign doctors, 140 critical operations have been conducted and there are attempts to reach even more remote locations now. A delegation of Libyan doctors has reached the city of Derna, 300 km from Tobruk.'' Mobile hospitals are also being set up, Aodi said, to reach areas far from hospitals. Always the anti-Trump operation, the Washington Post ran an inside-beisbol account of disagreements between the Trump administration and the Pentagon over the viability of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. Naturally, the Trumpsters came out looking like raging, intemperate, bad guys, and the reluctant Pentagon generals were portrayed as reasonable people. The story used almost exclusively anonymous sources, so it's possible to have a pretty good idea about who leaked it. But well within the administration 'chaos' described at the top was a buried lede way down near the bottom that needed a lot more attention: Somehow in the events leading up to the May Day protests that rocked Caracas over the last three days, Maduro got advance word that his military leaders were about to defect, forcing acting president Juan Guaido to start his street protests a day earlier than scheduled. The leak to Maduro also forced military, now on its backfoot, to show an exaggerated sort of loyalty to the Maduro dictatorship to keep themselves out of the torture chambers, or maybe just plain dead - which is why we saw such a brutal military response to the protests in the streets, with in one instance, the military running a truck over protestors. Here is the Post's reported sequence of events, with that buried lead highlighted by me near the bottom: But the last few weeks, it was clear that . . . they were reaching agreement with Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, along with the head of the Maduro-appointed Supreme Court and the commander of his presidential guard, to switch sides, this official said. While not officially recognizing Guaido, Padrino and the others were said to be ready to sign documents declaring their loyalty to the Venezuelan constitution, under which the opposition-led National Assembly had declared Maduros reelection last year invalid and, on Jan. 23, named Guaido interim president. The United States and more than 50 other countries, primarily in Latin America and Europe, have also recognized him. In exchange, the Venezuelan officials would keep their jobs and be integrated into the new administration. For those who might want to leave the country, the United States had given indirect assurances they would not be barred from doing so, and might even be allowed access to any assets stashed overseas. Over the past two weeks, administration officials said, they had received indications that even Maduro himself might be prepared to fly to Cuba. On Monday, however, the opposition and the administration received word that Maduro was aware of the plan. Early Tuesday, Guaido appeared at a military base in eastern Caracas, along with a small band of armed men in military uniforms, to announce that Operation Liberty had begun. So obviously, someone told him. Was it the Russians, who are desperate to prop up the regime? They may well might have that kind of surveillance capacity (or spies within) -- and that needs to be stopped. Or was it a leak from the inside, maybe one of the obstinate Pentagon guys, the ones the Post made look so reasonable in is piece, all to undermine Trump? If it was, what a callous leak, given the violence that was unleashed on the Venezuelans by the brutal Maduro regime in the last three days - and likely very illegal. Or could it have been a product of some kind of Cuban, Russian, or Chavista surveillance or indiscretion in the Guaido camp, which could have had nothing to with the U.S.? That's something the Guaido camp must find out. Because someone has the answer to this somewhere: How did Maduro get advance notice of Guaido's plans to spirit the military back into the democratic orbit? This is something that needs to be found out, because so much is on the line in that collapsing country. Obviously, someone leaked or spied - and needs to be punished for this. If the Russians were involved, sanction or bust the Russians. If the Guaido people stumbled, they need to make changes on their own front. And if this was the Pentagon undermining Trump, someone needs to be busted and removed from his or her post. The U.S. needs to get to the bottom of this because this was a blown operation and now the Maduro regime seems stronger and more openly thuggy than ever. Someone needs to pay for this. Image credit: Hugoshi, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0 Hey Mazie Hirono! Who do you work for? Who is pulling your strings? Surely, it's not the people of Hawaii or the rest of the country. Your father left the family when you were very young, and your mom managed to bring you and your two siblings to Hawaii. She supported the family by working long hours to put a roof over your head and food on the table. In spite, of your meager surroundings, you managed to get yourself a fine education at the University of Hawaii and prestigious Georgetown Law School. One would expect gratitude for the opportunity this country offered you, but instead you shamefully and ungratefully had the gall to state to your staff that "people are getting screwed in this country every single second, minute, hour of the day." So, the country that took you in, housed you, fed you, clothed you, and educated you is a country that "screws" everyone every second of every day? Doesn't look like you were screwed, but it does look like you are the one who is screwing the good people of this country. Wednesday, instead of questioning Attorney General Barr at the Senate Judiciary Hearing, you ran a ten minute monologue slandering a public servant who has served this country for four decades because you are unhappy with the Mueller Report. CNN screen grab via YouTube You called the President a liar and then you called Attorney General Bill Barr a liar without any evidence to support your charge. Have you no decorum, shame, or respect for not only the office you hold, but for our governing institution? Is the lack of civility you are championing now the new norm? Unlike the uncivilized unstable countries many are fleeing (Somalia, the home of Ilhan Omar, another ingrate), we have for the last two hundred years a system of government in place where civility and respect for the opposition was the norm; however, you immigrants in Congress are tearing apart our House and Senate. How does your lack of civility improve the process of governance? It doesn't! As an immigrant myself, I resent your lack of gratitude and respect for a country that provided you and your family a safe haven and security not found elsewhere. You're an ingrate and your presence in Congress is divisive and un-American. Over 63 million Americans voted for President Trump, the man you call a grifter, a man who donates his salary and one who has improved the economic lives of all Americans. It is he who has created millions of jobs; not you! It is he who has brought manufacturing jobs back to the States; not you! It is he who has put more money into the pockets of Americans; not you! And it is he who has renegotiated unfair trade deals with Europe and China; not you! Additionally, Mazie, in this country we don't just "believe women," we believe evidence. As an attorney, you should know that, and if you don't know the basics, then perhaps you are not fit to serve. Men do not need to "shut up!" as you audaciously advised. In this country we all have a voice. So, before you sit there and slander our Attorney General and our President, invest in a little humility and learn the process by which we govern. Civility accorded by you will help heal a divided nation, and if you can't abide by that, then perhaps you need to take your own advice and "just shut up!". Shari Goodman is a political activist, educator, and political commentator for American Thinker, World Net Daily, Israel Today, and other publications. Speedy Gonzalez may have been buried in the political correctness graveyard in the U.S. But the clever Mexican cartoon mouse who always outwits the bumbling "gringo" is alive and well in Mexico. And he's up to his old tricks. This time, the mouse is fooling the gringo on immigration. I've just returned from a week in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, through which the vast majority of Central Americans, Cubans, Asians, and Africans must pass on their way to besieging our southern border. I live in Guatemala, and I've been in Chiapas dozens of times before. Since I'm from San Diego, I've always had a special interest in the border issue, beginning with high school hijinks involving smuggling firecrackers into the U.S. in a long-lost age of innocence. Mexican efforts to thwart would-be illegal aliens' entry into the U.S. are a farce. While I was in Arriaga, home marshaling yard for the now infamous Bestia freight train, 400500 persons illegally in Mexico boarded the train unimpeded on the first leg of their odyssey to the U.S. Prior to departure, a yard locomotive cruises up and down the tracks, blowing its whistle like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Puzzled by the lack of obvious refugees while driving on the northbound side of the freeway, when I finally came upon a woefully overloaded pickup, apparent minders in orange vests, passengers even on the cab roof. In an aha! moment, I passed them and pulled over well up the highway, out of sight, to take a closer look when they ultimately passed. Twenty or so minutes later, the truck sailed past, now occupied only by the orange-vest presumed minders, empty of refugees. Where did they go? An alien kidnapping via spaceship? This happened about 15 minutes south of a formal, fixed checkpoint, manned usually by immigration and police officers, now backed up by uniformed Mexican military. These checkpoints, which are sporadic all the way to the Rio Grande, are nothing more than the modern Mexican version of the Maginot Line. In their most sublimely futile version, they are bypassed by hundreds, now up to thousands a day on truck-tire inner tubes crossing the Mexico-Guatemala river shallows within full sight of both Mexican and Guatemalan customs and immigration offices. I've taken the tube trip myself and verified last week that it's business as usual. Yet Mexican president Speedy Lopez Obrador asserts that Mexico is fully cooperating to stop the illegal flows. Time will tell if Speedy Lopez outwits Gringo Trump. This time, I wouldn't bet on the mouse. Among Shakespeare scholars, there is a unity of opinion on who of all his characters is the most venal: Iago, Othello's nemesis. Iago is hatred and jealousy personified; he represents evil and cruelty for its own sake and he is unrepentant about the misery his manipulations cause others. Sound familiar? Iago's vile personality traits are strikingly similar to the Democrats in Congress, at least those on the Judiciary Committee. The Kavanaugh hearings were just the opening act of their performance theater that erupted out of their shock and outrage over Trump's victory. Their attempted abuse of William Barr on Wednesday was Act II. Edwin Booth as Iago (photo credit: Library of Congress). The usual suspects made complete and utter fools of themselves: Mazie Hirono, Sheldon Whitehouse, Kamala Harris, Richard "DaNang" Blumenthal, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, Dianne Feinstein, Cory "Spartacus" Booker, Dick Durbin, and Patrick Leahy. They are a congregation of Iagos, artists of evil; they relish their perceived roles as powerful enough to destroy the lives of persons they loathe, with or without reason. Unlike Iago, however, who was actually quite clever in executing his evil schemes, this bunch of slanderers are none too bright. They are all too dim to realize that A.G. Barr is the smartest guy in the room. Harold Bloom wrote of Iago that "[h]e does it [evil] with a sense of craftsmanship ... he appreciates the elegance of his scheme as much as the final result: incredible suffering for the people he has chosen [to destroy]." Our Trump-hating Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee bared their rotten teeth at Kavanaugh and lost in the end. Their badgering of A.G. Barr was both contemptible and cringe-worthy. Unable to accept the result of the Mueller Report, they have forgotten the First Rule of Holes: stop digging. They will lose this fruitless battle as well. The curious thing about Shakespeare's Iago is that we never learn the specific motivations of his plan to destroy Othello. He comes up with at least two possible reasons: being passed over for promotion by Othello or Othello's suspected affair with his wife. But in the end, we must conclude that he is just plain evil. Samuel Coleridge explains Iago's behavior as "motiveless malignity." Our vicious Democrats have made their motive abundantly clear they cannot abide Donald Trump as president, no matter how successful he is at the job. The more successful he is, the more they hate him. So, on the question of motive, they are more transparent than Iago. They are less clever and infinitely more immature. Like toddlers who may howl when they don't get what they want, this bunch has been screaming like banshees since the night Trump won the election. Their childish intransigence is an embarrassment to our two legislative bodies. Given the obvious ineptitude of these Democrat members of the Senate, it is difficult to grasp how so many of them keep getting elected, especially the long-haulers like Blumenthal, Whitehouse, Feinstein, Durbin, Leahy, and Hirono. Each of them has proved his incompetence and disingenuousness over and over again. It is clear to all Americans who have been paying attention to the "investigation" of the wholly fabricated "crime" of collusion with Russia by President Trump and/or members of his campaign, that this ongoing travesty is the most serious political crime against the nation in U.S. history. It was devised and carried out by higher-ups in the CIA; the DOJ; the FBI; the Obama administration; the leftist media; and, of course, the Clintons. From the outset, it was an exercise in pure evil. These persons set out to destroy many, many good and innocent people in order to undo the election. Many of the witnesses they called lost everything they had to legal fees only to find they are not even mentioned in the Mueller Report. This bunch of traitors conspired, schemed, and colluded with one another to destroy a man sixty-three million voted for because they objected to his victory over the deeply corrupt Hillary Clinton. This happened! In America! These criminals must be brought to justice. The Founders who drafted our Constitution valued honor, loyalty, reverence, and fidelity. These were to them the virtues of humanity. To Iago, these are commodities to be bought and sold. He is a denier of all things spiritual. He has no conscience, no ability to perform good deeds. He feels no guilt. He is driven by evil. Similarly, our Democrats are driven by their lust for power and their desire to abrogate the Constitution. They are our Iagos. As the young socialists gain power in the party, the dinosaurs seem to just meekly follow suit. They are ungrateful for all this country has to offer, least of all their own success, and are filled with a terrible resolve: to destroy the president who has accomplished more good in two years than any other in history. Albert Einstein wrote, "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." Indeed. Our cackle of Iagos must be defeated, the criminals among them brought to justice. Palestinian factions in Cairo to prevent Gaza escalation After rockets and explosive balloons at Israel and reaction (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, MAY 2 - The Palestinian factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad were called to Cairo on Thursday by Egyptian intelligence agencies in an attempt to prevent further escalation of violence with Israel. The move was made after a resumption of rockets and explosive balloons aimed at Israel from Gaza followed by an Israeli military response. Two rockets were shot at Israel from the Gaza Strip over the night between Wednesday and Thursday.(ANSAmed). A group of Alphabet shareholders teamed up with global consumer group SumOfUs to ask for Alphabet to be broken apart, citing major concerns regarding the growing ineffectiveness of any form of oversight over one of the largest conglomerates in human history. They did so via a shareholder resolution submitted to the agenda of the technology juggernauts next annual stockholder meeting scheduled to take place on June 19. According to a copy of regulatory filings presented to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the proposal that shareholders will entertain next month comes down to an argument that as Alphabet gets bigger and its individual units themselves follow Googles example and begin dominating numerous industries, hence tying the fate of countless other firms and jobs to their own prospects, effectively overseeing their operations in order to combat possible conflicts of interest, corruption, and other worrisome trends will become nigh impossible, assuming thats not already the case. As a result, the said investor minority fears Alphabet will eventually start embracing oppressive regimes and dictators around the world more openly, adding that no one will be able to stop it at that point. Advertisement The shareholders working with SumOfUs are arguing this is simply an issue of effective management; if employees cant be managed in a reliable manner, change is not just desirable but necessary, regardless of how high up the corporate food chain those officials actually are, according to the initiative. In conclusion, a continued lack of effort on the part of investors, i.e. a shareholder majority resigned to sticking to the sidelines and watching Alphabet grow to new unprecedented heights is likely to make the planet as a whole a worse place for human rights and numerous other crucial issues, the proposal indicates. The activist stockholders did not package their proposal as a preventive measure; in fact, theyre suggesting it may already be too late to reign in Alphabet but believe theyre still obliged to try. Seemingly endless antitrust issues in Europe and beyond, various controversies in China, data security blunders, user privacy violations, leaks, disturbingly aggressive tracking tech implemented into Android those are just some of the issues the proposal cites as evidence that Alphabet is now too big of an organization to be shieldable from corruption; with so many figurative cogs moving all at once, theres little to no chance of ensuring transparency and ethical behavior without significantly stifling the firms M.O. (which some would argue isnt a negative in the first place). The solution is to go back to the basics; break up Alphabet into a larger number of smaller entities, all with their own oversight mechanisms, the proposal reads. Advertisement The June 19 meeting is taking place in Sunnyvale, California. Given how the activist proposal detailed above has been officially entered into its agenda, stockholders are bound to entertain it for a moment but anything other than an overwhelming vote against the motion would be a massive surprise. At the end of the day, investors put money into Alphabet to make money everything else is just a nuisance. Googles annual developer festival, Google I/O, is getting ready to kick off next week on May 7. While Google has kept a pretty tight lid on what we might see at the festival next week, we still have a pretty good idea of what Google will be showing off. Heres everything to expect from Google I/O next week. This year, Google I/O is going to be a bit different than previous developer festivals. In the past few years, it has been mostly about software, and the little hardware that was shown off, came later in the year. Thats not how things are going this year. As the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are going to be announced at this years Google I/O. Advertisement Pixel 3a & Pixel 3a XL The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL have been heavily rumored since before the Pixel 3 was announced late last year. These are going to be slightly more lower-end smartphones from Google, but many of the same features and specs from the Pixel 3 will be available on the Pixel 3a. Itll sport a 5.6-inch and 6-inch display on the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL respectively. Putting them right in between the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. These two smartphones will also sport a lower-end processor in the Snapdragon 670. Its not quite on the level of the Snapdragon 845, but it should provide better battery life, as well as better RAM management. Google releasing these two phones at Google I/O is a bit strange, it hasnt ever announced and released a phone at Google I/O before, even going back to the Nexus smartphones. So its definitely a big change for Google. And releasing these phones six months after the Pixel 3 launch, as well as having basically all the same features, is also a bit puzzling. But well learn more at Google I/O next week. Advertisement Nest Hub Max While Google did confirm in its earnings call this week, that the hardware team does have an announcement coming at Google I/O, that doesnt necessarily mean that the Nest Hub Max will be part of that announcement. However, this device has leaked, and was even shown on the Google Store for a short time. Which leads many people to believe that this is going to be coming sooner rather than later. The Nest Hub Max is essentially a larger smart display, using the Nest branding, so it wouldnt be surprising to see Google rebrand the regular Google Home Hub as well. This has a 10-inch display, and does have a camera built-in. The documentation we saw on the Google Store pointed to the Nest Hub Max having a Nest Cam built-in, that is always on and keeping an eye on your home. Something that many may not be super excited about. Advertisement Android Q While Android Q has been available in beta form since March, Google is likely going to give us a lot more details about Android Q along with the third beta at Google I/O next week. This follows Googles recent trend of releasing the first beta ahead of Google I/O and then releasing a much larger beta at the developer festival, where it can actually announce all of the major features that are coming in Android Q. And thats exactly what we expect to happen at Google I/O again this year. Its true, we have already uncovered a number of features in Android Q, the majority of those features are pretty small. Like a few design changes to the battery icon in the status bar and such. Though we do also know that there will be a system-wide dark theme which is currently kind of broken. But Google will go more in-depth with what to expect with Android Q. Most of this is going to be developer-related with APIs, but some are going to be user-facing features. Google is also expected to open up the Android Q beta program to more smartphones at Google I/O. This is something that started last year with Android P, where it launched the beta for a number of other devices from other manufacturers. Like the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S, Sony Xperia XZ2, OnePlus 6 and a few others. It allowed others to get their hands on the beta, and also gave these manufacturers earlier access to the code for Android P so that it could roll out the update faster. Advertisement In the opening keynote, Android Q may be a pretty small blurb, like it has been in recent years. But it will still be one of the bigger software announcements at Google I/O, as it typically is. Stadia Google Stadia is a bit of a dark horse for I/O this year, since it was only announced earlier this year, and theres still a lot of questions remaining about Stadia. Google does have a number of sessions on the schedule for Stadia, so it may not be part of the opening keynote on Tuesday, but we will definitely hear more about Stadia at Google I/O next week. Given that this is a developer festival, it wouldnt be too crazy to expect to hear more on the technical side of Stadia, and how developers can get their games ready for Stadia when that does finally launch which is slated for later this year. Right now, theres a lot of questions about Stadia, like how it works, and how easy itll be for developers to bring their games over to Stadia. Advertisement For those that might be unaware, Stadia is Googles gaming platform, which will essentially allow you to stream and play games in the Chrome browser. This means that youll be able to play games on your smartphone, tablet, laptop and even on the big screen with Chromecast. Its a pretty interesting concept, but right now, games are pretty limited, which is to be expected this early on. Chrome OS Chrome and Chrome OS is always present at Google I/O, its still a big part of Google as a whole. But, dont expect much, in terms of consumer products. Chromebooks dont get announced at Google I/O, really the only thing to expect from Chrome OS at Google I/O this year, would be on the developer side of things. We havent heard a whole lot so far, about what Chrome might have in store at Google I/O this year, so when it comes to what to expect, your guess is as good as ours. Advertisement Google Assistant When it comes to products that Google is focusing on, Assistant is one of those big name products. Google is looking to get Assistant into virtually everything that you own and use everyday. Last year, Google introduced some new features for Google Assistant, like new voices (including John Legends, which only just arrived), as well as Duplex which is what really stole the show. Duplex was able to call businesses and set up an appointment with someone, like a hair stylist or a doctor. It even included the hmm that we typically do on the phone. It was really impressive. So what does Google Assistant have planned for Google I/O 2019? Well, we are definitely going to get some more features for Google Assistant. We might also get some expansion when it comes to Duplex, seeing as that is only available in a handful of markets and a handful of businesses right now. Google Assistant will also likely get more seamless integrations with apps and other services, though it does have plenty of those already. One thing is for sure, its going to continue to get updated, as Google looks to push it into every way of our lives. Soon, Google Assistant will be the only thing that we use. Advertisement Wrap Up Google I/O is the companys biggest event of the year. Its essentially where we find out what Google has been working on all year, and what to expect later this year. Google typically previews things like new Google Home hardware and new versions of Android, which will come later in the year. Typically, we dont get a lot of things that we can take home from Google I/O, or purchase after Google I/O, but that is changing this year with the Pixel 3a. And possibly with the Nest Hub Max, if that does get announced next week. If youre interested in watching Google I/O, and cant make it to Mountain View, you can watch the live streams on Google Developers YouTube channel. The opening keynote starts at 10AM PDT on Tuesday, May 7. The developer festival will last until May 9. Many of the sessions will also be livestreamed, but if youre not a developer, you may find them a bit boring fair warning. If you are just interested in seeing what Google has in store for 2019, then the opening keynote is the one to watch. Its a pretty exciting three days, especially if you are a big Google fan. As youre going to get to see what Google has planned for the future. Some of it may be pretty cool, while some of it may also be pretty creepy. But with a company as big as Google, that cant be a huge surprise. As if the United Kingdom doesnt have enough on its plate already due to this little annoyance called Brexit, its government now somehow appears even shakier than a week ago after a top security official ended up being fired over the latest scandal involving Huawei. For once, though, the Chinese company appears to be entirely free of any blame for the ordeal seeing how the root cause of the problem isnt a (potential) breach of its technologies but a leak originating from the highest level of the British government. The information in question emerged last month, having been obtained by the English media from what Prime Minister Theresa May believes is the Department of Defence. Secretary of State for Defence, Gavin Williamson, was hence fired on Wednesday and while he wasnt personally accused of leaking sensitive details of the British governments discussions concerning the future of telecommunications and all critical systems supported by the said tech in the country, the move was officially associated as a reaction to the leak. The now-ex-Secretary vehemently denied the accusations, asserting it has been an honor to serve his country and expressing disappointment in the conclusions of the PMs office that led to his dismissal. He said as much publicly and in writing, having sent a farewell letter to the House of Commons which he also shared online yesterday. Advertisement While theres no doubt the critical information leaked from the National Security Council, Mr. Williamson is adamant his department is not responsible for them. PM May privately offered the former official an opportunity to step down himself, which he referenced in his letter, thanking her for the move but concluding that a resignation would equal an admission of wrongdoing on the part of either him personally or his inner circle, once again stressing he is confident that is not the case. The effective end to his political career isnt as relevant as restoring the general publics trust in the NSC, the ex-official argued in the letter to parliament. The UK has been having security issues with Huawei for years now, not in the sense of actual high-profile breaches but in the context of questionable development and update practices that may be leaving some of its infrastructure vulnerable to outside attacks. The Chinese conglomerate argues its solutions are just as safe and prone to vulnerabilities as those offered by its rivals, having repeatedly dismissed allegations of intentional loopholes as malevolent and unequivocally false. Now, less than half a year after publicly pledging to look into concerns voiced by government officials and oversight authorities, Huawei is understood to have won some favor with London and was already allowed to play a limited role in the UKs 5G deployment efforts, according to the leaked story that prompted Mr. Williamsons dismissal. While theres currently no indication that the Shenzen-based firm will be allowed any degree of access to the core parts of the next-generation wireless infrastructure in the country, the sole fact its sticking around after building out most British 4G LTE networks suggests Huawei will survive both Brexit and the political storm the U.S. cooked up over its network business in Europe. Recent reports suggest that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e, a mid-range tablet offering from the company, has a design flaw that causes the tablet to disconnect from Wi-Fi networks. The connectivity issue of the tablet appears whenever the person holds the device horizontally, with the front-facing camera oriented towards the left. It is likely that holding the device in this manner will result in hand-blocking the receiving antennas located at the lower-left corner of the tablet, preventing the device from getting a proper signal from a Wi-Fi router. David Waner, a customer who owns units of the Galaxy Tab S5e, shared on his Instagram account that he was able to reproduce the problem in the second unit of the Galaxy Tab S5e he owned, which unfortunately suggests that the issue may also appear in other units of the Samsung tablet. Advertisement However, independent testing conducted by the online publication SamMobile suggests that blocking the receiving antennas will not always result in the loss of Wi-Fi signal, although the reduction in the signal strength, accompanied with much lower download and upload speeds, will affect the content consumption experience of people owning the device. Given that the problem is a design flaw, Samsung will have to fix this issue through a rearrangement of the internals of the device. While Samsung issued replacements to consumers who complained of the problem, users still experience the same issues, allegedly. Nonetheless, for users who already own units of the Galaxy Tab S5e, handling the device vertically or holding the tablet horizontally with the selfie shooter pointed towards the right will not result in the disconnection of the Galaxy Tab S5e from Wi-Fi networks, given that at these orientations, the hand of the user does not block the tablets Wi-Fi receiver. Advertisement Samsung already dealt with multiple instances of design flaws regarding its mobile devices over the past few years. One of the most high-profile problems that the South Korean tech giant faced is the battery flaw of the Galaxy Note7. This particular issue resulted in some devices catching fire, forcing the company to recall around 2.5 million units of the smartphone. Another more recent instance of product design flaws that Samsung encountered is the flexible display failure of the companys first foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold. While Samsung has yet to provide an official explanation, iFixit provided some possible reasons behind the display failure of the smartphone, though that report was taken down on Samsungs initiative. These reasons include the fragility of OLED panels, exposure to potentially harmful substances like oxygen and water, easy removal of the protective polyimide film, and the intrusion of the dust and other particles through the gaps present at the top and bottom of the screen as well as from the back of the device. Advertisement The South Korean tech giant already mentioned that it is working to resolve the issue that affects the Galaxy Fold, and new information about the availability of the device may come in the near future, maybe even in the coming days. Locast recently updated its Android app with support for tablets and also Android TV. The latter of which makes it ideal for compatible device owners to take advantage of the service in more of a natural setting in front of the TV. For those new to Locast, the general idea is to make locally broadcast channels easier to access. Advertisement The service looks to achieve this by removing the various signal hurdles that are typically in place when using an antenna. Locast streams these channels over the internet instead. There are some caveats though and the first is location support. Being a service that focuses on local content, users are only able to get access to the channels that are in their immediate area. Whats more, the service is still very much in its infancy and therefore is only available in a very select few locations. Advertisement Currently, Locast can be accessed in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Users outside of these areas will find the app and service is largely useless to them. Those users will be able to download the app, but beyond launching, the app will remain inaccessible without signing in which acts as the verification method for location support. Advertisement Another aspect to keep in mind is the cost. Accessing local broadcast channels via traditional cord-cutting means is free beyond the costs associated with purchasing the equipment, such as an antenna. Technically, Locast is also a free service as it does not charge users a fee for access. As long as you live in a supported area you can download the app and start watching. However, Locast does encourage users to donate to support the services expansion including reaching new TV markets in the U.S. Advertisement As these are donations theres no obligation to pay although a number of comments on the Google Play Store app listing do point out that the service routinely stops viewing to display what is effectively an ad asking to donate. Some of the comments suggest these please donate ads are extremely aggressive in how often they appear. For example, many comments note the ad is shown every 5-15 minutes when watching. In each case, the ad completely stops the feed. For those who do opt to donate to support the service, donations seem to start at as little as $5. Although it should be pointed out this is a recurring donation so basically you will be expected to pay the $5 each month for continued access. Advertisement The website also notes theres an additional 50 cents processing fee added to each donation. Locast is technically a not-for-profit service which is why it relies on the donation model in the first place. According to Locast, the donations are simply used to cover operational costs involved with providing the service to consumers. The Android TV support seems to be platform-wide with all the major devices listed as supported and as this is an extension of support, users can download the app to their smartphones as well. Advertisement You can find out more about Locast or download the latest version with Android TV support included (updated April 26) for free from the Google Play Store. Posted on: May 2, 2019 7:40 AM Meeting under the theme Equipping Gods People: Going deeper in intentional discipleship at the seventeenth Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-17) in Hong Kong, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby took a break from the meetings to see discipleship in action. He visited the Shing Mun Springs Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation Homes and Jackie Pullinger on yesterday (1 May). Jackie Pullinger MBE travelled from England to Hong Kong more than 50 years ago. Initially, she began work as a school teacher in the Kowloon Walled City. At that time in the 1960s, it was one of the worlds largest opium-producing centres and was run by criminal triad gangs. In 1967, Jackie founded a youth club to help addicts and others who had been abused find a safe place for them to meet and play. Over many years, it grew it into a major justice-based ministry and is overseen by the St Stephen's Society as it continues to share the love of Jesus by working with addicts, the poor and gang members. The rehabilitation centre houses about 200 people, some in the first stages of drug withdrawal and others who have lived there for years. During Archbishop Justins visit to the Shing Mun Springs Home, he prayed with several young people who also prayed over him. As he toured the facilities, he met other teenagers who attend an on-site school learning work skills and who take time to pray every day. The centre also houses a number of elderly people who have difficulty in adjusting to society. The emphasis at all times is on Christian community living and fellowship to the poor. Commenting on this visit Archbishop Justin told the Anglican Communion News Service: I am reminded of the humble spirit of the LArche community. Those who the world thinks are weak are strong and those whom the world sees as strong are weak. Consistent with the discipleship theme of ACC-17 St Stephens Society identifies its purpose as exiisting to preach the gospel, reach the poor and see people set free through faith in Jesus Christ. Our heart is to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples Jackies story is chronicled in the book Chasing the Dragon, which has been translated into several languages. A photographic account of her work A Crack in the Wall: The Life and Death of Kowloon Walled City has also been published. Marysville, CA (95901) Today Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 46F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 46F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Emirates will also support Smart Dubai with its travel requirements to participate in international events and conferences, as well as with the events that it organises on a yearly basis in Dubai, including the Future Blockchain Summit and Smart Dubai Blockchain Challenge. The agreement was signed by Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president of commercial operations Centre at Emirates, and Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, general director of Smart Dubai. Sheikh Majid said: We are proud to partner with Smart Dubai to provide their teams with special travel benefits and to support their many activities and initiatives. Emirates is fully aligned with their vision to deliver world-class smart services and infrastructure through embracing technology and innovation, in order to ultimately make Dubai the worlds smartest and happiest city. Dr Aisha commented: On behalf of Smart Dubai, it is an honour to be tasked with spearheading Dubai to become the happiest and smartest city in the world. We continue to invest in innovative technologies and network with skilled industry experts, entrepreneurs and organisations that have launched exceptional start-ups. Our aim is to continue raising awareness around the world and with the support of our new partner, Emirates, we look forward to accomplishing our goals and transforming Dubai into a leading, global smart city. She added: Emirates now joins our list of esteemed partners who span the government and the private sector. This reflects the direction of our leadership to have an all-hands-on-deck approach, ensuring entities collaborate together and establish the UAE as the regions leading hub in smart technology. The additional flight, will be operated by an Airbus A320. Robin Kamark, Etihad Aviation Group chief commercial officer, said: Since launching our first scheduled flights to Moscow in 2008, the route has proved very popular, enjoying strong point-to-point business and leisure demand. The addition of the second flight underscores the importance we place on the Russian market, by providing our customers greater flexibility, convenience and easy transit through Abu Dhabi to key points across Asia and Australia. The agreement was announced this week at the Arabian Travel Market in a signing ceremony with Robin Kamark, chief commercial officer Etihad Aviation Group and Caroline Beteta, president & CEO for Visit California. The partnership between Etihad Airways and Visit California will involve the organisations collaborating to promote travel to California as a destination from both Abu Dhabi and other key markets. The two sides will be developing a strategy and promotion plan to drive tourism and highlight the many attractions that California offers to international travellers. Kamark said: The West Coast of America including Los Angeles is an important market for the Etihad Airways network and we are proud to partner with Visit California to showcase the many delights of the Golden State to our guests. The convenience of the pre-clearance customs facility means that travelling to California today is an incredibly attractive option for guests travelling from Abu Dhabi. We look forward to working with our partners to promote the opportunities available to our customers in the Middle East and further afield. Visit California is thrilled to partner with Etihad Airways to increase travel between the UAE and California, added Beteta. This agreement is an exciting step that will help promote Californias unique and world-renowned brand to tourists and holiday makers from across the region. An experienced airline and aviation CEO and COO, Dr Pierotti is currently a director at Abu Dhabi Aviation. He holds a Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society of GB, membership of the Engineering Council of the UK, and is also a Scottish Government Industrial Ambassador (Global Scot) for Aviation & Education, having lectured on aeronautical engineering, aircraft maintenance engineering, aviation operations and aviation management in universities across the UK and the UAE. In his role as visiting professor for the University of South Wales Dubai, Dr Pierotti will be looking to inspire students and give them an insight into the practicalities behind the theory. Dr Pierottis successful career across airlines, aviation and engineering will be an invaluable asset to our students. He has over thirty years of industry knowledge to impart to students who are keen to learn, commented Professor Julie Lydon, Vice-Chancellor, USW. Having worked with some of the major players in the aviation industry, we have developed sector-leading skills with an international reputation. Our recognition as a leader in the field of aircraft maintenance engineering education is a reflection of the dedicated, professional and hard-working faculty who work with us, and we look forward to him joining this team. 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. SITAONAIR will deliver its country-wide, VHF and Digital Automatic Terminal Information Service (D-ATIS) solutions for Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS), benefiting all airlines flying in Saudi Arabia. Under the agreement, SITAONAIR will establish additional VHF stations providing coverage in new locations, including the Empty Quarter desert. It will also further optimise datalink coverage and services by upgrading both existing stations and SITAONAIRs AIRCOMcats D-ATIS gateway server to better serve airports and airspace users. The project will specifically aim to ensure coverage in the southeast and northwest of Saudi Arabia for en-route traffic, increasing the availability of VHF/VDL networks at all main airports in the Kingdom and beyond. SANS CEO Ryyan Tarabzoni, said: Safety is one of the foremost and primary factors at the heart of our operations, and in order to ensure that we operate at the highest safety standards we always strive to implement the best global safety practices and latest technologies. SANS selects various industry leaders in this case SITAONAIR, who will be providing enhanced datalink communications to support increasing air traffic in Saudi skies and enhance communications between air traffic controllers and pilots. We look forward to seeing this project develop, and cementing our place as a regional ANSP leader. Stephan Egli, commercial regional VP Middle-East, Africa & Europe, SITAONAIR said: Were exceptionally proud to be Saudi Air Navigation Services' official partner in enhancing air traffic services in the kingdom for the entire air transport community. This official seal to our partnership demonstrates our mutual commitment to providing best-in-class solutions to SANS and their airline customers. As a response to the growing demand for safe, efficient and comfortable air travel experiences, international trip support provider Success Aviation Services has recently opened its regional headquarters in the worldclass Dubai Silicon Oasis. Success Aviations new hub offers a modern operations room which provides 24/7 overwatch and flight support to clients through the Dispatch Centre Team. Through the continued growth in operations that weve been experiencing weve had to increase our office space. Dubai Silicon Oasis is a great choice for our new headquarters, due to its location as well as its reputation as a strong business hub in the region, said Mustafa Rabie, coowner/founder of Success Aviation Services. Success Aviations CEO, Khaled Shurbaji, added: Were delighted to be opening our new doors, and whilst our operations are increasing, we can assure our valued clients, as well as prospective customers, continued reliable, professional flight planning and monitoring, as well as superior quality customer service. The two winning teams of Tests in Orbit were New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and Khalifa University. The winners will have the opportunity to work alongside space experts from NanoRacks and DreamUp, to build their experiments and have them launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020. NYUADs experiment Cytokine-Hematopoietic Stem Cell Interaction in Microgravity Environment aims to improve astronauts health in the future by uncovering the reasons behind the decrease in our immune response when exposed to microgravity or space-related conditions. Khalifa Universitys experiment The Effect of Micro-gravity on Coronary Nitinol Stents aims to study the mechanical performance of Nickel-Titanium Stents within the human body when exposed to microgravity or space-related conditions. Stents are used in a wide-range surgeries and play an important role within the medical industry. Dr. Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, director general of the UAE Space Agency, said: Competitions like Tests in Orbit play a key role in inspiring the next generation of space pioneers. These types of activities also enhance our national capabilities by encouraging the peaceful application of space science and research, contributing to the growth and development of the UAEs space sector. I would like to thank our partners at the Higher Colleges of Technology, NanoRacks, and DreamUp, who played a major role in organizing the competition and providing these young talented students the chance to forge ahead with their dreams of space exploration by having their experiments launched to the International Space Station, added Al Ahbabi. Hamda Al Shehhi, Tests in Orbit Competition Manager, said: We received so many incredible ideas and proposals for the Tests in Orbit competition, which reflects the next generations passion for the space sector, their creativity and innovation, and their ability to work as part of a team. We look forward to getting even more interest from UAE students in such competitions and receiving new proposals and ideas for space science and exploration. Carie Lemack, co-founder and CEO of Dream Up, and a jury member of Tests in Orbit competition, said: We were impressed by the innovative and thoughtful ideas presented by all the finalists. Choosing only two winners was no easy task - all the students demonstrated that they are critical thinkers capable of driving research and discovery on Earth and in space. We congratulate each one and are excited to support their future goals and accomplishments as they reach for the stars and beyond. The Tests in Orbit Competition encourages university students across the UAE to develop, design and conduct a nano-experiment on the effects of microgravity on human health or energy resources. The competition attracted more than 70 students from universities across the UAE, who submitted proposals for Life in Space and Energy in Space experiments. The submissions were reviewed by a panel of highly qualified HCT faculty, space scientists and representatives from the UAE Space Agency and NanoRacks Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector at Mahindra and Mahindra said the ongoing elections had subdued the purchase sentiment during April. Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor also declined by 22.43 per cent last month. PUNE: Car and tractor manufacturers continued to report decline in sales in April, indicating a slowdown due to multiple factors, including tepid demand in Asias third largest economy. Automakers Tata Motors and Mahindra and Toyota on Thursday reported decline in sales for April, which is 10th month of slowdown for the Motown. Passenger vehicle sales at Tata Motors, Indias biggest automaker by revenues, fell 26 per cent to 12,694 units last month from 17,235 units sold in April 2018. The industry has recorded de-growth for the 10th consecutive month. Weak consumer sentiments are reflected in this demand de growth and we have also been impacted, Mayank Pareek, President-Passenger Vehicles at Tata Motors, said. Similarly, passenger vehicles sales at Mahindra, Indias second biggest utility vehicle maker, dropped 8.94 per cent to 19,966 units in April as against 21,927 units sold in the year-ago period. Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector at Mahindra and Mahindra said the ongoing elections had subdued the purchase sentiment during April. This, according to us, is a temporary phenomenon. We believe, following the elections the auto industry will see a revival in consumer demand. Supported by a normal monsoon, we are confident of seeing higher sales in FY20, he pointed out. Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor also declined by 22.43 per cent last month. It sold a total of 10,112 vehicles compared with 13,037 units it sold in April 2018. The industry is currently experiencing a slowdown due to uncertainty of general elections that looms over the market and this slow pace is expected to continue until the new government is formed, N Raja, Deputy Managing Director at Bangalore-based Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said. Consumer sentiments have been dampened due to several factors like tight liquidity, high insurance, and high costs, he pointed out. On Wednesday, Indias top two carmakers, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India, which command nearly 70 per cent market share, had also reported a decline in their domestic sales in April. While Maruti Suzuki reported 17.2 per cent decline, Hyundai posted a drop of 10 per cent in domestic sales in the first month of the 2019-20 fiscal. Sales of tractors at Mahindra also fell 8 per cent at 27,495 units, as compared to 29,884 units in the year-ago period, We expect that the prediction of a normal southwest monsoon will bring positive sentiment and boost tractor demand, Rajesh Jejurikar, President for Farm Equipment Sector at M&M said. In the two wheeler segment, Bajaj Auto said its domestic motorcycle sales were up 2.5 per cent at 2,05,875 units in April as against 2,00,742 units in the year-ago month. Kumar was in news only a few days ago for his 'non-political' interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mumbai: After he was heavily criticised for not voting in the polls held for six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, actor Akshay Kumar dodged questions on his conspicuous absence. Kumar was in news only a few days ago for his "non-political" interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the hero of films like "Kesari", "Toilet Ek Prem Katha" and "Airlift" which had nationalistic overtones, gave voting a miss on Monday. At a special screening of the film "Blank" on Tuesday, the actor interacted with the media, lauding the movie and the performances of debutantes. However, when the actor was asked why he skipped voting, Akshay simply walked off, saying "Chaliye chaliye (lets go, lets go)." The irony of Akshay skipping voting did not go unnoticed on Twitter, as just last month Modi had tagged the actor in a tweet, asking him to encourage voting. In response to the PM, the "Kesari" actor had written the power of a vote "is immense and we all need to improve awareness on its importance. Katrina Kaif is expected to join Akshay soon for the shoot and will be reuniting with him on sets after many years. The on-screen pair, who have starred in movies like Namastey London, Welcome, etc, will be working together after a long time. Akshay Kumar has begun shooting for Rohit Shettys film Sooryavanshi. The actor was spotted around town filming for the movie based on the ATS operations. Katrina Kaif is expected to join Akshay soon for the shoot and will be reuniting with him on sets after many years. Akshay and Katrina have made a fabulous combination over the years and fans have been looking forward for the two to work together. Katrina will be joining Akshay for a 10 day schedule of the film, inform sources and add that the film has a schedule ideally in Bangkok immediately after and the makers are trying to work that out. However, Akshay will be going there solo and may not be accompanied by Katrina as she is not needed in the second schedule, add our sources. The shoot of Sooryavanshi is slated to move on to Shettys favourite locations Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad and in Goa as well. Normally, Rohits films are shot in less than a three-month period because he has to mount them big. Sooryavanshi is also one such big film, add the sources. Sanskriti Media The tweet came hours after Maoist attack in Maharashtras Gadchiroli on Wednesday in which 15 security personnel and a civilian was killed. Gandhi tweeted: 'The PM says since 2014 sounds of blasts cant be heard in India. Pulwama...Pathankot..Uri...Gadchiroli...and 942 other major bombings since 2014.' (Photo: File) New Delhi: Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that no major blasts had taken place in India since 2014, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said there had been as many as 942 major bombings over the past five years. Gandhi tweeted: The PM says since 2014 the sounds of blasts cant be heard in India. Pulwama...Pathankot..Uri...Gadchiroli...and 942 other major bombings since 2014. The PM says since 2014 the sounds of blasts can't be heard in India. Phulwama... Pathankot.. Uri... Gadchiroli.... and 942 other major bombings since 2014. The PM needs to open his ears and listen. https://t.co/gj1ngrZm5i Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 1, 2019 The PM needs to open his ears and listen, he added. The tweet came hours after the Maoist attack in Maharashtras Gadchiroli on Wednesday in which 15 security personnel and a civilian was killed. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera also slammed the Modi government alleging that fake chest thumping characterises the BJP-led governments narrative towards national security. Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram targeted PM Modi last week over his remark that there were no blasts during his tenure. Chidambaram posted a list of blasts and questioned in a tweet, Is it due to memory loss or due to a compulsive habit...will someone please read to the PM". PM has said once again that there were no bomb blasts during his 5-year tenure. Is it due to memory loss or due to a compulsive habit? P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 22, 2019 Will someone please read to the PM the following partial list of MAJOR bomb blasts: 5-12-2014: Mohra, J&K 10-4-2015: Dantewada 27-1-2016: Palamu 19-7-2016: Aurangabad, Bihar 2-2-2017: Koraput, Odisha 10-5-2017: Sukma 27-10-2018: Awapalli, Chhattisgarh 9-4-2019: Dantewada P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 22, 2019 On Wednesday, the Congress condemned the attack and party president expressed his condolences. Gowda said if two parties could have combined their strength, there was no scope for BJP to win even five seats out of 28 in K'taka. 'There were some differences between the two parties. 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. (Photo: Facebook) Bengaluru: Karnataka minister GT 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 JD(S) 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. 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 party. BJP MLA and former deputy chief minister R Ashok said, "GT 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 CH 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 orders of their high command. In Mandya where Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's son and former prime minister HD 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. HD Deve Gowda's another grandson Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD minister HD 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 GT Deve Gowda that they would vote for the BJP rather than Vijay Shankar. Meanwhile, BJP leader SM 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. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Pakistan was making claims over the listing to divert attention from the 'huge diplomatic' setback it has suffered. 'The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism,' Ministry of External Affairs spokesperon Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. (Photo: File) New Delhi:The Pulwama terror attack played a role in designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the UN, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday, asserting that Pakistan was making claims over the listing to divert attention from the "huge diplomatic" setback it has suffered. The assertion came after Pakistan claimed that it agreed to Azhar's listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack, were removed from the proposal to designate him a global terrorist. "The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperon Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. He said the notification broadly covers all terrorist acts. "Elements are being introduced by Pakistan to divert attention from this huge diplomatic setback," Kumar said. Asked whether India offered something to China for Azhar's listing, he asserted that India doesn't negotiate on matters related to national security. "Our objective was to ensure designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist," he said. The Pulwama terror attack played a role in Azhar's designation, the spokesperson said, adding that China's support to Azhar's listing will contribute to better Sino-India ties. Read: Masood Azhar is global terrorist, what does it mean? 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 February 14 Pulwama terror attack 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 a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist.India had termed the Chinese move as "disappointing". On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal. A UN Security Council (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. In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist. 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 Pathankot airbase 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 UNSC, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress primary aim was to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the lack of jobs and asserted that there is an upsurge in the country against the BJP-led NDA government and that Mr Modi is not becoming the Prime Minister again. Narendra Modi is not becoming PM. There is an upsurge in India against the type of government that he has run. Theres massive unemployment, farmer distress. The economic miracle that India was has just stumbled. It is clear that we are doing better our data shows that the BJP is not winning this election. We are winning this election hands down, Mr Gandhi said in an interview to NDTV on the sidelines of an election rally in Chomu, Rajasthan. The primary issues in this election is jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs and the economy. Its a pity the PM cant talk about these issues. The Prime Minister cant stand on a stage and say the things he was saying in 2014, Mr Gandhi added. Speaking candidly on a range of issues, Mr Gandhi said that the Congress primary aim was to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and thats what the party has been working towards in Uttar Pradesh. Echoing Priyanka Gandhis comment that Congress candidates had been put up to harm the BJP, Mr Gandhi said, Wherever we dont have a strong candidate, we are helping the BSP The Congress is not dividing the vote We are harming the BJP. I have told my sister and told Jyotir that our primary aim in UP is to defeat the BJP. In the places where we are not going to win the elections, lets support the gathbandhan In Uttar Pradesh, a secular formation is going to win the election. Whether the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Congress, a secular party will win the vote. And the gathbandhan and Congress party are going to clean Uttar Pradesh up, Mr Gandhi said. Ms Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia are sharing the charge of the Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Responding to a question about why the Congress and SP keep attacking each other, Mr Gandhi said, Obviously, in the UP context, the Congress is a threat to Mayawati and Mulayam Singhji. As far as Im concerned, Im extremely respectful of Mayawati and Akhilesh Asked as to why Congress alliance with SP-BSP failed, he said, You have to ask them. Articulating his partys ultimate aim in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gandhi said, My long-term position in Uttar Pradesh is clear. We have to defend our ideology in UP, while adding that the Congress also aims to build the party up for the Assembly elections. Attacking Prime Minister Modi, he said that in the last five years the idea that Mr Modi is a crusader against corruption has been destroyed. The idea that PM Modi is a crusader against corruption has been destroyed. The Congress has successfully conveyed the idea that PM Modi is helping the corrupt, Mr Gandhi said, and added, Why is the PMO holding parallel negotiations in the Rafale deal? Lets do a JPC. 67 per cent people of India believe that Rafale was a scam. While admitting that he made a mistake in saying that the Supreme Court had said Chowkidar chor hai, Mr Gandhi, however, said that he would not apologise for saying that the PM stole money. I made a genuine mistake in saying that the Supreme Court said it (Chowkidar chor hai). However, I am not apologising in the least for saying chowkidar chor hai or that the PM stole money. On his sister Priyanka not contesting from Varanasi, Mr Gandhi said, It was a decision made long ago that Priyanka was not going to contest from Varanasi. I said that I would hold you in suspense and I did. Priyanka was not going to contest from Varanasi. Asked if he would be the PM in case the Opposition-led alliance wins in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mr Gandhi said, It is up to people of India to decide the PM. It is not my place to be saying what are the wishes of people of India. I respect the people of India and I am subservient to their wishes. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. The police suspect that the girls aunt knew the accused and was involved in the crime. 'Both accused met the girl and her aunt in the temple. The men took the girl to an isolated area, raped her, before smashing her head with stones,' police added. (Representational image) Bhopal: In Madhya Pradeshs Bhopal, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by two men on Tuesday, reported NDTV. The police suspect that the girls aunt knew the accused and was involved in the crime. According to police, the incident took place in the evening when the girl with her 16-year-old aunt was visiting a temple in Manubhavan Tekri. Both accused met the girl and her aunt in the temple. The men took the girl to an isolated area, raped her, before smashing her head with stones, police added. The next day, her family filed a complaint and both the men were arrested along with the aunt. The men lived in the same neighbourhood as the girl. The police are waiting for a forensic report to find out how many people were involved in the crime. Several incidents of rape have been reported in Madhya Pradesh. As per government records, the state reported highest number of rape cases in both 2016 and 2017. Madras High Court held that Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi 'cannot interfere' in daily affairs of Union Territory's government. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy demanded that she should resign from her post for 'stalling' development activities. (Photo: File) New Delhi: 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 in New Delhi. 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 judgement. 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. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. CPI(M) leader claimed the BJP's fear of being unable to retain 50 per cent of its seats has led it to rouse communal passions to get votes. Fielding 'undertrial terror accused' Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls is BJP's way of consolidating the Hindutva vote bank, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has charged. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Fielding "undertrial terror accused" Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls is BJP's way of consolidating the Hindutva vote bank, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has charged. He claimed the BJP's fear of being unable to retain 50 per cent of its seats has led it to rouse communal passions to get votes. In an article in the forthcoming issue of party mouthpiece People's Democracy, Yechury charged that the BJP and Narendra Modi were preoccupied with disrupting the unity of the country and its solidarity through their venomous campaign of communal polarization. He said the first three phases of the 17th general elections saw the electorate voting in 302 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The ruling BJP has 113 sitting MPs from these constituencies. "In the next four phases ending on May 19, the electorate will vote for the remaining 241 seats. Of these, the BJP currently holds 161 sitting MPs. That is two-thirds of these seats. It is clear that if the BJP is unable to retain these seats, its desire to form the next government simply falls through. This is because, in the first three phases, it is universally admitted that the BJP will not be able to retain at least 50 per cent of its sitting seats. It is precisely this realisation that has prompted the BJP leadership to consciously adopt an aggressive campaign led by Narendra Modi to rouse unscrupulous communal passions as the only means left to garner votes," he said. Taking a dig at the Election Commission, Yechury said while the ruling party was resorting to the "worst form of vote bank politics consolidating the Hindu communal vote bank" the poll body was yet to take any action against Modi for the "unbridled" communal passions that he is rousing. "This is ominous for the health of Indian democracy. As an expression of its efforts to consolidate the Hindutva communal vote bank, the BJP has fielded Pragya Singh Thakur, an under-trial terror accused, currently out on bail on medical reasons, as its candidate from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Endorsing this choice, Narendra Modi hailed Pragya Singh Thakur as the 'symbol of our civilisational heritage'," he said. Thakur is BJP's candidate from Bhopal where she will contest against Congress' Digvijaya Singh. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. After having a chit-chat with some snake charmers at the village, Priyanka Gandhi not only held a reptile, but even played with it. When someone from the crowd warned her to be careful with these deadly creatures, Vadra said: 'Nothing will happen, it's fine'. (Photo: ANI) Rae Bareli: Far from the rough and tumble of hectic electioneering, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday met snake charmers in Raebareli constituency of Uttar Pradesh and boldly held a reptile, saying "it's fine". Photojournalists covering Vadra's election campaign caught the rare sight on camera as she halted at Kuchariya village in an obscure nook on her way to Belavela, another village in the constituency, represented by her mother, Sonia Gandhi. After having a chit-chat with some snake charmers at the village, the general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh not only held a reptile, but even played with it, much to the amusement of onlookers. #WATCH Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) meets snake charmers in Raebareli, holds snakes in hands. pic.twitter.com/uTY0R2BtEP ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 When someone from the crowd warned her to be careful with these deadly creatures, Vadra said: "Nothing will happen, it's fine". She took stock of the problems faced by the snake charmers and other people in the area. Vadra then explained to the people the role of Sonia Gandhi in developing the constituency. "My mother has been an MP from this seat for over 15 years. The work that she has done here has contributed to the development of the area," she said. Vadra described the BJP as the Congress' main political rival, saying the ideologies of these two parties were poles apart. In Raebareli, Sonia Gandhi is in a direct contest with BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, who recently switched sides from the Congress to the ruling party. The SP-BSP-RLD alliance has not fielded its candidate against the UPA chairperson. Raebareli goes to polls next Monday in the fifth phase of the general election. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. 'Our candidates are fighting strongly in most constituencies,' Priyanka said. 'I have said very clearly that Congress is fighting this election on its own strength,' Priyanka Said. (Photo: ANI) Raebareli: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said she would 'rather die than benefit BJP'. In an exclusive conversation with ANI, Priyanka said, "I have said very clearly that Congress is fighting this election on its own strength. Our candidates are fighting strongly in most constituencies. I have said that I would rather die than benefit the BJP. I have made it extremely clear in all my research and in all the work that we have done to choose candidates that are strongly fighting or cutting BJP votes." Tearing into BJP and terming the ongoing elections as a fight of ideologies, she accused the party of destroying the democracy. She said: "The priority is the country. The priority is to defeat an ideology which is out to destroy this country, to destroy institutions and to destroy everything that makes India democracy". "It is a battle for the country and the battle for everything that we all believe in. It is a battle for the soul of this country and it is a battle of ideologies. An ideology for which members of my family have lived and died, an ideology that has built this nation. When democratic process is restricted, when they are put down, when a teacher is protesting for her own so that she gets her fees, she is thrown in jail and national security act is put against her. What are we doing? That's not a democracy. In a democracy people's voice is supreme," she added. While replying to Union Minister Smriti Iran's comment of keeping children of cultured families away from her, she said BJP edited video and twisted the truth. "I stopped children from saying slogans which I didn't think were correct about the prime minister. The BJP has edited that tape and removed the part where I was stopping children and they are making this allegation which is typical of them. They twist the truth but I speak the truth", she said. She was also asked about not contesting these elections on which Priyanka said that she has chosen to not to contest these elections because she has responsibility of overseeing the election of other candidates. "Because I have a responsibility to oversee the election of 41 candidates", said Priyanka. However, on being asked about contesting in 2022, when UP will witness assembly elections, she said, "perhaps, maybe!" Earlier in the day, Priyanka had said that her focus is on both 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 2022 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and she is working towards defeating BJP. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Petitioners challenge Congress presidents British nationality, say he concealed information. New Delhi: The Supreme Court has been moved for a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to debar Congress president Rahul Gandhi from contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi and Wayanad constituencies till his citizenship issue is decided. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told counsel for the two petitioners that the writ petition would be listed for hearing next week. The petitioners, Shri Jai Bhagwan Goyal and Shri Chander Prakash Tyagi, have challenged the Indian citizenship of Mr Gandhi. The activists allege that Mr Gandhi has acquired British citizenship which, according to them, is evident from documents filed by Backops Ltd before the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. It was pointed out that Mr Gandhi's name is allegedly shown as one of the promoters of the company. They submitted that the Representation of the People Act provides for disqualification for registration of a person in an electoral roll who is not a citizen of India. Since it is apparent from the documents of the Registrar of Companies of England and Wales, he cannot be a voter in electoral rolls. They said the EC has a responsibility to ensure that a non-citizen is not registered as a voter in the electoral rolls nor allowed to vote in the elections. The commission has miserably failed in upholding the law by permitting Mr Gandhi to file his nominations. Further, they said that Mr Gandhi has concealed the factum of the British nationality and by concealment of this fact he has been successful in getting elected as a Member of Parliament in the year 2009 and 2014. The activists have sought a declaration from the court that the Congress president is not competent to contest elections as he is not a citizen of India and to direct the commission to probe the alleged acquisition of British Citizenship by Mr Gandhi and debar him his contesting the polls and to remove his name from the electoral rolls. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. France, Italy kick starts celebration to mark 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death. Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars. (Photo: AFP) Italy: The Loire Valley town of Amboise will kick off festivities marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death in style on Thursday, with the French and Italian presidents topping the bill. The Florentine master who personified the Italian Renaissance was the guest of France's King Francis I for the final three years of his life before his death in Amboise in 1519. France's Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Sergio Mattarella will mark the anniversary with visits to his grave at the royal chateau and the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house nearby where Leonardo lived and died. Among glitterati attending the events will be Italian star architect Renzo Piano and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. 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. In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome. Mattarella, staunchly pro-EU like Macron, played an "essential role" in lowering tensions, Macron's office said. After some 200 "yellow vests" staged protests in Amboise on Saturday, the town of some 13,000 people was already in virtual lockdown early Wednesday ahead of the presidential visit. Parking was banned along the riverside motorcade route, with anyone flouting the ban having their vehicle towed away. Shops, bars and restaurants below the chateau will be shuttered on Thursday. Emmanuel Honnet, who runs the Cafe des Arts snack bar by the chateau, said the precautions were "understandable... given the terrible social climate and the real terrorist risk". But the 51-year-old vented "frustration" that the townspeople would be largely sidelined. "It should be the memory of a lifetime," he said. Macron will be the first French president to visit the town since Charles de Gaulle came in 1959. Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome. Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars. With Leonardo's 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". As many globally await the royal birth, the gambling industry in UK is booming with bets on the birthdate and potential name of Baby Sussex. Britains Prince Harry and his American wife is due to welcome their first child any day now, just ahead of their first wedding anniversary on May 19. (Photo: Instagram/kensingtonroyal) London: Meghan Markle will give birth by Monday night to a little girl to be named Diana, at least thats what the bets placed by punters suggest. Britains Prince Harry and his American wife is 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 babys gender, name and up until recently. Many people expected the baby would arrive in April so those who had 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 babys gender. We actually believe its going to be this week and we make today, Wednesday 1 May, the favourite 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 Williams daughter. William Hill has odds of 3/1 for Wednesday. We reckon its imminent now...were odds on 1 to 2 that the baby arrives by Monday night, William Hills Adams. Bookmakers say for weeks, odds have favoured the baby to be a girl, with the name Diana, after Harrys 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 girls names. Allegra was 100 to 1 just two days ago, suddenly its in at 12/1. That name has also proved popular at bookmakers Ladbrokes, which earlier this week had the same odds for it. Other names include Victoria and Elizabeth, after Britains monarch and Harrys grandmother. For a boy, Arthur has odds of 12/1 at Betfair while Charles, after Harrys father, is at 14/1. Weve seen quite a lot of money in the past 72 hours for Mary, thats gone from 40/1 to 14/1, also looking at Grace at 7/1 and Alice at 10/1, Rosbottom said. The sun is never kind in a Maharashtrian summer, but on the water, the sea around me amplifies it. Its Day 4 of my 17-day solo kayaking expedition from Mumbai to Goa. Its the first time an Indian has attempted this, but things are not going according to the plan. A delay in the import of my kayak has resulted in setting off in the brutal heat of March. The sun is never kind in a Maharashtrian summer, but on the water, the sea around me amplifies it. Also, I havent slept much. Weve completed 90 km in three days with 14 hours of sleep, and today Ill push that to 120 km when I hit the picturesque beach of Harihareshwar. Theres only one problem. I dont know where it is. And Im coming down with a fever. Typically, I plot my route out on my GPS watch. But somewhere after 30 km, my watch dies. And Im left grappling with where I am. I spot the sea entering a bay, but I cant remember it on a map. I have two options, to cross the bay I find myself in, or go back and find Harihareshwar. I decide to head for the bank on the other side. As I make my way towards it, my dad tells me hell find me on land. I see a narrow stretch of beach and make for it. I crash-land on the barren white beach, half naked and completely exhausted. I must have waited 10 minutes in the sobering heat, when Shadab comes down from the hillock and introduces himself. Hes baffled anyone would want to paddle solo from Bombay to Goa, with no motor or sail. Hes baffled further when he spots my huge kayak. We take a photo together and he invites me to his house for chai. He explains that Ive landed in Bankot, and Im lucky to have missed the beaches up ahead that swallow swimmers whole. As he ushers me in, Im introduced to his father, the head of the Dargah at Bankot. As we sit there having chai and rusk, he tells me how he spent a large part of his life in Bombay, until he was chosen to come here and take up the role of the Baba. He tells me the story of how Shivaji Maharaj once passed through Bankot during his naval assault on Murud Janjira. The then Baba of Bankot warned Shivaji to stay. An undaunted Shivaji raged on and lost many men to sea. He returned to Bankot for blessings. Needless to say, he was victorious in his second attempt. Suddenly, it all made sense. The good Baba took me up to the Dargah. With the help of his son Shadab and his brother, he donned his regal attire and blessed me on my own sea voyage. We decide to take a rest day, as Shivaji did. We have 13 more days to go. (Kaustubh Khade is an IITian, Asian Silver Medalist in kayaking & a Limca Book Record holder. He has kayaked the 3,000km west coast of India solo) The Madras high court has done a signal service in upholding a crucial democratic principle with regard to governance in Puducherry. 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. The detailed manual was used by US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to land on the moon in 1969. Christies has placed a $7 million to $9 million estimate on the timeline book, which will go on public view in New York from May 3 to 17 ahead of a global tour before the auction on July 18. The detailed manual used by US 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 Christies 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. These are step-by-step instructions that cover the entire portion of the Eagle flight. It is a series of instructions on everything from don your helmets to check your power system, Christina Geiger, head of books and manuscripts at Christies, told Reuters. Along with technical data, the book, which was carried aboard the Eagle, contains drawings and almost 150 check marks and annotations written in real time by Armstrong and Aldrin. Since there was no audio or video recording of what happened in the cockpit of the Eagle, the manual is regarded as a unique witness to space history. It also marks the first writing by a human being on another celestial body. It is being sold by a private collector who purchased it previously from Aldrin, Christies said. Collectors pay huge sums for space exploration artifacts. In 2017, Sothebys sold a zippered bag used by Armstrong and laced with moondust for $1.8 million. Everybody wants something that has flown to space or to the moon. Its so cool to be able to gaze up at the moon and think: Ive got an object in my pocket that was there, said Geiger. The last manned mission to the moon took place in 1972. Christies has placed a $7 million to $9 million estimate on the timeline book, which will go on public view in New York from May 3 to 17 ahead of a global tour before the auction on July 18. The book is the star item in a 150-lot auction marking the 50th anniversary of the moon landing called One Giant Leap: Celebrating Space Exploration 50 years after Apollo 11. Number of families and children arriving alone to the border is outpacing the number of single adults, and their needs are much different. 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. (Photo: File) Washington: 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. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar. (Photo: File) Islamabad: The "breakthrough" in designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist came during Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China where the two sides agreed to withdraw their opposition to the latest move to blacklist the JeM chief, a media report said here Thursday. The UN's sanctions committee announced Wednesday the designation of Pakistan-based Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda. 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 that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking four attempts since 2009 by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal. Hours after sanctions were imposed on Azhar, the Express Tribune newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, reported that Pakistan and China held extensive discussions before making a decision on the Azhar issue. "It is believed that the breakthrough came during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China where both sides agreed to withdraw opposition to the latest move after realising that Islamabad's concerns were addressed," the report said. Khan was in Beijing to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping from April 25 to 27. Apart from President Xi, the Pakistan prime minister met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang as well as Vice President Wang Qishan. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China lifted its hold on the US, the UK and French proposal after a "careful study of the revised materials" it had to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. The listing of Azhar means that he will now be facing a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. But the source told the paper that the listing does not mean the person should be detained. Another official claimed that authorities were "unaware" of Azhar's whereabouts. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during the peak of India-Pakistan tensions following the Pulwama terror attack had admitted that Azhar was in Pakistan. He also mentioned that the JeM chief was "very unwell" to the extent that he cannot leave his house. The report also claimed that Islamabad agreeing to the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was a "paradigm shift" in the country's approach. An official said prime minister Khan had made a public commitment that Pakistan's soil would not be used against any country. However, he made it clear that Pakistan would go after these groups in a manner that the peace and security of the country was not affected. The Washington Post reported that Azhar's sanctioning comes weeks after Washington said it was seeking to have him put on the UN blacklist. In Washington, a senior US 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 US in putting pressure on China after the February 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 Pakistan Prime Minister Khan's commitment to crack down on militants in the country "will translate into irreversible steps to end terrorist and militant safe havens inside Pakistan." Khan's government has ordered the takeover of assets and property of JeM and dozens of banned militant organisations that operate in Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack by a JeM suicide bomber. This control will pass to the Russian FSB security service and media monitoring agency Roskomnadzor, which is known to block content. 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' (Photo: AP I File) Moscow: 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. Police arrest dozens of people as some 2,000 anti-Kremlin protesters join May Day rallies in Saint Petersburg, chanting slogans critical of President Vladimir Putin. 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. Watch Snob on the Royal Oak, Lange Saxonia and Roger Smith Co-Axial Watch Snob on the One Watch to Own if You Can Only Own One Watch My One and Only I know this has been asked many, many times before, but if you could have only one watch from your current collection, what would it be? If you find this question too revealing, alternatively, which single currently existing, publically known watch would you choose to own? I have been a regular reader since 2010, and around a decade later, I am very curious about your most current preference. Thank you very much for your articles. RELATED: Last Week Watch Snob: Classic vs Edgy I really hesitate to say anything about the state of my own collection because that is a rabbit hole from which, once gone down, there is no returning. Folks will inevitably draw conclusions about my views and the degree to which my own judgements about watches are influenced by what I do and dont possess, and while from the various and many replies Ive given to questions asked over the years it is possible to glean a general idea of my likes and dislikes, I would rather not make it any harder for the average reader to think for themselves than it already is. I will go so far as to say what watch I would have, were I to only have one watch. There are a number of interesting ways to go at the problem. One may choose a sentimental favorite (ones first watch, a watch gotten to mark a special occasion, et cetera) one may choose a watch for greatest versatility, or one may choose for greatest durability and accuracy, or what have you. On the whole though, at my age having seen a plethora of watches and bought as well as sold a plethora of watches for a plethora of reasons I would simply bespeak a wristwatch from Roger Smith, fitted with his single wheel co-axial escapement, and think no more about it. The simplicity and clarity and integrity of his approach is matched by few modern watchmakers and the technical interest to be found in the single wheel co-axial escapement is matched by none, to my way of thinking. If one is to own only one of something, it should be the best of its kind and in my view taken on the whole (and of course, based on my own idiosyncratic notions of what is and is not interesting watchmaking) an R. Smith wristwatch it is that, in modern horology. A Down-Payment on Service Costs Hello Snob, thanks for an entertaining and informative column. I was wondering what your opinion is of the Vacheron Constantin ref. 6563. It would be used as a dress watch and for occasional semi-formal events. While I don't mind smaller watches, I prefer the proportions of a 36mm or 38mm case on my wrist, as it's somewhat broad. I have a JLC Master Ultra Thin 38, which I love, and plan to keep, but also like the slightly more formal indexes and case design of the 6563, which provide a convenient excuse for the purchase of another watch. A little redundancy in my collection (which just goes across the typical usage categories) doesn't bother me. Ah, the 6563 whenever I see someone asking about such a watch I always wonder a bit how they managed to light on it. This reference pre-dates by a considerable margin the acquisition of Vacheron by the Richemont Group and its a very charming watch (not hurt either by the fact that it is not terribly expensive either, at least at the moment). The movement is a very nice one like the watch, it pre-dates the Richemont Group and therefore, the use of in-house movements but the caliber K1002 is nonetheless, a rather fine piece of work. The movement was provided as an ebauche by Jaeger-LeCoultre and as finished by Vacheron is quite lovely a classic piece of mid-20th century Genevan watchmaking, with an indirect center seconds, adjustable mass balance, and it carries the Geneva Seal, and was adjusted to temperature, isochronism, and positions by Vacheron. A fine way to acquire a very fine movement in a classically attractive and unobtrusive case; with the caveat that, as a wise man once said, one should regard the purchase price of a vintage watch as a down-payment on the service costs, something to acquire without hesitation. Baller Style? Taking away the price or style factor, which one would you choose? Midsize A. Lange & Sohne 219.028 Saxonia Manual Wind 35mm or Royal Oak 15450 blue dial? I love both but I will only choose one. Thank you! One and by one I mean me scratches ones head at the way some questions are phrased. I can to some degree understand wanting to take price out of the equation if one wants to compare a couple of watches on merit rather than cost, but asking to leave out the style factor seems a bit perverse, especially when discussing the Royal Oak. About ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent of the interest of a Royal Oak has to do either directly or indirectly with its stylistic idiosyncrasies (not to be unfair to the caliber 3120, which is a very fine piece of watchmaking, but that it is a fine piece of watchmaking has very little to do with why most people buy the Royal Oak and even in those situations where it factors in, its hardly a decisive factor). In any case, even taking all this into consideration, the Lange is to my way of thinking the more interesting watch. That it is a manual-wind timepiece is part of the reason, but that in turn is a symptom of something deeper, which is that it is a more essential watch than the Royal Oak. In its simplicity is a rejection of superfluity and a focus on the essentials which has much greater longevity as a source of satisfaction that the flash of the Royal Oak, whose popularity nowadays has as much or more to do with the fact that it is instantly recognizable as a, you know baller watch than with any of its (indisputable, by the way) merits as a design icon. Unfortunately the Royal Oak, while a classic, has also become something of a poor mans Richard Mille worn by all sorts of people for whom advertising their (relative) affluence means much, and who, at least as far as actual horology is concerned, have (to steal a phrase from Hermione Granger) the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Send the Watch Snob your questions at [email protected] or ask a question on Instagram with the #watchsnob hashtag. You Might Also Dig: "Ashurst Digital Ventures is an essential extension of our global legal services business as we continue on our transformation journey. At its core it is about embracing change, evolution and revolution not only in the legal services market but each and every sector in which our clients operate, said Ms. Waters. Ashurst Advance is now a separate division within the firm, led from this month by Chris Georgiou. "Establishing this new dedicated business reflects our commitment to building innovation into the core of our legal offering and will complement the rapidly growing Ashurst Advance 'Delivery' business headed by Mike Polson offering legal excellence with efficient delivery," said Georgiou. Clifford Chance announces 11 Asia Pacific promotions Clifford Chance has announced 11 new counsel/consultants for the Asia Pacific region. They include 3 in Australia, 3 in Mainland China, 3 in Singapore, 1 in Hong Kong and 1 in Tokyo. Video shows young siblings close call with suspected carjacker. @ErielleReshef has more on their jaw-dropping escape. pic.twitter.com/CsrjIwk6FN Good Morning America (@GMA) April 29, 2019 It happened when the kids great-grandmother, Nita Coburn, pulled in at the Atrium Medical Center in Middletown, Ohio, to drop off a relative at the emergency room. Because she was in a hurry, she left the car unlocked and the engine running, assuming that no one would dare to steal her vehicle right from outside a hospital.The kids, Chance and Skylar, were in the backseat. Neither the location or the car or the kids presence inside worked to deter the opportunistic carjacker. Coburn tells GMA that she heard the children scream and she ran outside to see what was happening.To her shock, as she came out of the hospital, she saw her car speeding off. Realizing that the kids were still inside, she rushed after it and grabbed onto the door on the drivers side, managing to open it and get a more secure hold. Meanwhile, as CCTV released by the police shows (and also included in the video available at the bottom of the page), Chance managed to roll out of the speeding vehicle, dragging Skylar with him.Coburn didnt have much luck holding back the thief or the car. She held on to it for a while, until she was forced to let go because of the pain she was in. She received minor injuries and will be ok. On the other side of the car, the kids had escaped unharmed, but she didnt know it just yet.All I could see was my great-grandbabies in the back seat. ... Every time I think about it I want to cry, Coburn says. Its the most morbid feeling in the world. No one needs to feel that fear.Skylar recalls that the carjacker kept a tight grip on her hoodie as Chance was trying to pull her out. The boy says he could only think of getting out of the car as quickly as possible, even if that meant hurting himself in the process. I was acting in the moment because I didnt want my sister to get hurt, Chance explains.Police saw the speeding car (now great-grandma- and kid-free) and pulled it over farther down the road. They arrested Dalvir Singh, a 24-year-old heroin addict, and charged him with 2 counts of kidnapping, felonious assault and grand theft. He is due in court on May 3. ABC #BREAKING - Officers are investigating a shooting on Shepherd Lane in Bedford. Right now, access to that road is blocked at Mob Creek Road and Moneta Road. Working to get info. pic.twitter.com/QSuyegPfru Valencia E. Jones (@vjreports3) April 23, 2019 Police say 56 year old Mark Turner is the shooter. When they arrived at his home they found 3 people with non life threatening injuries. Police have not identified victims. pic.twitter.com/3ddsekTUPQ Whitney Burney WSET (@WhitneyOnAir) April 23, 2019 Last week, what should have been a friendly conversation on which carmaker is best, Chevrolet vs. Ford , ended with 3 people in the hospital when one man 56-year-old Mark Turner turned extremely violent. The incident happened over an Easter-related dinner at the home of Turners girlfriend in Bedford County, Virginia,affiliate WSET reports.Turner and his GFs son got into the Chevy vs. Ford debate, and Turner produced a knife, meaning to scare the son into agreeing with him. The girlfriend got between the two men, trying to keep everything peaceful, so Turner stabbed her in the back.While everyone rallied around her, Turner went into the house and, according to the police records, he emerged from there with a gun. He shot both his GF (who again got in the way) and her son, but 2 bullets also ricochet and hit the sons girlfriend in the back and cheek. Turners girlfriend was shot in the legs about 5 times, while her son was hit in the arm and cheek.Prosecutors confirm for WSET that what started the violence was a heated discussion on which carmaker makes the better rides, Chevrolet or Ford, but hint that the gang was probably tied up in illegal drug activity either way. And yes, Turner was heavily intoxicated when all this happened.Police arrested Turner without much incident, charging him with 2 counts of malicious wounding, possession of a firearm as a felon and using a firearm in a felony. Prosecutors are also considering charging him for the bullets that ricochet and with additional charges, pending the outcome of the investigation.From the home, police seized cellphones, a smoking device, 3 green plants, a pistol, and drug paraphernalia. "A combination of factors has led to the Fullback no longer being on sale," declared the head of Fiat Professional. Speaking to Auto Express at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, Richard Chamberlain made it clear the Fullback was no longer viable for the Italian automaker.But on the upside, dont forget that Fiat Professional has a lot of panel, passenger, and chassis cab-bodied vans to offer in the Old Continent. In South America, the Fullback has a smaller brother in the guise of the Toro , sharing most of the underpinnings with the Jeep Renegade.Going through the Italian configurator, Fiat still lists the Fullback from 23,440 excluding VAT while the Double Cab starts at 24,940. Level up to the Cross, and youre looking at 31,390 from the get-go. Also known as the Ram 1200 in the United Arab Emirates, the Fullback is manufactured by Mitsubishi Thailand in Laem Chabang.Production started in 2016, and the 2.4-liter turbo diesel four-cylinder serves as the only engine option for the European market. The Di-D is coupled to either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic, available with either rear- or four-wheel drive.The 2.4 is good for 154 PS and 380 Nm from 1,500 rpm while the high-output engine cranks out 181 PS and 430 Nm from 2,500 rpm. Acceleration to 100 km/h (62 mph) takes 10.2 seconds in the best-case scenario, and top speed is rated at 179 km/h (111 mph) for the six-speed manual.On a related note, Mitsubishi updated the L200 in November 2018 for the 2019 model year. Also known as the Triton, the one-ton pickup is expected to sell in the ballpark of 180,000 units in this fiscal year. The company in question is called Heyform Bramsche, and is listed by Bloomberg as a German manufacturer of trim components and other parts for the interior of vehicles. In 2016, Heyform set up shop in Romania, aiming to start making these parts on behalf of some of the brands in the Volkswagen Group, including Lamborghini.For reasons unknown at the time, the facility closed its doors shortly after it began operations, in 2018, and all the employees were let go. Unhappy with the severance package they received, employees took the company to court, asking for more money.In its defense, the company claimed in court that it is the employees, or at least some of them, that are to blame for the plants closure.According to court papers cited by local publication Adevarul , soon after production began the lines had to be stopped because a number of casting molds belonging to Italian carmaker Lamborghini had been stolen, and sold for scrap metal.The molds in question whose nature was not disclosed were worth over 200,000 ($224,000) and their theft eventually made the company lose the contract it had with the Volkswagen Group.According to the publication, citing company sources, four employees have been charged with theft, the company claiming that they have already admitted their guilt. Local authorities have not commented on the matter as the investigation is still ongoing.The prosecutors did confirm that the incident took place in November 2017 and there are four unaccounted for molds, allegedly stolen by an equal number of employees.As per Adevarul, the Lamborghini parts in question are now being manufactured elsewhere by another company. He would spent the next year and a considerable amount of money to fight that $300 ticket, more as a matter of principle. A judge recently ruled in his favor, admitting that the state couldnt hold its burden of proof and that Stiber was, in fact, eating McDonalds when he was ticketed.Thats what the man had been saying all along, too. He initially went to court and represented himself, and lost. Then, he hired attorney John Thygerson and went back to court, and came out victorious this time. He provided the court with a receipt from McDonalds and phone records that proved that he had not been on the phone when he got pulled over.Officer Shawn Wong Won claimed that he saw Stiber moving his mouth while holding something that looked like a phone, with an illuminated screen, close to his face. Stiber argued that he was chewing (hence the movement of his lips) and that he was actually holding a hash brown from McDs.Stiber and his attorney also showed the court that the officer was on his 15th hour of a double shift, which would explain why his eyesight wasnt working properly. The judge agreed.Speaking to The Washington Post , Stiber explains why he picked such an apparently silly fight with the police over a simple ticket for distracted driving: these tickets go on your record and make your insurance premiums go up. Most of the times, people dont even realize it.Thats why I did it, because I wouldnt want anyone else to go through this. Other people dont have the means to defend themselves in the same way, he says. I definitely havent eaten as many (hash browns) as I have previously, but I still go to McDonalds for other things. Its been a long ordeal.His attorney also spared a thought for the officer who caused all this: It just is proof that police officers theres nothing nefarious here but that police officers are human and make mistakes. Thats all. We don't know if the spy footage is relevant to the American market, as Fit sales fell about 30% to just 35,300 units last year. Many manufacturers have pulled all their resources from normal cars to focus on crossovers. But the test prototype has a certain funky, rugged look that people may find appealing.In fact, the new Jazz/Fit is a mixture of many elements. For example, its headlights are bigger and rounder than before, which we think is an homage to the classic 1970s Civic. Also, it features roof rails and a slightly raised suspension, a bit like the Suzuki Ignis city car. But at its core, the Honda hatchback is still the most spacious and practical subcompact you will ever see, with ample headroom and flexible seating.But that's because the Jazz is technically not a subcompact. The model originated from Japan, where it's classed as a compact family car. This generation also reminds us of European MPVs, like the C3 Aircross or the Fiat 500L; it's got those distinctive double A-pillars.In the engine department, we're obviously dealing with a hybrid because we can hear Prius-like electric motor noises at low speed and a droning gasoline engine, which is most likely Honda's usual 1.5-liter. The technology has already been perfected for the Civic-based Insight Currently, the European Jazz model is available with a 100 horsepower 1.3-liter as well as a 1.5-liter i-DTEC diesel. Both are likely to carry over to the next-generation model. At the same time, Honda offers a 1-liter turbo in the Civic, and that's what every European subcompact car buyer secretly wants According to the police records obtained by NJ.com , the altercation began in Gloucester County, when Michael F. Roller started throwing various objects at another car at an intersection. No reason was given for this kind of reaction, but Rollers subsequent behavior seems to suggest it was racially-motivated.The report notes that both Roller and the other driver pulled in a parking lot nearby. The other driver didnt get out of his car, but Roller did clearly, throwing stuff out the window at the man hadnt been enough to satisfy his thirst for violence.Roller got out of his car and began hitting the other vehicle with a machete as he shouted racial slurs, police said, NJ.com writes. 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.It is unknown if the other man was injured in any way, but it would be safe to assume he wasnt, given the fact that he never left his vehicle. Meanwhile, Roller was put in handcuffs and taken downtown, where he was slapped with several charges, including bias intimidation, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and multiple weapons offenses.As of the time of writing, he was in Gloucester jail, a place he might as well start thinking of in terms of home. The crime of making terroristic threats alone, which is a third-degree crime, carries a sentence of 3 to 5 years behind bars and fines of up to $15,000 if convicted. Shane Piche worked as a bus driver for the Watertown City School District in upstate New York when the crime happened in June last year. He was arrested in September and initially charged with second-degree rape, first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child by providing alcohol to the victim before the assault.Had he gone to trial and been found guilty on these charges, he would have been sent to prison and registered as a Level 2 sex offender, which would have meant his address would have been made public. In February this year, though, Piche struck a deal, pleading guilty to a lesser charge, which eventually helped him walk away scott-free.The Watertown Daily News notes that he pleaded guilty to third-degree rape, as part of the deal. While the victims family, along with everybody else, expected at least some jail time, the judge presiding ruled that Piche could go back home and to his regular life because as he put it there was only one victim, as opposed to multiple. Also, Piche did not have any priors.Piche was sentenced to 10 years probation and will be registered as Level 1 sex offender, which means his address wont be made publicly available. He is also barred contact with anyone under 17 and has been fired from his job as a bus driver (doh!).According to the judge and Piches attorney, thats punishment enough. He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. 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, said Eric Swartz, Piches defense attorney, told 7 News after the sentencing.The victims mother, who admitted that the girl received various gifts from Piche before the assault and that the girl and other teens would often go to his place to drink spirits, obviously found the sentencing unjust.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, the mother says.Meanwhile, a petition to have the judge who gave the sentence removed has already topped 60,000 signatures. Taking over as General Distributor for Fuso trucks beginning Q1 of 2019, Sojitz Fuso Philippines Corporation (SFC) will be handling the distribution of the light-to-heavy duty line of trucks here in the Philippines. SFC will be taking the reins from Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) and will assume operations starting this year as the market for commercial trucks continues to grow as new infrastructure gets laid out throughout the country. The Philippines is one of the fastest growing markets in this key region. Said Mr. Thomas Hilse, CEO of Daimler Commercial Vehicles South East Asia Pte. Ltd. We appreciate MMPCs long-term support in this crucial market and are proud to tie up with SFP a reliable local partner solely dedicated to our trucks and buses - to step up our game. This new strategic setup will allow us to ensure the utmost customer dedication with our products and services at all times. The FUSO dealer network under MMPC will have a smooth transition over to SFP thanks to a mutual agreement between the two parties and by the parent company of Fuso, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC). With two dealerships put up last year, SFP will usher in more dedicated FUSO dealerships throughout the course of 2019. Palmdale, CA (93550) Today Periods of rain. Low 47F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 47F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Former Vice President and 2020 Democratic hopeful Joe Biden on Wednesday played down growing concerns that China is on the verge of surpassing the U.S. as a dominant global economic and national security superpower, saying: "They're not competition for us." "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man They can't even figure out how to deal with the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the West. They can't figure out how theyre going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system. Theyre not bad folks, folks Theyre not competition for us." Biden said at a campaign stop in Iowa on Wednesday Our thought bubble, per Axios' Joe Uchill: While Biden may be right that resource management could cap China's potential, that hasn't stopped the country from stealing billions of dollars in intellectual property through cyber and other means, providing stiff competition in tech fields in part, due to stolen intellectual property and investing threatening amounts in emerging fields like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. In telecom equipment, China has 2 of the top 5 companies in the world, with Huawei being No. 1. Axios' National Political Reporter Jonathan Swan weighed in as well saying Bidens is not a view shared by leaders of either party in Washington, or by national security leaders. One of the rare things Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Trump agree on is that China is a rising, increasingly urgent threat to the U.S. The context: Biden has made similar comments before. At a Democratic campaign event in Florida in October 2018, Biden said the U.S. is "better positioned than any nation in the world to own the 21st century," adding that China is "a divided country in 1,000 ways ... Don't tell me China's going to own America. It's not possible." Biden's campaign declined to comment on Wednesday's statement. Go deeper: China is the greatest, growing threat to America Former FBI Director James Comey addressed what happened in the aftermath of the Mueller report in a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday, the same day that Attorney General William Barr testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee, arguing that "amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them." The big picture: Comey referenced Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's actions surrounding the report, asking "What happened to these people?" He describes Barr as "a bright and accomplished lawyer," immediately followed by concern that Barr has been "channeling the president in using words like 'no collusion.'" Some of the questions Comey covers in the opinion piece he has also publicly pondered on social media. What Comey's saying: "How could Mr. Barr go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and downplay President Trump's attempt to fire Mr. Mueller before he completed his work?" "And how could Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, after the release of Mr. Mueller's report that detailed Mr. Trump's determined efforts to obstruct justice, give a speech quoting the president on the importance of the rule of law?" "...You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul." Go deeper: James Comey slams decision not to charge Trump with obstruction In September 2016, under the guise of discussing foreign policy, a woman who went by the name of Azra Turk asked Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in a London pub whether the campaign was working with Russia, the New York Times reports. The backdrop: Turk, masquerading as a Cambridge University research assistant, was in fact a government investigator sent by the FBI as part of a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. According to the Mueller report, the inquiry was launched after Papadopoulos suggested to an Australian diplomat that the campaign had "received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to candidate Clinton." Turk reportedly worked alongside FBI informant Stefan Halper to gather intelligence. However, the London operation "yielded no fruitful information," according to the Times. Why it matters: Turk's operation indicates the lengths to which the FBI was willing to go to uncover any role the Trump campaign may have played in Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. This newly revealed information is likely to energize President Trump and his supporters, who have claimed that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence improperly "spied" on him in an effort to thwart his 2016 victory. Attorney General Bill Barr further stoked these allegations in a congressional hearing last month when he said that he believes "spying did occur," and that he is looking into whether it was "adequately predicated." His use of the word "spying" has angered many Democrats, who believe the term has explosive connotations that imply authorized government surveillance was somehow illegal. The latest: In response to the new information, the Trump campaign released a statement: "There is a word for this in the English language: Spying. Democrats and their media friends have expressed horror at the term, but there is no other way to describe it: The FBI spied on the Trump campaign in 2016. For two years, Democrats and their allies in the media have lied to the American people about the Russia collusion hoax, when all along the real scandal was the Obama Administration using the Justice Department to spy on a political adversary's campaign. As President Trump has said, it is high time to investigate the investigators." Brad Parscale, campaign manager CAPE CANAVERAL Floridas Atlantic coast is experiencing a resurgence of space enthusiasm, but this time its driven by Pacific coast billionaires with thick wallets and brainy entrepreneurs asking for cash. Why it matters: Its been 50 years since the launch of Apollo 11 inspired a generation to pursue space travel. But the space shuttle program no longer exists and NASA funding has been slashed, just as renewed global competition raises the stakes. Steve Case, AOL co-founder and venture capitalist, spent Tuesday touring the Space Coast on his "Rise of the Rest" tour that highlights startups and innovation outside the usual tech hubs. Flashback: A decade ago, the Space Coast was hit with an economic double whammy NASAs shuttle program was canceled, and the nation was drowning in a devastating recession. The resulting double-digit levels of unemployment caused some workers to leave the state. The state-chartered economic development program Space Florida, along with economic development groups, has stepped in to promote aeronautical business in the area around Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The goal was to fill the void left by the shuttle program. What's happening: Today, the space center sees frequent launches, thanks in part to SpaceX. As soon as this month, SpaceX plans to launch satellites to low earth orbit to provide broadband service. Jeff Bezos' BlueOrigin is expanding its facilities here. So is OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture with Airbus that just got a $1.2 billion investment from Softbank. The company plans to build hundreds of low earth orbit satellites to beam broadband around the world. Boeing, Embraer, Harris Corporation, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman employ thousands of people. Many of the big companies have venture arms. The big picture: The big companies have helped attract technical talent and nearby colleges are graduating a steady stream of engineers. But the private space tech ecosystem is still young, and local officials are trying to boost the fledgling startup scene. The problem: Sending rockets, satellites, lunar rovers and people to the moon and beyond is pretty expensive and pretty risky. Sending rockets, satellites, lunar rovers and people to the moon and beyond is pretty expensive and pretty risky. Venture capitalists with stomachs strong enough to write a check are more likely to look in California, which snagged more than half of VC investment last year. Florida, by contrast, got only 1.3% of all U.S. VC funding. "That's appallingly low," said Frank DiBello, Space Florida president and CEO. "But we're no longer singing the victim song that we were after the shuttle program disappeared. Now there's real growth." What's next: NASA plans to return to the moon in 5 years, but it can't do it alone, said Kira Blackwell, who runs NASA's iTech program, which matches new space tech companies with private investors. "Technology is moving so quickly that it makes much better sense for us to partner with entrepreneurs to put boots on the moon." NASA has long understood that private industry is key in the wake of the end of the space shuttle program, notes Axios space reporter Miriam Kramer. The space agency is now turning to space companies like Boeing and SpaceX to launch their astronauts to the International Space Station in the coming years, ending NASA's reliance on Russian rockets. But with these partnerships comes risk. NASA is now playing a waiting game as the two companies work to get their crew launch systems up and running after years of delays and budget shortfalls. Bottom line: Unless it's well-funded with bipartisan Congressional support, NASA could also get stuck in a holding pattern when shooting for the moon, even if the private space industry is in favor of the mission. Sign up to receive the Axios Space newsletter every Tuesday. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for Attorney General William Barr to resign and be held in contempt over the Russia report, as she jabbed at President Trump on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" Wednesday. "Imagine ... one of the Democratic nominees for 2020 on your show, [saying] the only other adversary of ours who is anywhere near as good as the Russians is China. So why should Russia have all the fun? And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why don't we ask China to back us? And not only that, China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns? I'm sure our media would richly reward you." The backdrop: Her comments were an apparent swipe at her 2016 presidential rival over calls to investigate Clinton's use of a private email server. Trump said in 2016: "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." Within about 5 hours of Trump's statement, GRU officers targeted for the first time Clinton's personal office, Axios' Zachary Basu notes. Making a serious point, Clinton told host Rachel Maddow she wanted to highlight the absurdity of the current situation; in her hypothetical situation, "according to the Mueller report, that is not conspiracy because its done right out in the open." "[If] within hours, all of a sudden, the IRS offices are bombarded with incredibly sophisticated cyber tools looking for Trump's tax returns and then extracts them and then passes them to whatever the new WikiLeaks happens to be, and they start being unraveled and disclosed, nothing wrong with that." The big picture: Clinton is the latest Democrat to call for Attorney General William Barr's resignation over his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings and for his conduct before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Joe Biden yesterday seemed to downplay growing U.S. concerns about China, saying at a campaign stop in Iowa City: China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man! ... They can't figure out how theyre going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system. ... Theyre not bad folks, folks. But guess what? Theyre not ... competition for us. Why it matters: Bidens view is not shared by leaders of either party in Washington or by national security leaders. One of the rare things that Chuck Schumer and President Trump agree on is that China is a rising, increasingly urgent threat to the U.S. A Trump adviser told me that the president's allies see a big opportunity to hit Biden for being weak on China. Go deeper: Joe Biden is running like he won the Democratic primaries In an effort to rein in marine pollution, Maine passed a bill banning food containers made from Styrofoam on Tuesday, making it the first state to enact such legislation, according to Natural Resources Council of Maine. Details: The law will take effect in 2021 and applies to single-use food and drink foam containers often used by restaurants and retailers. Hospitals, food distributors and state-funded meals-on-wheels programs are exempt from having to eliminate the polystyrene containers, per the AP. Oil prices fell on Wednesday as the fears of an escalation in Venezuela's political crisis faded, and U.S. inventories posted a surprise increase, adding to global supply. Crude prices have largely wiped out the politics-driven rally that began on April 22 after the U.S. decided to end sanctions waivers for countries importing Iranian oil. What's happening: U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido attempted to seize power from Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday, but has not been able to declare victory. Whether or not the push to oust Maduro succeeds will "depend on the oppositions ability to win over enough of the armed forces," writes Allison Fedirka, an analyst at Geopolitical Futures. "There are signs that members of the military are publicly supporting Guaido, but it hasn't yet reached a critical mass." The big picture: Fund managers have told Axios that they are starting to lose faith in the opposition's ability to topple Maduro alone, given an apparent increase of support from Russia, China and Cuba. Oil traders look to be coming to the same conclusion. What they're saying: "We believe it will not be a quick fix to turn the state of the domestic oil industry around even with a new regime," commodity analysts at ING said in a note to clients. "We simply don't know what is happening on the ground," Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets told CNN. "I would be cautious about saying we are in the final chapter." The bottom line: If Maduro goes, it will likely take years until Venezuela's oil production is operating at anywhere near its previous capacity (it is currently producing oil at a 70-year low). And it's looking less likely Maduro is going. Go deeper: What's next for Venezuela's oil sector Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to visit two places in the Arctic in the coming days, where it could be extremely difficult to ignore or downplay the reality and consequences of human-caused global warming. Why it matters: The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the globe, setting in motion a transformation of a once-frozen region into a new state. Melting sea ice is quickly making the Far North more accessible, and marine traffic from container ships and cruise vessels is becoming more common, particularly in Russian and Canadian waters. As one of 8 Arctic nations, the U.S. plays a key role in setting policy for the region. The big picture: On May 7, Pompeo will be in Rovaniemi, Finland where he will join foreign ministers from other Arctic nations to discuss issues of concern in the region within a forum known as the Arctic Council. Finland, which is hosting the meeting, has set an agenda that puts climate change high on the list of priorities. But, but, but: Pompeo is likely to be more interested in regional security issues, given a recent Russian military buildup and growing interest in Arctic oil and gas resources. China, too, has been increasingly eyeing the Arctic. "There has been a sustained effort by US military and Coast Guard officials to re-frame the issue of climate change in the Arctic as a security challenge," says Malte Humpert, the founder and senior scholar at The Arctic Institute. "This avoids the political pitfalls of having to talk about climate change and jumps straight to talking about security implications." The U.S., Humpert says, wants to demonstrate that it will "not surrender control over the region to Russia and China," as sea ice melts and the world heads toward a newly accessible Arctic Ocean each summer, and much thinner ice cover at other times. The context: The U.S. under President Trump has vowed to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and has been pursuing policies aimed at boosting its production of fossil fuels that lead to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. has also deemphasized Arctic diplomacy by eliminating the position of a special envoy for the region, while also seeking to boost its military presence in the region. Pompeo is also scheduled to stop in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland on May 9, where he will meet with the Greenlandic premier and the Danish foreign minister. He will be at least the 4th Secretary of State to visit Greenland, with Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry visiting on behalf of previous administrations. Greenland is one of the few places in the world that may benefit economically from global warming, as they're seeing an influx of international investment and interest in mining and other industrial activities, as well as tourism. During the visit to Kangerlussuaq, Pompeo will meet with members of the New York Air National Guard, who fly climate scientists and their equipment to the melting Greenland ice sheet to conduct their research. Go deeper: President Trump is seeking to aggressively invoke Americas oil and natural gas resources to influence geopolitics. Driving the news: White House officials are citing Americas surging oil production as reason to ban all Iranian oil purchases by Thursday, per Reuters. Meanwhile, in meetings in Brussels, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and European officials are touting a record-setting amount of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) entering Europe, helping to lessen that regions dependence on Russian gas. The big picture: Americas oil production has more than doubled over the last decade, going from 5 million barrels a day (b/d) in 2008 to an estimated more than 12 million b/d this year. Amid a parallel boom in natural gas, exports of that fuel in liquefied form have shot up from essentially zero since 2015. America is now the worlds biggest producer of both oil and gas. Where it stands: Perry and the European Commission are touting a 272% increase of LNG imports to Europe from the U.S. since July of last year when Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to collaborate on the issue. Between the lines: Trump and other top officials are connecting the dots on Twitter, in official negotiations and speeches between American oil and gas production and Americas geopolitical influence more aggressively than Obama administration officials once did. These latest moves follow the stark message Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered to an oil and gas conference earlier this year, urging the industry to help the government with its geopolitical goals. But, but, but: Experts say Americas oil and gas is having big geopolitical consequences, but thats not thanks to actions or pronouncements by Trump. The stunning surge in U.S. oil and gas output has significant geopolitical implications, but those result from market forces not from government decisions about how that abundance is deployed. Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy One level deeper: Carlos Pascual, who as President Obamas energy envoy at the State Department was closely involved with that administrations Iranian sanctions and LNG issues in Europe, shared his thoughts by email with me: Russian gas often remains cheaper than U.S. sources, but even the presence of American gas helps Europe with leverage, Pascual writes. Referencing Trumps tweet in April in which he said Saudi Arabia will increase production to ensure adequate supply to counterbalance U.S. sanctions on Iran, Pascual writes: It is quite extraordinary that a U.S. president felt that he could announce Saudi Arabias intentions on oil markets. What were watching: Whether oil prices rise substantially in the aftermath of the Iranian waivers ban. Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido called for nationwide, crippling strikes Thursday and for more mass demonstrations, as clashes with Maduro regime forces continued into the night. The latest: Guaido told Fox Business Networks "'Trish Regan Primetime" Wednesday he's "very close" to his goal of toppling President Nicolas Maduro, but AP reports his call for a widespread military uprising had yet to materialize, as street clashes continued across Venezuela into the night. Details: Fox Business host Trish Regan asked Guaido about concerns the escalating violence could lead to civil war. He said through a translator Venezuela was no longer polarized and "between 91 and 95 percent of our population wants change." A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. What he's saying: President Trump told the show the U.S. was doing everything it could "short of ... the ultimate" to help Venezuelans, who've been suffering amid crippling sanctions. Regan pressed him to elaborate on options open to the U.S., but Trump said he didn't like to mention them "because theyre pretty tough." A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. The other side: Maduro said he said he'd have no hesitation in imprisoning "a handful of traitors" believed responsible for stirring up an opposition to his government. Go deeper: Opposition's gambit stalls after day of tumult rocks Venezuela Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has dismissed suggestions that his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev behaved disrespectfully towards him at a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) meeting held in Yerevan on Tuesday. A short video of the meeting of the prime ministers of the EEU member states caused a stir in Armenia immediately after being circulated on the Internet on Wednesday. It shows Pashinian chairing and speaking at the session in Russian. If there are no questions, my friends, can we already switch to? he said and paused. Switch to where? Medvedev cut in. Switch to the procedure of signing our documents, replied Pashinian. So shall we switch now? Medvedev nodded and grinned, as did Russian officials sitting next to him. The Russian prime ministers behavior was widely construed by many Armenian social media users as a mockery of Pashinian and his less than perfect command of the Russian language. Pashinians critics seized upon the video to deride him, while his supporters and political allies hit out at Medvedev. The critics included Alen Simonian, a deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament and leading member of the ruling My Step alliance. Without mentioning Medvedev by name, Simonian condemned his untactful joke and said Pashinian responded to it properly. You have the guts when you see and smile at your guests mistake because you are confident about your power and yourself, Simonian said in a Facebook post. However, Pashinian downplayed the incident and blamed his domestic detractors for the storm on social media. He insisted that Medvedev did not mock him and simply hoped that participants of the EEU meeting will switch to a coffee room. Because we all were terribly tired and wanted coffee, he wrote on Facebook late on Wednesday. The session lasted two and a half hours longer than planned. Ruben Rubinian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, likewise insisted on Thursday that the Armenian and Russian premiers had an ordinary conversation. Asked whether he thinks anti-Russian statements made in response to the video could harm Russian-Armenian relations, Rubinian said: In a way maybe, but I also dont overestimate the impact of Facebook storms. Reacting to the uproar, Pashinian also pointed to his informal contacts with Medvedev which preceded the EEU gathering. The two men met in Pashinians private residence and reportedly visited a music club in Yerevan on Monday. At those informal talks, Pashinian reassured Medvedev that Armenia remains committed to its continued membership in the EEU and broader alliance with Russia. Im sure that contrary to pessimists we will succeed in raising our relations to a new level, he said. Pashinian had criticized Armenias accession to the EEU and even called for its withdrawal from the Russian-led trade bloc before he came to power in last springs velvet revolution. In a Russian newspaper interview published last week, the 43-year-old former journalist admitted that he is still distrusted by some Russian circles. He said they are wrong to suspect that the Armenian revolution was orchestrated by Western powers. 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 2, Trend reports. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Azerbaijan's exports amounted to $4.5 billion in the first quarter of this year, showing a 34 percent increase ($1.1 billion) compared to the same period last year. In January-March 2019, exports in the non-oil sector increased by $59 million or 16.5 percent, amounting to $415 million, reads the export review by the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication. Over the three months, Azerbaijan exported non-oil goods worth $115 million to Russia, $99 million to Turkey, $50 million to Georgia, $33.7 million to Switzerland and $12.7 million to Italy. Non-oil exports to Russia increased by 17 percent, to Turkey - by 2 percent, to Georgia - by 58 percent and to Italy - by 74 percent compared with the same period of 2018. In the list of non-oil products exported in January-March, electricity ($38.4 million) is first. Peeled nut comes second ($38.4 million), while raw cotton ($37.4 million) is on the third place. During the reporting period, export of fruits and vegetables totaled to $103.5 million, plastic and its products - $48.4 million, cotton fiber - $37.7 million, aluminum and its products - $22.3 million, chemical products - $17.6 million, ferrous metals and products - $11.6 million, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages - $7.5 million, while the export of cotton yarn made up $6.4 million. In March, the non-oil exports reached $133.7 million. The most non-oil products were exported to Turkey ($35.7 million), Russia ($33.3 million) and Georgia ($13.2 million). The export review also presented main exporter companies in the non-oil sector. MKT Production Commercial, SOCAR Polymer, Azerbaijan International Mining Company, P-Agro, TST Export, Sun Food, Azhazelnut, Ram International Transport and Trade, Baku Steel Company and Azerstar are the top ten private exporters of January-March 2019. The list of public companies involved in the non-oil export operations is headed by SOCARs Marketing and Economic Operations Department, followed by Azerenergy, Azeraluminium, Azergold, Azerbaijan Airlines, CTS-Agro, Azerpambiq Agro-Industrial Complex, Baku Oil Mechanical Plant, Azeripek and Azerbaijan Railways. In general, the volume of trade operations of Azerbaijan amounted to $7.6 billion in the first three months of the year, according to the State Customs Committee. Export and import operations develop and expand national economies as well as constitute the basis of successful business. A countrys economy develops by exporting wealthy assets and importing goods that it lacks. At present, oil and gas account for the main share in Azerbaijan's export, although export of non-oil products shows an upward trend. Opening of Azerbaijani trade houses abroad and organization of export missions to foreign countries to promote the Made in Azerbaijan brand in foreign markets have further developed the share of non-oil products in the structure of countrys exports. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova The presentation of the new tourism brand of Azerbaijan to the world community is important to raise awareness of the fact that Azerbaijan is one of the attractive places for tourists. The new tourism brand of Azerbaijan has been announced winner in six nominations at the award ceremony held annually by the worlds influential magazine Transform. The brand developed by Landor company was awarded with golden prize in nominations "Best use of brand style (communication with target audience)", "Best place brand or national brand", "Best visualization on travel, leisure and tourism", and with bronze in Best use of visualization. "Best visualization" nomination, one of the main prizes of the event, was presented to the new tourism brand of Azerbaijan. In addition, it was awarded a "high praise" status in the nomination "Best application of brand creation project". It should be noted that Transform magazine acts as global publishing agency with news on branding and rebranding innovations, global image publishing, brands renewal and application, design, corporate communications etc. The quarterly magazine annually holds award ceremony in London, Dubai, New York and Hong Kong. The new tourism brand, designed to introduce Azerbaijani tourism in the global market, was developed by the world-famous branding company Landor. The company for many years has been creating brands for many developed and developing countries of the world and corporations. The Azerbaijani brand is named "Take another look". New national tourism brand of Azerbaijan was presented at the First National Tourism Summit organized by the State Tourism Agency and Azerbaijan Tourism Board in October 2018. The presentation of the new brand to the world community took place at the World Travel Market (London WTM) exhibition in London in November 2018. Turning tourism into the country's second-largest development route and doubling the number of tourists coming to Azerbaijan by 2023 is among the nation's strategic goals. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Azerbaijan takes important steps to improve its status of the regional transit center. Favorable geographical position of Azerbaijan has created new opportunities for the country in terms of turning Baku into a major transport and logistics center for the postal delivery of goods from international electronic trading platforms. The National Strategy for the Development of the Information Society for 2014-2020, strategic roadmaps for the main sectors of the economy and the initiative to form a digital trade hub in the country also play an important role for implementation of the goals in this area. For about three years, an international project has been carried out on the operation of the postal operator of Azerbaijan, Azerpost, as a regional transit postal center (hub) providing interstate e-commerce services. For this, Azerpost and Silk Way airline signed agreement on cooperation, which entered into force from July 2016. Project envisages the delivery of e-commerce goods to Azerbaijan, which are ordered in China and transported by Silk Way, as well as their subsequent processing by Azerpost and further shipment to CIS countries or customers in other countries of the world. Based on the contract concluded with the Hong Kong company, within the first quarter of 2019, the transit center in Baku handled 18.89 million postal items and sent it to 17 countries. In addition, based on the contract signed between the EMS service, Azerpost and the Estonian Post, fast postal items coming from the U.S. and Germany are sent via Azerpost to Russia. Currently, in order to expand the project activities, negotiations are underway with other companies in China, South Korea and Singapore, which operate as express carriers. As for statistics, in 2018, over 4.25 million postal items with a total weight of about 365.4 tons were delivered from China to the Azerpost transit center. The items were processed and sent to the U.S., the UAE, Germany, Austria, Belarus, the UK, the Czech Republic, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, etc. In addition, in 2018, the postal operator received over 9.96 million internal postal items, which is 1.6 percent more than in 2017. Over 99,700 letters and parcels were sent, which is 6 percent more than in 2017. Besides, the number of registered letters and parcels increased by 4.2 percent and reached almost 50,000 in 2018 compared with 2017. Meanwhile, the number of international small postal items received exceeded 1.26 million, which is 44.5 percent more than in 2017. In 2018, more than 15,700 international parcels were sent, which is almost 27 percent more than in 2017. The postal operator received almost 35,400 international parcels in 2018, which is a 7.4 percent growth. -- Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova Azerbaijan is taking further steps for developing its own automobile manufacturing market to increase the local production and decrease import dependence. In the coming months, production of new Peugeot 207 will begin in Azerbaijan's Neftchala Industrial Zone, 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. Production of cars in the Neftchala Industrial Zone was organized by AzerMash together with the Iranian automobile company Iran Khodro Industrial Group (IKCO). Joint Azerbaijani-Iranian Khazar plant opened on March 29, 2018. The total cost of the project is estimated at $14.08 million. Azerbaijan holds 75 percent share while 25 percent belongs to Iran. Regarding the quality, the brand received the quality certificate of "Euro 5". Cars have been sold since summer 2018. Currently, produced cars are designed for the local market. After a certain time, with obtaining a license to sell abroad, these cars will be exported to the CIS countries. Initially, Azerbaijan will supply Peugeot to the Ukrainian market. In 2018, over 1,000 Khazar cars were produced at the plant, and 95 percent of them were sold. The cost of the Khazar LD car is 18,000 manats ($10,600), and of Khazar SD 16,000 manats ($9,400). The plant plans to produce 3,000 cars in 2019. Automative sector is currently developing fast in Azerbaijan, as more plants engaged in the production of cars are being launched across the country. According to the Market Analysis Azerbaijan 2019, production in the automotive industry of Azerbaijan will reach $20 million this year and $70 million by 2022. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijan is among 193 UN member-states that have assumed certain commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, Azerbaijani Deputy Economy Minister Sevinj Hasanova said. Hasanova made the remarks during the panel discussions held by the international organizations in Baku on May 2, Trend reports. Azerbaijan is taking important steps to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, she added. "Azerbaijan is an active member of the UN and the country received the "South-South" award for its achievements in the fight against poverty and unemployment." She stressed that in early 2000s, the poverty rate reached 50 percent in the country, while as of today, this figure has dropped up to five percent. "The figure is even less than the figure in the countries with more economic resources and in which GDP volume is higher," Hasanova said. She added that the Azerbaijani government has established the Coordination Council on Sustainable Development. "Azerbaijan pays great attention to the cooperation with the UN and is actively working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," the deputy minister said. The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict" kicked off in Baku on May 2. The forum, which is being held on May 2-3 in Baku, hosts more than 20 events with the participation of high-ranking officials from over 105 countries and more than 35 international organizations. The event is being broadcast by the UN on its official website. The event has been organized by the Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Culture, and the partners are UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and ISESCO. During the event, exhibitions and music programs will be organized for guests. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gambia Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanovic, Minister of Culture of Mali Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture of Algeria Meriem Merdaci, Head of Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Zhamankulov, Minister of Information and Youth Affairs of Kuwait Mohammad Aljabri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro Mevludin Nuhodzic and Minister of Education of Myanmar Myo Thein Gyi are participating in the forum. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz by Vladimir Rozanskij At least 68 were arrested in St Petersburg, where banners saying "Putin is not eternal" appeared. For St Petersburg legislator, national holidays are being used for provocation, to divide and not unite people. Still, people are disappointed with the countrys president. Moscow (AsiaNews) - During yesterday's May Day rallies, police arrested a number of people in several cities across the country. Many people were detained before protests got underway, this according to OVD-Info. In total, by 3.30pm Moscow time, at least 124 people were in custody, 68 in St Petersburg alone. In yesterdays rally in St Petersburg, approved by the authorities, people shouted Free Petersburg - free elections! However, at some point, the police decided that the march and its slogans did not correspond to the writ, and started arresting people. In particular, three protesters were held for a poster that said "Putin is not eternal"; four other activists were detained for a banner that said Beglov like Sobchak, a hint to a former St Petersburg politician accused of graft. Alexander Beglov is the Governor of Saint Petersburg. The chairperson of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, Vyacheslav Makarov, slammed the opposition, saying that its protest on May Day was a provocation and that police acted "in accordance with the law". "The actions of the opposition during the May Day rally are a recognition of its political failure: more and more national holidays are used for provocations, to divide people and not to unite them," said Makarov. "I want to emphasise that the police acted in full compliance with the law, which protects everyone's interests." In total, about 66 people from different social movements were arrested, including Maksim Reznik, a member of the Legislative Assembly. He was later released, and police authorities apologised to him. Even activist Natalia Barinova, candidate in the municipal elections, was arrested. Whilst holding her in detention, the police caused her to fall. She was taken from the police station in an ambulance for a shoulder injury, witnesses said. Journalist Georgi Markov, who taped the event, was also injured. He said he was beaten and arrested by the police. NGO Otkrytaya Rossiya (Open Russia) reported that its president, Andrei Pivovarov, its St Petersburg coordinator Sergey Kuzin, and activist Vasiliy Kunin were also arrested. Activist Aleksander Shurshev was also among those detained. Shurshev and Pivovarov were in charge of organising a non-authorised meeting within an approved rally. According to a lawyer, they will stay in prison for ten days. The police and members of Rosgvardia (National Guard of the Russian Federation) also dispersed a group of United Democrats and members of the Yabloko (liberal) party, who stopped for an hour on Nevsky Prospect, demanding that detained activists be released. May Day is still a holy day that dates back to Soviet times, when workers were hailed as superior to any other social class. Protesters decision to use this day is further indication of President Putin's declining popularity with ordinary Russians, disappointed by his recent policies against the countrys socialist welfare traditions. By Trend Azerbaijan has promising opportunities for the development of the agricultural sector, while one of the important issues is the creation of a legal framework in this area, Rajab Orujov, former Minister of Agriculture of Azerbaijans Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, told Trend. According to Orujov, the rapid implementation and deepening of reforms in the agricultural sector stimulate production processes. "The State Food Safety Program for 2019-2025 approved by the head of state as well as production of high-quality food products and their proper supply to the countrys population are crucial steps that are currently being taken. One of the main objectives is the provision of the population with clean products. This will stimulate the production of organic products in the country. Since the agricultural sector is directly connected to usage of chemicals and mineral fertilizers, the production of quality products is a priority, he said. The expert added that these measures aim to provide the country with high-quality agricultural products. "This state program covers a very large sphere. It will create favorable conditions for stimulating agricultural production. Serious work has been carried out through the Ministry of Agriculture in the agricultural sector." On April 29, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree approving the State Program for Ensuring Food Safety in Azerbaijan for 2019-2025. The State Program is approved in order to provide the countrys population with safe and high-quality food products, increase the transparency and efficiency of the food safety system and bring it in line with international requirements. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an Order regarding measures to construct Aghstafa-Yenigun-Khatai-Gachag Karam-Poylu-Khilkhina road in Agstafa. Under the presidential Order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 3.9 manats for the construction of the road connecting four residential areas with a total population of 19,000 people. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Head of the Azerbaijani State Border Service, Colonel-General Elchin Guliyev visited military units and units of Gazakh frontier post on the state border with Armenia, checked the combat activity and met with the personnel serving there, Trend reports referring to the State Border Service. Guliyev checked the process of fulfilling the instructions of Azerbaijani President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and familiarized himself with the work carried to create the necessary defensive infrastructure on the state border. At the meeting with the participation of the senior officials of the border troops, necessary instructions were given to increase the combat readiness of military units. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on May 2. The new edition includes articles: Azerbaijans investment in Southern Gas Corridor reaches $9.7 billion, Azercosmos discloses its revenues, Croatian embassy opens in Baku, AzVIRT to start major road project in Ukraine etc. AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az. By Trend Azerbaijani MPs, OSCE PA Vice President Azay Guliyev and Deputy Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE PA Tahir Mirkishili will attend a seminar in Leinsweiler municipality (Germany) jointly organized by the Bundestag and the OSCE PA, Trend reports on May 2. The MPs will leave for Germany on May 3. At the seminar, the participants will exchange views on the role of the OSCE activities on conflict resolution in the OSCE region including ongoing conflicts in Eurasia and the impact of transport, gas and oil projects on interstate relations and discuss other issues. Azay Guliyev will chair the third session dedicated to mutual confidence building measures in Eurasia. In addition, the OSCE PA Vice President will deliver a report on the topic Transport corridors in the Caucasus and Central Asia, including the New Silk Road project at the fifth session. As part of the visit, Guliyev will meet with MPs and the leadership of the German parliament. The visit will end on May 8. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend On the sidelines of the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Trend reports referring the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan . The Ghanaian minister expressed satisfaction for being again in Azerbaijan, and especially noted the high level organization of the event. The ministers exchanged their views over the development of relations between the two countries. The sides discussed the educational opportunities in Azerbaijan for Ghanaian students in order to enhance the people-to-people contacts. At the meeting the sides discussed cooperation with African Union as well. Furthermore, during the meeting other issues of mutual interest were discussed. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue which is being held under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict opens up great opportunities for fruitful discussions on the challenges facing the world, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO Nada Al-Nashif said. Al-Nashif made the remarks during the panel discussions held by the international organizations in Baku on May 2, Trend reports. She stressed that today it is necessary to promote peace and security, therefore, dialogue and partnership play an important role in ensuring peace and security. Today the world needs broader dialogue and partnership, Al-Nashif said. From this point of view, the Baku Forum opens up great opportunities for holding fruitful discussions. The well-known experts gather, share experience and useful opinions." The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the motto "Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict" kicked off in Baku on May 2. The forum, which is being held May 2-3 in Baku, hosts more than 20 events with the participation of high-ranking officials from over 105 countries and more than 35 international organizations. The event is broadcasted by the UN on its official website. The event has been organized by the Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Culture, and the partners are UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the World Tourism Organization, the Council of Europe and ISESCO. During the event, exhibitions, music programs will be organized for guests. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Gambia Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanovic, Minister of Culture of Mali Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture of Algeria Meriem Merdaci, Head of Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Zhamankulov, Minister of Information and Youth Affairs of Kuwait Mohammad Aljabri, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro Mevludin Nuhodzic and Minister of Education of Myanmar Myo Thein Gyi are participating in the forum. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Taking into account that Azerbaijan has always been rich by its energy resources and the power industry of the country is developing at a great pace, occurrence of unexpected accidents which can lead to some issues is inevitable. The primary goal is to take necessary and timely measures to prevent problems. Accident at the thermal power plant in Mingachevir city in July 2018 led to a breakdown in the country's power system and at the present, reconstruction work at the power plant is being conducted at the most advanced technological level in accordance with the instructions of the head of state. One of two 330 kV autotransformers at the Janub power plant in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, the second biggest power plant in the country, was also damaged by this accident. The autotransformer was repaired at the local transformer plant ATEF2 and installed at the previous place. As a result of the conducted work, the reliability of 330 kV and 220 kV networks was increased. The voltage was also increased from 6 kV to 6.3 kV, according to Azerenergy OJSC. A water sedimentation tank and circulation pumps are also being repaired to prevent water leakage. After repair, the reliability of operations will increase. The 110-kilovolt closed switchgear will be renewed in the coming days. Meanwhile, a new gas line stretching 25 kilometers from the gas distribution station located in the Hajigabul district to the Janub power plant is being laid. After a new pipeline is laid, gas will be supplied directly into the turbine, so the compressors will no longer be used. As much as 7 million kW/h of electricity was consumed monthly for the operation of two gas compressors; now, this saved volume will be directed into the general power grid. A new 220-kilovolt power line stretching 108 kilometers from the Janub power plant to the Khirdalan substation has been almost laid. In addition, the production capacity of the Janub power plant was increased from 520 MW to 720 MW and there by the lost 200 MW power was restored as part of the work carried out by Azerenergy in boilers, turbines and other equipment at the Janub power plant within the Rehabilitation Program. Touching upon electric power industry of Azerbaijan, it should be pointed out that the construction of the Shimal-2 power plant with a capacity of 400 megawatts is nearing completion. Test work is carried out every week at the plant together with specialists from Mitsubishi. The Shimal-2 power plant will be commissioned this summer. Azerbaijan fully provides itself with electricity and even exports it in large quantities. The country's electricity production amounted to 22.52 billion kilowatt-hours in 2018, thus showing an increase of 3.4 percent compared to 2017. Electricity exports to Russia, Georgia, Iran and Turkey increased by 175 million kilowatt-hours or 14.2 percent. -- Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Kazakhstan and Iran are building relations at the level of bilateral cooperation and the friendly relations between the two countries are strengthening. Kazakh Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov, has met with the Ambassador of Iran in Kazakhstan, Majid Samadzadeh Saber, according to the press service of the Agriculture Ministry. During the meeting, the parties discussed the preparation for the next 16th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation in Nur-Sultan. In early 2019, the function of the co-chairman of the Kazakh-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission were transferred to the Kazakh Agriculture Ministry. The parties also discussed issues of increasing agricultural commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran. The sides reached mutual understanding on ways to increase commodity turnover in the coming years to $3 billion (trade in 2007 accounted for $2.4 billion). The Kazakh and Iranian sides also paid particular attention to the issue of investment cooperation. The Iranian side expressed interest in implementing joint projects in the field of processing agricultural products in Kazakhstan for further export to Iran. Compared with 2017, the trade turnover of Kazakhstan with Iran in the agro-industrial sector in 2018 increased by 1.8 times (from $197.8 million to $364.7 million). In particular, exports of agricultural products from Kazakhstan to Iran in 2018 increased by 1.9 times (from $169.3 million to $328.9 million). Imports from Iran to Kazakhstan increased by 25.7 percent (from $28.5 million to $35.9 million). Iran was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan. Diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Iran were established on January 29, 1992. Kazakhstan mainly supplies barley, wheat, rolled iron, meat, sunflower seeds and rapeseed to Iran, and imports pistachios, dates, apples, plastics, tableware and meat processing equipment from the country. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov The dynamics of relations that have developed between Kazakhstan and Hungary clearly demonstrate the desire of the parties to consistently develop cooperation based on mutual interests. Berik Sholpankulov, First Finance Vice-Minister of Kazakhstan, has met with Mihai Varga, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Hungary, in Nur-Sultan. The parties discussed the macroeconomic situation of the two countries and further cooperation in the financial market. They paid special attention to cooperation in the field of tax digitalization and customs administration. In order to exchange experience in this field, the parties signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of tax digitization and customs administration. At the end of the meeting, both sides expressed hope for further fruitful cooperation between the two countries. In 1992, Hungary became one of the first states to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan, and in 1993, the first diplomatic representation of Kazakhstan in Central and Eastern Europe was opened in Budapest. Relations between Kazakhstan and Hungary are characterized as strategic. A solid legal base, successful activities of the Strategic Council, intergovernmental commissions on trade, economic and legal cooperation, as well as inter-parliamentary friendship groups contribute to the deepening interaction between the two countries. Kazakhstan is Hungarys 4th largest trading partner among the CIS countries (after Russia, Ukraine and Belarus). In 2018, trade between two countries amounted to $139.2 million, while in 2017 the figure was $156.4 million, according to customs statistics. Over the quarter century of partnership, trade and economic relations have been actively developed, a number of joint economic projects have been successfully implemented, a joint agricultural direct investment fund has been created, and the Hungarian Trading House opened in Nur-Sultan. Hungarian oil and gas company MOL is among the major investors in Kazakh economy. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz On 1 June, Europe must vote on renewing its sanctions against Syria, which it imposed in 2011. The US has tried to use an economic weapon to achieve regime change. Nun talks about the tragedy and the desperation of a people faced with an " untenable situation. Damascus (AsiaNews) In addition to war, jihadist violence and devastation, the Syrian people must also face EU and US sanctions, which are affecting an economy already on its knees, said Sister Marta, a Trappist nun in Azeir, Syria, speaking to AsiaNews. "For the first time in all these years" of conflict, "we see people really discouraged" because the embargo and the restrictions "weigh heavily. There is no petrol, no gas, no diesel and in our region, which is above all agricultural, people who farm cant bring their fruit and vegetables to Damascus or to markets, so everything is still. On 1st June, the European Union will vote on renewing its sanctions against Syria. These include an oil embargo, restrictions on some investments, the freezing of assets of the Syrian central bank held in the EU and restrictions on the export of equipment and technology. Imposed in 2011 following the start of the war, they also include a travel ban on 270 individuals and an asset freeze against 72 entities, and must be reviewed on an annual basis. The EU embargo runs parallel to US policy, which is geared towards removing the Assad family from power and achieving regime change. As a result of sanctions, fuel cannot be imported. Transportation has become paralysed, including buses, taxis, and private cars. Students can no longer attend school and university, and patients cannot go to doctor appointments. Although medical drugs and hospitals are not included in the embargo, hospitals cannot function properly for lack of equipment and spare parts. Foreign banks are effectively prevented from dealing with their Syrian counterparts. This, combined with the war itself, has had devastating consequences. Almost half a million people have died, more than three million have been disabled, and about 11 million - almost half of the population have been forced to abandon their homes. About 6 million live in neighbouring countries (3.6 in Turkey alone), whilst another 6.2 million are internally displaced in what is the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. Over 80 per cent of the population lives in extreme poverty, with less than two dollars a day. After 2009, just under 60 per cent of businesses have moved abroad and unemployment went from 10 per cent in 2010 to over 50 per cent in 2015. Losses in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2011 and 2016 has reached US$ 226 billion, about four times the GDP of 2010. Analysts and experts have noted several times that US and EU "smart sanctions" are not very intelligent, and affect mostly the humanitarian aid sector, which is struggling more and more to operate in the country. As the Maronite archbishop of Damascus recently pointed out to AsiaNews, the situation is increasingly difficult. The European Union is going to vote again in June, Sister Marta said. Meanwhile, many small businesses in Syria are unable to operate. "We still use ice to preserve stuff, but icemakers cannot produce any ice. There is no electricity for refrigerators nor any petrol to deliver ice blocks, she explained. The same goes for bread, which is "rationed because ovens work with diesel fuel . . . In short, this is really weighing heavily on people, who are really discouraged". More and more people regret not having left. "How can anyone imagine that the country can start again" if it is burdened by "such a heavy burden (the sanctions)?" Prices have tripled, the nun noted. The situation is truly untenable. By Abdul Kerimkhanov Ferrous metallurgy development in Uzbekistan is a priority national task of the modern stage of economic development. "Uzmetkombinat" metallurgical plant has launched the country's first production of carbon steel wire, the company's press service stated. The project implementation will make it possible to produce import-substituting products worth at least $43.7 million a year and to increase the annual export potential of the plant by 30,000-50,000 tons of products with a total value of over $24 million. It will also provide an opportunity to create a base in the country for the development of hardware and tire production. Tohirzhon Azamatov, Chairman of the Uzmetkombinat Board, pointed out that SFI Management Group and the plant specialists took an active part in this project implementation. He noted that thanks to the project implementation, the company will produce 100,000 tons of rolled wire and fittings, which will subsequently go to both the domestic and foreign markets for the manufacture of reinforced concrete structures, bridges, roadway foundation, and building frames. The total cost of the project exceeded $19 million. The Chinese CERI company acted as the supplier of the main technological equipment. The feature of this project is also the fact that the technological process of production covers the entire cycle of metallurgical processing. As a result, full control over output will be ensured, which will allow obtaining high-quality and export-oriented metallurgical product. The largest domestic enterprises such as Almalyk MMC, Uzbek Railways, Deutsche Kabel AG Taschkent, Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine, Uzbekneftegaz, Uzkabel, Uzkimyosanoat and many others are among the main consumers of the products. As for exports, at the first stage, it is planned to work out deliveries to Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Azerbaijan is among the fastest-growing destinations for tourists. In February 2016, the country simplified the procedure of obtaining visas for citizens of Gulf countries and this played a major role in the growth of tourist flow from the Middle East. Currently, Azerbaijan aims to increase the number of tourists arriving from the countries of the Persian Gulf by 20 percent, said Florian Sengstschmid, Chief Executive Director of the Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau, in an interview with The National. He noted that the number of tourists from Arab countries arriving in Azerbaijan in 2018 increased by 30 percent and amounted to 200,000 people. The countries of the Persian Gulf are in third place on the flow of tourists to Azerbaijan after Russia and Georgia. It is assumed that from 2019, the number of Arab tourists will rise even more and will reach 240,000 people, Sengstschmid noted. He emphasized that the Persian Gulf states are a very important market for Azerbaijan. Over the past two years, such airlines of the Gulf countries as Emirates, Etihad Airways, Flydubai and Air Arabia have opened direct flights to Baku and Gabala, Sengstschmid said. Moreover, he noted that Azerbaijan plans to attract potential clients from the Gulf countries which are investing in the rapidly growing real estate, manufacturing and service sectors, as well as to develop business tourism. According to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, in 2018, as many as 2,849,600 tourists from 196 countries visited the country. Tourists spent over $2 billion in Azerbaijan last year. Currently, the country takes consistent measures to develop not only the sightseeing tourism but also health, rural and cruise tourism. Recently, Flynas, Saudi Arabia's leading low-cost airline, has announced its plan to launch flights to Baku. This will contribute to the further growth in tourist flow to Baku from the Gulf countries. Official tourism representative offices of Azerbaijan have been operating in Riyadh and Dubai since the end of last year. -- Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Peace talks between the government and the Northern Alliance took place in Muse. The four rebel groups have not yet signed the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). A four-month truce came into effect on 21 December in Kachin and Shan states. The ceasefire period was extended until June 30, a military spokesperson said. The parties will meet again in the third week of May. Hundreds of thousands of people have become refugees. Naypyidaw (AsiaNews/Agencies) There is new hope in Myanmars peace process after the countrys Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) extended by two months a unilateral ceasefire in place since last December in five regional commands in Kachin and Shan states. No truce is in place in Rakhine State where government troops are engaged in a military campaign against the Arakan Army (AA), a Buddhist rebel force, and remain on high alert for possible actions by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an Islamist insurgent group. The Office of the Commander-in-Chief announced the extension on the last day of its original four-month truce, which started on 21 December The decision came hours after peace talks ended for the day between the government and the Northern Alliance in Muse, northern Shan State, two days ago. The four-member Northern Alliance includes the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Taang Nationalities Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Kokangs Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). Unlike other rebel forces, these groups did not sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), put forward by the government in 2015. Military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said that Tuesdays talks in Muse had been positive. He added that they would help the military achieve their 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. Major Mai Aik Kyaw from the TNLA said the Northern Alliance members viewed the talks as constructive. The government delegation, led by the vice president of the Peace Commission, and the representatives of the armed ethnic organisations (EAOs), agree on the need for further talks to reach bilateral ceasefire agreements. The parties will meet again in the third week of May. Rakhine State was excluded from the truce because of the threat of actions by ARSA. But in recent months, government forces have stepped up actions against the AA as well. Since 4 January, some 30,000 residents in northern Rakhine State have been displaced by fighting. Dozens of civilians have reportedly been killed, but the government puts the figure at 12. Meanwhile, one of Myanmars most serious humanitarian emergencies is unfolding In Kachin. On 9 June 2011, Myanmars military and KIA ended a 17-year truce. Since then, the two sides have clashed about 3,800 times in the predominantly Christian state in northern Myanmar. As a result, about 150,000 people have become refugees, 130,000 staying in 165 camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) located in Kachin and northern Shan, and another 20,000 hosted in local communities. Since 2011, 405 villages have been damaged or destroyed. Some 311 churches, 24 Buddhist monasteries, 34 kindergartens, 122 schools, and 264 clinics have suffered the same fate. New design for improved clone selection as well as media and feed optimization in fedbatch and perfusion mimic conditions System supports Cell & Gene therapy applications, including HEK293 for viral vector production, T-cells, iPSCs and other immune-derived cell lines Official launch at the ESACT Conference in Copenhagen (May 58, 2019) GOETTINGEN, Germany and ROYSTON, UK, May 02, 2019 / B3C newswire / -- Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB), a leading international partner of the biopharmaceutical industry, is introducing its new generation of ambr 15 cell culture automated microbioreactor system. The Generation 2 is the successor to the well-established ambr 15 cell culture system, proven in the industry to significantly reduce cell line development timelines and increase lab productivity. The new system offers increased flexibility and expanded capability for clone selection, media and feed optimization and early process development work. The ambr 15 cell culture Generation 2, based on SSBs gold-standard ambr technology, replicates laboratory-scale bioreactor performance at the microscale (10-15 mL) and controls up to 48 single-use bioreactor cultures in parallel. Its new design incorporates novel features to provide greater process flexibility, expands the systems functionality and allows more applications to be investigated. In addition, a new ambr clone selection software, included as a one-year license, provides simplified, streamlined multivariate data analysis for faster, more consistent cell line screening and ranking. Selection of clones, media and feeds can be performed under perfusion mimic conditions using new functionality to bleed large volumes of culture and quickly remove spent media from the ambr 15 microbioreactors. A new flexible workstation layout and an expanded tip bin capacity provide greater operator walk-away time. Adaptation of cell lines to different media for media screening studies can be performed in ambr 15 microbioreactors using new culture passage steps and rapid vessel drain functionality. New media mixing steps automate the creation of media blends, eliminating the need to premix, saving time and reducing chance of error. Clone stability studies can also be set up with serial passages performed and fully automated in the microbioreactors. Cell & Gene therapy applications are supported by the new design features that include rapid vessel drain functionality for automated cell passaging and media exchanges in the microbioreactors. New culture station design provides lower stirrer speed control suitable for more sensitive cell lines. The ambr 15 cell culture Generation 2 system provides a robust screening platform for development of Cell & Gene therapy processes including HEK293 for viral vector production, T-cells, iPSCs and other immune-derived cell lines. As biotherapeutics become more complex and processes more intensified, scientists are facing bigger challenges in selecting and optimizing their clones, media and processes. We are delighted to launch the new generation of our ambr 15 cell culture system in response to these needs, helping researchers to do more, yet visit their system less, comments Alison Rees-Manley, ambr 15 Product Manager at Sartorius Stedim Biotech. We look forward to welcoming scientists to Booth 40 at ESACT in Copenhagen (May 58, 2019), where they can discover how having the new ambr 15 Generation 2 in their lab could significantly improve their workflow, as well as extend their application and process capabilities, she adds. Image file Caption: New ambr 15 microbioreactor system offers increased flexibility and expanded capability for clone selection, media and feed optimization and early process development work. Links for downloading photos Photo 1 (above): ambr 15 generation 2 Photo 2: ambr 15 generation 2 operator For more details on the new ambr 15 cell culture Generation 2 system, scientists should go to this links: Website: https://www.sartorius.com/en/products/fermentation-bioreactors/ambr-multi-parallel-bioreactors/ambr-15-cell-culture New brochure: ambr 15 microbioreactor generation 2 brochure Follow Sartorius Stedim Biotech on Twitter @Sartorius_Group and on LinkedIn. About Sartorius Stedim Biotech Sartorius Stedim Biotech is a leading international partner of the biopharmaceutical industry. As a total solutions provider, the company helps its customers to manufacture biotech medications safely, rapidly and economically. Headquartered in Aubagne, France, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is quoted on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris. With its own manufacturing and R&D sites in Europe, North America and Asia and an international network of sales companies, Sartorius Stedim Biotech has a global reach. The Group has been annually growing by double digits on average and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies. In 2018, the company earned sales revenue of 1,212.2 million, and currently employs some 5,800 people. Contact Sartorius Stedim Biotech GmbH Dominic Grone Trade Press Manager +49(0)551.308.3324 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.sartorius-stedim.com Published by B3C newswire and shared through Newronic A "global" campaign against Uighurs in Xinjiang is underway, according to activists and experts. Historic places of worship razed to the ground, such as the Keriye Heytgah mosque, in the area of Hotan. Turkish scholars: China wants to "eradicate every element that recalls Islam". The governments of nations with a Muslim majority criticize in words, but they favor trade with their facts. Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Hundreds of thousands of cameras for facial control, telephone applications to trace the use of mobile phones, dozens of places of worship - including historic mosques - destroyed and over a million faithful in detention centers. In recent times, the Beijing leadership has strengthened its grip on Muslims in the Xinjiang region, the country's extreme western periphery, where about 41% of the inhabitants profess Islam. Activists and religious freedom experts term the campaign against the Uyghurs as "global" and that Muslim-majority nations, particularly in the Arab Middle East, condemn in words but, in fact, they prefer to preserve trade with China. On the one hand, Beijing considers the Muslim minority a threat to security and, on the other hand, feeds Islamophobia to justify controversial policies in the region. In the context of the repression campaign, the authorities demolished historic buildings in the region. In the last two years, mosques have also been affected by removing some parts such as gates or domes, or demolishing the entire structure. A policy of repression that applies to Islam, as well as to other religions, especially the Christian one, aimed at "sinizing" the cult and those who profess it. A group of Turkish scholars attacks the Beijing government, which is attempting to "assimilate millions of Muslims in East Turkestan [Xinjiang, ed.]" And which has "just destroyed the Keriye Heytgah mosque, in the area of Hotan, dating back to about 800 years ago . China, they add, wants to "eradicate every element that recalls Islam and the Turkish identity" and that only recently "about 50 shrines have been destroyed" and replaced with statues or other elements of urban decor. Satellite images gathered by scholars confirm the devastation that struck mosques in the county of Kargilik, in southwestern Xinjiang, which have been "completely destroyed". And again, parts of the Keriya Aitika mosque burned to the ground. It is a historic building dating back to 1237, the same period as the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Faced with these devastations, Muslim nations have reacted by expressing perfunctionary condemnation, but being careful to safeguard relations and trade with the land of the dragon. In December, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), considered the "voice of Muslims" , confirmed the existence of "controversial reports" emerging from the western sector of China and speak of repression and abuse. However, last month OIC itself published a report "praising the efforts" made by the People's Republic "in providing assistance to its citizens [including Muslims]" and called for "further collaboration" between the two realities. Words that have raised controversy and attacks within the Islamic world, with many wondering if OIC is "at the service of Islam or China's policies". Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible. The authorities close the ports and suspend railway connections. The weather alert also covers Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in India; and the Coxs Bazar district, where the Rohingya refugees are located in Bangladesh. In 1999, Cyclone Odisha caused more than 8,000 victims. New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Thousands of people are fleeing the coastal area of Orissa, where cyclone Fani is expected to arrive tomorrow with its winds at 200 km per hour. The authorities have launched one of the most impressive mass evacuations in the history of India, about 800 thousand people. The goal is to prevent the tragedy that occurred in 1999, when hurricane Odisha (from the name of the state) killed more than 8 thousand people. The Indian authorities have arranged 850 camps where about one million inhabitants can find refuge. The Coast Guard, the Navy and the National Disaster Response Force are ready to bring relief, while fishermen have been banned from venturing into the sea. For transport, 81 railway connections were canceled. In addition, the government has relaxed restrictions on coastal districts, in force for the period of elections taking place throughout the month of May in the country. The State of Orissa, with 46 million inhabitants, has already voted in the previous phases. In this way, if necessary, public officials can participate in relief operations. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are also in a state of alert for rains. At the moment the tropical storm is in the Bay of Bengal and is moving north-west towards India; on Saturday 4 May it will touch the city of Chittagong, on the southern coast of Bangladesh, where about 700 thousand Rohingya refugees are amassed. Here, since February, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has begun distributing tarpaulins to protect themselves from the heavy rains that fall in the cyclone season. However with the winds at that speed, the NGO feels that the tarpaulin tents will offer little protection. The Orissa administration has also asked tourists to leave the holy city of Puri and reschedule non-essential trips. In Puri there is the Sree Jagannath, one of the sacred temples for Hindus, a destination of millions of pilgrims and tourists every year. 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. by Mathias Hariyadi The apostolic nuncio led the first Mass in the new church. The new cathedral was built on the site of the old one. The latter, whose demolition began in July 2017, could only accommodate 800 people. The new, three-level building can accommodate 1,208 people seated and another 706 on the balcony. Jakarta (AsiaNews) Catholics in Samarinda, capital of the province of East Kalimantan (in Indonesian Borneo), have a new cathedral. Mgr Piero Pioppo, apostolic nuncio in the country, celebrated the first Mass yesterday in the newly-built church, which is dedicated to St Mary of Perpetual Help. Mgr Yustinus Harjosusanto, archbishop of Samarinda, and several Indonesian prelates attended the solemn service. East Kalimantan Governor, Isran Noor, visited the church the day before together with Ignasius Jonan, Indonesias Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources. A delegation of local officials accompanied the senior government officials, one of whom was Eusabius Binsasi, director of the Catholic Council, which is part of the Ministry for Religious Affairs. Welcomed by Dayak tribal dancers, the group took part in the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Mgr Harjosusanto. The new cathedral cost 61 billion Indonesian rupiahs (US$ 4.3 million). The provincial administration provided 53.8 billion rupiahs (US$ 3.6 million), whilst the Catholic community raised the rest. Governor Noor expressed "satisfaction with the conclusion of the work and the presence of the nuncio". St Mary of Perpetual Help stands on the site of the old cathedral, built as the parish church of Samarinda. The local Catholic community needed a larger building, said Fr Moses Komela Avanthat, the parish priest. The Diocese of Samarinda was erected on 3 January 1961, decades after the construction of the original building. The latter, which could only accommodate 800 people, was torn down starting in July 2017. "At every Mass, dozens of people were forced to stay outside the church," the priest explained. "We had to demolish the building due to too many technical problems. At 45 metres tall, the new cathedral is on three levels and can accommodate 1,208 people seated and another 706 on the balcony," he added. Tom Reel, MBO / Associated Press The Texas Legislature could have showed leadership in this session by de-emphasizing criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, but those hopes appear to be going up in smoke. Thats unfortunate, but it shouldnt stop cities and counties from doing this on their own. They should stop devoting so much of their time and money to this minor offense and focus on the real threats that confront their communities. A few years ago a change like this would have been unthinkable in the Legislature, but a more realistic attitude toward marijuana has been creeping in. Even the Texas Republican Party changed its platform last year to support the removal of criminal penalties for low-level pot cases. Thats not a group that could be accused of being soft on crime. If at first you dont succeed, try, try again. Scholars debate the author of that quote, but it could have been uttered by a member of the Texas Legislature. In fact, as the progress of plans for tax swap show, it probably was. The swap is a proposed deal to cut property taxes but replace that revenue with a one-cent increase in the sales tax. The state sales tax is currently 6.25%, but many Texas communities tack on an extra 2% for local use, making it 8.25% overall. The new rate would thus be 9.25% in most places. That would ironically tie California for the highest state sales tax, though the base state rate here would still be only 7.25%. The problem with tax swaps is that voters know the exchange might be temporary, and thus misleading. If property tax rates went down now but crept up later, the savings to taxpayers would be wiped out eventually and probably fairly soon. But give state senators credit for realizing this potential flaw and trying to avoid it. Their latest plan is to raise the homestead exemption for property taxes collected by schools from $25,000 to $40,000. Technically that could be changed later, but it would be very hard politically. For all practical purposes, tax relief like that is permanent. In addition, school property tax bills would be reduced by an estimated 15 cents per $100 of valuation. For the owner of a $200,000 home, the 15-cent reduction would lower their tax bill by about $300 a year. That is less permanent, because tax rates or appraisals could go up for a variety of reasons, and probably will over the long term. Either one of those causes homeowners to pay more at the end of the year. But the increase in the homestead exemption which again, is essentially permanent would help sell this plan to voters. That matters, because a change like this would have to be approved as a constitutional amendment if the House and Senate approved that option by a two-thirds margin. Texans would go to the polls, probably in November, to say yay or nay. The measure would be opposed by at least two groups, but they probably dont have the political clout to stop it. More Information See More Collapse One group is owners of businesses or apartment buildings. They dont get the homestead exemption, so they miss out on that part of the savings. But they make up a small percentage of the states population. Poor people probably would oppose it too, because the sales tax generally hurts them more. They have less to spend, so the sales taxes they pay for necessities make up a larger percent of their annual income. But sales taxes are paid in smaller increments, so its less noticeable. To some extent, consumers can also control their spending and thus how much they pay in sales taxes. But those concerns dont apply to the middle-class and wealthy, and thats where the votes are in Texas, at least in turnout. The Texas Homebuyers and Sellers Report says the average first-time home buyer in Texas is 32, married and settling into a house for at least a decade. Nearly a third of these home buyers are first-time owners, and the average age of all homeowners is 47. The demographic breakdown of these home buyers also skews toward traditional Republican voters 75% white, 13 percent Hispanic, 7 percent black and 4 percent Asian. Numbers like that suggest the tax swap could pass if it got to voters. But thats not assured. The House and Senate have fairly stark differences on this issue, which is also supposed to generate higher pay for Texas teachers. Thats a lot of moving parts, and with a month left in the session, if something can go wrong, it just might. Still, both chambers are controlled by Republicans, even though they lost a few seats in the November elections. The GOP seems determined to provide some kind of property tax relief to the people who elected them, and right now, this bill looks like the best bet. Its even possible that Gov. Greg Abbott could call the House and Senate back for a special session after the regular session ends on May 27 to nail down property tax relief. GOP leaders know this would a powerful campaign tool in coming elections We lowered your property tax bills. So theyll probably try, try again on this issue until they get it right. Lets just hope they dont adopt W.C. Fields legendary counterquote on this issue: Ponderay, Idaho-based Pend Oreille Surgery Center is celebrating its 10th year in business on May 13, the Bonner County Daily Bee reports. Four details: 1. The ASC has remained completely physician-owned since it opened. Michael DiBenedetto, MD: Charles Crane, MD; Jonathan Fisher, DPM; Chase Williams, MD; and Michael Schicker, DO, are the current owners. 2. Six of POSC's 19 staff members have worked at the facility since it opened. 3. Kris Sabo, RN, serves as POSC's executive director and administrator. Dr. DiBenedetto serves as medical director, and Dr. Crane is president of the board. 4. In the past decade, POSC surgeons have treated 10,000-plus patients and completed over 23,000 procedures in specialties such as orthopedics, podiatry, endoscopy and general surgery. Kyron Rayshawn Templeton, 28, pleaded guilty to murdering two people and injuring three at an ASC in 2013, the Longview News-Journal reports. On Nov. 26, 2013, Mr. Templeton fatally stabbed two people at what was then Good Shepherd Medical Center's ASC in Longview, Texas, where he had taken his mother for surgery. Gail Sandidge, a nurse, and Harris K. Teel, whose son was undergoing a procedure there, were killed. A nurse and two visitors were injured in the attack. Mr. Templeton received two concurrent 20-year sentences for assaulting nurse Karen Bobo and visitor Teresa Allison, plus a separate 20-year term for aggravated assault on visitor Melissa Sims. Mr. Templeton must serve 50 years of his sentences before becoming eligible for parole. Click here to read more. Although Microsoft is one of the most-attacked companies globally, the company allows 90 percent of its employees to log on to corporate network without a password, according to CNBC. Microsoft's Chief Security Officer Bret Arsenault called this a reflection on the "passwordless future" the company has been talking about for years. To eliminate the need for passwords, Microsoft has developed products to remove the need to memorize a string of confusing terms and phrases. Rather, the technology company has employees choose between different options, including Windows Hello and the Authenticator app, which provides alternatives for logging into a computer network, such as facial recognition and fingerprints, CNBC reports. "We all sort of declared years ago that identity would be our new perimeter. People are very focused on taking advantage of identity, it's become a classic: hackers don't break in, they log in. I see that as a huge, huge thing for us to work on," Mr. Arsenault told CNBC. One method Mr. Arsenault is talking about is "password spraying." This is when a hacker tries to access a large number of accounts at a single time using some of the most commonly used passwords. While very basic, the method is effective. When a hacker gets access to a network through a single employee, they can do serious damage, such as stealing corporate information and impersonating employees. Microsoft is not the only company looking to leave passwords in 2019. Google is testing alternatives to passwords along with Cisco. More articles about cybersecurity: 5 common questions about HIPAA, answered Hospitals can leverage AI to combat cyberattacks, report finds Virus prevented California medical group from accessing records, exposed 198,000 patients Some lawmakers are beginning to express frustration over the pace of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense's progress on developing an interoperable EHR system, Military.com reports. At a May 1 House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the DOD's proposed fiscal year 2020 budget, Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, told Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan that she does not " ever recall being as outraged about an issue," than she is about the EHR program, according to the report. In 2018, the VA entered into a 10-year partnership with Cerner to develop and deploy an EHR across its care network. The contract covers a 10-year rollout at $16 billion. The DOD also has a contract with Cerner, which aims to transitioning the agency to the new EHR by 2022. The DOD initially began rolling out the system at select facilities in February 2017, however, it experienced various technical and workflow issues which delayed the rollout until early 2019. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., also voiced concern over the projects' delays. "Veterans are suffering because of bureaucratic crap," he said, according to the report. Mr. Shanahan acknowledged the lawmakers' concerns at the meeting and said pilot programs aimed toward supporting the EHRs compatibility are currently underway at Tacoma, Wash.-based Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., Oak Harbor. Wash.-based Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and Fairchild (Wash.) Air Force Base, according to the report. He added that the pilot programs have been successful, and next steps include putting them in place at various California institutions this fall. "I can give you the commitment that these corrective actions and the lessons learned will be carried forward," Mr. Shanahan said. Here are 10 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking revenue cycle management expertise in the last week. Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Job listings were compiled from websites. Hospitals and health systems are listed in alphabetical order. 1. Children's Hospital Los Angeles seeks a revenue cycle director. 2. Cook Children's Health Care System (Fort Worth, Texas) seeks a revenue cycle analytic analyst. 3. Dallam Hartley Counties Hospital District (Dumas, Texas) seeks a director of patient accounting manager. 4. Ellis Medicine (Schenectady, N.Y.) seeks a supervisor of medical coding. 5. Emerson Hospital (Concord, Mass.) seeks a revenue cycle support analyst. 6. Queens Medical Center (Honolulu) seeks a manager of revenue integrity. 7. Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego seeks a special accounts coordinator. 8. Rogers Memorial Hospital (Oconomowoc, Wis.) seeks a director of revenue cycle and health information management. 9. Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle) seeks a manager of charge services and coding. 10. West Jefferson Medical Center (Marrero, La.) seeks a revenue cycle director. More articles on healthcare finance: Oregon tax court can't invalidate fee assessed on hospital's net revenue, judge rules Washington hospitals now must wait longer to send past-due bills to collections Patients urged to share billing frustrations, organize to shape health policy The Oregon Tax Court has dismissed a request by Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay, Ore., to refund a fee assessed on its net revenue, according to Law360. The decision, in Bay Area Hospital v. Oregon Health Authority, was handed down April 30. In its decision, the court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction on the issue. Instead, the court said, the state's Oregon Health Authority should decide on the validity of a refund of a 0.7 percent fee assessed by the state legislature on the net revenue of certain facilities, according to the Law360 report. The hospital argued that, as a special district, it is not subject to the 2017 charge because state lawmakers did not make an adequate "affirmative legislative declaration" that they intended to tax only one public body, court documents showed. The hospital also argued that the charge is a tax. Based on its overall lack of jurisdiction on the issue, the court reportedly did not consider the hospital's argument that the fee is a tax. More articles about healthcare finance: Hospital charges $67,957 for 4 vials of antivenin after snakebite: 6 things to know RCM tip of the day: Standardizing the chargemaster C-section birth prices vary widely by metro area Twenty health information technology notes: 1. Although Microsoft is one of the most-attacked companies globally, the company allows 90 percent of its employees to log on to corporate network without a password. 2. Julie Wilson, chief people officer of Cerner, is retiring, effective June 30. 3. Health Catalyst, a data, analytics and support company, plans to raise $150 million to $200 million in its initial public offering. 4. Epic's software may slow down blind hospital workers, but it doesn't prevent them from doing their jobs, the EHR vendor said April 29 in response to a disability lawsuit. 5. Meditech is launching a new division that will offer customers various professional services aimed at enhancing its web-based EHR platform Expanse. 6. In its latest effort to gain users' trust, Facebook will allow patients who are members of "health support" groups to post questions and health-related information anonymously. 7. Companies looking to develop and grow blockchain networks can now do so using Amazon Managed Blockchain, which Amazon Web Services launched on the East Coast on April 30. 8. Epic and Cerner maintained the largest share of the EMR market for acute care hospitals in 2018. 9. The Department of Veterans Affairs and Microsoft partnered to provide VA rehabilitation centers with Xbox controllers as part of an initiative to support muscle activation and hand-eye coordination in veterans with limited mobility. 10. Amazon plans to expand its Denver-based offices and create 400 new technology jobs in fields such as software engineering and cloud computing. 11. Microsoft is partnering with Imprivata, a health IT security company, to develop an identity and access management cloud platform for healthcare customers. 12. Google's parent company Alphabet posted financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, recording a 17 percent increase in revenues year over year to $36.3 billion. 13. Welldoc, a digital health company in Baltimore, has joined forces with Durham, N.C.-based medical data management firm Validic to better enable patients' access to, engagement with and management of their personal health data. 14. Slack's IPO filing detailed its potential future HIPAA risks, indicating it sees a greater future presence in healthcare as a communication tool. 15. Three veterans of Apple's industrial design team, who collectively have more than 45 years of experience at the technology giant, have recently chosen to leave the company. 16. At-home DNA testing giant 23andMe and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research have unveiled the Fox Insight Data Exploration Network (Fox DEN), a data access and analytics platform to aid in Parkinson's disease research. 17. Google veteran and technology expert David Weekly has developed a free app, which will launch May 3, that allows patients to record visits with their physicians. 18. For the first quarter of 2019, Amazons net income increased to $3.6 billion compared to $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2018. 19. Cerner released its earnings results for the first quarter of 2019. 20. CPSI, a health information technology company, will purchase remote patient care planning and management platform Get Real Health for $11 million. More articles about health IT: Hancock Regional Hospital CEO details ransomware attack Why Microsoft is saying goodbye to passwords Rapper Pitbull looks to biotech for next investment The Department of Justice argued the ACA is unconstitutional and urged a federal judge to strike down the entire law in a brief filed in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1, according to CNN. Five things to know: 1. In the court filing, the Justice Department argues that the ACA's individual insurance mandate penalty is unconstitutional and therefore the law should be struck down in its entirety. 2. The Justice Department filed the brief roughly a month after the agency first said it supports a judge's ruling that the entire ACA should be invalidated. The judge sided with the Republican-led states that brought the lawsuit, Texas v. United States, calling for the entire ACA to be struck down because Congress eliminated the healthcare law's individual insurance mandate penalty. 3. A coalition of Democratic-led states, headed by California, is challenging the Texas ruling. 4. Regarding the Justice Department's filing, California Attorney General Xavier Bacerra issued the following statement to The New York Times: "The Trump administration chose to abandon ship in defending our national healthcare law and the hundreds of millions of Americans who depend on it for their medical care. Our legal coalition will vigorously defend the law and the Americans President Trump has abandoned." 5. Regardless of the outcome, the 5th Circuit's ruling is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Ex-CEO of Florida hospital chain will pay $3.5M to end false billing case CHI Franciscan enters $25M settlement over charity care practices Investors sue UnitedHealth directors: 4 things to know A federal judge recused himself from a class-action case against UnitedHealthcare because the health insurer denied coverage of radiation treatment that could have treated his own cancer, according to BenefitsPRO. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, who survived prostate cancer, recused himself from Richard Cole v. United Healthcare Insurance Co. in the Southern District of Florida April 29. The plaintiff, Mr. Cole, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April 2018. UnitedHealthcare refused to cover proton beam radiation therapy to treat his tumors, spurring Mr. Cole to file a putative class-action complaint against UnitedHealthcare on April 3. In his order of recusal, Mr. Scola, who ultimately treated his cancer with surgery, said he could not rule on the case "fairly and impartially" due to the life-saving option proton radiation gave him. He also noted that UnitedHealthcare initially denied his friend's six-figure medical bills for proton therapy, and only reimbursed him $150,000 after being threatened with litigation, according to BenefitsPRO. "To deny a patient this treatment, if it is available, is immoral and barbaric," Mr. Scola wrote. In an April 29 statement to BenefitsPRO, UnitedHealthcare spokesperson Maria Gordon Shydlo said the insurer "bases its medical policies and coverage decisions including for proton beam therapy on the prevailing published clinical and scientific evidence." Health officials are investigating two cases of HIV among individuals who received a "vampire facial" treatment at a now defunct spa in Albuquerque, N.M., reports USA Today. The infected patients underwent the procedure, which involves injecting blood platelets into a person's face, at VIP Spa between May and September 2018. The New Mexico Department of Health said both clients tested positive for the same HIV strain, which increases the likelihood they contracted the disease from the vampire facial. The health department first urged spa clients to get tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C in September 2018 after discovering issues with needle storage, handling and disposal at the facility. The spa closed shortly after the health department's inspection. The department is offering free testing for all former spa clients. More than 100 people have already been tested. Phoenix-based Hacienda HealthCare's long-term care facility where a patient in a vegetative state gave birth last December is now a state-licensed facility, reports the Arizona Republic. Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill last week requiring care facilities for people with intellectual disabilities to gain licensing from the state's health department. These facilities had been exempt from licensing requirements since 1997. The new law removes this exemption, meaning facilities caring for people with intellectual disabilities must now comply with all state licensing requirements. The push for more oversight came after a 29-year-old patient in a vegetative state gave birth at Hacienda's care facility in December 2018. Nathan Sutherland, a former nurse at Hacienda, is accused of raping the patient. He has since pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault and vulnerable-adult abuse. Merck has increased production of the measles vaccine to meet growing demand amid the country's largest outbreak in 25 years, according to Reuters. Merck, the sole supplier of measles vaccines in the U.S., said that the increase in demand was noticeable, but it was able to handle the uptick. "Despite what we've seen as a huge uptick in the number of cases ... the demand side of the equation hasnt been outstripping our underlying capacity," Mike Nally, head of Merck's Global Human Health business and chief marketing officer, told Reuters. As of April 26, the CDC had reported 704 cases of measles nationwide. Most cases were found in children who had not received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. The previous record was in 2014, when 667 measles cases were reported. Three spine surgeons discuss their daily routines and how they ensure their productivity remains high. Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses. Next week's question: How can spine surgeons ensure health IT tools do not get in the way of the physician-patient relationship? Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, May 8, 5 p.m. CST. Question: What is an integral part of your daily routine that helps you maintain productivity? Richard Kube, MD. Founder and CEO of Prairie Spine & Pain Institute (Peoria, Ill.): First, my staff makes certain that I don't have many, if any, gaps in my schedule. Efficiency is key and also fairly obvious. I check in with my COO at the end of every business day (usually also when I'm on vacation) to troubleshoot and keep momentum high. This allows for us to keep a narrow path forward and avoid detours. Once our strategy is locked for our goals, we use that daily check to quickly revisit the big picture and make sure we are headed in the right direction. Additionally, my COO and I meet weekly with all the department heads so that we can learn what obstacles they face and provide solutions and help bring them up to speed on vision and strategy. This provides for a unified team and keeps development at the highest level during brainstorm[ing] and delivers it to middle management refined and ready for implementation. Brian R. Gantwerker, MD. Founder of the Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: On a daily basis, I clear out my messages. Communicating with patients and their doctors helps keep me caught up. It keeps your work current and really keeps you in touch with your referrals and patients. I go to the gym on most days and do some weights and cardio, and head right over to clinic. I am energized and focused. Lunch hour is work hour; I review the day's scans and faxes and catch up with phone calls. After clinic, I go home, spend time with my family, watch some Netflix and respond to emails. My mantra, I guess, would be 'always moving.' I don't like downtime unless we are on vacation. Even then, admittedly, I feel like I should be doing something. There is something to be said, though, about not being productive when it's appropriate. That, in and of itself, can help you scale up productivity when you need to. Issada Thongtrangan, MD. Orthopedic Spine and Neurosurgeon at Minimally Invasive Spine (Phoenix): For me, the best thing I can do to be productive is to create a morning routine. My routine is to start my day with being positive and being grateful for what I have. This will help set my mind on what I want to focus on for the day and set my heart and mind in the right attitude for the day. I usually apply and practice 'four agreements of life' throughout the day: 1. Be impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity. 2. Don't take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you. 3. Don't make assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. 4. Always do your best. According to India Today reports, Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known by the title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne. He is due to be officially crowned in elaborate Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies on Saturday, followed by a procession through Bangkok the next day. Media reports further state that, in 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit. Foreign media had earlier linked Suthida romantically with the king, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between them. The king made Suthida a full general in the Royal Thai Army in December 2016, and the deputy commander of the king's personal guard in 2017. He also made her a Thanpuying, a royal title meaning Lady, India Today added. The surprise announcement was carried in the Royal Gazette, and footage from Wednesday's wedding ceremony was later shown on the nightly Royal News segment aired on all Thai television channels. Unite the union, which represents the majority of workers employed by Bombardier at five sites in Northern Ireland, held a press conference on its response to the announcement Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier has announced it plans to sell its aerostructures business in Belfast. The Montreal based group has also announced plans to sell its operation in Morocco. Around 4,000 people are employed in the east Belfast plant. Read More No new redundancies have been announced and Bombardier has said it is committed to finding the right buyer. Bombardier is already embarking on a series of cost-cutting measures within its Northern Ireland business. In November it announced plans to shed 490 jobs, which would leave its workforce at 3,600, around half of what it was five years ago. LIVE: Unite the Union react to Bombardier sell-off announcement Posted by Belfast Telegraph on Thursday, May 2, 2019 In a statement the company said: Our sites in Belfast and Morocco have seen a significant increase in work from other global customers in recent years. We are recognised as a global leader in aerostructures, with unique end-to-end capabilities through design and development, testing and manufacture, to after-market support. Bombardier is committed to finding the right buyer one that will operate responsibly and help us achieve our full growth potential. We understand that this announcement may cause concern among our employees, but we will be working closely with them and our unions as matters progress, and through any future transition period to a new owner. There are no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, but our management team will continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives to improve productivity and increase our competitiveness, to give more weight to our unique value proposition to potential buyers. "Bombardier jobs are absolutely vital to Northern Irelands economy and its time workers were treated with the respect they deserve. Michael Mulholland The Belfast plant specialises in aircraft components, engine nacelles and manufactures wings for the A220 aircraft. Airbus took a majority stake in the narrow body jet series in July 2018. Bombardier bought the Short Brothers operation in 1989. The original company dates back to London in 1908, but Shorts started building aircraft in Belfast in 1936. The facility became increasingly important during World War Two and by 1948, Shorts became a Belfast company in its entirety. Business Secretary Greg Clark described the Belfast plant as one of the "most important aerospace facilities in the country" at a "vital asset" to the sector. The Belfast plant, its expertise and its highly skilled and dedicated staff will be highly sought after - the Government will work with potential buyers to take this successful and ambitious business forward," he added. In response to the announcement, trade union GMB, which represents many Bombardier employees, said it was demanding the company provide reassurances over the future of its workers in Northern Ireland. Our members and their families - have already suffered a terrible year," said GMB organiser Michael Mulholland. After months of uncertainty following Trumps tariffs they were then hit with the news of 490 job losses - and now this. "Bombardier jobs are absolutely vital to Northern Irelands economy and its time workers were treated with the respect they deserve. GMB will be meeting reps today and over the next few days to discuss next steps." Expand Close CBI NI director Angela McGowan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CBI NI director Angela McGowan CBI NI Director Angela McGowan said The standout reputation of Bombardiers Belfast operations augers well for attracting the right buyer. Whats clear is that this decision to sell is no reflection on the excellent performance of the Belfast plant employees. Bombardier are committed to finding a buyer that will continue to invest in the Belfast-based business over the long-term and support the Northern Irish economy. Jackie Pollock of Unite the Union said: "It doesnt matter whose name is above the gate what matters is that we safeguard jobs and skills in this critical industry. It is critical that those most affected by this announcement are offered certainty about their long-term security in the time ahead and supported throughout any transition process when a buyer is identified. Colum Eastwood "The UK government must stand ready to ensure the retention of jobs and skills at these sites, Bombardier is simply too important to the Northern Ireland economy to allow anything less. Bombardier workers in Northern Ireland are among the most highly-skilled workers in the sector globally we produce a world class product here with a world-class workforce. "Whoever the buyer is theres an undeniable case for investment to not only sustain but expand production and employment into the future. Expand Close DUP leader Arlene Foster / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp DUP leader Arlene Foster DUP leader Arlene Foster said Bombardier is an "integral" part of the Northern Ireland economy and said that, while the firm has recognised an increase in orders, the news would be unsettling for staff. "I have spoken today with Michael Ryan from Bombardier. It is welcome that there have been no workforce implications in relation to this announcement and both staff and the company can be assured of any support locally or in London which might assist them at this time, she added. Expand Close SDLP leader Colum Eastwood PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp SDLP leader Colum Eastwood SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he will be meeting with Bombardier representatives "as soon as possible" in a bid to secure assurances for workers. It is critical that those most affected by this announcement are offered certainty about their long-term security in the time ahead and supported throughout any transition process when a buyer is identified," he added. Expand Close Michelle O'Neill / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michelle O'Neill Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said the announcement was "hugely concerning" for the workers affected and Northern Ireland's wider economy. I have spoken this morning to company Chief Executive Michael Ryan and Sinn Fein has already been in contact with representatives of Unite the Union and workers representatives," she added. If ever there was a need to get the devolved administration to be back up and running and to support our manufacturing sector, it is now. Steve Aiken I will also be meeting with the Head of the Civil Service and the Department for the Economy to discuss what can be done to help find a buyer in order to protect the jobs at the Belfast plant." Read More Expand Close Naomi Long, leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Naomi Long, leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA) Alliance leader Naomi Long said: The focus now has to be on finding a buyer committed to maintaining and developing manufacturing on the Belfast site to secure not just Bombardier jobs but those reliant on being part of the companys supply chain across Northern Ireland." Ulster Unionist MLA Steven Aiken said Bombardier has had a "proud history both in aerospace and in Northern Ireland" and work must to done to ensure the industry thrives in the future. It goes without saying that without a devolved administration or even a manufacturing or industrial strategy for Northern Ireland, there is a lack of vision for the future," he added. "If ever there was a need to get the devolved administration to be back up and running and to support our manufacturing sector, it is now. NIEs Paul Stapleton with Charlie and Eva Hume at the launch of the NIE Networks stand at this months Balmoral Show Northern Ireland is set to reach its renewable energy target of 40% next year as figures reveal green power consumption here has already reached 38%. The Renewable Energy Sources for Electricity's (RES-E) latest statistics for energy consumption here shows that almost 40% of our electric use comes from renewable sources, one year ahead of 2020's target. NIE Networks, which has provided the connections for the renewable sources, is also forecasting an estimated 110,000 electric vehicles and more than 50,000 heat pumps will connect to the distribution network here by 2030. Launching the company's presence at the upcoming Balmoral Show from May 15-18, Paul Stapleton, managing director for NIE, said the target would not have been achievable without the support of agricultural and rural-based customers. He said: "Carbon reduction targets, renewable energy, electric vehicles and heat pumps are placing new and increased demands on our network so at such a critical time for the energy industry it is very encouraging that we are on course to meet the RES-E target. "Meeting the target wouldn't have been possible though without the partnership of our customers, particularly those in the agricultural industry." The recovery of the housing market has been one of Northern Ireland's key economic success stories, a mortgage expert has said. John Marr, who heads up devolved government and social housing at UK Finance, was among the industry leaders who addressed this week's Finance Festival in Belfast. UK Finance, which represents around 250 firms across the UK banking and financial services sector, hosted the two-day event. Read More The trade body meets four times a year in Belfast through its dedicated mortgages policy committee and a new stakeholder group which examines the state of Northern Ireland's mortgage sector. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, finance expert Mr Marr stressed that while uncertainty hangs over the economy as a result of Brexit and the absence of a devolved government, the domestic mortgage market has been somewhat shielded from the impact seen in other areas. "The performance of the market to date has been very strong. The housing market in Northern Ireland has been very successful and has come back very strongly," he explained. The affordability of housing helped boost the market for Northern Ireland's new home owners, with first-time buyers having now reached 10,500, the highest since 2004. Mr Marr said that while co-ownership schemes are helping people here onto the property ladder, Northern Ireland lacks the breadth of direct government support available in other parts of the UK. "Without that level of support, the market in Northern Ireland is still performing exceptionally well," he added. "You are getting record numbers of first-time buyers coming through even without that support, which is a positive." Recent surveys on the construction sector has shown private housing as a shining beacon for the building industry. But the mortgage expert added that the important role Northern Ireland's housing associations have played should not be discounted. Mr Marr also said the concept of mixed-tenure housing developments was a key topic explored during this week's finance festival. "As we go forward, we don't see huge mono-tenure developments made up of private homes or social housing," he said. "In future I think it will be much more mixed together for a new way to create vibrant and viable communities. "We don't know what's going to happen, particularly in terms of how the UK's relationship with Europe pans out, but notwithstanding that the signs are still positive. "Northern Ireland's housing market has been a huge success story and is very much a comeback story." A lack of publicly-funded building work is continuing to hurt Northern Ireland's construction industry, a new survey out today has suggested. The first construction and infrastructure market survey of 2019 from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Tughans suggests that activity continued to fall in the first quarter, prompting fresh concerns over the impact of the political situation on the economy. The report is based on a series of set questions posed to industry professionals to gauge attitudes on the state of the construction sector here. Read More The results showed that the private housing sector remained the standout performer during January and March this year, with the responses suggesting a rise in workloads over the UK average. But responses to questions relating to public housing, public non-housing and infrastructure work all pointed to declines in activity, along with commercial construction activity. Northern Ireland was one of two UK regions where respondents reported an overall decline in workloads. Northern Ireland was also the only area to report a fall in business inquiries. The RICS and Tughans said that the comments in the survey reflected the view that the current political landscape, with a lack of devolved government coupled with Brexit uncertainties, had contributed to a situation where public spending is limited and investors are proceeding with caution. While the 12-month outlook in terms of workload had reflected a slight rise in positivity compared with the end of 2018, the survey showed Northern Ireland as the least optimistic for 12-month forecasts when it came to employment prospects and profit margins. Jim Sammon, the RICS Northern Ireland construction spokesman, said: "House building remains the positive story, but the local construction sector continues to be faced with an unsettling overall picture, particularly regarding public-funded work. "Northern Ireland continues to feel the effects of the challenging political circumstances, and while the imminent threat of a no-deal Brexit has clearly receded, investors appear to be continuing to proceed with some caution." David Jones, head of real estate at Belfast law firm Tughans, said he believed the challenges posed to the retail landscape were reflected in the drop in private commercial activity, "It is no surprise that the political situation continues to be felt regarding work that is dependent on public funding," he added. Some 55 years ago, missionary Bob McAllister and his young family were caught up in the brutal Congo rebellion, during which many of his colleagues and friends were killed and he himself was shot in the head. Their years in the hostile African country, facing all kinds of warfare, have left a remarkable legacy, however. For now, he is able to observe from afar his beloved Congo change for the better. The grandchildren of Congolese people converted to Christianity under Bob and his wife Alma's ministry are, with the help of their son Bill, working hard to establish a new order. Bob, who lives in Armagh, celebrated his 94th birthday on April 21, the same date as the Queen. "I get a 21-gun salute every year," he jokes. He grew up near the Shankill Road in Belfast and served for 21 months as a GI in the Second World War for the American armed forces - he was eligible because he'd spent the first four years of his life in the US after his father emigrated. Bob and his sister were sent back to Belfast as young children after the death of their mother. After coming home from war and then attending Bible college, Bob and Alma, a nurse, made the voyage to central Africa with Unevangelised Fields Mission (UFM) in 1952. Their three children, Bill, David and Ruth, grew up there - Bill has published a gripping account of their lives in his book In the Line of Fire. When the Congo Rebellion broke out in 1964, 13 adults and six children who were there working for UFM were killed. Bill, aged 12 at the time, remembers rebel soldiers marching the missionaries and their families outside at the mission station and ordering them to line up. A broadcast had gone out earlier that day on the radio station of the Socialist People's Republic of Congo, stating: "Men, we are under attack. Sharpen your bush knives and destroy the western hostages. Every man, woman and child - take their heads off." When everyone was marched outside, the rebels raised their guns only to find they couldn't shoot. They ordered them back inside again where a machine gun was fired around the room. Bob McAllister and his best friend, fellow missionary Hector McMillan, were taken outside and shot at. A bullet grazed Bob's head and he fell to the ground to play dead. Tragically, Hector, who had six young sons, was killed. The McAllisters journeyed home, but returned in 1967 when Congo had been renamed as Zaire. They finally came back to Northern Ireland when Bill had completed his secondary education and was due to go to college. It was a shock to the system in many ways, not least the weather and a new accent to understand. Bill completed A-levels at Rupert Stanley College before a theology degree at Queen's University. The family also found themselves in a city trying to cope with the beginnings of the Troubles. "When we arrived the bombing campaign was just starting," Bill says. "Occasionally, on my way to college through Belfast I would find myself winding my way around the rubble. "I remember driving in my green Mini to collect my girlfriend (and soon-to-be wife) Norma from the Royal where she was a student nurse. She'd get into the car and burst into tears because she'd had to treat a young soldier in casualty who'd had his legs blown off. "Mum and dad took meetings every night of the week at the time - we went along with them at weekends as we sang together as the McAllister family quartet. "On one occasion we were driving home through Belfast from a late meeting. Since dad was driving, we were going fairly slowly as we pulled up to a red traffic signal near Royal Avenue. We no sooner came to a stop when the road disappeared in a cloud of dust and shrapnel, and our car rocked violently. We realised later that, if I had been driving, as was customary at that time of night, we would have 'raced the lights' and, in all probability, have died in the blast." The family eventually moved away from Belfast to Moira where a neighbour told them he'd seen men "working" under his brother's car and assumed they were fixing a bomb under it. "Living through all this taught me that violence is in the human condition," Bill says. "I'd been in a black man's war and now I was in a white man's war, which was as vicious as any African war. "But the difference was that in Belfast, despite the Troubles, the water was still drinkable from the tap, schools still opened, electricity worked, while in Congo this wasn't the case - because Belfast basically had a civil society. "I also saw that in war, wherever it is, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to all." Certainly, Congo, a country rich in minerals but ruled by warlords, has had a turbulent history. The Congo Free State was created in 1884-85 in an effort by European powers to settle colonial disputes in Africa and was ruled over by the Belgian King Leopold. Under his rule, Africans were subject to brutal conditions - for example, they were forced to collect natural growing rubber to meet strict quotas. If workers failed to collect enough rubber they could have had their hands chopped off. However, when news of this spread, the journalist ED Morel, Roger Casement (the Irish nationalist who was later hanged as a traitor to Britain) and Dr Henry Guinness, an evangelical preacher who addressed crowds at the Botanic Gardens in Belfast during the 1859 revival, formed the Congo Reform Association - in a coffee room at the Slieve Donard Hotel - in 1904. They started an international campaign aimed to help the exploited workforce of the Congo which became known as the first human rights campaign. And now, although decades of oppression and war have not come to an end, there are glimmers of optimism. Part of this comes from the Congo Initiative (CI) and its university which was established in 2007. The CI is a "community of Christ-centred Congolese leaders and global partners united for the transformation of lives and a flourishing Democratic Republic of Congo". It was established by Dr David Kasali and his wife Kaswera - they were born and raised in Christian families in the Congo who had heard the gospel through American missionaries. Kasali became a minister and was working in Kenya when he received the news that his brother and sister had been killed during the Congo uprising - he then decided to go back to Congo and work again among his own people. Bill McAllister received the call to get involved from Paul Robinson, an old friend from his schooldays in Congo and whose parents were also missionaries there. "I had been with CBM and worked in more than 100 developing countries for 20 years," says Bill. "Then I came home to Armagh and Paul called and said, 'what about Congo, the country your parents shed their blood in?' "He told me about David Kasali's vision and the CI's dream to raise a new generation of leaders. Then I asked my sister Ruth to get involved, she had worked for many years in curriculum development so her skills were ideal, and my brother David, who works for Tear Fund, partners with us to hire our graduates." Bill wishes to emphasise that while students don't have to be Christian to study at CI, its organisation is based on Christian principles. "God gave us this world and we've basically ignored it," he says. "And the Bible is at the forefront of defending children. The Bible is the major defender of the rights of women. These are basic ethical principles. "The Christian message has a message for the 21st century. It's one of inclusiveness. We're all born in sin. The gospel of salvation in Christ is open to everyone. What is really important in the eyes of God is: what have you done with Jesus? "Now, the Congo people are not waiting for missionaries to come and sort them out - they're asking the questions themselves. This project is called Congo Initiative because it's by and of the Congo people. "Africans are very talented and intelligent - the women who work in the markets speak up to seven languages, fluently, and they do maths in their heads. "How can people who are so intelligent not make a success of their country? They say that what Congo lacks is a civil society. You have the warlords at the top and peasants at the bottom. Almost nothing is solved in the law courts. "Women get a bad deal in Africa. She has to hand her money to her husband or her brothers or to the local police chief. Women work the hardest - in the markets, in the fields. "But women are interested in the wellbeing of their families. They want to spend their money on education and their business - that is development." The CI is now offering a host of courses to equip students with the skills to handle responsible jobs (following the recent Ebola crisis, international staff will be allowed to return to Congo this summer providing there are no further outbreaks). Bill says: "We reasoned that the way to create a civil society was to set up a university that is run by Christians but doesn't teach just theology. So at CI we have law, economics, communications, applied science and theology. We have an office registered in the UK and in the US. Our job is to raise prayer, resources - I'm in talks with Union College at QUB to get academic input. "We have a women's voices network to empower female graduates. This links them up so that when they go back to their towns and villages they don't feel alone. I was at a conference recently and it was a pleasure to see our graduates stand up and talk so eloquently in French and English. They have the courage and confidence to stand up and tell their own military and police that they have signed the UN convention for the protection of women, for the disabled. "I've heard people talk about empowering women by giving them a sewing machine - but I believe it's about giving them the opportunity to get a law degree. "And now I see our graduates in the banks, in UN agencies, in the big NGOs, mobile phone firms. The warlords no longer have everything their own way. "We have set up a research institution at CI which has already got contracts from local agencies to look at land management. A lot of the issues in ethnic cleansing were due to who owns the land. Now we are using satellite imaging to map out the land. "For the first time in my life I have an answer to the question: why does nothing change? It is when there is nothing to base change on. Now we have people with degrees. There was no civil society, now one is being developed. It is being developed on Christian values, by people who love the Lord. "And it's not a Western mission plan - it's not 'from the West to the rest'. It has been developed by the Congo people. It is amazing to see all this happening - to see this country developing on the basis of Christian ethics, to establish the kingdom of God on earth. And the people involved are grandchildren of those who were converted under the ministry of mum and dad." For more information visit www.congoinitiative.org A Co Down man accused of attacking his dementia-suffering father is to be barred from the area where the alleged victim lives, a High Court judge has ordered. Lee Jackson was also told he can only see the 77-year-old if accompanied by a doctor or social worker. The conditions were imposed on 44-year-old Jackson, of Seaview in Killough, as he was granted bail on a charge of common assault. Police went to the village's Castle Court area on April 9 after his father, William Jackson, claimed he had been assaulted by his son. A Crown lawyer said: "The alleged assault included being punched on his back." Jackson was arrested but declined to give an account during interview, according to the prosecution. Defence counsel Paul McAlinden described it as a "very, very sad case" involving an alleged victim suffering from Alzheimer's. The barrister told the court his client is the registered carer for his father. "He's saying yes, his father is suffering from dementia and his father does argue, that's a symptom of dementia," he submitted. "People can become quite confused and raise their voices, there are times when both him and his father are shouting at each other." But Mr McAlinden stressed: "He loves his father and wants to help him as best he can." Granting bail on Wednesday, Mr Justice Huddleston imposed a condition that Jackson must not enter the Castle Court development. DUP leader Arlene Foster said the announcement of an intention to sell will be unsettling for staff (Liam McBurney/PA) Political leaders in Northern Ireland have voiced concern about the future for thousands of workers following the announcement by Bombardier that it plans to sell its aerostructures business. DUP leader Arlene Foster said: Bombardier is an integral part of the Northern Ireland economy, with the skills of the local workforce having been recognised throughout the company. The partnership with Airbus represented a fresh opportunity for Bombardier and there have been a number of significant orders received since that announcement. The company themselves have recognised the significant increase in work, but the announcement of an intention to sell will be unsettling for the staff. It is welcome that there have been no workforce implications in relation to this announcement and both staff and the company can be assured of any support locally or in London which might assist them at this time. Sinn Fein deputy Michelle ONeill said: This is hugely concerning for the affected workers and the wider manufacturing industry and economy in the North. This is hugely concerning for the workers, the wider manufacturing industry and economy. I have spoken this morning to company Chief Executive Michael Ryan and Sinn Fein has already been in contact with representatives of Unite The Union and workers representatives. https://t.co/CZu8JBo6xq Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) May 2, 2019 Bombardier has faced a number of difficulties over recent years and there have been several major job loss announcements over that time. The economic uncertainty caused by Brexit has also impacted severely on the manufacturing sector and wider economy here. However, the scale of todays announcement will still come as a shock to those affected and to our local economy. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: This announcement will cause significant uncertainty for workers in Bombardier sites across Belfast and across the North. Worrying news for Bombardier workers. Hopefully a buyer can be found and the jobs secured. Colum Eastwood (@columeastwood) May 2, 2019 It is critical that those most affected by this announcement are offered certainty about their long-term security in the time ahead and supported throughout any transition process when a buyer is identified. The Ulster Unionist Partys finance spokesman Steve Aiken said: The news is a matter of considerable concern, not least for the 4,000 employees and their families. There has been no doubt that Bombardier has struggled in recent years, particularly around the development of the C series, but having successfully tied up with the globally leading Airbus company, it was hoped that Bombardiers future within the aerospace sector was assured. It must be hoped that all the aerostructures divisions here in Northern Ireland can be retained by any new purchaser and that manufacturing and jobs can be maintained. Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said everything possible must be done to ensure a suitable buyer is found. A man murdered in Co Antrim had a single knife wound to the side of his face, a court has heard. The details emerged as a man was remanded in custody charged with the murder of Niall Magee (21) in Crumlin at the weekend. Michael McManus (25) of Cairn Walk, Crumlin, appeared at Limavady Magistrates Court yesterday with both eyes blackened and cuts and bruises to his swollen face. He is accused of killing Mr Magee, who passed away on Sunday from an injury allegedly sustained in an incident at the house in Cairn Walk, where the defendant lives, the previous day. A Detective Chief Inspector told the court he believed he could connect the accused to the charge and objected to a bail application on the grounds that the defendant might leave the jurisdiction and might interfere with a "vulnerable" witness. The court heard that police and ambulance crews attended the house at Cairn Walk after they received a 999 call at 2.50am on Saturday saying two people had died. Police entered the house where they found the defendant and Mr Magee slumped at the bottom of the stairs. The DCI said Mr McManus had "multiple wounds" and Mr Magee had "a single knife wound to the right side of his face". Mr Magee was transferred to hospital where he passed away the following morning. During a police search of the property "a large kitchen knife" was found lying under the sofa in the living room, the court heard. The detective said the investigation was at an early stage but accepted it would "be a challenge" due to the high level of intoxication of all the witnesses involved. A bail application was made by McManus's solicitor, Brendan Blaney, who told the court his client had given an account that would help police "disentangle this matrix". He said McManus, in an attempt to ward off an attack, had sustained multiple and serious injuries that required surgery. Mr Blaney added that his client "expressed genuine sympathy to the family of the deceased". Mr Blaney said when McManus was 16, he witnessed the death by drowning of his father and, in 2013, McManus's brother, Kieran, was murdered in a shooting. Mr Blaney asked for his client to be released on bail - this was objected to by the detective, who said given the serious nature of the charge, he feared McManus would flee the jurisdiction. He was also concerned that McManus would interfere with one of the witnesses, whom he described as a vulnerable 19-year-old woman. District Judge Peter King refused bail. He remanded McManus in custody to appear on May 27 at Antrim Court via videolink. McManus gave a thumbs up sign to friends sitting in the public gallery as he was led away. A profoundly deaf woman who took a disability discrimination case against a bank has received a 2,000 payout. Fiona McKendry experienced problems after contacting Danske Bank to report fraudulent activity on her account. Ms McKendry, who is in her 30s and from Belfast, wears hearing aids in both ears and is a skilled lip reader. When she spotted the attempted fraud, she checked the bank's website for guidance and made contact via telephone as instructed, with the help of her brother. She said the employee who took the call refused her service as she was using her brother as an intermediary on the call. Ms McKendry explained: "I asked my brother to explain my disability and to ask for a reasonable adjustment to enable me to act quickly on fraudulent activity on my bank account. "I didn't want my brother to act for me, I wanted him to relay the instructions of the bank employee to me and I would respond via the speaker phone. "Even though the bank employee said he could hear me, the account holder, he refused me service because I was lip-reading the information the employee provided to my brother via speaker phone. "I could see attempted transactions happening on my account while this call was ongoing and was extremely worried." The bank had blocked the card immediately after her phone call, but following what she saw as a refusal of service, Ms McKendry contacted her bank via secure messaging on its online app. The app said it could take three to five days or more to get a response. Ms McKendry felt the situation was more urgent. The next morning she was invited to meet the branch manager who confirmed that her card had been blocked following her call, her account was safe and missing funds would be reinstated. The manager suggested putting in place a mandate that would give her brother access and transaction rights to her accounts. Ms McKendry rejected this, saying she is well capable of managing her financial affairs herself. She made a formal complaint to Danske Bank and contacted the Equality Commission. A disability discrimination case was taken against Northern Bank Ltd, which trades as Danske Bank, with the help of the Equality Commission. In settling the case, Northern Bank Ltd paid Ms McKendry 2,000 without admission of liability, and has made adjustments to its services. Ms McKendry said she found the episode "hugely frustrating" and welcomed the bank's move to put in place technology she can use to contact it in a hurry. Danske Bank said: "Our award-winning local contact centre has since invested in market leading voice biometrics technology to help customers more easily identify themselves securely. "We have been happy to work with Ms McKendry and the Equality Commission to help deliver better outcomes. "We also recently became the only company in Northern Ireland to sign up to The Valuable 500, a global movement of organisations who pledge to promote disability inclusion and place it on the board agenda in 2019." An investigation has been launched following the sudden death of a man in Kilkeel Harbour. Police were called to a scene on a boat in the harbour on Monday evening. Reports suggested the man who died was from Scotland. It is believed he was the boat's skipper and that he slipped and fell. The PSNI said: "Police were called to the sudden death of a man aboard a vessel in Kilkeel Harbour on Monday evening. "The circumstances of the death will be investigated by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch." A spokesperson for the Ambulance Service said it had despatched one emergency crew and a rapid response paramedic to the scene. The Air Ambulance was also scrambled, but no one was taken to hospital. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch said the man was a crew member on board a fishing vessel called Artemis, which is registered in Fraserburgh, Scotland. Helen Neill is to receive 120k in compensation, the High Court ruled A Co Donegal woman seriously injured by a van as she carried her son on a family day out in Belfast is to receive 120,000 in damages, a High Court judge has ruled. The payout was awarded to Helen Neill after a 20% reduction for her contributory negligence in the collision at a traffic crossing outside the Odyssey Pavillion. Mr Justice Maguire held that flashing green lights should have alerted the 47-year-old to the risk of motorists. He said: "In many ways the damage done in this accident could have been much greater than it turned out to be. "The plaintiff's son could have been, but was not, injured." Mrs Neill, from Killybegs, sued van driver Norman Moore over ankle injuries sustained in the collision on November 1, 2013. She had been in Belfast with her husband and their two children, aged 11 and nine, to visit the W5 science and discovery centre as part of their Halloween break. The court heard Mrs Neill was carrying her son when they left the attraction and headed for the car park outside the Odyssey. As she crossed the road a large lorry came to a halt, obstructing her view of any traffic in a second lane. The defendant's van then emerged, failing to slow down at flashing amber lights. According to Mr Justice Maguire the collision occurred in an instant, with Mrs Neill probably walking into the side of the vehicle. Mr Moore apologised after the accident and said he had not been concentrating. It was agreed that he had been guilty of negligence in a claim assessed as worth 150,000 for full liability. The judge pointed out that the greater fault lay with him for not keeping a better look out for pedestrians. But he ruled that Mrs Neill was also 20% liable for the accident. "There was, in the court's view, a not inconsiderable obligation on her to take care of herself when crossing the road at a crossing when the traffic lights were flashing green," he said. "This was especially so when it was evident that se was going to have to cross four lanes of traffic to get to the safety of the other side of the road." Mr Justice Maguire confirmed: "The court will award the plaintiff the sum of 120,000 to be paid by the defendant." A DUP councillor has apologised for using an offensive term for people with Down's syndrome on social media after the theft of his motorcycle. Following a robbery at his home, former Craigavon mayor Robert Smith wrote on Facebook on Sunday: "My motorbike has been stolen from my house in Tandragee sometime through the night by *****. "Please share but I'm sure it's parts by now. Honda CBR-125-R. Very distinctive colours and rare." When his use of the term was challenged, he edited his post and removed the refernce. Sinn Fein councillor Catherine Nelson said: "There is no place for this type of offensive language in our society. Regardless of circumstance, such offensive and derogatory language is disgusting and distasteful." Mr Smith has since apologised for any offence caused by the comments, adding: "It was in no way a reference to anyone with disabilities." Local tourism bosses have been challenged to "aggressively" target visitors in Dublin and tell them: "You're in the wrong part of the island." DUP MP Ian Paisley delivered the hard-hitting message to officials yesterday. Addressing delegates from Visit Belfast and Visit Derry at Westminster, Mr Paisley suggested that Dublin was unfairly marketing on this side of border. Read More He asked if Northern Ireland should "put it right back in their face". "It's been put to me that 70% of Dublin Airport's marketing budget on the island is spent in Northern Ireland to attract people to go south," Mr Paisley said. "I'm 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 aren't you going north?' and put it right back in their face? "The song most Americans sing is Danny Boy - that's nothing to do with the Republic of Ireland, it's to do with Northern Ireland. "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.'" His comments were made at a meeting of the NI Affairs Committee, which has started an inquiry into tourism in Northern Ireland, and have sparked debate. Expand Close Tourists at Dunluce Castle Northern Ireland Tourist Board / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tourists at Dunluce Castle Last night SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone, a former chair of Stormont's enterprise, trade and investment committee, said Mr Paisley was in no position to lecture on tourism. He referred to the MP's suspension from the House of Commons for 30 days last year for "serious misconduct" after failing to declare family holidays to Sri Lanka in 2013. In December Mr Paisley also faced questions over a luxury trip to the Maldives. Mr McGlone added: "It's nice to see Mr Paisley's recent tourist trips to Sri Lanka and the Maldives have helped him become such an expert in tourism. "But perhaps he could have been warned that such ill-advised comments would only draw more attention to those overseas trips. "The tourism industry will always work hard to attract as many visitors to Ireland both north and south, and we welcome all to these shores. "I wonder how many times Mr Paisley has flown out from Dublin Airport since he's so aware of the lack of marketing for Northern Ireland? "Most visitors from overseas have no choice but to land in Dublin if they want to visit. Telling them they've landed in the 'wrong place' is not the message we should be putting out." Sinn Fein said that "clearly Ian Paisley has a great deal of experience of tourism and overseas travel... but he obviously knows nothing about marketing". "Tourists from across the world see Ireland as a single entity and it is rightly marketed as such," it said. "His comments also show a lack of understanding of the north-south bodies which his party colleagues sat on which have responsibility for all-Ireland tourism marketing." Hospitality NI chief Colin Neill said that something has to be done to ensure Northern Ireland maximises its tourist potential. However, he admitted Mr Paisley's words was "not the sort of language I would have used". "The Republic of Ireland is our second biggest market behind Great Britain," he said. "Around 70% of air traffic of visitors to Northern Ireland comes through Dublin Airport, so yes, we need to do everything we can to make sure they turn left as well as right after they arrive. "But there's a bigger issue and that concerns infrastructure in Northern Ireland. "We have to do more to attract international flights to Belfast airports. Ways of bringing visitors directly into Northern Ireland have to be addressed." He called for reductions in air passenger duty and the development of new routes as tourism here "could be missing out on as much as 1bn a year". "It's easier to keep people in Northern Ireland if they arrive at one of our airports in the first place," he said. Gerry Lennon from Visit Belfast and Odhran Dunne from Visit Derry appeared before MPs at yesterday's Westminster committee hearing. Both agreed that more marketing was essential, but warned that resources were tight and more public sector funding is needed. Tourism NI, the organisation which handles marketing in the Republic, said it was not in a position to comment as it would be contributing to the committee at a later date. Tourism Ireland is the body responsible for marketing overseas. Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar has blamed Brexit for the violence in Londonderry that precipitated the murder of journalist Lyra McKee. The 29-year-old was shot in the head during trouble in the city on April 18. Dissident republican terror group the New IRA admitted the killing. Dunbar (60) believes that political uncertainty in the wake of the EU referendum has played a role in the unrest that led to Lyra's tragic death. He said: "This is the result of Brexit. "Brexit has destabilised Northern Ireland terribly and we can't go back to a hard border. "If we did I'm afraid there will be civil disobedience, which could lead anywhere. It doesn't bear thinking about. "It certainly doesn't bear thinking about when everybody was campaigning to leave the EU. No one gave a thought to Northern Ireland and what might happen." Earlier this week Lyra's family paid tribute to the huge "outpouring of love, respect and admiration" that had comforted them "through the darkest of times". The family added that they "will all rejoice together on the day that justice is achieved for our Lyra". Dunbar said he is a firm believer that a shared society in Northern Ireland should be rooted in the formative years and is a passionate advocate for integrated education. He said: "You can't make someone fear another person if they shared a desk for seven years. "I don't think the people in the rest of the UK really understand this. You might be in kindergarten with your best friend who lives next door, then at the age of five you're made aware that person is different and they head off in one direction and you head off in another. "And that is basically where the dysfunction within Northern Ireland starts. In the 1960s in America, they had bussing - and in Northern Ireland, they still have bussing. "They are bussing children from one side of the city to the other." Dunbar is one of the most talked about stars on TV thanks to his role in Line of Duty as Superintendent Ted Hastings, who heads the AC-12 anti-corruption team in the hit BBC drama but is currently under suspicion himself. The Enniskillen-born actor lives in the Crouch End area of north London with his Sydney-born wife of 33 years, actress and casting director Anna Nygh. In recent years he also bought himself a holiday home near Manorhamilton in north Co Leitrim, a short drive from his Co Fermanagh roots. But he has spoken in the past about how difficult life was for him as a Catholic after his family moved to Portadown and criticised the police. He has previously said that at one point he was dragged out of a shop because of his school uniform and beaten "while the RUC strolled by". His family moved to Portadown in the late 1960s because "there was no work in Enniskillen". They later moved back after the Troubles intensified. Patrick Close appears at Ballymena Court on Thursday charged in connection with ATM theft. Credit: Pacemaker Press A man was remanded in custody at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Thursday charged in relation to the theft of an ATM at Nutts Corner earlier this week. Patrick Close (21) of Camlin Park, Crumlin, faces five charges linked to the theft of an ATM worth 16,000 containing 59,090. He is further accused of causing criminal damage to a Costcutters store, theft and arson of a Hitachi digger and aggravated taking and causing damage to a Land Rover. The defendant was wearing handcuffs when he appeared in the dock. A police officer said she believed she could connect him to the charges. A defence solicitor said he had no questions regarding the defendant being connected to the charges and he said no application was being made for bail. A prosecution lawyer asked for the case to be adjourned for four weeks to await a full file being received from police. District Judge Nigel Broderick remanded the defendant in custody and adjourned the case to Antrim Magistrates Court on May 28. The defendant yawned as he was led to the cells. A co-accused (31) from Belfast appeared at the same court on Wednesday in relation to the Nutts Corner raid. The robbery happened on the Cliftonville Road on Tuesday afternoon. Credit: Google Maps A man suffered a broken jaw and cheekbone during a "vicious" robbery in Belfast, police have said. The attack happened on Tuesday afternoon when the victim, a man in his 20s, was standing on the Cliftonville Road near the junction with Glenard Brook. He was approached by a man and struck on the side of the head with what is believed to have been a wheel brace, before the suspect made off with the victim's mobile phone. PSNI Detective Sergeant Eric Fairfield said: The man is described as being in his 20s, around six feet tall and of stocky build. It is understood he was wearing a grey hooded top and grey shorts. The victim suffered a broken cheekbone and jaw as a result of this vicious attack. Enquiries are continuing and we are appealing to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area to contact detectives in Musgrave on 101, quoting reference number 728 of 30/04/19. Information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The men male off with a quantity of cash Police in Northern Ireland are appealing for witnesses following an armed robbery of a Post Office in Draperstown. At around 3.45pm on Wednesday, May 1, two masked men, one armed with a hatchet entered the premises on the Moneyneany Road and threatened the female shop worker. The men made off with a small quantity of cash in the direction of Draperstown in a white VW Transporter van with the registration number VRM FGZ8165. The van was later found burnt out on Crocknamohil Road, Desertmartin. Detectives are appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident or saw anything suspicious in the area to contact detectives in Cookstown. Grafitti has appeared just metres away from where the journalist Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan. Pro-IRA graffiti has appeared in Londonderry warning the community against helping the police. The slogans appeared on Thursday morning in the Creggan area, metres from where journalist Lyra McKee was killed on April 18. She was shot by a dissident republican linked to the New IRA who fired indiscriminately at police lines during disturbances over the Easter weekend. Expand Close Flowers at the spot where Lyra McKee was killed (Aoife Moore/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Flowers at the spot where Lyra McKee was killed (Aoife Moore/PA) Expand Close Grafitti appeared just metres away from where the journalist Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan. PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Grafitti appeared just metres away from where the journalist Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan. Painted on a wall, one message reads Informers will be executed, and another says IRA here to stay. Another message includes a picture of a rat, with the message Informers will be shot. IRA, and another says RUC Informers: They will forget about you, we wont. IRA. Pro-IRA graffiti which had been painted over in the days after Ms McKees murder has been restored, saying the IRA arent done and is an undefeated army. The new graffiti comes as the Police Service of Northern Ireland have offered anonymity for anyone in the community who comes foward with evidence about the death of Ms McKee or the New IRA. Police have made a number of arrests and released images of the suspected gunman before and after the killing in Derry in a bid to encourage witnesses to come forward. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The coffin of journalist Lyra McKee is taken out of the church after her funeral at St Anne's Cathedral on April 24, 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Getty Images Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Prime Minister Theresa May pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee Irish Prime minister Leo Varadkar (R) and Prime Minister Theresa May (C) leave St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24, 2019, after attending the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Irish President Michael D Higgins consoles Sara Canning, partner of the murdered journalist Lyra McKee as her funeral takes place at St. Anne's Cathedral (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Funeral and service of thanksgiving for journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn(centre) and Irish President Michael D Higgins(right) pictured at and at the funeral. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye Mourners and friends pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Mourners react as the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee, who was killed by a dissident republican paramilitary in Northern Ireland on April 18, is placed into a hearse following her funeral at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24, 2019. - Lyra McKee, 29, who chronicled the troubled history of Northern Ireland, was shot in the head on April 18, 2019, as rioters clashed with police in Londonderry, the second city of the British province. (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP)PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Funeral and service of thanksgiving for journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Mourners and friends pictured at the funeral. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye DUP leader Arlene Foster at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee Mourners listen to the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday April 24, 2019. Miss McKee, 29, died as a result of injuries sustained when she was shot on the Creggan estate on April 18. See PA story FUNERAL McKee. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Mourners gesture as pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee (29), who was killed by a dissident republican paramilitary in Northern Ireland on April 18, during the funeral service at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24, 2019. AFP/Getty Images The funeral of Journalist Lyra McKee takes place at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The funeral of Journalist Lyra McKee takes place at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Mourners gather outside of St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24, 2019, during the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee who was killed by a dissident republican paramilitary in Northern Ireland on April 18. - Lyra McKee, 29, who chronicled the troubled history of Northern Ireland, was shot in the head on April 18, 2019, as rioters clashed with police in Londonderry, the second city of the British province. (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP)PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Mourners gesture as pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee (29), who was killed by a dissident republican paramilitary in Northern Ireland on April 18, during the funeral service at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24, 2019. - Lyra McKee, 29, who chronicled the troubled history of Northern Ireland, was shot in the head on April 18, 2019, as rioters clashed with police in Londonderry, the second city of the British province. (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP)PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images The coffin is carried into the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA The coffin is carried into the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday April 24, 2019. Miss McKee, 29, died as a result of injuries sustained when she was shot on the Creggan estate on April 18. See PA story FUNERAL McKee. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA General view of the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneOs Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Picture Matt Mackey / Press Eye. Matt Mackey / Presseye.com Prime Minister Theresa May paying her condolences to the family of Lyra McKee Mourners listen to the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA Taoiseach Leo Varadkar , Prime Mnister Theresa May and President Michael D Higgins before the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA Mourners arrive for the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA Mourners embrace ahead of the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish President Michael D Higgins pictured at he funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Prime Minister Theresa May pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein leader Mary-Lou McDonald at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. President Michael D Higgins before the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA A mourner arrives carrying a wreath for the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA DUP leader Arlene Foster with Sin Fein's Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill before the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton. The funeral of Journalist Lyra McKee takes place at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald arrives for the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA Leo Varadkar arrives for the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral on April 24, 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - APRIL 24: The congregation arrive for the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral on April 24, 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Journalist and campaigner for LGBT rights, Lyra McKee, 29, was shot dead last Thursday while observing the rioting in Londonderry. Her family gave a statement in which they said her "openness and her desire to bring people together made her totally apolitical". The New IRA have admitted responsibility for her killing. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Press Eye Northern Ireland Wednesday 24th April 2019 Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Sinn Fein leader Mary-Lou McDonald pictured at he funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. The hearse carrying the body of murdered journalist Lyra McKee arrives at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PA Sinn Fein leader Michelle and Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Press Eye Northern Ireland Wednesday 24th April 2019 Sinn Fein leader Michelle and Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald before the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday April 24, 2019. Miss McKee, 29, died as a result of injuries sustained when she was shot on the Creggan estate on April 18. See PA story FUNERAL McKee. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire PA President Michael D Higgins before the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday April 24, 2019. Miss McKee, 29, died as a result of injuries sustained when she was shot on the Creggan estate on April 18. See PA story FUNERAL McKee. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire PA Press Eye Northern Ireland Wednesday 24th April 2019 Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Press Eye Northern Ireland Wednesday 24th April 2019 Simon Coveney TD at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Press Eye Northern Ireland Wednesday 24th April 2019 SDLP leader Colum Eastwood at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Press Eye Northern Ireland Wednesday 24th April 2019 Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Mike Nesbitt pictured at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Michelle O'Neill, Vice President of Sinn Fein arrives for the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral on April 24, 2019 in Belfast Getty Images Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald arrives for the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Naomi Long Alliance Party Leader at the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. General view of the funeral and service of thanksgiving for the life of journalist Lyra McKee at St AnneAos Cathedral, Donegall Street, Belfast. Lyra McKee was murdered in Creggan in Derry on Thursday 18th April. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. The funeral of Journalist Lyra McKee takes place at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Mourners begin to gather for the funeral of Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on April 24th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The coffin of journalist Lyra McKee is taken out of the church after her funeral at St Anne's Cathedral on April 24, 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Detectives say more than 140 people have already come forward with information, videos and images from the unrest. Complete anonymity, including giving evidence behind a screen and using voice altering technology, have been offered for anyone called to give evidence at a trial. Crimestoppers has offered a reward of 10,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the murder. Expand Close Grafitti has appeared just metres away from where the journalist Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan. PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Grafitti has appeared just metres away from where the journalist Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan. Kevin Campbell, Sinn Fein councillor and a Creggan resident, said the people of the area had sent a message to the perpetrators and will not be deterred. People see these gangs for what they are - they aren't republicans, they are filth, and people recognise thatKevin Campbell Its an absolute insult to the memory of Lyra McKee, who was murdered by these people, he said. These people were given a clear message after the death of Lyra, when hundreds and hundreds of residents of Creggan stood together on Fanad Drive, that they are not wanted. Maybe that message isnt getting through, but this is an absolute disgrace and its an insult to her memory. Mr Campbell says he does not believe the graffiti will deter people from coming forward. People see these gangs for what they are they arent republicans, they are filth, and people recognise that, he added. One shocked resident told the Press Association: I cannot believe them, its only the second week since Lyra was killed here. They have no shame, they are scum. Superintendent Alan Hutton said: Police in Derry/Londonderry are aware of graffiti in Central Drive in Creggan, including slogans which appear to have been spray-painted onto the wall of a building. We are also aware of signs that have been erected on lampposts in the area. I would appeal to anyone who has information about this, or knows who is responsible, to contact police at Strand Road on the non-emergency number 101. Alternatively call Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous. Police are at the scene of a security alert in Londonderry (PA) A security alert near a polling station in Londonderry has ended after a suspicious object found in a bus shelter was declared an elaborate hoax. The object was found in the Moss Road/Fergleen Road area of the city just before 7pm. Chief Superintendent Gordon McCalmont said: I want to thank the local community for their patience and understanding during the course of this evenings policing operation. Thankfully, minimum disruption was caused. The blame for any inconvenience caused, however, lies squarely with those individuals who left this in the vicinity of St. Pauls Primary School, which was being used as a polling station. They have absolutely nothing to offer local people or society in general. I want to appeal to anyone who can assist us with our enquiries into this incident to contact police at Strand Road on 101, quoting reference number 1187 of 02/05/19. A suspect device has been found on the Moss Road in Galliagh #Derry. It is believed that the device is a black pipe. Police have sealed off the area and Army Technical Officers are on their way. The security alert is right beside a polling station, which has remained open pic.twitter.com/GOtqY9N48Q Leona O'Neill (@LeonaONeill1) May 2, 2019 Sinn Fein MP Elisha McCallion said earlier: "The security alert near the polling station at St Paul's Primary School in Derry is clearly an attempt to disrupt and derail the democratic process. "But it has failed as the polling station remains open and voters can access it by another gate via Moss Road roundabout and Bloomfield Park. "Those responsible for this security alert will not be allowed to undermine to derail democracy. "For many years an unjust regime tried to deny the people of Derry the opportunity to vote but failed; those behind this alert will not succeed either." 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 Twitter Email Whatsapp Lyra McKees funeral at St Annes Cathedral, Belfast (Brian Lawless/PA) 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 Twitter Email Whatsapp The suspected gunman (PSNI/PA) 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. Expand Close PSNI Det Supt Jason Murphy beside an image of the suspected gunman Photopress / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PSNI Det Supt Jason Murphy beside an image of the suspected gunman "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 25-year-old woman was arrested in Scotland on Tuesday (Liam McBurney/PA) Detectives investigating whether a woman was forced to perform labour in Belfast have charged a second person. Officers from the PSNI's Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit (MSHTU) arrested a 25-year-old woman in Scotland on Tuesday . The suspect, who has been brought back to Northern Ireland, was charged on Thursday with requiring another person to perform forced or compulsory labour. The woman is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Friday. Osarobo Izekor, 33, originally from Nigeria but with an address in Castlereagh Place in east Belfast, appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court on Wednesday after being charged with the same offence. He has been remanded in custody. The alleged victim has told police she was held as a domestic slave in Belfast for six years. A Coalisland man is to stand trial on charges related to what the PSNI previously said was one of the largest weapons hauls recovered in the past 10 years A Coalisland man is to stand trial on charges related to what the PSNI previously said was one of the largest weapons hauls recovered in the past 10 years. Firearms accused Brian John Carron (34), from Colliers Lane, was described by police as a suspected member of the New IRA. It is alleged that between May 24, 2010, and April 5, 2011, he was unlawfully and maliciously in possession of Semtex, rocket propellant, home grenade initiators, glucose powder, improvised power units, improvised incendiary devices, eight detonators and component parts of an improvised rocket system. On the same dates it is alleged he also had four AKM assault rifles, six loaded magazines and a quantity of 7.62mm short ammunition. The defendant is further accused of possessing two mobile phones and four vehicles in preparation for an act of terrorism. He was charged following searches in Coalisland carried out by detectives investigating the murder of PSNI constable Ronan Kerr. Carron first appeared in court almost a year ago, when bail was refused. This was appealed at the High Court where, despite police objections, the defendant was released on strict terms. A detective previously told the court that Carron's DNA was found on one of the seized AKM rifles, which was found in a car. Defence lawyers argued the DNA recovered was a mixed profile and that there was "absolutely no evidence" linking Carron to the murder of the officer and the numerous firearms charges. Catholic policeman Mr Kerr was killed by an under-car booby-trap bomb on April 2, 2011. At the most recent court sitting a lawyer acting for the Public Prosecution Service said the case was on track for a committal to formally move to trial. District Judge John Meehan remanded Carron on continuing bail to appear again next month, when a preliminary enquiry is expected to be held and the case transferred to Crown Court. Last September the defendant was granted a temporary variation of bail to permit him to carry out groomsman duties at his sister's wedding. Police were opposed to bail, but the judge agreed to a "Cinderella-like" extension to midnight, having rejected a defence application to stretch the curfew until 1am. Rediscovered panelling from two luxurious state rooms on Titanics sister ship, the Britannic sold for a combined total of more than 310,000 on the first day of an historic two-day auction at the Heritage Hotel, Killenard. After forming part of a Dublin city centre cinema until 1972, both the Belfast-manufactured panelling from the first-class lounge and the second-class library sold for around 183,000 each on Wednesday. The second-class library maple panelling, accompanied by a magnificent mahogany bar with copper embellishment, was sold to an Irish collector while the first-class lounge in oak was sold in the room. There was competitive bidding from around the world for these pieces which are identical to the designs used on the Titanic and cannot be replicated, either for their historical value or their ornate craftsmanship, said Niall Mullen. Expand Close A section of the HMHS Britannics second-class library maple panelling, handsomely carved in a Colonial Adams-style design, which was sold for 183,000. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A section of the HMHS Britannics second-class library maple panelling, handsomely carved in a Colonial Adams-style design, which was sold for 183,000. The Britannics stored luxurious furniture and fittings were auctioned in Belfast in 1919 and ornate carved wood panelling from both the first-class lounge and second-class library were used to adorn the La Scala Theatre and Opera House in Dublin, which later became the Capitol Cinema. They remained in place until the buildings demolition in 1972, when it made way for what is now Penneys, and the panelling was installed in a private individuals residence near Dublin. Manufactured by Harland & Wolff, the panelling was carved to a design by Arthur Henry Durand which matches the fittings installed in the Titanic and Olympic and features the ship number and panelling number on the reverse of each piece. Expand Close A section of the HMHS Britannics second-class library maple panelling. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A section of the HMHS Britannics second-class library maple panelling. The Britannic panelling sales were the highlights of a day which also saw good prices achieved for iconic pieces from Dublins great hotels and nightspots. The famous grand piano from the Burlington Hotel sold for just over 5,000 while the 10 foot leaded glass panel from the reception area of the Shelbourne Hotel made 1,200. Online bidding available at victormeeauctions.ie. The scene at a fuel station at Tully Road, Nutts Corner, Antrim, where a digger was used to rip an ATM from the wall (Rebecca Black/PA) The ATM was taken from a petrol station at Tully Road (Rebecca Black/PA) Two men charged over recent thefts of ATMs in Northern Ireland are due to appear in court today. Detective Inspector Richard Thornton said they have been charged with a number of offences. A 21-year-old male has been charged with aggravated vehicle taking, causing damage to property, arson, criminal damage and two counts of theft," he said. The charges are in connection with the theft of an ATM machine from the Tully Road area of Nutts Corner on Tuesday, April 30. A 31-year-old man has been charged with four counts of theft, three counts of arson, taking a motor vehicle without authority and criminal damage. These charges are in connection with the theft of ATM machines from the Junction One Retail Park in Antrim on Friday, 01 February. They are due to appear before Ballymena Magistrates' Court on Thursday, May 2. Mr Samuel Irvine Madine, owner of the HD Smile Clinic on the Shankill Road, pleaded guilty to five charges. Credit: Google Maps The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned that using tooth whitening products used and supplied by a Belfast business owner is the "equivalent of brushing your teeth in bleach". Samuel Irvine Madine, owner of the HD Smile Clinic on the Shankill Road, recently pleaded guilty to five charges at Belfast Magistrates' Court after a case was brought by Belfast City Council. Read More 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. Expand Close Samuel Irvine-Madine. Pic: BBC / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Samuel Irvine-Madine. Pic: BBC A spokesperson for the BDA told the BBC: "This man was convicted for levels of hydrogen peroxide higher than dentists are legally permitted to use. "It's the equivalent of brushing your teeth in bleach. "Such high levels of hydrogen peroxide are likely to cause irreparable harm to teeth and gums, including blisters and burns to the gum and damage to nerves and tooth enamel. "This man's reckless disregard for his customer's health is confirmed by his use of sodium perborate, a carcinogenic substance which is banned across Europe." Mr Madine was found to have breached Comestic Product Enforcement Regulations. He also pleaded guilty to failing to meet obligations of a distributor, including the required safety and labelling requirements. He will be sentenced on June 4. Alliance Party leader Naomi Long and her husband Michael arrive to cast their votes in the local governmant elections this morning at St Colmcille's Parish Church, 191A Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast Voters in Northern Ireland are going to the polls amid a fresh effort to defrost the institutions at Stormont. Polling stations in the council elections opened at 7am on Thursday and will close at 10pm. A total of 819 local government election candidates are standing across 11 council areas. Read More Among noteworthy races for seats will be Sinn Feins former West Tyrone MP Barry McElduffs efforts to return from the political wilderness. He was forced to step aside after offending the families of those shot dead by republicans at the height of the Troubles in Kingsmill in Co Armagh. Mr McElduff is running for a place on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in the far west. Expand Close Former West Tyrone MP Barry McElduff is standing for election (Niall Carson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former West Tyrone MP Barry McElduff is standing for election (Niall Carson/PA) In Newtownabbey, near Belfast, the DUPs first openly gay candidate is seeking election. Alison Bennington is standing for a party which has repeatedly vetoed same-sex marriage and holds strong Christian values. DUP leader Arlene Foster voted in the Co Fermanagh village of Brookeborough shortly after 9am. She said: It is a big day for everyone and I hope everyone takes the opportunity to have their democratic say on the future of our local councils. Local councils are hugely important in relation to the governance of Northern Ireland so it is important that people come out and have their say. Obviously I hope that they come out and give the DUP the strength to deliver right across Northern Ireland. We have had a very good canvass right across NI and people are saying that they want to come out and support us, so I am looking forward to tomorrow, to results day. The @SDLPlive leader @columeastwood arrives to cast his vote alongside his wife Rachael in the Local Elections #LE19 pic.twitter.com/xX43v0SWsG Leona O'Neill (@LeonaONeill1) May 2, 2019 It is the first poll since gay journalist Lyra McKee, 29, was shot dead by dissident republicans during disturbances in Londonderry in April. Her death prompted revulsion against the group blamed for the killing and a call by a Catholic priest for politicians to redouble efforts to restore devolved powersharing. The Stormont Assembly and ministerial Executive have been suspended since early 2017. Former Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinness resigned in a row over the DUPs handling of a botched green energy scheme. Fresh negotiations are due to begin next week following Miss McKees death. There are 1,463 polling stations across Northern Ireland. There will be overnight verification of unused ballot papers returned from the polling stations, with councils ready to begin counting on Friday morning at 8am. The election is being conducted by Single Transferable Vote, a proportional representation system. Stone carrying out his attack at Milltown Cemetery in March 1988 The widow of one of loyalist killer Michael Stone's victims has won High Court permission to challenge a refusal to hold an inquest into her husband's death. Thomas McErlean was among three mourners murdered by Stone in his infamous attack on an IRA funeral at Milltown Cemetery, west Belfast in March 1988. His wife, Anne Marie, wants an inquest to examine her suspicions of security force collusion. In court today Mrs McErlean was granted leave to seek a judicial review of the coroner's decision not to set up a tribunal. Following the ruling the west Belfast woman said: "I don't believe Michael Stone acted alone; there are questions to be answered about whether he received any assistance from police or state agents." Stone, 64, is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for waging a sectarian murder campaign. Three of his victims were killed when he launched a grenade strike on the funeral of IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar. Thomas McErlean, 20, John Murray, 26, and Kevin Brady, 30, all died in the cemetery attack. Stone was also the gunman in another three separate killings. Milkman Patrick Brady was murdered in south Belfast in November 1984, 12 months before joiner Kevin McPolin was shot in the head in Lisburn, Co Antrim. In May 1987 Dermott Hackett, a bread server, was found dead in his van between Drumquin and Omagh. He had been shot up to 16 times with a submachine gun. Released early in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Stone was returned to jail six years later after trying to enter Parliament Buildings at Stormont, armed with explosives, knives and an axe. He was found guilty of attempting to murder Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness - despite claiming it had been a piece of performance art. Earlier this year the High Court ruled that he must remain behind bars until 2024. Mrs McErlean's solicitors, McIvor Farrell, issued proceedings after her request for an inquest was turned down last year. The decision was based on a criminal trial having already been held, along with a pending Police Ombudsman investigation into a complaint from the McErlean family potentially offering a better remedy. But with the Ombudsman's probe subject to budgetary issues, Mr Justice McCloskey noted it may not get underway until 2021. He held that 51-year-old Mrs McErlean has established an arguable case on claims the coroner erred in law by determining an inquest should not be held. The legal challenge will now proceed to a full hearing later this year. Mrs McErlean, who was accompanied in court by her late husband's sister, Deborah McGuinness, and John Murray's sister, Patricia Lavery, added: "I'm delighted with the outcome. There are a number of issues that need to be investigated." The former owner of a Belfast-based marketing company who took cash from client accounts in an unsuccessful bid to keep his business afloat was spared a prison sentence yesterday. Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland handed Gareth Campbell, who ran Absolute Marketing, an 18-month sentence, which was suspended for two years. The 51-year old, from Church Road in Castlereagh, appeared at Belfast Crown Court where he admitted one charge of fraud by false representation and seven counts of transferring criminal property. Campbell's offending, which occurred between January 2014 and June 2014, amounted to around 180,000. Judge McFarland said around 70,000 was potentially recoverable via frozen assets. All customers affected when Campbell made unauthorised transactions from their bank accounts have been reimbursed by a 'middleman' company, which suffered the greatest loss. Before he passed sentence, Judge McFarland heard submissions from both the prosecution and defence. Crown barrister Kate McKay said Campbell's offending began to emerge in May 2014 when Trading Standards launched an investigation into the affairs of Absolute Marketing. The promotion business, which was based on the Ormeau Road, provided members with free or discounted hotel accommodation in return for an annual membership fee in the region of 250-300. Trading Standards launched its investigation after complaints were made by members of unauthorised transactions on their bank cards. Ms McKay said a majority of these unauthorised transactions between January and May 2014 were made at night when the business premises were closed, and that evidence indicated Campbell's phone was in the area at the relevant times. Further complaints were made, Trading Standards met with police, and a company called Elavon acted as a middleman between each cardholder's bank and the merchants who processed the transaction. In total, statements were taken from 37 affected cardholders, and all customers were fully refunded by Elavon. There were also three transfers made from the business account to Campbell's wife in May 2014 totalling around 50,000, as well as two transfers from the Dublin-based business account into the same account. Ms McKay said the Crown accepted that in the lead-up to May 2014 the business was in difficulty and that for a period Campbell was "introducing his own funds ... on a monthly basis". Campbell was arrested and interviewed on three occasions in 2014 and 2015. He either denied allegations or gave a "no comment" response, and was unable to account for any of the unauthorised payments. A defence barrister said at one point Absolute Marketing employed 20 people, but things began to take a downturn around the financial crash in 2008. Revealing "things came to a head in 2014", the barrister said this coincided with "personal pressure on his family". The barrister also spoke of the unauthorised transactions from client accounts, saying Campbell intended refunds as he never wanted to "permanently deprive" them. He added Campbell accepts what he did was "completely wrong... and he is remorseful for what he has done". Campbell's barrister concluded by revealing his client is now working in the car trade, and that his offending back in 2014 was more a case of trying to balance the books as opposed to "taking the money in order to live an extravagant lifestyle". Nigel Farage speaks during the launch of a tranche of Brexit Party candidates (Victoria Jones/PA) A candidate for Nigel Farages Brexit Party has quit in protest at the failure of another would-be MEP to apologise for previous support for the IRA. Sally Bate, from Warrington, said she was unhappy with the position taken by Claire Fox, a former senior activist in the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), on the 1993 bombing of the Cheshire town. An RCP newsletter at the time of the attack, which killed schoolboys Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball, stated that the party defended the right of the Irish people to take whatever measures necessary in their struggle for freedom. Ms Fox now director of the Institute of Ideas think tank is top of the list of Brexit Party candidates for the North West, meaning she will be the first to claim any European Parliament seat which the group wins in the May 23 election. Ms Bate was listed seventh, giving her no realistic chance of election. Tims father Colin Parry said that Ms Fox called him on Wednesday after he urged voters in the North West to reject her but did not offer any apology for her former views. I give some credit to @Fox_Claire for having the gumption to call me today but the fact that she repeatedly refused to disavow her comments supporting the IRA bombing which took Tims and Johnathans young lives proves she hasnt changed her original views Colin Parry OBE (@ColinParryPeace) May 1, 2019 I give some credit to Claire Fox for having the gumption to call me today, tweeted Mr Parry late on Wednesday. But the fact that she repeatedly refused to disavow her comments supporting the IRA bombing which took Tims and Johnathans young lives proves she hasnt changed her original views. Announcing her resignation from the Brexit Party, Ms Bate said: I refer to the statement made by my fellow candidate Claire Fox about the position of her former party the Revolutionary Communist Party on the Warrington Bombing by the IRA in 1993. I am unhappy with Claires statement since she has not categorically condemned the violence inflicted by the IRA. I stand by Colin Parry and his family and all victims of the Warrington bomb and in view of Claires ambiguous position on the issue I cannot continue to stand beside her as a Brexit candidate and resign with immediate effect. In a statement, Ms Fox said she did not condone violence. Terrible things happened mercifully a peaceful resolution has emerged following the Good Friday Agreement, she said. I do not condone the use of violence. Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice said, Im very sorry that Sally Bate has decided to resign as a candidate. Heidi Allen, the leader of Remain-backing Change UK, welcomed Ms Bates move and called for Ms Fox to be dumped as a candidate. Well done to Sally Bate for a principled decision. Claire Foxs refusal to condemn the Warrington IRA bombing is totally unacceptable. Nigel Farage must remove her from the Brexit Party list. It is without question, that we all stand together with the victims of that atrocity. Heidi Allen (@heidiallen75) May 2, 2019 Well done to Sally Bate for a principled decision, said Ms Allen. Claire Foxs refusal to condemn the Warrington IRA bombing is totally unacceptable. Nigel Farage must remove her from the Brexit Party list. It is without question, that we all stand together with the victims of that atrocity. Dan Price, a Change UK candidate for the North West, said: Nigel Farage has shown incredible ignorance in sending an IRA apologist up from London to stand in Warrington as a Brexit Party candidate. Hes badly misjudged the mood in our town. The fact that Claire Fox has rubbed salt in the wounds by phoning Colin Parry and repeatedly refused to disavow her comments supporting the IRA bombing in Warrington is a further reminder that she is not fit for public office. Im afraid the mask is now slipping on Farages nasty new venture. There cannot be any room in British politics for people who justify killing children for ideological means. Gavin Williamson, who denies any involvement in the leak, was fired by Prime Minister Theresa May (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the reprehensible security leak from the National Security Council as she accused Gavin Williamson of behaving for his own selfish political ends. The First Minister said the leak from the National Security Council (NSC) of Huaweis involvement in the UKs 5G network for which the Defence Secretary was sacked is a sign of the complete dysfunction at the heart of the UK Government. Theresa May fired Mr Williamson after receiving compelling evidence of his involvement in the leak, although the Prime Minister has not pushed for a police investigation into the incident. Mr Williamson has issued repeated denials about being the source of the information. I think that it's reprehensible that there were leaks from the National Security Council and I think it is a sign of the complete dysfunction at the heart of the UK GovernmentNicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland She was asked at First Ministers Questions by Keith Brown MSP about whether anyone who breaks the Official Secrets Act should be prosecuted. Ms Sturgeon responded: Obviously it is a matter for the police to determine what criminal investigations they take forward and what the progress of them might be. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on that but what I would say is politically, that as a politician, I think that its reprehensible that there were leaks from the National Security Council and I think it is a sign of the complete dysfunction at the heart of the UK Government. I think any minister that has been found guilty in such a way I think that they lose their job. All politicians in Government should recognise the responsibility and the privileges we carry and should not be behaving in the way it Gavin Williamson appears was behaving for their own selfish political ends. The Scottish Parliaments Standards Committee has criticised details of the complaint being leaked (Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/PA) Details of a complaint made about a Conservative MSP were leaked to the media while Holyroods Standards Committee was still investigating the incident, its convener has said. An official complaint was made that Rachael Hamilton had breached the MSPs code of conduct by not declaring an interest when she asked a question at First Ministers Questions (FMQs) in November. The Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire MSP was reported after she criticised the SNPs high tax agenda for businesses without declaring she owns a hotel. It is unsatisfactory that details about this complaint appeared in the media before the committee had received a copy of the commissioner's report and undertaken its considerationBill Kidd MSP An investigation into the claim cleared Ms Hamilton of any wrongdoing but the Scottish Parliaments Standards Committee has criticised details of the complaint being leaked. The committees convener Bill Kidd MSP said it would reflect on whether any further improvements can be made to protect the confidentiality of the complaints process. In a statement, Mr Kidd added: It is unsatisfactory that details about this complaint appeared in the media before the committee had received a copy of the commissioners report and undertaken its consideration. This is not the first time this has happened. The committee must be able to carry out its work without external comment. A question from Ms Hamilton during FMQs on November 29 sparked a complaint from Kenny McCartney, who claimed she should have voiced her alleged conflict of interest as a hotel owner. Ms Hamilton asked Nicola Sturgeon: When will the First Minister realise that her Governments high tax agenda is punishing our high streets and take urgent action to support Scotlands retailers? She owns the Buccleuch Arms Hotel in St Boswells with her husband. Her parliamentary Register of Interests adds she has 49% of the issued share capital in Borders Hotels Ltd. The committee unanimously agreed with the findings Scottish Parliaments Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life, Bill Thomson, that Ms Hamilton did not breach the code of statutory or code of conduct requirement to make an oral declaration of her interests. Discrimination against the Catholic community in Scotland is a scourge on society and must be eradicated, Nicola Sturgeon has said. Last week, two Catholic churches St Simons Parish of Partick and Holy Family Parish Church in Mossend were targeted by vandals. A shrine to Our Lady of Czestochowa was desecrated at St Simons while anti-Catholic graffiti was scrawled on a bus stop outside of the parish in Mossend. Just like anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, anti-Catholic discrimination is a scourge on our society and it must be eradicatedFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon At First Ministers Questions on Thursday, SNP MSP Sandra White asked what guidance the Scottish Government could offer to places of worship to deter vandals. Responding, Ms Sturgeon said: The vandalism of St Simons Church is absolutely appalling and a complete outrage, and Im sure everybody is of that view. While it is for the police to investigate incidents such as this, including any motivation for it, we should all be clear about this anti-Catholic, or in this case possibly anti-Polish, discrimination must not be tolerated. Just like anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, anti-Catholic discrimination is a scourge on our society and it must be eradicated. She added: Places of worship, whether Christian churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, any places of worship, must be places of peace and sanctuary. Thats why the Justice Secretary (Humza Yousaf) and I have given a commitment to explore further what the Scottish Government could do to ensure safety and security for all faith communities and their places of worship. In the last 10 days we have seen vandalism of a Catholic cemetery in Glasgow, anti-Catholic graffiti on a bus stop outside a Catholic Church in Lanarkshire and now an act of desecration of a Catholic Church in the West End of Glasgow. Please stand with us in challenging this! pic.twitter.com/HWbil9ObzC Call It Out (@Call_It_Out_) April 30, 2019 Following the incidents, the Archdiocese of Glasgow condemned the vandalism. A tweet read: Whatever the motive, this is a shameful attack on a much loved church. Lets help find those responsible. This kind of activity is unacceptable. Gavin Williamson strenuously denied he was behind the leak (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Gavin Williamson said he would have been absolutely exonerated by a police investigation into the Huawei leak as MPs called for Scotland Yard to launch a criminal probe. Labour is leading calls for detectives to investigate if a breach of the Official Secrets Act was committed when details of a highly sensitive National Security Council (NSC) discussion on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei were leaked to a newspaper. Scotland Yard said it was not carrying out an inquiry, although would look into any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed. Meanwhile Downing Street said the Prime Minister considers the matter to be closed. A Government minister was being summoned to the House of Commons on Thursday morning for a grilling from MPs on the affair, after Speaker John Bercow granted Labour an urgent question. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson requested a statement from Theresa May on the findings of the leak inquiry, but it was unclear whether the Prime Minister would respond in person or send another minister. Mr Williamsons abrupt firing as head of the Ministry of Defence sent shockwaves around Westminster on Wednesday after Theresa May said the inquiry had found compelling evidence suggesting he was to blame. The PM also said she was concerned at the manner in which he had engaged with the inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. But Mr Williamson strenuously denied either he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. I volunteered everything up. I couldnt have volunteered more information on the whole thing, he told The Times. Frankly Id rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is Id have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear. In a letter, Mr Williamson also revealed that he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying that this would have sent a signal that he accepted either he or his team was guilty. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the paper which first reported the leak, the former minister said he had been completely screwed. She has got the wrong person and the person who did leak this is still out there, he said. The PMs dramatic firing of her one-time close ally came on the eve of local elections across England and Northern Ireland on Thursday. I think it was absolutely treacherous - both to the country, but also to the Prime Minister.Nia Griffith Opposition parties demanded a police probe into the affair, with Labour branding the ex-Cabinet minister treacherous. Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith told BBC2s Newsnight: Clearly, theres a real breakdown in discipline and Theresa May now needs to take absolutely firm action, and, quite frankly, I think she needs to call in the police and have a full investigation, because we are talking, actually, breaking the Official Secrets Act and, actually, there may well be a case to answer here. I think it was absolutely treacherous both to the country, but also to the Prime Minister. If you are going to run a government, you need loyalty from your ministers, you need loyalty from your Cabinet. We have here a case of yet another Tory minister putting leadership ambition before the good of the country. Former national security adviser Lord Ricketts told the BBC: On the face of it, this is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. All the ministers and officials around the table will have signed that. So, it seems to me the police ought to be considering, is there a case to be considered there? It would be for the Director of Public Prosecutions to make the decisions, not ministers. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation. The letter states: 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. Expand Close The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) Asked about the possibility of a prosecution, Mrs Mays 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 that it was a matter for the NSC and the Cabinet Office and it was not carrying out an investigation at this time. Clearly, if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that, it added. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) The Prime Minister fired Mr Williamson in a 30-minute showdown in her Commons office which triggered a Cabinet reshuffle making Penny Mordaunt Defence Secretary, the first female to occupy the role, and prisons minister Rory Stewart replacing Ms Mordaunt as International Development Secretary. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, commenting on Mr Williamsons departure as he arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said: On a personal level, Im very sorry about what happened for Gavins sake, but given the gravity of the situation, there was no other alternative outcome. 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. The Government will co-operate fully with any police investigation into the leak of official secrets from the National Security Council, Theresa Mays de facto deputy David Lidington has said. A day after the dramatic sacking of Gavin Williamson as defence secretary, Mr Lidington and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt stressed it was a matter for police and not politicians to decide whether there should be a criminal investigation. Mr Williamson has strenuously denied being behind the leak of NSC discussions about Chinese telecoms giant Huaweis potential involvement in the UKs 5G network, saying he would swear on my childrens lives he was not to blame. Responding to an urgent question from Labour, Mr Lidington told the Commons: The Prime Minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police. But we would of course co-operate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. Expand Close Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David Lidington told MPs the Government would fully co-operate with any police investigation into the Huawei leak (UK Parliament/PA Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David Lidington told MPs the Government would fully co-operate with any police investigation into the Huawei leak (UK Parliament/PA Images) Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said: In response to receiving the most brutal sacking I can think of, (Mr Williamson) has protested his innocence. Therefore this matter cannot be, as the Prime Minister says, closed. The essential point here is the Prime Minister has sacked the secretary of state for defence because she believes there is compelling evidence that he has committed a crime. But despite that, she does not believe he should face a criminal investigation where is the justice in that? In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation? Expand Close The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) In press briefings in the hours after his dismissal, Mr Williamson claimed he had been the victim of a kangaroo court investigation by Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill. He said he would welcome a police probe, which he believes would have absolutely exonerated him. Scotland Yard said it was not carrying out an investigation, although it would look into any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed. Pressed on why information was not being passed to the police, a Downing Street source said: It is not practice in this country for Government to make decisions in relation to prosecutions. They added: This was not about what was leaked, it was about where this was leaked from and the importance of maintaining trust and the integrity of the National Security Council We were very clear from the outset that, following the inquiry, Gavin Williamsons conduct surrounding that inquiry lost the confidence of the Prime Minister The Defence Decretarys approach to the inquiry was different to that of the others. Responding to a question from the Press Association during a visit to Ethiopia, Mr Hunt said: Let me say that, when it comes to issues like whether there should be a police investigation or not, theres a very, very important principle of our system that those decisions are not made by politicians, they are made independently by police. And that has to be the correct way forward in this situation. Mr Williamsons abrupt firing as head of the Ministry of Defence sent shockwaves around Westminster on Wednesday after Mrs May said the inquiry had found compelling evidence suggesting he was to blame. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) The PM also said she was concerned by the the way he engaged with the inquiry. But Mr Williamson denied he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. I volunteered everything up. I couldnt have volunteered more information on the whole thing, he told The Times. Frankly Id rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is Id have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear. In a letter, Mr Williamson said he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying this would have sent a signal that he accepted either he or his team was guilty. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, which first reported the leak, he said he had been completely screwed. She has got the wrong person and the person who did leak this is still out there, he said. The PMs dramatic firing of her one-time close ally came on the eve of local elections across England and Northern Ireland on Thursday. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation. The letter said: 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. Ex-Army chief General Lord Dannatt defended Mr Williamsons performance as defence secretary. Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, he said: He got 1.8 billion extra in the Budget last year and was continuing to argue the case for more resources in the Spending Review and he was fighting his corner. Yes, he made some mistakes, he made some gaffes, and said some things that he probably regretted, but on the whole he was doing a good job. Lord Dannatt said Mr Williamson was very much protesting his innocence when he spoke to him by phone on Wednesday night following his sacking. He has to protest his innocence over this, otherwise he is laying himself open to potentially criminal prosecution, he added. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt (left) with the British Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr Alistair McPhail during a tree planting ceremony at the British embassy in Ethiopia (Harriet Line/PA) Jeremy Hunt has planted a tree at the British embassy in Ethiopia in memory of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March. The Foreign Secretary said he was devastated that nine Britons were among the 157 people killed in the crash. British ambassador Alastair McPhail joined Mr Hunt as he planted the tree at the embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Mr Hunt said: We were obviously devastated that nine Brits lost their live in the ET302 crash, but actually, when you talk to the staff here, nearly everyone had a friend or family member that was involved in that. So we were really wanting to commemorate the people of over 30 countries who lost their lives when that tragedy happened. Expand Close Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his wife Lucia (left) with the British Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr Alistair McPhail during the ceremony (Harriet Line/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his wife Lucia (left) with the British Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr Alistair McPhail during the ceremony (Harriet Line/PA) We also wanted to thank staff here, because theres an awful lot of very challenging work that has to be done in terms of contact with relatives, and we also had two DVI (disaster victim identification) experts from Kent, who have spent the last few weeks doing the incredibly difficult job of sifting through body remains to try and get DNA samples, so I wanted to thank them personally for that work. Opposition parties are stepping up pressure on Theresa May to refer the leak of National Security Council secrets to the police for criminal investigation, following the sensational dismissal of Gavin Williamson as Defence Secretary. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick made clear that Scotland Yard will not launch an inquiry unless the case is referred to them by the Government. But Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told MPs there was no plan to pass information from its leak inquiry to police, telling the House of Commons that the Prime Minister regarded it as closed. It is understood the information leaked from the meeting was not judged by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to be of a classification level that would require a criminal investigation. Expand Close Labour deputy leader Tom Watsons letter to the Prime Minister (Labour Party/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Labour deputy leader Tom Watsons letter to the Prime Minister (Labour Party/PA) But Labours deputy leader Tom Watson has now written to Mrs May calling on her as a matter of urgency to pass the information gathered by Sir Mark on to the police so an appropriate investigation can take place. Mr Williamson himself has said he would welcome a police probe, which he believes would absolutely exonerate him. Mr Watson said it was clear the unauthorised disclosure of secret NSC discussions on the involvement of Chinese tech giant Huawei in the UKs 5G phone network could amount to a breach of the Official Secrets Act. He told Mrs May: The lack of action from your Government to refer these matters to the police is putting the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in an impossible position. She will not be able to investigate without access to the information gathered by your internal inquiry. This information is held by the Cabinet Office. It is not for the ministers or civil servants in the Cabinet Office to determine whether the information they have gathered meets the threshold for a criminal investigation. Public interest dictates that it is the police and Crown Prosecution Service that must make this assessment. Mr Watson has also called for Mr Williamson to forfeit the 17,000 severance payment to which he is entitled on leaving the Government. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Ms Dick calling for a criminal investigation. Downing Street said any decision on launching a criminal investigation was a matter for police. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: Theres a very, very important principle of our system that those decisions are not made by politicians, they are made independently by police. And that has to be the correct way forward in this situation. Expand Close Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said Scotland Yard would look into the case if it was referred to them by Government (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said Scotland Yard would look into the case if it was referred to them by Government (Victoria Jones/PA) But Ms Dick indicated that, in reality, an investigation was only likely to be triggered in response to a referral from Government. If the Cabinet Office were to send us a referral at any point that relates to apparent official secrets or leaks, we would assess that, she said. A formal decision on launching an investigation would be taken by the Mets deputy commissioner, said Ms Dick. But she added: That is hypothetical because we have not had any referral from the Cabinet Office. We will look at any complaint we may get and if there is relevant evidence we will always look at it. Mr Lidington, who is Mrs Mays effective deputy, told the House of Commons: The Prime Minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police. But we would, of course, co-operate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation? My Urgent Question to the Prime Minister... pic.twitter.com/nvY18i3dV9 Tom Watson (@tom_watson) May 2, 2019 Mr Watson retorted: In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation? A string of senior Conservative MPs also demanded a full investigation. Former minister Sir Desmond Swayne said Mr Williamson had effectively been branded a liar, telling MPs: Natural justice requires that the evidence is produced so that his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed. Wellingborough MP Peter Bone said: The former secretary of state has said that, on the lives of his children, he did not leak the information. This seems to have been a kangaroo court reaching a decision in secret which we have no evidence to base any decision on. Expand Close The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) Mr Williamsons abrupt firing as head of the Ministry of Defence sent shockwaves around Westminster on Wednesday after Mrs May said the inquiry had found compelling evidence suggesting he was to blame. He was immediately replaced by the UKs first woman Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, whose position of International Development Secretary was filled by prisons minister Rory Stewart. But he retains his position on the Privy Council, which allows him to be invited to see secret material. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Pressed on why information was not being passed to the police, a Downing Street source said: This was not about what was leaked, it was about where this was leaked from and the importance of maintaining trust and the integrity of the National Security Council. Ex-Army chief General Lord Dannatt defended Mr Williamsons performance as defence secretary. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Its a very difficult brief, people take quite some time to learn it, and he has got to grips with it pretty well over the last 18 months. He got 1.8 billion extra in the Budget last year and was continuing to argue the case for more resources in the Spending Review and he was fighting his corner. But the generals assessment was questioned by one Whitehall source, who told the Press Association: Gavin could have secured far more money for the long-term defence budget if he had allowed his officials to work with Government departments on policy challenges. Instead, he played games and allowed personal politics to get in the way of securing funding on our security and defence. He hadnt engaged senior Cabinet ministers on funding talks in months. Joseph McCann is being hunted over the abduction and rape of three women (Met Police/PA) Detectives believe a fugitive being hunted for the abduction and horrific rapes of three women is being hidden by a friend or family member. Joseph McCann, 34, is believed to have snatched two women aged in their 20s off the streets in north London last Thursday, April 25, in separate incidents. He is also suspected of abducting a 21-year-old woman at knifepoint in Watford in the early hours of April 21 and raping her. Speaking to reporters outside New Scotland Yard on Thursday, Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin said the women are believed to have been attacked at random. Whatever your reason, if you are loyal to him or fearful of him, please call us, or share any information 100% anonymously via Crimestoppers.DCI Katherine Goodwin I can only imagine the horrific impact that this would have had on the victims, she said. There is nothing to suggest that any of the victims were targeted. They were all selected randomly from the streets and he had abducted them in an incredibly violent manner. She said there is no evidence to suggest McCann has left the country and she believes he is being hidden by someone he knows. My current belief is that he may be being hidden by a friend, family member, someone who possibly isnt aware of the full nature of his crimes and what he has done, said Ms Goodwin. Whatever your reason, if you are loyal to him or fearful of him, please call us, or share any information 100% anonymously via Crimestoppers. McCann is wanted in connection with violent, sexually motivated offences and it is vital that he be apprehended. Please consider if your mother, sister, daughter, niece or friend had experienced such an awful attack and put yourselves in the shoes of their family. The Ministry of Justice has launched an urgent review after it emerged McCann may have been wrongly released from prison in February. He was freed automatically half-way through a three-year sentence for burglary and theft but should have gone before a parole board, it is understood. McCann is believed to have been subject to a life-long licence after he was released from prison in February 2017 having served 10 years of an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) for an aggravated burglary. Scotland Yard has offered a reward of up to 20,000 for information leading to his arrest and prosecution. Expand Close McCann was spotted on CCTV as part of the investigation (Met Police/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp McCann was spotted on CCTV as part of the investigation (Met Police/PA) Police have warned McCann is extremely dangerous, known to use false names and may be wearing a disguise. He is described as being muscular, about 5ft 10in, and he has 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 has recently gone by the name of Joel and has links to Watford, north-west London, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and Ipswich in Suffolk, as well as historic family links to Manchester. 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. Expand Close Detectives say McCann may be wearing a disguise (Met Police/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Detectives say McCann may be wearing a disguise (Met Police/PA) 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. The incident has been officially linked to another attack earlier in the week which is being investigated by Hertfordshire Police. That force said a woman was approached at around 3.30am on April 21 in Hagden Lane, Watford, driven around for six hours in a blue Ford Mondeo with false registration plates and then raped. The incident was reported to police the following day. On Tuesday this week, a 63-year-old woman from Aylesbury was arrested on suspicion of intimidation of witnesses in connection with the attack and released on bail. A 33-year-old man arrested on Sunday on suspicion of conspiracy to rape has been released under investigation. Burglar Henry Vincent was killed during a raid on a pensioners home in Hither Green (PA/Met Police) A pensioner who stabbed an intruder to death had warned him his own knife was bigger than yours and if you dont leave my house you will be sorry, an inquest has heard. Richard Osborn-Brooks, 79, told the hearing burglar Henry Vincent ignored his warning and instead ran into the blade. Vincent entered the house with an accomplice in the early hours of April 4 last year, Southwark Coroners Court heard. Expand Close The home of Richard Osborn-Brooks (Gareth Fuller/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The home of Richard Osborn-Brooks (Gareth Fuller/PA) The 37-year-old, who had cocaine and heroin in his system, was armed with a screwdriver during the raid on South Park Crescent in Hither Green, south east London. Mr Osborn-Brooks, who gave evidence on Thursday via an audio link, said two men had knocked on his door, grabbed him and pushed him inside, with one shoving him toward the kitchen and the other running upstairs as they both demanded money. Mr Osborn-Brooks said after he picked up the largest kitchen knife from a six-knife holder, Vincents accomplice fled through the front door. He told the hearing Vincent then came down the stairs brandishing a screwdriver and said: Get out of my way or Ill stick you with this. Coroner Andrew Harris, reading Mr Osborn-Brookss police statement to him, said: You said I think youre wrong because mines bigger than yours and if you dont leave my house you will be sorry. Mr Osborn-Brooks said: I was just showing him that the knife I had was actually bigger than the screwdriver. So if he was to lunge at me he would hit my knife rather than hit me first. I thought he would look at my knife and see it is bigger than his implement and he would take the opportunity to run out the front door, which was open. My intention was to get him out of the house and away from my wife. I still think that Mr Vincent rushes forward intending to do me harm and he ran into the knife that I was holding between us. He definitely didnt try to get out of the front door, he came towards me. Expand Close Forensic officers at the scene (Garether Fuller/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Forensic officers at the scene (Garether Fuller/PA) The coroner went on to question Mr Osborn-Brooks about what he had told police officers after the incident. The officers had filmed his account on a body-mounted camera. Mr Harris said: Body-cam footage shows you thrusting your arm forward in explaining what happened. That would mean there is a combination of his running toward you and your putting your arm forward. Its not a simple matter of just falling on a knife with your arm being stationary. Mr Osborn-Brooks replied: I dont accept that I moved my arm forward because I was still stuck up against the wall. I was petrified. Mr Osborn-Brooks was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, but was told by police he would face no further action. His arrest sparked a public outcry and an online fundraising campaign in support of him raised thousands of pounds. Pathologist Simon Poole, who carried out the postmortem on Vincent, said in a statement the toxicology report indicated a recent use of both cocaine and heroin. He added Vincent may have been experiencing the effects of the drugs at the time of the raid. Expand Close Floral tributes were torn from a fence (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Floral tributes were torn from a fence (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The usually quiet south London neighbourhood became a flashpoint when friends and family of Vincent laid flowers and cards opposite the home of Mr Osborn-Brooks and his wife Maureen. The tributes were repeatedly torn down by neighbours and well-wishers angry at the shrine to career criminal Vincent only to reappear again within hours or days. Vincent, from Lime Road in Swanley, Kent, was jobless and single at the time. Police will not open a criminal investigation into the leak of secret information from the National Security Council unless the case is referred to them by the Government, the countrys most senior officer has indicated. Opposition parties are demanding a police inquiry following the dramatic sacking of Gavin Williamson as Defence Secretary on Wednesday. And Mr Williamson himself has said he would welcome a police probe, which he believes would absolutely exonerate him of leaking details of the NSC discussion on Chinese telecoms giant Huaweis potential involvement in building the UKs new 5G network. Theresa Mays effective deputy David Lidington told MPs the Government will co-operate fully with any police investigation into a possible breach of the Official Secrets Act. But he made clear that the Government had no intention of referring the case to Scotland Yard, telling the House of Commons that the Prime Minister regarded it as closed. It is understood that the information leaked from the meeting was not judged by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to be of a classification level that would require a criminal investigation. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick indicated that it would be for ministers to trigger an inquiry. Expand Close Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said Scotland Yard would look into the case if it was referred to them by Government (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said Scotland Yard would look into the case if it was referred to them by Government (Victoria Jones/PA) If the Cabinet Office were to send us a referral at any point that relates to apparent official secrets or leaks we would assess that, said Ms Dick. A formal decision on launching an investigation would be taken by the Mets deputy commissioner, she said. But she added: That is hypothetical because we have not had any referral from the Cabinet Office. We will look at any complaint we may get and if there is relevant evidence we will always look at it. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said that Mr Williamsons case cannot be closed while he stands accused of criminal behaviour of which he protests his innocence. In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation? he asked the Commons. In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation? My Urgent Question to the Prime Minister... pic.twitter.com/nvY18i3dV9 Tom Watson (@tom_watson) May 2, 2019 Mr Watson also called for Mr Williamson to forfeit the 17,000 severance payment to which he is entitled on leaving the Government. A string of senior Conservative MPs demanded a full investigation to establish blame, with some describing the leak inquiry by Sir Mark as a kangaroo court. Former minister Sir Desmond Swayne said Mr Williamson had effectively been branded a liar, telling MPs: Natural justice requires that the evidence is produced so that his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed. And Wellingborough MP Peter Bone said: The former secretary of state has said that, on the lives of his children, he did not leak the information. This seems to have been a kangaroo court reaching a decision in secret which we have no evidence to base any decision on. Mr Williamsons abrupt firing as head of the Ministry of Defence sent shockwaves around Westminster on Wednesday after Mrs May said the inquiry had found compelling evidence suggesting he was to blame. He was immediately replaced by the UKs first woman Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, whose position of International Development Secretary was filled by prisons minister Rory Stewart. The PM also said she was concerned by the the way the former defence secretary engaged with Sir Marks inquiry. Expand Close The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The letter written by Prime Minister Theresa May to Gavin Williamson (Downing Street/PA) But Mr Williamson denied he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. I volunteered everything up. I couldnt have volunteered more information on the whole thing, he told The Times. Frankly Id rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is Id have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear. In a letter, Mr Williamson said he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying this would have sent a signal that he accepted either he or his team was guilty. Responding to an urgent question from Labour, Mr Lidington told the Commons: The Prime Minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police. But we would of course co-operate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. And Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was a matter for police to decide whether to investigate further. Responding to a question from the Press Association during a visit to Ethiopia, Mr Hunt said: Let me say that, when it comes to issues like whether there should be a police investigation or not, theres a very, very important principle of our system that those decisions are not made by politicians, they are made independently by police. And that has to be the correct way forward in this situation. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Ms Dick calling for a criminal investigation to ascertain whether the actions of Mr Williamson constitute a breach of the Official Secrets Act. Pressed on why information was not being passed to the police, a Downing Street source said: It is not practice in this country for Government to make decisions in relation to prosecutions. They added: This was not about what was leaked, it was about where this was leaked from and the importance of maintaining trust and the integrity of the National Security Council We were very clear from the outset that, following the inquiry, Gavin Williamsons conduct surrounding that inquiry lost the confidence of the Prime Minister The Defence Secretarys approach to the inquiry was different to that of the others. Downing Street made clear that Mr Williamson will retain his membership of the Privy Council, which enables him to be invited to see sensitive material. The early May bank holiday will see snow and frost, with temperatures plunging close to the coldest on record just a year on from the hottest ever recorded. The mercury is expected to drop to as low as minus 5C (23F) in some parts, with overnight frosts, while snow is expected in some areas of high ground. The lowest temperature ever recorded on the early May bank holiday was minus 6.4C (20.5F) in Grantown-on-Spey in Scotland in 1981, and the same temperature was recorded on the same weekend in Kinbrace in Scotland in 1988. Itll feel colder for most of us this weekend with overnight #Frosts for many pic.twitter.com/DOAwXUUAul Met Office (@metoffice) May 2, 2019 Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said: I dont think well get lower than that, but I wouldnt completely rule it out, so well keep an eye on that one. In 2018, the mercury hit 28.7C (83.6F) in Northolt, west London, making it the hottest early May bank holiday Monday and weekend since records began. Mr Keates said a small amount of snow is expected, adding: In the grand scheme of things, its probably nothing to get too excited about in terms of the amounts. But nonetheless, its the first week of May, and in contrast to the recent pretty warm weather weve had, particularly over Easter, it will be a bit of a shock to the system. Expand Close The sun rises through the mist at St Marys Lighthouse, Whitley Bay (Owen Humphreys/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The sun rises through the mist at St Marys Lighthouse, Whitley Bay (Owen Humphreys/PA) Mr Keates said snow is expected mainly in the mountains of Scotland and maybe higher ground in northern England. He said lower levels in northern Scotland may also see snow. Mr Keates said the snow is expected from Thursday night and could last through to Sunday in the far north of Scotland. He said any snow will struggle to settle, with a covering being a possibility in the Grampians and north Highlands, and potentially a slight covering in parts of the Pennines and Snowdonia. Widespread disruptive snow is not really expected, but there could be some ice around as well overnight, particularly where weve seen showers. It probably won't be the best beach weather Met Office forecaster Steven Keates It will feel a bit like winter to be honest, for some of us, over the next couple of days, he said. The average maximum temperature for this time of year in northern Scotland is around 11C (51.8F), in southern England it is around 16C (60.8F), and on the Yorkshire coast it is around 12C (53.6F) or 13C (55.4F). But on Saturday there will be highs of around 5C (41F) or 6C (42.8F) in Shetland, while the eastern coast of England will see highs of between 7C (44.6F) and 9C (48.2F). Want to know what the weather has in store for the #BankHoliday weekend? Here is the latest... pic.twitter.com/4zi85fmNfo Met Office (@metoffice) May 2, 2019 It probably wont be the best beach weather, Mr Keates said, adding that it will feel not much higher than freezing for people in the wind and the rain. The forecaster said people can expect widespread sharp frosts at night, with the possibility of minus 5C (23F) in Northern Ireland, Wales and south west England into Sunday morning. A British cyber-security researcher credited with stopping a worldwide computer virus in 2017 has pleaded guilty in a US federal court to developing malware to steal banking information. Marcus Hutchins appeared in a Wisconsin court on Thursday after he agreed last month to plead guilty to developing a malware called Kronos and conspiring to distribute it from 2012 to 2015. Prosecutors dismissed eight more charges in exchange for his plea. Expand Close Marcus Hutchins helped stop a computer virus (Dominic Lipinski/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Marcus Hutchins helped stop a computer virus (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Sentencing for Hutchins is set for July 26. He faces up to 10 years in prison but could receive a more lenient sentence for accepting responsibility. Hutchinss arrest in Las Vegas in August 2017 came as a shock because months earlier he was hailed as a hero for finding a kill switch to the WannaCry virus that crippled computers worldwide. As so often, its not what republicans say that is important, rather what they dont say, writes Nelson McCausland. Today and tomorrow the political focus is on the local government elections and, after that, the focus will eventually move on to another election, but the broader political stalemate in Ulster remains with us. We have been without an Assembly since Sinn Fein collapsed devolution in January 2017 and previous attempts to restore it have run aground on the rocks of Sinn Fein arrogance and intransigence. Last week the Secretary of State announced that there will be another round of inter-party talks and she spoke about it in the House of Commons on Monday. The new process will start on May 7, but already Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein president, has put down her marker. We now have a big opportunity to finally resolve the outstanding equality issues... to see full power-sharing, with equality at its heart, hard-wired in for that to become a reality. Time is running out on equality, she said. Now, we know that Sinn Fein do not really believe in equality; they really want preferential treatment for their Irish language project hard-wired in, hence the demand for an Irish Language Act. That is where they were in January 2017 and that is where they still are today. Demanding an Irish Language Act has long been at the heart of their politico-cultural strategy for decolonising Northern Ireland. However, they present that in the context of equality, rights and Irish unity a phrase which seems to be the Irish republican version of motherhood and apple pie. What is striking, then, is not what they have as their core message on their election posters and election literature; what is striking is what is missing and what is left unsaid. The grey-haired men and women are gradually being pushed into the background and replaced by the younger faces, the smart suits and the make-up of a new generation. Its not that the older generation has gone away, its just that Sinn Fein are undergoing a makeover. Its easier to pose as a progressive party that campaigns for equality, rights and Irish unity and just hope that people are so impressed by this that they do not look around them at the broken communities, broken homes, broken hearts, broken minds and broken lives that are the legacy of Sinn Fein and the IRA. Its easier to stand aside from devolved politics, pose in front of a camera and blame the Brits for everything. That way you can evade your responsibilities and dont have to provide practical solutions to the real problems that bedevil so many families and communities across Northern Ireland. The same problems also bedevil many families and communities in the Irish Republic. However, there are differences. One is that, on this side of the border, the problems have been exacerbated by decades of terrorism. The other is that south of the border, Sinn Fein dont have to stand aside. They are not in government and have little prospect of being so. Those problems are particularly obvious in the nationalist and republican communities from which Sinn Fein draw much of their support and that set me thinking about the Creggan area in Londonderry, where Lyra McKee was murdered a fortnight ago. Almost 50 years ago, on June 26, 1970, three republican men were preparing explosives in the kitchen of one of their homes in the Creggan. Two young girls, the daughters of one of the IRA men, were in the house too and all five were killed in a premature explosion and fire. Now, 50 years later, we see a new generation of republicans intent on murder. We also see a community beset with high levels of crime, suicide, anti-social behaviour, drugs, vandalism, car-theft and joyriding. That is the legacy of 50 years of republicanism in what is undoubtedly a broken community. Thats why Sinn Fein prefer to be political posers, standing in front of a camera with their neat soundbites. Its easier than having to face up to the legacy they imposed on their communities. And its easier than being real politicians, who deal with the real issues of educational attainment, health, social care, employment and housing. Tourism is a growth area in the Northern Ireland economy and in 2017 brought in almost 1bn. Indeed, Northern Ireland is the third most popular destination within the island after Dublin and the south west, proof of the enduring appeal of its natural and man-made attractions. But North Antrim MP Ian Paisley Jnr believes the province should be doing even better. In typically robust fashion, he urged tourism bodies here to be more aggressive in their marketing and bring the fight for visitors across the border. While his language may have been intemperate - even off-putting to some influential tourism figures - he did raise important issues. If, as he suggested, Dublin Airport spends 70% of its budget trying to woo tourists from Northern Ireland, then there is no reason why the province's tourism bodies should not seek to attract visitors across the border from the Republic. It also brings into focus the role of Tourism Ireland, the single body charged with bringing visitors to the island. Is its expenditure and marketing proportionate to each part of the island? It would be naive to expect both parts of the island to get equal expenditure but they should certainly get equal exposure in the tourism marketplace. Mr Paisley is entitled to ask if the province is getting good value from this joint marketing initiative. However, it can be pointed out that the number of visitors coming to Northern Ireland has shown a steady increase in the past decade. One particular growth area has been in the number of cruise liners docking in Northern Ireland ports - up from 33 in 2011 to 112 in 2017. These are high-wealth visitors and can be important ambassadors for the industry when they return to their home countries. Perhaps one of the strongest indicators of the rude health of tourism in the province is the growth in the number of hotel beds available, particularly in Belfast, and occupancy remains high at 73%. But there are a couple of blots on the horizon. The continued absence of a devolved government at Stormont means that the local tourism strategy is years out-of-date. And Brexit also casts an unwelcome shadow. Already a couple of conferences have pulled out of Belfast because of uncertainty, and fears that there yet could be a hard border if no deal is agreed would severely hamper the flow of tourists throughout the island. The murder of Lyra McKee by dissident republicans was deeply shocking. This talented young woman had described herself as a child of the Good Friday Agreement and it seemed particularly tragic that news of her death came through on another Good Friday morning, 21 years later. The hugely emotional public response was no more than was appropriate for such a death. And yet, there must be police officers who were standing close to her in Creggan that night who have reflected ruefully that if the bullet had hit its intended target and it had been one of them who was killed, there would not have been a service in St Anne's Cathedral attended by a Prime Minister, a Taoiseach, an Irish President and other persons of high office. However much we like to say that there can be no hierarchy of victims, the column inches tell another story. In the 21 years since the Good Friday Agreement, 160 people have been killed and very, very few of their names have been remembered beyond their own families and personal networks. It was striking that, in the national and international coverage of Lyra McKee's murder, there seemed to be an underlying belief that this event represented a rupture in a peace that had existed since the 1998 accord. The reality is, of course, completely different. I have been monitoring the killings over this period and it has been a depressing story. We may have moved a long distance from the height of the Troubles (in the worst single year, 1972, a total of 476 people were killed), but we are still far from the promise of the peace deal. It is not always easy to determine in this most recent period whether or not a particular death can be classified as - to use a PSNI term - a "security-related" killing, or whether it is simply what the Dublin media call a "gangland" killing. I have drawn upon PSNI statistics, the records maintained by the CAIN project at Ulster University and newspaper accounts. Other people using different criteria may arrive at a different total from mine, but however finely one draws the lines the overall picture is of a society that has not managed to put its past behind it. The killings have continued, albeit at a different tempo and with a different pattern. The largest single loss of life occurred on August 15, 1998, when 29 people were killed in the Omagh bomb. There have been no other multiple killings since that time and so the pattern of killings over the past 21 years has been quite different than that during the Troubles, when atrocities with multiple deaths, such as McGurk's Bar, Bloody Friday, Bloody Sunday, La Mon, or Warrenpoint, became staging-posts in the history of the conflict. The Omagh bomb was, in that sense, more characteristic of the earlier period of the Troubles and the figures for 1998 to 2018 are significantly altered if the deaths from that terrible event are excluded. Whichever way the figures are counted, the largest single victim group is Catholic civilians (a category that excludes republican paramilitaries, or Catholic PSNI officers). This represents the continuation of a trend very marked in the 1968-1998 period. In the 30 years of the Troubles, they constituted 32.4% of victims. In the period since 1998, they are an even larger percentage: 64 people, a percentage share of 40%. Most of the Catholic victims were killed by republican paramilitaries. Out of that total of 64 deaths, 40 (62.5%) have been the victims of organisations operating from within nationalist communities. Loyalists killed a further 22 (34.4%) and there were two killings where attribution has not been possible. The second largest victim category in the 1998-2019 period is that of loyalist paramilitaries, who make up 25.6% of all deaths. By way of contrast, loyalist paramilitaries made up barely 4% of deaths during the 1968-98 period. The other distinct difference concerns the number of security forces killed. During the Troubles, the deaths of Army personnel, RUC, RUC Reserve, UDR, Royal Irish Rangers and Northern Ireland Prison Service personnel made up a combined total 27.8% of all deaths. Since 1998, they account for just 4.4% of the total. This has been the period of the paramilitary. No one has been killed by a soldier. No one has been killed by a PSNI officer. In the statistics for security-related killings, dissident republicans and loyalist paramilitaries have been running each other a deadly race. Republican paramilitaries are responsible for 76 deaths and loyalist paramilitaries for 72. The violence has been turned in on communities in quite a localised and intimate way. Many of the victims have been known personally by their killers. They have lived in the same neighbourhoods, or worked in the same workplaces. In a very large number of cases, the killers and the people who were killed had been comrades in the same paramilitary organisation. While the killings are evidence of a very divided society, they have not followed the pattern that might be expected in a sectarian conflict. Only a very few have been sectarian in the sense of people from one community killing a person from the other. For the most part, the victims of republican paramilitaries have been Catholics and the victims of loyalist paramilitaries have been Protestants - very often other loyalist paramilitaries. For example, in 2000-2003 there was a prolonged killing spree that is sometimes referred to as the "Shankill feud", but which was a series of protracted wars involving the UVF, the LVF and the UDA that spilled out far beyond Belfast. Republican paramilitaries have not engaged in rivalrous feuds in the same way, but each of the main dissident groupings has shown ruthlessness when quarrels have erupted within their ranks. It wasn't supposed to be like this. When the IRA ceasefire was declared on August 31, 1994, the Belfast Telegraph headline, set out in large, bold type, read "It's Over". There were images of atrocities from the Troubles, but the message was one of hope. It took another four years for a peace agreement to arrive, but on Good Friday 1998, optimism was renewed. If that hope had been fulfilled, Lyra McKee would be alive today. So, too, would all the others who have ended up as statistics. They, too, were lives lost to violence and they, too, deserve to be remembered. Dr Paul Nolan is an independent researcher who has been monitoring the Northern Ireland peace process Polish national Jakub Fabian Skrzypzki (second from right) and Simon Magal (second from left) speak with Skrzypzkis lawyer, Latifah Anum Siregar (left) before appearing for a court hearing in Wamena district, in far eastern Indonesias Papua province, May 2, 2019. A court in Indonesias Papua province convicted and sentenced a Polish national Thursday to five years in prison after finding him guilty of treason for aiding separatist activists in the troubled region. Jakub Fabian Skrzypski is the first foreigner to be convicted of treason in Indonesia, said one of his lawyers, Latifah Anum Siregar. Simon Magal, a pro-independence activist with whom Skrzypski communicated, received a four-year jail term. The two stood trial together at the Wamena District Court on charges of treason. Jakub is disappointed with the verdict, because he has insisted he is innocent all along, Latifah said, adding that her client would appeal. Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence. Latifah said a mobile phone text conversation where Magal asked about obtaining weapons from Poland for Papuan rebels and Skrzypskis response, Ill see what I can find, was a basis for the treason charge. The communication between Jakub and Simon was considered as evidence of initial steps toward treason, she told BenarNews. In addition, Skrzypski was accused of meeting with Sebby Sanbom, a spokesman for the West Papuan National Liberation Army, an armed faction of the separatist movement, in neighboring Papua New Guinea, Latifah said. The defense attorney said testimony did not provide evidence that Skrzypski committed a treasonous act, adding the legal process against him seemed forced and stemmed from unfounded fear of foreigners. The court, however, did not see it that way. The charges of treason have been proven legally and convincingly, Wamena District Court Chief Judge Yajid said, according to Agence France-Presse. Latifah said the indictment cited Skrzypskis meetings with activists of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a non-violent group seeking a referendum on self-determination for Papua, as evidence of his intention to take part in a treasonous act. Prosecutor Febiana Wilma Sorbu had quoted a civil servant as testifying that KNPB was an unregistered and illegal organization. If the KNPB is a banned organization in Indonesia, why was only Jakub arrested for meeting them? Latifah asked. Magals attorney, Aloysius Renwarin, also said there was no evidence that his client had committed treason. The eight witnesses presented at the hearings did not explain that Simon was involved in illegal transactions, the attorney said, adding Magal would appeal to the High Court. He asked that Magal be transferred to the provincial capital Jayapura or Timika because the detention facility at the Jayawijaya police headquarters was overcrowded. Skrzypski was arrested in August 2018 while Simon was arrested the next month. Sorbu said the prosecution team had not decided whether to appeal for a stricter sentence. Skrzypski interview In January, when visited by a BenarNews reporter at Jayawijaya police jail, Skrzypski denied being involved in arms smuggling or propaganda on behalf of Papuan rebels. I am not a blogger or filmmaker, journalist or activists. I am not a military trainer and I do not have that background. I am not an arms dealer, Skrzypski told BenarNews on Jan. 9. He complained of poor conditions in detention. The cells are very small and the bathroom is not taken care of. The water is filthy. The detention room is cold and there are mosquitos, he said. During interrogation, police kept showing a photo of him in Switzerland and one of him shaking hands with someone as evidence, he said. What do those photos prove? Are they trying to trap me for some political reason, their own ambition, or personal gain? he asked. Foreign media access is restricted in Papua and West Papua, Indonesias two easternmost provinces, which make up about one-fifth of Indonesias land mass. The region is one of Indonesias poorest, with low literacy rates and high rates of infant and maternal mortality. In early December, a Papuan separatist group claimed responsibility for an attack that left 19 construction workers dead. The victims had been building roads and bridges in remote Nduga Regency. Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta contributed to this report. Activists march during a protest in Baguio City, Philippines, against what they claimed was a human rights calamity under President Rodrigo Dutertes government, while commemorating International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, 2018. A human rights defender and a motorcycle-taxi driver were shot dead together in Cotabato city in the southern Philippines, police said Thursday, bringing the number of rights workers slain during the three-year-old administration of strongman leader Rodrigo Duterte to around a hundred. Archad Ayao, who worked on the communications staff at the Regional Human Rights Commission (RHRC) here, was heading home Wednesday night on a motorbike driven by Pio Orteza when they were attacked along a busy street, local police chief Col. Michael Lebanon said. Both victims were shot at close range and wounded in the head. They were rushed to a nearby hospital but proclaimed dead upon arrival, Lebanon said. Based on our initial investigation, the perpetrators followed their target. We are checking on a CCTV to identify the suspects, he said, adding that police were investigating if the shooting was connected to Ayaos work. Ayao, a 28-year-old law student at Notre Dame University (NDU) in Cotabato, was reportedly cracking down on corruption before he was killed, sources said. The Catholic-run campus deplored Ayaos murder. We condemn in the strongest possible terms and deeply mourn the brutal murder of a former student of NDU College of Law Archad Ayao. We pray that justice may be served, and that their gruesome deaths may not just fall as mere statistics, the NDU College of Law said. Rights defenders Since 2016, some 100 human rights lawyers and advocates who publicly criticized President Dutertes controversial war on narcotics have been killed in various incidents across the country. Last year, Duterte told the national police not to be cowed by rights lawyers and defenders investigating alleged abuses in his governments drug war, which has left more than 5,000 suspects dead, according to police. According to Karapatan, a Philippine human rights NGO, at least 50 farm workers and rights advocates have been slain in the central Negros region since Duterte took office in mid-2016. This figure excludes 48 rights defenders associated with Karapatan who were killed since then. The president also carries a list which, he has said, contains the names of judges, lawyers, and military and police personnel who are known protectors in the illegal drug trade. Several politicians on that list have been killed. Philippine accusations against UN official In March, the Philippine military tagged labor groups, fringe political parties and even Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the U.N.s Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, as belonging to local communist or militant movements, saying they had truckloads of evidence to prove their allegations. The militarys deputy head for civil military operations, Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, alleged that the underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) had infiltrated the United Nations, through Tauli-Corpuz. He made the assertion despite a Manila court ruling last year that her name be removed from a petition filed by the justice ministry seeking to declare the CPP a terrorist organization. In a combined statement issued on Wednesday, three U.N. Special Rapporteurs said Dutertes administration was going after Tauli-Corpuz because of her invaluable work defending the human rights of indigenous peoples in the Philippines. The criminalizing discourse used by Philippine public officials undermines the value of the vital work of human rights defenders, denigrates them in the eyes of the public and may put them at risk of threats, violence or other forms of harassment, the experts said, adding that Duterte administration had accused Tauli-Corpuz of seeking to embarrass it. The three U.N. experts who spoke in Tauli-Corpuzs behalf were Michel Forst, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; David Kaye, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and Fionnuala Ni Aolain, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. We call on the Philippine Government to immediately stop these unacceptable attacks on the human rights work of Ms. Tauli-Corpuz, and to ensure her physical safety, they said. Thailand finally crowns its new king this weekend, two-and-a-half years after the death of a revered former monarch and almost 70 years since the kingdoms last coronation. The lavish three-day ceremony formally instituting the reign of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, or King Rama X, comes as Thais await results of a recent election and their next prime minister. The gap between the start of the new kings reign and his coronation was due in part to a long period of mourning for the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej after his seven-decade reign, authorities had said. His son and heir, Vajiralongkorn, paid homage at monuments to former Thai rulers Thursday, in preparation for ceremonies to mark his crowning. The coronation and associated events since early April will cost the government at least 1 billion baht (U.S. $31.2 million), officials said. Thais say they are excited to witness the first coronation in decades, but are unlikely to voice many opinions about their new monarch, due to the kingdoms strict Lese-Majeste law that criminalizes royal defamation. The junta that has ruled Thailand for five years has aggressively enforced that law, which makes it a crime to insult the king or the royal family. The May 2014 coup was launched in part to ensure a smooth royal succession in the fading years of the late kings reign, according to analysts. The junta has prosecuted about 100 people on charges of violating Lese-Majeste, rights groups say. Now, Thailand is ready to hold its first coronation since King Bhumibol Adulyadej officially took the throne 69 years ago, on May 5, 1950. Accompanied by newly appointed Queen Suthida, Vajiralongkorn lit candles and joss-sticks late Thursday afternoon before presenting a flower offering to the spirit of King Chulalongkorn, his great-grandfather, in front of the Dusit Palace, their residence in Bangkok. Later, the king and queen paid homage to King Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok, the founder of the Chakri Dynasty who established Bangkok as the capital of the then-Kingdom of Siam in April 1782. Vajiralongkorn is the 10th monarch in the Chakri line. Thais young and old expressed interest in the pageantry of the coronation. I feel excited because I have a chance to watch a broadcast to see such an amazing national-level ceremony, said Nang Ekkachote, 89, a native of Mahasarakan province in northeast Thailand. During the coronation of King Bhumibol, we had no TV so I learned about it only from words of others. A young woman in Bangkok said she too was eager to observe the historic ceremony. I really want to know what the ceremony looks like. I only know it is a tradition people talk about a lot, said Fa Jamraswej, 23. I will try to observe the event myself along Rajadamnoen Street, to be part of the history. Sacred water Vajiralongkorn, 66, ascended the throne after Bhumibol died at the age of 88 on Oct. 13, 2016. On Wednesday, the king announced his marriage his fourth and the appointment of the new queen. He has seven children from his first three wives. In 2017, the government passed a law giving Vajiralongkorn sole authority over the Crown Property Bureau, which oversees the monarchys lands and assets believed to be worth as much as U.S. $30 billion, according to Forbes magazine in 2011. Business Insider magazine described him as the worlds richest monarch. Events leading up to the coronation, which starts on Saturday, began on April 6 as water was collected from 108 places across the nation and blessed by Buddhist monks in each of its 76 provinces. On Friday, the day before the coronation ceremony, the government will hold a procession delivering the kings royal emblem and other paraphernalia to the Grand Palace. Vajiralongkorn will worship before the Emerald Buddha image and the ashes of ancestral royals inside the vast compound. The Grand Palace, used for ceremonial events, is seen as an icon of the royal dynasty. The actual coronation commences on Saturday when the king will be purified with sacred waters collected across the nation. Later, the king will have water poured into his palms in an anointment ceremony while seated on the Octagonal Throne in the Grand Palaces Phaisan Thaksin Throne Hall. He will move to the Bhadarabhit Throne to be crowned. He will travel to Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram Temple and announce that he is the patron of Buddhism, worship the spirits of his ancestors, announce new ranks for members of the royalty and appear before the public. Events during Sundays program include a procession to three temples to pay respects to the Buddha and the kings ancestors ashes. Thousands of people clad in yellow shirts, the symbol of supporters of the royalists, are expected line the route to observe the king pass by. The government will have medical teams on standby to treat heat-related illnesses and other injuries. Accuweather predicted a high temperature of 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) on Sunday. On Monday, the king will meet with religious leaders at Sudhai Sawan Hall, have an audience with foreign envoys at the Chakri Pavilion and then travel around Old Bangkok to meet citizens. Renewed escalation in Syrias northwest. The air forces of dictator Bashar al-Assad and Russias ruler, Vladimir Putin, have again intensified their attacks on civilians living in the last remaining rebel-held region of Syria. Numerous barrel bombs were used in the attacks, which killed entire families. Thousands are on the run. Observers are now concerned that a ground offensive might follow, which could lead to millions of displaced persons. For about a week now, Russian and Syrian warplanes and helicopters have been bombing villages and cities in the regions of Hama and Idlib in the northwest of the country. But the previous two days have been the worst for months. The helicopters and planes that belong to Assad and the Russian army have not left the sky for the past 48 hours. Their madness has increased over the past few hours. Six helicopters, two Russian fighter jets, and a reconnaissance plane are now flying above us, Syrian activist, Hadi Alabdallah, explained on the social network Twitter. He posted a video of a barrel bomb attack on the city of Kafr Nabudah with the tweet. Talking to BILD, the spokesperson for the Syrian White Helmets, Mostafa Al-Haj, confirmed the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the region. For four days now, Assad and Putins attacks have intensified. Today the bombs are dropping everywhere, in particular on the western part of the Hama region and various places in the Idlib region. Assad and Putin are bombing us with barrel bombs, vacuum bombs, and C5 missiles. Auch Interessant Last week alone, up to 100 000 people were displaced because of this barbaric offensive by Assad and Putin, according to Al-Haj. Another 140 000 civilians were displaced between February and last week by the onslaught, the United Nations earlier reported. The victim rate is also tragic and mostly affects the youngest, according to Al-Haj: Within one month, 141 people were killed, including 48 children. More than 530 people were injured, including 125 children. Assad and Putin are bombing together Videos by activists and local news channels also prove that it is not Assad alone who is bombing cities in Hama and Idlib from above. Besides the regimes Mi-17 helicopters and L-37 fighter jets, Su-24 and Su-34 Suchoi fighter jets by the Russian air force are also participating in the terrible attacks. An dieser Stelle findest du Inhalte aus YouTube Um mit Inhalten aus YouTube und anderen sozialen Netzwerken zu interagieren oder diese darzustellen, brauchen wir deine Zustimmung. soziale Netzwerke aktivieren According to the Syrian news website Euphrates Post, the Russian attacks have also killed numerous people over the past few days. During the bombardment of an accommodation for displaced people on Thursday morning, three members of this family (father, mother, two small children) were killed, and another was injured. An dieser Stelle findest du Inhalte aus Twitter Um mit Inhalten aus Twitter und anderen sozialen Netzwerken zu interagieren oder diese darzustellen, brauchen wir deine Zustimmung. soziale Netzwerke aktivieren Local activists confirmed the attack on a refugee camp near the village of Kansafra and published photos of the children who were killed during the Russian airstrike. Targeted attacks on hospitals According to the Swiss aid organization UOSSM one of the last to remain active in the region Assad and Putins attacks are again deliberately targeting medical facilities. Between Monday and Wednesday alone, four hospitals and aid centres were attacked and bombed out of operation. Dr. Hussam Al fakir, head of UOSSM International, explained in a letter to BILD: In North Syria, a wave of intense bomb attacks has started. The medical personnel is evacuating facilities, leaving the local population in its desperation without medical care. We have seen this pattern again and again in Aleppo and many other regions. Medical facilities are attacked first, with terrible consequences for civilian victims. We have children under five years of age that have been mutilated by the most modern weapons in the world. This is unacceptable! White Helmets spokesperson Mostafa Al-Haj confirmed to BILD: Most medical care facilities are no longer staffed. Even the White Helmet centres have been shelled by Assad to a degree that we can no longer treat wounded people. We now have to treat some of them in ambulances. Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, my take on the first leg of the Trump-O'Reilly History Tour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices South Africa: SA ready for 2019 Elections With just six days to go until the sixth General Election, the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster has assured South Africans that it stands ready to deliver a safe and secure election. Briefing the public on the clusters state of readiness on Thursday, Police Minister Bheki Cele said measures have been put in place to create an environment for free and fair elections starting from 6 to 8 May 2019. Through our intelligence-driven operations, hotspots in the country have been identified and will be prioritised. As part of the deployment strategy, a capacity of five teams will be maintained at national level to be deployed to any part of the country where the situation requires urgent intervention to deal with high risk situations, said Cele. The Police Minister was joined by State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba and Home Affairs Minister Siyabonga Cwele. As a force multiplier, Cele said the cluster will deploy around 3 504 reservists nationwide. North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces have been identified as the highest risk areas. All relevant security-aligned departments within the three spheres of government are continuously working tirelessly to ensure the successful delivery of the 6th General elections, said Cele. The elections security plan is managed by National, Provincial, District and Local JOINTS structures of the JCPS Cluster. These JOINTS structures consist of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), South African Police Service (SAPS), Home Affairs, IEC, the Demarcation Board, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the State Security Agency (SSA) and other stakeholders. As the cluster, we want to reassure the public that all areas will be accessible for all citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, said Cele. On the day of the elections, 22 924 voting stations will be opened for all citizens to vote. There will also be nine results centres in each province and TSWABAC (Pretoria Show Grounds) designated for the national results. Members of SAPS will enhance visibility and prevent any form of criminal activity in and around voting stations and the results centres. Furthermore, police officials will monitor all forms of protestation or shutdowns to ensure that no individuals constitutional right to vote will be infringed, said the Minister. Police officers will be deployed to escort presiding officers, who will visit homes of those people who will participate in special voting on 6 and 7 May 2019. Law enforcement agencies will also provide security services to the presiding and voting officers when they collect and deliver ballot papers/boxes to voting stations. In total, 51 306 police officers will be deployed in the voting stations on Election Day. Voting at correctional centres According to the Electoral Amendment Act of 2013, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), which houses a population of over 170 000 inmates, is mandated to ensure that every inmate, irrespective of the type of sentence imposed, or the type of offence committed, is entitled to register as a voter and vote in the election of the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures. Therefore, the department will be deploying voting officials in the 243 correctional facilities around the country to allow all the registered inmates with relevant identification documents to exercise their constitutional right to vote, said Cele. A protocol has been established between the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, SAPS Detectives and the NPA to prioritise all election related cases. No specialised courts have been established. Home Affairs assists KZN and EC flood victims In a drive to assist eligible voters to collect identity documents or apply for temporary identity documents, the Department of Home Affairs will extend operational hours at front offices from the 6th to the 8th May 2019. Home Affairs frontline offices will also provide public services on Election Day, from 07h00 until 21h00. To assist the people who lost their belongings and identification documents in the flood-ravaged areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, the Department of Home Affairs will issue more than 300 identity documents in Eastern Cape and 121 in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, said Cele. The Umngeni Office will open on Saturday to assist the victims. Those affected by the floods will also be issued with temporary identification documents which will allow them to vote. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Over the past few months, a Walmart Neighborhood Market in New York has quietly transformed into the company's first Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL). With artificial intelligence-enabled cameras, interactive displays and a massive data center, this store suggests the company's vision for its store of the future. AI for inventory management Data-gathering mode The IRL experience Working in IRL According to the retailer, IRL is designed to be a unique real-world shopping environment designed to explore the possibilities artificial intelligence can contribute to the store experience.Walmarts tech incubator Store No 8 has positioned the store within one of the companys busiest locations, where it can test new ideas within a real store containing over 30,000 items.Weve got 50,000 square feet of real retail space. The scope of what we can do operationally is so exciting, says Mike Hanrahan, CEO of IRL. Technology enables us to understand so much more in real time about our business. When you combine all the information were gathering in IRL with Walmarts 50-plus years of expertise in running stores, you can create really powerful experiences that improve the lives of both our customers and associates.IRL is set up to gather information about whats happening inside the store through an array of sensors, cameras and processors. This hardware is said to be connected by enough cabling to scale Mt. Everest five times and enough processing power to download three years worth of music (27,000 hours) each second.According to Hanrahan, the first thing this equipment will help the team focus on is product inventory and availability. In short, the team will use real-time information to explore efficiencies that will allow associates to know more precisely when to restock products, so items are available on shelves when theyre needed.As an example: When you go shopping for the week, you want the products you buy to be in stock when you get to the store. In IRL, a combination of cameras and real-time analytics will automatically trigger out-of-stock notifications to internal apps that alert associates when to re-stock.This means the store has to automatically: Detect the product on the shelf Recognise the specific product (meaning, decipher the differences between 1kg of ground beef and 2kg's of ground beef) Compare the quantities on the shelf to the upcoming sales demandThe result is that associates wont have to continually comb the store to replace products running low on the shelves. Theyll know what to bring out of the back room before customers show up.Walmart says IRL will be in data-gathering mode in its early days. The focus will be on learning from the technology and not implementing changes to operations in haste.You cant be overly enamored with the shiny object element of AI, Hanrahan cautioned. There are a lot of shiny objects out there that are doing things we think are unrealistic to scale and probably, long-term, not beneficial for the consumer.Before jumping to more futuristic concepts, the IRL team is starting with practical solutions like the meat inventory example as well as others like making sure shopping carts are available and registers are open.Walking into IRL for the first time, there are a lot of the staples youd expect in a Walmart Neighborhood Market: associates, cash registers and shelves with thousands of products. There are also new features like a glass-encased data centre bathed in a blue glow.Walmart acknowledges that the idea of a live shopping environment raises questions about all the visible technology. This was a key consideration for the team while designing IRL, and the store includes multiple information stations for customers to visit to understand exactly how AI makes the store tick.As customers shop, they can interact with a number of educational displays. Small educational kiosks are interspersed throughout the store. A Welcome Centre at the front end allows customers to dive deeper into technical specifications and common questions.Just outside the data centre where the servers are housed, flanking the plexiglass windows, are two large displays one of which encourages participants to move around and learn how technology reacts to body positioning. The interactive wall is meant to be a fun demonstration of how AI can estimate body positioning.Among the customers wholl be absorbing knowledge, IRLs more than 100 associates will be undertaking retail experiments every day. With technology performing mundane tasks like evaluating if shopping carts need to be corralled, associates will be able to spend more time on tasks humans can do best, such as helping customers or adding creative touches to merchandise displays.The technology has been built to improve associates jobs, to make their jobs more interesting, to help them alleviate some of the mundane tasks. AI can enhance their skill set in a very rapidly changing world. A video sent to the NGO Gift of the Givers shows South African journalist Shiraaz Mohamed, abducted in Syria in early 2017, to be alive. In the video, dated 13 April, Mohamed said he fears for his life and begs for help from a number of people and organisations. Image via Daily Maverick : A woman is reflected next to a poster outside a community hall hosting a night vigil for kidnapped photojournalist Shiraaz Mohamed, on January 18, 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Community members, friends, family and colleagues of photojournalist Shiraaz Mohamed held a night vigil at the Lenasia South Civic Centre. Mohamed was abducted in Syria on 10 January while working with the aid mission Gift of the Givers. (Photo by Gallo Images / Dino Lloyd) A new video shows abducted South African journalist Shiraaz Mohamed is alive, over two years after he was kidnapped in Syria.In the video, sent to the NGO Gift of the Givers, Mohamed asks the international community for help securing his release while a man stands behind him, appearing to hold an assault rifle.Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, my South African President, my family, my friends, the international community, anyone that can help, I need your help in securing my freedom please, Mohamed says.Sooliman the founder of Gift of the Givers said in a statement on Sunday that the group has been attempting to trace Mohameds whereabouts since he was abducted.The proof of life video, made on 13 April 2019, arrived by WhatsApp at 10pm on 26 April. Shiraazs family was very emotional, ecstatic, full of hope and grateful to the Almighty. They knew for certain that Shiraaz was alive, the statement reads.Mohamed was kidnapped near the Gift of the Givers Ar Rahma Hospital in Darkoush, Syria in January 2017. According to the release, hes a photojournalist who was documenting communities in Syria. He was accused of being a foreign spy. According to a statement released at the time of his abduction, by the Committee to Protect Journalists , Mohamed had previously contributed to The Associated Press and the European Pressphoto Agency, but was not on assignment for either agency at the time.In the video, Mohamed says he fears for his life and that Russian airstrikes are moving closer and closer to his location.In an interview with SABC, Sooliman said the group holding Mohamed originally demanded $300,000 in exchange for the video, but after that request was denied, Gift of the Givers received the video. He said he expects the group holding Mohamed to demand ransom sometime soon, and added that he is still working on other means to secure Mohameds release.Its always about money, he told SABC. No matter what they tell you about religion, and good natured-ers and nobilists, its all lies. Its only about money. Its a business.The Department of International Relations and Co-operation said in a statement that it was aware of the video but would not give any further information. Dirco has continued to be in contact with Mohameds family, the statement said.Gift of the Givers is an NGO that provides disaster relief in countries around the world. Sooliman said the group knows which group kidnapped Mohamed, but is not releasing that information at this time.A number of journalists have been kidnapped in Syria since the start of the Syrian Civil War. In November 2012, American journalist James Foley and British journalist John Cantlie were abducted by Isis fighters. Foley was killed in 2014 and was the first American citizen to be killed by Isis. 1In February, the British government said it believed Cantlie was still alive.The war in Syria continues to rage on, even as Isis strongholds have been largely defeated. The war started after an Arab Spring uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, and has continued ever since. In March 2019, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 371,222 people on Syrian territory since the start of the civil war. With community and collaboration the key drivers of the co-working revolution, disruption in the traditional office space market seems all but inevitable as more and more companies look to take advantage of the many benefits of a shared work space. David Seinker, founder and CEO of The Business Exchange, recognised this wave of change heading straight to South African shores and has been riding on its success ever since. While still struggling to keep up with demand in Joburg, this year he's planning to expand the business into the rest of Africa, with Mauritius first on his list. David Seinker, founder and CEO, The Business Exchange Could you give us some insight into your background, particularly your history in the real estate sector? Many long-term property players have been holding fast to traditional ways of doing business in the property sector - whether it be in terms of proptech or new business models. What swayed you towards embracing emerging trends? What are the primary drivers of the co-working space revolution? Will there still be space for traditional real estate business models in the future - particularly in terms of office space? There are many other co-working space offerings springing up - what makes The Business Exchange unique? From your experience, what sort of growth is the co-working space sector experiencing at the moment? You're expanding The Business Exchange in Mauritius this month - what are some of the draw cards in this market? Where else on the continent have you set your sights in the short and long term? What sort of potential do you see for growth in Africa? It's been almost 20 years since the term "Africa Rising" was coined. Do you believe this sentiment still rings true - is investor sentiment still generally positive in terms of doing business on the continent? We caught up with Seinker to find out more about the co-working revolution, its impact on the traditional real estate market, what's unique about The Business Exchange offering, and the potential he sees for business in Africa.I began my career working in a property company which was focused on the rejuvenation of the inner city of Joburg. I was there at the beginning and we grew to a team of over 200, who all reported in to me. I learnt my property skills during these years, while figuring out the best management practices and tools. We ended up owning and managing a portfolio of assets of close to R1bn.Co-working is the way of the future for both small businesses and big corporate companies. Only 4% of the global market is currently using co-working spaces and it's predicted that by 2030 this will reach 30%, eventually growing to 50%. In 2013 I noticed that demand was starting to increase for this flexible and plug in and play new way of working. It was then that I realised that I had to take this industry seriously. So, together with my strategic partners Raizcorp, I started planning a move into the co-working sector.There are many, but cost saving, collaboration, community and flexibility rank among the most important. Small businesses and corporates now want flexibility in their rental agreements. They don't want to be tied into long leases which carry big capex costs and they don't want to worry about typical property costs like rates, electricity and toilet paper. Tenants want to focus on their own businesses while allowing the operators to run the office space.Its a difficult question to answer as we cannot speculate too much, however I believe that there will be disruption across all real estate asset classes. If you look at the residential space, a new concept called co-living is now emerging and its gaining momentum. This is going to bring more flexibility and affordability to the residential and hotel sectors and I'm excited to see how this takes shape in the coming years.The Business Exchange is a serious and sophisticated company. Our interior design is cutting-edge and upmarket. We exhibit the art of highly successful artists such as Conrad Botes, William Kentridge and Willem Boshoff as well as other artists from all over the world in our spaces. We work hard to promote our members every month on the Big Small Business Show, which is aired on TV. If you want to meet big successful business people, TBE is for you.Upwards of 25% per year. Its still a growing industry but its also becoming more competitive so it is important to be the leader in your niche.Mauritius made a lot of sense for us given our African expansion plans. It allows us to have a base and launch pad into the rest of the African market. The same goes for others doing business in the continent and this allows TBE to be their base for their headquarters.We are looking to open in West and East Africa. Ive made a few trips to Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe and we will be opening in these locations in the medium-term. We have also begun negotiating sites in Durban, Pretoria and Cape Town.The African market needs something different in the co-working space. There are business centres available but there are no networking opportunities for entrepreneurs. As we open in new locations across the continent, we will provide a platform for our members to engage with one another and meet people who are serious about business and their growth. We will provide them with access to networks and as well as new markets.Yes, sentiment is still mostly positive but it tends to ebb and flow. Countries like Ghana offer more stability and the new government seems to have its people at the forefront of its decision-making, yet others like Nigeria may offer less investor confidence at the moment.We are fortunate to be in business with our strategic funding partners Raizcorp, the largest business incubator on the continent. They have a presence throughout Africa and we feel a lot safer going into new territories with them by our side. We have successfully leveraged their network in SA to grow The Business Exchange to where it is today, and we will aim to do so in the rest of Africa.We are moving full steam ahead. This job expired on 30 May 2019. 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Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. RIVERS One might wonder why police officers in this quiet little community north of Brandon would need body armour plates and two new carbine rifles. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us RIVERS One might wonder why police officers in this quiet little community north of Brandon would need body armour plates and two new carbine rifles. But as crime increases everywhere thanks to drugs, thats precisely what they need, said Rivers Police Service Chief Bob Futrell after Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced more than $5,600 for the equipment during a news conference at the municipal police services headquarters Wednesday. "We have the same problems that the big cities have, and last year was no exception," Futrell said. "Weve had an influx of drugs," he said, adding "its always been here, but its been more impactful last year. Weve had some occasions where weve done some drug investigations and had to do search warrants. With those, you never really know what youre dealing with." The pledge from Manitoba Justices Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund includes more than $1,100 for new body armour plates to provide additional protection from large-calibre weapons and more than $4,500 for two new carbine rifles: higher impact weapons intended to allow officers to stay a safe distance away from a threat while maintaining effective stopping ability. The province is also providing more than $850 for a Rivers Police Service community policing initiative called Use your Head, which promotes bicycle safety for children. The money will be used to purchase two bicycles to be awarded as prizes for children and youth who wear their helmets, as well as 15 bike helmets for those in need. The municipal police service has been in operation since the towns incorporation in 1913. In March 2018, its coverage area was expanded to include the entire Riverdale Municipality after the force took over from the RCMP in providing that coverage. New provincial legislation required municipalities be policed by a singular force. The community was consulted on whether to dissolve the local police force and go with the RCMP, which covered the rural areas, or to stick with their own police force. The overriding consensus, at least among town residents, was to keep Rivers Police Service intact. "My members and myself have risen to that occasion," said Futrell, who took over as chief about the same time. "Theres always a learning curve when you take on new tasks," he said. "But all said and done, weve been well received in the rural part (of the municipality). Theyre glad to have us." The police department added a fourth full-time member to help with the increased workload. It also has three casual reservists and four or five auxiliary cadets. "Id just like to thank you for your considerations, especially for the safety of our department," Rivers Mayor Todd Gill told Cullen during the announcement. "Were pretty proud of our Rivers P.D. here and they do a wonderful job in providing service to our community." Following that announcement, Families Minister Heather Stefanson attended the grand opening of the Riverdale Early Learning Centre, attached to Rivers Collegiate. Announced previously, the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care agreement provided a capital grant of up to $900,000 for the Rivers project and will provide an annual operating grant of more than $191,000. The centre is located in three renovated classroom in the collegiate taking up about 2,100 square feet. It has 32 spaces, including eight for infants and 24 for preschool children. brobertson@brandonsun.com Twitter: @BudRobertson4 Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us BY MELISSA VERGE The rising cost of tuition at Brandon University has caused an international student to board a plane and go back home. Fahmid Chowdhury In January, Fahmid Chowdhury moved to Brandon from Bangladesh to pursue a four-year business administration program. Initially, he was told in his offer letter that tuition would cost just over $7,000 for the 2019-2020 year, he said. But after studying for a month, he found out in February that his tuition would be increasing by approximately $2,000. "I have no other option but to leave because I cannot afford this new tuition fees," Chowdhury said. "Brandon University wasted my time and money both. If they had told me about this before, I couldnt have even thought of coming here." A screen shot of an email sent to Chowdhury shows tuition fees set at $7,388.80 for the 2019-2020 year, followed by a second separate email that was sent in February, he said, detailing the impending increase. If he had remained enrolled at the university, his tuition fees would have been approximately $9,000 for 2019-2020, according to the university. Chowdhury spent Sunday on a plane flying back to Toronto, where hell stay for a couple of weeks before eventually heading back home to Bangladesh. "How am I going to face my parents after spending so much money and coming here?" he asked, adding that he feels like he was tricked into coming out to Brandon. The university changed the differential fee that they charge new undergraduate international students from two times the rate of domestic students to 3.7 times. Brandon University vice-president of administration and finance Scott Lamont said that over time, the rates for international students have been increasing at other Manitoba institutions and at institutions across the country, while it has remained steady at Brandon University. "This is really an attempt to get caught up with what other institutions are offering, so that more services can be offered on campus," Lamont said. "Even with this very large increase that these students are seeing, (they will) still be paying less than they would at most other provinces in the country." Students wouldnt normally find out about tuition increases until May, but because the rate fees hike was substantially higher than usual, they sent out notice of tuition estimates in February before students registered for September, he said. "Its unfortunate if youre a student whos caught in a time when rates are going up, but these kinds of rate increases are necessary in order to provide the kinds of services that international students need." They wont know if theres any drop-off in international students yet, as registrations are just getting started for September. The Brandon University Students Union has taken a stand against the international student rate hike, most notably during a 2017 board of governors meeting where delegation of approximately 50 students showed up in protest of the increase. At the meeting, students wielded signs that read "Education is not a business" and "International students are not cash cows." "BUSU opposed the change and continues to oppose the change," outgoing union president Justin Shannon said on Tuesday. "We think that they are using the change in international fees to fill their operating budget, not deliver new services to international students." Lamont said thats not entirely true. Although a portion of the increase in fees will go toward the operating budget, a portion will also be going to scholarships for international students. He added that the amount of money available for international student scholarships will more than double because of the increase. Another purpose of the increase is adding student services, and the university has added someone to help with additional writing skills for September. BUSU suggested carrying out the increase a different way. "We proposed that if you were going to increase the fee that it should be done at a slower rate over a period of time." Chowdhury said he sent an email to the Brandon University presidents office three weeks ago outlining his situation, but has yet to receive a response. "I told him, Youre going to lose lots of students because no one wants to come here with so much tuition fees." mverge@brandonsun.com Twitter: @Melverge5 OTTAWA - A House of Commons committee has cleared Alberta Premier Jason Kenney of allegations he wrongly claimed residential expenses while he was a Conservative cabinet minister in Ottawa. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks to reporters after appearing at the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources about Bill C-69 at the Senate of Canada Building on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 2, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA - A House of Commons committee has cleared Alberta Premier Jason Kenney of allegations he wrongly claimed residential expenses while he was a Conservative cabinet minister in Ottawa. The Board of Internal Economy has found that Kenney did nothing wrong based on housing rules in place at the time. The allegations were raised by Ottawa lawyer Kyle Morrow, who questioned earlier this year why Kenney listed a Calgary home as his primary residence from 2013 to 2015 when flight records suggested he spent little time in his riding. Morrow wondered why Kenney was collecting $900 month in secondary residence subsidies for his place in Ottawa while claiming part of his mother's home in a Calgary retirement village as his primary residence. Kenney's staff called the allegations a partisan smear, and noted that Morrow had been sharply critical of Kenney in the past on LGBTQ issues. Conservative whip Mark Strahl says the committee should be concerned that it was used for partisan purposes in the lead-up to the recent Alberta election campaign. "Quite frankly, I think this was a very disturbing case because we can all play this game," Strahl said Friday. "We can go back to times when members of the Liberal party were found to have been illegally claiming housing allowances. We can do that if that's what we want this board to become." Liberal whip Mark Holland said it is important for the committee to look into issues when they are raised in a public forum. "There's a question with secondary expenses in this instance whether or not staying in your mom's basement constituted a principle residence or not," Holland told the committee. "The fact that those questions were out there, it was important to explore them." Kenney's United Conservative Party won the Alberta election last month with 63 of 87 seats. OTTAWA - The first time Warrant Officer Andrew Buchan was called on to help provide disaster relief at home was the flooding in Quebec in 2017, after 15 years in the reserves. Now, only two years later, he's back at it. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Combat Engineer Warrant Andrew Buchan poses for a photo outside a staging location Wednesday May 1, 2019 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - The first time Warrant Officer Andrew Buchan was called on to help provide disaster relief at home was the flooding in Quebec in 2017, after 15 years in the reserves. Now, only two years later, he's back at it. "This is a new thing," says Buchan, whose primary responsibility is ensuring the engineer unit to which he is assigned has the tools and supplies it needs to help protect the village of Cumberland, in Ottawa's rural east end, from flooding. "Call-outs for the military to provide this type of support, at least in my neck of the woods, weren't as common and it's becoming more common." The Canadian Forces has a long history of helping provinces and municipalities with disasters such as floods, ice storms and wildfires, but recent trends suggest those requests are growing in both frequency and scope. The military has been called out to help with 10 weather-related disasters over the past two years, according to an analysis by The Canadian Press. That compares to 20 between 2007 and 2016 and only 12 between 1996 and 2006. And those emergencies which the military lumps under the moniker Operation Lentus appear to be getting bigger, meaning the military is being forced to deploy more personnel and resources over larger geographic areas. The Canadian Forces has more than 2,300 troops across Ontario and Quebec filling sandbags, building barriers, checking on waterlogged homes and evacuating residents. That compares to 2,200 deployed outside the country. In Quebec, Premier Francois Legault has said he wants the military to stay after the water recedes this time, to help clean up the mess left behind including hundreds of thousands of contaminant-soaked sandbags. The Canadian Forces can do hard, dirty work that small municipalities and even provincial governments don't have the ready labour and equipment for. They also have engineers and other specialists who can speed up assessments of structures such as bridges to make sure they're safe to reopen, so civilian life can get back to normal. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says the military is entitled to bill lower-level governments for its work but hasn't done so and won't start now. But the demand is forcing the military to adapt to ensure it is not only ready to respond when called upon, but that doing so does not mean it can't take on overseas missions and train to defend from foreign attack. Reservists like Buchan, a member of the 33rd Combat Engineer Regiment from Ottawa whose day job is in the federal public service, already make up a sizable portion of those providing flood relief. Their role is set to expand even further starting this summer, says Col. Peter Allan, deputy chief of staff for continental operations at the Canadian Joint Operations Command, as the military adapts to the new reality. While the military has long relied on regular-force units for quick responses when requests for assistance arrive from disaster-affected provinces, reservists will now take on much of that role. "The more we can use reservists in an Op Lentus context, the less impact we have on the training cycles for other units that are deploying overseas," Allan says. "We've certainly seen the Op Lentus need in Canada, and we know that occasionally if we get hit with a number of things all at the same time, that it will burden the training that we're trying to do with regular force in other areas." There have been other changes; two years ago, the military decided to start training troops in western Canada in the basics of dealing with wildfires, which have emerged as a major threat there. "We're not by any means training them to be wildland firefighters," said Allan. "We're giving them the basics so that when something does come up they are prepared to go into the field safely and assist with a fire response." And while it is not explicitly because of the increased demand for disaster-related assistance, Allan said the addition of 3,500 regular-force members and 1,500 reservists through the Liberals' defence policy will also help. "It's relatively minor adjustments," Allan says of how the military is changing its approach. "But those are the kinds of adjustments that we make after we assess every mission. So incremental changes, I would say." As for the military's actual role in responding to disasters, Allan said that remains fundamentally the same in that the Forces acts as a supplement to provincial and municipal efforts. Back in Cumberland, Buchan says he is ready to lend a hand wherever help is needed even if such requests are becoming more common and closer to home. "This is why we're here: we are here to bring our expertise to the table and provide the support we need to provide," he said. "It just tells us we need to be prepared to provide that sort of support." Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter. OTTAWA - Norway may be wondering about the porpoise of a beluga whale found in its waters sporting a Russian harness, but Canadian defence officials say they are dolphinately not worried about militarized cetaceans being used here. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A beluga whale seen as it swims next to a fishing boat before Norwegian fishermen removed the tight harness, swimming off the northern Norwegian coast Friday, April 26, 2019. The harness strap which features a mount for an action camera, says "Equipment St. Petersburg" which has prompted speculation that the animal may have escaped from a Russian military facility. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, HO - Norwegian Direcorate of Fisheries Sea Surveillance Unit, Joergen Ree Wiig OTTAWA - Norway may be wondering about the porpoise of a beluga whale found in its waters sporting a Russian harness, but Canadian defence officials say they are dolphinately not worried about militarized cetaceans being used here. The beluga in question was discovered by Norwegian fishermen last week wearing a harness bearing the words "Equipment St. Petersburg" and featuring a mount for an action camera. It is also apparently unafraid of people. The white whale has alarmed Norwegian officials prompted speculation it might have come from a Russian military facility and been trained as a spy. The animal has refused to leave and appears to enjoy interacting with its new hosts. While Canada might seem a prime country to train belugas about two-thirds of the global population of the small-by-whale standards creatures regularly summer in Canadian waters the Department of National Defence said that is not the case. "We do not train sea or marine animals, nor have we discovered any," National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier said in an email, adding: "While we find the situation a bit fishy, we are not concerned at this time." Norwegian experts appear convinced that the beluga found in their country's waters was being trained by the Russian military for some purpose, though exactly what isn't clear. Russia does not have a history of using whales for military purposes but the Soviet Union had a full-fledged training program for dolphins. The Soviet Union used a base in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula during the Cold War to train the mammals for military purposes such as searching for mines or other objects and planting explosives. The facility in Crimea was closed following the collapse of the Soviet Union, though reports shortly after the Russian annexation of Crimea indicated that it had reopened. The Russian Defence Ministry published a public tender in 2016 to purchase five dolphins for a training program. The tender did not explain what tasks the dolphins were supposed to perform, but indicated they were supposed to have good teeth. It was taken offline shortly after publication. The U.S. Navy has also trained and used dolphins and sea lions for decades to help find mines and protect ships and facilities against espionage, though it says it has never used them for an attack mission. With files from The Associated Press OTTAWA - Barack Obama's former envoy to Ottawa has pulled back the veil on how the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper froze him out over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman speaks at a breakfast function in Ottawa on February 26, 2015. Barack Obama's former envoy to Ottawa has pulled back the veil on how with the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper declared him persona non grata over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Bruce Heyman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017, offers an on-the-record insider account of one of the worst-kept secrets in Ottawa diplomatic circles in a new book penned with his wife, Vicki. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - Barack Obama's former envoy to Ottawa has pulled back the veil on how the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper froze him out over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Bruce Heyman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017, offers an on-the-record insider account of one of the worst-kept secrets in Ottawa diplomatic circles in a new book penned with his wife, Vicki. Harper had staked a lot of his government's reputation on getting U.S. approval for the Keystone XL pipeline, which he saw as critical to getting Alberta oilsands crude to foreign markets through the United States. But Heyman made it clear there was little he could do push the project during his initial April 2014 meetings with John Baird, then the foreign-affairs minister, and Harper and his wife, Laureen, because of internal U.S. reviews. Heyman writes that began an "ice age in relations" between his office and Conservative cabinet ministers until he, Harper and their spouses were able to build new bridges in a long delayed dinner in July 2015. TransCanada Corp. wanted to build a pipeline through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, to connect with lines carrying oil to Gulf Coast refineries, but it faced widespread opposition over concerns about possible spills and environmental damage. The plan languished for years in the purgatory of U.S. government and legal reviews before Barack Obama killed it two days after Justin Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister in November 2015. President Donald Trump has since revived the $8-billion project. Keystone set the stage for a pair of grim get-to-know-you meetings with Baird and Harper, as well as a firm but polite dressing-down from the top-ranking foreign ministry bureaucrat days after the Heymans arrived in Ottawa. Heyman's book fills in the narrative gaps on the breakdown in relations between Conservative Harper government and the Obama Democrats. A Harper spokeswoman had no immediate comment because she had yet to read the book. Baird asked to meet Heyman before he'd formally presented his credentials to the Governor General and pushed the envoy on Keystone. Baird also asked if the U.S. was prepared to pay for a new bridge at the busy Detroit-Windsor crossing. "I'm afraid we are not," Heyman told Baird, but added that perhaps their "people" could meet later to find creative solutions. "The meeting never happened," Heyman writes. An awkward meeting in Harper's Parliament Hill office followed in which the prime minister "did not so much as crack a smile" as small talk among them and their wives went nowhere. Days later, on Good Friday, a Nebraska court ruling further delayed Keystone's approval, so Heyman was "summoned" to Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa for a meeting with deputy minister Daniel Jean. Embassy staff told Heyman they couldn't recall a time when an ambassador had been "called in" like that. Jean and Heyman had a polite "back and forth" in which the bureaucrat "carefully and dutifully read out to me" from a document that stressed how important the pipeline was to the government and how "urgent" approval was required. Heyman held his ground. "In the days that followed, I noticed that all meetings scheduled with various ministers, for one reason or another, were cancelled," Heyman writes. "Message received: I was frozen out." Over the subsequent months, dinner invitations to the U.S. ambassador's Rockcliffe Park mansion came back from the Prime Minister's Office with the response: "Unable to attend." So the Heymans went ahead with a dinner with Trudeau, then the Liberal leader, and his wife, Sophie, in the fall of 2014 that went very well. After their guests had left, Bruce asked Vicki if she'd ever met someone with Trudeau's leadership potential. "In 2006," she replied. "His name was Barack Obama." In September 2014, the Harper-Heyman freezeout thawed as reports emerged that Canada was preparing to join a U.S. coalition that wanted to bomb Islamic State militants in Iraq. But there was a bizarre twist: Heyman says the U.S. Embassy knew nothing about it. Reporters bombarded the PMO for details on who exactly in the White House was asking for Canada's military assistance. "The embassy watched the Ping-Pong match while declining the many media requests for clarity," Heyman writes. "It was obvious to me that Prime Minister Harper and his team were in a bit of a jam." This time, when Heyman reached out to Harper's office, his call was returned. Heyman then gave a series of interviews, starting with The Canadian Press, declaring the U.S. was inviting Canada to participate in the Iraq effort. When pressed on who asked whom first, Heyman replied that simply didn't matter, and that Canada wanted to help was most important. "After that, everything opened up for me in Ottawa. When I asked for meetings with cabinet ministers, I got them," Heyman writes. "The ice was beginning to melt." Finally, the Heymans and Harpers broke bread together, in July 2015 at the prime minister's 24 Sussex Drive residence. The wives helped break the ice and eventually "we felt the real Stephen Harper emerge" when he smiled and recalled playing the piano at The Beatles' historic Abbey Road studio in London. That led to a lively tasting of favourite Mexican spices and flavourings. Concludes Heyman: "And with the help of the hot sauces of 24 Sussex, the ice age in relations had finally thawed." Toronto researchers say they've shown for the first time that the body's own immune system likely plays a role in both the decay of teeth and the breakdown of fillings. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Toronto researchers say they've shown for the first time that the body's own immune system likely plays a role in both the decay of teeth and the breakdown of fillings. Bacteria remain the main culprit in tooth decay, but a recent study from a team at the University of Toronto shows in the laboratory that neutrophils, a type of white blood cell, contribute to the damage. "What we found is neutrophils are capable of causing collateral damage while fighting the bacteria," said Yoav Finer, a professor in the faculty of dentistry and one of the authors of the paper published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia. Conventional wisdom based on decades of research held that bacteria alone caused both tooth decay and decay in the resin composites used in modern-day fillings and tooth restorations. "The bacteria takes sugar and produces acid, and that acid dissolves the tooth structure," explained co-author Michael Glogauer, a professor in the same faculty and the team's immunology expert. He said a maverick in the dental research field, John Gabrovsek of the Cleveland Clinic, first proposed the idea that immune cells also played a role in tooth decay, with a paper on the theory in the Journal of Dental Research in 1970. "They thought he was crazy because it went against the dogma," Glogauer said, adding that Gabrovsek got in touch with him about 15 years ago to share his idea. "Based on what I know about neutrophils and what he knows about neutrophils, I thought there was a lot of credibility in that," he said. Glogauer then approached Finer and the two got to work. Neutrophils are the only white blood cell that is routinely found in the mouth, Glogauer explained. In the lab, the research team used neutrophils isolated from blood to coat either parts of extracted teeth or the resin used to restore teeth. "We can actually see them breaking down using electron microscopy," Glogauer said. The team also detected the breakdown byproducts that can only come from neutrophils, he said. The neutrophils become activated by the presence of bacteria in the mouth and release enzymes that attack the bacteria but also degrade the structure of the tooth and the resin, he said. Finer compared the white blood cells to a sledgehammer. "It's like trying to eliminate a fly on the wall by taking a sledgehammer," Finer said. "You may hit the bug, but the damage to the wall is quite significant." Now the team is working on a variety of followups, including isolating the type of enzymes that damage teeth and translating the work to make it clinically applicable. For example, they said, a rinse could be developed that controls neutrophils to limit the damage they do to teeth. And new restoration materials can be designed for dental work to resist the damage from the immune cells. For Gabrovsek, now 85, the research is an important validation of his earlier work. "We just heard this morning," said his wife, Rita Gabrovsek, as her husband laughed in the background on a phone call from their home in Twinsburg, Ohio. "He's smiling, just smiling, a huge smile," she said. "It bugged him all his life that his theory was totally brushed aside, so this is a big moment for us." Gabrovsek said he never wavered in his belief. "I couldn't believe for 50 years that scientists here in the United States didn't believe me," he said. "I thought, boy, they are very stupid scientists. Now others know I am right!" The couple planned to celebrate the news with their grandchildren Thursday afternoon by telling them that their grandfather was right all along. TORONTO - A judge says he refused to let the Ontario government push forward with a lawsuit against three major tobacco companies because it would give the province an unfair advantage over other governments seeking to do the same. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO - A judge says he refused to let the Ontario government push forward with a lawsuit against three major tobacco companies because it would give the province an unfair advantage over other governments seeking to do the same. Ontario last week asked a Toronto court to lift a stay on legal proceedings against the companies so that its lawsuit, which aims to recover smoking-related health-care costs, could go to trial in roughly 18 months. The lawsuit was launched about a decade ago and targets a dozen Canadian firms and their parent companies. The province recently received court approval to amend its statement of claim to seek damages of $330 billion. The case came to a standstill in March, however, when three of the tobacco companies named in the suit Imperial Tobacco Canada, JTI-Macdonald Corp. and Benson & Hedges sought creditor protection as a result of a separate case in Quebec. After the Quebec appeal court ordered them to pay more than $15 billion to smokers in that province, the companies turned to the Ontario court, which suspended all legal proceedings against them. The stay aims to maintain the status quo while the companies try to negotiate a global settlement with all those who have claims against them, including Ontario and several other provincial governments. In a hearing last week, Ontario argued the trial cannot move forward without the three companies that are seeking creditor protection, and the remaining 11 defendants cannot be compelled to participate in the settlement talks. Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas McEwen dismissed the application late last week but did not release his reasons until Wednesday. The judge said allowing the trial to proceed would tip the scales in Ontario's favour, even though the province said it would not seek to collect any damages won until the negotiations were over. "Ontario would be allowed to advance its action while the other proceedings, including the other claims by the provinces seeking the same or similar relief, were stayed," McEwen wrote in the document. "It would be inappropriate to favour the interests of Ontario above all others." He also rejected Ontario's arguments that the other defendants in the suit could not be forced to participate in mediation, but said he would not deal with the matter at this time since the others were not present in court. "It may well be, in any event, that they are entirely motivated to attend and participate in the mediation process," McEwen said. "It is difficult to see why they would not be interested," particularly since many of them have ties to the three companies that were granted the stay, he said. The judge agreed with the tobacco companies that moving ahead with the trial would distract from and undermine the settlement negotiations. "This (creditor protection) process is at its very early stages. It must be given an opportunity to evolve and succeed without multiple, significant, expensive distractions," he wrote. Lawyers for the Canadian Cancer Society had argued that going ahead with the lawsuit would actually motivate the tobacco companies to negotiate meaningfully and improve the chances of reaching a timely settlement. McEwen had previously rejected a request from lawyers in the Quebec case to lift the stay, citing a similar concern for fairness. TORONTO - A Kitchener, Ont., neurologist who asked several female patients to strip naked for physical exams and touched them inappropriately at times has had his licence revoked by the province's medical regulator. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO - A Kitchener, Ont., neurologist who asked several female patients to strip naked for physical exams and touched them inappropriately at times has had his licence revoked by the province's medical regulator. The College of Physicians and Surgeons says its discipline committee found Dr. Jeffrey Sloka, 50, sexually abused four patients and engaged in disgraceful conduct over nearly a decade. An agreed statement of facts says Sloka's behaviour towards the four patients, identified only as patients A through D, was "of a sexual nature and not of a clinical nature." It says none of the patients should have been examined while nude and the doctor should not have touched the patients' breasts, as he did to three of them, or their genitals, as he did to one. Three of the patients had seizure disorders, while one was referred to Sloka after she experienced tingling from the waist down. According to the agreed statement of facts, one of the patients was a teenager living in a group home at the time. "Patients are at their most vulnerable in the examination room, where they rely on doctor's expertise and professionalism when it comes to being physically touched or directed to undress," the college's prosecutor, Morgana Kellythorne, told the discipline committee in her submissions this week. "These patients were exploited and deceived by Dr. Sloka for his own sexual purposes. They turned to him seeking help for their medical needs and he preyed on them." Sloka examined the teenage patient in 2010, telling her he needed to perform a physical, according to the document. The committee heard certain skin lesions can be markers of syndromes causing epilepsy, but that such an exam could be conducted with "appropriate draping" of a medical gown. Instead, Sloka told her to get naked and stand with her arms and legs out while he looked at her body with his face close to her skin, the statement says. He then had her lie down on an examination table for a reflex test while still nude. The patient told another doctor of the incident in 2016 and that doctor filed a complaint with the college. Another patient who saw Sloka between 2010 and 2012 had a similar experience, but the doctor also cupped and lifted her breasts, the document says. She told her family what happened in 2015 and they filed a complaint with the college. "I have lost my trust in health-care providers ... I am no longer able to trust male physicians specifically," she told the committee in a statement. The patient, who was a student at the time, said her grades suffered, causing her to miss out on grants and leaving her with debt. Two more patients came forward in 2017 after hearing about the investigation into these incidents, the agreed statement of facts says. One had been a patient of Sloka's since 2011. She said she wore a medical gown during her first appointment but that Sloka touched her breasts, the document says. There was no record of a breast exam in her chart. The woman told her family she thought she had been "felt up," but she continued to see Sloka because she could not find another doctor, the document says. That patient told the committee her multiple sclerosis worsened due to the stress of the incident. "My anxiety has left me unable to go out without someone to reassure me that I will be OK," she said. The fourth patient also started seeing Sloka in 2011. The doctor removed her gown during an appointment and examined her with his face close to her body, "getting on his knees when examining her legs," the statement says. He also squeezed and pushed her breasts. When she returned to see him a few years later complaining of back pain and a leg twitch, he had her lie down on an examination table that did not have stirrups, it says. He then inserted two fingers in her vagina and said her cervix was low, the statement says. "He had not told Patient D that he would touch her genital area or offered a reason for doing so," it says. Sloka then put a finger in her rectum for about five seconds, "commenting that he was going to check whether constipation could be causing nerve pain," it says. He was not wearing surgical gloves. The statement says that happened again on other occasions, for a total of three or four incidents. As part of his penalties, Sloka has to pay close to $65,000 to help cover the patients' therapy expenses and another $6,000 for the costs of the hearing, the college said. He has also waived his right to an appeal and agreed never to apply to practise medicine in Ontario or any other jurisdiction. QUEBEC - It's "revolting" that authorities failed to prevent the death a seven-year-old girl who had a long history with the province's youth protection system, Premier Francois Legault said Thursday as the Quebec government ordered a public inquiry into her death. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Quebec Deputy premier and Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault announces an action plan on floods, Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot QUEBEC - It's "revolting" that authorities failed to prevent the death a seven-year-old girl who had a long history with the province's youth protection system, Premier Francois Legault said Thursday as the Quebec government ordered a public inquiry into her death. Legault said he asked for the coroner's inquest and also asked that the head of the regional youth protection office be suspended. "It's troubling, revolting that people knew (about the girl's situation), including the youth protection office," Legault said in Quebec City. "I asked for a public inquiry to be 100 per cent transparent, because all of Quebec wants to know what happened to this little girl and what we could have done to avoid it." Local police found the girl shortly before noon Monday at a home in Granby, Que., about 80 kilometres east of Montreal. She died a day later in hospital. Two adults identified by people close to the family as the girl's father, 30, and his partner, 35 appeared in court on Thursday. They both face charges of unlawful confinement, and the woman has been charged with aggravated assault. Both will remain detained at least until their next court appearance on May 23. Police and prosecutors are still gathering and analyzing evidence, and more charges could be added at a later date, according to Jean-Pascal Boucher, spokesman for the Crown prosecutor's office. A publication ban prohibits identification of the accused and the victim. News of the girl's death prompted swift reaction from the public and Quebec's political class, who immediately demanded to know how the girl was seemingly failed by a system designed to protect her. Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said the public inquiry led by the coroner's office will determine the causes and circumstances of the death and make recommendations to avoid a similar tragedy. The investigation ordered Thursday is one of several into the death, added to those previously announced by the regional health authority in Quebec's Eastern Townships, the province's human and youth rights commission and the criminal probe led by Quebec provincial police. Guilbault said the coroner's inquest differs from the others because of its public nature and its ability to issue broader recommendations. "It's held in a courtroom, and the public, interested parties, family members and media representatives will be able to go to this public inquiry to hear the testimony of various people, witnesses and stakeholders who will come give their point of view or testify on the circumstances of this tragic death," she said. However, Guilbault said the hearings would not begin until after the conclusion of any criminal proceedings, in order to avoid interfering with the legal process. Speaking alongside Guilbault, Quebec junior health minister Lionel Carmant announced that the head of the regional youth protection office had been removed from his functions. Carmant had previously confirmed the girl was known to youth protection workers from a very young age and that their last interaction with the child was just last month. "A child died under his responsibility," Carmant said of his decision to suspend Alain Trudel, head of the youth protection office in the Eastern Townships region. "He's accountable, and this is a sign of his accountability." On Wednesday, the executive director of a non-profit organization helping Quebec families said she and family members had tried sounding the alarm about the girl's case, but their concerns were ignored. Carmant said there would also be a top-to-bottom review of the youth protection system, including how cases are flagged, evaluated and handled by authorities. A Senate committee proposed changes to Canada's first federal accessibility law Thursday that members of the disability community said addressed some of the most pressing concerns about the legislation, though some worried the bill may still be too weak to be effective. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/5/2019 (966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Senate committee proposed changes to Canada's first federal accessibility law Thursday that members of the disability community said addressed some of the most pressing concerns about the legislation, though some worried the bill may still be too weak to be effective. Nearly a hundred disability organizations and advocacy groups had been calling on the committee to introduce major changes to Bill C-81, also known as the Accessible Canada Act, arguing it lacked teeth. Following a detailed hearing, the Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology voted to propose the government include a timeline in the bill that would require it to be fully implemented by 2040 rather than leaving the date open-ended. "We are dealing with a bill that is very important for Canada and is going to make our country a better country," said Sen. Donna Dasko. "The issue of a timeline has come up many times ... this is an important thing, this gives accountability to the bill, this gives a goal to the actions being undertaken." The committee also voted to recognize various forms of sign language as an official language of deaf Canadians and see it included among government services. That amendment also included Indigenous sign languages among those that should be acknowledged. The committee's proposed amendments will now go to the full Senate for a vote. David Lepofsky, a long-time disability rights advocate, said the full impact of the committee's proposed amendments won't be known until they've been formally incorporated into the act. He noted that the House of Commons could vote to reject any steps the Senate may suggest to strengthen the law. But he said the committee's moves signal hope the existing bill, which he had previously described as "inadequate," could be improved. "We do know that the amendments do, to some extent, strengthen this bill," Lepofsky said. "Any improvement is welcomed." Lepofsky said adopting a timeline would mark a significant step forward, adding that doing so would bring the federal government in line with the three Canadian provinces that have put accessibility legislation on their books. Senators on the committee said during Thursday's meeting that the absence of a timeline was the unifying issue that emerged from hours of testimony from disability rights groups. It was also one of the core issues activists raised in an open letter to the committee last year that detailed concerns about the power and scope of the proposed law. The October 2018 letter also said the bill should enshrine American and Quebec sign language as the official language of the deaf community. While the committee tackled those concerns, it did not address others raised in the letter signed by 95 organizations including the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, National Network for Mental Health and March of Dimes Canada, The letter had criticized the bill for granting the government broad powers to exempt people from the new rules, spreading enforcement over numerous agencies, and opting not to withhold federal funding from organizations that don't comply with accessibility measures. Advocates also raised concerns about the way the bill was written. The bill repeatedly uses "may" rather than "shall" or "must" when describing initiatives, meaning the government is empowered to take actions but never required to follow through on them, they argued. An amendment brought before the committee addressed that concern but was defeated. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities, who helped spearhead the letter, focused on what it viewed as positive developments from the committee vote. "These proposed reforms did not get much traction at the time (the bill was passed through the House of Commons), So today, we are very pleased to learn that the Senate's Social Affairs Committee has been more responsive to our calls for reform," it said in a statement. But Gabrielle Peters, a Vancouver-based wheelchair user, expressed disappointment at the committee's unwillingness to change the bill's language from "may" to "must." Not addressing the issue of federal funding, she added, risks allowing governments and those supported by them to continue treating disability rights and accessibility as a perk rather than a basic human right. "They keep using the word 'historic,'" Peters said of the government. "Historic means you create legislation that will fundamentally shift the direction we continue to be on ... (The Accessible Canada Act) is not ... a historic document." The office of Accessibility Minister Carla Qualtrough did not respond to request for comment. State-owned forestry company Coillte has begun stockpiling wood in its UK operation so it can continue to serve British customers after Brexit. Nearly 50% of revenues of Medite Smartply, Coilltes MDF and oriented strand board/OSB wood products provider, are generated in the UK construction market. Coillte, via Medite, operates two wood product warehouses in the UK. It is stockpiling at both of these in order to allow for enough storage to give it numerous weeks breathing space to continue trading as normal after Brexit. Medite grew its market sector and geographical spread last year. However, Coilltes acting chief executive Gerry Britchfield said the UK will remain a big market for the division as Britain will remain a large importer of wood after either a hard or soft Brexit. On an overall basis, Coillte reported record earnings and revenues for 2018. Revenues jumped 10% to 330m and EBITDA of 115m marked a 35% increase. The company will pay the Government a dividend of 15m for 2018, up by more than 87% on the 8m paid in respect of 2017. Last years financial growth was partially driven by the sale of the bulk of Coilltes wind farm assets to renewable energy company Greencoat Renewables and the sale of non-core land. Coillte chair Bernie Gray said the companys operating cash flow has increased from zero to 60m over the last four years and Coillte is now generating a cash yield of 4.6% on its 1.3bn net asset base. The group has been aggressively reducing debt levels over the last number of years and this leaves us in a strong overall position to weather any Brexit impacts and to invest steadily in future growth opportunities. 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, Ms Gray said. The companys net debt stood at 14m as of the end of last year. Coillte will see an overhauling of its board at its agm later this year, with Ms Gray formally taking up the chairperson role and a new chief executive set to be formally appointed in the third quarter. Outgoing chief executive Fergal Leamy officially leaves the company next month. Mr Britchfield currently acting CEO, chief operations officer and chief financial officer has expressed his interest in assuming the chief executives role on a full-time basis. Coillte also said it remains in exclusive talks with the ESB over the formation of a planned joint-venture targeting onshore wind farm development. The 1bn development plan envisages wind turbines on 30 sites across Coilltes landbank, producing one gigawatt of power or enough energy to power around 700,000 homes by 2030. The deal is expected to be concluded by the end of next month. The two companies have successfully collaborated on a range of renewable energy projects since 2003. Coilltes renewable energy ambitions purely relate to development and land ownership and not to be an active utility company. To that end, it will sell out of the project once the development is complete. Cybersecurity experts will undertake a live hack onstage at the upcoming Tech Summit in Cork to demonstrate the vulnerability of phone and computer security. The event at Corks City Hall on Thursday, May 9 will see experts from global cyber- security and defence firm Trend Micro show how everyday systems can be breached in minutes, organisers said. Head of corporate IT at Trend Micro, William Dalton said: Cybercrime is not a new word to peoples vocabulary but it is a new concept for people to understand. People think about cybercrime as something that happens to big companies in other parts of the world not realising that the chances of them being impacted of a cybersecurity threat is very high. At the Tech Summit, we want people to witness first hand how their phone and laptop can be hacked in minutes, via an open wifi network. They will see how criminals can quickly and easily access personal information, install keyboard tracking software and complete identity theft. The Trend Micro team said identity theft and the stealing of personal data is much more common that people realise. Europol, the EU-wide police network, has warned that the global impact of cybercrime has risen to 2.5tn, making it more profitable than the global trade in marijuana, cocaine, and heroin combined, while British firm Juniper said it would be worth 7tn in the next five years. The annual Tech Summit is organised by voluntary tech group IT@Cork, which represents over 300 firms with a combined 30,000 employees in the Cork region. Newly-elected chair of IT@Cork, Anthony OCallaghan said the live hack was intended to bring home the risk of cybercrime to firms. The hack will most likely shock a lot of people and will definitely grab their attention. But we also want to use this opportunity to advise people of what steps they can take to protect themselves and their data, said Mr OCallaghan. Director for cybercrime research in Trend Micros team will be delivering a keynote speech at the event. He said: Trend Micro have been publishing reports on cybercrime and identity theft in the criminal underground for many years covering many of the different cybercrime hubs. We regularly see people personal identity information sold very cheaply depending on what have the criminals have successfully stolen but the earnings for these criminals can run into the millions depending on what data is being sold and the volume of it. Protecting data online is not a simple task. It depends on your circumstance, your organisation, your geographical location, and your risk profile. But there are a few pieces of advice that are universally useful. "Firstly, I would also recommend people to properly assess what they are trying to protect so often I have seen organisations focus their efforts of protecting things that are not the critical part of their business. "Secondly, you should then really assess what categories of attacker are likely to target you, and plan your defences accordingly. And lastly, it is always a good idea to assume that you are already compromised, and to operate your networks with that thought firmly in mind. "That last one may be depressing, and its not to say that having good security solutions in place will not defend you from attack they absolutely will. But by proactively always looking for signs of compromise, you raise the grade on your security. So, it is important to have the leading tools to be able to monitor and discover that." Amine Belaouedj and David Byrne of Trend Micro will be demonstrating the live hack on the day. Tickets for the Irish Examiner-partnered event can be purchased from https://www.itcork.ie Family-owned furniture retailer EZ Living Interiors has hired 45staff in its outlets in the past year. This brings the number employed by the company to almost 250. Over the past two years, the furniture and interiors retailer has opened five modern outlets and has also opened a distribution warehouse in Little Island, Cork measuring over 65,000sq ft. Gavin White, EZ Living Interiors director, said: Ever since my parents opened the first EZ Living Interiors store in Blarney Street in Cork in 1986, we have worked hard to source the widest and highest quality furniture selection and to always employ staff that are passionate about interiors and excellent customer service. EZ Living Interiors has expanded its presence in Ireland with new locations in Cork (Mahon Point), Drogheda, Wexford and Navan. So far, over 30 staff have been appointed along with a further 10 warehouse staff and five delivery and logistics personnel. The company also has over 20 trucks and vans delivering all over the country. The Cork-born furniture brand that has thousands of sofas for its customers is also undertaking an exciting expansion in Northern Ireland with the addition of a 19,000sq ft unit in Belfasts Boucher Road and a super store measuring 35,000sq ft in Holywood Exchange. This recent expansion builds on the furniture retailers existing brick-and-mortar stores in Ireland and also its growing online operation, www.ezliving-interiors.ie. The online operation has developed significantly and is now supported by an in-house graphic designer, videographer and the existence of a filming mezzanine room for interiors lifestyle imagery and videos. www.ezliving-interiors.ie Update: The Unite trade union wants the UK government to lever pressure on Bombardier that if a buyer is not found they will retain operations in Northern Ireland. They have indicated that they intend to be responsible, we will hold them to that, Susan Fitzgerald, Unites Northern Ireland regional officer, told RTE radios News at One. We will be closely looking at the sale process. We want to make sure that whoever comes in is prepared to invest and expand. We dont care what name is over the gate. The workforce was shocked at the wholesale sale of the entire Northern Ireland division. Its a huge challenge for us. She told of how the workforce had been reduced in recent years from 11,000 to 3,600. Unite will do whatever it takes, we will move mountains to save jobs. This is a world-class workforce, it is an attractive proposition for a buyer. Ms Fitzgerald said that the union has already been in contact with the UK government to urge them to put pressure on Bombardier that if they dont find a buyer that they will retain operations. However, she acknowledged that it is known that Bombardier wants out. They have been selling off the family jewels for some time. They have indicated that they intend to be responsible, we will hold them to that. We will be closely looking at the sale process. She said that whoever comes in needs to be prepared to invest and to reintroduce apprenticeships. What we have seen over the years is swingeing cuts. Brexit may complicate the process, she said, but she pointed out that decisions had been taken by Bombardier to implement cuts before Brexit. The die was cast a long time ago. Earlier: 4,000 jobs at risk as Bombardier puts Belfast site up for sale Bombardier is to sell its aerostructures business in Belfast, the company has announced. A statement by the Canadian manufacturing giant confirmed rumours which had been circulating at the plant in Northern Ireland. A statement issued in Montreal said: "As the company moves to optimise its global manufacturing footprint, Bombardier will pursue the divestiture of the Belfast and Morocco aerostructures businesses. These are great businesses with tremendous capabilities." Meetings were being held at the Belfast site today when more details were expected to be given. A statement by Bombardier in Belfast said: "Our sites in Belfast and Morocco have seen a significant increase in work from other global customers in recent years. "We are recognised as a global leader in aerostructures, with unique end-to-end capabilities - through design and development, testing and manufacture, to after-market support. Bombardier is committed to finding the right buyer - one that will operate responsibly and help us achieve our full growth potential. We understand that this announcement may cause concern among our employees, but we will be working closely with them and our unions as matters progress, and through any future transition period to a new owner. "There are no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, but our management team will continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives to improve productivity and increase our competitiveness, to give more weight to our unique value proposition to potential buyers." PA Today marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death. The Italian polymath, whose full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, died half a millenium ago in Amboise, France from a suspected recurring stroke. From the Codex Arundel, this perpetual motion wheel shows how one of Leonardos thought experiments might have worked. In reality the wheel would always come to a stop. Leonardo da Vinci: #AMindinMotion opens 7 June. Mark #Leonardo500 & book your ticket https://t.co/4px0CrDkrL pic.twitter.com/t4COL0hXoe The British Library (@britishlibrary) May 2, 2019 Many know him for his works of arts in the Renaissance, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but his talents stretched far beyond the realms of art, to engineering, botany, architecture, engineering, invention, cartography, and so much more. #OnThisDay 500 years ago Leonardo Da Vinci died at Chateau du Clos Luce, Amboise, France many artists at that time had chosen France as their home. Da Vinci was an iconic artist whose influence lives on to this day! #thursdaythoughts pic.twitter.com/yEnt19WOqO French Embassy UK (@FranceintheUK) May 2, 2019 Da Vinci has been called the father of paleontology, ichnology and architecture and is widely revered as one of the greatest artists of all time and most diversely talented person to have ever walked the earth. Did you know Leonardo da Vinci sketched designs for a tank-like vehicle? Our curator Sarah Vowles joined David Willey from @TankMuseum on @BBCRadio4 to examine Leonardos military machines. Listen now on @BBCiPlayer: https://t.co/5ZSj0eLlzU #Leonardo500 pic.twitter.com/N2PbLsGUnj British Museum (@britishmuseum) May 2, 2019 The artist had 13,000 pages of journals full of sketches of anatomy, botany and even designs for various inventions, such as an armoured fighting machine and designs for shoes to walk on water. Today marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vincis death. The artist made a number of sketches depicting the infant Christ playing with a reluctant-looking cat these drawings were done on opposite sides of the same piece of paper https://t.co/KfMJJD0iGi #Leonardo500 pic.twitter.com/TRbimdi6eq British Museum (@britishmuseum) May 2, 2019 Da Vinci's journals were written in a mirror-image cursive, largely believed to be because it was easier for him to so because he was left-handed. This year, two Italian experts will perform a DNA test on a strand of hair believed to belong to da Vinci in hopes to resolve the controversy surrounding the exact location of his remains. The hair will go on display today in the Ideale Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci, where he was born. Five Irish scientists, three of which are Cork based, have been selected by the Irish Research Council to represent the country in the 69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany this summer. Also in attendance at the week-long conference in Lindau will be up to 40 Nobel Prize-winners, hundreds of PhD students and researchers across the world. An alleged "IRA man" who raped two teenage boys at a republican safe house two decades ago has been jailed for seven years. Seamus Marley (aged 45) with an address at Belfield Court, Stillorgan Road, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to charges of sexually assaulting and anally raping two boys in Co Louth on dates in the early 1990s. After a six-day trial, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on a total of six counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape. After hearing evidence on Monday Mr Justice Paul McDermott remanded the man in custody. Today, he sentenced him to a number of concurrent and consecutive prison terms, amounting to a total operative sentence of seven years. Justice McDermott also sentenced Marley to two and a half year prison terms for each of the five sexual assaults on the younger victim. These will run concurrently with each other but consecutive to a sentence of two years imprisonment for sexual assault of the older victim. He ordered that Marley undergo two years post release supervision during which he is to follow all directions of the Probation Service and keep the peace and be of good behaviour. He said he made this order on the grounds that there had been no acceptance of wrongdoing and that he must therefore act to protect society. 'Welcomed into the family' During the trial, Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, told the jury that the two complainants lived in a large home owned by a dedicated republican and that it began to be used as a safe house. The jury heard that IRA volunteers would be brought to the house during the night and stay for a few days or weeks. Detective Garda Seamus Nolan told Mr Gageby that Marley was one of these guests in the early 1990s and that he was welcomed into the family. The older of the two victims said that he woke up one night while on a camping trip to find Marley groping him. He said that he woke up another night in the house to find Marley anally raping him. After the incident, Marley warned him off telling anyone what had happened and said he could be found dead on a border road. The younger victim was given alcohol by Marley and was groped or molested by him on three or four occasions. Counsel said that the victim was later anally raped by Marley in a tent near the house. Marley has no previous convictions. The court heard that he is from a large family in Belfast and that his father was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries. During the trial, Dt Gda Nolan told John Fitzgerald SC, defending, that gardai had no intelligence that the accused was involved in any paramilitary organisation until the complainants came forward with their allegations and that the accused had never been arrested for any alleged subversive activities. In his victim impact statement, which was read out in court, the older victim said he has spent the previous 27 years living in despair and looking over his shoulder. He said he had finally reached the end of the tunnel and that his life now revolved around his wife and children. This is my life and I am taking it back, the man said. The younger victim, who also read his victim impact statement, said that as the house was beside a graveyard they had quiet neighbours, dead ones. He said that he had learned that it was not the dead we should be afraid of, but the living. He said that Marley preyed on me, groomed me, abused me and raped me. He said the life he had dreamed of was in tatters from the moment Marley entered the house. Marley was always lurking in the back of my mind, the man said. He said in the years subsequent to the abuse he suffered panic attacks and experienced a deep depression so black it was hard to put into words. He said he ended up in hospital and called Councillor Pearse McGeough of Sinn Fein to ask for help, but that after the call he knew he was on his own. He said it had taken longer to reach this point than it should have as people with power sought to protect their own interests. The man said that the fabrication of stories to discredit him made the trial so much harder. He said that if you are right and truthful and keep shouting then eventually someone would listen. He said he loves his parents and does not blame them for what Marley did to him. He apologised to his wife for not being a better husband and thanked her for all she had done for him. The man said he prayed to God that they would grow old together so that he would be able to somewhat pay her back. Mr Fitzgerald said that Marley has been in a relationship for 16 years and that his partner had been present in court throughout the trial. He handed in a letter from Marley's pastor which described him as being an excellent Christian who possessed a charitable spirit. One of two boys accused of Anastasia Kriegels murder claimed that he "hadnt a clue what happened to her", when asked to make a statement after he and the other boy had disagreed about what happened in front of gardai. Boy B claimed she had looked "very down" and "upset" after meeting Boy A. Gardai were giving evidence to the Central Criminal Court today in the trial of two teenagers charged with murdering the Kildare schoolgirl. The two boys are charged with murdering Anastasia at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan on May 14 last year. The accused, who are both 14, cannot be named because they are minors. They each pleaded not guilty. Boy A is further charged with Anastasias aggravated sexual assault in a manner that involved serious violence to her. He also pleaded not guilty to that count. Sergeant Aonghus Hussey told Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, that he and a colleague accompanied both boys to St Catherines Park in Leixlip the day after Ana had gone missing. He was aware that Boy B had said that morning that he and Ana had met Boy A in the park the previous evening. They were asked to re-walk the route they had taken, and maps of this route were provided to the jury. Sgt Hussey said that, at one point, his colleague stated to both boys that this was not the route Boy B had indicated to him earlier. He was asked how Boy B appeared at that point. Uncertain, confused, he replied. We were trying to establish the movements and Boy B said this was the last point, that was as far as hed gone, he recalled. Again there was confusion. "I saw a look given between Boy A and Boy B that I was not happy with. I felt immediately that there was something wrong. I couldnt understand why they could not exactly tell me their movements. He said that his colleague had also observed this and they decided to split the two boys up. Sgt Hussey continued to walk with Boy A and his father. I asked his father to stay a little behind, he explained. I thought maybe he was embarrassed by something he didnt want his father to hear, to see if something had occurred between him and Ana. Neither had any difficulty with this, he said. Boy A informed me that Ana had asked him out and he had declined her, he testified. He said she was upset and that she turned and left, he continued. Boy A said he had continued on (alone) because he just wanted to get his head together, he added. He informed me that he had been assaulted by two males and thats the reason he was holding his arm and was limping. The sergeant said that he, Boy A and his father had returned to where other gardai had been waiting. He informed them that he was unhappy with the accounts and information given because they seemed to lack consistency. It was decided to bring both boys to Leixlip Garda Station voluntarily to get statements in writing. He and a colleague took Boy Bs statement in the presence of his mother. Yesterday evening, about 5pm, I called to a girl called Ana Kriegel at the request of my friend Boy A. Boy A had asked me to call to her and bring her to St Catherines Park to meet him there. He had told me he had wanted to sort out some relationship issues with her so I called and got Ana, he began. Ana wanted to know why Boy A wanted her. I said Ill tell you when we get there. We then met up in the park with Boy A, he continued. I stayed a little behind them so they could talk I know Boy A wanted to be clear with her that she was not of interest to him so I let them walk on. He said he later noticed Ana walking back towards where they had come from. I said 'Hey', but she didnt really say anything. She seemed upset. She looked really down. She had her head down. I walked in front of her and we didnt really talk, he said. He said that Ana then turned back towards some changing rooms. I didnt see her after that or speak to her. Im not sure where she went after that, he said, putting the time at about 5.30pm or 5.40pm. The first time I knew there was a problem with Ana was when the gardai called to my house asking about her, he said. I have no clue what happened to her. The trial continues this afternoon before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of eight men and four women. Plans for a motorway linking Cork and Limerick took a step closer today with the signing of a contract for the routes design stage. The project - the first under the governments 116bn Ireland 2040 infrastructural plan - has yet to go to tender for construction. The road linking both cities will be the largest infrastructure project outside of Dublin. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who was present at City Hall, Limerick, for the contract signing described the project as the biggest single road contract for the next decade. Limerick City and County Council, the lead authority for the project, announced it had appointed Barry Transportation, and its project partners WSP and Sweco, as Technical Advisors to progress the scheme up to the stage where it will be submitted for planning. Other partners include Cork County Council, Cork City Council, Tipperary County Council, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Project Ireland 2040 aims to provide better connectivity between the two cities by improving the quality of the transport network as well as addressing road safety issues associated with the existing N20 route. Cork and Limerick are approximately 100 km apart, yet at present the economic interaction and inter-relationships between the cities is limited with poor transport connectivity being a factor, Limericks local authority said. Planning and design for the road will commence this month, with Barry Transportation, WSP and Sweco, providing all engineering, environmental, economic and appraisal services required to deliver the project through these planning and design phases. As part of these phases there will be extensive public consultation taking place. Mayor of Limerick, Cllr James Collins said the M20 project is critical for the economic development of Limerick and the wider region along the Atlantic Corridor. It will also improve links with Galway and the Western seaboard. It will save lives and improve the quality of life for those who rely on this transport corridor for business, work, study and tourism, Collins said. Conn Murray, Chief Executive of Limerick City and County Council agreed the plan would be a major enabler for balanced regional development by substantially delivering the Atlantic Corridor, with a high quality road network linking Limerick, Cork and Galway. Limerick City and County Council welcomes the appointment of the Technical Advisors. Together with our partners in the local authorities in Cork and Tipperary, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, we are committed to delivering this major national infrastructural project, Murray added. Michael Nolan, Chief Executive Officer of Transport Infrastructure Ireland said it was committed to delivering the project which is a priority for the Project Ireland 2040. Liam Prendiville, Managing Director at Barry Transportation said: We are delighted to be working with Limerick City and County Council on the planning process for this vital arterial route, which will improve journey times and journey time reliability between Cork and Limerick. A retired policewoman who worked with Scotland Yard has told of her meetings with Mary Lowry which led to vital evidence about the murder of Bobby Ryan. Catherine Costello, who now lives in Ireland, is a co-founder of the Searching for the Missing group. She was asked by Mr Ryans daughter Michelle to help in the search and went to Bansha where she met her and Mary Lowry. Michelle Ryan and Mary Ryan, daughter and ex-wife of Bobby Ryan, leaving court in February. Photo: Collins Courts. She told RTE radios Today with Sean ORourke show that she subsequently took a call from Mary Lowry asking to meet. She was very different from my first meeting when she was upset, at the second meeting she was distraught, she was absolutely roaring crying, I did my level best to calm her. As a result of what she told me I appreciated she was in a very deep hole. I told her that the information she had was critical and that she should go to the Guards with it. At the first meeting, she hoped that Bobby had just decided to take time out, and that he may possibly have gone off with a male friend to Lisdoonvarna just to chill, and that he'd be back. He was missing about five days at that stage. The second meeting was several weeks later when it obviously had dawned on her that he hadn't gone to Lisdoonvarna, so her distress was very apparent, she now suspected that he may have met foul play. She then told me about her former relationship with Pat Quirke. The information that Ms Lowry had was catastrophic on a social level, she had young children, the eldest only 12. Mary Lowry Ms Costello said that she was concerned for Mary herself. If my daughter had a boyfriend who stole a key and used it to come into her house while she was at work you would be very concerned. This guy isn't right, you would be telling your daughter you'd better get rid of him fairly rapidly. It's not normal. She paid tribute to the gardai in Tipperary, who, she said, showed massive persistence in this case". I've been critical in the past, but this time I really have to take my hat off. It was slow but significant, the diligence and persistence. There was some very good evidence. Ms Costello explained that when Mary Lowry told her about her affair with her late husbands brother-in-law Patrick Quirke, she did not want to speak to a male guard. She told me that in the initial search for Bobby she met a very nice woman police officer, she had been very kind to her, that's who she decided to go and see. I felt it was Mary Lowry's actions in putting up CCTV that led to the discovery of Bobby's body. She said that she had no contact with Mary Lowry from 2011. I never believed from what I witnessed that she had colluded or was part of it, I believed that she was a very good mother. The one thing that struck me the second time I met her was that she kept praying to her late husband for guidance. The Government must invest at least 12m each year to tackle a "crisis" in dementia care the Alzheimer Society of Ireland warns. Around 11 people every day are diagnosed with the disease but the Alzheimer's Society has been forced to cut back and ration services after requests for additional funding were denied last year Speaking at the organisation's National Tea Day Party in Dublin, Health Minister Simon Harris invited representatives to meet him in the Department of Health ahead of the budget. Mr Harris said: I know we have an awful lot more to do. We now have around 55,000 people in our country with dementia and that number is going to table in the next 30 years. But Alzheimer Society of Ireland CEO, Pat McLoughlin, hit out at the Government claiming they are not adequately planning for the expected increases in people with the disease and are leaving care and support services to the charity sector. "We need to raise 3.3m each year to try and keep the services going. "We would prefer if the Government actually provided services directly themselves, we don't wish to provide any further services, we are already providing 70% and really for one national charity we believe that is too much." Mr McLoughlin said the Government is not dealing effectively with dementia services planning adding that there has been a lack of investment in core services since their strategy was published in 2014. "Money has gone into awareness, which is welcome, money has gone into some areas like assisted technology but the reality is the funding for core services has not increased in the last four to five years. So it means that what has happened is we have ended up rationing care, if we had a day centre that was open for five days a week where people were getting a service every single day it means now they might be getting just one day a week or two days a week and that's absolutely unfair. He added that a statutory home care scheme, similar to FairDeal, should be introduced sooner than 2022 which has been promised by the Government: "We believe that if families got a range of supports and services they would keep their loved ones at home for as long as possible. "Last year we got nothing, we looked for 12m which would have tripled the services and would have brought every single county up to a basic minimum number of services and that wasn't provided, we would be looking for the same and more next year because since then a further 4,000 people have been diagnosed with dementia, that's 11 more people each day with a disease for which there is no cure." "It's not just about planning for the future, there is a crisis at the moment in relation to care and support services," he said. A High Court judge will tomorrow morning hand down judgement in the case of terminally ill Ruth Morrissey who has sued the HSE and two US laboratories over the alleged misreading of her CervicalCheck smear slides. The action which ran for 37 days before Mr Justice Kevin Cross is regarded as a test case relating to the CervicalCheck controversy. Mother of one Ms Morrissey and her husband Paul are expected to be in court for the judgement by Mr Justice Kevin Cross. Legal teams representing other women who are taking similar type actions relating to smear tests taken under the CervicalCheck screening programme have been monitoring the case which started in July last year with three days at hearing and resumed in January for a further 34 days of evidence. In her proceedings, Ms Morrissey and her husband Paul Morrissey, of Monaleen, Co Limerick have sued the HSE and two US laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Ireland Ltd with offices at Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin along with Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin 18. It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report and diagnose and there was an alleged misinterpretation of her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012 and her cancer spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014. It is further claimed a review of the 2009 and 2012 smears took place in 2014 and 2015 with the results sent to Ms Morrisseys treating gynaecologist in 2016, but she was not told until May 2018 of those results which showed her smears were reported incorrectly. The HSE admitted it owed a duty of care to Ms Morrissey. The laboratories deny all claims. The Morrissey side further contended when the case resumed in January this year if Ms Morrissey had been told the results of the smear test audits in late 2014 or early 2015, she would have insisted on an MRI and other scans. Ms Morrissey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014 and suffered a recurrence last year. The court has previously heard the recurrence in her pelvic wall has spread to her bone and she has at maximum two years to live. The case ran for 37 days in the High Court and started in July 2018. Ms Morrissey took the stand in July last year and also recently when she had to return to the witness stand to be cross examined by counsel for the HSE. The case involved seven senior counsel, five junior counsel and three instructing solicitor firms as well as the Morrissey solicitor, Cian OCarroll and his team. Update 5pm: The Taoiseach says that holding an investigation into claims by consultants that dead bodies were left decomposing on a mortuary corridor at University Hospital Waterford is not one of his priorities. A letter signed by four consultants working at University Hospital Waterford last October was made public last week following on from a Freedom of Information request by the Waterford News and Star. The letter claimed that dead patients had been left decomposing on the mortuary corridor, which in turn had led to a number of closed-coffin funerals. The Taoiseachs initial reaction last Tuesday was that he had seen no evidence to support the claims. He went on to describe the claims as a strange story. The South/Southwest Hospital Group said it hasnt received any complaints from the public nor hospital staff. Asked today, while on a visit to Limerick, if his opinion has changed, and if he now sees weight in the consultants claims, the Taoiseach responded that he cared most about patients and their families and that his priority is the construction of a new mortuary. What I care about is people being treated with dignity when they're alive and when they're dead. Nobody disputes that fact the mortuary needs to be upgraded. Thats why planning permission was sought for it and granted, and thats why it is going to tender." University Hospital Waterford. There is very clearly and very evidently a dispute about the facts. You have consultants, four of them anyway, saying one thing and management (at the hospital) saying the other, he said. Mr Varadkar also said: I don't know where the truth lies, whether its true or untrue, or a grain of truth and a bit of an exaggeration, but thats not what I'm about. The most important thing from my point of view is that we go ahead and build a new mortuary." Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin has called on the Taoiseach to apologise to the four consultant pathologists for calling into question the truthfulness of their internal letter about conditions at the mortuary in Waterford University Hospital. He said: I was taken aback by the comment yesterday of the Taoiseach about the letter sent last year by four consultant pathologists in Waterford University Hospital and I think he should apologise. By implying there is a dispute about the true facts the Taoiseach has resorted to Trump style tactics to undermine unpalatable revelations that have shocked people." Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar also told reporters that US president, Donald Trump, may visit Ireland in June, but that no arrangements are yet in place. Additional reporting by David Raleigh Earlier: Too early for Taoiseach to say there is no evidence of issues at mortuary, say consultants By Vivienne Clarke Update 7.57am: The president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Dr Donal OHanlon, has expressed alarm at comments by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about concerns raised in relation to mortuary facilities in University Hospital Waterford. Mr Varadkar had told reporters in Waterford on Tuesday that while he didnt know if the consultants claims were true or not . . . it doesnt seem that theres any evidence to support them and certainly those who made them havent put forward any evidence to support them. The stark conditions were outlined by four consultant pathologists in a letter to Gerry ODwyer, chief executive of the South South West Hospital Group in Cork last October. The letter warned that the mortuary lacks sufficient refrigeration and the situation is so serious that some bodies simply decompose, causing almost unspeakable distress to families. Dr OHanlon told RTE radios Morning Ireland today that hospital staff need to be able to voice their concerns. It was important that consultants and other health care staff be able to advocate for patients so their care can be improved, he said. He said that University Hospital Waterford had said it was aware of the challenges and there had been recognition of the problems when temporary refrigeration was installed. We ought to be able to encourage people to report problems. I am a little alarmed because they should be encouraged to highlight problems so they can be addressed. The best health systems run on a culture of openness and accountability. Staff need to be encouraged to highlight issues. The gist of what hes (the Taoiseach) saying is that theres no evidence. Its early stages to say that. There hasnt been full engagement or a review. These consultants are there day in, day out for years. The next step is for the hospital to have a full review of the contents of the (consultants) letter and to follow up. The Law Society of Ireland has called for a substantial overhaul of Ireland's divorce regime. The legal body has also confirmed that it is backing a 'yes' vote in the upcoming divorce referendum, supporting government proposals to remove the minimum living-apart period for spouses from the constitution. Presently, couples must be living apart for four out of the last five years before divorce proceedings can be initiated. A yes vote would see that condition removed from the constitution and allow the Oireachtas to set a new limit. If passed, the Government plans to reduce the waiting time to two years. The referendum is being held on May 24, the same day as the local and European elections. The Law Society made its announcement at the launch of 'Divorce in Ireland: the Case for Reform', a report on divorce in Ireland in the last two decades. The legal body examined divorce cases in courts in Dublin and Cork and found that the majority of parties were seeking divorce as soon as they legally could. In its report, the Law Society made 11 recommendations to transform divorce law in Ireland. These include that a specialised family court structure be established to ease the burden on the existing courts system and to provide better support to those going through proceedings. It also calls for the establishment of strict definitions of "living apart" and states that provisions for "clean break" divorces should be put in place, meaning that, where appropriate, former spouses would no longer have any financial ties after the order is given by the court. The society also believes that a review of maintenance issues needs to be prioritised and that the law should be reviewed to allow for the development of pre-nuptial agreements that are valid and enforceable. It states that a coherent framework for the recognition of foreign divorces is required, while it also calls for alternative methods of dispute resolution to be promoted and facilitated. Law Society of Ireland president Patrick Dorgan described the introduction of divorce in 1995 as a watershed in Irish legal and social history. But he said the Divorce Act, in particular the living apart requirement before proceedings could start, had given rise to difficulties and uncertainties. Report author Dr Geoffrey Shannon said: "Divorce has now been in operation in Ireland for over two decades. During that time Ireland has witnessed radical change that has resulted in a more secular, more modern and less traditional society. While each case is unique, the current requirement to live apart for a period of four years prior to the institution of divorce proceedings may now be considered too long. It may result in a duplication of legal expenses and protracted proceedings, where parties are involved in both judicial separation and divorce proceedings over time. According to the Central Statistics Office, the number of divorced people in the State has increased from 35,100 in 2002 to 103,895 in 2016. Culture minister Josepha Madigan said the government is not being complacent about passing the referendum. "No one should be under any illusion the Government is not going to pull hard on their referendum," she said. "The posters are going up this weekend. There's no complacency; it's launching on May 6. We had a meeting of the inner campaign team, and we have a lot of events coming up so today was one example. No absolutely, there's no complacency about it." Additional reporting by Fiachra O'Cionnaith Mental health services are at crisis point as staffing shortages are expected to worsen, a psychiatric watchdog has warned. The current shortage of nurses in mental health services is growing while demand in all aspects of services are increasing, delegates at the annual Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) in Wexford have been told. PNA General Secretary, Peter Hughes said the recruitment and retention crisis shows no signs of easing with emigration of psychiatric nursing graduates, the attraction of better pay and conditions in the private sector. Mr Hughes pointed out that there is also prospect of 34% of psychiatric nurses retiring by 2021 which is adding to the crisis and called on the HSE to lift the embargo on recruitment for mental health staffing such is the crisis they are in. Even now the HSE solution to the crisis has been to impose an embargo on all recruitment from April. This move is only adding to the staffing crisis and I am calling on the HSE to immediately introduce derogation from this embargo for mental health and intellectual disability services. Mr Hughes added that the near collapse of mental health services in some parts of the country during the recent PNA ban on overtime highlighted the reliance of the services on overtime and agency staff, and the lack of staff throughout the system. This situation must end and highlights the urgency in concluding the negotiations on the settlement of the recent nurses dispute. "The lethargy shown in bringing these negotiations to a conclusion is itself an indication of the Governments lack of urgency in solving the staffing crisis in nursing and moving on to invest and develop services to meet the growing demand for mental health services. The 49th Annual Conference of PNA is underway in Wexford- busy days ahead pic.twitter.com/NvBdxiyPjw PNA (@PNA_IRL) May 2, 2019 Mr Hughes revealed that the staffing of the new National Forensic Mental Health Services in Portrane, which will be completed by the end of this year, will be a major challenge in the context of a recruitment crisis and will require major initiatives in order to attract staff to work in the new facility. This transfer of services is by far the biggest for mental health services in the history of the State. It will bring with it many challenges and opportunities and the biggest challenge will be staffing as the additional 74 beds will require approximately 200 additional nurses. (The) PNA will not be wanting in meeting these challenges, but it will require concerted agreement on finally addressing the issues underlying the recruitment and retention crisis. Addressing issues around what Mr Hughes called underinvestment and inadequacies in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), despite HSE and Government repeated assurances, families and patients nationwide were suffering severe consequences as a result. File image. The Association claims that there is now a shortfall of 12 Day Hospitals with the closure of Linn Dara day facility and only 66 of the recommended 100 beds in Vision for Change policy document are operational with multidisciplinary teams remaining inadequately resourced. Delegates also heard that waiting lists for first time assessments are more than 2,500 and that there were 81 Admissions of Children to Adult Psychiatric Units in 2018. Mr Hughes dismissed the proposal of Junior Mental Health Minster Jim Daly, for the introduction of tele-assessments, where children would be assessed a remotely online by a psychiatrist Can I say to Minister Daly, that the assessment of mental health problems does not lend itself in any way to this impersonal approach. People with mental health problems need assessment on a direct one to one interpersonal basis. "I call on the Minister to abandon this inappropriate solution to a staffing crisis and introduce meaningful measures to attract staff to the services. Update: Colin Daly has been found safe and well. Earlier:Gardai are seeking the public's help in tracing the whereabouts of 15-year-old Colin Daly. He is missing from the Cork Street area of Dublin 8 since April 29. He is described as being approximately 5'6", with light brown/blonde hair and of broad build with blue eyes. When last seen he was wearing a blue Nike jumper and grey tracksuit bottoms. Anyone with information on his whereabouts are asked to contact Gardai in Kevin Street on 01 666 9400. Overcrowding in prisons is leading to intimidation and violence, according to the Prison Officers Association. There has been an increase in the number of prisoners put on protection for their own safety. Figures show the number of significant gang figures behind bars in Irish prisons now stands at around 300, up 50 on the last two years. The association's annual conference in Sligo today will hear how prisoners are forced to sleep on mattresses on floors because of increased numbers in the system. Jim Mitchell, Deputy General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association, says prison overcrowding is a primary cause of violence. Mr Mitchell said: "There's a huge degree of violence in prisons, it's exacerbated by the overcrowding issue. We still have significant levels of violence, particularly in places like Mountjoy." "We've been campaigning and looking for a specific place to go and put violent prisoners within the system. In the last years that the violence reduction unit was opened in the Midlands Prison, while we recognise that this is a step forward, it can only house a maximum of 10 prisoners at any given time. The Irish Prison Service set up a National Violence Reduction Unit in Midlands Prison last year, which is to cover the whole of the country. "We've much more than 10 violent prisoners within the system. What we are looking for is that the National Violence Reduction Unit would be placed in each one of the closed institutions." While it represents a degree of progress from our perspective it isn't enough. This unit takes some of the most prisoners in the country and takes them in and endeavours to rehabilitate them and reduce the amount of violence these people regularly perpetrate. He said the bonus for staff in this unit is that they are adequately safeguarded with proper personal protective equipment, including battle jackets and batons. Mr Mitchell said they wanted the IPS to pilot body cameras in the national violence unit and then roll them out to all officers. For some reason or another the IPS aren't going with that, he said. He outlined what prison officers have to put up with every week, saying there is an average of one assault each week on staff by inmates at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. He said: "You take a look at the likes of Mountjoy where there is on average one assault per week by prisoners on staff. "These kind of assaults are where staff are cut, punched or bitten is what you are talking about in Mountjoy Prison. You have various elements of that across the entire State." He added: It's the same prisoners, it's by and large the same prisoners have the same propensity for violence and the same ones that are going at our guys regularly. The conference is due to be addressed by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan later. Senior management from the IPS are also due to attend. A residents group has brought a High Court challenge to a Bord Pleanala decision to grant planning permission for more than 200 homes in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Southwood Park Residents Association is challenging the board's permission last February for the Cairn Homes development on 7.9 acres on the grounds of Chesterfield House, a protected structure, on Cross Avenue. They claim, among other things, the board erred in its decision and failed to meet requirements under EU environmental impact and habitat directives. As the planning application was dealt with under fast-track strategic planning legislation, allowing builders to bypass the normal local authority planning process, the only way to challenge it was by way of judicial review. The High Court has set up its own fast-track division for dealing with such strategic infrastructure cases. When the matter came before Mr Justice David Barniville today, he said he hoped to have a judge available in July to hear the case. It was important these cases be heard as early as possible and would endeavour to secure a July hearing despite the pressure on court lists, he said. Cairn Homes, who along with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Council are notice parties in the case, received permission to demolish the non-original elements of Chesterfield House. The existing Chesterfield House is a 1970s reconstruction that was built around the drawing room of the original early 19th-century structure. The house is now unoccupied. The original drawing room is to be retained within a reconstructed Chesterfield House containing three new apartments. The remainder of the development will comprise 214 apartments in mainly two to four-storey blocks along with seven two-storey houses. There will be 325 car spaces and 274 bicycle parking spaces in the development which is less than a kilometre from Booterstown DART station. A young student has revealed how he has become an alcoholic and has tried to take his own life after he was sexually abused by a man after a disco. The young man was sexually assaulted after losing his memory when he drank a can of Coke given to him by a man he got a lift home from a nightclub. The victim, who cannot be identified, claimed he was waiting for a taxi in Co Donegal when he was approached by Neil McBride. The young man, a student at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, was waiting for a taxi after a disco in Gaoth Dobhair. McBride, now aged 48, asked the student if he wanted a lift home and on the way gave him a bottle of water to drink. However, the accused ended up at his house and made the excuse that he needed to get something inside. He invited the student inside the house and gave him a can of Coke to drink. The man said he became drowsy and went to the toilet where he phoned his mother telling her where he was. The student said he lost his memory and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his boxer shorts with McBride assaulting him. McBride appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court on one charge of sexual assault on October 7, 2007 which he denied. The court was told that after the incident, the student's father and his brother arrived at McBride's house and took him away. The next day the student, who was aged 19 at the time of the assault, attended the local NowDoc service and said he suspected he had been raped. The NowDoc service contacted gardai and they arrived to interview the student who said he wanted to contact his parents first. Retired Detective Garda Sgt Michael Carroll told the court that when he called the student's house the following day, the boy's father answered the phone. Mr Carroll said the boy's father told him that they would not be making any complaint and that he was not to phone the house again. Letterkenny Circuit Court The victim later told the court that his father told him that if he made a complaint against McBride their family would be forced to leave the area. However, a number of years later, on March 23, 2015, the former student made an official complaint and McBride was arrested. During interview, McBride said it was the student who asked him for a lift. When it was put to him that the victim claimed he was drugged, McBride replied: If there were drugs in his system he didn't get them in my house. McBride, of Derrybeg, Gaoth Dobhair, claimed it was the student who wanted to stay in his house and that when he went to put a quilt over him in a bedroom, he accidentally hit him in the groin area. He added that although he was gay he had no interest sexually in the student as he knew he was dating a girl locally. After deliberating for just under four hours the jury found McBride guilty of the single charge of sexual assault. The court heard today how the young victim has been forced to drop out of college because his drinking became out of control. He is now a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for the past nine months and has tried to take his own life on several occasions. He added that his relationship with his father is non-existent because of the incident. "It is next to impossible this get this out of my head," said the student. The court was told that McBride has two previous convictions, one for drunk driving and another for the possession of child pornography for which he received a one year suspended sentence in March 2015. Passing sentence Judge John Aylmer said there was an element of premeditation to the assault and it was evident that the victim was in a state of intoxication at the time. He sentenced McBride to 22 months in prison but suspended the last five months of the sentence under the agreement that he enter a bond to keep the peace for 12 months. Update: The Taoiseach has claimed a protest at a Fine Gael meeting in Cork last night was profoundly undemocratic. A number of protestors interrupted a town hall meeting being held by the Leo Varadkar and the Tanaiste Simon Coveney. The group, called the Connolly Youth Movement, disrupted the meeting to read out statements protesting homelessness and austerity. They called for a minutes silence for homeless people who have died on the streets - before continuing to read statements and getting heckled by Fine Gael supporters. Just as the meeting was about to be cancelled they left. The Taoiseach was not impressed by the action insisting it was undemocratic. Is that an electric car? #climate protestor asks Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar as he leaves Cork for Limerick pic.twitter.com/WYNF3YSsBA Paul Cunningham (@RTENewsPaulC) May 1, 2019 I think no matter what political party somebody may come from or what somebodys political beliefs may be, we should all be committed to democracy and we should all be committed to free speech, he said. Trying to shout other people down or trying to shut down their meetings is profoundly undemocratic. Connolly Youth Movement spokesperson Alexander Homits said the group has a right to challenge Fine Gael policies. Fine Gael has introduced austerity policy and austerity policy and we dont believe they can come here, have a public meeting and not be questioned or challenged about it, he said. Earlier: Protesters in Cork give Cabinet a slap in the face after a day of disruptions Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his Cabinet will undoubtedly have expected some soft focus PR during their trip to Cork City, with political strategists eyeing up the chance to win over some badly needed rural support when the visit plans were first unveiled. But, despite their best intentions, the day-long journey to the rebel county has if anything provided ministers with a short, sharp slap in the face reality check of the problems facing the coalition as they bid to keep voter support in place nationwide in the weeks - and months - to come. And, while there will be attempts to shrug off the criticisms, the images of Mr Varadkar and his closest allies being hounded by protesters throughout the day could have a longer term impact than the minor inconvenience of which it is being portrayed. From farmers protesting over Brexit supports to a women's rights group protesting over a cluster of health and social services crises. Climate change protesters to a small group of pro-life campaigners. Video of the protest by Connolly Youth Movement. pic.twitter.com/sANazu2QMK Fiachra O Cionnaith (@Ocionnaith) May 1, 2019 And cancelled walk-arounds in Cork City's Patrick Street to the dramatic disruption of a Fine Gael-dominated public debate on the directly elected mayors plebiscite by a hard-left student group. Everywhere the Cabinet looked on Wednesday was framed by potential PR problems. Yes, the second special cabinet meeting in Cork City since Mr Varadkar became Taoiseach almost two years ago shows the Government is at least conscious of the need to rid itself of its at times unfair Dublin-bias image. And, yes, the promotion of Cork City in the hope an injection of further private sector investment could reduce population pressure on Dublin and benefit the entire country is welcome. But try telling that to the diverse groups of campaigners, all of whom spent Wednesday trying to replace the Government's carefully planned PR roadshow with the what they see as the realities facing the public on a daily basis. First to overshadow the Government image were the Irish Farmers Association, which held a 500-strong protest around Cork City Hall as cabinet ministers arrived on Wednesday morning. While some cabinet members such as Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath grabbed the literal bull by the horns to pose for photographs alongside protesters and their cattle, others were not so lucky, with Tanaiste Simon Coveney facing criticism over the Government's supposedly small Brexit support funding, before Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was accosted with the now infamous chant: "Where's the beef, ya vegan ya." Safely ensconced in City Hall - which was a late location change, after Blackrock Castle was perhaps understandably ruled out as destination for a cabinet intent on ditching its posh boy image - Mr Varadkar reminded reporters farmers receiving significant funding already. However, his appearance beside Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring just hours after several rural ministers posed with Culture Minister Josepha Madigan in a smart phone video while on a bus travelling to the cabinet meeting gave the air of a party too hard to emphasise its legitimate rural links. With the IFA protest having made its point, Mr Varadkar travelled to the official opening of a health centre on Cork City's northside before he was due to take part in a short walk-around with Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune in the city centre. However, shortly before the open goal PR opportunity was due to take place, it was cancelled, officially due to time constraints but with cynics suggesting the potential for embarrassing further protests looming large. And the feeling of a choreographed day unravelling due to the threat of protests gained further traction as Mr Varadkar walked into the Clayton Hotel on Lapp's Quay to be greeted by two pro-life protesters and a separate group campaigning for women's rights in light of the cervical cancer scandal intent on making their voices heard. As he took his seat alongside Tanaiste Simon Coveney, junior local government minister John Paul Phelan and Ms Clune for a public meeting on the upcoming directly elected mayor vote in the hotel, Mr Varadkar would have been right to expect a return to a one topic discussion. A Fine Gael meeting in Cork has been suspended after protesters crashed it. Angry scenes from the local members present pic.twitter.com/NPfoLPuinn Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) May 1, 2019 But within minutes of the meeting beginning such hopes soon evaporated, with a handful of Connolly Youth Movement members shouting out a protest speech on the Government's health, housing, economic and alleged US military-linked policies. The response from Mr Varadkar - the who accused the protesters of being "anti-democratic" by forcing the 10-minute postponement of a genuinely valuable public debate on the upcoming plebsicite - was tempered, and balanced. However, the jostling of the protesters by some Fine Gael members, including one who was caught on camera by the Irish Examiner and other media outlets yelling "have you a job, are you a sponger, are you on the dole" will not be the image the party will have wanted to portray. It should be said that despite the unexpected protests, Mr Varadkar and the Government still continued with a detailed directly elected mayors debate on Wednesday night, took genuine time out to see first hand the changes in Ireland's second city, and attempted to use the special cabinet meeting to promote improvements throughout Ireland, not just in Dublin. However, as he left Cork City on Wednesday night any hope these legitimate points could cocoon the Taoiseach from the grassroots criticisms mounting up appeared threadbare at best, with Mr Varadkar's last interaction before climbing into his car before leaving Cork being another protest group - this time on climate change - politely but pointedly asking him the rhetorical question: "Is that an electric car?" Lots of rural Ireland focussed PR initiatives, but far more real life issues getting in the way. All of which the Government will have to address sooner or later if it intends to remain in power. One of two boys accused of Anastasia Kriegels murder claimed that he tried to be considerate and not hurt her feelings when declining her offer of a relationship on the evening he is alleged to have killed her. Boy A also spent part of his witness statement about her disappearance describing two alleged attackers he said gave him injuries which the State claims happened during the killing. The trial also heard that Boy A had used his left hand to initial his statement as he had an injury to his right. The court earlier heard that Boy B said he hadnt a clue what happened to her, when asked to make a statement after he and Boy A had disagreed about their last meeting in front of gardai. Boy B claimed Ana had looked very down and upset after meeting Boy A so he could tell her he was not interested in her. Gardai were giving evidence to the Central Criminal Court today in the trial of two teenagers charged with murdering the Kildare schoolgirl. The two boys are charged with murdering Anastasia at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan on May 14 last year. The accused, who are both 14, cannot be named because they are minors. They each pleaded not guilty. Boy A is further charged with Anastasias aggravated sexual assault in a manner that involved serious violence to her. He also pleaded not guilty to that count. The jury was also shown CCTV images that gardai said shows Anas last known movements. Images were captured from six separate locations showing various movements of persons gardai say are Boy A, Boy B and Ana. In one shot, Boy B can been seen walking in the direction of Anas home, then a few minutes later Boy B is shown walking back with Ana, with Boy B walking in front of her. Gardai say Boy A can be seen walking through the park at 5.05pm wearing dark clothing, gloves and a backpack. Other footage shows two people walking through another part of the park at 5.14pm. Garda Seamus Timmins told the court that after garda extensively viewed the footage and movements of other people in the area, they believe these two people are Boy B and Ana. Mr Timmins added that at 6.03pm, a person that appears to be Boy A can be seen walking back through the park with a limp. Detective Sergeant John OKeefe testified that he took a witness statement from Boy A on the evening after Anas disappearance. Both boys had been asked to give statements after differences emerged between their verbal accounts of their last sightings of her. He told Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, that Boy A had used his left hand to initial his statement as he had an injury to his right hand. Boy A had told Dgt Sgt O'Keefe that he had arranged to meet Boy B in St Catherines Park in Leixlip that evening. Hed described him as one of his best friends. Ana Kriegel was with him when he came, he stated. I dont know her that well. Boy A said that the three of them had walked slowly, very closely together, and that he vaguely recalled talking to the other boy about video games. I wasnt really talking to Ana, he said. She was on her phone a good bit, not talking on it, but using it. He said that, at one stage, Ana had told him that she was wondering if he wanted to go out with her. I was surprised. It came out of nowhere, he said. However, he said he did have an idea that she liked him because she did kind of ask me out before. I was going to say no and I wanted to do it without hurting her feelings, he told gardai. The first time when I told her no, she stormed off, so I was trying to be more considerate this time. Boy A said that he told Ana he was sorry but wasnt interested in her. She said nothing. She stayed there for a couple of minutes and then walked off, he said. I could tell she wasnt happy. She looked annoyed and sad at the same time. He said that hed continued to walk with his friend after she had left, and that hed described what had happened to Boy B as a bit random. He said that Boy B then also left. I said nothing to Ana to upset her apart from declining to go out with her, he added, before describing an attack he said hed then suffered. I became aware of two males walking behind me. It didn't feel right so I sped up, he began. They caught up to me. One of them grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me onto the ground. Both started to kick me. Boy A said that he was winded from one of the kicks to his chest, but managed to get up after about a minute and kick one of them in the head. He said that they had both run away. He then described the physiques, age and clothing of the two men, indicating that both were about 19 or 20 and that one of them was built like a rugby player. Boy A said that he had gone home and told his parents what had happened. My back is bruised. My legs were sore around my knees, he said. I have a cut on my left leg. My right leg is very painful. I have small bruising on my chest. He said that his right arm was also damaged and that his lip was bleeding. There was nothing stolen from me during the attack, he added. Nor did they demand anything from me. Under cross examination by Patrick Gageby SC, defending Boy A, Det Sgt O'Keefe said that he had left the room after taking the statement to discuss things with a colleague. He had learned of discrepancies between Boy A's statement and that of Boy B. He had returned to Boy A and told him this, asking him if there was anything hed wanted to change. There was not. Theyre two 13-year-old boys. Its not unimaginable that one would remember something different to the other, he said. It was important to give him the opportunity to make a change if he so wished. Under re-examination by Mr Grehan, he confirmed that, at the time he took the statement, Boy A was a witness in a missing persons enquiry. You had no idea that Ana Kriegel was dead? Mr Grehan asked. Absolutely not, replied the sergeant. Sergeant Aonghus Hussey had earlier told Mr Grehan that he and a colleague had accompanied both boys to St Catherines Park the day after Ana had gone missing. He was aware that Boy B had said that morning that he and Ana had met Boy A in the park the previous evening. They were asked to re-walk the route they had taken, and maps of this route were provided to the jury. Sgt Hussey said that, at one point, his colleague stated to both boys that this was not the route Boy B had indicated to him earlier. He was asked how Boy B appeared at that point. Uncertain, confused, Sgt Hussey replied. We were trying to establish the movements and Boy B said this was the last point, that was as far as hed gone, he recalled. Again there was confusion. I saw a look given between Boy A and Boy B that I was not happy with. I felt immediately that there was something wrong. I couldnt understand why they could not exactly tell me their movements. He said that his colleague had also observed this and they decided to split the two boys up. Sgt Hussey continued to walk with Boy A and his father. I asked his father to stay a little behind, he explained. I thought maybe he was embarrassed by something he didnt want his father to hear, to see if something had occurred between him and Ana. Neither had any difficulty with this, he said. Boy A informed me that Ana had asked him out and he had declined her, he testified. He said she was upset and that she turned and left," he continued. Boy A said he had continued on (alone) because he just wanted to get his head together, he added. He informed me that he had been assaulted by two males and thats the reason he was holding his arm and was limping. The sergeant said that he, Boy A and his father had returned to where other gardai had been waiting. He informed them that he was unhappy with the accounts and information given because they seemed to lack consistency. It was decided to bring both boys to Leixlip Garda Station voluntarily to get statements in writing. He and a colleague took Boy Bs statement in the presence of his mother. Yesterday evening, about 5pm, I called to a girl called Ana Kriegel at the request of my friend Boy A. Boy A had asked me to call to her and bring her to St Catherines Park to meet him there. He had told me he had wanted to sort out some relationship issues with her so I called and got Ana, he began. Ana wanted to know why Boy A wanted her. I said Ill tell you when we get there. We then met up in the park with Boy A, he continued. I stayed a little behind them so they could talk I know Boy A wanted to be clear with her that she was not of interest to him so I let them walk on. He said he later noticed Ana walking back towards where they had come from. I said Hey, but she didnt really say anything. She seemed upset. She looked really down. She had her head down. I walked in front of her and we didnt really talk, he said. Boy B said that Ana then turned back towards some changing rooms. I didnt see her after that or speak to her. Im not sure where she went after that, he said, putting the time at about 5.30pm or 5.40pm. The first time I knew there was a problem with Ana was when the gardai called to my house asking about her, he said. I have no clue what happened to her. Sgt Hussey agreed with Damien Colgan SC, defending Boy B, that the sergeant had said in his own statement that Boy A had disagreed with Boy B during the walk. This had been about where he had parted from Ana and Boy A. He [BOY A] indicated that Boy B had walked on with both of them, Sgt Hussey had said. At that stage Boy A gave a look to Boy B. The sergeant had stated his opinion to both boys that he was not happy with the interaction. Hed asked Boy A what the look was about, but he had denied that a look was given. The trial continues tomorrow morning before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of eight men and four women. Additional reporting by PA A 17-year-old boy has been sent forward for trial accused of knocking a man unconscious and breaking his jaw with a hammer-like blow during an assault in Dublin. The boy was charged with assault causing harm to the 38-year-old Romanian man and production of a weapon in connection with the incident on the North Circular Road, on September 18, 2018. He appeared before Judge Brendan Toale at the Dublin Childrens Court where he was served with a book of evidence. Judge Toale told him he must notify the prosecution if he intended to use an alibi in his defence. He was granted legal aid and returned for trial to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he will face his next hearing on May 24. He cannot be named because he is a minor. The Director of Public Prosecutions has recommended he should be tried in the Circuit Court which has tougher sentencing powers and the Childrens Court had refused jurisdiction to hear the case. In an outline of the allegations, Garda Colm Kelly said the victim and his friend had been sitting on a wall. His friend got into an altercation with the boy who walked past and allegedly made a derogatory comment. The 38-year-old told the then 16-year-old boy he had nothing to do with the initial row but the youth replied: Your friend did. The court heard the teen was armed with a broken hurley and the man was dragged to the ground. The man received a number of blows to the face. The boy struck the man with the hurling stick and stamped on his head, the court was told. Photos of the mans injuries were shown to the judge who also watched CCTV footage of the incident. Garda Kelly told the court the man said in his statement the last thing he recalled was a boy standing over him and receiving a hammer-like blow to the head. He lost consciousness and suffered a fractured jaw cut, the court heard. Reports on the teens educational and behavioural issues were furnished to the court. Defence Sandra Frayne asked the juvenile court to accept jurisdiction by taking into account the boys age and level of maturity. The teen had been found to have educational problems and a tendency to react badly to situations. His mother had tried her best to help him and the boy who had extremely severe emotional and behavioural difficulties and was referred to mental health services. There were reports on the boys issues going back a decade, the solicitor said and she asked the judge to note the teen had been goaded by the victims friend at the start of the incident. However, it was held the case was too serious and jurisdiction was refused. Trinity College Dublin is seeking alumni to volunteer as mentors and to offer internships to current students. The appeal comes as the university is also encouraging philanthropic donations from Ireland and overseas. Trinity College Bursar, Veronica Campbell, revealed the amount of money they are hoping to raise. Ms Campbell said: "We have an ambition to raise 400m and to inspire 150,000 hours of volunteering from a global Trinity network and really the purpose of this campaign is to strengthen the impact that Trinity, Trinity staff and Trinity students can have both locally and around the world through our research and education and really exciting initiatives that this campaign will support." Dr Patrick Prendergast told Newstalk Breakfast: By and large we know what we need the money for, we have some very important projects - the Trinity/St James Cancer Institute for example, the development of our engineering, environment and emerging technologies institute, the development of a new law school, and our business school and of course, very importantly scholarships to bring new generations of staff and students into Trinity College What we're trying to do here is to mobilise a community of supporters behind Trinity College through fundraising so it will be donations big and small, as well as, very importantly, volunteering to help with time and expertise. Mentoring or offering internships to our students through places of work are very important volunteer activities. Many alumni, many graduates are involved in clubs and societies within the college and that's also very important. It's a way of contributing non-financial support, but a very important way to contribute to the university achieving its objectives. Dr Prendergast said that private funding and government funding, go hand in hand. All universities are getting better at raising philanthropic funding. Of course, Trinity has a reputation around the world, has good experience over the years of inspiring many generations of students, we will want to use that to succeed in our fundraising campaign. Two prison units are being opened and 100 cells are being 'doubled up' in a bid to deal with a resurgence in overcrowding in prisons. The Irish Prison Service said it was also working with the Department of Justice to determine what is driving the increase. Speaking at the Prison Officers' Association annual conference in Sligo, association president Tony Power said prisoners were again sleeping on mattresses - and he warned that overcrowding was the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and for violence to spread. IPS director general Caron McCaffrey said three of the 12 prisons were currently operating over capacity and that they had 400 more prisoners in the system now compared to the end of 2017. She said they had a strong plan in place to deal with rising numbers, including the reopening, by the end of the year, of the Training Unit in Mountjoy and the Progression Unit, also in Mountjoy, which will provide 150 extra spaces. She said an audit was identifying cells that were capable of holding two prisoners that are only occupied by one, saying they expected that to give an additional 100 spaces. Ms McCaffrey said they were also looking at using spare capacity in open centres. In addition, the construction of a new wing at Limerick Prison (due to be completed by 2021) will provide an additional 90 spaces, while a new Limerick female prison will provide an additional 43 spaces. Minister Charlie Flanagan. She said factors for the rise included: an increase in garda numbers which is resulting in more prosecutions; new legislation which is creating new offences and an increase in the general population. Ms McCaffrey said they were working with the Department of Justice to understand what's behind the rise and to put a plan in place. She said they wanted to implement impact assessments on prisons from the effects of new legislation, new policies and funding decisions in other areas of the criminal justice system. The increase in the prison population is in part due to a sharp rise in remand inmates (those held in custody awaiting trial) from 475 in January 2016 to 714 in January 2019. In addition, there has been a significant drop in prisoners given temporary release, from 394 to 171 over the same period. In his address to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, POA President Tony Power said overcrowding has made an unwelcome return to our prisons with figures rising from 3,745 in April 2017 to 4,049 in April 2019. Taking one landing at the Midlands, initially designed to hold 38 prisoners, it regularly has prisoner numbers in excess of 65 and this is mirrored in many of the prisons. Mr Flanagan said he accepted that there was a challenge of overcrowding, but said he considered it a short term issue. He said that with a number of initiatives there would be 250 extra spaces by the end of the year, which would be followed by the works at Limerick Prison. Thirty years after the Chernobyl tragedy that claimed between 4,000 to 93,000 deaths and displaced approximately 300,000 people, HBO and Sky's co-production 'Chernobyl', based on the true-life events that occurred in Soviet Ukraine in 1986, will air next week. The series will cover a number of stories, from the doctors who were working in Pripyat at the night of the explosion, to the workers in the plant, to the firefighters responding to the scene, to a government official, to a scientist risking her life by being around the reactor, and indeed, by challenging the State. Writer and executive producer Craig Mazin has penned a number of Hollywood hits including Identity Thief, The Hangover II and III, and Scary Movie 3 and 4, but this mini-series is a far cry from his previous comedy flicks. "The whole truth of what happened at Chernobyl - before and after the accident - goes far beyond the events of April 26th, 1986," he explains. "As the story of Chernobyl unfolds, you will discover the culture of lies that led to the disaster. You will experience the incredible lengths required to stop a total nuclear meltdown. You will learn just how close and just how much of the entire European continent came to becoming completely uninhabitable. "But above all, you will witness the true stories of the heroes of Chernobyl as they fought an unprecedented war against an invisible enemy, even as their own government betrayed them. This exhibition shines a light on some of those brave men and women who suffered and sacrificed, saving millions of lives... often at the cost of their own." Emily Watson plays Ulana Khomyuk from the Belarus Institute of Nuclear Energy, who is a composite character created from a range of scientists at the time. "Shes very smart and very determined and works out the way theyre fighting the fire could trigger a secondary explosion. She drives to Chernobyl, persuades them and becomes a trusted part of the team. "Jareds character asks her to get to the bottom of what happened. It takes a dark turn when she starts coming across material thats been redacted, and realises there were design faults known all along." The Oscar-nominated actress read the history of Belarus and watched, along with the cast, 'Come and See' in preparation for her role. "My character would have grown up through the most extraordinary levels of trauma and inhumanity. To survive that, she had to be tough. Watson insists the series is an important one to watch. "Its about ownership of truth and the nature of energy and how we control it. It feels like both those things are desperately urgent and that the wheels of history are turning before our eyes. I think its a very politically astute, relevant piece," says Watson. Jessie Buckley has been making headlines for her performance in Wild Rose recently, but she'll be playing a drastically different character in the Sky series. Buckley will play Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the wife of one of the first firefighters who attended the scene after the nuclear explosion. Jessie Buckley as Lyudmilla Ignatenko. Picture: Sky. "She's a very human way of telling the stories of millions that were involved in dealing with the effects of the explosion." The Kerry born actress said the script completely blew her away, and in preparation for the role, she read 'Voices from Chernobyl' by Svetlana Alexievich which chronociles multiple accounts of people directly affected by the explosion, including Lyudmilla. "I wasnt born when it happened, but I grew up in Ireland and when I was at primary school there was a charity set up by Adi Roche for children affected by the explosion (Chernobyl Children International), they would come and live in Ireland for a year and go to my school." "So I felt very emotionally involved. But the pressure is your responsibility to tell these peoples stories. There was one day I was on set and there were various extras from Lithuania and Ukraine. "There was this woman beside me crying her eyes out. At the end I gave her a hug and she said her son had been a victim of that explosion." Lyudmilla's arc is one that centres around love. "Its a story about this young couple who are at the beginning of a life together. You meet them on the night of the explosion, and you see this blind and dangerous love as well as survival and grief. "Adam Nagaitis - who Id been at RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art] with is my husband and the special effects make up showing radiation burns was horrific. Just being there on the set was harrowing enough. "But her love was so strong that despite the danger and the horror she stays for him." While Buckley insists that she enjoys being out of her comfort zone being challenged with people she looks up to you, the role was not without its difficulties. "The the hardest part [about the role] was the fear that you werent making these peoples voices heard. The best part was getting to work with an amazing script and with people like Johan and Emily Watson." Chernobyl airs Tuesday at 9pm on Sky Atlantic. Ruby Walsh hopes to continue to play a part for Willie Mullins' stable after he stunned the racing world when announcing his retirement from the saddle at Punchestown. The 12-time champion jump jockey signed off his glittering career by steering Kemboy to victory for the Closutton trainer in the Coral Punchestown Gold Cup on Wednesday. Walsh was seen to wave goodbye to the crowd as Kemboy passed the post, and bows out having ridden over 2,500 winners and with more Cheltenham Festival successes to his name than any other rider in history. He told Mullins of his decision as he dismounted, and news quickly spread to racegoers and racing fans everywhere. Speaking on Racing TV a day later, Walsh confirmed his aim to remain directly involved at Mullins' yard. "I hope to have a role there," he said. "It's been part of my life since I left school. "I'd like to stay fit - I don't plan on getting too heavy - so yes, of course, I'd like to have a role there. "We'll have a chat about it, and see how it works out for everyone." Walsh explained why he believes he and Mullins had such a successful relationship. "I'd say trust made it work," he said. "You're always involved, and Willie likes input - you can see that with staff and the way the yard is set up and the system it works on. "He's ultimately in charge, but he does expect you to be thinking outside the box." The way Walsh's last day in the saddle worked out provided him with the perfect finale. "You're hoping to find a fairytale way of getting out, and it was a great way to to do it," he said. "It was a great day, great that (wife) Gillian and the girls (daughters) were here. "It's a bit of a blur, but it was lovely to get such a warm send-off. "But to me, it was more important to walk away on the big stage with a big winner - and I was lucky enough to be able to do that." Members of the Supreme Racing Club, who own Kemboy, could not believe their luck at being part of racing history. Steve Massey, racing manager for the successful syndicate, said: "It's absolutely unbelievable. I don't think any of us saw it coming. "Ruby is an absolute superstar and a fantastic horseman. To me, he's the best National Hunt jockey there's ever been. "He's a complete professional and a total gent, and it's fantastic for him and his family that he's gone out on a high. "It still hasn't really sunk in that he's retired, and for him to ride his last ever winner in our colours is just incredible. "It's a day none of us will ever forget." Arguably the greatest horse Walsh ever rode was Kauto Star - record-breaking five-time winner of the King George VI Chase at Kempton and the only horse to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Kauto Star's owner Clive Smith paid a fitting tribute to the great jockey. Smith said: "Ruby did a wonderful job for me as an owner. He did incredibly well, coming over from Ireland to ride Kauto and Master Minded and Big Buck's. "He's a real sportsman and a professional jockey of the highest order - he always rode so well under pressure." Another owner for whom Walsh enjoyed multiple big-race wins is John Hales - including two Punchestown Gold Cups on Neptune Collonges and the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Azertyuiop. "I owe Ruby a great deal," said Hales. "When he went past the post yesterday he signalled his five Punchestown Gold Cup wins, and two of those were on Neptune Collonges. "He's a great guy and a great jockey. He's suffered some horrendous injuries, but he's always had the guts to come back and carry on." PA Shareholder Wendy Clare left AMP's annual general meeting in Sydney with renewed optimism in the company but just hoped changes can be made swiftly. The longtime shareholder, aged in her 70s, said new chief executive Francesco de Ferrari filled her with confidence but the company had a long way to go to rectify its problems. "But now I hope it all happens, that the company gets back on track before I die," she said. Wendy Clare was optimistic AMP could implement changes. Credit:Louis Douvis Ms Clare said there were a lot of smiling shareholders after the meeting but she had expected them to voice more of their anger at the proceedings in the suburb of Chatswood on Thursday. But what is the long-term play? Ultimately if people aren't buying more iPhones, Apple won't have a fresh pool of people to persuade to spend more on apps, AirPods and other things that are a supplement to Apple's main hardware products - principally the iPhone. Is the goal to increase Apple's average revenue from each iPhone owner? Or, if Apple is trying to sell products to people who don't already own iPhones and other Apple products, how can it boost what seem to be paltry sales of Apple Music, AirPods, Apple News and more to the billions of people who don't already own its gadgets? Flagging iPhone sales are just one challenge for Apple. Credit:Bloomberg 3. What's the plan to reach the next billion users? I think often of this 2016 interview with chief executive officer Tim Cook on Indian television network NDTV. Cook was asked repeatedly how Apple products might be tailored to the unique needs of Indians. Cook seemed out of his depth, and Apple has mostly stuck with its global one-size-fits-all strategy. Since then, Apple has gone nowhere in India. Its revenue flatlined in what is perhaps the world's most important technology growth market.(2) Apple's failures there so far are emblematic of its challenges. Smartphone and internet growth are now coming from places like India, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, and Apple is still treating much of the world like the U.S. and Europe. Meanwhile, companies such as Google, Netflix, Facebook and China's smartphone kings are tailoring their products, pricing and business strategies for India, Vietnam and other countries where growth is booming for internet hangouts and mobile technology. Apple has had admirable success in China without radically customising its products. Can Apple repeat this in the rest of the world? 4. Does Apple have the right expertise at the company to shift direction, if it wants to? This goes for both Apple's strategy with online services and selling outside the developed world. Apple is stocked with expertise in hardware development and supply chains, pedantic designers who come up with one amazing product a year and computer chip nerds. Also, Apple's executive team and board of directors look like this. It's a lot of Americans and Europeans, which is a sign of the company's relative global myopia. Does the company's employee base need different types of skills and experience? 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. Australian tech companies are munching through billions of data points to grow their offers and as the world moves to the cloud, issues of ethics and security are front of mind. "If you havent got that ethical or moral framework, where you go 'what's right and what's not right' and build from that, the tech will do anything you want," chief technology officer of Whispir, Jonathan Swift says. Whisper CTO Jonathan Swift. The $30 million Melbourne startup helps business clients send personalised communications through the cloud, like transport or emergency updates via text message. Speaking from the sidelines of the AWS Summit in Sydney on Tuesday, Swift said technology companies must decide early on what kinds of data they were willing to store and work with. Four months before submitting her Archibald Prize entry, young West Australian artist Tessa MacKay sent actor David Wenham a master image of the work. Tessa MacKay's Through the Looking Glass (oil on linen, 210 x 330.5 cm) has won the Packing Room Prize. Credit: the artist Wenham, a favourite sitter of many artists, including 2000's Archibald Prize winner, Adam Cullen, said that she had been too kind to his face - "the judges love wrinkles". "I spent another two to three months on his face alone ... went down another brush size and gave those crevices a bit more life," Mackay recalls. It did the trick for head packer Brett Cuthbertson who awarded this year's Packing Room Prize to the hyperreal portrait of Wenham in a Newtown cafe, titled Through the Looking Glass. Shortly before shooting started on comedy film The Hustle, actor Anne Hathaway had the core team of cast and crew around to her place for dinner. It was a small ritual she'd adopted from Australian actor Russell Crowe, who held dinner parties while filming Les Miserable for his so-called "engine room", an effort to make everyone feel less self-conscious while singing into each other's faces on set. This time, there was no singing to fear but plenty of comedy improv and foreign accents to tackle. And Hathaway wanted to toast one person in particular: her co-star Rebel Wilson, the Australian actor who pitched the film idea, produced it and carried its crucial comedic backbone. "Its not an easy thing to get a movie made," Hathaway says. "Its not an easy thing to back yourself in Hollywood and the reason we were all there ... was because Rebel believed in herself, because she saw herself in this project and had the follow-through to make it happen and thats really, really hard to do. So I was very happy to toast to her and say, 'Thank you.' " The organisers of the Perth election campaign debate between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Bill Shorten have denied claims they directed the questions audience members asked. An undecided voter who was selected to judge the debate in the studio where it was filmed came forward to Perth radio station 6PR to say the producers stage-managed audience participation. Colin Ashworth, at the Men's Shed in Ellenbrook on Wednesday, said he just wanted people to know that "what's put out isn't always true". Credit:Nathan Hondros Colin Ashworth, who lives in the marginal Perth seat of Pearce, told Oliver Peterson's Perth Live the audience participants were asked to write down questions before the debate, but no-one planned to ask Mr Shorten about his franking credit policy. "They said, we're going to look at them [the questions] now and when they came back and they said, 'did anyone put down a question about the franking credits?' Mr Ashworth said. The Liberal candidate for Reid, Fiona Martin, is willing to move back into the marginal seat in Sydney if elected on May 18 despite finalising the purchase of a family home outside the electorate only six weeks ago. Dr Martin, a child psychologist, grew up within the seat vacated at this election by Liberal Craig Laundy, but has been living outside the electorate. In an interview, she repeatedly declined to say where she lived, attributing her reluctance to privacy concerns for her four children. Liberal candidate for Reid Fiona Martin (left) on a street walk in Burwood with John Howard, who is interrupted by Labor candidate Sam Crosby. Credit:Nick Moir I live five minutes from the electorate, Dr Martin said. The NSW Police Force has been ordered to publish an apology and implement racial vilification training for senior officers after a tribunal found a police training exercise in October 2017 racially vilified Palestinians and Arabs and portrayed them as potential terrorists. The training, dubbed "Exercise Pantograph", featured hundreds of police and other emergency services personnel descending on Sydney's Central Station on October 17 and 18 as though they were responding to a terrorist event or other high-risk incident. NSW Police during Exercise Pantograph in October 2017. Credit:NSW Police As part of the exercise, two officers pretending to be "active armed offenders" wore checkered headscarves as they boarded a train, simulated stabbing and shooting people, held hostages, then tried to escape before being caught by police. The pretend offenders displayed the Islamic State flag during the exercise, pushed people to the floor, held train passengers at gunpoint, and held up their index fingers in a salute notoriously associated with Islamic State. Genetically-enhanced healthy koalas from zoos and reserves could become reservoirs of healthy genes to protect their cousins in the wild. That is the science behind the release of two koalas from the Gold Coasts Dreamworld wildlife centre into bushland at Coomera on Thursday. The two healthy koalas - Amelia and El Yungo were the first pair released back into koala bushland as part of the Queensland governments million-dollar Living Koala Genome Bank project. Queensland's Koala Genome Project A genome contains all the biological cell material necessary to build a plant or an animal. It is a complete set of DNA information. That image of Steve Dickson, salivating over a near-naked woman in a US strip club, says so much about political leadership, or the lack of it. This election, more than anything, is showcasing the need for a massive overhaul of how we view leadership, and those who aspire to it. Steve Dickson was a party leader who actually thought it was okay to act like an untamed animal while running for public office, while the TV tears of his boss Pauline Hanson should be ignored: a good leader chooses wisely. Credit:AAP And it shows that what weve learnt from the herculean leadership fail in our banks and in our churches, in our unions and on our sporting fields hasnt translated into action. Its easy to dismiss Dickson as a two-bit candidate from a minor party, but this was the leader of a party One Nation in Queensland. More than 326,000 people live in the Logan local government area, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and it is the eighth-largest population in the country. Ms O'Shea was most recently the director-general of the Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs and had a "distinguished" career in the public service, Mr Hinchliffe said. She is also a member of the Councillor Complaints Tribunal, established in October last year to monitor and manage complaints about councillor behaviour and actions. Mr Hinchliffe said after the CCC charged the councillors over an alleged fraud perpetuated against sacked Logan City Council chief executive Sharon Kelsey, who turned whistleblower for the CCC in an earlier investigation into Cr Smith, he had been left with no choice. "This action does not interfere with the relevant judicial proceedings," he said. "I wish to be very clear - this action is being recommended because I have no other choice at this point in time under the Local Government Act." Mr Hinchliffe said the suspended, now sacked, councillors, were innocent until proven guilty. Loading But the Local Government Association of Queensland said the minister's actions were "unprecedented" and apparently made for political expediency. "None of the seven councillors accused of wrongdoing have been given natural justice," LGAQ chief executive Greg Hallam said. "The actions of the government and the Crime and Corruption Commission in this matter are unprecedented. "The residents of Logan City now have no local political representation." As is the case for Ipswich City Council's interim administrator Greg Chemello, appointed in August last year after alleged systemic corruption was uncovered, Ms O'Shea will manage Logan City Council until the March 2020 council elections. Councillor packed his desk once minister spoke Division 10's Cr Power, who has been on the council for two decades, said he began packing up his office on Thursday afternoon after Mr Hinchliffe made the announcement. "[I'm] pretty sad to lose the title of councillor after 22 years, but at the same time I respect the minister," he said. "The city is more important." Darren Power said it was "bittersweet" to be leaving Logan City Council in such a manner. Credit:Facebook Cr Power said he would run again in the 2020 council elections, while in the meantime he would work on the interim management committee alongside Ms O'Shea to correct some of the issues within the council. "Ill be honest, I know where a lot of the bodies are buried, a lot of the policies that need to be changed," he said. "Theres a lot of things that obviously Ive complained about, particularly the overseas trips, but after 22 years of experience I think I can add to the argument very well and hopefully get the council into a better shape." For his three colleagues who had called out the alleged behaviour by their peers, Cr Power said the situation had been deeply challenging. Loading "This is the most traumatic time Ive ever seen for Logan council," he said. "For them ... to do the right thing and still lose their position, obviously its a bittersweet pill to swallow but at the same time they know that the minister did the right thing." Division 5 councillor Jon Raven, who was elected to council three years ago, said the arduous road he and his three colleagues had travelled over the past term had been vindicated by the CCC charges and by the minister's decision. He said he was particularly buoyed by CCC chairman Alan MacSporran's words to the Local Government Minister in support of the four remaining Logan councillors. "What is really vindicating is Alan MacSporran ... approved us being part of the management committee, that he said that we shouldn't suffer any loss of remuneration or public reputation," Cr Raven said. "It's not every day CCC gives you a pat on the back and says 'good work mate'." Cr Raven said he would "100 per cent" run for council again next year, but in the meantime he was looking forward to working with Ms O'Shea and learning from her experience in administration and management. "Its fantastic to see a really qualified, capable ... woman as administrator," he said. "Itll be great for the city because shell be able to really get in with a broom and reset all the parameters under which council functions, so it will be much more efficient." 'Smith has been a disgrace': Former mayor Last week after the CCC announced the charges against the Logan councillors, Mr Hinchliffe indicated he was considering all options, including moving forward the council elections. But, he said in Parliament on Thursday, that would have forced ratepayers to bear the cost of two elections in one year. Instead, the appointment of Ms O'Shea would allow ratepayers to see their city operate as normal with rates collected, bins collected, and business as usual until March, when all councils would return to the polls. The move was supported by the opposition, with leader Deb Frecklington saying the Logan council "has to go". "Our residents deserve certainty and a fresh start," she said. LNP local government spokeswoman Ann Leahy said she did not believe there was a provision in the current legislation to pay compensation to the four sacked councillors. "It is something that no member in this house should take lightly," she said. "We should be very careful about where and when these powers to dissolve an elected local government are to be used." Former Logan mayor Graham Able, who was mayor from 2004-2008 and councillor for 32 years, welcomed the sacking. Im very happy with the ministers outcome. It should have happened sooner than later, Mr Able said. Loading Luke Smith, on a full salary of $260,000-plus a year, and all the other lurks and perks, has been a disgrace." Cr Smith was already suspended after being earlier charged with corruption and perjury, and failing to update his register of interests. On Thursday morning he was in the Queensland Police watchhouse after allegedly drink-driving and crashing his car, and faced Beenleigh Magistrates Court on those charges. Logan councillor Stacey McIntosh was suspended in 2018 after being charged with an unrelated fraud offence relating to her time before she was elected. Ratepayers wanted council sacked months ago Logan Ratepayers Association president Rod Shaw said the decision by the minister was welcome to ratepayers, who were frustrated at the ongoing situation at the council. He said residents had been calling for the council to be sacked for months, with the biggest frustration for ratepayers the fact that councillors, both those suspended last week and the two suspended earlier, were still on full pay. "That was the one thing that was really driving people up the wall - were paying them," he said. Logan Chamber of Commerce secretary Stuart Fleming - a candidate for Logan mayor - said the news of the administrator appointment had rattled some residents. Some ratepayers are concerned that rates would go up with an administrator being introduced, he said. We just hope this isnt the case and the administrator stepping in doesnt put any more stress on the people of Logan. University of New England head of law Michael Adams, who is an international expert in corporate governance, said the appointments of administrators was not unusual when councils ran into problems. "The council itself is usually run by a general manager, or similar title, and they have a full staff, so you have a very similar [set-up] to a large corporation," Professor Adams said. "In my experience, councils run by an administrator are often run more efficiently and more effectively than with a council and general manager." He said Mr Hinchliffe's decision was one he supported as in the best interests of the council's staff, the ratepayers and the community. "We live in a democracy and there is a point where it is appropriate we have elected officials overseeing," he said. Police later extended the reward to information about another case, which occurred in Nunawading in the following year. Detective Inspector Steve Wilson said there were some "disturbing escalations" in the Nunawading assault. This time the men asked the victim her name, where she lived and threatened to murder her. At about 9.30pm on the night of March 26, 1986, 19-year-old Debbie* was walking along the footpath on Ashwood Drive. She was heading to the house of the parents of her then-boyfriend. He had a car and the plan was he would drive Debbie home later that evening. "I didnt even think that it would be an issue," Debbie said of her decision to walk a quiet suburban street at night. "I quite like I used to quite like walking anyway, so it wasnt something that I even worried about it. And I was just excited to be going to see him." But Debbie said that she remained "terrified" by the memory of what happened next, a heinous assault which would have a profound impact on the rest of her life. A vehicle, described as being possibly a white or silver Holden sedan, pulled up alongside her and she was pulled into the car with four men. The victim was threatened with a knife, blindfolded and gagged. She was driven a short distance to an unknown property and then sexually assaulted over a number of hours by at least three men whilst still blindfolded. The woman was then dumped under a parked vehicle on Mariana Avenue in Ringwood East sometime around midnight. Despite giving the men a false name, Debbie moved interstate after the attack. "I built a whole identity under a different name, just to make sure that I wouldn't be found," she said. "I wouldn't even talk to people for months and months." Despite being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Debbie held down a highly paid, professional job which saw her travelling across Australia. But it was a position which required her to be called out to work at night. One evening this occurred at about the same time she had been assaulted years earlier on Ashwood Drive. "Every time I would go to work after that I remembered that I could be in danger at any moment," she said. "I couldn't do my work anymore ... I ended up giving it away." The trauma of the assault also derailed her personal life. Debbie's boyfriend at the time of the attack became her husband and "went to great lengths" to help her recover. But despite her "respecting him forever for that" he was a "constant reminder". Debbie said she "get the guilt" over the breakdown of that relationship. Debbie said she still gets flashbacks and has trouble forming relationships and trusting people. "It impacts on everything," she said of the attack. But Debbie hopes going public will be a positive move for her and other victims. "Times have changed and I think that it would give a bit of power to victims to hear that victims can actually stand up and have these sorts of criminals be held to account for what they have done," she said. "Having these people properly punished, even after all this time, they deserve it." Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward and are "particularly keen" to speak to anyone who may have been victim of such an incident, but never reported it at the time. *Not her real name 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. 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. 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's Adam Cross and honours student Thilo Krueger have combed swamps and billabongs throughout northern Australia for Aldrovanda vesiculosa. Credit:AAP 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. 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. A long way from the leadership campaigns of Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten, the minor scandals told Australians that Labor and the Liberals were having trouble finding and vetting the candidates they need to represent middle-of-the-road Australians. The fact is most Australians do not make light of rape, do not hate gays and do not deride Muslims. Is it too much to expect the major parties to make sure their candidates live the same values? If you scrape the bottom of the barrel, do not be surprised if voters throw the dregs back in your face. This phase of the campaign is not new dirt units always mobilise in the days after ballot papers are printed and it is too late to withdraw candidates but it is more telling this year. That is because the dodgy candidates from the "mainstream" parties are such a contrast with the independents who have chosen to reject those same parties. The Coalition is far more exposed than Labor to this threat and not just because Kelly O'Dwyer, the employment minister retiring at this election, famously told her colleagues that many voters regarded the Liberals as "homophobic, anti-women climate-change deniers". Most of the significant independents are seeking electorates held or previously held by the Liberals and Nationals: Julia Banks in Flinders, Helen Haines in Indi, Kevin Mack in Farrer, Rob Oakeshott in Cowper, Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth, Zali Steggall in Warringah, Alice Thompson in Mackellar and Oliver Yates in Kooyong. Only one, Andrew Wilkie in Clark, has a seat previously held by Labor. Wilkie is close to a certainty, Oakeshott and Mack are real chances and Haines may be able to inherit Indi from Cathy McGowan. Yet the long shots reveal the trouble the Liberals are having in keeping supporters they once took for granted. For Thompson to replace Jason Falinski in Mackellar, Yates to unseat Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong and Banks to defeat Greg Hunt in Flinders would be a staggering collapse for the Liberals. Labor candidate for Melbourne Luke Creasey. Credit:Justin McManus Victories for Steggall and Phelps would be so expensive for the Liberals they would be a form of political bankruptcy. This is not just about the fate of Tony Abbott in Warringah. In the business world, this sort of failure would trigger claims a company was trading while insolvent. Defeats in Warringah and Wentworth will raise questions about whether the Liberals ran out of political capital before the campaign even began. Zali Steggall's focus on climate and social issues appeals to the wealthier voters in the seat of Warringah. Credit:James Alcock The scale of this danger is measured by the comparison with Labor. The infighting in the Labor caucus in 2010 wrecked the government and contributed to the rise of Adam Bandt in Melbourne (replacing Lindsay Tanner) and Wilkie in Clark (previously the seat of Denison, where he replaced Duncan Kerr) in that year. If you destroy trust in your party among your faithful supporters, you allow independents to poach those voters with a message about personal integrity. What is especially revealing about the national contest is the way most of the independents are intensifying their campaign on climate change. Seven of them signed a joint statement, brokered by the Australian Conservation Foundation, to oppose the Adani coal mine and urge deeper cuts to emissions. The independents are making a rational decision to go harder on climate change based on feedback from their electorates. They may be wrong. It is also possible they are riding a tidal wave that swamps the government. Loading But this is not the only message from the independents. Asked how they would decide whether to support one party or another in a hung parliament, several named a national integrity commission as a top issue. "Number one is integrity. On the ground, people are talking to me all the time about the fundamental loss of trust in major parties, in politicians and in parliamentary process," Haines told me. Others said the same thing and overwhelmingly preferred the Labor policy to set up a tougher integrity commission than the Coalition. Labor has attracted favourable headlines by promising to boost wages for underpaid childcare workers. But how much will this policy really benefit the workers it is designed to help? Labor says it will spend $10 billion over the next decade to increase childcare workers wages by 20 per cent. For government to "top up" pay for privately employed workers is highly unusual. There is precious little detail in the Labor announcement about how this will work. There are many questions to be answered. Labor has promised to increase the wages of privately employed early childhood educators by 20 per cent. Credit:Gabriele Charotte Will government money simply fund pay increases that would have happened anyway? Labor has said that its increase will be in addition to any pay rise employers agree with their workers. Employers may need to pay more in future as demand for childcare services grows. Will employers simply hold back on offering any pay rises and let the government pick up the tab? Are such payments constitutionally valid? If the payments are made directly to childcare providers and are not direct subsidies per hour of childcare, are they still "family allowances" and if not does the Commonwealth have constitutional power to make them? The LNP has slammed plans to allow prisoners to vote in Queensland state and local government elections. Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath has introduced a bill that includes a raft of electoral changes, including allowing prisoners serving a jail sentence shorter than three years to vote. Queensland prisoners serving short sentences will be able to vote in state and local elections under a Labor proposal. Credit:Greg Henderson Queensland is the only jurisdiction that bars prisoners from voting in local and state elections. However, people serving sentences of fewer than three years in Queensland can vote in federal elections and referendums. Almost half of Australia's 20 most rent-stressed federal electorates are in south-east Queensland, which housing agencies say is a sign the rental squeeze is not confined to Sydney and Melbourne's inflated property markets. Queenslands Gold and Sunshine coasts, Pine Rivers and Wide Bay have eight electorates and 60,300 households where families pay more than 35 per cent of their income in rent. South-east Queensland is feeling the rental squeeze, according to housing agencies. Credit:Tammy Law They are Hinkler (7166 homes, or 41 per cent), Moncrieff (10,638 homes, or 40 per cent), Longman (7352 homes, or 40 per cent), Wide Bay (5979 homes, or 39 per cent), McPherson (7181 homes, or 39 per cent), Fisher (6381, or 39 per cent), Fadden (8846 homes, or 39 per cent) and Fairfax (6763 homes, or 38 per cent). Now more than 30 housing agencies say Australia needs a national housing strategy to direct the construction of more affordable homes to break increasing rent stress. Beijing: Accusations of "debt trap diplomacy" levelled at China's Belt and Road plan to offer billions in loans to poor nations for infrastructure have been questioned by new research which shows asset seizures by Beijing are rare. An analysis by New York's Rhodium Group of 40 debt renegotiations made by China across 24 countries found "asset seizures are a very rare occurrence". The Grand Aurora vehicle carrier, right, sits moored at Hambantota Port, operated by China Merchants Group, in Sri Lanka. Credit:Bloomberg. Instead, debt write-off was the most common outcome, happening in 16 cases, including Vanuatu. Apart from a high-profile example in Sri Lanka, where control of the Hambantota Port was passed to a Chinese company, the only other potential case the researchers could find was in Tajikistan in 2011 where land was transferred to China. London: Julian Assange has refused to agree to his extradition to the US to face a computer hacking charge. He told the Westminster Magistrates Court I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism which has won many, many awards and protected many, many people. Thursday was the first day the US government has come to court to press its request for the WikiLeaks founder, 47, to be sent to face trial on American soil. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court on Wednesday. Credit:AP District Judge Michael Snow told Assange that if he agreed to extradition he would not be able to change his mind, but it would lead to an early resolution. Nicosia, Cyprus: The Justice Minister in Cyprus resigned on Thursday amid mounting criticism that police bungled their investigations when some of the seven foreign women and girls slain by a serial killer were initially reported missing. A Cypriot army captain has admitted to killing the women and girls. Even as the minister resigned, police on Thursday kept searching a lake and a reservoir for the bodies of three of the victims. Rescue crews search for suitcases containing the bodies of three women in a toxic mining lake near the village of Mitsero in Cyprus. Credit:AP The victims, who came to the eastern Mediterranean island to work in low-paid jobs, include three Filipino women and the six-year-old daughter of one of them. Other victims are believed to be a woman from Nepal and a Romanian woman and her eight-year-old daughter. Critics say Cypriot police did little to investigate the disappearances of the women because they were low-status foreign workers. Some victims were reported as missing almost three years ago. "All my life this has bothered me about Sterling," Escobar, 38, said in an interview this month. "It would haunt me." So he released his recording to The Truth & Transparency Foundation, an investigative website focused on religion, thinking it would encourage any other victims to come forward. It was published in February, and for the next few weeks, Escobar agonised over his decision. "Oh my God, what have I done?" he said he thought to himself. "I've ruined this guy's life." This month, Van Wagenen was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, though not for anything he had done to Escobar. Prosecutors in Utah said he molested a girl younger than 10 on two occasions between 2013 and 2015. The Sundance Film Festival takes place annually in Park City, Utah. Credit:Alamy A nightmare sleepover Van Wagenen, 71, who declined to comment, has not entered a plea. He was released on $US75,000 ($106,000) bail. Though he never attained Hollywood prestige one film he produced, The Trip to Bountiful, delivered a best actress Oscar in 1986 he practically put Utah on the filmmaking map when he, along with others including actor Robert Redford, began what became the Sundance Film Festival. (Redford's wife at the time, Lola Van Wagenen, is a cousin of Van Wagenen's.) A spokesman for the Sundance Institute said Van Wagenen has not had a role at the festival since 1993. Escobar, the youngest of four children, lived three doors down from Van Wagenen in the Salt Lake City suburb of Holladay. He became friends with the two youngest Van Wagenen boys. Escobar said he was sleeping over at the Van Wagenens' house when the abuse happened. He was on a couch in the basement, with one of Van Wagenen's sons on a different sofa. Another son slept on the floor. In the middle of the night, Escobar said, he woke up to find Van Wagenen's hand down his pants, stroking his genitals. Escobar stirred, hoping Van Wagenen would leave. Van Wagenen pulled his hand away, but a few minutes later, he resumed. The boy stirred again. When Van Wagenen touched Escobar a third time, the boy jumped off the couch, ran to the bathroom and locked the door. Van Wagenen tried repeatedly to get the boy to come out, but he refused, saying he did not feel well. Escobar stayed in that bathroom all night. "There was this big orange cat that got locked in the bathroom with me," Escobar said. "I just pet the cat all night." In the morning, he left the bathroom and went straight to the phone. He called his mother and asked her to pick him up right away. She took him to a drive-through for a breakfast sandwich. With his mother behind the wheel and his sister in the front seat, he told them what happened. "I just remember my mom," he said, "it just looked like she'd seen a ghost. She just turned white." Van Wagenen told a therapist what he had done, and because the therapist was mandated to report it to the authorities, Van Wagenen went to the sheriff's office himself. According to a Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office report, he told a detective that he had touched Escobar "sexually, inappropriately," though he added that he had not gone under the boy's clothes. (Escobar said he had.) But the case was dropped after Escobar's father told the detective that the family did not want to pursue the complaint and that it was "supportive of Mr Van Wagenen in working out this problem." The Greater Salt Lake Unified Police Department, which has absorbed the Sheriff's Office, said sex crimes involving children "are handled very differently" today. A spokeswoman said such a case would now be submitted to the district attorney regardless of the parents' wishes. Escobar's parents, Randi and Tony Escobar, said this month that they had been trying to protect their son from the stress of a trial, exposure in the news media and teasing at school. "The only thing we could think about was, 'We can't drag our son through all this,'" they wrote in an email. "Today is a very different era, where the victims' identities are somewhat protected." Escobar said he understood his parents' decision, and they remain close. But he wishes they had let the Sheriff's Office continue the case so Van Wagenen perhaps could have been stopped. His life has moved on. After Escobar's parents reported what had happened to a local leader in the Mormon Church, where they were members, the church disciplined Van Wagenen with a two-year "disfellowship", a partial exclusion from church life that is short of an excommunication. But in 1993, the same year he went to the police, Van Wagenen went to work as an adjunct professor of film at Brigham Young University, which is closely affiliated with the church. He would later work as director of content for BYU Broadcasting, and then as an instructor at the University of Utah. Van Wagenen also directed movies for the church, according to his Facebook page and other biographical materials. The church produces a variety of official films, used for educational purposes or in sacred ceremonies. A spokesman for the church, formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it had taken "appropriate disciplinary action in this case," but he did not directly respond to a question about why Van Wagenen was permitted to have roles in the church after he was disciplined. The spokesman, Eric Hawkins, said that at the time of the report, the church's practice was to provide spiritual counselling to individuals, and that it was offered. (Both Escobar and Van Wagenen said during the recorded conversation that they recalled no counselling.) Hawkins added that two years later, the church enacted several new safeguards against child sexual abuse, including a 24-hour help line and rules requiring "annotation of the membership record of any individual who has confessed to or been found guilty of abusing a child." 'I don't lie very well' Today, Escobar lives in Salt Lake City and St George, in southern Utah, with his wife, Crystal, and their four young children. He and his wife have done well selling nutritional supplements with a company called Isagenix. She has written a book on motherhood, and the couple hosts a self-help podcast. The abuse did not derail his life, he said. But its effects have never gone away. He started sleeping with a hunting knife underneath his pillow, and having dreams that adults were hurting him. He got in fights at school. He became distrustful of adults and church leaders. As an adult, he said, he is compulsively protective of his children. He will not allow them to be alone with other men. He said that when his children were assigned male teachers, he demanded they be moved to different classes. When they had play dates, he called ahead to make sure a woman would be present at all times. After decades as a "rock-solid" Mormon, he said, he left the church last year. Flowers bloom in front of the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City. Credit:AP He could not shake the questions: What if there were other victims out there? What if the abuse was still going on? So in January of last year, he reached out to Van Wagenen's wife on Facebook. "I only want to make sure that there are strict provisions in place to keep something like that from ever happening again with grandchildren and so forth," he wrote. She did not respond. Eight months later, he texted each of Van Wagenen's children. He told them that their father had molested him. It was like ripping out his own heart. "I'm so sorry," Escobar, wiping tears from his eyes, said in a video message he sent to one Van Wagenen's children. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." One of Van Wagenen's daughters suggested that Escobar and her father meet. He could offer assurances that he had never inappropriately touched another child. Maybe, she said, it could bring Escobar some peace. For days leading up to the meeting, Escobar said, he could barely eat, sleep or function. "I kept telling my wife, 'I don't think I can do this,'" he said. "It was like sending me back to my childhood. I was terrified." Escobar did not want Van Wagenen to know where he lived, so they met at someone else's home. He said he recorded the conversation in case Van Wagenen threatened him. He attached a microphone to his iPhone and stashed it in a plant. His wife sat on the stairs just outside the room where the two men spoke. After Van Wagenen sat down, Escobar ran through an excruciating list of questions, which he had written in a red spiral notebook. Have you ever watched child pornography? Van Wagenen said he had not. How would you have felt if this happened to your own son? "Awful." "How can I be the only one?" Escobar asked. "I've never considered myself a paedophile," Van Wagenen said. "That one instance was so horrifying to me. And I've carried the awareness of that not to the degree that you have, for sure but I've carried the awareness of that." "I don't lie very well," he added later. "I don't." Afterward, Escobar said, he thought Van Wagenen was probably telling the truth. But probably was not good enough. Through a friend, he connected with Ryan McKnight at The Truth & Transparency Foundation and handed over the recording. In the article that accompanied the recording, he went by a pseudonym, David. He identified himself publicly for the first time in this article. Wellington: 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. Ambulance staff take an injured man from a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, after the attacks on March 15. Credit:AP 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. Latest News MoneyMe to acquire SocietyOne Deal brings together two of the fastest-growing brands in the non-bank space Resimac makes key broker channel hires Two new GMs to bolster broker support Brokers, BDMs, lenders and aggregators were recognised in the first round of the MFAA Excellence Awards last night. Kicking off the annual awards season, the NSW State Excellence Awards were held at Hilton Sydney, with hundreds of industry professionals in attendance. MFAA CEO Mike Felton said, After a year of challenges for our industry, it is phenomenal to be able to shine a light on the positive influence of our members and the terrific work they do to ensure Australians benefit from a healthy marketplace that continues to drive competition, choice and access to credit. Winners were recognised across 18 categories, with specific focus on customer service, professionalism, innovation and ethics. These awards provide an opportunity to celebrate our industry as a whole, which despite significant headwinds, has continued to grow in market share over this past year. Of course, this is no accident, but a testament to the hard work and dedication our industry professionals display each and every day by continuing to help to put people in homes and to invest in properties and business opportunities, Felton added. The awards followed the first day of the MFAAs latest roadshow, titled New Era. New Thinking, which will tour the country over the coming weeks. Following on from the last roadshow series in February and March, this event sets the industrys agenda moving forward, with specific focus on upskilling brokers for what lies ahead, post royal commission. This year our members came together in an unprecedented fashion to campaign against proposed changes to remuneration that threatened the future of our industry. The industry has been enormously supportive of the MFAAs Dont Kill Competition campaign, amongst others, to ensure that our industrys voice was heard, Felton said. It is wonderful to see that despite all the additional work, our members not only maintained their commitment to excellent customer service, they actually enhanced it. This is a mark of the professionalism and commitment of our members who never fail to put their customers first, he added. The NSW state winners from May 2, were: Business Development Manager Award Lender/Support Service Provider - Denya Dean (Bluestone) Equipment Finance Broker Award Aaron Greffenius (Loan Market Picton) Young Professional Award Russell Munfaredi (Mortgage Pros) Newcomer Award Cullen Haynes (Legal Home Loans) Business Development Manager Award Aggregator David Vizza (Finsure Finance & Insurance) Residential Finance Broker Award - Gary Owen (Mortgage Choice Port Macquarie) Commercial Finance Broker Award Kevin Wheatley (Bayside Residential and Commercial Mortgages) Customer Service Award Individual Louisa Sanghera (Zippy Financial Group) Community Champion Award Mhairi MacLeod (Astute Ability Group) Regional Finance Broker Michael Gavan (Innovative Finance) Loan Administrator Award Priscilla Tan (SF Mortgage Services) Finance Broker Business Award Mortgage Choice Blaxland, Penrith & Glenmore Park Customer Service Award Business Equilibria Finance Diversified Business Award Keystone Financial Non-Major Lender Award Bankwest Major Lender Award ANZ Mutual/Specialty Lender Award Pepper Money Fintech Lender Award Prospa The awards were sponsored by AFG, AMP, ANZ, Bluestone, Commonwealth Bank, Connective, Macquarie Bank, NAB, NextGen.Net, Pepper Money, Prospa, QBE and Teachers Mutual Bank. It was a privilege to recognise all the award finalists and my congratulations go to those who emerged victorious in their respective categories, Felton commented. The MFAA National Roadshow continues throughout May and June, visiting Adelaide on May 9, Perth (May 16), Brisbane (May 30) and Melbourne (June 6). Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Kings County nature lovers celebrated Earth Day at Prospect Park on Sunday, where park rangers lectured kids on the ABCs of conservation. The Earth Day event featured a variety of green-themed lectures from nature-loving non-for-profits, which instructed youngsters on the finer points of catch-and-release fishing, before letting the pint-sized anglers cast their lines into Prospect Park Lake. At least one little lady seemed to have found her calling as an angler, resolutely casting line after line even though the fish werent biting, according to her mother. She didnt catch anything, but Ive never seen such an a amazing attention span for her, she sat there with the fishing rod for an hour and a half, said Deborah Kirschner, a spokeswoman for Prospect Park Alliance, who brought daughter Ava Weinberg, 8, to the event. Kyle Jones gives kids the baiscs on proper fishing techniques during Earth Day at Prospect Park. Photo by Caroline Ourso Other outdoor lessons included a hike through Brooklyns Backyard to have a gander at the parks creepy-crawly residents, and a bird watching tour with an eye for migratory chicks that use Prospect Park as a resting stop on their journey south. Speaking of birds, wildlife rescuer Bobby Horvath turned out to introduce kids to four fearsome raptors, an eagle owl, a kestrel, a barn owl, and a peregrine falcon, the fastest creature on earth. The birds were all wild animals, but also common New York City residents, whove learned to adapt to the harsh realities city life, according to Horvath. These are animals that live right in your back yard, he said. Its dangerous to live in the city, but these guy are adapting and theyre everywhere. Ali Watson, front left, and Ashley Mebert, back left, talk to kids about wildlife found in Prospect Park during the Prospect Park Alliances annual Earth Day Celebration. Photo by Caroline Ourso Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The central government is considering a sharp reduction in the import duty on gold, to four per cent from the current 10 per cent. This is part of the discussion on the integrated gold policy under preparation. The matter is being reviewed by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. On Thursday, an internal meeting was called by P K Das, the board chairman, to discuss the slashing of basic duty on precious metals. In February, the finance minister had said a comprehensive policy would be formulated to develop gold as an asset class. The duty reduction is being ... India's unemployment rate in April rose to 7.6 per cent, the highest since October 2016, and up from 6.71 per cent in March, according to data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) released late on Wednesday. "The lower unemployment rate in March was a blip, and it has again climbed following the trend of earlier months," Mahesh Vyas, head of the Mumbai-based CMIE think-tank, told Reuters. The figures could be bad news for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a staggered general election that will end on May 19, with opposition parties criticising ... Nearly 70 per cent of the Lok Sabha polls is over with polling completed in 373 of 542 Lok Sabha seats (Polling for Vellore seat will take place later). However, elections have now entered their most crucial juncture since much of the Hindi heartland will go to polls over the remaining three phases. If it has to return to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would need to maximize its gains in the remaining 170-seats that will go to polls on May 6, 12 and 19. The BJP had accomplished this in 2014 when it swept the Hindi heartland. Until now, the BJPs election campaign has ... Union minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh and UP CM Adityanath will also address rallies in different parts of the state. In a clean chit to the prime minister, the Election Commission yesterday said 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 ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Brexit is now worse than Y2K -- at least in terms of customer concerns, according to Indias second-largest provider of IT services. All of us knew Y2K would come to a head, right? In this case, nobody knows whether its going to be June, July, or October, or 2020, Mohit Joshi, co-president at Infosys Ltd., said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines on the Milken Institute global conference in Beverly Hills, California. Brexit day came and went on March 29 and the UK is still in the European Union. The drawn-out saga of ... The United States and China are nearing a trade deal that would roll back a portion of the $250 billion in US tariffs on Chinese goods, Politico reported on Wednesday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the two countries completed "productive" talks in Beijing. Mnuchin, along with US 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 ... Some foreign investors in India's National Stock Exchange (NSE), which the market regulator has slapped with a steep fine and a six-month ban from public fundraising, are urging the bourse not to challenge the penalty and focus instead on a long-awaited initial public offering. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday ordered the country's largest stock exchange to pay about $100 million, plus interest, after finding it had failed to ensure all brokers had equal access to its network servers. NSE said it was reviewing the order and taking legal advice ... BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday accused the Congress and BJP of indulging in electoral involving Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, saying he was considered a soul for the BSP. "Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made comments on BR Ambedkar ji at his public speech in Uttar Pradesh. For BJP, Congress and other opposition parties, they are indulging in electoral over Ambedkar ji. But for BSP, he is considered a soul for us," Mayawati told ANI in an exclusive interview. Mayawati's comments came after Modi on Tuesday alleged that the actions of BSP supremo have been contrary to Ambedkar's principles. "Be it SP, BSP or Congress, it's necessary to know their reality. Behen ji (Mayawati) used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but she did everything just the opposite of his principles. SP used the name of Ram Manohar Lohia ji but they destroyed the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh," the Prime Minister had said in a public rally in Ambedkar Nagar. Continuing her attack, Mayawati claimed that unlike BSP, BJP was indulging in false by fooling the people and chanting only 'Ram Ram'. "Unlike BSP, BJP is involved in chanting 'Ram Ram' and is just fooling the people by doing false politics. Everyone in the nation knows about this," she said. Mayawati said that the BSP is a socio-economic movement for the Dalits much before it was designated as a party. "BSP works under the principles of Ambedkar ji. I suggest that both BJP and Congress should not try to become a fake Ambedkar ideologist," she added. Alleging that BJP and Congress colluded with each other to defeat the SP-BSP alliance, the BSP supremo said, "Like BJP, Congress is making baseless allegations against SP and BSP. They are now saying that a BJP candidate should win, but SP-BSP candidate should not win. It is proved that these two parties are fighting against our alliance in Uttar Pradesh." Mayawati remarked that the people should not waste their vote on Congress as it would benefit the BJP and urged the electorates to vote for the SP-BSP candidate, which according to her, will ensure that the saffron party will not win. "In Uttar Pradesh, Congress and BJP are going to be wiped out. They are disappointed. Due to this, they are diverting the minds of the people by making such senseless claims," alleged the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. She further said, "To those who talk about Mulayam Singh's blessing to Modi in the Parliament, they must know that he wanted to say something else but due to age, he spoke in Modi's favour. I also want to ask Congress, that their president isn't even of old age so why did he hug Modi in the Parliament." Accusing Modi not uttering a word against Pakistan in the last five years, Mayawati said, "He is trying to show his bravery in front of the people during elections in order to hide his government's failures." In Uttar Pradesh, where 80 Lok Sabha seats are up for grabs, SP is contesting 37 seats, BSP 38, and their ally - RLD - three seats. They have not fielded candidates from Amethi and Raebareli from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are seeking their re-election. So far 39 Lok Sabha seats have gone to polls in the state while remaining 41 will go to polls during the remaining three phases of the polling, that is on May 6, 12 and 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 2 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav feels that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre has failed on the security front. "BJP has failed so far as the security is concerned. Our soldiers are dying on the border and in the Naxal affected areas," Yadav told ANI in an exclusive interview. When asked whether security will be one of the core agendas of the non-BJP government if formed at the Centre, Yadav said: "National security is the most important issue for any country." "Regional parties are closer to the people. They have experience as well, given the fact that they have done a good job in the past. So they will deliver their best," said Yadav, also former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He went on to add: "I do not need to tell people about my life. I have spent seven years of my life in military school. My college mates were martyred on the border. My wife's father has spent his life in the military. My wife's sister and her husband are in the military." "I ask the BJP people, who claim to be more patriotic - how many people from their families are in the Army. Like the BJP, we do not drumbeat our nationalism," he said. "If anyone asks me to do the parade, I can. I know when there are open and close lines and how to salute," he added. The former Chief Minister also hit out at the BJP, stating that one security person dies every day in the country. "BJP talks about soldiers. What type of national security is it when one soldier dies every day," he said. Stating that his party believes in working and not in advertising, he said: "When the SP was in power in UP, aircrafts like Sukhoi, Mirage, and Hercules had landed on Lucknow-Agra Expressway. We do not need to furnish certificates for our contribution to the country. Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has been the Defence Minister of the country. We never mentioned what we gave to the forces." Yadav further said: "Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that he would get more roads constructed like the Expressway. I ask the BJP leaders if they have made a single road where aircraft can land when the need arises." Slamming UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for heading a Hindu 'math' and also holding a Constitutional post, Yadav said: "He says terrorists have the SP flag. Will he tell me how many flags he has? He has one flag of his 'math,' one of Hindu Yuva Vahini, and one of the RSS." In Uttar Pradesh, where 80 Lok Sabha seats are up for grabs, SP is contesting 37 seats, BSP 38, and their ally - RLD - three seats. They have not fielded candidates from Amethi and Raebareli from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are seeking their re-election. Yadav is in the poll fray from Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. So far 39 Lok Sabha seats have gone to polls in the state, while remaining 41 will go to polls during the remaining three phases of the polling, the last phase of voting being on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Deborah Borfitz May 2, 2019 | Achieving the aims of value-based healthcare presumes the free flow of all kinds of dataincluding physician free text notes, radiology images and medical journal articleswhenever and wherever theyre needed so providers can deliver personalized, evidence-backed care and patients know their options and can make informed choices. In this healthcare utopia, patients might directly tap the power of artificial intelligence (AI) for many of their routine care needs to avoid trips to the doctors office when their physical presence is unnecessary. It is a world being built atop FHIR (pronounced fire), the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources draft standard describing data formats and elements and an application programming interface (API) for exchanging electronic health records (EHRs). FHIR was developed by the nonprofit standards development organization Health Level Seven International (HL7), which has been championing interoperability for more than three decades. FHIR founder and product director Grahame Grieve says support for FHIR has been mushrooming for several years but got a huge boost in February when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released proposed rules that include new certification criteria for health IT tools, including the use of APIs and FHIR. No one knows how many FHIR evangelists are out there because interactions happen on social media as well as face-to-face meetings, but estimates range from 500 to 1,000 people worldwide, he says. One of its earliest fans was Joshua Mandel, M.D., chief architect at Microsoft Healthcare, who was researching health data APIs back in 2010 as a member of the SMART (Substitutable Medical Applications, Reusable Technologies) team at Boston Childrens Hospitalthe primary pediatric program of Harvard Medical School. As a medical student, he developed an automation tool for compiling data on what happened to his patients overnight that shifted his career path to medical informatics, he says. SMART was one of a handful of ONC-sponsored research projects that since 2010 has been developing tools and platforms that would talk to an EHR. But without standards, Mandel says, the API couldnt be deployed at scale. SMART ported its app platform to FHIR, helping shape the draft standard, and contributed the SMART app framework to the standards process. HL7s Argonaut Project brought together commercial EHR vendors and the provider community to help make that a reality. The work of getting FHIR to full production mode is happening on multiple fronts, says Grieve, and the chief accelerators are the Argonaut Project, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) and two other initiativesthe CARIN Alliance and the Da Vinci project. Participants in the HL7s FHIR Accelerator Program are also in the trenches trying to learn what reasonably can be standardized, including EHR vendors that have a strong vested interest in consistent practices between institutions because it reduces the surface space they need to manage in their products. The Argonaut Project In the landmark JASON report, a government advisory panel of scientists heavily criticized the current state of healthcare interoperability and recommended making better use of public APIs. That effectively gave birth in 2014 to the Argonaut Project under the HL7 umbrella, says Grieve, bringing together a half dozen top health systems and a similar number of major EHR vendors to develop a first-generation FHIR-based API built on modern internet conventions widely used in other industries. FHIR is really healthcare of the web and one of the key adoption milestones was when Argonaut decided to adopt the standard for development of use cases, says Grieve. An important first step was building profiles (aka implementation guides) to accommodate various data exchange scenarios. Among the use cases being explored by the Argonaut Project are FHIR-based scheduling APIs, including one to enable better appointment functionality across EHRs, says Grieve. Here in Australia, if I see my primary care practitioner and he recommends I see a specialist, its my problem to figure out when Im going to see him. Another, more advanced scheduling API under consideration would help specialists orchestrate multiple treatments, procedures, and tests for individuals with complex conditions, such as breast cancer, as part of their EHR workflow. The Argonaut Project has also been collaborating with the SMART Health IT team at Boston Childrens Hospital to produce specifications for use cases whereby clinicians and patients use web-based and mobile apps to access FHIR resources. Another focus last year was looking at how to facilitate bulk data export to a data warehouse for analysis"a gap in functionality that the ONC is particularly interested in closing, Mandel says. In January 2018, after Apple announced it was adding the Argonaut implementation guide to the operating system of iPhones, dozens of institutions quickly began supporting the FHIR-based API allowing patients to securely and directly download their health records using a smartphone app. Apple has also announced that it is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on a Lighthouse Gateway project to develop API tools for veterans. The VA Health API is designed to help veterans self-manage their health and share their data and uses the Argonaut API and SMART on FHIR to launch and authorize apps. Numerous provider-facing apps also employ SMART on FHIR, says Mandel. One of the earliest EHR-based apps was Meducation, which creates personalized medication instructions for patients who have low health literacy, impaired vision, and language barriers. The SMART app gallery today includes 70 apps in categories ranging from care coordination and clinical research to genomics and risk calculation. Movement toward a standardized EHR has been understandably slow going. Its an ongoing process that HL7 can only facilitate via efforts to reach consensus on mandatory data fields. Every institution is maybe $100 million worth of different, says Grieve, and not so much because EHR vendors like Cerner and Epic are blocking progress but because decision-making at provider organizations is spread across individual department heads with different needs and priorities. EHRs are also notoriously unpopular with physicians who have little interest in being the primary data collectors. Opening the Spigots Digitizing manual, error-prone processes that waste peoples time is the goal of the Da Vinci project, making it a particularly active group with 14 use cases underway that Grieve expects will deliver real change to the industry this year. The use case for streamlining prior authorization has received a lot of attention because it would enable providers to request and receive immediate authorization at the point of service, he notes. A lot of work is being done with passion and focus because CMS is expecting to reference it as a requirement in forthcoming [HIPAA] rules. The Da Vinci group is developing guidance to ensure that information flows between payers and providers, and payers and patients, in ways that support value-based care, Mandel says. The CARIN Alliance is doing the same for patient app development, including best practices for privacy agreements and terms of service. The larger objective of the CARIN Alliance is to bring about consumer-directed health information exchange but remains a pipe dream at present due both to a lack of specific regulations and enabling technologies that are still under development, says Grieve. Other FHIR Hot Spots One group of FHIR enthusiasts is actively working on a set of agreements about how genetic test results get reported to enable development of decision support algorithms for genomic testing laboratories around the world, says Grieve. More generally in research, the focus is on automating the consent management process around bio-samples. The nations largest health information exchange, The Sequoia Project, has separately launched its own FHIR-based provider directory. Meanwhile, IHE International is creating profiles that leverage the new FHIR specification to standardize information sharing between computer systems. The FHIR standard is being adopted in some countries for diagnostic ordering and reporting but in the absence of regulation in this arena mandating standards be used it has been slow going, Grieve says. The health data interoperability movement has been a boon for companies providing cloud storage, computing power and machine learning tools, says Mandel, including Microsoft. Last fall, the company released its open source FHIR Server for the Azure cloudthe first of a growing set of FHIR services that now also includes Azure API for FHIR. The day will come when providers will routinely be making clinical treatment decisions using all available evidence and clinical guidelines rather than just the portion they can humanly recall, Mandel says, and the information will flow seamlessly into the clinician experience. Research results will be easier to query across a population of patients, as will the distribution of outcomes for patients who look a lot like the one sitting in front of them. FHIR is one of the critical foundational components. While hard to fully imagine, healthcare in another three to five years will truly be a world on FHIR, says Grieve. Getting there will require difficult conversations with provider organizations and solution vendors that fear participating in a truly consumer-mediated exchange might cost them patient market share to competitors or distract them from providing real healthcare, says Grieve. Still to be solved is the question of how to deal with less empowered patients who may not want to take ownership of their data or consult digitally with AI service providers, says Grieve. Itll be interesting to see how this plays out, and if this is even a good idea. Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying 'chowkidar chor hai'. "It is true that 'chowkidar chor hai'. Prior to the year 1947, we had to fight against the British to gain independence but now we have to fight against the corrupt people of our own country," Sidhu said while speaking at an election rally here. On Wednesday, in a wielded attack on Prime Minister Modi, Sidhu had said that he seeks votes in the name of the security forces and dead bodies. Yesterday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a notice to 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 Amethi sitting MP and Congress president Rahul Gandhi is facing a serious challenge from BJP's Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha Polls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress party in Uttar Pradesh is fighting a battle to lose, says Union Minister Smriti Irani, as the battle of ballots intensifies in India's politically most important state where 80 Lok Sabha seats are up for grab. "The Congress party in Uttar Pradesh is fighting a battle to lose. I am sure of my win. This will be a victory for the people of Amethi," Union Minister Irani told Smita Prakash, ANI in an exclusive interview. "I am a normal party worker, even though I have been working for the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We gave a chase to the Congress president that he had to run even after the SP and the BSP pledged support on the seat," she said. "It was the first time that party workers of a political outfit had to ask their chief to look out for another seat, as they felt Amethi was not a secure seat anymore. That tells you how good is the atmosphere for the BJP. This is not a fight against the BJP and the Congress. It is a genuine fight between the people and a 'lapata saansad' (missing parliamentarian). He was absent for five years and even during the campaign. He also did not speak about Amethi in the Parliament," she added. Irani's statement comes close on the heels of Congress general secretary east UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's statement on Wednesday in Raebareli where she had said that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into the BJP's vote share. "Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into the BJP's vote share," she had told media persons. Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has also dismissed Priyanka's statement as an "excuse" since the "people are not with them." "I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses," Yadav told ANI in an exclusive interview. In Uttar Pradesh, where 80 Lok Sabha seats are up for grab, SP is contesting 37 seats, BSP 38, and their ally - RLD - three seats. They have not fielded candidates from Amethi and Raebareli from where Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are seeking their re-election.So far 39 Lok Sabha seats have gone to polls in the state, while remaining 41 will go to polls during the remaining three phases of the polling, the last phase of voting on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With severe cyclonic storm Fani set to make landfall in Odisha and parts of West Bengal on May 3, the Ministry of Defence has authorised proactive deployment of resources from Indian Navy and Coast Guard for succour at the time of need. "It is monitoring the developing situation in East Coast of India for Cyclone Fani and authorises the proactive deployment of resources from Indian Navy and Coast Guard for succour and assistance to those in need with minimum reaction time. Coast Guard has deployed 20 teams," the Ministry said in a statement. In Bhubaneswar, preparations are underway by Odisha Fire Services in view of the "extremely severe" cyclonic storm. Around 50 teams of six members each have been kept on alert in the city. Due to Cyclone Fani, 22 more trains were cancelled by East Coast Railway on Wednesday, taking the total to 103 trains. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a "Yellow Alert" warning for Odisha, West Bengal and three districts of Andhra Pradesh. In a special bulletin issued yesterday, the weather department has forewarned about possible destruction. Fishermen have been asked not to venture out for fishing from May 1 to May 5. Shopkeepers on the beach side have also been warned to not open their shops during the warning period. One of the shopkeepers, Gautam Singh said, "Administration is coming here at regular intervals and announcing not to open shops during warning period as an extremely severe storm is about to hit the land anytime." Tourists have also been alerted and asked to move to safer zones. "We came here to stay for five days but due to the high alert our entire group is now going back. Also, we have been barred from getting into the sea," said a tourist, Soham Dey. Speaking to ANI, Surojit Bag, Asst director of fisheries (Marine) said, "We have issued severe cyclone alarm from May 1 till May 5. Letters have been already issued to BDO and coastal police asking for strict vigilance. Disaster management teams have also been informed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted a week's time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for filing its reply on separate pleas by Robert Vadra and his aide Manoj Arora challenging the constitutional validity of certain sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vadra, son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and Arora have also sought quashing of the FIR against them in a money laundering case. A division bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Vinod Goel asked the agency to submit its reply within one week and posted the matter for hearing to July 18. Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, who is from Congress, appeared for Vadra and Arora while senior lawyer Amit Mahajan represented the ED. The money laundering case relates to the alleged purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square, worth1.9 million pounds, by Vadra. On April 1, a special CBI court had granted anticipatory bail to the petitioners. During proceedings before the high court on March 25, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta had questioned the maintainability of the petitions challenging PMLA sections, saying that the matter concerned is pending before the Supreme Court. He had contended that the prayer for the quashing of the FIR was an "abuse of the process of the law". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday expressed uncertainty on whether the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist' had anything to do with the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country. "It (listing Masood Azhar) was long due, it is good that it has been done. This should have happened a long time ago. I don't know if this has something to do with the elections," he told reporters here. Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based JeM that orchestrated the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, was designated as a 'global terrorist' by the United Nations after China also joined efforts to blacklist him. 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 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. 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. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While accepting award for Top Billboard 200 Album for 'Scorpion', on Wednesday, Drake gave a shout out to Arya Stark and it proves that he is just another GoT fan who cannot get over the latest episode of the much-endeared HBO show. It seems like the Canadian rapper had Game of Thrones on his mind when he gave an acceptance speech after receiving his award. He took this opportunity to thank Arya Stark of Winterfell for "putting in that work", reports Billboard. He started his speech by thanking the people who helped bring his dream project to life. "Thank you to everybody who gave me their time, their energy, stayed away from their family and friends while we were trying to complete this. I always had a dream of doing a double album and I finally did it so now I'll never do it again," he said. "I need a glass of champagne," the "God's Plan" he joked. He concluded his speech by giving a shout out to Arya's priceless contribution during the Battle of Winterfell. This earned him a huge round of applause from the audience. "Hey, shout out to Arya Stark for putting in that work last week. Hey," he said. The finale season of the much-endeared series started airing on April 14. The next episode will air on May 7 and will be an hour and 18 minutes long. The teaser of Episode 4 was released following the airing of Episode 3 on Monday. After the war against the Night King, the short video teased another impending battle between Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow's forces, and Cersei Lannister's army. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hamas on Thursday launched two rockets toward Israel in retaliation to the Isreali rocket fire, reported Al Jazeera. This comes hours after Israel announced that its warplanes have targeted several Hamas positions in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. "In response to the explosive and arson balloons launched from #Gaza to #Israel earlier today, our Air Force recently struck a number of Hamas terror targets in Gaza. We hold Hamas responsible," tweeted Israel Defence Forces. The exchange of fire has lead to breaking to a ceasefire that was brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas which came into effect on April 1. Tensions have been brewing at Israel-Gaza border since last year after Palestinians launched their protests against Israeli forces and establishment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A new study has claimed that greenhouse gases and atmospheric particles generated by human beings were affecting the worldwide drought risk as far back as the early 20th century. 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 predicted 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 1900s 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 research, the fingerprint is likely to grow stronger over the next few decades, potentially leading to severe human consequences. 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. "These records go back centuries. We have a comprehensive picture of global drought conditions that stretch back way into history, and they are amazingly high quality," said lead author Kate Marvel. 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, who 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. What made this study innovative is 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. 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 suggested 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. 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. 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," said Cook. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special CBI court on Thursday dropped charges against two retired police officials D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Special CBI Judge J K Pandya accepted the discharge application filed by the former IPS officials seeking to drop proceeding against them in the case. The court's order came after the Gujarat government did not sanction their prosecution. The court observed that the encounter was not fake and was carried out in view of the security of the state of Gujarat. Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl of Mumbai, and three others - Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. It was claimed by the Gujarat Police, that the four had terror links and had conspired to kill the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. A high court-constituted-Special Investigative team (SIT) had concluded that it was a fake encounter, after which the court transferred the case to the CBI that filed a chargesheet against seven police officers in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday proposed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "unconditionally" to "break the shell of mutual distrust". "I want to meet Chairman Kim Jong Un unconditionally and talk with him frankly with an open mind," Al Jazeera quoted Shinzo Abe as saying. "It is more than important for our country to be proactive in tackling the issue. We can not break the shell of mutual distrust between Japan and North Korea unless I directly face Kim," added Abe. North Korean authorities are yet to respond to Japan's proposal. In January also, Abe indicated that he is planning to meet Kim. Till 2017, Japan had accused North Korea of repeatedly testing missiles while pointing them towards Japan. North Korean media has regularly and viciously attacked Japan, by calling it "heinous criminal state against humanity", and an "immoral and impudent country". This comes days after Kim flew to Russia to hold his maiden summit with President Vladimir Putin. The United States has also proposed to hold another summit later this year to end the stalemate. It seems, reclusive state North Korea's diplomatic circle is getting bigger. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Legal Metrology officials on Wednesday conducted raids at different jewellery shops across the state. A metrology team led by Joint Controller Ramkumar conducted raids at various stores of Lalitha Jewellery in Vizag, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and Tirupati. Another team led by Damodar IPS, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Legal Metrology conducted raids at showrooms of Kalyan Jewellers and Jos Alukkas in Kurnool and Nellore. Raids were conducted following several complaints registered against the quantity and quality of gold in these showrooms. The officials also examined monthly deposit schemes whether they comply with the Prize Money Chits Banning Act. The meteorology team also examined whether the schemes were governed by the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme (BUDS) Ordinance of the central government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government launched a "jihad" against corruption, said Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi here claiming that the party would win the Ladakh seat. "The BJP government at the Centre has launched a jihad against corruption and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's inclusive strategies have led to the development of the whole nation," Naqvi said while campaigning for BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal. He added that PM Modi's growth policies have created a road of development from Kanyakumari to Kargil. Launching a scathing attack on the previous Congress and NC government in the state, Naqvi said, "Even if 20 per cent of money allotted for Jammu and Kashmir's development was spent properly, no one here would have faced any problems." "They were busy filling their own treasuries," he said adding that the Modi government's promise in the state is "development with dignity". Lauding the policies of the BJP government, he said that Zojila tunnel that connects the rest of India with Leh, the Kishan Ganga project in Bandipora and the hydropower project on the Chenab, have all been launched by the government and have played an important role in the state's development. Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, the largest constituency in the region, will go to polls on May 6. 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.) Kerala's Muslim Education Society (MES) has issued circular banning girl students from covering their faces with burqas in its colleges. This comes a day after Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna' on demanded the imposition of a ban in burqa in India in the interest of security, citing a similar measure taken in Sri Lanka after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks last month. The editorial states, "It has happened in Ravan's Lanka. When will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya? We ask this question to the Prime Minister as he is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday." The Sena's proposal, however, was rejected by an 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 Sri Lankan government on April 28 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 the occasion of Easter Sunday on April 21, claiming the 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 is a grave violation of the Model Code of Conduct," Owaisi told media persons in Hyderabad. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Naxal carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head was killed in an encounter in the early morning hours of Thursday. One rifle with six rounds was recovered. The Naxal, Madvi Muyya, a resident of Aranpur in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, was one of the masterminds of the attack in which BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and five police personnel were killed on April 9. Mandavi's convoy was travelling from Kuakonta to Syamgiri in Dantewada when it came under attack by the Naxals using an IED. On April 18, two Naxals, allegedly involved in Mandavi's assassination, were killed in an encounter in the forests of Dhanikarka, according to the police. Muyya was also one of the masterminds of Dantewada attack in which DD cameraman, Achyutanand Sahu, along with two security personnel had lost their lives in October last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Kashmiri brothers, namely 45-year-old Ghulam Nabi Teli and 40-year-old Mohamad Hussian, who are blind by birth, have garnered immense praise in Srinagar for their extraordinary talent of sewing fashionable and embroidered quilts. With the help of their father, the brothers earn their livelihood together by making trendy quilts, cushions, and mattresses for customers. They receive sizeable orders from a local quilt-dealer and are quite popular among locals. The Teli brothers, as the introduction goes, were trained at the Institute for the Visually Handicapped in Dehradun, where they learned Braille and some home sciences. "We both work with our father. We went to Dehradun for training. We are happy that we earn with our hard work. Our parents were against begging. They taught us not to beg, but instead, earn a livelihood by doing some hard work," Mohamad Hussian told ANI. In their tiny shop, closer to home, the brothers sew mattress covers and fill cushion covers with cotton, and have emerged as an inspiration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In an effort to pacify boiling Venezuelans, President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday (local time) announced that he is ready to "adopt a plan" to introduce change in the country's administration "to improve everything." "I declare Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5, the days of the great national dialogue, actions, and proposals of all representatives of the people's authority. So that they would tell the Bolivarian government and Nicolas Maduro what is necessary to be changed," TASS quoted Maduro as saying. "I want to adopt a plan to change and improve everything, to correct mistakes," Maduro said. Violent clashes erupted in the south American nation after the self-declared president Juan Guaido announced the beginning of "Operation Freedom" to oust the defiant Maduro regime. According to local media, Guaido took the bold step after few of the Maduro-loyal army personnel defected towards Gauido. In the clashes, the main opposition party of Venezuela has claimed that 78 people have sustained injuries Soon after the clash, the government "intermittently" blocked social media platforms. With this, tension has escalated between Russia and the United States. Each side has blamed others for interfering in the internal matters of the country. The United States is keeping a close watch on the developments in Venezuela. Washington had immediately extended its support to Guaido, recognising him as the official interim president of the nation. Other countries like France, Japan, and the 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.) Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday slammed Congress for downplaying the listing of chief of terrorist organisation JeM, Masood Azhar. Jaitley while addressing a press conference here, said that the Congress is abstaining from joining win fearing political consequences. "This is a matter of pride for every Indian. Government and Prime Minister should be applauded. When the country wins, every Indian wins. It is unfortunate that some friends in the opposition think that if they join in this victory they might have to pay a political price for it", Jaitley said. He also said that Congress's reaction of calling it no big deal is very sad and unfortunate. "They claim that they had also done invisible air strikes when they were in government. However when we are successful in Balakot airstrike, they raise doubts over it and when yesterday we achieved success in this effort (of listing Masood Azhar as a global terrorist) which was going on for decades, this is very sad that they are giving trivial reaction such as what is big deal," he added. Jaitley further underlined that it was an old tradition of the country that on security and foreign policy issues, the country should speak in one voice. "However, attempts have been made in the last few days to break this tradition. We hope that the opposition should also play a positive role in this big success that the government has achieved", he added. The statement by Jaitley comes a day after senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had asked as to how designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist would help when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan flaunts his friendship with Narendra Modi. While addressing media today, Jaitley reiterated that this UN Sanction is a big win for India and its diplomatic efforts. "Since many decades India has been seeking ban on target of Masood Azhar. A lot of terrorist attacks were done by him and his terrorist organisation. This UN Sanction is a big win for India and its diplomatic effort. Since many decades India has been on target of Masood Azhar. A lot of terrorist attacks were done by him and his terrorist organisation. It took some time as the process had started in 2009 and including 2016, 2017, there were three such instances when technical objections were put and India's effort could not be fulfilled," said Jaitley. Jaitley also asserted that Azhar and the country where he is staying will have to face the consequences of this listing now. "The listing and the decision are not a biodata of Masod Azhar. They don't have to give his entire background or mention about each and every activity. The core issue is that he has been declared a terrorist and he and his country have to face consequences of that, he said. "The global community has been persuaded by all the material that India has put forward and circulated and even persons with an elementary understanding of international diplomacy will tell that the aggression and the aggressive stance of some global power in getting him and change in the attitude of China has certainly been impacted by the recent developments, which include both Pulwama and the expose of Pakistan post-Balakot because it was Masood Azhar's camp which were destroyed in Pakistan," he added. The media briefing was also addressed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who hailed the move and called it a victory of the central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "We all know the reasons behind UN announcement's delay. But it is necessary to point out that in every opportunity that the Prime Minister has in bilateral talks with countries and multilateral engagements, he has focused on the need to recognise Pakistan as the land which as per publically available data is home to more than 35 declared terrorist organisations. It is the persistent effort of this government under the leadership of Prime Minister which has brought this result" said Sitharaman. India's representative to the United Nations UN Syed Akburuddin on Wednesday announced that Masood Azhar was declared a global terrorist by the UN. Azhar is the head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack on February 14, which killed 40 CRPF personnel in South Kashmir. 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, similarly to the Al Qaida and ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the leaders of the opposition parties will meet after the elections to decide on the prime ministerial candidate. "Opposition parties will sit together after the election and discuss who will be the Prime Minister. I'm not an aspirant. Polling is to be held in 3 more phases, after that we will discuss," he said while addressing media persons here on Wednesday. He also took a swipe at the Election Commission saying that the poll body favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said: "The Election Commission says they are following the instructions of PM Modi but PM himself is violating the code of conduct. Time and again he spoke on Armed forces and held cabinet meetings." His comments came two days after the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission after hearing the petition of Congress MP Sushmita Dev against PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for allegedly violating MCC on various occasions. He also alleged that the EC's system of counting Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is not "transparent". "We have demanded counting of 50 per cent of votes through VVPATs. It will give more credibility to EC and would elevate trust amongst voters," he added. The Chief Minister also pointed that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) reportedly malfunctioned in West Bengal, MP, Odisha and other non-BJP ruled state, while advocating for ballot system. "It is the best method. Most of the major countries are following the same system," he said. Sharpening his attack on PM Modi, Naidu accused him of damaging the "constitutional institutions" in the country. "Modi thinks the PM post is a game. In my 40 years long career, I am seeing this kind of elections for the first time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Our candidates are strong enough to ensure that the BJP doesn't benefit in any respect in the Lok Sabha poll in Uttar Pradesh, said Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra here on Thursday. "Ideologies of the Congress and the BJP are poles apart. We will always fight them. They are our main adversary in We have ensured not to benefit BJP in any way in the poll. We are fighting strongly. Our candidates are strong," Priyanka, also Congress general secretary east UP, told reporters. The Congress leader's remark comes a day after when she said to have fielded some Lok Sabha candidates in Uttar Pradesh with the aim to cut into the vote share of BJP, and not to just win the election. "My strategy is very clear. The Congress party will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into the BJP's vote share. One does not do only to win," she had said. On BSP supremo Mayawati's comment that if the people vote for the Congress, their vote will get wasted, Priyanka said: "People are wise. They never waste their votes. When people strengthen the Congress, then a government will be formed, which works for the people." The Congress leader also addressed a rally here for her mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who is seeking re-election from Rae Bareli. Attacking BJP for stopping works in Rae Bareli and Amethi, she said: "The construction of AIIMS, which was started during the Congress government for the people of Rae Bareli, has not been taken forward during the BJP government." "A food park was proposed in Amethi but the work did not start. The food park was later shifted to Gujarat. Around 10 lakh farmers would have gotten the benefit in the constituency had the park been developed in Amethi," she said. Priyanka also alleged the BJP does not care about the people. "BJP has tried to break the institutions which secure people's rights and power. It is a government which only thinks about them, but does not want to empower the people," she said. In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka said: "The Prime Minister did not get time to visit a single village of his constituency - Varanasi -- during the last five years. Had he talked to farmers about their lives, he would have come to know what name the farmers have given to the stray animals around them." Earlier today, Priyanka also met snake charmers in Rae Bareli and held snakes in her hands. Rae Bareli is among 14 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, which will go to polls on May 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government gave a befitting reply to terrorists in Pakistan after the ghastly Pulwama attack, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were crying as if their cousins were killed in the neighboring country. "On the 13th day of Pulwama attack, Narendra Modi instructed the Indian Air Force to conduct an operation. Our jawans entered Pakistan and returned after attacking terrorists in Balakot... Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal were saddened by this. There was mourning in two places - one in Rahul Gandhi's office and another at Kejriwal's office in Delhi. They were crying profusely. Were the deceased terrorists (in Balakot) your cousins?" Shah said while addressing a public rally here. "This is Modi government. This is BJP's government. If Pakistan fires bullets, we will reply with cannon balls," he added. Referring to the sloganeering incident in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2016, the BJP chief accused Rahul and Kejriwal of aligning with those who wanted to break the country. "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 said abolish sedition law. What will we do if someone is found spying for Pakistan? Rahul and Kejriwal should answer," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday tore into Congress party while accusing it of releasing a terrorist who later carried out Pathankot terror attacks in the country. "How effective India's position was post 26/11 is known to all. One of the former service chief has already said that they wanted to organise the air strikes at that time but the Prime Minister said no and post 26/11, within weeks 25 terrorists were released as a part of goodwill gesture so that Pakistan cooperates. Forget cooperation, one of them Shahid Latif who was then released as a goodwill gesture was then involved in Pathankot, years later", said Jaitley while addressing media at the party's headquarters. This is not the first time that BJP used Latif's release to attack Congress. In March, while responding to a tweet by Rahul Gandhi, where he asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell the families of Pulwama brave hearts about who released Masood Azhar, the BJP in its defence cited Latif's reference. "You were probably busy playing video games when the whole nation was praying for the safe return of hijacked passengers. Do you know that all decisions regarding the hijacking were taken at the all-party meeting? Remember Latif, the handler of Pathankot was released by the UPA as a goodwill gesture," the BJP had tweeted. In 2010 under UPA rule, Shahid Latif, who allegedly provided logistical support to four Pakistanis who attacked Pathankot base, was released from an Indian prison. In Pathankot terror attack, seven military personnel were killed in a siege that lasted for around 72 hours. Latif, a senior leader of JeM, was arrested from Jammu in a case related to terrorism and narcotics in 1996. The congress-led government released Latif to improve relations with Pakistan, along with nearly 20 others through Wagah border in Punjab. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun has married his royal consort General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya and declared her queen, just days before his coronation slated to be held during this weekend. CNN cited a royal statement released on Wednesday stating that the 66-year-old monarch has decided to promote Gen. Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, the deputy head of his personal security detail, to become Queen Suthida and she will hold royal title and status as part of the royal family. It added that the king "performed a royal wedding ceremony with Gen. Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya in accordance to law and royal traditions in a full and righteous manner." According to the royal palace, the pair officially married on May 1 at the Ampornsathan Throne Hall in Bangkok's Dusit Palace. The King's younger sister, Princess Sirindhorn, and Chairman to Privy Council, General Prem Tinsulanonda, signed the marriage document as witnesses. Thailand's Junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha also attended the ceremony, CNN reported. Vajiralongkorn assumed the throne following the death of his father in 2016, becoming King Rama X. He is the 10th member of the Chakri dynasty, which has ruled Thailand since Rama I took the throne in 1782. His coronation will take place on Saturday (May 4), with celebrations expected to last until the following Monday. It is the fourth marriage for Vajiralongkorn, who has two daughters and five sons, only one of whom is officially recognised as a prince. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The official trailer of Rajkumar Gupta's 'India's Most Wanted,' starring Arjun Kapoor in the lead role, released on Thursday. The 150 seconds trailer gives us a glimpse of Arjun Kapoor's role, who can be seen toiling hard to hunt down a terrorist being referred as 'India's Osama'. Kapoor shared the trailer on his Twitter handle. "Super proud to be a part of this story of 5 unsung heroes who went on the manhunt for India's Osama. Watch them in the #IndiasMostWantedTrailer now - http://bit.ly/IMW_Trailer @rajkumar_rkg @foxstarhindi @raapchik_films @saregamaglobal #IMW," he wrote alongside the trailer video. Earlier, the actor had shared the teaser of the film which piqued the curiosity of fans. The film, which is said to be based on true events, is about the five men who saved lives of a billion people by hunting down a terrorist. It is produced by Rajkumar Gupta, Myra Karn, and Fox Star Studios. The film is scheduled to release on May 24. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United Nations Security Council is planning to hold a meeting on the settlements in disputed West Bank region on May 9 ahead of the release of the United States peace plan. "The security council could hold a possible Arria formula meeting on May 9 focused on the issue of settlements in Palestine," announced UNSC in a statement. At the UNSC meeting on Monday, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon defended the Jewish right to the land of Israel, including the settlements, Jerusalem Post reported The UNSC meeting comes in the backdrop of US President Donald Trump peace plan which is expected to be released in June. It has been criticised from all corners of the for being very close to what Israelis want. So far speculation is that the deal, which is engineered byTrump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, does not include a two-state solution, which was promoted by several countries. Tensions are brewing up since Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced annexing settlements in the occupied West Bank area. In 2016, The UNSC held a meeting to end Israel's settlement activity, intra-Palestinian discord and urging renewal of talks on the two-state solution but nothing conclusive came out of it. Later on, the UNSC approved resolution 2334, which condemns all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition,character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements,transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions. West Bank is a disputed territory, with Israel and Palestinians equally claiming it. Over 400,000 Jews live in West Bank settlements. Another 200,000-plus live in East Jerusalem neighbourhoods annexed by Israel after the 1967 war. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States on Thursday discussed progress on the denuclearisation of North Korea and lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula. Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, in their telephonic conversation, discussed their assessment of the situation on the peninsula since the failed second summit between the US and North Korea in Hanoi in February, reported Yonhap News Agency. This comes weeks after South Korean President Moon Jae-in reached the US to discuss the Hanoi summit. The talks between the US and North Korea have been stalled ever since. Trump has asked his South Korean counterpart to help facilitate future dialogues with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Notably, Moon, who is brokering talks between Trump and Kim, has so far held three talks with the North Korean leader. The South Korean President had an emergency telephonic conversation with Trump after the US-North Korea summit ended abruptly on February 28 without any joint agreement. Ties between the US and North Korea have hit a roadblock over the ease of sanctions, where Pyongyang sought relief as a recognition of the steps taken towards denuclearisation. No joint statement was released following the talks, as it is reported that the two countries could not resolve their differences on sanction waivers. Washington has, until now, reinforced that relief in sanctions would only be given after Pyongyang carries out "complete and verifiable" denuclearisation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States has welcomed the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist and has sought "sustained actions" from Pakistan against terrorism perpetrating from its soil. "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," said the spokesperson for the US Mission in United Nations on Wednesday. In a major diplomatic breakthrough for India, the United Nations on Wednesday added Azhar to the United Nations 1267 ISIL and al-Qaeda Sanctions List. Asserting that JeM is a "serious threat to regional stability and peace" the US spokesperson said, "Jaish-e Mohammed is a United Nations-designated terrorist group, and Azhar, as the founder and leader of the JeM, clearly met the criteria for designation by the United Nations. JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks." After putting technical holds for 10 years, China on Wednesday supported the draft resolution put forward by P3 Nations - United States, France and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has termed the designation of Azhar as global terrorist as a victory for American diplomacy. "Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist. This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia," tweeted Pompeo. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States Attorney General William Barr has refused to testify before the House Judiciary committee about his handling of Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 Presidential elections. The development came after Democrats demanded that the Attorney General face questions from the committee's lawyers, a decision formalised by a vote on Wednesday. Barr had previously objected to the said proposal, reported CNN. Speaking to reporters following Barr's decision, Chairman of the House Judiciary committee Jerrold Nadler said, "He [Barr] is trying to blackmail the committee into not following what we think is the most effective means of eliciting the information we need. "The [Trump] administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room," he added. Justice Department spokeswoman blamed Nadler for Barr's decision, saying that the chairman placed "unprecedented and unnecessary" conditions on the hearing. "Unfortunately, even after the Attorney General volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary," Kupec said in a statement. "Congress and the Executive branch are co-equal branches of government, and each have a constitutional obligation to respect and accommodate one another's legitimate interests." The matter pertains to Mueller earlier being discontented with Barr over his handling of the investigation report, saying that he failed to "fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his investigations' findings. Following this, the Attorney General had testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday where he faced questions on the said matter. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharat Forge Ltd is quoting at Rs 469.8, down 0.52% on the day as on 13:24 IST on the NSE. The stock tumbled 37.38% in last one year as compared to a 9.83% rally in NIFTY and a 27.09% fall in the Nifty Auto index. Bharat Forge Ltd fell for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 469.8, down 0.52% on the day as on 13:24 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.16% on the day, quoting at 11729.7. The Sensex is at 39030.17, down 0%.Bharat Forge Ltd has eased around 6.75% in last one month.Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Bharat Forge Ltd is a constituent, has eased around 1.55% in last one month and is currently quoting at 8350.6, down 0.02% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 2.47 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 9.18 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 473.2, down 0.29% on the day. Bharat Forge Ltd tumbled 37.38% in last one year as compared to a 9.83% rally in NIFTY and a 27.09% fall in the Nifty Auto index. The PE of the stock is 23.51 based on TTM earnings ending December 18. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) It is also Yom HaShoah, the day of remebrance of the Shoah or Holocaust that took millions of lives, pre-eminently Jewish, under the Nazi regime. The message of this day is -- "Never Forget." We should never forget, especially in light of the rising-tide of anti-Semitism in our country and world. Today is the National Day of Prayer. I will be attending this evening the event sponsored by the Troy-area Interfaith Group. It will be an interfaith affair and will display the diverse ethnic and religious makeup of the community in which I live. I don't have a speaking part tonight, at least not yet. This event, now in its fourteenth or fifteenth year (if count semi-correctly), was established because an existing National Day of Prayer event was declared to be "Judeo-Christian" and thus persons outside that grouping were not welcome. Interestingly, the person (a Hindu woman who is now a close friend) who asked to pray at that event,setting this group in motion, now represents the community in the Michigan Legislature. It should be a good evening.It is alsothe day of remebrance of the Shoah or Holocaust that took millions of lives, pre-eminently Jewish, under the Nazi regime. The message of this day is -- "Never Forget." We should never forget, especially in light of the rising-tide of anti-Semitism in our country and world. Last evening I attended an interfaith dinner sponsored by the Muslim Unity Center, a mosque located in Bloomfield Hills. It was the third year I've attended this dinner. The food, fellowship, and program is always quite good. Such was the case last night. This Muslim community is very intentional about reaching out to the community and building bridges of friendship. Every thing was delightful, and the speaker, Dr. Rudolph Bilal Ware, was outstanding. He spoke of the connection between African American Muslims, descendants of slaves, whose origins can be traced to thriving Muslim communities in West Africa. I must say it was insightful. On May 22nd, my congregation will be co-hosting for the fourth year in a row an Iftar Dinner (the dinner that brings the Ramadan fast to a close) with the Turkish American Society of Michigan. It too is designed to build friendships across religious lines. I share all of this in the context of reports of deadly violence against religious communities. Just in the past few weeks we have witnessed the attack on mosques in New Zealand, killing approximately fifty people. Then there was the bombing of churches in Sri Lanka (along with hotels) that killed over 300. Finally there was the attack on a synagogue in California that left one dead and three wounded. We know of other attacks, including arson attacks against black churches in the United States. Additionally, I am visited regularly by an Iraqi Christian reminding me of the plight of the Christians of Iraq, a community that has largely fled its home regions. So, here we are, on a day that is supposed to call us to prayer. Here is my prayer. I pray that we will join together in building bridges of friendship between communities. Take the opportunity to get to know your Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Baha'i neighbor. Say no to violence against persons of other religious faiths. That a person believes differently from you doesn't mean they are any less human. In fact, in most ways we're fairly similar. So, by all means take the opportunity to join in events like last night's dinner, tonight's celebration, and other similar events. It is good for the world in which we live. China's retreat from providing international protection for Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and its patron Islamabad, marks a milestone in the political and diplomatic war on terror with potential reverberations beyond the subcontinent. For a decade Azhar was cast as the touchstone of Pakistan-China friendship and flag-bearer in a proxy war on India. That finally ended on Wednesday when Beijing wilted under growing international pressure and revulsion towards terrorism and agreed to the Security Council sanctions committee branding him the terrorist he is. Totally isolating them, none of the other 191 other members of the UN - including some who advocate "your-terrorist-is-my-freedom-fighter" policy in other cases - had joined Pakistan and China in backing Azhar. India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin said that India's persistent "subterranean" helped achieve this. Now the next milestone in the political and diplomatic war on terror - it is still only that, and not an all out war - will be a global one if that consensus against terrorism can be extended to the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that was proposed by India in 1996. Work on it has been stuck on the most basic issue - defining terrorism, with some making a false distinction between "freedom-fighters" and terrorists. It escapes them that the mark of terrorism is the method -- wanton killing of civilians including children -- and not the ideology. Arriving on a consensus on the convention is the challenge before Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative Rohan Perera who heads the UN's working group on eliminating international terrorism. China's turnabout, despite its words of sympathy for Islamabad, may force Pakistan to take a long-overdue inward look at its policy of classifying terrorists as bad and good - those creating mayhem within the country and those in India. That schizophrenic policy has taken a toll on Pakistan, whose diplomats like to point out that their country has suffered the most from Islamist terror. Yet Islamabad - or specifically its military overlord - was willing to pay the price to keep its army of proxies. For the world, that was too high a price. Pakistan's strategic doctrine that its nuclear weapons provided immunity against Indian retaliation against its war by terror was tested in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack in February that killed more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel. While that attack itself stung the world, the Indian air retaliation against terror camps and Pakistan's counter attack in which an Indian plane was downed showed the international community how fragile the situation is. China had reluctantly gone along with a Security Council press statement condemning the Pulwama attack, which was short of a formal resolution, and it was expected that it might relent on Azhar. But it vetoed in March for the fourth time his listing as a terrorist by the sanctions committee that deals with al Qaeda, the Islamic State and their affiliates. That re-energised the US, Britain and France to pursue the option of having the Security Council itself declare him a terrorist under sanctions of financial freeze and travel ban. They circulated a US draft resolution and lobbied hard, with Washington declaring it will utilise all available resources. If that resolution were to come up, China would have had to publicly veto it and defend Azhar, which probably gave it pause. China had claimed that it was not convinced by the evidence that Azhar was connected to terrorism, but suddenly it said the evidence it rejected was now convincing. Besides its ties with India, the Afghanistan developments were another incentive for Washington. With negotiations taking place with the Taliban for a settlement, the US would want a complete wind down of terrorism in the region to protect Afghanistan, and also to ensure that Pakistan does not turn its other proxies fighting Afghanistan towards India. As for China, it was time to recognise its own risks. It has an Islamist terror problem in the Uighar region and beyond, and its support to JeM and Azhar was not buying it goodwill with them. As its One Road, One Belt initiative advances, Beijing will have to ensure the safety of its multi-billion-dollar investments along it, while ensuring that pan-Islamist terror does not ply the road. Already, China has faced terror attacks in Pakistan, where its workers and resources have been targeted and even its consulate in Karachi attacked last year. Under these circumstances, it had to come out openly against all forms of terrorism if it were to credibly protect its investments elsewhere and even itself. This was the moment for it. Even afar in Sri Lanka, where it has billions invested and loaned, China saw Islamist terrorism's potential to disrupt the island's stability with consequences for it. And no doubt, the Sri Lanka suicide bomb massacres about a fortnight ago added to international community's pressure on China. Sanctions committee chair Dian Triansyah Djani, a soft-spoken Indonesian diplomat with a self-deprecating sense of humour, was able to deftly coalesce these developments into a consensus against Azhar. On the subcontinent, Pakistan now faces the stark choice of complying with the sanctions against Azhar - and those imposed earlier on JeM and Laskhar-e-Tayyiba - or continuing to defy international opinion, perhaps by even spawning new proxies. Perhaps if China has had a true change of heart, it could move Islamabad away from the proxy war. Then in a post-election India there may be an opportunity for a fresh start having met New Delhi's prime condition of abandoning terrorism. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) --IANS al/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The NCLAT on Thursday reversed its own interim order to allow lenders with exposure to IL&FS and its group companies to classify them as non-performing assets (NPAs), in line with RBI norms, but restrained them from moving to recover any dues from the beleagured group or group companies till their resolutions are undertaken. In February, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had passed an interim order restraining the lenders from classifying either IL&FS or its group companies as NPAs. Subsequently, the RBI had moved the NCLAT to reverse the interim order, citing the norms governing the classification of accounts as NPAs and arguing that these norms should not be interfered with. The SBI has an exposure of Rs 10,000 crore and Allahabad Bank has an exposure of Rs 1,220 crore in the IL&FS group. The NCLAT observed that a wrongful impression had been created that classification as NPAs would adversely affect the group companies in the resolution process, but the matter has now been clarified. While allowing the banks to classify the loans as NPAs, the NCLAT has, however, reinforced the moratorium. It said that that even if the IL&FS group companies are held to be NPAs, the lenders cannot move to recover. It has directed the lenders not to withdraw support from the group companies until a resolution is found for IL&FS. The next hearing in the case will take place on May 21. A bench headed by Chairman, Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, lifted the embargo on the banks to declare the accounts of the debt-ridden IL&FS and its 300 group entities. Banks have an exposure of Rs 55,000 crore in IL&FS and its group companies. The bench has said that lenders must not withdraw support until a resolution is found of the IL&FS and its group companies. Presently, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Group companies, with a collective debt of over Rs 90,000 crore, are going through the resolution process. The NCLAT had in February prohibited banks from recognising any IL&FS group accounts as non-performing assets without first seeking approval from the tribunal. Now, all group companies of IL&FS are being classified according to their ability to meet payment obligations. On the basis of their strength to meet interest payment obligations, those able to meet all payment obligations are categorised as 'green' while companies able to meet only operational payments and senior secured debt obligations are categorised as 'amber'. Others are categorised as 'red'. --IANS ana/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With less than 24 hours left for Cyclone Fani to make landfall in neighbouring Odisha coast, the West Bengal government and civic bodies on Thursday worked on war footing to cope with the storm set to travel across state starting early Saturday. The state government and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation are bracing for a severely stormy weekend. During the day decision was taken to shift people living in low lying areas to safer places. Schools were asked to prepone summer vacations as Fani hovered around 835 km southwest of Kolkata and 650 km south-southwest of Digha. "We have heard that the cyclone has turned towards Bengal and it will also hit Kolkata. But people should not panic unnecessarily. All precautionary steps are being taken to prevent any loss of life," city mayor Firhad Hakim told the reporters. With squally winds at 70 to 80 kmph gusting up to 100 kmph expected to accompany showers starting late Friday, advertisers have been 'instructed to remove hoardings' which could prove dangerous, Hakim said. Steps were also afoot to 'accommodate occupants of dilapidated buildings in nearby schools'. Heavy to very heavy rains were predicted over Medinipur, 24 South Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah, Bankura, Hooghly and Bardhaman, the Skymet said. By Saturday, rains will cover central parts of the state -- Krishnanagar, Birbhum, Murshidabad, and Malda. Skymet has predicted light to moderate rains, along with one or two heavy spells over these areas. By Sunday, the cyclonic storm Fani was expected to lose strength and move towards Bangladesh. As a result, weather would gradually start clearing up over the entire state, the weather forcaster said. Hawkers have been instructed to keep away from the streets. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has formed a team along with various departments like the Police and Disaster Management to monitor the measures being initiated to prevent any untoward happenings. "The pumping stations will be on alert mode from Friday. The Public Health Engineering Department is ready with water pouches and relief materials," Hakim added. "We are requesting all the schools to declare holiday, especially on Saturday. The corporation schools have already given a circular for holiday till Saturday," he said. The state Education Department issued a circular to the schools to prepone the summer holidays in government and government aided schools and requested the ICSE and CBSE board schools to do the same. The district administrations in the coastal areas were constantly announcing the precaution and measure that every person must take to avoid any accident or disaster. "The cyclone is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during May 3 afternoon with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph," the Regional Meteorological Centre here said in a special bulletin. Also, power and communication poles most likely to get uprooted, kutcha and pucca roads damaged, railway services disrupted and there could be widespread damages to standing crops and plantations, it said. The East Midnapore District administration has been asked to take all preventive measures and maintain a strict vigil on the Digha, Mandarmani and other beaches so as to stop visitors from bathing during the next three days as the sea would be turbulent. Steps have been taken in the coastal areas of Digha to prevent people from going near the sea. --IANS bnd/ssp/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gearing up for the post-poll scenario, where it may need support from non-NDA parties, BJP has begun backchannel talks with YSR Congress Party, which may emerge as a kingmaker in the event of a hung Parliament. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah is said to have begun backchannel talks with Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) is likely to bag majority of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh. According to sources, the talks are on over Jagan's charter of demands with Special Category Status (SCS) to the state topping the list. Other demands could include number of ministries for YSRCP and the financial and other assistance the state would get from Delhi. However, there was no confirmation from YSRCP leadership about the backchannel talks. Party leaders said they were not aware of any talks between Jagan and Shah. The final four phases of the poll, started on April 29, is described as the real election for BJP. Out of 240 seats that are at stake in these phases, BJP had bagged more than 160 in 2014 polls. If things do not move its way in these crucial phases, the BJP may have to look for support from others, especially someone like Jagan, given the number of seats his party is predicted to win. The BJP leaders, however, feel that some of the demands put forth by Jagan as a precondition for support were outlandish. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on YSRCP leader and industrialist K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju in an alleged Rs 947 crore bank loan default case on Tuesday assumed significance in this backdrop. The BJP apparently wanted to send a message to Jagan. It is an open secret that BJP and YSRCP have had good relations, especially after Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over its refusal to accord SCS to Andhra Pradesh. In fact, one of the reasons Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu cited for severing ties with BJP was the latter cosying up to his rival Jagan Mohan Reddy. Frequent appointments given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jagan and his other party leaders had angered Naidu. In the run-up to the elections and during the campaign, Naidu repeatedly targeted Jagan for what he called his secret understanding with the BJP and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao. The TDP chief claimed that the YSRCP leader bartered the state's interests to save himself in the corruption cases he was facing. Jagan defended the friendship with KCR's Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). "What is wrong if I am with TRS as they are supporting our demand for special category status," the young leader said at one of the election rallies. There was no such defence for friendship with BJP for fear of losing the votes of minorities. The YSRCP chief, however, praised Modi even while complaining that NDA has not done justice to the state by denying SCS. Realising that their party is already on a weak turf in Andhra, both Modi and Shah during the couple of rallies they addressed trained guns on Naidu but avoided criticizing Jagan. The YSRCP leader also kept everyone guessing with often repeated stand that he wants to see a hung Parliament so that the state can get a better deal from the Centre. He stated on many occasions that his party will extend support to whoever agrees to accord special status to the state. In 2014, YSRCP had bagged eight Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh while TDP had won 15 and its then ally BJP two. This time, Jagan's party is confident of winning 20-22 seats and this could be a big number in the event of polls throwing up a hung House. --IANS ms/pgh/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gavin Williamson has been sacked as the Defence Secretary of Britain following an inquiry into a leak from a top-level National Security Council meeting. Downing Street said Prime Minister Theresa May had "lost confidence in his ability to serve" and Penny Mordaunt will take on the role, the BBC reported on Wednesday. The inquiry followed reports over a plan to allow Huawei limited access to help build the UK's new 5G network. Williamson, who has been defence secretary since 2017, "strenuously" denies leaking the information. In a meeting with Williamson on Wednesday evening, May told him she had information that provided "compelling evidence" that he was responsible for the unauthorised disclosure. In a letter confirming his dismissal, she said: "No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified." Responding in a letter to the Prime Minister, Williamson said he was "confident" that a "thorough and formal inquiry" would have "vindicated" his position. "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," he said. The inquiry into the National Security Council leak began after the Daily Telegraph reported on the Huawei decision and subsequent warnings within cabinet about possible risks to national security over a deal with Huawei. Williamson is strenuously still denying that the leak was anything to do with him at all. There is nothing fond, or anything conciliatory, in either the letter from the Prime Minister to him, or his reply back to her. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala police on Wednesday registered criminal cases against three women for casting more than one vote at the Pillathara polling booth in Kasargode Lok Sabha constituency on April 23. Kerala voted for all its 20 Lok Sabha seats on April 23. The case was registered by Pariyaram police station against Panchayat member M.V.Salina, former Panchayat member K.P.Sumya and Padmini, all of whom are CPI-M activists. They have been charged under IPC Sections 171 A,C,D and F for impersonation and bogus voting among others. An official attached to the Pariyaram police station, who did not wish to be identified, confirmed to IANS that they have registered criminal cases against the three women. "The case has been registered and a probe into charges of bogus voting will be looked into," said the official. Earlier this week, Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena confirmed that the three women voted twice and asked the returning officer to register cases against them under various sections of the IPC. Meena also said that Salina would have to resign from the Panchayat she was a member of and face a probe. The CPI-M top brass attacked Meena for being partisan in his decisions. Local CPI-M legislator T.V.Rajesh on Wednesday told the media that the party would seriously look into the matter as it felt that the CEO had crossed his limits. "The women will take legal a recourse in the matter and will also file defamation cases against the media that portrayed them in poor light," said Rajesh. However, Congress candidate from Kasargode Rajmohan Unnithan said that the CPI-M still insisting on calling multiple voting by the three women an "open vote" was wrong. "There is nothing called an 'open vote' in the electoral handbook. There is something referred to a 'companion vote' but in the entire polling day video, there is no sight of any person other than these three women who voted. "If they say it was done for a companion, then where is that companion? Moreover, in such a case, there are forms to be filled, after the electoral officer ascertains from the person who is unable to cast their vote and requires assistance. This has not happened," said Unnithan. He added that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) claimed that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) workers also indulged in bogus voting, but did not given any evidence to support that claim. --IANS sg/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as the CRPF has suffered several casualties in its fight against Maoists, factors such as heart attack, depression and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue are much bigger cause of deaths in the paramilitary force, according to official data. The deaths of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel due to these reasons are 15 times larger than those killed in Maoist attacks. As per the data, a total of 1,294 CRPF troopers died due to depression, heart attack, suicides, malaria or dengue and other reasons between January 1, 2016 to July 30, 2018, however, only 85 personnel of the paramilitary force were killed in the Maoist attacks during the corresponding period. Of the 1,294 CRPF personnel, 476 died in 2016, 635 in 2017 and 183 in 2018 till July 30. In 2016, 92 personnel died due to heart attack, five because of malaria and dengue, 26 committed suicide because of depression, and 353 died of other reasons. In 2017, the number of heart attacks, the mosquito-borne diseases (malaria and dengue), suicides due to depression and others reasons hiked to 156, six, 38 and 435 respectively. In 2018 (upto July 30), the number of deaths due to heart attack was 39, malaria or dengue (1), suicide due to depression (19) and other reasons (124). However, the number of CRPF personnel killed in Maoist attacks was registered 31 in 2016, 40 in 2017 and 14 in 2018 (between January 1, 2018 to July 30, 2018). In 2016, 11 CRPF personnel were killed in Maoist attacks in Bihar, 18 in Chhattisgarh and two in Jharkhand. The number of deaths among the personnel of the paramilitary force increased in 2017 to 40 in which 39 were killed in Chhattisgarh and one in Maharashtra. In 2018, one CRPF trooper was killed in Bihar, two in Jharkhand and 11 in Chhattisgarh. The CRPF, a 3.5 lakh strong force, is mandated to provide internal security especially in Maoist affected states and Jammu and Kashmir. The government data also mentioned that the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Maoist situation in the country has been improving consistently and is now well under control. Currently, a total of 11 states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal - that comprises 90 LWE affected districts. The data said currently only 30 districts in seven states are most affected by LWE violence and these districts contributed 88 per cent of violent incidents and 94 per cent of deaths in 2017. The seven most affected states include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana. Jharkhand tops the list of the seven most LWE affected states followed by Chhattisgarh and Bihar. Jharkhand's 13 districts (Bokaro, Chatra, Garhwa, Giridih, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Khunti, Latehar, Lohardaga, Palamu, Ranchi, Simdega, West Singhbhum) and Chhattisgarh's eight districts (Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon and Sukma) are enlisted among highly LWE affected areas. Bihar's four districts (Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui, and Lakhisarai) and Odisha's two districts (Koraput and Malkangiri) are among most Maoist-affected districts however Andhra Pradesh's Vishakhapatnam, Maharashtra's Gadchiroli and Telangan's Bhadradri-Kothagudem are among the list. The government has released a total of Rs 775 crore funds under the Special Central Assistance (SCA) for the most LWE affected districts of the seven states between 2017 and 2019. A maximum of Rs 340 crore has been sanctioned to Jharkhand, Rs 200 crore to Chhattisgarh, Rs 110 crore to Bihar, Rs 50 crore to Odisha and Rs 25 crore each to Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in) --IANS rak/pgh (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A massive evacuation process was underway ahead of the landfall of cyclonic storm 'Fani' in Odisha coast, even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday appealed people not to panic over the cyclone. About eight lakh people would be evacuated from low-lying coastal areas to safer places in the state. 'Fani' is likely to hit the state's coast in Puri district on Friday evening. Holding a review meeting here, Patnaik said the government is ready to tackle the situation as every life is precious. He instructed the District Collectors of Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Ganjam, Gajapati and Cuttack to expedite evacuation in low-lying areas. The Chief Minister also held a meeting with top executives of various telecom operators in the state and asked them for early restoration of telecommunication after the cyclone makes landfall. Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said arrangements have been made to start free kitchens to provide cooked food to the evacuated people. Over one lakh dry food packets have been kept ready for air dropping in the areas to be affected by the storm. About 879 multi-purpose cyclone/flood shelters are kept in readiness for sheltering people to be evacuated. The East Coast Railway has decided to run three special trains from Puri to Shalimar and Howrah in West Bengal on Thursday for tourists. Notably, the Railways has cancelled 103 trains in view of the cyclonic storm, which is likely to hit Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali. Cyclone 'Fani', which has turned into an "extreme severe cyclonic" storm, is located around 225 kms south-southeast of Visakhapatnam and around 430 kms south-southwest of Puri, said the India Meteorological Department. --IANS cd/mag/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted more time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a reply on Robert Vadra's plea challenging a money laundering case against him. A division bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Vinod Goel asked the ED to reply within a week on the plea filed by Vadra and his close associate Manoj Arora challenging certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and Arora have been asked to file a rejoinder to the ED response thereafter within two weeks. The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 18. The case relates to the ownership of 1.9 million pounds overseas assets by Vadra. It also pertains to undisclosed foreign assets and entities to evade tax. Both Vadra and Arora were granted anticipatory bail by a trial court on April 1. --IANS ak/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Exactly two years back, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, keeping Alibaba model in mind, took a plunge into the burgeoning e-commerce space where Amazon and Flipkart (now owned by Walmart) were two dominant forces. Nurturing a little grudge that he never had a chance to study at the Harvard University, Sharma de-merged the e-commerce business into a separate entity by the name of Paytm Mall to address India's large online retail opportunity with cashbacks. Confident that the growing number of smartphone users would help it sail through, the new entity started off with the same shareholding as the parent company of Paytm - One97 Communications Limited -- and raised $200 million from SAIF Partners and Jack Ma-run Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Paytm Mall managed to raise over $650 million from Alibaba, SoftBank and SAIF Partners. Alibaba -- a pioneer in the online-to-offline (O2O) marketplace -- soon realised that giving cashback to attract customers was a short-term strategy which won't help Sharma make Paytm Mall a third big player in the fast -- growing Indian ecommerce market -- poised to touch $84 billion in 2021 from $24 billion in 2017. Paytm Mall's losses mounted and in the financial year 2018, the company posted a loss of nearly Rs 1,800 crore on revenue of Rs 774 crore. According to Forrester Research, the market share of Paytm Mall almost halved in 2018 -- to 3 per cent from 5.6 per cent in 2017. Sharma, however, is still optimistic and wants to run Paytm Mall in the face of massive competition which, the analysts feel, is the end-game as his focus should be on the digital payments market which Alibaba always wanted his to excel in. Several attempts to reach out to Paytm, including emails, calls and even a personal visit to One97 Communications Limited's Noida Sector 5 office for their version did not elicit any response till the press time. According to Thomas George, Senior Vice President and Head CyberMedia Research (CMR), Paytm is currently facing several challenges. "Paytm is far behind the top two e-commerce players in terms of market share. They have a single-digit share against the top leaders which are commanding over 30 per cent. Plus, the service standard set by these market leaders is quite remarkable," George told IANS. On the other hand, Paytm is not making investments in stocking and delivering products. "Paytm Mall's primary catchment segment was its payment wallet customers base. This base is not growing as anticipated," George added. Paytm's Payment Bank vision is also under scrutiny. "The Paytm payment bank could have helped the company to create a buzzing marketplace and attract more consumers onboard. While billionaire investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc has invested in Paytm, we had seen Alibaba diluting its stake too," George noted. Over the past few years, Paytm has been bleeding massively in online retail business and there is no respite in sight. In a mega deal in India's e-commerce space, the world's retail giant Walmart in May last year announced it was buying 77 per cent equity stake in the country's largest e-tailor Flipkart for $16 billion. After the two US retails giants, Reliance Industries last year announced to enter the e-commerce space with an aim to transform the lives of around three crore merchants across the country, enabling them to do all that large enterprises and e-commerce giants are able to do with the help of technology. For Paytm Mall, the news of Reliance entering the e-commerce ring was like a nightmare. (Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in) --IANS na/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Muslim Educational Society (MES) in Kerala has banned all face covering attires, a circular issued said. The Kozhikode headquartered MES that runs over 150 educational institutions in the state banned all face covering attires from their campus from the upcoming academic year 2019-20. MES President Fazal Gafoor, a medical professional, issued the circular in April and directed that this should be strictly adhered to by both students and teachers in all their educational institutions. "There is no need for any controversy as the circular states that the dress code should be decent and the face should not be covered. This is our view and it will be implemented," said Gafoor to the media. Set up in 1964, MES runs more than 150 institutions including more than 50 schools, a number of postgraduate colleges, women's colleges, professional institutions like engineering colleges, medical college, nursing college and dental college. However, Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal, president of the popular Muslim organisation Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, said that these are all religious issues. "MES, cannot decide on religious issues and it's not right in what they have done," said Thangal. --IANS sg/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after the killing of BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi in a deadly Maoist attack in Dantewada, one of the masterminds of the ambush, Madvi Muyya, was killed in a shootout with Chhattisgarh Police in the district on Thursday morning, police said. The 30-year-old Maoist's body was recovered from Kirandul area where he was killed in an exchange of fire with a Chhattisgarh Police team, Vivekanand Sinha Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) told IANS. "The Maoist was carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head. He was killed in an exchange of fire after a police team tried to capture him following a tip-off about his presence in the area. The operation was carried out early Thursday morning. One rifle with six live cartridges was recovered from the spot," Sinha said. The officer said that Muyya was one of the masterminds of the attack in which BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four police personnel were killed on April 9 deadly attack carried out by a group of Maoists. Another officer said that the Maoist was also one of the masterminds of the October 30, 2018 attack in Dantewada in which Doordarshan TV cameraman Achyutanand Sahu and two police personnel were killed. --IANS rak/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after 15 C-60 commandos were killed in a Maoist attack in Maharastra's Gadchiroli district, the Congress sought the resignation of state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said the incident reflected failure of the Union Home Ministry. "We demand the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the attack. The Home Ministry's failure was also evident," Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said. Congress leader Ragini Nayak also slammed the Centre over the alleged intelligence failure, saying the area had been declared Maoist-free but there were recent reports that the extremists were regrouping there. "Why did the government not launch massive surveillance in the area when there were reports of the Naxals regrouping there," Nayak asked. She cast a doubt over the origin of the explosive material in the attack and compared it to the Pulwama terror attack where the attacker was reportedly carrying 300 kg of explosives in the car he rammed into a convoy of CRPF troops. "The government has no reply as it had nothing to say after the Pulwama blast," said Nayak. Citing data, the Congress leader said there had been 1,086 Maoist attacks over the past five years in which 351 jawans were martyred and 582 civilians injured. --IANS amit/rs/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Venezuelan opposition supporters have been holding mass protests, a day after violent clashes with government forces. "We will keep going with more strength than ever," opposition leader Juan Guaido tweeted on Wednesday. Pro-government rallies are also taking place, the BBC reported. The rival demonstrations come after President Nicolas Maduro said he had stopped an "attempted coup" on Tuesday. Guaido says he is backed by members of the armed forces but Maduro insists he still has their support. In a fiery television address on Tuesday, Maduro accused protesters of "serious crimes" which he said would "not go unpunished", and said the US was plotting against him. Guaido declared himself Venezuela's interim leader in January and has been recognised 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. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said military action was "possible" if necessary but that the US would prefer a peaceful transition of power. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the US against further "aggressive" steps. The UN meanwhile called on both sides to exercise "maximum restraint". Addressing his supporters in Caracas, Guaido called the protests an "irreversible process" and vowed to continue demonstrations every day "to achieve freedom". "We are on the right track, there is no turning back," he said. He also said there would be a series of staggered strikes starting on Thursday and culminating in a general strike. Some media reports said gunfire in Altamira, a neighbourhood in east Caracas where the opposition regularly gathers. There were also clashes on a highway close to an airbase in the east of the capital, with protesters driving a van through the perimeter fence. National Guard on motorbikes fired tear gas at the demonstrators. Some demonstrators threw stones, while others have been seen making Molotov cocktails. Demonstrations have taken place in all 23 states of Venezuela as well as in Caracas, NGOs and the local media say. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's scheduled visit to Sri Lanka has been cancelled due to the security situation in the island nation in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday suicide bombings, the media reported on Thursday. According to the Express Tribune, Qureshi was also due to visit the Maldives on May 2 and the Sri Lankan capital Colombo from May 3 till May 5, but the tour was cancelled due to the security issue following the Sri Lanka carnage which killed 253 people. A revised schedule for Qureshi's visit was yet to be released. The daily's report said that Pakistan has offered "every possible" assistance to Sri Lanka in investigations into the horrific attacks. Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said last week that the offer was made at the highest level by Pakistan. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A new facet of her personality came to fore on Thursday when Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited a village of snake charmers in Rae Bareli to campaign for her mother Sonia Gandhi. She went to the Hansa ka Purwa village and met the snake charmers. While talking to them about their problems, she picked up a black cobra and played with it. The Congress workers and security personnel accompanying her were taken aback to see this but none had the courage to intervene. "This is the first time that any 'neta' has visited our village and even shown the courage to touch a snake. "In fact, whenever we have shown them snakes, they think we are doing it for money. But Priyanka is so fearless and she treated the snake like one treats a puppy," said Kishori Lal, a snake charmer. Later, Priyanka addressed a number of street corner meetings where she criticised the BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh who had claimed to be a loyal Congress leader till he was given a BJP ticket. --IANS amita/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has 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 US 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 US, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. "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," Xinhua reported citing the statement. 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 "destabilising" for the nation and urged Moscow to "cease support for Nicolas Maduro", according to the US 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 demoralise the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war," she was quoted by Tass news agency as saying. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samsung's new television with a vertical display will hit the South Korean market later in May with a price tag of 1.89 million Won ($1,630), the firm has said. The QLED TV is designed to provide viewing experiences that switch seamlessly between mobile devices and TV, allowing users to enjoy smartphone videos, photos and music on bigger screens with a more powerful audio system. The South Korean tech giant said the 43-inch premium television was designed to appeal to those who are familiar with vertical viewing experiences on their smartphones and other mobile devices, Yonhap news agency reported on Monday. The TV can rotate to the traditional horizontal display and connect to mobile devices using near-field communication (NFC) technology, the firm said. "We will change ways of viewing with new form factors and user experiences to cater to various needs of consumers," said Han Jong-hee, Head of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "We decided to introduce this product in the Korean market first, considering the high ratio of smartphone users and consumers' willingness to try innovative tech products," Han said. "We will follow up the early market reaction to launch it in other markets." QLED TVs are light-emitting diode TVs that use quantum dots to enhance performance in key picture quality areas. --IANS gb/mag/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea seeking to arrest former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar for questioning in the Saradha scam. Through this order, the apex court will decide whether to revoke its February order, which granted Kumar protection from arrest in the scam. Opening the arguments on the third consecutive day, senior counsel Indira Jaising, appearing for the police officer, argued that the CBI was being vindictive and had cooked up a false case against the police officer. To support her argument, she referred to Kumar's unblemished career and said he was a decorated officer and never a doubt had been cast on his integrity. He was awarded the President's Medal in 2015, after due diligence and scrutiny by the Home Ministry to select a candidate who had not been implicated in a case or departmental inquiry, she added. Jaising said till date, the CBI had been unable to establish Kumar's criminal intent in suppressing evidence in the investigation. "And yet they are seeking his custodial interrogation. There is media trial going on," she said. She claimed that there was a reason why the CBI singled out Kumar in the case. "(Then interim) CBI Director Nageshwar Rao actually set the investigation agency after Kumar, because there is an FIR against Rao's wife in West Bengal," she said. Recalling the February incident when the CBI went to question Kumar and the entire episode took a political turn, Jaising said the agency tried to raid Kumar's house in his absence. "His wife, a public servant, was in the house. They levelled false charges that he has hidden evidence at his residence," she argued. She also contended that the CBI was deliberately going after Kumar, but never questioned Arnab Ghosh, then DGP of Police, who was also part of SIT investigating the scam. Jaising also said no evidence of value was found on the electronic devices that were seized in the investigation into the scam. Appearing for the CBI, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta insisted that the investigating agency was not hounding Kumar. "We asked them a simple question regarding the FSL report of the electronic devices seized during the investigation, but they did not give us any report," he said. He also said it was impossible to establish the authenticity of electronic data seized during the scam in the absence of a forensic science laboratory (FSL) report. Insisting that the FSL report was crucial to solve the case, he said: "We have been demanding it since the case was handed over to the CBI. How do we know that mobiles, laptops, pen drives, etc, have not been compromised." . At this, Jaising said the data was seized by different agencies -- the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the Assam Police and the Enforcement Directorate -- and not by the West Bengal Police alone. --IANS ss/rtp/pcj/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tech Mahindra Ltd on Thursday announced that its Blockchain solution is safeguarding over 300 million mobile subscribers from unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) or spam calls. Tech Mahindra last year designed the Blockchain solution in compliance with the regulations and guidelines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to enable telecom providers prevent unauthorised access of subscribers' data. Blockchain is expected to be a trillion-dollar market globally by 2030. "With the concerted and coordinated efforts by the Indian government and the industry backed by appropriate regulation, India can continue to sustain and enhance its leadership position in Blockchain technology," Rajesh Dhuddu, Global Practice Leader, Blockchain, Tech Mahindra said in a statement. The company is betting big on Blockchain as part of its "TechMNxt" charter, progressively investing in next-generation technologies to cater to the customer's evolving needs. "Tech Mahindra also demonstrates Blockchain capabilities in diverse sectors including telecom, manufacturing, hi-tech industries and financial services," said the company. Tech Mahindra last month partnered Samsung SDS, the systems integration arm of South Korean giant, to enter the global blockchain market. As part of the deal, the two companies would offer "Nexledger" -- a Blockchain platform developed by Samsung SDS -- in the global market. --IANS na/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Charminar, the symbol of Hyderabad, has suffered damage as a piece of lime stucco work on one of its minarets fell down following unseasonal rains, officials said on Thursday. A portion of the stucco work detached from the granite slab on the minaret facing Mecca Masjid side and fell off late on Wednesday, sending panic among the people around the monument. Police cordoned off the area where the debris fell. A large number of onlookers gathered near the monument. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had undertaken restoration work on the monument sometime back. While the incidents of lime plasters peeling off are not new, the latest damage raised new concerns about the safety of the iconic structure. Charminar was built in 1591 by Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth king of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. The 428-year-old edifice, stands at a staggering 160 feet from ground level. It has four minarets after which it is named. --IANS ms/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Attorney General William Barr has refused to testify to the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee on his handling of the Russia inquiry. Barr had previously objected to a plan for lawyers to ask questions at Thursday's hearing, the BBC reported. Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler accused the White House of a "complete stonewalling of Congress". The standoff raises the prospect that Barr, America's top legal official, could be held in contempt of Congress. On Wednesday, Barr was grilled by a Senate panel about his decision to clear President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice. His defence of his actions before the Republican-led Senate Justice Committee came after Special Counsel Robert Mueller -- who led the investigative hunt for links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia -- expressed frustration over the report summary. Mueller is expected to testify to Congress later this month. A Department of Justice statement said Nadler had placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that were "unprecedented and unnecessary". The department said that the planned move to have attorneys question Barr was unnecessary because most of the committee members were themselves lawyers. However, Nadler told reporters he believed that Barr was afraid to testify on Thursday given "how dishonest he has been". "We plan on subpoenaing him if he decides not to show up. He can run but he can't hide," he said. "I hope and expect that the attorney general will think overnight and will be there as well," he added. He testified for the first time on Wednesday since the release of Mueller's 448-page report. The special counsel did not establish any collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. However, the report did not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice. It concluded the Republican president had repeatedly intervened with an inquiry that he feared would doom his presidency. Barr, who was appointed by Trump, told the Senate Judiciary Committee he was "frankly surprised" Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president had tried to obstruct justice. The attorney general added that he was "absolutely" confident in his own judgment that Trump did not unlawfully attempt to impede the investigation. "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," he said. Barr's testimony came after a letter he had received from Mueller was made public. In the document, the special counsel stated that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance" of his report's findings, and caused "public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation". --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has welcomed the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and Al Qaeda Sanctions list. "The United States welcomes the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and Al Qaeda Sanctions list," a statement by a spokesperson for the US Mission in the UN said on Wednesday. "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. "Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) is 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. We appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Imran 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," the statement read. "We recognize initial steps taken by the Government of Pakistan in this regard. We look forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan, and consistent with its international obligations," it added. 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 Qaeda 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. --IANS akk/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Call it a coincidence or whatever. Since 1992 by-elections, a party which wins the Lok Sabha constituency, forms government at the Centre. In fact, out of all the 16 general elections and two by-elections since 1951, a party which won the seat formed the government at the Centre 13 times. It will now be watched whether or not the constituency follows the same trend this time. This prestigious constituency, whose electorate is a mix of the elite, middle class central government employees and those from the lowest strata of the society, is the oldest of the seven constituencies of Delhi. The constituency houses prestigious institutions like Parliament House, Supreme Court, Central Government offices, the official residences of the President, the Prime Minister, all the union ministers, top civil, judicial, military officials and also the diplomatic enclave. It also has high profile markets like Khan Market, Defence Colony, South Extension, Connaught Place, Green Park, Hauz Khas and Lajpat Nagar. The Constituency, which came into existence in 1951, always witnesses a high profile contest. In the 2014 elections, the seat was bagged by the BJP whose candidate Meenakshi Lekhi got 4,53,350 votes (47.02 per cent) votes, while Ashish Khetan from AAP got 2,90,642 votes (30.14 per cent) and Ajay Maken from Congress came third with 1,82,893 votes (18.97 votes). In the 2009 and 2004 elections, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) formed the government at the Centre, the New Delhi seat voted for Maken. The Congress leader won the 2009 election against BJP's Vijay Goel by 1,87,809 votes in 2009, and in 2004 he won the election against BJP's Jagmohan by 12,784 votes. In 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP-led NDA formed the government at the Centre, the electorate here elected BJP's Jagmohan, who defeated Congress leader R.K. Dhawan both times. Interestingly the margin of victory both times was around 30,000 votes. In 1996, when the constituency gave mandate to Jagmohan of the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha and formed a government at the Centre. The government, however, collapsed in just 13 days as it could not muster the required majority on the floor of the House. Jagmohan, a former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir during the peak of militancy, defeated actor-turned-politician Rajesh Khanna of the Congress by 58,315 votes. In 1991 elections, when the Congress formed the government at the Centre with P.V. Narasimha Rao as the Prime Minister, BJP leader L.K. Advani was elected from New Delhi constituency. He, however, resigned from the seat as he had won from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, too. And in the by-election that followed in 1992, the seat was won by Rajesh Khanna who defeated BJP's Shatrughan Sinha. Before 1992, there was no such trend, although out of the nine Lok Sabha elections and one by-poll held between 1951 and 1989, such a scenario was witnessed six times. In the first Lok Sabha polls in 1951, the case was opposite. While the Congress won the General elections with a landslide victory by bagging 364 of the 489 seats and 45 per cent of the total votes polled, the New Delhi voted for Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party's Sucheta Kriplani, who defeated Congress' Man Mohani Sehgal with 7,671 votes. Of the total 1,02,175 votes, Kripalani got 47,735 votes. In the second General election in 1957, Kripalani again won the election but this time she was contesting on the Congress ticket and her party formed the government at the Centre as well. However, the constituency saw a by-poll in 1961 where Balraj Madhok of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) got elected, while the Congress formed government at the Centre. In 1962, 1971 and 1984 General elections, the Congress bagged both - majority seats at Centre and also the New Delhi Parliamentary seat. In 1977, when the Janata alliance won the election, Atal Bihari Vajpayee bagged the seat on Bharatiya Lok Dal, which was part of the ruling coalition. In 1989, Advani won the New Delhi seat on BJP ticket and his party was part of the National Front which formed the government headed by V.P. Singh. However, when the elections were held in 1967 and 1980, the trend was not the same. In 1967 and 1980, when the Congress formed the government at the Centre, the BJS and the BJP won the New Delhi seats, respectively. This time, the seat will see a triangular contest between the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, Aam Aadmi Party, which is ruling Delhi and the Congress. While the BJP has named its sitting MP Lekhi, the Congress has named its two-time MP Maken and the AAP has named 43-year-old Brijesh Goyal. The Parliamentary Constituency constitutes 10 assembly seats -- Karol Bagh (SC), Patel Nagar (SC), Moti Nagar, Delhi Cantt, Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, RK Puram, Greater Kailash -- all ruled by AAP. Karol Bagh, Patel Nagar, Moti Nagar, Rajinder Nagar assemblies were added into the constituency in 2008 when the Karol Bagh Lok Sabha constituency was dissolved. Similarly, Malviya Nagar, R.K. Puram and Delhi Cantt assemblies were added from South Delhi parliamentary constituency in 2008. (Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in) --IANS nks/akk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special camp for providing Jaipur Foot to 500 disabled people began in Egyptian city of Asyut on Thursday. The camp was organised by the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) in association with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Egyptian government. "Five hundred disabled people in Egypt will be provided Jaipur Foot," Satish Mehta, international director of the BMVSS, said. "A seven-member highly skilled technical team of the BMVSS is conducting the camp which is being supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity," he said. On the 150thbirth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Ministry of External Affairs initiated a programme 'India in Humanity' under which the MEA, in association with the BMVSS, is holding the camps in different countries. Under this programme, the BMVSS has organised camps at Vietnam, Myanmar, Malawi, Iraq and Nepal and rehabilitated 2,987 disabled so far, Mehta said. The camp in Asyut will be held till June 9. The Jaipur Foot, a prosthetic limb, was developed in 1968 by a group of eminent orthopaedic surgeons and craftsmen. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) His name used to send shivers down the spine in ravines of Chambal in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in the seventies. But the former dacoit now describes himself as a "baagi" (rebel) and vows to fight against 'dacoits in society' and stand rock-solid for their cause. He is Malkhan Singh Rajpoot, 76, who is testing his electoral fortunes from Dhauhara constituency as Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) candidate. "Mahaul accha hai...dhuan dhaar lad rahe hai" (The scenario is good...I am contesting solidely)," Malkhan, who was the uncrowned emperor of dacoits of Chambal in the 1970's, told PTI over phone when asked how his election prospects. "I will win...my party is strong and I am getting good response wherever I go in the constituency," he claimed. Asked about issues being raised by him, Malkhan, who was first picked up by police in 1964 when he was just 17-year-old under the Arms Act, said, "I will stand rock-solid for the cause of the people and save them from dacoits in society whom they face everyday." "Garibon, mahilaon par anyay aur atyachar ke khilaf khada rahunga," (I will stand against those who commit atrocities on poor and women)," he said. "As a 'pehredar of Chambal', I took care of all irrespective of their caste. I don't carry any blot now," he said, recalling his past when he was known as a dreaded dacoit of Chambal. "No one can met injustice to anyone here. I will ensure that. They (people) will only get benefited by me as their representative," Malkhan said, when asked why people should vote for a 'dacoit', as he is perceived. "I was not a dacoit. I was 'baagi', who took up gun for self-honour and self-protection. I know who are real dacoits and also know how to deal with them," he said. People of his area say Malkhan hates being called a dacoit. They say he still evokes the Robin Hood image even outside the badlands of Chambal where he ruled for 15 years. When asked as to why he selected Dhaurahara constituency and not any other seat in UP or in MP, Malkhan said, "It is democracy. Anyone can contest from anywhere. If our PM Narendra Modi can contest from Varanasi, why can't I?" Malkhan and his gang were the most feared in the Chambal region and had a total of 94 police cases, including 18 cases of dacoity, 28 of kidnapping, 19 of attempt to murder and 17 cases of murder against them. When his surrender was ultimately negotiated, Malkhan himself carried a price of Rs 70,000 on his head. Malkhan settled down in district headquarters of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh after his surrender before then MP chief minister Arjun Singh in 1982. Locals say at the of 76, the over six-foot tall Malkhan is still a rebel, but sans the American self-loading rifle that he used to flaunt. Nevertheless, he is campaigning with all guns blazing, kicking up dust in the villages braving the scorching heat. In Dhaurahara, Malkhan had campaigned for Congress nominee Jitin Prasada in 2009 and helped him win. "I was assured a Congress ticket from Banda this time, but they ditched me," Malkhan said, when asked about his meetings with Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Raj Babbar. Malkhan is contesting against Congress candidate Jitin Prasada, BJP's Rekha Verma and opposition alliance candidate Arshad Iliyas Siddiqui (BSP). The constituency will go to polls on May 6 in the fifth phase of polling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Afghan grand council on Thursday agreed on several recommendations for peace talks with the Taliban, after four days of meetings in Kabul meant to hammer out a common strategy for future negotiations. President Ashraf Ghani had convened the council of more than 3,200 participants, known as Loya Jirga, earlier in the week. Though the gathering is consultative and its recommendations are not binding for Ghani, it underscored his government's effort to project a unified stance. However, a number of prominent Afghans, including Ghani's partner in the unity government, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, boycotted the council, which ends on Friday. The US has in recent months stepped up efforts to resolve Afghanistan's 17-year war America's longest conflict and has been pressing for direct talks between the Taliban and Kabul. The insurgents refuse to talk to the government, considering it a US puppet, though they have held several rounds of talks with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. The participants in the Loya Jirga which included politicians, tribal elders, many prominent figures and others were divided into dozens of committees and discussed several issues, including a cease-fire and women's rights in keeping with the tenets of Islam. The Taliban have so far refused to accept any cease-fire until the roughly 17,000 NATO troops 14,000 of whom are American withdraw from Afghanistan. The council overwhelmingly backed talks between Kabul and the Taliban and also called for the UN to remove its global terrorist designation for the Taliban, a long-standing demand of the insurgents. But after holding an opening speech Monday, 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. Still, the council expressed its support for women's rights and said the country must not backtrack from the gains that women have made since the US-led invasion in 2001 ousted the Taliban regime, which had harbored al-Qaida. Meanwhile, Khalilzad embarked on another round of talks with the Taliban Wednesday in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. Those talks are narrowly focused on US troop withdrawal and Taliban guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used to stage global terrorist attacks. Earlier in the week, Khalilzad visited Pakistan and was also in Moscow, where a trilateral meeting that also included China issued a statement supporting US efforts to find an end to the protracted Afghan war. Khalilzad on Wednesday also met Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marudi, who had met a day earlier with the Taliban chief negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the day earlier. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Afghan officials called for a ceasefire Thursday as a huge peace summit wound down in Kabul after thousands of delegates spent days discussing possible conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban. This week's "loya jirga", or grand assembly, saw more than 3,000 religious and tribal leaders, politicians and representatives from across the country gather under tight security to discuss the possibility of peace. The Taliban, who were not at the talks, are this week separately meeting in Doha with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a bid to make a deal with Washington that could see the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. While the full results of the summit may not be announced until Friday, several committee leaders said they wanted to see an immediate pause in violence, which has continued apace across Afghanistan even with various peace summits taking place. "Every day, Afghans are being killed without any reason. An unconditional ceasefire must be announced," said Mohammad Qureshi, head of one of the jirga's many committees. Huge swathes of Afghan society worry that if the US does make a deal with the Taliban, the militant Islamists would try to seize power and undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms, and legal protections. The Taliban has steadfastly refused to talk to the Afghan government, which it views as a puppet regime. That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree to 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. "We dont want such a peace that women's rights are not respected, freedom of expression are not ensured, elections are not held," committee member Faizullah Jalal told the summit. Several delegates also rejected Taliban and opposition calls for an interim government when President Ashraf Ghani's term expires this month. "It is you who will show the government the way towards peace and the government will do what you demand," jirga chairman Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf said. "No one will impose anything on you." Several opposition figures had boycotted the assembly, complaining it amounted to a political rally for Ghani, but Sayyaf said the summit was not aimed at supporting any particular candidate for the September presidential elections. The loya jirga is a centuries-old tradition in Afghanistan that has been convened at times of national crisis or to settle big issues. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Disgruntled AAP MLA Alka Lamba said she skipped the road show of party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Chandni Chowk on Wednesday as she was "insulted" by her party. In a tweet, the Chandni Chowk MLA vented her anger and claimed she was asked to walk behind Kejriwal's car while other MLAs were with him in the car. AAPcandidate Pankaj (Gupta) ji's phone came to me and he invited me for the CM's road show. I was ready, then another message was sent that I would not be present with Kejriwal in his car but have to walk behind his car while other MLAs would be present with him. I cannot stand this and I decided not to participate in the road show, she said in the tweet. Kejriwal held the roadshow in Chandni Chowk on Tuesday with AAP Chandni Chowk candidate Pankaj Gupta. It saw participation of large number of supporters. Lamba has been at odds with the AAP for quite sometime now. Earlier last month, Lamba engaged in a bitter Twitter spat with AAP's Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, who had taunted her to resign from the party. Following the spat, Lamba addressed a large crowd outside Jama Masjid and said the party was repeatedly demanding her resignation. Lamba hit a rough patch with the AAP over its decision to pass a resolution to revoke Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna. Lamba had raised objections to the party's resolution. Lamba had alleged that the party leadership was "weakening" her and said she is being accused of attempting to switch over to the Congress. In December, Lamba said in a tweet that AAP had asked her to support the resolution, which she refused. Lamba then added that now she is ready to face any punishment because of her actions. Alka Lamba won the Chandni Chowk assembly seat in the 2013 Delhi elections. Before joining the AAP, Lamba was part of the Congress women's wing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Veteran actor Anjelica Huston says if given a chance, she would not even think for a second before agreeing to work with embattled filmmaker Woody Allen. There has been renewed focus on the director in the wake of Harvey Weinstein scandal, which gave birth to the #MeToo movement in October 2017. Dylan, Allen's adopted daughter with former partner Mia Farrow, accused the director of sexually abusing her in the early 1990s while she was a child. She reiterated her allegations in a 2014 New York Times op-ed and other articles. Huston, 67, worked with Allen on two films -- "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), which also featured Mia Farrow, and "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993). In a wide-ranging interview with Vulture, Huston came to Allen's defence, saying he has not been able to make films ever since the claims resurfaced. She said the director was investigated for his alleged crimes but no court found him guilty. "I think that's after two states investigated him, and neither of them prosecuted him," she said. Asked whether she would be open to working with Allen again, Huston said, "Yeah, in a second." The Oscar-winning actor also talked about other names such as filmmaker Roman Polanski and her "Transparent" co-star Jeffrey Tambor, who were also called out in the wake of #MeToo in the past two years. In 1977, Huston was arrested for cocaine possession at her then-boyfriend Jack Nicholson's house after Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl. During the interview, the actor offered support to Polanski as she believes he has already "paid his price" for the crime. "My opinion is: He's paid his price, and at the time that it happened, it was kind of unprecedented. This was not an unusual situation. You know that movie 'An Education' with Carey Mulligan? That happened to me. "It's about a schoolgirl in England who falls in love with an older dude, Peter Skarsgaard. I met my first serious boyfriend when he was 42 and I was 18," she said. She said she met the two women who accused Tambor and as far as she was concerned "nobody did or said anything inappropriate". Tambor was fired from Amazon show "Transparent" last year after he was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. He has denied the allegations. "I do think in this work we have to feel freedom. We have to feel as though we can say and do things that are not necessarily judged, particularly by the other people in the cast or crew," Huston said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After an uprising in Venezuela quickly fizzled out, the United States is insisting that President Nicolas Maduro's days remain numbered. But experts warn of limited options to break a protracted stalemate in which Washington may have overestimated the opposition leader's strength. Juan Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by the United States and more than 50 other countries, on Tuesday claimed support from a group of "brave soldiers" at a base in Caracas, but Maduro quashed ensuing street protests within hours. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Wednesday that "military action is possible." But short of that, the United States has already forcefully intervened for three months, including imposing sweeping sanctions on Venezuela's state-run oil company, a lifeline for the cash-strapped government. Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, which promotes democratic governance in Latin America, said the latest bid by Guaido brought to mind his failed attempt in February to force US aid across the Colombian border. "Clearly, the opposition forces have underestimated Maduro's resilience in power and his ability to withstand significant pressure on the streets," Shifter said. He said the hawkish rhetoric by President Donald Trump's administration had been "unhelpful and often counterproductive" in helping Venezuela, which is embroiled in an economic meltdown that has sent millions fleeing. "Much of the policy seems to be driven by wishful, not strategic, thinking," he said. The Trump administration has meanwhile stepped up a psychological offensive aimed at portraying Maduro as weak and dependent on his allies Russia, Cuba and China. Pompeo dropped a bombshell as the insurrection subsided by saying that Maduro had been ready to fly out Tuesday morning to Havana before being dissuaded by Russia, although both Maduro and Moscow denied the account. In an especially baffling move, the Trump administration publicly named three senior Venezuelan officials including the defense minister who it said had committed to back Guaido, the head of the elected National Assembly. Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the military was the crucial player in preserving Maduro's rule and that Washington has been surprised at the modest number of defections. "The US was overly optimistic, and the administration and its supporters keep coming up with excuses as to why Maduro's hold on power has remained, including greatly exaggerating the role of Russia and China," said Carpenter, who last year published the book "Gullible Superpower: US Support for Bogus Foreign Democratic Movements." Carpenter said the coming days would show whether Guaido can indeed amass a substantial popular uprising and that Washington had few options other than perhaps tightening already stringent sanctions. "What I worry about is that the temptation will rise for the US to save face and try to salvage the policy by intervening directly with its military forces, and to me that would make a bad situation even worse." Senator Rick Scott of Florida, which has a large Venezuelan-American community, urged Trump to mobilize the military to deliver aid by force and break down barriers on the border. A fellow Republican lawmaker active on military affairs, Representative Jim Banks, said the United States should consider both naval and ground deployments with an aim "not to violently provoke but to firmly warn." Trump has cast Venezuela as part of an ideological battle against socialism and has sought to link the country's crumbling economy with the US Democratic Party -- which, in a rare point of agreement, has mostly backed the administration on ousting Maduro. But many experts doubt that even the most hawkish Trump administration officials are serious about war with a country nearly the population of Iraq that few Americans view as a threat. "We can be reminded many times that the military option is on the table but, given that it hasn't been used so far and how it's not clear that it will actually solve any of the fundamental problems, I think Maduro's government eventually can simply call the US's bluff," said Ivan Briscoe, Latin America program director of the International Crisis Group, which researches ways out of conflict. The Trump administration has rejected talks with Maduro -- but Briscoe said dialogue in Venezuela was ultimately the best path. "It's quite clear that the government cannot survive a long, drawn-out period of sanctions, nor these monthly outbreaks of instability. And the opposition understands clearly that US support can't bring the government down," he said. "So that would suggest that we're looking effectively at a deadlock in which neither can beat the other guy and that the only solution is to sit down with each other. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Attorney General Bill Barr has refused to testify at a House of Representatives hearing Thursday on his handling of the Mueller report, setting up a showdown that could see Democrats take legal steps to compel his appearance. House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said Barr had also refused to supply the panel with a full and unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible obstruction by President Donald Trump. Nadler said Barr, who testified for five hours at a Senate hearing Wednesday, did not want to appear before the House panel if he was subjected to questioning by a lawyer from the committee in addition to its members. "He is terrified at having to face a skilled attorney," Nadler said, adding that "when push comes to shove, the administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room." The Justice Department acknowledged that Nadler's rules change to allow lawyers to question Barr prompted the boycott. "Unfortunately, even after the attorney general volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary," department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement. "The attorney general remains happy to engage directly with members on their questions regarding the report and looks forward to continue working with the committee on their oversight requests." An angry Nadler said his committee has been stonewalled by the administration and could subpoena Barr for the unredacted report. "Compliance with congressional subpoenas is not optional and if good faith negotiations don't result in a pledge of compliance in the next day or two, the next step is seeking a contempt citation against the attorney general," Nadler said. A subpoena for Barr to testify could be issued as well, Nadler added. The back-and-forth followed a stormy Senate hearing, where Barr faced allegations that he "whitewashed" the Mueller report and misled lawmakers. Democrats had seized on Mueller's own letter to Barr, in which the special counsel complained that the attorney general's four-page summary of the report "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his conclusions. Multiple 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, called on Barr to resign. Nadler meanwhile said he was hoping Mueller will testify before the committee on May 15. "The (Justice) Department announced they have no objection and we're seeking to firm up the date," Nadler said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader and Faizabad candidate Nirmal Khatri on Thursday claimed that the Ayodhya dispute was no longer an election plank in the Lok Sabha election and said the BJP was distancing itself from the issue. The former state Congress chief also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his first Ayodhya visit in five years. "The issue of construction of a temple of Lord Ram seems to have vanished from the electoral landscape. The issue of Ram temple for the past few elections had no longer been an issue for the voters of Faizabad," Khatri told PTI in an interview. The 68-year-old underscored that had the Ayodhya issue been relevant, then he would not have won in 2009 from Faizabad, where the temple town is located. Khatri said the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue only existed in the national media and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the 2014 election not due to it. "People of Faizabad understand that is being done in the garb of this issue and the intention of the BJP is not right. Hence, this issue is no longer an issue," Khatri said. "When those (BJP) who had nurtured this issue as an issue have distanced themselves from this issue, then a message has automatically gone." The former Faizabad MP alleged that Modi did not get time to come to Ayodhya in five years. "Now, why is he raising that slogan (Jai Shri Ram)? Do you think that the public is fool?" he asked. Modi had addressed a rally in Gosaiganj, about 25 km from Ayodhya, on Wednesday, where he reportedly raised the slogan of "Jai Shri Ram". The holy town has been central to the BJP and the Hindutva affiliates' agitation for a Ram temple at what the faithfuls believe to be the birth place of Lord Ram. The Supreme Court had recently appointed mediators to find an amicable solution to the dispute over the 2.77 acre plot, on which the Babri Masjid stood before it was demolished by the 'karsevaks' on December 6, 1992. Khatri claimed that the Congress was more nationalistic than the BJP. "Our leaders, Indira ji (Indira Gandhi) and Rajiv ji (Rajiv Gandhi), had sacrificed their lives for the country and not for their personal property," he said. The Congress leader accused Modi of trying to divert the attention of the public as he had "no issues" left with him to raise. "How can a political party dissociate from nationalism? We are much more nationalistic than Modi and the BJP is not the custodian of nationalism," Khatri asked. On the row over the citizenship of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the former state minister accused the BJP of disseminating false information, saying there was not an "iota of substance" on the allegations. Khatri said the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, had raised the morale of the party workers in the state. Asked about Vadra not contesting from Modi's constituency of Varanasi, Khatri said: "She (Vadra) is a leader of national stature and is from a family on which there is the 'daaromdaar' (responsibility) of the Congress party. I think she has given more priority to campaign for other party candidates than her own personal (electoral) contest." He exuded confidence that the Congress would perform well in the Lok Sabha election and improve its tally in the state. "As far as seats around Faizabad are concerned, there are a few seats (Basti, Shrawasti, Barabanki and Sultanpur) where the party is putting up a good show and they will give positive results for the party," Khatri said. The Congress leader said the major issue in the election are jobs and pointed out that there were problems of sewage in the constituency. "This city (Faizabad) lies in the middle of three prominent UP cities -- Lucknow, Allahabad and Varanasi -- and, hence, it has not been able to grow from the business point of view," he observed. "Work on a medical college started during my tenure as MP, but it is progressing at very slow pace. People rush to Lucknow in case of any accident. The trauma centre here is facing shortage of doctors," Khatri said. He alleged that the ruling BJP government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, had only made announcements worth crores for the development of Ayodhya, saying the projects were yet to be implemented. "Only foundation stones have been laid, but there have been no progress," he added. Khatri is contesting against Lallu Singh of the BJP and Anand Sen of the Samajwadi Party, which is in an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Faizabad votes next Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Blake Lively could have starred in hit teen comedy "Mean Girls", casting director of the film Marci Liroff has said. The producers of the 2004 film considered casting Lively as the ditzy Karen. The role eventually went to Amanda Seyfried. "We wanted Blake Lively, who hadn't done the 'Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' yet, for Karen. "She came down to the final tests but, at some point, some of the filmmakers said to keep looking. Amanda Seyfried had read for Regina (played by Rachel McAdams) and we really liked her but then (producer) Lorne (Michaels) suggested, 'Why don't we make her Karen?'" Liroff told Cosmopolitan UK. "Mean Girls" also starred Lindsay Lohan, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, who also wrote the screenplay. Besides "Sisterhood..." Lively also went on to star in a breakthrough role of Serene van der Woodsen in teen drama "Gossip Girl". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When students at Ceilandia state school No. 7 in Brazil's capital came back from their break in February, they were met by two dozen uniformed police officers in a place they barely recognized anymore. Guns in their holsters, the officers ordered students to form rows in the schoolyard. The students were given white T-shirts pending the arrival of their new uniforms. From now on, hair would have to be kept short for boys and tied at the back for girls. No more shorts, caps, brightly colored nail varnish, earrings or any distinctive pieces of clothing. Students arriving late wouldn't be let in. "Sometimes we feel intimidated," said Michael Pereira da Silva, 17, who was against the decision to hire police to instill military-like discipline in the school. "Just going out into the hall, we are obligated to bow our heads or say hello to police officers." Although experiments began in previous years, the quasi-military approach is one of the most visible educational efforts being championed under new President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who campaigned on promises to improve Brazilian schools, which are widely recognized as a problem. A 2015 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked educational performance in Brazil as 63rd out of 72 countries and regions. Schools now being co-run by police are modelled on Brazil's exclusive military colleges, which tend to perform better than most public schools a fact that makes many parents eager to see similarly rigid discipline. Under the model, teaching remains in the hands of the Ministry, while police officers oversee discipline and enforce a new code of conduct. Implementation of the pilot program in a school must be approved by a majority of parents, teachers and school staff in a referendum. The Ceilandia school is one of four in Brasilia that voted to take part. Officials in Brazil's capital hope to add 36 more schools by the end of the year and reach a total of 200 by 2022. Bolsonaro's administration is pushing similar expansions nationwide, though it has yet to say how many it plans to convert across the country. Some states have been exploring the model since the early 2000s, but a large expansion worries many experts and teachers' unions, who say such schools can become exclusionary and go against the concept of a free, open-to-all public schooling system. They argue that these schools have managed to improve results because problematic students are quietly replaced by better-performing ones, often from wealthier backgrounds. Another red flag for critics is the introduction of guns in schools, particularly in the nation that leads the world in total homicides each year, the majority from firearms. "Increased gun access and possession are not associated with protection from violence," said Robert Muggah, research director at the Brazilian think tank Igarape. The expansion is a flagship measure of the Bolsonaro administration although the Ministry says it has no data on how many such schools existed or studies on long-term benefits of the model. Besides putting police in more schools, Bolsonaro's administration has been pushing for other changes in public education, accusing it of being filled with "Marxist ideology." The Education Ministry has talked of revising history textbooks to refer to Brazil's 1964-1985 dictatorship as a "democratic regime of force" and of excising references to feminism, homosexuality and violence against women. Most recently, Bolsonaro said public funding for sociology and philosophy could be eliminated. In recent years, some schools taken over by the police have garnered headlines when prosecutors have had to intervene after officers began charging monthly fees to parents, imposed expensive uniforms or sought to set aside half of the school's places for children of police officers. In 2016, the head of education for police in the state of Goias revised the school system's internal regulation that normalized "expulsions" and "forced transfers" of students. The move followed a recommendation from state prosecutors who argued that expulsions from public schools must remain a last recourse. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-owned telecom firm BSNL has become the first operator to start optical fibre-based high-speed broadband service in Pulwama with launch of 'Bharat Fibre', the company said Thursday. "This is the first such FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) service deployment in the (Kashmir) Valley under this unique revenue share model. Since the Bharat Fibre services are provided on the optical fibre right up to the customer premises, reliable and high-speed internet services are delivered to the customers," BSNL Director (Consumer Fixed Access) Vivek Banzal said in a statement. He added that the services are generally not affected even during adverse weather conditions. BSNL provides FTTH service with a monthly charge in the range of Rs 777-16,999 in over 160 telecom districts with a minimum speed of 2 megabit per second (mbps). "We have plans to roll out this service in all the districts of Jammu and Kashmir. People looking for business opportunities to partner with BSNL should contact local BSNL authorities and our team shall explain the ease of network integration and revenue sharing process," Banzal said. The service was launched by BSNL Chief General Manager (Jammu and Kashmir Circle) Rana Ashok Kumar Singh, in the presence of Srinagar General Manager Telecom District Zafar Iqbal and BSNL's channel partner Mir Nazir. "This service has been launched in a business partnership model with the local channel partner of Pulwama area, on a revenue sharing basis. The FTTH equipment has been installed and commissioned by the channel partner, strengthened with high-speed backhaul internet bandwidth, and customer billing services are being provided by BSNL," the company said in the statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and Abdellatif Kechiche's "Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo" are part of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival competition line-up, the festival organisers announced Thursday. The two films have been added to the 2019 Official Selection, according to the festival's official website. Tarantino's film had been expected in the original line-up, unveiled on April 18, but artistic director Thierry Fremaux told reporters that day that the film was not ready. Fremaux praised both Cannes favourite filmmakers -- American director Tarantino and Tunisian-French filmmaker Kechiche for their dedication towards the movie gala. "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood", based on the murder of actor Sharon Tate and three others at the hands of the Manson Family cult in the 1960s, will have its world premiere at the festival. Fremaux said the team was earlier afraid Tarantino's film would not be ready for the gala. "... As it wouldn't be ready until late July, but Quentin Tarantino, who has not left the editing room in four months, is a real, loyal and punctual child of Cannes! Like for 'Inglourious Basterds', he'll definitely be there 25 years after the Palme d'or for 'Pulp Fiction' with a finished film screened in 35mm and his cast in tow. "His film is a love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood, a rock music tour of 1969, and an ode to cinema as a whole," he added. Film's cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt will be also present for the premiere. About "Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo", Fremaux said he watched Kechiche's film last week while it was being edited. "But it is going to be finished and the director says it will be four hours long. And screened at the end of the Festival so the DCP (film's digital copy) has time to get there... "The groundwork for this saga storytelling and extraordinary portrait of French youth in the '90s was laid in his 'Canto Uno' (2017), and it will be a pleasure to see its cast again," he said. The dramedy stars Shain Boumedine, Ophelie Bau, Salim Kechiouche, Lou Luttiau, Alexia Chardard, and Hafsia Herzi. The film marks Kechiche's returns to Cannes six years after winning Palme d'or for "La Vie d'Adele (Blue Is the Warmest Color)". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, seeking action against those indulging in "false and malicious" propaganda against him and his family on social media. In a video clip that was attached with Tewari's tweet, it was alleged that his father, late professor V N Tewari, was involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and petrol was supplied from his filling station to "burn Sikhs". Describing the propaganda against him as "gutter and despicable", the former Union minister, who is contesting from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, said his family never owned a petrol pump anywhere in the country and his father was assassinated by militants on April 3, 1984, six months before the riots. "My mother was a Jat Sikh. My father was an academic at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and my mother retired as the Dean of the PGI. Our family has never owned a petrol pump ever in our lives anywhere in India. We have complained to the returning officer, Ropar SSP and the CEC. They need to act against the miscreants as soon as possible," he tweeted. "Those who failed in trying to raise the outside bogey against me have now stopped too low to malign me and my family with outrageous lies," Tewari said on Thursday. The Congress leader is locked in a four-way contest against sitting MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Narinder Shergill and Punjab Democratic Alliance nominee Bir Devinder Singh. Voting in Punjab will take place in the last phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 19. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 4,000 specialised personnel as part of 81 NDRF teams have been deployed to deal with the 'extremely severe' cyclone 'Fani' which is likely to affect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal upon its landfall on Friday. NDRF chief S N Pradhan told PTI that about 50 teams have been pre-positioned in the coastal areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal which are feared to be affected while another 31 teams have been kept on standby. Twenty-eight fully equipped teams have been deployed in and around Puri in Odisha as the cyclonic storm is expected to make a landfall there Friday noon, the NDRF Director General (DG) said. Similarly, 12 teams have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and six in West Bengal. The rest of the teams, that comprise about 50 personnel each, have been kept on standby in these states. Pradhan said a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and a commandant-rank officer have also been tasked to monitor the activities of the rescue and relief teams from ground in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar and Puri. The teams have been equipped with additional boats, satellite phones, medical equipment, medicines, tree cutters, pickup and common mobility vehicles, and other gadgets, he said. The force has also activated a round-the-clock control room at its headquarters here and a team of officials is in constant touch with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the disaster response units of the three states. NDRF teams have also been kept on alert in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. "Cyclone 'Fani' is expected to cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali to the south of Puri on May 3.NDRF teams are creating awareness among the locals in vulnerable areas about the measures to be taken to deal with the cyclonic storm and other eventualities. The state administration has set up a number of relief camps," an NDRF spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the NDRF teams have doctors, paramedics, engineers, deep divers and are equipped with boats, buoys, life jackets, scuba sets and latest communication equipment like quick deployable antenna (QDA), HF/VHF sets so that communication links function even if normal communication network fails. Fani lays centred over West Central Bay of Bengal, about 430 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha, 225 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal, as per the latest bulletin of the IMD. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Concerns have been raised by a senior wildlife official on the safety of spotted deer in Balukhand sanctuary, in view of the likely landfall of Cyclone Fani close to the place on Friday. The sanctuary is located along the Bay of Bengal coast, between the towns of Puri and Konark in Odisha. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) A K Mohapatra told PTI, the fate of about 3,000 spotted deer in the sanctuary has become uncertain as wild animals cannot be shifted to safe places like human beings. "There is no specific plan for their protection. The bamboo groves and Casuarina plants inside the sanctuary may help the animals to protect themselves," he said. Forest officials are trying to generate awareness among the local people not to harm the animals and provide them shelter during the cyclone. However, the effort is unlikely to help the spotted deer as the locals will struggle for their own survival during the calamity, a local said. Though Odisha government has launched the country's biggest evacuation drive to save the lives of people living in low-lying areas, there is no specific plan to rescue wild animals. The cyclone is likely to hit the coast near Puri by Friday afternoon. The Balukhand Wildlife Sanctuary is home to a variety of animals, including spotted deer, monkeys, jungle cats, hyenas, monitor lizards and snakes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi government has extended the ban on manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of gutkha, pan masala and any other tobacco products for one year in the national capital. The Food Safety Department has issued a notification extending the ban on these products. The notification has been issued by Food Safety Commissioner L R Garg. "Commissioner (Food Safety), National Capital Territory of Delhi, prohibits in the interest of public health for a period of one year in NCT the manufacture, storage, distribution, or sale of tobacco which is either flavoured, scented or mixed with any of the said additives, and whether going by the name or form of gutkha, pan masala, flavoured/scented tobacco, kharra..." it stated. No such ban, however, will be enforced on cigarettes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hope battles cynicism every hour in the grimy corridors of Delhi's red light area where scores of women eke out a tenuous existence as sex workers, alternating between despair at a political system deaf to their demands and yearning to be heard in the great election bazaar of 2019. As elections pick up pace, the women of G B Road expressed their disillusionment, saying they have little or no hope from any of the parties that knock at their doors every five years. Trapped in claustrophobic cubbyholes opening into pan-stained corridors, many sex workers, robbed of chances to exercise choice in their lives, also said they know the value of their vote. Some have even travelled back home to places like West Bengal, notwithstanding the cost involved, to exercise their franchise. Most of the women said they have voter ID cards and it does not matter who they vote for. But the little card is a symbol of empowerment for them. "We don't have hopes from any political party. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, I voted for one party. In this election, I will vote for another without any expectation from any of them," said Sangeeta, a resident of a kotha' on the first floor. Sangeeta, who goes by only one name, took to the profession around 17 years ago. In her late 30s, Sangeeta said she starting voting only nine years ago. Many women in her family, based in Agra, are also in the flesh trade and she has no regrets. In her sister Shabnam's view, the vote signifies identity "If we won't vote, how will be identified as citizens of this country? We do what we want to do. Nobody can question us, she said. At Kotha Number 54, separated by just a wall from Sangeeta and Shabnam, the mood is resentful, even angry. Several women said circumstances pushed them into becoming sex workers. The narratives are different, the stories the same. Some said they were abandoned by their husbands, others that they were shunned after they were widowed and still others who were pushed into a life of exploitation by families too poor to provide for them. But politicians, governmental neglect and the elections are very much on their mind. From demonetisation and garbage at the doorstep to legalising sex work and pension, the women bring up varied issues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised high value currency notes in November 2016 and it still hurts, they said. "We have suffered a lot under the Modi government. After demonetisation we starved for almost three months. We earn Rs 250 to Rs 500 from one customer. During those days, our customers would come with old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 and we could not take them since we have no bank accounts, said Pooja. It's a tough life that gets tougher as they grow older. "Our profession should be legalised. Once women cross their prime, they do not get customers, said Pooja's friend Roma, who is her 50s Roma said there should be a provision for pension or odd jobs being created for these women so they can live their life with comfort. The government can do a lot to better their lives, she said. "The government should think about a shelter home for us or bring a law which has provisions like rehabilitation, pension scheme, securing the future of our children and defines our working hours," Roma said. Their asks also include the more immediate. Pooja, for instance, raised the issue of garbage which has piled up outside the kothas and said, "Children and elders have been falling ill. A few years ago, the Republic Day parade would pass from here and cleanliness was maintained. But that has stopped and no effort is taken to clear the mess. She said they have raised the issue with political parties several times but get only assurances, no action. Her roommate Reena added that the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi had done a lot in terms of reducing their electricity and water bills. She, too, is furious about demonetisation. Even during the time of Congress government, the rich and the poor survived in harmony but we suffered the after-effects of noteban." Close to Reena and Pooja lives Aarti, who has just returned after casting her vote on April 18 in Siliguri, which is part of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. "Be it the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha elections, I ensure I always cast my vote. We are citizens of this country and it's our responsibility to exercise our right. It is not an easy task for me to arrange money for travelling so far but I save money and also sacrifice my daily wage to vote." Drawn from all corners of the country, many other members of the G B Road community are travelling or will head home, depending on the poll schedule. "Governments might not have thought about us but even if we are not getting anything, we can try so that others, including our family members, can reap some benefits," said Saraswati. Spunky and spirited, the women said they will continue to make themselves heard. Why are we looked down upon? Our work should be given respectability by the law and be legalised. That is what I want but I know it is a dream," said Asha. G B Road falls in the Chandni Chowk constituency, which is seeing a contest between incumbent BJP MP Harsh Vardhan, Congress' Jai Prakash Prakash Agarwal and AAP's Pankaj Gupta. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Denisovans -- an ancient human species -- adapted to high-altitude low-oxygen environments long before the modern humans arrived, say scientists who have analysed a 160,000-year-old fossil jawbone of the archaic hominins found in the Tibetan Plateau. The research, published in the journal Nature, shows that Denisovans were more widespread than thought. It also shows that the Denisovans were the first human relatives to roam the 'roof of the world'. The fossil was originally discovered in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China 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 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Germany and have since been jointly analysing the fossil. The Denisovans were first discovered in 2010, when a research team led by Svante Paabo from the 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 Neanderthals. "Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day Asian, Australian and Melanesian populations, suggesting that these ancient hominins may have once been widespread," said 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," Hublin said in a statement. 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," said Frido Welker of the MPI-EVA and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. "Our protein analysis shows that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave," said Welker. 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 Neanderthals 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. "This minimum age equals that of the oldest specimens from the Denisova Cave," said Chuan-Chou Shen from the National Taiwan University, who conducted the dating. "The Xiahe mandible likely represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau," said Fahu Chen, director of the Institute of Tibetan Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 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," said Dongju Zhang, of Shandong University in China. 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," Hublin said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Thursday said if the BJP is not giving cash to voters, why is it "troubled" on his party asking the electorate to "take money from other parties", but vote for the AAP. He was responding to BJP leader Vijender Gupta's allegation that the Aam Aadmi Party was distributing pamphlets in Delhi's slum areas asking people to take money from the BJP and the Congress but vote for the AAP. Gupta had lodged a complaint in this regard last month, following which the chief electoral officer of Delhi Wednesday issued a notice to Kejriwal, who is the AAP's national convener. "We are saying that take money from other parties and vote for us. So what's your problem? Does your party also give money? If not, then why are you so troubled?" Kejriwal said in a tweet targeting the BJP. He also tagged Gupta's update on Twitter that a BJP delegation will meet the chief electoral officer of Delhi at Kashmiri Gate. "BJP delegation will meet the Chief Electoral officer Delhi at Kashmiri Gate to file a complaint against @ArvindKejriwal for repeated abetment in bribing of voters of Delhi despite issue of notice to him by CEO Delhi," Gupta had tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 65-year-old man was killed after a car rammed into his bicycle in north Delhi's Civil Lines area, police said Thursday. The accident took place on Wednesday night when the victim took a right turn from a signal and the car, which was coming from the opposite direction, rammed into his bicycle, a senior police officer said. The car was coming from Vidhan Sabha area and was on way to IP college in Civil Lines, he said. Prakash Tiwari, a resident of P&T Colony in Civil Lines, was rushed to the Trauma Centre, where he was declared brought dead by doctors, police said. A case under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC was registered at Civil the Lines police station and the accused, identified as Gaurav Saxena, was arrested, the officer said. Saxena, a resident of Gandhi Nagar, was working as a driver for the past six months, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The EU vowed to take "appropriate measures", including at the WTO, against the United States' full implementation of the Helms-Burton Act on Thursday, which would open the way for lawsuits in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba. The EU considers the "application of unilateral restrictive measures to be contrary to international law", the EU's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement on Thursday. President Donald Trump's administration announced in April that it would allow lawsuits in US courts over properties seized by Cuba's communist government, enforcing a provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that had been waived by successive presidents. The European Union and Canada have expressed displeasure over the US action, concerned that the property disputes will ensnare their citizens who do business in the island. "The European Union deeply regrets the full activation of the 1996 Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act by the United States," Mogherini said. "The decision... is a breach of the commitments undertaken in the EU-US agreements of 1997 and 1998, which had been respected by both sides without interruption since then. "This will cause unnecessary friction and undermines trust and predictability in the transatlantic partnership." She said the EU "will draw on all appropriate measures to address the effects of the Helms-Burton Act, including in relation to its (World Trade Organization) rights and through the use of the EU Blocking Statute." The "blocking statute" forbids EU firms from complying with certain US sanctions, allowing them to recover damages from such penalties and nullifying any foreign court rulings against them. Under the US move, Cuban-Americans with US citizenship from Thursday can seek compensation in US courts from the Cuban government or private companies for their "stolen" properties on the island. The activation of the provision of the Helms-Burton Act seeks to weaken the Cuban government, which Washington considers the puppet master of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega. The Helms-Burton Law is named for former far-right Republican senator Jesse Helms and ex-congressman Dan Burton. They drafted the law passed by Congress after Cuba shot down two aircraft flown by exiled activists, putting an end to tentative efforts by president Bill Clinton to try to repair relations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fielding "undertrial terror accused" Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls is BJP's way of consolidating the Hindutva votebank, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has charged. He claimed the BJP's fear of being unable to retain 50 per cent of its seats has led it to rouse communal passions to get votes. In an article in the forthcoming issue of party mouthpiece People's Democracy, Yechury charged that the BJP and Narendra Modi were preoccupied with disrupting the unity of the country and its solidarity through their venomous campaign of communal polarization. He said the first three phases of the 17th general elections saw the electorate voting in 302 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The ruling BJP has 113 sitting MPs from these constituencies. "In the next four phases ending on May 19, the electorate will vote for the remaining 241 seats. Of these the BJP currently holds 161 sitting MPs. That is two-thirds of these seats. It is clear that if the BJP is unable to retain these seats, its desire to form the next government simply falls through. This is because in the first three phases, it is universally admitted that the BJP will not be able to retain at least 50 per cent of its sitting seats. "It is precisely this realisation that has prompted the BJP leadership to consciously adopt an aggressive campaign led by Narendra Modi to rouse unscrupulous communal passions as the only means left to garner votes," he said. Taking a dig at the Election Commission, Yechury said while the ruling party was resorting to the "worst form of vote bank consolidating the Hindu communal vote bank" the poll body was yet to take any action against Modi for the "unbridled" communal passions that he is rousing. "This is ominous for the health of Indian democracy. As an expression of its efforts to consolidate the Hindutva communal vote bank, the BJP has fielded Pragya Singh Thakur, an under-trial terror accused, currently out on bail on medical reasons, as its candidate from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Endorsing this choice, Narendra Modi hailed Pragya Singh Thakur as the 'symbol of our civilisational heritage'," he said. Thakur is BJP's candidate from Bhopal where she will contest against Congress' Digvijaya Singh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 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, was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to sell classified information to China. 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. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special CBI court here Thursday discharged former police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin from the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. The court allowed the discharge applications of Vanzara and Amin, which they had filed after the Gujarat government refused to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute them. Special CBI court judge J K Pandya said that since the government did not sanction their prosecution, their discharge applications were allowed and proceedings against them would be dropped in the case. Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government's sanction is necessary for the prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of the official duty. Ishrat, a 19-year-old from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by the Gujarat Police in an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The police claimed they were terrorists and planning to kill the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. While the CBI had refused to take any stand on the state government's decision to decline sanction to prosecute the two former police officers, mother of Ishrat Jahan, Shamima Kauser, had opposed their applications. In a submission made through her lawyer Vrinda Grover, Kauser had earlier said that their pleas seeking dropping of proceedings were "untenable in law and unsustainable on facts" and that the state government was "not the appropriate authority" to refuse sanction to prosecute the two officers. "It is a matter of record that it is the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and not the state of Gujarat, which is the appropriate sanctioning authority in the present case, she had said. Vanzara's lawyer V D Gajjar had defended the pleas seeking dropping of proceedings, saying the court cannot determine the validity of the sanction order and any review was not possible. He had said that judicial findings in the case had established that there was no "fake encounter" on the part of the police officers. Gajjar had said the sanction for prosecution was declined after the state government went through the material on record, examined fully the facts and circumstances of the case. On August 7, 2018, the court had rejected the discharge applications of Vanzara and Amin, and also sought to know from the CBI whether the agency had requested the government for a sanction to prosecute them, so that the court could frame charges against them and start the trial. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Gujarat High Court had later concluded that the encounter was fake, after which the HC had transferred the case to the CBI. In the first charge-sheet filed by the investigative agency in 2013, seven Gujarat police officers, including IPS officers P P Pandey, Vanzara and G L Singhal, were named as accused. The court had later discharged Pandey. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Loire Valley town of Amboise will kick off festivities marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death in style on Thursday, with the French and Italian presidents topping the bill. The Florentine master who personified the Italian Renaissance was the guest of France's King Francis I for the final three years of his life before his death in Amboise in 1519. France's Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Sergio Mattarella will mark the anniversary with visits to his grave at the royal chateau and the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house nearby where Leonardo lived and died. Among glitterati attending the events will be Italian star architect Renzo Piano and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. 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. In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome. Mattarella, staunchly pro-EU like Macron, played an "essential role" in lowering tensions, Macron's office said. After some 200 "yellow vests" staged protests in Amboise on Saturday, the town of some 13,000 people was already in virtual lockdown early Wednesday ahead of the presidential visit. Parking was banned along the riverside motorcade route, with anyone flouting the ban having their vehicle towed away. Shops, bars and restaurants below the chateau will be shuttered on Thursday. Emmanuel Honnet, who runs the Cafe des Arts snack bar by the chateau, said the precautions were "understandable... given the terrible social climate and the real terrorist risk". But the 51-year-old vented "frustration" that the townspeople would be largely sidelined. "It should be the memory of a lifetime," he said. Macron will be the first French president to visit the town since Charles de Gaulle came in 1959. Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome. Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars. With Leonardo's 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". 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. Leonardo brought with him three of his favourite 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. Italy and France have also sparred over an accord under which Italy will lend several Leonardos to the Louvre in October. With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them, as well as 22 drawings. During his three years in Amboise, 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 unrealised projects -- all while continuing his research. On Thursday, Macron and Mattarella will also 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. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday arrived in Burkina Faso where she promised aid to strengthen security in the jihadist-hit 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. 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. President Kabore also spoke of the situation in Libya, accusing the West of not listening to Africa. "We have asked the big nations to take their responsiblity 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. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A government school teacher, who was missing since Monday, has been found dead in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said. The deceased, Aslam, who was a teacher in a government primary school in Ghaziabad district, had gone to pay Rs 2 lakh to an agency for buying a tractor, according to a complaint by his family. Police suspect that Aslam was kidnapped by miscreants and, after looting the cash, he was killed and the body dumped on the Ganga Canal road near Buwarada village in Khatauli area, a police officer said. The body, which was found on Wednesday, has been sent for post-mortem and an investigation is on, the officer added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Drug major Glenmark Pharma expects 12 to 14 per cent growth in its India revenues during the current fiscal, a top company official said here Thursday. "We have historically grown at a rate which is faster than the market growth rate. Historical the growth is about 12 to 14 per cent annually. That is the kind of growth trajectory we hope will be able to sustain ( in FY 20 also). we should be in the similar range," Sujesh Vasudevan, president, India Formulations, Middle East and Africa, at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals told reporters. Glenmark reported Rs 2514 crore revenues from India in FY 18 against Rs 2303 crore in the previous year growth of 10 per cent. During the first nine months of the FY19, the drug maker reported Rs 2109 crore. Glenmark Thursday patent protected and globally-researched sodium glucose co-transporter (SGLT2) inhibitor Remogliflozin etabonate (Remogliflozin) in India. The drug is indicated in the treatment of type-2 diabetes mellitus in adults. The drug was launched under brand names "Remo" and "Remozen." Remogliflozin is the only SGLT2 inhibitor to be manufactured in India from active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to formulation. To a query, Vasudevan said the company's focus is on dermatology, respiratory, diabetes, cardiovascular and Oncology verticals and it plans to launch some products in the Oncology and allergy divisions. On the new diabetic drug, Remogliflozin, he said it was discovered and developed by Japanese firm Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd and later developed by GlaxoSmithKline plc and Glenmark collaborator BHV Pharma, a wholly owned subsidiary of North Carolina USA-based Avolynt, Inc. Glenmark secured certain rights of Remogliflozin through a licensing collaboration agreement with BHV Pharma, and conducted the Phase-3 clinical trial, which included the largest number of Indian patients tested for any SGLT2 inhibitor, he added. The company has launched Remogliflozin at a breakthrough price of Rs 12.50 per tablet, twice daily, which is over 50 per cent lower than the existing SGLT2 inhibitors available in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court in Surat Thursday issued summons to Rahul Gandhi in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA over the Congress president's "how come all thieves have Modi as common surname" remark. Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat, B H Kapadia, issued summons to Gandhi, directing him to be present before the court on June 7. The complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP legislator Purnesh Modi, on April 16 under IPC sections 499 and 500 that deal with defamation. In his complaint, the MLA from Surat-West seat claimed the Congress president was defaming the entire Modi community by saying all "Modis are thieves". He was referring to an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, where Gandhi asked, "Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as common surname. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" While talking to reporters after filing his defamation suit last month, Purnesh Modi had claimed that Gandhi's remark has defamed the entire Modi community. "There are a large number of people with Modi surname. Does it mean all members of the Modi community are thieves? He has defamed the community and also me as I carry the surname. This is why we have moved a complaint (against Gandhi) in a Surat court under IPC sections 499 and 500," the MLA had said. A court in Ahmedabad had Wednesday issued summons to Gandhi in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a BJP worker for calling BJP chief Amit Shah a "murder accused". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court has sought the responses of the AAP government in the national capital and the Lieutenant Governor on a plea challenging the constitutional validity of the new jail manual and alleging that the LG was not kept in the loop. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani issued notice to the authorities and listed the matter for further hearing on September 2. The court was hearing a petition filed by social activist and advocate Amit Sahni, who said the Delhi government had not sought the approval of the LG before giving effect to the Delhi Prison Rules (DPR), 2018, which made those "unconstitutional" and liable to be set aside. "Unlike previous rules, neither the beginning lines of DPR, 2018 mention about any approval sought from the LG nor do they refer to anything that the rules shall become operative after notifications to be issued by the LG, in future, in this regard," the plea claimed. It said by virtue of the DPR, 2018, the Delhi government, by not taking the approval of the LG, had sought to override the previous orders, circulars and notifications in respect of parole and furlough, premature release of convicts etc., which were notified by the LG after due deliberation. "The DPR, 2018 are bad in law and the same are liable to be struck down," the plea claimed. It said the state government had done away with the outer limit of incarceration for life convicts, which was passed by a July 2004 Sentence Review Board (SRB) order by the LG in furtherance of the National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC) recommendations on premature release of convicts. "The DPR, 2018, in as much as premature release is concerned, have not been appropriately prepared...by doing away with the outer limit of 20/25 years in two categories as suggested by the NHRC in 2003 and incorporated in the SRB order of July 16, 2004," the petition said. It added that the government's act of removing the outer limit of incarceration would discourage the inmates to maintain a good conduct in custody and would give unlimited power to the SRB to keep someone in custody as per its whims and fancies. The new rules had completely overlooked the welfare of the jail cadre officers by ignoring the model prison manual and those had been prepared by officers other than the jail cadre, the plea alleged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Attorney General William Barr has informed lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that he will skip a hearing on special counsel Robert Mueller's report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and the Justice Department. Barr's decision he cites a disagreement over the questioning came the day the department missed a committee deadline to provide the panel with a full, unredacted version of Mueller's Russia report and its underlying evidence. Those moves are likely to prompt a vote on holding Barr in contempt and possibly the issuance of subpoenas, bringing House Democrats and the Trump administration closer to a prolonged battle in court. Even though Barr informed the panel he isn't coming Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he will still convene the hearing, raising the prospect of an empty witness chair. "I hope and expect the attorney general will think overnight and will be there as well," Nadler said. As Barr refused to testify, Democrats sought to speak to Mueller himself. Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on May 15 and the panel was "firming up the date". The attorney general's cancellation meant he would avoid another round of sharp questioning after testifying Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats on the panel charged that Barr was protecting President Donald Trump after he assessed Mueller's report on his own and declared there wasn't enough evidence that Trump had committed obstruction of justice. Mueller didn't charge Trump with obstruction, but wrote that he couldn't exonerate him, either. The standoff with Justice Department is one of several fights House Democrats are waging with the Trump administration. Trump has vowed to fight "all of the subpoenas" as multiple committees have sought to speak with administration officials or obtain documents relevant to his policies and finances. Democrats have signalled they won't back down and will take the steps necessary including in court to get the White House to comply. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she's not interested in impeachment, for the moment. But she told The Associated Press on Wednesday that "the threat of impeachment is always there." Nadler, D-N.Y., and the Justice Department traded barbs shortly after Barr informed lawmakers of his decision on the hearing, with Nadler saying the attorney general is "trying to blackmail the committee" by setting his own terms. Barr had objected to the format of the hearing after Democrats decided to let staff attorneys conduct a round of questioning after lawmakers were done. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the staff questioning is "unprecedented and unnecessary". Also weighing in on the matter of who would ask questions was Trump. "They want to treat him differently than they have anybody else," the president told Fox Business Network's Trish Regan on Wednesday night, adding, "You elect people that are supposed to be able to do their own talking." Trump said he heard that Barr had performed "incredibly well" before the Senate panel. It's unclear whether Barr will eventually negotiate an appearance with the House panel. Nadler said he would not issue a subpoena for Barr's appearance on Thursday but would first focus on getting the full Mueller report, likely including a vote holding Barr in contempt of Congress. While a contempt vote would make a strong statement, it is unlikely to force the Justice Department to hand over the report. A vote of the full House on contempt would send a criminal referral to the US attorney for the District of Columbia a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the administration's interests. But even if the US attorney declines to prosecute, Democrats could pursue other avenues in court. In a letter sent to the committee late Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd laid out a list of reasons that the department won't provide the full Mueller report or all the underlying evidence. Boyd said the special counsel's investigative files include "millions of pages of classified and unclassified documents, bearing upon more than two dozen criminal cases and investigations, many of which are ongoing." Boyd also reiterated that the department would not disclose secret grand jury material, another battle that could end up in court if Nadler decides to fight it. The Justice Department has already made a less-redacted version of the report available for a small number of lawmakers, including Nadler and Pelosi, but Democrats have so far declined to read it, saying they want the entire report released to a wider audience. Republicans have objected to Nadler's demands and say the staff questioning is unnecessary. They argue that Democrats are trying to have impeachment hearings without going through the official process of impeachment. "Chairman Nadler sabotaged his own hearing," Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said after Barr canceled. "That's sad. Because now Republicans and Democrats are not going to be able to question Bill Barr. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Human hair exporters association Thursday sought the government's intervention to check alleged smuggling of raw human hair from India to boost domestic industry and exports. Member of Human Hair and Hair Products Manufacturers and Exporters Association of India Sunil Eamani alleged that this labour intensive industry is facing a peculiar challenge of smuggling of raw human hair to countries like Myanmar and China, which is hurting local industries and exports. "We want immediate check on this smuggling and illegal exports. We have also asked the commerce ministry to put raw human hair under prohibited category items for export purpose," Eamani told reporters here. The sector holds huge export and employment potential but the smuggling is hurting the industry, he noted. Eamani alleged that 30 per cent import duty on human hair is the main reason for smuggling. "Checking on smuggling and increasing availability of raw material in domestic market will significantly boost the exports. We have the capability and technology to make it a USD one billion dollar market. Lakhs of people are employed in this sector but our exports are going down," Eamani said. Explaining the modus-operandi, he said that raw hair is collected from household for processing and selling, but now it is also being collected by smugglers from Myanmar and transported through the borders. He also noted that livelihood of lakhs of poor depend on the collection, processing and sale of human hair. Export of human hair and value-added products have declined to USD 248.1 million and 0.42 million, respectively, in 2018 from USD 271.86 million and USD 2.32 million in 2017. The major export destinations include China, the US, Europe and middle-east countries. In India, West Bengal is the major hub for the industry besides Andhra Pradesh, Telenaga and Tamil Nadu. The major competitors of India are China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Raw human hair is mainly collected from households and temples of these states and it primarily caters to the beauty market globally. Two types of hair are collected in India - remy and non-remy hair. Remy hair, best grade, is collected from temples where pilgrims donate their hair as part of a religious vow. This quality is mainly used to make hairpieces and wigs. Non-Remy hair is a household waste collected by small groups of people in villages and cities. They segregate that and sell to dealers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) IIT-Madras has announced a collaboration with University of Technology-Sydney, a tie-up that aims to bring international expertise together to address the need of the urban poor--quality, cheaper and durable housing. The partnership includes broad range of research collaborations, a series of joint PhD supervisions, IIT-Madras said in a statement. A roundtable was conducted Thursday at IIT-M campus as as part of the project 'Enabling prefabricated construction to improve mass housing delivery in India and Australia', which brought together key stakeholders from industry, academia and governments of India and Australia. The project is funded by Australia-India Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia, the statement said. University of Technology-Sydney professor Sidney Newton said "Unprecedented demand for low-cost housing in India is driving fundamental change in how the construction industry is managed. This event will prove pivotal in directing and enabling new innovations," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Voters in eastern England will elect a new member of parliament next month after ejecting the incumbent in the first move of its kind, it was announced Thursday. Fiona Onasanya lost her seat after voters in the city of Peterborough signed a recall petition triggered by her conviction for lying over a speeding offence. The 35-year-old was expelled from the main opposition Labour party after she was jailed for three months in January for perverting the course of justice. She had hoped to continue as an independent MP, but 28 per cent of eligible voters signed the petition, well over the 10 percent threshold required to oust her. MPs who receive sentences of less than a year in prison are not automatically excluded from parliament. Following the announcement of the results on Wednesday night, Labour moved a motion in the House of Commons on Thursday for a new election for June 6. It is fielding a new candidate, but is likely to face intense competition in a marginal seat complicated by shifting political allegiances over Brexit. Onasanya took the seat from Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives in 2017 by a majority of just 607 votes, and the party will fight hard to win it back. But Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is also hoping to capitalise on the strong anti-EU feeling in Peterborough to try to win its first seat in the House of Commons. Farage himself -- a major campaigner in the 2016 referendum on leaving the EU -- is reportedly not planning to stand. "We will give it our best shot," he tweeted. Onasanya is the first MP to be removed by the recall process, which was introduced by former prime minister David Cameron in 2015. It applies to MPs convicted of an offence and sentenced to jail, suspended from the Commons for at least 10 sitting days, or found guilty of false expenses claims. Onasanya had claimed someone else was driving her car when it was caught speeding in July last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India was the biggest recipient of funds from Asian Development Bank last year and would continue to get sovereign loans in excess of USD 3 billion in 2019 as well, the bank's President Takehiko Nakao said. The multilateral funding institution committed USD 3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986. "We will continue to lend this kind of level (during 2019)," he said at the 52nd annual meeting of the bank here. Also, growing debt-GDP ratio is coming down and provides more space for lending, he added. He said ABD will continue to make investment in rural connectivity, urban development and skill development, among others. India received nearly 25 per cent of the total loans sanctioned last year. New commitments included USD 21.6 billion in loans, grants and investments from ADB's own resources, exceeding the target of USD 19.71 billion and up 10 per cent from 2017. The Manila-headquartered bank committed several projects in India, including in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Odisha. On the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China, Nakao said BRI is a very natural idea to expand the connection between East Asia, Central Asia, Europe and Africa but the investment should generate good returns. "There are merits over investment but at the same time we have to be careful...we must find good project with good return, even if the lending is to the government. Each identified project should have sound economic grant with good returns...and also we should pay attention to social and environmental impact," he said. Otherwise, there could be issues with regard to investment, he said, adding, Chinese authorities should pay more attention to these issues. India has opposed the idea of BRI. It is the only country among eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to have raised serious objection to this initiative of China. India's concern is centred on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, which India considers disputed territories. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's gold demand rose 5 per cent to 159 tonne during January-March period this year on fall in prices that boosted jewellery sales during wedding season, a World Gold Council (WGC) report says. Gold demand stood at 151.5 tonne in the first quarter of 2018, according to WGC's Q1 Gold Demand Trends' report. In terms of value, there was a 13 per cent growth during the quarter at Rs 47,010 crore compared to Rs 41,680 crore in the same period last year. "The strengthening of the rupee and the fall in local gold prices towards the later part of the quarter triggered a rise in Q1 gold demand to 159 tonne. Growth of 5 per cent in Indian jewellery demand to 125.4 tonne uplifted global demand and boosted retail sentiment. "The increase in auspicious wedding days during the quarter to 21 days from 8 in the same period of 2018 also played a crucial role in increase in demand," WGC managing director, India, Somasundaram PR told PTI here. Gold prices dropped to Rs 32,000 per 10 grams by the first week of March, he added. Also, he said, there was a jump in volume following stringent checking during the ongoing elections controlled the grey market, which benefitted the organised retail industry. "Smuggling has come down, however structurally nothing has changed. Unless some policy decision is taken like reducing the Customs Duty to a reasonable level the grey market will bounce back after the elections," he added. Total jewellery demand in the first quarter was up by 5 per cent at 125.4 tonne compared to 119.2 tonne in the corresponding period of 2018. In value, jewellery demand grew by 13 per cent to Rs 37,070 crore against Rs 32,790 crore in the same quarter of 2018. Total Investment demand for Q1 2019 was up by 4 per cent at 33.6 tonne from 32.3 tonne in the same period of 2018. In value terms, gold investment demand went up by 12 per cent to Rs 9,940 crore from Rs 8,890 crore in first quarter of 2018. The stronger rupee benefited investors, with demand for gold bars and coins in the first quarter, Somasundaram said. Total gold recycled in the country also grew by 14 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 to 16.1 tonne compared to 14.1 tonne in Q1 2018. Going forward, Somasundaram said, demand is likely to be boosted in second quarter due to traditional wedding season buying, the Akshaya Tritiya festival and rising crop prices. "In addition, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast of normal monsoon this year which augurs well for the rural economy and gold. The gold prices is also expected to remain attractive to boost consumer sentiment," he added. Talking about import, Somasundaram said, the shipments into the country grew by 11 per cent to 175 tonne compared to 157 tonne in the same period of 2018. "Demand is likely to be more in the higher end of 750 to 850 tonne in 2019. But it may not be driven by imports. Further manufacturing will be way ahead of demand," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Iranian oil tanker carrying over 1 million barrels of fuel oil suffered a malfunction in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, authorities said Thursday, raising concerns that the vessel could be leaking. The incident involving the Happiness I came as US oil exemptions for Iranian crude oil purchases expired, part of President Donald Trump's maximalist approach against Tehran. Saudi Arabia's state-run television channels and agency said authorities received a distress call from the Happiness I over an "engine failure and the loss of control." The vessel had a crew of 26, including 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, Saudi state media said. They described the ship's position as some 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Jiddah in the Red Sea. Saudi authorities said various government agencies were involved in the operation, including those who handle environmental protection. It did not elaborate on whether oil had spilled from the tanker. Iran's state-run IRNA agency quoted the state-run National Iranian Tanker Co. as saying the tanker would be transferred to Jiddah's port. It said the vessel, on the way to the Suez Canal, broke down over water leaking into its engine room. No one was injured in the incident and Iran denied any fuel had leaked out. The website MarineTraffic.com, which tracks vessels at sea, put the Happiness I about 40 kilometers (25 miles) off the coast of Jiddah late Thursday morning. The website TankerTrackers.com, whose analysts monitor oil sales on the seas, estimated the Happiness I carried at least 1.1 million barrels of fuel oil. It said the ship sailed in tandem with another smaller sister ship named the Sabiti. The Happiness I stopped its engines Tuesday, then was shadowed by the Sabiti close enough to have its crew escape, TankerTrackers said. Two tugboats from Saudi Arabia appeared to have reached the ships, TankerTrackers said. TankerTrackers said it did not believe there was an oil leak, though information about the incident was still murky. Saudi Arabia and Iran are chief Mideast rivals. Iran now faces increased pressure from the U.S. over its oil sales after Trump pulled America out of its nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has warned it will respond aggressively to any attempt to cut its oil exports to zero, as the Trump administration has pledged to do. This is the latest incident involving an Iranian tanker. In January 2018, the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi struck the Chinese freighter CF Crystal 257 kilometers (160 miles) off the coast of Shanghai in the East China Sea. The Sanchi, carrying nearly 1 million barrels of a gassy, ultra-light oil bound for South Korea, burst into flames, killing 32 sailors on board. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court in Ahmedabad Thursday discharged former police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. Vanzara and Amin had filed discharge applications in the court after the refused to grant sanctions to the to prosecute the two former police officers. Special court judge J K Pandya said that since the government has not sanctioned their prosecution, their discharge pleas are allowed and proceedings against them will be dropped in the case. Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government's sanction is necessary for the prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of the official duty. Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The police had claimed they were terrorists and come to Gujarat to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi. Notorious Israeli criminal Yaniv Benaim alias Atala, arrested in Uttarakhand for overstaying in India, was wanted by Goa police for allegedly assaulting a Russian national at Anjuna in the coastal state last month, an official said on Thursday. According to reports, Benaim was arrested by Uttarakhand police after immigration officials apprehended him when he tried to sneak into Nepal via the border district in Champawat in Uttarakhand late on Tuesday. He was wanted for assaulting a Russian national, Eduard Goryachev, at Anjuna in North Goa on April 25, the official said. Benaim was booked along with two Russian nationals- Maxim Litronov and Denis- who are still absconding in the case, he added. Benaim had filed an anticipatory bail application in a court in Goa on April 26, the senior police official from Anjuna police station said. Anjuna police sub inspector Stanley Gomes, who is investigating the case, had told the court on April 30 that Benaim and two accused were on the run. He had also told the court that Benaim was booked in various other cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Foreigners Act. In his statement before the court, Gomes had said that Benaim had been living in Goa without a valid visa as per the records of Foreigners Registration office of the state police. However, Swapnil Nasnodkar, who represented Benaim, had told the court that client has been framed in the assault case. After Benaim's arrest in Uttarakhand, the Goa police has sent a team to that state to bring him back. According to the official, the Goa police want Benaim's custody to recover the weapon he had used for the assault and also to know the whereabouts of the other two accused. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar Thursday spoke to toppers of the class 12 CBSE examination and congratulated them on their success. He also advised those who have not cleared the exams to not get demotivated and work harder for next attempts. The Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) announced the class 12 results on Thursday, way ahead of the schedule. "I have spoken to the toppers and congratulated them on their success. I congratulate all students who have cleared the exam and those who could not make it, they should not get demotivated and work harder for next attempts," he said. "I am also happy to share that the Kendriya Vidyalayas have achieved a pass percentage of 98 per cent while the Navodayas have a pass percentage of 96 per cent. This is reflective of the quality of available at our government-run schools," the minister said. Girls outshone boys in the CBSE class 12 examination with Thiruvananthapuram region recording the highest pass percentage. Hansika Shukla from Ghaziabad and Karishma Arora from Muzaffarnagar scored the top rank with 499 out of 500 marks. Rishikesh's Gaurangi Chawala, Raebareli's Aishwarya and Bhavya from Jind bagged the second rank, scoring 498 out of 500 marks. Neeraj Jindal and Mehak Talwar from Delhi are among 18 students to rank third in the exams. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka's Catholic church announced Thursday that it has cancelled all Sunday mass in churches across the island nation until further notice after warning of more possible attacks, days after it was announced that public mass would resume from May 5. All public church services were cancelled after the Easter Sunday bomb blasts that ripped through three churches and high-end hotels, killing 253 people and injuring 500 others. Three main churches which were conducting Easter Sunday mass were attacked by suicide bombers. "His eminence the Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has instructed that Sunday masses should not be held this week," Reverend Edmund Thilakaratne the spokesman for the Archbishop's House Reverend Edmund Thilakaratne said. On April 30, Cardinal Ranjith said that public mass in Sri Lanka would resume since the attack in certain Catholic churches from May 5 and no bags will be allowed inside as part of the tight security measures. Cardinal Ranjith, the head of the local church, has been complaining of poor security situation in the country in the face of threats of more attacks by the Islamist terror group. On Wednesday, Sri Lanka's intelligence agency warned the country's top leadership not to travel together during the coming few weeks after information was received of possible terror attacks. Over 1,000 suspects linked to the local radical Muslim group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) have been arrested. The Islamic State claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group NTJ for the attacks. The security forces are conducting round the clock security operations since the attack in the crackdown on radical Muslims with links to the bombings. The Catholic church also said that all Principals of Catholic schools have been advised not to resume schools on May 6 as scheduled. All schools were closed following the attack and was scheduled to re-open on April 29. This was further put back until May 6 in view of the security situation. "We will not start the Catholic private schools on Monday (May 6 )," Father Gemunu Dias said. The education minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said all arrangements to re-open schools on May 6 is now in place in cooperation with the security forces. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The office of country's first Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, will move out of a five-star luxury hotel in Delhi to its own permanent address. At present, the office of Lokpal works from 'The Ashok' hotel in Chanakyapuri here. "The government is in the process of searching a permanent office for Lokpal," the personnel ministry replied to an RTI application filed by this PTI journalist. It said no payment has so far been made towards rental charges for the Lokpal office at 'The Ashok' hotel. President Ram Nath Kovind had on March 23 administered the oath of office to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the chairperson of the anti-corruption ombudsman. Justice Ghose, 66, retired as the Supreme Court judge in May 2017. He had last served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Senior IAS officer Dilip Kumar was on Monday appointed the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the office of Lokpal. It is perhaps the first official appointment of a bureaucrat in Lokpal. Kumar, a 1995-batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, was working as the joint secretary of the NHRC when his appointment was announced. The Lokpal's eight members were administered the oath by Justice Ghose on March 27. Former chief justices of different high courts, justices Dilip B Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi, had taken oath as judicial members of the Lokpal. Former first woman chief of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Archana Ramasundaram, ex-Maharashtra chief secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain, former IRS officer Mahender Singh and Gujarat cadre ex-IAS officer Indrajeet Prasad Gautam were sworn-in as the Lokpal's non-judicial members. According to the rules, there is a provision for a chairperson and a maximum of eight members in the Lokpal panel. Of these, four need to be judicial members. A high-level selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recommended the appointments of the chairperson and members of the Lokpal. The Lokpal Act, which envisages appointment of a Lokpal at the centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday invoked the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 to draw a parallel with the efforts by her Trinamool Congress to dislodge the Narendra Modi government in the ongoing parliamentary polls. "Sepoy Mutiny was the first uprising against the British in India. Now the biggest threat and problem in the country is Narendra Modi," she said at a rally in support of TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, who is pitted against BJP's Arjun Singh. The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. "Sepoy Mutiny started from Barrackpore. You keep this in mind and vote," she told the gathering at Bhatpara, which is under the Barrackpore parliamentary constituency. Raising the slogan "Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao", she sought the support of the people for TMC in both Lok Sabha and assembly by-election at Bhatpara. The by-election was necessitated as Singh, who was the Bhatpara TMC MLA had quit the party and switched to BJP just before the Lok Sabha elections. Slamming the Modi government, she said democracy is at stake and BJP is involved in riots. "This cannot happen here (Bengal)". "We have seen national leaders like Gandhiji, Netaji Ambedkar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. But we have never seen a leader like Modi. His very appearance is like Gabbar Singh". Gabbar Singh is a fictional character, the antagonist of the 1975 Bollywood film 'Sholay'. "What we want is a democratic government - a government for the people. We don't want Modi", she said. Referring to the comment by Modi that 40 MLAs of TMC in Bengal are in touch with him, she said it is unbecoming of a prime minister to make such a statement during elections. "I ask him to name one of such MLA," she challenged adding "TMC is now a full-grown tree and it is not easy to destabilise it. We do not fear any sort of threats". The TMC supremo alleged that BJP is spending huge sums of money to influence the vote. "He (Modi) is travelling with big boxes," she said referring to the recent alleged incident in which a black box was reportedly offloaded from the prime minister's helicopter during his visit to Chitradurg in Karnataka for poll campaign. Banerjee alleged that Modi had never looked at West Bengal and is now coming to the state begging for votes. "Narendra Modi is shameless. He says that nothing has been done in the state and is now seeking votes to do something for Bengal. "Just come and see the development which has taken place in Rajarhat-New Town area. If he compares the traffic system with this area and Delhi, he will be surprised to see the roads and lighting that has been done", she said. The TMC supremo accused Modi that of doing nothing for the country in the last five years and instead raising the fuel prices when it had softened in the international market. "This vote is of a different nature. Either Modi will stay or go. If he stays, then everything will be destroyed and shattered. If not, then democracy will prevail and flourish in the country and everything will survive," she said at a poll rally in New Town in the northern suburbs of the city. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Meghalaya government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the families of the victims, who were trapped inside a coal mine in December and are untraced till now, have consented to call off search operations, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said Thursday. On the morning of December 13, a group of 16 miners went missing after water from Lytein river gushed into an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills district in the state. Only two bodies have been retrieved so far in the five-month-long search operation by teams of various agencies, including the NDRF, the Indian Navy and the Army. On January 28, the apex court had asked the Centre and the Meghalaya government to continue their multi-agency operations to trace the miners. "We have filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court informing that the family members of the miners have given their consent to call off the search and rescue operations. We are waiting for directions from the Supreme Court on the matter," Tynsong told PTI. In the affidavit, the government has attached the written consent received from the family members of the miners, he said. District Deputy Commissioner of East Jaintia Hills F M Dopth had submitted the letters to the state government on April 16, citing that the operation be called off as there had been no tangible result. Dopth, on his part, clarified that there was no reduction in the water level in the main shaft, where the miners were trapped, even after discharge of several crore litres of water. Until Tuesday, submersible pumps were engaged in flushing out water from the 370-foot-deep mine, which is interconnected with eight other abandoned mines, he said. "The operations came to a halt yesterday (Wednesday) as the Lytein river is in spate following incessant rainfall in the region," the official explained. Last month, an interim relief package of Rs 3 lakh was paid to the miners' family members, who claimed that the amount was too meagre for their sustenance. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for UN's designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it proves "Modi hai to Mumkin hai". The UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. At an election rally in Rajasthan's Hanumangarh, Adityanath termed the Congress a "threat to the country" and asked people to think whether the party, along with the supporters of Pakistan, wants to compromise with the nation's security. "The UN decision has proved that 'Modi hai to mumkin hai' (Modi makes it possible). The Congress could not do this," Adityanath said. The UP chief minister claimed the number of Naxal-affected districts in the country has reduced in the last five years and every citizen, irrespective of his caste and religion, can now feel safe and secure. He said, "The Modi government has done things in 55 months which the Congress could not do in 50 years". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former military dictator Pervez Musharraf will not attend the treason trial against him Thursday for suspending the Constitution, citing deteriorating health and requested a special court to postpone the hearing until the end of Ramazan, according to a media report. In an application, supported by a health certificate, furnished by his lawyer Salman Safdar, the former Pakistan president also apologised for not appearing before the court, the Dawn reported on Thursday. A special court indicted Gen (Retd) Musharraf for high treason in March 2014. Musharraf left for Dubai in 2016 to "seek medical treatment" and has not returned since. Last month, the 75-year-old former army chief was admitted to a hospital in Dubai after suffering a reaction from a rare disease for which he is already under treatment. The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007. His application stated that despite strong willingness and eagerness to return to Pakistan, the life-threatening ailments and medical complications have forced him not to appear before the special court. Giving details of his ailments, the application stated that Musharraf is suffering from cardiac amyloidosis (congestive heart failure), chronic kidney disease (high creatinine in renal system), excessive somnolence (hypersomnia), spinal injury and fracture. It stressed that the former president came to Pakistan on March 24, 2013, on his own free will to face the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, judges' detention case and Akbar Bugti case and that the high treason case was initiated subsequent to his arrival in the country. The application highlighted that Musharraf's absence from the trial court was not deliberate, wilful or an excuse to avoid the ongoing criminal proceedings, the report said. In the light of genuine life-threatening illness and permission by the government to travel abroad for the treatment, he should not be treated as fugitive or proclaimed offender as was declared through the special court's interim order of June 19, 2016, it said. According to the latest assessment of his health on April 29 at the American Hospital in Dubai, Musharraf's health has been termed unsafe in case he discontinued treatment and travelled, the application argued. On April 1, the Supreme Court directed the special court to proceed with the trial on the next date of hearing (May 2) and in case the former president surrendered and appeared before it, he would be entitled to record his statement. If he failed to appear, the special court is empowered to proceed against him even in his absence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Naxal commander, carrying a cash reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said. The face-off took place in the forest under Kirandul police station area when a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and District Force (DF) was out on a search operation in the morning, Director General (Anti-Naxal Operations) Girdhari Nayak told PTI. "When the patrolling team was advancing through forest between Perpa and Markamaris villages, around 450 km away from the capital Raipur, it came under fire from a group of ultras that led to the gun-battle," he said. After the exchange of fire stopped, the body of a Naxal later identified as Madvi Muiya alias Joga Kunjam (29), was recovered along with a 315 bore gun, he said. "Kunjam, who was active as a commander of military platoon-24 of Maoists, was carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head," Nayak said. He was allegedly involved in the deadly Burkapal attack on April 24, 2017 in Sukma in which 25 security personnel lost their lives, the officer added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan Thursday slammed the opposition alliance, saying no one knows who is their Prime Ministerial candidate as they are "divided" on the issue. He said the opposition alliance was speaking in different voices. "Who is prime ministerial candidate of opposition alliance? No one knows this while in BJP Narendra Modi is there. On the matter of PM, the opposition alliance is divided," Paswan said while addressing an election meeting here on Wednesday evening. "While SP-BSP are saying something, Congress says something different. Chandrababu Naidu and Mamata Banerjee are also dreaming of becoming PM. Despite not having an MP in Lok Sabha and not contesting polls Mayawati is also dreaming of becoming PM. How can she become PM?," he said. Paswan was here to support BJP candidate Virendra Singh Mast. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi cancelled his upcoming visit to Sri Lanka in the wake of the security situation in the island nation following the Easter Sunday suicide attacks which killed more than 250 people, a media report said Thursday. Qureshi was due in Maldives on May 2 and in Colombo from May 3 till May 5, but the visit was cancelled in light of the security situation in Sri Lanka, the Express Tribune reported, citing diplomatic sources. A revised schedule for the minister's visit would be released later. Nine suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels on the Easter Sunday. The Islamic State group has claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) for the attacks. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said last week that Islamabad has offered "every possible" assistance to Sri Lanka in investigations into the terrorist attacks. "Pakistan will provide every possible assistance that Sri Lanka requests. This offer of support has been extended by the president, prime minister and the foreign minister to their counterparts in Sri Lanka," he said. There were reports that Sri Lanka had sought assistance of the Punjab Forensic Laboratory but Faisal clarified that Pakistan "had not received any formal request from the Sri Lankan authorities". Last week, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Colombo may seek Islamabad's help to trace the terrorists behind the Easter attacks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People are the 'maalik' (masters) in democracy, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Thursday, asking them to tell his party's government what to do and it will be done. Addressing an election rally here, Gandhi said, if voted to power, the Congress will ensure that Rs 72,000 is deposited every year into the bank accounts of families that earn less than Rs 12,000 every month, covering five crore households. "Don't forget that your are the 'malik' in democracy. Narendra Modi, or for that matter any other leader, is not your master. You just tell us what to do and we will do it," he told the rally. Gandhi said the alliance (mahagathbandhan), of which the Congress is a constituent, listens to the voice of people. "I have not come to speak out our 'mann ke baat' but listen to yours," he said, obviously targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his monthly radio programme 'Mann ki Baat' during which he spoke his mind on topical issues. Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress will introduce free treatment to the poor in hospitals and set up technical institutions in districts to create a large base of skilled workforce. He appealed to electors of Khunti Lok Sabha seat to vote for Kalicharan Munda of the Congress who is pitted against BJP's Arjun Munda, a former chief minister. The Congress president attacked the prime minister for not waiving farm loans despite the agrarian distress, and alleged that Modi's government only benefited 15-20 industrialists close to it. The Congress leader said his party was committed to ensuring that the land of tribals was not taken away. He also assailed the Centre over alleged slip-shod implementation of the GST, which he claimed, hit the poor hared. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Governments across the world are increasingly clamping down on press freedom by enacting new laws, according to a global network of journalists. Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) said in its latest report that as many as 55 journalists were killed since May last year. In Bangladesh, journalists face up to life imprisonment for violating the country's new Digital Security Act, it said in a statement on Tuesday. With 139 journalists in prison including IPI Executive Board member Kadri Gursel, Turkey remains the world's top jailer of journalists, the IPI said. In Pakistan, where critical media is subject to vicious smear campaigns, the government has stopped state advertising in the influential daily Dawn and targeted individual journalists such as Cyril Almeida, who faces treason charges for his coverage of militancy, it said. In the US, the Department of Justice is contemplating changes in the guidelines to make it easier for prosecutors to obtain journalists' records, while the US' criminal indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has raised concerns around broader implications for press freedom, the IPI said. In the UK, journalists have opposed government's move to enact new legislation that will allow police to access their data, it said. IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2019, said: "Press freedom globally is under intense and growing pressure, as illiberal-minded governments seek to shut down critical voices and, in many cases, deliberately erode the credibility of independent media". "We are witnessing a dangerous combination of tried-and-true methods of attacking the press - including arbitrary jailings and physical attacks that end in impunity - as well as a new wave of rhetoric and smear campaigns to portray the media and journalism as an enemy of the people so as to undercut the press' watchdog role," she said. While on the one hand governments are attempting to curtail press freedom, on the other journalists around the world are being killed with impunity, the IPI added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The played a role in designation of as global terrorist by the UN, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday, asserting that Pakistan was making claims over the listing to divert attention from the "huge diplomatic" setback it has suffered. The assertion came after Pakistan claimed that it agreed to Azhar's listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack, were removed from the proposal to designate him a global terrorist. "The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperon Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. He said the notification broadly covers all terrorist acts. "Elements are being introduced by Pakistan to divert attention from this huge diplomatic setback," Kumar said. Asked whether India offered something to China for Azhar's listing, he asserted that India doesn't negotiate on matters related to security. "Our objective was to ensure designation of as global terrorist," he said. The played a role in Azhar's designation, the spokesperson said, adding that China's support to Azhar's listing will contribute to better Sino-India ties. 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 February 14 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 a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist.India had termed the Chinese move as "disappointing". On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal. A UN Security Council (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. In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist. 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 Pathankot airbase 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 UNSC, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. US mobile chipmaker Qualcomm on Wednesday said it expects a windfall of $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion this quarter from its recent settlement with Apple in a royalty battle. Qualcomm factored the additional revenue into a forecast in its latest earnings release, saying the money would be a payment "from Apple and the release of our obligations to pay or refund Apple and the contract manufacturers certain customer-related liabilities." The Southern California-based company also factored in revenue expected for new royalties from Apple and the makers of its devices. Qualcomm reported revenue of $5 billion in the recently ended quarter, while its forecast for the current quarter was from $9.2 billion to $10.2 billion in revenue. In April, Apple and Qualcomm announced an agreement to "dismiss all litigation" against each other worldwide in what had been a sprawling battle over royalty payments. The last-minute settlement cut short a courtroom clash between the tech giants just as it was getting underway in California. For two years, the had fought a multi-front brawl that could have required Qualcomm to pay billions. "We entered into settlement agreements with Apple and its contract manufacturers to dismiss all outstanding litigation between the parties," Qualcomm said in an earnings release on Wednesday. The chipmaker added that it also entered into a six-year global patent license agreement with Apple that included an option for Apple to extend the deal for an additional two years. ALSO READ: Apple and Qualcomm settle royalty dispute with new patent agreement At the heart of the battle were the royalties Qualcomm charges for its patented chips, which enable smartphones to connect to mobile networks. Apple accused Qualcomm, which holds the most patents for chips, of taking advantage of its dominant position to charge exorbitant amounts for its chips or access to its patents. Qualcomm denied the allegations and accused Apple of abusing its position and of taking legal action to negotiate prices down. Several hours after the deal was announced, Intel said it was withdrawing from the 5G smartphone modem business, without indicating whether its decision was a cause or consequence of the agreement its rival signed with Apple. The stakes had been especially high for Qualcomm, given that it earns a significant chunk of its revenue from royalties paid by manufacturers for its patented technology. BJP chief Amit Shah Thursday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi goes abroad "to a place about which not even his mother knows" when temperature in India goes up. Addressing a poll rally here in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, ahead of the second phase of polling in the state, Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasn't taken even a single day's leave since he assumed office in 2014. "Modi ji is working tirelessly for the nation," he said. "On the other hand, the Congress president goes on leave regularly and even his mother is unaware of his whereabouts," Shah said. Modi ji has not taken a single day's leave for the last 20 years and is working tirelessly for the nation. And we have Rahul Baba, who goes on vacation every now and then and his mother keeps on asking: where is my son, Shah said. Shah said the Modi government has shown that no terror attack will go unpunished and India will give a befitting reply to any attack. "Goli ka jawab gole se diya jayega (Will respond with bombs if attacked with bullets)," the BJP leader said. Shah wondered if Pakistani terrorists have any "blood relation" with Congress leaders. "Only two parties are gloomy when Modi kills terrorists. One is Pakistan and the other is Rahul Baba and his company. Shah also claimed that 24.50 lakh people have been given free medical treatment so far under the Centre's Ayushman Bharat health scheme. While six of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh went to polls in the first phase on April 29, the other 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.) Noted Kannada theatre and film personality Master Hirannaiah died at a private hospital here Thursday. He was 84 and suffering from liver related ailment. According to BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital, Hirannaiah was admitted on April 29, for treatment of liver disease. "He was provided with the best clinical care and his condition was closely monitored. Initially he showed signs of improvement but his liver function continued to deteriorate due to the advanced state of the disease," it said. Despite all clinical efforts and interventions he succumbed to the illness at 08:45 AM on May 2, 2019, it added. He is survived by wife and five children. Hirannaiah was born in Mysuru in 1935 as Narasimha Murthy His father K Hirannaiah, was also theatre thespian, who started K Hirannaiah Mitra Mandali, and hence Narasimha Murthy assumed the stage name "Master Hirannaiah." Master Hirannaiah's mortal remains have been kept at his residence in the city for his fans and personalities of Kannada film industry to pay their last respects. The cremation is likely to take place by the evening, sources said. Known for his wit, Hirannaiah used his stage performances to sharply attack the political class and bureaucracy on issues like corruption. "Lanchavathara," was one of his most popular plays, and it is said to have crossed 11,000 shows. Makmal Topi, Anaachara, Bhrashtachara and Devadasi are among Hirannaiah's other popular plays. Hirannaiah has acted in several Kannada movies too. Several Kannada film and theatre personalities visited Hirannaiah's residence to pay their last respect. Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in his condolence message said, the field of theatre has lost a "precious gem" with Hirannaiah's passing away. Former Chief Ministers B S Yeddyurappa and Siddaramaiah also condoled Master Hirannaiahs death. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to decide on a plea seeking to advance the voting timing to 5 am for the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha election due to heat waves and Ramzan. A petition in this regard was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, took the petition on board and asked the counsel appearing for the Election Commission to take a decision on the issue. The petition, filed by advocates Mohammed Nizamuddin Pasha and Asad Hayat, said they had given a representation to the Election Commission on Monday in this regard, but the poll panel has not responded to it. "The petitioners pray for a direction to the Election Commission of India to extend the polling hours during the fifth, sixth and seventh phases of the ongoing general election, 2019 on May 6, May 12 and May 19, respectively, by 2-2.5 hours so as to commence at 4:30/5 AM (instead of the notified time of 7 AM) on account of the unprecedented heat waves prevailing in several parts of the country and the onset of the holy month of Ramzan," the plea said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar has said superhero genre maybe on the rise but these films seem to steer clear of exploring the sexuality of the characters. The director, whose initial films characterised the sense of sexual and political freedom in the 1980s, achieved international recognition for his black comedy-drama film "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown". It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His 1999 film "All About My Mother" received Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, while "Talk to Her" (2002) earned him the award for Best Original Screenplay. He believes writers are held back from writing stories about the sexuality of superheroes due to "a kind of self-censorship". "There are many, many movies about superheroes. And sexuality doesn't exist for superheroes. They are neutered. There is an unidentified gender, the adventure is what's important. "You can find, among independent movies, more of this sexuality. The human being has such sexuality! I get the feeling that in Europe, in Spain, that I have much more freedom than if I worked here," Almodovar, 69, told Vulture. He was speaking on the sidelines of Film at Lincoln Center's 50th-anniversary gala Monday. Asked what he would do if Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige called on him to direct a sensuous sequence in an upcoming MCU film, Almodovar said he does not see it happening. "No, no! I don't think so. It's too big for me! I like to see what I'm doing, to direct movies the same day. You have to wait too long to see the results (with big movies). I like being able to impose my opinion as a director. I've made 21 movies. I'm used to doing it the way I like, not fitting with the Hollywood system," the director said. Recently, "Avengers: Endgame" star Tessa Thompson said she played her MCU character, Valkyrie as bisexual. In 2017, thousands of "Wonder Woman" fans signed a petition to make the DC superhero a bisexual in its upcoming sequel. Gal Gadot will reprise her role as Wonder Woman/ Diana Prince in the follow-up, titled "1984". It is slated to be released next year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A gem-set turban ornament, or a sarpech, that belonged to the Sikh Khalsa commander Hari Singh Nalwa in the 19th century was among the key highlights of an auction held by Sotheby's auction house in London. The enamelled turban ornament fetched 350,000 pounds, nearly double its estimate of up to 180,000 pounds, at the Arts of the Islamic World auction on Wednesday. Other major Indian highlights from the sale by Sotheby's included two 17th century Mughal miniature paintings from India A Battle Outside a Walled Fortress', attributed to Sur Das, which fetched 143,750 pounds, and A Drawing of Frederick the Wise', Elector of Saxony, which fetched 102,500 pounds. The sale formed part of the Middle Eastern and Orientalist Art Week at the auction house in London, which attracted total sales of 18.7 million pounds. "There has been a real buzz in our exhibitions over the past week, and this sense of excitement carried through into the saleroom with enthusiastic bidding from private collectors and institutions alike," said Edward Gibbs, Sotheby's Middle East and India Chairman. "There was a real breadth to the array of artworks on offer, reflected both in the strength of bidding and the participation of a wide spectrum of collectors from over 50 countries. Twelve new auction records were set for artists from across the region, amongst them established, indeed treasured, modern masters as well as lesser-known names that we were introducing to our collectors for the first time," he said. The auction week witnessed an "epic auction duel" with bidders battling it out for the Venetian portrait of fabled Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, an artwork that encapsulates "rarity, beauty and provenance as well as embodying the cross-cultural dialogue that enriches this varied collecting category". The portrait fetched 5,323,500 pounds, way above its estimate of 350,000 pounds. "It is wonderful to witness art and artists from the Middle East gaining ever wider recognition, reflecting the truly global appeal of this rewarding area of the market," Gibbs added. A further highlight of the auction was a rare intact Iznik Golden Horn' pottery dish, from the 16th century, one of the last remaining examples of the unusual style which sold for 531,000 pounds. The auction also featured fine rugs and carpets, led by an inscribed and dated intensely golden Persian silk rug made for Fath-ali Shah, the second Qajar emperor of Iran which doubled its estimate to make 150,000 pounds. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Sudan's warring parties will hold talks in Addis Ababa on Thursday, in a bid to salvage a stalled peace deal, with just days to go until a unity government is meant to be formed. President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and a handful of other groups inked the peace deal in September 2018, the latest in a long line of efforts to end a devastating conflict now in its sixth year. However the parties have failed to resolve several crucial issues before a power-sharing government is to be installed on May 12, and are at odds over how to proceed. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc for East Africa, said in a statement it had called the two-day meeting to "develop a clear roadmap" for the formation of the government, and tackle "pending tasks of the agreement". Government has insisted the meeting must focus on how to push forward with the formation of the unity government, while Machar's camp wants a delay of six months to resolve issues such as security for his return. Machar is living in exile in Khartoum, having been hounded out of Juba in a hail of gunfire in 2016 when a prior deal collapsed. He is set to return as first vice president under the new deal. Observers say that crucial steps envisioned in the deal such as establishing a unified army and discussing security control of the capital have yet to take place. "We would like to see an extension being agreed upon by the parties, but we would also like to see that the government is committed politically and resources wise, so that we implement the activities in the agreement," senior SPLM-IO member Kang Pal Chol told AFP. "For now we believe we will reach a consensus," he said, adding that Machar would attend the meeting in Addis Ababa. Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the president would be represented by members of his negotiating team. South Sudan's war broke out two years after independence from Sudan, after Kiir accused his former vice president Machar of plotting a coup against him. Battles between members of Machar's Nuer community and Kiir's Dinka people were characterised by brutal violence on both sides, rape and UN warnings about "ethnic cleansing". An August 2015 peace deal collapsed almost a year after it was signed and the conflict spread, drawing in more groups around the country. The fighting has killed around 380,000 people and forced more than four million South Sudanese -- almost a third of the population -- to flee their homes. While the latest peace deal largely stopped fighting, violence has continued in some regions with rebel groups who did not sign up to it. A United Nations panel of experts report released on Tuesday said that patience was wearing thin, with the failure to advance on a deal described as "a bargain between elites facing a narrowing range of options". The report highlighted government's resistance to provisions in the deal for warring parties to canton their troops, demilitarise civilian areas, collect certain heavy weapons and reveal the size and location of their forces. The latest peace deal was also largely pushed by longtime Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, whose ouster has raised fears there is no one with the will or influence to get the South Sudanese to implement it. Another development has raised questions about government's will to push forward with the deal. The Addis meeting comes just days after it was revealed Kiir had hired an American lobby firm to block the formation of a hybrid African Union-South Sudan court to try war crimes, stipulated in the peace agreement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A space rock collided with the Moon at a speed of 61,000 kilometres an hour during the total lunar eclipse in January this year, excavating a crater 10 to 15 metres across, scientists say. Observers watching the total eclipse of the Moon on January 21 this year, witnessed a short-lived flash as a meteorite hit the lunar surface. Researchers from the University of Huelva and Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain used eight telescopes to monitor the lunar surface during the event. The impact flash lasted 0.28 seconds and is the first ever filmed during a lunar eclipse, despite a number of earlier attempts. Total lunar eclipses take place when the Moon moves completely into the shadow of the Earth. The Moon takes on a red colour -- the result of scattered sunlight refracted through the Earth's atmosphere -- but is much darker than normal. The most recent lunar eclipse took place on January 21 this year, with observers in North and South America and Western Europe enjoying the best view. Just after the total phase of the eclipse began, a flash was seen on the lunar surface. Widespread reports from amateur astronomers indicated the flash -- attributed to a meteorite impact -- was bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. "Something inside of me told me that this time would be the time," said Jose Maria Madiedo of the University of Huelva. Unlike the Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere to protect it and so even small rocks can hit its surface. Since these impacts take place at huge speeds, the rocks are instantaneously vapourised at the impact site, producing an expanding plume of debris whose glow can be detected from our planet as short-duration flashes. Researchers found that the incoming rock had a mass of 45 kilogrammes, measured 30 to 60 centimetres across, and hit the surface at 61,000 kilometres an hour. The impact site is close to the crater Lagrange H, near the west-south-west portion of the lunar limb. The impact energy is estimated to have been an equivalent to 1.5 tonnes of TNT, enough to create a crater up to 15 metres across, or about the size of two double decker buses side by side. The debris ejected is estimated to have reached a peak temperature of 5,400 degrees Celsius, roughly the same as the surface of the Sun. "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. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Sri Lankan authorities are taking steps to freeze the assets of terrorists involved in the Easter Sunday bomb blasts, a media report said on Thursday. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is in the process of identifying and compiling the list of assets belonging to those involved in the attacks, police spokesman S P Ruwan Gunasekera was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. Nine suicide bombers carried out the series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and injuring 500 The details of the attackers and their relatives linked to the bombings was released by the police on Wednesday. Police identified Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran also known as Zahran Hashmi to have led the team of suicide bombers. 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, 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. The official said that the CID is taking these steps in line with the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Finance Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. On the identification of those involved the country's worst terror attacks, he said that though CID has identified nine terrorists, "further DNA tests will be conducted to ensure proper identification of the suicide bombers who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks and those who were involved in the shoot-out in Kalmunai on Friday. Six children and three women were among 15 people killed on Saturday when militants linked to the Easter Sunday bombings opened fire and blew themselves up during a fierce gun battle with security forces in the Sri Lanka's Eastern province. The shootout occurred as the security forces continued their hunt for members of the NTJ that carried out the attacks. Meanwhile, the special panel appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the attacks will release its report on May 6. The special panel was appointed to report on the alleged security lapse which paved the way for the local jihadist group NTJ to carry out the attacks. The Congress on Thursday hit out at the Modi government for singularly claiming credit for the designation of as a global terrorist by the UN and asked it to give a reply to Pakistan's claim that and Pulwama were de-linked in the JeM chief's listing. Condemning Pakistan's claims that it agreed to Azhar's listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack, were removed from the proposal, the Congress said it was a serious matter and a reply must be given to "Pakistan's mischief". In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist.In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 -- the United States, the United Kingdom and -- in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the Pathankot air base 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. Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla hit out at the remarks made by Union minister Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman at a joint press conference, saying such designations were the result of a continuous process and just one government should not take credit for it. "We humbly request them with folded hands to not take credit for everything. Stop taking credit and applauding yourself. Also, tell the country that you had freed Azhar from a Jammu jail. We had got Hafiz Saeed designated (as a global terrorist after the Mumbai terror attacks)," he said at a press conference. It was the Congress that had got Saeed and Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi as well as other terrorists designated as global terrorists, Shukla said. "I also condemn government's claim that it is their diplomatic victory. They are saying that we have got Pulwama and de-linked from it (the listing) and then this declaration has been made," he said. Shukla said that the government should give a reply to "this mischief (claim)" of that they have de-linked and the Pulwama incident while banning Azhar. "This is a serious matter. For us, Pulwama is very important as Azhar had a direct role and he had accepted it. Then it would mean that the earlier incidents and the 26/11 (Mumbai terror attacks) was the basis for banning him for which we had submitted all documents. "So, the government's ministers should do a press conference on this also," he said. Describing the UN designating JeM chief Azhar a global terrorist as a great diplomatic victory for India, the BJP on Thursday said opposition parties are reluctant to celebrate the achievement because they feel they may have to pay political price for it. Shukla, in his remarks, asserted that Azhar is a terrorist and all his activities must be banned. He said following the Mumbai attacks, it was the UPA government that had made available documents that formed the basis for designations of terrorists subsequently. "All governments should be given credit," he said. The UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar as global terrorist after 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, put a technical hold on the proposal, blocking it for a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist. The Chinese move was termed "disappointing" by India. On Wednesday, lifted its hold from the proposal. A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, 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. Actor Sunny Deol, the BJP candidate from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, Thursday offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak here before hitting the campaign trail. The national film award winner for movies "Ghayal" and "Damini" is pitted against sitting MP and Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar, AAP's Peter Masih and PDA's Lal Chand in electoral fight from Gurdaspur seat. Accompanied by BJP leader Kamal Sharma, Deol offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and had a glimpse of the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan through binoculars installed at 'darshan sthal' here. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Both India and Pakistan had agreed to build the Kartarpur corridor to facilitate devotees to offer prayers at the historic Gurdawra Darbar Sahib- the final resting place of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev- in Pakistani town of Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. He also went to Prachin Shiv Temple in Kalanaur in Gurdaspur to offer prayers. It was a tough time for security personnel to tackle the crowds who were keen to meet the Bollywood actor and get photos clicked with him at the Shiv temple. For a brief period, Deol appeared through sunroof panel of his vehicle and accepted flowers bouquet and garlands from the people gathered to have a glimpse of him. Deol will take out a road show from here later in the day. It will pass through several areas including Pathankot, Bhoa and Sarna. He returned to Gurdasur from Mumbai on Wednesday and met families of martyrs at Shadipur village in Dinanagar here. "I have already said that you stay in my heart. I want to work towards meeting all your needs and requirements. I am not saying just for the sake of making statement. I want everyone to be happy and have a smile on their face," Deol had said on Wednesday night. "Hindustan Zindabad hai, Zindabad rahega," he said before ending his speech. All the 13 seats of Punjab will go to polls on May 19. Meanwhile, Congress nominee and sitting MP Sunil Jakhar Thursday dared Deol for holding a debate with him on issues concerning the Gurdaspur constituency. "Welcome back to Gurdaspur, @iamsunnydeol. Before you leave again for Mumbai, Would once again like to invite you to debate various issues concerning this border belt, whenever it is convenient for you," Jakhar tweeted. Jakhar had won the seat in the 2017 bypoll which was necessitated after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year. Khanna had represented the seat four times in the Lok Sabha. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) IT major Tech Mahindra Ltd Thursday announced the deployment of a cutting-edge solution leveraging Blockchain Technology aiming to mitigate spam calls for telecom sector in India, which is impacting over 300 million mobile subscribers. According to a press release from the company here, in 2018, Tech Mahindra designed the Blockchain solution, constituting more than 25 per cent of the Indian market share, in compliance with the regulations and guidelines of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) in order to enable Telecom providers prevent unauthorized access of their subscribers' data. Global Practice Leader of Blockchain, Tech Mahindra, Rajesh Dhuddu said, "the new-age technology is a focus for corporates and government alike, and is expected to be a trillion-dollar market by 2030. With the concerted and coordinated efforts by the Indian government and the industry backed by appropriate regulation, India can continue to sustain and enhance its leadership position in Blockchain technology, he said. "At Tech Mahindra, we are betting big on Blockchain as part of our TechMNxt charter (global program rolled out to explore emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain and Cybersecurity among others), to deliver tangible business value and empower our customers to provide a completely differentiated experience to their end customers," Rajesh said. Tech Mahindra is also demonstrating Blockchain capabilities in diverse sectors including Telecom, Manufacturing, Hi-Tech Industries and Financial Services. For instance, in the Financial Sector, Tech Mahindra has designed a solution for one of the largest public sector banks in India to provide an immutable record of audit transactions and enable single view of transaction data from multiple systems on the blockchain, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three women activists of the ruling CPI(M), including apanchayat member, have been booked on charges of bogus voting in Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency during the April 23 polls, police said Thursday. The case was registered against N P Saleena, a member of the Cheruthazham panchayat, K P Sumayyah and Padmini based on the complaint of the district collector who is also the returning office,they said adding the case was registered under IPC Sections, 171 C, D and F (undue influence and personation at elections. In an embarrassment to the ruling front, local television channels had aired the CCTV visuals in which the three women could be seen voting more than twice at polling booth number 17 and 19 at AUP School Pilathara in Kannur district, which is part of Kasaragod constituency. Chief Electoral Officer, Teeka Ram Meena had later confirmed that the three women had cast bogus votes and said an inquiry would be held into the role of the polling officials. The CEO, on Tuesday, had also sought a report from the district collectors of Kannur and Kasragod on complaints of fake voting allegedly by opposition Congress-led UDF workers in the constituencies. The report was sought based on the complaint of the CPI(M)-led LDF about the alleged bogus voting by two men, suspected to be IUML workers, in a polling booth in Kasaragod. The state leadership of CPI(M) had rejected the charges of bogus voting and alleged that the chief electoral officer was acting in accordance with the UDF's ploy. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said the CEO was not supposed to take decisions in accordance with the 'media trial' based on the visuals of the alleged bogus voting, he said, adding the left party was prepared to face any probe over the issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Thursday reported 17.72 per cent decline in total sales to 11,413 units in April. The company sold a total of 13,871 units in the same month last year, TKM said in a statement. Domestic sales last month were at 10,112 units as against 13,037 units in April 2018, a decline of 22.43 per cent, it added. Exports in April stood at 1,301 units as compared to 834 units in the year-ago month, a jump of 55.99 per cent. "The industry is currently experiencing a slowdown due to uncertainty of general elections that looms over the market and this slow pace is expected to continue until the new government is formed," TKM Deputy Managing Director N Raja said. Consumer sentiments have been dampened due to several factors like tight liquidity, high insurance, and high costs, he added. On the outlook, he said,"we hope the sales growth momentum to pick up in the upcoming months post election results. / -- TurningIdeas Ventures announced the official launch of its Global Growth Program for startup ecosystem today. The program will serve as a platform for Indian startups to collaborate with global partners and explore market potential in other countries outside India. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880989/TurningIdeas_Ventures_Logo.jpg) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880990/TurningIdeas_Todd_Smith_GoGlobal.jpg) The company organized the event and startup pitches for Todd Smith , Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Canada. Speaking at the event, Minister Smith highlighted the importance of working together and developing partnerships between the Ontario and India's start-up communities. Partnerships such as these, with TurningIdeas, will help mature Indian startups to get a head-start to set up their business in Canada through Start-up Visa and other programs. In recent years, the company has witnessed a number of young startups going global after setting firm roots in India. From craft beer maker Bira to online food delivery app Zomato, Indian startups have expanded their business overseas with great poise. "If you have to grow, you must address global markets. So we decided to look around and identify best startup ecosystem partners around the world who can help Indian startups to head-start their ventures globally. If you are a startup looking to build global plays, you will surely benefit from the same," said Ashish Mittal, Founder, TurningIdeas Ventures. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Mittal said that the best way to do this is to expose startups, who are keen to explore global markets, to focused programs in various countries by taking them as a delegation to that country and help them with market assessment, meeting key ecosystem partners, investors and government authorities who can support the initial setup and scale of their business in the country. Some of the startups who presented at the launch and are part of the recent #GoGlobal program included RealTell, Blue Vector and Gesture Research, who are now looking to setup and scale their business in Canada and the US. The program will also help global venture capitalists, investors and ecosystem partners be exposed to promising Indian startups. TurningIdeas also executes Soft-Landing programs for global startup ecosystem to explore and setup the business in India by helping them do the market assessment, connect them with the right ecosystem stakeholders and prospect customers in India's 100B people opportunity. "We are excited about partnering with TurningIdeas to build a bridge for Indian companies to crossover into Europe and beyond. Berlin is the English speaking, cultural capital of Europe and we are looking forward to making it the top destination for Indian founders moving abroad," said Gagan Bhatia, CEO & Founder Diaspora. One of the core goals of these partnerships is to take Indian startups, when they are market-ready and product-solid, to go global, by virtue of introducing them to our international partners and their leadership investors. They will look at products or solutions that pertain to their industry and will also help them with go-to-market strategies in target markets. About TurningIdeas Ventures TurningIdeas Venture is startup and enterprise advisory and early stage investment company helping startups to scale and go global and enterprises to partner and innovate with startups. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An attack which killed six in DR Congo's north-eastern Ituri province Wednesday was the work of an notorious militia based near the Ugandan border, their first known incursion in the area, military sources said. The attack left one soldier and five militiamen dead while two doctors were abducted, the sources in the region said. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -- forced out of Uganda in the mid 1990s -- are regularly accused by DRC authorities of attacking army positions in the neighbouring province of North Kivu. To date, attacks in Ituri have tended to be blamed on the Lord's Resistance Army, but the latest assault is being seen as the ADF extending its sphere of influence. "For their first attack in the province of Ituri, the ADF came in force. We killed five and captured one. One soldier has succumbed to his injuries," army spokesman lieutenant Jules Ngongo told AFP. "These ADF who came from North Kivu targeted Tchadi village, in the territory of Irumu, bordering the neighbouring province of North Kivu." Nestor Banoba, the head of a local civil association in the village targeted, said three people were abducted along with the doctors. Last month, the Islamic State group for the first time claimed to be behind an attack on a Congolese army position in the North Kivu village of Komanda. The ADF is a shadowy Islamist-rooted group that rose in western Uganda in 1995 under the leadership of Jamil Mukulu, a Christian turned Muslim. The ADF have notably been blamed for a 2014 massacre of hundreds of civilians in the North Kivu region of Beni as well as the killings of 22 UN peacekeepers and dozens of DRC troops over the past 18 months. Over that period, however, the group has made no demands nor has any figurehead publicly emerged. One Congolese officer, Muhindo Akili Mundos, who commanded a force targeting the group from August 2014 to June 2015, has been accused by the UN of supporting an ADF "sub-group" known as ADF-Mwalika. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has given voluntary action indicated classification to drug major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries for its Dadra plant. The health regulator had inspected the company's Dadra facility from March 22 - March 29, 2019; and at the conclusion of the inspection, had issued a Form 483, with 11 observations to the company. In a notification on its website, USFDA has given Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI) classification to the Dadra inspection. As per the USFDA, VAI means that though "objectionable conditions or practices were found, but the agency is not prepared to take or recommend any administrative or regulatory action". In a regulatory filing in April, Sun Pharma had said that it had submitted response to the USFDA within the stipulated timeline and it was committed to addressing the observations promptly. One of the observations by the USFDA related to employees engaged in manufacturing, processing, packaging and holding of a drug product were lacking education, training and experience required to perform their assigned functions. Another issue flagged was that the quality control unit lacked the authority to fully investigate errors that have occurred. Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries were trading at Rs 454.50 per scrip on BSE, down 0.54 per cent from its previous close. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- The Award recognises Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras' growth & customer satisfaction in 2018-19 Vakrangee Ltd. today announced that it has been awarded as the best 'Financial Services Retailer of the Year' at the recently concluded Indian Retail Awards 2019 on April 30, 2019 in New Delhi in a glittering ceremony before a room full of the leading names in Indian & world retailing. This award recognises company's Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras' growth and customer satisfaction in 2018-19. The objective of the Indian Retail Awards is to recognize the Retailers who are closing the gap between operational reality and consumer expectations with great retailing practices. These practices include amongst others, promoting and motivating last mile distribution and delivery in retail and highlight new innovation and leadership in Indian retail world. These reputable and most respected awards in the retail world are hosted by Franchise India Holdings Limited, which is Asia's largest integrated franchise solution company since 1999, and publishers of The Franchising World Magazine, India's most comprehensive end-to-end business and franchise magazine and the Retailer Magazine, the first retail opportunity magazine in the country which essentially focuses on Indian and International retailing whilst providing a consumer perspective. Commenting on receiving the 'Financial Services Retailer of the Year' award, Anil Khanna, Managing Director & Group CEO, Vakrangee Ltd., said, "We are proud and honoured to receive this prestigious award. We believe this award is a ratification of our Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra business model. While this award recognises our excellence in Financial Services, these Nextgen outlets also offer a comprehensive range of products and services across banking, insurance, ATM, assisted e-Commerce (online shopping), e-Governance, Financial services and Logistics. We thank the extended Vakrangee family including our employees, business and our Franchisee partners to making this distinguished recognition a reality." He added, "Since our inception of our Vakrangee Kendra business in 2011, the Vakrangee Kendra have evolved from being a non-exclusive store to exclusive Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras. These Nextgen outlets have evolved into an exclusive digital convenience store model providing access to multi line of products and services. We have currently 3,504 Nextgen outlets in 20 states across the country. Our plan is to take this number to 3,00,000 Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras across the country by March 2025 in a planned and phased manner. We are aspiring to be the most trustworthy physical as well as online convenience store across India, positively moving towards Vakrangee Kendra's new brand philosophy of 'AB Poori Duniya Pados Mein'."Vakrangee currently has 3,504 Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra's spread across 20 states, 340+ districts and 2,000+ postal codes. More than 70% outlets are from Tier 5 and tier 6 cities. Vakrangee's planned target is to reach at least 25,000 operational Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras by FY 2019-20 and further enhance it to reach 45,000 Nextgen outlets by FY 2020-21 and 75,000 by FY2021-22. Vakrangee has tied up with reputed partners spread across Banking, ATM, Insurance, Financial services, e-Commerce, e-Governance and Logistics verticals to offer its customers best-in-class services and products. With 70% of the Nextgen outlets being in Tier V and VI towns, Vakrangee provides these partners with the unmatched reach in remote areas where these brands find the cost of operations too high. These tie-ups ensure that the Vakrangee franchisee partners can scale up their business briskly but efficiently in a planned way thus allowing them to break even in between 18-24 months. The Vakrangee Nextgen model embodies technological advancements such as mandatory ATMs that enable the ease of financial transactions; centralized monitoring with the help of CCTV Cameras which would provide remote assistance to the pan-India Kendras, digital advertising through digital signage for brand partners, along with biometric and pin pad devices to enable all kind of payments mechanisms. About Vakrangee Limited (BSE Code: 511431) (NSE Code: VAKRANGEE) Incorporated in 1990, Vakrangee is the unique technology driven company focused on building India's largest network of last-mile retail outlets to deliver real-time banking & Financial Services, ATM, insurance, e-governance, e-commerce and logistics services to the unserved rural, semi-urban and urban markets. The Assisted Digital Convenience stores are called as 'Vakrangee Kendra' which acts as the 'One-stop shop' for availing various services and products. Vakrangee has been at the forefront in financial inclusion space in India. It has signed 'Common BC' and 'National BC' agreements with various public sector banks for offering real-time banking to unserved and underserved rurban population. Banking at 'Vakrangee Kendra' outlets is a unique experience with disruptive technology like APS, e-KYC, inter-operability and real-time transactions. In addition to banking 'Vakrangee Kendra' outlets also provide insurance products, e-governance services and ecommerce products. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress is happy the process of designating JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist has concluded successfully, senior party leader P Chidambaram said on Thursday, while also asking why Pakistani premier Imran Khan wants Narendra Modi to continue as India's prime minister. In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said Azhar was released in 1999 by a BJP government after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft. "After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009. "We are happy that the process has concluded successfully in 2019. But why does the Prime Minister of Pakistan want Mr Modi to continue as Prime Minister of India?" the former home minister said in a series of tweets. Azhar's designation as a global terrorist by the UN came two days after the fourth round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. The elections end on May 19 and the votes will be counted on May 23. Last month, during an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, the Pakistan prime minister said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of a right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. The Congress seized on Khan's comments to allege that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Prime Minister Modi and said a vote for him would mean a vote for the neighbouring country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has confirmed that he will fight extradition to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring to hack a government computer. At a court hearing Thursday, Assange said he would not surrender to extradition for doing what he called "journalism that has won many awards." Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court by video link from London's Belmarsh Prison, where he is serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail in 2012 and taking refuge in the embassy of Ecuador. British police arrested him last month after Ecuador revoked his political asylum. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was facing a court hearing Thursday over a U.S. request to extradite him for allegedly conspiring to hack a Pentagon computer. Assange, who is fighting attempts to send him to the United States, is expected to appear by video link from prison for the hearing at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court. A few dozen supporters holding signs reading "Free Assange" and "No extradition" gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing. It's an early stage in what is likely to be a months- or years-long extradition process. The 47-year-old Australian was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012 and holing up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. At the time, he was facing extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) HERSHEY >> Governor Tom Wolf was joined by Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding and Pennsylvania State Veterinarian Dr. Kevin Brightbill to meet Santa and his nine reindeer at Hersheypark Christmas Candylane on Dec. 23 to announce that the reindeer have received a clean bill of health and are cleared for take-off on December 24. Im excited to announce that Santas reindeer are... Budding women writers swept the second edition of the 'Pen to Publish' contest that recognises and celebrates self-published digital literary works across several Indian languages. Organised by Amazon India as part of their Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform, the annual contest this year awarded writers in long form and short form categories in English, Hindi and Tamil. While Hyderabad-based Aparna Das Sadhukan won in the long form category in English for her book, "Escape Routes", the award in the short form category in the language was bagged by Deepika Priya from Bangalore for "Being a Mother: It's a Different Hormone Altogether". In Hindi, the long and short-form awards also went to women -- Nandini Kumar for "Neeli", and Anurakti Dev Singla for "Aatman" respectively. "We launched the KDP Pen to Publish Contest two years back as a way to celebrate fascinating stories by talented upcoming writers and raise awareness of their work for readers to enjoy," Sanjeev Jha, Head-Content Acquisition & Demand, Kindle Content, India said. To encourage authors of regional languages, this year's edition was open to entries in Tamil as well. The long-form award went to Senthilbalan Manickam, an orthopaedic surgeon based out of Sultanate of Oman for "Parangi Mali Nilaiyam" (book two of his detective Karthick Aldo series), and Vignesh C Selvaraj's work on Isai's poetry won the short form award in Tamil. "This year, the contest has encouraged many budding authors in Hindi and Tamil languages to explore self-publishing as a new way to bring their writing to readers," Jha added. The books were shortlisted by a jury comprising of best-selling authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Rashmi Bansal, Sundari Venkatraman, Divya Prakash Dubey and Era Murugan. "Self-publishing provides aspiring authors with immense opportunities to get their stories to see the light of the day. The concept of this contest not only encourages first-time writers but also fuels an environment for creating and sharing meaningful content," Sanghi said. The winning authors for long-form writing received a prize of Rs 5 lakh each, and those for short form received Rs 50,000 each. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood actor and BJP candidate from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat SunnyDeol Thursday said creating employment opportunities for the youth will be his main priority. Asserting that he came to Gurdaspur to serve the people and not to return to Mumbai, Deol, whose real name is Ajay Singh Deol, also praised the tenure of late BJP MP and actor Vinod Khanna and said he will take his work forward while seeking voters' support for winning this border seat. The most important issue (for me) is our youth. Youth is our foundation. I want creation of job opportunities for them, said Deol in his first media interaction after being named as candidate for Gurdaspur seat. He also said he wanted to work for the welfare of the farming community. We belong to Punjab and farming is in our blood. I want to understand all their issues and do whatever is possible for their welfare, the actor said. On Wednesday, Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar had accusedDeol of having no understating of Punjab issues and asked him to share his vision for Gurdaspur constituency, telling himthat "politics is a serious business and not a time pass activity". Appreciating the work done by late BJP MP Vinod Khanna, Deol said, Vinod ji has worked here for 20 years and he worked a lot here. After him, I got a chance to work (for this constituency). I want to work the same way Khanna did. I belong to people here and I will never hurt them. I will try to meet up to their expectations". Khanna, who was fielded by the BJP from Gurdaspur seat in 1998 for the first time, was a four-time MP. Khanna passed away in 2017. Deol said he was happy to be announced as BJP candidate for Gurdaspur constituency. I am very happy because I have got a chance to (work for people here). Everybody knows me because of my films. People of Punjab and country love me a lot and I stay in their hearts.Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has worked very well during last five years and I want that he should win again this time, he said. You have seen, I have worked in film industry and there also I talked less and my work spoke for me. Here I also want that my work should speak rather than I say something, said Deol. Deol also sought to allay fears that he would return to Mumbai after elections. I have not come here to return, he said. Currently, the Gurdaspur constituency is represented by Congress MP Sunil Jakhar who won the seat in the 2017 bypoll, which was necessitated after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Wipro, which started out as a vegetable oil company in 1945, shifted its focus to Information Technology services in early 80s. In 2012, the company decided to demerge its non-IT services into a separate private entity. A Kotak Securities report at the time said that Wipro's IT business contributed 86 per cent to its overall revenues of Rs 32,053 crore for the financial year 2011-12 and 94 per cent to its operating profit of Rs 6,413 crore. According to the company, the standalone revenues of the consumer care business stood at Rs 3460 crore for the same period. The annual revenue of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL) business came in at Rs 7,150 crore for the financial year 2018-19. The company, which crossed one billion ($1.03 billion) in fiscal year 2017-18, grew its revenues close to 8 per cent year-on-year in 2018-19, while the consolidated operating margins (including furniture and lighting) stood at around 14 per cent. Meanwhile, the standalone margin for the consumer care business was seen at a healthy 20 per cent. The company could only double its revenues in the last six years in a rather challenging macro-environment, but it laid claim to have toppled Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) Lux from the second spot with its brand Santoor in the toilet soap category, which is a 2000-crore turnover brand now. HUL's Lifebouy soap is the market leader in the segment. Inorganic growth bet The man at the helm of the consumer care business, Vineet Agrawal, CEO, WCCL and Executive Director of Wipro Enterprises, joined Wipro in 1985 straight out of a management school. He helped the company establish its personal care brands such as Santoor, Wipro Shikakai and Sunflower Vanaspati as national brands. In 2002, he was appointed as the head of consumer care business, a position which he has held for 17 years now. For a company whose 54 per cent of the revenues come from its international business, the foundation was laid way back in late 2000. Competing with several other FMCG players, WCCL successfully closed a deal in 2007 to buy Singapore-based Unza Holdings with over 40 brands such as Enchanteur, Eversoft, among others, for $246 million. This was the first of many acquisitions of the company to establish its strong international footprint. "Good things don't come cheap. To that extent, it was not a cheap acquisition for us," said Agrawal on Unza's acquisition. Analysts saw this as a bold move. However, the focus on emerging markets came from the very top. "Our Consumer Care and Lighting Business took a big leap by acquiring Unza, South East Asia's leading Personal Care Company. This is an important step for the business as we see large opportunities in the emerging Asian economies," said Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Enterprises (P) Limited and Wipro Limited. Unza till date is the company's biggest acquisition, which gave it an access to Malyasia, its biggest market outside of India. Over the next decade, WCCL bought UK-based brand Yardley for Indian and Middle-East markets, followed by UK and Europe markets. In 2012, the company bought another Singapore-based firm LD Waxsons, which had leading skincare brands such as Bio-essence and Ginvera and health care brand Ebene that further strengthened its footprint in the South-East Asia market like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. The company forayed into the South China market with the acquWisition of Zhongshan Ma Er, a family-run business headquartered in South China's Guangdong province with a strong presence in shower products and liquid detergents. Today, China is its second biggest international market with a turnover of $125-130 million. The latest acquisition of personal care business of Filipino company Splash broke the barrier in the remaining South-East Asian market - Philippines. Among other brands, Splash owns SkinWhite - a strong brand in body lotions, Maxi-peel and Vitress. "Splash is one of our bigger acquisitions," said Agrawal as the company did not disclose the amount spent on acquisition. "This is an exciting milestone for us given our vision of being among top three players in Personal Care in Asia. Splash gives us a market leading position in Philippines, which is one of the strong economies in the region and a formidable personal care market," he added. WCCL's international portfolio contributed 51 per cent to its total revenues in FY19. And, with the acquisition of Splash, the company expects the share of international revenues to go up to 54 per cent. The deal is expected to close by June this year, which will be margin accretive. Splash clocked in a revenue of 4.1 billion pesos ($80 million) in calendar year 2018. Currently, Malaysia is the single largest market outside of India with a turnover of $150 million, followed by China with a turnover of $125-130 million and now with Splash's acquisition, Philippines could well become the third largest market for the company. WCCL has a strong brand presence and a significant market share across segments in India, South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It has 15 manufacturing units in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam and research and development (R&D) facilities in India and Malaysia. Raghav Swaminathan, CFO - Wipro Enterprises (P), credits the successful integration of the international entities to localisation. "While we have a few of our people, we try to maintain the local management and hire locally as much as we can to ensure no disruption takes place when we do acquisition," he said. China play WCCL took its bet on China with the acquisition of Zhongshan Ma Er. "We believe China is a large market. We are only present in South China at Guangdong district. In fact, we are putting up a large manufacturing plant there because we believe that China is the future," said Agrawal. The new plant, which is touted to be the second largest international manufacturing plant of the company, is being built in the Guangdong district with a capex of Rs 100-120 crore. "The new plant is likely to be operational by December 2019. With an addressable market of over 100 million people and GDP of close to one trillion, by any logic, south china is larger than any of south-east Asian countries," he added. Currently, Wipro stands at number three position in liquid detergents, shower products and roll-on segments and at number two in soap segment in South China market. India story Being one of oldest FMCG companies in India, Wipro consumer care has diversified portfolio of personal and home care products with leading brands such as Santoor, Chandrika, Glucovita, Wipro Safewash and Wipro baby soft products. With revenues of around $500 million, India brings around 46 per cent of the revenues with Santoor alone doing Rs 2000 crore. "It is a brand, which, we believe, is a clear number two in toilet soaps. We believe so because no other toilet soap has called out itself as a Rs-2000 crore brand except for Lifeboy," says Agrawal. Looking at February numbers, he says, the Santoor brand stands right above Lifeboy in the urban market, being the number one there. Meanwhile, one area that still remains a virgin territory for Wipro is the 'organic product' segment. Agrawal believes that there is still some confusion in the minds of the buyers under organic products categorisation. "I think there is confusion in the consumers' mind on how ayurveda, natural and organic products differ from each other, but there indeed is shift towards natural products and that is one of the reasons for the growth of Santoor as a brand," Agrawal said. However, he added that the company is not looking actively to launch products in the 'organic' segment. While Santoor and Chandrika remain clear mass brands, the company experimented with niche urban and offline heavy brands such as Happily Unmarried and USTRAA by picking 21 per cent stake in Delhi-based Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt. Ltd in 2017. Post Wipro's investment, both brands have leveraged the distribution network of WCCL to make a significant entry into the offline market. While the company said that it waded through the changes post the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) without any disruption in the entire supply chain, the company anticipates some headwinds in India growth as the rural economy continues to remain under pressure. Also read: BT Buzz: Piramal-Shriram alliance to end Also read: BT Buzz: NBFC bubble -- Bursting in phases? MRF, the country's leading tyre manufacturer, on Thursday reported standalone net profit at Rs 1,097.87 crore for the financial year 2018-19, up marginally from Rs 1,092.28 crore during the previous fiscal. "The Profit before tax stood at Rs 1,608.89 crore for the year ended March 31, 2019, as against Rs 1,601.91 crore for the previous financial year," MRF said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Total income during FY19 stood at Rs 16,254.47 crore, as compared to Rs 15,509.55 crore during the previous year, registering a year-on-year growth of 4.80 per cent. The company's export for the year was Rs 1,566 crore as against Rs 1,353 crore for the previous year ended March 31, 2018. During the January-March quarter, the tyre manufacturer posted a 14.91 per cent decline in its standalone net profit at Rs 293.83 crore as against Rs 345.32 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue from operations, however, climbed to Rs 4,073.45 crore during Q4FY19 as compared with Rs 3,835.50 crore in Q4FY18. Also Read: Dabur's profit rises 6.5% to Rs 1,446 cr in FY19; FMCG biz in India up 13% The company's board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 54 per share on paid-up equity share capital of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2019, subject to the approval of the shareholders in the ensuing Annual General Meeting. The company has already declared and paid two interim dividends of Rs 3 each per share. MRF in its earnings release said that India's automobile industry saw a moderate 7.1 per cent growth this fiscal. The commercial vehicle category showed polarity in its sales performance between the first and second halves of the fiscal year. "The revised axle norm implemented towards Aug-Sep 2018 implied that tyre manufacturers needed to bring their product portfolio to match the demands of vehicles with increased tonnage. In this context, MRF is proactively working on widening its existing range of product solutions to serve commercial customers better," the company said. MRF shares closed trade at Rs 52,599.95 a piece, down 0.61 per cent, on the BSE on Thursday. Edited by Chitranjan Kumar Cyclone Fani, which is spreading across the entire coastal belt in India, has affected the movement of several trains, thus causing a lot of inconvenience to passengers. The East Coast Railways have also issued a statement saying as many as 103 trains had been cancelled in Odisha alone as Cyclone Fani will make a landfall in the state on May 3, reported local media in the state. As many as 43 trains connected to south India have also been cancelled or delayed. As per the railways, these trains that run between Howrah and Puri and other South India destinations have been halted due to the 'yellow alert' issued by the weather department over Cyclone Fani. While South Eastern Railway zone has cancelled 17 trains between Puri and South India, a total of 26 trains originating from South India will not run on the scheduled routes today. The Railways will also carry special patrolling as part of its precautionary measures to minimise the damage due to cyclone. The Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Puri-Visakhapatnam section of the Railways will not run when the cyclonic storm will pass the Odisha coast. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that around 8 lakh people will be evacuated from the vulnerable areas by Thursday. The West Bengal government has also made elaborate precautionary arrangements to tackle its affects. As precautionary measures, breakdown vans and relief trains have been kept ready to cater to areas likely to be affected by the cyclone in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The Railways is also in touch with the local authorities and disaster management teams. Separately, the East Coast Railway has issued an advisory for cancellation or regulating trains in areas which are likely to be affected by Fani, reported PTI. An alert has been sounded in all coastal districts and people living in the coastal areas along with tourists have been asked to leave and go to safer places, the official said. Fishermen, who have gone to the mid-sea, have been asked to return immediately, sources at the West Bengal secretariat said. As per the South Zone Railways, these trains have been cancelled so far. The government has said it continues to monitor the developing situation in East Coast of India over the cyclone and has authorised proactive deployment of resources from Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard for assistance. As per the weather department, Cyclone Fani is expanding in the area around West-central Bay of Bengal and is moving towards North-Eastwards at 7 kmph. Due to the extremely severe cyclone, normal life will be affected in Puri (Odisha), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Digha (West Bengal), the government said. "It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during May 3 with maximum wind speed of 180 kmph dusting to 200 kmph," it added. Before Cyclone Fani, a super cyclone had hit Odisha in 1999, which claimed over 10,000 lives. The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC) has said Cyclone Fani will cross Jagannath Puri on May 3 afternoon at a wind speed of 175 kmph before the landfall. Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service have been deployed in vulnerable areas to assist the administration, an official said. Edited by Manoj Sharma Cyclone Fani, which is threateningly rolling towards the Odisha coast, has so far led to the cancellation of 103 trains causing a lot of trouble to the passengers. A total of 103 trains stand cancelled according to a bulletin released by the Southern Railways. The cyclonic storm is expected to hit the coastal state on May 3. A total of 43 trains connected to southern India have either been cancelled or delayed. This comes after the weather department had put the coastal state on "Yellow Alert" due to the intensification of the storm. The South Eastern Railway Zone has cancelled a total of 17 trains between Puri and South India. Additionally, as many as 26 trains which originate from southern India will not run on the scheduled routes today. As per reports, over 8 lakh people are being evacuated as the coastal state braces for cyclone Fani. The Indian Railways today announced the arrangement of three special trains from Puri for the evacuation of stranded tourists and passengers in view of the cyclonic storm. Here are the complete details of special trains: 1. East Coast Railway will run a special train from Puri to Shalimar in Kolkata starting 12 noon today for the swift evacuation of stranded passengers and tourists. 2. The second special train will be run from Puri to Howrah at 3 PM. 3. The third special train from Puri is bound for Howrah at 6 PM. Special patrolling will also be done on part of the Indian Railways as a precautionary measure to minimise the damage done due to the severe storm. Breakdown vans and relief trains have been kept ready to cater to areas which are likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. According to the South Zone Railways, the following trains stand cancelled in view of the cyclonic storm. The government has said that it is continuously monitoring the situation in the Eastern coast of India as the cyclonic storm is alarmingly spreading across the coastal belt of India. The government has authorised the deployment of resources from Indian Navy and the Coast Guard for further assistance. The Indian Railways is also in talks with the local authorities and the disaster management teams to help tackle the situation better. Cyclone Fani is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during the afternoon of May 3 with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph, as per reports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting today with officials to review the preparedness relating to cyclone Fani. He said that the central government is ready to provide all possible assistance for the well-being of citizens. Chaired a high level meeting to review the preparedness relating to Cyclone Fani. The Central Government is ready to provide all possible assistance that would be required. Prayers for the safety and well-being of our citizens. pic.twitter.com/GLoCzmV1io - Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 2 May 2019 (Edited by: Nehal Solanki) Also read: Cyclone Fani: 103 trains cancelled as 'extremely severe' storm to hit Odisha; here's list of trains cancelled Also read: Cyclone Fani Live Updates: Severe cyclone to hit Odisha's shores tomorrow; coast guard takes pre-emptive measures The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has taken pre-emptive measures to deal with cyclonic storm 'Fani' as it will hit the coastal state's shores tomorrow. The pre-emptive steps include equipping ships with disaster relief material, and the use of Dornier aircraft to warn fishing boats. According to an official statement, special community interaction programmes will also be organised in coastal areas of the state. Odisha has been put on "Yellow Alert" after the Indian Navy said that the cyclonic storm 'Fani' has intensified and turned into an "extremely severe cyclonic" storm. To ensure that widespread precautionary measures are in place in areas likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm, the ICG is in close liasioning with state administration as well as the India Meteorological Department (IMD), reported PTI. The storm over the Bay of Bengal which is about 660 km south-southwest of Puri is now threateningly rolling towards the Odisha coast at a speed of 14 km per hour. It is expected to cross Puri on May 3 afternoon, packing winds up to 175 kmph before landfall. Follow the Cyclone Fani LIVE updates on BusinessToday.In blog: 12:04pm: Heavy rainfall predicted over North and South Coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Heavy to very Heavy rain & extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places very likely over North Coastal #AndhraPradesh & South Coastal #Odisha. IMD - NDMA India (@ndmaindia) 2 May 2019 11:56am: A series of pre emptive measures were undertaken by the ICG to ensure safety of lives at sea. .@IndiaCoastGuard initiated series of pre-emptive measures from first sign of weather disturbance in Bay of Bengal on Apr 23, 2019 and implemented lessons learnt from Cyclone Ockhi to ensure safety of lives at sea.#FaniCyclone Details here: https://t.co/SwmIViDtvj pic.twitter.com/wlpdt1Hk5c - PIB India (@PIB_India) 1 May 2019 11:48am: The NDRF team has arrived in Ichchapuram, Andhra Pradesh in view of Cyclone Fani. Andhra Pradesh: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team arrives in Ichchapuram, Srikakulam in view of #CycloneFani. pic.twitter.com/jr3UafGyBZ - ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 11:41am: The wind speed of a cyclonic storm is up to 100 kmph. However, the wind speed goes up to 170-180 kmph and could gain the speed of 195-200 kmph, in case of an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm'. 11:39am: India will be using a number of boats, buses and trains to evacuate as many as 800,000 people along its eastern coast. 11:35am: Two special trains will be started from Puri at 3pm and 6pm today for Howrah. Stoppage stations are Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendujhar road, Bhadrak, Balasore & Kharagpur. South Eastern Railway: Two more special trains will start from Puri at 3 pm & 6 pm today for Howrah. Stoppages- Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendujhar road, Bhadrak, Balasore & Kharagpur. #CycloneFani - ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 11:33am: South Eastern Railway has reportedly cancelled 43 trains scheduled to run between Howrah and Puri, and other destinations in south India over the next two days. 11:23am: Fani located around 230 kms south-southeast of Visakhapatnam and 420 km south southwest of Puri based on Radar image of 0850 hrs IST of 2nd May, 2019. 11:14am: Over 8 lakh people in the coastal districts have been evacuated, as per reports. 11:12am: According to officials in the state government, all schools and colleges have been closed for the next three days. 11:00am: A critically injured fisherman was evacuated by the Indian Coast Guard. 10:54am: The NDMA has advised fishermen to not enter the west-central and off-north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and South Andhra coasts as the sea conditions are likely to be phenomenal. Sea conditions likely to be phenomenal over west-central & off north T.Nadu, Puducherry, South Andhra coasts & over northwest BOB.High to phenomenal sea conditions likely along & off Odisha & W.B coast; Fishermen are advised not to venture into these areas. IMD - NDMA India (@ndmaindia) 2 May 2019 10:45am: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a list of do's and dont's before, during and after a cyclone inflicts damage to life and property. As many as 97.40 lakh SMSes, including 26.30 lakh today, have been sent through Early Warning Dissemination System (Location Based Alert System) to people living in areas that are likely to be affected by cyclone, the government said. (Edited by: Nehal Solanki) Also read: ONGC evacuates 500 employees before cyclone Fani makes landfall Also read: Have taken pre-emptive measures to deal with cyclone Fani: Coast Guard PepsiCo announced that it will withdraw its patent infringement lawsuit against a number of Gujarat potato farmers. The India unit of the snacks and beverages major had sued nine farmers of Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts of North Gujarat in two separate courts for "illegally" cultivating its registered FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its Lay's chips. "After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers. We are relying on the said discussions to find a long term and an amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection," a PepsiCo India spokesman said. It was reported yesterday that the Gujarat government is working on an out-of-court settlement in the matter. An influential Hindu nationalist group with close ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had also accused PepsiCo coercing four Indian farmers who have been sued by it. ALSO READ: Hindu nationalist group close to BJP accuses PepsiCo of coercing farmers Last week, Pepsico had hoped for an amicable resolution to the matter, offering the farmers it had sued a chance to grow the FC5 variety of potatoes for the company. Executives at the PepsiCo headquarters and its Asia-Pacific office had also expressed their concern over the Indian unit's lawsuits against Gujarat farmers. "To safeguard the larger interest of farmers, PepsiCo India was compelled to take judicial recourse to protect its registered variety. PepsiCo from the very start had also offered an amicable settlement to farmers," the PepsiCo spokesperson said. The company has stated that the FC5 variety of potato has less moisture in it, and is thus preferable for making snacks. PepsiCo has maintained that it registered the trait in 2016. ALSO READ: BT Buzz: Pepsi vs farmers - Lay off the potatoes Pepsico had filed a case against four farmers in an Ahmedabad court and demanded more from Rs 1 crore each from the farmers. It had also sued five more farmers in a different court. The decision to withdraw the lawsuit will be applicable to all the farmers. PepsiCo has been present in India for the past 30 years. It supplies the FC5 variety of potato to farmers under a contract and buys the yield at a fixed rate "The company remains deeply committed to the thousands of farmers we work with across the country and towards ensuring adoption of best farming practices," the spokesperson said. ALSO READ: PepsiCo worried over Indian unit's legal action against potato farmers Ireland appointed New Zealand treasury chief Gabriel Makhlouf as its new central bank governor on Wednesday, replacing Philip Lane who leaves next month to become the European Central Bank's chief economist. A former senior civil servant in Britain, where he served as principal private secretary to then finance minister Gordon Brown and held leading roles with the UK tax authority, Makhlouf will take charge on Sept. 1, Ireland's finance ministry said. In his new role he will also sit on the Governing Council of the ECB, the first time Ireland will have two rate-setters. A temporary governor will be named by Ireland's Central Bank Commission to cover the three-month period following Lane's departure for the ECB's executive board. "I am delighted to nominate a person of Gabriel Makhlouf's international caliber," Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said in a statement. "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 organization of 10,000 people." The son of United Nations diplomats, Makhlouf was born in Cairo of British and Greek parentage and has a degree in economics from Britain's University of Exeter. He became head of the New Zealand treasury in 2011, where he has also been the government's chief economic and financial advisor. In New Zealand, he played a leading role in the government's public and private sector diversity and inclusion drive and was recently named an observer on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's newly-formed Monetary Policy Committee. Makhlouf, 58, becomes the first non-Irish national to lead the central bank after emerging from a shortlist that included one of Lane's two deputies, Sharon Donnery, who narrowly lost out in the race to head the ECB's supervisory arm last year. Had Donnery been appointed, she would have become the first woman to lead the bank and helped address a lack of women at the top of the ECB for which the euro zone's central bank has been sharply criticized. The ECB, which now has only one woman on its 25-member Governing Council, is undergoing major personnel changes this year, including the naming of a successor to President Mario Draghi and Lane's appointment as Chief Economist. In Ireland, Makhlouf takes on an economy that has been the best performing in Europe since 2014. It is seen at risk of overheating if the recent pace of growth continues, but could face a different challenge if neighboring Britain ends up leaving the European Union without a deal to smooth transition. The central bank's supervisory capabilities will also be tested during his seven-year term after more than 100 financial services firms applied to the bank to set up or extend operations in Ireland as a result of Brexit. A homemade banking crisis drove Ireland to the brink of bankruptcy a decade ago. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Written By:Stacy Simon Shes such a happy child, even though shes been through so much. Erjona Belba Melissa Belba is a healthy, bubbly, active 4-year-old girl. Shes such a happy child, even though shes been through so much, says her mother, Erjona. Every day, she says, Good morning, Mommy I love you. She also loves meeting new people, often announcing, I got a new heart. You want to see my scar? Erjona and her husband found out about Melissas medical problems the day she was born, January 28, 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida. Erjona had had a normal pregnancy and delivery, so they were shocked when Melissa was born with blue bruises all over her body and a fever of 104 degrees. Lab tests showed she had an extremely high white blood cell count. She was transferred to Wolfson Childrens Hospital for tests before they even had the chance to hold her. A week later, Melissa was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This type of leukemia starts from the myeloid cells that normally form white blood cells, red blood cells, or platelets. She began undergoing chemotherapy the day she was diagnosed and stayed in the hospital to continue treatment. Erjona stayed with her, leaving behind her job and home to move into the hospital. Can you imagine what it is like to hear those words come out of the doctors mouth? As a mother, I was in shock, and I couldnt stay calm said Erjona. I never knew a child could be born with cancer. Erjona says things were toughest in the beginning. Melissas doctors said they had never seen a case like hers before. She weighed so little they werent sure about the right dosage of the drugs she needed. And Erjona herself wasnt coping well. Isolated in the hospital, she had a hard time talking about what was happening and kept her emotions mostly inside. Although the doctors told her otherwise, she blamed herself for Melissas illness. She began to find hope when she read a story online about a 30-year-old survivor who was also born with AML. Things began to look up after Melissas very first chemotherapy treatment when she went into remission. Tests no longer detected any evidence of cancer in her body. She continued to receive chemotherapy, to reduce chances the cancer would come back. After 6 months, Erjona was finally able to take her home for the first time. The second worst news of our lives About 2 months after she came home, Melissa began throwing up, not eating, and sleeping most of the time. Worried the leukemia had returned, the Belbas brought her to the emergency room, where they got what Erjona calls the second worst news of our lives. Melissa was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a serious heart problem caused by the chemotherapy that saved her life. She began receiving heart medication and responded well. Though she struggled to put on weight. About 2 years later, Melissas symptoms suddenly returned. She began having ear infections, fever, coughing, and throwing up. Tests showed the drugs had stopped working and Melissas heart was failing. She was placed on the waiting list for a new heart and admitted to University of Florida Health Shands Hospital. Erjona moved into the hospital again. It was very scary, said Erjona. I didnt know what to think. I felt hopeless like she had not had one day of a normal life as a child. A new heart The Belbas were told to prepare to wait for as long as 1 year to find a donor heart for Melissa. But after just 2 months on the transplant list, they got what Erjona calls the best news I have ever received in my whole life. A donor was found who matched Melissas heart. She underwent transplant surgery on January 14, 2019. Her heart now works, Erjona says, perfectly. Erjona says she is grateful to the parents of the child whose heart saved Melissas life. I feel sad for them because they lost the most important thing in their life, but Im glad they decided to save someone elses child, said Erjona. I hope to meet them one day in person to thank them for giving my daughter a second chance in life. Melissa now runs, talks, and eats like any other 4-year-old. She also has a little brother to play with now. Erjona says she feels like shes woken up from a bad dream. She says she hopes sharing Melissas story will help other parents who may be struggling alone or blaming themselves for their childs illness. God brought Melissa into this world for a reason, said Erjona. Shes doing great shes going to make it. Bookings for the Hyundai Venue have commenced for a token amount of Rs 21,000. The countrys first connected SUV will be available with seven colour options which include denim blue, lava orange, deep forest, star dust, fiery red, polar white and typhoon silver. Additionally, the compact SUV is available in three dual colour options - blue with white roof, orange with black roof and white with black roof. Interested customers can book the Venue online through Hyundais official website or by visiting any of the Hyundai dealerships. Mechanically, the upcoming Hyundai Venue will come in two petrol and one diesel engine option. The petrol version will be available in the 1.0-litre Kappa turbo GDi and 1.2-litre Kappa trims, while the diesel version will get a 1.4-litre U2 CRDi engine. Hyundai claims that the Venue will get an in-house developed seven-speed, power-packed advanced DCT technology in addition to the six-speed and five-speed manual transmissions. The Hyundai Venue will further be available in five diesel and eight petrol variants. Click here to learn more. Speaking on the occasion, Vikas Jain, National Sales Head, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., said, Today we are set to mark a new beginning in the Indian compact SUV segment. The Hyundai Venue has already captured the customers' Purchase of Interest and we are confident this SUV will set a new benchmark in Auto Industry. The Hyundai Venue is a testimony of our commitment to bring the best of global products and technology for our customers in India. Hyundai Venue is a true example of our emphasis towards becoming a lifetime partner in the everyday lives of our customers, with its modern progressive design and versatile package including seamless connectivity, complete safety and peace of mind. Hyundai Venue 6.99 Lakh Onwards Hyundai | Hyundai Venue | Venue Ampadu again honored with Plesur teaching award BUFFALO, N.Y. Alex Ampadu, clinical associate professor of accounting and law in the University at Buffalo School of Management, was recognized with the Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award from UBs undergraduate Student Association at a ceremony on April 29. The annual award recognizes outstanding professors who create an atmosphere of creativity, enthusiasm and participation in their classrooms. Students nominate instructors from across the university who have inspired, excited or positively affected them. The honor is named for a beloved UB history professor, author and scholar who died in 1987. Ampadu is the first recipient in the awards history to be honored four times. He previously received the Plesur award in 1998, 2006 and 2010. A School of Management faculty member since 1986, Ampadu teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate accounting courses in such areas as managerial accounting, financial accounting, auditing, financial statement analysis and internal audit. In addition, Ampadu is director of the MS Accounting programs internal audit and risk management track, one of just 31 programs worldwide endorsed by the Institute of Internal Auditors. He also serves as faculty advisor to the School of Management Minority Alliance. Ampadu holds a bachelors degree from the University of Ghana and an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. In addition to being a CPA, he is a Certified Management Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Fraud Examiner, Forensic CPA, Chartered Global Management Accountant and Certified in Financial Forensics. Previously, Ampadu has received the Outstanding CPA in Education award from the New York State Society of CPAs, and was twice named Faculty Advisor of the Year by Beta Alpha Psi, an international honor organization for financial information students and professionals. Last year, the School of Managements Career Resource Center also recognized him as Faculty Member of the Year for his contributions to students career success over the years. California Department of Education News Release California Department of Education News Release State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Appoints New Chair for Closing the Achievement Gap Initiative SACRAMENTOState Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that he has appointed Ryan Smith as the new Chair of his statewide Closing the Achievement Gap Initiative. Smiths work will align with the initiatives goals, which include addressing ways to close the achievement gap and improving educational outcomes for all California public education students. Ryan is a leader in the efforts to close the achievement gap, and specifically in how we can use policy, advocacy, and research to make change, said Thurmond. I cant think of anyone better to lead these efforts for our state, which is one of the priorities of my office. Thurmond launched his Closing the Achievement Gap initiative with a forum in February focusing on schools throughout the state that have shown success in closing the gap for African Americans and other students of color. He followed that up with a second forum in April to address recruitment and retention of teachers of color. Smiths appointment is the next step in assuring that these efforts continue with the highest priority and level of expertise. Smith is currently Chief External Officer of Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which launched in 2007 as a collaboration between the Los Angeles Unified School District, donors Richard and Melanie Lundquist, the City of Los Angeles, and other public and private partners, to accelerate achievement for students across the district. He was formerly Executive Director of The Education Trust-West, a research and advocacy organization focused on education justice and the high academic achievement of all California students, particularly students of color and those living in poverty. His projects included the Black Minds Matter report, which focused on supporting the educational success of black children in California, as well as the study, The Majority Report: Supporting the Success of Latino Students in California. # # # # Tony Thurmond State Superintendent of Public Instruction Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100 Last Reviewed: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 Gabon sees 42% hike in cement output in 2017 ICR Newsroom By 02 May 2019 Gabon reported a 42 per cent increase to 487,000t in cement production in 2017 when compared with 341,351t in 2016, InfosGabon reports. Domestic sales reached 488,328t in 2017, up 43.6 per cent from 340,000t in the previous year. The increases in production and sales follow measures by the Gabon government to ban imports in July 2017, according to the Ministry of Economy. "This progress was made in a context of suspension of cement imports by decision of the government since July 2017," said a ministry spokesperson. Published under 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 Tennessee House of Representatives and Senate narrowly approved Governor Bill Lees Education Savings Account (ESA) proposal, sending the legislation to the governors desk on Wednesday. A conference committee spent little time reconciling two versions of the bill. The final version leaves Hamilton County and Knox County out, while applying to Shelby and Davidson. Hamilton County School Supt. Dr. Bryan Johnson had strongly opposed the bill, along with some of the school board members. The bill allows public school students to withdraw from their schools and tap into voucher accounts for private schooling. It does not apply to home schoolers. It was praised by Lee Barfield, board member of the American Federation for Children, who said, This is a great day for kids and families in our state. After years of hard work, community engagement, listening to families, and working with courageous legislators, Tennessee will be empowering thousands of lower income and working class families with the freedom to choose and customize the education that fits their children's needs. Thank you to the legislative leadership and Governor Bill Lee for prioritizing the needs of our students above all else. of the American Federation for Children, said, Today's vote marks a historic victory for students in Tennessee. Members of the House and Senate voted to open doors for children who have been trapped in failing schools for far too long. They voted to rightly give families choice when it comes to their childs education. They voted to set children on a path to success. Shaka Mitchell, Tennessee state director This victory would not have been possible without the leadership and vision of Governor Lee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, and House Speaker Glen Casada. These leaders championed a bold proposal that will help thousands of students find the education that is right for them and improve the state's education system as a whole. We commend them, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, Speaker Glen Casada, House Majority Leader William Lamberth, Chairman Dolores Gresham, Chairman Mark White, Representative Bill Dunn, and many other legislators for their steadfast commitment and for standing resolutely on the side of Tennessees students and families. The only market on the north end of Lookout Mountain is closing. Sissy and Lex Tarunianz said Market on the Mountain will close on May 26. The deli portion of the market will close May 19. Market on the Mountain has operated for eight years at 124 N. Wautauga Lane near The Commons in Lookout Mountain, Tn. Lookout Mountain, Ga., just across the state line, once had a grocery, but it burned down many years ago and was not rebuilt. Sissy and Lex Tarunianz sent this message: To Our Valued Patrons, Thank you for supporting the Market on the Mountain over the past eight years. We have truly enjoyed bringing what, we believe, was a wonderful asset to our community. Unfortunately, when our current lease with Blackthorn House LLC, and its member, Jennifer Whitener, expired on March 31, 2019, we were unable to renegotiate an extension of the lease on terms that made any economic sense. The lease, coupled with a loan with First Volunteer Bank (made by the prior owner) a convoluted transaction, when added together in summary, has forced us to close. Our employees have been notified that we will be closing May 26, 2019. We hope to proceed with an orderly divestiture of our inventory. We would greatly appreciate your help in this task. We plan to keep the Deli open until May 19 at this point. In the mean time and in the future, we will throw our full support and expertise behind anyone who chooses to build or operate a Market in Tennessee or Georgia. We wish to thank Cecilia and our wonderful staff for all they have done for us and Lookout Mountain. Hopefully, a new opportunity will arise quickly and our community wont be marketless for long. Thank you, Through my travels, Ive had opportunities to visit many beautiful centers of worship. Most recently my wife and I were in Rome, where we toured the Vatican, including St. Stephens cathedral and the Sistine Chapel. While in Venice we saw St. Marks, another architectural marvel, and in Assisi, the grand church where St. Francis is reported to have been buried. During a trip to New York City a few years ago, we visited St. Patricks Cathedral, one of the most beautiful churches in the United States. While in Savannah, Ga., we toured Christ Church, a comparatively modest chapel built through the efforts of the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. But even in its wood-hewn simplicity, the stain-glassed interior spoke volumes about devotion to Jesus. And when I toured parts of Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany more than 20 years ago, numerous churches caught my eyes, including one in Dresden that endured much damage during World War II, being rebuilt only after a half-century of Communist rule in East Germany. The centuries-old artwork and craftsmanship in each of these churches serve as testaments to the artisans faith in the God of the Bible. Reports of the fire that destroyed parts of the iconic cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France turned my thoughts to the wondrous edifices Ive seen. Having never been to the city of lights, Ive not viewed the famed cathedral firsthand, but can imagine the creative expressions of faith it has contained through its history. For countless thousands who have toured it, as well as Parisians who have walked in its shadow, the inferno that claimed the cathedrals roof, spire and some of its contents was tragic. Then I began to wonder what God thought about it. Not to diminish the artistry that was destroyed, but I suspect the Lord wasnt nearly as upset as were many connoisseurs of history and art. We find clues in the Old Testament. After King David of Israel stated his desire to build a temple for God, the Lord responded through the prophet Nathan: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? (2 Samuel 7:1-7). Preparing to commence with construction of the temple, using gold and silver, bronze and iron, cedar and other materials collected by his father, King Solomon announced, The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? (2 Chronicles 2:5-6). Then, upon completion of the temple Solomon conceded, But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!... May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, My Name shall be there (1 Kings 8:27-29). Despite its grandeur, this lavish focal point for the Israelites worship was eventually destroyed by enemy armies. All that remains are the detailed biblical descriptions of how it was constructed and what it looked like. God, being all-powerful, could have preserved the temple. However, in the New Testament we discover He had a very different plan. Rather than bricks and mortar, or even the finest metals and most exquisite pieces of art, the Lord prefers a human habitation. As the apostle Paul wrote to believers in Corinth, Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16). Paul also wrote, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own (1 Corinthians 6:19). The apostle Peter reinforced this when he stated, You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5). So reflecting on the fire that recently claimed portions of the historic cathedral in Paris, its no doubt a loss in terms of the blood, sweat and tears of the artists and workers who gave so much of their lives to its creation. But based on the passages above, God is much more concerned about the cathedrals the temples He is building and refining within each of us. It's a reminder that when we go to church, we as temples of God are congregating for collective worship and praise. And when we depart, we temples return to our homes, to work, to school, and wherever we go. By combining our unique talents, gifts and expertise, we can form a Church that pales the Notre Dame cathedral, or any religious edifice, by comparison. - - - - Robert J. Tamasy is a veteran journalist, former newspaper editor and magazine editor. Bob has written hundreds of magazine articles, and authored, co-authored and edited more than 15 books. These include the newly re-published, Business At Its Best, Tufting Legacies, The Heart of Mentoring, and Pursuing Life With a Shepherds Heart. He edits a weekly business meditation, Monday Manna, which is translated into more than 20 languages and distributed via email around the world by CBMC International. To read more of Bob Tamasys writings, you can visit his blog, www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com, or his website (now being completed), www.bobtamasy-readywriterink.com. He can be emailed at btamasy@comcast.net. There is a rule at automobile assembly plants that is as old as Henry Ford, crediting with creating the assembly line, and every bit as hallowed as any of the Ten Commandments: Never, ever, stop the line. No reason is good enough to stop production of such magnitude but on Monday of this week, the line stopped at the Volkswagen Assembly Plant for the biggest threat in the industry the union. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee was said to be visiting the plant, which employs 3,800 people and is expected to welcome over 1,000 more in the near future, but the real reason was captured in a squib of conversation between two employees who were forced to attend an all-employee-required talk by Lee that was closed to all outsiders. My friend said, What is this about? I said, Hes here to tell us we dont need a union. said one worker who asked to remain anonymous. I bet him five bucks. He paid me. A recording of Lees remarks was obtained by labornotes.org, a Detroit-based pro-union newsletter. At one point the Governor said, Youre exactly the kinds of skilled folks that we need to have more of all across the state, he told the audience. He added, I have the privilege now of talking to companies, interviewing them and asking them to come to Tennessee just like at some point someone did that with Volkswagen. A governor did that with Volkswagen. There are new companies that all of us would benefit from if they come here because they would bring more high paying jobs that would elevate the economic activity of our state. We are very fortunate to be in a state that has low debt, that has pay-as-you-go, that has low income taxes, that has the work environment that we have in this state, said the governor. A voice from the crowd shouted in reply, Dont forget low wages! Instead, Lee offered, I do believe, based on my personal experience of working with hundreds of skilled trades people over 35 years, that every workplace has challenges. According to Labor Notes, the Governor also told the rank-and-file, There are things in your workplace that you wish were different. I also believe ... that when I have a direct relationship with you, the worker, and youre working for me, that is when the environment works the best. Last month it was learned the United Auto Workers union had obtained enough signatures in an effort to organize the VW facilities after two previous tries fizzled. The UAW is admittedly desperate after losing two-thirds of its membership in the past four decades and being soundly beaten at other foreign-owned assembly plants in the South. A huge corruption scandal, where millions of dollars were diverted from a training center to union and automotive executives. is still unfolding and, while news of an $800 million expansion at the VW plant quells rumors a pro-union vote would close down VWs operations, the anti-union effort is quickly picking up speed. Two weeks ago Volkswagen management carefully staying neutral in earlier elections -- came out against the UAW in a letter to employees and the union knows it is the underdog. UAW organizing Director Tracy Romero told VW workers, The politicians, they are coming in The billboards, they are going up. The radio ads they are coming after us, he said, so its not just about signing that card. Its about knowing that they are willing to take action and stand up and fight inside that facility. An anti-union group within Volkswagen, Southern Momentum, has been revived since the last UAW try. The UAW is promising the sun, the moon, and stars but their track record shows that many of their plants go out of business, particularly foreign-owned companies, said VW employee Keri Menendez. We do not want them here and are working to educate our fellow employees on the real UAW, not the false narrative the union is peddling. The UAW had originally hoped to have an early-May election but the National Labor Relations Board, the majority of its principles now non-union under Trump, has made no announcement. Industry insiders, who combine UAWs badly-botched efforts in recent years, the seemingly endless criminal scandals, the catastrophic debt of the retirees pension plan, and the red-states view of the Democratic Partys overwhelming involvement in the unions more questionable decisions, believe the UAWs chance at success in Chattanooga this spring are somewhere between nil-and-none. Chattanoogas public sector is more solidly against a UAW presence in Southeast Tennessee than ever before and some in Detroit feel the UAW is frantic in its search just to do something after losing 30,000 members in 2018 who claim instead the UAW has done nothing. ---- The suspect in the homicide of 30-year-old Taja Whiteside that occurred on Jan. 11 in the 5800 block of Moody Sawyer Road is now in custody in Jacksonville, Fla. Kameron Leslie is charged with first-degree murder. The suspect in the homicide of 30-year-old Taja Whiteside that occurred on Jan. 11 in the 5800 block of Moody Sawyer Road is now in custody in Jacksonville, Fla. Kameron Leslie is charged with first-degree murder. Whiteside. The Chattanooga Police Department would like to thank the U.S. Marshals, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Columbia County Sheriff's Office, and Clay County Sheriff's Office for their assistance in locating and taking Leslie into custody. CPD also appreciates the assistance we received from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation." Chattanooga Police said, "Numerous local, state and federal law enforcement agencies worked together for nearly four months to locate Leslie and hold him accountable for the murder of Ms. Leslie, 31, was located on Wednesday in the 7000 block of 103rd Street in Jacksonville. He is now in custody at the Duval County Jail, where he will remain until extradited to Hamilton County. On Jan. 11 at approximately 11:52 a.m., Chattanooga Police responded to a CPR in progress call at a residence in the 5800 block of Moody Sawyer Road. Upon arrival, Police located the victim who was unresponsive. Hamilton County EMS pronounced the victim deceased at the scene. Police secured the area and called for the CPD Violent Crimes Bureau to respond. The manner of the death was not immediately clear during the course of the preliminary investigation. On Jan. 17, the manner of death was ruled a homicide. That determination was made based on the CPD's investigation and discussion with the Hamilton County Medical Examiner. Psi State Members from Delta Chapter in Murfreesboro and Chattanoogas Gamma and Kappa Chapters attended the Psi State TN Annual Convention Luncheon Meeting held at First Centenary United Methodist Church. The luncheon meeting was held to discuss programs and philanthropic projects conducted throughout the year. A memorial service was conducted for those members who passed away during the year and now belong to the Omega Chapter. Barbara Garrison, past state president installed the new officers for 2019-2020 fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2019. Barbara Garrison conducted the installation ceremony while Marsha Doebler took photographs. National Kappa Kappa Iota will be celebrating its Centennial in 2021 in Tulsa, Ok. Chris Hockert also serves as national president-elect and she will be installed as the new national president during the 2019 National Convention in Cleveland, Oh. Ms. Hockert is working with a team of Kappa members from Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee planning the 2020 National Convention that will be held at the Marriott East Memphis in June 2020. After a month of orientation, Nokian Tyres is ready to send the first group of employees at its Dayton factory on a six-week training experience at its facilities in Russia and Finland. The intensive training trip will equip Dayton Factory launch team members with the tools they need to successfully produce some of the safest, most sustainable tires in the world at one of the industrys most advanced production facilities, said officials. Trial production will begin at the companys first North American factory later this year, and commercial production is on schedule to start in 2020. We couldnt be happier with the skill and enthusiasm of our first 60 employees, said Nokian Tyres Dayton Factory Operations Director Peter Chia. Now, we look forward to seeing them apply their energy to learning about our industry-leading processes and products. Most employees will train at the companys state-of-the-art factory near St. Petersburg, Russia, where the highly automated technology closely resembles the even-more-advanced machinery currently being installed in Dayton. The journey will also include cultural experiences and deeper introductions to the companys employee-focused culture. Some workers will train at Nokian Tyres original factory and global headquarters location in Nokia, Finland. While the majority of the launch team will travel to Europe, a group of engineers, technicians and operators will remain at the Dayton Factory to commission and test the state-of-the-art machinery. Amidst a busy training schedule, the launch team participated in several community service projects during its one-month orientation experience. Employees worked on landscaping projects to improve parks and non-profit facilities, helped renovate a playground, painted park benches and tables and helped prepare a transitional lodging house for beneficiaries of We Care, a local organization committed to serving homeless and underprivileged Rhea County residents. Employees also built and donated bicycles to underserved children as part of the companys relationship with We Care. "Theres a reason our launch team has spent so much time serving the community in its first month on the job, Mr. Chia said. Our company wants to set the tone for the kind of community partner it will be. Nokian Tyres will deepen its involvement with the Rhea County community in the coming months. The company is a platinum sponsor of the Tennessee Strawberry Festival and the title sponsor of Nokian Tyres Summer Nights, a four-evening concert series in Dayton this July. The life-driven company has also formed an employee-led donations committee that will evaluate opportunities for non-profit involvement. Later this year, Nokian Tyres will begin its second phase of hiring for the Dayton Factory. The company plans to employ approximately 200 workers by the end of 2019. Eventually, around 400 employees will craft tires at the state-of-the-art facility. Anyone interested in working at Nokian Tyres is invited to apply at NokianTires.com/DaytonFactory. Job candidates who have already completed an application on the website do not need to reapply; the company has their information and will contact potential fits for its positions. Were working hard to build our team, said Dayton Factory HR Operations Manager Blake Markham. If a candidate hasnt heard from us, it doesnt mean he or she isnt a good fit. Were evaluating a large number of applications and encourage patience from our applicants. The Dayton Factory is a key element of Nokian Tyres growth strategy, which aims to double the companys North American sales by 2023. The company enjoyed a comparable growth rate over the previous five years. The 10-Minute Walk Campaigna partnership between The Trust for Public Land, National Recreation and Park Association, and Urban Land InstituteThursday announced $400,000 in grants to advance the goal of ensuring that everyone has a quality park within a 10-minute walk of home. Almost 250 mayors have signed onto the Campaign, embracing the power of parks to drive positive change in cities and address urban challenges. The Campaigns newly-established partnership fund will support community-based non-profits' efforts in U.S. cities where the Campaign is helping participating mayors meet commitments to expand easy and equitable access to open space. The first round of funds will be distributed to eight non-profits across five major metropolitan areas. Along with policymakers, community-based organizations are vital partners in bringing positive, transformational change to cities, said Benita Hussain, director of the 10-Minute Walk Campaign. Were thrilled to support their collaborative efforts in making parks more accessible and building more vibrant cities across the country. We all know that the best ideas for change and our best city advocates work at the community level, said Mayor Andy Berke of Chattanooga, one of the communities to receive these grants. I am so proud that the 10-Minute Walk Campaign is supporting our community organizations in making Chattanooga and other cities better, greener places to live. We are elated to be a partnership grant recipient, said Jazmine LeBlanc at ELLA Library, one of the eight awardees. With these funds, we will be able to increase community use and pride of public spaces through outreach and engagement while tackling issues that prevent people from taking advantage of our public community assets to create a healthier community. For its first year of funding, partnership grants are being awarded in five high-need geographies where community-based organizations are working to improve park access and/or quality through systems-level change, in partnership with policymakers and The Trust for Public Lands local staff. This years recipients and their efforts are: Chattanooga: ELLA Library will connect with community members and local schools to educate on green spaces and park safety, engaging them in park activations and encouraging park participation and play. ($35,000) Net Resource Foundation will harness the power of local faith-based community ties to strengthen peoples connections to parks. ($62,500) Seattle Metro, WA: Global to Local will engage South King Countys refugee population through a lens of health equity and will provide support for local leaders to advocate for improved park access, quality, and programming. ($40,000) Latino Community Fund of Washington will provide capacity building support for five grassroots organizations around park access and social justice, resulting in a new statewide Park Advocacy Summit. ($62,500) Denver, CO: Bicycle Colorado will work in two neighborhoods in need of greater park access, Montbello and Westwood, in order to provide bike programming that educates children on bicycle and pedestrian safety, bicycle maintenance, and other skills, empowering youth and families to find safe routes to parks and schools in their neighborhoods. ($60,000) Colorado Springs, CO: Trails & Open Space Coalition will examine bicycle and pedestrian connections in the Southeast neighborhood through bicycle programs for youth as part of a larger master plan process and redesign for Panorama Park. ($30,000) Atlanta, GA: Park Pride will provide the technical expertise to draft conceptual plans for the citys pilot to use area schoolyards as community green spaces and lead community engagement process at each site. ($40,000) West Atlanta Watershed Alliance will engage community members and use key events to foster increased park advocacy and engagement. ($10,000) The 10-Minute Walk Campaign and these grants have been made possible by generous support from The JPB Foundation. On Saturday, May 18, from 1-4 p.m., Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park staff and living historians will provide programs, at Brotherton Cabin (Tour Stop 4) in Chickamauga Battlefield, examining the experiences of life in North Georgia during the 19th century. Formal programs will be conducted at 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. As part of Kids to Parks Day and in conjunction with the Homespun program, children and families can participate in hands-on activities related to life on the rural home front from 2-4 p.m. "The United States largely began as a rural nation, with most people living on farms," organizers said. "This type of life was no exception for the families hewing their farms from the Northwest Georgia wilderness. Homes were often single room cabins made from logs, with cooking done over an open fire, and visibility provided by oil lamps. Individuals also developed numerous home remedies to combat various illnesses as well as ways to use the natural environment to create items needed on a daily basis. Come learn how many of the battlefields residents lived during this tumultuous time in our nations history." For more information about upcoming programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, please contact the Lookout Mountain Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, or visit the parks website at www.nps.gov/chch. The Tennessee Education Savings Account Act passed the Tennessee General Assembly and will be sent to Governor Bill Lee for his signature. Lee, a first-term governor, championed a more robust proposal on the campaign trail. Tennessee will become the only state to operate two ESA programs in the nation. This program, when enacted, is likely to meet a few legal challenges. There are some who questioned the constitutionality of the legislation. The purpose of public education under the Tennessee Constitution is stated: The state of Tennessee recognizes the inherent value of education and encourages its support. The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools. Will this program still be considered part of that system? Some critics have argued that because the program targets Shelby County and Davidson County, it should be considered unconstitutional. I would suggest that is a weak argument. The exclusion of immigrant children, in our opinion, is clearly unconstitutional. In 1982, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plyler vs. DOE that children in our country who are here illegally have the same right to attend public schools as other citizens. In addition, these children are obligated to attend school until they reach a mandatory age. That issue will need to be addressed. For the most part, the debate this year was fairly civil and the dialogue substantive. Governor Lee has his signature legislation. Senator Johnson, Senator Kelsey, and Senator Gresham, as well as Rep. William Lamberth, Rep. Bill Dunn, Rep. Andy Holt, and Rep. Mark White, led the effort on behalf of Governor Lee in the Tennessee General Assembly. There was quite a bit of opposition from groups like the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, Tennessee School Boards Association, and Professional Educators of Tennessee. There were ancillary groups, some from outside the state, that engaged for and against the legislation. US Secretary of Education Betsy Devos also made an appearance. So, what happens next? After the governors signature and the effective date of enactment, the state will start to roll out the program. There may be legal challenges to the program. Likely, the most valid issue that may need to be addressed is the lack of inclusion of immigrant children to become compliant with the Plyler case. Whether this goes to the Tennessee Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court will largely depend on which party brings forth a legal challenge and in what venue. That may necessitate a review of the legislation by a future Tennessee General Assembly. Supporters of the program wisely never identified ESAs as the solution to all the problems in public education. And clearly, it isnt. In the end, just like magnet schools, community schools, and charter schools, ESAs will be viewed as another reform effort. Its success or failure will largely be defined by the students who participate in the program. Regular public schools will remain the choice of the vast majority of children in our state. For those who opposed the legislation, it is time to move forward. Lets keep the dialogue going. It means moving forward while we champion innovative approaches that encourage our schools and their communities to work together and design solutions without bureaucratic hurdles. No one size fits all strategy will work in every school or district. This is a recurring premise among those of us who believe in local control of public education. It is more important than ever for our states children to receive a high-quality education. Schools and districts must be nimble, responsive, equitable, and innovative. For that to occur, we must champion fewer regulations and more freedom and flexibility - especially in our higher achieving districts. JC Bowman Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee A new research collaboration between the University of Maine and the Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory will advance efforts to 3D print with wood products, creating a new market for Maines forest products industry. U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Angus King (I-ME) joined Daniel Simmons, the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as leaders from UMaine and ORNL in Washington, D.C., Thursday to announce the launch of this large-scale bio-based additive manufacturing program. The ORNL and UMaine research team will work with the forest products industry to produce new bio-based materials that will be conducive to 3D printing a variety of products, such as boat hull molds, shelters, building components, tooling for composites and wind blades. They will also position the industry to print large, structurally demanding systems, such as boats. This exciting initiative is a win-win that will bolster the cutting-edge research performed at the University of Maine as well as support job creation in our state, said Senator Collins. The development of sustainable, inexpensive wood-based materials for large-scale 3D printing has the potential to invigorate Maines forest products industry. This project is an outstanding example of our national labs working cooperatively with universities to drive American innovation and strengthen our economy. Using Maine forest products for 3-D printing is a great way to create new jobs in Maine and a good reminder that national laboratories are our secret weapons in helping the United States stay competitive in the rapidly changing world economy, said Senator Alexander. The partnership between the University of Maine and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a model for how science and technology can help Americans prosper in the new economy. Maines forest products industry is central to our states identity, and plays a leading role in our economy, which is why bringing innovation and creativity to the Maine woods is so important, Senator King said. I can think of no partnership more capable of advancing the industry than the world-class research institutions at University of Maine and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With their collaborative expertise, Maine can leverage new opportunities to attract biobased industries to our state, further cutting-edge ideas, and foster growth and prosperity in our states rural communities." The $20 million effort, funded by DOEs Advanced Manufacturing Office, aims to strengthen regional manufacturing by connecting universityindustry clusters with DOEs Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Senator Alexander, the chairman of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, and Senator Collins, a member of the subcommittee, worked to secure funding for this initiative in the fiscal year 2019 Energy and Water bill. The MDF will enable regional industries to apply decades of experience in a short period of time to more effectively translate additive manufacturing technology to the regions strengths, said officials. Senators Collins and King have been active in encouraging this type of collaboration between Maines forest products industry and leading researchers. In 2016, the senators called on the U.S. Department of Commerce to establish the Economic Development Assessment Team that would work across agencies and sectors to create strategies for job growth and economic development in Maines rural communities. The work of the EDAT led directly to this partnership between UMaine and ORNL. The research model will strengthen regional manufacturing ecosystems by connecting universityindustry clusters with Department of Energy laboratories, such as the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said Daniel Simmons, assistant secretary in the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The partnership links two world-class research centers, said UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. This collaboration is a shining example of UMaines commitment to exceptional research, workforce development, and economic advancement benefiting Maine and beyond. This partnership will allow our faculty and students to work seamlessly with Oak Ridge researchers, learn, innovate and strengthen local manufacturing. ORNL is a world leader in advanced manufacturing and is DOEs largest science and energy laboratory, conducting basic and applied research to deliver transformative solutions to compelling problems in energy and security. UMaine is a world leader in cellulose nano fiber technology, including development of nano- and micro-cellulose reinforced thermoplastic composites through its Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The University of Maine is doing cutting-edge research related to bio-feedstocks and the application of advanced manufacturing in regional industries," said Thomas Zacharia, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "We are thrilled at this opportunity to expand our research base while providing UMaine with access to the leading national capabilities we have developed at ORNLs Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. Our states forest products industry is not only adapting to succeed in todays global economy, but it is on the vanguard of some of the nations most innovative advanced manufacturing efforts, said Governor Janet Mills. With this partnership between the University of Maine and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, our state will continue to drive critical innovation in the bioeconomy that will help create jobs and revitalize rural Maine. I applaud the U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Maine, and our Congressional delegation on this achievement and pledge the assistance of my Administration as we work to build a prosperous state. The collaboration will provide students, faculty and companies associated with UMaines Advanced Structures and Composites Center access to ORNLs assets and expertise in advanced manufacturing. ORNL researchers, in turn, will gain access to UMaines facilities and expertise in CNF and composites. Scientists from ORNL and UMaine will conduct fundamental research in several key technical areas, including CNF production, drying, functionalization, and compounding with thermoplastics, multiscale modeling and sustainability life-cycle analysis. By placing CNF into plastics, strong, stiff, and recyclable bioderived material systems can be developed that may be 3D printed at deposition rates of hundreds of pounds per hour and up to 50 percent cellulose fiber loading. Printing with 50 percent wood promises to open new markets for the pulp, paper and forest products industries. As a forest product, CNF could rival steel properties, and its successful incorporation into plastics shows great promise for a renewable feedstock suitable for additive manufacturing. In partnership with the National Park Service, Eastern National will host Janet Elizabeth Croon, editor of The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860 1865 on May 11. Ms. Croon will be available from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. inside the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center to meet with guests and sign books. This first-hand account of the Civil War details the perspective of a young Georgia boy. The War Outside My Window: LeRoy Wiley Gresham was born in 1847 to a prominent slave-holding family in Macon, Ga. At the age of eight, LeRoy severely injured his leg, which left him crippled. LeRoys mother gifted him with a blank journal so that he could record his upcoming journey to see a medical specialist in Philadelphia. LeRoy, then 12 years old, began journaling almost every day. His writings would become a primary source outlining events during the Civil War in addition to detailing personal hardships with declining health during his teen years. The War Outside My Window is really a window looking into the thoughts and perceptions of a doomed teenager who watched the Confederacy die even as he was dying himself. Intimate, observant, thoughtful, often amusing, his diary offers a heartrending portrait of courage and resilience by a young man robbed of his youth, one personal tragedy amid the decline and collapse of the South. Pitiably few records survived to give us an understanding of the inner world of the young in the Civil War era. LeRoy Greshams Window lets in more light on the subject than any other source we have.William C. Davis, author of Inventing Loreta Velasquez. Ms. Croon graduated in 1983 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelors Degree in political Science, Modern European History, and Russian Language and Area Studies. In 1985, Ms. Croon graduated from the University of Dayton with a Masters Degree in International Studies. For almost 20 years, Ms. Croon was an educator of International Baccalaureate History at Fairfax County Public Schools. She developed an interest in the Civil War by living in northern Virginia. Funds generated from purchases support the programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. An explosive social media fight with rapper 50 Cent appeared to have damaged Lala Kent and Randall Emmetts relationship. Evidence gleaned from the Vanderpump Rules couples Instagrams made it look like the couple called it quits after a weekend of taunts and jabs from 50 Cent and fans. Lala Kent and Randall Emmett | Lala Kent via Instagram The fight stemmed from an old debt Emmett owed to 50 Cent. 50 Cent launched a campaign starting Friday, featuring a video clip from the show. Kent is filmed telling Stassi Schroeder how she met Emmett, and needless to say it didnt paint in her in the best light. But 50 Cents social media attacks didnt stop there. He continued to attack the couple on social media about a $1 million debt Emmett owed to him and ignoreduntil now. Kent seemed defiant, but Emmettnot so much Kent immediately fired back at the video 50 Cent posted. First, by commenting on the video, 50 Cent posted to Instagram. Wow fifty. Im disgusted. Weve sat up at dinners solo with you, you showing mad love, while begging Rand to put one of your new talentless bitches in a film, and this is how you come for me? On the gram? But then she created a video of her own lashing out at 50 Cent. But eventually, the soliloquy devolved into a stand for the #metoomovment. The Fofty Chronicles | The story so far Lala Kent comes to the aide of her (money) fiance pic.twitter.com/OXlVDiVDZS Reality Wives (@realitywives) April 28, 2019 Emmett, on the other hand, seemed terrified. 50 Cent shared text messages on Instagram showing a conversation where Emmett apologizes a number of times. He seems shaken and scared. At one point the producer believes he may be having a heart attack and heads to the hospital. 50 Cent displayed an image of Emmett hooked up to monitors for a stress test and the text exchange. Which hes now deleted from his Instagram. Kent goes dark Emmett managed to meet 50 Cents deadline of repaying the $1 million debt by Monday. And while alls well that ends well according to 50 Cent, the couples relationship appeared to be damaged. Social media followers first noticed the couple no longer followed each other on Instagram. Also, all of the photographic evidence of the couple being together vanished too. The most noteworthy image was the one where the couple announced they were engaged. Additionally, Kents Instagram profile picture was replaced by a black screen. Kent and Emmett no longer referred to each other on social media. Which was strange because the couple often posted amorous photos and video with each other an on a regular basis. But thenParis? While fans scratched their heads in wonderment, the Vanderpump Rules crew started loading videos of Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloneys stunning home to their Instagram stories. Included in many of the videos were a very cozy Emmett and Kent. They were cuddling and kissing as everyone explored the expansive new pad. Next, Kent, Stassi Schroeder, Katie Maloney an Brittany Cartwright added videos of the girls preparing to head off to Paris, France. Emmett hosts them in a private suite before takeoff. Kent an Emmett, again look very close. Before takeoff, Kent an Emmett makes a stunning announcement. So anyone who wants me to do anything on April 18th, I officially cant, Kent grins. Because thats the day Im gonna marry, my baby! The camera pans over to Emmett as he raises his arms in victory. So, as of now, the wedding is set for April 2020. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! The world is waiting with bated breath for any tiny tidbit of royal baby news. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are ready to welcome their first child, who was expected to arrive in late April or early May. With April gone and May creeping along, plus now that we know Prince Harry scheduled travel plans for next week, its all making people question: when is Baby Sussex going to arrive? Royal fans couldnt help but hit up Prince William at an official appearance last week, begging the Duke of Cambridge for any insider info he would share. But considering the split in Prince William and Prince Harrys households, plus their alleged feud, does Prince William even know whats going on with his sister-in-law? Prince William | Jack Taylor/Getty Images Prince William made a joke that the public knew more than he did Prince William visited New Zealand to condemn terrorist attacks and show his condolences for the victims and their families. Even on the solemn visit, the audience had other goals in mindlike pumping the Duke of Cambridge for information on his niece or nephew. When asked for an update on Meghan Markle, Prince William took the query with good humor and made a little joke. A fan called out, Any sign of the royal baby? and Prince William replied, I havent got my phone on me, I have no idea. You guys will find out before I do at this rate! Does Prince William know the babys due date? Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been keeping quiet about many details of the pregnancy, including the official due date. While they did confirm the general timeframe, only a select few individuals are privy to whats going to happen next. Even if the brothers arent as close as they used to be, its reasonable to assume that Prince William does know Meghan Markles due date (even if hed never reveal that information without her permission). He is the uncle, after all. Plus, he has the very practical need for scheduling his own travel around meeting the newborn for the first time. The due date probably doesnt mean much Meghan Markle | Dominic Lipinski WPA Pool/Getty Images Everyone is so obsessed with discovering the babys due date, but ultimately that guess wont matter much when it comes to the actual delivery day. Only about 5% of women go into labor on their predicted due dates. Figuring out when Baby Sussex will arrive has more to do with using other clues. For example, Buckingham Palace just announced that Prince Harry will be traveling to the Netherlands May 8-9, 2019. Since theres no way hed leave his very pregnant wife home alone, its obvious that he knows the baby will be here by then. Its likely that Meghan Markle has an induction scheduled if the baby doesnt arrive naturally by a certain date. Even if her due date already came and went, most doctors wont allow women to remain pregnant longer than 42 weeks for fear of complications. Remember, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arent planning to announce the baby right away. Its unclear how long theyll waitbut hopefully they arent planning to keep the public waiting much longer! Real Housewives of Beverly Hills got an unexpected peek into the casts trip to the Bahamas because of a viral video. It showed Dorit Kemsley getting chased down and accused of owing money. She hasnt said anything about the drama until now. Why hasnt she talked about it? Here is everything you need to know. Dorit Kemsley was chased and accused of owing money on the RHOBH Bahamas trip A video of a woman confronting Kemsley by a pool made rounds ahead of the latest season of RHOBH. She was with Lisa Rinna at the time. The woman was reportedly Jasmine Lennard, according to Reality Blurb. She mentions a lawsuit between the reality star, Paul PK Kemsley, and her business partner, Ryan Horne. Horne sued them claiming he gave them advances for her swimwear line, Beverly Beach but never received his money back. Lennard is heard saying, Youre Dorit, yeah? Why dont you pay back Ryan the money that you owe him you cheap b***h? she continued, Why dont you do that? You have money to come to Nassau, no? Why dont you pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you owe? All that money that you owe! How much is it $300,000 that you owe? Why dont you give me the money back? Ryan Horne sued Kemsley and her husband, and she countersued WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WITH ANDY COHEN Pictured: Dorit Kemsley (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) Horne sued for $205,000 plus in damages, according to The Blast. He claimed that after giving advances to launch her swimsuit line she sold them at a large profit, but was never repaid. Kemsley countersued claiming Horne was never promised ownership of the company. Instead, she claimed he was merely a vendor and that he was late in delivery which she believes hindered business by hundreds of thousands. Horne filed court documents denying these allegations. Kemsley claims she cant talk about it because the legal issue is ongoing The viral video of Kemsley getting chased down was mentioned during her appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. She revealed why she hasnt responded to the accusation of her owing someone money. Obviously it happened, its all over the Internet. It was embarrassing, she said according to Us Weekly. I was grateful that the other ladies didnt bring it up this season. She said, Trust me [I want to talk about it]. Then the reality star claimed, Im very comfortable with our position, but unfortunately my hands are tied. You cant discuss legal issues when they are going on and I respect that. The recorded confrontation probably wont be seen on RHOBH, and it seems like Kemsleys co-stars wont be talking about it. Cohen actually asked Rinna about why no one talked about it when she appeared on Watch What Happens Live. Well, from my side of it I brought up a lawsuit up last season about Ken and Lisa [Vanderpump] that no one was happy about, Rinna explained. And I didnt feel great about it. She added, I wasnt going to bring another lawsuit up. Fans will probably not be able to get more information on the matter from Kemsley until everything is resolved in court. Read more: RHOBH: How Much Is Paul and Dorit Kemsleys House Selling For? Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! It has recently been announced that Donald Trump will return to the United Kingdom for an official state visit. This comes almost a year after his last trip across the pond, and many people are wondering whether the president will meet with any other royal family members aside from Queen Elizabeth. More specifically, will the American Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry be in attendance? Heres what we know. Donald Trump is meeting with Queen Elizabeth in June President Donald Trump | Pete Marovich/Getty Images Unlike last year when Donald Trump came to the U.K. on a working visit, this time, it has been reported that Queen Elizabeth has invited Trump and his wife Melania to her country for an official state visit, which will include more formal events like a banquet. Donald Trumps trip will take place from June 3 to 5. This coincides closely with the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, so the queen and the Trump couple will attend a ceremony in Portsmouth, England a place that played an important role in the D-Day invasion. Donald Trump will also meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May at her office on Downing Street. According to Theresa May, this visit would be an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead. Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry meet with Donald Trump? Its not uncommon for working royals to show up at an event or two when Queen Elizabeth meets with heads of state from other countries. However, right now, it seems unlikely that Meghan Markle will be there to greet Donald and Melania Trump. Meghan Markle is American and would be invited to take part in the visit if this were another president, but she herself has actually been vocal about her distaste for Donald Trump ever since his presidential campaign. Its not too surprising considering the fact that she is a feminist and is against many things that Trump stands for. She once called him divisive and misogynistic. Furthermore, Meghan Markle is about to have her baby any day, so she can go on maternity leave for a few months. Of course, whether she will actually make use of the whole maternity leave period is something we cant predict (after all, Meghan herself is a go-getter who works a lot), but the timing of Trumps visit seems a bit too soon for Meghan to return to royal duties. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is in the same boat as his wife and is not a fan of Donald Trump. A source once shared that Harry thinks Trump is a serious threat to human rights. Additionally, in the 1990s, Trump apparently used to stalk Harrys mother, Princess Diana, and even claim that he could have nailed her if he wanted to. As such, it might also be unlikely for Prince Harry to meet Donald Trump. He could choose to simply stay home with Meghan and their newborn child. Will other royal family members meet with Donald Trump? Of course, what we have to remember is that royal family members are not supposed to be affiliated with any political party. They must leave behind personal views and be good hosts to whoever is visiting, which is why Queen Elizabeth is continuing her tradition of having state visits with U.S. presidents even despite growing protests against Donald Trump. However, its still unclear whether Prince Charles or Prince William will show up. During Trumps last visit to the UK, both Charles and William refused to meet with him. Normally, Prince Charles would often accompany Queen Elizabeth, but the queen was by herself that time. Aside from Trump being creepy toward Princess Diana a long time ago, he has done other offensive things to the royal family. For example, he blamed Prince Williams wife, Kate Middleton, when topless pictures of her sunbathing at a private residence were leaked to the press. Kate Middleton is greatbut she shouldnt be sunbathing in the nudeonly herself to blame, Trump tweeted. Who wouldnt take Kates picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing. Come on Kate! Nevertheless, the last time that Donald Trump came to the United Kingdom and people were whispering about how Charles and William were nowhere to be seen, the palace said: This was not a state visit and the involvement of other members of the royal family would be different. Thus, we have reasons to believe that perhaps this time either Prince Charles or Prince William will put their dislike for Donald Trump at home and show up next to the queen with a smile on their face. We take a standard pump tube and make both ends just a bit bigger. This allows the connection of two different sized tubes without the usual struggle. An example is the pump tubing used for the internal standard on an ICP-OES / ICP-MS which usually has an ID of 0.2 to 0.4mm and is incompatible with the sample tubing OD of 1.3mm. The flared end of this pump tubing allows the larger sample capillary tubing to be inserted. Contact us for a free sample. Potassium bromide molecules (pink) arrange themselves between the copper substrate (yellow) and the graphene layer (gray). This brings about electrical decoupling, as demonstrated by scanning probe microscopy studies. The use of potassium bromide in the production of graphene on a copper surface can lead to better results. When potassium bromide molecules arrange themselves between graphene and copper, it results in electronic decoupling. This alters the electrical properties of the graphene produced, bringing them closer to pure graphene, as reported by physicists from the universities of Basel, Modena and Munich in the journal ACS Nano. Graphene consists of a layer of carbon atoms just one atom in thickness in a honeycomb pattern and is the subject of intensive worldwide research. Thanks to its high level of flexibility, combined with excellent stability and electrical conductivity, graphene has numerous promising applications particularly in electronic components. Molecules for decoupling Graphene is often produced via a chemical reaction on metallic surfaces in a process known as chemical vapor deposition. The graphene layer and the underlying metal are then electrically coupled, which diminishes some of the special electrical properties of graphene. For use in electronics, the graphene has to be transferred onto insulating substrates in a multistep process, during which there is a risk of damage and contamination. In order to obtain defect-free, pure graphene, it is therefore preferable to decouple the graphene electrically from the metallic substrate and to develop a method that allows easier transfer without damage. The group led by Professor Ernst Meyer from the Department of Physics and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) of the University of Basel is investigating ways of incorporating molecules between the graphene layer and the substrate after the chemical deposition process, which leads to this type of decoupling. Altering electrical properties In a study carried out by SNI doctoral student Mathias Schulzendorf, scientists have shown that potassium bromide is ideally suited to this. Potassium bromide is a soluble hydrogen bromide salt. Unlike the chemically similar compound sodium chloride, potassium bromide molecules arrange themselves between the graphene layer and the copper substrate. This was demonstrated by researchers in a variety of scanning probe microscopy studies. Calculations performed by colleagues at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) explain this phenomenon: It is more energetically advantageous for the system if potassium bromide molecules arrange themselves between the graphene and copper than if they are deposited on the graphene as happens with sodium chloride. The researchers have shown that the intermediate layer of potassium bromide alters the electrical properties of graphene until they correspond to those expected for free graphene. Our work has demonstrated that the graphene and the underlying metal can be decoupled using potassium bromide, bringing us a key step closer to producing clean and defect-free graphene, says project supervisor Dr. Thilo Glatzel, who is a member of Meyers team. TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria, May 2, 2019 (Morning Star News) A convert from Islam in Algeria whose Muslim wife charged him with inciting her to change her religion won a final court battle in April after losing her to divorce in March. A court on April 17 upheld Rachid Oualis acquittal following a final appeal of the Dec. 25 verdict. The woman who had filed the charges against him divorced him on March 3. Im sorry we got to this point, but my wife is under the influence of her brothers they manipulate her, Ouali told Morning Star News. On several occasions she told me that she would like to come back, but she always says, I cannot It is fortunate they did not have children, he said. I never wanted her to leave, he said. It is she who provoked this entire situation. On my side, I forgive her. And I am even now ready to welcome her if she decides to return. I do not think shes even aware of what shes doing. One day she will wake up, perhaps, and then she will become aware. We need your prayers. Ouali and four other Christians had been charged with inciting a Muslim to change her religion after his wife became upset when they sang a Christian song and talked about Jesus at a lunch at his friend Ali Laarchis house. She left for her parents home, where she told relatives, including two brothers, about the visit. The two brothers, both policemen, demanded that she go to the National Gendarmerie to file a complaint against her husband and Laarchi, Oualis attorney said. She filed a complaint on July 2, 2018, accusing her husband, Laarchi, Laarchis wife and daughter and a Christian friend of having brought her to a church service and trying to persuade her to leave Islam and become a Christian. Oualis wife, whose name is withheld, has told him that she filed the charge under pressure from Muslim relatives, Ouali said. Algerias Law 03/2006, commonly known as Law 03/06, calls for a prison term of two to five years and a fine of 500,000 to 1 million dinars (US$4,343 to US$8,687) for anyone who incites, constrains, or utilizes means of seduction tending to convert a Muslim to another religion, or using for this purpose the institutions of education, health, social, cultural, or educational institutions, or other establishment, or financial advantage; or makes, stores or distributes printed documents or films or other audiovisual medium or means intended to undermine the faith of a Muslim. Oualis attorney, Nadjib Sadek, told Morning Star News that it was unfortunate that the case resulted in the end of the nearly 10-year marriage. The wife, the source of all this conflict, asked for the divorce and was successful in basing it on the foundations of Islam, Sadek said. She said to the judge, I am not allowed to live under the same roof as a disbeliever who has renounced Islam to become a Christian; this is a grave sin. Sadek did not learn of the verdict upholding the acquittal of the five Christians until Thursday (April 25), he said, as attorneys, bailiffs and judges had been on strike. Thus on Thursday, April 25, all five, Ali Laarchi with his wife and daughter, Rachid Ouali and Mohamed Aissaoui, have received the good news of upholding of their acquittal, he said. They are free. Another Acquittal Upheld The ruling comes two months after the acquittal was upheld of another convert from Islam who lost his wife, as well as his two young daughters, due to his faith in Christ. Ahmed Beghal (name changed for security reasons) was acquitted of the charge of undermining Islam on Dec. 30 after his wife, accompanied by her parents, filed a complaint with gendarmerie on 2017. Under pressure from her family, she divorced him after falsely accusing him of attacking Islam and destroying a box inscribed with a verse from the Koran on it. A judge upheld the acquittal in a Feb. 27 ruling. His in-laws have kept him from visiting his daughters since they learned of his conversion and urged his wife to leave him, according to Beghal. Islam is the state religion in Algeria, where 99 percent of the population of 40 million are Muslim. Since 2000, thousands of Algerian Muslims have put their faith in Christ. Algerian officials estimate the number of Christians at 50,000, but others say it could be twice that number. Algeria ranked 22nd on Christian support organization Open Doors 2019 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews. org/resources/aid-agencies/ fo r a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved. Six Christians were executed in a West African church on Sunday after they refused to convert to Islam. According to Christianity Today, several armed motorcyclists opened fire on the Assemblies of God church in a Burkina Faso on Sunday killing six people, including the churchs long-time pastor Pierre Ouedraogo, after they refuse to deny their Christian faith. Christianity Today reports that the gunmen also looted the church and burned its pulpit. The Assemblies of God church in a Burkina Faso was founded in the 1980s and is considered one of the oldest Protestant congregations in the region. Pastor Ouedraogo had served as the pastor of the Burkina Faso Assemblies of God church since it was founded some forty years ago. Reportedly, before the attack, the pastor feared that the church might be in danger since it is located near the Mali border, which has been a center for conflict for some time. Despite this, Ouedraogo was determined to stay in the community and continue to share the word of God in the Burkina Faso village. In a statement from the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso, Michel Ouedraogo, the pastors family said of Pierre Ouedraogo, he prefers to die for his faith rather than leave the village where he has served for nearly 40 years. According to the Associated Press, no one has immediately claimed the attack, though violent Islamic extremism has increasingly become a problem in the country. Among the victims are the pastors son and his brother-in-law, who served as a deacon in the church. Photo courtesy: Pixabay No one names their son Jehoahaz. Its just too tough to pronounce. On the other hand, most of us know a Josiah or two. Not only is it a much more pronounceable, but as we read in 2 Kings chapter 22, Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. See, King Josiah stands out among Judahs final monarchs. Not only did he refuse to take part in idol worship, he tore down the high places and the Asherah poles, and he reinstated the worship and feasts of the true God. According to the Bible, Josiah did all this because of a discovery in the Temple of a scroll of the Law, which had long been neglected and forgotten. He wept over Judahs disobedience and recommitted his kingdom and people to the covenant recorded in that scroll. As a result, God promised that the judgment He would eventually send would not occur during Josiahs lifetime. A much more recent discovery brought this particular section of 2 Kings to light even more. The Times of Israel recently described two tiny objects unearthed at a dig in the City of David: an agate stone and a lump of burnt clay that both had Hebrew inscriptions which were the names of two individualsIkkar son of Matanyahuand Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King. Whoever can tell me which one of those two names appears in Scripture deserves this weeks Bible trivia award. These were seals, you seethe kind once pressed into wax or dipped into ink to sign letters. According to Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority, where these seals were found sets the 2,600-year-old signets apart for archaeologists. They were discovered in the remains of what was likely an administrative building dating to the 8th century B.C. Many such artifacts hit the antiquities market, but often no one is really sure where they come from. These, however, were found in their true archaeological context. The name that astute students of Scripture might recognize, by the way, is Nathan-Melech, an official who gets just a passing mention in 2 Kings 23:11, just as Josiah is purging Jerusalem of the trappings of idolatry. Outside of the Bible, this tiny clay seal is the first confirmation of this mans existence. And to be clear, its the obscurity of his nameboth in recorded history and in Scripturethat should amaze us. In biblical archaeology, its often the big players we look forMoses and David and Paul. Last years announcement of a ring bearing Pontius Pilates name was big news, and rightly so. Its a name we say every time we recite the Apostles Creed, proclaiming that Jesus redeeming work happened in real history. Still, names like Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King, may offer an even stronger confirmation that the events recorded in the Bible actually happened. The seemingly insignificant name from 2 Kings reminds us that King Josiah, who rediscovered the Law in the Temple and cleansed the nation of idols, isnt just a character from a mythical story. He was a man in history; he had court officials and administrative headquarters; and he was part of the lineage that led to another Kingthe Lion Who sits on the throne of Judah and is ushering in a Kingdomone that, unlike ancient Jerusalemwill never be conquered. Of course, we dont believe this big story because someone unearthed a piece of clay with an obscure name on it. But it is exciting to see how even the smallest details in Scripture can hold up under the digging and the scrutiny. Come to BreakPoint.org and well link you to more on this incredible story about this very exciting discovery. BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions. John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview. Publication date: May 2, 2019 Photo courtesy: Robert Bye/Unsplash Imagine beginning your worship service this weekend with an announcement about where the exits arein case a shooter attacks and people need to run for their lives. Or locking your doors once the service begins. Or training your congregation in ways to respond to a live shooter. Imagine installing airport-style metal detectors and security guards at the entrances to your church. Or being harassed by demonstrators outside your building carrying signs celebrating those who murdered six million followers of your faith. This is life for Jewish people todaynot just in France, where anti-Semitic violence has risen 74 percent; or in Germany, where 1,646 anti-Semitic acts were reported last year; or in the UK, where 1,652 such incidents were reported; or in Canada, which recorded 2,041 anti-Semitic actsbut in America. Six months ago, a man who said he wanted all Jews to die attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing eleven people and wounding seven. Last Saturday, around one hundred people held a vigil at the synagogue to honor the victims of a similar shooting in San Diego. Last year, anti-Semitic acts in the US were 48 percent higher than in 2016 and 99 percent higher than in 2015. Three reasons anti-Semitism is growing Why is such horrific prejudice and violence increasing in our country? Conspiracy theories are one factor. At a 2017 confrontation in Charlottesville, Virginia, neo-Nazis chanted Jews will not replace us. The teenager accused of the Poway shooting in California apparently embraced conspiracy theories that refugees and immigrants are replacing the Christian European majority. Some white supremacists call this The Great Replacement. Fear of the other is a second issue. Sharon R. Douglas, CEO of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York, believes hate crimes are driven by economic competition and the fear of others. Some of our most vulnerable citizens feel empowered to turn to violence in defense of the us versus them mentality, she explained. Social media is a third factor. Today it is easier than ever to disseminate conspiracy theories and hateful ideologies. According to one analyst, These systems of communication allow racists and anti-Semites to support one another and share ideas, which apparently help inspire them to commit violent acts. An appalling cartoon Anti-Semitism is not confined to Jewish synagogues. The New York Times recently published a cartoon picturing a blind President Trump, wearing a skullcap, being led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, depicted as a dog on a leash with a Star of David collar. The paper said it was deeply sorry for the offensive cartoon and is committed to making sure nothing like this happens again. Anti-Semitism is more than a phenomenonit is an ideology. Tragically, some still believe that the Jewish people were responsible for Jesus death. However, the religious authorities and crowds who called for Jesus crucifixion were a tiny minority of the larger Jewish population. And Jesus prayed for their forgiveness from the cross (Luke 23:34). In addition, many through history have seen the tiny Jewish population (comprising fifteen million people, less than 0.2 percent of the world today) as a threat to themselves. When Jews flourish in business and commerce, others resent their success. Adolf Hitler convinced his followers that they were an Aryan superrace whose global supremacy was threatened by the Jews. Neo-Nazis continue this horrific heresy today. Three biblical responses What can Christians do to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism in our day? One: Love the Jewish people as God does. He chose them to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 14:2). Jesus died for them just as he died for us (Romans 5:8). Two: Seek their salvation in Christ. Paul testified, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart as he worked for the salvation of his fellow Jews (Romans 9:2). Build bridges to Jewish people in your community. Look for opportunities to demonstrate Gods love for them. Three: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). Ask God to protect Israel and Jewish people around the world. When an entire nation pauses Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel began last night at sundown and continues through sundown today. (It was observed yesterday in the US.) A two-minute siren will sound at ten this morning across the Holy Land. I have witnessed firsthand how the nation responds: drivers stop their vehicles and stand beside them; people cease their activities; the entire nation pauses to remember the six million Jews (a fourth of whom were children) who were murdered in the Holocaust. This annual tradition should be a daily remembrance. What has happened in the past can happen again in the present. Anything humans have done, they can still do. When I visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, I always make time for the Childrens Memorial. Visitors walk through a darkened underground chamber. The only illumination comes from a memorial candle reflected in mirrors to produce thousands of tiny lights. The names of children murdered in the Holocaust are read in the background. Each time I visit, I weep for those who died. And I pray that it never happens again. Please join me. For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org. The Daily Article Podcast is Here! Click to Listen Publication Date: May 2, 2019 Photo Courtesy: Joe Pregadio/Unsplash A proposal backed by key Massachusetts Democrats would eliminate the state constitutional requirement to say so help me God when taking oaths and allow public officials to cite a secular phrase instead. The bill, S. 2211, passed the Democratic-led Joint Committee on the Judiciary last month. As a constitutional amendment, it would require passage by two consecutive legislatures and then approval by voters. The committee includes 17 members of the House and Senate. The current Massachusetts Constitution requires every person chosen or appointed to any office, civil or military in the state to solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and will support the constitution thereof. So help me God. The Constitution allows Quakers to forgo the God reference and instead say, This I do under the pains and penalties of perjury. They also can say affirm instead of swear. Quakers oppose oaths. Under S. 2211, the Quakers reference would be removed to allow any person to refrain from saying So Help Me God and swear. They would cite the alternate phrase. The history of the United States is about pluralism and an insistence that all of the country's legal structures and forms of authority are representative of persons of every belief or a lack of belief, Zachary Bos, Massachusetts state director for American Atheists, told The Meadville Tribune. We support any move that helps to increase the government's commitment to secularism. The Massachusetts Family Institute opposes the change. Its yet another cynical attempt to erase the rich legacy of faith that has been part of our Commonwealth from the Pilgrims to today, Andrew Beckwith, president of the Institute, told the newspaper. Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com. Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Wavebreakmedia Update (May 2): A year after establishing a new division to safeguard health care workers freedom of religion and freedom of conscience, the Trump Administration has formalized protections for those who decline to participate in certain medical treatments like abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide due to their faith or moral convictions. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed the new rule last January (see below) and issued a final version in a 440-page document on Thursday. The policy is meant to provide stronger protections and more guidance around enforcing conscience protections passed by Congress, according to HHS. This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals wont be bullied out of the health care field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life, said Roger Severino, director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights and former legal council with the religious liberty group Becket Fund. Protecting conscience and religious freedom not only fosters greater diversity in healthcare, its the law. This updated policy represents a major religious freedom victory, particularly for pro-life evangelicals who fear being forced to violate their conscience on the issue of abortion. In a Barna Group survey released last month, the issue of religious hospitals being required to perform abortions and other services they deem to violate their religious convictions was US faith leaders top religious freedom concern (71% deeming it a major or extreme threat). A majority also worried about religious organizations being required to provide healthcare options they object to (64%) and religious owners of businesses being required to provide healthcare options they object to (61%). ----- Original post (New HHS Division Defends Pro-Life Health Care Workers, January 18, 2018): Ahead of Fridays annual March for Life, pro-life Christians celebrated new federal protections for health care workers who decline to administer procedures such as abortion, sterilization, or euthanasia on religious or moral grounds. The Trump administration announced a new division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dedicated to hearing complaints from those who face discrimination for refusal to accommodate services that violate their beliefs. The new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division of the existing Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforces existing laws designed to protect conscience rights, including new provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that specifically allow providers and insurers to decline abortions and assisted suicide. Thursdays announcement continues the administrations efforts to beef up federal protections for religious liberty, as President Trump laid out in a May 2017 executive order. In contrast, the Obama administration had rescinded conscience protections for health care workers, despite pushback from religious leaders. President Trump promised the American people that his administration would vigorously uphold the rights of conscience and religious freedom, said acting HHS secretary Eric Hargan. That promise is being kept today. The Founding Fathers knew that a nation that respects conscience rights is more diverse and more free, and OCRs new division will help make that vision a reality. Evangelicals fighting for religious liberty have tried to resist efforts to confine expressions of faith to within church walls, and have pushed for greater protections for their beliefs in the workplace and public lifeparticularly when it comes to increasingly unpopular ones around LGBT and life issues. Its not the ability to have a religion and practice it in your house of worship; its the ability to have a faith and practice your faith wherever you are, said Sen. James Lankford, a Baptist from Oklahoma who introduced a 2017 bill defending conscience protections. There is a long tradition of providing this protectionespecially in the abortion contextand that tradition was, until very recently, a bipartisan one, according to Richard W. Garnett, professor at Notre Dame Law School. To me, there should be nothing particularly surprising or troubling about an administrationthis one or any otherdeciding that the civil rights [office] should allocate resources to make those protections meaningful. OCR is already tasked with enforcing several nondiscrimination and conscience protection statutes, including the Church, Coats-Snowe, and Weldon amendments. But the new division indicates that such cases will take greater priority under Trump. Unlike the administrations useless gestures around the Johnson Amendment, these regulations signal meaningful enforcement of existing protections for religious liberty, said John Inazu, a law professor at Washington University and a First Amendment expert. But its important to remember that this emphasis is merely executive branch policy that canand in all likelihood, willbe narrowed or reversed by a subsequent administration. Already, the conscience division has drawn criticism from civil groups concerned that the protections will be used as a license to discriminate, particularly against gay or transgender patients, as well as from abortion rights groups. Everett Piperthe president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, which sued the federal government over the ACA birth control mandateand Montse Alvaradoexecutive director of Becket, a leading religious liberty law firm which represented the Little Sisters of the Poor in their contraceptive fightspoke at the HHS announcement and applauded the new office, as did Jewish and Muslim representatives. I just want to say how good it is to be here thanking [HHS and OCR] rather than suing them, Piper quipped. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Conventions Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, also applauded the move. I am thankful that HHS recognizes how imperiled conscience rights have been in recent years in this arena, and is actively working and leading to turn the tide in the other direction, he said in a statement. Health care professionals should be freed up to care for the bodies and minds of their patients, not tied up by having their own consciences bound. In recent years, Christian pharmacists have fought in court for their right to decline to dispense emergency contraception. A 2015 case in Washington ruled against pharmacists who refused to carry the drugs; however, state law allows that an individual pharmacist with religious objections may refuse to fill the prescription if another pharmacist working for the pharmacy does so. Prior to the new division, the Trump administration had appointed multiple pro-life advocates to positions of leadership within HHS, including former Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest and former National Right to Life lobbyist Teresa Manning, who reportedly stepped down last week. With its crackdown on Christians and other faiths, the communist country ranks as a top offender by USCIRF for 20 years in a row. | Image: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images Barely a week after the bombing of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killed nearly 300 on Easter Sunday, and a day after six Christians were killed at their church in Burkina Faso, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) made clear that the worst violators of religious freedom are gaining steam. The findings are grim in 2019 report and echo the conclusions from this years Open Doors rankings, with China taking the brunt of the critique. As a Christian [living in China], your Bible may have been rewritten by the Chinese government, your church shuttered or demolished, and your pastor imprisoned, the commission wrote. As a human rights defender who works to protect people targeted for their faith, you may be arrested, or worse, disappeared. According to commissioner Johnnie Moore, this years report represents the strongest stance against China in the history of the USCIRF. China was a primary focus of the first-ever USCIRF report released two decades ago, along with Russia and Sudan. The worlds most populous nation remains a Tier 1 country of particular concern (CPC) today, having made the list in each of the 20 annual releases. China also jumped to No. 27 on the 2019 World Watch List, which tracks the countries where it is hardest to be a Christian. Christians and adherents of other faiths in China have seen an uptick in persecution as President Xi Jinping has consolidated power and abolished term limits, easing the way for a harsh government crackdown on believers and advocates of religious freedom. Ministry leaders have weighed whether the moves represent a step toward tighter government control, an opportunity ... PC(USA) lost over 140 churches, nearly 5 percent of active members in 2018 Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Presbyterian Church (USA) lost over 140 congregations and nearly five percent of its active membership in 2018, according to recently released statistics by the denominations Office of the General Assembly. While still the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, from 2017 to 2018 PC(USA) saw their active membership decline by 62,375 people, going from approximately 1.41 million to approximately 1.35 million. The number of PC(USA) member congregations also fell, going from 9,304 in 2017 to 9,161 in 2018, or a difference of 143 congregations. PC(USA) did see a decline in the number of congregations dismissed to other denominations, going from 77 churches in 2017 to 46 in 2018, as well as a slight increase in new worship communities, from 144 in 2017 to 158 in 2018. In a statement released last week, the OGA of PC(USA) pointed out that the overall decline in active members appeared to be slowing down over the past year. For example, in 2015 the mainline denomination lost 90,000 active members, a decline much larger than the 67,000 plus lost in 2017, itself larger than the 62,000 plus lost last year. While the difference is not great, we are encouraged by the slowing trend downward, said the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), in the statement. The church of the 21st century is changing and we still believe God is preparing us for great things in the future. God is moving through churches, presbyteries and synods, finding new, innovative ways to share the gospel with a lost world and we are thankful for that. Nelson also stated that he believed statistics showed that the denomination must do a better job of reaching out to younger generations. The real work internally is creating opportunities for youth and young adults to be taken seriously by our congregations, continued Nelson. Many of them bring fresh perspectives to a rapidly changing world that can assist both sessions and congregations to live into 21st century ministries and new evangelism possibilities. As with other mainline denominations, PC(USA) has seen its number gradually decline over the past few decades. In 2011, the Church had its membership go below the 2 million mark. In 2000, PC(USA) reported approximately 2.5 million members, meaning that at present the denomination is getting close to having half as many members as they did a generation ago. Jeff Walton of the theologically conservative Institute on Religion & Democracy wrote that at the current rate of decline, he believed the PC(USA) will not exist in about 20 years. A net 37 percent of members have died, transferred out, or simply vanished in the past decade, wrote Walton, who pointed out that this decline has continued amidst the PC(USA) pursuing theologically liberal positions. Walton went on to note that other, more conservative Presbyterian denominations are faring better when it comes to membership numbers. In 2012, ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, was formed by congregations departing the PC(USA), while the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) split from the PC(USA)s Northern predecessor body in 1981 and has continued to attract congregations from the PC(USA), continued Walton. Separately, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) split from the PC(USA)s Southern predecessor body in 1973 and has posted 7 percent growth over the past five years. Ronnie Floyd's son, Nick, named as new senior pastor of Cross Church Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment With overwhelming support from the congregation and members of the churchs board, Nick Floyd, the son of current Senior Pastor Ronnie Floyd, was voted and affirmed Sunday to succeed his father as leader of Cross Church in Arkansas. Ronnie Floyd recently stepped down from the helm of the multi-campus church after he was named president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee on April 2. Thirty-three years ago, First Baptist Church of Springdale selected five men as a search committee to find a prospective pastor for our church. These five men made a covenant that they would not recommend anyone unless it was a unanimous decision. That man was Ronnie Floyd. Now 33 years later, we are looking at somebody to follow Pastor Ronnie. Nick loves this church and above all else, Nick has been faithful to his Lord. He is qualified and capable of leading Cross Church into the future. Your Church Board is unanimous in their support of Dr. Nick Floyd. I believe he is Gods man for this hour, Cross Church board member Ted Schneider, said in a statement on Nicks elevation. The 35-year-old pastor who joined the staff of Cross Church in February 2009, was overseeing the daily ministry at the Fayetteville Campus and in addition to preaching duties prior to his new appointment. Leeroy Crossland, a member of Cross Church in Fayetteville told News 5, that the younger Floyd raised attendance numbers at the campus to nearly 3,000 people each Sunday. He believes that experience has prepared him to lead the megachurch. "He is just an incredible guy I have nothing but good things to say about Nick," Crossland said. "He is an incredible leader, great pastor and just a really good friend." Church member Johnelle Hunt, who has known Nick since he was just a small child, said she is excited about his new role. He has always been respectful of all people and has now grown up to become a strong leader in our church. I am so excited about Nick and the future of Cross Church. I believe Dr. Nick Floyd, as senior pastor, connects the best of our past and the present, with the future God has for our church, she said. Brian Dunaway, who serves as the director of communications and technology for Cross Church, said the congregation is looking forward to Nicks leadership. "People have really gotten behind the decision and believe, as the board of directors did as well, that God was calling Nick to be the next senior pastor and that was proven today when they voted on it," Dunaway said. Nick is expected to start leading morning services after his fathers last service on Sunday, May 19. 100 Nigerian Christians killed in April by Fulani militants, Boko Haram: NGO report Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment At least 100 Christians in Nigeria were killed and hundreds of others injured in April, according to a human rights watchdog group warning that Fulani attacks against Christian farming communities seem to be spreading further south. The Anambra-based nongovernmental organization known as the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) released a special report this week stating that the 100 Christians were killed by Fulani herdsmen and armed jihadist groups like Boko Haram in April. The report details that between 750800 Christians have been killed by armed jihadist groups in the African nation during the first four months of 2019. Of those killings, the NGO states that about 550 to as many as 600 killings were perpetrated by Fulani Islamic militias associated with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria MACBAN, a federally registered group that advocates for Fulani pastoralists whom critics have called for to be labeled as a terror organization. In the just past four months of 2019 (JanuaryApril), the jihadist group had butchered 550600 Christians with hundreds of homes and dozens of churches torched or destroyed, the NGO reports. The other 200 killings thus far in 2019, Intersociety reports, have been carried out by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa, which has terrorized northeastern Nigeria, parts of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. While estimates on the number of people killed in societal violence in Nigeria often vary, Intersociety board chairman Emeka Umeagbalasi, a Christian criminologist and human rights activist, told The Christian Post that the numbers the organization presents are based on empirical evidence that can be defended in court. While attacks on Christian farming communities over the last several years have largely occurred in the countrys Middle Belt as Fulani herders from the north have migrated, the report warns that victims in the southeast Anambra state and southern Delta state were also included in the latest round of killings in April. The latest round of anti-Christian killings or massacres in the country not only translates to a monthly average of 180200 in the past four months, with daily average of six to seven Christian deaths, but the killings are steadily creeping toward the Southern part of Nigeria, particularly the Southeast and South-south; capable of igniting holy war and intertribal cleansing, the report reads. On April 12, suspected Fulani militants were reported to have stormed a farm settlement in West Anambra and killed six people while injuring 30 others. The extremists were also said to have killed people, burned houses and raped women. The Guardian reports that as many as 11 people were killed by herdsmen attacks against farming communities in Delta in early April, leading a state official to ask Buhari and other office holders to help stop Fulani attacks against innocent people on farmlands in the state. The report also highlights more killings in the Kajuru Local Government Area of the Kaduna State, an area that has been plagued by killings in recent months. On April 8, the NGO reports that at least 22 Christians were killed in an attack carried out by suspected Fulani extremists. The Punch reports that two Christian boys were beaten while on their way home from the market last week in Kajuru after the body of a Hausa Fulani boy was discovered. One boy was taken to the hospital where he later died. Intersociety has long criticized the federal governments inability to hold perpetrators of the attacks accountable. The Intersociety report was highly critical of MACBAN, an organization that the Christian Association of Nigeria had previously called on President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani himself, to prosecute. MACBAN also has Muhammadu Buhari as its lifetime patron, the Intersociety report stresses. Totality of these has emboldened the group and escalated its jihadist activities which have risen alarmingly since June 2015 a month after Mr. Buhari became the president of Nigeria. According to the International Crisis Group, Buhari and his aides have rejected any notion that he is complicit in Fulani attacks. The nonprofit research organization adds that such a charge of pro-Fulani bias on Buharis part is unsustainable due to the Buhari governments inability to quell the escalation of banditry and killings in the predominantly Muslim Zamfara state. But still some advocates for the Christian communities think the government is culpable. "These communities and villages have been displaced and ransacked and you see Fulani imposing themselves in that community, Stephen Enada, co-founder of the International Committee on Nigeria, previously told CP. They are not arrested or being persecuted. Rather, it is just government inaction showing us that government is culpable." Intersociety had previously reported that Fulani extremists were responsible for the death of about 2,400 Christians in 2018. Most recently, over a dozen Christians were killed by Fulani extremists during an infants dedication service in Nasarawa on Palm Sunday. Violence between Muslim Fulani extremists and predominantly Christian farming communities in the Middle Belt has largely been described by the federal government, international media and prominent human rights groups as a herder-farmer conflict over land rights. But Christian advocates in or from Nigeria have warned that the conflict has taken on a religious element in recent years and that calling it a farmer-herder conflict simplifies the catastrophic incidents. While herder communities have been victimized in attacks or reprisals carried out by militants and teens from farming communities, Umeagbalasi estimates that there is about one reprisal attack from a farming community for every 20 attacks committed by Fulani extremists. Jack McCaslin, a research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a recent op-ed that while violence in Nigeria might fall along ethnic and religious lines, it is not necessarily driven by those distinctions. But when it comes to Fulani violence against Christian farming communities, Umeagbalasi believes that calling it a farmer-herder clash is a false claim perpetuated by the Nigerian government. The government further down-plays, trivializes and stigmatizes the pure Christian genocide as herders-farmers clashes and stops at nothing in censoring and gagging media reports of the butcheries, the Intersociety report reads, adding that the Nigerian government only accounts for no less than 980 Christian deaths since August 2015. Intersociety reports that there have been at least 6,000 Christian deaths and destruction of over 1,000 churches at the hands of Fulani extremists between June 2015 and December 2018. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Nigeria as a "country of particular concern" for religious freedom. In its 2019 annual report, USCIRF stated that ethnic and religious identity in Nigeria is often "intertwined" in the context of societal conflicts. "The dynamic of the religious and ethnic violence and where and how religion and ethnicity overlap is highly localized," the USCIRF report explains. As for Boko Haram, also known as the Islamic State in West Africa, it continues its terror on villages in the Lake Chad area. In late April, it was reported that suspected Boko Haram militants killed about 25 people returning from a wedding in the Kuda-Kaya village in Adamawa state. Alabama lawmaker defends abortion: 'You kill them now or kill them later' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Democratic state representative in Alabama justified the practice of abortion during a debate over a pro-life bill by arguing that some kids are unwanted" and you either "kill them now or kill them later." Rep. John Rogers of Birmingham garnered widespread condemnation for comments he made during a debate over House Bill 314, which makes most abortion procedures a felony. The bill eventually passed by a vote of 743. Rogers argued that he was opposed to the bill because he believed it was a womans choice whether to abort her children, and then went on to say that some kids are unwanted. Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later. You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So you kill them now or you kill them later, said Rogers. Rogers' statement was posted to social media on Wednesday by Daily Wire reporter Ryan Saavedra, whose tweet got as of Thursday afternoon over 7,700 retweets. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted Saavedras post and weighed in on the comments by Rogers, describing them as stomach curling. Every Democrat running for President needs to be asked where they stand on this. The extreme turn we've seen from Dems on abortion recently is truly sickening, tweeted Trump Jr. Alexandra DeSanctis of National Review called the comment horrifying and chilling, adding in an opinion column that she believed it was a striking reminder of how rarely abortion rights activists openly admit the reality of the right they are demanding. Most often, they dismiss unborn human beings as a clump of cells or a parasite within the mother, wrote DeSanctis. Rogers has exposed those lies, admitting, as abortion defenders so rarely do, that every abortion procedure no matter when or how it takes place intentionally ends an innocent human life. For his part, Rogers has defended his comments, saying in a statement on Thursday that his comments were centered on his belief that Alabama in general does not value human life. Weve closed 13 rural hospitals in this state, including Cooper Green. We have put hundreds of people in jail. Making it hard for you to get food stamps. In other words, if youre on drug tests, you cant get food stamps, said Rogers, as reported by al.com. And then youve got at least two people a night dying in our Alabama prisons. It just doesnt make sense. So why do you want to bring these people in the world and then deny them the right to process and live in Alabama? Alleged synagogue shooter John Ernest was regular churchgoer who blamed Jews for killing Jesus Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment John Earnest, the 19-year-old accused in the deadly Passover shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, California, is a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church who believes he was doing Gods will in attacking Jews he blames for killing Jesus. Earnest, whose father is an elder at the Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church in San Diego, reportedly highlighted his belief that Jews deserved to die for things like killing Jesus and controlling media in a seven-page manifesto written prior to the April 27 attack. His actions left one woman dead and three others including an 8-year-old injured. He has since been charged with one count of murder in the first degree, and three counts of attempted murder in the first degree. He is also charged with arson in connection with an attack last month on a mosque in nearby Escondido. For those who knew Earnest, his ideology came as a shock. We are shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue, Earnests parents said in a statement through a lawyer. To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries. Our sons actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold. Like our other five children, he was raised in a family, a faith, and a community that all rejected hate and taught that love must be the motive for everything we do, they said. In the manifesto, Earnest reportedly not only attacked Jews and racial minorities, but wielded Christian theology he heard in the pews in defense of his positions. How our son was attracted to such darkness is a terrifying mystery to us, though we are confident that law enforcement will uncover many details of the path that he took to this evil and despicable act. Our heavy hearts will forever go out to the victims and survivors. Our thanks go to the first responders who prevented even greater loss of life and the well-wishers who have supported us. And we pray for peace, the parents said. Before the shooting, Earnest was known as a college student and athlete studying nursing at California State University, San Marcos, while living at home with his parents. Owen Cruise, 20, told CBS News he saw Earnest every day during senior year at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego. Earnests father, John A. Earnest, was a popular physics teacher at Mt. Carmel, where he has worked for 31 years. "He was very close to his dad," Cruise said. "He always hung out in his classroom, came to see him at lunch. He always seemed like a nice guy ... He didn't seem like the type of person who would go off the deep end." However, longtime parishioner Gerrit Groenewold at Earnests Escondido church told USA Today there was cause for concern. I tried to talk to John several times, but he just never said anything. I think its not good if someone is as quiet as that, Groenewold said. The Rev. Mika Edmondson, a pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which is a small evangelical denomination founded to counter liberalism in mainline Presbyterianism, told The Washington Post that even though Earnest does not blame his faith for his ideology, It certainly calls for a good amount of soul-searching. We cant pretend as though we didnt have some responsibility for him he was radicalized into white nationalism from within the very midst of our church, Edmondson said. In the wake of the shooting, the OPC denomination also felt the need to condemn terrorism in a statement. Anti-Semitism and racist hatred which apparently motivated the shooter . . . have no place within our system of doctrine, the church said. Pastors from other churches like Chad Woolf, an evangelical pastor in Fort Myers, Florida, also felt the need to condemn radical terrorism emanating from among Christians. When theres an act of radical Islamic terror somebody claiming theyre motivated by their Islamic faith if were going to call upon moderates in Muslim communities to condemn those things, we should do the same. I wholeheartedly, full stop, condemn white nationalism, Woolf told The Washington Post. We should recognize that somebody could grow up in an evangelical church, whose father was a leader, and could somehow conflate the teachings of Christianity and white nationalism. We should be very concerned about that. Q&A with Greg Laurie: America ripe for spiritual awakening Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment SoCal Pastor Greg Laurie caught up with My Faith Votes recently at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. He talked openly with us about his new book, Jesus Revolution, Americas need for another spiritual awakening, the churchs role as salt and light and where our ultimate hope lies. For a few truly uplifting moments, watch the full interview. Standing in front of the colorful Jesus Revolution bus, Pastor Greg Laurie shared his testimony of becoming a Christ-follower during Americas last great spiritual revival the Jesus Movement in the 1960s and 1970s. He believes America is in desperate need of spiritual revival today and that the apparent divisions in our country over race, economic status, politics, religion, etc., poses no obstacle to God. In fact, Laurie suggests the timing might be more ripe for spiritual awakening because most revivals seem to happen during times of conflict. Laurie says Christians must pray for spiritual revival in their own lives as a catalyst for America to experience spiritual revival and must recommit to follow the biblical exhortation to live as salt and light in our culture. By comparing believers to salt, Laurie says the Bible calls Christians to be cultural preservatives, and the best way to do that is to proclaim the gospel. As light, Christians are to beat back the darkness and stop the spread of evil. Along with prayer and preaching, Laurie suggests a practical way for Christians to oppose evil is to register and vote. No candidate will ever align perfectly with biblical values but, he says, find one that is as close to biblical values as possible and vote for them. Thats our core mission at My Faith Votes. We work every day to empower Christians to put their faith into action. That means helping Christians to be informed and think well about the issues being decided at the ballot box, to pray for our country and our leaders and, ultimately, to live out our faith by voting. There is no perfect political or cultural solution for America. Our hope is in nothing that human beings can do, Laurie says. Our hope is in God. The Bible calls that our blessed hope. Interfaith leaders slam US law firm lobbying for Chinese govt, other repressive regimes Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment An interfaith group of religious leaders and human rights activists asked one of Americas top international law firms Wednesday to stop representing foreign governments known for their repeated human rights abuses. In a joint letter sent to the chairman of Squire Patton Boggs, 44 leaders and activists from various faiths and political backgrounds voiced their concerns about the Cleveland, Ohio-headquartered organizations representation of foreign governments that are among the worlds most aggressive persecutors of people of faith. It is deeply troubling to us that your prestigious firm and the many good people it employs are currently associated with and providing legal counsel, representation and other services to such nations, the letter reads. SPB has 47 offices in 20 countries and has clients that range from local and national governments to large corporations and emerging businesses. Wednesdays letter specifically calls out SPBs relationship with the governments of China, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Surely, Squire Patton Boggs attorneys and advisors including former House Speaker John Boehner and other prominent, retired American lawmakers and your firms other clients, have no desire to be associated with, let alone involved in defending or otherwise being implicated in, these governments odious practice, the letter contends. The letter is spearheaded by the grassroots organization Save the Persecuted Christians and its president, Frank Gaffney, a conservative security analyst and a former acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Save the Persecuted Christians is pleased to join with others determined to hold accountable those who persecute people of faith including lobbyists who, as a practical matter, work to enable the persecutors to do so with impunity, Gaffney said in a statement. This is an important initiative in STPCs effort to build a grassroots movement that will help create real costs to the perpetrators for their crimes against humanity. Included as a signatory in the joint letter is former Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf, a Republican who is considered by many to be an icon in the international religious freedom movement and is the namesake of the 2016 International Religious Freedom Act. Wolf has been vocal over the years about his concerns with SPBs work for governments in countries like China and Sudan, among others. Pastor Bob Fu, a religious freedom advocate who runs an influential Chinese religious freedom watchdog, the nongovernmental organization China Aid, also signed onto the letter. Fu has on different occasions testified before Congress about Chinas abuses against Christians. Signatories also include Foley Beach, the primate of the Anglican Church in North America; popular conservative Christian radio host Eric Metaxas; Greg Mitchell, a longtime lobbyist for the Church of Scientology and co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable; Omer Kanat, director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project; and Lily Zhang, director of government and advocacy for the Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Association of Washington, D.C. The letter notes that the communist government in China has systematically repressed every religious minority group in the country through means that include controlling what citizens can access on the internet. The Uighur Muslim community has greatly been impacted by Chinas intolerance to faith as hundreds of thousands of Uighurs have been imprisoned in concentration camps. Some such camps have reportedly, chillingly had crematoria installed for disposing of the bodies of those who die while interned, the letter explains. The letter also stresses that the Chinese government has destroyed countless underground Protestant and Catholic churches and regularly arrests pastors who are not registered with a state-sanctioned church. The letter adds that the Chinese government has begun offering rewards for information about secret worship gatherings. As for other faiths, Falun Gong believers are being subjected to organ harvesting while Tibetan Buddhists are suffering from a cultural genocide. As for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the leaders contend that the country is systematically repressing its own people, especially women. The monarchy places a particular emphasis on the suppression of religious freedom at home, the letter states. "As a result, Christians and other faith communities in the Kingdom risk imprisonment and gruesome corporal punishments, including decapitation. Last week, Saudi Arabia received much criticism from the international religious freedom community when 37 Saudi nationals, most of whom were Shia Muslims, were executed. The joint letter also criticized the Saudi regime for promoting intolerance in its textbooks, mosques and overseas madrassas. The leaders specifically pointed to the killing last year of journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. On the basis of the KPIs, unquestionably the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most egregious offenders of religious liberty and that is why it is a [a country of particular concern], Commissioner Johnnie Moore from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said this week during the rollout of USCIRFs annual report. Moore was among a group of evangelical leaders who met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year as part of a USCIRF delegation that met with Saudi religious police. Qatar is ranked as the 38th-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA. Open Doors warns that the Qatari government has engaged in heavy persecution of Christians. The letter contends that Qatar is funding terrorist organizations like the Islamic State and propaganda outlets like Al Jazeera. The letter adds that Qatar is promoting intolerant practices worldwide toward people of other faiths or not faith at all. As advocates for suffering religious communities globally, we are determined to hold accountable those responsible, the letter concludes. We respectfully call upon your firm promptly and fully to disassociate itself from and cease all work on behalf of the governments of the Peoples Republic of China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Christian Post reached out to SPB for a response to the letter. A response is pending. National Day of Prayer: David Platt on the 'greatest hindrance' to advancing the Gospel Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment WASHINGTON Influential megachurch pastor and best-selling author David Platt voiced concerns about a trend within church culture that he suspects might be the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the Gospel today. As Americans celebrate The National Day of Prayer Thursday, Platt spoke before a group of church leaders gathered for the Mens and Womens Prayer Breakfast Wednesday morning at The Willard Hotel located about a block from the White House in Washington, D.C. The Radical author and former leader of the Southern Baptist Conventions International Mission Board explained that church and ministry leaders are too frequently tempted to accomplish their ministry goals through human abilities and ingenuity without the presence of God. I believe you and I are tempted in a strangely similar way all across our church culture, said Platt, the teaching pastor at McLean Bible Church in Vienna, Virginia. Think about it. You and I are tempted every day in our lives and in our churches to do the work of God apart from the power and the presence of God. Lets be honest with each other. We have created a whole host of means and methods to our ministry today that require little if no help at all from the Holy Spirit of God, he continued. We dont have to fast and pray for the Church to go. We have marketing for that today. It's dangerously possible for leaders to carry on the machinery and activity of churches and ministries," the 39-year-old pastor said. "All of it to be successful in the eyes of the world and we can never notice that the Holy Spirit is totally absent from it, Platt worried. If we are not careful, we can deceive ourselves by mistaking the presence of physical bodies in a building for the existence of spiritual life in a church. I wonder if the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the Gospel in our day may be the attempt of the people to do the work of God apart from the power of the Spirit of God. He suggests that the greatest barrier to spreading the Gospel might not be the self-indulgent immorality of our culture but rather the self-sufficient mentality in the Church evident in our prayerlessness. Earlier in his keynote message, Platt explained that he recently returned from a preaching trip in South Korea. He said it was a trip in which the Lord convicted him in a fresh and deep way after seeing how hours of intentional prayer, repentance and fasting played a major role in the spiritual awakening in the country. Platt noted that around 1900, less than 1 percent of the Korean Peninsula was Christian. But in 2000, there were as many as 10 million Christians in South Korea. Today, the country is only second to the United States in the number of missionaries sent around the world. At the church I was preaching at recently, they still gather every morning. They have a prayer gathering every Friday night, all night to pray. There's not a formal event for them once a year. Prayer is a way of life every single day in the church. And I walked away convicted because I have not led the church well in this way, in a country where I am part of the church culture where I preach at conferences and events filled with hours of talks and sermons and relative minutes of prayer and confession. Platt warned that leaders in the American Church culture are known for preaching and teaching, writing and blogging, organizing and strategizing, planning and planting. But we are not known for our praying and fasting, He added. And in this, we're in profound danger of missing the whole point. When was the last time we got together with the church just for worship on Sunday and crowds of people fell on our faces weeping for hidden sin in our midst, crying out for God's mercy upon us? We have no room because we need to get on to the next song we have planned, the next program that is waiting. What kind of church culture have we created where we pastors, members of churches like ours, are content to go week after week after week in church, watch what happens on stage and then move on with our lives? Platt asked. Platt pointed to Exodus 33, a story in which Moses and the Israelites were faced with the possibility of having to journey to the promised land flowing with milk and honey without the presence of God. So what does Moses do when faced with the prospect of doing Gods work apart from Gods presence? He prays. He goes in the tent of meeting, Platt explained. You should see this scene. Platt detailed the scene in which Moses goes far outside of the camp to set up a tent in which he meets face-to-face with God just as a man speaks to a friend. A crowd of thousands gathered to watch Moses as he entered the tent and were struck with awe when the pillar of cloud came down to speak with Moses. This is one of those places where you cant believe this is in the Old Testament, right? Platt commented. We didnt gather here today to watch Ronnie [Floyd] go into a tent or anybody go into a tent. Every single one of us can go into the tent. We dont have to go anywhere. You are the tent. Platt added that Christians today have the privilege to speak with God face-to-face before they even get out of bed in the morning, a privilege that we have that Old Testament saints could only long for. We have the privilege of knowing God face-to-face through Jesus what He has done on the cross for us, Platt said. What a privilege we have. Lets not forsake this privilege. Moses goes in and he says, I cant do this without you. He pleads for Gods presence to go with him. And God answers. Lets do this. Lets get on our faces before God, not just these couple of days but day after day, all night in our churches and say, God we cant do this without you. We need Your grace. We need Your mercy. We need Your presence among us. Platt called for ministries in the U.S. to throw aside their damning dependence on natural ability and human ingenuity and plead for God to do in our churches, across our countries and among the nations what only God can do. Keep on pleading until the day when Scripture promises we will see His face and all His unchanging perfections, Platt concluded. Purposes and promises will come to pass in His ever-unfolding plan in which you and I get to play a part. Lets play our part. In addition to various National Day of Prayer events held throughout the country on Thursday, a national observance ceremony will be held at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Thursday. China in a persecution category 'all by itself;' USCIRF releases annual report USCIRF annual report labels countries where religious freedom is most violated Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment WASHINGTON Persecution against believers in China was front and center as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its 20th annual report Monday morning. With photographs on the cover showing demonstrations against Chinas imprisonment of thousands of Uighur Muslims, the bipartisan and independent commission mandated by Congress unveiled its 226-page report highlighting about 30 countries where religious freedom rights are being egregiously violated. As is the case in past years, the report divides countries into different tiers, with Tier 1 recommendations representing countries that the Commission believes should be labeled by the U.S. State Department as countries of particular concern (CPC). The CPC label carries with it the possibility that the countries could face sanctions or other negative consequences. Tier 2 identifies countries where religious freedom violations have happened but have not risen to the severity needed to be considered Tier 1. USCIRF recommends that 16 countries be labeled as CPCs by the State Department, 10 of which were designated or redesignated as CPCs by the State Department last November. The Tier 1 countries are: Burma, Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. As has been said several times this morning, we have a Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the countries we look at, USCIRF Commissioner and longtime social conservative activist Gary Bauer said during a rollout event on Capitol Hill attended by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. If we were going to rank the Tier 1 countries, China would be in a category all by itself [with] the level of persecution. They are an equal opportunity persecutor. With the U.S. and China on the cusp of a major trade deal, USCIRFs report serves as one last call for U.S. officials to integrate religious freedom and related human rights diplomacy into the ongoing trade negotiations. USCIRF calls for such diplomacy to also occur in the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue and other levels of the relationships between the U.S. and China. The trade negotiation comes as Chinas persecution against Uighur Muslims, underground Christian communities, Fulan Gong and Tibetan Buddhists have continued unabated. The USCIRF report notes that estimates show that as many as 800,000 to 2 million Uighur Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang. Even though the Chinese government and the Vatican came to an agreement last year, repression of the underground Catholic Church increased during the latter half of the year and also continued into 2019. Additionally, Chinese authorities closed or raided hundreds of Protestant house churches in 2018 and continue to do so in 2019. While the Chinese government continued to use advanced surveillance technology and other measures to repress Tibetan Buddhists, over 900 Falun Gong believers are said to have been arrested over the course of 2018 for either practicing their faith or distributing religious literature. To make matters worse, USCIRF warns that the barrier between religion and the Communist Party in China was further eroded in March 2018 when the jurisdiction over religious affairs was transferred from a government entity to an organ of the Chinese Communist Party. They go after anybody of any faith that might compete with the communist, atheistic government of China for the loyalty of its citizens, the 72-year-old Bauer warned. It is deeply disturbing to see that ... China is an expanding power a country getting more and more powerful by the year. To have a country with these ideas and this degree of persecution ought to be something that scares everyone. Although USCIRF has designated China as a Tier 1 country for 20 years the situation is getting worse, Bauer stressed. He added that USCIRF commissioners are working with administration officials to push the idea that negotiations with China should be more than just about tariffs and jobs but also about the idea that every person is able to worship the way they see fit. We are also asking this year of specific targeting of individuals, Bauer said. We know the names of individuals in China that are working for the government that is engaged in this persecution, whether it is the Muslim Uighurs or the Falun Gong, Christians or Tibetan Buddhists. We need to call them out by name and do everything we can to shame them. Bauer also called out U.S. corporations that have their own trade relationships with China. Trade with China was supposed to change China, he said. It ended up that trade with China ended up changing America as more and more corporations became dependent on the goodwill of the Chinese government. USCIRF continues to call for Russia and Uzbekistan to be listed as a CPCs. Although USCIRF also made those recommendations in its report last year, the State Department did not designate those two as CPCs last year. Instead, they were placed on a Special Watch List for governments that have engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom. Religious freedom advocates have put much pressure on Russia in the last couple of years since it passed an anti-terrorism law that gives the state the ability to crack down on nonviolent religious activities, such as evangelism. In addition to evangelical Christians, Russias crackdowns have also led to the arrest of several Jehovahs Witnesses. According to Jehovahs Witness spokesperson Jarrod Lopes, who attended the USCIRF event, at least 186 Jehovahs Witnesses are facing criminal charges in Russia and Crimea, with 24 in pretrial detention and 25 under house arrest. The USCIRF report also calls on the U.S. government to enforce sanctions and other deterrence measures against countries designated as CPCs. According to the report, only six of the 10 countries the State Department designates as CPCs are actually subject to preexisting or double-hatted sanctions, while the four other countries (Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan) benefit from waivers sparing them from any punitive action. USCIRF called on the Trump administration to lift its waiver sparing Saudi Arabia of punitive action after last weeks mass execution of 37 Saudi nationals, a majority of whom were Shia Muslims. USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore was among a group of evangelical leaders who met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year. He was also part of the first USCIRF delegation to visit with Saudi religious police. When I visited the kingdom this year and you sit down and you talk about the efforts to reform the kingdom, everybody talks about key performance indicators the KPIs [key performance indicators], Moore said. On the basis of the KPIs, unquestionably the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most egregious offenders of religious liberty and that is why it is a CPC. However, Moore contended that there are reasons for optimism in Saudi Arabia. The minister of Islamic affairs was clear to us in the meeting that Saudi Arabia is not a kingdom anymore where there can only be one religion, Moore added. It is a kingdom where there are lots of different things happening some things that are the worst in the world. On the same token, there is a glimmer of light and we are trying to do what we can to shimmy open that door. USCIRF recommended the following countries be designated as Tier 2 countries of concern: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Turkey. In India, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities in certain states has greatly increased over the last several years at the hands of Hindu extremists emboldened by the rise to power of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Despite carrying out acts of persecution against religious minorities, Hindu extremists have often received a level of impunity from local authorities. USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava, a human rights lawyer who served in the Obama Justice Department, told The Christian Post that USCIRF officials have not been able to visit India in many years. She said the commission is concerned with the extent to which the government is tolerating religious freedom violations. It is difficult for anyone to try and verify and try to understand what is happening on the ground. There is a lot of reports and there is, of course, a kernel of truth in them but we have to figure out the parameters or the context of that, she explained. For the commission to make the kind of recommendations and informed engagement, we want to have more of an engagement with the government and partners in the country to go and spend some time there. USCIRF Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga told said that the situation in her homeland of Cuba has deteriorated dramatically in the last year. Last week, USCIRF spoke out against the imprisonment of two Christian homeschool parents in the communist island nation. Worldwide, places of worship are often becoming a favorite soft target for terrorists, as seen in the recent attacks against places of worship in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The new USCIRF report recommends that the State Department and the Department of Defense allocate funding to train and equip local officials and communities to protect places of worship and other holy sites, especially in countries where such sites face a high risk of attack. USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins, who also heads the social conservative advocacy organization Family Research Council, explained that the U.S. government already has a program in place to help foster greater security at vital installations like power plants and government facilities overseas called the Antiterrorism Assistance Program. So, one of our specific recommendations to the Department of State and Department of Defense is to create and establish programs that would work with foreign governments to provide training and equipment if necessary to these houses of worship to secure them, Perkins said. In January 2019, the Central Asian terrorist group Katibat Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ) publicly renewed its Bayat (oath of allegiance) to Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaedas global chief. More than seven years after the killing of Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda continues to attract Central Asian Salafi groups. This trend has intensified since the start of the Syrian civil war, where several thousand radical Islamists from Central Asia went to wage Jihad. The conflict has allowed al Qaeda to claim Syria as its newest and most important safe haven for a global Jihad ideology. The ideological assimilation of the Central Asian groups with al Qaeda took place precisely in Syria. BACKGROUND: The Central Asian Salafi-Jihadi groups joined al Qaeda in two waves. The first wave began in the late 1990s in Afghanistan, when Uyghur militants of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Salafists of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) took the oath of allegiance to al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden played a key role in al-Qaedas ideological conquest of post-Soviet Central Asia and Chinese Xinjiang. Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) leader Abdul Haq was even appointed a member of al Qaedas elite Shura Council in 2005. The second wave occurred after the outbreak of the Syrian war, as illustrated by the KTJs renewed Bayat to al-Zawahiri. Besides KTJ, Katibat Imam al-Bukhari (KIB) from Central Asia, as well as Uyghur groups including the TIP and Katibat al-Ghuraba (KG) from Chinese Xinjiang, also swore allegiance to al Qaeda. Today, all of these groups are fighting against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syrias northwestern Idlib province under the leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the largest Sunni jihadist group. HTS has from the beginning of the Syrian war been a combat mentor for al Qaeda-linked KTJ, TIP and KIB. While Uzbek and Uyghur jihadists have much in common with HTS, they have managed to maintain relative freedom in terms of retaining the names of their organizations, separate financial sources and budgets, along with their own military and technical equipment. The affiliation of the Central Asian jihadist groups with HTS occurred in 2013-14 on the recommendation of al Qaeda. They share al Qaedas ideological doctrine and, on its call, performed Hijrah (the migration or journey of Muslims for Jihad) from Afghanistan and Central Asia to Syria. The Uzbek and Uyghur groups were stationed in territories controlled by HTS in northern Syria. They have a common enemy in the Bashar al-Assad regime and share the goal of building a Sharia state in the Middle East. After the conquest of Sham and Afghanistan, they plan to apply their combat experience in Central Asia and establish a Caliphate with the ideology of al Qaeda in the Central Asian Ferghana Valley and in Chinese Xinjiang. HTS, previously named the al-Nusra front, was created by al-Qaeda in 2012. In 2017, al-Nusra claimed to sever its links with al Qaeda and rebranded as HTS. However, the activities of Uyghur and Uzbek jihadists, which have remained loyal to al Qaeda but simultaneously subordinate to HTS, indicate that personal and ideological ties remain strong. Indeed, the Central Asian groups in Syria have become a link between al Qaeda and HTS after their formal detachment of ties. IMPLICATIONS: KTJ published its Bayat to al-Zawahiri to prove its loyalty to al Qaeda and HTS, renewing its earlier pledge from 2015. The group leader Abu Salohs (Sirojiddin Mukhtarov) oath was issued in the form of an audio recording that was first released via the ventures Telegram channel, under the heading Bayat to al Qaeda. In his 14-minute Khutbah (preaching) Abu Saloh termed the U.S. and Russia enemies of the Muslims, and urged militants to conduct Jihad against them. This position of the KTJ leader is fully consistent with the ideological doctrine of al Qaeda, which considers the U.S. as the first enemy of Muslims. He justified his decision to pledge allegiance to al Qaeda by the Qurans Surahs and Ayats. In particular, he referred to the Surah an-Nasr, which translates Victory or Allahs help. He then emotionally announced that to speed up the arrival of an-Nasr and declaring Jihad against Kafirs, KTJ takes the oath of allegiance to al Qaeda. Abu Saloh promised to liberate Palestine after the conquest of Damascus. It should be noted that the liberation of Jerusalem from Israel is the program goal of al-Zawahiri, since Palestine remains a cause for mobilizing Sunni groups around al Qaeda. The Salafi cleric Abu Qatada al-Filistini, described in the JTF-GTMO threat assessment as a prominent al Qaeda spiritual leader, recruiter, and financier, played a significant role for Central Asian militants who became members of al Qaeda. Today, about two thousand Uyghur, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik Jihadists are members of al Qaeda. Abu Saloh confirms that he consulted with Abu Qatada and received his blessing for joining KTJ to al Qaeda. The significant weakening of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has revealed that al-Zawahiri has strategically calibrated the priorities of al Qaeda and its affiliated groups from Central Asia, and managed to implement an action plan allowing them to survive in the struggle for leadership of the global jihad. The continuation of the war in Syria is important for the further mobilization of Central Asian Salafi-Jihadi groups around al Qaeda since its fundamental ideology is built on the concept of jihad against the infidels. Especially KTJ leader Abu Saloh and TIPs head Abdul Haq have become fanatical followers of al-Zawahiri and ardent propagandists of al-Qaeda ideology. Bin Laden remains a hero and martyr for Uzbek and Uyghur jihadists, and al Qaedas strategy and tactics use them as a model in the fight against the crusaders of the West. In ideological work, KTJ and TIP adopted al-Qaedas style, methods and forms of submitting information. Today, after the fall of the Caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the number of ISIS supporters in Central Asia has declined markedly, but KTJ and TIP successfully continue to recruit new volunteers for the ranks of al-Qaeda. The leaders of TIP, KTJ and KIB are aggressive agitators of Salafism and Jihad and have managed to gather a certain following in the Ferghana Valley. As a result, al Qaeda has strengthened its network in Central Asia and created clandestine resources that can be mobilized in case of local needs and emergencies. CONCLUSIONS: The U.S. State Department has designated Central Asian Salafi-Jihadi groups ETIM, IMU, KIB and TIP leader Abdul Haq as global terrorist organizations for their support to al Qaida. However, despite the fact that KTJ Jihadists have increased their stature among global terrorist groups over the past five years, and receive assistance from al Qaeda, KTJ is not yet included it in the list. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia have recognized KTJ as a terrorist organization. Russia's Federal Security Service accused KTJ of the terror attack on St. Petersburgs metro in April 2017 and Kyrgyz authorities blamed KTJ for the attack on the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek on August 30, 2016. However, KTJs activities have expanded since. TIP and KTJ have even opened two madrasas in Syrias Idlib, instructing Uyghur and Uzbek children in al Qaedas ideology. In this regard, it would be advisable for the U.S. Government and the UN to take punitive measures against KTJ. After the U.S. government designated KIB as a global terrorist organization, its aggressive anti-American, Zionist rhetoric and propaganda of al Qaeda's ideology markedly subsided. AUTHORS BIOS: Uran Botobekov, PhD, expert on Political Islam, has served as a Kyrgyz diplomat in Ukraine and Turkey. He has worked in the Government and in the Presidential Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic, and as the Secretary of Science at the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences. His scientific research focuses on the radical ideology of Sunni Wahhabism in Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as the Salafi-Jihadi movements underpinning such groups as al Qaeda and the Islamic State, or ISIS. Image Source: Howard Brier via Flickr Creative Commons accessed on 5.2.2019 Teen Vogue pushes prostitution as legit profession, like a medical doctor; feminists enraged Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Teen Vogue is pushing the idea that prostitution is acceptable to its young readers. In a Friday op-ed called "Why Sex is Real Work," Tlaleng Mofokeng, a medical doctor, noted that sex tourist destination Amsterdam will soon legally bar guided tours through the red light district but that many "sex workers," a euphemism for prostituted persons but is often used to include brothel keepers and pornographers are opposing the ban. "Not all sex workers engage in penetrative sex, though, undeniably, that is a big part of sex work. Sex-worker services between consenting adults may include companionship, intimacy, nonsexual role playing, dancing, escorting, and stripping. These roles are often pre-determined, and all parties should be comfortable with them," she explained. Mofokeng then compared the experiences of prostituted people with her own profession as a doctor. "I exchange payment in the form of money with people to provide them with advice and treatment for sex-related problems; therapy for sexual performance, counseling and therapy for relationship problems, and treatment of sexually transmitted infection. Isn't this basically sex work?" she asked. "I do not believe it is right or just that people who exchange sexual services for money are criminalized and I am not for what I do. Is a medical degree really the right measure of who is deserving of dignity, autonomy, safety in the work place, fair trade and freedom of employment? No. This should not be so. Those who engage in sex work deserve those things, too." She went on to argue that continuing to criminalize prostitution harmfully impacts women and trans-identified males who call themselves women, and therefore, "sex worker rights" constitute a feminist and women's rights issue. Actual feminists and others opposed to decriminalizing prostitution are not having it. Teen Vogue is grooming a generation of young girls into prostitutionone of the most violent, dehumanizing, and traumatizing industries on the planet and convincing them that this form of violence against women is a good 'job' option," said Laila Mickelwait, director of abolition at Exodus Cry, in a Monday interview with The Christian Post. "Promoting prostitution to young girls is not only pushing them toward sexual exploitation but is also effectively promoting sex trafficking, because according to both domestic and international law, anyone under the age of 18 that is prostituted is legally a victim of sex trafficking," she continued, adding that the publication should be reprimanded for pushing the normalization of sexual violence and exploitation upon the thousands of impressionable girls who read it. Writing on her Facebook page Monday, Gail Dines, a fervent anti-porn feminist and founder of Culture Reframed, concurred. "They sanitize the reality of prostitution by making the absurd claim that: 'The idea of purchasing intimacy and paying for the services can be affirming for many people who need human connection, friendship, and emotional support,'" Dines explained. "Yes, the john is absolutely looking for intimacy, connection, friendship and support as he pays to rape a prostituted girl or woman! How do you make sense of this as a girl growing up in a porn culture surrounded by a coherent narrative that women = sex?," she wrote. Similarly, Lauren Hersh, national director of World Without Exploitation opined in a Monday Medium essay in response to the Teen Vogue op-ed that a doctor offering treatment for sexually transmitted infections is nothing like "sex work." Hersh is also a former New York City special victims prosecutor. "Most in prostitution experience devastating harm physically, mentally and sexually. The rate of physical and sexual abuse among people in prostitution is staggering. The majority of those exploited in the sex trade experience post traumatic stress disorder that is destructive and often long term," Hersh explained. Those who are prostituted ought to be decriminalized, but the pimps and sex buyers should be held accountable, she maintained. "As the mother of a daughter, I feel sick that your magazine is selling our daughters the regressive belief that their bodies should be commodified and that commodification, exploitation, and trauma should be empowering for them. But as the mother of a son, I feel raging mad that in the middle of this #MeToo moment, your magazine is sending my son the misogynistic message that purchasing women and girls is legitimate and harmless." In July of 2017, to the disgust of women's rights advocates, the publication promoted the idea that anal sex is a "delightful" experience for young girls, and referred to females throughout the article as "non-prostate owners." Owned by mass media company Conde Nast, the print edition of Teen Vogue was scrapped a few months later. Dad faces arrest if he refers to trans-identified daughter by her birth sex: court order Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A father in Canada is facing the possibility of arrest if he refers to his trans-identified 14-year-old daughter as a girl after a court ordered that the teen be allowed to begin taking testosterone. The teenager's mother supports the gender transition while the father is opposed. After the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled in February to allow the 14-year-old girl, Maxine (not her real name), to begin taking drugs to transition to look more like a boy, the court issued a protection order this month in an attempt to stop her father (known as Clark) from continuing to privately or publicly refer to his daughter as a female. In the order issued on April 15 and a related document justifying it, Justice Francesca Marzari argues that the father committed family violence by issuing what the court called expressions of rejection of the childs gender identity. This court has already determined that it is a form of family violence to AB for any of his family members to address him by his birth name, refer to him as a girl or with female pronouns (whether to him directly or to third parties), or to attempt to persuade him to abandon treatment for gender dysphoria, Marzari writes. AB says that the evidence establishes that CD has done all of the above, and has continued to do so even after the court found that these actions were contrary to ABs best interests and constitute family violence. Mazari took issue with Clark talking with various conservative media outlets like The Federalist about the endeavor and his opposition to his childs gender transition. Marzari added in the order that Clark not only referred to his daughter as a female but also publicly shared personal and medical information about her. Mazari also addressed insensitive user comments that were posted to online news articles related to the familys tension. Some even reportedly encouraged the teenager to commit suicide. Those posts make me terrified that my father is going to go public in some way that will identify me and open me up to terrible bullying or violence. If he speaks in public as my father about me in my case, I will be outed and I can never go back in the closet, the teenager was quoted as saying in the court document. My mom told me that there are also interviews with my father on the Culture Guard website but I cannot bear to watch them. It feels as if my dad is going behind my back and I feel really sad and disappointed that he is doing that. Mazari acknowledges that the order effectively restricts the fathers freedom of expression. Although Clark argued that his free speech rights would be compromised by the order, the court reasoned that his rights as a parent are necessarily guided and constrained by the [Family Law Act] and orders of this court. His rights do not include harming his child, Mazari contends. Under the orders terms, Clark can no longer attempt to persuade his child to abandon hormone treatments, despite medical experts' and scholars' warnings about the harmful effects and lack of consensus for such treatment in children. The father had previously supplied the court with affidavits from Atlanta-based pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Quentin Van Meter and New York-based psychiatrist Miriam Grossman outlining that potential psychological and physical effects of hormone therapy on children. The father can also no longer refer to his child by her birth name or with female pronouns. Also, he can no longer publicly share or publish information related to his childs gender identity, sexual orientation, mental or physical health, medical status or therapies. The father is also barred from authorizing anyone other than him or his lawyer to access copies of court documents related to the case. The order will last for one year and is subject to a court-issued extension. The father can also be arrested if he is perceived to be in violation of the court order. Any Peace Officer, including any [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] Officer, having jurisdiction in the Province of British Columbia, who has reasonable and probable grounds believes that the respondent is in breach of the terms of this order may immediately arrest that person and bring him before a judge of the Supreme Court promptly after the arrest to be dealt with on an inquiry to determine whether he has committed a breach of this order or is in contempt of court, the order reads. Kari Simpson, president of the Canadian pro-family organization Culture Guard, told The Federalist that Mazaris order is extreme and dangerous because it forces a father to embrace a delusion concerning his daughter or risk the possibility of arrest. In the U.S., courts are also grappling with how to handle cases involving children who suffer from gender dysphoria and want to take hormones and puberty blockers, and parents who oppose it. In 2018, a Christian couple in Ohio lost custody of their teenage daughter because they opposed her desire to medically transition. Sylvia Hendon, a visiting Juvenile Court judge in Hamilton County, Ohio, granted custody of the child to grandparents who are affirming of the childs gender identity and desire to change genders. A report from earlier this year indicated that gender clinics across Canada have experienced exponential growth in the number of children being referred for gender transitions. According to the report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, British Columbia Childrens Hospital reported receiving 240 referrals of trans-identified children in 2018. By comparison, only 20 children were referred to the clinic for gender identity issues in 2013. Jeremy Hunt vows to support Nigeria in fight against terrorist group targeting Christians Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was in north-east Nigeria on Wednesday where the UK is working with the Nigerian military to end terrorist group Boko Haram's reign of terror in the region and the spread of the Islamic State in West Africa. Nigeria is joint top with Pakistan on the Open Doors World Watch List of places where Christians suffer the worst persecution, having risen two places to number 12 in the past year. Similarly, the Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria as the third most terrorised country for the fourth year in a row, with Boko Haram and Fulani militants believed to have killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions from their homes. Many of Boko Haram's victims are Christians, who are persecuted in the north of the country. Leah Sharibu is one of hundreds of schoolgirls who have been abducted by the terrorist group in recent years. She was taken on February 19, 2018 along with over 100 of her classmates. The others were released after a few weeks but she remains in captivity after she refused to deny her Christian faith. Many of the more than 270 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in 2014 were Christian. At least a hundred of them are still missing. In addition to targeting police stations, military posts and civic buildings, Boko Haram has carried out deadly attacks on homes and churches. Mr Hunt, who recently launched a review into Christian persecution, said the UK remained committed to supporting Nigeria and its neighbours in the fight against Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa. Speaking in Maiduguri, Mr Hunt said: "People are being forced from their homes by the evils of extremism and terrorism. Boko Haram and Islamic State are the antithesis of the values we all hold dear, and we will continue to support Nigeria in the fight to give people secure, prosperous and happy lives." Nearly 200 Anglican clergy urge Westminster Abbey to cancel nuclear deterrent service Christians are asking the Dean of Westminster Abbey to "urgently reconsider" hosting a service of thanksgiving for 50 years of Britain's nuclear deterrent at sea. A statement has been signed by nearly 200 Anglican clergy ahead of the service, organised by the Royal Navy, on Friday. It says that the service is at odds with the Church of England's promise at its 2018 General Synod to "work tirelessly" towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said it would hold protests outside the Abbey if the service goes ahead as scheduled. The service at noon on Friday is described by Abbey officials as an occasion to "recognise the commitment of the Royal Navy to effective peace-keeping through the deterrent over the past fifty years and to pray for peace throughout the world". The Abbey has not commented on the protests, which the CND said would include a 'die-in' to represent the victims of nuclear warfare. Kate Hudson, general secretary of Christian CND, which coordinated the statement, said: "Surely Westminster Abbey must now realise it has made a very serious error of judgement. "The Abbey should listen to these members of the clergy and listen as well to the thousands of members of the public who have written to the Dean to make clear what ought to be obvious, that nuclear weapons should not be celebrated. "Listen to members of the House of Lords who, in a report out this week, said the threat of nuclear war is dramatically rising. Every level of church, government and society should be engaged in efforts to de-escalate nuclear tensions. A thanksgiving service to honour nuclear weapons is absolutely the last thing we need. "We say to the Dean, it is not too late to cancel the service. It's right to cancel it, and millions would respect the church for having listened and taken action to correct a mistake." Synagogue shooting suspect was a churchgoer who thought killing Jews was God's will The 19-year-old suspect in a fatal synagogue shooting in Poway, California, on Saturday has been revealed as a church member who thought he was doing God's will by attacking Jews. One woman was killed and three injured, including the rabbi, in the attack on the Chabad synagogue on the last day of Passover. Teenager John Earnest has been charged with first degree murder and three counts of attempted murder in connection with the attack. On Thursday, he was revealed to be a member of the Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church in San Diego where his father is an elder. He is believed to be the author of a seven page manifesto written before the attack on April 27 which accuses Jewish people of controlling the media and states that they deserve to die because they killed Jesus. He faces an additional charge in connection with an arson attack on a mosque last month in nearby Escondido. "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue," Earnest's parents said in a statement through a lawyer. "To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries. Our son's actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold. "Like our other five children, he was raised in a family, a faith, and a community that all rejected hate and taught that love must be the motive for everything we do. "How our son was attracted to such darkness is a terrifying mystery to us, though we are confident that law enforcement will uncover many details of the path that he took to this evil and despicable act." They continued: "Our heavy hearts will forever go out to the victims and survivors. Our thanks go to the first responders who prevented even greater loss of life and the well-wishers who have supported us. And we pray for peace." Following the shooting, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, issued a statement condemning terrorism, anti-Semitism and racism. "Anti-Semitism and racist hatred which apparently motivated the shooter . . . have no place within our system of doctrine," the church said. Traditional hymns absent from top 10 most popular funeral songs Traditional hymns appear to be out of favour at British funerals as more and more people opt for secular songs. Frank Sinatra was top of the list, while not a single Christian hymn made it into the Co-op Funeralcare's top 10 most requested funeral songs. Ol' Blue Eyes was ranked number one with his ever popular hit My Way. Following after him were Time To Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, and Over The Rainbow by Eva Cassidy. Two newcomers to the 2019 Funeral Music top 10 chart were Westlife with You Raise Me Up at number 8 and Ed Sheeran's Supermarket Flowers at number 6. The top 10 was drawn from a poll of Co-op Funeralcare's funeral directors, who conduct around 100,000 funerals annually. After surveying 2,000 people, it also found that one in four people wanted the songs played at their funeral to make people laugh. David Collingwood, Director of Funerals at the Co-op said: "We all live such unique lives and funerals should completely reflect that. Each element of a funeral is a very personal decision which is why the music choice plays such an important and impactful role. "We're always encouraging people to be more open about their funeral wishes, making it clear to their loved ones what they would want for themselves when the time comes. "Even knowing what song someone would have wanted can bring such comfort at an incredibly hard time." The Co-op Funeralcare top 10 most requested funeral songs in full: 1. My Way - Frank Sinatra (non-mover) 2. Time To Say Goodbye - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman (non-mover) 3. Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy (non-mover) 4. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler (non-mover) 5. Angels - Robbie Williams (re-entry) 6. Supermarket Flowers - Ed Sheeran (new entry) 7. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole (up three places) 8. You Raise Me Up - Westlife (new entry) 9. We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn (down three places) 10. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Eric Idle, from Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' (down two places) Royal Dutch Shell Plcs first-quarter earnings beat even the highest analyst estimate as its natural gas business led a strong companywide performance. Shares rose. Shell gives a positive ending to a mixed Big Oil earnings season, which showed companies mostly recovering from a worst-in-a-generation downturn but unable to fully insulate themselves against volatile markets. While BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and Total SA mostly matched earnings estimates on a mixture of rising output and cost cuts, Exxon Mobil Corp. suffered a shocker due to its worst refining performance in nearly 20 years. Shell has made a strong start to 2019, Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden said in a statement on Thursday. The consistent financial performance across all our businesses provides confidence in meeting our 2020 outlook. Shell B shares rose 2.3 percent to 2,484 pence at 11:36 a.m. in London, making it the third-best performer on the FTSE 100 index. The Anglo-Dutch company said adjusted net income was $5.3 billion in the first quarter, well ahead of the average analyst estimate of $4.52 billion. Thats 2 percent down from a year earlier, reflecting weaker refining margins and lower crude prices. Shell is far more focused on natural gas than its peers, accounting for about 25 percent of all the worlds traded liquefied natural gas volumes annually, and its earnings showed the benefit of that position. Profit of $2.57 billion from Integrated Gas was 24 percent higher than analysts estimates, the largest outperformance of any unit. The gas segment benefited from a rise in oil prices late last year. Most of Shells LNG contracts are bilateral deals linked to the price of crude, with about a three-month lag, Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl said in a call with reporters. That dynamic may also affect earnings in the second quarter, which will reflect crudes slump at the end of 2018. But theres a mix of things so I wouldnt want to overplay that, she said. Rising Debt Cash flow from operations, excluding working capital movements and the effect of accounting-rule changes, rose to $11.3 billion from $10.4 billion a year earlier. By 2020, Shell aims to deliver $25 billion to $30 billion of free cash flow annually, assuming an oil price of $60 a barrel. Overall, we see this as a strong set of numbers confirming Shell is getting closer to reaching its 2020 free cash flow targets, RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria said in a note. Shells net cash position shrank by more than $5 billion as it paid dividends and bought back shares. The companys gearing -- the ratio of net debt to total capital -- jumped to 26.5 percent from 20.3 percent at the end of 2018, although a large part of that increase was the result of changes to international accounting rules. Under the previous system, gearing would have been 21.9 percent at the end of the quarter. Total oil and gas output decreased 2 percent to 3.752 million barrels of oil equivalent a day. In the quarter, Shell started up a production vessel offshore Brazil called Lula North and shipped some of its first cargoes of a light oil called condensate from the Prelude LNG project in Australia. Shell replaced only half its reserves last year, prompting questions about whether the company will use acquisitions to bulk up its portfolio. In January, Van Beurden said the companys portfolio in the prolific Permian shale basin was a bit small, leading to speculation about an acquisition there. Uhl clarified in the call Shell doesnt need to do a deal and it has a strong portfolio. Despite talks with Endeavor Energy Resources LP earlier this year, Shell so far hasnt jumped into the regions growing deals frenzy that has culminated recently in the fight between Chevron and Occidental Petroleum Corp. over Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Uhl also said the bidding war didnt cause Shell concern about a joint-venture partnership it has with the Texas-based company in the Permian. Investors are keeping a close eye on share buybacks. The company has repurchased $6.75 billion of shares so far, and will acquire a maximum of $2.75 billion in addition by July 29. It intends to buy back $25 billion of stock in total before 2021. The size of Shells buybacks gives the company less flexibility than its peers to make new investments, according to RBC. Its shares so far this year have performed worse than the Stoxx 600 Oil & Gas index and rival BP, which spent big to acquire a strong position in U.S. shale. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Expletives are not the ideal to advance the education of 10 and 11-year-old students. But that's what happened in at least one Texas school district. On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston-area voters to decide $3.6B in school bonds this coming Saturday On April 10, during a STAAR test administered by the Texas Education Agency, a fifth grade student in Lumberton Independent School District called over a school administrator, according to the TEA. School administrators are not supposed to discuss the test questions with participants. But, as it turns out, one image on a reading comprehension exercises contained the F-word. The obscenity appeared in a passage with embedded pictures of what appears to be an unknown graffiti park, according to the TEA. Some, but not all, of the other students had the same test as well, Gretchen Scroggins, the Coordinator of Special Programs and communications at Lumberton ISD told Chron.com. However, the exercise that contained the curse word was part of a field test question that was administered across the state of Texas. So, it is highly likely that other fifth grade students in the state also saw the curse word in their test. TEA officials would not confirm if any other schools have reported the exercise in question, an estimate of the number of students who saw it, or if other obscenities or drawings appeared in any other test books. The TEA provided Chron.com the following statement: "A passage with embedded images of a graffiti park appeared as part of field testing for some fifth-grade Texas students. After the test was administered, TEA discovered that two of the included images contained vulgar words in very small lettering. This is in no way acceptable or appropriate, and we deeply regret that these images appeared on the test. We apologize to all our parents and students, and in the spirit of continuous improvement, we pledge to ensure this issue never occurs again." Lumberton Independent School District issued the following statement: "During the 5th grade STAAR Reading exam, a student reported a vulgar word in a pictorial to the teacher administering the exam. The teacher reported the information to the campus testing coordinator, the principal was informed, the district testing coordinator received the report and ultimately the superintendent was notified. Dr. Chandler, LISD Superintendent, reported it to the Texas Education Agency (TEA)." Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle Twenty-five percent of homes nationwide are powered solely by electricity, reflecting new home construction that tends to build all-electric and greater demand for electricity-fueled air conditioning and hot water heaters. The Energy Department reported that the trend toward all-electric homes grew nationwide between 2005 and 2015, but especially in the South and Midwest. Houston's Tellurian Inc. hit another important permitting milestone Thursday as the U.S. Department of Energy authorized it to sell liquefied natural gas exports to non-free trade agreement countries. Permission to export to non-free trade agreement nations such as China, Japan and South Korea is vital for U.S. LNG export terminals because Asia represents a major growing source of demand for liquefied natural gas demand. Tellurian Inc. said the energy department gave it the green light Thursday to export LNG from its Driftwood LNG terminal, a 27-million metric ton per a year project proposed outside of Lake Charles, Louisiana. RELATED: Tellurian's CEO Meg Gentle is on a mission to change how the world gets its natural gas In a statement, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tellurian can export up to 3.88 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day to non-free trade countries. "The United States is now in its third consecutive year as a net exporter of natural gas, now exporting domestic LNG to 35 countries. I applaud the American private sector for continuing to reach new milestones and look forward to continued growth in this sector," Perry said. The Department of Energy authorization comes at the heels of another major permitting milestone Tellurian hit on April 18 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized construction of Tellurian's Driftwood terminal and associated 96-mile pipeline project. Earlier this week Tellurian began booking capacity on two proposed pipeline projects that will support its Driftwood LNG terminal. Tellurian expects to make a final investment decision Driftwood LNG and start construction this year. The terminal will start operations in 2023. "The U.S. will become a top three LNG exporter and Tellurian intends to do our part in creating U.S. jobs while delivering a cleaner energy supply source to the world," said Tellurian's CEO Meg Gentle in a statement, while thanking federal officials for approving the project. It's not every day you see one of the world's biggest rock stars hanging out right near where you're out to eat. But Daniel Poe was in that position on Wednesday night when he spotted Dave Grohl at Stanley's Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in Tyler. MORNING UPDATES: Get all the news you need to know to start your day, delivered to your inbox "It's always a pleasure to meet people you admire, especially someone of Dave's caliber. He was just as warm and friendly as you would hope him to be," Poe, a Tyler resident, told Chron.com. Grohl was the drummer for the legendary Seattle grunge band Nirvana, later forming his own group, Foo Fighters. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Houston Barbecue Festival wows smoked meat lovers "It was surreal to have such casual conversation with someone who has shaped the face of rock and roll the way he has. This man has had his hand in several of my favorite records, from the Foos, to QOTSA (Queens of the Stone Age), to McCartney. All the better to visit with him at my favorite BBQ joint." Grohl is in East Texas to film a documentary about mothers of musicians, Stanley's owner Nick Pencis told KLTV. Round two: Find out which international music sensation is already returning to Houston on HoustonChronicle.com The multi-talented artist told the station he is planning to interview the mother of award-winning musician Miranda Lambert. the country music legend grew up in Lindale, a town located just north of Tyler. Of course, much like her son, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, isn't afraid to let people know what's on her mind. In 2017, she published "From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars." So what does a rock legend at at Stanley's? "He had a whole tray of ribs in front of him at one point ha ha," said Poe. It's unknown how long they lasted. Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. To the Rev. Maurice Linehan, there was never a more clear path. For as long as he can remember, he wanted to spend life as a priest, and that journey has taken him to parishes throughout the United States as part of the order of the La Salette Missionaries. At age 93, Linehan has for eight years been the priest in residence at Friendswoods Mary Queen Catholic Church. I like it here, he said. The congregation, which is part of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, is celebrating its 50th year. Linehan, according to parishioners like Carmen Schoolmeyer, has brought something invaluable to the church. Ive been in a lot of churches, and this is first time Ive ever been this close to the priest, she said. Growing up in an Irish-American Catholic family in Watertown, Mass., Lineham remembers the church as being part of the fabric of daily life. My parents were from Ireland, attended Mass daily and we went to Catholic schools, and that was the atmosphere growing up, Linehan said. At school, (we heard) about the work of the local parish and how they were admired for what they did. Linehan was inspired by that reverence and sense of duty. He remembers how guest speakers at school would talk about their ministries and dedication to the church and faith. Idea was always to become a priest The idea was always to become a priest, he said. This month, Linehan, or Father Mo, as he is affectionately referred to as Mary Queen, is marking 67 years since his ordination. In all the years of high school, that was something that was always in front of me I wanted to graduate and go into the seminary, he said during a recent interview at the church. You bring light to a dark world, Darrell Moulton, a deacon at Mary Queen, said as Linehan talked. I cant speak for Father Mo, but I can speak to the general idea of why someone would want to become a priest, Moulton said. Its to bring light. All the crap that goes on in the world needs to be counteracted in a sense. Otherwise, what would we look like? Linehan is from a different time, another tradition of the priesthood, said Schoolmeyer Modern priests are generally expected to take on more administrative and business-oriented roles, she said. Hes an old-school priest, when priests could be priests and didnt have to worry about finances or building a church, Schoolmeyer said. They could go out and minister to the people. He has lived through the Depression. Im sure there was not a day where he wasnt meeting with families, assuring them that God is here and to keep their faith. That tradition is something Mary Queen welcomes. The church was established just as NASA and Johnson Space Center was developing. In 1965, a group of about 55 families started Mary Queen as the region was growing. Its nearly 3,000 members have welcomed Linehans more traditional role. Linehan, said parishioner David Merlau, helps the church have a closeness found in smaller parishes. In smaller parishes, you saw the priest everywhere on a daily basis they would visit your house and functions, said Merau. Father Mo is able to do that here. He can do the fun part of being a priest rather being an administrator. But Linehan said that while the church may have been his destiny, he would often get into mischief as a boy. I was a bit of a devil; I got into trouble as a kid, he said. For instance, Linehans father drove streetcars, and Linehan remembers becoming adept at picking pockets. I was a regular kid, he said. That bit of information about his boyhood doesnt surprise Mary Queen parishioners like Schoolmeyer. She has been a member at Mary Queen for over 20 years and says Linehans humor and warmth provide a balance to the reverence and respect they feel toward him. Hes a very well-rounded person, very down-to-earth and human, she said. Linehan joked that he will never be seen with his arms folded in a stern posture. But Schoolmeyer said the priest has a strong spiritual impact. He just represents the faith, she said. Bill Prindiville, another Mary Queen parishioner, said Linehan could have retired years, even decades ago in a priests retirement home in Hartford, Conn. He chooses to minister to us so we can still have him an active part of our lives, Prindiville said. Thats because for Linehan, the journey never ends. People have wonderful things happening, but once in a while, they have problems and thats where the priest comes in to help and try to solve whatever problems there are and try to get people to deepen their relationship with the almighty God through the administration of the sacraments and all that, he said. (My role) is to bring everybody together. yorozco@hcnonline.com During a momentous celebration in New York City, where millions of people had gathered to mark the end of World War II, one sailor kissed a nurse and at least two photographers captured the iconic moment. The rest, as they say, is history. Nearly 75 years later, a Katy man is claiming he was one of the men captured in the Times Square Kiss photo taken by Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen on V-J Day, which marked the surrender of Imperial Japan to the Allies on Aug. 14, 1945. Ignacio Restrepo, a Colombia native, would have been 21 years old and working to achieve the American Dream on the day the photo was taken. The Army veteran, whos now 94 years old, describes what little he remembers from that glorious day. I just happened to be there by accident, by coincidence when this picture was taken, said Restrepo, sitting inside his Katy home. It was published in every newspaper in the United States and around the world. I was there. This is me. Restrepo claims he recognized himself in the historic photo that made headlines worldwide for decades earlier this year when he opened an issue of the Houston Chronicle and saw his face staring back him. The AP story accompanying the photo was an obituary for a man who claimed he was the famous sailor. RELATED: Houston man who claimed honor as 'Times Square Kiss' sailor dies at 86 Eleven men across the country have claimed the honor of being the sailor in the photo, including Glenn Edward McDuffie of Houston, who died in 2014 at 86 years old, according to a Houston Chronicle report. Another man, George Mendonsa of Rhode Island, maintained for years he was the man in the 1945 photo. He died in February at 95 years old. Gloria Bullard in 2010 told The New York Times her likeness had been captured in the background during that iconic moment. But 94-year-old Restrepo said he had never seen the infamous photo and was immediately taken aback when he saw it. His wife, Lucretia Restrepo, who hes been married to for 68 years, said she also recognized him. Millions of people celebrating the end of the war and the victory of the United States, and I just happened to be there, Restrepo said. To discover that his likeness was a part of history after so many years is a miracle, he said. His life was full of miracles and coincidences, he said. KATY RESIDENT SPOTLIGHT: Owner of dog lost during Hurricane Harvey wants to help pets in natural disasters Restrepo moved to New York with his uncle in 1941. He was drafted by the U.S. Army that year and began working in a factory in Manhattan making belts and buckles for soldiers. He lived in New York until the war ended. His mothers high school friend had a daughter - also a Colombia native - who she believed would get along nicely with Restrepo. The two later met in Paris and again in their home country, where they wed on Sept. 22, 1951. Lucretia Restrepo, 92, became a professional artist while the pair lived in New Orleans, where she had a gallery in the French Quarter, for 33 years. Her paintings included watercolor and pencil lithographs of vintage French Quarter scenes. After she sold her gallery, the pair began living in the Houston area, where they plan to stay in their Katy home. The Restrepos have three sons and a grandson. This month, the family plans on celebrating Lucretia Restrepos 93rd birthday. Ignacio Restrepo said he plans to somehow authenticate the photo through a historical agency. michelle.iracheta@chron.com Des soldats camerounais dans une rue de Bamenda, capitale de la region camerounaise anglophone du Nord-Ouest le 17 nove AFP/Archives/STRINGER According to the Human Rights Watch(HRW) group, Cameroonian authorities have denied the organisation access to its territory, to investigate growing acts of violence as reported in the North West and South West regions. The group on a report published this May 2 , states that governments action is an attempt to curb reports of abuse by security forces, but they will continue to document and publicise human rights violations in Cameroon. Phillipe Bolopion, deputy global advocacy director at HRW, said Denying entry to our researcher is a clear step back for Cameroon. The government is doing everything it can to keep the world in the dark about its ongoing abuses, but it wont succeed. They continued that officials at Douala international airport refused to allow Ilaria Allegrozzi, a Human Rights Watch senior researcher on Central Africa, to enter the country on April 12. Allegrozzi had received a three-month visa on March 25. Allegrozzi explained in her visa application that she planned to travel to the Anglophone regions of the country to conduct research for Human Rights Watch on abuses committed by both government and armed separatist forces, as well as the impact of the crisis on people with disabilities. Authorities in Douala are said to have given no explanation for Allegrozzi not to enter Cameroon. Despite several attempts to obtain explanations, Human Rights Watch says it has received has deceives no clarification from the government on the basis for its decision to block access. On April 10, Human Rights Watch published a short report on a deadly attack by soldiers, gendarmes, and members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) on the North-West region village of Meluf on April 4, killing five civilian men, including one with a mental disability, and wounding one woman. The government of Cameroon described the report as unfounded, accusing the organisation of false information Despite being a highly profitable business, CVS Health is closing stores nationwide, including two in the greater Houston area. Katy residents will have to find a new location when the location at 3080 S. Fry Road officially closes its doors. The store at 6945 Cypresswood Drive serving the Spring-Cypress area is also slated for closure. The Rhode Island-based retailer reported it is in the process of shuttering 46 stores it has deemed underperforming. The total number of closures represent fewer than 1% of the about 9,600 CVS Pharmacy stores nationwide. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: CVS beats all around and ups expectations Despite the closings, CVS is optimistic about its business. The company expects an operating profit of between $11.8 billion and $12 billion this year, according to its first-quarter report posted on Wednesday. In a news release, President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Merlo said: We generated strong first quarter results, providing positive momentum to start the year. Following the close of our Aetna acquisition in late November, our first full quarter of combined operations was a success in many ways. In the quarter we continued to advance our integration efforts while beginning to launch new innovations such as our HealthHUB concept stores. With our differentiated collection of health care assets we are uniquely positioned to lead the transformation of the U.S. health care system. We remain relentlessly focused on creating value for clients and customers while driving both near and longer-term returns for our shareholders. The company announced on April 25 that it would add teeth-alignment company SmileDirectClubs shops within its stores. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: CVS closes 46 stores, including two in Houston area CVS Health and SmileDirectClub are aligned in the mission to put the customer at the center of their care by providing easier access to more affordable, more convenient health solutions with proven outcomes, said Kevin Hourican, president of CVS Pharmacy and executive vice president of CVS Health. SmileShops at CVS Pharmacy support our dedication to enhancing the customer experience with innovative and convenient health and beauty solutions. For more information, go to https://cvshealth.com. rkent@hcnonline.com After cooking up some innovation, seven Walnut Bend Elementary School students are raising funds to compete in the 2019 Odyssey of the Mind World Finals later this month. The fourth and fifth graders learned they would be on the schools problem-solving team last fall, but the real work started in January when they returned from winter break. Since then, they have met for several hours each week, working and engineering. For the second year in a row, that hard work has paid off. On May 21, the students will travel to Michigan State University, where they will compete with some great problem-solvers from across the world and nation. They will present a specially designed structure and a present a performance they call Kitchen Carnival. Structure Toss requires that students use raw materials like balsa wood to build a structure that can hold up. The performance theme is carnival games, but the Walnut Bend students decided to create a carnival set in a kitchen with foods like Green Giant, Little Debbie and Lucky Charms that come to life as the cooks leave. Carnival games include a Strongman thermometer and a specially rigged pie-in-the-face setup. Its basically a carnival, but instead of having it outside at like a field or a park, its happening in a kitchen, fifth grader Brody said. And we did that because of lot of other teams would probably do a normal one. We tried to be more creative because thats what Odyssey of the Mind is all about. This year, the structure must hold up through a toss of 4, 7 or 10 feet. In the regional and state competitions, the structure did well from 10 feet, so the team plans to go for that maximum amount at the world finals to grab the most points. Designing a structure that would not break took a lot of trial and error though. It has to cross a bar and land on the other side without falling apart, and a lot of them did, Principal Michele Dahlquist. She said each year brings a new group of students onto the team with different strengths and qualities, but they ultimately pull together. We had some kids that were fifth graders last year that moved on to middle school, so bringing new personalities into the team is always an interesting, you know, journey along the way. Fourth grader Daniella said being on this years team has taught her a lot about working together with others, being quick-thinking and expanding her creativity. Each of the students agreed that Odyssey of the Mind helps them in their other classes, like being able to present in front of others. Students across the world can compete in Odyssey of the Mind through their college years. Elliot is a fifth grader and one of three students that will move on next year to a middle school that doesnt currently have a team. But he is excited that another student that has previously competed for Walnut Bend is already there, paving the way for a new middle school team. The Walnut Bend team hopes to raise $10,000 for their trip expenses through their GoFundMe account. Fifth grader Melyna said Houstonians should support the team to give kids a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It will be fun for them, and youll learn a lot from it. Last year, the schools team placed second at the world finals, beaten only by a team from China. Although the seven Walnut Bend students hope to come home with top honors in a few weeks, they are mostly relishing in the learning, experience and fun they are having. tracy.maness@hcnonline.com Up to 41.3 million Americans have already contracted the flu this season, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 500,000 people have been hospitalized because of the virus. Thousands of people have already died of the disease. But an end to flu seasons altogether may not be far off. Several research teams are working on the first universal vaccine, capable of fighting multiple strains of the virus. Such a treatment could effectively wipe out the disease. These researchers chief obstacle isnt science but politics. Some radical activists are pushing lawmakers to ban the use of animals in medical research like studies for a universal flu vaccine. Curbing animal research will consign countless people to preventable suffering and death. Flu season tends to elicit little more than a shrug from most people. But its surprisingly deadly. Each year, the influenza virus kills as many as 650,000 people worldwide. Last flu season, more than 900,000 Americans were hospitalized and 80,000 died the most in 40 years. The death toll would be far worse if not for medical advances made possible by animal research. Tamiflu, the first oral antiviral of its kind, was developed thanks to research in mice, dogs, rats, and ferrets. Scientists created the flu vaccine via research in chickens. The vaccines and treatments currently on the market dont provide total protection against influenza. There are many different strains of the virus, so its tough to predict which strains will be most prevalent in any given year. Thats problematic, because vaccines are manufactured months before flu season starts. If those vaccines dont match the virus strain thats circulating in a given year, people can fall ill despite having received their shots. Patients desperately need new and better treatment options. And thankfully, research in animals is yielding insights that could lead to universal flu vaccines. Consider the work of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. They are developing a universal vaccine. When they inoculated mice, rabbits, and ferrets with the experimental therapy, the animals antibody responses lasted for over 30 weeks long enough to be effective throughout flu season. The team intends to advance to human trials in the next two years. And then theres the research in llamas. Just a few months ago, a paper published in the journal Science posited that a nasal spray containing antibodies from llamas could be the key to universal flu prevention. Despite the promise of this research, many activists remain committed to ending animal trials. They believe that computer models and cell cultures are complete alternatives to animal research. But even the most powerful computers are insufficient to simulate all the chemical and biological processes at work in a living organism fighting a pathogen like the flu. Cell cultures cant capture all the other action going on inside a living body some of which may have an unforeseen impact on its effort to fight an invader like the influenza virus. Ferret models have yielded especially informative insights for researchers, since two of the most common flu strains in humans also naturally infect these animals. Within a decade, scientists could feasibly wipe out the all-too-common influenza virus, which kills hundreds of thousands of people each year as long as activists dont deprive them of the essential research. Matthew R. Bailey is president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research. courtesy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office A man is in custody after authorities say he caused injuries to a 5-year-old boys lower torso and genitals, leading the child to be hospitalized in critical condition. Jose Manuel Gonzales, 29, of New Caney, is being charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony. Gonzales girlfriends son was taken to the Kingwood Medical Center on April 19 with reportedly extensive injuries his mother and Gonzales said were from a bicycle accidentally running over the childs groin. The boy underwent lifesaving surgery at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston, according to a Montgomery County Sheriffs Office press release. With Lake Conroes boating season starting to gear up as warmer weather lures revelers to its waters and docks to gulp margaritas and down tequila shots this Cinco de Mayo weekend, Lt. Tim Cade of the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constables Office has safety tips for those taking to a boat. You plan ahead on the streets and in a boat, said Cade, who heads the precincts lake division that patrols Lake Conroe. He is reminding people the laws that apply to boating while intoxicated are the same as those for driving while intoxicated. Someone cannot operate a waterway vessel with a .08 blood alcohol content level or above, he said. As such, Cade is imploring those boating to have a designated captain, much like they would a designated driver. Somebody that can take charge of the boat, everybody on the boat and can handle the situation, whatever situation arises while youre out there, he said. While the rest of your party is drinking, that captains got to be able to handle all those situations. It just cant be a teenage kid with a whole bunch of drunk adults. Cade said a popular activity among visitors to Lake Conroes waters is to anchor their boat and spend hours of the day drinking, unworried about the dangers that come with manning a boat. He cautioned against such dismissive attitudes. Its a lot of fun just to hang out in the water in there and stay cool, Cade said. The problem is, as you drove there, so you must drive back. Basking in the sun while imbibing carries its own risks, Cade warned. Since many people are used to being home and drinking in their air-conditioned living rooms, Cade explained most may not realize the effects on their bodies. Dehydration is constant on a lake since it is not temperature controlled, he continued. That makes that alcohol hit you little bit harder, a little bit faster. And people dont realize that till its too late, Cade said. Out there in the sun, you just dont know how its going to affect you. Cade also encourages visitors keep their eyes peeled to what other boaters are doing to safeguard against dangers they may present. You constantly got to be watching everybody. Not just people in your party, but everybody around you, Cade said. I always tell people, keep your head on a swivel, all the way around. Keep watching everybody. Spanning 21,000 acres, Lake Conroe historically has been a lake with a significant fatal incident tally. As recently as five years ago, the lake was Texas deadliest, according to a Houston Chronicle review of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department data originating to the year 2000. Alcohol was a factor in many of the deaths, the Aug. 2, 2014 report stated. The lake patrol is currently fully staffed for the Cinco de Mayo weekend, which Cade cited as being on par with other busy Lake Conroe weekends. Though he said it did fall short of being a holiday rush weekend. Regardless, Cade pointed out the lake enjoys constant human activity since it is a popular recreational destination. This weekend, well be out there in force, Cade said, adding if someone on the lake wants to reach help, dial 911. That goes to the dispatch, dispatch goes directly to us. Thats the easiest, best way to do it. All people boating on Lake Conroe should check-mark five things. Cade said these include size-appropriate life jackets for all aboard, a readily accessible fire extinguisher, a horn or sound-producing device and a Type IV throwable personal flotation device. Finally, boaters need to keep a registration card for the vessel being operated. Cades simple six-word advice for Lake Conroe boaters this weekend and throughout the late spring and summer season: Be safe and just have fun. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx Theres something different on one Willis High School seniors report cards from Kindergarten through 12th grade: there is not a single absence or tardy. Willis High School Senior Macy Sproba, 17 will graduate in May with perfect attendance throughout her entire experience at the school district after setting the goal 10 years ago. Other students always ask me why I do it and how I do it, but it just kind of happened one day, she said. I was like, Im going to set a goal and never miss a day. Sproba, who has played volleyball for four years and is active in student council and the National Honor Society. She credits her fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Candy Savoy, who noticed her rare perfect attendance and encouraged her to go all the way through. She had never heard of it before, so she made me feel like I was original and doing something that no one else had done, Sproba said. 2019 REPORT: Houston high schools ranked as some of the best in the state, nation It was challenging at times. I had to get my wisdom teeth out over Thanksgiving break, so I couldnt eat Thanksgiving meal with my family, she said. I had to schedule vacation around school and dentist appointments and doctor appointments all had to be after school, so I just had to work around it. She had a few close calls. But, things just seemed to work out in her favor. Ive always been pretty healthy, Ive always gotten really lucky, so when I got sick it was usually on Saturday or during the summer so I was always ready to go to school, she said. She didnt give up. I had been doing it for so long I thought I might as well go all the way through, you know she laughed. Its a bitter sweet success. Im relieved, she said. But, its kind of sad, you know? Now I need to make another lifelong goal too. NEEDED UPGRADES: Willis ISD to build new administration building, considers new accelerated high school Considering her accomplishment, she offered a piece of advice to others about setting goals. I think if you have a goal you have to make a lot of sacrifices for it, so if you really want to achieve it you have to give up some stuff, she said. Her proud mother, Robin Sproba, serves on the school board and is only aware of one other student with lifetime perfect attendance, Mitchell Kight, in 2011. Willis ISD verified the accomplishment and Superintendent Tim Harkrider commended the soon-to-be graduate on her unusual success. Macy's accomplishment is incredible and a true testament to her dedication to be a great student, Harkrider said. She has been a great role model of having a goal and letting nothing get in the way of a dream. Macy Sproba is already working on setting her next goals to get through college, do her best at Texas A&M University, and live out her family tradition. She intends to study business, which she hopes will open doors for more experiences and opportunities. As far as setting a goal for perfect attendance in college: Oh, I dont know about that, she laughed. But, maybe. mellsworth@hcnonline.com 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. 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. 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. Harris County property owners who believe there is an error in the market value set by the appraisal district have until Wednesday, May 15 to protest the value of their property. Some property owners may not have received their value notice yet. If that is the case, they will still have 30 days to file their protest, and that later protest deadline will be printed on their value notice. A green protest form is included in the property value notice the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) is sending to each property owner. A Notice of Protest form may be downloaded from the districts web site at www.hcad.org under the FORMS heading. It is easily found under Popular Forms. The Notice of Protest is the second form on that list and is form number 41.44. Instructions for filing are located in the upper left corner of the Notice of Protest form. Protests may be filed online through the iFile system, brought to HCADs office at 13013 Northwest Freeway, or mailed to P.O. Box 922004, Houston, TX 77292-2004, but must be postmarked by May 15. Chief Appraiser Roland Altinger encouraged property owners to use HCADs online iFile system to submit their protest. The chief appraiser noted that unique iFile numbers are printed on the face of the 2019 value notices near the property account number in the upper right. For security reasons, the iFile system cannot be used for filing a protest without this iFile number unless the property owner has an existing electronic owners account. Owners who have misplaced their value notice can use HCADs free mobile app to quickly retrieve their iFile number by scanning their Texas drivers license. The name and address on the license must match the property address in the HCAD system. Homeowners who file their protest through the Internet using iFile may also have an opportunity to settle their value online with HCADs iSettle system. Property owners who have opted in to iSettle may choose to upload evidence through the owners website. Property owners will have five days to submit their documentation, such as a closing statement, deed or photos, electronically from the date they filed their protest electronically. Questions concerning iSettle may be directed to isettle@hcad.org. If a settlement through the online system isnt possible once HCAD makes an offer, the homeowner will be scheduled for a hearing with the Appraisal Review Board. A video explaining how to file an online protest and use the residential iSettle system is available on the districts website at www.hcad.org under the HELP heading. Texas law requires that property be appraised at its January 1 market value, Altinger said. The purpose of the appraisal is to allocate the tax burden fairly among all owners of taxable property. The actual amount of tax due is determined by the tax rate set in the fall by the governing body of each jurisdiction such as county, city, school district or MUD. The appraisal district has no involvement in the rate setting process. About HCAD The Harris County Appraisal District is a political subdivision of the State of Texas established in 1980 for the purpose of discovering and appraising property for ad valorem tax purposes for each taxing unit within the boundaries of the district. The district has approximately 1.8 million parcels of property to assess each year with a total market value of approximately $588 billion. The appraisal district in Harris County is the largest in Texas, serving approximately 500 taxing units, and one of the largest appraisal districts in the United States. For further information, visit www.hcad.org. See More Collapse Business personal property and some real property accounts may have later protest deadlines. If a later deadline applies to a particular account, the property owner will be mailed an official HCAD value notice on which the later protest deadline will be listed. If you have any questions concerning protesting your market value, please call the appraisal districts information center at 713.957.7800 or email help@hcad.org. Houston Community College and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, have announced nine HCC fashion design students and alumni as winners of Fashion Fusion, an annual runway and design competition. The event, which took place the evening of Thursday, April 25, is the fifth annual collaborative competition hosted by the two institutions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Student winners will receive scholarships to the Glassell School of Art, the teaching institute of the MFAH. The winners were selected among 24 finalists, all of whom were inspired by the exhibition Vincent Van Gogh: His Life in Art at the MFAH. Designers chose and were judged on four thematic categories from Van Goghs life: Inception, Awakening, Euphoria and Melancholy. Judges for the competition were Helga Aurisch, curator of European Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Ebele Iloanya, designer, MODChic; and Luisa Babarczy, an independent style editor and fashion consultant. The audience also had a chance to choose a winner in the competition. Students winning first place awards were Tu Trong, Inception; Shanda Phillips, Awakening; Nghi Nguyen, Euphoria; and Jade Gillen for Melancholy. First place alumni winners were David Valdez, Inception; Maria Hammond, Awakening; Mishelle Chayeb, Euphoria; and Inge Duran for Melancholy. In addition, student Regina Vigil was the Audience Choice winner. Fashion Fusion coincided with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), formally recognizing the partnership between HCC and the MFAH, which took place on Thursday, April 18, 2019. During that ceremony, HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado applauded the event as an ideal forum for the students creativity and design. We are so grateful to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for not only nurturing this passion year after year, but also offering each winner a scholarship, he said. We look forward to increasing our collaborative teaching and cultural activities. HCC Board Chair Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz introduced a video of the momentous occasion prior to the runway show. Student and alumni designs will be on display at the MFAH through May 12, 2019, before touring retail venues and libraries throughout Houston and Harris County. Service comes in many forms from volunteering in the community to being a member of organizations that save lives. Enter, Calvin Butch Mendel. This retired Senior Captain with the Houston Fire Department truly exemplifies the definition of service. On April 13, Calvin Mendel a member of the Masonic Lodge 106, of Willis received the coveted Golden Trowel Award. The award is given out annually to a fellow mason in recognition of his service to his lodge, fellow brothers, and within the community. It is the highest award a mason can receive, and is chosen by three past masters of the lodge. The Golden Trowel Award is the lodges formal recognition of a brother for his devoted service to his Masonic principals in general. It is intended for the brother who year after year, quietly, but actively demonstrates his devotion to the teachings of masonry without the recognition or special honors. Serving HFD as a Captain, Mendel also was tasked with overseeing the Houston Fire Department Museum at 2403 Milan and McIhenny which was Fire Station No. 7. The two-story fire station was built in 1898. The museum was established in 1980 and because of his craftsmanship and hard work, the museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Furthermore, Mendel was honored with the 100 Clubs Lifetime Achievement award, and is credited for creating and designing Bell-cuffs gloves that are used by firefighters as part of their turn out gear. Also, HFD started the Child Find program about 35 years ago. It is a sticker that could be placed on a childs bedroom that alerted firefighters that it might be a childs bedroom. The sticker depicts a firefighter holding a little girl in his arms. Mendel served as the model for the sticker. Mendels drive to help those around him, not only extend from his various leadership positions in HFD, but to his community as well. Mendel is not shy about help those in need. From helping to make repairs around the lodge, to preparing scrumptious meals for weekly meetings. He also takes time to visit fellow masons in the hospital and help take them to medical appointments. Butch also has supported and helped contributed substantially to our annual booster club scholarship fund which annually awards monetary scholarships to college bound graduating high school seniors. Longtime friemd and fellow firefighter, Chief Jay Evans (Ret.) laminated, Calvin Mendels work ethic was and is infectious and us young guys wanted to kept up and be like him. For more information on masons or how to become a mason visit the San Jacinto Lodge 106 at www.sanjacinto106.org or please give us a call at 936-856-2833 or we can be reached via e-mail sanjacinto.lodge@suddenlinkmail.com. Ayuk Tabe Archives Separatist Leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, has issued a document, dissolving the interim government of the so-called Ambazonian state, for incompetence. He regretted the fact that since the acting government took over , after their arrest, it unfortunately lost focus in their intended mission of actualising hopes to a restored independent state of Southern Cameroon, now called Ambazonia. He accused the caretaker government of Ambazonia of having ignited an in-house fight within the people of Southern Cameroon, which has greatly affected the revolution. While dissolving the caretaker government, he ordered that the government that constituted himself and voted in office on the 5th of January 2018, be restored and reactivated, while all changes that were made after their abduction be put on hold. He however, thanked the Acting President and other actors for their work done so far, and called on activists to direct their focus on raising awareness to the plight of the people of the Anglophone regions and the difficulties they go through in the hands of the military. He urged those at home to remain grounded and vigilant in their aspirations towards independence. Ayuk Tabe was President of the separatist movement in Anglophone Cameroon, until he was arrested along with 47 others at a hotel in Abuja, Nigeria. He was later deported to Cameroon, where he and others are facing terrorism charges, against the state of Cameroon. His incarceration led to the appointment of Dr Samuel Sako as Interim leader of the Ambazonia movement. Since these separatists were locked up at the Kondengui maximum security prison, there have been a lot of disagreements, power struggle between some activists. Many critics had condemned the acting president, for squandering funds raised to support the independence course, while those in the affected regions, suffer in vain. Decisions taken by the interim government have recently been very unpopular amongst fighters in the North West and South West regions, who often reject their decisions, implementing theirs. There are however doubts, if some of the activists residing in the diaspora, will respect this new development, from Kondengui. Good friends Cotton and Bea Rouse are proud grandparents. Grandson Cody, is graduating from Montgomery High School this month and planning on becoming a surgeon. Wow, what a goal. He is the son of computer whiz Nathans business is E-Volutions and located in downtown Montgomery. We have used him several times and highly recommend his services. In addition to Cody, grandson Johnathan, a junior at Montgomery High, is making great strides as well. He works for the Montgomery I.S.D. after school and helped install computer equipment last summer at the new high school and junior high. He will be going to Anaheim, California to compete in the Young Business completion. Good luck Johnathan and congratulations to Cody. A North Texas man sentenced to die for killing a 61-year-old woman during a 2010 crime spree is now scheduled for execution later this year. A Johnson County judge last month signed off on a Sept. 10 death date for Mark Anthony Soliz, who was sent to death row 7 years ago following a two-county string of violence. "I will fight this execution date with every legal tool in my kit," said Houston-based defense attorney Seth Kretzer, vowing to file another appeal and pursue a clemency request from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In June 2010, Soliz and his buddy Joe Ramos stole long guns and a 9-millimeter semiautomatic in a burglary, according to court records. For the next week, they robbed strangers at gunpoint, shot a man in the ear, killed the driver of a beer delivery truck, pulled off a carjacking, burglarized homes, and shot a man repeatedly in a drive-by. READ MORE: Federal judge grants Houston death row inmate Dexter Johnson a stay 2 days before execution Most of the crimes were in the Fort Worth area, but on June 29, Ramos and Soliz drove to the Johnson County home of Nancy Weatherly and knocked on her door, then pulled out a gun when she answered and pushed inside to rob her. Before leaving, according to state records, Soliz shot Weatherly in the back of the head. During trial, Soliz barely paid attention and sometimes fell asleep even as the jury heard how Weatherly begged for her life before she was killed, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported at the time. The jury also heard about Soliz's rough childhood, surrounded by drugs and poverty. He saw his aunt stabbed to death when he was young and started breaking into parking meters when he was 9 or 10. In the years since he was sent to death row, Soliz has filed appeals alleging bad lawyering and claiming his death sentence should be considered unconstitutional because he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. But the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his latest claims earlier this year, and he's now one of three Texas men with pending execution dates. Some strange things have been sighted along the banks of the Rio Grande. But a tiger? According to some viral photos, there might be one stalking the river banks. But local officials were quick to de-bunk the social media rumors. The Eagle Pass News Leader was the first U.S. newspaper to publish the photos of the feline frolicking along a reed-cover river bank. "They were circulating on social media in Mexico, and were published by a newspaper in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico," said Victor Wheeler, Editor in Chief of the News Leader. THE TEXAS TAKE: News on politics, immigration and elections delivered to your email. Sign up at HoustonChronicle.com. The social media posts claimed the photos were taken along the Rio Grande shores in Laredo. But officials there were quick to dispute the rumors. Laredo TV station KGNS reports, "According to several reliable sources including the Lamar Bruni Vergara Center and the Laredo Police Department, there have been no sightings or reports of a tiger in the areas related to the river." Wheeler says he spoke with a Texas Game Warden in the Laredo area who also doubts the photo was taken in that part of the river. "He says he is not familiar with any location along the river that looks like the angle that the photos were taken," said Wheeler. So why would anyone believe that a tiger could actually be prowling along the Rio Grande? Probably because it wouldn't be the first time one was found there. In fact, it was one year ago that U.S. Border Patrol agents confiscated a live tiger cub inside a duffel bag from three people attempting to cross the river, according to a Chron.com article. The cub found a home at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. RELATED: Wildlife refuge allowed to keep tiger seized from Houston home U.S. Border Patrol has made a litany of exotic animal seizures over the years, with smugglers attempting to constantly bring animals living and dead inside the country through border stops and airport terminals. "We have seen individuals in the past trying to smuggle exotic animals into the U.S. for the purpose of selling them and or keeping them as pets," Border Patrol spokesman Carlos Diaz told Chron.com. This story includes previous reporting by Craig Hlavaty. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. A grandfather was killed after a tow truck driver sped off with the man straddling his repossessed SUV Thursday morning in Chinatown, according to Houston police. Alberto Nduli, 68, was awoken to someone banging on his door saying that a wrecker driver was trying to tow away his vehicle shortly after 7 a.m., according to Nduli's sister-in-law Patricia Malewo. The man ran outside to confront the driver, believing the tow was a mistake since the vehicle was parked in his assigned spot at his apartment complex in the 7400 block of S. Gessner, Malewo said. MORNING REPORT: The day's news delivered to your email. Sign up at HoustonChronicle.com When he ran outside to try and stop the tow truck driver, he apparently jumped onto the SUV as it was attached to the wrecker, Houston Police Department Capt. K. J. Deese said. The wrecker driver reportedly gunned his engine, throwing Nduli off balance, family members told Chron.com. He fell hard to the street surface, receiving fatal injuries, Deese said. It is unclear if he was ever run over by either vehicle, although investigators are expecting an autopsy will shed light on the extent of his injuries, according to Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office Vehicular Crimes Division. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Police provide updates on baby boy shot in southwest Houston during road rage incident The tow truck driver sped off, dropping the repossessed SUV off at the tow truck's lot, Deese said. Hours later, the driver returned to the scene and was immediately placed in handcuffs. He will likely face a felony charge of failure to stop and render aid, which carries a 20-year sentence, if he is convicted. His identity was not immediately released. "He left the scene," Teare said. "By his own admissions prior to returning to the scene, he knew there was an altercation. He knew the owner of the vehicle was there and involved in a crash. Whether or not he knew that individual lost his life really is immaterial as to whether or not there's a failure to stop and render aid charge." The charge addresses whether someone 'knew' or 'should have known' someone was injured. "In this case, someone was more than injured. Tragically, someone lost their life over something that shouldn't have happened," said Teare. Malewo described Nduli as a Congolese native who has lived in the U.S. for two decades. She said he has seven children and several grandchildren. "It's emotional," Malewo said of her brother-in-law. "You're sleeping (next to) someone and they go outside to talk with a worker. Now, (he's dead) forever." Teare shared sympathy with family members, about a dozen of whom slowly made their way to the scene after learning of their loved one's death. "It's a traumatic process that these families have to go through as well," Teare said. The SUV in question will be towed into HPD's possession as evidence, Deese said. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message Field Marshall Facebook Lekeaka Oliver aka Field Marshal, leader of the Lebialem-based Red Dragons armed group fighting for the independence of a country they call Ambazonia, has released a new audio daring Cameroons Security and Defence Forces. The audio believed to have been recorded on April 30, 2019 warns against Labour Day and National Day celebrations. On December 31, 2018, the Cameroonian Army said it had killed Field Marshall Lekeaka Oliver in Lebialem though his death was quickly denied by the Interim Government of Ambazonia. He resurfaced in a video a week later, proving that reports of his death were indeed false. It is however not known when the said video was shot. Two months after, Cameroons Military insisted on social media that the leader of the Red Dragons had indeed died and was buried in Nigeria. A twitter and a Facebook account, Honneur et Fidelite Armee Camerounaise, announced on February 11, 2019 that Field Marshal died and was buried in Taraba State, Nigeria. The grave of late Oliver LEKE FONGUNUEH Field Marshal in Taraba state of Nigeria. He was attained fatally on the 27 of December 2018 during combat with the B.I.R after his position was sold out. He died in Taraba state of Nigeria where he was taken for treatment as requested by his witch doctor. Since then, a comic actor is paid to record his audios in Alapa old rold at Ikom, Nigeria( Sam arks studio), a post on the militarys Facebook page read on February 11, 2019. The above post was accompanied by two pictures one showing Field Marshal displaying guns and another showing a grave believed to be his. A similar post was put on twitter same day. But as many woke up on May 1 to celebrate Labour Day, an audio from the late Field Marshal went viral on social media. He claims to have recorded it on April 30, 2019, although voices could be heard correcting him when he erroneously said 30 October. Field Marshal in the audio claims to have inflicted pain on security forces across Lebialem recently, although images indicate the contrary. Self-styled separatist General Ayekeh of the Red Dragon is said to have been killed a month after similar news made rounds. A viral video shows the lifeless body of a man said to be General Ayekeh, and voices believed to be that of the countrys security and defence forces are heard declaring that Field Marshal will be next. This contradicts earlier military communications that the said Field Marshall had long been neutralised. This is Field Marshal of the Red Dragons. It has been long you heard from me. But Republique said Field Marshal had died. Field Marshal is still alive. Today the 30th April, I think Republique can testify to what happened today in Fontem Central This is to tell everyone that we do not know 20th May in our land and 1st May that they call Labour Day. We dont know such in Ambazonia LandNo chief or Fon should be seen in Lebialem with placards to march, the audio said. Pictures have however emerged showing pictures of Labour Day celebrations in Menji, Lebialem, despite the separatists ban. Future pre-kindergarten students at McNabb Elementary got up close to colorful art cars and had a story read to them as part of Spring ISDs push to encourage families to enroll their children. While the district hosts an annual enrollment period open every year, it also hosted its first pre-kindergarten round up on Monday for families and new students who will begin classes in the fall. Were trying to make it a little more inviting, a little more exciting for the kids and parents to come up and draw attention to registration, said Kerri Davis, director of pre-kindergarten. Inside of the school auditorium, children got to hear a story being read to them by author Cathy Nickell and just outside the door, they got to see two art cars up close. The children lined up around Paul McRaes car, which was covered in colorful wavy lines, which was inspired by Dr. Seuss book Oh, The Places Youll Go! Green and blue and other blue and pink and yellow, he said to the kids crowded around his car. Beside him, the kids also took a look at Kim Bainters art car, which was covered in foam and painted in pale pink to resemble a hairless cat. Bainter said she liked seeing the children react to her car. Its actually soft to the touch, she said. The districts elementary schools will be hosting similar events throughout the week as a way to increase the enrollment throughout the district. According to the Texas Education Agency, a total of 1,628 students are currently enrolled in pre-kindergarten, while 2,510 are in kindergarten in Spring ISD for the 2018-2019 school year. During the same weeklong enrollment period in 2018, the district had about 550 students enroll for pre-K. Some parents believe their children are too young to start school and offering events like the round up may convince reluctant parents to enroll their child, said Kim Fonteno, officer of school leadership. We need families to come in and register early because our focus is on early literacy, she said. Families who enroll children in pre-kindergarten help them get a head start on learning. Blanca Esparza arrived at McNabb Elementary to sign up her daughter Jimena Martinez, 3. Esparza said she was nervous about enrolling her son for pre-kindergarten in 2016 since she was unfamiliar with school. Now that her son is in first grade, signing up her daughter took her about 15 minutes. (I enrolled them) so theyd start to develop their abilities in writing and begin to learn letters and start to read, Esparza said. As Esparza completed the enrollment process, Martinez said she was ready for school to begin so that she could make friends. Currently, seven of the districts 18 elementary schools offer full-day pre-K classes. Students at the 11 remaining campuses, including McNabb Elementary, offer half-day classes for students. One has strengths in that youre with the student longer. You can go deeper. The other one has strengths because its an opportunity for us to get more students to be able to come to school, Fonteno said. Among the goals for students entering pre-kindergarten are for them to learn the alphabet along with numbers and know how to write, said Melissa Warford, McNabb Elementary principal. Our students, if they dont have those early literacy experiences when they go to pre-K, they have a more difficult time when theyre older students, she said. Families can also get a preview of school activities with a pre-K tour along with a list of activities to do over the summer so that children can get ready to become first-time students in the fall. Newly enrolled students who come from non-English speaking families can also take full day classes in June to prepare them for the upcoming school year. Immerse literacy is also the focus of summer school, said Davis. Miguel Mellado, a pre-K teacher at McNabb Elementary, teaches both the morning and afternoon classes on campus. He said he sees the ways his students grow as they gain self-esteem and learn throughout the year. They are sponges. They want to learn and they want to come to school. Its very important for the kids to (know) that school is something nice, he said. For more information on Spring ISDs pre-kindergarten enrollment, visit www.springisd.org/roundup. mayra.cruz@chron.com The Woodlands Childrens Museum offers an educational and hands-on experience, and one company headquartered in The Woodlands wants to make sure that all children have the chance to take part in the exhibits. Apergy, a provider of specially-engineered equipment and technology in the oil and gas industry, has partnered with the museum to support a new program titled Field Trips for All. The companys communications manager, John Breed, explained that the organization wanted to get involved in the community. Were approaching our one-year anniversary, and one of the very first things we did as a company was to find organizations that our employees can work with that impact the local community, Breed said. We didnt want it to just be transactional, and this affords opportunities for our own employees to volunteer, too. Through the companys gift of more than $20,000, the firm is helping to provide field trips for economically disadvantaged students who attend Title 1 schools in the area: beginning with the 18 Conroe ISD schools that have 40 percent or more of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch based on the federal income eligibility guidelines. Students in Head Start and Early Head Start preschool programs are also eligible. Its not the size of the gift, its the benefit to the community. This is an excellent investment, Breed said. Our focus (as a company) is how we can train up people who are problem-solvers. That fits perfectly with the mission of the museum, in opening up horizons beyond what you might find in the typical classroom. The field trip program has already begun, and will continue through at least the 2019-20 school year. There are two components offered for the eligible students. One is a two-hour in-museum field trip for younger kids and smaller groups where they have access to the exhibits, a custom activity based on what the kids are currently learning, and an art project. Jennifer Kraus, the museums sponsorship coordinator, said that Apergys gift will also cover the cost of transportation to the museum. The other choice is an in-school field trip for older children and larger groups, during which instructors visit classrooms at a school and bring all of their supplies with them, providing the museum experience right there. For example, the organizations executive director Angela Colton explained that each field trip taken to the students has a theme and students get to partake in a hands-on activity like making a clay pot. Its creating that memory, making a difference in their lives for the day. We try to expose them to different materials and supplies, make it tactile and visual, Colton said. That mission, Colton said, aligns great with Apergys mission. Both organizations are all about making a positive difference, so theyre excited to make these trips a reality for students who may not have the chance to visit the museum. Its really admirable, the passion that Apergy has for making a difference in the community. They also provide opportunities for their employees to volunteer and assist with these field trips. Its making a difference in corporate giving, Colton said. While the museum wants to eventually branch out to provide this program to other school districts, theyre working on arranging the field trips for the schools in Conroe ISD right now. They want to reach at least 1,000 students during the next year. jane.stueckemann@chron.com WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr's snub of House Democrats Thursday has triggered an all-out war between the White House and Congress, pushing the House closer to holding the nation's top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress and prompting Speaker Nancy Pelosi to liken President Donald Trump to President Richard M. Nixon. The almost daily confrontations between the two branches of government increase the pressure on Pelosi, D-Calif., to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump, a politically fraught move that she has resisted in the absence of strong public sentiment and bipartisan support. Many Democrats argue that the 2020 election is the best means to oust the president. But Democrats are infuriated with Barr, who refused to testify Thursday at the House Judiciary Committee's scheduled hearing on his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller III's report, and Trump's defiance in the face of multiple congressional requests for documents and witnesses. Democrats cast the administration's unwillingness to cooperate as a threat to democracy with far-reaching implications. "Ignoring subpoenas of Congress, not honoring subpoenas of Congress - that was Article III of the Nixon impeachment," Pelosi said of Trump in a private meeting with colleagues, according to notes taken by an individual present for the remarks. "This person has not only ignored subpoenas, he has said he's not going to honor any subpoenas. What more do we want?" Pelosi escalated her rhetoric this week as more Democrats press for tough steps to counter the president. Republicans have insisted that Democrats were simply intent on targeting Trump, unwilling to accept a lengthy investigation that found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. "I think the Democrats are substantially overreaching," said Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, one of the few House Republicans who have criticized Trump in the past. "The problem is they tried to convince the American people that he colluded with the Russians for the last two years and now we find out that's false. . . . And it's like, 'OK, we've got to save our bacon. We've got to find something!' And that's what they're doing." Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges Republican lawmakers also rebuffed the Democrats' argument that their moves were to safeguard the powers of Congress and that the GOP had a constitutional responsibility to join them. Trump's congressional allies - loath to say anything against him - rallied to his side instead. Appearing at a Washington Post Live event Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., essentially accused U.S. law enforcement of treason during the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. "Their actions are a coup," McCarthy said, suggesting anti-Trump bias influenced the origins of the probe. "I do not believe they were abiding by the rule of law." The tensions between the Trump administration and Congress could come to a head as early as next week, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said his panel will probably adopt a contempt citation against Barr unless he provides the full, unredacted Mueller report. Nadler had subpoenaed the document and imposed a Wednesday deadline. But Barr has refused to turn it over, with Justice Department officials arguing that the request "is not legitimate oversight." Barr also declined to testify Thursday, rejecting the Democrats' plans to have a counsel question him alongside lawmakers. Democrats cast the snub as more than one witness rebuffing a congressional committee, but rather a threat to democracy that would reverberate long after Trump left office. The president has vowed to "fight all the subpoenas" from Democrats, sued to block compliance by accounting firms and banks, and instructed former and current aides to ignore the repeated requests from Capitol Hill. "He's trying to render Congress inert as a separate and coequal branch of government," Nadler said. "If we don't stand up together, today, we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future." The contempt citation against Barr will set up a lengthy legal battle over the Mueller report, as Democrats take the matter to civil court. The issue could take months or years to resolve, as was the case in 2012 when the Republican-led House sued Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. over documents related to the "Fast and Furious" investigation. In 2012, the House also voted to hold Holder in contempt, the first sitting attorney general held in contempt of Congress. Capitalizing on Barr's refusal to show, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee held their hearing anyway in an event that featured all the trappings of a major hearing - TV cameras, armed security guards, lawmakers arrayed on the dais. But in the center of the room sat an empty witness chair behind a name plate for Barr. Minutes before it started, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., walked into the room carrying a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a plastic chicken. The clicks of cameras suddenly echoed throughout the room as watchers chuckled at his insinuation that Barr was too afraid to show up for questioning. Rep. Douglas Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, defended Barr. "I think yesterday he proved he's not terrified before anybody," said Collins, noting that Barr testified for about six hours in the Senate. Later in the day, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., mocked Cohen on the Senate floor for poking fun at Barr, displaying a photo of the congressman eating chicken. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders suggested Nadler should resign. "Look, we lost confidence in Jerry Nadler a long time ago," she said. But Democrats stuck to their argument that Barr didn't show because he was afraid of their questioning. "He didn't want to come to a chamber where the chairman isn't going to use his gavel to protect him the way that Senator Lindsey Graham did yesterday," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., referring to the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, before which Barr testified Wednesday. Democrats also accused Barr of making misleading statements to Congress. During congressional hearings last month, Barr said he was not aware of any concerns Mueller's team might have expressed about a four-page summary he wrote regarding Mueller's findings. That appeared to contradict a letter that surfaced this week in which Mueller wrote to Barr raising concerns that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his investigation. Barr's defiant testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday - combined with his decision not to appear before the House and to ignore a House subpoena - appeared to have made a strong impression on Pelosi, who told reporters that Barr "lied to Congress." "I really lost sleep last night," she said, describing viewing Barr's Senate testimony "over and over again." "How sad it is for us to see the top law enforcement officer in our country misrepresenting, withholding the truth from the Congress of the United States." Her comments brought a swift rebuke from Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, who in a statement said Pelosi's "baseless attack on the attorney general is reckless, irresponsible, and false." Although Pelosi was furious with Barr, she saved her sharpest attacks for Trump. At the private meeting, she unloaded: "I think I'm an expert on why he shouldn't be president of the United States. I think impeachment is too good for him. But one person knows more why he shouldn't be president of the United States, and that is Donald Trump. And he tells us every single day." The comments were a remarkable turnabout less than 48 hours after Pelosi visited the White House with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to discuss a potential infrastructure agreement. Both leaders left the White House beaming about the possibility of a $2 trillion deal and happily noted that Trump had not brought up the Democratic investigations into his campaign, administration, business and family. But Pelosi allies and those who know her well said she's getting sick of what Democrats call constant stonewalling from Trump officials. House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said "with each passing day we learn more and more about this administration that is deeply troubling" - and so it's natural for the speaker to become more upset with Trump, he said. "I know that Pelosi is someone who respects the institutions of our government and is horrified by what she's seeing unfold," McGovern said. Asked whether he was concerned that Pelosi might one day approve a plan to impeach the president, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo. - an impeachment skeptic who jokes that "I'm probably going to be the last holdout" against starting proceedings - said even he was getting frustrated. "I think everybody, including the speaker, is having to adjust to the tenor of the moment, and it keeps getting worse," he said. "I think she's just moving with the events. Barr has taken it to a whole new level and if it keeps going like this, it's going to be to the detriment of the president." - - - The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett contributed to this report. Facebook said Thursday that it has permanently banned several far-right and anti-Semitic figures and organizations, including Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Infowars host Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, for being "dangerous," a sign that the social network is more aggressively enforcing its hate-speech policies at a moment when bigoted violence is on the rise around the world. Facebook said it was going to remove the accounts, fan pages, and groups affiliated with these individuals on both Facebook and its sister site Instagram after it reevaluated the content that they had posted previously, or had examined their activities outside of Facebook, the company said. The removal also pertains to at least one of the organizations run by these people, Jones' Infowars. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive, and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today," Facebook said in a statement. The social network - which for years has resisted taking a more aggressive stance on extremism - is under massive pressure globally to curtail the ways in which its platform is used by hateful groups and individuals, most recently after massacres in Sri Lanka and New Zealand where the perpetrators used social media to spread their hateful messages. "The timing is never an accident," said Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, a liberal organization that has long advocated for more enforcement against white supremacy and is one of the groups Facebook briefed on the decision. "The reality is, people are getting killed. There are mass shootings and mass murders that are clearly being connected to ideas like white genocide, which are fueling radicalization. The conditions have changed. When you have these massive catalyzing moments that are connected to real-life consequences, it puts pressure on Facebook and others to look in the mirror." Alex Jones, speaking by phone from Austin, Texas, called Facebook's action "authoritarian" and said he learned about it by seeing a headline on the Drudge Report website. Facebook provided no direct notice, he said, and provided no evidence to him that he was "dangerous," as the company has alleged. "It's a bizarre political stunt, and they're trying to hide their censorship of conservatives by mixing in Louis Farrakhan," Jones said, referencing Farrakhan's longtime associations with the far left. He added, "I'm not really worried about me. I'm worried about how authoritarian this is. . . . I guess free speech in America is dangerous. It's comical." Yiannopoulos, in a text exchange with The Washington Post, said that efforts to squelch voices seen as extreme can lead to a broader crackdown on free expression. "Read Orwell," Yiannopoulos texted, invoking George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. "You're next." Facebook is also banning Paul Nehlen, who described himself as a "pro-White Christian Candidate" when he ran for Congress and was also kicked off the website Breitbart News site last year for ties to neo-Nazis and racist comments about Meghan Markle, and Paul Joseph Watson, a far-right YouTube personality and an editor of Infowars, according to the Infowars site. Facebook has previously imposed temporary bans on extremist figures including Jones and Yiannopoulos, another right-wing social media star. Twitter acted more quickly in permanently suspending Jones, Loomer and Nehlen. YouTube also has a ban of Jones and his Infowars channels. YouTube and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment. Facebook and its counterparts have until recently largely resisted permanent bans, holding that objectionable speech is permissible, so long as it doesn't bleed into hate. Facebook has also been wary of offending conservatives, who have become vocal about allegations that the company unfairly censors their speech. But Facebook has recently signaled that it is willing to take a stronger stance against white nationalism and white supremacy, in particular. In March, the company said it would begin banning posts, photos and other content that reference white nationalism and white separatism, revising its rules in response to criticism that a loophole had allowed racism to thrive on its platform. Previously, the company had only banned the term white supremacy. Governments around the world are pushing Facebook to take town bigoted and other harmful content more quickly - or risk being banned themselves. Facebook and other social media companies were blocked in Sri Lanka in the wake of a massacre at a Catholic Church on April 21, a response to government concern that social media could spread misinformation and further violence. The government of New Zealand is also weighing stricter enforcement of social media as a response to a mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch by a person who appeared to be influenced by white supremacist ideas and streamed the massacre live on Facebook. Meanwhile, Australia and the United Kingdom are considering steep penalties for social media companies that do not quickly remove and reduce the distribution of harmful material, including violent content that can spread bigoted messages. The company is also in the crosshairs of regulators over civil rights issues. Facebook has submitted to a civil rights audit over the last year and recently announced sweeping changes to its targeted advertising system after being sued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which argued that its software enabled discrimination. The other people who were banned did not respond to requests for comment. Facebook said it began to reexamine the extremist figures last year, and some of the activities and posts the company said it had reevaluated took place within the past one or two years. Facebook said it took the individuals' actions outside Facebook into account when making the decision to ban them. Jones, for example, recently hosted Gavin McInnes, the leader of the Proud Boys whom Facebook designated as a hate figure in December. Yiannopoulos publicly praised McInnes this year, and Loomer appeared with him at a rally. In other cases, the company reexamined long-held stances by some of the individuals. Farrakhan, Facebook said, referred to Jews as termites earlier this year, and called the religion "dirty" and its followers "liars, cheaters, and thieves." He has long held anti-Semitic views and has referred to Jews by negative terms for years, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti Defamation League, said Farrakhan has been a leading voice in spreading anti-Semitic ideas for more than 30 years and also has railed against white people and members of the LGBTQ community. "It's all pretty despicable," Greenblatt said. "His profile, his serial, congenital anti-Semitism, really puts him at the top of the ranks in terms of spreading these types of ideas." He called for greater transparency from Facebook after news of the bans. "It's an important step, yes, but the proof is in the pudding." The bans were welcomed by civil rights activists who have long argued that these individuals espouse violent and hateful views and that Silicon Valley companies should not allow their platforms to become a vehicle for spreading them. Madihha Ahussain, special counsel for anti-Muslim bigotry with the advocacy group Muslim Advocates, said that individuals like Loomer, Jones and Yiannopoulos have used social media platforms to broadcast dangerous hate speech and conspiracies targeting Muslims, Jews and others. "We applaud Facebook for taking this positive step toward removing hate actors from the company's platforms," she said. "As we saw in Christchurch, New Zealand - where a white nationalist was able to live-stream the slaughter of 50 people at two mosques - online platforms like Facebook have been used to target communities and spread hate." Paul Ayah Abine archives Barrister Ayah Paul Abine, one-time member of President Paul Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) has mocked at the National Commission on the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism (NCPBM) following recommendations from experts that the words "Anglophone" and "Francophone" should be banned and a "Ministry for Living Together and Multiculturalism" created. Taking to Facebook Monday, April 29, 2019, the former presidential candidate said Cameroon will cease to exist if the words "Anglophone" and "Francophone" are banned. "... It is inextricably entrenched in history that Camerouoon comprises two Camerou(oo)n: the one English of English expression, and the other of French expressions. They are often referred to, as ANGLOPHONES (English- speaking), and FRANCOPHONES (French-speaking) respectively. Calling for a Camerouoon without the two communities is calling for the end of Camerouoon the parting of the two entities," Ayah wrote. The former Supreme Court judge and ex-Member of Parliament said if the Members of the NCPBM were ever to present such a proposal to President Biya, the Head of State would be displeased. Though Ayah imagines that the proposals to ban the words 'Anglophone' and 'Francophone' came from Peter Mafany Musonge, President of the NCPBM, one of the commission's members, George Ngwane has since said the proposals were made by experts and resource persons and not a resolve by the commission. "That recommendation is really from the Resource Persons (RPs) who were invited to the colloquium. This and the other 61 recommendations proposed by the RPs don't necessarily reflect the views of he Commission. So, it is not yet a posted letter," Ngwane reacted to a post on the subject. Recommendations at the end of an NCPBM-organised colloquium on April 24 & 25, 2019 at the Yaounde Mont Febe Hotel were to the effect that the words Anglophone and Francophone be banished from Cameroon's territorial space and vocabulary. "The Government of Cameroon must ban the words 'Anglophone' and 'Francophone' from state vocabulary and from use within the national territory," one of the recommendations set to be sent for the appraisal of President Paul Biya read. The brains at the colloquium argued that the words Anglophone and Francophone are foreign but is the source of division today. They said citizens should first be identified as Cameroonians, not by foreign words that aim to split them. "Cameroonians are not native speakers of English and French, as such we should rather promote our national languages by teaching them in schools and speaking them in other public places," they argued. The crisis in the North West and South West regions that led to the creation of the National Commission on the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism seems to be getting little attention, if one were to look at the suffering of the indolent masses. Jean de Dieu Momo (a droite) Archives Jean de Dieu Momo, National President of "Les Patriotes Democrates pour le Developpement du Cameroun" (PADDEC) has said the recent European Parliament Resolution on Cameroon is borne of "allegations disseminated by a minority of Cameroonians, a handful of noisy and frustrated persons illegally residing outside our borders." In a statement dated April 30, 2019, Minister Delegate Momo condemned European Parliament Resolution 2019/2691(RSP) of April 18, 2019 relating to the socio-political climate in Cameroon. "The PADDEC is indignant and strongly condemns the allegations of human rights violations, bad governance and other lies conveyed by some members of the European Parliament on April 18, 2019, on Cameroon's security and political climate, and this on the basis of allegations broadcast by a minority of Cameroonians, " the opposition party leader said in a statement. "These individuals," the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Justice says, "are a handful of noisy individuals who are generally illegally resident outside our borders, frustrated by the deprivations caused by their removal from the country ... begin to portray President Paul Biya and our country in dark light, for the sole purpose of concocting imaginary stories of political repression or false homosexuality claims." To the Barrister-at-Law, these Cameroonians in the diaspora are "essentially inactive at the professional level (jobless)", and are the cause of the diplomatic pressure exerted by the international community on Cameroon. Jean De Dieu Momo goes on to praise the actions carried out by the President of the Republic to solve the crisis in the country's North West and South West regions, as well as other development changes. The European Parliament had condemned the 2014 anti-terrorism law as being misused to restrict fundamental freedoms and also called for the immediate release of opposition leader Maurice Kamto who emerged second in last year's presidential election but has since claimed he won. President Biya's government was also faulted for not taking appropriate steps to resolve the conflict in the country's North West and South West regions. Communication Minister, Rene Emmanuel Sadi had rubbished the claims. He said "the corporatist concerns raised some time ago by some unionists in the national education sector and by a group of Lawyers from the North West and South West Regions have found appropriate answers." Sadi had in his response to the European Parliament Resolution on Cameroon said: "Still within the framework of consolidating national unity and living together, the President of the Republic has set up forums and structures for inclusive participation in national life, at the forefront of which we have the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, which is now at work. "Other measures, not the least, were taken by the Head of State to create a climate of calm and appeasement, notably, the two orders to discontinue legal proceedings in favor of 55 and then 289 people prosecuted for highly punishable acts committed in the context of the crisis in the North West and South West regions." WASHINGTON - Republicans in Virginia will nominate candidates for some state and local offices Saturday in contests fueled by a backlash over one state delegate's vote for Medicaid expansion and a battle to replace Corey Stewart as board chairman in Prince William County. The outcomes of the nomination battles will influence the GOP's direction in the fall as the party seeks to hold its slim majority in the General Assembly and fend off strong challenges from Democrats in local races. Anger over last year's vote to make Medicaid coverage available to up to 400,000 more low-income Virginians has become a central issue in a district northeast of Richmond where Del. Chris Peace, R-Hanover County, is facing a challenge from Hanover County Supervisor Scott Wyatt. Peace supporters this week sought to cancel plans for a nominating convention Saturday at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville, looking to instead hold a firehouse primary election in June, which they said would draw a larger pool of voters. Tom Miller, the chairman of the local GOP legislative district committee, said the convention will go forward as planned, though it appears likely that the results will be contested by either side. On Thursday, Wyatt continued his attacks over Medicaid, posting on his Facebook page a list of campaign contributions to Peace from groups that supported the measure. "Del. Peace would have you believe he hasn't benefited from the Medicaid expansion vote, but contributions to his campaign says otherwise," the post reads. Peace, who was among 19 Republicans to vote for the law, has defended it as a conservative version of "Medicaid reform" since it also called for work requirements. But conservative critics say the mandate is unenforceable. Del. Bob Thomas, R-Stafford County, and Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County, are also facing challenges over the Medicaid issue, in primary elections that will be held in June. Among local nomination contests, the hottest battleground will be in Prince William County, where Stewart plans to step down from the office he's held for 13 years. A firehouse primary election will be held in county polling stations between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for Stewart's office, three district seats on the Board of Supervisors and a nominee to replace retiring longtime Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert, a Democrat. Republicans believe that their 6-2 majority on the county board is in jeopardy after a blue wave in 2017 that brought 15 new Democrats to the House of Delegates was centered largely in Prince William County. In the Republican nominating contest for the chairman's race, John Gray, a certified public accountant, is following Stewart's hard-line conservative playbook, casting the election as a referendum on "criminal aliens" in the county and a "radical social agenda" in local schools. Gray says his more moderate opponent, Supervisor Martin Nohe. R-Coles, would cave to pressure by Democrats to end a federal cooperation agreement that makes it easier for immigration agents to take into custody suspected undocumented immigrants arrested for local crimes. "If he is elected chairman, he will effectively allow Prince William County to become a sanctuary county," Gray said in an interview. Nohe, a board member since 2003, called his opponent's charges "wild-haired." "I have no desire to change it," he said about the immigration enforcement agreement. "I'm not sure where this claim is coming from." Nohe, who is also chairman of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, said he wants to position Prince William County to take advantage of the pending arrival of Amazon in northern Virginia by luring more high-tech companies. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Nohe also supports a county bond referendum to fund roads and parks that Gray opposes and that is expected to be put before voters in the fall. "We're already on the right track," Nohe said. But "we need to do everything we can to take advantage of these opportunities." Stewart said he is not endorsing either candidate and doesn't plan to weigh in on any of the other GOP nominations for supervisor. The candidates in those contests are: Supervisor Pete Candland and challenger Ray Mizener, a civil engineer, in the Gainesville district; realtor Patrick Sowers and county sheriff's Deputy Yesli Vega in the Coles District; and, in the Potomac District, businessman Doug Taggart and Davon Gray, a senior political director for the American Institute of Architects. Former Occoquan District supervisor Mike May is running against ex-County Prosecutor Tim Olmstead for the GOP nomination for Ebert's soon-to-be-vacant office as commonwealth's attorney. Democrats are mounting campaigns for every one of those seats, with June primaries scheduled for commonwealth's attorney, county sheriff and the Coles, Neabsco, Occoquan and Woodbridge seats. Stewart said he worries that his party won't be able to overcome a massive influx of money and volunteers that he expects to flow to the Democratic candidates - reflecting the same anti-GOP enthusiasm that he believes was a major factor in his 16-point loss to Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, during last year's midterm elections. "If that happens again this year, all Republicans are doomed in Prince William County," Stewart said. - - - The Washington Post's Laura Vozzella contributed to this report from Richmond, Virginia. Bishops W. Musa The Archbishop of Douala diocese, Mgr. Samuel Kleda is no longer the president of the Cameroon National Episcopal Conference. His mandate ended few days ago, and his successor will be voted this weekend, as catholic bishops converged in the nations capital for their general assembly. The next president of the episcopal conference is expected to come from Bamenda, Garoua or Yaounde. Sixty year old Bishop Samuel Kleda remains a household name especially in the North West and South West, as he bravely stood for the rights of the people, despite all attacks and threats on his life. Recently in Douala, after results of the 2018 presidential elections, he held a press conference, where he invited the government of Cameroon to revise its policies, and called on President Paul Biya to listen to the peoples call. He has on several occasions maintained that only inclusive dialogue could pave a way for peace in the Anglophone regions. The Catholic church in May 2018, condemned an attempt aimed at the residence of Archbishop Kleda last year, where shots were fired at his residence. In an interview with the clergy, and published on the 5th of December by French paper, La Nouvelle Expression, Mgr. Kleda urged Biya, who has been in power since 1982, not to run for a fifth term in October elections and accused the president's close aides of "seeking to protect their personal interests and retain their privileges." Mgr. Kleda in another outing on New Year's day at Douala cathedral, said society was being "paralyzed and destroyed by corruption at all levels," which had "plunged the country into moral and spiritual crisis. The Catholic Church in Cameroon has often expressed concerns over the continuous bloodshed ongoing in the Anglophone regions , and have on several outings called on both parties to end violence. The new Reiwa era begins. With the abdication ceremony, yesterday the 30-year reign of emperor Akihito ended. In his first speech, Naruhito outlines his hopes and pays tribute to his father's service. Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Naruhito is the new emperor of Japan. The 126th sovereign of the Rising Sun gave his first speech after ascending the throne this morning, expressing his "hope for happiness and peace in the world". His ascension was formalized earlier, in a ceremony that saw him inherit the imperial treasures. A new imperial era called Reiwa - which means "beautiful harmony" - has begun and will last throughout his reign. Naruhito's father, the 85-year-old Akihito, became the first Japanese emperor to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne in over 200 years. In 2016, Akihito stated that he was no longer able to fulfill his role due to the age and decline of his health. With the austere and brief ceremony of the Taiirei-Seiden-nogi, the Heisei era and the 30-year reign of the one who is now "emeritus emperor" ended yesterday afternoon. In a short speech delivered in the Imperial Palace, Emperor Naruhito said he hoped "for the happiness of the people ... the progress of the country and peace in the world". Naruhito, 59, also expressed gratitude towards his father, in a moved voice when he talked about Akihito's service to the nation. "[He] performed each of his duties in earnest for more than 30 years," he said. "He showed profound compassion through his own bearing. I would like to express my heartfelt respect and appreciation." Naruhito, 59, became emperor at midnight today and took part in a ceremony this morning to formalize his ascension to the throne. The Kenji-to-Shokei-no-gi - or ceremony to inherit the regalia and Imperial seals - started at 10.15 am local time. The women of the royal family were not admitted. Not even the empress Masako, wife of Naruhito, was present. During the function, the emperor received two objects: a sword and a gem. They are handed down by generations of emperors and are considered the symbols of their power. The royal women were allowed to participate in the second part of the ceremony, when Naruhito granted his first audience after he had ascended the throne. A cigarette is to blame for a "belligerent" house fire in Houston's Heights on Thursday. Houston firefighters were called to the fire in the 1100 block of Waverly, just north of 11th Street, around 2:30 p.m. When they arrived, firefighters found heavy flames coming out of both the left and right sides of the house, according to Houston Fire Department District Chief Dennis Fisher. "Firefighters made an aggressive interior attack with hand lines," Fisher said. "They got the fire knocked down." HPD: Grandfather killed after confronting repo tow truck driver in southwest Houston Firefighters initially had trouble fighting the fire, Fisher said, because of the location of the flames. "It was a little belligerent," Fisher said. "We had fire in the walls and in the roof space, but they finally got it knocked down." HFD arson investigators are working to determine the official cause of the blaze, but Fisher said the homeowner blamed an improperly discarded cigarette. No injuries were reported, Fisher said. More Information Cigarette to blame for house fire in Houston's Heights See More Collapse 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 $650,000 contract to boost outreach in hopes of limiting an undercount of Houstons population during the 2020 Census sparked a feisty debate around the city council table Wednesday, with some members contending the taxpayer-funded contract would pay for itself in the form of federal aid while others argued against the expenditure amid an ongoing budget crunch and the possible layoff of hundreds of employees to meet the requirements of Proposition B. At issue was a deal that would require Lopez Negrete Communications, a Houston-based agency focused on Hispanic marketing, to achieve the maximum outreach and response possible for the 2020 Census. Two council members tagged the measure, delaying a vote on the contract for a week. The contract covers the first phase of a plan to count every single soul in our city, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday. A second phase would bring the total cost to about $1.6 million if it receives council approval during the next fiscal year. Some council members balked at the cost, as well as the timing of the contract. More than 200 Houston firefighters received 60-day layoff notices Tuesday to partially offset the cost of raises mandated by Prop B, the voter-approved charter amendment that requires the city to pay firefighters the same as police of corresponding rank and seniority. The Turner administration has estimated the cost of fully implementing Prop B at $80 million a year. The city already has issued layoff notices to 111 fire cadets and municipal employees. District D Councilman Dwight Boykins, an ally of the Houston fire union, took issue with the contract funding coming out of the citys general fund, the same pot of money used to pay firefighters and a host of other city services. He floated the idea of a private fundraising campaign to underwrite census outreach instead. "I just think we're putting our priorities in the wrong spot, mayor, Boykins said. ... Every week, it has to come out of the general fund because of some explanation, but we're steadily laying people off. Turner and several other council members argued that the contract would save the city far more than the cost of the contract because census data determine how the federal government distributes funds to cities and other local communities. "It's so critical for places like Houston because we have so many people who are likely to be undercounted, said Stephen Klineberg, founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. And that has everything to do with how much money we get from the federal government to meet their local needs." A slow population growth estimate by Census Bureau created a $17 million hole in the city budget in 2018. In 2006, 2008 and 2010, however, Houston successfully appealed its population counts, adding as much as 3 percent to the total in 2010. The mayor said each uncounted person would cost the city about $1,500 in federal funding, ticking off a list of services education, infrastructure, flood control the census count would impact. Census data also determine how many seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. A few council members who backed the contract also noted the Trump administration intends to ask census respondents whether they are U.S. citizens, a query critics say would dissuade immigrants from participating, potentially leading to an inaccurate count. Trump administration officials say the question would allow the Justice Department to better enforce the Voting Rights Act by providing more detailed citizenship data. Even without a citizenship question, Klineberg said, it has proven difficult in prior census counts to get underserved minorities and immigrants to respond. "'I'm from the government and I'm here to help you, you can trust me' is not a message that most immigrants are prone to believe," he said. Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Cohen suggested the prospect of a citizenship question which the Supreme Court currently is reviewing adds urgency to the citys census outreach efforts. The question would make it extraordinarily difficult to get people to fill it out, she said. And consequently, were going to suffer, Cohen continued. I dont know what the numbers are, but I would venture a guess that the investment made with Lopez (Negrete) now will have multiple benefits for us. Councilman Robert Gallegos, whose District I in southeast Houston has a population that is 82 percent Hispanic according to 2017 data, bristled at Boykins for mentioning firefighter and municipal layoffs during the contract discussion. I'm ashamed that you'd even try to relate this to Prop B, he said to Boykins, who later apologized to Gallegos. In the end, Gallegos tagged the item, saying he had not yet met with the citys planning department to discuss the contract. Boykins also tagged the contract. At-Large Councilman Mike Knox, meanwhile, questioned why the first stage of the contract would be devoted largely to preparation and strategy, or developing strategy. Knox also noted the potential $1.6 million value of the full contract, a number not listed on a memo attached to the agenda. When Turner told Knox he could vote for the contract Wednesday but still oppose the second phase next fiscal year, the councilman replied, Honestly, mayor, how can we vote on Phase I and not vote for it on Phase II? jasper.scherer@chron.com A documented gang member has been charged in the shooting death of a teenager at a southeast Houston apartment complex three years ago. Terrell Davis, 21, was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder in the death of Jason Holiday, who was at a party when he was shot and killed June 13, 2016. Houston police released more details about the baby who was shot during an apparent road-rage incident Wednesday in southwest Houston. The boy, who is 18 months old, was riding in the backseat of his 20-year-old father's car when his father rear-ended another vehicle near Braeswood and Bissonnet around 1 p.m., Houston police said. The driver in the car the father hit got out and pointed a pistol at the car occupied by the young boy, so the father sped away, police said. MORNING UPDATES: Get all the news you need to know to start your day, delivered in Houston That's when the gunman opened fire toward the fleeing car, striking the baby in the back, police said. 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 son, witnesses told Chron.com. A nurse inside the gas station helped render aid to the baby 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. HPD INVESTIGATIONS: Grandfather killed after confronting wrecker driver towing his car in southwest Houston "For being shot, I would think the baby would be hysterical," he said. "But the baby was calm." Paramedics rushed him to Texas Children's Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, police said. Detectives said they didn't have any information about the suspect or his vehicle. 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 Houston police officers are searching for an armed suspect in the city's northeast side after a shooting Thursday morning. Paramedics were called to the 5000 block of Lyons Street after the reported shooting. Police officers on scene told Chron.com that one person had been shot, and officers were searching for an armed suspect in the area. Thursday, May 2, 2019 at 10:32AM Embed from Getty Images While Qualcomm is making it clear it wont dramatically improve its fortunes, the amount of money the company is getting from its settlement with Apple isnt something to scoff at. Qualcomm estimates itll pull in revenue thats between US$4.5 billion and $4.7 billion from the settlement in the third quarter of this year. This will include both the one-time payment from Apple as well as elimination of obligations. On top of that, Qualcomm estimates it would make $4.7 billion to $5.7 billion in revenue in the next quarter. Patent licenses, which include Apples, will produce around $1.23 billion worth of revenue for the company. It isnt clear how much itll cost Apple to pay ongoing fees but that should be more evident once Apple starts using Qualcomm chips again. Source: Engadget The demand for cobalt far out paces its production. Lithium cobalt oxide cathodes consist of 60% cobalt and offer unbeatable energy density. For the Dominican Republic of the Congo (DRC), cobalt is a global political pawn. Manufacturers of rechargeable Lithium-ion battery storage or manufacturers requiring these batteries are locking in cobalt delivery now for the long-term to take advantage of the current dip in the cobalt market. Limits of available cobalt may cause hording or price increases; therefore reduced digital-device and electric-vehicle release speeds and speed for adoption. Precarious and precious cobalt landscape Switzerlands Glencore with $58 billion in market share is the worlds largest commodity producer with mines in 50 countries and the prime cobalt producer in the DRC. Composites of cobalt can be coupled with other mineral deposits when they come out of the ground. The DRC has a limit on uranium exports that prevents some composites of uranium with cobalt ore being exported. Glencores construction of an ion exchange plant would remove uranium from the ore thus allowing more cobalt supply availability for export. Unsuccessfully trying to manipulate and control its most prize commodity, the DRC Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu Labilo, directed Glencore to suspend construction of its $25 million ion exchange plant and in a fit of insanity, ordered suspension of all cobalt concentrate exports. Thankfully, he came to some sense and retracted his last order the very next day. Cutting out the political middleman, Apple is reportedly negotiating and signing agreements directly with mining companies like Glencore who counts Apple as their top customer. While the cobalt market is down, Apple is looking to shore up sustainable delivery now while the price is right to improve on-time delivery and bypass current and future DRC political issues. Apple has decided to forego its moral outrage over the use and abuse of child labor in the DRC mines in favor of the bottom-line. In fairness, Apples thought may be to exact more influence through direct contracts with Glencore and other DRC mines for worker condition improvement. If I were Apple, that is what I would do. Seems doubtful though because both Taiwans and Mainland Chinas infamous Foxconn facilities manufacture and assemble the majority of the iPhone parts truly defined by the label Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China. China has long been criticized for its treatment of its people and been criticized for more human rights violations than one can count. Back in 2010, as many as 18 Chinese Foxconn employees suicides drew global media attention. In the Trump administrations attempt to bring back manufacturing jobs from China to the US, a Foxconn Wisconsin tax incentive plan viewed as the largest in US history, was signed, sealed and deliveredor so everyone thought. In exchange for more than $4.5 billion in government incentives, Foxconn promised to supply a high-tech manufacturing hub paying as much as $23 per hour to a possible 13,000 as early as 2022. Unfortunately, so far, the Wisconsin plants starting pay was $14 an hour with no benefits and only part-time, temps and interns have been hired from a local technical college. Last year, at Foxconn China, it was reported that Foxconn workers made an average of less than $400.00 per month. Why would the Chinese pay US wages? Was China looking for US cooperation with a better US trade agreement? Gigafactories for lithium-ion online by 2028 Chinas Tenke Fungurume mine also located in the DRC contributes almost exclusively to Chinas electric vehicles growth. Chinas Molybdenum worth $12.4 billion and third in market share is the majority holder. Tenke Fungurume has one of the largest cobalt deposits in the world. Many European and Asian manufacturers in need of Lithium-ion batteries are turning to China for cheap refined cobalt. Owning your complete supply chain from cradle to delivery creates production efficiency and cost control. By owning Tenke Fungurume in the DRC, China can control the global supply for Lithium-ion battery storage therefore dominating the digital-device and electric-vehicle market. BYD Co., a Chinese company, is constructing what some are saying is the worlds largest vehicle-battery factory next year in China. Tesla, partnered with Panasonic, holding this prestigious honor in 2018 producing 22GWh and located in Nevada. Tesla was said to have begun the Lithium-Ion battery swell. With the absence of any other proven battery storage technology, the race is on. Of the top 10 Gigafactories in production, most are located in China. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence early 2019, the number of Lithium-ion Gigafactories to be online by 2028 surged from 22 to 68. Quality and efficiency exceed quantity so say the top electric-vehicle manufacturers. Those plants forecasting expansion plans along with providing predictive quality assurance and product delivery have taken center stage. Can manufacturers expectations be realized? Does cheap labor mean poor quality? So what does all of this mean to you and me? The Chinese power structures including the Chinese Government who control the money typically cut prices and hoard supply to gain control over markets. China can treat their workers however and pay whatever they choose. For many years China has been willing to buy and hoard materials to dry up supply and manipulate the global supply market; dominating markets at all costs therefore eliminating and sometimes crippling economic growth of their competitors, the US being one. Early spring of 2008 before Black December, the US downturn, China bought as much scrap steel they could find and hoarded it. Scrap steel is a major source of construction and parts in vehicles among a thousand other things. Cobalt is a major mineral in Lithium-ion battery storage needed for powering digital-devices and electric-vehicles. Remember the mortgage industry debacle. China took market advantage through their power to buy in anticipation of the downturn, hoping to cripple the US economy. Trumps trade policy of additional tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods is only one US strategic move to help slow down China. As of 2019, economists state China is the number one economy over the US. The US is losing economically to China as they dominate supply and demand. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is backing Joseph Biden for president but why? According to the governor, he believes in Biden because he can beat Trump and can actually get something done. Among the other possible reasons? Similar political views, to get a post in a Biden White House, to help New York should Biden become president, and without running for president himself to stay relevant on the national stage. In a City & State online poll this week, many of our readers suspected that all of the above factors are at play. A majority also said Cuomo made the right move in getting behind Biden early, while nearly half said the best post for Cuomo in a Biden administration would be U.S. attorney general. Now, were turning to the experts. In this weeks Ask the Experts feature, we reached out to Thomas Doherty, a partner at Mercury Public Affairs; Bruce Fisher, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at SUNY Buffalo State; Justin Lapatine, a partner at Global Strategy Group; Ken Lovett, vice president of communications and Albany director for Metropolitan Public Strategies; and Jeanne Zaino, a political science professor at Iona College. Heres what they had to say. Why is Gov. Andrew Cuomo backing Joseph Biden? Ken Lovett: The governor not only has been a longtime ally of Biden, who as vice president and after has appeared frequently with Cuomo, but sees him as the same type of centrist Democrat he believes is needed to win. Cuomo doesnt believe a hard leftist can win. He sees the progressive left as talkers, not doers. He had tried to paint Biden the same way he portrays himself, a progressive who gets things done. Its also not a coincidence that Biden practices the same kind of old-school politics with which Cuomo is most comfortable. They are not from the same generation, but they are close. And though shes from his own state, Cuomo has never had a particularly close relationship with Kirsten Gillibrand. Lastly, Biden represents Cuomos best chance of all the candidates of getting a cabinet post if he wants an out as governor. Jeanne Zaino: Governor Cuomo recently published an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he asked 35 questions about this election season. Questions 20 and 21 reflect recent comments made by Joe Biden's former boss, as well as Cuomo's own thinking ("when did the political left become an enemy of the political left and the Democratic Party become a circular firing squad?"). This isn't surprising after the challenges the governor has faced from the progressive left in New York, particularly in the last two elections, and it explains in large part why he is backing Biden he believes he represents the big tent. Bruce Fisher: Cuomo's strong gestures toward Biden go back at least a year. It's not just their personal ties, it's their political histories: These are two mainstream Democrats who have advanced policies usually identified with the progressive wing, getting way forward on $15 minimum wage, family leave and gay marriage, without alienating business or talking down to the middle class. Justin Lapatine: There is a ton of mutual respect and admiration between the two, so I dont think its a surprise at all. And I think the governor sees Biden as his kind of pragmatic progressive and the candidate with the best chance we have of beating Trump. Thomas Doherty: Cuomos endorsement of Bidens Presidential run certainly starts with a longtime personal relationship. I sense that friendship extended to Bidens son Beau who served as Delawares attorney general during the time Cuomo held the same position in New York. Dating back to 2015, Cuomo encouraged Biden to enter the 2016 race. On multiple occasions they have appeared together at various government and political events. I also think Cuomo must feel that Bidens center left political agenda has the best chance to beat Trump. What impact will Cuomos support have? Jeanne Zaino: Biden and Cuomo are adhering to something that some people say may be a thing of the past the idea that in this new age of social media, big-name endorsements still matter. That remains to be seen, as does the related question of whether in this environment they can sometimes backfire? Bruce Fisher: New York matters. The Biden campaign is reaching out already to Cuomo's network here, both for fundraising and for campaign help. Early on, Cuomo's donors are getting the message: Biden is the way to go. Justin Lapatine: The governor can certainly help Biden fundraise. The vice president is off to a good start but will need all the help he can get. If the governor pushes his donors to support the VP, it will have a significant impact. As a surrogate, the governor will have no problem going after Trump and making the case for a Biden presidency. Finally, while I dont think elected endorsements carry much weight with voters, governors are certainly the most prized, especially as it is highly likely that the field will still be very full by the time New York votes. Thomas Doherty: You can never underestimate the political muscle of a sitting governor, certainly not in a state like New York. In a delegate-rich state, Cuomo controls the political apparatus and that will be an immense help to Biden. This will be particularly true in what already is an enormous Democrat field. Just as important will be Bidens ability to tap into a very large and organized fundraising operation. Ken Lovett: Limited impact. Obviously, it could help most in New York, though not if there is a strong progressive primary turnout. Cuomo would argue that his primary last year shows that while the progressives may talk the loudest, they represent more the vocal minority among New York Democrats. While Cuomos favorability rating is not strong, suggesting it would be hard for him personally to move the electorate in the state to Biden, he does control the party apparatus, which if it gets involved for Biden could be a big help. And certainly, if he sets his vast fundraising network in play for Biden, that, too, would help. But even there, Biden is a national figure who should have little problem raising money on his own. Cuomo could potentially have some impact as a surrogate in a state like Florida, where his fathers name may still hold some sway with older New York expatriates. But its questionable how well hed play elsewhere. If Cuomo were to get a post in a Biden White House, what would be the best fit? Justin Lapatine: Infrastructure czar, what else? Thomas Doherty: While vice president doesnt seem like an option, in large part due to the Democrats intent on having a minority or woman on the ticket, it certainly cant be completely ruled out this early. Due to the power associated with the office of New York governor, it does limit administration posts which may interest Cuomo. While secretary of state would hold the gravitas needed, Cuomo doesnt have any international experience. The most senior position would seem to be attorney general. Personally I wouldnt rule out White House chief of staff. Its a position which requires a close personal relationship, as well as an ability to understand and carry out both the legislative and political agendas of the president. Ken Lovett: While its more likely hell run for a fourth term than return to Washington for a cabinet post, perhaps hed be enticed if Biden asked him to be chief of staff, attorney general or homeland security secretary. Having been a HUD secretary, Cuomo in the past has had a been there, done that attitude when asked about potential roles in the White House. But a high-profile role might be enough to entice him to give up thoughts of a fourth term and dealing with an increasingly hostile state Legislature. Jeanne Zaino: I suspect we would see him in line for attorney general or transportation secretary. Although it might be fascinating to finally see a Cuomo nomination to the Supreme Court. Bruce Fisher: Cuomo has already been HUD secretary. He wants to be president. Cuomo's portfolio needs a foreign policy item. The route to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may be through Turtle Bay as President Biden's UN ambassador. Short commute. A.O. PRIMARIA MEA este in cautare de o companie IT sau de un intreprinzator individual pentru crearea si dezvoltarea unei pagini web a organizatiei Courageous journalists have received lots of attention lately, with a Pulitzer Prize going to two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar, Congress rallying for accountability in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and Time magazine naming Philippine reporter Maria Ressa and other brave journalists people of the year. With the UN designated World Press Freedom Day on May 3, these celebrations will kick into high gear. Standing up for the these brave journalists is uplifting. It galvanizes the profession and inspires the public. But defending press freedom is different. Its also much harder. RELATED: The year 2018 in press freedom: Attacks, arrests, and more It involves defending the rights of journalists with whom we may disagree; or even journalists who may have behaved unethically. It means defending a principle that we value in the abstract, but can lead to serious negative consequences in the real world. Over the years at CPJ, weve defended the rights of journalists who engage in speech we view as abhorrent; weve defended journalists who express sympathy for political groups that are engaged in violence, or even terrorism; weve defended the rights of journalists who have been negligent, compromised, and corrupt. For example, we haved called on governments to deliver justice for journalists we suspect were killed by one criminal organization for taking a bribe from another. Sign up for CJR 's daily email I am gratified when the people in the United States and around the world stand up for the rights of journalists they admire. But I worry too few are willing to stand up for the value of a free press more broadly. We are constantly reminded of the very real and very serious consequences for free speech online, which makes possible government-run information operations; the promulgation of hate speech; mass harassment and trolling; and the sharing of propaganda and violent content by extremist and terrorist groups. There are often short-term benefitsterrible speech is suppressed. But let us be mindful of the long-term consequences So in honor of World Press Freedom Day lets consider what is at stake. Regulating, controlling, and managing the harmful effects of speech means ceding authority to governments and corporations who may, of course, abuse their power. There are often short-term benefitsterrible speech is suppressed. But let us be mindful of the long-term consequences: censorship and the suppression of critical speech, including journalism. Three recent examples highlight the tradeoffs: Following the recent terror attacks in Sri Lanka which left over the 350 dead, the government blocked access to popular social media sites nationwide. It justified its action as necessary to stem the spread of false news that could trigger additional violence. The shut down was supported by many, ranging from local Sri Lankan journalists to New York Times columnist Kara Swisher. One can recognize their concerns, but also wonder whether the real reason the Sri Lankan government shutdown social media networks was to censor coverage of its own ineptitude and dysfunction. More ominously, governments are increasingly shutting down social media in times of crisis, imposing sweeping censorship at times when people are desperate for information. Each day we learn more about generally loathsome behavior of Julian Assange. The latest revelation comes via the Mueller report, which alleges Assange offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the murder or Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich, and implying that Rich was murdered in retaliation for the leaking of DNC emails to WikiLeaks. In fact, Rich was killed in a robbery and WikiLeaks received the documents via a Russian government cutout, an invented hacker dubbed Guccifer 2.0. None of this changes the fact that the extradition and prosecution of Assange could have far-reaching implications for press freedom . If Assange is prosecuted for publishing informationwhich remains a distinct possibilityit could set a legal precedent that would apply to all journalists everywhere in the world who publish classified information. Following the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand which left 50 Muslim worshippers dead, social media companies worked together to scrub the Internet of the live video the killer posted of the attack. (They were not entirely successful; the video is still widely available on the deep web.) The companies had a clear responsibility to remove the video, which was done to thwart the terrorizing impact of a heinous crime. But it is worth pausing to consider how much power we are putting in the hands of social media companies to curb speech, and to also consider how much pressure these companies feel in the current environment to aggressively do so. YouTube for example has taken down footage documenting war crimes in Syria while Facebook removed the historic photograph of a naked Vietnamese girl fleeing a napalm attack because it violated their nudity standards. Last year, in a speech at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think tank, I argued that the polarizing impact of free speech supercharged by technology on a global level can be frightening. But this is not the time to compromise on press freedom. We need to stand firm. This World Press Freedom Day, Ill be celebrating the amazing journalists who embody the best of our profession. But Ill also be standing up for the broad principle that makes their work possible. 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 Joel Simon is the outgoing executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which he led for fifteen years. A regular contributor to the Columbia Journalism Review, he has also been published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, and the Wall Street Journal. Broken: Wired magazine writer Issie Lapowsky said that the F8 launch was all about privacy, but that a lot of the changes felt to her like slapping a fresh coat of paint on a building with rot in the foundation. Facebooks CEO once said the company would move fast and break things, but now it is trying to fix the things it broke, she wrote. Redesign: In addition to the privacy features, Facebook also announced a redesign of its site and apps, which puts groups that a user belongs to front and center. It also puts the main News Feed, and the news stories that are shared, further down the page. Whether that will affect traffic to news sites remains to be seen. Predator: For Axios, veteran tech writer Scott Rosenberg wrote that when Facebook moved away from privacy a decade ago, it planted a field of landmines that started exploding over the last two years. The technology scaled, but the social system didnt, Rosenberg says, and Facebook changed from a protector of privacy into a predator. Tracking: The future may be private, but Facebook didnt say anything about turning off the geolocation feature that tracks you wherever you go, even if you arent using the app. And the company also launched something called Secret Crush, which asks you to identify people in your network you might want to date. Magazine giant Conde Nast says the future is video, according to a promotional event put on by the company. The publisher says it has commissioned more than 175 shows from all of its titles, including GQ and Vanity Fair. In one, legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour responds to questions from readers. The companys chief revenue officer said Were the new Thursday night, and were always on. The publication of an anti-Semitic cartoon in the international edition of The New York Times continues to be a source of tension at the newspaper, says CNN. In interviews, more than a dozen Times staffers described a short-staffed international publication; an opinion section prone to self-inflicted wounds; and an ongoing debate about the newspapers biases and blind spots. Media companies in New Zealand have agreed to abide by certain standards in their coverage of the trial of the Christchurch shooter. The heads of five major news entities have agreed not to quote from the killers written essays justifying his acts, and they have promised not to show white supremacist imagery. Former FBI director James Comey writes in an opinion piece for The New York Times that working for Donald Trump is difficult because people lacking inner strength cant resist the compromises necessary to survive [because] Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites. It starts with your sitting silent while he lies, both in public and private, making you complicit by your silence. Roxane Gay has started a new magazine on Medium, which has been rolling out a slate of new magazines as part of a relaunch of its services. Gay says the site, which is named after her, will embrace not only diverse writers but diverse voices and aesthetics and that writers for the site will be supported throughout the publication process [and] wont be expected to cannibalize themselves for clicks. Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan says in her latest column for the paper that because of the sheer volume and breadth of Donald Trumps lies, simply fact-checking the president is no longer enough. One thing the media needs to do, she says, is to stop using euphemisms for lying, and another is to challenge politicians directly when they repeatedly lie about important topics. Ugandas telecommunications regulator has ordered that almost 40 senior news producers and program directors at six TV stations and seven radio stations in the country be suspended immediately for reporting on protests in Uganda. The regulator said that it has observed misrepresentations of information, views, facts and events in a manner likely to mislead or cause alarm to the public. Anya Schiffrin writes for CJR about the South African news site Daily Maverick, one of the new media companies she covered in a recent report sponsored by Columbia University called Fighting for Survival: Media Startups in the Global South. Despite widespread acclaim for its reporting, she says, Daily Maverick is still losing money because it hasnt been able to attract enough subscribers. Alternative magazine The Improper Bostonian is closing its doors for good. The family that owns the 28-year-old publication said it has been losing money for years, despite reductions in costs, and they didnt want to make the cuts necessary to try to survive, and werent interested in running a digital-only enterprise. NBC News chairman Andy Lack has a side job helping support a Mississippi-based online news site called Mississippi Today, according to Associated Press. Lack, whose great-grandfather is from Mississippi, has sunk about $1 million into the site in the past three years. It also receives funding from former Netscape Communications chairman James Barksdale, a Mississippi native. The world got a preview of what the future might look like for Facebook in an essay CEO Mark Zuckerberg published in March. In it, he explained his vision was of a network of privateeven encryptedFacebook groups, as well as a private Messenger app, and other features. I believe a privacy-focused communications platform will become even more important than todays open platforms, he said. This week, journalists got a little more detail on how this future will take shape at the companys F8 developer conference . But even the giant screens shouting, The future is private couldnt hide the fact that this is a pretty fundamental shift in the way Facebook has operated so far. It is, in fact, a complete reversal. The contrast between what Zuckerberg is saying now vs. what he was saying a decade ago was so dramatic that long-time Facebook followers couldnt help but call attention to it. Siva Vaidhyanathan, director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia and author of the book Antisocial Media, pointed out that in 2010, the Facebook CEO said People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time. New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose noted that in 2010, Zuckerberg said the age of privacy was essentially over for good, and that if he had to start Facebook all over again, he would have made all user information public by default instead of private. Another Times tech writer, Mike Isaac, said it was jarring to watch multiple Facebook executives take the stage and talk about privacy and how that was the main goal of the company, after years of espousing the opposite at every public opportunity. So what has changed? In interviews and his F8 address, Zuckerberg never really addressed the why, except to say its the way the world is evolving. As Casey Newton of The Verge pointed out in his newsletter , its tempting to think of Zuckerberg as dictating where the market goes, since Facebook is a globe-spanning colossus with hundreds of billions in revenue. But in reality, the company also has to follow users, which is why Instagram has copied virtually every feature Snapchat has invented. If private and ephemeral stories is what people want, then Facebook has to give it to them.If the world is turning more towards private and encrypted groups and messaging, the past few years of privacy violationsmany of them involving Facebookhave probably contributed. If anyone was happy with the public nature of their data before, reading about Cambridge Analytica leaking their personal information to shadowy companies so they could create psychographic profiles and try to swing the US election is enough to put anyone off. Not to mention countless examples of massive data leaks, password and contact book irregularities, and the icing on the cake: a potential $5 billion fine from the FTC for breaching a consent decree the company agreed to in 2011, in which it admitted that it changed peoples privacy settings, in some cases without telling them. Facebook being what it isa giant, publicly traded commercial organizationtheres another layer to the changes Zuckerberg announced in his essay, as Vaidhyanathan also pointed out . Namely, that they involve merging the back ends of Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Ostensibly, this is being done to ensure that they are all private and encrypted, but it also means that Facebook can combine the data it already has from all three massive networks to create even more robust personality profiles on its users, which it can then use for advertising purposes, even if it cant see the text of individual encrypted messages. Privacy pivot or not, Facebook always looks out for number one. Heres more on Facebook and privacy: Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg. Two days before Hurricane Michael hit Panama City, Florida, Justin Kiefers wife and their two sons headed for Nashville, Tennessee. Kiefer, who was chief meteorologist for Panama City station WMBB-TV, stayed to cover the storm. He and his family had weathered minor hurricanes and tropical storms during his career, but Hurricane Michael was different. The hurricane, which headed directly for Panama City in October 2018, became one of the strongest storms to hit the continental US. The level of intensity between a Category One and a Category Four, eventually a [Category] Five hurricane, is astronomical, Kiefer says. All the storms that I had to work with over the years never came into our television market like Michael did. ICYMI: The story BuzzFeed, The New York Times and more didnt want to publish After the storm ended, Kiefers family could not resume life as usual in a devastated Panama City. Area schools, including the high school where his youngest son was completing his junior year, suffered damage. His oldest sons junior college was also temporarily closed because of hurricane damage. That kind of tipped the domino, Kiefer says. In the weeks following the storm, his youngest son enrolled in a Tennessee high school. His wife took a teaching job in the same district. His oldest son got a job in Nashville. All of the sudden, theyre relocated instead of evacuated, he says. And Im still in Florida. Kiefer, who now works as a meteorologist at WATE-TV (Knoxville, Tennessee), was not the first employee to leave WMBB after Hurricane Michael, and he certainly wasnt the last. After the hurricane landed, the station lost five reporters, a producer, a part time photographer, and Kiefereight employees overall. Filling those open positions has become an added burden for WMBBs staff, which already has to navigate the challenges that come with living and working in a community after a major natural disaster. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project All the hires have been very difficult, WMBB news director Tom Lewis says. Theres no place for people to live here. The situation is not unique. Freeman Rogers, editor at The BVI Beacon, says he was left with only one reporter when Hurricane Irma arrived in the British Virgin Islands in 2017. His other three staff members used relief flights to leave. Lewis and Rogers experiences show that an outlets ability to cover disasters can be hampered by more than infrastructure damage. Storm-related trauma, among other factors, can drive journalists to seek new coverage areas, or even new professions altogether. In some cases, an outlet may even have to cut jobs to cover the costs caused by damages. Our paper kind of downsized after the storm in a big way, Rogers says. If people hadnt left, Im not sure what would have happened. ICYMI: How teen climate activists getand makeclimate news One of Rogers original team members returned to work two weeks after Hurricane Irma. The paper also hired a third reporter. But Rogers says he had to turn down a former employee when that reporter wanted to come back; another former staffer, who now lives in the United Kingdom, is only open to remote work. She wasnt willing to chance another hurricane, which was certainly fair enough, Rogers says. I cant fault anybody for that after seeing Irma. Outlets dont only lose staff members to fear of future storms. In some cases, a skilled reporters coverage of the disaster can attract offers from higher-paying outlets. After Hurricane Michael, Lewis says his stations parent company, Nexstar Media Group, sent news directors and reporters from across the country to help with disaster coverage. Since then, at least two of his reporters have left to work with other Nexstar stations. They saw that we had some pretty good talent, Lewis says. When they had openings when they got back home, they just naturally thought about our talent. The increased cost of living in Panama City has also hindered recruitment efforts, Lewis says. After the hurricane, some landlords increased rents by as much as 70 percent. Station executives are considering whether to increase the amount of money offered to new recruits, Lewis says; new hires can no longer afford to live on the outlets usual starter salaries. One apartment occupied by two former employees jumped from $1,300 per month to $2,100 per month after they moved out. To retain applicants WMBB has tried to show that Panama City can still be an attractive place to live. The outlet has rented out a three-bedroom condo on the beach where potential recruits and visiting Nexstar workers alike can stay. The damage downtown, where the station is located, is notable, but the beach remains virtually unchanged. We bring people out to the beach to show them, Look, life can be normal, we just got some work to do, he says. And there are people here who, their lives are in shambles. Were trying to tell their stories and get them some relief. In some cases, appealing to journalistic opportunity can be the right approach. Ive found that there are a lot of adventurous, young journalists out there who seem pretty excited to cover this kind of stuff and arent worried about the lack of creature comforts, Rogers says. But that lure is not always a fruitful one. Lewis says promoting the chance to write about recovery efforts in Panama City draws interest at first, but once a potential recruit starts looking for places to live, that perk is no longer enough. Ive tried to appeal to peoples sense of journalistic adventure, trying to get them to tackle what is an immense story, Lewis says. But reality has to set in. At some point you go, Well, I cant live in a tent. The bottom line is, no one wants to live here right now, he says. Its uncertain when WMBB will return to normal. As of mid-April, Lewis was still looking for four reporters, a part-time photographer, a morning meteorologist, a producer and a digital specialist. He says the station is committed to drawing attention to the continuing need for state and federal aid in the area, which affords new hires ample opportunity for enterprise reporting. The challenges facing new recruits to the area may be high, Lewis said, but for committed reporters, the chance to make a difference in Panama City might be worth it. We tell people, Look, this place is not much to look at right now, he says. But our station is going to be state of the art when theyre finished with it. Were going to be doing stories about people that need help and stories that matter. And we want you to be a part of that. Recently: Covering climate change, now Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Tiffany Stevens is an independent journalist living in Seattle, Washington. Their work focuses on the media, the LGBT community, and the triumphs and trials facing marginalized communities throughout the US. Follow them on Twitter at @tiffanymstevens. The owner of Golden Isles Cruise Lines promised to take real good care of Robert Bruce Lowie, but he didnt. After Georgias one-year statute of limitations to file a tort claim passed, Golden Isles stopped paying Lowies medical bills, even though he was still undergoing treatment for a head injury and multiple fractured vertebrae after falling 10 feet through an open hatch on the Emerald Princess gambling boat. Lowie finally filed suit. On Monday, the 2nd Division of the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a $2,236,850.28 jury verdict against Golden Isles. The appellate panel found that the one-year statute of limitations did not apply because Lowie had depended on the claims adjusters representations that his medical bills would be paid. Lowie was injured on Dec. 16, 2014. Emerald Princess crew members had removed the cover of a hatch that provided access to the engine room to calibrate equipment before setting sail. The ships captain had directed a sailor to stand watch by the hatch until it could be opened, but the crew member left his post. Lowie boarded the ship at 6 p.m. and walked toward the cashiers cage at the front of the boat.He fell through the hatch, which measured 22 inches by 22 inches. Stuart Platt, a claims adjuster for Golden Isles, communicated with Lowie and his wife, Concettina, for several months after the fall. The owner of Golden Isles, Louis N. Dyer Jr., told Mrs. Lowie that he had told Platt that he had been friends of the Lowies for 25 to 30 years and that Platt would take really good care of them. He said he had seen a video of Lowie falling through the hole and admitted that Golden Isles has been negligent, according to the Court of Appeals opinion. Platt told Mrs. Lowie that there was no need to go out and get an attorney. He told her to go through Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield for medical treatment and that Golden Isles would reimburse the insurers once a settlement was made, according to the opinion. Platt asked Mrs. Lowie if the couple was ready to settle the claim. She told him that her husband was still undergoing treatment and hoped to get a second doctors opinion. He says, well, whatever yall want to do, wherever yall want to go, well pay for it. Well take care of it, Mrs. Lowie testified. On Dec. 2016, 2015, exactly one year after Lowies fall, Dyer told the Lowies that Golden Isle would pay no further medical bills because the one-year statute of limitations had lapsed. Nevertheless, Robert Lowie filed suit three months later. Golden Isles filed a motion to dismiss the suit because the statute of limitations has passed, but the trial court denied the motion, finding that the Lowie had depended on Dyers representations to his detriment. A Glynn County jury assigned 100% of the fault for the accident to Golden Isle and awarded damages. The trial court did dismiss a second loss of consortium claim filed by Mrs. Lowie. Golden Isle appealed. The appellate court rejected the companys contention that the court had relied on privileged communications in making its decision and found no reason to overturn the jurys verdict. The record supports the trial courts findings that Platt told the Lowies that Golden Isles would take care of them and that there was no need to hire counsel, and that Lowie relied to his detriment on representations made by Golden Isles and/or its agents when deciding not to hire an attorney or file suit, the opinion states. The case is Golden Isles Cruise Lines v. Lowie, A19A0291. CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - William Shakespeares tragedy, Othello, the Moor of Venice, comes to the stage in Chagrin Falls as the last show of the 2018-19 Academy for the Performing Arts season. The show will be performed in the black box theater at Chagrin Falls High School, 400 E. Washington St., this Thursday, May 2 through Sunday, May 5. Showtimes are 7:30pm Thursday-Saturday and a 2:30pm matinee on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here. Given that it was written more than 400 years ago, its themes of racism, love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and repentance still resonate today giving the show its appeal to all generations. The Academy is made up of students from seven school districts and they perform a variety of shows throughout the school year. Alumni have gone on to perform on television, Broadway and in national touring shows. LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- Theres a moment in the popular musical Seussical where the Cat in the Hat addresses the audience and says: How lucky to be in the theatre. More lucky than you know. Thats the exact sentiment the Beck Center for the Arts is hoping to convey with its upcoming Youth Theater Production of the Dr. Seuss-inspired show, appearing weekends May 10-19 in the Mackey Theater. We have 76 kids -- ages 6 to 19 -- in the show, so theyre quite a handful because there are so many, said Beck Center for the Arts Associate Director of Theater Education Sarah Clare, who is directing Seussical. Were really lucky weve been able to kind of divide them into different groups beyond just the main characters and really kind of hone in on where their skills are and give them all opportunities to shine and be seen onstage, which sometimes doesnt necessarily happen in youth theater. Thats the biggest thing Im excited about," she said. While the Beck Center produced Seussical in 2010, Clare said her only experience with the show took place as a choreographer and costume director more than a decade ago at the Cassidy Theatre in Parma Heights. Back then, she hoped to one day return to the production as director. Now her wish is fulfilled, as Clare puts her own stamp on Seussical. On the surface level, the production seems fluffy and kind of cute and kid-like, but underneath the surface theres just a lot going on, which is something I like really being able to do with the kids, Clare said. I didnt want to go the route of making everyone look like animals or look silly in the costumes. The kids were expecting to have weird faces and makeup, but I told them this is essentially a story about people, whats going on in their actual lives and stuff you can really relate to. So Im stripping away a lot of that extra stuff and really focusing on the story itself. That said, Clare noted that the cast -- which is the largest Youth Theater Production since 81 kids were in 2014s Wizard of Oz -- will still be dressed in Seuss-like costumes. I love being in Seussical because it is a great way for me to have fun with other castmates and express myself through music, said Lakewood resident Audrey Carson, 13. Added Avon resident Christian Lee, 10, Ive always been a fan of Dr. Seuss and, well, this is a musical based on all of his wondrous stories. As far as the Cat in the Hats comment about feeling lucky to be in the theatre, thats exactly what North Ridgeville resident Noah Horner is feeling. Seussical was one of my first introductions to theater performance when I first started getting passionate about it, said Noah, 16. Its amazing to come full circle and play Horton after connecting to this wonderful character arc so long ago. Plus, with this being my first show at Beck Center, Ive discovered my new home with all of the lovely people around me. Read more news from the Sun Post Herald here. BROOKLYN, Ohio -- This spring, the city will be blossoming with snozzberries, whangdoodles, hornswogglers, snozzwangers and vermicious knids as students ages pre-K to seventh grade are reading Roald Dahls Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as part of the Brooklyn City Schools One School, One Book program. The month-long event -- a partnership with Ridge Park Square, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the City of Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library -- kicked off last week at a fun assembly attended by city and local business leaders. This is the third year in a row for One School, One Book, which weve actually expanded all the way from pre-K to seventh grade because of a donation from Ridge Park Square to cover the cost of all of our books, Brooklyn City Schools Media Specialist Wendy Smith said. Thats 750 students who took home their own copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This program encourages parents to read aloud to their children at home. Studies have shown that reading encourages or fosters brain activity, vocabulary development and really just that one-on-one reading connection with the parents and students. The notion of selecting the classic book, which has of course led to two popular feature films, was tied to the fact that the Brooklyn High School Drama Club recently staged the musical. In fact, the student actors attended the assembly and sang The Candy Man to the kids. Having familiarity with the text helps with reading the story, and this will provide opportunities to compare and contrast, Brooklyn School Principal Cristin Cicco said. This year, we have video-recorded each chapter read aloud by various staff members. I love this; it makes the whole thing more personable. By the whole school reading the same book at the same time, were able to have conversations and make connections in our school setting and within the community. Parents feel connected, and this is an opportunity for the entire community to support our kids and make reading enjoyable and fun. In addition to students answering daily trivia questions, as well as discussing and exploring the book through various activities, theres also a community-wide scavenger hunt taking place at various Ridge Park Square businesses. The students have four different clues for the four different weeks, Smith said. Theyll read a clue, go to that location, find a golden ticket there and get a stamp on their packet, which theyll turn in at the end of the month for prizes. One School, One Book culminates with a May 30 assembly at Brooklyn School. Were hoping to get books into the hands of our students, Smith said. Wed like to encourage literacy and to encourage that connection between parents and their children to read together. For more on One School, One Book, visit the district website. Read more news from the Parma Sun Post here. CLEVELAND, Ohio Two Cleveland teens threw a Euclid woman to the ground and stole her keys in an attempted carjacking outside a Walgreens in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood. Two 17-year-old boys are each charged with robbery, attempted grand theft and theft in the Monday incident outside the store on Clark Avenue near Fulton Road. Chanel Glanton, 25, is also charged with aggravated robbery in the case. She drove a stolen car that was used as a getaway vehicle during the incident, court records say. A 16-year-old boy is also listed as a suspect in police reports, but he has not been arrested. He had not been charged with a crime by Thursday morning, court records say. A 66-year-old woman told police officers she was walking out of Walgreens just before 8:30 p.m. when she noticed the teens standing by the entrance. She passed them as she put her bags in the back seat of her car. She was getting into the car when one of the teens ran up to her and pushed her. The woman fell to the ground and injured her knee, police reports say. The teen grabbed the womans car keys from her hand and got into the drivers seat. He was trying to start the ignition when the woman got up and walked around to open the passenger-side door. She reached into the car and grabbed at the keys as then teen tried to start the car. Another one of the teens got into the back seat of the car and started hitting the woman, police reports say. Both teens eventually gave up and got out of the car. They left in a 2019 Honda HRV, while a third teen ran away. Officers found the car a short time later parked on West 25th Street near Althen Avenue, approximately a half-mile from the Walgreens. They found Glanton in the drivers seat. The two 17-year-ols were found walking on West 25th Street near Barber Avenue, and were arrested without incident. Glanton told investigators that her 16-year-old cousin and his two 17-year-old friends picker her up earlier that day, and said they wanted to go to the West Side to get a car, police reports say. She also said she witnessed the Walgreens incident, but became upset at the teens actions and decided to drive away, police reports say. The two 17-year-old boys initially denied being involved in the incident. One of them later admitted to trying to steal the car, but said the 16-year-old cousin came up with the plan because he was sick of sitting in the same car all night, police reports say. Investigators also learned the Honda that Glanton was driving had been reported stolen the previous day from Euclid, police reports say. In that incident, a male in a blue sweatshirt grabbed a womans keys as she was walking to her SUV outside a CVS on Lakeshore Boulevard at East 220th Street. The male then jumped into the SUV and drove away, according to a Euclid police report. Authorities have not said if any of the suspects in the Cleveland attempted robbery could be charged in the Euclid car theft. The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court judge ordered the 17-year-old boys to be held in the juvenile detention center when they appeared Tuesday in court. Both boys are scheduled to appear at May 9 pretrial hearings, court records say. Glanton waived her right to a preliminary hearing when she appeared Wednesday in Cleveland Municipal Court. Her case was bound over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury. She is being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $50,000 bond, records say. To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A U.S. Marshals Task Force arrested a Mississippi homicide suspect Thursday afternoon at a home on Clevelands East Side. The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force found Omni Tajor Turner at an apartment on East 74th Street near St. Clair Avenue, and arrested him without incident, the U.S. Marshals said in a news release. Investigators did not say why Turner was in the Cleveland area. Turner is charged with murder and aggravated assault in an April 21 shooting that killed a 34-year-old man and injured two other men, according to WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Turner and another man fatally shot Kamarcus West in Waynesboro, Mississippi, according to WDAM-TV and U.S. Marshals. Authorities believe the shooting was gang-related, U.S. Marshals said. Turner is also charged with assault in connection with an incident that occurred in Lorain County, U.S. Marshals said. Details of that incident were not immediately available. The task force took Turner to the Lorain County Jail, where he is awaiting extradition to Mississippi. To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Mueller Report concluded there wasnt a formal agreement between Russia and the Trump campaign to collude. But U.S. Attorney General William Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee provided more proof that Barr is colluding with Trump by acting as his personal defense attorney instead of the U.S. Attorney General. On the eve of Barrs testimony it was disclosed that Robert Mueller had written Barr a letter expressing frustration with how Barr had summarized the Mueller Report before releasing it to Congress. Mueller followed up his initial letter with a second one, and phone call to Barr. According to The Washington Post, Muellers letter expressed frustration that Barrs summary did not fully capture the context of his investigators conclusions, and did not include their report introductions and executive summaries" that would have alleviated the misunderstandings that have arisen. " There is now the 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 investigation." Under questioning by the Senate committee, Barr described the letter as Snitty and that because of that tone, he thought it was likely written by Muellers staff not Mueller. What was snitty was Barrs attitude in the Senate hearing. Barr was defiant, dismissive, smug, arrogant and contemptuous of Congress and Mueller himself. In her questioning of Barr, Senator Kamala Harris demonstrated she is more fit to be U.S. Attorney General than Barr is. Define Is and Suggested Under questioning by Harris, Barr had his Bill Clinton Define is moment. Barr was unwilling to answer Harriss "yes or no " question of whether anyone in the White House had ever suggested he investigate someone. With Barr looking perplexed, Harris said, Seems youd remember something like that... Barr responded, Yeah but Im trying to grapple with the word suggest. Barr was able to expound at length in the hearing about his understanding of the word spy. Harris was also able to get Barr on the record admitting he had hadnt read the underlying evidence in the Mueller Report before he exonerated Trump of obstruction, which Mueller said he could not do, expecting it to be decided by Congress, not Barr. If Harris doesnt win the Democratic Party nomination for president, and is not the running mate of the candidate who does, she should be considered for the U.S. Attorney General post if the Democrats win back the White House in 2020. Committee Chairman Sen Lindsey Graham said he wont call Mueller to testify, saying Its over Whats really over, is Barrs credibility as U.S. Attorney General. Barr lied to and misled the American people and public. The calls for his resignation are justified. Like his new client, President Trump, Barr should resign, but of course, neither will. But Barr will have to still resign himself to being in the long line of people whove had their once good reputations tarnished by association with Trump. Barr is a no show at todays hearing seat.. He should also be a no show behind the desk of U.S. Attorney General. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Fox 8 anchor Tracy McCool says the support shes received from viewers and people on social media has helped her and her family get through a difficult time. I thank every person who reached out to us because without that there is no way, no way that I could carry on every day. McCool and her husband, John Cook, appeared together on Fox 8 News on Thursday for the first time since revealing in December that he had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. The results basically came back that I had some pretty aggressive nodules, cancerous nodules in my colon, Cook told Lou Maglio, his wifes co-anchor, in the interview. And then they thought that I also had a cyst that was also cancerous on my spine, and then even something in my stomach and my lungs. So I had it for three or four different places. McCool, who joined Fox 8 in 2000 and anchors the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, talked about the moment she learned Johns cancer was treatable, but not curable, and that he had to undergo chemotherapy the rest of his life. I almost dropped to the floor. When youre sitting in the doctors office and youre just thrown into this dark and scary, very frightening storm. And you dont even know. It took us forever to get out of the doctors office because we didnt know what to do, what to say. It was a bad day. The couple, who met as teens at Copley High School, has two children, Cassidy and Carter. McCool remembered how John, owner of an MMA gym and former fighter himself, bravely told them the news of his diagnosis. He said, 'Look, were in this together as a family. Were going to fight this together as a family. And theres no reason for you to be scared of anything you might hear you might see. McCool admitted theyve had their share of bad days, but she could always find hope in the messages people wrote them on Facebook. Im reading all these stories, talking to doctors and nurses and theyre like, nobody knows. Nobody knows. Every every cancer is different, every person is different, everybodys fight is different. Its just what you put into it, and I believe in prayer and positivity and embracing the support. The couple remains positive, not talking about prognoses or timeframes, telling Maglio they almost wish they didnt ask doctors questions about how long. It was hard again to unhear those numbers, and instead of looking at it as this is it, this is the timeline, we look at it as a goal," McCool said. "And once we hit that mark, we know were good. Im going to do whatever I can to beat this, and continue to be a dad, and continue to be a husband and not let it run my life, Cook said. AKRON, Ohio Its almost time for a big fiesta! As part of our search for Clevelands Best Mexican Restaurant, we asked readers at which of the 20 finalists should we join the celebration for the first unofficial holiday of the summer Cinco de Mayo. The votes are in and you have overwhelmingly chosen Uncle Titos Mexican Grill as the place well don our sombreros and get our party on this Sunday. We will be there at noon and were excited. Ever since our surprise visits to the 20 finalists, Uncle Titos owner Fernando Leon and his staff have raved about an epic Cinco de Mayo atmosphere and how great their customers are. Wed love to have you join us. Uncle Titos is located at 2215 E. Waterloo Road in Akron. If you are unable to join the fun in person, Clevelands Best team of Brenda Cain, Yadi Rodriguez and Kristen Davis will broadcast live from the party on cleveland.com s Facebook page. Well have plenty of interviews with revelers and staff, as well as a look at the food and drinks being served up. For a sneak peek, check out our review of Uncle Titos from our taste test visit in April. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the unlikely victory of the Mexican army over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. More popularly celebrated in the United States than Mexico, the date has become associated with the celebration of Mexican-American culture. Excitement and anticipation were thick in the air on Oct. 14, 2018, as my business partner and I said goodbye to our families and began our journey, traveling through Ohio, to a trade show in Kentucky. But in an agonizing period of 30 seconds, life took a gruesome twist as we were involved in a horrific crash. The first responders arrived on the scene to find a twisted, folded wreck of metal. Both of us were at an indescribable juncture of pain, fear and uncertainty. Witnesses have told of the truly heroic efforts of the first responders on the scene. These first responders were people who made a choice to sacrifice time with family and friends, sacrifice time for their interests and hobbies, all to train, drill and prepare. When the call came in, you put your needs and wants on hold to rescue us from the collision. Each and every one of the first responders on the scene -- firefighters, police, rescue squads, EMS -- all worked in cooperation to ensure our safety at a time of extreme crisis. The actions of all on the scene, working in effort to keep us alive, have left both of us completely overwhelmed by the tenacious dedication, whether at volunteer or compensated level: All of you rose above and beyond the call. It is difficult to find the proper words to quantify my feelings. Both of us are now back with our families, and recovery is progressing well, albeit slowly -- all due to your extraordinary effort. We are not alone on this journey; nor is living a series of random incidents. It is a genuine sense of love, rooted firmly in compassion and tenderness, which evokes the most exceptional qualities in humans. Our deepest gratitude to the following: Montville Police Department, Medina Township Police Department, Metro Life Flight, Medina County Sheriffs Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Sharon Township Fire Department & EMS, Seville Guilford Township Fire Department & EMS, Medina City Fire Department, Life Support Team EMS and Cleveland Clinic Life Flight. Your actions on that fateful day demonstrate that our prime purpose in life is to help others, and are why the two of us are yet amongst the living. Of special note, Dr. David Roberts, MD, and Laurie Roberts, RN, who were traveling on the highway and were amongst the first few cars held up by the wreck, offered comfort, calm and most importantly assured us we were loved. Truly, love and compassion are necessities for living. Each day is different, each day is unique, each day is an opportunity to be a messenger of love. With much love and unending gratitude, Gregory Roth Canandaigua, N.Y. CLEVELAND, Ohio An appellate court Thursday ruled against a couple seeking a legal declaration that their embryos lost in a freezer malfunction last year were living persons and should have been treated as patients, not property. The 8th District Ohio Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld then-Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedmans ruling that the frozen embryos were not persons. The decision stemmed from the loss of 4,000 eggs and embryos last year after a breakdown in a storage freezer at University Hospitals fertility clinic in Beachwood. Rick and Wendy Penniman of Broadview Heights were among more than 900 families affected by the malfunction. The Pennimans and more than 100 families sued in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. But the Pennimans also filed a declaratory judgement action, stressing that the life of a person begins at conception. Friedman rejected the issue last May, prompting the couple to go to the appellate court. Bruce Taubman, the attorney for the Pennimans, said he will appeal the appellate courts decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. Im a little disappointed, but were going to continue on, Taubman said. We have a very important issue here. Rita Maimbourg, an attorney for University Hospitals, declined to comment. In the decision, appellate judges Larry Jones and Eileen T. Gallagher wrote that in order for an embryo to be considered a person under Ohio law, it must be able to survive outside the womb. It is undisputed, however, that the pre-implanted embryos being stored at University Hospitals Health System facilities were not capable of independent survival, the judges wrote. They said Friedman correctly concluded that an embryo that has not been implanted into the uterus of a woman does not constitute a distinct human entity and is therefore not entitled to the rights and protections of a person. Judge Sean Gallagher dissented. He cited the fact that the definition of a person that his colleagues used stemmed from a criminal statute in the Ohio Revised Code, not a civil one. Courts should not rely on the definition of a word in a criminal statute to necessarily import the same meaning in a civil sense, Gallagher wrote in a dissenting opinion. Again, we cannot universally apply criminal statutes, especially those limited to defining the scope of criminal behavior, to all common law and statutory claims in Ohio. In arguments in March, Benjamin Sasse, an attorney for the hospital, told the panel that Friedman was correct in his ruling. The law is clear: An embryo is not a person, Sasse said. He echoed that in documents that he had filed with the panel. He wrote that Ohio law consistently limits personhood to a fetus that can exist outside the womb. A frozen embryo is not a fetus. Nor can it exist outside the womb. Taubman stressed that the embryos lost at UHs Ahuja Medical Center were human organisms that were entitled to basic human beings. In documents filed with the appellate court, Taubman cited scientific research that said life begins at conception. These embryos are human beings, Taubman told the judges in March. People treat them as human beings. Unfortunately, the hospital did not. Friedman has retired, and Common Pleas Judge Ashley Kilbane has taken over the lawsuits involving University Hospitals. COLUMBUS, Ohio Most Ohioans would see their state income taxes cut, especially those making less than $88,800, under a state budget proposal unveiled Thursday by Ohio House Republican leaders. The cuts would be paid for in part by eliminating other tax breaks that generally favor businesses and wealthier state residents. The budget plan, which changes an earlier state budget plan from GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, would eliminate Ohios second-lowest and third-lowest tax bracket. That means people with taxable incomes of $22,250 or less would no longer have to pay state income taxes. The tax rate on the next $66,000 in income would be cut by 4.7%. The tax cut would be paid for in part by scaling back a state business tax exemption so that it applies to the first $100,000 of business income, rather than the first $250,000. It also eliminates a grab bag of tax exemptions and tax credits including the state motion picture tax credit and closes a loophole that allowed some filers claiming business income to take an exemption intended for poor Ohioans. The budget still has a long way to go House Speaker Larry Householder said he plans to get a version through the House next week, with the Republican-controlled Senate taking a crack at it after that. After the two chambers agree, it then would head to DeWines desk for his signature, although the governor could still veto individual line items. The budget is due on June 30. Overall, the tax changes in the budget represent a net $100 million tax cut, according to Householder, a Perry County Republican. DeWines budget plan, introduced in March, contained no tax increases, but also contained no tax cuts. It also increases spending on education while setting aside extra money that can be used in the future for a school-funding formula overhaul House members are working on, expands free-lunch programs and doubles state funding for child-protection services agencies, a $60 million annual increase. It pays for everything in large part by wiping out most of a $900 million H2 Ohio water-quality fund that DeWine had proposed. But the plan isnt necessarily dead Householder told reporters he will propose funding the program through borrowed money sometime in the near future. We live in a time of prosperity, Householder said in a statement. But for too many Ohioans, that prosperity remains out of reach. Thats especially true in our urban and rural communities alike. One of our top priorities in this budget has been to empower all Ohioans, regardless of their ZIP code or circumstances. In an email, DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the governors budget team and agency directors are reviewing the House budget plan. We appreciate that House Leadership, through their substitute version of HB 166 [the state budget bill], supports including funding for the governors proposed H2Ohio initiative for the upcoming biennium, Tierney said. Heres some more detail on whats in the plan: Wraparound services The House plan expands DeWines spending proposal on wraparound support programs targeted at at-risk students from $550 million over two years to $675 million, using the extra money to target rural students. Rep. Bob Cupp, a key state lawmaker whos been working on the school-funding formula overhaul, said the extra money will serve as a bridge until the new plan is in place, something Householder said hed like to do sometime in the next two years, and possibly even sooner. The rural targeting will work by factoring in the presence of nearby agricultural land when determining student eligibility, Cupp said. I haven't lost my enthusiasm for trying to change that funding formula and making it a better formula, Householder said. H2 Ohio fund It wipes out all but roughly $85 million of the $900 million DeWine had proposed setting aside for an H2 Ohio fund for programs protecting Lake Erie and other state waterways. (The $85 million was allocated in DeWines budget plan for water quality protection programs, while the rest was to have been set aside for future use.) But that doesnt necessarily mean H2 Ohio wont happen. Householder said he plans to introduce legislation that would borrow that money in the future rather than paying for the fund out of general state revenues. DeWine had argued that paying for the H2 Ohio fund out of the states general revenues would be cheaper than paying to borrow money. But Householder said borrowing would prevent future lawmakers from raiding the fund an argument that had been made by environmentalists and farmers who had pushed for the fund during last years election campaign, and viewed DeWines proposal with some wariness. We could have allocated the [entire H2Ohio funding] this biennium, but next biennium, the economy goes south on us and we dont have any money to put into H2 Ohio. So, this is something that could be recurring on and on and on, and is something we think is a legacy for the State of Ohio, Householder said. Democrats take credit for tax changes The Republican House plan eliminates a number of tax breaks that have been criticized for years by conservative and liberal activists as being costly, unfair and/or unnecessary. They include eliminating sales tax breaks on sales to motor racing teams, the purchase of flight simulators and gold coins and bullion, on aviation repair and maintenance, as well as maintenance and repairs on fractionally owned jets. The plan also would close a loophole that allowed business income filers to claim a deduction intended for poor Ohioans, and ends the state motion picture tax credit, as well as tax credits for political contributions. I'm a believer that when you look at tax policy, that we shouldn't try to pick winners and losers, Householder said. House Democrats took credit for some of the other budget changes, which they had advocated for earlier this year as part of their overall policy priorities. Even though Householder is a Republican, he was elected to his leadership position in January with Democratic support, which has given Democrats additional leverage during the current legislative session so far. I am proud of our Democratic members and their work to make this a better budget by including our key tax priorities, said Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat. Walking back a tax system rigged against working people will help our state better live within our means and let working families have a better chance to get ahead. This draft is a more realistic blueprint for our states future. The Republican budget plan also directs the state to begin collecting sales taxes on online purchases, as well as directing ride-share services like Uber and Lyft to collect and remit sales taxes on behalf of drivers. The proposal to scrap the motion picture tax credit drew an immediate reaction from the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, which asked its supporters in an email to urge lawmakers to reconsider. It pointed to a report that nearly 35,500 people are directly and indirectly (hotels, caterers, carpenters, dry cleaners, etc.) employed by the motion picture and television industries in Ohio, with total wages earned exceeding $1.2 billion. Revenue forecasts cloudy It wasnt immediately clear how Thursdays budget plan reconciles a $550 million difference between how much DeWines budget team think the state would have to work with, versus what the state legislatures researchers think. The difference largely is over state income-tax forecasts, although early tax returns have supported the DeWine teams rosier projections. Still, Householder said the House budget plan is conservative when it comes to projecting how much revenue the state will take in, and then building its plan from there. Were very encouraged by the economy in the state of Ohio right now, and the revenues that are coming in currently, Householder said. And we think that you know its going to go for a while like this, but we want to be prepared. The House Finance Committee will hold its first public hearing on the budget plan on Friday, the committees chairman, Canton GOP Rep. Scott Oelslager said. BEREA, Ohio If passed, a controversial energy bill under debate by Ohio lawmakers could cause a small Cleveland-area welding shops electric bill and possibly those of other businesses like it to more than double. Berea Manufacturing, which employs eight people in an industrial park not far from Baldwin Wallace University, under House Bill 6 could see its monthly electric bill go up from around $800 a month to around $1,800 a month, according to an analysis from experts contacted by cleveland.com. As a small business owner, its infuriating, said Berea Manufacturing Owner Mike Pandoli. This guys company is an example of probably the sort of company thats not really considered in this bill, said John Seryak, an engineer for the Ohio Manufacturers Association, which opposes HB 6. Because of how HB 6 is written, other similar small companies could be disproportionately impacted if they, like Berea Manufacturing: Are an industrial business with multiple electric meters, despite being just one company and Have relatively low electricity use Heres why. HB 6, which lawmakers designed to bail out two financially troubled Ohio nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, a bankrupt former FirstEnergy subsidiary, would assess varying charges on each electric customer in the state to help subsidize clean energy generators. The new charges are expected to raise $150 million for the two nuclear plants, in Ottawa and Lake counties. The bill would offset the new charges by eliminating existing charges that fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. For a small- to medium-sized industrial customer, the new charge would be a flat $250 per month, compared to the old charge, which was tied to how much power a customer used. The bills sponsors say the elimination of the old charge for the average business would more than make up for the proposed new one, resulting in an overall reduction in power bills. But because it uses much less power than an average industrial business, Berea Manufacturing in March paid just around $15 on the old charges that would go away. But what seems to make the bill especially bad for Berea Manufacturing is that as written, that $250 per-customer charge could be interpreted by utilities to apply once per electric meter, even in the event that each meter is owned by the same business at the same address, according to Kim Bojko, a Columbus attorney who has done legal work for the Ohio Manufacturers Association. It increases the costs to manufacturers who have multiple meters, she said. Even though its just one business, Berea Manufacturing has four different electric meters, a byproduct of his companys gradual expansion to where it now occupying side-by-side units. If the new charge applies per meter, and if the company is deemed an industrial customer, Berea Manufacturings energy bill would be charged the $250 fee four times, or $1,000. Removing the $15 in old charges that would be eliminated, the companys new monthly bills would go up by $985, compared to the March bill, which was $800 total. We are a single customer, but really were getting soaked because well get four charges, said Pandoli, the companys owner. Staff for House Speaker Larry Householder, whos made HB6 a priority, are researching Berea Manufacturings issue but havent yet finished their work, a spokeswoman said. Rep. Jamie Callendar, a Lake County Republican whos sponsoring HB6, said while hes unsure of the specifics of Berea Manufacturings situation, his intent for the legislation is that no one in Ohios bills would go up as a result. If there is somebody who slipped through the cracks somehow, were going to find a way to address it, because one of the core tenets of this bill is we are reducing costs to the consumers, he said. Officials with the Ohio Manufacturers Association say theyre studying how many companies would fall into the same boat as Berea Manufacturing. But they say the scenario illustrated by the company hasnt gotten enough consideration by House members, who are expected to unveil a new version of HB6 today and possibly approve it next week. They say its not unusual for an older industrial customer to have multiple electric meters, due to expansions or the gradual addition of equipment. The big rate hike for small customers may exist for many smaller, one-shift operations like Mr. Pandoli's, where their previous charges were based on electric consumptionbut under HB 6 will be simply applied to the meter, said Seryak, the Ohio Manufacturers Association engineer. This rate structure will disadvantage small manufacturers and other small businesses. In an interview in his office on Wednesday, Pandoli said he recently learned a different $7 utility customer charge was assessed once for each of his companys electrical meters. After following coverage of HB6 in the media, he said it dawned on him that the proposed new $250 charge also could be assessed multiple times. Electricity is his companys second-largest expense, and he said a $12,000 annual increase in his fixed costs would harm his companys ability to remain competitive. Its not a legitimate overhead for me. It generates nothing for me, he said. It angered him further to read, as reported by cleveland.com, about the millions FirstEnergy and its allies have spent lobbying Ohio politicians to bail out the nuclear plants in recent years, and on making campaign contributions to key Ohio politicians, including backing Householders successful bid to become speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, as well as Gov. Mike DeWine. So he contacted a cleveland.com reporter, the Ohio Manufacturers Association (of which Berea Manufacturing is not a member) and his state legislators. We have to fight for every single order we get, Pandoli said. We have to compete with multiple sources, including foreign governments because weve got some contracts out there where the parts used to be welded in China And then we have to contend with things that are totally out of our control, like our state legislators, legislating a bailout for a corporation, using my money. While Pandoli is angry about the implications for his company, there is an argument in support of HB 6. Its backers include the nuclear industry, unions and local elected officials near the plants, one in Ottawa County the other in Lake County. The plants together employ about 1,400 people and provide about 14% of Ohios electricity. Supporters argue the plants provide reliable electricity and dont contribute to global warming by emitting carbon dioxide, and allowing them to close would harm Ohios economy and electricity-generation marketplace. Key state leaders, including DeWine and Senate President Larry Obhof have said they support keeping nuclear energy as a part of Ohios energy portfolio. But critics of HB6 say it unfairly props up a financially insolvent corporation FirstEnergy Solutions, the plants owner, currently is going through bankruptcy and charges Ohioans to do so, under the guise of promoting clean energy. Opponents include manufacturing groups, the oil and gas industry, environmentalists and consumer groups, including the AARP. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the first name of Berea Manufacturings owner. His name is Mike Pandoli, not Tom Pandoli. COLUMBUS, Ohio New JobsOhio chief JP Nauseef will make at least $350,000 this year, the nonprofit economic development corporation disclosed for the first time on Thursday. The number doesnt include health-care and 401K contributions that will total roughly $17,500, as well as a performance bonus for which Nauseef, who was hired in February, may be eligible. JobsOhio didnt share the possible size of the bonus, and a spokesman didnt immediately elaborate on the bonuss criteria. Nauseefs predecessor, John Minor, last year received a total of $621,322.62, which included health-care costs and 401K contributions. Minor, who had led JobsOhio since 2012, left this year. JobsOhio on Thursday released a list containing Nauseefs salary, along with 2018 gross compensation for Minor and 16 other top-paid JobsOhio employees who made an average of about $250,000. Gov. Mike DeWine, who selected Nauseef and is in the process of replacing a majority of JobsOhios board, in March had called on JobsOhio to release salaries for Nauseef and other employees as part of a larger push by an increasing number of state officials for the organization to be transparent. JobsOhio already has released the 16 employees 2018 compensation levels, but notably for the first time on Thursday actually revealed the employees names. Previously, they had only disclosed the employees titles, as theyre required to do under state law figuring who was paid what previously involved matching the titles with actual employees. Sharing compensation information of top executives does not materially impact this competitiveness, and JobsOhio releases this information each year and makes it available on our public website. However, as part of a commitment to openness and partnership, we are releasing that information earlier than required, a Thursday statement from JobsOhio read. JobsOhio is structured as a private organization, but its board members are appointed by the governors office, and its leader requires governors office approval. The organization is funded by profits from the states liquor monopoly. Gov. John Kasich created it in 2011 to take over many of the state governments economic development functions. Lawmakers designed it to be exempt from state public records laws. COLUMBUS, Ohio--An Ohio House panel on Thursday recommended a slightly slower timeline to end Ohios existing green-energy mandates and replace them with new subsidies for zero-carbon power plants. If passed, the changes mean that Ohio electricity users would end up paying both the old and new green-energy surcharges for all of next year, though it wasnt immediately clear how much that would affect ratepayers pocketbooks. Lawmakers made the changes House Bill 6, a controversial bill that would bail out two financially troubled Ohio nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, and assess surcharges for each electric customer in the state to help subsidize clean energy generators. The House committee tried to address the overlap in its proposal by significantly lowering the new surcharge rates for 2020 to 50 cents per month for residential customers and $15 per month for commercial customers. However, when the full surcharge rates kick in starting in 2021, utilities that still have ongoing contracts for energy-efficiency programs would still be allowed to continue charging customers for them until the contracts expire. The full rates would be $2.50 per month for residential customers, $20 per month for commercial customers, $250 per month for industrial ratepayers and $2,500 per month for very large power users. Right now, Ohioans pay an average of $4.39 per month to fund energy-efficiency, renewable-energy, and peak demand programs. Energy-efficiency programs wouldnt necessarily go away after 2020: utilities would be allowed to set up such programs on their own, if they first get state approval. The new surcharge would generate an estimated $86 million in 2020, $239 million in 2021, and $306 million annually after that, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Legislative Service Commission. That money would be awarded in the form of clean-energy credits to the two Northern Ohio nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, as well as wind, solar, and natural gas plants. Supporters of HB 6 say it would save Ohioans money on their electric bills. Opponents see it as a bailout for FirstEnergy Solutions, which is planning to close the two nuclear plants soon unless it receives financial help. State Rep. Dick Stein, a Norwalk Republican, said that lawmakers plan to make additional changes to the bill next week. Specifically, Stein said lawmakers want to make sure their changes dont dramatically raise Ohioans utility bills, noting a cleveland.com story about a Northeast Ohio business owner who would be forced to pay $1,000 more per month because his business has four different electric meters. Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Perry County Republican who has made HB 6 a priority, has said he hopes to pass the legislation in the next couple of weeks. The subcommittee recommended the changes by a party-line vote, with every Democrat voting no. House Democrats appear willing to allow subsidies for FirstEnergy Solutions nuclear plants, but only at the price of beefing up Ohios green-energy laws. In a release Thursday, Democrats proposed requiring 50 percent of utilities electricity to come from renewable sources by 2050, rolling back stricter limits on wind turbine construction, and making other efforts to encourage wind and solar projects in the state. MIAMI Indians outfield prospect Oscar Mercado made significant strides with his swing in the offseason, and those improvements translated to a breakout performance in spring training. But the organization has not yet made the speedy right-handed hitter a part of their big-league equation. Indians general manager Mike Chernoff said the club felt it was important for Mercado to get additional time seeing live pitching and having him go through the process at the Triple-A level, making sure the offseason improvements would stick and transfer." Mercado has demonstrated through 22 games with Columbus that he is the player he showed the club in Arizona. Hes hitting .302 with an .894 OPS, 12 RBI and 12 extra-base hits for the Clippers. Hes been tremendous, Chernoff said. Hes continued to show signs of progress there. But the development process is never over for a player. The Indians need a spark on offense. They rank at or near the bottom in nearly every important offensive category in the American League and the loss of starting pitcher Corey Kluber has the rotation down two of its horses. Tribe hitters need to do more in the coming weeks to keep the team competitive in the AL Central. In the past, the Indians have not hesitated to pull the trigger on calling up young outfield talent. Bradley Zimmer joined the club in May 2017 and hit .335 with a .768 OPS in his first two months in the big leagues. Last week, when the Indians optioned struggling Greg Allen back to Triple-A, they recalled righty-hitting Jordan Luplow to take his place. Chernoff said the decision was less about Mercado and more about Luplow being the right fit with the current roster. We consider every option any time were making a decision like that, Chernoff said. We felt the best thing to do for the team was to go with Jordan. Chernoff also downplayed the idea that Mercado was not called up based on any sort of manipulation of his major league service time in order to prolong club control. Zero, not on the radar, Chernoff said. We feel like hes got a really bright future in front of him. The more he continues on that development path, the more he can help our major league team at some point. While it could be argued that if teams waited until every prospect was ready before a call-up, nobody would ever make it to the big leagues, Chernoff said there is a balance between figuring out if a players ready and whether theres a role available where can be most successful. Theres half of it that he can control, just continuing to develop and learn there, Chernoff said. And theres half thats in the control of the major league team. Just the opportunity thats available here." Mercado will continue to be in the mix for a spot on the big-league roster. Things could change at a moments notice. Any time we have those opportunities, were considering all of our options in Triple-A and thinking about whats best both for that player and for the major league team," Chernoff said. "And hes certainly in that picture. Get Tribe Insider texts in your phone from Paul Hoynes: Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with the award-winning Indians reporter, just like you would with your friends. Its just $3.99 a month, which works out to about 13 cents a day. Learn more and sign up here. Computer Science Idea Triggers First Kidney-Liver Transplant Swap Sandholm says multi-organ exchanges could boost number of transplants May 02, 2019 Aliana Deveza was desperate. Her mother's health was failing after years of fighting a hereditary kidney disease. Aliana wasn't a good donor candidate for her mother because she eventually might face the same disease herself. But what if she donated part of her liver instead? Specifically, what if she donated part of her liver to a patient who needed it and then a loved one of that patient donated a kidney to her mother? It wasn't Aliana's idea, but one she gleaned from a research paper by Tuomas Sandholm, the Angel Jordan Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and one of his former students, John Dickerson. She embraced the idea, however, and set in motion events that culminated in what is believed to be the world's first kidney-liver swap. In July 2017 at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, Aliana, of Gilroy, California, donated a little more than half of her liver to Connie Saragoza de Salinas of Sacramento, California. Saragoza's sister, Annie Simmons, of Boise, Idaho, donated one of her kidneys to Aliana's mother, Erosalyn Deveza. "Everyone's doing well now," said Aliana, now 23 and a psychology major at the University of California, Santa Cruz, though her mother subsequently was treated for breast cancer. "Things were a little rough for her for a while," Aliana acknowledged. In her own case, her liver rapidly regenerated and she considers herself in good health. Neither Sandholm nor Dickerson, now an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, had any idea the kidney-liver swap they inspired had taken place until April. That's when a case report by the UCSF surgeons describing the historic transplant was published in the American Journal of Transplantation. "Multi-organ exchange is something I thought would be really cool," Sandholm said of the research paper he and Dickerson wrote, which explored the potential for kidney-liver swaps to increase U.S. organ transplants overall. "I didn't anticipate it would be performed anytime soon because there are so few live donors for livers." Sandholm already has played a key role in the expansion of kidney paired-donation (KPD) transplants. In these cases, mismatched donor-recipients - a donor who is willing to donate a kidney, but is biologically incompatible with the recipient - are matched with other donor-recipients in the same situation. The first donor donates to the second recipient, while the second donor donates to the first recipient, thereby enabling two transplants. Sandholm, his students and collaborators devised computer algorithms that made it possible to make KPD matches using a national pool of candidates, making matches more likely, and enabled chains of kidney swaps that involve multiple donor-recipient pairs. The first kidney swaps resulting from his algorithms took place in 2006. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit that manages the U.S. organ transplant system, adopted his algorithms for a national kidney exchange that began in 2010. Thousands of donor-recipient pairs have been matched, resulting in hundreds of kidney transplants, Sandholm noted. About 70 percent of U.S. transplant centers now participate in the UNOS national kidney exchange. In their paper, published in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, Dickerson and Sandholm calculated that combining the kidney exchange with a liver lobe exchange could match 20 to 30 more candidates a month than would be possible with separate liver and kidney exchanges. That would be an increase of about 10 percent. Importantly, an increase in liver transplants would translate into lives saved. Though kidney dialysis can keep people with failing kidneys alive, no such life-saving treatment is available for someone with a failing liver. When Aliana read the paper in 2015, she thought the computer scientists were describing an existing scheme for kidney-liver swaps. "I didn't realize that it was just theoretical," she said. But it met her needs, so she began calling hospitals in California, trying to learn how she and her mother could join such an exchange. Most of the people she called had no idea what she was talking about, much less where to transfer her call. At UCSF Medical Center, however, Dr. John Roberts, a liver transplant surgeon, returned her call. "He said it was an interesting thought." He referred her to a transplant coordinator and she and her mother were approved by the transplant program in January 2016. But finding a suitable exchange took 18 months, in part because Aliana's small physique meant they would need to find a recipient of similar size. Saragoza, who had primary biliary cirrhosis, and Simmons ultimately were matched. Simmons had originally planned to donate part of her liver to her sister, but her liver wasn't of sufficient size. According to the case study recently published by Roberts and kidney transplant surgeon Dr. Nancy Ascher, every indication was that the transplant recipients would have normal outcomes. The major concern prior to surgery was ethical: the risk Aliana was assuming as a liver donor was far greater than Simmons' risk as a kidney donor, and the life-enhancing benefits to her mother were less than the life-saving benefits to Simmons' sister. "My parents and family were a little hesitant," Aliana said. "But I really wanted to push for the transplant because it was my mom. It was getting to the point where her condition was really painful. I wasn't too worried about myself; I was in good hands with the doctors at UCSF." Sandholm said he's not sure whether multi-organ exchanges will catch on the same as KPD transplants. At this point, for instance, no system exists for pooling donor-recipient pairs and making matches. But he said it is heartening to see that an idea born in a computer science lab resulted in a first-of-its-kind operation that saved lives. "Computer scientists have a lot of wild ideas, and this one just seemed so out there," Sandholm said. "It's just very cool that this turned out so well. We're happy for all of the patients." Attendees at Dubai's inaugural AI Everything summit walk among exhibitor stands. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2019. Natasha Turak | CNBC DUBAI The U.S.'s concerted campaign against Chinese tech companies, particularly telecommunications giant Huawei, isn't stopping allies like the United Arab Emirates from making use of their technology. This was evident during the country's inaugural AI Everything summit held this week in Dubai, which hosted delegates from companies around the world including the American heavyweights Google, IBM, Microsoft as well as Chinese rivals Alibaba, SenseTime and Huawei. As the small Gulf nation strives to diversify its economy and enhance ease of doing business, its government is pushing for the broad implementation of artificial intelligence into everyday life, governance and business operations. To that effect, it's welcomed the partnership of a wide spectrum of companies and countries, decidedly declining to take sides in what many have described as the global AI race between China and the U.S. "I don't believe it's a concern for our government, especially as we are managing that relationship very carefully," Aisha bin Bishr, director general of Smart Dubai, the government body leading Dubai's AI roadmap, told CNBC's Dan Murphy during the event. "You cannot stop implementing technologies just because of some negative flags flagged externally you need to take that risk and calculate it, be ready for anything to happen during that journey, and we work very closely with our chief security officers," she said. 'Calculating the risk' of AI partnerships Dubai has long prided itself on being an "oasis of security" for businesses amid a turbulent region. As the U.S. government warns of security risks associated with Huawei which U.S, U.K. and Australian intelligence officials accuse of being a potential tool of Chinese state surveillance Dubai remains open for business with the tech firm. But this is not without a careful calculation of risk, bin Bishr said. "Security and safety have always been an integral component in all our strategies. We don't want to compromise on the one thing Dubai has been known for, as a safe oasis in this region -- we need to study it very well to understand all these kinds of security alerts or back doors, and calculate the risk." Washington's warnings have been bolstered by the recent admission from UK telecoms provider Vodafone that it found security flaws in Huawei equipment in 2011 and 2012. Asked whether the warnings raised concern, bin Bishr replied, "Absolutely." Huawei rejects accusations that it could provide a back door to state spying. But many experts remain skeptical, pointing to a Chinese law that mandates all domestic companies to assist the government in intelligence gathering if Beijing requests it. In February, Emirati telecoms operator Etisalat chose Huawei to deploy the 5G network in the country this year. 5G, the fifth-generation wireless network, promises faster speeds and lower latency and is expected to transform industries like the internet of things and autonomous vehicles. "Today we want to implement 5G network in the Dubai Expo 2020 district, we are working very closely with these companies to test their networks and how ready and mature they are to launch it during Expo 2020," bin Bishr said, referring to Dubai's hosting of next year's World Expo. "And there is no harm to pilot things within a secure ecosystem to understand what are the positive and negative components of these technologies." Government leading the charge In some ways, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota boasts an ideal profile to compete for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. She won her third term last November with 60% in a state President Donald Trump nearly captured in 2016. Blending mainstream liberal views, a prosecutor's experience and a plain-folks common touch, she has built a formidable reputation as the "senator next door." Yet the crowded, chaotic Democratic race presents challenges that Klobuchar, 58, has never faced before. Former Vice President Joe Biden commands strong early support with the moderate primary voters she covets. Other rivals including two other Midwesterners, five other senators, five other women and six nonwhite candidates threaten her ability to make inroads with key Democratic constituencies. Her answer: "I'm running this campaign on grit" as demonstrated by her February campaign announcement outside in a snowstorm. Klobuchar sat down to discuss the battle for the White House over calamari and risotto balls at Casa di Amore, an Italian restaurant in Las Vegas where she had earlier addressed a union gathering. What follows is a condensed, edited transcript of the conversation. John Harwood: A lot of people in the country first got to know you during those Kavanaugh hearings, when you had that confrontation and you kept your cool. Did you interpret that as a gender thing a powerful man confronting a woman who was questioning him? Or more of a straight-up partisan thing? Amy Klobuchar: I thought the way he was acting was highly partisan. When he was bringing politics into a Supreme Court confirmation process instead of just making his case, he made it all political. I thought as I sat there, "This isn't just about him. This is going to hurt judges across the country." Whether they're Republican or Democratic appointed judges, it brings them down. I'm talking about people I know in my own state. That was my first reaction, so when he did it to me I was pretty shocked, because I felt that I had a fairly moderate tone. John Harwood: You did. Amy Klobuchar: I was simply trying to mesh up what she had said in the morning, Dr. [Christine] Blasey Ford, with his story. I thought, "Well, maybe he blacked out and that's what happened." Then he snapped back and asked me if I had blacked out before or drank beer, or whatever. I didn't see it as a gender thing. I just saw it as someone who was really performing for the audience of one, and that was the president of the United States. As opposed to answering a senator's questions, which was his job. I decided at that split-second moment, "I'm going to do my job," and my job is not to go down in the sewer with him. As I'd thought, many times when I had to deal with my dad when he was drinking, which I brought up at that hearing, I thought, "I'm going to take the keys away here." Because I have an obligation to uphold my own integrity, the integrity for Dr. Blasey Ford, the integrity for the Senate and mostly the integrity for the country, the judiciary. John Harwood: You think he would've done the same thing if it was a male senator? Amy Klobuchar: I think it's possible, yes. Yes. John Harwood: There are a few people in the race you're one of them making the argument that they can better attract Republican votes and attract Republican cooperation on some of their priorities when they come in. When Gov. [John] Hickenlooper got in the race, he said, "I'm going to walk down to Mitch McConnell's office and I'm going to sit down and talk to him and persuade him to do things that we believe in." A lot of people watching that had the reaction of, are you kidding? Have you been paying attention the last 10 years? That's ridiculous. Why is that view wrong? Amy Klobuchar: I do think you have to work across the aisle to get things done. But as we've learned over the years with how Senator McConnell runs the Senate, you have to stand your ground. You have to make clear where you are not going to budge, where you're going to stand up for the people of this country. I would have a good understanding of that because I have worked with him and worked in the Senate for years. John Harwood: You really think that, where President Obama could not get Republican cooperation on almost any of the major things that he was doing, you could? Amy Klobuchar: I know those senators well. I've been in that Senate for a number of years now. When I look at the priorities I've laid out, including the pharmaceutical issue to bring the prices down, I know where the bodies are buried. I know, despite the fact that you've got two lobbyists for every member of Congress, which senators are willing to work like Sen. Grassley on bringing down the prices of pharmaceuticals and which ones I think could be pushed to do something out of just sheer political reasons because they're going to lose in their state if they don't do something about it. But you need a president that's willing to make it an issue. Or infrastructure there's no such thing as a Republican bridge or a Democratic bridge. There's bridges in every state. There's transit and roads and schools that are crumbling. I also know which senators want to work on that. This doesn't mean you're a pansy. It just means you're a realist. That if you're going to get things done, you've got to look to where you have friends, and where you have enemies, and move ahead and get it done. You have to set those priorities from day one when you get into the White House. John Harwood: If a Democratic voter believes that that's possible, and you don't have to get rid of the filibuster and get all Democratic votes to get anything through, why shouldn't they go with Joe Biden, who was there decades before you got there and knows more people for a longer period? Amy Klobuchar: Vice President Biden is a good person and was a great vice president. I believe that I'm a candidate for our times. That is because I am, first of all, from the heartland. I know how to win in purple districts and red congressional districts like I don't think we've seen in a lot of the other candidates. I have won every single congressional district in the rural areas and in every area in my state, including Michele Bachmann's three times in a row. I won 40 of the counties that Donald Trump won. John Harwood: And you're 20 years younger than him. Amy Klobuchar: OK. I did it by not selling out on democratic values. I did it by getting votes of people that didn't agree with me on everything, but knew I was telling them the truth. They listen because they know, "You know what? She was honest with us about agriculture. She stood by our side. She was honest with us when that bridge fell down that she'd get that done and that she couldn't get it done in a month, but she'd get it done in a year." You get a track record where people believe you, even if they aren't of the same party or even if they don't agree with everything you say. John Harwood: The age is also part of it. You said, "A candidate for our time." Amy Klobuchar: Well, for me, that's part of my argument, but it doesn't mean you couldn't be older and do the job. I'm not being ageist here. It's just that my story is different than everyone else's. John Harwood: You, on things like the Green New Deal, "Medicare for All," free college, have embraced the aspiration but not the specifics of those proposals. Is that because you think all those things are desirable but not achievable? Or are they not even desirable if you could achieve them because say, in the case of free college, you're giving aid to people who don't need aid, benefiting high income parents? Amy Klobuchar: On the Green New Deal, I'm a co-sponsor because to me, it's aspirational. What do I support there? I support immediately getting back in the climate change agreement. I support immediately bringing back the clean power rules that are on the cutting room floor. Doing sweeping legislation, when you see the world heating up more and more and more in places like the one we're in right now. Secondly, on "Medicare for All," I think it is something we should look at, but I want to get there quicker and I don't want to do any harm. There, I actually am not on that bill because I support a public option and improving the Affordable Care Act and keeping those protections in place and doing something about pharmaceuticals. On college, I have long supported making college more affordable. Allowing students to refinance. making sure we have free two-year community college, something President Obama had wanted to get done but wasn't able to get it done at the end. And then making sure that we have expanded Pell Grants and making it easier for more families to get access who need it to go to college. On that one, no. I don't agree with some of the proposals that are out there to simply wipe out all of the debt. I want to target. I don't want to saddle this generation and the ones after it with even more debt, but I want to respect the dignity of work by making sure the money goes to where we need it the most. John Harwood: When President Obama approached health care reform, he basically had said that if we were building a house from scratch, we'd build a different kind of house. But we're not. We've got a system, and so better to rehab and put an addition on the house rather than build a whole new house. Is that your basic philosophy of change? Amy Klobuchar: You have to do both. There are things that I would fundamentally change in this country, like the way our election laws are working right now. I would love to have matching funds like we have for candidates to make sure everyone can run and not just wealthy people. I would want to get rid of Citizens United and make sure we don't have dark money and make this a much fairer process. It would be great to start from scratch there. Some of these things like health care, where we have had a major change in the system with these protections for workers, we don't want to suddenly do something that is going to make it worse for a significant number of people. I look at each thing on a case by case basis. John Harwood: Part of this goes to your fundamental view of how our economy and modern capitalism is working. Do you think that it is in many respects, working well, but it needs to be rebalanced to distribute rewards more evenly? Or do you think we need a much different capitalist system than we have? Amy Klobuchar: America has always thrived on entrepreneurships, and new ideas, and also, by the way, people coming in from other countries with new ideas. That has been what's made our country so strong. I do support capitalism, but not unbridled capitalism. You've always had checks and balances. If you want to make our economy work, everyone has to be able to participate in it. If you can't afford health care or your pharmaceuticals, you've got to do something. My grandpa was a miner. My dad still remembers those bodies lined up in the Catholic church because there weren't enough safety regulations in place. Every time the whistle would blow, my grandma would tell me how she'd run to the mine because you didn't know if it was her husband that was killed. Those worker safety rules and unions have made a big difference. We have always had a check and balance. And right now, to me, we're out of kilter. We're out of kilter on antitrust laws, out of kilter on minimum wage. John Harwood: So it sounds like rebalancing Amy Klobuchar: It is rebalancing. John Harwood: rather than turning the table over. Amy Klobuchar: Right. It is looking at the stakeholders so that, who are the stakeholders? Well, if we're just putting in incentives in for companies to buy new equipment. Great. Well, maybe we should also have incentives for companies to train their workers when we know some of these jobs are going away with the changing technology. It is the way the economy works for everyone. John Harwood: There's a difference in the race in affect and in tone. You are pretty optimistic in your tone, pretty upbeat. Some others have more of an edge to them. I think some of that comes from their belief that we just didn't get this economy, but there's actually some malevolent behavior that people in business, and some in politics, are affirmatively trying to screw people at the bottom of the system for their benefit. Do you believe that? Amy Klobuchar: Yes, I do. I certainly see it with pharmaceuticals. Why do you think we are having this problem with insulin? We're having this problem with insulin because when pharmaceutical companies see a monopoly, they go for it. If there's no one being a check and balance, if we are not as a government as sophisticated as the people that are trying to rip us off, you have problems. John Harwood: On pharmaceuticals, you just said a few minutes ago that when the president released his plan, their stocks went up. Amy Klobuchar: That's correct. John Harwood: You said that's not going to happen when you're there. You want their stocks to go down? Amy Klobuchar: I want their stocks to be fairly treated on the stock market. But I certainly don't want to have put out a plan where everyone goes, "Oh, that's easy for them, but it's bad for everyone else in America." I want these companies to exist. I want them to be strong, but I want it to be fair for the consumers. John Harwood: You don't think business needs to be punished? Amy Klobuchar: I don't see it as punishing. I see it as making sure there's an opportunity for everyone, that we are a country of shared prosperity. You don't have to act like everyone that works at a company is bad, or that we don't want to have business. I don't agree with that at all. But what I see as my job, the number one rule of government, should be protecting people, public safety, improving their lives. John Harwood: You mentioned being a prosecutor. In this moment, do you feel defensive about that given how people within your party are approaching issues of mass incarceration? Is that something you have to explain? Amy Klobuchar: No. I feel like it's something where I have learned a lot. I protected people that was my job. I was glad we put some really bad people behind bars. But at the same time, you learn that the justice system has to be improved. Our job is not to be like a business in one way: We don't want to see repeat customers. Your job is to administer justice. How do you do that? Well, you do things to try to get people to not commit crimes again things like drug court, things like treatment. That is why that experience has helped me to be a really good senator when it comes to advocating for drug courts, when it comes to advocating for treatment for meth and opioids, and giving people a second chance, as well as my own experience in my life with my dad. He got one chance, two chance, three chance. He got three DWIs. It was only on the third DWI where our laws had changed. He had jail time hanging over his head. It pushed him to go into treatment. I think your life experiences can help you to be a better senator and now to be a better president. John Harwood: When you think about how to rebalance the capitalist system, you've got a bunch of levers that you can pull. You have tax policy. You've got spending. You got regulatory policy, antitrust that you mentioned. What are the most important ones from your point of view? Amy Klobuchar: Well, the first one is to make sure that we have fairness for workers so they can afford things. That means the tax code. I think the Republican tax bill went way too far. You look at the corporate tax rate I supported bringing it down some, but it went way too far down to 21%. If you just go up to 25%, you get $100 billion for every point that could be used to pay for people's roads and bridges. John Harwood: But you want to get to 25% for your infrastructure bill? Amy Klobuchar: Yeah, right. John Harwood: And then two more points for your retirement bill? Amy Klobuchar: You could look at part of that for that. You could also look at doing it with things like the Buffett rule. Closing the carried interest loophole would bring in $14 billion. Capital gains changes would bring in hundreds of billions of dollars. John Harwood: What would you do, tax it like ordinary income? Amy Klobuchar: You could, yes. And you might want to make some dispensation if people hold it for longer periods of time. But you've got to do something because that's hundreds of billions right there. When you do something about monopolies, you bring money in. John Harwood: Your retirement bill takes the top personal rate from 37 to 39.6. Is that high enough? You think that's where it should stay? Amy Klobuchar: I would look at what the rate is, but that is an example. Obviously, I would want to go back to where we were, at least where we were before Trump came in, yes. John Harwood: Donald Trump has instituted a regulatory budget to make it much more difficult for the government to enact new regulations. Would you get rid of that? Amy Klobuchar: I wouldn't do it that way, no. But I would be willing to look at regulations. If you think one really isn't working, you change it. You've got to be willing to do that. Otherwise, you just keep things the same in this country. At the same time, when you look at overall what he's doing, he is trying to dismantle things that would protect our environment. I strongly oppose when he got rid of the Clean Power Rules, which had been worked out as a compromise over time, or the Gas Mileage Standard Rules. John Harwood: You've got a lot of people, especially older workers, especially in rural areas, who have been displaced by technological change. It's difficult for them, the older they are, to get retrained. What do you do for those people? Amy Klobuchar: You make sure that you are looking out for them. The way you do it is, where they are right now, those jobs, you try to create more incentives for employers to train them for the jobs that are going to be available. They have some incentive to do because we don't have people for some of the jobs we have right now and then there are other jobs that we know are going to go away. I would do that. I would do more and more when it comes to workforce training. I would make sure that they have the safety net in place of Social Security, that they have the safety place of Medicare and those remain solvent; that's going to be very important. John Harwood: A lot of them are on Social Security disability. We do have a long-term fiscal challenge with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Social Security disability. Do you think that should be dealt with only on the tax side? Does it require some adjustment to benefits? Or, do you think the current-day concern about deficits is exaggerated, and we can just ride with that a while longer? Amy Klobuchar: I think we always have to be aware of where we are on the deficit and the debt. But when it comes to Social Security, I don't think we should be balancing this debt on the backs of the people that need it the most. What I would like to do is see the cap lifted for when you pay into Social Security; that would keep it solvent for decades and decades to come. When I comes to Medicare, I think that we could also do more when it comes to encouraging quality care, making our health-care system work; that's why I've suggested a public option. John Harwood: So, some things on the spending side. Amy Klobuchar: Also, when it comes to Social Security, we have done with means testing. We can do some more. We just want to make sure that whatever we do isn't on the backs of people that we've made a promise to, to support, who've worked their whole lives, and who deserve to retire with dignity. John Harwood: Over the last four decades, the rate of unionization in this country has fallen in half. It's now around 10%. That's happened under Democrat and Republican presidents alike. Is it actually realistic in the kind of economy that we're in now, globally and in the United States, that you can reverse that and significantly ramp up the level of unionization? Amy Klobuchar: Workers right now, because it's so expensive to afford things even though they may have jobs, what they're seeing is this growing income inequality. They are starting, especially young people, this next generation, to say that isn't fair. I think you're going to start seeing, and you have seen in the culinary workers in Nevada and across the country, growing unionization in those fields with more people wanting to join. John Harwood: Is it about actually increasing the rate of unionization, or protecting workers where they are un-unionized? Amy Klobuchar: When unions do well, other workers do well that aren't even in unions. I think it's making sure that you have the ability to organize, to be in a union. I think it helps all workers. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for unions. My grandpa, those safety rules that the unions got in place, that made a difference. My mom moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin because they had a stronger teacher's union. I literally am the granddaughter of a union worker, and the daughter of a union teacher and a union newspaper man, and the first woman elected to Senate from the state of Minnesota, and the candidate for president of the United States. Embattled Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who has been away from the job amid a corruption scandal centered around a children's book, announced her resignation through her lawyer on Thursday. "Dear citizens of Baltimore, I would like to thank you for allowing me to serve as the fiftieth mayor," the statement read by her lawyer said. "Today I am submitting my written resignation to the Baltimore City Council." The announcement was widely expected, as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and members of the Baltimore City Council and others had called for the mayor to resign. Last week, federal agents searched the homes and City Hall offices of Pugh, who is under state investigation over hundreds of thousands of dollars earned selling her "Healthy Holly" series of children's books to a health plan that does business with the city and a University of Maryland medical system she once helped oversee. Pugh's announcement was delayed by health issues. On April 1, she took a leave of absence to recover from pneumonia. Last week, her attorney, Steve Silverman, said any decision on whether to resign would only come when she is "physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions." Silverman said Pugh had been suffering from severe pneumonia and severe bronchitis and was "under a tremendous amount of stress." In this Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015 file photo, a nurse places a patient's medication on an intravenous stand at a hospital in Philadelphia. "I just said let's start up this fund," the businessman told CNBC this week. "I've got the resources and have been looking for good ways to use them to help folks." VanderSloot and his wife, Belinda, announced a $500,000 legal defense fund last week to help east Idahoans with medical debt who also have been slapped with "excessive attorney fees." "Medical rates and medical expenses continue to skyrocket, going up and up," said Frank VanderSloot, founder and CEO of Melaleuca, an Idaho Falls-based health products company. The problem of medical debt is even worse among uninsured, with 53% tackling some bill problem, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times survey from 2016. Two-thirds of people who file bankruptcy cite medical bills as a factor. About 1 in 5 Americans with health insurance has some medical debt, and sometimes it's not only the billed health-care costs but the creditor's fees and legal expenses that can bring financial hardship to families. Frank VanderSloot, who owns Melaleuca, Inc., a healthcare products company, is seen in Idaho Falls, Idaho. With a net worth estimated at $4.5 billion, VanderSloot is considered Idaho's wealthiest individual, according to Forbes. He's also an active donor to the Republican Party and a former national finance co-chairman for Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential bids. According to Consumer Reports, it's not unusual for people to get contacted about a debt they don't recognize. "Consumers really have to pay close attention to these confusing medical bills when they come in and try to settle it," said Chuck Bell, a programs director at Consumer Reports. "But also be aware that you have to keep checking your credit report because it could be you saw a provider that sent something to collections that you were never even billed for." Texas leads the nation with the biggest total medical debt of its population, followed by California and Florida, according to credit reports tracked by TransUnion. Nearly 26% of the population in Texas has some medical debt, and even in smaller states such as Idaho, the problem exists with about 16% of adults. In announcing the fund, VanderSloot indicated it would defend against "tactics used by overly aggressive medical debt collectors." For one, VanderSloot is taking on a local medical-debt collection company, Medical Recovery Services, or MRS. "We've got an outfit operating in Idaho Falls, a debt collection agency, that's more interested in running up attorney fees than they are in collecting medical debt," VanderSloot told CNBC. Even though medical debt can lead to litigation, some attorneys suggest U.S. consumers are more likely to be sued for having credit card debt. In some states, including Idaho, consumers have just 21 days to respond to collection lawsuits. The billionaire said his interest in the medical debt issue follows the case of a Melaleuca employee with a bill of nearly $6,000 from an original medical expense of $294. The original medical bill has since been paid by the employee. VanderSloot claims MRS tried to garnish the wages of the Melaleuca employee. The matter ended with Melaleuca and the collection company locking horns in court. "How they were behaving with us, the employer, seemed really odd," said VanderSloot. He alleges MRS used "bullying kind of tactics" and engaged in "patterns that appear to be unethical at the least." MRS strongly rejects allegations that it has done anything wrong. "We take our professional and ethical obligations very seriously," MRS attorney Bryan Smith told CNBC in an email statement. "In representing the interests of our clients, we always ensure to follow all applicable rules, regulations, and statutes as well as our professional, ethical obligations." Smith also said the debt collection company's "practices are fully supported by the applicable laws of our highly regulated industry, and the court determines post-judgment fees on a case-by-case basis." Republican Idaho state Rep. Bryan Zollinger, an outside attorney for MRS, fired back that VanderSloot "is misinformed." Also, Zollinger insists he doesn't make any business decisions for the Idaho Falls collections company, even though he's listed as a registered agent. Zollinger claims that the matter with VanderSloot is "a personal beef because he has an employee who was garnished. Everything we do is not only legal, but I believe everything we do is ethical as well." Even so, Zollinger said he hopes to sit down with VanderSloot to sort out the situation. "I'd be happy to walk him through any of our files or any of the decisions." New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to slash meat consumption in schools and other city facilities is being criticized by the U.S. beef industry. "We think that the mayor's attempt, while maybe having the best intentions, is pretty misguided to single out beef as something that can have a significant impact," said Jennifer Houston, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a lobbying group for beef producers. "Lately, we've been the flavor of the month to combat the environment, and people are not really looking into the true facts of it." Last month, de Blasio unveiled New York City's Green New Deal, a wide-ranging initiative that includes reducing purchases of beef by 50% at all city-controlled facilities, including schools, prisons and hospitals. It follows the mayor in March announcing "Meatless Mondays" in the public school system. New York also plans to phase out all processed meat products purchased by city agencies. One of the most significant impacts will be to the school system, where there are about 1.1 million students, and nearly 900,000 meals are served a day, including breakfast and lunch. "The mayor has missed the point on the purpose of these lunches, and that's a nutritious meal for the people," said Zachary Yanta, a farmer and rancher in south-central Texas. "Of course, meat is still very good for you and nutrient dense and that means that only a small amount is needed to provide the recommended daily allowance." There was no reference to "farting cows" in de Blasio's plan, although it was linked to the national Green New Deal plan championed in February by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Both plans seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and some researchers have estimated the livestock sector especially gassy cows is responsible for more than half of methane emissions in some states. "We need to rethink our relationship to consumption across the board, and beef consumption, in particular, has a pernicious and outsized impact on global warming," Mark Chambers, director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, said in a statement. "New York City is taking a closer look at what we eat to create a healthier planet and a healthier future." De Blasio's plan to combat global warming is part of a drive to achieve a nearly 30% additional reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. It also includes investment in thousands of jobs retrofitting buildings and expanding renewable energy. "Every day we wait is a day our planet gets closer to the point of no return," de Blasio said in a report released April 22. "New York City's Green New Deal meets that reality head-on." Methane is created in cattle production when cows burp, pass gas and defecate. While methane can be short-lived as a climate pollutant, it is considered at least 25 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide. Overall, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that cows contribute about 4% to greenhouse gas emissions. But NCBA's Houston challenges the U.N. statistics and adds that the cattle industry "cares about the environment as much or more than anybody because it allows us to do what we do." As for the numbers, Houston maintains that "agriculture in a whole only contributes about 9% and cattle about 2% to greenhouse gases." She said her industry gets singled out by some of the same people who might ignore "the biggies of transportation and electrical production." "Although it sounds good in theory, what's going to happen is the schoolchildren, and all of New Yorkers who are under this, will miss a high-quality source of protein as well as other nutrients zinc, iron plus, it's delicious," Houston said. Houston said the livestock industry produces 33% more beef compared with about 30 years ago and with fewer cattle, too. "That's all the strides we've made in becoming more efficient," she said. At the same time, the beef official said cattle use a lot of land for grazing throughout the U.S. that isn't suitable for other purposes, whether shrub-covered hilly areas or arid lands. Researchers also have identified cattle grazing as one way to reduce wildfire risk for some areas, such as grasslands where there's a constant threat of lightning strikes causing fires. "If we don't use our resources wisely to turn those grasslands into a productive protein source for people, that's just inefficient and not good use of the land," said rancher Yanta. "Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and start to realize that, wait a minute, this may not be the best situation for everybody." Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, marking the latest irritant in a widening diplomatic dispute. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. She said both pork producers are based in the country's eastern province of Quebec. "We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I can't speculate on why the permits have been suspended." Canada-China ties turned icy last December when police in Vancouver arrested Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Bibeau said she did not know when the pork permit suspensions took effect. Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. The permit suspensions are also due to paperwork problems, although not the same issue as before, according to Gary Stordy, spokesman for the Canadian Pork Council, which represents Canadian hog farmers. Stordy said the suspensions applied to two processing plants in Quebec. The largest pork exporter in Quebec, Olymel, did not respond to requests for comment. Canada, the world's third-largest pork exporter, has shipped more pork this year to China, where the domestic pig herd has been ravaged by African swine fever (ASF). China bought C$514 million ($382.5 million) worth of Canadian pork in 2018. "With African swine fever, and the fact (the Chinese) are very big consumers of pork and here in Canada we are free from ASF, it's surprising that this is happening," Bibeau said. China is the largest global producer and consumer of pork. Earlier on Wednesday, the Canadian government offered financial assistance to canola farmers who have been hit by a Chinese ban on imports and said it was looking to diversify into other markets. Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat defended the Wall Street bank's sponsorship of an upcoming event in New York City honoring Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro, who has a history of homophobic comments. Corbat told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that the bank spends "a lot of time" making sure its staff understand the company's support of the LGBT community. Corbat stopped short, however, of pulling out of sponsoring the event planned by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce to honor Bolsonaro at its 2019 Person of the Year Award Gala Dinner. Bain & Co., Delta Air Lines and the Financial Times recently pulled their sponsorship of the event, though many big banks, including J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, as well as other corporate and media sponsors, such as UnitedHealth Group and Forbes Brasil, remain attached. Marriott International's New York City hotel the Marriott Marquis is the event's venue after the American Museum of Natural History reversed its plans to hold the event. Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson has a long history of support for the LGBT community. Bolsonaro recently said in an interview that Brazil cannot become a "gay tourism paradise," the latest in a history of homophobic comments made by the new Brazilian president. Previously he has been quoted as saying he would prefer his son to be a drug addict than gay and is proud to be a homophobe. Bolsonaro also has a long history of making incendiary comments about gender, indigenous groups and torture. "We spend a lot of time making sure our people understand the values of our company, and I hope in the case of that, there's no question in terms of our support, our unwavering support, for our LGBT community," Corbat told CNBC's Carl Quintanilla. "In there, we're supporting the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. We've operated in Brazil for many, many decades, and I think we're very clear in terms of our stance." Citi has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index for 15 consecutive years. New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, who represents the district in Manhattan where the Marriott Marquis is located, took to Twitter to denounce Citigroup and the event's sponsors. Hoylman cited the CNBC interview with Citi CEO Corbat. On CNBC Thursday, Corbat also defended the bank's executive pay structure. The pay gap at Citigroup, led by Corbat since 2012, is the biggest among large U.S. banks. Corbat made $24.2 million last year, 486 times the median employee pay of $49,766. While other bank CEOs made similar paydays, higher median pay at Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase meant that Citigroup had the most extreme ratio. The backlash over Bolsonaro's views on homosexuality is one of several recent instances in which Wall Street has been wrestling with the rift between its support on social issues and business operations. A growing list of multinational banks including J.P. Morgan are banning employees from staying at hotels owned by the sultan of Brunei, where homosexuality and adultery is punishable by death. Donovan Russo contributed to this report. Michael Corbat defended the huge compensation gap between low-level employees and top management at Citigroup, saying it should inspire the rank-and-file workers who could someday fill his shoes. "My answer is I am that person," Corbat said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "I started at our firm in 1983 at $17,000 a year." The pay gap at Citigroup, led by Corbat since 2012, is the biggest among large U.S. banks. Corbat made $24.2 million last year, 486 times the median employee pay of $49,766. While other bank CEOs had similar paydays, higher median pay at Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase meant that Citigroup had the most extreme ratio. That comparison is unfair to Citigroup because of the employees the bank has in places like Mexico and the Philippines, where compensation is low, he said. Excluding those workers, the "average employee in the U.S. makes right about $100,000 a year," he said. Income inequality at large U.S. corporations is a hot-button issue ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections. The pay ratio is even more extreme outside of banking, in industries like retail, food and entertainment. For instance, Disney CEO Bob Iger made 1,424 times the median pay of his employees, prompting Abigail Disney to call his compensation "insane." Corbat, along with other bank CEOs, was grilled last month by U.S. lawmakers over the pay gap at their institutions. "If you were an employee, and you saw your boss making $486 for every dollar you make, how would you feel about that?" Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., asked Corbat on April 10. Echoing his answer then, Corbat added Thursday that "through the grace of God, through hard work, I got to where I am. So I am that person that looked up and said maybe if I work hard enough I can get there." Shares of Citigroup have climbed 35% this year as the stock recovered from a sharp decline in December. The New York-based bank posted mixed first-quarter results last month amid a sharp decline in equities trading. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc.: "I'm not a trucker fan. I mean, I looked at XPO Logistics. I kind of liked the quarter. Next thing I know, boom. The stock got clobbered. Let's stay away." Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.: "You can own that. Just for the record: I prefer Barrick Gold." Holly Energy Partners LP: "You know what, something's wrong with this thing at 10% yield. The other day I saw one of these companies that's very similar that actually got blitzed. They cut the dividend. I am concerned. Let me do some work." Cirrus Logic Inc.: "I think the world of Apple. Cirrus is a supplier. I cannot bless buying it at this level. I can't, as good a company I think it is." Petmed Express Inc: "What the heck is that stock doing at 10-times earnings with that yield? That makes no sense to me. That said, when it comes to animal health, I'm never gonna deviate from Idexx and Zoetis. Those are the two blue-chips of the industry." Chart Industries Inc.: "I cannot believe the gas to liquids, which is what that stands for, GTLS, is actually all the way back up. That is a company that I've gotta tell you: I have missed the move back. I cannot bless it all the way up here. It's run too much." WATCH: Cramer's lightning round Many parents of millennials (ages 25 to 34) are financially supporting their adult kids, paying some or all of their monthly expenses, including groceries, cell phone, and even costs related to owning a car. These parents are also paying for bigger ticket items, such as making rent and mortgage payments and paying down student loans. Roughly a quarter of millennials say they receive financial support from their parents in these areas, with 13% saying their parents pay all of their rent or mortgage. And 10% of millennials say their parents are shouldering the cost of their student loans. That's according to a recent report by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, which surveyed over 2,700 Americans. Merrill provided CNBC Make It with data that specifically highlights the parental support provided to millennials ages 25 to 34. "On the path to financial independence, the vast majority of early adults are still relying on the family bank for support," says Ken Dychtwald, a psychologist and CEO and founder of Age Wave. The report found that 58% of early adults, which Merrill defines as those between the ages 18 and 34, say they would not be able to afford their current lifestyles without parental support. Why many millennials are relying on parents Millennials carry more debt than previous generations did at their age, which is causing them to seek out financial help. One major reason is student loans. The number of households with student loan debt doubled from 1998 to 2016, Pew Research Center found. The median amount of loan debt millennials carried was $19,000, significantly higher than Gen-Xers' balance of $12,800 at the same age. But it's not the only factor. Middle class life is now 30% more expensive than it was 20 years ago, according to Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author of the book, "Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America." "It's a mistake to assume that 'oh, I was once a young person so I understand it,'" Dychtwald says. Older generations didn't face the same challenges as today's millennials, he says. Still, all Americans, regardless of age, are feeling the squeeze. Salaries just don't go as far as they once did to cover the necessities. In fact, the average paycheck has the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago, Pew Research found. That means it takes more money now to buy the same things. The 'family bank' should not be a long term solution It's no surprise that so many parents are still helping out their adult children. Other surveys have come to similar conclusions, and a recent Bankrate report found that about half of parents say they've risked their retirement savings to help out their kids. Yet financial experts urge caution. While parents may have good intentions when they plan to help kids afford college and other costs, doing so at the expense of your retirement is a mistake. Opting to under-fund your retirement and planning to work indefinitely to make up the deficit is just not a practical strategy, experts say. Especially when you consider that a majority of Americans say they already plan to need to work long after the age of 65 "out of financial necessity," according to Pew Charitable Trusts. Focus on yourself first, says Mark Beaver, a financial advisor in Dublin, Ohio: "There's a reason on an airplane they say to put on your own oxygen mask before helping a child." Make sure you are on track with your emergency fund and that you're putting money away for retirement before helping your children. That's because you can use a number of different loans, scholarships and grants to pay for college, for example, or get a mortgage to buy a house. "Consider the fact that there's pretty much financing available for most life decisions, except retirement," says Las Vegas-based financial planner Luis Rosa. Millennials want to be financially independent Millennials recognize that relying on their parents is not ideal. While people may talk about how millennials are "slackers" and how they love living off their parents, that's simply not true, Dychtwald says. A bird's eye view of commercial and residential buildings stand as seen from a skyscraper during construction development in Central Jakarta. Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, is planning to move its capital away from Jakarta, which is suffering from severe congestion and is rapidly sinking. The country's president, Joko Widodo, has decided to relocate the capital to outside of the crowded main island of Java, saying that the island's infrastructure has been strained to the point that a move is necessary. "In Java, the population is 57 per cent of the total for Indonesia, or more than 140m people, to the point that the ability to support this, whether in terms of the environment, water or traffic in the future, will no longer be possible so I decided to move outside Java," he told local media, according to a Financial Times report. Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that it will be a good move, reiterating that it isn't sustainable for economic activities to be focused in Jakarta anymore, with concerns around quality of life as well. "From the point of view that Indonesia needs to move away from the very central focus in Java or Jakarta on economic development and growth, I think this is really a wise choice. Indonesia is a big country, but we are very much central in Jakarta or Java in terms of development," she said. Jakarta is home to more than 10 million people, but around three times as many people live in the surrounding towns adding to the area's severe congestion. The low-lying capital is also prone to flooding and is thought to be sinking due to over-extraction of ground water. Indonesian Minister of National Development Planning Bambang Brodjonegoro has put the annual economic loss due to traffic congestion in Jakarta at 100 trillion rupiah ($7.04 billion). According to Sri Mulyani, any new location for the capital should not require a big investment in infrastructure. "We're not going to be in a totally isolated place (where) we have to invest (in much) infrastructure, I think that's one of the criteria. We would like to have a location which is central enough ... including the environmental sustainability and don't forget that Indonesia is located under the Ring of Fire so you really have to find a location which is safe enough but not requiring a huge investment cost," she said. The Ring of Fire is a major area around the edges of the Pacific Ocean, where 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur. Widodo said on Tuesday that the country is considering spending $33 billion on the move. One of the contenders for the new capital city is Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, state news agency Antara reported this year. Sri Mulyani added that the evaluation would be finalized within a year, and the move might take up to a decade, going by the experience of other countries. Reuters contributed to this report. 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". A Boston jury convicted Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor and four former executives of racketeering and other crimes in a fentanyl bribery case that federal prosecutors say helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. Prosecutors accused Kapoor and the other executives of bribing doctors to unnecessarily prescribe their painkiller, Subsys. The Department of Justice said the bribes took many forms, mostly as "sham" programs that were meant to increase brand awareness for their drug. Instead, prosecutors alleged Insys used the programs as a way to pay practitioners to overprescribe Subsys. The former executives were also accused of defrauding insurers and others that paid for the medication. Kapoor and his colleagues were found guilty Thursday after 15 days of deliberations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on Twitter. Kapoor, the former chairman of Insys, is the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive to be tried in a case related to the opioid epidemic. "Just as we would street-level drug dealers, we will hold pharmaceutical executives responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic by recklessly and illegally distributing these drugs, especially while conspiring to commit racketeering along the way," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement. Subsys is a fentanyl-based narcotic meant to treat cancer patients. Prosecutors say the former Insys executives bribed doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions to patients, many of whom did not have cancer. The other executives found guilty were: Richard Simon, former national director of sales; former regional sales directors Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan; and Michael Gurry, former vice president of managed markets. Michael L. Babich, former CEO and president, pleaded guilty in January and is set to be sentenced in September. Alec Burlakoff, former vice president of sales, also pleaded guilty in January to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is set to be sentenced later this year. Insys Therapeutics said in a statement that Kapoor's shares in the company have been and will remain in an independent trust, with which Kapoor is not involved. The company added that the "actions of a select few former employees of the company are not indicative of the hard work conducted" by it today. Insys stock was down 1.6% on Thursday after the markets closed. The opioid epidemic has become a major issue that lawmakers have sought to tackle. More than 130 people in the nation die every day after overdosing on opioids. According to the CDC, about 218,000 people died from overdoses related to prescription opioids from 1999 to 2017. Federal prosecutors have recently started cracking down on drugmakers accused of contributing to the opioid epidemic. In April, Rochester Drug Cooperative agreed to pay a $20 million settlement after it was charged with unlawfully distributing oxycodone and fentanyl and conspiring to defraud the Drug Enforcement Administration. Prosecutors also charged 60 doctors, pharmacists and other health-care professionals in April for illegally prescribing more than 32 million pain pills. Reuters contributed to this article. An Iranian oil tanker carrying over 1 million barrels of fuel oil suffered a malfunction in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, authorities said Thursday, raising concerns that the vessel could be leaking. The incident involving the Happiness I came as U.S. oil exemptions for Iranian crude oil purchases expired, part of President Donald Trump's maximalist approach against Tehran. Saudi Arabia's state-run television channels and news agency said authorities received a distress call from the Happiness I over an "engine failure and the loss of control." The vessel had a crew of 26, including 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, Saudi state media said. They described the ship's position as some 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Jiddah in the Red Sea. Saudi authorities said various government agencies were involved in the operation, including those who handle environmental protection. It did not elaborate on whether oil had spilled from the tanker. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the state-run National Iranian Tanker Co. as saying the tanker would be transferred to Jiddah's port. It said the vessel, on the way to the Suez Canal, broke down over water leaking into its engine room. A team of five graduate business students from the University of Vermont traveled to Philadelphia this week to put an impact investing project they have been working on to the test. The trip, which coincided with finals, was a success. The students Maura Kalil, Emily Klein, Andrew Mallory, Peter Seltzer and Alyssa Stankiewicz took the top prize in the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge. The competition was put together by Bank of America, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Social Impact Initiative, and the Good Capital Project. Winners of the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge, from left: University of Vermont graduate students Andrew Mallory, Emily Klein, Alyssa Stankiewicz, Maura Kalil and Peter Seltzer. Chris Kendig The competition pitted 26 teams of graduate student teams from 19 schools against each other with one purpose: to come up with a unique investment take on impact investing. The inaugural competition issued a challenge to students: to come up with an impact investing strategy for either a single family office with $100 million or a family foundation with $25 million. The competitors including finalist teams from Boston University, Columbia University, Fordham University, University of Vermont and Yale University came up with ideas that upended traditional notions about impact investing, according to the organizers. All of the teams worked with about 50 mentors from Bank of America, including wealth advisors, portfolio managers and sustainability experts. "The key takeaway is that there are many ways in which you can integrate ESG [environmental, social and governance] and impact," said Sharadiya Dasgupta, managing director at Good Capital Project. "That is one thing practitioners should learn from this exercise." The winning team came up with a portfolio for a family office with $100 million through a mix of investments including community development loan funds and private debt impact funds. It also included direct investments in farmland, timber and a holding company. The team also came up with its own screen for ESG funds, called SI-MBA after their own MBA program, that evaluated how well their investments aligned with the issues most material to the companies they invest in. At the competition event on Wednesday, the University of Vermont team presented their concept at the end of the day. That gave them the opportunity to listen to other teams' projects, they said, and feel validated that they were on the right track, they said. "I could feel the excitement and the interest in the ideas that we're bringing as students and as millennials and people who are going to be working in this space soon," Klein said. The competition is evidence that impact investing is being embraced in schools, professionals involved in the project said. "Students these days are embracing responsible capitalism," said Jackie VanderBrug, head of sustainable and impact investment strategy in the chief investment office for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank. "They are looking for how does information like environmental, social and governance data support them in making better investment decisions." Changing opportunities When the Wharton Social Impact Initiative was started in 2010, its focus was more on private equity and venture capital. Today, that has expanded more broadly to include impact investments. That matches the growth that has happened in ESG funds and thematic exchange traded funds. "The costs have come down," VanderBrug said. "The product breadth has grown, and the track records have grown." That means that what was once an investment area reserved for just accredited investors those with at least $200,000 in income or a net worth of $1 million or more is now accessible to individuals of most levels of wealth. The Wharton School, San Francisco, California, U.S. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress about Robert Mueller's report and Mueller's issues with how Barr has characterized the special counsel's findings. "What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America is not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime," the California Democrat told reporters. Pressed again about the accusation, Pelosi said, "He lied to Congress. If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law." Asked whether Barr should go to jail, the speaker responded that "there's a process involved here." In a statement in response, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Pelosi's "baseless attack on the Attorney General is reckless, irresponsible and false." Pelosi's comments appeared to reference answers Barr gave during House testimony last month. Lawmakers asked him about reported frustrations Mueller's team had with a summary the attorney general wrote about the special counsel's report. Barr said he was not aware of concerns the Mueller team had about his summary. But news reports revealed this week that Mueller had written a letter to Barr expressing concerns about how the attorney general depicted the "substance" of the report before the attorney general testified. Here is the exchange from an April 9 hearing that apparently sparked Pelosi's accusation. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla.: "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 24 letter. ... Do you know what they are referencing with that?" Barr: "No, I don't. 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." The comment from the highest-ranking Democrat in the country intensifies the party's criticism of the top U.S. law enforcement official. While Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have accused Barr of protecting Trump and having a conflict of interest, neither lawmaker has previously gone as far as alleging a crime. Pelosi has so far resisted calls to impeach the president, which have intensified following the release of Mueller's redacted report. Schumer, meanwhile, is writing a letter to Barr questioning the attorney general's views on executive power, particularly his suggestion that a president could end an investigation if they feel they are falsely accused, NBC News reported. The senator wrote that "if these views are truly your views, you do not deserve to be Attorney General." Democrats want Mueller to testify publicly and have questioned why the Justice Department decided not to charge the president with obstructing justice by trying to influence Mueller's investigation. While Mueller's report declined to say whether Trump obstructed justice, he also noted that the report did not "exonerate" Trump. It also set out a detailed case for Congress to potentially investigate the president for obstruction. Pelosi's remarks Thursday follow a House Judiciary Committee hearing that Barr decided not to attend. The panel's chairman, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, threatened to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress if he does not give access to Mueller's full, unredacted report on the Russia probe. Barr repeatedly defended Trump during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. The president has contended Mueller's investigation fully exonerates him on both questions of whether he obstructed justice and whether his campaign coordinated with Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. Trump repeatedly described the investigation as a "witch hunt" and has since falsely called the probe a "coup." This week's events have escalated a partisan battle over congressional witnesses who have testified about the investigation and the president's conduct. Democrats shot down a GOP resolution Wednesday to refer Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to the Justice Department for accusations of lying to Congress in February. CNBC's Kevin Breuninger and Dan Mangan contributed to this report Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is furthering its push into technology and artificial intelligence, in a bid to future-proof its oil, trade and tourism-dependent economy. In the capital of Abu Dhabi where about 90% of central government revenue comes from the hydrocarbon sector, authorities have launched Hub 71 a 1 billion dirham ($272 million) scheme driven by state investor Mubadala and supported by the Abu Dhabi government to attract and develop technology start-ups. "We're looking global," Mahmoud Adi, the head of Hub71, told CNBC's "Capital Connection" Thursday. "We believe that Abu Dhabi can offer access to capital, access to ease of doing business, and we are extremely glad that yesterday we saw that the cabinet announced five-year visas," he added. The UAE has put in place significant adjustments to its long-term visa system, which includes a 10-year residency visa for investors and specialists, and a five-year visa for exceptional students and entrepreneurs. The new Hub71 program will be based at the Abu Dhabi Global Market site and will involve the launch of a 500 million dirham fund to invest in technology start-ups. It aims to attract 100 companies over the next three to five years by offering incentives such as housing, office space and health insurance. "Hub71 will bring together three key factors essential for the success of Abu Dhabi's tech ecosystem capital providers, business enablers and strategic partners, all under one roof," Mubadala's Deputy Group CEO Waleed Al Muhairi said in a statement. Disneyland began accepting online reservations on Thursday morning from fans who want to be the first park visitors to experience Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Within two hours, all reservation slots had been filled. The $1 billion expansion, which is set to open May 31, is expected to draw such large crowds that Disney instituted a free reservation process for the first month of its debut. At 1 p.m. ET, fans were permitted to sign up for 4-hour windows to visit the new land at Disneyland in California. Before 3 p.m., all reservations were closed. "At this time, the only way to secure a reservation to visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland Park between May 31 and June 23, 2019 is to stay at a Disneyland Resort hotel," the park's website said. "Guests staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel on those dates will receive a designated reservation to access Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge during their stay." Parkgoers will be able to visit the new land after June 23 without a reservation. However, if crowds get too big, Disney said some experiences in the land will be restricted or unavailable. A second Galaxy's Edge will open in Orlando, Florida, in August. The new land is set on Batuu, a planet not yet seen on film. It's a thriving port filled with rogue traders, droids and unique alien species. Disney park guests will be able to explore the planet's Black Spire Outpost and shops as well as pilot the Millennium Falcon on the Smugglers Run ride and take part in an epic battle between the First Order and the Resistance on the Rise of the Resistance ride. Shops and restaurants will offer an array of unique merchandise and food and beverages not available in any other location. The excitement from guests is a good sign for Disney. The park is likely to draw massive crowds eager to spend money on food and special merchandise only available at Galaxy's Edge. Disney's theme parks and resorts took in more than $20 billion in revenue for its 2018 fiscal year and earned $4.5 billion in operating profit. Tobacco company Reynolds is fighting the Food and Drug Administration's proposal to curb teen vaping, singling out one competitor it says the agency should rein in instead: e-cigarette maker Juul. The FDA in March proposed limiting sales of fruity e-cigarette flavors to websites, vape shops and other retailers that impose age restrictions in response to federal data showing huge increases in teenagers vaping. The public comment period closed Tuesday. Reynolds, a unit of British American Tobacco, in its response said it opposes the plan. The "FDA has already identified the main driver of youth interest: Juul," said Reynolds, which makes Newport cigarettes and Vuse vapes. "As the agency's public statements confirm, underage users disproportionately prefer Juul to all other products. ... Armed with such knowledge, we believe the agency can take appropriately tailored steps to curb youth use." 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. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb repeatedly blamed the teen vaping "epidemic" on Juul, the clear market leader. The agency is looking into Juul's marketing practices and conducted a surprise inspection of its San Francisco headquarters in the fall. Yet faced with a surge in teen e-cigarette use, the FDA demanded plans from the top five e-cigarette manufacturers, including Reynolds, Altria and others. For its part, Juul says categorywide action is the best way to curb youth use. "It is disappointing but not surprising to see a legacy tobacco company whose core business remains combustible cigarettes the very product we intend to eliminate by offering adult smokers an alternative attempting to thwart the category-wide regulation that's needed," Juul said in an emailed statement, adding that it supports the FDA's draft regulation as a "starting point." Reynolds says the FDA's plan to limit where the fruity flavors can be purchased will hurt adults who want to switch to e-cigarettes because they'll be harder to find and won't curb teen use because minors can always get them from older friends. It also says those restrictions would overstep the FDA's legal authority. Instead, Reynolds wants the FDA to tamp down on "irresponsible" marketing. "At the end of the day, we are encouraging the FDA to use more appropriate regulatory action," Dr. James Figlar, Reynolds' executive vice president of research and development and scientific and regulatory affairs, said in an interview. Critics often point to Juul's early ad campaigns, which featured youthful looking models and bright colors regulators said appealed to teens. Juul has said it regrets the ads and has since rolled out new ads that feature older adults who share their stories of switching to the e-cigarette from cigarettes. Reynolds debuted a commercial for its Vuse Alto e-cigarette earlier this year. Vapor products are not subject to restrictions barring cigarette ads from television and radio. Juul and Marlboro cigarette maker Altria, which owns a 35% stake in Juul, have both said they support the agency's proposal. Juul in November stopped selling its fruity flavors to retailers, instead saying it would only sell them directly to consumers on its age-verified website. The FDA said in response to Reynolds' letter that it "appreciates" all the comments that were submitted and will review them. The agency said it's "committed to ensuring all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, aren't being marketed to, sold to or used by kids." People pass a sign for JPMorgan Chase at its headquarters in New York City. The criminal sentencing of former J.P. Morgan Chase precious metals trader John Edmonds has been postponed six more months, to December, as federal investigators continue to probe possible manipulation of metals markets. Edmonds, 37, pleaded guilty in October in Connecticut federal court to working with other "unnamed co-conspirators" to manipulate the prices of gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts between 2009 and 2015 while employed at J.P. Morgan. The New York City man admitted learning illegal trading tactics from senior traders and to using those tactics with the knowledge and consent of supervisors. His sentencing has been postponed twice, suggesting he is continuing to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation. No one else has been charged. Edmonds' attorney could not be reached for comment. On the heels of his plea, multiple lawsuits were filed against J.P. Morgan and the bank's metals traders accusing the bank of illegally manipulating precious metals markets for years. Edmonds' admissions also echo allegations made in a similar, 2015 suit filed against the bank by a hedge fund manager and two commodity traders. All of the lawsuits were put on hold until May 31 by the federal judges overseeing each case at the request of prosecutors, who argued they could interfere with the criminal probe. Prosecutors plan to request an extension of the stay in the civil suit proceedings, a source said. J.P. Morgan for the first time in February mentioned the legal actions in a financial disclosure, saying "various authorities, including the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, are conducting investigations relating to trading practices in the precious metals markets and related conduct. The Firm is responding to and cooperating with these investigations." J.P. Morgan declined to comment when contacted by CNBC. Conservative economics pundit Stephen Moore has withdrawn his bid to be appointed to the Federal Reserve Board within hours of boasting that he expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate President Donald Trump said Thursday in a Twitter post. Moore's putative nomination for the central bank had faced intense criticism and scrutiny after Trump said he wanted him on the Federal Reserve board. Moore, a 59-year-old visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank, drew fire for his economic views, a messy divorce, a $75,000 IRS income tax lien and past statements that belittled women. "This is kind of a victory lap for the left because they took me down with a smear campaign," Moore said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Thursday. Moore, in his withdrawal letter to Trump, likewise blamed "the unrelenting attacks on my character," which "have become untenable for me and my family and 3 more months of this would be too hard on us." A senior administration official told CNBC that Moore decided to drop out on Wednesday night and informed Trump's top economics advisor Larry Kudlow of that decision in a phone call. Despite that, Moore told several media outlets on Thursday he planned to continue his effort to win approval by the Senate, and predicted he would be successful in that bid. His withdrawal comes less than two weeks after businessman Herman Cain dropped out from Fed board contention because of opposition from a number of Republican senators. Moore likewise was facing pushback from multiple GOP senators this week. Two other Fed picks by Trump, Nellie Liang and Marvin Goodfriend, likewise failed. Tweet While Moore told the president in his withdrawal letter that he will continue to support the presidents economic policies, the one place he will not be working is on the 2020 re-election campaign. A senior Trump campaign official told CNBC on Thursday that Moore will not be joining their operation. Not long before Trump's announcement Thursday, Moore said in an interview with Bloomberg News that he disagrees with Trump's call for the central bank to sharply cut rates. "I'm not so sure I agree with the White House that we should cut rates by an entire percentage point," said Moore, who has been critical of the Fed in the past. "I just don't see the case for that right now." In that same interview, Moore said, "I think I'm going to win a big majority. ... Just because a senator today says they won't vote for me doesn't mean that three months from now they won't." Tweet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, quickly called on Trump on Thursday to nominate "two serious candidates," pointedly suggesting that Cain and Moore were anything that that. Tweet Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, told reporters that Moore's withdrawal "was a good move, and I look forward to the next nominee." Asked if Moore's case provided the White House with a lesson on vetting nominees for government posts, Capito quipped, "Read people's articles that they write would be a good start." A White House official told CNBC that Moore's nomination was still considered viable as of Wednesday. Workers assemble cars on the line at Tesla's factory in Fremont. David Butow (Photo by David Butow/Corbis via Getty Images) Tesla has rolled out a new benefit for its workers: employee loans, facilitated through the London-based financial tech start-up Salary Finance, and funded via its partner Axos Bank. In correspondence distributed to Tesla employees and seen by CNBC, the companies said that workers could use the new benefit to borrow money at relatively affordable rates and pay it back directly out of their paychecks. Typically, Salary Finance lets workers borrow up to 20% of their salary and pay it back at rates under 5%. The company spun out of Blenheim Chalcot in London, and is venture backed by that firm along with insurance giants Legal & General. By offering a "financial well-being" benefit, Tesla gives active employees a way to handle their debt and expenses without turning to higher-cost alternatives like a 401(k) loan, credit cards with a high annual percentage rate, or traditional payday loans. That takes some pressure off those who would leave the company in search of higher wages, and could potentially stem attrition. The electric vehicle maker does not make money when employees take loans through the service, according to the Salary Finance website for Tesla employees. Three current employees told CNBC that they are happy to have another financial benefit, but view employee loans as a Band-Aid solution. They said they would prefer more predictable income from a set, 40-hour work week, or if possible, better wages and meaningful raises. These people declined to be named because the company does not authorize them to talk to the press. Six current and former employees at the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, and car plant in Fremont, California, said raises and bonuses typically don't cover cost-of-living increases. Several current and former employees said annual raises are typically capped around 2% for the people who are rated among the very best performers by their managers during official reviews. One former Tesla employee described receiving an annual raise of less than 1% and three shares of stock as a bonus after a year of good but not spectacular performance. Schedules are also irregular, which affects hourly employees and contractors. In recent weeks, for example, Tesla sent workers home early from their shifts after glitches at the Fremont car plant. In the production line under the tent at the site, conveyors have broken down at the point where cars are carried forward for "battery marriage," where workers install heavy battery packs into the Model 3 sedans and join two halves of the cars together. Inside the main building, there have been troubles with camera calibration, where employees test the in-vehicle cameras on a Model 3 to make sure they are working properly in concert with sensors to enable Tesla's semi-autonomous-driving features. Tesla also told some workers not to come in to work at the Gigafactory during what employees described as unexpected maintenance and cleaning. Tesla declined to comment. On Thursday, the company announced in a filing that it's looking to raise up to $2 billion in convertible notes and shares, with CEO Elon Musk committing to buy $10 million in shares in the offering. Tesla shares closed up 4.3% Thursday. WATCH: Tesla rebuild rebel is leveraging his YouTube fame to open a garage NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 4: Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives at federal court, April 4, 2019 in New York City. A federal judge will hear oral arguments this afternoon in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that seeks to hold Musk in contempt for violating a settlement deal. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Tesla filed for a mixed shelf offering for an undisclosed amount on Thursday, a week after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk suggested a capital raise could be imminent. Many analysts had predicted the electric-car maker would need to raise funds for its expansion, including building a factory in Shanghai, the upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects. Special counsel Robert Mueller is better known for his prosecutions than his prose. But now the former FBI director can add "New York Times best-selling author" to his resume, alongside his Purple Heart and other military distinctions. The government report, available for free on the Department of Justice's website as a PDF, was presented in book form by The Washington Post and Scribner as a paperback and e-book after it was released last month. And it's flying off the shelves. "The Mueller Report" sold more than 40,000 copies last week, according to an industry tracker cited by The Associated Press. It topped the Times' best-seller list in two categories, including paperback nonfiction. And, boosted by the high-profile testimony of Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday, the special counsel's work also notched the No. 1 spot in Amazon's book category. The highly anticipated report is not the first government work to become a best-seller. The 9/11 Commission Report, published by W.W. Norton & Company in 2004, had "booksellers scrambling to fulfill orders," the American Booksellers Association wrote at the time. Later that year, the book was selected as a National Book Award finalist in nonfiction. A week after "The Starr Report" was published in 1998 following the investigation of then-President Bill Clinton, Simon & Schuster told The New York Times that sales were "astonishing." Despite the Mueller report's speedy sales, it received mixed reviews. In Slate, Laura Miller described the work as "Olympian and meticulous." Washington Post book critic Carlos Lozada hailed it as the "best book by far on the workings of the Trump presidency." Barr, in his first public testimony on the matter, said Wednesday that parts of the document were confusing. President Donald Trump, for his part, said the work was written "by Trump Haters and Angry Democrats, who had unlimited funds and human resources." But he praised the work's conclusion, which he claimed cleared him of collusion and obstruction, though Mueller did not directly address the first point and declined to make a determination on the latter. "Amazing!" Trump wrote. Trump tweet Oil workers conduct a drill in a petroleum well in Lagunillas at the east coast of Lake Maracaibo near Maracaibo City in Venezuela. Jorge Silva | Reuters Venezuela's political and humanitarian crisis remains fluid with President Nicolas Maduro clinging to power amid protests led by opposition leader Juan Guaido. Street protests are expected to continue Thursday with Guaido telling thousands of supporters yesterday that "there's no turning back" as he called for a series of national strikes. In the meantime, Venezuelans are reportedly experiencing shortages of food and medicines. What the current situation, and any potential outcomes, mean for Venezuela's primary economic asset its oil sector are now under scrutiny. OPEC-member Venezuela is reliant on oil for 98% of its export earnings and is laboring under U.S. sanctions, which penalize Venezuela's state-owned energy company PDVSA and any vessels or companies enabling oil shipments to Venezuela's ally Cuba. Unrest in Caracas has weighed on markets, as have stricter U.S. sanctions on Iran, but news of higher U.S. crude stockpiles have kept prices subdued so far. On Wednesday, Brent crude futures stood at $71.36 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood around $62.85. RBC Capital Markets' Global Head of Commodity Strategy Helima Croft and her team have examined three possible scenarios for Venezuela, and their respective implications for the global oil market. Scenario 1: Maduro goes, Guaido comes to power A sudden Maduro departure and transition to a Guaido-led reformist government would provide "the best hope for kick-starting the revival of the Venezuelan economy," Croft and her team said in a note Wednesday. "This scenario presents the most bearish outcome for (oil) prices, especially as many investors might assume that the recovery will be quick and uncomplicated. However, even if such a situation comes to pass we would caution that the road back will be arduous given the magnitude of the collapse." Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognised as the country's rightful interim ruler, gestures as he speaks to supporters during a rally against the government of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and to commemorate May Day in Caracas Venezuela, May 1, 2019. REUTERS | Carlos Garcia Rawlins Croft and her team, comprised of commodity strategists Christopher Louney and Michael Tran and associate strategist Megan Schippmann, warned that even if Guaido came to power, Venezuela's security situation "would likely remain fraught." They didn't think a Guaido victory likely at this stage, either. "Given the apparent absence of high level military defections to the Guaido camp as well as Moscow's marked aversion to such a regime change, we think this scenario has the slimmest chances of success in the near term." Scenario 2: Maduro stays If Maduro manages to ride out the current wave of protests, RBC noted that the country's economic collapse will undoubtedly accelerate as the United States ups the sanctions ante. "The White House will likely look to further erode the country's oil export revenue by compelling consuming countries like India to curb their Venezuelan purchases. Washington may also demand that U.S. energy companies cease operating in the country and that European firms stop providing diluents and other services to (Venezuelan state-owned oil firm) PDVSA." Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro meets with UN chief Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters in New York on July 28, 2015. Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images Such punitive measures, along with rolling power cuts, would further compress the country's oil production, potentially sending it close to zero by year-end, the strategists noted. This outcome would be most bullish for oil prices and "is quite plausible given the substantial support Maduro is receiving from Moscow as well as the fact that junior officers have been the principal defectors." In this scenario, it's likely President Donald Trump would pressure Saudi Arabia to fill an extended supply outage by increasing production and adding between 400,000 to 500,000 barrels a day to the market. Scenario 3: Maduro departs but military rule remains Acting White House Counsel Emmet Flood walks in the halls of the Russell Senate Office Building before heading into the offices of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr on Capitol Hill January 09, 2019 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images White House lawyer Emmet Flood sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of making "political statements" in his report on Russia and President Donald Trump. Flood's five-page letter to Barr claimed that the report on Mueller's far-reaching probe should not be legitimized or taken as precedent, and argued that Trump has retained his executive privilege rights related to the probe. The letter to Barr is dated April 19 a day after the public release of a redacted version of Mueller's 448-page report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, possible collusion with the Kremlin and possible obstruction of justice by Trump himself. Mueller's report "suffers from an extraordinary legal defect," Flood wrote. "It quite deliberately fails to comply with the requirements of governing law." Flood zeroed in on one specific excerpt from the report, in which Mueller's team says that the evidence they obtained about potential obstruction by Trump prevents them "from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred." Conclusively finding innocence, Flood argued, "is never the task of the federal prosecutor." Rather, they are supposed to complete their investigation and then ask a grand jury to decide on whether or not to lodge charges. "Our country would be a very different (and very dangerous) place if prosecutors applied the SCO standard and citizens were obliged to prove 'conclusively ... that no criminal conduct occurred.'" The excerpt from the Mueller report "can be understood only as political statements," Flood continued, even though prosecutors are "expected never to be political in the performance of their duties." This, Flood wrote, "shows that the special counsel and his staff failed in their duty to act as prosecutors and only as prosecutors." A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment on the letter. Flood, who joined the White House legal team in May 2018, worked as an impeachment attorney for President Bill Clinton. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Flood was expected to leave his post following the release of the Mueller report. In a statement last week, Foxconn did not deny seeking changes, but said it "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 meeting followed last week's revelation that Foxconn has been renegotiating its deal with Wisconsin to build a $10 billion plant there, according to a letter from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to Foxconn executive Louis Woo. The letter said Foxconn had proposed changes to the deal at a meeting in March, CNBC reported . In a statement, Foxconn confirmed Gou's meeting with Trump and said they "discussed the latest updates and the positive progress of the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park, including the many forthcoming announcements of additional bid awards for the next phases of construction at our Gen6 manufacturing campus. Foxconn looks forward to continuing to make these ongoing investments in our Wisconsin project as we expand our footprint in the state." The announcement that Foxconn, a company that Apple and other tech companies hire to assemble products such as smartphones, plans to further invest in Wisconsin may come as a surprise to residents there, who have reportedly seen little progress made on the promised development. The plant, expected to create thousands of jobs at Foxconn's first facility outside of Asia, was seen as an early win for Trump. But early blueprints soon unraveled, with an assistant to Foxconn's CEO telling Reuters in January that it was still evaluating the types of jobs it would create at the site, which was originally thought to be a factory. The assistant said Foxconn wanted to create a "technology hub." When Foxconn released a statement affirming its plans were still in place, it did not clarify the types of jobs it would create. The company's hiring plans have also reportedly dwindled from a pace of about 5,200 by the end of 2020 to around 1,000, a source previously told Reuters. Gou announced plans to run for president of Taiwan last month and said he would seek Trump's support in the country if elected, according to the South China Morning Post. But Sanders said Gou and Trump "did not discuss support for his campaign in Taiwan, he is just a great friend." Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Watch: White House confirms Trump met with Foxconn CEO GoAir is learnt to be suspending flights to Maldives with effect from July 1. The airline currently offers two weekly non-stop flights between Bengaluru and Male, three direct flights between Delhi and Male and four direct flights between Mumbai and Male. The airline is gradually reducing the service between Mumbai and Male. There will be only two flights a week from May 9. Across the world, airlines operate leisure destinations on the basis of seasonality and load factors. There is rainy season ahead in Maldives and we have decided to curtail flight operations to Velana International Airport, Male, from July to October 2019. After that, the management team will take a call and resume flights, a GoAir spokesperson said in a statement. IndiGo and Air India will be the only carriers providing direct service between Bengaluru and Male post July, while there are no direct flight operators between Delhi and Male from July 1 onwards. For Mumbai-Male direct service, IndiGo remains the only airline as of now after June 30. The Wadia group-run airline, which commenced operations in 2005, became eligible to fly overseas in July 2016 when it took delivery of its 20th aircraft, an Airbus A320NEO. The airline launched its international operations in October 2018 with flight to Phuket. A few days after launching operations to Phuket, the airline announced direct flight to Male out of Mumbai. We welcome Male as a part of our new global network. In light of the significant increase in outgoing tourism from India over the past few years, GoAir introduced a direct flight services from Mumbai and New Delhi to Male. It is a huge amendment in the books of GoAir and we hope to provide our customers with superior experience at the best yet affordable prices, Cornelis Vrieswijk, the then Chief Executive Officer had said. Photo: Jon Manchester The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has launched a petition calling for government intervention on B.C.'s highest gasoline prices in North America. The petition calls for the province to reduce taxes at B.C. gas pumps, where prices have hit more than $1.78 a litre in some communities. They currently range from 131.9 cents in Penticton to 140.9 in Vernon and 141.9 in Kelowna. British Columbians are being punished at the pumps for driving to work, dropping their kids off at school and picking up groceries and politicians are the big culprits, says CTF director Kris Sims. Our petition calls on Premier John Horgan to cancel the B.C. carbon tax, reduce the TransLink Tax and support pipelines so we get tax relief and an increased fuel supply and if he wont do it, then Andrew Wilkinson should promise to do it if he becomes premier. B.C. drivers pay 9.8 cents per litre in carbon tax with the GST, and the TransLink Tax paid by Lower Mainland drivers is set to jump up to 18.5 cents per litre. Politicians will say they feel our pain, that they want to help bring relief to drivers, but they need to walk the walk and actually do something real to bring these outrageous costs down, says Sims. Hanging over the issue is new Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's threat to turn off the oil taps to B.C., much of which is served by the Trans Mountain pipeline, which B.C.'s NDP government opposes expansion of. The CTF says Horgan has "picked a fight with our neighbours in Alberta, and that could push prices even higher," says Sims. We need more supply and lower taxes the solution is in the hands of provincial politicians. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form May sacks Williamson over Huawei leak Prime Minister said she had lost confidence in her Defence Secretary Politico Police demand probe into leak Daily Mail Gavin Williamson blamed a vendetta by Britains most senior civil servant for his dismissal as defence secretary yesterday. Mr Williamson became the first cabinet minister to be sacked for leaking in more than 30 years after he was accused of disclosing secret discussions about the Chinese telecoms company Huawei. Theresa May said a formal leak inquiry had found compelling evidence pointing to his responsibility and that he had failed to co-operate fully with the investigation. The prime minister said that others in attendance at the National Security Council, from where the leak originated, had co-operated. She said that Mr Williamsons conduct has not been of the same standard. The Times Editorial: Hasty dismissal is yet another misstep The Sun >Today: >Yesterday: MPs Etc.: Williamson fired over Huawei leak. May has lost confidence in him. Downing Streets statement. as he insists hes been completely screwed Gavin Williamson said he had been screwed by Theresa May as he protested his innocence over the Huawei leak and said a police investigation would clear his name. Mr Williamson was sacked as defence secretary during an extraordinary confrontation with the Prime Minister in her office in Parliament, at which she accused him of being the source of the leak. Mrs May had asked the minister to resign, but he refused, telling her he would not resign over something I havent done. He later claimed he was the victim of a stitch-up. Mr Williamson claimed he was the victim of a vendetta by Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, who conducted the inquiry into the leak from a National Security Council meeting regarding the Chinese companys involvement in building Britains 5G mobile network. Daily Telegraph Williamson says its a shame May didnt recognise how often hed helped her Daily Mail Comment: Swaggering ministers boast helped usher in downfall Daniel Finkelstein, The Times Always out of his depth Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail He overstepped the usual licence to leak Philip Johnston, Daily Telegraph Nobody will be sorry to see him go Martin Kettle, The Guardian Buffoon must be put in the dock Peter Oborne, Daily Mail >Today: ToryDiary: Williamson. Hes gone away but he wont shut up. as a result of long-running feud with Cabinet Secretary Mr Williamson and Sir Mark, who is also the national security adviser to Theresa May and a former ambassador and Nato representative to Afghanistan, were in broad agreement over some key issues including, ironically, China. However, there was a clash of approaches on the National Security Council, one source said. Mr Williamson screwed him, they added. Some 70 per cent of their relationship was fine but 30 per cent was really frosty. Sedwill saw Gavin as an obstacle to be negotiated around rather than a colleague, one ally said. Ally turned into whipping boy Daily Telegraph Rise and fall of youngest Defence Secretary The Sun Fall of a would-be kingmaker The Guardian Resolve earned Armys grudging respect The Times Sedwill: architect of the sacking Daily Telegraph One early clash over Sir Marks National Security Capability Review set the tone. Sir Mark is a longstanding proponent of boosting cyber-capabilities and the role of intelligence in protecting Britain. The Times >Today: ToryDiary: The former Defence Secretarys side of the story. Sedwill was out of get him. Ministers 1) Mordaunt takes over at Defence Penny Mordaunt has become Britains first female defence secretary only months after speculation that she could resign from the government over Theresa Mays Brexit deal. The staunch Eurosceptic and Leave campaigner stayed in her post and has now been rewarded with a promotion to a job that friends say she has long wanted. Ms Mordaunt, 46, the MP for Portsmouth North and a navy reservist, has lifelong links to the forces. The daughter of a paratrooper, she was named after HMS Penelope She was promoted to the cabinet in 2017 as international development secretary, where she was in charge of an annual budget of 13 billion. She is understood to have been liked by her civil servants. The Times >Today: MPs Etc.: Mordaunt becomes the first ever woman Defence Secretary Ministers 2) Stewart joins the Cabinet at International Development Film star owns rights to his life story The Sun The choice of Rory Stewart to be Britains new international development secretary was seemingly an obvious one. The 46-year-olds promotion to the cabinet has long been expected thanks to his experience, communication skills and loyalty to the prime minister. As justice minister, Mr Stewart won praise from Downing Street for his fevered campaigning for Theresa Mays Brexit deal. Soon after she returned from Brussels with her withdrawal agreement last year, he took to the radio and TV studios to sell it to MPs and the nation, albeit with limited success. He also took part in several notable public debates on Brexit. His Conservative party colleagues welcomed the appointment. FT >Today: MPs Etc.: Stewart is appointed DFID Secretary >Yesterday: Alice Wilcock in Think Tanks: Prisons are a national scandal, and need a national response Ministers 3) Gove launches investigation into shooting licences Michael Gove will be launching an investigation into the shooting licence system which caused chaos for farmers, he has revealed, after meeting with environmentalist Chris Packham in Westminster. MPs and countryside organisations earlier this week urged the environment secretary to launch an inquiry into the behaviour of Natural England, the government body which abruptly revoked permission to shoot pest birds after a legal challenge from Mr Packhams animal rights group. A Defra source said that Mr Gove is actively investigating, adding that Michael is seeking answers on what happened, and when and why with the licensing. The change, which meant farmers were left helpless to stop pigeons from destroying their spring crops or crows from pecking out the eyes of their lambs, took farming and shooting organisations completely by surprise. Daily Telegraph Landowners urge Government to let them shoot crows The Times More: MPs endorse Corbyns call to declare climate emergency The Guardian Johnson vows to keep fighting Heathrow expansion The Sun Sturgeon urged to ditch plan to cut aviation tax The Guardian Comment: Its when, not if, we end our contribution to global warming Claire Perry MP, Times Red Box There is no cost to zero emissions Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph >Yesterday: Rory Stewart MP in Comment: Of course theres a climate emergency. Heres a wide-ranging Conservative programme to tackle it. Tories hopeful of losing only 500-600 council seats But others predict a bloodbath Daily Express Schools watchdog reprimands Labour for claim it endorsed their policies The Sun Tory chiefs hopes are growing that they can duck a council elections wipe out today as voters go to the biggest local polls since 2015. Control of a total of 259 local authorities are up for grabs across England and Northern Ireland, with 8,804 councillors to be elected. Conservative MPs have feared a vicious drubbing as angry Leave as well as Remain voters take revenge on the Government for the Brexit shambles. Some Cabinet ministers have even predicted more than 1,000 council seat will be lost. But CCHQ insiders now say they can limit the losses to around 500 to 600 on a good night In contrast, then-PM John Majors Tories lost more than 2,000 councillors in 1995 in a massive midterm wipe out. The Sun >Yesterday: ToryDiary: In Dudley, I watch local Tories trying to run on their record, not the Prime Ministers Marcus Jones MP: Dont punish councillors for Westminsters woes Over the last years it feels as though politics has dominated the news agenda, following the debates, parliamentary votes, and elections that have taken place since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016. Today, we have another set of elections. A lot has been said and written about what todays poll might mean in the context of the wider debate about Brexit, but fundamentally these elections are about one simple thing: voting for who you want to run your local council. And no matter where you stand on the debate around Brexit, the simple truth is we need Conservatives in local government, because Conservative councillors run councils better. On the local services that matter to people, Conservative councillors deliver. Daily Telegraph On doorstep after doorstep, fury at betrayal Molly Giles, Daily Telegraph >Today: Rachel Wolfs column: Not much changes when councils change hands. And voters know it. May preparing to keep EU customs rules as rumour spreads of talks breakthrough end of the transition period. The Times Prime Minister faces Cabinet revolt over proposals Daily Express Theresa May is preparing to accept that Britain will remain in lockstep with EU customs rules for years after Brexit in a deal with Labour. Under the terms of a tentative agreement Mrs May is close to signing up to a long-term customs union with the EU in all but name in return for Labour supporting her withdrawal agreement. Details of internal discussions began to leak as Mrs May gave her strongest hint yet that she was prepared to give ground. She told MPs that both sides now agreed on some of the benefits of a customs union. It is understood that under the proposal, which has yet to be agreed, the government would agree to enter a customs arrangement with the EU at the More: Brexit drains 30 billion from UK funds FT Scrapped ferry contracts bring bill to 83 million The Times Comment: Customs union compromise would be bad for Britain Greg Hands MP, Daily Telegraph Tories should be allying with Farage, not Corbyn Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph >Today: Iain Mansfield in Comment: A second referendum would be far more unpredictable than Remainers or Leavers assume >Yesterday: Prescott sparks fresh antisemitism storm John Prescott has been embroiled in an anti-Semitism storm today after ranting that the partys crisis was all about racism and Israel. The former Deputy Prime Minister was reported to have aggressively asked a Jewish journalist what she could do about Israel when she asked him about anti-Semitism in the party. Lord Prescott, who is a Labour Peer in the House of Lords after serving under Tony Blair, allegedly said that the whole thing was about Israel dead children settlers on someone elses land, the Jewish Chronicle reportedThe beha viour appears to have broken the international definition of anti-Semitism by holding Jews responsible for the actions of the state of Israel. The Sun To Labour members, its all a conspiracy Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph Corbyn is blind to antisemitism, or just doesnt care Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian Bercow indicates that he is preparing to quit J Almighty row over Parliaments refurbishment predicted next week Daily Express Onasanya becomes first MP successfully recalled ohn Bercow has indicated for the first time that he is preparing to quit as Speaker of the House of Commons. In remarks reported by his local constituency paper The Buckingham and Winslow Advertiser Mr Bercow said that he would not stay on much longer in the Speakers chair. He added: If Theresa May can take a few weeks to change her mind about holding an election I can be forgiven for taking a few years to change my mind about staying on. The comments are the first time that he has ever remarkedon his future after failing to stand down as Speaker last June, nine years after he became Speaker, as he had previously said he would. There is speculation Mr Bercow will announce his retirement this summer, although he has not yet confirmed this. Daily Telegraph Fiona Onasanya, the former Labour MP jailed for perverting the course of justice, has become the first parliamentarian in British history to be stripped of her role after more than 25 per cent of her constituents called for a by-election. Onasanya, 35, was found guilty in December of colluding with her brother, Festus, to avoid driving penalty points. On January 29 she was sentenced at the Old Bailey to three months and spent four weeks in Bronzefield prison in Ashford, Surrey. A spokeswoman for Peterborough city council said last night that 19,261 people signed a recall petition, amounting to 27.64 per cent of those eligible to sign. The Times Brexit Party will run in by-election The Sun News in Brief Local Elections: Scottish Tory leader demands party rules out another independence poll It is arguably fortunate for Ruth Davidson that her maternity leave coincided with the period when the surreal polling bubble in which Theresa Mays Government had been floating finally burst. As she returned to the fray this week, untainted by the past few months, the Scottish Conservative leader demanded that whoever succeeds May as Prime Minister rule out giving authorisation for a second referendum on Scottish independence. David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary and close ally of Davidson, also made similar noises in an interview with the Sunday Herald. He also told his local paper that he retained high hopes for the Scottish Parliament, despite its unfulfilled potential. Davidson also ruled herself out of any contest for the UK leadership, saying that her son was her top priority. This comes amidst conflicting evidence about the state of support for independence: whilst a YouGov poll for The Times suggests that voters are swinging towards independence, the Daily Telegraph reports that only one in five Scots support Nicola Sturgeons proposals to hold another vote within the next two years. Nationalist activists inflicted a serious setback on the First Minister at the SNP conference this week, when they defeated a leadership-backed proposal to try to retain the pound after independence. Public fears about the currency of an independent Scotland and its implications for pensions, mortgages, and so on has been identified as a major stumbling block to winning over No voters. However, none of this has prevented the wearisome tradition of English commentators writing about how strong the case for Scottish independence suddenly is: John Harris at the Guardian, Jeremy Warner at the Daily Telegraph, and Philip Stephens at the FT all indulged in such exercises this week. The myth of the fragile Union endures. Stephen Daisley, writing in the Spectator, was closer to the mark when he argued that Sturgeon is taking her base for a ride on the question. Fresh row over probes into police and soldiers during the Troubles The Government faces another argument over its treatment of those who served in the security forces during the Troubles, the Sun reveals, after it emerged that over 200 former soldiers and police officers face investigation. Whilst the Ministry of Defence wants to impose a statute of limitations on investigations, the Northern Irish Office has reportedly told relatives of those killed in the Troubles that any such restrictions will not apply to Ulster cases. Unionists have long been dissatisfied with the NIOs apparent failure to fight their corner the way Dublin does for the nationalists. Conservative MPs such as John Hayes have strongly criticised the Government for confining the MoDs efforts to protect ex-servicemen to recent conflicts such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Notably, Theresa May did not take the opportunity afforded by last nights reshuffle to move Karen Bradley away from the Ulster brief, in which she is almost universally viewed as incompetent. This comes as the Northern Irish Secretaries tries to spearhead yet another round of talks aimed at getting the Northern Irish Assembly back up and running. But whilst the Belfast Telegraph reports that the DUP and Sinn Fein have pledged to engage constructively with the process, optimism remains low. As our editor pointed out this week, Mays own insistence on making a no-deal Brexit contingent on the existence of an Assembly gives Sinn Fein and others every reason to forestall it. In happier news, the Sunday Telegraph revealed that the police have re-opened the investigation into the 1979 assassination of Airey Neave. Sajid Javid ordered it reviewed after it had lain untouched for 30 years. Neave was killed by a bomb in the car park of the Palace of Westminster. He had been the architect of the Conservatives Northern Irish policy at the 1979 election, which involved setting aside the goal of restoring Stormont in favour of better integrating the Province with the mainland. Margaret Thatcher did not carry through this proposal after his death. Woe for Scottish Labour as Dugdale quits Kezia Dugdale, the former Labour leader in Scotland, has announced that she will be stepping down from the Scottish Parliament, taking up a position at a think-tank aimed at tackling populist politics. This comes after she won a defamation case against cybernat blogger Stuart Campbell, better known by his alias Wings over Scotland. Her relations with the Party broke down after it refused to support her and even appeared to suggest that she would lose, and she previously told the Times that she could not forgive them. Meanwhile Anas Sarwar, another Labour MSP, has apparently been banned from giving evidence to an anti-racism probe into allegations of racist conduct he himself made. According to the Scotsman, Sarwar was only given four days notice of the hearing, and then told he could not provide evidence as he needed to give two weeks notice to do so. Unsurprisingly, he has branded the system unfit for purpose. The hearing by the National Constitutional Committee found that, without any verbal evidence being taken, there was no case to answer. Sarwar claims a Labour councillor refused to back his leadership bid because Scotland wouldnt vote for a brown Muslim P**i. Photo: The Canadian Press An anti-government protester calls for help as she and another woman help a fellow demonstrator who has been overcome by teargas during clashes with security forces, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Opposition leader Juan GuaidA 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/Fernando Llano) 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. Opposition leaders hoped Guaido's risky move would stir a string of high-ranking defections and shake Maduro's grip on power. But only the chief of Venezuela's feared intelligence agency broke ranks, while most others stood steadfast. Some analysts predicted that would make Maduro more emboldened. The dramatic events could spell even more uncertainty for Venezuela, which has been rocked by three months of political upheaval since Guaido re-energized a flagging opposition movement by declaring himself interim president, saying Maduro had usurped power. Now the struggle has heightened geopolitical dimensions, with the United States and more than 50 other nations backing Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president and Maduro allies like Russia lending the beleaguered president military and economic support. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that Maduro is surrounded by "scorpions in a bottle" and that key figures among his inner circle had been "outed" as dealing with the opposition. The United States contends Maduro had been ready to flee Tuesday, an airplane already on the tarmac, but was talked out of it by Russian advisers. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, said such assertions were part of a "global information and psychological war against Venezuela and Caracas." "There is no proof there was a Russian plane there," she said. "The U.S. is big on Venezuela and wants to bring this to an end but that cannot do that." Rachel Wolf is a partner in Public First. She was an education and innovation adviser at Number 10 during David Camerons premiership, and was founding director of the New Schools Network. Soon, each prospective councillor across the country will know if they have persuaded voters to choose them as their representative. In the somewhat confusing patchwork of our local government, most but not all of the unitary councils are completely up for grabs, most but not all of the metropolitan boroughs are contesting one third of their seats, and a large number of district councils are also fighting it out. I hope that hard working Conservative councillors and candidates are able to convince voters that regardless of their view on national issues they deserve to be elected. But what exactly are they being elected to? Just before I left the Conservative Party to set up my education charity, the New Schools Network, in 2009, I was given one of the overnight shifts for local council elections. It was a fun night because we kept winning things. My job was to send out briefings to MPs, press people and others so they could play the expectations management game this is not only great, its much better than we could have possibly hoped for that often seems the main purpose of any local elections. But at no point did the conversation focus on what might change as a result of these victories. I wonder if that is because for most of us the answer is not very much. Councillors can, of course, make a difference locally. But its also the case, as it has been for some time, that they can make much less of a difference than most of their Western counterparts in Europe, in the US, or in Canada (where 50 per cent of revenue is raised locally compared with five per cent in the UK). Their powers over crime, transport, education, and crucially the funding for those services remain in most cases extremely limited. I spent some time working in New York for Joel Klein Bloombergs famous schools chief who was able to control and reform all of New Yorks schools (and did so very successfully). This is vastly more power and leverage than the London Mayor. When the Conservative Party came into power in 2010 it promised to change this. It began one section of its manifesto with language that could have been written today (with Brexit exchanged for the MPs expenses scandal): The events of recent months have revealed the size of the fissures in our political system. Millions of people in this country are at best detached from democracy, at worst angry and disillusioned. This endangers our ability to work together to solve our common problems. Just putting this down to the shocking revelations of the expenses scandal would be a great mistake. MPs expenses might have been the trigger for the publics anger, but this political crisis is driven by a deeper sense of frustration that people have too little control over the decisions that affect their daily lives. The Big Society agenda which has since been dropped down a large hole was supposed to be accompanied by elected mayors in 12 cities, and an increasingly vibrant local media (Im not sure how we planned to achieve that). Of course, every opposition is localist and every government is centralist. But it did look for some time as though the localism agenda was gaining momentum, particularly after George Osborne became a late convert (some would argue he starved local authorities of too many funds to be able to use any additional powers sensibly, others that the constraints have forced ingenuity and innovation in local government that was much needed). The devolution process has always been a bit all over the place perhaps suiting the already higgledy-piggledy nature of local government (and I do not have the space in this column to go through every new layer including LEPs and local industrial strategies). Bespoke deals based on individuals as much as areas were put in place with different powers and money attached to them. In general, the responsibility has been less than the hype Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, who is a deeply impressive Conservative, still has vastly less power than Birmingham council, which in turn has vastly less power than central government. The PCCs do not actually control the police their lack of real power is possibly reflected in the tiny percentage of the electorate that can be bothered to vote for them. The money that Whitehall has supposedly devolved such as adult education budgets are slow to arrive and extremely small compared to the rest of education spending. It also seems as if even recent progress has stalled. While the new mayor of North of Tyne is due to be elected today, experts I talked to see no new metro mayors anywhere on the Governments depleted domestic policy agenda. This is, presumably, yet another casualty of Brexit and also a reflection of the fact that our Prime Minister and Chancellor are more instinctively authoritarian than their predecessors. Whitehall never likes relinquishing control, and nor does this Prime Minister. Does it matter? Its obviously not as simple as give people local control, and their dissatisfaction will disappear. Trumps election in the US and protests in France both far more devolved countries make clear that theres no easy inverse correlation between devolution and populism. Nor do more powerful local governments necessarily perform better; poor policy and underwhelming administration are not the preserve of Whitehall. But there is good evidence that devolved public services do a better job than big centralised ones. That doesnt have to be to local authorities schools have been substantially devolved below the local authority level and are performing increasingly well. We also do a disservice to very talented administrators and politicians outside London and the South East who could if allowed make a substantial difference to their areas. Finally, we miss the opportunity to discover what is effective by allowing areas to try policies. The charter school programme in America has improved consistently by seeing where different states have got it right and wrong and those experiments in turn made it much easier for us to design good school reform here in the UK. I wish Conservative candidates campaigning for these elections the best of luck. I also hope that in future they inherit a position that gives them the power to do more for their constituents. Whether you think Gavin Williamson leaked or not; whether you think such a leak (by Williamson or anyone else) was justified or no; whether you think May was right to sack Williamson for allegedly leaking or not, the Huawei question remains unsettled. If, as is reported, the Prime Minister hoped to draw a line under both the leak and the wider policy dispute by acting so firmly, that has evidently failed. Not only because the former Defence Secretary is vocally protesting his innocence while the Government is unwilling to release its evidence, but because the underlying issue which the leaker was concerned about retains its importance. It is three and a half years since Nick Timothy warned on this site that the UK was placing itself at risk of espionage and hostile action by allowing China to gain access to its essential infrastructure, from energy generation to telecommunications. His concern went unheeded then, as the Prime Minister has ignored it from many other voices now. So is there an issue with Huawei? Should the UK be concerned about the company? First, lets not make the mistake of treating this as just another private sector provider. After all, China is not just another country. Despite a degree of marketisation and the toleration of the profit motive, it remains a fundamentally authoritarian state, a rising superpower which holds that its own citizens are first and foremost bound to be obedient to the collective interest. It holds no free elections, it tolerates no internal opposition, and it operates vast abuses of human rights most recently in the huge repression targeted at Uighurs, which includes mass detention in concentration camps for the purposes of re-education. Domestically and internationally, China is notable in viewing modern communications technology as a threat to be controlled by the state and an opportunity to pry into and restrict its citizens and rivals. It would be naive not to recognise that any organisation flourishing in these conditions does so only because it is allowed to exist and grow by the consent of the Chinese state. The exact nature of the relationship is a chicken and egg question; what matters is the fact that major Chinese telecoms companies are based in a totalitarian state which requires obedience and is known to run extensive cyber-spying operations around the world. It is an unavoidable fact that the state in question could snuff out such companies if it wished. So in a simple assessment of risk on a common sense basis, allowing any such provider into sensitive UK infrastructure would appear unwise. Whats more, there are reports of specific concerns about Huawei-provided devices. Bloomberg reports that Vodafone found 26 security issues with equipment from Huawei, including six critical and nine major security holes, and that these problems were found in several Western countries. Huawei deny those claims on the basis that these are not backdoors intentional ways in but innocent mistakes, a mixture of oversights and legitimate diagnostic tools accidentally not removed after installation. This should be treated with some scepticism. For obvious reasons, deliberate backdoors are designed to appear inadvertent, innocent and therefore deniable thats far from unusual in espionage. Furthermore, the report Bloomberg has had access to includes a claim by Vodafones then-Chief Information Security Officer at the time that Huawei failed to honestly resolve the issues when they were discovered: 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 A third and final consideration for the UK should be the position of our closest allies on Huawei. The company is banned from government work in the US and Australia, Canada is considering such a ban, and New Zealands security services have forbidden Huawei components from being imported for use in 5G networks. Those four countries, along with the UK, make up the essential Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. If our trusted allies are acting on these concerns, we should take note. Whats more, the US is so concerned about China penetrating UK communications networks via Huawei that they are threatening to withdraw intelligence-sharing if London allows the Chinese firm to take part in 5G. This is blunt stuff, but hard to ignore. There are sensible reasons to be wary of Huawei, and Chinas cyber operations, in principle and, it appears, in practice. By definition there is no way to be certain except to take a severe risk and suffer as a result it is in the nature of managing risks that we should err on the side of caution. Even if you are not bothered by the evidence, or by the nature and circumstance of the company in question, and think it a risk worth taking in itself, then the views of our allies should still settle the question. This is a risk too far. First things first. The Prime Minister is absolutely entitled to fire a Minister who leaks, and approve a more exacting than usual inquiry to identify the culprit. Her Cabinet is unprecedently non-watertight. Some of its members not only give journalists a read-out of its proceedings afterwards, but offer them a briefing beforehand complete with details of what they are about to say. We hacks love it. Number Ten hates it. One understands why Mark Sedwill and Theresa May want a crackdown. That they leak stories themselves in no way invalidates one. The old Whitehall saying comes to mind: I brief; you leak; he is in breach of the Official Secrets Act. So Sedwills probe was justifiable. But was it wise? That is less certain. Yes, a leak from the National Security Council is serious. But information has dribbled out before. Clashes within it over military intervention in Libya got into the papers in 2011. More recently, friends of Williamson suggest that Sedwill himself was responsible for the emergence of details about troop numbers of Afghanistan. Nor in this case can the former Defence Secretary or anyone else be accused of revealing operational secrets. What emerged was details of a policy debate, the conclusion of which would have become public in any event. There is another reason why the scale and reach of this inquiry may have been an unforced error. Sure, Sedwill seems to have been convinced that Williamson has form as a serial and serious leaker. And the decisiveness of his sacking momentarily summons memories of May in her pre-2017 general election days, when she led with authority. The timing of the former Defence Secretarys dismissal, bang on the verge of local elections day, may even do her a little good. But the bottom line is that though the timing of Williamsons eleven-minute conversation with Steve Swinford, the Daily Telegraph journalist who broke the Huwaei story, is suggestive, it isnt conclusive. Downing Street cannot prove that the former Defence Secretary was Swinfords source or if it can, the evidence it will have is unlikely to be the kind that can be made public. May says Williamsons guilty. He says hes innocent, and is on the counter-attack, claiming that Sedwill is waging a vendetta against him. Number Ten will want to bag much of what it has won so far: firm action, quick headlines, a Ministerial scalp. It will now hope to move on rapidly, with no police inquiry or criminal prosecution. The former Defence Secretary is making this just a bit more difficult by refusing to go quietly. Whatever happens next, Downing Street will be under pressure to release more details of the manner in which [Williamson] engaged with the investigation, as the Prime Ministers farewell gnomic letter to him put it. It may not want to get into them. So, then: who do you believe or perhaps rather, who do you want to believe? Some Conservative MPs dont like the former Defence Secretary, believing him to be insubstantial, erratic, conspiracy-prone, a fantasist who cant tell the difference between real political life and House of Cards and a boy doing a mans job. In the light of which, we point out that, among Tory MPs, the defence post is hugely prized. It has almost the status of a great office of state. When we last did a count, over 50 MPs had served in the armed forces. Most of them are Conservatives. When Williamson was first promoted, many of them thought they could do a better job at the department than a rookie. Bear that in mind when you read the briefings against him. Others dislike Sedwill. Watch for the politics of this sacking to become entangled with the politics of Brexit, the Tory leadership and Downing Streets new and unusual Home Office culture, with its stress on safety and secrets. Number Ten sees a lot of policy through the lens of security: the most high-profile pronouncements from the current Government on the internet seems to have been not about maximising its contribution to the economy, but on the Internet as Social Menace, Sian Westlake wrote recently. Issues that have been granted political airtime include banning encryption, regulating pornography and cracking down on businesses like Deliveroo and Uber. Brexiteers, civil libertarians and Mays opponents all have reason to target the ex-Home Office Cabinet Secretary. This morning, the Prime Minister has a former Chief Whip on the loose one, too, who was a player in her own leadership election team back in 2016. Williamson not only knows where the bodies are buried, but why they were concealed in the first place and who was responsible. To borrow his own words, he is unlikely now to go away and shut up. That may have consequences for the Government and for May herself. Whats that you say? That all this is of second-order importance and that what really matters is the Huawei decision itself? Quite so. And on that, regardless of his accuracy elsewhere, we have an uncomfortable feeling that Williamson is right. 05/02/2019 Photo credit: Eddie Maloney - Wikimedia Commons With the grounding of the 737 MAX jetliner, the ever-changing policies on pets, and companies always working an angle to make more off of ancillary fees, finding the perfect match of an airline can be complicated. However, if youre gearing up for summer vacation, WalletHubs new 2019s Best Airlines might give you some added insight as you weigh out the best options. WalletHub took a deep dive into 15 different metrics -- from leg room to fleet age to mishandled baggage claims -- and compared nine U.S. airlines (the six largest plus three regional carriers). Among the six largest domestic carriers, the most satisfactory score went to Southwest Airlines for lowest consumer-complaint rate in 2018. Most reliable? That would be Delta Air Lines with the lowest rate of cancelations, delays, mishandled luggage, and denied boardings. Here are other highlights from WalletHubs best of: Category Airline Best Airline Overall Alaska Airlines Cheapest Airline Frontier Airlines Most Reliable Airline Delta Air Lines Most Comfortable Airline JetBlue Airways Best Airline for Pets ExpressJet Airlines and Envoy Air Least Complained-About Airline Southwest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines Safest Airline Alaska Airlines Fewest Denied Boardings Delta Airlines Fewest Mishandled Baggage Reports American Airlines What the experts would like to see WalletHub gave its survey an interesting spin by asking a panel of aviation pundits for their take on things like trends and moves the airlines could take to enhance passengers comfort. For the question Which do you believe would be the main trend for the medium term in the airline industry?, Yi Gao, an Associate Professor, School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, Purdue University said, The service on-board will be more polarized. On the pointy end, more premium seats are being fitted to business class and premium economy class. At the lower end, the basic economy fare will be more common on more routes in the next few years. I would not be surprised if we see an increase in small players, added Michael Bernacchi, Professor of Marketing at the University of Detroit Mercy. Ride-sharing in the auto industry has only recently caused great disruption and blindsided many competitors. There is a small potential for the same happenings to pop up in the airplane industry. This would be impossible to manage, but that is what people thought just a few years ago when referring to strangers stepping into another strangers car after having loose arrangements made from a cell phone app. As to the question of What would be the easiest measures to be implemented by airlines in order to increase passengers comfort?, Daniel Rust, Assistant Professor of Transportation and Logistics at the School of Business and Economics, University of Wisconsin-Superior, said that in the never-ending quest to generate more revenue per flight, most airlines continue to squeeze additional rows of seats into the aircraft at the expense of passenger comfort. If increasing passenger comfort is the goal, then airlines should increase seat pitch as well as install more ergonomically correct seat cushions -- especially in the economy sections of new narrow-body jetliners used on longer-duration flights. John Mott, Associate Professor, Director Advanced Aviation Analytics Institute for Research, Purdue University, weighed in with this opinion on passenger comfort. With the advent of LCCs (Low-Cost Carriers) and Basic Economy fares among the major carriers, we now have a greater range of services available than ever before, giving fliers the ability to select the services that best match their needs and budget. While research indicates that overall passenger satisfaction has increased somewhat over the last several years, comfort in the lower service levels is not at the level that many customers desire. Increasing seat pitch in all classes of service would improve this, but doing so carries economic consequences for the airlines. Photo: The Canadian Press FILE - This Sept. 1, 2018, file screenshot taken from police body camera video provided by the Arlington, Texas, Police Department, shows the hand and gun of Officer Bau Tran, who came to help another officer on a traffic stop in Arlington, pointing his gun into a moving vehicle as the SUV's windows roll up and the vehicle moves forward. Tran has been charged with criminally negligent homicide for fatally shooting driver O'Shae Terry during the traffic stop. (Arlington Police Department via AP, File) A Texas grand jury indicted a suburban Dallas police officer Wednesday on a charge of criminally negligent homicide for fatally shooting a black man during a traffic stop last year. The Tarrant County grand jury indicted Arlington Officer Bau Tran eight months after he shot 24-year-old O'Shae Terry in the Dallas suburb. The indictment marks a rare criminal prosecution of a police officer in the historically conservative North Texas county. It could draw greater attention to a case that was largely overshadowed by another in the same month in which a white Dallas police officer fatally shot a black man in his own apartment. Tran shot Terry on Sept. 1 after another officer pulled the Forest Hill resident over on a registration violation. After talking for several minutes, body camera footage shows Tran grabbing the passenger-side window of the SUV Terry was driving as it begins to roll up. The officer stepped on to the vehicle's running board as it started to move, pointed his gun into the SUV and fired multiple shots. Terry later died at a hospital. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Terry's estate, said the indictment was "a huge relief" for his family but also less than they had hoped for. "We are certainly happy that there will be a chance for some form of justice in this case," Merritt told The Associated Press. "But if anyone else had done this it would have been murder." Criminally negligent homicide is a felony and a conviction can lead to a sentence of 180 days to two years in state jail. Tran was placed on restricted duty following the shooting. He was put on leave Wednesday until the administrative investigation into the incident is finished in the coming weeks, said Arlington Lt. Christopher Cook. Tran's attorney, Randall Moore, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moore has maintained that his client's actions were legal and taken to protect the public. 100% Website jimdo.com uses latest and advanced technologies. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 1093 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 217029 bytes (211.94 kb uncompressed) and 45424 bytes (44.36 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-04-15, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. The sequel starts with Patrick Bateman being murdered by a little girl his latest victim was babysitting. This is all narrated by the now-grown girl with the chirpy enthusiasm of a softcore porn voiceover. In the present, the girl is a criminology student played by Mila Kunis (this was back when she was most famous for yelling "KELSO!" in a high-pitched voice). She wants a coveted spot in the FBI, so she starts killing off her classmates and sleeping with her sexually irresistible professor, portrayed by 71-year-old William Shatner. Lionsgate Films To be fair, he does look remarkably like fellow psychopath Michael Myers ... Continue Reading Below Advertisement Eventually, Psycho Girl is found out and dies in a car explosion ... but not really, because the final scene reveals she's somehow still alive and working for the FBI. Equally baffling is the fact that Kunis still had a career after this movie. When asked about it later on, Kunis stated, "I didn't know it would be American Psycho II. It was supposed to be a different project, and it was re-edited, but, ooh ... I don't know. Bad." They should have put that on the poster. Meanwhile, a very embarrassed Ellis said the studio had the genius idea of turning American Psycho into a franchise, featuring American Psycho In L.A., American Psycho In Las Vegas, American Psycho: Hawaiian Wedding, etc. So if there's one upside, it's that this movie stopped the studio from going all CSI on the book. A group of Penticton residents have just returned from a humanitarian trip that saw them drive a donated ambulance more than 6,000 kilometres to a small village in Honduras. Dr. Grant R Bogyo, a practicing psychologist in Penticton, headed up the group that included his wife Betty and two friends Dan Gaudry and Fred Friesen. The four left Penticton and drove 40 hours straight until the Mexico border, after which they travelled during daylight hours for safety. Bogyo, the only one of the group that speaks Spanish, said the 6.5 day drive to Naco, Hond. went off without a hitch. Border crossings were incredibly smooth, and they managed to keep their directions straight with the exception of massive Mexico City. But my Spanish was good enough to flag a trucker down, Bogyo said. He showed me on a map, explained and went to leave, but came back and said why dont you just follow me Ill show you. Who knew angels drive trucks? Bogyo laughed. Locals, police, soldiers and just about everyone the group encountered along the way was warm and helpful, he said. You cruise through town in an ambulance with a Canadian and Honduran flag on it, it's pretty hard to stay concealed, he said. At two places in Guatemala, we ate lunch and went to pay the bill and they said nah, just go. Thats huge down there you know if they are buying you lunch, they are giving up something for their family in order to do that for you and thats just incredible. The trip was spurred by Bogyos desire to help the hometown of an immigrant friend in Penticton after the villages only ambulance died. Bogyo purchased a decommissioned ambulance from B.C. Emergency Health Services and raised funds to pay for medical equipment. It was the church in Naco that facilitated the donation, but by the time the Penticton group pulled into town, with the lights and siren on, the entire community was anticipating their arrival. We heard people saying, look the ambulance is here! Bogyo said. And these were people not associated with the church at all. So the word had spread, the ambulance was coming. That evening Bogyo spoke at the church, which was broadcast on radio. People were just so blown away by this ambulance, Bogyo said, explaining one of the doctors said it contained better equipment than he had at his local clinic for delivering babies. The next day, however, the Honduran customs branch seized the ambulance and Bogyos passport. They accused me of all kinds of things, falsifying paperwork, he said, adding the customs agents did not believe what he paid for the vehicle and demanded to see banking records, which Bogyo did not have access to. While the rest of the group toured around the region, Bogyo spent several days in customs and lawyers offices dealing with the situation. The customs people were doing their job. Whether they were ripping me off or it was some weird law in Honduras, I ended paying about 130 per cent of the value of the ambulance in duties for a charitable gift. That was a little bit of a surprise. Once home, he sent a sharp letter to a Honduran consulate in Canada. He got a call back from the Honduran ambassador to Canada, Sofia Cerrato Rodriguez, along with an apology and an assurance that she will look into the situation. Bogyo said Rodriguez voiced a desire to come to Penticton and meet with him, possibly this month. It should open the door for, and that was part of the discussion, if we want to do this again, we want to make sure we have everything arranged. Bogyo managed to raise $13,000 for the trip and donation, which had a budget of $15,000. After the surprise duties, the whole thing ended up costing $24,000. He doesnt hold any resentment for the customs agents. A religious man, Bogyo said if someones going to take my money, they are going to have to answer to that someday. But I can see the good in it too, he said, referring to the new connection now formed with the ambassador. The whole group voiced a desire to make a similar trip in the future, Bogyo said. This isnt his first humanitarian trip. A few years ago he personally brought a large shipment of medicine to a childrens hospital in Venezuela. He also helps run a migrant farm worker outreach centre with the Penticton Alliance Church. Those previous trips were made with the support of smaller church circles, with the ambulance delivery the first that pulled on the whole community of Penticton through a GoFundMe and donations gathered outside Walmart, Canadian Tire and Rona. It just brought a whole different group of people in contact with the project. The people who came on this and never done anything like it before came away with the idea that anything is possible. We just have to take the risk and get out of our armchair and go. Photo: Chelsea Powrie Interior Health says the highly anticipated renovations to the emergency department at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver will get underway this month. Mierau Contractors has been selected as the general contractor for the $1.25M project that will see the creation of a new waiting and triage area, a quiet room for families, a separate emergency department entrance and the relocation of admitting and administration services. Once complete, patients requiring emergency treatment will access the emergency room from a separate entrance, ensuring privacy, an Interior Health news release says. The project will also include new exterior signage to improve wayfinding to the emergency department. A new nursing station will also be added to enhance working conditions for staff as well as a private touch-down area for physicians to consult with specialists. The project's initial $970,000 budget has been bolstered by a further $280,000 funding commitment from the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation. The Okanagan Similkameen Regional Hospital District is funding 40 per cent of the original budget while the provincial government is contributing the rest. It's expected the renovations will be completed by the coming winter. Photo: Rob Gibson - File Photo The owners of DropBike have taken a swipe at Kelowna city hall for what it calls a "misguided regulatory framework." The city entered into a contract with DropBike a year ago for an 18-month trial of their bike share service. However, last month, active transportation co-ordinator Matt Worona said DropBike likely wouldn't return this year to complete the trial after the city decided to open the market to other companies. DropBike officials did not respond to requests for comment, but, in a letter posted on social media, the company is blaming the city for its decision. "The City of Kelowna has unfortunately instituted a regulatory framework that has left us with no choice but to terminate our operations, effective immediately," the letter reads. The company disputes an assertion by Worona that it is leaving because of its smaller size, and inability or lacking desire to compete with new operators. It says the new framework adopted by city hall "stands in clear opposition to our values of building a long-lasting, sustainable organization that can serve residents of the city for the long term." "What the City of Kelowna administration has done including instituting its open-permitting framework and by eliminating the concept of havens and not making bike lock-to requirements mandatory will disincentivize bike-share operators from working towards creating a mobility system that is sustainable and doesn't lead to mess and chaos on the streets," the letter continued. It goes on to say that, while cities around the world are moving away from a free-floating model because it has failed, Kelowna is permitting it. "Sustainable operations means undertaking all facets of a mobility program in a manner that best aligns with the interests of the public, and adheres to the ideals of sticking around to serve a community for the long haul." DropBike says last year's test was very successful in Kelowna, with more than 35,000 trips taken in only six months. It was, at the outset, one of the largest of its kind in any Canadian city. While it wasn't perfect to start, company officials say they learned a lot, and with the help of users, were able to make it better. In the meantime, Worona indicated earlier he expects to be back before council soon. and hopes to have new services in place by the start of summer. We're feeling again pretty good about the journey that we're on with the distribution in China, said Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, on the companys first quarter earnings call. The Chinese market is undergoing key distribution changes, moving from a risky full-ship charter business to more group and block bookings, as well as direct bookings. It was three years ago we set the course to change the model in terms of distribution, but also product and itinerary lanes, said Bayley. And we set ourselves internal targets to ensure that we were on the right track, and we've met or exceeded those targets each year for the past three years. We're bringing the Spectrum of the Seas, our newest and latest Quantum Ultra ship, into the China market. I think really supports the decisions that we've made previously, he continued. There is a lot of anticipation and excitement in the China market for the arrival of Spectrum and the bookings are in a really good place. On the itinerary front, this year will be marked by a more refined Royal Caribbean International deployment in China, including more long sailings. The Quantum of the Seas is sailing from Shanghai until June and then will move to Tianjin as the Spectrum of the Seas arrives, according to a spokesperson. Longer sailings are appealing to a maturing market and reaching new destinations. The company has added more long sailings, over six nights, calling at Kobe, Osaka and Tokyo, and other ports that are beyond reach of short cruises. New destinations on the calendar from Chinese homeports this year also include Niigata, Hakodate and the Yaeyama Islands in Japan; Vladivostok in Russia; and Irogos in the Philippines. The Scenic Eclipse has been moved from Uljanik to Viktor Lenac in Rijeka, Croatia. The latter is under the umbrella of the Palumbo Group which has multiple shipyards in the Mediterranean and significant experience in refurbishing cruise ships. Officials have stressed the vessel moving to Viktor Lenac is routine, for specific underwater work, and the ship will be moved back to Uljanik when the job is complete. A spokesperson for Palumbo Group told Cruise Industry News that the yard was performing a routine drydocking of the ship including cleaning, blasting and painting the hull and other general services. The work should be done next week, the spokesperson said. Other sources have speculated that the ship will be completed at Viktor Lenac, as Scenic has directly hired many of its contractors to complete work on the 228-guest vessel. The six-star ship was originally set for an August 2018 debut. That delivery did not take place due to financial issues at Uljanik. The yard has yet to recover as the Croatian government has not approved any takeover bids, while other officials are pressing for bankruptcy proceedings to start, according to local Croatian news sources. Scenic announced earlier this year the ship will debut this August. BRIDGEPORT It would not be a municipal election without charges of absentee or mail-in ballot abuse. Thursdays complaints were a little more unusual than past years because they came in a joint statement from three of the five candidates vying to replace the late state Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, D-Bridgeport. Former state legislator Hector Diaz and activist and one-time school board member Kate Rivera, Democrats who petitioned their way onto the ballot in Tuesdays special election, plus Republican Joshua Parrow called on the citys Registrar of Voters to supervise voting by absentee ballot at seven housing complexes. The three opponents also united to ask that Democratic Registrar Santa Sandi Ayala not be involved with the mail-in votes because her daughter, ex-state Rep. Christina Ayala, is also running to replace Santiago, who died in March. Antonio Felipe is the Democratic Partys endorsed candidate. We respectfully ask for a clean, transparent and expedient process to ensure that democracy will prevail in this special election, Diaz, Parrow and Rivera wrote Ayala, Republican Registrar Linda Grace, and the Secretary of the State and state Elections Enforcement Commission. Ayala and Grace later Thursday responded it was too late for their office to schedule monitored voting. By law, mail-in absentee ballots are available from the Town Clerk to voters serving in the armed forces, away from the city on Election Day, suffering from illness or a physical disability, unable to vote for religious reasons or working as an election official. Critics argue that campaigns abuse the system and use the ballots to lock in votes ahead of Election Day by circulating them to unqualified voters and coaxing or pressuring those individuals to support a particular candidate. Campaigns can help voters obtain absentee ballots but are not supposed to influence the votes cast. In concept, supervised voting means having independent observers to thwart any vote meddling. Under state statutes, supervised voting is mandatory at institutions where 20 or more patients are voters, and otherwise left to the discretion of the local registrars. As of Thursday, the Bridgeport Town Clerk had received more than 450 total requests for absentee ballots. Ayala and Grace, in written response to Diaz, Parrow and Rivera, wrote there was not enough time before Tuesday to schedule supervised mail-in balloting and to recruit and train the necessary staff. We find this request would be a daunting task, the two registrars said. Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, in a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media Thursday said that agency does not have the authority to order a municipality to conduct supervised absentee balloting. But on the question of Ayalas involvement in a race concerning her daughter, Rosenberg added, state statute prohibits the spouse, parent, grandparent, child or sibling of a candidate from counting absentee ballots. So if there exists such a family relationship, the registrar cannot be involved in that process and must designate another person, Rosenberg wrote. Traditionally in Bridgeport, campaigns have raised questions about absentee ballots during close races. In 2015, then-Mayor Bill Finch and his ultimately victorious opponent in the Democratic primary, Joe Ganim, voiced concerns about mail-in votes. And last year, questions about tainted absentee ballots in a close City Council primary ended up in court, then before the state Supreme Court, and resulted in two do-over elections in which the original winners still prevailed. Rivera at a candidate forum Tuesday drew some applause when she criticized the use of mail-in ballots in Bridgeport. We have a tremendous problem with that, Rivera told the small audience. Any type of absentee ballot should be supervised. That is not democracy when you have this undercurrent of corruption. ANSONIA Nunzio Parente, Water Pollution Control Authority chairman, tossed Wednesdays commission meeting into chaos, much to the annoyance of fellow commissioners and some members of the audience. He insisted that newly appointed members not participate, ignored motion requests and refused to pay a contractor with a letter of guarantee for more than $1.1 million in sewer repair work. By the end of the meeting, the commissioners were shouting over each other and the contractor had stormed out, vowing to start adding interest until the bill got paid. The dysfunction was captured on video recorded by three separate residents. I know each and everyone one you have your own little agenda, called out Bart Flaherty, a longtime Democratic public official who was sitting in the audience with former Democratic Town/City Clerk Beth Shortell Lynch. But I just ask you to step up to the plate, put those aside and go forward with the business of the citizens of Ansonia. The WPCA, a once silent and staid group, has been battling with itself since the massive Feb. 21 Pershing Drive sewer collapse that flooded the basement of the Lemko Social Club with raw sewage and threatened restaurants along the commercial road. That collapse was followed by two other collapses last month on Woodland Avenue and Hull Street. Against Parentes advice and vote the WPCA agreed to pay all the repair bills on the extended work from the Authoritys $2.2 million emergency balance. Parente said the WPCA should only pay half and the city should pick up the rest. Wednesday, Parente refused to allow any money to be paid to the contractor, Frank Pepe. So I dont get paid, shouted an exasperated Pepe, holding a letter of guarantee from the city and bills totaling $1,108,619.38 for repairs his construction company did on the three collapsed sewer lines. To treat me like this after I saved you $240,000? I got to get paid, said Pepe, head of Frank Pepe Construction. I did three jobs for you. I jumped off Derbys job and ran over to Hull Street and left Derby hanging with a hole in their road. Im sorry Frank, said Parente. I was ready to pay half of your money plus 10 percent, but he (Stowe) wouldnt go along with the program. Charley Stowe, a first ward alderman and WPCA commissioner, has been battling with the chairman to pay Pepes entire bill. The commission voted to do so in March, but Parente claimed the vote was illegal. This is wrong, Stowe said, when Parente refused to hear a new motion to pay Pepes bill. The next time something like this happens, they dont want to show because Nunzio Parente is not going to pay the bill. It has to be done legally, Parente said. In March, Parente stormed out of a WPCA meeting after Commissioners Stowe, Henry Boladz and Domenico Filippone, another alderman, carried a 3-2 vote to pay Pepes full bill. Parente said the vote was illegal, citing the City Charter which reads: Membership shall include one member of the Board of Aldermen and one member of the Board of Public Works. That means one alderman, he said. Not two, not three. Corporation Counsel John P. Marini said the wording was the minimum mandatory number and doesnt preclude additional members from those groups being appointed by the mayor. Nevertheless, the Board of Aldermen approved an ordinance last month to increase the WPCA from seven to nine members and add the words at least one alderman and two members of the Board of Public Works. Those additional appointees showed up Wednesday night. Parente refused to acknowledge them. Joseph D. Szerejko, a lawyer with Murtha Cullina which represents the WPCA, told the Authority that since the ordinance did not contain an effective date, state law does not allow it to take effect until 30 days after its publication in a newspaper. It was published on April 19. When Pepes bill came up for debate, Parente said the item wasnt on the agenda. Its not on because you took it off, Stowe argued. I amended the agenda, which is my right to do, Parente countered. This board even though you dont believe it did passed a vote we would pay for the bill when it came in, Stowe told Parente. You did vote on it but it was illegal because he (Filippone) should not have been on the board, Parente said. I dont care if you get it out of your right pocket or your left pocket, somebody has got to pay the bill, Pepe fired from the audience. I went into my pocket deep and I did your jobs. On top of it, I saved you guys $240,000 because we changed the whole pipe and the manhole (on Pershing Drive). Charley, I told you at the next meeting you will have an appropriate board, Parente retorted. He then turned to Pepe and said: I tried to get you half of it so at least you can take care of incidental stuff and... be able to breathe a little bit. He (Stowe) did not want to cooperate. You gotta pay the bill, chimed in Mike DAlessio, the citys public works director and one of the new WPCA appointees who Parente refused to acknowledge. Why do you have to hold this guy up? I dont know why Im even talking to you, Parente said. Youre not even a member... The WPCA is not responsible for (maintaining and installing) the pipes in the ground... If you want to do that, you need to change the charter. By this time Pepe had enough. You know theres interest on that bill for next month....Good night, he added and then walked out. In between the bickering, DPC Engineering, which is studying the citys nearly century old sewer system, advised the WPCA it found widespread groundwater flooding into the system. DPC is formulating a 10-year plan with graduated costs totaling $3 million to discover and repair bad lines. The board did not debate the companys report. Getty Images / Getty Images BRIDGEPORT A local man is facing 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who had been staying in the city with his family while she attended high school here. Gustavo Salazar, 38, of Dewey Street, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin to second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. HARTFORD A bill that will increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco products and e-cigarettes easily passed the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee on Wednesday. The bill now heads to the House. When and if the state passes legislation raising the age from 18 to 21, it will be catching up with a number of Connecticut towns including Hartford, Bridgeport, South Windsor, Southington, Wallingford, Trumbull, and Milford that have already passed ordinances of their own. Gov. Ned Lamont proposed raising the age as part of his first two-year budget. He estimates Connecticut will lose $5.8 million in revenue in the first year and $5.5 million in the second year of the budget. Lamont is also proposing a 75 percent wholesale tax on electronic cigarette liquids. The committee knocked it down to 50 percent. The only objections to the bill were raised by a few Republican members who said they felt that the fees and penalties the bills called for were too harsh, particularly on small businesses. I will support the bill, Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, said, but he added that he was worried about the fees being too hard on businesses. He said he also had concerns about the annual audits. But Witkos and others who questioned the language in the bill were told by proponents that language on the bill will be worked on before it comes before the House for a full vote. Some werent worried about the wording, including Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester. Cigarettes kill, Cassano said, and if they destroy we treat. So there is some justification in the fees because we do pay an awful lot of money in the long term. This bill raises, from 18 to 21, the legal age to purchase cigarettes, other tobacco products, and e-cigarettes (i.e., electronic nicotine delivery systems and vapor products). Among other things, the bill also: Increases, from $50 to $250, the annual license fee for cigarette dealers and requires $160 of the fee to be deposited into a Tobacco Control Enforcement Account the bill establishes; Increases, from $400 to $1,000, the annual registration fee for e-cigarette dealers and requires $480 of the fee to be deposited into an Electronic Nicotine Delivery System and Vapor Product Enforcement Account the bill establishes; generally increases certain penalties for cigarette, tobacco product, and e-cigarette sales and purchases involving individuals under the legal age); and requires the consumer protection (DCP) and revenue services (DRS) commissioners to annually conduct unannounced compliance checks on e-cigarette dealers and cigarette dealers and distributors, respectively, and post a list of non-compliant dealers and distributors on their department websites. The bill results in estimated state revenue losses of $4.9 million in FY 20 (partial year) and $6.3 million in FY 21 based on anticipated smoking cessation of individuals ages 18 to 20. The bill raises fees and fines, which are anticipated to increase state revenues by $1.2 million that offset additional regulatory costs incurred by the state departments of Revenue Services and Consumer Protection under the bill. One recent report has given advocates added momentum a Department of Public Health 2017 Youth Tobacco Survey indicates e-cigarette use has more than doubled by Connecticut high school students from 7.2 percent using in 2015 to 14.7 percent using in 2017. BRIDGEPORT A local man charged with raping an autistic 9-year-old girl walked free from the court Thursday after the girls father refused to let his daughter testify. Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin dismissed the charges of aggravated first-degree sexual assault with a child and illegal sexual contact against Victor Fernandez on a motion from Fernandezs lawyer, Senior Assistant Public Defender Brad Buchta. Senior Assistant States Attorney Ann Lawlor told the judge that the case was about to go to trial when the girls father told her he was not going to let his daughter testify. Lawlor said the child is living with her father in Florida. I explained the ramification of her not coming in to testify, the prosecutor said. She then asked the judge to issue a missing witness nolle. Under a nolle, the case can be prosecuted within 13 months before being dismissed. However, Buchta argued that the girl is not missing. The judge then granted his motion to dismiss the case. Police said the girl told a social worker that Fernandez, 42, a friend of her family, pulled her clothes off and played sex with me. During a subsequent forensic interview at the Center for Family Justice, police said the girl was given two anatomically correct dolls and asked to show what happened. They said the girl took the dolls and faced them toward each other and simulated a conversation between them in which the male asked, Could I have sex with you. The victim then told the interviewer, He played sex with mebut then I screamed, police said. BRIDGEPORT - Edibaldo Eddie Duran could run but he couldnt hide from justice forever. Arrested last year in his native Puebla, Mexico, following a four-year hunt after savagely beating and raping a Fairfield college student, the 29-year-old Duran stood before a judge Thursday and pleaded guilty to his crime. In the back of the courtroom his victims family sat crying. Through a Spanish interpreter, Duran pleaded guilty to home invasion and aggravated first-degree sexual assault. He nodded his head as Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin told Duran he would sentence him to 20 years in prison on July 12. In the early morning of Sept. 1, 2014, Labor Day, police said Duran broke into the Berkeley Road home of a Sacred Heart University student. Senior Assistant States Attorney Colleen Zingaro told the judge that the victim related she had been asleep when she was awakened by the sound of her bedroom door opening. A man, later identified as Duran, entered the womans bedroom and told her he was looking for his dog. When the woman screamed for Duran to leave, the prosecutor said, he struck her in the face and then began choking her until she passed out. When she came to, he raped her. The victim later made a composite police sketch of her assailant which was disseminated in the media and social media. Zingaro said two witnesses later identified the sketch as Duran. Police also connected Durans DNA to the crime scene. Police tracked Duran to JFK Airport but Zingaro said they were too late, his plane had already taken off. The U.S. Marshal Service wouldnt give up the hunt and eventually trailed Duran to a small house in Puebla. With the aid of Mexican authorities, they surrounded the house and convinced Duran to surrender. 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". Photo: File photo Eric Foster has introduced a bill to honour members of the law enforcement community. The Vernon-Monashee MLA introduced a private members bill to create RCMP Appreciation Day in British Columbia. As British Columbians and as Canadians, it is important that we show our respect and appreciation for the dedicated service of the RCMP, said Foster. Commemorating a day to the RCMP is about honouring each of the hard-working members who work tirelessly to keep us safe. If passed, the bill would mark Feb. 1 as RCMP Appreciation Day. Currently the only other province that has enacted such legislation is Manitoba, which will celebrate its 100th Appreciation Day next February. The RCMP covers 99 per cent of the geographic area of B.C. and answers more than one million calls for service in a year. The initiative for an appreciation day was spearheaded in Vernon by friends Martin Von Holst, Guy Bailey and Andy Wylie. A petition gathered hundreds of names, which Foster took to Victoria to show support for the day. "We all have family members or friends who have been involved with the RCMP," said Von Holst, "and we have had positive feedback across B.C." You can show your support on the RCMP Appreciation Day Facebook page Government scientists may have felt a chill after The Post reported in April that the Agriculture Department has been requiring its researchers to label their published studies as "preliminary." Given the Trump administration's disdain for science that doesn't fit its narratives or self-interest, it's hard to view the USDA's policy as anything other than a ham-handed political intrusion into scientific freedom. And yet the Trumpian edict might have gotten something right about science, even if for the wrong reasons. Recall that President Donald Trump once nominated Sam Clovis, who isn't a scientist, to be the USDA's top science official. (Clovis withdrew after he was linked to the special counsel's Russia investigation). Or that Scott Pruitt, Trump's first head of the Environmental Protection Agency, wanted to prevent the publication of any studies for which the data weren't publicly available. Pruitt professed a desire for greater transparency in EPA-funded research, but critics saw the proposal as a Trojan horse that would give political appointees veto power over science they didn't like - a case made stronger by the fact that much of environmental science involves studies of people who agree to participate in exchange for strict protection of their privacy. In other words, no one should be shocked if Trump's USDA uses the "preliminary" labeling requirement as a weapon to undermine research into climate change or other politically charged areas. Not surprisingly, some researchers familiar with the policy expressed concern about the rule. Christine McEntee, director of the American Geophysical Union, told The Post that her group feared the disclaimer might interfere "with the dissemination of scientific findings that are important for the public." Ed Gregorich, editor of the Journal of Environmental Quality, was blunter. Science that appears in the pages of his publication is "finalized," Gregorich said. "There's nothing preliminary about it." Yet even if the motivation for the "preliminary" disclaimer is wrongheaded, the message isn't off-base. Just because a scientific finding appears in published form does not make it finalized - or even necessarily true. Wine is good for you until it's bad for you. Ditto coffee. Violent video games lead to violent humans - until they don't. A small but growing mountain of evidence shows that in certain fields, much of what is published in the scientific literature cannot be fully, or sometimes even partially, reproduced. The problem of irreproducible results is bad enough in some areas, such as behavioral psychology and cancer research, to have been called a "crisis" by many experts in scientific rigor. That means, as scientists remind each other when they're speaking privately, that all science is for practical purposes preliminary. And pretending otherwise helps neither researchers nor the public. The world has seen that with vaccine research, as science writer Melinda Wenner Moyer said last year in a New York Times op-ed: "Scientists are so terrified of the public's vaccine hesitancy that they are censoring themselves, playing down undesirable findings and perhaps even avoiding undertaking studies that could show unwanted effects." Yet research results need to be aired regardless of whether their meaning can be exploited for unscientific ends. None of this means that vaccines cause autism. They don't. Or that climate change isn't real. It is. Rather, we should be comfortable with the idea that a single study raising questions doesn't upend an entire theory. Scientists and policymakers need to take a long-term view, even if politicians on the fossil fuel dole are eager to embrace every opportunity to cast doubt on global warming. The strength of the scientific method - when it's practiced as it should be - is in a transparent examination of data following the best experimentation possible. Significant efforts are afoot to improve reproducibility, and there will continue to be some growing pains. But the threat of bad-faith attempts to exploit science reform shouldn't be allowed to derail these attempts. To quote Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences: "Indeed there is always the possibility that those who would harm science would punish us for ferreting out our own weaknesses and correcting them. If so, shame on them." - - - Marcus, the managing editor of Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, and Oransky, distinguished writer in residence at New York University's Arthur Carter Journalism Institute and vice president for editorial at Medscape, are co-founders of Retraction Watch. HARTFORD The final piece of marijuana legalization legislation passed a key legislative committee Wednesday, along with two alternative toll proposals . Legalizing recreational cannabis use and implementing electronic tolling on highways are significant priorities of Gov. Ned Lamont, but face uncertain futures in the General Assembly. The passages of these bills by the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee Wednesday sets the stage for final negotiations between legislative leadership and Lamont on marijuana and tolls. The Finance Committee approved a bill setting a $35 per ounce levy on cannabis flowers and $13.50 per ounce on the rest of the plant. It also includes a 6.35 percent states sales tax and 3 percent local sales tax, which will go to the towns that host dispensaries, and under an amendment offered to the committee, behavioral and mental-health programs. The committee predicted their marijuana tax plan would bring $57.2 million to the state in fiscal year 2021. The bill would send most cannabis revenue to community development corporations, approved by the state, which would use the most to invest in job training, education and community rebuilding initiatives in urban areas hit hard by the war on drugs. We applaud the committee for advancing this legislation, which is both forward-thinking and mindful of the past, said Kebra Smith-Bolden, co-director of the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana, who testified in favor of the bill. It very thoughtfully proposes the state direct the revenue from legal cannabis sales to the communities that have long borne the brunt of marijuana prohibition. This boost in much-needed resources to underserved communities promises a safer and healthier future for all Connecticut residents. Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, an opponent of legalized cannabis, said he was concerned that retails sales for adults could impinge on the states successful medical marijuana program. This program will decimate our medical program, Candelora warned. The committee also advanced a bill proposed by Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, to establish a commission to create a 30-year transportation improvement plan and propose the appropriate way to fund it perhaps tolls, or gas tax changes, or borrowing. The legislation could be a third way on tolls. Lamont is pushing strongly for passage in 2019, but with all Republicans firmly against tolls, some Democrats opposing them and others on the fence, its no done deal. Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester, a former leader of the states Transportation Strategy Board, warned that study committee are usually ignored. The reality is it was a lot of work for nothing, Cassano said shortly before the 8:15 p.m. vote Wednesday. Violinist Kai Kight likens leaders to composers: they must coax the sweetest notes out of their performers regardless of the instruments they play. Composers must revise their music so it fits the individuals context, says Kight, who will address CUNAs 2019 Americas Credit Union Conference, June 17-20 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. He offers several ways leaders can inspire those around them, and shares where he finds inspiration. Whats the best way for leaders to inspire those around them? The ideas of a composer mean nothing if the performers cannot play themmeaning the composers job is not simply to have a vision for the world but to turn that vision into notes; a language that is simple and actionable for others. Ive been hearing about the dark web for a few years. In the past, it had always seemed like something out of a James Bond or Mission Impossible movieor a place where Lisbeth Salandar (of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books) would hang out. And then recently, it became very real. In March, a group of about 30 credit union folks gathered at the headquarters of $2.7 billion Apple Federal Credit Union in Fairfax, Virginia, for a discussion of cybersecurity best practices. At the event, Seth Jaffe, general counsel and VP/incident response for CUES strategic partner LEO Cyber Security, Dallas, took us on a tour of the dark webthe black market of the internet. (Jaffe started the tour by saying, Do not try this at home unless you know what you are doing!a very wise disclaimer that I will echo here.) What wasnt surprising about the dark web: The items for sale include credit card numbers, tax records and Social Security numbers. What was surprising about the dark web: Many of these items are available for purchase at extremely low prices! One seller had Social Security numbers for $1 a piece if you bought at least nine. Tax records were going for $7.99 each. ATM malware cost $5,000 and ransomware just $49. There was even a 10 pack of low security credit union bank records for a mere $400. Photo: The Canadian Press German automaker Volkswagen saw its profit slip in the first quarter as the company set aside 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for legal risks related to its 2015 diesel scandal. The company nevertheless showed that it was holding its own against the headwinds buffeting the global auto industry, reporting improved earnings at its main Volkswagen unit and stronger profit margins across the group's 12 brands. A strong sales mix, with more-profitable vehicles taking a bigger slice, boosted earnings. After-tax profit fell to 3.05 billion euros ($3.41 billion) from 3.30 billion euros in the same quarter a year ago. Group sales revenue rose 3.1% to 60 billion euros even though the total number of vehicles sold declined. A key measure of profitability the profit margin on sales rose to 8.1% from 7.2% in the year-earlier period. The figure exceeds the company's targeted margin range of 6.5% to 7.5%. Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said it was a "very strong first quarter" and "to an extent better actually better than we expected." "I think the key drivers were obviously the operational performance even though volume declined, but we were able to offset that with price and mix effects," Witter told The Associated Press. Shares in Volkswagen rose almost 4% in Frankfurt as investors seemed to welcome the figures. Auto companies are facing multiple challenges, including slowing sales in China, the world's largest auto market, tougher emissions requirements and trade disputes. They are also under pressure to invest in new technologies to compete against tech companies pushing into auto related areas such as ride-sharing and autonomous vehicles. Witter said that earnings were under pressure from high outlays for the company's future lineup of battery vehicles, but said that was "without alternatives." The company is pivoting to vehicles that produce no emissions locally to meet lower EU limits on greenhouse gases. Volkswagen expects to begin production this year of the battery-powered ID hatchback at its plant in Zwickau in eastern Germany. The Volkswagen brand saw operating profit rise 5% to 921 million euros as cost control and a more profitable model mix compensated for lower volumes. Earnings fell at two of the company's chief money makers, its luxury Audi and Porsche divisions. Audi saw profits fall to 1.1 billion euros from 1.3 billion euros because of model changes and higher spending on new products and technologies. Porsche's operating profit fell 12% to 829 million euros. Volkswagen faces legal risks from its 2015 scandal over cars rigged to cheat on diesel emissions test, including pending suits from investors who say the company didn't inform them of the emissions issue in time. The company says it met its disclosure requirements. It didn't specify Thursday which diesel legal matter led to the new set-asides. The deduction brings total costs for the diesel scandal to 30 billion euros. Russia Plans To Monitor Internet Access The Russian government is one step away from essentially cutting its population off from the global Internet. The controversial sovereign Internet law passed recently by the legislatures upper house needs only President Vladimir Putins signature to require online traffic to pass through servers run by the governments Internet regulation agency by 2021, allowing the Kremlin to much better observe and control what Russian citizens are doing. Putin has long talked up the idea of a firewalled Russian Internet, claiming that his government needs a better defense against cyber-attacks from the West. But its more likely motivated by the Kremlins desire to control the flow of information online, said Justin Sherman, Cybersecurity Policy Fellow at New America. The move is not popular among Russians concerned about freedom of expression, notes Irina Borogan, deputy editor of Agentura.Ru, an independent Russian news site. There is a lot of protests against the law. Activists, some politicians and Internet users openly expressed their outrage, Borogan said. But main local telecoms supported the law because the Kremlin promised not to charge them for the black boxes. The new law is the latest and most far-reaching legal action to limit Russians ability to interact with the outside world. Earlier such moves curbed access to Western social media services such as Linkedin and messaging services such as Zello. In 2016, when Russia was exchanging encrypted messages with Julian Assange and Wikileaks in a bid to undermine the US election, Russian lawmakers authorised the government to read encrypted messages and save message content from Russian citizens for six months. The new sovereign Internet law also requires internet service providers to use Russias internal domain name service. This will allow the government, for example, to redirect searches from independent news organisations to pro-government websites. Ultimately, this boils down to the fact that the Russian government, its military, and its security services regard the populations unrestricted Internet, social media, and mobile access as a significant vulnerability in what they see as future Western efforts to launch information and cyber ops against the state in order to disorient, confuse and otherwise divide the population and the government, said Samuel Bendett, research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses International Affairs Group. Therefore, monitoring user content and recording user information is seen as pivotal in such a defensive effort. The Russian government saw what such free information access can do in other countries, and defensive information operations is now part of the defense strategy, Bendett said. Therefore, access to user data is seen as key in preventing what Moscow sees as Western efforts to ferment some kind of color revolution in the country. The NGO Human Rights Watch issued the following statement: These proposals are very broad, overly vague, and vest in the government unlimited and opaque discretion to define threats. They carry serious risks to the security and safety of commercial and private users and undermine the right to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom. Last year, the Russian government was working on a related project: setting up an intranet for its own use, a project that Herman Klimenko, one of Putins top technical advisors, described as painful. Borogan said the new firewall will be a drag on Russian businesses. Experts say that the implementation of the law can slow down the Internet in Russia, which will have a negative effect on the economy. As the rest of the world races to build networks with higher speeds and lower latency, Russia appears to be going in the opposite direction. Still, the new firewall may encourage the government, the military, and its hired hackers to launch more, and more disruptive, cyber-attacks. Said Sherman, If Russias internet is isolated from the global one, its also possible that may remove or diminish some disincentives for the Russian government to wreak more havoc on the global network. The states manipulation of the Border Gateway Protocol that routes global internet traffic, for instance, might be a more attractive cyber option should Russia know its own systems are insulated from the potential damage. DefenseOne: You Might Also Read: Russia Will Build A Separate Internet Directory: China's Great Wall Into Russian Cybersecurity: Our own Bruce Siwy and Eric Kieta talk about their true-crime cases in Return To View: The Roundtable Photo: The Canadian Press New research debunks the supposed mental health benefits of eating your own placenta. The University of British Columbia and the BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services' Research Institute says their study found no difference in the mental health of mothers who had eaten their placenta versus those who had not. The data came from a 10-year genetic study involving 138 women with a history of mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. Lead investigator Jehannine Austin says the comparison took into account a mother's psychiatric diagnosis and medication use, as well as age and income level. She says moms who had consumed their placenta did not have more energy, had no increase in their vitamin B12 levels, and required no less help breastfeeding than those who had not consumed their placentas. She adds that eating one's placenta also did not appear to worsen mental health. Nevertheless, Austin discourages the practice in light of Health Canada's warning late last year that it could lead to bacterial or viral infections in mothers or their babies. Austin's study was published online today in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada. Proponents of human placenta preparations believe it helps prevent postpartum depression, overcome anemia, increase energy levels and boost breast milk production. Celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Alicia Silverstone and Hilary Duff are among the famous moms who have popularized the trend, in which the organ is sometimes dehydrated and put into capsules, but it has drawn increasing scrutiny in the medical community. "People are taking them because they see celebrities in the news doing it and they talk about their experience with doing it and so other women think, 'Oh that sounds like a good idea,'" said Austin, executive director of the research institute and a professor in medicine at UBC, in a phone interview Thursday. "But the point that we're trying to really make, having analyzed our data, is that there's no evidence from our study to suggest that this actually helps in any way. "It doesn't help with mood, it doesn't help with energy, it doesn't help with nutrition levels and it doesn't help with breastfeeding." Photo: Pixabay Thousands of pounds of food will be diverted from the landfill to the dinner table thanks to a new program by the Vernon Salvation Army. The Food Recovery Program is set to launch on Monday, May 6 and Lt. Stefan Reid said there are numerous benefits from the initiative. The Salvation Army, in partnership with both Save on Foods locations, will be able to provide more food to the community and curb food from going into the landfill. We are excited that were not just putting food on peoples tables but also looking out to the environment as well, says Lt. Stefan Reid. This program has been in the works for quite some time now and we are in the position to receive the food, store it properly and distribute it to many community partners as well. In 2018, The Salvation Army received a grant from Food Banks BC to purchase new refrigeration equipment as well as a new, state-of-the art refrigeration truck. Every morning our new refrigerated food truck will go to both Save On Foods locations and pick up roughly 60 bins worth of produce and meat and dairy that is past its sellable life, but it is still edible, said Reid. It will be 3-4,000 pounds of food a week, said Reid. The food will then be sorted by volunteers and distributed to community partners like the Upper Room Mission, Turning Points Collaborative Society, area schools and other groups. Whatever can not be used will be composted, saving tons of material from local landfills. We are trying to get zero waste, said Reid. Reid said starting Tuesday people will be able to stop by the food bank and look through the items. Dear Editor: Israel is a rogue nation that repeatedly violates international law, UN resolutions, and the human rights of Palestinians and Bedouins. This outlaw and criminal behavior would not be possible without the support of the United States and our taxpayer money ($3.8 billion per year). Since 1967, Israel has demolished 55,000 Palestinian homes; in 1948, Israel demolished 60,000 homes and terrorized 850,000 Palestinians into abandoning their land and homes. Since 1967, the Israeli army (IDF) has militarily occupied Gaza and the West Bank, and imposed a brutal blockade on Gaza, intentionally causing shortages of food, water, electricity and medical supplies. This year, peaceful, nonviolent border protests by desperate Palestinians were met with Israeli army sniper fire that killed over 200 Palestinians, including journalists, medics and disabled demonstrators in wheelchairs. With the relentless, violent and illegal theft of occupied Palestinian lands, homes and farms to build apartheid, Jewish-only settlements, there are now over 500,000 Jewish settlers occupying over 200 settlements, outposts and neighborhoods. Israel has been condemned widely by the international community for its brutal ethnic cleansing and creation of an apartheid state where only Jews have full citizenship and rights. The nonviolent BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement is attempting to pressure Israel to end its military occupation, secure equal rights for all (Jews and Arabs) and allow Palestinians to return to their stolen lands. A boycott ended South African apartheid. Hopefully, BDS will end Israeli apartheid. Eli Kassirer Gardiner, N.Y. The Congress is happy the process of designating JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist has concluded successfully, senior party leader P Chidambaram said on Thursday, while also asking why Pakistani premier Imran Khan wants Narendra Modi to continue as India's prime minister. In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said Azhar was released in 1999 by a BJP government after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft. "After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009. "We are happy that the process has concluded successfully in 2019. But why does the Prime Minister of Pakistan want Mr Modi to continue as Prime Minister of India?" the former home minister said in a series of tweets. Azhar's designation as a global terrorist by the UN came two days after the fourth round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. The elections end on May 19 and the votes will be counted on May 23. Last month, during an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, the Pakistan prime minister said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Khan said other parties would be afraid of a right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. The Congress seized on Khan's comments to allege that Pakistan has "officially allied" with Prime Minister Modi and said a vote for him would mean a vote for the neighbouring country. -PTI On a wall in Sir Mark Sedwill's office in Whitehall is a striking black and white framed photograph of a lifeboat battling stormy waters. On a shelf beneath is a Christmas card from members of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. It depicts Sedwill, the softly-spoken Cabinet Secretary, as Darth Vader, the ruthless Jedi in Star Wars who is lured to the 'Dark side'. The juxtaposition of the two is telling: the first revealing how our top mandarin sees his job confronting the daily political tempest. Then NATO's civilian representative in Afghanistan Mark Sedwill answers a question in Islamabad in 2010 - on a wall in his Whitehall office is a striking black and white framed photograph of a lifeboat battling stormy waters Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt (left) and National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill arrive in Downing Street in January 2019 The second is symbolic of how others see the man who has amassed more power than any other civil servant in modern political history. Newly-sacked Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson would no doubt count himself among the latter given that Sir Mark was the architect of his downfall. Said to have been 'incandescent' with rage at the leak to a newspaper after a National Security Council meeting to discuss Britain's 5G network and the involvement of Chinese tech giant Huawei, it was Sedwill who oversaw the inquiry that led to Williamson's humiliation. The event cemented Sir Mark's position as Mrs May's steely 'Enforcer'. He is clever, hard working, and steeped in the art of Whitehall intrigue yet it all could have been so different. Brought up in Bourne, Lincolnshire, Sedwill, now 54, attended St Andrews University and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he gained a Masters in Economics. But writing about his old college, he confessed: 'After graduation and some travel... it almost prompted me to drop out and spend the rest of my life on a beach.' Sir Mark Sedwill, the National Security Adviser in the Cabinet Office, is made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 In reality, he was always on the fast-track to success. He joined the diplomatic service, serving in Iraq as a UN weapons inspector. His Baghdad experience perfectly placed him to become private secretary to Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, between 2000-2002, in the run-up to the Iraq war. Eight years later and Sir Mark, who is married with a daughter, was Nato's senior civilian representative in capital Kabul. While working for NATO in Afghanistan Sir Mark arrives to speak with media in Kabul on February 7, 2010 In one of the stranger moments of his career, he found himself stranded in Pakistan in 2004 after a sudden snowfall. But it wasn't all bad. To his surprise, some 12,000 feet up the Himalayas another Briton appeared. 'Michael Palin had turned up to film... He didn't want us in it, though it didn't feel very authentic to feature a British diplomat,' he said. Senior roles in the Foreign Office followed before he joined the Home Office as Permanent Secretary when Theresa May was Home Secretary. He has had her back ever since. When the Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood died last year, there was no doubt who would replace him. In November he was elevated to Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service as well as National Security Adviser. He is the first Civil Servant to hold all three roles at once and he wields the power ruthlessly as Gavin Williamson discovered. Last year in a Channel 4 documentary about the new US Embassy, there is a revealing vignette of the two men. Williamson hesitantly invites himself round for coffee with the US Ambassador. Moments later Sedwill tells the Ambassador in no-nonsense terms about plans for a state visit for President Trump. One observer said: 'The power seemed vested in the diplomat not the politician.' This week brought us proof of that. Kim Kardashian West was met with a wide variety of reactions earlier this month when she revealed to Vogue that she is planning to become a lawyer, with some applauding her goal, while others chose to mock her. But now one of the lawyers who is helping Kim earn her license has spoken out in support of the 38-year-old reality star while warning others not to underestimate her abilities. Speaking to Refinery29, Jessica Jackson praised Kim's determination and focus, and explained how her commitment to freeing grandmother Alice Marie Johnson, 63, from a lifelong prison sentence in 2018 sparked her fascination with the law. New journey: Kim Kardashian West, 38, shocked the world when she announced she was studying to be a lawyer. Her passion for law stemmed from helping to free Alice Marie Johnson Focused: The reality star has worked with CNN's Van Jones and #Cut50 co-founder and lawyer Jessica Jackson (pictured middle) in the last year to gain her license Supportive: Jackson, who is helping Kim study for her degree, said to not underestimate her. The lawyer co-founded #Cut50, which works to reduce the prison population nationally 'I would say never underestimate Kim Kardashian West,' revealed Jackson, who helped to coordinate a meeting between Kim, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump on prison reform back in September 2018. 'In all her business ventures, she's been successful,' she continued. 'I have no reason to believe her commitment to criminal justice reform will be any different. Ms. Alice's story awakened something in her something that resonates with her father's career as a lawyer.' Kim's dad, the late Robert Kardashian, famously served on his friend OJ Simpson's defense team when he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson so the reality star is no stranger to the career. But people were still shocked that Kim who is the CEO of KKW Beauty and executive producer of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, to name a few ventures would consider the rigorous path to becoming a lawyer without a college degree. 'I had to think long and hard about this,' she told Vogue for its May issue. 'I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more.' Three months prior to the September meeting, Kim visited President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss commuting Johnson's prison sentence. This meeting was set up by Trump's son-in-law after Kim first called Ivanka and explained Johnson's story. The Tennessee grandmother was sentenced to life in prison in 1997 for committing a first-time nonviolent drug crime in Memphis. Kim first heard about her story from Twitter, and she knew something had to change. The May meeting encouraged the president to commute Johnson's sentence in June so she could return home to her family after more than two decade behind bars. Empowered: Kim visited with President Donald Trump last year to discuss prison reform, specifically giving a pardon to Alice Marie Johnson for her nonviolent drug crime Kim then began to work with Jones, Jackson and the #Cut50 organization on prison reform, including attending a meeting at the White House in September. Jackson has a long-standing career in fighting for human rights, specifically for inmates on California's death row, and now works as the national director and co-founder of #Cut50 a national initiative to reduce the prison population. 'Like everyone on the #Cut50 team, Kim cares deeply about people who are negatively impacted by incarceration,' Jackson said. 'She has spent time with us meeting with people living inside prisons, meeting with formerly incarcerated people, crafting policy, and working on individual cases, while also learning more about the law. I'm proud of the work she's doing.' Jackson's organization #Cut50 has worked extensively with Kushner to pass the First Step Act in 2018, which is a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. One of the provisions in the bill focuses on is upholding the Fair Sentencing Act for crack cocaine crimes. Under the First Step Act, prisoners who were sentenced for cocaine-related crimes before 2010 will potentially receive a commuted sentence depending on their individual situations. The First Step Act also keeps inmates at prisons closer to their families for specific circumstances and improves feminine hygiene products available to female prisoners. Helping get the act pass in Congress is one of the many prison reform initiatives #Cut50 handles every year to improve the prison system in America. On the grind: People criticized Kim for her new career path, but she said she intends to take the bar in 2022. She wants to help other people wrongfully incarcerated Team of supporters: Kim has worked with Jackson and CNN's Van Jones in the last year while focusing on her new career. In a recent interview, Jones (right) called Kim 'brilliant' Outside of working with #Cut50, Jackson is also helping Kim obtain her law license through mentoring. Many people questioned how Kim would be able to earn a law license, as she has never graduated from college. To address the critics, Kim shared a picture of herself studying law with Jackson and fellow #Cut50 lawyer Erin Haney on Instagram on April 15 and explained the process of getting her license. 'Last year I registered with the California State Bar to study law. For the next four years, a minimum of 18 hours a week is required, I will take written and multiple choice tests monthly,' Kim wrote. Revealed: For Vogue's May issue, Kim spoke about her experience arguing for clemency for Johnson. The woman was the reason why Kim first visited the White House She went on to explain why the idea to 'stay in my lane' would not stop the reality star from following her new career path. 'I want people to understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams, and the accomplishment of new goals,' she continued. 'You can create your own lanes, just as I am. The state bar doesnt care who you are.' The route she is taking to complete the license requires 60 college credits, Kim has 75, and she then works as an apprentice at a law firm in San Francisco with the intention to take the bar in 2022. Kim praised the team around her for helping her on the new career path with the intention to focus on those wrongfully incarcerated. 'I want to thank Van Jones for believing in me and introducing me to Jessica Jackson,' she wrote at the time. 'Jessica along with Erin Haney have taken on the role of my mentors and I am forever grateful to them both putting in so much time with me, believing in me and supporting me through this journey.' Jackson is not the only one to praise Kim on her commitment to studying law. When speaking on What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Jones said: 'I think like a lot of people, I had a misimpression, I still had her kinda like frozen in time back in the Paris Hilton days. She's brilliant.' His reasoning for her being a good lawyer was 'because she's incredibly persuasive and persistent, and she eats law books for breakfast.' Prince Charles reveals his love for 'wonderful' Harry Potter books to two aspiring 'journalists', aged just seven and eight, in a new Channel 4 documentary tonight. Samuel, 8, from Leicester, and Isabella, 7, from Middlesborough, star in 'When I grow up', which airs at 8pm, and sees six children from different backgrounds working together in various scenarios. The two children are selected to be 'editor' and the 'royal correspondent' for Hello magazine, and are sent to Llangwm, Wales, to cover a royal visit from Prince Charles and Camilla. But the youngsters are shocked when the royal couple actually stop and speak to them, and even reveal some of their favourite children's books. Samuel, from Leicester, 8, and Isabella, 7, are seen speaking to Prince Charles and Camilla during the royal's visit to Llangwm, a small village in South Wales, in tonight's Channel 4 documentary 'When I grow up' Editor-in-chief Rosie is inspired to choose youngster Isabella as a temporary 'editor in chief' after seeing her home-made 'Isabella' magazine. The seven-year-old admits she loves reading, and one of her favourite books is Great Expectations. Her mother, who works in a clothes shop, says: 'She's not your average seven-year-old. She's just got Macbeth off a friend. 'I don't want her to think she just has to be here for the rest of her life - I would like her to see the world.' The royal couple chat to the youngsters and Charles asks the children if they've read Harry Potter, which he deems 'wonderful' One of Isabella's first tasks is to give job titles to each of her fellow participants - and she assigns 'royal correspondent' to eight-year-old Samuel. The eight-year-old reveals he was so badly bullied that he recently had to move schools. His mother Linda is a nurse while his father acts as a full time carer to Sam's older brother AJ. Linda explains: 'Samuel can be very playful and then he can be very serious and sensitive.' The two are part of a group of six taking part in the Channel 4 experiment, which sees children from different backgrounds take on various jobs 'I think the bullying in school really did knock his confidence. We had a really vibrant joyful, confident young man. We would love for him to get his confidence again. She adds: 'As a young black man, there's as a lot of prejudice and a lot of peer pressure.' Meanwhile Samuel says: 'Bullies... sometimes they make fun of your shoes, sometimes they make fun of your clothes, sometimes they make fun of you... they are really mean people.' His parents hope the programme will help to channel the youngster into a clear direction. Isabella is selected as magazine editor after creating her own 'Isabella magazine' and impressing the Hello staff But the children are shocked when they are selected to cover a royal visit to a village in Wales. Samuel admits: 'It's a big responsibility to be a royal correspondent. I have butterflies in my tummy because I want to do a good job.' The little boy writes down the family tree, and puts post-it notes onto pictures of the royals so he doesn't forget who they are. As the pair arrive at the village of Llangwm, in South Wales, they speak to members of the public who have met the royal couple. Editor-in-chief of Hello, Rosie Nixon, helps the children settle into their different roles at the magazine But a visit into the small village church gives the children an opportunity to meet the Prince and Camilla. Prince Charles, seemingly feeling Samuel's gaze upon him, turns to speak to the little boy. The royal reaches out to shake the children's hands as he asks : 'How are you getting on? It's very nice to meet you. Are you writing lots of notes?' And when Isabella meekly replies yes, Charles assures her: 'Oh well done.' Prince Charles seems to predict big things for the youngsters, saying he was 'excited to see what happens' when the children got older The children are shocked when they meet the royals during a visit to Wales, with Samuel saying he was so excited he thought he was going to faint Meanwhile the Duchess of Cornwall asks the youngsters: 'What are your favourite books?' With Samuel admitting he loves the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Camilla agrees: 'Oh that's very good.' Charles is more intrigued to know whether the pair are old enough to have read Harry Potter yet, and though Samuel shakes his head, avid-reader Isabella says she loves it. Camilla acknowledges how exciting the book is, and Prince Charles adds: 'It's wonderful isn't it?' As the pair leave, Charles turns to the youngsters and tells them: 'I can't wait to see what happens when you get older.' The two are flummoxed by their royal encounter, with Samuel admitting he's 'so excited' he's about to faint. Meanwhile Isabella reveals: 'I did forget to curtsy but that was a mistake. I'm not sure all children would remember that.' The programme, When I Grow Up, airs tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm. Prince Gabriel of Luxembourg has replied to fans who wished him a happy birthday with a touching handwritten note. Gabriel, the son of Prince Louis of Luxembourg and his ex-wife Tessy Antony turned 13 on 12 March, and sent out the polite missive co-signed by his brother Noah, who turned 11 in September The royal fan behind the Royal Letters Instagram account shared a snap of the sweet greeting, which read: 'Thank you incredibly much for your kind wishes, they gave us much pleasure.' The cards were written in London on 25 April. Pictured: Prince Gabriel has sent handwritten thank you notes and a picture to the fans who wished him a happy birthday on 12 March. The letter was co-signed by his younger brother Noah Prince Gabriel, 13, was raised in the United Kingdom with his brother Noah. In 2018, his parents Teresa of Nassau and Prince Louis of Luxembourg announced they would be separating Enclosed with the letter was a picture of the two princes laughing and smiling, showing off Gabriel's braces and glasses. The two princes were raised in the United Kingdom where their parents moved to study at university. Tessy and Prince Louis of Luxembourg, who met while serving in the army in 2004, announced in 2018 that they would be separating. Their divorce was finalised on 4 April 2019, and Tessy was stripped of her royal title. On March 12, Teresa wished her son a happy birthday on Instagram, where she shared that he has a 'very developed emotional intelligence.' Pictured: Prince Noah and Prince Gabriel smiling at each other as they feed parrots for a picture The two princes photographed with their mother Teresa 'Tessy' Antony at a Union Nation Event. She shared the picture to mark Valentine's Day 2019, following her split from Prince Louis She also revealed the young prince loves to play guitar and sing, as well as being a good athlete who loves polo and swimming. She added that Gabriel is 'passionate about making people happy and feel better about themselves'. She said: 'He invests a lot of time in others and their needs - often making his needs come secondary.' Tessy, who in 2017 was named Woman of the Decade by the Women Economic Forum for her work in women's empowerment, now lives in London with Gabriel and her youngest son Prince Noah of Nassau, 11, while Louis lives in Paris. Pictured: the family together in 2014 During the report, Tessy spoke about standing up for the Duchess of Sussex on Twitter following an article that criticised Meghan's estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr., and sister Samantha Markle The two princes with their mother Tessy and father Prince Louis during a visit to Luxembourg seven weeks ago Born a commoner, Tessy joined the Luxembourg Army in 2002 at the age of 18, rising to the rank of corporal. Two years later, when she was one of a handful of female UN peacekeepers in Kosovo, she mett Prince Louis, who was visiting the army. His family only became aware of their love affair when Tessy fell pregnant and gave birth aged 19, and unmarried, in September 2005, providing Grand Duke Henri with his first grandson. It infuriated the royal family, and Prince Louis renounced any claim to the title of Grand Duke due to the constitutional crisis they had created by having a child out of wedlock. When Tessy married Prince Louis in September 2006, six months after giving birth in a modest country church wedding, the Grand Duke stripped her of any claim to his title. The couple's fairytale marriage broke down in 2016, and they were granted a decree nisi in February last year. Tessy, who in 2017 was named Woman of the Decade by the Women Economic Forum for her work in women's empowerment, now lives in London with Gabriel and her youngest son Prince Noah of Nassau, 11, while Louis lives in Paris. The philanthropist is the co-founder of social enterprise Professors Without Borders which aims to improve access to higher education across the globe. She also works as a consultant, public speaker and is a UN Association patron. A black model has become the first Miss Teen USA to win the title while rocking a natural Afro hairstyle in two decades. Kaliegh Garris, 18, from Connecticut, proudly embraced her natural hair by modeling an Afro during the Miss Teen USA competition on Sunday evening, which saw her sail through each round before being crowned as the overall winner. And in an interview with Refinery29, Kaliegh explained exactly why it not only meant so much to her to claim the title, but to do so while modeling her natural curls, instead of while wearing extensions or straightened locks. Crowning achievement: Kaliegh Garris, 18, from Connecticut won Miss Teen USA on Sunday evening and made headlines modelling her natural Afro Stunning: She confessed to previously straightening her locks and put in extensions, but Kaliegh decided her natural hair made her feel the most confident Strutting her stuff: 'As Miss Connecticut Teen USA, there are girls who would look at me in awe because they've always had the image of straight hair in pageants,' she said 'I know what I look like with straight hair, with extensions, and with my curly hair, and I feel more confident and comfortable with my natural hair,' she told the online site. It has been nearly two decades since a Miss Teen USA contestant was crowned while modeling naturally curly hair, according to the pageant website. Kaliegh wanted to be one person throughout the competition, including when she ran and won Miss Connecticut Teen, to break down the beauty expectations and show off her natural curls. But she still had to fight critics within the pageant world who thought her curls did not have a place on the stage. 'There were a few naysayers saying, "You look better with straight hair," or "You should put in extensions and straighten your natural hair," Kaliegh said. Passionate: She hoped her hairstyle could inspire diversity and confidence for other women watching the pageant Ignoring critics, Kaliegh proudly wore her hair in its natural Afro when winning the title of both Miss Connecticut Teen USA and Miss Teen USA. She now hopes to encourage other women and girls around her that they, too, can embrace their natural hair if they so choose. 'As Miss Connecticut Teen USA, there are girls who would look at me in awe because they've always had the image of straight hair in pageants,' she said. 'Being able to spread the message of diversity, being yourself, and being confident in your curly, natural hair is something that I'm really looking forward to with my new national title.' Although Kaliegh now embraces her natural curls, she admitted to previously getting her hair relaxed starting at the age of six. She would then straighten her hair every day before heading to school. But on one day, the titleholder explained, her friends could still see some curliness at the roots. 'There was one day when my friend saw my curls coming in from my roots because I didn't straighten my hair very well that day, and she was like, "You have beautiful curly hair, you should go natural,"' Kaliegh said. That moment was monumental for Kaliegh because it encouraged her to consider wearing it natural more often instead of straightening or relaxing the curls. During the Sunday broadcast, Kaliegh explained in a video just what products she uses in her hair to keep them defined and free of frizz. 'It dries out super fast,' Kaliegh said before running CHI Argan Oil through her locks to promote moisture. 'I'm really going to focus on the back of my head because that's where my curls dry out and frizz out the most.' Throwback: In an interview, Kaliegh admitted to previously straightening her hair to appease beauty norms. She has since decided her natural hair is her best look Celebrating: On Sunday, Kaliegh (pictured celebrating the win) became the first woman in nearly two decades to win while rocking natural curls Trailblazer: She followed in the footsteps of Miss USA 2016 Deshauana Barber (pictured), who also chose to make her final walk during the pageant with her natural curls Kaliegh's decision to rock her natural hair during the competition was met with high praise online, with dozens of people applauding the teen on social media. 'Congratulations! The Curl community is going nuts from excitement. Much deserved. Enjoy it,' one person wrote on Instagram, while another added: 'We now stan. Also Ive never seen a crown look this good on hair before.' One person chimed in: 'Congratulations @kalieghgarris so happy to see a curly girl as the winner!!!!' Some also thanked Kaliegh for showing how beautiful natural curly hair can look, while helping to provide inspiration to anyone who was nervous about their own natural locks. 'And you did it with your natural hair thanks queen,' a commenter said. Another then piped up: 'Congratulations queen! Thank you for being unapologetically you and showing us all that we can do what we want and be who we want!' while someone else wrote: 'The Curls are Winning!!! Yaasss.' Kaliegh followed in the footsteps of Miss USA 2016 Deshauana Barber, who also chose to make her final walk during the pageant with her natural curls. 'I decided to embrace what makes me feel comfortable and what makes me feel the best and brightest on stage, but also embrace what other people can relate to,' Deshaunana told Refinery29 at the time. 'That typical, traditional sleek hair with a big tease, not to say its gone out the window, but its transitioning a lot.' IKEA shopping is set to change forever, thanks to the launch of a 'mini' store where shoppers can get specialist teams to help them put together their dream kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. The concept store, which will open in Sydney's Westfield Warringah Mall on Friday, is a major downsize from the 37,000sqm warehouses customers have come to know from the brand. Instead they can step inside a much smaller space to choose their wares via digital computers and select exactly what date they want the products delivered to their door. A 'mini' IKEA store is set to launch that allows shoppers to pay $99 for specialist teams to help them put together their dream kitchen, bathroom and bedroom 'Shopping behaviours are changing quite dramatically within the retail space and are majorly driven by new technology,' IKEA Australia's CEO Jan Gardberg told FEMAIL. 'We wanted to build something that was between a totally online store and our giant shops.' Because this 'Home Planning Studio' is only 100sqm wide, the stores can quickly be deployed in areas across Sydney, rather than shoppers having to travel far and wide to reach a bigger outlet. The concept store, which will open in Sydney's Westfield Warringah Mall, is a major downsize from the 37,000sqm warehouses customers have come to know from the brand 'Shopping behaviours are changing quite dramatically within the retail space and are majorly driven by new technology,' IKEA Australia's CEO Jan Gardberg told FEMAIL 'Within the planning studio you can have a one-on-one discussion with a team member who can help you custom-build a wardrobe or kitchen of your choice,' Mr Gardberg said. 'Everything from our original stores will be purchasable including quilt covers, plates, napkins and lighting - you just have to order it off a screen instead.' Mr Gardberg hopes this new way of interacting with IKEA will encourage more people to come inside the store and have a personal experience, rather than feeling like they are wandering fruitlessly inside a large warehouse. Mr Gardberg (pictured) hopes this new way of interacting with IKEA will encourage more people to come inside the store and have a personal experience This artist's impression (pictured) of the store shows the studio focuses on two main zones: the bedroom zone and the kitchen/wellness area You can book a $99 planning session ahead of time and purchase all the necessary products on the spot - and then have that money refunded after the sale of those items goes through. So you don't have to wait in endless checkout lines ever again. Similar to larger IKEA stores, this mini version has created spaces to inspire those looking to update certain areas in their home. The store layout features a bedroom zone which comes complete with wafting floral scents and an abundance of wardrobe solutions while the kitchen section takes the form of a 'wellness sanctuary'. IKEA's latest concept store will be situation within Sydney's Westfield Warringah Mall and will be a far cry from the super stores shoppers are used to This zone will offer a raft of storage solutions and is aimed at the eco-conscious home chef and entertainer. Currently, IKEA owns 10 stores in Australia and by the year 2030, this number is expected to increase to 40. Speaking previously about IKEA's expansion strategy, Mr Gardberg said there was a move on the part of the Swedish giant to make online shopping easier in Australia as well as promoting a shift away from its big format stores. 'We have more than 40 years of home furnishing experience here in Australia and we want to take that and transform that home furnishing knowledge into the virtual and electronic world also,' he said. She's known for looking very smart on her royal engagements, but today Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden added an edgy touch to her usual formal style by donning a pair of white trainers for her solo trip to Greece. The heir apparent to the Swedish throne, 41, sported a floral midi skirt, which she paired with Stella McCartney x Adidas box-fresh white trainers, and a white silk t-shirt. Victoria had the chance to pose in front of Athens' famous Acropolis, and peruse treasures at the Museum of the Ancient Agora. She is also attending a seminar to address 'challenges and opportunities related to a new climate economy: driving innovation for sustainable development'. The heir apparent to the Swedish throne, 41, sported a sleek silk skirt which she paired with Stella McCartney x Adidas box-fresh white trainers as she visited the Museum of the Ancient Agora in Athens Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden sported a casual look as she enjoyed the Greek tourist attractions The princess sported a causal but cool look for her day out, keeping her accessories to a minimum, opting for just hoop earnings, a charm bracelet and a watch. Keeping the look regal, she slicked her dark hair back from her face into a neat bun. Later, she added a cool pair of black Gucci aviators to shield her eyes from the sun. Wearing minimal make-up, the future monarch glowed in the spring sunshine, opting for just a lick of black mascara and an all-natural look. The royal paired a colourful a-line floral skirt with a white silk t-shirt as she looked at ancient Greek monuments and posed in front of the the city's famous Acropolis The princess sported a causal but cool look for her day out, keeping her accessories to a minimum, opting for just hoop earnings, a charm bracelet and a watch Casual chic! Victoria sported a pair of box fresh Addias x Stella McCartney white trainers, which retail for 235 Later, she added a cool pair of black Gucci aviators to shield her eyes from the sun. Keeping the look regal, she slicked her dark hair back from her face into a neat bun. It was a rare solo trip for Victoria, who was pictured two days ago celebrating her father's 73rd birthday with her entire family It was a rare solo trip for Victoria, who was pictured two days ago celebrating her father's 73rd birthday with her entire family. King Carl XVI Gustaf's wife, Queen Silvia, 75, along with his children and grandchildren, appeared on the balcony of the Royal Palace on Tuesday morning to watch the celebratory parade. Victoria looked pretty in a blush coloured coat and her hair in a sleek low ponytail as she waved to crowds. The future Queen of Sweden looked delighted during her solo day out. Keeping the look light, she wore red nail polish and a cute charm bracelet Wearing minimal make-up, the future monarch glowed in the spring sunshine, opting for just a lick of black mascara and an all natural look Victoria's outing comes just two days after the Swedish royal family gathered in Stockholm to mark her father, the monarch's 73rd birthday. Pictured L-R: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Princess Estelle, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Prince Oscar and Prince Daniel attend a celebration of King Carl Gustaf's 73rd birthday anniversary at the Royal Palace King Carl Gustaf was pictured looking smart in his uniform, performing a salute before watching the Royal Marching Band perform their celebration Meanwhile Victoria's daughter Princess Estelle, 7, - who stole the limelight last year with her cheeky thumbs-up display - matched her mother in a pink wool coat, wearing her hair in cute braids as she clapped her hands together. Former personal trainer Prince Daniel, 45, husband to Victoria, wore a smart suit and polka dot tie as he waved to crowds with their son Prince Oscar, 3, dressed in a sweet grey blazer. Queen Silvia looked elegant in a beige trench coat and silk blue scarf which she teamed with pearl earrings as she watched her husband take part in the the parade alongside his son, Prince Carl Philip, 39. Victoria is married to former personal trainer Prince Daniel, 45, who earlier this week, wore a smart suit and polka dot tie as he waved to crowds with their son Prince Oscar, 3, dressed in a sweet grey blazer Victoria added Gucci sunglasses to the chic look, and tied her hair away from her face for the day out The Swedish King, who is the second-longest reigning monarch in Swedish history, took to the throne in 1973 and survived the country's landmark constitution the following year, and has an active role in public duties, albeit mainly ceremonial. The King and his wife Silvia, nee Sommerlath, a German-Brazilian former flight attendant, have been handing over increasing numbers of engagements to their eldest daughter Victoria in recent years, fuelling speculation that the monarch may abdicate, allowing the Crown Princess to take the throne. The presenter of the Nobel Peace Prize and a keen environmental campaigner has been embroiled in a string of controversies over the years including accusations of secret affairs and wild parties. Victoria's outing comes two days after she celebrated her father's birthday. The Swedish King, who is the second-longest reigning monarch in Swedish history, took to the throne in 1973 and survived the country's landmark constitution the following year, and has an active role in public duties, albeit mainly ceremonial. Crown Princess Victoria studied diplomacy and Swedish foreign policy before becoming a full-time working member of the royal family The grandfather-of-six is said to own a fleet of Porsche 911s and was involved in a high-profile car crash in 2005 which made international headlines. His daughter Crown Princess Victoria studied diplomacy and Swedish foreign policy before becoming a full-time working member of the royal family. The glamorous Yale graduate, who speaks four languages, was not expected to take to the throne when she was born in 1977 but a change in the law of succession three years later changed that, allowing her to overtake her brother Carl Philip. The glamorous Yale graduate, who speaks four languages, was not expected to take to the throne when she was born in 1977 but a change in the law of succession three years later changed that, allowing her to overtake her brother Carl Philip In 2010, Victoria married her former personal trainer Daniel Westling in front of 1,200 guests at Stockholm Cathedral, and have since settled comfortably into public life with their two children, Princess Estelle, five, and Prince Oscar, who turns two in March In 2010, she married her former personal trainer Daniel Westling in front of 1,200 guests at Stockholm Cathedral. They have since settled comfortably into public life with their two children, Princess Estelle, five, and Prince Oscar, who turns two in March. Meanwhile Victoria's brother, Sweden's real-life Prince Charming, broke the hearts of royal-watchers across the globe when he announced his engagement to former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist in 2014, four years after news of their relationship first hit headlines. Victoria's (pictured) brother, Sweden's real-life Prince Charming, broke the hearts of royal-watchers across the globe when he announced his engagement to former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist Victoria, who speaks four languages, is an active member of the royal family and has ducted many scandals unlike her monarch father Carl Philip, who is dyslexic, dismissed reports that his fiancee was 'not welcome' in the House of Bernadotte and condemned the public 'bullying' of Sofia. Regardless of the controversy, thousands lined the streets of Stockholm for their wedding later that year. The couple welcomed their first son, Prince Alexander, in April 2016 and another little boy, Prince Gabriel, arrived in August the following year. A transgender man is marrying his best friend from school after years of disapproval from the bride-to-be's mum. Jamie Raines, who first felt he was male at the age of four, met Shaaba Lotun, both from Essex, when they were 16 and he was still living as female. Jamie, now 25, and Shaaba, 24, met in art class and quickly became best friends - but their relationship became romantic after Jamie came out as trans. After around six years together the couple got engaged in 2017 and are set to wed next year - and they finally have the blessing of both their families. Scroll down for video Jamie Raines, 25, and Shaaba Lotun, 24, are getting married next year after meeting as teenagers when Jamie was still living as female Jamie claims he first felt he was male at the age of four and only revealed his true identity to his mum after watching a documentary on transgender people At the age of 16, Jamie watched a documentary on transgender people which helped him come out to his mum. A couple of months later, he told his friends - but he was nervous to reveal his new identity to Shaaba, who had been raised in a strict Asian household. Jamie told Barcroft TV: 'One of the people I was most scared to tell was Shaaba; I knew her family's opinion on having male friends and I wasn't sure how she'd react.' Thankfully for Jamie, Shaaba was there for him in the way he had hoped. 'She was great, she was the first person who got my new name and pronouns down and never got it wrong,' he recalled. Shabba added: 'Jamie sounded far more confident than he ever had before, I was just like, "Cool, I support you, what do you need me to do?"' Jamie, pictured in school uniform when he was still living as female, said he was concerned about coming out to Shaaba at first Despite this, there was a question over whether they could still be friends. Shaaba explained: 'There was a strict rule about me being friends with guys, but in my defence, I didn't actually break that I didn't know one of my friends identified as male.' After Jamie came out as trans, they both knew the dynamic of their relationship had changed. He admitted: 'I had fancied Shaaba for a while; I had a feeling there was something more going on, but I had no idea if it was real or if I had imagined it because I wanted it to happen. Thankfully for Jamie, Shaaba was there for him in the way he had hoped when he came out 'Our friends would always say we were like an old married couple.' Shabba added: 'It was a difficult one, because I genuinely did love Jamie as a friend and would often say if he was a guy I'd marry him straight away.' After revealing his true feelings to Shaaba at a party, it became clear to both that their feelings for one another had developed into something more than friendship. Having always identified as heterosexual, Shaaba soon began to question her sexuality, wondering if her attraction to Jamie meant otherwise. After Jamie came out as trans, he and Shaaba, pictured at school, both knew the dynamic of their relationship had changed 'There was a lot to process,' she explained. 'Before Jamie transitioned I didn't have romantic feelings for him, it wasn't something I contemplated.' Once their romantic relationship began to develop, they kept things private - especially from Shaaba's mum, whom they knew would not approve. Shabaa said: 'After my parents separated, my dad remarried and lived a western lifestyle, but my mum remarried and lives a very Asian lifestyle. 'They are very strict and identify as Muslim, so there's a lot of religious rules to follow. It was weird growing up, because I had two polar opposite dynamics.' Shaaba, pictured as a little girl, was brought up by strict parents who identified as Muslim Jamie told how despite them keeping their romance from their friends and family at first, he suspected his parents knew. Their cover was blown when Shaaba's mum read a text from Jamie on her daughter's phone, after confiscating it on New Year's Day so she could revise - and 'all hell broke loose'. 'She thought her daughter was a lesbian, and told my whole family who were very, very unimpressed,' Shabaa said. What followed was constant pressure for Shaaba to end her relationship with Jamie, and when it became clear that wouldn't happen, she was ostracised from the family. She then moved in with Jamie's parents, which she said in hindsight 'wasn't a good idea' as it created a 'bigger rift between the two families'. Jamie told how despite he and Shaaba keeping their romance from their friends and family at first, he suspected his parents knew - especially mum Christine, pictured left It took four years for Shaaba's mum to even contemplate talking to her about Jamie and begin referring to him using male pronouns. 'Everything happened in baby steps when it came to introducing Jamie back into the family,' Shabaa explained. 'It was really bad, but I do completely understand it was coming from a place of her wanting to do what was best for me.' Both Jamie and Shaaba say they don't hold this against the family, and when Jamie underwent 'bottom surgery' - the removal of the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes - things started to improve. Jamie said it took four years for Shaaba's mum to even contemplate talking to her about her boyfriend and begin referring to him using male pronouns Although the lack of acceptance was extremely hard for both Shaaba and Jamie, they are thrilled to be planning their wedding with the support of both families 'In the last year and a half, things have accelerated so much and it's more natural, friendly and genuine,' Jamie said. Although the lack of acceptance was extremely hard for both Shaaba and Jamie, they are thrilled to be planning their wedding with the support of both families. Jamie proposed to Shaaba in September 2017, after a year of planning, with everyone from both families present. He told how he wanted it to be at The University of Essex because it's a 'very special place' for them. 'To see my family there was just incredible, and to know he had asked for their blessing - I was just so happy,' Shaaba added. Jamie proposed to Shaaba in September 2017, after a year of planning, with everyone from both families present Although reaching this place of acceptance has put a strain on their relationship, the couple feel grateful for how it's strengthened them as a team. Jamie said: 'A big thing I've learned is patience and perseverance, and taking a kinder approach with education and giving people more time that can help a lot.' Shaaba added: 'For me, communication is essential, and it's key to ensure you're on the same page. 'Going through this journey of conflict together has ultimately bought us closer together.' An emotional husband reveals how his wife suffered a near-fatal health scare as they were building their dream home in Grand Designs: The Street. In tonight's episode of the channel 4 show, Garrie and Sue, 57, hope that the self-build project near Bicester, Oxfordshire, will transform their lives with a house suitable for her needs. Sue, a retired foster carer, suffers from severe osteoporosis, which weakens bones, causing them to break more easily. But while in the final push to build their dream home, she contracts a severe case of pneumonia and Garrie admits that his wife was just 15-30 minutes away from death. Garrie and Sue, both 57, dream of building a house that can accommodate her disability and will allow them to grow old together. The couple will feature in tonight's episode of Grand Designs: The Street Sue is rushed to hospital in London and Garrie emotionally tells the camera that his wife was 15-30 minutes from passing away The programme follows ten amateur self-builders as they attempt to construct their dream houses on a street in Oxfordshire - but when it's Garrie and Sue's turn, they spend almost 100,000 more than their budget. Because the pair, who married only weeks before filming started, can't buy a home suitable for Sue's disability, Garrie embarks on a lifelong dream to build her one. Sue is unable to move up and downstairs, and has limited mobility. So in 2017, the couple set out to build a four-bedroom 'glass house' featuring huge windows to maximise the couple's sun exposure. For Sue, getting as much vitamin D as possible is essential to help her bones stay as strong as they can. Garrie feels the pressure of the project as he is left in charge of dozens of decisions for the build The couple set out on the self-build project in September 2017, and are inspired to build themselves a home with facilities to help Sue's quality of life It's an ambitious project, as it's the largest house on the 'self-build' street, and is designed to include a range of gadgets such as a lift in order to help Sue's quality of life. However, just when the house is looking like it is near completion, the couple are struck by a stressful health worry. While stood outside St Thomas Hospital in London, Garrie explains that his wife, who is now in intensive care, 'woke up and wasn't able to move. She'd gone temporarily blind.' He adds: 'Sue had a severe case of pneumonia and was probably 15 to 30 minutes from passing away.' The couple spend almost 535K on building their dream home, revealing that they went way over budget Garrie is devastated when Sue contracts pneumonia during the build, and admits his wife was just '15-30 minutes away from death' The couple use structurally insulated panels for their house, pictured, and it quickly begins to take shape Before Sue's health crisis everything appears to be going to plan and the couple are on top of their high-tech build. The first floor will feature a master bedroom with a spa while the top floor will be dedicated to the living room so they can make the most out of the countryside views. They decide to use structurally insulated panels (SIBS) for their build to help create a three-storey home. The panels are cut in a factory to a precise size and are easy to assemble, meaning that Garrie and Sue's home makes significant progress in little time. Unable to find a home suitable for Sue's complex health needs, the couple set about building their own. They are pictured visiting the factory where their windows are made The couple are overjoyed with the result of the build, which sees them in a 'glass house' with plenty of large windows to allow sunlight Although going over budget, the couple are happy with their home which has large windows (pictured) After the first walls are put up, the couple appear overwhelmed at the speed and declare the sheer size of their build 'daunting.' However, they are desperate to move into the house and when 2.5 tonnes of roof is lifted, craned into position and secured in minutes, the build really starts to take shape. Garrie says he 'feels absolutely brilliant' even though he has hundreds of decisions still to make and very little building experience. During a meeting with his project manager half-way through the build, Garrie reveals he believes it will cost around 60,000 more than he expected. He says: 'We're not experts at this, it could be a whole heap of c**p and it's because I haven't got a clue.' Garrie, right, reveals that he might have to dip into his pension to cover the costs of the build, but that he and Sue will be mortgage-free The couple are overjoyed with their home, which is built to help Sue live as freely as possible. It features huge glass windows to maximise their exposure to sunlight The huge windows in the three-storey home cost 28,000 but ensure Sue will get lots of sunlight. Pictured: the living room But there's one element that Garrie and Sue refuse to compromise on - and that's the glass part of their design. They need nearly 800 metres-worth of continuous glass to create their desired effect, which sets them back a whopping 28,000. What is Osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break. It develops slowly over several years and is often only diagnosed when a minor fall or sudden impact causes a bone fracture. The most common injuries in people with osteoporosis are: wrist fractures hip fractures fractures of the spinal bones (vertebrae) However, they can also occur in other bones, such as in the arm or pelvis. Sometimes a cough or sneeze can cause a rib fracture or the partial collapse of one of the bones of the spine. Osteoporosis often affects women, particularly after the menopause (when monthly periods stop). However, it can also sometimes affect men, younger women and children. Source: NHS Advertisement The bespoke lift is another big spend at 18, 000, but is essential as it will ensure Sue's freedom across all levels of the house. The couple also splash out on 60 metres of pipe work to have a state of the art ventilation system, which costs around 20,000. Another problem the couple encounters is the front door frame, which they realise is too high, meaning they won't easily get a wheelchair across the threshold. The problem is eventually dealt with and Sue's nephew Joe Hurn comes to help out to make sure the building is perfect. He explains: 'Sue's my aunt and I want to make sure she's completely independent, whatever condition she's in.' Despite health troubles, Sue makes a recovery and the home is completed by the end of the show. The final building is bright and elegant with the glass windows flooding the home with daylight. 'There has been times over the last few years when I've been convinced I'd never get here but now it seems to be a lot better,' explains Sue. 'I feel better here.' While Garrie adds: 'It is remarkable. Sue is lifted and we're convinced this house will be beneficial to us.' However, the proud new homeowner who is delighted with his house, does admit that they went over-budget, and he thinks it will cost 535,000 by the time the finishing touches are added. 'I might have to draw out from my pension, however we are mortgage free,' says Garrie. 'There are parts of the build that have aged me and others that invigorated me but overall it has been more than a success.' They're one of the closest divorced couple's in the public eye, and yesterday Prince Andrew again proved his loyalty to his ex-wife by taking on one of her charity engagements. Fergie, 59, had been set to attend the launch of a new helicopter for the Children's Air Ambulance, but had to pull out last minute due to a diary clash, Hello! magazine reported. Ex-husband Prince Andrew, 59, stepped in to host the event for her at Lambeth Palace, in London, and met with families who have been helped by the service. Prince Andrew stepped in to attend the event for the Children's Air Ambulance after ex-wife Sarah Ferguson had a diary change Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew remain great friends, despite divorcing over 20 years ago. The royals often mingle together at events, such as Ascot (pictured above) Fergie has long been a patron of the the Children's Air Ambulances, and had been supporting the charity for many years. The service is the only dedicated helicopter transfer service in the UK for critically ill children. But a last minute diary change meant she was unable to attend the event yesterday, and Prince Andrew stepped in to fill in for his ex wife. The pair remain great friends, despite divorcing over 20 years ago, and the Duchess has often spoken about how they're a happy family unity with their daughters Princess Beatrice, 30, and Princess Eugenie, 29. Prince Andrew waving to Buzz, one of the children who was helped by the air ambulance. She beamed while he mingled with families They're often spotted mingling together at royal events, such as Royal Ascot, and shared a home together at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, for years after their divorce. Speaking about their bond, she previously said: Were the happiest divorced couple in the world. Were divorced to each other, not from each other. Andrew seemed overjoyed to step in to help his ex-wife yesterday, and beamed as he mingled with groups at the Children's Air Ambulance event. The Queen's son delivered a short speech to thank the charity for their great work and met with families who had been helped by the service. The royal was in great spirits as he spoke in the grounds of Lambeth Palace, and joked to the crowd that the aeroplanes flying overhead were trying to compete with the helicopters. Prince Andrew spoke to those working for the Children's Air Ambulance as they discussed the new helicopter the service has acquired Celebrities including Queen's Brian May, David Seaman and Strictly Come Dancing star Dr Ranj watched on as he mingled with families and Children's Air Ambulance workers. The royal said: 'The Children's Air Ambulance is an important charity which helps save the lives of so many babies and young children. These aircrafts make a real difference to these young patients where speed can be the difference between life and death.' He continued: 'Without transfer by helicopter there could have been very different outcomes to the lives of those saved by the service and their many stories are a testament to that fact. When ex-wife Sarah Ferguson was unable to attend the event yesterday, Prince Andrew stepped in in her place Andrew was given a briefing on the second helicopter, which has more room available to transport parents and guardians 'I know the introduction of a second helicopter will help the charity to reach even more children across the country but to ensure they can continue this lifesaving work it is important that donations keep coming in.' In one adorable photo, the royal is pictured waving to Buzz, one of the children who'd been flown by the air ambulance to be treated at Evelina London Children's Hospital, a specialist NHS hospital in London. The service's new helicopter will allow pilots the ability to see and navigate around poor weather. Fergie has long been supportive of the Children's Air Ambulance, but was unable to attend the event yesterday The royal has long been vocal in her support for the charity, saying in 2017 that she was 'so moved' by their teamwork and unity It should also provide more room for parents and guardians and its greater weight capability will allow it to fly further and carry more equipment such as an incubator. Andrew shared a number of photographs from the event on his official Instagram page, with Fergie among one of those to like the post. She has been vocal about her support for the charity in the past, and said in 2017 that she was 'so moved' by their teamwork and unity. Princess Charlotte has proved herself to be a style queen after a massive spike in sales of the summer dress she wore in her fourth birthday photos. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's middle child was pictured in Trotters' 70 Lily Rose Betsy dress, featuring a blue floral Liberty print, puff sleeves and a Peter Pan collar, and UK mothers have made sure to get their hands on it as soon as possible. Sophie Mirman, founder of childrenswear company Trotters, said: 'We've pretty much sold out online. 'As soon as the image came out, we saw a massive spike in sales. There's been a huge, huge amount of interest. Happy birthday Princess Charlotte! The blue floral dress from Trotters, worn by the four-year-old princess in her official birthday picture, is already on the verge of selling out The 70 Lili Rose Betsy Dress is already sold out in four, five and six/seven year old sizes, and the brand expects all sizes to be gone by the weekend A screenshot of the Trotters' website show that the dress is already sold out in three sizes, but fans who missed out will get another chance to buy when it's restocked 'We're a small family business and everything is designed by us and made exclusively for us. It's lovely to have that recognition. 'It's such a beautiful photograph of the princess.' She added: 'We expect it to be sold out by the weekend but we're able to manufacture some more. 'We're desperately trying to get more stock back in.' A fashion icon at just two. It's not the first time a Charlotte outfit as created a fashion frenzy. In 2017, the John Lewis yellow cardigan she wore in her official second birthday pictures sold out instantly The summer outfit has sold out in sizes 4Y, 5Y and 6/7Y - but there are some still available in size 2Y, 3Y and 8/9Y. The princess's 26 navy Hampton Canvas Plum shoes are also by Trotters, and have attracted a great deal of interest as well. Ms Mirman added: 'There was a huge spike in sales of the shoes overnight.' Charlotte was spotted wearing a pink Rosa version of the shoes at the Houghton Horse trials last year, while George was wearing a navy pair, prompting speculation he may have handed them down to his younger sister. The Duchess of Cambridge turned to Trotters to dress Prince Louis for his first birthday photos last week, when he wore the Thomas Brown Little Puppy Jumper in denim blue. Prince William, Prince George, then four, the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte, then two during the Cambridges' tour of Germany in 2017 Followers of royal fashion praised the choice of Charlotte's outfits on Twitter, with @WhatKateWore writing 'Isn't she just darling in these?!' and @CharlotteStyleO saying the princess 'gets cuter and cuter with each new pic.' Charlotte was also pictured wearing a tartan Yarrow skirt by Amaia Kids in the series of three birthday images taken by Kate. The 50 skirt is from the 2017 autumn/winter and no longer appears on the children's luxury clothing company's website. Charlotte was also seen in the item at the Burnham Market horse trials in Norfolk last month. In the official pictures, Charlotte wears a 50 tartan Yarrow skirt by Amaia Kids from 2017 which is no longer available for purchase Kate Middleton shared three pictures of Princess Charlotte to mark her fourth birthday. In the pictures, Charlotte lets her playful side show Charlotte also wore a grey wool cardigan with multi-coloured flecks over a navy turtleneck in the images released by Kensington Palace. Two years ago the Princess, then aged two, was already making headlines for her cute outfits. The yellow cardigan she wore in the official pictures taken for her second birthday by Kate Middleton sold out instantly. So sought-after was the John Lewis item that carefully crafted copies quickly started to circulate on bidding website Ebay. This drove searches for Princess Charlotte on eBay to increase 10-fold. There were three searches an hour for the item itself - 'yellow cardigan' - across the whole month, peaking on the day the photo was first released,' an Ebay spoken said at the time. Similarly, a Liberty print smock dress worn by the young princess on the Royal Tour of Germany in July 2017, saw a six-fold increase in people searching 'Princess Charlotte Dress'. Loose Women Saira Khan opened up about the 'traumatic' night she discovered her son had disappeared from his bed - but left some viewers questioning her story. Saira, who has two children with her husband Steve, shared the tale after discussing the programme Parent Child which examined how children aged seven got on when left to fend for themselves on the streets of London. Revealing the harrowing experience, Saira said she first became alerted to her son's disappearance when a teacher phoned her up at 8pm. Traumatic: Loose Women presenter Saira Khan, 48, told viewers that her son Zac once went missing from the family home at night, wearing his dressing gown and Gruffalo slippers She said her son, now eight but seven at the time, had arranged a secret playdate with his friend and had been found wandering the streets of Oxford by a stranger...however, some viewers suggested that her story didn't ring true She told her co-hosts: 'It was a normal day, and I was settling down with Steve at 8pm when the phone rings. It was Zac's teacher.' She explained the worried teacher asked her whether 'Zac was in bed' and said she'd heard there was 'a child called Zac roaming the streets of Oxford.' When Steve went to check on their son, the couple realised that the boy, who was seven at the time, was missing and Saira watched the blood drain from her husband's face. She revealed that Zac was eventually found later at a friend's house after he'd crept out of the family home in his 'dressing gown and Gruffalo slippers'. The mother-of-two said herself and husband Steve were first alerted to Zac's disappearance when a teacher rang them at home asking to check whether their son was still in bed 'My parents are in Tanzania': The little boy, pictured above, asked a stranger to take him to his friends house after she spotted him roaming the streets near his house Saira's co-hosts, from left Christine Lampard, Nadia Sawalha and Jane Moore listened intently as Saira said she watched the blood drain from her husband Steve's face when he realised their son's bed was empty The plucky boy had managed to persuade a stranger to drive him to his friend's house, telling her 'my parents are in Tanzania'. The story drew lots of attention on social media, with some Twitter users pouring scorn on the incident, saying that Saira had changed her facts by first saying it was a teacher who phoned her, and then changing it to a parent. @DoubleTreble_ said: 'Eh? You got the phone from the parents? Just now it was the teacher!' @MiSsJoOoLiE penned: 'She said teacher rang at first now its the parent I call b*******' @carljtweets wrote: 'So this person wasn't sure if it was their son or not....yet it was his best mate's house.....okay Saira...we all believe you.' Others called her story hilarious; @lisa661974 wrote: '@IamSairaKhan watched you on loose women today. I laughed so much at the story of your little Zac. Kids are so funny.' Saira followed up the story by saying that when the family were finally reunited, her son, who had masterminded the escape with his friend, told her 'I was kidnapped'. She said the incident was 'so traumatic', she took Zac to the doctors the following day to discuss his behaviour. Anchor Christine Lampard discussed her own escape, telling viewers that she had moved home at five and didn't enjoy her new school - so put her coat and shoes on and left, making the mile-and-a-half journey back to her parent's new house. She shares a fondness for horses with her mother-in-law the Queen, so it was no surprise that The Duchess of Cornwall looked right at home today as she visited the National Stud. Camilla fed mints to an aptly named mare, Royal Rascal and her six-week-old foal on the visit to Newmarket, Suffolk, and also met three stallions, Time Test, Aclaim and Rajasinghe. She looked smart in a light green coat and pastel scarf, which she accessorised with a grey across body bag. Camilla, 71, opened the horse-breeding farm's refurbished Stallion Unit and met students taking the organisation's diploma in stud practice and management. An expert hand: Camilla, 71, fed carrots to a stallion named Time Test during her visit to the National Stud in Newmarket, Surrey Beaming! Camilla looked radiant in a light green coat as she held a bouquet of fresh flowers that was gifted to her during her visit Tim Lane, managing director of the National Stud, said it was an 'amazing visit.' 'She's a proper horse lady, stroking stallions and petting foals to feeding carrots to Time Test,' he said. 'She's really a wonderful horsewoman.' It was Camilla's first visit to the National Stud since she was appointed patron. The history of the National Stud, which was acquired by the Jockey Club in 2008, dates back to 1915 when Colonel William Hall Walker donated his bloodstock to the British government, in an attempt to remedy the country's shortage of thoroughbred stallions. The duchess if a 'proper horse lady,' according to Tim Lane, managing director of the National Stud. Pictured: Camilla feeding a mare name Royal Rascal Camilla seemed in her element at the National Stud, feeding three horses and holding on to the flowers she was given during her visit (pictured) Camilla has had a busy two days of engagements. Yesterday she attended the medals parade of the 4th Battalion The Rifles in Aldershot, where she befriended a one-year old baby girl and her mother. Wearing an elegant green jacket for the engagement which she paired with a matching pleated skirt and hat, the Duchess looked delighted to meet baby Cara May Campbell. She tickled the little girl's hand while chatting with her mother Sarah. As she petted a mare during her visit, Camilla got to talk to some of the students attending the programme Camilla offers a mint to a foal during her visit to the National Stud in Newmarket. The Duchess impressed staff with her horse-handling skills During the visit, 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. The Duchess of Cornwall, pictured, was warmly greeted by one-year-old Cara May Campbell at a medals parade in Aldershot, Hampshire, yesterday Camilla, 71, left, was full of smiles as she leaned towards the adorable youngster and her smiling mother Sarah Campbell Camilla, pictured, appeared to be in high spirits as she spoke with service men and their families at the barracks Camilla, pictured, wore a smart green jacket and pleated skirt for the engagement with a pair of leather gloves and a stylish matching hat 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. The Duchess of Cornwall is gearing up to travel to Germany with Prince Charles next week for a four-day visit. During their trip, the couple will head to Berlin, Leipzig and Munich, where they hope to 'demonstrate the depth and breadth of the UKGermany bilateral relationship and its enduring importance to both countries,' Clarence House said. Prince Charles spent time down on the farm today as he continued his mini-Scottish tour at Dumfries House in Ayrshire. The Prince, who is known as the Duke of Rothesay north of the border, was clearly tickled to be greeted by a mascot dressed as a huge bumble bee. The royal, 70, donned his finest country wear - including a racing green wax jacket and a tweed cap - to view the animals at the Spring Festival of Farming. Scroll down for video Charles and the bee: The Prince couldn't contain his mirth at the sight of the bee mascot that greeted him at Dumfries House in Ayrshire on Thursday As the royal arrived at the Spring Festival of Farming, he waved to the gathered well-wishers; Charles is spending the week in Scotland Dressed in country wear including a racing green wax jacket and a tweed cap, the Prince engaged the bee in conversation as he arrived at the historic Ayrshire house Carrying out the visit alone - Camilla was in Newmarket today visiting the National Stud - Charles also spent time with some beautiful horses, stroking a dappled grey mare as he learned about the region's rich agricultural heritage. An adorable spring lamb was also shown to the Prince as he toured the property's farming pens. The royal, who's awaiting news of his fourth grandchild as the Duchess of Sussex prepares to give birth, offered a wave and a cheery grin to gathered well-wishers. He chatted to a police officer who showed him a tractor that is used to tackle rural crime and raise awareness of the issue in local communities. The royal learned about how police are tackling rural crime and raising awareness of the issue While Camilla was at the National Stud in Newmarket, Charles also met some fine horses and took time to stroke the nose of a dappled grey mare as he toured the grounds A cute lamb made an appearance as Charles was shown around the farming pens Awaiting the arrival of his fourth grandchild, Charles is spending the week north of the border The Duke of Rothesay, as he's known in Scotland, watched a master thatcher re-roofing a cottage in the grounds of Dumfries House 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 on Wednesday Yesterday, the royal dropped in on 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 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 was to officially open a new luxury guesthouse at the historic castle. The stylist credited with transforming the Duchess of Cambridges wardrobe was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order at Buckingham Palace today. Natasha Archer, who has worked with the Duchess for more than a decade, attended the ceremony after being named in the Queen's New Year's Honours list 2019. She was given the honour in recognition of her services to the Royal Family. Photos shared on Instagram by her royal photographer husband Chris Jackson show Miss Archer beaming in the palace forecourt. A second snap shows the wardrobe guru beaming with their four-month-old son Theo at a celebratory lunch at the Goring Hotel - a favourite of the Queen. Natasha Archer, the stylist credited with transforming the Duchess of Cambridges wardrobe was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order at Buckingham Palace today, pictured Photos shared on Instagram by her royal photographer husband Chris Jackson show Miss Archer beaming with their four-month-old son Theo, pictured Unsurprisingly for someone who has built a career in fashion, Miss Archer was perfectly dressed for the occasion, plumping for a 250 polka dot midi by LK Bennett - a brand beloved by the Duchess of Cambridge. Miss Archer accessorised the look with a statement knotted headband in a soft pink and drop earrings in the same delicate shade. Mr Jackson, who took he official photographs for Prince Charless 70th birthday, captioned the first picture: 'Could not be more proud of this one! - forcing her to wear it through lunch! #MVO.' Natasha Archer has worked with the Duchess for more than a decade and has joined several royal tours. Pictured, Miss Archer carries luggage off the plane in Assam, India, in April 2016 The Royal Victorian Order was established in 1896 by Queen Victoria and recognises distinguished personal service to members of the Royal Family. Miss Archer known as Tash joined the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as a personal assistant in 2007 after graduating from Kings College London. She previously attended Uppingham School in Rutland. Five years ago, she was promoted to become the Duchesss stylist and was a key figure in the Cambridges successful tour of Australia, where she was spotted watching a rugby match with the Royal couple. Five years ago, Miss Archer was promoted to become the Duchesss stylist and was a key figure in the Cambridges successful tour of Australia, where she was spotted watching a rugby match with the Royal couple, pictured She has travelled around the world with the Cambridges on official tours to help co-ordinate Kate's wardrobe. Miss Archer is among the couple's inner circle and has played an important role in some of their most important days as a family. She was spotted arriving at St Marys Hospitals private maternity unit where Prince Louis was born to help the duchess get ready for her public appearance that day. Nadia Sawalha took a swipe at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Loose Women today for keeping their baby news private after the British public 'paid for their wedding'. The news that the Duke of Sussex is set to visit the Netherlands next week has led to further speculation that he and his wife have already become parents in secret. The outspoken panellist, 54, said the British people have 'invested in their love story' and therefore have a right to know whether or not the Duchess of Sussex, 37, has given birth. Fellow hosts Christine Lampard, Saira Khan and Jane Moore all relayed their suspicions that Meghan has already had the baby, after the Queen visited them at Frogmore Cottage. Nadia Sawalha took a swipe at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Loose Women today for keeping their baby news private after the British public 'paid for their wedding' The news that the Duke of Sussex is set to visit the Netherlands next week has led to further speculation that he and Meghan have already become parents in secret Jane pointed out that the Duke, 34, and Duchess are attracted more attention to themselves by not being transparent about the arrival of their first child. She said: 'I'm just feeling a bit weary about this stage managing the publicity around. 'It's not like we're going to turn up at her house, they could just say, 'We've had the baby'. 'When you don't tell people something and you're a public figure, it makes us all start going, "Ooh, ooh".' As well as Nadia, second left, fellow hosts Christine Lampard, left, Saira Khan, second right, and Jane Moore, right, all relayed their suspicions that Meghan has already had the baby, after the Queen visited them at Frogmore Cottage Nadia then argued 'We invested in their love story. We loved the wedding, we as a nation paid for the wedding. 'There are certain things that we as the people want to know and the birth of the baby is one of them.' Most of the panel seemed to be in agreement, with Saira adding: 'We are not American people. This is not America. 'We like our Royal Family and our Royal Family know how to treat us. We've had babies and we've welcomed them. Royal fans flocked to social media to share their belief that the royal baby has already been born after it emerged Harry is travelling to the Netherlands next week Nadia argued that we as a nation 'invested in their love story' and paid for the wedding, so we have a right to know when the baby is born 'We're the public and we're the people of this country and we understand they need their privacy and we respect that but just tell us, is it born or not?' But many viewers disagreed with the panel demanding to know whether Meghan is already a new mum, with one telling Nadia to 'mind her own business'. The disgruntled fan tweeted: 'Please mind your own business, when Meghan and Harry have their baby it's not ours to be informed (sic).' Jane Moore pointed out that the Duke, 34, and Duchess are attracted more attention to themselves by not being transparent about the arrival of their first child Another wrote: 'Talking about / moaning that we don't know if Meghan has had the baby yet and how we should be told. 'What if she has had the baby and there is something wrong? Why can't she be a mum to a baby before the baby becomes "prince/ss"?' And one commented: 'Don't forget that just because they're royals, doesn't mean things can't go wrong. Feeling the right to know about a royal baby is all well and good, but be mindful that Meghan is still a woman giving birth with the same risks as everyone else.' Many viewers disagreed with the panel demanding to know whether Meghan is already a new mum, with one telling Nadia to 'mind her own business' Prince Harry will be in the Netherlands on May 8 and 9, despite the birth of his first child being imminent. Royal fans are now flocking to social media to share their belief that the royal baby has already been born. A royal aide previously said about Harry's trip abroad: 'He had always planned to go but with the birth of his child due it was not announced in advance in case he was no longer able to attend. He is pleased he is able to attend.' A U.S. Marine who is known as 'Combat Barbie' has stripped down to next to nothing for a sexy new shoot inspired by vintage World War II pin-up posters. Sgt. Rianna Conner, who served in the Marine Corps for seven years before becoming a veteran, shot to fame when photos of her dressed in military fatigues juxtaposed with her in U.S. flag emblazoned bikinis blew up on Instagram. The model, who is now attending school in North Dakota, boasts more than 413,000 followers. For her latest shoot, the 26-year-old Trump supporter posed for photographer Robert Alvarado wearing a mix of fatigues and lingerie to create a series of racy shots mimicking the style of classic pin-ups, much to the delight of her fans. Throwback: U.S. Marine Sgt. Rianna Conner has posed for a sexy new shoot inspired by vintage World War II pin-up posters Theme: The photographer posed for photographer Robert Alvarado wearing a mix of fatigues and lingerie to create a series of racy shots mimicking the style of classic pin-ups Strike a pose: One cheeky shot shows Rianna sporting camouflage pants and a strategically placed bullet bandolier that barely covers her bare breasts In one image, Rianna is pictured riding a missile wearing nothing more than a thong and a cropped tank top that reveals the underside of her breasts. Keeping with the theme, she has a combat helmet on her head and lace-up boots on her feet. A more glamorous photo from the shoot shows Rianna donning a sailor-inspired corset and white sailor hat while giving the camera a salute. Other cheeky shots include pictures of Rianna sporting camouflage pants and tiny tops that flaunt her underboob and as well as a photo of her showing off her backside in a black thong. Rianna was dubbed 'Combat Barbie' long before she became an online star. 'I was given my nickname from the Marines I first served with in 2011, because of the fact that I was so girly and loved to show my femininity,' she told Jam Press. Captain of her own ship: A more glamorous photo from the shoot shows Rianna donning a sailor-inspired corset and white sailor hat while giving the camera a salute Confident: The veteran was all smiles when she was photographed wearing nothing but a lace thong and a pair of patriotic thigh-highs Cheeky: Rianna flashed her bare backside while posing for the pin-up shoot 'The nickname stuck with me throughout my military career and after. I served this great country of ours for seven years in the Marine Corps, and I am more than happy to say that I am now a U.S. veteran.' Rianna was raised on a 40-acre farm in Kerman, a small town in the middle of California, where she learned the meaning of hard work. 'Growing up on the farm, I spent my weeknights, weekends, and "summer vacations" in the fields with my grandparents doing back-breaking labor to produce our family crop,' she explained. 'Growing up the way I did forever instilled a great work ethic and burning ambition in my soul. While in high school I won the award for "Most Inspirational Senior," which I attribute to the great life lessons I learned from my family.' As soon as Rianna graduated from high school, the then-18-year-old joined the Marine Corps and moved away from her small hometown. Sergeant: Rianna joined the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 18 and is now a proud veteran after serving in the military for seven years Online star: The model shot to fame when photos of her dressed in military fatigues juxtaposed with her in U.S. flag emblazoned bikinis blew up on Instagram Fans: Rianna now has more than 413,000 Instagram followers thanks to her racy pictures Moving on: As soon as Rianna graduated from high school, the then-18-year-old joined the Marine Corps and moved away from her small hometown in California During her time in the Marines, she served all over the country as well as deployment in Afghanistan in 2012. After seven years of Honorable Service, during which she earned awards such as a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, she has left the military and is now pursuing her bachelor's degree. 'I received a few scholarships based off my GPA from the University of North Dakota, where I currently attend college,' she said. 'It may not be a big deal to some people, but being the first in my family to attend college at a university is a big deal to me. 'In my immediate family, Im the first to leave my hometown, first to join the military, and now the first to attend college at a university.' Service: During her time in the Marines, she served all over the country as well as deployment in Afghanistan in 2012 Education: Rianna is now pursuing her bachelor's degree at the University of North Dakota Proud: 'In my immediate family, Im the first to leave my hometown, first to join the military, and now the first to attend college at a university,' she said Rianna also owns a clothing company, which is aptly named Combat Barbie Clothing. Her T-shirts, sweatshirts, and tanks feature inspirational sayings such as 'Make yourself proud' and 'Stay Beautiful.' 'I make clothing items specifically for all of the beautiful and bad** women out there. And there are some items for bad** men too,' she said. 'My clothing items represent a mixture of positivity and patriotism. I hope people feel their best when they wear my clothing items.' Rianna said her mission as 'The Combat Barbie' is to show the world that it is possible to be yourself and achieve your dreams, and she hopes that her story has inspired at least one person. 'If I can be the first in my family to accomplish what I have, you can too,' she said. 'Your success in life doesnt depend on the cards you were dealt, how you grew up, the people who doubt you, or the difficult situations you face. Promotion: She also owns a clothing company, which is aptly named Combat Barbie Clothing Goals: Rianna said her mission as 'The Combat Barbie' is to show the world that it is possible to be yourself and achieve your dreams Combination: Rianna's Instagram page is a mix of playful photos and pictures of her in her military uniform Boost: Rianna loves her fans and said she is 'happy to have the love and support of hundreds of thousands of strangers every day online' 'Your success solely depends on your personal determination to achieve your dreams, and the relentless actions you take towards them. Nothing else!' Rianna also gushed about how lucky she is to have such wonderful family and friends. 'Im so fortunate to have the support of my family and close friends. They back me 100 per cent on everything I do in life,' she said. 'Im also happy to have the love and support of hundreds of thousands of strangers every day online.' 'Remember, with an unwavering positive attitude you can achieve anything in life.' Fans of Big Little Lies have taken to Twitter to reveal they have been obsessed with a brand new promotional billboard for the hit show. The billboard, which was unveiled this week, spells out the names of the lead actors in an order to vertically spell out the phrase 'New lies', and fans can't get enough of the creative teaser. The promotional sign comes as a teaser from HBO just one month before the second series of the show - which follows the story of three mothers whose seemingly perfect lives unravel to the point of murder - is due to be released. Impressive: Fans of Big Little Lies have taken to Twitter to reveal their obsession with a new billboard (pictured) promoting the second season of the show Praise: SNL writer Chris Kelly noticed the sign, as he took to Twitter to share a photo of the sign as he said: 'What must it have felt like the moment they realized this was possible?' Impressed: He pointed out the fact that the actors may have had a 'billing order', however, the poster still worked out 'so perfectly' Funny: Chris, the co-creator of comedy series The Other Two, also brought attention to the fact that Shailene Woodley, 27, had two pink letters in her name, as opposed to the other actors The billboard features the names of the show's main actors - Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep. The names have been laid out in such a way that one or two letters in each of their names aligns to spell out 'New lies'. Co-creator of comedy series The Other Two and head SNL writer Chris Kelly was among the many fans to notice the sign. He took to Twitter on Wednesday, May 1, and shared a photo of the billboard alongside a caption that read: 'What must it have felt like the moment they realized this was possible?' In a subsequent tweet, he praised those behind the creation of the poster, as he said they most likely had to follow a billing order, yet they still manage to make the design work seamlessly. He explained: 'Also, each of these women so clearly had a billing order built into their contract, its jaw-dropping this worked out so perfectly. 'Its a stunning feat of design AND contracts,' Chris added. The 35-year-old writer also brought attention to the fact that 27-year-old actor Shailene Woodley's name featured two pink letters, as opposed to the other names that each featured just one pink letter. He said: 'Also, you KNOW they would not have let Meryl have two pink letters, but for Shailene they were like, "you know what? this will actually be nice for her." Wow: Dozens of Twitter users also revealed their reaction to the creative sign, as one said she nearly 'rear ended someone' when she was driving, as she was 'so captivated' by the billboard Chris then joked that the poster itself is more popular than his own show, as he said: 'More people have seen my "Big Little Lies" billboard tweet than #TheOtherTwo.' Since Chris tweeted about the billboard, over 100 fans have chimed in to give their two cents on the flashy promotion. Many have praised the design and creativity involved in the billboard's slogan. One user responded to Chris' post, saying: 'The graphic design gods were kind that day. Very kind indeed.' Another user said: 'The ad guy must have felt like a god unveiling this billboard idea to the boardroom.' 'As a crossword puzzle nerd from way back, I just got chills,' wrote another fan. Another said: 'Some dude definitely didn't come back from lunch that day and went shopping for a new car.' The show follows 'three mothers whose seemingly perfect lives unravel to the point of murder'. The TV series, which aired in February 2017, is based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Australia author Liane Moriarty, who is a producer on the series. Nicole Kidman, 51, Reese Witherspoon, 43, and Shailene Woodley, 27, play the three mothers, while Zoe Kravitz, 30, and Laura Dern, 52, play supporting roles. Each of the stars, except newcomer Meryl Streep who is due to appear in the upcoming season, recently spoke to InStyle about their experience working on the show so far for the publication's June issue. Amazed: Others said they were impresses with it, bringing particular attention to the fact the actors may have had a billing order, meaning their names had to be written in a certain order Award-winning: The HBO series followed the lives of three mothers, who are played by Nicole Kidman (left), Shailene Woodley (center) and Reese Witherspoon (right) Stars: Zoe Kravitz (left), 30, and Laura Dern (right), 52, play supporting roles in the show, which is set to welcome Meryl Streep in its second series that will air in June Nicole said working on Big Little Lies has been 'astounding'. She said: 'We all come in with our own set of skills. 'Theres great listening and great contributing and great compromise, but actually, in the end, its just a great allegiance. The show itself is its own force.' Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon, said the show has been one of 'the greatest experiences' of her career. '[Late-night on set] I like to make people laugh,' she said, 'Zoe tells jokes too. Nicole carries around a bag of snacks with rock-hard old-lady candies, giving out peppermints and butterscotches. 'Shai is just chill. And Laura gets delirious and starts making up musicals ... Its truly one of the greatest experiences of my career,' she added. The first episode of season two of the Emmy award winning series will air on June 9 on HBO. 'The new season explores the malignancy of lies, the durability of friendships, the fragility of marriage and, of course, the vicious ferocity of sound parenting,' HBO teased in a press release earlier this year. 'Relationships will fray, loyalties will erode...and the potential for emotional and bodily injury shall loom.' It will also see the main characters struggling to move forward with their lives in the aftermath of the major death that concluded season one. A celebrity chef has revealed his trick for making a pasta dish taste amazing - and it's one of the most unique foodie tips yet. David Chang, a Korean-American restaurateur and the founder of Momofuku, recently shared a video of himself adding a splash of fish sauce to a pasta dish as a 'replacement' for Parmesan cheese. 'Skip the parm and add a different kind of natural msg instead: fish sauce. Spread the gospel. My nonna is rolling over in her grave,' the 41-year-old award-winning chef wrote on Instagram. While the addition may seem like an unusual one for those used to cooking 'traditional' Italian sauces, Mr Chang isn't the first to swear by the 'secret ingredient'. David Chang (left), a Korean-American restaurateur and the founder of Momofuku, recently shared a video of himself adding a splash of fish sauce to the pasta dish he was preparing as a 'replacement' for Parmesan cheese What is in Red Boat fish sauce? The Vietnamese Red Boat fish sauce promoted by Mr Chang costs AUD$16.95 (USD$11.90) is made from black anchovies caught off the waters of Vietnams Phu Quoc archipelago and is fermented in wooden barrels. The brand claims to be 'the purest fish sauce on earth' and contains no additives, no preservatives, and no flavor enhancers. Advertisement 'Actually it's something that used to be pretty common here in Italy too; in the south they use a sauce made of pressed anchovies called garum (it arrives from the roman empire time),' one fan wrote. 'Fish sauce is my best "secret" ingredient. I put it on gravy, chicken tinga, you name it - so good,' another added. One foodie said they regularly add fish sauce to their bolognese sauce while another fan said fish sauce 'gives life' to 'just about anything' they cook. The Vietnamese Red Boat fish sauce promoted by Mr Chang costs AUD$16.95 (USD$11.90) is made from black anchovies caught off the waters of Vietnams Phu Quoc archipelago and is fermented in wooden barrels. 'Skip the parm and add a different kind of natural msg instead: fish sauce. Spread the gospel. My nonna is rolling over in her grave,' the 41-year-old award-winning chef wrote on Instagram It is commonly used in fish curries, Vietnamese rolls and dipping sauces but more chefs are starting to use it in pasta - especially spaghetti bolognese. 'I describe it [the sauce] as adding age or adding history to a dish, in the way that things like bourbon and cheese get better with age,' Ed Lee, a winner of Iron Chef, America told Forbes. 'It adds a layer of depth to anything you do.' Australian chef, Adam Liaw, also swears by the use of fish sauce in bolognese and has a recipe for a 'white fish' version that contains white fish fillets and finely chopped anchovies. 'Try giving an old favourite a new twist, taking an ingredient you know well and cooking it in a different way, or leaving out something you'd normally put in,' Mr Liaw told the Sydney Morning Herald. Australian chef, Adam Liaw (left), also swears by the use of fish sauce in bolognese and has a recipe for a 'white fish' version that contains white fish fillets and finely chopped anchovies While fish sauce may be the up and coming 'must-try' ingredient, Australian chef Curtis Stone has his own bolognese sauce trick 'It might sound strange, but evolving your cooking can often be less about breaking the mould and more about staying true to your own style while exploring new areas.' While fish sauce may be the up and coming 'must-try' ingredient, Australian chef Curtis Stone has his own bolognese sauce trick - and it's just as simple. In a step-by-step video shared on the Coles YouTube channel, Mr Stone revealed his tip to maximum flavour in the sauce: a 'fond'. The chef said cooks need to 'establish' the 'fond' - a French culinary term for creating a caramelised base - in order to bring the sauce flavours together. 'The fond is the colour you see at the bottom of the pan. Some people get stressed out about it and try and scrap it off. But don't worry, it's a good thing,' he said. The chef said cooks need to 'establish' the 'fond' - a French culinary term for creating a caramelised base - in order to bring the sauce flavours together (stock image) 'What you want to do is start with your vegetables. Don't cook [meat and vegetables] all at once. Cook the veggies, get them out and get the meat in to create the fond. 'To get this fond, you need to use either a cast iron pan or stainless steel,' he said. 'Don't use non-stick because the non-stick is going to stop that flavour from sticking to the bottom of the pan.' Mr Stone said all the flavour and colour then 'lifts up off the pan' and creates a 'beautiful bolognese sauce'. 'Give it a good old scrap, reduce in some of the liquid that you just poured in. The fond is the flavour and colour of the sauce,' he said. 'Once you reduce that liquid back down, then you can re-add your vegetables, seasoning and tomatoes - you're going to end up with the most unbelievable bolognese.' The company behind the Oreo has announced it is considering a CBD-infused cookie or food item to be added to the plethora of snacks available on the market. Mondelez which makes Oreo, Cadbury, Chips Ahoy, Nutter Butter and Ritz revealed plans to hopefully launch a snack infused with CBD as interest continues to grow in the market for the food products. 'Yes, were getting ready, but we obviously want to stay within what is legal and play it the right way,' CEO Dirk Van de Put told CNBC on Wednesday. Exciting news: Mondelez, which creates Oreos and Chips Ahoy, announced its considering rolling out a CBD-infused snack item for customers Waiting game: This decision to launch a CBD-infused snack item nationwide would depend on the FDA regulating CBD nationwide in food For consumers preparing to line up at grocery stores to purchase the CBD-infused snack, it won't be that easy. The company has many legal hoops to jump through in order to sell a product with the hemp-based substance nationwide. In December, President Trump legalized most products containing CBD, not THC, when he signed the farm bill. THC, for reference, is the strain in the marijuana plant that gives users a high while CBD does not. Advocate: CEO Dirk Van de Put (pictured) said the company wants to 'stay within what is legal' if they decide to create a CBD-infused item This bill did not fully legalize the use of CBD in food products, but it did allow for companies like Walgreens and CVS to start selling CBD-infused beauty products in their stores. There is confusion with what could be allowed for food products in months to come as the Food and Drug Administration currently prohibits adding CBD to food or beverages to be sold in stores nationwide. These items are currently only allowed in states that have individually legalized the product. The FDA is set to attend public hearings next month about the matter after pressure was put on the organization by Congress to consider CBD-infused food items. 'The space is not clear,' Van de Put said. 'Its a bit clearer in non-food products. In food products, Im hoping that the FDA will bring some clarity in the coming months.' Even if the FDA approves CBD-infused products in stores, Van de Put said the Oreo would probably stay the same considering the cookies are created by a 'family company'. Instead, the company would consider rolling out a new line of snacks or infusing other food items. Fresh off the grill: Carl's Jr. launched it's CBD-infused burger on 4/20 in Denver, Colorado, as the first major fast-food chain to create a menu item with cannabidiol Gone in a flash: The burger was on sale at the one Denver location for the day as the company tested consumer interest in CBD-infused menu items Other companies, including Carl's Jr., have previously made history for providing CBD-infused food items to the public. On 4/20, the restaurant debuted the Rocky Mountain High: CheeseBurger Delight at one location in Denver, Colorado, to honor the annual, but unofficial, holiday that celebrates marijuana culture and its devotees. 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 The CBD-infused burger, which used a hemp-based version of the oil, was available for $4.20 at that single location for the day as Carl's Jr. tested interest of the product from its consumers. It entailed two burger patties placed on top of a pile of fries. They were then covered with pepper jack cheese, pickled jalapenos and the special CBD-infused Santa Fe Sauce, a special version of the mayonnaise and paprika mixture usually used on the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich. Carl's Jr. made the decision to launch the CheeseBurger Delight in Denver to celebrate the the fact that Colorado was notably one of the first states alongside Washington to legalize weed in 2014. Discussion about creating the 4/20 burger first started in January after the company launched the vegan Beyond Burger for customers, Business Insider reports. Patty Trevino, Carl's Jr.'s senior vice president of brand marketing, explained to the publication how the burger was more of a stunt for the company however, she did note that the team is adopting a 'never say never' attitude with regard to making it more of a permanent addition to the menu. According to Westworld, the stunt was a success for the company as its rumored to have sold 2,200 burgers on that day. It remains unclear if the company will now consider a full roll out of the dish at other locations. Delicious: Carl's Jr., which is famous for its salacious ads (pictured) started working on the item in January; the burger did not give consumers a marijuana high Take a chill pill! David Klein, the inventor of Jelly Belly jelly beans recently announced he created a CBD-infused jelly bean with a different company It's everywhere! In September, New York-based vegan bakery By Chloe launched a two-week pop-up cafe called Feelz by Chloe that included CBD-infused snacks and baked goods 'If anyone is going to do it, I would want Carl's Jr. to do it,' Trevino said about the idea of launching a CBD-infused burger nationally. One major challenge the brand will have to face when considering a nation-wide launch of the CBD-infused menu item is following the state-by-state regulations when it comes to the marijuana ingredient. Carl's Jr., which is a predominantly West Coast chain, has options in a number of states where weed is already legal. In March, it was announced that Jelly Belly jelly beans inventor David Klein was now infusing the candy with CBD under a different brand. Klein is selling his new jellies through his company, Spectrum Confections. They are not Jelly Belly brand. People can purchase bags of 800 beans on the website, which feature 38 flavors including toasted marshmallow, pina colada, strawberry cheesecake, cinnamon, spicy licorice, and mango. In September, New York-based vegan restaurant By Chloe launched a two-week pop-up cafe called Feelz by Chloe that included CBD-infused snacks. In collaboration with Toast, a CBD brand, and the weed-focused start-up Nice Paper, By Chloe created plant-based treats all infused with varying levels of CBD oil. These included granola, mini pies, push pops, beverages, rice krispies treats, popcorn, and dog treats, all of which followed on from the eatery's popular CBD-infused Daily Hit Brownie, which had been released as a limited edition special months earlier. The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo could end up as disastrous as the West Africa epidemic of 2014, an expert has warned. Dr Osman Dar, a global health expert at Chatham House and member of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh and Public Health England, warned the situation must change. If health workers' safety isn't improved the death toll could spiral to rival the 11,310 who were killed in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone five years ago, he said. Although the death toll in DRC hasn't yet hit 1,000 it was 984 on Wednesday the ongoing violence in the region risks doctors leaving before the outbreak ends. Last Sunday, April 28, was the most devastating of the outbreak so far, with a record 27 cases diagnosed in a single day and there were 126 cases last week overall. Dr Dar told MailOnline a lack of security where the outbreak is happening is the 'key issue' facing the organisations trying to stop it. A total of 931 people have died during the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo since it began in August. It has killed 65 per cent of the 1,439 who have been infected Health workers marched in the city of Butembo, in the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, last week after attackers shot dead a World Health Organization doctor working in the region. The aid workers have threatened to strike indefinitely if their safety isn't improved The outbreak appears to be getting worse as time goes on, with April seeing higher numbers of cases being diagnosed each week than at any point since the spread began in August 'I don't think it's going to turn into what we saw in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone but we could end up seeing the same number of deaths if we don't get on top of this,' Dr Dar told MailOnline. 'We need to massively ramp up efforts to improve the safety of health workers. 'At the moment they're quite confident they have [the outbreak] contained, but the longer it goes on, the greater chance there is of it spreading to a major urban setting or across a border.' The 2014 outbreak in West Africa began when an 18-month-old boy in Guinea got infected by a bat in December 2013, and the illness quickly spread to neighbouring countries. By the time the World Health Organization released its first situation report in August 2014, more than 3,000 people had been infected and 1,546 killed. A year later the number of cases had rocketed to 28,073 and 11,290 people had died. Dr Osman Dar, a global health expert at think-tank Chatham House, said the outbreak could 'end in disaster' and kill thousands more if security isn't improved in the region Dr Dar said the UN, African Union and even British and US militaries should be thinking of ways to make the north-east region of the DRC safer for medical staff. A World Health Organization (WHO) doctor in the North Kivu province was shot dead this month and 11 people have since been arrested in connection with the killing. Dr Richard Mouzoko Kiboung's death was the latest and worst blow to aid workers after months of armed attacks on camps of medics treating Ebola patients. Distrust of politicians and outsiders and rumours Ebola is a fake disease invented by a corrupt government have added to existing tensions in the poverty-hit nation. In November, 16 WHO workers were evacuated from a hotel in the city of Beni after it was hit by a bomb which didn't explode in a militia attack. And political protestors incensed by a controversial presidential election over Christmas have attacked camps and set infected patients loose. There are already UN Peacekeepers working alongside Congolese police and military in the area, but Dr Dar suggested more forces may be needed. The response to the Ebola outbreak has been hit by multiple setbacks the World Health Organization has warned it is in danger of running out of money, a doctor was killed earlier this month, and last week was the worst so far for the number of cases recorded The DRC's new president, Felix Tshisekedi (pictured in stripes), said he wants the Ebola outbreak, which began in August, to end in the next three months WHO WARNS IT MAY RUN OUT OF MONEY TO FIGHT EBOLA OUTBREAK The World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned the UN body is short of around $104million (80m) it needs to keep fighting Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The funding gap must be filled so health workers can continue battling the virus to the end of July and beyond, Science reported. 'We cannot intensify our efforts if we do not have enough funds,' Dr Tedros said. 'The current funding gap has meant that we have had to slow down preparedness activities in neighboring countries.' The UK's International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, echoed Dr Tedros's sentiment and said other countries need to step up and contribute more. She said this month: 'The UK has been a major donor since the start. But this outbreak requires a truly global response if were to stop this threat. 'Its time for other countries to step up. Diseases like this do not respect borders and its in all of our interests to help contain the spread of Ebola.' The UK Government has refused to disclose how much it is contributing to the effort. Advertisement The country's president, Felix Tshisekedi, said in April he wants to see the Ebola outbreak end in the next three months. 'It's theoretically possible to end the outbreak in three months,' Dr Dar said. 'It could end in weeks if the region wasn't so unstable. 'But in the absence of security it is difficult and this is an ongoing problem. 'The international community needs to make more of an effort to stabilise the security situation for response teams to work safely.' There are currently WHO and Medecins sans Frontieres officials working alongside Congolese health workers in the north-east of DRC, close to its borders with Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda. But there is a real risk doctors could pack up and leave if their lives are at risk something Dr Dar said is already starting to happen. Dozens of medical staff marched in the city of Butembo last week to appeal for better security and have threatened to go on strike indefinitely. Dr Kalima Nzanzu, a medic on the frontline, said: 'If our security is not guaranteed, we will go on strike from the first week of May.' The outbreak, which quickly became the second largest in world history, began in August and has since infected 1,495 people, killing 65 per cent of them. Efforts to control the illness have improved during the outbreak and potentially saved hundreds of lives. In a world-first scientific study, four therapeutic drugs are being trialled on infected patients in the hope of curing them. Armed police take cover behind a hospital sign near Butembo after militia members attacked an Ebola treatment centre and killed a World Health Organization doctor the night before Dr Richard Mouzoko Kiboung, a doctor from Cameroon working for the World Health Organization in DR Congo, was killed by armed militia last week And approximately 100,000 people have been given a vaccine which has been shown to be around 97.5 per cent effective. This may have reduced the potential field of victims by up to 70 per cent, researchers revealed. But Dr Dar said the United Nations, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the African Union must work harder to make the area safe. But he admitted the presence of foreigners is already distressing local people, and moving soldiers to the area could worsen this effect. He added: 'This needs to be approached sensitively with political awareness. It needs to be done carefully but it does need to be done. '[The organisations involved] need to come forward and say the response at the moment isn't adequate and it isn't working. 'Otherwise this outbreak will keep rolling on and it's going to end in disaster.' Hardly any children have received medical cannabis in the seven months since its prescription was legalised, doctors say. Former drugs tsar Professor David Nutt, a psychiatrist at Imperial College London, warned many patients are suffering epileptic seizures as they struggle to get the treatment, despite last years change in the law. Writing in the British Medical Journal, he said most doctors are fearful of prescribing cannabis oil after decades of what he called absurd prohibition. The law was changed in November to allow specialist doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis, following several high-profile cases in which parents were stopped from bringing the drug into Britain for children with epilepsy. But patients have complained that it is almost impossible to persuade doctors to actually prescribe the drug. Hardly any children have received medical cannabis since it was legalised, doctors say (stock) Professor Nutt - who was sacked from his job as the Governments chief adviser on drugs in 2009 after saying ecstasy and LSD were less harmful than alcohol - said the roll out has been much slower than patients and parents had hoped. Still only a tiny number of children with severe juvenile epilepsies are being treated, and many others continue to have multiple seizures because neurologists will not prescribe, he wrote. There are several likely reasons for this. One is ignorance of the value of cannabis medicines, because few doctors have any training or experience in this area and are fearful of prescribing them off licence. Another reason for resistance could be that parents and patients lead this initiative rather than the medical profession. Some doctors fear that medical cannabis will lead to severe adverse effects such as psychosis, and others that it will lead to more recreational use, which seems unlikely given the current wide use and availability of black market cannabis. The new rules say it is legal for specialist doctors to prescribe medical cannabis - but make it clear the drug is not actually licenced as a medicine, so it is up to the doctor to decide whether prescribing these products is in the best interest of the patient. Many specialists say there is not enough evidence that cannabis actually works as claimed. Professor Chris Whitty, chief scientific adviser at the Department of Health, told the Health and Social Care Committee last month that rushing the development of cannabis medicines risked creating a disaster like the thalidomide scandal. He said that while medicinal cannabis has been rescheduled, there is a lack of scientific research proving products are safe and effective and they have not been licensed. I think we need to get the evidence and I really think theres a question here about whether these medicines will help children and we need to answer it. Its very dangerous to have a cannabis exceptionalism here, he said. These are drugs, they have side effects, they have positive effects - that is clear. What we have to do is balance those two, but they are no different to any other drug in that sense. But the mother of Alfie Dingley, a campaigner who fought for the drug to ease her sons seizures, said it was heartbreaking that children cannot get hold of the products they need. Hannah Deacon - whose seven-year-old son is one of the few children to receive the drug - said: Every child with intractable epilepsy should have the right to try cannabis medicines that could save them from a life of suffering. We became campaigners because we had no choice, she wrote in a separate BMJ article. We are our childs only advocates, and we must do all we can to be heard. People are risking their health by indulging in honey and other sugar alternatives after being misled into the belief they are healthier, campaigners have warned. Specialist honey such as Manuka, agave syrup, cane or brown sugars and coconut sugar are often falsely advertised as being a better choice than table sugar. But these 'natural sugars' still come under 'free sugars', which adults are meant to limit to no more than 30g a day. Consumers are often unaware that products like honey are just as high in sugar as table sugar and are therefore eating them in 'excessive' quantities, Action on Sugar said. Breakfast cereals and bars that boast honey as an ingredient can still be sweetened with up to 25 times more table sugar or other syrups, analysis found. People are risking their health by indulging in honey and other sugar alternatives after being misled into the belief they are healthier, campaigners at Action on Sugar have warned High street coffee chains such as Pret a Manger, Leon and EAT promote honey as part of their 'healthy' porridge offering which all adds to a person's maximum free sugars intake. Yet to reduce the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, various cancers, liver disease and tooth decay we need to cut down on sugars from any source. Action on Sugar at Queen Mary University of London analysed 223 honeys, syrups and sugar products from Aldi, ASDA, The Co-operative, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose. They found honey can be up to 86 per cent free sugars, which are those added to food and drink, and maple syrup can be made of 88 per cent free sugars. It found that adding a 7g teaspoon of honey to a cup of tea added about 6g of free sugar, while adding a teaspoon of table sugar would add 4g. HOW MUCH HONEY IS REALLY IN THOSE 'HEALTHIER' PRODUCTS? Sainsbury's Honey Nut Corn Flakes: 28.3 per cent total sugars and 0.4 per cent honey. Tesco Honey Nut Clusters Belgian Milk Chocolate Oat flakes: 26.1 per cent total sugars and only 2.5 per cent honey. Jordans Country Crisp Honey & Nut: 22.3 per cent and two per cent honey. Waitrose Oats & Honey Bars weighing 30g each: 20.4 per cent total sugars but five per cent honey. Nature Valley Crunchy Oats & Honey Crunchy cereal bars weighing 42g each: 28.3 per cent total sugars, of which honey made up just two per cent. Advertisement One portion (15ml) of pure maple syrup contains 13.1g of total sugars - not that much less than 15g of table sugar. Together they make up almost two-thirds of an adult's maximum intake of free sugar per day. Adding a teaspoon (7g) of Asda Extra Special Manuka Honey to your tea, contains about 6g sugars is, again, similar to adding a teaspoon of sugar (4g). Some products sold in supermarkets boast the addition of honey on the package, hoodwinking buyers into thinking they are being healthy. As these products can contain up to 25 times more table sugar or other syrups than honey, the study found. For example a five pack of Nature Valley Crunchy Oats & Honey Crunchy cereal bars weighing 42g each contained 28.3 per cent total sugars, of which honey made up just two per cent. Action of Sugar is demanding mandatory front of pack labelling clearly outlining the sugars from free sugars and their contribution to our maximum sugar intake. It called on the Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock MP to mandate clearer labelling in his upcoming green paper on prevention. Campaign lead Dr Kawther Hashem said: 'It's disappointing that companies boast about products containing honey, knowing that honey and syrups are nearly as high in sugars as table sugar. 'The amount added is often really small (one or two grams) while the main sweetening ingredient continues to be other high-sugar syrups and table sugar (25g). 'This is to mislead customers into thinking the products are healthier and better than they really are. 'Our advice is to always opt for less sweetness by using less sugar, syrups and honey.' Registered Nutritionist and Director Katharine Jenner added: 'Poor nutrition labelling, misleading marketing claims, and mixed messages from well meaning food bloggers and chefs, mean customers are rightly confused about what free sugars actually are, which products contain them, and how much they contribute to their total daily sugar intake. 'How can we be expected to make healthier choices, as suggested by the Secretary of State for Health, when we don't even know what's going into our food? 'Clearer labelling, and education about what that means, really could help us to live well for longer.' Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day - roughly equivalent to seven sugar cubes - while children aged seven to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day - six sugar cubes. Experts warn the evidence around the supposed health benefits of honey is limited and there are no approved health and nutrition claims for honey. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Public Health England found there was only enough evidence from randomised controlled trials to suggest honey reduced symptoms of acute cough in children and young people. Pet owners are being warned that close affection with their dogs and cats may be life-threatening. Treating them like a human by giving kisses or cuddles could spread drug-resistant bugs through saliva, scientists fear. Psychologists quizzed scores of pet owners and discovered many are unnecessarily asking vets to give out antibiotics. Bacteria can become drug resistant when people, or animals, take incorrect doses of antibiotics or if they are given out too easily. This means bugs that strike pets could eventually develop resistance, and be passed onto humans who are too affectionate. But the psychologists behind the study warn the behaviours are 'so deeply treasured they are unlikely to be amenable to change'. The researchers have now offered tips to help reduce the risk, with advice such as not kissing pets on the mouth. Owners are being warned that close affection with their pets such as kissing poses an antibiotic resistance threat by scientists Glasgow Caledonian University experts, led by health psychologist Adele Dickson, interviewed 35 pet owners for the study. All owners had pets that had been treated with antibiotics, for the study published in the journal Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. Dr Dickson, the owner of a two-year-old golden retriever, said: 'This close contact could potentially put adults, children and the pets themselves at risk of transferring bugs that are resistant to antibiotics through saliva. WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fueling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned if nothing is done the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate solutions to the growing crisis. Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics or if they are given out unnecessarily. Former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies claimed in 2016 that the threat of antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism. Figures estimate that superbugs will kill 10 million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs. Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world. Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the 'dark ages' if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years. In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, there have only been one or two new antibiotics developed in the last 30 years. In September, the WHO warned antibiotics are 'running out' as a report found a 'serious lack' of new drugs in the development pipeline. Without antibiotics, C-sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements will become incredibly 'risky', it was said at the time. Advertisement 'I would also advise any open wounds be covered so there's no risk of transferring anything from skin to skin. Despite the findings, Dr Dickson said that the risk is low and that owners do not have to stop enjoying an affectionate relationship with their pet. She urged people to adopt small changes that can reduce the risk of building life-threatening resistance to antibiotics. These include a discussion with vets and GPs about if the need for antibiotics is necessary, and making sure pets eat from their own bowls. Other steps include avoiding kissing pets on the mouth, not letting them lick the mouth and nose and washing hands after stroking animals. Dr Dickson said: 'The biggest take-home message to pet owners from this study is to think twice about whether your pet, you, your children or other family members actually need antibiotics. 'Many pet owners told us they felt a sense of guardianship and protection towards their pet when it became ill and they would specifically ask for antibiotics to reassure themselves that they were helping but it's actually doing more harm than good if they are not necessary.' She added: 'I know how important that affectionate relationship between the owner and their pet is to both mental and physical health and well-being. 'I'm not saying pet owners need to stop showing affection for their companion animals because we know from our research and from speaking to 23 British dog, cat and rabbit owners who shared their stories that these behaviours are so deeply treasured they are unlikely to be amenable to change.' Three cats and a dog in the UK were found to carry bacteria 'armed' with a gene that can drive resistance to a last-ditch antibiotic, scientists said in April. Public Health England feared the 'resistant gene' - known as optrA - could spread between bacteria found in animals and their owners. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. A cystic fibrosis sufferer who had a double lung transplant at the age of 22 is now able to walk a mile without getting out of breath. Emma Khanahmadi, 25, from Gothenburg, Sweden, received a diagnosis of late-onset cystic fibrosis when she was eight-years-old. The condition, which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs, is normally detected at birth. Her health nosedived in her teens when she needed a feeding tube just to survive, as patients with CF can struggle to maintain weight. Antibiotics were failing to treat a colonisation of bacteria on Miss Khanahmadi's lungs and her life consisted of being in and out of hospital. Miss Khanahmadi was over the moon when a donor match was found, and although the lungs first rejected, her life has been turned around. Miss Khanahmadi, whose occupation is unknown, said: 'Before my transplant I could barely walk ten steps, but now I can walk for over a mile.' Emma Khanahmadi, 25, from Gothenburg, Sweden, received a fatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis when she was eight-years-old. Pictured in her teens wearing an oxygen tube Antibiotics were failing to treat a colonisation of bacteria on Miss Khanahmadi's lungs and her life consisted of being in and out of hospital (pictured, trying to keep active) Miss Khanahmadi's lung transplant has helped her walk a mile without getting out of breath, previously only being able to reach ten steps. Pictured now, age 25 Miss Khanahmadi had a double lung transplant aged 22 after her health deteriorated. Pictured left, her lungs before, and right, after From the age of eight, Miss Khanahmadi was forced to take medication at certain times and to regulate her health. For a decade, Miss Khanahmadi got by steadily with her CF, facing just small consequences. But by the age of 22 she was recommended a double lung transplant by doctors, fearing for her deteriorating health. WHAT IS CYSTIC FIBROSIS? Cystic fibrosis is an incurable genetic disease that affects around 70,000 people worldwide. A defective gene causes a build-up of mucus in the airways, making it increasingly difficult to breathe over time. Mucus also blocks the natural release of digestive enzymes, meaning the body does not break down food as it should. Signs and symptoms: A persistent cough that produces thick mucus (sputum) Wheezing Breathlessness Exercise intolerance Repeated lung infections Inflamed nasal passages or a stuffy nose While healthy people cough naturally, that does not happen for people with CF. Eventually, lung function depletes to the point that sufferers will need a double lung transplant to survive. Source: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Advertisement 'All of a sudden there was lots of medication, breathing treatments and being careful around infected people,' Miss Khanahmadi said. 'When I was 22 we discussed a double lung transplant. 'I got a feeding tube into my stomach because I needed help getting calories in as I had trouble gaining weight. But that didn't help at all. 'In the year before my transplant, my life just consisted of just surviving. 'I was in the hospital every week for physiotherapy, I had to have IV antibiotics and I was hospitalised every other month. 'My cystic fibrosis caused colonised bacteria in my lungs, so it was like an ongoing pneumonia which antibiotics couldn't help. All we could do was to minimise the bacteria with medication, but it couldn't be fully treated.' Cystic fibrosis is a long term genetic disorder which affects the lungs, pancreas, intestines and kidneys. The disorder frequently affects a person's breathing, growth, weight and fertility. There is currently no known cure and resultant infections are treated with antibiotics to manage the illness instead. The condition, of which 30,000 people are living with in the US and 10,400 in the UK, shortens a person's life. The average age of death in people who die of CF is 31, according to charities. At the age of 18, Miss Khanahmadi's health nosedived when she needed a feeding tube (pictured) just to survive, as patients with CF can struggle to maintain weight Miss Khanahmadi was relieved when a donor match was found as she had spent the past year in and out of hospital and treatment was not working. Pictured in intensive care after her transplant Miss Khanahmadi said: 'In the year before my transplant, my life just consisted of just surviving. I was in the hospital every week' (pictured) After years of infections and bacteria, Miss Khanahmadi said her lungs were scarred and filled with thick mucus. Pictured in hospital After years of battling infections, Miss Khanahmadi said her lungs were scarred and filled with thick mucus. She said: 'I was just so relieved when the call came to say a match had been found. I had a few ups and downs and at one point they thought I may need a re-transplant. 'At first, I had a rejection which was treated with a high dosage of cortisone which then triggered diabetes, but despite this I felt great.' Miss Khanahmadi added: 'My lung function has kept increasing and I'm still building my body, which feels great. 'I had a few infections but I'm still feeling much better than before I had my transplant.' Although the recovery process has been incredibly difficult for Miss Khanahmadi, her life has been turned around since her surgery. Although the lungs first rejected, Miss Khanahmadi's life has been turned around Miss Khanahmadi is still required to take medication regularly, but doctors are hopeful that she won't need further surgery. Pictured in hospital with her family Miss Khanahmadi has been able to get into fitness and rebuild her strength after the transplant She is still required to take medication regularly, but doctors are hopeful that she won't need further surgery. She added: 'I can't even express my gratitude to my donor and their family, I got the greatest gift of all time - I got my life. 'I woke up from my surgery with a smile. After two nights I left the ICU with the feeling that I could overcome anything. 'If you're going through a journey like this, you shouldn't face it alone. It may be hard to talk about with your loved ones, but their support is the best. 'I still take a lot of medication and face a lot of responsibility as a transplant patient, but I got a life that I can live, not just live to survive.' Miss Khanahmadi has shared her journey with others who may be going through a similar journey to recovery and she encourages people to donate to help those who need it. The obnoxious buzzing in a little boy's ear turned out to be a tick, that had embedded itself in his eardrum, a new case report reveals. A nine-year-old boy was brought to a New Haven, Connecticut doctor office, complaining that it felt like something was stuck in his right ear. He said that he'd heard 'buzzing noises' three days earlier, but otherwise wasn't in pain. When doctors peered into his year, however, they found that the tick had burrowed its head into the little boy's eardrum to feed, and had to surgically remove it, the new New England Journal of Medicine case study reveals. When doctors in New Haven, Connecticut looked in the nine-year-old boy's right ear with a microscope, they found an American dog tick had bitten his eardrum Tick bites are so tiny that they are typically imperceptible. But they're not typically inside an ear. The tiny arachnid likes to feed on parts of the body that are warm and moist, preferring the hair, groin or armpits to more breezy or exposed areas, but it is mostly opportunistic and will bite where it gets the chance. An ear certainly provides some insulation. When doctors quizzed the boy about what he'd done recently, the only thing that stood out was that he'd been playing (as usual) outside during school. When otolaryngologists examined the inside of his ear, the spied the tick, which had crawled into the boy's ear and sunk its head into his tempanic membrane or eardrum. Using an operative microscope - one equipped to do minor procedures that require microscopic vision - Dr Daid Kasle and Dr Erik Waldman tried to remove the tick in the office, but could quite get it. Careful, clean and complete removal of a tick is crucial no matter where it has bitten, because the buried head can easily become detached and, if it lingers in the tissue, can cause infection. Unable to accomplish that in the office, the doctors had to put the boy under general anesthesia. The invader, doctors discovered upon removing it, was an American dog tick. These common pests can be found in the whole Eastern half of the US as well as along the coast of California. American dog ticks carry tularemia, an infectious disease that attacks the lymph nodes, eyes, skin and lungs. Getting tularemia typically feels like getting the flu, but it is only very rarely life-threatening. More importantly, American dog ticks can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a more seroius infection that can be deadly if it isn't treated immediately and with the correct antibiotic, doxycycline. Luckily for the Connecticut boy, he showed no signs of infection, although he was given antibiotic eardrops to make sure the small bite on his eardrum didn't get infected. On follow-up a month later, the boy was in good health and his ear drum had healed up cleanly. It may already drive your partner mad and have you spending the night on the sofa as punishment. But snoring can also be a serious health risk, according to scientists. Research has found vibrations from snoring wrecks fragile tissues in the airways and also stops the damage from healing. This damage could make it more difficult for people to swallow and leave them at higher risk of developing sleep apnoea, which may have deadly complications. People who snore may be at risk of damaging the tissue in their airways beyond repair, which could increase their risk of developing sleep apnoea which can have deadly consequences (stock image) Researchers from Umea University in Sweden examined the uvula muscles the bit which hangs down at the back of the mouth in 22 people. They noticed changes in proteins inside the muscle which showed it had been damaged by the vibrations caused by snoring. Injuries were not caused in the sense of bleeding cuts or tears to the tissue, but the internal structure of the tissue and nerves were damaged and the muscle wasted away. WHY DO WE SNORE? Snoring is a snorting or droning sound some people make while they're asleep. A common phenomenon, it affects tissues in the throat and upper airways, which relax when someone is asleep. As air flows over this relaxed flesh it causes it to vibrate, which creates a buzzing sound. Most people snore occasionally but some people suffer from it chronically, or may develop a more severe problem called sleep apnoea in which the airway actually collapses and briefly stops the breathing. Possible triggers for snoring include alcohol consumption, which makes muscles relax more; ongoing nasal congestion; sleep deprivation or sleeping on your back. Men, overweight people, and those with a narrow airway are all also at higher risk of snoring. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement The same vibrations also prevented those same injuries from healing properly, the research found, potentially causing long-term damage to the airways. 'Besides the disturbing effects, constant snoring can be a significant health risk,' said study author, Professor Per Stal. 'Nonetheless, there are indications that our research will guide towards early preventive measures and in the long term also enhance healing of damaged tissue caused by snoring.' The injuries Professor Stal and his team discovered were in the upper respiratory tract in the airways above the shoulders including the throat, nose and mouth. They found a link between this type of damage and difficulty swallowing or sleep apnoea. Sleep apnoea causes people to stop breathing when they're asleep and, if not treated or controlled, it can increase the risk of high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat, and even make someone more likely to have a stroke or heart attack. In their examinations the team found chemicals produced by regenerating nerve cells, suggesting the body was trying to heal itself. But the snoring vibrations, they suggested, stopped this from being successful. '[These] findings have given us a clearer picture of the effects of snoring vibrations,' said Farhan Shah, one of the researchers. The team's study was published in the journal Respiratory Research. Doctors have released photos of unusual patterns on top of a man's head caused by a disorder that sees him produce too much growth hormone. The unnamed 37-year-old, from Italy, went to see his doctor after finding extra folds of skin that looked like a quilt. He also had enlarged feet, hands, and a protruding lower jaw - all are symptoms of a rare disorder called acromegaly. Made famous by Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in James Bond classic The Spy Who Loved Me, the disorder causes the bones to increase in size, most commonly during middle age. The unnamed man, believed to be from Italy, was diagnosed with a disorder called acromegaly, commonly caused by a tumour on the pituitary gland Doctors have released photos of bizarre patterns on a man's head caused by a disorder that sees him produce too much growth hormone. Pictured, the back of his head Writing in The New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors said the thickening and furrowing of skin on the scalp is called cutis verticis gyrata. They added that it can 'occur as an isolated finding or may be related to a number of conditions, such as acromegaly, as in this case'. Doctors in Padua treated the man after confirming the diagnosis, but said the deep ridges on his head could not be reversed. It was the man's wife who had first noticed the pattern on her husband's head, but other symptoms had appeared gradually. For four years previously, the man had suffered with excessive sweating, headaches, and joint pain. Physical examination by doctors led by Dr Matteo Parolin at the University of Padua showed thickening of the skin on his scalp with ridges and furrows. WHAT IS ACROMEGALY? Acromegaly is a rare condition in which the pituitary gland in the brain creates too much growth hormone. It is usually caused by a non-cancerous tumour in the brain which affects the gland. Acromegaly is usually diagnosed in people between 30 and 50 years old, but can happen at any age. It is a rare condition with only around four to six new cases per million people being diagnosed each year roughly 325 people a year in the UK, or 1,625 in the US. Symptoms include swollen hands or feet, tiredness and difficulty sleeping, changes in facial features, numbness in the hands, abnormal periods in women, erection problems in men, and headaches or blurred vision. Some symptoms may be caused by the tumour pressing on other parts of the brain. Having the condition increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Treatment usually involves surgery to remove the tumour and relieve pressure on the pituitary gland. Sources: NHS Choices; The Pituitary Foundation Advertisement It is not clear if his enlarged hands, feet, and jaw were noticed by the doctors or the patient first. Tests were undertaken and, in the laboratory, increased levels of growth factors hormones were discovered. At first, a dose of glucose was used to try and suppress the hormones, but to no avail. It suggested to medics the true cause was acromegaly, therefore they investigated the man's brain using an MRI scan. It revealed a tumour on his pituitary gland, which is attached to the base of the brain and is about the size of a kidney bean. The tumour, called a pituitary adenoma, are in fact very common, with one in five people estimated to have one at some point in their life. In many cases the benign growth is harmless and is only diagnosed by chance. But it can lead to the secretion of excessive or reduced amounts of growth hormone, causing various symptoms including the man's, as well as an enlarged tongue or facial features, a deeper voice, erectile dysfunction and irregular menstrual cycles. The tumour itself can cause headaches and impaired vision due to pressing on nearby brain tissues. The patient had the tumour removed and was treated with medications that suppress the extra hormone growth. He also received injections of soft-tissue fillers in an attempt to create a smoother appearance of the scalp. But the injections had only partial effect. Scientists estimate that three to four out of every million people develop acromegaly each year and about 60 out of every million people suffer from the disease at any time, according to the National Institute of Health. Babies with a rare genetic condition will needlessly die unless a drug branded a miracle is urgently approved on the NHS, charities have warned. Spinraza is proven to reverse spinal muscular atrophy, which kills most sufferers battling the most severe form before they reach their second birthday. Health officials have been locked in negotiations for over a year in trying to get the drug - estimated to cost 450,000 per patient per year - made available on the NHS. Now, Muscular Dystrophy UK and Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK are demanding urgent action to break the deadlock and allow doctors to dish out Spinraza. Rachel Jamiesons four-year-old daughter, Matilda, has SMA Type 3. This form of the condition does not affect life expectancy, but leaves children less able to stand and walk over time Catherine Woodhead, chief executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK, said: 'The continued delays are unacceptable. 'The stark reality is some children will die without access to Spinraza.' The drug is made by Biogen, a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firm. Ms Woodhead said no more time can be wasted, adding: 'This is devastating for families, who know there is a treatment that could help but is agonisingly out of reach. 'In the 16 months it has taken for this drug (also known as nusinersen) to be assessed, lives may needlessly have been cut short.' Spinraza is proven to reverse spinal muscular atrophy, which kills most sufferers battling the most severe form before they turn two She added that, in the meantime, children and adult sufferers may also have lost the ability to walk, breathe and swallow because of there being no approved drug. Ms Woodhead added: 'The Government must recognise the system is broken and urgently act to overhaul the appraisal process for treatments for rare diseases. 'But right now, NICE, Biogen and NHS England must end families' heartbreak by showing flexibility on cost and coming to an agreement urgently.' Spinal muscular atrophy is a genetic condition which causes nerves and muscles to deteriorate. It affects around 1,300 Britons. The worst form of the muscle wasting condition type 1 affects one in 10,000 children and kills them all before their second birthday. Spinraza works by fixing the faulty gene, causing the body to read DNA differently and produce more of the proteins needed to build nerve cells. As a result, muscles grow stronger and nerves work better, meaning the condition doesn't always progress. SMA symptoms include floppy or weak arms and legs, difficulty sitting up, crawling or walking, swallowing problems and breathing difficulties. SCOTTISH MOTHER SAYS IT'S 'UNTHINKABLE' THAT SMA PATIENTS IN ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND CAN'T GET SPINRAZA A mother has today said it is 'unthinkable' that patients with spinal muscular atrophy are still unable to access Spinraza. Dr Sheonad MacFarlane's daughter, Eilidh, 10, has SMA type 2. She is able to get the drug because it is approved for use in Scotland. However, Dr MacFarlane, from Glasgow, said her heart goes out to families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who can't the drug. She said: 'I just hope NICE can reach a decision soon. 'Having access to Spinraza means so much to us and to other families; we are overjoyed that Eilidh now has access to this treatment. 'We still dont know what the future holds, but we, at last, have hope. As a parent, its heart-breaking to see your child gradually lose their physical abilities. 'Nothing can prepare you for the devastating emotional impact this has on you, particularly when there is a treatment out there.' Dr Sheonad MacFarlane's daughter, Eilidh, 10, has SMA type 2. She is able to get the drug because it is approved for use in Scotland Rachel Jamiesons four-year-old daughter, Matilda, has SMA type 3. This form of the condition does not affect life expectancy, but leaves children less able to stand and walk over time. Ms Jamieson, from York, said: 'My heart breaks when my gorgeous, bubbly daughter Matilda asks me why she has wobbly legs, or whether her children will have SMA. 'Since starting school last year, Matilda has struggled more with her mobility. I believe that, if she had received Spinraza, she would not be having those difficulties. 'Spinraza gives us hope, but we need it to be made available and fast. Without this treatment, I fear for Matildas independence when shes older.' Advertisement National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which decides which drugs the NHS should pay for, last August said Spinraza is not value for money. In draft guidance, it said it did not recommend dishing out the drug because of 'uncertainties over its long-term effectiveness and its extremely high cost'. And the body added that 'even with a proposed confidential price reduction the cost of nusinersen is too high for it to be considered a cost-effective use of NHS resources'. Spinraza is available in 24 European countries and 46 globally, including Scotland and the US. Professor Francesco Muntoni, paediatric neurologist at Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said delays will mean babies with type 1 face an 'early death'. He said: 'SMA patients have been let down and now we are essentially the last country in the civilised world to adopt this drug. 'Spinraza is an effective treatment for SMA but, once the condition has progressed in its course, children are unable to regain lost function. 'As a physician, there is nothing more frustrating than knowing a medicine that can help your patients in England is out of reach, while it's available in Scotland.' WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY, THE NUMBER ONE GENETIC CAUSE OF DEATHS FOR INFANTS Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a disease that weakens a patient's strength by affecting the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord. Those affected never gain the ability to walk, eat or breathe. SMA is the number one genetic cause of death for infants. It is genetic and passed from parent to child. There are four primary types of SMAI, II, III and IV, which are based on age of onset and the physical milestones achieved. Type I Onset is shortly after birth Weakness Difficulty breathing, sucking and swallowing Never reach the developmental milestone of being able to sit on their own Children with type 1 SMA can survive for a number of years Advertisement Professor Muntoni added: 'NICE, Biogen and NHS England must come to a compromise and make this drug available.' Doug Henderson, managing director of Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK, said: 'The SMA community has waited long enough. 'I urge Biogen, NHS England and NICE to complete negotiations by 8 May with a Managed Access Agreement for all with SMA Types 1, 2 and 3. 'As each week rolls by without access to this life-changing treatment newly diagnosed babies are left with a very uncertain future.' Biogen turned down an opportunity to apologise when approached by MailOnline and declined to offer a more detailed statement. A spokesperson for the firm said: 'Biogen shares the deep frustration of families and patients with this delay.' They added that the company is 'working tirelessly' alongside Nice and NHS England to find a resolution to allow all SMA patients access to Spinraza. Biogen gives 80 children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland battling SMA type 1 the drug for free as part of an access programme. That scheme closed on November 1 last year to all patients who were diagnosed after that date, however, the children still receive the drug. NHS England has yet to respond to a request for comment from MailOnline. But Nice said Spinraza will be discussed in private next week. A spokesperson said: 'We have been informed by the parties that no agreement has yet been reached. 'Nevertheless, we consider it necessary to return to the appraisal committee next week in case an agreement is reached or if no agreement is reached.' Severe ringing in the ears may increase the rate of suicide attempts in women, a shocking new study finds. Researchers say that severe tinnitus in women raised their risk of attempting suicide by about 10 percent, according to their new study. Previous studies have found that chronic cases of tinnitus have been linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression. The team, from the Karolinska lnstitutet, in Stockholm, Sweden, says the findings show a need for ear doctors to monitor their tinnitus patients for any psychological symptoms they may exhibit. A new study from the Karolinska lnstitutet, in Stockholm, Sweden, has found of the nearly 900 women who reported having severe tinnitus, about 10% said they tried to take their own lives (file image) Tinnitus is the perception that there is noise or ringing in the ear when there is no external noise. There are a number of causes, but the most common ones are: hearing loss related to age, short-term exposure to loud noise such as attending a concert and blockage from ear wax. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 15 percent of Americans - more than 50 million people - experience some form of tinnitus. Of that group, nearly 20 million have chronic tinnitus and an estimated two million have severe cases. Treatment involves trying to solve an underlying health condition, suppressing the sound so that it's less irritating such as with a white noise machine, or medication that reduces symptoms such as antidepressants. For those who suffer debilitating cases, the condition can interfere with both their professional and personal lives. A 2011 report found that tinnitus affected sufferers' job performance and caused insomnia. And a 2015 study found that almost 80 percent of tinnitus sufferers report having anxiety and about 60 percent report depression. For the new study, published in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, the team recruited 72,000 participants from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort. Participants answered questionnaires, one of the questions asking if tinnitus was a health problem, and possible answers being: 'No', 'Yes (moderate problem)' or 'Yes (severe problem)'. A severe problem means that the ringing of the ears is constant and impacts their lives. They were also asked if they had ever attempted to commit suicide. Of the nearly 900 women who had severe tinnitus, about 10 percent reported that they tried to take their own lives. When it came to the roughly 1,200 men who had severe tinnitus, about 5.5 percent reported a suicide attempt - meaning the statistical significance was higher in women. This means as a many as 500,000 women with severe tinnitus could be at risk of attempting suicide. Those who'd been formally diagnosed were not found to be at an increased risk of attempting suicide, which the authors say suggest that their doctors prescribed treatment to alleviate their symptoms. 'The take home message is that tinnitus is different in how it impacts men and women,' Dr Christopher Cederroth, an assistant professor at the Karolinska lnstitutet, told DailyMail.com 'There are different mechanisms operating in both sexes, which as not really known before.' He also called for more resources to be put toward the management of tinnitus in clinical practice;. 'We see the risk for suicidal attempts is no longer present in those visiting specialist care,' said Dr Cederroth. 'This means it can decrease the burden tinnitus can cause. So by increasing financial resources, life quality can improve.' 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 When Harper Comparin was born, doctors told her parents that she may never be able to walk. The little girl had been diagnosed with spina bifida, a severe birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord doesn't form properly. But one doctor at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida, had a novel idea, reported WFTS. She saw that Harper loved the children's song Baby Shark with its infamous 'doo doo doo doo' chant that plays throughout. Using it as a metronome, she helped the two-year-old learn to walk to the beat on a treadmill, and now the toddler is walking - and even running - across a room on her own. Harper Comparin, two (left and right), from St Petersburg, Florida, was diagnosed with spina bifida before she was born. Spina bifida is a birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord doesn't form properly, Harper's parents were told that she would likely never walk, until they met a pediatric physical therapist at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida. Pictured: Harper walking in physical therapy '[Harper] has a pretty severe case of spina bifida. which affects her from her abdomen to her itty bitty toes,' Dr Michelle Schultz, a pediatric physical therapist at Johns Hopkins, told DailyMail.com. 'She's gone through a lot of surgeries that started in utero.' Spina bifida is a defect of the neural tube, a structure from which the brain and spinal cord form. It normally closes early in pregnancy. But, in those with spina bifida, the neural tube fails to develop or properly close, This leaves the spine and the nerves susceptible to trauma and damage. The condition's symptoms can range from mild to severe, and leave sufferers with physical and intellectual disabilities. Children often suffer from walking and mobility problems due to weak muscles or nerves in the legs not working properly. They can also experience bowel and bladder problems, difficulty breathing and swallowing, and a have higher risk of wounds. Currently, there is no cure for spina bifida. Treatment consists of managing symptoms and preventing complications. More than 1,600 babies are born with spina bifida each year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr Schultz said that when she first met Harper, after she had just turned a year old, she had just learned to sit on her own. 'Most kids at one years old, they're crawling and walking and talking.' Harper's physical therapist used Baby Shark, the children's song about a family of sharks, as a metronome. Using the 'doo doo doo doo' chant that plays throughout the song, Harper learned to walk to the beat. Pictured: Harper with her brother, left, and right Now, Harper (pictured, in physical therapy) has been smiling more, has started walking and loves playing with her older brother, Kellen, who doesn't have the condition Dr Schultz said she realized that Harper liked Baby Shark, a children's song about a family of sharks, and was inspired to use it to help the toddler walk. She said she uses it as a metronome and with each 'doo doo doo doo', it's a cue for Harper to walk. 'It was so rewarding [to see her walk]. That's why I do this job,' Dr Schultz said. 'She wasn't talking as a one-year-old should so there was so much frustration in her little mind. But with that song came those first few steps and first few words.' Dr Schultz also helps teach Harper other movements with activities such as playing catch and going 'grocery shopping'. Now, Harper has been smiling more, has started talking and loves playing with her older brother, Kellen, who doesn't have the condition. 'Seeing Harper walk for the first time was true blessing,' her mother, Erica, told DailyMail.com. 'Mobility doesn't define someone's life but having that ability is amazing to us. It's not something she should have with her level of spina bifida, and those moments are extra special when they do happen.' An Oklahoma father-of-two suffered a stroke after he cracked his neck while stretching, but is now recovering. Josh Hader, 28, was working from home in March when he went to stretch his neck, which had been sore for a week, and heard a pop. Suddenly, he felt numb and was unable to walk straight. His father-in-law rushed him to their local emergency room in Guthrie, where doctors determined he had suffered a stroke. Hader told DailyMail.com that doctors told him that, as he cracked his neck, he had twisted it so quickly, that he had accidentally torn a blood vessel leading from his neck to his brain, which caused the stroke. Josh Hader, 28, from Guthrie, Oklahoma, was home in March when he cracked his neck, which felt sore. Pictured: Hader with his wife Rebecca, his five-year-old daughter Wrigley and his one-year-old son Oliver After Hader's neck popped, his left side felt numb and he couldn't walk straight, so his father-in-law rushed him to the ER. Doctors found that cracking his neck had caused an artery leading to his brain to tear, which caused his stroke. Pictured: Hader before the stroke, left, and after the stroke, right As soon as he felt the numbness come on, Hader said he went to the mirror to check his face for tell-tale signs of a stroke. He used to be a police offer and had seen strokes occur in others in the past. 'I didn't see any drooping so I go to get an ice pack, and I couldn't walk straight,' Hader said. 'I quite literally was walking at a 45-degree angle.' He called his wife, Rebecca, who was out with her mother at the time. She called her father, who lives nearby, and he drove Hader to Mercy Hospital in Guthrie. By the time they arrived at the ER, Hader was having trouble focusing and couldn't move his left side. 'When I went to get a CT scan, I couldn't move from the ER bed to the CT machine. I had to have someone help me,' he said. Doctors determined that he had suffered a stroke, which occurs when an artery or a blood vessel that carries oxygen or nutrients to the brain bursts or becomes blocked. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says strokes occur in 795,000 Americans each year and kill around 140,000. Hader suffered what's known as an ischemic stroke, which occurs when blood flow is blocked to the brain - typically by a blood clot - and makes up the majority of strokes. HOW CAN F.A.S.T. SAVE YOU DURING A STROKE? The main symptoms of stroke can be remembered with the word F.A.S.T. This will help you more quickly identify someone having a stroke. Face: Ask the person to smile and see if their mouth or eye droops Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. They may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase and see if their speech is slurred or garbled Time: If you observe any of these signs or symptoms, it's time to call 911 immediately Source: National Stroke Association Advertisement Dr Vance McCollom, a radiologist at Mercy Hospital and of Hader's physicians, told KOCO that Hader had torn his vertebral artery, a crucial vessel leading to the brain. 'If you have a stroke in that area, you can end up with a patient who's locked in,' McCollom said. 'They completely understand what's going on, but they can't communicate. They can't move anything. They can't speak. They can't breathe.' Although the artery, tore, there was no bleeding into the brain, just a clot. Hader was immediately given tPA, which dissolves a blood clot and improves blood flow to the part of the brain that was deprived. Doctors then had him transferred to Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. Hader was in the ICU for five days and then was in inpatient rehabilitation for about a week-and-a-half. The stroke didn't affect Hader's cognitive function, speech or swallowing, but he did need physical and occupational therapy for balance and learn how to use his left leg again. He also suffered double and blurry vision and had to wear an eye patch over his left eye for three days. Bizarrely, Hader also suffered from a constant bout of hiccups for about two weeks. 'They were bad, nothing could make them go away,' he said. 'At one point, I couldn't breathe. I had to sit up and gasp for air.' Doctors aren't sure what caused the hiccups, but believe it was simply Hader's body reacting to a traumatic event. Hader (pictured) was in the ICU for five days and spent a week-and-a-half in inpatient rehabilitation, where he learned how to balance and walk with his left leg The stroke didn't affect Hader's cognitive function, speech or swallowing, but he still struggles with balance and blurry vision. Pictured: Hader's X-ray with a pen pointing to the artery that burst and caused the stroke Now, Hader has gotten better at walking without a walker and is no longer hesitant when it comes to caring for his five-year-old daughter, Wrigley, and one-year-old son, Oliver. It's been a month since his stretch turned into a stroke - and Hader is still dealing with some residual effects. 'I still have balancing issues and walking exhausts me a lot faster than it used to,' he said. 'Also my left side still tingles and, even though strokes are supposed to affect one side, I don't feel sharp pain or hot or cold in my right arm.' Hader said that he doesn't advise against popping the neck, but just says to do it with care. 'Popping your neck is not the worst thing ever, just be careful when you're doing it and realize your body isn't invulnerable,' he said. US health authorities will allow a type of breast implant linked to a rare form of cancer to stay on the market, saying its risks do not warrant a national ban. Silicone breast implants have triggered BIA-ALCL, a cancer of the immune system, in scores of women, killing at least nine. In April, French authorities issued a rare ban of silicone implants for that reason. But on Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration said it is not ready to take that step. It is considering bold warnings for the implants and requiring stricter reporting of problems by manufacturers. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO In the letters, the US Food and Drug Administration reprimanded Mentor and Sientra for historically failing to complete the safety studies required for medical devices to stay on the market The announcement is the latest in the government's decades-long effort to manage implant risks and complications that can include scarring, pain, swelling and rupture. In recent years, the FDA and other regulators around the world have grappled with the recently confirmed link to a rare cancer and the thousands of unconfirmed complaints of other health problems that women attribute to the implants, including arthritis, fatigue and muscle pain. HISTORY OF BREAST IMPLANTS IN THE U.S. 1960s: Breast implants were first sold in the US, before the FDA regulated medical devices. 1976: Law changed, meaning that every medical device would be categorized into class I, II or III. Those in the highest class (Class III) would require the most stringent checks - mainly: human clinical trials. Breast implants, growing in popularity, were allowed to stay on the market while the FDA decided which category it should take. But doctors started raising concerns in that the devices seemed to trigger side effects. 1978: An FDA advisory panel suggested breast implants should be Class II. 1982: The FDA decided breast implants should be Class III. They called on industry to conduct human studies to investigate a few main concerns: the risk of rupture the risk of leaks scars contracting that they are hard to mammogram links to lupus links to cancer 1990: Congressmen berated industry for failing to present human trials. The only trials to date were silicone injections in rats and rabbits. 1991: Industry submitted human studies but they were deemed poor quality. One only lasted three months. 1992: Internal documents from people inside the industry leader at the time, Dow Corning, were leaked to the press, showing that manufacturers had concerns of risks to human health. That was the nail in the coffin. The FDA decided to ban silicone implants for women unless they were part of 'adjunct' trials to assess their safety. 2003/4: The FDA rejected the data presented by Inamed (now called Allergan) and Mentor (now part of J&J), saying they were poor quality. Seventy-five percent of women dropped out of the Mentor trial before their first follow-up. The FDA then published guidance on what the trials should consist of. They needed to answer why implants break, leak, and how long implants last. 2005: Mentor and Inamed submitted three-year-long studies, which were criticized as inadequate by the FDA. 2006: The FDA re-approved silicone implants, but ordered device makers to conduct six trials spanning 10 years with at least 40,000 women. 2011: No data had been published. The National Center for Health Research, a patient advocacy group, lobbied congress for answers. The FDA published data online later that year, showing the studies were not completed. Three-quarters of women dropped out of the Mentor study, and 40 percent dropped out of the Allergan study. Advertisement FDA regulators said in a statement that while they don't have definitive evidence that implants cause those chronic ailments, women considering implants 'should be aware of these risks.' To that end, the agency said it will consider adding a boxed warning - its most serious type - to breast implants and a checklist describing various potential harms for patients considering them. 'At this time, the FDA does not believe that, on the basis of all available data and information, the device meets the banning standard,' Dr. Jeffrey Shuren said in a statement. The cancer tied to implants is not breast cancer but lymphoma that grows in the scar tissue surrounding the breasts. Almost all confirmed cases involve a type of textured implant designed to prevent slippage and to minimize scar tissue. Shuren said that variety accounts for less than 10% of the U.S. market, which is primarily smooth implants. He noted there have been cases of the cancer with smooth implants, raising questions about whether multiple factors contribute to the disease. There have been more than 600 cases of the cancer worldwide, among an estimated 10 million women with implants. Diana Zuckerman, who has studied breast implant safety, said a ban may not be necessary to phase out textured ones. 'I think a lot of physicians are going to avoid them and patients are going to say they don't want them,' said Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit, National Center for Health Research, which evaluates studies and conducts its own research. Breast augmentation is the most popular form of cosmetic surgery in the U.S., with roughly 300,000 women undergoing the procedure each year. Another 100,000 women receive implants for breast reconstruction after cancer surgery. In a move to 'promote greater public transparency,' the FDA also said Thursday that breast implant manufacturers will no longer be permitted to summarize routine injuries and complications in bulk reports. Manufacturers are required to report all serious injuries, malfunctions and deaths related to their devices. But under the FDA's alternative summary reporting program, breast implant makers and other manufacturers could file quarterly updates representing thousands of incidents, most of which were not listed in a public database. That practice - which the FDA has pledged to phase out - has been criticized for obscuring the true number of incidents reported to regulators. The reports filed to the FDA include submissions from companies, doctors, patients and lawyers that often include incomplete, unverified information and duplicates. Ahead of a March meeting, the FDA revealed for the first time that it had received more than 350,000 reports related to breast implants over the last decade. That was roughly seven times the number of reports visible in the agency's publicly searchable database, according to Madris Tomes, a former FDA staffer who founded a company to analyze medical device reports. 'If there's a pattern of more than 300,000 malfunctions and non-serious injuries, those should be available to the public, and let them decide if they're serious.' Tomes said. Bulk reports for other medical devices is permitted under a new program which plans to make them public. WHEN DARKNESS CALLS by Mark Griffin (Piatkus 13.99, 400 pp) WHEN DARKNESS CALLS by Mark Griffin (Piatkus 13.99, 400 pp) Griffin, who appeared as Trojan in ITVs Gladiators in the Nineties, became a successful screenwriter in LA before returning to England. This is his crime debut, and it is mightily impressive. It introduces Holly Wakefield, a NHS criminal psychologist who specialises in the analysis and treatment of serial killers. She is approached by the Metropolitan Polices DI Bishop to investigate a killer whose modus operandi is to pose the victims dismembered bodies in theatrical positions. Deviously plotted, with a bleak thread of intriguing twists, it reveals that Holly has much more experience in matters of murder than may meet the eye. Her partnership with Bishop is deftly portrayed, and shes a character we are destined to hear far more of. Not surprisingly from a screenwriter, it has all the makings of a TV series think Cracker but with a sympathetic, if troubled, female protagonist. DEADLAND DEADLAND by William Shaw (Riverrun 16.99, 480 pp) by William Shaw (Riverrun 16.99, 480 pp) Shaw has made the bleak and inhospitable Kent coastline one of the principal characters in his mysteries, and he is back there again in this second outing for his heroine, DS Alexandra Cupidi. It opens spectacularly with two 17-year-old misfits stealing a mobile phone on their motorcycle, only to discover that they have stumbled into a crime way out of their league. The owner of the phone wants it back, and will go to any lengths to get it including murder. So the boys hide out in a derelict building on the Kent marshes. Meanwhile, DS Cupidi is investigating the discovery of a severed human arm that has been hidden inside a modern sculpture at Margates Turner Contemporary art museum. As DS Cupidis case turns darker, she begins to fear for the two runaway boys who are the same age as her own rebellious daughter. THEIR LITTLE SECRET by Mark Billingham (Little Brown 18.99, 400 pp) THEIR LITTLE SECRET by Mark Billingham (Little Brown 18.99, 400 pp) London-based DI Tom Thorne, Billinghams lead detective, has established himself as one of the most compelling figures in contemporary crime fiction assisted by his sceptical partner DI Nicola Tanner. Thorne is everything that a fine detective should be: compassionate, unpredictable and curious with a passion for doing the right thing, even if he sometimes has to bend the rules to do it. Here, Thorne is convinced that a woman who has just killed herself by diving under a Tube train in North London was forced to do it by a predatory conman who had persuaded her to part with 75,000 of her savings. The conman may also be a killer, and could have a female accomplice. Beautifully constructed and written, it pulses with the humanity that is Billinghams and Thornes trademark. HEIDA by Steinunn Sigurardottir with Heida Asgeirsdottir (John Murray 16.99, 320 pp) If you loved the childrens story Heidi and identified with its orphaned child-heroine who went to live on a Swiss mountain with her grandfather and thawed his icy heart with her charm then youll be fascinated to compare her story with this new memoir from Iceland. Heida Asgeirsdottir really was named after Heidi, and it turned out to be apt: Heida also inherited the family sheep farm in a vast, wild, beautiful, hilly area. Things have changed, though, since 1881 when Heidi was published. We first meet Heida, 41, in the cab of her wifid-up tractor, where shes doing a 12-hour shift, singing along to pop music between sending emails and chatting on the phone, while her beloved German Shepherd, Fifill, sleeps at her feet. Heida Asgeirsdottir (pictured) from Iceland, shares her life working on a 1,000 year-old-farm in a fascinating new memoir Heida is stunningly beautiful, but so down-to-earth, throwing on the same old jeans and jumper every day, that it comes as a surprise that she came second in a modelling competition in New York, and a few big agents got in contact. But, I thought it silly to earn my living simply by being pretty, she writes. Friends and family have tried to persuade her to marry, but she treasures her solitude: I feel sorry for people living with others. Alongside that brittle refusal to be romantic, you sense Heidas deep romanticism about the landscape that surrounds her beloved 1,000-year-old farm. She works night and day to keep it going: her tasks include restoring the sheephouse, hoof-trimming, lambing and hay-making. One of her favourite moments of the year is being reunited with her 500 sheep after their long summers on the high pastures. She rounds them up on her quad-bike and looks forward to the annual round-up dance, when all the farmers get together to celebrate. Shes perpetually dazzled by the beauty of the rivers, hills, waterfalls and volcanic mountains in the background. I dont own the land, she writes. The land owns me. It can be a struggle protecting it from the vultures. By vultures she means human ones: hanging over her is the threat of a new power plant nearby. Vast acres of ancient woodland would be destroyed in the process of creating a reservoir and dam it would be even worse than a volcanic eruption. HEIDA by Steinunn Sigurardottir (John Murray 16.99, 320 pp) When the volcano Grimsvotn erupted in 2011, she had to wear a mask and goggles for weeks. The land can recover from volcanic ash, she writes, but the effects of power plants dont pass: theyre irreversible. Wondrously, partly thanks to her resistance, the plans are on hold. But shes still anxious. Though she has none of the gentle sweetness of Heidi, Heida comes across as a highly impressive person. Shes physically strong, too: among her many accomplishments is sheep-shearing (she can do 70 in a day), and she even goes in for international competitions. She aims to beat the world record for shearing a sheep, 37.9 seconds, currently held by Ivan Scott from Donegal. Iceland is lucky to have this formidable guardian angel protecting its traditions and landscape. Landlords have issued a stark warning over the health of Britain's private rented sector as more and more property investors look set to sell up in the face of falling profits. A wide-ranging study of almost 2,500 landlords by the Residential Landlords Association has found that a quarter of private landlords are looking to sell at least one property over the next year. The more demand outweighs supply, the more expensive it will be for tenants, with experts forecasting a three per cent rise in rental costs every year for the next five years. Rents may rise as tenant demand continues to outpace the number of homes available to rent David Smith, policy director for the RLA, said: 'All the talk of longer tenancies will mean nothing if the homes to rent on not there in the first place. 'The Government's tax increases on the sector are already making it difficult for tenants to find a place to live, with many landlords not renewing tenancies. 'If rushed and not thought through, planned changes to the way landlords can repossess properties risk making the situation even worse.' Minister for Housing and Homelessness Heather Wheeler said: 'The changes we are implementing will create a more stable and secure sector and will have clear benefits for landlords to operate and invest in. 'Our proposals are designed to strike a fair balance between landlords and tenants to maintain the supply of good quality rented accommodation.' In London, demand has dramatically outstripped supply with the number of available rental properties in the capital down by 33 per cent compared with two years ago, according to Rightmove. This has inevitably forced rents up in the capital to their highest ever levels. So is the country headed for a rental crisis? Yes and no. Some 15 per cent of the landlords responding to the RLA survey also said they were looking to buy at least one property over the next year. And the extent of the supply and demand problem varies drastically depending on which part of the country you're in. Last week This is Money revealed that London-based landlords are leaving the capital in search of better yields in areas like the North and the Midlands. The number of London landlords buying in the capital has dropped by a dramatic 34 per cent over the past decade. Some 17 per cent of that fall has been since 2015. The stamp duty surcharge announced that year has added an average 11,760 onto the cost of a second home in London since. This, combined with high house price growth and a clampdown on landlord tax relief, has pushed landlords away from the city and surrounding commuter belt where house prices are at their highest in Britain. But while they've abandoned the capital, one third of London-based investors buying new property in the past year bought in the Midlands and North, up from just 14 per cent in 2015 and 4 per cent in 2010. This could indicate that landlords are re-balancing their portfolios away from less profitable areas such as London and towards higher yield areas in other parts of the country. Gray Stern, chief executive of property investment platform Dot Residential, said: 'Successive legislative and tax changes have hit buy-to-let investors hard over the past few years, particularly for those owning property in their individual names. 'However, sound investment opportunities still exist, particularly for those looking to build portfolios in fast growing markets outside of London.' Proportion of London-based landlords who bought buy-to-lets outside the capital Once the dust has settled on this rebalance, will tenants be better or worse off? Overall, across the country it appears that landlord appetite is waning while tenant demand is on the rise. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is set to release new figures on the number of private rented homes in England this month, but last year's figures revealed a drop of 46,000, the largest reduction since 1988. By contrast the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors pointed out in its recent market survey that tenant demand has continued to rise for a third consecutive month while landlord instructions slipped further. With this in mind, the trade body predicts rental growth of around 2 per cent over the next year - but after that forecasts a 3 per cent rise every year until 2024. One in four landlords reported an increase in perceived demand in the past three months In London, the situation is already far worse for tenants. London's average asking rents have risen 8.2 per cent in the past year, with the average rental property in the capital now costing a record 2,093 per month, according to the latest Rightmove figures. This is the sharpest rise since Rightmove began reporting this data back in 2012. Demand has dramatically outstripped supply in the capital with the number of available rental properties in the capital down by 33 per cent compared with two years ago, while available rental stock has dropped 13 per cent for the rest of Great Britain. Simon Heawood of Bricklane said: 'Demand has risen in areas outside of London, primarily driven by stronger yields and recent price performance, with prices in areas such as Manchester rising by 5.1 per cent over the last 12 months. 'That said, London continues to offer exciting pockets of opportunity for the disciplined professional buyer looking to access promising local sub-markets at competitive prices. 'Even taking regional variations into account, there is also a clear outflow from buy-to-let as a whole. The number of new buy-to-let mortgages has dropped by over 50 per cent since 2016, while more and more landlords are selling up, which resulted in the government's bumper capital gains tax receipts this year. 'While some larger professional landlords are continuing to buy, a raft of new government tax penalties has made individual, direct buy-to-let a less and less worthwhile investment for many part-time landlords.' Credit card holders after air miles or cashback could be left feeling short-changed as Amazon and American Express have slashed the sign-up bonuses and spending incentives on some of their cards. Changes to Amazon's Platinum Mastercard came into effect Monday, with the retailer halving the number of reward points you get from spending elsewhere. Your cashback bonus for spending at Amazon itself is unaffected by the changes. It means you now earn 0.5 Amazon Reward Points for every 2 you spend not on the site, down from one before. Grounded: Amex's cards have been popular among frequent flyers because of the generous welcome bonus and spending incentives, but those have now been slashed You earn 1.5 for every 2 you spend at Amazon.co.uk, with 1,000 points earning you a 10 gift card. The move could potentially be seen as yet another power play by the online juggernaut, by further discouraging shoppers to do their spending elsewhere by making the cashback reward for shopping at Amazon three times as lucrative. Meanwhile American Express has also cut the offers on some of its rewards credit cards, meaning those who sign-up will get less generous membership points. For example, the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold card has seen the number of reward points you get for signing up halved from 20,000 to 10,000. What's more, you used to be able to get a further 20,000 bonus points in return for spending 2,000 in three months, but now you'll need to spend 3,000 to get the same bonus. Amex reward points can be used for a variety of purposes, from flights to gift cards. Previously, the reward for spending 2,000 in conjunction with the sign-up bonus would be enough to net you a return flight to Moscow, but that is no longer the case. The Platinum Reward card, which comes with a whopping 450 annual fee, has not received any cuts to its sign-up or spending bonus but the number points you get for referring a friend has been cut from 18,000 to 12,000. In the case of the Gold card, it has been cut by a third, from 9,000 to 6,000. The card provider's changes mean that the Platinum card now offers 20,000 more points for spending 1,000 less in your first three months of having the card, but it does obviously come with a much higher fee. Amex's basic Rewards credit card has also seen its sign-up bonus halved from 10,000 points to 5,000, with the amount you need to spend within three months to earn 5,000 bonus points doubled from 1,000 to 2,000. The changes are a blow for potential cardholders who perhaps planned on using the bonus points to put toward an exotic holiday or long-haul flights. It also made changes at the end of March, designed to clamp down on users acquiring multiple sign-up bonuses, by barring those who signed up from getting welcome points if they had held any personal American Express card in the last two years. Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website Head for Points, said there are still plenty of options out there despite Amex's reforms. He said: 'While it is true that it is easier to make the most of the sign-up bonuses on these travel rewards cards if you are already travelling a lot and building up frequent flyer miles or hotel loyalty points, anyone can get their heads around these schemes with a bit of research. 'If you stay at InterContinental Hotels Group Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental hotels, the "free for life" IHG Rewards Club Mastercard gives you 40 of hotel points as a sign-up bonus. 'More interestingly, you also get Gold status for life as long as you keep the card in the IHG Rewards Club loyalty scheme. 'You'll never get the room overlooking the bins again. 'Anyone who collects Avios points should also make sure they don't miss out on 5,000 free Avios, which I value at 50, with the free British Airways American Express card. 'This card also blows most free credit cards out of the water in terms of return on day to day spending, with one Avios per 1 getting you more than one per cent back on your spend if you redeem them wisely.' Virgin Atlantic's Reward+ credit card also comes with 15,000 air miles as a welcome gift, and gives you 1.5 miles for every 1 you spend. These miles are less versatile than Amex's offers however, because you can only redeem them with Virgin Atlantic. The card also comes with a 160 annual fee. However, you can get a return flight to New York with 20,000 miles, and to Hong Kong with 25,000. Burgess suggested that being caught up in the EU cap on interchange fees, which came into effect in 2015, had given American Express some 'major UK problems'. The provider has joint cards with Nectar and Costco as well as with British Airways. He added that 'the bonuses were just too good', with card holders able to take out a Preferred Rewards Gold card, bank the 20,000 point bonus, cancel the card and reapply for the same one six months later and benefit from another 20,000 points. Amex didn't explain the reason behind the changes, but a spokesperson said: 'We regularly review our products and offers to continue to deliver the best service to our customers. 'When making these changes our aim was to ensure that we remain competitive and continue to reward both new and existing card members for their spending.' Think of the golden age of air travel and it brings a more glamourous era to mind. Yet, in terms of how easy and cheap it is to fly, the time is now. The problem is thats not meant to be quite so golden for the environment. Flying is seen as a major contributor to climate change and even if you dont believe in that, the expansion of flights and our airports brings more pollution, congestion and destruction of natural surroundings. Campaigners argue that not only is all this the case, but air travel is so lightly taxed as to effectively be subsidised. So what should we do about this? A Free Ride argues that those who fly more should pay higher rates of tax on their trips - but says everyone should get one tax-free return trip a year If you plan on going full Extinction Rebellion, the answer is probably dont fly anywhere ever again. If you prefer to be a bit more practical, there is an interesting idea from a campaign called A Free Ride, which it reckons can replace the current tax on flights with a fairer system that taxes people according to how often they fly. Its plan is simple: everybody gets one tax-free return flight a year and beyond that they pay tax on an escalating scale for every extra set of return flights they take. And before you shout, hang on a minute, you want me to pay another tax, A Free Ride would remove existing Air Passenger Duty replacing it with its system. The proceeds would also be ring-fenced to help fund sustainable alternatives to flying. The premise it is built on is that 70 per cent of flights each year in the UK are taken by 15 per cent of the people and the tax system should discourage people from taking extra flights. In order to make the top 15 per cent, dubbed frequent flyers, you dont actually have to fly that frequently just three return plane trips a year will put you in the bracket. However, Leo Murray, the man behind the idea, told me half the population dont take any flights each year. Airport and air travel expansion mean that for Britons and Europeans this is a golden of cheap flights - campaigners say it's not so golden for the planet Under the current system, Air Passenger Duty depends on whether flights are short haul or long haul, and economy or in a higher class, but the same amount gets added to your ticket price whether it is your only flight of the year or your tenth. A Free Ride would instead tax people at a higher rate for each one they take. But what would this idea cost you? Leo explains that A Free Rides figures have been modelled on taxing people at a level that should mean air travel is discouraged to the point where the UK can meet its Committee on Climate Change commitments. However, he offers two cautions: firstly, these are being tightened and, secondly, that while the figures are expressed in monetary terms in the study, a better way to levy them would be an escalating percentage of ticket price system. The example in one of A Free Rides early reports runs from 0 for the first flights, 20 for the second set, and 60 for the third set, to 420 for the ninth set. One of the background reports from A Free Ride in conjunction with the New Economics Foundation modelled how much people should pay as they took extra flights Interestingly, Leo claims this would start at a low enough level that for those taking fewer flights a year this would be cheaper than APD, which in economy is 13 for short haul and 78 for long haul. One of the benefits of swapping the fixed monetary example for a percentage of flight price system, he explains, is that while ticket prices are not a perfect reflection of how much CO2 your plane journey generates they are a very good proxy. Longer journeys tend to cost more, as do business and first-class tickets where less people in the same space means an individual's trip contributes proportionally more to greenhouse gases. Poll Is A Free Ride's plan for an escalating tax on frequent flyers a good idea? Yes No Is A Free Ride's plan for an escalating tax on frequent flyers a good idea? Yes 94 votes No 116 votes Now share your opinion Obviously, for those who fly a lot it would be more expensive and businesses would take a hit. However, a system where companies were allocated a certain amount of annual flights based on staff numbers and need could be factored in. Those business trips would also not eat into your personal flight allowance. Would such a system get off ground? I think it could do. Albeit, if this was effective and everyone started trying to leave the country by train or ferry, we'd certainly have some serious issues on Eurostar and at Dover. Nonetheless, despite being partial to the odd beach holiday, snowboarding trip and weekend away, I can definitely see its merits. A common complaint - from both sides of the climate change argument - is how can we take a government seriously on the environment when it is relentlessly and unquestionably focussed on airport expansion? The Government and air industry are keen to put forward the economic benefits of expansion but many are dubious on the extent of this. Replacing air passenger duty with A Free Rides idea aims to scale back that expansion and goes some way to combatting the clash of And, in case youre wondering, I took four return flights in the past 12 months and all were to Europe. That last set would have cost 135 in tax and the next ones would be 210. Ouch. 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.' Centuries-old insurance market Lloyd's of London is planning to embrace the digital age and put a large part of its business online. Lloyd's, which dates back to a coffee house in 1686, plans to start offering cheap basic contracts over the internet. At present most business is still done on paper, with ship sinkings recorded on a ledger using a quill pen. Lloyd's of London, which dates back to a coffee house in 1686, plans to start offering cheap basic contracts over the internet. But the firm is planning major reforms which will see contracts such as small marine cargo agreements handled over the web, using a system called Lloyd's Risk Exchange. The more complicated deals will still be dealt with in the trading hub, which has operated in the same way for decades and revolves around face-to-face haggling. Boss John Neal said: 'Insurance as a sector has got to speed up in a tech-driven world. Potentially this could halve the cost of doing business.' It comes as Lloyd's battles accusations of sexism. A Bloomberg investigation last month found widespread claims of harassment and intimidation at the market. Women claim they have been referred to as 'totty' and even assaulted by senior colleagues working for firms inside Lloyd's. The organisation is now taking action to ban offenders from the building and Neal has vowed to clean up its act. 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. 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. Metro Bank shares hit a record low following a dismal set of results, handing a multi-million-pound windfall to hedge fund boss Crispin Odey. The stock fell 16 after it revealed customers had pulled hundreds of millions of pounds out of their accounts in the first three months of 2019. Metro shares are down 84 per cent since a peak in March last year, wiping 2.9billion off its value amid mounting fears over its future after an accounting error. Metro Bank stock fell 16 after it revealed customers had pulled hundreds of millions of pounds out of their accounts in the first three months of 2019 The slump has led to a huge windfall for hedge fund bosses such as Odey, who have been betting on a fall in the bank's value for more than a year. Overall, hedge funds have short-sold 11.8 per cent of Metro shares, meaning they make money if the price drops. Metro is the most-shorted firm on the London Stock Exchange, suggesting investors are more pessimistic about it than any other listed firm. Odey's Mayfair-based fund is now the biggest gambler, with a bet against 3.93 per cent of Metro's shares, which yesterday fell 16 per cent, or 124p, to 650p. It is not possible to calculate how much has been made by the 60-year-old who once spent 130,000 on a chicken coop at his home but it is likely to be tens of millions. His company, Odey Asset Management, first disclosed it was shorting Metro stock on April 20 last year, and initially short-sold 0.51 per cent of Metro shares, which were worth 17.2million at the time. This same-sized stake is now worth just 3.2million, meaning the hedge fund boss has on paper made around 14million from this initial gamble alone. Days after Odey's position was made public, the stock dropped 10 per cent as investors started fretting it would have to raise extra funds from the stock market. As Metro's problems worsened, Odey continued building his short stake. By the end of 2018, Metro's shares had more than halved after it first borrowed 250m by issuing bonds, and tapped up investors for 300million. Meanwhile Odey increased his short bet to 2.15 per cent. The share slide gathered pace in January when the bank said it miscalculated the riskiness of some loans. Later the Mail revealed this problem had been uncovered by the Bank of England, not Metro's own staff as first suggested. The sell-off intensified in February when Metro said it would have to raise 350million, and revealed regulators were investigating its error. A further dip this week followed Metro saying deposits fell 566million in the first quarter. The chief executive of the Tory party is set to benefit from a 40million mining deal in one of the world's most turbulent and corruption-ridden countries. Sir Mick Davis is in line to be granted a concession to mine a potentially lucrative iron ore deposit in Guinea, a poverty-stricken state in West Africa, through his company Niron, which is part-owned by a secretive firm based in the Bahamas. In his former life as the boss of Xstrata, in its day one of the most prominent mining companies in the City, a deal like this would have been all in a day's work. Chief executive of the Tory party Sir Mick Davis is in line to be granted a concession to mine a potentially lucrative iron ore deposit Like his peers in the global mining industry, Davis was used to doing business in some of the most troubled corners of the planet, where governance codes are often unknown. But that realpolitik sits uncomfortably with his current role as the Conservative Party's chief executive and treasurer, where he is expected to be beyond reproach. Any deal he does will attract attention. But this one is controversial because the path to his potential profits at the Zogota mine, thought to be one of the richest in the African state, is being cleared as a result of an agreement between the government of Guinea and the Israeli tycoon Beny Steinmetz's firm BSGR. Steinmetz, whose wealth is estimated at $1billion, has been locked in a long-running dispute with Guinea, which has accused BSGR of bribery and corruption. Under the arrangement that will pave the way for Davis to cash in, Guinea has agreed to drop its claims in an arbitration dispute against BSGR in Paris. It has also agreed to withdraw from a criminal investigation against Steinmetz in Switzerland. Big deal: Tory chief executive and treasurer Sir Mick Davis If it goes ahead as planned, Davis could end up as a co-investor with Steinmetz. Davis known in the City as Mick the Miner is a major donor to the Conservatives, having handed over 5million. He was knighted in 2015 by David Cameron for his work on the Holocaust Commission. As treasurer of the party since 2016 and chief executive since 2017, he is in charge of raising money and fighting elections, including yesterday's council ballot. It is in the nature of the mining industry that firms have to operate in war-torn and corrupt countries. Davis is not accused of any wrongdoing and is not responsible for Guinea agreeing to back away from its corruption claims against BSGR. However, given his position in the Tory party, the fact that he stands to benefit in the aftermath of the agreement will raise eyebrows. So, too, will the fact that the firm he is using to exploit the iron ore is part-owned by a Bahamian outfit. As will the prospect of him being a co-investor with Steinmetz, whose company, BSGR is under investigation in several jurisdictions, including the US. A spokesman for Davis and Niron said: 'Neither Sir Mick Davis nor Niron are party to the agreement to which you refer. 'Niron believes that the Zogota deposit can be brought into production on an accelerated timetable, thereby helping to unlock the potential of Guinea's rich resources for the benefit of all stakeholders, including the government and people of Guinea.' As for BSGR, its history in the country has been difficult. In 2014 the president, Alpha Conde, banned it from access to the iron ore deposits after a government committee found the rights were obtained by bribery. Israeli tycoon Beny Steinmetz (pictured with his wife Agnes) has been locked in a long-running dispute with Guinea, which has accused BSGR of bribery and corruption Last month, BSGR was ordered by a London arbitration court to pay 970million to an iron ore producer in connection with a bribe offered to Mamadie Toure, the widow of the then Guinean president, to help obtain mining rights in 2008. BSGR told the Mail it strongly maintains its innocence of any wrongdoing and that there is no validity to the arbitration award. Under the deal with BSGR, Guinea will drop all opposition to Steinmetz and waive claims it has made to corruption investigators. The country will withdraw from criminal proceedings targeting Steinmetz in Switzerland and has promised not to make 'disparaging remarks' against him for ten years. The settlement, seen as part of an investigation by anti-corruption campaign group Global Witness, reads: 'Guinea waives its status as complainant party as part of the criminal proceedings pending in Switzerland.' Once the dispute between Guinea and Steinmetz is settled, Davis's company Niron will be free to develop the Zogota mine. If that is developed successfully, Steinmetz may be awarded a stake in Davis's company, making the pair co-investors. Niron is in discussions to agree a revenue-sharing deal with BSGR. MPs have criticised the arrangement. Margaret Hodge MP, an anti-corruption campaigner, said: 'It beggars belief that the Tory chief executive is doing business with a billionaire accused of corruption.' Rupa Huq MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption, said: 'It is very concerning. If Theresa May really wants to challenge 'burning injustices' she could start by looking at her own senior staff.' Niron, founded in 2018, is part-owned by a secretive firm based in the Bahamas, according to UK company documents. The agreement is dependent on financial arrangements with Niron being formalised. The current framework will see Niron pay $50million (38.8million) to Guinea. Daniel Balint-Kurti, head of investigations at Global Witness, said: 'Sir Mick Davis should be setting an example, not fronting offshore companies. He should not be within a million miles of something this murky.' BSGR's administrators BDO said the proposed settlement with Guinea was a 'non-binding framework'. They added that they are 'in the process of working with the commercial partner to flesh out the terms of the production and revenue-sharing agreement with them'. Nysco, the owner of BSGR, said: 'There is no scandal a settlement has been reached with the Guinean government. 'Any suggestion that either Beny Steinmetz or BSGR are guilty of bribery and corruption is utterly denied, and has never been proven.' The government of Guinea and the Conservative Party have been contacted for comment. An ex-CIA officer has pleaded guilty to conspiring with China to commit espionage after receiving a promise from his Chinese handlers that he would be financially set for life. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, admitted as part of a plea bargain struck Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, that he received regular 'taskings' from his Chinese handlers in 2010 and 2011 after the meeting in which he was promised financial assistance. But the statement of facts filed in court is silent as to whether he actually succeeded in delivering any intelligence to China. Jerry Chun Shing Lee pleaded guilty to conspiring with China to commit espionage after receiving a promise from his Chinese handlers that he would be financially set for life Whether he delivered secrets to the Chinese 'is a matter that will come out to some extent in sentencing,' said U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who set sentencing for August 23. Lee's lawyers, Ed MacMahon and Nina Ginsberg, said that if prosecutors had evidence Lee had delivered government secrets, they would have put it forward. MacMahon rejected assertions in some news reports that Lee was a mole responsible for exposing a network of U.S. assets in China who were eventually executed. The case against Lee 'has never included any claim that Mr. Lee was responsible for getting anyone killed,' MacMahon said. G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is prosecuting the case, said in a statement: 'Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct.' This picture taken on October 13, 2017, shows a man (right) 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 Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Hong Kong, could receive life in prison. But the plea deal sets federal sentencing guidelines at roughly 18 to 27 years depending on the final calculation. Ellis is free to go above or below the guidelines if he chooses. Lee served in the CIA from 1994 through 2007. During his time there, he served as an overseas case officer. According to the indictment, his primary duty as a case officer was to 'recruit clandestine human intelligence sources.' In court Wednesday, prosecutor Neil Hammerstrom said that when Lee left the CIA in 2007, he got a job in Hong Kong with a large tobacco company but was fired in 2009 and stopped receiving income in 2010. It was that year when Lee met with Chinese intelligence officers who promised to take care of him for life financially if he cooperated. They also promised an immediate cash gift of $100,000, investigators said. After that meeting, according to the indictment, Lee's Chinese contacts delivered more than 20 envelopes between 2010 and 2011 spelling out specific tasks they wanted him to perform, most of which asked him to reveal sensitive information. The indictment states that Lee traveled to mainland China in July 2012. The next month, when Lee was on a trip from Hong Kong to the U.S., authorities carried out a search warrant in a Honolulu hotel room and found 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. 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. Isaiah Mark Lewis, 17, was fatally shot by police in a suburb of Oklahoma City on Monday The girlfriend of an African American teenager who was shot dead by police despite being unarmed and naked told 911 dispatchers that he had 'flipped out'. Isaiah Mark Lewis, 17, was shot dead by police in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond on Monday after a neighbor called the cops. A recording of the call shows that Lewis' girlfriend, Kamri Pollock, tried to grab the phone away from her neighbor to say 'my boyfriend just flipped out. I have no idea what's going on'. Two officers, Sgt. Milo Box and Officer Denton Scherman, were then sent to the scene - neither of whom were wearing body cameras during the shooting. Officers have claimed the young man attacked them with his fists before they deployed a stun gun and eventually fatally shot him multiple times, but Lewis' emotional mother Vicki said 'he didn't deserve to die the way that he did' yesterday. Speaking at a press conference, she said: 'He was not armed. He didn't deserve to die the way that he did. He didn't deserve to die, period.' She added: 'He doesn't get to graduate May 18th like he could have. He didn't go to the prom.' Lewis' family have demanded answers after the fatal shooting. Kamri Pollock (left), who told police she was Lewis' girlfriend, said in the 911 call that prompted the police response that Lewis 'flipped out' Lewis' emotional mother Vicki said 'he didn't deserve to die the way that he did' at a press conference, pictured, yesterday The 911 caller who told the officers about the domestic disturbance report said: 'Two girls, two white ladies. I guess the boyfriend is beating up on one of them.' The officers spent more than an hour searching for him as other 911 calls flooded in, with neighbors saying Lewis stripped off his clothes as he ran down the street. One witness said they saw the teen throwing drugs over a fence before breaking into a neighbor's home, KFOR-TV reported, but police have said they would have to await a toxicology report to determine if he was on drugs. Officers said they chased him as he jumped fences before breaking into the home where he was shot. They claim he attacked the two officers with his fists, before one of them used a stun gun on him. When that didn't work, at least one officer fired a handgun, Edmond police spokeswoman Jenny Wagnon said. '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. 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. Lewis was taken to a local hospital where he died. Pollock later told KFOR-TV she saw no reason for police to be involved and that she wanted to know 'what he was on'. Two officers, Sgt. Milo Box and Officer Denton Scherman, were sent to the scene - neither of them were wearing body cameras during the shooting The photo above shows the home in Edmond, Oklahoma where Lewis was fatally shot on Monday Box has worked at the department for 17 years, and Scherman was hired in September. Although neither officer was wearing a body camera, an officer who attended the scene after shots had been fired recorded some dashcam footage. '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. 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. 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. It could be a scene straight from the pages of one of her blockbuster novels. A beautiful writer sits at her computer, staring at the blank monitor, when she senses a presence. Someone - or something - is looking over her shoulder. It lurks as the words refuse to come, then as her panic reaches crisis, 'all of a sudden a vampire appears.' This is the moment the phenomenon that is JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series was born. And the vampire that appeared to her was no cloak wearing Dracula. He was a beast of a male, a toweringly handsome warrior, virile and thrilling, dressed in leathers and with a six-pack so ripped it strained against his T-shirt. Think Twilight meets Fifty Shades of Grey. According to the author: 'It was a bit of a surprise. 'I thought, ''Oh my God. Is he the hero? Is he going to eat the heroine? Is this going to get really nasty and gory?''' Today, in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, the notoriously private author talks sex, vampires and violence, from her home at the heart of genteel, Kentucky society. JR Ward is the woman behind the bestselling paranormal romance series Black Dagger Brotherhood that has more than 15 million copies in print in 25 countries. The notoriously private author sat for an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, talking sex, vampires and violence, from her home in genteel Kentucky society Ward is the image of a society doyenne, and certainly Ward's existence is more than comfortable. She collects art-deco jewelry, which she keeps not in her home but in a bank vault. She owns a Rolls Royce and proof perhaps that a thrill-seeker's heart beats beneath the polished exterior, a Porsche and Audi's high performance, powerful R8 complete her collection. Pictured: Ward with her husband Neville Blakemore III and their dog Ward (far right) is the wife of a man who once ran for State Treasurer. This is the woman who throws Derby week parties for 750 and runs up a florist bill that exceeds that of the free-flowing liquor There are more than 15 million of her books in print across 25 countries worldwide. Black Dagger Brotherhood is just one of several series she writes but it is her biggest hit by far. It is almost 15 years since Ward, whose real name is Jessica Rowley Pell Bird Blakemore, penned Dark Lover. It shot to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list It is almost 15 years since Ward, whose real name is Jessica Rowley Pell Bird Blakemore, penned Dark Lover. It shot to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list. Newly published book 17, The Savior, just ranked second on that list bringing Ward's total to two #1 and six #2 bestseller slots. There are more than 15 million of her books in print across 25 countries worldwide. Black Dagger Brotherhood is just one of several series she writes but it is her biggest hit by far. At a book signing a couple of weeks back almost 1,000 fans waited in line to meet the woman who, to her fans, has become almost as much of a myth as the characters she sets down in words. My relationship with the characters is sort of a TV watcher. This is my Game of Thrones. Because Ward is quite clear on one point. She didn't create the brotherhood and their world. She just writes what she sees. They came to her fully formed. From where she doesn't know - she's just glad they did. She explained: 'The way the books come to me is in a series of interactive video clips that are in my mind's eye. I have no control over them. 'The only influence I have over them is to make sure I can put them in chronological order. When I started out, I would see snippets from the 10th book and snippets from the sixth.' That first 'apparition' of the vampire was Wrath - the reluctant King of the vampires who meets his Queen, Beth, in book one igniting an explosive romance that burns through a tale of blood lust and warring worlds. According to Ward, with the appearance of Wrath she was 'literally given an entire world.' The way she tells it the first ten books were pretty much handed to her there and then. She said, 'I don't know where they came from I'm just glad they found me. I put them in order and I describe what I see. So my relationship with the characters is sort of a TV watcher. This is my Game of Thrones. 'I sit back and watch and if I do my job right then my readers will experience what I experience when I see these pictures in my head.' Ward said the Black Dagger Brotherhood books came to her in a 'series of interactive video clips that are in my mind's eye. I have no control over them.' She added: 'I put them in order and I describe what I see. My relationship with the characters is sort of a TV watcher. This is my Game of Thrones' Read a steamy extract from Ward's first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series This is where Wrath, the warrior king, meets Beth - the woman who will be his queen. Beth was brought up in care and is unaware that her father was one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood and that she is half-vampire and about to transition. Lightning flashed, and she went over and slid back the glass door, moving the screen into place and locking it. Shed leave the thing open for only a little bitthe night air smelled good for once. But man, it was hot. She frowned. There was the strangest scent in the air. Something rich and spicy As she breathed in, she felt the tension in her shoulders ease What the The man from her dream was on the other side of the screen. Beth leaped back The screen slid open. In spite of the fact that shed locked it. And that wonderful smell got thicker as he stepped into her home. She panicked, but found she couldnt move. Oh, man, he was colossal... And all that black leather just seemed to make him bigger. He had to be six-feet-six, two seventy-five at least. He was wearing a biker jacket in spite of the heat, and his long legs were covered in leather as well. He had steel-toed s**tkicker boots on, and he moved like a predator. Beths neck jacked back up as she met the mans steady, feral gazeAs he stopped in front of her, she felt a blast of pure, unadulterated lust. His hand crossed the distance between their bodies, and he took her chin between his forefinger and thumb. He tilted her face to one side.. His lips touched her neck, and she heard him inhale. The leather of his jacket creaked as his lungs were filled and his chest expanded. ''Youre almost ready,'' he said softly. ''And its coming fast.'' God, everything about him radiated sex, from the strength in his body to the way he moved to the smell of his skin. He was like no man shed ever come across before. And her body knew it just as clearly as her mind did. ''Kiss me,'' she said.' Advertisement It must makes for some pretty raunchy viewing. In Ward's world vampires are not predators whose prey is human. They are an endangered species with a complicated hierarchy, hunted by members of The Lessening Society - a creepy tribe of soulless humans who walk with the living. Human blood can only provide limited strength to a vampire who needs the blood of another vampire to survive - ideally his female mate. These vampires have love lives and boy do they have sex lives. Little wonder that, as Ward put it with a small smile, 'I like spending time with my guys.' But however the sex scenes might sizzle on the page, Ward insisted, writing them is no different from writing any other. To her it is all a process of transposing. She said, 'I just follow the veins of truth as they show up.' Sitting in one of three elegant living-rooms on the ground floor of the Palladian style home in which she lives with her husband and their eight-year-old daughter, it is hard to square the contents of Ward's books with the circumstances of her life. After all, at first glance she is the very image of a society doyenne, deep in the conservative countryside of Kentucky. Her black off-the-shoulder cocktail dress shows off her svelte figure and is offset by frankly jaw-dropping art deco jewels. Her earrings and bracelet bristle with diamonds and Burmese rubies from the '30s. Two diamond clips nestle together as a brilliant punctuation to her dress's sweeping neckline. And her wedding band and engagement ring stand so proud on her finger that when she gestures they seem the gravity that pulls her hand back to her lap. This is the wife of a man who once ran for State Treasurer. This is the woman who throws Derby week parties for 750 and runs up a florist bill that exceeds that of the free-flowing liquor. This, it might be tempting to assume, is a woman who lives a life of louche ease. Certainly Ward's existence is more than comfortable. She collects art-deco jewelry, which she keeps not in her home but in a bank vault. She owns a Rolls Royce and proof perhaps that a thrill-seeker's heart beats beneath the polished exterior, a Porsche and Audi's high performance, powerful R8 complete her collection. But whatever assumptions one might be tempted to draw Ward does not spend her days sipping on mint juleps and shopping for jewels. She said: 'I'm an extremely disciplined, controlling individual. I'm a runner. I watch what I eat. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I go to bed every night at the same time and I wake up first thing in the morning. 'I write every day. I rarely leave the house. I just sit and describe these pictures in my head that are so much more exciting than my life of typing. 'It's strange to be at the mercy of something over which I have no influence at all.' She did once try to influence events, she admitted, when writing book four, 'Lover Revealed.' She said: 'I was like; I know how I'm going to do this. I'm going to cut out all these things and I'm going to jump into this section and I'm going to start getting control of this material. And the pictures dried up and the voices got silent. I had nothing. 'It's the only time in my life I've ever gotten a writer's block. And then I sat there in an absolute panic because I had a looming deadline and I was like, ''Oh my God I'm going to be out of a job because there's nothing up there.'' 'So 48 hours later I said, 'All right. I'm just going to follow the trail.' And as soon as I got back on the trail everything lit up again and I just went forward.' Ward said: 'I'm an extremely disciplined, controlling individual. I'm a runner. I watch what I eat. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I go to bed every night at the same time and I wake up first thing in the morning' Ward said: 'I feel very lucky. The thing is the reason why I still work as hard on every book is because I'm a control freak and I don't know why it all happened' Ward never intended to write paranormal romance and she never intended on living in Kentucky. The daughter of a banker and a home-maker turned house flipper - in recent years her mother has renovated 36 houses - Ward was born in Massachusetts and spent her childhood summers on Lake George in upstate New York. She studied history and art history at Smith College and law at the University of Albany and was working as Chief of Staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Canter in Boston when she met her husband, Louisville native, Neville Blakemore III - then director of marketing for a Boston law firm. They married in 2001 and not long after, Ward recalled: 'We were at our little place in Cambridge, Massachusetts and he looked across the dining room table and said, ''I no longer know what I'm doing in Boston.'' And I said, ''I am not moving to Kentucky''.' In 2003 they did just that. Ward had been writing on the side for as long as she could remember. Writing under her maiden name of Jessica Bird she had secured a four-book deal. She said: 'My plan was to stop doing the lawyer business and write these books full time.' She wasn't licensed to practice law in Kentucky anyway. Three of the four had already been published by the time the couple moved. The timing seemed right. She said: 'They were romances. I think in part it's because I decided I was a romance fan and the romance genre was such a big marketplace. 'I thought if you have to roll the dice you might as well roll the dice in a big pond of readers and books and releases. 'I thought patterning yourself after someone as famous and well loved as Nora Roberts is not a bad strategy.' But she had rather overlooked the fact that there already was a Nora Roberts and her fans had no desire for a second one. Ward studied history and art history at Smith College and law at the University of Albany and was working as Chief of Staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Canter in Boston when she met her husband, Louisville native, Neville Blakemore III (pictured together) - then director of marketing for a Boston law firm. Ward credits her husband with bringing a balance to her life that has allowed her to explore that world while living more fully in a world beyond work Ward had barely arrived in Kentucky when she received a phone call from her publisher. They were not going to publish a fourth book. She said: 'I was fired. I couldn't believe it.' As testament to the level of her stress Ward ground her teeth so badly she had to have 28 root canals Ward had barely arrived in Kentucky when she received a phone call from her publisher. They were not going to publish a fourth book. She said: 'I was fired. I can remember where I was standing when I got that call. 'I couldn't believe it. Here I was in Kentucky. I was not a lawyer. I had no contract. I had no money coming in. My husband was starting a new business. 'It really was the scariest time. I was very worried about what the future was going to hold and if maybe I'd made a mistake about everything.' As testament to the level of her stress Ward ground her teeth so badly she had to have 28 root canals. I am not an emotional person but when I mailed off [the Black Dagger Brotherhood] proposal I was in tears because I was like, ''This is never going to sell. This is so out there.'' She got a new agent who specialized in romance. She found a generous mentor in Sue Grafton who lived nearby and to whom she said she would forever be grateful. And she sat down and tried to figure out what a Jessica Bird book was. She said: 'I am not an emotional person but when I mailed off [the Black Dagger Brotherhood] proposal I was in tears because I was like, 'This is never going to sell. This is so out there.' In fact it sparked a bidding war and the works themselves have inspired such a fervor of fans that her signings - and her home - now require a security detail. On the day of our interview, head of security Chuck Mitchell visits. As broad as a barn door, his clients have included Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. He points to damage by the latch on the house's grand black lacquered front door. A couple of years back someone had tried to jimmy it open. It is his job, he says, to spot the difference between fans and the 'super fans' whose devotion may tip into obsession. For her part Ward 'loves' her fans. She said: 'I'm an introvert but I feel comfortable with them because we like the same things. I'm like one of them - I'm just the first reader.' She, just like her readers, enjoys the tumult and passion of her characters - the dark, gory, sexy world all safely contained within the span of a beginning, middle and end. Ward said: 'I think of myself as pretty bada** woman in spite of the cocktail dress and diamonds' For her part Ward 'loves' her fans. She said: 'I'm an introvert but I feel comfortable with them because we like the same things. I'm like one of them - I'm just the first reader'. Pictured: Ward with her dog Naamah Ward credits her husband with bringing a balance to her life that has allowed her to explore that world while living more fully in a world beyond work. She said, jokingly: 'It's like being married to Yoda.' 'I am a more nuanced person because I married him. I am a better mother; I'm a mother at all, because I married him. 'I think if you can find that you're very lucky and maybe that's part of the romance of my books - I'm lucky enough to be living it 'But I don't take that for granted [either]. I am very aware that if I don't do the right thing, if I'm not present in my marriage, if I'm not attentive to his needs and what I need, then I can be divorce tomorrow.' She said: 'I feel very lucky. The thing is the reason why I still work as hard on every book is because I'm a control freak and I don't know why it all happened. 'I know so many authors who are better than I am, who work as hard as I do, who are equally committed and I feel like I would feel more secure and maybe sit back on my laurels if there was like a spreadsheet that said, ''This is the mathematical equation that equals the success of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.''' But because there isn't one, she said: 'Every time I release a book I'm convinced it's all going to go away.' She continued: 'When I speak to women who are really successful inevitably all of us say, ''I'm really lucky.'' 'And you know as a mother of a daughter I wonder what is she going to say if she gets to be really successful? 'I would wish for my daughter an ownership of her own power that I'm still negotiating. 'I think of myself as pretty bada** woman in spite of the cocktail dress and diamonds. I would like for her to be successful without an ''in spite of.'' A suburban St. Louis police officer who says she meant to use her stun gun but mistakenly grabbed her service revolver and shot a suspected shoplifter outside a grocery store was indicted on a second-degree assault charge Wednesday. St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell said Julia Crews, 37, is charged in the April 23 shooting in the parking lot of a Schnucks store in Ladue, one of Missouri's wealthiest communities. The woman who was shot was seriously injured, Bell said. The 33-year-old woman, who is black, remains in a hospital. While authorities said she will survive, her father, Robert Hall, said she is 'fighting for her life.' Authorities haven't released her name, but her family identified her as Ashley Hall. Police Officer Julia Crews, 37, was charged Wednesday with second-degree assault. Authorities say Crews meant to use a stun gun but accidentally shot her service revolver during a confrontation with a shoplifting suspect outside a grocery store. The 33-year-old woman who was shot, identified as Ashley Hall (right), remains hospitalized The April 23 shooting occurred on the parking lot of a Schnucks store in Ladue, Missouri She hasn't been charged in the shoplifting. Crews' attorney, Travis Noble, said after Bell's announcement that Crews meant to use her stun gun but mistakenly grabbed her service revolver and shot the woman once. Noble described the officer as 'devastated,' and called the shooting a case of 'weapon confusion' that didn't merit the criminal charge. 'The officer pulled what she believed to be her Taser,' Noble said. 'Tragic accident.' The shooting is among at least 13 since 2001 in which officers said they mixed up their guns and stun guns, University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist David Klinger said. He noted that police officers typically train by drawing their gun, not their stun gun, and that becomes habit. 'Occasionally, what will happen is when police officers move to draw the Taser, which has the same basic feel as a service pistol, they draw the wrong weapon,' Klinger said. Noble said that's exactly what happened to Crews. Karen Carter, center, the mother of Ashley Hall, a shoplifting suspect shot by a Ladue police officer last month, is interviewed alongside Hall's father, Robert Hall, Sr., Aigner Hall, right, Hall's sister, and family attorney William K. Holland at the St. Louis County Justice Center on Wednesday Carter said she forgives the officer, who could face up to seven years in prison if convicted Police were called to the store on a report of a shoplifting. The officer encountered one of two women accused of trying to leave with stolen merchandise. Police said the suspect apparently fell while trying to flee and was complaining about her injuries to the officer. The officer, who is white and a 13-year veteran of the department, called for an ambulance and tried to handcuff the suspect, Noble said. The woman broke free and began to run. Noble said the officer drew what she believed to be her stun gun and screamed ''Taser! Taser! Taser!' The officer realized her mistake as soon as the woman went down, he said. Bell said the shoplifting case is still under investigation. Bell was elected prosecutor of Missouri's largest county last year, upsetting longtime incumbent Bob McCulloch in the August Democratic primary and running unopposed in November. Carter said about Crews: 'I'm going to pray for her and pray for my daughter at the same time' McCulloch was prosecutor for 28 years and was perceived as a staunch supporter of police, a reputation heightened when he deferred to a grand jury after a white police officer fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, in 2014 in Ferguson. The grand jury declined to indict the officer, Darren Wilson, who resigned in November 2014. The shooting led to months of often-violent protests. Bell, who is black, was elected to the Ferguson City Council in April 2015. In his longshot bid to unseat McCulloch, Bell campaigned as a reformist, saying that while he supports police - his father also was an officer - he would hold those who act outside the law accountable. Klinger said most officers who mistake their gun for their stun gun aren't charged, typically because prosecutors deem the shootings accidents rather than acts of intentional harm. But Bell said those other officers were facing threats to their own safety. 'In this case, the officer's safety was not in question,' Bell said. St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell announces the second-degree assault charges against Ladue police officer Julia Crews, 37, during a press conference on Wednesday A prosecutor in April declined to charge a New Hope, Pennsylvania, police officer who shot inmate Brian Riling during a scuffle inside a police holding cell, ruling the shooting was accidental. The suspect was critically wounded but survived. Former Lawrence, Kansas, police officer Brindley Blood was charged with aggravated battery in 2018 after shooting a man attacking another officer. Charges were dropped in March after a judge ruled that Blood meant to use the stun gun and grabbed the wrong weapon. Akira Lewis, who is black, survived the shooting and accused the white officers of racial profiling. White volunteer sheriff's deputy Robert Bates fatally shot Eric Harris, an unarmed black man, in 2015 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while Harris was on the ground being restrained by other deputies during an illegal gun sale sting. Bates was convicted of manslaughter despite claiming he meant to use the stun gun. He served less than half of a four-year sentence before being paroled. In the Ladue case, the mother of the woman who was shot said she forgives the officer, who could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. 'I'm going to pray for her and pray for my daughter at the same time,' Karen Carter said. Wade Ridley, pictured, confessed to attacking Mary Kay Beckman and killing Anne Simenson after police arrested him After Mary Kay Beckmans longtime partner died, she turned to a typical source to find love again: dating apps. It was a decision that almost cost Beckman her life. Wade Ridley, a man she met through Match.com and dated very briefly, tracked her down three months after they broke up and stabbed her ten times until his knife broke. Beckmans brush with death is part of an upcoming episode, Dating App Horrors: The Untold Story, on the A&E Network, airing on Thursday, May 2. We only knew each other for 10 days so why, she said, tearing up to the shows Elizabeth Vargas, Its hard to comprehend.' Beckman, a real estate agent in Las Vegas, said that after her partner died in 2010 that Everybody said go on Match.com - thats how I got in online dating. She said Match.coms advertising about love, marriage and happiness was appealing. She was on the site for a few days when Beckman got a suggestion to wink, encouraging her to contact Ridley. In 2010, Mary Kay Beckman, pictured, lost her longtime partner and decided to try dating apps. She went on Match.com and through the site met Wade Ridley. They dated very briefly, Beckman ended it and moved on, thinking that Ridley did the same. Three months later on January 21, 2011, he attacked her, stabbing her 10 times They talked via the site, and met up a few days later. Beckman said she was excited but careful: she had googled Ridley but hadnt found out much, and told her girlfriends where she was going. I thought he was nice-looking, she recalled of their first date, adding that he looked like his profile picture. So I was impressed. They met up a few more times, but Beckman didnt like that he was jealous. She later text him and said: This isnt working for me,' according to the show. While Ridley texted back a few times, Beckman did not and moved on, figuring that he did the same. Three months later on the night of January 21, 2011, Beckman was attacked outside her home. I dont remember a thing, she told Vargas. He stabbed me with a butcher knife, she said. He stabbed you ten times until the knife broke, Vargas said. Until the knife broke, Beckman said. Then he started stomping on my head. Anne Simenson, pictured, also met Wade Ridley on Match.com While Beckman was in the hospital, the prosecutor who handled the case, Elizabeth Mercer, said that initially they didnt know who attacked her. Whod think someone would do something like that after a seven, 10 day relationship, Mercer said. In February 2011 - weeks after Beckman was attacked, the Phoenix police were looking for Ridley in connection to a murder of Anne Simenson, who was killed with a machete and he was arrested in Las Vegas. Simenson had also met Ridley on Match.com. Paul Dalton, a now retired detective with the Phoenix Police Department, said Ridley had drawn up a kill list'. Simenson, Beckman, his ex-wife and his ex-wifes boyfriend were on the list. 'You kind of figure after three years of breaking up with somebody, you would move on but this guy did not.' He said Simenson's murder was was shocking. 'It was up close and personal. Theres a lot of stab wounds involved. You dont see a lot of machete murders anywhere, he said. Dalton said that after he read Ridley his rights, he knew Ridley was going to tell us everything, and, he did confess to Simensons murder and Beckman's attack. He told us how he broke into the house. He just waits for Anne and it went on from there. An episode of the A&E Network series, 'The Untold Story,' on dating app horrors airs on Thursday, May 2 Mary Kay Beckman, above, was in and out of hospitals for months to recover from being attacked and stabbed 10 times by a man she met on Match.com and dated very briefly. In early 2013, she sued Match.com for $10 million in damages. Elizabeth Vargas of 'The Untold Story' said on an upcoming episode that at every stage of this five-year legal battle, the courts have ruled in favor of Match.com On the police video of the interview, Ridley said he was angry, and then I just went into a rage. I went and grabbed one of her butcher knives People that Ive hurt were people that had hurt me first. My brain just blew up. I have no idea what happened to her. I didnt know if she lived. I dont know if she died. We met on Match.com like Annie. I wanted her to pay for her attitude whether it was death or incapacitation or whatever.' Mercer, the prosecutor, said that Ridleys statements were disturbing. He was very much a victim in his own world. You honestly got the feeling that he was incapable of taking any personal responsibility for what hed done He knew what he was doing was wrong. Initially, authorities did not know who had attacked Beckman that night. It would take another tragic incident for the police to figure out that Ridley was behind what happened. Above, Elizabeth Vargas is seen interviewing someone for an upcoming episode, Dating App Horrors: The Untold Story, on the A&E Network Ridley, who was diagnosed as bipolar, had a prior conviction of exhibiting a deadly weapon while resisting arrest and had also been arrested for assault, according to the show. For Beckman's attack, he was charged with attempted murder and robbery, waived his right to a trial, and the judge sentenced him to 28 to 70 years in prison. He died in prison in May 2012 in an apparent suicide, officials told the Phoenix New Times. Beckman spent months recovering from the attack, and wanted to know why Match.com had suggested Ridley to her in the first place. In early 2013, she sued Match.com for $10 million in damages. Her attorney Marc Saggese told Vargas: There needs to be accountability. Just because these companies are so powerful and they reach so many millions of people that theyve got to be regulated. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 is a law that offers broad legal protections to internet companies, Vargas said. It provides liability protection for internet platforms. For example, if you post something on Facebook that someone considers defamatory, you can be sued but not Facebook. Kelly Neagle, left, shows an email that she sent to OkCupid to Elizabeth Vargas of A&E's 'The Untold Story.' Neagle said on the show that she was raped by a man she met through OkCupid, and afterwards wrote the site about a man with the user name Tllguy11 Vargas said that at every stage of this five-year legal battle, the courts have ruled in favor of Match.com, and that the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear the case. Devin Hartman, pictured, was convicted of rape and aggravated sodomy in December 2015, and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, according to Fox 5 Atlanta The Match Group declined to be interviewed or to answer questions, according to the show, and provided a statement to 'The Untold Story' that said it takes the safety, security and well-being of our users very seriously we consider it our top priority. In addition, the Match Group spends millions of dollars annually to prevent, monitor and remove people who engage in inappropriate behavior from our apps.' The show also looks at the case of Devin Hartman, a married man who used an alias and different user names on OkCupid to meet women. He was convicted of rape in late 2015 and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. Kelly Neagle said on the show that Hartman raped her. 'Online dating is unfortunately a predators playground,' she said. Because they can hide behind the computer... So easy for predators to find their victims through online dating. Both Match.com and OkCupid, as well as several other dating apps like Tinder and PlentyofFish, are owned by the Match Group. It reported revenue of $1.7 billion in 2018, according to the show. In 2018, 33.9 million Americans were using these apps, with Match.com the most popular, followed by Tinder and then PlentyofFish, now POF, according to the website Statista. A Texas grand jury indicted a suburban Dallas police officer Wednesday on a charge of criminally negligent homicide for fatally shooting a black man during a traffic stop last year. The Tarrant County grand jury indicted Arlington Officer Bau Tran eight months after he shot 24-year-old O'Shae Terry in the Dallas suburb. Tran shot Terry on September 1 after another officer pulled the Forest Hill resident over on a registration violation. Arlington Officer Bau Tran, (left), was charged with homicide eight months after he shot 24-year-old O'Shae Terry (right) in the Dallas suburb after he was pulled over by another officer on a parking violation After talking for several minutes, body camera footage shows Tran grabbing the passenger-side window of the SUV Terry was driving as it begins to roll up. The officer stepped on the vehicle's running board as it started to move, pointed his gun into the SUV and fired multiple shots. Terry later died at a hospital. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Terry's estate, said the indictment was 'a huge relief' for his family but also less than they had hoped for. 'We are certainly happy that there will be a chance for some form of justice in this case,' Merritt told The Associated Press. 'But if anyone else had done this it would have been murder.' Criminally negligent homicide is a felony and a conviction can lead to a sentence of 180 days to two years in state jail. Tran was placed on restricted duty following the shooting. He was put on leave Wednesday until the administrative investigation into the incident is finished in the coming weeks, said Arlington Lt. Christopher Cook. Tran's attorney, Randall Moore, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moore has maintained that his client's actions were legal and taken to protect the public. Police body camera shows an officer talking to O'Shae Terry, (front right), after stopping him for a vehicle registration violation, in Arlington, as a second officer, Bau Tran, (background left), looks in from the passenger side window Police body camera video provided shows Officer Bau Tran, who came to help another officer on a traffic stop in Arlington, point his gun into a moving vehicle as the SUV's windows roll up and the vehicle moves forward Arlington police said after the shooting that officers found a gun, more than a pound of marijuana and ecstasy inside the vehicle. The passenger in the SUV, Terrence Harmon, told WFAA that he just wanted Tran to stop shooting. 'It's on my mind, and I see it over and over and over. I can't wash it away.' Harmon said he testified in front of the grand jury about the shooting. Attorneys for Terry's family said he was a key part of their decision to indict. 'We're thankful Terrence is still alive,' attorney Daryl Washington said. 'If there were no witnesses who were here, this process could have gone a whole lot different.' Terry was pulled over on a registration violation by another officer in September and was with his friend Terrence Harmon who was riding in the passenger seat Terry's family had called for Tran to be fired immediately after the shooting. His mother Sherley Woods told WFAA: 'I feel that his life has been taken for no reason. 'No family, no mother or father should have to go through anything like this concerning their child.' Arlington Police Department said on Wednesday that it should be concluding its administrative investigation into the matter in the next few weeks. In a statement APD said: 'The Grand Jurys decision, irrespective of the outcome, is viewed as an additional factual piece of information to consider by those responsible for the administrative investigation of this incident.' Terry's mother Sherley Woods, (pictured), had called for Tran to be fired immediately after the shooting The department claimed that administrative investigations 'can take a substantial amount of time to complete based upon the complexities of the case and the departments desire to ensure all relevant evidence is obtained as part of the administrative investigation.' It added: 'Additionally, the department is dedicated to ensuring that due process is afforded to all parties throughout the investigation.' The indictment marks a rare criminal prosecution of a police officer in the historically conservative North Texas county. It could draw greater attention to a case that was largely overshadowed by another in the same month in which a white Dallas police officer fatally shot a black man in his own apartment. The mother of a bus driver who pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl but received no jail time has broken her silence exclusively to DailyMail.com to defend her son who she says is being portrayed as a monster. Shane Piche was sentenced to 10 years probation and ordered to register as a Level 1 sex offender this week after pleading guilty to third-degree rape in February. The 26-year-old was working as a bus driver for Watertown City School District in upstate New York when he met the teenage victim about two weeks before the end of the school year in 2018. Piche pleaded guilty after he was accused of 'maintaining communication' over social media with the girl and drinking alcohol with her and other minors before having sex with her at his grandmother's home, where he was living at the time. His mother, who asked not to be named because of death threats her family has been receiving, defended her son's character and told DailyMail.com of her 'complete shock' of what happened. Shane Piche pleaded guilty to third-degree rape of a 14-year-old girl he met while working as a bus driver in Watertown, New York. The 26-year-old received no jail time and was sentenced to 10 years probation, leading to national outcry. His mother, who asked not to be named because of death threats her family has been receiving, defended her son's character to DailyMail.com Piche was accused of 'maintaining communication' over social media with the victim, giving her gifts and drinking alcohol with her before having sex with her. His mother said he broke down in tears when he told her he was under investigation last September, leaving her in 'complete utter shock,' she said Piche's mother said he broke down in tears when he told her he was under investigation last September, leaving her in 'complete shock.' She said: 'It's not him. It's hard to comprehend or understand. It's so unlike him.' But, she added: 'I support him. He's not the monster he's portrayed to be. There is zero chance of him re-offending. 'Shane has always been a good kid and went from never even having a ticket to a felon in the blink of an eye. 'He has always been too nice, too trusting and a bit gullible.' I support him. He's not the monster he's portrayed to be. There is zero chance of him re-offending. Piche's mother didn't want to get into the details of how the two got to know each other, but clarified that Piche was only working as a bus driver on the route the 14-year-old was on for fewer than two weeks before the school year ended. Piche's mother added: 'Shane took responsibility for his actions. He fully cooperated, turned himself in and has accepted it all. 'He wasn't arrested. He didn't have to be hunted down.' 'While it's still wrong in the law - it happens a lot in this area, unfortunately.' Piche's mother wanted to make clear that she is no way blaming the victim for what happened, saying: 'Shane was the adult and had taken responsibility for that fact.' Watertown is about 70 miles north of Syracuse and has a population of around 25,700 people. Piche's mother said while they were aware the news of Piche's conviction would make the news locally, they weren't expecting for it to blow up nationally. Piche's mother didn't want to get into the details of how the two got to know each other, but clarified that Piche was only working as a bus driver on the route the 14-year-old was on for fewer than two weeks and then the school year ended She said: 'It's been very hard. As a mother, you want to protect [your child] but you can't always. This whole thing has been very difficult for my whole family. 'None of us are the type to talk bad about other people but Shane never got the chance to talk, to explain himself. 'He never got to say anything or make a statement. All he talked to was the lawyer. It's been very upsetting for him.' Piche's mother said her son is currently staying at an undisclosed location due to the death threats he's been receiving. Additionally, she said their family, including her elderly mother, has been bombarded with death threats over the phone. While there was outcry over Piche not receiving any jail time, his mother said he's not getting off easy. She said: 'It's not like he's free. He's still going to be a felon. He still has to see a counselor. 'He can't leave our county. It's going to be hard for him to get a job. It's not going to be easy.' Piche 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. While there was outcry over Piche not receiving any jail time, his mother said he's not getting off easy. She said: 'It's not like he's free. He's still going to be a felon.' There also has been a petition launched to have Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky (pictured), who sentenced Piche, removed Mr. Piche's lawyer, Eric T. Swartz told WWNY: 'He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. 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.' There also has been a petition launched to have Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky, who sentenced Piche, removed. So far more than 62,000 people have signed the online petition, which in part reads: 'Judge McClusky cannot be trusted to protect survivors of sexual assault, and he needs to be removed from the bench.' The maximum sentence for a third-degree rape is 16 months to four years in prison but Justice McClusky was 'well within' the sentencing range for the negotiated plea, a spokesman for the Unified Court System said. He added: '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.' A victim impact statement given 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. A heavily-tattooed man who filmed himself confronting nightclub boss John Ibrahim, only to be arrested over the run-in, has complained about only being fed two Big Mac meals while in custody. Mohamad 'Butch' Haochar was granted bail at Burwood Local Court on Wednesday, a day after he was charged over 'indecent' posts on his personal Facebook page. The 37-year-old came to the attention of police after posting the video of him at the front of Mr Ibrahim's clifftop mansion, demanding the Kings Cross identity let him in. Haochar was held in police custody for more than 24 hours before being granted bail and told media outside court he was 'hungry' after only eating McDonald's twice in that time. Scroll down for video Mohamad 'Butch' Haochar (pictured) leaves Burwood Local Court on Wednesday after a brief hearing on charges of 'publish indecent article' relating to social media posts he allegedly made about John Ibrahim, Danny Green, Bassam Hamzy and Bilal Hamzy Haochar was arrested on Tuesday before being released on bail 24 hours later. He claimed outside court that he was 'hungry' after only being fed two Big Mac meals during his time in custody 'I'm hungry, I haven't eaten in 24 hours, yeah?' Haochar aggressively told media. 'I've had 24 hours (in custody) and I've only had two Big Mac meals, can I just be left alone please.' Haochar is facing four counts of publish indecent article after he made a series of rambling videos about Mr Ibrahim, champion boxer Danny Green and NSW criminal cousins Bassam and Bilal Hamzy. He was granted strict bail during a brief court appearance on Wednesday, including being banned from posting about the four men on social media. Haochar, who wore a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs singlet in court, was also told by Magistrate Lisa Stapleton that he could not go within 100 metres of Mr Ibrahim's mansion. It came after the nightclub kingpin released his own video from his interaction with the heavily-tattooed man on Saturday. Haochar - who has 'execution', '187' and a grenade inked on his forehead - arrived at Mr Ibrahim's home in Dover Heights, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, and yelled loudly to the nightclub boss: 'John, Habib, it's me, Butch.' 'Let's see if he answers...come on, John,' he can be heard saying in the video. 'He's not answering, f***.' Come on, John, answer it's me,' he says becoming visibly frustrated. But when Ibrahim finally came to the door, Haochar stopped recording. Haochar (pictured) is seen approaching the 48-year-old, greeting him by extending his hand, which Ibrahim swats away Haochar posted a video of himself arriving at the home of Mr Ibrahim (right, pictured with his girlfriend Sarah Budge) to Facebook on Saturday. Mr Ibrahim later released different footage showing him refusing to shake Haochar's hand and turning the heavily-tattooed man away Haochar's lawyer Michael Ayache (pictured) told the court on Wednesday that all available footage showed there was 'no connotation of violence' in the interaction between his client and Mr Ibrahim Footage of what happened next, however, was later shared by Ibrahim who captured the moment on his home security camera. Haochar is seen approaching the 48-year-old, greeting him with an extended hand which Ibrahim swats away. During the confrontation, which is not audible, Ibrahim seems calm and collected while speaking to Haochar in tracksuit pants and sandals. Seconds later, Haochar appears to be dismissed and is seen walking away quietly. Haochar claimed he was not 'embarrassed' by the video and that he and Mr Ibrahim had a long history as friends. 'It's all right, I don't mind that,' he said of Mr Ibrahim's video. 'It comes under the buddies act. We go way back me and John (sic).' His lawyer Michael Ayache told the court on Wednesday that all available footage showed there was 'no connotation of violence' in the interaction between his client and Mr Ibrahim. 'The people in John Ibrahim's home are filming CCTV of John and my client interacting,' Mr Ayache said. 'It certainly doesn't have connotation of violence to it because he interacts with John. While John doesn't shake his hand, it's not intimidating.' Mohamed 'Butch' Haochar, 37, was arrested at Ryde Police Station in Sydney's west on Tuesday morning Hamzy (pictured) is a convicted killer who was jailed in 1998 over the shooting murder of Kris Toumazis outside a Sydney nightclub Danny Green (pictured) is an Australian professional boxer who has enjoyed a successful career in the ring with numerous titles tucked under his belt Who are Danny Green and Bassam Hamzy? Bassam Hamzy is a convicted killer who was sentenced to jail in 1998 over the shooting murder of Kris Toumazis outside a Sydney nightclub. He was also convicted for conspiring to murder a witness. While he was in Lithgow jail, Hamzy founded the notorious gang Brothers 4 Life in 2008. He is currently locked up at Goulburn's Supermax prison, about 195km south-west of Sydney. Danny Green is an Australian professional boxer. He held the WBA light-heavyweight title between 2007 to 2008, the IBO Cruiseweight title in 2009 and 2013 and the WBC interim super-middleweight between 2003 and 2005. Advertisement The court heard that Haochar had been arrested on Tuesday and charged with four counts of 'publish indecent article'. The charges referred to several other Facebook posts Haochar had allegedly made which targetted Danny Green, Brothers 4 Life leader Bassam Hamzy and his cousin Bilal Hamzy. Court documents allege that one digitally altered photo Haochar had posted showed him allegedly threatening to execute the Hamzy's. 'The accused is pointing a firearm at the head of Bilal Hamzy, who is standing next to Bassam Hamzy,' Magistrate Stapleton told the court. As part of his bail conditions Haochar was ordered not to connect with Mr Ibrahim, Danny Green, or either of the Hamzy's. He was also ordered not to post about any of the four men on social media, and can not post anything on social media containing a weapon. Haochar is due to reappear in court May 20. A woman has been pictured driving to a train station with her wheelie bin still attached to her car. The driver was seen towing her bin from her four-wheel-drive on a busy road in Brisbane. The woman was on her way to the train station and had apparently forgotten to detach her bin before she left home. A woman drove to a train station with her wheelie bin still attached to her car The picture was posted on the ABC Brisbane Facebook page on Wednesday. The caption read: 'To the lady who forgot to offload her wheelie bin this morning at her driveway at cedar creek and instead took it for a drive to the train station.... don't worry we've all had one of those days.' The photo was taken by Steve Jones who reportedly caught up with the driver and told her the bin was still attached. 'Don't worry, folks. Steve tells us he and another motorist managed to eventually catch up to the driver and tell her about her predicament,' the post read. Thousands of people commented on the post saying they have made the same mistake. 'I can see how this would happen,' one wrote. 'Omg I could see me doing this,' added another. The parents of Stuart Kelly, who took his own life after his brother Thomas was killed in a one-punch attack which sparked NSW's contentious lockout laws, have revealed their 'greatest regret'. Ralph Kelly, 59 and wife Kathy, 56, reflected on the death of their sons in an interview with Women's Weekly. They said the death of Thomas, who as fatally coward-punched by Kieran Loveridge, 19, in Sydney's Kings Cross seven years ago, had a devastating effect on Stuart. 'It's clear to us now that Stuart was even more deeply affected than we knew,' Mr Kelly said. 'That is our greatest regret, that we didn't recognise the signs. 'In hindsight we can say that there were signs but we simply didn't see them for what they truly were.' The parents of student Stuart Kelly (pictured), 18, who took his own life after his brother Thomas, also 18, was fatally coward punched have revealed their 'greatest regret' Ralph and Kathy Kelly (pictured), 59, and 56, lost two sons in four years. They now have one surviving child Madeleine who is 23 Mrs Kelly felt she 'let her son down' and shared her husband's regrets. 'I don't think I experienced the same grief, the same intense feeling of grief, when Stuart died,' Mrs Kelly said. 'It took me a while to realise how I felt and for me to begin the grieving process again. 'Perhaps I let him down, but I have tried to make up for that since.' The parents have one remaining child, Madeleine, 23, who was motivated to study law after Thomas' killer was given a lenient sentence. Stuart and Thomas Kelly would be 21 and 25 respectively today if not for their untimely deaths. Stuart Kelly an advocate of lockout laws following Thomas's death, which his parents believe he was bullied for at the University of Sydney Stuart and Thomas Kelly (middle and right, respectively) would be 21 years old and 25 years old today, respectively, if not for their deaths. They are pictured with sister Madeleine (left) Stuart was 18 when his body was found in his car in Sydney's northern beaches after he drove there in the early hours of July 25, 2015. He was an advocate of the lockout laws following Thomas' death, and his parents believe that stance saw him bullied at the University of Sydney. His parents found him crying when they picked him up after spending one night at the university's St Paul's residential college just weeks before his death. 'I believe that he was assaulted, possibly sexually, this was something Stuart would never have recovered from,' Kathy Kelly said to the Sydney Morning Herald. Thomas was killed in a one-punch attack by Kieran Loveridge, 19, in Sydney's infamous Kings Cross suburb on July 7, 2012 Loveridge (pictured) is serving 14 years without parole with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years in prison for manslaughter and assault convictions Thomas was also 18 when he died after being attacked by Loveridge, 19, in Sydney's Kings Cross on July 7, 2012. Loveridge was initially sentenced to just six years in jail for manslaughter plus another 18 months for other assaults. His sentence was extended to 14 years with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years after an appeal by the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions. The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation was created by his parents to campaign for stricter alcohol laws and set up first aid points around the Sydney CBD to help people suffering from intoxication. Mrs Kelly told Women's Weekly they felt 'powerless' when they lost their two sons but the foundation was their 'way of taking back control'. The foundation's name will be changed to Stay Kind from July. 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 [https://advances.sciencemag.org] 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. 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." 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 regolith -- their 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 onboard 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." Please follow Astrobiology on Twitter. Cops believes two unidentified suspects are behind the violent shooting They got into an argument that escalated into gunfire They were reportedly out with friends when another group confronted them Authorities do not believe they were targeted for their profession as judges They were both elected into office in 2014 The judges who live in Charleston, Indiana, were visiting town for the Spring Judicial College conference that started Wednesday morning Jacobs was critically injured in the attack, Adams is listed as in stable condition Shooting took place at 3.20am in an Indianapolis White Castle parking lot Clark County Circuit Judges Brad Jacobs, 46, and Andrew Adams, 47, were injured in the shooting early Wednesday morning Two Indiana judges were shot in a shooting that broke out in a White Castle parking lot early Wednesday morning. Clark County Circuit Judges Brad Jacobs, 46, and Andrew Adams, 47, were injured in the shooting at 3.20am that unfolded in the fast food chain parking lot in downtown Indianapolis. Jacobs was critically injured in the attack and Adams is listed as in stable condition. The judges who live in Charleston, Indiana, were visiting town for the Spring Judicial College conference that started Wednesday morning. Authorities do not believe they were targeted for their profession as judges, according to Fox59. Witnesses say an argument with strangers took place that escalated into the shooting. Jacobs and Adams were the only injured victims in the shooting. Clark County Indiana Circuit Judges Brad Jacobs, 46, (left) and Andrew Adams, 47, (right) were injured in the shooting early Wednesday at an Indianapolis White Castle parking lot The shooting took place at 3.20am outside this downtown Indianapolis White Castle parking lot after they got into an argument with another group. That altercation turned physical and escalated into the shooting The two victims had been out with two other individuals visiting several downtown restaurant and bars, according to witness accounts. They went to a bar adjacent to the White Castle but it was closed. While outside the White Castle, a car pulled into the lot and parked and people from the vehicle exited and tried to enter the closed restaurant. The two groups exchanged words and a physical fight ensued, culminating in gunfire. Authorities are not sure what the two groups conversed about. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's chief believes two unidentified suspects are behind the violent shooting. 'They engaged in some sort of confrontation and two judges got shot so were still working through that. Were getting a lot of tips. Investigators feel comfortable theyll be able to resolve that,' IMPD chief Bryan Roach said. The judges who live in Charleston, Indiana, were visiting town for the Spring Judicial College conference that started Wednesday morning when the shooting took place. The White Castle parking lot pictured above Jacobs was critically injured in the attack and Adams is listed as in stable condition Authorities do not believe they were targeted for their profession as judges They were reportedly out with friends when another group confronted them and they got into a fight that escalated into gunfire Both judges were well known and respected in their fields. Both started as public defenders, were elected into office in 2014, and later worked as private criminal defense lawyers. The Indiana Supreme Court released a statement in light of the shootings. 'Two Clark County judicial officers attending an educational conference in Indianapolis were the victims of a shooting overnight. The judges are the Honorable Andrew Adams and the Honorable Bradley Jacobs, both have served the judicial branch since their election in 2014,' the statement read. 'Chief Justice Loretta Rush has visited with both judges and their families and expressed the support of the entire judicial branch, she said "Our judges across the state are heartbroken to learn of this violent act against our colleagues. 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,"' the statement continued. The White Castle shooting was the first of three shootings to unfold within four hours early Wednesday morning, leaving five people injured. Though the cases are not related, chief Roach says it sheds light on the citys issue with crime. A convicted sex offender has won his battle to stay in Australia after facing deportation due to his dark past. British citizen David Degning, 57, has spent the past 16 months in Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. He was set to be deported back to the United Kingdom after the Department of Home Affairs moved to have his visa revoked in 2016. Degning, who has lived in Australia for more than 50 years, has a long criminal history that included having sexual intercourse with a person with a cognitive impairment. British citizen David Degning (pictured), 57, has spent the past 16 months in Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre He was convicted in 2013 and given a 17-month suspended sentence and placed on a good behaviour bond. Degning has also previously faced drug, drinking-driving and assault charges. He was fighting to stay in the country, having spent the majority of his life in Australia where he has voting rights and Australian children. The Federal Court of Australia had dismissed his appeal to stay in the country in August last year but that decision was overturned on Tuesday on the grounds of procedural fairness. Two out of the three judges found Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton had unfairly cancelled the visa, ABC reported. Degning was released from the detention centre this week and has been reunited with his family on the New South Wales south coast. Degning's lawyer Stephen Blanks said his client was now considering claiming compensation. 'The whole idea that people with that level of connection to Australia can be deported on the most tenuous grounds when there is no cogent reasoning that they are a future risk to the Australian community is an extraordinary policy. Degning was fighting to stay in the country, having spent the majority of his life in Australia where he has voting rights and Australian children 'In reality, it's a policy to break up families. 'We have to deal with people who have chequered pasts in our community, we don't solve any problems by sending them overseas.' Degning's family had launched a petition, pleading to allow him to remain in Australia last year. He was described as a 'loving grandfather and pillar of the community'. Under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958, a person's visa may be refused or cancelled if they are considered to 'not be of good character'. The Federal Government has cracked down on visa holders since 2014, with 4,500 visas cancelled under the character provisions. The Department of Home Affairs targeted Degning for failing to declare a criminal history on a series of passenger cards in the 2000s. In his judgement summary, Chief Justice James Allsop said the department had not made its point clear and failed to give Degning an opportunity to respond. The Department of Home Affairs has been ordered to pay Mr Degning's legal costs. Legal marijuana smokers will soon be able to find lounges where they can light up in Las Vegas - but not in casinos, places serving alcohol, or the resort-lined Las Vegas Strip. The City Council approved new licenses by a 4-1 vote on Wednesday for what proponents dubbed 'social use venues' in the downtown and urban core of Nevada's sprawling casino playground. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the only City Council member to oppose the plan was Stavros Anthony, a retired Las Vegas police captain, while Mayor Carolyn Goodman abstained out of conflict of interest. Patrons smoke marijuana while sitting in a booth in the smoking lounge at Barbary Coast Dispensary in San Francisco The move answers a conundrum faced by adult tourists who have been able since July 2017 to buy marijuana for recreational use, but not consume it in public, in casinos or in hotel rooms. It adds Las Vegas to a list of U.S. cities allowing pot lounges, currently headed by San Francisco but also other California towns, places in Alaska, and Denver. The city ordnance says lounges must be sited at least 1,000 feet from casinos, schools and churches. The measure received police department support after a proposal to allow alcohol sales inside lounges was scrapped. People line up at the NuLeaf marijuana dispensary in Las Vegas. Legal marijuana smokers will soon be able to find lounges where they can light up in Las Vegas, but not in casinos, or in places serving alcohol, or on the resort-lined Las Vegas Strip The Nevada Gaming Commission has instructed casino license holders not to allow marijuana use on their properties. Colorado state clean air rules mean the Mile High City's two bring-your-own lounges don't allow pot smoking, but they do allow vaping. City spokesman Jace Radke said it could take several months for the 20 or so licensed recreational marijuana sales dispensaries in Las Vegas to get permits to open hookah-style consumption lounges. Lawmakers in surrounding Clark County who regulate the neon-lit Strip have considered allowing lounges but decided in February to await rules from the state. A cashier rings up a sale of several pots of marijuana at the Essence cannabis dispensary in Las Vegas A customer shops for a strain of marijuana dubbed 'Rude Boi OG' (original gangster) at the Exhale Nevada dispensary in Las Vegas Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, is proposing the state Legislature create a Cannabis Compliance Board to oversee the industry. The governor's spokeswoman, Helen Kalla, said Wednesday that consumption lounges would be an issue for the board to consider. State gaming regulators opposed the measure because of concerns about federal drug laws. Lounges may be able to open as close as next-door to dispensaries, Radke said. A Liberal candidate has denied advocating the genital mutilation of Muslim women and selling them as slaves. The comments were included in the Facebook posts of Jessica Whelan, a candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons, The Mercury reported. However Ms. Whelan denied she made the posts and called for an investigation into who did so under her name. The posts, which appeared under a video purporting to show 'feminists in America begging for Sharia Law', was made from a profile with Ms Whelan's name and photo. Candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons, Jessica Whelan (pictured) allegedly wrote in Facebook comment women who supported Islam should be mutilated and sold as slaves 'Round them up Donald, cut their clitoris' (sic) off & sell them to Muslims in Muslim countries & cancel their passports. You'll make a mint,' the message allegedly stated. Another Facebook comment, which appeared alongside Ms Whelan's profile, allegedly stated they (Muslims) should not be allowed to live in Australia. 'Given that your profile states you went to College at 'Never lose hope in ALLAH'.. I hope you're bloody NOT on our housing waiting list. You shouldn't even be in Australia if you believe in ALLAH!' the message allegedly stated. A spokesperson for Ms Whelan said she strongly denies making the comments and insists she was being set up, and will refer the matter to the authorities. 'The comment on the post about 'feminists in America' appears to be have been digitally manipulated,' the spokesperson said. Julie Collins, the sitting Labor member for another Tasmanian seat in Franklin, called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to drop Ms Whelan as a candidate over the posts. The comment, which appeared on a video purporting to show 'feminists in America begging for Sharia Law', was made from a profile with Ms Whelan's name and photo 'This is a test of Scott Morrison's leadership - he must sack his disgraced candidate for Lyons,' Ms Collins said. Coalition frontbencher David Littleproud said Ms Whelan deserves due process from the party. 'I'm not privy to those conversations or investigations but I'm sure that they are being done in a thorough way,' Mr Littleproud told ABC TV on Thursday. The minister said only a minority of Australians hold the views espoused in the posts. Another Facebook comment, which appeared alongside Ms Whelan's (pictured) profile, allegedly stated they (Muslims) should not be allowed to live in Australia Coalition frontbencher David Littleproud said Ms Whelan (pictured) deserves due process from the party 'They're not views that I hold in any way, shape or form, and I don't think any, or the majority of Australians, would.' Ms Whelan is the latest of a string of candidates at the federal election to be in hot water over online posts. On Wednesday, two Liberal candidates were dumped over such posts - one for homophobic remarks and the other for anti-Islam rant. A Labor candidate also apologised for sharing a rape joke and pornographic material on his Facebook page in 2012. Franklin has been a Labor seat since winning it back from the Liberal Party in 1993. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ms Whelan for comment. Posters featuring the face of Tony Abbott with an offensive word have been plastered across Sydney. The posters show Mr Abbott with the words 'c**t' and 'Pell' - a reference to the disgraced Cardinal George Pell - on his forehead, and have been put on display in the MP's Warringah electorate and other locations. They were posted near busy traffic spots during rush hour on Thursday morning. Police said they are aware of the signs. Mr Abbott responded to the posters, saying they were 'not about me, it's about the contest'. Posters featuring the face of Tony Abbott with an offensive word have been plastered across Sydney (pictured) Supporters of Mr Abbott have made abusive phone calls to a day care centre which had a poster stuck on its wall, forcing staff to break down in tears (pictured) 'Yes it's a local contest but it's going to have enormous ramifications for our country,' he told Sky News. 'We know the election is tight. What that means is a result here in Warringah could critically impact the result in Canberra.' Supporters of Mr Abbott have made abusive phone calls to a day care centre which had a poster stuck on its wall, forcing staff to break down in tears. Rita's Family Day Care chief executive Rita Totino said her business did not put the poster up. 'Whoever did put it up are disgusting and to think that it is appropriate to put it up, especially at a childcare centre is not OK and wasn't a smart idea,' Mrs Totino told the Daily Telegraph. 'We have taken the posters down and it its appalling. Weve had phone calls from angry locals telling us how bad we are for putting it up, but we never had anything to do with it. 'I have staff now in tears and it's absurd because it has nothing to do with us.' Mrs Totino said she called police after seeing the poster and was told to take it down immediately. A poster featuring Mr Abbott was also seen outside another day care centre in Seaforth. Police were seen taking down one of the signs on a wall in Mosman (pictured) Similar posters were also seen in the city's Inner West in Enmore and Marrickville, featuring the words 'coal lobby' and 'no' on the MP's face (pictured) Similar posters were also seen in the city's Inner West in Enmore and Marrickville, featuring the words 'coal lobby' and 'no' on the MP's face. One of the posters was plastered on Military Road near the Spit Bridge, a busy thoroughfare connecting the Northern Beaches and the North Shore. Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the posters were a 'disgrace'. 'I'm confident that most Australians don't buy into this stuff, and they shouldn't,' he told 2GB. Facebook has been accused of giving paedophiles and terrorists 'a place to hide' after it unveiled plans to boost privacy on Facebook messenger. Founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that it will introduce 'end to end encryption' on the platform, so that it offers the same level of privacy as its WhatsApp service. Speaking at Facebook's F8 developers' conference in San Jose, he boasted that the change would offer users 'intimate spaces' where they can speak with 'complete confidence' that their communications will remain private'. Developers at the F8 developer conference were also told how they could plan things like 'political protests' on encrypted platforms, safe from inspection by anyone, including governments of Facebook itself. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the F8 Facebook Developers conference on Tuesday in San Jose, California Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook speaks during the keynote F8 Facebook Developer Conference at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California on Tuesday But yesterday, the plans met with a backlash from terror and child sex abuse experts who lambasted Mr Zuckerberg for his 'cavalier' attitude to technology which will make people 'less safe'. Andy Burrows, NSPCC associate head of child safety online, said: 'Facebook is showing a complete disregard for children's safety with this move. 'Mark Zuckerberg has ploughed ahead despite openly acknowledging that it will mean children will be less safe. This is because Facebook cannot access these messages to provide evidence to police in criminal cases. 'It gives groomers a place to hide while they target children. 'This cavalier attitude can only be stemmed by bringing in an independent regulator that will hold tech companies to account, with tough criminal sanctions facing those that fail in their duty of care to children.' Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, branded the move to step up encryption on Facebook messenger as 'an act of total irresponsibility'. Founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that it will introduce 'end to end encryption' on the platform, so that it offers the same level of privacy as its WhatsApp service. An attendee takes a photograph of a sign during Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose, California 'It is a cynical marketing ploy designed to pull in younger people, and yet it is precisely younger people who are most at risk of being drawn into terrorism. It sounds appealing but it increases the risk and danger. 'What it allows is hidden network-building. This allows people with wicked intent to fish for recruits and fish for victims without fear of anyone finding out.' Terror experts have previously raised fears that encrypted platforms like Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service, or its rival Telegram, give would-be terrorists with a platform where they can make plans. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg But yesterday they warned that the problem could become even worse on Facebook messenger, because the social media platform brings together groups of people who may not already know each other in real life. 'Zuckerberg is offering groups of people, which could be terrorist networks, an opportunity to communicate with each other without having an opportunity to decrypt messages. It makes it easier for terrorists Islamists or other extremists on the far right as well to organise themselves,' Mr Glees added. End to end encryption is supposed to make it impossible for anyone to read a message, other than the person who sent it and its intended recipients. Instead of being sent as plain text, the message is scrambled as a meaningless series of digits. It can only be unscrambled using a key, which is held by the sender and the recipients. That key is only useful for a short time, meaning that it cannot be hijacked and used again by someone who wants to intercept the messages. Ami Vora, WhatsApp's vice president of product management, boasted at the F8 conference that its end to end encryption ensures 'only the sender and the receiver of a message can see its content'. 'And that's not just true for text, audio, video, location sharing are all end to end encrypted. So no one sees your content, not hackers, not governments, not even us.' Mr Zuckerberg added that social media should offer 'simple intimate spaces where you have complete confidence that what you say and do is private and have clear control over who you are communicating with.' 'You shouldn't have to worry that what you say or share is going to come back to hurt you later,' he said. Anjelica Huston claims Oprah Winfrey has held a grudge against her since the talk show queen lost out to her for the best supporting actress Oscar in 1986. She never had me on her show, ever, Huston told Vulture. She wont talk to me. Huston won the Academy Award for her role in Prizzis Honor, a film directed by her father, John Huston. Her co-star in the movie, Jack Nicholson, was also her boyfriend at the time. Huston, her father, and Nicholson were nominated for Academy Awards, but Anjelica was the only winner. Winfrey earned a nomination for her role in The Color Purple, which was also her film debut. Anjelica Huston (left) says she has been snubbed by Oprah Winfrey (right) ever since Huston won the best supporting actress Oscar in 1986, beating Winfrey Huston won the Academy Award for her role in Prizzis Honor, a film directed by her father, John Huston. She is seen above with the statue in 1986 She says she only had one encounter with Winfrey. The only encounter Ive had with Oprah was when I was at a party for the Academy Awards, a private residence, Huston says. I was talking to Clint Eastwood, and she literally came between us with her back to me. So all of the sudden I was confronted with the back of Oprahs head. When asked if she believes Oprah has snubbed her over the Oscar, Huston replied: Well, nobody else would dislike me so much as to literally, physically come in between the person I was talking with that way. But I admire Oprah. God knows, shes made some big steps. Winfrey did not comment on Hustons claims. Interestingly enough, The Color Purple, which was directed by Steven Spielberg, was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture, best actress, and best supporting actress, yet did not win in any category. Whoopi Goldberg did not win the best actress Oscar, though she did win the Golden Globe for her work on the film. The Color Purple was a film adaptation of the novel by Alice Walker. It tells the story of a young African American girl (played by Goldberg) who suffers abuse in early 20th century in rural Georgia but is helped by two female companions. Huston (right) won for her role in Prizzi's Honor. She played the girlfriend of her real-life boyfriend at the time, Jack Nicholson Winfrey was nominated for best supporting actor for her role in The Color Purple Prizzis Honor is a comedy-drama starring Nicholson, Huston, and Kathleen Turner. Nicholson plays a mob hit man who dumps his longtime girlfriend (Huston) to pursue a different woman, played by Turner. In one of the few instances in which Winfrey has talked about that Oscar night in 1986, she said she had a wardrobe malfunction. When I went to the Oscars, it was one of the most horrible nights of my life, she told Jimmy Kimmel in 2012. She said she needed to take her dress back to get it altered. I had used Dolly Partons dressmaker, Winfrey told Kimmel. And hed come over to [do] some fitting earlier in the day and then said, I need to take it back. When he brought it back, I didnt try it on. So when I went to put it on half an hour before going to the Oscars, it didnt fit. I couldnt get it up over my hips. So my hairdresser had to lay me on the floor and push my butt down and zip and so I rode to the Oscars, really no exaggeration, planked in the back of a limousine. Labor leader Bill Shorten, who is favourite to become Prime Minister later this month, has again refused to say how much Labor's climate change policy will cost the economy. The Opposition Leader was asked several times on the ABC's 7.30 program about his plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 - which is much more ambitious than the government's 28 per cent goal. Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy will come at a high price but Mr Shorten has repeatedly declined to nominate a figure. Scroll down for video Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was asked, several times, on the ABC's 7.30 program about his plan to cut carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 but he refused to specify a cost 'I'm not going to get caught up in this government game of gotcha when you've got to invent a number which you can't possibly,' he told the ABC on Wednesday. Leigh Sales, the host of 7.30, suggested there must be a short-term hit to Australia's gross domestic product and called on Mr Shorten to be frank about the cost. 'I accept your position that there's a long-term benefit,' she said. 'What I'm asking you to do is to square with the voters about exactly what the short-term cost is of getting to that position.' Leigh Sales, the host of 7.30, suggested there would be a short-term effect on Australia's gross domestic product and called on Mr Shorten to be frank about the cost Hours after that interview, BAEconomics released modelling showing Labor's climate change plan would cost the economy $264billion. How much will Labor's climate plan cost you? BAEconomics has modeled Labor's plan to reduce carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. It calculated the Opposition's climate change plan could cost the economy between $264billion and $542billion. The hit to gross domestic product, between 2021 and 2030, will be dependent on the extent to which a Labor government allows international emissions trading permits to be included in the carbon abatement target. Labor's emission reduction target is based on the Paris Agreement of 2015, and is designed to cut carbon pollution from 563 megatonnes to 333 megatonnes by 2030. A change in electricity generation will drive the biggest reduction in carbon emissions, followed by industrial production and transport. Source: BAEconomics report, 'Economic consequences of Labors Climate Change Action Plan' released on May 1, 2019 Advertisement Dr Brian Fisher, the managing director of the Canberra-based consultancy, told Daily Mail Australia the 'economic consequences' would depend on a future government's willingness to accept international emissions trading permits. 'The impacts could be very severe,' he said. BAEconomics released another report in March estimating Labor's climate plan would cost 336,000 jobs and cause an eight per cent plunge in lost wages by 2030. In the 7.30 interview on Wednesday night, Mr Shorten argued no action on tackling climate change would cost more in the long-run. 'You assume there is no cost to doing nothing and there is,' he said. 'If you don't change, then the cost will be far greater than any initial investments. 'If you're asking me to specify what a particular company and a particular factory will have to do, I can't do that, nor could you, nor can the government.' On Thursday, Labor unveiled a $75million plan to create 70,000 renewable energy jobs. The Opposition is also vowing to have 50 per cent of Australia's energy come from renewal sources by 2030. In mid-April, Mr Shorten engaged in a tense stand-off with Channel 10 reporter Jonathan Lea, who repeatedly asked him to provide detail the economic effects of Labor's plan to reduce carbon emissions by 45 per cent within 11 years. A fortnight ago, 10 News First reporter Jonathan Lea (pictured) became frustrated when Mr Shorten declined to provide detail on Labor's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions A local Coles supermarket has been accused of wasting fresh food by a resident who claims he sees six trolley loads of bread chucked into the bin every day. Raphael Brous, from Melbourne, shared pictures of the trolleys loaded with fresh bread, baguettes and pastries outside Coles Balaclava in St Kilda East at about 8am on Wednesday. Mr Brous, who lives locally, claims the sighting is not a one-off incident as he sees the loaded trolleys every morning. A local Coles supermarket has been accused of wasting fresh food by a resident who claims she sees six trolley loads of bread chucked into the bin every day Mr Brous, who lives locally, claims the sighting is not a one off incident as he sees the loaded trolleys and dumpsters packed with food every morning 'Here is one of this morning's six trolleys of untouched gourmet bread. Soft, sweet and not a spot of mould!' he wrote on Facebook. Mr Brous described the photos as 'obscene'. The Facebook post has since been inundated with comments from concerned residents. 'Give it to the homeless,' one person commented. 'This is just one Coles. Imagine how much is being dumped in all the branches and what about Woolies,' wrote another. Others suggested the large amount of leftovers was simply a reflection of consumer demand. Raphael Brous, from Melbourne, shared pictures of the trolleys loaded with fresh bread, baguettes and pastries outside Coles Balaclava in St Kilda East at about 8am on Wednesday Mr Brous described the photos as 'obscene' and questioned whether the spotting was indicative of the supermarket chain as a whole or just his local store 'This is a shame but it is us the consumers who have made this issue, by not wanting to see understocked shelves and more range of food,' one person wrote. A Coles spokeswoman said the major supermarket was committed to redistributing unsold food to community organisations. 'Coles is committed to supporting local communities and we currently have 95 per cent of our supermarkets and 100 per cent of our distribution centres connected to either SecondBite or FoodBank,' she said. 'These relationships facilitate the supply to 1,300 different community organisations.' In 2018, the supermarket chain donated the equivalent of over 20million meals to the two charities. The Coles Balaclava store has donated 7,567 kilograms to SecondBite, equivalent of over 15,000 meals, since the beginning of the year. The store also has an organic waste bin where it has diverted over 6,000 kilograms of food waste to local facilities for composting, the spokeswoman said. A Coles spokeswoman said the major supermarket was committed to providing unsold food to community organisations The spokeswoman said Coles was looking for solutions to ensure their unsold food was always redistributed The spokeswoman said Coles was looking for solutions to ensure their unsold food was always redistributed. 'Food rescue has first priority for unsold, edible food from our stores, with the food rescue organisations preference being fresh and grocery products,' the spokeswoman said. 'We are developing a range of options in cases where they cannot take bread, such as working with farmers and stock feed providers to create animal feed. 'We are also building relationships with composting and waste-to-energy facilities to take organic waste, not suitable for our charity partners, to divert it from landfill. Coles has also committed to halve food waste in their supermarkets by 2020 by donating unsold edible food to people most in need and diverting other food waste to animal feed, clean energy and compost. According to Second Bite, about 3.6million Australians per year are unable to afford enough food to feed themselves or their families. A Malaysian woman accused of trying to blackmail a grieving couple who lost a phone containing photographs of their recently deceased daughter is allegedly a well-known scam artist in her home country. Siti Nurhidayah Kamal, 24, allegedly ran a scam where she sold fraudulent airline tickets, leaving hundreds out of pocket. Daily Mail Australia has seen three separate police reports alleging Ms Kamal had scammed people out of thousands of dollars by selling airline tickets on AirAsia which turned out to have been cancelled, or never existed in the first place. Siti Nurhidayah Kamal (pictured) is wanted in Malaysia over allegations she was selling fraudulent tickets on AirAsia Don't Judge Me: Kamal (pictured), 24, is currently facing charges in Australia after allegedly trying to blackmail $1,000 from the parents of a dying baby girl One woman's report, filed in September 2018, mentions Ms Kamal, a mother of two, had previously been selling the tickets legitimately, but after several purchases, one customer failed to receive a reference number. 'I immediately called Nurhidayah but had no response,' the 42-year-old told police. 'After a long wait, I received an answer that the tickets are to be redeemed and use within a month. I was still curious because the other tickets I purchased were also not given to me. Kamal, who is in custody in Australia, allegedly posed as an agent for AirAsia and claimed to be selling cheap airline tickets. But her customers claim they did not receive any tickets after sending her money 'Finally, Nurhidayah admitted she was lied to/scammed by the higher authorities (probably the people she's working with). 'Nurhidayah agreed to reimburse the payment but has not done so to this date.' Consumer advocate Hashima Hasbullah Yahya, from the Consumers Front of Sabah, told Daily Mail Australia Ms Kamal had claimed to be an agent of AirAsia who was selling tickets on the airline at low prices. She claimed more than 100 people were affected, adding one group was a school trip, which had to be cancelled as a result. Ms Yahya said the scam victims had lost a total of at least 102,000 Ringgits ($35180.98 AUD). Assistant Superintendent of Police Rahman, who heads up the commercial crimes department in Kota Kinabalu, confirmed on Thursday that Ms Kamal was under investigation by the Royal Malaysian Police for scamming people. If the mother-of-two is to return to Malaysia, she will be arrested. Her return home may not be any time soon, with the 24-year-old currently facing court on charges of blackmail. Ms Kamal allegedly contacted Jay and Dee Windross through WhatsApp as they spent their final hours with their baby daughter Amiyah, who died on April 24. She allegedly told the couple she had their missing phone, which contained photos and videos of the young girl, and offered to return it is she was paid $1000. Melbourne mother Dee Windross left her phone in a toilet cubicle at Chadstone Shopping Centre on April 20, and her husband made a desperate plea on social media to have it returned, as it was full of photographs of their dying daughter Police were able to trace the alleged extortion attempt back to Ms Kamal, who was charged with trying to blackmail the couple. The mother-of-two was refused bail on Monday amid fears she would 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'. Pictured: 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 alleged blackmail attempt on the Windross family Kamal made numerous desperate Facebook posts in the lead-up to the crime asking for money. She is accused of contacting Mr Windross about 5pm on April 23, 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. Daily Mail Australia has contacted AirAsia for comment. A 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant died in a Texas hospital while in the custody of the US government after his health steadily declined due to a severe brain infection, according to officials from both countries. The unaccompanied teen died on Tuesday after 'several days of intensive care' at a children's hospital, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement. He entered the United States near the border city of El Paso, Texas and was detained by US border patrol agents on April 19, according to a statement from Guatemala's foreign ministry. The boy was then sent to a shelter nearly 700 miles away in Brownsville, the statement added, where he was 'beginning the process of family reunification.' A sign is pictured at a fence surrounding a temporary facility for processing migrants requesting asylum, at the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in El Paso, Texas, April 29. A Guatemalan immigrant, 16, died Tuesday after being detained in El Paso 11 days earlier He ultimately underwent surgery to relieve pressure in his head, according to the ministry. The unnamed teen was from Camotan, a town near Guatemala's border with Honduras known for high levels of malnutrition among a mostly poor population that ekes out a living as farmers. The boy's death follows those of two other Guatemalan migrant children in December and warnings from US officials that more tragedies were likely given the surge in migrants crossing the border, and serious illnesses encountered among them. The teenager was transferred on April 20 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody to the Brownsville shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which houses migrant children. 'Upon arrival to the shelter the minor did not note any health concerns,' the US government statement said. The next morning the boy 'became noticeably ill including fever, chills and a headache,' according to the statement. People are pictured crossing Paso Del Norte bridge, between downtown El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on April 19. The bridge experienced extreme wait times due to high numbers of family units apprehensions. The Guatemalan teen was detained by ICE on the same day Shelter staff took the teen to a hospital emergency department that morning where he was treated and released to the shelter the same day, the statement added. The boy's health did not improve and the next day he was taken to another hospital emergency department by ambulance. Later that day he was transferred to a children's hospital's intensive care unit in Driscoll, Texas, where he stayed for several days before he died. The boy's brother and Guatemalan consular officials visited him while he was in hospital and his family in Guatemala was regularly advised of his condition. The Guatemalan Consulate in McAllen tried to get humanitarian visas so the parents could be with their son, but they were too old to travel, the foreign ministry said. The boy's body will be repatriated, but it's not clear when. The last time a child died in the custody of Health and Human services was 2015. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at El Paso County Coliseum in Texas on February 11. Trump admin officials have said the surge in the number of migrants has strained resources beyond breaking point The Trump administration officials have said the surge in the number of migrants has strained resources beyond the breaking point, but immigrant advocates and some Democrats say part of the crisis is due to President Donald Trump's own hardline rhetoric and failed border policies. The administration has asked for $4.5billion in supplemental funding for the border mostly for humanitarian aid. The official request said Health and Human Services 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. There were 50,036 unaccompanied children encountered during the last budget year, and so far this budget year there have been 35,898 children. The highest number was in 2014: 57,496. 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. Opponents of US President Donald Trump's immigration policies, including Democrats in Congress, have called for better medical screening in border facilities to detect such cases sooner and prevent deaths. In December, eight-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo died on Christmas Eve from influenza and a rapid, progressive infection that led to organ failure shortly after crossing the border In December, eight-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo died on Christmas Eve from influenza and a rapid, progressive infection that led to organ failure shortly after crossing the border. His death was two weeks after that of seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, who also had a bacterial infection that quickly led to sepsis and organ failure. Both of those children were also from Guatemala but arrived with a family member and were in Customs and Border Protection custody, not the care of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with dealing with the care of migrant children who arrive at the border alone. Health and Human Services also managed the children who were separated from their parents by the Trump administration last summer. After the December fatalities, the Trump administration announced policy changes to help prevent the deaths of children in custody, including more thorough medical checks. The US officials said the cause of the teenager's death is under review and the case will be subject to a full review. President Donald Trump spoke about the importance of unity and paid tribute to the victims of the California synagogue shooting and Sri Lanka Easter bombings on Wednesday as he hosted the National Day of Prayer dinner at the White House. 100 interfaith leaders and Trump administration officials gathered at the Capitol for the affair in anticipation of the National Day of Prayer, which falls on Thursday. First Lady Melania entered the dinner hand-in-hand with Trump, dazzling in a flower-embroidered cream colored gown. Trump opened the evening with a speech on how people of faith around the world have faced terrible hardship in the past year. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania hosted a National Day of Prayer dinner at the White House Wednesday evening First Lady Melania entered the dinner hand-in-hand with Trump, dazzling in a flower-embroidered cream colored gown Trump opened the evening with a speech on how people of faith around the world have faced terrible hardship in the past year, speaking before a crowd of 100 interfaith religious leaders and Trump administration officials In his speech, he said violence and terrorism against people of all faiths must end, and that 'all civilized nations must join together in this effort.' Trump paid respects to Jewish-Americans killed and wounded last week at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California. He also recalled the attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka last Easter and on Muslims in New Zealand the month before and cited the burning of three black churches in Louisiana and last year's shooting spree at a Pittsburgh synagogue. 'All of us in this room send our love and prayers to the Jewish Americans wounded at the Chabad of Poway shooting in California,' he said. 'And our hearts break for the life of Laurie Gilbert-Kaye who was so wickedly taken from us. 'We mourn for the Christians murdered in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, and grieve for the Muslims murdered at their mosques in New Zealand.' 'Here at home, we also remember the three historically black churches burned recently in Louisiana and the horrific shooting last year at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh,' he added. In Trump's speech, he said violence and terrorism against people of all faiths must end, and that 'all civilized nations must join together in this effort' Melania wore an elegant cream colored dress that was embroidered with flowers for the event She also took to the podium to share a few words before the crowd of 100 Religious leaders from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faith, Trump administration officials and their guests gathered for the black tie affair in the State Dining Room 'America will be a nation that believes forever, and we certainly believe more than anyone the power of prayer. It's the most powerful thing there is,' Trump declared from the State Dining Room. 'Tonight we break bread together united by our love of God, and we renew our resolve to protect the sacred freedom of religion all of us,' he added. Religious leaders from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faith, Trump administration officials and their guests gathered for the black tie affair. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife were also in attendance. As was Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Melania Trump took to Twitter and Instagram to gush about the event. 'It was an honor to host so many wonderful faith leaders who joined us for dinner at the @WhiteHouse in celebration of tomorrows National Day of Prayer,' she posted Wednesday evening. The National Day of Prayer falls on the first Thursday of May each year, according to a law passed by Congress in 1988. Trump and Melania are pictured greeting their dining guests on Wednesday evening 'Tonight we break bread together united by our love of God, and we renew our resolve to protect the sacred freedom of religion all of us,' Trump said in his speech Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, attended the elegant affair, is pictured above chatting with former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee In classic Trump form, he took some time to boast about his administration's latest accomplishments in his speech, this time announcing the Senate will confirm his 100th appointed federal judge. 'I'm thrilled to report that tomorrow the Senate will confirm the 100th federal judge through the court system,' he announced. 'Under my administration, we're getting to a level where we're going to be breaking records with respect to the judiciary, which means a lot to the people in this room who were treated very poorly. With time you'll see what happens,' he added. Pioneering drugs are to be fast-tracked into the NHS to ensure they reach patients quicker. Health Minister Nicola Blackwood will today unveil a roll-out of the NHS 'accelerated access' scheme. It is designed to select the most promising new drugs, tests and medical devices at an early stage and steer them through NHS red tape. The existing system run by health watchdog Nice gets the best deal for taxpayers but is slow. The accelerated access scheme aims to reduce by four years the time it takes for drugs to get to British patients, from the current 17 years from patent. Prime Minister Theresa May with Health Minister Nicola Blackwood will unveil plans to get pioneering drugs to patients sooner In return, officials will be in a strong position to negotiate the best discounts for the NHS. Today, Lady Blackwood will tell the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry conference: 'I want the NHS to be at the forefront of cutting-edge treatments and medical innovations but often it can take too long for products to get from the bench to the bedside. NHS First: The NHS will lead the field when it comes to pioneering treatment under the plan The accelerated access [scheme] will speed up this process so patients and the NHS can be the first in the world to benefit from the most transformative technologies and treatments.' A pilot scheme has already seen 12 products including two cholesterol medicines, a non-surgical treatment for enlarged prostates and two blood tests for pre-eclampsia steered into the NHS. New Zealand mother Jessica Vermunt was in for the shock of her life when her daughter was unresponsive, after ingesting too much Bonjela - commonly seen as harmless medication The baby who narrowly avoided death after her mother gave her a higher than recommended dose of Bonjela is 'eating, pooping and smiling' once more. New Zealand mother Jessica Vermunt issued a stark Facebook warning to parents after her daughter was rushed to hospital, unresponsive, this week. Ms Vermunt's seven-month-old was screaming and in pain from teething when she applied 'a lot more (gel) than normal' to the infant. The mother said she saw a doctor who said it was fine to treat the little girl with a high dose of Bonjela. But hours later Ms Vermunt was in for the shock of her life when her daughter stopped breathing and had to be rushed to Auckland's Starship Hospital for emergency treatment. 'The active ingredient in Bonjela will turn your babies blood ACIDIC and cause complete renal failure,' Ms Vermunt said in the warning - which subsequently went viral. Athena - who needed to breathe - is thankfully OK, with Ms Vermunt saying the little girl is 'giggling' and happy. But how much Bonjela - typically seen as a harmless medicine - is too much? 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 HOW MUCH BONJELA IS TOO MUCH? People generally think that applying 'more' cream is always better, top GP, Dr Chris Moy, told Daily Mail Australia. In fact, the opposite is true, particularly for non-prescription medicines like Bonjela which can easily be ingested. 'A bit amount is always better,' Dr Moy said. 'A thin layer is what's advised. Anything above that, if it's ingested then it's a problem, because it's going to be absorbed through the intestines. 'The problem in this case here is you've got a large amount going into a small baby, getting into their bloodstream'. Dr Moy said all topical creams, including cortizone and other regularly used ointments, should be used sparingly. 'More is not always better,' he said. It's clearly not widely known, but health regulators in New Zealand have previously warned parents to only use the recommended dose of Bonjela creams. New Zealand's Medsafe published an advisory about brands of topical oral choline salicylate gels in 2009. The agency said 'it is satisfied that the safety of these products in children is acceptable when used at recommended doses'. But Medsafe said it had found parents sometimes exceeded the recommended dosage. Ms Vermunt said she had told a doctor she was using more than the recommended dosage, and was told it was fine to treat her baby with the higher dosage (stock picture) WHAT AUSTRALIA'S DRUG REGULATOR SAYS ABOUT BONJELA A Therapeutic Drugs Administration spokesman said: 'The TGA is aware of the report of a serious adverse event in an infant in New Zealand following excessive use of Bonjela. 'The Australian label for Bonjela provides the following advice to consumers to warn against overuse: Do not exceed the recommended dose. Excessive or prolonged use can be harmful. 'If consumers are unsure of how to safely use their medicine, they should seek advice from a health professional. 'In addition, consumers and health professionals are encouraged to report problems with medicines or vaccines to the TGA.' Advertisement In the seven previous years, the country's poison's centre had received 279 calls relating to the apparent over-use of the products in children. Daily Mail Australia has sought updated advice from Medsafe. A spokesman for Australia's Therapeutic Drug Administration (TGA) said a warning is printed on Bonjela in this country. 'Do not exceed the recommended dose,' the label reads. 'Excessive or prolonged use can be harmful.' Ms Vermunt has warned other parent's to be careful of what the gel could do and wants sale of the gel to be restricted to pharmacists. She said in her viral post: '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. 'The doctor was aware of the amount of Bonjela 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 warned: 'I'm begging you ... please, please, please (use) the smallest amount as little as possible' 'I'm begging you, if you do use Bonjela for your baby please please please use the smallest amount as little as possible,' Ms Vermunt said. Even Dr Moy was surprised at the overdose from salicylate. The medicine's supplier, Reckitt Benckiser, told Daily Mail Australia it was trying to contact Ms Vermunt to investigate the case. A spokesperson for Bonjela told Daily Mail Australia that they have contacted the customer to attempt to find out what happened. It's understood the company has not heard back. 'Meanwhile we are sending our best wishes to the infant for a quick recovery,' they said. '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) A defiant Gavin Williamson launched an astonishing attack on Theresa May and Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill last night after he was fired over the Huawei leak. In an extraordinary interview with the Daily Mail, the sacked Defence Secretary said he swore on his childrens lives that he was innocent. He revealed what happened when the Prime Minister sacked him in disgrace and accused her of betraying him after he had dug her out of a few holes in the past. And in a desperate attempt to salvage his reputation, he provocatively turned the tables on Sir Mark, claiming the inquiry was rigged and accusing him of leaking against Mr Williamson. Mr Williamson was adamant that Mrs May had fired the wrong man or woman. And he made no attempt to hide his fury. The PM has just sacked someone who is not guilty and who has dug her out of a few holes in the past, he told the Daily Mail. In an extraordinary interview with the Daily Mail, the sacked Defence Secretary (pictured on Wednesday) said he swore on his childrens lives that he was innocent Mr Williamsons dismissal came days after he went on the record to deny that he had leaked details of the National Security Council meeting. Struggling to compose himself after his political career ended in ignominy, Mr Williamson said: Its all a bit chaotic, as you can imagine. He explained how Mrs May sacked him: We sat down and she offered me the opportunity to resign and I said, I cant resign PM, because I havent leaked it and I would rather you sacked me than me to accept something I or my team have not done. Mr Williamson was adamant that Mrs May had fired the wrong man or woman. And he made no attempt to hide his fury. The PM has just sacked someone who is not guilty and who has dug her out of a few holes in the past, he said. I pointed out that I had saved her a couple of times, kept her as PM. Mr Williamson added sarcastically that it was a shame she didnt recognise the fact. He recounted how Mrs May rejected his repeated pleas to believe him, telling her: I have never leaked anything from the National Security Council, nor would I. I absolutely promise, hand on heart, I did not leak this. I realise my obituary will say I did, but I swear on my childrens lives I did not. Despite his bitterness and protestations of innocence, Mr Williamson (pictured in his role as defence secretary) is resigned to his fate Gavin Williamson performs the cutting of the sod during a visit to RAF Lossiemouth during his role as defence secretary But she was unmoved: She just wasnt willing to accept that. Mr Williamson said he had raised concerns about the [leak] investigation with Mrs May early on because he believed Sir Mark was pointing the finger of blame at him. I asked to speak to her because it looked a bit dodgy, he added. I had heard before it started that Mark Sedwill had briefed out to the National Security Council meeting that [the culprit] was me. He said Sir Mark had leaked information about Mr Williamson concerning a text message he had sent as Defence Secretary. He claimed Sir Marks inquiry team had also leaked information about how Id been interviewed to The Daily Telegraph [which published the original leak] but they didnt run it. Mr Williamson said Sir Mark had given the Prime Minister alternative explanations for the leak but he did not expand on this. You can speak to the journalist he will say I did not leak this, he added. Theresa May faced Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons today before the revelations emerged Despite his bitterness and protestations of innocence, Mr Williamson is resigned to his fate. Youve got to be realistic this is politics, he said. You live by the sword and die by the sword. I am pretty well buggered but I will just have to live with it. When youve been chief whip and Defence Secretary, you dont expect to go on doing these jobs forever and a day. He added that he had been privileged to serve as Defence Secretary with the opportunity to work with the Armed Forces, the best in the world. He said that after being fired by the Prime Minister he had wished her the very best but just for her to understand that she had sacked someone who hadnt leaked it. He reflected: Theres nothing worse than politicians sounding miserable about their loss. But its galling to be hung for a crime you didnt commit. I didnt do it. Theres not an awful lot more I can bloody say because Im just incredibly gutted not to be carrying on a job I love. I would certainly never have jeopardised it by leaking anything from the NSC. He has no plans to quit as an MP. Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden has died suddenly after an accident in a paddock. The 13-year-old horse, owned by Qatar Racing, died at Overbury Stud in England on Wednesday local time. Dunaden won the 2011 Melbourne Cup, as well as the Hong Kong Vase in the same year before claiming victory in the 2012 Caufield Cup. Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden (centre with yellow jockey) has died suddenly after an accident at a paddock Qatar Racing confirmed Dunaden had died in a tweet on Wednesday. 'It is with great sadness that we announce triple Group One winner, Dunaden, winner of the 2011 Melbourne Cup, sadly died at Overbury Stud yesterday due to complications following a paddock accident,' Qatar Racing tweeted. Dunaden won 10 of his 46 races and earned more than $9million in prizemoney. David Redvers, Qatar Racing's racing manager, said Dunaden was responsible for the Qatari royal family becoming involved in horse racing. 'Dunaden was a horse of iron constitution with the most exceptional will to win,' he told the Daily Telegraph. Sheikh Fahad Al Thani - chairman of Qatar Racing - said Dunaden was the 'horse of a lifetime'. Dunaden (pictured with foreman Aymeric Candas) won 10 of his 46 races and earned more than $9million in prizemoney 'Winning the Melbourne Cup is a day I will never forget. He was pure class - consistent, strong and incredibly competitive,' he said. 'It is a terrible loss.' Dunaden pipped Red Cadeaux to win the 2011 Melbourne Cup in a thrilling finish. Red Cadeaux also died young, being euthanised in 2015 after complications from injuries suffered in the 2015 Melbourne Cup. Dramatic surveillance footage shows an armed robber who tried stealing money from a bank being pushed to the ground by a passerby on the streets of a Boston suburb as he was fleeing a police officer on foot. Authorities in Somerville briefly placed a public square on lockdown after police saidd the armed man shot at an officer before fleeing on Wednesday morning. The incident took place just before 10am at the Middlesex Federal Savings Bank on College Avenue in Davis Square in Somerville. Police said a man walked into the bank and fired a round before attempting to steal money, WBZ-TV reported. Massachusetts authorities have launched a manhunt for a man who attempted to rob a bank in Somerville on Wednesday morning The surveillance photos taken from the bank show the suspect to be between the ages of 20 and 35. He is 5ft9in tall and weighs about 175 pounds Surveillance footage shows the robber getting knocked down by a Good Samaritan (right) 'An officer entered the bank through an another door, the officer and the suspect exchanged gunfire,' Police Chief David Fallon said. Several people were inside the bank at the time of the gunfire exchange, but no one was injured. Surveillance video shows the robber getting knocked down by Dave Powers, a Good Samaritan, as he was running away from a police officer after the attempted heist. A passerby knocks down the alleged robber, sending him hurdling to the ground. The robber gets up and flees without his backpack, which allegedly had cash and a handgun Dave Powers, the Good Samaritan, was the man who knocked the robber into the shrubs before he got up and ran off As the fleeing armed robber approaches, Powers sticks out his elbow and knocks down the alleged robber, sending him hurdling to the ground and into a nearby shrub. The robber gets up and flees without his backpack, which allegedly had cash and a handgun. The surveillance photos taken from the bank show the suspect to be between the ages of 20 and 35. He is 5ft9in tall and weighs about 175 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black stocking hat, camouflage jacket, blue jeans, and black sneakers. Dave Powers, the Good Samaritan, was the man who knocked the robber into the shrubs before he got up and ran off. Heavily armored police gather in the Davis Square section of Somerville at the start of the manhunt on Wednesday Residents were asked to stay indoors while officers cleared the area on Wednesday Police units are seen going door-to-door in Davis Square at the start of the manhunt on Wednesday Investigators collect evidence at the scene on Wednesday following the attempted armed robbery The backpack dropped by the suspect is examined by the FBI in Somerville on Wednesday 'He was in pursuit by a police officer so I was in position to react and have enough time to do so, so I did just hoping that I could slow him down so he could be apprehended by the officer,' Powers said. Police seized the suspect's back pack and found a gun inside, though it is not yet known if it was the same gun used in the attempted robbery. Immediately after the suspect got away, police briefly placed the area on lock down and began a door-to-door search. Armored vehicles were seen driving through the streets as officers warned citizens to stay inside. 'This person is dangerous, he fired shots at least in the air while people were occupying the bank, he fired at a Somerville police officer, and he has no regard for human life,' said Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone. Somerville police said a 'person of interest' has been detained, but no further information was forthcoming. The person is cooperating with investigators. Anyone with tips should call Somerville Police Department at 617-625-1600. Gavin Williamson has admitted to an 11-minute telephone conversation with a journalist on the day information from the National Security Council was leaked, it has been reported. It is one of the first indications as to why the former defence secretary may have been sacked by Theresa May yesterday. He is alleged to have revealed secret NSC discussions about Chinese telecoms giant Huawei's involvement in the development of the UK's 5G mobile network. Officials have not revealed what they found to implicate Mr Williamson, but in a letter to the South Staffordshire MP the Prime Minister Theresa May claimed 'compelling evidence' suggested he was responsible. Sources close to Williamson (pictured) last night revealed he had admitted to having a telephone conversation with Daily Telegraph Deputy Political Editor Steven Swinford after the National Security Council meeting last week Gavin Williamson accused Sir Mark Sedwill (pictured in China in 2018) of deciding guilt before gathering evidence into the Huawei leak Officials have not revealed what they found to implicate Mr Williamson, but in a letter to the South Staffordshire MP the Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured) claimed 'compelling evidence' suggested he was responsible Sources close to Williamson last night revealed he had admitted to having a telephone conversation with Daily Telegraph Deputy Political Editor Steven Swinford after the National Security Council meeting last week, as reported by The Sun. And it was Steven Swinford who later broke the news that Mrs May had reportedly given the green light to Huawei the help build Britain's 5G network. A move which parked a massive political row. But Mr Williamson has insisted they talked about Brexit and the upcoming euro elections, according to reports. And not the recent NSC meeting, at which it is alleged discussions were had on allowing Huawei to work on the 5G network. The 42-year-old has insisted he is innocent, and recounted to the Daily Mail what he told Mrs May: 'I have never leaked anything from the National Security Council, nor would I. 'I absolutely promise, hand on heart, I did not leak this. I realise my obituary will say I did, but I swear on my children's lives I did not.' Williamson (pictured) maintained his innocence in a letter to Mrs May, in which he cast doubt on the investigation conducted by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson performs the cutting of the sod during a visit to RAF Lossiemouth He also maintained his innocence in a letter to Mrs May, in which he cast doubt on the investigation conducted by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. '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. Mr Williamson revealed that he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying that this would have sent a signal that he accepted that either he or his team was guilty. Telling Mr Williamson of his dismissal, Mrs May said she was 'concerned' at the manner in which he had engaged with Sir Mark's inquiry. As the shock waves from his firing continue to reverberate across Westminster, Labour branded the ex-Cabinet minister 'treacherous' and demanded the Prime Minister make an emergency statement to the Commons on Thursday. The controversy continued to rage as voters were going to the polls in local elections across England and Northern Ireland on Thursday, as opposition parties demanded a police probe into the affair. 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 Prime Minister sacked Gavin Williamson tonight, setting out her reasons in a letter to the former minister Labour's shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith told BBC2's Newsnight: 'Clearly, there's a real breakdown in discipline and Theresa May now needs to take absolutely firm action, and, quite frankly, I think she needs to call in the police and have a full investigation, because we are talking, actually, breaking the Official Secrets Act and, actually, there may well be a case to answer here.' 'I think it was absolutely treacherous - both to the country, but also to the Prime Minister. 'If you are going to run a government, you need loyalty from your ministers, you need loyalty from your Cabinet. 'We have here a case of yet another Tory minister putting leadership ambition before the good of the country.' Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson (pictured) has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation Former national security adviser Lord Ricketts told the BBC: 'On the face of it, this is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. All the ministers and officials around the table will have signed that. 'So, it seems to me the police ought to be considering, is there a case to be considered there? 'It would be for the Director of Public Prosecutions to make the decisions, not ministers.' Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation. The letter states: '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.' Sky News political editor Beth Rigby tweeted that Mr Williamson told her he 'wanted a police investigation because I would have been cleared. They would have had to have evidence. That is what I wanted'. Ms Rigby said the ex-minister told her the situation was 'a witch-hunt from the start' and he had been 'in a kangaroo court with a summary execution'. 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 that it was a matter for the NSC and the Cabinet Office and it was not carrying out an investigation at this time. 'Clearly, if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that,' it added. Australians are being warned to take extra caution after heavy rains and wild winds ravished parts of the country overnight, leading to flash flooding and a tornado. A severe weather warning has been issued in Victoria as winds in some parts of the state neared 100km/h. The dangerous winds culminated into a mini tornado in the western parts of the state. Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park is expecting more than $1 million in damages after the tornado tore through the area and destroyed people's belongings. Camperdown SES unit controller Colin Brian described the wreckage as reminiscent of a 'bomb site', The Age reported. Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park is expecting more than $1 million in damages after the tornado tore through the area and destroyed people's belongings The contents of one guest's holiday cabin were strewn across the park after it was flattened in the storm 'I have never seen anything like it,' he said. 'I haven't been so overwhelmed by a scene since the rail crossing crash out at Lismore, and that's going back a few years now... There were cabins and boats strewn everywhere.' A deluge of rain hit parts of the state on Wednesday night, with Stawell and Westmere receiving their entire monthly average rainfall overnight. Stawell received 68.6mm of rain while Westmere copped 53.8mm, causing flash flooding in the regions. Camperdown SES unit controller Colin Brian described the wreckage as reminiscent of a 'bomb site' Australians are being warned to take extra caution after heavy rains and dangerous winds ravished parts of the country overnight, leading to flash flooding Rosebud, on the Mornington Peninsula, experienced flash flooding throughout the town centre, with footage showing the moment cars were forced to drive through deep puddles of water to get out of a petrol station. More heavy rain is also expected to develop on Thursday, with the Bureau of Meteorology concerned it may lead to further flash flooding in the northeast district. 'Widespread rainfall totals of 30 to 60mm are forecast for the northeast on Thursday with isolated totals of 80 to 100mm,' BoM warned. 'Thunderstorm activity could be a bit hit and miss across western parts of the state,' Senior Forecaster Michael Efron said. Rosebud, on the Mornington Peninsula, experienced flash flooding throughout the town centre, with footage showing the moment cars were forced to drive through deep puddles of water to get out of a petrol station More heavy rain is also expected to develop on Thursday, with the Bureau of Meteorology concerned it may lead to further flash flooding in the northeast district Suburbs most likely to be worst affected include Wodonga, Wangaratta, Corryong, Bright, Falls Creek and Mt Buller. Meanwhile, parts of NSW have also received warnings for minor flooding. The Paroo River in the far west region on NSW and Warrego River in Fords Bridge, within the Murray-Darling basin are flooded. 'Remember, if its flooded; forget it.' The State Emergency Service has advised residents of affected areas to exercise caution. They warned people to move vehicles away from trees and to avoid walking or driving through flood waters. 'Be aware that in fire affected areas, rainfall run-off into waterways may contain debris such as ash, soil, trees and rocks,' a statement read. The State Emergency Service has advised residents of affected areas to exercise caution Suburbs most likely to be worst affected include Wodonga, Wangaratta, Corryong, Bright, Falls Creek and Mt Buller 'In areas recently affected by fires, heavy rainfall increases the potential for landslides and debris across roads.' South Australian sheep grazers were also warned the sudden cold snap could impact livestock. 'Sheep graziers are warned that cold conditions, showers, isolated thunderstorms and fresh to strong northwest to southwesterly winds are expected during Thursday and Friday,' BoM said. 'There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions.' While there are no warnings in place for any major cities, Sydneysiders and Melburnians have been told to prepare for a dreary, wet weekend. Sydney is expected to reach a maximum temperature of 22C with possible showers. Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart are all expected to experience showers as well. China is using a mobile app designed for mass surveillance to profile, investigate and detain Muslims in Xinjiang, a Human Rights Watch report said Thursday. The app would allegedly label the users' 'completely lawful' behaviour as suspicious, putting them at risk of being penalised or sent to 're-education centres'. Beijing has come under international criticism over its policies in the north-western region, where as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps, according to a group of experts cited by the UN. Scroll down for video Beijing uses the mobile app to closely watch the Muslim minorities with 36 categories of behaviour, including those who do not socialise with neighbours, often avoid using the front door, don't use a smartphone, according to a report from Human Rights Watch (file photo) Xinjiang authorities use a mass surveillance system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform to gather information from multiple sources, such as facial-recognition cameras Facial recognition technology has been programmed to look exclusively for Uighur Muslims based on their appearance and track them across China, according to a previous report Human Rights Watch has previously reported that Xinjiang authorities use a mass surveillance system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) to gather information from multiple sources, such as facial-recognition cameras, Wi-Fi sniffers, police checkpoints, banking records and home visits. Last month, a New York Times article revealed that the Chinese government is using a vast system of facial-recognition cameras to track its Uighur Muslim minority across the country. But the new study, entitled 'China's Algorithms of Repression', worked with a Berlin-based security company to analyse an app connected to the IJOP, showing specific acts targeted by the system. Human Rights Watch claimed it had obtained a copy of the app (pictured) and enlisted cyber-security firm Cure53 to 'reverse-engineer' it - to disassemble it and look at its design and data The app instructs police to investigate those related to someone who got a new number, or related to others who left the country and have not returned after 30 days (file photo) Xinjiang authorities closely watch the Muslim minorities with 36 categories of behaviour, including those who do not socialise with neighbours, often avoid using the front door, don't use a smartphone, donate to mosques 'enthusiastically', and use an 'abnormal' amount of electricity, the group found. The app also instructs officers to investigate those related to someone who got a new phone number, or related to others who left the country and have not returned after 30 days. 'Our research shows, for the first time, that Xinjiang police are using illegally gathered information about people's completely lawful behavior - and using it against them,' said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. 'The Chinese government is monitoring every aspect of people's lives in Xinjiang, picking out those it mistrusts, and subjecting them to extra scrutiny.' The Muslim population in China, including Hui, Uighurs and Kazakhs, is set to be the 19th largest in the world in 2030, growing from 23.3 million in 2010 to nearly 30 million (file photo) China has come under international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang in the north-west The rights group obtained a copy of the app and enlisted cyber-security firm Cure53 to 'reverse-engineer' it - to disassemble it and look at its design and data - and examined its source code. Along with collecting personal information the app prompts officials to file reports about people, vehicles and events they find suspect - and sends out 'investigative missions' for police to follow up. Officers are also asked to check whether suspects use any of the 51 internet tools that are deemed suspicious, including foreign messaging platforms popular outside China like WhatsApp, LINE and Telegram. A number of people said they or their family members had been detained for having software such as WhatsApp or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) installed on their phones during checks by authorities, according to the report. The rights group said its findings suggest the IJOP system tracks data of everyone in Xinjiang by monitoring location data from their phones, ID cards and vehicles, plus electricity and gas station usage. The findings suggest authorities track data of everyone in Xinjiang by monitoring location data from their phones, ID cards and vehicles, according to Human Rights Watch (file photo) As many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps, according to a group of experts cited by the UN. Pictured, residents line up inside the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center in Artux, Xinjiang 'Psychologically, the more people are sure that their actions are monitored and that they, at anytime, can be judged for moving outside of a safe grey-space, the more likely they are to do everything to avoid coming close to crossing a moving red-line,' Samantha Hoffman, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, told AFP. 'There is no rule of law in China, the Party ultimately decides what is legal and illegal behaviour, and it doesn't have to be written down.' The IJOP app was developed by Hebei Far East Communication System Engineering Company (HBFEC), which at the time of the app's development was fully-owned by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, a state-owned technology giant (CETC), said Human Rights Watch. CETC could not be reached and HBFEC did not respond to requests for comment. 'The Chinese government is monitoring every aspect of people's lives in Xinjiang, picking out those it mistrusts, and subjecting them to extra scrutiny,' said senior researcher Maya Wang Washington last year imposed export controls on key Chinese companies including HBFEC and other institutions under CETC, citing risks to US national security and foreign policy interests. Greg Walton, an independent cyber-security expert who advised on the report, said while the system is a 'blunt instrument that may be directly contributing to the massive numbers of people in internment camps', the data if stored could be used in the future for more advanced policing algorithms. 'This means that data collected through the app today may well be analysed in a few years' time by far more sophisticated logic,' he said. Footage shows a right-wing activist wearing a swastika necklace being pelted with eggs in the middle of Manhattan. Activist and Trump supporter, Jovanni Valle, 26, was standing in the middle of Union Square speaking to people who had an issue with him wearing a large swastika chain around his neck. He is then approached from behind by a bystander carrying a plastic bag who takes an egg out and hits him over the head with it. People standing around then cheer as the Valle chases after the culprit and jumps on his back. Valle was previously attacked with a glass in the face by a man in a New York Bar and sustained a broken nose, claiming he was targeted because he wore a 'MAGA' hat. Footage shows Jovanni Valle, (pictured), wearing a swastika necklace being pelted with eggs in the middle of Manhattan. The man who threw the egg is seen in the background Before the humorous incident, Valle, who lives in Brooklyn, can be heard telling a couple he is speaking too: 'I just don't wan't anybody trying to... the guy threw coffee at me.' The man he is speaking to responds to him: 'Maybe we should cover our faces and you might f**k off.' Valle is then heard screaming 'Oh S**t as he is hit with the egg before another man intervenes to split them up. Valle, who is also carrying an unidentifiable flag, runs away as people watching cheer and say: 'He threw an egg, I can't believe that s**t.' Video of the incident has gone viral on Twitter, with many people saying he deserved being hit with eggs for wearing a swastika chain and branding him a 'Nazi.' Valle regularly protests at different marches both in New York and Washington D.C., and sometimes stands in Union Square to publicize his beliefs. Justin Allen tweeted: 'Surprised he didn't get beat up with a Nazi necklace on in this city. I don't agree with physical violence against those you don't agree with, but this guy was looking for this by wearing that.' Jovanni Valle is wearing a swastika and is then approached from behind by a bystander carrying a bag who takes an egg out and hits him over the head with it The man is seen with a grocery bag approaching the swastika-wearing man in Union Square Another man named Paddy Carr said: 'There's something about the sheer joy that can be seen as he runs off that is incredibly infectious. 'Everyone should aspire to have that same level of happiness in their life as egg guy got from splattering the Nazi.' People also posted memes and gifs, laughing at the egg thrower who appeared inconspicuous before reaching in his bag for the egg and pelting his head with it. The video has been viewed almost 4,500 times. Before the egg throwing took place, Valle could be heard professing offensive views, including a claim that 'homosexuality was due to a chemical imbalance' in the body. 'It's hurting children, because children grow up mentally ill not knowing who they are,' he said about being gay. He was engaged in a heated discussion with two people who grow increasingly irate at him. Valle, (pictured), was pelted with eggs by the man who was standing behind him for several moments and his reply was 'Oh S**t' as he was caught unawares Valle then chased after the egg thrower and jumped on his back before he ran away It's not the first time Valle has courted the wrong attention with his controversial views. He had his nose broken and his face sliced open during a brawl at Mehanata bar on the Lower East Side in the early hours of July 7. He claimed he was dancing when his hat fell off, and was promptly stomped on by a woman at the bar. Valle says he confronted the fellow bar patron, Emma Rodriguez, asking her why she was stamping on her hat, and she replied: 'I hate this hat, I hate you,' he claims. Valle said he had put his hand on the woman's shoulder, when Rodriguez' boyfriend, Leonardo Heinert, 25, attacked him. The two men fell to the ground and another man grabbed an unidentifiable flag Valle was holding off him, before he left the area He told the cops Heinert 'repeatedly punched' him before Rodriguez, 24, 'smashed a bottle' over his head. The couple were charged with assault, and released without bail, records show. Valle was also arrested for misdemeanor assault, but the Manhattan DA say they have declined to prosecute. Park Avenue plastic surgeon, Dr. Joseph Pober, heard about the attack on the fellow Trump supporter and decided to help fix up Valle's injuries - for free. 'This is something that had to be done. When I heard about this I was shocked,' Pober told The Post. Jovanni Valle was wearing his MAGA hat (left) when he had his nose broken and his face sliced open (right) during a brawl at Mehanata bar on the Lower East Side in the early hours of July 7 He claims he was dancing when his hat fell off and was stamped on by a woman at the bar. When he confronted her and says he put his hand on her shoulder, her boyfriend attacked him, he claims (pictured covered in blood after the attack) 'It's freedom of speech that is being attacked and assaulted I can't imagine that anyone in America would viciously assault you, break your nose and slice your face with a broken beer bottle.' The video is the latest in a long line of incidents where items of an offensive nature such as swastikas and confederate flags have prompted outrage among bystanders on public streets. Last month, a woman confronted a couple wearing swastika armbands who allegedly gave a Nazi salute near a Holocaust memorial in Rhode Island, according to a report this week. Sondra Pierson, 47, a bookkeeper from Rhode Island, was dining at the Parkside Rotisserie & Bar in Providence on April 11 when a couple across the street caught her attention. The man was wearing a 'MAGA' hat and had a red armband with a black swastika on it. The woman wore a matching armband and a swastika T-shirt. The pair crossed the street to the Holocaust Memorial, leaned on the various statues, took pictures and laughed, Pierson said. 'I confronted them,' said Pierson, who left the restaurant and walked over to the memorial. She said she told them: 'What the hell do you think youre doing?. How dare you do this?' And in March a group of high school students who threw Nazi salutes while apparently playing a drinking game with cups arranged in the shape of a swastika were forced to apologized for their actions. The Tories might escape a hammering in today's local elections because of a lack of options for Leave supporters, a polling expert said last night. Sir John Curtice said the night would be a disaster for Theresa May only if Conservatives stayed at home. He said the absence of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and a shortage of Ukip candidates was a 'silver lining' for the Prime Minister. The Tories have been tipped to lose as many as 800 seats in what would be their worst result for 20 years. The losses are expected to be particularly high because the Conservatives did very well last time in 2015 when they also won a majority at the general election. Sir John, who is professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said: '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. Theresa May and the Conservatives may be saved from heavy losses because of the lack of UKIP and Brexit Party candidates 'So those Leave voters who are unhappy with the Conservatives over Brexit frankly face the choice 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 Lib Dems 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.' There are 8,374 council seats up for grabs in England and 460 in Northern Ireland. The Tories hold 4,628 and are contesting 95 per cent of all the seats up for grabs. 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. Mr Farage's party is standing only in the European elections later this month. An analysis by Tory election expert Rob Hayward predicted the party was on course to lose more than 800 council seats, and some senior figures privately fear they could lose more than 1,000. Sir John Curtice believes there could be a silver lining for the prime minister in the local elections A heavy defeat is likely to set off a fresh wave of demands for Mrs May to name a date for her departure. Lord Hayward, a former Conservative MP, said the Tories appeared to be on course for their worst drubbing since 1995 when Tony Blair crushed John Major's divided government. He said: 'This was always going to be a difficult election because the seats the Conservatives are defending were won on a very good night for them in 2015. 'But the results are unquestionably going to be worse because of the current situation. 'People don't know who the leader of the Tory Party is going to be and there is anger amongst Tory Brexiteers that the party has not delivered. 'There was a noticeable dip when the Prime Minister agreed to delay Brexit. That has calmed down a bit because there has been less debate about Brexit in the last fortnight. But at best, the Tories are at the crest of a trough.' If the results are as bad as forecast it will be the worst result for any governing party since 2003 when Mr Blair lost more than 1,100 seats following a backlash over the Iraq War. In 1995, the Tories lost 2,000 seats. Professor Curtice pointed out that many of the seats being contested were in Tory 'shire' areas. Many councils holding elections have been affected by a major restructuring of the local authority landscape. Five new authorities will be holding polls: Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole, Dorset, East Suffolk, West Suffolk and Somerset West & Taunton. Advertisement Michelle Obama has celebrated college signing day with thousands of screaming students during a high-energy appearance at UCLA with a host of other celebrities. The former first lady took to the stage flashing her abs in a Compton College shirt on Wednesday as she congratulated high school students who have chosen to go to college. Obama started the college signing day event back in 2014 with Reach Higher - the organization she founded as first lady to inspire students to attend college, a training program or join the military. Taking to the stage to deafening cheers from the 10,000 students, Obama said she was proud of all of the students for choosing to further their education. Scroll down for video Former first lady Michelle Obama addresses the crowd at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus on Wednesday Obama pointed out that she was wearing a Compton College shirt because she wanted to give community colleges 'a little extra love' The former first lady took to the stage wearing a Compton College shirt on Wednesday at UCLA after being introduced by TV host Conan O'Brien 'I want you all to know you personally are about to make the best investment that you can possibly make,' she said. 'That's true whether you're going to a trade school, or to the military or to a community college or to a four-year university.' Obama pointed out that she was wearing a Compton College shirt because she wanted to give community colleges 'a little extra love'. 'We are fortunate in this country to have an amazing community college system, and Compton College has a great story to tell,' she said. 'The school fell on some tough times a few years ago, but they buckled down, they worked hard and now they're back on their feet and providing an excellent, affordable education to thousands of students every year. 'They're showing once again that you just don't count out folks from Compton.' While congratulating the students for overcoming hurdles to get where they are, Obama also warned that some people would try to bring them down. Obama started the college signing day event back in 2014 with Reach Higher - the organization she founded as first lady to inspire students to attend college, a training program or join the military Taking to the stage to deafening cheers from the 10,000 students, Obama said she was proud of all of the students for choosing to further their education Obama gave out hugs and said she was proud of all of the students for choosing to further their education at the UCLA event on Wednesday While congratulating the students for overcoming hurdles to get where they are, Obama also warned that some people would try to bring them down 'When I was in high school and I wanted to apply to the college of my choice I had someone tell me that I shouldn't reach too high,' she said. 'They told me that I wanted too much for myself - I should dream a little smaller, and let me tell you that will happen to you again and again and again. 'There will be people in your life that will tell you not to dream too big because they are haters, and they don't want anymore for you than they think that you should deserve. 'In those moments, because they will happen - they've happened to me, they've happened to my husband, where people said you don't belong, this isn't for you - in those times... you have to ask yourselves whether you're going to believe the haters or whether you're going to believe the own truth of your story. 'If you stumble, I want you to get back up. It's not about not making mistakes. It's not about not failing. Anybody whose achieved anything has failed and failed again... it's the ability to bounce back from that failure. That's what makes you a true champion.' Conan O'Brien, Kelly Rowland, Bebe Rexha, Jesse Williams, Usher, Pentatonix, La La Anthony and Don Cheadle were among the celebrities to join Obama at the event. The UCLA event that Obama attended was just one of 3,000 held across the country. The daughter of rugby league hardman Mark Geyer has sued the owner of a Facebook page who shared a screengrab of a video falsely claiming to show her having sex with an NRL player. The 'NRL Memes' Facebook page shared a still image from the video in March, falsely claiming it showed Montanna Geyer having sex with Penrith Panthers player Tyrone May. 'The bird in the Tyrone May video is Mark Geyer's daughter. Happy days at Penrith,' the post was captioned. Ms Geyer, 22, filed a statement of claim against Faoud Ghosn, the man understood to have created the 'NRL Memes' Facebook page, in the District Court of New South Wales on Friday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The 'NRL Memes' Facebook page shared a still image from the video in March, falsely claiming it showed Montanna Geyer (pictured) having sex with Penrith Panthers player Tyrone May Ms Geyer (pictured with her father Mark) claimed she has faced 'public hatred, ridicule and contempt' as a result of the Facebook post Ms Geyer claimed she has faced 'public hatred, ridicule and contempt' as a result of the false Facebook post. She is seeking damages for defamation. Ms Geyer claims her requests for the offending post to be taken down have been ignored and that she has not received an apology. Ms Geyer's lawyer Lee Hagipantelis said the case would 'change the landscape on social media as far as the NRL is concerned'. 'Even as a broader conversation, people need to be careful what they post on social media. You may think it's funny, but it's not as funny as you think if it's defamatory,' he said. 'People have become far too relaxed with social media and they're using it as a forum to express any sentiment they wish. People have to be aware there are consequences. The term social media is a misnomer, it is far from social. Meanwhile, May pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of recording and distributing sex acts without consent relating to two different incidents involving two different women at Coffs Harbour and Kingswood in 2018. Both women were unaware they were being filmed and did not consent to the recording or its distribution, detectives have said. Ms Geyer's lawyer Lee Hagipantelis said the case would 'change the landscape on social media as far as the NRL is concerned'. Pictured: Tyrone May The 22-year-old's case has been adjourned to June 17 in Penrith Local Court by magistrate Geoffrey Hiatt, who formally disqualified himself from the matter 'for the sake of fairness to all'. Mr Hiatt revealed his father, John Hiatt, had previously served as the deputy chairman of the Penrith Panthers. John Hiatt resigned as deputy chairman of the club in 2015. He had served on the Panthers board of directors since 2003 and was deputy chairman for six years. May was accompanied by manager Darryl Mather on Wednesday. The player remained silent as he left the Penrith court. May was stood down in March by Penrith under the NRL's controversial 'no fault' stand down policy for those facing serious criminal charges. 'The Mueller Report' is now officially a best-seller. A published edition of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged ties between Russian officials and Donald Trump's presidential campaign sold just under 42,000 copies last week, NPD BookScan reported Wednesday. Jointly edited by Scribner and The Washington Post, it sold more than any nonfiction book on the BookScan list, which tracks direct store sales and reflects around 85% of the print market. Attorney General William Barr's testimony on Wednesday may 1 helped take one printed edition of the Mueller Report to No.1 on the Amazon list Special Counsel Robert Mueller chaired the commission into claimed collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia The Scribner-Washington Post, released as a paperback, also will top The New York Times' combined print and e-book bestseller list that comes out Sunday, May 12. Like such previous government documents as the Starr Report and the 9-11 Commission analysis, the Mueller Report was so highly anticipated that it become a popular book even though anyone can read it for free. Numerous websites offer downloads. Scribner's edition has a list price of $15, while rival editions include a $12.99 book from Skyhorse and $9.99 from Melville House. The Scribner and Skyhorse books each offer additional material, such as introductory comments. Melville House is selling the report 'as is,' wanting readers to encounter it 'without someone digesting it for them.' Pre-orders for the Skyhorse and Melville releases have placed them high at times on Amazon.com's best-seller list, but they so far have much lower numbers on BookScan, likely because they took longer to reach stores. Donald Trump says he is vindicated by the report, but opposition Deomcrats believe they can make a case of obstruction of justice Publishers have hurried to prepare bound editions of the report since it was made public two weeks ago. Wednesday's testimony by Attorney General William Barr, who faced sharp questions from Senate Democrats over whether he spun the report in Trump's favor, helped raise the Scribner book to No. 1 on Amazon. As of Wednesday night, Skyhorse was at 22 and Melville House at 130. John Ibrahim has said he's never met the 'buffoon' who accosted him outside his mansion. Mohamad Haochar, 37, filmed himself confronting Mr Ibrahim in Dover Heights, in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Saturday. He was later arrested for allegedly publishing inflammatory video rants on his Facebook page and claimed in court on Wednesday that he and Mr Ibrahim 'go way back.' But the former Kings Cross nightclub boss has denied the pair are old friends. Haochar (pictured) is seen approaching the 48-year-old, greeting him by extending his hand, which Ibrahim swats away The former Kings Cross nightclub boss denied in a Tweet the pair are old friends He wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: 'Just so you know I have never heard of or met this buffoon till I found him yelling at my gate. 'Interestingly, when confronted, he turned into my biggest fan. 'I told him to stop scaring my neighbours and to take his bad head back to wherever it came from before I slap the ink off it.' In the bizarre confrontation on Saturday, Haochar - who has 'execution', '187' and a grenade inked on his forehead - arrived at Mr Ibrahim's home and yelled loudly to the nightclub boss: 'John, Habib, it's me, Butch.' 'Let's see if he answers...come on, John,' he can be heard saying in the video. 'He's not answering, f***.' Come on, John, answer it's me,' he said, becoming frustrated. But when Ibrahim finally came to the door, Haochar stopped recording. Mohamad 'Butch' Haochar (pictured) leaves Burwood Local Court on Wednesday after a brief hearing on charges of 'publish indecent article' relating to social media posts he allegedly made about John Ibrahim, Danny Green, Bassam Hamzy and Bilal Hamzy Haochar was arrested on Tuesday before being released on bail 24 hours later. He claimed outside court that he was 'hungry' after only being fed two Big Mac meals during his time in custody Footage of what happened next was later shared by Mr Ibrahim, who captured the moment on his home security camera. Haochar is seen approaching the 48-year-old, greeting him with an extended hand which Mr Ibrahim swatted away. During the confrontation, which is not audible, Mr Ibrahim seems calm and collected while speaking to Haochar in tracksuit pants and sandals. Seconds later, Haochar appears to be dismissed and is seen walking away quietly. Haochar posted a video of himself arriving at the home of Mr Ibrahim (right, pictured with his girlfriend Sarah Budge) to Facebook on Saturday. Mr Ibrahim later released different footage showing him refusing to shake Haochar's hand and turning the heavily-tattooed man away Haochar's lawyer Michael Ayache (pictured) told the court on Wednesday that all available footage showed there was 'no connotation of violence' in the interaction between his client and Mr Ibrahim Haochar claimed he was not 'embarrassed' by the video and that he and Mr Ibrahim had a long history as friends. 'It's all right, I don't mind that,' he said of Mr Ibrahim's video. 'It comes under the buddies act. We go way back me and John (sic).' Haochar is facing four counts of publish indecent article after he made a series of rambling videos about Mr Ibrahim, champion boxer Danny Green and NSW criminal cousins Bassam and Bilal Hamzy. He was granted strict bail during a brief court appearance on Wednesday, including being banned from posting about the four men on social media. Haochar, who wore a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs singlet in court, was also told by Magistrate Lisa Stapleton that he could not go within 100 metres of Mr Ibrahim's mansion. Mohamed 'Butch' Haochar, 37, was arrested at Ryde Police Station in Sydney's west on Tuesday morning Hamzy (pictured) is a convicted killer who was jailed in 1998 over the shooting murder of Kris Toumazis outside a Sydney nightclub Danny Green (pictured) is an Australian professional boxer who has enjoyed a successful career in the ring with numerous titles tucked under his belt Who are Danny Green and Bassam Hamzy? Bassam Hamzy is a convicted killer who was sentenced to jail in 1998 over the shooting murder of Kris Toumazis outside a Sydney nightclub. He was also convicted for conspiring to murder a witness. While he was in Lithgow jail, Hamzy founded the notorious gang Brothers 4 Life in 2008. He is currently locked up at Goulburn's Supermax prison, about 195km south-west of Sydney. Danny Green is an Australian professional boxer. He held the WBA light-heavyweight title between 2007 to 2008, the IBO Cruiseweight title in 2009 and 2013 and the WBC interim super-middleweight between 2003 and 2005. Advertisement His lawyer Michael Ayache told the court that all available footage showed there was 'no connotation of violence' in the interaction between his client and Mr Ibrahim. 'The people in John Ibrahim's home are filming CCTV of John and my client interacting,' Mr Ayache said. 'It certainly doesn't have connotation of violence to it because he interacts with John. While John doesn't shake his hand, it's not intimidating.' The court heard that Haochar had been arrested on Tuesday and charged with four counts of 'publish indecent article'. The charges referred to several other Facebook posts Haochar had allegedly made which targetted Danny Green, Brothers 4 Life leader Bassam Hamzy and his cousin Bilal Hamzy. Court documents allege that one digitally altered photo Haochar had posted showed him allegedly threatening to execute the Hamzy's. 'The accused is pointing a firearm at the head of Bilal Hamzy, who is standing next to Bassam Hamzy,' Magistrate Stapleton told the court. As part of his bail conditions Haochar was ordered not to connect with Mr Ibrahim, Danny Green, or either of the Hamzy's. He was also ordered not to post about any of the four men on social media, and can not post anything on social media containing a weapon. Haochar is due to reappear in court May 20. Two Florida teenagers who got stranded in the ocean for two hours and cried out to God for help were miraculously rescued by a boat named The Amen. Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, both 17, went for a swim off of Vilano Beach near St. Augustine on Thursday April 18 for senior skip day. But their hooky adventure turned into a fight for their lives when they ventured too far into the water and got stuck in the powerful waves. The teens ended up stranded in the middle of the ocean two miles off the shore, fighting the waves for two hours. Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, both 17, got stranded in the ocean when they went for a swim at Vilano Beach for senior skip day and they got pulled out by the waves They were stranded in rough waves two miles off shore for two agonizing hours, crying out to God for help, when a boat called The Amen came to their rescue Desperate, they started to cry out to God for help. Theyve been friends since fourth grade and are seniors at Christ's Church Academy. 'I cried out: "If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,"' Tyler recalled to Fox30, adding his leg started to cramp just moments before a boat came to their rescue. Captain Eric Wagner, manning the boat called The Amen, found the two screaming for help in the water. 'Over all the wind, waves, and engines, we thought we heard a desperate scream. Exhausted and near the end, the boy told me he called out for God's help. Then we showed up,' Wagner said. After the rescue: Heather and Tyler pictured above moments after they were rescued aboard The Amen and huddled for warmth as they were brought to safety In the hospital: Video from inside the hospital shows the moment the teens embrace following their miraculous rescue Both teens will graduate from Christs Church Academy this fall and intend to serve in the military He called the Coast Guard and sailed to their rescue. He and his crew aboard The Amen were headed from Delray Beach to New Jersey. They decided to go through the rough waves for fun, which ended up being a lifesaving decision for the teens. 'I told them the name of the vessel, that's when they started to cry,' Wagner said. 'The young couple was gracious and grateful to us and to God. It was the latter all along.' 'I started swimming towards it. I was like, "Im going to get this boat. Just stay here. Im going to get this boat. We are going to live."' Heather said recalling seeing the boat appear on the horizon. 'From us crying out to God, for Him to send someone for us to keep living and a boat named Amen, there's no way that it wasn't Him,' Tyler said upon having The Amen rescue them 'I told them the name of the vessel, that's when they started to cry,' Captain Wagner said on rescuing the exhausted teens The teens got stuck about two miles away from the shore near Vilano Beach, near St. Augustine, in Florida 'From us crying out to God, for Him to send someone for us to keep living and a boat named Amen, there's no way that it wasn't Him,' Tyler added to Fox. The two were taken to the hospital following their rescue after their body temperatures began to dip. They were released in stable condition. The duo graduate on May 19 and are both planning to serve in the military and believe this experience will help them. Heather plans to attend Embry Riddle University where she'll study homeland security and be a naval ROTC marine officer. Tyler plans to attend Florida Atlantic University to study business finance. He also wants to get his pilot's license and join the Air Force. The school released a statement following the students' rescue. 'The staff, students and families of Christs Church Academy are incredibly grateful for Gods protection over Heather and Tyler,' Jeanie Collins, director of marketing and development at Christ's Church Academy said. 'Thank you to Mr. Eric Wagner, captain of the "Amen" vessel that rescued our students, for your action and compassion!' Kiwis living in Australia could soon enjoy more perks after Labor flagged improved access to government benefits and services. New Zealanders who call Australia home have long complained about being treated like second-class citizens, with limited access to a range of government assistance such as social security and student loans. In comparison, Australians living across the ditch can access a range of benefits after just a few years. With the federal election looming, Labor has hinted changes could be on the way. For a long time New Zealanders who have chosen to call Australia home have been getting less in the way of government assistance than their Aussie counterparts (Gold Coast pictured) A statement from a Labor campaign spokeswoman said Labor believes there is an inequity for New Zealand citizens living in Australia under the terms of the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangements (TTTA). 'Labor will consider the permanent residency status and potential citizenship arrangements for New Zealand citizens living in Australia under the terms of the TTTA,' the statement said. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has previously pledged to improve the rights of New Zealanders living in Australia. In a speech to the Lowy Institute last October he said the improved treatment for long-term New Zealand permanent residents would be on his agenda. He also mentioned the possibility of Kiwis gaining access to student loans for higher education. For a long time New Zealanders who have chosen to call Australia home have been getting less in the way of government assistance than their Aussie counterparts However, as most New Zealanders are unable to vote, Kiwis rights rarely feature in campaign promises. New Zealanders stopped being granted permanent residency on arrival in 2001 under the Howard Government. Only those who arrived before February 26, 2001, are permanent residents with access to social security and student loans. New Zealanders who arrived after that date are non-protected Special Category Visa holders, which means they can live and work in Australia indefinitely but do not have the rights of permanent residents and there is no simple pathway to citizenship. A new pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders was announced in 2017 but there are strict conditions. The pathway requires the person to be earning at least AU$53,900 for five years, they must pass health checks and a character test. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Liberals and Labor for comment. Hillary Clinton believes Attorney General William Barr should resign for acting like President Trump's 'defense lawyer' in his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. 'Calling for [Barr's] resignation makes perfect sense, because he's not discharging the duties of the office; he's not going to resign, and at this point, I think that we know what we need to know about him,' Clinton said during an appearance on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. When asked about Barr's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Clinton said: 'It was another day today where you just can't even believe what you're hearing.' The former secretary of state, who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential elections, says that Congress should call other witnesses mentioned in Mueller's report. Hillary Clinton: "Calling for" AG Barr's "resignation makes perfect sense, because he's not discharging the duties of the office; he's not going to resign, and at this point, I think that we know what we need to know about him." pic.twitter.com/iCrFdzi0L0 MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 2, 2019 Hillary Clinton (above) on Wednesday called for Attorney General William Barr to resign over his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections Barr appeared on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee She also called on the House Judiciary Committee to hold Barr in contempt. The Trump administration has vowed to block any current and former aides from testifying before Congress on the Mueller report. 'They will block everything,' Clinton said. 'This also comes alongside them refusing the subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report and suing his own accounting firm and bank so they don't respond to congressional subpoenas.' The Trump organization this week sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to block them from submitting financial and banking records to Congress. 'They're trying to block the White House counsel [Don McGahn] from responding to a subpoena,' Clinton said. 'We're seeing a wall come up in terms of what they're saying they're going to allow. 'If they try to wholesale block every witness who spoke to Mueller from speaking to these committees, how does that resolve? 'How does that end? Does it become an endless legal fight?' McGahn, the former White House counsel, threatened to quit when Trump ordered him to fire Mueller, according to the Mueller report. Democrats say Trump's attempt to fire Mueller constitutes obstruction of justice. Clinton said that Barr showed on Wednesday that he is 'not the attorney general of the United States in the way that he has conducted himself.' Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the FBI had an anti-Trump bias which he claims contributed to the closing of the Hillary Clinton email investigation 'He auditioned for the job with his 19-page memo basically saying there is no such thing as obstruction of justice when it comes to a president,' Clinton said. 'He was hired to make sure that was a reality. He has behaved in that way.' Clinton was referring to Barr's memo, which he wrote months before he was confirmed as attorney general earlier this year. In the memo, Barr criticized the Mueller investigation and said that the president could not commit obstruction of justice. Clinton's name was mentioned during Barr's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, mentioned the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server to send classified information when she was secretary of state. Graham suggested that the FBI's anti-Trump bias and pro-Clinton sentiment led to the decision not to prosecute Clinton over the email matter. The senator also alluded to alleged anti-Trump bias among FBI agents, namely Peter Strzok, who was removed from the Mueller investigation after text messages sent to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer with whom he was having an affair, showed he had a preference for Clinton. Clinton blasted Graham on Wednesday for re-litigating the email matter, saying: 'That's an absolute disgrace. They know better. 'But this is part of their whole technique to divert attention from what the real story is. 'The real story is the Russians interfered in our election. And Trump committed obstruction of justice. 'That's the real story.' Clinton was also asked about a New York Times report from last week which claimed that Trump on numerous occasions sought to have the Justice Department re-open an investigation against her. According to the Mueller report, Trump pushed then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to re-launch a criminal probe against Clinton. Clinton said reports that President Trump ordered his then-attorney general, Jeff Sessions (seen right with Trump in December 2017), to re-launch a criminal investigation against her is a 'sign [that she is] living rent free inside of the president's head' When asked about the claim, Clinton said it was 'a sign of a guilty conscience or a real fear that you could possibly have.' 'I'm living rent free inside of Donald Trump's brain,' she said. 'It's not a very nice place to be, I can tell you that. 'I've been investigated repeatedly by the other side. 'And much to their dismay, but to my satisfaction, it's been for naught.' Clinton was also asked about Barr's contention that the president was within his rights to fire Mueller if he so wanted because he believed he was innocent. '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,' Barr said. Clinton responded to that statement, saying: 'That is the road to tyranny. 'That is what authoritarians believe and those who service them argue. 'And as a young lawyer on the Watergate investigation back in 1974, that would have been unthinkable for either a Democrat or a Republican to argue that.' Barr on Wednesday canceled plans to testify before the House of Representatives about his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation, further inflaming tensions between 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. Power struggle: 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.' 'Its simply part of the administrations complete stonewalling of Congress,' Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Nadlers 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 Muellers 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 Mueller for not reaching a conclusion of his own on the issue. In his first congressional testimony since releasing a redacted version of Muellers report on April 18, Barr also dismissed Muellers complaints that he initially disclosed the special counsels 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 Barrs March 24 letter to declare that he had been fully exonerated. Several Democrats on the Senate committee called for Barrs 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 dont think the government had a prosecutable case,' Barr said. The report detailed extensive contacts between Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow and the campaigns expectation that it would benefit from Russias 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. 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 Barr has said he and Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Departments No. 2 official, then determined there was not enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction. Barr often appeared to excuse or rationalize Trumps conduct, asserting that the president may not necessarily have been trying to derail Muellers 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 committees Republican chairman, rushed to Barrs defense, telling Hirono: 'Youve 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 shouldnt go down the path of making a traditional prosecutorial decision, then he shouldnt have investigated,' Barr said. Barr was asked about the reports 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. Democrats on the panel were unconvinced. 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 'I think the presidents 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 investigations 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. 'Thats 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 Muellers March 27 letter that Barrs initial summary did not 'fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Offices 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 Muellers letter did not mention media coverage. 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' '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 Trumps conduct but rather on what they saw as the FBIs improper surveillance during the 2016 race of Trump aides they suspected of being Russian agents, as well as on the Kremlins election meddling. Barr indicated that to him, the matter was closed. 'The report is now in the hands of the American people,' he said. 'Were out of it. We have to stop using the criminal justice system as a political weapon.' The boss of a residential building company fears Labor's negative gearing policies will cause a housing shortage and push up rents. Mark Steinert, chief executive of property developer Stockland, said his company was on track to under-build in 2020 and 2021. 'A change in the negative gearing tax policy, then that will accentuate that,' he told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia this week. The boss of a residential building company fears Labor's negative gearing policies will cause a housing shortage and push up rents (pictured is Sydney's central business district) Should Opposition Leader Bill Shorten win the May 18 election, Labor is planning to scrap negative gearing for existing properties from January 2020. Landlords who buy brand-new or off-the-plan properties will still qualify for the negative gearing tax breaks. However, Labor's plan was still expected to dampen demand for new off-the-plan unit developments even though buyers will still get negative gearing, because the ALP is also vowing to halve the capital gains tax discount from the current 50 per cent to 25 per cent for those who sell later. 'Off-the-plan sales of apartments have collapsed entirely,' Mr Steinert said. 'If you reduce further the ability of the investor to gain with the market, then you'll see very dramatic reductions in supply of two-bed apartments, that's where most of the new supply has come.' Stockland chief executive Mark Steinert told a business luncheon this week his diversified property developer group was already on track to under build in 2020 and 2021. He said Labor's negative gearing policies would discourage off-the-plan developments Mr Steinert also predicted Labor's negative gearing policy would cause a spike in rents. 'That could see a period of accentuated growth in rent which could potentially compound the issues for that one-third of the market that has to rent,' he said. Mark Steinert predicted an 'accentuated growth in rent' Tim Lawless, the head of research with property data group CoreLogic, told the CEDA lunch in Sydney younger people would drive a recovery in the apartment market from next year onward, following a sharp recent downturn in real estate values in major cities. 'First-home buyers tend to be very price sensitive - they tend to target markets that are more affordable,' he said. 'We are seeing a gradual shift towards medium to high-density preferences.' During the past year, Sydney's median unit price has dived by 9.1 per cent to a $683,739, CoreLogic data for April showed. Mr Steinert also predicted Labor's negative gearing policy would cause a spike in rents as fewer investors entered the property market (stock image) In Melbourne, median apartment values have fallen by an annual pace of 4.1 per cent to $527,367. Mr Shorten told the ABC's 7.30 program on Wednesday night Labor's negative gearing policy was designed to 'create a level playing field' so cashed-up investors weren't outbidding younger first-home buyers, aged in their late twenties or early thirties. 'It's a lot more expensive than it was 20 years ago,' he told interviewer Leigh Sales. 'They're bidding against someone in the crowd who's getting a taxpayer subsidy in the form of negative gearing. It's not fair.' A man is wanted for questioning after a woman claimed she was followed by a man at a train station who then filmed up her skirt. Officers from the Police Transport and Public Safety Command are appealing for public assistance over the incident alleged to have occurred at Sydney's Central Train station on April 8. Authorities reviewed CCTV footage and have released an image of a man they believe can assist with their inquiries. A woman has alerted authorities after allegedly being followed by a man at a train station who filmed up her skirt as she walked up the stairs At about 12.30pm a man allegedly followed the 21-year-old woman and used a mobile phone to film up her skirt as she walked up the stairs with other passengers. The shaken woman notified Sydney Trains sparking a police investigation. The man is described as being white, aged 20 25, of medium build, about 180cm tall with short brown hair. He is shown wearing a blue t-shirt, brown pants, brown boots, and is carrying a blue backpack. As inquiries continue, anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. Hardware giant Bunnings is being sued for more than half-a-million dollars after one of its workers was crushed by a box of broom handles on the job. Victorian WorkCover Authority has lodged a writ and statement of claim with the Supreme Court of Victoria arguing Bunnings breached its duty of care to the seriously injured worker. Robyn Handasyde was employed by a separate company to restock shelves at the Scoresby Bunnings - in Melbourne's southeast - when the unthinkable happened. Bunnings is being sued for more than half-a-million dollars over claims it failed to meet its duty of care to a worker who was crushed by a box of broom handles Bunnings brooms are a popular item at the hardware store. But the handles are responsible for a half-a-million dollar claim against the retail giant amid claims a box of them fell on a worker Court documents obtained by Daily Mail Australia claim Ms Handasyde was carrying out her duties on May 5, 2010 when a colleague driving a mechanical lifting machine dropped or dislodged a heavy box of broom handles on top of her. The box smashed down upon Ms Handasyde's neck and shoulders, causing her serious injuries. VWA barristers acting on behalf of the victim claim she was left with life-long injuries which also led to her further breaking her ankle. They claim Bunnings failed in its duty of care to the worker to ensure she was not injured while carrying out her job. 'The accident was caused as a result of negligence and/or breach of statutory duty of the Defendant, its servants or agents,' a Statement of Claim reads. VWA alleges Bunnings failed to comply with various sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. A breakdown of Ms Handasyde's claim declares Bunnings ought pay her $365, 227 in lost earnings since she sustained the injury. Victorian Workcover Authority claims a box of broom handles fell off a mechanical lifting machine (similar to that pictured) and landed on a woman's neck and shoulder The Scoresby Bunnings in Melbourne's southeast where one of its workers claims she was seriously injured in 2010. Bunnings is now being sued for damages in the Supreme Court of Victoria The remainder of her claim is made-up of costly medical bills and rehabilitation. However, VWA warns the hardware giant could be up for even more compensation up until the matter is dealt with at trial. All up, Bunnings is looking down the barrel of a $503,937 payout - not including its own legal expenses, which could run into the hundreds of thousands. But if Bunnings' response to the claim is any indication, the matter looks set to be dragged out at trial in the Supreme Court. In a defence letter filed by Bunnings' legal team, the company refutes practically all of the allegations made against it, including a claim that Ms Handasyde was even 'a worker' at the time. However, it accepted she did make an injury claim on May 26, 2010. Bunnings' take on health and safety recently hit the headlines when it took a hard-line stance on how to construct sausage sandwich. The sausage sanga has become a staple for many of its customers across the country. Bunnings took a hard line on the way sausage sangas were to be sold by community groups outside its hardware shops. It caused a social media meltdown last November when it ordered onions to be placed beneath the sausage instead of on top Last November, Bunnings ordered the onion on its sausages could no longer be placed on top of the sausage because fallen onion posed a tripping hazard. 'Safety is always our number one priority and we recently introduced a suggestion that onion be placed underneath sausages to help prevent the onion from falling out and creating a slipping hazard,' Bunnings chief operating officer Debbie Poole said at the time. The move was widely panned across social media with one vexed user summing up the mood by tweeting: 'Jesus, Mary, what the f***?'. Mexican federal police and immigration agents raided a train in southern Mexico on Wednesday that is popular 'one-way ticket' for Central American migrants looking to journey to the southern border of the United States. According to the National Immigration Institute, hundreds of immigrants were removed from the train, known as 'La Bestia' or 'The Beast,' during Wednesday's sting because they did not possess the correct travel documents. Around 100 migrants accepted help from the immigration agency. The rest were allowed to continue on foot. It is unclear if those that accepted assistance were detained or processed for deportation. Central American migrants dreaming of entering the United States are risking their lives by traveling aboard a freight train known as 'La Bestia' or 'The Beast' Volunteers assist paramedics to lower the body of Jose Elias Villalta Benavides, a 25-year-old man from El Salvador who suffered a fatal heart attack on the train on Monday A young girl climbs to the top of a freight train that has been a popular mode of transport for Central American migrants heading to the Gulf state of Veracruz The National Immigration Institute said none of the migrants traveling aboard the freight train, which has been dubbed 'El Tren de la Muerte' or 'The Train of Death,' had legal travel documents. On any given day, children could be spotted sitting on any section of a freight train despite warnings from the Mexican government Central American migrants often sit on top the box cars of the freight train or struggle with dangerously high temperatures inside the wagons Carlos Vazquez (left) from Honduras asked Mexico's president to show more compassion after reports surfaced of women and children being forcefully arrested Carlos Vazquez from Honduras claimed he was beaten by officials after he was removed from the train in a similar sting earlier this week. 'What I say to the president of Mexico is that we are only passing through and that women and children should not be arrested and beaten like us all because we are all human,' Vazquez told Estrella TV this week. Those that board the train see it as their best option to head north towards the Mexico-United States border. With President Donald Trump mounting pressure on the Mexican government to stop the wave of migrants crossing through Mexico from Central America, Mexican immigration authorities have started to crack down on undocumented migrants that journey on the trains or hitchhike on trucks and buses. Mexico's immigration agency on Wednesday stressed the dangers of traveling on 'La Bestia,' which departs from Chiapas and slowly steam rolls to Gulf state of Veracruz. On any given day, as many as a thousand migrants could be seen perched on top of the wagons or sitting inside the cargo cars that lack air conditioning systems. This is particularly dangerous for children that regularly make the journey. On early Monday, a 25-year-old man from El Salvador suffered a fatal heart attack while riding on the train's roof. Central American migrants (pictured) on 'La Bestia' in a recent picture Central American migrants hold the Honduran national flag while moving on the train through the central state of Oaxaca According to Mexican outlet Noticieros Televisa, Jose Elias Villalta Benavides was one of about 700 migrants riding 'La Bestia' along with a family member that departed on from Chiapas on Sunday afternoon. He became sick in Ixtepec, a city in Oaxaca. A paramedic who treated Villalta Benavides said the he was dehydrated and started vomiting before he suffered cardiac arrest. The body of Salvadoran national Jose Elias Villalta Benavides was removed from the train early on Monday after he died from a heart attack The Hemp Embassy at Nimbin was swarmed with police on Thursday, just a day out from its 'Mardi Grass' celebration. About 20 officers and several sniffer dogs descended on the building with a search warrant just before 11am. Everyone inside, about 50 people, were evacuated, with police searching and dogs sniffing each person as they left. Thursday marked one of the busiest days of the year for the embassy, with their annual 'Mardi Grass' festival only one day away. About 20 police and sniffer dogs descended on the Nimbin Hemp Embassy on Thursday The raid took place just one day before Mardi Grass - the town's marijuana themed protest and festival - was set to take place According to the Hemp Embassy website, Mardi Grass is a 'celebration and rally to protest the drug laws, educate people on the various uses of cannabis (medicinal, industrial, recreational & spiritual) and to celebrate the culture that has grown here over the last 40 years'. Nimbin was once considered the centre of Australia's marijuana culture, but an increasing police presence has put a strain on the town. A string of high-profile arrests in 2015 and 2016 ended a trade that saw Nimbin locals grow and sell kilograms of the intoxicating plant every day. Locals gathered at the embassy on Thursday as word spread about the raid to protest in song. One man was seen wearing a hi-vis jumper and carrying a guitar, while others gathered with a umbrellas decorated with a cannabis leaf image and sang a version of 'we will rock you', directed at the officers inside. Residents gathered in protest at the embassy (pictured on Thursday) as word began to spread about the police raid Police earlier said they would be out in force over the course of the festival, which goes from Friday to Sunday, targeting illegal drug activity and anti-social behaviour. Richmond Police District Commander, Superintendent Toby Lindsay, said officers would be keeping an eye out for underage drinking and alcohol related violence, as well as illegal drug use and supply. 'Illicit drugs can have life-threatening effects, especially when a combination of drugs is taken, or they are combined with alcohol,' he said. 'It is not only illegal to possess or take illicit drugs; but those caught face serious consequences. 'We will take appropriate action against anyone who chooses to commit a crime, or behave in an offensive manner.' A woman identified only as Judy called the operation 'a huge waste of resources'. 'The millions of dollars that goes into this stupid drug war could go to health, education and training... this is so stupid, so counterproductive,' she said. 'What've we got? We've got a police force that does anti-community policing. These guys have far better things to do.' Nimbin police declined to comment when asked for further information. A woman has been convicted of high-range drink driving after she blew more than 0.300 twice in a week - and on one occasion she was on her way to buy more booze. Cara Pullen, 46, from Summerhill, Tasmanina, fronted Launceston Magistrates Court on Wednesday after she was arrested at a Lavender Grove address that morning. Police found Pullen behind the wheel of her car, having stalled it trying to drive into her garage, with two newly purchased bottles of vodka. A woman has been convicted of high-range drink driving after she blew more than 0.300 twice in a week - and on one occasion she was on her way to buy more booze Officer arrested the 46-year-old after they breath tested her and she blew a blood alcohol reading of 0.324 - more than six times the legal limit, The Mercury reported. The high reading came just days after the woman lost her licence for driving under the influence and recording a reading of 0.350 on Sunday. At the time, Pullen was driving to a bottle shop to purchase more alcohol when she was stopped by police, the Launceston Magistrates Court was told on Sunday. On Wednesday, police were alerted to the woman's home after a number of people complained she was driving after having lost her licence three days earlier. When Pullen fronted court on Wednesday, she was charged with exceed 0.05 and being a disqualified driver - and she admitted the charges. Magistrate Simon Bowen, who called her offending 'dreadfully serious (and) dreadfully dangerous', suspended the Pullen from driving for two years. The high reading came just days after the woman lost her licence for driving under the influence and recording a reading of 0.350 on Sunday According to DrinkWise, excessive drinking can increase your risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, weakening of the heart muscle and heart failure. University of California researchers also found a blood alcohol reading of 0.35 is the level of surgical anaesthesia, which can stop breathing, the Herald Sun reported. Pullen's full sentencing has been adjourned until Monday. A retiree has caused a stir by complaining on national television about Labor's plan to abolish a tax refund - while eating biscuits on the deck of his eighth boat. Steve Gledhill, 71, slammed Bill Shorten's plan to abolish franking credits on the ABC's 7.30 program on Wednesday. 'The franking credit proposal is the most unfair proposal and hostile proposal I've ever heard or seen of in my life,' Mr Gledhill said. Retiree Steve Gledhill has caused a stir in the middle of an election campaign by complaining about Labor's plan to abolish a tax refund - from the stern of his eighth boat Steve is seen here in ABC television footage with his wife June, enjoying the perks of their retirement But it was the context of the interview - in the sunshine, on the deck of his boat, eating Tim Tams - that sparked a backlash on social media. The self-funded retiree told the program he retired a decade ago and has about $500,000 in his self-managed super fund. The fund gives him about $50,000 a year, and he said he feared Mr Shorten's plan to abolish franking credits for people who do not pay income tax will cost him 30 per cent of his income. He also said the fact he owned many boats over the course of his life did not mean he was a wealthy person. 'There's an assumption that if you own a boat, you're a wealthy person. In our case, that couldn't be further from the truth,' he told the program. 'As I said earlier, this is my eighth boat ... I've gone a little bit bigger and a bit better every time I've done it over a 40-year period.' The remarks by retiree Steve Gledhill sparked criticism on social media (file photo) A photograph of a boat from Mr Gledhill's social media pages SO WHAT ARE FRANKING CREDITS? Companies have already paid tax on their profits when they hand them out to shareholders as dividends. Dividends are then distributed to shareholders 'fully franked', with a 'franking credit' applying. At tax time, shareholders get the value of the franking credit as a tax refund. That means they don't pay tax on profits, because a company has already paid tax. This stops 'double taxation'. Labor wants to abolish franking credits for people who do not already earn income tax, describing it as a 'gift'. Advertisement The interview sparked an uproar online. Former MP Tony Windsor tweeted that he thought the interview was satire. 'He will be in election ads for ALP,' Mr Windsor said. One punter simply said 'wow' while another - whose Twitter username had the word 'Comrade' in it - used it to make a policy argument against franking credits. 'A wealthy retiree relaxing on his luxury cruiser, complaining about losing his franking credit rort ... OR ... more money for our public schools and hospitals... YOU CHOOSE'. Another said: 'ABC 730 just had a 71-year-old retiree complaining about franking credit changes and how he's been hard done by because his cushy tax loophole's being closed whilst sitting on his BOAT.' Not everyone agreed with their assessment, with some claiming the program was making out like all retirees typically 'have boats'. The Liberal Party has argued Mr Shorten's dividend imputation plan will affect many low-income earners. Mr Shorten said the tax credit is a gift. 'It is not immoral, nor is it illegal, but it is a gift.' And it is one, he claimed, that is chewing into the Federal Budget's bottom line. A billboard criticising Bill Shorten's alleged support for 'drag queen story time' has been banned over ethical concerns. The political sign, authorised by Binary, an organisation promoting the idea of traditional gender roles, shows Shorten's image next to a drag queen reading stories to schoolchildren. The images are accompanied by a quote from Labor Shadow Assistant Minister Louise Pratt saying, 'Drag queen story time is a wonderful idea' followed by the text: 'This time, put Labor Last.' The billboard was proposed by Binary, an organisation promoting the idea of traditional gender roles, and showed Shorten's image next to a drag queen reading stories to schoolchildren The quote is in reference to when the Western Australia senator urged Perth residents to support a local business that had hosted an event where drag queens could read books to children, introducing them to idea of gender fluidity. 'Drag queen story time is a wonderful idea that celebrates diversity and I know that children and families will really enjoy this family friendly celebration of LGBTI culture,' Pratt said in November. The quote on the billboard is in reference to when Western Australia senator Louise Pratt (right) urged Perth residents to support a local business that had hosted an event where drag queens could read books to children, introducing them to idea of gender fluidity The Outdoor Media Association ultimately rejected the sign stating it portrayed people 'in a way which discriminates against or vilifies a person or section of the community on account of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual preference, religion, disability, mental illness or political belief,' The Australian reported. Kirralie Smith, the director of Binary, said the ban violates freedom of speech and prevents discussion about the issue ahead of the federal election. 'There are two critical issues here. First, Labor has made their position very clear -they believe that a Drag Queen should teach your kids that their gender is fluid, that they can choose if they are a boy or girl,' she told the publication. 'Second, we are not able to even have the debate about whether or not this is a good idea during a federal election. And this a slap in the face to the parents of Australia.' Posting two of the billboards would cost the group $75,000, according to Binary's website. 'It is so important that Australians understand Labor's dangerous agenda to indoctrinate our kids,' the organisation said on their site. When contacted by the Australian, Labor reportedly refuse to explain whether or not it would support government-funded children's programs like these and if they would be optional. A jealous man hacked a church bell-ringer to death with a machete because he thought he was having an affair with his wife. Ueta Vea, 45, on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Auckland's High Court to killing Laulimu Liuasi, 62, on January 13. Liuasi, known by his baptismal name of Pio Sheck, was living on the grounds of St John the Evangelist Church in Otara, south Auckland, where he worked as a handyman and would ring the church bell every day. According to court documents seen by NZ Herald, Vea and Liuasi attended the church with their families and had worked together to maintain the Church property. Ueta Vea, 45, on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Auckland's High Court to killing Laulimu Liuasi, 62, on January 13 at St John the Evangelist Catholic Parish church But their relationship turned nasty when Vea suspected Liuasi was having an affair with his wife Veisinia in November 2018. Vea discovered sexual text messages sent between his wife and Liuasi, who was also married. The duo also met at Liuasi's home on the church grounds, court documents revealed. Vea confronted them about his suspicions but they denied they were having an affair. The tensions led to an intervention, in December, facilitated by the church priest but Vea remained dubious the flirtatious messaging had stopped. Vea vocalised the mistrust of his wife at a church function in Maraetai on January 12. The heated argument led to a confrontation with other community members about Vea's behaviour. The day following, Vea was kicked out of his home by his wife and was told their marriage was over. During the afternoon, Vea went to the house to pick up the murder weapon which was hidden in a cupboard. He hid the machete from his wife and walked from the house to the church grounds, 3.7 kilometres away, at about 5pm. Police are seen at the crime scene, St John the Evangelist Catholic Parish church, in Auckland Vea watched his victim before he was able to sneak into Liuasi's home at about 6pm. He hid behind a wall in the kitchen before pouncing on Liuasi and stabbing on the back of the neck, chin, left ear, left shoulder, hand, and torso. Vea later recalled that Liuasi screamed 'help' and 'I want to live' in Samoan. He then stood for about 2 minutes and watched the blood soak around his victim, who had collapsed on to the floor. Vea disposed of the machete and fled to his wife's home in Liuasi's car where he then admitted to the attack. The married couple immediately went to the church and found the priest before walking into the crime scene. The priest noticed Liuasi was still breathing but paramedics were unable to revive him. Vea immediately admitted to the crime and told officers where the weapon was. He made further admissions in his formal police interview. He will be sentenced in June. A man was arrested after he was heavily armed and robbed the same Dairy Queen twice in one day in Colorado. Police were called to the Dairy Queen in the 2100 block of Oakshire Lane, Pueblo for an armed robbery on Monday at 9 pm. Security camera footage obtained by KRDO appears to show 37-year old Levi Roberts, dressed in black and wearing a bandana, walking into the Dairy Queen on Oakshire Lane holding two handguns and carrying a third in his waistband. Levi Roberts, 37, (pictured), was arrested after he robbed the same Dairy Queen twice in one day in a Colorado town Roberts unsuccessfully attempted to steal a vehicle in the drive-thru, according to Pueblo police, after getting cash from the store. Police believe he fled the scene and officers could not find him when they searched the area. Two hours later, employees found Roberts hiding behind the restaurant when they were closing for the night. Levi Roberts walked into the Pueblo restaurant dressed in black with a balaclava on Security shows Levi Roberts dressed in black and wearing a bandana as he was armed with three guns entering the Dairy Queen on Oakshire Lane, Pueblo Roberts allegedly made a second attempt to steal a vehicle. Employees claim that this time he was armed with a gun in one hand and a had machete in the other. Roberts then left empty-handed and fled on foot into nearby fields. Using night vision goggles, police were able to find him and make an arrest, the department said Tuesday. 'He ran and after a short foot chase we were able to place him into custody,' Sgt. Frank Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department told KRDO. 'Who knows if we wouldve found him out in those prairies without those night vision goggles.' He returned to the restaurant two hours after the first robbery and staff found him sitting outside with a gun which he threatened an employee with Roberts is facing two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of attempted robbery and felony menacing. Amanda Gilmore, the assistant manager at the fast food restaurant, said Roberts 'came right at me.' She told KRDO: 'He looks like a psycho. Honestly, Im glad he didnt hurt anyone. Ortega claimed Roberts is originally from Idaho and it is not known why he was in the area or why he targeted Dairy Queen. 'I was changing the ice cream and the girl behind me told me we are being robbed,' said Ashley Torres, an employee at the Dairy Queen in Pueblo. 'He had the gun in my face asking me to give him all the money.' A 60-year-old married man has been arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping a girl at his New York day care center over a four-year period. Alberto Hernandez was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with 13 charges including rape, criminal sex act, coarse sex conduct with a child, sex abuse, sex contact with an individual under 11 years old and forcible touching. He was booked after a 13-year-old girl came forward on Monday and said Hernandez allegedly raped her from when she was six to the age of 10, according to a NYPD spokesperson. Alberto Hernandez (above) has been arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping a girl at his New York day care center over a four-year period Two days later he was arrested. The alleged rape took place at Maria Cortez Day Care, which is located in the Bronx. Hernandez owned and operated the center with his wife for the past 25 years. The day care is licensed and was run out of their home in Kingsbridge Heights, according to PIX 11. Police are urging other potential victims that attended the day care to come forward. He was booked after a 13-year-old girl came forward on Monday and said Hernandez allegedly raped her from when she was six to the age of 10 A man has been found guilty of committing an Islamic State inspired terrorist attack when he stabbed a man with a hunting knife during a southwest Sydney rampage. Pharmacy student Ihsas Khan, 25, butchered grandfather Wayne Greenhalgh in a street in Minto, in the city's south, in September 2016. Greenhalgh fled for his life, cowering in a neighbourhood hairdresser, as unlikely local heroes intervened to subdue Khan. Khan was expressionless when the sixth jury to face the case handed down its verdict at the New South Wales Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon. Ihsas Khan, 25, was found guilty of committing a terrorist attack when he stabbed Wayne Greenhalgh The 25-year-old butchered grandfather Wayne Greenhalgh in a street in Minto, in the city's south, in September 2016 Three previous trials were aborted midway through evidence, one was aborted on its second day and the fifth jury could not reach a verdict. One of the heroes who stopped Khan, Allice Ah Fa, tragically died by suicide at the University of Western Sydney last April. During the attack, Khan was tasered and taken into custody where he was charged with committing a terrorist act. Khan had pleaded not guilty due to mental illness. In one of the trials, the court heard Khan planned to attack a stranger on September 11, to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York. He chose Mr Greenhalgh because he was wearing a T-shirt with an American motif and repeatedly yelled 'Allahu Akbar' during the stabbing. Greenhalgh (pictured) fled for his life, cowering in a neighbourhood hairdresser, as unlikely local heroes intervened to subdue Khan In a police interview following the attack, Khan was asked how he felt about the stabbing and compared it to eating a chocolate bar. '[It felt] like eating a Picnic bar. You don't really think about it, do you?' Khan was then asked if he though the stabbing was 'normal'. 'Is it normal for you to drop bombs in Iraq and Syria? It's the same thing,' Khan responded, adding that he 'felt nothing' and didn't regret his actions. Khan will be sentenced on May 23. A five-year-old boy almost lost his eye when he accidentally impaled a metal hook through his face after colliding with a clothes rack at Target. Saad Shahzad was shopping with his mother and sister in Parramatta, west Sydney last month when he saw a shirt on the floor and bent down abruptly to pick it up. His face smashed into the metal clothes rack and the hook got lodged in his eye socket as he wailed in agony. Saad's mother screamed in horror and tried to pull her son's face off the hook. When she eventually freed him, blood poured from his open wound before she vomited and fainted in shock. Injured: Saad Shahzad (pictured) was shopping with his mother and sister in Parramatta, west Sydney last month when he saw a shirt on the floor and bent down abruptly to pick it up His face smashed into the metal clothes rack (pictured is the rack where the incident happened) and the hook got lodged in his eye socket as he wailed in agony Saad's mother screamed in horror and tried to pull her son's face off the hook. Pictured: Saad before the accident Saad, who was temporarily blinded in one eye, was rushed to hospital where he had emergency surgery for a torn eye duct. He is now recovering well and has no lasting injuries. There was so much blood she thought he had lost his eye Saad's father Adnan, who was at work at the time of the accident, told how his son was lucky not to lose his eye. Recalling the horrifying incident on the evening before Good Friday, he told Daily Mail Australia: 'Saad was at the hanger and bent down to pick up a shirt which had fallen on the floor. 'He got his eye stuck on the hook and his mother panicked and pulled him free. 'Blood was pouring out of his eye and he was shouting and my wife was in shock too. 'There was so much blood she thought he had lost his eye.' Saad's father Adnan (pictured with Saad and his sister), who was at work at the time of the accident, told how his son was lucky not to lose his eye Saad's seven-year-old sister raised the alarm with Target staff but he said they were slow to respond and declined to report the incident. Luckily a kind lady helped Saad and his mother to the Westfield Parramatta Shopping Centre's medical centre where he was treated. Saad was then rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital where he was given emergency surgery and regained full sight. 'I am extremely thankful to the amazing doctors who helped my son. The medical care he received was excellent and he has made a brilliant recovery,' said Mr Shahzad. 'The doctor even called Saad on his fifth birthday last week to check in and say happy birthday.' Mr Shahzad said his wife, 35, is still in shock and has been unable to enter a shopping mall since. Saad (left before the accident and right after), who was blinded in his hurt eye, was rushed to hospital where he had emergency surgery for a torn eye duct The 37-year-old, who works for children's charity Barnando's and has been living in Sydney with his family for three years, is now campaigning for the design of the 'dangerous' hooks to be changed. 'I want these things to be taken seriously - if these hooks are dangerous why don't we do something about it,' he said. Target told Daily Mail Australia it is investigating the incident. A spokesman said: 'At Target Australia the safety of our customers and their families is our highest priority. We are sorry to hear of what occurred with the customer in our store and are taking this seriously. 'We encourage the customer to make contact with our customer care team on 1300 753 567 or via Target's website as it is important to us that we follow this up.' Actor Ben Stiller swapped the red carpet for the Senate Office floor on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and advise on how the U.S. should step in. The 53-year-old actor is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and spent the last couple of years visiting Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Germany. On Wednesday he shared stories of the families he's met that have fled their home country in light of Syria's bloody conflict during a hearing entitled 'The Humanitarian Impact of Eight Years of War in Syria'. In classic comedian fashion, the Meet the Fockers actor opened his speech with a joke saying, 'Its great to be here in person, I watch you all on television all the time. You all look much taller in person.' Actor Ben Stiller, 53, spoke before Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the humanitarian crisis in Syria on Wednesday When he's not acting, Stiller is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and has visited Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Germany 'We must not look away, we cannot let Syrian families go deeper into destitution and we cannot let their children be part of a lost generation,' he said before the Committee He shared stories of the war-torn families he's met that have fled their home country in light of Syria's bloody eight-year-long Civil War Then Stiller opened up about the 'frightening and traumatic' reality of millions of refugees around the world. 'In many parts of the world the term refugee has unfortunately become politicized besides the fact that refugees are real people with real stories. Stories that are some of the most frightening and traumatic that Ive heard, especially as a father,' the famed actor said. 'I try to imagine how I would feel if caught in the middle of conflict and unable to my children. If my son was at risk of forced recruitment or my daughter at risk of unimaginable violenceIf any of us would take a moment to really consider this we would have a tiny sense of what everyday life is like for millions of people across the world,' he continued. He told the story of a young Syrian family with four children that he met in Lebanon, where theyve lived for eight years. They became so desperate to make ends meet the father tried to sell his kidney on Facebook and last year when the mother became pregnant, she was advised to sell her baby for money. 'It sheds light on the familys desperate circumstances,' Stiller said. Stiller pictured smiling with International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband as they testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday's hearing was entitled 'The Humanitarian Impact of Eight Years of War in Syria' Stiller recounted his experience with a Syrian refugee family in Lebanon that were so desperate for money the father tried to sell his kidney on Facebook and the mother was advised to sell her child 'But for being born in a different country, it could well be me and not them sitting in a small, cold, makeshift shelter these people have lost everything,' he added. Then he went on to urge the U.S. to be generous in aiding the splintered refugee population. 'The United States has been the most generous donor to many humanitarian crises, including the Syria situation. I urge you to maintain this generosity,' he said. Since the start of the war the U.S. has provided nearly $9billion in humanitarian aid to Syria, according to the State Department. But the Trump administration has cut back on that aid money and has made controversial moves to withdrawal U.S. troops from Syria. Trump also refused to fund the rebuilding of demolished areas under Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's control. Stiller noted that refugees struggle financially after moving multiple times and find difficulty in landing secure jobs. Proud ambassador: Stiller has opened up about his experience meeting refugees and hearing their stories on Instagram The Civil War in Syria started eight years ago, sparked by the wave of the Arab Spring, and has killed more than half a million citizens. Syrian men pictured above carrying babies through rubble of destroyed buildings in Aleppo after a bomb went off in 2016 Some six million Syrians have fled their home country as a result of the conflict, about half are children. A Kurdish Syrian woman pictured above walking with her child past the ruins of the town of Kobane in 2015 Stiller urged the committee to ensure refugees have access to work, health services, livelihood opportunities, education for their children and 'long term structural support'. In this way refugees can contribute to their new communities and countries, rather idly collecting aid. 'We must not look away, we cannot let Syrian families go deeper into destitution and we cannot let their children be part of a lost generation,' he continued. Stiller then asked the committee to ensure that aid agencies have 'unhindered access' to areas of return inside of Syria so that returning refugee families can have access to help. The Civil War in Syria started eight years ago, sparked by the wave of the Arab Spring. In the conflict more than a half million Syrians have been killed. Nearly 6million have become refugees - half of which are children. An Arizona teacher who revealed she was paid $35,621.25 annually in a social media post was pleasantly surprised when a stranger donated supplies to help her continue the good work. Elisabeth Milich was reluctant to reveal her financial situation last year but the move paid off as Ben Adam sent boxes of books to the Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix after seeing her post as part of the #RedForEd movement. The educator at the school with many students from low-income families joined thousands campaigning for a 20 percent pay rise and revealed at the same time she often used her own money to help her classes. Scroll down for video Real estate company owner Ben Adam (left) contacted Arizona teacher Elisabeth Milich (right) to donate supplies to her classroom She shared that her salary was $35,621.25 in a Facebook in 2018 as part of a viral campaign After the post went viral and Milich, a mother-of-three, appeared on television with her story, Ben Adam reached out via Facebook to help and the kind gestures kept coming. 'I'm thinking, "This is crazy. This is a total stranger from New York,"' Milich told ABC News. 'When school started, I started getting Amazon packages. I thought it was a one-time thing.' But Adam was still sending colored paper, books, paints, paintbrushes, and even snacks her way and for other teachers at the school, into the second semester. The father-of-three wants to branch out to other states with classroomgiving.org after starting with Milich's school Adam now donates to five classrooms at Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix, Arizona Mother-of-three Milich wants to meet New York man Adam and give him a 'big hug' Now the father-of-three who owns a real estate company - regularly helps five classes and stated classroomgiving.org to spread help even further. It allows people to donate products purchased from Amazon directly to the class they desire and he hopes to expand to Colorado, Washington, Alaska and California at the request of other teachers. 'I'm sensitive to the people that get the short end of the stick and without complaining,' Adam told Good Morning America. 'Teachers work very hard and don't get much in return.' Milich is keen to meet Adam and give him a 'big hug'. Without his help there's only so much she could do. '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 told GMA. '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.' Pictured is a January letter Milich wrote to Adam after he continuously shared with the school This is the dramatic moment a police officer pulled a drunk driver out of his car moments before the vehicle burst into flames. The 39-year-old P-plater driving a white Holden Commodore was allegedly driving recklessly along Hindley Street in Adelaide's CBD on Wednesday at about 10pm. Footage shows the driver crashing into the wall of motel in a narrow lane, after doing a three-point turn. Police say the Willaston man was four times over the legal limit. A police officer allegedly dragged a drunk P-plater from his car before it burst into flames The 39-year-old driver behind wheel was captured crashing into the wall of a motel on CCTV A passenger was captured on camera fleeing the car but the driver stays put as smoke erupts from the bonnet. Alarmed witnesses watched from a distance, with one pleading for the drunk man to get out of the car. 'Get out of the f***ing car!' one man was heard saying as the police officer ran towards the Commodore. A nearby restaurant was forced to evacuate over fears of the explosion. 'It's a pretty silly thing to do like a lot of people of people use this way to get to other places,' witness Adrian Whyte told 7News. Police said the drunk driver was over four times the legal limit. The 39-year-old will face court on a string of traffic offences and has lost his licence for 12 months. Residents are furious after multiple used syringes were found carelessly left in the local park and outside homes where their children play. One woman from Ellenbrook, north of Perth, said her 17-year-old son had found a 'half-full syringe' at a park that backs on to a local primary school. 'He was walking the dog out the back of the primary school, and he found a syringe that had a yellow kind of liquid in it,' Megan Lee told Daily Mail Australia. 'The dog found it first and was playing with it, my son saw and grabbed it. He brought it home and we put it in a bottle and we got rid of it that way.' Pictured: A bag containing syringes, saline and small zip lock bags was found dumped on a street north of Perth where children often play The find came just two days before a 17-year-old boy and his dog uncovered a half-full syringe in the playground nearby a primary school Ms Lee said while she knew there were drug users in the community, she did not expect they would carelessly leave the paraphernalia in the local park. 'It's obviously around here more than we thought - I knew there were those kinds of people, but not syringes in the park,' she said. 'I'm an ex-heroin addict. I've been clean for 19 years, and I'm a drug counsellor now, so I know the ramifications of someone getting pricked with one of those [needles] 'You don't know what's in there... it's so worrying. Serena Brice said she took her find to police and was just glad she was able to find it before the local kids did 'A lot of families use that oval... it's so close to the school, to the oval where kids play sport, to the childcare centre.' Serena Brice, who manages the local dental practice, uncovering a whole bag of syringes, saline packets and small zip-lock bags outside her home. 'I opened it, realised what it was, put it down, washed my hands several times and used hand sanitizer as hepatitis can live outside the body for quite some time,' she said. 'Then I put on gloves and placed [the alleged drugs] in a bag. 'I took it to the police station. I suggested the receptionist did not remove the contents or open the bag.' Ms Brice, 47, believes the 'drug-bag' may have been dropped or tossed out of a passing car, and was devastated to find it on her street. 'Kids play here all the time,' she said. 'I was upset at the thought [they might have found the needles first]. Sniffer dogs and privacy screens have been set up at Sydney's Central Station for the second time in a matter of weeks as police perform sweeping drug searches. The mid-week search was shared online by shocked commuters after it began at about 3pm on Thursday. The moderator of Greens administered social media page Sniff Off - informing the public of of police drug dog operations - told Daily Mail Australia there were at least 10 officers and one dog present. Sniffer dogs and privacy screens have been set up at Sydney's Central Station for the second time in a matter of weeks as police perform sweeping drug searches 'The Liberals continue to waste $9 million a year on the drug dog program which stats have shown to be ineffective time and time again,' the spokesperson said. 'Now the Liberals are ramping up the war on drugs, only a few days after the success of Australias pill testing trial, and seeking to make strip searches at Central station a regular feature of everyday life. 'This is completely unacceptable and Sniff Off and the Greens will continue to fight this invasion of people basic civil liberties.' A NSW Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia there was 'nothing much to the search' and it was standard procedure. The latest incident comes after police were slammed for roaming the platforms at the same station searching for drug offenders on March 13. On that occasion, at least 15 police and their sniffer dogs were seen pulling up terrified commuters suspected of being in possession of drugs. Witnesses claimed police were seen performing strip searches behind two privacy screens that were set up near the main entrance to Sydney's biggest station. New South Wales Police told Daily Mail Australia the cubicles weren't strip searching tents during the mid-March incident. Privacy tents have been set up at Sydney's Central Station, presumably to perform strip searches KNOW YOUR RIGHTS Strip searches are constrained under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002. The act says strip searches occur where it is deemed 'necessary and urgent'. Police don't need a warrant to do sniffer dog operations in parts of major cities or on the public transport network, such as Central Station. Once the operation is set up, police 'use their own peculiar indicators to work out who they will search,' Greens MP David Shoebridge said. Police need additional 'reasonable doubt' to search members of the public. Advertisement 'The NSW Police Force regularly patrol our train station and it is common practice to erect privacy screens for the purpose of a search,' a spokesperson said. 'These operations are conducted on a regular basis and often utilise privacy screens,' another statement said. NSW Police couldn't confirm whether or not anyone had been searched at Central Station as it was dependent on whether the sniffer dogs had found anything suspicious. Police didn't elaborate on the outcome of the operation but said the operation is run regularly throughout the city. Commuters took to social media to slam the police action - questioning why they should be subjected to invasive searches on the way home from work. 'Strip search tents' at the railway station. Where am I living?,' one person wrote. 'Strip search tents, is this actually for real? People can't even go to work without the possibility that they may have to strip naked, squat and cough.' The latest incident comes after police were slammed for roaming the platforms at the same station searching for drug offenders on March 13 'And at least two-thirds of those searched will be innocent,' another said. Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge has previously called the operation 'sickening'. 'Imagine being on your way home from work and being stop by police with their drug dogs and strip searched in a tent on a station platform,' Mr Shoebridge wrote. 'This isn't some dystopian future, this is happening right now in Sydney. This is sickening.' A serial prisoner who fatally stabbed a man in Sydney but now wants to become someone his family 'can be proud of' has been jailed for at least seven years. Barmah Rossi-Murray, 30, stabbed his 'mate' Matthew Shepherd, 48, to death in Schofields in July 2016. He was found not guilty of murder by New South Wales Supreme Court jury but was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter in November last year. Emotions were running high after his sentencing on Thursday. Mr Shepard's family were seen hugging while sharing a cigarette outside the Supreme Court in Sydney Family of Matthew Shepherd, 48, who was stabbed to death, share a hug after his killer is sentenced to jail His offer to plead guilty to manslaughter was not accepted before the trial. Emotions were running high after his sentencing on Thursday. Mr Shepard's family were seen hugging while having a cigarette outside the Supreme Court in Sydney. Rossi-Murray was sentenced to 11 years behind bars, with a non-parole period of seven years and four months. Justice Stephen Rothman noted during sentencing Rossi-Murray had already spent more than a third of his life behind bars for other offences. The judge said physical violence was a 'natural aspect' of the offender's upbringing and he once served time with his father in Junee Correctional Centre. Rossi-Murray's sentence was backdated to his arrest meaning he'll be eligible for parole from November 2024. Ashton Kutcher looked downcast as he stepped out just hours after it was revealed he could be called to testify in his ex-girlfriend's murder trial. The Hollywood star, 41, looked gaunt and concerned as he parked his car in Beverly Hills on Wednesday. Kutcher was snapped hours after he was named on a list of 200 potential witnesses in the trial of Michael Gargiulo. Gargiulo, who has been nicknamed the 'Hollywood Ripper', has been charged with murdering three women - including Kutcher's ex-girlfriend Ashley Ellerin. Ashton Kutcher was seen looking downcast just hours after it was revealed he could be called to testify in his ex-girlfriend's murder trial Kutcher, 41, looked gaunt and concerned as he parked his car in Beverly Hills on Wednesday The 22-year-old fashion student and model was found mutilated in her apartment in 2001. Gargiulo, an air conditioning repair man, is said to have broken into her apartment on the night of February 21, 2001, and stabbed her to death. Kutcher was meant to pick Ellerin up that night to take her to a Grammy's after-party, but no one answered when he arrived at the apartment. The rising star, who at the time was on That 70s Show, looked through the window and saw what he thought was red wine spilled on the floor. Kutcher later told police that he thought Ellerin wasn't answering the door because she was upset with him for being late. So he left. Kutcher was snapped hours after he was named on a list of 200 potential witnesses in the trial of Michael Gargiulo (left), the man accused of murdering his ex Ashley Ellerin (right) in 2001 The next day Ellerin's roommate found her mutilated body in the apartment. The stains Kutcher had thought were 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. Kutcher, according to friends, had 'nightmares' about finding Ellerin's body for years. Gargiulo, who has been nicknamed the 'Hollywood Ripper', has been charged with murdering three women - including Ellerin Ellerin's friends were quick to point the finger at Gargiulo, who lived nearby and had done repair work on her apartment heater, according to CBS. They told detectives that Gargiulo had been acting suspiciously, showing up at Ellerin's home at late hours and sitting outside in his pick-up truck. But police could not come up with enough evidence to charge Gargiulo and her 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 Los Angeles apartment in the same complex where Garguilo lived. On December 1, 2005, Bruno was butchered to death in her bed. 'It was unlike any other scene I had ever seen. The violence that was visited upon her was phenomenal,' said Mark Lillienfeld, who was the lead detective at the time of Bruno's murder. Both Ellerin and Bruno's 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, Murphy courageously fought back. Gargiulo allegedly left blood at Murphy's apartment and, just weeks later, he was arrested and charged with her attempted murder when DNA proved a match. The same blood sample also allegedly matched DNA found at Ellerin and Bruno's homes. Gargiulo has also been charged in the horrific murders of Maria Bruno, 32, (right) in 2005 and 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio in 1993 (left) Pacaccio's body is rolled out from her Chicago, Illinois home in 1993. Gargiulo was a friend of her two brothers It also tied Gargiulo to the 1993 murder of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio, who was brutally stabbed to death on the porch outside of her home in Chicago. Gargiulo was a close friend of Pacaccio's brother at the time and detectives had long suspected him in the murder. But they could never put together enough evidence to charge him with the teen's murder - until the attack on 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'. In the almost 11 years since Murphy's attempted murder, Gargiulo has been behind bars as police and prosecutors carefully assembled 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 on Thursday prosecution and defense attorneys will give their opening statements. Gargiulo is pleading not guilty to all charges. Australian house prices may have suffered the biggest downfall since the Global Financial Crisis but there may be hope on the horizon according to experts. According to CoreLogic data, national home values fell 7.2 per cent in the past 12 months, the worst since February 2009 when the market plummeted by 7.4. Sydney experienced the biggest margin drop in 21 months in April, while Melbourne prices continued to dip. Though CoreLogic head of research Cameron Kushner noted that while prices continued to spiral in most major cities, the rate of decline was decelerating. '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,' he said. Australian house prices may have suffered the biggest downfall in a year since the Global Financial Crisis, though experts claim the downturn is slowing (stock image) Though CoreLogic head of research Cameron Kushner noted that while prices continued to spiral in most major cities, the rate of decline was decelerating (stock image) 'So while that's maybe encouraging, more regions are seeing declines.' Median house prices in Sydney are currently around $780,000, sitting 14.5 per cent lower than in July 2017. While prices fell by 0.7 per cent through April, the dip is well below the 1.8 plunge in last December. Melbourne median house prices currently sit around the $622,000, 10.9 per cent lower since their peak in September 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 That alarming decline is larger than than the 10 per cent free fall between 1989 and 1992 - around the time of Australia's technical recession. Though yet again the 0.6 per cent price plunge in April is relatively lower to the 1.5 per cent drop in December. AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver told Daily Mail Australia the slowdown could be due to numerous contributing factors. 'An optimistic take would be prices is slowing because the market has adjusted to last year's tightening in credit conditions. And that the market is adjusting in the increase supply of homes that's hitting the market.' Mr Oliver noted it helped that the market was also in a 'relatively controlled downswing.' Despite the slowdown, 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.' Of the capitals, Darwin suffered the worst April downturn 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. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is 'surrounded by scorpions in a bottle' and fears that even his inner circle will turn against him, according to John Bolton. The U.S. national security advisor said Maduro was camped out at a Cuban-run military compound because he 'doubted the loyalty of the Venezuelan armed forces'. Bolton predicted it was 'only a matter of time' before Maduro's downfall, as U.S.-backed opposition chief Juan Guaido tries to topple the socialist leader. Speaking in Washington, Bolton said: 'If you're Nicolas Maduro, can you look at your defense minister any more and trust him? I don't think so. U.S. national security advisor John Bolton (pictured left in Washington) has said that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro (right) is 'surrounded by scorpions in a bottle' Officials in Washington believe Maduro has been hiding out with his key military allies at a compound called Fort Tiuna (pictured, a military parade at the site last month) 'I think Maduro is now surrounded by scorpions in a bottle and it's only a matter of time.' Officials in Washington believe Maduro has been hiding out with his key military allies at a compound called Fort Tiuna. The U.S. believes the site is a key Cuban command post in Venezuela and says Havana has some 20,000 military and intelligence personnel in the country. Cuba angrily denied the claims, saying the majority of the 20,000 people were providing health care, education and basic infrastructure services. 'To the allegations that Cuba has troops in Venezuela, they are totally and absolutely false,' said Cuba's director-general of US affairs, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio. 'Cuba does not participate in military operations or security operations in Venezuela of any type.' Juan Guaido (pictured) called for Venezuelan government workers to leave their posts on Thursday as he demands the end of Maduro's regime Two days of protests in the capital Caracas (pictured) have failed to oust Maduro, largely because most senior military figures have remained loyal to his regime Bolton said Maduro was ready to fly to Cuba on Tuesday until Russia allegedly intervened to stop him. The geopolitical row with Moscow has heightened as Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov called Washington's interference 'a gross violation of international law'. Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart has claimed that Russia could secretly install nuclear weapons in Venezuela. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that U.S. military action was 'possible' if there was no peaceful transfer of power. The Venezuela crisis has escalated dramatically after opposition leader Guaido issued a video calling on the people to back a military uprising against Maduro. However the security services have yet to defect to Guaido in large numbers and remain the key to Maduro's survival. Guaido insisted that Venezuela was 'close to achieving freedom' despite his promised 'military uprising' against President Maduro largely failing to materialize Anti-government protesters throw rocks at motorbike-mounted police officers as they fire tear gas back in Caracas during violent protests yesterday The call to arms did provoke protests across the country but these quickly descended into scatter-gun violence. The Caracas government claims it is dealing with a 'coup attempt' led by military 'traitors' backed by right-wing opponents. Guaido is recognized as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by the United States, the European Union and numerous South American nations. The U.S. believes Maduro's election victory last year was illegitimate and the latest crisis began when he was sworn in for a second term in January this year. Maduro's faltering regime is backed by Russia, China, Turkey and Cuba among others. The 56-year-old has been in power since 2013 when he replaced his mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, as Venezuelan president. The BBC has been accused of 'glamorising sexual exploitation' by promoting a grime star's song boasting about using 'white girls' to sell drugs and sex. Frenzo Harami, who is of Asian heritage and from east London, says in one lyric, 'I had a white girl I used to call a cash machine, I got 20 white girls and they will trap for me'. Trap is slang for selling drugs. The track, Chaabian Boyz, was played on the BBC's Asian Network by DJ Bobby Friction, and also includes Harami calling himself a 'pimp'. Frenzo Harami, who is of Asian heritage and from east London, says in one the track (pictured), 'I had a white girl I used to call a cash machine, I got 20 white girls and they will trap for me'. Trap is slang for selling drugs Chris Tuck, from the Survivors of Abuse charity, told The Times: 'I do not think it's appropriate for any individual or group to promote the exploitation of women of any race.' The song, Chaabian Boyz, was played on the BBC's Asian Network by DJ Bobby Friction, (pictured) and also includes Harami calling himself a 'pimp' The BBC and other mainstream music outlets have regularly come in for criticism for playing music that appears to promote gangster lifestyles. Last year, a rapper from Birmingham accused corporation bosses of fuelling 'black-on-black' violence by playing drill music linked to gang violence. Also in 2018, DJ Tim Westwood - who spent almost two decades at the BBC - was named in a leaked Metropolitan Police document which identified at least 32 clips on his YouTube channel that could potentially incite violence. At the time, a spokeswoman for Westwood said the DJ 'does not condone, encourage or glamorise violence' and 'does not support or promote violent drill music on TimWestwoodTV'. The BBC said: 'A version of the track which did not meet our editorial standards was played on Asian Network produced shows, in error. The song will not be played on any future shows.' Any swearwords on the track would have been edited out before it was played. Theresa May cast her vote in local elections today as her Tory party admitted that losing up to 600 seats would be a 'good night' for the party, which fears a massive Brexit backlash at the ballot box. Accompanied by husband Philip she voted at a polling station in her Maidenhead constituency this afternoon with the Conservatives primed to take a hiding in votes taking place across the country. Senior figures have predicted the Prime Minister's embattled party could lose more than 800 seats being contested on councils in England. This would represent its worst performance since 1995 when, under John Major's leadership, the Tories lost 2,000 seats to a resurgent Labour Party led by Tony Blair. It is widely believed that Brexit-backing voters in the Shires - which make up the bulk of council seats being contested - will turn against them after the UK's departure from the EU was twice delayed from March 29. But some - including election guru Professor Sir John Curtice - have claimed the absence of the Brexit Party from the ballots and the lack of UKIP candidates will be a silver lining for the Prime Minister and her party. A party insider told the Sun it believes that they can limit the hemorrhage to local politicians to 'around 500 to 600 on a good night'. They said: 'The private estimate is our vote will be more resilient than is generally thought. 'Much of the voting is in rural areas, where Labour haven't made many in-roads in the last few years. 'The doorstep experience is also better than the national narrative.' Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip cast their votes at a polling station near their home in her Maidenhead constituency today More than 8,000 seats are being contested today, mostly in Shire counties like North Yorkshire, where the village hall in Shelton, near York, is being used as a polling station Some voters used the election as a way to get some exercise for their dogs with a brisk walk to and from the polling station Elections are taking place in 248 English councils outside London , and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland Millions are heading to the polls today for local elections which could see the Conservative party take a hammering across the country. Elections are taking place in 248 English councils outside London, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland. There are also polls for six elected mayors in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and the new North of Tyne devolved regional authority. Close to 60 per cent of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England are currently Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour. The last time a majority of the seats were fought over in 2015, the Tories were on an electoral high as they secured their first Commons majority since 1992 on the same day. Most of the electoral battles are in the Tory shires or Labour strongholds in northern cities, limiting the prospects for large-scale gains by Jeremy Corbyn's party. All sorts of buildings are pressed into action as polling stations, including this church in Redcar, North Yorkshire Pubs are also being used as polling stations, including The Crown Inn in Birchington in Kent Theresa May was in Downing Street this morning as voting began across the country in local election that could see seen as a marker on her leadership Tory Party chairman and Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis was among those who voted in elections today Voters across the country are going to the polls today in local council elections that could see the Conservatives lose more than 800 seats. Pictured is a polling station in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside Another polling station has been set up inside a pub - the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire, pictured Votes are also taking place in 11 authorities in Northern Ireland today. A voter is pictured attending a station in east Belfast 8,425 seats are up for grabs in England today with around 60 per cent of them currently held by the Conservatives. Pictured is a ballot box being carried into a polling station in Saltburn By The Sea, Yorkshire Many youngsters are getting a taste of democracy today as their parents take them to the polls. Pictured is a mother and her child in Guisborough in the north east The results are unlikely to be a guide for European elections scheduled for later in the month, as neither Nigel Farage's Brexit Party nor the Remain-backing Change UK are fielding candidates. However, Brexit is expected to play a major role in the elections. Conservatives fear Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Conservatives fear Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Pictured is a polling station is Saltburn By The Sea Many experts fear the Tories could experience their worst local election demise since 1995 when the party lost 2,000 seats 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. An analysis by Tory election expert Rob Hayward predicted the party was on course to lose more than 800 council seats, and some senior figures privately fear they could lose more than 1,000. Councils to watch on Thursday include Dudley, Trafford and Derby, where Labour could gain overall control, and Swindon, Great Yarmouth, Redditch and St Albans, where control could slip out of Tory hands. The Liberal Democrats are hoping to seize Winchester. Polling stations are dotted about the country in a variety of different locations including schools, churches, community centres and caravans. Pictured is one in High Offley in Staffordshire Activists are still out campaigning until the polls close tonight, with some handing out leaflets, including this man pictured in east Belfast Brexit is expected to play a key role in the elections as the issue remains divisive for both Labour and the Conservatives. Pictured is a voter arriving at a polling station in Peterborough It is believed frustration with the Brexit delay and the chaos within the Government following the Huawei leak and sacking of Defence Minister Gavin Williamson could see voters abandon the Conservatives. Pictured is a polling station in North Tyneside Some believe the Brexit chaos will put off the electorate from even voting at all. Volunteers are pictured here manning the station at the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire Last night Sir John said the day would be a disaster for Theresa May only if Conservatives stayed at home. He said the absence of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and a shortage of Ukip candidates was a 'silver lining' for the Prime Minister. The losses are expected to be particularly high because the Conservatives did very well last time in 2015 when they also won a majority at the general election. Sir John, who is professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said: '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. The losses are expected to be particularly high because the Conservatives did very well in 2015 when these seats were last defended, meaning they have more to lose. Pictured is a polling station in a church in Saltburn By The Sea 'So those Leave voters who are unhappy with the Conservatives over Brexit frankly face the choice 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 Lib Dems 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.' A heavy defeat would likely set off a fresh wave of demands for Mrs May to name a date for her departure. Lord Hayward, a former Conservative MP, said the Tories appeared to be on course for their worst drubbing since 1995 when Tony Blair crushed John Major's divided government and the party lost 2,000 seats. He said: 'This was always going to be a difficult election because the seats the Conservatives are defending were won on a very good night for them in 2015. 'But the results are unquestionably going to be worse because of the current situation. 'People don't know who the leader of the Tory Party is going to be and there is anger amongst Tory Brexiteers that the party has not delivered. 'There was a noticeable dip when the Prime Minister agreed to delay Brexit. That has calmed down a bit because there has been less debate about Brexit in the last fortnight. But at best, the Tories are at the crest of a trough.' If the results are as bad as forecast it will be the worst result for any governing party since 2003 when Labour leader Mr Blair lost more than 1,100 seats following a backlash over the Iraq War. NSW Police has been ordered to apologise for dressing in headscarves and pretending to be terrorists during a training exercise because it 'racially vilified Palestinians and Arabs'. The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Thursday found it was unreasonable and unnecessary for the force to use the scarves in order to resemble keffiyeh - a symbol of Palestinian resistance. The tribunal found the headscarves were unnecessary, and could 'incite hatred' against Palestinian and Arabic people. The exercise, which took place in October 2017 at Sydney's Central station, involved about 200 people. Police and other emergency services took part in order to test the co-ordination and response to a terrorist or high-risk incident. In the simulation, two 'terrorists' donning the checkered head scarves stormed the train station before 'stabbing' and 'shooting' people with fake guns and knives. Scroll down for video. In 2017, NSW Police released video of them carrying out the 'attack' at Sydney's Central Station, where 'terrorists' were dressed in headscarves resembling the keffiyeh - a symbol of Palestinian resistance The 'terrorists' displayed the ISIS flag and held up their index finger in a gesture associated with Islamic State terrorists. The drill included two 'active armed offenders' using what looked like semi-automatic firearms holding 'hostages' and wounding some with knives. The tribunal said balaclavas or masks could have been used on the officers acting as the perpetrators instead of clothing identified with particular cultural communities in Australia. 'We find that NSW Police Force, by allowing the two police officers portraying the armed offenders to wear keffiyehs associated with Palestinian and Arabic people, racially vilified Palestinians and Arabs,' the tribunal found. The ruling followed a complaint from Sydney man Sam Ekermawi after the exercise was widely publicised online, in print and on television and radio. The tribunal said the headscarves worn in the simulated terror attack (pictured) could influence the public to think that 'Palestinians and/or Arabs were to be feared, despised, hated, and/or held in serious contempt as possibly or probably being terrorists' He claimed the headscarves worn by the two 'active armed offenders' were the same as those worn by Palestinians, Arabs, Middle Eastern people and Muslims and their use 'incited hatred or serious contempt' of those people on the grounds of their race. The tribunal agreed they had the 'capacity' to incite hate or serious contempt of Palestinians or Arabs but acknowledged NSW Police had no intention to vilify any racial group. The controversial training exercise copped criticism from The Palestinian Authority. Representative Izzat Saslah Abdulhadi slammed police for wearing the headscarves, claiming it was an 'egregious... display of prejudice'. More than 160 police (pictured), firefighters, paramedics and transport officers participated in the scenario at Sydney's Central station in October 2017 Chief Inspector Green, who developed the mock attack, told the tribunal the use of the headscarves was to simulate members of ISIS. He stated that from social media 'it appeared that ISIS/ISIL fighters wore such headscarves.' NSW Police agreed the headscarves used were 'similar' to the keffiyeh, but claimed they had no intention of vilifying any racial group, and did not intentionally stereotype. The clothing the officers wore during the exercise was bought from an army disposal store a few years before the mock attack. The NSW Police Force have been ordered to apologise within 40 days of the decision, and must be published using the same outlets that the original media release, video footage and photographs were released. 'NSW Police Force takes it obligations in relation to discrimination laws very seriously and is carefully considering the judgment,' a NSW Police spokesperson said. Former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer has never been far from controversy 2009: Mehajer is convicted of possessing or attempting to possess a 'prescribed restricted substance' and of possessing a police uniform. The convictions are later overturned on appeal. March 2011: Mehajer unsuccessfully runs as an independent member of the Legislative Assembly for Auburn at the NSW state election. He is subsequently investigated by the Election Funding Authority of New South Wales, which did not take any action against him. January 2012: Mehajer loses control of his $300,000 Ferrari and injures a mother and daughter in Sydney's west. He is convicted of negligent driving and sentenced to 150 hours community service. The conviction is later overturned on appeal. September 2012: Mehajer is elected as an independent councillor for the City of Auburn and later elected to deputy mayor. February 2013: His construction firm SM Project Developments is forced into liquidation by the ATO over unpaid taxes. February 2014: A property owned by Mehajer in Lidcombe is damaged by a suspicious fire. June 2014: He is suspended from civic office for a month by the Division of Local Government for failing to disclose his business and property interests. The punishment is overturned in December. August 2015: The then deputy mayor of Auburn marries his partner Aysha in the so-called 'wedding of the century'. Mehajer is fined $220 by Auburn council over the closure of Frances Street, Lidcombe. A petition is launched to have him sacked over the wedding. October 2015: Several contractors launch legal action over allegedly unpaid debts, including a stonemason who installed a staircase at his Lidcombe home. The same month, he is pulled over twice in less than half-an-hour behind the wheel of an allegedly unregistered Ferrari. September 2015: Mehajer is re-elected as deputy mayor of Auburn, despite the petition demanding his sacking. October 2015: He reveals that he hopes to one day work his way to 'the top spot' in federal politics. November 2015: Mehajer announces he wants to study medicine and become a mental health specialist - as he tells fellow councillors he had stood down as director from six of his seven development companies. The same month, he is forced to defend allegations he intimidated the father of a Lindt Cafe siege survivor. December 2015: The Australian Federal Police investigate Mehajer over allegations he forged documents to rig the 2012 Auburn City Council election. January 2016: He is suspended from civic office for four months for failing to disclose his financial interest in a property. It was found he voted on changes which added $1million to its value. July 2016: Mehajer is reportedly investigated by police after he allegedly transferred $20million to Lebanon. The same month, he is told he must stay at least 50 metres away from his wife Aysha until at least 17 August after police took out an AVO on her behalf. August 2016: Mehajer refuses to reveal who videos allegedly containing threats of sexual abuse and death threats - made by him - were intended for. September 2016: He is banned from managing corporations for three years after losing an appeal against a ruling made by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. November 2016: Mehajer is publicly arrested by local police in the Spanish party island of Ibiza after an argument with a taxi driver. April 2017: Mehajer is arrested and charged after assaulting a taxi driver outside The Star casino in Sydney. Just hours later, he is charged with assault after slamming Channel Seven reporter Laura Banks' hand in a car door. June 2017: Mehajer's sister Fatima pleads guilty to 77 charges of electoral fraud relating to the 2012 Auburn City Council election. The same month, his property development companies, Sydney Project Group and SET Services, are placed in the hands of administrators. September 2017: Mehajer is accused of manipulating the courts over the approval of his plans for a western Sydney shopping mall and apartment block. October 2017: He is hit with a $1million bill after allegedly failing to pay for work on his Lidcombe 'marble palace' home. The same month, Mehajer is rushed to hospital after being involved in a car crash on his way to a court hearing over the taxi driver incident. Also in October, a phone recording is leaked in which Mehajer allegedly threatens to rape a custom car mechanic. November 2017: Police raid the Mehajer's home as part of an investigation into the alleged staging of the car crash on the way to court. Mehajer is arrested and charged with breaching an AVO preventing him from seeing his estranged wife Aysha Learmonth. February 2018: Mehajer is found guilty of assaulting female TV reporter Laura Banks with a car door outside a Sydney police station last year. He is also handed a three-year good behaviour bond and ordered to undergo anger management counselling after pleading guilty over the taxi driver assault. March 20, 2018: Mehajer is declared bankrupt by a Federal Circuit Court judge after one of his companies failed to pay a debt of over $200,000 to its creditors. May 17, 2018: Mehajer is given an 18-month good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to intimidating his estranged wife. June 22, 2018: Mehajer is ordered to serve 11 months behind bars for electoral fraud. His sister Fatima is given a two-month suspended sentence. May 17, 2019: Mehajer is charged after allegedly falsely putting speeding tickets he received in 2016 into the names of other people May 21, 2019: The property developer walks free from Cooma Prison after 11 months behind bars Borce Ristevski gave dead giveaway signs he was guilty of killing his wife Karen shortly after she mysteriously vanished, body language experts say. Lack of eye contact, fluttering eyelids and the lack of any visible emotion were some the telltale signs of Ristevski's unusual behaviour at a press conference two weeks after she went missing from her Melbourne home in 2016. Ristevski was sentenced to nine years in jail with a non-parole period of six years last month. He denied killing his wife, 47, for almost three years until he pleaded guilty to his wife's manslaughter one day prior to the start of his five week trial in March. The fashion boutique owner's decomposed body was recovered in Mount Macedon Regional Park bushland in central Victoria in February 2017, eight months after she was last seen alive at her Avondale Heights home in Melbourne's northwest. Borce Ristevski, pictured with daughter Sarah showed all the telltale signs he was guilty of his wife Karen's murder at a press conference two weeks after her 2016 disappearance The biggest giveaway Ristevski was lying came when he and his distraught daughter Sarah made a desperate appeal for information about Karen in July 2016, two weeks after she disappeared. During the press conference, a reporter asked the confronting question that was on everyone's lips: 'Did you kill Karen?' Ristevski did not answer, leaving one of Karens relatives to respond. According to Perth-based body language expert Sophie Zadeh, he turns away and turns his head slightly to the side. Sarah Ristevski (left) has stood by her father Borce (middle), despite pleading guilty the manslaughter of his wife Karen (left) 'Borce doesn't like what he just heard, reacting automatically and within the moment. It's the timing and the significance of the words spoken which raises the red flag especially when asked, "did you kill Karen?",' the My Alcomy founder told Yahoo News Australia. But it was eyelid fluttering that was the key sign, which Ms Zadeh described as an internal temper tantrum. 'The eyelid flutter is a reliable, involuntary behaviour, a response to internal turmoil,' she said. Author of Body Language Allan Pease added while daughter Sarah was clearly distraught, she still looks reporters in the eye, unlike her father who showed little distress and avoided eye contact with reporters after the question was asked. 'People in a distressed situation tend to hold eye contact longer and they blink less,' Mr Pease told Yahoo. 'He's looking down, that's the first thing that stands out.' Borce Ristevski arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria for sentencing last month, where he was jailed for nine years with a non-parole period of six years The couple's daughter Sarah, 24, has always stood by her father, despite his recent guilty plea to manslaughter. She refused to deliver a victim impact statement during the recent trial and chose to write her father a character reference instead. 'If I could use a few words to describe my dad's personality they would be loving, caring, sympathetic, protective and charismatic,' Ms Ristevski said in her character reference. 'Growing up as a family my mum, dad and I were completely inseparable. 'We would spend all of our spare time together and family was everything to us. The love we had for each other was unexplainable, and everyone in our lives saw it.' Lack of eye contact, fluttering eyelids, and the show of little emotion were some of the giveaway signs Borce Ristevski showed at the press conference regarding the disappearance of his wife Karen. Her body was found eight months later It comes after criminal psychologist Laura Richards wrote an impassioned letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions last week asking for an appeal in relation to Ristevski's 'unduly lenient sentence'. This should have been a murder charge. However, it was downgraded to manslaughter,' Ms Richards wrote. 'This is problematic. Manslaughter carries a maximum of 20 years. If a one-punch offender receives 10 years, to serve 10 before he is eligible for parole, how can the brutal killing of Karen (Ristevski) carry nine years, eligible for parole in six?' Ristevski could be eligible for parole as early as 2023. Borce Ristevski (pictured) was a pallbearer at the funeral of his wife Karen in March 2017 A woman whose family claimed she was raped and murdered by Pakistani hospital staff was not sexually abused and died of an allergic reaction, an autopsy report found. Asmat Junejo's body was discovered by her distraught mother at the Sindh Government Hospital in Korangi on April 18. The 22-year-old, from Ibrahim Hyderi, had visited the medical institute complaining of toothache. Her family claimed there was evidence of sexual assault and murder but an autopsy has revealed anaphylaxis as the cause of death, according to local media reports. Asmat Junejo, from Ibrahim Hyderi, had visited the medical institute complaining of toothache Anaphylaxis, also known as anaphylactic shock, can kill within minutes and is a severe and potentially life-threatening reaction to a trigger, such as an allergy. Deputy Inspector General for the East district Amir Farooqi said that the report also ruled out any sexual assault. Further confirmation of this will be done through a DNA [test] whose report is still awaited, he said, referring to the DNA samples of three paramedics and two doctors that had been sent to a forensic lab in Jamshoro. Family members were first told Ms Junejo had died due to a fatal antibiotic reaction but later claimed she was killed. The victim's body was found by her mother at the Sindh Government Hospital in Korangi on April 18 Ms Junejo's mother had been informed by the hospital that her condition was worsening - despite only going to the hospital complaining of toothache - and rushed to the facility. But when there, she said she was told her daughter had been moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. This proved to be wrong and upon returning to the hospital, the mother said she started looking around the premises herself for her daughter. The distraught parent discovered the victim's lifeless form lying on a stretcher in one of the back rooms, the young woman's aunt told local media. The victim's family said she was a bright, independent and fiercely committed young woman. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered a probe into the womans death. A Jetstar plane with 128 passengers on board flew dangerously below the safe altitude limit when landing in Christchurch, a report has found. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission was tasked with investigating the landing of the Jetstar A320 from Wellington on August 6, 2017. A report was released on Thursday outlining the 'very serious' safety breach. A Jetstar plane with 128 passengers on board flew dangerously below the safe altitude limit when landing in Christchurch an investigation has concluded 'At about 18:45 on 6 August 2017, an Airbus A320 aeroplane was approaching Christchurch with 128 passengers and six crew on board,' the report read. 'During the arrival procedure the aeroplane inadvertently descended below the 2,500-foot (760-metre) minimum safe altitude for part of the arrival procedure.' The air traffic controller noticed the plane had gone below the safe altitude limit but did not inform the pilots or crew until they had landed. According to the report the plane went below the safe altitude because the crew did maintain adequate situational awareness of their aeroplanes location. 'The Commission also found that the operators procedures did not encourage the appropriate use of the aeroplanes automated navigation systems,' the report stated. Instead, the crew opted to use an open descent procedure. CIVIL AVIATION RULES FOR LANDING The minimum height an aircraft may operate over a city, town or settlement, is 1000 feet above the highest obstacle, except when taking off or landing. Generally, this is the height at which aircraft are flown when operated within the circuit of an aerodrome. The minimum height over any other area is 500 feet. Exceptions include the aircraft operating within a low flying training area, agricultural aircraft operations, emergencies, and when the genuine purpose of the flight requires the aircraft to be flown at a lower height/ Source: Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand Advertisement 'Rather than the available, fully automated managed descent mode, and not setting the flight control unit to the next altitude restriction,' the report read. 'A higher level of human intervention was required to keep the aeroplane within permissible limits on the arrival route.' Despite the safety breach the commission had no new safety recommendations. 'A key lesson arising from the inquiry is that properly used automated flight navigation systems will reduce the crew workload and result in safer flight operations,' the report concluded. 'If crew choose not to use them, they must maintain a heightened level of alertness and work harder to achieve an equivalent level of situational awareness.' A Jetstar spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the plane was operating under radar control and direction when it went below the safe altitude limit during descent. 'While this incident didnt impact the safe operation of the aircraft, or impact the flight path of other aircraft, we take it very seriously,' the spokeswoman said. 'Since this occurred we have revised our Pilot Monitoring policies to enhance pilot awareness during all phases of flight.' A retired police chief who was due to marry again killed himself with a lethal cocktail of drink and drugs just a fortnight after he left a heartbreaking message on Facebook confessing to an alcohol problem. Clive Helliwell, 64, posted the note on his social media apologising to his fiance saying he had mental health issues, said he had been 'an awful dad' to his two children and admitted he had been 'embarassed' about his past. The former police Superintendent, a father of two, who retired from Lancashire Police due to ill health said although he had lost friendships he vowed to beat his demons and make a future for himself and his bride-to-be, businesswoman Angelina Findlay. Former police chief Clive Helliwell, pictured with his fiancee Angelia Findlay, took his own life shortly after posting a message on Facebook apologising to his friends and family Mr Helliwell, who retired from Lancashire Police due to ill health was admitted to hospital suffering from the effects of an overdose of alcohol and medicinal drugs in October 2018 But just two weeks later Mr Helliwell of Penwortham, Preston, wrote a suicide note and was subsequently admitted to hospital suffering the effects of an overdose of alcohol, anti depressants and antihistamine. An inquest heard he was transferred to an emergency unit but died the following day with tests showing he died from a combined toxicity of the drugs. The contents of the note were not made public. The tragedy occurred after Mr Helliwell enjoyed a 'long and distinguished career' as a police officer with the Lancashire constabulary having joined in 1976 as a constable in Blackpool. He was promoted to sergeant at Blackburn and going on to become an inspector in Leyland and Chorley before moving to police HQ where he worked as a staff officer for the then chief constable. Mr Helliwell joined the police in Blackpool in 1976 and retired in 2001 due to ill health He returned as a chief inspector at Blackburn and became Superintendent at Colne but he went off sick in 2001 and after taking early retirement he was said to have fallen into a 'downward spiral of alcoholism' and in the weeks before his death he repeatedly admitted himself to hospital saying he had been having suicidal thoughts.' On October 7 last year Mr Helliwell wrote on Facebook: 'I have my faults, one of which is to wear my heart on my sleeve and to tell everyone of my thoughts. So here goes. 'First and foremost I would like to say sorry to Kay and Tom for being an awful dad. Secondly, and, equally really, I would like to say sorry to Angela, my fiance, for mentioning her past on Facebook. We all have skeletons in our cupboards, some small, some large. 'I am aware, too, that I have a history of mental illness and aware that I have (or hopefully had) a drink problem. I hear the advice I have from friends, friends I value so much but Angela and I have had a long discussion and we intend to, rightly or wrongly, make our future together. 'We are both embarrassed and ashamed of our past and realise we have, and will, lose family and friendships, but together we are stronger than apart. We just hope and pray we have an amazing future together. 'Thank you to all of you who have helped me in the past and in the present. Please pray for us and wish us luck.' His brother, Dr Paul Helliwell, a dentist told the Preston hearing: 'I must admit that we weren't aware of the number of occasions that Clive admitted himself to various services. Clive could be very articulate and convincing when he wasn't under the influence of drink. 'But I do have concerns over the threshold needed to be reached under the Mental Health Act - it's very high. But, you would also open the flood gates if you made it much lower.' He added: 'Clive had a very long and distinguished career as a senior police officer with Lancashire Police, and he also worked with the Home Office. His downfall was his addiction to alcohol, which was regrettable. 'He retired from the police with ill health, and he had been an alcoholic for 10 years. He had great help from the alcohol services in the past, it's just regrettable that it came to this. I would like to thank all the health services for the help they provided him.' Mr Helliwell, pictured left with his brother Paul, right, sought hospital treatment five times between September 30 and October 22 Dr Graham Ellis a consultant at Royal Preston Hospital said: 'Mr Helliwell first admitted himself at the hospital at approximately 8pm on September 30. He told the team that he had drunk alcohol and felt suicidal. He was given supportive treatment and IV fluids and was referred to the medical team. 'He presented again on October 8 and he told the triage nurse that he felt suicidal, but wasn't harming himself. He was intoxicated at the time and was seen by a doctor who treated him with medication. 'He came in again on October 12 at 1am with a similar presentation. He was kept in the department so he could be medically cleared and he was referred to the Alcohol Liaison Service. 'He then presented on October 19 and he stated that he had started drinking again and said that he had previously had suicidal thoughts, but didn't on that day. He was referred to the Alcohol Liaison Service. Mr Helliwell wrote a message on his Facebook page shortly before his death apologising to his friends and family for his conduct 'He presented again on October 22, and said he tried to self-harm. His wounds were treated, but they were just superficial. He was brought in on October 23, and he had signs of self-harm and said he had taken Venlafaxine, alcohol and antihistamines. It was suspected that he took an overdose. 'As the morning went on, at approximately 2:40pm, his blood pressure dropped. At about 6am, matters turned for the worst and his blood pressure dropped quite significantly at that point.' Dr Huw Twamley said: 'I found that Mr Helliwell, at the time, was quite drowsy and talking intermittently and was unresponsive. The main concern was that his blood pressure was quite low and not responding to intervention. 'We started some medication to raise his blood pressure, but my suspicion was that there was some other medication involved. I did enquire about what other medication he had taken, but he couldn't respond. 'It wasn't for me to say whether he had taken anything in excess. Our main concern was to raise his blood pressure. We got him as stable as we could and then transferred him to the emergency department. But, he sadly died there.' Mental Health Practitioner, Susan Ray, said: 'On October 22, I was asked to go see Mr Helliwell in the A+E department and I was told that he was expressing suicidal ideations while intoxicated. I thought he was intoxicated because he was unstable on his feet, but he was very articulate. 'He said "I know what I would need to do if I was struggling". He was making that decision to go home. Because he said he didn't want to kill himself and didn't want to access the services, I agreed for him to be discharged. He said all the right things, and I had no reason to question that. 'He didn't want to engage with me at all, but he was saying the right things and he had the right to make that choice to leave the hospital. When he was referred, I was told that he was medically fit and the very fact that he was articulate - his speech wasn't slurred - there was nothing to say that he was under the influence of alcohol.' Recording a conclusion of suicide, coroner Richard Taylor said: 'There was a note which I don't intend to go into in open court - that is a private matter. But, reading that, I am not left with any other option than to give a conclusion of suicide.' Miss Findley who runs a pet sitting service was not in court. Teachers in Florida will be allowed to carry guns in the classroom after legislators passed a bill in response to the Parkland shooting. School districts across the state can now take part in a voluntary Guardian program which will arm teachers who pass a 144-hour training course. The idea was first floated after a former student armed with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, killing 17 people and wounding 17 others. President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association then argued an armed teacher could provide the best defense against a shooter bent on mass murder. Teachers in Florida will now be allowed to carry guns in the classroom after finishing a 144-hour training course (file photo) Although Parkland students inspired nationwide protests in favor of gun control, 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. 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. The idea was first floated after a former student armed with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, killing 17 people and wounding 17 others. Pictured: a makeshift memorial after the shooting Yesterday, 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. 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. The U.S. military is making preparations for the possible downfall of Nicolas Maduro's regime in Venezuela, a top Navy admiral has said. Defense chiefs have drawn up plans to restore the South American country's infrastructure if Maduro is toppled in the coming days. The Pentagon has downplayed talk of pre-emptive military action to topple Maduro but said it had carried out 'exhaustive planning'. Admiral Craig Faller insisted that the U.S. wanted a peaceful transfer of power but declared that his Southern Command was ready for any scenario. The U.S. military is making preparations to rebuild Venezuelan infrastructure and evacuate Americans if Nicolas Maduro (pictured) is toppled in the coming days Navy Admiral Craig Faller (pictured), the head of the U.S. Southern Command responsible for Latin America, said his military staff had made plans in case Maduro falls He said his military staff had made 'Day Now' plans to prepare for an immediate change of power as opposition leader Juan Guaido tries to topple Maduro. '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. But Faller, the head of the Southern Command in Latin America, insisted: 'Our leadership's been clear: It has to be, should be, primarily a democratic transition.' Restoring vital Venezuelan infrastructure would be a priority for the U.S. and its allies in the region after Maduro's exit, he said. The mixed signals from Washington come a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a military intervention was 'possible' if Maduro did not step down. So far the Pentagon has helped to shuttle humanitarian aid to Colombia in the hope of transporting it to Venezuela, although Maduro has tried to block it at the border. Juan Guaido (pictured) called for Venezuelan government workers to leave their posts on Thursday as he demands the end of Maduro's regime Anti-government protesters throw rocks at motorbike-mounted police officers as they fire tear gas back in Caracas during violent protests yesterday U.S. officials have also ramped up its intelligence collection and intelligence sharing with allies such as Colombia. In addition they have made plans to evacuate non-combatant Americans from Venezuela should the need arise. Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan said the United States had carried out 'exhaustive planning' on Venezuela. He also canceled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday to deal with the South American crisis. Another top Pentagon official, Kathryn Wheelbarger, said defense chiefs 'always review available options and plan for contingencies'. Opposition leader Guaido is recognized as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by the United States, the European Union and numerous South American nations. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) said an American military intervention in Venezuela was 'possible' if Maduro did not step down Officials in Washington believe Maduro has been hiding out with his key military allies at a compound called Fort Tiuna (pictured, a military parade at the site last month) The crisis has escalated dramatically after Guaido issued a video calling on the people to back a military uprising against Maduro. However the security services have yet to defect to Guaido in large numbers and remain the key to Maduro's survival. The U.S. believes Maduro's election victory last year was illegitimate and the latest crisis began when he was sworn in for a second term in January this year. Maduro's faltering regime is backed by Russia, China, Turkey and Cuba among others. The 56-year-old has been in power since 2013 when he replaced his mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, as Venezuelan president. Two people were killed and 12 others including six children were injured after flying off a slide at a popular theme park in south-west China. The accident happened yesterday at the Children's Yard amusement park in Taiping, Sichuan province, local authorities said. The 14 visitors fell off a 235-metre (770-feet) -long slide at high speeds and landed on the ground at around 5pm after the ride's safety equipment failed. Two people were killed and 12 others including six children were injured after flying off a slide at a theme park yesterday afternoon in Sichuan, south-west China Horrifying footage of the accident's aftermath shows children and parents sprawled on the ground near the slide as firefighters and paramedics tend to them The theme park boasted 32 slides of various sizes, according to Xinhua News Agency The accident occurred on the first day of the Labour Day holiday when many parents would take their children on spring outings. Horrifying footage of the accident's aftermath shows children and parents sprawled on the ground near the slide as firefighters and paramedics tend to them. 'The 14 tourists flew out of the slide's protection facilities,' a statement issued by the Taiping government said. The park had been closed and the person in charge of the business had been detained by police, it added. 'The 14 tourists flew out of the slide's protection facilities,' a government statement said Those injured, including six adults and six children, were immediately taken to hospital The park had been closed and the person in charge had been detained by police Those injured, including six adults and six children, were immediately taken to hospital and were receiving treatment. One witness, surnamed Su, told cqnews.net that the ride was really tall. Visitors slide down the steep hill while sitting on rubber lifebuoys. 'I was lining up for the ride with my six-year-old son when the accident happened. I heard people screaming and saw several people flying off the slide,' she said. Another witness said that it had been raining on the day of the accident and thought the ride might have been running faster than normal. One witness, surnamed Su, told cqnews.net that the slide (pictured) was really tall Visitors ride the slide down the steep hill while sitting on rubber life buoys (file photos) The theme park boasted 32 slides of various sizes, according to Xinhua. In a notice posted on WeChat today, the park said it was closed for upgrading but did not mention the accident. Wednesday's incident was not the first at the park. Just two days after it opened in July 2017, three people were injured when a rope walkway they were on collapsed, Xinhua reported. Catholic services are being cancelled for a second weekend in Sri Lanka's capital amid fears of fresh bomb attacks. The Church received 'specific information of two possible attacks against churches' and it was decided to call off the May 5 mass, a spokesman for Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said Thursday. 'On the advice of the security forces, we have decided not to have Sunday masses in any of the churches,' the spokesman said. The Church received specific information of two possible attacks against churches, and it was decided to call off the May 5 mass, a spokesman for Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith (pictured) said A view of St. Sebastian's Church, which was damaged in the blast in Negombo, north of Colombo, on Easter Sunday The Church had planned to resume public services for the first time since the Easter Sunday attacks at churches and luxury hotels which killed 257 people. Last week, Muslims were told to stay home for Friday prayers and all of Sri Lanka's Catholic churches were closed. Instead of the usual Sunday Mass in Colombo, Ranjith delivered a homily before clergy and national leaders at his residence that aired on television. A Cabinet minister said Tuesday that intelligence warnings had indicated government ministers could be targeted by the same Islamic State-linked group that carried out the April 21 suicide bombings. Wreckage: Sri Lankan security personnel inspect the damage at St Anthony's Shrine Investigators at the scene of a bombing at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, on April 22 Ranjith has criticised the government's apparent failure to share near-specific intelligence on the Easter plot and some of the suspects involved. Sri Lankan police late Wednesday released the names and photographs of nine suicide bombers who carried out the Easter attacks. They included extremist preacher Mohamed Zahran, also known as Zahran Hashim, who was described as the attack leader. It also revealed a suicide bomber's wife, who blew herself up, along with her children and three police officers, at a villa belonging to her father-in-law, who is a prominent spice trader. An inside view of the St. Anthony's Shrine after an explosion hit St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo Authorities suspect members of two previously little-known groups - National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim - of carrying out the attacks, although the Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility. The government lifted a ban on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and viber, a source at the president's office said. The ban had been imposed immediately after the attacks to prevent the spread of rumours. The government also banned women from wearing face veils under an emergency law put in place after the Easter attacks. Sri Lanka's 22 million population is mostly Buddhist but includes minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. A 12-year-old girl was raped and murdered by two men while she was visiting a temple with her teenage aunt. The police suspect that her 16-year-old aunt, who was looking after her when the crime was committed, on Tuesday in Bhopal, India, knew the suspects and was also involved in the crime. The incident took place when the girl was visiting a temple in Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal with her aunt, and the two men approached her, according to NDTV.com The men took the girl to a secluded place and raped her, before smashing her head with stones and leaving her dead at the scene, officials said. The rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in the central state of Madhya Pradesh has added another victim to the already high number of rapes in the region. Protesters have been taken the streets to condemn these awful crimes Her aunt was not around when she was taken, leading the police to suspect she might be involved in the crime too. On Wednesday, her family filed a complaint with the police for the disappearance of the girl. Shortly after both men, who lived in the same neighbourhood as the girl, were arrested along with her aunt. State opposition leader, Kamal Nath, has tweeted: 'MP is infamous state in the country for recording the largest number of rapes in the country already. When such incidents would stop? When our sisters-daughters are going to get a secure environ (sic)?' Last March two brothers were arrested in India for allegedly raping their 12-year-old sister who was later beheaded with a sickle, police say. The girl's uncle, 40, was also arrested while police were searching for the eldest brother after her body was also found in Madhya Pradesh. Julian Assange is being kept in 'appalling' conditions at Belmarsh prison, according to his WikiLeaks colleagues, as he told a court he should not be extradited to US because of his 'award-winning journalism'. Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court today for his first extradition hearing since being hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he hid for nearly seven years. Speaking after the hearing, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said he was being held in 'general' solitary confinement because he mostly spends 23 hours a day in his cell, a condition he called 'unacceptable'. The WikiLeaks founder (pictured yesterday) appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court for his first extradition hearing today Protesters at Westminster Magistrates Court today, where Assange's case was heard today 'We are worried about Julian Assange,' he said. 'We are hearing that the situation in Belmarsh prison, in Her Majesty's prison, is appalling because of austerity and cutbacks. 'For the last weeks since he was arrested he has spent 23 out of 24 hours a day in his cell most of the time. 'That is what we call in general terms solitary confinement. That's unacceptable. That applies to most of the prisoners in that appalling facility. It is unacceptable that a publisher is spending time in that prison.' Assange is charged in the US for scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break the password of a classified Pentagon computer. The Australian, wearing jeans, a dark jacket and light coloured top, appeared via videolink from Belmarsh prison to a packed courtroom today. . He formally refused to consent to being extradited, during a hearing which lasted a little over 10 minutes. The 47-year-old said: 'I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people.' Shortly after Assange was removed from the Embassy on April 11 this year, US prosecutors announced that he had been charged with conspiring alongside intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate a Pentagon computer. The charge carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment and relates to Assange's 'alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information' in US history. Prosecutors claim he assisted Manning in cracking a password to help her leak classified records to the whistleblowing website. Classified documents allegedly downloaded included approximately 90,000 Afghan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activity reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments and 250,000 US State Department cables, the court heard. District Judge Michael Snow remanded Assange into custody to appear via video link again at the same court on May 30 for a further case management hearing. Dozens of protesters are outside the court to prepare for the hearing, which took place in a small courtroom despite the crowds of people wanting to watch The extradition appearance came a day after the 47-year-old was sentenced to 50 weeks' jail for breaching bail when he failed to surrender to police in 2012. Assange was convicted of the bail breach after entering the Ecuadorian embassy and claiming political asylum while wanted over allegations of sexual offences in Sweden, which he denies. A large group of his supporters gathered both inside and outside the court building on Thursday morning to offer solidarity. Some of those who who got inside court three for the hearing had to stand or sat on the floor. Lauri Love, whose saw his own extradition decision over allegations he hacked US government computer networks overturned by the High Court last year, was among them. Judges had ruled the extradition of Mr Love, who has Asperger's 'would be oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition'. The 34-year-old from Suffolk, said he came to court to 'keep an eye on the process and make sure that it's done as fairly as possible'. He said: 'I've been through this whole mill so I am supporting Julian in opposing extradition to the US where I think he would, like myself, not have a very strong chance of having a fair trial. 'I know how traumatic this ordeal can be, years of having to be afraid of being taken to another country and treated badly.' The 47-year-old is currently serving a 50-week prison sentence which was issued to him yesterday (where he is seen in a court sketch greeting supporters) for jumping bail in 2012 Yesterday, in mitigation for Assange, Mark Summers QC told the court his client had been 'gripped' by fears of extradition 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 Assange's 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. 'That's not a figment of his imagination,' he added. 'They were reasonable fears.' This is the shocking moment a money leaps from a car in to a toll booth before stealing cash. A confused toll booth operator is forced to put his arm up to protect himself when a monkey climbs on to his shoulders in Kanpur city of Uttar Pardesh state, India. During the incident earlier today the toll worker prepares to serve the driver of a white car with his cash register left open. A confused toll booth operator is forced to put his arm up to protect himself as a monkey climbs on to his shoulders in Kanpur city of Uttar Pardesh state, India Leaping back out of the window and in to the car with around Rs. 5,000 (55) the worker looks shocked as he tries to grab the money back But as he turns to take the toll money from the driver he is surprised by a monkey which jumps from the car in to his booth. Putting his arm up to defend himself against the primate the monkey rests on his shoulders. But as the toll worker laughs and takes the toll from the driver the monkey reaches around and snatches a wad of notes from the till. Leaping back out of the window and in to the car with around Rs. 5,000 (55) the worker looks shocked as he tries to grab the money back. Caught on CCTV, it is unknown whether the monkey got away with the money, but the video ends with the worker looking fairly helpless as the animal leaps away The monkey is trained to steal and a biker brought the monkey there to take the money from the till, according to reports. Caught on CCTV, it is unknown whether the monkey got away with the money, but the video ends with the worker looking fairly helpless as the animal leaps away. The tactic of using a monkey to carry out theft was seen in the 1996 film Dunston Checks In. The film features an orangutan named Dunston who is forced to carry out burglaries by his owner Mr Rutledge. Advertisement The 19th century home used for exterior shots in the classic 1980s sitcom Full House is back on the market for $6million after the show's producer decided to sell up as the reboot comes to an end. Jeff Franklin, 64, bought the home in San Francisco back in 2016 for around $4million, and used the property for five seasons of Netflix's Fuller House which will wrap up later on this year. With no more Tanner family shenanigans to film near the property, Franklin, who actually lives in Los Angeles, decided to sell up, reports KPIX5. Although the interior shots were filmed in a studio, the lucky buyer can ask for memorabilia from the show to be included, and the backyard has cast members' hand prints in concrete slabs. The historic home used for exterior shots in the classic 1980s sitcom Full House is back on the market for $6million The show's producer Jeff Franklin, 64, decided to sell up as the reboot, Netflix's Fuller House, wraps up its final season later this year Although the interior shots were filmed in a studio, the lucky buyer can ask for memorabilia from the show to be included Franklin bought the property for $4million in 2016 shortly after it had been renovated with a modern decor throughout The backyard, pictured, also has several of the Fuller House cast members' hand prints in concrete slabs He told KPIX5: 'We brought the cast up and we all had a blast and I think the fans really enjoyed the stuff that we shot up there. 'But now "Fuller House" is coming to an end, and I love San Francisco but I don't live there, and I really don't want to be an absentee landlord, so it's going back on the market.' The Pacific Heights home, originally built in 1883, was only used for exterior shots and previously featured a bright red door - which has been replaced by a stately purple. Pictured: an episode of Full House from 1989. The show originally ran from 1987 until 1995, before the reboot in 2016 The property has four bedrooms, pictured, three-and-a-half bathrooms and was originally built in 1883 Franklin said: 'But now "Fuller House" is coming to an end, and I love San Francisco but I don't live there, and I really don't want to be an absentee landlord, so it's going back on the market.' Pictured: the living room Full House originally aired from 1987 to 1995 as a comedy series following three men raising three young girls in San Francisco Fuller House revisits the same Tanner family, albeit this time with a gender reversal, focusing on the women of the family It has four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms and has been recently renovated. Full House originally aired from 1987 to 1995 as a comedy series following three men raising three young girls in San Francisco. Fuller House revisits the same Tanner family, albeit this time with a gender reversal. Most of the original cast returned including Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, Andrea Barber, Stephanie Tanner, Kimmie Gibbler and John Stamos as Uncle Jessie. The 1883 home has a modern kitchen with large eat-in island and professional-style appliances Advertisement These rare photographs offer a glimpse into the lives of German soldiers as they faced defeat during the end of World War Two. Overstretched and under-supplied, the Nazi forces in western Europe in 1944 - many of whom were inexperienced teenage conscripts - faced the onerous task of defending against the overwhelming strength of the Allied forces. One of the remarkable images from the final stages of the war shows a young teenage soldier stretching out a Swastika flag in the vain hope that the Luftwaffe will see it and provide aerial cover. Hundreds of dejected German prisoners of war (left) file through a ravaged town in their home country, flanked by their American captors, towards the end of World War Two in 1944. Many German soldiers who survived the war spent some time in captivity, be it on Allied or Soviet soil. In the US and Britain, PoWs became involved in construction or agricultural work. Repatriation of the Germans in the UK began in September 1946 and all had been sent home by 1948 except for 25,000 who were given the opportunity to stay on. Those sent back to Germany were put in a programme of re-education to prepare them for how their home country was different. A Nazi recruit (pictured right) is taught how to use a Panzerfaust, a shoulder-type German antitank weapon that was widely used throughout the war. Young grenadiers in their Wehrmacht greatcoats armed with the Panzerfaust anti-tank projectors march through a German town during the defence of the Reich in 1945. The campaign involved defensive aerial operations fought by the Luftwaffe, paired with men on the ground defending Nazi Germany. The Panzerfaust was a one-shot disposable weapon with only a 100ft range. Yet a determined operator could nevertheless demolish a tank with it A German soldier armed with the lethal Panzerschreck, also dubbed the tank destroyer, lines up a shot against the invasion of Allied forces on the frontline. The shoulder-type rocket launcher consisted of a lightweight steel tube about 5 feet long that weighed around 20 pounds. The weapon was dubbed the Ofenrohr (stovepipe) by German troops because of the vast amount of smoke and dust it generated during firing. This would often give away the position of the crew, so soldiers would have to move fast after a launch or risk being caught by enemy fire Others show Nazi prisoners of war being marched through bomb-ravaged streets by their American captors and ravaged towns guarded by exhausted troops. The striking images are included in Hans Seidler's new book Images of War: Hitler's Defeat on the Western Front 1944-1945, a compelling account of the Nazis' ten-month struggle against the overwhelming Allied military might on the Western Front, to be released at the end of this month. 'The opening months of 1944 for the German soldier was an ominous prospect,' explained Seidler. 'Out on the Russian and Italian Fronts they had been fighting desperately to maintain cohesion and hold their meagre positions that often saw thousands perish. A German soldier (pictured left) armed with a P08 Luger pistol and an M24 stick grenade, referred to as a Stielhandgranate, moves forward as the Nazis do everything they can to prevent the Allied forces from sweeping through north-west Europe. Behind him, a non-commissioned officer can be seen armed with the MP40 machine pistol. A fresh-faced Hitler's Youth soldier (right) in full summer camouflage lays out a Swastika flag in the vain hope that the Luftwaffe will see it and provide aerial cover. He can be seen placing rocks on the flag to prevent it from blowing away in the wind. The Luftwaffe had been decimated by years of conflict at this point and could rarely offer much support A Nazi gun crew made up of three soldiers prepare their weapon for a fire mission during defensive measures in the summer of 1944. The striking image is included in Hans Seidler's new book Images of War: Hitler's Defeat on the Western Front 1944-1945, a compelling account of the Nazis' ten-month struggle against the overwhelming Allied military might on the Western Front, to be released at the end of this month A group of German soldiers attempt to load their weapon as Allied forces fire at their position. A partly collapsed and smoking building can be spotted in the background. During the first half of 1944, troop units were no longer being refitted with replacements to compensate for the large losses sustained. This was the first hint to German soldiers that the war was drawing to a close and they were on the losing side 'By May 1944 on the Eastern Front the Wehrmacht were holding a battle line more than 1,400 miles in overall length, which had been severely weakened by the overwhelming strength of the Soviet forces. 'To make matters worse, during the first half of 1944, troop units were no longer being refitted with replacements to compensate for the large losses sustained.' The author added that supplies of equipment and ammunition were insufficient while rations for the men were also brought in, leading to many German soldiers becoming increasingly aware that they were in the final stages of the war. From Seidler's work, he argues the war was lost for the German soldiers after the Allied forces launched the D-Day assaults. Operation Overlord saw some 156,000 Allied troops landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944. An elderly woman stands in front of a ruined building in a European town battered by aerial attacks, while a German tank has been left destroyed. In the last year of the war, with virtually no Luftwaffe support, German armour succumbed to huge losses. The situation eventually compelled Adolf Hitler's army to move their armour mainly at night to avoid being attacked Hitler Youth troops belonging to the infamous 12 SS Panzer Division, which was responsible for a number of war crimes including killing civilians and unarmed prisoners, operate against British forces in a field. The division fought on both the eastern and western fronts. It was one of the premier formations of the entire Nazi military apparatus despite being made up mostly of boys below the age of 18. Members were drawn from Hitler Youth members born in 1926 and they first saw action on June 7, 1944, as part of the German defence of the Caen area during the Normandy campaign Painting a bizarre scene, German soldiers wearing only their underwear and steel helmets prepare an 88 mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun '[Already battling a huge Soviet force in the East], the German soldiers had the added worry of an imminent threat of invasion from the west, which would drain resources from an already depleted Eastern and Southern Front,' he explained. Approximately 10,000 allies were injured or killed, including 6,603 American, of which 2,499 were fatal. Between 4,000 and 9,000 German troops were killed - and it proved the pivotal moment of the war, in the allied forces' favour. Yet despite their defeats, Nazi troops continued to inflict significant losses on the advancing Allied forces, including at the Battle of the Bulge, which saw US forces suffer 75,000 casualties including about 20,000 dead. Well concealed behind a branch-made construction, a MG 34 Nazi machine gun crew prepare to fire in northern France. A heavy machine gun squad often consisted of six men. The MG 34 was known for its reliability, but had high costs and slow production rates German troops make a hasty retreat from a burning building during operations in France as Allied forces fire at their position. Allied forces were responsible for the great majority of air raids on the country. According to the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, France saw 21.8 per cent of the total tonnage of Allied bombs dropped on Europe between 1940 and 1945 On December 16 1944, Allied forces - primarily American - were caught by surprise by an overwhelming Nazi counterattack in the densely forested Ardennes region in eastern Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg. However, the Nazis' success was short-lived. The rapid arrival of Allied reinforcements and the Americans' incredible defence of Bastogne and St Vith slowed the German war machine. By the end of December, the German advance had ground to a halt and just four weeks later, the allied forces had reclaimed all of their lost land. The battle was devastatingly portrayed in the 2001 TV epic Band of Brothers, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for best miniseries. Advertisement A photographer who captured images of the Skinhead subculture is hoping to show another side of the often misunderstood group. Gavin Watson has released intimate pictures from the 1970s and 80s showing the lives of Skinheads and council estate residents in his new book Oh! What Fun We Had - taken from the chorus of the classic Madness hit Baggy Trousers. Born in London in 1965 and raised on a council estate in High Wycombe, he spent plenty of time taking photos of his younger brother Neville and his group of friends around town. In an interview with Another Man spoke about being a Skinhead, saying: 'I didnt want to be a rebel; I wanted to be normal. I was a shy, sensitive child that wanted to be an artist, but I just felt I didnt have much of a choice in the environment I was growing up in, which was extremely violent.' 'I didn't want the pictures to show that. I never photographed any fighting or the grief that poverty brings. I didn't want to photograph the abuse and the violence. It was part of my everyday life.' He added: 'The politics of the music started me on this journey. I became a skinhead because of Two-tone music, where blacks and whites came together. We had grown up with all the West Indian kids.' Candid images from Mr Watson's book shows an 'honesty and human' take on the live of the people he was surrounded by and identified with the subversive subculture before its association with the far right movement. While the Skinhead culture became associated with right wing extremism, his photos document show a working class group that was racially inclusive brought together by their love of Two-tone and Ska music as well as an edgy fashion that gave then a sense of belonging. Photographer Gavin Watson is sharing an intimate look at Britain's Skinhead subculture in the 1970s and 1980s in his new book Oh! What Fun We Had. In this image a man sporting a shaved head and wearing an Esso jacket smokes a cigarette alongside a female friend, Heidi O'Riley, with a mohawk and a graphic eyeshadow and liner look This image shows the photographer Gavin in a Union Jack singlet on a roof, he said: 'Its as if Im still there as if it happened yesterday. I bought the T shirt from The Last Resort in Brick Lane' Mr Watson's images show the group was far from the right extremes it has been associated with. He shared a photo of himself in 1983 locking lips with a girl named Cass who he said 'was a few years older than me' His photos show the working class group was racially inclusive. Mr Watson explained that his love of Two-tone music, a fusion of the Ska, punk rock and new wave genres, started him on his Skinhead journey. Another photo featured in his book is one of his younger brother's best friends, Barry, who lived in the childrens home. He is now a musician and DJ 'I became a skinhead because of Two-tone music, where blacks and whites came together. We had grown up with all the West Indian kids,' he said. In another photo he captured, he explained that captured an image of a two white women and two black women waiting for a bus at Marble Arch on his commute home from his apprenticeship at Camera Press Gavin photographed his younger brother Neville on his BMX at a new council estate in High Wycombe in 1984. He said his brother bought with money he earned after appearing in the movie 'Revolution', which starred Al Pacino Gavin's picture shows his friend Symond, who he said was 'always a different girlfriend,' as Neville casually sat on a chair ignoring the madness nearby The photographer caught a photo showing a couple of lads from his school practising body bopping and break dancing in a church yard in 1984 Another photo shows a shadow of children looking out to the distance in a field. The photographer said in an interview: 'The working-class are on the frontlines; they are the ones who have to live together Another photo from 1984 shows his day trip to the White Horse, in Uffington of himself with his pal Symond Gavin's book also features another candid family photo of younger brother Neville with a copy of Smash Hits magazine in 1979 A love of edgy fashion such as leather jackets, Dr Martens and jeans also gave members of the group a sense of belonging to the Skinhead identity In an interview he spoke about the influence of the working class on the subculture, saying: 'They are the ones that dont have the power but they have the power in their clothes, their art, and their relationships' A montage of photos show a boy in front of the British flag and dressed in a gingham shirt, matched with suspenders. The following image is of two boys on a bicycle in front on what appears to be an estate while the next picture shows a boy throwing a pole into a window of what looks like an abandoned building Images from the book also show fashion from the era such as the two young girls sporting short hair and edgy outfits. A boy is dressed in a sharp blazer while the man next to him is in a leather jacket, meanwhile a child teams suspenders with his outfit An image taken by a train line shows a boot hanging out a window, another shows kids playing in a building, while another shows a young boy carrying a girl This is the hilarious moment a groom on a stag do thinks he's won 250,000 - on a fake lottery scratchcard. Ross Taylor was handed the genuine-looking, phoney version by co-best man Jamie White at their Butlins hotel room in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. After he carefully scratched it off in his hotel room he then proudly called over his friends to boast about the windfall - only to find the card entitled him to nothing more than 'fresh air'. Groom Ross Taylor (centre as a unicorn) thought he won 250,000 after he was handed a fake lottery scratchcard by co-best man Jamie White (second from left) Ross called his friends over on the stag do at their hotel room in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, to declare he had won the large amount of money However, his friend quickly pointed out that the card was a fake Shown on video, the 32-year-old says: 'Boys can I just bring you all together.' Showing them the scratchcard he brags: 'Thats 250 grand boys.' One of his group can be heard saying: 'Shut the f**k up'. Another leapt on to the bed to telephone all his friends. But estate agent Ross, of Ryde, Isle of Wight, still believed he had won the money. He added: 'What are you f**king saying? 'Two hundred and fifty thousand spondoolies.' But when he was told to turn it over, the writing on the back confirmed it was not real and hed been duped as his mates collapsed in laughter. The prank was played at Ross stag do at Butlins in Bognor Regis, West Sussex where the group of eight watched 90s music acts like DJ Sash, Artful Dodger and B*witched. Ross married his fiance Christie-Lee (centre right) in Malta last month. They are pictured here at the wedding with joint-best men Jamie White (left) and Alex Boirand (right) The happy couple pictured signing the register on their sunny wedding day Jamie, 34, said: 'I bought a genuine one and I was scratching it off. 'I bought him the fake scratchcard as a joke. I bought it for 5 on eBay, but it looked so genuine. 'You could not tell the difference, the quality is unbelievable. 'I said I have another one here if you want it. 'He said Its my stag do, if I win can I keep it?' Ross Taylor, 32, an estate agent on the Isle of Wight pictured with Jamie White, 34, and Alex, also 32 Jay - also best man with Alex Boirand, 32, added: 'But it said on the back of the card the holder was entitled to nothing, just fresh air. 'He had spent the money in his head in those flash few moments. 'But he took it really well.' Duped Ross said: 'I dont think he could have done it any better. 'He was just sitting on the bed scratching off scratch cards. 'For a good few minutes I was in my own little world. 'Hook, line and sinker I fell for it. 'I thought what on earth can I spent the money on.' Ross wed his new wife Christie-Lee in Malta on April 25. Kind-hearted kebab shop owners have been praised on social media for feeding vulnerable man for free every day. Staff at Kenny's Kebabs, in Sydney, first met the man over two years ago when he asked for a dollar's worth of chips, and he's been going back nearly every day since. Owner Linda Taskin told Daily Mail Australia the man is mentally unwell, lives in government housing and appears to have Parkinson's disease. Ms Taskin said the man loves soft drinks and gets the same meal, a meat kebab, nearly everyday. Staff at Kenny's Kebabs in Sydney's south first men the man over two years ago when he asked for a dollar's worth of chips, and he's been going back nearly every day since Ms Taskin said the man was 'totally harmless and sweet,' but despite this people regularly avoided and ignored him. 'He makes sure he says "hello" and never leaves without saying goodbye, and knows all of our names,' she said. Ms Taskin even bought the man a belt from Kmart when she noticed his pants kept falling down. 'Our homes, businesses and hearts are open to everybody,' Ms Taskin said. 'I hope people are a bit more aware of people that are in need, and he's not the only one,' she said. A customer who witnessed the act of kindness took to a Sydney Facebook group to commend the business. A customer who witnessed the act of kindness took to a a Sydney Facebook group to commend the business. 'This is something that you just dont see any more. And its a shame. We should do more for the people in need. Be kinder to one another. Be more selfless,' Karen Mcc wrote. Hundreds of others reacted to the post, and applauded the owners on their 'selfless' deed. 'Lets support these people with such big hearts a wonderful gesture from them,' one comment read. Owners of Kenny's Kebabs said the man loves soft drinks and gets the same meal, a meat kebab, nearly everyday 'It wouldnt surprise me of their good deeds the staff are truly A+ to their customers and community.' 'How wonderful you and your staff are. Thank you for your generosity and LOVE. The world needs many more people like you,' another person commented. 'They are pretty amazing people. And they make a pretty mean Gozleme,' another comment read. A Californian family were overjoyed to find their beloved cat alive almost a year and a half after a deadly mudslide devastated their home. Mum Noelle Strogoff, of Montecito, California, was astounded when a man renovating her home after the disaster said he had been feeding a cat that looked like her pet. 'Twenty minutes later, I'm following him to his home and there's Diamond totally fine,' she told Santa Barbara's KEYT TV. 'So happy' Noelle Strogoff's daughter Violet strokes their cat Diamond, who miraculously returned after 475 days after going missing during the 2018 California mudslides That led to a touching reunion between the three Strogoff children and their longhaired cat Diamond, who turns three in July. 'Mommy, you made me so happy I love Diamond!' said one of her younger kids. Noelle said her children Alexander, 10, and seven-year-old twins Benjamin and Violet loved Diamond because 'she was calm and played with them like a dog.' Alexander Strogoff plays with pet cat Diamond (left) on her return 475 days after she went missing in the mudslide that devatstaed the family home in Montecito, California The family evacuated their home in January 2018 after receiving a storm warning, and were in such a hurry that they had no time to round up their two cats, Diamond and Huguette. 'I had no idea that what happened was going to happen and assumed they would be fine,' Noelle said. 'When we got back, we couldn't find them.' The heavy rains caused a mudslide that wrecked their house and left 21 people dead, over 150 hospitalised and a toddler and a teenager missing. Noelle urged residents to keep their eyes and hearts open in the search for the remains of missing 2-year-old Lydia Sutthithepa and Jack Cantin, 17. Mum Noelle Strogoff was amazed when a neigbourhood handyman told her he had been feeding a cat that looked just like Diamond Noelle hoped her story would persuade others to never give up hope and beive that miracles can happen. "Don't give up, keep looking, just keep talking to people and expressing what it is you are looking for," she said. Huguette, the family's other cat, is stil missing however. Those who spot lost pets are urged to take a photo iof them and share it on Facebook or with the American Humane Society. Police officer Colin Taylor. Sgt. Colin Taylor, known as the Scilly Sergeant, has been criticised for his handling of the investigation into the death barman Josh Clayton A police officer who found fame with extracts from his book 'Britain's cushiest beat' has been slammed for his handling of the Scilly Isles' first murder case for 40 years. Sgt Colin Taylor had created a huge following with his Facebook posts about his life policing the Scilly Islands which included the time he encountered a short-sighted horse vandalising cars. The 52-year-old has now been heavily criticised in two professional standards reports for failures in his investigation into the death of Josh Clayton. The body of the 23-year-old from Somerset was found on rocks near the island of Tresco in September 2015, ten days after he initially went missing. He was last seen alive at a party for staff at the bar he worked at, which was hosted on a privately owned island. His body was found on the island on Trean by a French yachtsman, following a wide scale search. Josh's mother Tracey Clayton had always believed he had been murdered and had criticised the police at his inquest for following up several leads during the case. The target of much of her anger has been Sgt Taylor, whose book the Life of a Scilly Sergeant was published in June 2016 - less than a year after Josh's body was found. In his book he includes extracts about the time he thought he had uncovered a major drugs smuggler only to discover that kilos of 'cocaine' he'd found were mozzarella. Josh Clayton (pictured above) went missing after attending a party hosted for the staff at a bar he was working at The book 'The Life of a Scilly Sergeant' (left) where Colin Taylor described his job policing the area which included one officer having to revive a goldfish (right) Other oddball cases include the mystery of the dumped goldfish, hunting for burglars who left fried eggs calling cards, dealing with a stray seal in the high street, and calming drunken chefs rowing over salt. During the search for Josh's body Sgt Taylor has suggested that investigators use a water diviner to help find him, a suggested Mrs Clayton raised concerns over. A Devon and Cornwall Police investigation has now upheld 15 of Mrs Clayton's 22 complaints and partially upheld - or directed 'learning' on - two others. The report identified six learning points for Sgt Taylor - a lower level than misconduct - six for his senior officer Det Insp DebbieJago and four for Devon and Cornwall Police Force. Colin Taylor pictured on a child's bike close to the water as he 'patrols' the Scilly Islands. The image is also used as the front cover of his book In 2015 it was reported that crime rates in the area (pictured above) hovered at around zero The force also employed a furry friend to help out with policing the area. Mowgli the cat had been promoted to Deputy Chief Constable before retiring Mrs Clayton said she felt vindicated that someone 'has actually listened' to her concerns. The probe found Sgt Taylor displayed 'poor judgement' in his conversations with the family and some of what he said was 'insensitive through its banality.' He was also criticised for talking about the ongoing incident in a pub - described in the report as 'just not appropriate.' The report also found Sgt Taylor failed to secure Mr Clayton's room despite it being 'fair to expect that all potential evidence should be secured and preserved.' Mrs Clayton said that if the family wouldn't have had the money for legal fees then her son Josh (pictured) would have been remembered as a drugged-up drunk' The death of Josh Clayton (pictured above) had initially been treated as a tragic accident but a new inquest was halted after it emerged there had been a row at the party he attended He also 'inappropriately' introduced the idea of using a 'water diviner' during the initial search for Mr Clayton's body. The report noted there was 'no doubt' Sgt Taylor attempted to put the family at ease but displayed 'poor judgement' in some of his conversations with the family. Senior officer Det Insp Jago also faced criticism in the report for authorising the disposal of Mr Clayton's bloodied t-shirt during the post-mortem examination and 'did not consider' seeking permission from his family. She has since taken early retirement but Sgt Taylor, who started his 20-year career in Exeter, moved back to Devon in 2016 after spending five years on the crime-free island. Colin Taylor pictured above taking a selfie with a pensioner whilst out on duty in Scilly As part of his role Sgt Taylor was also seen handing out advice to a young boy on the Scilly Isles Busy bees! The force is Scilly had time to cook up a pasty-making competition alongside other emergency service crews In that time he amassed more than 54,000 followers on Facebook thanks to his wry take on life patrolling one of the UK's outposts. The 52 year-old dad-of-two even wrote a best-selling book and described his memoirs as 'Heartbeat but less frenetic' and said his stories were 'silly, but true'. He also spoke of how he acted as peacemaker in a 50-year-old row over a shed. Sgt Taylor said his job had also involved hitchhiking across the islands to arrest people and being stopped on his weekly shop by locals with lost property queries. Sgt Taylor patrolled the Isles of Scilly (left) which is shown on the map in relation to its distance from Penzance Missing: The police were called when Sooty and Sweep were taken from the Methodist Ministers study at home. Rev Charlie Gibbs had to resort to the use of his reserve Sooty, the police said He says he was even invited by one islander to smoke some cannabis. Responding to the criticism in the report, he said: 'The focus of my efforts, as the sergeant on the Isles of Scilly at that time, in the search for Josh, was to do everything I could to find him alive and as quickly as possible. 'At all times the welfare of the Clayton family was paramount. I would like to say that my thoughts remain very much with the Clayton family for the tragic loss of Josh.' A second inquest concluded that Josh (pictured above) had died in an accident and that he 'might of had a fall' Mr Clayton's death had been treated as a tragic accident but in 2017, the first inquest was halted after new claims of a row at the party came to light. A second investigation was ordered and a second inquest concluded Mr Clayton's death was accidental and he 'may have had a fall' - a conclusion Mrs Clayton describes as 'pure speculation'. Dorset Police was subsequently asked to review the case after the first inquest collapsed. The review identified issues including the 'under-resourcing' of the investigation. It also found two differing scenarios of 'tragic accident versus suspicious death were not given equal standing'. Head of crime and criminal justice, Det Ch Supt Steve Parker, said learning from the reports had been shared with the officers involved and the force had 'also sought to learn as an organisation'. Urgent calls: One of the officers on the Scilly force dressed up as an elf to help out at a School Christmas Fayre Mr Parker, who led the second investigation, said no evidence of third-party involvement had been found and he did not believe any of the issues raised by the reports 'would have made a significant difference to the outcome of the investigation'. He said the force would apologise to the Clayton family for areas where 'we have failed to meet the high levels of service we aspired to in this investigation'. 'We have always had in the forefront of our minds that this is a grieving family who have lost a son and I do genuinely hope that this will bring some closure to them,' he added. Mrs Clayton said she wanted Devon and Cornwall Police to compensate her family for the anguish they had suffered. She said she wanted to recoup some of the 70,000 they have spent on legal fees and private investigation and use any other money to start a charity in her son's name, helping people who found themselves in a similar situation. 'It's not the money but if we didn't have the money everything would have been pushed to one side and we would have had to accept that Josh was a drugged-up drunk,' she said. 'What happens if you have no money... it is injustice.' Mystery: When somebody forced open the door of the Football Club shed at the playing field next to the school, one of the only clues was a fried egg on the grass, pictured, according to a Facebook post by the force A former BBC radio presenter has died after being hit by a train in what her grieving family believe was a 'tragic accident' just months after she gave birth to her second child. Journalist Kelly Jobanputra, 40, from Swindon, Wiltshire, left home last Friday afternoon to go shopping but never returned. She died after being hit on the line between Swindon and Didcot Parkway at around 3pm. It is the second tragedy her devastated family have had to endure after her brother Corrie Stooke died 15 years ago aged 31 from an accidental heroin overdose, which relatives described as 'equally-distressing circumstances'. Mrs Jobanputra spent 15 years presenting on local BBC radio stations before heading to London to work for Radio 6 Music, although she left the station several years ago. She has a young daughter called Mya with husband Vikesh and had her second child at the end of 2018. Journalist Kelly Jobanputra, 39, pictured, from Swindon, Wiltshire, died last Friday after being hit by a train The mother of two had given birth to her second child just months before her death. She is pictured with her daughter Mya and her newborn Mrs Jobanputra, pictured with husband Vikesh, had been in 'good spirits' on the day of her death according to her family and had gone out to do some shopping in Asda The death is the second tragedy the family has had to endure after the presenter's (right) brother Corrie Stooke (left) died of an accidental drugs overdose in 2004 aged 31 Better known at the time under her maiden name of Kelly Stooke, which she often used as a byline even after she got married, she regularly wrote reviews for the Swindon Advertiser and freelanced for the website 365 Bristol. She also wrote on Swindon Web as the Mum About Town, briefly presented a show on Ujima FM Radio in Bristol, and worked in the marketing group at the British Computing Society before her death. Mrs Jobanputra previously raised fund for post-natal depression charities and wrote about how serious the condition is. She wrote: 'PND is a devastating illness that is still not talked about and researched as much as it should be. 'There is not enough help out there for people who suffer and I want to raise the profile of this charity because they do so much.' Her father John Stooke said: 'We are completely and utterly bereft to lose such a vibrant, attractive, courageous and well-loved family member at such a very young age. 'She was in good spirits when she left at lunchtime to go to Asda. 'It seems that, whilst the circumstances are not at all clear, this may well have been, in the end, an unintended and tragic accident. 'Our thoughts are not solely with the devastation to our own family. We also believe the train driver was naturally traumatised and he or she also remains very much in our thoughts and prayers.' An inquest into the cause and circumstances of Mrs Jobanputra's death will be held at a later date. According to relatives, she was planning to consolidate some of her projects through the fledgling KMAJ Media company. Mrs Jobanputra is pictured left in a family photo with brother Corrie, centre, and mother Danusia, right Mrs Jobanputra, pictured with Take That singer Mark Owen, worked as a presenter on local BBC radio stations for 15 years before going to work as a producer for BBC Radio 6 Music The radio presenter, pictured with her husband, lost her brother Corrie 15 years ago after he died of an accidental drug overdose The family have asked to be left alone while they grieve for Mrs Jobanputra and asked for speculation about how her life ended to be avoided until the inquest establishes the facts of the incident. A spokesman for the BBC added: 'We are sorry to hear this incredibly sad news and our thoughts are with Kelly's family and friends at this time.' Police are not treating her death as suspicious. All lines were closed between the two stations for several hours while emergency services attended the incident. An inquest in 2004 ruled her brother's death was accidental after an overdose of heroin. Witnesses said Mr Stooke had been taking drugs with friends and then collapsed in a kitchen in a property in Swindon. His friends moved him to a sofa but the inquest heard he never regained consciousness. At the time his father John spoke out and warned others of the dangers of heroin and said it would 'inflict its torture on anyone who goes near it'. Advertisement Gavin Williamson today insisted he 'didn't say anything' about Huawei and urged Theresa May to report him to the police claiming she would then be forced to offer him a 'nice apology'. The shamed former Defence Secretary, 44, was fired by the Prime Minister who said there was 'compelling evidence' he leaked top secret details about giving the Chinese business access to Britain's 5G network. Mrs May also published a letter trashing his reputation after his 11-minute call to a journalist who wrote the story was uncovered by her civil service enforcer Sir Mark Sedwill - but she is refusing to go to the police claiming: 'The matter is closed'. Fighting back today Mr Williamson said he would 'massively welcome' a Scotland Yard probe because he believes detectives would exonerate him. He said: 'Honestly I don't know how I can clear my name unless there's a police investigation. As soon as they have the reporter's notepad it would show that I didn't say anything and then I would get the nicest apology from the Prime Minister, far nicer than the last letter she sent me'. He later posted a picture of himself with his two dogs on Instagram, telling his 11,000 followers he had had a 'pretty tough week'. Asked about Mr Williamsons remarks this afternoon the Prime Minister's spokesman said: Our position remains the same. The Cabinet Office has judged that it wasnt something that requires reporting to the police. Allies of Williamson rallied to his support, demanding Mrs May publishes the evidence against him, with Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne telling the Commons today: 'Natural justice requires that the evidence is produced so that his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed'. Mr Williamson posted this picture of himself with his two dogs on Instagram for his 11,000 followers after he was sacked for leaking confidential information from a Government meeting about Huawei Gavin Williamson swore on the lives of his children that he was not the source of the Huawei leak - his wife Joanne arrived was at the family home in the Midlands today without him Theresa May and her husband, Philip, arrive to cast their votes at a polling station near their home in the Thames Valley today as she insisted that Williamson was the leaker There are growing calls for Mr Williamson to be prosecuted for breaching the Official Secrets Act, which carries up to two years in prison. But the PM's deputy David Lidington said today he did not believe a crime had been committed and instead said the case 'boils down' to a breach of the ministerial code. Theresa May's deputy David Lidington says No 10 has decided that they will not report Gavin Williamson to the police And Met Commissioner Cressida Dick suggested they couldn't probe the leak - or Mr Williamson's alleged involvement - unless the Cabinet Office shares their investigation with them, which they have so far refused to do. Mr Lidington told the Commons today that the Government would help the police if they choose to investigate if he breached the Official Secrets Act - but admitted No 10 will not call detectives in. In a damning statement on Mr Williamson's alleged behaviour Mr Lidington said the breach was 'serious' but refused to release any of the evidence that led to his sacking. And in a clear attack on Mr Williamson - who once urged Russia to 'go away and shut up' - Mr Lidington said members of the National Security Council should 'shut up when they get outside'. He said: 'The Prime Minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed. The Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police. We would of course cooperate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. 'If there had been evidence to convince the Cabinet Secretary that a crime had been committed, he would have reported it to the Prime Minister and come to a different judgement about whether to refer it to the police'. Williamson was caught after an unprecedented Whitehall investigation where Sir Mark Sedwill pored over the Defence Secretary's phone records. He found the minister had spoken to Daily Telegraph reporter Steven Swinford on the day of National Security Council discussions about Huawei's potential access to the UK's 5G network. Mrs May says he was responsible for the leak - but Mr Williamson claims he spoke to Swinford about the Tory leadership and Brexit, adding: 'I swear on my children's lives that I'm innocent.' Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today, said that there was 'compelling evidence' Williamson was behind the Huawei leak Sir Mark Sedwill, the National Security Adviser in the Cabinet Office, was knighted last year by the Queen and has been accused of running a 'kangaroo court' by Mr Williamson After the first cabinet sacking for a leak in decades, it has emerged: Theresa May says there is 'compelling evidence' that Gavin Williamson leaked details of confidential details of whether to allow Huawei to help build Britain's 5G network; Cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill checked his phone records, emails and interviewed him before pointing the finger; Sacked minister spoke to a reporter for 11 minutes on the day of the leak and was accused of not engaging with cabinet investigation 'to the same standard as others' Williamson suggests Sir Mark was pursuing a vendetta, had leaked against him and then rigged the investigation. He said he was fired by 'kangaroo court' and is innocent, 'swearing on his children's lives'. David Lidington said his disgraced former cabinet colleague had lost the PM's trust and others on the National Security Council (NSC), which decides on the most sensitive matters of war and peace. He added: The problem of this case is not so much the information, it was the forum from which it came. This boils down to the ministerial code. Ministers can only stay in office when they retain the confidence of the Prime Minister. How Gavin Williamson was interviewed about the Huawei leak on a family holiday as the net closed in Gavin Williamson was on an Easter break with his family when the finger was first pointed at him, it was claimed today. Sir Mark Sedwill sent a member of cabinet staff to Scotland to interview the now-sacked Defence Secretary, who said the following day: 'Neither I nor any of my team have divulged information from the National Security Council'. Minister after minister then spoke out publicly to deny that they were behind the leak. The cabinet were ordered to hand over their phones in the hunt for the Cabinet mole in the hope of uncovering who leaked controversial discussions about Huawei's involvement in the UK's 5G network. It later emerged that Gavin Williamson has spoken at length to the journalist who wrote the Huawei but categorically denied he spilled the beans. Sir Mark clearly disagreed and appears to have told Mrs May that Mr Williamson was the culprit, and also said had failed to cooperate fully with leak inquiry in the same way his colleagues did. Theresa May decided he did not have confidence in her Defence Secretary and fired him yesterday. Advertisement Mr Williamson said he had been 'completely and utterly screwed' and implied his sacking was down to Sir Mark settling a vendetta against him. He claimed that the Cabinet Office had leaked against him, including his own texts, as it emerged that he and Sir Mark had been at loggerheads in the past over powers in their departments. Today MPs have written to the head of the Metropolitan Police Cressida Dick demanding a criminal investigation into whether his actions breached the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence. Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson secured an urgent question in the Commons today and said: 'Gavin Williamson says he is innocent and has the right to clear his name. A police investigation would do that'. He added: 'The Prime Minister says she has evidence. We need to see some of it. 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.' Mr Williamson, Theresa May's former chief whip who ran also her leadership campaign, was sacked after an investigation revealed he was the source of information released from a top secret National Security Council meeting last week and subsequently published in a newspaper. The leak of the Prime Minister's controversial decision about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei's involvement in the development of the UK's 5G mobile network made at a top-secret meeting of the NSC last week and leaked to the Daily Telegraph also sparked a massive political row with the US threatening to withhold intelligence if the Chinese firm was brought in. But in an interview with the Daily Mail, the 42-year-old was adamant that Mrs May had fired the wrong person and chastised her for having targeted him - despite his having had her back in the past. Recalling his sacking, he said: 'We sat down and she offered me the opportunity to resign and I said, 'I can't resign PM, because I haven't leaked it and I would rather you sacked me than me to accept something I or my team have not done'.' Making no attempt to hide his fury, he said: 'I pointed out that I had saved her a couple of times, kept her as PM,' adding that it was 'a shame she didn't recognise the fact'. The PM's officials have not revealed what evidence they found to implicate Mr Williamson, who had been an outside contender to replace Theresa May as Tory leader when she steps down. But his 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 has now been replaced by International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt - a Royal Navy reservist - who becomes the first ever female Defence Secretary. Rory Stewart steps up from Prisons Minister to take her former role. Resigned to his fate, Mr Williamson noted how resilient Mrs May was to his pleas, telling her: 'I have never leaked anything from the National Security Council, nor would I. I absolutely promise, hand on heart, I did not leak this. 'I realise my obituary will say I did, but I swear on my children's lives I did not.' He pointed the finger at Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill claiming an investigation into the leak was rigged. Mr Williamson claimed Sir Mark 'leaked information' about him concerning a text message he had sent. The Prime Minister sacked Gavin Williamson, setting out her reasons to the former minister in a letter being branded the 'most brutal' in cabinet history Ex-Army chief General Lord Dannatt defended Gavin Williamson's performance as defence secretary. The phonecall to reporter that damned Gavin Williamson in PM's eyes Gavin Williamson has admitted to an 11-minute telephone conversation with a journalist on the day information from the National Security Council was leaked, it has been reported. It is one of the first indications as to why the former defence secretary may have been sacked by Theresa May yesterday. He is alleged to have revealed secret NSC discussions about Chinese telecoms giant Huawei's involvement in the development of the UK's 5G mobile network. Officials have not revealed what they found to implicate Mr Williamson, but in a letter to the South Staffordshire MP the Prime Minister Theresa May claimed 'compelling evidence' suggested he was responsible. Sources close to Williamson last night revealed he had admitted to having a telephone conversation with Daily Telegraph Deputy Political Editor Steven Swinford after the National Security Council meeting last week, as reported by The Sun. It was Mr Swinford who just hours later broke the news that Mrs May had reportedly given the green light to Huawei the help build Britain's 5G network, a move which sparked a massive political row. But Mr Williamson has insisted they talked about Brexit and the upcoming euro elections, according to reports, and not the recent NSC meeting, at which it is alleged discussions were had on allowing Huawei to work on the 5G network. The 42-year-old has insisted he is innocent, and recounted to the Daily Mail what he told Mrs May: 'I have never leaked anything from the National Security Council, nor would I. 'I absolutely promise, hand on heart, I did not leak this. I realise my obituary will say I did, but I swear on my children's lives I did not.' Advertisement Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'This is a personal tragedy for Gavin Williamson; it's also something of a tragedy, certainly very upsetting, for defence at the present moment. 'It's a very difficult brief, people take quite some time to learn it, and he has got to grips with it pretty well over the last 18 months. 'He got 1.8 billion extra in the Budget last year and was continuing to argue the case for more resources in the Spending Review and he was fighting his corner. 'Yes, he made some mistakes, he made some gaffes, and said some things that he probably regretted, but on the whole he was doing a good job.' Lord Dannatt said he spoke to Mr Williamson on the phone on Wednesday night following his sacking. He said: 'Last night he was very much protesting his innocence... 'He has been trying very hard to argue the toss for the Ministry of Defence, for the armed forces, with the Treasury to get more resources. 'He has to protest his innocence over this, otherwise he is laying himself open to potentially criminal prosecution.' The chairman of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, Dominic Grieve, told Sky News: 'If people leak the content of such a meeting - even if it is just about a policy disagreement, not some specific secret item - it ruthlessly undermines the ability of the National Security Council to do its work. 'And it is totally unfair on colleagues, and indeed unfair on anybody who attends. 'I have noted that Gavin Williamson denies this, but the fact that there has been a leak has precipitated this crisis, so from wherever it came or may have come, it shows just how corrosive and undesirable it is.' Asked if Mr Williamson should face a criminal investigation, Mr Grieve said: 'If you are going to leak material from a National Security Council meeting which includes classified material, potentially you do break the law. 'But in this country, investigation of criminal offences is done independently by the police and Crown Prosecution Service. It's not a matter directly for the Government, although it could be referred to the police.' 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. 'My family means everything to me and I almost threw it away This incident nearly destroyed two marriages,' he said at the time. Mr Williamson later sent his own letter continuing to protest his innocence and revealing he refused to resign, saying it would have implied guilt Mr Williamson's critics want the police called in. Asked about the possibility of a prosecution, Theresa 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.' Mrs May met Mr Williamson in her Commons office for half an hour after receiving a briefing on the leak inquiry in the early afternoon. Huawei may have been a leak too far for gaff-prone minister nicknamed 'Private Pike' Williamson was nicknamed Private Pike after the youthful innocent Dad's Army character played by Ian Lavender (pictured above on a stamp issues last year to mark the sit-com's 50th anniversary) Gavin Williamson was promoted from the relative obscurity of the Tory whips team to take on one of the most senior political jobs in the country. But his inexperience and proneness to gaffs saw the relatively youthful newcomer quickly labelled Private Pike - after the hapless teenage Dad's Army character. As a whip, he was best known in Westminster for keeping a pet tarantula named Cronus in a glass box on his desk, which is said to have provided added menace when dealing with errant MPs in his role as Mrs May's enforcer. As Defence Secretary, the 42-year-old MP for South Staffordshire - Theresa May's campaign manager in her successful 2016 leadership bid - quickly became known for a tendency to put his foot in his mouth. At the height of the furore over the Salisbury novichok attack in March 2018, Mr Williamson urged Russia to 'go away and shut up' - prompting derision from critics. In December the previous year, he was accused of pursuing a policy that 'belongs in a Netflix series' after saying Islamist fighters should be hunted down and killed. 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. He was also suspected being behind some of the anonymous briefings about Brexit developments with Cabinet, which were again seen as part of the jockeying for position in the Tory leadership race. Although he has strenuously denied any involvement, Mr Williamson's ambitions may have been holed below the waterline with his unceremonious sacking over the Huawei leak. Advertisement Mr Williamson revealed that he had turned down an offer from the PM for him to resign rather than be sacked. He said that this would have implied that he accepted that either he or his team were responsible for the leak. The Staffordshire South MP also hit back with a letter to the PM in which he cast doubt on the investigation conducted by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. '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. Speaking to ITV outside Downing Street new Cabinet minister Mr Stewart said: 'Although I wasn't privy to the internal investigation I have enormous confidence the national security adviser and the Prime Minister have followed the correct process and know what they are doing.' The sacking of Gavin Williamson makes him the 38th person to have left the Government in just over 12 months, and the sixth Cabinet minister. Announcing the sacking 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.' Informing Mr Williamson of his dismissal, Mrs May said she was 'concerned' at the manner in which he had engaged with the 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.' The leak claimed Theresa May had given the green light to the involvement of Huawei in 'non core' elements of the UK network. Such a move risks the UK risks being cut out of the loop by American spies if it uses Huawei technology for its 5G mobile network, a senior US official later warned. Robert Strayer, the deputy assistant secretary for cyber security at the State Department, said any involvement of the Chinese tech giant poses an 'unacceptable risk'. Describing the seriousness of the problem for the US Mr Strayer said: 'What we really have here is a loaded gun'. And Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that Britain should be wary about embracing Chinese firms because they are legally obliged to help their country's spies. Williamson, the MP for South Staffordshire had been a vital part of Theresa May's inner circle after being appointed as her chief whip when she took office in July 2016. As a whip, he was best known in Westminster for keeping a pet tarantula named Cronus in a glass box on his desk, which is said to have provided added menace when dealing with errant MPs in his role as Mrs May's enforcer. As Defence Secretary, he quickly became known for a tendency to put his foot in his mouth. Mr Williamson 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. Elected to Parliament in 2010, Mr Williamson was swiftly appointed a PPS in the Northern Ireland Office in 2011 and then held a succession of 'bag-carrier' posts, acting as the eyes and ears in the House of Commons for ministers Hugo Swire, Owen Paterson and Patrick McLoughlin, before entering Number 10 as a member of Mr Cameron's team. Although unpaid, the role of PPS is seen as a useful staging post for a backbencher seeking ministerial office, but rarely have holders of the position been elevated quite as swiftly as Mr Williamson. 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. As chief whip, he was prohibited from speaking in Parliament. The defence job gave him a much higher profile, but things did not go well. Newly-appointed Secretary of State for Defence Penny Mordaunt leaves her London home today to start her new job Who is on the National Security Council? A government document published earlier this month states that the National Security Council consists of: The Prime Minister Theresa May Minister for the Cabinet Office David Lidington The Chancellor Philip Hammond Home Secretary Sajid Javid Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson Business Secretary Greg Clark International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt Attorney General Geoffrey Cox The council is chaired by the National Security Adviser, Mark Sedwill. Other Cabinet ministers attend as required, as to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Carter, and heads of Intelligence Agencies MI5 and MI6 also attend when required. Advertisement At the height of the furore over the Salisbury novichok attack in March 2018, Mr Williamson urged Russia to 'go away and shut up' - prompting derision from critics. In December the previous year, he was accused of pursuing a policy that 'belongs in a Netflix series' after saying Islamist fighters should be hunted down and killed. 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. He was also suspected of being behind some of the anonymous briefings about Brexit developments with Cabinet, which were again seen as part of the jockeying for position in the Tory leadership race. Although he has strenuously denied any involvement, Mr Williamson's ambitions may have been holed below the waterline with his unceremonious sacking over the Huawei leak. Some of the UK's closest allies have blocked Huawei from work on their own networks because of security concerns, some of which were reportedly raised by Cabinet ministers present at the NSC meeting about the firm's involvement. Mr Williamson was not at his Staffordshire home today and his wife Joanne refused to comment on her husband's sacking Yesterday Vodafone confirmed it found hidden vulnerabilities in network equipment supplied by Huawei a decade ago as the Chinese firm continues to protect its reputation. The UK telecoms firm is said to have discovered the flaws between 2009 and 2012 in internet routers and other equipment used by its Italian business, according to Bloomberg. The 'hidden back doors' could have allowed Huawei to access users' home internet networks, the report claimed. The NSC leaks to the Daily Telegraph triggered a Whitehall inquiry spearheaded by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to root out the culprit. 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. Huawei done it? How Gavin Williamson was snared after he admitted to 11 minute phone call with a Telegraph journalist and was then quizzed by leak investigator while on holiday in Scotland Gavin Williamson was snared as the Huawei leaker shortly after he admitted to an 11-minute phone call with the Telegraph journalist who broke the story. Williamson told investigators working for Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill that he spoke to Steven Swinford just hours after the National Security Council meeting. However, he denied that he leaked any information from the secret meeting and said he only spoke about Brexit and Theresa May's impending departure from No 10. He made the admission after he was forced to hand over his phone so that his calls, texts and emails could be analysed. He was also told to complete a questionnaire detailing his whereabouts in the hours following the NSC meeting. Investigators then turned their focus on him and were so anxious to talk to him that one was sent later that day to interview him while he was reportedly on holiday with his wife Joanne and their two daughters in Perthshire, Scotland, over Easter. Sir Mark Sedwill's team interviewed all ministers in the frame for the leak, but eventually concluded that Williamson was the culprit and he was sacked by Theresa May. Gavin Williamson (left) was on holiday in Scotland with his wife Joanne Williamson and their children over Easter but was still grilled by a civil servant sent there from London by investigation chief Sir Mark Sedwill (right) Gavin Williamson admitted he spoke for 11 minutes to Telegraph journalist Steven Swinford - but claims they talked Brexit and Tory leaderaship - not Huawei Mr Swinford, a married former Sunday Times journalist who has been the Daily Telegraph's deputy political editor since 2015, has refused to reveal his source or discuss the nature of the call with Mr Williamson. He will soon join The Times newspaper. He wrote last week that his story was 'undeniably a matter of significant public interest'. 'It is a decision that has already led to bitter divides between ministers and MPs on all sides of the Commons, and has the potential to open a rift between Britain and its most significant ally - the United States,' he wrote. Sir Mark was charged with finding the source of the leak after the National Security Council meeting on April 23 where Mrs May refused to rule out letting Huawei help bring 5G to Britain - despite its links to China's spy network. Mr Williamson was among the first of the eight ministers who attended the meeting with security chiefs to deny they had shared confidential information. Sir Mark, who reportedly clashed with him when his was Mrs May's chief whip and later in charge of the Ministry of Defence, also told the PM he had failed to engage with his probe like his colleagues had before she sacked him last night. In an extraordinary 30-minute meeting yesterday afternoon Mrs May confronted her former campaign manager with the findings of a Cabinet Office inquiry and accused Mr Williamson of failing to co-operate fully with the inquiry. Huawei leak and the fall of Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson's sacking by the Prime Minister follows days of political drama surrounding the leak of information from the UK's National Security Council. Here is how the leak developed into a major Government inquiry: - April 23 - A meeting of the UK's National Security Council (NSC), the country's top national security body, is held. - April 24 - The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that the Prime Minister has agreed to allow Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to help build Britain's new 5G network despite security concerns raised by Cabinet minsters at the meeting. Labour demands an official investigation into the leak from the highly secretive council. - April 25 - Dominic Grieve, chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, says the leak is 'deeply worrying'. Home Secretary Sajid Javid says it is 'completely unacceptable' for any minister to release sensitive information and that it should 'absolutely be looked at'. Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt publicly deny they are responsible. In a statement, Mr Williamson says neither he nor any of his team had 'divulged information from the National Security Council'. - April 26 - An ultimatum is reportedly issued to ministers over the leak of the secret discussions. Reports emerge that Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill has demanded ministers in attendance at the NSC meeting confess or deny if they were behind the leak. Downing Street refuses to say whether an inquiry is under way, despite calls for police to become involved. Sources close to International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt also deny they were involved. - April 27 - It is reported that members of the Cabinet are expected to be summoned for interviews as part of a formal inquiry headed by Sir Mark Sedwill. - April 28 - Jeremy Hunt says he has been questioned by officials as part of a leak probe and is prepared to hand over his phone. - April 29 - The US delivers a warning that there is no safe level of involvement by Chinese tech giant Huawei in the 5G networks of Western powers. - May 1 - Gavin Williamson is sacked as Defence Secretary following an inquiry into the leak of information. Downing Street said Theresa May asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government having 'lost confidence in his ability to serve'. Advertisement The now ex-defence secretary told her that he was not guilty, but No 10 sources said she did not believe him and asked him to resign. The 42-year-old was adamant that Mrs May had fired the wrong person and chastised her for having targeted him - despite his having had her back in the past. Recalling his sacking, he said: 'We sat down and she offered me the opportunity to resign and I said, 'I can't resign PM, because I haven't leaked it and I would rather you sacked me than me to accept something I or my team have not done'.' Making no attempt to hide his fury, he said: 'I pointed out that I had saved her a couple of times, kept her as PM,' adding that it was 'a shame she didn't recognise the fact'. Sir Mark's unprecedented inquiry involved all members of the NSC - including Mrs May and security chiefs - submitting to interviews with his investigators. Cabinet ministers soon scrambled to deny leaking details of a top secret meeting on the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei amid mounting calls for a police inquiry. Gavin Williamson joined Tory leadership hopefuls Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt, as well as Liam Fox, in denying they were to blame. Theresa May reportedly agreed to an investigation as she travelled to Lyra McKee's funeral in Belfast having been furious about the leak. Her chief of staff Gavin Barwell then met the ministers and told them a leaker would be sacked, regardless of their rank, and reportedly warned: 'You will not be a member of the Government for much longer'. Mr Williamson has suggested he was fired because of a vendetta and insiders have described an alleged 'Whitehall turf war' between him and Sir Mark over funding and power. The Times claimed today that the pair spent months battling over various issues including a 1billion boost for the MoD. Mr Williamson also allegedly blocked 'operational' manouevres by Sir Mark. But other sources in Whitehall said that Mrs May's former chief whip who ran her leadership campaign had been 'erratic' and 'forceful' in talks about cash and departmental issues. He is also suspected of other leaks. In a brutal letter to Mr Williamson setting out her decision last night, the PM said the inquiry had nonetheless found 'compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure'. She added: 'No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.' But he going out fighting and strenuously denied either he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. 'I volunteered everything up. I couldn't have volunteered more information on the whole thing,' he told The Times. 'Frankly I'd rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is I'd have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear.' Could Williamson now be JAILED? Calls for a police investigation into former Defence Secretary after Theresa May sacks him over national security leak Gavin Williamson (pictured) has been sacked over the leaks Calls for ex-Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson to be jailed have followed his sacking over leaking. Theresa May fired him from her cabinet over a leak of information about Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei, which the government had green-lighted to build the UK's 5G network despite experts' security concerns. Yesterday's dismissal for 'the unauthorised disclosure' of National Security Council information led to demands for a criminal investigation will follow. Labour Party Deputy Leader Tom Watson tweeted: '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.' Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable demanded a probe into a breach of the Official Secrets Act. 'This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office,' he said. '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.' Journalist Piers Morgan wrote on Twitter: 'BREAKING: Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson sensationally sacked after being identified as Huawei leaker. Might he go to jail too? Very serious offence to disclose info from National Security Council.' Mrs May made the announcement this afternoon following a high-profile probe into revelations released from a top secret meeting. 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.' Breaches of the Official Secrets Act carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The leak concerned a top-secret meeting about the decision to approve a contract for Huawei last week, when details were given to the Daily Telegraph. It claimed Theresa May had given the green light to the involvement of Huawei in 'non core' elements of the UK network. An affair, tractors armed with guns and paintballing Spanish ships: How Gavin Williamson's short tenure as Defence Secretary has been mired in controversy 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 in 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. 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 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. 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 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 Land Rover - 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. 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 Putin's 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 whip's office but it was barred from moving to the MoD because a member of his staff has arachnophobia. 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 Putin's 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) 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 that he was behind a highly controversial security leak about Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei last week. Advertisement The Transcontinental Railroad's role in the expansion into the Wild West during the 1800s is highlighted in a fascinating new exhibition. Incredible images show a Mormon family at the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1869, while another shows Shoshone Indians posing for the camera. Other striking shots show O.C. Smith, a cashier for the Union Pacific Railroad, and his wife having their photograph taken in Echo, and another sees temporary and permanent bridges being built over Green River with Citadel Rock in the distance. This spring, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) will present Pushing West: The Photography of Andrew J. Russell, a new exhibition showcasing Russell's epic photography of the railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad's role in the expansion into the Wild West during the 1800s is highlighted in a fascinating new exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California. The Pacific Railroad, known later as the Overland Route, was built between 1863 and 1869. It connected trains in Omaha, Nebraska, in the east to San Francisco Bay in the west. Pictured: a temporary and permanent bridge built over the Green River with Citadel rock in the distance The continuous railway line was 1,912 miles long, and was built by Western Pacific Railroad Company, the Central Pacific Railroad Company (CPPR) from California, and the Union Pacific. It was officially opened on May 10, 1869, when CPPR president Leland Stanford drove the last spike into the line, pictured. A man stood on one of the trains can be seen bolding up a bottle of champagne in the background The Union Pacific Railroad commissioned Andrew J. Russell to take this series of photographs to document the successful development of the track - but he often captured a complex picture of western expansion. This striking shot shows a Mormon family living in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Russell used the collodion photographic process to capture such emotive portraits in remote locations Many of the images show Native Americans posing for the camera, such as these Shoshone Indians, even as the building of the railroad begins to displace them. In order to build the railroad without opposition, many Native American tribes were removed from the area and sold their land on to developers who gave them reservation land elsewhere. The influx of white settlers also brought diseases which decimated the Native American population Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the railroad's completion in May 1869, Russell's photography reveals the tensions between the celebration of economic and technological advancements and the Railroad's significant impact on western lands and Native peoples. Though commissioned by the Union Pacific Railroad to document its successful development, Russell often captured a complex picture of western expansion: his photographs show majestic landscapes and the natural environment, the displacement of Native peoples, and technological history. In a feat of technical achievement, Russell's remarkable usage of the collodion photographic process enabled him to capture images of visual and emotional impact in remote locations. Here, O.C. Smith, a cashier for the Union Pacific Railroad, and his wife pose for a photo as two other men hold up a screen behind them. The exhibition launch coincides with the 150th anniversary of the railroad's completion. Drew Johnson, Curator of Photography and Visual Culture at the Oakland Museum of California said: 'Andrew J. Russell remains one of the most influential landscape photographers who brought the American West to a mass audience in the 19th century, and whose work continues to shape our perceptions of this important period' Russell captured the beauty of basically untouched landscapes in his photographs, including this shot of a man fishing at Castle Rock in the Green River valley. Shortly after the railroad was finished, John Wesley Powell began his three-month journey along the Green and Colorado rivers near here, and famously became the first white man to travel through the entire Grand Canyon on record Pictured: Smith's Rock in Green River Valley, 1868. Pushing West: The Photography of Andrew J. Russell will be on view in OMCA's Gallery of California Art May 4 through September 1, 2019 'Andrew J. Russell remains one of the most influential landscape photographers who brought the American West to a mass audience in the 19th century, and whose work continues to shape our perceptions of this important period,' said Drew Johnson, Curator of Photography and Visual Culture. 'Drawn from one of OMCA's core collections of nearly 650 original collodion negatives and 60 vintage prints, the exhibition will include Russell's iconic images alongside rare vintage prints and modern prints from original collodion negatives to tell a multi-faceted story of this pivotal moment in history.' Pushing West: The Photography of Andrew J. Russell will be on view in OMCA's Gallery of California Art May 4 through September 1, 2019. A student has been banned from his school prom after proposing to his date with a racist sign, which read: 'If I was black I'd be picking cotton but I'm white so I'm picking u for prom'. The teenager from the Clear Fork Valley school district in Ohio posed with his intended date and held up the colorful sign. The message sparked a furious backlash and the youngster has now deleted the picture, and will not attend the big night. Outrage: A student has been banned from an Ohio school prom after inviting his date to the event with this racist message An image of the sign, which does not identify the students or show their faces, has been widely circulated online. Clear Fork Valley superintendent Janice Wyckoff said the so-called promposal was 'awful'. In a statement to Fox8, she said: 'Kids need to understand, when you're celebrating things it doesn't give you a pass on using inappropriate racial slur. 'This is a process, growing up is a process, and this is one of those moments that's a teachable moment for this kid that will last a lifetime.' The promposal had not taken place on school property and the girl he planned to take as his date was from a different school district, she said. She added that the student had shown remorse for the racist sign and insisted it did not reflect on the student body as a whole. The same bizarre message has previously sparked outrage when it was used by a student in Arizona earlier this year and by pupils in Michigan, Florida and Missouri in 2018. One teenager at Riverview High School in Sarasota used the same racist analogy for his own message in April 2018 and it was posted to Snapchat by his date. In another case of racism in prom invitations, two Minnesota students were slammed for referring to Adolf Hitler in this apparent invitation to a Valentine's event In a message apparently written by the student, then aged 18, he later apologized and admitted he had 'gone too far'. In a further case of prom-related racism two Minnesota students were blasted for referring to Adolf Hitler in an apparent invitation to a Valentine's event. The poster read: 'Sweethearts would be a Hit(ler) w/you, and I could Nazi myself going w/anybody else. Be Mein? Yes or Nein.' The teen girl who shared the photo also said in the caption: 'Also I would like to state I am not anti-Semitic in any way, I hate all races equally.' Officials at Minnetonka High School wrote to parents after two students were seen in the photo. The Clear Fork Valley local school district in Ohio includes two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. The U.S. State Department allowed at least seven foreign governments to rent luxury condominiums in New York's Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress, according to documents and people familiar with the leases, a potential violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause. The 90-story Manhattan building, part of the real estate empire of Donald Trump, had housed diplomats and foreign officials before the property developer became president. But now that he is in the White House, such transactions must pass muster with federal lawmakers, some legal experts say. The emoluments clause bans U.S. officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional consent. The rental transactions, dating from the early months of Trump's presidency and first revealed by Reuters, could add to mounting scrutiny of his business dealings with foreign governments, which are now the subject of multiple lawsuits. Tower in question: The Trump World Tower (center) is the tallest building near the United Nations building in New York and is entirely residential Leased: The State Department has to give permission to foreign governments to lease in the Trump World Tower - and anywhere else in the United States - but has not told Congress who it allowed to lease. Experts say it could be unconstitutional Friend and tenant: Saudi Arabia, whose de facto leader is Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, was one of the foreign governments which leased in the Trump World Tower after the inauguration in 2017 Congressional staffers confirmed to Reuters that the Trump World Tower lease requests were never submitted to Congress. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said his committee has been 'stonewalled' in its efforts to obtain detailed information about foreign government payments to Trump's businesses. 'This new information raises serious questions about the President and his businesses' potential receipt of payments from foreign governments,' Cummings said in a statement to Reuters. 'The American public deserves full transparency.' A State Department spokesperson referred Reuters to the Justice Department because the subject involved 'matters related to ongoing litigation.' The Justice Department declined to comment. The White House referred a request for comment to the State Department and the Trump Organization, which did not comment. The 1982 Foreign Missions Act requires foreign governments to get State Department clearance for any purchase, lease, sale, or other use of a property in the United States. Through the Freedom of Information Act, Reuters obtained diplomatic notes sent to the agency under this requirement from early 2015 until late 2017. The records show that in the eight months following Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration, foreign governments sent 13 notes to the State Department seeking permission to rent or renew leases in Trump World Tower. That is more solicitations from foreign governments for new or renewed leases in that building than in the previous two years combined. The governments of Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Thailand and the European Union got the green light to rent a combined eight units in Trump World Tower and followed through with leases, according to other documents viewed by Reuters and people familiar with the leases. Five of those governments - Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the European Union - had also sought to rent units there in 2015 and 2016, State Department records showed. Reuters could not confirm whether the State Department signed off on two other lease requests from Algeria and South Korea and three additional requests from Kuwait. 'Letting this go without Congress knowing about it condones the creation of a second, opaque track of foreign policy,' said Harold Hongju Koh, a professor at Yale Law School and former legal adviser at the State Department. 'What it might lead to is a group of countries enriching the people in power on the mistaken belief that it's going to improve their access.' The 18-year-old luxury skyscraper is located next to the United Nations headquarters near the East River, and is not to be confused with Trump Tower, the Fifth Avenue landmark where Trump maintains a residence. Trump World Tower is controlled by a limited partnership owned by Trump and managed by the Trump Corporation, a Trump-owned company that draws its income from fees paid by unit owners, according to the building's financial records. When privately-owned units are leased, their owners typically use the rental income to cover those common charges, according to unit owners and real estate experts interviewed by Reuters. The State Department records did not make clear who owned the units in question. The revenue Trump draws from foreign government business at his properties, such as the recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., has sparked lawsuits by U.S. lawmakers and the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia, alleging this income violates the emoluments clause. Family affair: Trump handed day-to-day control of his Trump companies to Eric Trump (far left), Don Trump Jr. (far right) and Allen Weisselberg (second right) Trump's attorneys have argued in court that the Constitution only requires him to seek congressional approval for foreign emoluments offered in connection with his role as president. Trump has retained ownership of his global business interests while president, but handed off day-to-day control to his oldest sons and a longtime company executive. On Tuesday, a U.S. federal judge denied Trump's motion to dismiss one of the emoluments lawsuits against him, saying Trump's narrow definition of emoluments was 'unpersuasive and inconsistent'. Courts may ultimately decide whether some of Trump's business dealings violate the Constitution. Issuing such judgments is not the job of the State Department office in charge of reviewing foreign government property requests, according to Patrick Kennedy, who from 2007 to 2017 was the top State Department official in charge of the internal administration of the agency. He said that office's mandate is to screen for national security and diplomatic concerns, not for potential emolument violations. If the State Department began obstructing requests from foreign governments to lease units in Trump-affiliated properties, he said, it could prompt them to retaliate against U.S. diplomats seeking housing in their territories. 'The State Department's interest in saying 'no' is probably zero if there's no security threat and we have good reciprocal relations with the countries,' Kennedy told Reuters. According to the State Department records obtained by Reuters, which covered the period from January 2015 through September 2017, Trump World Tower was the only Trump-affiliated building in the United States where foreign governments sought to lease or buy units. In 2017, the median monthly asking rent for units in Trump World Tower was $8,500, according to real estate website StreetEasy. That was more than 2.5 times the median in the surrounding neighborhood, known as Turtle Bay. Some of the foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, had previously purchased property in the building, where the average unit currently sells for nearly $7 million, according to StreetEasy. Mohammad Alkadi, a spokesman for the Saudi Mission to the United Nations, said Trump World Tower's prime location near U.N. headquarters was the kingdom's motivation to lease there. 'The governments pay for these units in the building not to get favors from Trump or anything, but just because it's very convenient and comfortable for us,' Alkadi said. He said he moved into his own unit in Trump World Tower at the end of 2017. The Trump administration has closely aligned itself with Saudi Arabia on a host of issues, despite a CIA assessment that the country's crown prince ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and U.S. congressional opposition to American involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has driven millions of Yemenis to the brink of starvation. Slovakia, another Trump World Tower renter, said in a statement that its lease was 'fully in line with U.S. legislation and our internal guidelines.' Slovakia's prime minister is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on May 3 to discuss security cooperation and other issues. The Malaysian mission to the United Nations said it was not currently renting a unit in Trump World Tower when reached by phone in April. It declined to comment on the unit it rented in 2017. That lease was confirmed to Reuters by a person familiar with the transaction. All the other governments that sought to rent units after Trump's inauguration declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. In 2017, the president earned more than $15 million in management and related fees through the properties managed by the Trump Corporation, according to the president's financial disclosure. The document did not reveal how much of that sum came from Trump World Tower. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn married consort Suthida Tidjai this week and named her Queen ahead of his coronation, a move which shocked Thais who had been told nothing about her by the country's heavily-censored media until now. The accolade marks a stratospheric rise for a woman who started her working life as an air stewardess before catching the future king's eye while he worked as a pilot. She was then promoted to 'bodyguard' in his personal protection unit and given the title of General in the army, putting her on par with his beloved pet poodle FuFu, who holds the rank of Air Chief Marshal in the air force. The wedding, in which Suthida was made to lie on the floor at the King's feet, makes her Vajiralongkorn's fourth wife after he divorced Srirasmi Suwadee - a former waitress - in 2014. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn married his long-time consort Suthida Tidjai in a ceremony on Wednesday, ahead of his coronation which is due to start this weekend (pictured, the pair paid homage at a statue of former King Rama V in Bangkok as husband and wife today) The marriage marks a stratospheric rise for Suditha, who studied communications at a private university in Bangkok before becoming a stewardess King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida pay homage to the Equestrian Statue of King Chulalongkorn in Bangkok The pair met while Suthida was an air stewardess aboard Thai Airways, where then-Prince Vajiralongkorn served as a pilot (pictured, exact date unknown) Suthida has seldom been pictured with the royal, though the pair were photographed near Munich in 2016 where Vajiralongkorn wore a tight crop top Little is known about Suthida's life as a private citizen, other than that she was born in 1978 and attended Assumption University, a private $41,000-a-year Catholic college in Thailand's capital Bangkok. She earned a degree in communication arts in 2000 before going to work as a stewardess for the country's national carrier Thai Airways shortly after. It is thought she met Prince Vajiralongkorn while working for the airline, because he is a licenced pilot who sometimes flew the carrier's Boeing and Airbus jets. Vajiralongkorn is known to have handpicked several of the stewardesses to be his mistresses despite still being married to Suwadee, with whom he has a son named Adityadornkitigun. Suthida is thought to have occupied his affections and become his 'main mistress', spending a large amount of time with him at his private residence in Bavaria while Suwadee and her son lived back in Bangkok. Suthida entered the Thai military in 2010 with the rank of Second Lieutenant and was promoted to First Lieutenant just six months later. In 2012 she received her first official recognition for services to Prince Vajiralongkorn when she was awarded the Order of the White Elephant for her 'honesty, loyalty and responsibility ... dedication and sacrifice.' At the time of the award, she was credited as being a Lieutenant Colonel. The Prince is believed to have kept Suthida as his favoured mistress at his private residence in Germany, where he spends most of his time Suthida married Vajiralongkorn on Wednesday when she was forced to lie on the floor along with royal aides as part of tradition Suthida entered the military in 2010 and was quickly promoted through the ranks before being reassigned to Vajiralongkorn's personal guard and promoted to general after his father's death She appeared alongside the new King at a cremation ceremony for his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in Bangkok in 2016 (pictured) She has rarely been photographed with Vajiralongkorn and the Thai press - which is heavily censored by the monarchy - had not acknowledged any kind of relationship between the pair until their wedding. However, one extraordinary image emerged in 2016 which appeared to show Vajiralongkorn boarding a plane in Germany alongside Suthida. She was dressed in high heels, tight trousers, a skimpy top and was clutching a large bag in one hand and FuFu in the other. Meanwhile the future King wore a pair of low-slung jeans, sandals and a tiny white crop top that revealed his back and arms were covered in tattoos. Around the same time she was named in foreign media reports as the Prince's 'consort', though Thai authorities refused to confirm this. Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016, Vajiralongkorn named Suthida Commander of the Special Operations Unit of the King's Guard in December that year. The promotion also saw her elevated to the rank of General, after just six years in the armed forces. Vajiralongkorn's first wife - Princess Soamsawali (right) - was the only other royal he ever married, being his first cousin on his mother's side He married second wife, actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth (left) in 1994 and the pair had five children, though only one is now recognised by the royal family His third wife, a former waitress, was Srirasmi Suwadee with whom he had one child. The pair divorced in 2014 The following June she was appointed acting commander of Royal Thai Aide-de-Camp Department and in October she was named a Dame Grand Cross (First Class) of The Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao. The same month, she appeared in uniform alongside Vajiralongkorn during a military parade in Bangkok for the cremation of King Bhumibol. Also among the crowd was another of Vajiralongkorn's suspected mistresses, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, who was once spotted alongside the king - again wearing a crop top - in Munich in 2016. Then, on May 1 this year, King Vajiralongkorn suddenly announced that the pair had married, and she was named Queen Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya. Photos showed Suthida 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. A statement from the royal family explained that the King had decided to promote General Suthida, his royal consort, to become Queen Suthida. 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. Queen Suthida, as she is now known, will accompany her new husband throughout his coronation this weekend, though it is not known exactly what role she will play Royal tradition dictates that the King, as a living deity, must be physically higher than his courtiers during royal ceremonies, meaning they are forced to crawl King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his consort, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn, attend their wedding ceremony in Bangkok 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. 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 Marshal - 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. More than 800,000 people have been evacuated along India's eastern coast as authorities brace for a cyclone moving through the Bay of Bengal that is expected to bring havoc to the region. Cyclone Fani is forecast to make landfall on Friday with gale-force winds of up to 124 miles per hour likely starting Thursday night. India's National Disaster Management Authority has forecast 'high to phenomenal' sea conditions for most of the Indian states along the Bay of Bengal. A satellite image shows tropical cyclone Fani intensifying in the Bay of Bengal. The Indian Meteorological Department in New Delhi says the storm is forecast to make landfall on Friday with gale-force winds of up to 200 kilometres (124 miles) per hour Fani is the fourth major storm to slam into India's east coast in three decades. The last one, in 2017, cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead and more than 600 missing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala Fishermen have been advised not to venture into deep waters. A 5-foot storm surge is expected to inundate low-lying areas. Fearing that Fani could be the worst storm since 1999, when a cyclone killed around 10,000 people and caused an estimated $4.5 billion worth of devastation in large parts of Odisha, Indian officials have put the navy, air force, army and coast guard on high alert, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The Meteorological Department has projected the 'total destruction' of thatched-roof huts, flooding of farmland and orchards, the bending and uprooting of telephone poles, the 'flooding of escape routes' and important damage to crops in some areas. India's special relief commissioner told PTI that preparations for Fani have included the country's largest evacuation operation. Tourists were asked to leave the popular beach town of Puri in Odisha by Thursday night. Authorities have asked tourists to avoid unnecessary travel. Special buses have been deployed in Puri and other towns. The looming storm: Clouds over Visakhapatnam in India warn of the upcoming extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani 'We are expecting more than a million people to move out of the danger zone in next 12 hours,' Bishnupada Sethi, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner, told AFP. Bangladesh disaster management chief Mohammad Hashim said that 3,600 cyclone shelters in schools and government buildings have been set up to accommodate more than a million people in 13 coastal districts. In addition to the shelters, around 100,000 dry food packets are ready to be airdropped, if needed reports said. Dozens of officials were making announcements on hand-held megaphones across the coastal belt asking residents to leave their homes. After Odisha, Fani was predicted to head north towards the state of West Bengal and then towards Bangladesh, where authorities were already preparing on Thursday. The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Coast Guard have been put on high alert as cyclone Fani, termed as 'very severe' is expected to hit the southern Puri on Friday. Fishermen have also be warned to come to safety as a 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) storm surge is expected to inundate low-lying areas Fishermen have been advised not to venture into deep waters: Some men return to safety on the Bay of Bengal sea's eastern coast beach at Konark after the cyclone Fani alert in Puri district of Orissa has been issued Other coastal states south of Odisha like Andhra Pradesh, home to 50 million people, and Tamil Nadu, population some 70 million, were also on standby. India's biggest oil and gas producer ONGC has evacuated close to 500 employees from offshore installations and moved drilling rigs to safer locations, the Press Trust of India reported. The Airports Authority of India also issued an advisory to all the coastal airports to take adequate precautions. 'Heavy rains are expected in all the coastal districts amid fears of flash floods. We are all geared up for the challenge,' said Sethi. One Day at a Time producer Norman Lear and star Rita Moreno have blasted Netflix for canceling the popular show over its viewing figures. In a piece penned for the Hollywood Reporter, the pair lamented the fact that despite glowing reviews for the series, which has a 98 per cent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the streaming giant pulled the plug because of poor viewership. The Latinx series was cancelled in March after three seasons, leaving many fans of the LGBTQ-friendly sitcom heartbroken. Addressing the cancellation, the pair wrote: 'One could argue that it's the data what we've known through the years as Nielsen ratings that inevitably drives the decision-making process. 'But something is missing if that is the only criterion for survival of a show, the only data point, the only litmus test.' One Day at a Time producer Norman Lear (left) and star Rita Moreno have blasted Netflix for canceling the popular show over its viewing figures They went on to explain the show had served 'underrepresented audiences' and 'addressed real-life issues with heart' - but even that wasn't enough to save it. Lear and Moreno then begged viewers to share their love for smaller shows at risk of cancellation before it's too late. They added: 'There's a lesson here for all of us content creators, artists and consumers to speak up. When you find a show you fall in love with, something that matters to you, something that makes you laugh louder and love harder, share it. 'Scream from the rooftops and swing from the chandeliers talking about it. Join your voice with others before, not after.' Addressing the decision, they wrote: 'Something is missing if that is the only criterion for survival of a show, the only data point, the only litmus test' Passionate fans had tried to get the show renewed for a fourth season before the cancellation announcement. At the time, one viewer wrote: 'Maybe, just maybe, if you guys had promoted this as much as you do with other shows, it would've done better. 'It seems like a trend with you. You don't promote a show and then cancel it when it (surprise!) doesn't have enough viewers.' Another posted: 'You all have a hell of a lot of nerve. All the money you spend on numerous awful shows and movies that literally NO ONE asked for and you cancel the BEST show you have right now. This is incredibly disappointing.' Netflix VP Cindy Holland defended the decision, telling the Hollywood Reporter: 'We supported three seasons of a show that probably wouldn't have made it past season one any other place if it had been made at all. 'But at some point, we do need to look for other stories to tell that can garner bigger audiences.' Two children were reportedly killed today after a bouncy castle was picked up and flipped upside down by a tornado in northern China. Another seven children were said to be injured. The accident took place on a playground in the county of Laiyuan in Hebei Province, according to Beijing Youth Daily. Footage released by Pear shows firefighters and onlookers teaming up to search for trapped children and injured youngsters being taken to hospital on a square in the county of Laiyuan Devastated family members cry after rescuing their children from the collapsed castle All of the young victims had been trapped in the inflatable attraction, local authorities told reporters. The accident occurred at 2:50pm local time on the Jumayuan Square. It happened on a national holiday when many parents would take their children on spring outings. One child was declared dead at the scene and the other died in hospital, said the Laiyuan County Propaganda Bureau. All injured children are in stable condition and doctors are actively treating them, it is said. A picture released by Beijing Youth Daily and social media footage show a large crowd of people gathering around a deflated castle after it was picked up and flipped over in Hebei This is the second fatal playground accident that has taken place in China this week as people around the nation enjoy a four-day break to celebrate the Labour Day. Two people were killed and 12 others including six children were injured after flying off a 770-foot-long slide at high speeds in a popular theme park in Sichuan Province yesterday. The accident was said to be caused by failure of the safety equipment. The accident took place today on a playground in the county of Laiyuan in Hebei Province Social media footage of the aftermaths shows a large crowd gathering around a deflated castle in what appears to be a car park. A voice can be heard saying: 'The bouncy castle was picked up by wind. Quite a few have been killed.' Another clip on Pear Video shows family members crying next to their children after rescuing them from the castle. The tornado had formed near the Jumayuan Square, authorities were quoted saying. Police have reportedly detained three people in relation to the accident, but their identities have not been revealed. Further investigation is underway. In a similar accident in China in March, two children were killed after a dust devil sent a bouncy castle flying into the air in neighbouring Henan Province. This is the shocking moment a terrified woman drops her baby as a raging bull charges into her and three friends. Beating drums in the procession for the Hindu saint-poet Sena Nhavi had startled a group of bulls in Pali, a city in the north Indian state of Rajasthan, causing them to stampede. Organisers of yesterday's procession are said to be furious and have blamed the city's officials for not controlling stray cattle. A terrified woman dropped her baby after a bull ploughed into her and three friends while they were standing next to a shop CCTV caught the moment the bull charged through the four women and caused one to drop her baby In the CCTV footage, three women wearing orange headscarves are seen walking up to a shop front as a fourth approaches holding a baby. As they stand talking to a shopkeeper someone is seen running in the background. Next a rampant bull suddenly charges into them. Two women are sent flying while the mother drops her baby in the confusion. Fortunately, the tot's fall is cushioned by one of the floored women and the mother rushes to scoop the infant up. According to local media, the rampant bull injured 10 to 12 people during the religious event who were all rushed to a nearby hospital. Before the bull struck the four women, dressed in orange, had been talking at a shop. They were in the city of Pali, northern India After the bull struck the women helped pick up the baby. It was startled by drums from a nearby Hindu festival Four of them have remained under care with serious injuries while the others have since been discharged, according to reports. After the incident, organisers of the procession were said to be furious and blamed local officials for not controlling stray cattle in the city. It is unclear whether the police are investigating after the bulls went on a stampede on May 1. The Metropolitan Police have already spent 7 million on dealing with the Extinction Rebellion climate change protests, Cressida Dick revealed. The staggering costs are close to half the 15 million ring-fenced last year for tackling the knife crime epidemic on London's blood-soaked streets. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ms Dick said the bulk of the spend was in taking officers off other duties and bussing them from other forces to deal with the activists. She said: 'It put a huge strain on my officers. I cannot speak highly enough of my officers. Many were doing 12 hour days that turned into 14 or 16 hour days. Actress Emma Thompson joins climate protesters in Oxford Street on April 19. It emerged today that police the protests cost the taxpayer more than 7million Police carry away a protester during the climate demonstration at Oxford Circus last month Police remove Extinction Rebellion activists on Waterloo Bridge in London on Easter Sunday A body-painted climate change protester faces off with police outside Parliament last month 'Some didn't see their children for days and days. Partners or grandparents needed to step in to look after them.' The colossal spend to deal with the climate activists is around a tenth of what London Mayor Sadiq Khan pledged as an additional funding pot for the Met last year - most of it raised through an increase in council tax of 27p per week. The Met had to deploy more than 10,000 officers last month as protesters caused carnage in Oxford Street, on Waterloo Bridge, in Parliament Square, outside the Bank of England and at Canary Wharf tube station. Protesters used WhatsApp groups to tell each where arrests were being made, prompting reinforcements to arrive as police tried to clear areas. Activists chained themselves to lorries and a boat they brought to Oxford Circus, meaning it often required four officers to arrest one protester. Extinction Rebellion targeted a series of central London landmarks with roadblocks and encampments, bringing misery to thousands of people in the capital. More than 1,130 people were arrested during the protests which began on April 15, while more than 10,000 police officers were deployed. Activists were joined by actress Emma Thompson, who flew back from LA the day before she jumped on a pink boat at the centre of the demos. Police carry away an Extinction Rebellion demonstrator from Waterloo Bridge on April 20 Metropolitan Police officers prepare to move in on Waterloo Bridge in London on April 20 Extinction Rebellion demonstrators gather at Marble Arch in London on Easter Sunday Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick (pictured at Downing Street on April 1) said the huge protests in London needed around 1,400 officers a day to police The action saw Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus, Vauxhall Bridge and Marble Arch all blocked and a 'die-in' staged at the Natural History Museum. The non-violent and well-coordinated activists, who hold training seminars on civil disobedience and what to do when arrested, have three main demands. They want the Government and mainstream media to 'tell the truth' about the dangers of climate change, for the UK to have zero carbon emissions by 2025 - an aim many experts have dismissed as impossible - and for a people's assembly to be established to tackle the problem. Cyprus' justice minister has resigned amid public uproar over the country's 'first' serial killer following reports of lapses in investigating missing persons' cases. Ionas Nicolaou said on Thursday he tendered his resignation to President Nicos Anastasiades for reasons of 'principle and conscience'. A suspect identified in Cypriot media as 35-year-old Greek Cypriot army officer Nicos Metaxas has confessed to seven murders that have been dubbed the Mediterranean island's first serial killings. Ionas Nicolaou said on Thursday he tendered his resignation to President Nicos Anastasiades for reasons of 'principle and conscience' Nicolaou added that he had no personal involvement in the case that went undetected for nearly three years. 'I told the president of my decision to resign from my position as justice minister for reasons of political responsibility,' Nicolaou told reporters as he announced his resignation. He also called for the police complaints commission to launch an independent inquiry into who is responsible, saying the lack of an initial investigation concerning the seven victims was evident. 'I have never shown any disrespect, but I have demonstrated the need for an independent investigation that will indicate any gaps in procedures,' Nicolaou told reporters. Anastasiades said he accepted the minister's resignation. Nicos Metaxas, 35, a Greek army captain, has been identified locally as the suspect , but has not been formally identified because he has not been charged President Nicos Anastasiades said he shared 'the shock and abhorrence of society over these unprecedented crimes' 'It is with great regret that I have accepted the resignation of Justice Minister @MJPO-INicolaou as I am deprived of the services of one of my closest associates,' the Cypriot president said on Twitter. Four women have been found murdered in the past three weeks, their bodies dumped in three locations west of the capital Nicosia. Investigations are under way into three other disappearances, including two girls aged six and eight. The Cypriot authorities have been accused of failing to properly investigate their initial disappearance due to neglect and racism. All but one of the women was of Asian descent and Metaxas is said to have met at least two on dating websites. In his statement on Twitter, Anastasiades said he shared 'the shock and abhorrence of society over these unprecedented crimes'. 'I want to confirm our determination to fully solve these shameful killings, but also fully investigate the facts concerning complaints about missing persons,' the president said. It comes after detectives hunting for victims of the Cypriot serial killer uncovered a suitcase with the body of a woman inside at the bottom of a man-made lake. Investigators searching for victims of a man dubbed Cyprus's first ever serial killer pulled the body of a woman inside a suitcase (bottom centre) out of a man-made lake on Sunday Police said the suitcase had been weighted down with a concrete block and contained the remains of an adult woman 'in advanced stages of decomposition' Investigators believe they have also located the remains of a second woman in the same lake and are searching for a third The woman is thought to have been murdered by the 35-year-old military officer, who has confessed to killing five women and two girls on the island. So far, four bodies have been recovered. It is thought Metaxas targeted foreign women on the island between 2016 and 2017. Police said the suitcase was discovered Sunday in a man-made lake in the village of Mitsero, 20 miles west of the capital, Nicosia. The case had been weighted down with a concrete block. Senior Inspector Neophytos Shailos said a coroner who examined the body at the scene said it was in an advanced stage of decomposition. He said a battery of tests and scientific examinations will be conducted to determine the woman's identity. Authorities focused their search on the lake after Metaxas told investigators that he put the bodies of three of his victims into suitcases and threw them into the toxic lake, part of a now-defunct copper pyrite mine. Those victims are believed to be Maricar Valtez Arquiola, 31, from the Philippines; Florentina Bunea, 36, from Romania; and Bunea's 8-year-old daughter, Elena Natalia. Arquiola has been missing since December 2017, while the mother and daughter vanished in September 2016. Shailos said a coroner who carried out a preliminary examination at the scene determined that the body is of an adult female. Mary Rose Tiburcio, 38 (left) was discovered on April 14 at a mine-shaft, while her six-year-old daughter Sierra is feared to also be dead Maricar Valtez Arquiola, 31 (left) and Arian Palanos Lozano, 28, (right) - have been named by Cypriot media as victims The soldier is also suspected of killing Romanian mother Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, (left) and her eight-year-old daughter Elena Natalia (right) who went missing in 2016 The toxic lake is part of an abandoned mining complex where Metaxas is thought to have disposed of most of his victims Police began investigating the murders on April 14 after the body of 38-year-old Mary Rose Tiburcio, from the Philippines, was discovered down a flooded shaft near the lake (pictured) The retrieved suitcase is one of two that were located in the lake Saturday. Shailos said authorities won't retrieve the second one immediately, but will continue scouring the lake for the third suitcase. The development is the latest in a rapidly unfolding case that has shocked Cypriots who fear a serial killer has been preying on foreign women who came to work in the east Mediterranean island nation. The case came to light with the April 14 discovery of the bound body of 38-year-old Mary Rose Tiburcio, from the Philippines, down a flooded shaft near the lake. The discovery triggered a homicide investigation that led to the captain's arrest before a second woman's body - thought to be that of 28-year-old Arian Palanas Lozano, also from the Philippines - was found in the mineshaft on April 20. Police said the suspect admitted killing them both and they believe that he also killed Tiburcio's 6-year-old daughter, Sierra, who remains missing. The scope of the case expanded when the suspect confessed Thursday to killing a total of five women and two of their daughters. The suspect, who hasn't been officially named because he has not been charged yet, also led investigators to a military firing range where the decomposed remains of a woman were discovered down a pit. Officials said the remains could be those of Ashita Khadka Bista, from Nepal. Including the woman pulled from this lake on Sunday, officers have now retrieved the remains of four victims. It is thought there are seven in total Forensics officers search Kokkinopezoula lake, also known as 'red lake', for possible bodies of victims of a suspected serial killer near the village of Mitsero Officers were led to the lake by Metaxas, who was seen there on Sunday Police initially tracked down the suspect through Tiburcio's computer messages on a dating site. Investigators said the two had had a six-month relationship before Tiburcio and her daughter disappeared in May 2018. A court heard that Tiburcio's roommate had pleaded with her not to take along her daughter to a pre-arranged rendezvous with the suspect on the night of her disappearance. But Tiburcio said the suspect insisted that she bring her daughter along so that the child could play with his two small children. He faces charges including premeditated murder and kidnapping for alleged crimes dating back to Sept. 30, 2016. Police Chief Zacharias Chrysostomou has ordered an internal probe to determine whether investigators had failed to properly investigate the women's disappearances, amid public criticism that authorities did little to search for the women when they were reported missing. Three brothers have been forced to take turns guarding their home after their property was deliberately set on fire twice in four months. Tony Buttigieg, 68, has lived at the Toongabbie property for 60 years with his 58 and 71-year-old brothers Paul and George. The first blaze at the western Sydney home was sparked about 1am on December 22, 2018, while the men were inside. Tony, Paul and George Buttigieg have lived at their Toongabbie home for 60 years (Pictured is the two brothers with their neighbour) Tony (pictured) said they can't sleep anymore and he is forced to inspect the property every few hours Another fire at the same house broke out about 12.20am on April 24, with the same three men inside. Tony Buttigieg told 7News these incidents have created a lot of stress and they can hardly sleep. 'Every couple of hours I'm up looking around out the back and out here,' he said. The 68-year-old suffered burns and the front of the house was significantly damaged. Neighbour Tevita Fusi said: '[They are] great neighbours, they don't deserve this so whoever is dong it, please stop.' 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 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. The second fire was also started using accelerant which was 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. The Covington Catholic High School student at the center of a much-debated clash with a Native American activist earlier this year is suing NBC for $275million over its coverage of the event. Nicholas Sandmann's lawyers accuse the network of 'creating a false narrative' by suggesting the teenager had 'committed a hate crime'. They allege that NBC picked on Sandmann, who was wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, as an 'easy target to advance its anti-Trump agenda'. The teenager had appeared to be squaring up to Nathan Phillips with a smirk on his face, in a viral but misleading image taken during a clash between rival marches. Footage which emerged later told a different story, showing that both groups had been targeted by separate protesters and that Phillips had approached the Catholic students. Sandmann insisted he was trying to defuse tensions by smiling at the Native American during the January 18 incident in Washington. Disputed: This viral image appeared to show Nicholas Sandmann (left) squaring off against Nathan Phillips (right) but later footage painted a very different version of events Clash: Nicholas Sandmann, left, is suing NBC for $275million over its coverage of his clash with Nathan Phillips (right) in Washington on January 18 His legal filing says: 'NBCUniversal elevated false, heinous accusations of racist conduct against Nicholas. 'Nicholas was an easy target for NBC to advance its anti-Trump agenda because he was a 16-year-old white, Catholic student who had attended the Right to Life March that day and was wearing a MAGA cap at the time of the incident which he had purchased earlier in the day as a souvenir.' The network's coverage 'conveyed that he was the face of an unruly hate mob of hundreds of white racist high school students,' the document says. In the lawyers' version of events, Sandmann had been 'specifically targeted' by Phillips who 'placed himself directly in front of' the student. Sandmann stood 'quietly and respectfully for several minutes' while Phillips beat his drum, the legal submission states. The lawsuit demands $200million in punitive damages and a further $75million in compensation for 'reputational harm, emotional distress and mental anguish'. The student is also suing CNN and the Washington Post over their coverage of the January 18 clash. President Trump celebrated the Kentucky student's lawsuit against the Post in February, saying: 'Go get them Nick'. Face-off: Sandmann (pictured front, standing in front of the Native American activist) alleges that the network used him as an 'easy target' to 'advance an anti-Trump agenda' Trump had earlier said the students were 'treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false'. Both Sandmann and Phillips have said they were trying to defuse tensions that were rising among three groups. Washington hosted both the anti-abortion March for Life, attended by the Covington students, and the Indigenous Peoples March on the same day. Both groups had earlier been confronted by a third group that appeared to be affiliated with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Videos showed members of the religious group yelling disparaging and profane insults at the students, some of whom shouted back. Cheerleader: President Donald Trump, pictured at the White House yesterday, celebrated when Sandmann launched a lawsuit against the Washington Post A private investigative firm hired by the Covington Diocese and Covington Catholic High School concluded that the students did not instigate the confrontation (file photo) Sandmann said he heard no student sing anything beyond school spirit chants, and that he had not even been aware of the Native American group until Phillips approached him. 'The protester everyone has seen in the video began playing his drum as he waded into the crowd, which parted for him. I did not see anyone try to block his path,' Sandmann has said. 'He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face.' Sandmann said one of the Native American protesters yelled at them that they 'stole our land' and they should 'go back to Europe,' but that he never spoke to or interacted with Phillips. 'I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation,' he said. Former prime minister Tony Abbott's fight to hang onto his seat just got harder after a tough day on the federal election campaign trail. Thursday was a day the long-standing Warringah MP would rather forget after he was heckled by constituents during a televised debate with independent rival, former Winter Olympic medalist Zali Steggall. Earlier in the day, crude posters of him with the words 'c**t' and 'Pell' - a reference to disgraced Cardinal George Pell - across his face were plastered across his electorate on Sydney's northern beaches. Mr Abbott was booed, jeered and interrupted several times by the rowdy crowd during the debate televised by Sky News - and the worst of it came when he made comments about the future of Australia's car industry. The two fierce rivals shook hands before and after Thursday's debate in Sydney After Ms Stegall questioned what the future of the industry may hold as other countries move towards electric cars. 'Well we may very well recreate our own car industry,' the former PM said, prompting incredulous laughter. 'If we need them, we will make them,' he added. Mr Abbott used his opening address to warn of dire consequences if he's not re-elected in the seat which he's held for the last 25 years. 'I know some of you are considering a protest vote, fair enough. But remember this, a protest vote in Warringah could give you a Labor government in Canberra,' he said as debate host David Speers begged the crowd to let him finish his comments. Ms Steggall said she'd support a Coalition government if the May 18 election resulted in a hung parliament. Labor continues to lead the Coalition in the polls but the gap has narrowed over the campaign to 51-49 in two-party terms, according to Newspoll. Asked about a possible minority government after the election, Ms Steggall said her 'preference' was to give supply and confidence to the Coalition. Mr Abbott faces a challenge to retain his seat against former Winter Olympian Zali Steggall Tony Abbott (pictured) was given a hard time by voters at a candidate debate on Thursday She said she disagreed with several Coalition policies, such as those on climate change, but would not support Labor's tax reforms, including changes to franking credits. She added that Labor's 45 per cent emissions reduction target was the 'very minimum' needed. Also covered in the debate was same-sex marriage, franking credits, light rail, women quotas, the proposed Northern Beaches Tunnel and religious discrimination. Ms Steggall strenuously denied Liberal accusations that left-wing activist group Get Up has funded her campaign. 'I have nothing to do with GetUp! It came to Warringah because it supports a climate change agenda and Tony Abbott is a climate change denier,' she said. 'That's why they're here. They were here long before I even formed the intention of running for parliament.' Ms Steggall said she hoped to hold the government to account if elected as an independent Mr Abbott drew laughs from the crowd when he argued he could do more for the area as as a backbencher in a Liberal government. As the debate drew to a close, Mr Abbott left his chair to address the crowd in a last ditch attempt to win their vote. Earlier on Thursday, crude posters emerged across Sydney of Tony Abbott with the words 'c**t (pictured) ' and 'Pell' written on his forehead Police spent Thursday taking down the crude posters in Mosman as investigations continue Animated posters featuring the face of the Warringah MP with an offensive word have been put on display across Sydney on Thursday morning Meanwhile, police are investigating the crude posters of Mr Abbott. 'I think this is a new nastiness in Australia politics,' Mr Abbott told reporters earlier on Thursday. 'I say to all the decent people in Australia: if you want to try to lift the tone of our public life and to lift the quality of our national conversation, don't in any way give aid and comfort to these nasty elements.' Ms Steggall denied any involvement by her volunteers. 'They are under strict instructions not to engage in negative behaviour, as I have been the subject of a non-stop smear campaign from Mr Abbott and his supporters and do not condone that type of politics,' she tweeted. 'I strongly reject any allegation that the posters have anything to do with my campaign or my volunteers, and call upon anyone suggesting that it does to provide evidence.' Police hope to speak to two men depicted in CCTV who are described as Caucasian and aged in their late 20s or early 30s. One man was wearing a yellow beanie and a white T-shirt with jeans and work boots. He has a tattoo on the inside of his right arm, and a moustache. The other man was wearing a black hoodie with a black peak cap and dark blue trackpants. He has a beard and a moustache. The new Brexit Party treasurer Phillip Basey (above) is the father of former Page 3 Girl Loretta, who is married Nathaniel Rothschild The new Brexit Party treasurer Phillip Basey is the father of former Page 3 Girl Loretta Basey, who is married to the scion of one of Britains most illustrious dynasties Nathaniel Rothschild, Mail Online can reveal. Nat is the son and heir of Lord and Lady Rothschild and was once said to be worth around 650m. Loretta, 27, who was known as Elle during her modelling days, previously lived with Alan Partridge comedian Steve Coogan for four years. Mr Casey told MailOnline he had worked with UKIP for several years before being invited to join the Brexit Party last month. Yes I got the tap on the shoulder. I gave up with working with UKIP a couple of years ago now. A source added: Phillip Basey is the new Brexit Party treasurer. Hes a great guy. His daughter is a very good looking model also known as Elle Basey who once dated Steve Coogan. 'Shes clearly married very well. I cannot imagine that shell ever need to go back to modelling again now! Nat (pictured with Loretta in 2015) is the son and heir of Lord and Lady Rothschild and was once said to be worth around 650m Loretta, 27, who was known as Elle during her modelling days, previously lived with Alan Partridge comedian Steve Coogan for four years (above) Mr Casey told MailOnline he had worked with UKIP for several years before being invited to join the Brexit Party last month. Yes I got the tap on the shoulder. I gave up with working with UKIP a couple of years ago now A source told MailOnline: Phillip Basey is the new Brexit Party treasurer. Hes a great guy. His daughter is a very good looking model also known as Elle Basey. Shes clearly married very well. I cannot imagine that shell ever need to go back to modelling again now! Mr Basey, 62, was one of the three-man team that created UKIPs 2015 general election manifesto. UKIP became the UKs third biggest political party when the country went to the polls in May that year but has been struggling for survival since its leader Nigel Farage then quit the party. Earlier this year, he formed the Brexit Party now seen as a genuine threat to the Tory, Labour and UKIPs Brexiteers vote in todays local elections and in the looming EU poll later this month. Loretta - from Mr Basey's marriage to former model, Susan, 65 - has stepped lightly into Nat's world of high society, which includes Old Etonian friends and fellow graduates from Oxford University. Among them are the former Chancellor George Osborne and global players such as Russian metals oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich. But Loretta was already used to living with a high-profile lover. While working as a model for the lad's magazine, Loaded, she hooked up with award-winning actor and comedian Steve Coogan, while he was guest editing the publication in the guise of his comic creation, Alan Partridge. The couple shared a house together in Brighton for four years. Before she quit modelling, she had shot 20 Page 3 photoshoots, all under her stage name of Elle. Mr Basey's daughter Loretta from his marriage to former model, Susan, 65, has stepped lightly into Nat's world of high society, which includes Old Etonian friends and fellow graduates from Oxford University Among them are the former Chancellor George Osborne and global players such as Russian metals oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich By the time Loretta met Nat the beauty had moved away from glamour modelling and was working in sales for upmarket private jet company. Pictured: Loretta pokes fun at her husband in a light-hearted Tweet about stationery By the time she met Nat the beauty described as bright and well spoken, was working in sales for upmarket private jet company, Advanced Air Management, which has offices in California, New York, Singapore and London. Their relationship raised eyebrows among some in society but her future parents-in-law married for 57 years and also parents of three daughters - found her to be intelligent and charming'. Lord and Lady Rothschild were not invited to the couple's nuptials at the Klosters Swiss ski resort wedding in the summer of 2016 or their wedding party in Stowell Park, Wiltshire, a few weeks later. But it is understood that the family rift is not over Lorettas modelling career but about decisions Nat made long before their relationship developed. Nat's marriage to Loretta was not his first and the Rothschild parents were not invited to that bash, either. He married socialite Annabelle Neilson in 1995 after the pair met on a beach in India in their late teens but divorced three years later. Nat and Loretta now live outside the UK splitting their time between Klosters and Los Angeles and also own houses in Paris, Moscow, New York and Greece. In contrast to the couple's wilder partying days, Loretta describes in an interview with Swiss designer fashion outlet Stil a quieter and more settled life, looking after their five dogs, one of whom is a rescue dog. 'We wake up so early (like 5-6am) because of the dogs, which means we go to bed at around 8:30pm!' Their relationship raised eyebrows among some in society but her future parents-in-law married for 57 years and also parents of three daughters - found her to be intelligent and charming' In contrast to the couple's wilder partying days, Loretta describes in an interview with Swiss designer fashion outlet Stil a quieter and more settled life, looking after their five dogs, one of whom is a rescue dog In recent years, Nat's financial investments have seen a significant fall in his personal wealth. In 2012, the Sunday Times Rich List placed him 73rd, with 1 billion. The following year that had fallen to 700 million and he was placed 126th. In 2015, this had sunk to a mere 170 million, and he had been relegated to 579th. And in 2016, he fell out of the Rich List altogether, suggesting his personal fortune has dipped below 100 million. But as his active Twitter account describes him as happily married to Loretta, he is a vocal supporter of Brexit, which would no doubt delight his father-in-law. At the end of March he responded simply, yup when David Camerons former strategist Steve Hilton tweeted: Britains establishment just gave a giant middle finger to the British people before concluding his tweet by saying, 'time for revolution. The manual used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they landed on the moon 50 years ago could fetch $9million when it goes up for auction this summer. The 44-page Apollo 11 book details every moment of the lunar module Eagle's descent to the Moon in July 1969. The 'step-by-step instructions', which are believed to contain traces of lunar dust, also feature more than 150 annotations written by the two astronauts. The book, which was carried aboard the Eagle, is going on sale in New York at a Christie's auction entitled One Giant Leap on July 18. Piece of history: This manual for the Apollo 11 mission (pictured left: the cover; right: a page from inside) is expected to sell for up to $9million at auction this summer Historic first steps: Buzz Aldrin is photographed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. An instruction book used by Armstrong and Aldrin during Apollo 11 is going up for auction in New York Christina Geiger, the auction house's head of books and manuscripts, said: 'These are step-by-step instructions that cover the entire portion of the Eagle flight. 'It is a series of instructions on everything from 'don your helmets' to 'check your power system''. Since there was no audio or video recording of what happened in the cockpit of the Eagle, the manual is regarded as a unique witness to space history. It also marks the first writing by a human being on another celestial body. The lunar module timeline book is being sold by a private collector who purchased it previously from Aldrin, Christie's said. Another auction item, a signed photograph of Armstrong aboard a lunar module simulator, taken about a month before the Apollo 11 mission, is expected to sell for between $4,000 and $6,000. Collectors pay huge sums for space exploration artifacts. In 2017, Sotheby's sold a zippered bag used by Armstrong and laced with moondust for $1.8 million. This signed photograph of Neil Armstrong in a lunar module simulator (left) is another of the items for sale, more than 50 years after the Saturn V rocket (right) lifted off for the Moon Historic: This annotation, showing the detail of the landing coordinates, is the first human writing ever to be done on the Moon 'Everybody wants something that has flown to space or to the moon,' said Geiger. 'It's so cool to be able to gaze up at the moon and think, I've got an object in my pocket that was there.' Christie's has placed a $7million to $9million estimate on the timeline book, which will go on public view in New York from May 3 to 17. It will then go on tour to Hong Kong, Beijing, San Francisco and Seattle before it goes under the hammer back in New York on July 18. The book is the star item in a 150-lot auction called One Giant Leap: Celebrating Space Exploration 50 years after Apollo 11. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, while their colleague Michael Collins remained in orbit. Moon men: Neil Armstrong (left), Michael Collins (center) and Buzz Aldrin (right) pose for NASA pictures two months before their historic lunar mission The astronauts spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon's surface before returning to the command module Columbia. They were outside the spacecraft together for almost two hours and collected lunar material to bring back to Earth. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface, with Aldrin joining him about 20 minutes later. As he stepped on the moon, Armstrong said: 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' The mission was the fulfilment of President John F. Kennedy's pledge to land a man on the Moon 'before this decade is out'. It marked a phenomenal national effort to show U.S. superiority over the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Message of peace: This plaque was left on the Moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts. It was signed by Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins and then-President Richard Nixon The Soviets had taken an early lead in the Space Race with the first Earth satellite in 1957 and the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. But NASA caught up during the 1960s as huge resources were dedicated to the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Armstrong died in August 2012, while Aldrin and Collins are still alive. There were five more successful Moon landings, as well as the aborted Apollo 13 mission in 1970 The Apollo 13 astronauts had to abandon their Moon landing and stage a dramatic recovery mission after their spacecraft was crippled by an explosion. The remarkable improvisation to bring the astronauts home safely during that mission has been labeled 'NASA's finest hour'. The last manned mission to the Moon was in 1972. A six-year-old boy in south-east China has to undergo surgery after he was impaled with a pencil through his eye in a freak accident. The youngster, surnamed Huang, had been running around with the 12cm (4.7in) -long pencil at his kindergarten in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province when he tripped and fell on it. Doctors say the pencil had pierced through the bottom of his left eye and missed the child's eyeball by only one millimetre, according to Chinese reports. The youngster, surnamed Huang, had been running around with the 12-centimetre (4.7-inch) pencil at his kindergarten in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province when he tripped and fell on it Doctors say the pencil had pierced through the bottom of his left eye and missed the child's eyeball by only one millimetre, according to Chinese reports The boy was immediately rushed to the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University after the accident on April 28, according to Gannan Daily. 'It was a really critical situation. The pencil pierced upwards through his bottom eyelid and into the socket,' Dr Tan Shuxiang of the hospital's ophthalmology department. 'The pencil's tip missed the eyeball by one millimetre,' Dr Tan said. 'It was a really critical situation. The pencil pierced upwards through his bottom eyelid and into the socket,' Dr Tan Shuxiang of the hospital's ophthalmology department Luckily, doctors were able to remove the sharp pencil in an operation and the accident would not affect the child's eyesight. He was discharged from hospital on April 30 If the eyeball is damaged by the pencil, it could cause endophthalmitis, a severe bacterial infection of the tissues inside the eye, which could then lead to blindness or loss of the entire eye, she added. Luckily, doctors were able to remove the sharp pencil in an operation and the accident would not affect the child's eyesight. The boy was discharged from hospital two days later on April 30 and is expected to make a full recovery. If the eyeball is damaged by the pencil, it cause endophthalmitis, a severe bacterial infection of the tissues inside the eye, which could then lead to blindness or loss of the eye Dr Tan also warned that parents should always keep an eye on their children and not let them play with sharp objects, especially when they're running. On April 12, a three-year-old girl in Pingxiang, also in Jiangxi province, was impaled with a 10-inch chopstick through her mouth. She had been running around with a pair of chopsticks in her hand during dinner at home when she tripped and fell on them. Luckily the girl has avoided damage to her brainstem, major arteries or cervical vertebrae from the accident and doctors were able to extract the chopstick. A pro-terrorist warning has been erected just yards away from where the New IRA shot journalist Lyra McKee over the Easter weekend. The pro-IRA graffiti appeared in Londonderry, warning the community against becoming police informants. It comes as officers offered those coming forward with information about the group, complete anonymity. Lyra was killed on April 18 when she was shot by a dissident republican linked to the New IRA who fired indiscriminately at police lines during disturbances over the Easter weekend. The pro-IRA graffiti states that 'informers will be executed'. It comes after police announced they would give people complete anonymity if they come forward with information Pro-IRA graffiti had initially been painted over following the murder of journalist Lyra McKee (pictured above) Grafitti pictures a rat and says that 'informers will be shot' (left), while another directly addresses informers and says 'They will forget about you, we wont IRA' (right) One of the messages, which sits just yards away from where the young woman was killed, includes a picture of a rat with the message: 'Informers will be shot. IRA', and another says 'RUC Informers: They will forget about you, we won't. IRA'. This is while others read: 'Informers will be executed', and another says 'IRA here to stay'. Pro-IRA graffiti which had been painted over in the days after Ms McKee's murder has been restored, saying the IRA 'aren't done' and is an 'undefeated army'. New slurs had sprung up across the area which stated that the IRA was an 'undefeated army' The same wall had previously read 'IRA are done' on the day after the murder of Lyra The Police Service of Northern Ireland have urged the community to come forward with evidence about the death of Ms McKee or the New IRA. Police have made a number of arrests and released images of the suspected gunman before and after the killing in Derry in a bid to encourage witnesses to come forward. Detectives say more than 140 people have already come forward with information, videos and images from the unrest. Complete anonymity, including giving evidence behind a screen and using voice altering technology, have been offered for anyone called to give evidence at a trial. Images released by police shows those who could possibly be involved with the shooting Crimestoppers has offered a reward of 10,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the murder. Kevin Campbell, Sinn Fein councillor and a Creggan resident, said the people of the area had sent a message to the perpetrators and will not be deterred. 'It's an absolute insult to the memory of Lyra McKee, who was murdered by these people. 'These people were given a clear message after the death of Lyra, when hundreds and hundreds of residents of Creggan stood together on Fanad Drive, that they are not wanted. Lyra McKee, 29, (shown left,at the wedding of close friend Matthew Hughes) was hit by a stray bullet after a gunman opened fire 'Maybe that message isn't getting through, but this is an absolute disgrace and it's an insult to her memory.' Mr Campbell says he does not believe the graffiti will deter people from coming forward. 'People see these gangs for what they are - they aren't republicans, they are filth, and people recognise that.' One shocked resident called the group out for its behaviour: 'I cannot believe them, it's only the second week since Lyra was killed here. They have no shame, they are scum.' Gavin Williamson was snared as the Huawei leaker shortly after he admitted to an 11-minute phone call with the Telegraph journalist who broke the story, it was revealed today. Williamson told investigators working for Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill that he spoke to Steven Swinford just hours after the National Security Council meeting. However, he denied that he leaked any information from the secret meeting and said he only spoke about Brexit and Theresa May's impending departure from No 10. Mr Swinford has steadfastly refused to name his source or discuss the nature of the call with Mr Williamson since breaking the story. Williamson made the admission after he was forced to hand over his phone so that his calls, texts and emails could be analysed. He was also told to complete a questionnaire detailing his whereabouts in the hours following the NSC meeting. Investigators then turned their focus on him and were so anxious to talk to him that one was sent later that day to interview him while he was reportedly on holiday with his wife Joanne and their two daughters in Perthshire, Scotland, over Easter. Sir Mark Sedwill's team interviewed all ministers in the frame for the leak, but eventually concluded that Williamson was the culprit and he was sacked by Theresa May. Gavin Williamson (left) was on holiday in Scotland with his wife Joanne Williamson and their children over Easter but was still grilled by a civil servant sent there from London by investigation chief Sir Mark Sedwill (right) Mr Swinford, a married former Sunday Times journalist who has been the Daily Telegraph's deputy political editor since 2015, has refused to reveal his source or discuss the nature of the call with Mr Williamson. He will soon join The Times newspaper. Gavin Williamson admitted he spoke for 11 minutes to Telegraph journalist Steven Swinford - but claims they talked Brexit and Tory leaderaship - not Huawei He wrote last week that his story was 'undeniably a matter of significant public interest'. 'It is a decision that has already led to bitter divides between ministers and MPs on all sides of the Commons, and has the potential to open a rift between Britain and its most significant ally - the United States,' he wrote. Sir Mark was charged with finding the source of the leak after the National Security Council meeting on April 23 where Mrs May refused to rule out letting Huawei help bring 5G to Britain - despite its links to China's spy network. Mr Williamson was among the first of the eight ministers who attended the meeting with security chiefs to deny they had shared confidential information. Sir Mark, who reportedly clashed with him when his was Mrs May's chief whip and later in charge of the Ministry of Defence, also told the PM he had failed to engage with his probe like his colleagues had before she sacked him last night. In an extraordinary 30-minute meeting yesterday afternoon Mrs May confronted her former campaign manager with the findings of a Cabinet Office inquiry and accused Mr Williamson of failing to co-operate fully with the inquiry. Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today, said that there was 'compelling evidence' Williamson was behind the Huawei leak The now ex-defence secretary told her that he was not guilty, but No 10 sources said she did not believe him and asked him to resign. Huawei leak and the fall of Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson's sacking by the Prime Minister follows days of political drama surrounding the leak of information from the UK's National Security Council. Here is how the leak developed into a major Government inquiry: - April 23 - A meeting of the UK's National Security Council (NSC), the country's top national security body, is held. - April 24 - The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that the Prime Minister has agreed to allow Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to help build Britain's new 5G network despite security concerns raised by Cabinet minsters at the meeting. Labour demands an official investigation into the leak from the highly secretive council. - April 25 - Dominic Grieve, chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, says the leak is 'deeply worrying'. Home Secretary Sajid Javid says it is 'completely unacceptable' for any minister to release sensitive information and that it should 'absolutely be looked at'. Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt publicly deny they are responsible. In a statement, Mr Williamson says neither he nor any of his team had 'divulged information from the National Security Council'. - April 26 - An ultimatum is reportedly issued to ministers over the leak of the secret discussions. Reports emerge that Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill has demanded ministers in attendance at the NSC meeting confess or deny if they were behind the leak. Downing Street refuses to say whether an inquiry is under way, despite calls for police to become involved. Sources close to International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt also deny they were involved. - April 27 - It is reported that members of the Cabinet are expected to be summoned for interviews as part of a formal inquiry headed by Sir Mark Sedwill. - April 28 - Jeremy Hunt says he has been questioned by officials as part of a leak probe and is prepared to hand over his phone. - April 29 - The US delivers a warning that there is no safe level of involvement by Chinese tech giant Huawei in the 5G networks of Western powers. - May 1 - Gavin Williamson is sacked as Defence Secretary following an inquiry into the leak of information. Downing Street said Theresa May asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government having 'lost confidence in his ability to serve'. Advertisement The 42-year-old was adamant that Mrs May had fired the wrong person and chastised her for having targeted him - despite his having had her back in the past. Recalling his sacking, he said: 'We sat down and she offered me the opportunity to resign and I said, 'I can't resign PM, because I haven't leaked it and I would rather you sacked me than me to accept something I or my team have not done'.' Making no attempt to hide his fury, he said: 'I pointed out that I had saved her a couple of times, kept her as PM,' adding that it was 'a shame she didn't recognise the fact'. Sir Mark's unprecedented inquiry involved all members of the NSC - including Mrs May and security chiefs - submitting to interviews with his investigators. Cabinet ministers soon scrambled to deny leaking details of a top secret meeting on the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei amid mounting calls for a police inquiry. Gavin Williamson joined Tory leadership hopefuls Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt, as well as Liam Fox, in denying they were to blame. Theresa May reportedly agreed to an investigation as she travelled to Lyra McKee's funeral in Belfast having been furious about the leak. Her chief of staff Gavin Barwell then met the ministers and told them a leaker would be sacked, regardless of their rank, and reportedly warned: 'You will not be a member of the Government for much longer'. Mr Williamson has suggested he was fired because of a vendetta and insiders have described an alleged 'Whitehall turf war' between him and Sir Mark over funding and power. The Times claimed today that the pair spent months battling over various issues including a 1billion boost for the MoD. Mr Williamson also allegedly blocked 'operational' manouevres by Sir Mark. But other sources in Whitehall said that Mrs May's former chief whip who ran her leadership campaign had been 'erratic' and 'forceful' in talks about cash and departmental issues. He is also suspected of other leaks. In a brutal letter to Mr Williamson setting out her decision last night, the PM said the inquiry had nonetheless found 'compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure'. She added: 'No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.' But he going out fighting and strenuously denied either he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. 'I volunteered everything up. I couldn't have volunteered more information on the whole thing,' he told The Times. 'Frankly I'd rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is I'd have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear.' A young woman who chased her boyfriend through a hotel corridor and attacked him with a wine bottle while naked sobbed in court today as she was spared jail. Amelia Oxenford, 21, was caught on camera shoving boyfriend Alex Buttigieg out of their room in Ascot Hyde Park Hotel, Bayswater, west London, before launching the assault with the bottle. The fracas came after the pair had rowed over Oxenford seeing another man during a brief separation in their relationship. The couple had previously consumed two bottles of wine while she had also drunk four cocktails. Oxenford, of Cambridgeshire, later smashed a glass in their room and cut him across the nose with a shard, while she also broke his spectacles. She was handed a 12-month community order at Westminster Magistrates' Court today and ordered to undergo 10 days of rehab. Oxenford, wearing a brown turtleneck, wept quietly in the dock as she was also given 160 hours of unpaid work. Amelia Oxenford, 21, pictured left and right, has been spared jail after being convicted of assaulting her boyfriend Alex Buttigieg at a London hotel Oxenford, pictured outside court, was given a 12-month community order and told to undergo a 10-day rehab programme The former Bournemouth University student, pictured, attacked Mr Buttigieg with a wine bottle and chased him through a corridor at the Ascot Hyde Park Hotel while she was naked Police and the CPS have refused to release the CCTV footage on grounds it would not be 'proportionate' to do so. District Judge Ken Grant told Oxenford, who works at a veterinary centre: 'I can quite understand having the trial reported must have been upsetting for you. 'The offences are clearly serious enough for a community punishment to be imposed. 'I am in no doubt at all that you will find it difficult to comply with it but you must comply with it.' Oxenford must also pay a court bill of 950 - 620 in costs, 250 in compensation to Mr Buttigieg and a 80 victim surcharge. Oxenford, of Royston, Cambridgeshire, had been with Mr Buttigieg for nine months but dated another man when they briefly separated. The incident was caught on CCTV at the Ascot Hyde Park Hotel and Oxenford, pictured left and right, later slashed Mr Buttigieg in the face with broken glass when they returned to their room The court heard Oxenford, pictured, and her partner rowed over her seeing another man while they had briefly separated Prosecuting, Jennifer Gatland said: 'Ms Oxenford and the complainant have been seeing each other. 'They had both been drinking when Ms Oxenford was texting a male she had been seeing during their split. 'The complainant said he did not want to argue but the argument commenced in the hotel room.' The row then spilled into the corridor of the hotel, trapping them outside meaning that Mr Buttigieg went to reception to get another key. Ms Gatland added: 'The hotel room door closed behind them and she was left in the corridor naked. She thought he had left her deliberately.' Referencing the CCTV footage shown at the trial, she said: 'It shows Ms Oxenford following Mr Buttigieg from the hotel room and into the corridor. 'She appears to have a bottle in her hand. She swings the bottle towards him several times. 'There was a bottle being used and swung around.' Oxenford, pictured outside court after her trial last week, wept in the dock today as she was spared jail She was also convicted of causing criminal damage after breaking Mr Buttigieg's 300 glasses After Mr Buttigieg returned with another key, the argument continued and Oxenford broke his glasses. Ms Gatland said: 'Later she is still remonstrating with him and is still naked. She was holding onto his leg. 'She later pushes him to the floor and he reaches for his now broken glasses before she attacks him again.' When police arrived they found an 'agitated' Oxenford wearing just a bra and threatening to jump out of a hotel window. Before she was convicted, she said: 'I was terrified and vulnerable and he was very aggressive. 'I have a good job and work hard and like to think I'm a good citizen. I've never committed a crime. 'I felt like I was defending myself in all honesty and felt he did hit me as well.' Oxenford denied the charges but was convicted of assaulting Mr Buttigieg on January 16 and causing 300 worth of criminal damage to his spectacles. Two southern Illinois pre-school employees have been charged after they allegedly subjected a number of children under their care to strange punishments, such as ordering them to strip naked and stand in a closet. Teacher Mary Agbehia, 27, and teaching assistant Shavonda Willis, 41, have both been charged with aggravated battery and unlawful restraint in relation to several allegations at an Edwardsville pre-school. Both of the accused are believed to have ordered at least four children at the Early Headstart Program - operated by the Southern Illinois University (SIUE) - to stand naked in a closet, amounting to charges of unlawful restraint. All of the victims are said to be aged between four and five. Agbehia was charged with battery for allegedly taking off one victims shirt for him. Willis is said to have touched a girl with a sharp object pretending to give her an injection. Scroll down for video Teacher Mary Agbehia, 27, and teaching assistant Shavonda Willis, 41, have both been charged with aggravated battery and unlawful restraint, in relation to several allegations involving children at the Early Headstart Program, operated by the Southern Illinois University Agbehia was also charged with battery for allegedly taking off one victims shirt for him. Willis is said to have touched a girl with a sharp object pretending to give her an injection SIUE police say the allegations first came to light in mid-March when a boy in the class told his mother what was going on, but they believe the disturbing disciplinary acts have been occurring since at least early February. In a press conference, Police Chief Kevin Schmoll said authorities were told the children were forced to take their clothes off and stand inside a closet for five to ten minutes with the door open as punishment for talking or not listening. They were then allowed to get dressed and return back to class. Both of the suspects have been on paid administrative leave since March 14, and SIUE Human Resources Director Bob Thumith said a decision on the pairs future is yet to be made. Agbehia and Willis will remain on leave until SIUE officials can look at the results of the investigations conducted by police and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Thumith said. Police Chief Kevin Schmoll (left) said authorities were told the children were forced to take their clothes off and stand inside a closet for five to ten minutes. Both of the suspects have been on paid administrative leave since March 14, and SIUE Human Resources Director Bob Thumith (right) said a decision on the pairs future is yet to be made He added that since the allegations were made, SIUE have been looking to reform the universitys screening and hiring process. He said that both of the suspects had a crystal clear record before they were hired. 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 in a Wednesday press conference. Agbehia has worked at the pre-school since 2016, according to Thumith. Willis was first hired in 2013. He said both of the pair had to go through extensive training before being allowed to operate in the classroom. 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. Agbehia and Willis have turned themselves over to police, and their bail has been set at $5,000 each. Police say tougher tactics is reducing street violence in London. Pictured: Stop and search at the Notting Hill Carnival The Met Police say increased use of stop and search and the seizure of weapons and criminal cash is helping 'suppress' violence caused by warring drugs gangs. Stats released today show the number of killings in the capital dropped by a quarter over the past year, while knife injuries among London's under-25s is down by 15%. Stats suggest the carnage could now be pushed into other cities, with figures published last week showing knife crime is up 35% in Merseyside, 20% in West Yorkshire and 17% in the West Midlands. The number of killings was up by nearly half in Yorkshire and almost 20% in the North West. Scotland Yard today insisted it is showing the way to deal with the spiralling violence, with increased use of stop of search and the 'relentless' seizure of criminals cash and weapons. Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said booming demand for cocaine and crack was leading young gangs to battle over territory. She said: 'Undoubtedly, the drugs markets are a big part of the problem. There is big demand, there is big money to be made. 'There are lots of fights going on between drugs gangs and they have been using modern communications and other methods to recruit and groom young people and those young people end up in violence, either as the victim or the offender or both.' Police at the scene where a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Hackney last night. Scotland Yard said today it is starting to bring the violence under control Ms Dick added: 'I believe we are suppressing the violence, for example through out our use of section 60 [increased stop and search powers] if there is an outbreak of violence.' The number of stop and searches carried out in London increased by 30% in the last year to around 172,000. More than a quarter of those searches led to police finding weapons or drugs, with around 15% of people stopped later being arrested. But Ms Dick insisted stop and search is just 'one of a number of tools' being used by the police, who also seized more than 100million in cash from criminals last year, ranging from large-scale kingpins shipping huge amounts of drugs, to smaller-time street dealers. Cressida Dick said increased demand for cocaine and crack is behind much of the violence The new stats show that, of the 122 homicides recorded in London in the last 12 months, 25 people were killed in domestic incidents, 69 with a knife and 10 with a gun. The number of under-25s who were stabbed fell from 2,079 to 1,768 youths The majority of victims, 83, were male. The largest number - 50 - were of Afro-Caribbean ethnicity, followed by white Europeans with 44. There were 14 Asian deaths, seven dark European and two Arabian or Egyptian, the figures showed. The figures were released the day after 15-year-old Tashaun Jones, described as an Afrobeat and drill musician, died in the attack in Hackney, east London. It is the 43th murder of the year in London and took place hours before a third stabbing in Camden Town around midnight. The killing of Tashaun is the 27th fatal stabbing in London so far this year, and he is the eighth teenager to die violently in 2019. Today's data also showed a reduction in other types of violent crime in the capital. Knife-related injuries among under-25s reduced by 15%, with to 311 fewer victims. Knife crime with injury across all ages was down by 10% and gun crime by 6.8%. Moped-enabled crime dropped by more than half - 52.3% - to 11,390, the figures showed. But knife crimes, including possession of a blade, saw a slight increase of just over 0.5% to 14,843. Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States. The politician who came out of retirement to compete for the Democratic nomination said the Chinese are too busy straitening out regional issues and internal corruption to pose a threat to the United States' global hegemony. 'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,' Biden said at an event on his first swing through Iowa. 'I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not a they're not competition for us.' Campaigning in Iowa City on Wednesday former Vice President Joe Biden insisted that the world's No. 2 economy is not a threat to the United States The remarks prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., to warn Biden, 'This will not age well' The remarks prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who correctly predicted that Russia would become a major challenger to the U.S., to warn Biden, 'This will not age well.' Democratic competitor Bernie Sanders told Biden that he's 'wrong' in a tweet that accused China of siphoning off 3 million jobs from American workers. President Donald Trump had yet to respond to the claim as of Thursday morning, having switched the focus of his Twitter account from Biden to praise for the performance on Capitol Hill of Attorney General William Barr. He had spent a large chuck on of Wednesday morning taking aim at Biden's endorsement from a firefighters association. Biden addressed concerns about China's rising influence during a Wednesday campaign rally in a predominately rural state that's heavily affected by the trade war between Washington and Beijing. Chinese State media placed ads in an influential Iowa newspaper last fall in an attempt to turn public opinion against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Beijing's goods. He subsequently accused the communist nation of election meddling at a United Nation's Security Council meeting. His ire diluted and Trump's administration's claimed this week that a trade deal with China that will minimize a massive trade deficit between the world's largest standalone economies is near completion. Trump has accused the foreign nation of taking advantage of the U.S. and its leaders, like Biden's former boss and two-term President Barack Obama. In Iowa City, Biden attempted to capitalize on his experience in the White House by reminding a crowd that he served as vice president for eight years and oversaw the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before that. He repeated a line he's been using for many years about his experience at the forefront of America's foreign affairs. 'I've met virtually every major world leader...over the last 30 years, and that's not hyperbole, virtually every one,' he said. Biden claimed that he does not 'know a single solitary one who would not change places with the problems the United States has' versus the problems they have. 'China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. They can't even figure out how to deal with, the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the East, I mean in the West,' he said. He added, 'They can't figure out how they're going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system. The ex-senator then claimed that China is 'not competition for us' in the off-the-cuff remarks that came as he wandered back and forth across the stage. Biden was referring to the conflict in the South China Sea and pervasive corruption inside the communist country's government. The remark was immediately swatted down by Sanders, who is a front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. 'Since the China trade deal I voted against, America has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs. Its wrong to pretend that China isnt one of our major economic competitors,' he tweeted. 'When we are in the White House we will win that competition by fixing our trade policies.' President Donald Trump reacted to Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with a counter-punching defense of his attorney general, blasting California Sen. Kamala Harris and other Democrats for how they grilled him. 'She was probably very nasty,' Trump said during an evening interview on the Fox Business Network, reflecting on Harris, New Jerey Sen. Cory Booker and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The trio of Democrats all had their turn to question Barr about his decisions leading up to the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, and they're all running for president. 'How about these three people? Three of them were running for three of them, theyre not doing very well but three of them are running for a particular office,' Trump sniffed. 'Theyre out there ranting and raving like lunatics, frankly,' he added, complaining that electoral politics invaded the hearing. Calif. Sen. Kamala Harris (pictured with N.J. Sen. Corey Booker, left), grilled Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday about why he didn't personally review all the underlying evidence before announcing the conclusions of the Mueller report President Donald Trump, pictured Wednesday night at a National Day of Prayer event at the White House, phoned in to a Fox Business Network program t ocomplain that Harris and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee were 'ranting and raving' to get attention for their presidential campaigns Barr delivered his conclusions to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders just two days after receiving Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, saying Wednesday that he accepted Mueller's descriptions of the evidence 'as fact' instead of poring over millions of pages himself 'How is that fair?' Trump asked. 'So you have Bill Barr, highly respected, great attorney general. And hes got to take the abuse from people that are running for office? They dont care about this, theyre just looking for political points, and I really think that the American people see through it so easily.' Harris spent most of her time in the spotlight on Wednesday clobbering Barr for not personally reviewing Mueller's underlying evidence before delivering a verdict to Congress that cast the president in a kind light. Barr said in a late March letter to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders that Mueller had cleared Trump of charges that his campaign colluded with Russia, and that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had concluded Mueller lacked enough evidence to bring an obstruction of justice charge. 'We should assume and we should expect that he will take his duties seriously, and examine and be familiar with the evidence before he makes a decision,' Harris said Thursday morning on CNN's 'New day' program. 'He failed to perform his duties and I find it highly irresponsible and frankly unprofessional.' The raw evidence in the Mueller probe consisted of millions of pages of documents and interview transcripts. Barr said Wednesday that he accepted Mueller's descriptions of that evidence 'as fact.' Harris has capitalized on what she sees as a gotcha moment in Wednesday's hearing, making TV appearances to complain about Barr's performance and to demand his resignation Trump also weighed in Wednesday night on two other candidates to challenge him in 2020, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. 'Im not sure I care. But it looks like Bernie is slipping,' he said, reacting to polls that show Biden taking firm control of the Democrats' front-runner slot. Asked about Biden's success winning an early endorsement from the International Association of Fire Fighters, the president insisted it was no big deal despite launching the biggest tweet-storm of his professional career in reaction a day earlier. 'Sleepy Joe, he is a sleepy guy,' he said of Biden. 'I dont care.' 'The firemen love Trump, the policemen love Trump,' he said. A third-grade teacher from Louisiana has been arrested on rape charges for allegedly carrying on a months-long sexual relationship with her 10-year-old male student. Deidre Smith, 34, of Sulphur, was taken into custody on Tuesday on charges of first-degree rape and felony indecent behavior with a juvenile. Smith's arrest came just hours after the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office received a complaint from smith's place of work, Lake Charles Charter Academy, concerning her alleged misconduct involving one of her students. Louisiana third-grade teacher Deidre Smith, 34 (pictured left in her mugshot and right at a school event in February), is accused of rape for allegedly having sex with a 10-year-old Smith is a teacher at Lake Charles Charter Academy, a free public K-8 school In the course of the investigation, detectives reportedly learned that Smith, who is married and has three young children of her own - a girl and two boys - had been having inappropriate relations with her student since the end of 2018, and that she allegedly had a sexual intercourse with the child. Judge Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, president of Lake Charles Charter Academy, said in a statement to KPLC that the incident involving Smith was 'isolated' and occurred 'off-campus.' Smith was released from the county jail after posting $50,000 bond. Smith is married and has three young children of her own Detectives say Smith had been carrying on an inappropriate relationship with her 10-year-old student since the end of 2018 The case is still under investigation and more charges are likely, according to police. According to her LinkedIn page, Smith has been an employee of Charter Schools USA, the Lake Charles Charter Academy's parent company, since 2012. Lake Charles Charter Academy is a free public charter school for children in grades K-8. Facebook posts reveal that Smith's husband works for a gas station chain and the couple have been married for 12 years. Portuguese artist Antonio Moreira Antunes (pictured) has dismissed outrage over his 'anti-Semitic' image that was published in the New York Times international edition The cartoonist who drew an anti-Semitic image that was inadvertently published in The New York Times international edition last week has dismissed the outrage over the drawing as a misunderstanding 'made through the Jewish propaganda machine.' Portuguese artist Antonio Moreira Antunes, who has been drawing political cartons for 45 years, recently penned an image that he said was critical of the political relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not a comment on religion. The image showed Trump as a blind man wearing a yarmulke, being led by Netanyahu depicted as a seeing-eye dog on a leash, with a Star of David hanging from his neck. It was published in the international edition on April 25, prompting criticism that the drawing resembled Nazi propaganda, and according to Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, played on 'stereotypes that suggest Jewish control.' Defending his cartoon in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Antunes claimed any outrage is the result of a misunderstanding 'made through the Jewish propaganda machine, which is, anytime there's criticism it's because there's someone anti-Semitic on the other side, and that's not the case.' A longstanding anti-Semitic trope is that Jewish people control the media. Portuguese artist Antonio Moreira Antunes, who has been drawing political cartons for 45 years, recently drew an image that he said was meant to criticize the political relationship between President Donald Trump (right) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) independent of religious connotation, though it featured religious symbols. The image showed Trump as a blind man wearing a yarmulke, being led by Netanyahu depicted as a seeing-eye dog on a leash, with a Star of David hanging from his neck The New York Times on Saturday said it deleted an anti-Semitic cartoon which depicts a blind President Trump with a Jewish skullcap being led by a 'guide dog,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Antunes went on to say that he has the 'utmost respect' for the past of Jewish people, referring to the horrors they endured during the Holocaust, but qualified that statement by adding that that past does not mean Jewish people are 'above criticism.' 'The Jewish right doesn't want to be criticized, and therefore, when criticized they say, "We are a persecuted people, we suffered a lot... this is anti-Semitism,"' he said. Protesters outside the Times' offices in New York City on Monday disagreed with Antunes characterization of the issue. Antunes said, 'The Jewish right doesn't want to be criticized, and therefore, when criticized they say "We are a persecuted people, we suffered a lot... this is anti-Semitism,"' he said. Protesters outside the Times' offices in New York City on Monday disagreed with Antunes characterization of the issue. A protester is shown outside the Times' office in New York City on Monday The cartoon evoked memories of 'a very dark time in Jewish history,' lawyer Alan Dershowitz said at the protest. 'I ask myself, how could it have happened?' Protesters are shown outside the New York Times' New York City office on Monday The cartoon evoked memories of 'a very dark time in Jewish history,' lawyer Alan Dershowitz said at the protest. 'I ask myself, how could it have happened?' The Times, itself, labeled the cartoon anti-Semitic and eventually apologized for its publication in the international Opinions section, claiming it was thoughtlessly selected from a licensing service by a single editor to fill space in one of last week's international editions and was published without additional oversight. The international Opinion section reports up to editorial page editor James Bennet. The Times, itself, labeled the cartoon anti-Semitic and eventually apologized for its publication, with publisher A.G. Sulzberger (left) claiming it was thoughtlessly selected from a licensing service by a single editor to fill space in one of last week's international editions and was published in the international Opinion section without additional oversight. The international Opinion section reports up to editorial page editor James Bennet (right) '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,' Times' publisher A.G. Sulzberger told employees in an internal memo this week. 'Though I've been assured there was no malice involved in this mistake, we fell far short of our standards and values in this case.' Antunes took issue with the Times' condemnation of his cartoon. 'They should see that here it's a political issue and not religious,' he said. The cartoonist added that the idea that 'any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism' should not be accepted and that it was intended as a criticism of the Trump administration's perceived pro-Israel bias. Palestinian leaders have said Trump cannot be an honest broker for peace after he broke with long-standing U.S. policy and recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and moved the American embassy to the city last May. Trump also established a precedent by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Antunes did not address the reasoning behind his decision to draw Trump wearing a yarmulke, which is a skullcap worn in public by men of the Orthodox Jewish faith, as well as men of other Jewish sects during prayer and religious ceremonies. Sulzberger said in a statement both on Sunday and again on Wednesday, 'This imagery is always dangerous and has grown more so at a moment when anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world.' He added: 'We also committed to making changes to prevent something like this from happening again.' Sulzberger said the Times has canceled its contract with CartoonArts syndication service, the licensing service from which Antunes drawing was selected for print last week. Are you lost in the wild? Sorry, but the page you're looking for has not been found Try checking the URL for errors, goto home or try to search below. A schoolboy who suffered from a fierce dairy allergy screamed 'I'm going to die' after classmates shoved some fatal cheese down his collar, an inquest heard. Karanbir Singh Cheema - known as Karan - entered a state of anaphylactic shock and within just ten minutes his condition had deteriorated from 'absolutely fine' to unconscious. And it emerged yesterday that an out-of-date epipen was used to try to save the 13-year-old's life as he lay limp at William Perkin Church of England High School in Greenford, West London, just before midday on June 28, 2017. Karanbir Singh Cheema - known as Karan died on July 9 2017 after classmates shoved cheese down his collar, triggering his dairy allergy A classmate, who apologised to Karan's family (mother Rina pictured with her son) yesterday, said he 'flicked' a small piece of cheese at him but claimed he didn't know he was allergic Another pupil at the school, who apologised to Karan's family yesterday, said he 'flicked' a small piece of cheese at him but claimed he didn't know he was allergic. Today St Pancras Coroner's court heard Karan approached science teacher Lucjan Santos on break duty after he was hit on the neck with the cheese Mr Santos added Karan seemed 'absolutely fine' but the inquest heard just three minutes later in the school's welfare room he started showing symptoms of anaphylactic shock prompting staff to administer an epipen. The inquest heard yesterday the epipen used was an entire year out-of-date due to an error on a spreadsheet. Mr Santos, who at the time was science teacher at the school and was monitoring the cafeteria said: 'Karan walked up to me, asked do you know (the boy) and I replied "yes, what's up". The 13-year-old entered a state of anaphylactic shock and within just ten minutes his condition had collapsed from 'absolutely fine' to unconscious It emerged yesterday that an out-of-date epipen was used to try to save the 13-year-old's life as he lay limp at William Perkin Church of England High School in Greenford, West London 'Karan told me he put some cheese down my collar for no reason, then he pointed to the back of his neck. 'I said "that's not very nice", then Karan continued and said "and I'm allergic to cheese". 'I told him to head down to the school welfare room and tell them what had happened... and to ask them for an incident form. 'My impression was that it has probably just happened - health wise he it looked like he was absolutely fine. 'He approached me calmly - I noted when he said 'for no reason' that he was annoyed by it. 'I noticed he was scratching the back of his neck as he walked but he walked calmly away and didn't look like he was rushing to get there. 'There was nothing in his behaviour or appearance that caused me concern.' But administrator Bonny Campbell, who was first aid trained, became 'alarmed' about Karan's symptoms and called in another staff member for help. Ms Campbell said: 'He said an incident had happened at the school and he asked for Periton.' She called his mum to tell her he was going to take it because the school had failed to do so previously and the medication made Karan drowsy. After Karan took his Periton, Ms Campbell said: 'He was getting a little bit more irritated and was getting a bit panicked, he was scratching his tummy as well. Karan (pictured with his mother) also began screaming 'I'm going to die' after classmates chucked cheese at him, the inquest heard 'He was tugging at his clothes - he started to really alarm me so I popped my head out to Nicola and asked her if she wanted to come in. 'When I came back he was leaning over the sink slightly gasping, I noticed a bit of blood coming through the back of his shirt. 'He started to be a bit more erratic and then I shouted at Faye (the receptionist) to call the ambulance because Karan's having an allergic reaction.' The two staff members fought to keep Karan calm, while one administered the epipen, which unbeknown to them was a year out-of-date. Ms Campbell said: 'Almost immediately after that he went limp and his eyes drooped.' Senior Coroner Mary Hassell asked: 'He was unconscious?' Ms Campbell said: 'Yes.' Representing Karan's family, Andrew Hogarth QC, said: 'He was shouting "I'm going to die" - did you not think a second epipen would be a good idea at this stage?' Ms Campbell said: 'That was before he really deteriorated, he was panicking and also we were waiting for an ambulance crew who said they were going to be there shortly.' Karan, who was still unconscious when paramedics arrived at 11.49am, was brought to Northwick Park hospital and then transferred to Great Ormond Street. Tragically he never woke up and died ten days later on July 9 with his family by his side. The inquest continues. Amazon's home security subsidiary Ring is delivering crime news using footage recorded through its doorbell cameras. Ring, which Amazon acquired in April 2018 for $1billion, is seeking to hire a 'Managing Editor, News' for the service, according to an online job posting spotted this week. The editor will 'manage a team of news editors who deliver breaking crime news alerts to our neighbors' for the video-enabled doorbell service, which bills itself as a way to fight neighborhood crime - including the plague of package thefts that take a bite out of Amazon's bottom line. According to a Ring spokeswoman, news service already exists within Ring's Neighbors app, which provides local alerts and crime reporting tools. Home burglars are caught in the act by a Ring video doorbell. The company is now seeking a managing editor for a news service based on footage from its cameras Ring CEO Jaime Siminoff has been outspoken about the company's crime-fighting mission Amazon posted this job ad seeking a 'Managing Editor, News' for its subsidiary Ring The managing editor job posting is not for a a new role, but rather posted to fill an existing position that has been vacated, Ring Director of Communications Yassi Shahmiri told DailyMail.com. 'This is a service we've offered since Neighbors launched in November of 2017,' Shahmiri said in a statement about Ring's local news alerts. Nevertheless, journalism critics pounced on the job posting to sneer at the idea of a 'doorbell company writing crime news', as Nieman Journalism Lab Director Joshua Benton wrote in a column. Benton called Ring's news product 'a really bad idea', adding: 'what bugs me about this is that it wants to bring in the credibility of journalism as a layer on top of the state of constant fear it promotes.' He accused the news media in general of falsely inflaming fear of crime, and argued that Ring's business goal of selling more connected doorbells would be a powerful incentive to fan the flames even harder. 'A company that relies on people feeling unsafe to sell its products will now be able to take whatever trust professional journalism has left and put it to work toward that end,' Benton wrote. Videos shared by Ring users already feature prominently in the national news. This footage of a man licking a doorbell for three hours in Salinas, California in January went viral Ring footage of hooligans and crooks being foiled has become a marketing tool for the firm Amazon's interest in Ring is most obviously as a weapon against porch piracy. Pictured above is a package thief caught in the act in Alhambra, California One of Ring's key features is the Neighbors app, which allows users to quickly share video of suspicious activity at their home with neighbors and, in some case, police. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney has claimed the feature introduces privacy concerns and 'blurs the line' between state and private surveillance - a claim that is strongly rejected by Ring and the law enforcement agencies the company has partnered with. Ring has partnered with police departments in several states, including Florida, California, and Texas. In areas with such partnerships, local police are able to see videos posted to the Neighbors app within their jurisdiction - but the company insists that police see no more than a regular user would, and that names and exact addresses of customers are masked. Ring CEO Jaime Siminoff has been outspoken about the company's crime-fighting mission, writing in a February blog post: 'Criminals and thieves take note: our team is working tirelessly to stop you and make safer neighborhoods for our families to live in.' Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts was involved in an auto accident at the entrance of USC's campus in Los Angeles Tuesday morning Surveillance video released Wednesday shows a Los Angeles police officer being thrown into a fountain from the force of a car crash. James Butts, mayor of Inglewood, an LA suburb, was involved in the collision that put a motorcycle-riding sergeant from the LAPD's Central Traffic Division in the hospital. The video shows Butts' vehicle making a left turn from Exposition Blvd onto the University of Southern California's campus Tuesday morning. Butts' SUV crossed in front of an oncoming Honda sedan traveling at a high speed. The sedan smashed into the passenger side of Butts' SUV, knocking it into the officer sitting on a parked police motorcycle on the sidewalk. The force from the second collision sent the officer flying into USC's 125th Anniversary water fountain, which was dedicated on the campus in 2005. Surveillance video shows Butts' SUV turning left from Exposition Blvd into USC's campus entrance, cutting in front of an oncoming car The oncoming Sedan was traveling at a high rate of speed when it crashed into Butts' SUV The force from the collision knocked Butts' SUV into a police motorcycle that was parked on the sidewalk in front of a water fountain The officer sitting on the motorcycle was sent flying through the air into the water fountain Bystanders rushed to aid the officer who reportedly was wearing his helmet, but received multiple broken bones from the crash. He was taken to a local hospital The officer was wearing a helmet during the accident, but was sent to a local hospital with serious injuries, including several broken bones, according to the LA Times. The LAPD did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on the incident. ABC 7 Los Angeles reports no one has been charged or cited for the accident, which remains under police investigation. It's unclear whether it was Butts or one of his staff members driving his vehicle at the time of the crash. An anonymous USC employee told the LA Times she was walking to campus from a nearby bus stop when she heard the sound of brakes and tires screeching before a loud bang Tuesday morning. She said bystanders ran to try to help the officer, but they did not move him because he was seriously injured. Witnesses said the female driver of the Honda Sedan that was involved in the crash received minor injuries Officers on scene take statements from the occupants of the SUV that was hit. No charges or citations have been issued yet. The incident remains under investigation 'If he hadnt had his helmet on, he would be dead,' the employee added. The female driver of the sedan that hit Butts's SUV reportedly received minor injuries. Law enforcement expert Bruce Thomas, a retired officer who served 27 years on the the police force, told ABC 7 the mayor knows to obey traffic laws. 'In this case, if witnesses and video bears out, he is probably going to be the party at fault,' Thomas said. Butts released a statement Wednesday evening acknowledging his role in the accident. 'I am thankful the occupants of the other vehicle were uninjured. I am thankful that the motorcycle officer is expected to make a full recovery. He has been on my mind and heart since the accident,' Butts stated. 'I was a motorcycle officer with Inglewood Police and was hit twice by cars myself. It is a dangerous job. I was so grateful to see that he was alert and communicative at the scene. I pray for his speedy recovery,' the mayor added. A militant vegan has avoided a conviction for trespassing onto an abattoir, saying the ruling means she can keep the cushy government job which funds her activism. Angela Banovic fronted court on Wednesday after she stormed onto the Carey Bros abattoir in remote Yangan, about 160km southwest of Brisbane. Ms Banovic chained herself to machinery at the slaughterhouse in a coordinated protest against meat production on April 8. The 37-year-old and her fellow activists only left the premises after the abattoir owner handed them three lambs. Ms Banovic managed to avoid conviction when she appeared at Warwick Magistrates Court but was ordered to pay $180 in restitution to the abattoir and a $500 fine. In a comment on Facebook, Ms Bandovic said she hated paying the fine but remarked that the ruling meant she could keep her state government job. 'I need to be able to travel and I also need to have no convictions for my employment that pays for my activism,' she wrote. Angela Banovic (pictured) fronted court on Wednesday after she stormed onto the Carey Bros abattoir in remote Yangan, about 160kms southwest of Brisbane Ms Banovic chained herself to machinery at the slaughterhouse last month in a coordinated protest to object against meat production In a comment on Facebook, Ms Bandovic stressed she needed to keep a clean slate for the sake of her job Following her court appearance, Ms Banovic made a Facebook live-video where she re-read the statement she read to the court which asked for a clean slate for the sake of her job. 'I have never been charged with any offences, have been a law-abiding citizen my whole life and always sought police approval prior to any protest. 'If I am charged and this goes on my record it would have immediate significant impact against my employment. I worked very hard in my career to get to the level I am at.' Ms Banovic has 14 years of experience as a senior executive officer and now works as a Queensland government employee at the Department of Public Works. According to online job search engine Indeed, the salary ranges from $61,383 per year for an administrative officer to $111,875 per year for a manager. In the video seen by Gold Coast Bulletin, Ms Banovic apologised for breaking the law. 'I don't intentionally break the law and I don't promote it, I am not sorry I stood up for animals. 'I wanted to draw attention to the inherent cruelty, ask for transparency, when I saw footage inside this particular slaughterhouse it broke my heart. 'The industry tries to paint a pretty picture that something human happened in this facilities, this doesn't happen, people just aren't paying attention and they don't want to see it.' Only recently Ms Banvoic had to kickstart a fundraising page to help cover the cost of another fine she had been given from a different protest. The 37-year-old managed to avoid conviction, but will have to pay $180 in restitution to the abattoir and a $500 fine Ms Banovic has 14 years of experience as a senior executive officer and now works as a Queensland government employee at the Department of Public Works Last December, Ms Banovic was part of a group of protesters that disrupted a dolphin show at SeaWorld. The walk-in led to the cancellation of the dolphin performance and upsetting families and children, who had just started their school holidays. Ms Banovic was forced to pay $783, but had to start a fundraising page to cover the costs as her overseas activism trips had taken its toll. 'I have put myself into debt and spent all my money on activism in the past 4 months,' she said in a January 5 Facebook post. 'Flights for my attempt to re-enter Japan to be a voice for the dolphin in Taiji, QLD for the sunrise at SeaWorld event and flights etc to Mexico spending 2.5 months on campaign on the M/V Sharpie. I have then borrowed money to move to QLD. 'I would do it again!' A mother who let her dog's cancerous mass grow until it weighed 600g said she had to choose between the vet bill and feeding her kids. Pamela Preece,from Port Noarlunga South, Adelaide, pleaded guilty to ill-treating her Staffie/Mastiff cross Lucifer between April and August last year. On Thursday she told Christies Beach Magistrates Court that she didn't have the dog's painful groin cancer treated because of the cost. RSPCA officers found dog emaciated with its cancerous growth 'leaking foul-smelling, necrotic fluid' which had been allowed to grow for six months. RSPCA officers found the dog (pictured) with a cancerous growth 'leaking foul-smelling, necrotic fluid' on its groin Ms Preece is a single mother of four said she was going to take Lucifer to the vet once she was paid, reported The Advertiser. She said the dog had been part of the family for nine years and showed no signs of illness and was 'still playing' as normal. Ms Preece faced Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to ill-treating the dog between April and August 2018. Magistrate Sue O'Connor said: 'This dog had necrotic fluid leaking out of its genitals there's only so much playing a dog in that situation will do.' The case has been adjourned until June as further evidence will be presented. Ms Preece could face a maximum fine of $20,000 or two years in jail. Top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg leapt to the defence of Gavin Williamson today, suggesting the Government should be more worried about Huawei than who leaked sensitive information about the Chinese tech giant. The backbench Brexiteer leader spoke out the day after Williamson was sensationally sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May after a probe found 'compelling evidence' he leaked top secret details about the firm access to Britain's 5G network. Mr Rees-Mogg, who has previously warned against putting too much faith in Huawei, blunted tweeted: 'The security issue is not who leaked but Huawei.' Mr Williamson was 'brutally' fired last night after his 11-minute call to a journalist who wrote the story was uncovered by her civil service enforcer Sir Mark Sedwill. Mr Rees-Mogg suggested that Huawei itself was more of a threat than the leak by Mr Williamson, who was sacked yesterday Mr Rees-Mogg, who has previously warned against putting too much faith in Huawei, blunted tweeted: 'The security issue is not who leaked but Huawei' There are growing calls for him to now be prosecuted for breaching the Official Secrets Act, which carries up to two years in prison. Before Wednesday's surprise development Mr Rees-Mogg had already suggested the probe into the leak, led by National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill, had the wrong focus. On Monday he told LBC the leak from a meeting of the national Security Council was 'trivial' compared to the risk of letting Huawei get a foothold in the UK telecoms industry. He told the radio station: 'The whole story here is not about a leak, it's about whether or not we're getting into bed with the Chinese company Huawei against the advice of the US and Australians who have decided not to. 'This is a fundamental issue of national security, whether somebody mentioned it in passing and leaked it is trivial in comparison.' The PM's deputy David Lidington said today he did not believe a crime had been committed and instead said the case 'boils down' to a breach of the ministerial code. And Met Commissioner Cressida Dick suggested they couldn't probe the leak - or Mr Williamson's alleged involvement - unless the Cabinet Office shares their investigation with them. Gavin Williamson told the Mail that he was not the source of the leak and that neither he nor his team would do such a thing but is yet to be seen in public - his wife Joanne arrived at the family home in the Midlands today without him Williamson was caught after an unprecedented Whitehall investigation where Sir Mark Sedwill pored over the Defence Secretary's phone records. He found the minister had spoken to Daily Telegraph reporter Steven Swinford on the day of National Security Council discussions about Huawei's potential access to the UK's 5G network. Mrs May says he was responsible for the leak - but Mr Williamson claims he spoke to Swinford about the Tory leadership and Brexit, adding: 'I swear on my children's lives that I'm innocent.' David Lidington told the Commons today that the Government would help the police if they choose to investigate if he breached the Official Secrets Act - but admitted No 10 will not call detectives in. In a damning statement on Mr Williamson's alleged behaviour Mr Lidington said the breach was 'serious' but refused to release any of the evidence that led to his sacking. And in a clear attack on Mr Williamson - who once urged Russia to 'go away and shut up' - Mr Lidington said members of the National Security Council should 'shut up when they get outside'. Chilling CCTV footage has emerged showing one of the Sri Lanka suicide bombers calmly making his way up to a hotel dining room, in a lift with a mother and her two young children. Video from inside the elevator shows the oblivious mother moving her two youngsters out of the way to allow jihadi Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed inside. The children can be seen standing just inches away from the terrorist and his heavy backpack containing an explosive device. Mohamed exits the elevator, following the family into the dining room before walking back and forth as he types on his phone. Seemingly realising the bomb will not detonate, he sits down at a table, removing the backpack before fiddling with it - presumably in the hopes of setting off the explosion. Chilling CCTV footage shows a mother moving her two young children out of the way to let jihadi Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed into a hotel lift moments before he attempted to set off a bomb In the clip, the children can be seen standing just inches away from the terrorist and his heavy backpack containing an explosive device Mohamed exits the elevator, following the family into the dining room before walking back and forth as he types on his phone After leaving the lift, Mohamed was caught on CCTV pacing near guests eating breakfast, before realising the explosive device was not detonating After several attempts, he gives up and walks out of the hotel - but not before getting his suitcase stuck in a revolving door, at which point staff help him leave. As he reaches the other side of the door, another employee hands him his other suitcase. Mohamed's target was the breakfast buffet at the Taj Samudra, a luxury hotel on Colombo's seafront. Mohamed then sits down at a table before fiddling with his backpack - presumably in the hope of fixing the problem He puts his backpack back on, typing on his phone once again, before getting up and leaving the dining room He then left the hotel - but not before two members of hotel staff helped him with his bags after one became stuck in some revolving doors He took a car away from the hotel. He later accidentally blew himself up in the Tropical Inn Hotel in Dehiwala after trying to inspect the faulty bomb Instead, he ended up detonating his explosive device in a budget motel by the city's zoo, killing a couple who had arrived only half an hour earlier. He was the only attacker out of the eight Sri Lankans pledging allegiance to Islamic State who failed to hit his intended target in the attacks. Mohamed, 37, was born in Kandy, the sixth child in a tea trading family of seven. He was educated at the private Gampola International School in Kandy, a lush hill town in the centre of the country. The family's relative wealth allowed him to travel and live abroad. He studied engineering at Kingston University, south west London, for a year in 2006. Mohamed, one of eight Sri Lanka suicide attackers, was filmed on CCTV walking into the Tropical Inn guest house where he accidentally blew himself up Mohamed was born in Sri Lanka but spent a year studying at Kingston University in south west London and also lived in Australia before returning to his home country He then returned to Sri Lanka, where he married and had his first of four children, before moving to Australia for four years in 2009. It was during this time he became radicalized. 'He was really angry with the U.S. and its alliance's attacks in Iraq during his stay in Australia,' a close friend told Reuters. 'He was really radicalized and became an extremist when he was in Australia. He returned as a completely changed person.' Mohamed attempted to travel to Syria in 2014 with a friend, but only got as far as Turkey before turning back for an unknown reason, according to the Sri Lankan intelligence source. Returning to Sri Lanka again, he worked with his brother in the family tea business, but his relationship with relatives grew increasingly strained due to his religious views. Samsul Hidaya, Mohamed's sister, said he became radicalised abroad, but the news of the Easter atrocities came as a shock. 'When the police came to tell us it was him, I almost collapsed,' Mrs Hidaya said. 'I just didn't think he would take it this far. I am still in disbelief. Something happened to him in Australia that changed his personality. He became silent and aloof.' It is thought Mohamed's bomb malfunctioned as he tried to detonate it at a much larger hotel and that he blew himself up by accident while inspecting it Mohamed tried to blow up the luxury Taj Samudra hotel (pictured) in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Easter Sunday Clair Walton, 57, who contracted HIV from her husband, arrives today for the Infected Blood Inquiry at at Fleetbank House in London A woman who contracted HIV from her husband after he was given contaminated blood products told an inquiry that nurses 'assumed I was a drug user or a prostitute'. Clair Walton, 57, married husband Bryan, who was a severe haemophiliac, when she was 21 in 1983, two years before he was diagnosed with HIV. She told the Infected Blood Inquiry in London that when the pair told their doctors they were going to try for a baby the clinicians began monitoring them regularly, testing her monthly for HIV. Ms Walton, of Warwickshire, said: 'They were watching whether I would turn from HIV negative to HIV positive - that was it. There wasn't any advice around.' She was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 and was admitted to hospital when her health deteriorated. Ms Walton said: 'It was assumed I was a drug user or a prostitute. One of the nurses just shouted at me.' She told the inquiry that she felt the pair were used for research purposes. Her husband died aged 34 in 1993, with Ms Walton believing taking experimental HIV drugs contributed to his death. Ms Walton added: 'Bryan was a severe haemophiliac. They knew that he had been given HIV through his blood products and I was a healthy young woman who was negative. Clair Walton, 57, married husband Bryan, who was a severe haemophiliac, when she was 21 in 1983 (pictured together on their wedding day), two years before he was diagnosed with HIV 'I now think, from what I'm hearing of evidence that's coming out, that there may well have been - I understand there were studies on man to woman, but we were never part of that, we had never known about that, and this is why I referred back to when I was thinking about having a baby and about the monitoring, that actually this was much more. 'I just thought it was incompetence at the time, but it was actually probably much more serious than that.' Ms Walton was giving evidence on the third day of the inquiry at Fleetbank House in central London. The contaminated blood scandal has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. She cared for her husband Mr Walton (above) until his death in March 1993 aged 34 Two previous inquiries have been branded a whitewash by campaigners. The inquiry is chaired by former High Court judge Sir Brian Langstaff, who has promised to put people at the heart of the probe. The hearing was told that Mr Walton had a 'real zest for life' and 'great aspirations' including running his own business. In 1989 he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and told he had 18 months to live. Ms Walton said that despite a successful round of radiotherapy the cancer returned in 1991 and he began 'harrowing' chemotherapy. The inquiry was told that Ms Walton cared for her husband until his death in March 1993 aged 34. She believes taking experimental HIV drugs contributed to his death. Ms Walton said: 'I was a young woman and I was watching my husband become more and more emaciated. I saw his bravery as well. He needed me, he needed someone to support him and to give him the love that he needed - it was very, very frightening.' The inquiry heard that it was years after his death when Ms Walton found out he had also contracted hepatitis C. She said: 'As far as I knew he didn't have hepatitis C and it was only in recent years, seven or eight years ago, that I found out that he had hepatitis C. His attitude was 'I have got Aids, I don't need to know anything else' - that was it, he was dying.' After the inquiry hears from victims in central London, there will be similar evidence sessions over the coming months in Belfast, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff. A man nearly lost his foot to a flesh-eating virus while on holiday in Florida. Barry Briggs, from Waynesville, Ohio, was on a boating trip in Tampa, Florida, when his foot was infected by bacteria over Spring Break. Within days his foot had begun to be eaten away, and he needed several skin grafts and a cocktail of antibiotics to save the limb when he was admitted to the Miami Valley Hospital. Barry Briggs recovering in hospital in Ohio after an operation. He spent 11 days undergoing treatment to save his foot His foot was consumed by potentially life-threatening streptococcus bacteria, which he thought initially was a sunburn 'Early that Sunday evening I got a little swelling, initially I thought maybe it was a sunburn,' he told WCPO. 'I don't remember being scratched, a poke, or a bite,' said Briggs, 'The doctors looked when I went in and couldn't identify anything.' Barry initially thought he had hit his ankle as the infection initially appeared as slight bruising but it soon turned into an inflamed dark, black bubble. Shocking photos posted on Facebook tracked the speed at which the infection gnawed away at his flesh. Both his hands and feet were eventually covered in painful brown splotches and he needed 11 days of extensive surgery to stop the infection's spread. He was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, an infection caused by a Streptococcus bacteria which usually enters through a small wound. There are roughly between 700 to 1200 cases of the condition in the US alone each year - according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He needed several skin grafts to replace skin which had to be cut away as the bacteria ate through his flesh President Donald Trump kept up his attacks on new Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden on Thursday, retweeting a New York Times story about a possible conflict involving Biden's son, Hunter. The story involved Hunter Biden's five-year tenure on the board of a Ukrainian company, Burisma holdings, during a time where his father went to Ukraine to pressure the government to step up anti-corruption efforts and fire its top prosecutor. The prosecutor had been investigating the company. Trump retweeted a post about the story by its author without comment. Usually, when the president talks about the Times, it is to attack the paper as 'failing' or part of the 'fake news.' Hunter Biden earned $50,000 per month on the board of a Ukrainian energy company at a time his father intervened in the country to force out the nation's top prosecutor The presidential retweet came a day after he went on an anti-Biden tweet storm, sending out more than 50 retweets of people criticizing a national firefighter union's endorsement of Biden. Hunter Biden's work on board of Burisma and the potential conflict with his father's intervention in Ukraine was reported as far back as 2015. Joe Biden traveled to Kiev in March 2016 to deliver a stern message, threatening to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees to the country if the government didn't dismiss the nation's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. The pressure was part of an effort to fight corruption in the country. The story about Hunter Biden's business came as the former vice president campaigned across Iowa President Donald Trump retweeted a New York Times story about the issue The potential conflict revolves about Vice President Biden's push for Ukraine to dismiss Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin as part of an anti-corruption effort Hunter Biden, 45, was earning $50,000 each month through accounts linked to the company, according to the Times. Before joining the company, Hunter Biden was discharged from the Naval Reserve after testing positive for cocaine. He is a Washington, D.C lobbyist. Page Six reported this week that Hunter Biden had broken up with Hallie Biden. The president's second son had brought unwelcome family drama to the family when it was revealed in 2017 he was divorcing his wife, Kathleen, and was then seeing his sister-in-law, Hallie. Hallie was married to Beau Biden before his death from brain cancer at 46. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani retweeted the story 'Hallie and I are incredibly lucky to have found the love and support we have for each other in such a difficult time, and that's been obvious to the people who love us most,' Hunter Biden told Page Six at the time. Hunter dismissed the idea of a conflict of interest due to his work on the energy company's board in a statement to the Times, where he said his role was in 'corporate governance.' 'I have had no role whatsoever in relation to any investigation of Burisma, or any of its officers,' he said. 'I explicitly limited my role to focus on corporate governance best practices to facilitate Burisma's desire to expand globally,' he said. According to the Times, State Department officials were concerned at the time that Hunter Biden's work for the firm could undercut his father's diplomatic efforts. Kate Bedingfield, a spokeswoman for Joe Biden, said at the time of Biden's trip to Ukraine: 'Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer. The vice president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company.' The firm is owned by Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, a minister in the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych. Biden pushed back at President Trump on Wednesday following the president's Twitter storm. 'I understand the president tweeting a lot about me this morning,' the former vice president told a crowd of a few hundred at Big Grove Brewery. 'I wonder why the hell he's doing that?' Biden said, chuckling. 'I'm going to be the object of his attention for a while, folks,' Biden said. The emergence of Ukraine as a potential campaign issue for Biden follows a two-year investigation of Russian election interference and Trump campaign ties to Russians. The president's former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, is currently serving a 7 1/2 year sentence for money laundering and other charges tied to his work on behalf of a pro-Moscow Ukrainian government. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been promoting the Hunter Biden story, and Hunter Biden's statement blasted the fact that 'my qualifications and work are being attacked by Rudy Giuliani and his minions for transparent political purposes.' Giuliani sent out his own tweet about the report: 'Biden conflicts are too apparent to be ignored and should be investigated quickly and expeditiously. But the more important question is how deep and how high did the alleged Ukraine conspiracy go?' According to the Times, Giuliani met with the former prosecutor as well as the current top prosecutor in Ukraine about the case. During one such meeting, the current prosecutor said Giuliani 'called Mr. Trump excitedly to brief him on his findings, according to people familiar with the conversations.' Trump has said Attorney General Bill Barr should look into the issue, and Barr in Senate testimony Wednesday declined to provide direct answers about whether Trump had asked him to undertake investigations. Sen. Kamala Harris of California Grilled Barr on whether Trump or anyone at the White House had suggested he open an investigation following up on testimony in the Mueller report that Trump sought inquiries into his political enemies. Harris asked him: 'Has the President or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?' 'Umm, the President or anybody else?' Barr stalled, prompting Harris to respond: 'Seems you'd remember something like that and be able to tell us.' 'Yeah, but I'm trying to grapple with the word 'suggest,' ' Barr said. 'There have been discussions of matters out there that they have not asked me to open an investigation,' he said cryptically. Jessica Whelan will be dumped from the Liberal Party candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons after Facebook posts in her name advocated for Muslim women to be sold into slavery. Liberal Party campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham revealed on Friday morning new information obtained overnight meant her position as the candidate for the seat of Lyons, in Tasmania, was no longer tenable. 'We won't tolerate that. We won't accept that. Scott Morrison has taken a strong stance in this regard,' he told the Today Show on Friday. 'I expect based on the information that has come to light overnight, the additional information, that she'll not be continued to be Liberal candidate. 'That will be a matter for the Tasmanian party to resolve swiftly this morning, but my understanding is they're taking steps to do so.' Ms Whelan was accused in Parliament of advocating the genital mutilation of Muslim women and selling them as slaves, and of saying Tasmanians 'don't bloody want' to take in Syrian refugees. She has strenuously denied the allegations, but stepped down as the candidate on Friday. Liberal Party member Jessica Whelan (pictured) has been dumped as a candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons following alleged Islamophobic posts Ms Whelan will be 'dealt with' by the state branch of the party after 'new information' came to light overnight, campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham said In a statement released on Thursday, the mother-of-two wrote: 'The comment on the post about 'feminists in America' appears to be have been digitally manipulated'. 'I strenuously deny making this comment. We will be referring it to the relevant authorities.' On Friday, she admitted she had made 'some' of the posts. 'Jess Whelan vehemently maintains that she did not make the vulgar post reported in yesterday's media,' Friday's statement said. 'However, she accepts that she has made some of the other posts in question.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said Ms Whelan had referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police. 'I don't think it's hard to believe in this day and age that the images can be doctored,' he told reporters in Tasmania. A spokesperson for AFP did not comment when asked if a report had been filed, and only said: 'The AFP is aware of media reporting in relation to the matter'. A Facebook profile under the candidate's name recently commented on a post about US police officer Mohamed Noor, saying: 'He's a filthy Muslim!' This was in response to Noor being found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of an Australian woman. Her second alleged remark was under Reclaim Australia Rally's Facebook post about Iraqi and Syrian refugees being settled in New South Wales. 'Don't bloody send them to Tasmania. We don't want them. Nick McKim, the biggest waste of space in politics, does not represent Tasmanians,' the same account wrote, the ABC reported. The damning comments surfaced after she was accused in Tasmanian parliament on Thursday of advocating genital mutilation of Muslim women and selling them as slaves. The remark, made from a Facebook account under her name, was under Reclaim Australia Rally's Facebook post about Iraqi and Syrian refugees being settled in New South Wales This was in response to US police officer Mohamed Noor being found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of an Australian woman Ms Whelan has strenuously denied the allegations and claims her social media account was hacked The posts, which appeared under a video purporting to show 'feminists in America begging for Sharia Law', was made from a profile with Ms Whelan's name and photo. 'Round them up Donald, cut their clitoris' (sic) off & sell them to Muslims in Muslim countries & cancel their passports. You'll make a mint,' the message allegedly stated. Another Facebook comment, which appeared alongside Ms Whelan's profile, allegedly stated they (Muslims) should not be allowed to live in Australia. 'Given that your profile states you went to College at 'Never lose hope in ALLAH'.. I hope you're bloody NOT on our housing waiting list. You shouldn't even be in Australia if you believe in ALLAH!' the message allegedly stated. Julie Collins, the sitting Labor member for another Tasmanian seat in Franklin, called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to drop Ms Whelan as a candidate over the posts. The comment, which appeared on a video purporting to show 'feminists in America begging for Sharia Law', was made from a profile with Ms Whelan's name and photo 'This is a test of Scott Morrison's leadership - he must sack his disgraced candidate for Lyons,' Ms Collins said. Coalition frontbencher David Littleproud said Ms Whelan deserves due process from the party. 'I'm not privy to those conversations or investigations but I'm sure that they are being done in a thorough way,' Mr Littleproud told ABC TV on Thursday. The minister said only a minority of Australians hold the views espoused in the posts. Another Facebook comment, which appeared alongside Ms Whelan's (pictured) profile, allegedly stated they (Muslims) should not be allowed to live in Australia Coalition frontbencher David Littleproud said Ms Whelan (pictured) deserves due process from the party 'They're not views that I hold in any way, shape or form, and I don't think any, or the majority of Australians, would.' Ms Whelan is the latest of a string of candidates at the federal election to be in hot water over online posts. On Wednesday, two Liberal candidates were dumped over online posts - one for homophobic remarks and the other for anti-Islam rant. A Labor candidate also apologised for sharing a rape joke and pornographic material on his Facebook page in 2012. Franklin has been a Labor seat since winning it back from the Liberal Party in 1993. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ms Whelan for comment. Nigel Farage's new Brexit party has surged into a nine-point lead in the polls ahead of Euro elections later this month as Labour support falters amid its bitter row over whether to back a new referendum. The Eurosceptic party is now on 30 per cent, up from 28 per cent in a week, according to a survey by YouGov for the Times. In contrast Jeremy Corbyn's party fell one per cent to 21 per cent over the same period, while the Tories, whose activists are threatening not to campaign, remain stagnant on 13 per cent. The increase in support for Mr Farage's party came as he ruled out a tilt at a seat in the Commons, saying it was 'impossible' because he was too busy. A by-election will be held in Peterborough on June 6 to find a replacement for Independent Fiona Onasanya, who was jailed earlier this year for lying to police an yesterday became the first MP to lose her seat through a recall petition. Mr Farage told the Sun: 'Impossible - I have a national campaign to run!' Peterborough was taken by Onasanya for Labour from the Tories in 2017 by just 607 votes. But it voted 60-40 to Leave in the 2016 referendum. Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage was in Plymouth yesterday with former Tory shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe, who has defected to stand in the South West The YouGov poll of 1,630 people carried out on Monday and Tuesday this week also makes poor reading for the new Change UK party made up of ex-Tory and Labour centrists. The percentage of people saying they planned to vote for it fell from 10 per cent to nine percent. Ukip was also trailing on 4 per cent - down one point on the previous week - in the poll of voting intentions for the May 23 European elections. It has faced controversy over the actions of some of its candidates. In a worrying sign for Prime Minister Theresa May of discontent within her own ranks, more than half (52 per cent) of those who voted Conservative in the 2017 general election said they would back the Brexit Party in the Euro-elections. Mr Farage's party, launched less than a month ago, was backed by 48 per cent of over-65s taking part in the poll, 60 per cent of those who backed Leave in the 2016 referendum and 31 per cent of those who described themselves as Conservative supporters. Neither the Brexit Party nor Change UK, the party set up by the breakaway former Labour and Conservative MPs of The Independent Group, are contesting Thursday's local elections in England and Northern Ireland. Those questioned by YouGov named Brexit as the most important issue facing the UK in the run-up to the Euro-elections, with more than twice as many voters mentioning it as health, crime or the economy. Hillary Clinton proposed a theoretical situation where a Democratic candidate call on China to obtain the president's tax returns in a hit at his behavior during the 2016 campaign. 'Imagine that you had one of the Democratic nominees for 2020 on your show, and that person said, 'You know, the only other adversary of ours who is anywhere near as good as the Russians, is China,'' Clinton said during an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Wednesday night. ''And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why don't we ask China to back us?'' Clinton continued in the hypothetical situation. ''China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns. I'm sure our media would richly reward you.'' Trump continues to refuse to turn over his tax returns, and says ongoing Internal Revenue Service audits prevent him from releasing them. During a July 2016 press conference, Trump made an appeal to Russians to find his opponent's deleted emails. 'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,' Trump said at the time. 'I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.' Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed a hypothetical situation where a Democratic candidate appealed to China to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns in a hit against Trump's behavior during the 2016 elections Clinton expressed in an MSNBC interview Wednesday the ridiculousness that Trump's call for Russia to find her deleted emails was legal, and suggested Democratic candidates hit back against Trump just as hard in 2020 Here is Hillary Clinton's hypothetical about a candidate calling on China to hack Trump's taxes, and why Republicans putting partisanship over national security is a dangerous thing. pic.twitter.com/AIjJYRiTfE Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) May 2, 2019 The State Department subpoenaed Clinton's personal email server, which she used to conduct business during her time as Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama. She turned over the server, but not before deleting more than 30,000 emails. When Trump publicly called on Russia to find the missing emails, the server had already been offline for a year, which means it would have been virtually impossible for the Kremlin to successfully obtain them. The same day of the press conference, however, Russia launched a spear phishing attack against Clinton. Spear phishing is the practice of sending emails from a fraudulent account, which appears to be from a trusted sender, in order to get individuals to reveal confidential information. Even though Trump's call for Russia's assistance wasn't illegal, since obstruction and collusion charges require some form of secrecy, Clinton is suggesting in her tongue-and-cheek hypothetical situation that this shouldn't be the standard of behavior from presidential candidates. '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,' Trump said during a 2016 press conference ahead of the elections Robert Mueller's Russia report found that Trump's rhetoric was not illegal, because collusion and obstruction require some sort of secrecy, and Trump made his comments out in the open Attorney General Bill Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday where he defended his classification of Mueller's report, which he says found no collusion or obstruction 'According to the Mueller report, that is not conspiracy because it's done right out in the open,' Clinton lamented to liberal MSNBC host Maddow. Trump oftentimes used Clinton's deleted emails as a point of attack during the 2016 presidential campaign, and as a way to attempt to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Mueller's report found no evidence that Trump, including his campaign or administration officials, had conspired with the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 elections. The report was inconclusive on whether Trump had obstructed justice throughout the investigation. The special counsel did, however, lay out 10 'episodes' that could potentially be obstruction, but he left the final decision up to the attorney general. Attorney General Bill Barr released a four-page summary of the 448-page report on March 24, where he said the special counsel's report found Trump had not colluded or obstructed justice. After turning over a redacted-version of the report to Congress in mid-April, Democrats claimed that Barr's classification was flawed, and claim the 10 'episodes' laid out by Mueller are enough to prove Trump obstructed justice. Many Democratic lawmakers feel it is grounds for the start of impeachment proceedings against the president, including several Democrats running for president in 2020. Barr testified about the Russia report before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where he defended his summary and feelings that Trump's actions were not illegal. Trump claims Mueller's report full exonerates him from all alleged crimes. Baltimore's mayor has resigned amid a flurry of investigations into whether she arranged bulk sales of her self-published children's books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. Catherine Pugh's decision to step down came exactly a week after her City Hall offices, homes and multiple other locations were raided by FBI and IRS agents. 'I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor,' Pugh said in a written statement read by her lawyer, Steven Silverman. Baltimore's mayor Catherine Pugh, (pictured), resigned after federal agents raided her two homes over sales of her book . She is pictured addressing a gathering during the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Boston on June 8 A federal grand jury has been paneled and state and local inquiries are also underway into the roughly $800,000 Pugh made over the years in exchange for her 'Healthy Holly' paperbacks about health and nutrition. At issue for multiple investigators are questionable financial arrangements she negotiated over years selling her hard-to-find 'Healthy Holly' books. The books were meant to be provided to schools and day care centers, but it remains unclear where tens of thousands of copies ended up. The scandal erupted when it came to light that the University of Maryland Medical System, one of the state's largest private employers, paid Pugh $500,000 for 100,000 copies of her children's books. But there was no contract behind the deal and the hospital network described some of the purchases as 'grants' in federal filings. It then emerged that a company called Kaiser Permanente disclosed that it paid her limited liability company about $114,000 between 2015 and 2018 for roughly 20,000 copies of her illustrated books. Pugh became Baltimore's mayor in 2016. The next year, Baltimore's spending board, which is controlled by the mayor, awarded a $48 million contract to the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc. When asked who Kaiser bought the books from, company spokesman Scott Lusk said: 'We purchased the books from Healthy Holly, LLC.' That is Pugh's company. Others then came forward, including Maryland financier J.P. Grant. He acknowledged writing a roughly $100,000 check to buy Pugh's 'Health Holly' books but insisted he expected nothing in return. Acting Mayor Bernard 'Jack' Young, (pictured), now automatically becomes Baltimore's permanent mayor and welcomed Pugh's decision to step down Before she became mayor, Pugh once sat on a state Senate committee that funded the major health network. She started serving on the system's board in 2001. Before her resignation, she said she had properly reported and paid taxes on all sales of her Healthy Holly books and called inquiries into her deals with the University of Maryland Medical System a 'witch hunt.' The Baltimore Sun reported that schools officials have said that they received an 'unsolicited' shipment of an unknown number of books from Pugh sometime between 2011 and 2013. However they said that they have not been able to locate any documentation related to the shipment. They said about 8,700 copies of Pughs book 'Healthy Holly: Fruits Come in Colors Like the Rainbow' are being stored in a warehouse. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service agents enter City Hall in Baltimore on April 25 to look for evidence related to the probe of Catherine Pugh's book sales An officer stands outside Catherine Pugh's house in Baltimore as agents search for evidence relating to the probe of her book sales and whether she benefited from certain contracts She said she returned the most recent $100,000 she received from the medical system after she resigned from the board in late March amid questions about the deal. Pugh was not the only one who benefited: Roughly one-third of the system's board members received compensation through the medical system's arrangements with their businesses. As she became the public face of the scandal, however, she stepped down from the board and returned her most recent $100,000 payment. She is the second mayor in less than a decade to step down because of scandal. She came to office contrasting her clean image with her main opponent, ex-mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan called accusations against Pugh 'deeply disturbing' and the state's accountant described the book-selling arrangements as 'brazen corruption' Larry Hogan and numerous Democrats had pressed for her resignation for weeks, saying Pugh was no longer fit to lead Baltimore At a rambling news conference days before retreating from public view, Pugh described her book deal worth $500,000 with the university-based health care system as a 'regrettable mistake.' She has not publicly addressed the other lucrative arrangements that have come to light. Since the book controversy erupted in late March, Pugh's fractured administration has lurched from one crisis to another and various aides have been fired or left City Hall. Her resignation provides a measure of resolution after weeks of uncertainty and mounting pressure for her to step down. Maryland's Republican governor and numerous Democrats had pressed for her resignation, saying she was no longer fit to lead Baltimore. 'This was the right decision, as it was clear the mayor could no longer lead effectively,' Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement Thursday afternoon. 'Baltimore City can now begin to move forward.' Catherine Pugh retreated to her home the same day that Larry Hogan asked the state prosecutor to investigate public corruption accusations against her Kaiser Permanente disclosed that it paid her limited liability company about $114,000 between 2015 and 2018 for roughly 20,000 copies of her illustrated books Now that Pugh has resigned, acting Mayor Bernard 'Jack' Young automatically becomes the permanent mayor and will not need to be sworn in. Young, a Democrat and longtime City Council member, is currently in Detroit for a conference about economic development and will return to Baltimore over the weekend. 'I am confident that I have left the City in capable hands for the duration of the term to which I was elected,' Pugh wrote in a letter to Young. In a statement, Young thanked the thousands of city employees who came to work each day under uncertain circumstances for weeks. 'Although I understand that this ordeal has caused real pain for many Baltimoreans, I promise that we will emerge from it more committed than ever to building a stronger Baltimore,' he said. Citing deteriorating health following a bout of pneumonia, Pugh took a paid leave on April 1 and hasn't been seen in public since. The 69-year-old abruptly retreated to her home the same day that Hogan asked the state prosecutor to investigate public corruption accusations against her. In recent days, Silverman had repeatedly gone in and out of Pugh's city home to discuss 'options' with her while also asserting that she was so fragile physically and mentally that she was unable to make major decisions. Last week, Silverman had told reporters that she might be 'lucid' enough to make a decision this week. Hogan has called the accusations against Pugh 'deeply disturbing' and the state's accountant described the book-selling arrangements as 'brazen, cartoonish corruption.' The City Council called for Pugh's immediate resignation, as did numerous state lawmakers and an influential business group, among others. An Indiana woman has been arrested for allegedly killing her boyfriend by driving over him twice with a car. Authorities said Briana Rice, 23, of Hammond, faces multiple charges, including murder, voluntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, in the April 24 death of 25-year-old Terrondy Jones. A witness told police she saw a couple arguing outside an East Chicago apartment near the 1700 block of East 135th Street before a man began walking away from a car. The witness said a female driver then 'backed her car up almost striking a garage' and 'she then sped up, striking the male subject with the car'. Briana Rice (left), 23, of Indiana, has been accused of killing her boyfriend, Terrondy Jones (right), 25, after authorities said she drove over him twice with a car after an argument outside an apartment complex A witness told police that she saw the couple (pictured) arguing outside an East Chicago apartment before a man began walking away from a car. The witness said a female driver 'backed her car up' and then 'sped up, striking the male subject with the car' According to a probable cause affidavit, obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the witness said the man 'ended up on top of the car' and fell off as the woman backed up. The driver then drove over the man again before leaving the scene, the affidavit says. Jones was rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries. According to police, Rice admitted to the crime, saying she and Jones had been at the library in Hammond 'when they started arguing'. They then drove to East Chicago where Jones was staying with a friend, according to the Tribune. She then claimed he threatened to kill her and at some point jumped out of the car. According to a probable cause affidavit, the witness said the man 'ended up on top of the car' and fell off as the woman backed up. The driver then drove over the man again before leaving the scene. Rice and Jones are both seen above The incident occurred near the 1700 block of E 135th Street in East Chicago (area pictured). Rice will appear in court next week on May 9 Rice reportedly told investigators that she then decided to leave Jones there and started pulling off when he 'jumped in front of the car'. She said she was driving around 10mph when 'she saw him sliding off of the vehicle but she did not stop and stated that was when she ran him over', the affidavit states. Rice said she then fled the scene because she 'thought that he would start fighting her if she got out to check on him'. She claimed that when she looked in her mirror she thought she saw him moving. Rice also told police that she didn't call 911 following the incident. Rice appeared for an initial hearing Monday in Lake County during which a judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. Online court documents do not list the name of Rice's court-appointed attorney. Her next court appearance is on May 9. The biggest drug bust ever in Brevard County, Florida has taken three pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl off of the streets. Brandon Huff, 35 (pictured), has been identified by authorities as one of the leader of the operation, following a six month investigation in the Central Florida area with ties spanning across the US A drug bust in Florida has led to the seizure of enough opioids to kill everyone in Brevard county, along with guns and cash, and the arrest of 60 people with dozens more warrants issued. Brandon Huff, 35, Jonathan Walker, 42, and Megan Wilborn, 31, were identified by authorities as the leaders of the drug operation, following a six-month investigation in the Central Florida area with the trio boasting ties spanning across the U.S. Sheriff Wayne Ivey said on Wednesday that a total of three pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid fentantyl was seized, along with enough heroin and other opioids to result in 500,000 lethal does, Click Orlando reported. 'That is enough fentanyl to kill everyone in Brevard County,' he added. Additionally, 75 firearms and $100,000 in cash were seized in the sting. Scroll down for video Jonathan Walker, 42 (left), and Megan Wilborn, 31 (right), have also been identified by authorities as the leaders of the operation More than 70,200 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, with 47,600 of those deaths involving opioid use, according data released in 2018 by the Centers for Disease Control. As the rate of opioid-related drug overdose deaths climbs across the U.S., Brevard County has been hit particularly hard. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who was appointed as the chair of Floridas Task Force on Opioid Drug Abuse in April, said, 'We are not playing around. We lose 17 people a day.' More than 70,200 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, with 47,600 of those deaths involving opioid use, according data released in 2018 by the Centers for Disease Control . As the rate of opioid-related drug overdose deaths climbs across the US, Brevard County has been hit particularly hard Sixty people were arrested, authorities said on Wednesday, with dozens more warrants issued Deputies stood on watch as dozens of additional suspects were marched toward a bus that would take them to jail, in front of a live streaming video. 'This is what happens if you deal drugs in Brevard County. You end up going to jail,' Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said Deputies stood on watch as dozens of additional suspects were marched toward a bus that would take them to jail, in front of a live streaming video. 'This is what happens if you deal drugs in Brevard County. You end up going to jail,' Ivey said in the video. 'This is one of the biggest case our agency has ever worked and our county has ever seen,' he said. 'The individuals you see here were praying on the addictions of others by selling drugs, so they're going to jail. That's where they need to be.' A total of three pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid fentantyl was seized, along with enough heroin and other opioids to result in 500,000 lethal does Additionally, 75 firearms and $100,000 in cash were seized in the sting, authorities said During a press conference, the sheriff's office displayed two posters featuring the faces of over 100 suspects implicated in the rampant drug operation During a press conference, the sheriff's office displayed two posters featuring the faces of over 100 suspects implicated in the drug operation. 'These are the faces of your next-door neighbor,' Ivey said, referencing the posters. 'These are the faces of people selling poison.' The state of Florida has budgeted $100million to fight the opioid epidemic, and has access to an additional $26million in federal funding allotted for Floridas State Opioid Response Project, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Wednesday. Huff, Walker and Wilborn now face charges including conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and heroin, conspiracy to sell heroin and meth and trafficking fentanyl. They have also been charged for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. The three remain in custody at this time, with Huff's bail set at $2.5million, and both Walker and Wilborn being held on $910,000 bonds. A probationary officer was fired earlier this month for shooting into a moving Jeep that started to flee a traffic stop in Texas. Officer Lina Mino was removed from the Fort Worth Police Department on April 12, five days after the incident occurred. Mino is seen in dashcam footage walking up to the Jeep after pulling the driver, a felon, over in in the 2800 block of Hale Avenue. Probationary Officer Lina Mino (left, outside of the Jeep) was fired earlier this month for shooting into a moving Jeep that started to flee a traffic stop in Texas Mino asked the driver to exit the vehicle after learning that he was wanted on a drug warrant. In the video, the driver is seen pulling away as Mino fires off a single shot into the vehicle The Jeep then comes to a stop on the curb as Mino rushes over, still pointing the gun at the man. She then asks them to exit the vehicle, but only the passenger complies. Mino is seen ordering the passenger to get on the ground According to the Star Telegram, Mino asked the driver to exit the vehicle after learning that he was wanted on a drug warrant. In the video, the driver is seen pulling away as Mino fires off a single shot into the vehicle. The Jeep then comes to a stop on the curb as Mino rushes over, still pointing the gun at the man. She then asks them to exit the vehicle, but only the passenger complies. The passenger is seen getting out of the vehicle as Mino walks over to him. In that moment, the driver opens his door and runs from the officer. Mino runs after the driver as another police car pulls up near the passenger of the Jeep. Neither the driver or passenger were injured in the incident. Following the ordeal, Mino is heard telling another officer over the dashcam audio that she is 'gonna get in f**king trouble'. The incident occurred on April 7 and Chief Joel Fitzgerald fired Mino on April 12, one day before she would have completed her one-year probationary period 'I dont know why I shot,' Mino is heard saying. 'Im pissed off because I dont know why I shot, it was so stupid of me to f**king shoot.' The incident occurred on April 7 and Chief Joel Fitzgerald fired Mino on April 12, one day before she would have completed her one-year probationary period and received Civil Service protection, including the right to appeal, according to the Telegram. Mino was accused of violating the department's use of force policy. But the Fort Worth Police Officers Association has criticized the chief for firing Mino within days of the shooting. The association's president, Manny Ramirez, told the Telegram that the investigation was rushed. He said he believes that Mino's remarks on the dashcam audio reveal that she knows and admits she made a mistake. 'It doesn't change the fact that we have accidental discharges every single month in this department and nobody gets terminated for it,' Ramirez told the Telegram. Ramirez said the association has filed a grievance on Mino's behalf. 'Were asking for a complete and thorough investigation, not a rushed one,' Ramirez said. Advertisement Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has paid homage to his ancestors - including his late father and the former monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej - as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend. He was accompanied by his new wife Queen Suthida, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, who made her first official public appearance since the announcement of their surprise marriage ceremony on Wednesday. The newly weds knelt beside one another on Thursday as they paid their respects to statues of previous Chakri dynasty monarchs in Bangkok's historic quarter. It comes as part of the King's highly-anticipated coronation - which is set to take place from Saturday to Monday and will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida arrive to pay their respects to his ancestors - including his late father and the former monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej - at the King Rama V monument in Bangkok as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend The newly weds kneel beside one another on Thursday as they pay their respects to statues of previous Chakri dynasty monarchs in Bangkok's historic quarter The 66-year-old royal - also known by the title of King Rama X - became a constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father in October 2016. Photos released on Wednesday showed the Queen lying on the floor as she was given a gift by the King during the marriage ceremony. She 'legally married' her husband 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'. King Vajiralongkorn, front left, and Queen Suthida arrive at Royal Plaza. The newly titled royal oozed elegance in a cream blazer and matching skirt for her first public appearance since the announcement of their surprise marriage ceremony on Wednesday. Their visit comes as part of the King's highly-anticipated coronation - which is set to take place from Saturday to Monday and will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago King Vajiralongkorn (pictured centre) was accompanied by Queen Suthida (right) and his daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha (left). The King has seven children According to CNN, the statement added that the King's long-term consort 'will hold royal title and status as part of the royal family'. 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. How Thailand's new queen went from flight attendant to royal bodyguard and finally a bride on the eve of new king's coronation Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn married consort Suthida Tidjai this week and named her Queen ahead of his coronation, a move which shocked Thais who had been told nothing about her by the country's heavily-censored newspapers. The accolade marks a stratospheric rise for a woman who started her working life as an air stewardess before catching the king's eye and being made a 'bodyguard' in his personal protection and given the title of 'general'. The wedding, in which Suthida was made to lie on the floor at the King's feet, makes her Vajiralongkorn's fourth wife after he divorced Srirasmi Suwadee - a former waitress - in 2014. Little is known about Suthida's life as a private citizen, other than that she was born in 1978 and attended Assumption University, a private $41,000-a-year Catholic college in Thailand's capital Bangkok. The pair met while Suthida was an air stewardess aboard Thai Airways, where then-Prince Vajiralongkorn served as a pilot (pictured, exact date unknown) She earned a degree in communication arts in 2000 before going to work as a stewardess for the country's national carrier Thai Airways shortly after. It is thought she met Prince Vajiralongkorn while working for the airline, because he is a licenced pilot who sometimes flew the carrier's Boeing and Airbus jets. Vajiralongkorn is known to have handpicked several of the stewardesses to be his mistresses despite still being married to Suwadee, with whom he has a son named Adityadornkitigun. Suthida is thought to have occupied his affections and become his 'main mistress', spending a large amount of time with him at his private residence in Bavaria while Suwadee and her son lived back in Bangkok. She entered the Thai military in 2010 with the rank of Second Lieutenant and was promoted to First Lieutenant just six months later. Suthida has seldom been pictured with the royal, though the pair were photographed near Munich in 2016 where Vajiralongkorn wore a tight crop top The Prince is believed to have kept Suthida as his favoured mistress at his private residence in Germany, where he spends most of his time In 2012 she received her first official recognition for services to Prince Vajiralongkorn when she was awarded the Order of the White Elephant for her 'honesty, loyalty and responsibility ... dedication and sacrifice.' At the time of the award, she was credited as being a Lieutenant Colonel. She has rarely been photographed with Vajiralongkorn and the Thai press - which is heavily censored by the monarchy - had not acknowledged any kind of relationship between the pair until their wedding. However, one extraordinary image emerged in 2016 which appeared to show Vajiralongkorn boarding a plane in Germany alongside Suthida. She was dressed in high heels, tight trousers, a skimpy top and was clutching a large bag in one hand and the Prince's beloved pet poodle FuFu in the other. Meanwhile the future King wore a pair of low-slung jeans, sandals and a tiny white crop top that revealed his back covered in tattoos. Suthida entered the military in 2010 and was quickly promoted through the ranks before being reassigned to Vajiralongkorn's personal guard and promoted to general after his father's death She appeared alongside the new King at a cremation ceremony for his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in Bangkok in 2016 (pictured) Around the same time she was named in foreign media reports as the Prince's 'consort', though Thai authorities refused to confirm this. Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016, Vajiralongkorn named Suthida Commander of the Special Operations Unit of the King's Guard in December that year. The promotion also saw her elevated to the rank of General, after just six years in the armed forces. The following June she was appointed acting commander of Royal Thai Aide-de-Camp Department and in October she was named a Dame Grand Cross (First Class) of The Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao. The same month, she appeared in uniform alongside Vajiralongkorn during a military parade in Bangkok for the cremation of King Bhumibol. Also among the crowd was another of Vajiralongkorn's suspected mistresses, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, who was once spotted alongside the king - again wearing a crop top - in Munich in 2016. Then, on May 1 this year, King Vajiralongkorn suddenly announced that the pair had married, and she was named Queen Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya. Advertisement 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 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 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. Vajiralongkorn's late father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned nearly 70 years ago and his son is set to succeed him 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 single mother let a convicted paedophile she had met on a German dating app rape her daughters, aged one and four, after he promised to marry her, a court heard. The 34-year-old paedophile, only identified as Daniel P. from the northern German town of Malchow, went searching for single mothers on the online dating app 'Knuddels', the Dresden court was told Prosecutors claim he met the mother of the girls, a 32-year-old named only as Christin I. , from Dresden, on the dating platform. After the pair exchanged messages, Daniel reportedly promised to marry the woman and suggested the prospect of a new life together in Dubai. The convicted paedophile has been identified as Daniel P. from the northern German town of Malchow. He used a dating app to contact single mothers to rape their children, according to a court in Dresden. He also reportedly told her of his perverse love for infants and asked if the single mother could take and send pornographic photos and videos of her daughters to him. During his first trip to Dresden to meet Christin, the man allegedly started abusing the two children. According to the indictment, the mother even 'prepared' her daughters and did not intervene when her date had sex with her little girls. The couple and the two children even went on holiday together to Hungary and Romania where the abuse reportedly continued in hotels. Daniel P. confessed to the rapes of the two girls during the first day of the trial, admitting to all crimes listed in the indictment, according to reports. The German national had already been sentenced once to 16 months in prison over a separate abuse claim in September last year, but remained free after lodging an appeal. He also confessed to having raped a seven-year-old girl in the spring of 2018 after he visited a single mother in Chemnitz who he met on the same dating app. He is said to have carried out this act without the mother's knowledge. Christin is also facing trial at the Dresden court having been charged with aiding and abetting the child abuse. The trial continues. The cost of co-working spaces in San Francisco has gotten so out of control that peeved freelancers are taking to the streets - literally - in search of a cheaper alternative. App developer Victor Pontis, 26, pioneered the concept of working from a parking space on April 25, setting up his desk in a parking spot at 16th Street and Market and feeding the meter. The stunt, which he said in tweet was to 'show that parking real estate can be used for better purposes', quickly garnered so much interest from other fed-up freelancers that Pontis organized a group event in parking spaces by the Civic Center on Monday. With membership in co-working spaces like WeWork running upward of $400 a month, Pontis coined a cheeky alternative: 'WePark', which encourages workers to set up a desk in a parking spot and feed the meter for about $2.25 an hour. Freelancers gathered to work in a parking spot by San Francisco's Civic Center on Monday. Started partly as a stunt, the practice has gained quick traction amid sky-high rental prices Monthly office rents in San Francisco average $76.28 per square foot, according to SF Business Times. At those prices, a standard nine-foot by 18-foot parking spot would rent for $12,357 per month, or about $17 per hour - making the $2.25 hourly meter fee a bargain. 'It's a simple idea - take your desk to a parking spot, pay the meter, and work at an inexpensive office,' said Pontis in a statement. 'But it shows that the real estate we use for parking can be put to a lot of other uses - offices, sidewalks, bike lanes, transit, housing, retail, parks.' At Monday's event, about a dozen people showed up to work at tables Pontis set up in a San Francisco parking spot. Word spread quickly online, and mavericks in Santa Monica and Toulouse, France joined in on the idea, setting up their own workspaces in parking spots. In Santa Monica, Gray Bright, the CEO of electric scooter rideshare startup Cloud set up on sunny Ocean Avenue. And in Toulouse, entrepreneur Valentin Decarpentrie put his desk out in a parking spot on rue Antoine-Deville. 'Real estate is very expensive and nobody wants to rent to a company for less than a year, even with guarantees,' he told French publication actu.fr. 'But this is not a problem because with telework, we can work where we want.' Cloud CEO Gray Bright is seen working in a Santa Monica parking spot on Monday The idea even spread as far as Toulouse, France, where entrepreneur Valentin Decarpentrie put his desk out in a parking spot on rue Antoine-Deville It's a concept that may only be workable in mild climates, however - and even then, critics worry that the lack of access to certain amenities makes 'co-parking' an impractical stunt. Pontis, who is working on an app called Scooter Map that aggregates scooter and bike sharing apps to find the nearest one, begs to differ though. 'The spaces I've worked in have been really nice!' he said. 'In San Francisco, we were working across from a nice cafe, a library and a bathroom. So we had all of our needs met.' In addition to the high cost of office and co-working rental space, Pontis hopes to call attention to the amount of prime real estate that cities devote to car parking. 'It makes sense to have some car parking, but how much is too much?' he asked. 'More and more people [are] moving to cities and don't want to drive cars, how should we redesign cities to be safer, more fun, and full of opportunity.' The family of a 10-year-old girl who tragically died from an underlying heart condition as she flew down a 270-foot water slide is now suing the water park. London Eisenbeis went into cardiac arrest as she flew down the Super Loop Speed Slide, the biggest slide at Zehnder's Splash Village in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Doctors later discovered London had Long QT syndrome, a heart rhythm disorder that can cause heartbeat palpitations, fainting, drowning, or sudden death. Following nine days on life support, she suffered a second cardiac arrest and died. But London's family believe she could still be here today if park employees had been properly trained to handle the emergency. The family of 10-year-old London Eisenbeis, who tragically died from an underlying heart condition as she flew down a 270-foot water slide, is now suing the water park The family claims that Zehnder's employees didn't call 911 fast enough after London came down the slide in cardiac arrest, according to WNYW. They also noted that no employee administered the Automatic External Defibrillator machine, which Tina Eisenbeis claims could have saved her daughter's life. A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current to the heart that helps it re-establish the normal rhythm. 'You have to respond, you don't have time to wait,' Tina said. 'I think people are afraid of defibrillators, but they're very easy to use. They're what is needed to bring back the rhythm.' Tina revealed that London wasn't given an AED for 24 minutes until paramedics arrived. Doctors said it was excitement that killed London, throwing her heart into an abnormal rhythm and sending her into cardiac arrest while she was in the slide London had waited two years to go on the Super Loop Speed Slide, the biggest slide at Zehnder's Splash Village in Frankenmuth (the pink slide is pictured here) The slide has a four-story straight drop with a 360 degree loop and the ride lasts 6.9 seconds 'If continuous CPR and AED was used, I think she would be here now,' she added. Zehnder admitted that no park employee used an AED device on London, claiming 'its use was not indicated under the circumstances'. 'We sympathize with the Eisenbeis family,' CEO Al Zehnder said in a statement. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with them. We are now in the litigation stage and can't comment directly on the case.' In February 2018, London had finally reached the 48-inch minimum for the slide and begged her parents to take her to Zehnder's during President's Day weekend. The slide has a four-story straight drop with a 360 degree loop. The entire ride lasts 6.9 seconds. Before London went down the slide, she gave her dad a thumbs up and a huge smile. London's mother Tina Eisenbeis (pictured) alleges that Zehnder's employees didn't call 911 fast enough after London came down the slide in cardiac arrest No park employee administered the Automatic External Defibrillator machine, which Tina claims could have saved her daughter's life Tina revealed that London wasn't given an AED for 24 minutes until paramedics arrived. London is pictured here with her father Jerry 'She was so excited that she could finally go on this water slide,' Tina said. 'And that was the last time my husband saw her smile.' When Tina, who was sitting on the other side of the park, heard the whistle go off she thought some children were just 'messing around'. 'But within maybe minutes, I started seeing women looking terrified,' Tina told The Sun. 'One woman was walking with two children, grabbing them. She said, "Somebody's drowned over there". I kind of got nervous.' Tina tried to call her husband Jerry, only to realize she had his phone. She ran over to the slide. '[Jerry] was looking down and there were sheets up and I knew it was one of my kids,' she said. 'It was an awful thing. There were no signs of the condition. She just dropped. The day before, she had been doing flips in the air.' After nine days on life support, London went into cardiac arrest again and passed away WHAT IS LONG QT SYNDROME? Long QT syndrome is a heart rhythm disorder that can cause heartbeat palpitations, fainting, drowning, or sudden death. The inherited condition can cause fast and chaotic heartbeats, triggering a sudden fainting spell or seizure. If the heart beats erratically for too long, the condition can also cause sudden death. The condition is treatable with medication to prevent erratic heart rhythm. Other cases may benefit from surgery or an implantable device. But many people with Long QT syndrome don't show any signs or symptoms. They might only become aware of it due to an ECG, family history, or genetic testing results. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement Three weeks after London's death, Tina become an instructor for the American Heart Association. She also launched a foundation to help grant defibrillators to the community London was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered she had Long QT syndrome. Doctors said it was excitement that killed London , throwing her heart into an abnormal rhythm. 'We had no inclination that she had a heart condition,' Tina said. 'There were no symptoms.' London was placed on life support and her parents took turns staying with her as the hours turned to days. 'The one night we both came home - I was just wanting to take a shower and come back - I got a phone call from my dad who was with her. She'd gone into cardiac arrest again,' Tina recalled. After nine days on life support, London had passed away. 'I would have taken her home with the brain damage but I'm glad she made that choice for us,' Tina said. 'She fought for nine days in the hospital, then she gained her angel wings.' Tina said her daughter, a gymnast, never showed any symptoms of a heart condition Days later, London was laid to rest in the dress she would have worn at her school's father-daughter dance, which was held the very same day as her funeral. 'I didn't have a chance to buy shoes,' Tina said. 'She looked like an angel with her dress and no shoes. She really did look like a sleeping beauty.' But the devastated mother wants to make sure no family has to experience her pain Tina said life has been an 'ongoing nightmare' without London, revealing that she cries herself to sleep every night. 'I feel like it's something I can't recover from,' she added. 'How can you recover from somebody who gave so much love? How can you get over that?' But the devastated mother wants to make sure no family has to experience her pain. Three weeks after London's death, Tina become an instructor for the American Heart Association. She launched the London Strong Foundation to help grant defibrillators to the community and is currently writing legislation that would require genetic testing for heart defects at birth. 'We check for the eyes and hearing, why not use an EKG and check for an underlying heart condition?' she said. Tina is also working to make AED drills (also known as sudden cardiac arrest drills) mandated in schools across Michigan. While London is still always on her mind, Tina said she knows she needs to find the strength to continue to fight for change in her daughter's honor. 'Even though I have to be going through this right now, at least in her name, let's save some other children.' Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of Americans feel like they have no one to confide in and 70 percent say they hold back how they really feel when sharing with a friend, partner or co-worker, according to a new survey. Most (90 percent) of Americans say they downplay their emotions to avoid worrying or stressing out a loved one, according to the survey by OnePoll on behalf of BetterHelp, a web-based counseling service. Researchers discovered that young people (age 18-30) are most likely to isolate themselves because they are uncomfortable talking about money, job stress, parents or friends with their significant other. This pie chart illustrates the share of Americans to often, sometimes, rarely and never choose to downplay their feelings to keep loved ones from worrying The health dangers of loneliness are not new. A review of studies conducted back in 1988 identified higher rates of mortality, illness, injury, smoking, obesity and high blood pressure in lonely people, marking social isolation a risk factor for all of the above. While the average person has 338 Facebook 'friends,' Americans are only getting lonelier. Former surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy wrote in the Harvard Business Review that 'we live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s.' 'Its far more widespread than people believe, and like many illnesses that are related to our mental and psychological state, it gets swept under the rug and exists in the shadows,' he told The Washington Post. It's not just that loneliness itself is an emotional, societal ill. Holding feelings in can lead to any number of physical and emotional issues, with survey respondents reporting trouble sleeping, bad focus, short temper and poor eating habits. In addition, 30 percent said they're more likely to break down crying when experiencing stress. Some 53 percent said they have cried in their car, while 40 percent have broken down at a family event and 34 percent have shed tears at work. This graph illustrates the top five public locations where Americans report breaking down in tears More than half (54 percent) wish they had attended therapy at some point in their life and 36 percent would like to be attending regular sessions right now. Cost is an obstacle to therapy for half of Americans. 'It takes a lot of courage for people to reach out and get help,' said Alon Matas, CEO of BetterHelp. 'Often people find that traditional therapy can be prohibitively expensive, difficult to access, and hard to schedule.' Stigma may be standing in the way 75 percent said there are still negative preconceived notions about mental health and therapy and 26 percent said they would be too embarrassed to see a therapist, and the same share feel like their problems aren't serious enough to merit therapy. Half of Americans think therapy is just about rehashing their childhood, while 30 percent admitted they think patients are required to lay on a couch. 'A lot of people think that therapy is all about wading through deep-rooted trauma,' Matas said. 'While it certainly can be, there is a lot of benefit to consulting with a counselor on a regular basis about daily stressors.' However, 32 percent of Americans say they don't have enough time to see a therapist and 24 percent said they don't know how to go about finding one. A Russian woman has avoided jail time after rorting Centrelink, while she secretly transferred $750,000 from offshore accounts. On Thursday, Southport District Court in Queensland heard how Nadezda Bek transferred nearly $750,000 from offshore accounts, but still received Centrelink family benefit payments. The 35-year-old transferred between $8000 to $9500 from Russian credit cards to two Australian accounts between more than 70 times between 2014 and 2018, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. The amount of cash she transferred at a time fell just under the taxable and reportable threshold of $10,000. A Russian woman has avoided jail time after rorting Centerlink, while she secretly transferred $750,000 from offshore accounts over four years The mother of two pleaded guilty to one count of conducting transactions to avoid reporting requirements relating to threshold transactions. She was seen smiling as she left court as she managed to avoid spending any time behind bars. The Russian-born woman who now lives in Robina was sentenced to four months behind bars with immediate release on a 12-month, $1,000 good behaviour bond. Prosecutor Ben Power said Bek had two Australian bank accounts, and would transfer money to them from Russian credit cards. The court heard Bek and her ex husband tried to transfer their wealth into Australia while evading authorities. Bek transferred nearly $750,000 via transactions at ATMs across Robina, on the Gold Coast. Judge Catherine Muir said Bek came from a 'privileged' upbringing in Russia, before moving to Australia when she was 17 and later becoming an Australian citizen. The Australian Taxation Office is now investigating. A officer unlawfully used his dog to 'vent his contempt' and inflict 'gratuitous violence' on criminals he was chasing, a court has heard. Greater Manchester Police officer Paul Jackson is being accused of deploying German Shephard named Jerry to cause injury on men he was chasing on August 2015 and September 2016. Preston Crown Court heard that in addition to unleashing the dog, the constable also punched and kicked the persons he was arresting in the instances. Greater Manchester Police officer Paul Jackson (pictured right) is being accused of deploying German Shephard named Jerry to cause injury on men he was chasing on August 2015 and September 2016, Preston Crown Court heard Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford said Jackson was on duty and in pursuit of the complainants, all of whom had criminal convictions including Lee Junior Walker, who murdered Shaun Murphy in 2017. Of the two instances, the Crown accepted the initial use of Jerry to detain suspects as lawful but Jackson allowing the dog to cause serious injuries was deemed unreasonable by the prosecutor. Mr Sandiford said Jerry was released unnecessarily in two other police chases - one complainant had already sustained a broken back and a broken leg and another was lying prone on the ground and was no threat to anyone. He added that Jackson - who denies five counts of wounding with intent - had no lawful reason to arrest or detain a fifth complainant. Prosecutor Jonathan Saniford told the court Jackson used police dog Jerry (pictured) to 'vent his contempt on those he was arresting or detaining'. Mr Saniford added that Jackson was in effect using "gratuitous violence" order to... teach the complainants a lesson' 'In respect of each count, the Crown says that having detained the complainant Mr Jackson effectively went on the attack. He used police dog Jerry, and in some instances his fists and feet, to vent his contempt on those persons he was arresting or detaining,' the prosecutor told the court. 'He was in effect using gratuitous violence in order to satisfy those feelings of contempt or to teach the complainant a lesson for being a criminal, as Mr Jackson saw it.' He said such force was not necessary, reasonable or lawful. Also in the dock was another GMP officer, Paul Lockett who stood accused of misconduct in a public office, as well as aiding and abetting one of his colleague's alleged assaults. Mr Sandiford said Lockett, who denies the charges, was present at the scene of the one of the incidents and did nothing to stop it or to report it to his superiors. The wife of a truck driver accused of causing a 28-car pile-up that killed four people on a Colorado highway last Thursday has launched a fundraising page to help pay for his defense. The page has already raised $20,000 - half of its target - in three days. Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 23, was arrested on four counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault after the crash and remains in the custody of the Lakewood police in Jefferson County. However, he has not been officially charged and is jailed on a $400,000 bond. He appeared in court on Saturday as a judge declared there was probable cause for him to stay in detention. He is due back in court on Friday. Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos (pictured) has received support from friends and family members who have donated $20,000 through a fundraising account set up through Facebook The 23-year-old man has been in custody of the Lakewood police in Jefferson County after he was arrested on four counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault following a highway accident that involved 28 cars (pictured) Nailan Gonzalez (right) created a fundraiser through her Facebook account this week, generating $20,102 in donations for her husband's legal defense. Aguilera-Mederos pictured left Aguilera-Mederos, originally from Cuba, was visited by his wife Nailan Gonzalez on Monday. She subsequently wrote on the Facebook fundraising page: 'Rogel is innocent and we all know it.' 'Thanks for all the support [we have] received. Until now let us remain united and praying for him. This will be the only page that will be raising funds. If you see any more, please report them ... Grateful to God and to each of you.' In three days, $20,102 has been donated towards legal expenses. Gonzalez also wrote that her husband said he was being treated unfairly but did not specify in what way. 'Babe, please give thanks on my part because unfortunately I can not do it. God is with me. It is unfair what they are doing to me, but I never thought that I would have [the] world out there supporting me,' the Spanish written statement from Aguilera-Mederos said via his wife's post. 'I never imagined that there would be so many people defending me. In these moments my best lawyers have been all those who have given me that great support, and those who have and continue to pray for me. I wish so much to come out to be able to give my thanks. There is no money to pay for everything they have done. I truly feel too grateful. Without your support none of this is possible.' Nailan Gonzalez delivered a message from her husband, who said he has been unfairly treated A pickup truck was set ablaze after a pie-up on the eastbound lane of Interstate 70 in Colorado An inspector surveys the damage caused by a crash near Denver, Colorado, that left four men dead Aguilera-Mederos told investigators that the breaks of his truck stopped working as he topped 85 miles per hour down Interstate 70. He said had the option of coming off the road but chose not too because at his high speed fearful he could have rolled his truck. Cops went over video obtained from witnesses that showed the moment Aguilera-Mederos skipped past several 'runaway truck ramp' signs with flashing yellow lights. The driver eventually panicked as he neared a prior accident site were cars had stopped. A translated message on a fundraising page created by Nailan Gonzalez for Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos states that her 23-year-old husband 'is innocent' Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos remains in police custody under a $400,000 bond. He could face up to six years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 if he is convicted of vehicular homicide Four people were killed in a highway crash that involved 28 vehicles last Thursday in Colorado He attempted to switch to the the shoulder lane, but another idle truck blocked his path, according to his police report statement. The driver swerved back into traffic to avoid the semi. Aguilera-Mederos is employed by a Houston-bases trucking company that has been penalized for 10 violations on the breaks or break systems of its vehicles. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Castellano 03 Trucking has a fleet of five trucks and was subjected to 12 vehicle and 19 driver inspections during a two year period. Aguilera-Mederos faces up to six years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 if he is convicted of vehicular homicide. A Turkish citizen who was wounded during deadly attacks at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on March 15 has died, Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday, raising the death toll from the shooting to 51. Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand 'We have unfortunately lost our citizen Zekeriya Tuyan, who was critically wounded in the heinous attack in Christchurch, New Zealand,' Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter. Tuyan's brother told Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency that Tuyan had been taken to surgery on Thursday, but that he could not be saved. 'He had surgery today, they couldn't stop the bleeding so we lost him. We were happy because we thought it was going well, he had been battling for 50 days,' Yahya Tuyan said, according to Anadolu. Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist from Australia, has been charged with 50 counts of murder for New Zealand's worst peacetime mass shooting. Fifty other people were injured in the attacks, which occurred during Friday prayers. Mr Tuyan's friend Nora Chik told website Stuff last month that he was slipping in and out of conciosuness and that his recovery was complicated by infections. 'He is awake, but not fully conscious,' she said. 'It is so difficult to heal when he keeps getting fevers and infections.' Ms Chik added that Mr Tuyan's parents had flown over from Turkey to help his wife care for him. 'It will take him a long time to recover. His parents are still here. There is still not much improvement so they don't want to leave yet,' she said on April 10. 'A few days ago he was awake, but it was short lived. [His wife] doesn't want to celebrate when he is awake.' Benjamin Murray, 19, died in May 2018 while studying at the University of Bristol A coroner has called for universities to destigmatise mental health after a 'struggling' student threatened with dismissal committed suicide. Fresher Benjamin Murray, 19, killed himself while studying at the University of Bristol - where 12 students have taken their own life in the last three years. The English undergraduate had been told the uni had chosen to 'dismiss' him from his course following his lack of attendance at lectures and at an exam. But an inquest into his death this week heard that Ben had told the university three times that he was struggling to settle in and to 'connect'. And an education director from the uni said Ben could have been reinstated onto his course if more had been done to encourage him to take a meeting with staff. His parents, James and Janet Murray, from Fulham, London, have said the university 'failed' their son and are calling for lessons to be learned. Senior coroner Maria Voisin has today called for moves to destigmatise mental health issues and encouraging more disclosure on UCAS application forms. Concluding the inquest, the coroner recorded that Ben died from multiple injuries, including head and lung injuries and a pelvic fracture, as a result of suicide. She said: 'It is clear from the act that lead to Ben's death that he intended to take his life. 'There were a number of issues in his personal life that support this evidence. His place had been withdrawn and he owed a significant debt for his accommodation. 'I will be writing to Bristol University, the Department of Education, the Minister of Suicide Prevention, and UCAS. The undergraduate had been told the University of Bristol (above) had chosen to 'dismiss' him 'Bristol University have clearly made many fundamental changes to their practices since Ben's death, and they should be praised for that. 'But there needs to be a move towards destigmatising mental health. 'Currently, only 37 per cent of student disclose their mental health on their UCAS form or to their uni. 'More students need to be assured that disclosing this will not affect their place. 'Universities also do not currently carry out an investigation or root aspect report after such an incident. 'It is my duty to recommend a written action plan with an opportunity to review on what happened, what was done well, and areas for concern, if there are any.' Ben died in 2018 after jumping off a bridge in Bristol. He had been sent a letter and an email threatening him with dismissal for his poor attendance. The university vice-chancellor has published a Suicides Safer University Guide for the prevention, intervention, and postvention of students at risk of suicide. Dad James said after the hearing: 'A truly compassionate community is trained to spot the signs, encourage disclosure and intervene early to give hope to those in distress. 'Bristol are on that path. The true test of safety will come with time. 'If Bristol and other universities commit to continuous improvement they will surely have the best chance of becoming suicide-safer.' For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details. The U.S. Navy has unveiled new guidelines when it comes to collecting information on UFO sightings, but none of the information will be made public. A Navy spokesman told The Washington Post that the reporting on UFOs would fall under 'privileged and classified information' so that military aviation safety organizations can 'preserve the free and honest prioritization and discussion of safety among aircrew.' The new guidelines for reporting UFOs have come in response to unknown, advanced aircraft flying into or near Navy strike groups or other sensitive military facilities and formations, the Navy said. The Navy made it easier for sailors to report UFO sightings amid fears that the mysterious unidentified flying objects could actually be 'extremely advanced Russian aircraft.' After years of dismissing UFOs, the new guidelines are being introduced in response of a series of unexplained sightings of unrecognized and 'highly advanced' aircraft encroaching on Navy facilities and strike force formations, the department says. 'There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years,' a spokesperson for the Navy said to Politico. An image from footage shot by the Navy that shows an encounter between U.S. fighter jets and 'anomalous aerial vehicles' flying at 25,000 feet The clip is featured in a video created by the organization To the Stars Academy The US Navy is updating protocol for how pilots and other personal report encounters with unidentified aircraft (pictured: the supposed Westall UFO encounter in 1966) The statement continued: 'For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the U.S. Air Force takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report'. In recent years, there has been a need for a more formalized process of recording UFO sightings which greatly increased after World War II. In 2017 the service said it had run a secret UFO office and spent $22 million over five years to study 'anomalous aerospace' threats.' But for now, the data 'remains strictly within classified channels,' said Luis Elizondo, an intelligence officer who ran the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which officially ended in 2012, according to The Post. The new guidelines are in response of a series of unexplained sightings of unrecognized and highly advanced aircraft encroaching on Navy facilities, the service said Video shows an encounter between U.S. fighter jets and 'anomalous aerial vehicles. The Navy has pledged to update and reform their current policies for how reports of 'suspected incursions' are made to the correct authorities. Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo, who headed up the specialist department, revealed after his retirement that he thought the office was too nonchalant in their investigations of the unidentified aircraft. 'If you are in a busy airport and see something you are supposed to say something,' Elizondo told Politico. 'With our own military members it is kind of the opposite: 'If you do see something, don't say something.' He added that many of the specialist crafts sighted were said not to have flags on their tails or any tail at all asking, 'What happens in five year if it turns out these are extremely advanced Russian aircraft?' However, the Navy's new policy does not mean they believe their sailors have actually encountered alien spacecraft, but rather they believe the reported sightings shouldn't be instantly dismissed and are worthy of further investigation. The move comes in response of a series of unexplained sightings of unrecognized and highly advanced aircraft encroaching on Navy facilities,the service said As a result, the Navy has pledged to update and reform their current policies for how reports of suspected incursions are made to the correct authorities 'Right now, we have situation in which UFOs are treated as anomalies to be ignored rather than anomalies to be explored,' Chris Mellon, a former Pentagon official told the news outlet. 'We have systems that exclude that information and dump it.' Mello suggests establishing a more formal means of reporting 'unidentified flying objects' - or 'unidentified aerial phenomena' as the military now calls it - would help to enact a 'sea change' in intelligence gathering. 'In a lot of cases [military personnel] don't know what to do with that information like satellite data or a radar that sees something going Mach 3. They will dump [the data] because that is not a traditional aircraft or missile,' he added. Following increased Congressional criticism for paying such little attention to 'UAF' reports, in 2017 the Pentagon created a new branch to the Defense Intelligence Agency, dedicated to studying the field. A six-year-old boy crossing a street in Maine street on his bicycle on Wednesday afternoon was struck and killed by a school bus making a turn. Rumford Police Chief Stacy Carter says the boy, identified as Jayce Holt, had rode off the sidewalk into the intersection of Waldo Street and Essex Avenue at about 3pm as the bus with four students on board turned through the intersection. Carter says Jayce, a first-grader at the nearby Rumford elementary School, attempted to brake but he fell into the road along with his bike. The child was then struck and killed by a rear tire of the bus turning onto Essex Avenue. One of the children on the bus at the time was reportedly his friend. Jayce Holt, 6 (left and right), lost his life after being struck by a school bus on a street in Rumford, Maine, where he was riding his bike Wednesday This photo shows the aftermath of the accident at the intersection of Waldo Street and Essex Avenue in Rumford, with Jayce's bike still lying in the road A makeshift memorial is seen near the spot where Holt fell into the road at an intersection while attempting to break Investigators believe the boy was interacting with someone on the bus while riding his bicycle, reported News Center Maine. Jayce's mother immediately showed up on the scene of the accident, and according to the description of a GoFundMe campaign, the boy's sister was also there. Jayce was taken to Rumford Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries. A makeshift memorial made up of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals has sprung up near the spot where the first-grader was fatally struck, reported WGME. The driver of the bus that clipped the six-year-old was identified by police as 51-year-old Stephen Arsenault. Neither he nor students on the bus were injured. The principle of Rumford Elementary School said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening that counselors will be made available in the days ahead to help students and staff. Jayce's mother and older sister immediately showed up on the scene. His uncle Stephen (right) later posted a tribute to his 'little man' Jayce is survived by his mother and older sister, pictured above 'We know that the days ahead will be difficult for our entire community,' Jill Bartash wrote. 'Know that all staff will work to support kiddos in the days ahead.' A 'Family Fun Night' that had been scheduled for Thursday night would be postponed. A candlelight vigil was scheduled to be held for Jayce. Carol Pyatt, the grandmother of one of the four students riding the bus at the time of the accident, said her grandson was a friend of Jayce's and was devastated by his death. "[He] didn't know whether to cry or what to do. He was just devastated with the whole thing," she told News Center Maine. "[He and the victim] spent sleepovers together, went to the park together, had dinners together. [He] feels like the world just ended." Jayce's uncle, Stephen Holt, has been posting heartbreaking Facebook tributes to his deceased nephew, whom he affectionately called his 'little man.' 'My heart is broken and I just don't know how to feel,' he wrote early Thursday. As of noon, the online fundraiser started by a neighbor to help Jayce's family with his final expense has drawn more than $2,600 in donations. This is the confusing moment a man is reunited with his long-distance girlfriend - but could have looked happier about it. Paul Stirrat was caught on camera looking stunned when he was surprised by Cara Corrigan outside his dressing room in a Rotherham theatre where he was performing Dick Whittington. Cara had travelled from the US to see him after convincing him she was in Florida, teaming up with his mother and fellow cast members to carry out the deception. But his almost horrified reaction led to speculation he had 'something to hide' after his eyes bulged with shock for several moments. The footage begins with friends calling out for Paul to come out of his dressing room and in to the corridor. While he takes his time a woman can be seen running from the room and his girlfriend excitedly waits for him to emerge. A man says: 'Paul, can you come out please.' Walking out of the door Paul looks around to see why he is being called. Suddenly he does a double-take as he spots his girlfriend and a look of shock appears on his face. Although the look of shock almost appears to turn to horror as she runs forward for a hug, last night the couple contacted MailOnline to say everything was fine. Nervous girlfriend Cara waits outside her long-distance boyfriend's dressing room as she prepares to surprise him Standing stock still with his arms limply around her, friends surrounding the couple encourage him to kiss her. The situation seems to take its time to hit home as he stares in horror in to the distance for a couple of minutes, before finally realising his girlfriend is hugging him, he appears to melt in to the moment as he buries his face in her hair. Cara spoke to MailOnline about the viral video, saying she and Paul have been 'both been cracking up' over the reaction. She also explained that his reaction is just one of stunned amazement at seeing his girlfriend, who had flown halfway around the world to see him in a theatre production of Dick Whittington. As Paul emerges from the dressing room of the theatre, he notices his girlfriend standing in the corridor The look of love: The unsuspecting boyfriend struggles to command his emotions as his girlfriend embraces him 'Paul was in a panto over Christmas, and we were both disappointed because I couldn't go over to see it,' said Cara. 'He had been facetiming me every day and trying to get me a recording of the show. I met the whole cast over facetime, saw most of the show over facetime, because Paul wanted me to see as much as I could. 'But, he didn't know that I had worked with his mom and cast members to get plane tickets and surprise him. 'We had been video chatting the day I arrived, and he thought I was with my family in Florida. I had been sending him old pictures of Florida that I had on my phone to make it even more realistic. 'So, when I arrived, he was caught completely by surprise. Had not a clue. The shock eventually subsides and Paul returns the warm hug from his loving long-distance girlfriend The couple, pictured together in the US, are very much still an item according to Ms Corrigan 'Rest assured, he doesn't have another "girlfriend". 'He's here with me in America right now to see me graduate college. Don't think his other girlfriend would be too happy with that! 'We're both cracking up over here!' Paul is a Scottish actor, and had been performing the role of King Rat in the pantomime Dick Whittington which had been playing at the Rotherham Civic Theatre. Cara Corrigan, from Osprey, Florida, is also an accomplished actress, having performed since the age of eight and even brought a show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Chino, CA (91710) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 49F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 49F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible. Thank you Chairman Tillis. I too want to thank Senator Gillibrand for her advocacy for women in uniform and her passion for stopping the crime of sexual assault in our military. This is also a passion of mine for many reasons, and I think I bring a unique and important perspective. My drive to fight against sexual assault in the ranks is not from the outside looking in. It is deeply personal. First, for two years, I was honored to be a fighter squadron commander in the United States Air Force. Command is the most impactful duty one can have directly on the lives of servicemen and womenand their families. I was greatly privileged to prepare and then lead my amazing Airmen in combat, which is the apex responsibility of any warrior leader. Military commanders are placed in a position of authority and responsibility like none other in civilian life. They are not like CEOs, managers, or any other supervisor. Commanders have a moral responsibility to ensure readiness of their units, which, yes, includes warfighting skills, but demands the commander cultivates and protects and enriches a culture of teamwork, respect, and honor. Conductany conduct--that degrades this readiness doesnt just harm individuals in the ranks, it harms the mission and places at risk the security of our country. Commanders also have a covenant with the men and women under their commandthe one percent who volunteer to serve in uniform. They are asked to follow lawful orders that could risk their lives for the mission. In return, it is the commanders responsibility to surround their people with a climate of integrity, discipline, and excellence. During my 26-years in uniform, I witnessed so many weaknesses in the processes involving sexual assault prevention, investigation, and adjudication. It motivated me to make recommendations to Air Force leaders, shaped my approach as a commander, and informed my advocacy for change while I remained in the military and since I have been in Congress. We have come a long way to stop military sexual assault but we still have a long way to go. When I first entered the Air Force Academy in the 9th class with women, sexual harassment and assault were prevalent but victims mostly suffered in silence. It took many years and too many lives ruined, but thanks to the bravery of some survivors like those on our first panel today, significant change has happened. I am so inspired by the many survivors who found the strength to share their stories, report their assaults, and demand accountability, justice, and change. It is because of you that a light has been shined on this silent epidemic and so many improvements have been madeincluding more than 100 legislative actions over the last decadeon all aspects of military sexual assault. So, like you, I also am a military sexual assault survivor, but unlike so many brave survivors, I didnt report being sexually assaulted. Like so many women and men, I didnt trust the system at the time. I blamed myself. I was ashamed and confused. I thought I was strong but felt powerless. The perpetrators abused their position of power in profound ways. In one case I was preyed upon and raped by a superior officer. I stayed silent for many years, but later in my career, as the military grappled with the scandals, and their wholly inadequate responses, I felt the need to let some people know I too was a survivor. I was horrified at how my attempt to share generally my experiences was handled. I almost separated from the Air Force at 18 years of service over my despair. Like many victims, I felt like the system was raping me all over again. But I didnt quit. I decided to stay and continue to serve and fight and lead. To be a voice from within the ranks for women--and then in the House and now the Senate. So, this is personal for me toobut its personal from two perspectives--as a commander who led my Airmen into combat and as a survivor of rape and betrayal. I share the disgust of the failures of the military system and many commanders who failed in their responsibilities. But it is for this very reason that we must allow--we must demand--that commanders stay at the center of the solution and live up to the moral and legal responsibilities that come with being a commander. We must fix those distortions in the culture of our military that permit sexual harm towards women and, yes, some men as well. We must educate, select, and further educate commanders who want to do the right thing but who are naive to the realities of sexual assault. We must ensure all commanders are trained and empowered to take legal action, prosecute fairly, and rid perpetrators from our ranks. And if the commander is the problem or fails in his or her duties, they must be removed and held harshly accountable. I don't take this position lightly. It has been framed often that some people are advocating for the victims while others are advocating for the command chain or military establishment. This is clearly a false choice. There are many commanders who would welcome taking this responsibility off their platethose are the very commanders we don't want leading our troops. We cannot command change from the outside aloneit must be deployed withinit must be built, constantly maintained, and expertly managed by commanders who are themselves educated, conditioned and given the tools to ensure what you survivedand what I survivedhappens to no warrior under their command. To that end, I very strongly believe that the commander must not be removed from the decision making responsibility of preventing, detecting, and prosecuting military sexual assault. We are survivors together, and I am honored to be here and use my voice and unique experience to work on this mission to stop military sexual assault for good. The off-duty border patrol agent who rushed the Californian synagogue shooter away from worshipers last month was praised for his efforts at a White House ceremony on Thursday. Jonathan Morales chased after the gunman who opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego last weekend. He and a local resident Oscar Stewart, an army veteran who was inside praying, chased gunman John Earnest, 19, into the parking lot after he opened fire. Stewart slammed on Earnest's car window and Morales shot at the vehicle. Scroll down for video Jonathan Morales is the off-duty border patrol agent who chased after the synagogue shooter who opened fire in California last Saturday. He was honored at a White House ceremony on Thursday On Thursday, President Trump invited him up to the podium to thank him for hi s bravery during a service to commemorate National Day of Prayer. Morales played down his heroism. 'We were celebrating our last day of Passover. It's supposed to be a joyous, festive event. 'We were attacked with our backs turned but brave people stood up and confronted this person. 'We ended the situation the best we could with the resources we had,' he said. He went on to quote his rabbi and tell the audience gathered: 'In order to fight these random acts of violence, we must continue to do random acts of kindness and good deeds. 'We will overcome this evil.' As he and Stewart left the podium, the president thanked them for their bravery. 'I'm proud of you,' he said. Morales was joined at the event by Oscar Stewart, an army veteran who also chased the gunman Morales joined US Army veteran Oscar Stewart who also chased after the gunman. Both were praised for their bravery by President Trump Morales is a border patrol agent out of the El Centro station in California. He had traveled for around three hours to get to the synagogue for the service last week. According to friends, he recently discovered his faith. Customs and Border Patrol was tight-lipped on his involvement in chasing Earnest away last week because of the ongoing criminal investigation into the incident. A spokesman however told DailyMail.com: 'We have learned that one of our own off-duty Border Patrol agents was present and took actions that may have prevented additional loss of life.' John Earnest, 19, is in custody. The only victim from the attack was Lori Kaye (right) Stewart previously spoke about the incident and said neither he nor Morales were heroes. 'I've been told that I may have saved some lives. I never thought about that. I just did what I did,' Stewart told reporters. 'I'm not a hero or anything, I just did it.' 'I thank God that he gave me the courage to do what I did.' Lori Kaye, a congregant, was the only person killed. She died jumping in front of her rabbi. Earnest is in custody on murder charges. He wrote a manifesto before the incident detailing his disdain for Jewish people. Advertisement It was seen as a great opportunity for the Foreign Secretary to make a mark on the international scene ahead of a possible Tory leadership campaign to replace Theresa May. And on his six-day visit to five African nations Jeremy Hunt has frequently unleashed his secret weapon - his Chinese wife Lucia. Mrs Hunt has been front and centre as her husband, seen as a strong unity candidate to replace the Prime Minister when she stands down, has travelled across the continent. The official tour, which is taking in Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya is ostensibly to promote British interests and Mr Hunt has spoken strongly on issues including press freedom and security co-operation. But with his wife and the mother of their three children - Jack, Anna and Eleanor - by his side he has been carving out a strong personal profile at a time when it may come in most useful to help him gain the keys to Number 10. Key to this has been Mrs Hunt, born Lucia Guo in Xian, who met the ambitious politician - 11 years her senior -through his education publishing business Hotcourses, which he later sold for 14million. She has seemed to fully embrace the photo opportunities on offer this week. While the partners of previous foreign secretaries have accompanied them on official trips abroad in the past the high-profile appearance of Mrs Hunt is more unusual. Today she enjoyed stroking a tortoise at the British Ambassador's residence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mrs Hunt glaces at the Foreign Secretary as they board his plane in Accra, Ghana, bound for Nigeria on Tuesday Mrs Hunt joined her husband today in planting a tree at the British embassy in Ethiopia in memory of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March Mr and Mrs Hunt with Foreign Secretary with the British Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr Alistair McPhail during a tree planting ceremony at the British embassy in Ethiopia today Mr and Mrs Hunt (right) aboard a military vessel off the Senegalese capital Dakar in Monday, and (left) at a tree planting ceremony at the British Ambassador's residence in Ethiopia today Today she enjoyed stroking a tortoise at the British Ambassador's residence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She and her husband also planted trees at the British embassy in Ethiopia, alongside British ambassador Alastair McPhail, in memory of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March. The Foreign Secretary said he was 'devastated' that nine Britons were among the 157 people killed in the crash. Mr Hunt met Lucia at an event in Warwick in 2008 when she was working at the University of Warwick, helping to recruit Chinese students to attend university. Later, he revealed that they 'allowed work and pleasure to mix for a moment' and he asked for her email address. A year later, he proposed to her when they were taking a walk near his parents' home in Shere, in Surrey. They married in Xian after Jeremy asked Lucia's father for permission to wed his daughter and the couple married in a traditional Chinese ceremony. They now have three children: Jack, Anna and Eleanor, and have homes in the leafy upmarket Surrey village of Hambledon and London. Despite his wife being very definitely Chinese, Mr Hunt made a horrific gaffe last year, soon after replacing the error-prone Boris Johnson as the UK's top diplomat. On a visit to China he mistakenly told his hosts that she was was Japanese. Mrs Hunt tries to suppress a laugh as she leaves the Ghana capital Accra during her husband's five-nation tour of Africa Sitting down to talk to the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and other officials, Jeremy Hunt attempted to demonstrate his family ties to the country, which were met with laughter when he decided to quickly correct himself. Mr Hunt said: 'My wife is Japanese ... my wife is Chinese. That's a terrible mistake to make. My wife is Chinese and my children are half-Chinese ... they have Chinese grandparents in Xian. And strong family connections in China. In fact we came to China on holiday in April. After making the mistake, Hunt tweeted: Rule #1 as a new Foreign Sec: when reflecting in English with the Chinese on a conversation you had with them in Japanese about your Chinese wife, dont get any of those mixed up! Apologies to the long-suffering Mrs H...' Mrs Hunt shares a joke with Claire Walker, the wife of British High Commissioner to Ghana, as they board a flight to Nigeria in Accra While in Senegal she spoke with Royal Marines stationed there while her husband witnessed a commando exercise Five years ago he publicly stood up for his wife and children during a radio phone in. He expressed his concerns about his 'half-Chinese' children and whether they would be discriminated with the UK's restricted immigration to the country. 'I'd like to make one general point about immigration. My wife is Chinese and she obviously lives with me in London,' he said. 'My children are half Chinese and I do not want them to grow up in a country where people look at immigrants and say it's difficult for me to access NHS services because of people like you.' Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have blasted freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Thursday for blaming the American government for the violence in Venezuela. 'As Venezuelans take to the streets to stand for their freedom against an oppressive dictator, Democrat Congresswoman @IlhanMN chooses socialism over freedom,' Pence posted to Twitter. 'The Trump Administration stands with the freedom-loving people of Venezuela.' Pompeo was furious when he appeared in an interview with Fox News, calling the Congressman's statement 'disgusting'. 'The nicest thing I could say is it's unbelievable ignorance, it's factually wrong,' he said of Omar's comments. 'The problems of Venezuela have been years in the making. 'For a member of Congress... to make a statement blaming America for it in this way, it's not only ignorance, it's disgusting.' The Democratic representative from Minnesota told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! that the U.S. 'bullying' in Venezuela 'helped lead the devastation' in the South American nation. Opposition leader Juan Guiado called for a military and civilian uprising against Nicolas Maduro's socialist regime on Tuesday, and since then the two sides have engaged in violent clashes. 'A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela, and we sort of set the stage for where we are arriving today,' Omar told Goodman, a liberal broadcaster. '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 is not in the interest of the United States.' Vice President Mike Pence said Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar 'chooses socialism over freedom' in claiming the American government exacerbated the violence in Venezuela Congressman Omar said on Democracy Now! that the U.S. used 'bullying' tactics that 'helped lead to the devastation in Venezuela' as the country experiences its third day of violent clashes Pence, and other top U.S. officials, expressed their support for opposition leader Juan Guaido's Operation Liberty, and the effort to overthrow socialist leader Nicolas Maduro's regime. Pence and his wife Karen prayed for 'the people' of the country at a Rose Garden event for National Day of Prayer Pompeo was furious when he appeared in an interview with Fox News, calling the Congressman's statement 'disgusting' WOW: @IlhanMN says the U.S. has "helped lead the devastation in #Venezuela," and accuses the U.S. on "bullying" the Maduro regime. Apparently Maduro's starvation of his people and armored trucks running them over in the streets is not worthy of criticism in her eyes. pic.twitter.com/leTcRHWDVd John Cooper (@thejcoop) May 1, 2019 Democracy Now! is as far-left as news programs go in the U.S., so Omar was speaking to a friendly broadcaster and audience. Omar made it clear with her comments that she feels the U.S. government helped exacerbate the issues in Venezuela, making it harder for those trying to help the opposition efforts. The clashes in Venezuela have quickly turned into a proxy fight as the Russian government backs Venezuela and the U.S. backs Guido's opposition. '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, following Guiado's announcement of the 'final stage' of Operation Liberty. 'America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored. Vayan con dios! #FreeVenezuela' Trump also threatened to issue 'highest-level sanctions' on Cuba if they did not pull troops from Venezuela, which Cuban government has pushed back on, claiming they are not supporting Maduro's militant efforts. Guiado released a video on Tuesday that called for military and civilians to join in the 'final phase' of Operation Liberty to overthrow the socialist Maduro regime in Venezuela The fight between Guaido and Maduro remained largely non-violent until Tuesday, where people are now being gunned-down in the streets and are launching tear gas at each other '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. 'Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!' Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton a 'pathological liar' last week for claiming that some 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela are providing security support for Maduro. He said the thousands of Cubans currently in Venezuela 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 a news conference April 25. Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart told Fox News Tuesday night that Russia was using the conflict to station themselves closer to the U.S. 'Imagine if this regime that now is receiving a lot of international pressure survives, is it or is it not potentially a green light, an open door for the Russians and for the Chinese and for others to increase their activity against our national security interest right here in our hemisphere,' Diaz-Balart told Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Some said the congressman was suggesting that Russia had installed nuclear missiles in Venezuela. Guaido called on Venezuelans to push President Maduro out of power in Venezuela, once and for all, in an uprising against his government rival. He said in the three-minute video taken at La Carlota airbase in the capital city of Caracas that 'the moment is now,' and urged protesters and members of the military to join the 'final phase of Operation Liberty.' Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier has put its Northern Ireland operation up for sale after trying to cut nearly 500 jobs at four sites including Belfast. Stunned workers at the factory, which employees 3,600, urged the government to ensure jobs were protected. The wing-making plant is an important stronghold of Arlene Foster's Democratic Unionist Party which is propping up Theresa May's fragile minority in Westminster. 'It's a shock to the system given what we have all been through. It's taken a toll,' said Noel Gibson, a sheet metal worker who has worked at the plant for 29 years. The Bombardier logo is seen at the Bombardier plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland which serves as a wing-making factory and is now up for sale Unite trade union leaders speak to the media at their offices in Belfast after news of Bombardier's planned sell off of its Belfast operation on Thursday Bombardier put the Belfast factory on the market as part of a wider shake-up, while the plane and train maker's failure to commit to meeting its 2020 goals knocked as much as 10 percent off its shares. The Canadian company said on Thursday it would unite its corporate and regional jet units, while selling off two aerostructures operations, including the Belfast plant, which is the largest high-tech manufacturer in Northern Ireland. Ms Foster said: 'Bombardier is an integral part of the Northern Ireland economy, with the skills of the local workforce having been recognised throughout the company. 'The partnership with Airbus represented a fresh opportunity for Bombardier and there have been a number of significant orders received since that announcement. 'The company themselves have recognised the significant increase in work, but the announcement of an intention to sell will be unsettling for the staff. 'It is welcome that there have been no workforce implications in relation to this announcement and both staff and the company can be assured of any support locally or in London which might assist them at this time.' DUP leader Arlene Foster said: 'Bombardier is an integral part of the Northern Ireland economy, with the skills of the local workforce having been recognised throughout the company' (pictured after voting in the local election in Brookeborough, Co Fermanagh on Thursday) A spokesman for Theresa May said while disappointing and unsettling for workers, Bombardier's Belfast business has a healthy long-term order book (pictured: leaving Downing Street on Thursday) The plant escaped major job losses last year when Bombardier won a trade victory against U.S. plane-maker Boeing in a dispute that had threatened to slap a 300 percent duty on sales of jets for which the plant supplies wings. The company's chief executive Alain Bellemare called the steps, which include the sale of a separate facility which produces aeronautical equipment in Morocco, 'a strategic move'. Bombardier is shedding its commercial aviation businesses to focus on more profitable corporate jets and passenger rail cars. Bellemare said the company will be working with Europe's Airbus SE to find a buyer for the wing-making facility, which produces wings for the A220 narrowbody jet. Industry analysts say the Belfast plant pioneered a leap forward in carbon-fibre wings technology that may be attractive to Airbus for its next generation of planes. Airbus declined to say whether it was interested in buying the plant but described it as a 'key supplier'. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to workers, accompanied by Michael Ryan, president of Bombardier Aerostructures and Engineering services division, during a visit to the Bombardier factory in Belfast in February 2018 A spokesman for Mrs May said while disappointing and unsettling for workers, Bombardier's Belfast business has a healthy long-term order book. Bombardier bought the plant from Short Brothers, the world's oldest planemaker, in 1989. It has been a pillar of Belfast's economy for decades and given many locals apprenticeships. It is of particular significance to the mainly Protestant unionist community who long provided the majority of workers in Shorts and the nearby Harland & Wolff shipyards. Cameron Bleses Wallace, 21, was arrested on Wednesday in Oxford, Ohio A college student has been arrested after police said he kept a 'hit list' of fraternity brothers, threatened a shooting, and stormed the frat house to choke another member. Cameron Bleses Wallace, 21, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with aggravated menacing, a first-degree misdemeanor, in the string of incidents at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Wallace, a former member of the Alpha Sigma Phi, became unhinged over another member who may have been romantically involved with his girlfriend, according to an Oxford Police Department complaint reviewed by DailyMail.com. 'It wasn't really a jealousy thing, I think that was just the tipping point,' a friend of both Wallace and the other fraternity members told DailyMail.com. 'There should be a large emphasis on mental health awareness because I do know he struggled with that, and a lot of [his fraternity brothers] struggled with handling that,' the source said. Wallace, seen at his part-time job at a Nike shoe store, became unhinged over another member who may have been romantically involved with his girlfriend, according to police Wallace, far right with friends, was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi frat at Miami University Three fraternity brothers told police that Wallace's behavior became increasingly troubling over recent month, including suicidal statements and self-harm by cutting. At some point, he was suspended from the frat, and began sending text messages indicating he had a 'hit list' of his former brothers whom he didn't like, police said. 'Wallace also sent texts threatening to burn down the fraternity house,' according to incident report. 'The witnesses stated Wallace made threats of revenge against the fraternity if he were to be kicked out and he would make allegations to the university about sexual assaults and hazing,' the complaint continued. Though he was no longer living at the fraternity house, Wallace still had the keypad entry code. Wallace still had the keypad entry code to the Alpha Sigma Phi house (above) On April 20, witnesses said he stormed in and choked a member until he had to be physically removed from the residence. Then on April 28, another member told police that Wallace made 'very specific threats' toward another fraternity brother, saying that student would be dead unless Wallace could speak with him, according to the incident report. That member said Wallace texted that he 'would be safe when he came to shoot up the house,' the report states. The fraternity brothers did not know whether Wallace had access to any weapons in order to carry out the threat. The source knows the parties involved told DailyMail.com that she believes that Wallace would not have carried out the threat. 'I couldn't see him doing anything like that at all,' she said. 'The way the media has depicted it has been blown out of proportion.' She said the fraternity members who had reported Wallace to police were a 'great group of guys' who had 'handled it the best that they could.' Wallace grew up in Springboro, Ohio. He was charged with aggravated menacing over the string on incidents at his college fraternity Wallace is a junior studying professional writing, according to the university directory. He was booked into Butler County Jail on Wednesday but appeared to be free on bond by Friday, according to jail records. He did not immediately return a message from DailyMail.com. Miami University is a public research university with 19,000 students. A South Carolina driver has been left shell shocked after a turtle smashed through the windshield of his car. John Gardner was driving on highway 501 near Lake Busbee in the town of Conway, South Carolina, around 4.30pm Tuesday when the airborne reptile crashed into his sedan. Authorities say the turtle was sent flying through the air like a missile after a truck struck the animal with its rear tire. 'I still don't understand how it, like, the exact angle of that tire, for it to just fling into my windshield,' Gardner told WBTW on Wednesday. Scroll down for video John Gardner was driving on highway 501 near Lake Busbee in the town of Conway, South Carolina around 4.30pm Tuesday when a turtle smashed through his windshield John Gardner, pictured, told reporters he had trouble understanding how the turtle could have been hit at such an angle to send it flying and crashing into his vehicle 'I couldn't even tell what it was at first because it's like, I guess just a big, black dot coming at me, and it's like, I couldn't move at all really. So, I was just like, "Oh okay. I hope it's not too bad."' The unfortunate turtle reportedly died upon impact, leaving Gardner covered in glass, but uninjured. Gardner said the truck driver checked to make sure he was OK after the incident. Police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. 'I didn't get hurt at all, I just remember when the cops showed up, [the truck driver] was like, "Hey, you're covered in glass,"' Gardner said. The half-shelled reptile unfortunately died on impact after shattering Gardner's windshield, covering the driver with glass 'And, because I didn't know, like I didn't know there was any in my hair and stuff like that, so I'm just like oh okay," the driver added. Gardner took his car to a local body shop that estimated the vehicle's repair cost at $2,000. 'The wipers and stuff like that all got broken too, so it's going to be a lot,' he said. Stephen Moore, the economist and commentator picked by Donald Trump for the Federal Reserve board, withdrew his nomination Thursday, the president announced on Twitter. The move came after Moore, who works for the conservative Heritage Foundation, was hit by years of his columns, articles and interviews resurfacing, leading to claims he was sexist. Trump claimed that Moore, 59, had 'won the battle of ideas' and said: 'I've asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.' The tweet came less than two hours after Moore had told Bloomberg it was a 'three month process' and said: 'My biggest ally is the president. He's full speed ahead.' Among the things he was revealed to have written were that female athletes wanted 'equal pay for inferior work,' that March Madness was un-American and should be changed to exclude women, and that then-sidelines reporter Bonnie Bernstein should be made to wear a halter top. All in to all out in a couple of hours: Stephen Moore went on financial news channel Bloomberg to claim the president was behind him on Thursday morning, but within less than two hours he was announced by his 'biggest ally' to be withdrawing his nomination Praise: Trump said that Stephen Moore was 'a truly fine person' as he announced that the economist was withdrawing his name from the nomination process for the Federal Reserve board He described college as ' places for rabble-rousing. For men to lose their boyhood innocence. To do stupid things. To stay out way too late drinking. To chase skirts.' And he was hit by revelations about his marriage and divorce, including how he cheated on his wife, with whom he had his three children and set up two accounts on Match.com. He boasted to his then wife Allison at their son's graduation ceremony that 'I have two women, and what's really bad is when they fight over you' - but wrote in a column that 'intact families' were vital to the economy. Even after Moore hired the PR firm which pushed for Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation and toured studios to claim that the president still supported him, he was revealed to have made a racially-charged joke about Barack Obama. 'There's that great cartoon going along, that The New York Times headline: 'First thing Donald Trump does as President is kick a black family out of public housing,'' Moore was revealed on Tuesday to have said in 2016. 'And it has Obama leaving the White House. I mean, I just love that one.' Just before Trump's tweet, there was a fresh revelation by The Guardian Thursday that Moore had underpaid his ex-wife's alimony bill for years, even after being found in contempt for owing her $30,000. Trump tweeted his announcement that Moore was withdrawing just before a meeting he was holding at the White House with Republican senators. Numerous GOP senators had said they objected to Moore's disparaging past writings about women or sidestepped questions about whether they would back Moore. Among them were Iowa senator Joni Ernst, while Maine's Susan Collins said the past columns were troubling. Moore has said he regretted the writings and said they were meant as humor columns. His economic credentials had also attracted criticism, including from academic economists who said he had never written or peer-reviewed academic papers. Moore has masters degree in economics, but not a doctorate. After Trump named Moore as a potential nominee in late March, Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard professor who was a top adviser to President George W. Bush, observed that Moore 'does not have the intellectual gravitas for this important job' and urged the Senate to keep him off the Fed. Moore has argued that the Fed should follow changes in the prices of commodities, such as oil or farm goods, and raise rates if those prices rose, to stem inflation. Yet that approach would have caused the Fed to raise rates in 2008 as oil prices spiked, which would have worsened the Great Recession. He had called for the Fed to raise interest rates in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, when the central bank and other agencies were cutting rates or taking emergency actions to help resuscitate the economy and the banking system. A conservative commentator for more than two decades, including for the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Moore is now a visiting fellow at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation. He was also an adviser to the Trump presidential campaign and helped design the 2017 tax cuts. He later co-wrote 'Trumponomics,' a book touting the president's policies. The decision to withdraw means that both Trump's nominations to the Federal Reserve board, Moore and pizza tycoon Herman Cain, have withdrawn even before a Senate hearing. Cain took his name out of the running days after a woman who had previously accused him of sexual harassment said that she would testify that they had a 13-year affair and would discuss his distinctive private parts to prove it. A White House lawyer told Attorney General William Barr in writing last month that President Donald Trump will protect his option to invoke executive privilege in response to demands from Congress. Attorney Emmet Flood also derided Robert Mueller's final Russia report as a 'political' document, complaining about the special counsel's contention that Trump could not be exonerated on obstruction of justice. Such conclusions 'do not belong in our criminal justice vocabulary,' Flood wrote, insisting that Mueller and his team 'failed in their duty to act as prosecutors and only as prosecutors.' He wrote that Mueller had an obligation to 'either ask the grand jury to return an indictment or decline to charge the case.' Instead, his office 'produced a prosecutorial curiosity part 'truth commission' report and part law school exam paper,' Flood claimed. The latest episode in the battle between Donald Trump's White House and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is the revelation of a letter in which a White House lawyer told the attorney general that Trump could invoke executive privilege to keep his aides from testifying before congressional Democrats Mueller completed his report on Russia's election interference in late March; White House lawyer Emmet Flood called it a 'political' document Mueller laid out substantial but conflicting evidence related to the question of whether Trump obstructed justice, and then declined to decide whether he should face prosecution. The White House sent the letter to Barr last month, a day after Mueller's report was released publicly. CNN first published it Thursday. Flood told Attorney General Bill Barr that Mueller should have either asked a grand jury to charge Trump with obstruction of justice or made it clear he was dropping the case Flood's position on executive privilege makes it clear that even though Trump allowed Mueller to conduct interviews with senior administration aides, he hasn't waived his right to block congressional Democrats from doing the same. But the attorney's most stinging argument is that Mueller's operation wildly strayed from the mission it was handed in order to publish a road map for presidential impeachment and, possibly, aid prosecutors in charging Trump with a crime after he returns to private life. Mueller wrote in his report that he embraced the role of fact-finder, as opposed to a traditional prosecutor's posture, because of Justice Department rules that would preclude him from charging a sitting president with a crime. He noted that his work involved documenting the granular details of events as his investigation established them, in part because Trump 'does not have immunity after he leaves office.' He also concluded that his investigation 'does not exonerate' the president, a position that Flood found unacceptable. In his letter to Barr, Flood claimed Mueller should have decided the state of the obstruction investigation instead of leaving it an open question for Congress to resolve; the end result was forcing the attorney general and deputy attorney general to make the call '[Mueller's] inverted-proof-standard and 'exoneration' statements can be understood only as political statements, issuing from persons (federal prosecutors) who in our system of government are rightly expected never to be political in the performance of their duties,' Flood wrote. 'What prosecutors are supposed to do is complete an investigation and then either ask the grand jury to return an indictment or decline to charge the case. 'When prosecutors decline to charge, they make that decision not because they have "conclusively determin[ed] that no criminal conduct occurred," but rather because they do not believe that the investigated conduct constitutes a crime for which all the elements can be proven to the satisfaction of a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.' 'Prosecutors simply are not in the business of establishing innocence, any more than they are in the business of "exonerating" investigated persons. In the American justice system, innocence is presumed,' he added. Raniya Wright, 10, died on March 27 two days after getting into a fight with another student at her South Carolina elementary school Autopsy results released Thursday support a prosecutor's earlier assertion that natural causes stemming from a birth defect killed a 10-year-old South Carolina girl who collapsed shortly after a fight at school. The seven-page autopsy report says fifth-grader Raniya Wright died after a tangle of malformed blood vessels ruptured in her brain. Raniya passed away on March 27, two days after she complained of a headache and collapsed following a fight with another girl in her class at Forest Hills Elementary School in Walterboro, South Carolina. The autopsy found 'no traumatic injuries' to the girl's body. 'The manner of death is best deemed natural,' concluded the report dated April 22. It was released to reporters Thursday by the office of Solicitor Duffie Stone. The autopsy backs up preliminary findings Stone cited during a news conference last month, when he announced that no charges would be filed in Raniya's death. He told reporters: 'In this case, the science is clear.' Scroll down for video Wright's mother, Ashley Wright, (pictured center last month) told reporters she'd complained about her daughter being bullied at school multiple times before the fight that preceded her daughter's death Ashley Wright posted this Facebook status some time after her daughter's death on March 27 Mourners laid balloons, flowers and stuffed animals outside Forest Hills Elementary school in Waltersboro, South Carolina after 10-year-old Wright passed away The girl's family has said the case deserves further investigation. Her mother, Ashley Wright, told reporters she previously told school officials her daughter was being bullied multiple times before the fight that preceded the child's death. Margie Pizzaro, an attorney for the Wright family, said Thursday she had not seen the autopsy report and could not comment on its findings. Colleton County Sheriff R.A. Strickland has described the fight at Forest Hills Elementary School as a 'five-second slap fight' in Raniya's classroom that was quickly broken up by a teacher. A horse-drawn caisson arrives outside Saints Center Ministries in Walterboro, S.C., on April 3 for a celebration of the life 10-year-old Raniya Wright A picture of Ashley Wright (left) and her late daughter that was posted on the family's GoFundMe page But the accounts of several students who witnessed the fight, contained in the sheriff's investigative report, say another girl held Raniya in a chokehold, punched her in the head and caused her to fall and strike her head on a shelf or cabinet. Some students also said it was Raniya who started the fight. The girl's medical records showed she had been to the doctor seven times in the past two years because of headaches. Ashley Wright, has said she wasn't aware of her daughter having any birth defects or conditions that led to a blood vessel rupture until after Raniya was hospitalized right before her death. Ashton Kutcher's then-girlfriend had 'consensual sex' with another man just hours before she was brutally murdered, accused Hollywood Ripper Michael Gargiulo's defense attorney has told jurors. The details surrounding the night 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin was brutally killed in February 2001 were brought up by Gargiulo's defense attorney on Thursday on the opening day of his murder trial in Los Angeles. Gargiulo, 43, is accused of murdering two women, including Kutcher's former girlfriend, and trying to kill another in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008. He was separately charged with killing an 18-year-old Illinois woman whose father found her fatally stabbed on their family's doorstep with her house key still in hand. His defense attorney, Dan Nardoni, repeatedly tried to discredit the prosecutions case during opening statements by telling jurors that other men had better access or motive in the killings. The trial has begun for Michael Gargiulo (right), the 'Hollywood Ripper', 43, Thursday. He is facing two counts of murder and one of attempted murder He said that Ellerin had sex with her apartment manager just hours before Kutcher was scheduled to pick her up from her Hollywood apartment. He told the court that Ellerin was supposed to go to a post-Grammy party with Kutcher the night she was murdered. When detectives interviewed the apartment's manager Mark Durban after the murder, Nardoni said: 'He claimed that he had consensual sex with Ashley earlier that night.' One of Gargiulo's alleged victims is Ashley Ellerin who was fatally stabbed aged 22 in her Hollywood Hills home in 2001. She was dating Ashton Kutcher at the time of her death Durban left Ellerin's apartment around 8.15pm and Kutcher showed up to pick her up at about 10.45pm, the defense attorney told jurors. Kutcher has previously said that when Ellerin didn't answer her door, he left, unaware her horribly mutilated body was lying inside. Attempting to throw doubt on the prosecution's case, Nardoni said there was no sign of forced entry to Ellerin's apartment, meaning that either she knew her killer and let him in or somebody unlocked the door. The defense attorney said that only four people had keys to the apartment: Ellerin, her room-mate, her former room-mate and Durban. He said the apartment manager was 'going to be an important witness in this case'. Nardoni insisted that there is no physical evidence in the Ellerin murder linking to Gargiulo. 'There are no fingerprints identifiable to Mr Gargiulo. From the body of Ashley Ellerin, there is no DNA identifiable to Mr Gargiulo,' he said. He also argued that there is no physical evidence against his client in the murder of Maria Bruno on December 1, 2005 - another woman he is accused of killing. This map shows the floorplan of Ellerin's Hollywood Hills bungalow where she was murdered. It depicts where her body was found stabbed to death Ashton Kutcher was seen looking downcast on Wednesday just hours after it was revealed he could be called to testify in his ex-girlfriend's murder trial. The 41-year-old looked gaunt and concerned as he parked his car in Beverly Hills 'There is no DNA from the body of Maria Bruno that is identifiable with Michael Gargiulo. There is no DNA from the window (where the killer entered the apartment), there are no fingerprints from the window,' Nardoni told jurors. The defense attorney offered an explanation as to why Bruno had left her husband, Irving Bruno, and was living alone at the time she was killed. He said it was because she 'was physically abused for nine years in their relationship'. An altercation that led to Bruno's husband 'pushing her, throwing her on the ground and punching her in the face' was the 'last straw' that made her leave him. Nardoni said that Irving told detectives that sometimes when he was abusive to his wife he would 'black out' and not remember hitting her. Gargiulo was living a 'double life', the court heard. He was attacking women and killing them and he was able to go undetected for almost 15 years,' said assistant district attorney Trying to further discredit the prosecution's case, Nardoni told the court that when detectives showed pictures of Gargiulo and four other possible suspects in Bruno's murder to another resident at her apartment complex, that person did not identify Gargiulo. After Gargiulo was arrested in 2008, following the attempted murder of Michelle Murphy, he was put in a cell for nearly two days with two other inmates, who actually were undercover homicide detectives. 'It was a subterfuge to get him to confess to killing these women,' Nardoni told the jury. 'It was a 42 hour interrogation and I can assure you that during those 42 hours Mr Gargiuo did not admit to killing any of these women.' During the prosecutor's opening statement on Thursday, the jury heard how Gargiuo would 'watch, shadow, stalk and hunt down' his victims before fatally stabbing them for sexual pleasure. Prosecutor Daniel Akemon called the defendant 'the boy next door killer' and described his crimes as 'the methodical and systematic slaughter of women'. 'What you will hear is that Michael Gargiulo for almost 15 years was watching, always watching,' he said. 'And his hobby was plotting the perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes.' Gargiulo - dressed in purple dress shirt, with his head shaved and sporting a graying goatee and Versace glasses - occasionally whispered with his defense lawyer as he listened to the prosecution's opening statement detailing the charges against him, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Gargiulo was living a 'double life', the court heard. On the one hand he was a husband and father. On the other, 'he was attacking women and killing them and he was able to go undetected for almost 15 years,' said Akemon. Gargiulo - dressed in purple dress shirt, with his head shaved and sporting a graying goatee and Versace glasses - occasionally whispered to his lawyer Pictures of the victims (left) and of Michael Gargiulo were shown during the opening statements of Gargiulo's trial on Thursday 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) This map shows that Gargiulo and victim Pacaccio lived only 550ft away from one another in 1993 when she was murdered 'He would identify a target living near to him. Then he would hunt them down and slaughter them. He watched and waited, then he pounced and killed them in blitz-type knife attacks.' Gargiulo is currently facing two murder charges: the 2001 killing of 22 year-old Ashley 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. He will be tried separately for Tricia Pacaccio's murder in Illinois in 1993. Gargiulo was a neighbor of each victim at the time of the attacks. Prosecutors say Gargiulo moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and targeted Ellerin, a model and student who was living in Hollywood and dating TV star Ashton Kutcher, who was aged 23 and starring in his first TV hit, That 70s Show. Gargiulo 'injected himself' into Ashley's life, changing a tire for her and fixing her furnace, said Akemon. 'He gatecrashed a party at her home and fixated on her. Somehow he got a copy of a key to her apartment and let himself inthen ran away.' Ellerin's friends warned her that Gargiulo was stalking her, showing up at her home at odd times and watching her. And on the night of February 21, 2001, her friends' worst fears were realized. A map showing the distance of 400ft between Gargiulo and Ellerin is presented as evidence during opening statements at his murder trial Gargiulo moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and targeted 22 year-old Ashley Ellerin, a model and student who was living in Hollywood and dating TV star Ashton Kutcher. He 'injected himself' into Ashley's life, changing a tire for her and fixing her furnace, said Akemon. 'He gatecrashed a party at her home and fixated on her. Somehow he got a copy of a key to her apartment and let himself inthen ran away' Ellerin, 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. Kutcher 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 Ellerin'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. 'Ashley was stabbed to death in the hallway outside her bathroom,' Akemon told the jury. 'She was stabbed over 47 timesshe was almost decapitated.' Akemon noted that Ellerin was attacked from behind and her throat was cut from left to right, indicating that her killer was left handed. Gargiulo is left handed. Another victim in the case, 32-year-old Maria Bruno, was found stabbed to death in her apartment in suburban El Monte in 2005. 'Gargiulo could see into Maria's apartment from his own,' Akemon told the court. On the night of her murder, 'he entered her apartment through a window, put on blue surgical bootees and stabbed Maria as she slept. Gargiulo was roaming free until 2008 when he allegedly attacked Michelle Murphy, who fought him off and survived after she was stabbed 17 times Tricia Pacaccio's body is rolled out from her Chicago, Illinois home in 1993. Gargiulo was a friend of her two brothers 'He cut off her breasts and attempted to move her breast implants and place one of her breasts in her mouth.' Bruno's lifeless body was found by her estranged husband. Akemon said that Gargiulo's DNA was found on one of the blue bootees found at the crime scene and a matching bootee was found in his apartment. 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. She is expected to be the prosecution's star witness during 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 Ellerin 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 Pacaccio's 1993 murder. The teenager killed in Illinois had lived just down the street from Gargiulo in suburban Glenview. 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 Murphy 15 years later. Advertisement Some 76 percent of African Americans say they experience discrimination, though educated black people are 16 percent more likely to report racial bias than those who never attended college, a new survey reveals. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of Among African Americans who have a high school degree or less said they experience racism 'from time to time,' including 9 percent who say they encounter it regularly, according to the Pew Research Center poll of black Americans. By comparison, 81 percent of black people who have at least attended some college say they've faced discrimination including 17 percent who say it happens regularly. This graph breaks out the share of all African Americans, as well as those with some or more college and those who have a high school degree or less - who report experiencing discrimination from time to time vs. regularly. Source: Pew Research Center Educated African Americans are also more likely to report people acting as if they were suspicious of them - 71 percent compared to 59 percent of those who haven't attended college. Similarly, 67 percent of educated black people say they've been treated like they weren't intelligent, compared to 52 percent of their uneducated counterparts. Those who attended at least some college were also more likely to report being subject to slurs or jokes (58 percent compared to 45 percent); being treated unfairly in hiring, pay or promotion (52 percent compared to 45 percent); and having feared for their personal safety (50 percent compared to 34 percent). Some 44 percent of African Americans report being unfairly stopped by police, and educated black people are only slightly more likely to say they've experienced this (46 percent compared to 42 percent). A quarter of black people say that people have assumed they were prejudiced and on that point the uneducated cohort was slightly more likely to experience this (23 percent compared to 26 percent of educated African Americans). This graph illustrates the share of all African Americans, as well as those with some or more college and those who have a high school degree or less - who have experienced various racist experiences, with more educated black people more likely to report encountering most types of discrimination. Source: Pew Research Center College-educated African Americans are also more likely to say that their race has harmed their ability to succeed 57 percent compared to 47 percent of uneducated black people. The findings are consistent with previous research and polls by Pew and others. William A. Darity Jr., a professor of public policy at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, has suggested that educated African Americans are more likely to work in predominately white settings, which could expose them to more racial discrimination. Others have said that college can provide African Americans with more exposure to the issues of race and discrimination, thus elevating their awareness and sensitivity to those experiences. Self-reported experiences of racism are also split along gender lines, with black men far more likely than women to say they've been unfairly stopped by the police (59 percent compared to 31 percent). Black men were also more likely to report people acting as if they were suspicious of them (73 percent compared to 59 percent), or subject them to racial slurs or jokes (57 percent compared to 49 percent). A Northern California public school is considering removing a mural of George Washington from the hallways after concerns the imagery is offensive and demeaning to Native Americans and African-Americans. The mural at the George Washington High School by Victor Arnautoff is made up from 13 panels that make up the 'Life of Washington'. But a working group determined that several of panels are offensive and 'traumatize students and community members.' However, those in favor of keeping the 83-year-old mural say that removing it ignores the intent of the artist and represents an attempt to erase history. One of the paintings named 'Westward Vision' shows George Washington holding a map and pointing in a direction to invade Native American land Another painting, 'Mount Vernon,' portrays the enslavement of African-Americans forced into physical labor and depicts Washington as a slave owner A working group met in recent months and considered the artwork to be highly problematic and recommended it to be archived and removed from the walls of the school. Because the murals are painted onto the plaster of the walls at the school, removing them would simply mean painting them over with white paint. 'San Francisco Unified School District convened a 'Reflection and Action Working Group' that was comprised of members of the local Native American community, students, school representatives, district representatives, local artists and historians,' Laura Dudnick, spokeswoman for the district said to The College Fix. 'At its conclusion the group voted and the majority recommended that the 'Life of Washington' mural be archived and removed because the mural does not represent SFUSD values.' The painting includes a dead body of an indigenous man and a broken tree limb that symbolizes broken treaties between settlers and Native Americans The mural at the George Washington High School by Victor Arnautoff is made up from 13 panels that make up the 'Life of Washington' The mural consists of 13 panels - but it is two of them which are coming under fire for containing objectionable images, according to the Richmond District Blog. One of the images that has been deemed offensive sees Washington gesturing toward a group of soldiers walking over the body of a dead Native American depicted in the color gray. A second panel sees Washington next to several slaves performing various types of manual labor. 'One of the main reasons why it is controversial is because back in the [1930s] when it was painted, George Washington was the saint of the people,' one student at George Washington High School told the Golden Gate Express. 'I've talked to a bunch of students here and I honestly think that they agree it is the true depiction of history and that we all have to know who George Washington really was.' Arnautoff was a prominent Russian-American painter who created the murals as part of a Works Progress Administration project undertaken during the New Deal Fergus M. Bordewich, a historian, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the intention of the artist should be taken into account when considering the intent of the images: 'There is a deeply wrongheaded habit to project today's norms, values, ideals backwards in time to find our ancestors inevitably falling short. 'It betrays a very troubling intolerance of art and the ambiguity of art and the aspirations of art,' he said. 'The mural is not a celebration of genocide, it's a challenge to westward expansion.' 'It's incredibly stupid if we try to erase history,' he said. 'It still happened, and you should argue about its meanings,' he said. In 1936, Public Works of Art Project artist Victor Arnautoff painted the mural. Arnautoff was a prominent Russian-American painter who created the murals as part of a Works Progress Administration project undertaken during the New Deal. Arnautoff's goal was to create murals that interpret 'humanist themes' by presenting art that relates to issues of power and class according to the Golden Gate Express. A left-wing artist, Arnautoff painted murals to provoke thought and to challenge the naked eye. He used his art as a platform to promote unpopular themes and as a way for others to connect with the harsh, deep-rooted history on which America was founded. Some students from George Washington High School disagreed with the calls to remove the mural and said it is an uncensored representation of history. 'It's not really racist,' 17-year-old Amvinder Chauhan said. 'It's showing the actual history of George Washington when he first came here and colonized Americathe Native Americans were getting killed so that we had more lands and he did have slaves on his farm.' Another student Pavel Preyomyshev, 16, said that the mural depicts Washington as who he truly was. 'One of the main reasons why it is controversial is because back in the 1930s when it was painted, George Washington was the saint of the people,' he said. 'I've talked to a bunch of students here and I honestly think that they agree it is the true depiction of history and that we all have to know who George Washington really was.' As for now, the future of the mural is still very much up in the air. 'The superintendent and staff are now reviewing the recommendation and considering the best course of action,' said Dudnick. 'At this time there hasn't yet been any recommendation put forth before the SF Board of Education on this matter.' Legendary actress Anjelica Huston has jumped to the defense of maligned Hollywood figures Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Jeffrey Tambor but she still thinks beloved comedian Bill Murray is a s**t. In an outspoken and unabashed interview published in New York Magazine, the 67-year-old admitted shed work with Allen again in a second despite allegations reemerging that the filmmaker abused his daughter, Dylan OSullivan Farrow, when she was just seven. Two states investigated him, Huston, who has worked on two films with Allen, noted. And neither of them prosecuted him, she added - reaffirming that shed jump at an opportunity to collaborate with him again. Hustons stance marks a stark contrast to other Hollywood stars, such as Greta Gerwig, Timothee Chalamet and Colin Firth, who have all recently voiced regret about working with Allen. Anjelica Huston sat down with New York Magazine this week for an explosive tell-all interview The Hollywood legend spoke candidly about her 17-year relationship with Jack Nicholson (pictured together in 1986), as well as controversially about her opinions on Woody Allen and roman Polanski In the same vein of questioning, the Oscar-winner was also asked about director Roman Polanskis 1977 sex abuse case, in which he raped a 13-year-old girl in the home of Jack Nicholson, who was Hustons boyfriend at the time. Present at the residence as the assault took place, Huston insisted Polanskis actions were part of a whole playboy movement and cant be judged by todays standards of sexual abuse because it was simply a different time. Its a story that couldve happened in ten years before in England or France or Italy or Spain or Portugal, and no one wouldve heard anything about it, Huston said. She added that that approaching underage girls was simply de rigueur for most of the guys like Roman who had grown up with the European sensibility. 'Thats how these guys enjoy their time, she claimed. Huston jumped to the defense of maligned Hollywood figures Woody Allen (left) and Roman Polanski (right). Allen's daughter reaffirmed in January that her father had sexually abused her in 1992, in incredible allegations. Polanski fled the US in 1977 after he raped a 13-year-old girl in Jack Nicholson's home Huston admitted shed work with Allen again in a second despite allegations reemerging that the shamed filmmaker abused his daughter, Dylan OSullivan (pictured: Huston and Allen on the set of Manhattan Murder Mystery, 2003) Polanski fled from the US in 1978 before he could be sentenced, shortly after accepting a plea bargain that reduced his charges from rape to unlawful sex with a minor. My opinion is: Hes paid his price, and at the time that it happened it was kind of unprecedented. This was not an unusual situation. Similar to both Polanski and Allen, another once respected tinsel town figure to fall from grace in the era of #MeToo is actor Jeffrey Tambor, who starred alongside Huston on the show Transparent, before he was fired in 2018 following sexual assault allegations made by other cast members. Again, Huston was quick to suggest the accuseds purported inappropriate actions may have been misunderstood. Insofar as I was concerned, nobody did or said anything inappropriate [Actors] have to feel as though we can say and do things that are not necessarily judged, particularly by the other people in the cast or crew. Huston, the daughter of acclaimed filmmaker John Huston, further stated that she absolutely believes that what happens on set should stay on set, contrary to the message of the #MeToo movement. The daughter of acclaimed filmmaker John Huston, the pair were said to have shared a difficult relationship Huston described Bill Murray as a 'sh*t' following a clash on the set of Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, in 2004 Huston (pictured modelling in 1972) further stated that she absolutely believes that what happens on set should stay on set, in relation to allegations against actor Jeffrey Tambor But despite stating willingness to pardon Polanski, Allen and Tambor for their reported past misdemeanors, Huston make it abundantly clear she isnt one to forgive and forget very often. In 2004, Huston starred alongside Bill Murray in Wes Andersons The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. But a failure to invite her out to dinner with the cast and crew gave birth to a now 15-year feud between the pair. Huston believes Oprah Winfrey has held a silent grudge against her since 1986, when she beat her to a Best Supporting actress Oscar He was a sh*t to me, Huston said of Murray. The first week I was there, we were all in this little hotel, and he invited the entire cast to go and have dinner, except me. The Adams Family actress said she was left feeling really hurt by the incident, and made her feelings plainly clear to Murray the next time they came face-to-face on set. [Murray] said, Hey, howve you been? I missed you. I said, Youre full of sh*t. You didnt miss me. He looked all confused for a moment. Hes been a little nicer to me since. Huston also said she has been embroiled in a silent row with Oprah Winfrey, who has allegedly held a grudge against her since she beat the talk show host to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1986. She won the Academy Award for her role in Prizzis Honor, a film directed by her father, and starring alongside Nicholson. The only encounter Ive had with Oprah was when I was at a party for the Academy Awards, a private residence, Huston says. I was talking to Clint Eastwood, and she literally came between us with her back to me. So all of the sudden I was confronted with the back of Oprahs head. When asked if she believes Oprah has snubbed her over the Oscar, Huston replied: Well, nobody else would dislike me so much as to literally, physically come in between the person I was talking with that way. But I admire Oprah. God knows, shes made some big steps. Insisting she doesnt regret a single second of the near two decade relationship - plagued largely by infidelity on Nicholsons part - Huston did however express contempt at the fact that he 'doesn't call [her] enough' Huston also spoke candidly about her often combative relationship with her father, as well as her long-time partner Jack Nicholson, who she dated for 17-years. Insisting she doesnt regret a single second of the near two decade relationship - plagued largely by infidelity on Nicholsons part - Huston did however express contempt at the fact that he 'doesn't call [her] enough'. She also voiced disappointment at the ailing careers of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Admitting she once idolized the two legends, Huston said she wish theyd followed Nicholsons lead and stopped working all together. You dont want to see Jackdoing Meet the Fockers,' Huston quipped. 'I already get depressed if I see him in perfectly good Nancy Myers movies. Pacino does some schlock. But in some way hes forgiven, because he always goes out on a limb and does Salome all by himself. Pacino is more experimental, I think. But Bobby, I dont know the last thing that Ive seen him in that I thought, Wow, hes really cracking it. Police believe Joseph McCann, 34, is being hidden by a friend or family member A rape suspect wanted for abducting and attacking three women is being hidden by a friend or family member, according to police. Joseph McCann, 34, is being hunted for three 'horrific' attacks over a period of four days in April. Two of the attacks took place in London while the other took place in Watford. Speaking outside New Scotland Yard today, Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin said that the fugitive is being hidden by 'someone who knows him'. The detective added that McCann is thought to still be in the country. She said : 'We are investigating three horrific incidents of rape and abduction against women and we are appealing for help from the public to locate Joseph McCann, who is wanted for questioning in connection with the offences.' 'Our enquiries strongly indicate that McCann is being hidden by someone who knows him. 'Whatever your reason, if you are loyal to him, or fearful of him, please call us or share any information 100% anonymously via Crimestoppers. 'McCann is wanted in connection with violent, sexually-motivated offences and it is vital that he be apprehended.' Detective Goodwin called on anyone sheltering McCann to imagine if 'your mother, sister, daughter, niece or friend had experienced such an awful attack and put yourselves in the shoes of their family'. 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. Officers have issued an appeal to trace 33-year-old Joseph McCann (pictured) wanted in connection with the abduction and rape of two women 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. 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. The car he was driving is said to have been a silver or grey Ford S-Max people carrier with false registration plates (pictured) 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. 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. A map showing where the women were abducted and the location of the guesthouse in Watford '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.' 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 said the two women had been in the car while the suspected attacker went into the bed and breakfast in Watford (pictured) 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. It emerged that the attacker asked to book Room 15 at the Phoenix Lodge guest house. 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 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. 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. Just five months ago, 15-year-old Amelie Linsey and her brother, Daniel, 19, spent a joyful Christmas holiday in Newport Beach in California as they do every year. On Friday they will be buried in that coastal town where their father, Matthew, was born. On Tuesday, parents Matthew and Angelina and brother Ethan, 11, flew to the states to prepare for the funeral while the American Embassy repatriated the bodies. Amelie and Daniel were killed in a terror attack in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday as they ate breakfast with their father - they were due to fly home later that day. Amelie (bottom second from right) and Daniel (far left) with their parents Matthew and Angelina, their older brother David (centre) and younger brother Ethan (bottom right) on holiday in Newport Beach, California where they used to go each year for Christmas Daniel, 19, (left) and Amelie, 15, were murdered in a hotel blast on Easter Sunday while eating breakfast with their father Matthew The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation Donations can be made to The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation with cheques payable to The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation and posted to The Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT Or use online banking to make a transfer to: Account Name: The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation, Sort Code: 50-00-00, Account Number: 20769512 There is also a Just Giving page here. Advertisement In Saturday's Mail, their brother, David, spoke with a strength of character beyond his 21 years with his mother, Angelina. It was the first time she spoken about her devastating loss and she described her children quite simply as 'her best friends.' The family want to bury Amelie and Daniel, who like their siblings have dual UK and American citizenship, in Newport Beach where they shared so many precious times on their annual Christmas holiday. David said: 'We have had so many happy times there. It was the town we went every year and it is where my grandmother lived. It is much more peaceful there.' Amelie on Newport Beach in California where the family go each year for Christmas The family wanted to bury their children, who were killed in such a violent act, somewhere they can finally find peace. This annual holiday to California was a particularly fond time for the family. David, who like his siblings was raised in his father's Jewish faith fondly remembers dropping his mother, a Catholic, off at church for mass on Christmas day. 'I always remember on Christmas day when the roads were empty, my dad would go down to a parking lot and we would all sit on his lap and take turns moving the steering wheel of the car. We all did it as kids,' David said. David, who joins his family in California today, delayed joining them to speak at a conference about tackling extremism. Hosted by one of Britain's leading investment bankers, Malik Karim, David had intended to go to the conference before the terror attack. Following the death of his siblings, he was determined to address the crowd and speak about his family's fundraising efforts. He has set up a charity called The Amelie and Daniel Linsey Foundation in memory of his siblings kind and giving spirit. The Foundation aims to find some humanity following such a terrible act, and raise money for the families of Sri Lankan victims as well as providing surgical training for the hospital where Amelie and Daniel were taken. 'I now realise that I have been given a voice and I believe it is the right thing to do to use this platform to speak for those whose voices are not being heard,' he said. Matthew Linsey with Daniel and Amelie in 2011, both of whom were murdered on Easter Sunday (left) and Amelie with her mother Angelina (right) Amelie's brother David with her on her 15th birthday in January this year in London 'These are the families of the more than 250 innocent Sri Lankan victims. 'With their sole breadwinner gone, who knows how many families may fall into poverty, let alone be able to afford for their children the education to escape it.' Comedian Romesh Ranganathan to host fundraising gig A host of comedy talent will perform at a fundraising gig to raise money for victims of the Sri Lanka terror attacks and their families. Romesh Ranganathan and Nihal Arthanayake, who both have family ties to the region, will host A Night For Sri Lanka at Indigo at the O2 in London on May 12. Ranganathan on the Jonathan Ross Show Ranganathan explored Sri Lanka for the BBC Three series Romesh's Return Ticket, which saw the Mock The Week star visit the country after being sent packing there by his mother. His deadpan comedy style saw him become a panellist on the popular series A League Of Their Own at the end of 2018. Presenter Arthanayake - better known as DJ Nihal - hosts his own show on BBC Radio 5 live. Comedians Harry Hill, Jo Brand, Rob Beckett, Katherine Ryan and Kerry Godliman will join the duo for a night of comedy, followed by a DJ set by Martin 2 Smoove. Tickets for the event will go on sale on Friday May 3, with all proceeds going to the British Asian Trust. Advertisement Until a few weeks ago, David was preparing for his finals in economics and management at Oxford. In his determination to ensure his brother and sisters spirits live on, he has now decided to defer his studies and focus his energy on the Foundation. David added: 'Amelie and Daniel were beautiful caring people. We hope not to move on but to continue their giving spirit.' In an interview with the Mail on Saturday, he described how his sister was always there for his siblings and would let her little brother sleep in her bed. He added that his brother, Daniel, had spent time doing charity work, volunteering at a village in Ethiopia. Within 48 hours the fund attracted more than 20,000, but the family hope to raise 750,000. Addressing the crowd before introducing David, who is a close family friend, Mr Karim said: 'This is an issue casting an ominous cloud on civil society. 'Not only is our faith being hijacked by extremists but that the media narrative, dinner party chatter and policy response often seem one dimensional. 'We seem only to have a hammer in our toolbox and therefore every problem is a nail. 'This is not a criticism of all the good work being done by government and the counter-terrorism community but a gentle plea that we need to revisit our approach and effectiveness.' 'David has shown incredible courage and been very thoughtful and measured in expressing his grief,' added Mr Karim, who arrived in the UK as a 12-year-old after being forced to flee Uganda under Idi Amin's tyrannical regime. The family's fundraising efforts have already touched hundreds of people. One donor on the page said: 'Sincere condolences for your loss and setting up this foundation is a really admirable and caring thing to do.' Another stated: 'My heart goes to your family and all families affected by this tragedy. What you are trying to achieve is extremely inspiring.' Some anonymous donors have given 500 each. The Linsey Family at the Taj Mahal in India in 2014 - father Matthew, mother Angelina and Daniel (left), Ethan (front), Amelie and David (far right) A map showing where the eight blasts went off , six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning - the Linseys were at the Shangri-La in Colombo At the conference, David received a standing ovation as he concluded: 'The fight against extremism must ultimately be won in the mind. Radical moderates must win the ideological battle against extremists. 'I would like us all to remember that today is not a time for hate, it is a time for love and more importantly a time for learning. 'It is a time to support the victims and in doing so show whoever did this to us that we value life more than they seek death.' Sri Lankan Police officers inspect a blast spot at the Shangri-la hotel in Colombo where the Linsey children were eating on Easter Sunday The wreckage is inspected by police after bombs hit the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo during the Easter Sunday massacres Donations can be made to The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation with cheques payable to The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation and posted to The Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT OR use online banking to make a transfer to Account Name: The Amelie & Daniel Linsey Foundation, Sort Code: 50-00-00, Account Number: 20769512 There is also a Just Giving page here. Cheickna Kagnassy, a 21-year-old WVU freshman studying business, has been charged with threatening to go on a shooting spree A West Virginia University student has been charged with threatening to go on a shooting spree. WVU police acting on a tip arrested Cheickna Kagnassy, a 21-year-old freshman pre-business major from Maryland, at his room in Vandalia Hall on Wednesday evening. Deputy Chief Phil Scott said a concerned citizen notified police that Kagnassy had spoken of carrying out a shooting spree, then committing suicide. When officers searched the suspects dorm room, they found no weapons. Court documents obtained by the station WBOY stated that university police were sent screenshots of a Facebook exchange between Kagnassy and the informant. During the conversation, the 21-year-old freshman allegedly said, 'I legit feel like going on a shooting spree.' Kagnassy, from Maryland, was arrested in his dorm room on campus (pictured) Wednesday by university police acting on a tip In another message, Kagnassy allegedly told the tipster, 'Don't worry dawg, I'll likely be dead before I go on a shooting spree,' referring to his prospective suicide. At the time of his arrest, officers got permission from Kagnassy to review the contents of his cellphone and allegedly found the same Facebook messages that were shared with them by the tipster in his deleted files. Kagnassy was taken to North Central Regional Jail to be arraigned on a charge of making terroristic threats. His bond was set at $75,000. He will not be allowed back on campus if released from jail, police said. 'Our number one concern is always the safety of the University community and this provides an example of the system working exactly the way it should, Chief W.P. Chedester said. Someone saw something and said something. We investigated and found sufficient reason to take action, all within less than 24 hours. A Florida cruise liner company has become the first to be sued for using buildings that were confiscated from their owners by the Cuban government decades ago. Carnival Cruise Corps. was sued on Thursday by Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia-Bengochea. They hold claims to buildings at docks in Havana and Santiago de Cuba which were taken from their families by Fidel Castro 60 years ago. Since 2016, Carnival has used the buildings while anchoring their cruise ships but neither of the men has received money from the company nor have they given their permission to it to do so. Javier Garcia-Bengochea (left) and Mickael Behn (right) are suing Carnival Cruises for using buildings in Cuba that they own but that were confiscated from them by Fidel Castro in the late 50s They, along with thousands of others, fled to America after the Cuban Revolution and have been forced to stay for decades as a result of the travel ban imposed after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Carnival launched its first Cuban cruise in 2016 after Obama eased restrictions to allow non-Cuban Americans to visit the island nation. But Behn and Bengochea have not been able to stake claim to the properties, even as US travel was facilitated. Their claims have been validated by the U.S. Department of Justices Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. For years, US presidents have refused to allow them or anyone else in their position to sue companies for using the properties in the interest of bolstering relations with Cuba. That changed this week when President Trump, acting in retaliation for Cuba's support of Venezuela, toughened the rules again. He, as part of his crackdown, has fully enacted a provision of the Libertad act which now allows the men to launch legal action against companies which have used the buildings. Behn wiped tears away from his eyes as he told reporters on Thursday that the company, and the Cuban government, hoped his family would 'die and fade away'. His family was forced to abandon the property and businesses they owned to flee Castro's regime The first Carnival cruise to Cuba from the US is shown arriving in Havana on May 2, 2016 Behn says his claim is worth millions. His is for buildings and three piers at the Port of Havana which his grandfather built but which his family had to abandon in the 60s. 'They just hoped my family would die and fade away,' he said on Thursday, fighting tears as he announced the lawsuit. Garcia-Bengochea, who lives in Florida, says he has claims to facilities in both Havana and Santiago de Cuba that are worth $45 million. Carnival dismissed the lawsuit, saying that because the US government sanctioned all its travel to Cuba, they do not stand. 'Cruising to Cuba falls under the lawful travel exemption under Title 3 of the Helms Burton Act. 'Our cruise members have been and are now engaged in lawful travel to Cuba as expressly authorized by U.S. federal government,' a spokesman said. The men are the first of no doubt many Cuban citizens who will stake claims to properties that they have had to live without for decades thanks to Trump's change in the law. Cops are looking for a drug-dealing teacher who they suspect shot and killed a female high school student on the grounds of a university in central Mexico on Monday. According to Mexican outlet La Silla Rota, a special unit of police officers initiated the manhunt on Wednesday following the shooting death of Aidee Mendoza, 18, a student at the School for Sciences and Humanities located on the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico [UNAM] in Mexico City. The law enforcement agents searched the neighborhood of Maravillas but did not find the suspect, who has only been identified by his first name, Victor. A day before the murder, someone placed a Spanish written message on a banner outside the victim's school that read: 'The day is approaching. They can not hide the truth.' It is not know if the message and the murder are connected. Aidee Mendoza was shot dead during the middle of a classroom session at her high school in Mexico City on Monday The 18-year-old was sitting at the front of the classroom when a bullet entered through her armpit and became lodged in her abdomen, causing severe internal bleeding The student was murdered during class at her high school located on the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico [UNAM] in Mexico City The teenage girl was in a classroom with 10 other students and her mathematics teacher when the gunman reportedly fired a 9mm bullet that struck Mendoza. The bullet passed through her thorax and became lodged in her abdomen, which caused internal hemorrhaging. Students also told detectives that they had spotted four men outside the classroom moments before their classmate was fatally shot. Mendoza complained of chest pains before she collapsed. Investigators said that Victor is a local drug dealer serving nearby universities, but he also taught a weekly class on Saturday at UNAM. Detectives assigned to Mendoza's murder canvassed the surrounding area near the classroom, ruling out that the shot was fired from outside the school campus. A day before Aidee Mendoza was gunned down, someone outside her school placed a Spanish written message on a banner that read: 'The day is approaching. They can not hide the truth' Instead, they came to the conclusion that the killer fired at the young woman from inside the school. La Silla Rota reported that Victor owed money to a local supplier, according to the Mexico City prosecutor's office. The district attorney's office said in a report that 'marijuana that was handed over was not paid for. The [aggressor] fired a weapon that was carried for security, which wounded the UNAM student.' Friends and family members paid their final respects to Mendoza on Wednesday during funeral ceremony outside her home in Huatlatlauca, a town of just 300 residents. Her remains were cremated Thursday morning. Katie McHugh, now 28 (pictured at an earlier age), who was fired from Breitbart in 2017 for tweeting racist comments about Muslim people, now claims she's changed and has turned her back on the 'alt-right' movement which made her Internet famous Katie McHugh, who was fired from Breitbart in 2017 for tweeting racist comments about Muslim people, now claims she's changed and has turned her back on the 'alt-right' movement which made her Internet famous. In an interview with Buzzfeed, McHugh, now 28, details how a lonely college experience and an early, long-term romance with white nationalist Kevin DeAnna led her down a path that encouraged her 'vindictiveness and capacity for cruelty.' 'I take full responsibility for everything I said, every mistake I made, anyone who I hurt in this process, period,' McHugh said, while detailing the path she took to where she is today, struggling to find employment and to pay her medical bills for diabetes. Unable to get her own essay about her reckoning with an ugly past published, McHugh eventually agreed to share the story of her journey with Buzzfeed, but not before becoming a source for the website, exposing media and political connections of the alt-right. She said she takes responsibility for tweeting things like, 'There would be no deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn't live there,' (inset) as she did on June 3, 2017, which got her fired from Breitbart, but that the outlet encouraged her to be vindictive and cruel It was a tweet in 2017 that started the unraveling of what looked like a promising career as an ultra-conservative media personality, with not-so-secret ties to white nationalists It was a tweet in 2017 that started the unraveling of what looked like it could have become a promising career as an ultra-conservative media personality, with not-so-secret ties to white nationalists. While working for Breitbart, which was founded by Steve Bannon and who once declared it 'the platform for the Alt-Right,' McHugh tweeted on June 3, 2017: 'There would be no deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn't live there.' At that time, Bannon had left the site to work for President Donald Trump's administration as chief strategist and senior counselor. McHugh was promptly fired, but according to her own account the Muslim tweet wasn't even her most offensive post. Some other notable tweets include: 'Funny how Europeans assimilated, unlike Third Worlders demanding welfare while raping, killing Americans,' and 'British settlers and their descendants built civilization. Indians never bothered to build more than a few teepees,' both posted in September of 2015, while she was working for Breitbart. She also wrote: 'Another Crusade would do a lot of good. Lets turn Mecca into a strip mall!' McHugh was promptly fired, but according to her own account the Muslim tweet wasn't even her most offensive post 'Funny how Europeans assimilated, unlike Third Worlders demanding welfare while raping, killing Americans,' she posted in September of 2015, while working for Breitbart 'I was a racist, certainly,' she admits. 'And I patted myself on the back, saying, "Well, Im not, you know, some kind of Cro-Magnon racist. I just believe that theyre violent and unruly,"' referring to nonwhite people. But McHugh now claims she has changed, and has seen the error of her ways. In the profile she says her first move toward white nationalism came with an application for a 2011 fellowship at the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS). The group is a nonprofit organization with ties to George Mason University and claims to promote 'classical liberalism' and libertarianism on college campuses. It grants fellowships to students. In applying, McHugh connected with the then-program director John Elliott, who personally responded to her application with praise for her love of Joe Sobran, a syndicated columnist who late in his career questioned Holocaust history. He died in 2010. She said his death and her subsequent search for his obituaries led her to find VDare and American Renaissance, two online publications associated with white supremacy. Around the time she applied for the fellowship with IHS, she had been writing a column for her school newspaper at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, including one where she wrote, the 'homosexual movement, a liberal subfaction, proliferates like melanoma.' Elliott advised her that she should take an internship as a journalist, and return to writing columns later in her career after she had learned the principles of reporting, according to an email provided by McHugh. 'John essentially selected me to come to D.C. as part of the libertarianalt-right pipeline,' McHugh said of Elliott, who placed her in an internship with the Daily Caller, founded by Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel. Elliott took issue with this characterization, telling Buzzfeed via email: 'I chose Katie to mentor as a libertarian, not as a member of the "alt-right." The "alt-right" didnt exist in 2011, and Ive had no connection with the "alt-right" since it was invented. I tried to be a mentor and a friend to Katie for a decade, even as she went down some of the dark paths of those fringe groups. But her decision to go down those paths had nothing to do with me. I truly feel bad for her.' It was Elliott who invited McHugh to dinner with Holocaust denier David Irving in 2013, a few months after she started dating DeAnna, who was heavily enmeshed in the white supremacy movement. In an interview with Buzzfeed, McHugh details how a lonely college experience and an early, long-term romance with white nationalist Kevin DeAnna (pictured) led her down a path that encouraged her 'vindictiveness and capacity for cruelty' McHugh said it was easy to align with white supremacists, because they had been rebranding white nationalism as something more benign. McHugh said if she had thought her behavior was not allowed, she would have stopped, but it seemed to be dismissed so she continued 'I was a white nationalist,' McHugh told Buzzfeed in a text message. 'I wasnt completely aligned with Irvings anti-Semitism, but I was compelled to his ideas for the wrong reasons. Ideas which now horrify me.' McHugh said it was easy to align with white supremacists, because they had been rebranding white nationalism as something more benign. 'They didnt have swastikas covering their foreheads,' she said. They were 'polished, sophisticated.' There was also an allure to the superiority they claimed, she said. 'Theres a very high culture aspect to it,' she added, noting the value placed on genetics and IQ within the group. 'They think that people with [a] high IQ confers them with some kind of super ability and makes them leaders, natural leaders,' she said. After college McHugh went to work full-time at the Daily Caller, where she eventually worked alongside Scott Greer, who while working there wrote racist long form essays under a pseudonym for Richard Spencers website Radix Journal. Spencer is president of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think tank. McHugh revealed Greer's anonymous side gig to Buzzfeed, which reported it in September of 2018. McHugh eventually moved on to Breitbart in April of 2014, where her ties to white nationalists started to garner attention, but seemed to be tolerated by the website. She would often spend weekends at the home of VDare's Peter Brimelow, who was a friend of DeAnna's. In August of 2015, she was called out over email for her posts by Breitbart Texas editor Brandon Darby, who wrote: 'Katie, You just retweeted 9 times in row retweets from Adolf Joe Biden, an open member of the American Nazi Party. They were tweets defending you. I am very concerned with your racially-tinged tweets, the fact that most of the American Nazi Party members follow you and commune with you, and the fact that most of the Ku Klux Klan accounts follow you and do the same. What is going on here?' Bannon, who was copied in along with then-editor Alex Marlow, replied, 'WTF. Katie call me ASAP.' Darby then wrote, 'I think you are a white supremacist. Am I correct? He is not a parody account at all and you know it.' To that, Bannon wrote, 'Brandon stop.' McHugh then replied, writing: 'Dropping Brandon,' referring to removing Darby from the chain, she told Bannon that the account, @bidenshairplugs, was actually 'a popular parody account that's been around for years with tens of thousands of conservative fans.' She continued: 'The Left and Right play low and dirty. They know that if they act outraged, someone will get scared and apologize, and then they win. I retweeted someone who defended me against Hollywood people calling me a human centipede and other adorable names. So too bad that upsets him more than the well-fed right hurling repulsive insults at an editor for a website they trash non-stop. Twitter has a 'mute' button which I use frequently for good reason.' The account @bidenshairplugs was later suspended from Twitter and resurfaced on Gab, a site known for being friendly to white nationalist accounts. McHugh said if she had thought her behavior was not allowed, she would have stopped, but it seemed to be dismissed at Breitbart so she continued. In 2016, a Daily Beast reporter contacted Breitbart about McHugh's role in going after Bannon's enemies and inquired about her tweets, including one about deporting 'anchor babies' to keep families of immigrants who have to the come to the U.S. illegally together. To that, Marlow replied, 'Neither Steve nor I are big fans of Twitter, but after reviewing these tweets, were considering giving Katie a weekly column.' In 2016, a Daily Beast reporter contacted Breitbart about McHugh's role is going after Steve Bannon enemies (pictured) and inquired about her tweets, including one about deporting 'anchor babies' to keep families of immigrants who have to the come to the US illegally together. To that, Marlow replied, 'Neither Steve nor I are big fans of Twitter, but after reviewing these tweets, were considering giving Katie a weekly column' McHugh told Buzzfeed, 'They thought my mean tweets were funny. My horrible jokes.' As her role grew at Breitbart and she became a producer on Bannon's SiriusXM show, McHugh said she found herself increasingly isolated. 'These alt-right people were often, like, the only friends I had besides my work colleagues,' she said. When her employment at Breitbart ended, she briefly found work with far-right political activist Charles C. Johnson, who also questions Holocaust history. That working relationship began to deteriorate around the time McHugh wrote a piece critical of the methods employed at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where counter-protester Heather Deyer was murdered by a man who drove a car into a crowd. McHugh admits she was still a white nationalist then. It's not clear exactly what turned her away from white supremacy in the profile, but the article suggests her ousting from the spotlight at Brietbart, which led to her falling on hard times, played a role. Whatever it was, McHugh now has a message for those who have found their way to the fringes. 'People like me should be given a chance to recognize how bad this is and that the alt-right is not a replacement for any kind of liberal democracy whatsoever, any kind of system; they have no chance, and theyre just harmful,' McHugh said. 'There is forgiveness, there is redemption. You have to own up to what you did and then forcefully reject this and explain to people and tell your story and say, "Get out while you can."' A former high school student, who was sexually abused by two Florida teachers inside a classroom, has sued the school district. The young woman, now 19, was 17 years old when 29-year-old Chad Coy, then 27, and Ryan Kirkpatrick, 28, then 26, had sex with her while they were both teaching at Ocoee High School in Ocoee, Florida. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the woman is seeking more than $15,000 in damages from the Orange County Public Schools and the Orange County School Board. A spokesperson for the school district said the district does not comment on pending litigation. A former student at Ocoee High School in Ocoee, Florida, who was sexually abused by teachers Chad Coy (left), 29, and Ryan Kirkpatrick (right), 28, has sued the school district. The young woman, now 19, was 17 years old when the men had sex with her while they were both teaching at Ocoee High School (pictured) in Ocoee, Florida Coy and Kirkpatrick were arrested in 2017 over separate classroom sex incidents with the woman, who was a student at the time. At the time, the student said she twice performed oral sex on Coy and once on Kirkpatrick. They also reportedly touched her private parts at the school. But the girl did not think either of them knew that the other was also intimate with her. She said in court documents: 'Kirkpatrick told me I was just a nice little escape from reality.' And Coy reportedly told her he loved her and wished he could wake up with her when he spoke to her at the school. The teen told investigators she was 'scared' of Coy and said: 'He's an older man who was much bigger than me.' Coy would keep her after class where he would kiss her on the lips, touch her inappropriately and do other things, officers said. The woman is seeking more than $15,000 in damages from the Orange County Public Schools and the Orange County School Board. The two men (pictured) were not listed as defendants in the lawsuit The girl admitted she was attracted to Kirkpatrick and would harmlessly flirt with him, according to court files. She would ask for help on her homework and he would ask her if she wanted to do other things besides study. Coy faced three charges of sexual activity with a student and Kirkpatrick two between September 25 and October 21 in 2016. A probe was launched in November 2016 when the girl's father contacted the Department of Children and Families. Coy was sentenced to two years in prison and is scheduled to be released in October. Kirkpatrick was sentenced to 18 months and his release date is set for May 22. The two men were not listed as defendants in the lawsuit. Both men will have to register as sex offenders and face probation upon release. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg last landed in the top-tier of Democratic presidential polls, and now has landed on the cover of Time Magazine, pictured with his husband, Chasten Glezman. The media treatment provides new details into the beliefs and home life of the candidate who has become a Democratic sensation after some strong TV performances. He has already become a subject of media interest, lunching with Oprah Winfrey and drawing crowds of voters interested in his background as a Midwestern mayor who served in Iraq, was a Rhodes scholar, and learned eight languages. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has jumped to the top tier of Democratic polls, and has now landed on the cover of Time Magazine with his husband Chasten Glezman His campaign events have also drawn homophobic protesters. The Time profile recounts how Buttigieg and Glezman met on an online dating app while Buttigieg was serving as mayor, and follows his decision to come out while in office to avoid any political problems while dating. Titled First Family, it describes mundane elements of the couples homelife, including how they divide chores and bicker over food. Chasten takes care of the increasingly famous dogs (he posts about them frequently), while Pete does the dishes and takes out the garbage. But another profile in the Washington Post reveals the difficulties Chasten encounter when he first told his family he was gay while attending community college and living at home. Pete Buttigieg is featured on the over of Time Magazine with his husband Chasten South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (R) acknowledges attendees with his husband Chasten Glezman after announcing his presidential candidacy for 2020 during an event on Sunday, April 14, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. - Buttigieg, the gay, liberal mayor of a small American city in the conservative bastion of Indiana, officially launched his presidential bid, joining a crowded field of Democrats vying for their party's nomination in 2020 He eventually would move out, living on friends couches and sometimes sleeping in his car before his mother invited him back. His older brother, Rhyan Glezman, who is the pastor of a Christian church Michigan,said he loves his brother but revealed the family strain continues. I want the best for him. I just dont support the gay lifestyle, he said. His younger brother Dustin added: We never got over it. When he told his parents the summer after graduating, he said: 'I remember my mom crying,' adding: 'and the first thing she asked me was if I was sick. I think she meant, like, did I have AIDS? The couples first date included a trip to an Irish pub and a minor league ballpark. When they finally decided to marry, Pete proposed to Chasten in Gate B5 of Chicagos OHare airport, which I down a corridor from a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, a gallery store and a Jamba Juice. It was the spot where chasten noticed his profile on the dating app Hinge. As Buttigieg has gotten more time in the spotlight, he has been confronted with homophobic protesters at some of his events. There were protests at multiple Iowa stops this month, including protesters led by religious activist Randall Terry. Hecklers yelled about 'Soddom and Gomorrah' during one event. Buttigieg's response to one Iowa protest: The 'condition of my soul is in the hands of God, but the Iowa caucuses are up to you.' Buttigieg came in fourth in the latest CNN poll, with 7 per cent support. A wealthy drug company founder was convicted on Thursday of directing a scheme to bribe doctors across the country to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray. John Kapoor, the founder and former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of deliberations in a trial that put a spotlight on the federal government's efforts to go after those it views as responsible for fueling the deadly opioid crisis. Four other former employees of the Chandler, Arizona-based company were also convicted. The company's former national director of sales, Richard M. Simon, regional sales directors, Sunrise Lee and Joseph A. Rowan, and former Vice President of Managed Markets, Michael J. Gurry, were all found guilty in the scheme. Kapoor and the others were accused of conspiring to pay doctors bribes and kickbacks in order to boost sales for Subsys, which is meant for cancer patients with severe pain. John Kapoor (center, on Thursday), the founder and former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of directing a scheme to bribe doctors across the U.S. to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray called Subsys Kapoor and others were accused of conspiring to pay doctors bribes and kickbacks in order to boost sales for Subsys (file image), which is meant for cancer patients with severe pain The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking events that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors, prosecutors allege. Prosecutors said Insys staffers also misled insurers about patients' medical conditions and posed as doctors' office employees in order to get payment approved for the costly drug. Lawyers for Kapoor and the others argued in court documents that they couldn't be convicted because prosecutors failed to prove that they intended for doctors to prescribe the drug to patients who had no medical need for it. Kapoor's attorney sought to shift the blame onto the company's former vice president of sales, Alec Burlakoff, who pleaded guilty to the bribe scheme in November. Attorney Beth Wilkinson said Burlakoff was cutting side deals with doctors on his own and lied when he testified against Kapoor because he was trying to save himself. The charge calls for up to 20 years in prison, but as first-time offenders, Kapoor and the others will likely get only a fraction of that. Prosecutors said Insys staffers also misled insurers about patients' medical conditions and posed as doctors' office employees in order to get payment approved for the costly drug. Sunrise Lee (pictured), a former regional sales manager, was also found guilty in the scheme The arrest of Kapoor (pictured) in 2017 came on the same day President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. And prosecutors have touted the case as illustrative of their work to fight the drug epidemic Kapoor's arrest in 2017 came the same day President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. And prosecutors have touted the case as illustrative of their work to fight the drug epidemic. The trial, which has been going on since January, has been filled with eyebrow-raising moments. A former sales representative told jurors that regional sales manager Sunrise Lee once gave a lap dance at a Chicago nightclub to a doctor who Insys was pushing to write more prescriptions. Lee's lawyer suggested the doctor was taking advantage of her. Jurors also watched a video meant to motivate sales reps to push doctors to prescribe higher doses of the drug in which employees rapped and danced around a person dressed as a bottle of Subsys. The former CEO of the company, Michael Babich, has also pleaded guilty and testified against his former colleagues during the trial. Babich told jurors in February that Insys recruited sales representatives who were 'easy on the eyes' because they knew physicians didn't want an 'unattractive person to walk in their door'. The would-be terrorist who plotted a bomb attack on New York City's subway on the anniversary of 9/11 will soon be a free man after being spared extra prison time by a judge on Thursday following just 10 years behind bars. Najibullah Zazi was facing he possibility of life in prison when he was sentenced Thursday for plotting the attack in 2009. He pleaded guilty in 2010 and, as part of that deal, was due to spend the rest of his life in prison but because of his 'extraordinary' help to authorities over the last decade, he will now go free. He appeared in court on Thursday and said: 'I am sorry for the harm that I caused. I am asking for forgiveness. 'I tried my best to correct a horrible mistake. I am not the same person.' A court sketch shows Najibullah Zazi appearing before a judge on Thursday where he was freed after serving 10 years behind bars Najibullah Zazi, pictured in 2009, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years behind bars for plotting to blow up the NYC subway. He has spent nine years in prison already and has cooperated with authorities on counterterrorism probes which means he may now go free sooner than expected Zazi, 33, is a naturalized citizen who is originally from Afghanistan. He trained under al-Qaeda in Pakistan, learning how to put together explosives, and drove from Denver to New York in 2009 with the intention of blowing up a subway car but was caught before he got there. Authorities were already watching him and had followed his route. Since being taken into custody, police say he has helped them by giving more than 100 interviews, reviewing photographs and informing on terror investigations. In light of the help he has provided, a judge on Thursday agreed that he had adequately served his time. It is unclear when he will be released but it is possible he may be released in a matter of days. His attorney celebrated the result on Thursday and said that he was a changed man. 'Mr. Zazi, who I ment almost 10 years ago when he was a young man, has changed dramatically and I witnessed that transformation over the past approximately 10 years. 'He hopefully will be released in a short period of time,' William Stampur said. He agreed with prosecutors that Zazi had gone above and beyond to thwart other plots. The FBI are pictured raiding Zazi's home in Denver in 2009 after his arrest Zazi and other radicalized friends plotted to carry out a series of attacks on the subway Among the help he gave was implicating his two best friends in the subway scheme. He cried when he had to testify against one of them. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas M. Pravda wrote in the court filing: 'Zazis assistance came in the face of substantial potential danger to himself and his family. 'By aligning himself with the government against al-Qaeda, Zazi assumed such a risk.' His attorney said he is 'extremely appreciative and thankful for what happened today.' A Pennsylvania grandmother has been charged with criminal homicide in the disappearance of her husband in 2011, based in part on a human scalp with hair tied in a ponytail found in a plastic bag along a road. Virginia Hayden, 67, was arraigned on Monday and ordered held without bail in the death of her third husband, Thomas Hayden Sr, 62, of Dover Township, who vanished in the fall of 2011. Prosecutors say a large section of scalp was discovered along with bloody pieces of bedsheet in a vacuum-sealed FoodSaver bag on a Dover road in January 2012. DNA tests didnt turn up a match at the time, but the remains were later identified as belonging to Thomas Hayden based on samples provided by his two brothers, Spencer and Owen Hayden. Cold case: Virginia Hayden, 67 (left), has been arrested on a homicide charge in the death of her third husband, Thomas Hayden, 62, who went missing in 2011 A portion of a human scalp with hair tied in a ponytail belonging to Thomas (pictured with Virginia in undated photo) was discovered inside a vacuum-sealed bag in 2012 A forensic analysis last year could not say whether Thomas Hayden was dead or alive when his scalp was cut off, authorities said. It concluded that if he was alive, slicing off his scalp would have killed him. 'The task of dismemberment supports the conclusion that Thomas Hayden died a violent death at the hands of another individual,' Dr Wayne K. Ross concluded. Police zeroed in on Virginia as a suspect in her husband's disappearance in 2017, after Thomas' daughter, Kim Via, filed a missing persons report, reported Fox 43. Via, who lives in Louisiana, told investigators that she had been estranged from her father since 2005, and that each time she tried contacting him, his wife, Virginia, told her he did not want to talk to her. Authorities say Virginia Hayden, a mother and grandmother living in Carlisle, told them after the bag with the scalp and hair was found that her husband had left for Mexico for medical treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with his brother, who denied that. Grim grandma: Virginia's daughter and grandson told police how the woman (pictured wiht family) would talk about pigs' ability to devour an entire human corpse When police reviewed Thomas' medical records, they found no mention of an ALS diagnosis. Questioned following the DNA identification, Virginia said she would give a statement of 'whatever you want me to write' and later said she would 'admit' to whatever other family members wanted her to say, prosecutors said. 'I put Thomas Hayden in there. So be happy. I give in. So leave me alone. So there it is. Thats my confession,' Virginia told police in 2017. Around that time, investigators interviewed Virginia's daughter Carolyn Cooksey, who recounted a macabre conversation with her mother, in which Virginia talked about the best ways to dispose of bodies and noted that pigs would eat an entire human, save for the skull. Cooksey also told police her mother had a FoodSaver vacuum-sealing machine at home, reported PennLive.com In an interview with police, Virginia's grandson, Michael Harris, reportedly said that his 'cool' grandmother at one time mentioned to him that pigs would consume an entire corpse, except for the hair, according to the Fayettesville Observer. Virginia's daughter, Connie Pander, previously pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and conspiracy for notarizing a deed her mother had allegedly forged in 2013 Harris said his grandmother also taught him that to prevent a corpse from floating in a body of water, it had to be stabbed first, and that it was possible to kill someone with an overdose of medication and make it look like a heart attack. So far, police have been unable to find Thomas Hayden's remains. They previously searched the couple's former residence, and at Virginia's own suggestion checked the grave of her second husband, who died of a heart attack, but to no avail. However, when police executed a search warrant at Virginia's home, they reportedly found a lock box containing Thomas' driver's license, passport and Social Security card. Besides homicide, Virginia is also charged 64 additional counts of forgery, conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property and tampering with public records. Prosecutors allege that she forged her dead husbands signature on several documents, including a deed transfer, bank deposit slips, credit card transactions and checks, and misappropriated nearly $117,000 in Social Security payments meant for Thomas. Virginia's daughter, Connie Pander, previously pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and conspiracy for notarizing the forged deed in 2013, which allowed her mother to sell her and Thomas' condo the following year. A Maine father was shocked to find out that his son had robbed a bank - and that he had been the unwitting getaway driver. Joseph Tilton, 39, had asked his father Keith to give him a ride to the Androscoggin Bank in Lewiston so that he could cash a check around 12.30pm on Tuesday. A few minutes later, Keith dropped his son off to a different part of the city. As he headed home, Keith passed the bank and was soon pulled over by police. The bank had been robbed - and his vehicle was identical to the getaway car. Tilton, who authorities described as a transient, now faces felony charges of robbery and theft. Joseph Tilton, 39, allegedly made his father the unwitting driver of his getaway car after robbing a bank on Tuesday Tilton had asked his father Keith Tilton (pictured) to give him a ride to the Androscoggin Bank in Lewiston so that he could cash a check around 12.30pm on Tuesday Authorities said they do not plan to charge Keith, as they do not believe he had any idea what was happening. Keith told police that he had been trying to convince Tilton to check himself into rehab that morning for drug addiction, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal. He said Tilton refused to leave the car and instead asked his father to take him to a bank so that he could cash a check. Keith told police he picked Androscoggin Bank, his local bank, because it was nearby at the time. But when his son returned from the bank he was 'acting odd'. When Keith dropped him off, he said Tilton tried to leave clothes in the car. When he made his son take his clothes, he saw Tilton throw his jacket on the ground behind a parked car. The teller at Androscoggin Bank told police that Tilton had walked up to her and said 'Give me the f*****g money, the cops are on the way'. Tilton, who authorities described as a transient, now faces felony charges of robbery and theft. He is pictured here in court on Wednesday Keith told police that he had been trying to convince Tilton to check himself into rehab that morning for drug addiction At first, she thought he had been joking. Then he repeated his demand 'louder and with more authority'. Tilton then allegedly jumped over the counter, so the teller opened the cash drawer. She began handing him cash and he started grabbing it from the drawer. A weapon was not displayed and no injuries were reported. The teller said Tilton fled the bank with $620 as she triggered a bank alarm and locked the bank's front doors. Police were questioning the teller at the very moment that Keith was driving back home. She was the one who pointed it out and said it was the getaway car. Tilton told police that he had asked his father for a loan that morning and that Keith gave him $15. He said Tilton refused to leave the car and instead asked his father to take him to a bank so that he could cash a check The teller at Androscoggin Bank told police that Tilton had walked up to her and said 'Give me the f*****g money, the cops are on the way' He said they drove around for awhile discussing his drug addiction before he asked to be dropped off at the bank. Tilton had brought a vehicle repair slip with his father's name on it into the bank, telling police he originally planned to write a holdup note on it. Authorities arrested Tilton at a residence where they believed he had been dealing narcotics. One resident told police he had banged on the apartment door and said he had just robbed a bank. Officers were unable to find any evidence from the robbery and Tilton refused to tell investigators what he did with the bank money. Tilton, who was just recently released from a Maine prison, had his bail set at $50,000 cash. He faces up to 15 years in prison for the felony charges. There are some politicians who despite our confrontational parliamentary system remain universally liked. Theyre congenial, all-round good eggs. Although some may disagree, Im thinking of kindly walruses such as Father of the House Ken Clarke (Con Rushcliffe) or jovial wind-up merchants like Stephen Pound (Lab Ealing North). Judging by the mood in the Commons yesterday, its safe to assume ex-defence secretary Gavin Williamson is held in no such regard. Sure, the odd Gavin loyalist would have described him as a dedicated minister. Goofy rather than nasty. But the general consensus around is that he is a prize pillock. Judging by the mood in the Commons yesterday, it's safe to assume ex-defence secretary Gavin Williamson is held in no such regard (pictured outside Downing Street on Thursday) Williamson shared this snap on his Instagram today with the caption: 'When you have had a pretty tough week its rather nice to get out and about with some really good company. #dogsofinstagram #dogs' Shorn of his ministerial epaulettes late on Wednesday after he was deemed to have leaked sensitive information from a National Security Council meeting, there was a piquant atmosphere when the subject of his dramatic defenestration was brought to the chamber via an urgent question from deputy Labour leader Tom Watson. From opposition members, glee dripped out of every pore.On the government side, well, let us just say the atmosphere was far from funereal. The Prime Ministers PPS Andrew Bowie (Con West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) toured the backbenches grinning and glad-handing colleagues like a trendy vicar buttering up his congregation. Make of that what you will. Predictably, Theresa May chose not to attend. Dispatched in her stead was Cabinet Office Secretary David Lidington, who appeared surprisingly chipper considering the inevitable onslaught he faced. Lidders said the leak would not be referred to the police and having sacked Williamson, the PM now considered the matter closed. Oh well, thats that then. Not so fast, said Watson. The saga, according to Labours holier-than-thou deputy, was indicative of the malaise and sickness at the heart of the Government. In what world should the PM be the arbiter of whether a criminal act had been committed? David Lidington told Parliament the leak would not be referred to the police and having sacked Williamson, the PM 'now considered the matter closed' Had it been Jeremy Corbyn squawking his usual attack lines ('Resign!' 'Disgrace!'), few would have listened - Tom Watson (pictured), by contrast, spoke in soft, articulate tones. This is the way to do damage Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Prime Minister Theresa May who sacked him as Defence Secretary, following an investigation into the Huawei leak UQs [Urgent Questions] are what these occasions are called handed out far too generously by the Speaker, but Watson used this one effectively. Had it been Jeremy Corbyn squawking his usual attack lines (Resign! Disgrace!), few would have listened. Watson, by contrast, spoke in soft, articulate tones. This is the way to do damage. All around the House, demands for Williamson to face criminal prosecution followed. Stewart McDonald (SNP Glasgow South) said it wasnt in the Prime Ministers gift to declare the matter closed. No ifs, no buts, said Anna Soubry (Change UK Broxtowe). This was a matter for the rozzers. Peter Bone was one of the few MPs to disagree with Mr Williamson's sacking Philip Hollobone (Con Kettering) asked if leaking information from the National Security Council was not a breach of the Official Secrets Act. There was a question from Sir Michael Fallon (Con Sevenoaks) on whether Britains allies had been assured this sorry episode would not be repeated. Was there an air of schadenfreude in his tone? Fallon was replaced by Williamson after being forced to resign for getting a little over-amorous with a Westminster hackette. Several Conservatives, though, felt Williamson had been hard done by. Sir Edward Leigh (Con Gainsborough) and Sir Desmond Swayne (Con New Forest West) complained hed been denied natural justice. Peter Bone (Con Wellingborough) said Williamson had been dismissed far too hastily. He reminded the House of when Tory MP Andrew Mitchell fell after being accused of calling police officers plebs during a row in Downing Street. Bob Seely (Con Isle of Wight) returned to the pertinent subject of Williamsons leak, and the awarding of the 5G contract to Huawei, insisting the telecoms firm was effectively an arm of the Chinese state. Au contraire, replied Lidington smoothly. He said its owned by its employees and therefore a private company. Its very significant that ex-Army intelligence types such as Captain Bob maintain otherwise. Afterwards, another urgent question followed on Transport Secretary Chris Graylings latest boob the 50million loss for cancelling contracts for extra ferries to bring in essential supplies in the event of a No Deal Brexit. At some point over this Bank Holiday weekend, Gavin Williamson will doubtless ponder how he came to lose his bosss confidence, while the hapless Transport Secretary still continues to enjoy her unwavering support. But thats just modern politics. Jesus Cardenas Valencia is sought by Houston police in a man's death Police are seeking a man after identifying remains found under a mattress as those of his missing friend. Jesus Cardenas Valencia is wanted in Houston in connection with the death of 24-year-old Carlos Rios, who was reported missing from on March 1. The medical examiner on Thursday identified remains found in Valencia's apartment as those of Rios. A cause of death was not specified. Rios and Valencia were close friends, though it is unclear whether they lived together in the condo on Club Creek Drive and Country Creek Street, KPRC-TV reported. Carlos Rios, a 24-year-old who was reported missing from Houston on March 1, was identified on Thursday as the deceased individual discovered in a condo earlier this month Though police said Rios lived there, his girlfriend said that he simply spent a lot of time at Valencia's apartment. There was initial suspicion of foul play at the apartment when Rios went missing in March, and police briefly arrested Valencia. While Valencia was in custody, cops searched the condo on March 2 but found nothing. Valencia was released. Valencia went on to sell the condo, and earlier this month the new owner was cleaning it when he made a gruesome discovery. Rios and Valencia were reportedly close friends, though it is unclear whether they lived together in the condo on Club Creek Drive and Country Creek Street (above) Police remove a mattress from the condo earlier this month after a body was found under it Neighbors had complained about a nauseating smell for weeks, and the new owner discovered the source: skeletal remains wedged between a mattress and box springs. Police were called and hauled away the body and mattress as evidence. By that time, however, Valencia was in the wind. 'I believe he is out of the country,' neighbor Shaun O'Neal told the NBC affiliate at the time. 'He ain't over here. They messed up. They should have kept him when they had him.' Christians are 'by far the most persecuted' religious group and are enduring what amounts to genocide in some parts of the world, a report concluded. They are being driven out of the Middle East in a modern-day exodus that means the religion could be wiped out in parts 'where its roots go back furthest', the study commissioned by the Foreign Office found. And the report by the Bishop of Truro, the Right Rev Philip Mounstephen, found 'shocking' evidence that the persecution is worse today than ever. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt last night blamed 'political correctness' for a failure to confront the oppression of Christians, which he called the 'forgotten persecution'. A new report has laid bare the persecution of Christians around the world. 245million Christians are persecuted worldwide in 50 countries, a rise of 30million rise year on year Mr Hunt said he would use Britain's diplomatic influence to defend Christians where they were under attack for their faith, and admitted the problem was sometimes neglected due to 'misplaced worry' that confronting it would be interpreted as 'colonialist'. The bishop said the study found Christians are 'harassed' in more countries than any other religious group, and especially in predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa. His report found 245million Christians now suffer 'high levels of persecution' in 50 countries, a rise of 30million year on year. In particular, they have been attacked by extremist groups in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, north-eastern Nigeria and the Philippines, as well as in India and China. He added that the Middle East is witnessing the 'decimation of some of the faith group's oldest and most enduring communities' and called for 'urgent government support'. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt last night blamed 'political correctness' for a failure to confront the oppression of Christians A final version of the inquiry, commissioned by Mr Hunt last year, will be released this summer and will cover the Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka. Speaking in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa during his five-day tour of Africa, Mr Hunt who is a committed Christian said: 'I think we've all been asleep on the watch when it comes to the persecution of Christians. 'I think we have shied away from talking about Christian persecution because we are a Christian country and we have a colonial past. Will British missionary be a saint? A British missionary who was murdered by Robert Mugabes fighters in 1979 has been nominated for sainthood. John Bradburne, pictured, was killed by guerrillas when he refused to flee the leper colony he was running in what is now Zimbabwe as the 15-year civil war was nearing an end. Now nearly 40 years after his death, bishops in Zimbabwe have put his name forward to the Vatican for consideration for sainthood. John Bradburne, pictured, was killed by guerrillas when he refused to flee the leper colony he was running in what is now Zimbabwe He is one of a group of British Roman Catholics being considered, and could follow John Henry Newman regarded as the father of the Victorian-era Catholic revival in England who will be canonised in Rome later this year. Mr Bradburne was shot after he refused to leave his patients, and his body was found near his settlement, months before the end of the war to overthrow white rule in Rhodesia. Up to 25,000 pilgrims attend a memorial service at the site each year. The first stage of his sainthood process involves an inquiry by the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe to establish that he lived a virtuous life and was doctrinally sound. Advertisement 'I think it is partly because of political correctness we have avoided confronting this issue. I think there is a misplaced worry that it is colonialist to talk about a religion that was associated with colonial powers.' Dr Mounstephen said: 'Through my previous experience... I was aware of the terrible reality of persecution. But to be honest in preparing this report, I've been truly shocked by the severity, scale and scope of the problem. 'It forces us in the West to ask ourselves some hard questions, not the least of which is this: Why have we been so blind to this situation for so long?' He said it is 'ironic' that 'Western secularists, Islamic extremists and authoritarian regimes' share the same misconception that Christianity is 'an expression of white, Western privilege', arguing: 'In fact, Christianity is primarily a phenomenon of the global South and the global poor.' Dr Mounstephen added that climate change, along with denying the right to religious belief, are the biggest 'existential, global threats to human flourishing'. He said: 'We are quite rightly becoming sensitised to the former. We must urgently attend to the latter.' He said: 'Taking this issue seriously will allow the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to do its job better because it impinges on key issues such as trade, security and gender equality.' The number of crimes committed by those who reoffend has surged by a fifth under a probation scheme costing billions that was meant to tackle the problem, a scathing report reveals today. The Transforming Rehabilitation programme was the brainchild of then justice secretary Chris Grayling, who has been nicknamed Failing Grayling after a series of blunders during his time in the Cabinet. Brought in across the country in 2015, it created a public-sector National Probation Service (NPS) for high-risk offenders alongside 21 private community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) to deal with other criminals. But a report by the Commons public accounts committee said the scheme has left the probation system in 'a worse position' than before its introduction. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling arriving at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday - he has been dubbed Failing Grayling for a series of Cabinet blunders The number going back to prison rose by 47 per cent between 2015 and 2018 when the scheme was meant to reduce pressures on jails (pictured: HMP Wandsworth in London) The number of crimes committed by those who reoffend increased by 22 per cent between 2011 and 2017 even though the point of the programme was to reduce reoffending. And the number going back to prison rose by 47 per cent between 2015 and 2018 when the scheme was meant to reduce pressures on jails. The reforms have been deemed such a disaster that the contracts with the private companies are being terminated 14 months early, in December next year. That will cost taxpayers 467million, on top of the cost of launching the scheme. The Ministry of Justice originally expected to spend 3.7billion on CRC contracts, but a spokesman said yesterday that it now expects the total to be 2.3billion. Meg Hillier, chairman of the committee, said: 'The ministry has failed to bring about the promised revolution in rehabilitation. Its attempts to address the failures in the reforms have cost the taxpayer an additional 467million while failing to achieve the anticipated improvements in reoffending behaviour.' The ministry is considering replacing the system with ten probation regions in England, each containing a division of the NPS and one CRC. Grayling and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd outside Downing Street last month - he has come under fire in his new role as Transport Secretary Mr Grayling, who is now Transport Secretary, came under fire after rail passengers endured cancellations and delays last year as a result of a series of timetabling shambles. Yesterday, he faced new accusations of incompetence after it emerged that bungled contracts for ferries in the event of a No Deal Brexit have cost at least 83million. The Ministry of Justice said: 'Our reforms mean 40,000 more offenders are being supervised, but the current model is not working. We have already acted decisively to end current contracts early [and] make changes to existing arrangements.' The judge tasked with deciding if Kim Foxx, the embattled Chicago state's attorney accused of giving Jussie Smollett special treatment, may now have to recuse himself because she is his son's boss. In the latest development in the long-running legal drama engulfing Chicago, Judge Leroy Martin Jr. was asked to step away from the case because of the potential conflict of interest. His son, Leroy III, is an assistant state's attorney and works in juvenile court. He has held the position since April last year. On Thursday, Sheila O'Brien, the former judge who is asking for a special prosecutor to be appointed to probe Foxx's conduct, said it amounted to a conflict of interest. Judge Leroy Martin Jr. has a week to decide if he will stay on the case of deciding whether Kim Foxx should be investigated by a special prosecutor. His son works for her Leroy Martin Jr. III is a prosecutor in juvenile court but works beneath Foxx 'Youre going to decide whether the states attorney, your sons boss, is telling the truth. 'Your son's career is tied to the potential witness career,' she said. Martin Jr. was displeased with the suggestion that his judgement could be affected but agreed to take a week to consider if he should step away from the case. Foxx does not want him to. She is fighting the case and maintains that she did nothing wrong by exchanging text messages with Smollett's relatives, informally 'recusing' herself then telling her deputy that a 16 count grand-jury indictment against Smollett was excessive. The celebrity was allowed to go free in March in exchange for $10,000 and 16 hours of community service. The decision stunned the public and prompted calls from police unions for Foxx to redesign. Kim Foxx sent these text messages to her deputy on March 8 after a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 counts of lying to police. She had already 'recused' herself for speaking to Smollett's family but continued to interfere in the case by telling her deputies that the charges were excessive. The charges were dropped two weeks later She maintains she did nothing wrong and that a special prosecutor is not required because her office is probing it themselves. On Thursday, Martin Jr. snapped back at O'Brien when she interrupted him in court. Smollett will not return to Empire. All 16 charges against him were dropped last month He was talking about how it had never been an issue before that his son was a prosecutor and he was a judge. 'Never before has this issue come up regarding this, considering the fact that I sit in judgment of cases every day involving the states attorneys office. 'It troubles me that were having this discussion about my family member because bringing ones family into these kinds of circumstances is troubling,' he said, according to The Chicago Tribune. He also blasted her for filing the notice 10 minutes before their hearing, saying: 'You stepped up and 10 minutes ago you file-stamped this and dropped this on my desk, and (you) tell me that I need to decide this issue that youve just made an issue a few moments ago, he said. Like you, I wasnt aware of -- he said. She shot back: 'You weren't aware your son was a states attorney?' to which he replied: 'Only my wife can complete my sentences.' He has a week to decide if he will stay on the case or not. Jeremy Hunt last night criticised Cabinet colleagues for damaging leaks which he warned had undermined Brexit. Backing Theresa May's decision to sack Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson over the Huawei leak, the Foreign Secretary said no Premier could have a minister at the table she did not have confidence in. He also defended Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill against Mr Williamson's criticism of the investigation, calling him a 'man of utmost integrity'. Mr Hunt insisted it was right the Huawei leak was treated differently because it had been from the 'inner sanctum' of the National Security Council which discusses highly-classified information. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson leaving 10 Downing Street last month Hunt warned leaks were causing damage to Brexit by undermining the Prime Minister He was speaking to reporters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa during a five-day tour of the country. On Brexit, he said leaks had 'made it harder to deliver what we are trying to achieve and, of course, it damages trust.' Mr Hunt explained: 'When we are faced with very difficult judgment calls on Brexit issues, it is obviously of great benefit to the country if everyone can discuss them freely without having to think how decisions will be leaked afterwards. 'So I am hoping this will be a moment of change for how the whole machinery of Government works. Our system depends on certain conventions and what seems to have happened in the past year is that leaking has moved from the exception to the norm.' Mr Hunt was asked whether he believed Mr Williamson's denials. He stressed: 'It is not for me to comment since I have not seen the evidence but what matters is the Prime Minster has seen the evidence and she believes he was responsible. 'In that situation no prime minister can have that minister sitting around the table because she has to have absolute confidence that everything that is said will remain confidential.' Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Prime Minister Theresa May who sacked him as Defence Secretary, following an investigation into the Huawei leak Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt meets the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Gedu Andargachew, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - he on a five-day tour of the country He also said leaks from Cabinet undermined trust between ministers and made it harder for them to say what they really thought in meetings. The Foreign Secretary argued that Mr Williamson's sacking should be a turning point and it was up to Cabinet members to behave 'responsibly' with the power they have. Yesterday morning Mr Hunt made a speech defending Press freedom at the African Union. He said the British media had every right to report leaks including from the National Security Council. He added: 'That is what happens in a free Press. That doesn't mean Government officials or indeed Cabinet ministers have the right to leak top-secret information. 'But should you have the right to report it? Yes.' Mr Hunt added: 'I am surprised that anyone would leak the contents of the National Security Council. But I am not surprised the Cabinet Secretary treated this leak in a very, very different way because this is an inner sanctum when it comes to the defence and security of the country.' Judging by the mood in the Commons yesterday, it's safe to assume ex-defence secretary Gavin Williamson is held in no such regard (pictured outside Downing Street on Thursday) 'It is a relatively unique body set up by David Cameron with the head of MI5, the head of MI6, the head of GCHQ, the Cabinet Secretary and politicians all sitting round the table and it is an incredible powerful and important forum but obviously very highly classified information is discussed on a regular basis.' 'It is an incredibly disappointing feature of the last year that leaking from Cabinet has become the norm. 'I personally think the way Cabinet government has to work is total honesty in private and total loyalty in public. You have to have that element of trust and in the last year that has changed and I think it is highly regrettable because it means everyone that sits around the Cabinet table has to be careful about how comments they might make might be spun subsequently.' He insisted: 'I hope this incident will cause everyone to reflect on that kind of leaking. Full stop.' Logging on to her computer, Karen Smith had a long night ahead of her. There was a 2,000-word university essay on international politics to be done. She read the title: What impact has the war on terror had on the Middle East? and dived in. She was confident of a good grade. The subject greatly interests her, and its one on which shes widely read. It would take Karen, 28, who is studying for a masters degree in political communications at Cardiff University, around two days to complete the assignment, making sure she referenced her arguments with well-researched citations. All a student has to do is give details of their assignment, a word count and deadline. They can even choose their grade; a 2:1 undergraduate essay from the cheaper sites costs around 30, but others can charge thousands [File photo] The problem is, Karen will never know what grade the paper gets. She will not receive any feedback, nor the satisfaction of knowing whether her hard work was appreciated. For the essay was written for another student to submit for their degree and pass off as their own. Karen will receive an 80 fee for her efforts, which, simply put, will enable someone else to cheat through their degree. Over the past few years, there has been an explosion in the number of online businesses offering essay-writing services. These are known as essay mills, where students can pay someone else to complete their coursework. So prevalent has the industry become, it is worth more than 100 million. It is difficult to know how many students cheat in this way but in 2016, universities watchdog the Quality Assurance Agency found approximately 17,000 instances a year. However, the figure is thought to be far higher, with a recent study by Swansea University, based on interviews with more than 54,500 students from around the world, finding 15.7 per cent admitted to cheating between 2014 and 2018. This means about one in seven recent graduates may have paid someone to do their written work for them. Although universities have strict policies against cheating, essay mills are surprisingly not illegal and widely advertised. There are posters and leaflets on campuses and an internet search will bring up thousands of firms. These companies exploit a legal loophole, with disclaimers saying they are to be used as a study guide only, while simultaneously advertising guaranteed grades and plagiarism free. All a student has to do is give details of their assignment, a word count and deadline. They can even choose their grade; a 2:1 undergraduate essay from the cheaper sites costs around 30, but others can charge thousands. For example, a 30,000-word PhD-level dissertation on medicine costs 22,416 on UK Essays. Many of these companies are based abroad, in Eastern Europe, India and East Africa, but there are some using British writers like Karen. She knows it was unethical but as a self-funded masters student, the money was a help. I admit I was naive, she says. I saw a writing job advertised on the recruitment website PeoplePerHour. I applied and then learned it was to write an academic assignment. I felt as Id already accepted the work, I couldnt turn it down as I might not get future work. Karen graduated with a first-class degree in history from the University of Aberystwyth in 2011, and, using this knowledge, has written five essays for other students over the past two years, on topics such as British politics and history. I felt bad when I realised what I was doing, she says. As a student myself, I can see how its compromising the system. When I was an undergraduate, essay mills werent heard of, but Id never have used one anyhow as I wouldnt want to produce work that wasnt mine. It defeats the point of study. But equally I can see why people write for these companies its regular work that fits around your own studies and, with student loans mounting up, its very tempting. These companies exploit a legal loophole, with disclaimers saying they are to be used as a study guide only, while simultaneously advertising guaranteed grades and plagiarism free. An Alamy stock photo is pictured above for illustrative purposes only [File photo] Dr Thomas Lancaster, a senior teaching fellow in computer sciences at Imperial College London and a leading UK expert on essay cheating, says essay mills pose a massive risk to universities reputations. We want employers to think were delivering skilled workers, not someone who has paid someone else to act on their behalf. It not only jeopardises academic integrity but theres a risk to the public in many professions if people arent properly qualified. Imagine a nurse who miscalculates the amount of medication because she cheated her way through her degree. It could cost lives. There are even cases of students being blackmailed by essay mill companies, who say: Unless you pay more, we will report you to your university. As part of his research, Dr Lancaster says he has already identified 30,000 instances of students purchasing bespoke essays, from companies all over the world. A third of these were bought by ostensibly bright, capable students at Russell Group universities the leading 24 universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Durham and Bristol. I think people have always found a way to cheat if they want to, he adds. But whats changed is the prevalence of these services. There have been calls to make essay mills illegal, but as many are based overseas, it would be difficult to enforce. So what can be done to protect the integrity of universities, and remove temptation from students? Dr Lancaster says: We should focus on getting rid of the advertising, particularly on social media. Students should also have to present and answer questions about their work. When I studied at Oxford, I would have three one-hour tutorials a week and exams at the end of the year. In that environment it would have been impossible for me to not know my stuff. A recent study by Swansea University, based on interviews with more than 54,500 students from around the world, finding 15.7 per cent admitted to cheating between 2014 and 2018 [File photo] So why do students resort to cheating? Probably the main reason is pressure. Theyre investing a lot of time and money. Do they risk wasting the 9,250 yearly tuition fee or take a gamble and spend 100 to pass? I can see why it is tempting. It was this pressure that led Kelly Jenkins, 23, to pay 216 for an essay during the final year of her degree in economics and finance at the University of Hull in 2017. I admit I took the easy way out, she says. I was studying for a four-year course with a year working in industry. I found returning to academia hard and felt overwhelmed as Id also started a new course on accounting. I had an essay, one of four for the year, on the theory of positive accounting. I didnt feel I could do it. I had a job lined up on a graduate scheme with a bank. I had to get a 2:1 or I would have lost it. Kelly, from Lincolnshire, says she also struggled as she was working 20 hours a week as a waitress and received no financial help. My parents earned enough for me to only get the minimum student loan of 8,700, which only covered my rent. It was at work where I met someone who wrote for an essay mill. I hadnt heard of them before, so I started to research them. Eventually, Kelly settled on a company called the Essay Writing Service UK which, she said, had good reviews online. I filled in an online form and specified a 2:1 for 216. A first was almost double this at 430. You pay upfront. I was told Id get my first draft in two days. Youre not told who the writer is. Kelly says she was disappointed by what she received. It was clear the writer didnt have English as their first language. There were huge paragraphs that didnt make sense. If Id submitted it, it wouldnt have been a pass. I asked for changes there werent enough references, only three in the whole piece and there was supposed to be three each paragraph. What came back later was no better. I started to think it wasnt worth the effort and was taking longer than if I just wrote it myself, which is what I did in the end. I didnt get my money back. Im sure not many people do, as these companies rely on [customers] not making a fuss because they want to be discreet. Kelly says she regrets what she did. What I submitted ended up being my own work, which, now, I am glad of. I can say that I got my degree, and my job, without cheating. Although some students may receive an essay good enough to submit, online message boards are full of similar complaints. It is difficult to know how many students cheat in this way but in 2016, universities watchdog the Quality Assurance Agency found approximately 17,000 instances a year [File photo] One student wrote: Due to tight schedule I paid 3,000 to UK Essays. They told me they would guarantee a merit for a 10,500-word dissertation. But when I got the first results, it was a fail. Another told how they paid 150 to an unnamed essay mill but never received the work. They were then told to pay another 450. They eventually paid an extra 250 but never received the essay. He wrote: I received absolutely no coursework and I paid these thugs a staggering 400 for something that hadnt even existed. Google says they are careful not to limit what information people are able to find, with a spokesman adding that in terms of their paid- for adverts, we dont allow the promotion of products or services that are designed to enable dishonest behaviour such as essay writing. One of the largest essay-mill companies is UK Essays owned by Barclay Littlewood, 40, who established it in Nottingham in 2003 after training as a barrister. Chief operating officer Daniel Dennehy says they are providing a service through a legitimate business and are not there to be used as a cheating tool. We provide 12,000 orders a year. There are benefits in having an example answer. The vast majority of customers use our product correctly. But were not naive enough to say they sometimes dont. Students are looking for help. Contact time at university with tutors is down and for the money theyve spent, students arent happy and are looking to achieve the best grade they can. Another main site is Oxbridge Essays, set up in 2005 by brothers James and Philip Malamatinas, then aged 19 and 21, while Philip was at Birmingham University. The company actively seeks to recruit Oxbridge graduates and charges around 600 for a first-class undergraduate essay delivered in six days. Over the past few years, there has been an explosion in the number of online businesses offering essay-writing services. These are known as essay mills, where students can pay someone else to complete their coursework [File photo] Cambridge graduate Rebecca Mazie, 34, who received a 2:1 in Humanities in 2005 and a MPhil in 2006, wrote 15 essays for the site between 2006 and 2008. Rebecca, originally from Cornwall but now living in Beijing, says students are short-changing themselves. The company specifically hired Oxbridge graduates; that was their selling point. They would send emails with topics, the number of words and the fee. I got around 100 for an essay. I wrote about history, art history, anthropology and sociology. I was working full-time after my degree in a library and not making a huge amount. I had friends working for essay mills more seriously and it was their main income. At the time, Rebecca didnt have a moral problem with what she did but now feels differently. I didnt see it as my responsibility what people did with the essays I wrote. I felt it was on their consciences whether they submitted them as their own. Now I feel students arent learning anything. Theyre paying more than 9,000 a year but, if you let other people write for you, whats the point? With such widespread cheating, there are growing calls for something to be done. Last September, the Russell Group published a letter calling for essay mills to be outlawed, as they are in New Zealand, Australia and 17 U.S. states. The Advertising Standards Authority recently upheld complaints against three essay mills UK Essays, Essay Writing Service UK and Oxbridge Essays that the firms websites were downplaying the risks of students handing in purchased essays as their own. So far, the Government has resisted calls to legislate against essay mills, with Education Secretary Damian Hinds instead saying last month that he wants Google to take down unethical sites in black market essay writing and for PayPal to stop processing their fees. Although universities have strict policies against cheating, essay mills are surprisingly not illegal and widely advertised. There are posters and leaflets on campuses and an internet search will bring up thousands of firms [File photo] PayPal said: At PayPal, we carefully review accounts that are flagged to us for possible violations of our policies, as well as UK laws and regulations. An internal review is already under way looking at the implications of essay-writing services. We would be happy to talk to the Department of Education about their concerns. The Department for Education says that although internet companies are taking steps to remove hundreds of adverts, universities have a role to play and should introduce honour codes for students to say they wont cheat. There is also hope that software, which can compare a students writing against their other work to see if it is their own, will act as a deterrent in the future. But, for now, there is little way for university tutors to know whether their students have written the essays they are marking and, ultimately, if they have earned their degree through hard work or deception. Kelly Jenkins asked for her name to be changed to protect her current employment position. Karen Smith has also asked for her name to be changed. Additional reporting: Stephanie Condron Theresa May faced a ferocious backlash from Gavin Williamson's Tory allies last night as MPs demanded to see the evidence showing he was behind the Huawei leak. As the Tories plunged into a fresh civil war over his sacking, backbenchers lined up to criticise the treatment of the former defence secretary. They are unhappy about the role of Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Britain's most senior civil servant, and claimed his leak inquiry was 'shambolic' and a 'kangaroo court'. They insisted in the Commons that Mrs May publish the 'compelling evidence' that led her to blame Mr Williamson for last week's leak from a National Security Council (NSC) discussion into whether Huawei should have a role in Britain's 5G network. Prime Minister Theresa May (left) has infuriated her backbenchers who believe Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill (right) should reveal how his investigation into the Huawei leak came to its conclusions Williamson shared this snap on his Instagram on Thursdaywith the caption: 'When you have had a pretty tough week its rather nice to get out and about with some really good company. #dogsofinstagram #dogs' Meanwhile, Mr Williamson insisted he would 'massively welcome' a police investigation into the accusation that he leaked details to a journalist, claiming it would 'absolutely exonerate' him. He added: 'As soon as they have the reporter's notepad it would show I didn't say anything, then I would get the nicest apology from the Prime Minister, far nicer than the last letter she sent me.' Mr Williamson said his first reaction on hearing the NSC story was that the Government had revealed details from the meeting, adding: 'I thought, "The buggers, they've leaked the sodding thing".' He is understood to have complained that he was interviewed for around two hours last Friday during the leak inquiry, in which 'scraps of paper' were used as evidence, while other ministers only faced grillings of 20 to 30 minutes. The former defence secretary admits that at around 5.30pm on the day of the NSC he had an 11-minute phone call with the journalist who wrote the Huawei story. But he insists this does not mean he was the source of the leak. Whitehall sources claim there is other evidence against Mr Williamson. However, it was claimed last night that Mr Williamson was refused a copy of the report of Sir Mark's investigation. Mark Sedwill and Jeremy Hunt (left) in January - Tory MPs are unhappy with Sedwill's role in Williamson's sacking Then NATO's civilian representative in Afghanistan Mark Sedwill answers a question during a press briefing in Islamabad on May 4, 2010 - he is the most senior civil servant in the land Mr Williamson also criticised the 'haphazard way' it was carried out and complained to friends that he was only fired because of information he had volunteered. However, Downing Street appeared to kill off the prospect of a police investigation last night as it emerged that Sir Mark had ruled against referring the matter to Scotland Yard on the grounds that the alleged leak did not constitute a criminal offence. And despite opposition MPs clamouring for a criminal probe, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the force would not start one without a Cabinet Office referral. It means there is unlikely to be a full investigation into allegations that appear to have left Mr Williamson's political career in tatters. The news came as: Downing Street defended Theresa May's decision to sack Mr Williamson, insisting she had remove him to restore confidence in the NSC so intelligence officials could continue to share classified information with ministers; Tom Watson, Labour's deputy leader, called for a police probe and said Mr Williamson's case could not be closed while he stood accused of criminal behaviour that he denied; Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terror legislation, said it was 'repugnant' of Mr Williamson to swear on his children's lives that he was not behind the leak, saying this form of oath would 'rarely cut ice in a court'. Jeremy Hunt criticised Cabinet colleagues for leaking information that he said had undermined Brexit. He also defended Sir Mark against Mr Williamson's criticism of the investigation. Mr Williamson was dismissed on Wednesday after the Prime Minister confronted him over last week's leak to a newspaper that revealed several Cabinet ministers were opposed to allowing the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to be involved in Britain's new 5G mobile network. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Prime Minister Theresa May who sacked him as Defence Secretary, following an investigation into the Huawei leak Former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson leaving Downing Street on Thursday Jeremy Hunt leaving Downing Street with Gavin Williamson last month - Hunt warned leaks were causing damage to Brexit by undermining the Prime Minister Mr Williamson angrily denied he was responsible last night, and suggested the inquiry into the leak was rigged. Yesterday in the Commons, Former minister Sir Desmond Swayne said Mr Williamson had effectively been branded a liar. He told MPs: 'Natural justice requires that the evidence is produced so that his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed.' Tory MP Peter Bone said: 'The former secretary of state has said that, on the lives of his children, he did not leak the information. 'This seems to have been a kangaroo court reaching a decision in secret which we have no evidence to base any decision on. Could it just be possible that the kangaroo court has made a mistake?' Peter Bone disagreed with Williamson's sacking Mr Williamson has been replaced as Defence Secretary by Penny Mordaunt, leading to the promotion the Cabinet of Rory Stewart who has taken her place as International Development Secretary. Sir John Redwood suggested the reshuffle was conducted to boost support for Mrs May's Brexit deal, tweeting: 'The purpose is clear. Mr Williamson thought we should get on with leaving the EU. Mr Stewart is wedded to Mrs May's deeply unpopular 'stay in and pay up' agreement.' Jacob Rees-Mogg tweeted: 'The security issue is not who leaked, but Huawei.' But Mr Watson said it was 'clear' the disclosure of NSC discussions could amount to a breach of the Official Secrets Act, writing to the PM: 'It is not for the ministers or civil servants to determine whether the information they have gathered meets the threshold for a criminal investigation. The police and Crown Prosecution Service must make this assessment.' Earlier, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told the Commons: 'The Prime Minister has said she considers this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police. But we would, of course, co-operate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary.' Gavin Williamson was undoubtedly over-promoted to the position of Defence Secretary, and was guilty of dropping regular clangers and making repeated gaffes during his undistinguished 18-month stint in the job. That Theresa May gave so important a job to a man who had never been even a junior minister is a black mark against her. The fact that he had been her campaign manager when she sought to become Prime Minister in 2016 was no qualification at all. So we can agree about his deficiencies, and I would be astonished if he were ever a member of the Cabinet again, even in the unlikely event of proving he was not responsible for leaking to the Press. I nonetheless believe much of the reaction to his sacking has been hysterical. Williamson has been accused of divulging 'state secrets' and committing a 'serious crime'. Britain's former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson (left) and Head of the Army General Sir Nick Carter (right) leave after a Cabinet meeting at Downing Street last month Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Prime Minister Theresa May who sacked him as Defence Secretary, following an investigation into the Huawei leak This is nonsense. Labour, which has been in the forefront of such accusations, is cynically playing party politics. Let us assume, although he strongly denies it, that he did tell a Daily Telegraph journalist that the Prime Minister had given the green light to the Chinese company Huawei to supply technology for Britain's new 5G phone network despite opposition from senior ministers, and warnings from the United States. If he did so, it is right that he was sacked, since the discussions about Huawei took place at the National Security Council (NSC), whose deliberations are supposed to be sacrosanct. The 11-minute phone conversation he had with Telegraph journalist Steven Swinford, the day before the story appeared in that newspaper, looks like a crucial piece of evidence which those Tories (mostly inveterate enemies of Mrs May) yelling about a travesty of justice can hardly explain away. One might add that, if Williamson is indeed guilty as charged, he will have a lot of explaining one day to do to his children, on whose lives he has sworn his innocence. I don't believe a decent man, even if innocent, ever publicly invokes his children's lives. But the most important point is that nothing Williamson may have told the Telegraph or at any rate nothing that appeared in the newspaper imperilled national security in the tiniest degree. Mrs May and Chinese President Xi Jinping - Washington has accused Huawei of acting as a vassal of Beijing Then Defence Secretary Mr Williamson with his now replacement Penny Mordaunt in April 2019 What was revealed on the paper's front page solely concerned policy. On the one hand was the Prime Minister. She could probably count on the support of Chancellor Philip Hammond, who favours closer trade ties with China, and was present at the NSC meeting. On the other side were several senior ministers, including Williamson, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Home Secretary Sajid Javid. All had qualms about putting a company with links to the Chinese government at the heart of our telecommunications network. Weren't they absolutely right to express such doubts, the more so since they are shared by our major ally, the United States, and some of our own intelligence experts, including MI6 chief Alex Younger? In many ways, the wonder was that a beleaguered Prime Minister, whose days must be numbered, should have felt able to override so many senior colleagues, and our closest international ally, in prioritising the interests of Anglo-Chinese commercial cooperation over security concerns. Whatever one's views and I am firmly in the anti-Huawei camp it is surely beyond dispute the Telegraph was acting in the public interest by publicising a disagreement about so important a matter. It did what newspapers are supposed to do. And that reflection should make us pause before we throw the book at Gavin Williamson. Of course he was wrong to break the confidentiality of the National Security Council. But no state secret was exposed only a rash decision which could arguably undermine the future security of the state. Former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson during a visit to Salisbury Plains Training Area in April Former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson speaks to soldiers on exercise at Salisbury Plains Training Area That is why Labour's response is so wrong-headed. I suppose one can't blame it for attempting to capitalise on the deepening tribulations of a Government whose fortunes are going from bad to worse. But the party's deputy, Tom Watson, was playing with fire in suggesting yesterday in the Commons and on Radio 4's Today programme that Williamson has committed a crime, and should face a criminal investigation for possibly having broken the Official Secrets Act. Such an inquiry would not only put Williamson in the dock, but the author of the Telegraph's story, Steven Swinford, would also find himself under scrutiny, as probably would other of the paper's journalists. Notebooks would be examined, and reporters would be asked to reveal their sources, which of course they would be reluctant to do. Mrs May does not want such a process. Nor do the police, if Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick is to be believed. Yet in order to extract political advantage, Tom Watson advocates a probe which would inevitably turn into an anti-Press witch-hunt. Has he taken leave of his senses? He is no great friend of the Press, having preposterously described newspaper publishers as a 'little group of greedy, cruel men' who have 'raised two fingers to Leveson [who conducted an inquiry into the Press], to Parliament, to their victims and to the public.' His attitude towards newspapers may be judged by his acceptance of 540,000 in funding from tabloid-hating multi-millionaire Max Mosley, who has spent year attacking freedom after being exposed for taking part in an S&M orgy with prostitutes by the now defunct News of the World. Watson, it should be recalled, refused to return any of the cash even after the Mail uncovered a 1960s far-Right leaflet linking immigrants with disease that described Mosley as its publisher. Tom Watson (pictured) speaking in Parliament on Thursday - he would do well to reflect, when hammering the Tories his own Corbynista-led party harbours skeletons in its closet that could be infinitely more damaging if Labour were ever to come to power If the Labour deputy leader could stand back a little, and put political advantage to one side, he might concede that a free society depends on whistle-blowers bringing to light secrets the state would prefer to keep under wraps. Granted, Gavin Williamson did not blow his whistle in the right way (assuming he was guilty) because he broke a bond of secrecy as a member of the National Security Council. But the effect of the Telegraph's story has been to open an important debate about this country's future dependence on China that might have been shut down if Theresa May and Philip Hammond had had their way. And Tom Watson would do well to reflect, when hammering the Tories over a supposedly grave national security lapse, that his own Corbynista-led party harbours skeletons in its closet that could be infinitely more damaging if Labour were ever to come to power. I am thinking of the close contacts Jeremy Corbyn and his entourage have forged with the odious regime in Venezuela and among Middle-East terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention Putin's Russia. By comparison, Gavin Williamson's revelations were wholly innocuous. He may have been a gaffe-ridden Defence Secretary. He was unsuited to the job to which Mrs May unwisely promoted him. But leaked information was emphatically in the national interest. Juan Leon-Gomez, 26, is charged with rape, contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child and obstructing official business An Ohio man has been arrested on suspicion of raping an 11-year-old girl who is now reported to be pregnant. Juan Leon-Gomez, 26, was taken into custody Wednesday morning after police found the child hidden inside his bedroom closet. Law enforcement showed up to his Massillon home - about 60 miles south of Cleveland - after the girl's mother reported her missing. Leon-Gomez was already under investigation for sexual assault in an ongoing case involving the juvenile. His relationship to the girl is unknown. When police arrived at the residence just after 1am the suspect turned the lights off, according to a report. The officers knocked at the door numerous times before getting a response. A man living with Leon-Gomez gave cops permission to search the residence but told them he did not want to be involved. His relationship with the suspect is unknown. Law enforcement later discovered the girl inside a wardrobe upstairs in the property on Woodland Ave. The Canton Repository reported the child is now pregnant. Leon-Gomez was booked at Stark County Jail and charged with rape. He also was charged with misdemeanors contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child and obstructing official business. A Thai sex worker who was spat on, bruised and left bleeding by clients was under the 'control' of a Sydney woman accused of keeping her as a slave, a jury has heard. The woman was one of two Thai women who voluntarily came to Sydney to do sex work and lived with Rungnapha 'Lisa' Kanbut at her Sydney home at separate times in 2004 and 2005. Both alleged victims have told a NSW District Court jury Kanbut took their passports which weren't returned until they'd paid off a debt of $45,000 each. The woman was one of two Thai women who voluntarily came to Sydney to do sex work and lived with Rungnapha 'Lisa' Kanbut (pictured outside court in April) at her Sydney home at separate times in 2004 and 2005 Kanbut, 57, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of intentionally possessing a slave, two counts of exercising powers of ownership over a slave and two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime. In his closing submissions on Thursday, crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC said the first sex worker - who couldn't speak English, wasn't familiar with Sydney and had little money of her own - was told by Kanbut she had nowhere else to go. 'She said (Kanbut) said to her 'Don't think about running away because there's nowhere for you to run',' he said. Mr Neil said the woman was also told a man in Thailand had naked photos of her which, if released, would have brought great shame upon her. 'Just because you accept your fate because there is no alternative doesn't mean you consent to it,' the barrister said. '(Consent) has got to be free, voluntary and with a full understanding of what you are consenting to, without this underlying fear of being shamed.' Kanbut (right), 57, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of intentionally possessing a slave, two counts of exercising powers of ownership over a slave and two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime The second sex worker came to Sydney in 2005 and previously gave evidence that she was also taken to Kanbut's home, told she owed a debt and driven to and from work at various brothels in the city until it was paid off. Mr Neil said these circumstances showed Kanbut 'exercised complete control' over the women. The prosecution on Thursday drew a firm distinction between the consent the women had given to come to Sydney for sex work and the reality of the situation they found themselves in. 'No one forced them onto the plane or anything like that,' Mr Neil said. 'All that matters is what happened here. They did not know what they were getting themselves into.' The defence is expected to give its closing submission on Monday. The circus started performing together in 1919 and ran for decades until they ended their troupe in 2017 The photographer's collection of 14,500 Kodachrome color slides are archived at Indiana University He shows performers practicing their stunts and artists hanging up their laundry and enjoying coffee breaks Photographer Charles Weever Cushman followed the troupe through the 1940s, capturing trapeze artists, clowns and elephant trainers behind the scenes of the magnificent shows The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus traveled across America for decades Advertisement Stunning never-before-seen photos of the beloved Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that traveled across America dazzling and shocking audiences in the 1940s have emerged, and the color photographs offer a rare behind-the-scenes look at troupe in its early days. For decades Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Greatest Show on Earth, has spread laughter and excitement across the globe with their daring tricks, acrobats, and stunts with wild animals. The group started as two separate entities in 1871 before joining forces in 1919 and together put on shows for decades before calling the final curtain in 2017. Photographer Charles Weever Cushman, of Posey County, Indiana, followed the troupe in the late 1940s, capturing the daring actors, their training, and colorful costumes during their tour in Chicago. He captured the photographs using Kodachrome, an early adopter of the revolutionary color process. His massive library of some 14,500 Kodachrome color slides are archived at the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection at Indiana University. Stunning color slide photographs show behind the scenes of the world famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as the troupe toured across America in the 1940s. The Alzanas of the high wire, a troupe that performed stunts while crossing a high wire, pictured above in costume in 1949 When the Alanza members weren't training for their high wire stunts, they pitched tents and performed their daily chores such as laundry in their downtime. Two Alanza women from the Ringling Circus Chicago pictured above drying their laundry Rose Behee and her brother-in-law Clayon were apart of the Flying Beehees known as the 'greatest flying trapeze act in the world'. The duo pictured left in 1946 in their matching orange costumes. A poster for their wondrous act pictured right Keeping to the animals: The travelling circus featured wild animals like elephants and lions in their performances. Circus members pictured above tending to the giant creatures after a show Bunch of Bozos! Photographer Charles Weever Cushman, of Posey County, Indiana, followed the troupe in the late 1940s, capturing the daring actors, their training, and colorful costumes. He snapped this group of clowns on opening day of the Ringling Circus in Chicago, Illinois on August 2, 1947 He snapped this elephant standing on its head while a woman rides it on August 5, 1949 during the Circus' stop in Chicago. Stunt man Harold Alanza pictured right balancing on his hand and a stick that same day Two young German girls show off their head on head balancing act in 1950 during their circus tour with Ringling Bros. Francis Brunn and his sister a juggling act at Ringling Circus - are pictured above practicing in uniform while holding onto their juggling balls and props in Chicago in 1949 In his time photographing the circus, Cushman followed trapeze performers Clayton and Rose Behee known as 'The Flying Behees - The greatest flying trapeze act in the world today'. Rose was advertised in posters as the only woman flyer to perform a two-and-a half somersault and catch herself on her feet, all while blindfolded. Another subject of his photographs was Unus, born Franz Furtner, who was known as the most famous hand balancer. Unus could precariously balance himself upside down on top of a ball or on his own forefinger. His daughter, known as Mademoiselle Unus, was snapped by Cushman riding on top of a circus elephant while sporting a golden turban. While the circus was known for its fun and games, there was trouble along the way. On July 6, 1944 as the circus was in Hartford, Connecticut, a fire broke out in the main tent where the show was taking place, killing 169 spectators. There were a total of 6,000 guests at the show, majority of whom were able to run to safety. All of the circus equipment, however, was reduced to ashes. The Behees were able to escape the furious flames. Harold Alzana (born Harold Davis) pictured above practicing his high wire act with his sister, Elsie, in their backyard in South Yorkshire, England before they joined the circus troupe Cushman took over 14,500 dazzling Kodochrome color slides that are now archived at the Charles Cushman Collection: Indiana University Archives. He was a revolutionary photographer for using the Kodochrome process, that was one of the first to process color A group of trick cyclers and a clown midget pictured above at the Ringling Circus in Chicago on August 11, 1946 Downtime: Cushman not only captured the circus performers in the glamour and flair but also captured their downtime and breaks - tending to their laundry and taking coffee breaks. A Rola Rola man pictured left hanging laundry in 1949 and Rose Behee of the Flying Behees pictured right in 1946 Flying Concello, a trapeze artist duo, pictured above tending to some washing in Chicago on August 2, 1941 A 'charming aerialist' pictured outside of the Ringling Circus Chicago on August 11, 1946 in a sparkly white and orange costume with a matching headband. A terrifying clown known as Lou Jacobs pictured right on August 2, 1949 A man known as the giant pictured left standing besides a big Buick car on August 2, 1949 in Chicago. A bare-back rider and Mrs. Harold Alzana pictured right before a show on July 31, 1949 in Chicago Where the wild things are: Charles Peterson and his loyal jockey dogs pictured above on August 4, 1949 Prancing Pony: Dancing horse Oiseau Jeune is pictured above with her French mistress riding on her on opening day at Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus at Burnham Park in Chicago on August 2, 1947 Lady of the Wild: Young Miss Unus, the daughter of circus legend Unus who was known for balancing on his forefinger, pictured above riding a Ringling elephant in Chicago on July 31, 1949 An elephant pictured dressed in an elaborate butterfly costume for a Circus pageant in Chicago on August 10, 1947 A woman Cushman described as a 'circus beauty' pictured left posing in an all pink ensemble outside the circus stop in Chicago on August 11, 1946. Dancers practice their romantic moves right backstage in Chicago Spectacular Stork pictured left and two Ringling pageant characters pictured right at the show on August 4, 1949 in Chicago Ringling Circus King Cole poses with a woman dressed as Bo Peep during a circus parade in a parking lot in Chicago on July 31, 1949 Practice makes perfect! A trapeze walker pictured above in an undated photo practicing on rope attached to the circus tent The Circus gals of 1946 pictured left all dolled up in an orange and white uniform as Clown Felix Adler is depicted right feeding a pig in 1947, both in Chicago A group of midgets pictured walking behind the pitched circus tent during a tour stop in Chicago on August 9, 1941 This wide shot shows the infrastructure of the circus tent before the canvas exterior is pitched up The set up: A group of men work together to pull the heavy canvass sheet out to set up the massive circus tent Show goers pictured above purchasing Jell-O from clown named Felix Adler donning a colorful polka dot costume at a Chicago show on July 31, 1949 Advertisement The Tories have suffered a major meltdown in local elections, losing hundreds of seats as furious Brexit supporters turned against Theresa May over her handling of Britain's departure from the European Union. The Conservatives had already been braced for a tough night amid frustration at the Prime Minister's failure to take Britain out of the EU on March 29 as planned. But in a clear message to politicians to get their act together over Brexit the party had lost more than 400 seats before even half of councils had declared results today. Before the vote Tory sources had suggested they could lose 800 seats across England, with a loss of 600 considered a 'good night'. There was little to cheer for Labour either, with the party - totally divided over whether to support a second referendum - looking set to lose more than 100 seats, with the Liberal Democrats the main beneficiaries. With results on 162 of 248 councils returned by 1pm today, the Conservatives had lost 676 councillors, Labour had lost 91 and Ukip had lost 71 - but the Liberal Democrats had gained 410. The hit for Jeremy Corbyn's party came at a point in the electoral cycle when they could expect to be making significant gains at the expense of the Government. Labour and the Conservatives suffered the biggest losses in their heartlands of the North and South East as their traditional voters abandoned the two main parties. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats said they enjoyed an 'awesome' night, with some predictions that they could gain up to 500 seats in their best results since 2003. Polling expert Sir John Curtice declared voters had declared 'a plague on both your houses' - a sentiment echoed by Change UK MP Anna Soubry, formerly a Tory. Some voters spoilt their ballot papers, writing 'Brexit means Brexit' and 'Get May Out'. Elections were held for 8,245 seats on 248 local authorities across England and Northern Ireland - but not in London, Scotland or Wales. Speaking in Manchester after Labour took control of Trafford Council, Mr Corbyn said the results had been 'interesting, to put it mildly'. He said: 'The issues that dominated this election were to some extent Brexit rather than local issues which is what local elections are all about.' Slide me Before and after: These UK maps show which parties held the areas before votes were cast today (left) and another displaying the results following the votes (right). It demonstrates how the Conservatives have lost a huge amount of control today Praying for good results? Jeremy Corbyn celebrated Labour taking Trafford Council in Manchester with party activists at the Waterside Arts Centre this morning The Conservatives lost Peterborough, where the local election count is pictured last night The Liberal Democrats celebrate winning control of Bath and North East Somerset Council from the Conservatives today Ballot counting gets underway at the Hull City Council election count at the Guildhall last night Some voters spoilt their ballot papers, writing 'Brexit means Brexit' and 'Get May Out' Others tried to vote for the Brexit Party's Nigel Farage even though he wasn't on the papers Losing more than 800 seats would represent the Tories' worst performance since 1995 when, under John Major's leadership, the party lost 2,000 seats to a resurgent Labour Party led by Tony Blair. Election results delayed due to spoilt ballots Election results were delayed in parts of England after so many people had deliberately spoilt their ballot papers. Some voters scribbled 'Brexit means Brexit', 'Get May out' or 'traitors' - and refused to mark crosses against any candidates' names. One of the spoilt local election ballot papers Each of the spoilt papers had to be adjudicated, delaying the result in some areas such as Ipswich, Suffolk. One official in the hall said 'We thought there would be quite a few spoilt papers, but nothing on the level we have seen - it took everyone by surprise. There seems to be a lot of anger and frustration out there.' The result itself did not raise many eyebrows - Labour increased their majority by three and retained its grip on Ipswich Borough Council. Spoiling a ballot paper is not illegal, although there are restrictions on photographing in polling stations. Advertisement The Conservatives lost Peterborough, Basildon, Southend, Worcester, St Albans, Welwyn Hatfield, Folkestone and Hythe, Broxtowe, Tendring and Tandridge to no overall control while Winchester, Chelmsford, Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset Wesand Taunton, Vale of White Horse, Cotswold and Hinckley and Bosworth fell to the Liberal Democrats, with North Kesteven going to independents. However the party held on in the bellwether council of Swindon, seen as a possible Labour gain, and took Walsall and North East Lincolnshire from no overall control. Broxbourne in Hertfordshire was one of the first results declared, which came back as a Tory hold, as was Havant in Hampshire, and Castle Point, Brentwood, Rochford and Epping Forest in Essex. The Tories lost control of Basildon and Tandridge councils in Essex and Surrey respectively to no overall control after other parties won seven of the 14 seats up, with some wards still to declare. In Chelmsford local MP Vicky Ford became upset during an interview after a bad night for the Tories in which they lost control of the council, losing a 45-seat majority. Speaking to the BBC she said: 'I think it is really disappointing when you look at some of the individuals who have lost their seats tonight. 'People who have worked their socks off for Chelmsford. 'Some of those councillors who have really worked so hard and helped to make Chelmsford so fantastic. 'They have lost their seats as a result of what is happening nationally reflecting back in people not wanting to turn out and vote locally.' The party retained control of Swindon in Wiltshire after winning 10 of the 19 seats up for election, with several seats still to declare. Labour meanwhile lost control in Bolsover, Hartlepool and Wirral and the mayoralty in Middlesbrough, where its vote was down 11 per cent as independent Andy Preston was elected, although it did gain Trafford from no overall control. Labour suffered a number of early losses in north-east England, losing four council seats in Hartlepool, five seats in South Tyneside and nine seats in Sunderland. But it held Newcastle-upon-Tyne, along with Wigan, Exeter, Liverpool, Oldham, St Helens, Halton in Cheshire, Chorley in Lancashire, Lincoln, Coventry, Salford, Barnsley, Sunderland, Harlow in Essex, Wolverhampton and South Tyneside. Even where the party held on in its traditional stronghold of Sunderland, which voted heavily for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, it still lost 10 council seats. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he has been following the local election results from Nairobi, Kenya. He tweeted: 'Following local election results from Nairobi, which look at this stage like a slap in the face for both the main parties. 'My heart goes out to conservative councillors who have lost their seats. A few positive results too and big shock to see Labour lose Wirral and Hartlepool'. Change UK MP Anna Soubry, formerly a Conservative, said the local election results tell the two main parties 'plague on both your houses'. She tweeted: 'Strikes me that on the basis of the results in so far - the message to both main parties is 'plague on both your houses.' People are voting for change and change is indeed coming.' Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after voting at a polling station in Sonning, Berkshire Both the Tories and Labour suffered big losses with Lib Dems and independent councillors making gains in the elections The Tories were particularly hammered on council control, and Labour also lost a few - but the Lib Dems made good gains Labour lost Wiral and Hartlepool - which is a unitary authority - to no overall control despite holding it since 2010. As part of the Lib Dem surge, the party took control of Cotswold and Winchester councils from the Conservatives. Local elections and the Brexit backlash The Conservatives and Labour have both faced a backlash at the ballot box over Brexit while smaller parties and independents have surged ahead. - Who are the winners? With results in from 109 of the 248 councils where elections are being held, the Lib Dems had gained 302 and the Greens 35. There were 85 more independent councillors. The Lib Dems took four councils from the Tories: Winchester, Cotswold, Bath and North East Somerset, and Hinckley and Bosworth, while North Kesteven went to independents. Another point of satisfaction for the party came from the fact leading Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg now has a Liberal Democrat councillor representing him in Somerset. - And the losers? The Conservatives had lost 433 seats and Labour 85, while Ukip lost eight. While the Tories took two councils - Walsall and North East Lincolnshire from no overall control - they lost Peterborough, Basildon, Southend, Worcester, St Albans, Welwyn Hatfield, Folkestone and Hythe, and Tandridge to no overall control. Labour was hoping to take Swindon from the Tories, but didn't manage to. - What are the Tories saying? Brexit-backing Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said: 'If the Conservative Party doesn't mend its ways pretty quickly, the Conservative Party is going to be toast. 'It is quite obvious that the Conservative Party has got to deliver Brexit - and a Brexit that really is Brexit.' Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the losses reflected the anger among voters over Brexit and called on MPs to rally behind Theresa May's deal. - And Labour? Jeremy Corbyn's party also struggled, losing seats at a point in the electoral cycle when they could expect to be making significant gains at the expense of the Government. Labour lost control in Bolsover for the first time ever, in Hartlepool and in Wirral, although it did gain Trafford from no overall control. The party's national elections co-ordinator Andrew Gwynne accepted it had been 'a difficult set of elections' for the party and that Brexit had 'undoubtedly' been a factor. Labour MP Jess Phillips reacted by saying her party's position on Brexit had 'failed'. And Labour MP Neil Coyle, a prominent critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, made clear that he believes the party should have done better. - The Lib Dems are happy As well as picking up councils from the Tories, the Lib Dems, who fought on a pro-Remain platform, took North Norfolk and North Devon from no overall control. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Edward Davey said the party's results were 'equivalent to our best strides forward ever in our history', comparable to surges following the Iraq War and during the meltdown of John Major's administration. He said: 'It is just a fabulous night. We are clearly back in the game.' - And the other parties? Change UK MP Anna Soubry, formerly a Conservative, has said the local election results tell the two main parties 'plague on both your houses'. The recently formed party had not stood candidates in the local elections, but will be running in the EU elections later this month if they go ahead. The Brexit Party also skipped these elections, but Ben Habib, Brexit Party MEP candidate for London, said: 'We believe the vote to leave the EU and these elections are closely linked, and we are not surprised that Labour and the Tories appear to have been punished at the polls because Theresa May, her Government and the House of Commons have botched Brexit.' Advertisement And leading Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg now has a Liberal Democrat councillor representing him in Somerset. It is the first time since 2003 that Labour held a majority of seats on Trafford council, and the first time since 2011 that the Liberal Democrats have a majority in Winchester. The Liberal Democrats were on course for a strong performance, with predictions they could make as many as 500 gains. Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron tweeted: 'Congratulations to all those Lib Dems who picked a ward...and won it!' MP Ed Davey said his party was having an 'awesome night' thanks to voters rejecting Labour and the Conservatives, citing hard work rather than Brexit issues for their success. He told ITV's Good Morning Britain today: 'They are fantastic results, the Liberal Democrats are back in business. I think the British people have been crying out for an alternative. 'We saw Conservative Remainers switching to the Lib Dems, Labour voters disappointed backing the Lib Dems, we've seen switches on the back of Brexit.' Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran claimed these are the best local election results for the party since 2003. She tweeted: 'To put the national results in context, these are the best Lib Dems local election results since 2003 - right in the aftermath of the Iraq war.' Change UK MP Chuka Umunna, former member of the Labour Party, said the local election results illustrate that 'politics is broken in Britain'. He tweeted: 'These local election results illustrate that people believe, as we do, that politics is broken in Britain and the two main parties are responsible, which is why our MPs left them - those parties can't be the solution because they are part of the problem.' The Conservatives gained control of Walsall for the first time since 2011, and control of North East Lincolnshire for the first time ever. Brexit minister James Cleverly said it would be a 'tough night' for the Tories, who are expected to lose hundreds of seats. Amid voter anger at the continuing wrangling over Brexit, Mr Cleverly suggested he would be relieved if the losses could be held to 500 council seats. Mr Cleverly said he feared Brexit would dominate many voters considerations when he the told BBC News the Tories could lose as many as 1,000 seats: 'Nine years into government you would expect us to be losing lots and lots of seats. 'It would be unrealistic for me to pretend after nine years in government and Brexit as a backdrop that this is going to be anything other than a really, really tough night for us. 'If it was 500 [seats lost], rather than 1,000, I would be happy with that.' Conservative MP for Reigate Crispin Blunt said that the party needed to replace Theresa May as leader. Mr Blunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I was publicly one of those who thought she should go in December. There is no reason for me to change that judgment. 'She now formally has the leadership without a challenge under our rules until December, but plainly we are going to need a new leader at some point to get a clear strategy to get Brexit over the line.' Mr Blunt warned of a split in the Tories if Mrs May took the 'Ramsay MacDonald option' of forging a Brexit deal with Labour, saying: 'She would find there were very few Conservatives behind her if she were to do that deal.' A deal with Jeremy Corbyn's party would leave Mrs May in a similar position to MacDonald, who became 'the most reviled Labour leader in their history and was left with very few Labour colleagues supporting him' after he went into coalition with the Conservatives in the 1930s, said Mr Blunt. John McDonnell said the party had got the message from voters. The shadow chancellor said: 'We'll see what final results of local elections look like by end of day as they are pretty mixed geographically up to now but so far message from local elections - ''Brexit - sort it''. Message received.' A voter leaves a poling station with her dogs after voting in Broadstairs, Kent, yesterday The PM and her husband Philip talk to locals as they arrive to vote in Sonning yesterday More than 8,000 seats are being contested yesterday, mostly in Shire counties like North Yorkshire, where the village hall in Shelton, near York, is being used as a polling station Some voters in Skelton used the election as a way to get some exercise for their dogs Tories suffer set-back in Onasanya city ahead of by-election with Brexit Party waiting to pounce Tories efforts to gain the Westminster seat of disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya have taken a major blow after the party lost control of the local council. The Conservatives have lost Peterborough City Council to no overall control after three years in charge of the consistently marginal authority. A by-election will be held in the Cambridgeshire city in June after Onasanya, 35, became the first sitting MP to be booted from the Commons by a recall petition of voters. The Tories were hoping to take the marginal Commons seat, which it lost by just 607 votes in 2017. But the local election result raises serious questions about whether they can retake it, with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, planning to stand against them to take the votes of furious Brexiteers. Peterborough voted 60-40 in favour of Leave in the 2016 referendum. The Tories now hold 28 of 60 seats on the council after the party lost three seats to Labour and one each to the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats, but also gained one seat from Labour. Ukip lost the only seat it held on the council to the Lib Dems. Ms Onasanya, who was elected as a Labour MP in 2017, served 28 days in prison for lying about a speeding offence and was unseated from the Commons by her constituents. Advertisement The senior Tory Brexiteer MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said voters overwhelmingly believed that she had 'lost the plot' and that the time had come for a change of leader. 'She still has a degree of personal sympathy but I think people think it is time for a change. They can see that she has lost the plot. They can see she is not in control of events,' he told the BBC. 'Certainly among Conservative activists and council candidates there is an almost universal feeling that it is time for her to move on.' Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner suggested they would be satisfied if they could take back the 200 seats they lost the last time these seats were fought in 2015. 'These elections will be a test of the Conservative Party far more than a test of the Labour Party or any of the other parties,' he told the BBC. 'I would like us to come back to where we should have been the last time round.' In contrast, the Liberal Democrats, who lost heavily in 2015, were buoyant, with deputy leader Jo Swinson predicting three-figure gains. Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis told Sky News: 'I have said for a while these are going to be tough elections for us. 'The reality is we were fighting these elections from a real high water mark for us off the back of the 2015 general election. 'People are frustrated with where they see parliamentarians are. 'And the fact that we have found this impasse in parliament. 'It's a stark reminder to everybody in the House of Commons that we need to get past that impasse, deliver on what people voted for, and focus on that as parliamentarians as well.' Elections took place in 248 English councils - including at this polling station in Loftus, North Yorkshire All sorts of buildings are pressed into action as polling stations, including this church in Redcar, North Yorkshire 'Stand in the middle of the road and you get run over in both directions': Furious Labour politicians attack Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn came under fire from both leave and remain supporters in his own party today as Labour lost scores of council seats. The party failed to gain votes from leavers, due to its perceived blocking of Brexit, or from remainers, due to its reluctance to back a second referendum. By 10am this morning, Labour had lost three councils and nearly 80 seats nationwide. MP for Redcar Anna Turley tweeted: 'Stand in the middle of the road and you get run over in both directions.' After Labour lost ten seats in Sunderland council, the local leader said voters there were unhappy at the idea the party could back a second EU vote. Greame Miller, leader of Sunderland council, said: 'We lost 10 seats and my view of is very, very simple: Sunderland voted as a city to leave in June 2016. 'Having had a Labour message across the city from members of Parliament saying that we need to be having a People's Vote, a second referendum, people in Sunderland have said 'we're just not accepting that from the Labour party'. 'I have lost 10 councillors tonight because of that Brexit situation where the Brexit message has stepped into and over local politics and that's the outcome.' Labour has lost overall control in party stronghold Bolsover, Derbyshire for the first time. The traditional Labour heartland constituency voted 70% to leave in the EU referendum. Advertisement 'Out and about across the country, the mood has been positive. If we can get into the triple figures of gains that would be a really, really good night,' she said. 'That would be part of that Lib Dem fightback that is happening.' Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC the Conservatives 'are being punished' for not delivering Brexit. Both Labour and the Tories have their eyes on gaining a majority in Dudley, Trafford and Walsall, which remained Conservative. The Tories were hoping to gain control in Thurrock but lost the ward to independents. Votes were also cast for six mayors, two of which were won by independents and all 11 councils in Northern Ireland. Change UK MP Mike Gapes, formerly of Labour, said early local election results suggested 'big moves away' from Jeremy Corbyn's party and the Conservatives. He tweeted: 'Early results of local elections indicate big moves away from both Conservatives and Corbyn Labour. 'Another indication that Corbyn Labour is unable to capitalise on the incompetent dysfunctional Conservative Government.' Voter turnout has yet to be confirmed. In local elections in 2018 there was a turnout of just 36 per cent, but in 2015, when polls coincided with a general election, turnout reached around 64 per cent. Conservatives were concerned Leave-backing supporters would stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson told Sky News: 'I think the message is pretty clear. It seems to be a plague on both your houses to the Conservatives and the Labour Party, who they see as a block on finding some sort of resolution to Brexit. 'So, we know that the talks are ongoing; hopefully, this will focus minds in the room and, hopefully, we can get past the impasse that we are in and move on to the next stage.' Pubs are also being used as polling stations, including The Crown Inn in Birchington in Kent Voters go to a polling station in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, yesterday Another polling station has been set up inside a pub - the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire A ballot box being carried into a polling station in Saltburn By The Sea, North Yorkshire Many youngsters are getting a taste of democracy yesterday as their parents take them to the polls. Pictured is a mother and her child in Guisborough, North Yorkshire 'Lib Dems are back in business!': Jubilant party claims victory as they take 300 council seats The Liberal Democrats claim they are 'back in business' after taking hundreds of council seats from Labour and the Tories. The party's support had crashed in the wake of Nick Clegg's disastrous decision to go into coalition with David Cameron in 2010, and they currently have just 11 MPs. But by 9am this morning, the Lib Dems had won more than 300 council seats and taken control of nine councils. The party cashed in on the main two parties' failure to deliver Brexit as voters turned to them as one of few alternatives. Experts say their message that they want to stop Brexit meant they picked up support from remain voters. MP and former minister Sir Ed Davey said the results were 'equivalent to our best strides forward ever in our history'. 'We are clearly back in the game,' he said. 'People have been frustrated with the appalling Tory Government, who have let them down not just on Brexit but with cuts to police and schools, and a split opposition with such poor leadership.' Advertisement The Liberal Democrats hoped to seize Winchester. Theresa May cast her vote in local elections yesterday as her Tory party admitted that losing up to 600 seats would be a 'good night' for the party, which fears a massive Brexit backlash at the ballot box. Accompanied by husband Philip she voted at a polling station in her Maidenhead constituency this afternoon with the Conservatives primed to take a hiding in votes taking place across the country. It is widely believed that Brexit-backing voters in the Shires - which make up the bulk of council seats being contested - will turn against them after the UK's departure from the EU was twice delayed from March 29. But some - including election guru Professor Sir John Curtice - have claimed the absence of the Brexit Party from the ballots and the lack of UKIP candidates will be a silver lining for the Prime Minister and her party. Millions are heading to the polls yesterday for local elections which could see the Conservative party take a hammering across the country. Elections are taking place in 248 English councils outside London, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland. There are also polls for six elected mayors in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and the new North of Tyne devolved regional authority. Close to 60 per cent of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England were originally Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour before the night began. Conservatives fear Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Pictured is a polling station is Saltburn Many experts fear the Tories could experience their worst local election demise since 1995 when the party lost 2,000 seats. A polling station is pictured in Redcar, North Yorkshire Polling stations are dotted about the UK in a variety of different locations including schools, churches, community centres and caravans. Pictured is one in High Offley in Staffordshire Activists were out campaigning, with some handing out leaflets, including one in east Belfast Some believe the Brexit chaos will put off the electorate from even voting at all. Volunteers are pictured here manning the station at the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire What you need to know about yesterday's local elections Where are the local elections taking place? Elections are being held in 248 English councils outside London, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland. There are also polls for six elected mayors in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and the new North of Tyne devolved regional authority. Polls open at 7am and close at 10pm. Counting will take place overnight in about 120 areas but will be carried out during the following day in others, with the last result not expected until about 9pm on Friday. What does the picture currently look like? Nearly 60 per cent of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England are currently Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour. A majority of seats involved were last contested in 2015, at a point when the Conservatives were on an electoral high, securing their first House of Commons majority for 18 years on the same day. Under David Cameron, the Tories comfortably topped the poll, gaining 32 councils and 541 councillors as Labour and the Liberal Democrats both slumped. How are the parties likely to fare this time round? In terms of council seats, the Conservatives are currently at a historic high for a governing party after nine years in power, making losses all but inevitable even if the Tories were not riven by disputes over Brexit. Conservative peer and elections expert Lord Hayward has predicted the loss of 800 or more councillors for Mrs May's party - around a sixth of the seats they are defending. He predicts that Liberal Democrats will be the principal beneficiaries, gaining 500 or more seats to Labour's 300. Any gains higher than this would be regarded as a big success for the two opposition parties. Most of the electoral battles are in the Tory shires or Labour strongholds in northern cities, limiting the prospects for large-scale gains by Jeremy Corbyn's party. Will voters' thoughts on how Brexit is panning out have much of an impact? As well as local factors, the ongoing row over Brexit is expected to play a major role in the elections. Conservatives fear Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. Labour risks losing votes from the Remain backers who make up a majority of its supporters if it appears too lukewarm on a second referendum, but could suffer in Brexit-voting areas of the Midlands and the North if it is seen to oppose EU withdrawal. Are there any councils in particular to watch? In Dudley, Trafford and Derby, Labour could gain overall control, while in Swindon, Great Yarmouth, Redditch and St Albans, control could slip out of Tory hands. The Liberal Democrats are hoping to seize Winchester. What happens next? The polls will be swiftly followed by elections to the European Parliament on May 23 - unless the Prime Minister is able to ratify her Brexit deal in time to halt them. However, local results may not be a good guide to the Euro-elections, as neither Nigel Farage's Brexit Party nor the Remain-backing Change UK are fielding candidates on May 2. Polls suggest the European elections may be treated as a proxy second referendum by many voters, with Tories currently trailing in third place behind the Brexit Party and Labour. Advertisement The last time a majority of the seats were fought over in 2015, the Tories were on an electoral high as they secured their first Commons majority since 1992 on the same day. Most of the electoral battles are in the Tory shires or Labour strongholds in northern cities, limiting the prospects for large-scale gains by Jeremy Corbyn's party. The results are unlikely to be a guide for European elections scheduled for later in the month, as neither Nigel Farage's Brexit Party nor the Remain-backing Change UK are fielding candidates. However, Brexit is expected to play a major role in the elections. Conservatives fear Leave-backing supporters will stay at home or switch to Ukip in anger at Mrs May's failure to deliver Brexit on time on March 29. 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. An analysis by Tory election expert Rob Hayward predicted the party was on course to lose more than 800 council seats, and some senior figures privately fear they could lose more than 1,000. Key battlegrounds include Dudley, Trafford and Derby, where Labour could gain overall control, and Swindon, Great Yarmouth, Redditch and St Albans, where control could slip out of Tory hands. Sir John said on Wednesday the day would be a disaster for Theresa May only if Conservatives stayed at home. He said the absence of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and a shortage of Ukip candidates was a 'silver lining' for the Prime Minister. The losses are expected to be particularly high because the Conservatives did very well last time in 2015 when they also won a majority at the general election. Sir John, who is professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said: '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 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 Lib Dems 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.' A heavy defeat would likely set off a fresh wave of demands for Mrs May to name a date for her departure. Lord Hayward, a former Conservative MP, said the Tories appeared to be on course for their worst drubbing since 1995 when Tony Blair crushed John Major's divided government and the party lost 2,000 seats. He said: 'This was always going to be a difficult election because the seats the Conservatives are defending were won on a very good night for them in 2015. 'But the results are unquestionably going to be worse because of the current situation. 'People don't know who the leader of the Tory Party is going to be and there is anger amongst Tory Brexiteers that the party has not delivered. 'There was a noticeable dip when the Prime Minister agreed to delay Brexit. That has calmed down a bit because there has been less debate about Brexit in the last fortnight. But at best, the Tories are at the crest of a trough.' If the results are as bad as forecast it will be the worst result for any governing party since 2003 when Labour leader Mr Blair lost more than 1,100 seats following a backlash over the Iraq War. Chase Bliss Colasurdo, 27, was taken into custody in Washington state on Wednesday and charged with making interstate threats against President Donald Trump's son and son-in-law A man has been arrested by the FBI after he allegedly made a series of disturbing posts on Instagram threatening to kill Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, as well as purchasing a bulletproof vest and ammunition. Chase Bliss Colasurdo, 27, was taken into custody in Washington state on Wednesday and charged with making interstate threats against President Donald Trump's son and son-in-law. Authorities started investigating Colasurdo in early March after a member of the public alerted the FBI to a series of violent posts on his Instagram. The FBI started monitoring Colasurdo's online activity and realized that he had purchased a bulletproof vest, ammunition and a gun holster in recent weeks. Colasurdo was stopped from buying a a 9mm handgun after the Secret Service flagged his name in the federal background check database. When agents first questioned Colasurdo about his unhinged Instagram posts, he claimed his social media account had been hacked. In a series of posts dating back to February, Colasurdo allegedly threatened repeatedly to kill Kushner. Authorities started investigating Colasurdo in early March after a member of the public alerted the FBI to a series of violent posts on his Instagram in which he threatened to execute Trump Jr. and Kushner In a series of posts dating back to February, Colasurdo allegedly threatened repeatedly to kill Kushner In one post, Colasurdo took a photo of himself holding a gun and wrote of how he had made a death threat against Kushner but had not been arrested 'I will personally execute Jared Kushner,' he is accused of writing in one post. 'Weird... I made a death threat against Jared Kushner yesterday and I have not been arrested yet. Almost like I have special forces murdering anyone trying to f**l with me or something,' he allegedly wrote alongside a photo of him holding a gun. 'By the way I do still plan on personally executing him.' Colasurdo also allegedly posted a photo of Trump Jr. with the caption: 'I would just like to let the secret service know that I am going to execute this f****t'. Authorities allege that Colasurdo also sent an email to at least five news outlets indicating his desire to execute Kushner. When Colasurdo was interviewed by the FBI in March, he told them his Instagram account had been hacked. When agents first questioned Colasurdo about his unhinged Instagram posts, he claimed his social media account had been hacked. The FBI started monitoring his online activity and realized that he'd purchased a bulletproof vest, ammunition and a gun holster in recent weeks Colasurdo said he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was previously detained in a mental health facility after being arrested for assault in 2015. He told the agents that he had no plans to harm anyone. After blaming the posts on a hack, the FBI said Colasurdo continued to make threats on Instagram against Jews and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. Authorities said Colasurdo last month purchased body armor and 300 rounds of ammunition. He was also stopped from trying to buy a $549 pistol. When authorities raided his home following his arrest on Wednesday, they found the items he had purchased, as well as a framed photo of Hitler and a Nazi flag. Colasurdo is scheduled to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday. The pensioner who fatally stabbed a serial burglar in his home spoke for the first time yesterday about his desperate struggle to protect his frail wife. Richard Osborn-Brooks, now living in a secret location, said he felt helpless and terrified when two men in balaclavas raided his house at night. The 79-year-old said he grabbed a 12-inch kitchen knife and threatened career criminal Henry Vincent, who was armed with a screwdriver. Richard Osborn-Brooks, now living in a secret location, said he felt helpless and terrified when two men in balaclavas raided his house at night. Vincent, who had recently taken cocaine and heroin, shouted: Come near me and Ill stick you. Pensioner Mr Osborn-Brooks, who has a heart condition, replied mine is bigger than yours before stabbing the burglar in the chest in the hallway of his 500,000 home in Hither Green, south-east London. Vincent, 37, staggered out of the house and died in hospital three hours later. Mr Osborn-Brooks spoke for the first time about the events that night when he gave evidence via videolink at the inquest into Vincents death in Southwark Coroners Court yesterday, where coroner Andrew Harris ruled that the career criminal had been lawfully killed. The 79-year-old said he grabbed a 12-inch kitchen knife and threatened career criminal Henry Vincent (pictured), who was armed with a screwdriver Mr Osborn-Brookss face was obscured so no one not even Mr Harris could see him. Recalling his emotions that night, he said: I wanted him out the house and away from my wife. It is not an experience I had ever had before and never wish to have again. I have never been in a circumstance like that before. I felt terrified, helpless. I just wanted to threaten him and make him go away. Asked what he felt terrified about, he said: Mainly that they would hurt my wife. That if they still continue to think that we had money in the house, that they might do something to her to make me give it up. But we didnt have any money in the house to give up. Mr Osborn-Brooks, a retired RAC manager, was arrested on suspicion of murder, only to be released without charge within days. He subsequently faced death threats from Vincents associates in the travelling community and was warned by police he could not return to the house he and his wife Maureen, 77, had lived in for almost 42 years. Rose Lee (left), mother of Henry Vincent, is guided out of Southwark Coroner's Court after the inquest into his death The pensioner was upstairs with his wife when they were disturbed by a knock on the front door shortly after midnight on April 4 last year. When Mr Osborn-Brooks answered the door he was forced backwards by Vincent and accomplice Billy Jeeves, who were wearing black hoodies and grey balaclavas. The pensioner was grabbed by the arm and forced back into the kitchen where he was cornered by Jeeves, 28. Vincent raced upstairs and started looking for valuables. Fearing for his wifes safety, Mr Osborn-Brooks pulled the biggest knife from a block of six on the kitchen counter. He said: [Jeeves] started yelling, give me money, give me money, we know you have got money. And I said, we havent got any in the house, we are pensioners, we havent got any money. He said, yes, I know you have and he pushed me into the kitchen. Mr Osborn-Brooks tried to distract Jeeves by asking him to get his heart pills from a kitchen drawer. That gave me time to go over to the sink and grab a knife, he said. It turned out to be the biggest one because its the first one the handle was easiest to get hold of. Holding the knife at head-height, the pensioner told Jeeves: Get out my house you b*****d, or it will be worse for you. He told the court: I just meant that I would report him for breaking in and I wanted him to leave the house. It was purely a threatening move I didnt intend to stab him at all. Jeeves shouted upstairs to Vincent that the pensioner had a knife and ran towards the front door. Jeeves was later arrested on suspicion of burglary before being released without charge. After his accomplice fled, Vincent ran downstairs and confronted Mr Osborn-Brooks in the hallway with a screwdriver. He said: My wife went to the top of the stairs and yelled at him. He came running down the stairs and I opened the front door so that he could get out. I thought if I opened the front door he will run straight out. But he didnt do that. He brandished a screwdriver at me and said, Get out my way or Ill stick you with this. I was holding the knife at chest height with my arm against my body because I wanted to leave him room to get out. I moved my body forward as I was stuck up to the wall and he was coming toward me. I was terrified, I couldnt move. I didnt know whether he was going to stick me with it. I have no recollection of stabbing him. I was just standing there passively holding [the knife]. Police officers outside the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks in Hither Green Mr Osborn-Brooks later gave different accounts to the police about the stabbing. In one, he told officers Vincent was stabbed because he walked into the blade. But in another account, he said he pushed the knife towards the burglar. Senior coroner Andrew Harris ruled that there was a simultaneous movement of both men towards each other which led to the stabbing. Earlier, Vincents sister Rosie Vincent told the court that her brother was not a violent man. She added: He was a father, he was a son, and he was a brother, and no one deserves to die. However, Vincent and his associates were notorious for their repeated attempts to steal from the elderly. In a particularly callous post on social media, one of his clan wrote: An OAP a day keeps ur bank balance at bay. The old b******s deserve everything they get. Just 31 hours before he was killed, Vincent was caught snooping around the grounds of another house in the village of Farningham in Kent. The criminal was confronted by the homeowner who said he appeared to be scanning the house from side to side. Dr Peter Wheeler, 68, (pictured with his wife Gillian) has apologised after admitting a series of mistakes that lead to the death of Stefanos Vavalidis' in 2016 Princess Diana's private physician will be allowed to continue practising despite a series of blunders in treating a top City banker. Dr Peter Wheeler, 68, was found guilty of professional misconduct after the widow of Stefanos Vavalidis claimed her husband had been 'slowly poisoned drip by drip by drip'. Dr Wheeler admitted he should have ordered regular tests after prescribing anti-cancer medication for a skin condition despite warnings of harmful side-effects. Father-of-two Mr Vavalidis eventually fell ill on a family holiday to Athens in 2015 and was diagnosed with liver disease, bone marrow failure and acute gastrointestinal bleeding. He died in hospital aged 69, eight months after being airlifted back to London. Private GP Dr Wheeler whose patients have included Prince Charles, the Duke of Kent, TV cook Nigella Lawson, actor Anthony Andrews and presenter Anne Diamond faced the threat of being struck off over the case. However a disciplinary panel concluded today that while his performance 'fell seriously below the standards expected' and amounted to misconduct, his fitness to practise medicine was not impaired. Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel chairman Lindsay Irvine highlighted Dr Wheeler's 'exceptional efforts' to address his shortcomings plus extensive changes to systems at his practice in Knightsbridge, West London. Stefanos, Vavalidis, 69, a former director of the National Bank of Greece, died in January 2016 after being prescribed a toxic cancer drug for his psoriasis by Dr Peter Wheeler The panel also took account of Dr Wheeler's 'prompt acceptance of his responsibility' and had been 'impressed by substantial evidence of remorse and contrition', Mr Irvine said. The hearing is expected to consider today whether to impose a warning on his registration. Mr Vavalidis, a former director of the National Bank of Greece, was given the anti-cancer medication methotrexate for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis by a dermatologist in 1999, the hearing in Manchester was told. But when Dr Wheeler took over his care in 2003, he gave Mr Vavalidis 23 repeat prescriptions without arranging for regular checks on his blood platelet count and his kidney and liver function that would have shown the Greek financier's immune system was slowly shutting down. The GP identified Princess Diana's body after her fatal car crash in Paris in 1997 Dr Wheeler who in 1997 officially identified Princess Diana's body when it was brought back from France told the hearing he had been 'devastated' by what happened, expressing 'profound regret for the mistakes I made'. Mary O'Rourke QC, representing Dr Wheeler, said the incident had been a 'blot on an unblemished career' and that he intended to retire this year. Despite the bad publicity, his patients had stood by him. 'They love him and believe in him,' she said. Chloe Fordham, for the General Medical Council, said Dr Wheeler had shown arrogance, over-assuredness and a blase attitude. 'The patient should have been told to stop taking the medication and should have been referred to a specialist in blood disease,' she said. But the panel concluded that while it was a 'serious departure' from good medical practice, it occurred 'in the context of a single patient in an otherwise exemplary 38-year career as a GP'. It added that it could not be certain that Dr Wheeler's actions directly caused any harm. An inquest in 2016 found that Mr Vavalidis's death from liver cirrhosis was 'most probably associated with toxicity' from methotrexate. His widow Barbara, 68, who sued Dr Wheeler as well as lodging a complaint with the GMC, claims her husband 'suffered an almost insidious build-up of health problems' from the drug. She said: 'That was the nature of being poisoned drip by drip by drip over this very long period. It's heart-breaking enough to lose your partner of 45 years but a complete shock and horror when we found it had been totally avoidable. The duty of a doctor is to protect patients from harm. That's not what we got.' Defending the legal action, Dr Wheeler reportedly admitted failing to monitor his patient properly but claimed that Mr Vavalidis, who was obese and diabetic, would have died of liver failure and could have survived only another 18 months. The banker's widow and two sons maintain he would have lived much longer and accused Dr Wheeler of 'arrogance, prolonged carelessness and negligence'. The Daily Mail understands that the case was settled by Dr Wheeler's insurers before it reached court, with the family receiving a high six-figure sum in compensation. Father-of-four Dr Wheeler qualified from Kings College Hospital Medical School in 1975 and spent several years in hospital medicine before becoming a private GP. In 1981 he joined The Sloane Street Surgery. According to its website, patients there can expect to pay upwards of 170 for a 15-minute consultation. A one-hour medical costs 380. A Tory peer received a bonus of up to 4million from a Russian energy firm part-owned by oligarch Oleg Deripaska for lobbying the US to drop sanctions, reports claim. The ex-energy minister, who was ennobled by his ally David Cameron, left the Lords temporarily to successfully lobby America to drop the measures. Tory Peer Lord Barker of Battle received a bonus of up to 4million from a Russian energy firm Despite criticism of his financial links to Moscow, the 53-year-old has refused to say how much he is paid by EN+ as its executive chairman. Lord Barker confirmed last month that he would receive a bonus, although he insisted it would be 'relatively modest'. But sources linked to the company told the business website Bloomberg that it was expected to be between 3million and 4million. The news comes as the Government is said to be planning to increase scrutiny of Lords with links to hostile foreign states such as Russia. Lord Barker and EN+ had promised his salary would be disclosed in annual accounts published earlier this week. But, in an unusual move, the firm did not reveal his pay, instead giving a total of 1.4million paid to all non-executive directors. He was appointed chairman of the Jersey-registered company in 2017 before it floated on the London Stock Exchange, raising 770million, in a move that raised concerns at MI6. The US placed sanctions on EN+ in April last year to crack down on oligarchs linked to the Kremlin and Russia's 'malign influence'. Further measures were placed on Mr Deripaska, who is said to be one of Russia's most influential businessmen. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is said to be one of Russia's most influential businessmen The US Treasury cited claims that he was a state actor for Russia with links to organised crime, murder and extortion. Lord Barker took a leave of absence from the Lords in February to travel between London, Moscow and Washington to negotiate a deal to lift the EN+ sanctions. This meant he could use his title but did not have to register his business dealings. The sanctions were lifted in January following a deal that required Mr Deripaska's 70 per cent stake to be halved. Lord Barker insists he was lobbying for minority shareholders, claiming the sanctions had 'muted' the tycoon's influence. The peer stepped down as an MP in 2015. But his links to Russia were formed before he entered the Commons in 2001, when he worked for Sibneft, the oil group run by Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich. The US placed sanctions on Russian energy firm EN+ in April last year to crack down on oligarchs linked to the Kremlin and Russia's 'malign influence' His role in the Russian energy sector has come under scrutiny, and he was called to give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee in February. Security minister Ben Wallace claimed he was seeking 'government assistance for Russian associates'. Lord Barker told the committee he met Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan, and Labour MP Stephen Pound after EN+ was hit by sanctions, but did not ask for help. In February, the Lords standards commissioner dropped a probe into whether he tried to influence the Government. A spokesman for Lord Barker and EN+ refused to comment on his bonus, claiming details of his pay would appear in the firm's next annual accounts. Millions of patients across the UK are being left without a GP at night, an investigation has revealed. At least six health boards were forced to operate out-of-hours services without a single family doctor on occasion last year. Sick patients were tended to by paramedics or an experienced nurse instead, health bosses admitted. A national snapshot shows the number of night shifts where a doctor was unavailable has almost trebled from 57 in 2017 to 146 in 2018. At least six health boards were forced to operate out-of-hours services without a single family doctor on occasion last year (file photo) Meanwhile, serious incidents in out-of-hours care where care has fallen way below that expected have risen by a quarter. Experts have blamed a shortage of GPs and lack of cash to tempt already overworked doctors into covering antisocial hours. 'The GP workforce across the United Kingdom is under severe strain, with the number of doctors continuing to fall, despite repeated government pledges to recruit more,' said Dr Richard Vautrey, of the British Medical Association. 'Combined with rapidly increased demand from a population with more complex health needs, this staffing shortfall means workload has reached unmanageable levels. 'Given the increased workload, it is no surprise that many GPs do not have the capacity to do additional overnight shifts.' Budgets for out-of-hours services have flat-lined, while the number of patients needing to be seen has increased, he added. 'Consistent and sustained investment in GP services combined with renewed efforts in recruitment are absolutely vital to deliver safe services,' Dr Vautrey said. The figures follow an investigation by GP magazine Pulse. Of the 79 health authorities which responded to the Freedom of Information requests, seven admitted to having to run at least one shift with no doctor in the last two years because of staffing pressures. The majority occurred at one of three regions in Wales, alongside two clinical commissioning groups, or CCGs, in England and two in Scotland. The number of night shifts where a doctor was unavailable has almost trebled from 57 in 2017 to 146 in 2018 (file photo) Hywel Dda University Health Board, which covers 384,000 patients, admitted it had no GP cover 125 times last year almost three times the 42 times it operated without a GP in 2017. In England, two CCGs reported struggling to fill out-of-hours shifts in 2018. Tower Hamlets, which looks after 331,000 patients in east London, experienced the problem three times in 2018, and North East Lincolnshire, which covers 169,000 patients, had two instances last year. In Scotland, one health board NHS Borders, which covers a population of 115,020 responded with figures showing the problem is worsening. Across 2016 and 2017 it had only two occasions of no GP cover, rising to eight in 2018. Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, both in south Wales, also struggled to fill GP shifts on several occasions in 2018. Collectively, more than 2.1million patients were left without an out-of-hours GP at least once. Rachel Power of the Patients Association called on a forthcoming NHS workforce plan to recognise the seriousness of this situation. She said: 'Out-of-hours services have been troubled over the last decade, but these findings suggest the system is close to collapse.' Duty nurse failed to spot deadly sepsis Jessica Holbrook, 23, had been complaining of a sore throat An NHS worker who hoped to be a paramedic died of sepsis after being twice sent home by a nurse at an out-of-hours firm. Jessica Holbrook, 23, had been complaining of a sore throat and by the second appointment had a very fast heart rate. This is a key sepsis warning sign but rather than sending her to A&E, the nurse again told her to go home and take penicillin. Jessica, of Barnsley, died the next day, in December 2017. She would have survived had she been given antibiotics much earlier. The out-of-hours firm at the centre of the case, Barnsley i-Heart, was later rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission. The watchdog found patients were routinely being put at risk by staff working beyond their competency level. The firm was not checking qualifications of medical staff. The failings came to light in a Serious Untoward Incident report, passed to the Mail. Advertisement The problems stem from a contract negotiated under Labour in 2004 that allowed family doctors to opt out of responsibility for patients at evenings and weekends. It was handed to commissioning units which subcontracted it to private firms and groups of doctors, known as co-operatives. A widespread shortage of GPs has also meant many who are still working have become unwilling to do anti-social shifts. The Royal College of GPs estimates the health service in England is 6,000 doctors short of what it needs. It currently has just over 34,000. Data provided by 109 CCGs and health boards across Britain show 108 serious incidents were reported across 44 CCGs and health boards in 2018, against 84 in 2017. The Department of Health said its Long Term Plan 'makes clear our commitment to the future of general practice backed by an extra 4.5billion more a year for primary and community care by 2023/24. Last year a record 3,473 doctors were recruited into GP training.' Pictures released by the MoD to celebrate 50 years of Britain having weapons of mass destruction show sacked Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson having a tour of a naval base. In images taken just two days before he was removed from his position for allegedly leaking sensitive government discussions about Britain's use of controversial Chinese tech firm Huawei, Mr Williamson can be seen having a tour of a nuclear submarine. Since April 1969 - for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year - at least one UK ballistic missile submarine has been on patrol beneath the waves of the world's oceans. Ahead of his sacking from the Cabinet, former defence secretary Mr Williamson visited HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane, in Scotland on Monday. The 44-year-old toured HMS Vigilant, which carries the Trident nuclear missiles. Former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson during a visit to HMS Vigilant on Monday - two days before his was sacked for allegedly leaking official secrets Mr Williamson was shown around HMS Vigilant, which carries the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent Williamson is pictured talking to the media after the visit to HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane. Details of the trip were not released until two days after his sacking But the images from his visit were not released by the Ministry of Defence until today - two days after he was fired after being accused of leaking a top-secret government discussion on Huawei's role in helping build Britain's 5G network, which he denies. Many country's are fearful of using the Chinese firm over concerns its communications infrastructure could be used to funnel sensitive data back to its government. The US has banned the company's equipment from its development of 5G on security grounds and is pressuring its allies including the UK to take a similar approach, warning the firm poses an 'unacceptable risk' to national security. The Duke of Cambridge and new Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt will attend a special service to recognise five decades of Britain's continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. The service at Westminster Abbey aims to recognise the commitment of the Royal Navy in maintaining Operation Relentless - the longest mission in the history of the services. Gavin Williamson was given a tour of HMS Vigilant just two days before he was sacked by Theresa May Williamson was shown the controls to the nuclear submarine and given a tour of the naval base Speaking to reporters on board the Vigilant, Williamson said on Monday: 'Having that continuous nuclear deterrent, the word is deterrence and it is about delivering peace, it is delivering prosperity and it is delivering security. 'And that's what it has been doing every single day it has been at sea.' Noting how the submarine fleet is 'literally going head-to-head with adversaries' in the North Atlantic, he said submariners take an 'immense amount of risk on to their shoulders'. 'The submarine service has always, quite rightly, called itself the silent service,' he added. 'But I think it maybe just sometimes needs to be just a little bit less modest and talk about some of its amazing achievements.' This sentiment was echoed by Commodore Bob Anstey, assistant chief of staff submarines, who said the continuous at-sea deterrent is the 'longest sustained mission' and one with 'no end'. 'The thing we haven't managed to put across is the sheer scale of what it means to get something like this going for 50 years', he added. Since April 1969 - for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year - at least one UK ballistic missile submarine has been on patrol beneath the waves of the world's oceans The Duke of Cambridge and new Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt will attend a special service to recognise five decades of Britain's continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent Williamson, as commodore-in-chief of the submarine service, will perform a reading at the invite-only event at the abbey. New Defence Secretary Ms Mordaunt, a Royal Navy reservist and the first female to hold the position, will attend the service in what will be her first public engagement. But the event has been met with a backlash. Peace activists, including those from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), have said they will stage a protest outside. CND said it was 'horrified' at the event, with general secretary Kate Hudson adding that it is 'morally repugnant'. 'This sends out a terrible message to the world about our country. It says that here in Britain we celebrate weapons - in a place of worship - that can kill millions of people,' she said. Protesters will perform a 'die-in' when the service starts, saying it will represent victims of nuclear war. Defiant Mr Williamson insisted he 'didn't say anything' about Huawei to a journalist during his 11-minute phone call and urged Theresa May to report him to the police. There are growing calls for Mr Williamson to be prosecuted for breaching the Official Secrets Act, which carries up to two years in prison. But the PM's deputy David Lidington said yesterday he did not believe a crime had been committed and instead said the case 'boils down' to a breach of the ministerial code. The UK will need around 7,500 offshore wind turbines to meet a carbon emissions target of zero by 2050, the Committee on Climate Change said. This compares with the current 1,900, including those at the Robin Rigg wind farm in the Solway Firth, pictured. It would mean wind turbines being built on up to 2 per cent of the UK coastline. They would generate 75 gigawatts of power, compared with 8GW today. The report has mix of measures - some of which require government action, and others which households can carry out voluntarily. it states the UK needs to quadruple its amount of wind turbines to 7,500 in order to meet targets (stock) The wind turbine industry will help offset job losses of around 28,000 in the coal, oil and gas sectors by 2030, the report said. It suggests the sector will create around 27,000 jobs, although mostly in manufacture and export. The UK will also need to increase tree cover from 12 per cent of the country to 17 per cent to draw carbon dioxide out of the air, the report said. Advice on reducing greenhouse gases includes calling for people to eat 20 per cent less meat and dairy to bring down greenhouse gas emissions and to free land to plant trees, enough to completely cover all of Yorkshire, it claims (stock) The report recommends every household takes steps to help Britain meet its climate targets. They include eating 20 per cent less lamb, beef, and dairy. Experts back planting enough forest to cover an area the size of Yorkshire - five per cent of the UK surface area Banning the sale of new petrol cars by 2030 instead of the current 2040 is also floated and homes could be fitted with 'smart' systems to help control heat and power use, as well as improvements in insulation and double glazing. THE PARIS AGREEMENT: A GLOBAL ACCORD TO LIMIT TEMPERATURE RISES THROUGH CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION TARGETS The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, is an international agreement to control and limit climate change. It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2C (3.6F) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C (2.7F)'. It seems the more ambitious goal of restricting global warming to 1.5C (2.7F) may be more important than ever, according to previous research which claims 25 per cent of the world could see a significant increase in drier conditions. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has four main goals with regards to reducing emissions: 1) A long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels 2) To aim to limit the increase to 1.5C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change 3) Governments agreed on the need for global emissions to peak as soon as possible, recognising that this will take longer for developing countries 4) To undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science Source: European Commission Advertisement Humanity must make a giant leap in space exploration and begin the process of migrating to Mars, argues Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The 89-year-old said a 'great migration' is necessary not only for the sake of exploration but for the ongoing survival of the human race. Aldrin advocated for a spirit of international collaboration, based on the work being undertaken on the International Space Station, with America taking the lead. Scroll down for video Humanity must make a giant leap in space exploration and begin the process of migrating to Mars, argues Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin (pictured) Buzz Aldrin, along with fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong, landed on the moon almost 50 years ago. They did this with a mission, Aldrin wrote in an opinion piece in the Connecticut paper Washington Post. 'Apollo 11 aimed to prove America's can-do commitment to space exploration, as well as its national security and technological superiority.' 'We did all that. We also "Came in Peace for all Mankind"' 'More of that is needed now.' Mr Aldrin's comments follow from US Vice President Mike Pence's recent announcement that NASA is planning a new manned mission to the moon. 'I am with him, in spirit and aspiration,' said Buzz. 'Having been there, I can say it is high time we returned.' Buzz Aldrin (pictured, left), along with fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong, landed on the moon almost 50 years ago 'Today, many nations have eyes for the moon, from China and Russia to friends in Europe and [the] Middle East. That is all good.' However, Mr Aldrin proposes that the United States should not only co-operate but also 'offer itself as a willing team leader in exploring every aspect of the moon.' Such an endeavour, he argues, would extend up to the moon the open and eager spirit of co-operation presently seen surrounding the activities of the International Space Station. A great migration to Mars is necessary not only for the sake of exploration but for the ongoing survival of the human race, Mr Aldrin argued (stock image) However, it is the red planet that Mr Aldrin thinks needs to become the long-term focus of NASA's attention. 'Mars is waiting to be discovered,' said Aldrin. 'Not by clever robots and rovers - though I support NASA's unmanned missions - but by living, breathing, walking, talking, caring and daring men and women.' Buzz said that, for this to actually happen, members of congress, the Trump administration and the American public must all push to make the human exploration of Mars a national priority. To be clear, I do not mean spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a few hijinks or joy rides, allowing those who return to write books, tweet photos and talk of the novelty, said Aldrin. I mean something very different. Both the US and the wider international community, Aldrin said, 'should focus on opening the door, in our time, to the great migration of humankind to Mars.' 'Books aplenty have been written about how to do this, and they have inspired government and non-government leaders to make lofty plans, he added. 'But plans without a detailed architecture, and without that "next step" into the future, are just fantasy.' To be clear, I do not mean spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a few hijinks or joy rides, allowing those who return to write books, tweet photos and talk of the novelty, said Aldrin. 'Americans are good at writing fantasy, and incomparable at making the fantastic a reality. We did it with Mercury, Gemini, Apollo - and in thousands of other ways,' he said. It is time to work on developing blueprints, architecture and planning for the next step, Aldrin said, which would entail a sustainable international return trip to the moon. This, he added, will directly chart a path to Mars. The American public is impatient for space leadership, Buzz argues, which could inspire the executive and legislative branches of the US government to make plans towards landing humans on the red planet. The next small step in this direction would be to capitalise on early lunar landings, Aldrin said, in order to set up permanent settlements on the moon. A lunar base could serve as an important refuelling stop and staging area for future manned missions to Mars and beyond. As mankind works to establish a presence on the moon, plans for permanent migration to the red planet can be made, said Aldrin. 'All of this is within reach for humans alive now.' 'The nation best poised to make it happen is the United States,' he added. 'President John F. Kennedy is remembered for starting our nation's drive to the moon, where Neil and I left footprints,' Aldrin said. Similarly, he added, 'the Trump administration and this Congress would be remembered decades forward for putting humans permanently on the moon and Americans on Mars.' Leaving the first human footprints in Mars' red dust would put humanity on the way to making migration to the planet possible. Actual migratory expeditions from Earth to Mars would be complex, Aldrin says, especially from the point of view of calculating the necessary orbital paths to travel. However, both human nature and the ultimate survival of our species call for humankind to continue to reach outwards into the universe, said Buzz. 'Put simply: We explore, or we expire. That is why we must get on with it.' The plaque on the lunar lander (stock image) 'In a world of division and distraction, this mission is unifying for all Americans and for all humankind,' Aldrin said. 'I am personally glad we are headed back to the moon,' he concluded. 'But my eyes drift higher to the red orb that, even now, awaits an American flag and plaque that reads: "We Come in Peace for All Mankind." ' India has announced that its Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon will launch between July 9-16 this year, after earlier plans for an April lift-off were scrapped. The mission will make the nation the fourth country to accomplish the feat after China, the US and Russia. Israel made an attempt earlier this year but failed. It will be India's first mission to the moon's surface and will aim to land near its south pole, a currently unexplored territory. Scroll down for video India's space agency is launching its first mission to the moon's south pole in July after a three month delay to its earlier schedule. The country's first mission, Chandrayaan-1 (pictured), reached the moon in 2008 but was terminated a year early after scientists lost contact it Rocks in this lunar region are thought to be four billion years old and could provide a precious source of nuclear energy. All previous lunar crafts have landed near the equator and this is the first time one will landed near the south pole - a currently unexplored territory. It is the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) second lunar probe and the first one destined to land on the moon. It is thought that the mission was delayed in April due to damages to Vikram, the moon lander craft, including minor problems with two of its legs. 'Some structural damage was found during the test', said K. Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at the timed. 'And then it has been found that this was because the test configuration and orientation was wrong.' The country's first mission, Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008 and was terminated a year early after scientists lost contact with the unmanned orbiting spacecraft. In a Twitter post, Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) said: 'We are ready for one of the most exciting missions. 'Launch window between July 9-16 & likely Moon-landing on Sept 6, 2019.' In its latest website statement, ISRO added: 'Chandrayaan-2, India's second lunar mission, has three modules namely Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) & Rover (Pragyan). Named Chandrayaan-2, the vehicle will take three months to reach orbit and once the rover reaches the surface it will explore the area around the south pole. Pictured is a model of Chandrayaan-1 The statement describes how the Orbiter and Lander modules will be stacked together as an one entity and be placed inside the launch vehicle known as GSLV MK-III. It added: 'The Rover is housed inside the Lander. After launch into earth bound orbit by GSLV MK-III, the integrated module will reach Moon orbit using Orbiter propulsion module. 'Subsequently, Lander will separate from the Orbiter and soft land at the predetermined site close to lunar South Pole.' The Rover will roll out and carry out scientific experiments on the moon's surface. 'Instruments are also mounted on Lander and Orbiter for carrying out scientific experiments,' the statement concludes. Weighing nearly 3,300kg (7,300lbs), the spacecraft will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, off India's southwest coast The latest announcements from ISRO come after Israel's first attempt to land on the moon ended in failure on April 12 this year. The Beresheet spacecraft began experiencing problems shortly after beginning its lunar descent, despite a promising start in which it sent back a selfie at just 13.6 miles (22 kilometres) from the surface. Mission control confirmed just minutes later that it had lost contact with the lander after resetting the main engine in effort to address an issue and get it all working again. 'We were very close to the moon,' officials said during the live broadcast, but confirmed that there was 'a failure in the spacecraft.' There have been numerous landings on the moon as a result of the 20th century space race between the US and the USSR - including the famed Apollo 11 mission which saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans on the moon Engineers on site estimate the craft was about nine miles (15 kilometres) from the surface when it began to break apart, being unable to slow down without its main engine. SpaceIL was hoping to complete a landing of Beresheet on the moon and make Israel the fourth country to manage the feat - behind the US, Russia and China. While it was unable to achieve this accomplishment, the mission still makes Israel only the seventh country to ever each lunar orbit. The lander - whose name is Hebrew for Genesis or beginning - took off almost two months ago from Cape Canaveral in Florida. SpaceIL says it's now planning to launch another lunar mission within the next three years. The Beresheet spacecraft began experiencing problems shortly after beginning its descent, despite a promising start in which it sent back a selfie at just 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) from the surface (shown). It failed not long after China on the other hand successfully landed its Chang'e 4 lander and Yutu 2 Rover on the far side of the moon on January 3 this year. The 'far side', which is the hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, had never been explored before the current mission, which is ongoing. China Space Agency has also announced that plans for construction work on a moonbase could begin within the next decade. The lunar base could serve not only as a platform for research but also as a refuelling station for giant leaps out into the solar system. Additionally, the country plans to send a mission to Mars by 2020. The announcement of China's timeline for space exploration follows its first soft landing of a spacecraft, Chang'e-4 (pictured), on the far side of the moon, back in January of this year WHAT HAS INDIA'S SPACE AGENCY DONE TO REACH THE MOON? Chandrayaan-1 was India's first lunar orbiter, launched in 2008. The 49 million ($69 million) mission was launched amid national euphoria, putting India in the Asian space race alongside rival China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power. A vehicle landed on the moon a month later and sent back images of the lunar surface. In 2009 India terminated the mission a year earlier than planned, after scientists lost all contact with their unmanned orbiting spacecraft. Chandrayaan-1 (pictured) was India's first lunar orbiter, launched in 2008. The 49 million ($69 million) mission was launched amid national euphoria A crucial sensor in the main craft malfunctioned in July experts believe. The satellite is believed to have crashed into the moon's surface. 'Our efforts to establish contact have failed. The mission has been terminated,' said S Satish, from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at the time. 'There was no point continuing with the mission.' Named Chandrayaan-2, the vehicle will take between one and two months to reach orbit and once the rover reaches the surface it will explore the area around the south pole. It is the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) second lunar probe. Weighing nearly 3,300kg (7,300lbs), the spacecraft will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, off India's southwest coast. It is now set for launch in January 2019. Advertisement In February last year when ISRO announced its April 2019 moon mission liftoff, chairman K. Sivan told the Times of India: 'Chandraayan-2 is a challenging mission as for the first time we will carry an orbiter, a lander and a rover to the moon', 'The 6-wheeled rover fixed within the lander will get detached and move on the lunar surface'. 'The rover will be powered by solar energy and will charge every lunar day which is the same as 14 Earth days. 'It will carry out chemical analysis of the surface and will send data and images of the surface back to Earth. At the time, Wu Ji, director of the National Space Science Center in Beijing, warned of potential obstacles when speaking to Science Mag: 'It is a difficult and complicated mission. 'Less sunlight reaches the poles so the solar-powered craft will have to live off less power. Currently the plan is to land between the mountain craters of Manzinus C and Simpelius N which are around 70 south. The area is completely unknown and experts leading the mission say it could pave the way for future lunar habitation if water is located. A crucial sensor in the main craft of Chandrayaan-1 malfunctioned in July, experts believe. The satellite is believed to have crashed into the moon's surface Weighing nearly 7,300lbs (3,300kg), the spacecraft will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, off India's southwest coast. Chandrayaan-1 was a lunar orbiter launched in 2008. The 49 million ($69 million) mission was launched amid national euphoria, putting India in the Asian space race alongside rival China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power. A vehicle landed on the moon a month later and sent back images of the lunar surface. But a crucial sensor in the main craft, orbiting the moon, malfunctioned in July 2009, curtailing the two-year mission. The satellite is believed to have crashed into the moon's surface. King Balak, a biblical King of the ancient Hebrews, may have been a historical figure, say researchers studying a 2,800-year-old inscribed stone. According to the story, which is in the Old Testament, Balak made many attempts to curse and persecute the Jews. The ancient tablet, called the Mesha Steele, describes various conflicts and conquests that happened during the 9th century. Although parts of the inscription are badly cracked and eroded, line 31, previously thought to refer to 'House of David', may actually be describing King Balak. The team, from Tel Aviv University, think they've spotted three consonants, the first of which is the Hebrew letter 'beth,' which sounds like 'B.' The team can't be sure, but the team think it's 'very likely' the inscription on the 31st line, the bottom of the Stele, refers to King Balak. The new analysis of the stone suggests that Balak, a key character in a biblical parable in the book of Numbers, may be mentioned as a rival to Mesha. Scroll down for video King Balak, a biblical King of the ancient Hebrews, may have actually been a historical figure, say researchers studying a 2,800-year-old inscribed stone. The tablet, called the Mesha Steele, describes various conflicts and conquests that happened during the 9th century 'We are dealing with a name that has three characters, starting with a B. We know from the bible that Balak was the king of Moab and that he ruled from a location in southern Moabas described in the Stele,' Israel Finkelstein from Tel Aviv University, told NewsWeek. But he admitted that he can't be certain: 'At the end of the day, the reconstruction of the name 'Balak' is circumstantial,' he said. The authors studied new high-resolution photographs of the tablet and of the stele itself. The new analysis suggests that Balak, a Moabite ruler who is a key character in a biblical parable in the book of Numbers (chapters 22-24), may be mentioned in the stele as a rival to Mesha for supremacy over Moab. In the story he asks the prophet Balaam to curse the people of Israel. The seat of the king referred to in Line 31 was at Horonaim, a place mentioned four times in the Bible in relation to the Moabite territory south of the Arnon River. 'Thus, Balak may be a historical personality like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the Deir Alla inscription, was considered to be an 'invented' figure,' the authors wrote. The team, from Tel Aviv University, think they've spotted three consonants, the first of which is the Hebrew letter 'beth,' which sounds like 'B.' The team can't be sure, but Finkelstein think it's 'very likely' the inscription on the 31st line refers to King Balak. Here, line 31 Outside of the Bible, and now, the stele, historians haven't found any other mentions of Balak. In their paper, the authors write: 'The new photographs of the Mesha Stele indicate that the reading, House of Davidaccepted by many scholars for more than two decadesis no longer an option.' If the research is right, it completely changes previous research of the local ruling forces of the time. 'The reading 'Balak' instead of 'House of David' dismisses the possibility that Judah ruled over Moab. And it makes Balak a historical figure,' Mr Finkelstein said. The Mesha Stele itself is a 3-foot-tall (1 meter) black basalt stone that dates to the second half of the ninth century BC. The relic, which is on display at the Louvre in Paris, was discovered 150 years ago in the ruins of the biblical town of Dibon in Moab (present day Jordan). After westerners were made aware of it, several people tried to buy it from the Bedouins, who owned the stone. The team can't be sure, but they think it's 'very likely' the inscription on the 31st line refers to King Balak. The new analysis of the stone suggests that Balak, a key character in a biblical parable in the book of Numbers, may be mentioned as a rival to Mesha But negotiations soured between the Bedouins and the prospective buyers, Prussia (North Germany), France and England because of political affiliations with an Ottoman official, whom the Bedouins disliked. So, the Bedouins smashed the Mesha Stele into pieces by heating it up and pouring cold water on it. Parts of the ancient stone are still missing. Since then, archaeologists have tried to reassemble the smashed tablet by connecting the broken pieces. It has proven to be a treasure trove of information on the history of ancient Israel, as well as a constant source of fuel for the debate over the accuracy of the Bible. In the text, dated to the second half of the 9th century B.C.E., the Moabite King Mesha boasts of defeating the northern Kingdom of Israel and its deity. The study was published in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology. A stunning digital reconstruction gives a remarkable look at a new species of millipede which scuttled under the feet of dinosaurs. It has been recovered from 99-million-year old Burmese amber and the 3D model has been used to study the anatomy of the 0.3 inches (8.2 mm) creature. Comparing the model with living millipedes, experts found that the well-preserved specimen is the first ever known fossil of the millipede order Callipodida. In fact, the fossil is so different to living millipedes that the researchers were forced to create an entirely new suborder to define it. Researchers created a detailed three-dimensional model of the animal in order to study its fine details, which had been superbly preserved in the amber (pictured) Pavel Stoev of Bulgaria's National Museum of Natural History teamed up with colleagues Thomas Wesener and Leif Moritz, both of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Germany, to analyse the beautifully preserved fossil. The millipede, found preserved in 99-million-year-old amber from the Noije Bum mine in north Myanmar's Hukawng Valley, is a tiny 0.3 inches (8.2 millimetres) in length smaller than all its relatives that live today. Because amber preserves animals exceptionally well, the specimen contains details that would not normally be present in a fossil sample. To analyse the millipede, researchers used a three-dimensional imaging technique called X-ray microscopy to take a series of image slices through the fossil specimen. They then assembled the data from these images into a three-dimensional model of the whole creature, enabling them to study it in fine detail. This enabled them to confirm, through comparison with other known millipede species, that their fossil was the earliest-known member of a millipede order called Callipodida, and the first fossil from this order to ever be found. An order is a mid-level category in the taxonomic classification in life, larger in turn than suborders, families, genera and individual species. Moreover, the newly-discovered millipede species is so different to the other members of the Callipodida that a new suborder, the Burmanopetalidea, had to be created to classify it. WHAT IS AMBER? Amber has been used in jewelry for thousands of years, and is often found to hold remarkably well-preserved materials from eras long since passed. The golden-coloured translucent substance is formed when resin from extinct coniferous trees became hardened and then fossilised. Often insects, plant material, pollen and other creatures became trapped in the resin, causing them to be entombed within after it solidified. Advertisement This is a somewhat rare event, as only a few new millipede suborders have been created in the past five decades. 'We were so lucky to find this specimen so well preserved in amber!' said Professor Stoev. 'It came as a great surprise to us that this animal cannot be placed in the current millipede classification,' said Professor Stoev. The finding of this new species within the Callipodida, suggests that this millipede order must have evolved at least around 100 million years ago. 'Even though their general appearance have remained unchanged in the last 100 million years, as our planet underwent dramatic changes several times in this period, some morphological traits in Callipodida lineage have evolved significantly.' 'We had the opportunity to examine over 400 amber stones that contain millipedes,' added paper co-author and zoological curator Thomas Wesener. The specimen was loaned to the researchers from the private collection of Patrick Muller of Kashofen, western Germany, which is the third largest assembled set of animal-bearing Burmese amber in the world. The millipede, found preserved in 99-million-year-old amber from the Noije Bum mine in north Myanmar's Hukawng Valley, is a tiny 0.3 inches (8.2 millimetres) in length smaller than all its relatives that live today The millipede was originally found preserved in 99-million-year-old amber from the Noije Bum mine in north Myanmar's Hukawng Valley (pictured) 'Many of [the amber samples] are now deposited at the Museum Koenig in Bonn, so that scientists from all over the world can study them,' added Dr Wesener. Looking at the amber, the researchers were startled to find that the individual millipede that they studied was far from being the only one that was trapped and preserved in that particular deposit. Instead, the creature was found alongside 529 other millipedes, despite being the only one from its order. It was this surprise that in part prompted the team to christen the millipede Burmanopetalum inexpectatum. In Latin, the species name 'inexpectatum' means 'unexpected'. Meanwhile, the genus name, 'Burmanopetalum', is a reference to the country in which it was discovered Myanmar, which was previously called Burma. 'The entire Mesozoic Era a span of 185 million years has until now only been sampled for a dozen species of millipedes,' said Greg Edgecombe, a fossil arthropod expert at the Natural History Museum, London, who was not involved in the study. He adds: 'But new findings from Burmese amber are rapidly changing the picture.' 'In the past few years, nearly all of the 16 living orders of millipedes have been identified in this 99-million-year-old amber.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal ZooKeys. Advertisement NASA's InSight lander has captured stunning images of sunrise and sunset from the Martian surface. Stunning images taken from the Insight's robotic arm shows the Red Planet landscape and the sun rising and setting at the equivalent of 5:30 am and 6:30 pm Mars time. The sun looks especially small because it's further away from Mars than the Earth so it is about two-thirds the size as seen on our planet. The Insight lander has been busy recently; just a handful of months into its exploratory mission on Mars it made a groundbreaking discovery after it detected for the first time a quake on Mars, or a 'Marsquake'. Scroll down for video NASA's stationary InSight lander has captured what sunrise and sunset looks like on Mars. Stunning images taken from the Insight's robotic arm shows the Red Planet landscape and the sun rising and setting at the equivalent of 5:30 am. and 6:30 pm Mars local time According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who operate the NASA mission, One version of each of these images comes in 'raw' form. The colour-corrected version looks an eerie blue colour, which is how humans would see the sunrises and sunsets on Mars On the 145th Martian day of its scientific mission, InSight took two photographs of the horizon; one on April 24th, and another a few hours later on April 25th, in the Martian evening and morning. According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who operate the NASA mission, one version of each of these images comes in 'raw' form. The colour-corrected version looks an eerie blue colour, which is how humans would see the sunrises and sunsets on Mars. Slide me The Insight lander has been busy recently; just a handful of months into its exploratory mission on Mars it made a groundbreaking discovery after it detected for the first time a quake on Mars, or a 'Marsquake' 'With many of our primary imaging tasks complete, we decided to capture the sunrise and sunset as seen from another world,' said Justin Maki, InSight science team co-investigator and imaging lead at JPL in California. Taking pictures of Martian sunsets is somewhat a rite of passage for landers on Mars. It goes back to the Viking 1 lander, which snapped a photo of a Martian sunset in August 1976. Viking 2 caught a sunrise in June 1978, and both events were also captured by the Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. 'It's been a tradition for Mars missions to capture sunrises and sunsets,' said Doctor Maki in the NASA announcement. Insight, for the first time, a 'marsquake' after detecting faint rumbles beneath the surface since December, when it placed its seismometer down to begin its mission. In what scientists hailed an 'exciting' milestone, the InSight team say the lander measured and recorded a seismic signal on April 6, its 128th Martian day, using its Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument. While other disturbances have been recorded, previous signals are thought to have been caused by activity above the surface, such as wind. The marsquake, however, dubbed the Martian sol 128 event, appears to have originated from within the depths. The sun looks especially small because it's further away from Mars than the Earth so it is about two-thirds the size that we see. The Insight lander has been busy of late; just a handful of months into its exploratory mission Insight also made a groundbreaking discovery after it detected for the first time a quake on Mars, or a 'Marsquake' InSight's efforts build upon work laid by the Apollo astronauts on the moon during the late 1960s and 70s, which first revealed clues on lunar seismic activity and the interior of the moon. Similarly, it's hoped that the seismometer measurements will help to improve our understanding of the happenings deep inside Mars. The team says the first seismic event was too small to glean any solid data on this front, but they expect it's just the first of many. 'InSight's first readings carry on the science that began with NASA's Apollo missions,' said InSight Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. 'We've been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology!' InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars mission designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It studies in-depth the 'inner space' of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core and answer key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system. Wolves are more sociable and care about their pack members more than pet dogs do, a study has found. A new study suggests the reputation of dogs being caring and full of affection may be misleading. A series of touchscreen experiments carried out by the Wolf Science Centre in , Austria found wolves make for more selfless pack mates than dogs who were also raised in groups. Scroll down for video A series of touchscreen experiments carried out by the Wolf Science Centre in , Austria found 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. Researchers trained the animals to use their snouts to press a 'giving' symbol on a screen. It that delivered food to an adjacent enclosure after being pressed 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. However the wild animals 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. Over multiple trials, wolves opted to deliver food to members of their own pack, knowing they would not get anything in return. However the wild animals lost interest if they were shown an unfamiliar wolf '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 behaviours could be the result of training or encouragement, and say more research is needed to determine what accounts for the differences. The research was published in the journal Plos One. Alaska is known for many things -- expansive nature, dog-sledding, grizzly bears, and soon, for the first time ever, high-speed fiber optic internet. According to the internet provider, MTA Fiber Holdings, which is Alaska's largest provider, it has begun building a fiber network connecting Alaska to the mainland U.S. that is capable of delivering 100 terabits of data per second. 'This is a major step for Alaska that will ensure future capacity requirements for MTA members and can support the continuing growth of broadband across the state of Alaska,' said Michael Burke, CEO of MTA in a statement. Alaska will see newer and faster internet connections with the construction fo the state's first-ever fiber optic cables underway. The company says it will extend its line all the way from North Pole Alaska, through Canada, on to the U.S. The network is currently under construction and will continue throughout the year with the goal of being ready by mid-2020 said MTA. Fiber cables will be buried along 270 miles of an Alaskan highway making the building and any maintenance on the lines much easier according to a report from Wired. For residents of the far-flung state, the news of a high speed fiber network is likely welcome as Alaska is among America's worst performing states in terms of internet speed rankings. According to HighSpeedInternet.com, Alaska ranks the worst out of all 50 states in terms of internet speed, delivering on average just 17 MBPS. According to internet speed testing company, Ookla, the average download speed in the U.S. was about 93 MBPS. The bulk of the state's internet is currently supplied by several submarine cables that stretch several thousands of kilometers from Washington through the north Pacific Ocean in order to link up with Alaska's mainland. By introducing terrestrial fiber connections Alaska's internet will also be more reliable and less susceptible to underwater hazards like earthquakes. Alaska usually ranks among the worst states in terms of internet speeds with a dearth of available infrastructure . As reported by Wired, beefing up its broadband will also make Alaska more marketable to tech companies like Google and Facebook who have looked into building data center in the world's colder climates. The advantage of anchoring centers in countries like Finland and Sweden is a drastic reduction in the amount of energy needed to cool the hoards of servers used in the operation. As MTA works to develop its wired internet service in Alaska, other competitors in the ISP space like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Kuiper Project are gearing up to launch thousands of satellites into low-Earth orbit in order to beam internet back down to our planet -- in particular undeserved areas. Recently, SpaceX got the green light from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin launching its satellites. The company hopes to have more than 4,000 satellites orbiting Earth through the next several years. Officials involved in last month's failed test of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule have finally confirmed that the vehicle was destroyed as the result of a yet-to-be-determined anomaly. In a statement that aired on NASA TV, SpaceX Vice President of Mission Assurance Hans Koenigsmann said the investigation so far indicates that the failure occurred during activation of the SuperDraco propulsion system, though NASA and SpaceX are still looking at all possible issues. This is the first either of the two aerospace giants have revealed any details about what went wrong during the April 20 test. The comments came amid mounting speculation in the weeks after the test, which sent plumes of dark orange smoke billowing into the air all around Florida's Cape Canaveral launch site. Ahead of the announcement, an internal email sent to employees of a major NASA contractor and obtained by the Orlando Sentinel appeared to finally confirm that the Crew Dragon capsule did, in fact, explode during the test. Scroll down for video A cloud of orange smoke rises over nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as seen from Cocoa Beach, Fla., Saturday, April 20, 2019, after an 'anomaly' caused SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to explode Just keep in mind this is still very early in the investigating, Koenigsmann said, reading from a prepared statement. The investigation is led by both SpaceX and NASA. Both teams are carefully reviewing the telemetry data and all of the data that was collected during that test. Priority of this moment is to allow the teams to conduct thorough analysis before we come to any conclusions, Koenigsmann added. While NASA didnt reveal much about the so-called anomaly itself, the space agency did note that the issue occurred during tests on the second set of thrusters, the SuperDraco system. These thrusters will play a critical role in future launches with astronauts on board; they're designed to safely steer the capsule away from the rocket in the case of an emergency. The problems arose after a smooth static fire of the smaller Draco thrusters, which are also used on the original, cargo version of the Dragon capsule. We powered up Dragon and it powered up as expected, Koenigsmann said. We completed test with the Draco Thrusters. We fired them in two sets, each 4 to 5 seconds, and that went very well. And then, just prior, before we went to fire the SuperDraco, there was an anomaly and the vehicle was destroyed. The Dragon crew capsule that exploded was the same that flew to the International Space Station a month prior. Above, it is pictured during its approach to the ISS in March Koenigsmann confirmed there were no injuries, as previously reported, and noted that SpaceX had taken all of the proper safety measures ahead of the test. Its still too early to determine any cause, he added, but said the investigation so far indicates that the anomaly occurred during the activation of the Super Draco system. We are looking at all possible issues and the investigation is ongoing, Koenigsmann said. We have no reason to believe that there is an issue with the SuperDraco themselves those have been through about 600 tests at our test facility. We continue to have high confidence in that particular thruster. For nearly two weeks up until this point, both NASA and SpaceX have remained tight-lipped about the failed test, even as footage circulating the internet claimed to show the moment the Crew Dragon capsule exploded. An email sent to employees after the SpaceX footage leaked warned them not to record activity inside the Kennedy Space Center if they do, they risk being fired The leaked email sent to employees of the aerospace company Jacobs, who are working as contractors under NASA's Test and Operations Support Contract, directly addressed the footage as it warned employees not to record activity inside the Kennedy Space Center if they do, they risk being fired. At the time of the initial incident, NASA said it's too early to revise the target launch dates. 'This is why we test,' NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement the weekend of the test failure. 'We will learn, make the necessary adjustments and safely move forward with our commercial crew program.' Soon, you won't have to struggle to decide what to eat from the McDonald's menu. The fast food giant is rolling out high-tech menus at 700 restaurants across the country that use artificial intelligence to suggest items. It comes after McDonald's acquired Israeli digital startup Dynamic Yield in March. Scroll down for video McDonald's is launching high-tech kiosks at 700 restaurants across the country that use AI to suggest items. The menus make suggestions based on time of day, weather and other factors WHAT IS DYNAMIC YIELD? McDonald's purchased Dynamic Yield, an Israeli company which employs data and analytics to increase sales. The tech company will help McDonald's develop dynamic menus capable of tailoring products based on time, location, and even the weather. McDonald's purchasing of the company is likely in response to increased competition in U.S. markets. Advertisement Using AI, the menus can suggest items based on the time of day, weather or recent trends, like showing a hashbrown alongside a cheeseburger - a combination that recently went viral on Reddit. The menus will also be able to suggest add-on items, such as a Minute Maid orange juice to go along with your McMuffin. The announcement came during McDonald's most recent earnings call with investors. 'Were leveraging technology to improve and modernize the way we connect with customers,' CEO Steve Easterbrook told investors, according to Nation's Restaurant News. 'We're confident about the road ahead.' In the future, McDonald's hopes to add the AI software to its apps and kiosks, Easterbrook added. The AI-powered menus are also expected to launch in international markets at some point. 'This will enable McDonald's to be one of the first companies to integrate decision technology into the customer point of sale at a brick and mortar location,' McDonald's said in a statement. In the future, McDonald's hopes to add the AI software to its apps and kiosks. The AI-powered menus are also expected to launch in international markets at some point The AI-powered menus utilize technology developed by Dynamic Yield, the startup McDonald's recently acquired. On Dynamic Yield's website, the company describes a mix of services that employ data and analytics to measure and respond to consumer behavior and preference. Its testimonials boast substantial uptick in sales and engagement for brands in online retail and more. While McDonald's reported sales growth in 2018, which the company attributes to delivery and mobile app ordering, in the U.S. -- the restaurant's key market -- store traffic receded. Breakfast, in particular, has been an area of concern according to a report from ABC News. With added competition from direct rivals like Taco Bell, McDonald's has been losing its share of morning-time customers. To help boost its brand 'stickiness' the company has launched a sprawling, and costly redesign of its stores across the world to the tune of $1.4 billion in 2018 for its U.S. stores alone. Angry Liverpool supporters have named the man who shoved a Barcelona street seller into a fountain ahead of their Champions League clash earlier this week. Martin Mullen has been identified as the man who was filmed dumping a local into a fountain on Tuesday in the busy Placa Reial square. In the video a man in a navy blue fleece approaches the man and flips him head first into the water as onlookers watch and laugh. Liverpool fans were filmed shoving locals in Barcelona into a fountain in a popular square The man in the blue shirt has now been named as Martin Mullen by angry Liverpool supporters He is understood to be a longstanding fan and a regular on away trips, according to the Liverpool Echo. They add that the shocking footage is being investigated by police and the club. Meanwhile, a new video which claims to show Mullen emptying juice and water over a diner's head has also emerged. The clip shows a man bearing a strong resemblance to Mullen walk up to a man in a busy restaurant and pour two jugs - one filled with water and the other with juice - over his head. The footage emerged on Wednesday night and has already racked up more than 24,000 views. A new video appears to show Mullen approaching a guest in a restaurant on Wednesday The short clip begins in what appears to be a hotel restaurant whilst breakfast is being served. The man, believed to be Mullen, can be seen walking over with two large jugs. He then stops directly behind a man sitting at a table and hold up the two jugs for the camera. He then quickly pours the contents of both jugs on to his victim. The clip cuts out immediately as the prankster begins to move away and the victim reacts with shock. The clip, posted to the Life in Liverpool Facebook page, has attracted hundreds of comments. Most viewers are convinced the prankster is Mullen. Daniel Anthony Moran said: 'Marty has got f****** issues hasn't he? B******!' Will Bridson commented: 'Marty Mullen.' Ryan Halliday said: 'Same fella from the other video at the fountain.' Whilst sharing the clip, Tracey Murray said: 'So the same gobs**** had already embarrassed himself and Liverpool before he pushed a man in the fountain! In the clip, the man pours both jugs of liquid over a restaurant diner's head before running off 'He's obviously trying to earn a few bob off You've Been Framed or getting paid by his mates for a dare! Feel sorry for his family.' Charlene Berry said: 'Can we see a vid of him getting knocked the f*** out next please.' Lesley Hale commented: 'The person filming obviously knows him - they both need sorting.' Ian Jay commented: 'Definite bully. I hope the kid he threw in the fountain gets to see these posts. He will realise, not everyone is like Mr Sausage.' However one Facebook user defended the actions of the prankster. Tony O Reilly said: 'I really don't think this is the same fella and if it is, he is probably pouring water over one of his mates. The lad yous are all calling a bully is no way a bully! 'This man you all saying is a bully is a top lad who loves to have a laugh and one of the best Liverpool fans I have ever had a drink with.' The incident involving Mullen at the fountain was one of two filmed at the same location where Liverpool fans pushed unsuspecting locals into the water in the middle of the square. A man in a blue jacket standing on the edge of the fountain can be seen being pushed in The man is filmed getting out of the fountain before walking towards the camera Before Wednesday's semi-final first leg chief executive officer Peter Moore took to Twitter to tell fans to treat the city better. 'We proudly sing that we've conquered all of Europe,' he wrote. 'But let's 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, let's visit here with grace and humility.' It came after reports that six Liverpool fans were arrested in Catalonia. Two workers at the Placa Reial hotel were allegedly assaulted and required medical attention, while two others suffered bruises, including a broken nose, according to reports in Mundo Deportivo. Jurgen Klopp's men were beaten 3-0 at the Nou Camp and need to rely on a miracle now to make next month's final in Madrid. Luis Suarez broke the deadlock midway through the first half before a late Lionel Messi brace, including a stunning free-kick, seemingly took the tie away from Liverpool. They meet again in the return leg at Anfield next Tuesday. The six Liverpool fans arrested following disturbances in Barcelona ahead of their side's Champions League semi-final have been summonsed to return to court for a speedy trial. They were released after being taken from a police station where they spent the last two nights in custody to appear before a judge on Thursday morning. Instead of being dealt with on the spot, they were told they must return to learn their fate at a future date which has not yet been made public. Liverpool fans gather at the Nou Camp to watch their side face Barcelona - there is no suggestion any of the supporters in this image were involved in any illegal behaviour Jurgen Klopp waves to the Liverpool travelling support after the defeat on Wednesday night No conditions have been attached to their release, meaning they can return to the UK if they have time. A judicial spokesman said: 'Court of Instruction No 11 in Barcelona, acting as a duty court, has today received the six Liverpool fans who were arrested on Tuesday. 'The case is being processed as urgent, and they have been freed and summonsed to return to court for a speedy trial.' The spokesman said the six fans, who have not been named, would be tried for a crime of atentado, which in English could translate as assaulting a police officer but would also cover behaviour such as serious intimidation or resistance. Under Spanish law people found guilty of the crime can face up to four years in prison as well as a heavy fine. The fans missed Wednesday night's game because they were still in police custody. They were held after allegedly throwing missiles including beer cans at police in a central square called Plaza Reial. Two hotel workers needed medical attention after being hurt. One drunken fan was filmed pushing two people including a tourist into a fountain. Liverpool fans were filmed shoving locals in Barcelona into a fountain in a popular square Liverpool CEO Peter Moore responded by urging the club's fans to behave themselves. He said: 'We proudly sing that we've conquered all of Europe. 'But let's treat this beautiful city with the respect it deserves, and act in a way that is befitting of LFC. 'By all means have a good time, but we are Liverpool, and as such let's visit here with grace and humility.' The club later condemned the 'totally unacceptable' behaviour of some Liverpool fans and said it was working with Merseyside Police and Spanish authorities to identify those involved in the incidents. Forensics: The Real CSI Rating: Planet Child Rating: Forensics officers have a name for the gathering of evidence after a violent crime the DNA, the fingerprints, the fibres of clothing. They call it 'the harvest'. Crime scene officer Alan Sayers told us at the outset of Forensics: The Real CSI (BBC2) that 'if you don't get the harvest, you won't get the results'. More than anything, I really want to see a police thriller about the tensions and rivalries within a highly trained forensics team, called The Harvest. Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, are you listening? A scenes of crime officer gathers crucial evidence on Forensics: The Real CSI This documentary, the first of three, took us through two investigations in Newcastle, including one that debunked just about every detective show you've ever watched. We all know the moment when our sleuth puts a hand on the shoulder of the murder victim, lying face down in a pool of blood, and turns the corpse over to reveal its identity. Klaxon! That's wrong. Turning the body destroys the blood spatter evidence. Once the body could be moved, the scenes became too graphic and gruesome to be described in a family newspaper. Though the victim, an unfortunate man in his 50s with serious mental illness, appeared to have been murdered, the pathologist concluded this was suicide, and showed us the evidence in close-up detail. Lord knows the least of the poor man's problems was ending up as a posthumous telly star. Nevertheless, it did seem an intrusion that once would have been unthinkable. If you needed evidence television has become desensitised, this was it. Children aged five to seven were tasked with finding their way alone to the London Eye on Planet Child The other investigation was less disturbing, as police investigated a shooting, apparently a gangland attempt to intimidate a witness. A gunman burst into a backyard on a housing estate and fired a 12-bore shotgun through the patio window at 1am. Incredibly, from the pattern of shattered glass and the spread of pellets, experts were able to say how close to the house the gunman was standing. Equally incredibly, despite arresting a suspect who left his DNA over the shotgun shells, police weren't able to bring the case to court. Unlike police dramas, real life rarely reaches a neat conclusion. The neat conclusion of doctors Xand and Chris van Tulleken, in Planet Child (ITV), is that kids these days are far too mollycoddled and would benefit from a little more freedom. Few of us older parents would disagree, though I wasn't convinced by some of the arguments. For starters, we were told that three-quarters of today's youngsters spend more time indoors each day than the average prisoner, which I just find impossible to believe. Statistic of the night: Satellite lenses gazed down on carpets of yellow rapeseed in China, on Earth From Space (BBC1). Bees in the fields had to visit two million flowers to get enough nectar for one jar of honey. All that work just for us to enjoy a bit of toast. Advertisement Many inmates in UK jails spend 23 hours a day banged up. Surely it isn't true that only a quarter of children spend 60 minutes or more in the open air each day? The story behind the main experiment seemed dodgy, too. The docs took a handful of bold boys and girls aged five to seven, and let them loose in South London. Their task was to find their way alone to the London Eye. Well, not quite alone. Hidden guardians stalked them every step of the way, which was probably necessary but also a little creepy. And they were tailed by a camera crew, literally looking over their shoulders at the map. They weren't exactly Just William and his Outlaws, running wild. In a brief digression, we also met a boy of seven from a remote village in Africa. Getting lost didn't frighten him, but he was scared of elephants. Sounds like he has good instincts. Davey Llloyd, 29, was pictured kissing his rumoured new girlfriend, Georgia Cook, after wrapping up filming Bachelor In Paradise late last year. And viewers will finally get to see the dramatic events that took place prior to him finding love off the show. In a teaser for the upcoming finale, Davey presents his co-star, Florence Moerenhout, 29, with a ring, but she reportedly dumps him - leaving him heartbroken. Destined for heartbreak? Bachelor In Paradise star Davey Lloyd (left) presents Florence Moerenhout (right) with a ring during the upcoming finale, but she gets cold feet It's unclear whether the diamond sparkler is an engagement ring or just a commitment ring. 'I'm not sure if I want to commit to Dave, I need to think about it,' Florence says in a finale teaser on Wednesday. However, Davey, who is smartly dressed in a blue blazer, white trousers and a quirky-print shirt, appears to be oblivious she has cold feet while making his way to the final commitment ceremony. 'This is what I've been waiting for for so long,' he gushes. 'I'd be gutted if Flo didn't turn up to the commitment ceremony.' Drama: A source recently told Daily Mail Australia that PR consultant Florence completely blindsided the construction worker during the finale In a preview for the upcoming reunion show, a downcast Davey says: 'This is so corny, but it was definitely love at first sight'. A source recently told Daily Mail Australia that Melbourne PR consultant Florence completely blindsided the Sydney construction worker during the finale. 'At the final rose ceremony Davey was stoked because he had finally decided to commit to Florence and arrived with a ring for her,' the insider said. Oblivious: An insider said, 'At the final rose ceremony Davey was stoked because he had finally decided to commit to Florence and arrived with a ring for her' Rejected? The source added, 'But she shocked him and everyone when she told him that she would prefer to be just friends. She felt that she couldn't completely trust him... [he] did not see it coming' 'But she shocked him and everyone when she told him that she would prefer to be just friends. She felt that she couldn't completely trust him... [he] did not see it coming'. Florence joked about a potential split in an Instagram post on Wednesday. 'ALEXA play Blank Space by Taylor Swift!' - is it gonna be forever? Or is it gonna go down in flames?' she captioned a loved-up photo of the pair. It's all systems go for newly-engaged Bachelor couple Matty J and Laura Byrne. Following Matty's romantic proposal over the weekend in Fiji, the soon-to-be parents were pictured stocking up on baby supplies, including a Bugaboo pram worth almost $2000, in Sydney on Tuesday. Ahead of Laura's due date in June, the 33-year-old told Who on Thursday that they're yet to complete their nursery as they're in the process of moving house. Not long left! The Bachelor's Matty J and heavily pregnant Laura Byrne were spotted stocking up on baby supplies in Sydney on Tuesday 'We're about to move into a new place with a backyard for our dog,' Laura explained. 'Practically, we still have a few things we need to get ready, like the nursery because we're moving, but emotionally and mentally we're both so ready for this.' The couple currently share Matty's Bondi apartment, where they were spotted unloading the baby supplies on Tuesday. It's all go! Their shopping trip came two days after the couple revealed they had got engaged while on holiday in Fiji over the weekend Counting down the days! The soon-to-be parents were pictured unloading a pram, car seat and other bits into their Bondi apartment ahead of Laura's due date in June Stressful! Ahead of Laura's due date in June, the 33-year-old told Who on Thursday that they're yet to complete their nursery as they're in the process of moving house Returning from the shops, Matty appeared to be struggling to get to grips with their designer pram, which appears to be the Bugaboo 'Fox' model. The 31-year-old spent some time collapsing the buggy, while assisted by Laura, who kept a watchful eye over the father-to-be. Laura had her hands full with a car seat, and 'comfortable' cover to place over it. Exciting times! Laura told the publication: 'We still have a few things we need to get ready, like the nursery because we're moving, but emotionally and mentally we're both so ready for this' You'll get the hang of it soon! Returning from the shops, Matty appeared to be struggling to get to grips with their designer pram as Laura kept a watchful eye The couple appeared excited while unloading the car, both flashing faint smiles as they headed into their current home. After freeing their hands, they shared a brief kiss on the street and appeared as loved-up as they did when first meeting on The Bachelor in 2017. On Sunday, Matty shared a video to Instagram of the moment he proposed to Laura on the beach in Fiji. Standing on the shore in a slip dress, Laura was seen giggling and covering her mouth as Matty got down on one knee in the sand. Cute! After freeing their hands, they shared a brief kiss on the street Two will soon become three! The couple appeared excited while unloading their shopping, both flashing faint smiles while heading into their current home He captioned the video: 'There's absolutely no one else I'd rather grow old and senile with. I can't wait to start a family together and now I can't wait to be your husband!' The couple met on the fifth season of The Bachelor Australia in 2017, and are expecting their first child in June. Breathtaking! On Sunday, Matty shared a video to Instagram of the moment he proposed to Laura on the beach in Fiji Congrats! The couple met on the fifth season of The Bachelor Australia in 2017, and are expecting their first child in June Channel 10's reboot of Dancing with the Stars was a live weekly extravaganza, but still failed to compete with the likes of MAFS and MKR. And despite underperforming in the ratings, the Grant Denyer and Amanda Keller-hosted show has reportedly been renewed for a second season. According to TV Blackbox, Dancing with the Stars will return in 2020 with a fresh batch of celebrity contestants. Second time lucky! Channel 10's Dancing with the Stars has reportedly been renewed for a second season despite struggling in the ratings. Pictured: Amanda Keller and Grant Denyer Dancing with the Stars was an impressive production for Channel 10, but failed to steal viewers away from Nine's ratings juggernaut Married At First Sight. It was part of a handful of new shows that failed to live up to expectations, alongside Chris & Julia Morris' Sunday Night Takeaway and Changing Rooms. But despite this, DWTS was praised for its glossy, professional look and attracted a plenty of social engagement - which is perhaps why Channel 10 wants to give it a second chance. Tough competition: Dancing with the Stars was an impressive production for Channel 10, but failed to steal viewers away from Nine's ratings juggernaut Married At First Sight Channel 10 casting agents are on the lookout new contestants, reports TV Blackbox. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10's publicity department for comment. The last season of Dancing with the Stars averaged a 524,000 viewers during its run, despite featuring high-profile talent like Courtney Act and Samuel Johnson. Champion: Samuel Johnson controversially won the series, with Courtney Act placing second It was consistently beaten by 7.30 on ABC, Channel Nine's Married At First Sight and Channel Seven's My Kitchen Rules. Samuel Johnson controversially won the series, with Courtney Act placing second. The actor won $50,000 for his breast cancer charity, Love Your Sister, which he founded after his his sister Connie died from the disease in 2017. Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans says she's considering divorcing her husband David Eason after he fatally shot the family's pet French bulldog outside of their North Carolina home after the dog had behaved aggressively toward their toddler, Ensley. 'David killed my dog Nugget because he snapped at my two-year-old, Ensley,' Evans, 27, told Us on Wednesday. 'He doesn't put up with that and those are his beliefs. He just took her and shot her in the woods about two acres away from the house.' Evans said she's focusing 'on what's best for me and my kids,' as 'at this time, we are dealing with this rough situation' which took place Tuesday. The latest: Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans, 27, says she's considering divorcing her husband David Eason, 30, after he fatally shot the family's pet French bulldog outside of their North Carolina home after the dog had behaved aggressively toward their toddler, Ensley Jenelle said that she's had 'thoughts' of divorcing Eason, 'but nothing is finalized,' adding that 'David and I are not on talking terms.' The mom-of-three - to two-year-old daughter Ensley with Eason, 30; and sons Jace, nine, and Kaiser, four, from past relationships - said she remained 'still shocked and upset' over the death of the family pet. 'I'm too hurt and upset at the fact he did that. It's taking time to get over this whole situation, and it's making me feel he's very cruel and doesn't have a heart on many ends.' Evans said that her two younger children 'were inside and just got done playing' at the time Eason shot the dog, Tough time: Evans remained 'shocked and upset' over the death of the family pet Silence: Evans said she and Eason 'are not on talking terms' after the incident Evans said her mother Barbara has taken her oldest child Jace on a cruise, so he wan't at home. 'Kaiser and Ensley had no idea,' Evans said, adding that the children have not 'said anything about it since.' Eason's daughter with his ex-wife Whitney Johnson, Maryssa, 11, was also impacted in the incident, according to Evans, as she 'immediately went to her bedroom and didn't come out all night until the next day.' The MTV star asked for privacy amid the difficult time, telling the outlet that she 'would like for everyone to just give [her] ... time right now to figure things out and clear [her] head.' TV star: Evans was snapped at the MTV Video Music Awards in LA in August of 2017, shortly before she and Eason exchanged vows No regrets: Eason said that the incident 'amounted to picking people over animals' Earlier Wednesday, Eason said she's 'crying everyday' in the wake of her pet's death, which left her heartbroken and distraught. She posted a picture of herself with a shot of the pooch, writing, '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.' Eason, who has been married to Evans for more than a year-and-a-half, took to Instagram with a bold message that made clear he had zero regrets about his actions in the incident, which he said amounted to picking people over animals. '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*** at all,' he wrote. 'I'm all about protecting my family, it is my lifes mission. 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 [whether] or not a animal is a danger to MY CHILD is ME.' A welfare check was conducted Tuesday at the family home amid 'complaints concerning an incident involving an animal at this location,' officials with the Columbus County Sheriff's Department told USA TODAY in a statement. 'The deputy confirmed that the occupants of this residence were OK. There was no evidence to substantiate further investigation.' The detectives of AC-12 have kept their noses to the ground trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious H. And it looks like the dogs of the Line of Duty stars have also been putting in some extra legwork ahead of Sundays series finale. Polly Walker, 52, who stars as lawyer Gill Bigelow, was seen out with her shaggy dog on Tuesday. Anna Maxwell Martin, who plays DCS Patricia Carmichael in the hit BBC One drama, was pictured with her rescue dog Robyn in London. The star, 41, cut a more casual figure at the weekend, unlike her characters smart look in a suit Rochenda Sandall, 30, who plays ruthless gangster Lisa McQueen, was spotted taking some fresh air with Staffy, Lolly, yesterday The detectives of AC-12 have kept their noses to the ground trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious H. Pictured is Rochenda Sandall playing McQueen and Stephen Graham playing Corbett It looks like the dogs of the Line of Duty stars have also been putting in some extra legwork ahead of Sundays series finale. Pictured is Anna Maxwell playing Carmichael Anna Maxwell Martin, who plays DCS Patricia Carmichael in the hit BBC One drama, was pictured with her rescue dog Robyn in London. The star, 41, cut a more casual figure at the weekend, unlike her characters smart look in a suit. Polly Walker, 52, who stars as lawyer Gill Bigelow, was seen out with her shaggy dog on Tuesday, while Rochenda Sandall, 30, who plays ruthless gangster Lisa McQueen, was spotted taking some fresh air with Staffy, Lolly, yesterday. Miss Maxwell Martin told the Zoe Ball show on Radio 2 on Tuesday her character will take on Supt Ted Hastings, played by Adrian Dunbar, in the finale which airs at 9pm on Sunday, but would only say that he may meet a sticky end. She was branded 'tacky' by former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman when she wore a risque bustier to Gigi Hadid's birthday party in New York last month. But Helena Christensen put on a defiant display as she slipped into racy lingerie from her StaerkandChristensen vintage range on Wednesday. Taking to Instagram, the Danish model, 50, caught the eye in a sheer lace negligee and star stockings before slipping into a geometric pattern swimsuit. She's still got it! Helena Christensen put on a defiant display as she slipped into racy lingerie from her StaerkandChristensen vintage range on Wednesday Helena oozed confidence as she showed off her age-defying figure while modelling the collection. In one shot the model slipped into a ruby red camisole and seductively gazed into the camera, while in another she lounged on a sofa in a pair of neon orange hotpants. She wrote alongside the slew of photos: 'How is your week going?' Strike a pose: Taking to Instagram, the Danish model, 50, caught the eye in a sheer lace negligee and sheer star stockings before slipping into a geometric pattern swimsuit Sultry: In one shot the model slipped into a ruby red camisole as she seductively gazed into the camera Helena also took to her Instagram stories to say her spat with ex Vogue Alexandra is now over. Last month, the model caused controversy with her racy outfit, which she wore to Gigi's 24th birthday celebrations. Alexandra, 61, wrote in her Mail on Sunday column: 'There comes that point in every womans life when, however reluctantly, you have to hand over the fleshpot-at-the-party baton to the next generation. 'Why last week, at the age of 50, did she decide to pitch up at Gigi Hadids 24th birthday party in a tacky, black lace bustier?' Helena oozed confidence as she showed off her age-defying figure while modelling the collection However it appears the pair have made it up as Helena wrote on her Instagram stories, she wrote: 'We all make mistakes, flowers and an apology were received'. Helena's modelling career was launched when she won the Miss Universe Denmark title in 1986. She went on to become one of the original 1990s supermodels alongside Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson and Claudia Schiffer. Causing controversy: Helena was branded 'tacky' by former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman when she wore a risque bustier to Gigi Hadid's birthday party in New York last month (pictured) Helena is mother to 18-year-old son Mingus with her former boyfriend, actor Norman Reedus. He welcomed his first child with actress Diane Kruger in November 2018. She also previously dated the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who tragically passed away in 1997, aged 37. Her outing also comes amid claims her close friendship with David Beckham has concerned his wife Victoria. According to The Sun, the former Spice Girl, 44, is 'wary of Helena's bond with the ex England captain, 43'. Vogue cover star Helena and David posed up for a sweet selfie back in December at Art Basel, which the model captioned: 'Ballin'. Matthew 'Matty J' Johnson finally got down on one knee and proposed to Laura Byrne in Fiji on Sunday night. And after sharing their happy news, Kate Reid of Larsen Jewellery, who designed the engagement ring with the former Bachelor, has discussed the creative process. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, the senior jeweller said: 'He came to us with a beautiful vision of the ring he wanted.' The jeweller behind Laura Byrne's engagement ring has detailed the design process with Matty J after the former Bachelor got down on one knee and proposed in Fiji on Sunday Matty and Kate then worked together to bring the 'boho inspired' design to life. 'We showed him a selection of diamonds and sketched a few variations of the design and settled on an incredibly rare D colour 1.58ct pear shaped rose cut diamond. '[Matty] got a little emotional when he saw the finished ring for the first time which made our hearts melt! He is such a genuinely lovely guy and we wish him and Laura all the happiness in the world.' 'Boho inspired': Kate Reid of Larsen Jewellery, who designed the engagement ring with Matty J, told Daily Mail Australia that he 'came to them with a vision' for the ring The finished ring features a rare D colour 1.58ct pear-shaped rose cut diamond, which is accentuated by a half halo of 2.5pt diamonds. The ring itself is handmade entirely out of Fairtrade certified 18ct yellow gold. 'All diamonds are conflict free and ethically sourced,' Kate adds. [Matty] got a little emotional when he saw the finished ring for the first time,' added Kate, with Matty saying the 'hardest thing' was deciding between gold and silver Speaking to Who on Thursday, Matty said: 'The hardest thing was deciding if it as silver or gold, so I asked her sister and she said gold. 'Laura was away for work in Bali when I picked up the ring, and throughout the day I'd look at the ring like 20 times every hour.' Wow! The finished certified 18ct yellow gold ring features a rare D colour 1.58ct pear shaped rose cut diamond, which is accentuated by a half halo of 2.5pt diamonds Matty first turned to Larsen Jewellery in 2017, ahead of his finale of The Bachelor where he presented Laura with a $22,000 promise ring. The custom piece featured an 18-carat white gold band and a stunning 1.30 carat oval centre diamond, which is GIA certified F colour and VS2 clarity. There are also 32 diamonds set into the shoulders of the ring, totaling 0.32ct. Australian reality TV may have just reached a new low if the new trailer for upcoming series The Super Switch is anything to go by. The Channel Seven dating show looks set to deliver even more drama than Married At First Sight, with couple swapping, violent brawls and a desperate call to police. The Super Switch, which is a revamped version of Seven Year Switch, sees troubled couples swap partners with each other in a bid to 'test' their relationship. Chaos: Channel Seven's The Super Switch will include physical brawls and partner swapping Channel Seven is already billing it as 'Australia's most controversial experiment', with the couples living together in a mansion and attending dramatic MAFS-style dinner parties. In one scene, a male participant attempts to flee the mansion with his luggage, only to be stopped by his co-stars. After being cornered, he pulls out his mobile phone and frantically calls the police. 'Come at me, bro!' A full-blown brawl takes place between two male participants at a pub, with producers and crew members frantically attempting to intervene Assault: During the fisticuffs, one man is charged at by another and tackled to the ground, with the pair crashing into a table and stools 'I'm calling the cops to say I'm being held against my will!' he yells. A full-blown brawl is then shown between two other male participants at a pub, with producers and crew members desperately trying to intervene. During the fisticuffs, one man is charged at by another and tackled to the ground, with the pair crashing into a table and stools. 'I'm being held against my will!' In one scene, a male participant attempts to flee the mansion with his luggage, only to be stopped by his co-stars 'Sleeping together': Other scenes hint at infidelity, with one 'switch couple' shown getting into the same bed together In another scene, the couples are seen clashing during a contentious dinner party. 'How in hell can you trust each other in bed with another girl?' snaps a brunette participant. 'To me, that is completely wrong,' a man chimes in. 'For me, that is completely wrong, because I do know that there are a lot of little trollops out there.' 'How in hell can you trust each other in bed with another girl?' In another scene, the couples are seen clashing during a contentious dinner party 'Controversial': Channel Seven is already billing The Super Switch as 'Australia's most controversial experiment', with the couples living together in a mansion and attending dramatic MAFS-style dinner parties Other scenes hint at infidelity, with one 'switch couple' shown getting into the same bed together. 'She's a very pretty girl,' one man remarks as he sees his experimental partner for the first time. The Super Switch is 'coming soon' to Channel Seven Nicole Kidman has recalled how Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-lee Furness helped her to 'heal' after her divorce from Tom Cruise in 2001. The Hollywood actress, who had just filmed her Oscar-winning performance in The Hours, turned to the couple for support when Tom filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage citing 'irreconcilable differences'. 'When I got divorced, Hugh and Deb were so much a part of my healing,' the 51-year-old revealed in a candid interview with this month's Australian Women's Weekly. Support: Nicole Kidman has recalled how Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-lee Furness helped her to 'heal' after her divorce from Tom Cruise in 2001. Pictured: Nicole and her second husband Keith Urban with Hugh and Deborra-lee at the Oscars on February 27, 2011 'They were some of my best friends through that period,' she added. Like Nicole, Hugh and Deborra-lee were among a small group of budding Australian actors living in Hollywood in the 1980s. Deborra-lee, 63, was the first to meet Nicole when she was 'couch surfing' in Los Angeles as a teenager before being cast in Days of Thunder, where she met Tom. Back in the day: Deborra-lee first met Nicole when she was 'couch surfing' in Los Angeles as a teenager before being cast in Days of Thunder, where she met Tom Cruise. Pictured: Nicole and Tom in Beverly Hills on March 7, 1991 'I do remember Tom Cruise ringing the house when she landed the role [in Days of Thunder]. Nic was always very cool and took it all in her stride,' Deborra-lee said. After splitting with Tom, 56, Nicole went on to meet her second husband, Keith Urban, 51. The couple will celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary next month. They share two daughters: Sunday Rose, 10, and Faith Margaret, eight. Grateful: Nicole explained that Hugh and Deborra-lee supported her during her marriage split. 'When I got divorced, Hugh and Deb were so much a part of my healing,' she said. Pictured: Nicole and Hugh in Tokyo on February 26, 2009 Nicole also shares two adopted children, Isabella, 26, and Connor, 24, with Tom, but it's understood they don't have a close relationship. Nicole previously told Marie Claire magazine she doesn't want any more children. 'I wish I wasn't but, yes, I'm done with babies,' she said in 2016. 'But it's a great time for us as a family because we've got these two glorious children who are five and seven and such a joy to be around!' He failed to find love during the 2018 season of Married At First Sight. And now Nasser Sultan is attempting to apply for the show once more, only this time in another country. The 52-year-old has applied for the New Zealand version of the social experiment. 'I'm setting my sights abroad': MAFS' Nasser Sultan has applied for New Zealand version of the hit show and believes he has more of a chance to find love as Kiwis are more 'genuine' 'Look, I didn't find love in Australia, so now I'm setting my sights abroad,' he told Now To Love. 'I do love the Kiwi girls, and I love the country, the culture... The haka is one of my all-time favourite things.' The surprise announcement comes after Nasser publicly slammed MAFS for its supposed shift in focus this year, saying producers paid more attention to the cat fights and tantrums, than actual love. Despite his comments, the former fitness instructor insists the New Zealand version of program was more genuine as it's still in its initial years. Hopeful: Married At First Sight NZ is still taking applications and will air later this year 'I've watched a bit of it, and people seem to go on it genuinely looking for love,' he said. And while applicants need to be a New Zealand citizen to apply, Nasser believes he's in with a shot. 'I was doing interviews today for NZ and I have the country talking,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Breakout: Nasser was an unexpected breakout star of the 2018 season of Married At First Sight. He was paired with Gabrielle Bartlett This isn't the first time Nasser has attempted to get back on television screens following his appearance on MAFS last year. In 2018, Nassar revealed he was set to star in Channel 10's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, an appearance which never eventuated, and earlier this year he claimed he had been approached to star in a 'seniors edition' of The Bachelor. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, Nasser confirmed the rumours and suggested that negotiations with producers had already begun. 'Seniors Edition': Earlier this year, it was reported he had been approached to star in a 'seniors edition' of The Bachelor 'Yes, I am in talks and very excited. Why shouldn't we have an older Bachelor? I'm sick of the "ripped abs and tattoos" types you always see on TV,' he said. Despite producers still taking applications for the New Zealand production, with an air date set for later this year, it seems the two shows would most likely collide. When Daily Mail Australia reached out for comment around the impending Bachelor 'seniors' series, Nasser confirmed that the show 'is still in talks' and either way it will be 'a game changer'. Connor Obrochta shot to fame after appearing on The Bachelorette U.S. and Bachelor In Paradise Australia. But now the reality star's pet dog Jordy has been thrust into the spotlight for sharing a resemblance to rapper Snoop Dogg. It all started when Connor, 25, dressed Jordy up like the hip-hop superstar on Instagram. Scroll down for video Woof! Connor Obrochta's dog (pictured) has gone viral for looking like rapper Snoop Dogg In the photo, the mixed-breed dachshund has two plaits, similar to Snoop's, as well as a gold chain. The rapper then shared the photo to his own page, where it amassed more than 720,000 likes. Connor was recently in an on-screen relationship with Shannon Baff on the Australian version of Bachelor In Paradise. Claim to fame: Connor is known for appearing on The Bachelorette U.S. and Bachelor In Paradise Australia However, the couple have officially split since filming for the reality show wrapped up late last year. Speaking to The Courier-Mail on Wednesday, the Adelaide-born Shannon claimed she was spectacularly ghosted by the hunky male model after leaving Fiji. 'A week and a half (after the show) he went to LA and I heard nothing else,' the 26-year-old said. Social media: Snoop Dogg shared the photo of Connor's dog to his Instagram page, where it quickly amassed more than 720,000 likes Connor had asked Shannon to leave Paradise early with him on Tuesday night to begin their relationship in the 'real world' beyond the cameras. Shannon reflected: 'I was really invested. I was 100 per cent in. And so I was pretty hurt watching (Tuesdays) episode because I genuinely felt it with Connor.' 'I was open to moving to the US but afterwards when we were planning to meet up in Hawaii I was the one organising everything and I didnt feel like it was getting reciprocated,' she bemoaned. With the hype surrounding Married At First Sight dying down, it's time for the show's participants to return to their normal lives. And Ning Surasiang confirmed on Thursday she is back at work as a hairdresser, taking to Instagram to share a photo of herself in a Just Cuts T-shirt. The 32-year-old single mother proudly posed in her uniform before heading out for an honest day's work on the shop floor in Townsville. Making the cut! Married At First Sight's Ning Surasiang has returned to her job as a hairdresser, taking to Instagram on Thursday to share photo of herself in a Just Cuts T-shirt Just Cuts is a chain of affordable hair salons located throughout Australia and New Zealand. 'Ready for a big day in the office. Watch me snip watch me spray spray,' she captioned the photo. She also added the hashtags: 'Work ready', 'Selfie', 'New earrings' and 'hairdresser's life'. Something in the hair? Ning regularly shares photos of her salon skills on Instagram, prompting many of her followers to plead with her to do their hair Very punny! 'Ready for a big day in the office. Watch me snip watch me spray spray,' Ning wrote on Instagram on Thursday Ning regularly shares photos and videos of her salon skills on Instagram, prompting many followers to ask her to do their hair. 'My regular hairdresser doesnt work at Just Cuts any more... Can I have you ? I have the worst hair!' one person commented recently. Added another: 'I need a new haircut! Book me in, sista!' Ex appeal? Ning was brutally dumped by 'husband' Mark Scrivens (left) during their final commitment ceremony on Married At First Sight Ning was brutally dumped by 'husband' Mark Scrivens during their final commitment ceremony on Married At First Sight. But in an interview with 9Honey in April, she said there wasn't any awkwardness when she saw Mark later on again at the reunion dinner party. 'It was really good to see each other... I had a bit of jiggle juice that night because that's what I do at the dinner parties!' she said. South Africa: IEC puts final touches to election preparations The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has begun applying the final logistical touches to its preparations for the countrys sixth National and Provincial Elections on 8 May. Addressing reporters at the National Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Pretoria on Thursday, deputy IEC chairperson Janet Love said the commission expected preparations to be finalised over the weekend. On Monday morning, election materials will be transported from local warehouses to voting stations, ready for the first special votes to be cast from 9am to 5pm [on 6 and 7 May], she told reporters. For this years elections, the IEC has granted 774 094 special votes. These votes, dedicated to citizens who cannot cast ballots on voting day due to work commitments and old age and illness, will be cast on Monday, 6 May and Tuesday, 7 Wednesday during home visits and at voting stations. Of these, 58.4% will be through home visits, while the remaining 41.6% special votes will be cast at voting stations. The materials will be escorted by South African Police Services officers and other security personnel to ensure safe delivery to voting stations, Love said. All special votes cast on the two days - along with all sensitive materials including ballot papers will then be transported and stored securely overnight at secure storage locations on Monday, 6 May and Tuesday, 7 May 2019 before being transported back to the voting station on Election Day, she said. Materials to be transported include 60 million ballot papers, about 300 000 ballot boxes, 45 000 voting compartments, 25 000 voting station arrow signs as well as 56 255 stationery packs. On Election Day, voting stations, staffed by 189 000 staff, are expected to open at 7am and close at 9pm for voting. Voting stations will close at 9pm on Election Day but all voters who are in the queue to vote at 9pm will be allowed to vote. There are on average eight election officials per voting station, which include the Presiding Officer, Deputy Presiding Officer and officials to perform the various aspects of the voting process. Each political party is also permitted to deploy two party agents at every voting station to oversee and monitor voting and counting. Sixty-six observer organisations that have been accredited by the commission will also be deployed to voting stations around the country. The record number of 48 parties contesting these elections has placed additional demands and pressures on the Commission, as well as on voters. The longer ballots have placed additional financial and logistical demands on the Commission including requiring more ballot boxes, redesigned Universal Ballot Templates (UBTs), and a refined focus on balloting education, said Love. The Commission added that once the voting stations close, the counting of votes begins immediately at the voting station. The counting is conducted by election officials and is witnessed by party agents and observers. The results slip for each voting station is completed by the Presiding Officer and is signed by party agents who are also encouraged to take a photograph of the results slip to allow them to compare it to the final result captured on the results system, she said. One copy of the results slip is posted on the door of the voting station while the second copy is taken back to the local IEC office where is it scanned into the results system and the results data captured through a double-capture process to reduce any human error. The Commission said it expected to release the final result on Saturday afternoon. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. All I Want for Christmas is You Mary, Did You Know? Oh, Holy Night O Little Town of Bethlehem 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 View Results Bachelor in Paradise is billed as a 'second chance at love' for past contestants from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. But Elora Murger claims the show is anything but romantic behind the scenes, adding that most of the stars are only interested in sex. Speaking to E! Australia on Tuesday, the 30-year-old: 'People were sleeping around, but I didn't feel any love there at all.' 'People were sleeping around, but I didn't feel any love there': Bachelor in Paradise's Elora Murger (pictured) has claimed her co-stars were only interested in sex 'I didn't see and I didn't feel any real love there,' added Elora, who spent just two days in Paradise after arriving in the final week. When asked which couples have stayed together after filming the show late last year, Elora said bluntly: 'None of them'. During her brief stint on Paradise, the self-proclaimed 'Tahitian goddess' tried to lure Alex Nation and Connor J. Obrochta away from their partners without success. Hardly romantic! 'I didn't see and I didn't feel any real love there,' said Elora, who spent just two days in Paradise after arriving in the final week Steamy: During her brief stint on Paradise, Elora tried to lure Alex Nation (pictured with Bill Goldsmith) and Connor J. Obrochta away from their partners without success Romp: Former contestant Keira Maguire made similar comments last month, saying that sexual activity was so rampant on Bachelor in Paradise that producers placed condoms in every room Former contestant Keira Maguire made similar comments last month, saying that sexual activity was so rampant that producers placed condoms in every room. 'I was like "Oh my God, I know you're trying to practice safe sex" - but really!' she said on her podcast The Buzz. Meanwhile, Daily Mail Australia reported on Thursday that all of the Bachelor in Paradise couples split after leaving Fiji in December. 'Shocked: I was like "Oh God, I know you're trying to practice safe sex" - but really!' Keira said Multiple sources confirmed the news, revealing that all of the show's 'success stories' broke up long before the reunion was even filmed. The sad news will be revealed during the reunion, with the show's male contestants taking most of the blame for why their relationships didn't work out. A source said: 'It's so embarrassing for the producers, especially because Bachelor in Paradise likes to portray itself as more serious and wholesome than MAFS.' The Bachelor in Paradise finale begins on Thursday at 8:40pm on Channel 10 Brisbane's new $100million Art Series Hotel boasts 116 rooms, a rooftop swimming pool, bar, gym and function rooms. And as of this week, it also features the works of one of Australia's most celebrated portrait painters, Vincent Fantauzzo. Vincent, who is married to Logie Award-winning actress Asher Keddie, is the most prolific winner of the Archibald People's Choice Award. A work of art! Inside the $100million Brisbane hotel where Asher Keddie's artist husband Vincent Fantauzzo has installed stunning portraits of the Logie Award winning star Considering his popularity, it's no surprise that Vincent, 44, was announced as the namesake artist for Brisbane's new Art Series Hotel. On Wednesday, Vincent was assisted by his wife, 42, in loading his paintings into the foyer of the six-storey Fantauzzo Art Series Hotel at Howard Smith Wharves. As reported by the Courier Mail, Asher spent six months helping her husband prepare the works that now hang around the premises. Creative couple: Vincent, who is married to Logie Award-winning actress Asher Keddie, is the most prolific winner of the Archibald People's Choice Award. Pictured together on July 1, 2018 The perfect match: Brisbane's new $100million Art Series Hotel boasts 116 rooms, a rooftop swimming pool, bar, gym and function rooms. And as of this week, it also features the works of one of Australia's most celebrated portrait painters Artistic presentation: Vincent's artworks include portraits of his wife Asher and other celebrities, including Guy Pearce and the late Heath Ledger Vincent's artworks include portraits of Asher and other celebrities, including Guy Pearce and the late Heath Ledger. 'We've been busy planning the artwork and where it's going to hang and I've loved doing it,' Asher said on Thursday. 'It feels a little bit overwhelming because it's been this big creative project we have shared together.' Shared project: 'We've been busy planning the artwork and where it's going to hang and I've loved doing it,' Asher said on Thursday. 'It feels a little bit overwhelming because it's been this big creative project we have shared together'. Pictured: One of the hotel's bedrooms The $100million hotel will feature more than 250 of Vincent's celebrity portraits, including paintings of Matt Moran and Natalie Bassingthwaighte. Guests at the 116-room Fantauzzo are offered complimentary art tours, and also have access to in-room art channels and libraries featuring books about art. Asher and Vincent began dating in 2012 and married in 2014. They have one child together, four-year-old Valentino. Vincent also has a nine-year-old son, Luca, from a previous marriage. Luxury living: The 116-room Fantauzzo hotel includes a rooftop swimming pool, bar, gym and function rooms She has made a name for herself in both acting and modeling. So Suki Waterhouse certainly knows how to work the camera. The 27-year-old British star looked absolutely fabulous as she hit the red carpet for a special screening of her upcoming biographical drama, Charlie Says, as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The multihyphenate looked at perfect ease under the spotlight of the red carpet in earth tone green gown. Rising star: Suki Waterhouse attended a special screening of the upcoming drama Charlie Says as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Wednesday With it's open back design, the eye-catching number was a perfect match for her lean and toned physique. The upper portion opened up at the sides and back and hung off of her left shoulder. It upper and lower portions were joined together by a small piece of fabric along her midriff. Adding to its flare, the number hugged her pert derriere as she carried a tiny purse that looked like a colorful hot air balloon. Stunning: The British born beauty wore an earth tone green gown Revealing: The eye-catching number showed off her toned figure with its open back design Gorgeous: The upper portion opened up at the sides and back and hung off of her left shoulder Elegant: The top and bottom portions were joined together in the front The Manhattan screening comes just days ahead of the Charlie Says premiere, which is on May 10. Waterhouse plays Mary Brunner, who was a former member of the Manson Family who was present during the 1969 murder of Gary Allen Hinman. She stars alongside Matt Smith who plays the infamous serial killer, Charles Manson. The story focuses on a graduate student who begins visiting three of the female Manson followers. The biographical drama also stars Hannah Murray, Sosie Bacon, Marianne Rendon, Merrit Wever, Chace Crawford and Annabeth Gish. Coming soon: The screening of Charlie Says comes just days ahead of the premiere on May 10 Stylin: The actress also carried a tiny purse that looked like a colorful hot air balloon The London, England native first made waves as a model after she was discovered in a pub in her home city in 2010, when she was 16. She went on to model for high-profile brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Swatch and H&M, and appeared on a number of high-fashion magazines like British Vogue and Marie Claire. By 2012, Waterhouse turned to acting and eventually landed the role of Marlene in the sequel The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015). Her resume also includes the Starz miniseries The White Princess (2016), the drama film The Girl Who Invented Kissing (2017) and the sci-fi film Jonathan (2018), opposite Ansel Elgort. Currently she has a number of new films slated for release or in post production including: Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, Killers Anonymous, Bittersweet Symphony, A Rainy Day In New York, Misbehavior, Burn and Creation Stories. Sarah Paulson slipped into a leopard print cocktail dress for the world premiere of the comedy film Poms in Los Angeles this Wednesday. The 44-year-old Emmy winner threw a pearl grey blazer casually over her shoulders and accessorized with a dull gold clutch on the red carpet. Sweeping her dark hair back, the significant other of 76-year-old Legally Blonde actress Holland Taylor rounded off her ensemble with a pair of white boots. Hello, gorgeous: Sarah Paulson slipped into a leopard print cocktail dress for the world premiere of the comedy film Poms in Los Angeles this Wednesday Sarah does not happen to be in the film, which is about a group of women in a retirement home who form a cheerleading squad. Patti French, Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Pam Grier, Celia Watson and Rhea Perlman, all Poms cast members, got together for a group shot at the premiere. At one point, the cast were also joined by their director Zara Hayes, who previously helmed a documentary mini-series about primatology icon Dian Fossey. Pedigree: The 44-year-old Emmy winner threw a pearl grey blazer casually over her shoulders and accessorized with a dull gold clutch on the red carpet Tres elegant: Sweeping her dark hair back, the significant other of 76-year-old Legally Blonde actress Holland Taylor rounded off her ensemble with a pair of white boots Sextet: (from left) Patti French, Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Pam Grier, Celia Watson and Rhea Perlman, all Poms cast members, got together for a group shot at the premiere Smashing: At one point, the cast were also joined by their director Zara Hayes, who previously helmed a documentary mini-series about primatology icon Dian Fossey Diane, 73, who is known for idiosyncratic film premiere fashion choices, opted for a checked monochrome dress with black fingerless gloves. Cinching a black leather belt around her enviably trim waistline, the The Godfather actress teamed her puffy dress with a matching cloth choker. Diane, who had a hit comedy film last year with Book Club, wore her silver hair in a sleek bob and painted her fingernails jet black. True to form: Diane, 73, who is known for idiosyncratic film premiere fashion choices, opted for a checked monochrome dress with black fingerless gloves Coordinated: Cinching a black leather belt around her enviably trim waistline, the The Godfather actress teamed her puffy dress with a matching cloth choker Still got it: Diane, who had a hit comedy film last year with Book Club, wore her silver hair in a sleek bob and painted her fingernails jet black Accentuating her features with makeup, she rounded off the look with green-tinted specs and a pair of white-laced black leather boots. While making her way around the red carpet, she got in a bit of posing with her castmate Alisha Boe, a star of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Alisha, 22, who was born in Oslo but moved to Los Angeles as a child, cut an elegant figure in a strapless red gown with a multilevel hemline. Hoofing it: Accentuating her features with makeup, she rounded off the look with green-tinted specs and a pair of white-laced black leather boots Dynamic duo: While making her way around the red carpet, she got in a bit of posing with her castmate Alisha Boe, a star of the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why Radiant: Alisha, 22, who was born in Oslo but moved to Los Angeles as a child, cut an elegant figure in a strapless red gown with a multilevel hemline She added a splash of glitz to her ensemble with a dazzling necklace, balancing on silver and scarlet heels and throwing her hair stylishly over her left shoulder. Pam, 69, went southwest chic that evening, slipping into an outfit that included a floral leather jacket, a turquoise necklace and a multicolored top. The Jackie Brown actress and blaxploitation legend popped on a black top hat and in an especially dapper touch pulled on a tan and sky blue pair of cowboy boots. Looking fab: She added a splash of glitz to her ensemble with a dazzling necklace, balancing on silver and scarlet heels and throwing her hair stylishly over her left shoulder Note the highlights: Pam, 69, went southwest chic that evening, slipping into an outfit that included a floral leather jacket, a turquoise necklace and a multicolored top Fashion statement: The Jackie Brown actress and blaxploitation legend popped on a black top hat and in an especially dapper touch pulled on a tan and sky blue pair of cowboy boots Platinum blonde Jacki, 71, modeled a black dress that featured embroidery of two large flamingos gamboling about down near her hemline. Celia, 67, opted for a basic black top and trousers, throwing in some color in the form of a floral jacket and a stack of elaborate necklaces. Rhea threw a tiny black jacket over a simple blue and silver dress redolent of the 1950s, rounding off the look with black hose and matching heels. She posed up a storm for the cameras while flanked by her two daughters, 34-year-old Grace Fan DeVito and 36-year-old Lucy DeVito. What a look: Platinum blonde Jacki, 71, modeled a black dress that featured embroidery of two large flamingos gamboling about down near her hemline Classic: Celia, 67, opted for a basic black top and trousers, throwing in some color in the form of a floral jacket and a stack of elaborate necklaces Full of good cheer: Rhea threw a tiny black jacket over a simple blue and silver dress redolent of the 1950s, rounding off the look with black hose and matching heels Family time: She posed up a storm for the cameras while flanked by her two daughters, 34-year-old Grace Fan DeVito and 36-year-old Lucy DeVito Lucy, Grace and their 31-year-old brother Jake are Rhea's children by her husband Danny DeVito, with whom she celebrated her 47th wedding anniversary in January. Blanca Blanco is not in the movie - which releases May 10 - but she was still a showstopping presence at the premiere on Wednesday. The brunette bombshell showed off her legs in a gleaming purple mini-dress, holding a multicolored clutch and teetering on sky-high stilettos. Kate Flannery opted for a classically elegant Oxford blue and silver floral dress, complementing the outfit with white hose and a grey shoe. Details: Lucy, Grace and their 31-year-old brother Jake are Rhea's children by her husband Danny DeVito, with whom she celebrated her 47th wedding anniversary in January Presence felt: Blanca Blanco is not in the movie - which releases May 10 - but she was still a showstopping presence at the premiere on Wednesday Stature: The brunette bombshell showed off her legs in a gleaming purple mini-dress, holding a multicolored clutch and teetering on sky-high stilettos Bachelor In Paradise's Shannon Baff has shared details of her split from American Bachelotette star Connor J. Obrochta. While the loved-up couple happily left Fiji together to focus on their romance on Tuesday's episode - filmed late last year - the beauty, 26, claims they parted ways just 24 hours later. 'We spent one day after Paradise together, outside the whirlwind environment,' Shannon said in an emotional Instagram post on Thursday. Scroll down for video 'We spent one day after Paradise together': Bachelor's Shannon Baff (L) has detailed the brutal end to her romance with Connor Obrochta (R) after leaving the show together on Tuesday Following their departure from the show's villa in Fiji in November, Shannon added that she then returned to Australia, with Connor heading home to America. 'I got home, we continued to talk and planned to see each other again,' she added. 'But after a week I felt as if the effort to make that happen was not reciprocated and the communication was becoming one sided.' On Wednesday, Shannon told The Courier Mail she never heard from her love-interest again after that, with him spectacularly ghosting her. Ghosted! In an emotional Instagram post on Thursday, Shannon said that after she returned to Australia and Connor headed home to America, he 'did not reciprocate communication' In her Instagram caption, Shannon reflected: 'I struggled in Paradise because my feelings towards Connor were so genuine and real.' 'With everything constantly changing it brought out a raging anxiety for me, because I was afraid of being hurt - it was hard to tally who was genuine and not in that environment.' 'I am so thankful for my experience and that I had the opportunity to meet Connor and feel what I felt.' 'It brought out a raging anxiety for me': Shannon went on to reveal that she 'struggled' in Paradise but her feelings for Connor were 'genuine and real' Shannon concluded her post by revealing she has no time for romance now, after packing up her life in Melbourne and hitting the road. She joked: 'As for Shannon now, I bought myself a van called "Poppy" and I am currently travelling around Australia being the best version of myself, for myself.' 'I am happier and more fulfilled than ever- my days are filled with everything that fuels my soul and makes me smile.' Bachelor In Paradise concludes on Thursday at 8.40pm on Channel 10 Nobody can accuse Ryan Gallagher of being shy. The former Married At First Sight star, 30, stripped down to a pair of revealing Speedos on Thursday for his Instagram fans. The photo - which was an ad for snack company, Nobby's - showed Ryan wearing the daring piece of clothing while standing in the bush. Baring all: Nobody can accuse Ryan Gallagher of being shy. The 30-year-old former Married At First Sight star took to Instagram on Thursday to share a photo of himself in a pair of Speedos Wearing a black fedora hat, and not much else, the Speedos, branded to promote the nut brand's 'loaded' variety, captured fans' attention. 'Takes real nuts to wear these on the job but not so much when youre armed with a loaded package...' he cheekily captioned the photo. His tattooed torso was on full display, and he clutched a log of wood in one hand and a packet of Nobby's Loaded in the other. 'Takes real nuts to wear these on the job but not so much when youre armed with a loaded package...' Ryan captioned the photo. Seen here with friend Matt Dumesny (right) Fans: The photo appears to have amused many of Ryan's 171,000 Instagram followers, with many of them leaving comments The photo appears to have amused many of Ryan's 171,000 Instagram followers, with many of them leaving comments on the post. 'My ovaries have exploded,' wrote one person. 'Definitely looks fully loaded in there,' commented another follower. Stripping off: Ryan's Instagram is filled with shirtless photos and videos of the buff reality TV star Added another: 'I dont even know what hes advertising, but Ill have 7 of them!' The post even piqued the interest of this year's Bachelorette, Angie Kent, who couldn't resist leaving a cheeky comment of her own. 'Yeahhhh boyyyyyyy! Your 10 year old self would be so so proud,' she wrote. Not unnoticed: The post even piqued the interest of this year's Bachelorette, Angie Kent who couldn't resist leaving a cheeky comment of her own It's not the first time Ryan has been linked to the 29-year-old former Gogglebox star. According to a report in New Idea magazine last month, Ryan is desperate to appear on The Bachelorette in a bid to win Angie's heart. 'He's hassling producers every day,' a source told the magazine. Just days after the epic Battle of Winterfell, Emilia Clarke looks stunning as the new cover girl for Flaunt Magazine. The 32 year old British actress was revealed on the cover of Flaunt Magazine's upcoming The Looming Issue (#166) on Wednesday. She also appeared on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, where she discussed the epic Battle of Winterfell on Game of Thrones that happened on Sunday night's episode entitled The Long Night. Flaunting Emilia: Emilia Clarke was revealed on the cover of Flaunt Magazine's The Looming Issue on Wednesday Clarke was wearing a coat, top, skirt and belt from Bottega Veneta, with an elegant snake necklace and ring from Bulgari's new Sacred Serpenti collection. The actress' brown hair nearly matched her coat and gloves in her cover shot for the magazine's new issue, which will be on sale soon. Clarke also opened up about the immense production on Sunday's Game of Thrones episode The Long Night, which set the record for the longest battle scene ever filmed for film or television. Opening up: Clarke also opened up about the immense production on Sunday's Game of Thrones episode The Long Night The episode took a whopping 55 nights to shoot, which Clarke described, simply, as 'nuts.' 'What you saw was really what it was like shooting it, so you saw blood and mud and angry screaming people, and backstage you saw blood and mud and asleep people,' Clarke joked. 'It was amazing we didn't actually kill anyone. It was extraordinary. We were up all night shooting. The crew would stay on night hours the entire way,' she added. Crazy shoot: 'What you saw was really what it was like shooting it, so you saw blood and mud and angry screaming people, and backstage you saw blood and mud and asleep people,' Clarke joked Crazy episode: The episode took a whopping 55 nights to shoot, which Clarke described, simply, as 'nuts' Earlier this season on Game of Thrones, Jon Snow started riding one of the remaining two dragons belonging to Clarke's character, Daenerys Targaryen, and Clarke joked that she isn't sure how she feels about it. 'I feel weird about it, I'm not gonna lie,' she said. 'He was kinda arrogant about it and was like, "I can do this," and then I learned men riding dragon is a whole other thing than a lady riding a dragon, a little more uncomfortable for them,' she joked. She added that her co-star Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, 'looked really pained' during the dragon-riding scenes.' Dragon riding: Earlier this season on Game of Thrones, Jon Snow started riding one of the remaining two dragons belonging to Clarke's character, Daenerys Targaryen, and Clarke joked that she isn't sure how she feels about it With just three episodes left of Game of Thrones, Clarke's character Daenerys Targaryen is focusing her efforts on heading south to King's Landing, to take the Iron Throne from Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). The preview for Sunday night's upcoming episode featured Targaryen describing her upcoming battle with Cersei as the 'last war,' promising to 'rip her out root and stem.' Game of Thrones continues with its fourth of the six-episode final season on Sunday, May 5 at 9 PM ET on HBO. Advertisement Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner caught their fans by surprise by getting married Wednesday night in Las Vegas after the Billboard Music Awards. Diplo posted video to his Insta Stories of the low-key affair, which was attended by the groom's brothers Kevin Jonas and Nick Jonas. So how do Joe and Sophie's nuptials compare to those of the other Jonas Brothers, in particular the lavish nuptials of Nick and his actress wife Priyanka Chopra last year. Happiest day: Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner got married Wednesday night in Las Vegas after the Billboard Music Awards - so how do his nuptials compare to his brothers'? Nick Jonas had a three-day extravaganza when he married Bollywood icon Priyanka in December in her native India which is reported to have cost around $500,000. The pair had both a Christian ceremony officiated by the Jonas Brothers' pastor father and two days of Hindu wedding functions. Sophie and Joe meanwhile tied the knot in front of just a handful of loved ones and fellow Billboard Music awards attendees. The couple opted for a ceremony in A Little White Wedding Chapel's Chapel L'Amour with a package deal that runs around $600. Blushing bride: Nick Jonas had a lavish three-day extravaganza when he married Bollywood icon Priyanka Chopra in December in her native India And in contrast to the Jonas' Brothers' pastor father, their ceremony in the Vegas chapel was presided over by an Elvis impersonator. Priyanka and Nick's weddings ran from Friday through Sunday at Umaid Bhawan, a formerly royal palace-turned-hotel in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Sophie and Joe opted for the iconic A Little White Wedding Chapel in the Downtown Vegas - which while only able to host 20 guests, still boasts a famous history thanks to its past celeb nuptials which include Britney Spears' infamous 55 hour marriage in 2004. Lap of luxury vs Las Vegas icon: Priyanks and Nick's wedding ran from Friday through Sunday at Umaid Bhawan, a formerly royal palace-turned-hotel in Jodhpur, Rajasthan (left) while Sophie and Joe got hitched at Vegas' famous A Little White Wedding Chapel, which has room for just 20 guests Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner's VERY famous wedding venue A Little White Wedding Chapel on the Vegas strip has hosted a string of celebrity weddings since it opened in 1951. The chapel has also featured on screen in The Hangover and is where Ross and Rachel drunkenly tied the knot in an episode of Friends. Britney Spears (2004) The singer infamously married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander at the Vegas chapel back in 2004 after a wild few days of partying. Shelling out $70 for a seven minute ceremony at 5am, Britney wore jeans and a baseball cap to exchange vows. The marriage lasted just 55 hours. Bruce Willis & Demi Moore (1987) The Hollywood couple wed at the chapel just four months after meeting in 1987 in a spur of the moment decision. Sinead O'Conner (2011) The Nothing Compares 2 U singer wed therapist Barry Herridge on the evening of her 45th birthday back in 2011 after living together for seven days Judy Garland (1965) The screen legend married actor and tour promoter Mark Herron in a Vegas ceremony in November 1965. The marriage was her fourth and lasted just five months. Joan Collins & Peter Holm (1985) The actress married her fourth husband, singer Peter in 6 November 1985. Collins sought an annulment just over a year later. Michael Jordan (1989) Basketball legend Michael wed Juanita Vanoy in Vegas in 1989. They divorced in 2006. Blushing bride: Britney infamously married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander at the Vegas chapel in 2004. The marriage lasted just 55 hours Pamela Anderson (2007) The Baywatch beauty married Rick Salomon at the chapel in 2007, but annulled the marriage six months later. The couple married again in secret in 2014 but divorced the following year. Eva Longoria (2002) Desperate Housewives star Eva opted for a quickie ceremony with General Hospital star Tyler Christopher in 2002. They divorced two years later. Peaches Geldof (2008) At just 19 years old, Bob Geldof's daughter married musician Max Drummey, then 23, in a secret ceremony. The couple split six months later. Charlie Brooker & Konnie Huq (2010) The Black Mirror creator and former Blue Peter host tied the knot in Vegas after getting engaged following six months of dating. Newlyweds: Judy married actor Mark Herron in a Vegas ceremony in November 1965. The marriage was her fourth and lasted just five months Christina Milian & The-Dream (2009) Christina and her rapper beau - real name Terius Nash - eloped in 2009 after seven months of dating, while Christina was pregnant. They separated three months later. Paul Newman (1958) The Hollywood legend married actress Joanne Woodward in 1958. The couple remained married for 50 years until Newman's death from lung cancer in 2008 Joan Collins (1985) Joan wed her fourth husband, Swedish singer Peter Holm, at the chapel in 1985. They separated 13 months later. Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas (2019) Game Of Thrones star Sophie and her Jonas Brothers beau shocked fans when it was revealed they had married at the famous chapel in a surprise ceremony hours after the Billboard Music Awards. Surprise! Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas shocked fans when they married at the famous chapel in a surprise ceremony hours after the Billboard Music Awards Advertisement Priyanka's custom Ralph Lauren bridal gown at her Christian wedding featured a 75-foot train and took a total of 1,826 hours to complete and featured two million mother of pearl sequins, with her groom matching in a suit from the same US designer. A day later Priyanaka stunned in a deep red lehenga - a traditional Indian outfit by noted designer Sabyasachi Mukherji, and another custom outfit. Sophie in contrast opted for a very non traditional jumpsuit featuring spaghetti straps and a wide leg. The Game of Thrones actress glam look was in an ivory silk colour, and she added a long veil for her walk down the aisle. Joe meanwhile looked sharp in a grey suit and black boots, coordinating with his brothers. Sophie and Joe reportedly exchanged candy rings during their lowkey ceremony. Priyanka and Nick meanwhile exchanged a pair of Chopard bands, while the jeweler also decked out the bride in 29 carats worth of additional bling on the day. Quirky: Sophie opted for a very non traditional jumpsuit featuring spaghetti straps and a wide leg for her big night Priyanka and Nick celebrated with a party called a Sangeet where she danced to her own Hindi film songs, and where her movie star cousin Parineeti Chopra joined her friends to reenact the story of the Priyanka-Nick romance. The party reportedly played host to an 18-foot-high cake. PC, as she is known to her fans in India, had an elephant at her Hindu wedding, as well as a Baaraat - a tradition where the bridegroom arrives at the ceremony on horseback surrounded by his dancing loved ones. The celebrations continued for days, with Nick and Priyanka hosting a staggering four wedding receptions - one in New Delhi, two in Bombay and another in Charlotte. The Delhi reception took place in the capital's diplomatic enclave and welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose gift to the newlyweds was two red roses. All together: Priyanka and Nick celebrated with a party called a Sangeet where she danced to her own Hindi film songs, and where her movie star cousin Parineeti Chopra joined her friends to reenact the story of the Priyanka-Nick romance Family time: After their weddings, Nick and Priyanka had four wedding receptions, starting with one in New Delhi where Joe and Sophie are pictured Star power: The Delhi reception took place in the capital's diplomatic enclave and welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi In Bombay, PC and Nick had one reception for the press and another that served as a red carpet event for her fellow Bollywood stars. After honeymooning in the Caribbean, the couple had a more intimate party in Charlotte at the Jonas family's restaurant Nellie's Southern Kitchen. Joe and Sophie celebrated with one whirlwind night in Vegas. Hours after hitting the Billboard Music Awards, the couple headed to A Little White Wedding Chapel, famous for its 24-hour Tunnel of Love drive-thru weddings and its pink Cadillac. Close: While the couple celebrated with just a handful of guests, their nearest and dearest were there including Priyanka, who served as maid of honor at the wedding and the two were seen hugging each other Later, photos of the newlyweds posing on the hood of the pink Caddy were shared via social media. Entertainment was provided from country stars Dan and Shay who played their hit Speechless as Sophie walked down the aisle. While the couple celebrated with just a handful of guests, their nearest and dearest were there including Priyanka, who has become close friends with the British actress, and served as maid of honor at the wedding and the two were seen hugging each other right after Joe kissed his bride. Celebrating: Joe and Sophie celebrated with one whirlwind night in Vegas. After the wedding, the couple jumped into their hotel jacuzzi, while still wearing their wedding outfits After the wedding, the couple jumped into their hotel jacuzzi, while still wearing their wedding outfits. There is one other Jonas wedding, as in 2009, Kevin married former hairdresser Danielle Deleasa at Oheka Castle, a sprawling Long Island mansion that provided inspiration for the title character's home in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Disgraced former congressman Anthony Wiener, erstwhile NSYNC member Joey Fatone and TV anchor Megyn Kelly all had their respective weddings at Oheka Castle, which was built in the 1910s for financier Otto Hermann Kahn. Throwback: In 2009, Kevin married former hairdresser Danielle Deleasa at Oheka Castle, a sprawling century-old marriage on Long Island Excited fans were left in tears of joy and laughter during Wednesday night's long-anticipated Mummy Diaries: The Wedding special. And the stars of the show were just as excited as newlywed Billie Faiers, her sister Sam and their best pal Ferne McCann headed to Sugar Hut for a viewing party. Looking sensational while supporting her sister and new brother-in-law, Sam, 28, sported a stunning monochrome jumpsuit which helped show off her tan while the lady-of-the-moment Billie, 29, and Ferne, 28, looked equally chic. Yay! The stars of the show were excited for Mummy Diaries: The Wedding special, with newlywed Billie Faiers, her sister Sam (pictured) and their best friend Ferne McCann headed to Essex hotspot Sugar Hut for a viewing party on Wednesday 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 as she confessed to MailOnline she was not keen on the presence of cameras. However after much deliberating, the couple decided to go ahead with the filming and Wednesday night was the airing of the special day. Fans saw the ins and outs, ups and downs and excitement ahead of their wedding, including Billie's dad Dave nearly missing the big day after he was too inebriated to fly and was escorted off his plane to the Maldives. Dotty about you: Billie was looking sensational in a flirty powder blue skirt and top combo complete with a ra-ra ruffled mini and an abs flashing crop top A vision: Ferne was showing off her hard-worked figure in a barely-there denim mini dress paired with a black one-shoulder top and sky-high black heels Mr and Mrs: The couple finally exchanged vows in a lavish Maldives ceremony, after build-up which had been fraught with drama and chaos Joining in the excitement were the stars of the show, who descended on the Essex hot spot on Wednesday to watch the show with their beloved family. Sam looked sensational for the viewing party as she sported a one-shouldered jumpsuit with a white section on top and cigarette style bottoms attached. She wore her tresses in loose bouncy waves while she was glowing thanks to her residual tan following the idyllic trip just weeks ago. Chic: Looking sensational while supporting her sister and new brother-in-law, Sam, 28, sported a stunning monochrome jumpsuit which helped show off her tan while the lady-of-the-moment Billie, 29, and Ferne, 28, looked equally chic Happy days: Excited fans were left in tears of joy and laughter during Wednesday night's long-anticipated Mummy Diaries: The Wedding special Denim diva: She too displayed a dazzling tan as all the girls proved themselves to have caught the sun during their stay in the sensational location Billie was looking sensational in a flirty powder blue skirt and top combo complete with a ra-ra ruffled mini and an abs flashing crop top. In a nod to her love of all things designer, she complemented the look with a pair of cream heels and handbag with the gold 'GG' monogram emblazoned on both. Ferne was showing off her hard-worked figure in a barely-there denim mini dress paired with a black one-shoulder top and sky-high black heels. Off we go: As ever, Greg looked ready for fun as he stepped in with stacks of white trilbys for the guests while looking sharp in a white shirt Happy days: The couple were overjoyed as they headed into the venue arm in arm She too displayed a dazzling tan as all the girls proved themselves to have caught the sun during their stay in the sensational location. As ever, Greg looked ready for fun as he stepped in with stacks of white trilbys for the guests while looking sharp in a white shirt. The long-awaited wedding special left die-hard fans weeping with joy, as they finally saw the moment that Billie and Greg tied the knot. Happy days: They looked every inch the delighted newlyweds during their outing We're married! In a 90-minute special the couple finally said 'I do' in front of 95 guests in a beautiful Maldives ceremony, after eight years together and over a year of planning to reach the big moment In the 90-minute special the couple finally said 'I do' in front of 95 guests, after five years together and over a year of planning to reach the big moment. Viewers took to Twitter to share their delight at finally seeing the couple exchange their vows, after the build-up was fraught with drama and chaos. Despite a frantic day which saw Greg waiting in the sunshine, the groom was left stunned as Billie finally made her way down the aisle in a lace wedding gown. Pregnant Bachelor star Laura Byrne has spoken candidly about having a miscarriage with fiance Matthew 'Matty J' Johnson in the past During a segment on the Shameless podcast on Thursday, the 31-year-old recalled her heartbreak at the time. 'At that time I thought, ''I don't know anyone who has had miscarriage, I don't know why this is happened to me and there must be something wrong with me'',' she said. 'It is just a common thing but it's a thing we don't talk about at all': Pregnant Bachelor star Laura Byrne (pictured) spoke candidly about having previously suffered a miscarriage during a segment on the Shameless podcast on Thursday 'Even though the doctor said ''No this is so normal, don't worry about it'' - because there wasn't anyone from my friendship group or anyone that I had spoken to that had been through something similar,' Laura added. The brunette beauty explained that having a miscarriage is common, but it is often not talked about. 'It's why the doctors say, ''Don't tell anyone until you hit your three month mark,'' because it's just a common thing, but it's a thing we don't talk about at all,' she said. 'Even though the doctor said ''No this is so normal, don't worry about it'' - because there wasn't anyone from my friendship group or anyone that I had spoken to that had been through something similar,' Laura revealed Meanwhile, Laura is expecting her first child with fiance Matty J in just a few weeks. The pair however do not know the gender of their baby, and revealed earlier this week that they want to keep it a surprise. On Sunday, the parents-to-be confirmed their engagement, with the former Bachelor proposing on their 'babymoon' in Fiji. Smitten: Meanwhile, while Laura is expecting her first child with fiance Matty Johnson (L) in just a few weeks, the parents-to-be announced their engagement on Sunday 'You are my favourite everything Matty,' Laura wrote on Instagram at the time, underneath a snap flashing her engagement ring. 'YES to a lifetime of love and flamboyant dance moves with you my honey.' Matty added: 'There's absolutely no one else I'd rather grow old and senile with. I can't wait to start a family together and now I can't wait to be your husband!' Kapoor and the others were accused of bribing doctors to boost sales of Subsys and misleading insurers in order to get payment approved for the costly drug, which is meant for cancer patients in severe pain. The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking engagements that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors. Former Biggest Loser star Sam Rouen has reflected on his weight loss journey, 11 years after winning the show's third season in 2008. Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the 30-year-old shared an incredible before and after photo with his followers, alongside an inspirational message. 'Eleven years ago today, I stood on a stage and realised that I committed to something. It was one of the first times in my life that I put my mind to something, gave it my all and achieved what I wanted,' Sam wrote. Scroll down for video Transformed! The Biggest Loser's Sam Rouen has reflected on his weight loss journey, 11 years after winning the show's third season in 2008. Pictured left: in 2008, and right: in 2019 Reflecting on the 11-year anniversary this week, Sam said: 'In the weeks leading up to 29/04/08, I was running up to 60km a day and eating to a timetabled scheduled. I was disciplined. 'I proved to myself that I could do what I put my mind to. I still face demons and challenges, but this day empowered me realising my worth and self empowerment. 'I hope that everyone has that opportunity to reflect on themselves, and realise how amazing they are, what they can achieve, and what they are worth.' Sam lost a total of 72kg on The Biggest Loser. Candid: '11 years ago today, I stood on a stage and realised that I committed to something. It was one of the first times in my life that I put my mind to something, gave it my all and achieved what I wanted,' Sam wrote on Instagram on Thursday Meanwhile, Sam - who has managed to keep the weight off over the past decade - is still looking for love after calling off his wedding to Daniella Schot. Last year, the Sydney-based fireman was spotted on dating app Bumble, flaunting his slimmed-down frame to attract potential dates. Daily Mail Australia understands that Sam and Daniella split in 2017, well before he created his dating profile. Back on the market: Meanwhile, Sam - who has managed to keep the weight off over the past decade - is still looking for love after calling off his wedding to Daniella Schot Daniella had previously accepted a giant pear-shaped diamond ring from Sam when he proposed in 2016. Sam's profile photos on Bumble did not show any sign of him being previously engaged. His bio simply read: 'I indicate out of roundabouts. That pretty much sums me up.' Dame Darcey Bussell didn't want to 'push her luck' by remaining as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing for too long. The 50-year-old retired ballerina shocked fans of the BBC series last month by announcing she was stepping down from the judging panel after seven years, and has now admitted the decision didn't come easily. She said: 'It is not a decision that came easily at all. But I knew I had the most amazing time for seven years and it is like pushing your luck to think that I could even do another seven years. Don't push it: Dame Darcey Bussell didn't want to 'push her luck' by remaining as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing for too long 'So I just knew it was time for me to finish and to give that place for somebody else to judge on that wonderful show.' Speaking to The Sun, she added: 'I do it for my daughters, as I want them to remember me as a classical dancer and not just a judge on Strictly.' Last month, the former Royal Ballet pro insisted she wasn't departing the programme due to 'any upset or disagreement' and simply wants to focus on her 'many other commitments in dance'. Darcey - who became a full-time judge on the show's 10th series in 2012 - said in a statement: 'It has been a complete privilege for me to be part of Strictly, working with such a talented team. Time to go: The 50-year-old retired ballerina shocked fans of the BBC series last month by announcing she was stepping down from the judging panel after seven years, and has now admitted the decision didn't come easily I'm leaving! Earlier this month Darcey confirmed that she was quitting Strictly after seven years on the judging panel 'I have enjoyed every minute of my time and will miss everyone from my fellow judges, the presenters, the dancers, the musicians, the entire back stage team, and especially the viewers of the show, who have been so supportive. 'I am not leaving because of any upset or disagreement at all, I am just stepping away to give more focus to my many other commitments in dance, after seven truly wonderful years that I can't imagine having gone any better.' Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, and Bruno Tonioli remain on the judging panel. It remains unknown who will fill Darcey's shoes... but last month, pro dancer Anton Du Beke revealed in an exclusive interview with MailOnline that he would be 'delighted' to appear as a judge after 15 years on the show. Departing: Speculation has been rife about who will replace her on the panel Replacement? Anton Du Beke has revealed he would be 'delighted' to replace Darcey He said: 'It's a process, I don't think they're trying to avoid me or anything, I think they were caught a bit by surprise by Darcey, it wasn't like the end of the series when she said she was leaving. 'I haven't spoken to her about it, and it's caught everybody a bit on the hop, but they've got the whole summer to organise it, they'll go through a process which they have to do. 'I'm on the show anyway, so I'm either going to be dancing as normal or they might decide they want me to change roles. Whatever they want me to do I'd be delighted to do it.' EastEnders actor Matt Di Angelo is engaged to his wedding planner girlfriend after five years of dating. The soap star, 32, popped the question to long-term love Sophia Perry while enjoying an idyllic beach break in the Dominican Republic, and announced the news via his Instagram page on Wednesday night, which also marked his birthday. Posting a snap of the happy couple celebrating with pizza and champagne, alongside a shot of Sophia's beautiful diamond engagement ring, Matt simply wrote: 'Got pizza today.' Happy news! EastEnders actor Matt Di Angelo is engaged to his wedding planner girlfriend after five years of dating A delighted Sophia meanwhile shared a snap of herself tucking into the pizza and champagne while showing off her new diamond ring, alongside the caption: 'I heart PIZZA... AND MY FIANCE' Matt's former EastEnders co-star Rita Simons was among the first to congratulate him, commenting on his post:'Mazeltov!!! Finally! You're gonna be a real grown up!!!' Hollyoaks star James Sutton added: 'MAAAAAATE!!! HUGE congrats to you both. Wonderful news x' Congrats! A delighted Sophia shared a snap of herself tucking into pizza and champagne while showing off her new diamond ring, alongside the caption: 'I heart PIZZA... AND MY FIANCE' It looked as though Matt had pulled out all the stops for the proposal, with Sophia sharing a short video of the couple taking off in a helicopter hours before. Matt and Sophia have been dating since 2014. The actor previously dated dancer Flavia Cacace in 2007 after they appeared on Strictly Come Dancing together. Flavia's 11-year romance with her professional partner Vincent Simone came to an end as she embarked on a relationship with Matt. What a feast! Posting a snap of the happy couple celebrating with pizza and champagne, alongside a shot of Sophia's ring, Matt simply wrote: 'Got pizza today' Blissful: The couple have been sharing snaps of the idyllic break all week The couple lasted three years before splitting in 2010. Flavia later married her 2010 Strictly partner Jimi Mistry. Matt is best known for playing Dean Wicks in EastEnders from 2006 to 2008 and 2014 to 2016. His characters was caught up in lots of dark storylines during Matt's two stints on the BBC soap, including Dean's sexually assault of his uncle's wife,. Wow factor: It looked as though Matt had pulled out all the stops for the proposal, with Sophia sharing a short video of the couple taking off in a helicopter hours before Long term love: The actor and wedding planner have been dating for five years What a day! Earlier on Wednesday Sophia surprised Matt with birthday presents and treats At the time of his departure in 2016 Matt told The Mirror that he was looking forward to 'finding a new job.' He added he had Hollywood ambitions, explaining: 'I'm a Londoner, I love this city, but if I get a chance to go over there then it's definitely an option. 'I feel like I need to go away and try other things to get better as an actor.' She is rumoured to be dating fellow Love Island alum Theo Campbell. And Kaz Crossley did little to dispel gossip that they are an item, as they put on a very friendly display while leaving Georgia Harrison's GHX Style launch party. The reality star, 23, looked sensational as she stepped out with Theo during an evening at the Alchemist bar in central London on Wednesday evening. Home time! Kaz Crossley did little to dispel gossip that they are an item, as they put on a very friendly display while leaving Georgia Harrison's GHX Style launch party As they hopped into a back of a taxi, Kaz narrowly avoided a wardrobe malfunction in an orange bralet, which she teamed with a pair of high-waisted leather trousers. Despite the near-miss, Kaz still managed to look sensational as she flaunted her gym-honed physique in the scanty ensemble, while teaming it with a pair of black heels. Kaz's outfit did originally appear to be a boiler suit, however things appeared to heat up during Georgia's launch as she tied the top half of the garment around her waist. Looking good: The reality star, 23, looked sensational as she stepped out with Theo during an evening at the Alchemist bar in central London on Wednesday evening Wow! Kaz still managed to look sensational as she flaunted her gym-honed physique in the scanty ensemble, while teaming it with a pair of black heels Keeping the attention on her stunning features, Kaz sleeked her raven tresses back off her face into a neat bun while accentuating her visage with a glamorous coat of make-up. Meanwhile, Theo looked dashing in a black long-sleeved top which he teamed with a pair of very distressed grey jeans and black trousers. Proving to be a true gentleman, as they left the party Theo carried their gift bags no doubt full of goodies from Georgia's party as he leaned in for a cheeky kiss on the cheek. Looking good: Meanwhile, Theo looked dashing in a black long-sleeved top which he teamed with a pair of very distressed grey jeans and black trousers Kaz and Theo first sparked rumours of a possible romance as they recently enjoyed a getaway to Thailand with friends. Despite the pair being away with fellow reality stars Steven Bear and Georgia Harrison on a Muay Thai fitness retreat, the pair set tongues wagging after Kaz shared a cute snap of just the two of them. The picture in question shows Kaz and Theo on a sun-kissed path in Chiang Mai as they stopped to stroke an adorable dog. Cheek: Proving to be a true gentleman, as they left the party Theo carried their gift bags no doubt full of goodies from Georgia's party as he leaned in for a cheeky kiss on the cheek The snap itself appeared innocent enough, however, Steven clocked chemistry between the pair as he commented: 'What an amazing couple.' Kaz tried to play down his banter, telling him: 'stop winding everyone up,' however that was enough to deter interested fans from speculating. Taking to the comments, one person wrote: 'UPGRADED QUICKTIMEE. BYE JOSH.' Tongues wagging: Kaz and Theo first sparked rumours of a possible romance as they recently enjoyed a getaway to Thailand with friends A second asked: 'Are you dating?', while a third remarked: 'No way!!!! THEO AND KAZ?!' Kaz dated her Love Island beau Josh Denzel for six months after leaving the villa and took to Instagram to announce their split in January. And despite embarking in a romance halfway through the show, Josh and Kaz finished in third place on the popular ITV2 series. Killing it: Kaz's outfit did originally appear to be a boiler suit, however things appeared to heat up during Georgia's launch as she tied the top half of the garment around her waist Their wedding celebrations have been ongoing since their lavish Maldives nuptials in March. And on Wednesday night Billie Faiers and Greg Shepherd relived their big day with a viewing party for their family and friends at Essex haunt Sugar Hut, as ITVBe aired their anticipated Mummy Diaries special. The newlyweds cosied up for their big night, enjoying watching back their Maldives celebrations, including the awkward moment their wedding officiant called Billie Greg's 'husband' instead of wife. Newlyweds: Greg Shepherd and Billie Faiers relived their Maldives wedding with a viewing party for their family and friends at Essex haunt Sugar Hut on Wednesday night Billie looked gorgeous, showing off her golden tan in a chic mint green two piece, flashing her toned stomach. She added sandals and styled her blonde hair into a half up do, as she posed for snaps outside the Brentwood club with her dapper new husband. The couple were joined by their family and friends for the viewing party, including Billie's little sister Sam, who was Maid of Honour on the day. Stunning: Billie looked gorgeous, showing off her golden tan in a chic mint green two piece, flashing her toned stomach for the couple's celebratory night Here we go! The couple were joined by their family and friends for the viewing party as ITVBe aired their Mummy Diaries special Billie, 29, 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 as she confessed to MailOnline she was not keen on the presence of cameras. Fans saw the ins and outs, ups and downs and excitement ahead of their wedding, including Billie's dad Dave nearly missing the big day after he was too inebriated to fly and was escorted off his plane to the Maldives. Must see TV: Fans saw the ins and outs, ups and downs and excitement during the show, including the moment the wedding officiant called Billie Greg's 'husband' After the tears and drama though came the big day, but even that didn't go without a hitch. During the romantic vows, the officiant made a massive blunder when he asked 'Greg, do you take Billie to be your husband?' After a slight pause, Greg said: 'No, my wife' before the couple and their 95 guests all burst out laughing. She's been an ambassador for Netherlands-based swimwear brand Hunkemoller since 2016. And Doutzen Kroes, 34, looks simply sensational in an array of seductive bikinis as she poses by the poolside for her latest photoshoot. The Dutch supermodel wowed in a berry hued two-piece, reclining by the water's edge as she revealed her impossibly toned six pack. Swimwear shoot: Doutzen Kroes, 34, looks simply sensational in an array of seductive bikinis as she poses by the poolside for her latest photoshoot with Hunkemoller Poster girl: The star has been an ambassador for the Netherlands-based swimwear brand since 2016 Doutzen also rocked a metallic number displaying her toned and lithe physique in the string two-piece. The Gold Goddess bikini design is a special part of the collection since all sales profits will be donated to her Knot on My Planet charity. Doutzen set up the project in a bid to put an end to the ivory crisis and elephant extinction. She said: 'I am so thankful to Hunkemoller. I had so much fun creating my own edit for this amazing bikini that is also supporting our quest with Knot on My Planet.' Good cause: The Gold Goddess bikini design is a special part of the collection since all sales profits will be donated to her Knot on My Planet charity She said: 'I am so thankful to Hunkemoller. I had so much fun creating my own edit for this amazing bikini that is also supporting our quest with Knot on My Planet' Wow: The star donned a peach hued bikini with pretty, one-shoulder strap detailing Her hair was given a wet-look makeover and her stunning features were enhanced with bronzer and a dewy coral lipstick. She is seen modelling a wide range of looks in the sizzling photoshoot, including a polka dot number with a one-shoulder, asymmetric detailing. Doutzen also poses with a Dalmatian, and models a sheer black lace kaftan for another series of snapshots. Stunning: Doutzen displayed her enviable physique in a multi-hued pink one-piece Dotty for fashion: Doutzen donned a pretty polka dot bikini top with an asymmetric ruffle Pretty in polka dots: Douzen sported a scalloped bikini top and high-rise briefs Working it: The 34-year-old supermodel was rocking a pretty pink two-piece Shortly after turning 34 in January, Doutzen admitted she has been taking extra care of her skin because she wants to 'age beautifully'. She told VOGUE in March this year: 'You know, you take advantage of having anything good in your life and my skin has always been good. But obviously Im aging and want to take care of [it] so I age beautifully.' Doutzen balances her modelling feats with raising her young children Myllena Mae Gorre, four, and Phyllon Joy Gorre, eight. Wow: Shortly after turning 34 in January, Doutzen admitted she has been taking extra care of her skin because she wants to 'age beautifully' Bling: The model's hair was given a wet-look makeover for the shoot Strike a pose: Doutzen was joined by a fellow model as they showcased two varying styles of the same motif It's a dog's life: Doutzen was joined by a Dalmatian for one of the segements of the shoot Living it up: Doutzen and a fellow model posed right on the edge of the pool The mother-of-two revealed her daughter will be completely mesmerised whenever she puts on her make-up. However, Doutzen said Myllena has expressed her keen interest to try out make-up herself but the model assert four years old is too young. She added: 'They do watch me put on my makeup and my daughter loves it. She wants to do it too, but she's too young. She loves [it] more than I do!' Doutzen brings up her two children with her husband Sunnery James Gorre, whom she married in November 2010 in Eastermar. Cheeky: Another striking image saw the catwalk sensation modelling a sheer cover up Sultry: The beauties were given natural looking make-up for the photoshoot Stylish: In another image, Doutzen gazes out into the distance while wearing denim shorts and a pretty, white lace top He is used to delivering playful broadcasts from around the world. Yet Lorraine showbiz host Ross King's usual segments took a turn for the shocking on Thursday morning's episode as he was delivering a report from Las Vegas, shortly before a mobile billboard for prostitutes drove past. The 57-year-old Glaswegian was the subject of a host of tweets, as viewers were left tickled by his lack of awareness shortly before he took to Instagram to poke fun at the gaffe by sharing another rude post. Oh dear! Lorraine showbiz host Ross King's usual segments took a turn for the shocking on Thursday morning's episode as he was delivering a report from Las Vegas, shortly before a mobile billboard for prostitutes drove past While broadcasting from Las Vegas, Ross was chatting while the billboard came into sight and stunned viewers - however Lorraine also appeared to have missed it. Viewers took to Twitter to pen: '@reallorraine have I just seen a billboard behind Ross king abvertising naked women sent to your room. OMG... 'Scott and I just saw this while you were talking to Ross King. Lol I bet that driver just waited for that moment. Haha. So funny... That mobile billboard behind Ross King.' He then took to Instagram to share an advert for a saucy magic show, with the caption: 'Live on @ITVLorraine from #lasvegas These chaps not on the show...I asked them to show me a big trick.... @ MGM Grand Las Vegas'. Oops! The 57-year-old Glaswegian was the subject of a host of tweets, as viewers were left tickled by his lack of awareness shortly before he took to Instagram to poke fun at the gaffe by sharing another rude post OMG! Viewers took to Twitter to pen: '@reallorraine have I just seen a billboard behind Ross king abvertising naked women sent to your room. OMG' Shocker! He then took to Instagram to share an advert for a saucy magic show, with the caption: 'Live on @ITVLorraine from #lasvegas These chaps not on the show...I asked them to show me a big trick.... @ MGM Grand Las Vegas' In another unfortunate gaffe, at February's Oscars, Ross attempted to nab director Alfonso Cuaron for a chat while broadcasting live into the Lorraine studio. The Mexican filmmaker - who scooped the gong for Best Director for his film Roma - was spotted by Ross (who had strangely already decided to undo his bowtie) as he sauntered along the red carpet behind him. Lorraine had barely got a word in when Ross was seen trying to edge backwards to get some screen time with Alfonso. 'Who have you seen?' Lorraine asked. 'Alfonso Cuaron,' muttered Ross, before shouting across at the director: 'Hi Alfa! Congratulations! You're live on British TV! Good to see you. There we are!' Oh... hi: In another unfortunate gaffe, at February's Oscars, Ross attempted to nab director Alfonso Cuaron for a chat while broadcasting live into the Lorraine studio On the hunt: Lorraine had barely got a word in when Ross was seen distractedly trying to edge backwards to get some screen time with Alfonso Alfonso shook Ross' hand without a flash of recognition in his eyes and then turned to some BBC reporters to chat. Ross then ignored Lorraine and loitered by Alfonso, microphone at the ready, as he gave a lengthy answer to the BBC. 'Hold on just one second here... there we are... look at this...' Ross then mumbled to himself as a helpless Lorraine waited around, occasionally saying: 'I think he's giving a long answer... they're having a discussion.' Ross then stuttered: 'I think he's forgotten... I think he's forgotten his Oscar!' He usually puts in a very dapper appearance at glitzy premieres and parties. But Gerard Butler was worlds away from his typically polished Hollywood look, as he attended the Maiden after party at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday evening. The actor, 49, opted for casual dressed-down look for the bash, a far cry from his usually tux-clad appearance when attending such events. Casual: Gerard Butler was worlds away from his typically polished Hollywood look, as he attended the Maiden after party at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday evening (pictured with Tracey Edwards) Gerard, who still managed to look dashingly handsome despite his more casual look, rocked a loose-fitting grey T-shier and a pair of cargo trousers in a darker hue. He teamed his look with a comfy black hooded jacket, which he wore underneath a leather jacket and accessorised with a silver chain necklace. Maiden tells the story of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, who became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989. Then and now: The actor, 49, opted for casual dressed-down look for the bash, a far cry from his usually tux-clad appearance when attending such events (pictured in February 2019 left) Plot: Maiden tells the story of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, who became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989 At the event Gerard posed for snaps with Tracey, who narrates the documentary which details the triumph of the female crew's journey around the world on a yacht. The Law Abiding Citizen star appeared to be flying solo during the evening, without his on-off girlfriend Morgan Brown, who he was spotted with just days earlier. The couple, who have had a tumultuous relationship, have been on and off since 2014 and are rarely pictured together as the last time they were seen together before their recent appearance was in October 2018. Starring role: At the event Gerard posed for snaps with Tracey, who narrates the documentary which details the triumph of the female crew's journey around the world on a yacht Glam: Tracey looked lovely in a purple velvet jacket and a bright pink blouse Chic: Ashley Haas oozed elegance in a sheer white lace blouse and tailored trousers Sassy: Carrie Berk wore a thigh-grazing purple Bardot dress and chunky white heels The genetically-blessed couple were believed to have split up in August last year after a failed 'make or break' holiday together in sun-soaked Mexico. However just a few months later in October, the 300 star said he was ready to start a family and settle down within the next few years. It was believed at the time that the Bounty Hunter star was eyeing up potential properties in the Chelsea area of New York. A source told the New York Post's Page Six: 'Things are looking serious. Gerry sold his $6 million Chelsea loft last year and is looking for a bigger space to share with Morgan.' Sleek: Alyssa Riley cut a stylish figure in a pair of leather trousers and a chic white blouse Ravishing: Lena Hall looked glamorous in a silk green dress with floral detailing Leggy: Antoine Verglas put on a leggy display in a tiny dress and thigh-high boots Earlier this week, she delightedly revealed they are expecting their first child. And Marnie Simpson, who has been dating her baby daddy Casey Johnson on-off for two and a half years, proved she is as excited as ever on Thursday as she took to Instagram to share the first shot of her baby scan. After sharing a shot of the baby scan, the former Geordie Shore star, 27, also posted a series of videos as she gifted her beau with a Rolex watch for his 24th birthday. Blooming! Pregnant Marnie Simpson, who has been dating her baby daddy Casey Johnson on-off for two and a half years, proved she is as excited as ever on Thursday as she took to Instagram to share the first shot of her baby scan Marnie is clearly bursting with excitement as she took to social media to post the sweet snap of her baby while Casey went on to share the clip. She added a caption over the shot reading: 'Baby Johnson, see you in October baby, can't wait to meet you'. She then posted her luxurious gift for her beau. Marnie marked her handsome boyfriend and baby daddy Casey's 24th birthday with the incredible gift in a series of videos shared on social media. Shortly before, she shared a photo of the couple cuddled up as she gushed of her beau: 'I couldnt of thought of a more perfect man to be the father of my child and your going to be the best daddy in the world,' (sic). Joyous: Marnie's baby is due on October 16, but the television personality admitted in an interview with OK! Magazine this week that she thought motherhood was something that might never happen for her because of previous 'alcohol abuse' Lucky guy! Marnie gifted Casey with a lavish Rolex for his birthday Happy days: He certainly seemed pleased with his present as he presented the watch on Instagram Marnie's baby is due on October 16, but the television personality admitted in an interview with OK! Magazine this week that she thought motherhood was something that might never happen for her because of previous 'alcohol abuse'. She said: 'Because I'd done Geordie Shore I'd convinced myself that I couldn't have kids because of all the alcohol abuse.' Marnie, who met Casey on dating show Single AF, also told the magazine that she doesn't regret having an abortion when she was aged 19. Yay! X Factor star Casey revealed his excitement over their impending parenthood, saying: 'I don't think you're ever ready until it happens, but we're so excited. It feels amazing' 'When I look back I definitely feel I made the right decision. I don't regret it. I was so young, I didn't have a job, a driving licence, or any money.' X Factor star Casey revealed his excitement over their impending parenthood, saying: 'I don't think you're ever ready until it happens, but we're so excited. It feels amazing.' MTV star Marnie was previously living with Casey at her luxurious Bedfordshire pad, but revealed in October that the former Union J star had moved back to London. The first four episodes of series five of Line Of Duty attracted larger audiences than any other programme on UK television this year, according to new figures released ahead of the series finale on Sunday. The episodes averaged 10.6 million viewers in seven-day four-screen consolidated figures, with the penultimate episode last Sunday receiving the highest overnight figure for Line Of Duty ever, with an average of 7.9 million viewers and peak of 8.3 million. The final episode of the series will air on Sunday evening on BBC One, with viewers hoping the mysterious 'H' will finally be unmasked. Must watch: The first four episodes of series five of Line Of Duty attracted larger audiences than any other programme on UK television this year Line Of Duty showrunner, Jed Mercurio, said of the new figures: 'We're thrilled and flattered by the amazing response to this series of Line Of Duty.' 'On behalf of the whole production, I want to thank our viewers for their fantastic loyalty, and World Productions and the BBC for their unstinting support.' Simon Heath, executive producer for World Productions, says: 'It's testament to Jed's brilliant writing and the best cast on British TV that the audience for Line of Duty has grown bigger with every series.' Popular: The episodes averaged 10.6m viewers in seven-day four-screen consolidated figures, with the penultimate episode receiving the highest overnight figure for Line Of Duty ever 'A huge thanks to the BBC who took a chance on a small show in Birmingham back in 2011 and to everyone who's supported us since' 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) 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 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. 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 New evidence? Wise and Carmichael don't look pleased with the new twists and turns 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'. 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 Line Of Duty series five concludes this Sunday at 9pm on BBC One, with a feature length finale. Upon discovering the mistake, Ticho went to Dryfhout, who was already in a post-anesthesia care unit, and operated on her left eye, Dryfhout alleges. He used instruments, including a needle, scissors and cautery pen on her left eye, causing her pain, despite Dryfhout asking him to stop, according to the lawsuit. She also alleges he used nonsterile instruments. He's rose to fame as the lovable character on the hit HBO series. And John Bradley, who plays Samwell Tarly, has admitted he's uncertain how Game Of Thrones will end despite already filming the final. The actor, 30, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk all things about his character and the hit HBO series. Uncertain: John Bradley, who plays Samwell Tarly, has admitted he's uncertain how Game Of Thrones will end despite already filming the final However, when asked about the final episode ever of Game Of Thrones, he admitted he was confused after producers gave a cryptic interview. John said: 'I thought I knew how it was going to end, we definitely shot an ending but then I read an interview with some of the show runners where they said: "The actors think they know how it's going to end." 'And my actor paranoia has sunk in, I don't know what I know... I may ultimately know, but I'm not going to know that I know until I know that I know.' GoT stardom: The actor, 30, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk all things about his character and the hit HBO series (pictured in character during series two) Confused: However, when asked about the final episode ever of Game Of Thrones, he admitted he was confused after producers gave a cryptic interview Sunday's 82 minutes-long third episode of Game Of Thrones left show watchers gripped after the Night King, played by Vladimir Furdik, finally met his demise by the hands of Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams. However, sticking with the GoT tradition, a lot of characters lost their lives during the brutal Battle of Winterfell, including Theon Greyjoy - played by Alfie Allen, and Jorah Mormont - played by Iain Glen. To which John joked that he didn't expect his character to survive, he said: 'I didn't think I was going to survive either, you read the script with one eye open - you're nervous. People are like: "Sam can't die, Sam is too important, loved..." and I'm like: "Don't you watch this show? Have you never seen it before?!" Cryptic: John said: 'I thought I knew how it was going to end, we definitely shot an ending but then I read an interview with some of the show runners where they said: "The actors think they know how it's going to end."' Does he, doesn't he?: 'And my actor paranoia has sunk in, I don't know what I know... I may ultimately know, but I'm not going to know that I know until I know that I know.' 'Also people say things like: "Game of Thrones is one of those shows where all your favourite characters die..." what does that say about me? I'm still around!' John also spoke about how long Battle of Winterfell took to film, revealing that it was 55 nights (11 weeks) of shooting in Belfast during the winter from the hours 4pm to 6am. He said: 'So disorientated and such a weird experience, there were hundreds of extras. It was a very intense atmosphere. You shoot at night, you lose touch with reality!' He survived!: John joked that he didn't expect his character to survive the Battle of Winterfell after several characters lost their lives during the brutal 82-minutes long episode (pictured far right in series two) John joined Game of Thrones in 2011 and has appeared on the series from the very first episode. 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. Wow: John also spoke about how long Battle of Winterfell took to film, revealing that it was 55 nights (11 weeks) of shooting in Belfast during the winter from the hours 4pm to 6am (Arya pictured killing the Night King) Bachelor In Paradise couple Nathan Favro and Tenille Favios left Paradise together on Tuesday night's finale, leaving fans hopeful they'd make it work off the show. But during the show's reunion on Thursday, Tenille confessed she was left heart-broken when Nathan 'friend-zoned' her via text a week later. 'It was shocking, it was confusing, it was upsetting. I felt foolish,' the flight attendant said in front of a live studio audience as she broke down in tears. Shocked and appalled: Bachelor In Paradise's Tenille Favios (pictured) cried as she slammed Nathan Favro (pictured) for friend-zoning her over text one week after leaving Fiji 'We spoke for a week and he was sending me 'xx' in text messages at the end, kiss emojis and ''miss you can't wait to see you". He even invited me to Byron,' she told Bachelor franchise host Osher Gunsberg. 'Within 24 hours I was told I was seen as a friend,' she shockingly confessed. 'It was just such a difference to me from Paradise, to the affection I was shown, to the things that were said at the commitment ceremony.' 'We spoke for a week and he was sending me 'xx' in text messages at the end, kiss emojis and ''miss you can't wait to see you,'' invited me to Byron and within 24 hours I was told I was seen as a friend,' she said, before breaking down in tears 'Like I had the red flags', she said, adding: 'I kept telling myself and him, ''I just don't think you like me!'', but he just kept telling me everything that I wanted to hear.' It comes after the Brisbane native said that she drove down to Byron to see Nathan, but as soon as she arrived 'he was a different Nathan'. 'I got a peck kiss a kiss your grandma would give you at Easter, and within 24 hours he told me he saw me as a friend,' she told The Courier Mail on Friday. All for show? It comes after the Brisbane flight attendant said that she drove down to Byron to see Nathan, but as soon as she arrived 'he was a different Nathan' She added: 'I was so convinced he liked me, giving me a ring. I was so shocked and disappointed and so upset. I was thinking "was any of that real?" Its been one week, nothings happened and then Im friendzoned.' The brunette stunner said that during the six month period she heard little to sometimes no response from Nathan after the show wrapped. Tenille explained that since watching back the show, she realised that Nathan was not as 'genuine' as she thought he was and doesn't understand why he gave her a ring. Davey Lloyd was pictured kissing his new girlfriend, Georgia Cook, after wrapping up filming Bachelor In Paradise late last year. And during Thursday's reunion episode, the 29-year-old confessed he was actually seeing Georgia before he entered the show. 'That girl is my future and she will be the mother of my kids. I'm sorry to say,' Davey told ex Florence Moerenhout in front of a live studio audience. 'She will be the mother of my kids': Davey Lloyd (L) confessed he was dating new girlfriend Georgia Cook before entering Bachelor In Paradise on Thursday... after Florence Moerenhout (R) dumped him in the finale 'You're saying I was seeing someone, I'm sorry to point her out, Georgia, but I'm dating her,' he added, pointing at Georgia in the audience. 'I had a connection with Georgia when I was here [before the show]. I did have feelings for Georgia massively,' Davey continued. 'The one thing I was looking for was that instant attraction with someone and infatuation and I had that, and I do believe it was definitely love at first sight and it wasn't tainted going on the show.' 'That girl is my future and she will be the mother of my kids. I'm sorry to say,' Davey (R) told ex Florence Moerenhout (L) during Thursday's episode of the show 'I had a connection with Georgia when I was here [before the show]. I did have feelings for Georgia massively,' Davey (L) said. Pictured right: Davey's new girlfriend Georgia Cook On Wednesday, Davey's co-star Florence left him heartbroken after she dumped him during the finale. Speaking about his emotional reaction to the split, Davey said: 'It was confusion because I had to make a decision in there as well, but it was also because we could still have a friendship after it, and that was the relief as well.' 'I'm sorry to say, but I had to be selfish over the fact that I had to choose [Georgia] over having a friendship [with Florence]. I'm happy how it turned out and I'm sorry if I hurt you on the way,' he told Florence. 'I'm sorry to say, but I had to be selfish over the fact that I had to choose [Georgia] over having a friendship [with Florence]. I'm happy how it turned out and I'm sorry if I hurt you on the way,' he told Florence (pictured) 'Well you definitely did but it's fine, like, you're not the first one and probably not the last one so, I'll live,' she said. Meanwhile, a source told Daily Mail Australia this week: 'At the final rose ceremony Davey was stoked because he had finally decided to commit to Florence and arrived with a ring for her, but she shocked him.' According to the insider, Davey 'did not see [the rejection] coming', but PR worker Georgia, 21, was a shoulder to cry on once he'd returned to Australia. 'Well you definitely did [hurt me] but it's fine, like, you're not the first one and probably not the last one so, I'll live,' Florence stated The couple are believed to have met in November when Davey first left Paradise, but weren't able to pursue things because he returned to the show just days later. It wasn't until December, after Florence dumped him and he came back to Australia for a second time, that they started to date and 'quickly became exclusive'. 'Things are going so well for them that they have even moved into a new place together on the Northern Beaches [in Sydney],' added the source. Bachelor in Paradise lovebirds Alisha Aitken-Radburn and Jules Bourne began secretly dating each other after breaking up in Fiji. But Alisha chose to end her on-and-off-again romance with Jules once and for all in front of a live studio audience during Thursday's reunion episode. Alisha slammed her ex-Army beau for sending mixed signals by sleeping at her house and talking about children, before finally calling time on the relationship. Over: Bachelor in Paradise star Alisha Aitken-Radburn, 26, ended her fling with Jules Bourne, 24, in front of a live studio audience on the dating show's reunion episode on Thursday 'This is my night for closure,' Alisha insisted, stating she'd rather Jules be a 'fun girlfriend' in her life that a male lover. Alisha admitted the pair have been 'in each other's lives' and talk almost everyday since leaving the show late last year. 'I have seen Jules outside of Paradise and I have not let go. And that hope remains,' Alisha said, tearing up as she confessed she once loved the star. 'Jules has a habit of sort of dangling the carrot with me,' she said of his behaviour when it came to dating and showing emotion. Alisha was visibly upset as she claimed Jules dropped 'children and grandchildren' into conversation, without realising the impact of his statements. Confused: Alisha (L) admitted the pair were 'in each other's lives' and that she 'talks to Jules (R) every day' since the show finished filming in Fiji The sparks flew between the former lovebirds when Jules arrives on the couch, but was soon made awkward by the continual discussion. Jules struggled to offer any kind of meaningful reply to Alisha's criticisms, saying he wasn't sure making those links could imply romance. Alisha said: 'When you kiss me in Byron Bay. When you sleep over at my house. And we're back there and we're together. Then you tell me it's a comfort thing.' 'When you kiss me in Byron Bay. When you sleep over at my house. And we're back there and we're together. Then you tell me it's a comfort thing,' Alisha said of Jules, obviously upset Amid sighs from the audience, Jules later offered a a more substantial reply. 'How you and I ended in Paradise, I didn't want to ghost you, never speak to you again or have things end bitter,' he said. He added he wanted to keep in touch with the blonde beauty, with Alisha firing back a quick-witted reply to Jules. 'Keep in touch you did, mate,' she said, alluding to their physical relationship they shared together, which Jules simply shrugged off. 'I need some sort of line or some sort of closure. I was in love with you and I need something. Some sort of line. That's going to let me get past this,' Alisha added, ending it with him Alisha then told him she was looking for some kind of 'closure', choking back tears as she admitted she was 'in love' with him. 'I need some sort of line or some sort of closure. I was in love with you and I need something. Some sort of line. That's going to let me get past this,' she said. Jules went on to say he didn't know she was in love with him, and it was the first time it was being 'verbalised' to him. Intense: 'How you and I ended in Paradise, I didn't want to ghost you, never speak to you again or have things end bitter,' Jules (pictured) said of the pair's relationship Putting an end to their relationship, Alisha ended the interview by saying Jules would now be considered one of her 'girlfriends'. 'Sometimes you have to be like, OK, this is a cycle. It's going to continue and actually I'm the only person who can change this,' she said. 'So, I'm going to change it and this is my night for closure. It doesn't mean you're not going to be in my life. You're going to be in my life as like a fun girlfriend.' Hollywood actor Ricky Schroder is in jail after he was allegedly arrested for domestic abuse on Wednesday. And the arrest comes less than a month after Ricky was arrested for allegedly hitting his girlfriend during an altercation over a video found on her phone, TMZ reports. The actor, 49, won't be prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for the first arrest - due to lack of evidence - after his girlfriend 'refused' to cooperate with police, the website reports. Drama: Hollywood actor Ricky Schroder is in jail after he was allegedly arrested for domestic abuse on Wednesday; And the arrest comes less than a month after Ricky was arrested for allegedly hitting his girlfriend during an altercation over a video found on her phone, TMZ reports; pictured on November 6, 2017 in NYC According to the website, Ricky won't be prosecuted for the first arrest - April 2. On Wednesday afternoon TMZ said the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office 'has declined to prosecute Rick for his April 2 arrest due to lack of sufficient evidence.' The website reported that he allegedly 'hit' his girlfriend and 'grabbed her hair' on April 2 because of a video on her phone that he found. During the alleged altercation, he asked her to leave his home and she went to get her things - she told cops, TMZ reported. In character: The actor, 49, won't be prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office due to lack of evidence - after his girlfriend 'refused' to cooperate with police, the website reports He allegedly blocked her from going into the bedroom before 'hitting her in the face' when she tried to get away from him; She 'fell onto the kitchen table' before calling 911 about the altercation on April 2. When cops arrived, she was 'extremely uncooperative,' TMZ reported and refused to answer their questions - and had 'redness and swelling on her cheek.' She had also refused permission for the officers to take a picture of the 'injuries' and 'didn't want' him arrested. Two days after the incident, cops followed up with her and she called it 'a big misunderstanding' and didn't want to press charges against Ricky. Drama: According to the website, Ricky won't be prosecuted for the first arrest - April 2 Because of her lack of cooperation and sufficient evidence, the LA County's DA office did not prosecute him for the April 2 incident. He was arrested for a second domestic incident on Wednesday. Police were reportedly called to the 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. 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 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. 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. 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.' Phoebe Waller-Bridge has she sold out all 30 dates of her one-woman stage show in less than an hour. The actress is to play the West End as Fleabag for a strictly limited four week run this summer, marking her last ever time in the role. The 65-minute performance, which played at the Soho Theatre and the Edinburgh festival in 2013, was the original basis for the hit BBC series, which ended last month after just two series. She's back - one last time: Fleabag is to play the West End for a strictly limited four week run this summer, marking Phoebe Waller-Bridge's last ever time in the role Her TV adaptation has since spawned two seasons on the BBC, revivals on stage and a sold-out off-Broadway run. Written by Waller-Bridge, and directed by Vicky Jones, the one-woman show is to be a 'homecoming run' - set to take place at Wyndhams Theatre in London for 30 performances over four weeks from 28 August. Fans of the series were disappointed to learn that Waller-Bridge - who is currently co-penning the latest James Bond film - would not make a season three. And so, this final opportunity to watch the character in action will surely soften the blow. Fleabag is an account of 'some sort of woman living her sort of life' - and won Waller-Bridge a Fringe First award after its original debut. The show sees the eponymous heroines coping with her best friend's untimely death, as well as sex and business in the modern age. 'Fleabag may appear emotionally unfiltered and oversexed, but thats just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig cafe struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose,' reads the play synopsis. Back to its roots: The play version of the acclaimed TV adaptation was first produced to a modest audience at the Edinburgh festival in 2013, and has since spawned two seasons on the BBC, revivals on stage and a sold-out off-Broadway run Last time: Written by Waller-Bridge, the one-woman show is to be a 'homecoming run' - set to take place at Wyndhams Theatre in London for 30 shows over four weeks from 28 August The BBC series led to Waller-Bridge earning phenomenal fame, after which she went on to pen Killing Eve - another runaway TV hit. She played Fleabag in 2016 at Soho Theatre and has just finished performing the part in New York. Soho Theatre and Annapurna Theatre said: 'Its a privilege to have contributed to the journey of Fleabag with Phoebe thus far and we couldnt be more pleased the show is returning home to London alongside DryWrite for a West End run.' Busy: Waller-Bridge is currently co-penning the latest James Bond film Last hurrah! Fans of the series were disappointed to learn that there would not be a season three. And so, this final opportunity to watch the character in action will surely soften the blow The show toured the UK (2015 and 2018), South Korea (2014) and Australia (2018) and an Edinburgh Festival revival took place as part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase in 2017). The production also won The Stage Best Solo Performer Award, the Off-West End Award for Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance, and was nominated for an Olivier Award and an Evening Standard Award. The extended, sold-out New York run earned Waller-Bridge a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Show, and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance. Success: The extended, sold-out New York run earned Waller-Bridge a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Show, and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance She earned a BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance after the TV series was aired and the series was also nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, Television Critics Association Award and Critics Choice TV Award, among other accolades. The BBC and Amazon renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on BBC Three earlier this year and will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on May 17. Meanwhile, Killing Eve has been renewed for a third season. The first was nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe and 15 BAFTA TV Awards. Laura Dern is 52-years-old but still looks as good as ever. The Hollywood vet - whose parents are acting legends Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern - showed off her youthful appearance as she modeled a lace corset for the cover of InStyle Magazine to promote the second season of Big Little Lies. Also on the covers were Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz. Haute stuff: Laura Dern is 52-years-old but still looks as good as ever. The Hollywood vet - whose parents are acting legends Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern - showed off her youthful appearance as she modeled a lace corset for the cover of InStyle Magazine She talked feminism: 'Ambition was a dirty word for women when I was a little girl. Women who are ambitious are cold, calculating, and unsexy that was the idea presented to my generation,' said the Jurassic Park actress Inside the magazine the beauty - who came to fame with Nicolas Cage in 1990's Wild At Heart - also talked feminism. 'Ambition was a dirty word for women when I was a little girl. Women who are ambitious are cold, calculating, and unsexy that was the idea presented to my generation,' said the Jurassic Park actress. 'To be sexy was to be demure, subservient even. ... It's been enough, I think, for Reese, Nicole, and me to be ambitious in our field. A new look: Here Laura is seen in the backseat left next to Shailene Woodley as Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon look on for Big Little Lies 2 Close knit: The ladies having fun as they filmed Big Little Lies 2 earlier this year 'I was told growing up that to be an actress of quality you shouldn't make money because serious actresses didn't make money. Actors made money.' The star -who has children Ellery and Jaya with ex-husband Ben Harper (they were wed from 2005 until 2013) - also talked working with her BLL co-stars. 'Our dinners are like 10-day vacations on a deserted island,' she said. Back in the day: She came to fame with Nicolas Cage in 1990's Wild At Heart 'Every dinner is three and a half hours minimum with food and wine. We break it all down. 'It's how I think all of us feel when we get together with a group of women, particularly in the same field, like you've been crossing the desert for five days and you see water.' Witherspoon, 43, wore a vintage 1950s vibe for InStyle. She plays Madeline on BLL and found her inner Betty Draper when she rocked her blonde locks in a voluminous flipped out bob with the front back combed and pinned. Big Little Covers: The stars of HBO's hit Big Little Lies are all gracing individual covers with a retro theme for the June issue of InStyle magazine Her first cover features the Oscar winner in a terracotta colored blouse with a pussy bow tucked into plaid high waisted shorts. The second shot shows a scene a bit truer to her gossipy on-screen character and portrays Reese chatting on a retro aqua telephone while wearing a spectacular black dress with sheer lacy sleeves and a scattered floral pattern. Back in time: Reese Witherspoon, 43, went retro glam for the photos Co-star and co-producer Nicole Kidman looks as youthful as ever on her first cover with her strawberry blond tresses pulled into a fun half up hairdo that is tied at the tip with a pastel blue ribbon. Nicole has collected award after award for her role as Celeste in the drama. The Australian star donned a teal textured blouse with a high neck that is ruffled along the collar, hem and edges of the sleeves. The top was paired with a while skirt with coral and purple flowers. Coming soon! The hit HBO show is coming back for season two in June Newcomer: BLL season two will introduce iconic star Meryl Streep who will play Nicole Kidman's mother-in-law Moving outside for another costume change, the beauty fixes a piercing gaze on the camera in a longsleeve red Balenciaga dress with the logo of the label printed in white text and swirling around the garment. The hit HBO show is coming back for season two in June. 'Relationships will fray, loyalties will erode [in season two],' According to The Hollywood Reporter. 'The potential for emotional and bodily injury shall loom.' All of the show's leading ladies from season one will return for the new episodes and the show, which already boasts an incredible roster of A-listers, will get an infusion of new celebrity clout with the addition of Meryl Streep. Melissa McCarthy looked hipster trendy as she went on a morning walk in Los Angeles on Thursday. The 48-year-old actress was joined by a blonde friend as she was spotted in a park. The actress - who has two films coming out this year: The Kitchen and Superintelligence - rocked a leopard print bandanna and hunter green jacket in the early hours. California style: Melissa McCarthy, 48, looked hipster trendy as she went on a morning walk in Los Angeles on Thursday Decked out in an array of patterns and styles, the Bridesmaids' actress covered her auburn hair with a light and dark grey animal print. Adding a layer, she wore a hunter green, military style jacket with numerous patches sewn onto the top. With the coat, she donned black jogger pants paired with black rubber shoes. And filled to the brim was a grey and black Goyard tote bag with brown handles. Girl talk: The Can You Ever Forgive Me talent stood in a chilled out position as her blonde friend chatted her ear off The Can You Ever Forgive Me talent stood in a chilled out position as her blonde friend chatted her ear off. She smiled through her ginormous brown tinted sunglasses while hanging out in a concrete area with playground equipment behind her. Melissa and the woman also made their way through a grassy area, with the actress giving her counterpart her undivided attention. Intense convo: Melissa and the woman also made their way through a grassy area, with the actress giving her counterpart her undivided attention The Oscar nominee is the mom of Vivian, 11, and Georgette, nine, who she shares with her husband, Ben Falcone. Ben and his funny lady wife met while learning improv at The Groundlings school in LA. They wed on October 8, 2005 and have since acted alongside each other for a handful of projects - including her break through role on Bridesmaids with Kristen Wiig. Ever after: Ben Falcone and his funny lady wife met while learning improv at The Groundlings school in LA. Pictured at the 2019 Oscars Their next protect together will be for upcoming movie, Superintelligence. In it, McCarthy plays a former executive whose life is turned upside down when she is selected for observation by the worlds first super-intelligence a form of artificial intelligence that may or may not take over the world, according to Variety. The couple have already collaborated on three comedies together: Tammy (2014), The Boss (2016) and the upcoming film Life Of The Party, which is based on Rodney Dangerfield's 1986 hit Back To School. Superintelligence is slated to premiere December 20, 2019. In 2017, he shocked fans with his bold bald look. And during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Alexander Skarsgard discussed the look, which was for his movie The Hummingbird Project, as he confessed he felt he would be more convincing to shave rather than use a cap. The 42-year-old Swedish heartthrob said: 'I was shooting a movie up in Montreal and I decided to shave my head for it. I wanted to be bald and I thought for some reason it would look more natural, instead of doing a bald cap to really shave it'. Shocker: Alexander Skarsgard discussed his shocking look in which he shaved his head in 2017 for his role as Anton Zaleski in The Hummingbird Project Alexander, who plays Anton Zaleski in the movie which was released in the US last month, stunned his devoted fans when he showed off his sheared style. His extremely receded hairline drove fans wild on social media, who were quick to pick up on his resemblance to various bald or balding celebrities. During his talk on the chat show, he explained: 'I was shooting a movie up in Montreal called The Hummingbird Project and I decided to shave my head for it... Changing looks: The 42-year-old Swedish heartthrob said: 'I was shooting a movie up in Montreal and I decided to shave my head for it. I wanted to be bald (left in 2017, right in 2016) On the way back: During the regrowth stage (pictured in January 2018), he was looking smouldering with a short look - yet not bald 'I wanted to be bald and I thought for some reason it would look more natural, instead of doing a bald capto really shave it. It was winter up in Montreal, so for three months I didnt have a social life... 'I had one weekend off, I went down to New York for this event, he explained about walking the red carpet. When I stepped out of the car and there was this press line with photographers. And I stepped out... 'Ill never forget the sound when they all saw me. Cause they all went "awww"'. Edgy: 'I wanted to be bald and I thought for some reason it would look more natural, instead of doing a bald capto really shave it. It was winter up in Montreal, so for three months I didnt have a social life' Better: While some fans were divided by the star's look, it wasn't all bad news for Alexander as one fan was waxing lyrical by calling his head shave 'so beautiful' (pictured in 2016's Tarzan) While some fans were divided by the star's look, it wasn't all bad news for Alexander as one fan was waxing lyrical by calling his head shave 'so beautiful' The film follows Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton who are cousins from New York who are players in the High Frequency Trading game. They plan to become millionaires by building a fiber optic cable that runs from Kansas to New Jersey. Salma stars as their former boss Eva Torres, a powerful yet manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to get in their way. Their journey to riches shows them that money is not the ultimate prize. Ryan Reynolds waved as he walked into the Good Morning America studios in New York this morning. The 42-year-old actor is on a round of promotional visits to discuss his new movie, Detective Pikachu. The husband of Blake Lively wore a playful blue dress shirt that matched his playful personality for the occasion. Smile and wave, boys: Ryan Reynolds waves as he walks into the Good Morning America studios in New York Thursday morning The Deadpool actor paired the patterned shirt with a blue varsity jacket, grey dress pants and brown dress shoes. He wore a smile on his face and a watch on his wrist. The Canadian-American is using all his resources to get out the word about the new fantasy mystery film. He took to Instagram to share a few clips and a video of how he prepares for the roll, drawing black dots all over his face while joking that you, too can be Detective Pikachu. Funny guy: The actor looks anything but funny wearing a blue patterned shirt with a blue varsity jacket, grey dress pants and brown dress shoes Insta laughs: 'The last thing you want to do [to get ready for the role] is send your face to an Oscar winning visual effects company who can render the final product using multi-million dollar technology,' Ryan jokes 'The last thing you want to do [to get ready for the role] is send your face to an Oscar winning visual effects company who can render the final product using multi-million dollar technology,' Ryan jokes. While on the morning show, The Proposal actor talked about his two daughters James, four, and Inez, two, that he shares with wife Lively, 31. He said his daughter James is 'losing her mind' over the movie. But Inez, he said, has 'never been interested in a movie Ive done ever, 'because 'she tends to relate more to villains.' 90s kids will remember: His daughter James (and every 90s kid) is 'losing her mind' over the movie. Hubby goals: The Canadian American is married to Blake Lively and they have two children together Pika Pika: Ryan plays the electric yellow rodent-like Pokemon, Pikachu, in the film 'We took our kids to the Nutcracker and theres a moment in the beginning where the kid takes the toy and smashes it to the ground and everyone gasps in the audience. My daughter was just like [claps],' Ryan said, adding, 'She just loves villains. I'm surprised she's not selling hand-rolled cigarettes in her preschool.' Ryan also spoke about the new game show he's producing called Don't. He said, 'Don't is a stunt show where families play against each other with a simple premise, 'Don't... don't blink, don't laugh.' . The final episode of Line of Duty will air on Sunday evening on BBC One, with viewers hoping the mysterious 'H' will finally be unmasked. And Vicky McClure managed to evade giving away any spoilers as she appeared on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show on Thursday. The actress, 35, promised an 'exciting' finale, and gave a special mention Anna Maxwell Martin, who joined the cast as Deputy Chief Superintendent Patricia Carmichael in the penultimate episode. Keeping quiet: Vicky McClure managed to evade giving away any spoilers ahead of Line of Duty's series five finale as she appeared on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show on Thursday When quizzed if she will give away any spoilers, Vicky, who plays Kate Fleming in the hit drama, replied: 'Absolutely nothing. We move on to a different subject. 'It's a few days away now anyway. It's great. We've got a 90 minute finale. Obviously Anna Maxwell Martin has joined the gang and it's going to be exciting.' The star, who was on the show to promote her two part show called Vicky McClure's Dementia Choir, added: 'I don't see it until everyone else does. Interesting: The actress, 35, promised an 'exciting' finale, and gave a special mention Anna Maxwell Martin, who joined the cast as Deputy Chief Superintendent Patricia Carmichael Buzz: She said of the finale: 'It's a few days away now anyway. It's great we've got a 90 minute finale. Obviously Anna Maxwell Martin has joined the gang and it's going to be exciting' 'I like watching it with the audience more because the audience have got behind the characters and so to watch it with them and see everybody has there own theory on Twitter is great. It's great television, it's great fun. When Steve asked why she thought why the first four episodes of series five of Line Of Duty attracted larger audiences than any other programme on UK television this year, Vicky said: 'I think it's a mixture of things, I'm obviously going to start with Jed who writes it, he is an extremely clever man. 'He writes extremely interesting dialogue and the twists are so obscure at times. The audience have a bit of work to do and they appreciate that they are not being spoon fed. He's really brave. 'I always love what they do with the cast, Stephen Graham joined this year. He is fantastic and a great friend of mine. Trendy: Vicky cut a stylish figure in a cool black biker jacket and turned up jeans Who is H? The final episode of Line of Duty will air on Sunday evening on BBC One, with viewers hoping the mysterious 'H' will finally be unmasked 'Sue Tulley directed this series. She was incredible. I was star stuck. Its important to have a female director.' So far this series, the episodes averaged 10.6 million viewers in seven-day four-screen consolidated figures, with the penultimate episode last Sunday receiving the highest overnight figure for Line Of Duty ever, with an average of 7.9 million viewers and peak of 8.3 million. 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'. Great cause: The star was on the show to promote her two part show called Vicky McClure's Dementia Choir Twists and turns: She said of writer Jed Mercurio 'He writes extremely interesting dialogue and the twists are so obscure at times' But new photos of the series finale released on Wednesday seem to prove Hastings isn't the top bent copper. 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. Line of Duty continues on BBC One this Sunday at 9pm. Kim Kardashian has shared recently that she is studying to become a lawyer and has been apprenticing at a law firm in San Francisco in hopes of taking the bar in 2022. And the 38-year-old reality TV star proved how focused she is on becoming a lawyer in a preview for Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The wife of Kanye West was looking through letters from prisoners asking for her help with clemency when her mother Kris Jenner entered the room to give her some compliments about her new career goal. Law mind: Kim Kardashian has shared recently that she is studying to become a lawyer and has been apprenticing at a law firm in San Francisco in hopes of taking the bar in 2022. And the 38-year-old reality TV star proved how focused she is on becoming a lawyer in a preview for Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians She has always wanted to get into the biz: She also revealed that her father, the late Robert Kardashian, told her not to get into criminal justice They were very close: The mother-of-three and her father in a throwback photo Kim is sitting on a sofa when she says, 'I'm reading this letter from prison and this one's a good one.' Kris asks, 'How many cases do you do at a time?' 'The average time to get someone clemency is seven to 10 years,' said Kim, who did not finish college but is able to take the bar with proper studying. She has to pass a mini bar this year. Looking at letters from prison: Kim is sitting on a sofa when she says, 'I'm reading this letter from prison and this one's a good one' Her doting mother has many questions: Kris asks, 'How many cases do you do at a time?' 'I'm super proud of you Kim, you take this all seriously and I think that they're lucky that you listen,' added the momager. 'If I see something that I feel like has a real shot and just like moves me, then I'll send it to my attorney's who look over everything just to make sure it's legitimate,' she tells Jenner. She also said that she was inspired by her lawyer father Robert Kardashian who died in 2003 from cancer. She knows her stuff: 'The average time to get someone clemency is seven to 10 years,' said Kim, who did not finish college but is able to take the bar with proper studying. She has to pass a mini bar this year. Daddy: She also said that she was inspired by her lawyer father. 'I told my dad years ago that I was really into criminal justice and he was like "This will stress you out so much, you do not really want to take this on,"' she said Alice has made her want to do it: 'I think now having gotten so deep in helping Alice [Marie Johnson], I'm really motivated to get to know the law more and fight for people who deserve a second chance like her,' she explained 'I told my dad years ago that I was really into criminal justice and he was like "This will stress you out so much, you do not really want to take this on,"' she said. 'I think now having gotten so deep in helping Alice [Marie Johnson], I'm really motivated to get to know the law more and fight for people who deserve a second chance like her. 'It really is overwhelming how much people do write,' she added. 'I do want to read and see if there are the right cases and what I can do to help.' Here to help: 'It really is overwhelming how much people do write,' she added. 'I do want to read and see if there are the right cases and what I can do to help' Kim petitioned President Donald Trump to commute the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a nonviolent drug offender. And she was successful, causing several inmates to reach out to the beauty mogul. That success made her want to help more people. And she's thrilled she helped get a new law passed to help inmates. 'I never in a million years thought we would get to the point of getting laws passed,' she said. 'That was really a turning point for me.' It felt good to help: Kim petitioned President Donald Trump to commute the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, a nonviolent drug offender. And she was successful, causing several inmates to reach out to the beauty mogul. That success made her want to help more people In the Oval Office: Here the TV star is seen with Trump in 2018 at the White House Legal eagle: And she's thrilled she helped get a new law passed to help inmates. 'I never in a million years thought we would get to the point of getting laws passed,' she said. 'That was really a turning point for me' This comes after a Wednesday KUWTK trailer where Kim told her husband Kanye that she feels overwhelmed from taking on so much. 'I just had a 14 hour day. It's a lot a lot of work. I kinda don't know if I wanna take away time from the kids and from you,' Kim says. The KKW Beauty mogul then said she felt it was not possible to have it all. 'I don't know what to do. How am I gonna have another kid? How am I gonna study? How am I gonna read? How am I gonna do this all?' Kim asked. Her husband Kanye, 41, had a few words of encouragement for her that seemed to make his wife feel at ease. Stressed out: Kim is feeling the stress as she ramps up to not only start her career track on becoming a lawyer, but also prepares to welcome her fourth child. In another teaser for Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the 38-year-old vocalized her worries Stressed sister: 'I don't know what to do. How am I gonna have another kid? How am I gonna study? How am I gonna read? How am I gonna do this all?' Kim asked Kind Kanye: 'Sit back and analyze, what are your distractions?' the rapper advised 'Sit back and analyze, what are your distractions? Once you manage your time you'll be able to manage your time to be able to give attention to me, attention to the kids and attention to law that you're passionate about,' Kanye advised. The artist recalled the memory of his wife's dad to inspire Kim. Kim's dad is the late lawyer Robert Kardashian. Guardian angels: 'Like it's beautiful, it's like your dad,' West said Robert is most well known for defending his friend OJ Simpson in the infamous 1995 murder trial. 'You know what's fire about that and just why we're so blessed? ...To be able to get the mentors, that means the universe really wants this to happen. Like it's beautiful, it's like your dad,' West said. In a direct to camera interview, Kim said Kanye has always had her back. 'From day one Kanye has always been someone in my life who has always pushed me to do what I want to do no matter what the rules are,' she said. 'The fact that he is supporting me in this journey knowing that for the next four years it would take time away from him and our kids means a lot to me and gives me the confidence that I really need and that extra push of someone around me to be like 'I know you can do it,' like 'you got this,'' Kim said. I've got your back: 'From day one Kanye has always been someone in my life who has always pushed me to do what I want to do no matter what the rules are,' Kim said Supported marriage: 'I know you can't wait till then but in four years I can go to court for you,' Kim said The songwriter and producer lightened the mood at the end of the conversation, joking to Kim that she'll have to help him get out of his bad deals. 'My wife a lawyer now bet you I can get out of this contract you know what I'm saying?' Kanye teased. 'I know you can't wait till then but in four years I can go to court for you,' Kim replied. Happy in love: The rapper smiles as he helps his wife work through her struggles, knowing that she'll return the favor Coronation Street star Lucy Fallon has become the seventh cast member to quit the soap after four years of playing Bethany Platt. In a statement the star, 23, told MailOnline she made the 'extremely difficult decision' to leave the show when her current contract comes to an end in 2020, and she later insisted in a tweet her exit 'has nothing to do with anyone who worked on the show.' Lucy's departure comes as the seventh soap star to quit Corrie in three months, and follows hot on the heels of Katie McGlynn, who reportedly quit the soap on Wednesday. She's off! Coronation Street star Lucy Fallon has become the seventh cast member to quit the soap after four years of playing Bethany Platt In a statement Lucy said: 'After the most incredible four years, I have made the extremely difficult decision to leave Coronation Street at the end of my contract in 2020. 'It's hard to put into words how much this show means to me. I've made lifelong friends with some of the most talented and hardworking people in the industry, I've had some terrific and immensely important storylines and I've laughed with the best people everyday. 'I'm so thankful to Iain and everyone at Coronation Street, I owe everything to them and I will miss them greatly.' Farewell! In a statement the star, 23, told MailOnline she made the 'extremely difficult decision' to leave the show when her current contract comes to an end in 2020 Truth: Lucy went onto clarify her decision in a tweet, where she insisted it had 'nothing to do with anyone' on the show Time for a break! Soon after news of her departure broke, Lucy took to Instagram to post a gorgeous bikini snap, as she told fans about her impending holiday Lucy then went onto clarify her decision in a tweet, writing: 'My decision to leave was made in August last year and has nothing to do with ANYONE at Coronation Street. I didn't make it lightly and I am going to miss every single person there. 'Excited for my final year at the best place! Woo.' Producer Iain MacLeod added: 'Lucy advised us at the start of this year that she would like to leave at the end of her current contract in 2020 to pursue other projects. 'She is an amazing performer and has been at the centre of some huge stories for us during her time on the show. 'I have no doubt that her stellar career will continue beyond the cobbles and would like to wish her all the best in whatever she does next - starting with the brilliant final chapter of Bethany's story!' She'll be back! Sources have also told The Sun that bosses are keen to leave the role open should Lucy opt to return Meanwhile a source told The Sun: 'It's a nightmare blow for bosses after losing Faye Brookes and Katie McGlynn so close together and has thrown the show into chaos. 'Lucy's been in Corrie just under five years and feels now is the right time to try new things. 'Everything is amicable and there isn't any anger there. Bosses are keen to leave the role of Bethany open in case Lucy does want to return in the future.' MailOnline has contacted representatives for Coronation Street for further comment. Gorgeous: Lucy's casting made headlines in 2015 after she replaced Katie Redford, who lost the role after it was revealed she had lied about her age to soap bosses Lucy joined the cast of Corrie in 2015 as Sarah Platt's tearaway daughter Bethany, who ran away from her home in Milan in a bid to reunite with her family in Weatherfield. The star's casting made headlines after she replaced Katie Redford, who lost the role after it was revealed she had lied about her age to soap bosses. Since first arriving on the cobbles, Lucy has received much praise from viewers for her performance, especially in a 2017 storyline which saw Bethany groomed and abused by Nathan Curtis. Amazing: Lucy has earned plenty of praise for her performance as Bethany Platt thanks to her involvement in several hard-hitting storylines Dark: The star was heavily involved in a 2017 storyline, which saw Bethany groomed and abused by tanning shop owner Nathan Curtis Coronation Street: Who's Quit? Gone: Lucy will leave Corrie in 2020, after five years of playing Bethany Platt Lucy Fallon - plays Bethany Platt Lucy is set to leave the soap in 2020, five years after joining the cast as teen Bethany. In a statement the star said she's made the 'extremely difficult decision' to leave the show, after earning much praise for a 2017 storyline which saw her character be groomed and abused. Katie McGlynn - plays Sinead Tinker It has been reported that Katie will be leaving Corrie later this year after six years on the show. The star is currently playing out a storyline which has seen her character battle cervical cancer. A source told MailOnline: 'This story still has a long way to go. Any speculation threatens to undermine the storyline for viewers' Faye Brookes - plays Kate Connor Faye took to Twitter to announce that she was 'off to pastures new,' four years after joining the cast as Carla Connor's half-sister Kate. Leaving: Tristan Gemmill is also set to leave his role as chef Robert Preston The character - who has had much support from the soap's LGBTQ fanbase - has had a fair share of heartache, following her brother Aidan's suicide, and fiance Rana's death in the factory roof collapse. Tristan Gemmill - plays Robert Preston Tristan has also tweeted he will be leaving Corrie later this year, four years after joining as Tracy Barlow's ex-husband. The hunky chef is currently a prime suspect in the Underworld Factory collapse. Kym Marsh - plays Michelle Connor In February Kym told The Sun she would be leaving Corrie later this year to explore other roles. Michelle has been at the centre of many hard-hitting storylines, including the stillbirth of her son Ruari in 2017. Off she goes! Kym Marsh will also leave the cobbles after 13 years on the soap Bhavna Limbachia - played Rana Habeeb Rana exited Corrie in March after she was brutally killed off in the Underworld Factory roof collapse. Bhavna had previously announced she would be leaving the soap, but it had been implied she had several more months before her exit would air. Connie Hyde - played Gina Seddon Gina's exit also aired following the factory collapse, after she struggled to reconcile with her sister Sally and was repeatedly blamed for the tragedy. After her exit scenes aired, Connie announced she had quit the soap after two years in the cast. Advertisement The teen was pimped out by the tanning shop owner who painted the facade that he was her boyfriend, before he was eventually arrested and jailed for the crime. While Bethany has slowly recovered from her ordeal in recent months, the immediate aftermath saw her work as a lap dancer, but she lost the job after assaulting a customer who she mistook for her abuser Nathan. Lucy received the National Television Award for Best Serial Drama Performance in 2018 for the grooming storyline, and also won Best Actress at the British Soap Awards that same year. On Thursday it was also revealed that recurring actor Liam Bairstow would be taking a break from the soap, as he took to social media to announce he had wrapped filming for now as Alex Warner. Bosses have since clarified that Liam will be back on set later this month, and Alex is by no means leaving the show. Departing: Her exit comes just a day after co-star Katie McGlynn was reported to be leaving the soap Embattled: The star is alleged to be leaving four years after joining the cast as Sinead Tinker Lucy's departure comes just a day after co-star Katie McGlynn was reported to be leaving the soap, after almost six years of playing Sinead Tinker. A source told MailOnline: 'Katie is fully committed to playing out the extremely important storyline she is currently portraying on screen. 'This story still has a long way to go. Any speculation threatens to undermine the storyline for viewers.' Sinead's fate on Coronation Street currently hangs in the balance, as she has been battling cervical cancer after delaying treatment for the sake of her unborn son. After giving birth to baby Bertie earlier this year, Sinead finally started treatment, but bosses have already said it is undecided whether the character will survive. Bye! On Tuesday Faye Brookes also announced that she would be leaving the ITV soap after four years of playing Kate Connor She's off!: The actress, 31, took to her official Twitter account on Tuesday to announce the news and reveal that she is off to 'explore new opportunities' The exits are the latest in a long line of departures for the Corrie cast in the past three months, though it is unclear whether they are connected. On Tuesday Faye Brookes also announced that she would be leaving the ITV soap after four years of playing Kate Connor. She tweeted: 'Thanks to everyone for your amazing support, but after 4 fabulous years in Weatherfield it's time for me to explore new opportunities. 'I've loved playing Kate Connor, but she needs a break for a little while and so with a song in my heart I'm off to pastures new. #kana #corrie.' Gorgeous: Faye joined the hit ITV soap in 2015 as the sister of late Aidan Connor, played by Shayne Ward, and half-sister of Carla Connor, played by Alison King Faye joined the hit ITV soap in 2015 as the sister of late Aidan Connor, played by Shayne Ward, and half-sister of Carla Connor, played by Alison King. An ITV representative also confirmed the news to MailOnline, they said: 'Faye is a very talented actress who has put her all into the portrayal of Kate Connor for the past three and a half years, we wish her every success for the future. 'She will be on screen until early Autumn and the door will be left open.' He's gone too! Last week Tristan Gemmill also announced that he would leaving Corrie later this year, four years after joining as Tracy Barlow's ex-husband Robert Preston More to come! The soap star, 51, revealed that he will be leaving the long-running show later in the year, but promised drama-filled appearances until then Last week Tristan Gemmill also announced that he would leaving Corrie later this year, four years after joining as Tracy Barlow's ex-husband Robert Preston. The soap star, 51, revealed that he will be leaving the long-running show later in the year, but promised drama-filled appearances until then. In a tweet Tristan penned: 'Folks, I just wanted to let you know that the time has come for me to hang up the chef's gear and head for pastures new. 'There is still a lot of drama & shenanigans to come for Robert but I will be leaving Corrie later in the year.' She's going too! In February Kym Marsh also announced that she would also be leaving Corrie, after 13 years of playing Michelle Connor Sad departure: The actress told The Sun she decided to leave the soap to explore other acting roles In February Kym Marsh also announced that she would also be leaving Corrie, after 13 years of playing Michelle Connor. She told The Sun: 'When I was lucky enough to be offered four episodes I could never in my wildest dreams have thought Id be here 13 years later. 'Its been an incredibly difficult decision but it feels like the right time for me to explore some other roles.' Off she goes: Bhavna Limbachia - who plays Rana Habeeb - was tragically killed off in March's Underworld roof collapse Last month fans also saw two Corrie stars leave the soap on-screen after previously announcing they had quit their roles. Bhavna Limbachia - who plays Rana Habeeb - was tragically killed off in March's Underworld roof collapse. Her exit came as a shock to fans, as the actress previously hinted it would be a while before her final scenes would air. And Connie Hyde - who plays Sally Webster's sister Gina Seddon - also departed the cobbles in March in the aftermath of the roof collapse. Jenelle Evans' husband David Eason was reportedly 'covered in blood' following the vicious killing of their tiny family dog Nugget, according to The Blast. The Teen Mom 2 star 'grabbed the dog by the throat and slammed it on the ground' before throwing the helpless animal into the kitchen table after filming the French Bulldog nipping at their two-year-old daughter Ensley. The 30-year-old father-of-two and step-father to Jenelle's two sons from previous relationships, Jace and Kaiser reportedly threw the body of the lifeless animal out of the door before grabbing a pistol and shotgun and returning outside to shoot the puppy to death. Horrible: Jenelle Evans' husband David Eason was reportedly 'covered in blood' following the vicious killing of their tiny family dog Nugget, according to The Blast; seen on Instagram 'Everyone in the house was too terrified to stop him during the attack,' The Blast reported, and while Jenelle was reportedly home at the time, 'the scene was so intense and traumatic that nobody said anything' to Jenelle. The Attorney General's Office in North Carolina reportedly received 138 complaints from the animal welfare office once news broke that the dog had been killed, according to TMZ. Sources revealed to the publication that Animal Control will be sending an officer to Jenelle's home on Thursday to 'confirm the dog is dead' and verify who has 'possession of the dog's corpse. Law enforcement officials did later confirm to TMZ that a home check did take place, and the officers were able to drive onto the property through an open gate. The Animal Control officers did see a grey pit bull on the porch, along with numerous 'No Trespassing' signs. Sources claim that the Animal Control officers feared for their safety and left the property, alerting the Sheriff's Department who would come in and complete the visit. Officers were hoping to determine whether or not Nugget was still alive, and whose name was on the ownership papers for the dog. Later this afternoon, a source close to Jenelle told TMZ that right after Nugget 'nipped at his daughter,' David took the dog out back and slammed it repeatedly into their backyard shed, and then took the dog into the woods and shot it. Sad: The 30-year-old father-of-two and step-father to Jenelle's two sons from previous relationships, Jace and Kaiser reportedly threw the body of the lifeless animal out of the door before grabbing a pistol and shotgun and returning outside to shoot the puppy to death The Columbus County Sheriff's Office confirmed later on Thursday afternoon that they are conducting a 'joint investigation into allegations of animal cruelty' with Columbus County Animal Control. David admitted to murdering Nugget earlier this week after he was accused of killing the dog at their North Carolina home, and he defended his actions on social media Wednesday. Jenelle told US Weekly that she's had 'thoughts' of divorcing Eason, 'but nothing is finalized,' adding that 'David and I are not on talking terms.' 'Everyone in the house was too terrified to stop him during the attack,' The Blast reported, and while Jenelle was reportedly home at the time, 'the scene was so intense and traumatic that nobody said anything to Eason' 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. 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. She always shares her grueling fitness regime on social media. And Gabby Allen, 27, showed off the fruits of her labour as she shared two bikini-clad snaps of herself in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Thursday. The Love Island star, who appeared in the 2017 series, showed off her gym-honed physique and peachy bottom in a red string bikini as she stood on the white sand of the Caribbean beach. Beach babe: Gabby Allen, 27, shared two bikini-clad snaps of herself in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Thursday Looking every inch the reality TV star, Gabby had her short blonde hair braided off her face as she gazed down in the first offering. In the second upload she seductively peered over her shoulder as she turnt her back to the camera - ensuring all eyes focused on her pert derriere. Framing the holiday capture was the idyllic backdrop of the crystal clear ocean and azure sky as well as lush green palm trees. Beauty: The Love Island star showed off her gym-honed physique and peachy bottom in a red string bikini as she stood on the white sand of the Caribbean beach Gabby is holidaying alongside Love Island's Olivia Buckland, 25, and Made In Chelsea's Sam Thompson, 26. The trio appeared to be in high spirits as they attended a pool party complete with bright inflatables and free-flowing cocktails - all documented on their Instagram accounts. Olivia shared an image of her and Gabby as they straddled a lilo in the pool, fully clothed, under the cover of darkness. TV star's: Gabby is holidaying alongside Love Island's Olivia Buckland, 25 Gal pals: Alex Bowen's wife also shared footage on her Instagram story where she could be seen smiling as she caressed Gabby's face Alex Bowen's wife also shared footage on her Instagram story where she could be seen smiling as she caressed Gabby's face. Sam shared that he was having a whale of a time by posting a clip of himself jumping into the pool which he captioned: 'It's a pool party.' He also shared selfie of himself donning a yellow vest and sunglasses as he informed his followers of his trip abroad. Joining in: Made In Chelsea's Sam Thompson, 26, is also holidaying with the girls Party time! Sam shared that he was having a whale of a time by posting a clip of himself jumping into the pool Gabby's getaway comes after she recently flaunted her jaw-dropping abs during a workout video posted on Instagram. Donning a racy neon green bikini, Gabby worked up a sweat as she demonstrated a series of exercises on her rooftop. Showing her 1million followers that she is the queen of workouts, she did a number of planks and sit ups which displayed her fit physique. Captioning the shot, she wrote: 'When sunbathing gets boring, give ya neighbours a show with this 15 min ab workout'. Her post comes after her beau Myles Stephenson, 27, confirmed that he has already planned how he's going to propose to her and joked that it would be with a 'haribo ring'. Gym bunny: Gabby's getaway comes after she recently flaunted her jaw-dropping abs during a workout video posted on Instagram Disusing his future plans with Gabby, the Rak-su star told MailOnline: 'I don't care whether we get married first. I was born before my mum and dad got married. I was two or three [when they tied the knot]. 'To me - and Gabby will hate me for saying this - marriage is not a big thing to me. It's big, but I don't have to put a ring on your finger to tell you how much I love you every single day.' He added: 'But, I'll do it because I know women want the big white dress, they want the flowers and all of those things. So, I'll do it, I have no qualms in doing it. It'll be a beautiful day. But, it's a lot of money. 'I'll just put a haribo on her finger. In all seriousness, though, I know how I'm gonna propose to her.' His crime series franchises have made him one of the most successful television producers ever. Now Law & Order creator Dick Wolf has finalized the terms of a split from his third wife, Noelle Lippman, according to The Blast. The 72-year-old writer and producer ultimately agreed to give away only a small fraction of his multi-million dollar fortune to his wife of 12 years, believed to be over $100,000 per month. The past was perfect: Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, 72, has finalized the terms of a split from his third wife, Noelle Lippman, according to The Blast; pictured in 2014 According to a source, the couple had a prenuptial agreement in place that would have limited how much Wolf could be required to pay. Still, the source characterized his $100k payments as being 'incredibly generous.' However, a second source said that the couple's two children primarily live with Lippman, saddling her with most of their expenses. The Chicago Fire producer reportedly earns $15 million per month, making his support payments to Lippman less than one percent of his monthly earnings. Payout: Though the terms of their settlement are confidential, it's believed Wolf will pay Lippman more than $100,000 per month; shown February 20 in New York City The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit creator filed for legal separation from Lippman in early December, TMZ reported in January. The site added that he filed on December 3 and she soon after filed her own documents. It is not known when or if they will file for divorce. A pittance: The Chicago Fire producer reportedly earns $15 million per month, making his support payments to Lippman less than one percent of his monthly earnings; pictured together in LA in 2016 Lippman requested spousal and child support, and it's unclear how the $100k payments are to be apportioned between her and the children. He is repped by attorneys Joe Kibre and Jacqueline Misho. She is with Laura Wasser, who has worked with Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears. Dick was also wed to Christine Marburg from 1983 until 2005 and they had a 12 year legal battle. Before that he was wed to Susan Scranton from 1970 until 1983. His other ex: Dick was also wed to Christine Marburg from 1983 until 2005 and they had a 12 year legal battle. Seen in 2005 Law & Order debuted in 1990 with George Dzundza and Chris Noth. The franchise has included six dramas and four international spinoffs. The first show was canceled in 2010. It has been nominated for the most consecutive Emmy Awards of any primetime drama series. The show must go on: (l-r) Mariska Hargitay as Lieutenant Olivia Benson, Ice T as Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola, Peter Scanavino as Dominick 'Sonny' Carisi, Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins on Law & Order: SVU Wolf serves as creator and executive producer of the current Law & Order drama series from Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television Law & Order: SVU and did so for the four that have been cancelled Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Law & Order: UK, and Law & Order: Los Angeles. He's also in charge of NBC's hit series of Chicago-based shows, starting with Chicago Fire and continuing with Chicago P.D., Chicago Med and the one-season series Chicago Justice. Notably, the success of Wolf's Chicago series occurred after he and Lippman had signed their prenuptial agreement. She was arrested on Christmas Eve in 2017 after attacking and threatening to kill a police officer during a drunken night out in Palm Beach. And Luann de Lesseps seems to be having a difficult time complying to her probation orders, according to PageSix. The Florida Department of Corrections reportedly accused the Real Housewives of New York star of 'not taking her probation seriously' after Luann admitted to drinking alcohol prior to a mandated test as part of her 12-month probation terms. Yikes: Luann de Lesseps seems to be having a difficult time complying to her probation orders, according to PageSix Documents show that 'per her New York Probation Officer, [she had] an alcohol test conducted on 04/21/2019. [She] admitted to drinking 2 glasses of mimosas after a performance she had in Chicago.' The cabaret performer was told to 'immediately enroll in outpatient treatment' but 'declined due to her touring schedule.' Luann also declined to be fitted for an alcohol ankle monitoring bracelet. 'I take my sobriety very seriously and like many in my situation, it is a daily struggle,' de Lesseps told Page Six. 'I remain committed to doing whatever it takes to continue living a healthy sober lifestyle.' Booked: She was arrested on Christmas Eve in 2017 after attacking and threatening to kill a police officer during a drunken night out in Palm Beach Not great: Documents show that 'per her New York Probation Officer, [she had] an alcohol test conducted on 04/21/2019. [She] admitted to drinking 2 glasses of mimosas after a performance she had in Chicago' The documents state that Luann 'failed to provide sufficient documentation of completed AA meetings which she was ordered to complete 2 AA meetings per week. At the time of this writing, only 5 have been received.' The documents state that Luann 'failed to provide sufficient documentation of completed AA meetings which she was ordered to complete 2 AA meetings per week. At the time of this writing, only 5 have been received.' She is required to attend two AA meetings per week and take random sobriety tests, but her probation officer said earlier this year that she hasn't complied with the orders stemming from her arrest in 2017, according to legal documents. The mother-of-two - who lost her Countess title when she married Tom D'Agostino Jr. for eight months in December 2016 - had been under supervision for six months, and is also supposed to complete community service but has only done half of her required time. Her own way: Luann also declined to be fitted for an alcohol ankle monitoring bracelet She was charged with disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest, battery of an officer and making threats against a public servant after a wild night in Palm Beach, Florida following the demise of her relationship with Tom. In addition, Luann was charged with a third-degree felony before entering an alcohol treatment program in January 2018. She settled the arrest in July when she agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charges of battery, disorderly intoxication and trespassing. She graced the red carpet in a green backless dress for the premiere of Charlie Says at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday. And Suki Waterhouse opted for a much more laid-back affair as she left her hotel in New York on Thursday. The actress, 27, displayed her daring fashion sense in a pair of chunky neon orange platforms and a Sex Pistols slogan T-shirt. Bold: Suki Waterhouse displayed her daring fashion sense in a pair of chunky neon orange platforms and a Sex Pistols slogan T-shirt as she left her hotel in New York on Thursday Suki, who first started out as model, showed no signs of discomfort as she tottered around in the ridiculously high heels. She paired the look with high-waisted flared jeans, a yellow bag, brown tinted sunglasses and black zip-up jumper. Styling her blonde hair back in a low ponytail, Suki showcased her natural beauty with a minimal make-up look. Strutting her stuff: Suki, who first started out as model, showed no signs of discomfort as she tottered around in the ridiculously high heels The premiere of Charlie Says at the Tribeca Film Festival comes just days ahead of its release in the US, on May 10. The release date for the U.K is yet to be announced. Waterhouse plays Mary Brunner, who was a former member of the Manson Family who was present during the 1969 murder of Gary Allen Hinman. She stars alongside Matt Smith who plays the infamous serial killer, Charles Manson. Rising star: Suki graced the red carpet in a green backless dress for the premiere of Charlie Says at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday Premiere: Sharing a picture of the cast on Instagram, she wrote on Wednesday: 'Excited for the US premiere of Charlie Says The story focuses on a graduate student who begins visiting three of the female Manson followers. The biographical drama also stars Hannah Murray, Sosie Bacon, Marianne Rendon, Merrit Wever, Chace Crawford and Annabeth Gish. Sharing a picture of the cast on Instagram, she wrote on Wednesday: 'Excited for the US premiere of Charlie Says this evening...this photo is of the amazing actresses Im so glad I got to work with (and @crilleforsberg!) in the midst of growing out our body hair.' Suki, who is dating Robert Pattinson, first made her name as a model for high-end designers Burberry and Redken, and also appeared on the covers of the British, Korean, Thai, Taiwanese and Turkish Vogue before taking to the world of acting. Meshel Laurie has spoken candidly about her 'year from hell' that saw her abandon her lucrative radio job and regular appearances on The Project. In a tell-all interview with McKnight Tonight, the 45-year-old revealed she contemplated suicide after being relentlessly trolled on Twitter and betrayed by people she once considered friends. Meshel said: '[In] early 2019, I was in a situation where I was having a breakdown basically. I was drinking heavily every night [and] tweeting, a hideous combination.' Year from hell: Meshel Laurie (pictured on The Project) has revealed she is 'broke' after hitting rock bottom and contemplating suicide over Twitter trolls In addition to her problem drinking, the outspoken TV personality was dealing with the fact her elderly father, who was living with her at the time, was dying. Meshel said she became 'anxious' and 'manic' worrying about her father's health and started self-medicating with alcohol to cope. As her parents became more of a burden, she had to 'give up working full time in breakfast radio because [she] couldn't cope with the hours and the pressures at home'. Candid: Meshel told the McKnight Tonight podcast on Thursday that she quit breakfast radio and stopped appearing on The Project because she 'just couldn't cope' with the workload 'I knew that I was giving up a lot of money, which I also needed. But I just couldn't cope,' she added. In addition to leaving KIIS FM's Matt & Meshel radio show, around this time Meshel also stopped her regular appearances on The Project. 'I'd worked hard for a long time and I'd always enjoyed [working in the media] but I just hit a wall, you know?' she said. 'You're so driven by the next job and getting the job and keeping the job, and the fear of other people coming up behind you, and the fear of taking a day off [in case] whoever replaces you will be great. I was that person, I wanted to keep grinding.' But eventually, Meshel reached a point where she could not continue and was simply 'exhausted'. In addition to the challenges at home, as Meshel's drinking got worse she became more reckless on social media - getting involved in Twitter feuds and tweeting while intoxicated. Rock bottom: Meshel had a 'breakdown' in early 2019 and contemplated suicide 'I'm laughing because it's so insane [but] I'd literally be in my bath drinking red wine tweeting obscenities at the Prime Minister!' she said. In 2018, Meshel travelled to South Sudan to experience the refugee crisis first-hand for the SBS documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From Live. The trip had a profound impact on Meshel, who has long been a supporter of humanitarian causes, and she ended up donating considerable sums of money to refugees in the country. 'I sent a lot of money to South Sudan, sent about three times as much as I got paid for the gig on SBS,' she said, before acknowledging these donations may have been due to her 'mania' at the time. 'How the ATO has never investigated... you'd think some government [agency] would ask why I sent so much money to South Sudan?' she added. 'And I'm not showing off, because I am now quite broke by the way.' Meshel then recalled how she 'made some mistakes' while drunk on Twitter, sparking the anger of black activists who accused her of shedding 'white tears'. She had encouraged counter protesters to boycott a white supremacist rally as it would only cause a media circus - but many Twitter users were angry at Meshel for telling them what they should and should not be protesting. 'When people started attacking me and saying, "Stop telling black people what to do", I reacted and I felt insulted. Then it just got out of hand,' she said. 'But then I was deleting my tweets so I don't even know what happened.' 'It just got out of hand': Mel confessed she would get into trouble by 'drunk tweeting', and even found herself the target of trolls and activists 'Broke': In 2018, Meshel travelled to South Sudan to experience the refugee crisis first-hand for the SBS documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From Live. Afterwards, she donated considerable sums of money to refugees in the country, leaving her 'quite broke' According to Meshel, there was a 'lot of people' who she had personally supported over the years who 'poured s**t' on her on Twitter around this time. 'I ended up being really terrified of social media, which I still am now.. I'm really frightened of speaking in public,' she confessed. The backlash left Meshel feeling lonely, depressed and contemplating suicide. But at one of her lowest moments, which happened in January this year, Today host Georgie Gardner reached out to Meshel via Twitter. 'There was something about [Georgie's] message that just... like, I was embarrassed but... you know normally when you're embarrassed you get angry? Particularly when you're drunk. But I don't know, it didn't make me angry,' she said. 'She was really kind and she was just saying, like everyone used to say to Charlotte [Dawson, who died by suicide in 2014], "Switch off [social media], mate. Let it go, get some sleep, tomorrow's another day sort of thing". And I did. I just switched it off.' A helping hand: At one of her lowest moments, which happened in January this year, Today host Georgie Gardner (right) reached out to Meshel via Twitter Meshel said she was surprised by Georgie's kindness and could not understand why people are so critical of the veteran journalist. 'I woke up and read her messages again and thought, "Oh, God. What a nice lady. She's got enough to deal with in her actual life". And I haven't spoken to her again,' she added. 'And I sometimes I see things in the media... and I think, "I must try and find a way to tell the world that she's a really nice person!"' If you or someone who you know is struggling, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 Bachelor in Paradise star Connor Obrochta swept Shannon Baff off her feet when he asked her to leave Fiji early so they could be together. But Shannon has since claimed that she was 'ghosted' by Connor just 24 hours later when he flew back to America. Speaking to Now To Love on Thursday, five months after filming the show, the U.S. intruder offered a rather awkward response when asked about his behaviour. Scroll down for video 'I don't want to use the term ghosted...' Bachelor in Paradise star Connor Obrochta has offered an awkward response when asked if he dumped Shannon Baff 24 hours after leaving the show 'I don't want to use the term "ghosted",' he said. 'I think it's a very one-sided term, it's a very hurtful term.' Connor, 26, explained that producers had promised him and Shannon, 25, 'a couple of days with each other outside of Paradise' that never materialised. 'We didn't have that time [together off set] and they kind of shipped us out on the first flight in the morning,' he added. Didn't go to plan: Connor explained that producers had promised him and Shannon 'a couple of days with each other outside of Paradise' that never materialised After flying home to their different countries, Connor admitted that he didn't feel any motivation to see Shannon again. He said vaguely: 'I'm not the type of person to just get on a flight for whatever type of connection we had, it was a pretty big connection, but it just wasn't what I needed it to be. So it was difficult for me.' Connor added that he had some contact with Shannon via Facetime and they even planned to meet up in Hawaii, but the holiday 'just didn't happen'. Ouch! After flying home to their different countries 24 hours after leaving Paradise, Connor admitted that he didn't feel any motivation to see Shannon again Shannon confirmed her split from Connor on Wednesday. She told The Courier-Mail: '[After filming the show] he went to LA and I heard nothing else.' Connor had asked Shannon to leave Paradise early with him on Tuesday's episode so they could begin their relationship in the 'real world'. Giving up: Connor said he had some contact with Shannon via Facetime after the show and they even planned to meet up in Hawaii, but the holiday 'just didn't happen' Reflecting on Connor's decision to 'ghost' her within a matter of days, she said: 'I was really invested. I was 100 per cent in. 'And so I was pretty hurt watching [Tuesday's] episode because I genuinely felt it with Connor. 'I was open to moving to the U.S. but afterwards, when we were planning to meet up in Hawaii, I was the one organising everything and I didn't feel like it was getting reciprocated.' A man charged with the murder of his Australian fiancee will reappear in a London court on Wednesday. The body of Melburnian Amy Parsons, 35, was found by police in the fifth floor flat she shared with her boyfriend at Whitechapel in east London on Friday at 1.30pm local time following a call over concerns for her welfare. Roderick Deakin-White, 37, was arrested on suspicion of murder the same day and later charged. He appeared in Thames Magistrates Court on Monday and the case was adjourned to the Old Bailey on Wednesday for a bail hearing, The Australian reports. It is believed Ms Parsons and Deakin-White were engaged and Ms Parsons, a former Koonung Secondary College student, had visited Melbourne as recently as January. Deakin-White was a Royal Opera House designer and the pair had been together for at least six years, Britain's The Sun newspaper reported on Monday. Neighbours described him as "really nice" and always willing to help out at the block of flats where the couple lived. One neighbour described Ms Parsons as a "lovely and positive" woman. Asad Samee, 21, told the Evening Standard: "Amy was very friendly, the sort of person who would always give you a smile. Investigators are not looking for anyone else in connection with the killing, Met Police said. The cause of death has not been confirmed but a post-mortem is expected to be conducted this week. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular officials are providing assistance to Ms Parsons' family. One Nation senate candidate Steve Dickson is expected to be sacked on Tuesday after footage emerged of him groping dancers and making disparaging comments about a woman in a Washington DC strip club. 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", the footage recorded by Al Jazeera during an undercover investigation shows. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called an early morning press conference at her property in Queensland, where the Courier-Mail says she's expected to sacked Mr Dickson. The recording was captured by an undercover journalist and was leaked to Nine's A Current Affair which broadcast the footage on Monday night. Al Jazeera has said in a statement overnight that it had not run the footage in its report and condemns the "unauthorised use of its material." Mr Dickson, who is married, also makes disparaging remarks about women. It comes more than a month after the Al Jazeera investigation released footage from a meeting between Mr Dickson, Senator 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. FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN: DAY 20 -- WHERE THE LEADERS ARE CAMPAIGNING * Prime Minister Scott Morrison: is in Perth for a second day * Labor leader Bill Shorten: is also in Perth for second day. -- WHAT THE COALITION WANTS TO TALK ABOUT Mr Morrison will announce $20 million to put 2600 CCTV cameras at 500 crime hot spots around the country, but he'll also probably continue to put pressure on how Mr Shorten will fund his promises. -- WHAT LABOR WANTS TO TALK ABOUT: Mr Shorten will announce a $1 billion program to help up to 4000 schools put solar panels on their roofs, but will also try to capitalise on his debate performance which the audience had him winning. -- THE LATEST POLLS * Not so much a poll, but 25 of the 48 audience members of the first leaders' debate in Perth on Monday night gave Mr Shorten the win with 12 going with Mr Morrison, while 11 remained undecided. -- WHAT IS MAKING NEWS: * Much attention will be on One Nation on Tuesday after its Queensland senate candidate Steve Dickson was shown on a video making lewd and disparaging comments at a US strip club. Pauline Hanson is holding an early morning press conference. * More than 110,000 people have already voted after the first day of pre-poll voting - nearly double the number who cast their ballots on day one of early voting at the 2016 election. * Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday, where water will be a major topic. * Mining billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest will host a fundraiser for Mr Morrison in Perth on Tuesday night, two days after he hosted a similar one for Mr Shorten. -- THEY SAID WHAT? "I can categorically say that if we don't take real action on climate change that will be a disaster for our economy." - Bill Shorten "Bill Shorten's going to be a very hungry caterpillar chomping into your wallet, chomping into your wallet, to pay for his spend-a-thon." - Scott Morrison. "He could be one of the great modern prime ministers, if he's given a chance." - Nationals leader Michael McCormack on Scott Morrison. The federal government has been accused of keeping Australians "in the dark" about the dangers of climate change, an environment information group says. The Climate Council, which includes leading climate scientists among its members, also says coalition policies have "failed" the Great Barrier Reef. The council on Tuesday released a new report saying the government's lack of action on climate change was a defining feature of its 10 years in power as it fights to extend its tenure at the May 18 election. Federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has dismissed the decision by some opposition MPs to put Clive Palmer's political party second on their how-to-vote cards amounts as 'donkey votes'. Despite Labor branding Mr Palmer a "tosser" and "con man", the mining magnate's United Australia Party is number two on the how-to-vote cards for two seats in Tasmania. The opposition is preferencing the UAP second in Franklin, held by Labor MP Julie Collins, and above independent MP Andrew Wilkie in his neighbouring seat of Clark. Mr Albanese said it was essentially a "donkey vote" which won't sway the result in seats where Labor was likely to finish first. "Labor's preferences won't be counted in a seat like Franklin, so you make the how-to-vote as simple as possible," he told ABC's Radio National on Tuesday. "I suspect that that is what has happened." A donkey vote is when a person numbers the boxes in order straight down the ballot paper. In Franklin, where Labor's candidate is listed second from the bottom, this is effectively what its how-to-vote card recommends, starting with incumbent MP Julie Collins as number one. But in Clark, Labor recommends to its voters jump all over the ballot paper. Mr Palmer announced on Monday UAP would preference the coalition second across the country for the May 18 election. The preferences deal, which could return Mr Palmer to federal parliament as a senator for Queensland, has been criticised by Labor. A special commission into crystal methamphetamine has arrived in NSW's drug-ravaged Riverina region. Commissioner Dan Howard SC will visit Calvary Riverina Drug and Alcohol Centre in Wagga Wagga to hear about treatment programs and the impact of ice and amphetamines in the region. He will also visit Pathways Murrumbidgee which provides drug support services before meeting with members of the local indigenous community. The commission began in Sydney last month but Professor Howard said Wagga Wagga is among the regional communities particularly affected by ice. "It is important that the Commission hears directly from people in our regions about the impacts of crystal methamphetamine, the availability of services and strategies to reduce harm to individuals and communities," he said in a statement on Tuesday. The drug is more common in regional NSW than in the city and Wagga Wagga has a higher rate of use than the state's average. The commission's visit to the region also marks the final week in which members of the public can lodge submissions to the commission. Counsel assisting, Sally Dowling SC, opened the commission with an overview of the devastating impact the drug has had across the state. Crystal methamphetamine in 2013 became the most prominent form of the drug and that upward trajectory has continued in recent years, she said at the time. It is "highly addictive" and can devastate a person's social, mental and physical wellbeing, Ms Dowling said. "Chronic use of crystal methamphetamine can cause the collapse of the user's health. "It is sometimes associated with amphetamine-induced psychosis that, in extreme cases, may manifest in paranoia and violence and sometimes - tragically - in suicidal behaviour." Hearings will be held between April and August in Sydney and regions including Lismore, Dubbo, Nowra, East Maitland and Broken Hill. Submissions can be made at iceinquiry.nsw.gov.au until May 7. Findings will be handed down by the end of the year. A Brisbane surgeon being investigated over sexual and professional misconduct allegations has called for an apology from the MP who revealed the claims against him in state parliament. Dr William Braun wants the right to respond after Liberal National Party MP Ros Bates used parliamentary privilege to table letters in which medical practitioners made a range of complaints about him. He has now accused Ms Bates of misleading parliament by not contacting him first to verify the claims and has called for her to apologise. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian remains unconvinced pill testing will save lives after a second trial at a Canberra music festival. Advocates declared the program at Sunday's Groovin the Moo an overwhelming success after dangerous substances were detected and binned by patrons once alerted. The trial - which followed an Australian-first pilot in 2018 - tested 171 samples from 234 participants. But Ms Berejiklian on Tuesday stood firm in her opposition. "They haven't shown there's any evidence yet," she told reporters in Sydney. "My position on pill testing remains firm. I don't think it works, I don't think the evidence is there and I don't support it." Ms Berejiklian has given the green light for a government-commissioned inquiry into the drug ice to broaden its scope and look at other issues including pill testing. But it appears the premier would be unlikely to reconsider her position should the inquiry recommend a trial. "Of course I'll read it if they put it up but I'm not convinced they'll find evidence because there's no such evidence anywhere," she said. A father and son who died trying to save a tourist in treacherous Victorian waters and the victims of the Sri Lankan terror attacks will be remembered in state parliament. Question time will be delayed on Tuesday so Victorian MPs can pay tribute to dairy farmers Ross "Po" Powell, 71, and his son Andrew Powell, 32, who died when their rescue boat flipped in two-metre swells on Easter Sunday trying to rescue a 30-year-old man wading in dangerous waters at the mouth of the Sherbrook River at Port Campbell. They will also pay respects to the hundreds who died in Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings, with former Melbourne mum Manik Suriyaaratchi and her 10-year-old daughter, Alexendria, among those killed. Nationals leader Michael McCormack has pledged a dedicated visa to ease the crippling farm labour shortage if the federal coalition wins the election. While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has cooled on the idea, pointing to the extension of other migration programs, Mr McCormack is digging in on an agricultural visa. "When we are re-elected we will revisit it," the deputy prime minister told AAP. Last month, Mr Morrison said the government had extended enough existing programs to do the same job as a dedicated "ag" visa. "We already have one. It already works that way. This is just a semantic discussion about titles," he said. But Mr McCormack said he didn't believe the prime minister had walked away from an agricultural visa. "We just need to work out the best and most viable way to do it and we'll get it done," he said. He believes the new visa will work alongside the coalition's population and regional migration policy. "The ag visa is important," the Nationals leader said. "Wherever I go, whether it's the Northern Territory, Western Australia, or even up and down the eastern states, they'll tell you an ag visa is needed." In October, Mr Morrison told the National Farmers' Federation he would establish an agricultural visa in the medium to long term. But since then, the government added a range of farm jobs to the Regional Occupations List to allow migrants to be sponsored for up to four years. It also made changes to the working holiday maker and seasonal worker visa programs to address labour shortages in agriculture. Despite his comments, the NFF has continued to call for both sides of politics to commit to the visa ahead of the May 18 election. Mr McCormack said it was difficult to target labour shortages on farms because weather often dictated where staff were needed. "You just can't have people sitting idly by ready to send them to the Sunraysia or the Murrumbidgee irrigation area or indeed central Queensland at a moment's notice," he said. "That does take a bit more work." He said the government's free trade agenda needed to be supported through making sure overseas markets were getting Australian produce. "We've got to be able to pick fruit - not let it rot on the ground," Mr McCormack said. Federal Labor has committed $105 million to eliminate a "frustrating" level crossing in Adelaide. If elected at the May 18 poll, a Labor government would fund half of the $210 million cost of removing the Cross Road crossing at Westbourne Park, south of the CBD. Senator Penny Wong says the crossing is a source of frustration to the more than 35,000 drivers that travel the stretch of road daily. "It's about reducing congestion, it's about making sure South Australians are safe and it demonstrates, yet again, federal Labor's commitment to infrastructure in South Australia," she said. She called on the SA Liberal government to commit to funding the other half of the project. Senator Wong was joined by Labor's Boothby candidate Nadia Clancy, Adelaide candidate Steve Georganas and state Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas for the announcement on Tuesday. Mr Malinauskas welcomed the commitment and said the crossing removal would alleviate congestion, particularly in peak hour "Removing level crossings dramatically improves road safety, removes traffic bottlenecks and improves productivity," he said. "It is time for [Premier] Steven Marshall to tell the people of South Australia whether the state government will join with the federal government to fund these important projects." Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says the carrier's attempts to connect Australia's east coast with London or New York in a single 21-hour flight is the local equivalent of the space race. Qantas already flies 17 hours non stop between Perth and London but Mr Joyce said upping that could trump inflatable life rafts and the invention of business class in terms of innovation. He said Qantas had challenged plane manufacturers to come up with a solution. "We figured that the technology was getting better so we put out a challenge," Mr Joyce said on Tuesday at an Amazon event in Sydney "I wrote notes to the CEO of Airbus, the CEO of Boeing and said 'we want you to help develop an aircraft ... can you do it by 2022?" "The reaction of businesses was huge - Airbus said it was a bit like the space race, the race to the moon; that's how they're treating it in their organisation." Mr Joyce said various comfort and commercial issues needed to be ironed out but aircraft exist that can do the job. He said the he said belongs in the same echelon as code sharing, around the world flights, smart bag tags, and budget airlines. "You look at the last hundred years or so all these innovations that came out there every decade is what has saved us," Mr Joyce said. Four months after the death of her fourth baby, serial killer Kathleen Folbigg wrote she hoped her diary wouldn't "come back to bite" her like another had, an inquiry into her convictions has heard. "That's a reflection on the fact that the previous diary had been used in the manner that it had been used," she said under cross-examination at the NSW Coroners Court on Tuesday. Margaret Cunneen SC, acting for Folbigg's ex-husband Craig Folbigg, asked: "As evidence of the truths that are contained within it?" "As evidence of using someone's thoughts in a manner that didn't seem appropriate, as far as I'm concerned," Folbigg replied. The 51-year-old was jailed for at least 25 years in 2003 after she was found guilty of killing her four babies - Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura - between 1989 and 1999. Six of her diaries taken from the period in which the children died are before the inquiry, used by prosecutors in past court proceedings, while up to five others are unaccounted for. Folbigg recalls throwing one of them out but on Monday denied it was because it contained significantly incriminating material. "I didn't kill my children and these diaries are a record of just how depressed and how much trouble I was having and all of the issues that go with that," she said. Continuing her evidence on Tuesday, she told Ms Cunneen that she had treated the diaries as if she was writing to a close friend and signed them off as "Kathy". In November 1997, Folbigg wrote: "With Sarah all I wanted was her to shut up, and one day she did". The following month, she wrote: "Laura's a fairly good-natured baby, thank goodness. It has saved her from the fate of her siblings". Laura died in March 1999. Ms Cunneen cited a July 1999 entry in Folbigg's diary which reads: "I just pray it doesn't come back to bite me like my '97 one has." Folbigg denied hiding one diary - later found by police - within a crocheted bag, wrapped in clothes and inside a blue container in her wardrobe. Her evidence continues. Former NSW District Court chief judge Reginald Blanch QC, who is presiding over the inquiry, will prepare a report on its results for the NSW governor. Australia's second music festival pill testing trial has been hailed a success by advocates but the Tasmanian government won't be jumping on board. The program at Canberra's Groovin the Moo festival at the weekend tested 171 samples from 234 festival goers. Seven dangerous substances were detected, with patrons using an amnesty bin to toss the drugs once alerted. But Tasmanian Liberal Health Minister Michael Ferguson on Tuesday reiterated the state government was opposed to pill testing in any form. "We do believe that such an initiative can send a very dangerous and risky message," he told parliament. "We don't support quality controlling illegal drugs that are being pushed by drug pushers." Mr Ferguson, who declined an invitation to attend the trial in the ACT, said the government supported people saying no to drugs and pointed to the opening of 31 rehabilitation beds across the state. "There is no safe use of an illicit drug," he said. "We're all about supporting people from a health perspective as well as from a police perspective." NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also remains opposed to pill testing after Sunday's trial, which followed an Australian-first pilot in 2018. A NSW public servant allegedly received a financial benefit for awarding multi-million dollar contracts on behalf of the government. The NSW anti-corruption watchdog on Tuesday announced it would probe the relationship between two Roads and Maritime Services employees and two companies awarded government contracts between July 2015 and February 2019. The Independent Commission Against Corruption will investigate whether Samer Soliman and Jainesh Singh partially and dishonestly exercised their official functions when Novation Engineering and AZH Consulting won government tenders. "It is alleged that Mr Soliman received a financial benefit for his role in helping to secure the work awarded to both companies," the ICAC said in a statement. Novation Engineering in 2018 was paid more than $9 million to replace hundreds of portable vehicle weigh scales. The public inquiry will begin on May 20 and is expected to run three weeks before Commissioner Patricia McDonald. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has not ruled out cutting jobs from the public service to make up for a predicted shortfall in GST revenue. The state government is set to lose $2.3 billion in the four years to 2021/2022, based on federal budget forecasts. Ms Berejiklian on Tuesday acknowledged it will significantly impact the state's day-to-day expenses but not its road, rail or school building programs. "The GST write-down means our surplus isn't as big, so it just means we need to make sure we don't overspend that current budget as it stands," she told reporters in Sydney. "We need to make sure we keep a tight discipline and focus." Asked whether she could rule out reducing the number of public servants to cover the gap, Ms Berejiklian said: "I'm not about ruling in or out those types of issues because they're matters for the back office. "What matters for the community is that we are hiring thousands of more teachers, thousands of more nurses, thousands of more police officers." Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the reduction in GST revenue from the Commonwealth will be accounted for in the 2019/20 NSW budget. "We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country, are investing $90 billion in new public infrastructure across the next four years and are well placed to weather any headwinds," he said in a statement. Lending to property buyers crept up in March but at a slightly slower pace than in the previous month, while personal loans continued to fall, statistics from the central bank suggest. The numbers showed overall private sector credit grew 0.3 per cent in March - meeting market expectations and equalling February's result - and that credit for mortgages increased 0.2 per cent compared to the previous month while credit to business was also up 0.5 per cent and personal credit fell 0.3 per cent. The financial aggregates data released by the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday indicated housing credit to owner-occupiers grew 0.35 per cent over the month while loans to investors was unchanged - results that essentially mirrored those in February when credit for mortgages was up 0.3 per cent. Overall credit rose 3.9 per cent over the past year - a five-year low and just short of the market consensus of four per cent - as housing credit grew 4.0 per cent, business credit gained 4.9 per cent and personal credit fell 2.8 per cent in the twelve months to March. Personal credit - which measures households' borrowing for purchases other than property - contracted for the sixth month in a row in March. CommSec economist Ryan Felsman said the data indicated Australians were saving more and spending less, which was "not good news for retailers or the broader economy". He said annual investor housing credit growth - which the RBA put at 0.7 per cent - was the lowest on record. Mounting compensation costs, tighter margins and royal commission-related charges are all on the agenda as three of Australia's big four banks embark on what is expected to be a "messy" round of first-half earnings over the next few days. ANZ kicks of proceedings on Wednesday and with analysts are tipping lenders to try block out the "large and lumpy" items associated with years of wrongdoing by focusing on underlying operations. "Expect another messy set of numbers by the banks given the impact of asset divestments, remediation charges and Royal Commission expenses in both this half and prior periods," UBS said in a note. Commonwealth Bank, which operates on a different calendar to its big four rivals, in February reported a 2.1 per cent decline in cash profit to $4.676 billion, weighed down by slowing property markets, tighter lending, and costs from Kenneth Hayne's inquiry. Similar headwinds are anticipated for ANZ when it reports on Wednesday, with NAB and Westpac to follow on Thursday and Monday respectively. UBS said ANZ, which had flagged $421 million in remediation as of September, is the leader when it comes to improving its expense verification and should report a "cleaner" first-half cash profit of $3.32 billion. That would be down about five per cent on $3.5 billion a year ago. ANZ's interim dividend is expected to remain flat at 80 cents per share. NAB, which could be reporting its last result before it appoints a permanent chief executive to replace the departed Andrew Thorburn, this month flagged an extra $525 million after-tax hit through new customer remediation costs - bringing total charges to $1.1 billion as of March 31. The bank is also tipped to cut its interim dividend, which would cap a horror six months where it was singled out for special treatment in the Hayne report, leading to the resignation of Mr Thorburn and chairman Ken Henry in February. UBS expcts Westpac, which set aside another $260 million for customer remediation in March for a total $659 million so far, to report a first-half cash profit of $3.29 billion, which would be down 22 per cent on a year ago. Fees-for-no-service refunds are yet to come for Westpac though its interim dividend is expected to remain flat at 94 cents per share. New Zealand police have arrested a man after finding a suspected explosive device in Christchurch. Bomb squads were called in to dispose of the device found at an empty lot in the suburb of Phillipstown on Tuesday afternoon, prompting nearby homes to be evacuated. Police said a 33-year-old man had been arrested. A suspicious package on the Newcastle Street lot also contained ammunition, Superintendent John Price said. Cordons around the area have since been stood down. Local media earlier reported police descending in numbers on the area and Defence Force, fire and ambulance teams were also called in. A no-fly zone had earlier been imposed over the area. A decorated Coast Guard commodore who ran down a man with his car because he was fed up with a go-kart buzzing up and down his street has been given an 18-month suspended sentence on the Gold Coast. Kenneth Albert Stanley, 67, pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court on Tuesday to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm. The court was told Stanley did not mean to hit Bruce Pinkerton, whose leg was broken at Upper Coomera on July 1, 2017. It stemmed from a neighbourhood dispute when Stanley became frustrated by the noise of the go-kart outside his home at 9.30pm. He and his wife yelled for the noise to stop before Stanley got in a car and drove down the street, stopping outside the home of the victim's friend. The court heard Mr Pinkerton walked toward the car as it reversed before Stanley "snapped" and drove at the victim and broke his right tibia. Defence barrister Anthony Jamieson argued the incident took place over a "couple of seconds" and Stanley was only trying to scare Mr Pinkerton. "What we have here is a car that has gone in reverse, put on the brake, the vehicle has then gone forward .... it did not travel very far before it struck the victim," Mr Jamieson said. Justice Catherine Muir rejected the argument, saying using a vehicle as a weapon was "deliberate and reckless conduct". Mr Jamieson said Stanley was an outstanding member of the community who had risked his life to save others in his role as a coast guard and had resigned from his role as commodore as a result of the incident. Outside court, Stanley and his supporters were involved in a scuffle with media, pushing a camera at a photographer which gave him a cut above his left eye. Mr Pinkerton said he was disappointed Stanley had not been jailed and should be banned from serving in the coast guard for life. "He's got a bad temper and he thinks he's above the law. He just got shown that he wasn't," Mr Pinkerton said outside court . "He's not remorseful. He still drives around the street like a lunatic." A Victorian government ad campaign targeting federal funding during the Australian election is to be scrutinised over a possible breach of the state's public administration act. The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission on Tuesday issued a statement saying it had asked the public sector commission to "provide advice" after examining the ads. "Should it identify any matters which may constitute corrupt conduct by any public sector employee," it should inform IBAC. The watchdog will then determine what further action is required. The Victorian opposition asked IBAC to examine the behaviour of the secretaries of departments including premier and cabinet, treasury and health and education over the campaign. AAP FactCheck Investigation: Was NSW Liberal Senator Jim Molan the man who stopped the boats and who led coalition forces to success in Iraq? The Statement "Vote 1 Jim Molan. Why Jim? The man who stopped the boats. The man who led Coalition forces to success in Iraq. The man who is fighting for our nation's fuel security." How to vote campaign card for NSW senator Jim Molan. The Verdict Mostly False - Mostly false with one minor element of truth. The Analysis AAP FactCheck examined the three claims made on the how-to-vote card for NSW Senator Jim Molan that he was, "The man who stopped the boats. The man who led coalition forces to success in Iraq. The man who is fighting for our nation's fuel security". [1] AAP FactCheck found that only one of these claims was true - the claim about fighting for fuel security. The claims about Iraq and boats are both false. Senator Molan was elected as a NSW Liberal Senator in December 2017 after retiring from the Australian Army in July 2008 following 40 years service. [2] He replaced former Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash who was forced to resign because she was a dual citizen. [3] Ahead of the 2019 federal election, he was relegated to an unwinnable position on the NSW Senate ticket by his own party in November 2018. [4] For the election Senator Molan is listed third behind moderate Liberal candidates Hollie Hughes and Andrew Bragg on the ticket. The "Re-elect Jim Molan" campaign has been established by Liberal Party figures in Warringah, including Walter Villatora and John Crawford, who were central to the party reform movement. While it is unusual for a party candidate to have a personal campaign running parallel and counter to the party, it is not without precedent. In 2016 Tasmanian Labor Senator Lisa Singh leapfrogged other party candidates into parliament due to strong personal support. [5] The Vote Jim Molan Campaign website links directly to the Senator's Facebook, which includes information on how to vote for the Senator. [6] The how-to-vote card containing the three claims has been shared on the senator's verified Facebook page on April 29, 2019. [7] Iraq claim The Iraq war began in March 2003 when US forces invaded, and formally ended in 2011 when the US completed the withdrawal of troops. [8] In mid-2004 Major-General Jim Molan was deployed to Iraq to serve as chief of staff for operations for the US-led coalition fighting the war - called the Multinational Force in Iraq. He served under then Commander of the MNF-I, US General George Casey Jr, in this position for a year. [9] Senator Molan told AAP FactCheck this role involved running all operations across Iraq except detention operations. He said the how-to-vote card claim that he is "the man who led coalition forces to success in Iraq" is false. "I didn't lead the coalition forces, the coalition forces were led by a four-star general," Senator Molan told AAP FactCheck. "I never said I was a commander, I never said I led anything, because I didn't." AAP FactCheck concludes the claim that Senator Molan that "the man who led Coalition forces to success in Iraq" is false. Boats claim Senator Molan is the co-author of Operation Sovereign Borders 2013, a hardline policy introduced by the Abbott government to "stop the boats". Following the 2013 election won by Tony Abbott, he was appointed the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Operation Sovereign Borders (the border control operation). [10] AAP FactCheck found a number of claimants who said they "stopped the boats". In May 2013 former prime minister John Howard told the Nine Network's 60 Minutes TV program: "The undeniably fact is we stopped the boats coming in 2001." [11] In the lead-up to the 2015 federal election Tony Abbott told the National Press Club in Canberra, "the Abbott government has stopped the boats - and only this government will keep them stopped." [12] In a 2016 interview then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the Turnbull government was "mindful of all of the complexities involved in securing our borders but we have stopped boats". [13] On September 2018, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told News Corp columnist Miranda Devine on the Miranda Devine Live podcast that a friend and constituent had made him a trophy which he kept in his office. The trophy is in the shape of a boat and reads "I stopped these". "It was a kind gift from a friend. I don't resile from it, we did stop boats, " Mr Morrison said. [14] Senator Molan told AAP FactCheck he had never made any claims about stopping refugee boats. "I've never claimed to be the man who stopped the boats," Senator Molan said. "What I am, is the co-author of the strategy to stop the boats and then I was the special envoy for Tony Abbott on Operation Sovereign Borders. We all stopped the boats. The prime roles, as I've always said, were Abbott, Morrison and Angus Campbell, who is now the Chief of the Defence Force." AAP FactCheck concludes the claim Senator Molan is "the man who stopped the boats" is false. Fuel claim In January 2018 Senator Molan raised the issue of fuel security as a senator-designate, warning the Australian Defence Force needed greater self-reliance and needed to address critical vulnerabilities such as fuel holdings. [15] The warning prompted then Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg to announce a Turnbull government review into fuel reserves. The review followed a number of reports relating to fuel security commissioned by the federal government from both sides of politics over the past decade. [16] Senator Molan has continued to campaign on the issue, along with Labor in February 2019, which pledged to create government-owned crude oil and fuel reserve as "an important national security measure". [17] AAP FactCheck concludes the claim Senator Molan was "the man who is fighting for our nation's fuel security" to be true, however he is not alone in this campaign. The Verdict Mostly False - Mostly false with one minor element of truth. The References 1.'Liberal senator Jim Molan tells voters to ignore party's voting instructions, by Rosemary Bolger. SBS. April 29, 2019: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/liberal-senator-jim-molan-tells-voters-to-ignore-party-s-voting-instructions 2. 'Jim Molan AO'. Liberal NSW website: https://nsw.liberal.org.au/Library/Members/Federal/Senator-Jim-Molan-AO,-DSC 3. 'Senator Jim Molan calls for cutbacks to immigration, warns of potential US, China conflict', by Rosie Lewis, The Australian. February 14, 2018: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/senator-jim-molan-calls-for-cutbacks-to-immigration-warns-of-potential-us-china-conflict/news-story/850c6730fc4c7a3cae5ef49c53b03603 4 'Jim Molan pulls out of Q&A after being relegated on Coalition's Senate ticket', by Paul karp. November 25, 2018: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/25/jim-molan-pulls-out-of-qa-after-being-relegated-on-coalitions-senate-ticket 5. 'Jim Molan goes rogue: The NSW senator mounting a conservative insurgency to keep his seat', by David Wroe. April 17, 2019: https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/jim-molan-goes-rogue-the-nsw-senator-mounting-a-conservative-insurgency-to-keep-his-seat-20190416-p51era.html 6. 'Vote Jim Molan'. Authorised by J Crawford, Re-Elect Jim Molan Campaign, Sydney: https://votejimmolan.com.au/ 7. 'Senator Jim Molan". Verified FaceBook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorJimMolan/photos/rpp.155139888613974/433119884149305/?type=3&theater 8. 'Iraq War'. Encyclopaedia Brittannica: https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War 9. 'To gloat is to insult many brave Iraqis', by Miranda Devine. Sydney Morning Herald. December 9, 2006: https://www.smh.com.au/national/to-gloat-is-to-insult-many-brave-iraqis-20061209-gdp0gr.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 10. 'Senator Jim Molan calls for cutbacks to immigration, warns of potential US, China conflict', by Rosie Lewis, The Australian. February 14, 2018: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/senator-jim-molan-calls-for-cutbacks-to-immigration-warns-of-potential-us-china-conflict/news-story/850c6730fc4c7a3cae5ef49c53b03603 11. John Howard. 60 Minutes Australia. May 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HJjBmciK_c 12. 'Tony Abbott Address to the National Press Club Canberra', Parliament of Australia. February 2, 2015: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22media/pressrel/3636103%22 13. 'Doorstop Interview, Sydney'. Peter Dutton. April 29, 2016: https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/2016/Pages/doorstop-interview-29042016.aspx 14. 'Morrison's mate made stopping boats trophy', Newcastle Herald/AAP. Sept 19, 2018: https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5656537/morrisons-mate-made-stopping-boats-trophy/ 15. 'US too weak to rescue Australia: Former general', by Lisa Martin. The New Daily/AAP. January 4, 2018: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/01/04/us-too-weak-to-rescue-australia 16. 'Does Australia have 3 weeks of petrol in reserve?'. ABC. July 12, 2018: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-23/fact-check-jim-molan-fuel-security/9687606 17. 'Labor Government could buy petrol, diesel, jet fuel and crude oil to prevent Australia running out', by Dan Conifer. ABC. Feb 28, 2019: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-28/labor-announces-national-fuel-reserve-policy/10857562 NT WorkSafe has started an investigation into the workplace death of 30-year-old Dwayne Beaumont in Darwin. Mr Beaumont was crushed by machinery and could not be saved by paramedics at a plant hire business on Wishart Road, Tivendale on Monday afternoon. The circumstances involved loading excavator attachments in large buckets, which was common practice, WorkSafe said in a statement. "These attachments should be secured to prevent dislodgement," the statement said. Mr Beaumont was from a Katherine family, lived in Batchelor and had worked for aviation company Aerotech NT since 2009, where he managed ground operations, according to the company's website. Before that, he had worked mustering cattle in the outback. There were numerous tributes on social media to Mr Beaumont and condolences for his family, which were well known around Katherine. He was described as a "great young man" in one man's post. "My heart aches for this young man, so much more life to live ... Sending all my love back home," a family member wrote. The Northern Territory has the worst per capita record of workplace deaths in the country, and a change of culture was needed, Unions NT general secretary Joel Bowden said. Derick Suratin was killed in an electrical accident at the Tennant Creek Fire Station in February. A Darwin man was crushed by a 1.5 tonne electrical switchboard at the construction site of the new Palmerston Police Station in the same month. Such incidents rocked the community and affected many people, he said. "We think there needs to be a change of culture, a fundamental change in the work culture in the Northern Territory," he told ABC radio. Mr Bowden said the introduction of new industrial manslaughter laws needed to occur to improve safety along with a beefing up of WorkSafe's resources and oversight, which have been recommended in recent reviews of safety laws. Federal Liberal MP Ian Goodenough has confirmed he and colleague Andrew Hastie met with far right activist Neil Erikson at a 2018 rally in support of white South African farmers. But Mr Hastie, the Liberal MP for Canning and chair of the parliament's intelligence and security committee, has rejected having met Mr Erikson, telling reporters on Tuesday: "I don't answer defamatory questions and I won't get involved." Mr Erikson has a history of convictions and fines over inciting contempt and ridicule of Muslims and has been banned from Twitter and Facebook. Mr Goodenough told The Guardian that he and Mr Hastie had a brief meeting with Mr Erikson at the rally at Forrest Chase in Perth in April 2018. "We were at a rally for the South African migrants and he came up and there was a conversation," Mr Goodenough said. "It was a very brief meeting from what I saw, two to three minutes." The MP for Moore said he did not know the identity of the man at the time until it was recently pointed out by one of his staffers. A photo posted on Mr Hastie's Facebook page shows him attending the rally with Mr Goodenough. Footage of endangered sharks entangled in nets along a NSW beach has renewed calls for the state government to end its controversial mesh net program. Scalloped hammerhead sharks, which are listed as endangered by the NSW Department of Primary and Industries, are seen caught and wrapped up in the nets at Sydney's Palm Beach earlier this year. The video and photos were released on Tuesday by conservation groups Humane Society International and the Australian Marine Conservation Society. AMCS shark campaigner Leonardo Guida claims the nets are ineffective at keeping swimmers safe and instead drown iconic and harmless animals. "The science shows that there is no evidence between the abundance of sharks and the likelihood of being bitten," Dr Guida said in a statement on Tuesday. More than 400 marine animals were caught in the nets between September 2017 and April 2018 including 34 "target" sharks and 369 non-target animals with 180 released alive, according to the DPI's annual meshing program report. The government considers tiger, white and bull sharks as target species. The nets captured 70 threatened or protected species including grey nurse and great hammerhead sharks, green and hawksbill turtles and common and Indo-Pacific dolphins. HSI marine campaigner Lawrence Chlebeck argues the NSW government is using nets to catch and kill sharks to reduce their population along the coast. "Shark nets are the most indiscriminate and deadly of the culling methods used in Australia," Mr Chlebeck said in a statement. Conservationists argue drones and wearable shark deterrents are more effective at keeping beachgoers safe. Since the nets were introduced in 1937 there have been 33 unprovoked shark interactions at netted beaches, the DPI said. The DPI's data from the 2018 and 2019 mesh net season is due to be released in July. The NSW government has been contacted for comment. A Victorian Liberal candidate running in the federal election has apologised after labelling Muslims as being of "bad character" and who want sharia law in Australia. Jeremy Hearn, who is contesting the seat of Isaacs in Melbourne's southeast, apologised on Tuesday night over his comments posted in response to a column on a website. "Those comments were entirely wrong and I apologise unreservedly for them," he said in a single sentence response to AAP about his February 14 post on the Quadrant Online column. Mr Hearn wrote "a Muslim is a person who subscribes to an ideology which requires ... the killing or enslavement of the citizens of Australia if they do not become Muslim". He added the ideology required the replacement of the Australian government and the legal systems with Sharia law, "lying about their purposes to conceal their activities" and "payment of protection money by non-muslims to Muslims". Mr Hearn then questioned: "How can a person holding such beliefs honestly swear allegiance to the Queen and her government in Australia?" "No oath of allegiance from a person following such an ideology can or should be accepted by the Australian government under the current law. They are clearly people of bad character," he wrote in the post which is still published online. He also called for taxpayers to stop funding Muslim schools - "places where such an unacceptable ideology is taught" in Australia as they are "essentially fomenting rebellion against the government". Labor holds the seat of Isaacs, which includes suburbs such as Dandenong South, Chelsea, Braeside and Mordialloc, by 2.3 per cent. The Coalition Campaign headquarters declined to say if he would remain a candidate. Victorian state schools have been ordered to freeze international student enrolments due to fears the yearly cap could be breached. The state's Department of Education has told primary and secondary state schools via email to stop taking the enrolments this year with about 5000 international students already on the books. The enrolment cap for full-fee paying students is 5750 students, a figure approved by the state's schools' watchdog the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA). "Accordingly, we are not in a position to accept all students who would like to study in Victorian government schools in 2019," the email reportedly read. "Please do not offer places at your school to education agents or direct applicants for 2019." Forward projections and market intelligence at the start of the year predicted lower enrolments in Victoria, but there was a boom afterwards which was expected to breach the cap. Bendigo Senior Secondary High School Principal Dale Pearce told AAP the email was sent last week to all schools with international programs. The department did not allow the school to enrol two Chinese students due to the cap, he said. "The cap is a fairly crude instrument, particularly as it doesn't take into account the capacity of individual schools. As well-intentioned as it may be, the VRQA has created an unnecessary mess," Mr Pearce said in a statement. "The longer-term challenge will be to either seek an increase in the cap or take some action to ration the allocation of international students to schools." International student applicants who have already accepted offers to begin their studies in term three this year are unaffected. New international student and future applicants could be offered an enrolment place in 2020 for term one. "More families from across the world choose to send their children to Victorian government schools than any other Australian state," a department spokeswoman said. "We know international education has been Victoria's largest export industry for over a decade and our schools are an entry point to this world-class education system." A Sydney building company has allegedly been defrauded of more than $30,000 by one of its former bookkeepers. A 54-year-old woman allegedly went to several financial institutions in Bondi Junction and Mascot between January and April 2012 and cashed in fraudulent cheques totalling $34,500. The cheques were in the name of a Sydney CBD building company which the woman had previously worked for as a bookkeeper and receptionist, police said in a statement on Tuesday. The alleged fraud was discovered by the company and reported to the police in March. The woman was on Tuesday charged with 19 counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception. She was given conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on May 29. As the first steps are taken back into a New Zealand mine where an explosion killed 29 men nearly a decade ago, the mother of one Australian victim says she still can't let herself hope his body will be coming home. In November 2010, two methane blasts tore through the Pike River Mine - on the South Island's West Coast - killing all but two of those inside, including Australians William Joynson, 49 and Joshua Ufer, 25. On Friday, a search team will enter the coal mine's drift for the first time since 2011, ending years of struggle by families to reopen the site to find answers, justice and remains. Ufer's mother, Joanne, is making the trip from NSW to gather with other victim families in the nearby town of Greymouth, ahead of a ceremony marking the re-entry. "I knew as soon as they announced the date, I had to be over there," she told AAP. A three-person team will walk into the drift and officially begin a slow, months-long search of the 2.3km entry tunnel, up to a blockage caused by a collapsing roof. But Ufer said it was too soon to think she'd be able to fulfil her long-standing hope of taking her son's body back across the Tasman. "I had to reconcile, in my own head and my heart, that Josh would never be coming home ... I reconciled with myself that the probability was next-to-nil and that's the only way I've kept going," she said. "We've given it our all. We're getting in there. And if we find evidence or we find remains, that's a bonus. "But I don't really want to get my hopes up, I know the area where Josh was working, the chances of him being recovered are probably still so slim ... If it doesn't happen, I'm kind of at peace with that as well." Joshua Ufer's daughter was born in Greymouth six months after the explosions and Joanne makes regular visits to the town of about 10,000. "Even if Josh were to come home, there's always going to be that connection," she said. A re-entry into Pike River was deemed too dangerous by the mine's owner in 2014 but New Zealand's Labour Party in 2017 pledged to make an attempt if elected and set up an independent recovery agency. Intensive safety preparations, including pumping nitrogen into the drift, have been underway for months. While no individuals were prosecuted over the disaster, the mine's former owner - Pike River Coal Limited - was ordered to pay the families of the 29 men and two survivors a total $NZ3.4 million ($A3.2 million) in reparations. Left in liquidation, the company was unable to pay. In 2013, New Zealand government workplace safety watchdog WorkSafe dropped charges against Australian mine boss Peter Whittall after he offered to voluntarily pay the sum - a decision later ruled unlawful. A hobby farmer who kidnapped and raped a European backpacker is due to be sentenced in Adelaide. A jury delivered guilty verdicts against 54-year-old Gene Charles Bristow in March, after his victim returned to Australia to give evidence at his trial. The charges stemmed from a Gumtree advertisement the 24-year-old backpacker posted in search of temporary farm work in February 2017. Bristow took her to his hobby farm at Meningie, 150km southeast of Adelaide, before chaining her up and raping her inside an old pig shed. He released her the following day, after police swarmed the area in search of the missing woman. Bristow was found guilty of one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape. The woman came face-to-face with Bristow when her victim impact statement was read out in court days after the verdict was handed down. She said she felt like an animal or slave throughout the ordeal, which left her terrified, miserable and feeling powerless. "I was locked in chains, held against my will and had to endure things that nobody should have to endure," she said. "He took everything from me. Not only did he take my clothes and belongings, but also my freedom, my mind, my family and my friends." Bristow will be sentenced before Judge Geraldine Davison in the District Court on Thursday morning. In the U.S., sometimes if someone makes a mistake, as long as you understand them, people are very accepting. In France, its sort of the other way around, he said. (There) it would almost be considered a faux pas not to correct someone, as in, youre not very nice because youre not really helping them out, whereas here, its like, Hey, who are you to correct me? It's a whole different cultural approach, and that relates to the pronunciation of food, but also relates to just social norms and etiquette in general. Queensland prison officers are expected to walk off the job for a second day after months of wage negotiations broke down. A series of half-day strikes began on Wednesday afternoon and will continue until Friday at prisons across the state, the Together union says. Union secretary Alex Scott has accused Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) of seeking to undercut award conditions and introduce a "risky" flexible staffing policy focused on the bottom line, not security and safety. "These issues for members are far more important than wages," he told AAP. "What was a debate (on Tuesday) about wages has now become an issue about the safety of the community and our members through a fundamental change to the way correctional centres are managed." Officers at Capricornia Correctional Centre in Rockhampton, Woodford Correctional Centre and Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre are expected to walk off the job at 1pm on Thursday. Mr Scott said the protected industrial action was called after QCS stalled wage negotiations for three months. QCS said each of the affected jails would be placed into lockdown when the officers walked off the job. "Prisoners will receive meals and medications as needed during this time,a spokeswoman said in a statement. "Contingency plans are in place should there be an incident at the centres during the lockdowns." In December, correctional officers walked off the job at the high-security Woodford Correctional Centre after a 45-year-old male officer was bashed by an inmate. Nationals leader Michael McCormack is confident his party has tightened vetting procedures to stamp out extremists. The Liberal Party lost two candidates over racist and homophobic views on Wednesday. "Our party has undertaken strident measures to ensure people who join our party, their bona fides are right," Mr McCormack told AAP. Almost 20 NSW Nationals members resigned from the party in October amid an internal investigation into a neo-nazi infiltration of the party. He said people should be mindful of what organisations they belonged to, or social media posts they made before entering politics. "Anybody wanting to have a career in politics, or indeed be a member of a political party, should think long and hard about what they say and what they write," the deputy prime minister said. He rejected suggestions extremists or people with objectionable views were predominantly on the right. Labor's Melbourne candidate Luke Creasy on Wednesday apologised for sharing a rape joke online. "It's all sides of politics," Mr McCormack said. "People just expect better, they expect the national discourse to be about policies, not about slurs." The Nationals leader will launch his campaign to be re-elected as the member for his safe NSW seat of Riverina on Thursday. While his pitch to older voters has been centred on Labor's superannuation and franking credit policies, Mr McCormack believes young people can benefit from the coalition too. "They don't want to go back to the days when I was young, paying 17 per cent for a home mortgage rate," he said. Former Nationals leaders Warren Truss and Tim Fischer are expected to attend the launch, with both among Mr McCormack's political heroes. Many called for the Nationals to have a Truss-style steady pair of hands after the controversy surrounding Barnaby Joyce. While Mr McCormack has delivered that, he's also been criticised for lacking cut-through by some MPs. "Those colleagues who were making those comments were putting their name to it," he said. "I don't go out and shout from the roof tops and spruiking how I'm fighting, and doing this and doing that, I just get on and get things done." Labor leader Bill Shorten is promising to put $75 million towards building Australia's renewable energy sector, which he says will create 70,000 jobs. Mr Shorten says the jobs will be created through his target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. "Renewable energy means more jobs, more investment, cheaper energy and lower pollution," he said on Thursday. Labor will put $45 million towards apprentice incentives, where employers could get up to $8000 for taking on an apprentice. The apprentices themselves would get $2000 to help with education costs. "These apprentice incentives will be available for apprentices working on renewable energy projects and for clean energy businesses," Mr Shorten said. "This includes wind and solar, battery manufacture and installation, pumped hydro and transmission." If Labor wins at the May 18 election, a Shorten government would also invest $20 million towards upgrading TAFE facilities so equipment such as batteries and solar panels are industry standard. A further $10 million would go in a clean energy training fund so workers can be trained and upskilled for renewable industries. Mr Shorten has spent the past few days spruiking his climate policies across the country, announcing renewable energy zones in Western Australia and South Australia if he wins government. But he remains under pressure to outline the cost of his 45 per cent emissions reduction plan, which he says is impossible to put a price on as businesses will decide how to reduce their pollution. Despite the unknown cost the business sector has been quiet in response to Labor's plan, as they have been calling for policy certainty for years. Mr Shorten says paying for climate action is an investment, not a cost, and is banking on voters being more concerned about climate inaction than the price attached to it. Labor's other major policies - such as increased subsidies for childcare and a pay top up for early educators - will be funded by closing tax loopholes around franking credits and negative gearing. But the Labor leader denies he is redistributing wealth. "What we want to do is have real change, because frankly, more of the same under this government isn't good enough for Australians," he told ABC's 730 program on Wednesday. As the federal election campaign hits its midway point, political hopefuls are finding themselves under the microscope, with several candidates already saying goodbye to a future in Canberra. Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants the Liberal Party to improve its vetting process for candidates after a day when two members left the race for parliament over questionable remarks. Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Wills Peter Killin resigned on Wednesday within hours of apologising for a series of homophobic statements. In the comments section of a blog in December, Mr Killin said he was not at the preselection for fellow Liberal Tim Wilson so he could ensure there was "no homosexual MP". He also made a submission to the Ruddock review into religious freedom about the "dangers" posed by gay people. Earlier in the day, the Liberals dumped Victorian candidate for Isaacs Jeremy Hearn over an anti-Islam rant in the comments section of an online magazine article. But Mr Morrison has dismissed as "absolute nonsense" Labor's claims his party is riddled with right-wing extremists. Labor is not without its own candidate issues, with Melbourne hopeful Luke Creasey apologising for sharing a rape joke and pornographic material on his Facebook page in 2012. Mr Creasey is not standing down but admitted the posts were "stupid", "immature" and don't reflect the views he holds today. Labor's NT Senate candidate Wayne Kurnoth was dumped on Monday after he shared an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that the world is run by a secret society of Jewish shape-shifting lizards. He also posted an image of Malcolm Turnbull beheading ABC journalist Emma Alberici and made offensive remarks about former MP Natasha Griggs. The prime minister is in Tasmania on Thursday to announce a $308 million plan to give Australians faster access to cheaper and free drugs on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Mr Morrison will also announce $2 million in loans to help young farmers buy majority shares of farms, to get fresh blood into the agricultural industry. Meanwhile, Labor leader Bill Shorten will make a $75 million commitment to the renewable energy sector, which he says will create 70,000 jobs. Mr Shorten says the jobs will be created through his target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. The money will be put towards incentives for hiring apprentices on renewable projects, upgrading TAFE facilities and upskilling workers for clean energy jobs. Australians who need multiple medicines each month will get access to free drugs faster if the coalition wins the federal election. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Thursday announce the most significant change to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme since 1986, giving cheaper and free medicine faster to 1.4 million Australians. From January 2020, the threshold to receive free or further discounted medicines will drop by 12 scripts for pensioners and concession card holders, and the equivalent of two scripts for everyone else. "This change will save patients up to $80 per year but more importantly, it means over one million Australians will be able to access free medicine even quicker," Mr Morrison said. "Families who require multiple medicines per month and pensioners with multiple chronic conditions will get the most benefit." It's the first time the threshold for free and discounted scripts has been lowered since 1986. The policy will cost $308 million. Mr Morrison said the coalition has added 2000 medicines to the PBS after Labor stopped adding new drugs to the scheme in 2011. The prime minister is campaigning in the Tasmanian seat of Bass on Thursday, and will also announce $500 million worth of cheap loans to fire up the forestry industry. The coalition is also promising $2 million in loans for new farmers to help them purchase a majority share of a farm. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said young people often didn't have the capital or equity to buy a farm. "I've always said one of my jobs as Agriculture Minister is to help get young people into farming," Mr Littleproud said. "We've given the Rural Investment Corporation the green light to create a loan product specifically to help young farmers enter the industry." The coalition is targeting Bass, which Labor MP Ross Hart holds on a margin of 5.4 per cent, as one of the seats it needs to win to hold government. Queensland LNP senator Ian Macdonald is ignoring his party's how-to-vote cards and has issued his own, directing voters to mark him number one. The Townsville-based senator was dumped from the LNP's top spot on the Senate ticket and pushed into the unwinnable fourth sport. He has hit out a the LNP over its candidate for the upper house, saying they're "not quality" and all are based in Brisbane. The Courier-Mail says the former local government minister has emailed every local councillor in the state to implore them to vote for him. "For the next election, my party has placed me No.4 on its ticket after three Brisbane Candidates, none of whom have any connection with local government," he wrote in the letter. Senator Macdonald is listed below mining executive Paul Scarr, beef magnate Susan McDonald and accountant Gerard Rennick. "I'm just saying what a lot of people from within the LNP from regional parts of the state have said," Senator Macdonald told the Courier-Mail. He said he supported Prime Minister Scott Morrison and was "not being critical" of other LNP candidates. One of the country's mining business pioneers, Sir Arvi Parbo, has died aged 93. "Sir Arvi Parbo will be fondly remembered as the most influential 20th century figure of the Australian resources industry," Steve Knott, chief executive Australian Resources and Energy Group AMMA said. Sir Arvi, who fled war-torn Estonia in 1944 and spent time in a refugee camp in Germany before emigrating to Australia in 1949, died on Wednesday. Former prime minister John Howard paid tribute to Sir Arvi at a gala dinner last year, describing him as "a towering figure of the industry" who "epitomised the great migration to Australia after World War Two. "He epitomised that generation that did so much to build the modern Australia," Mr Howard told the dinner. "He was an outstanding example of the sort of entrepreneurs that the mining industry of Australia produced." Sir Arvi joined Western Mining Corporation in 1956, and would later be its managing director for 15 years, He was also executive chairman and non-executive chairman of WMC Limited; chairman of Alcoa of Australia and chairman of BHP. Former US vice president Joe Biden appealed for the union vote during his first campaign event seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination Former US vice president Joe Biden took his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination to union workers in Pennsylvania on Monday as he and Republican Donald Trump vie for the support of organized labor in the crucial eastern state. In his highly anticipated address, ex-president Barack Obama's number two spoke for less than 30 minutes -- much shorter than Trump's speeches to his base -- to several hundred union members. "I make no apologies. I am a union man. Period," the 76-year-old Biden said after winning the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). "If I'm going to be able to beat Donald Trump in 2020 it's going to happen here," he told the crowd in Pittsburgh, a blue-collar city now remaking itself as a tech hub. "With your help we're going to be able to do that," Biden said at his first campaign rally since he announced last week that he was joining the crowded field of 2020 Democratic nominee hopefuls. In this city marked by the worst anti-Semitic attack in US history six months ago, Biden also shared his sorrow about another attack at a California synagogue last weekend. "We're reminded again that we are in a battle for America's soul," he said. Biden launched his third White House bid on April 25, 2019 Organized labor has long been a pillar of Democratic Party support, but Trump drew significant backing from white working-class voters -- particularly men -- in the 2016 election, and is hoping to do so again in 2020. Trump, whose narrow win in Pennsylvania was one of the keys to his upset of Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, lashed out at the IAFF's endorsement of Biden and claimed that economic progress in the state would earn him the support of voters there. "The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me," Trump tweeted. "Some things never change." Trump accused the media of "pushing Sleepy Joe hard" and suggested Biden's record was partly responsible for the president's own rise to power. "Funny, I'm only here because of Biden & Obama. They didn't do the job and now you have Trump, who is getting it done - big time!" he tweeted. - 'Battle for America's soul' - Biden greets his wife Jill during his first campaign event Biden has set himself apart from most of the sprawling Democratic field by opting for a strategy of full-on confrontation with Trump. During his speech, he logged several verbal volleys at the president, saying "we are in a battle for America's soul." "Donald Trump is the only president who decided not to represent the whole country," said the longtime senator from Delaware, who broke into a large smile as he spoke behind a wooden podium while wearing a pale blue shirt. "We need a president who works for all Americans. Americans need to "choose hope over fear, unity over division and maybe, most importantly, truth over lies," he said. Addressing the crowd of firefighters, teachers and other union members, who broke out repeatedly into chants of "We want Joe!" Biden said: "The country wasn't built by Wall Street bankers, CEOs and hedge fund managers. "It was built by you!" Biden said the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour and listed affordable education, quality health care and clean renewable energy as his priorities. In a Democratic Party that is increasingly leaning to the left, Trump boasts of adopting a more centrist and moderate approach, one that appeals to voters like Samantha Patrick. "We really feel like he's the candidate who's going to be able to be Trump and just definitely wanted to be here to support him for the kickoff of his campaign," the 32-year-old nurse told AFP. She was first in the line in the morning to enter the event with two children. "I'm a little bit more on the liberal side, but I think moderation is the key at this point," said Rick Astle, 42, who manages a small business in downtown Pittsburgh. Biden greets supporters "If we're going to heal this nation and the divide that we have, it's going to take coming to the middle and somebody that works across the aisle and I think he has a good track record, he's progressive." A Washington Post/ABC poll on Sunday put Biden in the lead among Democrats, with 17 percent support, to 11 percent for Senator Bernie Sanders and five percent for South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. He raised $6.3 million in the 24 hours after his announcement, the highest figure for any Democrat so far. Pennsylvania voted for Trump in 2016 -- after favoring Obama in the two previous elections -- making it one of the key industrial states where a sense of social and economic decline and alienation seemed to play into Trump's hands. But Biden has long been a favorite of blue-collar voters, and he prides himself on staying close to the Democrats' working-class supporters. After Pittsburgh, Biden will start campaigning at a more frenetic rhythm, traveling Tuesday and Wednesday in Iowa, the first state that will vote in Democratic primaries and caucuses in February. He returns to Pennsylvania for a rally on May 18 in Philadelphia. Bangladeshi police take away the body of a suspected militant following the raid which they said killed at least two extremists in Dhaka Bangladeshi security forces raided a suspected Islamist extremist hideout in Dhaka on Monday killing at least two militants, police said, as the Islamic State group claimed to have wounded three police in a bombing. Police commandos were met with gunfire on arriving at a house in the capital's Bosila neighbourhood after midnight on Monday, Lieutenant Colonel Ashique Billah told AFP. This was followed by an explosion which demolished the walls of the house, the Rapid Action Battalion commander added. Bangladesh launched a crackdown on Islamist extremism after attacks in July 2016, when IS-inspired militants stormed a Dhaka cafe killing 22 people, including 18 foreigners. "Our bomb disposal unit found the body parts of two militants in the house. The explosion was so powerful that it tore apart the bodies and shook the whole area," Billah said. Bangladeshi firefighters work to douse a fire at the scene of a raid by security forces in Dhaka, where police said commandos were met by gunfire and a blast occurred Four other people were detained including a caretaker and imam from a nearby mosque, the officer added. Separately, in their first claimed attack in Bangladesh in more than two years, IS jihadists said they "detonated an explosive device" on a group of police, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. According to the US-based group which monitors jihadist activity, the brief IS statement said the blast wounded three police on a road to Dhaka's Gulistan market. In March 2017, IS had said it carried out explosions in the northeastern city of Sylhet. Police said six people died in those blasts as commandos stormed an Islamist hideout. The government at the time rejected IS's claim and blamed a banned homegrown organisation. Bangladeshi civilians take the body of a suspected militant to a vehicle following a raid by commandos in Dhaka Since the 2016 attacks, security forces have staged nationwide raids in which, they say, nearly 100 members of two extremist Islamist groups have been killed. Hundreds of suspects have been detained. The South Asian nation has boosted security since April 21 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, which killed 253 and were carried out by jihadists affiliated to IS. Sudanese protesters paint a mural during a sit-in outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum on April 28, 2019 Sudan's army rulers and protest leaders on Monday offered differing visions for a joint council, but a military spokesman said he hoped a final structure for the body could be agreed soon. The talks came after the two sides on Saturday agreed to form a joint civilian-military body to rule the northeast African country. "The military council has presented its vision for a 10-member joint council, with seven military representatives and three civilians," a spokesman for the existing ruling military council Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi told reporters after a joint panel met on Monday. "The Alliance for Freedom and Change presented its vision of a 15-member joint council, with eight civilians and seven military representatives," he said, referring to the group that is leading the protest movement that has rocked Sudan for more than four months. Kabbashi said Monday's talks ended with both sides agreeing to consider each other's views. A Sudanese protester during a sit-in outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum on Monday, as demonstrators kept up the pressure on the ruling military council Kabbashi defended the military's demand for a majority in the joint council. "The necessities that made us take the people's side are still present and that's why it merits for us to be in the sovereign council," he said, without clarifying why the army generals were insisting on having a majority in the joint council. He said that talks will continue on Tuesday. In a statement, the protest leaders' alliance confirmed that no agreement was reached over the composition of the sovereign council. It also said that both sides will present proposals on transitional structures, including a future civilian government and legislative body, and their respective powers, within 24 hours "Our sit-ins and marches shall continue until all the revolution's goals are achieved," the alliance added. - Transport links to open - A joint council, if agreed, would replace the existing 10-member military council that took power after the army ousted veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on April 11 amid massive protests against his rule. The creation of a joint council would pave the way for a civilian administration as demanded by protesters, as they continue to rally outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum. Kabbashi said that during Monday's talks it was agreed with protest leaders to open some roads, a railway line and two bridges that lead to -- or pass near -- the military headquarters. A citizen walks past recently painted murals at the protest site in Khartoum When asked whether by doing this the army was planning to disperse the sit-in, he said: "That's not what we are saying". Late Monday, a Sudanese protest group said the army was trying to remove barricades and disperse the sit-in outside the military headquarters, but witnesses said troops had not moved in. "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 the protest movement against Bashir's regime. "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." Witnesses at the sit-in told AFP that protesters were building up some of the make-shift barricades but there was no movement of troops around the area. - Power to civilians - The creation of a joint civilian-military council would be an overall ruling body, protest leaders have said, while they want a separate transitional civilian administration to run the country's day-to-day affairs. That civilian government would work towards the first post-Bashir elections, protest leaders say. The military council has so far insisted it has assumed power for a two-year transitional period. Thousands of protesters first massed outside the army headquarters on April 6, demanding that the armed forces back them in ousting Bashir. Five days later, the army took power through a transitional military council, having deposed Bashir, after months of protests that began with unrest over a tripling of bread prices. Since then the 10-member council of generals has continued to resist calls to step down. Western governments have expressed support for protesters' demands, but Sudan's key Gulf Arab donors have backed the military council, while African states have called for more time for the army to hand power to civilians. In Ryan White's breezy documentary "Ask Dr. Ruth," the 90-year-old Ruth Westheimer asks a fair share of the questions. "Are you hungry?" "Are you sure you're not hungry?" And with her grandmotherly credentials thus verified, she's free to turn to her Alexa and ask it to find her a boyfriend. Alas, the app demurs. "If she doesn't know that, what good is she?" the doctor tuts of the AI program. Not good enough to do what Westheimer did: leap from being a licensed sex therapist with a risque 15-minute radio call-in show into a national sensation with six TV programs, more than three dozen books, and countless talk-show appearances in which she's used her no-nonsense charm to, among other things, needle Arsenio Hall into saying the word "vagina." Dr. Ruth denies she's political she even says she's not a feminist but that moment on Arsenio was a political act. Men needed to recognize female pleasure, especially men like Hall who constantly alluded to the male organ on his show, yet squirmed when Westheimer changed the focus. An Algerian protester holds sign that reads "My country is drowning in a sea of corruption" Algerian Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal was released after state TV said he was questioned Monday by a prosector on suspicion of "squandering" public funds. The former central bank governor is the first government official to appear before prosecutors since mass protests erupted in February against Abdelaziz Bouteflika's two-decade rule. State television said he was questioned as part of a wider crackdown following Bouteflika's fall earlier this month. Former police chief Abdelghani Hamel was also questioned separately by a prosecutor as part of a judicial inquiry into alleged bribery, Algerian media said. Since Bouteflika stepped down in the face of growing anger on the streets, several regime officials and businessmen close to him have been sacked, detained or questioned over alleged graft. Loukal was appointed finance minister at the end of March when Bouteflika, facing massive pressure from demonstrators demanding change, named a new prime minister. He was seen leaving a court in Algiers afterwards and was whisked away in a black car without making a statement. Around a dozen people were gathered outside chanting: "Thieves, you looted the country!" -- one of the slogans of the protest movement. A week ago, Loukal and former premier Ahmed Ouyahia were summoned for questioning. State television said Loukal was being questioned in cases concerning "misuse of public funds and undue advantages", but did not elaborate. It was not possible to establish immediately if Loukal was questioned as a suspect or witness. When contacted by AFP, Loukal refused to comment on the matter. Hamel -- once tipped as Bouteflika's successor before he was fired by the veteran leader in June 2018 -- appeared in a court in Tipaza, west of Algiers, before being released, the official APS news agency said. State TV said he appeared alongside one of his sons, but APS said Hamel appeared alone. No charge was brought against Hamel in this first session, with hearings set to continue over the coming days, a judicial source told APS. State television had said Hamel and his son were being interrogated as part of a probe into "illegal activity, bribery, embezzlement of funds and abuse of power". Since Bouteflika's ouster, investigators have cracked down on alleged graft, zeroing in on the activities of prominent politicians and businessmen following two decades of cronyism under the former president. High-profile figures targeted in the past week include the North African country's richest man, Issad Rebrab, who was reportedly detained on allegations of false customs declarations. The head of the vast state oil firm Sonatrach, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, has been fired and replaced on the orders of interim president Abdelkader Bensalah. Four brothers from the influential Kouninef family, close to Bouteflika's brother Said, have been arrested over alleged non-compliance with state contracts, according to official media. After pushing Bouteflika to quit with mass demonstrations launched on February 22, protesters have kept up their rallies, calling for a complete overhaul of Algeria's political system, improved living standards and the eradication of corruption. Algeria ranks 105 out of 180 on Transparency International's 2018 corruption perceptions index. 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 executives successfully beat back shareholder challenges to their authority on Monday as the company signaled it expects regulators to take a key step next week in the effort to get the 737 MAX back in the air following two deadly crashes. The aerospace giant, under scrutiny following the crashes that killed 346 passengers and crew and grounded the MAX worldwide, won a vote of confidence from its investors, even as company management faced tough questions over plane design and the possible missteps in getting the aircraft to market. Boeing expects the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a test flight by the end of next week of the software fix the company developed for the flight system on the 737 MAX, a company spokesman said Monday. That would be a critical step in certifying the aircraft as flight-worthy. However, an FAA spokesman said the agency had not released a date or time for the flight yet. Amid reports of missteps in developing the newest version of its most popular aircraft, concerned shareholders used the annual meeting to seek greater transparency by proposing to make the chairman an independent director and to disclose lobbying activities and trade association memberships. But those proposals garnered just 34 and 32 percent of the votes, respectively, somewhat better than similar measures last year, but still well below 50 percent. The defeat of those motions no doubt was relief for Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg and other company brass but there was little sense of triumph at an annual meeting that included a moment of silence for the lives lost. The company faces an uncertain timetable for bringing the grounded fleet back into service and tough questions over a new plane design that crashed twice, as well as potential costs from the crisis. Muilenburg was asked during a press conference if he considered resigning. "We're focused on safety and I can tell you these accidents weigh heavily on us as a company," he responded. "My clear intent is to continue to lead on the front of safety and quality and integrity." The company reported last week that the crisis had added $1 billion to costs in the year's first quarter. The 737 MAX has been grounded since mid-March following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight and an earlier Lion Air crash, 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. At the shareholders meeting, Muilenburg faced some pointed questions from shareholders but defended the design of the 737 MAX as "thorough" and "disciplined." Boeing has said both crashes involved erroneous information that came to the airplane through its anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which the software update is meant to address. "We know that in both accidents there was a chain of events that occurred. One of the links was the activation of the MCAS system because of the data," Muilenburg said at the media briefing. "We know we can break that link in the chain. The software update does that." - 'Chain of Events' - But Muilenburg repeatedly declined to characterize the MCAS system as a design flaw, saying there is more than one factor in such catastrophic accidents and that an investigation is continuing. "It's a chain of events. There is no singular item," he said. "I think it's really important that we all focus on letting the investigation process run its due course." 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 approval for its fix by that time. Boeing has submitted some of the documentation to the FAA for the fix to the MCAS system, said a person familiar with the matter, adding that the application will be considered complete following a test flight in the coming days. Boeing expects certification of the software fix some time after an FAA meeting with international regulators on May 23, the company spokesman said. 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 Fresh questions were raised over the weekend following revelations that prior to the Lion Air crash in October, Boeing deactivated a malfunction signal on 737 MAX planes owned by Southwest without telling the carrier, a feature that would detect a sensor error of the kind thought to have been a factor in both crashes. The FAA considered recommending grounding the planes at the time as they explored whether pilots flying the aircraft needed additional training about the alerts, according to 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. Shares of Boeing finished down 0.5 percent at $379.05. Mourners and well wishers leave flowers at a make-shift memorial acroos the street from the Chabad of Poway Synagogue on Sunday, April 28, 2019 in Poway, California The parents of the teenager accused of shooting dead one worshipper and wounding three others at a California synagogue denounced his actions on Monday as "evil" and said they had no clue what motivated him. John Earnest, 19, allegedly burst into the Chabad of Poway synagogue, near San Diego, on Saturday and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing 60-year-old Lori Kaye. The center's rabbi was among the injured. "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue," his parents said in a statement released by their attorney. "But our sadness pales in comparison to the grief and anguish our son has caused for so many innocent people. He has killed and injured the faithful who were gathered in a sacred place on a sacred day. "To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries." Prior to the attack Earnest had published an anti-Semitic screed online in which he said Adolf Hitler was among those that inspire him and claimed responsibility for an arson attack against a mosque in the area weeks earlier. He was formally charged on Monday with murder and attempted murder, with hate crime allegations, and was set to be arraigned on Tuesday. Authorities have also charged him with arson in connection to the fire last month at an Escondido mosque. His attack on Saturday took place six months to the day after a white supremacist shot dead 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue -- the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US history. "Our son's actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold," Earnest's parents said. "Like our other five children, he was raised in a family, a faith and a community that all rejected hate and taught that love must be the motive for everything we do." They described their son's motivations as "a terrifying mystery" and said they were helping police uncover what had led to "this evil and despicable act." John Singleton directed "Boyz n the Hood" as a 22-year-old fresh out of film school John Singleton, director of the groundbreaking 1991 film "Boyz n the Hood," will be taken off life support after suffering a stroke, his family and US media said Monday. Singleton, 51, directed "Boyz n the Hood" as a 22-year-old fresh out of film school. The flick described youth and violence in South Central Los Angeles, the bleak, gang-ridden neighborhood of his childhood. The movie won Singleton Oscar nominations as best director and best original screenplay, making him the youngest writer-director and first African American to achieve the distinction. He went on to a prolific career as a film director, with credits that included the remake of "Shaft" (2000) and "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003). His work on television included shows such as "Billions," "The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story" and "Empire." "It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off of life support today," his family said. "This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John's doctors." The family provided few details about Singleton's medical crisis, but said he has long suffered from hypertension. US media reports said he was hospitalized April 17 after suffering a stroke. Starring the rapper Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr, "Boyz n the Hood" was a breakthrough success that won special honors at Cannes and in 2002 was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress as a "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" film. The film, which also featured rappers 2 Live Crew and Too $hort, helped to popularize the genre. "Nobody was making movies about what we were going through in Los Angeles," Singleton said, describing his inspiration behind the feature. The exterior of the Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, where a gunman opened fire on Saturday leaving one person dead and three others injured The deadly shootings targeting synagogues in California and Pittsburgh have raised concerns that anti-Semitic hatred is increasingly a rallying point for America's resurgent white supremacists. On Saturday a teenage gunman who wrote a hate-filled manifesto online opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, leaving one woman dead and three others injured, including a rabbi. The latest assault came exactly six months after another man spouting anti-Semitic vitriol shot dead 11 and injured six others at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. And it ignited questions over whether American white supremacists, long overlooked by US law enforcement, are turning their focus on the Jewish community over other targets. In both incidents, the attackers were part of a broader, internet-based far-right community that espouses hate against Muslims, blacks, immigrants and Jews, and advocate for a Caucasian, Christian society based on European culture. A visitor lays flowers at the site of the mass shooting that killed 11 people and wounded 6 at the Tree Of Life Synagogue on October 28, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Analysts say certain websites, particularly the 8chan and Gab messaging platforms, have become breeding grounds for white extremists, encouraging hate and violence against a range of targets including Jews, tapping into age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes. "The alleged attacker's disturbing letter is more than just a hateful tirade," Rita Katz, who researches violent extremism, said of the Poway attack. "It is a product of white nationalist ideology, using specific jargon, points of argument, online meme references, etc. Further proof of how dangerous far-right rhetoric is in inspiring attacks," she wrote on Twitter. - Rising number of incidents - Research by the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups shows that in recent years the number of US incidents involving far right extremists and white nationalists have easily surpassed those of Muslim extremists. "Once again, a young white male has apparently been influenced by dangerous online white supremacist propaganda. And once again, we see how this propaganda can lead to terrorist acts," said Heidi Beirich, Intelligence Project Director at the SPLC. Weapons seized at the Silver Spring, Maryland, home of US Coast Guard officer Christopher Paul Hasson, who espoused white supremacist views White supremacists have gotten tacit encouragement from President Donald Trump, who has been accused of failing to unequivocally condemn their ideology, and whose own anti-immigration policies have targeted most heavily Muslims, Africans and Latinos. Daryl Johnson, a former senior domestic terrorism analyst at the Department of Homeland Security, explains that the white supremacist movement involves many individuals and factions. For someone subscribing to the broader ideology, their choice of a target can arise from their particular experience or neighborhood, he said. Yet anti-Semitism -- which Trump has repeatedly spoken out against -- has become a particular hallmark of this community. One common thread stands out among white extremists on the internet, according to Johnson: the prevalence of global conspiracy theories about Jews. Cesar Sayoc, a Trump supporter who mailed 16 crude bombs last year to prominent Democrats, reportedly ranted to colleagues about Jews as well as blacks and gays. White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' exchange insults with counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017 Jeffrey Clark, a white nationalist arrested in Washington on gun charges last year, was a follower of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter and, according to court documents, together with his brother "fantasized about killing Jews and blacks." A Coast Guard officer, Christopher Hasson, arrested in Maryland near the US capital in February on drug charges, was discovered to have a personal arsenal of combat weapons and neo-Nazi sympathies, and had written about undertaking a mass attack. Two days after the Poway attack, there was a huge number of crude and violent anti-Semitic postings on 8chan, the site where the Poway shooter himself is believed to have posted a statement ahead of the attacks. And yet, analysts say, the spike in anti-Semitic attacks and hate speech in the United States should be viewed in the context of surging right-wing extremism -- whose targets are by no means limited to Jews. The Poway attacker, for instance, may also have attempted to set a nearby mosque on fire in March according to police. Joseph Yun, seen here on an April 2017 visit to Japan, has confirmed that North Korea presented a bill for $2 million to free an American student who died shortly afterward A former diplomat confirmed Monday that the United States agreed to pay $2 million to North Korea to release an American student who had fallen into a coma after alleged torture -- and said Washington should honor the commitment. Joseph Yun, a veteran US diplomat who had flown to Pyongyang in 2017 to bring back 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, said that North Korea presented him with a $2 million bill for his medical expenses. He said he called up then secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who he believed then sought a green light directly from President Donald Trump. Tillerson "got back to me very quickly thereafter to say, yes, go ahead and sign," Yun, who has since left government, told CNN. The Washington Post first reported the payment demand, after which Trump, describing himself as "the greatest hostage negotiator" in US history, tweeted that nothing was paid to North Korea. But Yun said that Trump's decision means that the United States should pay. "If you've signed, if you promised another government from the US government that you'll make the payment, my view certainly is that we should go ahead and meet our commitment," he said, adding that it was a separate issue whether to sign in the first place. - US says won't pay for hostages - The casket of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died shortly after his return from imprisonment in North Korea, is carried at his funeral in June 2017 in the town of Wyoming, Ohio The United States has been adamant that it will not pay for hostages or prisoners, saying it does not want to create incentives to snatch Americans. "At no time in this administration have we paid for any hostage to be released, and we have no intention of doing so," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a forum organized by The Hill newspaper. Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was imprisoned after being accused of taking down a propaganda poster in his hotel during a trip to North Korea. Doctors said he suffered severe brain damage while in North Korean detention, fell into a coma and died days after arriving back in the United States. In December, a US judge found that North Korea tortured Warmbier and awarded his family $501 million from North Korea -- another sum that is unlikely to ever be paid willingly. John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, separately confirmed in an interview with "Fox News Sunday" that North Korea had asked for money to release Warmbier, while noting that he was not in the administration at the time. Asked if the United States paid, Bolton said: "Absolutely not, and I think that's the key point." Since Warmbier's death, Trump has moved to make peace with North Korea and has described himself as fond of its authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un. Trump set off a firestorm after a summit with Kim in February when he said he took the North Korean leader "at his word" that he knew nothing about Warmbier's death. North Korea has denied mistreatment of Warmbier and said that he contracted botulism. A Sri Lankan soldier stands guard outside St Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, one of the targets of the attacks led by Zahran Hashim An alleged follower of Sri Lankan bombing mastermind Zahran Hashim was set to appear before an Indian court Tuesday after admitting he wanted to carry out an attack in India, investigators said. India has been concerned about Islamist extremists on its soil for some time and the April 21 Sri Lanka bombings that killed 253 people has left authorities alarmed that India might be at risk of a jihadist attack. The Indian national, identified as Riyas A, alias Riyas Aboobacker, 29, was arrested on Monday by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA), which handles counter-terrorism cases. During interrogation, he "disclosed that he has been following speeches/videos of Zahran Hashim of Sri Lanka for more than a year", an NIA statement said. "He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala," a southern Indian state, it added. Hashim was a Sri Lankan Muslim preacher who led the coordinated Easter Sunday suicide attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, in one of the world's deadliest terrorist attacks. Military sources have said Hashim was not known to have visited Syria or Iraq, but travelled to India's Tamil Nadu state, which borders Kerala, and had been in contact with Islamists there. Hashim also appeared in a video released by the Islamic State group, showing him leading others in pledging allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. IS has claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka attacks. India had warned Sri Lanka that suicide attacks were possible weeks before. The NIA said that it arrested Riyas "for conspiring to commit a terrorist act" in connection with a 2016 case against an Indian man wanted, along with others, for leaving India to join IS abroad. Riyas had allegedly been in online contact with that suspect, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, alias Abu Isa, and followed his online audio posts including one "instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India", NIA said. - IS in India? - Aboobacker's arrest comes at a time when New Delhi is already anxious about the footprint of IS in the Hindu-majority country. Indian authorities have already arrested several people allegedly inspired by radical Islamist ideology in recent months. In 2016 the NIA launched an investigation into the disappearance of 15 young Indians thought to have left to join IS in Afghanistan and Syria. Pockets of southern India have since been on the radar of Indian investigators concerned over growing radicalism. Kabir Taneja, associate fellow with New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, said that the danger of attacks may have increased since the collapse of IS's "caliphate" across swathes of Iraq and Syria. "I think some level of nervousness is expected, and it's good," Taneja told AFP. "Until now the attraction was to travel to the caliphate. What Sri Lanka might do is push for radicalised people to commit attacks at home," he added. The NIA recently announced that it had arrested an operative in an IS-inspired group that allegedly planned attacks in and around New Delhi. The arrest was soon followed by raids in three different parts of Kerala as part of a separate, ongoing investigation into three people suspected of links with the people who left India to join IS. The NIA said that its raids had recovered mobile phones, memory cards, diaries with handwritten notes and DVDs, and books of the banned Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. US Attorney Nick Hanna said authorities had disrupted a "very real threat" by an Army veteran who was allegedly plotting a large-scale terror attack near Los Angeles A US Army veteran who was allegedly plotting a large-scale terror attack near Los Angeles as revenge for the recent mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, has been arrested, authorities said Monday. Mark Steven Domingo, 26, who had combat experience in Afghanistan and professed to be Muslim, faces federal terror-related charges for plotting to detonate an improvised explosive device (IED) at a white nationalist rally in Long Beach this past weekend with the aim of causing mass casualties, officials said. Domingo was arrested Friday after receiving what he thought was a live bomb packed with nails that was delivered by an undercover agent. According to court documents, Domingo expressed support in online posts and conversations with an FBI source for violent jihad and aspired to become a martyr by seeking retribution for attacks against Muslims. After considering various options -- including targeting Jews, churches, and police officers -- Domingo decided to detonate an IED at the Long Beach rally, which ended up not taking place, authorities said. "This investigation successfully disrupted a very real threat posed by a trained combat soldier who repeatedly stated he wanted to cause the maximum number of casualties," said US Attorney Nick Hanna. Domingo, who served in Afghanistan between September 2012 and January 2013, in one message posted to a private group online in early March referred to a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 that left 58 dead. "America needs another Vegas event... that would give them the taste of terror they gladly spread all over the world," he said. In another posting on March 14, he wrote: "There were mosque shootings in New Zealand. There must be retribution." Authorities said he was referring to the New Zealand mosques massacre the previous day in which 50 people were killed. After several weeks of plotting with an undercover FBI informant and considering various targets, Domingo finally set his sights on the rally in Long Beach and bought several hundred three-inch (7.6-centimeter) nails to be used as shrapnel inside an explosive device "because they would be long enough to penetrate the human body and puncture internal organs," the complaint says. He was arrested after an undercover officer handed him inert devices and the pair traveled to the Long Beach park where the rally was set to take place to conduct surveillance. "I'm extremely glad to be announcing that we interdicted a potential terrorist attack, rather than outlining the FBI's response to yet another tragedy," said Paul Delacourt, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. "At no time was the public in danger and there is currently no known threat to public safety." Domingo has been charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison on the charge. He was due to make an initial appearance on court later Monday. Abdul Kadir (center, in pale suit), a former Guyana parliamentarian, was sentenced to life in prison in the United States after being found guilty of plotting a 2007 bomb attack at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York The United States hit out at Guyana's parliament on Monday for approving a resolution honoring "convicted terrorist" Abdul Kadir, who died in prison last year while serving a life sentence for plotting to bomb New York's JFK airport. Kadir, a former Guyana parliamentarian, was extradited to the US where he was convicted in 2010 for arranging financing for the 2007 plot. The US embassy in Georgetown blasted the National Assembly for choosing "to honor a man who conspired to kill innocent people from across the United States and around the world. "This resolution is an insensitive and thoughtless act, which demonstrates the National Assembly's disregard for the gravity of Kadir's actions." Kadir died in a US prison in June 2018, after which his body was returned to Guyana. The US said the resolution called into question Guyana's reputation as a country that promotes religious tolerance and would undermine co-operation between the two countries in fighting crime. "Members of Parliament have placed this resolution in direct contradiction to the efforts of security cooperation between our two countries," the US embassy said. The National Assembly resolution hailed Kadir, a legislator from 2001-06, as "dedicated" and a "great man." "With this resolution, honoring a convicted terrorist, members of Guyana's National Assembly have left a stain on their legacy as representatives of the Guyanese people and on their commitment to the rule of law," the US said. The resolution was approved by government's 33 parliamentarians but was boycotted by the opposition People's Progressive Party, which also condemned the decision. Kadir, a chemical engineer, converted to Islam in 1974. He was arrested in 2007 in Trinidad from where he was scheduled to transit to Venezuela to collect a visa to travel to Iran for an Islamic conference. He was convicted for plotting with others to blow up fuel tanks and pipelines at the John F. Kennedy airport. A Guyana imam, Kareem Ibrahim and a naturalized US citizen, Russell Defreitas, were also sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the planned attack, while a fourth man, Islamic militant Abdel Nur was given 15 years. Google's parent company Alphabet took a hit on disappointing revenue growth as profits were dented by a big EU antitrust fine Google parent Alphabet on Monday reported that profit in the first three months of this year sagged under the weight of a hefty antitrust fine in the European Union. Alphabet said that profit in the first-quarter fell 29 percent to $6.7 billion on revenue that climbed 17 percent to $36.3 billion. The earnings took a hit from a European Commission fine that amounted to $1.7 billion at the end of March, according to the quarterly update. Google shares were down 7.2 percent to $1,202.39 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings report. Though profits excluding the one-time costs were better than expected, revenue growth was below forecasts for the technology colossus which is the dominant internet search company and operator of the ubiquitous Android mobile operating system. Chief financial officer Ruth Porat said in the release the results showed "robust growth" led by mobile search, ad revenues from YouTube videos and cloud computing. "We remain focused on, and excited by, the significant growth opportunities across our businesses," she said. Google's lucrative advertising platform remained the largest revenue driver for Alphabet, delivering more than $30 billion of revenues, but costs rose sharply as well. Investors seemed concerned that earnings figures showed the growth rate of ad clicks slowed while the trend toward lower-priced mobile ads continued. - Rising cloud - The California giant showed widening losses for its "other bets" including the Waymo self-driving car project, Verily life sciences and services for internet for remote parts of the world and drone delivery. "Other bets" showed an operating loss of $858 million, up from $571 million a year ago while revenues rose modestly to $170 million. Some of the projects are moving closer to fruition: Wing became the first drone delivery company to receive air carrier certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Waymo has begun a limited rollout of its robotaxis in Arizona in partnership with automakers. And, while the company's Pixel smartphones have seen traction slowed by heavy competition in the premium handset market, it was pleased with momentum for Home devices infused with digital assistant software. Porat teased a hardware announcement along those lines at Google's annual developers conference next week in its home town of Mountain View, California. It is seeing growth in cloud computing for businesses, a market where Google is competing against Amazon, Microsoft and others. "Google Cloud Platform remains one of the fastest growing businesses in Alphabet with strong customer momentum reflected in particular in demand for our compute and data analytics products," Porat said in a call with analysts. Google planned to continue investing heavily in data centers, engineers, and digital content for streaming video offerings at YouTube. - Google and 'techlash' - Google has been accused by EU authorities of abusing its dominant position and by US President Donald Trump of "bias" in search results But Google continues to face pressure around the world from regulators, notably in Europe amid multiple investigations over alleged abuse of its dominance in internet search, advertising and its mobile system. The latest fine imposed by Brussels cited Google's AdSense advertising service, saying it illegally restricted client websites from displaying messages from ad service rivals. Google is separately working to satisfy EU regulators investigating its hugely popular Android devices following a $5 billion fine last year. This month, Google said it would offer smartphone users five browsers and search engines as part of the company's effort to meet EU competition concerns. Brussels accused Google of using the Android system's dominance of smartphones and tablets to promote the use of its own Google search engine and Chrome browser and shut out rivals. In the United States, Google has been a target of President Donald Trump and his allies, accusing the search giant of "bias" and silencing conservative voices, claims denied by the Silicon Valley firm. Her parents, Josh Perry and Shelli Yoder, were already in bed that night when they got the call about what had happened to Oakley. They jumped in the car and arrived at Riley about two hours before their daughter. Once she made it, doctors closely observed her condition, her toe still oozing and bruised. By lunchtime, Perry said, physicians reassured the parents that Oakley would be OK. Mohamed Noor told the court he shot Justine Damond to protect his partner Jurors began deliberating Monday in the murder trial of a US former police officer who gunned down an Australian woman in 2017 in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis. Mohamed Noor, 33, last week told the court he shot Justine Damond to protect his partner. He faces up to 40 years in prison if jurors reject his defense and decide the shooting was murder or manslaughter. The former policeman targeted Damond, 40, from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was in with his partner, Matthew Harrity. 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," Sweasy said. "This is no accident. This is intentional murder," she said. Noor previously 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. Sweasy, 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. Construction of a new migrant processing facility is underway at the Customs and Border Protection - El Paso Border Patrol Station in El Paso, Texas on April 26, 2019 The US Defense Department announced Monday it would deploy around 320 additional troops to the southern border with Mexico to support immigration officials. The troops, set to deploy until the end of September, will add to around 2,900 active duty military and 2,000 National Guard members currently posted to the border. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis said the troops would assist with transporting migrants, monitoring the welfare of migrants in custody and providing heating and meals. The troops are not tasked to perform any law enforcement functions. "In any situation that requires DoD personnel to be in proximity to migrants, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) law enforcement personnel will be present to conduct all custodial and law enforcement functions," Davis said. In recent months, thousands of migrants have arrived in Mexico, primarily Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence at home. US President Donald Trump has described them as a threat to national security. He also said last week that the United States would send armed soldiers to the southern border after Mexican soldiers recently "pulled guns" on US troops, escalating his war of words with Mexico on immigration. The president, who has made immigration the core of his message to his conservative base, said on Twitter that "a very big Caravan of over 20,000 people" is making its way through Mexico toward the United States. A Nasamosaic image of asteroid Bennu, composed of 12 PolyCam images Here's a hypothetical: a telescope detects an asteroid between 100 and 300 meters in diameter racing through our solar system at 14 kilometers per second, 57 million kilometers from Earth. Astronomers estimate a one percent risk the space rock will collide with our planet on April 27, 2027. What should we do? It's this potentially catastrophic scenario that 300 astronomers, scientists, engineers and emergency experts are applying their collective minds to this week in a Washington suburb, the fourth such international effort since 2013. "We have to make sure people understand this is not about Hollywood," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine as he opened the sixth International Planetary Defense Conference at the University of Maryland's campus in College Park. Countries represented include China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia and the United States. The idea that the planet Earth may one day have to defend itself against an asteroid used to elicit what experts call a "giggle factor." But a meteor that blew up in the atmosphere over Russia on February 15, 2013, helped put an end to the sneers. On that morning, a 65-foot (20-meter) asteroid appear out of nowhere over the southern Urals, exploding 14 miles (23 kilometers) above the town of Chelyabinsk with such force that it shattered the windows of thousands of buildings. A thousand people were injured by the shards. But "the positive aspect of Chelyabinsk is that it made the public aware, it made the political decision makers aware," Detlef Koschny, co-manager of the Planetary Defence Office of the European Space Agency (ESA) told AFP. - How many? - A meteorite trail is seen above a residential apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, on February 15, 2013 Only those asteroids whose orbit around our Sun brings them within 31 million miles of our planet -- defined as "near Earth" -- are of interest. Astronomers are finding new ones each day: more than 700 so far this year, for a total of 20,001, said Lindley Johnson of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was created in 2016. Among the most risky is a rock named 2000SG344: 165 feet in diameter, with a one in 2,096 chance in striking the Earth within a hundred years, according to the ESA. The majority are very small, but 942 are more than 0.6 miles across, estimates astronomer Alan Harris. The scientist told an audience that some large ones are probably still out there: "A fair fraction of the biggest ones are hiding... basically parked behind the Sun." They are found mainly by two US telescopes, one in Arizona and the other in Hawaii. The ESA has built a telescope for this purpose in Spain and is planning others in Chile and Sicily. Many astronomers are demanding a space telescope because terrestrial telescopes are unable to detect objects on the other side of the Sun. - Deflecting an asteroid - A view of the facade of a local paint and varnish plant damaged by a shockwave from a meteor in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013 This week's exercise seeks to simulate global response to a catastrophic meteorite. The first step is aiming telescopes at the threat to precisely calculate its speed and trajectory, following rough initial estimates. Then it boils down to two choices: try to deflect the object, or evacuate. If it is less than 165 feet, the international consensus is to evacuate the threatened region. According to Koschny, it is possible to predict the country it will strike two weeks ahead. Days away from impact, it can be narrowed down to within hundreds of kilometers. What about bigger objects? Trying to nuke them to smithereens like in the movie Armageddon would be bad idea, because it could just create smaller but still dangerous pieces. The plan, instead, is to launch a device toward the asteroid to divert its trajectory -- like a cosmic bumper car. NASA plans to test this idea out on a real asteroid 492 feet across, in 2022, with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. One issue that remains is politics, says Romana Kofler, of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. "Who would be the decision making authority?" she asked. "The consensus was to leave this aspect out." The United Nations Security Council would likely be convened, but it's an open question as to whether rich countries would finance an operation if they themselves weren't in the sights of 2000SG344 or another celestial rock. Abdelkader Ouazzani is the last of Morocco's brocade master weavers and has his workshop in the old city of Fes Abdelkader Ouazzani, the last of Morocco's brocade master weavers, has been repeating the same gestures for 63 years in his dilapidated workshop in the heart of the old city of Fes. "This profession is vanishing... There were many craftsmen in Fes, but they all died and only memories remain," says the 79-year-old weaver, the last witness of a bygone era. His skillful hands intricately create shimmering silk fabrics, enhanced with gold or silver thread, for bridal jewellery, designer creations or high-end furnishings. He creates shimmering silk fabrics, enhanced with gold or silver thread, for bridal jewellery, designer creations or high-end furnishings His entire body engages in the delicate job, using a complex drawloom mechanism made up of a large wooden frame topped with beams, rafters, blades, pulleys and counterweights. His feet rest on the wooden pedals, his shoulders are bent forward, his arms move apart with each launch of the wooden shuttle. "It's all a question of calculation, each thread takes its path: it's like mathematics," says the old man. He is secretive about the "rules of the art" which he learnt long ago in his youth, when, he says, "there were no industrial machines" to do the job. - Ancestral know-how - His work is both physical and meticulous: it takes an entire day to weave a metre (three feet) of brocade. "Not everybody is allowed to see that, it's very special, he is the last man working like that," explains a tour guide who has led a group of Thai tourists here. It takes a day to weave a metre (three feet) of brocade at Ouazzani's workshop in Fes They are visiting on the recommendation of the wife of the head of a major Moroccan bank, herself a client of the workshop. An article in the historical journal "Hesperis", published in 1950 by the Institute of Higher Moroccan Studies, described the weaving of brocades from Fes as a tradition that "disappeared everywhere else in North Africa". It said that the ancestral know-how had its roots in the era of the Merinid sultans of the 13th century. "In the 1950s, there were still four or five workshops left," says Mohamed Akhda, the guide in charge of the Thai guests. "In the 1950s, there were still four or five workshops left," a tour guide tells his Thai group. Now Ouazzani is Morocco's last one "You are now in the last one left in the country." Ouazzani says he can't find a young apprentice to take over his workshop. "People no longer want to learn this profession," he says. "No-one cares." "The future of this refined craft is now threatened," confirms a new panel affixed by the tourist office outside the workshop, hailing Ouazzani as an "undisputed master of the craft". - 'Elite of the elite' - As fashions have changed, the wide, colourful belts that for centuries were the pride of the master weavers of Fes gradually stopped selling. Fashions have changed and the wide, colourful belts that for centuries were the pride of the master weavers of Fes gradually stopped selling In the age of globalisation, the final blow came with industrial-scale competition. In Fes as elsewhere, some souvenir shops now sell low-end products that are machine woven in China. Ouazzani, on the other hand, works on commission for a clientele he describes as "the elite of the elite". His rare fabrics cost up to 5,000 dirhams per metre (about 500 euros, $560), depending on the complexity of the patterns. The ancestral know-how of brocade weaving has its roots in the era of the Merinid sultans of the 13th century, historical journal "Hesperis" has said A digital tablet he uses to show pictures of his most beautiful pieces -- and of his grandchildren -- is the only modern object in his workshop that is otherwise crammed with ancient furniture. On the high walls of the dark room hang framed diplomas and faded pages from fashion magazines. The master hides his most cherished "treasures" in a small wooden cupboard protected by a dusty tablecloth. With an expansive gesture, he unfolds his "catalogue", a 16-metre-long roll of fabric with motifs that range from the Hispanic-Moorish tradition to Oriental art or European designs. "This one I made for Colette," says the weaver, showing a photo of a caftan with a purple geometric pattern on a black background. His pride and joy, the exquisite work was displayed in the window of the famous French boutique which until its closure in 2017 was one of the most popular addresses in chic Paris. Fish swimming off the coral rich coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada In serene turquoise waters off Egypt's Red Sea coast, scuba divers ease among delicate pink jellyfish and admire coral -- yet a rebounding tourism sector threatens the fragile marine ecosystem. The Red Sea is a top scuba diving destination, but Egypt's tourism sector was buffeted by a wave of security shocks through much of this decade, before a partial recovery since 2017. A diving instructor in the town of Hurghada, a top resort, warned that the rebound brought dangers for the corals. Before the decline in visitors "there was way too much activity because it was so cheap" he said, asking to remain anonymous. "In some areas, they've disappeared -- although in others we see they're coming back". The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says coral reefs are among "the most beautiful, biologically diverse and delicate ecosystems in the world". It describes these resources as vital to maintaining food supply and protecting the shorelines of low-lying island nations. Along the seafront in the town of Hurghada, bazaars and resorts offer unbeatable prices to attract budget-conscious European visitors to a country whose vital tourism sector was battered by a 2011 uprising and multiple jihadist attacks. Following the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, tourist arrivals in Egypt plunged. The sector took a further beating in 2015, when jihadists blew up a Russian plane that took off from another major Red Sea resort, Sharm al-Sheikh, killing 224 people. Egypt's tourism sector took a major hit from a series of security shocks, including the downing of a passenger jet packed full of Russian tourists in 2015, before rebounding from 2017 But the contribution of Egypt's tourism sector to GDP rose 16.5 percent last year to $29.6 billion (26.5 billion euros), the highest level since 2010, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Egypt has not published its own official statistics for the year. German tourist Daniel, 29, said he was partly attracted to Egypt by the low prices. "It's a lot cheaper than the Caribbean," he said as he tanned his pale skin on a private beach in Hurghada. - 'Tourism revival good' - Flippers on their feet and air tanks on their backs, the mostly European tourists swim in tranquil waters just off Hurghada. Ten metres below the surface, clown and butterfly fish swim among green and purple corals. It's "very beautiful," said an Estonian tourist as she clambered back onto the boat, her blond wet hair protruding from her black wetsuit. UNEP estimates that about 20 per cent of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed and a further 60 per cent are under threat -- from climate change, overfishing and tourism. Many people who live close to reefs depend on them for a living, and Egypt's resort towns are no exception. The rebound in tourism could put further pressure on Egypt's corals, according to local experts Scientists consider the Red Sea's reefs the most climate change-resilient corals but say they are still under threat. "The revival of tourism in Egypt is a good thing, but it has increased pressure" on the reefs, said Heba Shawky, managing director of the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association. The campaign group was founded in 1992 by diving professionals who were worried about the potential impact of mass tourism in the region. Around 1,700 tourist boats operate along Egypt's Red Sea coast, according to the Red Sea province, while the Suez Canal Authority says 18,174 commercial vessels passed through the Suez Canal last year. Shawky said the NGO has set up around 1,200 buoys on various dive sites to prevent the use of anchors, which damage corals. But, she added, much remains to be done -- such as reducing the number and size of dive boats, which can be up to 50 metres (55 yards) long. "It's about limiting the number of users per day to tackle the problem of the growing number of boats," Shawky said. General Ahmed Abdallah, governor of Egypt's Red Sea province, agreed. "We are making every effort to preserve the marine environment and stop any pollution affecting the reefs," he told AFP. Abdallah pointed to the absence of highly polluting industries such as steel, cement or ceramics production in the region. He also noted the province's recent decision to ban single-use plastics, which are highly damaging to marine life. - 'Need to do more' - With up to 12 million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans every year, the UNEP believes marine plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Red Sea province recently banned single use plastics, but an Egyptian academic says more needs to be done to preserve marine heritage "We are making a lot of effort, but we need to do more," said Mahmoud Hanafy, a professor in marine biology at Suez Canal University and an advisor to Shawky's association. He urged authorities to declare some reefs protected sites to prevent them being "over-exploited". He also suggested following the lead of Australia and the Maldives by creating artificial reefs, sometimes with 3D printing, to ease the pressure on natural corals. Shawky contended that there is no contradiction between protecting the environment and supporting tourism. Unlike other parts of Egypt, "we don't have pyramids or temples," she said. "We have living resources under water. So by preserving the environment, we support the tourism industry." Virgin Australia said it will defer delivery of the first batch of 737 MAX planes from November 2019 to July 2021 Virgin Australia said on Tuesday it had delayed delivery of its order of 48 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft over safety concerns, following two deadly crashes. The 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide since mid-March following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight and an earlier Lion Air crash in Indonesia, which killed a total of 346 passengers and crew. Virgin Australia said in a statement that it was deferring delivery of its first batch of planes from November 2019 to July 2021. "Safety is always the number one priority for Virgin Australia. As we have previously stated, we will not introduce any new aircraft to the fleet unless we are completely satisfied with its safety," Virgin Chief Executive Paul Scurrah said. "We are confident in Boeing's 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." Virgin also said it was shifting some of its orders of 737 MAX 8s to Max 10s while keeping the total at 48 planes. The Virgin announcement comes as Boeing executives faced several shareholder challenges Monday at its annual general meeting, with the crisis raising questions about whether the aerospace giant put profits ahead of safety to market a new narrow-body plane. The US firm has said both crashes involved erroneous information generated by the anti-stall system. But it has defended the design of the MAX saying multiple factors can contribute to catastrophic accidents. Boeing expects the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a test flight of a software fix for the anti-stall system soon. Moroccans paid tribute to Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen (L) and Norwegian Maren Ueland after they were murdered Two dozen suspects are set to go on trial in Morocco Thursday for offences linked to the gruesome murder of two young Scandinavian hikers late last year that shocked the North African country. Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland had their throats slit before they were beheaded in December at an isolated site in the High Atlas mountains. Three main defendants accused of direct involvement in the murders and who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group could theoretically face the death penalty. A total of 24 defendants are due to appear before a criminal court in Sale to answer charges including promoting terrorism, forming a terrorist cell and premeditated murder. A Spanish-Swiss convert to Islam is among the suspects who are due to face justice in the city near Rabat. But families of the slain hikers and their lawyers will not attend the trial, according to information obtained by AFP. Rachid Afatti (L), Ouziad Younes (C), and Ejjoud Abdessamad (R) -- three of the suspects in the grisly murder of Scandinavian hikers Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland Nature lovers, the two friends shared an apartment and went to Norway's Bo University where they were studying to be guides. They had travelled together to Morocco for their Christmas holidays. Their lives were cut short in the foothills of Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the city of Marrakesh, a tourist magnet. - 'Enemies of Allah' - After the bodies were discovered, the Moroccan authorities were initially cautious, referring to a "criminal act" and wounds to the victims' necks. But that all changed when a video showing one of the victims being beheaded -- filmed by one of the killers on a mobile phone -- circulated on social networks. One of the killers refers to "enemies of Allah" and revenge for brothers in Syria. The video did the rounds online in Morocco, Norway and Denmark. Danish police said last month they had launched prosecutions against 14 people suspected of sharing the gruesome video. A separate video in the initial aftermath of the murder showed the alleged killers pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, under the jihadist organisation's banner. Police quickly arrested a first suspect in the suburbs of Marrakesh, and three others were arrested a few days later when they tried to leave the city by bus. Mountains near the tourist village of Imlil in the High Atlas range, where the two Scandinavian hikers were murdered in December last year Aged from 25 to 33, all had struggled to get by in poor districts of Marrakesh. They made a living from "small jobs" and were educated to a "very low" level, according to investigators. They had recently embraced Salafism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, according to friends, neighbours and some family members. The "terrorist cell" was inspired by IS ideology, according to investigators. But Morocco's anti-terror chief has said the accused had no contact with the jihadist group in conflict zones. And IS has never claimed responsibility for the double-murder. - Death penalty petitions - Abdessamad Ejjoud, a 25-year-old street vendor referred to as the emir of the group by peers, is the suspected ringleader of the operational cell and a wider group he formed in Marrakesh, according to investigators. Twenty others are due to face justice in Sale for links to the alleged killers. Among them is Kevin Zoller Guervos, a Spanish-Swiss citizen living in Morocco. Authorities allege he subscribes to "extremist ideology". He stands accused of teaching the main suspects how to use encrypted communications and how to fire a gun, according to investigators. Suspected of being a recruiter, he denied all charges when brought in front of an anti-terror judge. Moroccans light candles and lay flowers by portraits of murdered Danish Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Norwegian Maren Ueland in Rabat, in December last year Another Swiss citizen arrested after the double-murder was tried separately and sentenced in mid-April to 10 years in prison for "forming a terrorist group" and for his links to another extremist network. Until last year, Morocco had been spared jihadist attacks since 2011, when a bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakesh's famed Jamaa El Fna Square killed 17 people, most of them European tourists. Attacks in the North African state's financial capital Casablanca killed 33 people in 2003. Those attacks -- carried out by 12 suicide operatives who came from one of Casablanca's main shanty towns -- greatly affected public opinion. Morocco has since improved its security and legal framework, alongside boosting supervision of religious affairs and anti-terror cooperation with other states. Petitions on the internet have called for anyone convicted of the Scandinavian hikers' double murder to face the death penalty. Death sentences are sometimes still handed down in Morocco, but a de facto moratorium on carrying out executions has been in place since 1993, and there is an ongoing debate over potential abolition. Five wounded foreigners were still in hospital after the April 21 blasts at churches and hotels claimed by the Islamic State group Sri Lankan authorities have identified 42 foreign nationals among the 253 people killed in the string of Easter suicide bombings, officials said Tuesday. Another 12 foreigners remain unaccounted for and could be among still unidentified bodies at Colombo's police morgue, foreign ministry officials said. Five wounded foreigners were still in hospital after the April 21 blasts at churches and hotels claimed by the Islamic State group. A ministry statement said the highest number of victims were from India (11) followed by Britain (six), China (four) and Denmark (three). Saudi Arabia, Spain and Turkey lost two nationals each. Bangladesh, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, United States, all lost one national. There were six other people with more than one nationality. Previously authorities had said that 40 foreign nationals were killed and had not given a breakdown on their nationalities. "Human remains of 25 foreign nationals have been repatriated by Monday evening," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "Additionally, 12 foreign nationals are unaccounted for at present, and could be among the unidentified victims at the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer's mortuary." Identification of those killed at the luxury hotels was difficult because many of the bodies were badly mutilated, health authorities have said. The government has declared a state of emergency after the devastating blasts and banned two jihadists groups accused of responsibility for the bombings. Many tourists have left the country after the attacks and there has been a sharp decline in the number of foreigners visiting the island after several countries warned against travel to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's finance ministry expects a 30-percent decline in tourist arrivals this year leading to a loss in revenues of about $1.5 billion. 'There is no safe place on earth right now for Jews,' says Serge Klarsfeld, France's most famous Nazi hunter France's most famous Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld on Monday slammed the resurgence of "anti-Jewish hate," days after a teenage gunman's deadly attack on a synagogue in California. "There is no safe place on earth right now for Jews," the 83-year-old told AFP in an interview in Washington. John Earnest, 19, posted a virulently anti-Semitic letter on right-wing internet forums and armed himself with an assault rifle before carrying out the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue, near San Diego, on Saturday. He killed a 60-year-old woman and wounded three others, including the rabbi and a young child -- and would have likely claimed more lives had his weapon not jammed. It came exactly six months after a similar shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue left 11 dead, the worst attack against Jews in the history of the United States. - Trump 'fails to see the danger' - "It's tragic to see that on both sides of the Atlantic there has been a resurgence in attacks," said Klarsfeld, who is also a noted historian. "Anti-Jewish hate lives on." Serge Klarsfeld, who dedicated his life to bringing former Nazis to justice, was speaking alongside his equally celebrated wife Beate Klarsfeld Klarsfeld, who dedicated his life to bringing former Nazis to justice, was speaking alongside his equally celebrated wife Beate, who is 80. The couple are in Washington to receive the Elie Wiesel Prize, the highest award given out by the United States Holocaust Museum. Klarsfeld, who like the late Wiesel was born in Romania, said he was disturbed by the sometimes ambiguous stance of President Donald Trump on the rising tide of white supremacy in the US. "I have not heard President Trump take a strong position against the far right here, whereas in France, in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, leaders of states always have a firmer response," he said. "Either he fails to see the danger, or he doesn't believe it is dangerous," added Klarsfeld. "I think that the Jews of the United States, who are very grateful to him for what he did for the Jewish state, that is to say Israel, expect him to react against those who threaten the wellbeing of American Jews," added the historian, referring to the recognition by the Republican billionaire of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Chabad of Poway congregation console one another after a teenage gunman stormed their synagogue on the last day of Passover, killing one and wounding three The New York Times on Saturday apologized for publishing a cartoon that showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog, wearing a collar with the Star of David, leading a blind Donald Trump who wore a kippah. Klarsfeld said the cartoon was "insulting," for Trump as much as for Netanyahu who was "treated like a dog." "It is an anti-Semitic cartoon, that is to say that Jews are guiding the world and that corresponds to a stereotype very common among the far right, which one also finds on the far left," he said. Klarsfeld, who spent decades working to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, is worried about the future of Europe and called on centrists to mobilize ahead of the next European elections. "Never has a far-right or far-left regime made its people happy and prosperous, inevitably the extremes of power lead to misery and barbed wire." China has freed dozens of Uighur women from internment camps on condition they prove their "adaptability to Chinese society" with acts forbidden to Muslims such as drinking alcohol and eating pork, their Pakistani husbands have told AFP Their Uighur wives vanished in 2017, swept up in a Chinese dragnet tackling Islamic extremism, now they've been released -- but the Pakistani husbands left behind say freedom has come at a price: The women must prove their "adaptability to Chinese society", and publicly sacrifice their religious ideals. The group of around 40 women -- all from the western Chinese province of Xinjiang and married to traders from neighbouring Pakistan -- were among some one million people believed to be held in a network of internment camps that authorities downplay as "vocational education centres". But the men say their partners were forced into acts that are haram, or forbidden, to followers of Islam -- both in the camps and now they've been freed. "She said they had to eat pork and drink alcohol, something she still has to do," one merchant, who recently visited his wife at her parents' house in Xinjiang told AFP, on condition of anonymity. "She was told that she had to satisfy the authorities that she no longer possesses radical thoughts if she does not want to go back," he explained, adding that she had given up praying and the Quran had been replaced by books on China at his in-laws home. Some of the traders, who traditionally leave their wives in Xinjiang for weeks or months at a time when they return home to conduct business, believe the women were taken to the camps because of their connection to Pakistan, which is an Islamic republic. Former detainees have said they were held simply for following Islamic traditions, such as having a long beard or wearing a veil. But with the detention centres, part of a security clampdown targeting Muslims including ethnic Uighurs, facing growing international condemnation and China pushing its economic relationship with Pakistan, authorities began slowly releasing the women two months ago. Faiz Ullah Faraq, a spokesman for the government of Gilgit-Baltistan, the Pakistani region which borders Xinjiang, confirmed the "majority" have now been released. - Surveillance and repercussions - AFP interviewed nine of the women's husbands, who confirm their wives are free but cannot leave Xinjiang for three months, during which time they will be closely monitored. "They will observe her adaptability to Chinese society and if they deem her to be unfit she will be sent back," a gemstone trader said of the rules of release. Their initial joy at the release of much-loved wives and mothers has faded because the women who've returned are like strangers. "My wife said she was forced to dance, wear revealing clothes, eat pork and drink alcohol in the camp," he revealed, adding that she now carries with her a book of guidelines, which features illustrations such as a mosque marked with a red cross, and a Chinese flag with a green tick. Around 40 Uighur women -- all from the western Chinese province of Xinjiang and married to traders from neighbouring Pakistan -- were among some one million people believed to be held in a network of internment camps "She used to pray regularly but now it's gone, and she has started occasionally drinking (alcohol) which she does in the restaurants," he explained, adding that he believed officials required such acts from the women. He too declined to give his name for fear of repercussions from authorities, who make surprise visits to his wife's home in Xinjiang every week. James Leibold, an expert on Chinese security at Australia's La Trobe University, told AFP that stepped-up surveillance policies in Xinjiang gave authorities "increased confidence" in their ability to closely monitor those released from the camps. Since their release, the families of many of the women say they have become paranoid and fear of being reported on. "The worst thing was her silence," the merchant explained, adding: "She suspects everyone, her parents, her family, even me." The seven other traders interviewed by AFP, anonymously, have been in contact with their wives only by telephone and gave similar testimonies. - 'Serious abuses' - The Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing declined to comment on the releases, and a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman did not respond to requests. In an interview with Pakistani TV channel HUM news, Lijian Zhao, deputy head of mission at the Chinese Embassy branded claims the government is forcing Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol in Xinjiang as "propaganda from the west". He said: "They are trying...to create differences between China and Pakistan and other Muslim countries." Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on China, said the activist group has heard stories of people being released from the camps and subjected to house arrests or severe restrictions on movement. "These releases may indicate that the Chinese government is increasingly sensitive to heightening international pressure over its serious abuses in Xinjiang," she said. Last month US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo renewed demands China end its widespread detention of Uighur Muslims as he met with Mihrigul Tursun, who claims to be a former detainee, and has spoken publicly about what she said was widespread torture in the camps. Beijing "cannot afford international criticism of its policies in Xinjiang to spread throughout the Muslim world, especially in Pakistan", China security expert Leibold explained. In recent years, China has strongly pushed its relationship with Pakistan, investing heavily in infrastructure projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor In recent years, China has strongly pushed its relationship with Pakistan, investing heavily in infrastructure projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. For its part, Pakistan has been reluctant to publicly join global condemnation of Beijing's crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang. When pressed on the subject in a recent interview with the Financial Times, Prime Minister Imran Khan said: "Frankly, I don't know much about that." But for the merchant and the other traders, it is as though their wives are still lost. He explained: "My wife, a practising Muslim, has been turned into someone I could not even imagine. She has given up her prayers, drinks and eats pork," He added: "I am afraid our marriage will not last long because she is a completely different person, someone whom I don't know." Yeah, the Night King. A former human turned ice demon, controlling a vast army of the dead who run in fast zombie fashion. He was about to take over the entire world. But then he got cocky and ran into the daughter I never had, Arya Stark, and she gave him something hell never forget. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit will appear before Thailand's Election Commission to explain a disputed share transfer The billionaire leader of the newest and most dynamic force in Thai politics says he is "prepared" for jail as legal cases besiege his youth-focused party just weeks after it scooped up millions of votes in a general election. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the charismatic political newcomer whose radical agenda of social and economic reform captured millennial hearts and rattled the ruling junta, will appear at the Election Commission later Tuesday to explain a disputed share transfer. It is the latest of a battery of moves against Thanathorn and his Future Forward Party, which secured over six million votes in March 24 elections but is now hemmed in by 16 separate legal cases. "I knew from the day we launched the party that the threats would come sooner or later," he told AFP on Monday from his mansion in a Bangkok suburb. "It is sooner than we thought." The commission poses a real and immediate challenge. It is expected to rule over coming days on an allegation that Thanathorn breached election rules by owning shares in a media company. Preliminary results of Thailand's election on March 24 The 40-year-old insists the shares were divested weeks before he registered to run, rubbishing the charge as a political hatchet job. The commission can suspend Thanathorn from political activity -- a potential gut punch to his nascent movement, which relies heavily on his star power and the social media conversation he has started with younger voters. It could also forward his case to higher courts which carry heavy jail sentences for breaching election rules and can ultimately disband the party. He also faces a sedition charge with a potential seven-year jail sentence. But Thanathorn struck a defiant note as his powerful political enemies circle. "I'm prepared mentally and physically for whatever comes," the scion of an auto-parts fortune said. - 'Time is with us' - Future Forward has shaken up the Thai political landscape -- long framed by loyalty to the royalist, conservative establishment or the populist and self-exiled ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. March's poll was the first since Thailand's junta seized power in 2014. But a new government has yet to be declared amid allegations of vote-rigging and other political chicanery by the junta-allied party, which is desperate to return to power with a majority of Lower House seats. The Thai junta and its political allies deny accusations they are trying to rig the March poll "The military government will do whatever it takes to stay in power. They are willing to rig the election and use legal threats," Thanathorn said. The junta and its political allies deny the accusations. The pro- and anti-military camps are striving to form a coalition to reach the magic mark of 250 lower house seats -- a majority to form a government. Neither bloc had a commanding lead after preliminary results. The Election Commission has said it will announce near-complete results on May 9. Critics say the inexplicable delay in announcing full results is allowing political loyalties to be traded and seats to be chipped away. March's poll was the first since Thailand's junta, led by Prayut Chan-o-cha, seized power in 2014 Future Forward, now Thailand's third largest party, says several of its candidates have been approached in recent weeks with cash inducements of over $1 million to defect. While the legal assaults have put a pin in the elation that followed their shock poll showing, Thanathorn remains confident of the long game against an ageing out-of-touch junta and its establishment allies. "These people (the junta) don't want to see the future. But time is with us." burs-apj/joe/gle 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 New Zealand police found a suspected bomb and ammunition Tuesday in a vacant lot in Christchurch, the scene of last month's mosque shootings which killed 50 Muslim worshippers. Police cordoned off streets late Tuesday afternoon in the Phillipstown area just outside the central business district and evacuated local houses. Shortly after 6:00pm (0600 GMT) they said a military bomb squad had rendered a suspicious package safe and a 33-year-old man had been arrested and was "assisting police with inquiries". "Police have located a package containing a suspected explosive device and ammunition at a vacant address on Newcastle Street in Christchurch," superintendent John Price said in a statement. "The NZDF EOD (NZ Defence Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team have rendered the package safe." Price did not provide any background about the man or his possible motivations. 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. Just last week, the South Island city hosted a massive security operation as Britain's Prince William visited survivors of the atrocity and praised the country's response to the massacre. While the cordons prompted by the latest scare had been lifted, Price urged residents to remain vigilant. "Members of the community are asked to continue to report any concerning behaviour or activity in their neighbourhoods as we all work together to ensure the safety of our community," he said. 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. The four-day World Dog Show was in China for the first time Shanghai opened one of the world's biggest dog shows on Tuesday but animal activists and online critics have condemned China's hosting of the event due to the widespread consumption of dog meat in the country. The four-day World Dog Show comes for the first time to China, which consumes around one-third of the estimated 30 million dogs eaten for their meat worldwide by humans each year, according to Humane Society International. Britain's The Kennel Club, which calls itself the world's oldest such organisation, has already announced it was snubbing the event, citing the sometimes "brutal" methods used in China to slaughter canines. "The Kennel Club will not be attending the show with its roadshow stand," it said in a statement on its website. Various animal rights organisations have launched campaigns against the decision by the Belgium-based World Canine Organisation, known by its French acronym FCI, to award the event to China, and a petition on social-action site Care2.com has drawn more than 700,000 signatures. Activist groups said they were using the event to highlight the dichotomy between China's love of the dog as a companion and the persistence of the meat trade. "It's a double standard that enrages many dog lovers throughout China, who are frustrated at how this illegal trade is allowed to continue," Humane Society International said in a statement. But some attendees said the show could be a force for change. "There are a lot of conflicting views on this topic, because if the World Dog Show does not come to China then more people won't have the chance to understand these pets," said Bao Zi, a Chinese kennel owner and breeder. Dogs took centre stage at the Shanghai show "Eating dogs -- I can only say it's for Chinese law to put out a policy as soon as possible to stop these things happening." Campaigners stress that the show is being held just weeks before an annual dog-meat festival held in southern China. Activists say thousands of dogs are killed each year for the festival in the town of Yulin in Guangxi province, where dogs are eaten to mark the late-June summer solstice. - Man bites dog - Dogs competed in contests of agility, obedience, and other disciplines in the show Humane Society International said Monday that Chinese animal rights campaigners found that three restaurants in Shanghai were serving dog meat and had rescued 22 canines from a slaughterhouse in an adjacent province. Representatives of the show's local organiser, the China Kennel Union, were not immediately available for comment on the criticisms. A range of dog breeds will compete in contests of agility, obedience, and other disciplines in the show. Recent versions of the event claimed to have drawn up to 20,000 entrants. In 2015, after Shanghai's choice drew criticism, the FCI defended it as a way to promote the protection of "man's best friend". Activist groups said they were using the Shanghai event to highlight the dichotomy between China's love of the dog as a companion and the persistence of the meat trade Some Chinese dog owners said the critics were barking up the wrong tree. "China is not a country that collectively eats dog meat", the owner of a Chinese kennel said on the popular Weibo platform. "Compared to some regions in Europe that kill seals, keep killer whales in captivity, the Spanish slaughtering of bulls and tormenting of greyhounds, the majority of us Chinese pet owners are much nicer," the post said. Several thousand Gazans depend on fishing for their livelihoods but often changing Israeli restrictions have led to prolonged layoffs that mean many live below the poverty line Israel reduced the offshore fishing limit it imposes for vessels operating out of Gaza from Tuesday following rocket fire from the territory by Palestinian militants, officials said. A number of fishing boats came under Israeli naval fire early Tuesday, the fishermen's union said, after the military said they breached the fishing boundaries. The union statement did not report any casualties. Gaza fishermen will now be able to operate no more than six nautical miles into the Mediterranean, down from up to 15 nautical miles Israel had allowed since April 1. COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry unit that oversees civil matters in the Palestinian territories, said the new limit would be in force "until further notice." A COGAT spokeswoman said the decision was taken in light of a rocket launch from Gaza late on Monday. A military spokeswoman said the rocket fell into the Mediterranean, a few kilometres (couple of miles) off the Israeli coast. An army source told AFP that the rocket was fired by Gaza's second largest militant group, Islamic Jihad, an ally of the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas. The source alleged that in recent weeks Islamic Jihad had been "taking steps to harm" efforts to maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But the source underlined that the evidence Islamic Jihad had fired the rocket would not affect Israel's longstanding policy of holding Hamas responsible as Gaza's de facto ruler. "We still consider Hamas responsible for whatever happens in the (Gaza) Strip," the source said. Zakaria Bakr, an official on the fishing union in Gaza, confirmed the reduction and accused Israel of attacking several boats in recent days, including Tuesday morning. "A number of boats were sunk along with their fishing nets after being shot," he said in a statement, accusing Israel of breaching the terms of a recent truce agreement. It was not immediately possible to confirm the claim. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that a number of boats "deviated from the designated fishing zone" and the navy used "standard operating procedures" to push them back, without giving further details. Israel had extended the fishing limit to 15 nautical miles in some areas from April 1 as part of a package of measures intended to calm a flare-up of violence with Hamas ahead of the April 9 Israeli general election. The Gaza fishermen's union said the limit was then set at 15 nautical miles in the south near the Egyptian border, at 12 off central Gaza and at six in the north near the Israeli border. Israel has fought three wars with Gaza militants since 2008 and has blockaded the territory for more than a decade. The smartphone user claimed his Galaxy S10 5G phone had burnt 'without reasons' Samsung on Tuesday stood by its new Galaxy S10 5G model after a South Korean smartphone owner posted pictures online of a charred handset claiming it had mysteriously "burnt". The tech giant, which three years ago was forced into an expensive and embarassing global recall of its Galaxy Note 7 devices over exploding batteries, told AFP an "external impact" had caused the damage, rather than an internal glitch. But the smartphone user, who asked to be identified by his surname Lee, claimed his Galaxy S10 5G phone had burnt "without reasons". "My phone was on the table when it started smelling burnt and smoke soon engulfed the phone," Lee told AFP, adding: "I had to drop it to the ground when I touched it because it was so hot." He said he hadn't done anything to the phone, which was left beyond repair since "everything inside was burnt". Samsung refused to reimburse for the $1,200 phone, Lee added. The electronics giant has touted its new Galaxy phones as the world's first available smartphones with built-in 5G communications. The model was released on April 5 as South Korea aims to take the lead in new technologies that experts say will transform the way of lives for millions of people. The claim came after the South Korean firm posted a 56.9 percent drop in net profits year-on-year Tuesday amid a weakening chip market and rising competition. Samsung last week delayed the release of its $2,000 foldable phone -- Galaxy Fold -- over screen problems, saying it "needs further improvements". The 2016 recall cost Samsung Electronics -- the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker -- billions of dollars and shattered its global image. Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said he had concerns about the progress of security operations against jihadists behind the worst single-day attack against civilians in Sri Lanka's history Catholic masses in Sri Lanka will resume Sunday under tight security, two weeks after Easter bombings killed 253 people at three churches and three luxury hotels, the country's top cardinal said. All public services by Sri Lanka's Christian minority were cancelled after the April 21 suicide attacks claimed by the Islamic State group left the island nation reeling and shattered its image as a safe holiday destination. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told AFP on Tuesday the Church was closely monitoring investigations into the atrocities, in which 42 foreigners died, and wanted to be sure of the security situation. "On the 5th of May we are going to begin (Sunday) Masses," he said. "But we will start with a smaller number of masses and see if we can slowly increase it depending on how the situation develops." Last Sunday the cardinal, who is also Archbishop of Colombo, conducted a private memorial mass that was broadcast live on television after cancelling all public services. The government is maintaining a state of emergency which gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects, although on Tuesday it lifted a ban on social media platforms. Access to Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and YouTube was blocked by the government soon after the attacks in a bid to prevent the spread of what it called inflammatory rumours and fake news that could have provoked more violence. Armed guards and an armoured personnel carrier have been placed outside Cardinal Ranjith's Colombo residence Security on the ground remained tight meanwhile, with police arresting more than 150 suspects since April 21, with warnings that extremists may launch new attacks. President Maithripala Sirisena said Friday that the authorities believed there were 140 Islamic State-inspired jihadists in Sri Lanka and the country had security forces to track them down. On Sunday some churches will have metal detectors and all those attending will be frisked, authorities say. People have been advised not to bring any bags to church and soldiers or armed police will be on guard outside. Armed guards and an armoured personnel carrier have also been placed outside Cardinal Ranjith's Colombo residence. But he said he has returned a bullet-proof limousine provided by the government and instead travelled in an ordinary car. "I am not afraid. I don't need bullet-proof vehicles to go about. The Lord is my protector," he said. "But, I want security for my people, and for the country." - 150 suspects - Police say they have accounted for all six suspects who were declared as most-wanted on a list issued following the attacks. Last Sunday the cardinal conducted a private memorial mass that was broadcast live on television after cancelling all public services Two suspects have been killed and the other four are in custody, police said. The Easter attacks were blamed on the local National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) whose leader was among the suicide bombers. Sri Lanka's schools remain closed and all political parties have cancelled their May Day rallies planned for Wednesday because of security concerns. Cardinal Ranjith said Sunday that he feared investigations could end up being a "flop" and Catholics were not confident that perpetrators will be brought to justice given the country's history of impunity. He has also repeatedly criticised the authorities for failing to share intelligence reports that had warned of an impending jihadist attack against Christians ahead of the assaults, saying he felt "betrayed" by the government. When services resume at churches this Sunday, security will be high "If they warned me, I would have cancelled the Easter services," he said Sunday at his privately televised mass. He said he had concerns about the progress of security operations against jihadists behind the worst single-day attack against civilians in the country's history. "There should be tougher laws to deal with those responsible for the attacks," the cardinal told AFP on Tuesday. "We don't know the progress of the investigations. We are told that they have good information from suspects in custody, but I am not sure if they have the capacity to follow up." Uighur's pray in Xinjiang in 2015. UN chief Antonio Guterres was under pressure from rights groups to publicly confront Beijing over the mass detention of the Muslim minority China Tuesday rejected "any interference" in its internal affairs after UN chief Antonio Guterres raised the plight of ethnic Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang region during a visit to Beijing. Guterres had been under pressure from rights groups to publicly confront Beijing over the mass detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities in Xinjiang during his trip. The was no public denunciation, but UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres raised the issue during talks with Chinese leaders when he attended a summit Friday and Saturday on Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The UN chief delivered a three-point message that stressed human rights must be upheld in the fight against extremism, while recognising China's sovereignty and condemning terrorism. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China was willing to discuss human rights issues with all parties on the basis of equality and mutual respect. "At the same time, we firmly oppose any interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights issues," Geng said at a regular press briefing. "Xinjiang affairs belong to China's internal affairs. Terrorism and extremism are wanton violations of basic human rights," he said. Upwards of one million Uighurs and other minorities are being held in internment camps in Xinjiang, according to estimates cited by a UN panel. China says the camps are "vocational training centres" to steer people away from extremism and reintegrate them, in a region plagued by violence blamed on Uighur separatists or Islamists. "The preventive anti-terrorism and anti-extremism measures taken by China in Xinjiang are carried out in accordance with the law, and human rights are also respected and protected," Geng said. Ahmed Ouyahia served three times as prime minister under veteran Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and has been caught up in the widening investigation into alleged corruption in his inner circle since his resignation on April 2 Former Algerian prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia was questioned on Tuesday in a widening investigation into alleged corruption in the inner circle of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, state television reported. Private television channels broadcast footage of the unpopular Ouyahia arriving in mid-morning at the courthouse in the centre of the capital Algiers. He is the latest prominent figure to be caught up in the widening fraud probe launched by prosecutors since the ailing Bouteflika was forced to step down in early April following weeks of mass protests. Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal, a former central bank governor, was questioned at the same Algiers court on Monday over suspicions of the "squandering" of public funds. Ouyahia and Loukal were both summoned on April 20 for questioning by prosecutors. Ouyahia served four times as prime minister from 1995, three of them during Bouteflika's two-decade rule. He was finally abandoned by his longtime master on March 11 in a last-ditch bid to hang on to power. Loukal was appointed finance minister at the end of March after Bouteflika named interior minister Noureddine Bedoui to replace Ouyahia as prime minister. Former police chief Abdelghani Hamel was also questioned separately on Monday as part of a judicial inquiry into alleged bribery, state media said. Hamel -- once tipped as Bouteflika's successor before he was fired by the veteran leader in June last year -- appeared in a court in Tipaza, west of Algiers, before being released, the official APS news agency said. Since Bouteflika's ouster, investigators have cracked down on alleged graft, zeroing in on the activities of prominent politicians and businessmen following two decades of cronyism under the veteran president. High-profile figures targeted in the past week include the North African country's richest man, Issad Rebrab, who was reportedly detained on allegations of false customs declarations. The head of the vast state oil firm Sonatrach, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, has been fired and replaced on the orders of interim president Abdelkader Bensalah. Four brothers from the influential Kouninef family, close to Bouteflika's brother Said, have been arrested over alleged non-compliance with state contracts, according to official media. After pushing Bouteflika to quit with mass demonstrations launched on February 22, protesters have kept up their rallies, calling for a complete overhaul of Algeria's political system, improved living standards and the eradication of corruption. Algeria ranks 105 out of 180 on Transparency International's 2018 corruption perceptions index. The DR Congo declared a tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years last August Twenty-six people died of Ebola in a single day in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, the highest daily toll since its outbreak nearly nine months ago, the health ministry said Tuesday. The current outbreak is the second deadliest on record, after the epidemic that struck West Africa in 2014-2016 and killed more than 11,300 people. The health ministry it had counted 957 deaths in the country, of which 891 were confirmed cases and 66 suspected ones. "There were 26 deaths from confirmed cases" on Sunday, April 28, in the northeastern North Kivu province, the ministry said in a statement. It said of the total deaths of 957, 33 were health workers who had succumbed to the disease. The DR Congo declared a tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years last August in North Kivu before the virus spread into the neighbouring Ituri region. The epicentre was first located in the rural area of Mangina, but then switched to the town of Beni. Local organisations say the number of Ebola deaths is rising. Adding to the logistical hitches are a string of assaults on teams fighting the disease. A Cameroonian doctor working for the World Health Organization (WHO), Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, was shot dead on April 19. "We will not be intimidated... we will finish our work," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a visit to Nord-Kivu on Monday. "Your security is our priority. We will do everything to protect you," he added. Tuesday's comments are Pyongyang's second criticism of top US diplomat Mike Pompeo this month A senior North Korean official on Tuesday accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of having "foolish and dangerous ideas", and warned Washington of an "unwanted outcome" if it does not adjust its stance on economic sanctions. Pyongyang and Washington have been at loggerheads since the collapse of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in February with no deal reached on the North's denuclearisation. Since then tensions have mounted, and Tuesday's comments marked the second time Pyongyang has criticised the top US diplomat this month. The reclusive state has previously demanded the removal of Pompeo from future talks, labelling him as "reckless". In an interview with CBS last week, Pompeo said the US could "change paths" if Kim did not bring "real conversations" on abandoning North Korea's nuclear arsenal to the negotiation table. On Tuesday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Pompeo's comments were "foolish and dangerous ideas that imply overthrowing our system with military means". "Our resolution on denuclearisation remains intact and we will do so when time is right," she said, in comments cited by North Korea's official KCNA news service. "But it will only be possible when the US revises and reshapes its current calculation." And if the US did not change its stance by the end of this year, it will "face (an) unwanted outcome," she said, without elaborating further. Washington has blamed the collapse of the Hanoi summit in February on the North's demands for sanctions relief in return for limited nuclear disarmament -- but Pyongyang has denied this, saying it had wanted only some of the measures eased. Last week, North Korea also slammed John Bolton, the White House National Security Advisor, saying he had a "lack of understanding about the intentions" of Kim and President Donald Trump in an escalation of rhetoric against US officials. In a speech to the rubber-stamp parliament earlier this month, Kim said he would wait until the end of the year "for the US to make a courageous decision" to change its approach and smooth the path to another meeting. Meanwhile, Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin met last week in Vladivostok for their first summit -- squarely aimed at countering US influence -- where Kim accused Washington of acting in "bad faith". You feel how it might have been for the families who were put behind barbed wire with armed guards not knowing when they could leave or what would happen to them, Umemoto said. The isolation of the camps, in the middle of these vast open lands that were lightly populated and sometimes on Native American land. The government could do anything, and no one with any power was watching. Shares of General Electric rose after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly profits General Electric reported better-than-expected quarterly profits Tuesday behind improved performance in most industrial divisions, including aviation and oil and gas. Shares rose after the industrial conglomerate, which has struggled the last two years or so, reported first-quarter profits of $3.5 billion, compared with a loss of $1.2 billion in the year-ago period. Revenues dipped 1.8 percent to $27.3 billion. Earnings rose in aviation, oil and gas and healthcare, offsetting a loss in renewable energy and much lower earnings in power, an albatross for GE in recent years. Under Lawrence Culp, who was tapped as chief executive last October, the company has moved to resolve regulatory problems, cut costs and divest some units to reduce debt. But Culp has warned that the company's troubled power division will remain under pressure in 2019. "We saw progress in the first quarter as we continued to execute on our priorities to improve our financial position and strengthen our businesses," Culp said in a statement. "Our quarterly results were better than our expectations, largely driven by timing of certain items, which should balance out over the course of the year. Therefore, we expect our performance for the year to be in line with our previous commentary." Shares jumped 5.9 percent to $10.30 in pre-market trading. Initial estimates from civil society groups monitoring the polls said turnout ranged from as low as 1.25 percent to up to 63.27 percent Voter turnout in elections in Benin was potentially the lowest in decades, as people waited Tuesday for results from controversial polls without any opposition candidates. While no fixed time has been set for the release of results of the vote on Sunday, one Election Commission official said that first results could be announced by Thursday. The results themselves are in little doubt. All candidates contesting for the 83 parliamentary seats come from just two parties, the Republican Bloc and the Progressive Union, and both of them are 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. With many people apparently heeding opposition party calls to boycott the polls on Sunday, the big question is not so much the result, but rather the turnout of the five million registered voters. - Vote boycotted - Initial estimates from civil society groups monitoring the polls said turnout ranged from as low as 1.25 percent to up to 63.27 percent, depending on the polling stations. "It is an unprecedented situation," said Fatoumata Batoko, who heads a coalition of civil society groups. Their work on polling day was hampered by the shutting down of the internet, which was cut on Sunday for the voting, but has since been switched back on. Former presidents Thomas Boni Yayi (L) and Nicephore Soglo have called for the polls to be annulled "It is likely that the participation rate remains the lowest since the beginning of democratic renewal" in 1990, she told a press conference. Before that, Benin struggled under decades of authoritarian rule. The transition to democracy brought a flowering of political competition -- five years ago, voters could chose from 20 parties for the 83 seats in parliament. But this year, lawmakers from the ruling party pushed through a new electoral code that meant there was not a single opposition candidate to choose from. On voting day, civil society groups recorded a total of 206 incidents, according to Joel Atayi Guedegbe, another member of the coalition of activists. Those include the reported death of one man, wounded in scuffles between protesters and security forces, as well as the destruction of election materials, Guedegbe said. Two ex-presidents have condemned the polls and called for them to be annulled. "The people demand the return of democracy," Thomas Boni Yayi, who preceded Talon as president from 2006-2016, told reporters on Monday. "The institutions are no longer credible," Yayi said, calling on people to resist the current president. "Talon will walk over our dead bodies." Nicephore Soglo, president from 1991-1996, called on Talon to "annul the vote". Activists for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has called for a re-run of the elections Bangladesh's main opposition has ended its boycott of parliament four months after failing to win power in an election tainted by widespread allegations of intimidation and fraud. Five lawmakers from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) became the last to take their oaths this week, including four late on Monday, the final day for swearing-in of MPs. BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed said Tuesday that the party's acting head Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia who lives in exile in London, made the decision. "Our party decided to join the parliament at this critical time of national politics as part of our struggle to restore democracy, better treatment and release of Begum Khaleda Zia," deputy leader Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a statement. Zia, who has led the BNP since the mid-1980s, was jailed last year for a decade on corruption charges that her supporters say are politically motivated. Her bitter rival for three decades, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 71, was declared the landslide winner in the December 30 poll. This gave Hasina, who has been accused of increasing authoritarianism and overseeing a crackdown on the opposition, a third consecutive term in office. Hasina and 290 other MPs -- mainly from the ruling Awami League and its allies -- took the oath days after the election. Hasina was later named prime minister of the South Asian nation of 165 million people for a fourth time in total. But opposition MPs boycotted the ceremony, calling for a re-run of the elections -- something Hasina has ruled out. Hasina -- an erstwhile ally of Zia, before the powerful women fell out -- insists she won fairly. Speculation in local media has claimed the BNP joined parliament as part of a secret deal to free ailing Zia and let her fly to Britain for better treatment. Zia was taken to hospital in Dhaka early this month from her prison cell after lawyers said her condition had deteriorated in recent months. The 73-year-old, who is diabetic and suffers from arthritis, was also hospitalised in October for treatment. Zia was found guilty in February 2018 of embezzling money intended for an orphanage, a charge her outraged supporters marched against in the streets. The sentence was later doubled by the High Court. Zia is appealing the verdict which prevented her from running against Hasina in the election. She is also fighting dozens of other violence and graft-related charges. A widow of a military dictator who ruled Bangladesh in the late 1970s, Zia was prime minister from 1991-1996 and again in 2001-2006. Men loyal to the government of National Accord (GNA) have been trying to take ground from forces of commander Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on Tripoli on April 4 Plumes of smoke rise from the plain south of Libya's capital as troops loyal to the UN-recognised government battle to fend off an assault on Tripoli. On the roof of an abandoned clinic, a fighter surveyed the dry landscape dotted with palm trees some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital. "Over there's the airport," he said, barefoot and dressed in shorts and a black t-shirt. Tripoli's international airport was heavily damaged in 2014 clashes and has since been out of use, but nonetheless remains a strategic site in the battle for control of the capital. "And there, is Espiaa" village, he added, after putting down a rocket-launcher on the rooftop strewn with bullet cartridges. Men loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) have been trying to take ground from forces of commander Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on Tripoli on April 4. A coalition of Tripoli militias and armed groups from western towns have since April 20 been slowly repelling Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. Around Espiaa village, the air echoed with the sound of rocket fire and the incessant barrage of gunfire Around Espiaa, which they are fighting to control, the air echoed with the sound of rocket fire and the incessant barrage of gunfire. Plumes of white and black smoke rose across the horizon, marking out where strikes had set the dry landscape ablaze. - 'Foreign planes' - "There!" shouted one of the fighters, as the engine of a plane is heard overhead and the men momentarily freeze. "During the day, there are Libyan planes. At night, there are foreign planes, they're more advanced, more precise," he said. The GNA accuses foreign powers -- the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt among others -- of providing Haftar with military support. Pro-GNA fighters use armoured vehicles, pick-up trucks and civilian cars to transport men and weapons to the front At least 345 people have been killed and 1,652 wounded in the Tripoli offensive so far, according to the World Health Organization. "But the planes can't stop the fighting on the ground. And it's fighting on the ground that can stop a war," said Abdulhamid, one of the leaders of Battalion 166. The armed group from Misrata, east of Tripoli, claims to have 700 fighters and took part in the battle that ousted the Islamic State group from the city of Sirte in 2016. The are now trying to prevent Haftar from "establishing a new military dictatorship", according to Abdulhamid. Ahmed, dressed in combat fatigues and a t-shirt branded Louis Vuitton, said even though their group was from Misrata "we also have the support of the real revolutionaries of all the towns" who fought against dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. One young fighter said he comes from Haftar's eastern stronghold of Benghazi and described his family as being "on the other side" of the frontline. Other men backing the GNA come from the desert regions of southern Libya. They use armoured vehicles, pick-up trucks and civilian cars -- with guns poking out of their windows -- to transport men and weapons to the front. Close to enemy lines, pick-ups with anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back advanced in reverse firing towards Haftar's forces -- until suddenly the pro-GNA fighters were forced into a hasty retreat. The pro-GNA fighters were forced into a hasty retreat in the face of tank fire Wearing trainers or flip-flops, they searched for shelter along the road as tank fire rained down. The panic passed after the tank fell quiet, but some fighters struggled to hold back tears as they realised one of their number had been killed. At least one more would be injured by rocket fire during the day. But at the afternoon's close, one of the men announced they had finally advanced. "We control the centre of Espiaa" he said, after days of fighting. Donald Trump is considering placing the Muslim Brotherhood on a US blacklist of "foreign terrorist organizations," three weeks after hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the White House President Donald Trump is considering placing the Muslim Brotherhood on a US blacklist of "foreign terrorist organizations," the White House said Tuesday. The Brotherhood, an Islamist movement with support across the Middle East, was designated a terrorist organization in Egypt following the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. "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. Placing the Muslim Brotherhood on a terrorism blacklist would allow US officials to impose sanctions on any person or organization with links to it. The move comes three weeks after Trump hosted Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose government has been criticized for cracking down on secular and left-wing activists, as well as Islamists close to the Muslim Brotherhood. 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." Egypt is one of the biggest US strategic partners -- an Arab country that made peace with top US ally Israel 40 years ago and a major recipient of American aid. Shares of General Motors fell after it reported lower first-quarter sales in North America and China US automaker General Motors saw profits more than double in the first quarter, but said Tuesday that lower sales in China and North America ate into total revenues. The news undercut the company's share price, despite posting net income of $2.2 billion, twice that of the same period of last year, a gain boosted by the one-time impact of a favorable tax court ruling in Brazil. But revenues fell 3.4 percent to $3.9 billion, and excluding special items, operating earnings dropped 11.5 percent, the company said. GM has been projecting auto sales in China to hold steady in 2019 compared to 2018, despite an economic slowdown that has dented auto demand. But first quarter sales in the country fell 17.5 percent to 813,973 compared to a year earlier. While there are expectations that government stimulus will help spur a recovery in the Chinese market, "we have yet to see that translate into auto demand," said Chief Financial Officer Dhivya Suryadevara. "There's still not enough specifics around what the stimulus is going to be," she said, adding that GM has a slate of new vehicle launches in China in the second half of the year. Auto sales also declined in North America, due in part to planned downtime at the company's sport-utility vehicle factories, offset somewhat by strong demand for new pickup trucks. GM became a political punching bag last year after announcing plans to cut thousands of jobs and shutter seven plants worldwide, including five in North America. Suryadevara said the company has no plans for additional cutbacks. Shares of GM fell 2.5 percent to $39.00 as trading opened. Iraq's electricity grid needs some serious work German industrial conglomerate Siemens cleared a hurdle Tuesday in its race with US-based General Electric to rebuild Iraq's electricity grid, signing a "roadmap" at a Berlin meeting with top ministers. Chief executive Joe Kaeser and Iraq's electricity minister Luay al-Khateeb "signed an implementation agreement to kick off the actual execution of the roadmap" agreed last year, the Munich-based group said in a statement. Under Tuesday's deal, Siemens secured contracts worth 700 million euros ($785 million) to build one power plant, upgrade 40 gas turbines and install substations and transformers "across Iraq". Speaking to journalists after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said the roadmap included around $14 billion of contracts in total that was "subject to competition" although "Siemens has big chances to secure a large share". Both Siemens and General Electric signed memorandums of understanding with the Iraqi government last year on rebuilding and repairing electricity infrastructure. Baghdad is under pressure -- at home and abroad -- to rebuild its energy grid. Protests over chronic power cuts regularly take place in Iraq, which suffers from under capacity and infrastructure weakened by age and terrorist attacks in recent years by the Islamic State group. Summer especially is a peak time for electricity usage as air condition units inside buildings battle near-unbearable outside temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). Meanwhile, the US has urged Iraq's government to wean itself off the gas and electricity imports from neighbouring Iran that it regularly uses to plug the gaps. Tehran has been under American sanctions since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal that eased the economic squeeze in exchange for Iran freezing its nuclear programme. A file picture shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting among Likud party MPs during a parliament session in Jerusalem on December 26, 2108 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn into Israel's new parliament on Tuesday following his victory in April 9 elections and will seek to form a governing coalition in the days ahead. Netanyahu was among the 120 members of the Knesset, or parliament, sworn in during an official ceremony. Netanyahu's Likud won 35 seats in the election, the same as his main opponents from the centrist Blue and White alliance, led by ex-military chief Benny Gantz. Support from smaller right-wing parties allied to Likud led to a majority of 65 parliament members supporting Netanyahu to continue on as premier. But Netanyahu also faces the prospect of becoming the first sitting prime minister to be indicted. The attorney general has announced he intends to indict him for bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending a hearing. He is not required to resign if indicted, only if convicted with all appeals exhausted. Netanyahu's outgoing government was considered the most right-wing in Israel's history and his next is expected to be at least as hawkish, if not more so. Government forces have been fighting rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) for years South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has hired an American lobby group run by a former ambassador to block the creation of a court to judge war crimes in the conflict-torn nation. According to a contract between the government and the lobby group, Gainful Solutions, published online by the US Department of Justice, the $3.7 million (3.3-million euro) deal was signed on April 2. The contract states that Gainful Solutions, run by former US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, was hired to "improve relations with the United States, both politically and economically". This includes persuading Trump's government to "reverse sanctions and prevent further sanctions" and to mobilise American investment in South Sudan's oil. However, in a clear indication of the government's hostility to the proposed body, the contract also states that the lobby group must "delay and ultimately block establishment of the hybrid court" envisaged in a peace deal signed in September 2018. The creation of the African Union-South Sudanese hybrid court dates back to an earlier peace agreement in 2015, a bid to win justice for atrocities committed during a war that is now in its sixth year. - Six years of war - Conflict erupted in December 2013 after Kiir accused his longtime rival and former vice president Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him. Battles between those from Machar's Nuer community and Kiir's Dinka people were characterised by brutal violence on both sides, rape and UN warnings about "ethnic cleansing". War broke out after South Sudan's President Salva Kiir (left) accused opposition leader and former vice president Riek Machar of plotting a coup The war has left around 380,000 people dead, forcing more than four million South Sudanese -- almost a third of the population -- to flee their homes. Kiir and Machar are meant to re-unite in a power-sharing government in less than two weeks, under the terms of the September deal. Implementation of the peace deal is running behind however, and Machar has called for a delay. The United States, Norway and Britain -- the so-called troika leading diplomacy efforts -- said in a statement Tuesday that the peace deal was at a "critical juncture". "Any decision on forming the transitional government as scheduled or delaying to a later date should be made through consensus of the parties," read the statement. - 'Lack of political will' - South Sudan's government has previously pushed back against the creation of the court, dismissing it as "a tool of regime change" by foreign partners. In February a United Nations human rights report on South Sudan said the process of setting up the court had stalled due to "lack of political will and uncertainty about the future of government". US Ambassador to South Sudan, Thomas Hushek, described the contract with the lobby group as disturbing. "This, to me, is very disturbing because this is a commitment made in the peace agreement. The hybrid court is part and parcel of chapter five of the peace agreement," Hushek said, according to Eye Radio in Juba. Michael Ranneberger, pictured here in 2007, is a former US ambassador to Kenya Ranneberger retired in 2016 after a long diplomatic career in Africa, and served as ambassador to Kenya and Somalia from 2006-2011. While in his post he spoke strongly against corruption in Kenya, and angered government when diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks showed him criticising the country's leaders for graft and political violence. He was well versed in the crises gripping South Sudan, having helped lead the negotiations between the south and Khartoum, which led to a peace deal in 2005 after a long independence war. South Sudan later voted in favour of independence from Sudan in a 2011 referendum. After midwifing its independence, the United States remains South Sudan's main international donor, providing more than $480 million in humanitarian aid in 2018, according to US State Department figures. However their patience has worn thin with South Sudan after countless failed peace efforts, and ties between Juba and Washington have chilled. The US lobbied hard for an arms embargo imposed in 2018, and has also applied sanctions against top officials. Malaria is spread to people by mosquitos, which transfer the parasite while sucking blood from humans Ghana on Tuesday rolled out the world's only proven malaria vaccine for infants as part of a landmark campaign against the deadly mosquito-borne disease, one week after Malawi became the first country to do so. Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, mainly in Africa, and it is hoped a vaccine will bring down the toll. Children are especially at risk, and babies were Ghana's first vaccine recipients Tuesday in the town of Cape Coast, 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of the capital Accra. "I hope this will help us to be able to eliminate malaria, so Ghana can be a malaria-free country," said Justice Arthur, the doctor running the clinic. The vaccines will be given to children between the ages of six months and two years, in a project run by Ghana's health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO). "I am really hopeful that the vaccine is going to help me and my family," said Abigail Aguanyi, a woman waiting to get her child, Blessing, vaccinated. Many of her family members had previously been stricken. The vaccine, known by its lab initials RTS,S, has passed lengthy scientific trials which found it to be safe and effective at preventing about four in ten cases of malaria in infants -- the best ever recorded. To achieve this level of partial protection, four successive doses must be administered on a strict timetable -- a challenge for rural Africa. - 'Exciting' - The rollout in Ghana, Malawi, and soon also Kenya, will seek to evaluate the vaccine's effectiveness as a complementary tool, augmenting -- but not replacing -- measures such as insecticide-treated bed nets and the use of sprays. It will also test the feasibility of administering the four required doses in children in areas of the world with limited access to healthcare. Data from the programme will inform a WHO policy on the broader use of RTS,S. Malaria is spread to people by mosquitoes, which transfer the parasite while sucking blood from humans. RTS,S is effective against the Plasmodium falciparum parasite most prevalent in Africa. In Ghana alone, there were 5.5 million confirmed cases of malaria last year, and many more suspected. Worldwide, the WHO says malaria killed 435,000 people worldwide in 2017. The number of cases climbed to 219 million in 2017, two million more than in 2016. Over 90 percent of cases occurred in Africa. "This is an exciting and long-awaited step forward to fight malaria and its devastating effects on the most vulnerable," said WHO boss in Ghana, Owen Kaluwa. There is evidence that Llenos intended to weather the masturbatory episode unscathed, Bauer wrote. The record, limited though it may be, indicated Llenos had a history of engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation and doing so without injury, leading one to the belief that the act, as it was intended to be performed, was not injurious. The Indian army tweeted three images late on Monday showing a series of long foot-shaped impressions Photos of "Yeti footprints" posted online by the Indian army triggered a social media storm on Tuesday, with users ridiculing the military for propagating theories debunked by science. The army tweeted three images late on Monday showing a series of foot-shaped impressions, each almost a metre (yard) long in the snow in the Himalayas near the Nepal-China frontier. "For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti'," the apparently serious tweet on the army's official account said. It added the "elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past", referring to footprints reported by British explorer Eric Shipton in 1951 on the west side of Mount Everest. Legend has it the "Yeti" or "Abominable Snowman" lives in the Himalayas -- but no proof of the large creature has ever been produced. Social media users were quick to jump on the Indian military for its tweet, while scientists said the prints were probably made by a bear and elongated and misshapen by the elements. Legend has it the "Yeti" lives in the Himalayas - but no proof it exists has ever been produced "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'!", said Kushal Prajapati. "There's been lots of research done on Bigfoot/Yeti (including sighting/footprints) with none proving its existence," he added. "Seriously disappointing to see Army propagating such foolish myths into reality. Expected better from you guys," said another comment. Several Twitter users asked why there was a series of only one footprint when the beast would probably have had two feet. Others, were apparently more forgiving, though still tongue-in-cheek. "Congratulations, we are always proud of you. salutes to the #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team," wrote Tarun Vijay, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. - Gorilla suit - The army said the footprints measured 32 inches by 15 inches (81 centimetres by 38) and were spotted by a team on April 9 close to the Makalu Base Camp. An army official told AFP the pictures were released to "excite a bit of a scientific temper". "We will share whatever we get with the domain experts to analyse. We will be contacting the team on the satphone in the evening for more details about it. The idea is to find out more, to look for an answer," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Yeti is traditionally described as an ape-like creature, taller than a human, that lives variously in the Himalayas, Siberia and parts of Central and East Asia. The North American version is known as Bigfoot. Most scientists have written the creature off as a centuries-old myth originating in Tibet. Forensic results of previous samples have proved to be from prehistoric bears and one purported piece of evidence turned out to be a gorilla suit made of rubber. "This is probably a footprint of a brown bear," Sathyakumar Sambandam, a professor at the Wildlife Institute of India, told AFP. "The footmarks get enlarged due to strong sun and winds in the heights and the overlapping of hind and front legs gives an impression of single giant mark," he said. Moncef Kartas, a member of a UN panel of experts, has been held for five weeks on suspicion of spying for unnamed "foreign parties" 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. 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. US Attorney General Bill Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that it was his prerogative to sum up the Mueller report saying it found no collusion with Russia and no obstruction by President Donald Trump 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. 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. US Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Corey Booker assailed Attorney General Bill Barr for not criticizing the behavior of Donald Trump and his campaign documented by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, even if it did not rise up to a crime 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. The Mueller report 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. An anti-government protester throws Molotov cocktails during clashes with security forces near the La Carlota military base in Caracas 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. "The extreme left and the extreme right (around the world) agree on only one thing: their hatred of the Jews," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem May 1, 2019 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. Israel comes at a standstill to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust Israelis stopped their cars and stood still, often with heads bowed, for two minutes Thursday for the country's annual commemoration of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Sirens rang out nationwide during the commemoration, while pedestrians and drivers in Jerusalem, the bustling seaside city of Tel Aviv and elsewhere stood on roadsides and in the middle of streets in silence. Israel began commemorations on Wednesday night with a ceremony at its Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that included speeches from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin. With repeated warnings about a rise in anti-Semitism globally, there were also newer approaches to spreading awareness of the Nazi genocide to a younger generation. A privately created Instagram account based on the life of a 13-year-old Holocaust victim, eva.stories, had grown to more than 800,000 followers by Thursday afternoon. Posts to the account trace her life as if she had Instagram at the time. Netanyahu in his comments on Wednesday night said "we are living nowadays in a paradox." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is a "growing hatred towards Jews" "The worldwide admiration for the Jewish state is accompanied within certain circles by a growing hatred towards Jews," he said. "The radical right, the radical left and radical Islam all agree on one thing only: hatred towards Jews." He also pointedly referred to Saturday's shooting in a California synagogue that killed one person and wounded three others, two of them Israelis. Rivlin, without specifying names, warned against allying with leaders who employ new forms of anti-Semitism. Netanyahu has been criticised for forming alliances with right-wing European leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a way of countering European Union criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Orban has faced allegations of stoking anti-Semitism in Hungary with nationalist rhetoric and a campaign against US Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros. "Not every right-wing party in Europe that believes in controlling immigration or in 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 legacy or their ideology can never be our allies." A report on Wednesday warned anti-Semitism was on the rise in parts of North America and Europe where Jews once felt safe and spoke of an "increasing sense of emergency." Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, sounded the alarm in an annual report from his Kantor Center that draws on official statistics. "In 2018, we witnessed the largest number of Jews murdered in a single year since decades," Kantor said, deploring a 13-percent rise in "severe and violent" incidents. The Anti-Defamation League said in a report published Tuesday that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States remained at near-record high levels in 2018. That included an October attack at a synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people, the deadliest ever attack against American Jews. OPEC says it is determined to avoid a global energy crisis that could affect markets despite "troubles" by some member countries like Iran and Venezuela who are facing US sanctions OPEC is determined to avoid a global "energy crisis" as some of its members are facing international sanctions and others struggling with unrest, the cartel's secretary-general said in Tehran on Thursday. "As an organisation, we will remain focused on our goal of avoiding an energy crisis that may affect the global economy," Mohammed Barkindo said on the sidelines of an oil and gas exhibition. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will pursue this policy "despite current troubles in several of its member countries," he said. His comments came as the end of US sanction waivers for purchases of oil from key OPEC member Iran was due to kick in on Thursday. Venezuela, another cartel member, is also facing sweeping US sanctions and in the throes of political troubles while fighting rages between rival forces for control Tripoli, capital of oil-rich Libya. Barkindo did not name any country but said some OPEC producers were "currently under unilateral sanctions" -- a reference to Iran and Venezuela. Another country "is also going through transitional challenges with all its potential consequences," Barkindo said, also apparently about Venezuela where opposition leader Juan Guaido is trying to rally demonstrators against President Nicolas Maduro. Another cartel member he said, alluding to Libya, "is fighting day in and day out to avoid an all-out war". OPEC is "committed to stay united" and "not slip back into the chaos" it has faced in recent years, Barkindo said. Iran, as a founding member of the organisation, has regularly slammed some of the cartel's members for going along with Washington's policies against Iran and lacking solidarity. On Wednesday, Iran's oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh accused OPEC members he did not name of sowing "division" and threatening the cartel's "disintegration". These countries -- he said referring to Iraq and oil kingpin Saudi Arabia -- were "exaggerating" their production capacity to reassure markets after the US lifted sanction waivers for buyers of Iranian crude. The end of the exemptions announced on April 22 have sparked fears of supply shortages and pushed prices up. LONDON (AP) - British lawmakers are heaping pressure on the government to make sure that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces Swedish justice if prosecutors there reopen a rape investigation against him. There is mounting concern that Assange should not be allowed to sidestep the Swedish investigation stemming from his 2010 visit to Sweden. The complaints from two women eventually led him to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London rather than return to Sweden for questioning. Some are calling for the British government to extradite Assange to Sweden, if it makes an official request, rather than to the U.S., which seeks him on conspiracy charges. More than 70 British lawmakers signed a letter late Friday urging Home Secretary Sajid Javid to "do everything you can to champion action that will ensure Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden in the event Sweden makes an extradition request." Prominent Conservative Party lawmaker Alistair Burt, a former Foreign Office minister, said Saturday that it's "quite disturbing" to see the sexual allegations minimized. He said the testimony of the two women makes it "essential" that Assange face justice, to either be cleared in a Swedish court or be convicted. FILE - This Sept. 4, 2015 file photo shows a general view of HMP Belmarsh, in London. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has exchanged a small room at the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London for a cell at Belmarsh Prison, a grim facility in southeast London after his arrest on Thursday, April 11, 2019. (Anthony Devlin/PA via AP, File) Assange, 47, has denied the sexual misconduct allegations, which he claims are politically motivated. He claims the sex was consensual. 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 Ecuadorian Embassy in London with political asylum status. Prosecutors said the investigation could be revived if his situation changed. Assange was arrested Thursday after Ecuador withdrew his asylum. He is now in Belmarsh Prison in southeast London, waiting to be sentenced for jumping bail in Britain and facing an extradition request from the United States on charges of conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer. WikiLeaks says Assange will fight the U.S. extradition request and has been meeting with his legal team to plan his defense. He has not had a chance to enter a plea in response to the U.S. charge, but he says all of his WikiLeaks actions are those of a legitimate journalist. If Britain receives competing extradition requests, lawyers say the Home Secretary would have some leeway in deciding which takes priority. Considerations usually include which request came first and which alleged crime is more serious. Most of the lawmakers who signed the letter are from the opposition Labour Party, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, wants Britain to refuse to send Assange to the U.S. After Assange's arrest, Corbyn praised him for exposing U.S. atrocities committed in Iraq and Afghanistan when WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of confidential U.S. documents in 2010. British politicians are free to lobby the government for a certain course of action, but it's up to the courts to decide whether the U.S. request for Assange's extradition - and a possible future request from Sweden - should be honored. The Home Secretary, a senior Cabinet official, can block extradition under certain circumstances, including cases where a person might face capital punishment or torture in the country seeking their extradition. Swedish prosecutors opened an investigation into Assange after two women accused him of sexual offenses during a 2010 visit to Sweden. Some of the sexual misconduct accusations are no longer viable because their time ran out. But Swedish prosecutors have said a rape case could be reactivated since the statute of limitations for that runs until August 2020. After Assange's arrest this week, Swedish prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson was tapped to look into a request from a lawyer for one of the accusers, to find out whether the case can be pursued. Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer for the woman who reported being raped by Assange, told The Associated Press that she would "do everything" to have the Swedish case reopened so Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted. The extradition process is not swift, and Assange could appeal several times if decisions go against him. It's expected it would take a year or longer for him to be sent to the United States or possibly to Sweden even if he ultimately loses in court. ___ Associated Press writer Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed. Police bundle WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, center right, from the Ecuadorian embassy into a police van in London after he was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police and taken into custody Thursday April 11, 2019. Police in London arrested WikiLeaks founder Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy Thursday for failing to surrender to the court in 2012, shortly after the South American nation revoked his asylum. (@DailyDOOH via AP) CAIRO (AP) - Sudanese political parties and movements behind nearly four months of anti-government protests met with the country's military on Saturday, activists and the military said, holding the first talks since the army forced President Omar al-Bashir from power two days ago. The meeting came after the protest movement scored two big victories this week, first ending al-Bashir's almost 30-year rule on Thursday and then forcing the interim military leader, Gen. Awad ibn Ouf, from his post a day later. Protesters viewed ibn Ouf as too close to the ousted leader. The movement said it has formed a 10-member delegation to introduce "the people's demands" to the military council, reiterating its rejection of military rule. Ali al-Sanhouri, the secretary general of the Arab Socialist Baath Party in Sudan, told a news conference in Khartoum that they are calling for the creation of a "civilian sovereignty council, cabinet and a national legislative association" to rule the county during the transition. The protesters have said they will remain in the streets until a civilian transitional council is formed. They fear the military, which is dominated by al-Bashir loyalists, will rule indefinitely or hand power to one of its own. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who was sworn in Friday to replace ibn Ouf as head of a transitional council formed by the military, said they have invited "all spectrums of Sudanese people for dialogue." Demonstrators gather in Sudan's capital of Khartoum, Friday, April 12, 2019. The Sudanese protest movement has rejected the military's declaration that it has no ambitions to hold the reins of power for long after ousting the president of 30 years, Omar al-Bashir. (AP Photo) In remarks broadcast on state TV, he said the military council will rule the country for up to two years until elections. Burhan said he was lifting the curfew imposed Thursday, which was to last for a month from 10 p.m.-4 a.m., and declared the immediate release of all those detained and tried during the current wave of unrest, which began in December. Al-Bashir imposed a state of emergency in February, banning unauthorized public gatherings and granting sweeping powers to the police in efforts to quash the unrest. Hundreds of people were tried before emergency courts. Burhan, who previously served as the general inspector of the armed forces, had met with the protesters in the streets after al-Bashir's ouster and listened to their demands. Activists, however, said Saturday that 16 people, including a soldier, have been killed in the two days since al-Bashir's ouster. The Sudan Doctors Committee, an affiliate of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been spearheading the protests, said 13 people were shot dead on Thursday and three others, including the soldier, were killed Friday. It said they died "at the hands of regime forces and its shadow militias." Sudanese police said late Friday that the 16 were killed by "stray bullets," and that at least 20 people were wounded at rallies and sit-ins across the country. The protests were sparked late last year by price hikes and shortages but quickly escalated into an Arab Spring-inspired uprising against al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 Islamist-backed military coup. Earlier this month, tens of thousands of protesters joined a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum, vowing to remain there until their demands were met. "We will never leave the place. We will shout together. We will shout to our freedom, to our liberty," protester Rami Mustafa said Saturday, speaking in English. Security forces loyal to al-Bashir had responded to the protests with a violent crackdown, killing dozens. They attacked the sit-in on several occasions, up until al-Bashir's resignation, and clashed with soldiers who intervened to protect the protesters. The Sudan Doctors Committee says at least 38 people, including at least six soldiers, have been killed since the sit-in began on April 6. Al-Bashir is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide linked to the war in Sudan's Darfur region in the 2000s. The military has said it won't hand him over to the court. The face of the coup, ibn Ouf was himself head of military intelligence during the brutal campaign to suppress the Darfur insurgency. The United States has imposed sanctions on him since 2007, saying he armed and directed pro-government militias known as the Janjaweed, accused of widespread atrocities during the conflict. On Saturday, state-run media reported that Lt. Gen. Salah Abdallah Gosh, the head of the National Intelligence and Security Services, had resigned the day before. It did not provide further details. Once a member of the president's inner circle, Gosh was sacked as an adviser in April 2011 for criticizing the government. He was arrested the following year on suspicion of involvement in a coup attempt, but was later pardoned by al-Bashir, who appointed him intelligence chief in February 2018. TOKYO (AP) - Japan's 85-year-old Emperor Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday and his son Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday. Some key questions and answers about the abdication and ascension: ___ Q. Why is Akihito abdicating, and how is it different from usual successions? A. Akihito in August 2016 expressed his wish to abdicate while he is still well and capable. As a constitutionally defined symbol with no political power, Akihito sought understanding in a message to his people, and immediately won overwhelming public support, paving the way for the government's approval. With Japan's 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 Akihito's abdication. Palace watchers say Akihito wanted to keep the emperor's presence always visible so it won't be veiled and politically used like his father's 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. ___ FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2018, file photo, Japan's Emperor Akihito, right, accompanied by Crown Prince Naruhito, walks away after greeting well-wishers when they appeared on the balcony of the Imperial Palace to mark the emperor's 85th birthday in Tokyo. Akihito is ending his three-decade reign Tuesday, April 30, 2019 as he abdicates to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, becoming the first to do so in 200 years, in a step nobody today has witnessed. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File) Q. Who is next in line, and who's left? A. Naruhito, who ascends the throne on Wednesday, is the elder of Akihito's 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 Thames River 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. Aiko, 17, is barred from inheriting under Japan's male-only succession law, and the line goes to Naruhito's brother, Fumihito, better known by his childhood title, Akishino. Fumihito's 12-year-old son, Hisahito, would be next. Discussions on changing the law to allow female succession quickly ended with Hisahito's birth, but they are expected to resume, with Akihito's abdication raising concerns about the royal family's 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. ___ Q. What are the procedures to abdicate? A. 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. ___ Q. What will Akihito do after abdication? A. 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 won't even attend his son's 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. ___ Q. What about abdications in other countries? A. Japan's 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. Spain's 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 country's 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, Malaysia's King Sultan Muhammad V abruptly stepped down after just two years on the throne, the first abdication in the country's history. ___ Follower Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2016, file photo, provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, Japan's Emperor Akihito reads a message for recording at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Akihito expressed concern about fulfilling his duties as he ages in an address to the public in a 10-minute recorded speech broadcast on national television that was remarkable for its rarity and its hinted possibility that he may want to abdicate in a few years. Akihito is ending his three-decade reign Tuesday, April 30, 2019 as he abdicates to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, becoming the first to do so in 200 years, in a step nobody today has witnessed. (Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP, File) FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2018, file photo, Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito speaks during a state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris. Japanese Emperor Akihito is ending his three-decade reign Tuesday, April 30, 2019, and Naruhito, 59, is ascending the throne May 1. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP) 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) FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2017, file photo, Japan's Crown Princess Masako poses for photos prior to the official celebration of the 150 years anniversary of Japan-Denmark relationship and gala dinner in Tokyo. Masako is recovering from stress-induced conditions she developed after giving birth to her daughter Aiko amid pressure to produce a boy. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File) FILE - In this March 22, 2017, file photo, Japan's Princess Aiko poses for photos as she attend her graduation ceremony at the Gakushuin Girls' Junior High School in Tokyo. Japanese Emperor Akihito is ending his three-decade reign Tuesday, April 30, 2019, and Crown Prince Naruhito is ascending the throne May 1. Aiko is out of the picture under Japan's male-only succession law, and instead the line goes to Naruhito's younger brother Fumihito, better known as his childhood title Prince Akishino, who will become crown prince May 1. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP) FILE - In this May 12, 2016, file photo, Japan's Prince Akishino poses with Pope Francis during a private audience at the Vatican. Japanese Emperor Akihito is ending his three-decade reign Tuesday, April 30, 2019, and Akishino will become crown prince May 1. (Stefano Rellandini/Pool Photo via AP) FILE - In this April 8, 2019, file photo, Prince Hisahito poses for photos at Ochanomizu University Junior High School before attending the entrance ceremony in Tokyo. Japanese Emperor Akihito is ending his three-decade reign Tuesday, April 30, 2019 as he abdicates to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, becoming the first to do so in 200 years, in a step nobody today has witnessed. The line goes to Naruhito's younger brother Fumihito, better known as his childhood title Prince Akishino, who will become crown prince May 1. His son Hisahito, 12, will be next. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, Pool, File) FILE - In this March 10, 2018, file photo, Spain's emeritus King Juan Carlos waves upon his arrival to the Academia Diplomatica de Chile, in Santiago where he met with President-elect Sebastian Pinera. Spain's 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. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File) FILE - In this May 22, 2016, file photo, former Belgian King Albert II arrives for a tribute ceremony at the Royal Palace in Brussels for the victims of the Brussels attacks. In Belgium, the former King Albert II, then 79, abdicated to his son Philippe in 2013 due to health reasons. (Frederic Sierakowski/Pool Photo via AP, File) FILE - In this July 17, 2018, file photo, Malaysian then King Sultan Muhammad V salutes during the national anthem at the opening of the 14th parliament session at the Parliament house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In January, 2019, Malaysian King Sultan Muhammad V, after just two years on the throne, stepped down without giving a reason, the first abdication in the country's history. (AP Photo/Yam G-Jun, File) 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. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Two U.S. warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, Taiwan's 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. Taiwan's 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. China's defense ministry said the French warship entered its territorial waters, but China's 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 world's oceans. CHICAGO (AP) - A multiday sentencing hearing began Monday in Chicago and focused on whether FBI agents manipulated a mentally fragile teenager to participate in a terrorist plot or whether he had long before shown an eagerness to kill. Prosecutors called an FBI agent to the witness stand to tell Adel Daoud's sentencing judge that Daoud posted social media comments inquiring about attacking non-Muslims more than a year before undercover agents ever engaged him as part of a sting. Authorities arrested Daoud in late 2012 after he pushed a button on a remote he believed would detonate a 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) bomb outside a crowded Chicago bar. Prosecutors want a 40-year prison term for Daoud, who entered an Alford plea in November. Defense attorneys say the now-25-year-old, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Hillside, is a textbook example of how the agency often snares the psychologically vulnerable in such stings. They want U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to release him as soon as a mental health treatment plan can be developed for him. The agent who took the stand first, Jeff Parsons, read postings Monday in which Daoud expressed admiration for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, described himself as an aspiring terrorist and even typed keywords like, "I am a terrorist" and "download terrorist magazine," on search engines. Defense attorney Thomas Durkin suggested during cross-examination later Monday that Daoud's overt and clumsy online chat about being a terrorist should have been a strong sign he was no such thing. FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Marshals office shows Chicago terrorism suspect Adel Daoud. Prosecutors and defense lawyers have recommended starkly different sentences for the 25-year-old convicted terrorist whose multi day sentencing hearing starts Monday. In Friday, April 26, 2019 court filings, prosecutors requested a 40-year prison term for Daoud, arrested in a 2012 FBI sting after trying to detonate what he believed was a real bomb by a crowded Chicago bar. The defense wants him released by 2021 or earlier, as soon as a treatment program for his mental health needs can be developed. (U.S. Marshals office via AP, File) "How many terrorists do you know who have literally proclaimed online that, 'I am a terrorist?'" Durkin asked Parsons. The agent answered he hadn't heard of others. The agent said he saw nothing in Daoud's postings indicating he suffered from mental illness. He said Daoud showed initiative, suggesting to undercover agents that fitting butcher knives to a truck and driving it into a crowd would be a way to kill many people at once. Durkin mentioned another idea of Daoud's - to stage attacks by deploying "flying cars." He said that idea should have been one of many red flags. "Did it ever occur to you ... that the person you were dealing with was unstable?" Durkin asked the agent. "I didn't see anything indicating he was mentally unstable," Parsons answered. The agent also read comments Daoud posted admitting he may not have the qualities for a militant, saying, "I got asthma and flat feet. ... And I have never even held a gun before." He added: "I have a terrible case of procrastination and laziness." In 2016, Coleman temporarily deemed Daoud mentally unfit after ruling that he seemed sincere about assertions that Illuminati and "reptilian overlords" were out to get him. On Tuesday, prosecutors intend to call an undercover agent who played a central role in the sting against Daoud. Prosecutors say the agent's life would be in danger if his identity is revealed public, so he will either testify in a disguise or from behind a screen. FBI got tips minutes before California synagogue attack POWAY, Calif. (AP) - The FBI said it got tips about a social media post threatening violence against Jews just minutes before a gunman killed a worshipper and wounded three others at a Southern California synagogue - an attack that makes him "part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries," the suspect's family said Monday. The tips to an FBI website and hotline included a link to the anonymous post but did not offer specific information about its author or the location of the threat. The bureau said employees immediately tried to determine who wrote it, but the shooting occurred before they could establish his identity. John T. Earnest, 19, was charged with murder and attempted murder in Saturday's attack as well as arson in connection with a nearby mosque fire last month. He was expected in court Tuesday. His parents said their son and five siblings were raised in a family that "rejected hate and taught that love must be the motive for everything we do." They said they were shocked and mystified. "Our son's actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold," the family said in its first public comments. ___ Rod Rosenstein submits letter of resignation to Trump WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation Monday after a two-year run defined by his appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. His last day will be May 11, ending a tumultuous relationship with Trump and a tenure that involved some of the most consequential, even chaotic, moments of the president's administration. When Trump wanted to fire then-FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the Russia probe, Rosenstein wrote the memo that the White House used to justify the dismissal. But eight days later, Rosenstein took a step that Trump feared would end his presidency: appointing Robert Mueller as special counsel. The move made Rosenstein the frequent target of Republican wrath and angry Trump tweets and left him repeatedly appearing on the verge of being fired. Yet in the end, he was largely in Trump's corner. He joined Attorney General William Barr in determining that Trump had not obstructed the Mueller investigation - reaching a conclusion that Mueller himself pointedly did not make. He defended Barr against criticism that he was spinning Mueller's findings in the president's favor and stood silently behind him as Barr praised Trump's cooperation at a news conference before a redacted version of the report was released. ___ NRA's LaPierre fends off backlash, wins re-election as CEO INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Wayne LaPierre, the fiery public face of the National Rifle Association for decades, fended off a backlash inside the organization over its finances and direction, winning re-election Monday as the gun lobby's CEO. The move, announced on the NRA magazine's American Rifleman website, came during a closed-door meeting of the group's board of directors. It was unclear if the debate that has roiled the 5-million-member organization in recent weeks would still lead to significant changes in its operations. Board members did not immediately return messages for comment; their phones had been confiscated before entering the meeting room. The board also elected a slate of leaders, including Carolyn Meadows as president. She bypassed the person who traditionally would have been next in line to become president. For the past two decades, the NRA has faced criticism from among its ranks that its leaders had become corrupted by the millions of dollars flowing into its coffers. The criticism has included allegations of self-dealing and excessive personal spending. Now the pressure has increased, with New York's attorney general opening an investigation that could threaten the group's tax-exempt status. ___ Police, FBI thwart Army veteran's plan to bomb Nazi rally LOS ANGELES (AP) - An Army veteran who converted to Islam and discussed launching various terror attacks throughout Southern California was arrested as he plotted to bomb a white supremacist rally as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks, federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Domingo, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested Friday after visiting a park in Long Beach where authorities said he planned to plant home-made explosive devices made with nail-filled pressure cookers in advance of a Nazi rally scheduled Sunday. Domingo, 26, was arrested on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. A criminal complaint said he had been planning since March to "manufacture and use a weapon of mass destruction in order to commit mass murder." U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna told a news conference that Domingo supported violent jihad and spoke about becoming a martyr and of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group if it established a presence in the United States. "This is a case in which law enforcement was able to identify a man consumed with hate and bent on mass murder, and stop him before he could carry out his attack," Hanna said. "The criminal case outlines a chilling terrorism plot that developed over the past two months and targeted innocent Americans that he expected to gather this past weekend." ___ Emperor Akihito to abdicate, Japan embraces end of era TOKYO (AP) - Emperor Akihito is set to abdicate, as Japan embraces the end of his reign with an emotion mixed with reminiscence and hopes for a new era. Akihito, 85, in a palace ritual Tuesday, will announce his retirement before other members of the royal family and top government officials. He was to perform private palace rituals to report his retirement to Shinto gods ahead of the official ceremony. Akihito's reign runs through midnight when his son Crown Prince Naruhito becomes new emperor and his era begins. Akihito has devoted his career to make amends for the victims of a war fought in his father's name, while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people. Naruhito will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne in a separate ceremony on Wednesday. ___ John Singleton, maker of 'Boyz N the Hood,' dies at 51 NEW YORK (AP) - 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. He was 51. Singleton's family said Monday that he died in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, after being taken off life support. Earlier this month, the director 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 neighborhood, the low-budget production starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube and centered on three friends in South Central Los Angeles, where college aspirations competed with the pressures of gang life. "Boyz N the Hood" was a critical and commercial hit, given a 20-minute standing ovation at the 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." For many, the 1991 release captured the explosive mood in Los Angeles in the months following the videotaped police beating of Rodney King. "Boyz N the Hood" also came out at a time when, thanks to the efforts to Spike Lee and others, black films were starting to get made by Hollywood after a long absence. Singleton became the first black director to receive an Academy Award nomination, an honor he would say was compensation for the academy's snubbing Lee and "Do the Right Thing" two years earlier, and was nominated for best screenplay. ("Thelma & Louise" won instead.) At 24, he was also the youngest director nominee in Oscar history. ___ IS leader appears in video for first time in 5 years BEIRUT (AP) - The shadowy leader of the Islamic State group claimed to appear for the first time in five years in a video released by the extremist group's propaganda arm on Monday, acknowledging defeat in the group's last stronghold in Syria but vowing a "long battle" ahead. The man said to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the video also claimed the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka which killed over 250 people were "part of the revenge" that awaits the West. Despite numerous claims about his death in the past few years, al-Baghdadi's whereabouts remain a mystery. Many of his top aides have been killed, mostly by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. He is among the few senior IS commanders still at large after two years of steady battlefield losses that saw the self-styled "caliphate" shrink from an area the size of Britain to a tiny speck in the Euphrates River valley. The video released by a media outlet run by the extremists, Al-Furqan, shows al-Baghdadi with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige vest and seated on the floor with what appears to be an AK-74 rifle propped up next to him. He is speaking with three men seated opposite him whose faces were covered and blotted out. It is his first video appearance since he delivered a sermon at the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. In that video, he appeared as a black-robed figure with a trimmed black beard to deliver a sermon from the pulpit of the mosque in which he urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader. ___ Biden says Trump abused his office, ignored most Americans PITTSBURGH (AP) - Joe Biden accused President Donald Trump of abusing the powers of his office and ignoring everyone but his political base Monday in his first public rally as presidential candidate, arguing in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania that strengthening unions and promoting social and economic unity can restore Democrats to the White House. The former vice president told hundreds of supporters and labor activists that Saturday's deadly shooting at a California synagogue proves anew that the country is "in a fight for its soul." But he spent more time criticizing Trump for his political behavior than for the president's past comments concerning white supremacists, unlike Biden's video formally kicking off his presidential campaign last week. "There's only one thing that stands in our way. It's our broken political system that's deliberately being undermined by our president to continue to abuse the power of the office," Biden said. He called Trump "the only president who has decided not to represent the whole country. He has his base. We need a president who works for all Americans." Earlier in the day, Biden received the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and many in the crowd wore union T-shirts and carried signs supporting him. They repeatedly interrupted him with cries of "We want Joe!" and the candidate declared: "I make no apologies. I am a union man" to sustained applause. ___ Surge in US measles cases leads to extraordinary measures NEW YORK (AP) - Quarantines in California. Fines in New York City. Orders for some people to avoid public places in Rockland County, New York. As an outbreak of measles surges across the United States - with 704 cases this year and counting - some local health officials are trying to deal with contagion in unvaccinated communities by turning to extraordinary police powers from the past. "Unfortunately, we are revisiting diseases from another generation," said Jason Schwartz, an assistant professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health. "And now we are revisiting public health responses from another generation" in instances where vaccination programs have fallen short, he said. Not long ago, measles was thought to be a problem that was mostly solved. The once-common disease became increasingly rare after a vaccine became available in the 1960s. In 2000, health officials declared the disease eliminated in the U.S., meaning that all new cases stemmed from infected travelers and not from homegrown transmission. ___ Official: 3 dead in helicopter crash in Honolulu suburb HONOLULU (AP) - Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. "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. "We could have been smashed by it," she said. Paramedics responding to an unrelated call from a patient with leg pain about 30 yards (27 meters) away heard "a horrific bang," said Shayne Enright, a spokeswoman for Honolulu Emergency Medical Services. When they turned around, they saw a helicopter on fire. SEATTLE (AP) - 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 crane's 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 manufacturer's 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 crane's 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. An iron cross bearing the numbers of Ironworkers Local union chapters from Portland and Seattle stands next to flowers, Monday, April 29, 2019, at a memorial on a median across the street from where a construction crane collapsed and fell Saturday, killing four people, two of whom were ironworkers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 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 I'm 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 Saturday's 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. Corbet's 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 Seattle's Department of Planning and Development. In a written statement, Mayor Jenny Durkan called Justad "a true public servant." An iron cross bearing the numbers of Ironworkers Local union chapters from Portland and Seattle stands next to flowers, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle at a memorial on a median across the street from where a construction crane collapsed and fell Saturday, killing four people, two of whom were ironworkers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Damage to a building that was under construction when a crane collapsed on it Saturday in Seattle is shown, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle. The accident killed four people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 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) 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) PITTSBURGH (AP) - Joe Biden accused President Donald Trump of abusing the powers of his office and ignoring everyone but his political base Monday in his first public rally as presidential candidate, arguing in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania that strengthening unions and promoting social and economic unity can restore Democrats to the White House. The former vice president told hundreds of supporters and labor activists that Saturday's deadly shooting at a California synagogue proves anew that the country is "in a fight for its soul." But he spent more time criticizing Trump for his political behavior than for the president's past comments concerning white supremacists, unlike Biden's video formally kicking off his presidential campaign last week. "There's only one thing that stands in our way. It's our broken political system that's deliberately being undermined by our president to continue to abuse the power of the office," Biden said. He called Trump "the only president who has decided not to represent the whole country. He has his base. We need a president who works for all Americans." Earlier in the day, Biden received the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and many in the crowd wore union T-shirts and carried signs supporting him. They repeatedly interrupted him with cries of "We want Joe!" and the candidate declared: "I make no apologies. I am a union man" to sustained applause. Biden's 40-minute speech swung from vows of union solidarity to broadsides against Trump, but lacked the sharp focus on the president that marked his campaign announcement video last week. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at a Teamsters union hall in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) Instead, Biden on Monday returned to his familiar, folksy pitch to working class voters and avoided the sweeping, liberal policy proposals embraced by much of the rest of the crowded 2020 Democratic field. Biden promoted incremental steps to shrink college costs and expand health care access, unlike some rivals who have called for free or debt-free college and universal, government-run health care, paid for with significant tax increases. "We can do all this without punishing anybody," Biden said, Biden is scheduled to continue his introductory campaign steps in the premier caucus state of Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday. Trump, meanwhile, stepped up his criticism of Biden and boasted on Twitter about his own strong support among union members before Biden offered his pro-union message in Pittsburgh. Trump won Pennsylvania in surprising fashion in 2016, but Biden promised that his party would improve its standing by bringing the country together, not further dividing it. The Teamsters Union ballroom in Pittsburgh is in a gritty Pittsburgh warehouse neighborhood that is undergoing an economic revival. The ballroom was full well before the event started, and the line to get in stretched down the sidewalk. Biden now leads national polls of Democratic preference for the party's 2020 primary, and in Iowa, which votes first in the contest. He also raised more than any of his roughly 20 rivals in the first 24 hours of their official candidacies. However, his age - 76 - could work against him as the party looks for new blood. Biden's event Monday had an economic theme and featured a different line of attack on Trump than he offered in the video kicking off his White House bid last week. The video began with the words, "Charlottesville, Virginia," a fresh condemnation of what many feel is a stain on Trump's presidency - his defense of white nationalists by suggesting "both sides" were to blame for the violence that claimed the life of an anti-racist demonstrator there in August 2017. Trump on Friday defended his original answer, insisting that he wasn't sticking up for white supremacists but those who were protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Those protesters who descended on Charlottesville two summers ago did so chanting white nationalist slogans and carrying Confederate flags, however, and were joined by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. Trump has often been slow to condemn violence perpetrated by white nationalists, and has long insisted that his words were misinterpreted and the media were twisting their meaning in unfavorable ways. Privately, he has defended his initial response in the hours after the Charlottesville attack and was angry that aides persuaded him to do a more formal cleanup statement days later at the White House. After stewing about the media coverage of his comments, he spoke on the incident a third time, saying there were "very fine people" on both sides of the clash - which Biden referenced in his campaign kickoff video. There was more bloodshed this weekend as a shooter killed one woman and injured the rabbi and two other people at the Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego. And Pittsburgh was the site of worse earlier shooting, in which 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue October. Trump has condemned both shooting incidents and has repeatedly griped that he is unfairly blamed for violence by white supremacists. Biden briefly mentioned the California shooting. "We're reminded again because we are in a battle. We are in a battle for America's soul and I really believe that," Biden said. ___ Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report. Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, left, is welcomed to the stage by wife Jill, before addressing a rally at the Teamster Local 249 Hall in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) People applaud as former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a rally at the Teamster Local 249 Hall in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) HONOLULU (AP) - He was Honolulu's Rolex-wearing police chief, an avid surfer who chatted with beat cops in Pidgin, Hawaii's creole language. She was his deputy city prosecutor wife, who drove a Maserati and led an elite unit targeting career criminals while showering lunches on colleagues, friends and even the workers renovating her home. For years, Louis and Katherine Kealoha were the city's law enforcement power couple, enjoying widespread respect as Native Hawaiian role models who hailed from humble, blue-collar roots and rose to the top thanks to decades of hard work. They lived in a swanky house near an exclusive country club in the city's Kahala neighborhood, sometimes called Honolulu's Beverly Hills. But then the facade started to crumble. The Kealohas were so desperate to fund their lavish lifestyle, prosecutors say, they swindled more than a half-million dollars from banks, relatives and others. Their charmed lives turned into a twisted tale of allegations of fraud, illegal drugs and family turmoil. Federal authorities started investigating the two in 2015, and both stepped down from their jobs as the probe deepened. Now the Kealohas are heading to trial next month on federal charges of conspiracy, obstruction and false statements to a federal officer. The obstruction charge carries the heftiest sentence - up to 20 years in prison. Katherine Kealoha, 48, and her brother, Rudolph Puana, are also expected to be tried later on separate allegations that the siblings bartered opioids for cocaine. The Kealohas and Puana have denied all of the charges. The case has morphed into a scandal characterized as the largest corruption prosecution in Hawaii history, and prosecutors say greed was the couple's motive. FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2017 file photo, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife Katherine Keahola leave federal court in Honolulu. Kealoha was Honolulu's Rolex-wearing police chief and his wife Katherine was the Maserati-driving prosecutor in charge of a unit targeting career criminals. Prosecutors say the couple funded a lavish lifestyle by defrauding banks, relatives and children. They're heading to trial in May 2019 on charges they orchestrated the framing of a relative for a mailbox theft who threatened to expose their fraud. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File) "Public embarrassment was not something the Kealohas could afford. They needed to maintain their carefully crafted public image," federal prosecutors said in court documents. The beginning of the end for the Kealohas, prosecutors say, came in the unlikeliest of ways: Prosecutors say Katherine Kealoha's uncle and grandmother had threatened to expose them for fraud, so she devised a scheme to silence them. She tried to have her grandmother, who is now 99, declared incapacitated. She and her husband used members of a special, hand-picked police unit to frame the uncle, Gerard Puana, for stealing the Kealohas' mailbox, prosecutors say. Puana was arrested, and his federal public defender, Alexander Silvert, was initially skeptical about his client's seemingly outlandish claim that he was being set up. It seemed too bizarre: The idea that Honolulu's power couple would hatch such a scheme to discredit him because he had accused his niece of trying to steal money. But the couple made a big mistake, Silvert said: They reported that the mailbox was valued at $380, but Silvert and his investigators learned it cost only $180. The difference in value allowed Puana to be charged with a felony instead of a misdemeanor. "When I realized they were lying about the make and model of the mailbox, then I was 'OK, there's something going on,'" Silvert said. Puana's mailbox theft case ended in a mistrial in 2014. In 2015, a jury sided with Katherine Kealoha in the civil lawsuit her grandmother and uncle lodged against her. Federal investigators stepped in, eventually revealing allegations against Katherine Kealoha, including stealing trust funds from children, showering money she bilked on a firefighter lover and the alleged drug-dealing with her brother. They allege she even invented an alias - Alison Lee Wong - "to dodge scrutiny, forge documents, secure state Senate confirmation, and more." In 2017, she and her husband were indicted on the federal criminal charges. Louis Kealoha's lawyer, Rustam Barbee, told The Associated Press this month that "after 30-plus years of protecting and serving the community here in Honolulu, the chief has earned the right of the presumption of innocence." His wife's lawyer, Cynthia Kagiwada, declined comment on the upcoming federal criminal trial. Hawaii has never had a corruption case like this before, said Neal Milner, a retired University of Hawaii at Manoa political science professor. He said the islands have had their share of organized crime and crooked politicians but the charges the Kealohas face are "an unprecedented kind of alleged corruption." The repercussions could spread even farther than the couple's alleged crimes. Federal authorities have notified Honolulu's elected prosecuting attorney - Katherine Kealoha's former boss - and the city's chief lawyer that they are being investigated. It's not clear what that investigation entails. Neither Kealoha was born into the luxury that prosecutors say they craved. Katherine Kealoha rode a city bus as a child for more than an hour to get to school from rural Kahaluu on Oahu's verdant and mountainous windward coast where her father was a fisherman. And Louis Kealoha, 58, lived in gritty neighborhoods, including Halawa Valley, where his mother supported the family with a small lunch shop. He dropped out of a community college to join the Honolulu Police Department in 1983, saying he liked surfing more than school. She graduated from the University of Hawaii's law school in 1995. He rose through the ranks of the police department, and eventually earned a bachelor's degree. The two met while getting their master's degrees in criminal justice administration at Chaminade University, a small Catholic school in Honolulu, according to a 2010 Mid-Week newspaper article about how the new chief was instilling Native Hawaiian values while leading the police force. Louis Kealoha ended up earning a doctorate in 2006 through a University of Southern California program in which professors traveled to Honolulu on weekends, according to a 2013 USC publication. Describing his decision to seek higher education, he said his grandparents never attended school and his father had a sixth-grade education. "Nobody in my family was a supervisor of anything. We were all rank and file," the USC article quoted him as saying. "I thought it would be so cool to create a different path for my family." Now the Kealohas have lost their expensive home to foreclosure proceedings and have taxpayer-funded, court-appointed defense attorneys. They arrive at court hearings holding hands - wearing color-coordinated outfits. After being arrested and pleading not guilty in 2017, they left the courthouse wearing lei, an odd sight because lei are associated with celebratory events like birthdays to graduations, not criminal court matters. Despite their reputation as players at the pinnacle of Hawaii's law enforcement, the couple's lavish lifestyle did raise eyebrows long before the sordid tale emerged. Randal Lee, a retired Honolulu judge, recalls running into Katherine Kealoha at the height of the couple's prosperity around 2008 and asking her where she and her husband were living. When she told him the Kahala enclave of multimillion-dollar homes, he said he thought to himself: "How could they afford that, man?" FILE - In this March 12, 2019 file photo, retired Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, former deputy city prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, hold hands while walking to U.S. district court in Honolulu. Prosecutors say the couple funded a lavish lifestyle by defrauding banks, relatives and children. They're heading to trial in May 2019 on charges they orchestrated the framing of a relative for a mailbox theft who threatened to expose their fraud. (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, File) FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Honolulu Police Department shows Police Chief Louis Kealoha. He retired in 2017. Kealoha was Honolulu's Rolex-wearing police chief and his wife Katherine was the Maserati-driving prosecutor in charge of a unit targeting career criminals. Prosecutors say the couple funded a lavish lifestyle by defrauding banks, relatives and children. They're heading to trial in May 2019 on charges they orchestrated the framing of a relative for a mailbox theft who threatened to expose their fraud. (Honolulu Police Department via AP, File) LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) - A father who police said killed his five young children in their South Carolina home and then drove their bodies around for more than a week is about to stand trial for his life. Jury selection started Monday in Lexington County in the death penalty case of Timothy Jones Jr. Jones is charged with five counts of murder for killing his children, ages 8, 7, 6, 2 and 1, in their Lexington home in August 2014. Indictments said he strangled four of them and beat the other. Jones then wrapped the bodies in plastic bags, put them in the back of his SUV and drove around the Southeast for a week, logging more than 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) through North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and finally Mississippi where he was arrested, authorities said. Well into the trip, Jones buried his children on a rural hillside near Camden, Alabama, police said. When he was arrested at a drunken driving checkpoint in Smith County, Mississippi, an officer smelled a terrible odor and found blood, maggots and children's clothes in the SUV, authorities said. FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014 file photo,Smith County Sheriff Charlie Crumpton, left, watches as Timothy Ray Jones Jr., is escorted by lawmen out of the Smith County Jail to a vehicle for transport to Lexington County, S.C. in Raleigh, Miss. Jury selection is set to begin Monday, April 29, 2019 in the death penalty trial of Jones who police said killed his five young children in their South Carolina home. Authorities say after 37-year-old Timothy Jones Jr. killed his children, ages 8, 7, 6, 2 and 1, in their Lexington home in August 2014, he drove their bodies around for a week, burying them in Alabama and then being arrested in Mississippi. Court records show defense attorneys plan an insanity defense for Jones. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) Jones' lawyers have filed court papers saying he plans an insanity defense Nearly 200 potential jurors were summoned to the Lexington County courthouse Monday and media reports said Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith split them into groups of eight after dismissing people who weren't qualified or had a valid excuse not to serve. The groups will be called to the courthouse at different times and each potential juror questioned individually by prosecutors and defense lawyers about their attitudes on the death penalty and a range of other things. Griffith hopes to finish jury selection by the end of the week. Jones, 37, was a software engineer and was given custody of his children after his marriage started to fall apart. The computer engineer struggled as a single father, according to records from the Department of Social Services, whose employees visited the home a dozen times in three years. But Jones also worked to correct the problems as social workers found them. There were trips to Disney World and the beach and a birthday party with cupcakes detailed in those records along with a mark on one of the children and a report they were made to exercise excessively as punishment. "Dad appears to be overwhelmed as he is unable to maintain the home, but the children appear to be clean, groomed and appropriately dressed," wrote the case worker, whose name was blacked out, in a report filed two weeks before police said the children were killed. The trial could take most of May. If jurors find Jones guilty of murder, the same jury will then hear testimony about whether he should be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty. BEIJING (AP) - A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts in the region. ___ US WARSHIPS SAIL THROUGH TAIWAN STRAIT Taiwan's defense ministry says a pair of U.S. warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, in a move likely to spark protest from Beijing. FILE - In this file photo taken Saturday, May 24, 2014, China's Harbin (112) guided missile destroyer takes part in a week-long China-Russia "Joint Sea-2014" navy exercise at the East China Sea off Shanghai, China. A Russian naval task force has arrived in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao ahead of joint naval exercises that reinforce the growing bond between Beijing and Moscow. (AP Photo) 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. China has been increasingly willing to protest actions by foreign militaries in areas it considers its home waters or spheres of influence. That especially applies to the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety. Last week, China complained to France about a French warship it said had passed through the Taiwan Strait. The April 7 incident marked a rare case of military friction between the two countries, which have previously held joint search and rescue exercises. The Taiwan Strait enters the South China Sea at its southern end. Control of both waterbodies is considered a linchpin of Chinese naval strategy. ___ CHINA, RUSSIA PREPARE FOR JOINT NAVAL EXERCISES A Russian naval task force has arrived in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao ahead of joint naval exercises this week that reinforce the growing bond between Beijing and Moscow. During the drills, the sides will practice maneuvering and communicating and, "perform missile launches and deliver artillery fire at sea and air targets as well as practice search and rescue operations," Russia's state news agency Tass reported. The Russian squadron is led by the missile cruiser Varyag and also comprises the large landing ships Oslyabya, Admiral Vinogradov and Admiral Tributs, along with the corvette Sovershenny, salvage tug Igor Belousov and sea tanker Irkut, Tass said. China has said the exercise will involve a total of 13 surface ships, 2 submarines, 7 fighter jets, 4 helicopters, and a unit of 80 marines. Tass said aircraft from the Chinese naval aviation force would take part, along with diesel electric submarines from both sides. Bonded by a common rivalry with the U.S., Moscow and Beijing have forged what they describe as a "strategic partnership," expressing their shared opposition to the "unipolar" world - a term they use to describe perceived U.S. global dominance. Russia has also offered rhetorical support for China's position on its claims in the South China Sea. Last September, about 3,200 Chinese troops joined Russia's largest-ever war games in Siberia, in which nearly 300,000 Russian troops conducted drills. ___ DUTERTE RAISES SOUTH CHINA SEA IN MEETING WITH XI Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte raised his nation's concerns over territorial disputes in the South China Sea at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing that followed the signing of multi-billion dollar trade agreements. The official Philippine News Agency said Duterte "reiterated to Xi his resolve to endeavor to make the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) a sea of peace, stability, and prosperity." "He expounded the need for both countries to exercise restraint and caution to avoid actions that could complicate situations," the agency quoted Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo as saying. Duterte said in early April that he had few options other than to order troops to "prepare for suicide missions" if a Philippine-occupied island in the South China Sea comes under threat from China. Despite such rhetoric, Duterte has generally adopted a non-confrontational approach in territorial spats with Beijing while seeking Chinese infrastructure funds, trade and investment. He has declined to push a ruling that invalidated China's historical claims to the South China Sea through arbitration proceedings held by a tribunal in The Hague under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Philippine News Agency quoted Panelo as saying that deals in energy and infrastructure signed during Duterte's visit totaled more than $12 billion, with the potential to create more than 21,000 jobs. ___ CHINA COMPLAINS OVER BRITISH NAVAL OPERATIONS Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua has blamed British activity in the South China Sea for a downturn in relations in comments at the start of a meeting with British treasury chief Philip Hammond. Hu's comments Thursday appear to illustrate how China is now willing to permit assertions of its territorial claims to affect ties with nations from outside the region. In his remarks to Hammond, Hu appeared to reference a mission by a British warship last August. At the time, China denounced the passage of the British warship HMS Albion close to Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea's Paracel group. That development was seen as possibly affecting negotiations on a post-Brexit trade agreement between the sides. "It is regrettable that since August last year the relations between our two countries witnessed some fluctuations because of the South China Sea issue and a series of institutional dialogues and cooperation projects had to pause," Hu said. FILE - In this April 26, 2019, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, front left, and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, front center, arrive for the welcome banquet at the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. A Russian naval task force has arrived in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao ahead of joint naval exercises that reinforce the growing bond between Beijing and Moscow. (Nicolas Asfouri/Pool Photo via AP, File) BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka (AP) - The leader of the Islamic State group praised the Easter suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people in Sri Lanka in a video released Monday, calling on militants to be a "thorn" against their enemies in his first filmed appearance in nearly five years. The video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to whom the suicide bombers in last week's attack apparently pledged their loyalty, came as the top official in the Catholic Church urged Sri Lanka to crack down on Islamic extremists "as if on war footing." Meanwhile, a government ban on niqab face covering took effect as soldiers and police officers conducted raids in eastern Sri Lanka, the home of the alleged mastermind of the attacks. The 18-minute video of al-Baghdadi included images of the extremist leader sitting in a white room with three others, assault rifles by their sides. He discussed Sri Lanka in an audio portion of the video, suggesting the April 21 attacks came after they filmed him. Al-Baghdadi praised the attackers, saying they conducted the bombings as revenge for the fall of Baghouz, Syria, the last territory the extremist group held there or in Iraq. "As for your brothers in Sri Lanka, they have put joy in the hearts of the monotheists with their immersing operations that struck the homes of the crusaders in their Easter," al-Baghdadi said, according to a transcript from the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group. Soldiers return to their base following an operation searching for explosives and suspects tied to a local group of Islamic State militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka on Monday has urged the government to crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) He also called on Islamic State-pledged militants in the island nation off the southern tip of India to be "a thorn in the chests of the crusaders." Authorities initially blamed the Easter attacks, targeting three hotels and three churches, on a local militant named Mohammed Zahran and his followers. Then the Islamic State group on April 23 released images of Zahran and others pledging their loyalty to al-Baghdadi. Police conducted a later raid in eastern Sri Lanka that saw militants detonate suicide bombs in violence that killed at least 15 people, including six children. Explosives recovered by authorities bore hallmarks of the Islamic State group as well. Anger against Sri Lanka's government has grown after the country discovered its security services had prior, specific warnings an attack loomed. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo and the Catholic Church's top official on the island, said the church may not be able to stop people from taking the law into their own hands if the government doesn't do more. "All the security forces should be involved and function as if on war footing," Ranjith told reporters. "I want to state that we may not be able to keep people under control in the absence of a stronger security program," he said. "We can't forever give them false promises and keep them calm." Ranjith, however, sought to assure Muslims the church will not allow any revenge attacks against them. Catholic churches cancelled Mass on Sunday, a week after the bombings, for fear of another attack. Catholics celebrated Mass in their homes while watching Ranjith preside over a televised service. Other denominations also closed their doors. The church closing followed local officials and the U.S. Embassy in Colombo warning that more militants remained on the loose with explosives and places of worship remained targets. President Maithripala Sirisena also appointed former army commander Shantha Kottegoda on Monday as the top official in the Defense Ministry. He earlier requested the resignation of his predecessor, Hemasiri Fernando, for intelligence failures that led to the bombings. In the eastern Sri Lankan city of Kalmunai, Associated Press journalists saw police and soldiers conducting raids in a predominantly Muslim area. Such operations are likely to continue around the area Zahran once preached his extremist message glorifying killing non-Muslims. Meanwhile, Sirisena's ban on wearing the niqab face veil took effect. The niqab is a black veil made of thin fabric, often with a small opening from which a woman's eyes can peer out. While previously unseen in Sri Lanka, the niqab has grown in popularity in the last 10 years after the country's civil war. ___ Associated Press writers Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report. Francis reported from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Soldiers return to their base following an operation searching for explosives and suspects tied to a local group of Islamic State militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka on Monday has urged the government to crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Sri Lankan Naval soldiers stand guard outside St. Anthony's Church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka says the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings meanwhile the government has banned all kinds of face coverings that may conceal people's identities. The emergency law, which took effect Monday, prevents Muslim women from veiling their faces. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) An elderly Sri Lankan Muslim man walks across a street in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka said Monday that the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. Meanwhile, the government has banned all kinds of face coverings that may conceal people's identities. The emergency law, which took effect Monday, prevents Muslim women from veiling their faces. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) Sri Lankan policemen and a Naval soldier stand guard at a Check point in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka says the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Sri Lankan catholic nuns wait for transportation in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka says the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) Sri Lankan policemen check the identity card of a person carrying a back-pack, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka says the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Sri Lankan security guards patrol on a road leading to St. Anthony's Church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka says the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Sri Lankan Muslims talk sitting inside a three-wheeler in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka said Monday that the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. Meanwhile, the government has banned all kinds of face coverings that may conceal people's identities. The emergency law, which took effect Monday, prevents Muslim women from veiling their faces. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) A Sri Lankan Muslim man waits to offer afternoon prayer in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka said Monday that the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. Meanwhile, the government has banned all kinds of face coverings that may conceal people's identities. The emergency law, which took effect Monday, prevents Muslim women from veiling their faces. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) A Sri Lankan man looks at a blocked road leading to St. Anthony's Church as Naval soldiers patrol, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka says the government should crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) MADRID (AP) - Spain's political future is no clearer after its third election in four years, with experts saying Monday that it won't be anytime soon before the muddle is resolved. The incumbent prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, celebrated after his Socialist party won the most votes in Sunday's ballot. But Spanish politicians were doing the math on how Sanchez might survive the next four years without a parliamentary majority. Spain's political right is fractured. The traditional conservative Popular Party suffered a humiliating defeat, while the election marked the rise of the far-right and a high point for an expanding center-right party. The results did little to dispel government uncertainty in the eurozone's No. 4 economy. It could take weeks or months for Spain's political future to become clear, said Andrew Dowling, an expert on contemporary Spanish politics at Cardiff University in Wales. "If the Socialist party wants to stay in power for the next four years, it needs to find mechanisms of accommodation to ensure a degree of stability," he said. Spain's Prime Minister and Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez gestures to supporters outside the party headquarters following the general election in Madrid, Spain, 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/Bernat Armangue) Sanchez hailed his center-left party's victory as an antidote against a reactionary wave of national populism, pledging to help strengthen the European Union. But the Socialist party won only 29% of the vote, and it still needs to make tough political decisions in order to govern. With only 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies, Spain's parliament, the Socialists will need to negotiate the support of smaller rival parties to pass legislation. Even an alliance with the far-left, anti-austerity party United We Can - the most obvious potential partner - wouldn't give the Socialists the 176 seats it needs. There are other options, however. Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said Monday she believed the election result, which increased the Socialists' parliamentary seats from 85 to 123, was "more than enough" of a public endorsement to allow the party to rule alone as a minority government. Spain's Socialists have also noted the success of the ruling Socialist Party in neighboring Portugal, where the minority government has an understanding with other left-of-center parties which provide support by often voting with it in parliament. There is a difference, however: In Spain, the Socialist party came to power last June in a minority government and lasted less than a year after opposition parties, including Catalonia's separatists, refused to endorse its public-spending plan. Another possibility is a broad centrist alliance with the center-right Citizens party, which shot from 32 to 57 parliamentary seats in the election. But Citizens party leader Albert Rivera has in the past ruled out any arrangement with Sanchez and has in many aspects been hostile to the Socialists' political agenda. On Monday, party spokeswoman Ines Arrimadas again rejected talks to back Sanchez, while presenting Citizens as the leading force in the opposition. Another unpredictable path that Sanchez could consider is to seek the support of secessionists in Catalonia. The unflagging demands of separatists for that wealthy region's independence led in 2017 to Spain's worst constitutional crisis in decades, and the price of their support may be too high for Sanchez. Much of the uncertainty stems from how Spain's political landscape has fragmented in recent years, after decades in which the Socialist party and the conservative Popular Party took turns in power. Forging cross-party alliances has proved difficult and has unsettled Spanish governments. In 2015, a splintered parliamentary outcome from a general election led to inconclusive negotiations and a repeat election the following year. "The country has endured an excessive amount of instability," La Vanguardia newspaper said in an editorial Monday. "That is never good. And it's even worse when the European Union has the same problem, due to Brexit and the rise of populism." The Popular Party lost more than half of its parliamentary representation as it fell to 66 seats. Adding to the parliamentary makeover, the far-right Vox party claimed 10% of the vote and 24 seats. It is the first time since the 1980s that a far-right party will sit in the national parliament, although Vox didn't win as many votes as some polls had forecast. In all, five parties got more than 20 seats. Referring to the anti-migrant Vox, Sanchez said the election's message to Europe was that "you can win against authoritarianism and regression." "We will form a pro-European government to strengthen Europe, not weaken it," he vowed. Amid all the political maneuvering, the new government faces the daunting task of cutting chronic unemployment and keeping the public pension system from collapse. The Spanish jobless rate in February was almost 14% - compared with an average of just under 8% for eurozone countries. Jose Luis Abalos, a close aide to Sanchez, said Monday that the Socialists are not in a rush to form a government and their immediate focus will be on campaigning for regional and local government elections, as well as European Parliament elections on May 26, in what will be another test of political strength. After Sunday's vote, Spain has emerged as "the most solid social democracy in Europe" and "an example against the threat of the advances made by populists and the extreme right," Abalos said. ____ Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez gestures to supporters gathered 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. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas) Spain's Socialist Party supporters celebrate outside the party headquarters following the general election in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 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) The acreage to be planted under the applications was just over 7,000 acres, a small fraction of land that in Illinois is traditionally devoted to corn and soy beans. But it represents a new industry that was previously prohibited except for research, until the last years federal farm bill legalized production. WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) - Three women and a man were found dead at an apartment complex in Ohio where multiple gunshots were fired, police said Monday. No suspect has been identified. A man called 911 around 10 p.m. Sunday, saying he had arrived at the complex in a northern Cincinnati suburb to find four members of his family on the floor, 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 neighbors 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 said that it didn't appear that anyone had shot back at the perpetrator or perpetrators, whom police were still working to identify. They were also interviewing family members and neighbors. Police authorities search a nearby pond at a scene at an apartment complex Monday, April 29, 2019, in West Chester, Ohio. Several people were found dead at the apartment complex where multiple gunshots were fired, police said Monday. No suspect has been identified. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) "It does not appear that the shooter is among the dead," Herzog said, adding that he doesn't believe there is any danger to the community. There was no lockdown in effect at a nearby school, he said. "It appears to be isolated," Herzog said. He added that the victims all appeared to have lived in the same apartment in the township, which is a growing, mostly suburban area roughly 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Cincinnati. The man who called 911 provided little information on the call about what appeared to have happened. Herzog said police had interviewed the caller, but he wasn't in custody. He confirmed that the caller was a relative of the victims. Herzog also said there apparently were other people who lived at the residence, including children who weren't there at the time and now are staying with other relatives. A police report released later Monday said the crime was reported by Gurpreet Singh, 36, identified as a resident of the apartment who found the four people dead. Police have not made public the names of the victims, but people gathering for a Monday evening prayer service at the Sikh Temple Gurdwara near the apartment complex said they believed the victims were members of a family that had worshipped at the temple for years. "It's a very great loss for our community," said Jasminder Singh, president of the temple's executive council. "Everybody is in shock." Police said it appeared the family was preparing dinner when attacked, and there was some smoke when they arrived from the abandoned meal preparation. Authorities have said that multiple agencies, including the State Highway Patrol, have been assisting in the investigation. Police established a perimeter around the apartment complex early Monday and used police helicopters and dogs to search for a suspect. They also searched a nearby pond for clues. Herzog said: "We're actively searching with all the resources we can." ___ Associated Press writer Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed to this report. Police work 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. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP) 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) 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. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP) 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) 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) 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) 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) A body is loaded into a Butler County coroner's van Monday, April 29, 2019 after multiple people were found dead at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex in West Chester Township, Ohio on Sunday night, according to police. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP) CAIRO (AP) - Libyan forces loyal to a former military commander have intensified their airstrikes on Tripoli, where heavy fighting and blocked roads have left civilians trapped in their homes, officials said Monday. Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter's self-styled Libyan National Army launched an operation to retake the capital on April 4 and has been locked in heavy fighting in and around the city with militias loosely allied with a U.N.-supported government. The clashes have killed at least 345 people, including 22 civilians, according to the latest U.N. figures released last on Sunday. Libyan officials said LNA airstrikes have targeted the Nawasi Brigade in the Abu Salim district, about 7 kilometers (4 miles) from Tripoli's center. At least four civilians were killed, they said. They said airstrikes hit al-Qaqaa military camp in the town of al-Falah, south of Tripoli. The camp is controlled by powerful militias from the western town of Misrata that are also allied with the Tripoli government. Airstrikes and shelling also hit the towns of Khallet al-Forjan, Ain Zara and al-Twaisha, south of the capital, and heavy fighting was underway in Salah al-Deen, an area that saw earlier clashes between rival militias in September. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. Residents said fighting has been ongoing overnight in residential areas a few kilometers (miles) south of Tripoli. Both sides have used heavy artillery and airstrikes, they said. FILE - In this Friday, April 26, 2019, file, photo, protesters march against military operations by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter's forces in Martyrs' Square on in Tripoli, Libya. Libyan forces loyal to a former military commander have intensified their airstrikes on Tripoli, where heavy fighting and blocked roads have left civilians trapped in their homes, officials said Monday.(AP Photo/Hazem Ahmed, File) "We cannot move because of the shelling from both sides. Our homes have been damaged. We are trying to leave the area to a safer place," said Mohammed al-Trapoulsi, a 41-year-old father of three from Abu Salim. On Sunday, LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi that their warplanes targeted the Yarmuk military camp in Ain Zara. The two sides have traded control the strategic camp since the offensive began. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Sunday the clashes have displaced more than 41,000 people. It said the fighting, along with random shelling, roadblocks and roadside bombs, prevented many civilians from moving to safer areas and hindered efforts to evacuate them or deliver aid. Hifter, a veteran general who has spent the last few years battling Islamic extremists and rival factions in eastern Libya, says he is determined to restore stability to Libya, which slid into chaos after longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. His opponents view him as an aspiring autocrat and fear a return to one-man rule. Since launching his offensive in Tripoli, Hifter's forces have captured the districts of Gharyan and Qasr Bani Ghashir, along with several smaller towns. They also seized the capital's airport, which was heavily damaged and shut down after an earlier bout of fighting between rival militias in 2014. Hifter is allied with civilian authorities based in the eastern town of Tobruk and has received support from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and France. The U.N. supports the government in Tripoli and has called for an immediate cease-fire and the organization of national elections. Elsewhere in Libya, Hifter's forces repelled an attack on the Sharara oil field in the country's southwest. Libya's National Oil Corporation condemned the overnight the attack, saying production "remains unaffected." It was not clear who was behind the attack. Hifter's forces captured the oil field in February and allowed the NOC, which has remained neutral in the conflict, to resume operations there. The NOC said Sunday that its monthly oil revenues increased by 20% to more than $1.5 billion in March after resuming production from Sharara, which produces around 300,000 barrels a day. The field is operated by the NOC in partnership with a consortium that includes Total, Repsol, Statoil, and OMV. Libya has struggled to rebuild its oil industry - its main source of revenue - since 2011. MADRID (AP) - The Latest on the results of the Spanish general election (all times local): 8:35 p.m. A senior Socialist party official in Spain has ruled out entering a governing coalition with smaller parties after it won the most votes in the country's latest general election. Jose Luis Abalos said Tuesday that "we will try to achieve support based on political proposals and programs, but not pacts." The Socialists made significant gains but failed to achieve a governing majority in Spain's third election since 2015. The party won about 29% of the votes and one option is for it to try to rule as a minority government. Abalos said the result makes Spain the "most solid social-democracy in Europe" and "an example against the threat of advancing populism and the extreme right. He was referring to Vox, a nationalist ultraconservative party that grabbed about 10% of votes in the general election. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez smiles during a party meeting at Socialist party headquarters in Madrid, Spain, Monday, April 29, 2019. Spain's political future is no clearer after a third election since 2015, with experts saying Monday that it won't be anytime soon before the muddle is resolved. The incumbent prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, celebrated after his Socialist party won the most votes in Sunday's ballot. But Spanish politicians were doing the math on how Sanchez might survive the next four years without a parliamentary majority. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Abalos put the blame on the rise of the far-right on the two other right-wing political forces, the once-dominant Popular Party and the surging Citizens party. He accused them of trying to assemble "an anti-Socialist coalition with the help of Vox." The official said the Socialists are not in a rush to form a government and that their immediate focus will be on campaigning for the European Parliament election on May 26, which in Spain coincides with regional and local ballots. ___ 2:35 p.m. The centrist Citizens party says it wants to lead Spain's political opposition, ruling out entering a governing alliance with the Socialists who won Sunday's general election. Speaking on the day after the ballot, Citizens spokeswoman Ines Arrimadas has rejected entering any negotiations with the party of the incumbent prime minister, Pedro Sanchez. In addition to Citizens, two more parties are fighting over leadership of the right wing after falling short of a majority in the parliament's Lower House. The center-right Citizens obtained 57 seats, more than in the last election three years ago, but still behind its conservative rival in the right wing, the Popular Party, which halved its presence in the Congress of Deputies, from 137 to 66 lawmakers. The Popular Party, dominant when power in Spain was a matter of only conservatives and Socialists, has acknowledged the bad results but says that it remains the leading opposition force. Santiago Abascal, the leader of the Vox far-right party that went from zero to 24 deputies, on Monday blamed the right's inability to unseat Sanchez on the Popular Party's poor performance. ___ 12:35 p.m. The European Union executive says that it is confident that outgoing prime minister Pedro Sanchez "will be able to form a stable pro-European government that will allow Spain to continue to play an important role in the EU." Spokesman Margaritis Schinas added that the results also show that "a crushing majority of the Spanish population has chosen for clearly pro-European parties." He said that EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has called Sanchez to congratulate him on "his clear victory" ___ 8:55 a.m. Spain's third parliamentary election in less than four years has done little to dispel uncertainty over the political future of the eurozone's fourth largest economy. The center-left Socialist party won re-election in Sunday's ballot, collecting nearly 29% of votes, and will try to form a government. It would be one of only a handful of socialist governments in the European Union. But with only 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies, Spain's parliament, it needs to negotiate the support of smaller rival parties to pass legislation. Even an alliance with the far-left, anti-austerity party United We Can wouldn't give the Socialists the key number of 176 seats. Spain's political landscape has fragmented further, with far-right party Vox claiming its first seats in the national parliament. National party spokesperson Ines Arrimadas of the center-right Ciudadanos party speaks during a news conference the day after Spain's General elections in Madrid, Spain, Monday, April 29, 2019. Spain's governing Socialists have won the country's election but will need backing from smaller parties to stay in power. (AP Photo/Paul White) Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez speaks to supporters gathered 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) Spanish newspapers in Pamplona, northern Spain, announce the victory of Spain's Prime Minister and candidate of the Spanish Socialist Party, Pedro Sanchez, a day after general elections, Monday, April 29, 2019. The center-left Socialist party won re-election in Sunday's ballot, and will try to form a government.(AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The man accused of killing five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, changed his plea Monday to not guilty by reason of insanity. Lawyers for Jarrod Ramos said in a court filing that the 39-year-old Ramos was not criminally responsible "because of a mental disorder." Monday's filing in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court also said he lacked the "capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct." Five people were fatally shot in June 2018 in the Capital Gazette newsroom. Ramos was indicted on 23 charges in the attack, including first-degree murder. Ramos had initially pleaded not guilty, and the change of plea filed Monday maintains the not guilty plea. If Ramos were ultimately found not criminally responsible, he could be confined to a mental health prison facility. A November trial has been scheduled. Ramos has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Ann Smith and Wendi Winters. At a court hearing earlier this month, an attorney for Ramos made several references to his client's "bizarre language" and "bizarre behavior" leading up to the June 28 mass shooting. Attorney William Davis said Ramos had "longstanding" mental health issues and a period of "mental health disturbances." Davis also said a mental health expert has been working with the defense. FILE - This June 28, 2018, file photo provided by the Anne Arundel Police shows Jarrod Ramos in Annapolis, Md. Attorneys for Ramos, accused of killing five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., said Monday, April 29, 2019, he is pleading not criminally responsible in an insanity defense. (Anne Arundel Police via AP, File) The state will conduct its own evaluation to determine whether Ramos was not criminally responsible. A doctor independent from the prosecution will write a report with recommendations and that report will then be sent to defense attorneys, prosecutors and the court. Generally, a judge or jury would consider whether the defendant is not criminally responsible after the trial. Prosecutors are seeking life in prison without possibility of parole. Police said Ramos had used a shotgun to blast his way inside the newsroom. He also has been charged with attempted murder, assault and gun crimes. According to prosecutors, Ramos carefully planned the attack and barricaded the rear exit of the office to prevent people from escaping. Police say they captured Ramos hiding under a desk at the Capital Gazette office after the attack. Ramos, of Laurel, Maryland, had a well-documented history of harassing the newspaper's journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012, alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case in 2011. The Capital had published a story describing allegations by a woman who said Ramos harassed her online for months. The defamation suit was dismissed as groundless, and Ramos railed against staff at the newspaper in profanity-laced tweets. In the days following the attack, area judges and an attorney received letters that threatened the newsroom and were signed with Ramos' name. BOSTON (AP) - Prosecutors in Massachusetts sued Monday to block federal authorities from making arrests at courthouses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, arguing the practice is making it harder for them to hold defendants accountable and get justice for victims. The top prosecutors for Suffolk County, which includes Boston, and Middlesex County say in the lawsuit joined by public defenders and others that some cases are grinding to a halt because witnesses, victims or defendants are too afraid to come to courts staked out by immigration agents. "When we cannot hold anyone accountable for their actions - let me be clear - that is not justice and not one person in this commonwealth is safer because of that practice," Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan told reporters. The federal lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, is the latest fight between state and federal authorities over President Donald Trump's stepped-up immigration efforts. It comes days after federal prosecutors in Massachusetts charged a state court judge and former court officer with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping a man sneak out a back door of the courthouse to evade a waiting immigration agent. Such courthouse arrests, which immigrant advocates say have increased across the country under Trump, have led to protests by lawyers representing immigrants and calls for an end to the policy from current and retired judges . Earlier this month, New York state courts officials barred immigration agents from making arrests inside courthouses without judicial warrants or orders. Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins speaks during a news conference announcing a plan to file a federal lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Boston, over its policy of arresting people at courthouses on civil immigration matters. The announcement comes days after federal prosecutors charged a judge and former court officer in Newton, Mass., with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping a man wanted by federal immigration authorities escape a courthouse. (AP Photo/Alanna Durkin Richer) The Trump administration has said it's only going to halls of justice for certain targets, like public safety threats, and that courthouses are among the safest places to arrest immigrants because visitors typically have to go through metal detectors. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman declined to comment Monday. But Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson slammed prosecutors for bringing the case, saying they should be "working with law enforcement instead of partnering with criminal illegal immigrants." The lawsuit seeks to bar federal authorities from arresting people for civil immigration violations while they're coming to, leaving or are inside a courthouse. The lawsuit does not aim to block immigration agents from arresting people who are brought in court while in state custody on a criminal charge. Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal of Lawyers for Civil Rights, one of the groups bringing the case, said it's the first federal lawsuit challenging ICE's practice of courthouse arrests. "This case creates a blueprint for advocates across the country who want to protect immigrants," the executive director said. A judge on Massachusetts' highest court last year rejected a similar state court case that sought to bar agents from arresting immigrants at courthouses. Among other things, the federal lawsuit argues that the practice violates the constitutional right to access the courts. "I am not asking nor am I intending to interfere with the federal government when they engage in and exercise their lawful authority," Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said. "I simply ask that they pay us the same respect and not interfere with ours." Lawyers said they don't have data on how many cases have been disrupted by ICE arrests, but say immigration arrests are reported at courthouses across the state several times a week. Ryan said her office has seen two cases that were interrupted because someone needed in court disappeared during the day. The complaint cites several cases of victims being too afraid to come forward because of the courthouse arrests. For example, immigrants who were duped into investing in a shell company have refused to bring a case against the fraudster to get their money back because they fear they could be arrested and deported if they have to show up in court, the lawsuit says. "Our courts are places where individuals, regardless of income or influence or status must be able to seek justice, to exercise their constitutional rights, to seek safety from physical harm or compensation for economic harm," said Wendy Wayne, director of the immigration impact unit at Massachusetts' public defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services. ____ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://www.twitter.com/aedurkinricher BOSTON (AP) - Felicity Huffman is expected to plead guilty May 13 to charges that she took part in a sweeping college admissions cheating scam. The "Desperate Housewives" star had been scheduled to enter her plea in Boston federal court on May 21. But a judge agreed Monday to move up the hearing because the lead prosecutor will be out of town. Also Monday, lawyers formally entered not guilty pleas in court on behalf of "Full House" actress Lori Loughlin (LAWK'-lin); her husband, Mossimo Giannulli; and more than a dozen other parents. They had previously pleaded not guilty in court documents. The judge allowed the parents to skip their arraignment. Huffman was accused of paying $15,000 to rig her daughter's SAT score. Loughlin and Giannulli are charged with paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California. "Cape May" (Celadon Books), by Chip Cheek It is early fall of 1957 when the young newlyweds arrive at Cape May for their honeymoon. This is the offseason, and the New Jersey beach with its aging Victorian homes facing a choppy sea is mostly deserted. But not entirely. The newlyweds - Henry and Effie, arriving from rural Georgia to stay in a relative's cottage - soon find that a beach house down the street is lit up for a party. As Chip Cheek describes it in "Cape May," his first novel, the party is worthy of a Jay Gatsby soiree, jumping with music and drenched in gin. The party is also the beginning of the end of the honeymoon and the start of the novel's descent. From a well-crafted opening and smoothly written scenes, the narrative turns increasingly to its primary subject - the pull of eros and its consequences, explicitly described. While Cheek can be deft with these scenes, the book too often sinks into erotic schlock. Henry, the novel's priapic protagonist, is 20 years old. He would be a sophomore in college, if he had gone to college. His bride, Effie, is just 18, the same age as Alma, the footloose young lady who draws Henry from his honeymoon bed. There are two older, wealthy, heavy-drinking, questionable characters - Clara and Max - who are hard to like from the start. By the end, this debut novel has no main character - not even the youthful, alcohol-fueled honeymooners - who is genuinely likable. This image released by Celadon Books shows "Cape May," a novel by Chip Cheek. (Celadon Books via AP) ___ Online: https://celadonbooks.com/chip-cheek-story-that-obsessed-him/ ATLANTA (AP) - A sweeping lawsuit challenging the way Georgia elections are run is being put to an initial test as a federal judge considers a request by state election officials to toss it out. The lawsuit was filed weeks after Republican Brian Kemp narrowly beat Democrat Stacey Abrams in a governor's race that focused national scrutiny on Georgia's outdated voting machines and on allegations of voter suppression by Kemp, who was the state's top election official during the race. Kemp has adamantly denied allegations of wrongdoing. He signed legislation earlier this month that includes specifications for a new voting system , which the current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, says he'll implement in time for the 2020 election cycle. The lawsuit accuses the secretary of state and election board members of mismanaging the 2018 election in ways that deprived some citizens, particularly low-income people and minorities, of their constitutional right to vote. It seeks substantial reforms and asks that Georgia be required to get a federal judge's approval before changing voting rules. The suit was filed by Fair Fight Action, an organization founded by Abrams, and Care in Action Georgia, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic workers. Several churches, including Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the spiritual home of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., joined the suit in February. They allege that November's vote was marred by problems including long waits at polling places, absentee ballots that weren't received or weren't counted, missing or erroneous voter registration records, malfunctioning voting machines and poorly trained poll workers. Gov. Brian Kemp is introduced at Gordon Lee High School for a bill signing ceremony on Friday, April 26, 2019 in Chickamauga, Ga. Gov. Kemp signed SB 77, SB 216, HB 551, HB 33, HB 101 and HB 490 into law. (C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP) Lawyers for the state argue that allegations of "unrelated actions by mostly local officials" don't amount to constitutional violations requiring judicial intervention and that the legislature, not the courts, should set election law. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones on Monday heard arguments on a motion from state election officials to dismiss the lawsuit. He gave the parties a week to submit additional briefs before he rules. Lawyers for the state argue the organizations base their arguments on speculation and haven't demonstrated any concrete harm. The organizations, which say they have a shared goal of "protecting Georgians' right to vote," have argued in court filings that election officials' wrongdoing "will require them to spend additional resources on activities such as educating and assisting voters to avoid the voter suppression and disenfranchisement" alleged in the lawsuit. But that simply amounts to the organizations carrying out their declared missions, and that's not enough to establish standing to sue, said lawyer Bryan Tyson, who represents the state officials. "There's got to be more than just a setback to their abstract social interests," Tyson said. State lawyers also argued that the new voting system legislation Kemp signed addresses some of the alleged problems and, therefore, makes parts of the lawsuit irrelevant. The law authorizes the purchase of ballot-marking machines that print a paper ballot, tweaks some voter eligibility verification and voter roll maintenance practices and clarifies rules for closing or moving polling places. But the organizations argue the legislation doesn't go far enough to eliminate registration and voting roll issues, adequately protect against polling place closure or ensure that election workers are sufficiently trained. The judge asked both sides about the voting machines provided for in the new law. Lawyer Josh Belinfante, representing the state officials, said it's too early to discuss that because the state hasn't even selected a specific model yet. Beth Tanis, a lawyer for the organizations, said machines that meet the law's specifications can't be audited and don't provide the necessary security. Belinfante argued that any concerns need to be taken up with local officials who actually run elections. State officials train the county registrars and superintendents, but they don't train poll workers, decide where polling places should be or handle the actual administration of elections, he said. Tanis displayed excerpts from federal court opinions, a state attorney general opinion and a section of the secretary of state's website, which said the secretary of state has the power and duty to oversee elections and enforce the state election code. "He not only controls, he has the responsibility to control what those county officials are doing," Tanis said. This case is most sweeping of several challenges to Georgia's elections system. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg is presiding over a separate lawsuit that specifically challenges the state's voting machines. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - 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 who cost them a seat on the state's top court last year. Candidate Chris Anglin of Raleigh said Monday that he wants a state court to force the state Republican Party to give him access to voter lists, calendars and other data already provided to nine others in the 9th Congressional District field. Anglin also has been barred from participating in Republican candidate forums or debates. Anglin's lawsuit acknowledges that the state Republican Party is a nonprofit organization, but he claims the GOP also has a public role as one of the two major political parties enshrined in law. Taxpayers also pay for the party's nominating primaries, Anglin said. The party also is violating its internal rules not to choose favored candidates in primary elections, Anglin said. "Chris Anglin's frivolous lawsuit to access a private organization's data and resources is nothing more than a publicity stunt," state GOP spokesman Jeff Hauser wrote in an email. The state Republican Party last year pointed out that Anglin was a registered Democrat until changing his registration three weeks before filing to run for state Supreme Court. Then-state GOP Chairman Robin Hayes said after Anglin entered the race last month that he's not a real Republican and would not be allowed access to GOP data, information, or infrastructure. Hayes relinquished his party activities this month after being indicted on federal charges that he tried to bribe the state's insurance commissioner on behalf of a wealthy donor and then lied to FBI agents. Anglin ran last year against an incumbent Republican on the Supreme Court and a liberal Democrat, who won in part thanks to the divided GOP vote. State judges blocked a law quickly approved by the GOP-led legislature that sought to block Anglin from being listed as a Republican on the November ballot because he switched his affiliation too close to filing. Anglin argued, successfully, that the law unfairly targeted him. Now he's running in a special congressional primary on May 14 that was ordered after an operative working for Republican nominee Mark Harris, who appeared to win last year's 9th District election, was accused of illegally handling mail-in ballots. Harris opted not to run again this year. Anglin's longshot GOP candidacy is highlighted by the fact he hasn't filed a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission. Anglin said Monday that's because he hasn't collected $5,000 in contributions, beyond which a filing is required. Anglin has been critical of President Donald Trump's positions on several issues and statements. He accused the state Republican Party of banishing him because it demands conformity with the president. "There is no one right way to be a conservative, but there are things that politicians can do to betray their conservative values," Anglin said in a blog post last month. "If members of Congress allow this branch to become a subservient branch to the Executive and simply take marching orders from the president on policy that does not reflect true conservatism, they betray their conservative values." ___ Follow Emery P. Dalesio on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/emery%20dalesio . TOKYO (AP) - Japanese police on Monday arrested a man linked to knives found on the school desk of Emperor Akihito's 12-year-old grandson. The incident occurred last Friday as Japan was preparing for Akihito's abdication on Tuesday. Prince Hisahito will become second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne when his uncle, Crown Prince Naruhito, ascends the throne on Wednesday. Police said they arrested a man in his 50s, Kaoru Hasegawa, on suspicion of trespassing after spotting him in videos from security cameras in the neighborhood of Ochanomizu University Junior High School. Media reports said the man entered the school posing a maintenance worker and placed two knives on the desk. His motive wasn't immediately known. Japan's royal family has wide public support but has been targeted in attacks in the past. The man, identified as Kaoru Hasegawa, right, is driven to a police station after being arrested, in Tokyo Monday, April 30, 2019. Japanese police on Monday arrested the man linked to knives found on the school desk of Emperor Akihito's 12-year-old grandson, Prince Hisahito. The incident occurred last Friday as Japan was preparing for Akihito's abdication on Tuesday. Hisahito will become second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne when his uncle, Crown Prince Naruhito, ascends the throne on Wednesday. (Yuta Omori/Kyodo News via AP) Martin, who at times appeared to barely conceal his frustration with OBriens argument despite keeping a smile on his face, postponed the hearing until next week to give him time to consider the request for him to step aside. He made it clear, though, he thought OBriens request had taken a personal turn he didnt appreciate. ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis County's top elected official resigned Monday after being indicted on corruption charges accusing him of trading political favors for campaign donations. A federal grand jury indicted County Executive Steve Stenger on charges of bribery, mail fraud and the theft of honest services, the U.S. attorney in St. Louis announced in a news release. He could face up to 20 years in prison on each count, if convicted. Stenger's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, confirmed the resignation but he declined to comment further. Stenger pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing and was released without bail. The St. Louis County Council on Monday night chose Councilman Sam Page, a Democrat, to replace Stenger. "I have determined after much thought that it is in the best interest of our County and my family that I resign as St. Louis County Executive effective immediately," Stenger wrote in a brief resignation letter. Stenger, a Democrat elected to his second term in November, is accused of ensuring that donor John Rallo and his companies obtained contracts with the county and received other favors. Stenger also is accused of ensuring that an unnamed company obtained a state lobbying contract from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, and taking actions to conceal the illegal conduct. The U.S. attorney's office said Stenger sought to "secretly use his official position to enrich himself through soliciting and accepting campaign contributions from individuals and their companies in exchange for favorable official action, and for individuals and their companies to enrich themselves and their companies by secretly obtaining favorable action for themselves and for their companies, through corrupt means." In this Jan. 31, 2017, photo St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger listens to public comment during a county council meeting in Clayton, Mo. Stenger has been indicted by a federal grand jury accusing him of providing political favors in exchange campaign donations. The indictment on bribery, mail fraud and theft of honest services counts was announced Monday, April 29, 2019. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) Rallo was not named in the indictment. Federal prosecutors say Stenger took actions to ensure county contracts for two Rallo-owned companies - Cardinal Insurance and Cardinal Creative Consulting. He also allegedly took action to ensure that Rallo's Wellston Holdings LLC obtained options to buy two properties in the town of Wellston that were held by the county's Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority. The voicemail on a phone for Rallo was full and not accepting messages on Monday. Asked if Rallo might face charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said the investigation is ongoing. St. Louis County is Missouri's largest county, with a million residents. Despite reports of the pending investigation against him, Stenger narrowly defeated Mark Mantovani in the August Democratic primary and easily defeated Republican Paul Berry III in the general election. He has been an avid supporter of the "Better Together" proposal that would merge St. Louis city and the county if voters approve a November 2020 ballot measure. The initial plan even called for Stenger to become the metro city's first mayor. That proposal was revised in March amid reports of ongoing investigations of Stenger. Investigations in recent months by the Post-Dispatch have raised concerns about county contracts going to Stenger's political donors. The St. Louis County Council began an ethics investigation that included asking state and federal investigators to look into the county's lease of office space at a renovated shopping mall owned by developers who gave $365,000 to Stenger's campaign. Stenger has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. In January, the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership's board of directors forced out Sheila Sweeney, who was appointed by Stenger to run the partnership. Her removal followed Post-Dispatch investigations that, among other things, raised questions about its procurement practices and the awarding of contracts to Stenger's campaign donors. Two key Stenger aides, Chief of Staff Bill Miller and senior policy adviser Lance LeComb, left their jobs this month. Stenger is the second executive of a large Missouri county to be indicted in recent years. A federal judge last year sentenced former Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders to more than two years in prison for misusing campaign funds for trips, fine wine and political activities. Much of Kansas City is in Jackson County. Sanders resigned from his county executive job at the end of 2015. ___ Associated Press writer Julie Wright in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report. NEW YORK (AP) - Quarantines in California. Fines in New York City. Orders for some people to avoid public places in Rockland County, New York. As an outbreak of measles surges across the United States - with 704 cases this year and counting - some local health officials are trying to deal with contagion in unvaccinated communities by turning to extraordinary police powers from the past. "Unfortunately, we are revisiting diseases from another generation," said Jason Schwartz, an assistant professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health. "And now we are revisiting public health responses from another generation" in instances where vaccination programs have fallen short, he said. Not long ago, measles was thought to be a problem that was mostly solved. The once-common disease became increasingly rare after a vaccine became available in the 1960s. In 2000, health officials declared the disease eliminated in the U.S., meaning that all new cases stemmed from infected travelers and not from homegrown transmission. A decade ago, the cases numbered fewer than 100 a year. But they have been jumping since then, with the worst happening right now. FILE - In this March 27, 2019 file photo, signs about measles and the measles vaccine are displayed at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y. Measles continues to spread in the United States, with more 704 cases reported so far this year spread among 22 states. U.S. health officials on Monday, April 29 updated the national tally, which already has eclipsed the total for any full year since 1994, when 963 cases were reported. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) On Monday, U.S. health officials said the national tally already has eclipsed the total for any full year since 1994, when 963 cases were reported. Twenty-two states have reported cases, but the vast majority have been in New York - mainly in New York City and in nearby Rockland County. Most of the New York cases have been unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities. Three-quarters of those who caught the extremely contagious disease are children or teenagers. No deaths have been reported this year, but 66 patients were hospitalized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this year's count includes 44 people who caught the disease while traveling in another country. Some of them triggered U.S. outbreaks, mostly among unvaccinated people. That includes the largest outbreaks in New York. Measles in most people causes fever, a runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. A very small fraction of those infected can suffer complications such as pneumonia and a dangerous swelling of the brain. According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it. The return of measles may be an early warning sign of a resurgences of other vaccine-preventable diseases such as rubella, chickenpox and bacterial meningitis, some experts say. In recent decades, health officials have relied on doctors to prod families to vaccinate their children against measles and other diseases. That push has been bolstered by requirements in every state that children be vaccinated to attend public schools. But as vaccination rates have fallen in some communities and cases exploded, officials recently have taken more dramatic steps. In Rockland County, officials last month banned all unvaccinated children from indoor public places. In New York City this month, officials ordered mandatory vaccinations in four Brooklyn ZIP codes, threatening possible fines of up to $1,000 for noncompliance. City officials said 57 unvaccinated people have received summonses. The city also has shut down seven religious schools that failed to exclude unvaccinated children, though five were later allowed to reopen after submitting a corrective plan. Last week in California, more than 1,000 students and staff at two Los Angeles universities were quarantined on campus or sent home after cases began to appear. It was a limited order, and half already are out of quarantine, officials said Monday. Dr. Umair Shah, the head of Houston's county health department, said "we don't know" if these kinds of measures will become more common. Health officials have had such measures available and have been prepared to use them in case of unusual and even exotic outbreaks - like a new flu pandemic or Ebola - "but here we are implementing them for measles," he said. It's been more than 25 years since those kinds of measures were taken against measles, Schwartz said. The last similar instance occurred during a bad outbreak in Philadelphia in the early 1990s, when the city recorded more than 900 cases, most of them members of two fundamentalist church groups that did not accept vaccination or other kinds of modern medical care. The use of quarantines and other orders are driven in part by a growing concern that outbreaks of measles and other diseases could get worse, despite the availability of effective vaccines, some health experts said. "I think there's a sense of anxiety and even a little panic in the public health community" as officials see high levels of mistrust of government and science from a surprising number of people, said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University public health law expert. That anxiety has led to what Gostin believes are missteps by officials. It's one thing to isolate someone with measles or to quarantine someone who has been exposed, he said. Those people are infection risks, and short-term limitations of where they can go and who they can meet are legally and medically appropriate, Gostin said. But it's another thing to take the kind of step Rockland County initially did, in which unvaccinated kids were placed under house arrest - not because they were infection risks, but because their parents weren't listening to public health officials, he said. "That's overly punitive," he said. Indeed, a judge struck down the initial emergency order. One community had success without taking such measures. Officials in Vancouver, Washington, declared an end Monday to a measles outbreak that began in January but apparently stopped at 71 cases a month ago. It was a much smaller community than New York City or Los Angeles and was tamed by an intense investigation and vaccination campaign that involved 230 health workers tracking down infected people and those they had contact with, at a cost of about $865,000. Meanwhile, there is a new wave of efforts in state legislatures to end philosophical and religious exemptions to vaccination requirements in schools. Ed Day, a Republican who is the top elected official in Rockland County, on Monday joined Democratic state lawmakers to urge quick passage of a measure to eliminate religious exemptions for required vaccinations. "This bill would be a godsend," Day said at a news conference in Albany. "To wait is a recipe for medical disaster." ___ Associated Press writers John Rogers in Los Angeles, Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon, and Chris Carola in Albany, New York, contributed. ___ 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. FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo, a sign warning patients and visitors of a measles outbreak is shown posted at The Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver, Wash. Officials in the Pacific Northwest say a measles outbreak that sickened multiple people is over. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File) FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky's attorney general is trying to block subpoenas issued by Gov. Matt Bevin's administration as part of an investigation into teacher sickouts that shut down schools earlier this year. Attorney General Andy Beshear filed a lawsuit Monday trying to block subpoenas sent to 10 school districts. The subpoenas seek the names of teachers who might have used sick days to attend statehouse rallies earlier this year, forcing some districts to cancel classes. The protests were part of a wave of teacher activism that began last year in West Virginia and spread to other states, including Oklahoma and Arizona. The case is wrapped up in fierce election-year politics and marks the latest feud between the Republican governor and the Democratic attorney general. Their confrontation could ultimately be settled at the ballot box as Bevin is seeking re-election this year and Beshear hopes to prevail in a crowded Democratic primary next month to try to unseat him. By filing suit, Beshear followed through on his threat to take Bevin to court if his administration didn't rescind the subpoenas , which the state Labor Cabinet sent recently to several school districts. The state's labor secretary is named as the defendant in the lawsuit. The Labor Cabinet has the authority to investigate illegal work stoppages and impose individual fines. FILE - In this March 12, 2019 file photo, a group of the several hundred teachers gather to protest perceived attacks on public education at the Capitol, in Frankfort, Ky. Kentucky's attorney general filed a lawsuit Monday, April 29 to try to block subpoenas issued by Gov. Matt Bevin's administration as part of an investigation of teachers who might have used sick days that shut down schools as they attended statehouse rallies. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File) "This type of retaliation, intimidation and threats by a governor and his administration must not be allowed," Beshear said Monday. "The bully pulpit was never meant to bully, and I'm not going to let him use it." Bevin later called the lawsuit "an absolute stunt" and told reporters Beshear is "ginning up things to try to help his campaign." The governor added, "It's 100% to do with getting him elected." Bevin said the attorney general's office deliberately crafted the lawsuit so as to ensure it ended up in state court rather than federal court. The suit was assigned to a circuit court judge who last year struck down a public pension law that Bevin supported. The state Supreme Court upheld the lower court in the pension case. Beshear called the subpoenas unlawful, saying the absences had triggered no disputes between teachers and their school districts - a condition for an illegal work stoppage under state law. He accused the Labor Cabinet of overreaching its authority in violation of state law. Teachers used sick days that closed some schools to rally against several education bills that were considered by state lawmakers this year. The measures included one that would have indirectly supported private schools with tax credits for scholarship funds. Beshear said he is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the subpoenas, and his legal team sought a May 6 hearing on the request. Beshear said the school districts face a May 10 deadline to respond to the subpoenas. The Jefferson County Teachers Association, which represents teachers in Kentucky's most populous county, joined Beshear in filing the lawsuit. The association's president, Brent McKim, said the subpoenas aim to create a chilling effect on teachers who disagree with the governor's education policies. "It is designed to make teachers fearful," he said. Teachers could face fines of up to $1,000 per day for using sick days to attend rallies, the attorney general said. In turn, Bevin's chief of staff, Blake Brickman, lashed out at Beshear and his claims on Twitter: "His fear-mongering rhetoric about fining teachers is false, and no such decision has been made or will be made until after the Office of the Inspector General completes its lawful investigation." Widespread absences in some school districts forced cancellation of classes for up to a few days while teachers converged on Kentucky's Capitol earlier this year, drawing Bevin's criticism. In a recent subpoena to the Jefferson County Public Schools, which cover Louisville as the state's largest district, the Labor Cabinet asked school officials for the names of employees who called in sick during sickouts in February and March. That subpoena sought any documentation teachers provided, including doctors' notes. The cabinet also wanted copies of the district's sick leave policies and records in which district officials discussed the decision to close schools due to sickouts. KATTANKUDY, Sri Lanka (AP) - As Sri Lanka's long civil war ended in this once-contested region along its eastern coast, Muslim women eager to show their piousness began wearing the black niqab veil to hide their faces. Now in the wake of Easter suicide attacks launched by Islamic State group-linked militants that killed more than 250 people, Sri Lanka's president has used his emergency powers to ban the practice previously unheard of in the island nation off the southern coast of India. The ban, which took effect Monday, has been touted as a security measure. However, it criminalizes a practice more associated with an ultraconservative form of Islam previously unknown on the island, one that more closely adheres to the strict beliefs more common in Saudi Arabia. It also can focus public suspicion on women who practice their religious beliefs peacefully, while the government and foreign diplomats say IS-linked militants armed with explosives still roam the island. "As we have seen in Afghanistan and elsewhere, Muslim women will become a convenient cover for military action," wrote Nimmi Gowrinathan, a professor at the City College of New York. "Sri Lanka's pain from the Easter attacks should not be used to promote failed policies." The niqab is a black veil made of thin fabric, often with a small opening from which a woman's eyes can peer out. It's far more concealing than the hijab, a scarf covering the hair that some Muslim women wear. A salesman covers the face of a mannequin with a niqab cafe veil at a women's clothing shop in Kattankudy, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. After being targeted by Islamic State suicide bombings on Easter, Sri Lanka has banned the niqab face veil, which increasingly has been seen in Muslim areas of the island nation's east. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Most Islamic scholars and experts say a woman is not religiously required to cover her face with a niqab. However, strictly orthodox Sunni Muslims known as Salafists who advocate a literal return to centuries-old Islamic law believe women must cover their faces. Such ideas previously were unknown in Kattankudy, a city 220 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo. But gradually, foreign money and ideas have entered the area. The population grew more conservative, reflected in the current construction here of a massive copy of Jerusalem's famed Al Aqsa mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The alleged mastermind of the Easter bombings, Mohammed Zahran, also preached an increasingly extremist version of Islam in Kattankudy glorifying the killing of nonbelievers. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledged to The Associated Press in an interview that authorities wanted to investigate the role of foreign money in the Easter attacks, saying in particular that money from Saudi Arabia had been going to religious organizations. "Saudi Arabia or the Middle East has been the source of many of those funds and some of it has gone into these extreme organizations," Wickremesinghe told the AP on Thursday. "These are what we are investigating." The Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who like other government officials faces widespread criticism over security agencies' failure to stop the bombings despite having specific prior warnings, banned the practice on Sunday. Under Sri Lanka's emergency regulations, invoked after the bombing, the measure took effect Monday. Sirisena "has taken steps to ban . all forms of face covers that may hinder one's identity been ascertained, as a threat to national security and public safety," an English-language statement from his office read. "This directive specifies the need for one's face been clearly visible for ascertaining their identify as its main criterion." The statement added that Sirisena "issued this directive to ensure national security and a peaceful and reconciled society, where no ethnic group or community would be subjected to discomfort." However, such a measure wouldn't have stopped the suicide bombings of the three churches and three hotels on Easter, as all were carried out by men. But some Muslim women acknowledged the need to follow the government's laws amid the ongoing crisis. "It's good (the ban on face covering) but some people will feel some hurt because that's the Islamic culture," Fathima Musthaque said. "When they are dressing (without covering their face), they get a guilty feeling." She added: "All Muslims are not a terrorist. The terrorists are doing this kind of work and it has affected all . not only Muslims, but all the Sri Lankan people." On Monday, the first day of the ban, Associated Press journalists briefly saw only one woman wearing the niqab on the streets. However, many shops and businesses remain closed as the threat of more attacks remains. In Kattankudy, few women were on the street. Neighborhood hijab shops sold colorful scarves as well as ones that are simply black, some called "Dubai style." Their shelves bore alcohol-free perfumes named after the Burj Kahlifa, the world's tallest building in Dubai, as well as one called Zam Zam, the name of a well in Mecca that Islamic tradition holds appeared by God's hand to quench the thirst of one of Ibrahim's children. Two teenage salesmen, who gave their names only as Adhnan and Atheek for fear of reprisal for talking to journalists, said they sold at least five niqabs a week. They disagreed over whether they'd asked their own wives to wear the niqab. Adhnan said his mother had worn it since Sri Lanka's long civil war ended after getting a "deeper understanding of religion." "I don't want anyone to look at my wife," he added. ___ Associated Press writer Rishabh Jain contributed to this report. Men ride their bicycles past Hijab Center, a women's clothing shop that sell various garments worn by Muslim women, in Kattankudy, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. After being targeted by Islamic State suicide bombings on Easter, Sri Lanka has banned the niqab face veil, which increasingly has been seen in Muslim areas of the island nation's east. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's attorney general pledged Monday to move to shut down an oil pipeline in the Great Lakes if the governor doesn't find a "swift and straightforward" resolution to the contentious issue. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month halted state agencies' work to facilitate construction of a tunnel beneath the lakebed to house a new segment of Line 5 in the channel where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet, pointing to a legal opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel while citing concerns that her Republican predecessor's plan would keep the existing 66-year-old pipeline in the water too long. But the Democrat said this month she was open to still building the tunnel . Her administration is in talks with pipeline owner and operator Enbridge. "I respect the Governor's effort to find a swift and straightforward resolution to this issue, but if unsuccessful I will use every resource available to our office to shut down Line 5 to protect our Great Lakes," Nessel, a Democrat who promised during her campaign to close the pipeline, said in a short statement. A spokeswoman later said while Nessel was reluctant to impose a specific deadline on Whitmer's efforts with Enbridge, she was hopeful that the governor by June 1 would have a plan for decommissioning Line 5. "The Attorney General shares the Governor's sense of urgency to remove the pipeline from the Great Lakes at the earliest possible moment," said Kelly Rossman-McKinney. Nessel released an opinion last month saying a law enacted in December to implement former Gov. Rick Snyder's tunnel deal is unconstitutional. As a candidate, Nessel said she would seek a court injunction to shut the pipeline by alleging that Enbridge violated a 1953 state easement. Although the federal government regulates oil pipelines, Michigan owns the lake bottom and granted the easement allowing the pipeline to go there. Line 5 carries about 23 million gallons (87 million liters) of crude oil daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario. The underwater segment that traverses the Straits of Mackinac is divided into two side-by-side lines. Environmental groups contend that the segment is a spill hazard and should be decommissioned. The company says it is in good shape and could operate indefinitely. The pipeline project is supported by labor organizations friendly to Whitmer because of the jobs it would create. "We believe the tunnel project is the best way to protect the waters of the Great Lakes while ensuring families, manufacturers and other businesses safely receive the energy transported through Line 5," said Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy. "We continue to provide information to the Governor's office and to seek clarification from the Administration on a path forward for the tunnel project." Nessel does not believe a tunnel is the best or safest way to meet Michigan's energy needs, including the delivery of propane to the Upper Peninsula, but she is not engaged in the policy-oriented negotiations that Whitmer and lawmakers may be having, said Rossman-McKinney. She supports a proposal that Whitmer appoint a task force to address concerns about supplying heat to the U.P. "The AG's prospective involvement in decommissioning Line 5 concerns the hazards posed to the Great Lakes, not whether the use of oil pipelines in general makes for sound energy policy," Rossman-McKinney said. ___ Follow Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on former Vice President Joe Biden and his 2020 campaign (all times local): 5:50 p.m. Joe Biden has used his first public rally as a presidential candidate to accuse Donald Trump of abusing the power of the presidency. The former vice president said Monday that Trump only represents his political base while ignoring the rest of the nation. He told hundreds of cheering supporters and union activists in Pittsburgh that the U.S. can thrive through increased economic unity, saying, "We can do all of this without punishing anybody." Biden offered relatively few new themes, instead touching on many of the same promises he made while campaigning for other Democrats around the country in recent months. Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden takes the stage during a rally at the Teamster Local 249 Hall in Pittsburgh, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) But he was unequivocal in his support for unions, saying bolstering them will help Democrats win key battleground states like Pennsylvania in 2020. ___ 4:05 p.m. Joe Biden is holding his first public rally as a 2020 presidential candidate, appearing at a Pittsburgh union hall - the working-class heart of a state that eluded Democrats in 2016. The former vice president is expected to speak about rebuilding the middle class, though Saturday's deadly shooting at a California synagogue promised to stoke Biden's call for aggressive opposition to white supremacists. Biden is likely to mention a theme central to his introductory campaign video, in which he criticized President Donald Trump for not taking a more aggressive rhetorical stance against white supremacists after the deadly confrontation in Charlottesville in 2017. Before Biden took the stage, hundreds of supporters and union activists in the Teamsters Union ballroom chanted: "We want Joe! We want Joe!" ___ 12 p.m. President Donald Trump is claiming support from rank-and-file union members as Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden prepares to address an organized labor crowd in Pennsylvania. Trump tweeted Monday he'll "never get the support of Dues Crazy union leadership" but added "the members love Trump." Pennsylvania is one of the Rust Belt states where many white working class voters, including union members, backed Trump in 2016. Pennsylvania will be a key battleground in the 2020 general election, and Biden is making an early play in the state. Trump again labels the former vice president "Sleepy Joe Biden" and says Biden and President Barack Obama "didn't do the job." Biden will speak in Pittsburgh after receiving the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Biden announced his candidacy last week, declaring the "soul of this nation" at stake if Trump wins again. ___ 12:20 a.m. Joe Biden is picking Pennsylvania for his first campaign speech of the presidential race. That signals his hopes of owning what may be the toughest battleground of next year's election. The former vice president's speech to an organized labor crowd Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh comes days after he announced his candidacy and attended a fundraiser in Philadelphia. For Biden, planting a flag in Pennsylvania makes sense: The longtime former senator from Delaware was born in Pennsylvania, has numerous ties to it and can use his deep inroads with influential state party figures to his advantage. President Donald Trump's campaign is already mapping out a strategy to win Pennsylvania for a second time, and the state forms the core of the president's likeliest path to victory. . ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - Five people were hospitalized after a fight broke out at a Utah youth psychiatric center that took officers from several police agencies about an hour to bring under control, police said Monday. Another 20 people, including three staffers, were treated at the scene for minor injuries in the melee Sunday night at the Red Rock Canyon School residential treatment center in the small southwestern Utah city St. George, authorities said. Most of the injuries were bumps and bruises but one person required staples after being hit in the back of the head with a blunt object, said St. George police Officer Tiffany Atkin. The brawl started as a fight between two students at the center for youths between ages 12 and 18, Atkin said. Five teenagers were taken into juvenile custody on suspicion of assault, criminal mischief and inciting a riot, and another seven were questioned and could face future charges, she said. The school did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Bellafina is the 2-1 morning line favorite for the 145th Kentucky Oaks after drawing the No. 4 post position in the marquee race for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. Champagne Anyone and Restless Rider are the 6-1 co-second choices from the Nos. 10 and 14 posts of horses officially in the field for Friday's $1.25 million race over 1 1/8 miles. Dunbar Road, one of two also-eligible fillies, drew 5-1 odds and would become the second choice with an opening in the 14-horse field. Jaywalk and Serengeti Empress are 8-1 co-third choices and will start from the Nos. 7 and 13 posts. As expected, Bellafina is the favorite thanks to a 3-0 record this year and highlighted by last month's 5-length victory in the Santa Anita Oaks. Trained by Simon Callaghan and ridden by Flavien Prat, the filly has six wins and a second-place finish in eight career starts and tops the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 132 points. Bellafina was traveling from California and is expected to arrive at Churchill Downs on Monday after putting in her final workout at Santa Anita on Sunday. Callaghan is expected at the track on Wednesday. "She galloped a mile and a half and she looks very good," the trainer said of Bellafina's workout. "We're very pleased with her." One of Bellafina's projected challengers is Champagne Anyone, who is second with 113 points and coming off last month's win in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. She also has two third-place finishes in 2019 and has three wins and three thirds in seven career starts. In this April 6, 2019, image provided by Benoit Photo, Bellafina, with Flavien Prat aboard, wins the Grade I, $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks horse race at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Bellafina is the 2-1 morning line favorite for the 145th Kentucky Oaks after drawing the No. 4 post position in the marquee race for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. (Benoit Photo via AP) Trainer Ian Wilkes has been pleased with Champagne Anyone's workouts at Churchill Downs and was encouraged by her post position. "It's better than being stuck down on the inside and can give us a lot of options to see what happens in the race," Wilkes said. "You know the first eighth of a mile, we can see where we want to be and what's happening." Nine fillies drew double-digit odds including Out for a Spin, one of four 15-1 choices. The winner of this month's Ashland at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, the Virginia-bred filly will start along the rail, and trainer Dallas Stewart acknowledged that she must avoid getting boxed in with other horses to have a chance. "She's not going to be close to the lead with this group like she was at Keeneland," said Stewart, who will seek his first Oaks win since 2006 with Lemons Forever. "Hopefully, it's going to be a tactical race for us. We've got a great rider (Irad Ortiz Jr.) that'll get the job done." On the outside of the Oaks looking in is Dunbar Road, who finished a half-length behind Champagne Anyone in the Gulfstream Park Oaks. Also eligible is Point of Honor. ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The man suspected of killing his parents and five other people in two rural Tennessee homes stole the car of one of the victims and was wearing a blood-stained T-shirt when he was seen, telling acquaintances the stain was just chocolate, according to authorities and court documents. Law enforcement agents arrested 25-year-old Michael Cummins on Saturday about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from one of the two crime scenes at separate homes in rural Sumner County. He was shot and wounded while being taken into custody after authorities spotted him in a creek bed. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch called the two crime scenes "horrific" and "gruesome." He didn't elaborate on the manner in which the victims died, but said the attacks are believed to have taken place over more than one day. Rausch's agency, also known as the TBI, identified the dead as the man's parents, 51-year-old David Carl Cummins and 44-year-old Clara Jane Cummins; 45-year-old uncle Charles Edward Hosale; 43-year-old Rachel Dawn McGlothlin-Pee, whose relationship to Cummins wasn't clear; Rachel's 12-year-old daughter, Sapphire McGlothlin-Pee; and Rachel's mother, 64-year-old Marsha Elizabeth Nuckols. Another victim, 69-year-old Shirley B. Fehrle, was found in a separate home and has no known relationship to Cummins. An eighth victim, another relative, remained hospitalized in critical condition. Cummins has a lengthy criminal record and had multiple court-ordered requests in the past to undergo mental health checks. Sumner County Sheriff Sonny Weatherford speaks at a news conference at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Monday, April 29, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn., regarding the killing of seven people in rural Tennessee Saturday, April 27. Officials say the people killed in two homes include the parents of the suspect, 25-year-old Michael Cummins. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) A court filing Monday said Cummins was in violation of his probation, which stemmed from a conviction for attempted aggravated arson and aggravated assault in which in September 2017, he set his neighbor's home on fire while she was inside and shoved her and pulled her hair while he was holding a gun, court documents show. At the time of his 2017 arrest, he said that "if I get out of jail, I'll go down there and do it again," and later, when authorities asked about that statement, said that "when I get out, I'll finish the job," according to the documents. The neighbor was not one of the seven people named as deceased. Cummins in part violated his probation because he didn't comply with a required mental health evaluation, one document shows. In the arson and assault case, a judge had reduced his 10-year prison sentence to 10 years of probation in January - after his conviction in July - on the condition that he receive the mental health evaluation and not contact his neighbor. Cummins was released from jail in mid-January, said Ray Whitley, the local district attorney general. "This is one of the most horrific cases I've ever had to encounter and deal with," said Whitley, the district attorney general in Sumner County since 1980. Cummins had entered other agreements to undergo mental health treatments previously: after he pleaded guilty to 2017 charges of misdemeanor theft and evading arrest and after he pleaded guilty to 2013 charges of violating a restraining order, TBI records show. Arrest warrants for Cummins were filed Monday on a charge of criminal homicide for at least one of the deceased and a charge of theft of property over $10,000. Authorities have said the initial discovery of four bodies and an injured person stemmed from a 911 call from a family member Saturday. The injured victim was transported to the hospital with unspecified injuries. On Sunday, according to a TBI statement, the bodies of two more victims were found at the home. Another body was found Saturday at another home in the area. Authorities believe the two scenes are related. The slayings occurred near the town of Westmoreland, not far from the Tennessee line with Kentucky. Authorities have not said what kind of weapon was used. Fehrle appeared to have "blunt force trauma to her face" and other injuries to her extremities and her car was the one stolen and found abandoned in a creek bed, the affidavit says. Additionally, Cummins told his acquaintances that the blood on his shirt was just chocolate, the affidavit says. He also told them that "if anything goes down, he would get blamed for it and was saving a bullet for himself," the affidavit says. On Saturday, TBI spokesman Josh DeVine said at least one officer fired at Cummins after he emerged from the woods. Cummins is believed to have produced multiple weapons and the situation escalated, DeVine said. Cummins remains hospitalized for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, DeVine said. None of the responding officers were hurt. DeVine said a state law enforcement airplane helped authorities spot Cummins on the ground in a creek bed. 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) Law enforcement officials work at a command center set up at North Sumner Elementary School Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Bethpage, Tenn. Authorities in rural Tennessee captured a suspect Saturday during a manhunt that was prompted by the discovery of several bodies in two homes. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Law enforcement officials work at a command center set up at North Sumner Elementary School Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Bethpage, Tenn. Authorities in rural Tennessee captured a suspect Saturday during a manhunt that was prompted by the discovery of several bodies in two homes. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Law enforcement officials work at a command center set up at North Sumner Elementary School Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Bethpage, Tenn. Authorities in rural Tennessee captured a suspect Saturday during a manhunt that was prompted by the discovery of several bodies in two homes. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch, left, speaks at a news conference at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Monday, April 29, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn., regarding the killing of seven people in rural Tennessee Saturday, April 27. Officials say the people killed in two homes include the parents of the suspect, 25-year-old Michael Cummins. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Sumner County Sheriff Sonny Weatherford speaks at a news conference at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Monday, April 29, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn., regarding the killing of seven people in rural Tennessee Saturday, April 27. Officials say the people killed in two homes include the parents of the suspect, 25-year-old Michael Cummins. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) 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) Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch speaks at a news conference at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Monday, April 29, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn., regarding the killing of seven people in rural Tennessee Saturday, April 27. Officials say the people killed in two homes include the parents of the suspect, 25-year-old Michael Cummins. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) 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) 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) Linda Gaudet can't watch the replays. Even after 47 years in horse racing, she turns away from any video showing one of the 23 fatalities over three months at Santa Anita Park. "It was just devastating," Gaudet said. "I still can't stomach it." Neither can many others around horse racing. The alarming rate of horse deaths at Santa Anita plunged the industry into chaos and was a major blow to the sport's public image going into Triple Crown season. The tragedy was all too familiar for those who were around for spates of breakdowns years ago in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, and many are still perplexed that officials at the California track didn't act more quickly on proven reforms that had been previously recommended across the country years ago. Those East Coast states had investigated, diagnosed and successfully begun to solve similar issues with a series of effective reforms. FILE - 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. The alarming rate of horse deaths from races and training at Santa Anita Park, in California, plunged the industry into chaos as experts across the country wondered what went wrong and groups rushed to try to figure out solutions. (AP Photo/Brian Bohannon, File) "Why they took so long to get on top of it is beyond any of us," said Alan Foreman, chairman and CEO of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and co-author of the 2012 New York Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety. "When you see spates of breakdowns like this, which are very unusual, you know something's going on and something is impacting it. Certainly here we would've thought that based on the work we did in 2011-2012 that they would've grabbed on to this thing much sooner than they did, and that's part of the tragedy here." Much like the 21 horse deaths at Aqueduct in New York in 2011-12 that led to the task force, many believe the situation at Santa Anita was something of a perfect storm: a combination of a rainy winter after years of drought that affected the surfaces, pressure from ownership on horsemen to fill fields and possibly problems with medications used on horses. After the fatalities began Dec. 26, Santa Anita closed for almost all of March and has seemed to get the problem under control since reopening , though it already has hurt racing there. "They're seeing an exodus of horses, they're seeing an exodus of horsemen, they're now being forced to reduce racing days, they're running short fields and they're in deep trouble," Foreman said. Horse racing officials from the Mid-Atlantic region, which consists of tracks in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Illinois, feel the findings of the 2012 task force provided a roadmap for Santa Anita. Since the recommendations from that task force were put into place, breakdowns in the Mid-Atlantic region have been reduced by 35%. Foreman said last year the Mid-Atlantic was at the national average of 1.68 fatalities per 1,000 starts, which he called "unacceptable." He and Gaudet believe the magnitude of the fallout at Santa Anita could have been avoided. "This thing with Santa Anita, it is chaos because they've not done the proper investigation, the protocols," said Gaudet, who has been with the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association since its inception. "Most of the things that they want to do in California we've already done here. We've been doing it. It's nothing new. It should've been done a long time ago." In a statement to The Associated Press, the Stronach Group said it, along with industry partners in California, "took the bold and necessary steps to begin to modernize and reform our sport for the betterment of horse and rider welfare. This industry-led initiative, successfully gained approval on groundbreaking Lasix reforms from California's regulatory body for horse racing, the California Horse Racing Board. While steeped in both history and tradition, the sport needs to be modernized in a way that prioritizes the health and safety of horses and athletes first and foremost." The Stronach Group said it is forging ahead with "progressive reforms ranging from medication overhaul to training protocols" and added that horses at Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields race "under the strongest medication regulations in the United States." California Horse Racing Board spokesman Mike Marten outlined that Santa Anita instituted medication limits and provided additional track veterinarians to monitor training hours and the board increased veterinarian, steward and investigator staffing time. One issue that continues to be debated is the use of Lasix - a diuretic given to horses on race days to prevent pulmonary bleeding. The Triple Crown races are planning to phase out the use of Lasix over the next few years, even though independent regulators have found it is unrelated to horse deaths. After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for an investigation amid the breakdowns at Aqueduct, the task force cited issues other than Lasix as causes for fatalities, including oversight and use of medicine, track safety and purse structure. East Coast officials have been more focused on other practices by racing offices, owners and trainers, including the use of non-steroidal drugs that help a horse's joints being administered too close to races. Foreman, Dr. Mary Scollay, New York equine medical director Scott Palmer and former jockey Jerry Bailey discovered horses were being overmedicated during their 75 interviews and months of work on the task force. Bailey said in an effort to speed a horse's recovery for the next race, some trainers were medicating horses with anti-inflammatories so often that it masks pain or an injury a horse might be feeling. "These practices and the medications these trainers were giving them were way too close to race time," said Bailey, a six-time winner in Triple Crown races who's now an analyst for NBC Sports. "Once we made the recommendation along with our competition testing to make sure that these trainers were adhering on medication and more transparency with veterinary records to make sure the vets weren't doing it on their behalf, then we saw a change." Scollay, the equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and co-author of the 100-page New York task force report, said one lesson to be learned from the situations in New York and California is that cutting down on fatalities is a collaborative effort. She said front-office executives, who portion out the money that can be won in races, must be involved. When casino revenue started pouring into New York earlier this decade, purses skyrocketed and that had unintended consequences. In claiming races, where any horse can be bought afterward, the incentives were so intoxicating that owners and trainers were willing to risk entering races with inferior or potentially injured horses for a potentially big payday. "That commoditized the horse and established sort of a day-trading environment where you went all-in for that one big return and it didn't matter after that because it wasn't going to be your asset for very long," Scollay said. "It sets horses up to be at substantially increased risk." Sometimes the track itself is a risk, which was believed to be a cause of 19 horse fatalities at Saratoga Race Course in 2017 and played a role at Santa Anita. In an effort to address the track issue, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association contributed a $100,000 grant for the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory run by Dr. Mick Peterson at the University of Kentucky. The lab is developing technology such as sensors that can read moisture content of a track in real time and attempt to make the surface as consistent as possible. While the lab testing and other initiatives are in the works, Foreman doesn't believe the industry is doing a good job of informing the public of what it's doing to try to prevent deaths. He also is discouraged that various jurisdictions have chosen to adopt different rules to combat the issue. The proposed solutions in California and even at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, are very different from the policies that have been effective in the mid-Atlantic. "What's distressing to me is that here's an opportunity for some consensus-based best practices and everybody's going on their own, trying to do better than what the other guy did," Foreman said. "That helps to create an atmosphere of industry dysfunction." ___ Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SWhyno . Peacock had known Tsirtsis since high school, and the two had recently reconnected in 2015. They were headed to Highland Park for a Lenny Kravitz concert at Ravinia when Peacock crashed his 2000 pickup in the 5600 block of North Lake Shore Drive while driving at a high rate of speed, Chicago police said at the time. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A member of a white supremacist group pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to riot at a white nationalist rally in Virginia and at other demonstrations in California. Thomas Walter Gillen, 25, of Redondo Beach, California, became the second member of the Rise Above Movement to plead guilty after four members of the group were indicted in Virginia last year. Members of the militant white supremacist group are known for meeting regularly to train in mixed martial arts street-fighting techniques. Cole Evan White, of Clayton, California, pleaded guilty to the same charge in November. All four men were accused of committing violent acts during a torch-lit march at the University of Virginia and the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. Defense lawyers for two of the men had argued that their actions were protected by the constitutional right to free speech and assembly. U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said in a statement Monday that the First Amendment "does not license insensate acts of violence committed under the guise of First Amendment expression." FILE - In this March 27, 2019, file photo, U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen, center, speaks with the media in Charlottesville Federal Court in Charlottesville, Va. A member of a white supremacist group pleaded guilty Monday, April 29, to conspiring to riot at a white nationalist rally in Virginia and at other demonstrations in California. (Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress via AP, File) As part of Gillen's guilty plea, he admitted that he and other members of RAM attended the Unite the Right rally and other demonstrations in California "to incite and commit acts of violence, not to exercise their rights to free speech." Gillen's lawyer did not return a call seeking comment Monday. Prosecutors said Gillen and other RAM members joined hundreds of people at the march on the grounds of the University of Virginia on Aug. 11, 2017. The march ended near a statue of Thomas Jefferson, where a group of students had gathered to protest white supremacy. Violence erupted, with some people kicking, punching, spraying chemical irritants and swinging torches. Prosecutors said that during this riot, RAM members, including Gillen, struck multiple people with a torch. The next day, Gillen and other members of RAM were part of a group that clashed with people who had come to the Unite the Right rally to protest against discrimination. Prosecutors said the RAM members "collectively pushed, punched, kicked ... head-butted, and otherwise assaulted several people, resulting in a riot." Later that day, anti-racism protester Heather Heyer was killed when a self-avowed white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted of murder and other crimes in state court. Last month, Fields pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges. Prosecutors said Gillen and other RAM members also committed violent acts at other 2017 demonstrations and rallies in Huntington Beach and Berkley, California. A third defendant, Michael Paul Miselis, has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled Friday in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville. ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The National Rifle Association is "under siege," President Donald Trump said Monday in response to New York state's decision to investigate the organization's status as a tax-exempt nonprofit. The Republican president accused state Attorney General Letitia James and her fellow Democrat, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, of breaking the law - though he did not specify which law - with the investigation into the gun-rights organization. "The NRA is under siege by Cuomo and the New York State A.G., who are illegally using the State's legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization, & others," Trump tweeted. In a statement responding to Trump's tweet, James' office said she is focused "on enforcing the rule of law." "In any case we pursue, we will follow the facts wherever they may lead," her office wrote. "We wish the President would share our respect for the law." James' office offered few details about the probe when its existence was confirmed Saturday, saying only that an investigation into the NRA had been launched and that subpoenas had been issued. FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019 file photo, Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, speaks during an inauguration ceremony in New York. New York state's attorney general has begun an investigation into the National Rifle Association. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Letitia James said Saturday, April, 27, 2019 that James' office has issued subpoenas as part of an investigation related to the NRA. William A. Brewer, the NRA's outside lawyer, said the NRA "will fully cooperate with any inquiry into its finances." James, a Democrat, vowed during her campaign last year to investigate the NRA's not-for-profit status if elected. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) But last year she had vowed to investigate whether the organization deserves its tax-exempt nonprofit status. And an NRA lawyer said Saturday that it would cooperate "with any inquiry into its finances." Cuomo, meanwhile, said Trump has "done nothing but tweet" about gun violence. "Unlike you, NY is not afraid to stand up to the NRA," he said in a tweet. "As for the NRA, we'll remember them in our thoughts and prayers," appearing to mock an oft-cited reaction to mass shootings. Republican state Sen. Robert Ortt of North Tonawanda called the investigation politically motivated. "The attorney general joins the governor and other radical New York City extremists in pushing our political climate to dangerous new depths," Ortt said in a statement. The state attorney general has oversight over nonprofit groups registered with the state and may seek to fine those who defraud donors, misuse charitable funds or violate the rules governing political activities by nonprofits. The NRA is based in Virginia but has an office in New York. The organization did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday. James' office has also opened a civil investigation into allegations by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that Trump exaggerated his wealth to obtain loans. Her office is also overseeing a lawsuit alleging Trump used his charitable foundation for campaign purposes. The Trump Foundation reached a deal in December to fold and distribute about $1.7 million in remaining funds. James is seeking millions of dollars in additional restitution, as well as an order banning Trump and his three oldest children from running any New York charities for 10 years. MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday symbolically launched work on a new airport for Mexico City to replace the nearly half-built $13 billion project he cancelled upon taking office. Lopez Obrador promised the new Felipe Angeles airport northeast of the capital won't exceed its budget and will save the government money even with the cancellation of the partially built airport. "It's going to resolve the problem of saturation at the current Mexico City airport , but also be an example of how you can carry out a rational, austere policy based on honesty that needs to establish itself as the way to live and the way to govern in our country," Lopez Obrador said. The new airport - named for a general allied with revolutionary icon Pancho Villa - is at the Santa Lucia military air base and the army is in charge of getting it built for $4.1 billion. It is supposed to begin operating in mid-2021, though construction has not yet begun. Two new runways would be added to its existing one and the commercial airport would share the space with the military. FILE - In this April 9, 2019. file photo, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador answers questions from journalists at his daily 7 a.m. press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador is limited to a single six-year term and wants a multibillion-dollar Mayan Train project on a fast track and running before he leaves office Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) Critics have argued that the new airport will have difficulty operating simultaneously with the existing airport, but in a report by the military, consultant Navblue said they could operate simultaneously in terms of air space. One of the early hitches pointed out in the military's environmental impact statement is a small mountain named "Paula" that sits beside one of the runways. It would be too close for commercial airliners to use that runway, so the report says it would be dedicated exclusively to military use. But the biggest concern raised in the report has to do with water. The airport would consume an estimated 6 million liters (1.6 million gallons) per day from an already severely overtaxed aquifer that the capital depends on, and that's not including consumption from hotels and other businesses that will spring up around it, the report said. Three existing wells on the air base should provide enough water, but that is expected to lower the water table in the aquifer, so some wells could go dry. The report says that could be mitigated by creating recharge zones in the area to put water back into the aquifer. Another possibility would be bringing water from another, less-stressed aquifer. On Monday, the Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center called on the government to consult with the more than 20 communities around the airport. The group warned that the water consumption would directly impact livestock and agriculture, and with it the livelihoods of thousands of families. Lopez Obrador, though, said consultations had already taken place. "I can tell you now that the consultation with the communities around Santa Lucia happened and what do you think? The people approved the project," he said. There was no description of when or how those consultations were performed. When the time the airport it begins to operate in mid-2021, it could handle nearly 20 million passengers. One of the looming questions is how flights will be divided between the capital's main airport, Benito Juarez International, and the new one at Santa Lucia. The environmental impact statement for the project mentions that initially two airlines will be operating there, but it does not say which. The new airport would connect to the existing one via a 28-mile (46 kilometer) route with dedicated bus lanes to speed passengers to their connecting flights. About 5 miles of that route would actually be along a perimeter road built for the now-cancelled airport at Texcoco. In October, before Lopez Obrador had taken office, he held an unofficial referendum on cancelling the $13 billion Texcoco project, which was already nearly half completed. He proposed converting the Santa Lucia air base and making improvements at Benito Juarez, which had been targeted for closure. The plan received 70% approval, though critics complained that fewer than 2 percent of Mexico's registered voters took part. Lopez Obrador complained the Texcoco project backed by the previous administration was drenched in corruption and faced environmental problems because it was being built on a former lakebed. Auditors said in February that they had found some $167 million in questionable costs. The government says it will build a third terminal at Benito Juarez. That airport, surrounded by residential neighborhoods and with no possibility of adding an additional runway, is beyond capacity. More and more flights are parked on the tarmac with passengers shuttled to the overcrowded terminals on buses. Arriving flights are increasingly delayed because they can't get a landing slot. The government announced last week that the nearly 31,000-acre (12,500 hectare site of the scrapped airport would be converted into a park. The survival of Santa Lucia, which also had been set for closure under the Texcoco plan, is another victory for Mexico's military, which has been tasked with running the project. It also has been given the lead in combatting the country's rampant fuel theft problem and a soon-to-retire general will head the newly created militarized police force, the National Guard. The general in charge of airport construction said Friday that its design would be "austere," in contrast with the elaborate Norman Foster-designed terminal for the now cancelled airport. The government says even factoring in the lost investment in the cancelled airport and the cost of converting Santa Lucia, the total expense will be only slightly more than a quarter of what the Texcoco airport would have cost. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a deadly attack on a Southern California synagogue (all times local): 3:30 p.m. A packed congregation is remembering the woman who was shot to death in a Southern California synagogue this past weekend. Federal and state lawmakers, a representative of the Israeli government, local mayors and law enforcement leaders attended the memorial service Monday for 60-year-old Lori Kaye. The U.S. State Department's new envoy on anti-Semitism told the crowd that the Trump administration is committed to fighting the evil wherever it lurks. Elan Carr says "we are at war with these people" as he vowed to fight anti-Semitism in across the U.S. Attendees at the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif., pass by a photo of Kaye, Monday, April 29, 2019 inside the synagogue. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) The congregation sang "God Bless America." A gunman killed Kaye and wounded the rabbi and two others at the Chabad of Poway near San Diego on Saturday, the last day of a major Jewish holiday. Authorities say the shooter surrendered soon afterward. ___ 2:50 p.m. California lawmakers adopted a resolution in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day and took a moment during Monday's ceremony to speak about this weekend's attack on a synagogue near San Diego. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, vice chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said the state's Jewish community is alarmed by the "infusion of anti-Semitism into our political discourse." He emphasized that the Holocaust "didn't happen overnight" and that people should be aware of smaller deeds such as hateful rhetoric. A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder in Saturday's attack on Chabad of Poway. Authorities have described it as a hate crime. Monday's ceremony had been planned before the attack. Lawmakers honored 10 survivors of the Holocaust, including some who were in attendance and stood when their name was called. ___ 2:15 p.m. A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder in the weekend attack on a Southern California synagogue. San Diego County prosecutors also charged John T. Earnest on Monday with an earlier arson attack on a mosque. The murder and attempted murder charges stemming from Saturday's shooting at Chabad of Poway carry special-circumstance allegations of a hate crime. The District Attorney's Office says in a statement that Earnest will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon. A congregant was slain and a rabbi, another man and a girl were wounded in the attack. The mosque fire occurred on or about March 23 in the city of Escondido. ___ 11:15 a.m. The family of the suspect in the California synagogue shooting says they're "shocked and deeply" saddened by the deadly attack. In a statement released through a San Diego law firm, the family of John T. Earnest says he and his five siblings was raised in "a family, a faith, and a community that all rejected hate." The attack Saturday at Chabad of Poway killed one woman and wounded three others, including the synagogue's rabbi. The family says it is a "terrifying mystery" what attracted their son to "such darkness." ___ 10:25 a.m. 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 Monday that it got word about the anonymous post through its tip website and phone line just before Saturday's attack on the Chabad of Poway. The FBI says the tips included a link to the post but didn't 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. ___ 9:21 p.m. Eight-year-old Noya Dahan had finished praying and gone to play with other children at her Southern California synagogue 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. Noya recalled how the group of children cried out of fear after a gunman entered Chabad of Poway on Saturday morning and started shooting. The onslaught on the last day of Passover, a Jewish holiday celebrating freedom, wounded Dahan, her uncle and the congregation's rabbi. The attack killed beloved congregant Lori Kaye, 60. Authorities said the 19-year-old gunman opened fire as about 100 people were worshipping exactly six months after a mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue. Rabbi Yishoel Goldstein, right, comforts Almog Peretz, center, Monday, April 29, 2019, as they attend the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif. Goldstein lost a finger in the shooting, and Peretz was also injured. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Almog Peretz, center, sits near his niece, Noya Dahan, 8, Monday, April 29, 2019, as they attend the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif. Peretz and Dahan were both injured in the shooting. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Menachem Levanoni, right, president of the Chabad of Poway synagogue, speaks Monday, April 29, 2019, at the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the synagogue in Poway, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Monday announced his first major policy initiative, a $5 trillion plan to combat climate change that he says will keep the Earth from sliding past the point of no return in less than a generation. The former Texas congressman unveiled his proposal from California's Yosemite National Park, a dramatic backdrop for a move he hopes can jumpstart a campaign that began to much national fanfare but has seen some of that luster fade in recent weeks. The plan calls for increasing taxes on "corporations and the wealthiest among us" and "ending the tens of billions of dollars of tax breaks currently given to fossil fuel companies" while offering federal grants to encourage innovative housing and transportation improvements. It includes $1.5 trillion in direct federal funding, while seeking to incentivize an additional $3.5 trillion from states, private capital and other sources over 10 years to improve aging infrastructure nationwide and to take "significant actions to defend communities" preparing for intensified floods, droughts, hurricanes, fires and other natural disasters fueled by a changing climate. Like others in the packed field of Democrats seeking the White House, O'Rourke promised to sign climate change-fighting executive orders on the first day of his presidency - including rejoining the 2016 Paris Agreement, from which President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. O'Rourke had previously praised the Green New Deal , an ambitious but longshot initiative backed by some of the most liberal Democrats in Congress which calls for the U.S. to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. But the plan announced Monday wants to achieve that goal by 2050, while promising to get halfway there in just the next 11 years. Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke listens to environmental advocates Monday, April 29, 2019, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) "This country needs direction when it comes to meeting the single greatest threat that we've ever faced," O'Rourke told reporters after a walking tour of Yosemite Valley, past pine trees and through the mist from a rushing waterfall. The Sunrise Movement, the environmental group behind the Green New Deal, said in a statement that O'Rourke's proposal "gets a lot right" but "gets the science wrong," and expressed dismay that he was backing off previous support for net-zero emissions by 2030. The campaign of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who has made climate change the center of his 2020 platform, highlighted a 2016 vote O'Rourke took while in Congress against banning the use of federal money to research offshore oil drilling potential near the Gulf of Mexico. O'Rourke's campaign has said he would not cast the same vote today. "Voters have a right to look closely at Democratic candidates' plans to separate rhetoric from results on climate change," Aisling Kerins, Inslee's campaign manager, said in a statement. The announcement came during O'Rourke's first visit as a presidential candidate to California, a state that's experiencing more destructive and deadlier wildfires due in part to climate change. A blaze last summer caused a partial shutdown of Yosemite, and O'Rourke on Sunday met privately with firefighters in Mariposa County who battled it for weeks. He toured the park, famous for its breathtaking vistas and giant sequoia trees, with Anne Kelly, director of the University of California-Merced's Yosemite Field Station and Leslie Martinez, an environmental justice advocate from the state's Central Valley, where O'Rourke planned to campaign later Monday. Kelly explained that the famously resilient sequoias are beginning to show signs of stress from a recent, multiyear drought. O'Rourke called his first visit to Yosemite a "religious experience." "Driving in, there are no words that could express what I was seeing or the way that I was feeling," he said. "And then to learn about some of the challenges that Yosemite faces ... the composition of what we are seeing around us is changing literally before our eyes." O'Rourke stopped to talk to a few visitors as he concluded the walk, most of whom were not from California or even the United States. Later, he drove a van several hours to a community college in Modesto, where he heard from local farmers, environmental activists and legislative aides about the valley's efforts to improve the polluted air and water that plagues many of its communities. He's the first Democratic contender to travel to the Central Valley this year. "Just showing up in the Central Valley is huge," said Jessica Self, head of the local Democratic Party. "Right there is a huge, 'Wow, I'm going to take this guy seriously, I'm going to see what he has to say.'" O'Rourke also campaigned in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but his swing included no fundraisers typical for presidential hopefuls visiting the state. "It is unusual to come to California, where there are so many Democratic donors, and decide not to raise money," said Rose Kapolczynski, who managed former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's campaigns. O'Rourke opened his campaign last month to large crowds in key early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire but also in battleground areas that included Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, as well as solid early fundraising . But he's since seen some of the buzz around his upstart campaign die down. He may be hoping his "I'll-campaign-anywhere" style is novel enough to sprawling California to gain attention. The state moved its 2020 presidential primary to March with the goal of gaining more sway in the nominating contest. But with nearly 40 million people to reach in California alone, breaking through is tough for any candidate. "We're the black hole of politics," said Bob Mulholland, a Democratic National Committee member from California who is supporting Harris. "Almost anything you do in this state, no one notices." ___ Weissert reported from Washington. Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke pauses to watch the scenery Monday, April 29, 2019, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, left, talks with Anne Kelly, center, Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Stations and environmental advocate Leslie Martinez center, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, left, walks with Anne Kelly, center, Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Stations and environmental advocate Leslie Martinez center, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Residents of an Oklahoma town were still waiting for answers Monday on what prompted police to open fire on a pickup truck last week, wounding three children and a man who authorities say was wanted in a robbery. Three days after the shooting, it remained unclear why gunfire broke out Friday when two Hugo police detectives tried to pick up William Devaughn Smith, 21, on a robbery warrant. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says Smith and four children were in the truck outside a community center that serves food. One child wasn't hurt. The agency had previously said the children's mother was in the truck but said Monday she was not. The three children who were wounded have been released from the hospital. OSBI said Monday that the children's mother, Olivia Hill, is in a relationship with Smith. Hill told KXII-TV in Sherman, Texas, that her 4-year-old daughter was shot in the head, her 5-year-old child has a skull fracture and that her 1-year-old has gunshot wounds on her face. The state agency has not released the names of the detectives, who have since been placed on paid leave. The agency and local police also have not said how they connected Smith to the robbery of a restaurant earlier this month. Authorities have not said if Smith fired a weapon in the confrontation with police on Friday. A statement from OSBI on Monday said the investigation is ongoing and evolving and that when it is complete, a report will be submitted to the local district attorney's office for review. In this Friday, April 26, 2019 image made from video provided by KTEN, investigators inspect a pickup truck with bullet holes in its windshield in Hugo, Okla. Olivia Hill says Oklahoma police fired at William Devaughn Smith in the vehicle with her and her four children, with two of her kids suffering head wounds and another shot in the face. (KTEN via AP) "Since the time of the incident on Friday afternoon, the OSBI has had agents on the ground collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses," the agency said. Rodney Cox grew up in Hugo, a town with about 5,200 residents, and was leading demonstrations there Monday. He and others are asking for local and state officials to show any police videos of the shooting and for a public release of a report on the incident. Residents also want to know if the officers involved were appropriately trained. "If those were your kids in the car, how would you feel about the situation and what would you want to be done?" said Cox, who now lives in Oklahoma City. "We're not hearing much right now." Calls to the Hugo Police Department went unanswered Monday afternoon, and the department Facebook page was no longer available. State Rep. Justin Humphrey's district includes Hugo. He said Monday that he met with community leaders over the weekend and is pushing authorities to be open about the investigation. "There's no question the community has a right to be concerned, and I think these requests are reasonable," Humphrey said. "I've been in contact with the OSBI and have asked that they work with me to make the investigation as transparent and as open as we can." The police chief in Paris, Texas, whose officers arrested Smith on Friday after he was treated and released from a hospital there, said he's also not clear on aspects of the Oklahoma investigation. Chief Bob Hundley said he'd seen reports that the children were shot in the head and others that their injuries were not life-threatening. "The only information I've been made aware of is conflicting information," Hundley said. Smith was being held Monday on an aggravated robbery complaint in the jail in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. Jail records don't indicate he has an attorney to speak on his behalf. Smith is suspected in an April 11 armed robbery at a Pizza Hut in Hugo, about 180 miles (290 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City and near the Texas state line. A now-unavailable post on the Hugo police Facebook page said a man entered a back door of the restaurant, pressed an object to an employee's back and demanded money. Police said the worker handed over cash and the robber left. ___ Associated Press writers Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report. NEW YORK (AP) - The family for John Singleton said the Oscar-nominated filmmaker died Monday after he was taken off life support after suffering a stroke almost two weeks ago. "This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John's doctors," read the statement. The 51-year-old director of "Boyz in the Hood," ''Poetic Justice" and other films was in intensive care in a Los Angeles hospital since he had a stroke on April 17. John Singleton was nominated for an Oscar for 1991's "Boyz N the Hood." His recent projects include the TV series "Snowfall." As news that Singleton would be taken off life support circulated, many paid tribute to the director. Jordan Peele, the "Get Out" and "Us" director called him "a brave artist and a true inspiration." "His vision changed everything," said Peele. FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2008 file photo, director John Singleton arrives at the 80th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Singleton has died at 51, according to statement from his family, Monday, April 29, 2019. He died Monday after suffering a stroke almost two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File) FILE - This March 4, 2018 file photo shows John Singleton at the Oscars in Los Angeles. Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Singleton has died at 51, according to statement from his family, Monday, April 29, 2019. He died Monday after suffering a stroke almost two weeks ago. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2018 file photo, John Singleton arrives at the 70th annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. The "Boyz N the Hood" director suffered a stroke last week and remains hospitalized, according to a statement from his family on Saturday, April 20, 2019. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) FILE - This July 13, 1991 file photo shows filmmaker John Singleton, who made the movie "Boyz N The Hood," in Los Angeles. Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Singleton has died at 51, according to statement from his family, Monday, April 29, 2019. He died Monday after suffering a stroke almost two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Bob Galbraith, File) FILE - This Feb. 9, 1997 file photo shows film director John Singleton posing in New York to promote his film "Rosewood." Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Singleton has died at 51, according to statement from his family, Monday, April 29, 2019. He died Monday after suffering a stroke almost two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Todd Plitt, File) ST. LOUIS (AP) - A former Missouri sheriff who was accused of actions ranging from fraud to assault to playing a role in an inmate's death was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison. Former Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson was originally charged with 28 federal counts but pleaded guilty in November to just two: wire fraud and identity theft. Hutcheson resigned after the guilty plea and is forbidden from working as a law enforcement officer ever again. Federal prosecutors say that during a three-year period from when Hutcheson was a deputy through the first months of his tenure as sheriff, he uploaded fraudulent documents to a law enforcement database to obtain the location of more than 200 cellphone users. The process known as "pinging" was used to track the whereabouts of a judge, a former sheriff and several others in law enforcement. Hutcheson has never explained his motive. Hutcheson also was charged with assault, robbery and making a false declaration in state court. It wasn't immediately clear if those charges would be dropped now that he's headed to prison. The Missouri attorney general's office didn't immediately reply to messages seeking comment. U.S. District Judge John Ross said during the sentencing hearing that Hutcheson "abused his position and violated the public trust." "He did it in a way that erodes confidence in law enforcement, at a time when that is desperately, desperately needed," Ross said. FILE - In this undated file photo, Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson sits behind his desk at the Mississippi County Detention Center in Charleston, Mo. Hutcheson, who resigned in November 2018 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, was sentenced Monday, April 29, 2019, to six months in federal prison. (Leonna Heuring/Sikeston Standard Democrat via AP, File) Hutcheson, 35, apologized to his victims, the court and his family, many of whom were in the courtroom. "There's nothing I can do to take it back," he said. "I'm sorry." Federal guidelines would have allowed up to 16 months in prison. In addition to his prison time, Hutcheson will serve four months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. Investigators painted a picture of a law enforcement officer responsible for far worse behavior than the crimes he admitted to. Hutcheson was elected in 2016. He ran on pledge of attacking the drug culture that permeated Mississippi County, which sits in the Missouri Bootheel region about 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of St. Louis. Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum said at the hearing that Hutcheson arrested 88 drug dealers in his first 90 days as sheriff. But Hutcheson himself was arrested in April 2017, just three months into his term. State charges accused him of entering a beauty shop to pick up a paycheck for his sister-in-law, who had been accused of taking property belonging to the business. The shop owner was holding the check until the property was returned. Hutcheson approached 77-year-old Bonnie Woods, an employee and a sister of the shop owner, and demanded the paycheck, threatening arrest if she refused, authorities said. When Woods refused, the sheriff allegedly grabbed her left wrist and applied the handcuff with enough force that it bled. He then grabbed the check, removed the handcuff and left. Woods had a heart attack during the encounter, authorities said. She recovered. In May 2017, a month after his arrest, Hutcheson was still working as sheriff when inmate Tory Sanders died in the county jail after being subdued by jail staff and Hutcheson. Hutcheson was not criminally charged, but a lawsuit filed by Sanders' family said he died after Hutcheson and others beat and choked him. The lawsuit said Hutcheson used his knee to press on the man's neck and refused to let up, even when another officer urged him to do so. Rosenblum said during Monday's hearing that Hutcheson had nothing to do with Sanders' death. He asked Ross for no jail time, citing Hutcheson's difficult family situation. He and his wife lost a child at birth last year and she has had three miscarriages since then, and struggles with depression as a result, Rosenblum said. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A federal magistrate judge ordered the leader of an armed group that detained asylum-seeking families near the U.S.-Mexico border to remain jailed Monday as he awaits trial on a federal firearms charge. Larry Mitchell Hopkins pleaded not guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition during a detention hearing that was delayed earlier in morning because the federal courthouse in Albuquerque was abruptly evacuated. The U.S. Marshals Service said it could not provide information hours later on why the courthouse was cleared. It reopened shortly after noon. Hopkins, 69, clad in a gray jumpsuit and shackled at the waist, wrists and ankles, inched across the courtroom as an officer helped him down a step and escorted him out of the courtroom where he had been waiting to appear before the judge. A federal prosecutor argued after the courthouse reopened that Hopkins posed a flight risk and danger to the public if released. He cited Hopkins' history of felony convictions dating back decades, use of aliases, and leadership role in the "heavily armed" United Constitutional Patriots group at the border. "He was a commander of this militia group that was heavily armed and that further establishes he's a danger to the community," George Kraehe, the federal prosecutor, said. Hopkins was arrested on April 20 after videos of his militia group carrying firearms and detaining groups of immigrants crossing the border sparked widespread criticism. The charge against him stems from 2017 when authorities say an FBI agent was invited into Hopkins' northern New Mexico home. This April 20, 2019 booking photo from the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office shows Larry Hopkins. Authorities say that Hopkins, 69, the leader of a group that has detained asylum-speaking migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, was injured while he was jailed in Las Cruces, N.M., after being arrested on federal weapons charges. The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday, April 24, 2019 in a statement that Hopkins was transferred Tuesday out of the county jail after suffering non-life threatening injuries Monday night. (Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office via AP) Hopkins showed the agent at least nine weapons and ammunition, saying they belonged to his live-in girlfriend before referring to one of the weapons as his, according to the complaint. He also knew which firearms were loaded with ammunition, Kraehe said in court. In an interview, Hopkins' partner Fay Murphy said he had been at the border for about two months before his arrest. She said he had told her over the phone that a FBI agent approached him in the desert near the border. He had been preparing to cook hamburgers when the agent offered to instead take him to a restaurant in Sunland Park, where federal authorities took him into custody, she said. "It doesn't make no sense," said Murphy. "He's not a threat." She shook her head in court as the prosecutor said he had counted 11 prior felony convictions since 1968 against Hopkins. The indictment against Hopkins cites previous criminal convictions of impersonating a police officer and repeated firearms violations. Hopkins was accused by the prosecutor of wearing a holster with a pistol to a February meeting with the Sunland Park police chief. Hopkins also used an alias during that meeting, knowing that he was under investigation for being a felon in possession of a firearm, Kraehe said. Hopkins' attorney, said the militia leader did not have a history of violence. He questioned prosecutors' argument that his client posed a threat, given two years had passed between the 2017 FBI visit to his home and his arrest. "If he's so dangerous, why didn't that (indictment) come two years ago," O'Connell said. He described Hopkins as a Quixotic figure who believed he was aiding U.S. Border Patrol amid a rise in migrants crossing the border seeking asylum. An earlier complaint filed in U.S. District Court said that 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. If convicted, Hopkins faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The FBI has declined to comment on why it waited to bring charges against Hopkins. ___ Associated Press writer Morgan Lee contributed to this report from Santa Fe. ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The University of Michigan's commencement will have an unusual group sitting among this year's graduating class - triplets who are preparing to part for the first time. Abby, Seraphina and Zoey Provenzano's time attending the same university will come to an end May 4, when they all graduate with about 3.9 grade point averages, the Lansing State Journal reported. The triplets started at Michigan together four years ago after they were all named valedictorians at Alma High School. Since then, they have sought out different paths. Abby initially wanted to be a doctor, earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry. But now she wants to write fiction and plans to move to Boston in the fall to pursue a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Zoey has a summer job at consulting firm PwC in Grand Rapids before she returns to Ann Arbor next year for a master's program. She'll then join PwC full time. Seraphina studied kinesiology. At the end of May, she'll head to Madison, where she'll pursue a clinical degree in physical therapy at the University of Wisconsin. The triplets were often busy on the Ann Arbor campus but "still made time to see each other," Zoey said. "We did a good job of finding a happy medium of doing our own thing but also hanging out together," Seraphina said. They agreed that having sisters on campus helped them adjust to college life. "One of the perks of being a triplet, you go through the same thing at the same time," Seraphina said. Meanwhile, their parents, Jeff and Gina Provenzano, had a difficult time in their adjustment to becoming "instant empty-nesters." Jeff Provenzano stressed the importance of enjoying your time with your children. "It does go by so fast. It's such an exciting time in kids' lives," he said. "In a blink of an eye, it's gone. We've tried to enjoy it through their eyes." ___ Information from: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lansingstatejournal.com 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. BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Two states are seeking to intervene on the side of the federal government after four conservation groups asked a judge to immediately halt drilling, mining and other activities to protect habitat for a ground-dwelling bird in seven Western states. Idaho and Utah filed documents in U.S. District Court late last week seeking to defend a plan put forward by President Donald Trump in mid-March. The conservation groups in a supplemental lawsuit filed in late March against the Interior Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service say the plan weakens an earlier version put forward by the Barack Obama administration in 2015. The groups also sued in 2016 contending the Obama plan didn't do enough to protect sage grouse - a chicken-sized bird that relies on sagebrush. The groups say the plan put forward by Trump weakens protections further. Last week, they asked a judge to block the Trump administration plan altogether in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, California and Oregon. Idaho officials have long argued that the plan the state put forward in 2015 was significantly altered at the last minute by the Obama administration, which added new protections to key sage grouse areas. "A diverse set of stakeholders and experts worked tirelessly to develop a state plan that meets the needs of sage grouse in Idaho," Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little said in a statement Friday. "I am confident the court will recognize that our plan strikes the appropriate balance between conservation and multiple-use." FILE - This April 10, 2014, file photo shows a male sage grouse trying to impress a group of hens, at left, near the base of the Rattlesnake Range in southwest Natrona County, Wyo. Idaho and Utah are seeking to intervene on the side of the federal government after four conservation groups asked a judge to immediately halt drilling, mining and other activities to protect sage grouse habitat in seven Western states. (Alan Rogers/The Casper Star-Tribune via AP, File) The 2015 sage grouse plans are widely considered to have stopped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from listing sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. There are concerns that further declines in sage grouse populations could cause the bird to again be considered for federal protections. Millions of sage grouse once roamed the West, but development, livestock grazing and wildfires have reduced the bird's population to fewer than 500,000. Most of the bird's habitat - sagebrush steppe - is on land administered by the BLM. The birds are found in 11 states from the Dakotas to California. The birds are known for an elaborate mating ritual in which males fan their tails and puff out yellow air sacs in their chests to make a bubble-type sound as they strut around breeding grounds known as leks. Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert's office didn't immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press on Monday. Herbert has previously said the Trump administration's plan will complement the state's efforts to manage sage grouse in Utah. Meanwhile in Nevada, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday opened a one-month comment period on plans to lease about 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) to oil and gas drilling in a remote northeastern part of the state that's home to sage grouse. The agency says plans to lease land in the West for drilling are part of a Trump administration effort to promote American energy independence. PRAGUE (AP) - Thousands of Czechs are rallying in Prague and elsewhere to protest the proposed replacement of the justice minister. The protesters said Monday that might compromise the legal system at a time when prosecutors have to decide whether to indict Prime Minister Andrej Babis over alleged fraud involving European Union funds. Babis denies wrongdoing. The justice minister has significant control over the prosecution. The minister to be appointed Tuesday is Marie Benesova, a lawyer and adviser to President Milos Zeman, Babis' close ally. Zeman has repeatedly criticized the prosecution. As a lawmaker, Benesova voted against a police request to strip Babis of parliamentary immunity to face investigation. The protesters and the opposition say Benesova might try to influence his case. A union of judges also expressed doubts about the change. Thousands of people take part in a march in the centre of Prague, Monday April 29, 2019, to protest the proposed replacement of the justice minister. The protesters said Monday it might compromise the legal system at a time when prosecutors have to decide whether to indict Prime Minister Andrej Babis over alleged fraud involving European Union funds. (Vit Simanek/CTK via AP) Thousands of people take part in a march in the centre of Prague, Monday April 29, 2019, to protest the proposed replacement of the justice minister. The protesters said Monday it might compromise the legal system at a time when prosecutors have to decide whether to indict Prime Minister Andrej Babis over alleged fraud involving European Union funds. (Vit Simanek/CTK via AP) Student protesters at Swarthmore College occupied an on-campus fraternity house Monday following the leak of documents purportedly describing some members' derogatory comments and sexual assault jokes. The demonstration is aimed at shutting down the Phi Psi chapter at the private liberal arts school in suburban Philadelphia. On Monday morning, about 30 students were sitting at the college-owned building, which is mainly used for Phi Psi parties and other social activities. As many as 100 protesters were there over the weekend. "We're trying to force the college to make the right decision on this," senior Morgin Goldberg, 22, said. 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." The college said Monday that the authenticity of the documents has not yet been verified. Goldberg said the school must terminate the fraternity's lease. Signs hanging read, "This house is ours" and, "Nothing has changed. Admin knew all along." 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) Phi Psi, which is not affiliated with a national organization, was suspended in 2016 for violating Swarthmore's alcohol and drug policy. It reopened for parties a year ago. "We're hoping the college and board will understand the gravity of what has been occurring," Goldberg said. A task force charged last year with exploring the role of Greek life on campus - Swarthmore has two fraternities and one sorority - is continuing its work and will be sharing its findings later this week, the college said in an emailed statement. Swarthmore's Phi Psi chapter posted on its Facebook page, condemning the language in the documents. "They are not representative of who we are today," the post read. "None of us would have joined the organization had this been the standard when we arrived at Swarthmore." After the protests started Saturday, Swarthmore College President Valerie Smith suspended activities at both Phi Psi and the school's only other fraternity, Delta Upsilon. But demonstrators want the school to go even further. "We don't think (fraternities) have a place on campus," Goldberg said. The school's only sorority functions as a community organization and does not have an on-campus house like the two fraternities. It does not hold parties, she said. Swarthmore is home to about 1,600 students. It's located about 11 miles (18 kilometers) southwest of Philadelphia. 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 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) 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 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) BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - Police say a man charged with setting two fires at a Pennsylvania church was a former member who had been kicked out of the congregation and held a grudge against it. Bethlehem Police Chief Mark DiLuzio said Monday that the matter "festered and festered," prompting 43-year-old Wilmer Ortiz Torres to set fire to Iglesia Pentecostal de Bethlehem church last week. DiLuzio did not elaborate on the nature of the dispute. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli tells The (Allentown) Morning Call that he doesn't have details on why Torres was angry with the church. The first fire gutted the church's sanctuary and caused smoke and water damage throughout the building. A second fire damaged the roof. No one was injured. Torres is jailed on arson and related charges. Court records don't list an attorney who could speak on his behalf. ___ Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com LADUE, Mo. (AP) - An attorney for a suburban St. Louis police officer who shot and wounded a suspected shoplifter says the officer thought she was firing her stun gun. The attorney, Travis Noble, said the officer is "devastated" about last week's shooting at a grocery store in Ladue, which he described as a "complete accident," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Authorities have not released the officer's name. The shooting happened after the officer encountered one of two women accused of trying to bypass the store's self-checkout area with stolen merchandise. The woman apparently fell while fleeing and was complaining of injuries when the officer encountered her, Noble said. The officer then called for an ambulance before attempting to handcuff the woman. But Noble said the woman broke free and started running as the officer yelled for her to stop. "The officer drew what she believed to be her Taser and screamed 'Taser! Taser! Taser!' and discharged what ended up being her weapon," Noble said. She fired her pistol once, and when the woman went down, she "realized her mistake and immediately rendered first aid," Noble said. The officer pulled her 9mm Glock from a holster on her right hip, Noble said. The Taser was holstered just inside her left hip. "You're talking about a police officer who for 13 years has never drawn her Taser ever," Noble said. "She's, like, literally running and you know how tunnel vision kicks in." Police say the 33-year-old woman is expected to survive but remains hospitalized. Her name hasn't been released and she hasn't been charged. St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell said during his campaign that he would seek special prosecutors to review police shooting cases. His office has declined to comment on how this case will be handled. There have been other instances in which officers mistook their firearms for a stun gun. Lawrence, Kansas, police Officer Brindley Blood was charged with aggravated battery in 2018 after she shot Akira Lewis, 35, while Lewis was allegedly attacking another officer. But charges were dropped in March after a judge ruled that Blood meant to use her Taser and mistakenly drew her gun. Lewis, who is black, survived but has said he has permanent injuries. He alleges he was racially profiled. Blood, who resigned in January, and the other officer are white. In 2015, Robert Bates, a white volunteer deputy in Oklahoma, fatally shot an unarmed black man, Eric Harris, while Harris was on the ground being restrained by other deputies during an illegal gun sale sting. Bates said he mistakenly pulled his handgun instead of his stun gun. Bates was convicted of second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to four years in prison but served less than half that before being paroled. ___ Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com LOS ANGELES (AP) - An Army veteran who converted to Islam and discussed launching various terror attacks throughout Southern California was arrested as he plotted to bomb a white supremacist rally as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks, federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Domingo, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested Friday after visiting a park in Long Beach where authorities said he planned to plant home-made explosive devices made with nail-filled pressure cookers in advance of a Nazi rally scheduled Sunday. Domingo, 26, was arrested on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. A criminal complaint said he had been planning since March to "manufacture and use a weapon of mass destruction in order to commit mass murder." U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna told a news conference that Domingo supported violent jihad and spoke about becoming a martyr and of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group if it established a presence in the United States. "This is a case in which law enforcement was able to identify a man consumed with hate and bent on mass murder, and stop him before he could carry out his attack," Hanna said. "The criminal case outlines a chilling terrorism plot that developed over the past two months and targeted innocent Americans that he expected to gather this past weekend." Investigators said Domingo posted an online message March 3 that said "America needs another Vegas event," an apparent reference to the 2017 mass shooting that killed 59. He allegedly said it would spark civil unrest to weaken "America by giving them a taste of the terror they gladly spread all over the world." United States Attorney Nick Hanna stands next to photos of Mark Steven Domingo, during a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 29, 2019. A terror plot by Domingo, an Army veteran who converted to Islam and planned to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks was thwarted, federal prosecutors said Monday. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) After Domingo began to discuss seeking revenge for the March 15 attacks that killed 50 people at New Zealand mosques, a confidential source who has worked with the FBI since 2013 began chatting with him about his plans. Domingo said he had an assault rifle, semi-automatic rifle and several magazines of ammunition. He discussed picking off Jews walking to synagogue, shooting police officers or attacking a church or military base, according to investigators. When the source asked him how he planned to carry out violence without getting caught, court records said Domingo replied: "Martyrdom, bro." He also allegedly discussed killing a neighbor he was upset with as a prelude to broader violence and later contemplated bombing the Santa Monica Pier, where he said a summer attack on the crowded tourist spot would maximize casualties because people wouldn't be able to escape the blast in the enclosed space. Eventually, he settled on the idea of planting an improvised explosive device that would be remotely triggered or detonated by a timer at a white supremacist event, investigators said. The confidential source connected him with a purported bomb maker who was actually an undercover police officer. Domingo bought 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of nails long enough to puncture internal organs and provided them to the bomb maker, though the resulting contraption contained only inert materials, authorities said. If he survived the planned bombing, Domingo allegedly discussed launching further attacks on the Long Beach Port or on a train. The plot was thwarted just two days ahead of the event, investigators said, when an FBI SWAT team arrested Domingo after he was given the pressure cookers and surveyed Bluff Park in Long Beach, where the rally was supposed to happen. White nationalists, however, never showed up at the park Sunday. Instead, a large group of counter protesters demonstrated for peace. Phone and email messages seeking comment from the public defender representing Domingo were not immediately returned. A voicemail left at a phone number listed for Domingo was not returned. A statement from his family asked for privacy. "We do not know what is going on at this point," the statement said. "We are surprised by all of these events in regard with Mark." The suspect's younger brother told reporters outside the family's Los Angeles home that Mark Domingo had converted to Islam in recent months. "Like anybody else, I don't want to assume a thing when someone joins a new religion," James Domingo said. "If anything, I thought it was a good thing. I thought maybe my brother finally found some sort of guidance in this world." James Domingo declined to speculate on whether his brother was guilty, only saying he would "wait for the trial." Domingo is believed to have acted alone and authorities said the public was not at risk. After Domingo was identified online by the FBI, he was under surveillance around the clock, said Ryan Young, the FBI special agent in charge of counter terrorism at the Los Angeles office. "Our biggest fear is this was a rapid what we call 'radicalization to mobilization to violence,'" Young said. "Sometimes we get asked 'What keeps you up at night?' This is a case that keeps us up at night." While Domingo had appeared committed to carry out the plot, court papers portray him as suddenly reluctant as the bomb plot came together. He told the others he thought were his confederates they should consider postponing so he could finish reading the Quran and experience the Muslim holy month of Ramadan beginning in May. Last Wednesday, he told the confidential source he wanted to think about it for a night. "Let's just sleep on it," he said, according to court papers. "If we're still as motivated ... I'll give the go-ahead." The next day he sent a message to the supposed bomb maker that the plan was on. The two referred to the bombs as "presents" they needed to wrap for a party. "Keep the presents somewhere safe lol," Domingo wrote back Friday morning before making plans to meet that night. ___ Associated Press reporters Christopher Weber and John Antczak contributed to this report. United States Attorney Nick Hanna, right, is joined by other law enforcement authorities during a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 29, 2019. A terror plot by an Army veteran who converted to Islam and planned to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks was thwarted, federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Domingo, 26, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested by federal agents Friday while finalizing plans to plant a bomb at a Nazi rally that had been scheduled Sunday in Long Beach.(AP Photo/Richard Vogel) This undated California Department of Motor Vehicles photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Mark Domingo. A terror plot by Domingo, an Army veteran who converted to Islam and planned to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks was thwarted, federal prosecutors said Monday, April 29, 2019. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP) A reporter takes a photo of Mark Domingo, 26, from Reseda, Calif., displayed at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 29, 2019. A terror plot by Domingo, an Army veteran who converted to Islam and planned to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks, was thwarted, federal prosecutors said Monday, April 29, 2019. ( AP Photo/Richard Vogel) FBI Special Agent Ryan Young, center, is flanked by United States Attorney Nick Hanna, left, and LAPD Chief Michel Moore during a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 29, 2019. A terror plot by an Army veteran who converted to Islam and planned to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks was thwarted, federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Domingo, 26, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested by federal agents Friday while finalizing plans to plant a bomb at a Nazi rally that had been scheduled Sunday in Long Beach. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) LAPD Chief Michel Moore, right looks on as United States Attorney Nick Hanna, talks during a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 29, 2019. A terror plot by an Army veteran who converted to Islam and planned to bomb a white supremacist rally in Southern California as retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks was thwarted, federal prosecutors said Monday. Mark Domingo, 26, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested by federal agents Friday while finalizing plans to plant a bomb at a Nazi rally that had been scheduled Sunday in Long Beach. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska National Guard plans to rebuild its Camp Ashland training site by fortifying its buildings and raising them on stilts after recent flooding caused extensive damage to the facility. The Guard is pursuing a more than $62 million project to protect the 1,184-acre (479-hectare) facility on the Platte River from future flooding, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The camp has been working to repair damage from floodwaters that filled classrooms and barracks, standing roughly 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep after the river knocked down a levee last month. Up to 3 feet (1 meter) of sand covered large parts of the camp after the floodwaters receded. "We had historic damage, a breach of a levee that's never broken before," said Col. Shane Martin, a construction and facilities management officer for the Guard. "It was shocking, truly devastating when you got on the ground." Now, the National Guard is looking to create stronger defenses at the training site to protect the camp from future floods. The plans call for putting seven new buildings on stilt pilings at least 7 feet (2 meters) off the ground. In this April 24, 2019, photo crews fill areas around the levee with dirt at the flood-prone Camp Ashland training site camp in Ashland, Neb. (Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP) "We want to raise this above the flood, so nothing like this ever happens again," he said. The Guard also wants to extend a concrete bulkhead that runs inside the river's levee. Other costs included in the plan would repair buildings, roads and trails, as well as replace furniture and equipment. Martin said the Guard is pursuing stilts because the flooding last month topped floodgates and submerged electrical wiring that had been installed 4 feet (1.2 meters) high as a prevention method after a 2015 flood. "We have to plan for the worst of the worst," he said. Officials requested funding from the National Guard Bureau in Virginia. The money would come from federal tax dollars, if approved. It's unclear when Nebraska will receive a response. ___ Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com The Nebraska National Guard has submitted a bill for the reconstruction of the flood-prone Camp Ashland training site on the Platte River, in Ashland, Neb. Sand from the river has covered areas which were once grass covered at the camp on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. (Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP) In this April 24, 2019, photo Shane M. Martin, a construction and facilities management officer and Major Scott Ingalsbe, State Public Affairs Officer both with the Nebraska Army National Guard stand close by the erosion caused by the flood along the Platte River in Ashland, Neb. (Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP) The Nebraska National Guard has submitted a bill for the reconstruction of the flood-prone Camp Ashland training site on the Platte River, in Ashland, Neb. Col. Shane M. Martin, a construction and facilities management officer and Major Scott Ingalsbe, State Public Affairs Officer both for the Nebraska Army National Guard provide a tour of the concrete arena with a 3,000 person capacity on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. (Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP) In this April 24, 2019, photo a caution sign is displayed near a damaged floor caused by recent flooding at Memorial Hall in Ashland, Neb. The Nebraska National Guard has submitted a bill for the reconstruction of the flood-prone Camp Ashland training site on the Platte River, in Ashland, Neb. (Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP) The Nebraska National Guard has submitted a bill for the reconstruction of the flood-prone Camp Ashland training site on the Platte River, in Ashland, Neb. Col. Shane M. Martin, left, a construction and facilities management officer and Major Scott Ingalsbe, the State Public Affairs Officer both with the Nebraska Army National Guard provide a tour of classrooms and barracks which were damaged by the flooding at the camp along the Platte River on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. (Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP) SEATTLE (AP) - The Latest on a deadly crane collapse in Seattle (all times local): 3:55 p.m. The fourth person killed in a construction crane accident in Seattle has been identified as a retired city employee. Mayor Jenny Durkan said Monday that 71-year-old Alan Justad worked for the city for decades and had served as deputy director of the Department of Planning and Development before he retired in 2014. She described Justad as "a true public servant." The King County Medical Examiner's Office on Monday afternoon confirmed the identities of those killed. They included two ironworkers who were on the crane when it fell, 31-year-old Andrew Yoder and 33-year-old Travis Corbet. An iron cross bearing the numbers of Ironworkers Local union chapters from Portland and Seattle stands next to flowers, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle at a memorial on a median across the street from where a construction crane collapsed and fell Saturday, killing four people, two of whom were ironworkers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Justad and 19-year-old Seattle Pacific University student Sarah Wong were in cars crushed by the falling crane. ___ 2:30 p.m. Experts say it appears human error may have caused a crane collapse that killed four people and injured four others in Seattle over the weekend. Based on videos of the collapse, they say it appears workers who were disassembling the construction crane had removed pins securing the sections of the crane's mast to each other, and that could explain why the crane toppled in relatively minor wind gusts. South Carolina crane accident investigator Tom Barth said the only safe way to disassemble a tower crane is to hook up the section being removed to another crane, and then remove the pins from that section only. In this case, he says, it appears the workers removed pins from all of the sections in advance. The same cause was blamed for a crane collapse that killed two workers in Dallas in 2012. ___ 12:50 p.m. An Oregon ironworker and former Marine has been identified by a labor union as one of the four people killed when a construction crane collapsed in Seattle over the weekend. Iron Workers Local Union 29 based in Portland, Oregon identified him as Travis Corbet. His 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. Another ironworker killed in Saturday's accident was a member of Iron Workers Local 86, based in Seattle. Officials say the crane was being disassembled when it fell from a building on Google's new Seattle campus. It badly damaged the building and struck six cars below. The ironworkers were in the crane when it fell. The other two people killed were in cars. ___ 9:15 p.m. The identities of the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a Seattle building are expected to be released Monday. The King County Medical Examiner's office said it would release the names of the female and three males who died in the accident Saturday afternoon. Seattle Pacific University said Sunday a freshman student was among those killed when the crane fell from a building under construction on Google's new Seattle campus onto Mercer Street. The university said 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. Cranes are shown at the site of a building under construction, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle. On Saturday, a crane at a different location in Seattle collapsed and fell, killing several people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Damage to a building that was under construction when a crane collapsed on it Saturday in Seattle is shown, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle. The accident killed four people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) A Seattle Police officer talks to a worker Monday, April 29, 2019, as they stand in front of a fenced-off alleyway next to a building under construction that was damaged when a crane collapsed on it Saturday in Seattle, killing four people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) At least three major U.S. airlines were briefly affected Monday by an outage at a technology provider that shut down ticketing and check-in online and at airport kiosks. Sabre Corp. tweeted before midday on the East Coast that it was aware of the outage affecting some of its airline customers. The company reported about 90 minutes later that the problem had been fixed and airlines were operating normally or close to it. Some airlines said the outage was shorter. Alaska Airlines tweeted that its systems were back and running but the outage could cause a few delays. JetBlue Airways told customers about the Sabre problem and provided a link for booking flights. American Airlines said the brief technology issue was resolved. HONOLULU (AP) - Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. "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. "We could have been smashed by it," she said. Paramedics responding to an unrelated call from a patient with leg pain about 30 yards (27 meters) away heard "a horrific bang," said Shayne Enright, a spokeswoman for Honolulu Emergency Medical Services. When they turned around, they saw a helicopter on fire. "When they got there, neighbors were doing a heroic job trying to put out the fire and also trying to get the patients away from the burning aircraft," Enright said. Investigators stand around the wreckage of a helicopter, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) The crash occurred in Kailua, a town of 50,000 people about a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu. The crash site was on a two-lane road amid one and two-story homes. Darel Robinson was doing construction work at a house about a half-mile 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. Megan Lacy, of Alabama, was visiting friends when they heard the crash. They went outside, expecting to find two cars after they had hit each other. "We were really confused," she said. "And then we heard screaming and the word 'fire,' and I saw smoke," she said. Debris damaged her rental car about 100 yards (90 meters) from the crash. A resident said he heard the morning crash then saw a ball of fire in a road when he ran from his house. Leleo Knappenberger told Hawaii News Now that his mother heard the helicopter flying over the house, making a strange noise. He said he later saw what appeared to be the tail end of the helicopter. "It's all smashed to pieces," he said. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency believes three people were on board the four-seat, Robinson R44 aircraft. He said the circumstances of the crash were unknown. No further details were available on those killed. The helicopter, which was built in 2000, is registered to United Helicopter Leasing LLC of Honolulu, according to FAA records. State business records show Nicole Vandelaar as the manager. A woman who answered the phone at the business and identified herself as Nicole declined to immediately comment, saying she was too busy to talk. A website for the Honolulu tour helicopter company Novictor Helicopters identified Nicole Vandelaar as founder and CEO. The website said she is an expert pilot commercially licensed to fly helicopters and airplanes. A Novictor helicopter crashed on a sandbar in Kaneohe in October after the pilot lost consciousness twice. That crash resulted in injuries to the pilot and two passengers. It was also a Robinson R44 aircraft. State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, who represents Kailua, said she wants the FAA to prohibit tour flights over Hawaii's residential areas and national parks. The Republican lawmaker wants Hawaii's congressional delegation to ask the FAA to implement such restrictions. Thielen also called for tour helicopter flights to be grounded until an investigation into the crash is completed. Kailua is home to a Marine Corps base. In recent years it's become a popular destination for tourists to go to the beach, hike and shop. Former President Barack Obama stayed at a rented beachfront vacation home in the town during the winter holidays when he was in the White House. ___ Freelance journalist Marco Garcia contributed to this report from Kailua, Hawaii. Associated Press journalists Caleb Jones and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report. A portion of the tail section of a helicopter is shown after crashing in Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) The wreckage of a helicopter lies on the street after crashing in Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) Police and firefighters respond to the scene of a helicopter crash in a residential neighborhood of Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and pieces of helicopter rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Police and firefighters respond to the scene of a helicopter crash in a residential neighborhood of Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and pieces of helicopter rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) The tail of a crashed helicopter is seen in the middle of the street, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. A helicopter crashed in the middle of the Kailua neighborhood killing three people. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) A fire truck blocks the street where a helicopter crashed, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) The tail of a crashed helicopter is seen in the middle of the street, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. A helicopter crashed in the middle of the Kailua neighborhood killing three people. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Debris lays on the ground where parts of a helicopter hit a parked car, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Debris lays on the ground where parts of a helicopter hit a parked car, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Officials remove bodies from the wreckage of a helicopter, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) When Obama announced the program last year, it got international attention, in part because it signaled how she would use her influence as a former first lady. She had been out of the White House for a year and had been relatively out of the spotlight. Then she set off on her book tour and announced her initiative. BALTIMORE (AP) - Baltimore police detectives are trying to figure out whether a chaotic shooting attack on a crowd enjoying a weekend cookout might be competition between underworld groups, a triggerman seeking vengeance or another kind of senseless strike. But one thing's for certain: In a city accustomed to gun violence, the Sunday afternoon shooting that killed one and wounded seven others in a gritty West Baltimore neighborhood barely stands out in a sea of similar shootings. "I think this weekend's shooting unfortunately exemplifies the kind of standard violence, quote-unquote, we're seeing in Baltimore," said Cassandra Crifasi, deputy director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University. And with no arrests a day after the bloodshed at the crowded cookouts, police investigators might again be struggling to overcome Baltimore's strong anti-informant culture that chronically makes eyewitnesses to shootings and other crimes too afraid or simply unwilling to come forward. "It is only with community help that we will be able to identify who did this and hold them accountable," said Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, who said the shooting appeared to be "extremely targeted." Acting Mayor Bernard "Jack" Young also urged witnesses to share what they know. 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) "Someone knows something," he said. "These things ... they don't happen by happenstance. People know who's doing these shootings." Although the motive for the weekend attack is not clear, there has long been an escalating arms race among Baltimore's criminal gangs that has turned some neighborhoods into battle zones, particularly in the most deeply disenfranchised areas. Street crews dramatically drive up the rates of violent crime by introducing illegal firearms and narcotics with a street value greatly exceeding the size of the surrounding neighborhood's legal economy. The corrosive impact of the drug trade and a recurrence of tit-for-tat turf wars and retaliatory attacks have gotten so bad that researchers say they've seen a change in social norms about what is an acceptable way to resolve disputes. "It's not going to the police. It seems to be taking things into their own hands and committing a form of violence in return," Crifasi said in a Monday phone interview. Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist at the University of Baltimore, agreed, arguing that it's highly possible that people at the cookout actually know who committed the violence and "they are going to handle this matter on their own," ignoring local police altogether. "Trust in police is, perhaps, near an all-time low," he said. Ross added there's no indication that Baltimore's entrenched "no snitching" culture has eased in recent years, particularly amid recurrent city leadership vacuums and any number of serious problems with the city's police force, which is under federal oversight for unconstitutional and discriminatory policing. Baltimore authorities routinely appeal to the public for information to improve its closure rate for homicides and other violent crimes. In recent months, the city's top prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, has even started a TV, radio and billboard campaign intended to encourage witnesses to come forward. She says some one third of criminal cases dropped by prosecutors are impacted by witnesses and victims who avoid court. Witness intimidation has long plagued Baltimore's criminal justice system. Some point to appalling cases where witnesses were killed, including a family in a 2002 arson after complaining about local drug dealing. And many locals well remember a popular street DVD called "Stop Snitching" that featured drug dealers warning residents they could "get a hole in their head" for cooperating with authorities. Whether police might be able to overcome a fear of retribution in this investigation or if a retaliatory attack is in the offing is not yet clear. Harrison said a man approached the crowd of revelers on foot late Sunday afternoon and began firing in what he called "a very tragic, very cowardly shooting." 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 have been more than 300 homicides for four years running. 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 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. Survivors were men ranging in ages from 27 to 58, as well as a 30-year-old woman. "What we believe is that there was a second shooter, perhaps firing back, but it is still unknown," Harrison said. 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. It's gotten worse since then. The FBI placed Baltimore's homicide rate in 2017 well above that of any other large American metropolis, the 342 homicides notched that year yielding a punishing homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people. ___ Associated Press writer Bill Cormier contributed from Atlanta. 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) A Baltimore police forensics officer places an evidence marker next to a bullet casing 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 at least one person and wounding several others, authorities said. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) 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 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) 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 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) WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois mother and father charged with murder in the death of their 5-year-old son have agreed to let the state's child welfare agency care for their younger son. JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr.'s younger son was taken into Illinois Department of Children and Family Services custody following the disappearance of Andrew "AJ" Freund. AJ's body was found last week, and Cunningham and Freund charged with murder among other counts. The (Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald reports McHenry County prosecutors have filed a petition to terminate Cunningham and Freund's parental rights to the younger boy. A court-appointed advocate is to meet with the younger boy and submit a report about his well-being. Cunningham and Freund reported AJ missing April 18. His plastic-wrapped body was found Wednesday in a shallow grave. ___ Information from: The Northwest Herald, http://www.nwherald.com PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A measles outbreak that sickened more than 70 people, mostly children, in the Pacific Northwest is finally over even as the total number of cases nationwide continues to spike to near-record levels , officials said Monday. Six weeks have passed without a new infection in southwest Washington state, where the outbreak began on Jan. 3, said Dr. Alan Melnick, head of the Clark County public health department. A total of 71 people were infected - a tally that does not include a handful of cases in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle that were linked to the outbreak's epicenter. Authorities elsewhere struggled with the most measles cases in the U.S. since 1994. Across the country, 704 cases have been reported in 22 states as of Monday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A large outbreak in the New York City area has stymied public health officials, and 271 students at two major California universities remained quarantined after possible exposure, down from 800 students last week. "We're grateful to see this outbreak come to an end without any deaths or serious complications," Melnick said. "But as long as measles exists elsewhere in the world and people continue travel, we're at risk of seeing another outbreak. We must improve our immunization rates to prevent future outbreaks and keep our children and other vulnerable people safe." In Washington state, the outbreak began four months ago when measles was confirmed in a child who had traveled from the Ukraine to the U.S. Authorities could not determine, however, that the child was the source of the outbreak. FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2019, file photo, a health care worker prepares syringes, including a vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), for a child's inoculations at the International Community Health Services in Seattle. Officials in the Pacific Northwest say a measles outbreak that sickened multiple people is over. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) It spread quickly among unvaccinated children: Ninety-three percent of the cases were in people under 18 and 86 percent of patients were unvaccinated, while 14 percent had had just one dose of a two-dose series of shots or didn't know their vaccination status. One person was hospitalized. The outbreak cost nearly $1 million and 19,000 hours of staffing time to contain and affected 53 public places, including schools, hospitals, airports, stores and restaurants in both Washington and Oregon, officials said. Melnick said during the outbreak that public health authorities struggling to contain its spread identified and contacted more than 4,100 people who were exposed to the viral illness and made daily monitoring phone calls to more than 800 people considered susceptible to contracting measles. The outbreak prompted a public conversation in Washington and Oregon about routine childhood vaccines. The two liberal-leaning states have some of the nation's highest statewide vaccine exemption rates, driven in part by low vaccination levels in scattered communities and at some private and alternative schools. Four percent of Washington secondary school students have non-medical vaccine exemptions. In Oregon, which has a similar law, 7.5 percent of kindergarteners in 2018 were missing shots for non-medical reasons. Numerous studies have shown vaccines do not cause autism - a common reason cited by those who don't want their kids immunized. In Washington state, lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Jay Inslee that would tighten up exemption rules for the mumps, measles and rubella shots. In Oregon, lawmakers will vote on removing a families' ability to opt-out of required school vaccinations for personal, philosophical or religious reasons. Before mass vaccination, 400 to 500 people in the U.S. died of the measles every year. Serious complications include brain swelling that can cause blindness or deafness and pneumonia. Early symptoms include a fever, runny nose and malaise, followed by a rash that starts around the head and moves down the body. Patients are contagious four days before and four days after getting the rash. Nine out of 10 unvaccinated people who are exposed will get the disease. Someone who has no immunity can get sick up to three weeks after they have been exposed to the virus. ____ Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo, a sign warning patients and visitors of a measles outbreak is shown posted at The Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver, Wash. Officials in the Pacific Northwest say a measles outbreak that sickened multiple people is over. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File) QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - An Ecuadorian lawyer for Julian Assange has filed a complaint alleging diplomatic staff from Ecuador spied on the WikiLeaks founder while he was at the country's London embassy. Lawyer Carlos Poveda said in the complaint submitted Monday to the attorney general's office in Ecuador that the alleged spying uncovered information about Assange's legal defense and medical issues. He says diplomats and members of a security firm were involved. Assange had enjoyed asylum at the embassy since 2012, but Ecuador evicted him on April 11. He is in custody in London awaiting sentencing for skipping bail to avoid being sent to Sweden as part of an investigation into a rape allegation. The U.S. is also seeking his extradition after charging him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system. FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) - A northern Virginia tech staffing company has apologized after an online job posting sought "preferably Caucasian" applicants. Cynet Systems in Sterling, Virginia, removed the post and issued an apology Sunday on Twitter. The company said the individuals involved have been fired and the job post "does not reflect our core values of inclusivity & equality." The help wanted ad, posted on LinkedIn and other sites, sought an account manager for a job based in Tampa, Florida, with an unspecified pharma company. A bullet point under "Job Description" described a candidate who is "Preferably Caucasian who has good technical background." A Cynet statement issued Monday said the company has a longstanding policy of turning down clients requesting candidates of a specific race or gender. "We understand why some may have been upset seeing this listing, because we were too," the company's co-CEO, Ashwani Mayur, said. The company statement does not say how long the ad was live. "We are also looking at measures that could help us catch offensive or outside-of-policy ads before they ever go live to ensure this can't happen again," Mayur said. He noted that he and the other company owner are both Indian-American, and that his company's workforce is 60% minority. A LinkedIn spokeswoman said the ad was taken down as soon as it was discovered and that such postings are highly unusual. "Discrimination of any kind is against our policies and we have no tolerance for it on our platform," the company said in a statement. "We have dedicated teams and technical measures in place to identify content that violates our policies; they took quick action to remove the job posting." Mayur also said his company is reviewing all of its job postings "to ensure no similar issues exist." Screenshots posted online show the company had posted an ad for an account manager in Herndon, Virginia, with a notation including "female candidate only." The listing appears to have been deleted or modified; the company did not respond to a question about that job posting. State employment and labor officials directed questions to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which did not immediately return an email seeking comment Monday. NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily on Monday: Gardner Denver Holdings Inc., up $4.50 to $32.55 The industrial machinery company is in talks to merge with a division of Ingersoll-Rand, according to media reports. Occidental Petroleum Corp., down $1.18 to $60.13 Anadarko is resurrecting buyout talks with the oil company, setting up a bidding war with Chevron. Armstrong World Industries Inc., down 59 cents to $87.15 The ceiling and wall systems maker reported first quarter revenue that was weaker than analysts anticipated. Restaurant Brands International Inc., down 96 cents to $65.50 The operator of Burger King and Tim Hortons reported slower sales growth and its profit missed analysts' forecasts. Momo Inc., down $2.51 to $34.36 The China-based social media company says its Tantan dating app was removed from mobile stores on government orders. Spotify Technology SA, down 11 cents to $138.14 The music streaming app reported a sharper first quarter loss than analysts had forecast. McDermott International Inc., down 66 cents to $8.92 The offshore drilling platforms company expects stronger results later this year and raised its profit forecast. Bank of America Corp., up 42 cents to $30.77 The bank and its peers benefited from a government report showing a surge in consumer spending last month. GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - The U.S. government chastised the South American country of Guyana on Monday for honoring the life of a former politician convicted of plotting to blow up fuel tanks at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. The U.S. said in a statement that a legislative resolution upholding the life and work of Abdul Kadir was an "insensitive and thoughtless act" that disregarded the gravity of his actions. Officials said they were surprised that "Guyana chose to honor a man who conspired to kill innocent people from across the United States and around the world," adding that, "members of Guyana's assembly have left a stain on their legacy as representatives of the Guyanese people and on their commitment to the rule of law." Kadir and three other men were sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2010. Kadir died last year and was buried in the bauxite mining city of Linden, where he once served as mayor. The former civil engineer and former member of Parliament maintained he was set up by government informants and had no intention of carrying out the alleged plot. Federal suspects said the suspects tried to obtain financial and operational support from an al-Qaida operative in the Caribbean region and from other terrorist organizations such as Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group that attempted a deadly coup in its base country of Trinidad in 1990. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on legal proceedings against the leader of an armed group that detained migrants near Mexican border(all times local): 2:35 p.m. A federal court hearing has reconvened after an evacuation in legal proceedings against the leader of an armed group that detained immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico. Attorneys and court officials returned Monday to a hearing for Larry Mitchell Hopkins, who is being held on a weapons charge, after the courtroom was cleared without explanation by the U.S. Marshals Service. The charge stems from a 2017 visit by an FBI agent to his home in New Mexico. His arrest on April 20 followed widespread criticism after videos surfaced of members of the United Constitutional Patriots carrying firearms and detaining groups of immigrants crossing the border. ___ Noon: A federal courthouse has been evacuated ahead of a hearing for the leader of an armed group that detained asylum-seeking families near the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Marshals Service said it could not immediately provide information on why the courthouse had been cleared Monday. Attorneys and court officials exited and gathered in front of the courthouse in Albuquerque. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, the militia leader who has been indicted on a weapons charge, was escorted out of the courtroom where he had been waiting to appear before a magistrate judge for a detention hearing. He faces weapons charges stemming from a 2017 visit by an FBI agent to his home in northwestern New Mexico. He was arrested April 20 in Sunland Park, New Mexico. A western South Dakota sheriff is seeking to be dismissed from a lawsuit challenging new state laws that target disruptive demonstrations by anti-oil pipeline activists. Attorney Rebeca L. Mann said Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom must enforce state laws but isn't responsible for defending them. "Pennington County is not a proper party to defend the constitutionality of state statues nor should it be burdened with the expense of defending statutes it has no power to change," Mann argued in court documents filed last week. Pennington County is one of eight South Dakota counties along the route of TransCanada Corp.'s planned Keystone XL pipeline to move Canadian crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to Gulf Coast refineries. The $8 billion project has the backing of President Donald Trump but is being fought in the courts by opponents. Activists and American Indian tribes also plan on-the-ground protests against construction. Such protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017 resulted in 761 arrests and cost the state and Morton County $38 million. Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners also is seeking to recover millions of dollars in protest-related damages from Greenpeace, an effort the environmental group is fighting. In March, South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem and GOP leaders passed legislation allowing officials to pursue criminal or civil penalties from demonstrators who engage in "riot boosting," which is defined in part as encouraging violence during a riot. Noem has said the law is meant to address problems caused by "out-of-state rioters funded by out-of-state interests." The American Civil Liberties Union and tribes contend the law stifles free speech, and the ACLU is suing Noem, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg and Thom in federal court on behalf of activists. Thom is named as a defendant because he's sheriff in the county in which the activists are working, according to Courtney Bowie, legal director for the ACLU of South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming. Plaintiffs include the Rapid City-based NDN Collective nonprofit, which advocates for indigenous peoples and climate change awareness. Mann argued "there is no jurisdictional basis for suing Sheriff Thom to challenge the constitutionality of state statues." She also argued more broadly that since activists have pledged peaceful protests against Keystone XL, there is no "realistic fear of prosecution." Attorneys for Noem and Ravnsborg made a similar argument earlier this month. Plaintiffs' attorneys have not yet responded to Thom's argument, but Bowie in a statement to The Associated Press said "our complaint alleges a chilling of free speech, which is itself an injury that our clients have suffered and continue to suffer." "They do not have to wait for prosecution to bring a claim and, with the way the laws are written, they are subject to later civil or criminal liability for their organizing work," Bowie said. The law states that people who solicit or pay someone to break the law or be arrested would be subject to paying three times the amount that would compensate for the detriment caused. The ACLU maintains it fails to adequately describe the speech or conduct that could subject protesters and organizations to penalties. ___ Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake WASHINGTON (AP) - Whatever happens next, don't call it impeachment. House Democrats have been careful not to rush to impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Robert Mueller's report, despite calls to do so by high-profile lawmakers and 2020 presidential contenders. But as Congress resumes Monday, the Democratic oversight and investigations agenda is starting to look a lot like the groundwork that would be needed to launch an impeachment inquiry. At some point, it's a political difference rather than a practical one. "I don't think there's a magical moment at which proceedings become 'really' impeachment proceedings," said Cornell Law School professor Josh Chafetz. The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear testimony from Attorney General William Barr on Thursday, despite resistance from the administration. The Oversight Committee has reached an agreement with the White House for testimony this week on security clearances. The Intelligence Committee is probing Trump's financial dealings. And the Ways & Means Committee is pursuing Trump's tax returns. "The House has such broad oversight powers that it really doesn't matter whether they're geared toward impeachment, toward legislating, toward overseeing the functioning of the executive branch, etc.," Chafetz said. "At the end of the day, for the purposes of the powers available to the House, I don't think it makes much of a difference whether they use the word 'impeachment' or not." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted the door is neither open nor closed to impeachment. Instead, she says, Congress is taking a step-by-step approach in exerting its role as a check on the executive branch. It will lead wherever it leads, and the public can decide. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., second from right, arrives for a news conference on veteran suicide prevention with House Veterans' Committee members, Monday April 29, 2019, at the House Triangle on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) While Republicans and others in Washington are ready to move on from the report from special counsel Robert Mueller, Democrats in Congress are still fighting to see it. The Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., subpoenaed for a full and un-redacted copy of the 400-page report, and its underlying materials. He also wants Mueller to testify before the panel by May 21. Pelosi suggests that Congress will have more to say on impeachment after lawmakers - and the American public - digests the findings of the two-year probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction by Trump. "In every way he is unfit to be the president of the United States," Pelosi said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month. "Does that make it - is that an impeachable offense? Well it depends on what we see in the report." Pelosi says she sets a "very high bar for impeachment because I think it's very divisive in the country." In many ways, House Democrats are trying to have it both ways - pursuing the investigations that could serve as a prelude to impeachment proceedings without taking the politically fraught step of calling it impeachment. The balancing act reflects recent polling that shows Americans are interested in getting more information, but also split. A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the report's release this month showed that even with the Mueller probe complete, 53% said Congress should continue to investigate Trump's ties with Russia, while 45% said Congress should not. A similar percentage, 53%, said Congress should take steps to impeach Trump if he is found to have obstructed justice, even if he did not have inappropriate contacts with Russia. While high-profile Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren and Beto O'Rouke, have called for the House to begin impeachment proceedings, others have not. For many House Democrats, particularly newly-elected freshmen representing districts Trump won in 2018, putting their names to a floor vote to launch an impeachment inquiry would likely become politically fraught. Sarah Binder, a professor of political science at George Washington University, said as long as those cross currents exist within the House Democratic caucus, "it's in Pelosi's interest to slow down the impeachment train, but hold the administration accountable for Trump's first two year in office." At this stage, whether Congress is conducting oversight or holding impeachment proceedings, the tools are mostly the same - subpoenas, hearings, investigations. But that could change, as Trump is refusing to comply with subpoenas for administration officials to testify and blocking Congress from obtaining more information. On Monday, Trump sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to block congressional subpoenas for his financial records. Trump, The Trump Organization and the president's children Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka asked a federal judge to declare the subpoenas unlawful and enforceable. The lawsuit also seeks to block the financial institutions from disclosing information and complying with the subpoenas. Barr, who is set to appear Wednesday before Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans have the majority, has informed the House that he may not appear Thursday if Democrats insist on having committee staff from both sides question him after lawmakers do. Unbowed, Democrats scheduled a committee vote for Wednesday to allow the staff questions. Pelosi, in a brief interview Monday, said Barr would be "obstructing Congress" if he decided not to testify. Witnesses, she said, can't "tell the committee how to conduct its interviews." Those tensions set up a legal battle that will test the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches and could become a defining one for this Congress and this administration. The outcome remains uncertain. It's not at all clear that the House will ever fully broach the topic of impeachment, and such proceedings have been rare in Congress. The House has impeached just 19 people, mostly federal judges, and fewer than half ended up being convicted by the Senate, according the Congressional Research Service. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said she's focused on the investigations. She said she thinks it's better at this point not to label them impeachment hearings but just to show voters what they find. "You can't win the political process unless you convince the people that there's something there," she said. ___ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lisamascaro He lived through the worst mayoral transition in Chicagos modern history in 1983, when the Vrdolyak 29 a group of 29 aldermen led by Ald. Edward Vrdolyak rose in opposition to the citys first black mayor. In Washingtons first few hours, he lost a series of procedural votes, some taken after he had left the council chambers, that sealed the fate of his combat-filled first two years in office. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on the federal case against the leader of an armed group that detained asylum-seeking families near the U.S.-Mexico border(all times local): 2:55 p.m. A federal magistrate judge has ordered the leader of an armed group that detained asylum-seeking families near the U.S.-Mexico border to remain jailed as he awaits trial on a federal firearms charge. Larry Mitchell Hopkins pleaded not guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms during a detention hearing Monday in Albuquerque. A federal prosecutor argued Hopkins posed a flight risk and danger to the public if released, citing his history of felony convictions, and use of aliases. The charge against Hopkins stems from a 2017 visit by an FBI agent to his home in New Mexico. Hopkins' attorney questioned prosecutors' argument that the 69-year-old posed a threat, given two years had passed between the 2017 encounter and his arrest April 20 in Sunland Park, New Mexico. ___ 2:35 p.m. A federal court hearing has reconvened after an evacuation in legal proceedings against the leader of an armed group that detained immigrants at the U.S. border with Mexico. Attorneys and court officials returned Monday to a hearing for Larry Mitchell Hopkins, who is being held on a weapons charge, after the courtroom was cleared without explanation by the U.S. Marshals Service. The charge stems from a 2017 visit by an FBI agent to his home in New Mexico. His arrest on April 20 followed widespread criticism after videos surfaced of members of the United Constitutional Patriots carrying firearms and detaining groups of immigrants crossing the border. __ 12:10 p.m. A federal courthouse has been evacuated ahead of a hearing for the leader of an armed group that detained asylum-seeking families near the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Marshals Service said it could not immediately provide information on why the courthouse had been cleared Monday. Attorneys and court officials exited and gathered in front of the courthouse in Albuquerque. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, the militia leader who has been indicted on a weapons charge, was escorted out of the courtroom where he had been waiting to appear before a magistrate judge for a detention hearing. He faces a weapons charge stemming from a 2017 visit by an FBI agent to his home in northwestern New Mexico. He was arrested April 20 in Sunland Park, New Mexico. NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The former chief executive officer of one of the country's largest payment processing companies has settled insider trading allegations with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Former Heartland Payment Systems CEO Robert O. Carr signed an order last week in U.S. District Court in Connecticut that requires him to pay a civil penalty of $250,000 to the SEC, according to a court filing. As part of the agreement, he didn't admit or deny any of the allegations in the SEC complaint. Carr was accused last year by the SEC of having given inside information and about $1 million to Kathie Hanratty, characterized as his girlfriend, to buy Heartland stock before the December 2015 announcement that the company was to be acquired by Georgia-based Global Payments Inc. The company sold for roughly $4 billion in 2016. An attorney representing Carr didn't return a message seeking comment Monday. The SEC lawsuit alleged the information gave Hanratty's investment a 25% gain. Hanratty reached an agreement with the SEC last fall to pay back about $500,000. Carr and Hanratty also face a lawsuit filed by Heartland and could face federal charges. Carr founded Heartland in Princeton, New Jersey, in the late 1990s and grew it into one of the country's largest payment processing companies. Along the way, he formed a foundation that paid college tuition for hundreds of economically disadvantaged students. He also wrote a book about his journey from a working-class upbringing to millionaire entrepreneur. HOUSTON (AP) - 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 Attorney's 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. It's 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 they're failures, those folks need to be held accountable and this company in particular has had a history of environmental violations. So we're 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 ITC's plant deserve protection too," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. "When public health is at risk, it's 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." ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the turmoil in the top ranks of the National Rifle Association(all times local): 8:30 p.m. Wayne LaPierre, the longtime head of the National Rifle Association, said Monday he's "humbled" by actions by the board Monday that kept him on as its CEO. He beat back calls the past week for his resignation and survived this first real test in decades to retain control over the gun lobbying group. "United we stand," he said in a statement released by the NRA. "The NRA board of directors, our leadership team, and our more than 5 million members will come together as never before in support of our country's constitutional freedoms." The unifying tone was in sharp contrast to the turmoil that embroiled the group this past week during its annual meetings in Indianapolis. Some factions among the NRA sought an overhaul of its leadership, describing allegations of financial mismanagement and that it has strayed from its core mission of gun safety and outdoor pursuits. Bryan Oberc, Munster, Ind., tries out an AR-15 from Sig Sauer in the exhibition hall at the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Saturday, April 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) ___ 4:05 p.m. Wayne LaPierre, the fiery head of the National Rifle Association, survived a challenge to his leadership on Monday. The NRA's board of directors met in executive session on Monday. A spokesman for the NRA says that LaPierre was re-elected as its CEO. The group also elected Carolyn Meadows as its new president. The decision to keep LaPierre at the helm was announced through the NRA's magazine, American Rifleman. It was confirmed to The Associated Press by NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. The leadership elections came just two days after retired Lt. Col. Oliver North relayed to a stunned gathering of members that he would not serve a second term and had essentially been ousted. North had sought LaPierre's resignation and urged members to examine the NRA's finances and operations. LaPierre has countered that North was seeking to extort him. He has refused to step aside. ___ 3:30 p.m Under fire from inside and out, the National Rifle Association is holding a closed-door meeting of its board of directors to decide whether it's time for a change in leadership and direction. The organization is facing allegations from within of self-dealing, excessive spending and other financial mismanagement. And New York's state attorney general has opened an investigation that could threaten the NRA's tax-exempt status. The 76-member board is expected to decide whether organizational changes - including the removal of Wayne LaPierre, its CEO and the longtime public face of the powerful gun lobby - need to take place to stave off punitive action by New York authorities. The meeting began Monday and could extend into Tuesday. A visitor to the at the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting walks past signage for the event in Indianapolis, Saturday, April 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) SODUS POINT, N.Y. (AP) - New York state is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" as water levels rise along Lake Ontario where flooding caused extensive damage in 2017, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. The Democrat was in Sodus Point in Wayne County to detail steps being taken to combat potential flooding. Flooding from heavy rain and snow melt is "a real possibility," Cuomo said, so the state is providing thousands of sandbags and putting members of the New York National Guard on standby. The governor said state representatives will meet this week with members of the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada entity that controls water outflows from Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River. He said talks will involve New York's concerns for lakeside property owners threatened by a repeat of 2017's flooding. "Many of the properties have been improved from 2017," Cuomo said in Sodus Point, which was among the worst-hit areas two years ago. "The state has additional money that is available for that purpose." FILE - In this May 2, 2017 file photo, Rob Bauman arranges sandbags along the banks of Lake Ontario on his parents' property in Greece, N.Y. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was in Sodus Point, N.Y on Monday where he says the state is preparing for a "worst-case scenario" as water levels again rise along Lake Ontario. Cuomo says flooding from heavy rain and snow melt is "a real possibility," so the state is providing thousands of sandbags and putting members of the New York National Guard on standby. (Jamie Germano/Democrat & Chronicle via AP, File ) The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services is coordinating preparedness with local officials. More than 200,000 sandbags are being sent to sites in an eight-county region stretching from the Niagara River near the lake's western end to the St. Lawrence River. The mayor of Sodus Point, David McDowell, said residents are "concerned, and rightly so." The waterfront community 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Rochester often is the first place in the region to feel the impact of high water. Bill Reilich, town supervisor for the town of Greece, outside Rochester, said crews there started filling sandbags Sunday night. The town has been preparing for weeks and is ready for predicted rain, he said. Authorities said the 2017 flooding was caused by record-high rainfall totals that spring, but some local officials and residents blamed it on the Joint Commission's management of water levels on the lake. Flooding has already caused problems across the lake in Ontario, where several days of heavy rain have swollen rivers and reservoirs. RENO, Nev. (AP) - A lawyer for a Salvadoran immigrant charged with four Nevada murders says Washoe County prosecutors have no authority to try him in Reno for two killings that occurred outside the county and that his confession should be thrown out of court. Public Defender John Arrascada told a judge Monday he has filed motions to dismiss four of the charges filed against 20-year-old Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman in a 10-count indictment last month. They include two first-degree murder charges tied to killings in Douglas County south of Carson City. Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks and Douglas County District Attorney Mark Jackson said earlier they believe they have the authority to try Martinez-Guzman on all charges in Reno because the related crimes occurred during the same 10-day rampage in January. They're seeking the death penalty. Judge Connie Steinheimer set a May 20 hearing on the motions to dismiss and prohibit use of the confession as evidence to prove at least some of the crimes. Hicks said he intends to respond to the motions by Thursday. A Washoe County detective testified before a grand jury in March that Martinez-Guzman told her he robbed and killed his elderly victims because he needed money to buy methamphetamine. She said he broke into tears and repeatedly called himself an "idiot" before confessing to the murders during an interrogation hours after his arrest in Carson City on Jan. 19. Federal officials have said Martinez-Guzman is in the U.S. illegally but they don't know how or when he crossed the border. The case has drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, who says it shows the need for a border wall. Arrascada said the alleged confession wasn't allowed to be presented to the grand jury unless it was accompanied by separate evidence supporting the charges. State law requires "evidence independent of the confessions or admissions of the defendant" so as to protect against "an accused's conviction being based solely upon an uncorroborated confession," Arrascada wrote. He said the evidence presented was insufficient. The grand jury indicted Martinez-Guzman in March on four counts of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, three counts of burglary while in possession of a firearm and one count each of burglary, burglary while gaining possession of a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm. A not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf. His trial isn't scheduled to begin until April 2020. The four slaying victims include Gerald David, 81, and his 80-year-old wife, Sharon David, a prominent Reno Rodeo Association couple who had employed Martinez-Guzman as a landscaper last summer at their house where they were found dead Jan. 16. Police say they were shot with a .22-caliber handgun that Martinez-Guzman stole from them earlier. Court documents allege that Martinez-Guzman's DNA was found on the same gun that was also used to kill Connie Koontz and Sophia Renken in their homes in Gardnerville south of Carson City. Among other things, Arrascada said prosecutors didn't present any legal evidence that a burglary occurred at the Davids' residence prior to the homicides or that during one of those burglaries he gained possession of a firearm. WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation Monday after a two-year run defined by his appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. His last day will be May 11, ending a tumultuous relationship with Trump and a tenure that involved some of the most consequential, even chaotic, moments of the president's administration. When Trump wanted to fire then-FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the Russia probe, Rosenstein wrote the memo that the White House used to justify the dismissal. But eight days later, Rosenstein took a step that Trump feared would end his presidency: appointing Robert Mueller as special counsel. The move made Rosenstein the frequent target of Republican wrath and angry Trump tweets and left him repeatedly appearing on the verge of being fired. Yet in the end, he was largely in Trump's corner. He joined Attorney General William Barr in determining that Trump had not obstructed the Mueller investigation - reaching a conclusion that Mueller himself pointedly did not make. He defended Barr against criticism that he was spinning Mueller's findings in the president's favor and stood silently behind him as Barr praised Trump's cooperation at a news conference before a redacted version of the report was released. In his resignation letter to Trump, Rosenstein paid tribute to the Justice Department's accomplishments and to Trump himself, even praising the sense of humor of a man who once retweeted an image that showed Rosenstein and other officials jailed for treason. FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2019, file photo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) event on the rule of law in Washington. Rosenstein has submitted a letter of resignation to President Donald Trump. It's effective May 11. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) "I am grateful to you for the opportunity to serve; for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations; and for the goals you set in your inaugural address: patriotism, unity, safety, education, and prosperity, because 'a nation exists to serve its citizens,'" Rosenstein wrote to Trump. Rosenstein's departure had been expected following the confirmation of William Barr as attorney general. Barr praised Rosenstein on Monday for having "navigated many challenging situations with strength, grace, and good humor." The White House nominated a replacement for the No. 2 slot, Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen, weeks ago. In his resignation letter, Rosenstein said the median tenure for the position is 16 months; Rosenstein will have served about two years by the time he leaves. Rosenstein had intended to leave around mid-March but stayed on for the completion of Mueller's investigation. He was part of a small group of department officials who reviewed the report and helped shape its public release after Mueller submitted the document last month. Integral to the start of the probe, Rosenstein was also present for the very end. After Mueller didn't reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed the investigation, Barr and the deputy stepped in and determined the evidence wasn't enough to support such an allegation. The deputy attorney general position is a hugely significant job, responsible for overseeing the Justice Department's daily operations and the work of United States attorneys across the country. But it's largely an anonymous, behind-the-scenes position. Rosenstein even joked about telling one of his daughters when he took the job not to expect to see his picture in the newspapers. That wasn't the case, though, for Rosenstein, who was thrust into Justice Department drama even before his arrival on the job because of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' earlier recusal from the Russia probe. The tumult continued in May 2017 when his memo lambasting Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation laid the groundwork for the FBI chief's firing, though Rosenstein privately made clear that he was unhappy that the White House publicly characterized the termination as his idea instead of Trump's, according to Mueller's report. Trump later said he would have fired Comey even without the Justice Department's recommendation and that he was thinking of "this Russia thing" at the time. Rosenstein appointed Mueller one week later, supervised his work and routinely defended the investigation against attacks from congressional Republicans and from Trump, who often blasted the probe as a "witch hunt." Over the next two years, with Sessions recused from the Russia investigation because of his work on the Trump campaign, Rosenstein set the boundaries of Mueller's investigation, approved investigative steps and, in place of the rarely seen special counsel, twice announced criminal indictments from the Justice Department podium against Russians accused of election interference. The investigation overshadowed the rest of Rosenstein's work even as he talked up the president's agenda, including announcements on combating violent crime and opioid addiction. "The Department of Justice made rapid progress in achieving the Administration's law enforcement priorities - reducing violent crime, curtailing opioid abuse, protecting consumers, improving immigration enforcement, and building confidence in the police - while preserving national security and strengthening federal efforts in other areas," Rosenstein wrote in his resignation letter. Though Rosenstein's exit was orderly, and he endured in the job well beyond Sessions, his relationship with the president waffled over time and his job often appeared in the balance. That was especially true last September after The New York Times reported that he had discussed secretly recording Trump and invoking a constitutional amendment to remove him from office. The Justice Department issued statements disputing the reporting, but former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - who was in the room - has said he got the sense that Rosenstein was "counting votes" about which Cabinet members he could enlist in the effort to oust Trump. Rosenstein arrived at the White House days after the news reports expecting to be fired, but he was instead allowed to stay on after private conversations with Trump's then-chief of staff, John Kelly, and the president himself. The president also lashed out in April 2018 after the FBI raided the office of his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and months later retweeted the image that showed Rosenstein, Comey and other investigators behind bars. In his resignation letter, Rosenstein made a perhaps oblique reference to those chaotic moments and the media attention surrounding them. "We enforce the law without fear or favor because credible evidence is not partisan, and truth is not determined by opinion polls," Rosenstein wrote. "We ignore fleeting distractions and focus on the things that matter, because a republic that endures is not governed by the news cycle." ____ Read Rosenstein's resignation letter: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5982854-Deputy-AG-Rod-Rosenstein-s-resignation-letter.html NEW YORK (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg met Monday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, as the Indiana mayor faces scrutiny of his record on race and is stepping up his outreach to African Americans. Buttigieg and the civil rights leader met for lunch in Harlem at Sylvia's Restaurant, a cornerstone of black American culture where Sharpton has long brokered difficult racial conversations with embattled political leaders. Buttigieg said Sharpton suggested the meeting, which he says occurred as his campaign is "working to broaden our coalition." "I've talked a lot about generational change and generational politics, and one of the things I know I needed to do is to be in touch with every generation in the struggle for equality," Buttigieg said. Buttigieg said Sharpton wanted to know about his experience as mayor of South Bend and some of his most challenging times as mayor. "It's been complex, and it's really formed me in terms of my understanding of race, politics, policy and community," Buttigieg said. Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from South Bend, Indiana, and civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, right, President of National Action Network, hold a lunch meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem, New York, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool) The 37-year-old veteran and Rhodes Scholar has gained in popularity since joining the 2020 race earlier this year. Along with the increased name recognition have come questions about his record in South Bend, where shortly after taking office Buttigieg fired the city's first black police chief, and about issues of housing and inequality in the city. Buttigieg said racial justice and equality are important to him, and an important part of South Bend's story. "One thing I learned early in is having good intentions is not enough and that things don't look the same depending on your life experience. Policing to economic inclusion, just because you're trying generically to take care of everybody, doesn't mean that support will reach everybody in the same way," he said. "There are too many structural - and in many cases, intentionally built - barriers to that. If you're not equally intentional about tearing down those barriers, you're gonna come up short. Our community held me accountable on that, they really educated me on that." Buttigieg spent more than an hour at the restaurant, where he ate fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and collard greens before shaking hands with customers. Earlier this month, Buttigieg was among several Democratic presidential candidates who attended Sharpton's National Action Network conference in New York, where he was asked to explain his use of the phrase "all lives matter" in the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement. The mayor said he meant to show solidarity with the movement but stopped using the phrase when he realized it was antagonistic. Buttigieg has also said he's "learned some hard lessons" as mayor, including on race, and that "any white candidate needs to show a level of consciousness around issues like white privilege." He plans to focus on black voters during a visit to South Carolina next month that includes a stop at a historically black university. Sharpton sat down with another 2020 Democratic hopeful, California Sen. Kamala Harris, in February amid criticism of her record as a prosecutor. ___ Associated Press reporter Sara Burnett in Chicago contributed to this report. Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from South Bend, Indiana, and civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, right, President of National Action Network, pray before their lunch meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem, New York, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool) Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from South Bend, Indiana, listens during a lunch meeting with civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem neighborhood of New York, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool) Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, left, from South Bend, Indiana, and civil rights leader, the Rev. Al Sharpton, center, President of National Action Network, hold a news conference after their lunch meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem neighborhood of New York, Monday, April 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on congressional investigations of President Donald Trump (all times local): 10:40 p.m. President Donald Trump is suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to block congressional subpoenas for his business records. The lawsuit by Trump, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric and his daughter Ivanka, was filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan. 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 Trump's finances. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said at the time that the subpoenas were part of an investigation "into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process." 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) The Trumps want a federal judge to declare the subpoenas unlawful and enforceable. The lawsuit also seeks to block the financial institutions from disclosing information and complying with the subpoenas. The banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment. __ 5:30 p.m. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Attorney General William Barr will be "obstructing Congress" if he chooses not to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. Barr is scheduled to testify Thursday about special counsel Robert Mueller's report, but is resisting the committee's push to have staffers conduct a round of questioning. Pelosi says the attorney general or any other witnesses can't "tell the committee how to conduct its interviews." She adds, "The attorney general of the United States is not the president's personal lawyer, and he should act as the attorney general of the United States and honor his responsibilities." A redacted version of Mueller's report was released to the public April 19. Democrats have subpoenaed the Justice Department for the full report and the underlying evidence. __ 4:50 p.m. House Democrats have been careful not to rush to impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Robert Mueller's report, despite calls to do so by high-profile lawmakers and 2020 presidential contenders. But as Congress resumes Monday, the Democratic oversight and investigations agenda is starting to look a lot like the groundwork that would be needed to launch an impeachment inquiry. At some point, it's a political difference rather than a practical one. The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear testimony from Attorney General William Barr on Thursday. The Oversight Committee has reached an agreement with the White House for testimony this week on security clearances. The Intelligence Committee is probing Trump's financial dealings. And the Ways & Means Committee is pursuing Trump's tax returns. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Authorities in Florida say they've arrested a man for the slaying of a Turkish tourist on his honeymoon during a botched armed robbery more than two years ago. The Orange County Sheriff's Office tweeted Monday that detectives had arrested 27-year-old Troy Sparrow. He has been charged with first-degree murder with a firearm. Osman Darcan was fatally shot outside a resort in Orlando's tourist district in September 2016. Authorities at the time said Darcan was killed protecting his new wife from a gunman who tried to steal her purse. Darcan was a professor at Bogazici University in Istanbul. Online court records show Sparrow was being represented by a public defender, but a woman in the public defender's office said Monday that the office hadn't received the paperwork yet. Far from lying, Barr has bent over backward to be open with Congress and the American people. He overrode Justice Department regulations, and released the full Mueller report with only minor redactions. That's virtually unprecedented. And he has made an almost completely unredacted version of the report available to members of Congress, who now have access to all but one-tenth of 1 percent of the document. And while the Justice Department worked overtime to speed the redaction process, he released a memo which accurately informed the American people about Mueller's bottom-line conclusions. It is a fact that Mueller declared that his "investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." EL EJIDO, Spain (AP) - Surrounded by miles of greenhouses where migrant workers grow fruit and vegetables for the rest of Europe, this sleepy town on the sunbaked Mediterranean coast has become a beachhead for the arrival of the far-right in Spain, the latest country to be hit by the wave of nationalist populism sweeping the continent. El Ejido was where the upstart far-right Vox party made its most impressive gains during Sunday's national elections, with its promises to defend Spain's unity and quash the separatist push in northeastern Catalonia, while also railing against the women's movement and animal-rights activists who want to ban traditional Spanish bull-fighting. That message helped power Vox to 10% of the vote nationwide, giving Spain's parliament its first lawmakers from the extreme right since the 1980s. But it was in El Ejido, a town of some 85,000 residents with a large number of overseas workers key to its agriculture industry, that Vox struck its biggest victory with another of its banner causes: halting illegal immigration. In El Ejido 30 percent of the vote went to Vox, making the party the biggest victor in town. The day after the election there were no Spanish flags hanging from the balconies of the town's white-and-pastel-colored buildings, and no gatherings in its public squares. There was no sign of campaigning anywhere as residents of European and African descent strolled along its clean, tree-lined streets. There was, however, an undercurrent of the populist anger that has helped catapult the far-right to election victories in Italy, Austria and Hungary. FILE - In this Saturday, March 2, 2019 photo, a Moroccan worker collects tomatoes in a greenhouse in El Ejido, a municipality of Almeria province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Surrounded by miles of greenhouses known locally as the "Sea of Plastic," the town of El Ejido was where the upstart far-right Vox Party made its most impressive gains during Sunday's national elections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) Juan Jose Bonilla, a lawyer and farmer who grows zucchini in the greenhouses known locally as the Sea of Plastic that blanket the surrounding Almeria region, is Vox's candidate in El Ejido for May 26 local elections to be held across Spain. On Monday, Bonilla celebrated Vox's victory with a cake in the party's bright-green color decorated with a photo of himself and one of the party's national heavyweights. While also mentioning his concern over the risk the Catalan separatists represent to Spanish national unity, Bonilla said it was Vox's stance on immigration that drove the party's cause in his town. "People want serious and strong steps to be taken to fight against illegal immigration," Bonilla told The Associated Press. Traditional parties "have not known how to solve the territorial question (of Catalonia) nor immigration or the high taxes Spaniards are subject to." Juan Baron, a 41-year-old taxi driver who also has worked harvesting greenhouse tomatoes, said he voted for Vox because he believes migrants who work for lower wages are unfair competition. The government "helps the migrants more than people that are from here," Baron asserted, repeating a largely unsubstantiated claim often heard from the anti-immigrant right that migrants get more public assistance than native Spaniards. Vox won 24 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies, the lower house of Spain's parliament, making it the fifth-leading power in Spanish politics. Its gains came largely at the expense of Spain's traditional conservatives, the Popular Party, which suffered its worst ever defeat, plummeting to 66 seats from 137 in 2016 elections. In El Ejido, the Popular Party's share of the vote shrank from 52% in 2016 to just 22% on Sunday. Unlike most European countries, Spain had kept a lid on the far right until Sunday. Most Spaniards wanted no reminders of the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, and the Popular Party had been able to attract a huge spectrum of voters, from the pro-business to those who embraced its patriotic rhetoric. But corruption cases involving the Popular Party and its failure to stem the spread of secession sentiment in Catalonia have driven many voters to Vox and the center-right Citizens party. Vox leader Santiago Abascal, a former Popular Party member who took the helm of Vox in 2014, calls his ex-party "the cowardly right." Abascal compared his party's showing Sunday to the "reconquering of Spain," conjuring up the 15th-century campaign by Spanish Catholic kingdoms to end Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. Two of Europe's far-right leaders, France's Marine Le Pen and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, congratulated Abascal for Vox's entrance into parliament. "My warmest congratulations to @Santi_ABASCAL and his young and vigorous party @vox_es for its smashing entry into Parliament! Nations need enthusiastic supporters!" Le Pen wrote on Twitter. Vox won its first seats in any legislative body in Spain in December's regional elections in Andalusia, when it also won the vote in El Ejido. That breakthrough came amid a spike in illegal immigration as Spain became the leading entry point for migrants to Europe last year, with nearly 60,000 people risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean from Africa on rickety boats and rubber dinghies, often after paying human traffickers. "Defending our frontiers is not about being on the left or the right. What we want is a defense of our frontiers and the expulsion of illegal immigrants," Abascal told Spanish television broadcaster Telecinco on Monday. "But we don't say this to win votes. We say it because it is what we believe." El Ejido has 26,206 registered foreigners, most from Morocco. Spitou Mendy, who migrated to Spain from Senegal in 2001, picks vegetables in the greenhouses surrounding El Ejido. He credits the region's agricultural boom to the hard work of laborers like himself from North and sub-Saharan Africa who came to fill jobs unwanted by most Spaniards. "If we work here we must also live and sleep here, and have our lives here in Spain," Mendy said. ___ Wilson reported from Barcelona. FILE - This Sunday, March 3, 2019 file photo shows a general view of greenhouses known as "Sea of Plastic" in El Ejido, a municipality of Almeria province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Surrounded by miles of greenhouses known locally as the "Sea of Plastic," the town of El Ejido was where the upstart far-right Vox Party made its most impressive gains during Sunday's national elections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) A woman walks her dog past Vox headquarter in El Ejido, a municipality of Almeria province, Spain, Monday, April 29, 2019. Surrounded by miles of greenhouses known locally as the "Sea of Plastic," the town of El Ejido was where the upstart far-right Vox Party made its most impressive gains during Sunday's national elections. (AP Photo/Renata Brito) FILE - In this Saturday, March 2, 2019 file photo, a Moroccan worker collects cucumbers in a greenhouse in El Ejido, a municipality of Almeria province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Surrounded by miles of greenhouses known locally as the "Sea of Plastic," the town of El Ejido was where the upstart far-right Vox Party made its most impressive gains during Sunday's national elections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) FILE - In this Sunday, March 3, 2019 file photo, a general view of greenhouses known as "Sea of Plastic" is seen in El Ejido, a municipality of Almeria province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Surrounded by miles of greenhouses known locally as the "Sea of Plastic," the town of El Ejido was where the upstart far-right Vox Party made its most impressive gains during Sunday's national elections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) ATLANTA (AP) - A woman accused of starving her stepdaughter to death in a suburb north of Atlanta in 2013 has been convicted of the girl's murder. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that 36-year-old Tiffany Moss was found guilty of all counts including murder, cruelty to children and trying to conceal the death of 10-year-old Emani Moss by burning her body. Jurors who found Moss guilty will now decide if she should be put to death for the crimes. Moss represented herself at trial and didn't mount a defense. She did not make an opening statement, closing argument or call witnesses. Authorities say Emani Moss weighed only 32 pounds (14 kilograms) when her body was found. The girl's father, Eman Moss, is serving life in prison without parole for his role in the crime. ___ Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com WASHINGTON (AP) - Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has presented the National Teacher of the Year award to a Virginia educator who teaches at a juvenile detention center. DeVos on Monday honored Rodney Robinson and the state Teacher of the Year winners at a White House ceremony. Robinson teaches at a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. The teaching award has been given since 1952 and is traditionally presented by the president. DeVos presented it Monday, but an Education Department spokeswoman says Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with award winners in the Oval Office. Members of the press were barred from the ceremony. Trump gave the award in 2017 and 2018. Last year's winner gave Trump letters from refugees talking about what coming to the U.S. meant to them. ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - As part of their efforts to contain a significant measles outbreak, officials in New York closed more schools, issued more fines and lobbied the Legislature Monday to eliminate religious exemptions for required vaccinations. Federal officials have reported 704 measles cases so far in the U.S. since Jan. 1, the most since 1994, which saw 963 cases during the whole year. New York City and suburban Rockland County account for the majority of the cases, almost all among members of Orthodox Jewish communities. New York City's health department said Monday it has now issued summonses to 57 people for failing to abide by an emergency order issued this month requiring people living in certain parts of Brooklyn to get the measles vaccine. If those citations are upheld at a hearing, each person could get slapped with a $1,000 fine. The city said it had closed two more schools for failing to exclude students who couldn't prove they had been vaccinated, raising the total number of closed schools to seven. And in the state capital, Rockland County Executive Ed Day joined lawmakers at an event supporting the repeal of a state law allowing exemptions to immunizations based on religious beliefs. Day, a Republican who's Rockland County's top elected official, urged for passage of the bill eliminating the religious exemption from vaccination as soon as possible. "This bill would be a godsend," Day said during a news conference at the state Capitol. "To wait is a recipe for medical disaster." The New York Alliance For Vaccine Rights, a Long Island-based group that opposes the legislation, said the bill would violate longstanding rights of "religious practices and bodily autonomy." WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - At least 22 separate 911 calls informed operators about a "dangerous environment" in a Wichita mobile home before a toddler was found dead and an infant severely injured earlier this month. Officers responding to the last call on April 11 found Zaiden Javonovich, 2, dead and his 4-month-old brother seriously injured. The two were underweight, with Zaiden weighing just under 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) and his brother weighing 8 pounds (3.63 kilograms), according to a probable cause statement. The statement also said both children showed signs of physical abuse. Most of the emergency calls came from Zaiden's parents, Brandi Marchant and Patrick Javonovich, who are now charged with felony murder and child abuse. Other calls were from the children's grandmother, who was asking for help for the children. The calls included shouting, allegations of domestic violence, and a woman crying and asking for help, and show that authorities were aware of problems at the home, according to copies of the calls obtained by The Wichita Eagle . A social worker for the Kansas Department of Children and Families saw the family in their home on Nov. 28 and reported the children were healthy. On a visit Dec. 12, Marchant completed a safety plan. The agency closed the case Jan. 14 without finding abuse or neglect. The Eagle reported a typical call would include Marchant, 22, threatening to kill herself or Javonovich, 28, throwing clothes outside and threatening to set them on fire. Children can be heard in the background of some of the calls. Officers responding to the home on April 11 found Zaiden's parents fighting outside while the children were inside. Marchant told investigators she was upset that Javonovich let her sleep all day, while Javonovich said she was upset about the baby crying, according to the statement. Officers that night found Zaiden's body inside the home. Donna Lloyd, Javonovich's mother and Zaiden's grandmother, called 911 several times, but it is unclear if her complaints were forwarded to the DCF or resulted in any legal action, The Eagle reported. On Jan. 27, Lloyd warned about "a dangerous environment for those two babies." She said she was frustrated that her son was staying in a toxic relationship with Marchant, who she said would threaten to kill herself and the baby when Javonovich was at work. Zaiden's family told the newspaper they have been advised by an attorney not to speak to the media. Sedgwick County sheriff's deputies handled most of the calls, with only four of 20 calls resulting in reports. Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Tim Myers said in an email that he doesn't "consider that to be a lot of contact for the area that they resided." He said none of the four cases involved child abuse or neglect, adding that there is no documentation showing that the sheriff's office contacted the DCF. ___ Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - A West Virginia assistant principal accused of harassing a transgender student won an appeal to get his job back Monday. The Harrison County Board of Education voted to reinstate Lee Livengood after voting unanimously last month not to renew his contract at the end of a three-year probationary period, news outlets report. County Schools Superintendent Mark Manchin said Monday's decision was difficult and followed "a lot of discussion." In November, Livengood allegedly followed transgender teenager Michael Critchfield into the boys bathroom at Liberty High School and said, "You freak me out." Critchfield said Livengood also ordered him to prove his gender by using a urinal. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter has pushed the county for diversity training to prevent similar incidents. The ACLU said in a statement Monday that Livengood "has demonstrated he is incapable of conducting himself in a professional manner in any environment with children, and he has shown a troubling lack of remorse for his actions. We will be actively monitoring the situation to ensure Michael and the students of Harrison County are protected moving forward." Livengood's attorney, Alex Shook, had argued that his client was unaware of Critchfield's gender identity and was not told of an arrangement Critchfield had with the principal to use the boys restrooms. According to Critchfield, the school band was preparing to take an after-school bus trip to Morgantown in November to watch a performance at West Virginia University. Critchfield said he went to the bathroom and checked to see if anyone was standing at a urinal before he went into a stall. Livengood then opened the bathroom door and asked if any students were in the stall. Critchfield said he replied and when he left the stall, Livengood was standing in the bathroom doorway and blocked Critchfield from leaving. Critchfield recalled Livengood repeatedly yelling, "Why are you in here? You shouldn't be in here." Critchfield said he replied that it was his legal right to use that bathroom. He said Livengood used improper pronouns when referring to Critchfield and challenged him to use a urinal to prove that he was a boy. HONOLULU (AP) - The Latest on a helicopter crash in Hawaii that killed three people (all times local): 1 p.m. The state representative for the Hawaii suburb where a tour helicopter crashed and killed three people says she wants federal authorities to prohibit tour flights over the state's residential areas and national parks. Rep. Cynthia Thielen said Monday she wants Hawaii's congressional delegation to ask the Federal Aviation Administration to implement such restrictions. The Republican lawmaker is also calling for tour helicopter flights to be grounded until an investigation into the crash is completed. The helicopter that crashed in Kailua on Monday was a four-seat Robinson R44. FAA records show it's registered to United Helicopter Leasing, which is managed by Nicole Vandelaar. She is a pilot and the founder and CEO of the Novictor Helicopters tour company. Police and firefighters respond to the scene of a helicopter crash in a residential neighborhood of Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and pieces of helicopter rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) ____ 12:35 p.m. Federal Aviation Administration records show the helicopter that crashed in a Honolulu suburb, killing three people, was built in 2000 and registered to United Helicopter Leasing LLC of Honolulu. State business records show Nicole Vandelaar as the manager. A woman who answered the phone at the business and identified herself as Nicole declined to immediately comment, saying she was too busy to talk at this time. A website for the Honolulu tour helicopter company Novictor Helicopters identifies Nicole Vandelaar as founder and CEO. The website says she is an expert pilot commercially licensed to fly helicopters and airplanes. A Novictor helicopter crashed on a sandbar in Kaneohe in October after the pilot lost consciousness twice. The crash resulted in injuries to the pilot and two passengers. ____ 11 a.m. A woman who was driving on a street where a helicopter crashed in a Honolulu suburb says she looked up to see fire as the aircraft plummeted to the ground in front of her. Melissa Solomon said Monday she thought the area was being bombed or an airplane had fallen. She said she had turned onto another street because she was afraid pieces would fall on her car. She pulled over and called 911 but couldn't get through. She then drove back and could see it was a helicopter with people at the scene who appeared to be helping. The Honolulu Fire Department says three people died in the crash Monday in the town of Kailua. ____ 10:25 a.m. A resident says he heard the fatal crash of a helicopter then saw a ball of fire in a road when he ran from his house in suburban Honolulu. Leleo Knappenberger told Hawaii News Now that his mother heard the helicopter flying over the house, making a strange noise. He said the aircraft was "all smashed to pieces." The Honolulu Fire Department says three people died in the crash Monday in the town of Kailua. ___ 10 a.m. A federal agency says a helicopter that crashed in a Honolulu suburb was a four-seat Robinson R44. The Honolulu Fire Department says three people died in the crash Monday in the town of Kailua. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the agency believes three people were on board the aircraft. He says the circumstances of the morning crash remained unknown. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. ____ 9:40 a.m. The Honolulu Fire Department says three people have died in a helicopter crash in the suburban town of Kailua. Fire Captain Scot Seguirant said Monday he didn't immediately know how many people were on board the helicopter or whether any houses or cars were involved in the crash. He says he doesn't know the ages and genders of those killed. . The tail of a crashed helicopter is seen in the middle of the street, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. A helicopter crashed in the middle of the Kailua neighborhood killing three people. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Police and firefighters respond to the scene of a helicopter crash in a residential neighborhood of Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and pieces of helicopter rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) A fire truck blocks the street where a helicopter crashed, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) 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. FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2018, file photo, a Pacific Gas & Electric lineman works to repair a power line in fire-ravaged Paradise, Calif. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.'s top financial executives say they still haven't determined when the utility can start compensating victims of recent wildfires started by the utility's equipment. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) 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. FILE - This Nov. 15, 2018, aerial file photo shows the remains of residences leveled by the Camp wildfire in Paradise, Calif. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.'s top financial executives say they still haven't determined when the utility can start compensating victims of recent wildfires started by the utility's equipment. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is offering his condolences following the death of longtime Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar. Trump says in a statement Monday that he and first lady Melania Trump extend their "deepest condolences to the citizens of Indiana and the entire Lugar family following the loss of a great American and public servant." Trump is calling Lugar "a proud Hoosier and patriot" and says he "leaves behind a long record of legislative accomplishments and a tremendous legacy of service." The statement was sent along with a photo of Trump meeting with Lugar in the Oval Office last June. Lugar was a leading Republican voice on foreign policy during his 36 years in the Senate. He died Sunday at age 87 at a hospital in Virginia. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on Alaska village jail fire that killed two prisoners and injured guard (all times local): 4:10 p.m. A leader in an Alaska village says many residents worked through the night to extinguish a jail fire that killed two prisoners and seriously injured a guard who was trying to free them. KYUK Public Media in Bethel reports the community of Napakiak (nuh-PAH'-key-ack) is in mourning over the early Sunday morning deaths of the prisoners. The victims have tentatively been identified by Alaska State Troopers as 24-year-old Becca White and 22-year-old Isaiah Parka, both of Napakiak. KYUK reported the two were in custody for driving a four-wheeler while intoxicated Saturday afternoon. Napakiak City Council member Walter Nelson told KYUK that more than 20 residents were involved in battling the fire. Nelson calls the deaths "a big tragedy" and says the entire village is grieving. Troopers say the injured guard was flown out of state for treatment and is listed in serious condition. Another guard said a prisoner had set fire to a mattress, but it's unclear how fire-starting materials got into a cell. 1:45 p.m. Alaska State Troopers say guards couldn't save two prisoners from a fire that broke out in a village jail this past weekend because they were driven out by heat and smoke. Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said Monday that the jail in the tiny community of Napakiak didn't have a sprinkler system and it's unknown if it had working smoke detectors. A guard said a prisoner had set fire to a mattress, but it's unclear how fire-starting materials got into a cell. Troopers say 24-year-old Becca White and 22-year-old Isaiah Parka, both of Napakiak, died in Sunday's fire. A guard also was seriously injured and flown out of state for treatment. Peters says the guards' names aren't being released because they're not employed by the state. She says the village owns the jail building and referred questions to officials there. Napakiak Mayor Joann Slats declined to comment. ___ 11:55 a.m. Authorities in Alaska have tentatively identified the two prisoners who died in a village jail fire that also injured a guard who was trying to free them. Alaska State Troopers say the fire victims in Napakiak are 24-year-old Becca White and 22-year-old Isaiah Parka. The Napakiak residents died Sunday in the fire. Troopers did not release the name of the injured guard, saying only that that individual was flown out of state and is listed in serious condition. A second guard reported the blaze was the result of a prisoner setting fire to a mattress, but it was unclear how fire-starting materials got into a cell. Troopers did not immediately release additional details, including what the victims were in custody for and who operates the jail. In a separate study, researchers at Northwesterns Feinberg School applied high-frequency magnetic stimulation to areas on the surface of the brain connected to the hippocampus, which is the memory vault of the brain. Researchers gave subjects a difficult memory test, showing them about 80 objects in certain settings a key in a kitchen, for instance, or a toothbrush in a shed scene. Later, the subjects were asked to recall which objects appeared in which scenes. Before the treatment, older adults scored far worse in this memory tests than younger ones. A day after the treatment, the older adults performed at the same level as people in their 20s and 30s. Again, theres no pain involved. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Guards were unable to save two prisoners from a weekend fire that broke out in a village jail because they were driven out by heat and smoke, Alaska authorities said Monday. One of two guards at the scene of the early Sunday morning fire in Napakiak was seriously injured trying to free the inmates, who died in the blaze. The other guard said a prisoner set fire to a mattress, but it was unclear how fire-starting materials got into a cell. Troopers said the fire victims have been tentatively identified as 24-year-old Becca White and 22-year-old Isaiah Parka, both of Napakiak. But troopers said the identifications still need to be confirmed by the state medical examiner's office. A village leader said more than 20 residents worked through the night to extinguish the fire, using water pumped from the Kuskokwim River, KYUK Public Media in Bethel reported Monday. "This is a big tragedy. The whole community is mourning," Napakiak City Council member Walter Nelson told KYUK. "The fire happened so quickly. We tried our best to extinguish it, but it was so intense." Troopers did not release the name of the injured guard, saying only that that individual was flown out of state and is listed in serious condition. A second guard was also transported for treatment, and troopers said that person ultimately did need further care. That guard reported the prisoner started the blaze. Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said the cause is under investigation. Peters said the names of the guards are not being released by troopers because they are witnesses and they are not employed by the state. She said the jail building is owned by the village and referred questions to officials there. Napakiak Mayor Joann Slats declined to comment about the case. "We cannot give out information at this time," she said. Peters said the jail was not equipped with a sprinkler system and it was unknown if the building was equipped with smoke detectors. There were no reports of an alarm going off, she said. Peters also said the victims had been taken into custody by tribal police, but she didn't know for what. KYUK reported the two were in custody for driving a four-wheeler while intoxicated on Saturday afternoon. 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. 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. Peters said the public safety building is not the same location as the jail and fire. Napakiak is a Yup'ik community of about 380 people southwest of Bethel. ___ Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro. CHICAGO (AP) - Baltimore Orioles right-hander Nate Karns returned to the 10-day injured list Monday after struggling while on a rehab assignment in the minors. Karns originally went on the IL on April 9 with a right forearm strain. He made rehab appearances with Triple-A Norfolk on April 20 and Double-A Bowie on Thursday, allowing a total of five runs in 1 1/3 innings. The 31-year-old Karns was in Baltimore on Monday to get checked out by the team's medical staff. "I just don't think he's feeling right," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "We wanted to take a look at him, get him re-evaluated, and hopefully we get good news and he continues to pitch and stays on his rehab assignment and, when he gets healthy, be here." Hyde also ruled out Trey Mancini for Baltimore's series opener against the Chicago White Sox. Mancini missed Sunday's 4-1 loss at Minnesota with a bruised right index finger. Mancini is off to a great start, batting .355 with six homers and 14 RBIs in 28 games. "(Mancini) is feeling a lot better," Hyde said. "I think if this was a must-win game in late September, I think that he'd probably be fighting his way to get in the lineup. But it's 40 degrees out, his finger's still really, really sore, and hopefully he'll be back in there tomorrow or the next day." Right-hander Yefry Ramirez was recalled from Norfolk. Ramirez takes the roster spot of right-hander Luis Ortiz, who was sent down following the series finale against the Twins. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. political chief warned Monday that the worsening Palestinian financial crisis poses a growing risk "of a financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority." Rosemary DiCarlo told the U.N. Security Council that "a sustainable resolution" to the authority's funding crisis is urgently needed. Israel is withholding about $11 million of the roughly $180 million a month in tax funds that it collects for the Palestinians, claiming that money was being used to support families of terrorists. The Palestinians, in protest, have refused to accept any of the tax transfers. "Israel's so-called 'withholding' of Palestinian tax revenues is blatant theft, violating bilateral agreements and the Geneva Convention prohibition on the pillaging of the occupied people's resources," Riyad Mansour, the Palestinians' ambassador at the U.N., told the council. Without the funds, the Palestinian Authority has cut most workers' salaries in half since March, though salaries will be raised to 60 percent this month because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The lowest paid employees who earn less than $600 a month continue to get full pay, but most civil servants have higher salaries. DiCarlo called on both sides to address the underlying causes of the financial crisis, implement their bilateral agreements, and avoid actions that undermine security and stability for both Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinian women harvest wheat in east Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) She also urged the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which coordinates development aid to the Palestinians, to use its meeting Tuesday in Brussels to work with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resolve the crisis. In addition to the tax revenue, the Trump administration has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the Palestinians. Last month, the head of the U.N. agency that helps 5.3 million Palestinian refugees called for equal generosity from donors who filled a $446 million hole in its budget last year after the U.S. drastically cut its contribution. Pierre Krahenbuhl said donors funded the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's $1.2 billion budget for 2018 after the U.S. reduced its $360 million contribution in 2017 to just $60 million. He said the U.N. agency also adopted a $1.2 billion budget for 2019, and this year it is getting nothing from the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump said in January 2018 that the Palestinians must return to peace talks to receive U.S. aid money. ___ Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report. POWAY, Calif. (AP) - Lori Kaye is believed to have shielded her synagogue's rabbi from a gunman's bullets in a heroic move that epitomizes the life she led, her family and friends said Monday as they remembered a woman dedicated to spreading kindness and helping others no matter what. Kaye's daughter, Hannah, said at her memorial service that she knows her mother would have forgiven the man who took her life Saturday when he opened fire during Passover service at the Chabad of Poway, in this suburban city north of San Diego. The memorial service for Kaye, 60, drew hundreds, including the three people wounded in the attack, federal and state lawmakers, a U.S. State Department envoy on anti-Semitism and a representative of the Israeli government, along with local city and police leaders. Hannah, 22, said her mother would have relished seeing such a large crowd. She loved people, opening her home on Jewish holidays and making grand feasts. Kaye was known to drive hours to visit a sick friend. She bought six months' worth of medication for someone without insurance. She left her freshly baked challah in mail boxes and on doorsteps all over town and would buy extra bagels and coffee during her morning routine to be able to give them away, her family and friends said. Her mission was to help others enjoy life, just as she did. She gave to numerous charities. Hannah Kaye, center, the daughter of shooting victim Lori Kaye, sits on the ground with her aunt, Randi Grossman, as the last shovels of dirt cover her mother's grave during funeral services, Monday, April 29, 2019, in San Diego. Lori Kaye was killed when a man opened fire during Passover service on April 27 inside a synagogue near San Diego, as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) That's why Kaye's daughter Hannah said she knows in her heart that her mother has forgiven the 19-year-old man accused of killing her. She would have responded with love. "Her light has reached all crevices of this planet," Hannah Kaye said. Hannah Kaye said she would miss singing in the car with her mother and dancing in the kitchen. She told her before she died that she was her best friend. "Everyone was her sister, everyone was her trusted confidante," Hannah Kaye said. "Everyone was her friend." The synagogue's rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, lost one of his fingers in the shooting and comforted worshippers with his hand wrapped in blue bandages. Noya Dahan, 8, and her uncle Almog Peretz both suffered leg wounds in the attack but were released from the hospital and honored Kaye on Monday. The U.S. State Department's new envoy on anti-Semitism told the congregation that her death will not be in vain. He said the Trump administration is committed to fighting evil wherever it lurks. "I'm here to say we are at war with these people," Elan Carr said, vowing to fight anti-Semitism in "every city in the United States." Kaye devoted her life to her Jewish faith and living its values of generosity and caring for others, her friends and family said. She kept a pole in their front yard with the words "May peace prevail on Earth" in several different languages, including Hebrew and Spanish. "She had a soul that was greater than any of us ever could believe," said her husband, Dr. Howard Kaye. Dr. Kaye performed CPR on his wife after she was shot. He said she did not suffer. "She went straight up," he said. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, right, speaks during funeral services for shooting victim Lori Kaye as Kaye's daughter Hannah, second from left, hugs her father, Howard, Monday, April 29, 2019, in San Diego. Lori Kaye was killed when a man opened fire two days earlier inside a synagogue near San Diego, as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Hannah Kaye, the daughter of shooting victim Lori Kaye, center, holds the hand of her father, Howard Kaye, during funeral services, Monday, April 29, 2019, in San Diego. Lori Kaye was killed when a man opened fire several days earlier inside a synagogue near San Diego, as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Hannah Kaye, the daughter of shooting victim Lori Kaye, second from right, hugs a family member as her father, Howard, left, looks on during funeral services, Monday, April 29, 2019, in San Diego. Lori Kaye was killed when a man opened fire during Passover service on April 27 inside a synagogue near San Diego, as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Hannah Kaye, the daughter of shooting victim Lori Kaye, center, holds the hand of her father, Howard Kaye, as Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein speaks during funeral services, Monday, April 29, 2019, in San Diego. Lori Kaye was killed when a man opened fire two days earlier inside a synagogue near San Diego, as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein speaks during funeral services for shooting victim Lori Kaye as Kaye's daughter Hannah, second from left, holds onto her father, Howard, Monday, April 29, 2019, in San Diego. Lori Kaye was killed when a man opened fire two days earlier inside a synagogue near San Diego, as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Elan Carr, the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism, speaks Monday, April 29, 2019, next to a photo of Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue, during a memorial service for Kaye in Poway, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Candles burn, Monday, April 29, 2019, in front of a photo of Lori Kaye during a memorial service for her in Poway, Calif. Kaye was was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Oscar Stewart, left, walks past a photo of Lori Kaye, Monday, April 29, 2019, as he attends a memorial service for Kaye in Poway, Calif. Stewart was worshipping at the Chabad of Poway synagogue Saturday when a gunman opened fire, killing Kaye. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) CORRECTS SPELLING OF RABBI'S FIRST NAME TO YISROEL INSTEAD OF YISHOEL - Yisroel Goldstein, Rabbi of Chabad of Poway, speaks Monday, April 29, 2019, during the memorial service for Lori Kaye, who is pictured at left, in Poway, Calif. Kaye was was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue. Goldstein was injured in the shooting. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) CORRECTS SPELLING OF RABBI'S FIRST NAME TO YISROEL INSTEAD OF YISHOEL - Yisroel Goldstein, at podium, Rabbi of Chabad of Poway, speaks Monday, April 29, 2019, during a memorial service for Lori Kaye, in Poway, Calif. Kaye was was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue, and Goldstein was injured in the shooting. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) CORRECTS SPELLING OF RABBI'S FIRST NAME TO YISROEL INSTEAD OF YISHOEL - Yisroel Goldstein, Rabbi of Chabad of Poway, reacts while speaking Monday, April 29, 2019, at the memorial service for Lori Kaye, who is pictured at left, in Poway, Calif. Kaye was was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue. Goldstein was injured in the shooting. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A photo of Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue, is displayed Monday, April 29, 2019, at left, during Kaye's funeral in Poway, Calif., as her daughter Hannah speaks at right. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) CORRECTS SPELLING OF RABBI'S FIRST NAME TO YISROEL INSTEAD OF YISHOEL - Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, right, comforts Almog Peretz, center, Monday, April 29, 2019, as they attend the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif. Goldstein lost a finger in the shooting, and Peretz was also injured. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) CORRECTS SPELLING OF RABBI'S FIRST NAME TO YISROEL INSTEAD OF YISHOEL - Yisroel Goldstein, Rabbi of Chabad of Poway, holds a yellow rose as he speaks Monday, April 29, 2019, at the funeral for Lori Kaye, who is pictured at left, in Poway, Calif. Kaye, who was was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue, had given Goldstein the flower as part of a bouquet the day before the shooting, which also injured Goldstein. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Menachem Levanoni, right, president of the Chabad of Poway synagogue, speaks Monday, April 29, 2019, at the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the synagogue in Poway, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Noya Dahan, 8, attends the funeral for Lori Kaye, Monday, April 29, 2019, at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif. Dahan was injured Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the synagogue. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Almog Peretz, center, sits near his niece, Noya Dahan, 8, lower right, Monday, April 29, 2019, as they attend the funeral for Lori Kaye, who was killed Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif. Peretz and Dahan were both injured in the shooting. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) HUGO, Okla. (AP) - The Latest on a police shooting in Oklahoma that left three children and a man suspected in a robbery injured (all times local): 6:30 p.m. The state agency investigating an Oklahoma police shooting that left three children and a robbery suspect injured has given few details but says the probe is ongoing and evolving. Residents of Hugo, Oklahoma, demonstrated Monday and demanded answers about questions in the Friday shooting that hurt 21-year-old William Devaughn Smith and the children, ages 5, 4 and 1. All four have been released from the hospital. Smith is jailed in Choctaw County on a robbery charge. Jail records don't indicate he has an attorney to speak on his behalf. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has not released the names of two detectives placed on paid leave after gunfire broke out when they approached a pickup truck that Smith and the children were in. This undated booking photo provided by Choctaw County Sheriff's Office shows William DeVaughn Smith. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Saturday, April 27, 2019, that injuries suffered by three children when Oklahoma police fired at Smith, a robbery suspect in a pickup truck, are non-life threatening. Smith is suspected in an April 11 armed robbery at a Pizza Hut in Hugo, Okla. He hasn't been formally charged. (Choctaw County Sheriff's Office via AP) Authorities have not said if Smith fired a weapon in the confrontation. ___ 12:30 p.m. Residents of an Oklahoma town are demanding answers after police opened fire on a truck, wounding three children and a robbery suspect. It isn't clear why two Hugo officers opened fire Friday on the truck that 21-year-old William Devaughn Smith and the children were in. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says the children - ages 5, 4 and 1 - have been released from the hospital. Janice Palmer joined a demonstration in Hugo on Sunday and tells TV station KTEN she's not placing blame but that the "incident needs to be heard." Smith was being held Monday on an aggravated robbery complaint in the jail in Choctaw County, Oklahoma, after being treated and released from a Texas hospital. Records don't indicate whether Smith has an attorney yet. DETROIT (AP) - The Latest on the firing of the special prosecutor in the Flint water investigation (all times local): 7:45 p.m. A lawyer ousted as special prosecutor in the investigation over Flint's lead-tainted water says the complex cases were handled with professional care. Todd Flood says, "I walk away knowing that I gave everything I had to give." The Michigan attorney general's office says Flood was dismissed on April 16. Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud says evidence was not properly pursued "from the onset of this investigation." Her staff told a judge last week that 23 boxes of evidence were discovered in the basement of a state building. Flood didn't address that in his written statement. He declined to comment further. FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2019 file photo, Special prosecutor Todd Flood, left, speaks during a motion hearing at Genesee County Circuit Court in Flint, Mich. Flood, a special prosecutor who spent three years leading a criminal investigation of the Flint water scandal has been fired, officials announced Monday, April 29, 2019, apparently part of the fallout from the recent discovery of 23 boxes of records in the basement of a state building.(Kaiti Sullivan/The Flint Journal via AP File) Seven people have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors in an investigation of how Flint's water became contaminated with lead as well as a related outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. Charges are pending against eight others. ___ 3 p.m. A special prosecutor who spent three years leading a criminal investigation of the Flint water scandal has been fired. The Michigan attorney general's office apparently is tying Todd Flood's departure to the recent discovery of 23 boxes of records related to the water crisis. The boxes, found in a state basement, were disclosed in a court filing Friday. Flood's contract was terminated April 16. Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud says evidence was not properly pursued "from the onset of this investigation." Flood didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Monday. He was hired in 2016 by then-Attorney General Bill Schuette. Attorney General Dana Nessel put Hammoud over Flood after she took office in January. Seven people have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors in an investigation of how Flint's water became contaminated with lead as well as a related outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. SALEM, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge in Oregon on Monday blocked a Trump administration attempt to prevent federally funded health care providers from referring pregnant women to abortion clinics, describing the new policy as "madness." The ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael McShane in Eugene, Oregon, was the second nationwide injunction by a federal judge in the Pacific Northwest against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services attempt to implement new rules beginning Friday in the so-called Title X program. It provides comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services for low-income families or uninsured people. "We are very, very pleased with the outcome," Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, whose state led the lawsuit, told a news conference. "It will ensure that women across the country will continue to receive the health care they need and deserve." Nineteen other states, the District of Columbia, the American Medical Association and the Planned Parenthood Federation were also plaintiffs in the suit against Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. McShane said at a hearing last week that he was reluctant to set national health care policy. But in the temporary injunction he issued Monday, McShane granted plaintiffs' request for it to be nationwide. McShane called the Department of Health and Human Services rules change "a ham-fisted approach to health policy that recklessly disregards the health outcomes of women, families, and communities." Oregon attorney general Ellen Rosenblum, center, hails a ruling by a federal judge in Oregon that blocks the Trump administration's attempt to prevent federally funded healthcare providers from referring pregnant women to abortion clinics, at a news conference in Salem, Ore. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is at left, with Lisa Gardner, president of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, at right. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) Oregon Right to Life, which supports the federal agency's rules changes, criticized the judge. "This appears to be the height of activist judging," said the group's spokeswoman, Liberty Pike. She said the original intent of Title X was to aid in family planning. "Abortion is not family planning," Pike said in a phone interview. A judge in Washington state made a similar ruling last week. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, appearing at the news conference with Brown, noted that the cases are subject to appeal by the Trump administration and that the records of the cases are different, with all 20 states and the District of Columbia presenting declarations in the case heard in Oregon. Washington state was the only state plaintiff in its suit, heard by Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima. Bastian wrote that the plaintiffs in Washington state demonstrated the Trump administration's so-called Final Rule "likely violates the central purpose of Title X, which is to equalize access to comprehensive, evidence-based, and voluntary family planning." The new rules would have banned abortion referrals by taxpayer-funded clinics. Such a clinic could give a list of health-care providers to a pregnant woman, but not say which ones provide abortion procedures, even if the woman was seeking such a procedure. "This is madness," McShane wrote. McShane compared the new rules to a novel by Franz Kafka, whose protagonists face bizarre or surrealistic predicaments. "If a woman seeks to have a legal abortion and requests a referral from her Title X provider, the Final Rule requires a referral for prenatal care," the judge wrote. The new rules would also have prohibited clinics that receive federal money from sharing office space with abortion providers. Supporters of the changes say they return Title X's regulations back to their original legislative intent that "none of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning." ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on PG&E's bankruptcy proceedings (all times local): 5:10 p.m. California regulators are recommending adoption of Pacific Gas & Electric's safety plan aimed at reducing wildfires in the state. Staff members with the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday urged members to approve the plan when they meet on May 30. The Northern California utility proposes shutting power to more customers more often during hot, windy days, beefing up tree trimming along its power lines and adding more inspectors, among other proposals. PG&E's equipment has been blamed for the majority of major wildfires in California over the past three years. A federal judge ordered the company to dramatically revamp its safety plans. The California PUC is also being advised to approve similar safety plans for Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and several smaller utilities that, combined, supply most of the gas and electric to the state. ___ 3 p.m. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.'s top financial executives say 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 a bankruptcy meeting Monday in San Francisco. They 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 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. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will soon decide the fate of Republican-backed voter legislation that won final legislative approval Monday, with some critics arguing the measure is intended to suppress efforts to register minorities and other voters. The first-term Republican has been noncommittal about the contentious bill, which could allow voter registration groups to face fines for submitting too many incomplete signup forms and criminal penalties for submitting registration forms too late. The legislation is being pushed by Republican Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, who said many of the voter registrations submitted on the final day of registering last year were filled out incorrectly. Critics have questioned whether the bill has anything to do with a drive last year by the Tennessee Black Voter Project that signed up thousands of people to vote in and around Memphis. The bill easily advanced out of each GOP-dominant chamber during this year's session despite outcries from voter advocate groups who warn it could make it harder to register voters. On Monday, House lawmakers, with most Democrats objecting, approved last changes to the legislation adopted last week by their Senate counterparts and sent it to the governor's desk. Hargett said the bill was needed after noting that many of the registrations submitted on the deadline last year in Shelby County, in and around Memphis, were filled out incorrectly. Among other steps, the legislation would establish so-called Class A misdemeanor offenses if registration groups knowingly or intentionally pay workers based on quotas; if they enroll 100 or more voters in one year and don't complete state training; or if they enroll 100-plus voters and fail to send in completed forms by the deadline or within 10 days of registration drives. A class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to almost a year in jail and up to $2,500 in fines. Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called it one of the worst voter suppression measures to come out of a legislature this year. "The bill would have a harmful effect on organizations that work to reach those not-yet registered, and marginalize communities who historically benefit from third-party voter protection efforts," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She complained it would impose "burdensome preregistration requirements" and allow "draconian criminal and civil penalties." Under the legislation, the state also could fine groups that submit 100 or more incomplete voter registration forms that lack a name, address, date of birth, declaration of eligibility or signature. Penalties can reach $10,000 per county where violations occur if more than 500 incomplete forms are submitted. The bill also outlaws out-of-state poll watchers. The bill wouldn't penalize voter registration groups for fraudulent forms, since state law already covers that already. The bill also would only apply to groups with paid workers, although concerns remain that largely volunteer-based groups such the League of Women Voters could be subject to it if they receive grants. "Tennessee ranks 45th in the nation for rates of voter registration. This legislation does a disservice to would-be voters by discouraging the important outreach efforts needed to change those statistics," said League of Women Voters of Tennessee President Marian Ott in a recent statement. The measure also exempts companies that sometimes help their employees register, as well as spells out that voter registration groups can throw away forms with only a name or initial on them. ___ This story has been corrected to show Hargett noted that many, not thousands, of the new voter registrations submitted on last year's deadline were filled out incorrectly. MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's Senate approved a labor law overhaul Monday night aimed at ensuring workers can freely vote for their union representation and contracts. The new law requires secret-ballot union votes and proof of workers' consent for contracts. The changes are needed to win approval of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which was negotiated to replace the old NAFTA accord. U.S. and Canadian legislators, angered that Mexico has lured auto manufacturing plants with low salaries, have demanded Mexico change labor laws that encouraged wages as low as $1 or $2 per hour at some plants. Labor Secretary Maria Luisa Alcalde called it "a historic vote," saying that "Congress has voted in favor of freedom and union democracy." Mexico's labor movement has long been stymied, and wages kept low, by pro-government unions that sign contracts and organize plants behind workers' backs. Because a lack of transparency, companies were often able to sign contracts with compliant union representatives before they ever even opened plants in Mexico. Unions were often so absent that many workers were unaware they even had a union at their plant. Votes were often held by a show of hands, in sight of union enforcers, or workers weren't invited to vote at all. Old-guard union leaders were often active members of the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, and the government allowed their leaders to stay in office for decades with little oversight or scrutiny. The new law transfers the resolution of disputes over contracts and union representation to special courts. Since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office Dec. 1, labor unions already have staged a wave of strikes and formed new federations to take advantage of the greater freedom. The bill now goes to the president to be signed into law. We still have our recording of Senate President John Cullertons full-throated assurances: "The purpose of this bill is to raise enough money so that we can continue to pay our pensions without borrowing the money. To pay off our debt. To have enough money to pay the interest on that debt. And, for the first time ever, establish caps on how much we can appropriate. ... We have just come through the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. And we have not paid our bills." LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Latest on the arrest of an Army vet suspected in a terror plot (all times local): 6:15 p.m. The family of a U.S. Army veteran suspected of plotting terror attacks in California says they're surprised by his arrest. In a statement Monday, the family of Mark Domingo had no further comment about the criminal charges against the 26-year-old. The statement also asked for privacy. Federal prosecutors said Domingo converted to Islam and wanted retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks. The suspect's younger brother, James Domingo, told reporters outside the family's Los Angeles home that he'd hoped Mark's religious conversion would offer him some guidance. James Domingo declined to say whether he believed his brother was guilty or innocent. He said he would "wait for the trial." Mark Domingo was arrested Friday on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. It's not known if he has an attorney. ___ 12:30 p.m. Authorities say they thwarted a terror plot targeting white supremacists in California by an Army veteran who converted to Islam and wanted retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks. Federal prosecutors said Monday that Mark Domingo was arrested for planning to plant a bomb at a Nazi rally Sunday in Long Beach. Domingo was arrested Friday on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. The rally never happened. Court papers say Domingo discussed several types of attacks with an informant that included targeting Jews, churches and police officers. He said he wanted revenge for attacks on mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people last month. A message left on a phone listed for Domingo was not immediately returned. FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The mother of a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck is back in jail. A judge has revoked the bond of 52-year-old Tonya Couch, citing a failed urine test required by terms of her $75,000 bond. She has been in Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth without bond since Friday. Conditions of her bond had prohibited her from using alcohol, drugs or any medication, or from possessing firearms. Failed urine tests have returned her to jail twice since her December 2015 arrest on money laundering and hindering apprehension charges. A psychologist at trial blamed "affluenza," or acting irresponsibly due to wealth, for the actions of Couch's son, Ethan Couch, in a 2013 North Texas drunken-driving accident that killed four people. Couch was charged in 2016 after she fled with her son to Mexico in 2015. Ethan Couch was released on probation in April 2018 . UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. humanitarian chief said Monday there has been "no progress" in dealing with the reasons why more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh from western Myanmar's Rakhine state. Mark Lowcock, who just returned from a visit to Bangladesh, said Myanmar has failed "to put in place confidence-building measures that would persuade people it's safe to go back." He said all the refugees he spoke to didn't think it was safe to return, and want to be assured of things like freedom of movement and access to education, jobs and services. Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be "Bengalis" from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and they are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights. The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel in August 2017 in northern Rakhine. Myanmar's military responded with a brutal campaign and is accused of mass rape, killings and the burning of thousands of homes that critics have described as ethnic cleansing, or even genocide. Lowcock told a small group of reporters he is "extremely worried" that the U.N. appeal for $962 million to provide for the Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh this year is only 17% funded. Rohingya refugees watch as firefighters douse flames 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) "I think the world may be losing interest," he said. "Last year, we got 70% what we asked for. We're running way behind." He warned that "if we don't get financed, the consequences will be serious" for the provision of such things as food rations and health services. Lowcock visited Bangladesh with U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi and Antonio Vitorino, head of the International Office for Migration. In a joint statement, they stressed the need to sustain support for the Rohingya refugees and to keep working for "safe and sustainable solutions" so they can return home. They noted that almost half the 540,000 refugee children under age 12 are missing out on education and the rest are only getting very limited schooling. "I think the world ought to worry about what this very large group of people will be like in 10 years' time if they don't get an opportunity to access education and a chance to develop a livelihood and have a normal life," Lowcock told reporters. While the best solution would be for the refugees to return home, he said, "in any event it's a bad idea to run the risk of a very aggrieved, disaffected large group of young people, especially young men." Lowcock said Bangladesh's government expressed concern to the three U.N. officials during the trip about criminal activity among refugees in the Cox's Bazaar area. "There are well-known concerns about the drugs industry trying to use populations in Cox's Bazaar to support their malign activities," Lowcock said, adding that there are also concerns about possible radicalization of refugees. BEIJING (AP) - China's factory activity grew in April despite a tariff war with Washington, two surveys showed Tuesday, adding to signs a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy might be bottoming out. Activity was weaker than the previous month but an improvement over February, when manufacturing indicators fell to a three-year low. "The worst of China's slowdown in late 2018 and early 2019 is over," said Bill Adams of PNC Financial Services Group in a report. Caixin magazine's monthly purchasing managers' index decelerated to 50.2 from March's 50.8 on a 100-point scale. A separate index by the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing declined 0.4 points to 50.1, just above the 50-point line that indicates activity is accelerating. Chinese economic growth held steady in the latest quarter at 6.4% over a year earlier. That raised hopes that Beijing's efforts to reverse an economic downturn with higher government spending and more bank lending were gaining traction. Analysts cautioned, however, that the world's second-largest economy still faces downward pressure due to weak consumer demand at home and abroad. FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2018, file photo, a visitor talks on his phone in front of a display of manufacturing robots from Chinese robot maker Honyen at the World Robot Conference in Beijing, China. Two surveys show Chinese factory activity grew in April but below the previous month's pace amid a tariff battle with Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) Both of Tuesday's surveys "still point to weak export growth," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report. The data suggest "this quarter may end up being the cyclical trough in growth," said Evans-Pritchard. "Faster credit growth should support economic activity, though we don't anticipate a strong recovery." China's exports to the United States, its biggest foreign market, have been hurt by President Donald Trump's tariff hikes on $250 billion of Chinese goods in a fight over Beijing's technology policy. American and Chinese negotiators meet this week in Beijing for talks aimed at ending the dispute. NEW YORK (AP) - PetSmart's online pet store Chewy is selling its stock in an initial public offering that may revive memories of the days when its breed of internet retailing seemed like a lost cause. The Dania Beach, Florida, company is setting out to raise $100 million, but that figure listed in documents filed Monday is likely to change in the weeks ahead as Chewy's bankers gauge investor demand for the IPO. If all goes according to plan, Chewy's share will trade under the ticker symbol "CHWY." It marks the latest IPO in a parade of unprofitable technology companies led by ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft trying to persuade investors that they are mining markets that eventually will turn into money makers. Chewy, which hasn't been profitable since it was founded in 2011, stands out from the rest of the crowd because of its involvement in online pet sales - a niche that turned into a financial wasteland as hundreds of internet companies imploded after raising billions of dollars during the late 1990s. Pets.com emerged as most prominent of at least nine online pet stores born during that era. It collapsed nearly 19 years ago with the ignominious distinction of leaving behind a sock puppet as its most valuable asset. The puppet, which starred in expensive TV commercials, eventually sold for $125,000 in Pets.com's liquidation sale and became the mascot for an auto lender providing financing to people with bad credit. Chewy may also have to overcome that specter, given it lost $267.9 million last year on revenue of $3.53 billion. FILE - This May 24, 2005, file photo shows a sign of a pet store chain, PetSmart, in Warwick, R.I. PetSmart's online pet store Chewy is selling its stock in an initial public offering that may revive memories of the days when its breed of internet retailing seemed like a lost cause. The Dania Beach, Florida, company is setting out to raise $100 million, but that figure listed in documents filed Monday, April 29, 2019, is likely to change in the weeks ahead as Chewy's bankers gauge investor demand for the IPO. (AP Photo/Stew Milne, File) However, much has changed since the days of Pets.com, including how much we pamper our pets. Americans spent $72.6 billion on food, vet visits and other pet related services last year, according to the American Pet Products Association, more than triple the amount spent two decades ago. Chewy will also be able to point to shifts in shopping habits and the evolutionary changes in technology that have made e-commerce a much more viable concept than it was 20 years ago. Millions of consumers now routinely order everything from dog food to diapers online, a trend that has helped establish online retailing pioneer Amazon.com as one of the world's most valuable companies. But it took Amazon years before it consistently made money. While Amazon's success could help Chewy woo investors, it also poses potential challenges, too. Amazon also sells pet supplies in its stores and offers free two-day shipping to its more than 100 million households that subscribe to its Prime membership. Chewy thinks it can turn the financial corner by expanding its in-house brands, increasing its pet pharmacy offerings and venturing beyond the U.S. market. The company, which was bought by PetSmart in 2017 for more than $3 billion, operates seven U.S. warehouses where orders are packed and shipped to shoppers. WASHINGTON (AP) - 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. President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside the White House about a shooting at a synagogue in Poway, Calif. Saturday April 27, 2019, as he leaves Washington en route to Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) 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. ___ This story has been corrected to show Trump wants a judge to declare the subpoenas unenforceable, not enforceable. President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside the White House about a shooting at a synagogue in Poway, Calif., Saturday April 27, 2019, as he leaves Washington en route to Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) 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) FILE-In this Feb. 1, 2019 file photo the Deutsche Bank headquarters is seen behind a lamp ahead of the annual press conference in Frankfurt, Germany. President Donald Trump has gone to court to fight an attempt by the House to obtain his business records. On Monday the president and three of his children filed suit in federal court in New York against Deutsche Bank and Capital One. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) The headquarters of Deutsche Bank is seen through green leaves in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) 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. FILE - This Wednesday, April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Google mobile phone icon, in Philadelphia. Google has dominated the online ad market for almost the entirety of its existence, but its 2019 first quarter earnings report suggests that competitors may be nipping at its heels. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) 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. SEATTLE (AP) - It appears workers who were disassembling a construction crane had prematurely removed pins securing the sections of the crane's mast to each other, and that could explain why it toppled Saturday, killing four people, experts said. Crane accident investigator Tom Barth said Monday based on videos of the Seattle crane collapse that "if the pins had been in, that crane would not have fallen over." The crane's 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. "The reason this tower fell over is ironworkers and the people working on it did not follow the manufacturer's instructions for disassembling the crane," Barth said. 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. An iron cross bearing the numbers of Ironworkers Local union chapters from Portland and Seattle stands next to flowers, Monday, April 29, 2019, at a memorial on a median across the street from where a construction crane collapsed and fell Saturday, killing four people, two of whom were ironworkers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 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 I'm 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 Saturday's 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, represented the workers who died and did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors finished 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. Corbet's 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 Seattle's Department of Planning and Development. In a written statement, Mayor Jenny Durkan called Justad "a true public servant." An iron cross bearing the numbers of Ironworkers Local union chapters from Portland and Seattle stands next to flowers, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle at a memorial on a median across the street from where a construction crane collapsed and fell Saturday, killing four people, two of whom were ironworkers. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Damage to a building that was under construction when a crane collapsed on it Saturday in Seattle is shown, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Seattle. The accident killed four people. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 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) 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) HONOLULU (AP) - Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. "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. "We could have been smashed by it," she said. Paramedics responding to an unrelated call from a patient with leg pain about 30 yards (27 meters) away heard "a horrific bang," said Shayne Enright, a spokeswoman for Honolulu Emergency Medical Services. When they turned around, they saw a helicopter on fire. "When they got there, neighbors were doing a heroic job trying to put out the fire and also trying to get the patients away from the burning aircraft," Enright said. Investigators stand around the wreckage of a helicopter, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) The crash occurred in Kailua, a town of 50,000 people about a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu. The crash site was on a two-lane road amid one and two-story homes. Darel Robinson was doing construction work at a house about a half-mile (0.8 of a kilometer) 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. Megan Lacy, of Alabama, was visiting friends when they heard the crash. They went outside, expecting to find two cars after they had hit each other. "We were really confused," she said. "And then we heard screaming and the word 'fire,' and I saw smoke." Debris damaged her rental car about 100 yards (90 meters) from the crash. A resident said he heard the morning crash then saw a ball of fire in a road when he ran from his house. Leleo Knappenberger told Hawaii News Now that his mother heard the helicopter flying over the house, making a strange noise. He said he later saw what appeared to be the tail end of the helicopter. "It's all smashed to pieces," he said. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency believes three people were on board the four-seat, Robinson R44 aircraft. He said the circumstances of the crash were unknown. No further details were available on those killed. The helicopter, which was built in 2000, is registered to United Helicopter Leasing LLC of Honolulu, according to FAA records. State business records show Nicole Vandelaar as the manager. A woman who answered the phone at the business and identified herself as Nicole declined to immediately comment, saying she was too busy to talk. A website for the Honolulu tour helicopter company Novictor Helicopters identified Nicole Vandelaar as founder and CEO. The website said she is an expert pilot commercially licensed to fly helicopters and airplanes. A Novictor helicopter crashed on a sandbar in Kaneohe in October after the pilot lost consciousness twice. That crash resulted in injuries to the pilot and two passengers. It was also a Robinson R44 aircraft. State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, who represents Kailua, said she wants the FAA to prohibit tour flights over Hawaii's residential areas and national parks. The Republican lawmaker wants Hawaii's congressional delegation to ask the FAA to implement such restrictions. Thielen also called for tour helicopter flights to be grounded until an investigation into the crash is completed. Kailua is home to a Marine Corps base. In recent years it's become a popular destination for tourists to go to the beach, hike and shop. Former President Barack Obama stayed at a rented beachfront vacation home in the town during the winter holidays when he was in the White House. ___ Freelance journalist Marco Garcia contributed to this report from Kailua, Hawaii. Associated Press journalists Caleb Jones and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report. A portion of the tail section of a helicopter is shown after crashing in Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) The wreckage of a helicopter lies on the street after crashing in Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP) Police and firefighters respond to the scene of a helicopter crash in a residential neighborhood of Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and pieces of helicopter rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Police and firefighters respond to the scene of a helicopter crash in a residential neighborhood of Kailua, Hawaii, Monday, April 29, 2019. Fire and pieces of helicopter rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) The tail of a crashed helicopter is seen in the middle of the street, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. A helicopter crashed in the middle of the Kailua neighborhood killing three people. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) A fire truck blocks the street where a helicopter crashed, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) The tail of a crashed helicopter is seen in the middle of the street, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. A helicopter crashed in the middle of the Kailua neighborhood killing three people. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Debris lies on the ground where parts of a helicopter hit a parked car, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) Debris lays on the ground where parts of a helicopter hit a parked car, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community in a crash that killed three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Officials remove bodies from the wreckage of a helicopter, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Kailua, Hawaii. Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A teary-eyed Hameed Rafi said he'll never forget the day he joined a panel of civilian war victims and family members and spoke about the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed his sister last August. Sharing his story with them in March at the Afghanistan Center for Memory and Dialogue, Rafi recalled how all of the wounded in the attack had been taken to hospitals, so he began searching lists of wounded hanging on hospital walls. But he couldn't find the name of his sister, 18-year-old Rahila, who had been studying in an education center for her college entrance exam when the attack happened. Then, a doctor suggested Rafi also search lists of those killed. "That shocked me, I had never considered that my sister wouldn't be alive anymore," he said. But as he learned later, Rahila had perished, he told those who attended the panel discussion. Rafi's chance to share his story is at the heart of the memory center's mission. Launched in February by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, it seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war. The center, located in a small basement of a rental house in west Kabul, contains exhibits reminding visitors of the years of carnage and loss, including drawings, garments, photos and toys with accompanying personal information such as names, places and causes of death or injury. In this Tuesday, March 19, 2019, photo, Hameed Rafi, brother of the late Rahila, shows his sister's watch, during an interview with the Associated Press at the Rahila library, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Rafi says he'll never forget the day he joined a panel of civilian war victims and family members and spoke about the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed his sister last August. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) But the center is also a safe space for family and friends of civilian victims like Rafi to share their stories and preserve the memories of their loved ones. Each family has its own story, but when they listen to the narratives of others they realize they're not alone in their pain. Afghanistan has experienced some 40 years of continuous wars and the center has divided them into periods, starting with the former communist regime from 1978-1992, which led to the 1979 invasion by the former Soviet Union to support the government and Afghanistan's subsequent spiral into war. That period was followed by the civil war in the Islamic State of Afghanistan, from 1992-1996. During these years, many of the warlords, who were later returned to power by the international community in 2001, waged a brutal war against each other for power, killing 50,000 people in Kabul alone. The Taliban regime, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, ruled the country from 1996-2001. The years 2002-present represent the current period that followed the collapse of Taliban rule. More than 2 million civilians are estimated to have been killed in the fighting in Afghanistan between 1978 and 2001, with thousands more killed and wounded in the past 17 years, since the U.S.-led NATO intervention. The center grew out of the concept of the "memory box," in which survivors or family members would bring favorite items of victims and put them in boxes of different sizes and materials, many of them ornately decorated. As they met other victims' family and friends, they began to exchange stories. Later, the center asked survivors to write letters to their lost loved ones and to the larger Afghan community to let them know about their pain. This took place over about eight years, during which hundreds of memory boxes were constructed with more than 4,000 personal objects and stories. Strolling through the memory center, visitors see in one exhibit a Barbie doll and accompanying make-up table that belonged to a young girl named Saima, who was killed in a suicide car bomb attack near the former parliament building in April 2015. In another exhibit, a wristwatch still shows the time for visitors, but not its owner, who is unidentified. The watch belonged to the victim of suicide bombing attack in Kabul that killed and wounded dozens. Center organizers were unsure of the date of the attack. In yet another exhibit, a small piece of paper has a handwritten note from a prisoner to his family, who has not seen or heard from him in decades. Family and friends still hope he will return home one day. "Unfortunately, in Afghanistan there was not a policy of remembrance for thousands of war victims that we have in this country," said Hadi Marifat, the human rights organization's director. The memory center is "a tribute to the war victims and it is for them (and survivors) to come here and share their stories and to, of course, at the same time get acknowledgement, which is very, very important in a context like Afghanistan," Marifat said. Rafi, whose sister was one of 50 students killed in the Islamic State group's suicide attack on the Mawood Educational Center in western Kabul, understands the need to pay tribute to the lost. Upon returning home a day after Rahila's burial, he went through her diary and discovered her love for books and education. In a short note, she writes that education is the only way out of the crisis in Afghanistan. The note inspired Rafi to establish a library on Oct. 25 in Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood in west Kabul, not far from where Rahila lost her life, to encourage a culture of reading and studying among youths. The Rahila Library has more than 7,000 books with a separate reading space for visitors. So far, more than 4,000 people have visited the library since it opened. "We lost Rahila, but we hope Rahila's name and kindness will be remembered by people through this library," he said. In this Saturday, March 16, 2019, photo, Afghans look at the belongings of war victims stored in Memory center established by Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February, it seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Tuesday, March 26, 2019, photo, Naik Mohammad Sharif, 58, a survivor and victim of war crimes, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in the Afghanistan Center for Memory and Dialogue, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February, it seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Tuesday, March 12, 2019, photo, belongings of war victims are displayed in the Afghanistan Center for Memory and Dialogue, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, the center seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Tuesday, March 19, 2019, photo, Afghan students study at the Rahila library, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, the center seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Tuesday, March 12, 2019, photo, belongings of war victims, on display in the Afghanistan Center for Memory and Dialogue, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, the center seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Tuesday, March 26, 2019, photo, Naik Mohammad Sharif, 58, a survivor and victim of war crimes, shows portrait of his brother during an interview with the Associated Press in the Afghanistan Center for Memory and Dialogue, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, the center seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Tuesday, March 19, 2019, photo, Hameed Rafi, brother of Rahila, who was killed in a suicide bombing, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at a library dedicated to his sister's memory, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) In this Saturday, Mar. 16, 2019, photo, belongings of Saima and Mohammad Sadiq are on display in the Afghanistan Center for Memory and Dialogue, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Launched in February by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, the center seeks to salvage, protect and share memories and stories of civilian victims of the country's four decades of war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) The shooting at a synagogue in a San Diego suburb last week is a reminder of how anti-Semitic threats can become a horrific reality. In this case as in other shootings of this nature white supremacy was unanimously condemned by both sides of the political aisle for the evil it perpetrated. But when anti-Semitism rears its ugly head in a mainstream newspaper like the New York Times or when Rep. Ilhan Omar tweets that support for Israel in Congress is all about the Benjamins, there is a tendency to forgive and forget. Left or right, we need to be vigilant about anti-Semitism. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand police said they arrested a 33-year-old man on Tuesday after they found ammunition and a package containing a suspected explosive device at a vacant property in Christchurch. The city is where a gunman killed 50 people at two mosques on March 15. Police said at the time that the gunman had a number of weapons as well as two improvised explosive devices in his car. Police have not yet said whether they think the latest incident has any link with the March attack. Police Superintendent John Price said in a statement Tuesday that a defense force bomb squad had rendered the package safe. Police evacuated a number of nearby houses and temporarily imposed a no-fly zone as the incident unfolded. They removed the cordons Tuesday evening. A 28-year-old Australian, Brenton Tarrant, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder in the March mosque attacks. Tarrant has not yet entered a plea and remains in a high-security prison in Auckland pending his next court appearance on June 14. BEIJING (AP) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday he hopes for "substantial progress" in talks with Chinese officials aimed at ending a tariff war over Beijing's technology ambitions. Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were to have a working dinner and then meet Wednesday 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 wouldn't talk about specific issues but said, "we've 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. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin gestures as he speaks to the media upon his arrival at a hotel in Beijing, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Mnuchin arrived in China's capital to hold a new high-level trade talks with China on May 1. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) President Donald Trump raised U.S. duties on $250 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. Beijing's 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 America's 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. ___ AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, speaks to the media upon his arrival at a hotel in Beijing, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Mnuchin arrived in China's capital to hold a new high-level trade talks with China on May 1. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, is escorted by bodyguards and officials as he arrives at a hotel in Beijing, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Mnuchin arrived in China's capital to hold a new high-level trade talks with China on May 1. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks to the media upon his arrival at a hotel in Beijing, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Mnuchin arrived in China's capital to hold a new high-level trade talks with China on May 1. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, speaks to the media upon his arrival at a hotel in Beijing, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Mnuchin arrived in China's capital to hold a new high-level trade talks with China on May 1. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, speaks to the media upon his arrival at a hotel in Beijing, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Mnuchin arrived in China's capital to hold a new high-level trade talks with China on May 1. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) LONDON (AP) - Britain's University of Cambridge said Tuesday that it plans to investigate its links to the trans-Atlantic slave trade with a two-year study that will recommend ways to acknowledge and address the impact of the academic institution's involvement. The elite university said the study will look at financial support it may have received from those linked to slavery, as well as how the work of its scholars helped underpin attitudes to slavery. Professor Martin Millett, who will oversee the work, says "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." Liverpool and other major British port cities benefited enormously from the slave trade and many companies and families became wealthy. Cambridge says the study is part of a "wider reflection" on the links between slavery and universities in Britain and the U.S. Vice chancellor Stephen Toope said the university has an obligation to look into how it might have profited from forced labor during the colonial era. "We cannot change the past, but nor should we seek to hide from it," he said. "I hope this process will help the university understand and acknowledge its role during that dark phase of human history." JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military says it's scaling back the permitted fishing zone off the Mediterranean coast of Gaza following a rocket attack from the strip the previous day. The military said Tuesday fishing would only be permitted up to 6 nautical miles - about 11 kilometers - until further notice. Israel last month extended the zone to a maximum of 15 nautical miles, or 28 kilometers, up from the previous limit of 9 nautical miles, or 17 kilometers. That came amid Egyptian efforts to promote a long-standing cease-fire in Gaza. Israel typically limits or suspends fishing zones after attacks by Gaza militants. A rocket fired toward Israel on Monday landed on a beach in southern Israel. No one was injured. Israel says the Islamic Jihad group's militants were behind the attack. FILE - In this April 3, 2019, file photo, Palestinian fishermen unload their catch after a night fishing trip, in the Gaza Seaport. The Israeli military says it's scaling back the permitted fishing zone off the Mediterranean coast of Gaza following a rocket attack from the strip the previous day. The military said Tuesday, April 30, 2019 that fishing would only be permitted up to 6 nautical miles - about 11 kilometers - until further notice. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File) BERLIN (AP) - An American art museum is demanding that a German far-right party stop using one of its paintings, portraying a 19th-century slave auction, on an anti-Muslim campaign poster. The case is drawing attention to the ways in which populist parties are playing on fear of foreigners to win votes for upcoming European elections. The dispute over the painting, which shows a Middle Eastern slave trader displaying a naked young woman with much lighter skin to a group of men for examination, highlights the aggressive and fear-mongering portrayal of Muslim migrants by the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party as it attempts to capitalize on concerns about the huge influx of asylum-seekers in recent years. The director of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, condemned the use of Jean-Leon Gerome's 1866 oil-on-canvas painting "Slave Market," by the AfD. "We are strongly opposed to the use of this work to advance any political agenda," Olivier Meslay told The Associated Press. "We did not supply the painting to the AfD." In the description of the work of art, the museum writes on its home page that "this disturbing scene is set in a courtyard market intended to suggest the Near East. The vague, distant location allowed 19th-century French viewers to censure the practice of slavery, which was outlawed in Europe, while enjoying a look at the female body." The AfD's Berlin branch said they put up 30 posters of the painting across the German capital with the slogan: "So that Europe won't become 'Eurabia!' Europeans vote for AfD." In this Monday, April 29, 2019 photo, an election campaign poster of the German Alternative fuer Deutschland (Alternative for Germany), AfD, party displayed at a road in Berlin, Germany. The poster for the European Parliament elections shows the painting 'Slave Market' from 1866 by the french artist Jean-Leon Gerome. The US museum 'The Clark Art Insitiute' in Williamstown, MA, owner of the painting, has asked the German far right party AfD not to use the picture any more. Top slogan reads 'So that Germany does not become an 'Eurabia'!. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) The party said it won't take down any of the posters. Meslay said the museum had written to the party "insisting that they cease and desist in using this painting." However, he acknowledged, the painting is in the public domain and "there are no copyrights or permissions that allow us to exert control over how it is used other than to appeal to civility on the part of the AfD Berlin." A spokesman for the Berlin branch of the AfD called the museum's request "a futile attempt to gag the AfD." "The German public has the right to find out about the truth about the possible consequences of illegal mass immigration," said Ronald Glaeser. He did not explain further. Riem Spielhaus, a professor for Islamic Studies, told the AP on Tuesday that the poster is meant to invoke old fears and stereotypes in western societies of the dark-skinned foreign man threatening to take away the white, defenseless woman. The message of the posters is that "the German man, or the AfD, is the only one who can protect the white woman from the evil Muslims," said Spielhaus, who teaches at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig. Currently, the AfD, which was elected to Germany's national parliament for the first time in 2017, is polling at 10%-12% for the European elections. Their campaign posters also feature among others an open toll gate at a border control with the slogan "One thing is sure: our borders are not secure." The AfD and other far-right groups have blamed Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision in 2015 to allow in hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan for multiple social problems. Some far-right supporters argue that migrants are responsible for an increase in serious crimes, especially attacks on women. Last summer they paraded through the eastern town of Chemnitz carrying posters of German women they allege were killed by migrants. One of the AfD's leaders, Alice Weidel, also alleged that immigrants, especially Muslims, will threaten the German economy. "Burkas, head-scarved girls ... knife-wielding men and other good-for-nothings will not secure our wealth, economic growth and especially the welfare state," Weidel said in parliament last year. The party's anti-Muslim stance is being echoed by far-right parties across Europe, from France and the Netherlands via Britain to Hungary and Poland. In the current campaign for the European Parliament elections, which take place May 23-26 throughout the bloc, populist parties on the continent have been increasingly aggressive, using old stereotypes and anti-foreigner sentiment to win the vote. In Austria, the country's vice chancellor and head of the nationalist Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, created an uproar when he told local daily Krone on Sunday that his party was fighting against a "replacement of the native population" or Bevoelkerungsaustausch - a term used by far-right groups in Europe that is also reminiscent of the Nazi terminology used to justify Germany's occupation of Eastern Europe during World War II. Strache, whose party is part of a conservative-nationalist coalition government, said that "we don't want to become a minority in our own country." On Tuesday, Germany's AfD and Austria's Freedom Party announced they would combine forces and campaign together in Germany later this week for a "Europe of homelands." To spread their message ahead of the elections, the tech-savvy parties are not only using old-style campaign posters and newspaper interviews but have shifted much of their campaign into the cyber world trying to appeal to young voters via social media. During the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris earlier this month, the local AfD group in Solingen, in western Germany, suggested on Twitter that Islamic extremists were behind the destruction of the church, tweeting that "attacks on Christian landmarks will massively increase in coming years, and we all know why." As for the "Eurabia" campaign posters, AfD's Berlin spokesman Glaeser said "the museum should be grateful that we're helping to increase the degree of popularity of this painting - instead of trying to use censorship." Glaeser complained that opponents of the party have been continually destroying this and other campaign posters in Berlin and that party workers have had to repeatedly put up new copies, only to see them destroyed again the following night. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The Latest on the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka (all times local): 5:35 p.m. A Sri Lankan Cabinet minister says he and seven others have received intelligence that the group behind the Easter Sunday bombings could strike the island nation again. Minister of Health Rajitha Senarathna said Tuesday that the government ministers have been warned that they have been identified as targets of possible additional suicide attacks. Senarathna said intelligence officials specifically told him to stay at home on Sunday and Monday because of the threat of another attack from the Islamic State-linked Muslim extremist group. The coordinated bombings at churches and luxury hotels killed more than 250 people. Soldiers return to their base following an operation searching for explosives and suspects tied to a local group of Islamic State militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 29, 2019. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka on Monday has urged the government to crack down on Islamic extremists with more vigor "as if on war footing" in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Since then, the government has arrested dozens of people and confiscated bomb-making materials from suspected safe houses. Officials have warned that suspects linked to the attacks are still at large. ___ 3:20 p.m. Sri Lanka's top Catholic Church official says the search by authorities for additional suspects and explosives linked to the Easter bombings has been inadequate, particularly in Negombo, the seaside village where one of the blasts killed about 100 people. The archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, told reporters Tuesday that a government ban on face veils was good but didn't go far enough to protect believers from further attacks. In a video Monday, a man who claimed to be the shadow leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, called the Sri Lankan suicide bombers "a thorn in the chests of the crusaders." Ranjith said he couldn't ask al-Baghdadi to "pay compensation" for the dead, but could only "present this case to God's court." ___ 2:10 p.m. Authorities in Bangladesh say they're investigating the Islamic State group's claim of responsibility for an explosion in the capital that injured three police officers. Police in Dhaka said Tuesday that a "very powerful" crude bomb thrown by unidentified assailants at a shopping complex late Monday injured two traffic officers and a community police officer who were being treated at a local hospital. Global terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence says the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on "apostate policemen" without producing evidence. The shadowy leader of the Islamic State group claimed to appear for the first time in five years in a video released by the extremist group's propaganda arm on Monday. The man said to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the video also claimed the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka that killed over 250 people were "part of the revenge" that awaits the West. ___ 1:35 p.m. India's investigative agency says it has arrested a 29-year-old Indian man who has identified himself as a follower of the alleged leader of the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka and was plotting a suicide attack in the southern Indian state of Kerala. The National Investigation Agency said in a statement late Monday that Riyas A., also known as Riyas Aboobacker, was arrested. It said three others were brought in for questioning related to suspected links to the Islamic State group, which has claimed the April 21 Sri Lanka attacks that killed more than 250 people. The statement did not provide any details about Aboobacker's alleged plot in Kerala. But according to the statement, Aboobacker said during questioning that he's been following the speeches and videos of Mohammed Zahran, the militant who Sri Lankan authorities said led the Easter attack, for more than a year. ___ Noon Sri Lanka's president has lifted a nationwide social media ban that was imposed after Easter suicide bomb attacks that killed 253 people. A government statement Tuesday said that President Maithripala Sirisena has lifted the ban that blocked Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and other popular sites. It asked the public to "act in a responsible manner" on social media. The government said it blocked social media in the wake of the bombings at churches and luxury hotels to curb the spread of misinformation. The move comes a day after the Islamic State group's shadowy leader claimed to appear for the first time in five years in video released by the extremist group's propaganda arm. He claimed the bombings in Sri Lanka were "part of the revenge" that awaits the West. LIVINGSTON, La. (AP) - Attorneys for a man accused of killing his girlfriend, her family and his parents in Louisiana this January have asked for a pause in the prosecution of the case until they can get funding. The Advocate reports Dakota Theriot's attorneys said Monday that their team is completely unfunded, leaving them working for free and unable to hire needed investigators and experts. Prosecutors have said they plan to pursue the death penalty against the 22-year-old Theriot, who records say has struggled with mental health issues. The attorneys filed court papers last month that said the public defender's office doesn't have funding for capital cases. They say responsibility for those cases was handed to the state Public Defender Board, which they say doesn't have the funds to meet service demands. ___ Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - An estimated 45,000 children in Iraq who were born under the rule of the Islamic State group are being excluded from society because the government denies them documentation and ID papers, an international charity said Tuesday. Jan Egeland, the Norwegian Refugee Council's secretary general, is warning that these children - most of whom are in camps for the displaced today - are a "possible human time-bomb." "Undocumented children risk remaining left on the margins of society if this issue is not addressed immediately. This seriously undermines future prospects of reconciliation efforts," said Egeland. "We urge the government to ensure that undocumented children have the right to exist like any other Iraqi citizen," he added, citing the organization's 38-page report "Barriers from Birth." The children were born during IS's 2013-2017 rule, when the militant group controlled nearly a third of Iraq. The Iraqi government today considers their birth certificates invalid because they were issued by IS. After U.S.-backed forces defeated the IS and the militants lost their self-styled "caliphate," many IS families and those of civilians who lived under the group's rule were put in camps for the displaced. FILE - In this April 18, 2017, file, photo, a woman holds her newborn while she clutches her son's hand as they flee heavy fighting to wrest the al-Tanek neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq from Islamic State militants. TAn international charity said Tuesday, April 30, 2019, that an estimated 45,000 children in Iraq who were born under the rule of the Islamic State group are being excluded from society because the government denies them documentation and ID papers. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File) The Norway-based group said its legal teams receive on average 170 requests for help each month in cases of unregistered children, children whose fathers are undocumented, are on one of the government's security databases or are perceived to be affiliated with IS. Egeland said the chance of obtaining ID documents for children from families accused of IS affiliation is nearly impossible, resulting in collective punishment of thousands of innocent children. "Children are not responsible for crimes committed by their relatives, yet many are denied their basic rights as Iraqi citizens," he said. Without ID papers, these children have no access to education or health care, they are not allowed to enroll in schools and their mothers cannot get badly needed aid - they are denied "simply the right to exist," Egeland said. Providing these children with such basic rights to education and health care is "key to ensuring a sustainable future for them and for the country," he said. "A society cannot be at peace if it allows a generation of stateless children in its midst." FILE - In this May 17, 2017, file photo, a woman checks on her children as they flee during fighting between Iraqi special forces and Islamic State militants, in the al-Rifai neighborhood of western Mosul, Iraq. An international charity said Tuesday, April 30, 2019, that an estimated 45,000 children in Iraq who were born under the rule of the Islamic State group are being excluded from society because the government denies them documentation and ID papers. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File) LONDON (AP) - In a story April 30 about Britain's inquiry into the deaths of people who received tainted blood and blood products, The Associated Press reported that the father of Jason Evans died after receiving contaminated blood. He received contaminated Factor VIII, a blood-clotting agent made from pooling human blood plasma. LONDON (AP) - A long-awaited inquiry opened Tuesday in Britain into how contaminated blood was used to treat thousands of people in the 1970s and '80s, killing at least 2,400. Thousands of hospital patients - many of them hemophiliacs - were infected with HIV or Hepatitis C through tainted blood products, largely imported from the United States. Previous investigations have been branded a whitewash by victims' campaigners. In 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a new inquiry, with the power to summon witnesses. The inquiry, led by a retired judge, will spend months hearing from victims in London and around the country. As hearings began Tuesday, May said the blood scandal "was a tragedy that should never have happened." "Today will begin a journey which will be dedicated to getting to the truth of what happened and in delivering justice to everyone involved," she said. Victims accuse the government of failing to take responsibility for a scandal that has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of Britain's public health care system. The contaminated blood was linked to supplies of a clotting agent called Factor VIII, which British health services imported from the United States. Some of the products turned out to be infected. Some of the plasma used to make the blood products was traced to high-risk donors, including U.S. prison inmates, who were paid to give blood samples. "If the government truly wants to do the right thing, they will provide a statement accepting their liability now," said Jason Evans, whose father died in 1993 after receiving tainted blood-clotting agent Factor VIII. BEIJING (AP) - A court in southern China handed down sentences Tuesday to at least six foreigners involved in an international methamphetamine operation, including a Canadian given the death penalty. The Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court in southern Guangdong province sentenced 11 people who produced more than 63 kilograms (139 pounds) 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 that was the person's legal name. A person identified as Wu Ziping, whose nationality was not specified, was also handed a 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. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland called the death sentence cruel and inhumane. "We've very concerned about this sentence," Freeland said. 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 Guangdong's 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 in 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 Canada's 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. ___ Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. Forget Bear season its beer season at Soldier Field this weekend. The Chicago Beer Classic has a team of more than 50 breweries and cideries both beloved Chicago spots and nationally-known sudsmakers from whom guests can grab a taste, including Allagash, Half Acre, Maplewood, Ommegang, Right Bee Cider and many more. There will also be games and activities on the field, as well as in the parking before and after each of the event sessions. VIP tickets get a half-hour head start along with special samples, seating options and a tour of Soldier Field. Food will be available to purchase. 11:30-2:30 p.m. and 4:30-7:30 p.m. GA (11 a.m. and 4 p.m. VIP) Saturday, Soldier Field, 1410 Museum Campus Drive, $69 GA, $89 VIP; chicagobeerclassic.com/tickets ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a U.S. F-35 fighter aircraft program that excludes Turkey would be "doomed to a total collapse." Erdogan made the comments Tuesday at a defense industry fair amid warnings from Washington that Turkey's decision to purchase the Russian S-400 missile system will jeopardize Turkey's participation in the F-35 program. The issue has deepened a rift between the NATO allies. Washington says the S-400 would pose a threat to the F-35 program; Turkey rejects the claim and wants a joint committee to review the possible risks. Erdogan said: "Turkey does not accept any impositions in the defense field, nor will it" in the future. He said Turkey has taken steps to produce its own fighter plane and is also planning to build unmanned fighter planes. FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Not far from the glass and steel towers of Germany's banking capital, a 22-year-old Arabian mare is causing a stir with her languid daily strolls through a Frankfurt neighborhood. Owner Werner Weischedel says his old nag Jenny, who's recently found social media fame after a local news show about it went viral, has been taking her 20-kilometer (12-mile) daily jaunts for 14 years - preferring to escape the confines of her home field to nibble on tasty vegetation on the Main river banks. "Everybody knows her," the 79-year-old said Tuesday. Jenny ambles along cobblestone streets and pedestrian paths, avoiding joggers, families and vehicles. Surprised newcomers occasionally call authorities, so she wears a note on her neck: "My name is Jenny, I didn't run away, I'm just going for a walk." 22-year-old Arabian mare Jenny walks home from her daily tour in the surroundings of Frankfurt, Germany, March 8, 2019. Jenny's owner opens the stable door for the horse every morning and the animal decides for itself where she wants to spend the day. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP) SEREMBAN, Malaysia (AP) - 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. Staff at a government waste management facility arrange seized ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) 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. Staff at a government waste management facility display seized ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Staff at a government waste management facility display seized ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Staff at a government waste management facility display barrels of seized illegal ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Staff at a government waste management facility display seized ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Staff at a government waste management facility display seized ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Staff at a government waste management facility display seized ivory tusks before destroying them Tuesday, April 30, 2019, outside Seremban, Malaysia. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) MOSCOW (AP) - A court in Moscow on Tuesday sentenced a Russian man to 2 1/2 years in prison for vandalizing a famous painting by the renowned Russian artist Ilya Repin. The court found Igor Podporin guilty of damaging the painting, which depicts Russian czar Ivan the Terrible cradling his dying son after striking him in a fit of rage. Podporin attacked the iconic "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581" with a metal stanchion at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in May last year. He claimed that he damaged one of the gallery's most famous exhibits because he thinks it's historically inaccurate. Repin's 1885 canvas suffered several holes through it, but the faces of the czar and his son were undamaged. The restoration work is expected to take several more months. The attack, which raised concerns about security at one of the most famed galleries in Moscow, echoed an attack by an unstable man on the same canvas more than a century ago. Back when it was first unveiled, Repin's painting triggered a storm of criticism for its macabre portrayal of one of the darkest episodes of Russian history. It became the first painting in the Russian empire in 1885 to be officially banned from being displayed. It was allowed back into the gallery several months later. FILE - In this file photo taken Tuesday, May 29, 2018, A museum employee looks at the screen depicting the damage inflicted to a painting by Russian painter Ilya Repin in an attack at the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow, Russia. A court in Moscow on Tuesday April 30, 2019, sentenced a man to two and a half years in prison for vandalizing the famous painting by renowned Russian artist Ilya Repin. (Sergey Vedyashkin, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, File) In 1913, a mentally unstable man attacked the painting with a knife. The then-curator of the Tretyakov Gallery was so distressed by the vandalism that he threw himself a under a train. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The number of prisoners who have joined a hunger strike to press Turkish authorities to end the isolation in jail of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has increased to close to 3,000, a human rights group said Tuesday. Human Rights Association head Ozturk Turkdogan told The Associated Press that a total of 2,983 people in 90 prisons across Turkey are refusing food in protest of jail conditions for Ocalan, whose family members and lawyers have reportedly been denied visits. Pro-Kurdish legislator Leyla Guven launched the hunger strike from prison in November. She has since been released and is continuing the strike at home. Two former pro-Kurdish legislators are among the thousands of prisoners who have joined Guven's strike over the following months. Hunger strikers in Turkey traditionally refuse food but take vitamins and salt and sugar solutions, which help prolong life. Turkdogan said 15 of the hunger strikers are now also refusing vitamins. Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, has been serving a life prison term on Imrali island, near Istanbul, since 1999. His group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its western allies. Turkdogan's group says Ocalan has not seen his lawyers since 2011 while pro-Kurdish legislators last visited him in 2015. His brother was allowed a half-hour visit on Jan. 12. Ocalan has in the past conveyed messages to his rebel group through his lawyers. Hundreds of Kurdish inmates ended a similar hunger strike in 2012, heeding a call by Ocalan. Turkish authorities have not commented publicly on the hunger strikes. LONDON (AP) - Daniel Radcliffe is returning to the London stage in a Samuel Beckett double bill. The Old Vic Theatre says the former "Harry Potter" star will appear alongside Alan Cumming in a production of Beckett's bleak comedy "Endgame" that opens in February. It will be performed along with Beckett's rarely produced short play "Rough For Theatre II." The 29-year-old Radcliffe appeared at the Old Vic in 2017 in Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." The Old Vic's 2019-2020 season will also reunite Claire Foy and Matt Smith, stars of the first two seasons of "The Crown," as a couple grappling with the fate of the planet in "Lungs." The theater also plans to stage Lucy Prebble's "A Very Expensive Poison," based on the killing of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. PARIS (AP) - The European Union's highest court has rejected a case brought by hotels arguing Airbnb should be subject to strict rules governing French estate agents. The case was submitted by a French court after a major association of hotels, including leading chains such as Best Western, filed a complaint. The hotel industry in France, like in many other countries across the world, accuses the online rental platform of unfair competition. Hotel owners want Airbnb to follow real estate agent accounting, insurance and other financial rules. But Airbnb denies acting as a real estate agent. The Court of Justice issued a non-binding opinion Tuesday, saying a member state cannot restrict the free movement of an information society service like Airbnb. BALTIMORE (AP) - The FBI says its billboard and social media campaign asking for tips about public corruption in Baltimore aren't related to the federal investigation of Mayor Catherine Pugh. FBI spokesman Dave Fitz tells The Baltimore Sun that it's just coincidence as federal agents follow the money Pugh earned from her "Healthy Holly" children's books sales. He says the department pushes the need for tips and information every couple of months, and Pugh isn't the only area person under federal investigation. Other pending cases involve corruption among officers on the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force, and just this month, authorities announced indictments of nearly 20 people accused in a prison smuggling ring. ___ Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) - Three Virginia State University fraternity members are accused of hurting 10 students who were being hazed Sunday. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Kappa Alpha Psi members Deonte Barkley, George Feggins and Michael Snipes are each charged with 10 counts of hazing so as to cause bodily harm. The university says it has suspended the Alpha Phi chapter of the fraternity and the students, pending the outcome of their criminal cases. VSU says eight other students involved in the hazing have been referred to the school's Office of Judicial Affairs for discipline over student conduct violations. Petersburg police declined to detail the hazing, but said it happened in a dead-end area of Pocahontas Island. The island is near the Appomattox River, in which two students drowned during a fraternity initiation in 2013. ___ Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Election authorities in Ukraine have officially named TV star and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the country's new president. The Central Election Commission on Tuesday presented the official results of the April 21 vote, showing Zelenskiy beat incumbent President Petro Poroshenko by winning 73% of the vote. Zelenskiy has criticized election authorities for dragging their feet on naming him the official winner, which reduces his chances of disbanding the parliament. Zelenskiy will be able to call an early election in the parliament, which is currently dominated by the allies of the outgoing president, only if he is sworn in before May 27. The parliament now has a month to set the date for the inauguration ceremony. "What seems to us more important, more painful, and more unendurable is really not what is more important, more painful and more unendurable, but merely that which is closer to home. Everything distant which for all its moans and muffled cries, its ruined lives and millions of victims, that does not threaten to come rolling up to our threshold today, we consider endurable and of tolerable dimensions." -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ------ One of the great challenges to living a religious life is feeling the pain of others. This is the meaning of compassion, to "feel with." As Solzhenitsyn observed, it is easy to feel the pain of those closest to you or of those who are your coreligionists. Their pain is your pain. Their tears are your tears. No, the type of compassion we need now was needed by all non-Muslims a few weeks ago for the Muslim victims in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the type of compassion that is needed now by all non-Christians for the Christian victims in Sri Lanka, and it is the type of compassion that was needed by all non-Jews after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting of six months ago and the Poway, Calif., synagogue shooting of just a few days ago. I am devastated by all these attacks as a Jew. I pray for the souls of the dead and for the recovery of the injured and for the trauma of the survivors. May the God who created us all help us to heal the anger that tears at our souls and leads some of us to distort, and to debase the true teachings of our faith traditions which is the teaching of love and peace. Because of the goodness of our core teachings and their ability to surface and assert themselves over time, I refuse to believe that religion is the source of the problems in our world. However, reality brings me tearfully to admit that distorted, perverted religion is indeed a growing problem in our world. There is a strain of perverted religion that has emerged in our time that must be stamped out and this cannot be done through force of military might or even through diplomatic negotiations. The defeat of perverted religion can only be accomplished by people of faith who are not perverted themselves. The defeat of perverted religion can only be done by those who know that murdering in the name of religion is a violation of the most sacred teaching of all religions. The defeat of perverted religion can only be done by us, and the beginning of our movement is the simple ability to feel the pain of others. The next step is to shout to the world, "They do not speak for me. Their murderous perversions are not the faith I know." I am often asked by readers who are not Jewish why Jews have suffered so much at the hands of anti-Semites over the centuries and especially during the Holocaust, when one out of every three Jews who were alive on the planet in 1938 (6 million) were murdered by 1945. I try to explain to them that Jew hating is an ancient cancer in the life of Western civilization, but I cannot fully explain why that cancer cannot be cut out totally. It is enough for me to see my questioners cry for my people. Today it must be enough -- dear God I hope it is enough -- for those of us who have been shaken by the vicious attacks in New Zealand and in Sri Lanka and in Pittsburgh and now Poway to cry for the Muslims, Christians and Jews who were murdered by those who thought it was God's will. During the First Crusade in 1096, thousands of Jews were murdered by Crusaders carrying crosses and shouting as they slashed, "Deus vult," which in Latin means, "God wills this." Then and now the cries of the murderers were false, and the cries of the victims were true. God does not will murder. God cries with us and the victims when God's words are twisted and profaned. I must also add in this unusually sad post-Easter week my sadness at the fires inside Notre Dame de Paris, where an 800-year-old Gothic cathedral went up in flames. There is a spiritual magnificence to Gothic Cathedrals that is not merely the consequence of their size but has to do with the awesome fact that they were built to glorify God. Yes, they were also built to glorify kings, but if kings were their only reason, they would surely not move us the way they do. They move us because they remind us that sacred space is as important as sacred time. May next Easter/Passover/Ramadan bring us more peace, far fewer fires and far fewer tears. (Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including "Religion for Dummies," co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman.) (c) 2019 THE GOD SQUAD. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC. NEW YORK (AP) - "The Baby-Sitters Club" will soon be joining the audiobook revolution. More than 100 books in the beloved middle grade series started by Ann M. Martin will be available Aug. 13 in audio editions, the producer and distributor Audible Inc. announced Tuesday. The first five installments will be narrated by Elle Fanning, with other readers including Brittany Pressley and Emily Bauer. Fanning said in a statement that she loved bringing to life the books' "fierce friendships and babysitting adventures." Audio has been a rapidly growing part of the publishing business and Martin said in a statement that she welcomed seeing her work in a "new format for the next generation." "The Baby-Sitters Club," which tells of a circle of friends in Stoneybrook, Connecticut, has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. PEN ARGYL, Pa. (AP) - A mother who was under the influence of drugs when her disabled 2-year-old son drowned in a bathtub has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Michelle Wallace entered her plea Monday as part of a deal with the Northampton County District Attorney's office in Pennsylvania. It calls for the 35-year-old Pen Argyl woman to serve five to 10 years in state prison. The child was found when police went to Wallace's apartment in November 2017 for a welfare check. Officers found her passed out on a couch with a syringe and spoon nearby and also heard water running. After she awoke, disoriented, Wallace went to check the bathroom and emerged with a limp child. Wallace's attorney said his client not only struggles with drugs, but also has mental health problems. CAIRO (AP) - Egypt has sentenced seven Muslim Brotherhood members, including one of the group's top financiers, to life in prison on charges of joining and funding a terrorist group. The Supreme State Security Emergency Court sentenced three others to 10 years, while acquitting 14. The verdicts can be appealed. Those sentenced to life include Hassan Malek, a businessman who owned stores that imported computers and electronics, and his son. The Muslim Brotherhood won a series of elections after the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Mohammed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure, became Egypt's first freely-elected president the following year. The military overthrew Morsi in 2013 amid massive protests against his brief rule. Authorities have since branded the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and arrested thousands of its members. NEWTON, N.C. (AP) - A former sheriff's captain of Catawba County, North Carolina, has pleaded guilty to stalking his ex-girlfriend. News outlets report Jason Reid pleaded guilty Monday to charges including cyberstalking and willful failure to discharge duties. He was sentenced to 20 months of supervised probation and 240 hours of community service. Prosecutors say he placed a sheriff's office tracking device on his ex-girlfriend's car when she started dating someone new. Prosecutors say he would text the woman and tell her he knew where she was. The allegations arose during Reid's campaign to replace his father as the county sheriff. He later lost the race. He was also ordered Monday to avoid contact with the ex-girlfriend and surrender his law enforcement certification and firearms. PRAGUE (AP) - Czech President Milos Zeman has sworn in a new justice minister amid street protests against her appointment. Thousands have ralled in Prague and elsewhere to protest the appointment of Marie Benesova, who they say might compromise the legal system as prosecutors decide whether to indict Prime Minister Andrej Babis over alleged fraud involving European Union funds. Babis denies wrongdoing and his close ally Zeman has repeatedly criticized the prosecution. The justice minister has significant control over the prosecution. As a lawmaker, Benesova voted against a police request to strip Babis of parliamentary immunity to face investigation. The protesters and the opposition say she might try to influence his case. TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) - Authorities say a school bus driver was under the influence of prescription medication when she rear-ended another bus at a southern New Jersey school, injuring several students she was dropping off. Toms River police say Cheryl Rooth was pulling the bus into a parking lot at the Ocean County Vocational Technical School when the accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. Monday. Rooth had 28 students aboard her vehicle, while the bus she struck was unoccupied. Eight students were treated for minor injuries, including three juveniles. But further details were not disclosed. The 57-year-old Manchester woman was a driver for Lacey Township school district. She's charged with driving while intoxicated in a school zone and other counts. It wasn't known Tuesday if Rooth has retained an attorney. Americans paid more for some General Motors vehicles in the first quarter, but overall sales declined and the automaker's results fell short of expectations. GM delivered more than 665,000 vehicles in the U.S. with the highest average prices for any first quarter in its history. Sales of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty trucks rose 20% year from a year ago, priced nearly $5,800 higher than models they replaced. But overall vehicle sales in the U.S. dropped. In North America, sales fell to 775,000 vehicles from 827,000 vehicles. In the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, vehicle sales declined to 947,000 from 1.1 billion. GM has been attacked by President Donald Trump, who sent off a series of tweets last month condemning the automaker for shutting its small-car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, east of Cleveland. Trump demanded that GM reopen the plant or sell it, criticized the local union leader and expressed frustration with CEO Mary Barra. GM did announce plans to add 400 jobs and build a new electric vehicle at a factory north of Detroit. It's also announced plans to spend about another $1.4 billion at U.S. factories but has not released a time frame or details. In addition, GM said Tuesday that it is adding a second shift and more than 400 new jobs at its Bowling Green, Kentucky plant to support production of the next-generation Corvette. In November, GM announced plans to shut the four U.S. factories and one in Canada. That will cost about 3,300 workers in the U.S. their jobs, as well as 2,600 in Canada. Another 8,000 white-collar workers have been targeted for layoffs. The company said cuts are necessary to stay financially healthy as GM faces large capital expenditures as it shifts to electric and autonomous vehicles. FILE- This Jan. 16, 2019, photo shows a Cadillac ATS V in Detroit. General Motors Co. reports financial results Tuesday, April 30. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) For the three months ended March 31, GM earned $2.12 billion, or $1.48 per share. A year earlier it earned $1.03 billion, or 72 cents per share. Removing certain items, earnings were $1.41 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.69 per share. Revenue fell to $34.88 billion from $36.1 billion. Wall Street expected $35.22 billion in revenue. Shares of General Motors Co. dropped 2.8 percent before the market opened. APEX, N.C. (AP) - Authorities in North Carolina say a man killed by Apex police had threatened officers with a shotgun. Police Chief John Letteney tells The News & Observer that 51-year-old Stanley Edward Thompson had called police to his home on Thursday complaining about loud music from a nearby car. Police then received a call from someone who said his 22-year-old son was adjusting a car stereo and was attacked. Police say a sheriff's dog tracked the attacker's scent to Thompson's door, where he greeted officers with a shotgun as thick black smoke billowed behind him. The chief says Thompson refused orders to drop the weapon and instead aimed it at officers while walking toward them. The identity of the officer who killed Thompson has not been released. ___ Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com BALTIMORE (AP) - Jurors will soon begin deliberations in the felony murder trial of a 17-year-old Baltimore boy being tried as an adult for fatally striking a Maryland police officer with a stolen Jeep. Baltimore County officer Amy Caprio died last May while responding to a suspicious vehicle report. Dawnta Harris, then 16, is accused of fatally running over her in a stolen Jeep. Last week, jurors watched Caprio's body-worn camera footage. She could be heard repeatedly ordering Harris out of the car. She drew her pistol and the Jeep slammed into her. The teen's lawyer has described Caprio's death as an "accident." Jurors will begin deliberations after closing arguments Tuesday. Three others, identified as Harris' accomplices, are also facing murder charges. They're accused of burglarizing a home when Caprio was hit. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Authorities in Haiti say they have killed the leader of a gang suspected of fatally shooting five people and injuring seven others last week. Police director Joany Caneus told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Jean Sony died after exchanging gunfire with police in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Sony was known as "Tije" and is suspected of leading the Savane Pistache gang. Prime Minister Jean Michel Lapin said police are still pursuing other suspected gang members. He issued a statement praising Haitians for following authorities' instructions during the operation to capture those responsible for the recent killings in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood. The tragic true story of a 13-year-old Jewish girl who perished in Auschwitz has now been recreated through Instagram. Eva.Stories brings the diary of Eva Heyman to life, depicting how her ordinary teen world was flipped upside down after the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944. Heyman was one of approximately 430,000 Hungarian Jews who were deported to Nazi concentration camps between May 15 and July 9, 1944. She perished in Auschwitz. The project was created by Mati Kovachi, who wanted to bring a new and creative way to share Holocaust stories with younger generations. Scroll down for video The diary of a 13-year-old Holocaust victim has been reimagined for Instagram in an account titled Eva.Stories The Instagram shows Eva's life in 1944 amid World War II, revealing how everything changes once the Nazis invaded Hungary The story also shows the moment Eva is led to the trains that will take her to Auschwitz 'If we want to bring the memory of the Holocaust to the young generation, we have to bring it to where they are. And they're on Instagram,' he said. Kochavi and his daughter Maya have created a series of 70 Instagram stories that chronicle the downward spiral of Heyman's life in the fateful spring of 1944, when the Nazis conquered Hungary. Heyman's tale, produced as a Hollywood-style movie with a cast of foreign actors and a multi-million dollar budget, will stream throughout Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which began at sundown on Wednesday. The installments appear as if Heyman had owned a smartphone during World War II and was using Instagram to broadcast her life updates. It opens with Heyman's happier adolescent experiences, darkening as night falls. 'This is my page for random thoughts, crushes, #BFFS,' Heyman cheerily declares in the beginning of the trailer. 'One day I'll be a famous reporter, but for now I live with my grandparents.' 'I am surrounded by war, but I am always seeing the sun,' she brightly proclaims. Then Nazis tighten their hold on Hungary's Jews, confiscating her family's business, belongings and home, deporting Heyman to the ghetto. 'I don't believe in anything anymore,' she says in one of the last clips. 'All I know is that I want to live. I'll wait until the end of the world, in a small cellar, or a roof or in some secret canny, just as long as they don't kill me. Only that they shall let me live.' In the following story, we see Heyman getting on the train to Auschwitz. The Instagram is based on the story of Eva Heyman (pictured), one of 430,000 Hungarian Jews who were deported to Nazi concentration camps between May 15 and July 9, 1944 The Instagram story begins with Eva telling her followers about her unrequited crush and documenting life living with her grandparents The story's climactic event is timed to follow Israel's two-minute siren that wails nationwide on Thursday, bringing the country to a standstill at 10am, in annual commemoration of Jewish Holocaust victims. Even days before the series' release, the account had amassed over 180,000 followers. One of them was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who posted a video to Instagram on Monday urging Israelis to follow the account and spread stories of survivors via social media in order to 'remind ourselves what we lost in the Holocaust and what was returned to us by the creation of the state of Israel.' Dozens of Holocaust victims kept diaries of their experiences, with the best known work written by Anne Frank. But Eva's Instagram takes a darker turn as we see the Nazis invade Hungary right before her eyes (pictured) We see Eva being forced to wear the Yellow badge. In another clip, we see a man spit at her and call her a 'dirty Jew' The Kochavis pored over scores of the diaries before deciding on Heyman, who, Maya Kochavi said, is the kind of girl 'a modern kid in 2019 could connect to,' with an unrequited middle school crush, family drama and grand ambitions to become a news photographer. They hope Heyman's firsthand account will engage otherwise disinterested or uninformed youth. Yet the concept is not without controversy. While the bulk of the feedback appears to be positive, some critics fear the story, with its internet lingo, hashtags and emojis, risks trivializing Holocaust atrocities. 'A cheapening of the Holocaust compressed into Boomerang,' one Instagram user, Dor Levi, wrote in Hebrew in response to the trailer. He facetiously remarked that 'the place for commemorating the Holocaust and getting the message across is on Instagram, between the butt of a random model and a video of a chocolate cake.' The installments appear as if Heyman had owned a smartphone during World War II and was using Instagram to broadcast her life updates Her story takes a terrifying turn as we see Eva forced into the ghettos and, eventually, the concentration camps Creator Mati Kovachi said he wanted to bring the memory of the Holocaust to the young generation and thus decided to tell Eva's story through Instagram Maya Kochavi said she anticipated backlash. But she defended Instagram as a place where 'lots of very intense and very powerful movements are happening,' with potential to convey history's relevance at a time when anti-Semitism is surging in parts of the world, and Holocaust deniers are amplifying their dangerous messages online. 'It is frightening but quite clear to me. We might be the last generation that really remembers and cares about the Holocaust,' said her father. The Kochavis said that, as part of their work, they found that a tiny fraction of social media conversations about the Holocaust in the US and Europe are between young people. Their research resonates with recent studies by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany revealing significant gaps in Holocaust knowledge among American millennials. As physical relics disintegrate and human memories fade, Eva's Instagram story contributes to a growing push by Holocaust museums and memorials to capture young people's attention with interactive technology, such as video testimonies, apps and holograms. The efforts aim, Maya said, 'to make monumental historical events tangible and relatable,' and to preserve stories of witnesses in perpetuity. WASHINGTON (AP) - Jill Biden says she's been the target of men invading her personal space - as some women have criticized her husband, Joe Biden, for doing. And she says the former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate "is going to have to be a better judge of when people approach him and how he's going to react." Jill Biden told ABC's "Good Morning America" in an interview aired Tuesday that Joe Biden "connects with people" through physical contact, especially from "men and women looking for comfort." She says she kept silent in the past when men were in her "space." But she adds, "Women are in a different place now. We have to honor that." She says if a man invaded her space now she'd "turn around and say, 'What do you think you're doing?'" HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut mayor says a town police officer who fired 13 times at an unarmed couple's car during a traffic stop should be fired. Hamden Mayor Curt Leng told protesters at a town office building Monday evening that he has seen enough evidence to recommend the local police commission fire Devin Eaton, who wounded 22-year-old Stephanie Washington on April 16 in neighboring New Haven. Demonstrators have repeatedly called on officials to fire Eaton and a Yale University police officer also involved in the shooting. Authorities said Eaton and Yale officer Terrance Pollack opened fire when the driver, Paul Witherspoon III, got out of the car abruptly. Witherspoon has said he opened the car door because his window didn't work. Both officers are on paid leave during a state police investigation. 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. A Venezuelan woman shouts slogans in favor of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 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. 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. Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Former Bolivian President Jorge Tuto Quiroga, center, attends a meeting with supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Antonio Ledezma, former mayor of Caracas, waves to supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido during a gathering in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, chairs a Security Council meeting in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Venezuela's self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido gives a thumbs up amid supporters in Altamira Plaza in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Guaido 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 President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) 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, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido took to the streets with activist Leopoldo Lopez and a small contingent of heavily armed troops early Tuesday in a bold and risky call for the military to rise up and oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) NEW YORK (AP) - Early scenes in Rachel Lears' documentary "Knock Down the House" take place far away from the halls of power. At a New York taco and tequila bar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is filling ice buckets in the basement. It's six months before the primary that turned Ocasio-Cortez into a liberal phenomenon. Then trailing far behind in the polls, few expected her to win the race for New York's 14th district and unseat incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, who had served for two decades and hadn't faced a primary challenger in 14 years. "If I were, like, a normal, rational person, I would have dropped out of this race a long time ago," she says riding an elevator with sanitary gloves on her hands. "Knock Down the House ," which premieres on Netflix on Wednesday, is, in movie lingo, an origin story. But while it has come to be known as "the AOC documentary," it captures a wider political movement. Shot over two years in the lead-up to the 2018 elections, it follows four progressive insurgent candidates, all women, running grassroots campaigns: the Bronx-born Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia. One of them - you might have heard - won. "They were all considered long shots. We were looking for people that would be very compelling to watch, no matter what happened," Lears said in an interview. "We were very interested in races that would involve political machines and very entrenched power structures. We were interested in exploring the nature of power in the United States." This image released by Netflix shows Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a scene from the documentary "Knock Down the House," premiering May 1 on Netflix. (Netflix via AP) The attention surrounding Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, has raised the profile of "Knock Down the House." It won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival, where Netflix acquired it for $10 million - the biggest documentary sale ever at the festival. And given the intense partisan divisions around Ocasio-Cortez, "Knock Down the House" has also been used against the congresswoman by some. The filmmakers have had to combat falsehoods that Ocasio-Cortez profited from the Netflix sale (documentary subjects generally aren't paid). Still, Ocasio-Cortez has said she's been approached on the House floor about how much she made from the film. On Monday, Kellyanne Conway criticized Ocasio-Cortez on Fox News' "Hannity" for promoting "Knock Down the House" on Twitter the day after the Sri Lanka Easter bombings. (Ocasio-Cortez responded that Conway was "using this as an excuse to stoke suspicion around my Christianity.") "There is a lot of speculation about what the film is," said Lears. "I look forward to it being out there and people can decide for themselves." Ocasio-Cortez, who declined to comment for this article, was unable to attend the film's Sundance premiere in January, citing complications due to the government shutdown. "Some might be assuming that this is her personal project, and that's not true at all," said Lears. "We had complete editorial independence." Those expecting a glossy political advertisement may be surprised to find something far more personal in "Knock Down the House." The main thrust of the film is capturing the struggles of working-class women challenging the establishment, navigating the often painful process of stepping into public life and battling far larger, and far better bankrolled political machines. The candidates are backed by the political action committees Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, groups that were Lears' gateway to the four candidates. But the candidates are inexperienced political outsiders motivated to run by personal experience. Bush is a nurse and ordained pastor. Swearengin comes from a long line of coal miners, several of whom died from black lung disease. Swearengin unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat and defender of the coal industry in West Virginia. In the documentary Swearengin summarizes her opposition: "If another country came in here, blew up our mountains and poisoned our water, we'd go to war. But industry can." Vilela, a Nevada businesswoman, entered politics after the death of her daughter, Shalynne. She died at age 22 of a massive pulmonary embolism weeks after being turned away from an ER for lacking insurance. Running on a platform of universal health care, Vilela lost to Democrat Steven Horsford. "People right now don't understand the basis of the film, or the basis of why we ran," said Vilela. "This movie is about what is to go against the system and it's not just a Democrat thing. It's across party lines. It's money in politics." One of the film's most vivid moments comes when a devastated Vilela, faced with election day tallies that eliminate her long-odds bid, falls to her knees and bursts into tears. "I was like: And now more people will die," said Vilela. "And I couldn't save them like I couldn't save my daughter." Vilela said she will run for office again. And she guarantees Republicans will watch "Knock Down the House." "People are going to secretly go and watch this movie. They're ranting about it online. They're not going to be able to resist," she said. "I think it will humanize what we're doing. Hopefully, we won't be so scary to them, and they'll understand where we're coming from." Lears was there to document a happier election night for Ocasio-Cortez, and the documentary's final moments track the Congresswoman's giddy arrival in Washington D.C. But, to her, "Knock Down the House" isn't about winning. "It's a testament to the value of trying to be part of the democratic process," said Lears, "no matter what the outcome." ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP This image released by Netflix shows Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a scene from the documentary "Knock Down the House," premiering May 1 on Netflix. (Netflix via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - Nevada lawmakers said Wednesday that senators should end a renewed effort to create a national nuclear-waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain because the ensuing political battle would only delay a permanent solution to the country's nuclear waste storage problem. Pledging to ensure that "not an ounce of nuclear waste makes it to Yucca Mountain," Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, told lawmakers that continuing to push for that site over her state's objections would "waste decades and billions of taxpayer dollars." Cortez Masto spoke at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as it reviewed legislation by the chairman, Sen. John Barrasso, aimed at reviving the stalled plan for a permanent nuclear waste site in Nevada. "I would like to find bipartisan agreement to move legislation to get our nuclear waste program back on track," said Barrasso, R-Wyo. Congress directed the Energy Department in 1982 to study whether the Nevada site was suitable as a repository. Plans called for burying tens of thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel stored at U.S. power plants and research facilities. President George W. Bush gave the go-ahead for the Yucca dump in 2002. Opposition from Nevada, including arguments that seismic activity and an Air Force test and training range in the area make Yucca Mountain unworkable for safe radioactive storage, shelved the effort. President Donald Trump's budgets have requested restarting the licensing process for the site. Anthony O'Donnell of Maryland's Public Service Commission urged Congress to move forward, saying utility ratepayers have paid billions of additional dollars to deal with nuclear waste disposal since Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) to resolve the matter decades ago. "A good case can be made that we are in a worse situation on spent nuclear fuel management and disposal than when the NWPA was passed," O'Donnell said. Some Democrats and environmental groups argued it was time to find a way to make the permanent repository an attractive offer for some other state. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said supporters were perpetuating a "Yucca Mountain fantasy land." He spoke of communities around the country hosting temporary nuclear waste storage sites while federal officials sought a solution. "Continuing to present that Yucca Mountain is a viable," he said, "only makes it more likely that it will be those communities left holding" the bill. 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. In this photo released by the Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, center, flanked by Venezuela's Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, right, and the President of the Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello, left, speaks during a televised national message at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido and jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez took to the streets with a small contingent of armed troops early Tuesday in a call for the military to rise up and oust President Maduro. (Miraflores Press Office via AP) 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. 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. In this photo released by the Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, left, flanked by Venezuela's Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, second left, Commander of Strategic Operations Adm. Remigio Ceballos, third from left, and Venezuela's Army Gen. Jose Ornelas, right, speaks during a televised national message at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido and jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez took to the streets with a small contingent of armed troops early Tuesday in a call for the military to rise up and oust President Maduro. (Miraflores Press Office via AP) CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - An armed Missouri man accused of threatening President Donald Trump during a traffic stop in West Virginia was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in jail. Eric Leonardo Charron of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty in Preston County Magistrate Court to reckless driving and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He was given credit for 36 days served. State police said Charron was going 130 mph (209 kph) on Interstate 68 when he was pulled over March 27 near Bruceton Mills. Trooper D.W. Satterfield said in a criminal complaint that the 42-year-old Charron claimed to be running late to a dinner with Trump and also wanted "to meet with the leader of the Army to return a phone." When he asked Charron whether he had any explosives, the suspect replied, "not a whole lot." Charron was then asked to exit the vehicle, and Satterfield said the remote key for the trunk did not work. Charron said that he had tampered with the fuses in an effort "to keep the CIA from listening to him through the radio," the complaint said. FILE - This photo provided by West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Eric Leonardo Charron. The armed Missouri man accused of threatening President Donald Trump during a traffic stop in West Virginia has been sentenced to 90 days in jail. Charron of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Preston County Magistrate Court to reckless driving and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He was given credit for 36 days served. (West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP, File) A vehicle search turned up a handgun, 300 rounds of ammunition and gunpowder. Also found were manuscripts written by Charron containing subjects ranging from levitating watercraft and time travel to mythical creatures. Charron also said he received his invitation to the White House through "special hearing" which "would tell him to do bad things once he arrived at the White House or The Pentagon," according to the complaint. Charron's pupils were dilated despite standing outside his car in bright conditions. When asked whether he had consumed any narcotics, Charron admitted using methamphetamine regularly, Satterfield said. Satterfield said he didn't notice any luggage in the vehicle and that Charron told him he had left his residence the previous night and drove nearly 13 hours. LONDON (AP) - The Latest on Britain firing its defense minister (all times local): 7:10 p.m. Gavin Williamson, the U.K. defense chief fired for leaking security information, has denied any involvement in the leak from a secret government meeting about the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei. In a letter posted on his Twitter account, Williamson says he was confident that a formal and thorough inquiry would vindicate him. He says he appreciated being offered a chance 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." In a letter to Williamson, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she "can no longer have full confidence" in Williamson in the wake of the investigation. In the letter released by her office, May told Williamson that there was "compelling evidence" suggesting his "responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure" from the National Security Council. ___ 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) 5:55 p.m. British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson has been summarily fired after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. In a letter Wednesday to the 42-year-old Williamson, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she "can no longer have full confidence" in Williamson in the wake of the investigation. In the letter released by Downing St., May told Williamson that there was "compelling evidence" suggesting his "responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure" from the National Security Council. Williamson denied he was the source of the leak in a letter posted on Twitter. Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, has been appointed as Williamson's replacement. She becomes the first woman to hold the post. An investigation was launched last week after British newspapers reported that the security council, which meets in private, had agreed to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain's new 5G wireless communications network. The government insists no decision has been made about Huawei. 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 this grab taken from video, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May gestures as she gives evidence to the Liaison Select Committee, in the House of Commons, London, Wednesday May 1, 2019. (House of Commons/PA via AP) MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Immigrants and their supporters converged Wednesday on the Wisconsin Capitol to rally for Gov. Tony Evers' proposal that would make driver's licenses available to people who are living in the country illegally. Many at the rally carried signs that read "Driver's Licenses for All" and called on Republican legislative leaders to reach a compromise with Evers and pass his proposal. The event, part of the annual nationwide May 1 day of action, attracted 4,000 to the Capitol, based on an estimate from Madison police. If approved, Wisconsin would join 12 other states that currently provide driver's licenses to immigrants living in the country illegally. "We are standing and marching today with our families, friends, co-workers and people we don't even know to demand driver's licenses for people in Wisconsin and across this country," said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of the rally's organizer, Voces de la Frontera. The immigrants' rights group said tens of thousands of people were on strike Wednesday, and more than 175 Wisconsin businesses closed, as part of the effort to show the economic impact Latinos have both in the state and across the country. Neumann-Ortiz and others who spoke in support, including the mayor and police chief of Madison, said it was an economic and social justice issue, and about keeping roads safe. People crowd the steps of the Capitol during the Day Without Latinxs' rally Wednesday, May 1, 2019 in Madison, Wis. Thousands of people showed upon to rally and march in support of Gov. Tony Evers' proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Buses from 17 Wisconsin cities brought people to Madison for the event. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP) "I want driver's licenses for all!" said Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said on the steps of the Capitol as the thousands listening cheered. "So I hope the Legislature is listening. We want a hearing." Republican legislative leaders are not supportive. "Immigrants do indeed make Wisconsin stronger," Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke tweeted in response to an Evers tweet praising the rally. "Illegal immigrants however, are breaking the law and we should not validate that by extending privileges." Evers said Tuesday his proposal to make the licenses available is common sense, but he also expects Republicans who control the Legislature to block it. The proposal is part of Evers' two-year budget, but he said he thinks it will be one of the first items removed by Republicans. Immigrants without proper documentation could receive driver's licenses in Wisconsin until 2007. That's when the Legislature changed the law to require residents to prove they were in the United States legally. Evers ran in support of making the driver's licenses available as well as allowing immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to pay in-state tuition. Republicans oppose the in-state tuition plan, which is also in Evers' budget, a version of which they stripped from state law in 2011. If the driver's license proposal is removed from the budget, Evers said it will be introduced as a separate bill. As envisioned by Evers, the IDs given to people here illegally could not be used for voting. Numerous groups are behind the idea, including the Dairy Business Association, which Evers said he thinks will help convince resistant Republicans. Getting Evers to propose in-state tuition and driver's licenses for all immigrants is a partial victory, Neumann-Ortiz said. "We now have to organize statewide, wider and deeper than ever before," she said. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP A marcher cheers during the Day Without Latins' rally Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at the Capitol in Madison, Wis. Thousands of people showed upon to rally and march in support of Gov. Tony Evers' proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Buses from 17 Wisconsin cities brought people to Madison for the event. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP) Supporters of immigrant rights rally outside the Wisconsin state Capitol in support of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' proposal to make driver's licenses available to people living in the country illegally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Madison, Wis.. The event was one of many happening across the country to demonstrate the economic power of Hispanics and draw attention to issues of concern. . (AP Photo/Scott Bauer) Supporters of immigrant rights rally outside the Wisconsin state Capitol in support of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' proposal to make driver's licenses available to people living in the country illegally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Madison, Wis.. The event was one of many happening across the country to demonstrate the economic power of Hispanics and draw attention to issues of concern. . (AP Photo/Scott Bauer) Supporters of immigrant rights rally outside the Wisconsin state Capitol in support of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' proposal to make driver's licenses available to people living in the country illegally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Madison, Wis.. The event was one of many happening across the country to demonstrate the economic power of Hispanics and draw attention to issues of concern. . (AP Photo/Scott Bauer) Mayra Rios of Waukesha, front left, protests at the Wisconsin Capitol Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of immigrants and their supporters converged on the Wisconsin Capitol to urge Republican support for making driver's licenses available to all, including people living in the country illegally. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway speaks to the crowd in Spanish at the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of immigrants and their supporters converge on the Wisconsin Capitol Wednesday to urge Republican support for making driver's licenses available to all, including people living in the country illegally. The Day Without Latinos & Immigrants was held Wednesday, May 1, 2019 on the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) Thousands of immigrants and their supporters converge on the Wisconsin Capitol Wednesday, May 1, 2019, to urge Republican support for making driver's licenses available to all, including people living in the country illegally. The Day Without Latinos & Immigrants was held Wednesday, May 1, 2019 on the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) Alejandro Agustin, left, and Maria Jardon, of Waukesha demonstrate during the protest at the Wisconsin Capitol Wednesday, May 1, 2019, to urge Republican support for making driver's licenses available to all, including people living in the country illegally. The Day Without Latinos & Immigrants was held Wednesday, May 1, 2019 on the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) Thousands of immigrants and their supporters converge on the Wisconsin Capitol Wednesday, May 1, 2019, to urge Republican support for making driver's licenses available to all, including people living in the country illegally. The Day Without Latinos & Immigrants was held Wednesday, May 1, 2019 on the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) Eloy Garcia, left, and Miguel Isidro, of Fort Atkinson protest at the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of immigrants and their supporters converged on the Wisconsin Capitol to urge Republican support for making driver's licenses available to all, including people living in the country illegally. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP) RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Education officials in Brazil's far-right government say they are slashing university funding 30%, a move at least partly motivated by complaints about partisan activities on campus. Education Minister Abraham Weintraub first told the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo on Tuesday that he had cut the budget of three federal universities - Brasilia, Bahia and Fluminense - because of their ideological stance and poor performance. Weintraub complained about political events, partisan demonstrations and other events that he said are inappropriate for a university, though he did not give specific examples, according to the newspaper. "The university must have a surplus of money to be making such a mess and organizing ridiculous events," Weintraub said. "I can cut and, unfortunately, need to cut from somewhere," he added, saying it was part of a broader administration effort to reduce public spending. University staff and education experts denounced the ideological nature of the decision. Some said the move was unconstitutional. Later in the day, Arnaldo Barbosa de Lima Junior, the ministry's chief of higher education, told Globo TV that the budget cuts would actually be made equally across all universities and institutes linked to the ministry. He also said the ministry was looking into establishing "parameters" that would allow some universities to get smaller budget cuts. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro smiles 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) The move could affect nearly 300 public universities, faculties and other educational institutes, according to a 2017 higher education census. University officials said the cuts would likely affect scholarships, utility services and maintenance. The Fluminense Federal University said the funding move, if confirmed, "will have serious consequences for the full functioning of the university". All three institutions named by Weintraub are among Brazil's top 20 universities, according to various listings, including the Times Higher Education's World University Ranking. This is not the first time that the ministry's officials have taken aim at Brazil's public education sector, which the new administration believes to be ridden with "Marxist ideology." President Jair Bolsonaro recently tweeted that funding for sociology and philosophy studies could be eliminated. In a note sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Education Ministry said it was studying various criteria "such as the academic performance of universities and the impact of courses offered in the labor market." During the campaign, Bolsonaro said he wanted to "enter the Education Ministry with a flamethrower to remove Paulo Freire," referring to the late Brazilian educator whose ideas - derided by critics as Marxist - had worldwide influence. DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - The Latest on flooding along the Mississippi River (all times local): 4:51 p.m. A day after floodwaters broke through a temporary barrier in downtown Davenport, Iowa, cities downstream along the Mississippi river that have remained largely dry are preparing for a flood threat that could stretch into the summer. The river is expected to reach rare heights in Missouri, including at the cities of St. Louis, Louisiana and Clarksville, and officials are scrambling to get ahead of the worst of it. The Memorial Bridge connecting Quincy, Illinois, and West Quincy, Missouri, closed Wednesday, and the Champ Clark Bridge at Louisiana could also be forced to close if the water gets too high. Several roads along the river have already closed on both sides of the Mississippi. Hannibal, Missouri has a levee that protects the boyhood home of Mark Twain and historic 19th century downtown buildings. But with heavy rain expected in the coming days, 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. 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) ___ 4:24 p.m. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to survey flood damage at Davenport and get an updated report on Mississippi River flooding. Reynolds says she'll make the trip to Davenport in eastern Iowa on Friday. She also says the presidential disaster declaration approved last month in the wake of devastating floods in western Iowa is still open, which likely will allow Davenport to qualify for federal funding to help people in the recovery process. Reynolds says she's stressed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that Iowa is "really vulnerable right now." She says initial damage estimates of $1.6 billion from last month's flooding along the Missouri River are likely to grow. ___ 1:50 p.m. Officials in Davenport say the risk of more flooding will hound Iowa's third-largest city for at least a month, as the possibility of a rainy spring could push an already swollen Mississippi River higher out of its banks. Public Works director Nicole Gleason says floodwaters that swamped a couple of blocks of downtown Davenport on Tuesday are not expected to get worse in the coming days. The river is expected to crest later Wednesday at an estimated 22.4 feet (6.83 meters), just short of a record crest set at Davenport in 1993. Gleason says the longer the region can go without rain, the quicker the waters will recede. But she and other officials expect the river to remain bloated from heavy rains and snowmelt earlier this year as the region heads into what is typically a wet stretch of spring. ___ 7 a.m. A meteorologist says there's not much risk of rainfall heavy enough to further raise the Mississippi River flood threat in eastern Iowa. A temporary flood barrier failed in Davenport on Tuesday, submerging downtown blocks and forcing some people to seek shelter on rooftops. They later were evacuated by boats. Davenport City Administrator Corri Spiegel declined to comment early Wednesday about any overnight developments. Scattered showers are in the forecast for Wednesday, but National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Gibbs said chances of a thunderstorm system that could bring heavy rain are "pretty low." The service isn't warning of severe weather upstream either. The river is expected to crest Wednesday evening or overnight at 22.4 feet (6.83 meters) in Davenport, short of the record crest of 22.6 feet (6.9 meters) set in July 1993. 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) - 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 raised dozens of issues 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." 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 some 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. Sanders, I-Vt., pushed back, telling reporters that what's really disruptive is that millions of Americans remain uninsured while others can't afford high co-pays and drug prices. "That is disruptive," said Sanders. "What is not disruptive is expanding Medicare, which is a very popular and cost-effective program to guarantee health care for every man, woman and child." Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at Discovery Green on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, in Houston. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP) The Democratic presidential candidate's single-payer proposal is coloring the nomination fight and is likely to be a significant theme in the 2020 elections. President Donald Trump derides it as "socialism." 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. 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." Other potentially difficult choices flagged in the report included: - Coverage for people living in the country without legal permission, which CBO called "a key design issue." Sanders' bill and its House counterpart would cover all U.S. residents, leaving it to a future administration to define that term. - Payment for long-term care services, which CBO said could substantially increase government costs. Sanders and House counterparts would cover long-term care. - Use of a government-set "global budget" to control cost, a strategy CBO said is "barely used" in the U.S. Programs like Medicare and Medicaid rely on other approaches. 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, said CBO. Or lawmakers could borrow, adding to the overhang of national debt. Several independent studies of Sanders' plan have estimated it would dramatically increase government spending, from $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over 10 years. But supporters say the expense could be much lower if expected savings are factored in. 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. 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. . OLCOTT, N.Y. (AP) - Crews will use sandbags and temporary dams to prepare for potential flooding along Lake Ontario, where rising waters caused extensive damage in 2017, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a visit to the area Wednesday. The worst of the flooding from heavy rain and snow melt is predicted to begin within a week, according to emergency management officials who met with Cuomo during his visit to Olcott in Niagara County. Meanwhile, members of the New York National Guard are on standby as local and state agencies closely monitor rising water levels, especially in areas vulnerable to floods. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Ontario has risen a foot in the past month and is likely to rise another 11 inches (27 centimeters) over the next month. A particular concern Wednesday was making sure runoff pipes that drain into the lake don't back up, causing problems inland. Cuomo repeated a complaint about the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada entity that controls outflows from the lake into the St. Lawrence River. He said the agency has not done enough to protect New York property owners, especially since the 2017 flood, which cost the state $100 million in recovery funding. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, third left, walks a low lying street in Olcott, N.Y., Wednesday, May 1, 2019, with Niagara County Director of Emergency Services Jonathan Schultz, left, Newfane Town Supervisor Timothy Horanburg, second left, and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. Cuomo discussed offering state assistance as the levels of Lake Ontario rose. (James Neiss/The Union-Sun & Journal via AP) "This is not a sustainable situation. We can't go through this every year," Cuomo said. "The IJC has to figure out a better way to manage the water, period." A message left with the commission Wednesday was not immediately returned. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo visits Olcott, N.Y., Wednesday, May 1, 2019, as the area prepares for levels on Lake Ontario to rise. The worst of the flooding from heavy rain and snow melt is predicted to begin within a week, according to emergency management officials who met with Cuomo during his visit to Niagara County. (James Neiss/The Union-Sun & Journal via AP) CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing hearing in the Chicago terrorism case of Adel Daoud. (all times local): 2:20 p.m. A 25-year-old who sought to detonate a car bomb outside a crowded Chicago bar has apologized during a sentencing hearing for agreeing to the terrorism plot, saying he no longer harbors a desire to kill. Adel Daoud stood in orange jail clothes and leg chains in Chicago federal court Wednesday, telling his judge he listened this week in disbelief to secret FBI recordings of him talking about killing non-Muslims. He said he kept asking himself, "Can that really be me?" Daoud was arrested in a 2012 FBI sting after trying to ignite the bomb he believed would kill hundreds. Undercover agents supplied the fake bomb. Wednesday concluded a three-day sentencing focused on whether agents manipulated a mentally fragile Daoud. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said she'll take until Monday to mull over a sentence and announced it then. FILE - This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Marshals office shows Chicago terrorism suspect Adel Daoud. Prosecutors and defense lawyers have recommended starkly different sentences for the 25-year-old convicted terrorist whose multi day sentencing hearing starts Monday. In Friday, April 26, 2019 court filings, prosecutors requested a 40-year prison term for Daoud, arrested in a 2012 FBI sting after trying to detonate what he believed was a real bomb by a crowded Chicago bar. The defense wants him released by 2021 or earlier, as soon as a treatment program for his mental health needs can be developed. (U.S. Marshals office via AP, File) ___ 12 a.m. A multiday sentencing hearing is wrapping up for a suburban Chicago man convicted of terrorism for trying to detonate what he thought was a powerful bomb next to a crowded bar. After two days of testimony for the prosecution, attorneys for 25-year-old Adel Daoud get their chance Wednesday to call witnesses as they seek leniency for their client. Daoud entered an Alford plea in November. Daoud is accused of trying to ignite the fake bomb in downtown Chicago in 2012 when he was 18. The device was provided by undercover agents as part of an elaborate FBI sting. Prosecutors want a 40-year prison term for Daoud. The defense says agents manipulated a mentally fragile Daoud. They say that he should be released as soon as a mental health treatment program can be developed for him. DENVER (AP) - The company that owns a semitrailer involved in a fiery pileup that killed four people near Denver had two trucks taken out of service for brake-related issues in the past year, including one about two months before the Colorado crash. Federal records say a March 6 inspection in Texas found that one of the five trucks owned by Houston-based Castellano 03 Trucking did not have adequate brake tubing or hoses, a violation that required the truck to be pulled off the road and fixed. In August, another Castellano truck was taken out of service for chafing or kinking of a brake hose or tubing, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records. Investigators have not released the license number of the semitrailer in the Colorado crash, so it's not yet known if it had been pulled from service. Its driver, 23-year-old Rogel Lazaro Aguilera Mederos of Houston, told investigators the brakes failed. No one answered phone calls Wednesday to the trucking company, FILE - In this April 26, 2019, file photo, workers clear debris on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colo., from a pileup involving a semitrailer hauling lumber that killed four people. The driver of the truck told investigators that his brakes were not working. The Texas company that owns the semitrailer had two different trucks temporarily taken out of service for brake-related problems in the last year, according to federal safety records. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) The records show the company had a total of 30 vehicle and driver violations resulting from 19 inspections over a two-year period for which records are available. Other brake-related problems involved three violations each for having an out-of-adjustment clamp or roto-type brake and for having an automatic airbrake adjustment system that fails to compensate for wear. However, the two violations involving brake tubing and hoses were the only ones that required trucks to be temporarily taken out of service. The company's out-of-service rate was just above the national average of 20.7 percent, the records say. Other violations noted in the records included a damaged securement system for loads and insufficient tire tread. Problems with drivers involved not stopping for a traffic light and not understanding highway traffic signs and signals in English. The Colorado crash occurred April 25 on Interstate 70 just after it descends from the mountains. The pileup involved 28 vehicles and multiple explosions. Investigators allege that the truck had passed a sign alerting drivers about a ramp for runaway vehicles 2,000 feet (609.6 meters) ahead that enables vehicles to safely stop. They say the truck had a "free and unobstructed path" to the ramp off the side of the highway but instead swerved away from it. Aguilera Mederos remains in custody on suspicion of vehicular homicide. He is scheduled to appear in court Friday, when prosecutors could announce charges against him. His lawyer, Robert Corry, said the crash was an accident and Aguilera Mederos has fully cooperated with investigators. "He cannot really even wrap his head around how awful it is. It's going to stick with him for the rest of his life," Corry said. About 4,000 people are killed in the U.S. in crashes involving trucks each year. Crashes in which trucks cannot stop in time to avoid hitting slowed or stopped traffic are common according to Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety. "Sadly, it's a scenario we have seen play out time and time again," said Peter Kurdock, general counsel for the Washington-based group. ___ Associated Press writer Kathleen Foody in Denver contributed to this report. Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ May 1 The Charlotte Observer on a mass shooting on the campus of UNC-Charlotte: It's our turn, Charlotte, to live the nightmare. It's our turn to see the breaking news email about gunfire, to feel the notification buzz on our phone, to be jolted that our city is included in the next words we read. It's our turn to watch aerial footage of places we've walked, to watch video loops of cautious police leading students we might know. It's our turn to pray that we don't know the victims or shooter, then to pray for those who do. It's our turn to see tweets from our public officials who are "shocked and saddened," from our governor who is en route to the scene, from our members of Congress who are "monitoring the situation." It's our turn to have Gabby Giffords send her sorrow our way. It's our turn to type tweets or Facebook posts about students who went to class like every other student, about holding your child a little tighter tonight, and feel it a little more intimately this time. It's our turn to wonder what on earth we can do to change this, to wonder if better school security or mental health awareness or anything might stop this plague of gun violence. It's our turn to hope that this shooting might be that catalyst for change, perhaps even locally or with state lawmakers. It's our turn to realize that it won't, that we're no different than Red Lake or Santa Fe or so many others. Except some things are different now. It's our turn to see that networks aren't breaking in to programming to cover this school shooting, that Twitter isn't putting snark on hold, that national newspapers aren't going to put this tragedy on their front pages. It's our turn to realize that if that notification on our phone was about gunfire in another city, we too might have mentally swiped it away. It's our turn to understand that it's no longer big news when someone walks into a classroom and starts firing, that mass shootings happen with such regularity that they've become more like all the other shootings with all the other guns. It's our turn to also understand that "thoughts and prayers" from Republicans have worked, just not the way we want. They've worked as a stall and diversion, a way to say something without having to say anything, until the next shooting happens and everyone moves on. Because everyone does move on now. And they will again, more quickly each time. This is the new nightmare - that we've become deadened to the worst in us because it no longer feels like the worst. It's just who we are, and it's our turn to live it. Online: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/ ___ April 30 The Washington Post on unrest in Venezuela: Deep uncertainty surrounds the latest events in Venezuela. Tuesday began with a pre-dawn recorded address to the public by interim president Juan Guaido, who stood with members of the security forces at a Caracas air base and declared that a long-anticipated barracks uprising against the regime of Nicolas Maduro had begun. Accompanying Mr. Guaido was opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, apparently released from his four-year detention by defecting guards. Venezuelans responded to Mr. Guaido's call for street protests and were met by troops loyal to Mr. Maduro. By late afternoon, clashes were taking place, regime officials were promising a decisive "counterattack," and there was no way to know whether "Operation Liberty," as Mr. Guaido dubbed this high-risk move, would succeed or be crushed - or devolve into civil war. 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 re-election 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. Therefore, whatever its ultimate outcome or, indeed, its strategic wisdom, Tuesday's uprising is not a "coup attempt," as the Maduro regime, echoed by too many people abroad, calls it. Rather, it is the latest in a series of legitimate and, for the most part, nonviolent efforts by Venezuelans, both civilian and military, to throw off an oppressive, toxic regime so that they can freely elect a legitimate government. Supporters of freedom and democracy should stand in solidarity with Mr. Guaido and the many thousands of Venezuelans now bravely asserting their rights. The Trump administration has backed Mr. Guaido, including - appropriately - through the use of tough new economic sanctions aimed at pressuring the Maduro regime to cede power, or persuading the Venezuelan military to oust him itself. Possibly, Tuesday's events are a sign that Mr. Trump's policy is succeeding; or, possibly, that there is nothing left of it but desperate measures. A hopeful sign was the immediate and unequivocal backing Mr. Guaido received from six South American nations, including Venezuela's four largest neighbors: Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Peru. By working closely with these countries, and not by intervening militarily, the Trump administration may increase the chances that Mr. Lopez's declaration Tuesday - "It's time to conquer freedom" - proves out. Online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ___ April 30 The New York Times on anti-Semitism and a political cartoon it recently published: The Times published an appalling political cartoon in the opinion pages of its international print edition late last week. It portrayed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as a dog wearing a Star of David on a collar. He was leading President Trump, drawn as a blind man wearing a skullcap. The cartoon was chosen from a syndication service by a production editor who did not recognize its anti-Semitism. Yet however it came to be published, the appearance of such an obviously bigoted cartoon in a mainstream publication is evidence of a profound danger - not only of anti-Semitism but of numbness to its creep, to the insidious way this ancient, enduring prejudice is once again working itself into public view and common conversation. Anti-Semitic imagery is particularly dangerous now. The number of assaults against American Jews more than doubled from 2017 to 2018, rising to 39, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League. On Saturday, a gunman opened fire during Passover services at a synagogue in San Diego County, killing one person and injuring three, allegedly after he posted in an online manifesto that he wanted to murder Jews. For decades, most American Jews felt safe to practice their religion, but now they pass through metal detectors to enter synagogues and schools. Jews face even greater hostility and danger in Europe, where the cartoon was created. In Britain, one of several members of Parliament who resigned from the Labour Party in February said that the party had become "institutionally anti-Semitic." In France and Belgium, Jews have been the targets of terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists. Across Europe, right-wing parties with long histories of anti-Semitic rhetoric are gaining political strength. 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 Israel's 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. In the 1930s and the 1940s, The Times was largely silent as anti-Semitism rose up and bathed the world in blood. That failure still haunts this newspaper. Now, rightly, The Times has declared itself "deeply sorry" for the cartoon and called it "unacceptable." Apologies are important, but the deeper obligation of The Times is to focus on leading through unblinking journalism and the clear editorial expression of its values. Society in recent years has shown healthy signs of increased sensitivity to other forms of bigotry, yet somehow anti-Semitism can often still be dismissed as a disease gnawing only at the fringes of society. That is a dangerous mistake. As recent events have shown, it is a very mainstream problem. As the world once again contends with this age-old enemy, it is not enough to refrain from empowering it. It is necessary to stand in opposition. Online: https://www.nytimes.com/ ___ April 29 China Daily on China's domestic agenda: When President Xi Jinping outlined China's to-do list at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on Friday, many foreign listeners started taking notes. People familiar with China's domestic agenda may marvel at the extent to which its domestic policy discourse - ranging from innovation, green development and sustainability to anti-corruption and transparency - has captured such a global audience. But it is hard for foreign participants not to be grabbed by the relevance that Xi's proposals have to their respective nations, whether that be improving people's livelihoods or cultivating growth drivers. Interestingly, what sounds domestic to China sounds global to other countries, and vice versa. Because what China has been doing since the late 1970s - opening its door wider to foreign investment, welcoming foreign trade, and strengthening intellectual property protection - has over the years acquired increasingly more global significance. That China has come to such a stage in its development that foreign competition is a welcome spur to its economic restructuring and industrial upgrading necessarily means it has to coordinate its inbound and outbound efforts on a single chessboard. Many developed countries have experienced this stage. But none could boast of such a complete industrial structure and such a huge population as China. And, since starting from scratch 70 years ago, China has not sought - nor will it seek - development based on the enslaving or exploitation of other countries. China's rise offers unprecedented opportunities to the world. Both the developed and developing countries can find partners in China, as well as sources of investment and technology. And the Belt and Road Initiative is a means to materialize the opportunities into concrete benefits. Neither a sea nor big river selects the streams that flow into it. And without the water that flows from these, they will dry up, no matter how big they are, Xi said, calling on countries to remove institutional obstacles and break any cliques they may have formed. The symbiosis of countries that Xi envisions, which is embodied by the Belt and Road Initiative, explains why the forum - or the initiative, to be more precise - can attract nearly 5,000 participants from over 150 countries at various development stages and 29 international organizations. And why, when Xi touched on some problems and challenges, the participants all shared similar expressions of concern. The popularity of the initiative and how far it has progressed since the first forum two years ago, shows that the canards - such as it being merely a geopolitical tool or a creator of "debt traps" - have already been disposed of. For the foundation on which the Belt and Road is being built is trust. The reality is that, whether between people or countries, a promise kept is worth more than any amount of gold. Online: http://global.chinadaily.com.cn ___ April 28 The San Diego Union-Tribune on a shooting at a California synagogue: Saturday's horrific shooting at the Chabad of Poway on the last day of the sacred Jewish holiday of Passover - for which a 19-year-old college student from Rancho Penasquitos is expected to be charged - left Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, dead and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 57, Almog Peretz, 34, and Noya Dahan, 8, with injuries they will survive but never forget. There could have been more victims had the gunman's assault-style rifle not apparently jammed. It was a gut-wrenching reminder to San Diegans that our community is afflicted by the same roiling hatred seen across the nation and the world, especially since the act of terror was foreshadowed by another, a failed attempt to burn down the Islamic Center of Escondido on March 24, reportedly by the synagogue gunman himself. The heroism of Gilbert-Kaye, who took bullets seemingly intended for Goldstein, and of Goldstein, who delivered a sermon after the gunman fled despite his wounds, should be lasting memories from Saturday's tragedy. So should the immediate response of law enforcement. So should the rapid outpouring of sympathy and grief from so many of our region's churches and civic groups, and the condolences they offered to Gilbert-Kaye's family and friends. But what happened in Poway - and the killings in churches and elsewhere in Sri Lanka on Easter, at Islamic centers in New Zealand last month and at a synagogue in Pittsburgh six months ago, which reportedly inspired the gunman - demand introspection. The easy dissemination of hate through technology seems to have made irrational "fear of the other" - the belief that those who look differently or who have different views and priorities are malign threats - more common than ever. This is reflected in government statistics showing a surge in hate crimes, most of which are anti-Jewish, against religious and racial minorities. Yet the gunman reportedly had no previous criminal history, and one family friend expressed shock at news of his involvement and his anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim views. This is alarming evidence that online, the most disturbed among us have found secret echo chambers that embolden them. So what can be done? Poway Mayor Steve Vaus offered a powerful and appropriate sentiment on Saturday: "This is not Poway," he declared. "We always walk with our arms around each other, and we will walk through this tragedy with our arms around each other." But as Rabbi Goldstein said Sunday: "Everyone needs to step up and do something in the face of terror." A good start is to be more determined than ever. To limit troubled individuals' access to guns. To try to understand those with different views. To appreciate how much we have in common. To show solidarity with and empathy for our neighbors. To recognize the importance of fellowship, social exchange and understanding. The tragedy in Poway and the near-tragedy in Escondido should unite San Diegans. So far, that's just what seems to have happened. May this resolve and unity endure - and may it help us overcome the hatred that fouls social media and the sunless corners of our communities. Online: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ ___ April 26 The Orange County Register on Sen. Elizabeth Warren's student debt relief plan: The bidding war for votes in the Democratic presidential primary escalated quickly this week with a proposal by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to wipe out student debt, courtesy of the taxpayers. Warren's proposal, put forward not in proposed legislation but in a blog post, would cancel up to $50,000 of student debt for every American with household income under $100,000. Individuals with household incomes up to $250,000 would also get debt relief, though not quite as much. She says this will benefit 95% of the 45 million Americans who are carrying student debt. The proposal is estimated to cost $1.25 trillion over 10 years. Warren says the money would come from a plan she previously proposed - a tax on accumulations of wealth collecting 2% of $50 million or more of household net worth, and an extra 1% on $1 billion and up. Assuming nobody leaves the country over it, the tax would hit about 75,000 families and raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years. Warren also wants to spend $100 billion expanding Pell grants to cover non-tuition expenses, and make public colleges tuition-free. The wealth tax might raise more legal challenges than revenue. The Constitution prohibits any national "direct" tax not collected evenly from the states, based on population. The income tax was unconstitutional until the Constitution was amended in 1913. An additional tax on "wealth" that has already been taxed as income might run into trouble at the Supreme Court. But even without debating the legality of a wealth tax, the idea of canceling student debt by having taxpayers cover it is terrible. Start with the problem of fundamental fairness - student debt would be canceled for all income-eligible borrowers with outstanding loans without regard to financial need, so even people who are working and able to make regular payments would get the bailout. On the other hand, people who did not take out loans they couldn't afford to repay, and people who already repaid their loans, would be out $50,000 for making responsible financial decisions. Then there's the problem of moral hazard: If the taxpayers pay the debts of everyone with outstanding student loans, how will that affect the decisions made by current students thinking about their choices for financing higher education? What's the message? Borrow as much as you can and wait for the debt to be canceled during the next presidential primary campaign? The proposal certainly doesn't encourage restraint in tuition increases. Universities considering whether to raise tuition could reasonably believe there's no need to hold the line when the new policy is to step in and generously pay off old student loans with somebody else's money. It's also troubling to hear a sitting United States senator so casually proposing the confiscation of some people's property so it can be given to other people. Warren has also put forward a proposal for a "Real Corporate Tax" that would collect $1 trillion over 10 years as well as an increase in the estate tax. Student debt weighs on millions of Americans and on the economy more broadly as people find it more difficult to obtain credit or make major purchases. Serious proposals for new repayment plans and eventual debt forgiveness deserve consideration and debate in this presidential race. But Warren's plan doesn't. Online: https://www.ocregister.com/ WASHINGTON (AP) - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told Congress Wednesday that the military needs to return to its traditional missions, and he wants to know how much longer troops will be needed at the U.S.-Mexico border. In testimony to a House Appropriations subcommittee, Shanahan said he needs to determine how many more agents and other workers the Department of Homeland Security must have to fulfill the border mission. "We've really been on this kind of a la carte approach where we've been asked to support DHS," he said, when asked how the deployment is affecting military readiness. "We're now in a position where we need to ask the question, how long will we be there?" He said active-duty troops "really need to get back to our primary missions." Shanahan's comments come just days after the Pentagon said it would send 320 more active-duty troops to the border for tasks that put them in closer contact with migrants. Those duties include driving buses, serving food and providing medical and legal support. Members of Congress raised concerns about the border mission, saying it is costing a lot of money and there is no end in sight. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan listens, Wednesday May 1, 2019, during a House Appropriations subcommittee on budget hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Rep. Pete Visclosky, the subcommittee chairman, objected to the use of Defense Department money to pay for "the construction of an unauthorized wall" on the border. "We are here to appropriate funds needed for the military, not to make good on a campaign promise," Visclosky, D-Ind., told Shanahan. The Pentagon submitted a budget request that included more than $7 billion in emergency money to help pay for President Donald Trump's promised border wall. The department also has proposed shifting about $1 billion in surplus personnel funds to a drug-fighting account in order to pay for the wall. The House Armed Services Committee sent a letter denying that request, but the committee lacks the legal authority to block the transfer. Lawmakers have threatened to enact legislation that would put more severe restrictions on the Defense Department's ability to move money around in the budget. National Guard troops were sent to the border in April 2018 to help provide security, surveillance and other support. In October, Trump ordered several thousand active-duty forces to the border to help construct wire barriers and support the Border Patrol. Active-duty troops are limited in what they can do inside the United States. Federal law prohibits the use of those service members for law enforcement inside the country unless specifically authorized by Congress. As a result, Shanahan had to approve an amendment to the current policy on troops avoiding contact with migrants in order to fulfill the latest DHS request and allow them to serve meals and provide transportation. The Pentagon said the troops were needed because Border Patrol stations are overwhelmed with migrants. There are currently about 2,800 active-duty forces and about 2,000 National Guard operating in support of DHS at the border. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, left, listens to Acting Deputy Secretary David Norquist, Wednesday May 1, 2019, during a House Appropriations subcommittee on budget hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) WASHINGTON (AP) - "For me, it is over." With those few words, Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, set the tone for his party at an extraordinary hearing with Attorney General William Barr over special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. Gaveling open the Wednesday session, Graham outlined the scope of Mueller's nearly two-year probe, with its 2,000 subpoenas and million-plus documents turned over by the White House, and gave his take on the findings. "So, no collusion, no coordination, no conspiracy," Graham said. Trump couldn't have said it better. In fact, he didn't. The president tweeted ahead of the session, "NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION." For two years now, Republican senators have been reluctant to publicly criticize the president, and they weren't about to break ranks now. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, joined at left by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, raises a copy of Mueller report, during his opening statement before swearing-in Attorney General William Barr to testify, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Even though Mueller made clear he was not exonerating Trump on obstruction of justice - detailing 10 possible instances related to that crime - Republicans showed little interest in asking Barr about that open question. Instead, they spent much of the day revisiting the role of Hillary Clinton and Democrats in the 2016 election. One by one, the Republican senators took turns questioning Barr not about Trump's actions, but about whether any officials in the Justice Department used their positions to try to help Clinton over Trump. First, Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican in the Senate, opened with questions about Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the former FBI agents who exchanged text messages expressing opposition to Trump. The Iowa senator then turned to the Steele dossier, a document damaging to Trump that was compiled first for his GOP opponents, then financed by Democrats. Grassley wondered if it, too, was part of the Russia campaign to sow doubt in the election. "Here's the irony," Grassley said. "The Mueller report spent millions investigating and found no collusion between Trump and Russia, but the Democrats paid for a document created by a foreign national with reported foreign government sources. That's the definition of collusion." Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of GOP leadership, weighed in next. He wanted to talk about the Obama years and whether the White House did enough to counter Russian interference, starting back in 2014. "We now need to know," Cornyn said, asking whether anyone "put a thumb on the scale in favor of one political candidate over the other." A top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, was all but flabbergasted. "I have been listening carefully to my Republican colleagues on the other side and it appears that they're going to work together and coordinate the so-called 'Lock Her Up' defense," Durbin said, repurposing the Trump campaign rally chant against Clinton. Republicans are "totally unresponsive to the reality of what the American public wants to know," Durbin said. And so it went. Mueller's report concluded the Trump campaign did not conspire with Russia, but the special counsel punted on whether the president obstructed justice during the investigation, leaving more questions than answers for Congress. Many of them went unasked. In many ways Graham, a one-time Trump critic who has become perhaps the most unlikely of Trump allies, reprised his role from the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court last year. During that explosive hearing, Graham wasn't yet the committee chairman, but he swooped in with a stunning defense of Kavanaugh, whose nomination was in grave jeopardy amid sexual assault allegations. Many credit Graham with shifting the debate to secure Kavanaugh's confirmation. As Graham wielded the gavel Wednesday, he took a more deliberate approach. He steered Barr toward the conclusion that Trump was cleared of wrongdoing and the Justice Department should turn its attention elsewhere, namely investigating the investigation. "Do you share my concerns about the counterintelligence investigation and how it was opened?" Graham asked. "Yes," Barr replied. "Do you share my concerns about the lack of professionalism in the Clinton email investigation?" "Yes." The exchange had the familiarity of colleagues who have had parried these questions before and, if pressed, could finish each other's sentences. "Do you think the president's campaign in 2016 was thoroughly looked at in terms of whether or not they colluded with the Russians?" "Yes." "You feel good about your decision?" "Absolutely." "Thank you very much." ___ Follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lisamascaro Attorney General William Barr, right, is sworn in by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, as he faces lawmakers' questions for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is shown during testimony by Attorney General William Barr at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A former New Jersey school superintendent who pleaded guilty to defecating on another high school's 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 Tramaglini's due process rights were violated and alleged New Jersey law prohibits the taking of mug shots for low-level offenses. 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 wouldn't comment on the pending litigation. FILE - In this June 12, 2018 file photo, Thomas Tramaglini, right, the Kenilworth Schools superintendent accused of defecating on the track at Holmdel High School, makes his initial appearance in Holmdel Municipal Court in Holmdel, N.J. Tramaglini has sued the local police department for releasing his mug shot to the news media. He claims Holmdel police violated his constitutional rights by taking the picture and then releasing it after he was issued summonses last year. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.(Thomas P. Costello/The Asbury Park Press via AP, Pool) 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 department's "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 offenses, liked the one Tramaglini pleaded guilty to. In a letter he sent to the state attorney general's 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. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Thursday that would prevent President Donald Trump from fulfilling his pledge to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement and ensure the U.S. honors its commitments under the global accord. The bill falls far short of the ambitious Green New Deal pushed by many Democrats, but it is the first significant climate legislation approved by the House in nearly a decade. The measure was approved, 231-190, and now goes to the Republican-run Senate, where it is unlikely to move forward. Trump has said he will veto the legislation if it reaches his desk. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., head of a House select committee on climate change, said passage of the bill sent an important signal that Democrats are prepared to act on global warming after reclaiming the House majority in last year's elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the House bill a "futile gesture to handcuff the U.S. economy through the ill-fated Paris deal" and said it "will go nowhere here in the Senate." Trump pledged in 2017 to withdraw from the Paris agreement as soon as 2020, dealing a major blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and distancing the U.S. from its closest allies. Trump said he was "elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." The White House said in a statement this week that the House bill "is inconsistent with the president's commitment to put American workers and families first, promote access to affordable, reliable energy sources and technologies and improve the quality of life for all Americans." FILE - In this March 27, 2109, file photo, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks at an event to introduce the "Climate Action Now Act," at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2019, as, from left, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., who will chair the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Rep. David Trone, D-Md., House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Science, Space and Technology Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, listen. The Democratic-controlled House has approved legislation that would prevent President Donald Trump from following through on his pledge to withdraw the U.S. from a landmark global climate agreement. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) The White House also asserted that the bill would interfere with Trump's constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy, including the power to withdraw from an executive agreement that Congress has not ratified. The Paris agreement, signed in 2015 by more than 190 counties, is a United Nations initiative intended to bring the world together in the fight against climate change. Signed by President Barack Obama, the pact commits the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The U.S. also pledged $3 billion to a fund that helps developing countries fight climate change. Democrats said the bill showed that the U.S. will remain a leader on climate issues. "America does not cut and run. America keeps its commitments," Castor said. Castor noted that she and her family boarded up and fled their Florida home during Hurricane Irma two year ago, and said she understands the urgent need to act on climate change. The House bill "will help us carry out our moral obligation to future generations to tackle this crisis now," she said. Republicans derided the bill as a largely symbolic effort that would harm the American economy while doing little or nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said the bill would "wreck the economy" and cost as many as 2.7 million American jobs that he said would go to China, India and other countries that do not have to meet goals under the Paris accord until 2030. "We don't want to lose the great economic gains we have achieved, and we don't want to lose the reduction in carbon emissions that we've been able to achieve over the last 19 years because of ... great innovation in technology that America has always been known for," Scalise said at a news conference. "Let's not yield those kinds of gains to countries like China and India who emit five times more carbon than we do." Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the Democratic measure was "simply another messaging bill to go on record against President Trump." Three Republicans voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Vern Buchanan of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the lead House author of the Green New Deal, voted in favor of the bill, but declined a request for comment afterward. Groups aligned with that initiative have complained that the House bill does not go far enough to address climate change. Major environmental organizations backed the bill and said it made clear that the U.S. intends to keep the promises made in Paris. "The House is responding to the rising calls, from every quarter, for action to combat the soaring costs and the mounting dangers of climate change," said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. In a swipe at McConnell, Suh added: "Blocking this long overdue climate progress would recklessly put the health and future of our children at risk." FILE- In this June 1, 2017 file photo, protesters gather outside the White House in Washington to protest President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the Unites States from the Paris climate change accord. The Democratic-controlled House has approved legislation that would prevent President Donald Trump from following through on his pledge to withdraw the U.S. from a landmark global climate agreement. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Jeremy Corbyn has criticised moves to get rape victims to turn over their mobile phones to the police. The Labour leaders intervention came after rape complainants were told they risked prosecutions against their attackers not going ahead unless they allowed their digital devices to be looked at. Mr Corbyn said the disturbing practice risked allowing more rapists to get away with their crimes. 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. We need to do all we can to support victims of sexual violence to come forward and report cases to the police. With rape and sexual assaults already under-reported, this disturbing move risks letting more rapists get away with it.https://t.co/sswbp1oVUV Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 29, 2019 Mr Corbyn tweeted: We need to do all we can to support victims of sexual violence to come forward and report cases to the police. With rape and sexual assaults already under-reported, this disturbing move risks letting more rapists get away with it. 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. And the Crown Prosecution Service said: It is not true that complainants in rape cases must automatically hand over personal data on their digital devices or run the risk of the prosecution being dropped. Mobile phone data, or social media activity, will only be considered by the police when relevant to an individual case. 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. Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman told a Westminster briefing the issue was complex. He said: 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. Max Hill has defended use of the consent forms (CPS/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 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) 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. 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, then 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. The Government looks set to delay the next Queens Speech as the impasse over Brexit continues. With cross-party talks on the EU Withdrawal Agreement showing little sign of progress, Theresa Mays spokesman indicated that the parliamentary session could be extended until the Commons has ratified a Brexit deal. This would mean the parliamentary set-piece outlining the Governments legislative agenda being postponed from the expected date in June to as late as the autumn. Meanwhile, Government hopes of avoiding elections to the European Parliament on May 23 appear to have evaporated, with the bill to ratify a Brexit deal no longer expected to be put before Parliament this week. Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, John McDonnell and Sue Hayman arrive at the Cabinet Office ahead of the latest round of Brexit talks (Kirsty OConnor/PA) Mrs Mays effective deputy David Lidington and Chancellor Philip Hammond led the Government side in talks in Whitehall with a Labour team including shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Mr Lidington said Mondays talks were positive and productive, the BBC reported. Smaller working groups are likely to meet later in the week. The EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he hoped to see results this week from talks between the Labour Party and the Government. Delivering a speech to a university in Belgium, Mr Barnier said: We need to fix Brexit quickly. The ball is in the UK court the ball is in London. It has been six months since the deal was agreed between the EU and the UK. The EU agreed to give the UK more time because the UK has requested to, and so talks are still ongoing in London that is where the deadlock must be broken. We are hoping to see the results of the cross-party talks this week. Pressure was mounting on Jeremy Corbyn to commit the party to a confirmatory referendum on whatever deal emerges from the talks. Labours ruling National Executive Committee is to gather on Tuesday for a crunch meeting to finalise the partys position on Brexit for next months European elections. Ahead of the meeting, Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson wrote to Mr Corbyn and all NEC members urging them to ensure that a confirmatory ballot is in the manifesto. Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson have written to NEC members urging them to back a confirmatory referendum Mr Wilson told the Press Association that a referendum was backed by the majority of Labour MPs, MEPs, members and supporters and had featured in the policy approved by conference last autumn. Labour MPs had twice been whipped in the Commons to support a motion tabled by the pair to require any Brexit deal to be subject to a public vote, he said. Three years on, we know more about what Brexit means and people should be allowed to compare what the deal is with what they were promised and decide whether they want to go ahead, said Mr Wilson. If we dont do it, the coming years will be divisive because people will be turning round and saying Hang on, I didnt vote for this. Labour member or supporter? Please let your reps on the NEC know if you want them to support a confirmatory ballot on a brexit deal in our euro manifesto: @hudaelmi_ @Yasmine_Dar @LabourRachel @NavPMishra @ClaudiaWebbe @darrenw_cardiff @jonlansman @AnnDHenderson @PeterWillsman Tom Watson (@tom_watson) April 28, 2019 Some 115 MPs and MEPs signed a letter to NEC members organised by the Love Socialism, Hate Brexit group urging them to explicitly back a referendum in the manifesto. Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson used his Twitter account to urge followers to lobby NEC members to back a public vote. And 22 Labour candidates in the European elections have pledged to campaign for a referendum and then back efforts to remain in the EU. Meanwhile, some of Labours biggest union backers are also throwing their weight behind a referendum pledge. TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: Frankly its time for our party to act on the overwhelming wishes of its members and voters by pledging to support a confirmatory public vote on any Brexit deal. We will be pushing hard for this to be included in Labours European manifesto. But Labour MP Stephen Kinnock warned a referendum promise could backfire, telling BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I think it would be divisive, not decisive. You could well end up with a narrow victory for Remain. I think this would lead very rapidly to campaigning for best out of three. 1/2 **Tonight we are delighted to announce that 22 #Labour candidates (including 12 sitting Labour MEPs) have signed the Remain Labour Pledge for the #EUelections2019 ** It is a pledge to campaign to give the country the #FinalSay on any #Brexit deal and to vote #Remain. pic.twitter.com/yCpX2kz4d7 Remain-Labour (@Remain_Labour) April 28, 2019 Senior Tories have have been hoping the Euro-elections can be avoided if a compromise deal can get through Parliament before polling day, allowing the contest to be cancelled. With Nigel Farages Brexit Party riding high in the polls, Tories fear the May 23 ballot could result in a mauling for Mrs May if she has not been able to deliver the Brexit that Britons voted for almost three years ago. But parliamentary time is running perilously short for the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill through both Houses of Parliament, as well as a successful meaningful vote on the deal. Mrs Mays spokesman indicated that the PM wants to complete ratification before bringing the parliamentary session to an end. What we are focused on is the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, because that is the legislation which is necessary in order to ratify our withdrawal from the EU, he said. That is part of the current Queens Speech cycle and we need to finish that work. The Queens Speech is normally an annual event, but a two-year session was announced in June 2017 in order to allow time for complex Brexit legislation to pass through Parliament. Filmmaker John Singleton, who debuted with the Oscar-nominated Boyz N The Hood and continued making movies that probed the lives of black communities in his native Los Angeles and beyond, has died aged 51. Singletons family said on Monday that he died after being taken off life support, about two weeks after the director suffered a major stroke. RIP John Singleton. Singleton was the first black filmmaker ever nominated for Best Director and remains the youngest ever nominee - he was only 23 years old while making BOYZ N THE HOOD. Thank you for the powerful stories you shared with us, John - you will be dearly missed. pic.twitter.com/FhCLOLoAPC The Black List (@theblcklst) April 29, 2019 Boyz N The Hood was based on Singletons upbringing and shot in his old neighbourhood. It starred Cuba Gooding Jr as a rebellious teen whose single mother sends him to live with his father in South Central Los Angeles. RIP John Singleton. So sad to hear. John was a brave artist and a true inspiration. His vision changed everything. Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) April 29, 2019 Singleton became the first black director to receive an Academy Award nomination, and the youngest to do so, and also received a screenplay nomination. His other films included Poetic Justice, Rosewood and Shaft. The CEO of Boeing defended the companys safety record and declined to take any more than partial blame for two deadly crashes of its best-selling plane. Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg took reporters questions for the first time since accidents involving the Boeing 737 Max in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people and plunged Boeing into its deepest crisis in years. Mr Muilenburg said that Boeing followed the same design and certification process it has always used to build safe planes, and he denied that the Max was rushed to market. As in most accidents, there are a chain of events that occurred, he said, referring to the Lion Air crash on October 29 and the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max. Its not correct to attribute that to any single item. The news conference, held after Boeings annual meeting in Chicago, came as new questions have arisen around the Max, which has been grounded worldwide since mid-March. Southwest Airlines said over the weekend that Boeing did not disclose that a safety feature on the 737 an indicator to warn pilots about the kind of sensor failure that has been linked to both accidents was turned off on the Max. Southwest said it found out only after the first crash of the Lion Air Max. (PA Graphics) Published reports said that federal regulators and congressional investigators are examining safety allegations relating to the Max that were raised by about a dozen purported whistleblowers. And the pilots union at American Airlines said Boeings proposal for additional pilot training on the Max does not go far enough. For instance, the union for American Airlines pilots wants, at a minimum, mandatory additional training to include video demonstrations of how to respond to failures of systems on the plane. The annual meeting came six months to the day since the Lion Air crash. Mr Muilenburg told shareholders that Boeing is close to completing an upgrade to flight software on the Max that will ensure accidents like these never happen again. In the brief news conference that followed, Mr Muilenburg said as he has several times before that the accidents resulted from a chain of events that included the erroneous activation of flight software known as MCAS. Boeing has conceded that in both accidents, MCAS was triggered by faulty readings from a single sensor and pushed the planes noses down. We know this is a link in both accidents that we can break. Thats a software update that we know how to do this will make the airplane even safer, Mr Muilenburg said. Mr Muilenburg took six questions from reporters, including whether he will resign he has no intention of doing that and left as reporters persisted, including one who pointed to the deaths of 346 people and urged the CEO to take more questions. Besides the software update, Boeing will present the Federal Aviation Administration with a plan for training pilots on changes to MCAS. The company is pushing for training that can be done on tablet computers and, if airlines want to offer it, additional time in flight simulators when pilots are due for periodic retraining. A requirement for training in simulators would further delay the return of the Max because of relatively small number of flight simulators. The union for American Airlines pilots wants mandatory additional training on checklists for responding to certain emergencies. Not every pilot that goes out there and flies is a Boeing test pilot, said Dennis Tajer, a 737 pilot and spokesman for the pilots union at American. The responsibility to train those men and women doesnt rest just with the airlines, it rests with Boeing and the FAA too. If something happens anywhere in the world, it affects all of us. During the one-hour annual meeting, shareholders elected all 13 company-backed board nominees, including newcomer Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who lobbied for a Boeing plant there, and former US ambassador to the United Nations. Several shareholder resolutions were defeated, including one to name an independent chairman whenever possible instead of letting the CEO hold both jobs. A chairman-CEO is not always a bad thing, but at times of crisis its hardly ever a good idea, said Matt Brubaker, CEO of business-strategy consultant FMG Leading, who was not involved in the debate. The place they are in now, they need the scrutiny of an inwardly focused CEO to drive change. Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein has submitted a letter of resignation to President Donald Trump. It is effective from May 11. His departure ends a nearly two-year run defined by his appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. The departure had been expected since the confirmation of William Barr as attorney general. Mr Rosenstein intended to leave in mid-March but stayed on a little longer for the completion of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Mr Mueller submitted his report to the Justice Department last month. Mr Rosenstein and Mr Barr concluded that President Trump did not obstruct justice. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (Patrick Semansky/AP) Mr Rosenstein, who appointed Mr Mueller in 2017 following the recusal of attorney general Jeff Sessions, had overseen his teams work for much of the last two years and defended his investigation. The Scotch whisky sectors contribution to the UK economy has grown by 10% since 2016, according to an industry body. Investment and increased export success resulted in the spirit bringing in 5.5 billion in 2018, up from 5 billion two years earlier. A new report by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), building on research carried out by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), also reveals the drink generates two-thirds of all spirits gross value added (GVA) in the UK. Karen Betts, chief executive of the SWA, said: Despite the challenges of Brexit, this investment continues to flow, with further projects planned and more distilleries set to open a sign that the Scotch Whisky industry remains confident about the future. This is great news for our many employees, our investors, our supply chain and, of course, for consumers all over the world who love Scotch. This report also highlights the high rate of domestic tax that Scotch Whisky faces in the UK. In the US, Scotch and other whiskies are taxed at just 27% of the rate that HM Treasury taxes us here at home. We will continue to press the Chancellor for fairer treatment for Scotch whisky in our domestic market, which reflects the vital economic contribution the industry makes to the UK economy every day. Fergus Ewing said Scotch is one of Scotlands greatest exports (Andrew Milligan/PA) The direct impact of the spirit in the economy is estimated to be 3.8 billion, with additional indirect and induced effects of a further 1.7 billion. Scotch whisky contributed 21% to the value of all UK food and drink exports and 1.3% of the value of all UK goods exported in 2018. The industry has been buoyed in recent years by record exports, reaching 4.7 billion in 2018, and several new distilleries beginning production and opening their doors to tourists. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Robert Jenrick MP said: Im delighted to see how this important sector is thriving. We are supporting the Scotch whisky success story by freezing duty on spirits again this year. Our record of reductions and freezes to alcohol duties have provided more than 4bn of support to the drinks sector here in the UK. Scotlands Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: I welcome the contribution that the Scotch whisky industry makes to the Scottish economy. The industrys performance is testament to the hard work of those who work in this important sector, making Scotch whisky one of Scotlands greatest global exports. Icelands Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir will meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as part of a two-day visit to Scotland this week. Ms Sturgeon said the visit will give an opportunity to discuss how to grow links between the two countries. Ms Jakobsdottir will meet Ms Sturgeon at Bute House in Edinburgh during her visit. She will also address a meeting of the Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) group in Edinburgh, discussing the incorporation of wellbeing into economic thinking. Nicola Sturgeon will meet Katrin Jakobsdottir at Bute House (Jane Barlow/PA) Speaking ahead of the Prime Ministers visit, Ms Sturgeon said: Scotland and Iceland have much in common with many historic and cultural links. Im very pleased that the Prime Ministers visit will help us discuss how we can grow those links in the future. There is much to admire about Iceland, not least the fact it has the smallest gender-equality gap and some of the worlds strongest laws on workplace equality and equal pay. I also very much look forward to discussing a range of other issues of mutual interest during her time here, such as our desire to grow sustainable tourism and action that can be taken to tackle climate change. Scottish business confidence rose in April despite continuing uncertainty over Brexit, analysis has indicated. According to figures published in the Bank of Scotlands Business Barometer, confidence rose by 12 points during the month to 9%. It represents the highest reading measured by the bank since November last year. The Business Barometer questions 1,200 companies monthly and provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide. The study also indicates companies in Scotland reported higher confidence in their business prospects in April at 19% up nine points from March. Taken together with greater optimism about the economy, the figures give an overall confidence of 9%, the bank said. Scottish businesses hiring intentions also showed a net balance of 1% of companies expect to hire more staff during the next year, up seven points on last month. A net balance of 20% of Scottish firms said they felt the UKs exit from the European Union was having a negative impact on their expectations for business activity, down eight points on a month ago. The UK had been expected to depart the EU on March 29 but Article 50 was extended until April before being extended once more to October 31. It means it could be another six months until Brexit but the UK is expected to depart sooner if a deal can be agreed ahead of the deadline. Companies say Brexit is having a negative impact on their expectations (Jane Barlow/PA) Fraser Sime, of the Bank of Scotland, said: Its encouraging to see the positive UK picture presented by Aprils Business Barometer reflected in Scotland, after a dip in confidence was measured last month. While welcome, we will all be watching closely to see if this trend continues. We know firms continue to navigate a fast-moving macro environment and we remain by the side of Scotlands business community as they do. As part of our commitment to supporting Scottish businesses, weve pledged to lend up to 1.6 billion to support Scottish firms this year. Across the UK, the overall confidence of firms in manufacturing, construction and services all improved but retail sector confidence fell. Manufacturing and construction confidence rose for the first time in three months, increasing by six points to 16% and two points to 15% respectively. Confidence in the retail sector has fallen (John Linton/PA) Meanwhile, the retail sector which posted the highest confidence in March fell in April by six points, placing it on a par with the manufacturing sector at 16%. Hann-Ju Ho, a senior economist at Lloyds Bank, said: While business confidence remains low when viewed against the historic average, it is certainly encouraging to see an increase in overall optimism for the second month in a row. Firms appear more positive about both their own trading prospects and the broader economy, although their assessment of the potential impact of the UK leaving the EU remains unchanged. We will have to wait and see whether this partial rise converts into a sustained recovery. Three siblings who were sexually abused by a care home worker have secured 1 million in damages from the Church of Scotland. The sister and her two brothers were targeted by paedophile Ian Samson at Lord and Lady Polwarth Childrens House in Edinburgh. Samson, then aged 72, was jailed for 14 years in 2013 at the High Court in Glasgow after he was convicted of 22 offences involving the sexual abuse and rape of 12 children over a period of many years. After raising a legal action last year with Digby Brown Solicitors, the woman secured 500,000 from the Kirk while her two brothers each received 250,000, said to be the most compensation recovered from a religious body in Scotland. The Church of Scotland said it hopes the settlement finally brings a sense of justice to the individuals affected and provides some small redress for the trauma which they experienced while in our care. Some children at the home hid in cupboards and slept in dog baskets to escape abuse. In a statement the siblings, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: Samson was evil and robbed us of our childhood and our future. Our case has never been about the money raising a civil action in the courts was the only way we could get any sort of acknowledgement from the Church of Scotland. Its a shame that an organisation which promotes goodness and morals cant do the right thing themselves and hold their hands up and apologise rather than force victims to go endure further legal proceedings. We nearly gave up so many times in getting the Kirk to accept responsibility so were delighted this is now over and have the justice and closure we need to get on with life as best we can. To anyone else affected by abuse be strong and step forward. You can get closure and together we can all make a difference. Samsons offences spanned 30 years from the 1970s to the 1990s and he took jobs in places such as a boys hostel, a childrens home and an ice cream van. A Church of Scotland spokesman said: The abuses perpetrated by Ian Samson at Lord and Lady Polwarth Home in the 1970s are matters which have been examined by the criminal courts and by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and for which we have expressed our deep and sincere regret. We became aware of the full facts in 2013 at which point we offered our full support to the victims. While Samsons abuse of children was wider than his activity in Lord and Lady Polwarth Home, it felt important to us that there was full acknowledgement of the harm which did occur in our care at the time, and the longer term consequences for three siblings involved. He added: The safety of children is of paramount importance to us, we have carried out a full independent review of the circumstances occurring in the 1970s so that we could learn any lessons for our safeguarding practices today. We did offer sight of that review to the family affected before it went for publication, through Police Scotland, however, we are not aware of whether they have seen it. Whilst this settlement can never undo what has been done, we hope that it finally brings a sense of justice to the individuals affected and provides some small redress for the trauma which they experienced while in our care. Fewer than four in 10 people in Scotland trust day-to-day banking services, according to new research. The latest Which? annual Scottish Consumer Insight Report found 39% of people north of the border said they trusted day-to-day banking services compared to 45% in the UK as a whole. It comes after Which? last month reported Scotland has lost a third of its bank branches in the last eight years, with the number of banks and building societies dropping from 1,625 to 1,015 between 2010 and 2018. Which? said with cash machines also closing at an alarming rate it is concerned Scottish communities and businesses could face financial exclusion unless a regulator is urgently given a statutory duty to protect access to money. The Scottish Consumer Insight Report questioned 1,075 people in Scotland to create a picture of consumer attitudes in 2018. It also found fewer than four in 10 people (39%) in Scotland said they trust broadband services, below the UK average of 45%. Which? said cash machines are closing `at an alarming rate (Aaron Chown/PA) Caroline Normand, Which? director of advocacy said: Scottish consumers are struggling with dwindling day-to-day banking services and poor broadband connections, and our research suggests this could be having an impact on trust in these vital industries and demonstrates the need for a dedicated consumer body backed by the Scottish Government. If Consumer Scotland is to be a real force for improving the lives of ordinary people, it must take on board the concerns highlighted in this report and make tackling them a top priority. The Consumer Insight Report found two-thirds (66%) of people in Scotland were satisfied with their standard of living, while almost half (47%) were happy with their current household finances. Just over a quarter (27%) believed their household finances would improve within the next year, while two in five (41%) felt they would stay the same. Almost two-thirds (65%) said they were worried about Brexit while almost seven in 10 (69%) were concerned about fuel prices and public spending cuts and the same proportion were concerned about energy. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: This research demonstrates the continued reliance on banking services in everyday life and the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships between banks, customers and communities. It highlights there is a continuing need for cash to be readily available to all, and people in our communities need to know that they have secure, free access to cash to allow them to go about their daily lives. This is also vital for local businesses that continue to rely on cash for transactions. We support calls to protect the ATM network, especially in rural communities and areas already affected by previous and proposed bank closures, where ATMs provide a life-line service to consumers and small businesses. There needs to be a long term, sustainable banking service for all communities and the Scottish Government will continue to work with banks to ensure that essential services remain accessible to all. The bodies of two women have been found in a freezer in an east London flat, according to reports. Scotland Yard said officers discovered the bodies after being called to the home on Vandome Close in Canning Town at about 11.45am on Friday, following concerns for the welfare of an occupant. The bodies of the two women, who have not been identified by police, were found inside a freezer, the Mail Online reported. The murder investigation is being led by the Metropolitan Polices Homicide and Major Crime Command and the force said it was working to formally identify the women and trace their next of kin. Police said no arrests had been made. No details of any suspect have been formally released. The bodies were found at a property on Vandome Close, Canning Town (Tom Pilgrim/PA) Scenes of crime officers in protective clothing were at the scene on Monday evening. Bags of evidence were being carried out of the building that contains six flats, while officers guarded the entrance behind police tape. The glass front door of the block of flats was covered to prevent people seeing inside. One resident of the block, who did not want to be named, said he had only just found out about two bodies being found. Im astonished, its a little community, he said. Were all tight-knit around here, everybody knows everybody. Local residents expressed concern for the welfare of a woman from the area who has been missing for 12 months. A 49-year-old man, who has lived on the street for 18 years and did not want to be named, said he had spoken to police. They told me that a body had been found, they showed me a photo of a woman but I didnt know her, he said. Ive just heard on the news that it was two bodies. [Im] just wondering why? The bodies were found in an area that has seen two fatal stabbings in recent years. Ahmed Deen-Jah was stabbed to death in a shop on Freemasons Road in April 2017, while 17-year-old Lord Promise Nkenda was attacked by a gang of teenagers and died in nearby Goldwing Close in February 2018. A 29-year-old local resident, who did not want to be named, said the area suffered from petty crime but the discovery of bodies was unusual. He added: This is not common it doesnt put you at ease, you dont know [under] what circumstances these people were killed. When you dont know, youre concerned. Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Tucker said: The launch of any murder investigation is naturally of concern to the local community and we have borough officers in the area supporting colleagues from the Homicide and Major Crime Command as they investigate the full circumstances. A crime scene is in place and we would encourage anyone with information about what may have happened at this premises to contact police on 101, quoting CAD 4303/26APR. A report of bodies found in a freezer, antisocial behaviour failings by police and the University of Cambridges inquiry into its historical links to the slave trade are among the headline stories on Tuesday. The bodies of two women were found in a freezer when police forced entry into a flat in Canning Town, east London, The Sun reports. Rapists will go without conviction unless a scheme that makes victims hand over mobile phones to police is dropped, the Daily Mail says. The victims commissioner had criticised a lack of police action over antisocial behaviour in an article for the Daily Telegraph. The father of a teenager who died after being attacked by a girl gang has criticised prosecutors for allowing them to plead guilty to a lesser charge, the Metro reports. In other news, the University of Cambridge is to hold a two-year inquiry into historical links with the slave trade and whether it should pay reparations, The Times reports. What the papers say - April 30 (PA) The Times 30/4/2019 Lily Collins, who plays Edith Bratt in the film, poses on the red carpet arriving for the UK premiere of the film Tolkein in London on April 29, 2019. Photo : Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images#thetimes #tomorrowspaperstoday #gettyimages @thetimes pic.twitter.com/5cINUrYDuN The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) April 29, 2019 More than 2,500 prison staff have been subject to disciplinary action in five years, The Guardian reports. Guardian front page, Tuesday 30 April 2019: Revealed: disciplinary charges against thousands of prison staff pic.twitter.com/EoW6oL9gQn The Guardian (@guardian) April 29, 2019 The US has warned about damage to intelligence cooperation if the UK adopts Huawei technology, the i says. Tuesday's front page: US threatens to sever links with British intelligence over risks of Huawei 5G phone network #tomorrowspaperstoday #skypapers #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/GDoSkJioc0 i newspaper (@theipaper) April 29, 2019 An effort akin to the fight against the Nazis is needed in the fight against climate change, the Prime Minister is being told, according to The Independent. Web giants have only pledged a fraction of their revenue to protect young people online, the Daily Mirror reports. The Daily Express says 50,000 hospital doctors and nurses are needed to sort a staffing crisis in the NHS. And the Financial Times leads with a report on the Iranian economy as it falters under US sanctions. The University of Cambridge has said it will investigate how it benefited from and contributed to the slave trade in a bid to acknowledge its role during that dark phase of human history. A rigorous two-year inquiry will seek to uncover the ways the prestigious institution profited from slavery and forced labour during the colonial era through donations, gifts and bequests. It will also examine the extent to which Cambridge scholars promoted race-based attitudes which helped shape public and political opinion. Two post-doctoral researchers are to conduct the investigation, poring over both university archives and wider records. It comes amid a wider decolonise movement sweeping universities in both Britain and the US in recent years. Oriel College at Oxford University decided to keep its statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes in 2016 despite widespread student demands to remove it. UK student campaigners from the Rhodes Must Fall group argued the row illustrated Britains imperial blind spot. Professor Stephen Toope, University of Cambridge vice-chancellor, said: There is growing public and academic interest in the links between the older British universities and the slave trade, and it is only right that Cambridge should look into its own exposure to the profits of coerced labour during the colonial period. We cannot change the past, but nor should we seek to hide from it. I hope this process will help the University understand and acknowledge its role during that dark phase of human history. The statue at Oxfords Oriel College of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes (Steve Parsons/PA) The final report is expected to recommend appropriate ways for the university to publicly acknowledge such links and their modern impact, the university said. Professor Martin Millett, chairing the advisory group overseeing the work, added: We cannot know at this stage what exactly it will find but 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. The findings are expected to be submitted in 2021. Japanese emperor Akihito has begun his abdication rituals at a Shinto shrine as the country embraces the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era. Television images showed Akihito in a traditional robe entering the main Shrine of Kashikodokoro to report his retirement to the gods. The shrine is where the goddess Amaterasu, said to be the direct ancestress of the imperial family, is enshrined. Only part of Akihitos shrine ritual was released to the public. In a palace ceremony later in the day, Akihito will announce his retirement before other members of the royal family and top government officials. His reign runs until midnight when his son Crown Prince Naruhito becomes new emperor and his era begins. Naruhito will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne on Wednesday. Japans Emperor Akihito leaves after a ritual to report his abdication to the throne (Japan Pool via AP) In a separate ceremony, he will inherit the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel, as well as Imperial seals as proof of his succession as the nations 126th emperor in the worlds oldest hereditary monarchy from the 5th century. Hours before the abdication ceremony, many people were gathering outside the palace compound 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. Japanese television talk shows started a countdown to the midnight transition, and programming was dominated by the abdication and looking back to major events of Akihitos era. The 85-year-old 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. Japans Crown Prince Naruhito leaves the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (Hiroko Harima/Kyodo News via AP) 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. Akihitos efforts won him widespread respect, and 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 the Second World War 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. People gather near Imperial Palace in Tokyo ahead of the end of Akihitos reign (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP) 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 US-led allies took them back. Akihito will be known as the emperor emeritus and will no longer have official duties after he abdicates. He will not 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. Pictures of a woman left with 5% brain capacity after a hammer attacker crept into her familys room at a luxury hotel have been released for the first time. Ohoud Al-Najjar and her sisters Khulood and Fatima were staying at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, London, in adjoining rooms in April 2014 when hotel creeper Philip Spence bludgeoned the family. The trio were left with devastating injuries: Khulood has had 20 operations to rebuild her head and face; Fatima cannot taste or smell and has problems with her memory; and Ohoud can no longer speak and lost an eye. Ohoud Al-Najar (Hodge Jones and Allen Solicitors/PA) Khulood said: I was asleep but awoke when I heard footsteps. I opened my eyes to see somebody at the table looking through our stuff. I started to call out to my sister in the connecting room and the man came and put his face really close to mine, he was literally in front of my nose. He said give me the f****** money, and I felt a really hot liquid on my neck. I didnt feel any pain at all, maybe it was the shock as he had hit me over the head with a hammer. The next thing I knew everybody was screaming and I remember my brother shouting at me that I was dying. My daughter Nora just kept crying mama, mama, mama. I still hear footsteps that arent there to this day. I end up opening the door to our room as I think somebody is out there. I am haunted by his steps moments before he bludgeoned us all. The family is suing GLH hotels, claiming security was inadequate. A civil trial is due to take place in May. Spence, who had a history of sneaking into hotel rooms to steal, walked into the lobby and got up to the seventh floor where the family was staying. They had left the room door unlocked as they believed they were safe. A spokesman for GLH said: Philip Spence, convicted in 2014, bears sole responsibility for the brutal injuries he inflicted on the Al-Najjar family five years ago. The Al-Najjar sisters have since remained in our thoughts. Notwithstanding our sincere sympathies, the hotel cannot accept liability given the facts surrounding this dreadful incident, which include these guests having left their hotel bedroom door ajar, visible from the corridor, whilst the family was asleep inside. The sad truth is that the innocuous-looking Spence would not have been able to enter the room opportunistically, had the self-locking mechanism of the rooms door not been propped open. It was an appalling incident, made all the more shocking by its unwarranted brutality for which Philip Spence rightly has a long sentence to serve. The Al-Najjar family suffered an unimaginable ordeal at the hands of a stranger who, with our full support and the aid of the hotels CCTV, was swiftly apprehended, tried and convicted. Philip Spences unconscionable actions have affected all those who sought to help the Al-Najar family that night. The family, from Abu Dhabi, released pictures of Ohoud before and after the attack, to show the devastation her injuries caused. Ohoud Al-Najar before the atack (Hodge Jones and Allen Solicitors/PA) Fatima said: Who could imagine that somebody would come to the seventh floor in the middle of the night and enter our room? In our culture a hotel is a safe place. I havent been able to sleep for more than one hour at a time since the attack. I am afraid to go to sleep as I am scared that something will happen to me and I wont wake up. It is impossible to rest and it is a living nightmare. We feel like we have lost everything for no reason. We have been in physical and mental pain ever since the attack. Khulood, who was confined to a wheelchair for more than a year after the attack, said Ohoud has no quality of life and cannot express herself to show if she is in pain. She added: My children were traumatised by what they saw. I lost seeing part of their childhood and havent had a chance to be a real mum for five years. I used to do everything for them but I havent been able to since the attack. They lost their innocence that night and have had to grow up too fast. They still have nightmares and are always worried that we are going to be hurt by another bad man. They are scared to go anywhere and wanted to put cameras all over our house in case somebody came to kill us. My son said to me, on that night we left the door to our hotel room open, but the price for that was the door to our lives closing. This is our reality now. Spence was convicted of three counts of attempted murder and was initially jailed for a minimum of 18 years, but this was increased to 27 years by appeal judges. Philip Spence (Metropolitan Police/PA) Riffat Yaqub, partner at Hodge Jones and Allen, who is representing the family, said: This brutal and mindless attack while a family slept in the privacy of their hotel room left three sisters with horrific and irreversible life-changing injuries. On the seventh floor of a luxury London hotel they had every right to think that they would be safe. But Spence was able to walk in unhindered to carry out his crimes. Five years on and the sisters are still fighting for justice and to get the apology from the hotel owners we feel they deserve. A genetic test can help predict whether patients with the most common type of breast cancer will benefit from chemotherapy, a new study suggests. The EndoPredict tool, which analyses the makeup of tumours to detect whether a woman is at a high risk of the disease spreading, could save some from undergoing unnecessary treatment, the researchers said. It is hoped the test could help doctors make decisions about the most effective treatment for patients with oestrogen receptor positive, HER2 negative (ER+/HER2-) disease. Professor Daniel Rea, a breast cancer expert from Cancer Research UK, said it could be a valuable addition to others which are currently available. The researchers, including a team from Queen Mary University of London, analysed data from three trials involving 3,746 women. Patients with a high EndoPredict test score indicating a high risk of the disease spreading who underwent chemotherapy as well as standard hormone treatment had up to a 33% lower absolute risk of their breast cancer returning within 10 years, compared with those who just had hormone treatment, the study found. The EndoPredict tool analyses the makeup of tumours to detect whether a woman is at a high risk of the disease spreading (Rui Vieira/PA) The researchers said the findings, published in journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, indicate that a high score can predict chemotherapy benefit among women with this form of breast cancer. Dr Ivana Sestak, lead author from Queen Mary University of London, said: It is clinically important to determine which women with hormone receptor positive, HER2-negative breast cancer need chemotherapy in addition to standard five years of hormonal treatment. We have shown that EndoPredict has the ability to predict chemotherapy benefit, which will ultimately help clinicians in their decision-making process about adjuvant treatment. Prof Rea, from Cancer Research UK, said: This important study is one of the few to provide not just information on the risk of a patients breast cancer coming back, but also whether their cancer is likely to be sensitive to chemotherapy. The EndoPredict test has the potential to help some women diagnosed with early hormone receptor positive, HER-2 negative breast cancer, avoid needless chemotherapy, and may reassure those where its needed. This research highlights the progress being made in genetic testing and could be a valuable addition to the current tests available to doctors, helping them advise patients on the best treatment. Trials in the UK are ongoing to provide more evidence to help us make the best use of these tests. Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now, said: These promising findings offer the first indication that EndoPredict could also identify which patients will respond to chemotherapy, as well as whether they are at a higher risk of recurrence. While this test is already recommended for use on the NHS, its exciting that it may have even greater potential in guiding decisions about whether chemotherapy is necessary. Chemotherapy remains a cornerstone of treatment, but with such difficult side effects including hair loss, fatigue and possible infertility, its essential we avoid giving it to patients who will see little benefit. Genomic tests like this are therefore invaluable in giving patients and their doctors greater reassurance and peace of mind in decisions about chemotherapy and helping ensuring patients receive the most appropriate treatment for them. Officials are under pressure to rethink moves to get rape victims to turn over their mobile phones to the police amid concerns sex offenders are escaping conviction due to the practice. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the new disclosure measure disturbing after it emerged complainants were being asked to give police consent to access messages, photographs, emails and social media accounts. Victims were warned that refusing to allow investigators to access their phones could mean prosecutions were halted. We need to do all we can to support victims of sexual violence to come forward and report cases to the police. With rape and sexual assaults already under-reported, this disturbing move risks letting more rapists get away with it.https://t.co/sswbp1oVUV Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) April 29, 2019 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. However, the consent forms, which have been rolled out across the 43 forces in England and Wales, were branded a knee-jerk reaction by campaigners. They warned victims were being put off from going through with prosecutions due to the intrusion into their personal information. The head of the powerful Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Yvette Cooper, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police chiefs should withdraw the form and start again. Blanket approach it conveys with no safeguards will prevent victims reporting rape & deny justice, she tweeted. Baroness Newlove, the Victims Commissioner for England and Wales, said she had grave concerns about disclosure and feared victims of sexual violence were routinely having their personal lives disproportionately investigated. Raised this in Parliament this afternoon. CPS & @PoliceChiefs should withdraw this form & start again. Blanket approach it conveys with no safeguards will prevent victims reporting rape & deny justice https://t.co/5wwuiPTgds Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) April 29, 2019 Speaking in the House of Lords, the Tory peer said she was unaware that the form existed until she was approached by a journalist despite being the Governments victims tsar. Claire Waxman, the Victims Commissioner for London, said the new consent forms had been developed without any consideration to victims needs and rights to privacy. In comments to The Times, she said that every rape victim she had spoken to was being asked to hand over their phones. A high percentage of the cases being dropped is because women are refusing to allow access to very personal information, which is totally irrelevant to the investigation, she said. Ms Waxman also questioned if asking victims to consent to share personal data was lawful and has asked the Information Commissioner to investigate. The Information Commissioners Office said it had launched an investigation into use of data extraction technology on the mobile phones of suspects, victims and witnesses. 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 would only be looked at when they formed a reasonable line of inquiry and only relevant material would go before a court if it met hard and fast rules. Max Hill has defended use of the consent forms (CPS/PA) Meanwhile, the CPS said: It is not true that complainants in rape cases must automatically hand over personal data on their digital devices or run the risk of the prosecution being dropped. Mobile phone data, or social media activity, will only be considered by the police when relevant to an individual case. Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said the issue was complex. He said: 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. 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. Liam Allans trial collapsed after crucial evidence emerged (David Mirzoeff/PA) 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. 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 101 service is failing and should be overhauled as part of measures to end the nightmare of anti-social behaviour, the Governments victims tsar has said. Baroness Newlove said long waits and charges when calling the non-emergency number were causing many victims to give up or ring 999 instead. The outgoing Victims Commissioner for England and Wales, whose husband Garry was kicked to death by yobs in 2007, was scathing in her assessment of how the problem was being dealt with by police and councils. Chief among her concerns was that anti-social behaviour was being treated as low-level by authorities, which failed to appreciate the devastating impact it could have on victims. Today I launch my final Report ASB: Living a Nightmare that reveals victims are let down by police, councils and housing providers. Many victims suffer in silence. I want my report to be a catylist for change. Join me on @BBCBreakfast at 7.10 #ASBLivingANightmare pic.twitter.com/z49Ad1wjmK Victims' Commissioner for England & Wales (@VictimsComm) April 30, 2019 Baroness Newlove said she was enraged by the attitude of officials and politicians and warned that depressingly little had changed in supporting those afflicted by the scourge of anti-social behaviour since her husbands murder. Despite the promises, even today the circumstances leading up to Garrys death are echoed around the country, she wrote, in an article for the Daily Telegraph. Baroness Helen Newlove (Dave Thompson/PA) Baroness Newlove said that reforms needed to include better ways for people to report anti-social behaviour. She wrote: We need to acknowledge and tackle the failures of the 101 phonelines too. If you cannot handle calls quickly, what is the point of it? And why should there be a charge when 999 calls are free? The Tory peer said victims needed to be empowered, while the underlying causes of anti-social behaviour also needed to be addressed. Its almost 12 years since my husband Garry was kicked to death when he went outside to confront teenagers who were vandalising my car at our home in Warrington, she wrote. ASB. A gang targeted my ordinary family living in an ordinary street in an ordinary neighbourhood with a campaign of vandalism & violence. It ended with Garry kicked to death on our doorstop. 12 years on, Im still writing about ASB. Truth is, depressingly little has changed. pic.twitter.com/aRyft9FBmQ Victims' Commissioner for England & Wales (@VictimsComm) April 30, 2019 So I know only too well how such anti-social behaviour brings nothing but misery. This is why I feel so enraged whenever police and politicians dismiss it as low-level crime. Twelve years later, here I am still calling for more to be done to tackle anti-social behaviour. A Government spokesman said it was committed to tackling anti-social behaviour and ensuring victims get the response they deserve. He added: That is why we reformed powers available to the police, local authorities and others to tackle anti-social behaviour and continue to keep them under review. Some of Britains commuter rail services should be controlled by local transport authorities, an industry body has said. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) believes the current one size fits all approach to franchising should be replaced by a more bespoke model. That could lead to groups such as Transport for London (TfL), Transport for the North and Transport for West Midlands being responsible for handing out contracts to private firms to run regional trains. These contracts could involve no revenue risk to operators who are paid a set price for running an effective service, the RDG proposed. The organisation, which represents train companies and Network Rail, claimed TfLs London Overground network should be viewed as a model for future arrangements in other parts of the country. The majority of rail services in Britain are operated by fixed-term franchises, which involve the Department for Transport (DfT) setting out a specification covering areas such as service levels, upgrades and performance. The model of how London Overground services are run could be replicated in other parts of Britain, according to the Rail Delivery Group (Fiona Hanson/PA) Train companies then submit bids to run the franchise and the DfT selects one of the applicants. In its submission to the Government-commissioned Rail Review, the RDG proposed that competition should be increased for long-distance routes. This would lead to fares based on demand and more innovation by operators as they compete for passengers business, the proposal stated. Competition is rare on Britains railway, with customers often having no choice about which train company they use to travel on a particular route. A new independent organising body should be put in charge of the industry to ensure decisions are taken away from day-to-day politics, according to the RDG. It called for Britains railway to learn lessons from Sweden, which it described as having a good balance between public and private involvement, competitive pricing on intercity routes and contracts which meet regional needs. RDG chief executive Paul Plummer said: These proposals call time on short-term fixes and set out the once-in-a-generation system upgrade the railway needs if it is to help the country prosper over the next 25 years. We want to move forward with a rail system that is more focused on customers, more responsive to local communities and more accountable, letting rail companies deliver what people want in each area of the country and rebuilding trust between the industry and passengers. Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Cash accused the RDG of proposing a deregulated free-for-all that would lead to fare rises by the minute and a break from the last shreds of accountability. Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said passengers would ultimately judge whether any changes result in improved reliability, more space to stand or sit and better value for money. The Rail Review is being chaired by former British Airways chief executive Keith Williams. He has previously said the way train companies are contracted to run services is no longer delivering clear benefits. His inquiry will conclude in the autumn. Virgin Groups submission included a suggestion that passengers should not be allowed to board long-distance trains without a reservation, in a bid to reduce overcrowding. A campaigner whose father died from contaminated blood has accused the Government of offering victims means-tested scraps as a new inquiry gets under way. Jason Evans, whose father died in 1993 having contracted hepatitis and HIV, said the Government had failed to accept responsibility for the scandal and was now attempting damage limitation by offering victims more money. Jason Evans, whose father was a victim of the contaminated blood scandal (Cathy Gordon/PA) The contaminated blood scandal has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. The Infected Blood Inquiry will start taking evidence in central London on Tuesday. Two previous inquiries have been branded a whitewash by campaigners. Our response to @DHSCgovuk poorly timed and downright insulting announcement today, what were they thinking!? - https://t.co/7FIYA3qXKs #ContaminatedBlood #InfectedBloodInquiry Factor 8 (@Factor8Campaign) April 29, 2019 Mr Evans, who runs the Factor 8 campaign group, said a new offer from the Government would equate to less than 900 per person. He said the Government had failed once again to accept its liability in the scandal. He added: In a blatant attempt of damage limitation, the Government has today announced a derisory offer of subsistence to some victims on the very day that the Infected Blood Inquiry begins hearing testimony from those infected and affected. If the figures in the Department of Healths own 2016 report are to be believed, the supposed increase today equates to less than 900 per person infected. We also note with interest that the health minister has stated she has committed up to this figure, meaning the reality could in fact be far less than the shameful amount announced. Todays announcement is not welcome. People are sick and dying, families are dealing with severe bereavement but the Government refuses to accept its clear liability and pay compensation. He said the Government was offering means-tested scraps, adding: These begging bowls are available only to those who meet certain requirements and exclude many of those affected. If the Government truly wants to do the right thing they will provide a statement accepting their liability now. Our members will be bitterly disappointed with the Governments insulting actions today that attempt to overshadow an important day for the victims at the inquiry and represent virtually no change for most of those impacted by the contaminated blood scandal. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said regular annual payments for some of those infected would now substantially increase, from a total pot of 46 million to 75 million. It said more bereaved partners of victims will also be eligible for support. Prime Minister Theresa May said: The contaminated blood scandal was a tragedy that should never have happened and has caused unimaginable pain and hurt for victims and their families for decades. I know this will be a difficult time for victims and their families but today will begin a journey which will be dedicated to getting to the truth of what happened and in delivering justice to everyone involved. The funding increase follows extensive consultation with those affected and a recognition of the disparities that have existed across the schemes, the DHSC added. The Infected Blood Inquiry will hear from victims at the hearing in Fleetbank House, central London, before similar testimonies take place over the coming months in Belfast, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff. The inquiry is being chaired by former High Court judge Sir Brian Langstaff. Des Collins welcomes start of Public Hearings: "For those infected by contaminated blood products, and their families, this is an incredibly important day. For years it didnt look as if this moment would come: they offer a chance for people to tell their story and be heard." pic.twitter.com/6mexjvav6K Collins Solicitors (@Collins_Law) April 30, 2019 Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, which represents Mr Evans and more than 1,000 victims and their families, said: For those infected by contaminated blood products, and those who have family and friends affected by them, this is an incredibly important day. For many, many years it didnt look as if this moment would ever come: the public hearings at the public inquiry offer a chance for many people to stand up, to tell their story and be heard. We acknowledge that the Government has finally proposed increases to the long-running issue of support payments to some of the victims and their families affected in England by contaminated blood products. However, the increase in the payments heralded today by the Government is minuscule in real terms for those whose health has suffered so significantly, for so long. These payments provide a minimal level of support and I fear that the increase announced today will do little to help offset the challenges that many people are facing. It also seems a missed opportunity to make the system simpler and fairer for applicants who have to date been virtually excluded from any ongoing support, particularly for bereaved spouses and partners who now could be eligible via ongoing means-tested discretionary top-up payments. Furthermore, they bring us no closer to a fair and final resolution. These payments should not seen as any form of compensation. The Government has denied compensation to the victims since the scandal emerged and continues to maintain this position. Many contaminated blood victims had haemophilia, a blood-clotting disorder, and relied on regular injections of clotting agent Factor VIII, which was made from pooling human blood plasma. Britain was running low on supplies of Factor VIII so imported products from the US, where prison inmates and others were paid cash for giving blood. Energy giant BP has seen profits slide in the first quarter after it was hammered by falling oil and gas prices. The oil major said replacement cost profit the markets preferred measure fell to 2.1 billion US dollars (1.6 billion) in the first quarter, dropping 12% from 2.4 billion US dollars (1.9 billion) in the same period last year. But the profits were slightly ahead of analyst forecasts due to strong trading across both oil and gas. Strong supply over the three months to March also partially offset the impact of lower prices and weaker refining margins, the company said. Group chief executive Bob Dudley said: BPs performance this quarter demonstrates the strength of our strategy. With solid upstream and downstream delivery and strong trading results, we produced resilient earnings and cash flow through a volatile period that began with weak market conditions and included significant turnarounds. BP has seen profits slide in the first quarter (PA) Moving through the year, we will keep our focus on disciplined growth, with efficient project execution and safe and reliable operations. The FTSE 100 stalwart has been riding the wave of a rebound in the cost of crude in recent years, as it doubled profits for the 2018 full-year. However, the price of Brent crude oil sank to an 18-month low at the end of December, holding back profits in the sector. The company also took operational control of BHP Group oil assets scattered across the US during the quarter, following its 10.5 billion US dollar (8.1 billion) acquisition. Operating cash flow for the period stood at 5.9 billion US dollars (4.6 billion), excluding a 600 million US dollar payment (464 million) for its Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, and a 1 billion US dollar (773 million) working capital build. US president Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to block a congressional summons for his business records. The lawsuit by Mr Trump, his sons Donald Jr and Eric and daughter Ivanka, was filed in a US federal court in Manhattan. The Trump Organisation and the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust are among the other plaintiffs. Mr Trump filed the suit at a federal court in Manhattan (AP) Two US congressional committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions earlier this month as part of investigations into Mr Trumps finances. US House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff said at the time that the subpoenas were part of an investigation into allegations of potential foreign influence on the US political process. He has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organisation. Mr Trumps businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years. The Trumps want a federal judge to declare the subpoenas unlawful. Mr Trump is cranking up his 2020 re-election machine (AP) The lawsuit also seeks to block the financial institutions from disclosing information and complying with the subpoenas. Deutsche Bank, a German asset management firm, has loaned Mr Trumps real estate organisation millions of dollars over time. When the subpoenas were issued April 15, Eric Trump, executive vice president of The Trump Organisation, 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. A fugitive alleged to have been involved in the brutal killing of a father at a Cheshire farm is now one of Europes most wanted. Detectives have been searching for Christopher Guest More Jr since he left the country shortly after the murder of Brian Waters, who was tortured and beaten to death in front of his two adult children at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near Knutsford, in June 2003. More, 41, who a court heard described himself an undercover journalist, has links to Spain, Malta and South America, but detectives believe he could be anywhere. On Tuesday, Cheshire Police said he had been added to Europes most wanted list. Former undercover BBC researcher James Raven, 60, Otis Matthews, 41, and John Wilson, 69, are serving life sentences after being convicted of Mr Waters murder. Christopher Guest More Jr (Cheshire Police/PA) More is alleged to have been with the men when they stormed the derelict property, where Mr Waters was running a cannabis farm, in a row over a drugs debt. The men tied Mr Waters to a chair before battering him in front of his son Gavin, who was also attacked, and daughter Natalie, who had just turned 21 and was held at gunpoint and forced to watch. The 44-year-old victim was whipped, burned, attacked with a staple gun, hung upside down and beaten and sexually assaulted with an iron bar, in a three-hour ordeal during which he sustained 123 injuries, a trial heard. Detective Superintendent Sarah Pengelly said: Today, Christopher Guest More Jr has been added to Europes most wanted list. This is a significant step forward in our bid to locate him and I hope that this latest development will help to generate a renewed interest in this case and, most importantly, valuable information as to his whereabouts. More, who is white and 6ft tall, is wanted for questioning in connection with Mr Waters death along with the attempted murder of a second man and the false imprisonment and assault of other victims at the scene. Ms Pengelly added: Our determination to find Christopher Guest More Jr has not faltered and, over the years, we have remained committed to locating and arresting him for his alleged involvement in the death of Brian Waters. Despite the passage of time, we have never given up hope and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes out of the public eye, in a bid to piece together as much information as possible as to his whereabouts. We are doing everything we can to track him down and are confident that with the assistance of our partners in law enforcement in the UK and abroad coupled with the fact he has now been added to Europes most wanted list that he will be traced. Graham Roberts, regional manager at the National Crime Agency, said: Were very keen to continue supporting Cheshire Police in finding More Jr, who has been on the run for a long time. We have an international network of officers and links to partners abroad which we are using in his pursuit. Mores cousin Raven worked on programmes including the BBCs MacIntyre Uncovered and Crooked Britain, as well as Channel 4s Sleepers, infiltrating gangs involved in car crime, drugs and counterfeiting. A Chester Crown Court trial in 2004 heard More also bragged about work as a surveillance-type journalist and had been following Mr Waters son nine days before the murder in what he described as a reconnaissance mission. Anyone with information on Mores whereabouts should call Cheshire Constabulary on 101 quoting IML 387578, or give the details at cheshire.police.uk/contact/general-enquiries British short track speed skater Elise Christie has revealed she felt broken during her battle with anxiety and depression. The Scottish three-time world champion suffered high-profile short track failures at the 2018 Winter Olympics and subsequently split up with her boyfriend, Hungarian skater Shaolin Sandor Liu. Following the Sochi Games in 2014, Christie received death threats and abuse online, resulting in the onset of anxiety and later depression. https://t.co/KmDeEMW14p teeny insight into everything! Hopefully this can help at least one person xxxx pic.twitter.com/PcBUaCo2Od Elise christie (@Elise_Christie) April 30, 2019 It was quite debilitating. I was in bed a lot. I was struggling to keep up with normal life. I couldnt get things done, she told BBC Sport. I hit a massive low when I got injured in the last Olympic season and I just ended up broken. Christie said her recovery was aided by taking antidepressants, which she has now stopped. The 28-year-old also says she is no longer scared and is excited about skating and life, and hopes that by opening up about her mental health issues she can help others. People are scared to say theyre on medication. I dont know why but I was the same, Christie said. But people are on them because they need it. I couldnt function without them at that point. Its fine to be on the medication. I felt at times I was never going to get off them or feel better. But I just knew when I was ready to come off the medication, because I was ready to accept the emotions and accept that I was going to feel up and down at points. Elise Christie is a three-time world champion and has won 10 European gold medals (David Davies/PA) She added: I want to show people its OK to feel that way and that its OK to use medication. Some people feel weak to admit it. But depression is an illness, not just sadness, and I want people to think it is OK to speak about it. Im going to feel sad emotions but I told myself I was going to try to focus on the good emotions. And now here I am. Im excited about skating; Im excited about life. Im not scared any more. The leader of Islamic State (IS) has appeared for the first time in five years in a video, acknowledging defeat in the groups last stronghold in Syria but vowing a long battle ahead. The man, who is said to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the video, also said the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka which killed more than 250 people were part of the revenge that awaits the West. Despite numerous claims about his death in the past few years, al-Baghdadis 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 IS commanders still at large after two years of steady battlefield losses that saw the self-styled caliphate shrink from an area the size of Britain to a tiny speck in the Euphrates River valley. The video released by a media outlet run by the extremists, Al-Furqan, shows al-Baghdadi with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige vest and seated on the floor with what appears to be an AK-74 rifle propped up next to him. He is speaking with three men seated opposite him whose faces were covered and blotted out. It is his first video appearance since he delivered a sermon at the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. It is the first time the IS leader has been seen since 2014 (Al-Furqan Media/AP) In that video, he appeared as a black-robed figure with a trimmed black beard to deliver a sermon from the pulpit of the mosque in which he urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader. Since then, he has only released audio messages through the groups media outlets. In the video released on Monday, al-Baghdadi acknowledged that IS lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, the groups 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. Al-Baghdadi 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. This steadfastness shocked the hearts of the Crusaders in what increased their rage, he added. Referring to the setbacks in battle, he said the brothers of the many fallen fighters will avenge that, as they will not forget as long as they have blood in their veins, and there will be a battle after this one. All-Baghdadi in his first public appearance in Mosul, Iraq on July 5, 2014, and as he appears in the latest video (Militant video via AP) Al-Baghdadi called specifically on his followers to intensify attacks on France. He made repeated references to current events, including Benjamin Netanyahu winning the elections in Israel and the fall of longtime dictators Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Omar al-Bashir in Algeria and Sudan. Most significantly, he praised the recent attacks in Sri Lanka which he said have pleased the hearts of Muslims, and said it is part of the revenge that awaits the Crusaders and their followers. The group has claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, and investigators are looking into the extent of the extremist groups involvement with the local radicalised Muslims who carried out the suicide bombings. It is unclear when or where the video was filmed. Al-Baghdadi appeared to be in good health, although he spoke slowly and sometimes haltingly in the video. With a 25 million dollar (19 million) US bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi is the worlds most wanted man, responsible for steering his organisation into the mass slaughter of opponents and directing and inspiring terror attacks across continents and in the heart of Europe. The video appeared to be aimed at boosting morale. He 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, without offering evidence for his claim. Although largely seen as a symbolic figurehead of the global terror network, al-Baghdadis capture would be a coveted prize for the various players across both Syria and Iraq. So far, he has eluded the Americans, Russians, Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds. Our battle today is a war of attrition to harm the enemy, and they should know that jihad will continue until doomsday, al-Baghdadi said. Detectives have named a suspected rapist accused of abducting two women off the streets as an extremely dangerous 34-year-old man. Scotland Yard said on Tuesday that the man they are hunting is Joseph McCann, but officers warned he is also known to use false names and may be using a disguise. He is accused of separately snatching two women in their 20s in north London on Thursday. Police described McCann 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 has recently gone by the name of Joel and has links to Watford, north-west London, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and Ipswich in Suffolk. Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin said: We would ask anyone with any information about McCanns 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. Police have warned the suspect is `extremely dangerous (Met Police/PA) Both women were raped after being snatched by the suspect in a silver or grey-coloured 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 suspect attempted to book a room at around 1pm. They left when this was unavailable. But the women managed to escape in Osborne Road, Watford, at about 2.30pm. They were both traumatised by the ordeal and are receiving support from specialist officers, police said. A 33-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to rape, while the hunt for the rapist continues. Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111. Japans Emperor Akihito has formally announced his abdication in his final official address to his people. In the ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Tuesday, Akihito also thanked his people for their support during his 30-year reign. The 85-year-old said it was fortunate for him that he could fulfil his duties with full trust and faith in his people. Japans Crown Prince Naruhito leaves the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (Hiroko Harima/Kyodo News via AP) Akihitos reign ends at midnight on Tuesday, after which his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, ascends the throne as new emperor. Naruhitos ascension will be formalised at a separate ceremony on Wednesday. Lionel Messi has the chance to score against a sixth different English opponent in the Champions League when Barcelona and Liverpool meet on Wednesday. The semi-final first leg at the Nou Camp pits Messi against the only English opponent he has yet to score against in Europes Premier club competition albeit having faced the Reds just twice. Here, Press Association Sport looks at Messis record against Premier League clubs. Chelsea (PA Graphic) Appearances: 10 Goals: 3 It took the Argentina star until his ninth meeting with the Blues before he got his name on the scoresheet as the two teams shared some momentous Champions League battles. He was shut out in the last 16 in 2005-06 playing just 24 minutes in the second leg the following seasons two group games and the semi-finals in 2009 and 2012. He finally broke his duck last season after Andreas Christensens error in a 1-1 draw in the last 16 before scoring twice in a 3-0 win in the return leg. Arsenal Messi (left) scores the first of his four goals against the Gunners in a memorable 2010 clash (Nick Potts/PA) Appearances: 6 Goals: 9 Messis greatest individual night against English opposition came in April 2010 when he staved off a quarter-final upset with a stunning four-goal burst against Arsene Wengers Gunners. His second-leg brace in the following seasons last-16 clash had a similar effect as Barca won 4-3 on aggregate, while he scored three of their goals in a 5-1 aggregate success at the same stage in 2016. Manchester City Messi scored against Manchester City in 2016 (Tim Goode/PA) Appearances: 6 Goals: 6 A hat-trick in October 2016s 4-0 win in Group C, on Pep Guardiolas return to the Nou Camp, boosted Messis record against City. He also scored in the return fixture the following month, having previously found the net in both legs of Barcas 4-1 aggregate win in the last 16 in the 2013-14 competition. Manchester United Messi was on target in the 2011 final (Nick Potts/PA) Appearances: 6 Goals: 4 Prior to his two goals in this months quarter-final second leg, Messi had scored only twice in five appearances against the Red Devils. Those goals, however, both came in finals a header in 2009 and a superb 20-yard effort in 2011 as he saved his best for the big occasion. The latter was his first goal on English soil. Tottenham All over at Wembley! Tottenham Hotspur 2-4 FC Barcelona Kane, Lamela | Coutinho, Rakitic and Messi (2) #SpursBarca #ForcaBarca pic.twitter.com/69tCJyKPvq FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 3, 2018 Appearances: 2 Goals: 2 This seasons competition was the first time Messi had come up against Spurs, who were drawn in Group B alongside Barca. He marked the occasion with a brace in his sides 4-2 win at Wembley, before playing just 28 minutes of the home fixture. Liverpool A teenage Messi was well marshalled as Liverpool won through in 2007 (Peter Byrne/PA) Appearances: 2 Goals: 0 Not since the last 16 of the 2006-07 competition have the two clubs met, meaning Messi who was just 19 at the time has had to wait for his chance to show Liverpool what he can do. He played the full duration of both games but was kept at bay as Liverpool won 2-1 at the Nou Camp and progressed on away goals after a 1-0 loss at home. A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the bodies of two women were reportedly found in a freezer by police. The 50-year-old has been taken to an east London police station as detectives attempt to identify the women, who were found in a flat in Vandome Close, in Canning Town. The Metropolitan Police have released no further details about the women, who were found inside a freezer, the Mail Online reported. The murder investigation is being led by the Mets Homicide and Major Crime Command and the force said it was working to formally identify the women and trace their next of kin. Officers were called to the address at about 11.45am on Friday following concerns for the welfare of an occupant. Police are outside a house around a 10-minute walk from the flat where neighbours said a middle-aged man was arrested on Monday. One, who wanted to be named as Bud, said she had heard he looked shocked when he was taken away, adding: They arrested him, put him in the back of the van and thats it. She added: Everything goes on in there drugs, women going in and out. Scotland Yard would not confirm whether the address is connected with the double murder probe. The discovery o the bodies left residents in the area shaken, with one resident of the block, who did not want to be named, saying: Im astonished, its a little community. Were all tight-knit around here, everybody knows everybody, he added. Local residents expressed concern for the welfare of a woman from the area who has been missing for 12 months. A 49-year-old man, who has lived on the street for 18 years and did not want to be named, said he had spoken to police. They told me that a body had been found, they showed me a photo of a woman but I didnt know her, he said. Vandome Close in east London where two women have been found dead (Tom Pilgrim/PA) Ive just heard on the news that it was two bodies. [Im] just wondering why? A 29-year-old local resident, who did not want to be named, said the area suffered from petty crime but the discovery of bodies was unusual. He added: This is not common it doesnt put you at ease, you dont know [under] what circumstances these people were killed. When you dont know, youre concerned. A small village in eastern Sri Lanka has held what is thought to be 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 would not require hundreds of troops armed with assault rifles to defend it. Checkpoints started just outside the east Sri Lanka village of Thannamunai, the strictest seen in the days after Islamic State-aligned militants launched suicide attacks that killed over 250 people. People wanted to celebrate Mass, they wanted to participate in this, but they, even myself, were afraid, Father Norton Johnson said. A boy holds a processional cross (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP) However, security personnel gave us good protection. The Mass in Thannamunai, about 140 miles north east 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 Josephs Catholic Church. Then came Easter. The morning of April 21, suicide bombers attacked three churches and three hotels across Sri Lanka. Soon after, the US Embassy in Colombo warned against attending services at any place of worship in the multi-ethnic nation of 21 million Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Catholic leaders then closed all their churches. A soldier stands guard during a Catholic Mass outside St Josephs church (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP) Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, celebrated Mass this past Sunday at his residence, with the countrys leaders attending. The faithful prayed on their knees at home, watching his homily in a televised broadcast. But the invitation for the ordinations already had been sent out. After confirming with the military, Father Johnson and other Catholic leaders agreed to quietly hold the Mass for the community. Father 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. Sri Lankan soldiers stand guard outside St Josephs church (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP) But still they came, the priests laying their hands on the new priests forehead as he knelt before them. Security personnel remained tense, in part because Thannamunai is wedged between Muslim neighbourhoods and authorities believe militants remain at large. The alleged mastermind of the Easter bombings also preached a violent interpretation of the Koran nearby, promising heaven to those who killed nonbelievers. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has not been seen in nearly five years, appeared in a video on 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. Catholics participate in Holy Mass (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP) Father 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 cant 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 queues for men and women outside St Josephs. 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. Its a very risky thing, said one army officer, smiling. Soldiers outside the church (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP) But inside, worshippers prayed with their eyes closed, some barefoot. A choir sang hymns backed by a synthesiser 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 Josephs earlier was near the front lines of the governments decades-long civil war against the Tamil Tigers. Mortars once struck the church, damaging it, Father 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. A motorist is in hospital with serious injuries after a crash blocked a motorway, bringing miles of rush-hour traffic to a standstill. The accident on the M62 near Liverpool left one car on its roof, a lorry straddling the carriageway and another wrecked vehicle on the hard shoulder. Debris was left scattered across the motorway along with liquid, possibly diesel or petrol fuel, photographs of the crash showed. One person suffered serious injuries in the crash (Peter Byrne/PA) A fleet of four ambulances were called to the crash, shortly before 7.30am on Tuesday near junction five of the M62, westbound into Liverpool. Two fire engines and the search and rescue appliance also attended and on arrival fire crews found four cars and a HGV had been involved in the collision. MC patrols are on scene with a multi vehicle RTC on the M62 WB between the exit & entry slip roads. All lanes are currently blocked so traffic is being diverted off at J5 to re-join the other side. Please consider alternative routes. @MerPolTraffic @MerPolCC pic.twitter.com/TibxVVqxzM North West Motorway Police (@NWmwaypolice) April 30, 2019 The occupants of three of the cars and the HGV had got out of their vehicles when crews arrived but another person was trapped inside the fourth car. Fire crews used hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the door and side post of the vehicle to release this person, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said. Emergency services were called around 7.30am to the M62 (Peter Byrne/PA) Three patients were taken to hospital; a man in his 30s with injuries to his arm, a woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s, reportedly suffering serious injuries. North West Ambulance Service said they also sent a rapid response vehicle and a senior clinician to the incident. Firefighters and police are also at the scene. The accident blocked rush-hour traffic into Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA) The crash affected rush-hour traffic with all lanes westbound into Liverpool currently blocked and vehicles being diverted off the motorway at junction five. North West Motorway Police said motorists should consider alternative routes until the carriageway is reopened. More than half of schoolchildren do not get to study all the subjects they want, a Scottish Parliament survey has revealed, with youngsters claiming they are forced to take classes they hate. Research by the Scottish Parliaments Education Committee found 56% of youngsters in the senior phase of secondary school were not able to take all the classes they wanted. The most common reasons given for this were timetabling clashes, the school not offering the subject a student wanted to take and a shortage of teachers. Equity is supposed to be one of the defining principles underpinning Scottish education yet the subject choice issue has exposed growing inequity. Liz Smith (@mspliz) April 25, 2019 Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith raised concerns youngsters were being denied the opportunities for learning they both need and deserve. Parents told the committee having to take subjects they did not want to study was affecting their childrens motivation, leading to unwillingness to go to school. One pupil who took part in the survey complained: I wasnt allowed to take modern studies and another social subject so I had to take art instead, which I hated. Children complained they were `forced to study subjects they `hated. (Ben Birchall/PA) Another said they had been forced to take Spanish (a course I have no interest in) and miss a class I really enjoy. A report on the research, prepared ahead of Wednesdays meeting of the Education Committee, said: It is interesting to note the language used by respondents to describe this outcome. For example, they were forced to take, had to take or got put into a subject. It is not just that they ultimately took a course they did not wish to study but that they had considered they had no choice in the outcome. Parents taking part in the survey voiced concerns their children had narrowed their future career/college/university options too early. Ms Smith said: No-one would expect every single pupil to be able to take every single subject they wanted. But this survey shows more than half of pupils are denied this opportunity. That speaks volumes about the narrowing choice of subjects being offered to Scotlands pupils under this SNP Government. The Conservative MSP added: Scotland used to be world-renowned for the breadth of education on offer in school. Now its more likely than not that our children will be denied the opportunities for learning they both need and deserve. Malaysia has destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products estimated to be worth 13.26 million ringgit (2.46 million) as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. The countrys 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. An ivory tusk is displayed before destruction (Vincent Thian/AP) Mr Jayakumar said the tusks and products were burned to ensure they would not be stolen and sold back in the black market. He said Malaysia is committed to eradicating illegal wildlife trading, especially in ivory, and to stop smugglers from using Malaysia as a transit hub. The mother of a teenager who suffered first-degree burns in a horrific attack in Waterford has spoken of her anger over the incident. Christie Agberhiere said her son Tega, 17, cried out in pain after a corrosive substance was thrown on his face. His friends were also attacked in the incident at Earlscourt in Waterford city at about 11pm on Thursday April 25. Gardai say a number of youths were involved in the altercation. Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said he was very worried about the situation. Three of the victims, including Tega, required medical attention for burns and were taken to University Hospital Waterford for treatment. Gardai are investigating an incident in which three teenager were attacked with corrosive substance in Waterford last Thursday (Niall Carson/PA) Four teenage boys were arrested on Saturday by gardai investigating the alleged incidents of assault and violent disorder. They were questioned at Waterford garda station and later released without charge. A file will be prepared for the Director for Public Prosecutions. Ms Agberhiere said her son is receiving treatment after suffering burns to his eyes and face. Hes getting better but hes still in the hospital, she told Waterford radio station WLR. I feel like the whole world is on top of me. I feel very angry and feel beaten up. Its hard to explain. Why my son? Why him? Hes in so much pain, he was crying because it was down all of his face. Mr Flanagan has urged co-operation with the gardai. I have sought a full report, it seems to me a criminal act has taken place. Gardai are investigating and I would urge anybody in Waterford, particularly young people in Waterford, to co-operate fully with An Garda Siochana, he said. This type of behaviour is unacceptable in any civilised society. Gardai have appealed for witnesses, particularly anyone who was in the Earlscourt area at the time of the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact Waterford garda station on 051 305300 or the garda confidential line 1800 666111. The investigation is ongoing. While the wait goes on for the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby, here are 10 facts about royal births: 1. Surgery at home The Queen then Princess Elizabeth was born by Caesarean section in 1926. The Queen was born by Caesarean (Jonathan Brady/PA) But the surgery took place in her grandparents home in Mayfair, rather than in a hospital. 2. The NHS Lady Louise Windsor was the first of the Queens grandchildren to be born in an NHS hospital. Lady Louise Windsor (left) with her mother the Countess of Wessex (Steve Parsons/PA) She arrived prematurely following an emergency Caesarean after a seriously-ill eight months pregnant Countess of Wessex was rushed to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey. 3. Natural births The Duchess of Cambridge had a natural birth with all three of her children at the exclusive Lindo Wing and a team of 23 medical staff were on hand in case of emergencies. 4. Kitchen delivery The Duke of Edinburgh, then Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, was born on the kitchen table at his family home Mon Repos in Corfu. The Duke of Edinburgh was born on a kitchen table (Steve Parsons/PA) 5. Smuggled substitutes Prince Charless birth in 1948 was the first time in centuries that there was not a government minister there to witness the arrival of a future heir to the throne. Princess Elizabeth with her son Prince Charles (PA) It was an age-old custom designed to ensure that no substitute baby had been smuggled in in a warming pan or similar receptacle. 6. The shadow side of marriage Queen Victoria who had nine offspring used to refer to childbearing as the shadow side of marriage or die Schattenseite. Her first babies were born before anaesthetics were available. Queen Victoria had nine children and was known as the grandmother of Europe after her children married European royalty. #MothersDay This year marks 200 years since Queen Victoria's birth. Read about her remarkable life https://t.co/VI4RwqUgHU Royal Collection Trust pic.twitter.com/Ipq6YhS1yr English Heritage (@EnglishHeritage) March 31, 2019 7. Battles over birth pain Victoria used chloroform for later births, sniffing it from a handkerchief. When it was first pioneered, traditionalists opposed the drug, claiming labour pain was responsible for a womans love for her child, and sufferings during childbirth were a divine destiny. Queen Victoria supported a womans right to reduce pain during childbirth (PA) But Victoria refused to believe such a notion, and her support for the blessed method and its soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure effect ensured its accepted use in society. 8. Induced births The Princess of Wales was induced with Prince William, with Diana telling friends her baby was ready and well cooked. A heavily pregnant Diana ahead of the birth of Prince William (PA) Her labour was difficult and she was continually sick, with doctors considering a Caesarean. Future king William was eventually born without a C-section after the princess was given an epidural. 9. Noisy crowds After William arrived at the Lindo Wing in 1982, new father the Prince of Wales asked the rapturous crowds outside the hospital if they could make a little less noise. Charles waving to the crowds as he leaves St Marys Hospital, Paddington after son William was born (PA) 10. Secret scans In 1984, Diana knew Prince Harry was going to be a boy following a scan. The Prince and Princess of Wales following the birth of their second son, Prince Harry (PA) But she did not tell husband Charles, fearing he wanted a girl, and kept the news secret throughout her pregnancy. Election authorities in Ukraine have officially named TV star and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the countrys new president. The Central Election Commission on Tuesday presented the official results of the April 21 vote, showing Mr Zelenskiy beat incumbent President Petro Poroshenko by winning 73% of the vote. Ballots at a polling station (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) Mr Zelenskiy has criticised election authorities for dragging their feet on naming him the official winner, which reduces his chances of disbanding the parliament. Mr Zelenskiy will be able to call an early election in the parliament, which is currently dominated by the allies of the outgoing president, only if he is sworn in before May 27. The parliament now has a month to set the date for the inauguration ceremony. The Sinn Fein leader has called for a Plan B to be put in place if talks to restore a Northern Ireland government at 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. A new talks initiative will start on May 7. "The Sinn Fein negotiation team met yesterday and we are now preparing for this new round of talks. We hope that everyone is minded to seize this opportunity. We will go in with hope, positivity & with our eyes wide open, as we have been to this place before." - @MaryLouMcDonald pic.twitter.com/yfi9PN8Ynk Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) April 30, 2019 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 journalist Lyra McKee during riots in Londonderry on April 18. The public sentiment after the death of Lyra McKee couldnt 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. Mary Lou McDonald (Niall Carson/PA) We need assurances from the governments that they know what theyre 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. "The current political stalemate cannot continue. The days of tolerating inequality are over." - @MaryLouMcDonald pic.twitter.com/kd052Y3g50 Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) April 30, 2019 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 in Belfast without red lines stalling progress. DUP leader Arlene Foster has made it clear that her partys position on marriage equality has not changed, and believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. Almost a third of a million homes in Scotland have received help from a scheme that helps hard-up families struggling to pay for heating and eating. Since it was set up in April 2013, the Scottish Welfare Fund has paid out a total of 190.6 million to 326,085 households. The latest figures showed in the last three months of 2018 it paid out just under 2.5 million in crisis grants with 29,060 payments made over the period to help needy families with basic living expenses. Grants for food amounted to more than 1.4 million an increase of 15% from the period October to December 2017 while there was a 25% increase in the value of grants for heating to more than 520,000. Payments totalling more than 17,000 were made to those who could not otherwise afford to buy nappies, toiletries and household products a rise of 134% over the year. Graeme Brown, director of the housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland, said: It is clear from todays statistics that increasing numbers of households across Scotland continue to struggle to make ends meet and keep a roof over their head. Almost a third of a million households have received help from the Scottish Welfare Fund (Anna Gowthorpe/PA) He added: These grants are a vital lifeline for many facing job insecurity, zero-hour contracts, harsh welfare reforms, low pay and the high cost of housing. The grants, which are distributed by local councils, are also used to help people facing disaster or emergency situations such as flooding and can assist families facing exceptional pressure with one-off costs for items including beds, washing machines or cookers. These community care grants helped 10,725 households in the last three months of last year, with payments totalling some 6.5 million. Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Sommerville said: The fact that so many households in Scotland are in need of emergency financial help is appalling and a sad indictment of the UK Governments record on austerity and welfare changes. As their welfare cuts continue to cause harm and damage, we continue to do our best to mitigate against them and provide financial support to low-income families and carers through new social security benefits. We are using our limited powers to ensure Universal Credit in Scotland gives people some control over their payments and our financial health check is providing personalised advice on money matters to help those on low incomes maximise their finances. That is why we will again provide local authorities with 38 million in 2019-20 to support hard-pressed families who, through no fault of their own, need help to simply get by. The father of a schoolboy murdered by the IRA has criticised a leading Brexit Party candidate for absolutely disgraceful comments about the terror group made days after the Warrington bombing which killed his son. Ex-Communist Claire Fox, now a European elections candidate for Nigel Farages party, was a leading member of the far-left Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) which defended the Warrington bombing on March 20, 1993. The partys newsletter published days later in April 1993 defended the right of the Irish people to take whatever measures necessary in their struggle for freedom. Fox is the number one candidate in the North West of England for the Brexit Party, and if the polls are correct, likely to become Warringtons MEP. As a leading light of the RCP she was also reportedly a member of the Irish Freedom Movement, which backed dissident republicanism. Tim Parry, 12, and Johnathan Ball, three, were killed in the bombing which left 56 injured. Tim died in his father Colins arms five days later in Liverpools Walton Hospital. Mr Parry said Claire Fox should explain her position. 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. I simply say I think voters in the constituency of the North West, which is a big area, really should be aware, as voters should be in general should be aware, of the political positions of candidates, even if they disavow them from a former life. Asked what voters would make of the matter, Mr Parry added: I would hope they would be absolutely disgusted by these comments. Mr Parry and Tims mother, Wendy Parry, later set up the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace, which has since become an internationally recognised centre for conflict resolution and victim support. Asked if Nigel Farage should drop Ms Fox as a candidate, Mr Parry said: I wonder whether he knows? I wonder whether the Brexit Party know this about her? Maybe they dont think its an important issue. A spokesman for the Brexit Party said Ms Fox does not deny she did hold those views in the past, but that she supported the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland, and does not hold those views now. He said: Its a desperate attempt to cause trouble. That was 20 years ago and she is committed to democracy and peaceful solutions. Warrington councillor Dan Price said Fox was totally unfit for office. Mr Price, one of Change UKs candidates for the European 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. Claire Fox should not be hiding away in London, she should come to Warrington and explain to the Parry family her views on the IRA atrocity that devastated our town. Nigel Farage has made a big mistake in making her his priority candidate for Warrington and he is treating us with contempt. Ms Fox has been approached directly for comment. 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 Ministers official spokesman. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley also told Tuesdays 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 Mays spokesman added. SofS Karen Bradley tells the @HouseofCommons that the UK and Irish Governments will do everything to make talks a success.@HouseofCommons @10DowningStreet @dfatirl pic.twitter.com/UDGHPojlfR Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) April 29, 2019 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 over 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. (PA Graphics) The last Democratic Unionist/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 Tuesday, Mrs Mays spokesman said of the Northern Ireland talks process: The PM acknowledged that we dont underestimate the challenges which are facing the parties. 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 dont underestimate the challenges that are involved in this process. At the same time, there is a feeling that there is momentum out there. The trial of two 14-year-old boys accused of murdering Anastasia Kriegel has heard how a zombie-type mask was found in the backpack of one of the defendants. The schoolgirls naked body was found in a derelict house in Lucan, Co Dublin days after she went missing last year. Both boys have pleaded not guilty to the 14-year-old girls murder. Boy A also pleaded not guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of the girl. The boys cannot be identified because of their age. On the first day of the trial at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, Brendan Grehan, senior counsel for the State, said that gardai searching for Ana in May last year found her body in the derelict farmhouse. The girl was found dead in a derelict farmhouse outside the village of Lucan last May (Family handout/PA) Her body was naked except for socks on her feet and a ligature around her neck, which was made from distinctive builders tape. Mr Grehan said: The scene was bloody and blood-spattered. Some of her clothes which were forcibly removed were scattered around a small room. State pathologist Marie Cassidy said that Ana died from severe and extensive injuries to her head and neck. The injuries also suggested attempted penetration of her vagina, the court heard. It was concluded that Ana had been violently assaulted in the room where she was found and that there had been a struggle. Ana had been reported missing four days earlier on Monday May 14 by her mother and father. She was last seen by members of her family when she left her home with boy B, who faces a single charge of murder. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact Ana, Mrs Kriegel went searching for her daughter and later reported her missing to gardai at about 9pm. The two boys deny murdering 14-year-old Ana (Family handout/PA) Gardai went to the home of boy B, who she was last seen with. Mr Grehan told the court that he provided gardai with first of many different accounts. Significantly, he did not mention his friend (boy A) at this stage, he added. It was not until the following day that he told gardai he called for Ana on behalf of this friend. He said he knew Ana was interested in (boy A) and suggested the purpose of the meeting was that he could tell Ana he was not interested in her. (Boy B) was aware that Ana had expressed some interest in (boy A) on a previous occasion. Boy B told gardai that after a short conversation, Ana left the area and went in one direction while he and boy A went in a different direction. Gardai made contact with (boy A) and his parents and he had a somewhat different account of having met her, and did not suggest there was some arrangement, Mr Grehan added. Both boys were asked to point out what routes they had taken. Divergences began to emerge between what they said to gardai on one occasion and another. The jury will view CCTV images of Anas last movements, the court heard. Mr Grehan also told the court that witnesses claimed they saw boy A limping with blood on his face and clothing shortly after 5.30pm on the day Ana went missing. Boy A claimed to friends and his parents that he was attacked by two men. He later repeated these claims to gardai and also made a statement. He (boy A) said he was mugged by two older people in the park. Gardai had investigated this allegation, he added. The State prosecutor told the court that these injuries were instead caused by a struggle with Ana in which he sexually assaulted her. This was a made-up story about attackers having caused the injuries, he suggested to the court. Mr Grehan said the States case relies on lies boy A told about where he last saw Ana, as well as a compelling forensic case based on objective scientific evidence of DNA. It will be alleged he was connected to the scene by male DNA found on her neck and on the tape around her neck and on semen found on her top, located in the same room her body was found. In addition, it will be alleged that various items from (boy As) home connected to him also connected him to Anas murder. These include the contents of a distinctive backpack he was seen carrying. These include gloves, knee pads, shin guards and, most chillingly, a home-made zombie-type mask. There is no explanation consistent with innocence to explain these objective scientific facts. He said the legal basis against boy B is somewhat different. He aided and abetted the murder of Ana. He assisted or helped it to happen, knowing what was going to happen, the prosecutor added. That is, he lured Ana from her house to meet (boy A) knowing that she would want to meet him and knowing her meeting in some romantic way was not the purpose at all, knowing they were not going to the (area) but were going to meet him at a dirty, dark, derelict house, that he or (boy A) made sure was empty before handing Ana over to (boy A), knowing preparation was made as to what was to happen using the builders tape to make a ligature around her neck, and voyeuristically watching her murder and sexual assault, participating in the cover-up afterwards, lying repeatedly to gardai and others about what he saw, knew and did. He also told the court that boy A and boy B were good friends, if not best friends, at he time of Anas murder. He said that Ana found her teenage years difficult, that she was bullied and had difficulties settling in to her new school. She dressed and acted differently from others her age and engaged in some attention-seeking behaviour and wanted to be noticed, he added. She craved friends and friendship, and for that reason she was vulnerable and an easy mark for someone to take advantage of. A convicted killer who went missing from a psychiatric hospital four days ago travelled to Edinburgh by train, according to police. Michael Errington left the Priory Hospital Middleton St George in Darlington at around 8am on Saturday. He was on approved leave but did not return. The 51-year-old has been living at the secure mental health hospital in Country Durham for the past nine years after serving 18 years in prison for manslaughter. Members of the public have been warned not to approach him but to call police on 999. He is on medication, which officers believe he has not taken since Saturday. He can become aggressive and unpredictable without it, police say. Michael Errington left the station via the Princes Street exit and turned left towards Edinburgh Castle (Durham Constabulary/PA) After leaving the hospital, Mr Errington caught a bus into Darlington town centre. Once there he caught another bus to Durham and then a further bus to Newcastle, where he boarded a train to Edinburgh. The service arrived into Edinburgh Waverley station at 2.38pm on Saturday, where he was captured on CCTV getting off the train. He then left the station via the Princes Street exit and turned left towards the castle. Temporary Superintendent Catherine Clarke from Durham Constabulary said: These are our last known sightings of Michael. Due to his mental health issues, which can become exacerbated when he hasnt taken his medication, we believe he may pose a risk to the public. Therefore, we would urge anyone who sees him not to approach him but to call us immediately on 999. Mr Errington is described as being around 6ft, of medium build, bald, with tattoos on his arms and legs. He was thought to be wearing a red polo shirt but may have changed into a grey T-shirt. He may also be wearing a black jacket, light blue jeans and white trainers. A low-cost blood test for the early detection of brain cancer could be in UK hospitals with three years, according to researchers. ClinSpec Diagnostics Limited is developing the new technology, which would give doctors an accurate test for the disease and reduce delays in referral times. Brain cancer is very difficult to detect and diagnose with the main symptom being a headache and reduces life expectancy more than any other tumour type. The firm, which is based at the University of Strathclyde, believes the potentially life-saving tests could be used in UK hospitals within three to four years. Matthew Baker, a researcher, said: Its exciting to be able to move the science from the laboratory to the clinic and I look forward to releasing the test for patients. Strathclyde is known for its innovative environment, which fosters research that makes a positive impact on peoples lives. Dr Matthew Baker (left) with Jamie Hepburn (Mark Runnacles/PA) Today marks an important milestone for Clinspec Diagnostics and the health services it will support and ultimately the patients and families that will benefit from the test. Currently, 38% of patients have to visit their GP more than five times before being diagnosed with brain cancer and 62% are only diagnosed in an emergency. Brain cancer reduces life expectancy on average by 20 years. The new blood test could indicate the type and severity of the tumour, allowing doctors to prioritise and fast-track the most appropriate and effective treatments. Clinical studies are under way now in Edinburgh to speed up the development of the technology. Further blood tests are also being developed by the company for other diseases, such as pancreatic and prostate cancer. Scotlands Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: The blood test demonstrates significant advancements in cancer detection methods, and will play a vital role in helping to save lives. This technology also paves the way for similar blood tests to be developed in the future for other diseases. By supporting this promising university spin-out, the Scottish Government is helping to translate key research outputs into practical medical innovations. The production company behind childrens play Dear Zoo has cancelled the rest of its UK tour dates after its truck was stolen. The play is based on books by childrens author Rod Campbell and had been travelling to theatres all over the UK. Producer Chris Davis said the Mercedes truck was stolen in Peterborough in the early hours of Saturday with about 50,000 of props, costumes and set pieces inside. The firm wrote on Twitter that it was devastating, and that with regret it has cancelled the rest of the dates on its spring and summer tour. CAN YOU HELP?! The @DearZooLive van has been STOLEN today containing all the staging, set & costumes. It is now tracked to near Grantham. PLEASE SHARE to help get us back on the road! Registration CA67 NLX #findourzoo #tour #theatre #family #kidstheatre @PoliceCambs @lincspolice pic.twitter.com/NeeiGRgKg1 Chris Davis Management (@ChrisDavisMgt) April 27, 2019 Cambridgeshire Police said investigations are continuing into the theft. Mr Davies said the truck was fitted with a tracking device that indicates it could now be in Grantham, Lincolnshire. (Dave Thompson/PA) Its number plate is CA67 NLX and anyone with information is asked to contact police. The show was staged to celebrate 35 years since Dear Zoo was published. It is the story of a child who writes to a zoo asking to be sent a pet. Social media companies have agreed to help fund a new initiative to tackle self-harm content on their sites, following a summit in London, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said. He told MPs that tech giants including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have pledged to work with the Samaritans on removing dangerous content. Making a statement in the Commons, he said: As a result of yesterdays summit, the leading global social media companies have agreed to work with experts from the Samaritans, to speed up the identification and removal of suicide and self-harm content, and create greater protections online. Theyll not only financially support the work, but crucially, Samaritans suicide prevention experts will determine what is harmful and dangerous content, and the social media platform is committed to either remove it or prevent others from seeing it, and help vulnerable people get the positive support they need. Positive outcome to yesterdays meeting with the social media companies. Theyre starting to get the message that acting now to protect vulnerable people online - esp children - is a moral imperative. We now need to see firm action pic.twitter.com/3fMWnZ4sxa Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) April 30, 2019 Mr Hancock said social media firms have a duty of care to their users, and said after high-profile cases of teenagers who have committed suicide after viewing harmful content for all of us this is very close to home. He cited the Governments recently-published Online Harms White Paper, which outlines a new statutory duty of care for social media companies, requiring them to take more action to protect users from harmful content, overseen by an independent regulator. Facebook and Instagram (Niall Carson/PA) Mr Hancock said the social media summit on Monday also covered the spread of anti-vaccination misinformation, which he said can have devastating consequences. He said there are few inventions that have reduced human misery so much as vaccinations. The Government has accused Wikipedia of shirking their social responsibilities after they failed to attend a summit on harmful content online. Mr Hancock said the internet giant will be written to in robust terms after its failure to attend the summit. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said his own search had found images of graphic self-harm and videos, plus pro-anorexia posts and the normalisation of eating disorders, adding: Dangerous content should be blocked and taken down. He said: These social media platforms must be made to take responsibility for the harm and dangerous fake news they host, they are helping fuel a public health crisis. Mr Ashworth said he had also found dangerous anti-vaccination propaganda on social media, adding: I think we need a clear vaccination action plan urgently from the Government, this cannot be about penalising families. Public Health England, he added, could launch an online social media campaign to challenge dangerous anti-vax myths. Mr Ashworth called on the Government to commit to reversing public health cuts. He said: Falling vaccination rates are not just about online activity, public health services have been cut by 800 million, our health visitors have been cut by 8% in recent years, our school nurses are down 24% in recent years. SNP health spokeswoman Dr Philippa Whitford asked when any regulator would be established, adding: Its still in the long grass and I think it is urgent. Labour chairwoman of the Home Affairs Committee, Yvette Cooper, said it was time to do much more on algorithms, which she said were pushing people into more and more extreme behaviour. She said: This is their algorithms that for profit are pushing people to the extremes, surely its time (for) much greater transparency and accountability on their entire business model and the way that they are promoting all sorts of problems. Mr Hancock said: Its only by the social media companies changing their own algorithms that we can make this happen and this is why I think the new regulator is so important. He added the next meeting would reconvene in two months: Its very important that we keep the pace up so we will expect in two months time that well see further action from the social media companies. SNP MP Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) welcomed the statement about tackling anti-vaccination posts on social media, noting: My son contracted measles one month before he was due to receive his MMR vaccine due to a dip in numbers being vaccinated. Mr Hancock replied: Your son is a case in point for why if you do not vaccinate, you are not only endangering your own children, but other peoples. It is because of a failure to vaccinate that these diseases still exist, and children that are too young to be vaccinated are the ones that are at risk. A convicted killer who went missing from a psychiatric hospital in England four days ago has been found in Edinburgh. Michael Errington left the Priory Hospital Middleton St George in Darlington at around 8am on Saturday and travelled to Scotland by train. He was on approved leave but did not return. Police said he was traced in Newington, Edinburgh, at around 2.30pm on Tuesday. The 51-year-old has been living at the secure mental health hospital in County Durham for the past nine years after serving 18 years in prison for manslaughter. While he was missing members of the public were warned not to approach him but to call police on 999. Michael Errington left the station via the Princes Street exit and turned left towards Edinburgh Castle (Durham Constabulary/PA) Police said due to his mental health issues, which can become exacerbated when he has not taken his medication, he may pose a risk to the public. After leaving the hospital, Mr Errington caught a bus into Darlington town centre. Once there he caught another bus to Durham and then a further bus to Newcastle, where he boarded a train to Edinburgh. The service arrived into Edinburgh Waverley station at 2.38pm on Saturday, where he was captured on CCTV getting off the train. He then left the station via the Princes Street exit and turned left towards the castle. A Police Scotland spokesman said: Police in Edinburgh can confirm that Michael Errington from Darlington was traced in the St Leonards area of Edinburgh at around 2.30pm on Tuesday April 30. Officers continue to liaise with colleagues at Durham Constabulary and the public are thanked for their assistance. Change UK has urged Labour members disillusioned over their partys position on Brexit to lend it their votes in the European elections. Chuka Umunna, Change UK spokesman, said Labour had nothing to offer but prevarication when it came to a second EU referendum. Speaking at a rally in London, he told supporters the better Change UK did in the European elections on May 23, the more likely it was that Labour would swing behind another popular vote. Chuka Umunna speaks as Anna Soubry and other Change UK members watch on during a rally in Westminster (Kirsty OConnor/PA) Dont endorse that prevarication. Vote for Change UK, he said in a direct appeal to Labour members. Or at the very least, if you havent made up your mind what you will do at the next general election, lend us your vote in these European elections. The better we do, the more likely you are to see the Labour leadership adopt a Peoples Vote and Remain position. The breakaway Change UK is made up of 11 pro-Remain former Labour and Conservative MPs who quit their parties in protest at the direction they were taking. Veteran former Labour MP Mike Gapes told the rally that Labour would never come out against leaving the EU. He said Jeremy Corbyn had voted against membership of Europe in the 1975 referendum and had kept the faith ever since. Mike Gapes speaks during the rally at Church House (Kirsty OConnor/PA) Jeremy Corbyn and those he has appointed around him, like (communications director) Seumas Milne, have never wanted to stop Brexit, he said. Corbyn whipped Labour MPs to vote for Article 50, he whipped Labour MPs not to support a Peoples Vote. Whatever contortions and forms of words they come up with today, it is clear that large, influential parts of the Labour leadership will not oppose Brexit. Former BBC Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler, who is now standing as a Change UK candidate, attacked Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, accusing him of trying to sell a crappy fake Ferrari. Gavin Esler is standing as a Change UK candidate (Kirsty OConnor/PA) He said Mr Farage offered a vision of a country that was racially divided, wants to turn us away from real co-operation with Europe, and who, like his friend Donald Trump, has stirred up a meanness in our society. Independent MP Fiona Onasanya has lost her seat in the House of Commons after more than 27% of registered voters in her Peterborough constituency signed a recall petition demanding her removal. The 35-year-old lawyer, who was jailed for perverting the course of justice, becomes the first MP ever to be removed by the recall process, introduced by David Cameron in 2015. Some 19,261 people signed the petition 27.64% of those eligible to take part and well above the 10% threshold for a recall. The successful petition now triggers a by-election in the Peterborough constituency, in which Ms Onasanya is permitted to stand. Ms Onasanya was first elected to Parliament as a Labour MP by a wafer-thin majority of 607 in 2017. A year later, she was charged with perverting the course of justice after lying about a speeding offence. She was expelled by Labour after her conviction and served less than four weeks of a three-month prison sentence earlier this year. Fiona Onasanya (Yui Mok/PA) Labour said it will move a writ for the by-election on Thursday, paving the way for Peterboroughs voters to select a new MP within weeks. Nigel Farage said his new Brexit Party will contest the by-election, but a spokesman said no decision had yet been taken on whether he will be the candidate. I can confirm that @brexitparty_uk will fight the Peterborough by-election. We will give it our best shot. https://t.co/dbAlPN0Oc3 Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 1, 2019 The by-election in a city which voted 61% Leave in the 2016 EU referendum potentially offers the former Ukip leader a route to a seat in Parliament after seven unsuccessful attempts. Mr Farage tweeted: I can confirm that @brexitparty_uk will fight the Peterborough by-election. We will give it our best shot. 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 were delighted they will now have the chance to vote for a Labour MP in our excellent candidate, Lisa Forbes. Conservative parliamentary candidate for Peterborough Paul Bristow said: The people of Peterborough deserve a better MP who will vote in Parliament to deliver Brexit. Theresa May has sacked Gavin Williamson as Defence Secretary despite his strenuous denial that he was responsible for the unprecedented leak of information from the National Security Council. There were calls from Labour and Liberal Democrats for a criminal investigation into whether Mr Williamson had breached the Official Secrets Act. But Downing Street made clear Mrs May now considers the matter closed. He learnt his fate in a half-hour face-to-face meeting in Mrs Mays House of Commons office, where she told him that a leak inquiry had found compelling evidence of his involvement. Mrs May summoned him for the brutal dismissal after being briefed on the results of the inquiry shortly after Prime Ministers Questions in the Commons. But the Staffordshire South MP hit back with a letter to the PM in which he cast doubt on the investigation conducted by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. 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, wrote Mr Williamson. Mr Williamson revealed that he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying that this would have sent a signal that he accepted that either he or his team was guilty. He 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. (PA Graphics) Sir Marks inquiry 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. 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. Penny Mordaunt has been appointed the UKs first female Defence Secretary (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 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. In a letter to Mr Williamson, Mrs May said that the leak from the April 23 meeting was an extremely serious matter and a deeply disappointing one. 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. Theresa Mays letter informing Gavin Williamson of his dismissal (Downing Street/PA Images) Informing Mr Williamson of his dismissal, Mrs May said she was concerned at the manner in which he had engaged with Sir Marks inquiry. Other NSC attendees had all answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible to assist with the investigation, and encouraged their staff to do the same, she said. But she added: 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 later released his letter to the PM, in which he said: I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my department. I emphatically believe that this was not the case. 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 deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation. The letter states: 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. Sky News political editor Beth Rigby tweeted that Mr Williamson told her he wanted a police investigation because I would have been cleared. They would have had to have evidence. That is what I wanted. Ms Rigby said the ex-minister told her the situation was a witch-hunt from the start and he had been in a kangaroo court with a summary execution. Asked about the possibility of a prosecution, Mrs Mays 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: 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. Clearly if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, commenting on Mr Williamsons departure as he arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said: On a personal level Im very sorry about what happened for Gavins sake but given the gravity of the situation there was no other alternative outcome. 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. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamsons sacking by the Prime Minister follows days of political drama surrounding the leak of information from the UKs National Security Council. Here is how the leak developed into a major Government inquiry: April 23 A meeting of the UKs National Security Council (NSC), the countrys top national security body, is held. April 24 The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that the Prime Minister has agreed to allow Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to help build Britains new 5G network despite security concerns raised by Cabinet minsters at the meeting. Labour demands an official investigation into the leak from the highly secretive council. Gavin Williamson (Dominic Lipinski/PA) April 25 Dominic Grieve, chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, says the leak is deeply worrying. Home Secretary Sajid Javid says it is completely unacceptable for any minister to release sensitive information and that it should absolutely be looked at. Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt publicly deny they are responsible. In a statement, Mr Williamson says neither he nor any of his team had divulged information from the National Security Council. April 26 An ultimatum is reportedly issued to ministers over the leak of the secret discussions. Reports emerge that Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill has demanded ministers in attendance at the NSC meeting confess or deny if they were behind the leak. Downing Street refuses to say whether an inquiry is under way, despite calls for police to become involved. Sources close to International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt also deny they were involved. April 27 It is reported that members of the Cabinet are expected to be summoned for interviews as part of a formal inquiry headed by Sir Mark Sedwill. Ministers and aides are reportedly issued questionnaires requiring them to explain where they were in the hours following the NSC meeting. Chinas ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, defends the tech giant Huawei and urges the Government to act independently and resist external pressure. Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming (Nick Ansell/PA) April 28 Jeremy Hunt says he has been questioned by officials as part of a leak probe and is prepared to hand over his phone. He says the UK should exercise a degree of caution about the role of large Chinese firms such as Huawei. April 29 The US delivers a warning that there is no safe level of involvement by Chinese tech giant Huawei in the 5G networks of Western powers. May 1 Gavin Williamson is sacked as Defence Secretary following an inquiry into the leak of information. Downing Street said Theresa May asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government having lost confidence in his ability to serve. When he landed the defence job, Gavin Williamson achieved the highly unusual distinction of being promoted directly into the Cabinet without having held a more junior ministerial job. The PM may now be regretting that decision to overlook his lack of experience after sacking a former close colleague who acquired the nickname Private Pike after the hapless Dads Army character during his stint in the Ministry of Defence. The 42-year-old MP for South Staffordshire had been a vital part of Theresa Mays inner circle after being appointed as her chief whip when she took office in July 2016. Gavin Williamson, pictured during a military exercise on Salisbury Plain, strenuously denies the leak (Steve Parsons/PA) As a whip, he was best known in Westminster for keeping a pet tarantula named Cronus in a glass box on his desk, which is said to have provided added menace when dealing with errant MPs in his role as Mrs Mays enforcer. As Defence Secretary, he quickly became known for a tendency to put his foot in his mouth. Mr Williamson 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 Camerons resignation following the Brexit referendum. Elected to Parliament in 2010, Mr Williamson was swiftly appointed a PPS in the Northern Ireland Office in 2011 and then held a succession of bag-carrier posts, acting as the eyes and ears in the House of Commons for ministers Hugo Swire, Owen Paterson and Patrick McLoughlin, before entering Number 10 as a member of Mr Camerons team. Although unpaid, the role of PPS is seen as a useful staging post for a backbencher seeking ministerial office, but rarely have holders of the position been elevated quite as swiftly as Mr Williamson. 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. As chief whip, he was prohibited from speaking in Parliament. The defence job gave him a much higher profile, but things did not go well. At the height of the furore over the Salisbury novichok attack in March 2018, Mr Williamson urged Russia to go away and shut up prompting derision from critics. In December the previous year, he was accused of pursuing a policy that belongs in a Netflix series after saying Islamist fighters should be hunted down and killed. 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. He was also suspected being behind some of the anonymous briefings about Brexit developments with Cabinet, which were again seen as part of the jockeying for position in the Tory leadership race. Although he has strenuously denied any involvement, Mr Williamsons ambitions may have been holed below the waterline with his unceremonious sacking over the Huawei leak. Born and raised in Scarborough by Labour-supporting parents, Mr Williamson went to a local comprehensive school and sixth form college before taking a science degree at the University of Bradford. His background is in manufacturing and design at a pottery in Staffordshire and an architectural design company. He was awarded a CBE in Mr Camerons resignation honours for political and public service. Skipper Radamel Falcaos double helped Monaco to edge away from the Ligue 1 relegation zone as they came from behind to snatch a 2-2 draw at Rennes. Trailing 2-0 at the Stade de la Route-de-Lorient to Adrien Hunous brace after just nine minutes, the visitors hit back after the break to ease themselves four points clear of the drop zone with as many games to play. Rennes, who beat stunned Paris St Germain with a penalty shootout victory in Saturdays Coupe de France final, got off to a blistering start when Hunou rounded off a pacy break to fire them into a third-minute lead, and they looked to be in complete control when he added a second from distance just six minutes later. However, last seasons Ligue 1 runners-up responded and, although they had to wait until the 69th-minute to give themselves hope when Falcao headed home Djibril Sidibes cross, his equaliser arrived just six minutes later. A finance director who stole 2.4million from two companies that held the royalties to Deep Purple's greatest hits has been jailed for six years. Dipak Rao, 71, of Worcester Park, Surrey, transferred large sums of money from Deep Purple Overseas Ltd and HEC Enterprises into his personal account while he was in charge of the two firms. He claimed they were loans he planned to pay back later, but he was rumbled when the owners of both companies died and their stakes were passed to their children. It was only when the new owners hired an accountant to look over the books that he was caught, Guildford Crown Court heard. The pensioner even made a bogus fraud claim to Action Fraud and accused 'boiler room' fraudsters of stealing the 2.4million he took. He was last week jailed for six years and four months after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position and of laundering the proceeds of the fraud. Dipak Rao, 71, of Worcester Park, Surrey, transferred large sums of money from Deep Purple (pictured in 2003) Overseas Ltd and HEC Enterprises into his personal account while he was in charge of the firms that held the band's royalties Alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple are often referred to as part of the 'unholy trinity' of British hard rock. Their back catalogue, built over a 50-year career, includes songs such as Smoke On The Water and Soldiers Of Fortune. For 20 years Rao ran the companies on behalf of shareholders but began transferring company funds into his personal bank account seven years ago. A police investigation found Rao had tried to hide most of the transactions and failed to record them in his companies' records. Both firms have now been dissolved. Detective Constable Rebecca Mason, from Surrey Police's 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 doesn't make them any less of a criminal. '(Dipak Rao) abused his position and hid his crime for over seven years. To celebrate the victory, Surrey Police recorded a music video on the steps of Guildford Crown Court (pictured) with local singer-songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy 'As a result of Rao's 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 today's sentencing will give them some closure.' To celebrate the victory, Surrey Police recorded a music video on the steps of Guildford Crown Court with local singer-songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy. Representatives of Deep Purple have been contacted for comment. As India seeks to address the terrorism challenge in Jammu and Kashmir, jihadist forces are quietly gaining ground in far-flung states, especially West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The situation in Assam is also fraught with danger. India can ignore this spreading threat at its own peril. The ISIS, for example, has reportedly named a new Bengal emir. The Sri Lanka bombings, meanwhile, have helped highlight the growing cross-strait role of Islamist forces in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Such forces are affiliated with larger extremist networks or provide succour to radical groups elsewhere. Terrible Sunday: Links have been found between Islamist forces in Tamil Nadu and the horrific bombings in Sri Lanka. (Source: Reuters) The main group blamed for the Sri Lanka bombings the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) is an ideological offspring of the rapidly growing Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath (TNTJ). The Saudi-funded TNTJ, wedded to fanatical Wahhabism, is working to snuff out pluralistic strands of Islam. Such Arabisation of Islam is increasingly apparent in Muslim communities extending from Bangladesh and West Bengal to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankas Eastern Province. More broadly, the collapse of the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has only intensified the terrorism challenge. Battle-hardened terrorist fighters returning home from Syria and Iraq have become a major counterterrorism concern in South and Southeast Asia, given their operational training, skills and experience to stage savage attacks. The presence of such returnees in Sri Lanka explains how an obscure local group carried out near-simultaneous strikes on three iconic churches and three luxury hotels, with the bombers detonating military-grade high explosives through suicide vests. Similar returnees are present in a number of other Asian countries. The Sri Lanka attacks indeed underscore the potential of such returnees to wage terror campaigns in the same way that the activities of the Afghan war veterans, like Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders, came to haunt the security of Asia, the Middle East and the West. The jihadist threat, however, is posed not only by the returnees from Syria and Iraq. Such a threat also arises from those elements who never left their countries but see violence as a sanctified tool of religion and a path to redemption. Such local forces extolling terror are gaining clout. The TNTJ in India, for example, helped to establish the Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamaath, from which the bomber outfit NTJ emerged as a splinter. In the current national elections in India, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and some other local political parties have openly courted the TNTJ. Just as Bangladesh blamed Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for instigating the 2016 brutal Dhaka cafe attack through a Bangladeshi outfit, Sri Lankas NTJ has ties with the ISIs front organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The ISI and the LeT, through their joint Sri Lanka operations, have sought to establish cross-strait contacts with TNTJ activists in India. NTJ leader Zahran Hashim, who reportedly died in one of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings, was inspired by fugitive Indian Islamist preacher Zakir Naiks jihad-extolling sermons. Hashim also reportedly received funds from jihadists in south India. Islamic extremist Zahran Hashim is believed to have been the mastermind of the Sri Lanka bombings on Easter Sunday. (Source: Facebook) India, despite providing detailed intelligence warnings to Sri Lanka about the bombing plot, has been slow in developing a credible strategy to counter the growing jihadist influence within its own borders. For example, Prime Minister Narendra Modis government initiated action against Zakir Naik only after the Dhaka cafe attack prompted Bangladesh to demand action against him. The prime minister, however, is right in saying that Naik enjoyed the patronage of the predecessor Manmohan Singh-led government which, according to Modi, once invited Naik to address police personnel on the issue of terrorism! Today, Naik is ensconced in Malaysia, which has granted him permanent residency. Yet, India has imposed no costs on Malaysia, such as cutting palm-oil imports from there, for sheltering a leading fugitive from Indian law. Like al-Qaeda at one time, ISIS seeks to show its continuing relevance by claiming responsibility for terror strikes that have occurred in places far from the areas where it has had presence. Rather than ISIS being directly involved in the Sri Lanka bombings, it is more likely that the ideology ISIS subscribes to Wahhabi fanaticism inspired those attacks. It takes months, not weeks, to motivate, train and equip a suicide bomber. So, the speculative comment that the Sri Lanka bombings were a reprisal to the March 15 Christchurch, New Zealand massacre made little sense, especially as it came from the Sri Lankan junior defence minister. Fortunately, the Sri Lankan prime minister later walked back that speculation. Some portray the Sri Lanka terror attacks as 'revenge' for the killings in Christchurch, New Zealand. This is mistaken. (Source: AP) Detaining a terrorist attackers family members for questioning has become a de facto international anti-terrorist practice. Sri Lanka quickly rounded up the bombers family members, including parents, for questioning once the suicide killers were identified. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation also detains a terrorist attackers family members for questioning but not India. For example, the Pulwama bombers family members not only remained free but also gave media interviews rationalising the February 14 suicide attack. Publicity is the oxygen of terrorism. Terrorists rely on media publicity to provoke fear and demonstrate power. Unfortunately, in the absence of US-style media peer guidelines in India on terrorism-related coverage, Indian journalists supplied the oxygen of publicity by reporting allegations of the Pulwama bombers family members including their claim that he was once roughed up by army or paramilitary soldiers. What the family members did not reveal was that the bomber had previously been detained on four separate occasions by J&K police, on suspicion of providing logistical assistance to the LeT, but that each time he was freed without the investigators getting to the bottom of his activities. Make no mistake: Islamist terror is closely connected with the spread of Wahhabism, the obscurantist and intolerant version of Islam bankrolled by Saudi Arabia and other oil sheikhdoms. Wahhabi fanaticism is terrorisms ideological mother, whose offspring include ISIS, al-Qaeda, Taliban, LeT and Boko Haram. Wahhabi fanaticism is terrorism's ideological mother its offspring include ISIS, LeT and Boko Haram. (Source: Reuters) The jihadist threat in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam like in Sri Lanka is linked with the growing spread of Wahhabism. If left unaddressed, this scourge of Islamist extremism could become a major internal security crisis in India. Indias counterterrorism focus on Jammu and Kashmir has allowed jihadists to gain influence in other states far from J&K. India needs to wake up to this spreading threat. It must crack down on the preachers of hatred and violence. It also must rein in the increasing inflow of Saudi and other Gulf money so as to close the wellspring that feeds terrorism Wahhabi fanaticism. Also read: Sri Lanka terror attack: How to fight extremist brainwash 11 hours ago Jurors in the Elizabeth Holmes trial may take next week off SAN JOSE, Calif. 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Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW France Finance Alpha S.A.S., ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings UK, ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW Hungary Finance Beta Kft, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Finance Srl, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lombard Holdings Inc., ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW M FILMS II LLC, ITW MH LLC, ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology (China) Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Philippines Holdings LLC, ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Spraytec, ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Ideal Molding Technologies LLC, Illinois Tool Works (Chile) Limitada, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Norway AS, Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron (Shanghai) Ltd., Instron (Thailand) Limited, Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Holdings Limited, Instron International Limited, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, International Leasing Company LLC, International Truss Systems Proprietary Limited, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kester Components (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems (Canada) Inc., Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MOA Enterprises Inc, Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, Norden Olje AB, North Star Imaging Europe, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited (Enping), Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Penta Dnepr LLC, Penta Sever OOO, Penta Volga OOO, Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., Ramset Fasteners (Hong Kong) Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco (Nederland) B.V., Simco Japan Inc., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes BVBA, Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek (China) Limited, Teknek (Japan) Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V.B.A., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta (Guangzhou) Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Vesta Global Limited, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, ZF TRW (Engineered Fasteners and Components), and Zip-Pak International B.V.. The Scottish American Investment Company P.L.C. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Baillie Gifford & Co. and OLIM Property Limited. It invests in public equity markets across the globe. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in dividend paying growth stocks of companies. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against a composite index comprised of 50% FTSE All-Share Index and 50% FTSE All-World Ex UK Index. The Scottish American Investment Company P.L.C. was formed in 1873 and is domiciled in the United Kingdom. Read More Key Energy Services, Inc. operates as an onshore rig-based well servicing contractor in the United States. It operates through Rig Services, Fishing and Rental Services, Coiled Tubing Services, and Fluid Management Services segments. The Rig Services segment is involved in the completion of newly drilled wells; workover and recompletion of existing oil and natural gas wells; well maintenance activities; and plugging and abandonment of wells at the end of their useful lives, as well as provision of specialty drilling services to oil and natural gas producers. The Fishing and Rental Services segment provides fishing services that involve recovering lost or stuck equipment in the wellbore utilizing fishing tools; and rents drill pipes, tubulars, handling tools, pressure-control equipment, pumps, power swivels, reversing units, and foam air units. The Coiled Tubing Services segment offers services for wellbore clean-outs, nitrogen jet lifts, through-tubing fishing, and formation stimulations; mills temporary isolation plugs that separate frac zones; and other pre- and post-hydraulic fracturing well preparation services. The Fluid Management Services segment offers transportation and well-site storage services for fluids utilized in drilling, completions, workover, and maintenance activities; and disposal services for fluids produced subsequent to well completion. It also operates a fleet of hot oilers used to clear soluble restrictions in a wellbore. The company was formerly known as Key Energy Group, Inc. and changed its name to Key Energy Services, Inc. in December 1998. Key Energy Services, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is based in Houston, Texas. Read More 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 Grupo TMM SAB engages in the provision of multimodal transportation and logistics services in Mexico. It provides services related to trucking, third-party logistics, offshore supply shipping, clean oil and chemical products shipping, tug-boat services, warehouse management, shipping agency, inland and seaport terminal services, container and railcar maintenance and repair, and other activities related to the shipping and land freight transport business. The company operates through the following segments: Specialized Maritime Transportation, Logistics, Ports & Terminals, and Warehousing. The Specialized Maritime Transportation segment provides transportation of bulk liquid products, materials, and provisions for drilling platforms, as well as towing services for ships. The Logistics segment provides trucking services to major manufacturers, including automobile plants, and retailers with facilities and operations throughout Mexico. The Ports & Terminals segment involves in loading and unloading, storage at maritime port terminals, and shipping agency operations. The Warehousing segment includes storage and management of the facilities. Grupo TMM was founded on August 14, 1987 and Read More 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. Read More Shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF split on the morning of Monday, October 19th 2020. The 4-1 split was announced on Friday, September 18th 2020. The newly issued shares were issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, October 16th 2020. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF stock prior to the split would have 400 shares after the split. 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. There is not enough analysis data for BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Trust. 3.9 Community Rank Outperform Votes BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Trust has received 137 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Trust has received 98 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Trust has received 58.30% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Trust and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe BTZ will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe BTZ will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next Free parking will now be available for Wine on the Fox in two lots: On the grassy property immediately west of Oswego Village Hall. Conditions in some parts of this lot may be wet, so drivers should look for instructions from volunteers to avoid wet areas, officials said. Parking is also available in the gravel lot at the former Alexander Lumberyard, 59 S. Adams St. The following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: @Credentials Inc., ACS ACQCO CORP., ADMINCO Inc., AE Fourteen Incorporated, AHP Holdings Inc., AMC - Tennessee LLC, APS Acquisition LLC, ASCO HealthCare LLC, ASI Wings LLC, AUSHC Holdings Inc., Accendo Insurance Company, Accordant Health Services L.L.C., Active Health Management Inc., Administrative Enterprises Inc., AdvancePCS SpecialtyRx LLC, AdvanceRx.com L.L.C., Advanced Care Scripts Inc., Aetna, Aetna (Beijing) Enterprise Management Services Co. Ltd., Aetna (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co. Ltd., Aetna ACO Holdings Inc., Aetna Asset Advisors LLC, Aetna Behavioral Health LLC, Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Better Health of Missouri LLC, Aetna Better Health of Nevada Inc., Aetna Better Health of North Carolina Inc., Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma Inc., Aetna Better Health of Texas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Washington Inc., Aetna Capital Management LLC, Aetna Card Solutions LLC, Aetna Corporate Services LLC, Aetna Dental Inc., Aetna Dental of California Inc., Aetna Financial Holdings LLC, Aetna Florida Inc., Aetna Global Benefits (Asia Pacific) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bahamas) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Global Benefits (UK) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits Limited (DIFC UAE), Aetna Global Holdings Limited, Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Inc., Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Management LLC, Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company, Aetna Health of California Inc., Aetna Health of Iowa Inc., Aetna Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Health of Ohio Inc., Aetna Health of Utah Inc., Aetna HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Aetna Holdco (UK) Limited, Aetna Holdings (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Inc., Aetna Insurance (Hong Kong) Limite, Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Inc., Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Korea Ltd., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators LLC, Aetna Multi-Strategy 1099 Fund LLC, Aetna Network Services LLC, Aetna Partners Diversified Fund LLC, Aetna Pharmacy Management Services LLC, Aetna Resources LLC, Aetna Risk Assurance Company of Connecticut Inc., Aetna Rx Home Delivery LLC, Aetna Services (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Aetna Student Health Agency Inc., Aetna Ventures LLC, Aetna Workers Comp Access LLC, Alabama CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Alaska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Continental Insurance Company, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., American Health Holding Inc., Arbor Drugs, Arizona CVS Stores L.L.C., Arkansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Badger Acquisition LLC, Badger Acquisition of Kentucky LLC, Badger Acquisition of Minnesota LLC, Badger Acquisition of Ohio LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Beauty Holdings L.L.C., Best Care LTC Acquisition Company LLC, Busse CVS L.L.C., CCI Foreign S.a R.L. (R.C.S. Luxembourg), CCRx Holdings LLC, CCRx of North Carolina LLC, CHP Acquisition LLC, CP Acquisition LLC, CVS 2948 Henderson L.L.C., CVS 3268 Gilbert L.L.C., CVS 3745 Peoria L.L.C., CVS AL Distribution L.L.C., CVS AOC Corporation, CVS AOC Services L.L.C., CVS Albany L.L.C., CVS Bellmore Avenue L.L.C., CVS Care Concierge LLC, CVS Caremark Advanced Technology Pharmacy L.L.C., CVS Caremark Indemnity Ltd., CVS Caremark Part D Services L.L.C., CVS Caremark TN SUTA LLC, CVS Foreign Inc., CVS Gilbert 3272 L.L.C., CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Indiana L.L.C., CVS International L.L.C., CVS Kidney Care Advanced Technologies LLC, CVS Kidney Care Health Services LLC, CVS Kidney Care Home Dialysis LLC, CVS Kidney Care LLC, CVS Manchester NH L.L.C., CVS Media Exchange LLC, CVS Michigan L.L.C., CVS Orlando FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS PA Distribution L.L.C., CVS PR Center Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., Campos Medical Pharmacy LLC, Canal Place LLC, Care Pharmaceutical Services LP, CareCenter Pharmacy L.L.C., Carefree Insurance Services Inc., Caremark Arizona Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Arizona Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark California Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Florida Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Florida Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Hawaii Mail Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Hawaii Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark IPA L.L.C., Caremark Illinois Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Illinois Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Irving Resource Center LLC, Caremark Kansas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark L.L.C., Caremark Logistics LLC, Caremark Louisiana Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Maryland Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Massachusetts Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Michigan Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Minnesota Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark New Jersey Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark North Carolina Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ohio Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Pennsylvania Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark PhC L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Redlands Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Repack LLC, Caremark Rx L.L.C., Caremark Tennessee Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ulysses Holding Corp., Caremark Washington Specialty Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Alabama Mail Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Health L.L.C., CaremarkPCS L.L.C., Central Rx Services LLC, Claims Administration Corp., Cofinity Inc., Compscript LLC, Connecticut CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood Tennessee, Continuing Care Rx LLC, Coram Alternate Site Services Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Alabama, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater D.C., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater New York, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Massachusetts, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Mississippi, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Nevada, Coram Healthcare Corporation of North Texas, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Northern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Utah, Coram LLC, Coram Rx LLC, Coram Specialty Infusion, Coram Specialty Infusion Services L.L.C., Coventry Consumer Advantage Inc., Coventry Health Care National Accounts Inc., Coventry Health Care National Network Inc., Coventry Health Care Workers Compensation Inc., Coventry Health Care of Illinois Inc., Coventry Health Care of Kansas Inc., Coventry Health Care of Missouri Inc., Coventry Health Care of Nebraska Inc., Coventry Health Care of Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Care of West Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Plan of Florida Inc., Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company, Coventry HealthCare Management Corporation, Coventry Prescription Management Services Inc., Coventry Rehabilitation Services Inc., Coventry Transplant Network Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, Digital eHealth LLC, District of Columbia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., E.T.B. INC., Echo Merger Sub Inc., Eckerd Corporation of Florida Inc., Employee Assistance Services LLC, Enloe Drugs LLC, Enterprise Patient Safety Organization LLC, EntrustRX, Evergreen Pharmaceutical LLC, Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California Inc., Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., FOCUS HealthCare Management Inc., First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, First Script Network Services Inc., Florida Health Plan Administrators LLC, Garfield Beach CVS L.L.C., Generation Health L.L.C., Geneva Woods Health Services LLC, Geneva Woods LTC Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Management LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Alaska LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Washington LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Wyoming LLC, Geneva Woods Retail Pharmacy LLC, Georgia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., German Dobson CVS L.L.C., Goodhealth Worldwide (Asia) Limited, Goodhealth Worldwide (Global) Limited, Goodyear CVS L.L.C., Grand St. Paul CVS L.L.C., Grandview Pharmacy LLC, Group Dental Service Inc., Group Dental Service of Maryland Inc., Health Care Management Co. Ltd., Health Data & Management Solutions Inc., Health Re Inc., Health and Human Resource Center Inc., HealthAssuance Pennsylvania Inc., Healthagen LLC, Highland Park CVS L.L.C., Holiday CVS L.L.C., Home Care Pharmacy LLC, Home Pharmacy Services LLC, Hook-SupeRx L.L.C., Horizon Behavioral Services LLC, Idaho CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., IlliniCare Health, Indian Health Organisation Private Limited, Innovation Health Holdings LLC, Innovation Health Insurance Company, Innovation Health Plan Inc., Interlock Pharmacy Systems LLC, Iowa CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., JHC Acquisition LLC, Kansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Kentucky CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., LCPS Acquisition LLC, Langsam Health Services LLC, Lo-Med Prescription Services LLC, Lobos Acquisition LLC, Longs Drug Stores, Longs Drug Stores California L.L.C., Louisiana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., MHHP Acquisition Company LLC, MHNet Life and Health Insurance Company, MHNet Specialty Services LLC, MHNet of Florida Inc., Managed Care Coordinators Inc., Managed Healthcare LLC, Martin Health Services LLC, Maryland CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Med World Acquisition Corp., Medical Arts Health Care LLC, Medical Examinations of New York P.C., Melville Realty Company Inc., MemberHealth LLC, Mental Health Associates Inc., Mental Health Network of New York IPA Inc., Meritain Health Inc., Merwin Long Term Care LLC, MetraComp Inc., Minor Health Enterprise Co Ltd., MinuteClinic, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Alabama L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arizona LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Florida LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Georgia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Hawaii L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Illinois LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Kentucky L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Louisiana L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maine L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maryland LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Massachusetts LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Nebraska L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Hampshire L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Mexico L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Ohio LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oklahoma LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oregon LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Pennsylvania LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Rhode Island LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of South Carolina L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Texas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Utah L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Washington LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Wisconsin L.L.C., MinuteClinic L.L.C., MinuteClinic Online Diagnostic Services LLC, MinuteClinic Physician Practice of Texas, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services LLC, Mississippi CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Missouri CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Montana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NCS Healthcare LLC, NCS Healthcare of Illinois LLC, NCS Healthcare of Iowa LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kansas LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kentucky Inc. (Oh, NCS Healthcare of Montana LLC, NCS Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, NCS Healthcare of Ohio LLC, NCS Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, NCS Healthcare of Tennessee LLC, NCS Healthcare of Wisconsin LLC, NIV Acquisition LLC, Navarro Discount Pharmacy, Nebraska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NeighborCare Holdings Inc., NeighborCare Inc., NeighborCare Pharmacy Services Inc., NeighborCare Services Corporation, NeighborCare of Indiana LLC, NeighborCare of Virginia LLC, New Jersey CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Niagara Re Inc., North Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., North Shore Pharmacy Services LLC, NovoLogix LLC, OCR Services LLC, Ocean Acquisition Sub L.L.C., Ohio CVS Stores L.L.C., Oklahoma CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Omnicare, Omnicare Holding Company, Omnicare Inc., Omnicare Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania East LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania West LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of the Great Plains Holding LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy and Supply Services LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of Tennessee LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of the Midwest LLC, Omnicare Property Management LLC, Omnicare of Nebraska LLC, Omnicare of Nevada LLC, Omnicare of New York LLC, Oregon CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., PE Holdings LLC, PHPSNE Parent Corporation, PP Acquisition Company LLC, PRN Pharmaceutical Services LP, PT Aetna Management Consulting, Pamplona Saude e Beleza LTDA, Part D Holding Company L.L.C., PayFlex Holdings Inc., PayFlex Systems USA Inc., Pennsylvania CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Performax Inc., Pharmacy Associates of Glenn Falls LLC, Pharmacy Consultants LLC, Phoenix Data Solutions LLC, Precision Benefit Services Inc., Prime Net Inc., ProCare Pharmacy Direct L.L.C., ProCare Pharmacy L.L.C., Prodigy Health Group Inc., Professional Risk Management Inc., Pt. Aetna Global Benefits Indonesia, Puerto Rico CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Red Oak Sourcing LLC, Resources for Living LLC, Rhode Island CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Roeschens Healthcare LLC, RxAmerica, Schaller Anderson Medical Administrators Incorporated, Scrip World LLC, Sheffield Avenue CVS L.L.C., Shore Pharmaceutical Providers LLC, Silverscript Insurance Company, Soma Intimates, South Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., South Wabash CVS L.L.C., Specialized Pharmacy Services LLC, Spinnaker Bidco Limited, Spinnaker Topco Limited, Stadtlander Drug Company, Stadtlander Pharmacy, Sterling Healthcare Services LLC, Superior Care Pharmacy LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Administrative Services LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, T2 Medical Inc., TCPI Acquisition LLC, TargetPharmacy, Tennessee CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Company, Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Texas Health + Aetna Health Plan Inc., The Vasquez Group Inc., Thomas Phoenix CVS L.L.C., Three Forks Apothecary LLC, U.S Healthcare Holdings LLC, U.S. Healthcare Properties Inc., UAC Holding Inc., UC Acquisition LLC, UNI-Care Health Services of Maine LLC, Universal American - Medicare Part D Business, Utah CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., VAPS Acquisition Company LLC, Value Health Care Services LLC, Vermont CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virtual Home Healthcare L.L.C., Warm Springs Road CVS L.L.C., Washington CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Washington Lamb CVS L.L.C., Weber Medical Systems LLC, Wellpartner LLC, West Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Westhaven Services Co LLC, Williamson Drug Company LLC, Wisconsin CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Woodward Detroit CVS L.L.C., Work and Family Benefits Inc., ZS Acquisition Company LLC, Zinc Health Services LLC, Zinc Health Ventures LLC, bSwift LLC, and iTriage LLC. Koninklijke Philips N.V. is the Netherlands-based health technology company. The Company's segments include Personal Health businesses, Diagnosis & Treatment businesses, Connected Care & Health Informatics businesses, HealthTech Other and Legacy Items. The Personal Health businesses segment is engaged in the health continuum, delivering integrated, connected solutions that support healthier lifestyles and those living with chronic disease. The Diagnosis & Treatment businesses segment delivers precision medicine and treatment, and therapy. The Connected Care & Health Informatics businesses segment provides consumers, care givers and clinicians with digital solutions that facilitate care by enabling precision medicine and population health management. The HealthTech Other segment comprises such items, as innovation, emerging businesses, royalties, among others. The Legacy Items segment consists mainly of separation costs, legacy legal items, legacy pension costs, among others. Read More Bunzl plc operates as a distribution and services company in the North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers food packaging, films, labels, counter-service packaging, foodservice disposables, take-out food packaging, first aid products, point of purchase displays, stationery, bags, and cleaning and hygiene supplies to grocery stores, supermarkets, retail chains, convenience stores, food wholesalers, ethnic grocers, and organic food outlets. It also provides food packaging, napkins, disposable tableware, food service disposables, guest amenities, light and heavy catering equipment, cleaning and hygiene products, and safety items to hotels, restaurants, caterers, the leisure sector, and food processors and packers; and footwear, gloves, safety helmets, workwear, harness equipment, tools, safety signs, traffic management, and ancillary site equipment, as well as ear, eye, respiratory, and face protection products to customers in the industrial and construction markets. In addition, the company offers cleaning systems, floorcare items, hand cleansing products, hygiene paper, janitorial products, cleaning machines, mops, polishes, and protective clothing and washroom chemicals to facilities management companies, contract cleaners, and other industrial and healthcare customers; and counter service packaging, point of purchase display items, stationery, and cleaning and hygiene products to department stores, boutiques, office supply companies, retail chains, and home improvement chains. Further, it provides gloves, aprons, bandages, facemasks, gowns, headwear, mattress covers, overshoes, procedure packs, tapes, wipes, incontinence products, and swabs to the healthcare sector, including hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, and doctors' surgeries and clinics; and various products to government and education establishments. Bunzl plc was founded in 1854 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at contact@marketbeat.com | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. iShares S&P 500 ETF's stock was trading at $275.41 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, IVV shares have increased by 71.6% and is now trading at $472.63. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Members from NORTAF witnessed the burglary Nov. 9 in the 600 block of Buckthorn Terrace, according to police. Martinez, Peralta and Jaime were seen by police exiting a home and attempting to leave the area in a car. A traffic stop was conducted and the men were subsequently arrested, police said. The following companies are subsidiares of Travelers Companies: 10762962 Canada Inc., 350 Market Street LLC, 8527512 Canada Inc., Aetna Life and Casualty Co, American Equity Insurance Company, American Equity Specialty Insurance Company, Aprilgrange Limited, Arch Street North LLC, Auto Hartford Investments LLC, Bayhill Restaurant II Associates, Camperdown Corporation, Constitution State Services LLC, Discover Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Discover Specialty Insurance Company, F&G UK Underwriters Limited, Farmington Casualty Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters Inc., First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Company, Gulf Underwriters Insurance Company, IHP Capital Partners Fund VIII L.P., Northbrook Holdings Inc., Northfield Insurance Company, Northland Casualty Company, Northland Insurance Company, Phoenix UK Investments LLC, SPC Insurance Agency Inc., Select Insurance Company, Simply Business Holdings Inc., Simply Business Inc., St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, St. Paul Guardian Insurance Company, St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, St. Paul Protective Insurance Company, St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company, Standard Fire Properties LLC, Standard Fire UK Investments LLC, TCI Global Services Inc., TPC Investments Inc., TPC U.K. Investments LLC, The Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford Connecticut, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, The Family Business Institute LLC, The Phoenix Insurance Company, The St. Paul Companies Inc., The Standard Fire Insurance Company, The Travelers Casualty Company, The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company of America, The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Company, TravCo Insurance Company, Travelers (Bermuda) Limited, Travelers Brazil Acquisition LLC, Travelers Brazil Holding LLC, Travelers Casualty Company of Connecticut, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, Travelers Casualty UK Investments LLC, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of Europe Limited, Travelers Commercial Casualty Company, Travelers Commercial Insurance Company, Travelers Constitution State Insurance Company, Travelers Distribution Alliance Inc., Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company, Travelers Global Inc., Travelers Indemnity U.K. Investments LLC, Travelers Insurance Company Limited, Travelers Insurance Company of Canada, Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company, Travelers Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company, Travelers London Limited, Travelers MGA Inc., Travelers Management Limited, Travelers Marine LLC, Travelers Participacoes em Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Personal Insurance Company, Travelers Personal Security Insurance Company, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, Travelers Property Casualty Corp., Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Company, Travelers Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Syndicate Management Limited, Travelers Texas MGA Inc., Travelers Underwriting Agency Limited, Ultramar Travel Management, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Xbridge Limited, Zensurance Brokers Inc., and Zensurance Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of Sonoco Products: 2103393 Ontario Inc., AMGH, APEI UK Limited, APEI Unlimited IOM, Associated Packaging Technologies Inc., Beteiligungen Sonoco Deutschland Vermogensverwaltungsgesellschaft mbh, CP Acquisition LLC, Can Packaging, Can Packaging SAS, Cap Liners Limited, Capseals Limited, Capseals Liners Limited, Cascades Sonoco Inc. (fka Cascades Conversion Inc), Clear Lam Flexible Films (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., Clear Lam Packaging Inc., Clear Pack Co., Clear Pack Company, Colombiana P.M. LLC, Conitex Sonoco (BVI) Ltd., Conitex Sonoco (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., Conitex Sonoco Hellas S.A., Conitex Sonoco Holding B.V., Conitex Sonoco Inc., Conitex Sonoco India Pvt. Ltd., Conitex Sonoco N.V., Conitex Sonoco Shanghai Ltd., Conitex Sonoco Suzhou Co. Ltd., Conitex Sonoco Taiwan Ltd., Conitex Sonoco USA Inc., Convex Mold Inc., Corenso Holdings America Inc., Corenso North America, Corenso Richmond LLC, Corepak Limited, CorrFlex Graphics LLC, Demolli Industria Cartaria S.p.A., Engraph Inc., Engraph Puerto Rico Inc., Fair Lawn Packaging Services LLC, Friarsgate Studio Limited, Graffo Paranaense De Embalagens S.A., Graffo Paranaense de Embalagens S/A, Grove Mill Paper Company Limited, Gunther of America Inc., Hartsville Corrugating LLC, Hayes Manufacturing Group, Heathfield Reels Limited, Highland Packaging Solutions, Highland Packaging Solutions LLC, Industrial Machine Co. Inc., Inversiones Sonoco Limitada, Italtubetti SpA, Laminar Medica, Laminar Medica (CE) s.r.o., Laminar Medica Limited, Manufacturas Sonoco S.A. de C.V., Matrix Packaging Inc., Nathaniel Lloyd & Company Limited, OOO Sonoco Alcore (fka ZAO Sonoco Alcore), PT Conitex Sonoco, PT Papcor Asia Pacific, PT Papertech Indonesia, PT Sonoco Indonesia, Packaging Holdings Inc., Papcor (Dezhou) Packaging Material Co. Ltd., Papertech Dezhou Co. Ltd., Papertech SL, PenPack LLC, Peninsula Packaging Company, Peninsula Packaging LLC, Penpack S. de R.L. de C.V., Phoenix Packaging Corp., Plastique Holdings LTD, SAS Du Lagon, SCI Lagon Quest, SMB GmbH, SPC Capital Management Inc., SPC Liquidation LLC, SPC Management LLC, SPC Resources Inc., SR Holdings of the Carolinas LLC, Sebro Plastics Inc., Sonoco (Shanghai) Co., Sonoco (Taicang) Packaging Co., Sonoco (Weifang) Packaging Company Ltd., Sonoco Absorbent Technologies LLC, Sonoco Absorbent Technologies Limited, Sonoco Alcore - Demolli S.r.l., Sonoco Alcore AB, Sonoco Alcore GmbH, Sonoco Alcore N.V., Sonoco Alcore Nederland B.V., Sonoco Ambalaj Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Sonoco Asia Holding S.a.r.l., Sonoco Asia L.L.C., Sonoco Asia Management Company L.L.C., Sonoco Australia Pty Ltd, Sonoco Board Mills Limited, Sonoco Bonmati S.A.U., Sonoco Canada Corporation, Sonoco Capseals Liners Limited, Sonoco Comercial S. de R.L. de C.V., Sonoco Consumer Products Dordrecht B.V. (fka Dorpak B.V.), Sonoco Consumer Products Europe GmbH (fka Weidenhammer Packaging Group GmbH), Sonoco Consumer Products Hellas S.A. (fka Weidenhammer Hellas S.A.), Sonoco Consumer Products Limited, Sonoco Consumer Products Mechelen BVBA (fka Weidenhammer Belgium BVBA), Sonoco Consumer Products Montanay SAS (fka Neuvibox SAS), Sonoco Consumer Products Poland Sp. Z.O.O., Sonoco Consumer Products SAS, Sonoco Consumer Products South Africa (PTY) Ltd., Sonoco Consumer Products Zwenkau GmbH (fka fka Weidenhammer Plastice Packaging GmbH), Sonoco Cores and Paper Limited, Sonoco D & P LLC, Sonoco D and P York LLC, Sonoco Deutschland GmbH, Sonoco Deutschland Holdings GmbH, Sonoco Development Inc., Sonoco Display and Packaging LLC, Sonoco Elk Grove Inc., Sonoco Embalagens Ltda. (fka Sonoco Embalagens S.A.), Sonoco Europe Limited, Sonoco Flexible Packaging Canada Corporation, Sonoco Flexible Packaging Co. Inc., Sonoco Graphics India Private Limited, Sonoco Hickory Inc., Sonoco Holdings Inc., Sonoco Holdings UK Limited, Sonoco Hutchinson LLC, Sonoco IPD France SAS, Sonoco Iberia S.L.U., Sonoco International Holdings GmbH, Sonoco JV GmbH & Co. KG, Sonoco Kaiping Packaging Co. Ltd., Sonoco Limited, Sonoco Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Sonoco Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sonoco Milnrow, Sonoco Netherlands Holding II BV, Sonoco Netherlands Holding III BV, Sonoco New Zealand Limited, Sonoco Operadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Sonoco Packaging Limited, Sonoco Packaging Tapes Limited, Sonoco Paper Mill & IPD Hellas SA, Sonoco Paperboard Group LLC, Sonoco Partitions Inc., Sonoco Phoenix LLC, Sonoco Pina S.A.U., Sonoco Plastics B.V., Sonoco Plastics Canada ULC, Sonoco Plastics Germany GmbH, Sonoco Plastics Inc., Sonoco Poland Holdings B.V., Sonoco Polysack A/S Inc., Sonoco Polysack Limited, Sonoco Products Company UK, Sonoco Products Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Sonoco Protective Solutions Inc., Sonoco Recycling - International Trade Group LLC (fka Reparco USA Inc.), Sonoco Recycling LLC, Sonoco Reels Limited, Sonoco Retail Packaging S. de R.L. de C.V., Sonoco S.A. de C.V., Sonoco SAS, Sonoco Saudi Limited Company, Sonoco Services LLC, Sonoco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Sonoco TEQ Holdings Ltd, Sonoco TEQ LLC, Sonoco TEQ Ltd, Sonoco TEQ Sp. Z.o.o, Sonoco Taiwan Ltd, Sonoco Thailand Ltd, Sonoco UK Leasing Limited, Sonoco Venezolana C.A., Sonoco Venture International Holdings GmbH, Sonoco Ventures UK Limited, Sonoco Wisconsin Rapids Core Plant LLC, Sonoco Wisconsin Rapids Inc., Sonoco Wisconsin Rapids Paper Mill LLC, Sonoco Yatai Pinghu Packaging Co Ltd, Sonoco de Colombia Ltda, Sonoco do Brasil Participacoes Ltda, Sonoco do Brazil Ltda, Sonoco of Puerto Rico Inc., Sonoco-Alcore AS, Sonoco-Alcore Ou, Sonoco-Alcore Oy, Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l., Sonoco-Alcore Sp. Z.O.O., Sonoco-Engraph Puerto Rico Inc., TPT Board Mills Limited, TPT Limited, Tegrant Alloyd Brands Inc., Tegrant Corporation, Tegrant International Inc., Tegrant Property Holdings LLC, Tegrant de Mexico S.A. de C.V., ThermoSafe Brands Asia PTE LTD., ThermoSafe Brands Europe Ltd., Thermoform Engineered Quality LLC, Trident Graphics Canada Corporation, Trident Graphics NA LLC, U.S. Paper Mills Corp., Unit Reels & Drums Limited, Weidenhammer Chile Ltda., Weidenhammer Packaging Group, Weidenhammer UK Ltd., and Wisenberg U.S. Inc.. The Howard Hughes Corp. engages in the development and management of commercial, residential, and mixed-use real estate. It operates through the following segments: Operating Assets, Master Planned Communities; Seaport District; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment consists retail, office, hospitality, and multi-family properties along with other real estate investments. The Master Planned Communities segment focuses in the development and sale of land in large-scale, long-term community development projects in and around Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston, Texas; and Columbia, Maryland. The Seaport District operates an approximately 453,000 square feet of restaurant, retail, and entertainment properties situated in three primary locations in New York, New York: Pier 17, Historic Area/Uplands, and Tin Building. The Strategic Developments segment involves in the other real estate assets in the form of entitled and unentitled land and residential condominium developments. The company was founded on November 9, 2010 and is headquartered in Woodlands, TX. Read More All three of the school board members who took their oaths of office on Monday will serve terms running through May of 2023. Among the local dignitaries who attended the Community 218 swearing-in ceremonies were Cook County judges Bonita Coleman and Sharon O. Johnson, along with Jesse Reyes, a candidate for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court in the 2020 election cycle, and Worth Township Democratic Committeeman Patricia Joan Murphy. Global X SuperDividend ETF's stock was trading at $12.84 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, SDIV shares have decreased by 3.6% and is now trading at $12.38. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. 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.. Medtronic Plc is a medical technology company, which engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of device-based medical therapies and services. It operates through the following segments: Cardiac and Vascular Group; Minimally Invasive Technologies Group; Restorative Therapies Group; and Diabetes Group. The Cardiac and Vascular Group segment consists of products for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cardiac rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. The Minimally Invasive Technologies Group segment focuses on respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, renal system, lungs, pelvic region, kidneys, and obesity diseases. The Restorative Therapies Group segment comprises of neurostimulation therapies and drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic pain, as well as areas of the spine and brain, along with pelvic health and conditions of the ear, nose, and throat. The Diabetes Group segment offers insulin pumps, coninuous glucose monitoring systems, and insulin pump consumables. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Thermo Fisher Scientific: 236 Perinton Parkway LLC, 27 Forge Parkway LLC, ABR--Affinity BioReagents, ACI Holdings Inc., ARG Services LLC, ASPEX Corporation, Abgene Inc., Abgene Limited, Acoustic Cytometry Systems Inc., AcroMetrix LLC, Acros Organics B.V.B.A., Advanced Biotechnologies Limited, Advanced Scientifics (ASI), Advanced Scientifics Inc., Advanced Scientifics International Inc., Affymetrix Biotech Participacoes Ltda., Affymetrix Biotech Shanghai Ltd, Affymetrix Inc, Affymetrix Japan K.K., Affymetrix Pte Ltd, Affymetrix UK Ltd, Afora S.A.U., Ahura Scientific, Alchematrix Inc., Alchematrix LLC, Alfa Aesar, Alfa Aesar (China) Chemical Co. Ltd., Alfa Aesar (Hong Kong) Limited, Allergon AB, Alphine Mountain Limited, Ambion Inc., Apogent Denmark ApS, Apogent Finance Company, Apogent Holding Company, Apogent Technologies Inc., Apogent Transition Corp., Apogent U.K. Limited, App-Tek International Pty Ltd, Applied Biosystems B.V., Applied Biosystems Finance B.V., Applied Biosystems International Inc., Applied Biosystems LLC, Applied Biosystems Taiwan LLC, Applied Biosystems Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Applied Biosystems de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Applied Scientific Corporation, Avances Cientificos de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Avocado Research Chemicals Limited, B.R.A.H.M.S. Biotech GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. UK Ltd, BAC BV, BAC IP BV, Barnstead Thermolyne LLC, Beijing Phadia Diagnostics Co Ltd, Bender MedSystems GmbH, BioTrove Corporation, BioTrove International Inc., Bioanalysis Labsystems S.A., Biochemical Sciences LLC, Biolab, BmT GmbH Laborprodukte, Bonsai Tecnologies - Sistemas para Biotecnologia e Industria Unipessoal Lda, Brammer Bio, Bumi-Sans Sendirian Berhad, CAC Limited, CB Diagnostics AB, CB Diagnostics Holding AB, CEPH International Corporation, CHK Holdings Inc., CRS Robotics, CTPS LLC, Capitol Scientific Products Inc., Capitol Vial Inc., Cellomics Inc., CellzDirect Inc., Cenduit GmbH, Cenduit LLC, Cezanne S.A.S., Chase Scientific Glass Inc., Chromacol Limited, Clintrak, Clintrak Clinical Labeling Services LLC, Clintrak Pharmaceutical Services LLC, Cohesive Technologies (UK) Limited, Cohesive Technologies Inc., Columbia Diagnostics Inc., Compendia Bioscience Inc., Comtest Limited, Consolidated Technologies Inc., Consultores Fisher Scientific Chile Ltd, Core Informatics, Core Informatics LLC, Core Informatics UK Ltd., D-finitive Technologies Inc., DCG Systems B.V., DCG Systems C.V., DCG Systems G.K., DCG Systems GmbH, DCG Systems Korea Ltd., DCG Systems LLC, DPI Newco LLC, DSM Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Dharmacon, Diagnostix Ltd., Dionex (China) Analytical Ltd, Dionex (Switzerland) AG, Dionex (UK) Limited, Dionex Austria GmbH, Dionex Benelux B.V., Dionex Brasil Instrumentos Cientificos Ltda, Dionex Canada Ltd., Dionex China Limited, Dionex Corporation, Dionex Denmark A/S, Dionex Holding GmbH, Dionex I LLC, Dionex Pty Ltd., Dionex S.A., Dionex S.p.A., Dionex Singapore Pte Ltd., Dionex Softron GmbH, Dionex Sweden AB, Distribution Solutions International Inc., Doe & Ingalls Investors Inc., Doe & Ingalls Limited, Doe & Ingalls Management LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties II LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties LLC, Doe & Ingalls of California Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Florida Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Maryland Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Massachusetts Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of North Carolina Operating LLC, Doublecape Holding Limited, Doublecape Limited, Drakeside Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Duke Scientific Corporation, Dynal Biotech Beijing Limited, EGS Gauging Ltd., EGS Gauging Technical Services Company, EP Scientific Products LLC, Ecochem N.V., EnviroEquip Pty Ltd, Epsom Glass Industries Limited, Equibio Limited, Erie Electroverre S.A., Erie Finance Limited, Erie LP Holding LLC, Erie Scientific Company of Puerto Rico, Erie Scientific Hungary Kft, Erie Scientific LLC, Erie U.K. Limited, Erie UK 1 Limited, Erie UK 2 Limited, Erie UK Holding Company, Erie UK Senior Holding Limited, European Laboratory Holdings Limited, Eutech Instruments Europe B.V., Eutech Instruments Pte Ltd., Eutech Instruments Sdn Bhd, Ever Ready Thermometer Co. Inc., FEI Asia Pacific Co. Ltd., FEI Australia Pty Ltd, FEI CPD B.V., FEI Company, FEI Company Japan Ltd., FEI Company of USA (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd., FEI Czech Republic s.r.o., FEI Deutschland GmbH, FEI EFA Inc., FEI EFA International Pte. Ltd., FEI Electron Optics B.V., FEI Electron Optics International B.V., FEI Europe B.V., FEI France SAS, FEI Global Holdings C.V., FEI Hong Kong Company Limited, FEI Houston Inc., FEI Italia Srl, FEI Korea Ltd., FEI Melbourne Pty Ltd., FEI Microscopy Solutions Ltd, FEI Munich GmbH, FEI Norway Holding AS, FEI SAS, FEI Saudi Arabia LLC, FEI Servicos de Nanotecnologia Ltda., FEI Technologies Inc., FEI Technology de Mexico S.A. de C.V., FEI Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., FEI Trondheim AS, FEI UK Ltd., FHP LLC, FRC Holding Inc. V, FS (Barbados) Capital Holdings Ltd., FS Casa Rocas Holdings LLC, FS Mexicana Holdings LLC, FSI Receivables Company LLC, FSII Sweden Holdings AB, FSII Sweden Holdings I AB, FSIR Holdings (UK) Limited, FSIR Holdings (US) Inc., FSUK Holdings Limited, FSWH Company LLC, FSWH II C.V., FSWH International Holdings LLC, Fermentas China Co. Ltd, Fermentas Inc., Fermentas International, Fermentas Sweden AB, Fermentas UK Limited, Fiberlite Centrifuge LLC, Finesse Scientific Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Finesse Solutions AG, Finesse Solutions Inc., Finnzymes Oy, Fisher Alder S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Asia Manufacturing Ventures Inc., Fisher Bermuda Holdings Limited, Fisher BioImage ApS, Fisher BioPharma Services (India) Private Limited, Fisher BioSciences Japan G.K., Fisher BioServices Inc., Fisher Bioblock Holding II SNC, Fisher CLP Holding Limited Partnership, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 1, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 2, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 3, Fisher Canada Limited Partnership, Fisher Chimica BVBA, Fisher Clinical Logistics LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services (Bristol) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Colombia) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Korea) Co. Ltd, Fisher Clinical Services (Mexico) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Peru) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services Colombia S.A.S., Fisher Clinical Services GmbH, Fisher Clinical Services Inc., Fisher Clinical Services Japan K.K., Fisher Clinical Services Latin America S.R.L., Fisher Clinical Services Limited Liability Company, Fisher Clinical Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Clinical Services Peru S.R.L, Fisher Clinical Services Pte Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services U.K. Limited, Fisher Emergo B.V., Fisher Germany Holdings GmbH, Fisher Hamilton China Inc., Fisher Hamilton Mexico LLC, Fisher Holdings ApS, Fisher Internet Minority Holdings L.L.C., Fisher Laboratory Products Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Fisher Luxembourg Danish Holdings SARL, Fisher Manufacturing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Maybridge Holdings Limited, Fisher Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific (Austria) GmbH, Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Fisher Scientific (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific (SEA) Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific A/S, Fisher Scientific AG, Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Limited, Fisher Scientific Biotech Line ApS, Fisher Scientific Brazil Inc., Fisher Scientific Central America Inc., Fisher Scientific Chile Inc., Fisher Scientific Colombia Inc., Fisher Scientific Company, Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C., Fisher Scientific Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Fisher Scientific Europe Holdings B.V., Fisher Scientific GTF AB, Fisher Scientific Germany Beteiligungs GmbH, Fisher Scientific GmbH, Fisher Scientific Holding Company LLC, Fisher Scientific Holding HK Limited, Fisher Scientific Holding U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific Holdings (S) Pte Ltd, Fisher Scientific International LLC, Fisher Scientific Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Fisher Scientific Ireland Investments Unlimited, Fisher Scientific Ireland Limited, Fisher Scientific Japan Ltd., Fisher Scientific Jersey Island Limited, Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd, Fisher Scientific Latin America Inc., Fisher Scientific Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Fisher Scientific Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific Mexico Inc., Fisher Scientific Middle East and Africa Inc., Fisher Scientific Norway AS, Fisher Scientific Operating Company, Fisher Scientific Oxoid Holdings Ltd., Fisher Scientific Oy, Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific S.A.S., Fisher Scientific S.L., Fisher Scientific SPRL, Fisher Scientific The Hague I B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague II B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague III B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague IV B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague V B.V., Fisher Scientific U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company 2, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company Limited, Fisher Scientific Unipessoal Lda., Fisher Scientific Venezuela Inc., Fisher Scientific Worldwide (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Holdings I C.V., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Inc., Fisher Scientific de Mexico S.A., Fisher Scientific of the Netherlands B.V., Fisher Scientific spol. S.r.o, Fisher Servicios Clinicos (Chile) LLC, Fisher Servicios Clinicos Chile Ltda, Fisher WWD Holding L.L.C., Fisher Worldwide Distribution SPV, Fisher Worldwide Gene Distribution SPV, Flux Instruments, Fuji Partnership, G & M Procter Limited, G V Instruments Limited, GV Instruments Canada Ltd., GV Instruments Inc, Gatan Inc, General Scientific Company Sdn Bhd (M), Genomed molekularbiologische und diagnostische Produkte GmbH, Gerhard Menzel B.V. & Co. KG, Gold Cattle Standard Testing Labs Inc., Golden West Indemnity Company Limited, Goring Kerr Detection Limited, Greenville Service Company Inc., HENO GmbH i.L., Hangar 215 Inc., Helmet Securities Limited, Henogen, HighChem, HyClone International Trade (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Hybaid Limited, I.Q. (BIO) Limited, IDnostics AG, ILS Laboratories Scandinavia AB, Inel Inc., Inel SAS, InnaPhase Inc., InnaPhase Limited, IntegenX, Intrinsic BioProbes Inc., Intrinsic Bioprobes Inc., Invitrogen (Shanghai) Investment Co. Ltd., Invitrogen Argentina SA, Invitrogen BioServices India Private Limited, Invitrogen Europe Limited, Invitrogen Finance Corp., Invitrogen Holdings LLC, Invitrogen Holdings Ltd., Invitrogen Hong Kong Limited, Invitrogen IP Holdings Inc., Invitrogen Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ion Torrent Systems Inc., Ionalytics Corporation, JSC Thermo Fisher Scientific, Jouan LLC, Jouan Limited, Jouan SA, Kendro Containment & Services Limited, Kendro Laboratory Products Ltd, Kettlebrook Insurance Co. ltd., Keystone Scientific, KonTEM GmbH, Kyle Jordan Investments LLC, LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, LTC Tech South Africa PTY Ltd., La-Pha-Pack GmbH, Lab Vision (UK) Limited, Lab Vision Corporation, Lab-Chrom-Pack LLC, Lab-Line Instruments Inc., Labomex MBP S. de R. L. De C.V., Laboratoire Service International - L.S.I, Laboratory Management Systems Inc., Laboratory Specialties Proprietary Ltd., LambTrack Limited, Laser Analytical Systems Inc., Liberty Lane Investment LLC, Liberty Lane Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Life Sciences International (Poland) SP z O.O, Life Sciences International Holdings BV, Life Sciences International LLC, Life Sciences International Limited, Life Technologies AS, Life Technologies Australia PTY Ltd., Life Technologies BPD AB, Life Technologies BPD UK Limited, Life Technologies Brasil Comercio e Industria de Produtos para Biotecnologia Ltda, Life Technologies Chile SpA, Life Technologies Clinical Services Lab Inc., Life Technologies Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Czech Republic s.r.o., Life Technologies DaAn Diagnostic (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Europe B.V., Life Technologies Finance Ltd., Life Technologies Finland Oy, Life Technologies GmbH, Life Technologies Holdings PTE Ltd., Life Technologies Inc., Life Technologies International B.V., Life Technologies Japan Ltd., Life Technologies Korea LLC, Life Technologies Limited, Life Technologies Magyarorszag Kft, Life Technologies New Zealand Ltd., Life Technologies Norway Investments US LLC, Life Technologies Polska Sp z.o.o., Life Technologies SA, Life Technologies SAS, Life Technologies s.r.o, Linkage Biosciences Inc., Linkage Biosciences S.a.r.l., Loftus Furnace Company, Lomb Scientific, Lomb Scientific (Aust) Pty Limited, MTI-GlobalStem, Marketbase International Limited, Matrix MicroScience Inc., Matrix MicroScience Ltd., Matrix Technologies Corporation Limited, Matrix Technologies LLC, Maybridge Chemical Company Limited, Maybridge Chemical Holdings Limited, Maybridge Limited, Medical Analysis Systems Inc., Medical Analysis Systems International Inc., Medical Diagnostics Systems Inc., Metavac LLC, Microgenics Corporation, Microgenics Diagnostics Pty Limited, Microgenics GmbH, Microm International GmbH, Microm Laborgerate S.L.U, Molecular BioProducts Inc., Molecular Probes Inc., Molecular Transfer Inc., NAPCO Inc., NERL Diagnostics LLC, NOVODIRECT GmbH Labor- und Industrie- Megerate, Nalge (Europe) Limited, Nalge Nunc International (Monterrey) LLC, Nalge Nunc International Corporation, Nanjing WeiKangLe Trading Industrial Co Ltd, NanoDrop Technologies LLC, National Scientific Company, Navaho Acquisition Corp., Neomarkers Inc., New FS Holdings Inc., NewcoGen PE LLC, Nihon Dynal K.K., Niton Asia Limited, NovaWave Technologies Inc., Nunc A/S, ONIX Systems Inc., OXOID CZ s.r.o., Odyssey Holdings Corporation, Odyssey Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 1 S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 2 S.a r.l., Odyssey Venture Corporation, Omega Data Systems, One Lambda Inc, Onix Holdings Limited, Orme Scientific Limited, Owl Separation Systems LLC, Oxoid (ELY) Limited, Oxoid 2000 Limited, Oxoid AS, Oxoid Australia Pty. 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Ltd, Phadia Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Phadia Malta Holdings Limited, Phadia Oy, Phadia Real Property AB, Phadia Sweden AB, Phadia Taiwan Inc., Phadia US Inc., Phadia s.r.o., Pharmacaps Mexicana SA de CV, Phenom-World B.V., Phenom-World Holding B.V, Phenom-World Innovations B.V., Phinotex, Pierce Biotechnology Inc., Pierce Milwaukee Holding Corp., Pierce Milwaukee Inc., Polychromix, Power Sweden Holdings I AB, Power Sweden Holdings II AB, Power Sweden Holdings III Aktiebolag, Princeton Gamma-Tech Instruments LLC, Princeton Security Technologies, Prionics AG, Prionics Asia Ltd., Prionics Deutschland GmbH, Prionics France SAS, Prionics Italia S.r.l., Prionics Lelystad B.V., Prionics USA Inc., Priority Air Express LLC, Priority Air Express Pte. 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Ltd., Thermo Life Sciences AB, Thermo Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo MF Physics LLC, Thermo Measurement Ltd, Thermo Measuretech Canada Inc., Thermo Neslab LLC, Thermo Nicolet Limited, Thermo Onix Limited, Thermo Optek (Australia) Pty Ltd., Thermo Optek Limited, Thermo Optek S.A., Thermo Orion Inc., Thermo Portable Holdings LLC, Thermo Power Corporation, Thermo Process Instruments GP LLC, Thermo Process Instruments L.P., Thermo Projects Limited, Thermo Quest S.A., Thermo Radiometrie Limited, Thermo Ramsey Italia S.r.l., Thermo Ramsey LLC, Thermo Ramsey S.A., Thermo Re Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Pte Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Sdn Bhd, Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments Inc., Thermo Scientific Services Inc., Thermo Securities Corporation, Thermo Sentron Canada Inc., Thermo Sentron Limited, Thermo Shandon Inc., Thermo Shandon Limited, Thermo Suomi Holding B.V., Thermo TLH (UK) Limited, Thermo TLH L.P., Thermo Trace Pty Ltd., Thermo-Fisher Biochemical Product (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ThermoLase LLC, ThermoSpectra Limited, Trek Diagnostic Systems LLC, Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd., Trek Holding Company II Ltd., Trek Holding Company Ltd., Trex Medical Corporation, USB Corporation, Union Lab Supplies Limited, United Diagnostics Inc., VG Systems Limited, Westover Scientific Inc., ZAO PE Biosystems, eBioscience GmbH, eBioscience Ltd, eBioscience SAS, and picoSpin LLC. Village Farms International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and distributes greenhouse-grown tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers in North America. It operates through three segments: Produce Business, Energy Business, and Cannabis and Hemp Business. The company also owns and operates a 7.0 megawatt power plant that generates and sells electricity to British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority; and produces and supplies cannabis products. It markets and distributes its products under the Village Farms brand name to retail supermarkets and fresh food distribution companies, as well as products produced under exclusive arrangements with other greenhouse producers. The company was formerly known as Village Farms Canada Inc. and changed its name to Village Farms International, Inc. in December 2009. Village Farms International, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Delta, Canada. Read More The new Performing Arts Center at Richards will serve as the host venue for what is both a fundraiser and a celebration of student talents in drama, speech, music, visual and the culinary arts. Students from Eisenhower, Richards and Shepard high schools will share the spotlight in a wide variety of arts. On Wednesday, Moore expanded on the reasoning behind his recent order and clarified what he called misconceptions that the general public has reached. While both the statues are clearly monuments and memorials to two Civil War veterans, as shown by their attire, Moore said, he clarified that only the Jackson statue could be taken definitively to be a monument to the Civil War, as well, pointing to the language on the statue, which lists three military engagements. The Jackson statue was unveiled in 1921, and the Lee statue followed in 1924. Both were donated by philanthropist Paul Goodloe McIntire. Because they are monuments to veterans and perhaps in the case of Jackson to the Civil War, as well, that brings them under the umbrella of the state code preventing the removal or encroachment of monuments to veterans and wars, Moore said. It has never been about whether I think they should be removed, whether the majority wants them removed or whether moving them would be helpful to certain parts of the population, he said. Its about whether moving them would violate the state statute. The judge gave both sides until Aug. 5 to file any motions and set a motions hearing for Sept. 5. Randle said he could file motions earlier than that and Durrer said the court would accommodate it. 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 long hair and a beard, rolled his eyes as the judge discussed the attorney issues and looked to his family sitting in the audience, including a sister. Randle declined comment on his clients behalf following the hearing Monday. Orange County authorities, responding to a report of a male with a gunshot wound to the head in February, found Smith lying on his stomach on the floor of the Orange County Laundromat, along with three spent cartridges and a loaded cartridge, according to court records. Understandings of the event have diverged wildly. In the aftermath of the march, Greensboro daily papers used terms like shootout and confrontation that implied equal responsibility as much as they used terms that implicated neither group, like shootings and incident. The weekly African American newspaper, however, described the event in the context of racist violence elsewhere and focused on whether the police and local government had taken the necessary actions to prevent the violence. The University of Virginias Faculty Senate on Wednesday approved the skeleton structure of a future School of Data Science. This spring, a Faculty Senate committee has wrestled with the overall format of the proposed school, a step necessary before UVa can send the proposal to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for approval. When it first was presented to [the Academic Affairs Committee], there were a number of concerns that the AAC had, which we addressed in a written document that was handed back to the data science folks. They have addressed those concerns, said Aaron Bloomfield, chair of the AAC, adding that there were still some concerns about the school and the approval process that fell outside the purview of the committee. The proposed school, and a $120 million gift to found it, was announced to great fanfare in January. An existing Data Science Institute at UVa already grants a masters of science in data science and offers some joint degree programs, but expanding the institute into a school would allow UVa to offer undergraduate degrees in data science and meet an expanding need for the skills required to gather and interpret massive sets of information. Youre getting great-tasting meat. Its really more like a burrito. You get so much meat that you could probably get an extra shell and have a whole other taco. All the vegetables are cut fresh. Its a ridiculous, hefty portion of meat, he said. Republican primary In the primary race, Hangers opponent is accusing the longtime incumbent of not adhering to conservative principles. Freitas, the wife of Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, accuses Hanger of being weak in his support of gun rights and is especially critical of his vote to expand Medicaid coverage to as many as 400,000 low-income Virginians. In 2018, Hanger proved to be a key swing vote on Medicaid, breaking a political logjam to secure passage of the expansion championed by Gov. Ralph Northam and Democratic lawmakers. On her campaign website, Tina Freitas says Hanger never gave up a chance to betray his party or the voters. Her campaign also has made Hangers age and time spent in Richmond an issue. During her Feb. 16 campaign kickoff event in Madison County, Freitas noted Hanger was first elected to the General Assembly as a delegate in 1982. Ideally, when an elected position is vacated, good-faith efforts are made to notify the community and ample time is given for interested parties to apply. For citizens to trust the process of filling the vacancy, they should be confident that people who would serve the best interests of students and taxpayers were able to apply for the position. Democratic House lawmakers who talk about impeaching President Donald Trump ought to have their heads examined. The last person I voted for is somebody dumb enough to talk about impeachment when they couldnt get it done. Even if they impeached Trump, the Senate wouldnt allow it. Let him keep doing his so-called dumb things and let Republicans keep defending him. Come 2020, they will be out and we will keep the ones looking out for the good of America. . . Lauzen has been vocal being unhappy with how States Attorneys Joe McMahon and his offices Civil Division handled the contracts, which he said were not available for board approval until 16 hours before members were supposed to vote on them. He also criticized the countys labor attorneys and the states attorney office for not clarifying the dates on which union wage increases were to start. Wage increases for union and nonunion employees and retroactive pay for sheriffs deputies will add up to about $4.4 million over four years, Onzick said. By the 2020-21 fiscal year, the county may need to dip into its Property Tax Freeze Protection Fund to cover the debt and may still come up short, according to projections. Costello, who opted not to seek a new term, told those in attendance he was proud of his four years on the board, during which the district established its first charter school, the Elgin Math and Science Academy; started work on the new career pathways program; and improved the partnerships between the district and local businesses. This is an anathema...people want to buy a home in Glencoe because they love the atmosphere and appreciate the historic preservation, but then they buy a property where theyre tearing a home down, and forever changing the atmosphere, Goodale said, adding: These teardowns of historic homes come in waves, and when the funds are out, like during the recent recession, it comes to a halt. But unfortunately, when the economy goes back up, like today, the wave of tear-downs starts again, and everyone wants something new. The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced $160 million for research labs in Canada on Monday, April 29. The funding comes from the Canada Foundation for Innovations (CFI) Major Science Initiatives Fund, part of a historic $4 billion federal commitment to empowering science and research innovation in Canada. Approximately $40 million will support operations at national facilities including the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), which maintains tracking infrastructure globally and across Canadas three oceans and Great Lakes in support of aquatic animal conservation, sustainable fisheries and ocean resource management. These leading research facilities help position Canada as a top destination for world-class research and allow our researchers to make fantastic discoveries, strengthen Canadas social fabric and international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of our highly skilled workforce, said The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, at a press conference in Saskatoon on Monday. OTN, headquartered at Dalhousie Universitys Steele Ocean Sciences Building, will receive almost $2.3 million to enhance research capacity and infrastructure that documents the movements and survival of the oceans valuable aquatic animals, ranging from crustaceans and fishes to turtles and marine mammals. The Ocean Tracking Network continues to lead the way in a rapidly changing ocean technology sector, says Alice Aiken, vice-president research and innovation at Dalhousie University. This significant investment by the Government of Canada is recognition of the world-class research happening at OTN, which is changing our understanding of the natural world and helping us to better manage our aquatic resources. Cutting-edge transmitters track Nova Scotia snow crabs Snow crab thrive in the cold waters of the Northwest Atlantic. Their population sizes differ between fishing areas off of northern Cape Breton Island; harvesters from Victoria County engaged OTN to help document crabs movements across the management zones. This community-led tracking project, which uses small transmitters that are logged by OTNs network of underwater tracking stations, also supports both DFO snow crab stock assessments, as well as environmental assessments that are part of Emeras Maritime Link project. OTN, community, industry and government partners convene annually at a snow crab summit in Halifax to communicate the projects latest findings. Snow crab are just one of more than 220 species being tracked by Canadian and international partners around the world. The OTN Halifax Line, a 200 km-long array of more than 250 tracking stations, part of OTNs extensive Northwest Atlantic tracking infrastructure, serves partners from Europe and Greenland to the southern United States, and tracks tagged animals like wild Atlantic salmon, cod, seals and white sharks. This will make a tremendous difference in OTNs ability to accomplish its mission and to both deliver opportunities for, and meet the needs of, the scientific and stakeholder communities, both in Canada and internationally, said Sara Iverson, scientific director of OTN and Dalhousie professor. A global network of more than 600 researchers makes use of OTNs cutting-edge animal tracking infrastructure, but its legacy lies in the data warehouse, one of only a few aquatic animal tracking data systems in the world and the only one with a global reach. This data system is the longest running and contains the largest data collection with regards to geographic and taxonomic coverage, a function the MSI infusion will help enhance, in addition to allowing OTN to deliver the digital tools researchers require to analyse their data. The newest CFI-MSI infusion will support OTNs mission in conducting transformative research which is used provincially, federally and internationally to help guide the management and stewardship of valued aquatic resources and sustainable use of the ocean. Learn more about OTN at its website. To put an end to this senseless loss of life we must do everything within our power to get the drugs off our streets and the dealers behind bars, Berlin said. A dealer may have second thoughts about selling this poison knowing that they will be looking at a significant amount of time locked up if they are the proven source of a fatal overdose. All district residents are eligible to be members of the Delegate Assembly, and the candidate committee is open to any member that expressed interest. The bylaws state there should be at least one delegate from each of the four elementary school attendance areas. The XPulse 200, Indias first 200cc adventure motorcycle, is priced at Rs 97,000 with the fuel-injected variant of the XPulse 200 bearing a sticker of Rs 105,000. And the XPulse 200T tourer costs Rs 94,000 at Delhi showroom. Pune: Hero MotoCorp, Indias largest two-wheeler maker, on Wednesday expanded its premium bike portfolio by introducing three new motorcycles the XPulse 200, XPulse 200T and Xtreme 200S to cash in on the growth of premium bikes in the country. The XPulse 200, Indias first 200cc adventure motorcycle, is priced at Rs 97,000 with the fuel-injected variant of the XPulse 200 bearing a sticker of Rs 105,000. And the XPulse 200T tourer costs Rs 94,000 at Delhi showroom. These bikes compete with Suzuki Gixxer SF, prices for which start at Rs 98,076. The new trio follows the Xtreme 200R launched in the second quarter of FY19. With our customer base spread across three continents in Asia, Africa and South and Central America, we are now riding into the next phase of our bold premium journey with a range of new, technologically advanced and aesthetically appealing motorcycles, Pawan Munjal, Chairman at Hero MotoCorp, said. These premium motorcycles have been designed and developed by engineers at the Hero Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT), he said. With these motorcycles, we now have one of the youngest product portfolios on offer and I am sure, our new motorcycles will appeal to the youth around the world, Munjal boasted. Over the next 12 months, the domestic two-wheeler industry in India would go through a tectonic shift with the implementation of new safety and emission norms. We are completely geared up for this transition and to lead the industry into the next growth phase in the worlds largest two-wheeler market as well as in our global markets, Munjal said. The Xtreme 200S is a fully faired version of the Xtreme 200R. At Rs 98,500, it is Rs 7,600 more expensive than the Xtreme 200R that costs Rs 90,900. While the Xpulse 200T costs Rs 94,000, the XPulse 200 carbureted version costs Rs 97,000 and the fuel-injected version Rs 98,500. The Xtreme 200S is targeted at riders looking for character and comfort in their daily city ride. It is not a sporty motorcycle. However, Hero has said that the fairing will give the 200S better wind protection on the highway than its naked sibling the 200R. The 200S uses the same chassis and geometry as the 200R. Passenger vehicle sales at Tata Motors, Indias biggest automaker by revenues, fell 26 per cent to 12,694 units last month from 17,235 units sold in April 2018. Pune: Car and tractor manufacturers continued to report decline in sales in April, indicating a slowdown due to multiple factors, including tepid demand in Asias third largest economy. Automakers Tata Motors and Mahindra and Toyota on Thursday reported decline in sales for April, which is 10th month of slowdown for the Motown. Passenger vehicle sales at Tata Motors, Indias biggest automaker by revenues, fell 26 per cent to 12,694 units last month from 17,235 units sold in April 2018. The industry has recorded de-growth for the 10th consecutive month. Weak consumer sentiments are reflected in this demand de growth and we have also been impacted, Mayank Pareek, President-Passenger Vehicles at Tata Motors, said. Similarly, passenger vehicles sales at Mahindra, Indias second biggest utility vehicle maker, dropped 8.94 per cent to 19,966 units in April as against 21,927 units sold in the year-ago period. Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector at Mahindra and Mahindra said the ongoing elections had subdued the purchase sentiment during April. This, according to us, is a temporary phenomenon. We believe, following the elections the auto industry will see a revival in consumer demand. Supported by a normal monsoon, we are confident of seeing higher sales in FY20, he pointed out. Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor also declined by 22.43 per cent last month. It sold a total of 10,112 vehicles compared with 13,037 units it sold in April 2018. The industry is currently experiencing a slowdown due to uncertainty of general elections that looms over the market and this slow pace is expected to continue until the new government is formed, N Raja, Deputy Managing Director at Bangalore-based Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said. Consumer sentiments have been dampened due to several factors like tight liquidity, high insurance, and high costs, he pointed out. On Wednesday, Indias top two carmakers, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India, which command nearly 70 per cent market share, had also reported a decline in their domestic sales in April. While Maruti Suzuki reported 17.2 per cent decline, Hyundai posted a drop of 10 per cent in domestic sales in the first month of the 2019-20 fiscal. Sales of tractors at Mahindra also fell 8 per cent at 27,495 units, as compared to 29,884 units in the year-ago period, We expect that the prediction of a normal southwest monsoon will bring positive sentiment and boost tractor demand, Rajesh Jejurikar, President for Farm Equipment Sector at M&M said. In the two wheeler segment, Bajaj Auto said its domestic motorcycle sales were up 2.5 per cent at 2,05,875 units in April as against 2,00,742 units in the year-ago month. The total number of summary sales return, GSTR-3B, filed for the month of March up to April 30 stood at 72.13 lakh. April is the first month of 2019-20 fiscal.( Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: The mop-up of goods and services tax (GST) hit an all-time high of more than Rs 1.13 lakh crore in April, inching up from Rs 1.06 lakh crore in the previous month this year. This collection is estimated to be 10.05 per cent higher than that of the same month last year and over 16 per cent higher than the monthly average of revenue in FY19. According to the Ministry of Finance, The total gross GST revenue collected in April 2019 is Rs 1,13,865 crore, of which Central GST is Rs 21,163 crore, State GST (SGST) is Rs 28,801 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 54,733 crore and cess is Rs 9,168 crore. The total number of summary sales return, GSTR-3B, filed for the month of March up to April 30 stood at 72.13 lakh. April is the first month of 2019-20 fiscal. The collection last month has been the highest since introduction of GST and also reflects 10.05 per cent growth over April 2018, when the collection was Rs 1,03,459 crore, said an official statement on Wednesday. The government has settled Rs 20,370 crore to CGST and Rs 15,975 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. Further, Rs 12,000 crore has been settled from the balance IGST available with the Centre on a provisional basis in the ratio of 50:50 between the Centre and States. The total revenue earned by the central government and state governments after regular and provisional settlement in April 2019 is Rs 47,533 crore for CGST and Rs 50,776 crore for SGST, the statement added. For the current fiscal, the government proposes to collect Rs 6.10 lakh crore from CGST and Rs 1.01 lakh crore from compensation cess. The IGST balance has been pegged at Rs 50,000 crore. The CGST collection in 2018-19 was Rs 4.25 lakh crore, while compensation cess was over Rs 97,000 crore. Mumbai: High premium rates for companies buying insurance covers for their plants, machinery, and properties are here to stay, as the Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition of pharma majors Cadila Healthcare, Wockhardt, Biocon and Lupin against the new rates of state owned reinsurer, General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re). Justice Vibhu Bakhru of the Delhi High Court, while dismissing the petition of pharma companies last month, said that Plainly, it would not be permissible for this court to supplant its opinion regarding quantum of premium that ought to be charged by GIC. GIC is fully entitled to determine the rates at which it offers re-insurance in respect of risks covered by various insurance companies. GIC Re, the countrys largest reinsurer, passed an endorsement via circulars on February 12 and 21, stating that insurers wanting to utilise its treaty (an arrangement where capital is pooled by various reinsurers to provide reinsurance support to insurance companies) will have to quote higher premium rates effective March 1 for providing covers to companies in eight sectors that were reporting high claims. The sectors were those engaged in manufacturing rubber goods, plastics, textiles, chemical manufacturing below 32 degrees centigrade flashpoint, transporters godowns, steel plants and thermal power plants. The new rates were based on claims data with the Insurance Information Bureau, an insurance data repository. As per the circular from GIC Re, all non-life insurance companies were told to add the cost of procurement/management costs to the IIB-identified rates and then quote accordingly to their corporate clients. As a result, companies saw a three- to nine-fold rise in their insurance cost. A petition was filed by top companies engaged in manufacturing and distributing of pharmaceuticals, seeking a judicial review into the quantum of the premium fixed by GIC Re for providing reinsurance to various insurance companies. Since the controversy involved in the petitions filed by several top pharma companies was common, the petitions were heard together. The companies were aggrieved by the steep rise in the insurance premium. For instance, the petition from Wockhardt Limited said that it had bought an annual insurance policy from private insurer Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited paying a premium of Rs 1.32 crore. However, on account of the impugned circulars issued by GIC Re, the said premium has increased steeply from Rs 1.32 crore to Rs 5.83 crore, excluding GST. The counsel appearing for the pharma companies argued that the GIC circulars insisting upon the premium to be charged by insurers curtailed the freedom of the insurers to charge insurance premium as per their discretion, and was unfair exercise of the dominance enjoyed by GIC Re. However the court, in its order dated April 12, noted that insurance companies are required to mandatorily re-insure only 5 per cent of the risk covered by them and the premise that GIC had fixed the insurance premium chargeable by various general insurance companies, is erroneous and the petitioners challenge founded on this premise must necessarily fail. The non-life insurance sector was de-tariffed in 2007, after which insurers competed with each other on rates to gain market share but this resulted in underwriting losses. However, corporates, on the other hand, were able to enjoy low rates for more than a decade. According to brokers, insurers offered 80 to 99 per cent discount to corporate clients on the erstwhile tariff rates for FLEXA covers (policy covering fire, lightning explosion/implosion and aircraft insurance) while charging some premium for providing cover for natural catastrophes. More than half of those surveyed were in the Americas, 32 per cent were in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 16 per cent were in the Asia-Pacific. Mumbai: Chinese and Indian markets are among the top picks for hedge fund managers in 2019 as they get more bullish on emerging market assets like equity and fixed income. There is a sharp increase in hedge fund preferences for China and India as investment destinations during the year, according to a survey by global investment firm Credit Suisse. For the second year in a row, investors indicated that Asia-Pacific and Emerging Markets are the most in-demand regions, with China the most preferred overall country. While interest waned over the course of 2018, strong demand returned in 2019 with the three geographies seeing the largest positive net demand swings, the Credit Suisse report said. Allocators continue to recalibrate how they employ hedge funds. Preference is shifting to customised solutions through Managed Accounts and Co-Investments that tailor fit specific investment objectives, exposures, and risk parameters. At the same time, investors are increasingly looking at allocations through the lens of their overall portfolio, converging hedge funds with traditional asset classes, said Joseph Gasparro, Head of Content for Credit Suisse Capital Services Americas. The survey interviewed 311 institutional investors with $1.12 trillion in hedge fund investments, including pensions, family offices, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds. More than half of those surveyed were in the Americas, 32 per cent were in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 16 per cent were in the Asia-Pacific. Institutional investors also are increasingly integrating hedge funds into their portfolios, with 42 per cent now categorising hedge funds by asset classes, instead of in an alternatives bucket, as they have traditionally been classified, according to Credit Suisse. Investors who have made redemptions expect to reinvest their gains in the hedge fund industry, with 89 per cent saying they expect to reallocate their capital to other hedge funds, a three-year high, according to Credit Suisse. Investors are staying the course on their hedge fund exposure. It is important to highlight they are focused on re-underwriting their existing portfolios; reducing the overall number of positions and sizing up where they have conviction. Investors are focused on growing relationships with managers who have differentiated expertise, strong risk management skills, and a clear track record of being accretive to an investors portfolio, said Melissa Toma, Co-Head of Credit Suisse Capital Services Americas. The top court has accepted the reports of forensic auditors and sought explanation from the group and its associates. New Delhi: Forensic auditors told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Rs 9,590 crore can be recovered from the embattled Amrapali Group which has diverted Rs 3,523 crore of home buyers money. Of the money diverted as much as Rs 455 crore can be recovered from persons, including directors of the realty firm, their family members and individuals holding hey managerial position. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit was told by court-appointed forensic auditors Pawan Agarwal and Ravi Bhatia that the firm sold 5,856 flats at throw-away prices and Rs 321.31 crore can be recovered at the current market value. They also said that Rs 3,487 crore is recoverable from home buyers who have booked flats and taken the possession in 14 Amrapali Projects. The auditors in their 8-volume report submitted to the court said that till now they have detected Rs 152.24 crore, which the company's directors and their family members have taken for paying income taxes, advances for purchase of share and under other heads. The summary report also pointed that from 35 group companies, persons holding key managerial positions, including directors, siphoned off Rs 69.36 crore, which was cash in hand with the firms. "Amounts given as advances without any business transactions which have not been adjusted along with the amount received/paid for the non-genuine transactions amount to Rs 234.31 crores and should be recovered from the management of the Amrapali Group of companies," the report said which included only the companies audited by Bhatia. The further report of Agrawal is yet to be placed before the court. The auditors pointed out that there were 5,229 unsold flats of Amrapali in 11 different projects and can be sold for Rs 1,958.82 crore. They said that non-genuine and bogus purchases amounted to Rs 1,446.68 crore and Amrapali Group has a liability of Rs 6,004.6 crore towards the Noida and Greater Noida authorities. The top court has accepted the reports of forensic auditors and sought explanation from the group and its associates. On February 28, the apex court had allowed Delhi Police to arrest Amrapali group CMD Anil Sharma and two directors. Britains Prince Harry and his American wife is due to welcome their first child any day now, just ahead of their first wedding anniversary on May 19. (Photo: AFP) London: Meghan Markle will give birth by Monday night to a little girl to be named Diana, at least thats what the bets placed by punters suggest. Britains Prince Harry and his American wife is 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 babys gender, name and up until recently. Many people expected the baby would arrive in April so those who had 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 babys gender. We actually believe its going to be this week and we make today, Wednesday 1 May, the favourite 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 Williams daughter. William Hill has odds of 3/1 for Wednesday. We reckon its imminent now...were odds on 1 to 2 that the baby arrives by Monday night, William Hills Adams. Bookmakers say for weeks, odds have favoured the baby to be a girl, with the name Diana, after Harrys 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 girls names. Allegra was 100 to 1 just two days ago, suddenly its in at 12/1. That name has also proved popular at bookmakers Ladbrokes, which earlier this week had the same odds for it. Other names include Victoria and Elizabeth, after Britains monarch and Harrys grandmother. For a boy, Arthur has odds of 12/1 at Betfair while Charles, after Harrys father, is at 14/1. Weve seen quite a lot of money in the past 72 hours for Mary, thats gone from 40/1 to 14/1, also looking at Grace at 7/1 and Alice at 10/1, Rosbottom said. Dharmapuri: The Dharmapuri police has appointed four special teams to trace criminals involved in the murder of 25-year-old B. Munusamy. Munusamy of Jarugu village near Thoppur in Dharmapuri district was shot dead by miscreants who tried to misbehave with his niece. Sources said that Munusamy and the girl had gone to Hogenakkal on Wednesday and were returning home on a two-wheeler. Munusamy who was driving stopped the vehicle at Pannapatti near Hogenakkal and they both entered the forest to spend some time together. Four unknown men accosted them and tried to misbehave with the girl. Munusamy died while trying to save the girl when one among the four opened fire at him with a country-made gun. The miscreants tried to drag the girl into the forest, but she escaped and reached the Pennagaram-Hogenakkal road. Other picnickers who noticed the girl crying for help, saved her and called the police. Hogenakkal police recovered the dead body of Munusamy. With no clue about the criminals, Dharmapuri police appointed four special teams to probe the case. The Q branch and anti-Naxalite wing police are assisting the special team. Kolkata: The Indian Navy has deployed four giant warships including an anti submarine warfare (ASW) corvette alongwith others and four aircrafts, being large multi-utility helicopters, under it's Eastern Naval Command (ENC) to swing into rescue and relief operations as the Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm, FANI, which is at distance of 170 km from Visakhapatnam in the South East direction 430 km as on 2.30 pm on Thursday, is expected to hit Odisha and then West Bengal over Bay of Bengal on Friday. Four Eastern Fleet ships are at sea following the VSCS so as to be the first responders of Humanitarian Aid Distress Relief (HADR) operations post landfall, the Navy stated. The deployment includes INS Ranvir, a destroyer, INS Sahyadri, a multi-role frigate, INS Kadmatt, an ASW corvette, and a Landing Ship Tank (Large), an amphibious warship capable of carrying full batallion of army troops and vehicles. INS Ranvir was the latest to sail out from Vizag. Other ships are loaded with HADR pellets and ready to sail at short notice. On the aviation front, two Sea King (C) and two UH3H helicopters are kept ready at Vizag, the ENC headquarters, to ferry diving teams to Odisha and West Bengal. Sources indicated that the Navy has mobilised more than 3000 personnel for the entire arrangement. The Navy said, "The ENC and Maritime Operations Centre in Kolkata are closely monitoring the movement of the Cyclonic Storm. The Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm has recurved as expected in North-North-East direction and is likely to make a landfall north of Chilka lake, somewhere near Puri in the afternoon tomorrow, 03 May, between 1430 - 1730 hrs as per present speed and direction. At the time of landfall the system is likely to pack a wind speed of 170 - 180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph. Ships at Visakhapatnam are standing by with relief material for immediate deployment to the most affected areas to undertake HADR operation." It elaborated, "Diving and medical teams are also kept ready at short notice augmenting rescue and relief efforts in Odissa and West Bengal. Naval aircraft are kept ready at Naval Air Stations, INS Dega (Vizag) and INS Rajali (Chennai) to undertake aerial survey of the most affected areas, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material as required by the state Administration." Meanwhile the Kolkata Port Trust informed that it also has been closely monitoring the development of the storm. "Apart from issuing general alert all ships in the docks both at Kolkata Dock System and Haldia Dock Complex has been specifically advised to take precautionary measures. 5 Coast Guard vessels and all operational crafts of the Port are being provided safe berthing inside docks. Ships from riverine jetties at Haldia and Bajbaj and also from Sagar and DH anchorages have either been put out to sea or shifted to docks. Two control stations have been opened with required facilities, one at Kolkata and other at Haldia which will be maintained around the clock. Liason with DG shipping, Coast Guard and State disaster centre established. Shipping to this port will remain suspended from tonight till the storm is clear. IWAI has been advised to secure Bangladeshi vessels in safe area," KoPT spokesperson Sanjoy Kumar Mukherjee said. The Chief Minister said he would personally visit the cyclone-affected areas, if required, to monitor relief operations. (Photo: ANI) Amaravati: As cyclone Fani is expected to hit Puri in Odisha, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Thursday reviewed the preparedness of the official machinery in northern coastal areas of his state and assured all necessary help to the neighbour. A red alert has been issued for Srikakulam, bordering Odisha, and Vizianagarm districts in Andhra Pradesh as the extremely severe cyclonic storm moved closer to the eastern coast and is expected to cross the coast off Puri Friday. It lay centred over West Central Bay of Bengal about 430 km south-southwest of Puri and 190 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu visited the state Secretariat and reviewed the situation with officials. He directed them to be alert for any rescue operations, an official release said. He spoke to his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik over phone and said his government was ready to extend all necessary help to the neighbouring state in this hour of crisis, it said. I will be in constant touch with the Odisha CM. If required, we should shift cyclone-affected people from that state to our state. The government machinery should be ready for this, Naidu was quoted as saying in the release. The Chief Minister said he would personally visit the cyclone-affected areas, if required, to monitor relief operations. I have written to the Election Commission seeking relaxation of the model code but they have not yet responded. They should respond at least in the time of crisis. I am staying calm to avoid friction between institutions, the Chief Minister said. He accused the EC of "unduly interfering" in all affairs. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam reviewed the cyclone situation with the AP Real-Time Governance Centre chief executive officer Babu Ahamed and officials of various departments. The red alert sounded in Srikakulam district will continue till Friday as gales with a velocity of 140 kmph are expected. The adjoining Vizianagaram district is expected to witness gales with a speed of 90-100 kmph, the release said. The very heavy to heavy rainfall warning in these two districts also remained, according to the RTGC that is closely tracking Fanis movement. On the instructions of the Central government, the Andhra Pradesh government was dispatching water satchets and chorline tablets in large quantities to Odisha to meet emergency requirements, it said. The railways deputed officers at major railway stations in Vijayawada division to help the stranded passengers in view of the disruption in train movement. South Central Railway Vijayawada Division manager P Srinivas said in a release that helplines have been opened at all major railway stations to assist the passengers. There are more than 20 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination. One way to get an edge: Secure the endorsement of one, or both, of the teachers unions, National Education Association and the American Federation for Teachers. The NEA though, isnt in any rush to pick a horse, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the president of the National Education Association, a 3 million-member union in a call with reporters. We have 22 candidates to consider, some of them with a very strong background in fighting for public education, fighting against privatization of our public schools, and respecting the voice of teachers. So its a different race, its a different dynamic. Every race is every different. This one is like, out of the ballpark different, she said. We know that one of the best things you can do as an educator is to make sure people have all the information they need. ... There is a big decision for them to make on who we will decide to eventually support over others, over other friends. The NEA has had a bumpy road on endorsements in recent presidential cycles. In 2008, the union didnt make a pick during the primaryonly to see President Barack Obama, who officials endorsed in the general electionspend most of his two terms championing policies they didnt agree with, like teacher evaluation through test scores. And in 2016, the union came out strong and early for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, only to have rank-and-file members furious that the leadership didnt give enough consideration to her main opponent in the primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont . (Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, is back in the contest this time around.) This time around, the NEA has created a website, Strong Public Schools 2020 , where teachersand the general publiccan compare and contrast different candidates, as well as submit questions for the union to pass along to the contenders on social media, during town halls, and in person. Candidates who want the NEAs seal of approval will have to submit to a video interview and fill out a detailed questionnaire on their views. Eskelsen Garcia said teachers are having a bigger impact on public policy than they have in years, thanks to the #RedforEd movement. Strikes in red stateslike Arizona, Oklahoma, and West Virginiaand in deep blue cities like Denver and Los Angeles have led to more money for salaries and classrooms, and some policy changes. They now know their power, she said. Its up to us to harness and focus that power, and were going to be doing that earlier than weve ever done in this campaign. Already, presidential candidates seem to be courting teachersif not their unions, specifically. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., made a plan to raise teacher pay by an average of more than $10,000 a year her first policy proposal out of the gate. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., floated a plan to improve infrastructure, including in crumbling schools. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pitched a new universal child-care initiative. For a look at the AFTs endorsement process, check out this story . National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos: The bottom line is there is no reason to trust this woman. --J. David Ake/AP-File Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Instead of having to travel to a corporate-owned casino, machine gaming has allowed my Beach Park neighbors to enjoy both gaming and a delicious meal at Jen G's Pizza & Pub. At the same time, they are also supporting growth in our community and our local economy. Yet, lawmakers in Springfield are considering a misguided proposal to increase taxes only on the Main Street businesses that host video gaming. This is the second charge sheet in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case, but the first against Naik underlining his role in the matter. (Photo: Facebook) New Delhi: The ED Thursday filed its first direct charge sheet against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik on charges of money laundering, officials said. The agency filed the prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special court in Mumbai and said it has identified proceeds of crime worth Rs 193.06 crore. This is the second charge sheet in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case, but the first against Naik underlining his role in the matter. Naik was booked by the ED in 2016 based on a National Investigation Agency (NIA) FIR. 'There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. The Congress wants to benefit the BJP,' he said. (Photo: File) Lucknow: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadras claim to have fielded weak candidates to eat into BJPs vote share in the Lok Sabha poll in the state has not cut any ice with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who sees her statement as an excuse since the people are not with them. I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses, Yadav told ANI in an exclusive interview. Priyanka on Wednesday had said in Raebareli that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into BJPs vote share. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJPs vote share, she told media persons. When asked about political analysts claim that the coalition is the Team B of the Congress, Yadav, also former UP chief minister, claimed that there was no difference between the BJP and the grand old party. There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. The Congress wants to benefit the BJP, he said. Who taught the central agencies to intimidate Opposition leaders? The BJP has learnt to misuse the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress, he said. The person who filed PILs against Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and me was present at the nomination of Lucknow Congress candidate, he said. He also debunked Congress president Rahul Gandhis claim that BJP controls the SP and the BSP. No one controls us. We are political parties. It is the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in UP that is poised to give a setback to the ruling party, Yadav said. He termed SP-BSP-RLD alliance as the glue that is connected to the people on the ground. Our alliance will stop the bad policies of the BJP. Exuding confidence that the alliance would bag the maximum number of seats in the state where 80 seats are at stake, Yadav said: It is one of the reasons that the BJP leaders do not talk about development in their rallies and seek to divert the peoples attention. The alliances in several states have choices but the BJP does not have any other leader. Our alliance wants to give India a new Prime Minister. My party will decide about the PM when the final seat tally is out, he said, when asked who will be the prime minister if the BJP does not come to power. Asked if his father and former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav will be a prime ministerial candidate, Yadav said: It will be good if Netaji gets the honour (to be the PM) but I feel he is probably not in the prime ministerial race. When asked about his national ambition, the 45-year-old leader said that he only wants his party to contribute in the new government at the Centre and made it clear that he is focusing at the Assembly elections, which are due in 2022.I want to appeal to the people of UP to give us one more chance to further our programmes which has been stalled, he said. However, I want to increase the number of SPs MPs in the Lok Sabha. I want to be among those who want to make a new Prime Minister. I want UP to contribute in the next government formation. When asked whether he would want her wife Dimple Yadav to be a part of a non-BJP government at the Centre, Yadav said: I want her to win with a good margin of votes first because Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the DGP of the state want to ensure that she loses. When asked why he is vehemently critical to Prime Minister Modi while his father is comfortable with him, Yadav said: Netaji is from a generation when leaders used to respect other leaders irrespective of their party lines. But the behaviour of the BJP leaders towards others is not good. It is worth mentioning that Mulayam Singh had left all surprised after he sought another term for Prime Minister Modi in February this year. I wish that PM Modi, you should become the prime minister again, he had said in his intervention in the last sitting of the Lok Sabha. Talking about the way the nomination of Raj Bahadur Yadavs nomination was rejected in Varanasi, he criticised Returning Officer (RO) Surendra Singh for not giving adequate time to his party candidate and former BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav to submit a document. If the DM had any objections, he should have raised when he filed his nomination papers the first time. Had he point out the issue then, he would have produced the document timely. I believe the Supreme Court will deliver him justice, he said. Talking about controversial remarks made by his senior party leader Azam Khan about Jaya Prada, Yadav defended him saying that sometimes even his legitimate remarks are taken wrongly and maintained that he shares good relation with Azam Khan like his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. Yadav said: He speaks directly. Sometimes even his legitimate remarks are seen in a bad light. He is as close to me as he is to Neta ji. The former Chief Minister, however, declined to comment on the family feud which led to his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav floating a new party. It is difficult to say whether or not we will unite in the future but at least the people want to know who was at fault, he said. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Ahmedabad: A special CBI court here Thursday discharged former police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. Vanzara and Amin had filed discharge applications in the court after the Gujarat government refused to grant sanctions to the CBI to prosecute the two former police officers. Special CBI court judge J K Pandya said that since the government has not sanctioned their prosecution, their discharge pleas are allowed and proceedings against them will be dropped in the case. Under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the government's sanction is necessary for the prosecution of a public servant for an act done as part of the official duty. Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The police had claimed they were terrorists and come to Gujarat to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi. 'There were some differences between the two parties. 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. (Photo: Facebook) Bengaluru: Karnataka minister GT 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 JD(S) 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. 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 party. BJP MLA and former deputy chief minister R Ashok said, "GT 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 CH 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 orders of their high command. In Mandya where Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's son and former prime minister HD 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. HD Deve Gowda's another grandson Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD minister HD 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 GT Deve Gowda that they would vote for the BJP rather than Vijay Shankar. Meanwhile, BJP leader SM 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. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. The Senas proposal, however, was rejected by an NDA ally, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India. (Photo: AP) Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Muslim Education Society (MES) has issued circular banning girl students from covering their faces with burqas in its colleges. This comes a day after Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna' on demanded the imposition of a ban in burqa in India in the interest of national security, citing a similar measure taken in Sri Lanka after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks last month. The editorial states, "It has happened in Ravan's Lanka. When will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya? We ask this question to the Prime Minister as he is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday." The Senas proposal, however, was rejected by an 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 Sri Lankan government on April 28 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 the occasion of Easter Sunday on April 21, claiming the 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 national 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 grave violation of the Model Code of Conduct," Owaisi told media persons in Hyderabad. On May 1, a decade-long battle culminated with the branding of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations, amid the hotly contested general elections in India. (Photo: File) Mumbai: On May 1, a decade-long battle culminated with the branding of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations, amid the hotly contested general elections in India. Right after the announcement, India celebrated this huge diplomatic win. Azhar's designation as a global terrorist is viewed as another successful move by India to expose the terror-heaven facet of Pakistan in front of the world. It is being foreseen that Azhars listing will force Pakistan to act against him and the JeM. This eventually means complete immobilisation of Azhar and closure of his terror company. The recent official confirmation of Azhars presence in Pakistan solidifies Indias favour. In a recent interview to international television, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi confirmed that the mastermind behind a series of terror attack in India is in Pakistan. "He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is very unwell. He is unwell to the extent that he cannot leave his house because he is really unwell. That's the information I have," Qureshi said. What does being designated a "global terrorist" mean? The listing allows a series of bans that can be imposed on the designated terrorist under the United Nations. These are as follows: Freeze Assets: With immediate effect, all member states of the UN are required to freeze funds, financial assets and other economic resources of the designated individuals or entities. Travel Ban: The member states need to restrain the entry into or transit through their territories by the terrorist. Arms Embargo: States will refrain from any direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of arms and related material. The states members need to ensure that their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or their flag vessels or aircraft, are not being used for the purpose. This also includes blocking any military or arms-related technical advice, assistance, or training to the designated individual. Chronology of major events leading to Azhars branding as global terrorist: 2009: India pushes the proposal to designate JeM chief as a global terrorist. China blocks the bid. 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 Masood 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 a technical 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 JeM chief as a "global terrorist", saying Washington's move was 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". Does it mean we are a step closer in crippling a major terror figure? The past, however, has a different narrative. On December 10, 2008, Hafiz Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) was banned by the United Nations Security Council following the ghastly 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed including international citizens. Despite the listing, Saeed still moves around freely in Pakistan. Arrangements have been made to start free kitchens to provide cooked food to the evacuees, the SRC said. (Photo: PTI) Bhubaneswar: A massive operation was launched in Odisha Thursday to evacuate over eight lakh people from low-lying coastal areas as the extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' moved closer to the eastern coast, officials said. As per the latest bulletin of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Fani lay centred over West Central Bay of Bengal about 430 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha, 225 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal. It is likely to move north-northeastwards and cross the Odisha coast near Puri on May 3 evening with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph and gusting up to 200 kmph, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said. The cyclone is being tracked by Doppler Weather Radars at Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Machilipatnam, the SRC said. People from low-lying and vulnerable areas of coastal districts are being shifted to safe places such as 880 cyclone centres, school and college buildings and other structures, he said. According to the SRC, the evacuation of eight lakh people is the largest-ever evacuation operation in the country. At least 14 Odisha districts - Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Balasore, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Khurda, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Gajapati, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar - are likely to bear the brunt of the cyclone, which is also likely to impact Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Emphasising that every life is precious, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the preparedness on Wednesday evening, said there was a need to give special attention to pregnant women, children, elderly people and differently-abled persons. Arrangements have been made to start free kitchens to provide cooked food to the evacuees, the SRC said. Over one lakh dry food packets have been kept ready for air dropping in the areas to be affected by Fani, the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and devastated large parts of the state. Navy, Air Force, Army and Coast Guard have been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service have been sent to vulnerable areas to assist the administration, an official said. The evacuation exercise from low lying areas will be completed by Thursday evening keeping in mind the forecast of massive tides that could surge up to 1.5 metres during the landfall, the SRC said. The 880 cyclone shelters in coastal and southern districts have been kept ready to accommodate evacuees, he said. In Gajapati and Rayagada districts, where such facilities do not exist, the evacuated people will be housed in schools and anganwadi centres. The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has cancelled over 103 trains for the safety and security of passengers in view of the cyclone, an ECoR official said. Three special trains will run from Puri to Howrah and Shalimar in West Bengal on Thursday for the evacuation of tourists and passengers, he said, adding train services between Bhadrak and Vizianagaram are cancelled for at least two days from Thursday evening. The IMD has forecast rainfall at most places, heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rain at isolated places in coastal Odisha and the interior districts of the state on May 3. Several areas are likely to receive rainfall up to 20 cm under the impact of the cyclone, Director of the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar, H R Biswas said. As sea condition will be rough and phenomenal over Northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha and West Bengal till May 4, fishermen have been advised not to venture into sea in this period. 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. All operations were stopped at Paradip Port and Cautionary Distant Warning Signal Number Three was hoisted in all ports in Odisha. The Third Stage warning is issued at least 24 hours in advance of adverse weather over coastal areas. He also alleged that the ECs system of counting Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is not 'transparent'. (Photo: File) Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the leaders of the opposition parties will meet after the elections to decide on the prime ministerial candidate. Opposition parties will sit together after the election and discuss who will be the Prime Minister. I'm not an aspirant. Polling is to be held in 3 more phases, after that we will discuss, he said while addressing media persons here on Wednesday. He also took a swipe at the Election Commission saying that the poll body favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said: "The Election Commission says they are following the instructions of PM Modi but PM himself is violating the code of conduct. Time and again he spoke on Armed forces and held cabinet meetings." His comments came two days after the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission after hearing the petition of Congress MP Sushmita Dev against PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for allegedly violating MCC on various occasions. He also alleged that the ECs system of counting Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is not transparent. We have demanded counting of 50 per cent of votes through VVPATs. It will give more credibility to EC and would elevate trust amongst voters, he added. The Chief Minister also pointed that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) reportedly malfunctioned in West Bengal, MP, Odisha and other non-BJP ruled state, while advocating for ballot system. It is the best method. Most of the major countries are following the same system, he said. Sharpening his attack on PM Modi, Naidu accused him of damaging the constitutional institutions in the country. Modi thinks the PM post is a game. In my 40 years long career, I am seeing this kind of elections for the first time. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the PM, Additional Principal Secretary to the PM, the Home Secretary and other senior officials from IMD, NDRF, NDMA and PMO etc. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a meeting to review preparedness for Cyclone Fani which is expected to hit Odisha on Friday. The Prime Minister was briefed on the likely path of the cyclone, and the ongoing precautionary and preparatory measures being undertaken, official sources said. These include provision of adequate resources; deployment of teams from NDRF and the armed forces; arrangements to provide drinking water; and standby systems to restore power and telecom services. After reviewing the emerging situation, PM Modi instructed senior officers of the Union Government to maintain close coordination with officers of the affected states, to ensure preventive measures, and also to take effective steps for relief and rescue operations, as required. Read: PM Modi warns officials as cyclone Fani likely to intensify into cyclonic storm Paramesh, Inspector General Coast Guard East said, Coast guard has tied up with NDRF and state administration to provide immediate relief in aftermath of cyclone Fani. From April 25 our ships and aircraft are continuously patrolling the areas and we have been sending out weather warnings to the fishermen. Also Read: Eastern Naval Command all geared up for cyclone 'Fani' We have positioned 8 rescue teams, 4 each at Visakhapatnam and Chennai. We have also kept 2 ships each at Visakhapatnam and Chennai for immediate mobilisation post-cyclone. One Chetak helicopter, each at Chennai and Visakhapatnam is kept ready to provide relief, IG Coast Guard East added. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the PM, Additional Principal Secretary to the PM, the Home Secretary and other senior officials from IMD, NDRF, NDMA and PMO etc. Read: Massive evacuation ops underway in Odisha ahead of Cyclone Fani Nearly eight lakh people are being evacuated from low-lying areas of the state as a precautionary measure. 'The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism,' Ministry of External Affairs spokesperon Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. (Photo: File) New Delhi:The Pulwama terror attack played a role in designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the UN, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday, asserting that Pakistan was making claims over the listing to divert attention from the "huge diplomatic" setback it has suffered. The assertion came after Pakistan claimed that it agreed to Azhar's listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack, were removed from the proposal to designate him a global terrorist. "The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperon Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. He said the notification broadly covers all terrorist acts. "Elements are being introduced by Pakistan to divert attention from this huge diplomatic setback," Kumar said. Asked whether India offered something to China for Azhar's listing, he asserted that India doesn't negotiate on matters related to national security. "Our objective was to ensure designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist," he said. The Pulwama terror attack played a role in Azhar's designation, the spokesperson said, adding that China's support to Azhar's listing will contribute to better Sino-India ties. Read: Masood Azhar is global terrorist, what does it mean? 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 February 14 Pulwama terror attack 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 a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist.India had termed the Chinese move as "disappointing". On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal. A UN Security Council (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. In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist. 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 Pathankot airbase 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 UNSC, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. Sri Lankan Muslim woman looks on at a checkpoint in Colombo on April 30, 2019. Religious tensions and a government ban on covering the face since the Easter Sunday suicide attacks have forced conservative Muslim women in Sri Lanka to shun veils, head scarves and long robes in public. AFP Colombo: Religious tensions and a government ban on covering the face since the Easter Sunday suicide attacks have forced conservative Muslim women in Sri Lanka to shun veils, head scarves and long robes in public. Muslims in Sri Lanka have felt they are a target ever since jihadist suicide bombers killed more than 250 people with their coordinated strikes on six churches and hotels. Many women said they stopped wearing niqab face veils, hijab scarves and abaya robes straight after the attacks, which have been claimed by the Islamic State group. On Monday the Sri Lanka government banned women from covering their face in public, bringing it into line with a number of European countries, including France, Denmark and Belgium. Sri Lanka's population of 21 million is a patchwork of ethnicities and religions, dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist majority. Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the population while Christians are the third largest religious group. "I have stopped wearing the abaya and hijab in the last few days because of the comments and looks I was getting," said one Muslim widow, asking not to be named. "I will start wearing them when the situation is calmer and people are less paranoid," she said. "The hijab has not been banned, but people look suspiciously when they see me in it." Mareena Thaha Reffai, a Muslim preacher and head of a women's organisation, said it was better to comply with the ban than to trigger a religious dispute. "This is not the time to argue about rights. Two hundred and fifty people have died, 500 wounded," Reffai said. "Let emotions go down. Let us talk about this (ban) leisurely." Reffai did not believe there was any rationale for the ban when none of the suicide bombers concealed their identity as they blew up Christian worshippers at three Easter services and foreign tourists as they queued for breakfast at three Colombo hotels. The country's Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, would not weigh in on the ban though he said that some of the Islamic community had called for it. "We can't take a position," the cardinal said. "We don't know what is at the base and behind this strategy... But the Muslim clerics themselves wanted it."Top Buddhist monk Omalpe Sobitha welcomed the niqab ban. "When people cover their faces, we don't know who is behind that veil," he said. "Even criminals could use these clothing to conceal their identity, so it is a good move to ban this." He highlighted how European nations had also banned face covering for security reasons. Most Sri Lankan Muslim women practice a liberal form of Islam and do not cover their faces in public. One Muslim housewife in her 70s said she never covered her face and had no issue with the ban. "As Sri Lankan Muslims became more educated they shed the purdah," she said. Sri Lanka's council of Islamic clerics had appealed to Muslim women days before the government ban not to cover their faces. "We strongly appeal to our sisters to be mindful of the critical emergency situation now prevalent in our country," the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama said in a statement. "We advise that in the prevailing situation our sisters should not hinder the security forces in their efforts to maintain national security by wearing the face cover." Tight security has been imposed with thousands of troops deployed. Cordon-and-search operations staged since the April 21 attacks are a throwback to the country's war-era. Restrictions had eased after government forces defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. Roadblocks and checkpoints were dismantled allowing free movement. After the Easter attacks, the war-time constraints returned. Several Muslims felt the dress code distracted from the bigger problem: the intelligence failure that led to the devastating attacks. The government has admitted that it had prior warnings about the suicide bombers, but no top minister was told and no one took it seriously enough to avert the disaster. Hyderabad: In a shocking incident, a constable with the Andhra Pradesh Intelligence Security Wing pulled out his 9 mm pistol and fired a bullet in an TSRTC bus that had 70 passengers after getting into a quarrel with some passengers. The terrifying incident occurred at Nagarjuna Circle on Thursday, when V. Srinivasulu, who is posted at NTR Bhavan as a member of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidus team, had a skirmish with two passengers and fired a bullet. No one was injured. Mr Srinivasulu, the alleged accused, in his safari-uniform boarded an overcrowded bus on the Secunderabad-Filmnagar route at Panjagutta to travel to NTR Bhavan. The constable was reportedly foot-boarding at the rear of the bus without a ticket up to the bus stop at TV9 office, Banjara Hills, Road no. 3. The fight broke out when two television journalists asked him to make way for them to board and he refused. The two however squeezed into the bus but commented on his behaviour. Dont you have common sense, was their remark which caused the constable to pull the trigger. An eyewitness told this newspaper: The cop got angry. Do you know who I am, he asked the passenger. The argument led to him opening fire; thankfully he shot vertically upwards and the bullet pierced the aluminium roof of the bus. Cop in custody after chase The sound echoed and passengers were frightened, thinking there was an attack on the bus. Over half a dozen tried to pull the weapon from his hand but he refused to give it. The bus driver jammed the brakes and stopped the bus. According to sources, if the gun had been pointed at the passengers, it would have claimed two lives. The constable ran off and the passengers informed the Panjagutta police, while the bus driver continued on his journey and informed the authorities after reaching the bus depot. Based on the complaint from M. Bhupathi, the bus conductor, the Panjagutta police registered a case under section 307 of the IPC, 27 of the Arms Act, section 3 of the PDPP Act (attempt to murder, destruction of public property and Arms Act). Srinivasulu was reportedly taken into custody after hours of chasing him at Kukatpally. Meanwhile, AP DGP R.P. Thakur said, Firing in crowded places is a crime. There is no work pressure in the police department. Fishermen pull boats out of the sea after the repeated alerts about Fani cyclone at Jalaripeta near Pedda Waltair in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. (Photo: DC) Vijayawada: Unmindful of the election code in place, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday reviewed the situation in the state in the wake of Super Cyclone Fani progressing towards the coast. He also dialled Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and offered help from Andhra Pradesh if there is any need. Fani is likely to landfall along Odisha coast and spell destruction in the neighbouring state. Mr Naidu asked the officials to take utmost care of the cyclone affected region the north Andhra region especially Srikakulam. He lambasted Election Commission for not exempting four coastal districts from the election code for which he wrote a letter on Wednesday. Addressing officials, the Chief Minister asked them to take all precautionary steps to prevent both human and property loss during the period of cyclone landfall. He said as elections concluded there was no meaning in keeping silent during the hour crisis in the name of election code of conduct. He said if necessary he would visit the cyclone affected regions in the state. He said he wrote a letter to Election commission seeking exemption from election code to monitor the situation during cyclones. He said there should be no gap between the election commission and the state governments. The CM directed the officials to make available milk packets in cyclone prone areas. He said officials should be alert and ready with necessary equipment to restore normalcy in cyclone affected regions. He said there is no need to issue fresh GOs to take up relief measures during the cyclone. The GOs issued during Titli cyclone are enough to carry out relief operations. He said people should not be inconvenienced at any cost. He advised the officials to arrange meals in schools in cyclone prone areas. The Chief Minister said that the state government acted effectively during Titli cyclone using satellite services. Power supply was restored in a record time by erecting nearly 40,000 electric poles. He advised the officials to procure saw machines to clear the roads in case of falling of trees. The CM said officials should gear up to meet the challenge and restore normalcy. The main Opposition party also sought to know why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not have anything to say on the incident except for a solitary tweet. New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday came down heavily against the NDA governments alleged failure to prevent the Naxal attack on the convoy of elite C-60 commandos in Mahara-shtras Gadhchiroli district, in which 15 personnel were killed on May 1, and termed it as a major intelligence failure. The party said that though its a welcome step that Masood Azhar was declared as a global terrorist by the international community, it is extremely sad that the Gadchiroli Naxal attack did not get the requisite attention, that it deserved in the national discourse. The main Opposition party also sought to know why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not have anything to say on the incident except for a solitary tweet. Chennai: The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Egmore, directed the jail Superintendent of the Parpana Agrahara prison to produce jailed V.K Sasikala, in a disproportionate asset case, on May 13 in connection with Fera case registered against her more than two decades ago. The case pertains to the alleged payments made by Sasikala and co-accused and her relative TTV Bhaskaran for the purchase of transponder facility and uplinking charges for the now-defunct JJ TV channel and the purchase of a tea estate in Kodanad by violating the RBI rules. According to prosecution, five cases were registered against Sasikala and another accused Bhaskaran, brother of Amma Makkal Munetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran, and J J Tv (predecessor of Jaya TV) by ED on charges of violating the Fera. They made payments in US and Singapore dollars to foreign firms for hiring transponders, equipment and up link facilities for J J TV during 1995 and 1996. The payments were illegally routed to US-based Rimsat through firms having network in the Philippines and Singapore. Violating the RBI norms they paid US $ 10 lakh and US $ 3.6 lakh, to these companies. The court took up the matter after Madras High court set aside the trial court order discharging them from the case. As arguments by ED were completed, judge S. Malarmathi directed superintendent of the Parpana Agrahara prison to produce Sasikala before the court on May 13. Nine teams of National Disaster Response Force, 10 of the State Disaster Response Force along with 44 fire department squads and three police teams were deployed across the district. More than 100 medical and 825 para-medical teams were kept ready. Srikakulam: Officials are apprehensive of the damage that Supercyclone Fani will wreak in Andhra Pradesh till sunrise on Friday as it heads towards the Odisha coast. Officials feared they may not be able to rush to the affected parts quickly in the dark. Though rescue teams are meeting villagers and briefing them, there is a small fear about the difficulties they will face at night time. Imagine undertaking a rescue operation at night without power supply and with heavy rain. It is not that easy. There will be a lot of difference and needs heavy efforts to do rescue operations during night times when compared to day times, said an official. There are many difficulties in doing a rescue at nights. Flash floods are a big worry. We are prepared and we hope everything goes well, said additional director (fire services) P.V. Ramana. There was, however, a bright spot. One advantage during the night is that there will be no traffic over the roads in the villages and there might be no human loss due to tree fallings and others, Mr Ramana said. Nine teams of National Disaster Response Force, 10 of the State Disaster Response Force along with 44 fire department squads and three police teams were deployed across the district. More than 100 medical and 825 para-medical teams were kept ready. The fire department has deployed 422 personnel along with six rescue boats. Apart from this, a rescue boat has been kept in Srikakulam as a standby and three more in Vizianagaram district. Four road clearance teams were stationed alongside the highway at Kota Bommali, Tekkali, Palasa and Sompeta in Srikakulam district. According to Chief Secretary L.V. Subra-manyam, the AP government is taking inputs and information from the IMD and the states RTGS centre to take precautionary measures. The Indian Coast Guard has positioned 12 well-equipped teams at Kolkata, Frazerganj and Haldia in West Bengal for relief operations. Four teams each at Par-adip and Gopalpur are also ready to offer immediate assistance. In addition, eight teams have embarked onboard two of the frontline ships at Vizag and Chennai to render assistance at short notice. Two aircraft have also been kept ready for mobilisation of life-saving equipment. Two Muslim students had approached the HC saying that a Christian management school was not allowing their dress code. Kozhikode: A circular of Muslim Educational Society (MES) against female students of its institutions covering their faces has sparked controversy. Samastha Kerala Jami-yyathul Ulama (SKJU) criticised its president, Dr P.A. Fazal Ghafoor, saying he need not interfere in religious matters. The circular Dr Ghafoor signed says that the ban on face-covering dresses from the next academic year is in the wake of the December 4 Kerala High Court order. Two Muslim students had approached the HC saying that a Christian management school was not allowing their dress code. The court rejected their plea saying the management also has their dress code, and if they cannot comply with it they can go and study elsewhere. Dress code which is not acceptable to the public should not be accepted even in the name of religious custom or modernity, the MES circular says. The Burqa or Niqab covering faces is a new trend. Around 99 per cent of women are not covering their face. So, MES does not need the consultation of religious bodies to ban Burqa in its colleges, Dr Gafoor clarified. SKJU president Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukoya Thangal retorted saying that Niqab was prevalent among Muslims even before Salafism originated. Niqab has been in practice since the period of the Prophet. If other men see the face of a woman, she must wear it, he said. Anyone can implement things they want in their institutions. We cannot prevent that. But Muslim girls will abide by our decision. We have talked to them. SKSSF (its students wing) state secretary Sathar Panthalloor said if any women want to study in MES colleges wearing a Burqa, they will. Dr Gafoor wants to create an ultra-secular image to appease somebody. But Burqa ban is not going to be implemented, he warned. At the same time, the SKSSF leader said that he was not underestimating the contributions of MES in the educational field. New Delhi: A day after China agreed to the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Moham-med chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council sanctions committee, the Indian government on Thursday made it clear that it had not entered into any kind of deal or offer with any country on the Masood Azhar issue. The external affairs ministry said, India does not negotiate with any country on the issue of terrorism and matters relating to the security of the country. On criticism from certain quarters on why mention of the Pulwama terror attack was not included in the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee resolution naming Azhar a global terrorist, the ministry said the designation is not based on a specific incident but on the basis of the evidence shared with the members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Masood Azhar to terrorism, and that it broadly covers all terror activities he has been involved in, including the Pulwama attack. India also said Pakistan had suffered a huge diplomatic setback with the listing of Azhar. They (Pakistan) cant welcome or criticise the decision. They are trying to pick holes (in the case) that dont exist, the MEA spokesperson said. The MEA noted that the notification is not supposed to be a biodata of the terrorist, and include all acts of terrorism perpetrated by him. Bhopal: BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday said that no earlier governments dared to arrest Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader Yasin Mallik. It is the Narendra Modi government at the Centre which arrested J&K separatist leader Yasin Mallik and put him behind bars, Mr Shah said while addressing an election rally in Manas under Madhya Pradeshs Neemuch district. No earlier governments had dared to arrest him, he said and added that the Congress hardly took any action against separatist leaders in the Valley when it was in power at the Centre. He said the declaration by the Congress to repeal sedition law would give boost to terrorists and anti-India elements in the country. While the Congress vows to scrape sedition law, the BJP promises to do away with Article 370, he said. Accusing the Congress of being soft towards Pakistan, he said the Modi government at the Centre never compromised on the issue of security of the country and chose to give a befitting reply to Pakistan. Exuding confidence that the 2019 general elections would return Mr Modi to power, he said he had toured 282 Lok Sabha constituencies since January 2016 and could see a pro-Modi wave across these constituencies. Taking a swipe at Congress Nyay scheme, which aims to provide Rs 72,000 per annum to each of the poor families in the country, he questioned why the Congress, which was in power at the Centre for 55 years, could not eradicate poverty. New Delhi: A day after China agreed to the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Moham-med chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council sanctions committee, the Indian government on Thursday made it clear that it had not entered into any kind of deal or offer with any country on the Masood Azhar issue. The MEA said the UN notification very clearly states that Masood Azhar was listed for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating and perpetrating terrorist activities associated with JeM. It may be recalled that the UN Security Council (including China) passed a resolution in February this year acknowledging the JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. On Thursday, the MEA termed the latest position taken by China as a very welcome step, and also mentioned the Wuhan spirit between the two countries. The MEA spokesperson said: Please understand that our objective all along has been the designation of Masood Azhar as a terrorist. This process started in 2009 when the Pulwama terror attack had not taken place. The designation is not based on a specific incident but on the basis of the evidence shared with members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Masood Azhar to terrorism. In the UN notification, it very clearly states that Masood Azhar was listed for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating and perpetrating terrorist activities associated with JeM. This broadly covers all terror activities he has been involved in. The notification is not supposed to be a bio-data of the terrorist and include all acts of terrorism perpetrated by him. On the steps expected to be taken by Pakistan, the MEA said: This information is in the public domain. According to the Sanctions Committee, Pakistan and all other states are required to freeze the funds and other financial assets of Masood Azhar. There will be a travel ban on the individual. There will also be an arms embargo to prevent direct or indirect supply of arms to the individuals. Pakistan is responsible to the international community to take such actions as demanded by the UN Sanctions Committee. On the impact of the designation of Masood Azhar on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey listing of Pakistan, a government source said: The last FATF plenary in February 2019 decided to continue to keep Pakistan in the Grey List for ICRG (International Cooperation Review Group) Monitoring. If you go through the press statement by FATF, one of the action plan specifically mentions that Pakistan has to demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions (supported by a comprehensive legal obligation) against all 1267 and 1373 designated terrorists and those acting for or on their behalf, including preventing the raising and moving of funds, identifying and freezing assets (movable and immovable), and prohibiting access to funds and financial services. At the next FATF plenary in June, Pakistan will be obligated to take action as per FATF procedures. FATF is a global inter-governmental body to combat terror financing. New Delhi: The Supreme Court has been moved for a direction to the Election Commission to debar the Congress President Rahul Gandhi from contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi and Wayanad constituencies till his citizenship issue is decided. A bench headed by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told counsel for the two petitioners that the writ petition would be listed for hearing next week. The petitioners, Jai Bhagwan Goyal and Chander Prakash Tyagi challenged the Indian citizenship of Rahul Gandhi. The 'activists' allege that Rahul Gandhi has acquired British citizenship which, according to them, is evident from documents filed by Backops Ltd before the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. It was pointed out that Rahul Gandhi's name is allegedly shown as one of the promoters of the Company. They submitted that the Representation of the People Act provides for disqualification for registration of a person in an electoral roll who is not a citizen of India. Since it is apparent from the documents of the Registrar of Companies of England and Wales, he cannot be a voter in the electoral rolls. Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: Lakhs of tense people hunkered down in safe places and waited anxiously for supercyclone Fani, packing 205-kmph winds and carrying copious amounts of rain, to hit the Odisha coast on Friday morning. Pregnant women, especially, have been out of harms way, with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik calling for a zero toll operation. Weather scientists said that it was rare for a superstorm of this intensity to hit the coast at this time of the year. The impact of the supsercyclone will last nearly 12 hours after landfall, as it moves along the north coastal districts to West Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting in New Delhi to oversee preparation to minimise damage from the storm, and the relief effort afterwards. Mr Patnaik in Bhubaneswar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who ignored Election Commission orders, held meetings to monitor the on-ground situation. The storm will have 250 km per hour winds when it hits the coast, Bhuban-eswar, Berhampur and Cuttack could get winds measuring up to 115 kmph till noon. Before landfall, as it moves along the districts of AP and Odisha, districts adjacent to its path could experience up to 150 kmph winds. According to the INCOIS forecast system, the sea along Odisha coast from Gopalpur to Chandbali will remain very rough as high tidal waves ranging from 16 to 34 feet are forecast till the midnight of Friday. High level of sea water ingress into human habitations is feared along the coast of Gopalpur to Chandbali as tidal storm surge is predicted at 1.5 metre over the astronomical tide, which means the storm surge prior, during and after the land fall along the Odisha coast will be around 6.5 feet. The Odisha government had set a target of evacuate over 11 lakh people from the coastal districts. Till Thursday evening, nearly 4.5 lakh have been evacuated, informed SRC officials. However, as of now, maximum population evacuated is from Gajapati. The brunt of Supercyclone Fani will be borne by districts like Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara, which are densely populated. But reports said vulnerable areas had not entirely evacuated. Jaipur: Making her debut in national politics, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, Diya Kumari, sources say is looking at a bigger role in the Bharatiya Janata Party post the Lok Sabha polls. A former MLA from Sawai Madhopur Assembly constituency, she seemingly has the backing of the central BJP leadership. This, many in the party believe, is the beginning of grooming of a younger generation to take over the state politics at the behest of the central leadership. Marred by the struggle the state had witnessed, as former CM Vasundhara Raje and party chief Amit Shah tried to prevail upon each other to place their candidate for the post of state president. Kumaris candidature from Rajsamand is being seen as a move in Rajasthan as well as national politics. Talking to this newspaper, Kumari said that she would fulfil all responsibilities given to her by the party. I have no idea at all. All I am doing right now is try to focus on my elections. As to whether I should be given ministry or not, is partys decision. I have been given opportunity by the party for which I am grateful, added Kumari. Attacked by opposition for being an outsider, Kumari pointed out that Congress president Rahul Gandhi too is contesting from a seat where he is being tagged as an outsider. I dont think there is anyone outsider in any election. I would tell the opposition that even your party president is fighting from Kerala and they also consider him as an outsider there. I am daughter of Rajasthan. And more than me it is an election about Prime Minister Narendra Modi who people are looking up to, stated the Jaipur royal family member. Talking about her relations with Raje, Kumari rubbished all reports of both sharing a tense relation. Raje had campaigned for Kumari in the last leg of her election. That is all people like to gossip and make up stories and rumours. She is an amazing leader. And she is face of BJP in Rajasthan and will remain so. She has experience and a lot of young people have come in to politics recently. Though, we need young blood, we equally need experienced people to guide us. No one should forget that she is the one who brought me in to politics. We have a wonderful relation, added the BJP leader. Till the Assembly polls Rajasthan's Rajputswere reportedly miffed with former chief minister Vasundhara Raje over a host of issues, beginning with the denial of candidature to former union minister Jaswant Singh in 2014. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy demanded that she should resign from her post for 'stalling' development activities. (Photo: File) New Delhi: 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 in New Delhi. 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 judgement. 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. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Accompanied by BJP leader Kamal Sharma, Deol offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and had a glimpse of the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan through binoculars installed at 'darshan sthal' here. (Photo: ANI twitter) Gurdaspur: Actor Sunny Deol, the BJP candidate from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, Thursday offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak here before hitting the campaign trail. The national film award winner for movies "Ghayal" and "Damini" is pitted against sitting MP and Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar, AAP's Peter Masih and PDA's Lal Chand in electoral fight from Gurdaspur seat. Accompanied by BJP leader Kamal Sharma, Deol offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and had a glimpse of the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan through binoculars installed at 'darshan sthal' here. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Both India and Pakistan had agreed to build the Kartarpur corridor to facilitate devotees to offer prayers at the historic Gurdawra Darbar Sahib - the final resting place of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev- in Pakistani town of Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. He also went to Prachin Shiv Temple in Kalanaur in Gurdaspur to offer prayers. It was a tough time for security personnel to tackle the crowds who were keen to meet the Bollywood actor and get photos clicked with him at the Shiv temple. For a brief period, Deol appeared through sunroof panel of his vehicle and accepted flowers bouquet and garlands from the people gathered to have a glimpse of him. Deol will take out a road show from here later in the day. It will pass through several areas including Pathankot, Bhoa and Sarna. He returned to Gurdasur from Mumbai on Wednesday and met families of martyrs at Shadipur village in Dinanagar here. "I have already said that you stay in my heart. I want to work towards meeting all your needs and requirements. I am not saying just for the sake of making statement. I want everyone to be happy and have a smile on their face," Deol had said on Wednesday night. "Hindustan Zindabad hai, Zindabad rahega," he said before ending his speech. All the 13 seats of Punjab will go to polls on May 19. Meanwhile, Congress nominee and sitting MP Sunil Jakhar Thursday dared Deol for holding a debate with him on issues concerning the Gurdaspur constituency. "Welcome back to Gurdaspur, @iamsunnydeol. Before you leave again for Mumbai, Would once again like to invite you to debate various issues concerning this border belt, whenever it is convenient for you," Jakhar tweeted. Jakhar had won the seat in the 2017 bypoll which was necessitated after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year. Khanna had represented the seat four times in the Lok Sabha. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday expressed uncertainty on whether the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist' had anything to do with the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country. (Photo: File) Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday expressed uncertainty on whether the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist' had anything to do with the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country. "It (listing Masood Azhar) was long due, it is good that it has been done. This should have happened a long time ago. I don't know if this has something to do with the elections," he told reporters here. Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based JeM that orchestrated the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, was designated as a 'global terrorist' by the United Nations after China also joined efforts to blacklist him. 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 issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing to attend Chinas 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. 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. Fielding 'undertrial terror accused' Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls is BJP's way of consolidating the Hindutva vote bank, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has charged. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Fielding "undertrial terror accused" Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls is BJP's way of consolidating the Hindutva vote bank, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has charged. He claimed the BJP's fear of being unable to retain 50 per cent of its seats has led it to rouse communal passions to get votes. In an article in the forthcoming issue of party mouthpiece People's Democracy, Yechury charged that the BJP and Narendra Modi were preoccupied with disrupting the unity of the country and its solidarity through their venomous campaign of communal polarization. He said the first three phases of the 17th general elections saw the electorate voting in 302 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The ruling BJP has 113 sitting MPs from these constituencies. "In the next four phases ending on May 19, the electorate will vote for the remaining 241 seats. Of these, the BJP currently holds 161 sitting MPs. That is two-thirds of these seats. It is clear that if the BJP is unable to retain these seats, its desire to form the next government simply falls through. This is because, in the first three phases, it is universally admitted that the BJP will not be able to retain at least 50 per cent of its sitting seats. It is precisely this realisation that has prompted the BJP leadership to consciously adopt an aggressive campaign led by Narendra Modi to rouse unscrupulous communal passions as the only means left to garner votes," he said. Taking a dig at the Election Commission, Yechury said while the ruling party was resorting to the "worst form of vote bank politics consolidating the Hindu communal vote bank" the poll body was yet to take any action against Modi for the "unbridled" communal passions that he is rousing. "This is ominous for the health of Indian democracy. As an expression of its efforts to consolidate the Hindutva communal vote bank, the BJP has fielded Pragya Singh Thakur, an under-trial terror accused, currently out on bail on medical reasons, as its candidate from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Endorsing this choice, Narendra Modi hailed Pragya Singh Thakur as the 'symbol of our civilisational heritage'," he said. Thakur is BJP's candidate from Bhopal where she will contest against Congress' Digvijaya Singh. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said her party has fielded candidates either with prospects of victory or having potential to damage the BJP's chances. (Photo: File) Salon: Dismissing suggestions that the Congress will cut into votes of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said her party has fielded candidates either with prospects of victory or having potential to damage the BJP's chances. Asked whether she was afraid of contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, the Congress general secretary 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. 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." Sharply reacting on her comments, BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "The Congress party is not contesting elections to win but to cut into votes of BJP. Today the grand old party has become a vote katua party." 'Vote katua' is a term used for those candidates who may not come out victorious but may tilt the electoral balance in the favour of one of the two main contestants. 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." On the row surrounding Rahul Gandhi's citizenship, she said, "This is a baseless issue which is being raked up, and the need is to focus on problems of the people." 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 the 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. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. After a decade of trying, finally, on May 1, Masood Azhar, founder of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), was listed as a global terrorist by the UN Security Councils 1267 Committee. This was manna from heaven for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dependent on national security rhetoric and self-projection as the saviour of India in an evil world. He wasted no time, as in the same evenings election rally he boasted of success in combating the global menace of terror. Credit cannot be denied to the Prime Minister or Indias hard-working diplomatic corps, particularly foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, who finessed the Chinese reservations on a visit to Beijing a week earlier, or the redoubtable Syed Akbaruddin, Indias permanent representative at the UN in New York, who corralled the Chinese with increased multilateral consensus on countering terror. However, the gains from the listing need careful assessment, being mixed and having some strategic cost. France, the United States and Britain had initiated the UN Security Council (UNSC) move. The non-permanent members of the UNSC then jumped on board. The French were the most vocal, specialy after the February attack happened in Pulwama. Concerned over the Rafale fighter controversy in India, they naturally wanted to be seen as strategically aligned with India regardless of any Sino-Pakistani objections. The US endorsed it, realising that intervention was necessary to contain any possible India-Pak military fallout, as the Narendra Modi government was just days from the Lok Sabha elections and under public pressure to retaliate. Britain, despite its Brexit travails, also showed solidarity as in a post-Brexit world it needs India as a market. The US was, however, not chary to link support some weeks later to India quietly accepting non-renewal of waivers on the import of Iranian oil. In fact, it wanted India to more forthrightly help in isolating Iran, although the use of Chabahar was allowed as an exception in view of its usefulness for stabilising the Afghan economy. It is unclear what, if any, concession was made or promised to China, or whether the Chinese retreat is due to a careful cost-benefit analysis. It is possible that China handed Narendra Modi a win during a crucial phase of the Lok Sabha elections, hoping to benefit after his re-election if India gradually accepts the Belt and Road Initiative or waters down its stringent scrutiny of Chinese investment in critical sectors in India or even embraces Huawei and its G-5 technology, which the United States has warned is exploitative and with suspected backdoors to Chinese espionage. It is equally likely China realised that after the Sri Lankan Easter mayhem, for which ISIS took credit, the virus of radical Islam was mutating and slowly transferring from West Asia to South and East Asia. Thus, terrorists could not be mollycoddled, whatever their usefulness in ensuring the security of their $60 billion investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. It is, however, obvious that China would have discussed the final wording of the listing notification with Pakistan to ascertain acceptability. That neither Pulwama nor Kashmir nor indeed India as a terror target is noted as the reason for listing Masood Azhar as the 422nd global terrorist means that a compromise was reached. The listing was conceded by China, with Pakistans grudging concurrence, but any reference to Pakistani nexus to the terrorist, his group or the attack was dropped. The justification would have been that the UNSC 1267 Committee, dating from 1999 when Al Qaeda attacked US embassies in East Africa, is really about listing entities with nexus to that group. That is why the group of Masood Azhar was promptly listed in 2001, after the 9/11 attacks on America, as JeM had been running training camps in Afghanistan and was suspected to have been created under Osama bin Ladens patronage. There were reports then that some JeM jihadis under training there died in the US bombing in 1999. What then would be the practical result of the listing? By way of example, it has been quoted that Hafiz Saeed continued to gather funds, run facilities and generally move unhampered in Pakistan even after his listing, except when he was detained episodically under international pressure. The courts have eventually let him go unpunished even for his clear complicity in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. The 1267 Committee only enforces the seizure of assets, denial of arms and restrictions on travel. The last two are irrelevant as Masood Azhar is sick and fearful of travel abroad, worried that he may be grabbed by India or another obliging nation. The first is overcome by creating new front organisations, after a pause, once the heat and international scrutiny diminishes. The declaration of Masood Azhar as an Al Qaeda affiliate by the UN Security Council in a sense absolves Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence of its sponsorship of India-specific terror groups like JeM. However, the psychological and moral aspects of the Indian success cannot be overstated. Pakistan has allowed Masood Azhar to strut around as a freedom fighter, a Che Guevara-like icon, recruiting, spreading poison against India and exhorting jihad to liberate Kashmir. That veneer is now off. It also compels Pakistan to disrupt his financial network as Pakistan is in any case on the watchlist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), at the next meeting of which would be discussed whether Pakistan moves from currently being on the Grey List to the Black List. As Pakistan is seeking a financial bailout from the IMF, the last thing it wants is focus on its complicity in terror funding. However, past experience teaches us that the Pakistani Army facilitates the rebirth of internationally-listed groups under new names and shapes. Masood Azhar is reportedly ailing and hospitalised, and his group is run by his brother and associates. Pakistan has recently notified the procedures to implement action against listed entities. In any case, under UNSC 1373 (2001), all states must make laws to prosecute terrorists and masterminds. Thus, token action, without arrest and prosecution, cannot suffice. Pakistan may cut its losses, wait till the FATF meeting ends, assess the Indian election outcome and then decide if it is business as usual for Masood Azhars replacement. Meanwhile, till May 19, when the last votes are polled, the BJP will chest-thump its success. But with Pakistan, it is always best to remember the adage: old habits die hard. Within a few months of being released from jail by the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government in 1999, Masood Azhar - who was named a global terrorist by the UNs Al Qaeda sanctions committee on Wednesday, when China finally dropped its objections to the move after stone-walling for a decade went into the tight embrace of Pakistans ISI. In course of time, Jaish-e-Mohammed, the outfit he founded, would become the key jihadist arm of Pakistans security grid to carry out a succession of high-profile terrorist attacks in India, including Pathankot and Pulwama under the Narendra Modi government. Branding the JeM leader a terrorist menace to the world means international sanctions against Masood come into effect immediately. These include freezing his assets and tracking his finances, travel restrictions, and an arms embargo. In reality, it is doubtful if any of this will happen as long as he remains in Pakistan. The JeM as an organisation is already internationally proscribed, but its cadres operating in Jammu and Kashmir never lack in funds or weapons. Where do the resources come from if not within the Pakistani establishment? Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the other major anti-India Pakistani terrorist group cosseted by the ISI, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, has long worn the tag of a UN-sanctioned global terrorist. But Saeed moves about freely inside Pakistan, campaigning and collecting funds. Thus, it is unlikely that imposition of the UN sanctions on Masood will seriously hamper Jaish if the example of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is anything to go by. New Delhis efforts should now be directed to having Masood sent to India for trial in a string of terrorist cases, for which he was serving a prison term in this country. The Vajpayee government had been forced to release him on December 24, 1999, when Pakistani terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft, Flight IC-814, with 155 passengers on board. Now that Masood has been named a global terrorist by the UN system, India will be justified in seeking his custody for interrogation and to stand trial. After Pulwama, when Masood himself boasted that his outfit had engineered the attack that killed over 40 CRPF jawans, the United States, France and Britain brought inordinate pressure on China to abandon its path since 2009 to block Masood being nailed as an international terrorist through the UN system to bail out its all-weather friend Pakistan. The US, in particular, threatened Beijing that it would move to have the Masood case discussed in the Security Council itself. If that happened, China would have to publicly justify its defence of an ISI-backed terrorist mastermind. Perhaps this alerted Beijing to its international obligations in fighting terrorism. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo noted that the action against Masood was a triumph of American diplomacy. Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim nation, which chairs the Sanctions Committee, supported the step, leaving Beijing and Islamabad a weak hand. The opinion of the Election Commission of India that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not violate the Model Code of Conduct while delivering election speeches on April 1 at Wardha, Maharashtra, and on April 9 at Latur, also in Maharashtra, demonstrates that the commission is guilty of violating the code it is meant to adhere to as a non-partisan institution whose integrity should never be doubted by the people of India. If the commission follows the same template, when it comes to judging the most powerful man in Indian politics, for the remaining 40-odd complaints still pending against him, the three commissioners would have presided over eroding the faith that the people have gradually developed in key institutions over the past three decades. People began considering the EC as impartial only from the 1990s due to the fulminations of a not-so-genial gentleman named T.N. Seshan, who ensured that the institution stopped being an appendage of the executive and the ruling party. He outrageously declared that he ate politicians for breakfast, and ensured it became a level playing field once the poll process was underway. Mr Seshan took care to ensure that the incumbent did not misuse power and bend rules by alternately offering the carrot and the stick. It was during the formers tenure that BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had remarked that the EC had begun functioning like Ceasars wife above suspicion. In contrast, this institution is now acting as a highly partisan body censuring only Opposition leaders or those from the ruling party who are not exactly setting the electoral trail ablaze with their speeches. True, even Yogi Adityanath, Maneka Gandhi and Pragya Singh Thakur have been penalised for offensive speeches. But by being a silent spectator to repeated violations of the Model Code of Conduct by the partys power duo Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah the EC has failed the people. Let us scrutinise what exactly Mr Modi had said in Wardha and Latur and juxtapose his assertions with those of leaders from the ruling party and the Opposition alike against whom the commission has taken action so far. In the speech delivered after Congress president Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from Wayanad, Kerala, in addition to Amethi, UP, Mr Modi said that the Congress dubbed the peaceful Hindu society, those who consider the entire world as their family, as terrorists... And this was the reason why he (Gandhi) had to run away from a majority seat to a minority seat. The Congress has committed the sin of defaming our 5,000-year-old Hindu culture... In thousands of years of history, has there been any Hindu terrorist? He repeated this assertion at Nanded on April 6 but within days, on April 9 at Latur, Mr Modi went a step further. This time, his message was to first-time voters. He asked whether their first vote should not be dedicated to the veer jawaanon (brave soldiers) incidentally, no Indian Air Force personnel died in the airstrike and subsequent dogfight on February 27, unless one is willing to include the six IAF men who perished in the Mi17-V5 helicopter crash? Mr Modi subsequently asked if first-time voters could not dedicate their votes to the memory of veer shaheedon (brave martyrs) of Pulwama. This speech was delivered precisely a month after the ECs advisory to political parties, in which it drew the attention of political parties to the use of photographs of defence personnel in their campaign. The EC recalled the bodys previous note to political parties dated December 4, 2013 wherein it stated that the armed forces of a nation are the guardian of its frontiers, security and political system... They are apolitical and neutral stakeholders in a modern democracy. It is therefore extremely necessary that political parties and leaders exercise great caution while making any reference to the armed forces in their political campaign. As his speech at Latur showed, Mr Modi had certainly not been cautious while referring to the Pulwama tragedy and the Balakot airstrike. In contrast to the relaxed appraisal of the Prime Minister, the EC scrutinised the speeches of Opposition leaders promptly and in far greater detail. The notice served to Congress president Rahul Gandhi on May 1, for instance. The complaint was filed on April 27 and taken up within days. In contrast, the commission summoned its full meeting to examine complaints against the Prime Minister only after Congress Mahila Morcha president Sushmita Dev filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a directive to the EC to hear her partys petitions against Mr Modi. In this speech on April 23 at Shadol, Madhya Pradesh, Mr Gandhi had claimed that the Modi government had passed a law legitimising the shooting of tribals. The truth was, however, different. First, this legislation amendments to the Indian Forest Act 1927 is still a proposal. Second, although it converts certain offences as non-bailable from being bailable currently and inserts a new clause which grants power to forest officers to use firearms, it is not so simple as what Mr Gandhi claims. Instead, the clause specifies that forest officials may be allowed to use firearms to apprehend people violating the law, but they must use as little force, including firearms, and do as little injury to persons as possible. Arming forest officials with such powers raises questions, but Mr Gandhi misled people by claiming it was already a law passed under this government. The alacrity with which the notice was served showed the ECs partisanship. In contrast to Mr Modi, Mr Gandhi was not fanning prejudice between religious communities as the Prime Minister did with his minority constituency accusation. By seeing Mr Modis speeches as only an attack on his rivals and Mr Gandhis statements as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the EC is risking an erosion in the institutions credibility with the public at large. Unless urgent steps are taken to rectify this, the present troika of commissioners will have greatly damaged this august body. The Indian mission to the Moon would see a landing by the space shuttle in the southern pole since it is the part of the lunar surface that has not been explored by any other country as yet. The landing zone will also give ISRO an opportunity to name the area or site, putting India into the history of space exploration. The second Indian mission to the Moon is all set to be witnessed in July this year. ISRO is readying its Chandrayaan 2 in July 2019, which was earlier planned for April. The Indian space organisation has confirmed that all the modules required for the lunar landing will be in place in the next two months. All the modules are getting ready for the Chandrayaan-2 launch during the window of July 9 to July 16. The expected moon landing on September 6," said the space agency in a statement on Wednesday, reported the local media. The space mission will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The Indian mission to the Moon would see a landing by the space shuttle in the southern pole since it is the part of the lunar surface that has not been explored by any other country as yet. The landing zone will also give ISRO an opportunity to name the area or site, putting India into the history of space exploration. We are ready for one of the most exciting missions, #Chandrayaan2. Launch window between July 9-16 & likely Moon-landing on Sept 6, 2019. #GSLVMKIII will carry 3 modules of this #lunarmission - Orbiter, Lander (Vikram), Rover (Pragyan), said the twitter post from ISRO on May 1. #ISROMissions We are ready for one of the most exciting missions, #Chandrayaan2. Launch window between July 9-16 & likely Moon-landing on Sept 6, 2019. #GSLVMKIII will carry 3 modules of this #lunarmission - Orbiter, Lander (Vikram), Rover (Pragyan). More updates soon. pic.twitter.com/jzx9CMwUhR ISRO (@isro) May 1, 2019 The launch that wsa supposed to be witnessed in April was postponed for further testing and reconfiguration of the lander. ISRO confirmed that the mission would have three modules, all built and developed in India, and will be named Orbiter, Vikram (the lander) and Pragyan (the rover). The Orbiter and Lander will be stacked inside the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MK-III launch vehicle. After launch, the modules will orbit Earth and then the respective modules will reach the lunar orbit using the orbiter propulsion module. The lander will then separate itself from the orbiter to soft land at a pre-determined spot that will be closer to the south pole of the lunar surface. The Lander is destined to touch down on September 6, 2019. Once landed, the rover will then take charge and carry out scientific experiments on the Moons surface itself. The rover, lander and orbiter will also be carrying out scientific experiments and all the data will be relayed back to the Earth station. The rover will roll out onto the lunar surface and journey for around 300 to 400 metres and spend around 14 days on the Moon carrying out necessary experiments. The data will be sent to Earth within 15 minutes of each test. If Indias mission is successful, it would put India as the fourth country in the world after US, Russia and China to successfully land a craft on the Moon. Israels attempt for the same failed in April this year. Chinas spacecraft was the only one to land on the other side of the Moon that has never seen the face of the Earth, ever. The last mission from ISRO was the Chandrayaan 1 which was an orbiting satellite only, made more than 3,400 trips around the Moon and sent back hundreds of photographs of the Moons surface. The 2008 Chandrayaan 1 mission finally broke down after ISRO lost communication with the orbiting satellite in August 2009, which was half the period of the two-year mission. However, the mission that lasted 312 days had successfully completed 95% of its planned objectives. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Anti-government demonstrators carry a fellow protester who was injured during clashes with security forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas on Thursday. AP Caracas: May Day clashes between Opposition supporters and Venezuelas armed forces in Caracas left a woman dead and 46 people injured on Wednesday, with Opposition leader Juan Guaido trying 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 organisations and health services reported 46 people injured in Wednesdays 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 Maduros 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 Maduros security services came as the US 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, said at one medical centre that he had been shot in the foot while protesting on the highway near the La Carlota air base. I didnt manage to run and hide, he said. Guaido rallied his supporters in Caracas in the Labour 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 Tuesdays 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. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Venezuelas 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. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) message was to 'serve you (the consumer) a taste of home'. (Photo: File I Representational) Islamabad: In a latest advertisement, a national carrier from Pakistan received negative reactions, reported IANS. The ad carried a photo of breakfast the airline would serve. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) message was to 'serve you (the consumer) a taste of home'. It carried a picture of a cheese omelette, sausages and beans which are nothing but English. Just when you start missing it, we serve you a taste of home! A dash of salt and little bit of pepper, we tantalize your taste buds with our delicious meal to welcome the glorious morning! #PIA #BreakfastWithPIA pic.twitter.com/UXLamu398f PIA (@Official_PIA) May 1, 2019 However, the food depicted in the picture was contradictory to their latest message. People travelling in the airline took to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction: One of them read "You guys really need to sort yourselves out.....'taste of home'? Come on whom did sausages and beans sound like a traditional Pakistani breakfast. Obviously you guys need some cultural training.....", were the kind of comments that flooded Pakistan International Airlines twitter handle. "Correcting your definition of home. check pic: Aisa anda paratha chahye, woh bhi slightly crispy. Anda with a runny egg yolk so that I can dip my paratha in it. That's the taste of home," said one user. While another said: "That's more British then you can get. No Halwa Puri ?" 350,000 nearly double the estimate of up to 180,000, for enamelled turban ornament Sothebys auction house London: A gem set turban ornament, or a sarpech, that belonged to the Sikh Khalsa commander Hari Singh Nalwa in the 19th century was among the key highlights of an auction held by Sothebys auction house in London. The enamelled turban ornament fetched 350,000, nearly double its estimate of up to 180,000, at the Arts of the Islamic World auction on Wednesday. Other major Indian highlights from the sale by Sothebys included two 17th century Mughal miniature paintings from India A Battle Outside a Walled Fortress, attributed to Sur Das, which fetched 143,750, and A Drawing of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, which fetched 102,500. The sale formed part of the Middle Eastern and Orientalist Art Week at the auction house in London, which attracted total sales of 18.7 million. There has been a real buzz in our exhibitions over the past week, and this sense of excitement carried through into the saleroom with enthusiastic bidding from private collectors and institutions alike, said Edward Gibbs, Sothebys Middle East and India chairman. There was a real breadth to the array of artworks on offer, reflected both in the strength of bidding and the participation of a wide spectrum of collectors from over 50 countries. Twelve new auction records were set for artists from across the region, amongst them established, indeed treasured, modern masters as well as lesser-known names that we were introducing to our collectors for the first time, he said. The auction week witnessed an epic auction duel with bidders battling it out for the Venetian portrait of fabled Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, an artwork that encapsulates rarity, beauty and provenance as well as embodying the cross-cultural dialogue that enriches this varied collecting category. The portrait fetched 5,323,500, way above its estimate of 350,000. It is wonderful to witness art and artists from the Middle East gaining ever wider recognition, reflecting the truly global appeal of this rewarding area of the market, Gibbs added. During Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China the two sides agreed to withdraw their opposition to the latest move to blacklist the JeM chief, a media report said. (Photo: File) Islamabad: The "breakthrough" in designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist came during Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China where the two sides agreed to withdraw their opposition to the latest move to blacklist the JeM chief, a media report said here Thursday. The UN's sanctions committee announced Wednesday the designation of Pakistan-based Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda. 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 that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking four attempts since 2009 by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal. Hours after sanctions were imposed on Azhar, the Express Tribune newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, reported that Pakistan and China held extensive discussions before making a decision on the Azhar issue. "It is believed that the breakthrough came during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China where both sides agreed to withdraw opposition to the latest move after realising that Islamabad's concerns were addressed," the report said. Khan was in Beijing to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping from April 25 to 27. Apart from President Xi, the Pakistan prime minister met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang as well as Vice President Wang Qishan. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China lifted its hold on the US, the UK and French proposal after a "careful study of the revised materials" it had to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. The listing of Azhar means that he will now be facing a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. But the source told the paper that the listing does not mean the person should be detained. Another official claimed that authorities were "unaware" of Azhar's whereabouts. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during the peak of India-Pakistan tensions following the Pulwama terror attack had admitted that Azhar was in Pakistan. He also mentioned that the JeM chief was "very unwell" to the extent that he cannot leave his house. The report also claimed that Islamabad agreeing to the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was a "paradigm shift" in the country's approach. An official said prime minister Khan had made a public commitment that Pakistan's soil would not be used against any country. However, he made it clear that Pakistan would go after these groups in a manner that the peace and security of the country was not affected. The Washington Post reported that Azhar's sanctioning comes weeks after Washington said it was seeking to have him put on the UN blacklist. In Washington, a senior US 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 US in putting pressure on China after the February 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 Pakistan Prime Minister Khan's commitment to crack down on militants in the country "will translate into irreversible steps to end terrorist and militant safe havens inside Pakistan." Khan's government has ordered the takeover of assets and property of JeM and dozens of banned militant organisations that operate in Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack by a JeM suicide bomber. Navies of India and France began the first phase of a mega naval exercise off the coast of Goa on Wednesday. The exercise is aimed at developing interoperability between the two forces to deal with various security challenges. The first part of the joint naval exercise, 'Varuna', is being held from May 1-10 off the coast of Goa, 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 in 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 '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. India is set to nudge the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to seek a report from Pakistan next month on the actions it would have taken by then to freeze the assets and financial resources of terrorist leader Masood Azhar. A day after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctioned Azhar, Imran Khan's government in Islamabad issued notification to start implementation of the curbs asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo on the 51-year-old leader of the terrorist organisation who lives at Bahawalpur in Pakistan. New Delhi, however, is keen to get Pakistan government's actions on the Jaish-e-Mohammed leader verified by the FATF an intergovernmental organisation that coordinates global efforts to combat money-laundering and terror financing. The FATF is likely to hold its plenary in Florida from June 16 to 21. India is keen to use the opportunity and will work with the United States, France, the United Kingdom and others to prod the multilateral organisation into demanding a full briefing from Pakistan on the measures it would have taken by then to implement the UNSC sanctions on Azhar. The FATF had last year put Pakistan on its 'Grey List' officially a list of the "jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in its legal regime to check money-laundering and terrorist financing". New Delhi indicated that it would keep stepping up pressure on Islamabad to make it completely turn off the flow of funds to terrorist organisations operating in Pakistan or territories under its control. "The FATF has already placed Pakistan on its grey list. India will place before the FATF whatever information we have about lack of action by Pakistan government to stop flow of funds to terrorists," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. "We will definitely want that the consequences of downgrading (of Pakistan) by FATF is enforced (on Pakistan)." New Delhi on Wednesday had a major diplomatic success at the United Nations as China stood aside and let the Security Council impose sanctions on the JeM chief, who is based in Pakistan and orchestrated several terror attacks in India. China had earlier blocked attempts by India and other nations to get the UNSC sanction Azhar and other terrorist leaders based in Pakistan. Ahmed Farooq, director general (counter-terrorism), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan government, on Thursday issued an order for implementation of the UNSC sanction on Azhar including freezing of all his assets like land and real estates, bank accounts and other financial resources. He also ordered the implementation of travel ban and arms embargo as mandated by the UNSC sanction regime. The FATF, which had its last plenary in Paris from February 17 to 22, reviewed the progress made by the Imran Khan government in squeezing fund flow to terror organisations, including the JeM and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). It noted that Pakistan made "limited progress" on actions it promised to complete by January, including on implementation of UNSC sanctions on terrorists like Azhar and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed as well as the organisations they run. It asked Islamabad to swiftly complete the implementation of its planned actions, particularly the ones which were to be completed by May. It would again review Pakistan's performance in June. The Chief Executive Officer of the policy think tank of the Government of India -- Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant has called for the jailing of urban middle-class voters for "showing apathy" during the elections. "Australia too is in the midst of its federal elections. Voting is compulsory & those who do not vote are fined $20. In case of non-payment, you can be taken to court & liable to be jailed. Seeing d apathy of rich & middle-class voters in urban cities of India this is worth a try (sic)," Kant said from his verified handle on the micro-blogging site Twitter. The Niti Aayog chief faced a huge backlash after he tweeted this, with a lot of prominent citizen, including former Chief Election Commissioner of India SY Qureshi, calling him out. "No Mr Kant, your right to vote includes the right not to vote. In NOTA judgment, SC has made it clear that it is your fundament right, while the right to vote is a statutory right. Think of millions of daily wagers who will be harassed for non-voting," Qureshi replied to the tweet. In Australia they implement the rule firmly. People who do not vote are fined $20. In case of non payment courts can jail you.Non voters just pay up. Courts do not interfere & there is no pendency of cases. https://t.co/MXdAUGptpK Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) May 1, 2019 Many others, like historian Irfan Habib and noted economist Rupa Subramanya, were also critical of the Kant's point of view. "Highly illiberal & straight out of the Gujarat model. Right not to vote a fundamental civil right & form of protest. Exactly what Gujarat HC said in 2015 while staying govt decision to introduce compulsory voting. What's next? You'll tell us whom to vote for?" Subramanya said in a barrage of tweets. However, there was also a bit of support coming in the way of the Kant, including from Bengaluru-based top industrialist Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Kant, an IAS officer of the 1980 batch, has been at the helm of Niti Aayog since April 1, 2016. It was established in 2015, by the NDA government, to replace the Planning Commission which followed a top-down model. The chairman of the Niti Aayog is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while its vice chairman is economist Rajiv Kumar. Retired veteran newspaper journalist and editor Kim Williams asked the group to "open their hearts" for the media. "One of the pillars of that freedom we call democracy is the free press, whose first standard is fair and honest reporting of the news. We pray for those who report and edit the news and those who receive the news," he said. Scott Palmer, COO of Spikeball Inc., who appeared on the show Shark Tank, will talk about business practices, building a brand, leadership, people management and more during a lecture, Predict the Future and Then Prepare for It, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 6, at Nichols Library, 200 W. Jefferson Ave. It seems that the only thing Americans can agree on is that we are living in an era of extreme political polarization. As we head into the 2020 presidential campaign, a striking 91 percent of peoplesaid in a recent PRRI survey that the country is divided over politics. This is higher than the percentage of people who reported that America is divided over issues of race and ethnicity (83 percent) or religion (77 percent). Democrats and Republicans have long disagreed over policies, but in recent years the disagreement has turned personal. In that PRRI poll, more people were displeased by the thought that their child would marry someone of a different political party than of a different religion. Worrying about decades of Thanksgiving dinners with relatives who support the other party might sound like clear evidence that America is hopelessly, alarmingly divided. But theres also a growing body of evidence that were overstating the divide. The real issue, it turns out, might not be with polarization. It might just be that most people really dont like politics. Americans are open to people with all sorts of political and partisan opinions, our research shows as long as they keep those opinions to themselves. We conducted a series of experiments and surveys with more than 6,000 people during the 2016 and 2018 national elections. Like other recent polls and surveys, ours asked people whether they would be happy or unhappy if they had a child who married someone from the opposing party, Republican or Democratic. But we added a new piece of information to this question, which said how often that new in-law would talk about politics. When people learned that their future in-law would rarely discuss politics, fewer than 30 percent said that they would be unhappy with an in-law from the opposing party. On the other hand, when we specified that the hypothetical in-law would never shut up about politics he or she would interrupt social gatherings and holidays with the latest Trump dirt from MSNBC or Hannity tirade from Fox more than 40 percent of people would be unhappy with the marriage. This is especially true for those who do not strongly identify with a party, which includes nearly two-thirds of Americans. In this group, fewer than 20 percent said they would be unhappy with an in-law from the opposing party who rarely discussed politics. When, instead, their childs chosen partner was a talkative member of the opposing party, this number doubled to 40 percent. Polarization, however, is not just about disliking the other side. True polarization is when you dislike the other party and really like your own party. Most people do not care enough about politics to say they are happy simply because their child is marrying someone from their political party. So when people in our studies were asked to consider a future in-law who rarely discussed politics, only 15 percent could be considered truly polarized. While this number grew to 25 percent among people who have strong connections to their party, it shrank to 10 percent of weak partisans. Polarization is also low among weak partisans when they are told that the in-law will frequently talk about politics. Weak partisans arent happy with an in-law from the opposing party discussing politics, but many are just as unhappy with an in-law from their own party who insists on political conversation. Other studies suggest, much like ours, that somewhere between 15 percent and 20 percent of Americans are truly polarized. In the 2018 American Family Survey, for example, only 21 percent of participants reported that it was important for a married couple to be of the same party. Meanwhile, 81 percent said agreement in feelings about children was pivotal to a marriage. Looking beyond marriage, a survey conducted by The New York Times found that only 16 percent of people placed their political party membership among the top three terms they used to describe themselves. When the political scientists James Druckman and Matthew Levendusky asked Americans to rank six identities in the order of personal importance, partisanship tied for last (alongside class). If only a minority of people are polarized, why do 87 percent of Americans think, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey, political polarization is threatening to the American way of life? It may be about how we talk about politics. Those who are most polarized also have the strongest connection to their party. A survey we conducted during the 2018 election suggests that these people are also most likely to be vocal about their political opinions. For example, the polarized are twice as likely to say they post on social media about politics. These people have deep partisan connections and some can become what the political scientist Eitan Hersh terms political hobbyists: emotionally invested in political outcomes, loud and persistent. It is not difficult to imagine how these voices can ruin an otherwise enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration. The polarized also get the most media attention. Compared with the year 2000, today one can expect to see 20 percent more stories about polarization in the news. This amplification of the polarized can leave people weary of the opposing party. If the polarized are who comes to mind when Americans imagine a partisan, it is no wonder these Americans arent excited about that new in-law who supports the other party. But this hesitation is not the same as animosity and polarization. Some people might genuinely hate the other party. These people may get the most attention, but they are also outnumbered by the majority who just want to discuss other things than politics. SALT LAKE CITY Jonathan King, a producer behind the best-picture winning film The Green Book, defended the storytelling in the film by saying it was targeted at an older white audience, according to Yahoo. King, who was speaking on a panel about diversity during the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills on April 29, said the film was meant to teach audiences to be less racist. If you believe that older white people dont need to be told to be less racist anymore because thats an issue from the past, look around, King said. Because they do. The AV Club wrote that King also noted making films for older white audiences can help remind them about basic morality. Green Book was directed by Peter Farrelly and follows African-American Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a classical pianist, as hes driven through the segregated South by Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortenson), a white man. The film drew criticism after winning this years Best Picture Academy Award earlier this year for allegedly relying on stereotypes and placing the focus on a white protagonist. The film beat out Spike Lees BlacKKKlansman and Marvels Black Panther, both of which featured black actors. Its once again a depiction of a white mans version of a black mans life, said Carol Shirley Kimble, the real-life Don Shirleys niece, according to Insider. Nick Vallelonga, the son of Tony Vallelonga, also expressed regret that Don Shirleys family wasnt consulted on the film, but later defended the movie from accusations of racism. "Some of the attacks are unwarranted and untrue. But we believed in the movie the whole time," Vallelonga said, according to theAssociated Press. "If it wasn't true in our hearts, I don't think it would resonate with people. It would come out false." WASHINGTON One year ago, Sam Brownback was in paradise, but it felt like hell. The town, called Coxs Bazar, was once known as a top tourist destination in Bangladesh. Today, its associated with a different type of visitor: victims of religious persecution. Brownback was there on official business. Two months earlier, he'd been sworn in as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom and would now meet with Rohingya Muslims who had fled for their lives from nearby Myanmar. Although the title was new, the job was familiar. As a senator, Brownback helped create the ambassador role in 1998. In the two decades since, the position has come under fire. Americas international religious freedom efforts are called weak or worthless. Some claim weve essentially put Christian missionaries on the State Departments payroll. Brownback vowed to change his office's image. He would no longer simply "name and shame" intolerant governments. Instead, he would take action, convincing the world that religious freedom saves lives and strengthens economies. "Time is short. Every passing day finds more people persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and even killed for simply practicing their innermost convictions," he said before his October 2017 confirmation hearing. "We cannot let this dire situation continue without an aggressive response." Born and raised Methodist, Brownback converted to Catholicism in 2002. In his time in Congress and as governor of Kansas, he built a reputation as someone willing to use political power to advance ideals informed by his faith. He has staunchly opposed abortion rights, overturned protections for LGBTQ workers and supported a travel ban seen by some as an attack on the Muslim community. For these reasons and others, his confirmation to the post of religious freedom ambassador was tense, and Vice President Mike Pence had to step in to cast a tie-breaking vote. Throughout, Brownback swore hed work for people of all faiths and none. Here, along the southern coast of Bangladesh, he made good on his word. Dressed in a baggy beige sweatshirt and pants the color of desert military fatigues, Brownback and his entourage moved slowly through the refugee settlement, stopping to talk with anyone willing, including children and imams. He was horrified by what he heard. Since the previous August, around 700,000 refugees had fled Myanmar to escape attacks by the countrys military, which the United Nations and U.S. government have called "ethnic cleansing." "To my deep dismay, every person I spoke withman, woman or childhad witnessed firsthand the shooting, stabbing or murder of a close family member," Brownback later wrote. Read: 6 things you need to know about America's international religious freedom efforts Brownback said what they suffered was "as bad as or worse than" any other attacks hes seen, including actions the U.S. government called genocide in Sudans Darfur region. "When these things happen the earth should shake. There should be substantial consequences," Brownback told Politico when he returned to the U.S. Coxs Bazar created an opportunity for the new ambassador. When he helped create the job, he hoped it would protect people of faith all over the world. Here was a chance to do just that. And yet, one year later, Brownbacks visit has resulted in no meaningful policy action. The U.S. government has sent money to refugees in Bangladesh and sanctioned individual military officials but stopped short of labeling Myanmars actions as genocide, which would require further action on behalf of Rohingya Muslims. The job of U.S. foreign policy is not simply to issue reports. It is to advance religious freedom, which requires more than identifying the problem. Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute "To go and say, 'I feel your pain,' is not a religious freedom policy," said Shaun Casey, who served as U.S. special representative for religion and global affairs from 2013 to 2017. Too often over the last 20 years, U.S. officials have praised religious freedom without taking the actions necessary to protect it around the world, said Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute. "The job of U.S. foreign policy is not simply to issue reports," he said. "It is to advance religious freedom, which requires more than identifying the problem." And religious freedom is in need of advancing. More than 80 percent of the worlds population lives in a religiously restrictive environment, according to Pew Research Center. Across the globe, people face job loss, jail time or death for practicing their faith. In China, Uighur Muslims are sent to re-education camps and Protestant churches are bulldozed. In Russia, Jehovahs Witnesses are jailed and missionary volunteers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sent home. In the Middle East, Christians are trying to rebuild their churches, which were ravaged by bombings and other violence. By title at least, Brownback is the top official in America charged with solving these problems. But since 1998, the office he leads has been hamstrung by inconsistency, competing policy goals and partisan clashes. Brownback has the passion to change the world. But what about the power? The challenge Brownback is trained as a lawyer, but he doesnt sound like one. He says "wadnt" instead of "wasnt" and "gotta" and "outta," bringing a farm-boy accent to press calls and speeches. His life and political career began in Kansas, where he served as secretary of agriculture beginning in 1986. Less than a decade later, he was in Congress, first in the House from 1995 to 1996 and then the Senate for 14 years after that. As a senator, he co-sponsored the bill that revolutionized America's approach to religious freedom. The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act created the position he holds today. "This issue and Sam have grown up together," said Chris Seiple, who is president emeritus of the Institute for Global Engagement and has known Brownback for more than 20 years. Before 1998, the United States, like other signatories to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, pledged support for religious freedom but only haphazardly worked to protect it around the world. Members of Congress, including Brownback, met with religious prisoners during trips abroad, but there was no one in the State Department or White House focused on religious freedom full time. "The State Department was neglecting religious freedom" compared to other human rights issues, said John Hanford, who co-authored the legislation. Religious freedom needed a champion, Brownback said, and the International Religious Freedom Act gave it dozens. There's now an ambassador and office dedicated to the issue at the State Department, as well as an independent, bipartisan commission charged with tracking religious persecution across the globe. America has "more staff dealing with religious freedom in the State Department than the rest of the world combined," Brownback said. They track faith-related violence and unfair laws, calling on governments to embrace religious freedom and release religious prisoners. "No other government comes close to providing the detailed and largely accurate reports on what is happening abroad," said Farr, who was the founding director of the State Departments religious freedom office. It's not enough. The International Religious Freedom Act justified its existence by stating that "more than one-half of the world's population lives under regimes that severely restrict or prohibit" their citizens' religious freedom. Today, 83 percent of the world's population lives in an environment with "high or very high" religious restrictions, according to Pew. "I look at these numbers and go, 'Man. This isnt very good,'" Brownback said. "But you ask people about it and they go, 'Well, imagine how much worse it would be if wed done nothing.'" As Brownback noted, religious freedom "is one of those human rights that many countries feel free to violate." Victims of religious persecution rarely have political power. "Its not like if you violate a trade agreement and the other side can then put tariffs on your products," he said. "In most of these places, the person on the other side of your violation is mostly powerless." On a deeper level, religious persecution spreads because its part of the human condition, said James Patton, president and CEO of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. Faith groups clash with other faith groups and individual believers clash with other believers over who God is and what God wants for humanity. "In our work, I always caution people not to think were going from Point A to Point B, to the end of conflict," he said. "We have to stand on one side of a scale thats always being tipped." Still, Brownback and others can't help but imagine what would be different if the U.S. had adopted a better approach. For much of the last 20 years, the State Department has struggled to integrate religion into its diplomatic efforts. "People who work as our foreign service officers around the world are as intelligent a group of people as youll find in any U.S. government agency," said Hanford, who served as international religious freedom ambassador from 2002 to 2009. "But it is surprising how often there is a comparative lack of understanding of the important role that religion and religious practices play in the lives of people around the world." Religious freedom, like women's rights or climate change, is a broad issue. It's difficult to handle from a single office, but there also arent enough resources to put a religious freedom expert into every regional delegation, Casey said, noting that the State Department can be like a "slow-motion trainwreck." "Every country struggles with this," he said. "How do you integrate global concerns into regional and country-to-country relationships?" Religious freedom also has to compete with other policy goals, and it often loses. The U.S. government, which is instructed by the International Religious Freedom Act to punish the worst violators of religious freedom, routinely waives potential sanctions. "Unilateral sanctions are almost never imposed, and do not work when they are," Farr said. For example, Saudi Arabia, which has been considered a "country of particular concern" for 15 years, avoids tariffs due to other national interests, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's 2019 annual report. The government's hesitation to upset certain allies or further complicate already difficult relationships can be frustrating for religious freedom advocates, like Kristina Arriaga, vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. In 2017, she began advocating on behalf of the Rev. Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned in Turkey and accused of religious terrorism. At first, she was treated more like a troublemaker than an advocate for human rights. "When I first spoke to some career diplomats at the Tillerson Department of State, I was told that Pastor Brunson was in prison because he was an American, not because he was a pastor. I sensed they were not too thrilled about Commissioner Sandy Jolley and me raising Pastor Brunsons case as a religious freedom case," she said. It took a shift in State Department leadership for her concerns to be taken seriously. The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey last summer, freezing the U.S.-based financial assets of two of the country's top officials. In October, the Rev. Brunson was freed. Secretary Pompeo "was extremely supportive and he raised the issue to the highest levels of our government," Arriaga said. As her experience illustrates, Brownback and members of the religious freedom commission are at the mercy of their superiors. A single ill-timed statement from the White House can disrupt years of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Hanford said. Brownback has the odds stacked against him, no matter how confident he sounds. "International religious freedom work is one of the most difficult challenges in the world. Youre going up against centuries of tradition, deeply held religious convictions (and) often tyrannical government control. Youre sitting there thousands of miles away and trying to persuade countries to do things that often would be unpopular even with their own people," Hanford said. God and government On a sunny afternoon in late February, Brownback sits in his office at the State Department discussing his job, his government and his God. His broad, wood desk and long windowsill hold reminders of professional successes and personal passions. There are family pictures, posters from a landmark meeting he helped organize last year and Post-it notes branded with the Future Farmers of America logo. In some ways, Brownback's career was always building to this office. He co-sponsored the International Religious Freedom Act. He visited Darfur as a senator. But he still has to pinch himself sometimes, like when he sat on a raised platform in Abu Dhabi last year next to the crown prince. I know a big God. That's the only way I can make sense of it all. Sam Brownback "I know a big God. That's the only way I can make sense of it all," Brownback said. To his left sit small stone tablets printed with the Ten Commandments. God also helps people make sense of Brownback. When you meet him and work with him, you can tell its more than the paycheck that gets him out of bed in the morning, said Greg Mitchell, co-chairman of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, which brings together policy experts, humanitarian groups and religious freedom advocates to brainstorm new programs and partnerships. "I think he feels like he was called to this job and this work," Mitchell said. God comes up naturally when Brownback is asked what led him to religious freedom activism. He believes free will is a "massive" gift from God and will do everything he can to preserve it. "When people take that away from you and don't let you practice your faith, it strikes me really as violating a very foundational thing that God gave us as humans: that right to do with your own soul as you see fit," he said. To some, this perspective is a problem. Brownbacks conservative Christian faith, and the policies it's led him to support, nearly derailed his nomination to the role he now holds. Originally nominated by President Donald Trump in July 2017, Brownback suffered months of bad press before the Senate considered his qualifications. He was mocked for the failed tax reforms he oversaw as governor of Kansas and criticized for revoking protections for LGBTQ workers. "He has consistently conflated 'religious freedom' with a license to discriminate, signing an executive order that gave a blank check to religious organizations to refuse services to same-sex couples," argued a letter from the Human Rights Campaign opposing Brownback's nomination. He also supported Trump's travel ban, which affected primarily Muslim-majority countries, and, as governor of Kansas, signed anti-Sharia law legislation, a move that critics said sanctioned Islamophobia. At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in October 2017, Brownback sidestepped a question about LGBTQ rights from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia. "Is there any circumstance under which criminalizing, imprisoning or executing people based on their LGBT status could be deemed acceptable?" Kaine asked. "I dont know what that would be," Brownback said in response. He argued that international religious freedom work should be kept separate from debates over LGBTQ rights or abortion, promising to work on behalf of all people in need. These assurances didn't impress many liberal observers, including some members of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable. When the Senate voted on Brownback's nomination in January 2018, not a single Democrat supported him. "I think people were reacting to the president as opposed to Sam," Seiple said. Others said the situation was more complicated than that. "We didnt, at the time, view his nomination as indicative of the administrations support for broad religious freedom, but rather for (Christian) religious privilege," said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. One year after the close confirmation vote, Brownback tries not to waste time on political grudges. His to-do list is overflowing, and every person he meets seems to have a story to share about religious persecution. "I went in to buy a pair of cowboy boots in Kansas over the holidays and a young man was there that had known my son growing up," he said. "He was telling me about people that he knew that were being persecuted in India for practicing their faith." Why should anybody be persecuted for peacefully practicing their faith, whatever that faith is? That just, at a core level, irritates me and makes my blood boil. Sam Brownback He seems to take this pain personally, longing for a day when no one suffers because of what they believe. "Why should anybody be persecuted for peacefully practicing their faith, whatever that faith is? That just, at a core level, irritates me and makes my blood boil," he said. Clad in a blue-striped button down, gray sweater vest and bright purple tie and speaking with a drawl, he doesnt immediately strike you as a man who could enter the religious freedom landscape and make a difference. His supporters say thats exactly what hes done. "He's injected new life and vigor into the whole international religious freedom movement," Mitchell said. In the 15 months since he took office, Brownbacks met with dozens of victims of religious persecution, increased coordination between the U.S. government and private organizations working to end religious persecution, inspired other countries to hire religious freedom ambassadors and co-hosted a first-of-its-kind religious freedom gathering of leaders from more than 80 countries that spawned regional summits on this topic in the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. Attendance at International Religious Freedom Roundtable meetings in Washington, D.C., used to hover around 70, even when they only happened once a quarter, Mitchell said. Due to Brownback's encouragement, they take place around twice a month and attendance regularly surpasses 100. "Brownback is coming up with ideas like everyone else at the table," he said. "He really is so genuine about wanting to get results." Many of these developments happened through sheer force of will. Beyond producing an annual report on religious freedom violations, Brownback has few official duties. It's up to each ambassador to make the most of their position, Hanford said. "Advocacy is the real purpose of (the role.) You have to figure out on a country-by-country basis how best to pressure these governments into making changes," he said. You also have to manage egos on the homefront, coordinating responses to religious freedom violations with the secretary of state and White House. He's really approached this job in a different way than the other ambassadors have. He's been instrumental in this uptick of activity and impact. Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation "We have influence (on sanctions) but it's a discussion so there are multiple entities that have a role in the discussion. Ultimately, the secretary or president is going to make that call," Brownback said. Brownback's supporters say he navigates Washington, D.C., power structures better than most, crediting his time in Congress with teaching him the ropes. He's the first former congressman to hold the role of religious freedom ambassador, and it shows, said Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation. "He's really approached this job in a different way than the other ambassadors have. He's been instrumental in this uptick of activity and impact," Grim said. Brownback's political expertise has guided him as he's taken some calculated risks. No one has attempted something quite like last summer's Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom before, Farr said. "No previous administration has attempted such a bold move," he said. The three-day event, aimed at increasing coordination between governments and organizations working to boost religious freedom around the world, brought together members of dozens of religious communities and leaders from more than 80 countries. "Normally when you have international events associated with religious freedom, they're (attended by) low people in the diplomatic echelon," Arriaga said. The ministerial, on the other hand, "featured minister-level people, the equivalent of our secretary of state, who came to talk to each other and compare notes." Events like the ministerial, which spawned a new declaration on promoting religious freedom and regional gatherings on the issue, have helped Brownback quiet some of the complaints that surrounded his nomination. He's formed partnerships with people of all faiths and none, both in D.C. and abroad. "Ambassador Brownback has taken pains to be inclusive of the nontheistic community in word and action," said Matthew Bulger, legislative director for the American Humanist Association. Fish noted, "It hasnt been as bad as we thought." In the process, Brownbacks gained more than friends and professional connections. His faith has deepened, as has his understanding of Islam. Victories dont come fast and easy in this kind of work. But there's new life and vigor and a higher degree of hope now. Something special is building. Greg Mitchell, co-chairman of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable "Thats the image of Islam: Youre saying 'God is great' as you're killing a bunch of people," he said. "Now, I'm working with a substantial group of Muslim leaders that hate that presentation of Islam. I'm going, 'You know what, if I were you, Id be hacked, too.'" His job exposes him to the worst forms of religious persecution, to families in refugee camps and imprisoned pastors. But it also brings him face to face with people who kept believing in the face of impossible obstacles. "You see that depth of conviction," he said. "That's beautiful and I get to see that on a regular basis." In turn, the religious freedom community sees their issue in the international spotlight like it's never been before. "Victories dont come fast and easy in this kind of work. But there's new life and vigor and a higher degree of hope now," Mitchell said. "Something special is building." Roadblocks remain Later this year, Brownback and his team at the State Department will host a second ministerial at the State Department, continuing to seek a better global response to religious persecution. Brownback hopes to help build an international body empowered to punish the worst offenders. Like the United Nations, except more effective, he said. "I would love to see some sort of international body that has some teeth," Brownback said. He and others feel like world leaders are closer than they've been in a long time to ending religious persecution. At the same time, they know remaining roadblocks will be hard to overcome. "There is tremendous interest in certain parts of the world and so were seeing some response to that. At the same time, there are other parts of the world that are completely disconnected from what's going on," Grim said. Religious freedom violations are taking new forms that will be hard to combat even with international cooperation. In China, for example, an artificial intelligence-fueled surveillance system tracks when citizens enter houses of worship, allowing leaders to punish those believed to be too religious. "Im very concerned that they're going to try to export the religious persecution system they've put in place," Brownback said. Still, governments like China may not be the biggest threat to Brownback's efforts. Many religious freedom advocates said his own administration is a major cause for concern. The Trump administration is "trying to take care of their political base: Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals," Casey said. "To the extent that (Brownback) lets that go unaddressed, he's an instrument of this administrations hypocrisy." At the very least, the Trump administration's domestic religious freedom policies have undermined some of Brownback's work overseas. Diplomats must answer for what happens on the homefront, said Farah Pandith, who served as U.S. special representative to Muslim communities from 2009 to 2014. "No State Department official can do work overseas without recognizing that every single thing that happens in America bears on their work on the ground," she said. There is a relationship between the decline of religious freedom in America and the relative ineffectiveness of American foreign policy over the past 20 years. Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute Pandith remembers when a preacher in Gainesville, Florida, made the national news for talking about burning the Quran. Suddenly, a man with only around 50 people in his congregation had the power to derail high-level policy talks. "What matters is the image overseas of who we are as Americans," Pandith said. Increasingly, that image includes widespread acceptance of Islamophobic or anti-Semitic comments and actions. The Trump administrations promise to end religious persecution feels empty when they allow it to continue in their own backyard, Casey said. "There's this deep contradiction. They're saying, 'I believe in religious freedom for all,' while showing a bias against Muslims," he said, citing policies like the travel ban. In general, American support for religious freedom is slipping, Farr said. Conflict over LGBTQ rights and womens health have derailed the bipartisan consensus that once distinguished religious freedom efforts from other policy debates. "There is a relationship between the decline of religious freedom in America and the relative ineffectiveness of American foreign policy over the past 20 years. It is difficult to sell a product which you do not understand, and in which you no longer believe," Farr said. The Trump administration could help reverse this trend with a more consistent approach to this right, Patton said. "There's an effort abroad that seems positive, but the reality at home doesnt seem so positive," he said. "If the administration were as vocal about protecting religious freedom here in the domestic sphere, I think it would have a beneficial effect." Brownback believes his successes have happened because of the people above him, not despite them. It took Trump's election to turn religious freedom into a top policy goal, he said. "You had to get an administration that wanted to really push (religious freedom) and that's what this one does and is. Once you had that, then you could go into some venues that you couldn't before," he said. However, any progress made will fall apart if American leaders don't take religious conflict in the U.S. seriously, Farr said. "If religious freedom is damaged or lost in America, where else can it be restored? The answer is nowhere," he said. SALT LAKE CITY For the last three months, the Deseret News spoke with top religious freedom advocates and researched efforts to address persecution across the globe. Here are six key takeaways from that work. 1. Religious freedom is threatened around the world. Seventy years ago, world leaders declared that religious freedom was a universal human right. But that statement hasn't amounted to much on the ground. More than 80 percent of the world's population live under "high or very high" religious restrictions, according to Pew Research Center. This figure is rising even as efforts to address it increase. 2. The U.S. is religious freedom's most prominent cheerleader. Twenty years ago, American leaders decided that something had to change. Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, adopting a more thorough approach to tracking and responding to religious persecution around the world. The legislation created the role of ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, an office dedicated to international religious freedom at the State Department and the independent, bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "No other government comes close to providing the detailed and largely accurate reports on what is happening abroad," said Thomas Farr, who served as founding director of the international religious freedom office. 3. Thorough reports aren't enough. The legislation was significant, but the government's religious freedom efforts are still less than ideal, according to former State Department officials. Diplomats fail to reach out to religious communities. Potential sanctions on countries that limit religious practice are waived. Religious freedom advocates don't have enough power to push meaningful change. "The job of U.S. foreign policy is not simply to issue reports," Farr said. "It is to advance religious freedom, which requires more than identifying the problem." 4. Sam Brownback is fighting for a more effective approach. Sam Brownback, who previously served as governor of Kansas and a senator for the state, is the first former congressman to hold the ambassador role. His supporters say he has the political savvy to enter the State Department's "slow-motion train wreck" and make a difference. Since taking office 15 months ago, he's traveled the world to meet with victims of religious persecution and some of the people who've harmed them. He's made a sales pitch for religious freedom, promising that it strengthens economies. 5. But there are limits to Brownback's power. Brownback's high-profile meetings and statements condemning attacks on people of faith are important, but they still rarely lead to meaningful policy action. He, like other ambassadors, is at the mercy of his superiors. It's up to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the White House to decide which countries face sanctions and when religious persecution should be considered genocide. 6. Religious freedom advocates are worried about what the future holds. Still, many religious freedom advocates say Brownback is making a notable difference for people of all faiths and no faith around the world. He is building an international coalition to promote religious freedom. However, early successes won't last if faith-related tensions persist on the homefront. Americans are losing support in religious freedom, and it will take more than Brownback's passion to change their minds. "There's an effort abroad that seems positive, but the reality at home doesnt seem so positive," said James Patton, president of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. "If the administration were as vocal about protecting religious freedom here in the domestic sphere, I think it would have a beneficial effect." In the midst of hate-driven killings, bombings and shootings in houses of worship and on a college campus, we are painfully aware that evil exists in the world. The derisive and divisive rhetoric regularly dished out on social media and the cancerous contempt curried by national news outlets fans the flames of hate that, if not extinguished, may well consume the good and united core of the country. Sadly, there have always been times like these. Hate has always been the driving force in the destruction of communities, societies and nations. The societies that survive and succeed are those that honestly and clearly call out hate wherever they see it, then transcend it with overwhelming goodness, kindness and understanding. Hate in all its forms including contempt, prejudice and petty slurs leads to a place where fear and frustration foment into rage and even violence. We must call out hate for what it is and then do our part to advance meaningful conversations and elevate our dialogue. The morally bankrupt idea of superiority and the resulting dehumanizing of others based on race, religion, gender, orientation, social status or political belief is often where hate gains a foothold. As we consume or are consumed by media from Twitter to cable news, we would be wise to remember that no one who plants thistles in the spring expects to harvest fruit in the fall. So dont think for a minute that those who perpetually plant hate and contempt are expecting to reap love and kindness later. I am convinced that was not an accident, but divine design, that a very important phrase was inserted into the Declaration of Independence. This defining document of American liberty is primarily a detailed list all of the grievances the colonists had against King George and the British crown. Yet, in the midst of the litany of complaints the phrase all men are created equal makes a stunning and transcendent appearance. The Declaration sparked the flame of freedoms revolution. It also launched a national soul-conflicting conversation, which continues today, over how to bring our behavior into alignment with the ideals of equality we profess. In order to transcend contempt and hate, we have to see each other differently. It is easy to become pessimistic about people and cynical toward our fellow citizens. Joe Klein wisely wrote, Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre. We have to see the exceptional in others rather than their flaws. A friend once asked how I saw the good in people. Without thinking I responded that I dont see the good in people I just see people. Seeing people in their true character as fellow travelers, and treating them with kindness, love and respect, always leads to a better place. My dad forever changed my view of people when he introduced me to Og Mandinos classic tale The Greatest Salesmen in the World. In particular, he had me memorize the success scroll about greeting each day with love in your heart. Here is a sampling: I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I speak? I will laud mine enemies and they will become friends. I will encourage my friends and they will become brothers and sisters. Always will I dig for reasons to applaud. Never will I scratch for excuses to gossip. When I am tempted to criticize I will bite on my tongue. When I am moved to praise I will shout from the roofs. And how will I act? I will love all manner of people for each has qualities to be admired, even though they be hidden. But how will I react to the actions of others? With Love. For just as love is my weapon to open the hearts of men, love is also my shield to repulse the arrows of hate and the spears of anger. I will greet this day with love in my heart. How we speak, act and react to those around us, especially those who are different, or with whom we may disagree, will determine how much hate or kindness we have in our lives and communities. It is time to call out the purveyors of contempt and profiteers of hate who regularly shrug their shoulders with a it's not my problem attitude. It is also time to call on citizens to no longer join the slouching-shoulder crowd who are increasingly OK with a culture of contempt. Government is not, cannot and should not be big enough to solve these issues. We must square our shoulders and do it together. We often, and rightly, say with gratitude that we stand on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before us in our country and community. We should remember that the only reason we can stand on their shoulders is because they were willing to square them. The color, size or strength of our shoulders does not matter. What matters is that we are willing to square them and work as one to lift each other and this nation beyond the cycles of contempt and hate and toward better, more hope-filled days to come. SALT LAKE CITY As Rochester Drug Cooperative one of the nations largest pharmaceutical companies faces federal criminal charges for its role in the opioid epidemic, many are asking whether Big Pharma should be the sole target in this widespread scourge. Rochester Drug Cooperatives federal charges reflect a new approach for the government in targeting the pharmaceutical industry and could prove a successful pivot in the opioid epidemic. However, Zachary Siegel, criminal justice reporter for Medium.com, argues that blaming drug companies for the death toll in the opioid crisis misdiagnoses the problems driving the epidemic. Siegel and others suggest the scope of the problem extends far beyond drug companies to a complex array of other culprits. 1. Drug company owners In a civil lawsuit filed in March 2019, New York State accused eight Sackler family members of contributing to the opioid crisis, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans over the last two decades. The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharma, maker of the painkiller OxyContin. The suit represents direct legal action against people rather than a company, suggesting individuals can be considered culpable parties in the opioid crisis. Two former Rochester Drug Cooperative executives were also charged in the federal governments suit. 2. Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing According to medical writer C. Lee Ventola in an article in the Journal of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, the U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow this type of marketing, in which consumers ask their doctor about the drugs they see in television and magazine advertisements. The FDA regulates consumer pharmaceutical marketing, but critics cite concerns with lax and marginally enforced rules as well as a lack of guidelines for online marketing. Ventola suggests that while the drugs we consume are shaped by U.S. regulatory structures and political incentives, the ways in which we learn about those drugs are less regulated: In recent years, the number of regulatory actions taken by the FDA against (direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing) violations has fallen off dramatically, which could reflect better industry compliance but could also be a result of a decline in FDA oversight. 3. Poverty Although addiction plagues all income levels, poverty remains a substantial part of the opioid crisis. Segel explains, The 100 or so people dying every day from opioid overdoses ... were unlikely affected by a shady marketing campaign from 10 years ago. Families perpetually trapped in cycles of poverty and neglect ... need more help than a settlement from Big Pharma can offer. Although povertys connections to drug abuse have been examined, data show that the issues perpetuating poverty such as lack of education, poor job prospects and chronic health problems lead to increased risk and decreased disincentives for opioid use, according to the Institute for Research on Poverty. Researchers at the Institute call this a cumulative disadvantage, and explain that the rural, economically depressed areas most ravaged by opioids are rife with it. 4. Health insurance companies The health insurance sector also has a hand in the epidemic as it has made opioids less expensive than their safer alternatives. Researchers at The New York Times and ProPublica found that most of the insurance plans they studied covered opioids and did not require prior approval for dispensing. Additionally, in many instances, doctors were given incentives to prescribe opioids because they offered faster relief at a lower cost. Medicare and Medicaid also have pathways for approving addiction treatments that are more complicated than getting approval for the actual addictive substances. This has resulted in frustrated patients who often fail to get needed treatment because of hourslong wait times for insurance approval, according to that same report. 5. The medical community Ultimately, some providers cannot avoid a portion of responsibility for the opioid epidemic. In 2017, a group of doctors wrote a letter to the editor published in The New England Journal of Medicine analyzing a previous letter, published in 1980 in the same journal. They determined the 1980 letter was heavily and uncritically cited as evidence that addiction was rare with long-term opioid therapy, thereby contributing to the current crisis. Although the 1980 letter did not provide evidence supporting opioid use, it was widely used to reinforce the idea that opioids were safe. The authors of the 2017 letter found that some doctors grossly misrepresented the earlier letters conclusions, with a marked increase in its citations after the introduction of OxyContin in 1995. They state: We believe that this citation pattern (by providers) contributed to the North American opioid crisis by helping to shape a narrative that allayed prescribers concerns about the risk of addiction associated with long-term opioid therapy. The Rochester Drug Company's federal lawsuit suggests an opportunity for Big Pharma to be publicly questioned, a chance that could alter providers awareness of how theyre being peddled pharmaceuticals. Although there may not be sufficient avenues to hold all these groups legally responsible for their role in the opioid crisis, their participation does factor into the overall equation that needs to be addressed in order to turn the crisis around. Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, co-director of the Rand Drug Policy Research Center explains: The opioid crisis is a perfect storm of problems within U.S. regulatory, industrial, social and economic environments. Rand researchers state that because the opioid crisis is an ecosystem of sorts mitigating the problem will require a holistic approach. OGDEN The cafeteria manager at Highland Junior High School has been named the West regions Manager of the Year by the School Nutrition Association. The award from the national nonprofit recognizes a cafeteria manager who has demonstrated dedication and ingenuity to improve his or her school meal program. Jennifer Berglund has shown a strong work ethic and great passion for school nutrition over the years, Gay Anderson, the associations president, said in a statement. She has been a pioneer in her state, coordinating new programs in Utah with impressive dedication to her school, staff and students. According to the association, Berglund gets to know students by name and familiarizes herself with their likes, dislikes and personalities to create a fun and comfortable atmosphere. In addition, she has worked with the district supervisor to install colorful displays, attractive serving line signage and main line menu boards in her cafeteria. In January 2018, Berglund implemented a pilot Breakfast in the Classroom program, working with the schools principal and teachers and making sure kitchen staff were trained on logistics. Berglund created promotional materials to remind students to participate in the program and answered teachers questions about meal components. According to teachers, they have seen a reduction in student tardiness since the program was established, and due to its success, its is being implemented in the districts other secondary schools. The summit meeting on April 25 in Vladivostok between Russia President Vladimir Putin and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un is a useful lesson in the basic reality that power is the currency of international relations, today as through history. Putin used the opportunity to underscore the influence of his nation, in Northeast Asia as elsewhere. His leadership orchestrates this impact, despite a weak economy. Kim demonstrated that his own nation has more options in the contemporary power game than dealing only with the United States. Putin emphasized the importance of the multilateral framework to efforts to curtail and eventually remove North Koreas nuclear weapons program. The Six-Party talks on North Korea nuclear efforts have included China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. along with Pyongyang and Seoul. These talks currently are on hold, but until a decade ago accounted for limited progress as well as communication. Putin is right they are an important diplomatic mechanism. The U.S. in earlier administrations was active and effective in orchestrating this effort. Kim specifically dramatized distance from the U.S. government. Among other statements, he declared Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must not participate in any future nuclear negotiations. Last August, President Donald Trump announced that Pompeo would not go to North Korea as planned. The reason given is that the government in Pyongyang has not followed through on expectations to dismantle nuclear weapons facilities or curtail development. Another reality is the long-term deterioration of the backward communist economy of North Korea. In May 2016, Kim wore a business suit rather than uniform for a Communist Party Congress. He publicly acknowledged economic challenges, no longer avoidable. The Communist Party Congress took place in a context of continuing tensions with South Korea. In 2013, North Korea announced a state of war with South Korea and threatened nuclear attack. Pyongyang abruptly abrogated the 1953 armistice agreement ending the Korean War, and cut the military hot line communications link with the south. These developments appeared to be a prelude to war, yet there has been no evidence that North Korea has mobilized or is mobilizing to invade South Korea. Moreover, Pyongyangs nuclear program remains rudimentary. Missile tests include some successes, but also dramatic failure. Kim has publicly criticized those in the military developing a taste for money amid reports of corruption. As part of a major military shakeup, Kim assumed the rank of Marshal of the Peoples Army, adding to a series of celebratory titles. He has been ruthless in executing those suspected of disloyalty, including close family members. North Korea in sum has acted bizarrely for years. In late February 2012, North Korea agreed once more to cease their on-again, off-again nuclear program. In joint announcements coordinated with the U.S. Department of State, the regime agreed to halt enrichment of uranium and construction of weapons, and permit international inspection of nuclear facilities. Yet two months later, Pyongyang tested a missile. The launch was an embarrassing flop. This erratic shifting course implies infighting among factions in the regime rather than total control by Kim and his immediate coterie. Regarding Korea, President Dwight Eisenhower understood brutal realities of war. Stalled Korean War armistice talks quickly concluded successfully in 1953 following extensive U.S. bombing. Ike focused on getting the job done. This built on President Trumans courageous June 1950 decision to defend South Korea against invasion from the North. These presidents provide the example. Disciplined diplomats are also crucial to success. When Civica Rx cut the ribbon on its headquarters in Lehi on April 18, the opening was a milestone in the effort to reduce chronic drug shortages in Americas health care institutions, and it underscored the pivotal role Utah is playing in that effort. Civica Rx is a notforprofit generic drug company established last year by leading health systems and philanthropies in the United States to ensure essential generic medicines are consistently accessible and affordable for patients in Americas hospitals. Health systems representing about 900 hospitals have joined the venture so far with many more expressing interest. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is also working with Civica Rx to enhance the care it offers to our veterans. Participating health systems and their patients are experiencing firsthand the impact of generic drug shortages that are all too common. Civica Rx will address the problem by producing lifesaving medicines less expensively and more predictably, because participating health systems know their needs and can commit in advance to bulk purchases at reduced rates. Research into the costs of manufacturing and distributing generic drugs suggests that in many instances, prices for generic drugs used in hospitals can be reduced substantially from their current costs. This can save patients and health care systems hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Heres one example. In 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to Daraprim, which is used to treat a rare infection called toxoplasmosis, and which is used by only 6,000 patients in the U.S. Turing raised the price of Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent for one tablet, from $13.50 to $750 which increased the price of a normal course of treatment from $1,350 to $75,000. Civica Rxs analysis reveals that a notforprofit manufacturer can produce and sell the drug for much less. Given that kind of impact, the ribboncutting ceremony at Civica Rxs new headquarters in Lehi has national implications, and its location reflects the essential role Utah is playing in this effort. Civica Rx was first envisioned and developed by Dan Liljenquist, Intermountain Healthcares senior vice president and chief strategy officer. Intermountain served as the incubator and provided infrastructure support until Civica Rx could be launched with startup contributions from health systems across the country. Lehi was chosen as its home for two reasons: First, its centrally located amid Utahs major universities, which gives Civica Rx access to the extraordinary expertise of those academic centers. Second, Lehi, known locally as Silicon Slopes, is a hub for Utahs startup and tech community, which enables Civica Rx to draw on the expertise and talent there. The Lehi headquarters house business operations, research and development, data analytics, and is the home office for seven of the organizations 14 current employees. The remaining staff telecommute from other locations. The Lehi office will house up to 40 people and is expected to be at capacity within two years. As the organization expands, the office will grow to four or five times that size within three to five years. The health systems that are participating in Civica Rx are in 46 states. In Utah, they include Intermountain Healthcare, MountainStar Healthcare, Steward Health Care, and University of Utah Health. The beauty of Civica Rx is that its a public, notforprofit asset not owned by anyone that will invest its revenue in growing the supply of muchneeded, affordable, generic medicines. Civica Rxs partners determine the drugs the organization manufactures, based largely on the most urgent need. Civica Rx expects to bring 14 hospitaladministered drugs to market in 2019. Its working toward becoming an FDAapproved manufacturer that will either directly manufacture generic drugs or subcontract manufacturing to trusted supply partners. Utah residents will benefit from the medicines that will be produced by Civica Rx. The goal is to eliminate drug shortages everywhere, so everyone who needs essential generic medicines has access to them and can afford them. Civica Rx was born in Utah, incubated at Intermountain Healthcare, and is now at home in Lehi. With access to Utahs finest universities, health systems, and other talent, theres no limit to what it can accomplish. With my finger? If youve ever tried to sign your name on a screen, you know how hard it is. I was supposed to be proving I could write in the English language, which I know is a bit of a stretch for a British journalist but I was willing to give it a go. In the end, it looked like a spider had consumed a bottle of vodka before before dipping his feet in ink and running across the page. But she seemed satisfied. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. MAGNA For decades, the Utah Power Plant located in Magna provided electricity that served as a reliable resource for mining at Kennecott. Now after 75 years of operation, the facility is shutting down for good. State officials and clean air advocates hailed the move after Rio Tinto Kennecott Wednesday announced the official retirement of the plant following regulatory approval. With the closure of our plant and reduction in our emissions, we're going to see 6,000 tons of pollutants eliminated from the Salt Lake Valley airshed," Rio Tinto Kennecott managing director Marc Cameron said. "Rio Tinto Kennecott is making a significant investment as we move forward in renewable energy." The company will use Green-e certified carbon-free renewable energy certificates for 1.5 million megawatt hours of electricity, primarily from Rocky Mountain Powers portfolio of wind and solar resources, according to a news release. Speaking at a news conference at the power plant, Cameron said the plant retirement and green energy certificates will facilitate the removal of more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from Kennecotts operations as well as lowering the company's annual carbon footprint by up to 65 percent. It's an important milestone in achieving Rio Tintos ultimate goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, he added. He also noted that when the plant ceases operation, the 10 employees who work there will be placed in positions in other parts of the company's business, meaning there will be no lost jobs as a result of the power plant retirement. The power plant which began operation in 1943 is a four-unit, 175-megawatt thermal generator that runs on coal or natural gas, the release stated. The facility was originally put into operation to help the Allied war effort in World War II. Since then, it has served as an important power source for the mining business. In the early 1990s, Kennecott began idling the plant during the winter to reduce carbon emissions that impacted cold weather inversions, Alan Matheson, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said. Now with the plant offline, pollution levels are expected to decrease noticeably, he said. "The retirement of this plant is going to result in immediate benefits for the state," he said. "We're taking one of the major polluters out of our airshed. We're going to be eliminating the biggest producer of sulfur dioxide in the valley." The plant produced many of the components that contributed to the area's summertime pollution, he added. While closing the plant may cost the company financially, the decision will help the community overall in the long run. "This is a commitment to clean the air, be a responsible corporate citizen, make life better for their employees and for everybody that lives here, Matheson said. UCAIR Executive Director Thom Carter called the plant closing "a big deal." "When we can move any emission out of the valley especially out of the airshed it really affects us as we try and drive down any emissions base as well as make our air cleaner," he said. "Shutting it down completely will reduce emissions around the valley and clean our air." He also noted that Rio Tinto Kennecott's shift toward green energy shows a level of engagement toward enhanced environmental stewardship in the future. "Their commitment for all the power coming into Rio Tinto Kennecott being renewable really shows a long-term commitment, not just to air quality, but (also) to climate," Carter said. "We're really excited about that commitment." State leaders hailed the choice to shutter the old facility in favor of renewable sources and improved air quality. Rio Tintos decision to retire their power plant is a win-win for our community," said Gov. Gary Herbert in a statement. "Their decision will simultaneously support Utahs shift toward a low carbon economy and improve air quality in the Salt Lake Valley. This latest initiative between Kennecott, Rocky Mountain Power, and our community leaders shows how continued collaboration leads to great solutions for our customers and the environment, said Rocky Mountain Power CEO Gary Hoogeveen in a statement. PROVO A local oral surgeon is offering to pull some teeth for free to help ease the burden for at least one student facing mounting debt. "Attending higher education is so much more expensive now than when I went to school," said Dr. Michael Harris, oral and maxillofacial surgeon with Utah Surgical Arts. He said education is important, but oral health is, too. Utah Surgical Arts, which offers wisdom teeth removal at its South Jordan, Payson and Provo locations, is asking students to apply for its Wisdom for Wisdom program, now until May 14, at utahsurgicalarts.com. Wisdom teeth typically erupt between ages 17 and 25, though they are developing much earlier. There is often not enough space to accommodate the new teeth, which can lead to oral health complications, such as infection, decay and tooth damage. One recipient will be chosen May 15 to have free wisdom teeth extractions to offset the rising cost of going to college, Harris said. MURRAY If Lisa Hall Nord could talk to her 20-year-old self, she'd tell her to follow her dream of studying graphic design in college and to complete her associate degree. As she reflects on her earlier life, she acknowledges she wasn't highly focused on a particular academic goal the first time she went to college. "I was going to college to get my Mrs. degree," she said. She dropped out a couple of classes shy of an associate degree to get married. She and her husband had a son and a daughter and settled into family life. For 14 years, Hall Nord was a stay-at-home mom. That changed when after 22 years, their marriage ended "suddenly and unexpectedly," Hall Nord said. Hall Nord became a single mom who worked a number of paraprofessional jobs in schools, but they were not jobs that had a future, nor was she passionate about the work. Her son, Alex, suggested that she return to college, but Hall Nord was not convinced she could do it. "Your self-confidence is just shattered when you go through a divorce," she said. But Alex, who was attending Salt Lake Community College at the time, was persistent. He helped with admissions, applying for financial aid and nudged her to try again. She jumped in carrying 12 credit hours her first semester in school, including a dreaded math class. Hall Nord earned a 4.0 GPA that term and she got the highest score in her class on her math final. "I was pretty excited. I restored a little bit of that lost confidence," she said. One semester propelled her to complete another, although Hall Nord said there were times "every semester" that she wondered if she'd be able to complete her work and achieve the grades she wanted. Even as she attended school full time, she was mom to Alex, now 21, and her daughter, Chloe, 15. Tuesday was her final class, and she had to present her design portfolio. She told her son that she wasn't sure she'd be able to complete it on time and it might derail her graduation. As he had so many other times in the 2 1/2 years it took Hall Nord to complete three associate degrees in visual art and design, graphic communications and general studies, Alex urged her on. On Friday, Hall Nord will graduate from Salt Lake Community College as one of seven Graduates of Excellence. According to data provided by the college, nearly 3,300 students will be awarded degrees or have been approved for future graduation. The youngest graduate is 17 and the oldest 70. The distinction is "humbling" because she knows many other SLCC students who have overcome great challenges to earn their degrees, Hall Nord said. Hall Nord counts many supporters who helped her complete her degrees. Her children have been her constant cheerleaders. When she lost her house to foreclosure, her parents bought it so she and her children could continue to live there. When they didn't have enough to eat, the neighborhood and her church stepped up with donated food. SLCC provided a grant to Hall Nord for her last term of school when she ran out of financial aid. "One professor, Jessica Curran, consistently showed me encouragement and support as a student even when I wasnt currently enrolled in one of her classes," Hall Nord wrote in the essay that accompanied her Graduate of Excellence application. "You know that expression it takes a village to raise a child? It takes a village to get a middle-aged woman through school, too," said Hall Nord, 52, in an interview Wednesday. In her field of study, there were few similarly aged students. "I was definitely old enough to be everybody's mama," she said. Sometimes, that was a little isolating. But she took great pride as she completed one semester after another. "That sense of accomplishment after 16 weeks is so morale lifting," she said. On her very first day at SLCC, in that math class no less, she looked around the classroom and observed that everyone else was trying to fit in and adjust to college as well. Hall Nord said it occurred to her that she had one thing going for her that none of her younger classmates had: life experience. "It was daunting to think of starting over at midlife and I wasnt sure I could do it. As a nontraditional student at SLCC, I was initially concerned about being able to keep up with students half my age. But life experience had taught me the value of a strong work ethic and I worked hard to earn straight A's my first semester," she wrote. As graduation approaches, Hall Nord said she feels a little sad because "now, I don't want to be done with school. I love learning." Next week she has a job interview and she sees many possibilities for a bright future. She encourages others to try even one class at a community college if they think they might want to return to school. "If you don't like it or it's not for you, that's OK, too," she said. Everyone should apply for financial aid because it makes college possible for many people who don't think they can afford it, she said. As for Hall Nord, she plans to attend Utah Valley University next fall with the goal of obtaining a bachelor's degree in fine arts. Returning to SLCC allowed her to transfer credits to UVU where she started her first associate degree, and she's completed her associate degree in university studies from UVU, too. Commuting to Orem and continuing to rear her teenage daughter will be a next-level challenge, but Hall Nord's said self-confidence has been restored. "I know I can do hard things," she said. SALT LAKE CITY To celebrate May Day, groups advocating for clean air, environmental protection, and Native American remembrance all gathered in a remote area of west Salt Lake City on Monday for a common cause: to fight what they call the "polluting port." Birds flew overhead and bugs buzzed among the crowd as they gathered for a news conference at the site of the former Salt Lake City landfill now owned by a state agency that has long been eyed for development of the proposed Utah Inland Port. But rather than seeing the area near 7200 W. North Temple as an old dumping ground or a place fit for miles of train cars, concrete, shipping yards, loading stations and trucks, they see the area as sensitive wetlands integral for the Great Salt Lake's survival, a critical pit stop for millions of migratory birds, a home for a heard of antelope, and lands once cared for by Utah's historical Native American tribes. "This area deserves protection," said Michael Cundick, co-founder of SLC Air Protectors. "This is about love. It's about love for the birds that depend on the wetlands that the Great Salt Lake depends on. It's about love for our lungs, the ability to breathe into the future," he said, calling on Utahns to join their fight against the port. If they don't, he said the future of the area would suffer from "exploitation" for "just for profit." "Someday, it's going to be deserts and concrete," he said. "And that is not a future I want to bring kids into." Though the Utah Inland Port Authority Board has barely begun planning the area having hosted a slew of workshops for public engagement in recent weeks dozens of protestors have already mobilized against the port, seeing it as a "disastrous" project that would only further damage the Wasatch Front's already poor air quality and decimate the ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake. The Utah Inland Port's 16,000-acre boundary excludes natural areas already protected in the Salt Lake City Northwest Quadrant Master Plan, but to environmental groups including the Great Salt Lake Audubon and the Center for Biological Diversity, port development in the general area of Salt Lake's west side poses too much of a threat. Further, port critics have been upset by indications that state leaders have an interest in using the port to maximize fossil fuel exports out of rural Utah. "Why, in a time of climate change, when we know the consequences are so dire and the time is so short, would we be subsidizing something that would contribute massively to climate conditions?" said Deeda Seed, a former Salt Lake City councilwoman and campaigner with the Center of Biological Diversity who has spearheaded pushback on the inland port. Derek Miller, chairman of the port board, said in a statement issued later Wednesday that the port "recognizes the potential impacts of future growth" on the developable acres in the project area that he said will come regardless of an inland port. "If left as is, this zoning will result in far greater impacts to the environment, traffic congestion and the surrounding communities than the coordinated plan of a properly sequenced development," he said. "We have one opportunity to get this multi-generational opportunity correct and manage the growth of our state and the impact from other states correctly." Miller said the port authority "remains committed to working collaboratively with all interested parties to help develop the most technologically advanced port through informed and conscious decisions that will reduce the impacts of growth, promote environmental stewardship and foster economic stability. Georgie Corkey, a board member of the Great Salt Lake Audubon, said the port would "threaten" a "globally important" area for between 7 and 10 million migratory birds, while also resulting in light, noise and air pollution. As she spoke, a formation of geese flew north in the sky above. Sparrows flitted overhead. "From an environmental standpoint, this proposed inland port cannot be situated in a worse location," she said. Darren Parry, chairman of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, said the land was once "sacred" to the Shoshone, Ute and Goshute tribes. "This land was something so sacred and special that we called her mother. That can't be forgotten in all of this," Parry said. "I've heard politicians say this land has no use, it's void. That can't be further from the truth. It's full of life." Amelia Leafaitulagi, a woman from California who protested the Southern California International Gateway, a rail yard facility located near the San Pedro Bay Ports, said her group "stopped" the project. She said she moved back to Utah recently to take care of her aging mother. "Please don't give up," she said. "Please continue to fight. We can stop this, and we will." Last week, the Utah Inland Port Authority's board meeting was canceled after a group of protestors crashed the meeting. The next meeting has yet to be scheduled. MURRAY The board of directors of American International School of Utah voted unanimously Wednesday to postpone a decision on the future of the K-12 charter school that serves 1,300 students amid growing concerns about its financial viability. At a minimum, the school will remain open until the end of this school year. On March 28, Utah State Board of Education staff notified the school it must repay $514,905 in state and federal special education funds deemed unallowable expenditures. The letter states that the state's review was used for "unsupported teacher salaries and benefits." The school has filed an appeal with the State School Board. Instead of depositing the school's funding monthly, the state is reimbursing the school for its expenses as it files required documentation. This is putting a strain on the school's finances, too, officials said. But other financial liabilities that stem back to previous management of the school are also looming, said the school's executive director Tasi Young, who has led the school for this academic year. In an interview prior to the board meeting, Young explained why the school is facing closure. "We are here right now because the state has finally caught up with the potential liabilities of past management, the lack of adherence to funding restrictions from past management and a couple of agreements that are important to our current financial model," Young said. "The state is looking at that and questioning it in a way that they cannot guarantee that we will make it through a compliance audit over the next 12 months. They cannot guarantee they will allow us to stay open and we cannot guarantee the state we can financially stay open with all those penalties and paybacks." As staff has uncovered questionable financial issues, it has referred the information to the Utah Attorney General's Office for its review to determine if any of the issues rise to criminal conduct or civil violations. Some board members urged a delay to allow time to study other options such closing at the end of the 2020 academic year or possibly finding a third party to operate the school. "Let's snuggle and put a proposal together and then see. Let's call everyone we know and then see," said Mindy Young. Tasi Young said whatever the school does, its current financial issues have created an atmosphere of uncertainty at the school. If the school stayed open for another year, it likely would not be with the same faculty. "If they get a job offer, I can't tell them 'just stay with me one more year,'" he said. The uncertainty will also mean some parents will opt to send their children to school elsewhere, which will affect the school's funding, said board chairman Kent Burggraaf. The school is currently on "warning" status with the State Charter School Board. The State Board of Education is scheduled to hear a report on the issue of repayment of special education funds during its meeting Thursday. Earlier, the State School Board's internal auditor performed a review that warned the school's disbursement policies and procedures left the school at "significantly increased risk of fraud, waste, and abuse of public education funds. Increased risk of liability to the LEA (local education agency), which could have far-reaching impact on operations and students." Top state education officials, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson, State Deputy Superintendent Scott Jones of Operations, and Jennifer Lambert, executive director of the Utah State Charter School Board, attended the meeting. Earlier in the day during a public hearing, parents questioned why they were just notified of the school's financial difficulties. Some even said they could find investors who could help the school through its difficulties. Students urged school officials to find ways to keep the school open because they have struggled in traditional school. Many students said they were bullied at their previous schools and found acceptance at AISU. "This is the place nobodies have come and theyve become some bodies," said eighth grader Lillie Clark. Trevor Huish, a visual arts teacher who has been at the school since its start, said the faculty is "here for your kids." Teaching at the school has been "the highest privilege of my life and I appreciate it so much," he said. SALT LAKE CITY Sen. Mike Lee is endorsing his former deputy chief of staff, Derek Brown, in the contentious race for Utah Republican Party chairmanthat will be decided by delegates at Saturday's state convention. As we prepare for difficult 2020 elections, it is vital that we have a party chair with a track record of uniting people, raising funds and winning elections," Lee said in a statement Thursday. "I have watched Derek Brown do all three." Gov. Gary Herbert also is backing Brown, a former state lawmaker. There are four candidates running to succeed Utah GOP Chairman Rob Anderson, who is not seeking a second two-year term: Brown, Phill Wright, Chadwick H. Fairbanks III and Sylvia Miera-Fisk. But the race appears to be between Brown and Wright. Wright is a member of the party's State Central Committee that recently censured Anderson in the ongoing battle over the controversial law allowing candidates to gather voter signatures for a place on the primary ballot. The legal challenge to SB54 from a faction of the party that includes Wright failed earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their case against lower federal court rulings upholding the law. Lee has been a vocal opponent of SB54, urging the governor to stop defending the law "for the love of the Constitution and for the good of all political parties," in a Facebook post while the case was still pending. Utah's senior senator is also one of the most popular politicians with the 4,000 Republican delegates who'll be choosing a new chairman during Saturday's annual convention, being held at Utah Valley University in Orem. Brown, who has said he acknowledges that SB54 is the law, described his bid for chairman as being about "how the Utah GOP now needs to unify and focus on what matters winning elections." That message is resonating with delegates, Brown said. "I am confident on Saturday the delegates will decide to come together as a party, and choose a future where Utah Republicans are united and strong." He also said he's grateful and "excited to receive the full support of Sen. Mike Lee for this campaign. It was an honor to serve for a time as his deputy chief of staff, and to see firsthand his integrity and his commitment to the state of Utah." Wright said Lee told him last week the Brown endorsement came about because of a previous promise of support. He said he has "great respect for Sen. Lee and I understand, I appreciate that he's making good on a committment to a friend." His campaign for chairman has focused on his experience with the GOP, including as a former state party vice chairman and as chairman of the Utah delegation to the Republican National Convention in 2016. "To me, this race has nothing to do with endorsements or friendship. It has everything to do with leadership," Wright said. "I think the delegates will make a wise choice and they will choose someone who actually has experience in leadership." Lee praised Brown's skills in his statement. "When Derek and I practiced law together nearly two decades ago, I developed a deep appreciation for his intellect, integrity and work ethic. More recently, he tirelessly promoted conservative values as my deputy chief of staff," Lee said. "He has spent countless hours volunteering his time for our party and our candidates. Derek has the skills we need to unify our party, win elections and give the Utah GOP a fresh start. Herbert encouraged Brown to get in the chairman's race, the governor's chief of staff, Justin Harding, said. "The governor talked to a number of people as part of the process of vetting potential candidates," he said. "When Derek's name came up, the governor certainly encouraged him to get in, feeling he was one person who could unite the party." And the governor is also helping ensure voting goes smoothly at the daylong party convention by using more than $18,000 in his leadership PAC to pick up the bill for electronic voting devices for delegates. The governor's contribution comes as the party struggles with debt. The yearslong battle over SB54, seen by supporters as critical to protecting the traditional caucus and convention system for nominating candidates, has hurt fundraising. "Theres no question electronic voting will make for a smoother convention and a better delegate experience than paper balloting," Harding said. Besides the chairman's race, delegates will also elect other party leaders. Also on the agenda are two dozen proposed changes to party bylaws as well as four resolutions. One of the resolutions calls for the repeal of SB103, the "hate crimes" bill that enhances penalties for crimes targeting people because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics, including political beliefs. The long-sought legislation was passed by the GOP-dominated 2019 Legislature and signed into law by the governor at a ceremony in the state Capitol marked by emotion. The resolution states that "allowing government to punish people for their beliefs is dangerous to liberty, and contrary to the principle of equal treatment under the law." SALT LAKE CITY Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams voted Thursday to block the Trump administration from exiting the Paris climate agreement, while the Republicans in the Utah delegation opposed the resolution. The U.S. House passed the Climate Action Now Act that calls for the U.S. to remain part of the accord negotiated under former President Barack Obama in 2015. It also requires the White House to submit a plan to Congress for the U.S. to meet its voluntary commitments under the agreement. The bill now goes to the Republican-led Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it won't get a vote. President Donald Trump announced in June 2017 that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris deal, though it cannot officially pull out of the agreement until 2020. Under the agreement, the U.S. pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. "The U.S. is a country that stands by its commitments," McAdams said. Air quality and health in Utah depend on reducing pollution, including emissions coming from cars and trucks, he said, adding that would be achieved in part by strengthening vehicle fuel economy, which saves consumers money and contributes to cleaner air. Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, gave a speech on the House floor Wednesday opposing the resolution, partly because it reinforces a "false narrative" that Republicans don't care about the environment because they're unwilling to get on board with an "all-or-nothing proposal, unrealistic approach to addressing climate change." The resolution ignores that the U.S. commitment to the Paris agreement could cost $250 billion and nearly 3 million jobs in the next six years, he said. The agreement also allows China the Earths largest greenhouse gas polluter to increase its emissions through 2030, with little evidence to show it plans to comply, he said. "Ive heard over and over that the U.S. must remain in the Paris agreement to show leadership. What kind of leadership leads to double-digit unemployment in rural America but lets China off the hook?" Curtis said. Leadership, he said, must focus on core principles of innovation, conservation, adaptation and preparation, which the resolutions fails to do. McAdams said many Utah businesses are leading the transition to a clean energy economy and the good-paying jobs offered by renewable energy production, such as wind and solar. He said the U.S. continues to be a leader in science and innovation, providing the tools to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and protect our planet. Utah GOP Reps. Rob Bishop and Chris Stewart also voted against the bill. SALT LAKE CITY A total of 65 middle- and high-school students from throughout Utah have earned the right to represent the state at the 2019 National History Day contest in Washington, D.C., in June. All the students headed to the national contest placed first of second in their category at the Utah History Day State Contest, which was held at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in late April. Approximately 500 students statewide explored the theme "Triumph and Tragedy in History" by creating projects that included documentary films, museum exhibits, performances, websites and research papers. A full list of winners can be found at history.utah.gov/utah-history-day. More than half a million students worldwide participate in National History Day every year. In Utah, nearly 6,300 young scholars participated during this academic year. Utah History Day formerly called Utah History Fair has operated continuously in the state since 1980 and is the official National History Day affiliate program for the state. Originally developed and housed at Utah State University, the program was transferred in 2014 to the Utah Division of State History. SALT LAKE CITY Convicted fraudster Rick Koerber is disputing the number of victims and their financial losses the government used to recommend he serve 20 years in prison. A federal judge has agreed to consider an evidentiary hearing on the issue and postponed the Utah real estate magnate's sentencing scheduled for May 13. The U.S. Attorney's Office opposes the "unnecessary" hearing and any further delay in the case. After nine years of court wrangling, including a dismissal and a mistrial, a jury last fall found Koerber guilty of 15 counts of wire fraud, fraud in the offer and sale of securities and money laundering. Prosecutors say investors lost a total of $45.2 million in the Ponzi scheme. Based on that figure, an estimated 600 victims and other factors, prosecutors say Koerber should spend 20 years behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines. But Koerber's federal public defender, Kathryn Nester, argues the government overstates the seriousness of the offenses and exaggerates the number of victims. Koerber wants a hearing to show the losses were less than half the amount, and that alone would reduce the sentencing range to no more than 21 months to 27 months. The defense also contends there were only 38 "front line investors" who lost money and many of the victims identified by the government didn't suffer any losses. Prosecutors oppose holding an evidentiary hearing, noting Koerber's sentencing has been postponed twice in the past. They contend that he "is in error" to claim the need for a hearing to resolve disputes over the financial losses and number of victims. "And, in what has been a pattern in Koerbers approach to this case, it promises to further delay Koerbers eventual sentencing for months," prosecutors wrote. Prosecutor says Koerber has had eight months to provide contrary numbers but has not done so. SALT LAKE CITY The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said Thursday it will quit removing deer from urban areas and relocating them in an effort to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease, a fatal contagious neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose. The disease has been spreading throughout many states across the United States. Currently, the disease has a low prevalence rate in Utah deer populations compared to neighboring states like Colorado and Wyoming. According the wildlife coordinator Mike Wardle, the divisions urban deer program was launched in 2014 to give cities the option of capturing and relocating the deer or euthanizing them. Moving forward, deer will only be removed by lethal means. We started a pilot program for translocations and further research because of public request, Wardle said in a statement. The pilot was planned to last until we could establish the full cost and the survival rates compared to the risks associated with relocating deer from cities. After weighing the benefits and risks associated with the nonlethal removal option, the DWR made the decision to discontinue the translocation part of the program. Research also showed translocation efforts didnt change public feedback regarding conflicts with urban deer. The division also found the survival rate for relocated deer is 50 percent. One upside, Wardle said, is that meat from deer that are removed lethally can be donated to local families in need. Meat from deer an area known to have chronic wasting disease would be tested before being donated. SALT LAKE CITY The head of the San Juan County Democratic Party said the "abrupt" departure last week of the county's chief administrative officer wasn't a surprise and the man likely would have faced disciplinary action had he stayed on because he wasn't following County Commission orders. "Mr. (Kelly) Pehrson had not been willing to take direction from the new County Commission and execute its priorities, and his abrupt resignation last week was not earth-shaking news," said James Adakai. Pehrson resigned effective April 26 and took a job Monday with the Utah Department of Agriculture as its deputy director. He told the Deseret News that county government affairs were in chaos because newly elected Commissioners Willie Grayeyes and Kenneth Maryboy refused to meet with him or any other staff member and are running the county via resolution. Both Grayeyes and Maryboy, who are Navajo, have been pushing and passing a series of resolutions drafted by Colorado-based attorney Steven Boos, former chief legislative counsel for the Navajo Nation, including one aimed at ousting San Juan County Attorney Kendell Laws. Laws conducted an investigation into Grayeyes' residency at the request of one of his political opponents that a judge later determined legitimately qualified him for office. Boos' relationship with the two men has been called into question by some San Juan County residents, and County Commissioner Bruce Adams, because of the type of influence an out-of-state attorney may be wielding in local politics. In a telephone interview, Boos said both Maryboy and Grayeyes men he's known for more than 25 years have every right to have legal counsel of their choosing to help them navigate the legislative process. "I am just their attorney, really. Legislators are allowed to hire attorneys to help them. Everyone does. The president of the United States has attorneys in the White House to help him navigate the legislative process. That is just the way the system works," Boos said. He said he is not getting paid for any of his work, and his communications with the two men related to San Juan County government affairs are protected, and subject to attorney-client privilege. But residents Kim Henderson and Shanon Brooks have been openly critical of the relationship at commission meetings, accusing both Maryboy and Grayeyes of being influenced by special interests and lacking transparency. Pehrson resigned after a terse April 16 meeting in which Maryboy referred to people in the audience as the "peanut gallery." In a statement released Wednesday night, Maryboy said the county's lack of formalized polices and procedures led the commission to adopt the series of resolutions after he and Grayeyes took office "to provide structure to a government that was for all intents and purposes, operating on unknowable and undocumented 'internal' policies that Pehrson mentioned but never produced." Pehrson, who was the county's chief administrative officer for six years, was lauded by Adams for his work ethic and management skills in a statement he released earlier this week. On the heels of Pehrson's resignation, Maryboy attempted to schedule an emergency meeting for Thursday to appoint David Everitt, the current Moab city manager, to fill the position on a temporary basis. He sent an email request for the meeting to Adams and Grayeyes, with an attachment of a proposed professional services agreement, that according to the website the Petroglyph, proposes to pay Everitt $5,763 every two weeks, or $149,838 a year. Adams responded that he couldn't attend the meeting because he was headed to a Community Impact Board meeting Thursday in Salt Lake City, adding that position should be advertised and held for now by someone already on staff familiar with the county. Approval of Everitt's job with the county is now on Tuesday's agenda of the County Commission meeting. The political dynamics have toppled in San Juan County in the aftermath of the November general election in which Grayeyes defeated Kelly Laws and Maryboy beat Rebecca Benally, another Navajo. The ballot box victories came after a 2017 federal court ruling in which the judge ordered redistricting that gave Navajo residents the majority of votes in two of three districts. San Juan County appealed the federal court order to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments last November. Adakai said the election victories represent a change in county priorities voiced by voters. "Voters in San Juan County who supported Commissioners Maryboy and Grayeyes voted for changes in county policy priorities. Elections have consequences, and these two commissioners are committed to expanding representation beyond the Anglo power structure that has controlled public policy since its beginning." Henderson said she doesn't believe what's happening in San Juan County government is based on racial lines. "This is not racially driven. It is about transparency." LOGAN Utah State Universitys Jon M. Huntsman School of Business announced this week the establishment of a $15 million fund to create a permanent endowment for named professorships. The Huntsman Fund for Faculty Excellence, a permanent endowment within the Utah State University Foundation, aims to help the business school attract superior talent to the university. According to the school, $12 million of the fund was provided by the Huntsman Foundation through previous gifts, with an initial match from the Huntsman School of Business of $3 million. The initial named professorships through the fund are: The Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor, which will support a female faculty member in any department of the Huntsman School. The David B. Haight Endowed Professor, which will support an exceptional member of the faculty in any department of the Huntsman School. The Douglas D. Anderson Endowed Professor. The Harry M. Reid Endowed Professor, which will support research and/or teaching faculty in any department of the Huntsman School. The Stephen R. Covey Endowed Professor of Leadership. Rapper Badshah has welcomed a white Rolls Royce Wraith into his family, and in true blue Gully Boy style, he said, Apna time aa gaya. Badshah on Tuesday took to Instagram to share an update about the new addition with his social media family. According to auto.ndtv.com, the car is priced at Rs 6.46 crore in India. Its been a long journey. Welcome to the family, he captioned a photograph in which his family members are seen posing around the car, which is described as the ultimate grand tourer. Wraith is a motor car for those with an insatiable thirst for adventure, the official Rolls Royce website describes the car. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BADSHAH (@badboyshah) on Apr 30, 2019 at 2:43am PDT Known for songs like Saturday Saturday, Chull, DJ waley babu and Abhi toh party shuru hui hai, Badshah, born and brought up in Delhi, has a huge fan following. Film and music fraternity members congratulated Badshah on the car. When Gully Boy star Ranveer Singh commented with a crown emoji for the rapper, Badshah responded: Apna time aa gaya, referring to the hit Apna time aayega song from the actors latest film. Among others who wished Badshah were Raftaar, Anand Ahuja, Naezy, Ammy Virk, Ikka, Karan Tacker and Karan Kundra. Rapper Raftaar turned emotional in an Instagram post, he wrote: This is inspiring... When everyone is happy with the small payments they are getting and dont realise how they are ruining theirs and others value in the future of this industry. Old artistes are setting standards for the big minded ones to follow. First Indian rapper to reach this level of success. Salute Badshah bhai. Arjun Kapoor is all set to play an intelligence officer on screen in Raj Kumar Guptas Indias Most Wanted, the trailer of which just came out. The film brings to life a true story of 5 Indian officers who set out to capture Indias Osama. The story is inspired by true events of the serial bomb blasts that happened in India between 2007 and 2013 in Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai. The trailer of Indias Most Wanted is out and we see Arjun Kapoor volunteer for the mission to capture the terrorist behind the serial blasts with four other officers. These officers set out for Katmandu in Nepal to nab the terrorist without any guns or firearms and with nearly no support from the agency they work for. Arjun Kapoor helms the operation to capture Indias most wanted and has only four days to close the life-risking mission. The film is an inspiring and patriotic and the details of the operation make it all the more intriguing. Arjun seems to be pulling off the intense role well. The actor is all beefed up and looks suave in his bearded look. The heroic trailer is certainly convincing and has quite a few gripping moments. We have seen several films on intelligence officers and covert operations in Bollywood lately and Indias Most Wanted takes that trend forward. The film will be releasing on 24 May. Fitness enthusiasts Malaika Arora and Jenifer Lopez are coming together for an exciting new project. The two mega-celebrities have joined hands as investors in an Indian yoga and wellness startup, SARVA. Started by, Sarvesh Shashi March 2016, SARVA is the brainchild of a yoga enthusiast turned entrepreneur. In a statement, international pop sensation JLo was quoted saying, I have personally benefited from my regular practice of yoga and believe that it has made a difference to my life both physically and mindfully. The enthusiasm that Sarvesh brings to SARVA is promising and infectious. Malaika who was already associated with SARVA stated, I have for long been zealously practicing yoga and experienced the dynamics of its inner energy and mental equipoise. Six months ago, SARVA and I partnered to start Diva Yoga, a unique studio concept for women only and we are overwhelmed with the way it has evolved. The startup aims building a global community of physically, mentally and emotionally fit individuals. What makes it even more exciting is the coming together of these two stars. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Group could divest part of their holdings in Indus Tower ahead of its merger with Bharti Infratel. Each operator group holds a 42% stake in the joint venture, but the Economic Times reported that the companies are in discussions with private-equity firm KKR that could see them reduce their holdings in the merged company. If a deal is reached with KKR, Bharti would reduce its holding to 37.2% and Vodafone to 29.4%. The operators plan to reduce their respective holdings in the merged unit to 13% each via deals with both KKR and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). KKR could obtain a holding of around 25%-32% in the merged company, while CPPIB would become one of several minority shareholders. Collectively, the two firms hold more than 10% of Bharti Infratel. Announced in April last year, the merger between Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel will create Indias largest tower firm, valued at between $12-13 billion. The proposal is expected to be cleared next month. Both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel are looking to reduce their debt, and have stated that they will divest assets to this end. The formers 11% stake in Indus Towers is worth an estimated INR50 billion ($719 million). A: Its about her service in World War II as a WAC. The book is based on the letters that she sent home to her family. I did research at the Pritzker Military Library because when she was serving in Europe, there was censorship so she couldnt really write about what was happening. Now I lecture about the women in the military. Subscriber content preview SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A San Francisco billionaire is donating $30 million to the University of California, San Francisco, to research root causes of homelessness and potential solutions. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, a city native, has embraced homelessness as a philanthropic cause, pumping millions into a 2018 city measure to tax wealthy companies to pay for homeless services. . . . Fire Chief Jeff Sorensen said the fire originated near the basement water heater and heating system, and firefighters detected the odor of some type of fuel. The concern, he said, is that an abandoned tank of heating oil, used many decades ago in houses like the one on Elmore Street, may be leaking underground and emitting flammable vapors. Subscriber content preview BOISE, Idaho (AP) A Boise-based software company has been ordered to pay SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc. $44 million in damages in a lawsuit over trade secrets. Officials with Clearwater Analytics did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. . . . Subscriber content preview WASHINGTON (AP) Nevada lawmakers said Wednesday that senators should end a renewed effort to create a national nuclear-waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain because the ensuing political battle would only delay a permanent solution to the country's nuclear waste storage problem. Pledging to ensure that not an ounce of nuclear waste makes it to Yucca Mountain, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, told lawmakers that continuing to push for that site over her state's objections would waste decades and billions of taxpayer dollars. . . . Subscriber content preview Photo from Wallace Properties website [enlarge] Building 4 at North Creek Tech Center, at 19807 North Creek Parkway in Bothell, has sold for almost $17.4 million, according to King County records. The seller was North Creek TEC LLC, which acquired the property in 1999 for almost $11.3 million. . . . Subscriber content preview SEATTLE An old warehouse at 5815 Airport Way S. sold for $4.1 million, according to King County records. The buyer was 5815 Airport Way Investments, which is associated with Sugar Mountain, the business arm of food entrepreneur Kurt Beecher Dammeier. Public records indicate a loan from East West Bank. . . . Subscriber content preview COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) Amazon plans to open a new delivery center on property purchased from a Colorado airport. The Gazette reported Tuesday that a purchase agreement was finalized Tuesday for 19 acres at the Colorado Springs Airport. . . . Indigo Partners, Lufthansa seen as likely bidders for Thomas Cook airline Private equity firm Indigo Partners and German carrier Lufthansa are reported to be among the several bidders who have shown interest in Thomas Cooks airline business that is on the block after the British travel group has been left with a heavy debt pile. Thomas Cook has put its profitable airline business up for sale in February and has invited expressions of interest till 7 May, reports citing sources said. Thomas Cooks airlines business consists of Germanys Condor, as well as British, Scandinavian and Spanish operations, according to a Reuters report. A sale, in whole or in part, would enable the worlds oldest tour operator to pay down debt and invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales in a bid to differentiate its offering from rivals. A source familiar with the discussions said that Indigo and Germanys Lufthansa were most interested in the business. Others interested Thomas Cooks airline business may include British Airways owner IAG, Irelands Ryanair and easyJet that has once engaged in talks with Thomas Cook, says the report. Another source said that private equity groups KKR and Apollo might also look at taking over the whole of Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook has an ageing fleet although the airlines business provides it access to valuable European slots linking Britain and Germany to key holiday destinations. Well meet for the first time the afternoon of the concert and do a fun but intense two-hour rehearsal, take a dinner break and the curtain comes up and its showtime. Thats really an example of what we do as professional musicians. UNSC lists Masood Azhar as global terrorist after China lifts hold The United Nations Security Council has listed Masood Azhar, head of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) a global terrorist, after China lifted a technical hold on a French-sponsored resolution, handing India a major diplomatic win. The designation will subject Masood Azhar and his terrorist outfit to a global assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was on 1 May 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," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, Syed Akbaruddin, tweeted on Monday News agency ANI, quoting top government sources, said that the JeM chief was put under house arrest at Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur on 26 February, post Balakot air strike. He was recently shifted to a safe house in Islamabad, the report said. The listing comes after China lifted its technical hold, placed on 13 March, 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". The US, the UK and France had 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. But, on 30 April, China said the issue will be "properly resolved" and that they see a "positive progress" but had not provided a timeline. India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had taken up the issue of China blocking Azhars terror listing during his visit to China on 22 April. Japan's new emperor Naruhito ascends Chrysanthemum Throne Japan on Wednesday began a new imperial era with Emperor Naruhito formally ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne, a day after his father Akihito's historic abdication. Naruhito, who ascends the throne in a very different Japan than the one his father took over in 1989, vowed to stand with the people as the country begins a new imperial era. Naruhito officially became emperor at the stroke of midnight but the process that formalised his ascension to the throne was the 10-minute ritual conducted on Wednesday. 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. Addressing the nation, after inheriting the throne, Naruhito vowed to "act according to the Constitution" while "always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them". 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." Naruhito will make his first public appearance on Saturday when he will again address the people of Japan. But the real celebrations will be on 22 October 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. 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". The couple has one child, a 17-year-old daughter called Aiko, who cannot inherit the throne because she is female. Research sparks new insights on laser welding On its surface, the work is deceptively simple: Shoot a high-power laser beam onto a piece of metal for a fraction of a second and see what happens. But researchers say the physics of laser welding is surprisingly complex. A better understanding of the interaction between laser and metal could give industry more control over laser welding, a technology that is becoming increasingly popular in manufacturing. For the past three years, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been collecting data on the most fundamental aspects of laser welding. The scope of their study is narrow, but the measurements of this complicated process are more accurate and comprehensive than any data ever collected on the subject, the researchers say. Now, this information is starting to be used by computer modelers to improve simulations of laser welding processes, a necessary step to prepare the work for industry. "Our results are now mature enough to where academic researchers are starting to use our data to thoroughly test their computer models in a way that they just haven't been able to do before, because this kind of data hasn't been available," said NIST physicist Brian Simonds. Welding is necessary for many industrial processes, from building cars and airplanes to laptops and cellphones. Conventional welding typically uses an arc of electricity to heat and fuse materials. In contrast, a multi-kilowatt laser beam can heat a smaller area of the metals being joined, creating a smaller, smoother seam than a conventional weld, on the order of millimeters rather than centimeters. Laser welding is also faster and more energy-efficient than conventional welding, the researchers say. Even with these and other advantages, laser welding makes up only a small fraction of overall welding efforts in the U.S. that might benefit from this technique. A better understanding of the process could make it easier for industries to consider investing in laser-welding infrastructure, the researchers say. "The ultimate goal for industry is that one day, if you have an idea about something you want to make, you dump it into a computer and the computer tells you exactly how to make it," Simonds said. Though that ideal is a decade or more away, he continued, manufacturers may start seeing a benefit much sooner, as the NIST collaboration's progress helps refine the computer models. Better Data, Better Model If manufacturers want to weld two pieces of an unfamiliar alloy of metal, they might use trial and error to figure out which combination of laser settings will produce the best weld for their application. But most manufacturers would prefer to streamline the research process and move into production as quickly as possible. That's where computer models come in. These simulations help manufacturers predict what kinds of welds they can expect with different settings. To make the models, though, researchers need data from past experiments. And at the moment, that research is spread across hundreds of studies, representing decades of work from dozens of laboratories. For example, they might find information about the heat capacity of one alloy in a paper from 1970, the thermal conductivity of a similar alloy in a paper from 1992, and experimental data on weld behaviour from 2007. But piecing this information together requires introducing a lot of what Simonds called "fudge factors." "Modelers look through all these resources from different labs for different materials, and they kludge them together in a way that they think is most applicable to their experiment," Simonds says. "And they say, 'It's close enough.' But they don't really know." In contrast, the NIST team is attempting to build a much firmer foundation for a model. NIST researchers are measuring everything that a simulator would need the amount of power that is hitting the metal, the amount of energy the metal is absorbing, the amount of material that is evaporating from the metal as it is heated all in real time. Where No One Has Gone Before Many of the techniques the researchers are using to collect the data were either designed or developed at NIST to measure novel aspects of welding. For example, until recently researchers could not gauge laser power during a weld. NIST physicists John Lehman and Paul Williams and their colleagues designed and built a device that can accomplish this using the pressure of the light itself. They also had to get creative to sense the amount of light absorbed by the heated material, since it changes constantly. "You go from a rough metal to a shiny pool to a deep pocket that is essentially a blackbody," meaning it absorbs almost all of the light that hits it, Lehman said. The physics, he said, is "super complex." To solve this problem, they surrounded the metal sample with a device called an integrating sphere, designed to capture all the light bouncing off the metal. Using this technique, they discovered that the traditional method for making this measurement "severely underestimates" the energy absorbed by the metal during a laser weld. The integrating sphere also allows the data to be measured in real time. They also found a way to better measure the weld plume, a cloud of vapourised materials that includes tiny amounts of elements that evaporate out of the sample during welding. Detecting the exact amounts of these elements as they leave the weld would give scientists valuable information about the strength of the material that remains. However, traditional techniques fail to accurately sense the concentrations of certain elements, such as carbon and nitrogen, that exist in extremely low concentrations. To sense these minuscule signals, NIST researchers are adapting a technique called laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy. The method involves hitting the plume with a second laser that targets just one kind of element at a time. The targeted element absorbs the second laser's energy and then releases it at a slightly shifted energy, producing a strong signal that is also a unique marker of that element. So far, researchers have demonstrated that LIF can sense trace elements in the weld plume with 40,000 times more sensitivity than traditional methods. Another important aspect of the work is that researchers are conducting all of their experiments with a type of stainless steel that is a NIST standard reference material (SRM), meaning its composition is extremely well known. Using the stainless-steel SRM ensures that experiments conducted anywhere in the world can have access to metal samples with an identical composition, so that everyone is effectively contributing to one big project. "In 20 years from now, if somebody says, 'Oh man, I wish they had measured this,' or some new technique is invented that gives much better data than we can take today, they can go buy the SRM and tie it in to all the research we've already done," Simonds said. "So it kind of future-proofs what we're doing." Expanding Horizons As they continue to gather information, the NIST scientists are collaborating with institutes around the world to expand the dataset. This summer, they will collaborate with the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory to take advantage of the lab's unique ability to do high-speed X-ray imaging of the molten pool of metal in real time. Other collaborators include Graz University of Technology in Austria, Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Simonds and colleagues are also broadening the scope of their work as they direct their high-power laser beams onto metal powders instead of solids. The powder studies should directly support the community of additive manufacturing (a common form of 3D printing), whose market for products and services was worth more than an estimated $7.3 billion in 2017. NIST researchers say the welding research project is a great opportunity for them to bring their physics chops to a complicated problem. "I'm surprised how little people understand this thing that is so important, this vital interaction that underpins all of these industrial processes," Simonds said. "The deeper I look into this very simple problem of what happens when a really intense laser beam hits metal for 10 milliseconds, the more I realize this is some complex stuff. It's fun to try and understand." Staff at the National Lottery office have yet to hear from the owner of the winning Euromillions Plus ticket that was bought in the Paper Stop on the main street in Glenties. The winning ticket was worth 500,000 and news of the lucky winner was revealed on Saturday morning. Still time The picturesque town of Glenties has a population of around 800 people. However, many people do pass through the town en route to Letterkenny or to make their way to villages in south Donegal. Robert Magee of the National Lottery Office said that the winner has over 80 days to collect their winnings. He added that the person who won may be preparing themselves to collect their winnings, may be letting the news sink in or may be obtaining advice, ahead of taking their trip to the capital to collect their winnings. In the past, Lotto winners have gone on holiday before they have collected their winnings and in other cases the winnings are left to the last minute to collect. He urged the winner to immediately sign the back of their ticket. Numbers The winning numbers in the main EuroMillions draw were 14, 33, 35, 47, 50 and the lucky stars were 9 and 11. And, the Plus numbers pulled were 7, 13, 16, 21 and 22. The owner of the Paper Shop, William Elliot, said he was delighted to hear that someone had bought the winning Euromillions ticket from his shop. He has been urging all of his customers to check their tickets. He said that there was a great buzz about the village since the news. The owner of the winning ticket is urged to keep their ticket safe after signing it and contact the prize claims team at the National Lottery Office on 01 836 4444. Arrangements will then be made for the winner to come to the National Lottery to collect their prize in Dublin. A local election candidate has said that there are no plans in place for an upgrade for the N56 road between Inver Bridge and Killybegs. The Fianna Fail candidate, Eimear Mc Guinness, said that the lack of planning will mean delays in upgrading the worst section of the N56. The failure to progress a route selection for the N56 between Inver Bridge and the Five Points, Killybegs will cause delays in the future upgrading of this section of the road, she said. No current plans Ms Mc Guinness has welcomed the current road improvement works which are ongoing between Mountcharles and Inver Bridge. She said: "The improvement works will make a massive improvement to all road users but the section of the road of the N56 from Inver Bridge to Killybegs has no current plans approved by either the council or Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which will now mean once the current works are completed to Inver Bridge, there are no further sections of the road which can be improved due to the fact no plans exist to carry out works between Inver Bridge and Killybegs." Remaining sections The current sections of the N56 between Mountcharles and Inver Bridge which are undergoing upgrade works were planned for and approved for route designs between 2007/2008, but no further route selections were approved for the remaining sections of this road, according to Ms Mc Guinness. She added that she felt the lack of future planning would cost money in the future. She said: I feel this was a missed opportunity and one which will now cost us in the years ahead, as in we are now in a position whereby we have no further plans in place at present for the next phase of upgrading works on the N56 leading to Killybegs, this national secondary road also serves as the access route to the R263 which connects into the entire Slieve Liag peninsula covering Kilcar and Glencolmcille." Maintain harbour She acknowledged the additional works which will be carried out between Dunkineely and Bruckless in the near future. A contractor has been appointed to carry out substantial surface replacement works between between Dunkineely and Bruckless. It is understood that a contractor will shortly be appointed to carry out surface upgrading works which will take place from Dunkineely to Inver. However, the entire road needs to be updated to maintain Killybegs harbour, she said. Eimear added we need to plan for the future and that will involve pressurising the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to grant approval to Donegal County Council to proceed to explore route options and progress through the various planning stages for the N56 between Inver Bridge and the Five Points, Killybegs - failure to achieve this or to put plans in place now will result in massive delays in the future upgrading of the of the N56. "The sections between Inver Bridge and the Five Points in Killybegs are probably the worst sections of the N56 left especially for the traffic volumes which use this road on a daily basis," she said. Two Florida men now face 66 charges in connection to a credit card fraud ring after Dothan Police added 20 more charges to their cases Wednesday. Dorleus Wilgeums, 28, and Thenor Junior Moller, 25, originally faced 45 fraudulent use charges and one charge of identity theft, stemming from arrests made April 25 and April 19, respectively. Authorities have accused Wilgeums and Moller of using someone elses name to procure a Capital One credit card. Once they obtained the credit card, authorities say they used it to make multiple purchases, including many at the Walmart Neighborhood Market on U.S. Highway 84 West. Lt. Lynn Watkins of the Dothan Police Department said the new charges stem from the discovery of more purchases made with the credit card. He could not rule out other potential charges for the men from central and southern Florida. Both men face a $10,000 bond on each of the fraudulent use charges and no bond on the identity theft charge. They remain in the Houston County Jail. Follow Jeremy Wise on Twitter @DEgovbeat Get Breaking News Alerts Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Electric vehicles will compete at the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds on Saturday when the first Dothan Electrathon gets under way. Sponsored by Michelin, the first race starts at 10 a.m. on the midway and the second at 1:30 p.m. The free event is open to the public. Myra Hicks, the pre-engineering teacher at Dothan Technology Center and the DTC Electrathon Racing Team sponsor, said each race lasts one hour with the goal of covering as much distance as possible on one battery or set of batteries. Laps for each race on the half-mile flat oval course are added together to determine winners. The race is open to anyone who follows the Electrathon America guidelines. Hicks said there are two main divisions: High School and Open. Within those two categories there are other sub-categories, but we are only recognizing the main high school division and overall, Hicks said in an email. We have three high school teams with seven cars, and one open division team with one car. The open division is for anyone not in high school (this includes individuals, junior colleges and four-year universities). Out of that, we were able to paint a picture of what its like to live in this historic neighborhood in Valparaiso. Out of that, we were able to talk to homeowners and people who were just passionate about living in that neighborhood rather than a larger town. Louth based internet service provider Net1 Ltd is to work alongside Microsoft Ireland and Teagasc by providing the internet connectivity and managing the installation and deployment of Microsofts Airband TV whitespace pilot project. This new Teagasc and Microsoft partnership will enable Irelands farming community to benefit from evolving technologies. PICTURED ABOVE: Kieran McCorry, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Ireland; Declan Holland, Network Manager Net1; John Gartlan, Technical Director Net1; Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development; Andrew McKeever, Managing Director Net1; Gavin Moran RISPA and Ciaran Conlon, Director of Public Policy Microsoft Ireland Last Saturday at Teagasc Ballyhaise Agricultural College in Co. Cavan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, joined Teagasc and Microsoft at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see both organisations work together to develop agricultural-based technology that will advance Irish agriculture in support of rural development and innovation. The first initiative to be rolled out under the MOU is a pilot project, announced today, which will provide remote internet connectivity to Teagasc Agricultural College, Ballyhaise and potentially some surrounding households. It will allow students at the college to access internet-based digital technology while training and working remotely in the fields and outbuildings across the 220-hectare campus. Connectivity means students can leverage a range of technologies, including AI and data analytics, to help inform decision making while learning. The other projects identified in the MOU will be rolled out over the summer and will focus on precision agriculture, big data, and AI. The pilot is part of Microsofts Airband global initiative, which aims to extend connectivity to under-served, rural communities around the world by working with partners and leveraging innovative technologies, such as wireless solutions using TV White Space. TV White Space is unassigned broadcast spectrum which travels over long distances, penetrates natural and manmade obstacles, and is abundant in rural areas. There are currently 68 Airband projects globally. In the US alone, Microsoft has committed to bringing three million rural Americans online by 2022. Net1, will work alongside Teagasc and Microsoft providing the ISP connectivity and managing the installation and deployment of the pilot. The pilot project in Ballyhaise Agricultural College is the first of its kind in Ireland. This project will inform how a similar solution can be deployed in other rural or agricultural settings across the country and beyond. The pilot will commence in the coming weeks and will run for up to eight months. At the launch today, Phil Hogan, European Union Commissioner said, From 2020 onwards I want and expect to see an upsurge in Smart Village projects where local initiative is supported by EU funding through programmes such as the Rural Development Programme (RDP) or LEADER, along with partners from the private sector such as Microsoft, who can bring innovative solutions like Airband to the table. Professor Gerry Boyle, Teagasc Director added: Using this technology will allow Teagasc to have high speed broadband across all our farm land in Ballyhaise. Sustainable land management underpins Teagasc courses and our teaching approach is a blend of classroom and practical learning. This project will allow us to bring technology that has previously been restricted to the classroom directly to the field. An example is the measurement of grass and its optimum utilisation. As students are taught the skills of measuring and managing grass, this information, thats stored on the cloud, can be captured on a handheld device in the field allowing immediate management decisions to be made on how much grass to give to animals. We are also delighted to be partnering with Microsoft on a range of other digital projects that will enable Irelands food sector to continue to grow in a manner that meets the highest standards of sustainability. Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland said: We are delighted to partner with Teagasc to develop a range of technology solutions to help farmers across the country benefit from digitisation. It is critically important that Ireland, as a farming nation, ensures that the agricultural sector gets the benefit of technology to help inform future planning as well as day-to-day farm management. The projects that we will work with Teagasc on will bring real impact to farmers and we believe they can be scaled rapidly. The Airband Initiative, the first in Ireland, provides an innovative and cost-effective way to tackle the last mile of connectivity. This will be a game changer for farmers and rural communities. The findings can be used to the benefit of other rural communities not just in Ireland but across Europe. Liberal Democrats Senator Duncan Spender has slammed the Australian Tax Office for its mistreatment of small businesses, as exposed by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. Unfortunately the Ombudsman has confirmed what I already suspected: that the taxman is enforcing its debt recovery actions on small businesses, despite appeals processes still taking place, he said. The fact that this was found to be occurring in at least 12% of cases is further cause for concern. While the Ombudsman has ordered the ATO to cease debt recovery action immediately, Im concerned such maltreatment of small businesses will continue. The ATO should not have the power to reach into the backpockets of Australian small business owners to recover alleged debt, especially when the said debt is being contested. The ATO is garnishing the bank accounts of unsuspecting business owners, which puts their ability to pay wages, rent, overheads and supplier fees at huge risk. They are literally swiping the money out of the bank accounts of small businesses before any ongoing disputes have even been settled. Small businesses are already facing an uphill battle in this country. The last thing they need is the taxman preying on them when they are vulnerable. All Australians, including small business owners, need a low tax future. If elected, I pledge to make the necessary legislative amendments to ensure money made by small owners remains in their pockets, especially while ATO disputes are ongoing. The Ombudsmans review into the ATO was conducted following a 2018 expose by ABCs Four Corners and Fairfax Media that showed alleged unfair treatment and heavy-handed tactics towards small business owners. The final report was released on Monday and is available here. Medianet AAP Former company director, Christopher Edward Eric Skelly, of Lark Hill, Queensland, has been sentenced to imprisonment on one charge of fraud after an investigation by ASIC. Mr Skelly was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment, to be eligible for parole after 21 months. Mr Skelly, a former director of C & G Group Industries Pty Ltd ACN 168 873 578 (C&G) was earlier found guilty by a jury of gaining a benefit, namely $529,380.72 for C&G, with intent to defraud by deceit. Between 11 December 2014 and 12 January 2015, Mr Skelly deceived a factoring agency by emailing them an invoice and other documents that created the false impression that monies were owed to C&G by debtors, when in fact they were not. Relying on those documents, the factoring agency paid C&G a total of $529,380.72. Mr Skelly was sentenced on 17 April 2019. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted the matter. Following his release from jail, Mr Skelly will automatically be disqualified from managing companies for a further five years. Background C&G was involved in the provision of crushing & screening services. The company was placed into administration on 28 April 2015 and liquidators were subsequently appointed on 29 May 2015. C&G had total liabilities of $4,089,386 owing to 54 creditors. ASIC commenced an investigation after receiving a report from the liquidators of C&G, David Ross and Cameron Shaw of Hall Chadwick. "It's not very often you can really feel the pages of history turning, you can see the end of an era. But in the passing of my father and the passing of Richard Lugar that is, in fact, what we see," Evan Bayh said. "We were blessed to have two statesmen of their caliber serving represent our state." In April 2018, the school earned the boards ire after Walton then listed as the school's president said it would cut middle and high school grades - saying their test performances were sinking the schools overall grade. Sarajevo Annual Meeting sets stage for greater impact across emerging economies The EBRD is aiming for record high investments of over 10 billion in 2019 as shareholders gather for the Banks Annual Meeting next week in Sarajevo. The Bank has already pledged to raise both the quality and the quantity of its activities in its 38 economies, by deploying a comprehensive toolbox of investments, policy engagement and technical assistance. After investing over 9.5 billion in each of the last two years, the Bank is looking to top the 10 billion marker for the first time in its 28-year history in 2019, with further increases expected in the following years. In Sarajevo, the Banks Board of Governors, which represents its 69 shareholders, will be asked to approve the EBRDs work programme to prepare the Banks strategy for the five years up to 2025 which will be formally signed off next year. A key focus of the next strategy will be a reaffirmation of the EBRDs commitment to its current countries of operations including how best to move toward a low carbon economy, build sustainable infrastructure; manage sustainable and smart cities; foster skills that meet the needs of private sector businesses; and leverage new technologies with all their transformative potential. Specifically, the EBRD is looking to increase equity funding, put a greater emphasis on private sector lending and the mobilisation of private sector capital while also maintaining a high share of smaller, local projects, which tend to have a high transition impact. Beyond this, the Banks shareholders will also be considering preparatory work on several possible uses for the Banks capital. Options include a possible crisis buffer, redemption to shareholders or engagement in new countries of operations. Initially, any expansion would focus on the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, where the Bank has been investing since 2012. Subject to the approval of shareholders, Libya, Algeria and Syria could become members and EBRD recipient countries, when conditions allow. At the same time, shareholders will make a decision in Sarajevo on whether analytical work should start on potential future options for limited and incremental expansion into new countries of operations outside the EBRDs current geographic limits including in Africa or other countries that are closely integrated with the Banks present geographical scope EBRD Sarajevo meeting to highlight Western Balkans investment opportunities 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. Both Posey and Hall said they will leave Gary after high school -- Posey for college, Hall for the Air Force. Its been hard to deal with the citys blight as a teen, but it wasnt the citys whole story, Hall said. On May 2, Holocaust Remembrance Day (or Yom HaShoah), we remember the millions of Jewish and other victims killed during the murderous Nazi reign in Germany. Sadly, we only need to consider the shooting at a synagogue this past Saturday in Poway, Calif., to understand the importance of using classroom time to educate and reflect on this horrific period in history. Not even two months ago, a photo showing students making a Nazi salute over a swastika made of Solo cups at a weekend party garnered extensive news coverage. This image came on the heels of another viral photo of a group of laughing young men who appeared to make the Nazi salute prior to a school dance. Swirling around these events have been Jewish cemetery desecrations, hate-filled graffiti, and even swastikas drawn in blood. Amid it all, we still grieve for the Jewish congregants shot dead at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh last falland now Poway. I am sure many have felt as I do: What is happening? What can I do about it? On an intellectual level, I know this is not newhatred, violence, and targeting of the other have always been with us. The acts of violence may ebb, but these feelings are always there. On a professional level, having spent the better part of 25 years working in anti-bias and Holocaust education, I feel some sense of personal failure. I know these incidents of antisemitism and other forms of hatred do not reflect the values and beliefs of the majority of people, but I cant help but question if the work I have done has mattered. I recall my former colleague who would say that the work to counter hatred, antisemitism, and racism could sometimes feel like having a tiny pink Baskin-Robbins sample spoon, trying to chip away at a mountain of mistrust, fear, anger, ignorance, resentment, and downright apathy. She didnt use this analogy to discourage, but to inspire: If we all worked together, even with the smallest of tools, we could get there. Ive always framed my work, as many educators do, in three phases of impact: What do we need to know about an issue or topic, why should we care, and how can we act to make a positive difference? Or, in more poetic words, how do we inform the head, move the heart, and motivate the hands? For those teaching the Holocaust, these three concepts could not be more vital and interdependent. What do we want students to know about this history? If you want to understand the why and how this genocide could have happened, you need a foundation of the what. The Echoes & Reflections Partners toiled for a year to distill the core historical content that now forms our 10 classroom units. Our goal wasand isto guide teachers to build this essential knowledge with their students and to ask those critical questions of why and how at every step. Having spent the better part of 25 years working in anti-bias and Holocaust education, I feel some sense of personal failure." But knowing isnt enough; students have to care. The Holocaust is practically ancient history for many young people, and, for the majority of people in the United States, it is not their history. Its remote, it happened somewhere else, and its over. This is where we must teach about the Holocaust as a human story. We should bring this knowledge to life through the integration of visual history testimonies and primary sources. We want young people to see, listen, and come to know that these were real people who had desires, dreams, hopes, and lives that were just waiting to be lived. I could never guarantee that students who watched a testimony of a survivor describing his arrival at Auschwitz or read a poem by a girl left alone in the Lodz ghetto would reject the Solo Cup swastika game. But maybe, just maybe, they would make a different decision in that moment. Which brings us to action. How do we create and inspire a sense of personal agency so that in the face of hatred or antisemitismor when anyone is excluded or othered"we dont just walk away or swipe the screen? When I began my work in this field, this step used to be primarily about an in-person response: Will you speak up if someone is being taunted? Will you call out an antisemitic comment or joke? Today, for most adolescents, these moral choice moments are experienced online and at lightning speed. Does this make it easier or harder to speak (or type) out? Does it fuel a level of insensitivity to these issues that carries over to real-life choices and decisions? Does an intervention online have more or less power to impact the person who is being offensive? These are the questions I have been wrestling with these past few months. On Yom HaShoah, this sacred day of remembrance for all those who perished during the Holocaust, I hope to start to find some answers. I will work to learn more about the experiences and perspectives of the adolescents in our country and what is driving some of them to engage in or ignore hurtful behaviorand how can we inspire more to stand up. And I encourage everyone, not just educators, to do the same. At a time when it feels so hard to have these tough conversations, isnt it that much more important that we try? If we want our children to care, we must first care enough to listen to them. Rohm Semiconductor Europe Expansion of the Management Board 2. Mai 2019, 16:21 Uhr | Christian Andre, Chairman of Rohm Semiconductor Europe (left) and Toshimitsu Suzuki, President of Rohm Semiconductor Europe (right). Rohm Semiconductor Europe is strengthening its management board with a new chairman, Christian Andre, and a new president, Toshimitsu Suzuki. To pursue its growth, Rohm appoints Toshimitsu Suzuki as President of Rohm Semiconductor Europe, effective immediately. Christian Andre will continue as Chairman of Rohm Semiconductor Europe. The company thanks Christian Andre, who has been working for Rohm for 29 years and acting President for 14 years, for his dedication and great success in driving the company transformation. Andre will focus on the next phase of growth and strategic vision of Rohm to generate a long-term value. In the new position, Toshimitsu Suzuki will take over the full responsibility of the European business. He has worked for Rohm in Europe for over four years as Senior Sales Director. Suzuki has profound experience and deep understanding of the business. He will set new impulses for further strategic developments and the successful implementation of the companys products in the European market. Christian Andre, Chairman of Rohm Semiconductor Europe: The strengthening of our management board is a necessary and consistent step in order to be well-prepared for the future. Toshimitsu Suzuki, President of Rohm Semiconductor Europe: Rohm has an exceptionally talented team of people. I look forward to taking the helm on the road to an exciting future. We are pleased that Toshimitsu Suzuki will empower the management board. He will contribute to scale up to a greater level the operational excellence, said Christian Andre, Chairman of Rohm Semiconductor Europe. Im very proud and honored to lead an organization for which I have been working passionately and look forward to contributing to even greater success, said Toshimitsu Suzuki as new President Rohm Semiconductor Europe. I would like to thank Christian Andre for his tireless efforts at Rohm. Together, we will work to maximize the potential of our technology to drive the next growth of the company. She said the hospital pharmacy, which opened in March, offers the same range of pharmaceuticals as major retailers at competitive prices. Since it opened, its handled about 1,600 prescriptions for about 600 patients, she said. Bus Vannin to pick up patients for airport transfer People on the Island who qualify for free travel to the airport for UK for hospital appointments are to be booked on a dedicated bus service from next week. From 6 May, the service will extend to the whole of the Island, to patients who qualify for free travel. Journeys can be booked via the patient transfer team at Nobles Hospital. "Every year, there's a little twist to the first big event," Repay said. "Last February, there was snow still on the ground and thunderstorms; now, we've gotten, by some reports, 6 to 7 inches over four days, and we just haven't dried out from the snow the last two weekends. (Wednesday) might not be warm, but it's at least drier. 5 civilians killed in regime attacks in Syria In Kansafra and Bsekla, the attacks left five civilians dead, including a woman and two children, according to the White Helmets civil-defense agency. Five civilians were killed in attacks by Assad regime forces on residential areas located inside northern Syrias de-escalation zones, local sources said Thursday. 5 DEAD Overnight airstrikes and artillery attacks targeted the villages of Kansafra, Termela, Bsekla Has and Abdin in Idlib province, along with the village of Al-Huwaiz and the town of Kafrnabuda in Hama province, sources said. Airstrikes targeting positions in Kafrnabuda and Bsekla were carried out by Russian warplanes stationed at the Khmeimim Airbase in the western Latakia province, opposition sources said. In a related development, the National Liberation Front, a faction of the Free Syrian Army, reportedly managed to repel an advance on Kafrnabuda by regime ground forces. 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. Israeli forces arrest 17 Palestinians in W.Bank The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across occupied West Bank. Israeli forces rounded up 17 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military on Thursday. 17 PALESTINIANS ARRESTED The individuals were arrested for "suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities", the army said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature of these activities. "The suspects were turned over to security agencies for further investigation," it added. The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for "wanted" Palestinians. According to Palestinian figures, some 6,500 Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli detention facilities, including scores of women and hundreds of minors. Istanbul poll results to be investigated by prosecutors The Anadolu Public Prosecutor's Office has summoned 100 suspects who were responsible for ensuring security at polling stations. Turkish prosecutors on Thursday launched 32 different investigations for alleged irregularities in the March local elections, judicial sources said. INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and its coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) claimed there were irregularities in ballot counts and data entry in local elections in Istanbul especially in Maltepe, Atasehir and Kadikoy districts. So far, 10 people have been questioned by the prosecutors. Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on March 31 in local elections to choose mayors, city council members, and other officials for the next five years. Ekrem Imamoglu of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) has officially taken office as Istanbul mayor. However, his election still faces legal challenges from the AK Party. Turkey stemming flow of irregular migrants to EU Interior ministry says security measures yielding positive results. Turkey's security measures against irregular migration have yielded positive results, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. IRREGULAR MIGRANT ROADS HAVE BEEN REDUCED Migrants intending to cross to Europe have found it increasingly difficult to use Turkey as a transit route. According to data from the Directorate General of Migration Management, the number of irregular migrants crossing to Europe via Turkish waters and land fell by 17.6% to 6,864 in the first four months of 2019 compared with 8,332 in the same period of the previous year. The data suggested that a total of 79,002 irregular migrants comprising 32,942 Afghans, 11,691 Pakistanis, 6,432 Syrians, and other origins were held between Jan. 1 and April 25. The number of Afghan-origin migrants transiting from Turkey to Europe fell by 14% and Syrian-origin migrants by 55%. On another note, the total number of irregular migrants in Turkey decreased by 2.44% compared with the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of deported migrants from Afghanistan increased by 70% and Pakistan by 79%, and others rose by 34% compared with the same period of the previous year. Turkish defense minister meets US envoy to discuss Syria Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar meets with James Jeffrey in Istanbul, discusses the latest developments, situation east of Euphrates. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar met late Wednesday with the US special envoy to Syria in Istanbul. LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN SYRIA HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED Akar and James Jeffrey discussed the latest developments in Syria, particularly the situation east of the Euphrates, Turkeys Defense Ministry said in a statement Turkey has long opposed US cooperation with the PKK/YPG against Daesh forces, saying that using one terror group to fight another makes no sense. As the US continues its preparations to draw down its presence in Syria, Turkey has aired its concern about Washingtons support for YPG/PKK terrorists in northeastern Syria. Jeffrey has spoken on this concern, saying earlier this month that the US will continue working on an established safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border in which YPG/PKK forces would withdraw to ensure it remains free of any threat to Turkey. Turkish FM and Malaysian diplomats meet in Doha Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has meetings at Asia Cooperation Dialogue gathering in Doha. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with his Sri Lankan and Malaysian counterparts in Qatar on Wednesday. "WE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT" Cavusoglu met with Sri Lankas Tilak Marapana and Malaysias Saifuddin Abdullah at the 16th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in the capital Doha. "Share the grief of the Sri Lankan people. Turkey will continue standing by Sri Lanka in its fight against terrorism," Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter after meeting Marapana. On Easter Sunday, April 21, over 250 people were killed and 500 injured when eight explosions targeted churches and hotels in and outside Colombo, Sri Lankas capital. The Asia Cooperation Dialogue was established in 2002 as an intergovernmental forum to develop cooperation between Asian countries and improve the competitiveness of Asia at the global level. "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." US actor Ben Stiller urges Congress to aid Syrian refugees Ben Stiller spoke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the humanitarian crisis in Syria on Wednesday US actor Ben Stiller testified before Congress on Wednesday, calling for Washington to continue providing financial support to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for Syrian relief efforts. "WE SOULDN'T BE QUIET IN THIS SITUATION" "Eight years into the crisis, we must not look away. We cannot let Syrian families go deeper into destitution and cannot let their children be part of a lost generation," Stiller told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During his testimony, Stiller, who serves as the UNHCR's goodwill ambassador, described a Syrian family he met who were living in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Their situation was so dire that a friend suggested they sell their baby in order to make ends meet and the husband even tried to sell his kidney on Facebook, Stiller recalled. "I've tried to imagine how I would feel if caught in the middle of a conflict and unable to protect my children, if my son was at risk of forced recruitment or my daughter at risk of unimaginable violence," he said. For me, its not something I want to think about. Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials. An estimated 83% of Syrians live below the poverty line, according to the UNHCR. Stiller said that while the situation in Syria is getting better, conditions need to be improved before refugees would be able to return to their country. Last month, the US announced an additional $397 million for Syrian relief efforts, part of which goes towards the UNHCR's work in helping Syrian refugees. "The majority of Syrian refugees tell us that they want to go home one day, but most don't believe that such a return is possible right now," Stiller said. "In order to fully assist those who return and monitor conditions, UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies need unhindered access to areas of return inside Syria," he added. Stiller was appointed goodwill ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency last July and has met with refugees in Guatemala, Germany, Jordan and Lebanon. Venezuelas president accuses White House of coup attempt Maduro stated that Washington was unable to topple former President Hugo Chavez and it couldnt able to topple him as well. Venezuela's president blamed the US government Wednesday for orchestrating a coup attempt against his country. "WE DEFEATED THE ATTEMPT" Speaking at a May Day event in the capital, Caracas, Nicolas Maduro said a European newspaper had reported that US President Donald Trump and National Security Advisor John Bolton had coordinated all operations of the attempted military coup. Maduro said Venezuela defeated the coup attempt, adding Washington had been unable to topple former President Hugo Chavez and also couldn't topple him. He added that the US could never bring a puppet president to the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. 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 Juan 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. Russia, Turkey, China, Iran, Bolivia and Mexico have thrown their weight behind Maduro. Women and children abducted in northwestern Nigeria Some local media outlets had claimed that many students were taken in the Zamfara raid. Gunmen have abducted at least two women and three children in northwestern Nigeria, police said Thursday. FIVE PEOPLE WAS ABDUCTED The kidnapped children and women were taken from a state-run secondary school for girls in Zamfara state late Wednesday, police said. "No student was abducted as earlier reported by some media. However, two caterers and three of their children were later discovered missing," police spokesman Mohamed Shehu said in a statement. "The police is collaborating with the school authority to establish the whereabouts of the missing persons. To this end, a search-and-rescue operation team has been dispatched to the surrounding bushes for an extensive bush combing," he said. The incident mirrored a 2014 mass abduction by Boko Haram militants where some 276 girls in a girls-only secondary school in Chibok town were kidnapped. The militants had also staged another mass kidnapping of 112 schoolgirls in February 2018. In another indication of the worsening insecurity in Nigeria's northwestern region, gunmen on Wednesday night abducted the traditional head of the Buhari community, from which country's president, Muhammadu Buhari, hails. Musa Umar, also the father to the president's aide-de-camp, was taken in front of his house in Daura. Thirteen Jews were murdered as the result of anti-Semitic attacks in 2018, and the number of other major violent anti-Semitic attacks, including assault, vandalism and arson, spiked 13%, from 342 to 387 incidents worldwide, according to an annual report from Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, published on May 1. The United States registered the highest number of violent attacks on Jews -- more than 100 cases -- followed by the United Kingdom with 68 incidents and France and Germany, both of which saw 35 violent attacks on Jews in 2018. The report did not include figures from the recent attack near San Diego on the Chabad of Poway synagogue, in which one woman was killed and three others wounded. The full report is available at http://www.kantorcenter.tau.ac.il/sites/default/files/Antisemitism%20Worldwide%202018.pdf. "There is a growing sense that Jewish people in many countries are living in a state of emergency," Prof. Dina Porat, head of the Kantor Center and chief historian of Yad Vashem, told reporters at a news conference at Tel Aviv University on May 1. "Physical insecurity and the questioning of their place in society and in the parties that were once their political homes are more prevalent than ever." "Anti-Semitism peaked recently in a manner that casts doubt on the very existence of Jews in many parts of the world," Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said in a news release. "As we have seen following the second mass shooting incident at a U.S. synagogue, many parts of the world are no longer safe for Jews as we thought they were in the past." The Kantor Center's annual report, a global overview of anti-Semitic incidents, is based on surveys conducted by recognized watchdogs from dozens of countries, including nearly all European Union member states. According to the report, "The year 2018 and the beginning of 2019 witnessed an increase in almost all forms of anti-Semitic manifestations, in the public space as well as the private one. Thirteen Jews were murdered during 2018, the largest number compared to previous years. Anti-Semitism is no longer a part of the activities of the triangle made of the far right, the extreme left and radical Islam. It has mainstreamed, and become a constant reality." The report came a day after the Anti-Defamation League published its own report, which found that violent attacks against Jews in the United States doubled last year. The New York-based group counted 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents -- harassment, vandalism or physical assault -- in 2018. That represents a 5% decrease from the 1,986 incidents reported in 2017, but it is the third-highest total since ADL began tracking the data in the 1970s. "People in Europe, in France especially, are on the front lines; they are dealing with anti-Semitism," Prof. Porat said. "But we have to address anti-Semitism in the context of broader racism in the world. We are not alone. Other minorities are suffering. We should suggest a coalition, an umbrella organization to work together in this fight, extending a hand to other groups who are suffering, like the Roma." "We cannot fight anti-Semitism as if it is just a Jewish problem," concluded Adv. Arie Zuckerman, chairman of the Kantor Center Executive Board. "Anti-Semitism is always a moral barometer for the state of the world, for the broader context of widespread racism, and we are sounding a siren." ### American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's most influential, comprehensive and sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is recognized and celebrated internationally for creating an innovative, entrepreneurial culture on campus that generates inventions, startups and economic development in Israel. TAU is ranked ninth in the world, and first in Israel, for producing start-up founders of billion-dollar companies, an achievement that surpassed several Ivy League universities. To date, 2,500 US patents have been filed by Tel Aviv University researchers -- ranking TAU #1 in Israel, #10 outside of the US and #43 in the world. Line of the inscription lends credence to the story of Balaam in the Book of Numbers, Tel Aviv University researchers say The legendary King Balak from the Book of Numbers may have been a real historical figure, according to a new reading of the Mesha Stele, the longest extra-biblical inscription in existence. The Mesha Stele, an ancient inscribed stone dating to the ninth century BCE, tells the story of the territorial expansion and construction endeavors of King Mesha of Moab, who is also mentioned in the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament. The stele was found in the 19th century among the ruins of the ancient town of Dibon in Moab, located in today's Jordan, east of the Dead Sea. The stele is on display at the Louvre Museum. According to the study, a word on Line 31 of the stele that has until now been interpreted as "House of David" in fact refers to King "Balak," who is known as a Moab ruler only from the Book of Numbers. The new Tel Aviv University-College de France study was published on May 2 in Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. It was co-authored by Prof. Israel Finkelstein and Prof. Nadav Na'aman of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures in collaboration with Prof. Thomas Romer of College de France and the University of Lausanne. A recent exhibit, Mesha et la Bible, held in October 2018 at the College de France in Paris in conjunction with the Louvre Museum, showcased the Meshe Stele "squeeze," a reverse copy of the inscription on paper. This exhibition afforded researchers the unique opportunity to take high-resolution photographs of the squeeze. Although the stele had been cracked in the 19th century, the parts that went missing were preserved in the squeeze, which was made before the stone broke into pieces. The authors of the new research studied new high-resolution photographs of the squeeze and of the stele itself. These new images made it clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned in Line 31, and that the first is the Hebrew letter bet, which corresponds to the English letter "B." The most likely candidate for the monarch's name is "Balak." The seat of the king referred to in Line 31 was "Horonaim," which is mentioned four times in the Bible in relation to the Moabite territory south of the Arnon River. "We believe Balak was a historical figure like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the famous Deir Alla inscription in Jordan in 1967, was considered an 'invented' character," explains Prof. Finkelstein. "The new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze indicate that the reading 'House of David' -- accepted by many scholars for more than two decades -- is no longer valid." In 1994 the French epigrapher Andre Lemaire suggested that letters missing in Line 31 of the stele would spell "House of David," as in the Tel Dan Stele, which features the term in reference to the Kingdom of Judah. Accordingly, Lemaire proposed that in the mid-ninth century Judah ruled in southern Moab, east of the Dead Sea. "With due caution, we suggest that the line refers to the Moabite King Balak, who, according to the Balaam story in Numbers 22-24, was supposed to bring a divine curse on the people of Israel," Prof. Na'aman says. "The biblical story was written down later than the time of the Moabite king referred to in the Mesha Stele," Prof. Romer adds. "But to proffer a sense of authenticity to his story, its author must have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from ancient reality, including the names Balaam and Balak." ### American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's most influential, comprehensive and sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is recognized and celebrated internationally for creating an innovative, entrepreneurial culture on campus that generates inventions, startups and economic development in Israel. TAU is ranked ninth in the world, and first in Israel, for producing start-up founders of billion-dollar companies, an achievement that surpassed several Ivy League universities. To date, 2,500 US patents have been filed by Tel Aviv University researchers -- ranking TAU #1 in Israel, #10 outside of the US and #43 in the world. NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 -- Andrea Alu, founding director of the Photonics Initiative at the Advance Science Research Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY and Einstein Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center, has been selected for the U.S. Department of Defense's Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship -- the agency's most prestigious single-investigator award. The fellowship supports top-tier researchers at U.S. universities whose high-risk, high-payoff work is of strategic importance to the Department of Defense. The five-year fellowship will provide $3 million over five years to support Alu's work to develop novel materials that enable extreme wave manipulation in the context of thermal radiation and heat management. "I am very honored and excited to have been selected for the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship," said Alu. "The award will fund interdisciplinary research that incorporates a broad swath of science -- including nano-optics, electrical engineering, condensed matter physics, materials science and mathematics -- to develop an original paradigm for thermal metamaterials. These materials will be the basis for advancing and improving a variety of technologies, including infrared sources and detectors, heat-signal camouflaging, thermal imaging, and communications systems." Alu's basic research aims to address fundamental questions about light-matter interactions in order to develop new opportunities to help scientists overcome existing limitations in thermal-technology development and heat management. "Professor Alu's work is precisely the kind of forward-thinking, foundation-shifting science that make us so excited to have him as a member of The Graduate Center faculty," said Graduate Center Dean for the Sciences Joshua Brumberg. "His commitment to incorporating a mentorship element into the fellowship's objectives will help also advance our mission as a public university to conduct science for the public good. The educational component of the Vannevar Bush Fellowship will facilitate mentoring of young scientists and allow postdoctoral researchers and graduate and undergraduate students to work with highly accomplished scientists pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge." Formerly known as the National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship, the Vannevar Bush Fellowship supports out-of-the-box ideas where researcher creativity intersects with the unknown. Fellows are free to pursue unfettered research, with the results of the work informing and providing invaluable direction to the Department of Defense's research and efforts to train the next generation of scientists and engineers. The 2019 Class of Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellows can be found at https://media.defense.gov/2019/May/01/2002125335/-1/-1/1/2019-CLASS-VBFF.PDF. ### About the Advanced Science Research Center The Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center, CUNY is a world-leading center of scientific excellence, which elevates scientific research and education at CUNY and beyond through initiatives in five distinctive, but broadly interconnected disciplines: nanoscience, photonics, neuroscience, structural biology, and environmental sciences. The ASRC promotes a collaborative, interdisciplinary research culture where renowned scientists advance their discoveries using state-of-the-art equipment and cutting-edge core facilities. About The Graduate Center of The City University of New York The Graduate Center, CUNY is a leader in public graduate education devoted to enhancing the public good through pioneering research, serious learning, and reasoned debate. The Graduate Center offers ambitious students more than 40 doctoral and master's programs of the highest caliber, taught by top faculty from throughout CUNY--the nation's largest public urban university. Through its nearly 40 centers, institutes, initiatives, and the Advanced Science Research Center, The Graduate Center influences public policy and discourse and shapes innovation. The Graduate Center's extensive public programs make it a home for culture and conversation. Here's my question for the heavy thinker in Quickly keeping track of lies the president has told according to the guru: In the last 2 1/2 years, will you tell the readers how many lies the liberal media, or the media in general have told about Russian collusion? Don't be afraid of breaking the meter, since you are so well schooled on the facts. And then let us know which news outlet got the story right from the start, according to the New York Times. Try not to let you incredible hate of the president get you confused. Despite a change in UK law, many children are still not getting the treatment they need Despite a change in the law last year, access to medical cannabis in the UK has been much slower than patients and parents had hoped, warns an expert in The BMJ today. David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, argues that still only a tiny number of children with severe juvenile epilepsy are being treated. In a linked article, Hannah Deacon, mother of Alfie Dingley - whose high profile case was instrumental in changing the law - asks why was the law changed if access was not to be forthcoming? Nutt argues that cannabis is the oldest medicine in the world, and was prescribed by doctors in the UK until 1971 when the Misuse of Drugs Act declared that medical use was illegal. The government resisted any change until June 2018 when a high-profile campaign by Hannah Deacon, on behalf of her son Alfie, led to the first UK licence for medical cannabis and prompted a review of its status. Just a few months later, on 1 November 2018, the law was changed and cannabis products were allowed to be prescribed by specialists, or a GP acting under the instructions of one. Yet many children continue to have multiple seizures because neurologists will not prescribe, argues Nutt, and he points to likely reasons such as a lack of training, fear of prescribing off licence, refusal by some to pay, and difficulties obtaining supplies from foreign producers. "We must hope the situation will improve," he writes, and to tackle the dearth of evidence he suggests using the cancer research model, where small expert groups conduct open effectiveness studies to collect outcome and side effect data, similar to what is already in place to study ketamine as a potential treatment for depression. He also points to penicillin, another natural medicine welcomed by UK doctors to fulfil a major clinical need, even though there had been no trials of its effectiveness. "If today's medical profession could embrace cannabis in the same way as it did penicillin then the true value of this plant medicine should rapidly be realised," he concludes. "Every child with intractable epilepsy should have the right to try cannabis medicines that could save them from a life of suffering," argues Hannah Deacon. She explains how she had to fight for doctors to prescribe medical cannabis for her son Alfie to ease his seizures, but says many other children in similar situations have not been able to access these medicines, even though they are now legal. Reasons given by doctors included lack of evidence, money, and support from NHS managers. She now works with the campaign group End Our Pain, currently supporting 16 families in desperate need of medical cannabis prescriptions. Cannabis medicines are no panacea, she admits, but says "It is heartbreaking that seemingly no NHS doctor is willing or able to prescribe medicines that could help these children who have been very sick, some for many years, after having tried many other drugs." She acknowledges that the NHS is underfunded, but says the costs of long term care far exceed those of a product that may just give children and their families a life to live. "We became campaigners because we had no choice," she writes. "We are our child's only advocates, and we must do all we can to be heard." ### Rapid environmental changes require species to adapt very quickly, and hybridization can provide a path to evolutionary rescue, Baylor University researcher says Recent hybridization of the Gulf killifish -- a large minnow common in the heavily polluted Houston Ship Channel -- has enabled the species to adapt rapidly to extreme pollution, a Baylor University study has found. "Our work demonstrates that hybridization can act as a mechanism of evolutionary rescue -- likely not only in response to chemical pollution, but possibly also in response to the rapid environmental changes associated with global climate change," said senior author Cole Matson, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental science and a member of the Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research (CRASR) at Baylor University. The study is published in Science, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Gulf killifish, a common inhabitant of coastal estuaries along the northern Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Atlantic coast, is important both ecologically and economically. It is a preferred prey item of many coastal sport fish, including speckled trout, red drum and flounder. The Houston Ship Channel is heavily polluted from more than 60 years of industrial activity, according to the study. This pollution has led to fish consumption advisories being issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services, with Gulf killifish representing an important link for environmental pollution to pass from contaminated sediments and macroinvertebrates into popular game fish, which are then consumed by humans. The substantial industrial pollution in the Houston Ship Channel has long posed a significant challenge to local fish populations, fueling the need for adaptation. "Radical environmental change that causes population decline can limit the ways species can adapt genetically to survive," Matson said. "We suggest that both intra- and inter-species connectivity may be important sources of adaptive variation during extreme environmental change." Causes for those changes could range from chemical or oil spills to altered salinity to shifting temperatures. In the past, species generally have been able to evolve over centuries, millennia, or even longer, to survive such changes. But now they may need to be able to evolve in decades instead in order to survive. "This accelerated pace relies more heavily on existing genetic variation or connectivity to other populations, as beneficial genetic mutation is quite rare," Matson said. In events of extreme change, "natural populations rely on genetic variation to allow them to rapidly adapt," said author Elias Oziolor, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Pfizer who conducted much of the study as part of his dissertation research at Baylor University. "The huge population sizes of Gulf killifish allow them to retain a large amount of genetic variation. "However, under radical pollution pressure, the ultimate solution was not their own genetic variation, but variation they were lucky enough to capture from their sister species, the Atlantic killifish, through hybridization." For the study, Gulf killifish were sampled from 12 sites in the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay with varying pollution levels. These fish were then cultured in Baylor aquaculture facilities, including the collection of embryos to test for pollution tolerance. This was done by exposing embryos from each of the populations to model pollutants that act through toxicity pathways similar to many chemicals in the Houston Ship Channel. Researchers found that fish from the most polluted sites were most resistant to pollution, and that the resistance was inherited through multiple generations. To better understand how the fish had evolved, they sequenced the entire genomes of 288 individual fish from seven of the populations, representing different levels of pollution tolerance. By looking for evidence of selection across the genomes of fish from polluted populations, they identified the genes under the strongest selective pressure and so likely the most important for survival in the Houston Ship Channel. The two genomic regions under the strongest selection traced back to Atlantic killifish, rather than Gulf killifish -- a result of recent hybridization believed to have occurred as a result of human activity, possibly in ballast water from a large ship. "Although Gulf killifish have adapted to prevent the cardiac deformities expected within the polluted Houston Ship Channel, the impact on other resident fish species is unclear and an area of future research," Matson said. "We are also very interested in how Gulf killifish from other polluted regions have responded to pollution. "We are not suggesting that hybridization will commonly provide a solution to environmental challenges," he said. "In fact, the limited duration of this hybridization event, and the very strong selective advantage of killifish with these specific gene variants, provided a rare set of circumstances allowing for adaptive introgression without any evidence of the harmful genetic baggage one might expect as a result of hybridization." More research will be required to understand the relative importance of the various mechanisms of evolutionary rescue in the face of rapid environmental change, Matson said. "Hybridization is not likely to be a commonly utilized mechanism of evolutionary rescue," he said. "But this study clearly shows that it is possible." ### *The research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation; the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences; the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill Trustees Council; Baylor University; C. Gus Glasscock Endowed Research Fellowship; and Indiana University. Co-researchers included scientists from the Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis; Department of Environmental Toxicology and Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, UC Davis; Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; and O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. Each year on the first Saturday in May, Thoroughbred horses reach speeds of over 40 miles per hour as they compete to win the Kentucky Derby. But the domestic horse wasn't always bred for speed. In fact, an international team now has evidence to suggest that the modern horse is genetically quite different from the horses of even just a few hundred years ago. Their work, appearing May 2 in the journal Cell, constructs the genetic history of the domestic horse across the world over the last 5,000 years by using the largest genome collection ever generated for a non-human organism. The findings identify two new horse lineages that are now extinct and suggest that familiar traits such as speed were only selected for more recently in their history. "The horse has impacted human history like no other animal," says Ludovic Orlando (@LudovicLorlando), a research director with CNRS and the University of Toulouse and a Professor of Molecular Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen. "If you look at the historical record from the Bronze Age onward, horses are always part of the equation up until very recent times, connecting civilizations and impacting transportation, warfare, and agriculture. Our goal was to understand how humans and their activities transformed the horse throughout history to fit their purposes--and how these changes in biology influenced human history." The team responsible for this project consisted of 121 collaborators, including geneticists, archaeologists, and evolutionary biologists from 85 institutions around the world, and examined genome-scale data from 278 horse specimens from across Eurasia over the last 42,000 years. "Such a large collection of data means that we can build a much more precise understanding of horse domestication and management through space and time," Orlando says. "But it was truly an interdisciplinary effort because of course it takes a lot more than just DNA to understand such a story. We had to integrate all these social, historical, and geographical aspects." Overall, the team's findings suggest that equine history was much more complex than was previously realized. Today, there are only two known lineages of horses, the domestic horse and the Przewalski's horse. But the researchers here identified two additional now-extinct lineages of horses, one from the Iberian Peninsula and one from Siberia, both of which still existed 4,000-4,500 years ago. "We found two lineages of horses at the far ends of Eurasia that are not related to what we call the domestic horse today, nor to the Przewalski's horse. They are a sort of horse equivalent of what Neanderthals are to modern humans," Orlando says. The researchers also found a major shift in the genetic makeup of horses in Europe and Central Asia in the 7th to 9th centuries and say this shift probably corresponds to Islamic expansions. The horses common in Europe before that time are now only found in regions such as Iceland; the new European horses after that time were much more similar to horses found in Persia during the Sassanid Empire. When the team performed a scan to identify genes that had been selected for in these Persian horses, they found evidence of selection in genes associated with body shape. "It was a moment in history that reshaped the landscape of horses in Europe. If you look at what we today call Arabian horses, you know that they have a different shape--and we know how popular this anatomy has been throughout history, including in racing horses. Based on the genomic evidence, we propose that this horse was so successful and influential because it brought a new anatomy and perhaps other favorable traits," he says. The researchers found that there have been additional significant and recent changes in the domestic horse. Similar selection scans indicate that only in the last 1,500 years did traits such as ambling and speed over short distances become more actively sought. And when they looked at the overall genetic diversity of the domestic horse, the researchers found a sharp decline in the last 200 to 300 years. They believe this decline corresponds with new breeding practices that were introduced with the rise of the concept of "pure" breeds. "What we picture as a horse today and what we picture as a horse from a thousand years ago or two thousand years ago was likely actually very different. Some of those traits that we are most familiar with are only a modern invention, and in the last few hundred years, we have actually impacted the horse genome a lot more than in the previous 4,000 years of domestication," says Orlando. He believes that this research can tell us a lot about both the past and the present. "Our findings show that the past is a lot more diverse than we thought it was and that it cannot be imagined or inferred through modern-day variation. But ancient DNA tells us a lot about today as well, because it teaches us about the consequences of some shifts in breeding practices," he says. And that, he believes, can also affect the way we think about conservation and modern agricultural practices. Of course, our understanding of the domestic horse's history is far from complete. Orlando acknowledges that there are geographic and temporal gaps in his story. Perhaps mostly glaringly, we still don't know when and or where the horse was domesticated. "Horse domestication is central to human history, and in 2019, we still don't understand where it started. That's mind-blowing," he says. He looks forward to filling in those blanks. "Whenever I'm asked about what finding I'm most excited about, I always say, the next one. Because this research opens the door for so many possibilities to be studied now." ### This work was supported by a Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship, FCT, the Ministry of Educations and Science of Russian Federation, the Russian Scientific foundation, Hughes International Early Career, Obra Social "La Caixa," Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia I Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya, the SYNTHESYS Project (http://www.synthesys.info/), which is financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the Seventh Framework "Capacities" Programme, the Danish National Research Foundation, Initiative d'Excellence Chaires d'attractivite, Universite de Toulouse, the International Highly Cited Research Group Program, Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, the Villum Fonden miGENEPI research project, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Cell, Fages et al: "Tracking five millennia of horse management with extensive ancient genome timeseries" https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30384-8 Cell (@CellCellPress), the flagship journal of Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that publishes findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology, including but not limited to cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. Lithium, the light silvery metal used in everything from pharmaceutical applications to batteries that power your smart phone or electric car, could also help harness on Earth the fusion energy that lights the sun and stars. Lithium can maintain the heat and protect the walls inside doughnut-shaped tokamaks that house fusion reactions, and will be used to produce tritium, the hydrogen isotope that will combine with its cousin deuterium to fuel fusion in future reactors. At the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), researchers have completed a three-year upgrade of the Lithium Tokamak Experiment -- now called the Lithium Tokamak Experiment-Beta (LTX-) -- a unique device that will test the ability of the metal to maintain the heat and protect the walls of the now-more-powerful tokamak. Neutral beam injector The upgrade, funded by the DOE Office of Science, installed a neutral beam injector -- on long-term loan from Tri Alpha Energy, now TAE Technologies -- to heat, fuel and increase the density of the plasma. Other improvements include an increase in the magnetic field that confines the plasma, and installation of new lithium systems. The improvements bring conditions in the experiment closer to those in a fusion reactor, said Dick Majeski, principal investigator of the experiment. The novel device, which uses a coating of lithium to cover the interior wall of the small tokamak, had prior to the upgrade become the first to keep temperature constant from the hot, central core of the plasma to the normally cool outer edge. "The machine is now ready to exploit the full capability of the upgrade," said Phil Efthimion, head of PPPL's Plasma Science and Technology unit, which oversees the experiment. Fusion combines light elements in the form of plasma -- the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei -- that generates massive amounts of energy. Scientists are seeking to replicate fusion on Earth for a virtually inexhaustible supply of power to generate electricity. To complete the upgrade, the team produced 500 kilowatts of neutral beam power while increasing the strength of the magnetic field that confines the plasma by two-thirds, and covering the walls of the tokamak with a lithium coating; the seemingly magic metal absorbs stray plasma particles and keeps them from bouncing back into the core of the plasma and cooling it down. The team further raised the neutral beam power to over 600 kilowatts, increasing the heating power of the machine by a factor of 10. Still maintain good confinement? The next test is whether the upgraded machine can maintain good confinement and constant temperature in far hotter plasmas, with stronger magnetic fields. The beam upgrade will keep the density from dropping and demonstrate whether the hotter and more energetic plasma can still be controlled. Construction of the upgrade called for steps that included installation of a stronger power supply and a new lithium evaporator and was "a difficult task to accomplish," Majeski said. "Everyone worked very hard. We got a lot of help from the laboratory's NSTX-U [National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade] engineering team." Tom Kozub of the team oversaw the engineering effort and physicist Dennis Boyle ran the device when it met the operating requirements. Collaborating on the LTX- are scientists from eight research centers across the country: Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories; Princeton University; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Washington; and University of Tennessee, Knoxville. ### PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas -- ultra-hot, charged gases -- and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, which is the largest single supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. Gaia, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA, surveys the sky from orbit to create the largest, most precise, three-dimensional map of our Galaxy. One year ago, the Gaia mission produced its much-awaited second data release, which included high-precision measurements -- positions, distance and proper motions -- of more than one billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. This catalogue has enabled transformational studies in many fields of astronomy, addressing the structure, origin and evolution the Milky Way and generating more than 1700 scientific publications since its launch in 2013. In order to reach the accuracy necessary for Gaia's sky maps, it is crucial to pinpoint the position of the spacecraft from Earth. Therefore, while Gaia scans the sky, gathering data for its stellar census, astronomers regularly monitor its position using a global network of optical telescopes, including the VST at ESO's Paranal Observatory [1]. The VST is currently the largest survey telescope observing the sky in visible light, and records Gaia's position in the sky every second night throughout the year. "Gaia observations require a special observing procedure," explained Monika Petr-Gotzens, who has coordinated the execution of ESO's observations of Gaia since 2013. "The spacecraft is what we call a 'moving target', as it is moving quickly relative to background stars -- tracking Gaia is quite the challenge!" "The VST is the perfect tool for picking out the motion of Gaia," elaborated Ferdinando Patat, head of the ESO's Observing Programmes Office. "Using one of ESO's first-rate ground-based facilities to bolster cutting-edge space observations is a fine example of scientific cooperation." "This is an exciting ground-space collaboration, using one of ESO's world-class telescopes to anchor the trailblazing observations of ESA's billion star surveyor," commented Timo Prusti, Gaia project scientist at ESA. The VST observations are used by ESA's flight dynamics experts to track Gaia and refine the knowledge of the spacecraft's orbit. Painstaking calibration is required to transform the observations, in which Gaia is just a speck of light among the bright stars, into meaningful orbital information. Data from Gaia's second release was used to identify each of the stars in the field of view, and allowed the position of the spacecraft to be calculated with astonishing precision -- up to 20 milliarcseconds. "This is a challenging process: we are using Gaia's measurements of the stars to calibrate the position of the Gaia spacecraft and ultimately improve its measurements of the stars," explains Timo Prusti. "After careful and lengthy data processing, we have now achieved the accuracy required for the ground-based observations of Gaia to be implemented as part of the orbit determination," says Martin Altmann, lead of the Ground Based Optical Tracking (GBOT) campaign at the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University, Germany. The GBOT information will be used to improve our knowledge of Gaia's orbit not only in observations to come, but also for all the data that have been gathered from Earth in the previous years, leading to improvements in the data products that will be included in future releases. ### Notes [1] This collaboration between ESO and ESA is just one of several cooperative projects which have benefitted from the expertise of both organisations in progressing astronomy and astrophysics. On 20 August 2015, the ESA and ESO Directors General signed a cooperation agreement to facilitate synergy through projects such as these. More information In order to foster exchanges between astrophysics-related spaceborne missions and ground-based facilities, as well as between their respective communities, ESA and ESO are joining forces to organise a series of international astronomy meetings. The first ESA-ESO joint workshop will take place in November 2019 at ESO and a call for proposals for the second workshop, to take place in 2020 at ESA, is currently open. ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world's largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky". The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organisation with 22 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. ESA's Gaia satellite was launched in 2013 to create the most precise three-dimensional map of more than one billion stars in the Milky Way. The mission has released two lots of data thus far: Gaia Data Release 1 in 2016 and Gaia Data Release 2 in 2018. More releases will follow in the coming years. Links * ESOblog: How ESO collaborates with ESA - https://www.eso.org/public/blog/how-eso-collaborates-with-esa/ Contacts Calum Turner ESO Public Information Officer Garching bei Munchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 3200 6670 Email: pio@eso.org Thursday, 2 May 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Zoe Gentes, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, ZGentes@esa.org Get a sneak peek at these new scientific papers, publishing on May 6, 2019, in the Ecological Society of America's journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Nature reserves and wilderness areas plagued by understaffing and budget shortfalls Extremely old trees endure in China Fuel breaks stop wildfire in its tracks - but may create new problems Connecting species to possible future safe havens Wildfires as an ecosystem service Nature reserves and wilderness areas plagued by understaffing and budget shortfalls Back in 2010, park rangers may have expected to spend the following ten years carrying out anti-poaching patrols in new nature reserves and responding to invasive species threats over larger ranges. A multilateral treaty - The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) - had just resolved to increase the worldwide coverage of protected areas (PAs), which are meant to safeguard habitats and species from human impacts. But a new study suggests that understaffing and major funding gaps (to the tune of US$70 billion in annual shortfalls, during some periods) are making the growing number and size of PAs less effective than they should be. An analysis of nature reserves, wilderness areas, and national parks shows that nearly half of PAs report inadequate staffing and budget resources, and that adequately funded PAs only protect sufficient amounts of habitat for fewer than 10% of their resident amphibian, bird, and mammal species. When measuring progress toward its biodiversity protection goals, the CBD risks sending a false message about conservation success in 2020 and beyond. Author Contact: Lauren Coad (lauren.coad@me.com) Extremely old trees endure in China Scattered across China's vast expanse of mountains and stony soils, a few ancient woody sentinels somehow manage to keep growing, year after year, as they have for more than a thousand years. But if certain areas are especially likely to harbor very old trees, it is not clear where those hot spots are. Researchers from Zhejiang University, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Australian National University mapped the locations of 187 trees across China that were at least 1000 years old and found a highly significant relationship between tree age and elevation. China's oldest known living tree, for example - a 2230-year-old Qilian juniper - grows on a mountain slope 4000 meters above sea level. These remote, high-elevation areas tend to be less likely to face human disturbance, but they do face continued threats from drought and climate change. Can China's oldest trees continue to "lie low" on the high mountain slopes? Author Contact: David Lindenmayer (david.lindenmayer@anu.edu.au) Fuel breaks stop wildfire in its tracks - but may create new problems Scrubby stands of sagebrush support all kinds of species - grouse, pygmy rabbits, badgers, coyotes - but in many sagebrush landscapes, wildfires have paved the way for invasive grass species to move in. In shrub-steppe landscapes of the western US, land managers have been mowing down vegetation along many thousands of kilometers of roads and fences, creating relatively barren strips of land that are supposed to make it harder for wildfires to spread. However, the effectiveness of this strategy in this particular ecosystem has not been widely studied, and researchers from USGS, USDA, and Colorado State University hope to highlight some of the uncertainties surrounding it. Open strips of land might make it easier for predators like coyotes to move around and hunt - but they can also make it harder for grouse to migrate to different areas to reproduce or forage. The fuel breaks might prevent grass invasions that are aided by wildfire, but mowed areas can also be more easily invaded. Whether the fuel breaks will ameliorate wildfire-related issues or create a new suite of problems remains to be seen. Author Contact: Douglas Shinneman (dshinneman@usgs.gov) Connecting species to possible future safe havens In the future, many species will find the climate conditions in their current habitat inhospitable - but if a population is surrounded by cities or degraded landscapes, where else can it go? Climate adaptation efforts have started to focus on ways to build movement routes for species that are "blocked in." But a group of researchers from the University of Washington have noticed a problem with many of these routes - they connect "environmental migrant" species to areas that currently experience the types of conditions they will need going forward, instead of identifying areas that are predicted to look that way in the future. Building pathways to destinations that don't yet exist is complicated, but several approaches for mapping new routes will allow researchers to make more accurate predictions about future safe havens. Author Contact: Caitlin Littlefield (clittlef@uw.edu) Wildfires as an ecosystem service Ancestral hominids were exposed to fire on open savanna landscapes, and humans eventually learned to control fire. Since then, fire has been key in the evolution of our social behavior - it has been used to create farmland and open spaces for grazing and hunting, to control pests, and to enhance pollination activity, as well as other benefits. In a new paper, ecologists from the USGS and the University of Valencia's Desertification Research Center outline the importance of fires, both natural and prescribed, for the functioning of ecosystems and the support of biodiversity. Author Contact: Juli Pausas (juli.g.pausas@uv.es) ### The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world's largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The Society publishes five journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society's Annual Meeting attracts 3,000-4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at http://www.esa.org. What we can learn from the sea New research has uncovered a missing nutrient source in coastal oceans, which could promote better water quality and sand management on popular beaches. While the release of nutrients buried in the seabed 'feeds' coastal marine ecosystems, the latest research at Flinders University has found a new physical mechanism which erodes seabed sediment at depths up to 20 metres, well outside (between 10km and 20km) from the surf zone closer to shore. This powerful natural process that is energetic enough to erode seabed sediment at up to 20 m, also adds to the nutrients stirred and moved by breaking surface waves nearer the beach, according to the new hydrodynamic modelling. "This new knowledge has significant implications for coastal sediment management practices such as dredging," says Flinders University oceanographer Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf. The study reveals that major sediment erosion follows from coast-parallel winds in an oceanic situation known as downwelling. "Such winds trigger a swift coastal current - left-bounded by the coast in the Southern Hemisphere - that is accompanied by a vigorous stirring zone in nearshore waters," Associate Professor Kaempf says. While this finding explains the high proportion of recycled nutrients in coastal ecosystems, it incidentally also points to a new mechanism of wind-driven sediment drift in coastal oceans that complements the well-known littoral drift in the surf zone. "Along the Adelaide metropolitan coastline, for example, the wind-driven sediment drift tends to be predominantly southward and opposite to the northward sediment drift in the surf zone," explains Dr Kaempf. "On the other hand, high turbidity levels following a seabed erosion event negatively impact the health of seagrass beds, and the sudden nutrient release can also trigger potentially harmful toxic algae blooms," says Dr Jochen Kaempf, who also is South Australian branch president of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. Dr Kaempf's latest paper calls for more field research and the development of reliable ocean forecasting models to study and predict the occurrence of such erosion events. ### The paper, Extreme bed shear during coastal downwelling, has been published in Ocean Dynamics (Springer) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10236-019-01256-4 The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. However, new research led by George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services found high rates of mixed breastfeeding and early introduction of formula among their sample of low-income, predominately Hispanic immigrant women participating in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) federal food assistance program. Assistant Professor Dr. Sina Gallo led the study with colleagues from the Loudoun County Health Department and Georgetown University. Published in Public Health Nutrition, they found that 61% of infants in their sample received formula in the first few days of life. More than half of the mothers reported use of formula due to perceived insufficient milk supply. Going back to work was also commonly cited as a reason for introducing formula, and some cultural beliefs may have encouraged the use of a mix of both breast milk and formula. Mothers who set an exclusive breastfeeding goal were five times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at three months post-partum. Those who did not complete high school were four times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at three months and six times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at six months than those who had completed a high school education or greater. The researchers suggested that most early breast-feeding problems can be addressed with education about when and how much to breastfeed and culturally appropriate support from clinicians. Gallo explains, "The main reason for introduction of formula was a perceived insufficient milk supply--which is likely a preventable reason--and education on sufficient breastmilk in the first few days as well as improved baby friendly hospital practices such as skin-to-skin and feeding in the first hour can help mitigate this practice." This study investigated the feeding patterns of 190 low-income, predominantly Hispanic immigrant women who attended two WIC clinics in Loudoun County, Virginia. 81 percent were living below the federal poverty line, and food insecurity was high. "The early rates of introduction of formula in the population surveyed is alarming - 17 percent reported giving formula at the first feed and 45 percent before they left the hospital. This is the time when support systems should be in place to help mothers exclusively breastfeed, yet many are choosing formula feeding at this time," explained Gallo. The researchers explained that in most cases it is possible for new mothers to adapt to exclusive breastfeeding, with education intervention from WIC counsellors, as well as changes in WIC policies to encourage and support breastfeeding. "Our study aims to inform policymakers of the best way to help minority mothers earning low incomes to adopt exclusive breastfeeding. WIC already provides an expanded food package for exclusively breastfeeding mothers as well as access to lactation counselors. However an increased focus on intense lactation support in the first weeks, including limiting formula as a part of the WIC package for the first month to special circumstances may further help support mothers to meet breastfeeding recommendations," Gallo noted. ### About George Mason University George Mason University is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 37,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https://www2.gmu.edu/. About the College of Health and Human Services George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, professional service, and innovative practice and research initiatives. CHHS enrolls 1,917 undergraduate students and 950 graduate students in its nationally-recognized offerings, including: 5 undergraduate degrees, 12 graduate degrees, and 11 certificate programs. CHHS is moving toward the goal of becoming a global college of public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/. Induced pluripotent stem cells can turn into any type of cell in the body or remain in their original form. In the current edition of Molecular Cell, scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen describe how cells "decide" which of these two directions to take. During their research, they identified a protein and a ribonucleic acid (RNA) that play a highly significant role in this process. Their discovery also allows a better understanding of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)*, a progressive neurological disease that affects motor neurons. Thanks to their ability to transform into any type of cell in the body, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells)** could make a key contribution to regenerative medicine. In order, for example, to generate artificial beta cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, it is essential to understand the mechanisms that underlie cell differentiation. Together with his team, Dr. Micha Drukker from the Institute of Stem Cell Research (ISF) at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, has now shown how such processes are controlled at the molecular level. It all began with a structure in a cell nucleus that was visualized with the aid of fluorescence microscopy. Two key factors in the cell nucleus "We noticed that nuclear domains named paraspeckles*** do not occur in iPS cells, but are quickly formed during the differentiation process, irrespective of the cell type that we created," says Dr. Miha Modic, who was a member of Dr. Drukker's working group. Drukker and Modic hypothesized that this phenomenon was linked to the ability of stem cells to differentiate into body cells. Along with Prof. Ule Jernej from University College London and Markus Grosch, a PhD student in Dr. Drukker's group, the researchers discovered key molecules in the cell nucleus that orchestrate the appearance of paraspeckles and how they regulate differentiation. "Two factors play key roles in the decision as to whether cells differentiate or remain pluripotent," says Drukker. "We identified NEAT1, a ribonucleic acid (RNA), and TDP-43, a protein that binds to RNA." NEAT1 exists in two forms. The short form is stabilized by TDP-43, and in this case, no paraspeckles develop. The cell remains pluripotent, and is not altered. Conversely, a decrease in TDP-43 creates the long form of NEAT1. Paraspeckles are formed, and an iPS cell begins to differentiate. Modic adds: "This control system may be general for stem cells to make a choice when to differentiate." Modic further notes, "Dr Silvia Schirge and Prof. Heiko Lickert from the Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research (IDR) helped us to show that paraspeckles are also crucial for efficient differentiation during murine embryonic development. Together, their study provides a breakthrough in understanding processes of differentiation and development. Link to diseases In Drukker's view, these findings will do more than just provide a contribution to basic research. "Paraspeckles are linked to many diseases, but up until now they have rarely been examined in the context of developmental and stem cell biology," he explains. In the case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the role of TDP-43 - as well as the appearance of paraspeckles - is particularly evident. In motor neurons, the cells that operate our muscles and are affected by ALS, TDP-43 is oddly regulated and forms toxic aggregates; and there is an increased occurrence of the long form of NEAT1, and more paraspeckles can be detected. These mechanisms are regarded as an early sign of ALS - even before patients present with clinically relevant symptoms. In the next stage, Drukker and his team of scientists hope to examine other cell types for paraspeckles, RNAs and their interactions. By then it will also be apparent whether the newly discovered molecules will provide suitable targets for pharmacotherapies. ### Further information Original publication: Modic M et al (2019), Cross-Regulation between TDP-43 and Paraspeckles Promotes Pluripotency-Differentiation Transition. Molecular Cell. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.03.041 * Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are stem cells that are generated in the laboratory from ordinary body cells via reprogramming. They can then turn into any type of body cell. This process is known as cellular differentiation. ** Paraspeckles are structures in the cell nucleus that can be visualized by fluorescence microscopy. They do not always occur, but are detectable in certain cell states, for example when iPS cells differentiate into normal body cells. Paraspeckles consist of special proteins that bind ribonucleic acids (RNAs). *** Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)* is an incurable neurological disease that progressively affects the motors by inability to activate them. In ALS patients, certain nerve cells, the so-called motor-neurons, which are needed to control the movement of skeletal muscles, are degenerated. Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches to the prevention and therapy of such common health conditions as diabetes, allergies and lung disease. To this end, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen has about 2,300 staff members and is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 19 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 37,000 staff members. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de The Institute of Stem Cell Research (ISF) investigates the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in stem cell maintenance and differentiation. On this basis, the ISF develops new approaches to replacing damaged cell types, either by activating dormant stem cells or by reprogramming other pre-existing cell types to repair themselves. The aim of these approaches is to regenerate damaged, pathologically altered or destroyed tissue. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/isf The research activities of the Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research (IDR) focus on the biological and physiological study of the pancreas and/or the insulin producing beta cells. Thus, the IDR contributes to the elucidation of the development of diabetes and the discovery of new risk genes of the disease. Experts from the fields of stem cell research and metabolic diseases work together on solutions for regenerative therapy approaches of diabetes. The IDR is part of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC). http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/idr Contact for the media: Communication Department, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstadter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg - Tel. +49 89 3187 2238 - E-Mail: presse@helmholtz-muenchen.de Scientific contact: Dr. Micha Drukker, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Institute of Stem Cell Research, Ingolstadter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg - Tel. +49 89 3187 2013 - E-Mail: micha.drukker@helmholtz-muenchen.de China plans to unveil a slew of new measures to further open up its financial markets in order to improve the sector's management and competitiveness, according to the country's top banking and insurance regulator. A total of 12 new rules will be released soon on the basis of profound research and evaluation, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission told Xinhua in a joint interview, adding that China's financial opening-up efforts have already drawn a positive market response. The upper shareholding limits for a single Chinese-funded bank and a single foreign-funded bank in a Chinese commercial bank will be abolished simultaneously, according to Guo. Asset requirement for foreign banks to set up foreign-funded legal person banks or branches as well as for foreign financial institutions to hold stakes in trust firms will also be removed. The financial authorities will treat all domestic and overseas entities equally, while cooperation and competition will be carried out subject to the same rule, he said. In addition, restrictions on Chinese shareholders in a Sino-foreign joint-venture bank will be eased. The requirement that the sole or major Chinese shareholders should be financial institutions will be abolished. The new rules will also allow overseas financial institutions to hold stakes in foreign-funded insurance companies operating in China. The new rules will encourage overseas financial institutions to conduct equity, business and technological cooperation with banking and insurance institutions controlled by private capital. The new opening-up measures will permit foreign-funded insurance companies to invest in or set up insurance agencies in China. Currently, the shares of foreign-funded banks and insurance companies' total assets have reached 1.64 percent and 6.36 percent, respectively, in China. "By further expanding the opening-up and forging a level playing market environment, it will help to ensure sufficient competition, optimize equity structure and regulating shareholders' behavior," Guo said. Besides, both Chinese and foreign-funded financial institutions will enjoy widened entry policies in investing in or setting up consumption financial companies. Foreign banks will no longer need approval in conducting RMB businesses and will be eligible to carry out RMB businesses upon their establishment, according to the new measures. The new rules will also allow foreign banks to engage in agency collection and payment services, remove certain requirements on foreign insurance brokers to conduct insurance brokerage business in China, and ease the terms for foreign insurance companies to set up insurance institutions in China. "Further opening up the banking and insurance sectors is not only essential for the development of Chinese economy and finance but also is conducive to enriching market entities and stimulate market vitality," Guo said. Responding to forestalling and controlling risks, the official said institutions that severely violate laws and regulations and operate in an imprudent manner will face tough punishment. Financial authorities will speed up formulating relative laws and regulations to facilitate the implementation of those opening-up measures, Guo added. A team of plastic surgeons and material scientists has made an important advance in treating the common clinical problem of soft tissue loss. They have invented a synthetic soft tissue substitute that is well tolerated and encourages the growth of soft tissue and blood vessels. This new material retains its shape without being too dense, overcoming challenges with current tissue fillers that tend to be either too soft or not porous enough to let cells move in and start regrowing tissue. A report on this work appears today in Science Translational Medicine. "As a plastic surgeon, I see patients every day who lose soft tissue like skin, fat and muscle from cancer surgery, trauma or other conditions. Currently our options are limited to implants, which are plagued by fibrosis and other problems, or 'borrowing' tissues from elsewhere in the body, which can cause deformity there as well," says Sashank Reddy, M.D., Ph.D., an instructor in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the medical director for Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures. "Nature abhors a vacuum, and soft tissue defects can contract, deform and fill in with scar. In order to reconstruct these defects, we often move fat from one part of the body to another with a process called fat grafting. This is not always successful, as typically half of the grafted fat will die after it's transplanted, and it's often hard to predict how well these procedures will work out," says Justin Sacks, M.D., M.B.A., vice chair of clinical operations and an associate professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Several years ago, Reddy and Sacks approached Hai-Quan Mao about developing a material that could allow them to do fewer invasive surgeries to replace lost soft tissue. They wanted to find a better way to help patients while avoiding some of the risks of surgery. "This was an interesting problem to tackle from an engineering point of view," says Hai-Quan Mao, Ph.D., a professor of materials science and engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering and biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the associate director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins. "Typically a gel-like material that's porous enough for cells to spread inside is too soft to be able to hold its shape, and a material that is able to retain its shape when placed in the soft tissue defects is conversely too dense for cells to grow into. We really needed to synthesize a new material that is soft and porous yet resilient -- almost like fat tissue or Jell-O." Since fat often is used to fill in space during reconstructive surgery procedures, the team started by examining the structure and physical properties of fat. They used real human fat as well as animal fat and measured everything about it -- how elastic it is, how viscous and how bouncy. They also examined its microscopic structure, which consists of large cells clustered around a fibrous matrix -- the extracellular matrix -- that lends shape and stability to fat tissue. Once they had those measurements, they started experimenting. They reasoned that the material needed to be safe and well tolerated, so they started with a so-called hydrogel made of hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring component of the body's extracellular matrix. Further, hyaluronic acid is already used in more than 90 percent of commercial cosmetic dermal fillers in the United States. But the hydrogel alone cannot retain its shape while retaining porosity, says Mao; rather it will be deformed too easily at the site of repair in the body. So they added another material to the hydrogel to help give it some stiffness. The research team turned to polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers, the same material used in some resorbable stitches. "These fibers are about one one-hundredth the diameter of a human hair, but even at that size, we knew we had to limit how much we used. Too much and the resulting material would be too thick to inject through a thin needle," says Russell Martin, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in materials science and engineering at Johns Hopkins who spearheaded this project. So they broke the fibers into short pieces, mixed them into hydrogel, and through a chemical reaction, caused the fibers to bond with the hydrogel to form what's called a composite. In order for the composite to work as hoped, it had to match the stiffness of the surrounding tissue, yet be porous enough for cells in that tissue to move in. So the team first experimented with lab-grown human blood vessel cells and fat stem cells to figure out what kinds of conditions would favor cells to infiltrate into the composite to grow. They compared pure hydrogel with the new composite material, both with similar levels of stiffness. They found that the cells were unable to penetrate pure hydrogel, but not only were the cells able to move into the composite, they also formed networks that looked like blood vessels. "We found in the composite that the nanofibers were well spread out and created a structure similar to that of fat, so this was really encouraging," says Reddy. They then tested the composite by injecting it under the skin of rats. Over a period of several weeks, rats injected with the composite developed new blood vessels within the injected composite, whereas rats injected with only hydrogel didn't show substantial blood vessel formation. So then the team wanted to mimic a soft tissue repair scenario with the composite to see how well it would work. Using rabbits, they removed 1 cubic centimeter of fat from the flank, then injected that same site with either composite or hydrogel. This volume imitates the individual droplets of fat that are transferred currently in clinical fat grafting. The results mimicked what was seen in the rat experiments with substantially better tissue ingrowth into the composite. "We are really excited about this material as it provides a good foundation for other types of studies and uses in the future," says Reddy. "As an engineer, it's common for us to invent something, then try to get people to use it. In this case, the need came from the patients and surgeons in the clinic, we took it to the bench and now we are on our way to bringing a solution back to the clinic; we've almost gone full circle," says Mao. The team hopes to test this composite in patients with soft tissue deficits within a year. ### Authors on this paper include Xiaowei Li, Brian Cho, Russell Martin, Michelle Seu, Chi Zhang, Zhengbing Zhou, Ji Suk Choi, Xuesong Jiang, Long Chen, Gurjot Walia, Jerry Yan, Megan Callanan, Huanhuan Liu, Kevin Colbert, Justin Morrissette-McAlmon, Warren Grayson, Reddy, Sacks and Mao, all of Johns Hopkins at the time the research was performed. Under a license agreement between LifeSprout, LLC and the Johns Hopkins University, H.Q.M, J.M.S., S.R. and the University are entitled to equity and royalty distributions related to technology described in the study discussed in this publication. H.Q.M, J.M.S., and S.R. are also founders of and hold equity in LifeSprout, LLC. S.R. and H.Q.M. receive consulting fees from LifeSprout Inc. This arrangement has been reviewed and approved by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. This work was supported by the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R21NS085714), Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (2018-MSCRFCO-4088), the National Science Foundation (DMR1410240), Coulter Foundation Translational Grant, Cohen Translational Engineering Fund, Louis B. Thalheimer Award for Translational Research, Abell Foundation Translational Award and Maryland Innovation Initiative. Xiaowei Li acknowledges a postdoctoral fellowship from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (2013MSCRF-00042169) and an AHA Career Development Award (18CDA34110314). More Americans are being diagnosed with eye complications of shingles, but older adults can call the shots on whether they are protected from the painful rash that can cost them their eyesight. Among a group of 21 million adults, occurrences of herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO), when shingles gets in the eyes, tripled during a 12-year-period, according to Kellogg Eye Center research presented at the 2019 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in Vancouver. Study author Nakul Shekhawat, M.D., MPH, says it's important to figure out which patients are at greatest risk for HZO and how to prevent it "because of the severity of the disease and potential sight-threatening complications." Even though caused by the same virus, shingles is different than chickenpox. Years after recovering from chickenpox, the virus can become active again, causing shingles, a painful, debilitating infection that can lead to corneal scarring and blindness. Kellogg researchers found that incidence of herpes zoster ophthalmicus across the United States rose substantially between 2004 and 2016, occurring in 9.4 cases per 100,000 people at the beginning of the study period and growing 3 fold to 30.1 cases per 100,000 by the end of the study period. Shingles affecting the eye may be more of a problem for women and adults over age 75 (53 cases per 100,000), two groups with the highest rates of infection, the study showed. While shingles has been cropping up in young adults, it is still considered one of the perils of old age. "Older patients were at far greater risk for HZO, highlighting just how important it is for older adults to get the shingles vaccination," says Shekhawat, a comprehensive ophthalmologist at the University of Michigan Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Whites more so than other racial groups were diagnosed with HZO, with rates lower among blacks (23.4), Asians (21.0) and Latinos (14.6). Among whites the rate was 30.6 cases per 100,000. That females (29.1 cases per 100,000 persons) and white patients had such high infection rates raises interesting questions, Shekhawat says, about their community exposure and whether their immune systems uniquely place them at risk. The shingles vaccination provides strong protection from shingles and its complications, but the vaccine is not widely used. Two doses of Shingrix are more than 90% effective at preventing shingles and are recommended for those age 50 and older. Even if an adult has had shingles in the past, Shingrix can help prevent future occurrences, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Protection. The Kellogg team of vision and health services researchers included statistician Nidhi Talwar and Joshua D. Stein, M.D., a member of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and the U-M Center for Eye Policy and Innovation. They studied demographics and variations in herpes zoster ophthalmicus in the United States with support from Eversight Eye Bank and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation. The findings were based on health claims data for patients enrolled in a large nationwide managed care plan. ### COLUMBUS, Ohio--Scientists at The Ohio State University have discovered a new species that lived more than 500 million years ago--a form of ancient echinoderm that was ancestral to modern-day groups such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars, brittle stars and crinoids. The fossil shows a crucial evolutionary step by echinoderms that parallels the most important ecological change to have taken place in marine sediments. The discovery, nearly 30 years in the making, was published recently in the Bulletin of Geosciences and provides a clue as to how creatures were able to make the evolutionary leap from living stuck to marine sediment grains--which were held together by gooey algae-like colonies, the original way that echinoderms lived--to living attached to hard, shelly surfaces, which is the way their modern-day descendants live now on the bottom of the ocean. "It throws light on a critical time, not just in the evolution of organisms, but also in the evolution of marine ecosystems," said Loren Babcock, co-author of the study and professor of earth sciences at Ohio State. "This represents a creature that clearly was making the leap from the old style of marine ecosystems in which sediments were stabilized by cyanobacterial mats, to what ultimately became the present system, with more fluidized sediment surfaces." The creature, a species of edrioasteroid echinoderm that Babcock and his researchers named Totiglobus spencensis, lived in the Cambrian Period--about 507 million years ago. (The Earth, for the record, is about 4.5 billion years old.) A family of fossil hunters discovered the fossil in shale of Spence Gulch, in the eastern part of Idaho, in 1992, and donated it to Richard Robison, a researcher at the University of Kansas and Babcock's doctoral adviser. That part of the country is rich with fossils from the Cambrian period, Babcock said. For years, the fossil puzzled both Babcock and Robison. But the mystery was solved a few years ago, when Robison's fossil collection passed to Babcock after Robison's retirement. Once Babcock had the fossil in his lab, he and a visiting doctoral student, Rongqin Wen, removed layers of rock, exposing a small, rust-colored circle with numerous tiny plates and distinct arm-like structures, called ambulcra. Further study showed them that the animal attached itself to a small, conical shell of a mysterious, now-extinct animal called a hyolith using a basal disk--a short, funnel-like structure composed of numerous small calcite plates. The discovery was a type of scientific poetry--years earlier, Babcock and Robison discovered the type of shell that this animal appeared to be attached to, and named it Haplophrentis reesei. The edrioasteroid that Babcock and Wen discovered apparently lived attached to the upper side of the elongate-triangular hyolith shell, even as the hyolith was alive. They think a sudden storm buried the animals in a thick layer of mud, preserving them in their original ecological condition. Echinoderms and hyoliths first appeared during the Cambrian Period, a time in Earth's history when life exploded and the world became more biodiverse than it had ever been before. The earliest echinoderms, including the earliest edrioasteroids, lived by sticking to cyanobacterial mats--thick, algae-like substances that covered the Earth's waters. And until the time of Totiglobus spencensis, echinoderms had not yet figured out how to attach to a hard surface. "In all of Earth's history, the Cambrian is probably the most important in the evolution of both animals and marine ecosystems, because this was a time when a more modern style of ecosystem was first starting to take hold," Babcock said. "This genus of the species we discovered shows the evolutionary transition from being a 'mat-sticker' to the more advanced condition of attaching to a shelly substrate, which became a successful model for later species, including some that live today." In the early part of the Cambrian Period--which started about 538 million years ago--echinoderms likely lived on that algae-like substance in shallow seas that covered many areas of the planet. The algae, Babcock said, probably was not unlike the cyanobacterial mats that appear in certain lakes, including Lake Erie, each summer. But at some point, those algae-like substances became appealing food for other creatures, including prehistoric snails. During the Cambrian, as the population of snails and other herbivores exploded, the algae-like cyanobacterial mats began to disappear from shallow seas, and sediments became too physically unstable to support the animals--including echinoderms--that had come to rely on them. Once their algae-like homes became food for other animals, Babcock said, echinoderms either had to find new places to live or perish. Paleontologists knew that the creatures had somehow managed to survive, but until the Ohio State researchers' discovery, they hadn't seen much evidence that an echinoderm that lived this long ago had made the move from living stuck to cyanobacterial-covered sediment to living attached to hard surfaces. "This evolutionary choice--to move from mat-sticker to hard shelly substrate--ultimately is responsible for giving rise to attached animals such as crinoids," Babcock said. "This new species represents the link between the old lifestyle and the new lifestyle that became successful for this echinoderm lineage." ### A new study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances suggests that some birds prioritize social information over visual evidence when making breeding choices. The quality of an environment can be difficult for a bird to assess and, therefore, continuously gathering information is a good way to stay up-to-date with breeding conditions. In this field study, researchers tested how the wild Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is attracted to successful nest sites. They presented the Zebra Finch with different visual or acoustic cues in nest boxes, simulating the presence of small or large broods, in order to test how birds assess the quality of a potential breeding site. When discussing the costs and benefits of social information, scientists often argue that socially acquired knowledge is less reliable and more prone to deception. The sounds made by nesting birds, however, are honest indicators of the number of chicks. Predators can use these cues to locate nests. While the calls of chicks serve as signals for the parents and siblings and (inadvertently) also as cues for predators, it is unknown whether chick calls can also function as cues for prospective breeders. Researchers here aimed to test which social cues from the nests of Zebra Finches attract other Zebra Finches. In two separate experiments, they presented wild Zebra Finches with either acoustic cues (playback of chick calls) or visual cues (eggs) with either small or large broods. Using playbacks of chick calls or nests with unhatched eggs, respectively, allowed them to completely discern brood size from parental activity. If the presence of fledglings in an area alone would provide all relevant information, there would be no need for wild Zebra Finches to visit nests beforehand. With this experiment, researchers tested the hypothesis that chick begging calls can serve as a source of social information for prospecting Zebra Finches. If the begging calls can also serve as indicators for breeding success, Zebra Finches should visit larger (and potentially more successful) broods more than small ones, as clutch size is correlated with reproductive success. The researchers further predicted the acoustic cues (representing nests at later stages) may be perceived as more reliable than visual cues (i.e. nests at early stages) and hence the distinction between small and large broods should be more pronounced in the nests with chick calls as cues than those with egg cues. The results showed that more Zebra Finches visited experimental nests that were associated with playback recordings of calls of large broods (7 chicks) as opposed to calls of small broods (3 chicks). Visual cues (nests with different numbers of eggs or rocks), however, representing nests at early stages, did not influence either the probability of visits, nor number or duration of visits. This is the first evidence that calls of chicks in the nest can provide social information that influences bird breeding behavior. This result is in accordance with the hypothesis that the wild Zebra Finch preferentially visits more successful broods. The chick calls alone provided the necessary social information to attract potential breeders. Overall, this study provides the first evidence that wild birds can use calls from chicks at the pre-fledging stage as a social signal. This social information could be an important cue to infer breeding success. Even though the parental feeding activity at nests is a known indicator of breeding success in some species, the value of the begging calls in the nest as inadvertent social information has not been demonstrated previously. "This study helps us understand which cues the Zebra Finches use to find the best nest site," said lead author Hanja Barbara Bandl. "Deciding in which location to build a nest is crucial for birds in order to maximize their breeding success." ### The paper, "Begging calls provide social cues for prospecting conspecifics in the wild Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata)," is available (at midnight EST on May 2) at: https://academic.oup.com/auk/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/auk/ukz007 Hanja Barbara Brandl Institute of Zoology, Universitat Hamburg, Germany hanja.brandl@gmail.com To request a copy of the study, please contact: Daniel Luzer daniel.luzer@oup.com Sharing on social media? Find Oxford Journals online at @OxfordJournals Paromomysin-based topical treatments were shown to be effective in curing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), according to a randomized, double blind study conducted in Panama and published with PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Leishmaniasis, transmitted by a female phlebotomine sand fly bite, is endemic in 98 countries and has approximately 0.7 to 1.2 million CL cases each year. Infection with CL causes open and chronic lesions on the skin and joints, as well as debilitating pain. Many patients who have CL in Panama can receive pentavalent antimony, (compounds that are injected intravenously or intramuscularly) however this treatment can be toxic and can prevent the patient from receiving full care. In addition, many patients live in areas where this laboratory treatment is inaccessible. Nestor Sosa, Juan Miguel Pascale and colleagues, ran a study to see if a topical cream could cure this disease in a less toxic and more accessible way. The researchers tested two creams, one with only paromomysin, an antimicrobial, and one with a combination of paromomysin and gentamicin (gentamicin is an antibiotic that stops the further growth of bacteria). The addition of gentamicin did not change the cure rate for the 399 patients treated over 20 days. Results showed that there was a high cure rate of close to 80%. Children under 12, and teens from 12-17, had an especially high cure rate of 84% and 82% respectively. However, not all patients were cured: 87 patients experienced either disease persistence, disease worsening or disease relapse, due to a lack of the disease's response to the antibiotics by Day 100 of the test. 16 other patients were clinical failures due to withdrawal of consent or lost follow-up. "This trial demonstrates that topical therapy with a paromomycin-based cream offers a potential alternative to the current standard of care for the treatment of CL in Panama," the authors note. "A topical treatment for uncomplicated CL is also of great interest in the United States, where current treatment options all have suboptimal risk/benefit profiles for this disease." ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0007253 Press-Only Preview of the Article: https://plos.io/2Vf2gIv Contact: Juan Miguel Pascale; jmpascale@gorgas.gob.pa; 5075274984; Panama Citation: Sosa N, Pascale JM, Jimenez AI, Norwood JA, Kreishman-Detrick M, et al. (2019) Topical paromomycin for New World cutaneous leishmaniasis. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13(5): e0007253. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007253 Image Credit: Pascale, et al. (2019) Image Caption: Photographs of Lesion #1 in a subject treated with Paromomycin over time (Baseline, Day 100 and Day 168). Funding: This study was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity (USAMMDA), U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. USAMMDA also provided the investigational product for the study. The investigators have adhered to the policies for protection of human subjects as prescribed in Army Regulation 70-25. Competing Interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist. HOUSTON -- (May 2, 2019) -- Bioengineers have cleared a major hurdle on the path to 3D printing replacement organs with a breakthrough technique for bioprinting tissues. The new innovation allows scientists to create exquisitely entangled vascular networks that mimic the body's natural passageways for blood, air, lymph and other vital fluids. The research is featured on the cover of this week's issue of Science. It includes a visually stunning proof-of-principle -- a hydrogel model of a lung-mimicking air sac in which airways deliver oxygen to surrounding blood vessels. Also reported are experiments to implant bioprinted constructs containing liver cells into mice. The work was led by bioengineers Jordan Miller of Rice University and Kelly Stevens of the University of Washington (UW) and included 15 collaborators from Rice, UW, Duke University, Rowan University and Nervous System, a design firm in Somerville, Massachusetts. "One of the biggest road blocks to generating functional tissue replacements has been our inability to print the complex vasculature that can supply nutrients to densely populated tissues," said Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice's Brown School of Engineering. "Further, our organs actually contain independent vascular networks -- like the airways and blood vessels of the lung or the bile ducts and blood vessels in the liver. These interpenetrating networks are physically and biochemically entangled, and the architecture itself is intimately related to tissue function. Ours is the first bioprinting technology that addresses the challenge of multivascularization in a direct and comprehensive way." Stevens, assistant professor of bioengineering in the UW College of Engineering, assistant professor of pathology in the UW School of Medicine, and an investigator at the UW Medicine Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, said multivascularization is important because form and function often go hand in hand. "Tissue engineering has struggled with this for a generation," Stevens said. "With this work we can now better ask, 'If we can print tissues that look and now even breathe more like the healthy tissues in our bodies, will they also then functionally behave more like those tissues?' This is an important question, because how well a bioprinted tissue functions will affect how successful it will be as a therapy." The goal of bioprinting healthy, functional organs is driven by the need for organ transplants. More than 100,000 people are on transplant waiting lists in the United States alone, and those who do eventually receive donor organs still face a lifetime of immune-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection. Bioprinting has attracted intense interest over the past decade because it could theoretically address both problems by allowing doctors to print replacement organs from a patient's own cells. A ready supply of functional organs could one day be deployed to treat millions of patients worldwide. "We envision bioprinting becoming a major component of medicine within the next two decades," Miller said. "The liver is especially interesting because it performs a mind-boggling 500 functions, likely second only to the brain," Stevens said. "The liver's complexity means there is currently no machine or therapy that can replace all its functions when it fails. Bioprinted human organs might someday supply that therapy." To address this challenge, the team created a new open-source bioprinting technology dubbed the "stereolithography apparatus for tissue engineering," or SLATE. The system uses additive manufacturing to make soft hydrogels one layer at a time. Layers are printed from a liquid pre-hydrogel solution that becomes a solid when exposed to blue light. A digital light processing projector shines light from below, displaying sequential 2D slices of the structure at high resolution, with pixel sizes ranging from 10-50 microns. With each layer solidified in turn, an overhead arm raises the growing 3D gel just enough to expose liquid to the next image from the projector. The key insight by Miller and Bagrat Grigoryan, a Rice graduate student and lead co-author of the study, was the addition of food dyes that absorb blue light. These photoabsorbers confine the solidification to a very fine layer. In this way, the system can produce soft, water-based, biocompatible gels with intricate internal architecture in a matter of minutes. Tests of the lung-mimicking structure showed that the tissues were sturdy enough to avoid bursting during blood flow and pulsatile "breathing," a rhythmic intake and outflow of air that simulated the pressures and frequencies of human breathing. Tests found that red blood cells could take up oxygen as they flowed through a network of blood vessels surrounding the "breathing" air sac. This movement of oxygen is similar to the gas exchange that occurs in the lung's alveolar air sacs. To design the study's most complicated lung-mimicking structure, which is featured on the cover of Science, Miller collaborated with study co-authors Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg, co-founders of Nervous System. "When we founded Nervous System it was with the goal of adapting algorithms from nature into new ways to design products," Rosenkrantz said. "We never imagined we'd have the opportunity to bring that back and design living tissues." In the tests of therapeutic implants for liver disease, the team 3D printed tissues, loaded them with primary liver cells and implanted them into mice. The tissues had separate compartments for blood vessels and liver cells and were implanted in mice with chronic liver injury. Tests showed that the liver cells survived the implantation. Miller said the new bioprinting system can also produce intravascular features, like bicuspid valves that allow fluid to flow in only one direction. In humans, intravascular valves are found in the heart, leg veins and complementary networks like the lymphatic system that have no pump to drive flow. "With the addition of multivascular and intravascular structure, we're introducing an extensive set of design freedoms for engineering living tissue," Miller said. "We now have the freedom to build many of the intricate structures found in the body." Miller and Grigoryan are commercializing key aspects of the research through a Houston-based startup company called Volumetric. The company, which Grigoryan has joined full time, is designing and manufacturing bioprinters and bioinks. Miller, a longstanding champion of open-source 3D printing, said all source data from the experiments in the published Science study are freely available. In addition, all 3D printable files needed to build the stereolithography printing apparatus are available, as are the design files for printing each of the hydrogels used in the study. "Making the hydrogel design files available will allow others to explore our efforts here, even if they utilize some future 3D printing technology that doesn't exist today," Miller said. Miller said his lab is already using the new design and bioprinting techniques to explore even more complex structures. "We are only at the beginning of our exploration of the architectures found in the human body," he said. "We still have so much more to learn." ### Additional study co-authors include Rice's Samantha Paulsen, Daniel Sazer, Alexander Zaita, Paul Greenfield, Nicholas Calafat and Anderson Ta; UW's Daniel Corbett, Chelsea Fortin and Fredrik Johansson; Duke's John Gounley and Amanda Randles; and Rowan's Peter Galie. The work was supported by the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation, the John H. Tietze Foundation, the National Science Foundation (1728239, 1450681 and 1250104), the National Institutes of Health (F31HL134295, DP2HL137188, T32EB001650, T32GM095421 and DP5OD019876) and the Gulf Coast Consortia. VIDEO is available at: https://youtu.be/GqJYMgAcc0Q High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at: https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502-MILLER-LMori-lg-209hf37.jpg CAPTION: Bioprinting research from the lab of Rice University bioengineer Jordan Miller featured a visually stunning proof-of-principle -- a scale-model of a lung-mimicking air sac with airways and blood vessels that never touch yet still provide oxygen to red blood cells. (Photo by Jordan Miller/Rice University) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-pen424-lg-1s3yev7.jpg CAPTION: A U.S. one-cent coin shown next to a scale-model of a lung-mimicking air sac with airways and blood vessels. (Photo by Brandon Martin/Rice University) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-gp155-lg-153dihn.jpg CAPTION: Rice University bioengineers (from left) Bagrat Grigoryan, Jordan Miller and Daniel Sazer and collaborators created a breakthrough bioprinting technique that could speed development of technology for 3D printing replacement organs and tissues. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-bg129-lg-xhytr2.jpg CAPTION: Rice University bioengineering graduate student Bagrat Grigoryan led the development of a new technique for 3D printing tissue with entangled vascular networks similar to the body's natural passageways for blood, air and other vital fluids. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-uwksdc8851-lg-24yiqsp.jpg CAPTION: Assistant professor Kelly Stevens (left) and graduate student Daniel Corbett (right) from the University of Washington Departments of Bioengineering and Pathology helped develop a new method to bioprint liver tissue. (Photo by Dennis R. Wise/University of Washington) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-uwdc2055-lg-20d7mjb.jpg CAPTION: University of Washington bioengineering graduate student Daniel Corbett actively perfuses the vascular networks of 3D bioprinted liver tissue. (Photo by Dennis R. Wise/University of Washington) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-ds078-lg-1q3uyci.jpg CAPTION: Rice University bioengineer Daniel Sazer prepares a scale-model of a lung-mimicking air sac for testing. In experiments, air is pumped into the sac in a pattern that mimics breathing while blood is flowed through a surrounding network of blood vessels to oxygenate human red blood cells. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-hcSch-lg-1irlm8w.jpg? CAPTION: Experiments performed by Rice University and University of Washington researchers explored whether liver cells called hepatocytes would function normally if they were incorporated into a bioprinted implant and surgically implanted in mice for 14 days. (Image courtesy of Jordan Miller/Rice University) https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/04/0502_MILLER-jm186-lg-23hsprg.jpg CAPTION: Jordan Miller is an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice University. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) The DOI of the Science paper is: 10.1126/science.aav9750 A copy of the paper is available at: https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aav9750 George R. Brown School of Engineering: engineering.rice.edu Rice Department of Bioengineering: bioengineering.rice.edu Related research from Rice: Rice University bioengineers combine forces to fight Type-1 diabetes -- Sept. 18, 2018 https://bioengineering.rice.edu/news/rice-university-bioengineers-combine-forces-fight-type-1-diabetes Miller awarded Kleberg Foundation Medical Research Grant to advance lung tissue engineering -- Jan. 16, 2018 https://bioengineering.rice.edu/news/miller-awarded-kleberg-foundation-medical-research-grant-advance-lung-tissue-engineering Houston team one step closer to growing capillaries -- July 10, 2017 Modified laser cutter prints 3D objects from powder -- Feb. 22, 2016 Open-source laser fabrication lowers costs for cancer research-- Jan. 26, 2016 Researchers create transplantation model for 3D printed constructs -- Nov. 3, 2015 This release can be found online at news.rice.edu. Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews. Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. It's bad enough losing an hour's work when your computer crashes - but in settings like healthcare and aviation, software glitches can have far more serious consequences. In one notorious case, a computer bug caused cancer patients to receive lethal overdoses from a radiation therapy machine; in more recent headlines, flawed software was blamed for airplane crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Now researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Yale University, are developing tools that could make catastrophic computer mishaps far less likely. Led by Eric Koskinen, an assistant professor of computer science at Stevens, the work not only aims to ensure that programs run correctly in specific situations, but also uses algorithms to determine whether it's logically possible, in any circumstances whatsoever, for software to produce unwanted results. "What we're aiming for is a 100 percent guarantee that you'll never encounter a bug," said Koskinen. Koskinen's team, backed by over $2.5 million from the Office of Naval Research, models differences between two versions of a program. That's useful because programmers often work by building on existing software, rather than writing code from scratch, and bugs can be introduced from one version to the next. This approach is especially valuable for the military, since defense agencies frequently buy software from private contractors, then make changes in-house before deploying them in mission-critical situations. "They need a way to confirm that they've made changes correctly in-house, and haven't introduced new problems," Koskinen said. To prove mathematically that a computer program could never have any kind of bug, no matter what circumstances, anticipated or unimagined, Koskinen's team uses a strategy called temporal logic. Rather than scrutinize individual lines of code to look for syntactic differences, the team, including assistant professor Jun Xu, an expert in binary analysis at Stevens, looks at how a program behaves over time. The idea is to prove that no matter how long the program runs, there is no logical way for it ever to return an unwanted result. Modeling a program's structure and behavior, rather than poring over individual lines of code, is important because the exact same lines of code can have different effects in different contexts, just as lines of code that appear very different can accomplish the same thing. It's like studying a legal document, Koskinen explains: changing a single word might seem trivial, but can change the whole meaning of the document. Temporal logic helps to model a program's potential, gaining powerful insights into the program's real-world capabilities. The team's approach also allows one to eliminate bugs in off-the-shelf commercial software for which the source code is unavailable. Without the source code, the team is left to compare computer programs using the binary version of the source code. "It's difficult to see if the vulnerability really has been eliminated if you can't see the source code," he said. "The techinques we are building will do that: if you have a version of the software that you trust, our techniques will be able to help you spot changes - vulnerabilities in software updates or malware inserted into executable programs - and decide whether to trust the new version." Koskinen's team is also developing a toolkit that other researchers and members of the public will be able to use to test software - and they are scaling up their approach to work with larger programs and more complex glitches. "These are big issues that plague modern computer systems," said Koskinen. "These issues will only grow more critical - in fields like healthcare, aviation, autonomous vehicles, and many more - so it's vital we develop practical techniques to make computer-controlled systems bug-free and safe to use." ### A collaborative experimental study, published in Nature and led by researchers at the University of Navarra, suggests TNF blockade may dissociate efficacy and toxicity in the use of combined immunotherapy in animal models Pamplona (Spain), May 2nd, 2019. A collaborative experimental study, led by researchers at Cima and Clinica Universidad de Navarra, proposes a new therapeutic approach against cancer that dissociates efficacy and toxicity in the use of combined immunotherapy in animal models. This clinical strategy consists of blocking a protein involved in the regulation of the immune system (called tumor necrosis factor, TNF) while applying combination immunotherapy treatment (inhibition therapy of PD-1 and CTLA-4, other proteins that "slow down" the immune response). Nature, the leading international weekly journal of science, publishes this research in its latest issue. "In this study, we have identified that the immunoregulatory function of TNF is dispensable and, to a certain extent, harmful to the antitumor activity of this combined immunotherapy," explains Dr. Ignacio Melero, a senior researcher at Cima and co-director of the Department of Immunology at Clinica Universidad de Navarra. "We have verified that the prophylactic blocking of TNF before applying immunotherapy avoids adverse effects and improves the response to treatment in these animal models. This allows us to adjust the doses of the medication better and thus achieve a more robust anti-tumor efficacy, "adds Dr. Pedro Berraondo, a researcher at Cima. Dr. Elisabeth Perez Ruiz, from Hospital Costa del Sol and first author of the work, highlights the usefulness of this approach "since in prevention context it means using what we already use in routine practice to treat the autoimmune adverse effects." The next step pointed out by the experts, is to transfer this research to the clinic. According to Dr. Melero, "if we obtain the results of this study in patients, it will change the paradigm for treating cancer. However, despite these promising results in animal models, we must be very cautious about their interpretation, because we don't know with certainty if they will be reproduced in the patients that are included in the ongoing clinical trials or in those that are going to start soon." Novelty in anti-TNF treatment Research in cancer treatment seeks to extend the benefits of immunotherapy to a more significant number of patients. The latest advances in this field consist of uniting several of these treatments. Among them, "the combination of PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibition drugs achieves remarkable efficacy against the most aggressive skin cancer (melanoma), kidney and lung cancer. However, 40% of patients suffer serious side effects," says Dr. Melero. "That is precisely why preventing them as achieved in this study is so important for the success of this combined immunotherapy," adds the expert. PD-1 and CTLA-4 are a type of immune cells proteins (the T lymphocytes) responsible for preventing these cells from destroying other cells, such as cancer cells. Thus, they act as "brakes" in the control of the immune system. By inhibiting these molecules, the "brakes" are unplugged, and the defenses of the organism are stimulated. The tumor necrosis factor (TNF) serves to mediate inflammation, induce the destruction of some tumor cells, and activate the white blood cells, the cells of the immune system. The blocking of this protein in immunotherapy is not new, but its prophylactic application in this anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 therapy is. "The clinical evidence is modest, but points to an excellent safety of TNF inhibition in advanced cancer patients," says Dr. Berraondo. "Our results in the laboratory along with previous clinical experience suggest conducting a clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of this combined immunotherapy treatment. In fact, we are evaluating a potential clinical trial protocol to study the effect of prophylactic TNF blockade upon treatment with nivolumab (anti-PD-1) and ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) in humans," adds the expert. ### This research has been supported by the International Immuno-Oncology Network, a global peer-to-peer collaboration formed by Bristol-Myers Squibb; the Spanish association against cancer (AECC), various European funds and other financial grants such as the aids from "la Caixa". In addition to Cima and the Clinica Universidad de Navarra, researchers from several institutes collaborated. They were part of the Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Cancer (CIBERONC), the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon, the Hospital Costa del Sol, the Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, the Navarra Institute for Health Research (IDISNA), the Instituto de Investigacion Biomedica de Malaga (IBIMA), the Centro de Investigaciones Medico-Sanitarias (CIMES) y Universidad de Malaga. Bibliographic reference Prophylactic TNF blockade uncouples efficacy and toxicity in dual CTLA-4 and PD-1 immunotherapy Video reference: https://youtu.be/19ocSkYVX4M About Clinica Universidad de Navarra Clinica Universidad de Navarra, with more than 2.800 full-time commitment professionals in both of its locations Pamplona and Madrid, is a research hospital and a model in personalized medicine in our country. Our hospital is renowned for its research and teaching labor, for its prestigious professionals and its career in the diagnosis and treatment of complex pathologies. Furthermore, it is a high-resolution hospital due to its diagnosis speed, that it is possible thanks to a multidisciplinary work and the acquisition of the latest technology. With all that, Clinica Universidad de Navarra is capable of providing 46 clinical and surgical specialties. For the fifth consecutive year, our centre has been the hospital with the best reputation in Spain (according to MRS ranking). About Cima Universidad de Navarra Cima is the research center of the Clinica Universidad de Navarra. The scientific objective of its more than 370 professionals is to face current clinical problems and propose the most effective treatment for each patient. To transfer the results of basic research to clinical application, Cima has a Translation and Transfer unit that seeks to establish collaborations with biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies to facilitate the arrival of scientific discoveries to the patient. Cima is a leading biomedical institution in the field of immunotherapy, gene therapy, and liver diseases. More information: https://cima.unav.edu/en/ For more information, request printable infographics or to arrange interviews with the researchers please contact Miriam Salcedo or Maria Pilar Huarte, Communications Office, Cima, and Clinica Universidad de Navarra. Email: miriamsalcedo@unav.es or mphuarte@unav.es. Tel: +34 948194700 (Cima); or +34 948 296 497 (Clinica Universidad de Navarra). The duck-billed hadrosaurs walked the Earth over 90-million years ago and were one of the most successful groups of dinosaurs. But why were these 2-3 tonne giants so successful? A new study, published in Paleobiology, shows that their special adaptations in teeth and jaws and in their head crests were crucial, and provides new insights into how these innovations evolved. Called the 'sheep of the Mesozoic'as they filled the landscape in the Late Cretaceous period, hadrosaurs walked on their hind legs and were known for their powerful jaws with multiple rows of extremely effective teeth. They also had hugely varied head display crests that signalled which species each belonged to and were used to attract mates. Some even trumpeted and tooted their special call, using nasal passages through the head crests. Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and the Catalan Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona used a large database describing morphological variety in hadrosaur fossils and computational methods that quantify morphological variety and the pace of evolution. Dr Tom Stubbs, lead author of the study and a researcher from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, said: "Our study shows that the unique hadrosaur feeding apparatus evolved fast in a single burst, and once established, showed very little change. In comparison, the elaborate display crests kept diversifying in several bursts of evolution, giving rise to the many weird and wonderful shapes." Professor Mike Benton, the study's co-author from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, added, "Variation in anatomy can arise in many ways. We wanted to compare the two famous hadrosaur innovations, and by doing so, provide new insights into the evolution of this important dinosaur group. New numerical methods allow us to test these kinds of complex evolutionary hypotheses." "Our methods allowed us to identify branches on the hadrosaur evolutionary tree that showed rapid evolution in different parts of the skeleton," said co-author Dr Armin Elsler. "When we looked at the jaws and teeth, we only saw fast evolution on a single branch at the base of the group. On the other hand, the bones that form the display crests showed multiple fast rate branches." Dr Albert Prieto-Marquez, co-author and world-leading expert on hadrosaurs from the Catalan Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona, added: "Our results suggest that evolution can be driven in different ways by natural selection and sexual selection. Hadrosaurs apparently fixed on a feeding apparatus that was successful and did not require massive modification to process their food. On the other hand, sexual selection drove the evolution of more complex crest shapes, and this is reflected by multiple evolutionary bursts." ### Paper 'Morphological innovation and the evolution of hadrosaurid dinosaurs' by Stubbs, T. L, Benton, M.J, Elsler, A, and Prieto-Marquez, A, in Paleobiology China's improvement on basic research for cancer treatment is significant and will help it increase innovation to deal with the disease, said Chen Liepin, co-director of the Cancer Immunology Program at Yale University. "China's cancer treatment and research have improved a lot in the past decades," he told China Daily. "Especially for the basic research in China, I think the improvement is amazing it's really advanced now." Chen is a professor of immunology at the Yale School of Medicine. He was the first scientist to reveal the function of the PD-L1/PD-1 immune escape pathway in a tumor's microenvironment. The programmed death ligand-1/programmed death-1 (PD-L1/PD-1) signaling pathway is a key component of tumor immunosuppression, which can inhibit activation of T lymphocytes and enhance immune tolerance of tumor cells, leading to tumor immune escape, according to a study published in January on biomedcentral.com. Chen, along with four other scientists, was awarded the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize for 2017 for the breakthrough in tumor immunology, which made him the third Chinese recipient of the prize. Chen said the research environment in China also has improved in terms of government funding and talent compared with when he was in China three decades ago. "Because of the advanced basic research and the improved research environment, I think there's no doubt that China will see more innovation on the development of cancer drugs and cancer treatment research in the future," he said. Chen said most Chinese scientists and researchers focus on translational research that applies a new discovery from basic research and moves it along toward clinical practice. "But I think Chinese scientists need to focus more on making innovative and new discoveries from basic research and develop new methods for cancer treatment from that," he said. China and the US are working together in many medical research areas, Chen said, citing the clinical practice cooperation between China and large US pharmaceutical companies, which he said is "huge now". "The cooperation between specialists and pharmaceutical companies in China and the US can potentially accelerate research and development of new drugs and translate laboratory findings to treat human cancers," he said. Chen said that there are still many other areas in which the US and China can work together. "There are some types of cancer, including liver cancer and stomach cancer, that are more common in China but are rare in the US," he said, adding that cooperation on research for those cancers can help the US improve understanding of them and help China develop new drugs faster. Chen said the potential for China's cancer drug market is huge and dynamic. The market is projected to reach $30 billion by the year 2024, according to a recent report by US company Research and Markets. Lung, breast and stomach cancer dominate the anti-cancer drug market in China and are expected to do so in the near future, according to the report. He said it's good to see that there is a growing awareness regarding cancer treatment, diagnosis and drugs among Chinese people, and that the government also is investing more in healthcare infrastructure at the same time. "These factors might drive the cancer drug market and cancer treatment development positively in China in the future," Chen added. Even before birth, an obstructed urethra can cause a variety of issues in the unborn child, ranging from mild urinary problems to kidney failure. This highly variable disease is called LUTO (lower urinary tract obstruction). Especially boys are affected. An international team of researchers led by the University of Bonn has now discovered a first gene involved in this rare disease. The results are now published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. "In the worst case, the urinary retention caused by an obstruction of the urethra can result in damage to the kidneys and lungs prenatally," says Dr. Alina Hilger of the Center for Pediatrics at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB). Urinary retention leads to a lack of amniotic fluid, but this fluid is necessary for the lungs to develop properly in the amniotic sac. Hilger: "It is possible to save the fetus with surgery in the womb." This complex and rare procedure is performed by Prof. Christoph Berg at the University Women's Hospital Bonn. LUTO occurs comparatively rarely, only in about three out of 10,000 pregnancies. The few cases, however, show an occasional family accumulation and therefore seem to be hereditary. Until now, no gene causally associated with the disease and its heredity has been known. An international team of researchers from Germany, the Netherlands, England, the USA and Poland, led by pediatricians, anatomists and human geneticists from the University Hospital Bonn, has now searched for the genetic origin of the disease. Different variants of the BNC2 gene The scientists compared the genetic material of four patients who had suffered from LUTO in varying degrees over three generations with that of healthy people. This revealed indications of mutations of the gene "BNC2". The researchers then extended the study to 697 LUTO patients and uncovered three further variants of the BNC2 gene in these patients. BNC2 encodes the protein "basonuclin 2", which is believed to be involved in the processing of certain RNAs in the cell nucleus. "However, it is still unknown how the discovered mutations interfere with a biological mechanism that ultimately leads to the congenital narrowing of the urethra," said lead author Caroline Kolvenbach from the UKB. The researchers tested their findings on zebrafish. "This is a well-established animal model," said Prof. Dr. Benjamin Odermatt from the Institute for Anatomy at the University Hospital Bonn. The fish reproduce and develop rapidly, which is why results are obtained fast. In addition, they are transparent during the larval stage and can therefore easily be screened for anatomical peculiarities. First, the scientists knocked down the BNC2 gene in zebrafish. As a result, the zebrafish larvae developed a narrowing of their urinary tract. The researchers then transferred an intact human BNC2 copy into the manipulated fish embryos. This considerably decreased the number of urinary tract malformations in these fish. However, the altered or mutated BNC2 copies found in the families were not able to rescue these malformations. "These experiments show that these variants or mutations found by us in BNC2 are actually responsible for LUTO," says second lead author Dr. Gabriel Dworschak from the UKB. New perspectives for genetic counseling The team of scientists has thus discovered the first gene associated with LUTO. "At the same time, we have proven that LUTO has a genetic origin," says Dr. Alina Hilger. "This also opens up new perspectives for genetic counseling of affected parents." Since many children with LUTO have impaired kidney function, the scientists assume that not only the urinary retention, but also the genetic defect itself impairs the function of the kidneys. By understanding the genetic causes, the scientists hope to eventually find an approach for a causal therapy for renal dysfunction in LUTO children. ### Publication: Caroline M. Kolvenbach, Gabriel C. Dworschak, Sandra Frese, Anna S. Japp, Peggy Schuster, Nina Wenzlitschke, Oznur Yilmaz, Filipa M. Lopes, Alexey Pryalukhin, Luca Schierbaum, Loes F.M. van der Zanden, Franziska Kause, Ronen Schneider, Katarzyna Taranta-Janusz, Maria Szczepa?ska, Krzysztof Pawlaczyk, William G. Newman, Glenda M. Beaman, Helen M. Stuart, Raimondo M. Cervellione, Wouter F.J. Feitz, Iris A.L.M. van Rooij, Michiel F. Schreuder, Martijn Steffens, Stefanie Weber, Waltraut M. Merz, Markus Feldkotter, Bernd Hoppe, Holger Thiele, Janine Altmuller, Christoph Berg, Glen Kristiansen, Michael Ludwig, Heiko Reutter, Adrian S. Woolf, Friedhelm Hildebrandt, Phillip Grote, Marcin Zaniew, Benjamin Odermatt, Alina C. Hilger: Rare Variants in BNC2 are Implicated in Autosomal Dominant Congenital Lower Urinary Tract Obstruction, the American Journal of Human Genetics, DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.03.023 Media contact: Dr. Alina Hilger Zentrum fur Kinderheilkunde Universitatsklinikum Bonn Tel. +49(0)228/28733333 E-mail: alina.hilger@uni-bonn.de Prof. Dr. Benjamin Odermatt Anatomisches Institut Universitatsklinikum Bonn Tel. +49(0)228/739021 E-mail: B.Odermatt@uni-bonn.de Scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed a new test that can reliably predict the future course of inflammatory bowel disease in individuals, transforming treatments for patients and paving the way for a personalised approach. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease - collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - are chronic conditions that involve inflammation of the gut. Symptoms include abdominal pain, bloody diarrhoea, weight loss and fatigue. There is currently no cure, but there are a growing number of medicines that aim to relieve symptoms and prevent the condition returning; however, the more severe the case of the IBD, the stronger the drugs need to be and the greater the potential side effects. Researchers at the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust previously showed that a genetic signature found in a certain type of immune cell known as a CD8 T-cell could be used to assign patients to one of two groups depending on whether their condition was likely to be mild or severe (requiring repeated treatment). However, isolating CD8 T- cells and obtaining the genetic signature was not straightforward, making the test unlikely to be scaleable and achieve widespread use. In the latest study, published in the journal Gut, the researchers worked with a cohort of 69 patients with Crohn's disease to see whether it was possible to develop a useful, scaleable test by looking at whole blood samples in conjunction with CD8 T-cells and using widely-available technology. The team used a combination of machine learning and a whole blood assay known as qPCR - a relatively simple tool used in NHS labs across the country - to identify genetic signatures that re-created the two subgroups from their previous study. The researchers then validated their findings in 123 IBD patients recruited from clinics in Cambridge, Nottingham, Exeter and London. "Using simple technology that is available in almost every hospital, our test looks for a biomarker - essentially, a medical signature - to identify which patients are likely to have mild IBD and which ones will have more serious illness," says Dr James Lee, joint first author of the study. "This is important as it could enable doctors to personalise the treatment that they give to each patient. If an individual is likely to have only mild disease, they don't want to be taking strong drugs with unpleasant side-effects. But similarly, if someone is likely to have a more aggressive form of the disease, then the evidence suggests that the sooner we can start them on the best available treatments, the better we can manage their condition." The accuracy of the test is comparable to similar biomarkers used in cancer, which have helped transform treatment, say the researchers. They found the new test was 90-100% accurate in correctly identifying patients who did not require multiple treatments. "IBD can be a very debilitating disease, but this new test could help us transform treatment options, moving away from a 'one size fits all' approach to a personalised approach to treating patients," says Professor Ken Smith, senior author and Head of the Department of Medicine. The test is now being developed further by PredictImmune, a spinout company co-founded by Professor Smith with support from Cambridge Enterprise, the University's technology transfer arm. The team is involved in a 4.2 million trial to see whether using the biomarker to guide treatment at the time of diagnosis can lead to better outcomes for patients. The findings have been welcomed by Helen Terry, Director of Research at Crohn's & Colitis UK, which helps fund the research. "It's really exciting that we are moving away from a 'one size fits all' approach for people with Crohn's or Colitis. Dr Lee and his team's latest study is the accumulation of 10 years' worth of research and we're now at the stage where this test will be available in the NHS. This could drastically change the lives of people with Crohn's or Colitis as it means they can be started on the best medication for them sooner." Additional funding for the research came from Wellcome, the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. Later this year, Professor Smith and his team are due to move into the new Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease, to be based in the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the centrepiece of the largest biotech cluster outside the United States. Case study: Kate Gray, aged 31, Amersham, living with Crohn's Kate was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease when she was 14 years old having been unwell with symptoms for quite some time. This meant she needed surgery. "I was told by my consultant I would only need a little bit of a resection and that it's unlikely I would be bothered by symptoms for decades, giving me the impression that was probably the end of it." Within 9 months of her bowel resection, Kate's symptoms had returned. She tried various medications, including immunosuppressants and steroids but nothing worked, and she kept getting more unwell. She also had some nasty side effects from the drug mercaptopurine, becoming neutropaenic (low on neutrophils), leading to two admissions to hospital. This pathway continued throughout Kate's secondary education and once on the drug infliximab, it reached the point where Kate couldn't eat solid foods. Her bowel was so strictured and damaged that she was told she needed an ileostomy at the age of 20. In the lead-up to this Kate had a nasal-gastric feeding tube which involved long stints in hospital. When Kate woke up from her operation, she was told that the damage was much more extensive than thought and she would have a permanent stoma. Following surgery, Kate was started on the biologic drug, Humira and has been on this weekly ever since. "My stoma's been amazing and bowel wise, my symptoms have been good for the past decade." Kate could have benefited hugely from a prognostic test, making her more aware of disease course and allowing her to try stronger treatments earlier. "I do sometimes wonder what would have happened if I knew my disease was going to be more severe and not mild, as I was told. It's likely I would have opted for my ileostomy sooner and would have been keen to try stronger drugs earlier as this might have halted to progression of my Crohn's. It would also have been good to have known what other symptoms I could have expected with more severe Crohn's, including issues with my joints, uveitis and Crohn's on the skin at the site of my surgery scars." ### Reference Biasci, D and Lee JC, et al. A blood-based prognostic biomarker in inflammatory bowel disease. Gut; April 2019; DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2019-318343 The last place most people would expect to find fresh groundwater is tens to hundreds of kilometers offshore in the ocean. Yet not only is that exactly where freshwater can be found, in the ground of the continental shelf beneath the ocean, but simulations have shown that it could be a common occurrence across a range of geologic systems. These offshore groundwater resources could be exploited for uses such as drinking, agriculture and oil recovery, but new research from the University of Delaware's Holly Michael and Xuan Yu, who worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UD, suggests that tapping into those resources could lead to adverse onshore impacts. The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters and is part of Michael's National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Through simulations and computer modeling, the research explores how using offshore freshwater resources could threaten onshore aquifer systems, lead to diminished onshore groundwater availability and cause widespread land subsidence. Coastal communities may consider using these offshore groundwater resources as populations increase and the limited freshwater resources are degraded by overuse and pollution, but a more immediate use of the offshore fresh and brackish groundwater is to enhance oil recovery. Water is used in oil drilling by what is known as waterflooding, in which water is injected to support oil-reservoir pressure and to move oil into producing wells. Salinity is a major factor controlling the amount of oil that can be recovered from a zone that has been waterflooded and a technique known as low-salinity waterflooding--using freshwater to waterflood these offshore oil wells instead of the readily available saltwater--has been shown to increase oil recovery by 14 percent on average. One of the problems with using these offshore freshwater resources for low-salinity waterflooding in offshore oil production is that the offshore freshwater sources are connected to the freshwater sources on land. That onshore groundwater is filling in the pores of sediment and helping to hold up the surface on which coastal towns are built. "If you build a city on land surface, you add weight, and you add pressure to the aquifer - the sediments and water underground. When a building is built, geotechnical tests are done to make sure this added pressure will not cause the land surface to sink," said Michael, the Unidel Fraser Russell Career Development Chair for the Environment and an associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences. "The pressure of the water in those pores creates an upward force and contributes to rigidity in the system." If that water is pumped out for low-salinity waterflooding, the pressure is changed underground and it can reduce the ability of the aquifer to support the weight of the city. Subsidence has been seen in megacities with the constant extraction of water below ground, with examples being Venice, Italy and Tokyo, Japan. Pumping offshore freshwater resources for low-salinity waterflooding could have this same affect. "This affect can hardly be simulated when a simple geologic structure is assumed," said Yu, who is now an associate professor in the school of civil engineering at Sun Yat-sen University in China. "Our model results suggested that the magnitude of subsidence in homogenous and layered geology is much smaller than the heterogeneous cases." In addition to land subsidence, another possible consequence of oil companies tapping into these offshore freshwater resources is that the freshwater aquifers on-land could experience increased salinization, again through the connection between the offshore freshwater and the freshwater on-land. The reduction in onshore fresh groundwater from low-salinity waterflooding can also have an impact on coastal population centers, especially in locations where oil reservoirs lie offshore of highly populated cities, such as those in Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean Basin. Michael said that because scientists are just now realizing that this freshwater exists offshore, the purpose of the paper was to demonstrate the potential for offshore pumping to have devastating effects on coastal communities, before the practice becomes widespread. "What we are saying in this paper is, 'Wait a minute, the cities on shore might have no idea that offshore activities could potentially affect their resources,'" said Michael. "Offshore pumping of fresh groundwater could cause subsidence on land, which can cause a range of problems, especially in populated areas. And then there are the fresh, groundwater resources that are being used up that could potentially be a resource for humans in the future." ### The largest genetic study of its kind has led to new insights into how the genes of mothers and babies influence birth weight. University of Queensland scientists helped identify 190 links between the genetic code and birth weight, two-thirds discovered for the first time. It is the result of a large-scale international collaboration, led by UQ and the Universities of Exeter, Oxford and Cambridge. UQ Diamantina Institute researcher Dr Nicole Warrington said birth weight was an essential determinant of infant health. "A low birth weight can not only put the baby at risk of mortality, but it is also associated with increased risk of developing diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure when the baby grows up," Dr Warrington said. Research found the direct effects of the baby's genes made a substantial contribution to birth weight. However, around one-quarter of the genetic effects identified were from the mother's genes. The mother's genes affected the baby's growth by influencing factors in the baby's intrauterine environment during pregnancy, such as the amount of glucose that is available to influence their growth. UQDI Statistical Geneticist Professor David Evans said it was the first time these genetic effects could be teased apart. "This is the first time we've really been able to unpick the effects of both the mother's and the baby's genes on birth weight," Professor Evans said. "It is particularly useful to know about the maternal genetic influences on the intrauterine environment because the identity of these genes gives us clues as to which factors, such as glucose, causally influence fetal growth. "Better understanding of the causes may mean we can help ensure babies are born at healthy weights." The study also investigated the relationship between birth weight and diseases in later life. "The methods we have developed to disentangle maternal and fetal genetic influences on birth weight have real potential to tell us also about the effects of the intrauterine environment on later-life outcomes in the child," Dr Warrington said. "For example, smaller babies are more likely to have higher blood pressure in adulthood. "Our work shows that this is due to genetic effects; we found no evidence that adverse intrauterine environments can raise your blood pressure in later-life." ### The research is published in Nature Genetics (DOI: 10.1038/s41588-019-0403-1). New research led by the University of Sheffield has discovered how a hospital superbug evades the immune system to cause infection - paving the way for new treatments. The study, led by the University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, investigated how Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), bacteria commonly found in the digestive tracts of humans, cause life-threatening infections. While E. faecalis is harmless in healthy carriers, it is also an opportunistic pathogen that frequently causes hospital-acquired infections such as heart valve infections, urinary tract infections and bacteraemia - the presence of bacteria in the blood. Scientists currently do not fully understand how this happens. Treatment of E. faecalis infection is difficult as it is highly resistant to several key components of the immune system and resistant to multiple antibiotics. Now, new research led by Dr Stephane Mesnage from the University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, has discovered a mechanism used by E. faecalis to hide from the immune system of the host. The study revealed that the bacteria changes a component of its cell surface in order to evade the immune system, enabling the spread of infection. The findings could pave the way for novel treatments for infections caused by E. faecalis. Dr Stephane Mesnage, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said: "E. faecalis is an opportunistic pathogen. It is naturally resistant to a wide range of antibiotics including synthetic penicillin derivatives and is acquiring resistance to the last resort antibiotic vancomycin. Following an antibiotic treatment, E faecalis can out-compete other microorganisms to cause an infection. "Our study shows that this organism modifies its polysaccharide surface, which is essential for causing an infection. Bacteria whose polysaccharides are unmodified are quickly recognised and engulfed by the cells of our immune system, whereas by modifying the polysaccharide, E. faecalis can evade the host immune cells and spread infection." Dr Mesnage added: "Hospital-acquired infections caused by bacteria resistant to last resort antibiotics are on the rise. Our work suggests that targeting the mechanism that modifies the surface polysaccharides could be a novel strategy for developing new treatments to fight E. faecalis infections." ### The research, Decoration of the enterococcal polysaccharide antigen EPA is essential for virulence, cell surface charge and interaction with effectors of the innate immune system, is published in the journal PLoS Pathogens. The Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield is focussed on studying DNA, RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) and proteins, and how they affect biological function such as host-pathogen interactions. Researchers work on topics from genomics and nucleic acids to plants and photosynthesis, with the aim of addressing the major global challenges of food security, antimicrobial resistance and an aging population. Many of its scientists are following in the footsteps of Sir Hans Krebs, the department's first Professor of Biochemistry, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953. For further information please contact: Emma Griffiths, Media and PR Assistant, University of Sheffield, 0114 222 1034, e.l.griffiths@sheffield.ac.uk Notes to editors The University of Sheffield With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world's leading universities. A member of the UK's prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in. Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 and for the last eight years has been ranked in the top five UK universities for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education. Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields. Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations. The University of Strathclyde's Principal, Professor Sir Jim McDonald, is to receive a prestigious award in recognition of his achievements in the field of energy. Sir Jim has been chosen to receive the Melchett Award, one of the Energy Institute's (EI) most prestigious awards, in recognition of his contribution to the energy sector. As winner of the award, Sir Jim is also to give the associated Melchett Lecture on an energy-related subject. He will receive the award and present the lecture at an event in London in July. Sir Jim said: "I am truly delighted to accept this award from the Energy Institute and feel honoured to be following in the steps of distinguished previous recipients. The EI plays a central role in supporting, enhancing and representing the energy sector and helping it to meet the needs of the communities it serves. "The need to safeguard energy supplies while addressing immediate environmental demands is one of today's biggest global challenges. It is a challenge which requires innovative, effective solutions, and is among our main strategic research themes at the University of Strathclyde. "We have a strong relationship with the Energy Institute and look forward to continuing to work with them on innovating tomorrow's energy technologies." Sir Jim studied for his first degree in electronic and electrical engineering at the University of Strathclyde and started his engineering career as a graduate apprentice on the Scottish Electrical Training Scheme. He took his Masters and PhD degrees at Strathclyde in the field of power and energy systems. He worked in the electrical utility sector for seven years and returned to the University of Strathclyde in 1984 as a University Grants Commission 'New Blood Lecturer' in Electrical Engineering. He was appointed to the Rolls-Royce Chair in Electrical Power Systems in 1993. He served as Head of Department of EEE and Deputy Principal for Research and KE prior to becoming Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde in March 2009. In the Queen's Jubilee Birthday Honours List on 16 June 2012, Professor McDonald was awarded a Knighthood for services to education, engineering and the economy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institute of Physics and the Energy Institute. He chairs two of the pan-Scotland research pools in Energy and Engineering and is Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Committee. In February 2019, he was nominated to become the next President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. The EI's Melchett Award dates back to 1930, when it was instituted by The Rt Hon Sir Alfred Mond, later Lord Melchett and Chairman of ICI. ### Male and female rats whose mother experienced a simulated viral infection during pregnancy behave abnormally, consistent with behavioural alterations in autism or schizophrenia, research by the University of Saskatchewan (USask) shows. The USask research, published in the journal eNeuro, found that young adult rats, exposed to a simulated viral infection in utero, displayed abnormal behaviour, suggesting specific brain changes while in the womb. The research by John Howland physiology professor in the College of Medicine, suggests that inflammation during pregnancy alters the brain development of unborn offspring and may predispose them to psychiatric illness, including schizophrenia. Howland's findings are consistent with human studies linking exposure to inflammation in the womb to increased rates of psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and autism. Previous studies have found that babies whose mothers were exposed to the flu virus during the first half of their pregnancy may face a higher risk of developing schizophrenia in later life. Schizophrenia, a serious psychiatric illness, affects around one per cent of the population. The risk of developing the illness as an adult can be up to three per cent among those whose mothers contracted flu in the first half of their pregnancy. "Members of my laboratory have conducted a number of studies related to the effects of inflammation during pregnancy on the behaviour of the offspring using a rat model. Our research, and that of other labs around the world, consistently reveals long-lasting effects of in utero exposure to inflammation in the offspring," Howland said. Extensive testing of rats exposed to a simulated virus in utero showed that the young adult offspring had reduced working memories and altered fear responses, suggesting that aspects of their cognition were altered. They were also less sociable with other rats, compared to those whose mothers had not been treated while pregnant. Howland's team has been studying the impact of maternal immune activation for years and found similar effects in both male and female offspring, exposed to inflammation while in utero. Research has historically been conducted mostly in males. Brittney Lins, a graduate student and member of the USask research team, said: "Our research showed that experiences during development affect the brain, and we saw that inflammation during pregnancy affected social behaviour and memory in rat offspring as adults." ### The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. A recent study revealed students at an international school in Finland significantly outperformed U.S. students on tasks which measure digital literacy in social media and online news. The researchers suggest this may be due to the Finnish and International Baccalaureate curricula's different way of facilitating students' critical thinking skills compared to the US system and curriculum. The results of this study were published in the Journal of Research in International Education in April. Critical thinking is a 21st century skill considered essential for today's students to navigate the Information Age and for their future work life. But how well does the education system encourage the development of these skills? In a recent study tasks measuring digital media literacy were administered at an international school in Finland to consider the efficacy and transfer of critical thinking skills. The task instruments utilised in the study were earlier developed by the Stanford History Education Group to determine the extent to which young people ask 'Who is behind the information?' and 'What is the evidence?' in scenarios taken from real world online situations. The executive summary published by the Stanford researchers in winter of 2016 received widespread coverage from major news outlets around the world due to its corresponding with the advent of the 'fake news' phenomenon, as well as for the Stanford researchers describing U.S. student performance as 'dismaying' and 'bleak'. "Many of the international outlets generalised the results of the U.S. students to their own socio-educational environments, which our more recent study cautions against," comment Shane Horn and Koen Veermans, who conducted the Finnish study at the University of Turku in Finland. In this recent study two cohorts were measured: a pre-IB cohort preparing to enter the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, and a separate cohort preparing to graduate from the programme. While the graduating IB2 cohort only slightly outperformed the entry level pre-IB cohort, both outperformed the compared Stanford's U.S. cohorts to a statistically significant degree. "This study was largely to see if progress in the IB programme correlated with better performance on the tasks, as would be expected, and which to some extent indeed occurred. What became more interesting was how drastic the differentials were between both the cohorts tested in Finland when compared to student performance by the U.S. cohorts," says Shane Horn. "The results on several tasks were like negative mirror images of one another, with the students in Finland performing at the mastery level to the extent the students in the U.S. performed at beginning levels," Horn explains. When considering possible reasons for the outcome differentials, the ways in which both the Finnish education system and the IB programme explicitly facilitate critical thinking skills in their respective curricula became forefront. "The curriculum in the U.S. embeds critical thinking only implicitly into subject coursework whereas the Finnish and IB curricula facilitate critical thinking skills both explicitly in courses and embeds critical thinking also into coursework in the more traditional subjects," explains University Research Fellow Koen Veermans, another researcher of the study conducted in Finland. For example the IB programme has a separate, distinct course called Theory of Knowledge specifically designed for critical thinking skills development, which is explicitly embedded into the course subject areas. Finland also has distinct coursework in critical thinking through their courses that address ethics, with teachers retaining autonomy regarding the extent to which they make critical thinking skills explicit in the subject areas. Based on this and other studies the researchers recommend for educational curricula to design the facilitation of critical thinking skills explicitly in courses and across other subjects in the curricula. ### Edward H. Egelman, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors for a scientist. Egelman was among 100 new members elected to the National Academy this week, bringing the number of active members to 2,347. "This is an amazing honor," he said. "It is truly gratifying to have my work receive such recognition." Important Scientific Research Egelman is Harrison Distinguished Professor in UVA's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. His work focuses on using cryo-electron microscopy and 3D modeling to map out the world that is far too small for even the most powerful light microscopes to see. Egelman has attracted national and international headlines for discoveries such as how urinary tract infections take hold and how an almost indestructible virus survives and thrives in nearly boiling acid. One of his latest papers reveals how strange bacteria that live in soil and sediment can conduct electricity, potentially paving the way for tiny-but-ultrapowerful batteries and pacemakers without wires. His research has primarily targeted protein-DNA interactions inside cells and on an important protein called actin. The scope of his work expanded greatly, however, after he developed techniques to determine the atomic structure of spiral-shaped structures commonly found in nature, such as the hair-like pilli on the surface of bacteria. His department chairman, Anindya Dutta, MD, PhD, has dubbed Egelman "the world's go-to person" for developing imaging and mathematical tools to understand filaments formed by DNA and proteins. Egelman has authored more than 230 papers and has lectured internationally. He has been active in the Biophysical Society, having served as a past president and as editor-in-chief of Biophysical Journal. "While we have focused on very basic questions in biology, we are sure that there may be many future applications ranging from new ways to treat bacterial infections to developing new materials inspired by nature," he said. "We are constantly surprised about both how much we do not know and how scientific research can lead us in unexpected directions." About Egelman Egelman obtained his PhD in biophysics from Massachusetts' Brandeis University, where he also obtained his undergraduate degree in physics. He completed his postdoctoral work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He joined UVA in 1999 and was presented with UVA's Distinguished Scientist Award in 2016. "Over decades, Dr. Egelman has consistently developed new methods in electron-microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy to solve the structures of protein-nucleic-acid-lipid complexes. He has made surprising discoveries in areas as diverse as how bacteria responsible for urinary tract infections remain attached to the surface of the epithelium, how bacteria and their viruses survive in boiling acid, or how protein filaments present in nature can conduct electricity," Dutta said. "We are delighted that a UVA scientist has been given this recognition for his achievements." "Dr. Egelman's election to the National Academy of Sciences is a wonderful recognition of his long track record of outstanding research," said David S. Wilkes, MD, dean of the UVA School of Medicine. "We are proud to have him as part of the School of Medicine, and we are excited to see what discoveries he makes next." ### To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog at http://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu. Mental health researchers behind the website nowmattersnow.org have demonstrated that the site could be beneficial in decreasing suicidal thoughts. Researchers asked more than 3,000 website visitors how they felt before they got to the site compared to a few minutes on the website. Nearly one-third were significantly less suicidal, and the intensity of their negative emotions had also decreased. Results were published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, an open-access publication. Lead author Ursula Whiteside, a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said the results offer hope for people struggling to cope. The site exposes visitors to dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), a form of psychotherapy that combines behavioral science and Buddhist principles on mindfulness and acceptance. It was developed by UW psychology professor Marsha Linehan. "We set out to build a free resource based not only in science but also with the voices and stories of people who had experienced suicidal thoughts," Whiteside said. "We wanted clinicians to feel empowered to help those who are struggling." The home page presents a panel of video-linked images of individuals with relatable experiences on suicide and negative emotions and resources to explore DBT skills. The site was launched in 2014 on Sept. 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, and had more than 250,000 unique visitors as of December 2018. Site funding came from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. Whiteside said she wanted any research she and her colleagues were doing to be accessible right away since the public has little access to DBT therapy. The survey of users was conducted from March 5, 2015, and Dec. 3, 2017. Of the 3,670 unique survey responses, 514 (14% of survey sample) identified as men ages 36 to 64; 460 (13%) identified as mental health professionals and 308 (8%) as other healthcare professionals, with 40 (1%) identifying as both. Users were asked to rate their suicidal thoughts or negative feelings on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the most suicidal or negative). More than 70% of survey respondents recalled having some suicidal thoughts when they arrived at the website. Of those who reported suicidal thoughts (2,644) at baseline, 29% reported a reduction of one point or more in suicidal thoughts during the site visit. The vast majority, 63%, experienced no change, and 8% rated suicidal thoughts 1 or more points worse. Of those who reported worse scores after the visit, 2% were more than one point worse 1% (N = 21) were 3 or 4 points worse. Researchers found that significant reductions in suicidal thoughts and negative emotions were consistent across subgroups, including middle-aged men, who represent 38% of all suicides. However, reductions for middle- age men were not as large as that of the rest of the sample; therefore the website could be more tailored toward men, researchers wrote. Co-author Julie Richards, with Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, said the website gives healthcare providers a resource for their patients. "The vast majority of people who die by suicide never receive specialized mental health care," she said. Researchers noted that nearly half of all people who die by suicide in the United States see some type of healthcare provider in the month before their death. They said newly released screening and care guidelines have the potential to increase the number of suicidal patients detected in healthcare settings. Unfortunately, they said, most providers - particularly those in primary-care settings, where the majority of patients are seen before death by suicide - have no relevant training and lack immediate resources to support patients. ### New Haven, Conn. -- A healthcare program tailored to the needs of recently released prisoners can significantly reduce recidivism, according to a new study led by a Yale researcher. The findings show how an approach that provides community-based primary care can play a role in the nationwide effort to decrease prison populations. The study was published by the journal BMJ Open. Transitions Clinics are medical homes in 12 states and Puerto Rico that serve individuals recently released from incarceration who have chronic physical and behavioral health issues. This clinic care model is distinct because it employs community health workers who all have histories of incarceration. These workers accompany patients to appointments and also help them with the social, housing, and employment challenges of returning to their communities. The research team, led by associate professor of medicine Emily Wang, M.D., analyzed data on nearly 200 individuals recently released from incarceration in Connecticut. Half of them received primary care at a Transitions Clinic; the other half had similar medical and criminal justice histories and had access to primary care, but not at Transitions. The researchers compared rates of reincarceration, as well as days in prison or jail, for the two groups over the course of one year. The study found that patients who received Transitions Clinic care were less likely to be reincarcerated compared to those in the other group. In addition, clinic patients who were reincarcerated spent less time behind bars than those from the other group who returned to prison. Wang credited these changes to the clinic's employment of community health workers with a past history of incarceration. The research team estimated that if recidivist members of the control group had received Transitions Clinic care, they would have spent on average 25 fewer days in jail. Having access to health care and social support from community health workers reduces mental health or substance use problems that might otherwise result in patients going back to prison, Wang noted. "By reorganizing care, this healthcare model can actually make a dent in patients' future contact with the criminal justice system, and we know that this can impact their health, housing, and employment," she said. While the findings provide strong evidence in support of the Transitions Clinic approach, said the scientists, more research is needed to test the model in other settings and in other states. Yet the study suggests that investing in community health workers could have the benefit of reducing the cost of incarceration, they added. "The country is in a big shift to decarcerate," said Wang. "No one talks about the health system being involved in criminal justice reform -- but we should be." ### Other study authors are Hsiu-ju Lin, Jenerius Aminawung, Susan H Busch, Colleen Gallagher, Kathleen Maurer, Lisa Puglisi, Shira Shavit, and Linda Frisman. The study was supported by grants from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. this news is not available Media reports said Hootsuite did not reveal the number of employees who had been affected with the move Hootsuite, the social media management platform, has closed its Singapore operations and moved its office to Sydney, as per media reports. A statement released by the company said: Hootsuite recently communicated organisational changes in order to drive better alignment with the companys strategic priorities. This has unfortunately resulted in the closing of the Singapore office, and moving our Asia-Pacific headquarters to Sydney. We remain committed to helping employees affected by the announcement through these times of transition. Our goal is to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. Social media management platform Hootsuite has shut down its Singapore operations and moved its Asia-Pacific headquarters to Sydney, Australia. However, media reports said Hootsuite did not reveal the number of employees who had been affected. It is not known if any team member would be relocated. Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) IHS Markit's latest round of Final Eurozone Manufacturing PMI releases came in largely in-line with the earlier flash release (47.8), indicating the manufacturing sector within the bloc continued to contract in April, albeit to a lesser degree, with the PMI registering at 47.9, modestly higher than the previous and expected 47.8 print. Above: IHS Markit Eurozone Final Manufacturing PMI The market impact was limited with the single currency experiencing a brief bump higher on the very marginally better-than-expected PMI print. Key Points: - The IHS Markit Eurozone Manufacturing PMI recorded a level of 47.9, up only marginally on Marchs near six-year low of 47.5 - Further marked fall in new orders recorded - Germany continues to lead downturn; Greece expands at fastest rate in nearly 19 years - The PMI has now posted below the 50.0 no-change mark for three months in succession - In line with recent trends, the capital and intermediate goods sectors remained the principal areas of weakness in April - The volume of new orders received by eurozone manufacturers continued to fall in April - A third successive monthly fall in production was signalled by Aprils data Key Quotes: Commenting on the final Manufacturing PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said: "The manufacturing sector remained deep in decline at the start of the second quarter. Although the PMI rose for the first time in nine months, the April reading was the second-lowest seen over the past six years, signalling a deterioration of overall business conditions for a third successive month. The surveys output index is indicative of factory production falling at a quarterly rate of approximately 1%, setting the scene for the goodsproducing sector to act as a major drag on the economy in the second quarter... Some encouragement can be gained from the PMIs having risen in all four largest euro member states in April, and forward-looking indicators such as future expectations, new order inflows and the orders-to-inventory ratio having all come off their lows. But it remains too early to call a turning point, especially as future sentiment remains around its lowest level since the end of 2012, hinting that the manufacturing downturn will persist in the coming months." Above: IHS Markit EU Member State Manufacturing PMIs 3M Co., the maker of Post-it notes, Scotch tape and Ace bandages, has agreed to buy San Antonio medical technology company Acelity in a deal valued at about $6.7 billion. The transaction, announced Thursday, comes two weeks after Acelity, formerly known as Kinetic Concepts Inc., filed plans to go public for the third time in the companys history. The company and its KCI subsidiaries are best known for their negative-pressure wound therapy, used in wound healing and surgical management. The purchase, which includes the assumption of $2.4 billion in debt, is expected to close in the second half of this year. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio wound-care company files for initial public offering Today, KCI embarks upon a new era in its long history as a pioneer in health care, Acelity CEO R. Andrew Eckert said in a statement. The combination of KCI with 3M will accelerate the reach of a business that is a leader in innovation, customer experience, and clinical and economic evidence. Acelity offered no insight on why it opted to scrap the IPO and agree to the deal with 3M. Acelity spokeswoman Maggie Fairchild said the company would have no comment beyond its statement. In a research note Thursday, William Blair analysts said Acelity is no steal, but (a) solid long-term strategic deal for 3M. With Acelitys sales mix heavily skewed toward the Americas, there are several opportunities to drive sales through the leveraging of 3Ms global footprint, the analysts wrote. Minnesota-based 3M expects that Acelity will bolster its Medical Solutions business, which supplies medical tapes, dressings, wound closure products and orthopedic casting materials, among other products. The addition of Acelity will further expand our offerings in advanced wound care, which is an $8 billion market growing mid-single digits, 3M CEO Mike Roman said in a conference call with analysts, according to a transcript. Growth in this market will continue to be driven by a number of macro trends, he added. This includes rising rates of chronic health conditions, such as obesity and diabetes, which creates the need to effectively deal with complex and persistent wounds. Acelity is owned by a consortium of funds advised by London-based private equity firm Apax Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. The Apax-led group acquired the company in a leveraged buyout of more than $6 billion in 2011. The companys name was subsequently changed to Acelity from Kinetic Concepts. The Apax-led groups ownership of Acelity was highlighted by the $2.9 billion sale of its regenerative medicine business, known as LifeCell, to pharmaceutical giant Allergan in 2017. Acelitys acquisitions included the 2013 purchase of U.K. wound care development company Systagenix for $486 million. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission two weeks ago revealed that the newly created KCI Holdings Inc. would go public and serve as the holding company for Acelity. The filing provided no details on the size of the offering. The Apax-led group, though, was expected to continue to own a majority of the voting shares. Acelity lost about $138 million on $1.47 billion in sales last year. Contributing to the red ink was about $176 million in interest expense on its debt. The company was founded as a specialized medical bed maker by Dr. James Leininger in 1976. Acelity had more than 1,000 local employees in February, when it announced that it was cutting about 200 jobs in San Antonio and 260 overall. Its workforce stood at about 4,700 at the end of last year. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonios Acelity slashing 260 jobs Bloomberg reported Thursday morning that 3M is turning to acquisitions as its struggles in a number of markets. 3Ms shares plunged 13 percent last week after it disclosed weakness across business lines. It announced it was slashing 2,000 jobs. Analysts with Bloomberg Intelligence described Acelity as a good fit for 3M. Health care is one of 3Ms fastest growing segments, consistently generates about 30% operating margin and is a priority growth platform, the analysts said in a brief note. Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD USAA is cutting 53 jobs at its San Antonio headquarters in connection with the pending sale of its investment management business to Ohio-based Victory Capital Holdings Inc. The San Antonio-based financial services company last week notified the Texas Workforce Commission that the layoffs are the result of the sale of USAA Asset Management Co. to Victory for at least $850 million. On ExpressNews.com: USAA selling investment management company to Ohio firm in $850M deal The layoffs are permanent and are expected to be completed in three phases, starting June 24 and ending Sept. 23. USAA spokesman Matt Hartwig said in an email that the company is committed to providing care and support to those affected employees. The company gave notice of the job cuts under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The Texas Workforce Commission provided the Express-News a copy of the letter the agency received from USAA, but the positions eliminated were redacted. USAA Asset Management oversees the investments of USAA customers who have invested in mutual funds, college savings plans and exchange-traded funds. When the deal was announced in November, it was reported Victory planned to offer positions to about 300 USAA employees who manage the USAA mutual funds. USAA said that fewer than 100 employees would eventually lose their jobs. In January, Victory disclosed it would move its headquarters from Cleveland to San Antonio. Besides moving its top brass here and retaining the 300 USAA employees, Victory indicated it would add 50 jobs in the coming years with an average annual base salary of $96,000. On ExpressNews.com: Victory Capital to move headquarters to San Antonio Last week, Victory reported that it expected to complete the acquisition July 1. It added the integration is going well, and it is on target to achieve $100 million in savings. USAA Asset Management had assets under management of $70 billion as of March 31. Another $10 billion in assets under management is invested in USAA Mutual Funds. Victory had $58.1 billion in assets under management as of March 31. The acquisition of USAA Asset Management Company will meaningfully diversify our asset mix and investment capabilities and transform our business in terms of size and scale, Victory Chairman and CEO David Brown said in a statement last week. Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD For a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian like Jon Meacham, the chance to watch Attorney General William P. Barr testify before Congress is cant-miss catnip. Even if he has to watch on a mobile phone because hes about to appear before several hundred supporters of Planned Parenthood South Texas during the organizations annual luncheon. Meacham won the 2009 Pulitzer for his book American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. Hes also written a biography of Thomas Jefferson and a book about the friendship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. While writing a biography of George H.W. Bush, he became so close to the 41st president and former first lady Barbara Bush that the family asked him to deliver eulogies at both of their funeral services when they died seven months apart in 2018. In one of his latest books, The Soul of America, Meacham attempts to explain the current political climate by looking back on similarly divisive periods in our history. There are a lot of negative forces in the American character that ebb and flow that right now are flowing, he said. We need to find a way to get them to start ebbing again somehow. The Express-News caught up with Meacham shortly before his speech and after he turned off the Barr hearing to discuss ways to do that. He also talked about how the countrys political institutions are holding up under the Trump Administration and who he thinks might emerge from the crowded field of Democrats in 2020. Q. These are strange times politically. What do you say to people who ask you whats going on? A. The forces that are shaping us right now nativism, xenophobia, isolationism extremism, anxiety about the identities of others are innate, tragically, to who we are. The question is, what has led us to a presidency where 45% of the country is comfortable with such a perpetually abrasive political leader? What is it that makes otherwise sensitive people say, You know what, we dislike the establishment so much that this is worth it? On ExpressNews.com: Diane Rehm is off the radio but still active Id feel differently if Trump had won the popular vote, but the fact that hes president because of a quirk of the Electoral College suggests that theres plenty of room for recovery. Q. How do you think our political institutions are holding up under the Trump Administration? A. The family Lexus is pretty scratched up, but its still running. The Constitution was written for moments like this. The Founding Fathers assumed thered be demagogues whod come to power. They were concerned about the politics of personality being married to a robust vision of executive power that might push us to the kind of monarchical form of government that wed just fought a war to get out of. I think the courts have done pretty well, the press has done pretty well. Not the media necessarily, which is different. These days were all the media, because we all have the same access that (Walter) Cronkite had. When people complain about coverage, theyre usually talking about the ambient noise of social media. I like to say that just because we have the means of expressing an opinion quickly doesnt mean we have an opinion worth expressing quickly. Q. Your book The Soul of America reads as a response to whats going on in politics today and as an attempt to reach Trump supporters. Do you think you did that? A. I dont know. I hope so. I use history to make my arguments because I think thats the best chance to widen the aperture. If you come out and say to the 45% who voted for Trump, youre wrong and youre destroying American institutions, thats not gonna work. My views of the president are not hidden, but that doesnt mean my historical analysis is wrong. I do think weve been here before. Its as if Joe McCarthy or George Wallace had became president. But analogies are interesting and illuminating but not dispositive. My role is to say, here are some examples in our history that are roughly similar. We endured them, we got through them because here we are still. On ExpressNews.com: Planned Parenthood South Texas expands abortion services in San Antonio Q. What do you think will happen once Trump is gone? A. I think therell be a period of assessment, of why did this happen. I think its basically that, for a huge swath of the country, the system as embodied by Bushes and Clintons didnt work. And I think part of the message sent to Washington in 2016 was, if youre gonna act like a reality show, well send you one. Q. Will the divisiveness continue after him? A. Were basically a 51-49 country, on the best of days. Only three times since the end of World War II has a president gotten 60% of the popular vote: Johnson in 64, Nixon in 72 and Reagan in 84. But theres this nostalgic reflex that would make you think that Barack Obama presided over an Athenian city-state where we all sat down and came to reasonable decisions together. What planet are these people on? We lose proportionality if we romanticize the past. Q. During the Bush funeral, a lot of commentators talked about how his passing represented an end to an era when politicians would cross the aisle to govern. Can we get back to that kind of era, and if so, how? A. I think so. But President Bush would be the first to say that it wasnt all that easy, even back then. Q. Weve got plenty of Democrats running for president already. Is that a good thing? A. I dont see how, if you believe in all this, you can be against it. You have every possible permutation of the Democratic Party in the race, so let the people decide. Ive been surprised at how Vice President Biden has surged. Sen. Sanders has that devoted base of support. And Sen. Warren has a plan for everything and I dont say that to be funny. Shes the substance candidate, the protein. And then theres a bunch of fascinating younger folks. Itll be hard for the younger candidate to break through. Q. Who do you see as the most serious contenders? A. Biden, Sanders, Warren and one of the younger folks. But I didnt think Donald Trump would be president, so what do I know? Richard A. Marini is a features writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini The traditional media both print and electronic have long had an outsize influence on the election outcomes in India. Political parties and aspiring candidates for public offices used to allocate a significant portion of their resources to this supposedly influential platform. That no longer exists. Starting with the 2014 general elections, won hands-down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's election scene has witnessed the astonishing penetration of new and social media, and with serious implications. And if 2014 saw the beginning of social media setting the election debates and issues, then the ongoing 2019 election will see the trend go even further. How widespread is social media presence in this large, agricultural country? Notwithstanding its relatively small ratio of urban dwellers (31% according to 2011 Census), the Indian population on the whole is going through tremendous transformation in terms of access to and use of social media technology. Currently there are nearly 600 million internet users across the country, with one-fourth of them being active users. This means, for instance, that India has some 300 million Facebook users and as many as 35 million active Twitter users. The popular chat platform WhatsApp has amassed more than 230 million users, and is expanding in leaps and bounds. Service providers such as Reliance Jio, which offer cheap data services at a throwaway price, have helped further the reach of internet to the common man. And notably, the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha election will include around 15 million first-time voters, most of whom can safely be assumed to be social media users. The "social media effect" on elections Sensing the potential of expanding social media, political parties and electoral candidates have set up dedicated social media teams, called IT cells, to mobilize support for their candidates, which is both cheaper and faster than using traditional media. And while nearly every major party has created its own IT cell to set political narratives and reach out to supporters, it is the ruling BJP which currently dominates social media game. Even their top rival, the Congress Party, lags far behind in this aspect. Following on the success of its inroads into social media in the 2014 general elections, the BJP has established a social media cell with 400 dedicated analysts to initiate a grassroots push. By last count, the ruling party has appointed more than 900,000 volunteers called "cell phone pramukh" who steer WhatsApp groups to disseminate information about the party's achievements and PM Modi's leadership. The Congress is catching up with its own "digital sathi" (meaning friends) coordinating digital campaigns. To stay in the electoral game, parties are allotting as much as one-fourth of their resources to social media campaigns. Notwithstanding the positive features of social media information diffusion, awareness raising and building direct links between voters to discuss candidates and issues leading up to the elections the negative effects of such emergent technology greatly outweigh the positives. There are growing instances of fake news, false propaganda, hate campaigns and communally sensitive messages fueling animosity and a deep divide among social and political groups. Social media has become tool for political parties to actively spread misinformation and influential content to induce voters on a scale previously unseen. The spread of fake news is one of the chief issues, for instance, messages containing information such as a Pakistani flag being waved at Rahul Gandhi's rally or Sonia Gandhi being the country's fourth-richest woman are still being spread and are heavily influencing the minds of the voters. Most of the blame has been cast upon platforms such as WhatsApp. A struggling Election Commission While the Union Government has acted periodically to stop the spread of fake news and hate messages, it has hardly yielded positive results. The major body stepping up to rein in the negative social media effects is the Election Commission, which has sought the cooperation of major companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter to check content and regulate the misuse of their platform by political parties. But given the dynamic nature of technology, the commission is finding the going tough. It has issued a detailed guideline for social media companies to follow over the course of the elections, yet ground reports suggest that these guidelines have limited effect. For instance, despite WhatsApp restricting its forwarding to five users at once, political parties have simply splintered larger groups into thousands of subgroups using smartphones to bypass such restriction. Similarly, Facebook is using algorithms and has appointed hundreds of volunteers to check for fake news and hate messages. However, the results so far are not very encouraging. Parties and candidates have an uncanny ability to beat the social media giants at their game. In short, the social platforms now pose the single biggest challenge to the integrity of the Indian elections. We can only hope there will be a solution to this menace soon. Niranjan Sahoo is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/NiranjanSahoo.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. The Air Force training plane that crashed late last summer near Rolling Oaks Mall on San Antonios North Side had run out of fuel because of a mechanical mistake, an accident investigation board report released Wednesday said. A catastrophic fuel leak occurred because mechanics had incorrectly installed a fuel transfer locking plate while overhauling the T-6A Texan IIs engine the previous year, the report said. Nothing seemed out of place until a brief increase in torque occurred, later followed by unusually high fuel flow readings on a training flight Sept. 18. The fuel surge prompted the instructor pilot, Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Lee Glenn, to bring the plane onto a final approach just 4.8 miles from Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. He moved the control lever to the idle position to slow down the aircraft enough to lower the landing gear and flaps. Upon selecting idle, engine operation immediately fell to a sub-idle state that was no longer capable of producing usable thrust, the accident investigation report stated. Well short of the runway, Glenn made a final radio call. Fangs 99, ejecting on short final, he said before turning the plane toward a field to avoid a school directly ahead. On ExpressNews.com: Pilots safe after AF plane crashes on far North Side Glenn and 1st Lt. Nicholas Donato escaped with minor injuries after the engine failed. There were no civilian injuries or property damage in the area, which was just inside the San Antonio city limits. The $5.7 million aircraft, used to train pilots in the Air Force and Navy, was a total loss. Amateur video showed two parachutes deploying at about 800 feet as the plane streaked toward the earth in a fast dive. The men slowly drifted to earth, landing in a field near Nacogdoches Road just outside Loop 1604, not far from Veterans Memorial High School. Assigned to the 559th Flying Training Squadron, which is under the 12th Flying Training Wing, the T-6 hit the ground eight or nine seconds later. It tore a long gash through the field and broke in two. The area is surrounded by suburban development. The Air Force released the report just before another T-6 went down in Oklahoma, with both pilots reportedly ejecting safely from the aircraft. The trainer, from Sheppard AFB, crashed shortly before 2 p.m. near Lake Waurika, Okla., but the Air Force said nothing more about that incident. With the latest crash, the command has lost seven aircraft since November 2017. A T-38C went down at Laughlin AFB on Nov 13 near Del Rio. Both pilots ejected. The instructor pilot, Capt. John F. Graziano, 28, of Elkridge, Md. was killed and Capt. Mark S. Palyok was injured. The Air Education and Training Command has said nothing more about what happened. Top hits: Get San Antonio Express-News stories sent directly to your inbox The training command said a separate accident investigation board ruled a T-38C that went down Aug. 17 about eight miles northwest of Chester, Okla., was caused by a bird strike. The pilot ejected, suffering minor injuries. The supersonic jet trainer, valued at $11 million, was destroyed. A Swainsons hawk flew into the right engine, starting a fire that melted through the aircraft skin, exposing flight controls and hydraulic lines to extreme heat. Before long, the pilot lost control. The accident near Rolling Oaks Mall had been long in the making. The Air Force accident investigation board president, Col. Michael C. Boger, said a fuel transfer tube locking plate was improperly installed during a contracted, 4,500-hour engine overhaul performed by Standard Aero Ltd. in October 2017. The incorrectly installed locking plate allowed fuel transfer tubes to migrate out of position during the flight and caused a substantial fuel leak, AETC stated. This caused the engine failure at an altitude and location where the pilots were not in a position to land the aircraft safely. The incident near the mall and school raised concerns about suburban growth around military installations long a worry of local leaders in the San Antonio area and the Air Force. The crash site, a field in a densely populated area that includes the mall, a Costco, Walmart Super Center, and dozens of subdivisions along two major highways, was too far from Randolph to be covered by regulations that try to keep businesses, subdivisions and multifamily dwellings at arms length from military runways. Joint Base San Antonio has worked with Bexar County-area leaders to limit growth around Randolphs Accident Potential Zones. Weve tried to buy some land to alleviate that, but its a big concern with them, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said. Thank goodness weve got airmen that know what theyre doing. Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he had not read the accident report but said it underscored the strong communication between the military, its joint base command and San Antonio to address the needs of air missions in an urban area. And the efforts undertaken over the last 30 years to prevent encroachment and preserve training capacity is important not just for national security, but also the livelihood of our local communities that enjoy living in this city, he said. Im grateful not only to the pilot and his incredible skill, but also to the Air Force in general for its excellent training in areas like ours. Sig Christenson covers the military and veterans in San Antonio, Bexar County and the nation. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe Almost half of the 190 serious e-scooter injuries handled by Austin EMS crews and emergency rooms in a recent three-month period were to the head, and 15 percent were traumatic brain injuries, a study by that citys health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found. Fewer than 1 percent of injured riders wore helmets. The studys authors said the obvious - helmet use might reduce the risk of head and brain injuries in the event of an e-scooter crash and advocated for more education about safe riding, especially for those under 30. However, they stopped short of suggesting governments should mandate helmet use or that scooter companies should more aggressively distribute them. An Austin transportation department official said at a Thursday news conference that crashes resulted from only .02 percent of some 936,000 scooter trips studied between Sept. 5 and Nov. 30. Thats statistically insignificant, said Jason JonMichael, a transportation technology expert with the citys Smart Mobility program. We must continue to espouse the benefits of helmet use, but also respect what families want. I dont think anyone here has a policy in mind as a result of the study, said Robert Spillar, Austins director of transportation, saying officials there dont want to jump to conclusions. Dr. Christopher Ziebell, the emergency department medical director at Dell Seton Hospital in Austin, told the San Antonio Express-News last month that theres considerable resistance in his city to regulating scooter companies or even pushing them for more safety education, which he called heartbreaking because so many of these (severe head trauma cases) are preventable. Eight deaths of scooter riders have been reported nationwide, including one in Austin, since the dockless vehicles appeared in downtowns across the country last year. The Austin-CDC study may be informative for San Antonio officials, who are just finishing a six-month scooter pilot program that saw 147 injuries reported to EMS from last September to mid-April. San Antonio has some 6,700 permitted dockless vehicles on the streets now, but is hoping to reduce that number to 5,000 and the number of scooter companies from seven to three by fall, if the City Council approves a concession system similar to how it regulates tourist river barges downtown. On ExpressNews.com: Plan to reduce scooters heads to San Antonio City Council The Austin-CDC study is believed to be the first of its kind in the furiously fast-developing and barely year-old scooter industry. Using interviews with some 125 injured riders and records from nine cooperating Austin hospitals, researchers put together a wealth of data, such as: Nearly half of all riders were age 18 to 29. One-third were injured during their first scooter ride. More than one-third suffered fractures other than broken noses, fingers or toes. One-third of all injuries occurred on sidewalks, 16 percent occurred with automobiles and 39 percent happened between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Some 37 percent said excessive speed contributed to their injuries; 19 percent cited scooter malfunctions (brakes, wheels, etc.). Only 20 people were seriously injured per 100,000 trips, an average of about two per day. Electric scooters activated by cellphone apps and costing about 15 cents a minute began arriving in dozens of larger American cities early last summer. Their supporters said they were a long-overdue piece of the transportation puzzle, a solution to the first and last mile problem of how people get to homes, jobs or shopping after theyve used some other form of transportation. But legions of critics said the scooters were dangerous to riders and pedestrians, urban litter at best, and that the scooter companies behaved arrogantly in simply dumping the machines into cities without invitation or permitting. Spillar said Austin had more than 700,000 scooter trips in March alone, and that this volume noticeably lowered the presence of automobiles in downtown Austin. Were seeing better behavior by scooter riders, Spillar said. And judging by the volume of riders, I dont think this transportation mode is going away. Theyre clearly a part of our transportation future. On ExpressNews.com: Can San Antonio convince or force scooter riders to wear helmets? In San Antonio, public health specialists have expressed concern about the number of head injuries associated with scooters, but generally have not engaged in broad public education outreach programs or injury studies. Bruce Selcraig is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read his stories on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | BSelcraig@express-news.net A former Texas State University student whom FBI agents claimed was plotting mass violence pleaded guilty in a San Antonio federal court Wednesday to a child exploitation charge. Benjamin J. Bogard, 20, of New Braunfels, pleaded guilty to a lesser federal charge of possession of obscene visual representations depicting the sexual abuse of children. The FBI had opened a domestic terrorism investigation on him and officials said they charged him with possession of child pornography to get him off the streets. The child porn count was levied by a federal grand jury that indicted him, but prosecutors last week changed the charge as part of plea negotiations. On ExpressNews.com: Ex-Texas State student eyed in domestic terrorism investigation in San Antonio The possession of obscene material charge and possession of child porn each are punishable by up to 20 years in prison without parole, but possession of child porn automatically triggers a requirement for sex offender registration. The lesser charge does not, according to authorities. Bogards lawyer, Michael Morris, declined comment after Wednesdays hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad. Agents with the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force testified at his bail hearing in February that Bogard created disturbing videos in which he allegedly embraced white supremacy, said he wanted to kill minorities, discussed obtaining a chemical substance to make a bomb and implied he might commit a mass shooting. Bogard, the son of an Air Force veteran, came to the attention of the FBI in early November after someone contacted Crime Stoppers in Albany, New York, to alert authorities to disturbing posts on an Instagram account and other social media, FBI counterterrorism agents testified at Bogards bond hearing. Bogard was majoring in engineering at Texas State, but dropped out as the fall 2018 semester began. The former student was not charged for any of his posts or for the violence-related videos. The agents and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson contend Bogard could have engaged in mass violence had they not stepped in and arrested him on the child pornography charge over images that were found on his cellphone. Bogard claimed to investigators that the posts were all an online persona and that he had no intent to do mass violence, one FBI agent testified at the February hearing. Morris has previously downplayed the posts and videos, noting that Bogard allegedly made nonsensical statements allegiance to Hitler while at the same time praising Allah. He argued that his client was simply an edgelord, someone who acts edgy, risque, offensive or shocking to gain attention and online likes. And Morris has said his client never followed through on any of the violent rhetoric. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio judge blocks the release of ex-college student accused of preparing for mass violence Bemporad had granted Bogard release on bond after the February hearing, but Bogard never went free because prosecutors appealed and Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra put the bond on hold. A hearing had been scheduled two weeks ago to see whether the hold should remain, but it was canceled when the court wsa informed that Bogard would plead guilty, records show. Sentencing was tentatively set for Aug. 5 before Ezra. Guillermo Contreras covers federal courts in San Antonio and international legal issues. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and challenger Greg Brockhouse made their final cases to voters in a televised debate Thursday night, hewing to their now-familiar refrains and offering voters two opposing visions. Nirenberg touted a humming economy and declining crime rate while pitching his plan to guide San Antonio into the future. Brockhouse railed against that plan and pledged a back-to-basics government that would bridge what he called the gap between City Hall and neighborhoods. Thursdays debate, sponsored by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and hosted by KLRN-TV, was the last before voters decide Saturday which candidate they want to helm the city for the next two years. On ExpressNews.com: Nirenberg predicts cathartic victory in San Antonio mayors race after campaign embroiled in Chick-fil-A debate Voters will also select council members and school board officials Saturday, and residents in smaller Bexar County cities will make decisions for their respective city councils as well. In the three months since Brockhouse announced his bid, emerging as Nirenbergs only prominent challenger, the race has grown tighter than most veteran political observers had expected. Host Jim Forsyth asked the candidates pointed questions about their respective campaigns, beginning with an inquiry into Nirenbergs climate change plan aspiring for carbon neutrality by 2050. He asked if San Antonio could genuinely have an impact on global climate. The climate action strategy in the city of San Antonio is a recognition that climate change is real, that its happening and that we need to be prepared for its effects going forward into the future, Nirenberg said. Puro Politics podcast: Tensions flare as election night nears The mayor reiterated that the plan, which has drawn criticism from the business community, is aspirational in nature and doesnt include mandates or regulations. But Brockhouse said that justification was misleading. He argued the plan, if approved, would inevitably take shape in more concrete policies. Im sorry Ron, you cant sit there and say this is a set of aspirational goals, Brockhouse said. The truth is it will result in spending and ordinances and laws in our city. On ExpressNews.com: To pull off mayoral upset, Brockhouse will have to overcome domestic violence reports Forsyth then asked Brockhouse why the business community wasnt rallying around his candidacy. At the end of the day, the only person Im beholden to are the residents of San Antonio, Brockhouse said. And I think the business community recognizes that I have a plan but that plan comes from the residents. Nirenberg used the opportunity to showcase San Antonios booming economy. Later, he said Brockhouses lack of business support showed hes relying on shadow campaigns from the public safety unions that previously employed him. Now theyre bank-rolling his campaign, Nirenberg said. He is not raising support from average members of the community, from neighbors, from business leaders. Hes running a campaign bank-rolled entirely by our public safety unions. Thats a point the mayor has constantly made on the campaign trail, calling Brockhouse a puppet for police and firefighters unions. Its a characterization Brockhouse says is ridiculous. The police union has spent more than $180,000 from Feb. 9 to March 25, but its unclear how much has benefited Brockhouse because the union also is supporting other council candidates. For its part, the fire union has said its foregoing council races to concentrate exclusively on electing Brockhouse as mayor. It spent $38,359 in that same span and had firefighters campaigning for him at most early voting polling sites. Nirenberg also hit Brockhouse for taking more than $460,000 as a consultant for the unions before winning his council seat. But Brockhouse has repeatedly said that amount doesnt reflect the expenses he incurred for that work. He said he wrote off as much as 95 percent of that amount on tax returns for advertisements, hiring contractors and other expenses. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio City Council rejects Brockhouses effort to reconsider Chick-fil-A contract The two candidates also sparred about some of the major themes in the race, including mass transit, property taxes and a controversial decision to remove Chick-fil-A from an airport concession contract. The mayor has sought to frame the latter issue in business terms, arguing the fast food chain is closed on Sundays, which leaves airport customers on those days with one less option in a limited space. This vote was not taken for religious purposes, Nirenberg said. This was a vote quite simply on the economics of our airport. But Brockhouse, who like many conservatives sees the vote as an infringement on religious freedom, again rebuffed that argument. He pointed to comments made by council members that day regarding the companys legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior for donating to organizations opposed to same-sex marriage and homosexuality. Go watch the video tape... The record speaks for itself, Ron, Brockhouse said. People care about it. You know why people care about it? San Antonio is a city of faith, folks. On ExpressNews.com: Brockhouse told debate moderators he would leave if they asked about domestic violence police reports While the Chick-fil-A vote has embroiled Nirenbergs campaign, the issue that has clouded Brockhouses bid went undiscussed. Forsyth did not ask about police reports from 2006 and 2009 in which an ex-wife and his current wife accused the councilman of domestic violence. Brockhouse was not arrested or charged in either incident and has denied wrongdoing. After the debate, Chamber of Commerce president Richard Perez said they didnt feel the allegations of domestic violence were a business issue. In closing, the candidates said they offered what they have since the campaign began: two opposing options. I think we provided you with a clear choice, Nirenberg said, and Brockhouse called it a stark difference. 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 Andrew Jazbani and Eric Galy were driving back from a friends house early Wednesday morning when they passed a car. It was lying on its side. At first, they werent sure if there had been an accident or if the car was abandoned, said Jazbani, a St. Marys University student. But they saw a little bit of flames and decided to turn around, he said. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox We parked the car, ran over, and saw there was a woman trapped with her seat belt on, he said. She was inhaling all this smoke. The frantic efforts that followed ended with a rescue by an off-duty police officer seconds before the car exploded. It had rolled over after hitting a guardrail near Evers and Bandera roads just after 3 a.m., police said. Galy tried cracking open the door and opening the window, but the woman wasnt able to climb out, Jazbani said. The two were trying to free her when Sgt. Kenneth Hamilton, an off-duty St. Marys University police officer, miraculously showed up, Jazbani said. Hamilton was on his way home from work when he saw the accident, he said in a video interview shared by the university. He pulls out his baton, and starts doing work on the windshield, Jazbani recalled. That wasnt working well, so one of the young men asked me if I wanted a rock, Hamilton said. He (Jazbani) brings back this piece of concrete and starts throwing it at the windshield. He did that several times, enough for me to be able to start kicking it in, Hamilton said. And once I kicked it in enough, I just grabbed it and pulled it out. The three smelled gasoline, heard popping and cracking sounds. At one point, I was scared for my life, I could literally feel the flames on my arms, Jazbani said. It sounded like it was about to explode. Hamilton told us to get out of the way, Jazbani said. While the officer pulled the woman out, he starting recording video, capturing Hamiltons heroics on his phone. His earlier video also caught Hamilton pulling the glass away from the car, then reaching in to free the woman. He yelled at us to get back. Its admirable by him that he was looking out for us as well, Jazbani said. Literally right after the police officer pulled her out, like 10 to 20 seconds, the car blew up. We all just ran for cover. Other police officers, an ambulance and fire truck arrived as the car was engulfed in flames, Jazmani said. Paramedics took the woman to University Hospital for treatment for minor injuries, police said. At first, it seemed like maybe people were just trying to get rid of a car or flip it over, it didnt seem like an accident or anything, Jazbani said. Its not like we havent seen crazy stuff before in that area. But we pulled over just in case, he said. You should never really just drive by or be a bystander, you never know when you can be of help. Im glad that we did. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns Flash China will soon overtake Europe to become the top outbound tourist market of the U.S. state of Arizona, tourism officials here have said. "We expect China to become our number one overseas tourist market by 2025," Scott Dunn, public information officer for the Arizona Tourism Board (ATB), told Xinhua in a recent interview. Chinese visitors currently lag behind Germany, France and Britain with 81,000 travelers per year to the Grand Canyon, America's prime tourist attraction and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. "We have seen an increase of 286 percent from 2010 to 2017: a monumental growth from the China market," Dunn said, adding that the number of Chinese tourists to the Grand Canyon soared from 21,972 in 2010 to 81,373 in 2017. ARIZONA'S EFFORTS With the 2019 tourism year just having started, Arizona, home to a number of world class attractions, is hedging its bet and focusing on China's burgeoning middle class of 400 million people. Thanks to Dunn and his China expert, deputy director Becky Blaine, ATB is setting a national example for attracting Chinese visitors. "Cultural nuances are very important to address," Dunn said. ATB held several Chinese seminars last year, teaching local businesses how to engage travelers from China, giving tips on how to work with Chinese tour operators, helping Arizona businesses to translate websites into Chinese, and listing a variety of other Chinese cultural specifics to enhance Chinese visitors' experience in the Grand Canyon state. Signage is another important add-on with a number of key tourism sites recently translating information signs into Mandarin to enhance the experience of Chinese tourists. As America's second most visited national park, the Grand Canyon hosts some 6 million tourists a year. MISSED MONEY The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) predicted that China's middle class is expected to hit 520 million people by 2025, and with a disposable income of more than 2 trillion U.S. dollars, this young, travel-hungry group is a sought-after market with limitless potential. With San Jose in California adding direct flights to China in 2016, other western U.S. cities, including Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah, have been considering direct access to the world's second-largest economy. "A game changer," said Dunn of direct flights from Phoenix, capital of Arizona to China, hot on the radar of local businesses. Potentially, this would allow "millions of Chinese visitors" to fly into the Valley of the Sun, where businesses might thrive from Chinese spending and investment, Dunn added. In the bordering state Colorado, former Governor John Hickenlooper, now a Democratic presidential runner, heavily courted Chinese investment in his state, a business strategy with no virtual downside. Similar efforts have been made in Utah, where conservative lawmakers have spurred the state's economy by bringing Chinese investors and tourists to the Beehive State. But Arizona's political leadership, and its Republican Governor Doug Ducey have not followed the lead of their neighbors, much to the dismay of big business. "While some companies are already focusing on the evolution of this new class, many others have yet to broaden their vision and thus risk missing a significant opportunity," the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said in its annual report. Some conservative politicians' attitude have not slowed down ATB officials, who see the vast potential across the Pacific. "There is an Arizona channel on WeChat, and we conduct trade missions to Chengdu and Beijing (in China)," Dunn said. In the four months he has pursued the Democrats 2020 presidential nomination, Julian Castro has worked to set himself apart from the ever-growing field of contestants. He was the first promising to pay interns and support a unionized staff, if they chose. He led in calling for payment of reparations to descendants of slaves. Last month, his proposal to end criminal penalties for border crossings and limit authority of Immigration Customs and Enforcement went farther than others in the race, then and since. Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and Housing and Urban Development secretary, also was the first major hopeful to call for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump after the release of the special counsel report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. On Wednesday, Castro was first again among the hopefuls as he publicly called for Attorney General William Barrs resignation or impeachment. Attorney General Barr willfully misled the American people to cover up attempted crimes by Donald Trump, Castro said on Twitter. 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. pic.twitter.com/y7F4QZvzY9 Julian Castro (@JulianCastro) May 1, 2019 Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Castro followed up on Wednesday evening with an appeal to Congress noting a letter to Barr from special counsel Robert Mueller observing that Barrs initial description of the investigation did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of the special counsels work. And now we know that Attorney General William Barr attempted to deceive the American people and lied under oath to Congress, Castro wrote. For subscribers: Reparations for descendants of slaves emerges as key issue in 2020 Democratic field Democrats seeking the presidential nomination who called for Barrs ouster Wednesday included Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Former Vice President Joe Biden, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of El Paso, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also called for Barrs resignation or impeachment. Thursday morning, Barr was a no-show at a House Judiciary Committee session after refusing the panels plan to have staff lawyers pose questions in addition to House members. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday echoed Castros words, telling reporters that the attorney general was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. Thats a crime. 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 (expletive) SEE THE BEGINNING OF THE END AND TAKE WHAT YOU CAN WHILE YOU CAN. YOU IMAGINE THAT YOU WILL GET AWAY, BUT YOUVE (expletive) 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. 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 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. @marcthiessen Another synagogue shooting. Another day of shock. Another lonely fanatic. Another cascade of insecurity and fear. I wonder if weve fully grasped how fear pervades our society and sets the emotional tone for our politics. When historians define this era they may well see it above all else as a time defined by fear. The era began Sept. 11, 2001, a moment when a nation that had once seemed invulnerable suddenly felt tremendously unsafe. Its been an era when politicians rise by stoking fear. Donald Trump declared an American carnage and made it to the White House by warning of an immigrant crime wave that doesnt exist. Fear also comes up from below, in the form of childhood trauma and insecurity. It sometimes seems as if half of Americas children grow up in strained families and suffer Adverse Childhood Experiences that make it hard for them to feel safe. The other half grow up in overprotective families and emerge into adulthood unready to face the risks that will inevitably come. Depression rates rise. Safe spaces proliferate. We in the media have contributed, too. The sure way to win is to ratchet up the crisis atmosphere. All news is Breaking News! We get to the point where the fear itself begins to take control. Fear generates fear. Everybody feels besieged power is somehow elsewhere, with the malevolent forces who are somewhere out there, who will stop at nothing. Fear puts a dark filter over everything. The fearful person is unable to hear good news, while any possible threat looms large. We are in the middle of one of the longest economic booms in our history, with wages finally rising again for the middle class. But nobody feels that because of the sense that its all about to come crashing down. Fear runs ahead of the facts and inflames the imagination. Ninety percent of the time were not afraid of whats happening to us, but of some catastrophic thing our imagination tells us might happen. Fear makes everything amorphous. Immigration is a phenomenon that has concrete advantages and concrete disadvantages. But for those in the grip of fear, immigration or globalization, Silicon Valley, Wall Street or automation are shapeless, insidious forces that are out of control. The inevitable reaction is overreaction. Fear stokes anger, which then stokes more fear. The fearful person turns asocial, rejects any compassionate response to social problems and instead lashes out. The fearful person doesnt see particular individuals, just hateful shades who arouse disgust and can be blamed. Muslims are disgusting. Immigrants are disgusting. Republicans are disgusting. Fear induces herding behavior. For my last column I went back and read some profiles of Joe Biden written in the 1970s and 1980s. I was stunned to see how free-flowing they were, how little the authors were tied down by ideological rigidity and tribal mentality. I was reminded how much weve all clenched up, how much we all now seem to be members of this or that cult fearful of saying something wrong, fearful of provoking a Twitter backlash, repeating the cliches that signal to others that we are faithfully staying within the barricades of our tribe. The 20th century saw a clash of iron-grip ideologies. Then, about 10 years ago, we seemed to be entering the age of the data wonks. The students in my classes didnt have faith in all-explaining dogmas. Skeptical, they just wanted the evidence. But now grand ideologies clash by night: white nationalism, populism, oppression studies. All trade in binaries between oppressor and oppressed, the struggle between the good groups and the menacing evil ones. They say that perfect love casts out fear. And maybe there is at least one presidential candidate who will perform the role Franklin Roosevelt performed 86 years ago identify fear as its own independent force and confront it with hope. But Im coming to think governance might be the cure. The simple act of trying to solve practical problems. Enough with charisma. Enough with politicians who treat each election as a matter of metaphysical survival, a clash of existential identities. Ive developed a hankering for slightly boring politicians who just get stuff done Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland. I might agree or disagree with some of Elizabeth Warrens zillions of policy proposals, but at least theyre proposals. At least they are attempts to ground our politics in real situations with actual plans, not just overwrought bellowing about the monster in the closet. Fear comes in the night. But eventually you have to wake up in the morning, get out of bed and get stuff done. 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. Jefferson Banks plans to build a tower on the Broadway corridor to house its new headquarters won initial approval from a key city panel Wednesday. On ExpressNews.com: Former Andeavor headquarters building on San Antonios North Side up for sale The city Historic Design and Review Commission (HDRC) unanimously voted to give conceptual approval to the San Antonio banks proposed tower. The headquarters would take up nearly the entire block northeast of Broadway and East Grayson catty-corner to a two-tower complex currently under construction that will house San Antonio-based Credit Human and offices for Bank of America. The tower would also nearly surround the bar Still Golden Social House. Milam Real Estate Capital, the local firm developing the tower, say the building will have 180,000 square feet of office space spanning seven floors, some of which the bank plans to lease to other tenants, along with four levels of parking and ground-floor retail. Plack Carr of Milam previously told the Express-News the tower would be 12 floors, but the HDRC agenda and documents say the proposed tower will have 10. Jefferson Bank executives bought the 1.7-acre lot in June. The bank hasnt said how many of its 400 employees will move from its current headquarters at Loop 410 near Harry Wurzbach on the Northeast Side to the planned tower. On ExpressNews.com: CPS Energy selling headquarters building in downtown San Antonio, Villita Assembly Building and other properties Three shotgun houses sat on the lot but were demolished. Christopher Alonzo, an inspector for the federal government, told commissioners he contacted city officials and the developer last year in the hopes he could preserve and move two of the houses to land he owns on the near West Side. But by April, the structures had already been leveled. I do think that a city that touts itself as a green city that wishes to reduce carbon emissions, we lost a golden opportunity to save these structures, reduce carbon emissions, reduce the amount of debris that ends up in our landfills, Alonzo said. Milam tried to preserve the homes by lining up a developer to move them less than a mile away to a property on Grayson Street, said Patrick Christensen, a lawyer representing Milam. But the developer dropped out at the last minute, Christensen said. We certainly apologize for that, Christensen said of the demolition, adding that the two structures werent in that good of shape. On ExpressNews.com: Mixed-use development with apartments proposed for storage facility near downtown San Antonio The Broadway corridor has seen resurgent interest in recent years from developers and businesses looking to locate near downtown. Alamo Colleges is building its new headquarters at the northeast corner of Alamo and Josephine, a block east of Broadway. Developer GrayStreet Partners plans to build a a 20-story hotel and office tower at 1603 Broadway. Luxury hotel chain W Hotels is in talks to open a 195-room upscale hotel at the tower. Marriott International, W Hotels parent company, has said it aims to open the hotel in January 2022. GrayStreet also plans to redevelop 23 acres on Broadways east side into a mixed-use development with office space and retail. Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering real estate, economic development and philanthropy. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports Air Transat has said the Croatian market will continue to form an integral part of its destination network in the years to come after announcing that the company would be put up for sale. The airline will resume its seasonal services between Toronto and Zagreb in two weeks time. "Croatia remains a key destination for Transat, and in view of the interest shown by Canadian travellers in the summer of 2018 and its potential for tourism development, we will add another connection to Zagreb from Toronto, for a total of three direct flights per week", the company said. It added, "The flights will take place on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at the height of the season. Customers in Montreal and Vancouver may also benefit from a connection via Toronto from this additional third flight to Croatia. The third link will also offer Zagreb to Calgary customers via a roundtrip connection to Toronto". Air Transat has said the Croatian market will continue to form an integral part of its destination network in the years to come after announcing that the company would be put up for sale. The airline will resume its seasonal services between Toronto and Zagreb in two weeks time. "Croatia remains a key destination for Transat, and in view of the interest shown by Canadian travellers in the summer of 2018 and its potential for tourism development, we will add another connection to Zagreb from Toronto, for a total of three direct flights per week", the company said. It added, "The flights will take place on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at the height of the season. Customers in Montreal and Vancouver may also benefit from a connection via Toronto from this additional third flight to Croatia. The third link will also offer Zagreb to Calgary customers via a roundtrip connection to Toronto". The new third weekly service will launch on June 20. All flights will be operated by the Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The last rotation of the season from Toronto is scheduled to take place on October 29. Air Transat initially planned to introduce a one weekly service between Toronto and Split this summer as well, however, it cancelled the planned route in February. "For commercial and operational reasons, Air Transat has made the decision to cancel its planned operations in Split", the airline said. As to whether or not the proposed flights could launch in 2020, the carrier noted, "We continually analyse and re-evaluate the market and our roads, based on a variety of factors, to optimize our operations". Air Transat and Air Canada Rouge, which maintain seasonal services to Zagreb, have contributed to a boom in travel between Canada and Croatia. "Further growth in travel is expected from Canada to Croatia at around 20% per year. Estimates are based on the recovery of the Canadian economy, the strong contribution of nonstop flights linking Toronto with Zagreb, and general growth in interest for travel to Croatia, Ina Rodin from the Croatian National Tourist Board said. Earlier this week, Transat said it is in preliminary talks regarding the possible sale of the company. It noted that talks were underway with more than one party regarding a potential transaction following expressions of interest it received. Talks are at a preliminary stage and there are no assurances that any transaction will take place. 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 Flash 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. STAMFORD With the parking garage at the Stamford Train Station in major disrepair, state officials are hoping to begin to remedy some of the structures failings starting next month. Work will begin in June to repair missing steel toecaps and protruding bolts on stairs, and refill and seal cracks on the newer portion of the garage. Richard Jankovich, assistant rail administrator for the state Department of Transportation, said the work is expected to be completed by November. Were going in to get it done, he said, at meeting of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council on Wednesday. Theres a very aggressive schedule. Vincenzo Capasso, president of contractor Frank Capasso & Sons, Inc., gave a brief presentation on the work that is scheduled for the garage. After repairing the stairwell on the newer garage the 1,200-spot L shaped structure that wraps around the original parking facility the contractor will replace joints between concrete panels and seal it with protective coating. Currently, many of the joints have deteriorated, creating areas of loose concrete. Additionally, the sealant material between the slabs has faded. The main part of the project is protecting the concrete, which will be done by applying an epoxy healer/sealer, to fill cracks. The final step is spreading a heavy-duty waterproof deck coating on the roof. The first phase of work, which will take roughly one month, will focus on the 200 stair covers located in the stairwell of the newer garage, which exits to Station Place. The following phase will result in a total of 80 parking spaces out of service. That includes 40 spots on the roof and 40 spaces directly below. Thats because the floor underneath the roof will be closed off because of minor debris falling from the roof. The last three months of the work will be the most disruptive, with up to 140 parking spots taken out of service for long stretches. The entire project is expected to start June 3 and end Nov. 15, if all goes to plan. Weather could throw a giant wrench into those plans, however, since precipitation of any kind will slow down the work on the exposed roof of the garage. Signage will be placed throughout the garage to let commuters know about the repairs. There will also be two-week look-ahead notifications on the DOT website. For comments or concerns, send messages to STCinfo@fusco.com. The state also has plans to build a brand new 960-spot parking garage on South State Street that will replace lost spots in the existing garage. That is scheduled to open in 2022. ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com STAMFORD A month after thieves stole an ATM out of a Glenbrook bodega, police say the same group returned early Thursday and took another ATM and tried to get a third before getting spooked and running off. This is an ongoing and fluid investigation, Property Crimes Sgt. Sean Scanlon said. I have four investigators out there and two forensic guys out in the field. We are collecting videos and talking to informants. This is a very active investigation. Scanlon declined to even say which businesses had been broken into because he said he did not want to tip the hand of his investigators by saying what they have or dont have as part of the investigation into who the burglars are. Scanlon said he believed the goal of the second business that was broken into was a another ATM, which was not taken from the premises. Scanlon said the break-ins that occurred on Hamilton Avenue early in the morning on March 31, when an ATM was taken from the LaPlacita market, thousands in cash stolen from neighboring Tony and Skinny barber shop and Mama Rosas Latin & American Grill was broken into, were probably done by the same people. I think they are definitely connected and we are working with various different people to find out who they are, Scanlon said. Scanlon said he figures something worried the burglars when they attempted to get the third ATM. We are fairly sure they were looking to take that ATM but they got spooked off, Scanlon said, possibly by a neighbor or passerby who saw the burglary in progress. Scanlon said he was aware of ATM burglaries taking place all over the state. He said his investigators have reached out to other jurisdictions to see if they may have a line on who the thieves are. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com 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 You are here: World Flash 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. If youre looking for a good book, here are a few titles Ive had a chance to review and enjoy recently. Birds Kenn Kaufman has been obsessed with birds since he dropped out of high school and hitchhiked across the country pursuing his passion. He recounted that year in Kingbird Highway (1997). Kaufmans latest book, A Season On the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration (2019, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 282 pages, $26), is a timely and authoritative examination of spring bird migration. From his home in northeast Ohio, Kaufman concentrates on spring migration as northbound songbirds approach Lake Erie and then rest for a few days before crossing the lake. There he monitors weather conditions and weather radar in preparation for myriad birds about to pass through. The phenomenon culminates in the Biggest Week in American Birding (May 3-12, 2019), a popular annual birding festival. A Season On the Wind opens with a migrating birds perspective as it flies north and encounters the formidable barrier we call Lake Erie. Then the point of view shifts to the birders converging on the same spot (Magee Marsh Wildlife Area) in search of migrating birds. Along the way, Kaufman explains the perils that climate change poses to birds, and how even seemingly safe alternative forms of renewable energy such as wind farms can be deadly to birds if not properly located. Bees From a human perspective, honey bees (Apis mellifera) are one of the most valuable insects on the planet. They pollinate agricultural crops and produce honey and beeswax, services worth billions of dollars annually. The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild by Thomas Seeley (May 21, 2019; Princeton University Press, 347 pages, $29.95) traces the roots of honey bee domestication back 4,000 years and makes the case that wild bees may hold the key to the continued survival of domesticated bees. Most of us have seen man-made white honey bee hives, but I suspect few have ever seen a wild hive. The Lives of Bees tells the rest of the story. The biological differences between wild and domesticated bees are enormous, and in the final chapter, Seeley offers beekeepers tips for helping their bees live more like they do in the wild. Horses This book is a surprise and one heck of a good read. The Horse: A Natural History by Debbie Busby and Catrin Rutland (May 19, 2019; Princeton University Press, 224 pages, $29.95) will delight anyone who loves horses. From the opening sentence, where we learn that modern horses descended from four-toed, two-foot-tall North American mammals, to the final 57 pages that describe breeds from all around the world, The Horse covers the fossil record, biology and behavior of an animal with ties to humans that date back thousands of years. It is the horse-human connection I found most fascinating. More than 250 color photos will appeal to readers of all ages. Dragonflies Dragonflies & Damselflies: A Natural History by Dennis Paulson (2019, Princeton University Press, 224 pages, $29.95) addresses the ubiquitous insects classified in the order Odonata and referred to collectively as odonates. They coexisted with and outlasted dinosaurs and are still quite common today. Odonates can be observed at any pond or wetland from mid-spring through mid-fall. Some species are as large as small hummingbirds. Today, more than 6,000 species are classified into 39 families worldwide. Odonates striking colors and fascinating behaviors make them as watchable as the colorful migrating warblers birders enjoy each spring. And because odonates are diurnal, relatively sedentary, very territorial and aggressive predators, observers need just a lawn chair and binoculars to enjoy them. Dragonflies & Damselflies describes the evolution, life cycles, biology, anatomy, behavior and habitats. Though beautifully illustrated with 150 color photos, this is not a field guide. It is, however, a superb introduction to the world of the Odonata. Have you walked your alfalfa fields lately? If not, I suggest you do so soon. Alfalfa is a very hardy plant, but can suffer from, among other things, weather. Many producers are now seeing the results of winter injury to alfalfa because of the harsh 2018-2019 winter. A roller coaster of variations in temperature, rain, sleet, snow, etc. combine to increase the odds that alfalfa plants heave from the soil. Heaving is more common in established alfalfa fields on heavy soils with high moisture content. Dr. Dan Undersander, University of Wisconsin Extension, provides some recommendations in the adjacent list. In the field To assess the damage, you need to go to the field to count stems and dig plant roots. Begin by counting the number of stems per crown. These counts provide an indication of yield potential of the stand. Use the adjacent table from a University of Wisconsin Extension publication A 3620 Alfalfa Stand Assessment: Is this stand good enough to keep? In addition to counting stems, assess crown and root tissue by splitting four to five randomly selected plants per 20-25 acres. Look at the color of the tissue Is it creamy or discolored? Roots that are tan or brown are exhibiting signs of disease. While these plants may green up and appear productive, they may not yield well or survive, especially in a hot, dry year. If more than 30% of the split roots have brown streaks running down the root and/or black areas of root/crown rot that cover 30% to 50% of the root diameter, yield potential is significantly reduced. If this is the case, consider terminating the stand and planting corn for silage. Rory Lewandowski and Dr. Mark Sulc, OSU Extension, provide additional information about assessing alfalfa winter damage in a recent Ohio State University Extension C.O.R.N. newsletter. (https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2019-07/assessing-winter-damage-and-evaluating-alfalfa-stand-health.) There may still be time to make spring forage seedings in northern Ohio. Keys to a successful seeding: Soil pH should be a minimum of 6.0, preferably 6.5 to 6.8; Prepare a firm seedbed; Proper soil fertility levels: See the tables with this column from the Ohio Agronomy Guide, 15th Edition. If weather conditions do not allow you to make an alfalfa seeding this spring, wait until late summer. The costs associated with seeding are high and a successful seeding is more likely under the proper conditions. MANSFIELD, Ohio The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research awarded a matching grant to the Ohio State University at Mansfield to launch a $2 million urban sustainable food system project. The project was developed and is being managed by Associate Professor of Environmental History Kip Curtis at The Ohio State University at Mansfield. The microfarm network will progress over three years, allowing researchers and growers to fine tune the growing, harvesting and marketing processes for the local setting. In the meantime, a parallel interdisciplinary research team will measure the ways in which this embedded local production system impacts a range of local issues from food insecurity, to urban beautification, to food literacy and educational achievement. Working with growers The Mansfield Microfarm Project will provide both training and microfarm kits to approximately a dozen initial producers, and help them farm cooperatively and aggregate their produce for marketability. This pilot effort of microfarms will establish a food system in the city of Mansfield that can collectively generate the volume and quality of specialty crops to compete for commercial markets, said Curtis. It will keep local dollars circulating within the community, rather than exporting them out, while promoting healthier lifestyles by providing residents with access to fresh, local produce right there in the neighborhood. Background The project started in 2016 when Curtis brought his concept to faculty and staff participating in the Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT), an Ohio State Discovery Themes initiative, which then catalyzed a cross-disciplinary conversation to develop the project. Curtis also led a group of six Ohio State Mansfield students in the design and construction of a demonstration urban microfarm on the Ohio State Mansfield Campus, which consisted of two high tunnels, housing raised plant beds, as well as several outside plant beds on a one-third-acre lot. They completed construction in the fall of 2017. When fully implemented, the local production pilot system will represent a scalable fresh produce marketing core for local vegetable producers. Scalability This project has the potential to transform agriculture production while simultaneously fostering local economic development, said FFARs Executive Director Sally Rockey. We are excited to pilot the microfarm model and explore the impact for the Mansfield community. Curtis said the projects impact extends beyond the original microfarmers and one small urban aggregation system. If successful, such models present opportunities for urban growers in other redeveloping cities across Ohio and beyond. Funding The FFAR grant provides one-to-one matching funding to develop and study a pilot community-based sustainable food production and aggregation system in Mansfield, Ohio. The match was made possible in large part through partnerships with the North End Community Improvement Collaborative, Mind and Body Align and Braintree Business Solutions, as well as the support of the Fran and Warren Rupp Donor Advised Fund of the Richland County Foundation. The FFAR funding is also matched in part by donations from the new Sustainability Institute at Ohio State, as well as in-kind support from researchers in Ohio States College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Fisher College of Business, Knowlton School of Architecture, Department of History, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and College of Social Work. This is truly a community effort, Curtis said. Our partners really hit it out of the park with their generous support for the vision. The Ohio State University Mansfield campus is a 640 acre plot of mostly forested land in Richland County, Ohio. COLUMBUS Even with higher rates of poverty in Ohios major cities, urban school districts are outperforming rural districts, a recent study by The Ohio State University (OSU) shows. Rural schools, particularly in Appalachia, tend to have lower average test scores than schools in urban areas, despite city districts having higher poverty rates and a larger proportion of students with limited English proficiency, said Mark Partridge, OSU professor and one of the studys authors. On average, school districts with more minority students and more poverty require additional money to achieve the same academic standards as districts with larger shares of white and affluent student populations, Partridge said. How to reduce inequities has been debated since 1997 when the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that the states method for funding public education was unconstitutional. Districts in major cities and rural areas dont receive the funding they need to bring up the performance of their students to match that of students in other districts, Partridge said. Thats because schools are funded in large part by local property taxes, so the highest-valued homes generate the greatest amount of tax money for a school district. State funding helps offset the differences, but its not enough, Partridge said. The study, co-authored with Bo Feng, an assistant professor at West Virginias Marshall University, and Rodrigo Perez Silva, an assistant professor at the Universidad Mayor in Chile, examined school funding in 2017. It determined that 329,742 students in 34 school districts across the state require additional funds to help them achieve a passing grade. The average funding gap per pupil is $32,251, or $10.6 billion a year for the state. Thats clearly not feasible, Partridge said. Its too much money given all of the states other needs. The Ohio legislature is considering a proposal presented in March by Reps. Bob Cupp, R-Lima, and John Patterson, D-Jefferson, that would increase overall state funding by $700 million over two years. While nearly half of U.S. states have reduced per-pupil spending in the last eight years, Ohio increased its spending by 5.8% between 2008 and 2016, the study shows. Ohios per-pupil spending is close to the national average. In 2016, the state spent $13,552 per pupil annually $6,000 less than New York, the highest-spending state, and $6,000 more than Utah and Idaho, the lowest-spending states. Still, additional aid for Ohios poorest school districts will not only likely improve school performance but also help spur the growth of businesses in those areas of the state, Partridge said. For rural areas especially, a strong public school system can increase the likelihood that people move to the area, he said. 2018 to 2019 saw unsustainable levels of bovine TB compensation paid to farmers, the Welsh government has said. Around 14.5m in compensation was paid to Welsh farmers in 2018-2019, new figures show. During 2017-2018, government paid out 11.7m. Minister for Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths updated the National Assembly on the Bovine TB Eradication Programme, which was launched 18 months ago. She said the Welsh government is proposing a review of the current TB compensation regime, aimed at promoting 'good farming practice while discouraging bad practice'. Farmers have criticised the Minister's use of the word 'unsustainable'. NFU Cymru said the word is 'galling' for farmers to hear, and highlighted concerns at any proposed review in the compensation regime. Instead, the union blamed the Welsh governments 'failure' to implement a 'holistic policy' that effectively eradicates the disease. Rise in cattle slaughtered Figures also show a rise of 12 percent in animals slaughtered, an increase amounting to 11,233 cattle. Meanwhile, there was a 5 percent decrease in new incidents of bovine TB in previously unaffected herds, amounting to 746. NFU Cymru said the increase in the number of cattle slaughtered is 'worrying', and is an indicator that the current strategy is not having a 'sufficient impact on this serious problem'. NFU Cymru Deputy President Aled Jones, who went to Cardiff to hear the Minister deliver her statement, said: While Welsh government can point towards relative success in the Low TB Area in North West Wales, this is of no consolation whatsoever to those based in the hotspots, both in High and some Intermediate areas, where bovine TB continues to cause untold stress and concern. We cannot forget that the facts and figures on spreadsheets and data dashboards do not truly reflect the level of suffering being experienced by farming families in many parts of Wales. The Ministers statement alludes to the fact that we all need to work together to eradicate TB in Wales and while NFU Cymru agrees with this statement, the reality is that the approach to tackling bovine TB in Wales is not a true partnership approach. He added: Farmers are the ones bearing the financial costs through additional cattle controls and restrictions while the reservoir of disease in wildlife remains relatively untouched. The refreshed approach was supposed to address this issue but sadly it does not. Look at England's model Mr Jones said Wales should look over the border to England to see how an 'effective, collaborative approach' can be put in place to tackle bovine TB. Defra has worked with the farming industry as part of the strategy in England, giving the NFU and farmers time to prepare and submit licence applications. Preliminary figures suggest this is leading to a reduction of the disease in a number of those cull areas. NFU Cymru has urged the Welsh government to look at the effectiveness of the model adopted in England. Dairy cows are as up for a bit of self-grooming as the most dedicated Instagrammer, according to farmers interviewed for research into positive animal welfare. Researchers have combined a review of scientific findings on what contributes to positive welfare in dairy cows, and interviews with farmers about their views. Cows readily use automatic brushes, suggesting they find self-grooming pleasurable, with one farmer saying: I think it is the best bit of fun cows have. I just can't see it getting any better than that. Giving animals choices is also likely to enhance welfare and can be provided by practices such as robotic milking, where cows choose when to come inside or go out, according to Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) researchers. Other practices which promote wellbeing in dairy cattle include maintaining social groups so cows arent mixed with unfamiliar animals something that has been found to lead to increased aggression and negative effects on feed intake and milk yield and also positive human-animal interactions. The research briefing, published by Alistair Lawrence, Marie Haskell and Belinda Vigors, is based on interviews with 13 dairy farmers using different systems, combined with a review of the scientific literature on positive animal welfare. One idea about positive animal welfare is that it is more than prevention of the unpleasant, for example pain or fear, and involves thinking about how to allow animals to have positive experiences on a regular, perhaps daily, basis, the researchers write. The good news is that there are practices already in use by dairy farmers which evidence would suggest promote positive welfare in cows. In a separate paper looking at sheep, researchers reported similar findings with the management practices of farmers such as recognising the importance of play, positive social interactions and the bond between ewes and lambs found to be in keeping with the scientific understanding of positive welfare. Temperature fluctuations are creating a different nematodirus challenge to previous years, new analysis shows. With disease risk levels rising sharply in the last seven to 10 days, many areas of the UK now at high or very high risk levels for lambs that are six weeks old. In the cooler regions of the UK temperatures have yet to reach the threshold, and farmers in these areas have been told to be wary. This is according to the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS). Their Nematodirus Forecast is updated daily using data from 140 weather stations, tracking changes in risk throughout the spring and early summer. Lesley Stubbings of SCOPS says: This year has been very different. The warm spell in February put early-born lambs at risk and many farmers had to treat earlier than normal. And then, as predicted, we also saw risk levels rise again after the cold start to April. Following the free online forecast has provided a valuable guide for sheep farmers and we have had some positive feedback from users. Kerry Sykes-Marsden, a shepherd with for 900 ewes in Lincolnshire, agrees: Based on the advice on the website weve treated lambs earlier this year and this has avoided the wait and see approach when we havent acted in the past to see clinical signs. Some years we have just gone in and wormed at six weeks of age, which could be too early or, even worse, too late. A new feature on the website this year is a table that shows when each location on the map has changed colour. Nematodirus infestation causes profuse diarrhoea during the late spring and early summer months and lambs deaths may reach 5 per cent, lambs that survive suffer a marked check in growth rate. Scottish farmers have called for increased funding to help stop the continued decline in cattle numbers. Cattle numbers in Scotland continue to fall according to the latest figures in the Scottish Agricultural Survey released by the Scottish government. In December 2018, there were 1.66 million cattle in Scotland, which is 5 percent lower than the ten-year average and a drop of 2 percent on 1.69 million from the previous year. The number of cattle has fallen in both the beef and dairy sectors over the past year. Beef fell by 1 per cent and dairy by 2 per cent. There was also a 3 per cent drop in the number of calves. Responding to this, the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) says there is a need for 'real money' to be invested by government to revive cattle numbers to past levels. SAMW president, Andy McGowan, said the sector has been on a downward production spiral for the last 10 years. He said farmers 'cannot and must not allow that to merely kick over into 2020 and beyond.' It comes amid a 15 percent growth recorded last year in the countrys pig breeding herd. Speaking during the associations annual conference, Mr McGowan said: We desperately need a similar degree of imagination and commitment from government and industry in relation to cattle and sheep production volumes. Weve had initiatives in the past which have looked promising at the time, such as the Calf Support and Beef Efficiency Schemes, but the reality is that these schemes have proved to be ineffective in reversing Scotlands falling stock numbers. I dont think we should be ashamed as farmers and processors of asking for a big investment from government to realise our undoubted potential. Investments made now will pay dividends in the years to come. He added: A lot is made of the 30 billion industry turnover value set by Scotland Food & Drink as the nations target for 2030, but thats not going to happen without a fair amount of government and commercial investment along the way. We need our share of that investment if Scotlands red meat industry is to play a full part in helping to deliver this lofty ambition, Mr McGowan said. You are here: World Flash 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. Work on developing a UK framework for agriculture is 'essential' despite the collapse of the governments Brexit policy, the new farming minister was told. Newly-appointed Defra minister Robert Goodwill met with farmers in Wales and heard how bespoke policies suited to each nation of the UK are needed, whilst constraining policies that might disrupt the UK home market. The Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) fears that an unprecedented legislative void will be created post-Brexit which could allow significant policy divergence between the UK's four nations. President Glyn Roberts said: This is likely to result in market distortion and unfair competition, causing significant disruption to the functioning of the UKs internal markets and supply chains. We emphasised the need for agreed frameworks to prevent this and to secure and protect long term funding for agriculture, whilst respecting devolved powers and the need for flexibility which allows national governments to make decisions appropriate for their regions. Being free from the clutches of the CAP should not mean that each country is free to do as it wishes irrespective of the impact on other UK nations, he said. The FUW, established more than sixty years ago to advance the interests of Welsh farmers, remains committed to devolution and the advantages brought to Wales and other nations over the past two decades. Such changes do not negate the need for all our nations to work together to develop approaches which are mutually beneficial and protect not only our farmers and internal markets, but also our status and reputation across Europe and the World, Mr Roberts said. The union also identified its #FairFarmFunding campaign for Wales to receive a financial settlement for agriculture that is akin to the CAP allocation and is not Barnetised. We welcome the UK Governments indication that this is their intention, but we need to know that any funds allocated to agriculture remain ring-fenced - something that former First Minister Carwyn Jones also emphasised, the FUW President added. WARNING - THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES A young farmer from Somerset has used social media to highlight the damage loose dogs can do when worrying sheep. Two out-of-control dogs killed 7 sheep during a livestock worrying incident on farmland just off the A370 in Hewish, near Bridgwater on Saturday April 27. 25-year-old Harriett Tibbs, from Wick St Lawrence, who runs Little Orchard Beltex with her partner, posted images of the aftermath online to highlight the damage that loose dogs can cause. She said: The worst thing is that the owner of the dog that caused this much destruction probably thought nothing of their dog coming home covered in blood. (Photo: Harriett Tibbs/Facebook) I hope you see this and realise how much pain, suffering and upset your 4 legged friend has caused. 7 dead so far but sure to be more from the injuries sustained. Dozens of people reacted to Ms Tibbs' status, saying the incident was 'devastating', 'heartbreaking' and 'horrific'. (Photo: Harriett Tibbs/Facebook) New figures show that livestock worth 1.2 million were savaged by out-of-control dogs in the UK last year as the industry steps up its call for tighter controls on pets in the countryside. It follows a farmer who spray painted a message on his dead sheep following a suspected dog attack which killed them. Matt Baker, who farms in Devon, painted the dead sheep with the message 'no dogs thanks' following a suspected livestock worrying incident during the Christmas period last year. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. 2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning -- 4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS. We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover. We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come. For release at 3:30 p.m. EDT The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the execution of the enforcement action listed below: Consent Order of Prohibition against Christopher O'Connell, former employee of Centennial Bank, Lubbock, Texas, for misappropriation of bank funds. Other enforcement actions can be searched for here. For media inquiries, call 202-452-2955. Flash 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. The embassy said in a statement that the four Chinese scientists were from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the First Institute of Oceanography 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, five were wounded 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. Sidyma, was a town of ancient Lycia, at what is now the small village of Dudurga Asar in Mugla Province, Turkey. It lies on the southern slope of Mount Cragus, to the north-west of the mouth of the River Xanthos. Sidyma, for those who have not yet had the opportunity of visiting, is a tiny village situated over an unexcavated archeological site. It is a unique and timeless testimony to Turkish village life. Locals campaign against plans for a marble quarry The village is under threat from a proposed marble quarry at the base of the Byzantine fort hill ( Asar castle) at the border of the villages of Sidyma and Bogazici. Byzantine fort hill ( Asar castle) at Sidyma Locals are campaigning against the proposal, to finalise the permit to extract the marble and Canadian, Brea Pelletier, who made her home in Sidyma, and the villagers have moved swiftly into action and there is a court case underway to stop the quarry and destruction of the environment. Brea Pelletier in Sidyma In the meantime, it was discovered from the map below that there are plans for three quarries in the area. The court action currently underway relates to the quarry highlighted in blue. A second court action is needed to stop the second quarry (highlighted in red). The third quarry, highlighted in yellow, is not yet registered so no action can be taken at this time. Impact on the environment The quarries would have a devastating impact on the local environment. Thousands of pine trees would be cut down, putting an end to local pine honey. Byzantine and Roman walls would come crumbling down and ancient roads bulldozed. The villagers and their ancient, gnarled olive trees would be choked with marble dust. Several kilometers of the Lycian Way, recognized as one of the ten best trekking routes in the world, would have to be diverted. Whats happened so far? Brea and the group are working with lawyer, Bora Sarca and they are waiting for an archeological team to visit and assess the site, although an article dated September 28, 2018, written by an archeologist states permission has been granted and that an Environmental Impact Assessment (CED) is not required. Kate Clow from Culture Routes Turkey is also consulting with the group and is encouraging them to submit a local sustainability project to the Tourism department in order to make them fully aware of the situation. A message from Brea I am a Canadian woman who made her home in Sidyma and I am asking for your help. We need to send a clear message to people in power that obliterating centuries of ancient treasures is unacceptable. This serene natural setting, a tapestry of Lycian, Hellenistic and Roman civilizations combined, deserves our immediate protection for generations to come. A petition has been set up on change.org which has so far been signed by over 1200 people. If you are a lover of history or the environment and rural life please show your support for this special place by signing the petition. To read more about Sidyma, please click on the link below to read the article written by Slow Travel Guide SIDYMA, TURKEY: WHERE COWS POSE NEXT TO LYCIAN SARCOPHAGI Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category I Love All The Memes On Me, Says Ananya Panday ''I love all the memes and trolls that are coming on my way. I think since Koffee With Karan, my expression became the subject of memes and I love sharing it with my friends. I put it on my social media stories. It is really funny... honestly," she said to India Today. I Learnt How To Laugh At Trolls From My Father "I am so familiar with the whole thing (memes and trolls) that I saw how my father can laugh at himself. I have learnt it too. I think because he took it such a positive way, now that I get trolled or something, I take it positively. It doesn't affect me." Trolls Affected Me At The Beginning But Now I Enjot It "Initially, trolling did affect me but now I know that it is a part and parcel of our job and especially with a film like Student Of The Year 2, where we are trying to create a world that is larger than life. I think even when the first Student Of The Year came, there was criticism that the film faced. But now we all take it in good spirit." Student Of The Year 2 Grand Release Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria starrer Student of The Year 2 is all set to hit the theatres on May 10, 2019. The movie is directed by Punit Malhotra and co-produced by Karan Johar under his home banner Dharma Productions. After Janhvi Kapoor, another star kid from the Kapoor family is getting ready to build a career in Bollywood. Sanjay Kapoor, father of Shanaya Kapoor, recently revealed to Pinkvilla that his daughter is already working as an assistant director on Janhvi's next film. Sanjay told in the interview, "It's true that Shanaya is now in Lucknow and working as an assistant on Janhvi's film. It was a joint decision.'' He further added, ''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 didn't want to be abroad for a three-year course. Instead, she chose something personal like this. Obviously, I'm always there to guide her. Nothing in life is better than experience." When asked, if Karan Johar will launch Shanaya in the industry, Sanjay said, "There's no truth to that. She's just assisting on his production venture. She has not taken a call on anything yet. Yes, she's 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.'' Sanjay went on to add, ''For me, I believe my kids need to also know that this is an extremely professional space and it isn't a cakewalk. Today, she is in Lucknow where it's 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 won't be easy. It's 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, it's a lot of hard work." Most Read: Mahesh Bhatt Calls Kangana Ranaut 'Bacchi'; Refuses To Comment On Her Sister Rangoli Insulting Alia! Senior Kannada actor and director Sihi Kahi Chandru's daughter Hitha Chandrashekar is all set to enter a new phase of life. A while ago, reports started circulating that she and beau Kiran were planning on getting married. And now, they have confirmed the news by getting engaged. The couple got engaged in Bangalore today in the presence of family and close friends. Kiran and Hitha dated secretly for a while before making their relationship official. You ought to have a look their adorable pictures below. Kiran made his Sandalwood debut with the film Hage Summane and gained instant popularity. Later, he and Hitha appeared together in Onthara Bannagalu. Reportedly, they fell in love on the sets of their film. However, they maintained a lot of privacy surrounding their relationship until Kannada actress Sonu Gowda revealed their tryst on social media. Pailwaan Release Date Announced! Here's When Sudeep's Next Film Will Hit Theatres Now that they are engaged, fans can expect to hear wedding bells soon. But, neither Hitha or Kiran have announced their wedding date. Even the families are yet to make the final announcement. On the professional front, Hitha Chandrashekar was last seen in the latest Kannada release Premiere Padmini, in which she plays the female lead. Erica Wanted To Accompany Parth To Pune! The Kasautii actors are free for a couple of days now and there were reports that Parth was travelling to be with his family to spend some time with his mom in Pune. It was also said that Erica wanted to accompany him, but Parth refused to take her along saying he preferred to go alone! Erica Slams Media When Erica was asked about the same, she told Pinkvilla, "With all due respect Parth and I share a beautiful bond of friendship and we are always there for each other when required. He knows that best so I don't have to clarify anything to anyone." The Actress Says "I completely understand that online media run stories on the basis of either directly speaking to the artist, which in this case, they didn't before putting this out or they get to know stuff by their sources, so I don't blame them." Erica Asks Media To Stop Dragging Parth In Baseless Nonsense! "But honestly, I pity their sources and their little delusional birdies that give them such information, have a heart for god's sake. Parth is going through a tough time so please stop dragging him in baseless nonsense like this." Ami Trivedi Refutes Reports Of Being Approached Ami had told to TOI, "No, I have not been approached, but my friends have been telling me that I should take up the role and would suit the character. I can't comment on your question till the time I am approached the show. Once the makers offer me the role, I will be in a better position to talk." The Producer Takes A U-turn Hinting Disha Might Return! However, now it seems like the producer Asit has taken a U-turn. As per TOI report, the producer said in an interview to a news channel that he is open to all kind of possibilities. He also hinted that Disha might return. Popular Actors Approached For Dayabens Character He also didn't deny that they are talks with other popular actors to play the role of Dayaben. He added he knows that people are waiting for Dayaben's character to return to the small screen. Is Dishas Husband Mayur Still Interfering? It has to be recalled that there were also reports of Disha's husband Mayur was the reason for the delay in the actress' return. It was said that Mayur's interaction with the production house on his wife's behalf has created differences between Asit and the actress! AVITA Medical (ASX: AVH, OTCQX: AVMXY), a global regenerative medicine company, announced that management will present at the RBC Capital Markets 2019 Healthcare Conference in New York. The presentation is being made on 21 May 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. EDT at the InterContinental New York Barclay hotel. A copy of the slide presentation will be posted to the ASX website (https://www.asx.com.au) and to the Company's website (http://avitamedical.com). ABOUT AVITA MEDICAL LIMITED AVITA Medical is a regenerative medicine company with a technology platform positioned to address unmet medical needs in burns, chronic wounds, and aesthetics indications. AVITA Medical's patented and proprietary collection and application technology provides innovative treatment solutions derived from the regenerative properties of a patient's own skin. The medical devices work by preparing a REGENERATIVE EPIDERMAL SUSPENSION (RES), an autologous suspension comprised of the patient's skin cells necessary to regenerate natural healthy epidermis. This autologous suspension is then sprayed onto the areas of the patient requiring treatment. AVITA Medical's first U.S. product, the RECELL System, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2018. The RECELL System is indicated for use in the treatment of acute thermal burns in patients 18 years and older. The RECELL System is used to prepare Spray-On Skin Cells using a small amount of a patient's own skin, providing a new way to treat severe burns, while significantly reducing the amount of donor skin required. The RECELL System is designed to be used at the point of care alone or in combination with autografts depending on the depth of the burn injury. Compelling data from randomized, controlled clinical trials conducted at major U.S. burn centers and real-world use globally, reinforce that the RECELL System is a significant advancement over the current standard of care for burn patients and offers benefits in clinical outcomes and cost savings. Healthcare professionals should read the INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE RECELL Autologous Cell Harvesting Device (https://recellsystem.com/) for a full description of indications for use and important safety information including contraindications, warnings and precautions. In international markets our products are marketed under the RECELL System brand to promote skin healing in a wide range of applications including burns, acute wounds, scars and vitiligo. The RECELL System is TGA-registered in Australia and CFDA-cleared in China. To learn more, visit www.avitamedical.com. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This letter includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "intend," "could," "may," "will," "believe," "estimate," "look forward," "forecast," "goal," "target," "project," "continue," "outlook," "guidance," "future," other words of similar meaning and the use of future dates. Forward-looking statements in this letter include, but are not limited to, statements concerning, among other things, our ongoing clinical trials and product development activities, regulatory approval of our products, the potential for future growth in our business, and our ability to achieve our key strategic, operational and financial goal. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Each forward-looking statement contained in this letter is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statement. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, among others, the timing of regulatory approvals of our products; physician acceptance, endorsement, and use of our products; failure to achieve the anticipated benefits from approval of our products; the effect of regulatory actions; product liability claims; risks associated with international operations and expansion; and other business effects, including the effects of industry, economic or political conditions outside of the company's control. Investors should not place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this letter. Investors are encouraged to read our publicly available filings for a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this letter speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501006097/en/ Contacts: U.S. Media: Sam Brown, Inc. Christy Curran Phone: +1-615-414-8668 christycurran@sambrown.com O.U.S. Media: Monsoon Communications Sarah Kemter Phone: +61 (0)3 9620 3333 Mobile: +61 (0)407 162 530 sarahk@monsoon.com.au Investors: Westwicke Partners Caroline Corner Phone: +1-415-202-5678 caroline.corner@westwicke.com AVITA Medical Ltd Dale A. Sander Chief Financial Officer Phone: +1-661-367-9178 dsander@avitamedical.com Media Release Basel, May 02, 2019 Dufry consolidates the partnership with Holland America Line operating on all ships of the cruise line Dufry consolidates the partnership with Holland America Line, one of the leading cruise operators, by signing an additional contract to operate duty-free shops on board of 6 new ships. The new agreement represents an important milestone as Dufry will from now on operate duty-free shops on board the entire fleet, which covers all major touristic routes in the world. Following the contract signed in 2018, Dufry and Holland America Line further strengthened its partnership with a new agreement to operate duty-free shops on board of 6 new ships for 5 years, adding more than 1,500 m2 of retail space. Dufry will now be present on all 15 ships of Holland America's fleet with more than 3,500 m2 of retail space, including the Nieuw Statendam, their most recent ship launched last December. The shops will offer a comprehensive duty-free assortment including the traditional product categories, such as perfumes & cosmetics, spirits, watches, accessories and confectionary from leading and famous brands across the world. In order to further enhance the travel experience, the retail offer will also include Holland America Line logo merchandise and local and cruise ship-branded souvenirs creating a sense of place for passengers. Holland America Line offers more than 500 sailings a year visiting all seven continents, including popular and less-travelled cruise destinations across the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Mexico, South America, the Panama Canal, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Antarctica. This achievement reinforces Dufry Cruise Services' position as one of the most dynamic and strongest players in the cruise line channel, which holds potential growth opportunities. According to the Cruise Lines International Association, the industry is expected to grow +6% in 2019, with an estimated 30 million travellers. Rene Riedi, Divisional Chief Executive Officer Central and South America for Dufry, commented: "We are very pleased with this additional agreement signed, which consolidates our successful partnership with Holland America Line. It represents an important milestone in our strategy to grow in the travel retail cruise market, a promising channel in terms of passenger growth and retail opportunities. We would like to thank Holland America Line for the partnership and for the trust in us to deliver a world class experience to travellers." Kelli Coleman, Onboard Revenue Vice President at Holland America Group, added: "We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Dufry Cruise Services by adding 6 vessels, including our new ship Nieuw Statendam." For further information please contact: Renzo Radice Rafael Duarte Corporate Communications & Investor Relations Global Investor Relations Phone: +41 61 266 44 19 Phone: +41 61 266 45 77 renzo.radice@dufry.com rafael.duarte@dufry.com Sara Lizi Karen Sharpes Investor Relations Americas & Communications Div. 4 Global Media & Events Phone: +55 21 2157 9901 Phone: +44 0 208 624 4326 sara.lizi@br.dufry.com karen.sharpes@dufry.com Dufry Group - A leading global travel retailer Dufry AG (SIX: DUFN) is a leading global travel retailer operating over 2,300 duty-free and duty-paid shops in airports, cruise lines, seaports, railway stations and downtown tourist areas. Dufry employs over 30,000 people. The Company, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, operates in 65 countries in all six continents. Social Responsibility Dufry cares for children and supports social projects from SOS Kinderdorf in Brazil, Cambodia, Mexico, Morocco and Ivory Coast. SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-political and non-demonstrational organization established for orphaned and destitute children all over the world. AroCell AB (publ) announce today that a distribution agreement has been signed with the Mumbai based company Inveniolife Technology Pvt. Ltd. for the promotion and distribution of the AroCell TK 210 ELISA in India. AroCell's TK 210 ELISA measures concentration levels of thymidine kinase 1 (TK 1) in blood samples and provides valuable information about cell proliferation and disruption in patients with cancer tumors. TK 210 ELISA may also support clinicians to optimize treatment and estimate the risk of recurrence. "We are looking forward to this new collaboration with Inveniolife for the distribution and promotion of AroCell TK 210 ELISA in India", says Michael Brobjer, AroCell's CEO. "This is in line with our strategy to reach all major markets with our product by collaboration with top line distributors. Inventiolife is a well established distributor for the drug discovery, pharma and clinical market in India and has a strong sales team covering academic institutions, CROs and drug discovery companies throughout India." This agreement supports AroCell's commercialization strategy to make AroCell TK 210 ELISA widely available and to facilitate the use of the product in clinical research, routine clinical laboratories as well as for drug development within the pharmaceutical industry. For more information: Michael Brobjer, CEO Telephone: +46 AroCell is obliged to make public this information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. This information was submitted for publication through the agency of Michael Brobjer, May 2, 2019 at 08:00. About AroCell AroCell AB, +46 (0)8 121 576 90. For more information; www.arocell.com Attachment Regulatory News: Tikehau Capital (Paris:TKO), the alternative asset management and investment group, continues its active growth momentum in Asia across its Singapore, Seoul and newly-opened Tokyo offices. In Singapore, with two regulated asset management companies and a team of 16 people, Tikehau Capital is pursuing its development in the city-state by partnering with City Developments Limited (CDL), a leading Singapore-listed real estate operating company, in IREIT Global Group Pte. Ltd., the manager of IREIT Global. IREIT Global is a Europe-focused real estate investment trust listed in Singapore in which Tikehau Capital invested in November of 2016. CDL is a leading Singapore-listed real estate operating company with a global network spanning 103 locations in 29 countries and regions. Building on its proven track record of over 55 years in real estate development, investment and management in Singapore, CDL has developed its growth platforms in its key international markets of China, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia and is also developing a fund management business. CDL's London-listed subsidiary, Millennium Copthorne Hotels plc is one of the world's largest hotel chains with over 135 hotels worldwide. The entry of CDL as a new shareholder is a new positive step in the expansion of IREIT Global's activities. It will provide the company with additional means for its development while leveraging the know-how and local knowledge of a major player in the Asian real estate sector in addition to the European outreach and expertise of Tikehau Capital. CDL purchased a 50.0% stake in IREIT Global's manager and takes up 12.4% stake in IREIT Global. Upon completion of the transaction, Tikehau Capital's ownership in IREIT Global Group and IREIT Global will be 50.0% and 16.4%, coming from 86.4% and 8.4% previously. This strategic partnership with CDL offers Tikehau Capital a stronger economic foothold in Asia. In Seoul, the opening of a representative office in 2017, has enabled to develop solid relations with several large Korean financial institutions and institutional investors. This led to strengthening the local team to face the development of the office. The opening of an office located in Tokyo aligns with the internationalisation strategy announced in connection with the listing of Tikehau Capital. Tikehau Capital is thus deploying its economic foothold approach to gain greater proximity to Japanese financial institutions who have a growing appetite for European private markets. The office will be led by Sergei Diakov, a senior professional with more than 10 years of experience in Japan. Bruno de Pampelonne, Chairman of Tikehau Investment Management and Head of Asia stated: "Over the last five years, we have established and developed our network of relationships across Asia. This partnership in IREIT Global Group with CDL as a well-established player with an excellent reputation amongst Asian investors, as CDL allied, with the development of our Seoul and Tokyo offices, further strengthens Tikehau Capital's footprint in the region." About Tikehau Capital: Tikehau Capital is an asset management and investment group with 22.0 bn of assets under management and shareholders' equity of 2.3 bn (as at 31 December 2018). The Group invests in various asset classes (private debt, real estate, private equity and liquid strategies), including through its asset management subsidiaries, on behalf of institutional and private investors. Controlled by its managers, alongside leading institutional partners, Tikehau Capital employs more than 430 staff (as at 31 December 2018) in its Paris, London, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, New York, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo offices. Tikehau Capital is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, Compartment A (ISIN code: FR0013230612; Ticker: TKO.FP) www.tikehaucapital.com DISCLAIMER: This document does not constitute an offer to sell securities or investment advice services. This document only contains general information and is not meant to represent general or specific investment advice. Past performances are not a reliable indicator of future results and targets are not guaranteed. Certain declarations and projected data are based on current forecasts, current market conditions and the current economic situation, estimates, projections, and the opinions of Tikehau Capital and or of its affiliated companies. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ substantially from those reflected or envisaged in these forward-looking declarations or in any of the case-studies or forecasts. All references to the advisory activities of Tikehau Capital in the US or with regard to US citizens relate to Tikehau Capital North America. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501006154/en/ Contacts: Press Contacts: Tikehau Capital: Julien Sanson +44 20 3821 1001 Finsbury: Arnaud Salla Charles O'Brien +44 207 251 3801 press@tikehaucapital.com Shareholders and Investors Contact: Louis Igonet +33 1 40 06 11 11 shareholders@tikehaucapital.com The DxA 5000 delivers rapid and consistent turnaround time, provides the industry's most comprehensive pre-analytical sample quality assessment and improves laboratory efficiency BREA, California, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Beckman Coulter, a global leader in clinical diagnostics, announced today that the latest addition to its market-leading automation portfolio, the DxA 5000 total laboratory automation solution has achieved European CE Mark and China Food and Drug Administration approval. In today's healthcare environment, laboratories are highly focused on enhancing patient care by driving faster turnaround time, delivering quality results and improving laboratory operations. The DxA 5000 helps laboratories meet these challenges through a collection of patented innovations that deliver rapid and consistent turnaround time, provide a new level of comprehensive pre-analytical sample quality detection, and reduce the number of manual processing steps to significantly improve laboratory efficiency. Reporting results faster to physicians can positively impact patient outcomes. In the laboratory, specimen centrifugation is typically the most time-consuming pre-analytical activity.1,2 The DxA 5000 sets a new standard by utilizing a universal centrifugation protocol that significantly reduces the pre-analytical processing time by up to 73% for connected analyzers across multiple disciplines.3 Additionally, the DxA 5000 supports laboratories in delivering highly consistent turnaround time to their physicians. Leveraging first-of-its-kind dynamic system software, the DxA 5000 utilizes Intelligent Routing to bring automated patient-centric workflow to the laboratory. By understanding the tests requested, sample volume available and real-time analyzer capacity and status, the DxA 5000 continuously calculates the most expeditious route for every patient sample-both STAT and routine. "The DxA 5000 is a breakthrough solution in total laboratory automation, focused on enhancing the efforts of our laboratory partners to positively impact patient outcomes," said John Blackwood, Beckman Coulter's senior vice president of products and services. "By accelerating and reducing variability in turnaround time, laboratories can more efficiently provide physicians with the critical information they need to best manage patient care in an environment where every minute matters." Unmatched Quality Assessment and Improved Efficiency Research shows errors that occur in the pre-analytical phase of testing may contribute up to 75% of erroneous test results, with 26% possibly having adverse effects on patient care.4 Moreover, a vast majority of the factors causing erroneous results occur outside the laboratory, including inadequate volume, mislabeled samples and incorrect tube type.5,6,7,8 The DxA 5000 is designed with a sharp focus on sample quality assessment, screening each sample at multiple points to help laboratories substantially reduce the risk of errors. In three seconds, the system detects patient tube parameters such as volume, sample identification, tube type, cap color, orders pending and tube weight. The system is also designed to check for sample volume at three separate points: pre-centrifugation, post-centrifugation and prior to sample storage to continually ensure sufficient volume is available for the tests ordered. Together, these quality assessments reduce the potential for release of erroneous results and can help accelerate time to result by quickly alerting the laboratory when a new patient sample is needed. In addition to improving sample quality, laboratories also require workflow solutions that help them manage high volumes of outpatient, outreach and network samples, while processing urgent requests for both patient wards and emergency departments. The DxA 5000 simultaneously manages high volumes of multiple discipline requests, with a large variety of patient sample tubes and sizes, without impact to overall system throughput or STAT turnaround time. By automating sample processing steps, the DxA 5000 supports laboratories in delivering a higher number of results per hour with the same staffing level. "Based on research and work performed with our laboratory partners, sample processing steps are shown to make up approximately 70% of a laboratory's labor hours," continued Blackwood. "The DxA 5000 significantly reduces the number of manual steps in sample processing to as few as one. From sample accessioning and quality assessment to add-on test management and sample disposal, the DxA 5000 enables laboratory professionals to deliver high-quality results and improve efficiency, empowering them to focus their efforts and skills on managing patient sample exceptions." The first in a suite of DxA systems currently in development, the DxA 5000 enhances Beckman Coulter's comprehensive portfolio of scalable solutions and is a key component of its vision to bring workflow automation to laboratories of all sizes. This launch is the culmination of years of customer-inspired design and rigorous reliability testing and strengthens Beckman Coulter's ongoing commitment to providing solutions that deliver accurate results with fast, consistent turnaround time, better detection of pre-analytical errors, and more efficient workflows designed to fit the needs of any-sized laboratory. Beckman Coulter has received purchase orders for more than 20 DxA 5000 systems across multiple countries where regulatory clearance has been achieved. A 510(k) submission for the DxA 5000 is pending clearance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not yet available in the United States. For more information on the DxA 5000, please visit BeckmanCoulter.com/DxA. Beckman Coulter will also be showcasing the DxA 5000 in booth #188 at the EuroMedLab show in Barcelona, Spain, May 19-23, 2019. To find out more about what Beckman Coulter has planned for the conference, visit our EuroMedLab conference page at BeckmanCoulter.com/events. About Beckman Coulter Beckman Coulter is committed to advancing healthcare for every person by applying the power of science, technology, and the passion and creativity of our teams to enhance the diagnostic laboratory's role in improving healthcare outcomes. Our diagnostic systems are used in complex biomedical testing, and are found in hospitals, reference laboratories and physician office settings around the globe. Beckman Coulter offers a unique combination of people, processes and solutions designed to elevate the performance of clinical laboratories and healthcare networks. We do this by accelerating care with a menu that matters, bringing the benefit of automation to all, delivering greater insights through clinical informatics and unlocking hidden value through performance partnership. An operating company of Danaher Corporation since 2011, Beckman Coulter is headquartered in Brea, Calif., and has more than 11,000 global associates working diligently to make the world a healthier place. 1 Estey CA, Felder RA. Clinical evaluation of serial blood processing at point-of-care. Clin Chem 1997;43:360-2 2 Roberts T, Smith M, Roberts B. Observations in centrifugation: application to centrifuge development. Clin Chem 1999;45:1889-97 3 Beckman Coulter Study, "Reducing the turnaround time of the pre-analytical phase by application of a rapid centrifugation profile." S. Frankenberger, et al. 4 Green. Sol. F., Clinical Biochemistry 46 (2013), 1175-1179. 5J Clin Diagn Res, Nov; 7(11): 2491-2493. 2013. 6 LabMedicine, 41, 89-92. (2010). 7Clinical Chemistry 53:7, 1338-1342 (2007). 8DOI 10.1515/cclm-2013-0597. Clin Chem Lab Med 2013; aop. *The DxA 5000 is pending 510(k) clearance by the U.S. FDA. Not yet available for in vitro diagnostic use in the U.S. For Investigational Use Only. The performance characteristics of this product have not been established. 2019 Beckman Coulter. All rights reserved. Beckman Coulter, the stylized logo, and the Beckman Coulter product and service marks mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Beckman Coulter, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880885/DxA_5000.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525815/Beckman_Coulter_Logo.jpg Award recognizes Jacada's unique, hybrid approach to robot and human intelligent automation with its Smart Agent Assistant ATLANTA, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jacada, Inc., provider of Autonomous CX solutions designed to automate customer service operations, and improve the customer experience, announced that it has been selected as the winner in the Automating Customer Support category of the 2019 UK National Innovation Awards for its Smart Agent Assistant (http://bit.ly/2J8elZs) solution for contact centers. This cutting-edge virtual assistant for agents rounds out Jacada's Intelligent Agent Engagement portfolio and strengthens their leadership position in the Customer Service Automation space. The Smart Agent Assistant takes a digital approach to solving a legacy problem that has plagued contact centers for years -- agents struggling to provide exemplary customer service despite having to work with a disparate and complex desktop environment. With over 29 years of contact center IP and implementation experience, Jacada is a pioneer in this new digital approach. Decades of experience culminates with human and robot collaboration combining leading-edge technologies like best in class Attended RPA ( Robotic Process Automation (http://bit.ly/2J8LVhU)) and real time guidance with industry leading AI to deliver a one of a kind virtual assistant for contact center agents. "Bringing cognitive solutions to front line agents represents a long overdue paradigm shift that is changing the way our enterprise clients interact with their customers," explains Scott Merritt, VP Global Head of Automation, "We are truly excited to see the early interest and adoption of this innovation and are honored to be recognized by the Directors' Club for this award." Jon Snow, founder and chairman of Directors' Club added, "Automating customer support to meet customers' 24/7, digital-first expectations and reduce contact centre volumes, has become strategically important for organisations across the business verticals. Jacada's innovation proved a winner with the judges, making them a two-times UK National Innovation Award winner. Many congratulations. I look forward to sharing your innovation via the Winner's Webinar." The Winner's Webinar will be held Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 13:00 GMT, 8:00 AM EST. Register today on the Directors' Club website here (https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2005711917720600588'source=Jacada). The judges for the UK National Innovation Awards were recruited from the Directors' Club membership. Each judge is a customer, operations or digital-centric leader from end-user organizations. 110 Directors' Club members judged the finals, with over 60 members judging each category. About Jacada Jacada's automation expertise and IP within customer operations continues to deliver end-to-end customer service automation solutions to global enterprises helping them move further down an autonomous CX path. From guiding the contact center agents and automating their manual tasks to fully automated self-service solutions, Jacada automates interactions while improving customer experience. Our 29 years of experience in automating customer service processes for global enterprises, together with proven outcome-focused integration capabilities, enable worry-free deployments with lower Total Cost of Ownership. Founded in 1990, Jacada operates globally with offices in Atlanta, USA; London, England; Munich, Germany; and Herzliya, Israel. More information is available at www.Jacada.com. About the UK National Innovation Awards The UK National Innovation Awards (the Nationals) have been designed by the Directors' Club United Kingdom to recognize business technology innovations and their impact on customer experience, employee engagement, operations performance, product creation, and profitable growth. Contact: Dylon Mills Sr. Product Marketing Manager Jacada 770-352-1300 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX-V: XIM, "Ximen" or the "Company") announces that it has entered into three related arm's length agreements to acquire a total of 18,475,014 common shares (the "Target Shares") of 099537 B.C. Ltd., a private B.C. company ("099537"), which has as its principal asset an option to acquire the Kenville Gold Mine, located west of Nelson, B.C. (the "Agreements"). " Ximen Mining is not only excited about the The Kenville Gold Mine acquisition, we are also extremely pleased with the additional new shareholders whom accompany the project, and have decided to join forces with us and share their optimistic enthusiasm and support." says Chris Anderson, Ximen, CEO The Target Shares will add to the Company's contemplated 099537 share acquisition announced in its press release of April 8, 2019. Readers may wish to refer to that previous release for more information about the Kenville Gold Mine. In consideration for the Target Shares, being valued at $659,558 (i.e. $0.0357 per Target Share), the Company proposes to issue 942,226 common shares at a deemed issue price of $0.70 per Company share (the "Consideration Shares"). The acquisition of the Target Shares is subject to TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") acceptance of the Agreements. The Consideration Shares will be subject to a customary 4-month, plus one day, hold period running from the date on which they are issued. The acquisition the Target Shares is expected to complete by May 30, 2019. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Christopher R. Anderson" Christopher R. Anderson, President, CEO and Director 604 488-3900 Investor Relations: Mr. William Sattlegger, 604-488-3900 ir@XimenMiningCorp.com About Ximen Mining Corp. Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100 percent interest in all three of its precious metal projects. Ximen's two gold projects, The Gold Drop Project and Brett Gold Project are located in southern British Columbia. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine. Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XM and WKN with the number as A1W2EG. This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the requirement for TSX Venture Exchange acceptance of the above-described Agreements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction in a timely manner, if at all. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Ximen Mining Corp 888 Dunsmuir Street - Suite 888, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 3K4 Tel: 604-488-3900 SOURCE: Ximen Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543911/Ximen-Advances-Ownership-in-the-Kenville-Gold-Mine--Nelson-BC May 1, 2019 Powered by Philips' HealthSuite digital platform, new General Practitioner telehealth service from Chipmunk Health aims to forge a closer and more effective relationship between patients and their doctors while improving health outcomes Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Royal Philips , with locations in the Netherlands and Canada, is leveraging the capabilities and services of Philips' HealthSuite digital platform to roll out its new GP-to-patient home monitoring solutions. Designed to allow general practitioners to keep a closer check on the health status of their patients, Chipmunk Health's telehealth services offer patients a closer relationship with their GP, without the waiting time and inconvenience of having to visit their GP for routine check-ups. The company will use the open, cloud-based infrastructure and services of Philips' HealthSuite digital platform to connect multiple home monitoring devices, aggregate the acquired data via a dedicated smart hub, and securely transmit, store and analyze it. "Philips' HealthSuite digital platform is a vitally important element in rolling out our new services and scaling them up in a safe and secure way," said Erik Duijsens, founder and CEO of Chipmunk Health. "We are convinced that our consumer-oriented telehealth services will provide more effective and qualitatively better healthcare than we already have, and at lower cost. Patients will be able to access all their health data in one place and doctors will be better equipped to serve their patients' complex needs." "Many Innovative telehealth start-ups have excellent ideas but don't have the resources to develop the secure, privacy-protected data infrastructure needed to unify and connect devices and data, and securely transmit, store and analyze patient data," said Dale Wiggins, Philips' Business Leader for the HealthSuite digital platform. "Supporting innovative companies like Chipmunk Health is one of the reasons why we made HealthSuite an open digital platform on which third parties can build their own applications. We are delighted that Chipmunk has joined the growing number of companies that recognize the growth and scale-up potential of our platform." Today's announcement follows similar recent agreements to use Philips' HealthSuite digital platform by eye care provider Alcon , selfcare solutions company Ypsomed , and Internet of Things. In such collaborations, Philips is the provider of the relevant cloud-based healthcare IT infrastructure and not involved in the commercialization of the products and services of these companies. Philips HealthSuite digital platform Philips' HealthSuite digital platform offers companies Cloud-based services and technical tools that meet privacy, security and regulatory requirements that they can use to develop and run a new generation of connected healthcare applications. Unlike other digital platforms, HealthSuite is purpose-built to solve the complex challenges of healthcare, featuring capabilities to connect devices, collect personal and health data, store and share data securely, analyze data, build and deploy AI models, and create solutions on the Cloud. For further information, please contact: Joost Maltha Philips Group Press Office Tel: +31 6 10 55 8116 E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com Ben Zwirs Philips Group Press Office Tel: +31 6 1521 3446 E-mail: ben.zwirs@philips.com About Royal Philips Royal Philips. Attachment Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) -Bluestone Resources Inc. (TSXV: BSR) (OTCQB: BBSRF) ("Bluestone" or the "Company") is pleased to announce high-grade intercepts from an additional five infill drill holes at its Cerro Blanco Gold project. The primary focus of the program is to upgrade Inferred Resources identified during the previous drill program completed in 2018. In addition, this program is also designed to define new resources along known veins in the mine plan that extend outside of the current resource envelope. David Cass, Vice President of Exploration commented, "Our drilling in the North Zone at Cerro Blanco continues to return more high-grade intercepts that further refine our resource model and improve the definition of the epithermal veins by systematic infill drilling from within the underground workings." Two LM-75 diamond drill rigs are currently situated within the Cerro Blanco underground workings and one rig is drilling from surface, targeting key veins in the upper portion of the Cerro Blanco resource. The Cerro Blanco Feasibility Study (see press release January 29th, 2019) highlighted some 357,000 ounces of Inferred Resources (1.4 Mt grading 8.1 g/t Au) that could be potentially converted to Measured and Indicated Resources through infill drilling. Table 1. Significant Intercepts (this Press Release) HOLE ID FROM (m) TO (m) CORE INTERVAL (m) TRUE WIDTH (m) Au g/t Ag g/t Vein ID UGCB19-127 84.7 88.6 3.9 3.9 14.7 31 VN_05 95.3 100.9 5.5 5.4 12.5 29.8 VN_06 including 96.1 96.8 0.7 0.7 57.2 78.3 107.9 109.6 1.8 1.8 29.5 109 VN_07 113.6 114.6 1.0 1.0 5.5 13.1 VN_07 UGCB19-128 50.3 51.3 1.0 1.0 5.7 52.2 VN_01 UGCB19-129 2.4 6.7 4.3 4.1 7.7 16.9 VN_07 8.8 9.8 1.0 1.0 7.9 9.7 - 18.7 23.5 4.8 4.7 6.0 36.2 VN_09, VN_10 27.1 28.4 1.3 1.3 12.6 86.8 VN_11 52.6 55.2 2.6 2.6 5.6 16.3 VN_22 63.3 64.4 1.1 1.1 6.1 17.1 VN_13 66.5 67.5 1.0 1.0 4.5 11.6 VN_14 UGCB19-130 28 29.3 1.2 1.2 8.1 7.3 VN_01 UGCB19-131 2.5 9.0 6.5 6.3 10.5 18.5 VN_03, VN_05 Notes: Intervals in bold are cited in the text of the news release. Only intercepts averaging over 3 g/t Au when diluted to a minimum 3 meters true width are stated. Hole coordinates and azimuth/dip information accompany the plan view attached to this release. All holes cited in this press release were drilled from various platforms located in the North Ramp of the Cerro Blanco underground workings. Holes were drilled at sub-horizonal to positive angles (upwards) and designed to target Inferred Resources within key veins and their extensions within the upper parts of the North Ramp orebody, with all predicted veins successfully intercepted. A plan view showing drill hole locations, sections and core photos can be accessed by clicking HERE. Results for a total of 34 holes have now been released to date as part of the Infill Resource conversion program. Drilling is ongoing and further results will be reported as received. Precious metal mineralization at Cerro Blanco is associated with classic low sulphidation adularia-sericite epithermal quartz veins and vein swarms hosted in altered sequence of volcanoclastic and sedimentary rocks. Higher grades (>20 g/t Au and >60 g/t Ag) are normally associated with visible gold and silver sulphides in ginguro-style colloform-banded veins. Quality Analysis and Quality Control Assay results listed within this release were performed by Inspectorate Laboratories ("Inspectorate"), a division of Bureau Veritas, which are ISO 17025 accredited laboratories. Logging and sampling are undertaken on site at Cerro Blanco by Company personnel under a QA/QC protocol developed by Bluestone. Samples are transported in security-sealed bags to Inspectorate, Guatemala City, Guatemala, for sample preparation. Sample pulps are shipped to Inspectorate Laboratories in Vancouver, BC, Canada or Reno, NV, USA, and assayed using industry-standard assay techniques for gold and silver. Gold and silver were analyzed by a 30-gram charge with atomic absorption and/or gravimetric finish for values exceeding 5 g/t Au and 100 g/t Ag. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material, and replicate samples. Quality control is further assured by Bluestone's QA/QC program, which involves the insertion of blind certified reference materials (standards) and field duplicates into the sample stream to independently assess analytical precision and accuracy of each batch of samples as they are received from the laboratory. A selection of samples is submitted to ALS Chemex Laboratories in Vancouver for check analysis and additional quality control. Qualified Person David Cass, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration, is the designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and verified that the technical information set out above in this news release is accurate and therefore approves this written disclosure of the technical information. About Bluestone Resources Bluestone Resources is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Cerro Blanco Gold and Mita Geothermal projects located in Guatemala. A Feasibility Study on Cerro Blanco returned robust economics with a quick pay back. The average annual production is projected to be 146,000 ounces per year over the first three years of production with all-in sustaining costs of $579/oz (as defined per World Gold Council guidelines, less corporate general and administration costs). The Company trades under the symbol "BSR" on the TSX Venture Exchange and "BBSRF" on the OTCQB. On Behalf of Bluestone Resources Inc. "Darren Klinck" Darren Klinck | President, Chief Executive Officer & Director For further information, please contact: Bluestone Resources Inc. Stephen Williams | VP Corporate Development & Investor Relations Phone: +1 604 646 4534 info@bluestoneresources.ca www.bluestoneresources.ca 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 press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Bluestone Resources Inc. ("Bluestone" or the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, without limitation: the conversion of the inferred mineral resources; increasing the amount of measured mineral and indicated mineral resources; the proposed timeline and benefits of further drilling; the proposed timeline and benefits of the Feasibility Study; statements about the Company's plans for its mineral properties; Bluestone's business strategy, plans and outlook; the future financial or operating performance of Bluestone; capital expenditures, corporate general and administration expenses and exploration and development expenses; expected working capital requirements; the future financial estimates of the Cerro Blanco Project economics, including estimates of capital costs of constructing mine facilities and bringing a mine into production and of sustaining capital costs, estimates of operating costs and total costs, net present value and economic returns; proposed production timelines and rates; funding availability; resource estimates; and future exploration and operating plans are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to Bluestone and often use words such as "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "may" or variations thereof or the negative of any of these terms. All forward-looking statements are made based on the Company's current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by them and information currently available to them. Generally, these assumptions include, among others: the ability of Bluestone to carry on exploration and development activities; the price of gold, silver and other metals; there being no material variations in the current tax and regulatory environment; the exchange rates among the Canadian dollar, Guatemalan quetzal and the United States dollar remaining consistent with current levels; the presence of and continuity of metals at the Cerro Blanco Project at estimated grades; the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices and within estimated delivery times; metals sales prices and exchange rates assumed; appropriate discount rates applied to the cash flows in economic analyses; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the proposed mining operation; the availability of acceptable financing; anticipated mining losses and dilution; success in realizing proposed operations; anticipated timelines for community consultations and the impact of those consultations on the regulatory approval process. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, Bluestone. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: risks relating to variations in the mineral content within the mineral identified as mineral resources from that predicted; risks and uncertainties related to expected production rates, timing and amount of production and total costs of production; risks and uncertainties related to ability to obtain or maintain necessary licenses, permits, or surface rights; risks associated with technical difficulties in connection with mining development activities; risks and uncertainties related to the accuracy of mineral resource estimates and estimates of future production, future cash flow, total costs of production and diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources; risks associated with geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability in Guatemala; risks and uncertainties related to interruptions in production; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; uncertain political and economic environments and relationships with local communities; variations in rates of recovery and extraction; developments in world metals markets; risks related to fluctuations in currency exchange rates; as well as those factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Amended and Restated Annual Information Form. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Bluestone disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although Bluestone believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures The Company has included certain non-International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") measures in this new release. The Company believes that these measures, in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company and to compare it to information reported by other companies. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. All-in sustaining costs The Company believes that all-in sustaining costs ("AISC") more fully defines the total costs associated with producing gold. The Company calculates AISC as the sum of refining costs, third party royalties, site operating costs, sustaining capital costs and closure capital costs all divided by the gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce amount. Other companies may calculate this measure differently as a result of differences in underlying principles and policies applied. Differences may also arise due to a different definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining capital. Total cash costs Total cash costs is a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but has no standard meaning. The Company reports total cash costs on a gold ounce sold basis. The Company believes that, in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, such as revenue, certain investors can use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. Management uses this metric as an important tool to monitor operating cost performance. Total cash costs include (cost of sales such as mining, processing, maintenance and site administration, royalties, selling costs and by-product credits) to arrive at total cash costs per ounce of gold sold. Other companies may calculate this measure differently. AISC and total cash costs reconciliation ASIC and total cash costs are calculated based on the definitions published by the World Gold Council ("WGC") (a market development organization for the gold industry comprised of and funded by 18 gold mining companies from around the world). The WGC is not a regulatory organization. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44478 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Nano One CEO Dan Blondal (TSXV: NNO) (OTC PINK: NNOMF) (FSE: LBMB) is pleased to report that advances in its cathode technologies have led to a growing pipeline of strategic opportunities for solid state and next generation lithium ion batteries. There are now twenty strategic relationships at various stages of development, which represents a ten-fold increase over the last year. "There is a global effort underway to increase the energy density and safety of lithium ion batteries," explained Nano One CEO, Dan Blondal, "and solid-state batteries are one of the more promising solutions. Nano One has developed a number of cathode materials and processes that have caught the attention of the industry, primarily from within the automotive sector. We have many third-party evaluations now underway with the goal of partnering to make solid state batteries a reality." Nano One's cathode material development program includes enhancements that are designed to prevent chemical side reactions, for improved safety and longevity. These enhancements apply to Nano One's NMC and High Voltage Spinel cathode materials. NMC batteries are critical to long range electric vehicles, while High Voltage Spinel has long term strategic value because it enables high energy densities, fast charging, and is free of cobalt and the associated supply chain risk. Mr. Blondal said, "We are collaborating with industry leaders to identify the most promising cathode materials for next generation lithium ion batteries, and we are working to convert these leads into partners, as we did recently with Pulead Technology and Saint-Gobain. Nano One is executing on its plans and is well positioned to capitalize on rising automotive interest in both electrode technology and solid-state lithium ion batteries." Nano One Materials Corp. Dan Blondal, CEO For information with respect to Nano One or the contents of this news release, please contact John Lando (President) at (604) 669-2701 or visit the website at www.nanoone.ca. About Nano One: Nano One Materials Corp ("Nano One" or "the Company") is developing patented technology for the low-cost production of high-performance battery materials used in electric vehicles, energy storage, consumer electronics and next generation batteries. The processing technology addresses fundamental supply chain constraints by enabling wider raw materials specifications for use in lithium ion batteries. The process can be configured for a range of different nanostructured materials and has the flexibility to shift with emerging and future battery market trends and a diverse range of other growth opportunities. The novel three-stage process uses equipment common to industry and Nano One has built a pilot plant to demonstrate high volume production and has preliminary engineering plans in place for full scale production of a range of cathode materials. This pilot plant program is being funded with the assistance and support of the Government of Canada through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and the Automotive Supplier Innovation Program (ASIP) a program of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Nano One also receives financial support from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). Nano One's mission is to establish its patented technology as a leading platform for the global production of a new generation of nanostructured composite materials. For more information, please visit www.nanoone.ca Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the actual receipt of the grant monies, the execution of the Company's plans which are contingent on the receipt of such monies and the commercialization of the Company's technology and patents. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'believe', 'expect', 'anticipate', 'plan', 'intend', 'continue', 'estimate', 'may', 'will', 'should', 'ongoing', or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. 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 the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that is incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44497 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Ely Gold Royalties Inc. (TSXV: ELY) (OTCQB: ELYGF) ("Ely Gold") or the ("Company") is pleased to announce that on April 27, 2019, it closed its previously announced purchase of a 0.75% (three quarters of one percent) gross receipts royalty (the "Isabella Royalty") on the Isabella Pearl Mine ("Isabella Pearl") from a private estate ("the Owner"). Isabella Pearl is located in Mineral County, Nevada and is operated by Gold Resource Corporation ("GORO" NYSE American: GORO). Ely Gold paid the Owner a cash consideration of US$300,000 for the Isabella Royalty. (see Ely Gold press release dated October 21, 2019) Subsequent to the Closing, GORO announced its first gold production at Isabella Pearl (see GORO press release dated April 29, 2019). As defined, the Isabella Royalty is payable on gross receipts and is not subject to any "commercial production" thresholds. Therefore, royalty payments will begin to accrue from this initial production. The first royalty payment to Ely Gold will be subject to the recovery, by GORO, of US$31,250 in advanced royalty payments. Isabella Pearl contains Proven and Probable reserves estimated at 2,934,400 tonnes grading 2.28 grams per tonne, for 214,800 gold ounces. The current mine life is 4.5 years. These Mineral Reserves and production estimates are available in the "Report on the Mineral Resource and Reserve for the Isabella Pearl Project" dated December 31, 2018 http://www.goldresourcecorp.com/NV-reserves.php. Based on the early production start, GORO has stated that it expects production of 29,000 ounces of gold in the first 12 months of commercial production, increasing to 40,000 in year 2 (see GORO press release dated March 26, 2019). In the March 26 release, GORO also reported that a 2019 drill program is planned to define new mineralization to potentially expand the Isabella Pearl open pit. In addition to adding to the Isabella Pearl deposit, GORO is targeting nearby gold discoveries for additional open pit mining to the north west, including the Scarlet and Civit Cat North West targets. Scarlet begins approximately 100 meters north west of Isabella Pearl's current planned pit boundary. Ely Gold holds a 2.5% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on much of the Isabella Pearl expansion property including the Scarlet and Civit Cat North West targets (see figure #1). Trey Wasser, Ely Gold's President & CEO commented, "This first producing royalty marks a significant milestone for Ely Gold Royalties. We must commend GORO for an incredible achievement in constructing Isabella Pearl and reaching production in just 10 months. As Isabella Pearl is fully developed and the other satellite properties are fully explored, our royalty interests could become significant assets for Ely Gold. Our shareholders only need to look at GORO's track record of development and expansion in their Mexico operations to envision the future of their Nevada Mining Unit. With the GORO team again operating at such a high level, we believe that the market will now begin to appreciate the long-term value in our large royalty position in GORO's valuable Nevada assets." Ely Gold's purchase of the Isabella Royalty was the fifth transaction that the Company has completed in concert with GORO's consolidation of its Nevada Mining Unit (see figure #2). These transactions highlight Ely Gold's growth strategy of generating royalties, through property acquisition and consolidation, at or near producing mines throughout Nevada. Since 2016, total Ely Gold property sales to GORO of US$1,500,000 have created the following royalties: 2.5% NSR on certain exploration ground at Isabella Pearl; 2.5% NSR at the County Line Property; 2-3% NSR at the Mina Gold Property; and 2% NSR on certain claims at the Camp Douglas Property. Stephen Kenwood, P. Geo, is a director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Kenwood has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. About Ely Gold Royalties Inc. Ely Gold Royalties Inc. is a Vancouver-based, emerging royalty company with development assets focused in Nevada and Quebec. Its current portfolio includes 33 Deeded Royalties and 20 properties optioned to third parties. Ely Gold's royalty portfolio includes producing royalties, fully-permitted mines and development projects that are at or near producing mines. The Company is actively seeking opportunities to purchase existing third-party royalties for its portfolio and all the Company's Option Properties are expected to produce royalties, if exercised. The royalty and option portfolios are currently generating significant revenue. Ely Gold is well positioned with its current portfolio of over 20 available properties to generate additional operating revenue through option and sale transactions. The Company has a proven track record of maximizing the value of its properties through claim consolidation and advancement using its extensive, proprietary data base. All portfolio properties are sold or optioned on a 100% basis, while the Company retains royalty interests. Management believes that due to the Company's ability to generate third-party royalty transactions, its successful strategy of organically creating royalties, its equity portfolio and its current low valuation, Ely Gold offers shareholders a low-risk leverage to the current price of gold and low-cost access to long-term mineral royalties. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Signed "Trey Wasser" Trey Wasser, President & CEO For further information, please contact: Trey Wasser, President & CEO trey@elygoldinc.com 972-803-3087 Joanne Jobin, Investor Relations Officer jjobin@elygoldinc.com 604-488-1104 Forward-looking Statement Caution This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the Company's acquisition of the Lincoln Hill 1% Royalty relating to Coeur's Lincoln Hill Mine Property, Coeur's stated plans for further near-term exploration and development of the Lincoln Hill Property, and the Company's outlook for the expected performance of its royalty and option portfolios. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the risk of accidents and other risks associated with Coeur's mineral exploration, development and extraction operations, the risk that Coeur will encounter unanticipated geological factors, or the possibility that Coeur may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances, necessary to carry out its stated plans for the Lincoln Hill Property, the risk of unknown title defects that could impair the Company's inability to enforce the Lincoln Hill 1% Royalty, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal disputes or changes in the jurisdictions where the Company carries on its business that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. 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. "Gold Resource Corporation and its affiliates do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION. Figure #1 Isabella Pearl Exploration Property To view an enhanced version of Figure #1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4181/44482_ba1758da149159cf_001full.jpg Figure #2 GORO Nevada Mining Unit Ely Gold Royalty Structure To view an enhanced version of Figure #2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4181/44482_ba1758da149159cf_002full.jpg This press release, as required by applicable Canadian laws, is not for distribution to U.S. newswire services or for dissemination in the United States To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44482 Award-Winning Cannabis Vape Company Launches Strategic Media Partnership with the Cannabis Industry's #1 Communications Firm to Help Build Brand Awareness COSTA MESA, CA and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / Orchid Ventures, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Orchid Essentials ("Orchid", "Orchid Essentials", the "Company") (CSE: ORCD) (OTC: ORVRF) -California-based cannabis brand Orchid Essentials is pleased to announce that it has partnered with industry-leading media and public relations firm MATTIO Communications in an effort to build awareness of the Orchid Essentials brand. Orchid's new partnership with MATTIO Communications positions the company to capitalize on the brand's fast-growing presence in California and Oregon and help to make Orchid Essentials a household name throughout the United States. MATTIO Communications recently completed a seed round of funding and is backed by investors including Phyto Partners, venture capital titan Alan Patricof (founder of Greycroft), and Green Seed Fund. Founded by Rosie Mattio in 2004, MATTIO is based in New York City and serves over 25 marquee cannabis clients, including Headset, Papa & Barkley, LeafLink, Flowhub, Caliva, Green Mile, and Ascend Wellness Holdings. The agency offers a wide spectrum of marketing services, including public relations, social media, SEO, and investor relations, and its new funding will help to expand the firm's range of marketing and advertising services, including a targeted programmatic ad network. About the partnership with MATTIO, Corey Mangold of Orchid comments: "Our partnership with Rosie and her amazing team at MATTIO has us thrilled about the future and further becoming a thought-leader in an industry that is seeing accelerated growth, and more excitingly, medical research and the development of a global marketplace. MATTIO's experience in working in new and innovative industries has and will continue to allow Orchid Essentials to be top of mind, and on the forefront of the cannabis industry as it grows from its infancy." Orchid Ventures also announced that Chief Strategy Officer Eric Vaughan will be taking on the additional role of Chief Operating Officer, replacing Adam Mirkovich. The consolidation of these roles streamlines decision-making and provides the company with the right leadership structure for its next phase of growth. "Eric has proven to be an exceptionally talented operator in addition to a strategic thinker, which makes his promotion an obvious step forward for our company. I am excited to have Eric leading our operations teams and working with the staff to build culture and better processes as we execute our growth strategy," stated Orchid Ventures CEO Corey Mangold. About Orchid Ventures, Inc. Based in Costa Mesa, CA, Orchid Ventures, Inc. launched the Orchid Essentials brand in Oregon and California in August 2017 and has since developed a mass-market brand and loyal consumer following with its premium vape products. Orchid's products lines are currently sold in 400+ dispensaries across Oregon and California and are handcrafted and designed for maximum flavor and overall enjoyment. The company's proven processes and passion for what it does carry through into its products. The end result is an unparalleled experience for new and practiced cannabis users alike. Orchid plans to expand its brand into new markets such as Nevada, New York, Puerto Rico, Canada, and other global markets. With a continued focus on brand and intellectual property development, Orchid will execute strategic acquisitions to solidify an integrated cannabis manufacturing and distribution infrastructure with the goal of becoming a dominant premium cannabis brand in the United States. Orchid's leadership team brings significant branding, product development, manufacturing, and distribution experience with a proven track record of scaling revenues, building value generating partnerships, and creating enterprise value. Learn more at https://orchidessentials.com/ . About MATTIO Communications Mattio Communications is an industry-leading strategic marketing firm. By specializing in the cannabis industry, the boutique-sized agency is able to offer a wide spectrum of marketing services: public relations, SEO, social media, content marketing, event production, influencer marketing, investor relations and programmatic media. The agency's active involvement with its clients drives communication and marketing success. The Green Report ranked Mattio Communications #1 among Cannabis PR firms. Learn more at https://www.mattio.com/ . On Behalf of the Board of Directors Corey Mangold CEO and Director investors@orchidessentials.com Safe Harbor Statement Except for historical information contained herein, statements in this release may be forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Orchid Ventures, Inc. and Orchid Essentials (collectively, the "Company") or its management, identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and probably will, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including those described above and those risks discussed from time to time in the Company's Canadian securities regulatory filings with sedar.com. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include such factors as (i) the development and protection of our brands and other intellectual property, (ii) the need to raise capital to meet business requirements, (iii) significant fluctuations in marketing expenses, (iv) the ability to achieve and expand significant levels of revenues, or recognize net income, from the sale of our products and services, (v) the Company's ability to conduct the business if there are changes in laws, regulations, or government policies related to cannabis, (vi) management's ability to attract and maintain qualified personnel necessary for the development and commercialization of its planned products, and (vii) other information that may be detailed from time to time in the Company's Canadian securities regulatory filings with sedar.com. 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. Contact: Investor Relations investors@orchidessentials.com SOURCE: Orchid Essentials View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543882/Cannabis-Brand-Orchid-Essentials-Partners-with-Industry-Leading-Marketing-Firm-MATTIO-Communications ROCKVILLE, Maryland, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- It is important to know that, automotive radar technology is chiefly deployed to assist drivers make capable decisions during the course of travel and transportation. According to Fact.MR study, the increasing count of road accidents, fatalities and casualties happening around the world, a majority of governments have stressed majorly to the implementation of regulatory initiatives including the adoption of automotive radar. 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Request For Sample Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=23 Concentration on Next-gen Smart Radar Systems Set to Influence Automotive Radar Market With the active push towards smart radar and artificial intelligence (AI), the industry is observing a transformation towards a new group of radar platform. These changes are likely to deliver a major steer to the autonomous driving space. Over the years, LIDAR (Light Imaging Detection and Ranging) and cameras have acquired a significant spot in the automotive mechanism; however, automotive radar tends to stand superior due to its exclusive capability of operating for long-range object detection regardless of extreme climatic conditions or unfavorable road structure. Europe's Drive to Deploy Automotive Radar Receives Global Recognition The EU (European Union) quite recently prompted a regulatory framework directing on road safety which has empowered European roads to become the safest as compared to the global setup. It has been observed, Europe's automotive industry endures to encourage the deployment of automotive radar with increasing efforts to popularize automated driving technology. With all such initiatives being actively handled, it is believed Europe will continue to act as an important regional space for the automotive radar market in the coming years. Following European footsteps, several governments have introduced legislations and regulatory standards for facilitating zero-fatality objective on roads. Browse Full Report on Automotive Radar Market with In-depth TOC- https://www.factmr.com/report/23/automotive-radar-market Competitive Scenario As the report concludes, readers can access in-depth knowledge about the different players operating in the global market for automotive radar. Some of the major names mentioned in the report are Delphi Automotive PLC, Continental AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG, Denso Corporation, Analog Devices, Inc, NXP Semiconductors N.V., Texas Instruments, Inc., Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., Autoliv, Inc and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. The competitive landscape is carefully discoursed and focuses on factors such as company overview, key developments, SWOT analysis, product overview and key financials. Request Methodology of this Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RM&rep_id=23 Popular Automotive Industry Reports from Fact.MR CNG Vehicles Market- Automotive Industry to drive the Global CNG vehicles Market during the forecast period 2018 to 2027, and anticipated to grow at more than 3.2% CAGR. Electric Parking Brake Market- Among the emerging markets, the MEA electric parking brake market is estimated to exhibit a significant CAGR of more than 7.5% over the forecast period, followed by Japan with a CAGR of about 7.0%. Lavatory Service Vehicles Market- In its latest market study, Fact.MR predicts that the lavatory service vehicles market will envisage healthy growth at a 5.0% volume CAGR during the period 2018-2028. According to the study, lavatory service vehicle sales in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan (APEJ) will nearly double during the forecast period. About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us Rohit Bhisey Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/713666/FactMR_Logo.jpg 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. June 4 Webinar Will Examine Key Considerations for Effective Outcomes Experts from Wolters Kluwer's Compliance Program Management (CPM) business and Chartis Research will discuss ways in which financial services firms can tap the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to more effectively manage their regulatory compliance obligations in a webinar, "Leveraging AI for Regulatory Change on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 from 10-11 a.m. EDT. AI's ability to process large amounts of data and contribute to organizations' data management and analysis capabilities is well documented, but financial firms must be cognizant that these technologies by themselves do not guarantee a sound regulatory management program. The webinar will look at what can and cannot be achieved in this space using AI, how human experts are critical to the regulatory change management process, and what this means to financial services firms. "Dealing with regulatory change has long been a huge challenge for financial services firms in identifying constantly evolving laws and regulations with which they must comply wherever they do business, and also prove compliance to regulators," says Chuck Ross, Vice President, Compliance Program Management for Wolters Kluwer. "Increasingly we are incorporating elements of AI technologies into our offerings, such as OneSumX for Regulatory Change Management, to help financial services customers better identify, track and manage their regulatory obligations. However, key to that effort is creating a deliberate, informed process in which both machines and experts are leveraged to meaningfully extract regulatory laws and rules relevant to their businesses." "One can see massive benefits to applying AI in the financial sector, if applied in the right manner," notes Sidhartha Dash, Research Director for Chartis Research. "AI is best thought of as a cog in an analytical machine, rather than the machine itself. Many of the problems that arise in tapping AI to address the growing demands in data management aren't about the analytics themselves, but the question being asked. Sometimes the issue is just too hard or complex for analytics alone, so the framing of the questions posed is vital for effective employment of AI technologies." The webinar will present an overview of the current market for AI applications in financial services, explore Wolters Kluwer's approach through several case studies in helping clients manage regulatory change using AI, and look at the opportunities and longer-term implications of AI in financial services. Mike MacDonagh, Wolters Kluwer Global Content & Strategy Lead, will moderate a panel conversation with: Rajiv Arora, Operations Decision Science Director, Wolters Kluwer SK Karanam, U.S. Market Manager, Wolters Kluwer Sidhartha Dash, Research Director, Chartis Research To register, visit here. Wolters Kluwer's OneSumX for Regulatory Change Management leverages the power of AI to take many complex regulatory changes and organize them to create structured, value-added content that is paired with an easy-to-use software. By the linking of regulatory changes to their respective regulatory rules in a customizable, constantly updated regulatory library, Wolters Kluwer CPM clients receive actionable content. This content enables them to focus their time on supporting business strategy, spending less time scouring websites, synthesizing the changes, and determining applicability of the rules to the business. What's more, this content flows through a single data feed format, which simplifies integration and simplifies reporting. Wolters Kluwer CPM, which is part of the company's Compliance Solutions business, sits within Wolters Kluwer's Governance, Risk Compliance division. Wolters Kluwer CPM offers solutions that enable chief compliance officers at banks, securities, and insurance companies to stay on top of compliance with a myriad of financial and non-financial regulations. About Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk Compliance Governance, Risk Compliance (GRC) is a division of Wolters Kluwer, which provides legal and banking professionals with solutions to ensure compliance with ever-changing regulatory and legal obligations, manage risk, increase efficiency, and produce better business outcomes. GRC offers a portfolio of technology-enabled expert services and solutions focused on legal entity compliance, legal operations management, banking product compliance, and banking regulatory compliance. Wolters Kluwer (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. Wolters Kluwer reported 2018 annual revenues of 4.3 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. About Chartis Research Chartis Research is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global market for risk technology. It is part of Infopro Digital, which owns market-leading brands such as Risk and WatersTechnology. Chartis' goal is to support enterprises as they drive business performance through improved risk management, corporate governance and compliance, and to help clients make informed technology and business decisions by providing in-depth analysis and actionable advice on virtually all aspects of risk technology. For more information, visit www.chartis-research.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005173/en/ Contacts: David Feider Corporate Communications Manager, Banking Regulatory Compliance Governance, Risk Compliance Division Wolters Kluwer Tel: +1 612-852-7966 David.feider@wolterskluwer.com On Twitter: @davidafeider MONTREAL, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LGC Capital Ltd. (TSXV: LG) (OTCQB: LGGCF) ("LGC" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it has now closed the first tranche of its previously announced $10.4 million non-brokered private placement financing with Arlington Capital LP. The Corporation has issued a total of 80,000,000 commons shares at an issue price of $0.10 per share for gross proceeds of $8,000,000. The shares issued to Arlington Capital are subject to a four-month hold period. The second tranche of the private placement is expected to close shortly. LGC is also very pleased to announce that Ferras Zalt has been appointed as the Corporation's Chairman of the Board and will formally assume the role at LGC's upcoming annual meeting of shareholders on May 22, 2019. Mr. Zalt has over 30 years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience. He has had a successful career founding and investing in early stage companies, while supporting them as they achieve success. His leadership style, vision and reputation in the global investment community, has provided significant returns for shareholders achieved significant valuation growth and several fold returns on investment to shareholders in the companies in which he has been involved. Early in Ferras' career, he held positions at the NASA Space Agency, and Compaq Corp in the USA. In 1995, Ferras founded Softech, an IT consultancy business with a focus on the energy sector to capitalise on the need for specialist IT technical services particularly in Oil and Gas sector. Softech grew rapidly and went on to deliver the largest SAP installation in the world at the time for Saudi Aramco. In 2001, Ferras sold the company to Atos Origin achieving several fold returns on invested capital and remained on as CEO to drive the business to further success. In 2005, as a result of a global repositioning strategy, Ferras had the opportunity to lead a management buyout of the company and within two years sold the company to Hewlett Packard, achieving significant returns to investors. In 2010, Ferras led an investment management buyout in Gulf Energy, an Oil and Gas full service company. In three years, he sold the investment achieving healthy returns. In the past five years, Ferras has been developing the Energy from Waste project in the UK. Ferras holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Mathematics. Mr. Zalt commented, "I see tremendous potential within the LGC group and look forward to being very active in the future growth of this company. I feel very confident that our investment in LGC will result in very strong returns for us and its investors. I look forward to working with Mazen Haddad and the entire team at LGC." Mazen Haddad, CEO of LGC stated, "I'm delighted that Ferras has now joined LGC's board of directors Ferras will bring another layer of guidance, financial access and knowledge that I believe ensures LGC's success." For further information please contact: President, John McMullen, +1-416-803-0698, john@lgc-capital.com Chief Financial Officer, Mark Shinners, mark@lgc-capital.com Investor Relations, Dave Burwell, +1-403-221-0915, dave@howardgroupinc.com Caution Regarding Press Releases Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. WINNIPEG, MB / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / Preferred Dental Technologies Inc. ("Company") (CSE: PDTI, US OTC: PDTTF): EAS Custom Dental Abutment System receives positive review from industry legend. Preferred Dental Implant Corp. recently received a very positive review from Dr. Gordon Christensen after he had the opportunity to analyze the merits of the EAS Custom Dental Abutment System, including the future plans we have for the system in the digital sector. This promising review is timely as the EAS System goes to market and continues to evolve and grow. It was Dr. Christensen's early encouragement which motivated the founders to commercialize what had originally been customized handmade pieces offered as a premium lab service for solving individual complex dental implant cases. It was during an in-person presentation with Dr. Christensen as well as presenting the first set of prototypes to him that he gave his initial opinion which was that: "It is a very impressive system and one that appears to have significant market potential." Due to this previous dialogue and with our sales team hitting the streets, we sought out Dr. Christensen's opinion now that the system was finalized for mass production and with digital applications in development. In an email to PDTI, Dr. Christensen said: "It was my pleasure to look over your ingenious prosthodontic system. It is obvious that you have put significant time and effort into its development. It seems to be relatively simple and logical." We also asked Dr. Christensen if our sales representatives could disclose that his office recommended considering the EAS System. He continued: "Yes, you may tell labs that we have had the opportunity to observe the plans for your system, and they should compare it with whatever similar concept they are using." Dr. Gordon J. Christensen is Founder and CEO of Practical Clinical Courses (PCC) and Co-Founder and CEO for Clinicians Report Foundation (CR) and a practicing prosthodontist in Provo, Utah. PCC is an international continuing education organization that provides courses and videos for all dental professionals. CR offers unbiased research on thousands of dental products. Dr. Christensen has presented over 45,000 hours of continuing education throughout the world and has published many articles and books. He is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on dental implants. Throughout the development cycle of the EAS System, management has had the support of industry leaders who have praised its usefulness and simplicity of design. We are pleased to see that someone of Dr. Christensen's caliber continues to see the merit and advantages provided by the EAS System, and these comments will be incorporated into our sales material to support our representatives. About PDTI Preferred Dental Technologies Inc. (PDTI) has been established to advance development and commercialization of various evolutionary and disruptive technologies in the dental implant industry. MISSION - INNOVATIVE & PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR THE DENTAL INDUSTRY Visit: www.prefdent.com On behalf of Preferred Dental Technologies Inc. Erik Siegmund Chief Executive Officer Email: info@prefdent.com Tel: 204.691.3722 www.prefdent.com This news release may contain forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release may include, but is not limited to, the Company's objectives, goals or future plans. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR. 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 The Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulations 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. SOURCE: Preferred Dental Technologies Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543836/Preferred-Dental-Technologies-Inc-Company-CSE-PDTI-US-OTC-PDTTF-EAS-Custom-Dental-Abutment-System-Receives-Positive-Review-from-Industry-Legend Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Miramont Resources Corp. (CSE: MONT) (OTCQB: MRRMF) (FSE: 6MR) ("Miramont" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the Phase II diamond drilling has commenced at its Cerro Hermoso gold-polymetallic project in southern Peru. Phase II is planned for nine diamond drill holes, each averaging approximately 400 m deep. The drill program is designed to follow up on mineralization encountered in the Central Breccia Zone, an outcropping target within the 1.4-km diameter diatreme complex. Dr. Quinton Hennigh, Miramont's Executive Chairman said: "We are very happy to commence Phase II drilling on schedule. The Phase II drill holes are designed to more fully test the extent of gold-polymetallic mineralization within the pipe-like diatreme center, we are anxious to see if our new holes expand upon the already highly significant mineralization encountered by the Phase I drill holes." In a news release dated April 12, 2019, Miramont announced final results from the nine-hole Phase I drill program conducted earlier this year. Hole CH-009, drilled in the north central part of the targeted diatreme complex, encountered several intervals of significant mineralization. This drill hole was highlighted by 249 m of 0.68 gpt Au equivalent, including a high grade sub-interval of 1.95 m of 28.7 gpt Au equivalent. Miramont believes this mineralization remains open to the southeast, east, northeast and at depth. Miramont will provide regular updates on progress during the Phase II drill program. National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Quinton Hennigh, P.Geo., Executive Chairman of Miramont and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Miramont Resources Corp. Miramont is a Canadian based exploration company with a focus on acquiring and developing mineral prospects within world-class belts of South America. Miramont's two key projects are Cerro Hermoso and Lukkacha, both located in southern Peru. Cerro Hermoso is a diatreme hosted gold - polymetallic prospect. Lukkacha is a classic copper-porphyry prospect. On behalf of the Board of Directors, MIRAMONT RESOURCES CORP. "Quinton Hennigh" Quinton Hennigh, Executive Chairman For more information, please contact the Company at: Telephone: (604) 398-4493 Facsimile: (604) 815-0770 info@miramontresources.com www.miramontresources.com Reader Advisory This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44472 LONDON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) is pleased to announce its subsidiary, Fineqia Investments Limited, ("Fineqia Investments") has taken an equity stake in Wave Financial Group, LLC ("Wave"). Based in Los Angeles, Wave undertakes early-stage investment, asset management, treasury management and strategy consulting to enhance the adoption of blockchain technologies worldwide. The investment gives Fineqia a stake in a team with significant knowledge, expertise and a worldwide network. Wave draws on the experience and discipline of early-stage investing of its CEO and founder David Siemer, who previously co-founded Wavemaker Partners ("Wavemaker") that has nearly 15 years of investment and operating history. Wavemaker includes seven funds with Assets Under Management of $300 million and investments in more than 300 companies in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. David also founded Siemer & Associates LLC., a technology focused investment bank, which he sold to CEC Capital in 2016. "We look forward to working with Fineqia to gain access to non-correlated, high-quality debt opportunities and continue growing our partnership as they continue to push the envelope around issuing Digital Asset backed bonds," shared David Siemer, CEO. The transaction follows Fineqia Investments' earlier financings in blockchain insurance company, Black Insurance; blockchain-based asset registration and clearing solution, Nivaura Ltd; and premium finance Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider, PremFina Limited. Additionally, Fineqia has equity holding in Phunware Inc., a fully integrated enterprise cloud platform for mobile that provides products and services for brands worldwide. "Wave's network and knowledge of both start-ups and corporates pursuing blockchain and crypto strategies is a huge asset for Fineqia," said Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO of Fineqia. "It fits in with our core business of placing debt and equity securities including those backed by crypto assets, soon to be tested within the UK regulator's sandbox program." Fineqia's investment in Wave is in line with its strategy to invest in blockchain related companies that support its business model. Fineqia's investment sum represents less than 5% of its market capitalisation. ABOUT FINEQIA INTERNATIONAL INC. Fineqia International Inc. is a listed entity in Canada (CSE: FNQ), the US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia International outlines the Company's corporate governance, culture, processes and relations by which the Company and its subsidiaries are controlled, directed and governed. It oversees and ensures the overall success, planning and growth of the Company and all of its subsidiaries and investments, including those propagating blockchain technologies. For more information visit: https://investors.fineqia.com/news. ABOUT FINEQIA INVESTMENTS LTD Fineqia Investments Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fineqia International set up to hold the Company's growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide. About Wave Financial Group Wave Financial is a leading diversified digital asset management company, offering early-stage investment, treasury management and asset management strategies & indices to further the growth of the digital asset ecosystem. Led by CEO, David Siemer and President & Managing Partner, Benjamin Tsai, the Wave Financial team is pioneering the bridge between traditional asset management within a new paradigm of digital assets. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (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 failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Contact: Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO, Bundeep.Rangar@Fineqia.com, Tel: +1 778 654 2324 Focusing on the London Markets and Leading McLarens' Specialty Divisions McLarens, a leading, global independent insurance services provider, announced today the appointment of David Pigot to the newly created role of Director of London Markets Global Head of Specialty. In this new position, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Gary Brown, Pigot will focus on developing expanded solutions for the London market and driving growth in McLarens' specialty divisions, including aviation, construction and engineering, crisis management, marine, natural resources, and FAJ Specie. Pigot has a strong track record of success, with more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has managed large organisations across Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as completing several international assignments in the US and Latin America. Prior to joining McLarens, Pigot held key leadership positions at international insurance services firms, including executive roles at both Cunningham Lindsey and Marsh. His background includes significant contributions in terms of optimising and building geographically dispersed teams, leveraging technology to enhance client service, and improving business performance. Pigot holds several industry credentials, including Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters, European Loss Adjusting Expert and Chartered Insurance Practitioner. Gary Brown, Chief Executive Officer: "We are delighted to welcome David to McLarens. He not only brings the right combination of industry skills and technical expertise, but he also shares our client-centric approach, which is one of McLarens' fundamental operating principles. As McLarens continues to evolve and expand our global capabilities, David is the ideal choice for this role. We designed it to provide centralised strategic leadership and operational oversight for aspects of our business requiring specific technical expertise and international business acumen. The London Market and our specialty practice areas will benefit from David's considerable loss adjusting experience, including both adjuster and broker roles, as well as his expansive global management experience. As our specialty lines business spans the globe, David's proven leadership capabilities will provide valuable visionary direction to our international team." David Pigot, Director of London Markets Global Head of Specialty: "I am excited to join the McLarens team at such a dynamic time in the firm's history. McLarens is a respected firm and well-known for its commitment to quality and excellence, which align well with my personal and professional values. I look forward to building on the rich tradition of client service and leveraging the company's growth momentum to enhance our service offerings, particularly in the London markets and through the firm's specialty practice areas." NOTES TO EDITORS About McLarens: McLarens is a leading global provider of loss adjusting and risk management services. The company's international footprint, which includes offices and operations strategically located in 39 countries, enables it to provide streamlined consistent service to global customers, while at the same time delivering local expertise and responsive service. Founded in 1931, the company's focus has historically been claims management services for complex, commercial and niche markets, as well as auditing and pre-risk surveying. The company's expert adjusters have an average of over 20 years' claims experience, operating across a range of industries with specialties including: Property, Crisis Management, Natural Resources, Construction Engineering, Natural Resources, Agriculture, Aviation, Casualty, Marine, FAJ Specie, Global TPA Services. To complement our claims services, McLarens began expanding its suite of risk management services in 2019, with the acquisition of American Environmental Group, which offers a range of indoor air quality and environmental consulting services. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005470/en/ Contacts: Linde Miscio Sr. Director, Global Marketing Communications linde.miscio@mclarens.com DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / International Cannabrands Inc. (CSE: JUJU) (the 'Company') is pleased to announce the appointment of Corey Kite as Vice President of Sales (Northern California), Bethany Stiles as Vice President of Sales (Southern California), and Alison Bryce as Chief Operating Officer. Steve Gormley, CEO of the Company commented: 'It is with great pleasure that we make this announcement today. We have assembled an unmatched team of industry leaders, and the appointment of these three individuals to our management team positions us for rapid growth. We look forward to reporting our progress in Q2.' Mr. Corey Kite is a cannabis industry veteran with over 15 years of sales management experience. After beginning his professional career building and running sales teams in the telecom industry, he went on to own and operate six cannabis farms, and has vast knowledge of indoor, greenhouse, and outdoor cultivation. As an established cultivator, Kite has built an unparalleled network throughout Northern California. By combining these unique skillsets, Corey helped establish 10+ large-scale cannabis cultivators, consulting on all aspects of the business from buildout to sales strategy. His industry-specific knowledge and sales background make him uniquely qualified to lead our NorCal sales team. Ms. Bethany Stiles has a decade of sales management experience having successfully launched major brands in California, such as dosist, Foria, and Rebel Coast. She is also founder of Fengari Solutions, a consulting firm, which focuses on sales strategy, brand development, and investor relations for cannabis companies. Ms. Stiles joins International Cannabrands eager to build and expand the Company's sales force. Bethany Stiles commented: 'I've seen firsthand what it takes for brands to be successful within this industry, and I believe that it's the team behind the brand that ensures its success. I am honored to be a part of this team and have the opportunity to work alongside the founders and visionaries who have created these brands, and the powerhouse women and men who can take them to the next level of success. With Steve's leadership as CEO, and his dedication to assembling a diverse team of operators, I believe we have the trajectory to be one of the greatest success stories in cannabis.' Ms. Alison Bryce is a cannabis industry veteran, and has consulted on content strategy, marketing and events with some of the leading cannabis and health and wellness start-ups in California. She most recently served as VP of Client Services at Composite Agency and as a Project Manager at Beboe, a luxury cannabis brand. Previously, she led Northside Media Group's events and content strategy in Brooklyn, New York. Alison also worked as a producer on the National Desk at National Public Radio in Washington, DC. Alison Bryce commented: 'I am so excited to join International Cannabrands and help take this company and the entire cannabis industry to the next level by building high-quality and unique products. This is an amazing opportunity to launch and expand the reach of new brands with deep roots in the origin story of love and freedom. Working with Julian Marley and capturing his unique spirit is a fantastic opportunity.' The Company filed its annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2018, on April 30, 2019. Steve Gormley commented: "We are really just getting started. Having joined the team as CEO in July 2018, we have been setting the ground work for what we believe will be a sensational company. The acquisition of our 51% state in La Vida Verde, Inc. did not close until January 2019, so it is not reflected in our results for the year ended December 31, 2018. We are in the final stages of completing the Audit of LVV. We ask our shareholders for patience as we build our story and roll-out our strategy." About International Cannabrands (ICI) ICI's strategy centers on acquiring micro brands, distribution and specific manufacturing/cultivation companies in the cannabis space. The Company's business model is to generate revenue from cannabis cultivation, brands ranging from flower to edibles and from THC to CBD, oil extraction, ancillary products and apparel in the United States. ICI markets products with THC content where that practice has been legalized at the state level through either medicinal or full recreational use. ICI also markets products containing CBD in the US and internationally. ICI owns 51% of La Vide Verde, Inc. and has the exclusive rights to Julian Marley's JuJu Royal brand. The Company believes as the legal cannabis market evolves, high-quality, unique products will increasingly capture market share and provide a valuable platform for growth. About La Vida Verde, Inc. (LVV) In addition to LVV's wholesale flower, packaged flower, pre-rolls and blunts, its differentiating products include gummies, upscale protein bars, new chocolate forms and super cookies. LVV Brands currently include Skunk Feather Cannabis and Blank Brand. LVV has been operating in California since 2015, and currently has extraction, manufacturing and distribution capability. LVV is a leader in the extraction field, being one of the first to incorporate full spectrum testing in every product, testing for potency, terpenes, pesticides and residual solvents. Its concentrates are pharmaceutical grade and free of any pesticides, microbial contaminants, heavy metals or additives. LVV has recently doubled its manufacturing capability and has installed state-of-the-art technology. LVV believes that the best medicine starts with the food you eat and it takes pride in producing products for people who are search for a natural and healthy alternative for nurturing their bodies. All its products use only healthy fats, are vegan, organic, gluten-free, paleo friendly and low glycemic. About JuJu Royal Julian Marley conveys his message of legalization, freedom, and love through the JuJu Royal brand, a line of naturally produced medicinal herbs. Our vision is to realize the opportunity to become one of the largest brands in the Marijuana industry. The synergy between the Rastafarian culture, music, natural products and an 'Irie' experience is a powerful foundation for our usiness. JuJu's strategy is to develop and grow a complete cannabis line based on an international appeal to a millennial lifestyle seeking a luxurious and premium experience. JuJu will capitalize on the unparalleled opportunity to position itself with unique, innovative, high quality brands that meet and exceed our customer's expectations. More information about the brand and various products can be obtained at www.jujuroyal.net. International Cannabrands Contact: Steve Gormley Chief Executive Officer 1045 Lincoln Street, #106 Denver, Colorado 80203 Ph: (323) 828-4321 or steve.gormley@intlcannabrands.com Media Inquiries: media@jujuroyal.net NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Disclaimer concerning Forward-looking Statements Certain statements included herein constitute 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties regarding the Company are described in its publicly-available disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's expectations as of the date of this news release, or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. SOURCE: International Cannabrands Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543912/International-Cannabrands-Announces-New-Appointments-to-Management-Team-and-Comments-on-Year-End-Results Newport Beach, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on non-addictive pain management, today announced the appointment of Stephen J. McColgan, M.D., MBA, as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. McColgan was one of the first surgeons to perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy, laparoscopic nissen fundoplication, and laparoscopic gastric bypass in the Southern California area. He was Chairman of the Department of Surgery for Bellflower Medical Center for more than 10 years and was a founding member of Endodynamix, Inc., a manufacturer of surgical instruments. "Vivera Pharmaceuticals was founded with the mission to harness the potential of cannabidiol (CBD) via a research-led, pharmaceutical approach," said Olivia Karpinski, Executive Vice President and Co-founder of Vivera. "The addition of Dr. McColgan to the executive team allows us to leverage his expertise and years of medical practice in our efforts to combat the opioid epidemic with CBD-based treatment." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 63,600 overdose deaths in the United States in 2016. In 2017, the number of drug overdose deaths climbed to more than 70,200 Americans, with approximately 68 percent involving an opioid. "Over the course of my 30-year career as a surgeon, I've watched opioids cause total and complete devastation in patients who had originally sought only pain relief," said Dr. McColgan. "What drew me to Vivera was the potential of using CBD to provide a safer, non-addictive alternative for pain management. I'm optimistic about the impact we can have on this national crisis." Dr. McColgan was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Boston University and the Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his general surgery training at the University of California, Irvine, where he served as Chief Resident. In addition, he earned an MBA from the University of California, Irvine. For more information, visit https://viverapharmaceuticals.com. About Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an innovative, science-driven pharmaceutical company focused on opioid deterrence and cessation and non-addictive solutions for pain management. In addition to its pharmaceutical and medical device products, the company has global exclusivity to license the patented and patent-pending TABMELT sublingual drug-delivery system for the pharmaceutical use of cannabinoid compounds. Vivera Pharmaceuticals is seeking to conduct case studies and clinical trials on CBD in the TABMELT drug delivery format with the goal of gaining FDA approval for its products. The company is vertically integrated with patented technology, manufacturing capabilities and distribution for its products. For more information, visit https://viverapharmaceuticals.com. Investor Relations and Canadian Media Inquiries: thinkHERO Patrick Piette, CFA for Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 416-526-9911 investorrelations@viverapharma.com U.S. Media Inquiries: SRPR Brenda Patterson for Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 949-667-1943 press@viverapharma.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44500 Seattle, Washington--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - CFN Media Group ("CFN Media"), the leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the North American cannabis industry, announces the publication of an article covering the exciting and emerging cannabis beverage market. The craft beer industry has experienced unprecedented growth across the United States with more than 7,000 microbreweries generating upwards of $26 billion in annual revenue, according to Statista. While these beers account for just over 10% of beer sales, those figures jump to nearly 60% when looking at the Millennial population. These same trends exist in other craft markets, such as the market for high-end coffees and teas. The legalization of cannabis has the potential to dramatically reshape these markets. In recreational markets, such as craft beers, the infusion of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) could create new experiences for consumers without the adverse side-effects of alcohol consumption. In wellness markets, such as craft teas, the infusion of cannabidiol (CBD) could provide a wide range of potential added benefits to support healthier lifestyles. The cannabis industry is projected to surpass $146.4 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research, driven by the liberalization of cannabis regulations around the world. While most of this growth has come from cannabis flower, there's no doubt that cannabis oils and concentrates are the fastest growing subset of the market. And, cannabis beverages could become the fastest growing subset of that concentrates market in short order. Zenith Global believes that cannabis-infused beverages could become a $1.4 billion market by 2023-up from just $89 million last year. Cannabis infused beers and teas are just the beginning-THC and CBD are being infused into sodas, ciders, wines, spirits and even bottled water with concentrations ranging from 2.5 milligrams to more than 100 milligrams. Many of these products are already on the market in the United States where legal. Growing Interest in the Space Many large beer companies were unprepared for the rise of craft beer, but beverage giants aren't about to make the same mistake with cannabis. While the alcohol industry has already made sizable investments and inroads into the industry, non-alcoholic beverage companies are increasingly taking a look at CBD-infused products as a way to target the rapidly growing functional beverage subset of the market. Coca-Cola Co. was rumored to be in talks to acquire a line of CBD-infused beverages in the recent past. While the company decided to hold off for now, the decision to remove hemp from the Controlled Substances list could open the door once again. Hemp-based CBDs could enjoy more widespread adoption without these onerous regulations and ultimately open the door to more mainstream availability. On the recreational side of the business, Constellation Brands Inc. invested more than $4 billion into Canopy Growth Corp. in exchange for a 38% equity stake with warrants capable of bringing the total to more than 50%. Molson Coors Brewing Co. and Heineken NV also made strategic acquisitions and partnerships in the emerging cannabis space ahead of these trends. Investing in Cannabis Beverages There are many different companies focused on cannabis-infused beverages for both recreational and wellness purposes. Weekend Unlimited Inc. (CSE: POT) (FSE: 0OS1)(OTCQB: WKULF) acquired Verve Beverage Company earlier this year to enter the emerging cannabis-infused beverage space. In addition to Verve Energy, the Company has developed a premium CBD infused energy drink line under the CHAMP brand, which will be targeted to active audiences. In alignment with those audiences CHAMP Energy is the official energy drink of the San Jose Sharks. Verve energy has strong brand awareness with previous widespread distribution across North America that generated $236 million in direct-to-consumer sales. The portfolio's market recognition and positioning could provide a durable competitive advantage in the lucrative functional beverage space. Last year Harvest One Cannabis Inc. (TSXV: HVT) (OTCQX: HRVOF) acquired Dream Water and Dream Water Canada, which has developed a natural, 2.5oz, 0-calorie, liquid sleep shot that's sold online and in over 30,000 North American retail outlets including Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart and Kroger. The company has already begun formulation work on a CBD-infused version of the product that's designed to promote a wide range of potential benefits, such as pain relief and anti-anxiety effects. These products would leverage the same distribution channels that already exist. Please click here to receive an investor deck and corporate updates on Harvest One Cannabis Inc. Ionic Brands Corp. (CSE: IONC) recently entered the cannabis-infused beverage space with two highly sought-after coffee and tea patents. The two patents enable the production of ISO-certified products that are tasteless, 100% water soluble, and capable of hosting THC and CBD compounds. These attributes are ideal for the craft coffee and tea market, which already generate billions in annual sales around the world. Single-serve coffee could be an especially compelling target for companies in the space. What's Next? Cannabis-infused beverages are likely to experience significant growth over the coming years. With many new startups entering the space, there's a significant opportunity for investors to capitalize on these growth rates as many larger companies begin to look more closely at acquisitions and partnership deals in the space. These could become major catalysts for investors over the coming quarters. Please follow the link to read the full article: https://www.cannabisfn.com/move-over-craft-beer-and-coffee-cannabis-beverages-are-the-next-big-thing... About CFN Media For Visitors and Viewers CFN Media's Cannabis Financial Network (CannabisFN.com) is the destination for savvy investors and business people profiting from the worldwide cannabis industry. Viewers will see breaking news, exclusive content and original programming involving the people, companies and investments shaping the industry. For Cannabis Businesses & Companies CFN Media is a leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the cannabis industry. We help private, pre-public and public cannabis companies in the US and Canada attract capital, investors and media attention. Our powerful digital media and distribution platform conveys a company's message and value proposition directly to accredited and retail investors and national media active in the North American cannabis markets. Since 2013, CFN Media has enabled the world's preeminent cannabis companies to thrive in the capital and public markets. Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/featuredcompany 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/ Contact CFN Media Frank Lane 206-369-7050 flane@cannabisfn.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44487 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN) (OTCQB: WLDFF) (the "Company") is excited to announce the signing of an agreement with Highmark Interactive to study the cognitive and functional neurological effects of cannabinoids through clinical research leveraging Highmark's industry-leading mobile software, EQ - Active Brain Tracking. Wildflower Brands has a product lineup of effective plant-based remedies that has amassed a loyal following throughout the U.S. With the explosive growth of interest in cannabinoids coming into the mainstream, research and data are important for both consumers and the industry. Highmark Interactive's innovative, leading-edge software and dedication to brain health and wellness align closely to the values and vision of Wildflower Brands. The goal of the research sponsorship is to create meaningful data and results that could unlock new avenues of understanding about the cognitive and functional neurological effects of cannabinoids. William MacLean, CEO of Wildflower Brands, says, "Wildflower continues to receive a flood of testimonials from consumers on our products that support wellness and health needs through plant-based solutions. We always strive for improvements in our products and our understanding of those products, and this research commits us to that goal as an investment in the growth of our industry. Highmark Interactive brings the right skills and relationships to the table, and we are excited to see the results of our work together." Dr. Sanjeev Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of Highmark Interactive, says, "Highmark Interactive's EQ - Active Brain Tracking represents evolution in neurological testing and analysis. Being used in countries around the world, the proprietary algorithms within the software enable neurological testing within a variety of sectors in a mobile, accessible, and holistic manner. In partnering on this research with a prominent industry leader like Wildflower, we are excited to pursue a deeper understanding of the relationship between cannabinoids and our brain's functioning, which could have meaningful applications in the future." ABOUT HIGHMARK INTERACTIVE Highmark Interactive is a Canadian-based medical technology company with a focus on assessing neurological functional performance and how it is affected after mild traumatic brain injuries and other neurological diseases. Founded in 2017, Highmark's mission is to use engaging, mobile-focused games that test a variety of neurologic functions to facilitate a more accurate clinician assessment. You can download "EQ Active Brain Tracking" for iOS and Android on the App Store and Google Play store. EQ for iOS EQ for Android http://www.highmark.tech ABOUT WILDFLOWER Wildflower Brands is a Vancouver-based company developing and designing brands that focus on plant-based health and wellness products. All of our brands work in synergy, toward becoming a global wellness leader. For more information about Wildflower Brands, visit wildflowerbrands.co. To learn, engage and shop our wellness products visit buywildflower.com. Investor Relations Contact: Will Elston, Investor Relations ir@wildflowerbrands.co 1-604-559-0420 Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the marijuana industry in general such as operational risks in growing; competition; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of various transactions; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; failure to obtain required regulatory and other approvals and changes in legislation, including but not limited to tax laws and government regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The Canadian Securities Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Corporate Communications: NetworkWire (NW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Editor@NetworkWire.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44489 CHICAGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --According to the new market research report "Monolithic Microwave IC (MMIC) Market by Component (Power Amplifiers, LNA, Attenuators), Material Type (GaAs, InP), Frequency Band (L, S, C), Technology (MESFET, HEMT), Application (Automotive, A&D), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the overall MMIC market is expected to grow from USD 7.7 billion in 2019 to USD 12.7 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 10.6%. Factors such as the increased demand for MMICs from the flourishing smartphone industry; increasing adoption of E band to meet the growing bandwidth requirements of the space, defense, and wireless communication infrastructure sectors; and rising defense spending of countries, globally are driving the growth of the MMIC market. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=86745565 Power amplifiers segment is expected to hold the largest share of the MMIC market during the forecast period. Power amplifiers convert low-power radio frequency signals to high-power signals. These amplifiers are mostly used in transmitters of radio frequency-based communication systems for driving antennas. Most of the power amplifiers are designed taking into consideration a specific application producing a specific type of signal, signal modulation scheme, and a set of specifications such as frequency range, gain (dB), gain flatness (dB), supply voltage (VDC), power decibels (dB-milliwatt), and package type. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the increased use of power amplifiers in defense, automotive, smartphones, and wireless communication applications. Continuously growing demand for high data transfer rates in communication systems has led to an increased demand for power amplifiers. Gallium nitride segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period Gallium Nitride (GaN) is an emerging alternative for pure silicon in the field of semiconductors and electronics due to its high brightness emissions and intensities in opto-semiconductors, high-power efficiency, superior high frequency handling capacity, and flexibility to be used alongside various substrates such as silicon, sapphire, and Silicon Carbide (SiC). Gallium nitride is very hard and mechanically stable semiconductor material with a wide bandgap and high heat capacity and thermal conductivity. MMICs developed using gallium nitride offer large bandwidth, improved power density, and high efficiency to support the future cellular infrastructure such as 5G for the mobile base station transmitters. E-pHEMT segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. E-pHEMTs offer superior output power and high efficiency with bias voltages of less than +3 VDC. For commercial communication systems, E-pHEMTs offer a combination of high gain, low noise, and wide dynamic range in high-linearity MMIC applications. These transistors can economically provide superior electrical performance in Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra-high Frequency (UHF) wireless communication bands commonly associated with technologies such as GaAs MESFETs and depletion-mode pHEMTs. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest MMIC market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific was the largest MMIC market in 2018. The major drivers for the growth of the MMIC market in Asia Pacific are the expanding cellular infrastructure in the region and the increasing number of telecom equipment shipments in countries such as China and India. Japan has been a dominant player in the global semiconductor industry since the 1960s, while the strategy of China is to develop the highest-performance products at the lowest cost, which has helped it gain a large share of the Asia Pacific MMIC market. The increased production of electronic devices in the region due to the low manufacturing cost and availability of cheap labor is another driver for the growth of the MMIC market in Asia Pacific. Rising demand for smartphones, digital televisions, automobile electronics, and electro-medical devices in Asia Pacific is expected to contribute to the growth of the MMIC market in the region. Browse in-depth TOC on "MMIC Market" 69 - Tables 62 - Figures 176 - Pages Request Sample pages of the Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=86745565 Key players operating in the MMIC market include Analog Devices (US), NXP Semiconductor (Netherlands), MACOM (US), Qorvo (US), Skyworks Solutions (US), Broadcom (US), Infineon Technologies (Germany), Maxim Integrated (US), Mini-Circuits (US), OMMIC (France), WIN Semiconductors (Taiwan), United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS) (France), Custom MMIC Design Services (US), Microarray Technologies (China), VectraWave (France), BeRex (South Korea), and Arralis (Ireland). 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 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/monolithic-microwave-ic-market.asp Visit Our Web Site: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg MEDIA ADVISORY What: Andre Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI), will address Boston's business community and leaders during an invitation-only event at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, a long-recognized forum for conversation and connection. The speech comes days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed that IQOS, PMI's electrically heated tobacco system, is appropriate for the protection of public health and authorized it for sale in the U.S. Calantzopoulos will present the extended efforts PMI is making to replace cigarettes with a portfolio of revolutionary products and engage with the area's leading business representatives in a call to action to unsmoke the world. Just as Boston's private and state sectors prioritized their investment behind positive social change to build a culture rich in academics, health and wellness, and innovation, PMI has invested significantly in scientific research, product development and manufacturing facilities-to the value of over $6 billion USD as of December 31, 2018-to transform the public health landscape of tomorrow. When: May 3, 2019 12:00 pm (noon) EST Where: Wharf Room, Boston Harbor Hotel 70 Rowes Wharf Boston, MA 02110 Who: Andre Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer, Philip Morris International Inc. About 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. For further information about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announcement, please visit: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190430006048/en/Philip-Morris-International-Announces-U.S.-Food-Drug View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005485/en/ Contacts: Corey Henry Philip Morris International Media Office T. +1.202.679.7296 E. corey.henry@pmi.com Novel program provides reimbursement for TLD therapy in France MINNEAPOLIS, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuvaira, developer of novel therapeutic strategies to treat obstructive lung diseases, has received acceptance from the Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS, the French health technology assessment agency) into its Forfait Innovation program. The program is designed to fast-track novel medical devices with significant potential to improve clinical outcomes, with the objective of expediting access to important new therapies. The Forfait Innovation is a unique program which finances national access to breakthrough innovative therapies during continued collection of clinical and/or health economic data to allow the HAS to fully evaluate the therapy's performance and clinical value. Strict program requirements include novelty, pre-commercial status, demonstrated safety, and clinical potential to satisfy an unmet medical need. The program also requires a robust, prospective clinical trial designed to confirm safety and efficacy in a well-characterized patient population. Nuvaira's AIRFLOW-3 randomized, sham-controlled double-blinded pivotal trial (NCT03639051) is the first interventional COPD study to target a reduction in COPD exacerbations as a primary endpoint. In February, Nuvaira, working with reimbursement consultancy MediTech Access and key opinion leaders from University Medical Centers in Grenoble and Reims, submitted a dossier of pre-clinical and clinical data, including one-year outcomes from its randomized sham-controlled AIRFLOW-2 trial. HAS considers that AIRFLOW-3 can provide adequate confirmatory evidence of TLD safety and efficacy. Under the Forfait Innovation program, costs for the French patients enrolled in AIRFLOW-3 at eight university medical centers across France, including costs of the TLD catheters, will be reimbursed. Centers may continue treating patients with TLD therapy after the completion of trial enrollment, with continued reimbursement, until results of the AIRFLOW-3 trial are available. "We are thrilled that our AIRFLOW-2 trial outcomes have resulted in reimbursement under this novel program," said Dennis Wahr, M.D., chief executive officer at Nuvaira. "We anticipate that results from our AIRFLOW-3 trial will allow us to transition into permanent, national reimbursement." "Vagal nerve input to the lung is a significant contributor to symptoms and exacerbations in COPD patients," said Bruno Degano, MD, Ph.D., director of pulmonary medicine at CHU Grenoble. "University Hospital Grenoble is pleased to lead our country's education and recruitment efforts in AIRFLOW-3." About Nuvaira Nuvaira is a privately held company headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. The company's proprietary dNerva Lung Denervation System addresses airway hyper-responsiveness, a pathophysiologic underpinning of both COPD and asthma, in a procedure called Targeted Lung Denervation (TLD). Nuvaira has three completed clinical studies: IPS-I/II, AIRFLOW-1, and most recently, the AIRFLOW-2 randomized, sham-controlled double-blind clinical trial. The dNerva lung denervation system is CE Mark approved. The dNerva lung denervation system is under clinical investigation and is not commercially available in the USA . Nuvaira and dNerva are registered trademarks of Nuvaira, Inc. Please visit www.Nuvaira.com. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/819841/Nuvaira_Logo.jpg SANDVIKEN, Sweden, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- From manufacturing engineers and 3D printing specialists, to hardcore metal fans and those who were enticed by the premise of destruction, millions of people have watched guitar virtuoso, Yngwie Malmsteen, attempt to destroy Sandvik's unsmashable guitar. Now, the global engineering company is auctioning off the creation to raise money for charity. Recently, global engineering company Sandvik presented the world's first 3D printed smash-proof guitar. In a short film, Swedish-born guitar virtuoso and notorious guitar smasher Yngwie Malmsteen was challenged to destroy the unique, all-metal, 3D printed guitar during a live show in Miami. Since the project was launched on April 9, the guitar has evoked massive global interest, resulting in hundreds of articles and millions of views. Now, Sandvik announces the one of a kind guitar, played and signed by Malmsteen, will be auctioned to raise funds for charity organization Engineers Without Borders Sweden. The auction will run on popular online music marketplace, Reverb, from May 2, 2019 until May 12, 2019. Visit Reverb to learn more about the auction or to place your bid: https://reverb.com/item/21769468-sandvik-3d-printed-titanium-smash-proof-guitar-signed-and-played-by-yngwie-malmsteen The unusual project started with the notion that rock stars have been smashing guitars on stage for decades. Sandvik decided to test their cutting-edge technologies by building the world's first 3D printed, all-metal, smash-proof guitar and letting Yngwie Malmsteen unleash his smashing skills on it. After the unsuccessful smash attempt in Miami, the guitar had only suffered a few scratch marks. It was signed by Yngwie Malmsteen before heading back to Sandvik's hometown of Sandviken, Sweden, where Yngwie had previously followed the production of the guitar. "This guitar is a beast! Sandvik is obviously on top of their game. They put the work in, they do their hours, I can relate to that," Malmsteen said. "The result is amazing. I gave everything I had, but it was impossible to smash." In the project, Sandvik gathered experts from across the company to demonstrate how they could use sustainable, cutting-edge techniques to make something that is both highly precise and amazingly durable. Sandvik engineers teamed with renowned guitar designer Andy Holt, of Drewman Guitars, to match Malmsteen's exacting musical standards and his lightning-fast playing style. For the guitar's 3D printed body, Sandvik relied on its world-leading expertise in metal powder and additive manufacturing. Lasers traced a design in beds of fine titanium powder, fusing layers of material one on top of the other. The guitar's neck and fretboard were machined from a solid block of recycled stainless steel. To strengthen the fret and neck as they extended into the guitar's body a new, super-light lattice structure was sandwiched between the guitar's neck and fretboard. Sandvik has been supporting Engineers Without Borders Sweden since 2017. Through their important work, solving engineering challenges related to inequality and global development, people around the world have been able to raise their standard of living. Read more about the smash-proof guitar: home.sandvik/letscreate See the film about the smash attempt: https://youtu.be/k1hxZyD9VGI See the film about how the guitar was made: https://youtu.be/4TKXvyYxoVw Movies and press images: https://www.home.sandvik/en/news-and-media/press-material/lets-create/ Stockholm, 2 May 2019 Sandvik AB For more information, contact: Martin Blomgren, Press and Media Relations Manager, email: martin.blomgren@sandvik.com phone: +46-70-577-0549 or visit home.sandvik DISCLAIMER The guitar was designed and built to withstand the forces from Yngwie Malmsteen's smash attempt during the live performance shown in the film. Sandvik urges the buyer not to smash anything further with this guitar and instead to enjoy its sound and beauty. This guitar is purchased "as is", is intended only to be played for music or displayed and not for any other purpose, and all representations and warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non-infringement, are hereby disclaimed.? When using the guitar, please be mindful of your personal safety and the safety of those people and things around you. In no event will Sandvik be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages for any use of the guitar, including, without limitation, any lost profits, business interruption, product liability or other damage for injuries sustained from use or misuse of the guitar, even if Sandvik is advised of the possibility of such damages. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com The following files are available for download: 02 May, 2019 U.S. Oil & Gas Plc. ("U.S. Oil" or the "Company") Summary of Chairman's AGM statement and remarks U.S. Oil & Gas Plc, ("USOIL" or the "Company"), the oil and gas exploration company with assets in Nevada, provides the following summary of the Chairman's Statement and remarks delivered at the AGM of 30 April 2019. Please note that 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. Funding As of this date, the Company has approximately $1.4 million net cash ($1.52 million gross). The Company has sufficient funds to frack Eblana-3, to run the Company for a year and has ring-fenced funds to cover future site clean-up requirements. Funds are currently insufficient for drilling a further well. The Company has no plans at this time to purchase additional leases. Fracking permit A permit to frack the Eblana-3 well has been awarded by the Nevada Division of Minerals (NDOM). Other permitting requirements remain to be satisfied, but the Company believes the process will soon be satisfactorily concluded. The Chairman expressed his thanks to the permitting team for completing a demanding application process in a highly efficient manner. The Company's approach throughout has been to adopt a 100% constructive and proactive attitude to environmental protection and to work closely with the authorities to achieve the highest environmental standards. Fracking plan The Company developed and modelled the frack in conjuction with Halliburton. The model passed through several iterations in consultation with the authorities. The finalised plan is currently being reviewed both internally and independently, in the context of a rapidly developing model of the basin in which the Eblana-3 well is located. The review exercise is expected to be completed shortly. The Board will then consider the final views and recommendations of the technical team, giving particular weight to estimates of the frack's relative chance of producing a commercial well and taking into account all the relevant technical and geological factors, the cost of the frack, the Company's financial resources and their best use. Lease Expiries Federal leases 87414 (on which the Eblana-1 and Eblana-3 wells sit) and 87415 are set to expire on May 31 2019 if they do not produce oil in paying quantities. Since no drilling will take place before that date on Lease 87415, that lease will certainly be relinquished. Retaining lease 87414 will depend on the outcome of the Company's decisions and actions between now and that time in relation to Eblana-3. The above-named leases account for less than 7% of the Company's total lease area. Additional wells The Company's rapidly developing geological model of the oil system in Hot Creek Valley indicates that significantly more prospective areas exist both to the west and the east of the two leases due to expire. Most of the oil in the valley centre is believed to be mostly migrating through the lease areas of Eblana-1 and Eblana-3 rather than being trapped in large quantities. Intensive data analysis and modelling efforts are ongoing and continue to refine the model. Planned data collection includes seismic surveys to confirm structural aspects. Current indications based on geomagnetic, geochemical and existing seismic data, as well as downhole data from Eblana-1 and Eblana-3 are viewed as highly encouraging and indicate a requirement for much shallower wells than hitherto. Drill targets are being evaluated. The Company intends to drill one or more wells and additional funding and/or farmout may be sought for those operations. 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. MindBytes BVBA and its subsidiary, MindLab Interactive AI Inc., ("MindBytes") today announced that its first peer-reviewed manuscript was published in the open access journal JMIR Serious Games (JSG), a leading journal on gaming and gamification for health education, teaching, and social change. In the JSG Publication, the Company describes the findings of a critical review of the serious games for health (SGH) research literature alongside the formulation of its SERES Framework. "Based on our review of the literature, it was clear that SGHs which are theory-driven, and evidence-based have a greater likelihood of realizing their objectives, yet there was no consensus framework for developing such tools. Therefore we developed the SERES Framework to guide SGH stakeholders. Key elements of the SERES Framework include a robust scientific evidence base, real-life perspective, explicit translation of evidence into design elements, a methodological development approach, and quality evaluation", states Lead Author of the JSG Publication, Dr. Sarah Verschueren. "Developing tools that can achieve their intended objectives is critical for those in the healthcare space. Accordingly, we are pleased to formally publish on our SERES Framework, which ensures that our tools are theory-driven and evidence-based, maximizing their potential for success", says MindBytes' CEO, Geert Vander Stichele. "By applying the SERES Framework, SGH stakeholders will ensure that their tools are theory-driven and evidence-based, resulting in benefits for patients, families, and/or clinicians", notes Dr. Sarah Verschueren. For MindBytes' tools, this translates to a greater potential to empower individuals and their families to change their behaviour and improve their lives. MindBytes has established proof-of-concept by applying the SERES Framework in the development of an SGH, CliniPup. In collaboration with the KU Leuven in Belgium, the company performed a pilot trial on CliniPup, which demonstrated that children who played CliniPup prior to ambulatory surgery experienced lower pre-operative anxiety than those who did not. A second trial has since been performed in collaboration with Ghent University in Belgium and a third, pivotal trial is planned in Q2 2019. In addition, MindBytes has applied the SERES Framework to develop interactive educational tools targeting behaviour change in various health and social settings such as pediatrics, mental health, oncology, neurodegenerative diseases, and rare diseases. The Company and its collaborators continue to disseminate research findings in leading digital health journals and at medical conferences. About MindBytes BVBA MindBytes, formed in 2014 in Belgium, is a leading service provider with operations in Europe and North America that develops data-smart educational software aimed at realizing behavioural changes for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and government clients. MindBytes is composed of a multidisciplinary team of Software and Data Engineers, Science Experts, and Communication Professionals that are dedicated to helping people and organizations change their behaviour and make better decisions. The driving force behind their projects is a shared passion for improving the lives of patients and their families. Its client list currently includes several top 10 pharmaceutical companies, regional governments, and healthcare institutions. More information is available about the company at: www.mindbytes.be About CliniPup CliniPup is a web-based serious game for health (SGH) aimed at reducing perioperative anxiety and pain in children aged 6-10 years undergoing ambulatory surgery and their parents. CliniPup was developed by MindBytes BVBA using its SERES Framework and was evaluated with the KU Leuven in a prospective, randomized, controlled pilot trial at RZ Tienen Hospital in Belgium (n=20), which demonstrated that children who played CliniPup experienced less pre-operative anxiety than those who did not. CliniPup has also been evaluated in a secondary trial at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium (n=73) and a third, pivotal trial is currently planned for Q2 2019. Manuscripts on CliniPup's development and the pilot study are in press and Vanhulle et al. presented a scientific poster at the 2018 European Pediatric Psychology Conference on the secondary trial. More information is available about CliniPup at: www.mindbytes.be Original article: Verschueren S, Buffel C, Vander Stichele G. Developing Theory-Driven, Evidence-Based Serious Games for Health: Framework Based on Research Community Insights. JMIR Serious Games 2019;7(2):e11565. https://games.jmir.org/2019/2/e11565/ DOI: 10.2196/11565 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005590/en/ Contacts: MindBytes BVBA Turnhout, Belgium Geert Vander Stichele, PharmD, M.Sc. (Econ.) Geert.vanderstichele@mindbytes.be +32 (9) 262 02 59 MindLab Interactive AI Inc. Edmonton, AB, Canada Connor Buffel, MBT Connor.buffel@mindbytes.be +1 (780) 710-3492 LEI: LNFFPBEUZJBOSR6PW155 Results of Annual General Meeting BlackRock World Mining Trust plc announces that, at the Annual General Meeting held today, resolutions 1 to 5 and 7 to 15 were duly passed on a poll. Following the Company's announcement on 19 March 2019 that Ian Cockerill would be retiring as a Director, a motion was put to the meeting to withdraw Resolution 6 seeking his re-election as a Director. This motion was approved and Resolution 6 was duly withdrawn. The full text of the resolutions can be found in the Notice of Annual General Meeting set out in the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2018, which has previously been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and is available for inspection at: www.hemscott.com/nsm.do The results of the poll were as follows: 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. ARNPRIOR, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / Plaintree Systems Inc. (Plaintree, traded on CSE under the symbol NPT). Today, Plaintree Systems Inc. announced that the company, through its wholly owned subsidiary 9366920 Canada Inc., recently completed the sale of the assets of its former Madawaska Doors business for a purchase price of $300,000. The Company ceased operating Madawaska Doors at the end of December 2018. The purchase price was paid in cash on closing and the assets sold included most of the inventory, equipment and facilities previously used to operate Madawaska Doors. The purchaser has indicated that it intends to resume the operation of the Madawaska Doors business under its new ownership. About Plaintree Systems Inc. Plaintree has two diversified product lines consisting of Specialty Structures and Electronics. The Specialty Structures Division includes the former Triodetic Group with over 40 years of experience, is a design/build manufacturer of steel, aluminum and stainless steel specialty structures such as commercial domes, free form structures, barrel vaults, space frames and industrial dome coverings and Spotton Corporation, a design and manufacturer of high end custom hydraulic and pneumatic valves and cylinders. The Electronics Division includes the legacy Hypernetics and Summit Aerospace USA Inc. businesses. Hypernetics was established in 1972 and is a manufacturer of avionic components for various applications including aircraft antiskid braking, aircraft instrument indicators, solenoids, high purity valves and permanent magnet alternators. Summit Aerospace USA Inc. provides high precision machining to the aerospace and defense markets. Our facility includes 5 axis CNC precision machining of complex castings and large ring parts such as turbine and assembly shrouds as well as assembly & pressure seals. Summit will support requirements from concept, prototype and throughout production. Plaintree's shares are traded under the symbol "NPT". Shareholders and Investors can access Company information on CSE's website and receive full Company disclosure monthly. For more information on Plaintree or to receive stock quotes, complete with trading summaries, bid size and ask price, brokerage house participation, insider reports, news releases, disclosure information, and CSE and SEDAR filings, visit the CSE website at www.cnsx.ca or the Company's website at www.plaintree.com. Plaintree is publicly traded in Canada on the CSE (NPT) with 12,925,253 common shares and 18,325 class A preferred shares outstanding. This press release may include statements that are forward-looking and based on current expectations. The actual results of the company may differ materially from current expectations. The business of the company is subject to many risks and uncertainties, including changes in markets for the company's products, delays in product development and introduction to manufacturing and intense competition. For a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties related to the company's business, please refer to documents filed by the company with the Canadian regulatory authorities, including the annual report of the Company for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 and related management discussion and analysis. Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. For further information: Lynn Saunders, CFO - (613) 623-3434 x2223 SOURCE: Plaintree Systems Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543940/Plaintree-Completes-Sale-of-the-Assets-of-Its-Discontinued-Madawaska-Doors-Business Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York, Educates 300 Guests on Pyrotechnics SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / COBRA Firing Systems, along with president and founder Scott Smith, were proud to host the first inaugural COBRA-CON event at the Saratoga Springs City Center. The event ran from Monday, April 22 through Wednesday, April 24, 2019, and had roughly 300 attendees. In addition to educating backyard enthusiasts, display operators, and display companies on COBRA products specifically, the event focused on everything related to pyrotechnics and featured 40+ seminars, panels, and hands-on learning experiences. Attendees learned show design, fusing, racking, and managing the setup of shows. Attendees were also able to sit in on seminars on topics including flame projectors, handling music royalties, articles of pyrotechnics, importing fireworks, purchasing wholesale equipment, and more. Guests were also able to bring modules that needed updating or repairing, as COBRA Firing Systems employees were able to help. On April 24, the convention ended with a literal "BANG" with a concluding event with firework demos and shows. One attendee, George, says that as a "backyard" man with limited experience around professional shows, he was a bit intimidated at first, but found there was always something available for all levels of experience and everyone was welcome and helpful. Another attendee, Jesse, says, "It was by far one of the best organized pyro events I have been to. Attendance was great, the seminars were packed, it drew a new demographic of people, and there was an aura of enthusiasm and energy everywhere. I can't wait for next year!" Of the event, Founder Scott Smith says, "We were very pleased at the outcome of the event and look forward to next year, COBRA-CON 2020!" For more information, visit http://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/ About COBRA Firing Systems From "backyard Joes" to professional shows, COBRA Firing Systems serves the pyrotechnics market with high quality, affordable, and expandable wireless systems. The company builds fireworks systems that support small, backyard barbeque firework shows and local theater shows to large scale pyromusicals, pyrotechnics for arena-sized concerts, weddings, sporting events, military exercise, etc. COBRA Firing Systems has served over 10,000 customers in over 100 countries. About Scott Smith Scott A Smith of Saratoga Springs, New York, is an electrical/computer systems engineer and pyro enthusiast. He founded COBRA Firing Systems in August 2009. Mr. Smith graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2001 with a dual degree in computer systems engineering and computer science. Prior to founding COBRA, Scott A Smith co-founded CORESense in 2001, where he continues to act as a Director of Support. For more information, please contact Scott Smith: http://www.cobrafiringsystems.com ssmith@cobrafiringsystems.com (518) 222-7410 SOURCE: COBRA Firing Systems View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543943/COBRA-Firing-Systems-and-Scott-Smith-Host-First-Inaugural-COBRA-CON Amsterdam, 2 May 2019 - Heineken N.V. ('HEINEKEN') (EURONEXT: HEIA; OTCQX: HEINY) announces that it has acquired a majority stake in Biela y Bebidas del Ecuador S.A. BIELESA ('BIELA ECUADOR') from a group of mainly local investors. Over the past few years, BIELA ECUADOR has established its place in the Ecuadorian beer market by re-launching the Biela brand. The BIELA brewery is located in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, and is fully operational using high-quality brewing and packaging equipment. In addition to Biela, HEINEKEN intends to market its portfolio of premium and international brands, led by Heineken, in Ecuador in the future. HEINEKEN also plans to brew Heineken beer locally in due course. Marc Busain, President Americas at HEINEKEN, said: "We are pleased to announce our investment in Ecuador. With its favourable demographics, flourishing tourism industry and GDP growth, it offers a lot of potential to grow our premium offering, led by the Heineken brand. We are excited to grow our business in Ecuador in close collaboration with our new partners." Luis Enrique Landinez, CEO of BIELA ECUADOR, speaking on behalf of the group of investors said: "We are very pleased to have completed this alliance with HEINEKEN, which is good news for Ecuador and its consumers, who will have a wider and better choice of beer products. The successful re-launch of the Biela brand, its current recognition in the market, and the favourable investment environment generated by the Ecuadorian Government have successfully drawn HEINEKEN into Ecuador." Ecuador is a very attractive market, with GDP projected to grow at a 5.7% rate (CAGR) in the next 10 years and encouraging social-economic fundamentals. The Ecuadorian beer market presents a promising opportunity for HEINEKEN, with a current size of 6 million hectolitres per year and a relatively low consumption per capita of 39 litres when compared to other South American countries. In addition, the Ecuadorian government is supportive of foreign investment and of introducing competition in the beer market. Financial terms are not disclosed. ENDS Press enquiries John-Paul Schuirink / Michael Fuchs E-mail: pressoffice@heineken.com Tel: +31-20-5239-355 Investor and analyst enquiries Federico Castillo Martinez / Janine Ackermann / Aris Hernandez E-mail: investors@heineken.com (mailto:investors@heineken.com) Tel: +31-20-5239-590 Editorial information About HEINEKEN HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. HEINEKEN is committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution and focused cost management. Through "Brewing a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business. HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. It employs over 85,000 employees and operates breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares trade on the Euronext in Amsterdam. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on Reuters under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. HEINEKEN has two sponsored level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programmes: Heineken N.V. (OTCQX: HEINY) and Heineken Holding N.V. (OTCQX: HKHHY). Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website: www.theHEINEKENcompany.com and follow us on Twitter via @HEINEKENCorp. Please click here for full media release. (http://hugin.info/130667/R/2243391/885603.pdf) This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: HEINEKEN NV via Globenewswire BONDUELLE A French SCA (Partnership Limited by Shares) with a capital of 56 942 095 Euros Head Office: La Woestyne 59173 Renescure, France Registered under number: 447 250 044 (Dunkerque Commercial and Companies Register) Quarter 3 FY 2018-2019 Revenue (January 1 - March 31, 2019) Limited sales growth for Q3 driven by foreign exchanges and external growth The Bonduelle Group's revenue stands for Q3 of financial year 2018-2019 at 675.6 million of euros, an increase of +0.4% on reported figures and -2.-% on a like for like basis*. The change in the scope of consolidation linked with the acquisition of the Del Monte business activities early July 2018, made a positive contribution of +1.2% to the variation of the total revenue over the period. The exchange rate effects, mainly the strengthening of the US and Canadian dollars, favourable during this quarter, contributed to a 1.2% growth. Over the 9 first months of this FY, the revenue stands at 2,082.2 million of euros, a decrease of 0.5% on reported figures and 1.3% on a like for like basis*. Activity by Geographic Region Total consolidated revenue (in millions) 9 months 2018-2019 9 months 2017-2018 Variation Reported figures Variation Like for like basis* 3rd quarter 2018-2019 3rd quarter 2017-2018 Variation Reported figures Variation Like for like basis* Europe Zone 956.2 951.8 +0.5% +0.6% 313.9 318.5 -1.5% -1.3% Non-Europe Zone 1,126.1 1,141.4 -1.3% -3.-% 361.7 354.4 +2.-% -2.7% Total 2,082.2 2,093.2 -0.5% -1.3% 675.6 672.9 +0.4% -2.-% Activity by Operating Segments Total consolidated revenue (in millions) 9 months 2018-2019 9 months 2017-2018 Variation Reported figures Variation Like for like basis* 3rd quarter 2018-2019 3rd quarter 2017-2018 Variation Reported figures Variation Like for like basis* Canned 774.9 753.2 +2.9% +1.7% 241.6 230.8 +4.7% +2.3% Frozen 497.5 478.2 +4.-% +5.1% 175.- 161.9 +8.1% +7.9% Fresh processed 809.9 861.8 -6.-% -7.6% 259.- 280.3 -7.6% -11.4% Total 2,082.2 2,093.2 -0.5% -1.3% 675.6 672.9 +0.4% -2.-% Zone Europe The Europe Zone, representing 45.9% of the group's revenue over the first 9 months, recorded an overall aggregated growth of +0.5% on reported figures and +0.6% on a like for like basis*. Over quarter 3, the revenue is down -1.5% based on reported figures and -1.3% on a like for like basis*. It is attributable primarily to the Easter consumption shift taking place in quarter 4 against quarter 3 of last financial year, particularly affecting the limited shelf life product category (bagged, ready-to-eat salads, and prepared salads). Despite that calendar effect, the retail sales for the Bonduelle and Cassegrain brands in cans and frozen and the food service sales reported revenue growth over the period. Non-Europe Zone The revenue of the Non-Europe Zone, representing 54.1% of the group's revenue over the period, was down -1.3% on reported data and -3.-% on a like for like basis*, and the ones for Q3 at +2.-% and -2.7% respectively. Over quarter 3, the frozen food activities in North America continued to experience the growth observed last quarter, thanks to the delivery catch-ups of some industrial contracts planned for the beginning of the year coupled with sales of fruit and vegetables for the Del Monte brand, activity acquired at the beginning of the financial year, fuelling the canned operating segment growth. Fresh activities in North America remained lower over quarter 3, due to the rationalization of the business portfolio and the sourcing diversification of a major client, as mentioned last quarter. Finally, the robust sales increase observed in Russia was sustained over quarter 3 thanks to the innovations in the canned segment for the Bonduelle brand (olive product category and young corn) coupled with the encouraging development of the frozen business segment. Highlights The Bonduelle Group has successfully issued a private bond placement in the United States (USPP) Looking for maturity of its debt instruments and the refinancing of the EuroPP, maturing on March 11, 2019, the Bonduelle Group issued on May 2, 2019 a private bond investment in the United States for a total amount of 140 million of euros with a 10 year maturity, consequently taking the average maturity of the group's overall debt to over 4 years. Operating on the USPP market since 2000, the Bonduelle Group has successfully issued this private placement with attractive terms among a pool of existing investors who confirmed their confidence in the group. Largely oversubscribed, this transaction enables the group to significantly reduce the cost of its debt. The Bonduelle Group has been advised by Natixis, acting as agent and by Willkie Farr & Gallagher acting as legal advisor. Outlooks Given the evolution of the activity recorded in the third quarter and the result of the commercial negotiations at the beginning of the year, the Bonduelle Group aims to achieve for the full fiscal year 2018-2019 ending June 30, 2019 stable sales and operating income at constant currency exchange rates compared to last year. * at constant currency exchange rate and scope of consolidation basis. The revenues in foreign currency over the given period are translated into the rate of exchange for the comparable period. The impact of business acquisitions (or gain of control) and divestments is restated as follows: For businesses acquired (or gain of control) during the current period, revenue generated since the acquisition date is excluded from the organic growth calculation; For businesses acquired (or gain of control) during the prior fiscal year, revenue generated during the current period up until the first anniversary date of the acquisition is excluded; For businesses divested (or loss of control) during the prior fiscal year, revenue generated in the comparative period of the prior fiscal year until the divestment date is excluded; For businesses divested (or loss of control) during the current fiscal year, revenue generated in the period commencing 12 months before the divestment date up to the end of the comparative period of the prior fiscal year is excluded. Alternative performance indicators : the group presents in its financial notices performance indicators not defined by accounting standards. The main performance indicators are detailed in the financial reports available on www.bonduelle.com. Next financial events: - 2018-2019 Financial Year Revenue: August 5, 2019 (after stock exchange trading session) - 2018-2019 Annual Results: September 30, 2019 (prior to stock exchange trading session) About Bonduelle Bonduelle, a family business, was established in 1853. Its mission is to be the world reference in "well-living" through plant-based food. Prioritizing innovation and long-term vision, the group is diversifying its operations and geographical presence. Its vegetables, grown over more than 130,000 hectares all over the world, are sold in 100 countries under various brand names and through various distribution channels and technologies. An expert in agro-industry with 55 industrial sites or owned agricultural production sites, Bonduelle produces quality products by selecting the best crop areas close to its customers. Bonduelle is listed on Euronext compartment A Euronext indices: CAC MID & SMALL - CAC FOOD PRODUCERS - CAC ALL SHARES Bonduelle is part of the Gaia non-financial performance index and employee shareholder index (I.A.S.) Code ISIN: FR0000063935 - Code Reuters: BOND.PA - Code Bloomberg: BON FP Find out about the group's current events and news on Twitter @Bonduelle_Group, and its financial news on @BonduelleCFO Attachment WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / May 2, 2019 marks Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. As antisemitism from both jihadi and white supremacist sources spikes across the West, MEMRI continues to research it. For over two decades, MEMRI has been monitoring and documenting antisemitism and Holocaust denial from the Arab and Muslim world, maintaining the largest archives in the world of this content as part of the MEMRI Tom Lantos Archives on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. This past year, we have published dozens of reports and videos of Holocaust denial, which are included below. With the rising tide of antisemitism in the West - not only in sermons by extremist imams across the U.S. but also on online platforms by neo-Nazis, white supremacists, fascists, and racists - MEMRI, together with the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, has launched a new project for monitoring online incitement against Jews, people of color, Muslims, and the LGBTQ+ community. The project aims to examine where white-supremacist incitement coincides and intersects with jihadi incitement, hatred, and extremism on social media. MEMRI research also includes a focus on the brave reformists in the Middle East who speak out against antisemitism and Holocaust denial. The MEMRI-Lantos project documents antisemitic themes in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, and Turkish newspaper reports, editorials, and other media sources, distributing all its research - reports, analysis, and videos - through a blog and all its videos through the Lantos MEMRI TV page. The project informs governments, policy-makers, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as well as media, academia, and the general public, so that they may gain a greater understanding of these issues. Its projects researching antisemitism are supporting legislation on Capitol Hill and throughout the West. The Lantos Project YouTube page includes videos from annual events held in the Speaker's Dining Room of the U.S. Capitol marking the establishment of the Lantos Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial Archives. MEMRI Research On Holocaust Denial 2018-2019 Egyptian Hebrew Professor Abou Al-Azayem Farjallah: Zionists Collaborated With Nazis; Gas Chambers Could Not Have Killed Millions; New Literature Says Holocaust Not Directed Toward Jews (April 24, 2019) Jordanian Columnist: Leaders Of Democracies Have Never Been Held To Account For Their War Crimes, While Nazis Were Convicted Based On Exaggerated Claims Of The Jews (April 9, 2019) 'Al-Ahram' Columnist: The Holocaust Is A Deception Used By The Zionists To Take Over The World (February 22, 2019) Article On Egyptian Website: There Is No Evidence The Holocaust Happened (January 31, 2019) YouTube Censors MEMRI TV Clip For 'Hate Speech' - The Clip Exposes Commentator On Lebanon TV Calling Holocaust 'The Greatest Lie In Modern History' (December 12, 2018) At Antisemitic Conference In Tehran, Iranian Presidency Official Denies Holocaust: 'In Fact, We Do Show Antisemitic Behavior, And If We Are Not Doing Something Against The Jews, We Feel Bad - It Is Part Of Our Culture' (November 12, 2018) Jordanian Writer: The Spanish Inquisition Murdered Hundreds Of Thousands Of Muslims, While The Holocaust Involved The Death Of No More Than Several Thousand Jews (October 11, 2018) Palestinian Authority TV Lauds President Abbas' Holocaust Denial PhD Thesis, Terror Attacks Launched From Lebanon (July 26, 2018) Turkish Twitter Posts Praise Adolf Hitler: 'I Wish He Had Killed All Of Them' (June 4, 2018) Writer In Hamas Mouthpiece: The Holocaust Exists Only In Israeli Tales - And In The Minds Of Supporters Of Normalization With Israel (April 11, 2018) MEMRI TV Clips On Holocaust Denial 2018-2019 Gaza Activist Maryam Abu Moussa: We Will Throw Jews into Ditches Like Hitler; Trump's End Will Come At the Hand of a Palestinian Boy (April 24, 2019) Egyptian Hebrew Professor Abou Al-Azayem Farjallah: Zionists Collaborated with Nazis; Gas Chambers Could Not Have Killed Millions (April 4, 2019) Lebanese Academic Hassan Jouni: U.S. and Zionist Movement Funded Hitler; Today, U.S. Funds Fascism through Gulf States (March 19, 2019) Jordanian Professor Ahmad Nofal: Holocaust Was an Illusion; Figure of 6 Million Is a Big Lie (March 22, 2019) Egyptian Researcher Mohamed Gad El-Zoghby: We Should Erect a Statue of Hitler Because of What He Did to the Jews (February 9, 2019) Iraqi MP Khalaf Abdelsamad Khalaf: Hitler Was No Worse than Saddam (January 19, 2019) French-Jewish Holocaust Denier Jacob Cohen: Holocaust Wasn't Mentioned Until Convenient Time in Israel's History; MEMRI Makes People Think Iran Wants to Commit a Second Holocaust; The Holocaust Has Become a Religion (January 5, 2019) Kuwaiti Cleric Jihad Al-'Ayesh: The Jews Shatter the Spirit Of Every Country They Settle In; Hitler Warned His People of the Prostitution They Spread (November 21, 2018) Jordanian Political Commentator Sufyan Tal: The Holocaust - The Greatest Lie In Modern History(November 11, 2018) Iranian Researcher Shams Al-Din Rahmani Denies The Holocaust, Says The Jews Control The Oil Industry(October 6, 2018) Palestinian Author Adham Sharkawi: Europeans Supported Jewish State To Get Rid Of Jews, Hitler Was Influenced By The Jews' Attempt To Enslave Germany (July 19, 2018) Palestinian Authority TV Lauds President Abbas' Holocaust Denial Ph.D. Thesis, Terror Attacks Launched from Lebanon (July 20, 2018) Egyptian TV Host Tawfiq Okasha: The Jews Control the World Economy, Started World War II, Sacrificing a bunch of Jews in the Holocaust (June 12, 2018) Iraqi Journalist Mahmoud Al-Hashemi: Hitler Slaughtered The Jews Because They Were Using The Black Market Against Him; Shakespeare Shone A Spotlight On The Cruel Jewish Mentality (June 9, 2018) Kuwaiti Cleric Sheikh Jihad Al-'Ayesh Denies The Holocaust And The Existence Of Gas Chambers: How Big A Bakery Would You Need To Make 50,000 Loaves Of Bread? (May 26, 2018) Egyptian Professor Amr Allam: Israeli Violence Is in the Jewish Genes; TV Host: Jews Have Exploited the Holocaust (May 5, 2018) PA President Mahmoud Abbas: Holocaust, Massacres of European Jews Due to Their Function in Society as Usurers; Hitler Struck a Deal with the Jews (April 30, 2018) Holocaust Denial On PA TV - Palestinian Writer Hani Abu Zeid: The Jews Colluded With Hitler In The 'False Holocaust' (April 10, 2018) Egyptian Journalist Dr. Hoda Zakariya: The Scope of the Holocaust Is Just a Rumor (February 7, 2018) About MEMRI: Exploring the Middle East and South Asia through their media, MEMRI bridges the language gap between the West and the Middle East and South Asia, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, Dari, and Turkish media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends. Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization. MEMRI's main office is located in Washington, DC, with branch offices in various world capitals. MEMRI research is translated into English, French, Polish, Japanese, Spanish and Hebrew. MEMRI - Middle East Media Research Institute: https://www.memri.org MEMRI In The Media: https://memriinthemedia.org MEMRI TV - MEMRI: https://www.memri.org/tv MEMRI on Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/q-Middle-East-Media-Research-Institute-jobs.html Contact Information: MEMRI media@memri.org 202-955-9070 www.memri.org SOURCE: MEMRI View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543975/MEMRI-Releases-Research-and-Clips-on-Holocaust-Denial-from-the-Past-Year-to-Mark-Yom-HaShoah-Holocaust-Remembrance-Day Verogen Inc., the world's first DNA sequencing company dedicated to forensic science, announced today that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has approved the company's next-gen forensic DNA technology for use by forensic laboratories generating DNA profiles for upload to the National DNA Index System (NDIS). The FBI manages NDIS to enable comparison of eligible DNA profiles contributed by participating federal, state, and municipal forensic laboratories. Verogen's MiSeq FGx Forensic Genomics System is the first NDIS approved solution for genomic DNA analysis that harnesses "Next Generation Sequencing" (NGS) technology to dramatically increase profiling efficiency and data recovery from biological evidence. "This is an important advancement," said Dr. Jenifer Smith, Director of the Washington, D.C., Department of Forensic Sciences. Dr. Smith's laboratory was part of the consortium of forensic U.S. laboratories that submitted internal validation results to the FBI as part of the NDIS approval process. "NGS enables us to efficiently generate more comprehensive and useful data. This means we will be able to aid more investigations and close more cases," Dr. Smith said. The MiSeq FGx Forensic Genomics System is a sample-to-answer workflow including the ForenSeq DNA Signature Prep kit, MiSeq FGxsequencing instrument platform, and ForenSeqUniversal Analysis Software. The system allows forensic scientists to analyze up to 231 genomic DNA markers simultaneously-supplying significantly more actionable data than commonly analyzed using older methods. The Verogen system can develop more detailed profiles from degraded, mixed, and limited biological evidence samples, addressing a wider range of forensic questions in a single test. With NDIS approval granted, U.S. forensic laboratories can now access a much larger pool of federal funding administered by the National Institute of Justice to adopt and implement this powerful crime fighting tool. "Obtaining NDIS approval is an enormous step forward for the forensic genomics community, and for mainstream adoption of this technology," said Brett Williams, Verogen CEO. "Verogen is proud to advance the transition of NGS technology from a visionary method to a fully validated, NDIS-approved tool for forensic science." The MiSeq FGx Forensic Genomics System is available worldwide. It has been approved for use in the national DNA databases of France and the Netherlands-and now the United States. About Verogen, Inc. Verogen is committed to public safety and justice for all. Headquartered in the San Diego area, we serve those who pursue the truth using genetic tools. Powered by gold standard Illumina sequencing technology and working in partnership with forensic laboratories, Verogen is advancing science to unlock the true potential of forensic genomics. For more information, visit www.verogen.com. https://twitter.com/VerogenBio https://www.facebook.com/VerogenBio/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/verogen For Research, Forensic and Paternity Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. 2019 Verogen, Inc. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005888/en/ Contacts: Jonathan Tabak Director, Market Development jtabak@verogen.com 504-913-6845 TGS acquiring Spectrum to cement its position as a leading provider of multi-client seismic data Creating a leading multi-client geophysical data provider in all major mature and frontier basins world-wide Transaction establishes fourth main revenue generating hub and fits well with strategic ambition of growing exposure towards South Atlantic Spectrum owns the world's largest 2D library, which combined with TGS's financial robustness facilitate for acceleration of 3D investment plans Scale is key to accelerate TGS' data and analytics strategy Significant cost synergies - preliminary estimate of approximately USD 20 million annually Accretive on earnings, pre-synergies The transaction is supported by the board of directors of each of the companies, as well as Spectrum shareholders representing more than 34 % Oslo, 2 May 2019 TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA ("TGS" or the "Company", OSE: TGS) announced today that it has agreed on the principle terms for the acquisition of Spectrum ASA ("Spectrum", OSE: SPU), creating a leading provider of 2D and 3D seismic data. The transaction is expected to be completed as a statutory merger pursuant to Norwegian corporate law between TGS and Spectrum, with merger consideration to Spectrum shareholders in the form of 0.28x ordinary shares of TGS for each Spectrum share (the "Exchange Ratio"), in addition to a cash consideration of USD 0.27 multiplied by the Exchange Ratio subject to the transaction closing after the ex-date for the TGS dividend payable in Q3 2019 (expected to be early August 2019). The Exchange Ratio and the cash consideration imply a transaction share price of Spectrum of NOK 61.9 per share (based on closing of the TGS share on 2 May 2019), corresponding to a market capitalization of NOK 3,671 million (USD 422 million) on a fully diluted basis. The transaction is supported by the board of directors of each of the companies, as well as Spectrum shareholders representing more than 34.1 % who have given their support to the transaction and agreed to vote their shares in favour thereof. Definitive merger documents are expected to be entered into during May, with closing of the transaction expected during the third quarter of 2019 following shareholder approvals in EGM and regulatory clearance. The transaction will enhance TGS' position as a leading multi-client geophysical data provider with a 2D and 3D seismic data library covering all major mature and frontier basins world-wide. Spectrum has successfully built a substantial presence in the South Atlantic and other important frontier regions. With TGS' extensive library and financial robustness, the combined entity will be well positioned to accelerate 3D seismic investment plans in an improving market. Furthermore, the combined libraries will have a scale that will help accelerate TGS' data analytics strategy. In addition to providing a platform for further profitable growth, the combination will benefit from significant cost synergies with a preliminary estimate of approximately USD 20 million annually. "Spectrum has successfully built a strong position in key offshore basins, particularly in the South Atlantic. The transaction thus fits well with one of TGS's key strategic goals of growing exposure to this region. Moreover, Spectrum's library, and in particular the vast 2D coverage, further adds to TGS's strategy within data analytics, where access to large amounts of data is a key success factor. TGS remains committed to maintain the existing dividend policy and emphasizes that the strong cash position, the combination of two free cash flow positive entities and significant cost synergies, will enable continued industry leading shareholder returns", stated Kristian Johansen, Chief Executive Officer of TGS. "The strategic combination of TGS and Spectrum will form a stronger and better company with a world class data library, people and opportunities. We look forward to joining forces with TGS. There are strong strategic benefits from combining the companies, and we believe we can enhance our growth as part of a larger combined company," stated Rune Eng, President & Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum. "Over the past years, Spectrum has been through a growth phase with particular focus on establishing profitable positions in non-mature exploration basins, especially along the Atlantic margin. TGS' interest in Spectrum is a manifestation of the solid position built by the Spectrum organization over a long time. Being ready for the next phase of the strategic growth plan, TGS is an excellent match, with its asset-light multi-client strategy and strong balance sheet. Altor Fund IV are proud to be part of creating a leading multi-client company, with a strong presence in all the major basins and superior cash generation capabilities", stated Pal Stampe, Chairman of the board of Spectrum and partner at Altor Equity Partners, the investment advisor to Altor Fund IV. Support from board of directors, management and Spectrum shareholders The transaction is supported by the board of directors of Spectrum, who has unanimously concluded that the transaction both from a financial and industrial perspective represents an attractive alternative for all its stakeholders. In addition, Spectrum shareholders representing more than 34 % have given their support to the transaction and undertaken to vote their shares in favor thereof. These shareholders include management of Spectrum, funds managed by Altor Fund IV and Gross Management AS (investment company of Spectrum director Glen Ole Rdland. Altor Fund IV (via Pal Stampe as Chairman of the Board and Maria Tallaksen as Board member) and Gross Management AS (Glen Ole Rdland as Board member) are represented on the Board of Directors of Spectrum. The above support and undertakings remain subject to consummation of definitive merger documentation. Key terms of the transaction: Based on a TGS share price as of close 2 May 2019 of NOK 218.8, the exchange ratio plus the cash consideration implies a fully diluted equity value of Spectrum of NOK 3,671 million, corresponding to a price per share of NOK 61.9. This represents a premium, including the cash consideration, of 10.2% to Spectrum based on closing price on 2 May 2019 and a premium of 32.8% and 17.5% to Spectrum based on 6 month and 12 month VWAP as of 2 May 2019, respectively. The shareholders of Spectrum will (on a fully diluted basis) receive: 1. 0.28 shares of TGS per one (1) share in Spectrum, corresponding to 7 TGS shares per 25 Spectrum shares, meaning that the shareholders of Spectrum upon completion of the transaction will receive a total of 16.6 million shares in TGS, representing 13.9% of all issued shares in TGS immediately following completion of the transaction. Fractional consideration shares will be settled in cash. An additional cash consideration to Spectrum shareholders of the NOK equivalent of USD 0.27 multiplied with the Exchange Ratio, if the Transaction is consummated after the ex-date for the TGS quarterly dividend payment in Q3 2019 (expected to be early August 2019). Further details regarding the valuations and the exchange ratio will be included in the merger plan which is expected to be published during May 2019. The transaction remains subject to such merger plan and other definitive documentation being finalised and executed, as well as other customary closing conditions such as relevant regulatory approvals and consents, expiry of the statutory waiting periods, no material adverse change occurring and approval by extraordinary general meetings in TGS and Spectrum with at least two-thirds majority of the votes cast and of the share capital represented. Closing of the transaction would occur as soon as possible thereafter following necessary regulatory approvals and statutory waiting periods. The completion of the transaction and the issuance of the consideration shares are expected to take place in the third quarter of 2019, subject to the conditions being fulfilled. Reciprocal confirmatory due diligence has been completed by both TGS and Spectrum and completion of the transaction is not subject to any further due diligence review. Further information regarding the transaction will be provided in a conference call at 14:00 (CEST) on Friday 3 May and in relation to Q1 2019 reporting on 9 May 2019. Carnegie acts as financial advisor and Schjdt acts as legal advisor to TGS. Clarksons Platou Securities acts as financial advisor and Wiersholm acts as legal advisor to Spectrum. For further information, please contact: Sven Brre Larsen Chief Financial Officer, TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA Tel: +47 909 43 673 About TGS: TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) provides multi-client geoscience data to oil and gas Exploration and Production companies worldwide. In addition to extensive global geophysical and geological data libraries that include multi- client seismic data, magnetic and gravity data, digital well logs, production data and directional surveys, TGS also offers advanced processing and imaging services, interpretation products, and data integration solutions. For more information visit TGS online at www.tgs.com (http://www.tgs.com/). About Spectrum: Spectrum provides innovative Multi-Client seismic surveys and high- quality seismic imaging services to the global oil and gas industry from offices in the Norway, UK, USA, Brazil, Egypt, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. Spectrum designs, acquires and processes seismic data to deliver high quality solutions through its dedicated and experienced workforce. Spectrum holds the world's largest library of Multi-Client 2D marine seismic data and a significant amount of 3D seismic. The company's strategy focuses on both the major, established hydrocarbon-producing regions of the world as well as key frontier areas identified by our experienced team of geoscientists. The Spectrum library of Multi-Client data contains projects from many of the foremost oil producing regions of the world. These include new acquisition, reprocessing and interpretation reports. For more information visit Spectrum online at www.spectrumgeo.com (http://www.spectrumgeo.com/). This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to 5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act) TGS investor presentations (http://hugin.info/86869/R/2243439/885639.pdf) This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: TGS via Globenewswire Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Prime City One Capital Corp. (TSXV: PMO.H) (the "Company" or "Prime City") announces that Gerry Goldberg has resigned his position as a Director of the Corporation. The Company wishes to sincerely thank Mr. Goldberg for his contributions and professional dedication to the Company in the past three years. Forward Looking Statements Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Corporation, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Ying Chen Chief Financial Officer Prime City One Capital Corp. Tel: (647) 300-1581 Email: ying@gravitasfinancial.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 the release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44509 Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Adam S. Aderton has been named Co-Chief of the Division of Enforcement's Asset Management Unit, a national specialized unit that focuses on misconduct by investment advisers, investment companies, and private funds. He succeeds Anthony Kelly, who left the agency in November 2018. Mr. Aderton has brought or supervised enforcement actions that addressed a wide range of misconduct and investor harm across the asset management industry, including the SEC's actions against: Two J.P. Morgan wealth management subsidiaries for failing to disclose conflicts of interest to retail clients Two UBS advisory firms for failing to disclose a change in investment strategy by a closed-end fund they advised Gustavo A. Altuzarra, Christopher R. Chase, and three entities they controlled for using client funds to make unauthorized loans and concealing those loans through fraudulent straw purchaser transactions Crypto Asset Management LP and its principal, Timothy Enneking, for making misrepresentations to investors and causing its advised fund's violations "Adam is a highly respected leader and his broad experience and strong judgment are a tremendous asset. We look forward to working closely with him as co-chief of the Asset Management Unit," said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "I am confident that Adam and his Co-Chief, Dabney O'Riordan, will together provide strong leadership of the Asset Management Unit and continue to deliver results for investors harmed by asset manager misconduct," said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "I am honored to lead the Asset Management Unit with Dabney," said Mr. Aderton. "I have been with the Unit since its inception, and I have tremendous pride in its people, its work, and all it has accomplished so far. I look forward to working with our talented and dedicated colleagues across the country as we continue our work protecting investors in this critical industry." Mr. Aderton joined the SEC in 2008 as a staff attorney in the Division of Enforcement. He joined the Asset Management Unit in 2010, and was promoted to Assistant Director in 2013. Mr. Aderton received the Ellen B. Ross Award in 2013, which recognizes exemplary commitment, enthusiasm, and performance in the fair and effective enforcement of the federal securities laws. Before joining the SEC, Mr. Aderton served as a law clerk to the Honorable J. Frederick Motz on the U.S. District Court in Maryland and then was a securities associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Washington, D.C. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where he was Order of the Coif and his undergraduate degree with highest honors from Truman State University. RICHMOND, Virginia, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Markel Corporation (NYSE: MKL) announced today that Guenter Kryszon will be joining the company as Executive Underwriting Officer for Global Property. Kryszon's appointment is effective May 13, 2019. Most recently Kryszon held an executive position at AIG. In this role, Kryszon will work with the Insurance and Reinsurance divisions, as well as partner with the Nephila and State National teams on corporate initiatives to enhance our property and other first-party portfolios. He will work closely with the Markel teams on issues and initiatives including climate change, capacity, growth, portfolio optimization, and overall results oversight. "We are pleased and proud to be welcoming Guenter to our team. Attracting top industry talent is one of our continuing objectives at Markel, and Guenter brings a wealth of experience and credibility to our team. His remit includes first-party property across the organization, across the globe, and across distribution channels," said Robin Russo, Chief Underwriting Officer. Kryszon will report to Russo. Kryszon is a graduate of Georgia Tech University and will be relocating to work at Markel's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. About Markel Corporation Markel Corporation is a diverse financial holding company serving a variety of niche markets. The Company's principal business markets and underwrites specialty insurance products. In each of the Company's businesses, it seeks to provide quality products and excellent customer service so that it can be a market leader. The financial goals of the Company are to earn consistent underwriting and operating profits and superior investment returns to build shareholder value. Visit Markel Corporation on the web at markelcorp.com. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/73238/markel_event_insurance_markel_logo.jpg Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) ("PSH") today announced that it will hold its quarterly investor conference call on 14 May 2019 at 16:00 BST (11:00 EDT). During the call, CEO Bill Ackman and the other members of the Pershing Square investment team will provide an update on the portfolio and address questions e-mailed in advance by investors to: ir@persq.com. An audio webcast of the conference call will be available on PSH's website at www.pershingsquareholdings.com. The conference call will also be available by phone. The dial-in details will be available at www.pershingsquareholdings.com on 10 May 2019. Following the call, a replay of the event will be available by audio webcast until 29 May 2019 at 4:59 BST (28 May 2019 at 23:59 EDT). To access the audio webcast, please visit PSH's website at www.pershingsquareholdings.com. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005957/en/ Contacts: Media Camarco Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989, media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - This press release is being disseminated as required by National Instrument 62-103 The Early Warning System and Related Take Over Bids and Insider Reporting Issues in connection with the filing of an early warning report (the "Early Warning Report") regarding the acquisition of securities of Must Capital Inc. (TSXV: :MUST.H) (the "Company") by each of Jason Meretsky ("Meretsky") of 121 King Street West, Suite 2150, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 3T9 and Brian Cale Thomas ("Thomas") of 2261 E11 Ave., Vancouver, British Columbia, V5N 1Z7. The address of the Company's registered office is 121 King Street West, Suite 2150, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 3T9. Meretsky entered into a debt conversion agreement with the Company under which Meretsky agreed to settle $103,463.98 of indebtedness in exchange for 1,532,800 common shares in the capital of the Company and 1,532,800 common share purchase warrants. Following the transaction, Meretsky and his affiliates beneficially own 1,532,800 common shares in the capital of the Company and 1,532,800 common share purchase warrants, representing approximately 16.16% of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the Company on a fully-diluted basis. Thomas entered into a debt conversion agreement with the Company under which Thomas agreed to settle $65,745.50 of indebtedness in exchange for 974,007 common shares in the capital of the Company and 974,007 common share purchase warrants. Following the transaction, Thomas and his affiliates beneficially own 974,007 common shares in the capital of the Company and 974,007 common share purchase warrants, representing approximately 10.27% of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the Company on a fully-diluted basis. The warrant certificates issued to each of Meretsky and Thomas contain a restriction on their ability to exercise any warrants that would result in him holding, directly or indirectly, greater than 9.9% of the issued and outstanding common shares until such time as he has filed all necessary documents and completed any other steps required by the TSX Venture Exchange. Meretsky and Thomas should not be considered joint actors. The securities were acquired for investment purposes and each of Meretsky and Thomas may increase or decrease their beneficial ownership or control depending on market or other conditions. This transaction is exempt from the formal take-over provisions of the Securities Act (Ontario) pursuant to section 4.2 of National Instrument 62-104. A copy of the Early Warning Report will be filed on www.SEDAR.com. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44515 Amrapali Group 'cheated everybody including home buyers, banks and authorities and indulged in cartelization to prevent the Debt Recovery Tribunal from auctioning its unencumbered properties', SC said. New Delhi: Amrapali Group has committed a "first degree crime" by cheating thousands of home buyers and no matter how powerful the people behind this mess they will be booked and prosecuted, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. "Fate is written on the wall" for the group and its directors, the top court said while declining to hear their claims of no wrong doing. The embattled real estate firm "cheated everybody including home buyers, banks and authorities and indulged in cartelization to prevent the Debt Recovery Tribunal from auctioning its unencumbered properties", it said. "The limit of your fraud touched the sky." A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit said it cannot believe the justification given by Amrapali for alleged diversion of funds of over Rs 3,500 crore, looking at its dubious conduct. "You have committed a first degree crime by cheating thousands of home buyers. We should have cancelled the licences of statutory auditors of Amrapali for indulging in fraudulent practise long back and sent them to jail. "We are saying in open court that there are powerful people behind this mess but no matter how powerful they are, we will book them and prosecute them. We are not going to spare anybody," the bench said. The hard hitting remarks of the bench came after senior advocates Geeta Luthra and Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for the group, said there was no wrong doing done on their part and there was no diversion of Rs 3,500 crore as claimed by the court appointed forensic auditors. Luthra said forensic auditors have erred on various aspects in their report like they had claimed that not a single penny was invested by directors of Amrapali but in reality Rs 60 to Rs 70 crore was put in by them. "We have to believe the forensic auditors and their report looking at your dubious conduct. We believe them. You (Amrapali) have yourself admitted in your earlier affidavit that Rs 2,990 crore of home buyers money was diverted and now you are claiming that there was no diversion. You have made a peon as your director and he purchases shares worth crores of rupees for Amrapali. Is this not correct," the bench said. Luthra said the group acted in a bonafide manner and in the interest of home buyers but the problems started after the company ran into litigation. Amrapali Group claimed that they had received Rs 11,057 crore from the home buyers and they have constructed five projects in Indirapuram of Delhi-NCR and gave their possession to home buyers. "Your (Amrapali Group and its directors) fate is written on the wall. We are not inclined to hear your bona fide claims looking at your dubious conduct," the bench said. At the outset, the bench also pulled up Bank of Baroda and other lenders, who have given hefty loans to Amrapali Group for failing to monitor and control the diversion and usage of funds by the reality firms. The day-long hearing remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow (2 May). Two forensic auditorsPawan Agrawal and Ravi Bhatiain their fresh report said yesterday that Amrapali has diverted over Rs 3,500 crore of home buyers money to different projects. The top court had allowed the I-T department and the EOW to access the report of forensic auditors in their probe but restrained them from summoning them. Forensic auditors in their fresh supplementary report pointed out that promoters of Amrapali did not invest a single penny in real estate firm and home buyers money was used for the construction of high rise buildings. They pointed out that there were irregularities in the sale of Amrapali's hotels in Bareilly of Uttar Pradesh and Deoghar of Jharkhand. Agrawal had pointed out that funds over Rs 400 crore were diverted through three companies Bihariji Highrise Pvt Ltd, Jotindra Steel and Tubes Ltd and Mauria Udyog Ltd. On 28 February, 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. Post the deal, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will jointly control the combined company, and the transaction is expected to close before the end of 2018-19, subject to statutory approvals. Bharti Airtel and the Vodafone Group Plc may reduce their stakes in a mobile tower joint venture which is expected to be created through the merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers soon, said media reports. According to The Economic Times, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are in discussion with a group led by private equity firm KKR to reduce their stakes to 13 percent each in the company that will be created by the imminent merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Group, which currently own 42 percent each in Indus Towers, will have reduced stakes at 37.2 percent and 29.4 percent respectively after the merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, said the report. Bharti Airtel is expected to raise about Rs 22,400 crore through stake sale, the report added. In April 2018, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group had announced an agreement for the merger of Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel to create the largest mobile tower operator in the world outside China with over 163,000 towers across 22 telecom service areas, said a PTI report. "The combined company, which will fully own the respective businesses of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, will change its name to Indus Towers Limited and will continue to be listed on Indian Stock Exchanges," Bharti Group said while announcing the joint deal. The combined company will own 100 percent of Indus Towers. Indus Towers is currently jointly owned by Bharti Infratel (42 percent holding), Vodafone (42 percent), Idea Group (11.15 percent) and Providence (4.85 percent). Vodafone Idea is expected to raise about Rs 5,500 crore through sale of its 11.15 percent stake in Indus Tower which is to be completed in the next three-four months,a PTI report said quoting a senior company official. Under a contract signed with Bharti Infratel in April 2018, the company has an option to sell the 11.15 percent stake in Indus Tower for cash ahead of the merger of the country's largest mobile tower firm with the Bharti group firm. "As things stand now, that process is in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and expectation is that it should be completed in the next 3-4 months time frame. Before the merger is consummated, we have the right to receive that in cash. The value will fluctuate. The value is dependent on Bharti Infratel (stock) price," Vodafone Idea chief financial officer Akshaya Moondra told PTI. In July last year, Infratel, the mobile tower arm of Bharti Airtel, had received clearance from stock exchanges for its merger with Indus Towers. --With PTI inputs Food business operators have been given three more months, till 31 July, to change labels of their food products to include English nomenclature for 'atta' and 'maida' as wheat flour and refined wheat flour, respectively, according to the food safety regulator FSSAI New Delhi: Food business operators have been given three more months, till 31 July, to change labels of their food products to include English nomenclature for 'atta' and 'maida' as wheat flour and refined wheat flour, respectively, according to the food safety regulator FSSAI. The deadline to comply with the order expired on 30 April. The further extension has been given following a representation by the industry, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said in its latest order. As per the earlier order, food businesses were asked to label 'atta' as whole wheat flour and 'maida' as refined wheat flour wherever it was used singly or as an ingredient in food items. The order had to be issued because the food business operators were using the term 'wheat flour' as English nomenclature for 'maida' on the label of the food products which does not convey the exact nature of ingredient used for manufacturing of various food items to the consumers as well as enforcement officials. However, in the latest order, the FSSAI has not only given three months' extension for compliance, but also tweaked the order slightly to allow usage of the term 'atta' as wheat flour instead of whole wheat flour. In case the labels are in Devanagari script, the businesses are allowed to use the Hindi nomenclature 'atta' and maida' for wheat flour and refined wheat flour, respectively. WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that she has been told by her department officials the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, both based in Quebec. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that she has been told by her department officials the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, both based in Quebec. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Diane Craft) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, both based in Quebec. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. 'We have to look into this,' she said by phone from Ottawa By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, both based in Quebec. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved. "We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I cant speculate on why the permits have been suspended." 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. Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Bibeau said she did not know when the pork permit suspensions took effect. Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Diane Craft and G Crosse) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. ADB committed $3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986. Nadi (Fiji): India was the biggest recipient of funds from Asian Development Bank last year and would continue to get sovereign loans in excess of USD 3 billion in 2019 as well, the bank's President Takehiko Nakao said. The multilateral funding institution committed $3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986. "We will continue to lend this kind of level (during 2019)," he said at the 52nd annual meeting of the bank here. Also, the growing debt-GDP ratio is coming down and provides more space for lending, he added. He said ABD will continue to make investment in rural connectivity, urban development and skill development, among others. India received nearly 25 percent of the total loans sanctioned last year. New commitments included $21.6 billion in loans, grants and investments from ADB's own resources, exceeding the target of $19.71 billion and up 10 percent from 2017. The Manila-headquartered bank committed several projects in India, including in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Odisha. On the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China, Nakao said BRI is a very natural idea to expand the connection between East Asia, Central Asia, Europe and Africa but the investment should generate good returns. "There are merits overinvestment but at the same time we have to be careful...we must find good project with good return, even if the lending is to the government. Each identified project should have a sound economic grant with good returns...and also we should pay attention to social and environmental impact," he said. Otherwise, there could be issues with regard to investment, he said, adding, Chinese authorities should pay more attention to these issues. India has opposed the idea of BRI. It is the only country among the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to have raised serious objection to this initiative of China. India's concern is centred on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, which India considers disputed territories. Gold demand stood at 151.5 tonne in the first quarter of 2018, according to WGC's Q1 Gold Demand Trends' report Mumbai: India's gold demand rose 5 percent to 159 tonne during January-March period this year on fall in prices that boosted jewellery sales during wedding season, a World Gold Council (WGC) report says. Gold demand stood at 151.5 tonne in the first quarter of 2018, according to WGC's Q1 Gold Demand Trends' report. In terms of value, there was a 13 percent growth during the quarter at Rs 47,010 crore compared to Rs 41,680 crore in the same period last year. "The strengthening of the rupee and the fall in local gold prices towards the later part of the quarter triggered a rise in Q1 gold demand to 159 tonne. Growth of 5 percent in Indian jewellery demand to 125.4 tonne uplifted global demand and boosted retail sentiment. "The increase in auspicious wedding days during the quarter to 21 days from 8 in the same period of 2018 also played a crucial role in increase in demand," WGC managing director, India, Somasundaram PR told PTI in Mumbai. Gold prices dropped to Rs 32,000 per 10 grams by the first week of March, he added. Also, he said, there was a jump in volume following stringent checking during the ongoing elections controlled the grey market, which benefitted the organised retail industry. "Smuggling has come down, however structurally nothing has changed. Unless some policy decision is taken like reducing the Customs Duty to a reasonable level the grey market will bounce back after the elections," he added. Total jewellery demand in the first quarter was up by 5 percent at 125.4 tonne compared to 119.2 tonne in the corresponding period of 2018. In value, jewellery demand grew by 13 percent to Rs 37,070 crore against Rs 32,790 crore in the same quarter of 2018. Total Investment demand for Q1 2019 was up by 4 percent at 33.6 tonne from 32.3 tonne in the same period of 2018. In value terms, gold investment demand went up by 12 percent to Rs 9,940 crore from Rs 8,890 crore in first quarter of 2018. The stronger rupee benefited investors, with demand for gold bars and coins in the first quarter, Somasundaram said. Total gold recycled in the country also grew by 14 percent in the first quarter of 2019 to 16.1 tonne compared to 14.1 tonne in Q1 2018. Going forward, Somasundaram said, demand is likely to be boosted in second quarter due to traditional wedding season buying, the Akshaya Tritiya festival and rising crop prices. "In addition, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast of a normal monsoon this year which augurs well for the rural economy and gold. The gold prices are also expected to remain attractive to boost consumer sentiment," he added. Talking about import, Somasundaram said, the shipments into the country grew by 11 percent to 175 tonne compared to 157 tonne in the same period of 2018. "Demand is likely to be more in the higher end of 750 to 850 tonne in 2019. But it may not be driven by imports. Further manufacturing will be way ahead of demand," he added. Foreign funds investment in Indian real estate rose 81 percent to Rs 11,338 crore in the first quarter of 2019 calendar year from Rs 6,260 crore in the year-ago period New Delhi: Indian real estate sector attracted investment of Rs 17,682 crore in the January-March period, highest quarterly funding since 2008, on strong inflows from foreign investors in commercial assets, according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. The investment was up by 7 percent from Rs 16,528 crore in the corresponding period last year. Foreign funds investment in Indian real estate rose 81 percent to Rs 11,338 crore in the first quarter of 2019 calendar year from Rs 6,260 crore in the year-ago period, the data showed. "Higher participation of foreign investors this quarter is a signal towards a sustained interest in the country's real estate story backed by increasing transparency and friendly investment policies," Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) India Country Head & Managing Director Anshul Jain said in a statement. Office and retail segments continued to attract high investment, he said, adding that the warehousing/logistics segment was also providing opportunities for investors. "The first successful REIT (real estate investment trust) listing has opened another avenue for investors to participate in the momentum visible in office markets while also reinforcing the attractiveness of Indian realty," Jain said. Asset-wise, C&W said the housing segment got 57 percent less investment during the January-March quarter of 2019 at Rs 3,697 crore from Rs 8,518 crore in the year-ago period. The funding inflow in the residential sector got affected owing to liquidity issues of NBFCs which have been a major source of refinancing and lending to this asset class in last 4-5 years, the consultant said. Investment in office properties rose to Rs 7,925 crore from Rs 6,100 crore during the period under review. Hospitality segment got Rs 3,950 crore in the first quarter of 2019, an over the three-fold jump from the year-ago period at Rs 1,200 crore. Investment flow in retail real estate jumped to Rs 1,000 crore from Rs 250 crore, and that of in mixed-use projects to Rs 350 crore from Rs 110 crore. Industrial segment (warehousing and logistics) received Rs 760 crore as against Rs 350 crore during the review period. The Jet Airways management is reportedly creating a database of the employee profiles and sharing them with prospective companies, said the report quoting several persons in the know of the matter. After more airlines including Vistara and SpiceJet came forward to hire employees of the temporarily grounded Jet Airways, the embattled airline has reportedly approached various firms including its peers seeking jobs for its employees, said a media report. Jet Airways chief people officer, Rahul Taneja, has reportedly been in talks with his counterparts at Vistara and SpiceJet besides the e-commerce companies like Amazon in bid to persuade them to accommodate its employees, especially the cabin crew, said a report in The Economic Times. The Jet Airways management is reportedly creating a database of the employee profiles and sharing them with prospective companies, said the report quoting several persons in the know of the matter. After unsuccessfully looking for an investor or fresh bank loans for months, Jet Airways had finally on 17 April stopped operations, leaving over 22,000 employees in the lurch. Of these, around 1,300 are pilots and over 2,000 are cabin crew. Last month, a former cabin crew of Jet Airways, Amit B Wadhwani, who now runs a Mumbai-based real estate consultancy Sai Estate Consultants, offered jobs to the staff of his former firm, said a Hindu Business Line report. His company has also listed out the posts for which Jet employees can apply, the report said. Vistara to hire 500 Jet Airways employees Last month, premium carrier Vistara said it would hire around 500 employees 100 pilots and 400 cabin crew mostly from the grounded Jet Airways in one of its largest hiring exercise since it began operations over three years ago, PTI reported quoting industry and airline sources. "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 Airways," said a source familiar with the matter. The grounding of Jet Airways has come as an opportunity for the market to hire readily-available skilled workforce from the licenced categories pilots, engineers and cabin crew and deploy them directly into specifics roles, thereby saving time and money on training them, they said. 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 Airways to expand its international footprint. Last month, SpiceJet's chairman and managing director (CMD) Ajay Singh had said that his airline hired about 1,000 employees of Jet Airways. He added that SpiceJet was happy to provide jobs to Jet Airways' employees, besides reducing inconvenience to flyers. A couple of days after the SpiceJet chief said that his firm provided jobs to the employees of Jet Airways, a controversy erupted after a Spicejet official allegedly told some Jet Airways pilots during a recent recruitment drive in Mumbai that they were doing a "charity" by hiring them, a PTI report said. SpiceJet, however, denied the allegations as "completely false and distorted," and said its team was in the city to hire pilots and not to run them down. The Spicejet official also allegedly told Jet Airways pilots that his carrier was losing huge money by hiring them as first officers as if they recruited fresher pilots, they would have got Rs 25 lakh per pilot besides a bond for Rs 25 lakh as well, the source said. Jet Airways technician commits suicide Last month, a senior technician with Jet Airways allegedly committed suicide in Maharashtra's Palghar district due to depression as he was suffering from cancer, police said on Saturday. Shailesh Singh (45) jumped off the terrace of his four-storeyed building in Nalasopara East on 26 April, an official said. As per functionaries of Jet Airways Staff and Employees Association, however, Singh was facing "financial constraints" as employees of the grounded airline have not got salaries for a long time. NAG seeks Modi's intervention for salary On 27 April, the National Aviator's Guild (NAG), which represents pilots of the grounded carrier Jet Airways, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "direct" the airline's lender State Bank of India (SBI) to release one month's salary of all the employees. In an e-mail to the prime minister, the guild also sought government's directive to "stop de-registration" of the airline's aircraft, which are now being leased by other domestic carriers. Employees' consortium to bid for airline Meanwhile, an employees' consortium proposed to take over the airline with at least Rs 3,000 crore expected from outside investors for the bid, said a PTI report quoting two staff unions. This is the first time that employees have come together with a proposal to run the more than 25-year-old Jet Airways, which temporarily suspended operations on 17 April. Last month, two associations representing pilots and engineers SWIP and JAMEVA wrote to State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar proposing that they would take over the airline and could bring in up to Rs 7,000 crore. With PTI inputs Three of the four qualified bidders - Etihad Airways, TPG Capital and Indigo Partners - have not signed non-disclosure agreements which are necessary for conducting due diligence Bidders for Jet Airways Ltd have not shown interest in following up on their offers for the debt-laden airline with a few days left to submit their final bids, a media report said on Thursday. A bankers' consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI) had invited bids for selling anywhere between 31 and 75 percent stake in the airline as part of the resolution plan for Jet Airways. According to The Economic Times, three of the four qualified biddersEtihad Airways, TPG Capital and Indigo Partnershave not signed non-disclosure agreements which are necessary for conducting due diligence. The bidders have until 10 May to submit their offers. The reason that are prompted bidders to pull out of the stake buy process was reportedly the governments decision to allocate the beleaguered airline's flight slots to rival airlines. Interestingly, soon after Jet Airways announced it was suspending operations temporarily on 17 April following acute liquidity crunch, each bidder reportedly had internal discussions to assess if there was any value left in the airline for a new investor, said the report. Etihad, which was keen to buy controlling stake in Jet Airways, has reportedly had a second thought with the investment process as it could not find any value left in the embattled airline, said a Business Standard report. "Etihad also lacks the financial strength to infuse funds for reviving Jet Airways," said the report quoting a source in the know of the matter. Jet management has also been trying to tap Indias biggest business houses for investment, the newspaper said. They have met executives at Mahindra, Adani, Tata group and Reliance Industries in the last two weeks, but none of the conglomerates has responded positively, the ET report said. Jet Airways, Etihad Airways, TPG Capital, Adani, Tata and Reliance did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Indigo Partners and Mahindra group were not immediately reachable for comment. Shares of Jet Airways Ltd tumbled over 20 percent to a decade low on Thursday. Jets stock was trading at 125.90 rupees at 11.06 am. Jet, once Indias largest private airline, was forced to stop all flight operations on 17 April after its banks rejected the carriers plea for emergency funds. At its peak, Jet operated over 120 planes and well over 600 daily flights. The airline has roughly 16,000 employees. Jet Airways will soon be asked to vacate the office space occupied by the airline at the terminals of all Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports, CNBC-TV18 said on Wednesday. AAI, which manages around 125 airports in the country, has reportedly asked all its airports to get the space vacated as soon as possible and submit progress reports on the same by Thursday. As many as 440 slots are vacant at Delhi and Mumbai airports which will be allocated to other airlines in a transparent manner, a senior official had said last month. The grounding of planes by Jet Airways has resulted in capacity reduction in the domestic sector, which has also led to a spurt in airfares in many sectors. There are 280 vacant slots at Mumbai and over 160 at the Delhi airport. These two aerodromes are among the busiest in the country. Once allotted, an airline can keep the slot for one flying season or six months and Jet Airways can reclaim the slots if it is revived by the end of the flying season, the source said. The current flying season ends on 26 October, according to the Indian aviation regulators website. IndiGo, the country's biggest airline, has been rapidly inducting new Airbus SE A320neos into its fleet in recent months. In April, low-cost airline SpiceJet pledged to add 27 planes , adding it would launch 24 new flights from Mumbai and Delhi. The industry is currently facing severe shortage of capacity and SpiceJet remains committed to make all possible efforts to minimize passenger inconvenience, said Ajay Singh, SpiceJets chairman. On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to Jet Airways regarding a plea seeking a full refund of the airfare to the passengers who were affected by the suspension of the airline's service. The bench led by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani also sought a reply from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation in this regard. The plea was filed by advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi on behalf of petitioner Bejon Kumar Mishra. It sought prompt resolution to all the affected passengers by a full refund of the amount in respect of their booked air ticket or accommodation in other flights. With agency inputs Etihad is here to lubricate its international operations emanating from its hub Abu Dhabi When the chips are down, it is natural for one to become hysterical. Much the same is evident from the outburst of the peeved Jet Airways pilots. They have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to probe conspiracy between State Bank of India (SBI) and Etihad to sabotage Jet Airways and bring its flights down to a screeching halt. What they are, perhaps, hinting at is that SBI was roped in to engineer a share market collapse of Jet Airways shares so that Etihad could acquire cheap some 25 percent more stake from the hitherto 24 percent to become the dominant shareholder. While this is purely speculative bordering on the hysterical, there is an element, albeit superficial, of truth in what they further allege while Naresh Goyal, the promoter pledged his shares to line up a fresh line of credit of Rs 1,500 crore, which incidentally SBI is not ready to cough up, Etihad hasnt extended a helping hand to Jet Airways in its hour of existential crisis. It may be mentioned that as per the extant foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, FDI in aviation sector is permitted under the automatic route up to 49 percent by foreign airlines and possibly beyond this with government approval on case-to-case basis. Foreign investment history bears ample testimony to their selfish stance. Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) are the first to flee the domestic stock market at the first hint of trouble. They not only trigger a panic selling in the domestic bourses but also a foreign exchange crisis with the demand for the greenback weakening the Indian rupee. That is why discerning observers aver that opening up the Indian bourses to foreign investment was not exactly an unadulterated blessing. While it brings in foreign exchange no doubt, its quality is suspect hot money that can flee India as quickly as it came. Recently, the redoubtable PepsiCo has sued its contractual Gujarat farmers to pay up Rs 1 crore each for violation of its intellectual property rights (IPR) when all that they have done is use the seeds for their own crops. The US multinationals zealously guard their property rights. Cadbury India went private a decade ago by delisting its shares that were the darling of Indian investors after having dug itself in with the capital supplied by them on initial public offering (IPO) in a manner of fair weather friend kick off the ladder after climbing. Honda decoupling itself from Hero is very well recorded. TVS also learnt bitter lessons from its collaboration with the US consumer durable major Whirlpool when its washing machine joint venture was called off soon after its launch. The refrain is foreign collaborators kick off the Indian partners as soon as they find their bearings in India. The point is Etihad is here to lubricate its international operations emanating from its hub Abu Dhabi. It finds Jet Airways useful to ferry Indian passengers to Abu Dhabi for onward journey to the American and European destinations just as Emirates does from its hub Dubai. In the event, the Jet Airways pilots cannot expect Etihads heart to bleed for them. In any case, pledging dud shares does not bring in dollops of cash. It is significant to note that SBI is hemming and hawing about further loans on shares pledged by Goyal precisely for this reason it finds no security in them because the intrinsic value of Jet Airways shares is in the negative though the market price is positive thanks to the quirks of the share market. It wants solid guarantees and collaterals for further loans. Once smitten twice shy. When SBI perceived as savior of anyone in financial trouble can gird its loins, Etihad can be expected to be more circumspect. Etihad is playing a waiting game. It covets majority stakes of Jet Airways but is not overly zealous to jump in immediately. It wants the market price of Jet Airways shares to plummet before stepping in to up its stakes to 50.1 percent from the present 24 percent. (The writer is a senior columnist and tweets @smurlidharan) Maruti Suzuki which has over 50% 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. New Delhi: The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported 18.7 percent decline in its domestic sales in April, beginning the new fiscal with a slump. The auto major, which has over 50 percent 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. Sales of mini cars comprising Alto declined by 39.8 percent 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 percent 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 percent 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 percent 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 percent in the domestic market but could manage only 6.1 percent. On the other hand, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) posted 23 percent 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 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 percent 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 21 percent decline in sales last month at 59,137 units compared with 74,627 units in April 2018. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday allowed the banks to declare as non-performing assets the accounts of IL&FS and its group companies that have defaulted on payments New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday allowed the banks to declare as non-performing assets the accounts of IL&FS and its group companies that have defaulted on payments. A bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya lifted the embargo on the banks to declare the accounts of the debt-ridden IL&FS and its 300 group entities. However, the appellate tribunal has also clarified that although the banks would declare the IL&FS accounts as NPAs but can not initiate the recovery process and debit money. The bench has observed that lenders must not withdraw support until a resolution is found of the IL&FS and its group companies. Presently, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Group companies, with a collective debt of over Rs 90,000 crore, are going through the resolution process. The NCLAT had in February prohibited banks from recognising any IL&FS group accounts as non-performing assets without first seeking approval from the tribunal. The RBI had moved the NCLAT, filing a plea to modify the order allowing the banks to declare the defaulting accounts of IL&FS as NPAs as per the banking regulations. Now, all group companies of IL&FS are being classified according to their ability to meet payment obligations. Those able to meet all payment obligations are categorised as 'green' while companies able to meet only operational payments and senior secured debt obligations are categorised as 'amber'. Others are categorised as 'red'. PepsiCo in April sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety FC5 grown exclusively for its popular Lays potato chips PepsiCo Inc said on Thursday it will withdraw its lawsuit against four Indian potato farmers accused of infringing its patent, a PepsiCo India spokesman said. After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers, said the spokesman. PepsiCo in April sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety FC5 grown exclusively for its popular Lays potato chips. PepsiCo has been in India for the last 30 years. Over the years, the Company has developed a best in class collaborative potato farming program which has benefited thousands of farmers across the country. The program which included several market awareness initiatives has resulted in farmers getting access to higher yields, enhanced quality, training in best-in-class practices and better prices, all leading to improved livelihoods. To safeguard the larger interest of farmers, PepsiCo India was compelled to take judicial recourse to protect its registered variety. PepsiCo from the very start had also offered an amicable settlement to farmers. After discussions with the Government, the Company has agreed to withdraw cases against farmers. We are relying on the said discussions to find a long term and an amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection. The company remains deeply committed to the thousands of farmers we work with across the country and towards ensuring adoption of best farming practices, PepsiCo India spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. The snack food and drinks maker last week said it wants to amicably settle the issue. New York-based company had said the four farmers had to either sell their potatoes to PepsiCo or stop cultivating the FC5 potato variety. In return, PepsiCo said it would withdraw the suit filed against the farmers. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips. PepsiCo maintains that it developed the FC5 variety, which has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips, and registered the trait in 2016. In April, the company filed the lawsuit in a court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, requesting the court to retrain the four farmers from growing the FC5 variety. The court has asked the farmers not to use the variety until the next hearing scheduled for 12 June. The court also appointed an officer to examine the issue. With inputs from Reuters No-frills carrier SpiceJet Thursday announced launch of 19 more flights connecting the city with various other domestic destinations, beginning the weekend Mumbai: No-frills carrier SpiceJet Thursday announced launch of 19 more flights connecting the city with various other domestic destinations, beginning the weekend. This the fourth time SpiceJet has been expanding its network in less than a month, particularly since the grounding of Jet Airways last month. With these additional flights, since 1 April, SpiceJet has added 65 new flights which includes 40 flights connecting Mumbai, 10 connecting Delhi and eight flights connecting Mumbai and Delhi, as per the release. All the new flights will be operational daily, except the services on the Mumbai-Kochi-Mumbai sector, which will be operational all days except Tuesdays, the airline said. With the new flights, its connectivity to Madurai, Jammu, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Jaipur and Guwahati with Mumbai will improve considerably, the airline added. "We are taking all measures to deal with the shortage of capacity in the market. With these new and additional flights, we aim to minimise the inconvenience caused to passengers due to the ongoing crisis in the industry," said Shilpa Bhatia, chief sales and revenue officer. As part of this latest expansion, SpiceJet will provide connectivity to Madurai from Mumbai with a direct daily flight, the first by any domestic low-cost airline, the release said. Besides, the airline has also introduced new flights on the Mumbai-Jammu (via Srinagar), Mumbai-Dehradun-Mumbai and Mumbai-Guwahati-Mumbai sectors. It also said the operations on the Mumbai-Srinagar, Mumbai-Coimbatore-Mumbai, Mumbai-Kochi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Jaipur-Mumbai are being scaled up by adding a second direct flight on these routes. Additionally, the airline has also enhanced operations on Srinagar-Jammu route with a third frequency and on Mumbai-Chennai-Mumbai route with an additional fourth flight. The ariline will deploy Boeing 737s on these routes. The report said tax collections are not giving 'much comfort', and just corroborate the fact that a number of activity indicators have been signaling a slowdown in parts of the economy. Mumbai: The number of people filing income tax returns has declined by a full 1 percent in fiscal 2019, despite the increased government focus to broaden the base, indicating a deepening slowdown in the overall economy, says a brokerage report. It can be noted that the government has been pointing to the enlarged tax base as a benefit of the controversial demonetisation move it undertook in 2016, which had a debilitating impact on the economy. Citing official data, a report by brokerage Kotak Securities said on Wednesday that only 66.8 million returns were filed in FY19 as against 67.5 million in the previous fiscal, which is down 1 percent. "This is surprising given that post-demonetisation, it was expected that the tax base would continue to increase," the note said and warned that such a happening is a worry from the fiscal math perspective. The report warned that the falling tax numbers do not offer "much comfort" to the overall macro economy, as this corroborates the fact that a number of economic activity indicators are signaling a slowdown in parts of the economy. The report questions whether compliance was weaker in the latter part of FY19 and said it expects the new government will aim at increasing the filings and collections in FY20. "The government needs to look at further expanding the tax base (optimally using the data repository from note-ban and GST). Without a significant improvement in the tax base, the medium-term growth path will be at risk," it warned. The brokerage said there has been an increase in the filers in the higher income brackets and that data analytics will hold the key from here on. A relatively muted tax filing growth will create further headwinds in an already stressed fiscal space, it said, adding the commitment of cash transfers in the budget can take the fiscal math on a "slippery slope" unless there is expenditure rationalisation. It said the tax collections are not giving "much comfort", and just corroborate the fact that a number of activity indicators have been signaling a slowdown in parts of the economy. By Ben Blanchard and Tom Daly BEIJING (Reuters) - 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 By Ben Blanchard and Tom Daly BEIJING (Reuters) - 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 in Wednesday, China's top banking and insurance regulator said the government would further open up its banking and insurance sectors. (Reporting by Tom Daly and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Jon Boyle and David Gregorio) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Students can check their CBSE Class 12 results on google.com, using the myCBSE app available on Google Play and also using an SMS service. CBSE Class 12 Result 2019: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared results of Class 12 today (Thursday, 2 May). The results are available on the official website cbse.nic.in and cbseresults.nic.in. Since a large number of students are trying to login to the official websites to check their results, it is possible that some students may face difficulty in accessing them. But students must not panic. While the temporary glitch is being fixed, there are alternative ways that students can check their Class 12 scores. Follow LIVE updates here Students can use the myCBSE app available on Google Play to check their results. They have to pre-register for it. Google has also partnered with CBSE to make it easier for students to find their results and other exam-related information. All students have to do is go to google.com and type CBSE result to get the pertinent link. Those unable to access the results via the internet can avail an SMS service. Students can also view their results on the UMANG mobile application and by sending an SMS cbse12
to 7738299899. The board will also provide Class 12 digital marksheets on DigiLocker at digilocker.gov.in. This year, as well, Microsoft will host the CBSE results through the SMS Organizer app. To avail this service, students have to pre-register on SMS Organizer. Once CBSE announced the results, students or their parents will get the result even if they are not connected to the internet. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli was 'highly condemnable', and Naxalism is a strong challenge 'for the entire country'. Raipur: Following the improvised explosive device (IED) blast carried out by Maoists in neighbouring Maharashtra Wednesday that killed 15 policemen and a civilian driver, a high alert has been sounded in Chhattisgarh. "A high alert has been issued to all district superintendents of police," Director General of Police DM Awasthi said. Of the 27 districts in Chhattisgarh, eight are considered as highly Naxal-affected. "Very soon I will convene a meeting of senior police officials in Bastar to discuss what new anti-Naxal strategy could be adopted in the wake of this attack (in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli) and other (recent) incidents (in Chhattisgarh)," he said. A senior police official involved in anti-Naxal operations told PTI that patrolling has been intensified along the interstate borders, and security around police stations and camps located in interior forests of Bastar has been beefed up. Security forces have been asked to be cautious while travelling in vehicles and carry de-mining to detect IEDs, he said. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli was "highly condemnable and painful", and Naxalism is a strong challenge "for the entire country which has to be tackled jointly". Congress on Thursday claimed that six surgical strikes were conducted by the army under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. Congress on Thursday claimed that six surgical strikes were conducted by the army under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. In a press conference, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla claimed that six surgical strikes were conducted under the UPA regime while two took place during the tenure of late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, reported Times Now. CNN-News18 further reported that Congress stated that the first surgical strike took place on 19 June, 2008 at the Bhattal sector in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch. The second occurred on 30 August to 1 September, 2011 at Sharda sector in Kel. The third strike, as claimed by the Congress, took place on 6 January, 2013 at the Sawan Patra checkpost. The fourth took place on 27 to 28 July, 2013 at the Nazapir sector, while the fifth took place at Neelam Valley on 6 August, 2013. Congress claimed that the sixth surgical strike under the UPA regime took place on 23 Demeber, 2013. Earlier on Thursday, former prime minister Manmohan Singh in an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times said that "multiple surgical strikes" were conducted during UPA's tenure but the Indian government at that time did not need to ride on the achievements of the army. "Let me remind you that our armed forces were always given a free hand to operationally respond to every threat. Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises." "In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces. Such attempts to politicise our forces are shameful and unacceptable. All this is being done to draw the attention away from unpardonable failures of Modi government on the economic front, on jobs, on rural distress, on MSMEs and the informal sector," the former prime minister told Hindustan Times. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and several BJP leaders have hit out at Manmohan over his government's allegedly ineffective handling of terror. Shah especially has referred to Manmohan as "mauni baba" which literally translates to "mute saint" multiple times at campaign rallies. In his interview, however, Manmohan seems to have broken his silence and responded conclusively to charges that his government was soft on terror. The extreme severe cyclonic storm Fani that will hit Odisha coast near Puri Friday is likely to affect over 10,000 villages and 52 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in 14 districts of the state Bhubaneswar: The extreme severe cyclonic storm Fani that will hit Odisha coast near Puri Friday is likely to affect over 10,000 villages and 52 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in 14 districts of the state. During a review meeting on Fani, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi had informed Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik about the same in Bhubaneswar on Thursday evening. As per latest bulletin of IMD, the cyclonic storm is moving northwards with a speed of about 15 kilometres per hour and lay centred at about 275 kilometres south-southwest of Puri (Odisha), 160 kilometres east-southeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 570 kilometres south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal). Click here for LIVE UPDATES on CYCLONE FANI It is very likely to move nearly north north-eastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri tomorrow with maximum sustained wind speed 170-180 kilometres per hour gusting to 200 kilometres per hour. Areas to be severely affected Under its impact, storm surge of about 1.5 metres height above astronomical tide is very likely to inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts at the time of landfall, sources in the office of SRC said. The forecast given by IMD indicates that Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurdha, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Balasore districts of Odisha are likely to be severely affected. Kutcha houses, communication and power poles to be hit Based on damage assessment by the SRC officce, the cyclone is expected to cause extensive damage to all types of kutcha houses and some damage to old badly managed pucca structures. The state is having thousands of kutcha houses in the districts which are likely to be severely affected by the cyclone, especially in Ganjam, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Puri districts. ESCS FANI is about 275 km south-southwest of Puri .To move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, south of Puri on 3rd May F/N with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph . Landfall process will continue till noon/afternoon of 3rd May. pic.twitter.com/oHGJTvUHCr India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 2, 2019 Extensive uprooting of communication and power poles in coastal and adjourning districts is also expected. The SRC has also said that disruption of rail/road link is likely at several places in the districts of Puri, Ganjam, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur. Besides, extensive damage to standing crops, plantation, orchards; blowing down of palm and coconut trees; uprooting of large bushy trees is also expected. However, considering paddy harvest season is most over, there might be less impact on farmers due to cyclone. Heavy rainfall to commence from midnight The office of the SRC also notified rainfall assessment for Odisha starting midnight. 2 MAY, midnight onwards: Heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely at a few places over Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khordha, Koraput, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts with isolated extremely heavy rainfall over the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, the office of SRC said, adding that intense heavy rainfall likely to commence from midnight. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over districts of Nayagrh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bodh (intense rainfall likely to commence from late night) and Malkangiri (intense rain started from evening). 3 May: Heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely at a few places over the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khordha, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Balasore, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj with isolated extremely heavy rainfall over districts of Puri, Khurdha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Balasore and Mayurbhanj. 4 May: Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the districts of Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Balasore, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj of Odisha. Preparedness measures undertaken by Odisha govt The intensity of cyclone Titli that had hit Odisha in last October was much below than the Fani. But, it had caused a loss of about Rs 2,765 crore and affected 60.11 lakh people. Apart from severe damage to infrastructure, the cyclone and floods had taken 57 lives. It had damaged crop in 2.6 lakh hectare of land and destroyed 56,930 houses, and killed 34,951 domestic animals, as per the estimation made by Odisha Government. To mitigate the natural disaster, the Odisha government has taken all necessary actions and deployed 18 teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), 25 units of NDRF and 525 teams of fire service personnel at various districts where the likely impact will be more, spokesperson to SRC, Sangram Mohapatra said. Besides, two ODRAF units and three NDRF teams are on standby for immediate deployment as per requirement. Fire Service in all the districts are in readiness for immediate response, he said. Collectors in the all coastal and adjoining districts of Gajapati, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj have been advised to identify all vulnerable people living in kutcha houses or living near the coast or in low lying areas and shift them to multipurpose cyclone/ flood shelters and other safe shelters. Out of 11.5 lakh people identified as vulnerable, 4.5 lakh have been evacuated till evening and the process is going on. According to latest reports, over 11 lakh people had been evacuated. District Emergency Operation Centres and control rooms of other offices have been activated and functioning round the clock. Departmental helpline numbers: Department Helpline number State EOD 2534177/1070 Industries 2535670 CE FC & BM LMB WR 2395951/2395953 RD 2390921 F&ARD 2531771 W&CD&MS 2394810 ST&SC 2536672/2322757 Home 2322511 School and Mass Education 2393531 BMC 2431253 A&FRD 2394907 Energy 2391399 Districtwise control room numbers: District Helpline number Angul 06764-230980 Balasore 06782-262286/262647 Baragarh 06646-232112 Bhadrak 06784-251881 Bolangir 06652-232452/230969 Boudh 06841-222023 Cuttack 0671-2507842, 9337419494 Deogarh 06641-226843 Dhenkanal 96762-226507,221376 Gajapati 06815-222943 Ganjam 06811-263978 Jagatsinghpur 06724-220368 Jajpur 06728-222648 Jharsuguda 06645-272902/271692 Kalahandi 06670-230455 Kandhamal 06842-253650/255602 Kendrapara 06727-232803 Keonjhar 06766-255437 Khurda 06755-220002 Koraput 06852-251381 Malkangiri 06861-230442/231372 Mayurbhanj 06792-252759 Nawarangapur 06858-222434 Nayagarh 06753-252978 Naupada 06678-225357 Puri 06752-223237 Rayagada 06856-224062,224082 Sambalpur 0663-2412407 Subarnapur 06654-220362 Sundargarh 06622-272233 A total of 879 multi-purpose cyclone/ flood shelters have been kept in readiness for sheltering people to be evacuated from the affected areas. Arrangements have already been made for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation facilities at the shelters, Mohapatra said. Two helicopters have already been requisitioned from Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, for rescue and the choppers are kept ready. Besides, senior IAS and IPS officers have already been assigned to districts likely to be severely affected to render all possible support to the district collectors in managing the cyclone. The government has also kept 5,97,006 numbers of polythene stocks (1,84,000 buffer stock at the state level and 4,12,541 available in 30 districts) for distribution in cyclone-affected areas. One lakh food packets are being prepared for air dropping while 55 satellite phones have been provided to districts and response forces are in readiness for emergency communication. The author is a Bangalore based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. Today's top stories: Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal brace for Cyclone Fani; politics has erupted over the timing of JeM chief Masood Azhar's designation as a UN terrorist; EC has issued a showcause notice to Rahul Gandhi; and more. Odisha, Andhra, Bengal brace for Cyclone Fani The Indian Railways cancelled 81 trains and diverted two more a day before Cyclone Fani is expected to make landfall, on Friday. The cyclone is likely to affect 19 districts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Tourists, meanwhile, have been asked to leave Puri. Heavy rains are very likely at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya. A total of 47 flood rescue and relief teams have been positioned in 25 vulnerable and coastal areas of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to meet any eventuality arising due to the cyclone. In addition, 24 teams are on alert at bases of the National Disaster Response Force. A red alert has been sounded in Srikakulam district of north coastal Andhra Pradesh. Politics over timing of Masood Azhar listing In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations Security Council has designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the United States, the United Kingdom and France to blacklist him. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to tweet thanks to "the global community and all those who believe in humanitarian values for their support" for this listing. BJP president Amit Shah and several other party leaders credited Modi for Azhar's listing. Shah said Modi's diplomatic efforts led to the UN's decision as he pitched for his "strong and decisive" leadership. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leaders Omar Abdullah said on Twitter, "Every time the BJP campaign seems to be flagging, it gets a shot in the arm. The Masood Azhar development in the UN today couldnt have come at a better time for the Modi jis re-election campaign." Abdullah also questioned why references to the Pulwama terror attack and Azhar's role Kashmir were dropped in the UN resolution. Congress, too, noted its "disappointment" over no mention of the JeM chief's role in the Pulwama terror attack in the UN resolution. EC issues notice to Rahul over comment on Modi The Election Commission on Wednesday issued a showcause notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks that the Narendra Modi government has enacted a new law that allows tribals to be shot at. Citing his speech made in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, on 23 April, the poll panel pointed at a provision of the Model Code of Conduct that bars "unverified" allegations to be levelled against political opponents. Rahul has been given 48 hours to respond to the notice, failing which the Election Commission will take action without further reference to him. Rahul, Priyanka, Sonia on campaign trail in Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh The Congress president and his sister, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have a long day of campaigns ahead. Rahul is expected to address public meetings at Simdega in Jharkhand and Jaipur in Rajasthan. Priyanka is scheduled to hold small meetings at Bela Bhela, Kuchariya Rahi, Jagatpur, Chadrai Chauraha, Babuganj, Unchahar, Batohi, Matinganj, Gadaganj, Kanaha, Do Sadka Lalganj and Bhojpur Tiraha. She is expected to be joined by their mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at Sareni in the evening for a joint rally. BJP president Amit Shah is expected to address rallies in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh, Neemuch and Sehore. Woman killed by gunfire during Venezuela protests A 27-year-old woman died on Wednesday night at a Venezuelan clinic after being shot in the head during anti-government protests in Caracas, AFP reported a human rights organisation as having said. "We condemn the murder of the youth Jurubith Rausseo" who was hit by a "bullet in the head during a demonstration," NGO Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said on Twitter. The incident took place on the same day UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked Venezuela authorities not to use deadly force against demonstrators, after Opposition leader Juan Guaido called for protests against President Nicolas Maduro. Guterres spoke separately with Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza late on Tuesday and to aides to Guaido after clashes earlier on Tuesday left dozens injured in response to Guaido's call for the military to rise up against Maduro. SC holds Amrapali Group guilty of 'first-degree crime' by cheating home buyers The Amrapali Group has committed a "first-degree crime" by cheating thousands of home buyers, and no matter how powerful the people behind this mess, they will be booked and prosecuted, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. "Fate is written on the wall" for the group and its directors, the top court said, while declining to hear their claims of no wrongdoing. The embattled real estate firm "cheated everybody, including home buyers, banks and authorities, and indulged in cartelisation to prevent the Debt Recovery Tribunal from auctioning its unencumbered properties", the court said. "The limit of your fraud touched the sky." IPL 2019: Playoffs spot at stake, Sunrisers Hyderabad face Mumbai Indians Their batting mainstay Australian David Warner no longer available, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) face a formidable task when they square off against Mumbai Indians in a crucial IPL match on Thursday. The match is important for both sides as a victory will bolster their playoff chances, while a defeat would bring them one step closer to the exit door. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Capitals (DC) have already sealed their playoff spots, while the other two slots have yet to be decided. Google adding widgets to Wear OS Google is making Wear OS more intuitive and easier to use, with new widgets that are called Tiles. These are glanceable widgets that can show you information related to weather, appointments, news, health-related information and more quickly. These tiles can be arranged as per your liking and you can use Wear OS mobile app to adjust it, as well. Oprah Winfrey reveals she may not return to acting Oprah Winfrey said she may not act again because the art "does not feed" her soul anymore. Last seen in Ava DuVernay's 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time, the popular talk show host told The Hollywood Reporter that she has also quit the news-based show 60 Minutes. "(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," said Winfrey. Crediting the EC with ushering in a revolution of sorts in women participating as voters, Quraishi rues the fact that these voices remain suppressed. Editor's Note: This is the third in a ten-part series of interviews with well-known residents of Delhi on issues that they believe define the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Read other articles of the series here The first Muslim to have served as Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi is perhaps the most written-about CEC after TN Seshan, the Chief Election Commissioner in the nineties. If Seshan is credited with cleaning up the elections, Quraishis pitch was to reform the way elections were held in India. He also attempted to translate the Model Code of Conduct as one which has morality built into it. A case in point is the by-election in Goa in 2012 during the tenure of Manohar Parrikar. As chief minister, Parrikar decided to elevate a candidate as minister in his Cabinet. Not one to let go, Quraishi had a message sent to him stating that this would disturb the level playing field. An angry Parrikar had then called Quraishi to remind him of his constitutional right to appoint a minister at any point in time. Sir, said Quraishi, you are 100 percent right. It is absolutely your constitutional right. I was just pointing out the moral authority of the model code. Parrikar thawed: not only did he defer his decision but publicly stated, I am sacrificing, surrendering my constitutional right on account of the moral authority of the model code. The greatest contribution of Quraishi to Indias elections is setting up the Voter Education department in the Election Commission in 2010. Its flagship program, SVEEP Systematic Voter Education for Electoral Participation has ushered in a participation revolution. All elections ever since have registered record turnouts, particularly among young people and women. The launch of the National Voters Day in 2011, celebrated every 25 January, has proved to be the biggest youth empowerment program of the world. And the establishment of the Expenditure Monitoring Division has taken the fight against money power to unprecedented levels. Quraishis other themes are state funding of elections, barring politicians with criminal charges from contesting, denouncing hate speeches and opposing electoral bonds on grounds that they make transactions secretive and opaque. Recently he was in the news for reasons of the heart. Love united him with an election commissioner in Nepal. The two had met in Mexico during a conference. It started with discussing elections in their respective countries but the two bonded personally too. Quraishi is a music buff having created his own version of the guitar and is known for organising musical soirees. Describing India as the worlds noisiest democracy, Quarishi underlines the importance and significance of free and fair elections have been central to India. Describing India as a trailblazer in many aspects, Quraishi says that the strength of India lies in the founding fathers adopting the system of universal adult franchise. He remarks, Here was a country, dealing with the horrors of social fragmentation and partition, with an illiterate population of 84 percent which, despite all possible odds, ensured equality of all people. The Constitution reposed faith in the wisdom of the common people to elect their representatives. While many postcolonial democracies fell prey to dictatorships and extremism, we have survived and thrived. I do not claim that elections alone ensure justice, but they are a starting point for realising the constitutional ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. In India, the primary aim of elections is choosing representatives that can bridge crippling inequalities through progressive legislation and affirmative action. Stressing on the importance of women's participation in elections, Quraishi said, By extension, we were also a trailblazer on womens suffrage. It might seem like an obvious course of action today, but the comparisons are revealing. The United States took 144 years to confer equal voting rights on women. The United Kingdom took a century until women voted in 1928. The Australian aboriginals voted in 1967. In Switzerland, women voted in 1971. Hence there is much to celebrate about where we have come. Yet the challenges, both old and new, are fast emerging. These call for swift and decisive action. Thanks to political lethargy, electoral reforms are pending. The ECs calls for depoliticisation of constitutional appointments, curbing money power in politics, inner party democracy and decriminalisation of politics continue to fall on deaf ears, which is highly unfortunate." Lamenting that the agenda of womens political representation remains unfinished, he says that India still remains a highly patriarchal society with an abysmal sex ratio: 940 women per 1000 men. He adds, Women face a whole host of cultural and socio-economic hurdles. Crediting the Election Commission with ushering in a revolution of sorts in women participating as voters, Quraishi rues the fact that these voices remain suppressed. He says, The reason is the sorry state of their numbers in legislatures- 12.15 percent in the Lok Sabha, and poorer in most Vidhan Sabhas. This is shocking, seeing as the world average is 24.3 percent, with Rwanda ranking first and having 61.25 percent women in Parliament. Even conservative Muslim nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan have better numbers! Nepal leads the way in South Asia and has dramatically improved womens numbers in all levels of government. Women were allowed 33 percent reservations in local bodies in 1993, which was later increased to 50 percent in 2009. A number of states have introduced 50 percent reservations in municipalities, but at upper levels of government, representation still eludes them. Quraishi pins this to political parties' reluctance to give enough tickets to women, citing low winnability. Dismissing this to be a myth, Quraishi cites statistics: The proportion of women winning elections has been more, thus implying that their winnability is actually much higher. Some parties have now woken up to this, for instance, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal. The time is ripe for the womens reservation bills to be a reality. However what is worrying is the rising intolerance and our slipping on crucial indicators including fundamental rights, civil liberties, civil society participation and media integrity. Statistics reveal that in 2017, India slipped 10 straight positions, from 32 to 42. It ranked 41 in 2018, with no improvement in scores, Quraishi said. He added, The wave of toxic politics started with the Babri Masjid dispute, which subsided, only to rise again. Majorly, elections and vote bank politics perpetuate it. The basic ethos of India remains the same, based on the secular Hindu tradition of tolerance. India remains secular, because Hindus are predominantly secular....Add to this, unemployment, pollution and unsustainable development, which must be tackled. It is also a matter of concern that we continue to be classified as a flawed democracy by various democracy indexes. Therefore, we need to set right our national priorities, and this we must do on a war footing." Emphasising the need for a reform agenda, Quraishi says, A robust democracy needs mechanisms to resolve differences through dialogue and for that, we need a comprehensive reform agenda. Only this will transform our largest democracy to be among the worlds greatest. This calls for serious introspection among all stakeholders about the kind of India we aspire to live in...As a country, we are disgusted by the divisive propaganda and hate speeches made by politicians for short-term gains. Such politicians, and with them, we the people must rise above communalism, casteism, hate-filled identity politics and stoking 'fear of the other' amongst different sections. A tolerant and progressive society has no place for the low level of political discourse which is prevailing among parties. This must stop and we together all of us must stop this. The Election Commission seems no more reluctant to dish out punishment after it was rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme Court in the presence of the CJI Ranjan Gogoi for not taking any action on erring leaders and not following-up on its own notices, served on any instance of MCC violation. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stepped up the ante in the ongoing Lok Sabha election 2019 and taken action against politicians indulging in communal speech or found violating the Model Code of Conduct with outrageous and disrespectful remarks. The ECI put a stop on the election campaign of many politicians across party lines. And this General Election has been a rarity in the number of defaulters penalised by the commission. Yogi Adityanath Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was banned from campaigning for three days after being warned earlier about his campaign speeches. The commission said Adityanath had spoken about a green virus in a speech last week in reference to Muslim voters who he said were being wooed by opposition parties. However, it was his remarks referencing 'Ali and Bajrangbali' that led to the commission taking action against him for inciting communal disharmony through his comments. Mayawati BSP supremo Mayawati was issued a notice for her speech in Deoband appealing to Muslims to not vote for a particular party. ECI found her prima facie violating the MCC and banned her from poll campaigning for 48 hours. Maneka Gandhi The BJP leader and contestant from Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur, was reprimanded by ECI and barred from holding campaign for 48 hours for communal remarks. Maneka, in a viral video, was heard telling Muslims in a rally that they should vote for her else she wouldn't be inclined to help that out in the time of need. Azam Khan The Samajwadi Party (SP) leader was on Tuesday barred from campaigning for 48 hours for his provocative remarks against poll authorities in Uttar Pradesh and making communal statements. This is the second time Khan has been served ECI's punishment. Earlier, he was barred from campaigning for 72 hours for his "khaki underwear" jibe at his BJP rival Jaya Prada in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh. Navjot Singh Sidhu In April, the ECI had banned Navjot Singh Sidhu from campaigning for 72 hours for controversial remarks made by him which were seen as a violation of the poll code. While addressing a poll rally in Bihar's Katihar, the Punjab leader had stoked controversy when he urged Muslim voters to vote en bloc to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress leader was again served a notice by ECI, on Wednesday, for his provocative remarks against Modi. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur ECI barred the BJP candidate from Bhopal from campaigning for three days for violating the poll code by stirring up communal feelings. The decision came in light of her comments against slain IPS officer Hemant Karkare and on the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Pragya had said that it was due to Karkare's karma that he was killed by terrorists. Jitubhai Vaghani Gujarat BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani was barred from campaigning for 72 hours for violating the MCC. Vaghani was found to have spoken in an inflammatory way and used 'objectionable words' while addressing party workers in Surat's Amroli in April. Babubhai Rayka Meanwhile, the Gujarat Congress unit president Babubhai Rayka was hauled up for use of intemperate and abusive language transgressing the limits of decency" as he made derogatory statements during his election campaign in the state. He was handed a 72-hour ban. Apart from these leaders, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Modi were also under the election watchdog's scrutiny for their respective remarks made during public meetings. However, Modi was later given a clean chit in both instances of alleged poll code violation. He was under the scanner for his reference to the armed forces in of his speeches in Maharashtra's Latur where he sought votes in the name of the sacrifice made by them during the Balakot air strikes. Whereas Rahul was picked up for his statement citing Modi's apparent order to shoot down tribals. He had falsely attributed such a law to the prime minister and was asked to furnish his reply within 48 hours in regard to the same. In 2014 However, during the Lok Sabha election in 2014, the Election Commission was more reluctant to penalise top leaders with a ban on their campaigns. BJP chief Amit Shah was among the few prominent politicians handed over such a ban. And even in his case, it was lifted off after he assured the commission that he would ensure no disturbance is caused to the peace and tranquillity of the nation with his words. The commission thereafter allowed Shah to hold public meetings, public rallies and roadshows and take out public processions in Uttar Pradesh. Shah was censured for his controversial remarks calling for revenge. He had said that the General Election was "an opportunity to seek revenge for the insult inflicted during the riots in Muzaffarnagar" in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. The commission, however, later noted that Shah had pledged that he will in no manner give cause to be accused as having indulged in any act of commission or omission which has the effect of prejudicially affecting the public tranquillity and law and order. But while giving him a second chance the commission said it will closely monitor Shahs campaign by constant video tracking by concerned district election authorities". A similar diktat was served to repeat offender Azam Khan as well for making provocative speeches. However, the considerable rise in the number of bans handed out by the commission in 2019, though not anything to boast of, reflect the commission heightened agency and powers. The commission seems no more reluctant to dish out punishment after it was rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme Court in the presence of the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi for not taking any action against erring leaders and not following up on its own notices, served on any instance of MCC violation. The poll body was quick to act against communal speeches after the top court pulled it up and gave it 24 hours to get things straight and in motion. The commission had earlier told the apex court that it was toothless in the face of hate and described itself as a body with "circumscribed" powers. Gogoi had told it then: "ECI has woken up to its powers." This is the second chargesheet in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case, but the first against Naik underlining his role in the matter. New Delhi: The ED Thursday filed its first direct chargesheet against controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik on charges of alleged money laundering, officials said. The agency filed the prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special court in Mumbai and said it has identified proceeds of crime worth Rs 193.06 crore. This is the second chargesheet in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case, but the first against Naik underlining his role in the matter. Naik was booked by the ED in 2016 based on a National Investigation Agency (NIA) FIR. The first three months of 2019 have seen 29 farmers committing suicide, or one farmer killing himself every two days, in Beed district of Marathwada. 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 *** Beed: The first three months of 2019 have seen 29 farmers committing suicide, or one farmer killing himself every two days, in Beed district of Marathwada region, one of the most drought-hit districts of Maharashtra. The number of farmers committing suicide in this district has fluctuated in the last five years. As per revenue department records, there were 152 farmer suicides in 2014, 301 the next year, 222 in 2016, 207 in 2017 and 197 last year. And the reason is the same, year after year: increasing debt due to failure or insufficient price for their crops mainly cotton, soya and sugarcane all water-intensive crops in a region that has no water. Even when they have a good harvest, farmers have at times been unable to sell their produce due to a glut in the market. The loans, from banks or money lenders, then pile up and push them to suicide. There is no shortage of grandly announced schemes to help these distressed farmers farm ponds, subsidies for drip irrigation, fodder shelters for livestock, subsidies for moving to other occupations like sericulture, floriculture, horticulture, animal farming, availability of cold storage facilities, insurance schemes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and of course, loan waivers, under which the government claims loans worth Rs 36,000 crore were written off in September 2017. But talk to the farmers and the families of those who committed suicide and what emerges is a picture of the failure of these schemes to reach those who really need them, and the indifference of the people they elected to Assembly and Parliament towards them. Farmers say they see these schemes on TV and in advertisements but most have not benefited from them. They are sorely frustrated with their current plight. And they had made that known to the BJP government in Mumbai in no uncertain terms last March. At least 35,000 farmers set out to walk the 180 km between Nashik and the state capital before gheraoing the Legislative Assembly to force the government to acknowledge the crisis. It took them six days and on the last day, they camped at the Thane-Mumbai border and waited till nightfall to enter the city, taking care to not disturb the daily lives of the city folk. The pictures of farmers walking silently against the bright lights, some on blistered and bandaged feet, was compelling optics and a huge embarrassment for the Devendra Fadnavis government. The march, led by CPM-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha, was supported by almost all the Opposition parties, including Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress and MNS. It was an opportune moment; Assembly elections in the agri-intensive states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were around the corner. With Opposition turning the heat of farmers issues, the BJP governments in all three states fell. But cut to one year later, ahead of the biggest election, farmers' issues were merely an afterthought in the campaign. Ajit Navle, a farmer leader from Nashik who led the march last year, says, "The central government knows that if the election was focused on agrarian crisis and farmer distress, it will be doomed. Therefore, it tried to shift people's attention to other issues; mainly nationalism, post-Pulwama. We have been determined to pull down the anti-farmer and anti-poor government that has failed to address the concerns of farmers and youth. Mismanaged water resources As per the 2011 census, Beed districts rural population numbers 2,070,751, most of whom are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. As per agriculture departments data, the district has 4.33 lakh marginal farmers (having less than one hectare of land), 1.96 lakh small farmers (less than two hectares), 99,000 semi-medium farmers (owning 2 to 4 hectares), 27,295 medium farmers owning 4-10 hectares and 1,555 large farmers who own more than 10 hectares. Though there are no official record on number of farm labourers, it is estimated they number more than five lakh. The district used to get an average rainfall of 666.36 mm. But rainfall this year was just 334 mm, and has been below average for the past five years. The district has two major irrigation projects, 16 medium projects and 126 small projects. Totally, 144 irrigation projects were completed, but 84 of them have dried up while the remaining have less than 25 percent of their storage capacity. At present, water available in these projects is 11.144 tmc, just 1.25 percent of their total capacity. HM Desrada, economist and social activist, said that though the area is drought prone, successive governments have promoted sugarcane, which consumes excessive water rather than drought resilient crops like pulses, oilseed and jowar. The state should ban sugarcane cultivation, said Desrada. Also, the state has been saying that groundwater levels have increased due to its water harvesting project called Jalyukta Shivar, but as per states groundwater department, levels have gone down. The state isnt effectively incentivising people to move away from traditional crops. The subsidies for farmers to try other kinds of agriculture is not dependable, as many farmers have found out. I started a sericulture project under the government scheme two years ago but have yet to get the subsidy, said Balasaheb Aher of Sushi village. I started the project only because of the subsidy and am not making any profit from it. For whom the scheme rolls So why arent the welfare schemes reaching farmers, as most of them say? I have four acres on which I sowed cotton this Kharif season, said Laxmanrao Shemade of Khalegao village. I spent Rs 12,000 per acre but earned only Rs 2,000 per acre. Due to drought for the last four years, I am unable to repay my loan of Rs 1.5 lakh. I applied for loan waiver three times but my loan is not waived. About 2,500 farmers in the village have applied for loan waiver. But only four got their loans waived. Haridash Rambhau of Shirapur village, sitting in the Gram Panchayat office, ridicules the governments schemes. Less than 10 percent of farmers in this village of 1,300 farmers have got loan waiver, said Haridash. Not a single farmer has got farm ponds, though state advertised the scheme. The benefits of the subsidy scheme for farmers to buy sheep or goats has also not benefited farmers. Also, many farmers opted for drip irrigation after the state announced 60-75 percent subsidy, he added. It costs Rs 1 lakh per acre and farmers who invested in this are still waiting for the subsidy. No scheme has reached us and many farmers dont even come to know about them. The plight of the families whom the dead farmers leave behind is even worse. They struggle to get the land in their husbands or in-laws' names transferred in their names to get benefits. Like Dwaraka Anwar, 35, for instance. Pale and emaciated, her husband, unable to repay a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh, committed suicide two years back, but the land remains in her father-in-laws name. I received Rs 1 lakh from the state, said Dwaraka. But I have not got any other benefit like widow pension, loan for farming or business or house under Gharkul scheme. My relative has built this house for me and my children left college to work as labourers. I used to work as a labourer on a farm but no work is available now. Even though the government declared severe drought in all 11 talukas last October, few drought relief measures are visible on the ground. For example, less than 50 fodder camps are functional across the district vis-a-vis cattle population of over eight lakhs. But the administration insists the schemes are reaching those eligible for them. "Farmers who were eligible for loan waiver have been paid back, said Astik Kumar Pande, collector, Beed. All schemes like farm ponds or subsidy for floriculture or horticulture have been given to those who were eligible for the scheme." Yet farmers keep saying that only a few applicants, those close to the powers that be, get the benefits. Allegations abound of funds disappearing before they reach the farmers. Landless labour, who are 30 to 40 percent of the rural population, too have been left to fend for themselves. In good times, they would get work in sugarcane farms and factories and migrate to other states during October-April. The state had set up a Sugarcane Labourers Welfare Board, but later scrapped it, without coming up with any welfare scheme targeted specifically at them. With inputs from Ashwin Aghor (The author is a Pune-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters) A contingent of the 7th Battalion of the Assam Rifles had been camping at a base in a girl's high school, ahead of Phase Five of the Lok Sabha election, scheduled on 6 May. A jawan died and and two were injured after a shootout took place at the Central forces base at Bagnan in West Bengal's Howrah city, several media outlets have reported. As many as 13 rounds were fired in the shootout from an INSAS rifle, News18 has reported. It is not known what led to the scuffle among the personnel. A contingent of the 7th Battalion of the Assam Rifles had been camping at a base in a girl's high school, ahead of Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha election, scheduled on 6 May. The jawan who has died has been identified as Bholanath Das, an Assistant Sub Inspector. Rintu Bodhak and Anil Rajwanshi, who were injured in the shootout, have been moved to hospitals. The jawan who reportedly opened fire is one Laxmikant Burman. It is not known if he too belonged to the Assam Rifles. In late March, three personnel of the Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) were shot dead by another jawan at a camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur. The accused had also turned the gun on himself and had been injured, NDTV had reported. In January, a CRPF personnel fired at two colleagues before killing himself at a camp in Panthchowk in Srinagar. In September 2018, a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan shot his colleague at a camp in Ghaziabad. With inputs from 101Reporters and agencies India welcomed the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, with Narendra Modi describing it as a 'big success' for the country's efforts to root out terrorism. New Delhi: 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 at an election rally in Jaipur. "I want to say it loud and clear that this is just the beginning. Wait for what happens next." In its reaction, the Ministry of External Affairs called Azhar's designation as a UN proscribed terrorist 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 the 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 and 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. Home Minister Rajnath Singh also welcomed the UNSC decision, saying it was a diplomatic victory for Modi. In a series of tweets, Singh said with the designation of Azhar as global terrorist by the UNSC, India has received a big success against the global war on terror. "Credit for this diplomatic victory goes to the prime minister and his strong action against the terrorism," he said. 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. Union minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal described the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN as the result of the "most successful" foreign policy initiative under Modi. 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 . The Donald Trump administration in the US said that the UN declaring the JeM chief a global terrorist demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, also expressing hope that Islamabad will take sustained and irreversible action against terror groups operating from its soil. Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Stephane Dujarric expressed hope that all member states abide by the decisions of the Sanctions Committee. "This is the work of a well-established mechanism through the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council. It is a big part of the United Nations work in the fight against terrorism, he said. Meanwhile, diplomatic experts hailed the listing of hte JeM chief as a global terrorist but expressed doubt about whether the move would push Pakistan to give up the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. 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 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. Even if we interpret the move to designate Azhar under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as symbolic, its import should not be underestimated. There has been a lot of commentary on why Chinas move to finally pave the way for Masood Azhar to be proscribed as a terrorist in the United Nations Sanctions list is no big deal. Experts seem to be falling over themselves to suggest that the move is merely symbolic and is expected to have no real impact in terms of Jaish-e-Muhammads ability in operating inside Pakistan, building terror infrastructure and carrying out attacks on Indian soil. The argument is that since JeM has been able to sustain itself, plan and execute grievous attacks against India despite being blacklisted by the UN Security Council since 2001, bringing its founder under the sanctions umbrella is hardly going to make any difference on the ground. This argument is specious. It ignores several ground realities that have changed, specifically regarding Indias response to such attacks. It ignores the weight of global pressure on Pakistan, now more than ever before, to act against terror factories on its soil and stop using "non-state" actors to achieve strategic aims even as the bankrupt nation waits for the IMF to bail it out and faces the prospect of a FATF blacklist. The argument also ignores the rising costs for China to keep backing Pakistan on terror and standing isolated on global forums. Even if we interpret the move to designate Azhar under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as symbolic, its import should not be underestimated. Yes, the Pulwama mastermind, reportedly unwell, might not be jet-setting across the globe and raising funds in Washington, Paris or London to feed his terror group. But to argue that a travel ban, arms embargo and assets freeze that targets the global terrorists ability to raise finances and access economic resources is an emblematic step and carries no real consequences is missing the woods for trees. What we are calling symbolic here is a step that carries deep diplomatic, geopolitical and political impact. And this must be taken into account to understand why blacklisting of JeM founder is no less than a coup for the Narendra Modi government. The move is the fructification of intense diplomatic negotiations carried out by India. It has not been easy to bring China on board the veto-wielding permanent member of UN Security Council which had blocked four such attempts in the last decade through its "technical hold". However, a careful look at the timeline may reveal why the NDA government deserves praise for its dogged persistence in pursuing this aim. In 2009, India had moved a proposal at the UN to list Azhars name in the UNSCs ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. India holds Azhar responsible for organising several high-profile terror attacks, including the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air base, murderous assaults on army bases in Uri, Jammu and the recent attack in Pulwama where 40 CRPF jawans were killed. However, there were no more attempts till 2016, when New Delhi, along with the P3 or three permanent UNSC members (United States, United Kingdom and France) moved a joint proposal to sanction Pakistan spy agencys blue-eyed boy in the UN 1267 committee. The joint proposal indicated a greater degree of synergy among world powers and India on the issue of terrorism. The significance of this joint move is not to be missed. A year later, the P3 nations repeated the maneuver. However, China continued to wield its veto power in putting a technical hold on the sanctions and forced them to lapse before they could be adopted by the UNSC panel. The final attempt came in February this year, shortly after a suicide bomber targeted a CRPF convoy and 40 jawans were martyred. The resolution was moved by France, a P3 member, and it was backed by the US, UK, Russia and 10 other non-permanent UNSC members. Even as China put a technical hold on the motion moved by the P3 nations to blacklist Azhar, the US piled on the pressure on China by moving a draft resolution in the UNSC. The attempt was clear. The US resolution noted that China has until 23 April to remove its technical hold to blacklist Azhar, after which Washington will move the proposal in UNSC and force China to come out openly in support of a terror mastermind. Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist. This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia. Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 2, 2019 One of the motivations that led to this development is the concerted global pressure that was brought to bear on China, skewing its cost-benefit calculus on Azhar. It would be churlish to deny that Indias effort had no role to play in this global pressure and close synergy between nations on the issue of terrorism. It is, therefore, an unequivocal diplomatic win for India and the Modi government that has worked hard to build the consensus. The second point that flows from this is clear. India will take no prisoners in pursuing its goals on terror. This includes intense diplomatic maneuvers such as foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale rushing to China to share evidence on JeMs terror activities to nudge Beijing towards the desired goal. This diplomatic long game, however, will go hand in hand with deterrent measures against Pakistan for sponsoring terror, including kinetic action on Pakistan soil and launching sub-conventional military ops below nuclear threshold. The third point relates to the Modi governments political will in taking such steps that have busted Pakistans nuclear blackmail. The prime minister has referred to this new deterrence manouver even during his political campaign. Fourth, the Modi government has been able to strike a balance between its effort to pressurise China by aligning with other world powers and maintain an equilibrium in the Sino-Indian relationship that enables China to relent on this issue without appearing to be giving in to pressure. This may explain the concession by India on the absence of the Pulwama attacks in the reasons behind Azhars blacklisting. This is walking on a razors edge, and the Modi government deserves kudos. The fifth point worth noting is the way India has been able to persuade China to prioritise its bilateral relation above its iron-brotherhood with Pakistan. Chinas insecurities over Azhars ability to target its citizens working inside Pakistan has been documented. It must have been an important reason behind Beijings move to play spoilsport at the United Nations. This seems to have been successfully addressed through modalities that may gradually become clear. Acting on a tip-off, a team comprising the Dantewada district police and District Reserve Guards (DRG) moved to the deep forest area between Perpa and Madkamiras villages in the wee hours on Thursday. After a brief encounter, the team killed the commander of a local Naxal platoon. The encounter took place at around 10 am on Thursday. The Maoist who was killed, Mandvi Muiya, was a commander of the Platoon-24 of the Naxals that operates in Dantewada district. He carried a bounty of Rs 8 lakh. According to Dantewada police sources, the district superintendent of police, Abhishek Pallav, instructed a team to take the Maoists head on at the location identified by the special intelligence bureau of Chhattisgarhs anti-Naxal operations. Though the district police refused to share operational details, the police team after the encounter claimed to have recovered a .315 bore pistol, bullets and the body of the slain Naxal. It was an opportunity that the Dantewada district police didnt want to miss, as it would mitigate, to an extent, the blot on the department after the killing of BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi on 9 April two days before polling in Bastar. Mandavi was killed when he was returning home after the last day of campaigning. Allegations were made against the Chhattisgarh police of negligence, intelligence failure and non-adherence to standard operation procedure (SOP). Perpa village is 37 kilometres from Dantewada town and Madkamiras is 35 kilometres away. Both villages are in the highly Naxal-affected Kuakonda block. The place where this encounter took place is a difficult terrain due to deep forests and hills. After a tip-off about the movement of a Maoist group, our SP instructed the team comprising the district police force and DRG to proceed to the location. The team, after reaching the location, faced firing from the Maoists. It resulted in an encounter, and finally, their leader was eliminated. The other members of his team managed to escape, a Dantewada police source told Firstpost. The encounter comes a day after the Maoist attack at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, in which 15 personnel of C-60 commandos were killed. Thereafter, the Chhattisgarh police had issued alerts across all the Naxal-hit districts in the state. It was expected that there would be movement of Maoists from Gadchiroli to Bastar as they would seek hideouts. Inspector general (Bastar range), Chhattisgarh Police, Vivekananda said, It (Thursday's encounter) was not retaliatory action, and had nothing to do with the Gadchiroli attack. Its a separate incident. Weve been closely monitoring the movements of Naxals, and closely looking for those involved in the killing of the MLA and his security men. Who was "Mastermind" Mandvi Muiya? The Chhattisgarh Police have claimed that Muiya was one of the masterminds of the IED blast that led to the killing of Bhima Mandavi and four security personnel on 9 April. Muiya, aged around 29 to 30 years, was a local tribal who belonged to Bandipara in Aranpur. He used several aliases, such as Roshan, Joga Kunjam, Sonaksh Joga, etc. He was the commander of Platoon-24, which was functional in volatile Dantewada district. The brother of slain Maoist commander Deva, Muiya had joined Battalion-1 of the Maoists in Sukma district, which is headed by commander Madvi Hidma. After his training and involvement in Maoist operations, he later moved into the forests of Dantewada. The police claim that he was involved in some of the most gruesome Naxal attacks, including the ones at Tadmetla, Burkapal and Nilavaya. In the Burkapal attack at Sukma, Maoists had killed 25 security personnel in April 2017. According to sources who work on anti-Naxal ops, Muiyas role involved reconnaissance, gathering of information related to police and security forces, recruitment for the local cadre, identification of locations to plant IEDs, execution of ambushes, etc. Muiya was one of the masterminds of the IED blast incident that killed Bhima Mandavi. The entire planning was carried out and executed by the Darbha division, said Vivekananda. The division has accepted responsibility for the incident. Role of Darbha Division Much before the first phase of the Lok Sabha election in Chhattisgarh on 11 April, the dreaded Darbha division of the banned CPI (Maoist) had issued press releases and put up posters and banners asking tribal villagers to boycott the polls. They warned of dire consequences if people were to take part in the electoral process. Darbha division of the Maoists operates from Darbha valley in Bastar. Its the same division that had attacked a Congress convoy at Jhiram Ghati on 25 May 2013 and killed 27 people, including top Congress leaders Vidya Charan Shukla, Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel, etc. This division had been involved in several other attacks in Bastar. After the Jhiram Ghati attack, there had been a pause in the activities of Maoists from this division. However, in the last three years, the division has escalated its activities, as also issued numerous threats. The reach of the Darbha division extends to Malangir in Dantewada. Muiya was said to have been involved in attacks at Shyamgiri, Cholnar and other places in Dantewada. Post-poll Naxal activities Even after the polling ended in Chhattisgarh, Maoists have continued with threats and killings of innocent villagers. The west Bastar divisional committee of Maoists issued a press release accusing the Chhattisgarh government and chief minister Bhupesh Baghel of killing their cadre members recently in Naxal-hit Kanker district. The committee has accused the state government of killing their leader Naveen of Bijapur district in a fake encounter. Meanwhile, Maoists allegedly killed two villagers on 1 May at Kistaram in Sukma, according to reports. The Maoists are said to have killed them after branding them as "police informers." Contrary voices By evening, the people started questioning the police's claim in Dantewada. I have seen these Maoists visiting villages. Theres no doubt that the person who was killed was from Maoist cadre. He may have been a member of the jan militia. But after every encounter, the police claim that every Naxal killed was a 'mastermind' and a big leader. If Muiya carried a bounty of Rs 8 lakh and was a mastermind, why did the police recover only a country-made pistol (katta), instead of a rifle or other weapons? The police and security forces fail to get any big leader from the Maoist cadre; they always get the small fry. Perhaps the police are trying to mitigate the damage they suffered due to the MLAs killing, a local leader from Dantewada said, on the condition of anonymity. PSEB 12th Result 2019 LIVE updates: The girls have scored better than the boys in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class 12 2019 exam, with a score of 90.86 percent. Auto refresh feeds The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is likely to declare the results of the Class 12 exams today (Saturday, 11 May). Students can check official website pseb.ac.in for their scores. Step 1 : Go to the official website: pseb.ac.in Last year, for the first time, the board had abolished the "marks moderation system" which allowed for grace marks to be allotted to students in order to improve their final score. The overall pass percentage of Class 12 students in 2018 was 65.97 percent. Reports said that the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is likely to declare the Class 12 board exam results at 11.30 am today. Results likely to be declared at 11.30 am The official website of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) pseb.ac.in may be slow or down intermittently due to heavy traffic. Official website may be down intermittently Students can check alternative websites like examresults.net and indiaresults.com for their results if the official website is down. Students are also advised to check the official websites in regular intervals as additional result-related information is likely to be published on the official website. Alternative websites to check for results if official website is down: Students awaiting their Punjab board Class 12 results, are advised to keep their hall ticket or admit card ready for details like their roll numbers and others. The Punjab board will also release the Class 12 results on indiaresults.com any time now. At least 3 lakh students will check their Punjab board Class 12 results today. The Punjab School Education Board conducted the exams from 1 March to 27 March, 2019. The Punjab School Education Board, or PSEB website may be down due to heavy traffic and may work only intermittently. In such a scenario, students can check examresults.net and indiaresults.com for their scores. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared the Class 12 results on Saturday. The Indian Express reported that the pass percentage this year is at 86.41 percent. Step 1: Go to the official website: pseb.ac.in Sarvjot Singh Bansal from Ludhiana, Aman from Muktsar, and Muskaan Soni from Nakodar have jointly secured first position with 98.89 percent marks, reports said. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB)'s official website is currently down due to heavy traffic. Students can check examresults.net for their scores. The girls have scored better than the boys in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class 12 2019 exam, with a score of 90.86 percent. Meanwhile, boys have scored 82.83 percent, reports said. Meanwhile, the third rank was taken by two students Nazia Kamboj from Fazilka and Muskan from Ludhiana who both scored 98.44 percent. The Punjab board declared the Class 12 results on its official website pseb.ac.in today at 11.30 am. Loveleen Verma from Ludhiana secured the second rank with 98.67 percent. Reports said that the schools in the rural regions of the state fared better than those in the urban areas, after the Punjab board declared the results of the Class 12 board exam on Saturday. The Punjab School Education Board conducted the exams from 1 March to 27 March, 2019. The Punjab School Education Board, or PSEB website may be down due to heavy traffic and may work only intermittently. In such a scenario, students can check examresults.net and indiaresults.com for their scores. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared the Class 12 results on Saturday. The Indian Express reported that the pass percentage this year is at 86.41 percent. Step 1: Go to the official website: pseb.ac.in Sarvjot Singh Bansal from Ludhiana, Aman from Muktsar, and Muskaan Soni from Nakodar have jointly secured first position with 98.89 percent marks, reports said. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB)'s official website is currently down due to heavy traffic. Students can check examresults.net for their scores. The girls have scored better than the boys in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class 12 2019 exam, with a score of 90.86 percent. Meanwhile, boys have scored 82.83 percent, reports said. Meanwhile, the third rank was taken by two students Nazia Kamboj from Fazilka and Muskan from Ludhiana who both scored 98.44 percent. The Punjab board declared the Class 12 results on its official website pseb.ac.in today at 11.30 am. Loveleen Verma from Ludhiana secured the second rank with 98.67 percent. Reports said that the schools in the rural regions of the state fared better than those in the urban areas, after the Punjab board declared the results of the Class 12 board exam on Saturday. Punjab Board PSEB Class 12th Exam Result 2019 Date and Time latest updates: The girls have scored better than the boys in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class 12 2019 exam, with a score of 90.86 percent. Meanwhile, boys have scored 82.83 percent, reports said. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared the Class 12 results on Saturday. The Indian Express reported that the pass percentage this year is at 86.41 percent. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) on Saturday released the Class 12 board exam results. Students can check official website pseb.ac.in for scores. Students awaiting their Punjab board Class 12 results, are advised to keep their hall ticket or admit card ready for details like their roll numbers and others. Students can check alternative websites like examresults.net and indiaresults.com for their results if the official website is down. Students are also advised to check the official websites in regular intervals as additional result-related information is likely to be published on the official website. Reports said that the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is likely to declare the Class 12 board exam results at 11.30 am today. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is likely to declare the results of the Class 12 exams today (Saturday, 11 May). The board, according to reports, confirmed Friday that it would publish the result at a press conference on Saturday at 11.30 am. Students will be able to check their scores on its official website pseb.ac.in once the result is announced. The PSEB conducted the Class 12 Examination from 1 March to 1 April. Last year, for the first time, the board had abolished the "marks moderation system" which allowed for grace marks to be allotted to students in order to improve their final score. Steps to check the results: Step 1: Go to the official website: pseb.ac.in Step 2: Click on the 'results' tab Step 3: Enter the required details Step 4: Download the results card for future reference In 2018, Puja Joshi from Ludhiana has topped the exam by scoring 98 percent while Vivek Rajput secured the second rank with 97.55 percent. The overall pass percentage of Class 12 students in 2018 was 65.97 percent. In 2017, the overall pass percentage was 62.36. As has been observed over the course of the past few weeks, the dates and times of result announcements have been frequently changed around. The information above has not been independently verified. However, this article will continue to be updated to reflect official updates as and when they come in. The Ministry of External Affairs also called Azhar's designation as a UN proscribed terrorist a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to combat terrorism and its enablers. Welcoming the United Nations Security Council's move to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that the 14 February Pulwama attack did play a role in the UN's decision. Addressing a press conference, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: "We do not negotiate with any country on terrorism or matters related to security of the country. China has already given its reason why the hold has been lifted." MEA on UN designates Masood Azhar as global terrorist: Elements being introduced to divert attention from Pak on this diplomatic setback that they have suffered. They can't welcome the decision, they cant criticize the decision, only option left for them is to pick up some holes pic.twitter.com/MMatQjZfd8 ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 The Ministry of External Affairs also called Azhar's designation as a UN proscribed terrorist a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to combat terrorism and its enablers. On Pulwama attack not being mentioned in the UN decision, the MEA spokesperson said: "Our objective was to ensure designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist. It was not about the bio-data of all his terrorist activities, but Pulwama did play a role in listing of Azhar as terrorist." Lauding China after it lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist Azhar under the UNSC's Sanctions Committee, Kumar said that China's support on listing of Azhar will contribute to better ties between the two countries. 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 14 February Pulwama terror attack 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 a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist. India had termed the Chinese move as "disappointing". On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal. A UN Security Council (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. In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist. 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 Pathankot airbase 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 UNSC, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. With inputs from PTI The woman who accused Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment has withdrawn from the Supreme Court's inquiry into the matter. At least that's what most media will have you believe. The woman who accused Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment has withdrawn from the Supreme Court's inquiry into the matter. At least that's what most media will have you believe. What she actually said was, "I felt I was not likely to get justice from this committee, and so I am no longer participating in the three-judge committee proceedings." The complainant has not just withdrawn from the Supreme Court's peculiar and unethical hearings she has rejected and repudiated them. In a press release, the complainant elaborated on the proceedings so far and her reasons for not continuing with them. The panel of judges Justice SA Bobde, Justice Indira Banjeree and Justice Indu Malhotra, all of whom are junior to the accused CJI Gogoi apparently told the woman that theirs was actually neither an in-house committee proceeding nor a proceeding under the Vishakha Guidelines (framed by the Supreme Court in 1997 to deal with workplace sexual harassment), but just an informal proceeding, whatever that meant. The panel not only did not follow the Vishakha Guidelines and the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Against Women at the Workplace Act, it did not bother to inform the complainant about the procedure it would be following despite her multiple requests for this information. The complainant said she was not allowed any lawyer or support person despite cross-questioning by these senior judges, and she was not supplied a copy of her own statements to the court. To top it all, the judges apparently told her to not only not disclose the proceedings to the media but also forbade her from discussing them with her own lawyer, in addition to threatening her that if she didn't cooperate and participate with these bizarre rules, they would proceed ex parte without her. In her statement, the woman also pointed out that the judges repeatedly asked her why she had made her complaint "so late" a classic question posed to try to discredit sexual harassment accusers. The very reason women hesitate or delay filing complaints is because of intimidation and obfuscation tactics, and a delay in reporting is not an indicator of questionable veracity but of the odds stacked against any complainant, of how men control proceedings and close ranks to protect each other. The backlash against complaining about a powerful man is real. The woman claimed that the CJI had not only sexually harassed her but had also been also relentless in persecuting her and her family, due to which she and other family members lost their jobs and criminal cases were filed against them. Once she finally went public with her complaint, the structural sexism of the top court became clear for everyone to see. Exhibit A is lawyer Utsav Bains' wild conspiracy theories that the CJI was being targeted at the behest of other "disgruntled" judges, court fixers, corporate scamsters and corrupt politicians and how the Supreme Court has taken him much more seriously than the woman who complained against the chief justice. During the #MeToo movement, many bemoaned the whisper network of accusations, both online and offline, against sexual harassers and wished that accusers would instead just follow some "due process". In this case, the complainant seems to be the only one who actually believes in due process she has engaged a lawyer and asked the panel of Supreme court judges for a fair hearing and process. She formally couriered a notarised 28-page affidavit with 108 pages of annexures to 22 Supreme Court judges, outlining her allegations and victimisation and asking for a special inquiry committee of senior retired judges of the top court. The Supreme Court has shown a startling disregard for following the laws of the land in investigating one of its own. The CJI, other Supreme Court judges, the Attorney General of India, solicitor general, the Supreme Court Secretary General, the Bar Council of India, the Supreme Court Employees' Welfare Association and even Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made prejudiced remarks and dismissed the former court staffer's allegations against the CJI without asking for any investigation. All these men indicated that they consider the CJI, and perhaps by extension themselves, above the law. As senior advocate Rebecca M John said in a recent interview: "But obviously, women are not getting the sort of relief from courts, or even from the investigating system, that they should be getting. They are not prepared to face the kind of hostility the system is offering. So women think twice before deciding to go through judicial process Most women complainants have had no redressal from the legal system." The three-judge panel that was eventually set up after a public outcry turned out to be arbitrary at best, hijacking the space for a legitimately legal process. This is precisely why accusers often don't come forward and don't believe that any due process will be fair to them. The complainant has refused to be bulldozed into submission by these tactics. Instead, she seems to have decided to trust our institutions and push them to be more transparent, follow the law and serve justice to survivors of sexual harassment. Instead of asking why she took so long to complain, the system needs to appreciate the courage required to point a finger at a man who has so much more power than her. The author is the co-founder of The Ladies Finger, India's leading online feminist magazine 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 Modi. New Delhi: 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 Modis 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 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 April and 26 April we were informed that a large sum of money was incurred by 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, 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. Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE updates: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday said his party's government will not work just for a handful of businessmen, calling them Prime Minister Narendra Modi's masters. Auto refresh feeds A day after announcing the news of the United Nations designating Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at a rally in Jaipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be taking a break from campaigning on Thursday. But what the Bharatiya Janata Party is touting as a "big diplomatic win" for India will be sure to come up in the speeches at rallies that party chief Amit Shah has lined up in Madhya Pradesh. Citing his speech made at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh on 23 April, the commission pointed at a provision of the model code which bars "unverified" allegations to be levelled against political opponents. The Election Commission 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. Rahul Gandhi gets EC notice for saying Modi govt enacted law allowing tribals to be 'shot at' BJP this time has fielded Jharkhands three-term chief minister Arjun Munda as its candidate from this seat. In 2014 BJP registered a massive victory in Jharkhand where it won 12 out 14 Lok Sabha seats. Though this time, the party faces a tougher challenge than previous years because all its opponents Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM (P), and Rashtriya Janata Dal have come together to form a coalition and prevent division of anti-BJP vote. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Jharkhand where he will address a rally at Simdega followed by a public meeting at Jaipur, Rajasthan. Simdega, where Rahul Gandhi will address a rally, is part of Khunti Lok Sabha constituency. Bharatiya Janata Party has won this seat six times since 1991 and lost to Congress only in 2004. In 2014 it was the infighting within the Congress that contributed to its defeat and this time various reports suggest that the BJP is plagued by the same ailment. The incumbent MP from Jaipur is BJPs Ramcharan Bohara who had defeated the Congress candidate in 2014 with a record margin of over 5.39 lakh votes, the largest in the state. In 2009 elections, Congress candidate Mahesh Joshi had won with a thin margin of 16000 votes. Rahul Gandhi will also address a rally at Jaipur on Thursday. Given the fact that Modi had also addressed a rally on Wednesday in Jaipur, easy comparison between the rallies of the two leaders is likely to take place. The Election Commission on Wednesday concluded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Latur in April 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. The Election Commission on Wednesday concluded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Latur in April 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. BJP president Amit Shah will address rallies at Rajgarh, Sehore, and Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh. Sehore is part of Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency and is considered one of the most high-profile seats in the State. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is sitting MP from here and in 2014 had defeated Congress candidate Lakshman Singh with a huge margin. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has represented this seat in past. BJP chief to campaign in Sehore, party yet to declare candidate in seat The commission went on to add that in a letter on 20 January, 2017, it had asked EC to ensure that children are not involved for election purposes and also, had recommended to all national parties to not to use children for distribution of posters/pamphlets, participate in slogan shouting, rallies, etc. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the Election Commission of India regarding a video in which children were seen using abusive language for Prime Minister Narendra Modi before Congress General Secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In the full version of the video below, Priyanka is seen wagging her finger and asking the children not to say the line. While BJP leaders including Smriti Irani have slammed Priyanka Gandhi for allegedly encouraging the children in the video to shout slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a longer version of the video shows that Priyanka and others had stopped the children from using the slogans. The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission to decide on pleas for re-scheduling the voting time from 7 am to 5 am in the upcoming phases of the general election during the month of Ramzan and due to heat-wave conditions in Rajasthan and other areas. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati said today that the BJP government had once made Masood Azhar "a guest" and later freed him. "Now at the time of elections they are trying to gather votes in his name, it is condemnable," said Mayawati. Priyanka Gandhi has had a busy day replete with snakes and hectic campaigns. Addressing a rally in Rae Bareli in support of her mother and Congress candidate from the constituency Sonia Gandhi, she said Congress has always worked for the people of the country. "Sonia ji brought so many projects which would've benefited the people but ever since the BJP came to power, these projects have been put on hold and the government has never worked to complete the pending projects," she said. A day after saying that the Congress had fielded candidates in Uttar Pradesh keeping in mind that they do not eat into the vote share of the SP-BSP-RLD gathbandhan, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi reiterated on the back of complaints by Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati that BJP and Congress were united, that the two parties were "poles apart." She said, "We'll always fight them (BJP), they are our main adversary in politics. We've made sure not to benefit BJP in any way. We're fighting strongly, our candidates are strong," I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses, Yadav told ANI in an exclusive interview. Priyanka on Wednesday had said in Raebareli that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into BJPs vote share. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadras claim to have fielded weak candidates to eat into BJPs vote share in the Lok Sabha poll in the state has not cut any ice with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who sees her statement as an excuse since the people are not with them". Congress leader and UPA finance minister P Chidambaram sought to remind people that "After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009." In a three-part series of tweets, he blamed the BJP for setting the terrorist free in the first place. "Untiring efforts were undertaken by the Prime Minister in isolating Pakistan and underlying the need to declare globally recognized but unannounced till last evening the terror mastermind Masood Azhar as a terrorist," Sitharaman said. In a press conference, BJP leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley sought to firmly place the credit of the United Nations listing Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist on the Narendra Modi government. The party highlighted repeated visits made by the prime minister to nations in order to secure the listing. Shah also accused Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath of corruption and said barely four months after Nath assumed the chair, his "friend's" house has been raided and Rs 281 crore recovered. Speaking at his first rally of the day at Madhya Pradesh's Rae Bareli, BJP chief Amit Shah admitted that the people of Madhya Pradesh must have wanted a change even though former chief minister "Shivraj Singh Chouhan had done a lot for the state." Shah said that even though the BJP had won more votes, it got fewer seats. He also went on a ritual tirade against the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh regime and sought to highlight how they had reduced the rate of development and upliftment of poor people. Bashing Rahul Gandhi for allegedly trying to be close to terrorists, Amit Shah said at his Rajgarh rally that the United Nation's listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as a global terrorist had been thanks to Narendra Modi's diplomacy. Issuing a scathing clarification of her earlier comment on fielding candidates who could ensure that the BJP's vote share can be diminished, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said today that she would rather die than help the BJP. SP's Akhilesh Yadav and BSP leader Mayawati had both interpreted her earlier comments as secret collusion between BJP and Congress. Priyanka hits back at critics, says Congress can win on its own The video showing children hurling abuses at Narendra Modi in the presence of Priyanka was widely shared by BJP workers, including Smriti Irani, but did not have the part where the Congress leader was seen asking the children not to hurl abuses. "I stopped children from saying slogans which I think weren't correct about the PM. BJP edited the tape, removed the part where I was stopping them and they are making this allegation (that Priyanka used children in her campaign), which is typical of them. What they do is twist the truth, what I do is I speak the truth," she said. At an election rally in Rajasthan's Hanumangarh, Adityanath termed the Congress a "threat to the country" and asked people to think whether the party, along with the supporters of Pakistan, wants to compromise with the nation's security. The UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for UN's designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it proves "Modi hai to Mumkin hai". "Nationalism means solving the problems of the people of the country. The greatest patriotism of any politician, of any government, would be to be able to hear the people when they speak, would be to be democratic, to be able to strengthen the institutions that strengthen the public voice, not weaken it," Priyanka Gandhi said. While Sonia Gandhi is the MP from Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha. "I believe true nationalism is love of the people and love for the country, which means respect and I do not see respect for the people in anything they are doing," Priyanka Gandhi said in an interview during her campaign through the constituencies represented by her mother and brother. In an exclusive interview to PTI, the Congress leader also said there is growing "public anger and pain" for which the people of India will give a message to Modi on May 23 when the votes for the Lok Sabha polls will be counted. Stepping up her attack on the saffron party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to address real issues, Priyanka Gandhi said there will be consequences if the voice of the people is drowned by the voice of one leader. True nationalism means love of the people and for the country but the BJP mirrors neither love nor respect in anything it does, says Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao said, "The gathbandhan and Congress are two sides of the same coin. They can also indulge in corruption, toy with the country's security, and engage in politics of caste and community, "Sepoy Mutiny was the first uprising against the British in India. Now the biggest threat and problem in the country is Narendra Modi," she said at a rally in support of TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, who is pitted against BJP's Arjun Singh. Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday invoked the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 to draw a parallel with the efforts by her Trinamool Congress to dislodge the Narendra Modi government in the ongoing parliamentary polls. Due to demonetisation, the former commerce minister said, the economy suffered and the country's GDP reduced by 2 per cent while 86 per cent of the money in circulation in the markets disappeared. If the Congress comes to power at the Centre, a judicial probe commission will be set up, accountability will be fixed and people responsible for the note ban will be punished, he added. "Modi is the first prime minister in whose tenure black money was used openly and he says that there is no corruption in his governance. The biggest scam of the century is demonetisation," Sharma said at a press conference. Terming demonetisation as the biggest scam of the century, Congress leader Anand Sharma Thursday said people of the country were "cheated" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made "false" promises to them. Congress president Rahul Gandhi was quoted by ANI as saying at a rally in Jaipur, "Have you ever seen a chowkidar outside the house of farmers, labourers and unemployed youth? How many chowkidars are there near Anil Ambani's house? There is a queue of chowkidars and Modi ji is standing first in that queue." Rahul Gandhi takes aim at Modi, asks if 'chowkidaar' was seen outside homes of farmers, labourers Polling in most states is over and the result is clear. PM Narendra Modi is going to lose the elections and the Congress government of the farmers and the youth is about to come in, he said. "We will not run the government for 15 people because they are not our 'malik' (masters), he told a public meeting at Chomu in Jaipur. Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday said his party's government will not work just for a handful of businessmen, calling them Prime Minister Narendra Modi's masters. The video showing children hurling abuses at Narendra Modi in the presence of Priyanka was widely shared by BJP workers, including Smriti Irani, but did not have the part where the Congress leader was seen asking the children not to hurl abuses. "I stopped children from saying slogans which I think weren't correct about the PM. BJP edited the tape, removed the part where I was stopping them and they are making this allegation (that Priyanka used children in her campaign), which is typical of them. What they do is twist the truth, what I do is I speak the truth," she said. The Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to decide before 6 May, the date of Phase 5 of the election, the nine complaints filed by Congress party against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct. During a rally, BJP chief Amit Shah referred to the Congress' promise to scrap the sedition law, and said, "On one hand, there is the Congress party, which says that it will repeal the provision relating to sedition. On the other hand is the BJP, which asks you to make Narendra Modi the prime minister again, so that we will scrap Article 370 of the Constitution." At an election rally in Rajasthan's Hanumangarh, Adityanath termed the Congress a "threat to the country" and asked people to think whether the party, along with the supporters of Pakistan, wants to compromise with the nation's security. The UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for UN's designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it proves "Modi hai to Mumkin hai". "Nationalism means solving the problems of the people of the country. The greatest patriotism of any politician, of any government, would be to be able to hear the people when they speak, would be to be democratic, to be able to strengthen the institutions that strengthen the public voice, not weaken it," Priyanka Gandhi said. While Sonia Gandhi is the MP from Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha. "I believe true nationalism is love of the people and love for the country, which means respect and I do not see respect for the people in anything they are doing," Priyanka Gandhi said in an interview during her campaign through the constituencies represented by her mother and brother. In an exclusive interview to PTI, the Congress leader also said there is growing "public anger and pain" for which the people of India will give a message to Modi on May 23 when the votes for the Lok Sabha polls will be counted. Stepping up her attack on the saffron party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to address real issues, Priyanka Gandhi said there will be consequences if the voice of the people is drowned by the voice of one leader. True nationalism means love of the people and for the country but the BJP mirrors neither love nor respect in anything it does, says Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao said, "The gathbandhan and Congress are two sides of the same coin. They can also indulge in corruption, toy with the country's security, and engage in politics of caste and community, "Sepoy Mutiny was the first uprising against the British in India. Now the biggest threat and problem in the country is Narendra Modi," she said at a rally in support of TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, who is pitted against BJP's Arjun Singh. Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday invoked the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 to draw a parallel with the efforts by her Trinamool Congress to dislodge the Narendra Modi government in the ongoing parliamentary polls. Due to demonetisation, the former commerce minister said, the economy suffered and the country's GDP reduced by 2 per cent while 86 per cent of the money in circulation in the markets disappeared. If the Congress comes to power at the Centre, a judicial probe commission will be set up, accountability will be fixed and people responsible for the note ban will be punished, he added. "Modi is the first prime minister in whose tenure black money was used openly and he says that there is no corruption in his governance. The biggest scam of the century is demonetisation," Sharma said at a press conference. Terming demonetisation as the biggest scam of the century, Congress leader Anand Sharma Thursday said people of the country were "cheated" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made "false" promises to them. Congress president Rahul Gandhi was quoted by ANI as saying at a rally in Jaipur, "Have you ever seen a chowkidar outside the house of farmers, labourers and unemployed youth? How many chowkidars are there near Anil Ambani's house? There is a queue of chowkidars and Modi ji is standing first in that queue." Rahul Gandhi takes aim at Modi, asks if 'chowkidaar' was seen outside homes of farmers, labourers Polling in most states is over and the result is clear. PM Narendra Modi is going to lose the elections and the Congress government of the farmers and the youth is about to come in, he said. "We will not run the government for 15 people because they are not our 'malik' (masters), he told a public meeting at Chomu in Jaipur. Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday said his party's government will not work just for a handful of businessmen, calling them Prime Minister Narendra Modi's masters. Lok Sabha Election 2019 LATEST updates: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday said his party's government will not work just for a handful of businessmen, calling them Prime Minister Narendra Modi's masters. "We will not run the government for 15 people because they are not our 'malik' (masters), he told a public meeting at Chomu in Jaipur. During a rally, BJP chief Amit Shah referred to the Congress' promise to scrap the sedition law, and said, "On one hand, there is the Congress party, which says that it will repeal the provision relating to sedition. On the other hand is the BJP, which asks you to make Narendra Modi the prime minister again, so that we will scrap Article 370 of the Constitution." Issuing a scathing clarification of her earlier comment on fielding candidates who could ensure that the BJP's vote share can be diminished, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said today that she would rather die than help the BJP. SP's Akhilesh Yadav and BSP leader Mayawati had both interpreted her earlier comments as secret collusion between BJP and Congress. Speaking at his first rally of the day at Madhya Pradesh's Rae Bareli, BJP chief Amit Shah admitted that the people of Madhya Pradesh must have wanted a change even though former chief minister "Shivraj Singh Chouhan had done a lot for the state." Shah said that even though the BJP had won more votes, it got fewer seats. He also went on a ritual tirade against the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh regime and sought to highlight how they had reduced the rate of development and upliftment of poor people. Shah also accused Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath of corruption and said barely four months after Nath assumed the chair, his "friend's" house has been raided and Rs 281 crore recovered. In a press conference, BJP leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley sought to firmly place the credit of the United Nations listing Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist on the Narendra Modi government. The party highlighted repeated visits made by the prime minister to nations in order to secure the listing. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati said today that the BJP government had once made Masood Azhar "a guest" and later freed him. "Now at the time of elections they are trying to gather votes in his name, it is condemnable," said Mayawati. The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission to decide on pleas for re-scheduling the voting time from 7 am to 5 am in the upcoming phases of the general election during the month of Ramzan and due to heat-wave conditions in Rajasthan and other areas. A day after announcing the news of the United Nations designating Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at a rally in Jaipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be taking a break from campaigning on Thursday. But what the Bharatiya Janata Party is touting as a "big diplomatic win" for India will be sure to come up in the speeches at rallies that party chief Amit Shah has lined up in Madhya Pradesh. Shah is expected to address rallies in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh, Neemuch and Sehore. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has now been issued a showcause notice by the Election Commission, for his alleged remarks that the Narendra Modi government has enacted a new law that allows tribals to be shot at, will visit Jharkhand. He will address a rally at Simdega, a part of Khunti Lok Sabha constituency of Jharkhand. BJP has won this seat six times since 1991 and lost to Congress only in 2004. BJP this time has fielded Jharkhands three-term chief minister Arjun Munda as its candidate from this seat. In 2014 BJP registered a massive victory in Jharkhand where it won 12 out 14 Lok Sabha seats. Rahul will also address a rally at Jaipur on Thursday. Given the fact that Modi had also addressed a rally on Wednesday in Jaipur, easy comparison between the rallies of the two leaders is likely to take place. Priyanka is scheduled to hold small meetings at Bela Bhela, Kuchariya Rahi, Jagatpur, Chadrai Chauraha, Babuganj, Unchahar, Batohi, Matinganj, Gadaganj, Kanaha, Do Sadka Lalganj and Bhojpur Tiraha. She is expected to be joined by their mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at Sareni in the evening for a joint rally. Priyanka on Wednesday had said in Raebareli that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into BJPs vote share. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJPs vote share, she told media persons. Lucknow: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadras claim to have fielded weak candidates to eat into BJPs vote share in the Lok Sabha poll in the state has not cut any ice with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who sees her statement as an excuse since the people are not with them". I cannot believe in these types of statements. I do not believe that the Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them. That is why they are making excuses, Yadav told ANI in an exclusive interview. Priyanka on Wednesday had said in Raebareli that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into BJPs vote share. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJPs vote share, she told media persons. When asked about political analysts claim that the coalition is the Team B of the Congress, Yadav, also former UP chief minister, claimed that there was no difference between the BJP and the grand old party. There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. Congress wants to benefit the BJP, he said. Who taught the central agencies to intimidate Opposition leaders? The BJP has learnt to misuse the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress, he said. The person who filed PILs against Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and me was present at the nomination of Lucknow Congress candidate, he said. He also debunked Congress president Rahul Gandhis claim that BJP controls the SP and the BSP. No one controls us. We are political parties. It is the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in UP that is poised to give a setback to the ruling party, Yadav said. He termed SP-BSP-RLD alliance as the glue that is connected to the people on the ground. Our alliance will stop the bad policies of the BJP. Exuding confidence that the alliance would bag the maximum number of seats in the state where 80 seats are at stake, Yadav said: It is one of the reasons that the BJP leaders do not talk about development in their rallies and seek to divert the peoples attention. The alliances in several states have choices but the BJP does not have any other leader. Our alliance wants to give India a new prime minister. My party will decide about the prime minister when the final seat tally is out, he said when asked who will be the prime minister if the BJP does not come to power. Asked if his father and former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav will be a prime ministerial candidate, Yadav said: It will be good if Netaji gets the honour (to be the prime minister) but I feel he is probably not in the prime ministerial race. When asked about his national ambition, the 45-year-old leader said that he only wants his party to contribute in the new government at the Centre and made it clear that he is focusing at the Assembly elections, which are due in 2022. I want to appeal to the people of Uttar Pradesh to give us one more chance to further our programmes which has been stalled, he said. However, I want to increase the number of SPs MPs in the Lok Sabha. I want to be among those who want to make a new prime minister. I want Uttar Pradesh to contribute in the next government formation. When asked whether he would want her wife Dimple Yadav to be a part of a non-BJP government at the Centre, Yadav said: I want her to win with a good margin of votes first because Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the DGP of the state want to ensure that she loses. When asked why he is vehemently critical to Modi while his father is comfortable with him, Yadav said: Netaji is from a generation when leaders used to respect other leaders irrespective of their party lines. But the behaviour of the BJP leaders towards others is not good. It is worth mentioning that Mulayam Singh had left all surprised after he sought another term for Modi in February. I wish that Modi, you should become the prime minister again, he had said in his intervention in the last sitting of the Lok Sabha. Talking about the way the nomination of Tej Bahadur Yadav was rejected in Varanasi, he criticised Returning Officer (RO) Surendra Singh for not giving adequate time to his party candidate and former BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav to submit a document. If the DM had any objections, he should have raised when he filed his nomination papers the first time. Had he point out the issue then, he would have produced the document timely. I believe the Supreme Court will deliver him justice, he said. Talking about controversial remarks made by his senior party leader Azam Khan about Jaya Prada, Yadav defended him saying that sometimes even his legitimate remarks are taken wrongly and maintained that he shares good relation with Azam Khan like his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. Yadav said: He speaks directly. Sometimes even his legitimate remarks are seen in a bad light. He is as close to me as he is to Neta ji. The former chief minister, however, declined to comment on the family feud which led to his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav floating a new party. It is difficult to say whether or not we will unite in the future but at least the people want to know who was at fault, he said. Priyanka reached Purwa village on the second day of her visit to Rae Bareli. Here she met the snake charmers and interacted with them to know the problems they are facing in the region. During her interaction, she also handled some of the snakes herself. Congress general secretary in eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was seen interacting with snake charmers and even held a snake in her hand during a tour of her mother Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli on Wednesday. Priyanka reached Purwa village on the second day of her visit to Rae Bareli. Here she met the snake charmers and interacted with them to know the problems they are facing in the region. During her interaction, she also handled some of the snakes herself. However, on seeing this, her supporters got worried for her safety but, in the video shared by ANI, Priyanka can be heard telling them that they shouldn't be nervous as the snakes are harmless. #WATCH Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) meets snake charmers in Raebareli, holds snakes in hands. pic.twitter.com/uTY0R2BtEP ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 Meanwhile, following controversy over her remarks that Congress has fielded "weak candidates" in Uttar Pradesh to cut BJP votes, Priyanka clarified that BJP remained the grand old party's biggest opponent and that they have rather fielded very strong candidates to fight the saffron party in the state. "The ideology of the Congress and the BJP is different. We will always fight them, they are our main opponents in politics. We have ensured that BJP is not benefitted in any way. We are fighting strongly, our candidates are strong," she was quoted as saying. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secy for UP (East) in Raebareli: Ideology of Congress & BJP is poles apart. We'll always fight them, they are our main adversary in politics. We've made sure not to benefit BJP in any way. We're fighting strongly, our candidates are strong. pic.twitter.com/JXlvQWyXx8 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 Earlier, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav had hit out at Priyanka for her statement and said that Congress was only making excuses sighting their imminent defeat in the state. The candidates contesting from Varanasi against Narendra Modi have just a little over two weeks to campaign. They all admit that defeating the prime minister is going to prove difficult, but they hope people will take cognisance of their issues. A large number of disgruntled citizens have made a beeline for Varanasi to pin Prime Minister Narendra Modi down in this key electoral battlefield. Most of them know they will not be able to defeat him, but they will use the forum this high-profile constituency provides to highlight long-standing grievances before the nation. Over a hundred candidates filed their nomination papers as Independent candidates from Varanasi, but these were pared down to around 26. As so many nominations were axed, several candidates accused the Election Commission of bias towards Modi. The most high-profile rejection was the nomination of former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was hoping to contest against Modi on a Samajwadi Party ticket. Yadav accused the BJP of resorting to "dictatorial steps" to stop him from fighting the elections. "My nomination was rejected even though I furnished a NOC (No-Objection Certificate) from the BSF, which was required by the Returning Officer (RO). I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm on Tuesday. We produced the evidence but still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court," Yadav said after he learnt that his nomination had been cancelled. Yadav's ire is justified. He had first filed his nomination as an Independent on 24 April and then on the Samajwadi Party ticket on 29 April. "If there were any issues with the nominations, why wasn't I informed earlier? Despite lack of time, our legal team furnished all details to the RO," he said. While the Varanasi district administration said the nomination was cancelled because Yadav didn't produce the required document in time, the district magistrate clarified that an individual dismissed from service from a state or Central government post in the last five years has to obtain a certificate from the Election Commission stating that he was not dismissed on the grounds of disloyalty or corruption. He was told to produce the NOC by 11 am this morning (1 May) as this was the deadline, but he failed to do so, and his nomination was rejected, the Varanasi district magistrate explained. The Election Commission also highlighted "discrepancies" in Yadav's two nominations as further justification for rejecting his papers. In the nomination he filed as an Independent, Yadav mentioned his dismissal from the BSF, but in the second nomination submitted on 29 April as a nominee for the Samajwadi Party, he did not mention this fact. A senior poll panel official, quoting the rule book, said that five years must pass before an individual dismissed from government service can seek nomination for a Lok Sabha election, otherwise he has to get an NOC from the department in which he had served. "This is done to ensure that there are no charges of corruption against him or charges of disloyalty," the official said. But Varanasi-based activist Aflatoon, who heads the Samajwadi Jain Parishad, blames the Election Commission on two counts. "Constable Tej Bahadur Yadav should have been told to produce the NOC when he had first applied on 24 April. That did not happen, which is strange, to say the least. If there's a question of corruption and disloyalty, how can Pragya Singh Thakur be allowed to contest. given that she has been charged with terror-related crimes? Why these double standards?" Aflatoon questioned. BSF had dismissed Yadav for flouting standard operating procedures when he went public with a video to expose the poor quality of food jawans on the border were served. He had shot the video clad in military fatigue. Yadav has tried to put up a brave face, insisting that he was "being stopped from fighting the elections as the 'nakli chowkidar (fake watchman) of the country was afraid of the asli chowkidar (real watchman)". Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Rai Dhupchandi believes that Yadav's nomination from Varanasi was rejected because he represented the aspirations of the toiling farmers and jawans. A group of turmeric farmers who had travelled all the way to Varanasi from Telangana and Tamil Nadu are also unhappy with the treatment meted out to them. These 54 farmers had arrived in Varanasi last week after raising money with great difficulty. They wanted to file their nominations to draw attention to the hardship they and their brethren face at home. But again, this lot had to face the hostility of the local administration. Not being fluent in Hindi came with its own problems, and they complained that when they went to the bank, the officials their refused to give them the challans they needed to file their nominations. Eventually, only 25 farmers were able to complete their formalities because when they arrived at the collectorate, the farmers alleged, the RO refused to accept them because their proposers had not accompanied them. One of these farmers said, "It was almost as though the entire official machinery in Varanasi, especially the Election Commission, was pitted against us, and it seemed to be intentional." A senior official of the Election Commission said this criticism was misguided. "We could not understand why so many candidates waited till the last minute to file their nominations. Nominations began to be filed from 22 April, and the last date was 29 April. If these individuals had applied earlier, then after scrutiny of their entries, they would have had the time to rectify their errors. Many of them had incomplete forms; others didn't know they needed their proposal to be signed by 10 people. Only candidates with the backing of a political party need a proposal from just one person," the official explained. He went on to add that all rejections are given in writing. "These individuals are free to go to court and seek further redressal," he added. There was a great deal of sloganeering on Tuesday outside the Varanasi collectorate after the Election Commission handed out rejections to over 70 applicants, accepting the nominations of merely 31 candidates of the lot that filed. The poll panel and Varanasi administration are now gearing up for voting day as they will have to keep a minimum of two machines at each polling booth. The constituency has 1,819 polling stations, which means each will need 36 to 38 EVMs. "Each EVM has 16 candidates in one ballotting unit, of which one is NOTA. So when we keep two machines, we will have to cancel the second NOTA option," the official said. These selected candidates have just a little over two weeks to campaign. They all admit that defeating the prime minister is going to prove to be a Herculean task, though they hope the aam aadmi will take cognisance of the issues they wish to highlight. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Narendra Modi government has publicised surgical strikes in an effort to draw attention away from its many failures. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Narendra Modi government has publicised surgical strikes in an effort to draw attention away from its many failures. In an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times, Singh said "multiple surgical strikes" were done during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance government which he headed but alleged that never before had an Indian government needed to ride on the achievements of the army as it is doing now. Ever since the 2016 surgical strike, and especially on the campaign trail leading up to and through the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has relied heavily on the alleged success of the Uri and Balakot surgical strikes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and several BJP leaders have hit out at Manmohan over his government's allegedly ineffective handling of terror. Shah especially has referred to Manmohan as "mauni baba" which literally translates to "dumb saint" multiple times at campaign rallies. In his interview, however, Manmohan seems to have broken his silence and responded conclusively to charges that his government was soft on terror. "Let me remind you that our armed forces were always given a free hand to operationally respond to every threat. Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises. In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces. Such attempts to politicize our forces are shameful and unacceptable. All this is being done to draw the attention away from unpardonable failures of Modi Government on the economic front, on jobs, on rural distress, on MSMEs and the informal sector," the former prime minister told Hindustan Times' Sunetra Choudhury. The economist also came down heavily on charges of not having reacted with sharpness after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. "In the absence of facts, everyone can re-judge history in hindsight. I disagree with the insinuation that we were not ready with military punitive actions...Within 14 days of the Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN," he said. On Wednesday, the same committee blacklisted Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in what BJP brass has already claimed as a personal victory of Narendra Modi's. Manmohan in the interview also said Modi has been riding on the "empty rhetoric" concerning India's national security. His claim of previous surgical strikes echoes one made by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who in an Udaipur rally before the Rajastan Assembly election in 2018 had said that the Army had conducted three surgical strikes while the UPA was in power but had kept those operations a secret. Do you know that like Narendra Modis surgical strike, (former PM) Manmohan Singh did that three times? When the army came to Manmohan Singh and said we need to retaliate against Pakistan for what theyve done, they also said we want it to be secret, for our own purposes, Rahul had said. Congress has also, significantly, appointed Lt Gen (retired) DS Hooda, who oversaw the BJP government's much publicised 2016 Uri surgical strike, to head a task force on national security. Hooda has been among many to allege that the Modi government has disproportionately hyped the strikes. The news of Azhar being designated a global terrorist will surely attract the same cheering when he addresses his next rally on Friday. But on Thursday its a break from campaigning for Modi. On Wednesday evening when Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Jaipur, an ecstatic crowd waited for him. The news of United Nation (UN) designating Jaish chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist had reached the prime minister and the people. Modi made the announcement of India's "big diplomatic win" addressing the cheering crowd. The news of Azhar being designated a global terrorist will surely attract the same cheering when he addresses his next rally on Friday. But on Thursday its a break from campaigning for Modi. On the other hand, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Jharkhand where he will address a rally at Simdega followed by a public meeting at Jaipur, Rajasthan. Simdega, where Rahul Gandhi will address a rally, is part of Khunti Lok Sabha constituency. Bharatiya Janata Party has won this seat six times since 1991 and lost to Congress only in 2004. BJP this time has fielded Jharkhands three-term chief minister Arjun Munda as its candidate from this seat. In 2014 BJP registered a massive victory in Jharkhand where it won 12 out 14 Lok Sabha seats. Though this time, the party faces a tougher challenge than previous years because all its opponents Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM (P), and Rashtriya Janata Dal have come together to form a coalition and prevent division of anti-BJP vote. In Khunti, Congress and its alliance partners have fielded Kalicharan Munda who has a significant following among his tribal community. Rahul Gandhi will also address a rally at Jaipur on Thursday. Given the fact that Modi had also addressed a rally on Wednesday in Jaipur, easy comparison between the rallies of the two leaders is likely to take place. The incumbent MP from Jaipur is BJPs Ramcharan Bohara who had defeated the Congress candidate in 2014 with a record margin of over 5.39 lakh votes, the largest in the state. In 2009 elections, Congress candidate Mahesh Joshi had won with a thin margin of 16000 votes. In 2014 it was the infighting within the Congress that contributed to its defeat and this time various reports suggest that the BJP is plagued by the same ailment. According to The Times of India report Bohara has been facing opposition from former Bagru MLA Kailash Verma. It will be interesting to see to what extent this infighting within BJP can benefit Congress. While Modi will take a break from campaigning on Thursday, BJP president Amit Shah will address rallies at Rajgarh, Sehore, and Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh. Rajgarh Lok Sabha includes eight Assembly constituencies and the incumbent MP is Rodmal Nagar from BJP. Neemuch is part of Mandsaur Lok Sabha constituency and the sitting MP from here is Sudhir Gupta of BJP. Sehore is part of Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency and is considered one of the most high-profile seats in the State. External Affairs Minister and one of the senior most leader of BJP Sushma Swaraj is sitting MP from here and in 2014 had defeated Congress candidate Lakshman Singh with a huge margin. Swaraj received 66.50 percent of the total votes cast in this constituency. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has represented this seat in past. BJP has not declared the candidate for this seat yet which will go to polls on 12 May. Talking to media persons, the former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela said terrorism is used by the BJP government to win elections and a number of terrorist attacks have taken place in the last five years. Ahmedabad: The Pulwama terror attack was the BJPs conspiracy as was Godhra, former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela here on Wednesday. The vehicle with RDX which was used in Pulwama attack bore the registration initial of Gujarat, GJ. Godhra was a conspiracy, said Vaghela, who is now in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Talking to media persons, Vaghela said: Terrorism is used by the BJP government to win elections. A number of terrorist attacks have taken place in the last five years. No one was killed in Balakot air strike. Even none of the international agency was able to prove that 200 militants were killed. Balakot airstrike was a planned conspiracy. It was supposed to happen, Vaghela said. Even after getting information from intelligence sources regarding Pulwama attack, no pre-emptive measures were taken. And if you had information about Balakot, then why didnt you take action against these camps. Why were you waiting for something like Pulwama to happen, he said. BJP is involved in the whole thing. It is going to bring the sectarian conflict to win elections, he said. Taking a jibe at BJP, Vaghela said: BJPs Gujarat model is false. The state is suffering. BJP leaders are upset with the party. They feel that they are bonded labourers. Gujarat, where 26 Lok Sabha seats are at stake, went to polls on 23 April. The counting of votes will take place on 23 May. Citing Rahul Gandhi's speech made at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh on 23 April, the commission pointed at a provision of the model code which bars unverified allegations to be levelled against political opponents. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday issued a showcause 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 at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh on 23 April, the commission pointed at a provision of the model code which bars "unverified" allegations to be levelled against political opponents. Rahul has been given 48 hours to respond to the notice, failing which it will take action without further reference to him. Two BJP workers had approached the EC with the complaint, following which a report was sought from the Madhya Pradesh poll authorities. According to a broad translation of the Hindi speech available on the internet, Rahul 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." tech2 News Staff Apple has been known to implement design changes in its hardware that somehow ends up making it difficult for people to repair its devices. And now, the company is trying to convince California lawmakers by using a scenario where consumers puncture lithium-ion batteries, as a high safety risk. Coming from a report by Motherboard, an Apple representative has been meeting legislators in California along with a lobbyist from CompTIA, which is a trade organisation representing major tech companies. The agenda of these meetings have been to try and get rid of the legislation that will make it easier for owners to repair their own electronics. In this case, it's Apple's products. Apple is trying to convince the lawmakers against the bill saying that the lithium-ion batteries inside these devices are dangerous. Batteries all by themselves are not dangerous and they pose a problem only when they are punctured, which leads to either a fire hazard or an explosion. Or like in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, if they have not been designed properly by the manufacturer. However, according to an update to the report, the bill has now been pulled before the hearing. Californias Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee was supposed to vote on the right to repair legislation but there was growing scepticism around it. Now, the bill will be moved to January in the coming year. tech2 News Staff A Redmi-branded smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor has been on the cards for Xiaomi for quite some time now. Possibly taking cues from competition, a poster was recently circulated on Chinese social networking site, Weibo suggesting that this upcoming Redmi flagship will likely be called Redmi X. The poster also stated that the smartphone will launch on soon as on 14 May However, as per a report by GizmoChina, Redmi General Manager, Lu Weibing has now confirmed via a Weibo post from his personal handle that the phone will not be called Redmi X, stating that the phone in question will sport a better name. While that means that we still don't know what Redmi's upcoming flagship will be named, the 'Redmi X' moniker could be a placeholder name for the upcoming phone with X' in the name being later replaced with something more befitting. There is also the possibility of Redmi X being a completely different device, with different specifications. Until now, the upcoming Snapdragon 855-powered phone has been rumoured to launch on numerous occasions, with several launch dates tipped so far. However, 14 May could be a date that appears more likely, since that's the same day OnePlus is expected to launch its OnePlus 7 series. Lu Weibing in his Weibo post clarifying that the flagship offering won't be called the Redmi X also refrained from talking about the 14 May date, which does give us hope. Xiaomi also recently teased an image of a Redmi smartphone with a pop-up selfie camera which led us to believe that this could very well be the Snapdragon 855-powered flagship being discussed. As far as specifications go, the upcoming Redmi flagship will likely come with a 6.39-inch display, a Snapdragon 855 SoC accompanied by 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. In the camera department, the phone is tipped to come loaded with a 32 MP shooter on the front and a triple-camera setup, including a 48 MP primary camera sensor, an 8 MP secondary sensor and another 13 MP camera on the back. tech2 News Staff The Indian Space Research Organisation is counting down to the launch of India's second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2. The spacecraft, carrying an orbiter, lander and a rover, will be launched on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-MkIII between on 15 July a 2.51 am IST from a launchpad in Sriharikota. ISRO said that the Orbiter and Lander modules of Chandrayaan-2 have been stacked together with the rover tucked away inside the lander as a single integrated module that was recently fit into the GSLV MK-III-M1 rocket for a ride to orbit. The Chandrayaan-2 integrated module is expected to reach the Moon's orbit by September, and make a landing on 6 September. This spacecraft has its own Orbiter propulsion module which will power the vehicle's escape out of Earth's orbit and into the Moon's. Once the spacecraft reaches the Moon's orbit, it will attempt to make a soft landing in a region 600 kilometres away from the lunar South pole. This would be the first time any mission touched down so far from the equator, according to a report in Science. The lander will separate from the orbiter and descend to the surface to make India's first ever moon landing around 6 September, ISRO estimates in the release. The Pragyaan rover will roll out of the Vikram lander carrying an array of scientific instruments meant to study the lunar surface. Some of the instruments in the mission will also be mounted on the lander and orbiter. The orbiter module of Chandrayaan-2 will circle the moon and relay data and information about conditions on the surface, ISRO states on its website. "The payloads will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice," the statement adds. The 20-kilogram, six-wheeled Pragyaan rover is a semi-autonomous robot that is tasked with studying the composition of regolith, the mixture of tiny moon rocks and fine dust the blankets the Moon's surface. Chandrayaan-2 will be India's second mission to the moon, and the first to attempt a soft landing. It is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-1, which launched in October 2008 and helped provide the first confirmation of water (in the form of hydroxyl ions) on the moon in 2009. When & where you can watch it live The mission will be streamed live on DD National's YouTube channel and tech2's Youtube, Facebook and Twitter handles, made available 30 minutes before the launch window opens, at 2.21 am IST on 15 July. Agence France-Presse A space capsule suspected to have exploded last month in an incident characterized by manufacturer SpaceX as an "anomaly" was in fact completely destroyed, a US Senator confirmed Wednesday. "The most recent SpaceX anomaly caused the complete loss of the (crew) capsule," Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of a Senate committee that manages NASA's budget, said during a hearing. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told Shelby the agency, which has contracted its mission to resume carrying US astronauts to the International Space Station to Elon Musk's SpaceX and Boeing, would be carrying out a joint investigation with SpaceX. NASA and SpaceX have remained tight-lipped about what caused the serious incident during engine tests on April 25. A leaked video posted on Twitter, later indirectly authenticated by NASA, showed an explosion. NASA is counting on SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, a task handled since 2011 by Russia, with first manned flight planned before the end of the year. The capsule that exploded was to be launched by a rocket in the coming months during a full-scale test of its in-flight abort system that would allow it to return to Earth in case of an emergency. SpaceX and NASA must now urgently work to discover the cause of the explosion as well as replace the capsule calling into question NASA's stated goal of launching American astronauts into space from US soil by the end of 2019. By Andy Sullivan and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday fended off Democratic criticism of his decision to clear U.S By Andy Sullivan and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday fended off Democratic criticism of his decision to clear U.S. President Donald Trump of criminal obstruction of justice in the Russia inquiry 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 the 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 about critical aspects of the inquiry. Illustrating tensions between the two men, Barr referred to as "a bit snitty" a March 27 letter from Mueller in which the special counsel urged him to release broader summaries of the findings to provide a fuller account - a step Barr rejected. Trump seized on Barr's March 24 letter to declare that he had been fully exonerated. Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official and a Trump appointee, tangled with Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during roughly four hours of testimony at a sometimes testy hearing, with several Democrats calling for his resignation after the attorney general stoutly defended Trump. 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," said Barr, the first Trump administration official to testify about the contents of Mueller's report. 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. Mueller 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 based on Mueller's findings there was insufficient evidence to establish that Trump committed criminal obstruction. Barr often appeared to excuse or rationalize Trump's conduct, asserting that the president's motives fell short of trying to derail Mueller's investigation. "You've chosen to be the president's lawyer and side with him over the interests of the American people," Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono told Barr, calling him a person who has 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 has 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 in June 2017 Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn 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." "We did not think in this case that the government could show corrupt intent," Barr said. Barr told Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee's top Democrat, "There is a distinction between saying to someone, 'Go fire him, go fire Mueller,' and saying, 'Have him removed based on conflict.' ... The difference between them is if you remove someone for a conflict of interest, then there would be - presumably - another person appointed." Feinstein, sounding unconvinced, responded, "Wouldn't you have to have in this situation an identifiable conflict that makes sense, or else doesn't it just become a fabrication?" 'INTENTION WAS VERY CLEAR' Democratic Senator Dick Durbin was more blunt. "I think the president's intention was very clear. He wanted this to end," Durbin said, referring to Mueller's investigation. Under questioning by Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, 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." Democrats control the House of Representatives, which would start any such impeachment effort, while Trump's fellow Republicans control the Senate, which would have to vote to remove the president. Democrats asked Barr about Mueller's March 27 letter complaining that Barr's March 24 letter to lawmakers stating the inquiry's main conclusions did not "fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work." Barr testified Mueller was unhappy with the way the conclusions were being characterized in the media, not his account of the conclusions, though Mueller's letter does 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." Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said Barr misled Congress when he testified in April he did not know whether Mueller was happy with his initial characterization of his findings. Several Democrats demanded that Mueller testify before the committee, but Graham ruled that out. Barr told the panel he believed Russia and other countries were still a threat to interfere in U.S. elections. 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. To that end, Barr defended his accusation in a previous congressional hearing this month that American intelligence agencies engaged in "spying" on Trump campaign figures. He said "spying" is "a good English word" without a pejorative meaning and that he would not back off his language, which echoed Trump's complaints that the Justice Department had engaged in wrongdoing toward his campaign. 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." The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee voted to adopt an aggressive questioning format for a hearing set for Thursday with Barr, and a Democratic lawmaker said the panel would subpoena Barr if he does not appear. The committee's subpoena deadline for Barr's department to hand over an unredacted copy of Mueller's report and the underlying evidence expired on Wednesday. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan, Sarah N. Lynch and David Morgan; Writing by Andy Sullivan and James Oliphant; Editing by Will Dunham) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. When the US attorney general refused to appear at a hearing in US Congress, one Democrat decided it was time to act against what he saw as fowl behavior. Washington: When Attorney General William Barr refused to appear at a hearing in the US Congress on Thursday, one Democrat decided it was high time to act against what he saw as fowl behavior. Democratic Representative Steve Cohen arrived at a hearing of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee carrying a bucket of fried chicken and a poultry figurine. He said the props represented the nations top law enforcement official, who canceled his planned testimony amid a dispute over the hearing format. The chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions, the Tennessee lawmaker told reporters, after he handed out pieces of fried chicken to other committee members. Democrats accuse Barr and other administration officials of stonewalling their investigations into Trumps taxes, his businesses and other topics. Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Thursday that he may hold Barr in contempt of Congress if the attorney general does not turn over an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed Masood Azhar's designation and said that it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism Washington: The designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia, the White House has said. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on Wednesday announced 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. Reacting to the development, Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House said: "Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia". The US commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Azhar, the leader of JeM, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian security personnel, Marquis said in a statement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed the move and said that it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism. Pompeo also congratulated the US mission in the UN which took the lead in America's diplomatic effort to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, after China finally lifted its nearly 10-year technical hold on such an effort by India, the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council including Britain and France. "Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist," Pompeo tweeted. "This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia," Pompeo said. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that the JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace in South Asia. "The JeM was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 and has been listed by the UN since 2001," she said. The US also designated Azhar as an SDGT in 2010. "As JEM's founder and leader, Azhar clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN. This listing requires all the UN member states to implement an asset freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," Ortagus said. Today's designation is an important step in promoting a peaceful and stable South Asia, she said. "In line with this vision, we appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khan's stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow militant and terrorist groups to operate from its territory," Ortagus said. The spokesperson said that the US looks forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan consistent with its international obligations. 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. 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 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 recognised 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 scepticism 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 emphasise 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 "destabilising" 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) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (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. By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (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 energise the base, and you don't energise 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 specialises 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." 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 organise - 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 neutralise 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 polarisation 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) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan ordered an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo on JeM chief Masood Azhar after Jaish-e-Mohammed chief was designated as a global terrorist by UN's sanctions committee over his ties to Al-Qaeda Editor's Note: The UN's sanctions committee designated Pakistan-based Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), as a global terrorist over his ties to Al-Qaeda. Masood was listed after China lifted its technical hold on a proposal moved by the US, France along with the UK 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 killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir. On Wednesday, Pakistan ordered an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo on Masood. Following is the full text of the order published by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: EXTRAORDINARY PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY ISLAMABAD, WEDNESDAY, May 01, 2019 Part II Statutory Notifications Order (S.R.O.) Government of Pakistan MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Islamabad the 01st May 2019 ORDER S.R.0.500 (I)/2019 dated 01 May 2019 - WHEREAS the United Nations Security Council vide its Resolutions Nos. 1267 (6999), 1333 (2000), 1373 (2001), 6390 (2002), 1455 (2003), 1526 (2004), 1617 (2005), 1735 (2006), 1822 (2008), 1904 (2009), 1988 (2011), 1989 (2011), 2082 (2082), 2083 (2012). 2133 (2014), 2160 (2014), 2161 (2014) 2170(2014), 2178(2014), 2199 (2015), 2253 (2015) and 2368 (2017) has directed to apply travel restrictions, arms embargo and to freeze the funds and other financial resources of certain individuals and entities; 2. AND WHEREAS through paragraph 1 of United Nations Security Council resolution 2368 (2017) adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the United Nations Security Council has decided that all States shall take the following measures as previously imposed by paragraph 8 (c) of resolution 1333 (2000), paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1390 (2002), paragraphs 1 and 4 of resolution 1989 (2011), and paragraph 2 of resolution 2253 (2015) with respect to ISIL (also known as Daesh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities: Asset Freeze (a) Freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, including funds derived from property owned or controlled directly or indirectly, by them or by persons acting on their behalf or at their direction, and ensure that neither these nor any other funds, financial assets or economic resources are made available, directly or indirectly for such persons benefit, by the nationals or by persons within their territory; Travel Ban (b) Prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of these individuals, provided that nothing in this paragraph shall oblige any State to deny entry or require the departure from its territories of its own nationals and this paragraph shall not apply where entry or transit is necessary for the fulfillment of a judicial process or the Committee determines on a case-by-case basis only that entry or transit is justified; Arms Embargo (c) Prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer to these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities 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 including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, and technical advice, assistance or training related to military activities; 3. AND WHEREAS through paragraph 13 of United Nations Security Council resolution 2368 (2017) adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the United Nations Security Council reiterated that all States shall ensure that their nationals and persons in their territory not make available economic resources to ISIL, Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities, recalls also that this obligation applies to the direct and indirect wade in oil and refined oil products, modular refineries, and related material including chemicals and lubricants, and other natural resources, and comply with their obligation to ensure that their nationals and persons within their territory do not make donations to individuals and entities designated by the Committee or those acting on behalf of or at the direction of designated individuals of entities; 4. AND WHEREAS the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1948 (XIV of 1948) enjoins upon the Federal Government to apply certain measures for giving effect to the decisions of the United Nations Security Council; 5. AND WHEREAS the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues S.R.0.s under the UN Security Council Act 1948 (XIV of 1948) to apply certain measures for giving effect to the decisions of the UN Security Council and to reflect changes / updates made by the 1267/1989/2253/2368 ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee to the list of individuals / entities subject to these measures; 6. AND WHEREAS the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far issued 341 S.R.Os to date in this regard; 7. NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2 of the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1948 (XIV of 1948), the Federal Government is pleased to order that the Resolution 2368 (2017) be fully implemented including in particular that individuals and entities listed in the Annex to this order reflecting the updates made by the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council till date, shall stand subjected to the asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo in accordance with the aforesaid resolutions and as mentioned in paragraph 2 above; 8. NOW THEREFORE, the Annex to this order contains the additional update made to 1267/ 1989/2253 ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, as of 01 May 2019, and will be subject to sanction measures in line with paragraph 7 above; 9. NOW THEREFORE, all concerned may take actions as appropriate for the implementation of sanctions against these fisted individuals and entities and, whereas any subsequent change to the list of individuals and entities will be communicated through issuance of S.R.O.s; 10. AND WHEREAS through paragraph 59 of United Nations Security Council resolution 2368 (2017) adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the United Nations Security Council has decided that all States are required to take all possible measures, in accordance with their domestic laws and practices, to notify or inform in a timely manner the listed individual or entity of the listing as provided in the relevant resolutions, the Committee's procedures for considering delisting requests, including the possibility of submitting such a request to the Ombudsperson in accordance with paragraph 43 of resolution 2083 (2012) and the provisions of resolution 1452 (2002) regarding avaitable exemptions, including the possibility of submitting such requests through the Focal Point mechanism; Annexure On 1 May 2019, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below lo its ISIL (Da'esh) 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 Name (original script): 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) MasudAzhar 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). INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/notice/search/un/xxxx Sd-/ (Ahmad Farooq) Director General (CT) Ministry of Foreign Affairs The full text has been reproduced from website of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has not been edited by Firstpost for style and clarity If the air strikes against its hideouts and killing of its cadres have shaken Jaish-e-Mohammed, the calling out of its leader as a global terrorist is only going to worsen its situation. Diplomats handling Washington, China and the United Nations, and in that order, must be basking in a quiet sense of satisfaction of a job well done. The lifting of Chinese objections to the designation of Masood Azhar, chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and former head of the Harkat-ul-Ansar as a global terrorist is certainly a triumph, and some clinking of champagne glasses is in order. But thats not how critics are likely to see this event. They are more likely to wonder how this additional listing of Azhar is going to help when the Jaish itself was designated as a terrorist group way back in 2001. Many will wonder whether the diplomatic battle that went into this exercise was worth using up the scarce diplomatic capital that India has with the US and China. There is some logic to this. After all, all that the UN Committee dealing with ISIL (Daesh) and Al Qaeda sanctions actually did was to simply add another layer of strictures on the group by naming its leader separately. The reasons for designation as listed by the UN are also similar to its earlier language of 2001. The text refers to his association with Al Qaeda and sundry other activities that include participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities. The sanctions do mean that any junkets to Saudi Arabia or even the United Kingdom, where he once toured extensively, are now banned. Nor can any of his friends elsewhere provide him with money without coming under the scanner. But all of this was already part of the 2001 designation of the group, and he could hardly have escaped these strictures as the group leader. Scepticism on the usefulness of such sanctions is also somewhat justified. After all, the Jaish hasnt let any designation interfere with its activities. In Pakistan, it has not just been allowed to function but has expanded under successive governments. More importantly, it has also significantly increased its activities in Kashmir, particularly over the last two years, when severe adverse publicity made it (relatively) difficult for the Lashkar-e-Taiba to operate quite as freely as it did earlier. That, in essence, is the first point of this whole diplomatic exercise. Severe and consistent adverse publicity does pressure terrorist groups. Note that Azhar himself has almost entirely stopped his travels outside Pakistan. More importantly, such a designation makes Jaishs patrons which includes a number of institutions in Pakistan, apart from the ISI just a little more cautious particularly when theyre negotiating for new loans from international lenders like the IMF. Then theres the second point. The fact that China gave in and allowed the designation to pass would more than annoy Islamabad. For some time, it has been clear that Chinas technical hold on the designation was causing considerable embarrassment to the Pakistani Foreign Office. It is no easy matter to stonewall a resolution by other members such as France and the United Kingdom, particularly when it is apparent to everyone and anyone, that Pakistan shelters all manner of terrorist groups. It is as well to note that China is also using some of its diplomatic capital in protecting Pakistan and continuing its objections. To an extent, the language of the designation reflects that Beijing has still shielded its ally. Nowhere does the text reflect the murderous Pulwama attack that killed more than 40 Indian forces. The earlier draft put up by the United States and quoted by The Hindu, unequivocally condemns the attack, naming the Jaish for the attack. The watered-down language doesnt really change Indias position on its own air attacks against Jaish bases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But it does assuage Islamabads predicament to an extent. A designation specifically identifying Jaish as the culprit in the attacks, would have been followed by New Delhi upping its demands for action against the group. As it is, Pakistan will simply make do with its usual closing of a few madrassas and taking over (for the umpteenth time) some of its institutions. But heres the thing. This is a dent in the Pakistan-China relationship since it signals that there are limits to Chinese backing, even while showing preference to doing business with India. That last bit is what is more likely to irk Pakistan. Note that the forward movement by China comes at a time when despite Indias refusal to yet again attend the Belt and Road Summit held recently, bilateral relations have been moving forward quietly and without fanfare. Just a week before the formal holding of the Belt and Road Forum with much fanfare, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale was in Beijing to meet his counterpart. Though the ministrys readout was bland, it did mention the Indo-Pacific as an area of common interest. That is a sideward glance at the growing US-India relationship in an area that irks Beijing immensely. Foreign Minister Wang Yi also chose to call India and China as strategic partners. Later Beijing also took Indias absence at the BRI its stride, merely remarking that it was willing to exercise patience in this regard. Now come reports that a second Wuhan type summit is likely in October or November this year. Clearly, both New Delhi and Beijing are willing to give a little, particularly in areas that dont directly impinge on their security. For New Delhi, a show of watering down of the Indo-Pacific construct that is being set up by the US is no loss. What matters are bilateral relations between the two. Similarly, Chinas abandoning of the Jaish is not going to substantially change its equation with Pakistan. It merely ensures that Islamabad doesnt take Chinese support for granted. Finally, the Jaish designation assists the US in its overall strategy of pressuring Pakistan to deliver on Afghanistan. The Trump administration needs to pull out, and quickly, well before the next elections in 2020. For that, the Jaish issue provides Washington with an ideal hammer. In sum, New Delhi has managed to pile up multiple points on the Jaish issue. First, it has helped to again focus attention on Pakistan and the terrorist groups it harbours. Past precedence shows that such pressure needs to be consistent to even marginally dent its terrorist support strategies. Second, it has put some weight on the Pakistan-China ties, forcing the latter to choose between the two to some extent. Third, it allows the US to continue with its strategy of multiple points of pressurising Pakistan. Lastly, there is at least the fact that Masood Azhar is now a marked man. If the air strikes against its hideouts and killing of its cadres have shaken the group, the calling out of its leader as a global terrorist is only going to worsen its situation. In such a crisis, lower ranks tend to drift away to other groups and funding tends to dwindle. Eventually, it will be game over. Not yet perhaps, but eventually. All in all, not a bad days work. Pakistan said it will '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 attacks, were removed from the proposal. Islamabad: 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: assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. 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 made 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. PayPal India, today, launched its OneTouch experience in India using Google Smart Lock thereby removing the hassle of repeatedly needing to log in. With One Touch, consumers will no longer have to retrieve their credit and debit card details to make purchases on their smartphones. Having said that, this allows Indian consumers to register their Android device with PayPal and enables them to stay logged into the platform for all subsequent PayPal purchases on that device. However, consumers once logged in will still need to go through the 2FA step to complete the transaction as per applicable regulations. Notably, India will be the first market where the feature will be integrated with Google Smart Lock. Additionally, PayPals Buyer Protection feature will provide another layer of safety to this feature for eligible transactions. If items purchased online do not match the description of the product that was sold to the consumer, PayPals Buyer Protection feature enables them to claim a refund for eligible transactions. Commenting on the same, Narsi Subramanian, Director, Growth, PayPal India stated: As payment systems evolve, it is essential for the platforms to simplify the process and render better user experiences for consumers while paying online. At the same time, it is critical that customers feel secure in making their transactions as well. The One Touch feature along with Google Smart Lock addresses both of the above and aligns with our vision of offering a frictionless payments experience. Kishore Konakanchi, Head of Product & Engineering, PayPal India, said: Williams Companies' (NYSE:WMB) growth strategy continues to pay off. The natural gas pipeline company's dual focus on building its portfolio around its core assets and investing in high-return growth projects enabled it to generate solid earnings and cash flow growth during the first quarter. That kept the company on track to achieve its full-year forecast even though it has continued to tweak its portfolio in 2019. Drilling down into the numbers Metric Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Change (YOY) Adjusted EBITDA $1.216 billion $1.135 billion 7.1% Distributable cash flow $780 million $723 million 7.9% Dividend coverage ratio 1.7 1.65 3% Williams didn't disappoint during the first quarter, as earnings and cash flow grew by more than 7% compared to the prior-year period. That allowed the company to increase its dividend by 12% over the past year even as it maintained a healthy coverage level. The pipeline giant benefited from strong performance in two of its three main segments: Earnings in Williams' Atlantic-Gulf segment surged more than 20% compared to the year-ago period. The main reason was the completion of the Atlantic Sunrise and Gulf Connector expansion projects on its key Transco pipeline. Northeast G&P earnings also soared more than 20% year over year. The company benefited from a 15% increase in volumes gathered across the region. Williams also acquired the remaining 38% interest in Utica East Ohio Midstream during the quarter for $727 million. That's part of a $1.34 billion transaction that will see the company sell a 35% stake in that entity and its Ohio Valley Midstream system to create a partnership with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. The joint venture should close later this year. The strong results of those two segments more than offset some weakness in Williams' West business unit. The company experienced lower volumes due to severe winter weather conditions, especially in Wyoming. In addition to that, the company sold its Four Corners area business last year, which also weighed on comparable results. Meanwhile, this segment could be under additional pressure because Williams recently sold its 50% stake in Jackalope Gas Gathering Services, which is a G&P business in Wyoming. A look at what's ahead Williams will receive about $1.085 billion in cash as a result of its partnership with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and sale of its stake in Jackalope. The company intends on using those proceeds to shore up its balance sheet and finance additional expansion projects. That will help reduce its leverage ratio to about 4.6 times debt to EBITDA by the end of 2019, which is an improvement from its initial guidance of 4.75 times. Williams is also reducing its capital expenditure outlook for 2019. The company now expects to spend between $2.4 billion and $2.8 billion, which is down from its initial budget range of $2.7 billion-$2.9 billion. That's due to the sale of Jackalope, as well as lower-than-anticipated capital spending in the Northeast. Williams, however, isn't adjusting its forecast for adjusted EBITDA, distributable cash flow (DCF), or dividend coverage. It still sees adjusted EBITDA coming in the range of $4.85 billion-$5.15 billion, which would be 12% higher than last year at the midpoint. Likewise, it continues to expect that DCF will be between $2.9 billion and $3.3 billion, up 8% versus last year. That will enable the company to cover its high-yielding dividend with cash flow by a comfortable 1.7 times even as it aims to increase the payout 10% to 15% this year. 2019 is shaping up to be a good year Williams is firing on all cylinders this year. The pipeline giant delivered strong operational results during the first quarter, fueled in large part by recently completed expansion projects. The company also continues to trim around the edges of its portfolio to further firm up its financial foundation. Those efforts position Williams to continue growing earnings and its dividend in the coming years, making it an ideal low-risk stock for income-seeking investors. Aaron's And Progressive Leasing Rejuvenate Las Vegas Teen Keystone Club AATLANTA, May 1, 2019 // PRNewswire // - Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions, and its divisions Aaron's and Progressive Leasing, surprised Las Vegas teens last Wednesday with a freshly remodeled Keystone Teen Center at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, Southern Highlands Unit. Aaron's, Inc., a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions, and its divisions Aaron's and Progressive Leasing, surprised Las Vegas teens last Wednesday with a freshly remodeled Keystone Teen Center at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, Southern Highlands Unit. The teens can enjoy the redesigned areas dedicated to leadership development, study, lounging and games. 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. Aaron's, Inc., a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions, and its divisions Aaron's and Progressive Leasing, surprised Las Vegas teens last Wednesday with a freshly remodeled Keystone Teen Center at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, Southern Highlands Unit. 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. Media Contact: Garet Hayes garet.hayes@aarons.com 678-402-3863 Cision View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aarons-and-progressive-leasing-rejuvenate-las-vegas-teen-keystone-club-300842280.html SOURCE Aaron's, Inc. ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Boutique Macaron Kiosk, Woops! Provides Indulgent Experience to Edison May 02, 2019 // Franchising.com // NEW YORK - Something is baking in Edison. Woops!, a bakery dreamed up in New York City, specializing in macarons and other international pastries, has made a name for itself in Edison. Firmly anchored as the largest retailer of French macarons in the United States, Woops! brings its cultural flair and European indulgence to Menlo Park Mall. Located across from the Disney store in Menlo Park Mall, the kiosk is owned and operated by New Jersey local Swathi Nadigatla. Woops! location came into Nadigatlas life at the perfect time. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, she felt that life was too short and decided to follow her dreams of becoming a pastry chef. It was around the same time that she found Woops! while searching for macarons for her daughters birthday. Not only did she fall in love with the products, but the brand as a whole. Baking is my passion, and Woops! has given me the opportunity to explore another outlet of that passion, said Nadigatla. The opportunity to get involved with the business couldnt have fallen into my lap at a better time, and I am so excited to be involved with a brand that shares my love for pastries. The Woops! journey began in 2012 on a whim when four friends opened a macaron pop-up shop at the Holiday Shops in New York Citys Bryant Park. In nine short weeks they sold 100,000 macarons and developed a cult-like following due to the macarons and aesthetic. The group then realized that Woops!, they had a thriving business. Building on the momentum and popularity of Bryant Park, the four friends soon opened boutique mall kiosks in major malls throughout the Northeast. The close-knit group of friends who founded Woops! are from all over the world: Israel, France, India, and the U.S. Their cultural diversity is integrated not only in the ambiance but in the menu. Today, Woops! serves handmade classic French macarons in over 20 flavors, as well as 30 other international desserts. which are produced in the companys bakery in New York City, or imported from Europe. My family and I love sweets, so I want to provide an enhanced dessert experience to Edison. My hope is that through our macarons and delicious treats, people are reminded of a nostalgic time -- a reminder to slow down, appreciate where you are presently and enjoy that moment, said Nadigatla. Our Macarons are not French; they are also not "American" per se. They are American in the sense that they are a reflection of the melting pot that makes us who we are. Between the classic French flavors and the American cookies and cream and the British London Fog, we provide opportunities for every single customer to experience that present moment. To help celebrate every moment, whether its a wedding, baby shower, business meeting, or client gift, Woops! works creatively to produce a dessert that personalizes and enhances each events theme and styling. For any event or celebration, Woops! offers eye-catching macaron pyramids, beautifully designed gift boxes, elegant party favors and customized macarons with company logos, taglines and more. Im thrilled to be a part of all of Edisons celebrations! With Woops! we are able to be a part of every occasion, big or small, added Nadigatla. We look forward to the opportunity to celebrate with our customers everything from weddings, birthdays, Mothers Day, Valentines Day, and every holiday in between. We even offer desserts for business meetings to bring celebrating to every aspect of life. We want the community to know that we are here for them through all of lifes moments. Woops! of Menlo Park Mall is located at 55 Parsonage Road in Edison, New Jersey. The kiosk is open Monday - Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.. For more information, or to place an online order, visit www.bywoops.com. About Woops! Founded in 2012 and franchising since 2015, Woops! is a New York-based bakery chain specializing in macarons and other international pastries. Firmly anchored as the largest retailer of French macarons in the United States, Woops! operates more than 50 kiosk and in-line bakeshop locations throughout 18 states. For more information, visit www.bywoops.com. Media Contact: Hannah Sordyl Franchise Elevator PR (847) 239-8171 hsordyl@franchiseelevator.com SOURCE Woops! ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Sunbelt Business Advisors Names Brian Slipka Chairman & CEO Expertise to Leverage and Benefit Upper Midwest Business Transaction Market MINNEAPOLIS, May 1, 2019 // PRNewswire // - Sunbelt Business Advisors today named Brian Slipka Chairman and CEO, effective May 6, 2019. Slipka comes from TCF, where he most recently served as senior executive officer of TCF Technology Finance and formerly as chief revenue officer of Winthrop Resources, a TCF subsidiary. "Brian Slipka is an incredible talent with an impressive financial services pedigree," said Sunbelt Midwest Founder Scott Evert. "He is a proven dealmaker, and he has a 'make it happen' mindset that business owners can be sure will translate into the best price when they sell. We are confident that Sunbelt will experience significant growth with Brian at the helm." Minneapolis-based Sunbelt Business Advisors is part of the Sunbelt Network, the largest organization of business brokers and main street mergers-and-acquisitions professionals in the world. Chris Jones will continue to serve as day-to-day leader and president. "I'm leaving behind a great team at TCF," said Slipka. "But only because of the opportunity to pursue and lead a potential juggernaut with proven industry performers at Sunbelt. This plays to my strengths." "There is an enormous market opportunity emerging for Sunbelt," said Slipka. "Nationally over the next decade, a staggering $10 trillion in small, mid-sized, and franchise business value will transition, fueled in part by the sale of 12 million baby-boomer-owned businesses." "Having bought and sold small businesses myself, I know how important it is for people who are selling businesses to have their legacies preserved," said Slipka. "Sunbelt Midwest will allow me to take my philosophy, knowledge, and expertise to a broader, national stage and help business owners maximize their return when they sell." Sunbelt Midwest, part of the Sunbelt Network of Business Advisors, is based in Minneapolis. With five offices in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Las Vegas, Nevada, Sunbelt Midwest's local experts put Sunbelt's global reach to work for business owners who are looking to sell and for entrepreneurs who are looking to buy. Sunbelt's proprietary website has more businesses for sale and drives more buyer traffic than any other broker website. More information is available at www.sunbeltmidwest.com. SOURCE Sunbelt Business Advisors ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus By the CULPEPER STAREXPONENT The 25th Monte Carlo Night at the Daniel Center in Culpeper raised a record $700,000 for local studentswell exceeding the events $500,000 goal and more than doubling the previous high, according to a news release from Germanna Community College. The funds will benefit the Germanna Guarantee Program, which keeps students experiencing financial hardships in school as part of the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation Scholarship. Germanna President Janet Gullickson called it an off-the-charts, knock-your-socks-off, record-setting night that will make a difference in the lives of hundreds of deserving students. Bruce Davis, who leads the Germanna Educational Foundation, told a crowd of more than 300 at Saturday nights fundraiser that last years event raised $315,000. Because this year was the 25th annual Monte Carlo, the challenge from Culpeper businessman and philanthropist Joe Daniel was to raise half a million dollars, said Davis, special assistant to the president for institutional advancement. It was hard for them to come up with this money with other pressures, so I appreciate that they were able to do as much as they did, Falmouth District representative Sarah Chase said. GriffisWidewater district representative Jaime Decatur said she was excited to support the budget but that tomorrow, we still have a lot of work to do to make this an amazing place for our teachers and staff members and a continued amazing place for our kids. Hazard echoed board members in expressing happiness in being able to give teachers the 5 percent raise, but said the raise was made possible by additional state funding, rather than local funding. She said 58 percent of the projected nearly $15.8 million in new revenue for the school division will come from the state and only 39 percent from the county. I do not see a commitment to get out ahead of what the others are doing from Stafford County, Hazard said. This budget attempts to keep up with the Joneses, but Stafford County Public Schools does not keep up because of what got cut or was not addressed in this budget. Richard Dwyer feels like he was not made whole and he wasnt, he said. Culpeper Public Services Director Jim Hoy was lead executive for the town throughout the long proceedings. An important part of the story for people to understand is we dont go into right-of-way acquisition with the intention of having conflict with landowners, Hoy said. We do our best to reach a reasonable agreement and a lot of times we will go to extraordinary efforts to do that. But in spite of all of our efforts, we were not able to reach an agreement with Mr. Dwyerthats why we went to court. The town director, acknowledging high legal fees to the town in the case, said it could have been worse, mentioning Dwyer wanted a jury award of $4.5 million for the land, far less than the more than million in lawyers expenses. The towns litigation expenses will be covered as part of the $10.1 million budget for Col. Jameson Boulevarda joint project between the town and VDOTand the rest from the general fund, Hoy said. The vetoes won praise from Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, which advocates for the reduced use of incarceration. "There's been chipping away at some mandatory sentencing penalties in recent years, but this is a pretty bold statement, to flatly come out to say he'll refuse to sign any new such policies," Mauer said. Reviews were more mixed among legislators, with the harshest criticism coming from House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. He had teamed up with a Fairfax County Democrat, Del. Kathleen Murphy, on the bill related to domestic abusers. The measure would have required that repeat offenders be sentenced to a minimum of 60 days in jail. "When Republicans called on Ralph Northam to resign in February, it was because we felt he could no longer effectively govern," Gilbert said. "Today's vetoes are proof of that. When given the choice of protecting women who have survived domestic abuse or attempting to repair his own racist legacy, he put himself first." In an email to fellow legislators and some Democrats who represent Virginia in Congress, Murphy described herself as "heart broken" by Northam's veto. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. What if the vulnerability had not been detected by Microsoft? Clearly the government in Beijing could have had the ability to take control of many laptops deployed in the United States, although Huawei denies that the backdoor was left open intentionally. If the backdoor was known to the government of China, it would be the cyber-warfare equivalent of having sleeper cells in every corner of the United States, all of which could be activated at a milliseconds notice. So lets say that youre a parent in Ohio looking to buy a decent laptop for your daughter before she goes away to college in the fall. Should your decision be determined by the marketplace or by military doctrine? If its the latter, then how sweeping should the considerations be? Should any product made in China, or composed of Chinese parts, be banned in the interest of security if it was capable of being used in a cyber attack? It is worth noting here that Taiwan maintains its lead in manufacturing electronics in no small part because it is viewed as less risky than trusting Chinese manufacturers. A NEW study finds that 35 states, including Virginia, are already below the number of physicians needed to adequately care for their residents, and the doctor shortage is likely to get worse in the coming years. According to the The Senior List, 283 physicians are needed per every 100,000 residents to maintain a baseline balance between doctor supply and patient demand. Virginia currently has 262.4 physicians per every 100,000 residents, but nearly a third (29.3 percent) of them are over the age of 60 and likely to retire in the next decade. Only five states (Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia currently have physician levels above the baseline. Nine states fall dangerously below the baseline, including Mississippi, which already has 52 percent less doctors than is needed for the size of its population, according to the study. Virginias doctor-to-patient ratio is between these two extremes. Roberts said that even though she saw plenty of homeless people on her walk around town, she knew she still wanted to live in D.C. It wasnt pretty, but I felt it was right for me, said Roberts, the daughter of a Bosnian father and German mother. That first visit to D.C. left an indelible mark that lasted years, and Roberts returned to the idea of a walk around town as the inspiration for her show at Brush Strokes Gallery. She spent 24 hours on the streets of the nations capital in September to see what she could see. I stayed up from midnight to midnight walking the streets of D.C. and taking photographs each hour. If I was eating, I took that picture. If I was drinking coffee, I took that picture. So, my exhibit is 24 hours in Washington, D.C., to show the citys energy in the morning, the night, at hours when there was nobody on the street and when there were lots of people on the street, Roberts said. On her most recent visit, Roberts said she still saw a disparity in the way people live in the city and hopes that feeling comes through in the impressionistic paintings she made from the photos she took for the project. News Sparks could fly as Galveston County cities fight electric rate increase LEAGUE CITY More and more cities across Galveston County are passing resolutions to delay the implementation of rate increases for some electric customers this year, the first step in a process that could prove contentious, according to legal officials. League City in late April became the latest city to pass a resolution related to the Houston branch of CenterPoint Energy, a major electric service provider for several county cities, which is requesting the state allow it to increase base rates by about $161 million for municipalities across the Houston area. The resolution suspends the effective date of the increase for 90 days, officials said. The resolution is the first step in examining any rate increase request a process that is both contentious and normal when a public utility makes such a request, said Alfred Herrera, an attorney with Austin-based Herrera Law & Associates, which represents League City. Herrera represents the Texas Coast Utilities Coalition of cities, which includes League City. But that coalition is just one of at least two reviewing CenterPoints request. The Galveston City Council in April approved a resolution, similar to League City, that gives the city 90 extra days to determine whether it agrees with the proposed rate increase. Galveston is part of a second group, called the Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, that also includes several other Galveston County municipalities. And Friendswood could be next, said Jeff Newpher, spokesman for the city. The council should have an agenda item to pass the resolution during its next meeting. Officials with CenterPoint Energy argue the rate increase is necessary because the company has added more than 400,000 customers since the last rate increase in 2010 and because it incurred about $64 million in Hurricane Harvey-related costs. CenterPoint provides the wires, poles and other systems needed to get electricity from power plants to consumers. Its rate request wont change what consumers pay for the kilowatts of electricity they use. If approved by the state, the charges could add $2.38 a month to customers bills, said Alejandra Diaz, spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy. The company is asking cities to approve a $154 million, 7.4 percent increase in retail transmission and distribution rates and a $6.8 million, 1.8 percent hike in wholesale transmission rates, according to city documents. But local municipalities have jurisdiction over rate increases and attorneys are in discovery on the rate increase, a process that likely will disappoint CenterPoint Energy officials, Herrera said. More than likely, CenterPoint will be disappointed with whatever decision the city makes, but they have the right to appeal to the Public Utility Commission, Herrera said. Essentially, if utility officials disagree with the citys decision, they can bring it before the Public Utility Commission of Texas, officials said. During CenterPoints last general rate case, officials requested an increase of about $110 million, but the utility commission eventually approved an increase of only about $15 million, League City officials said. Snowy biome and polar bears to be found in Winter Update; also celebrating Best 'Sit Back and Relax' Game nomination in the Steam Awards. TODAY "Socially Responsible Investing," noon, Martin Luther King Room, Room 212, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Investors always have been interested in maximizing returns while minimizing risk and cost. Investors now have the ability to broaden the scope of cost to include environmental and social impacts as well. This seminar addresses the different topics and technology pertaining to investing with those concerns in mind. Presented by Maps Investments through CFS and Nathaniel Poole, Morningstar Managed Portfolios. RSVP: investmentseminars@mapscu.com. TRIAD, noon, Room 211, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Benita Blessing, Oregon State University School of Language, Culture & Society, will present Our Vampires, Ourselves. The public is welcome to attend free of charge. An optional catered lunch is available for $13; reserve lunch at Kathy.DeBellis@oregonstate.edu. "Rosebud: Population 7," 6 p.m., Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez, 691 SW 26th St., Corvallis. Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, professor emerita, ethnic studies, will read excerpts from her most recent novel. It celebrates the cultural traditions of extended family, religious celebrations, food, customs and language. Book sales following talk. "Weaponizing Hatred: What, If Anything, Can Be Done to Reduce the Flow of Hate Speech?," 7:30 p.m., Room 109, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Panel discussion. Three members of faculty at Oregon State University will give perspectives on the use of mass media to spread hatred. Katherine Hubler will discuss a Nazi-era German tabloid that regularly used fake news to demonize Jews. The balance of the panel discussion will focus on the current issue of how the Internet is being used to spread hatred that can incite violence directed against the groups and individuals that it demonizes. William E. Loges will explain why hate speech so often finds a home in social media. The final panelist, Daniel Faltesek, will discuss a project that he and several of his students undertook during the midterm elections to track and categorize tens of thousands of anti-Semitic tweets. FRIDAY Building Climate Change Adaptation Capacity in the Public Health Community, 1 p.m., Bray Leadership Conference Room, Room 115, Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families, 2631 SW Campus Way, Corvallis. The Oregon State University College of Public Health and Human Sciences presents this lecture by Jeff Bethel, associate professor in epidemiology. Co-sponsored by the CPHHS Epidemiology Program. MONDAY Michael and Judith Gaulke Distinguished Lecture Series, 4 p.m., Room 200, Learning Innovation Center, 165 SW Sackett Place, Corvallis. Subhasish Mitra, professor of electrical engineering and of computer science at Stanford University, will present Robust Computing Systems: From Today to the N3XT 1,000X. WEDNESDAY Western Regional Graduate Program Water Resources Science Spring Seminar Series, 4 p.m., Room 328, Bexell Hall, 2251 SW Campus Way, Corvallis. Alan Yeakley, University of Maryland Baltimore County, geography and environmental systems, will present Plant Community Responses to Hydrologic Changes in Pacific Northwest Urban and Coastal Ecosystems. 2019 Authors and Editors Recognition: The Center for the Humanities presents a night of readings, discussion and reception focusing on editors of books and the editing process at the 2019 Authors and Editors Recognition. On May 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. featured editors include Lisa L. Price for "Coastal Heritage and Cultural Resilience," Susan Shaw with Patti Duncan, Kryn Freehling-Burton, Nancy Station Barbour and Jane Nichols for "Womens Lives Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia," and Edward Weber for "Governing Oregon: Continuity and Change." For information, go to this website: https://leadership.oregonstate.edu/provost/2019-osu-authors-and-editors-recognition. MAY 8 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit, 1 to 8 p.m., CH2M Hill Alumni Center, 725 SW 26th St., Corvallis. Researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem builders are invited to learn about funding and resources available to propel technology impact, commercialization and entrepreneurship. Registration is free: https://advantage.oregonstate.edu/advantage-accelerator/ie-summit. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 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. Georgias Interior Ministry launched investigation into sharing of Trumps tweet by President Zourabichvili - GeorgianJournal South Africa: Unemployed youth given a helping hand This is an opportunity that Im hoping will take me far, says Lebogang Sothoane. Sothoane is among the 3 315 young people, who on Thursday were inducted into Nedbanks workforce through the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative. This brought an end to the 27-year-olds four-year journey to find employment. Completing her matric in 2011, Sothoane registered for a degree but was forced to drop out due to financial constraints. In 2014, I stayed at home, dropped out and in 2015, I did my Logistics degree through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme [NSFAS], she said on Thursday. Sothoane is among the inductees who will now work for Nedbank under the YES initiative that was launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018. YES is a government initiative that was developed out of a partnership between business, labour and civil society to help young people gain access to employment opportunities. The initiative is led by the countrys President himself. Sothoane, who shared the stage with the first citizen during a panel discussion together with two other YES inductees, did not hold back in telling the President the challenges they faced in getting a foot in the door of the workplace. Among the challenges she highlighted were being denied access to entry level posts due to a lack of experience, as well as financial exclusion at tertiary institutions due to a lack of funds, and cases where one cannot graduate because their student fees are in arrears. Nedbank Group Chief Executive Officer Mike Brown said the bank is taking on the youth as a way to make a dent in South Africas high unemployment figures. [We want] to go beyond business as usual and create meaningful job opportunities for our youth. Our hope is that by giving youth the opportunity of their first job, they will go on to become inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs, who will in turn create job opportunities for many other future South Africans, said Brown at the ceremony held at the banks Sandton premises. The President listened intently to the concerns raised by the youth during the panel discussion. I am troubled by this, said the President referring to the countrys unemployment figures and challenges faced by youth in obtaining employment. In many ways, said the President, Nedbank and other companies who have taken on youth employees have gone beyond the call of duty. There are so many unemployed young people. I have interfaced with it at a close range, President Ramaphosa said, adding that the prerequisite for experience for young employees has turned out to become a barrier. YES to jobs To date, the initiative has managed to secure 17 000 work opportunities for unemployed youth, said YES Chief Executive Officer Tashmia Ismail-Saville. President Ramaphosa recalled how in his youth, he received a hand up from two Jewish women who granted him a bursary so he could obtain a higher education qualification. He urged those who are part of the programme to not be fearful of their employment ending after 12 months. The YES programme... opens pathways and many doors, said the President in response to one of the concerns raised by young people. He said many countries around the world have programmes made to empower their youth. The President also had a few words of advice for the new recruits, urging them to work hard to show off their abilities. Sometimes you [will] fail but you must always know that once you fall, you must rise and rise to greater heights, he said. Speaking to SAnews following her engagement with the President, Sothoane said she looks forward to giving her best in her new job at Nedbank, while also encouraging others to never give up. I advise others to go out and never tire. There are plenty of opportunities, she said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Dell launches 10th-Gen Latitude series of laptops, which can charge up to 80% under 60 minutes News oi-Vivek These laptops offer a compact design with an up-to-date specs sheet Dell, the well-known name in the PC industry has officially announced the 10th Generation Latitude laptops at Dell Technologies World, Las Vegas on the 1st of May 2019. In the US, these notebooks will be available from the 1st of May, as of now, there is no information on the pricing or the availability of the latest Latitude series of notebooks in India. Dell Latitude 7000 series Under the Dell 7000 series, the company offers 12, 13, and 14-inch notebooks with anti-glare narrow bezel design. These notebooks can support up to 32 GB of RAM and gigabit LTE speeds for faster internet access. The Dell 7000 series comes with a starting price of $1,299. Dell Latitude 5000 series With the Latitude 5000 series, the company further reduces the price for the entry-level notebook to $819. These devices are equipped with FHD+ resolution screen, powered by the latest 8th Gen Intel Core processors. There are some devices under the Latitude 5000 series, which offer a touch display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Dell Latitude 3000 series The Latitude 3000 series laptops are the most affordable of the lot, with a starting price tag of $599. These notebooks will be available in 13, 14, and 15-inch displays with a compact design. Unique features These laptops come with the latest hardware with state of the art design, to offer both practicality and styling. Select laptops from the Latitude series use ExpressCharge technology, which can refill the battery up to 80% in under 60 minutes, and the ExpressCharge Boost tech can refill the battery up to 35% with just 20 minutes of charge time. These notebooks also offer an added layer of security by offering additional features like a dedicated fingerprint sensor, Windows Hello-capable IR cameras, and Dell SafeScreen. Rahul Tikoo, vice president and general manager, Commercial Mobility Products at Dell said The modern workforce's computing needs have changed. They're not at their desks nine to five. They're in motion between meetings, remote or frequently traveling, and one-size-fits-all laptops won't cut it. Our new Latitudes make it easier and more enjoyable to work, collaborate and innovate anytime, anywhere. With security concerns looming over both employees and IT departments, businesses can rely on our new Latitudes, combined with Dell Technologies Unified Workspace, to make it simple for IT to ensure workers have the best device for their needs - up and running fast, working smarter and always secure, wherever they are. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Realme 1st anniversary discounts on Realme C1, Realme 2 Pro, Realme 3 Pro and more Features oi-Harish Kumar Realme, one of the best emerging brand in India is gearing up for the celebration of its first anniversary in a grandiose way. During its 1st anniversary sale that will exist from May 2 to May 4, users can seek best offers across realme.com, Flipkart, Amazon and through its offline stores on all realme products and accessories. The sale involves 'Like Collection' that you can see on the company's official website which offers INR 1 crore coupon fund. You will get INR 1 Super Deals Feast on realme.com(May 2 to May 4) on some of the best Realme phones and other electronic products. An additional benefit is- all the desired offline customers looking for Realme wares, can seek lucky draw under which they can get a chance to win a Royal Enfield Bullet and other gifts. You are going to get flat INR 1000 off on some of the Realme devices. It is also very important to know Realme 3 Pro, the latest model from Realme will go on sale on Flipkart and realme.com. And the new model so-called, Realme 3 is also going to launch with 3GB+64GB at Rs. 9999. You can check some of the devices that will be available on the basis of flash sales for INR 1 Super Deals Feast. These sales have been categorized at different time intervals in the form of varying feasts. At each different feast, you can get Realme's devices along with other gadgets. Like for midnight buffet- you can obtain Realme 2 Pro(10 PCs) on 2nd May, C1(10 PCs) on 3rd May and U1(10 PCs) on 4th May. For healthy breakfast(9 AM)- users can purchase earbuds(100 PCs) on 2nd May, 3rd May and 4th May. Under sumptuous lunch- you can pick Realme C1(10 PCs) on 3rd May and U1(10 PCs). Lastly, your fine dinner is also going to be outstanding- as you can obtain backpack(60 PCs) from 2nd to 4th May 2019. You can also find a detailed scheme to the jackpot and how the lucky winners will be benefited with priceless products. The biggest offer is in the form of a jackpot announcement under which each winner will be picked from the 4 regions who can get brand new Royal Enfield. There are other gifts as well. For the 1st prize, Realme U1 will be offered on an everyday basis to winners across all four zones. You will also get Realme C1 2/32(2nd prize), tech backpacks(as a 3rd prize), and earbuds(as a consolation prize). Even offline stores have a lot of excellent offers, in case you happen to buy from these stores. While purchasing Realme U1( 3 GB + 32 GB and 4 GB + 64 GB), you will get flat Rs. 1000 as a discount which is valid only for anniversary sale. You can obtain Realme U1 of 3GB/64GB variant with flat Rs. 500 drop in its original price and Realme 2 Pro with flat Rs. 1000 drop. When you will buy Realme U1 and Realme 2 Pro from stores, you will get 1 year extended warranty services on these two devices. Another best thing is- if you intend to buy Realme 3 of 3GB/64GB variant, you can get it from 2nd May until the sale gets over from just Rs. 9,999. Lastly, we have also included a list of devices from Realme that will be available from midnight of May 2 till May 4 on Flipkart, Amazon and the official realme website. Devices that you can obtain from Flipkart from 2nd May to 4th May include- Realme C1 (2019), Realme 2 Pro and Realme 3. For Realme C1 (2019), you will seek Complete Mobile Protection (CMP) at just Rs 99. While buying Realme 2 Pro, you will get flat Rs 1000 price off and the new price will start from Rs. 10,990 (1 year extended Warranty). Realme 3 comes with a couple of great schemes. As an open sale, users can purchase the device(Realme 3) of two different variants at a good price(3GB/32GB at Rs. 8,999) and (4GB/64GB at Rs. 10,999). Its new variant of 3GB/64GB will be available from the midnight of 2nd May at a price of Rs. 9,999. The Realme 3 Pro another model will be available for sale on 3rd May, 12 PM(noon). From Amazon, users can get Realme U1( 3GB/32GB at Rs. 8,999, 4GB/64GB at Rs. 10,999) and Realme U1 (3GB/64GB at Rs. 10,499). While buying these devices, you will also get an extended warranty of 1 year. The Realme's official website(realme.com) too also have some amazing offers. You will get Realme 2 Pro(1 year extended Warranty) at Rs. 10,990 for 4GB/64GB variant with flat Rs 1000 price drop, Realme 3 as of open sale at Rs. 8,999 for 3GB/32GB and Rs. 10,999 for 4GB/64GB variants. In addition, the introduction of its new variant of 3GB/64GB will be available from the midnight of 2nd May at a price of Rs. 9,999. The consumers will get Realme 3 Pro from 3rd May, 12 PM. From the official website, users can get Realme U1( 3GB/32GB at Rs. 8,999, 4GB/64GB at Rs. 10,999) and Realme U1 (3GB/64GB at Rs. 10,499). The users will also get an extended warranty of 1 year on Realme U1 on both of its variants. Realme C1 (Offer: Complete Mobile Protection (CMP) @ Rs 99) Buy This offer on Amazon/Flipkart/Realme.com Key Specs 6.2-inch (1520 x 720 pixels) 19:9 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 450 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 506 GPU 2GB / 3GB RAM 32GB internal storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD ColorOS 5.1 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo) Dual SIM 13MP rear camera and secondary 2MP camera with f/2.4 aperture 5MP front-facing camera Dual 4G VoLTE 4230mAh (typical) built-in battery Realme 2 Pro (offer: Flat Rs 1000 price drop, new price INR 10990 (1 year extended Warranty)) Buy This offer on Amazon/Flipkart/Realme.com Key Specs 6.3-inch (1080 x 2340 pixels) 19.5:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 512 GPU 4GB LPDDR4X / 6GB LPDDR4X RAM with 64GB (UFS 2.1) storage 8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128GB (UFS 2.1) storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo) Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD) 16MP rear camera and secondary 2MP camera 16MP front-facing camera Dual 4G VoLTE 3500mAh built-in battery Realme 3 (Open Sale on May 2 - 4) Buy This offer on Amazon/Flipkart/Realme.com Key Specs 6.2-inch (1520 x 720 pixels) 19:9 HD+ IPS display with 450 nits brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection Octa Core MediaTek Helio P70 12nm processor with 900MHz ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU 3GB RAM with 32GB storage / 4GB RAM with 64GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD) Android 9.0 (Pie) based on ColorOS 6.0 13MP rear camera and 2MP secondary camera 13MP front-facing camera Dual 4G VoLTE 4230mAh battery Realme 3 Pro (Open Sale on 3rd May, 12PM (noon)) Buy This offer on Amazon/Flipkart/Realme.com Key Specs 6.3-inch (2340 1080 pixels) Full HD+ display, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection Octa Core Snapdragon 710 10nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 616 GPU 4GB (LPPDDR4x) RAM with 64GB storage / 6GB (LPPDDR4x) RAM with 128GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Dual SIM ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9.0 (Pie) 16MP rear camera + 5MP secondary rear camera 25MP front-facing camera Dual 4G VoLTE 4045mAh battery (typical) / 3960mAh (minimum) with VOOC 3.0 fast charging Realme U1 (Offer: 1 year extended Warranty) Flat Rs 500 price drop 3 GB + 64 GB: INR 10499 Buy This offer on Amazon/Flipkart/Realme.com Key Specs 6.3-inch (2350 x 1080 pixels) 19.5:9 Full HD+ IPS display with 1500:1 contrast ratio, 450 nits brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection Octa Core MediaTek Helio P70 12nm processor with 900MHz ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU 3GB RAM with 32GB storage 4GB RAM with 64GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD) Android 8.1 (Oreo) based on ColorOS 5.2 13MP rear camera and 2MP secondary camera 25MP front-facing camera Dual 4G VoLTE 3500mAh battery Best Mobiles in India Motorola One Vision with unique display to launch on 15th of May News oi-Vivek Motorola One Vision features a 48 MP primary camera Motorola is all set for a new smartphone launch on the 15th of May 2019. This time around, the company is speculated to the launch the Moto One Vision, which is the first Motorola smartphone with a punch-hole display, similar to the Honor View20 or the Samsung Galaxy S10. Like most of the Motorola smartphone launch, the event is held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the company is most likely to showcase the next generation Motorola smartphone with state of the art display design. As of now, there is no confirmation on the launch of the Motorola One Vision in India. Motorola One Vision alleged specifications According to the recent leaks and rumors, the Motorola One Vision will feature an FHD+ IPS LCD screen with a punch-hole opening at the top right corner of the display, which houses the front-facing selfie camera setup. It is speculated that, that the Exynos 9610 SoC powers the smartphone, which also powers the Samsung Galaxy A50, which is the most affordable smartphone from Samsung with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The Motorola One Vision has a 2.5D curved back panel, which is most likely to be made out of plastic or polycarbonate. As of now, there is no information on the battery capacity of the device. With respect to cameras, the device will have a dual camera setup with a 48 MP primary RGB sensor, which can take native 12 MP images using pixel binning technology. In terms of RAM and storage, the base variant is expected to offer 3/4 GB of RAM with 32/64/128 GB internal storage with a microSD card slot for additional storage expansion. The Motorola One Vision will run on Android 9 Pie with stock UI. Considering the features mentioned above, the Motorola One Vision might cost up to Rs 20,000, and the device will compete against the Redmi Note 7 Pro, Realme 3 Pro, and other mid-tier smartphones with potent hardware. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Nokia 6.1 Plus new firmware update brings April 2019 security patch with some bug fixes News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The update weighs around 64MB in size and is rolling out as an OTA. HMD Global has rolled out a new firmware update for another Nokia smartphone. Following a new Android Pie build update for the Nokia 8 Sirocco, the Finnish smartphone brand has released a firmware update to the Nokia 6.1 Plus. The mid-range smartphone was launched last year and has already been updated to the Android Pie OS. The new update for the smartphone brings along the latest Android security patch along with some bug fixes in the mix. The Nokia 6.1 Plus is getting the April 2019 Android security patch via the firmware update. The update is being pushed out as an OTA in India. The update notification will be available on all the Nokia 6.1 smartphones in the country. The update weighs only around 61MB in size and can also be checked manually. If the update notification does not make it to your Nokia 6.1 anytime soon, head to the Settings tab and look for the Software update section. Coming to the internals, the Nokia 6.1 Plus comes with a Snapdragon 636 chipset, under its hood. The processor is combined with 4GB of RAM and Adreno 509 GPU to handle multitasking and high-end graphics. The smartphone offers a storage space of 64GB which can be expanded to up to 400GB. The smartphone has a compact 5.8-inch display with an FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels. The display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 layer on top. There is a standard notch which packs a 16MP selfie camera along with a bunch of sensors. The primary camera set up at the rear has dual lenses including a 16MP (f/2.0) and a 5MP (f/2.2) lens. A 3060mAh battery with quick charging support backs up the smartphone. via Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Realme 2 Pro gets another price cut in India, now starts at Rs 11,490 News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The Realme 2 Pro runs on a Snapdragon 660 chipset combined with Adreno 512GPU. Realme, Oppo's former subsidiary has completed its one year in the Indian market. To mark the celebration of its one year anniversary, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has announced a price cut on a bunch of Realme smartphones. Realme 2 Pro is one of them. The popular mid-range smartphone by the company has already received a couple of price cuts in the country. Now, the latest discount comes only a month after the device received a price cut on its last pricing. The Realme 2 Pro was selling for Rs 11,990 after it received a deduction on its pricing last month. This pricing was for the 4GB RAM variant. Now, following the price cut, the Realme 2 Pro 4GB RAM variant can be purchased for Rs 11,490. On the other hand, the 6GB RAM variant is now available for Rs 12,990 and the 8GB RAM variant can be purchased for Rs 14,990. Apparently, the Realme 2 Pro can be availed with the discounted price from the offline retail stores. As for the key specifications, the Realme 2 Pro runs on a Snapdragon 660 chipset combined with Adreno 512GPU. The internal storage on the device can be expanded using a microSD card to up to 256GB. The device ships with Android 8 Oreo with ColorOS 6 Skin. It flaunts a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass layer on top. The waterdrop style notch houses a 16MP selfie camera backed by AI. The rear camera setup has a 16MP primary sensor and a 2MP sensor accompanied by an LED flash. The smartphone is backed by a 3500mAh battery. via Best Mobiles in India Realme Anniversary Sale: Get flat Rs. 1000 off on Realme 2 Pro, U1 News oi-Priyanka Dua Every customer who purchases a Realme phone will get a chance to participate in the offline lucky and win prizes, including a Royal Enfield Bullet as the Jackpot Prize Chinese smartphone maker Realme is all set to host its first-anniversary sale (May 2 - May 4), offering discounts on its smartphones products and accessories. The discounts, deals, and vouchers includes Like Collection', a campaign on the official website to offer Rs. 1 crore coupon fund giveaway. During the "Like" Collection, participants will invite their friends to like on their personal homepage. The Rs.1 Crore Fund will be divided up by all the participants with likes and the coupons will be delivered by May 2 and can be applied through its website. However, there is catch as this coupons cannot be used on newly launched Realme 3 Pro. Other deals include Re 1 Super Deals Feast on selected phones and accessories. In addition, every customer who purchases Realme phone get a chance to participate in the offline lucky and stand a chance to win exciting prizes or the Jackpot prize i.e., a brand new Royal Enfield Bullet. The Jackpot prize will have a winner each from the 4regions. The list of winners will be announced every day on the website community. The winners will also get realme U1 and CI on an everyday basis. Lastly 'Fans All In' campaign in which the company offers coupons. The coupons remain valid from May 2 till May 31 and can be used on all devices except, realme 3 Pro. For 3 badges, customers will get Rs.500 off, for 2 badges, Rs. 300 off and Rs. 200 off for 1 badge. Madhav Sheth, Chief Executive Officer, realme India, said, "It's been an eventful and remarkable year for us. One in which realme established many firsts, many milestones, and scores of real fans. To celebrate our one year anniversary, we would like to say a special Thank You to all our fans through really exciting and grand offers on all realme products. We hope to continue receiving their love to make the year more memorable and remarkable for our fans." Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications UofG astrophysicists investigate two new neutron star collisions Astrophysicists at the University of Glasgow are celebrating the detection of gravitational wave signals likely to be caused by the crashing of two neutron stars and what could be the first evidence of the collision of a neutron star and a black hole. The University of Glasgow researchers are key partners in the international scientific collaboration which made the new detections the National Science Foundation's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), based in the United States, and Virgo, based in Italy. The LIGO-Virgo detector network began its latest observing run on April 1, the first run since upgrade work improved their sensitivity to the tiny ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves. Those upgrades allow the detectors to pick up signals from an even larger volume of the universe than before. On April 25, 2019, the detectors registered gravitational waves from what appears likely to be a collision between two neutron starsthe dense remnants of massive exploded stars which occurred about 500 million light-years from Earth. One day later, on April 26, the LIGO-Virgo network spotted another candidate source from an event about 1.2 billion light-years away. While the signal was weak and thus requires further investigation, initial analysis of the signal suggests one possible cause could be an event which has never been witnessed before: the collision of a neutron star and black hole. The University of Glasgows contribution to the LIGO detector is supported by the UKs Science and Technology Funding Council (STFC). Alongside partner institutions including the Universities of Birmingham and Cardiff, Glasgow researchers play a key role in the sophisticated data analysis which underpins each detection. They also led the development of the silica mirror suspensions which are a critically important part of the detector technology. Professor Sheila Rowan, director of the University of Glasgows Institute for Gravitational Research, said: These two new triggers, which came just weeks after the upgraded detectors started their search for gravitational waves again, are further evidence that our universe regularly rings with the aftershocks of colossal astronomical events. Wed been deaf to those sounds before LIGO and Virgo equipped us with the opportunity to hear them, and each event gives invaluable new data points to expand our understanding of our cosmos. Were very excited to see what else the detectors will find over the remaining months of this observing run. While neutron star collisions cause gravitational waves, their impacts also release light across the electromagnetic spectrum. In 2017, LIGO-Virgos first-ever detection of a gravitational wave collision was also observed by many conventional telescopes. This time, telescopes around the world once again raced to track the sources and pick up the light expected to arise from these mergers. Hundreds of astronomers eagerly pointed telescopes at patches of sky suspected to house the signal sources. However, at this time, neither of the sources has been pinpointed. In addition to the two new candidates involving neutron stars, the LIGO-Virgo network has, in this latest run, spotted three possible black hole mergers. In total, since making history with the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, the network has spotted evidence for two neutron star mergers, 13 black hole mergers, and one possible black hole-neutron star merger. Patrick Brady, spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said: "The universe is keeping us on our toes. We're especially curious about the April 26 candidate. Unfortunately, the signal is rather weak. It's like listening to somebody whisper a word in a busy cafe; it can be difficult to make out the word or even to be sure that the person whispered at all. It will take some time to reach a conclusion about this candidate." National Science Foundation director France Cordova said: "NSF's LIGO, in collaboration with Virgo, has opened up the universe to future generations of scientists. "Once again, we have witnessed the remarkable phenomenon of a neutron star merger, followed up closely by another possible merger of collapsed stars. With these new discoveries, we see the LIGO-Virgo collaborations realizing their potential of regularly producing discoveries that were once impossible. The data from these discoveries, and others sure to follow, will help the scientific community revolutionize our understanding of the invisible universe." The Lutheran ladies pictured left to right, Shelly George, Katie Fuller, Jennifer Fuller and Roberta Barstad served Norwegian cuisine at the Cuisine for a Cure on April 25. The annual Cuisine for the Cure occurred on April 25 at the Cottonwood Inn with members of the community showing up and enjoying delicious food for a good cause. With food selections that encompassed the world, including Greek cuisine, Italian cui... When Pat Trotter was sitting at the Law Enforcement Academy to become an emergency communicator for Valley County, he had a personal reaction to a class on human trafficking and its prevalence in Montana. Determined to do something to educate Nort... Middle School Walls Get Makeover From left to right: Addison Young, Rebecca Garcia, Ashton Potter, Alaina Cox, Will Loran, Daley Aune pose in front of one of the murals they helped paint in Mr. Barstad's classroom. The Glasgow Middle School walls are a lot brighter and far more colorful than the white cinder block paint job they had before. That is thanks to Mrs. Libby Weber's exploratory art classes who painted seven large murals on the walls throughout the... The Valley County Sheriff's Office has launched a sobriety program aimed at preventing impaired driving in Northeast Montana. The program, referred to as "24/7 Sobriety," aims to provide another tool for law enforcement to enforce conditions of re... Dear Editor, When women and girls go missing in our state, its not a Democratic problem or a Republican problemits a Montana problem. And its an urgent one. Not much research exists on the epidemic of Indigenous women and girls going... Dear Editor, I firmly believe Montana farmers and ranchers care deeply about developing and growing consumer confidence and trust in the products we painstakingly raise. It's a key goal in helping a growing urban demographic understand why we're... UK court gives Assange 50-week jail term for breaching bail Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 01:04PM A court in Britain has handed down a 50-week jail sentence to Australian whistleblower and press freedom activist Julian Assange, saying he disrespected the UK judicial system and escaped his bail conditions by taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy for almost seven years. The Southwark Crown Court in the UK capital London issued its sentence on Wednesday against the backdrop of "shame on you" chants by activists and supporters of Assange. The sitting judge, Deborah Taylor, said in his ruling that Assange had abused his international status as the co-founder of WikiLeaks website to disrespect the judicial system in Britain when he escaped into the Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012. "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," said Taylor, adding that Assange's evacuation from the Ecuadorian embassy on April 11 had cost the British taxpayers some 16 million pounds. Assange went to the embassy after he was bailed over a case in Sweden where he had been accused by two women of rape and sexual assault in 2010. The activist and his lawyers believed Sweden would extradite him to the United States where he was wanted for trying to access confidential government documents. Assange's lawyer told the hearing on Wednesday that although the rape case against him was dropped in Sweden but he remained in the Ecuadorian embassy as he feared London could extradite him to the US where he could be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay, a notorious detention center for high-profile terrorists in Cuba. Mark Summers read a letter by Assange, who was himself present in the hearing in a black jacket and grey sweatshirt, saying the activist had no intention of disrespecting the British judicial system. "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," read the letter, adding, "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." Rights campaigners believe Assange's arrest and prosecution is a direct affront to press freedom, saying it is directly influenced by Washington's anger about the publishing of hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Butina Blasts U.S. Justice System, Calls 18-Month Sentence 'Disgrace' May 01, 2019 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 Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/butina-blasts-us- justice-system-calls-18-month-sentence -disgrace-/29914421.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Warrantless & Suspicionless': US Border Searches of Devices Illegal - Lawsuit Sputnik News 21:58 01.05.2019(updated 21:59 01.05.2019) The number of US government searches of travelers' cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings has almost quadrupled since 2015, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "Today's electronic devices contain vast quantities of highly personal information that the Supreme Court has repeatedly held requires a warrant to be searched in other contexts," the suit, which was filed in the US District Court of Massachusetts, states. "The border search context is no different." Tuesday's filing follows a September 2017 lawsuit by the ACLU and the EFF against the Department of Homeland Security. The 2017 case was filed on behalf of 10 US citizens and one lawful US permanent resident whose smartphones and laptops were searched without warrants or probable cause at the US border, according to the ACLU. The lawsuit filed Tuesday also refers to the "warrantless and suspicionless searches" of the 11 plaintiffs in the 2017 case based on new information gathered by the ACLU and the EFF. In May 2018, the court found that the plaintiffs in the case could sue the Department of Homeland Security for violating their First and Fourth Amendment rights, which protect freedom of speech and bar unreasonable searches and seizures, respectively. "This is a win for constitutional rights at the border," ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari said in a press release at the time. "The court has rightly recognized the severity of the privacy violations that travelers face when the government conducts suspicionless border searches of electronics. We look forward to arguing this case on the merits and showing that these searches are unconstitutional." Since the court ruled in May 2018 to reject the government's request to dismiss the lawsuit, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were forced to provide documents about how "warrantless and suspicionless" searches of electronic devices are conducted for their deposition testimony, according to the ACLU. In addition, CBP and ICE officials discussed under oath their warrantless search policies with the ACLU and the EFF, according to a press release by the ACLU. Based on the new information provided by the officials, the ACLU and EFF decided to file a motion Tuesday, asking the judge to rule in favor of the plaintiffs without a trial. In the filing, it is revealed that US border officers searched the smartphones and other electronic devices of more than 33,000 travelers last year, which is almost four times the the number of searches from just three years ago. In addition, the new information reveals that CBP and ICE officials search travelers' devices for "general law enforcement purposes, such as looking for potential evidence of illegal activity beyond violations of immigration and customs law." They look for violations of laws governing tax filing, bankruptcy, environmental regulations and consumer protection, according to the filing. "They may even conduct searches of electronic devices when the subject of interest is someone other than the traveler, such as when the traveler is a US citizen and ICE is seeking information about a suspected undocumented immigrant; when the traveler is a journalist or scholar with foreign sources who are of interest to the US government; or even when the traveler is the business partner of someone under investigation," the filing states, alleging that even friends or family members of targeted travelers may be subject to warrantless searches as well. Furthermore, the government agencies allow officers to save information from travelers' electronic devices and share it with state, local and foreign government entities as they please. "Crossing the US border shouldn't mean facing the prospect of turning over years of emails, photos, location data, medical and financial information, browsing history, or other personal information on our mobile devices. That's why we're asking a federal court to rule that border agencies must do what any other law enforcement agency would have to do in order to search electronic devices: get a warrant," the ACLU concluded in a Tuesday press release. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New voice-bridging system to streamline communications with allies By Devon L. Suits, Army News Service May 1, 2019 WASHINGTON -- The Army is developing a new device to simplify secure radio communications with allied partners. Known as the Radio Interoperability Capability-Universal, or RIC-U, the new device serves as an analog-to-digital voice bridge between allies and U.S. troops. All Soldiers need to do is incorporate the RIC-U into their voice communications network, said Robert DiCarlo, an engineer with the Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Once the RIC-U is connected, Soldiers will then select the radio they are using and the radio they are trying to communicate with through the device's computerized user interface. After the device is set up, Soldiers can start transmitting and receiving voice communications. "It will take the burden of having to pull Soldiers off the battlefield and stick them on the radio [as liaison officers]," DiCarlo said. By incorporating the RIC-U into voice networks, allied partners can use their native radio communications equipment, unique encryption, and frequency-hopping techniques to speak with U.S. military personnel. Further, the RIC-U makes the network more secure, as the Army and its allies can now talk encrypted on both sides of the voice communication network, said Rex Johnson, a system engineer with the Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate. The Army incorporated feedback from the recent Radio Interoperability Capability-Korea, or RIC-K, program while developing the RIC-U, DiCarlo added. In 2017, the Army sought to build a universal radio device that could connect U.S. and Korean radios, meeting a National Security Agency requirement, DiCarlo said. This led to the creation of the RIC-K, which enables direct radio communications and secure voice traffic between 8th Army and South Korean forces without an intermediary. Regionalized commands around the globe have expressed an interest in the RIC-U device, DiCarlo added. The Army plans to submit a request for proposal to vendors in August, and narrow them down by September. "We are trying to get to the point where the RIC-U is in production by the end of the year," Johnson said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuelan president says military leaders have expressed "total loyalty" Global Times Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/5/1 11:58:41 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." Maduro also called for "the maximum popular mobilization to ensure the victory of peace." "The FANB (National Bolivarian Armed Forces) stand firm in defense of the National Constitution and its legitimate authorities," said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez earlier in his Twitter account. He said that "all military units deployed in the eight regions of integral defense report normality in their barracks and military bases, under the command of their natural commanders." Vice President Delcy Rodriguez also wrote on Twitter that "The US government shamelessly and immorally acknowledges its authorship in this criminal attempted coup in Venezuela." Rodriguez referred to the message on Twitter sent earlier by US vice president Mike Pence, who openly expressed his support to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. "To ... all the freedom-loving people of Venezuela who are taking to the streets today in operation freedom, we are with you! America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored," said Pence. Local media reported that Guaido showed up early Tuesday morning along with some military personnel outside the La Carlota aviation military base, located in Altamira in the east of Caracas. He called on civilians and military to act against the government and urged Maduro to step down. He also tweeted that "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." Later, president of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) Diosdado Cabello said that "at this moment the situation is in absolute tranquility in all of Venezuela, including Caracas." Cabello called on the Venezuelan people to "defend" the government of President Nicolas Maduro. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China, Thailand to hold joint naval training Global Times Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/5/1 18:57:53 China and Thailand's naval forces will hold their joint training, code-named Blue Commando-2019, starting on Thursday. The fleet of Thai forces arrived at the port city of Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday. They were welcomed by the navy of the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The drill will be held both on land and at sea, as Chinese and Thai fleets and marines will train on subjects including fleet defense, landing, live-fire attacks and marine rescue. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address O-Level Reform: Lemoore Strike Fighter Squadrons Returning More Jets to Flight Line Navy News Service Story Number: NNS190501-17 Release Date: 5/1/2019 2:38:00 PM By Jeff Newman, Naval Aviation News Public Affairs LEMOORE, Calif. (NNS) -- Two Navy Super Hornet squadrons at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, California, have reduced maintenance turnaround times and are boosting aircraft readiness as part of naval aviation's maintenance reform initiatives under the Naval Sustainment System (NSS). The NSS initiative leverages best practices from commercial industry to help reform aspects of naval aviation's fleet readiness centers, organizational-level (O-level) maintenance, supply chain, engineering and maintenance organizations and governance processes. Initially, the NSS is concentrating on getting the Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet healthy before rolling out the approach to every Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. Strike Fighter Squadrons (VFA) 22 and 122 were the first to implement O-level maintenance reforms following visits from commercial aviation consultants in December and January. Reforms include assigning crew leads to manage the maintenance on each aircraft and reorganizing hangar spaces, parts cages and tools. Squadrons Empower Petty Officers The most significant change has been the delegation of ownership over each aircraft in for repairs from the squadrons' maintenance material control officers, or MMCOs, to individual crew leads comprised mostly of first-class petty officers. Traditionally, MMCOs must keep track of the status of each aircraft in for maintenance as well as the Sailors working on them, and that's in addition to deciding what maintenance actions are required for each jet and which aircraft are safe to release for flight. Assigning junior-level crew leads to each jet removes some of that burden from the MMCOs and has led to improved communication and increased accountability. "The crew leads are not making the maintenance decisions; that's still done by the maintenance controllers, but what it allows for is it sheds those maintenance control chiefs of having to know every status of every jet, of every person, all day long," said Lt. Cmdr. Brandon Michaelis, O-level Reform Champion for Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF). "So, they can focus on releasing safe aircraft by empowering those first-class petty officers, who can now own that process and know where the people are, know the status of the parts, and brief that up the line." For the petty officers accustomed to doing their job a certain way, reform did not come easy. But the benefits have been evident, said Aviation Electronics Technician 1st class Victor Perez, the leading petty officer for VFA-122's avionics shop and one of the squadron's selected crew leads. "At first the changes didn't feel productive because we didn't really understand it, but now that we've had some time with it, it's definitely helped improve our processes and communication," Perez said. Used to focusing exclusively on avionics, Perez said serving as a crew lead has forced him to approach the maintenance of his assigned aircraft more holistically. The increased responsibility of bringing an entire jet back online ultimately leads to a greater sense of accomplishment, he said. "You get kind of personal with an aircraft," he added. "Some aircraft are easy, and some are a struggle to get through. Rather than working on a jet for a couple hours to complete the one thing assigned to your shop and then moving on to the next jet, this way you take more ownership toward completing the whole thing." In some cases, exceptional second-class petty officers have also been considered for crew lead, including Aviation Electrician's Mate 2nd Class Michaela Zadra, a member of VFA-22's quality assurance division. Having crew leads that can focus on individual jets and communicate with the various maintenance shops relieves maintenance control from having to keep near-constant track of as many as a dozen aircraft at a time, Zadra said. "Crew leads have cut down on empty communication, so now I, as a maintainer who is not stuck behind a maintenance control desk, can walk around to each shop and talk to them personally," she said. "There's a lot more communication one-on-one, instead of one-to-one-to-one and then to maintenance control. It's definitely helped with communication and productivity with the jets." In tandem with the crew lead concept has been the utilization of a whiteboard alongside each aircraft that informs anyone passing by as to the jet's status. Information on the boards includes the names of the crew chief and additional personnel assigned to the aircraft, what maintenance is needed, and the expected completion date. "If you physically walk through one of our hangars today, you can tell which ones have been reformed and which ones haven't," said Vice Adm. DeWolfe H. Miller, III, CNAF. "You know the exact status of that airplane, you know who's working on that airplane and when they expect that airplane to be up. There's going to be a crew lead who has that ownership." In addition, the two squadrons have begun treating the spaces around each Super Hornet in their hangars as dedicated workspaces, with all necessary tools and parts kept beside the aircraft rather than back in one of the various maintenance shops. "We're now treating the airplane a little more, as an analogy, like a patient getting surgery," Miller said. "I am the doctor as the maintainer, and I said, 'scalpel,' and my tool is right there. What we're seeing with that sort of approach, having our tools next to the airplane, having our status board next to the airplane, everything is going to the point of action being around that airframe, and we're seeing a really significant improvement in our mission capable rates." Both squadrons have also begun keeping larger parts in a centralized "parts cage" in the hangar, dramatically reducing the amount of time Sailors spend traversing the hangar in search of equipment rather than with their hands on an aircraft. "It may be five minutes here or five minutes there, but over the course of a day across all those technicians, that's a lot of time saved by having those parts close to where the job is being done," Michaelis said. The 84-day Corrosion Inspection Together, the changes have helped the squadrons achieve one of the first goals of O-level reform reducing the turnaround time for routine 84-day corrosion inspections down from 10-14 days to three days. The 84-day inspection, so called because Super Hornets receive one every 84 days, is one of the most common checks conducted on the jet and is officially supposed to take three days. "Our average is about 10 to 14 days," Miller said. "It's really important for us to put some discipline into achieving these checks on a predictable three-day pattern." After meeting with consultants, VFA-22 was the first squadron to pilot reforms aimed at reducing the 84-day inspection time. "They were able to do it in two-and-a-half shifts, and as we've been going through the process with other squadrons, we realize that yes, three days in itself is sufficient, once we weed out the inefficiencies," said Lt. Hasely Clarke, assistant maintenance officer for Strike Fighter Wing Pacific. Clarke said many of those inefficiencies arose from work centers waiting on one another to be finished with an aircraft before beginning their own tasks. "There was a lot of waiting time in between," he said. Time management, communication and multitasking between shops have all improved following the O-level reform, Zadra said, noting shops were encouraged to identify which of their tasks could be performed alongside another's simultaneously. For instance, Zadra said she can check the lights in the cockpit from the side of the jet while someone from the avionics shop inspects instrumentation inside the cockpit. "It cuts down a lot on worker hours, so we can minimize the time on the inspection," she said. Initial Skepticism A former MMCO, Michaelis said he was skeptical of the O-level reforms when they were initially proposed, but has come around after seeing how VFA-22 and VFA-122 have put the reforms into practice. "It's been a tough pill to swallow, to see how inefficient even when I was in that position, even though I thought we were on point every single time," he said. "To now look back and go, 'Wow, there were a lot of places where I could have improved.' So, that's what's made me a believer, is being able to look in hindsight and realize there's tons of this stuff that I wish I had when I was an MMCO." Michaelis said the plan is to take the reforms to VFA squadrons at NAS Oceana, Virginia, before rolling them out across the Super Hornet community and, ultimately, to other platforms. "As we migrate this and expand it across all type-model-series, I'm excited about what this is going to do for our future," Miller said. Further evidence of the reform's efficacy will come when squadrons can keep their Sailors on normal work schedules while preparing for deployments, Michaelis said. "Before we go on detachments or on deployment, we often work Sailors 12 [hours] on, 12 [hours] off, sometimes seven days a week," he said. "The proof is when, on a Thursday, we can let our people out for a three-day weekend because our jets are up and ready to go, and we saw that recently in one of our transformed squadrons." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Algeria army chief offers dialogue to protesters Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 06:00PM Algeria's chief of military staff has urged protesters to join dialogue with state institutions to find a solution to end the country's political crisis amid continuing protests against the figures of the former regime. "I remain entirely convinced that adopting constructive dialogue with the institutions of the state, is the only way to exit from the crisis," General Ahmed Gaid Salah said in a statement published by the defense ministry on Wednesday. Salah reiterated that dialogue is "the wisest way to present constructive proposals, bring points of view closer and reach a consensus around the available solutions." President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his resignation on April 2 after Salah withdrew his support for the ailing president following months of protests against his rule that erupted over his decision to seek a fifth term. Despite his fall, the protests have continued as many demand the removal of all figures associated with Bouteflika's regime and the prosecution of those they see as corrupt and still in power. The interim administration that has taken over has pledged to hold presidential elections on July 4, but Algerians say voting cannot be free and fair if it is organized within the same judicial framework and by the same institutions as those that operated under Bouteflika. Hundreds of people took part in a rally outside the General Workers' Union in the capital Algiers on Wednesday to mark May Day, shouting slogans against the "system." The police banned them from reaching the Grand Post Office the epicenter of the anti-regime rallies that erupted on February 22. Salah's remarks come a day after he dismissed calls by protesters for the removal of interim leader Abdelkader Bensalah, the former upper house speaker, and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui. The army chief said in a speech on Tuesday that the upcoming polls is "the ideal solution to end the crisis." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address African Union extends deadline for Sudan junta to cede power by 60 days Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 05:41PM The African Union has extended the deadline for Sudan's military rulers to transfer power to civilians by further 60 days or face suspension. The AU threatened to suspend Sudan's membership unless the military council that has taken power in the country after the ouster of Omar al-Bashir hands over power to a civilian authority within 15 days from April 15, but the initial deadline was missed. The AU Peace and Security Council said in a statement on Tuesday that it "notes with deep regret" that the military had not transferred power to civilians within the original deadline. But it announced "an additional period of up to sixty days for the military" in the country "to hand over power to a civilian-led Transitional Authority". The council reiterated its conviction that a military-led transition in Sudan "will be totally unacceptable and contrary to the will and legitimate aspirations, to democratic institutions and processes, as well as respect for human rights and freedoms of the Sudanese people." The statement comes as the Alliance for Freedom and Change, Sudan's leading protest group, called for a "million-strong march" on Thursday to demand a civilian administration. The military had earlier agreed to allow civilians into the transitional administrative body. But the military and the opposition are at odds over the composition of the joint civilian-military council, with the military pushing for a 10-member council, including seven military representatives and three civilians. The protesters want a 15-member joint council with eight civilians and seven military representatives. The pan-African body said the 60 days were a final extension, noting that it gave the extension after acknowledging "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." 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi crown prince offered Abbas $10 billion to accept Trump's plan: Report Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 05:40PM Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly offered Palestinian Authority (PA) chief Mahmoud Abbas 10 billion dollars in return for accepting US President Donald Trump's controversial proposal for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, dubbed "the deal of the century." The Lebanese daily Arabic-language newspaper al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday that Abbas turned down the offer, saying supporting the deal would be "the end of his political life." Al-Akhbar cited leaked diplomatic reports based on conversations between the two Arab politicians, noting that the reports -- written by Jordanian envoy to Ramallah, Khaled al-Shawabkeh -- were based on briefings with a number of Palestinian officials. According to the Lebanese newspaper, bin Salman briefed Abbas on the contents of the American proposals during the latter's visit to Saudi Arabia in December 2017, and asked the Palestinian leader how much his delegation's annual budget was. "I'm not a prince to have my own entourage," Abbas replied. "How much money does the Palestinian Authority, its ministers and employees need?" bin Salman then questioned. Abbas said that the Palestinians need $1 billion each year, to which the Saudi de facto ruler was said to have responded, "I will give you $10 billion over 10 years if you accept the deal of the century." Abbas, however, said no, because if he did, it would "mean the end of my political life." Bin Salman also told Abbas that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries would help them expand their control over Areas B and C in the occupied West Bank, and provide financial support for projects to boost their economy. "Saudi Arabia will support the Palestinian Authority with more than $4 billion," the Saudi crown prince reportedly said. The Palestinian Authority chief highlighted that political realities prevent him from taking the so-called US peace plan, emphasizing that he could not make concessions regarding Israeli settlements, the so-called two-state solution and Jerusalem al-Quds. Abbas underscored that the Americans would not provide any written proposals, but would adopt a tactic similar to the 1917 Balfour Declaration that led to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Trump's so-called "peace plan" has been dismissed by Palestinian authorities ahead of its unveiling at the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan and the formation of the new Israeli cabinet, most likely in June. Speaking in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on April 16, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh lashed out at Trump's initiative, asserting that it was "born dead." Shtayyeh noted that negotiations with the US were useless in the wake of the country's relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, which Palestinians consider the capital city of their future state. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Taliban resume talks in Qatar as Kabul holds grand meeting on peace Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 09:05AM The Afghan Taliban militant group and the United States have resumed a new round of negotiations excluding the Kabul government in Qatar while Afghan officials continue to host a rare assembly at home to ensure their interests are met in any peace deal with Taliban. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told Reuters on Wednesday that representatives of the government which the militant groups views as illegitimate were not allowed to take part in the sixth round of the US-Taliban talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. "There will be no other side except the US and Taliban representatives in the meeting, but some Qatari officials will remain present as hosts," he added. The American Embassy in Kabul is yet to comment on the news. US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is expected to attend the Doha discussions. In an interview with Afghanistan's TOLO news channel, Khalilzad said that any peace agreement with the Taliban would depend on the declaration of a permanent ceasefire and a commitment to end the war. The Afghan-born US diplomat 'also stressed that the Taliban's demands were focused on the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. He added that Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its $45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the toll it takes on US forces. The US has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. President Donald Trump said last December that he wanted to pull about half of American troops out of the country. During the fifth round of the US-Taliban talks in Doha, which ended in mid-March, the two sides "agreed in draft" on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in return for preventing the country's soil from being used as a hub for terrorism. Peace meeting underway in Kabul The new round of the negotiations come two days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opened a four-day grand council known as Loya Jirga with more than 3,200 delegates seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban. However, some opposition politicians and government critics, including former president Hamid Karzai, boycotted the meeting. They say Ghani is using the meeting as a platform to boost his status as a leader in the upcoming elections. Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, said at the assembly that he welcomed the US-Taliban talks in Qatar, but that 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 US and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the guise of the war on terror. Some 18 years on, the Taliban militants have only boosted their campaign of violence across the country. The American forces have remained bogged down in Afghanistan through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Trump. The group recently announced the beginning of its spring offensive in Afghanistan despite involvement in the peace talks with the US. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuela's Maduro says coup attempt thwarted Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 07:12AM Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says a coup attempt by a small group of the military has been defeated, expressing gratitude to the country's armed forces for their continued loyalty to him. Sitting alongside senior military and political leaders, Maduro said in a televised speech late on Tuesday that the group of military personnel supporting opposition figures Leopoldo Lopez and Juan Guaido had been defeated. "The empire seeks to attack and overthrow a legitimate government to enslave Venezuela," Maduro said. "I want to congratulate the Military High Command for its courage in defending peace." He said Guaido and Lopez were seeking to spark an armed confrontation that might be used as a pretext for foreign military intervention, but "loyal and obedient" members of the country's armed forces had put down the mutiny within hours after it started early on Tuesday morning. "I want to congratulate you for the firm, loyal and courageous attitude with which you have led the defeat of the small group that tried to fill Venezuela with violence," Maduro added. He said that there only remained a small group of plotters who had chosen "the path of betrayal [and] handed their souls over to the coup-mongering far right." During the coup, Guaido, who has declared himself "interim president" of the country, claimed in a video message recorded at an unknown location that Maduro no longer enjoyed the backing of Venezuela's armed forces. 'Because the people of Venezuela want peace' Guaido also claimed that "a peaceful rebellion," not an attempted military coup, was underway and called on people to take to the streets on Wednesday to continue what he called the final stage of "Operation Freedom." But Maduro said the opposition had "failed in their plan. They failed in their call, because the people of Venezuela want peace." Early on Tuesday, a group of Venezuelan armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers at an anti-government rally in the capital, Caracas. Gunfire was heard, and more than 100 people were reported wounded. The administration of US President Donald Trump, which has recognized Guaido as the "president" of Venezuela," quickly backed the putsch bid. 'Dear God, how far will the US go?' US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that Maduro had been prepared to fly into exile in Cuba but was talked down by Russia. "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, without offering any evidence. Maduro dismissed the allegation, saying, "Mike Pompeo said Maduro had a plane ready to escape to Cuba and that the Russians prohibited me from leaving." "Mr. Pompeo, please! Such a lack of seriousness! Mr. [John] Bolton (the US national security adviser) gave orders to high-ranking officers to join the coup that was overcome in Venezuela Dear God, how far will the US go?" the president exclaimed. Bolton also appeared in the grounds of the White House on Tuesday, naming three senior Venezuelan officials whom he said had been negotiating with the opposition and accepted that the president had to be replaced. He alleged that Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino was one of them. Padrino, however, appeared on television surrounded by soldiers on Tuesday, asserting continued loyalty to Maduro. Lopez flees to Spain's embassy Meanwhile, reports said opposition figure Lopez who was reportedly set free from house arrest during the coup took refuge at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas with his family. Lopez said earlier that he had been freed by soldiers guarding his home. Trump threatens Cuba with sanctions Trump on Tuesday accused Cuban "Troops and Militia" of conducting military operations in Venezuela to cause "death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela." In a Twitter message, Trump threatened Havana with a "full and complete embargo, together with the highest-level sanctions" if it did not pull those forces out of Venezuela. Cuba has supported Maduro's elected government but has denied US accusations that it has military and intelligence operatives in Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly threatened Venezuela with military action. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mueller complains Barr's summary did not capture 'context' of Trump probe Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 06:40AM US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has complained in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that the summary of Mueller's report on the Russia probe "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the investigation's conclusions, US media report. Mueller wrote to Barr after the summary of his report was released on March 24 to express frustration over "the lack of context and the resulting media coverage," particularly about Mueller's conclusions on President Donald Trump's obstruction of justice, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The Post said it reviewed a copy of Mueller's letter. US Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, in a statement, confirmed the report. 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 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, 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. Barr said in the summary that Mueller did not establish that members of Trump's 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. Democratic Party members of Congress have accused Barr of trying to spin the report's conclusions to protect the Republican president. In a statement in response to the Post report, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the US House of Representatives, Jerry Nadler, said Barr "should not have taken it upon himself to describe the Special Counsel's findings in a light more favorable to the President." The Democratic lawmaker demanded the Justice Department release a copy of Mueller's letter to Barr by Wednesday morning. Mueller, a former FBI director, had been examining since May 2017 whether Trump's election campaign colluded with Moscow to try to influence the 2016 presidential election and whether he later unlawfully tried to obstruct his investigation. Both Trump and Russia have repeatedly denied the accusations. Trump has sought to discredit the investigation, calling it a "witch hunt" and accusing Mueller of conflicts of interest. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taliban: New Round Of Peace Talks With U.S. Opening In Qatar By RFE/RL May 01, 2019 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. Ghani's 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 Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-new-round-of-peace- talks-with-us-opening-in-qatar/29913967.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO's Afghan Mission Cuts Back On War Data By RFE/RL May 01, 2019 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 Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/nato-afghan-mission -cuts-back-on-war-data/29914066.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuela Convulses And Russia Frets: What Does Moscow Stand To Lose If The Maduro Government Falls? By Mike Eckel May 01, 2019 Venezuela slipped further into chaos on April 30 as 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. Half a world away, Moscow is bound to be alarmed. Russia has made major investments -- political and economic -- in the South American country in recent years. Along with Nicaragua, Venezuela has served as sort of beachhead for Russian influence in the Western Hemisphere, something Moscow lost when its ties with Cuba withered in the wake of the Soviet collapse. In addition to selling hundreds of millions of dollars in military equipment to Caracas, Russia has invested heavily in the crucial oil sector, and snapped up major stakes in the state-run oil company, PDVSA. The United States is among some 50 countries that have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's president, and it has imposed sanctions to try to push out Maduro. White House national-security adviser John Bolton appealed directly to the country's defense minister, and the head of the national guard on April 30. "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," he said in a Twitter post. In comments later to reporters, he also directed an explicit warning at Moscow. "We expect that the Russians will not interfere with what's going on in Venezuela; particularly now when the lives of peaceful Venezuelans are at stake," he said. Here's a look at some of the things that Russia stands to lose if Maduro's government falls and the opposition under Guaido takes control of the country. Oil, Oil, Oil Venezuela's proven oil reserves are the world's largest, according to oil cartel OPEC, and arguably the only thing that has kept the country from completely disintegrating until now. Revenues from foreign oil sales -- to the United States first and foremost -- have propped up Maduro's government, even as the country has slipped into economic chaos. Russia and its state-owned oil giant Rosneft have invested heavily in the Venezuela's PDVSA and Venezuelan oil projects -- about $9 billion since 2010, according to Reuters. Rosneft and the Russian government have also floated more than $17 billion in loans to Caracas since 2006, according to an analysis published in February by Alexander Gabuev, of the Carnegie Moscow Center. If Guiado, who has gotten resounding support from the United States and other countries, takes power, it becomes an open question how and when -- or even if -- those loans will be repaid. "Russia is now so deeply invested in the Maduro regime that the only realistic option is to double down," he wrote. "Rosneft's deep ties to Venezuela and Russia's efforts to insert itself into the crisis there together raise questions about whether the country's leadership is acting to preserve national or corporate and private interests," Gabuev said. Also factoring into this equation is PDVSA's stake in Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary that has been a key conduit in making sure U.S. dollars flow back to Caracas. Citgo owns three refineries in the United States along with a network of pipelines and gas stations. PDVSA's financial woes gave an opening to Rosneft, which received 49.9 percent of Citgo as collateral for a reported $1.5 billion loan from the Russian oil company. That alarmed some U.S. lawmakers who blanched at the idea of Russia's largest oil concern controlling a major piece of U.S. oil infrastructure. In January, in a bid to pressure Maduro, President Donald Trump's administration announced it would cut off Citgo and its U.S. bank accounts in an effort to deprive Caracas of hard currency. "Guaido's assumption of control of Citgo and PDVSA virtually assures that it will lose the money it loaned to the Maduro regime in exchange for a percentage ownership of Citgo, unless it deals with Guaido's government," Evan Ellis, a researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in an article earlier this year. Arms Sales, Military Cooperation In early December 2018, two nuclear-capable, long-range Russian strategic bombers landed at a military airport outside Caracas. It was a very public and symbolic display by Moscow to show Washington and its allies that it was serious about military support for Maduro's government. Moscow isn't selling long-range bombers to Caracas, but it has sold it billions in other weaponry. In 2006, then-President Hugo Chavez signed a nearly $3 billion deal for Russian fighter jets. Moscow also got access to Venezuelan oil at below-market prices. According to the Russian news agency TASS, Caracas purchased around $11 billion in armaments between 2005 and 2013. The weaponry Caracas obtained included the sophisticated S-300 air-defense system, Su-30 fighter jets, T-72 tanks, as well as things like man-portable Igla surface-to-air missiles, and other smaller weaponry. It's unclear how much money Caracas still owes Russia for the weaponry. But the turmoil and any possible change in government throws in doubt whether Moscow will be paid for past deliveries, not to mention ongoing service contracts or future purchases. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on April 30 that he is launching a "final phase" of his plan to oust President Nicolas Maduro, calling on Venezuelans and the military to back him to end Maduro's "usurpation." The other wildcard, both in terms of weapons supplies and support for Maduro, is the presence of private Russian mercenaries, who reportedly arrived in Caracas earlier this year and are said to have been serving as an elite guard force for Maduro and his inner circle. There is also the danger that private Russian military companies, also known as PMCs, could end up widening the Venezuelan conflict, said Sergei Sukhankin, a researcher at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation and the Kyiv-based International Center for Policy Studies. "In this case, there is a distinct possibility that Russian PMCs would help escalate Venezuela's civil strife into a regional conflict," he wrote in a commentary in February. Other Commodities Venezuela is a major importer of Russian grain and it is a key market for Moscow as it expands its farming exports and cuts into the market share of the United States, Brazil, and other agricultural powerhouses. Russian state-linked banks also teamed up with Venezuelan financial institutions in an effort to ease investments and give Russian companies more flexibility as they push deeper into Venezuela's economy. That joint venture bank, Evrofinance Mosnarbank, is controlled by Gazprombank -- the financing arm of Russian state-gas producer Gazprom, and state bank VTB. The Venezuelan National Development Fund holds a 49.99 percent stake. In March, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on the bank, accusing it of trying to evade previously imposed sanctions that targeted Maduro and his supporters. Reputation Arguably, the biggest thing Russia stands to lose if Maduro's government falls is its reputation; the Kremlin's, and Vladimir Putin's, in particular. The Russian presence in Venezuela is a way of projecting power, with echoes of the Soviet presence in Cuba, and building relationships in Central America. It's also a way to bother the United States, which has long considered the Western Hemisphere part of its natural sphere of influence. "Certainly, Moscow's interest in Venezuela is driven by its quite tense relations with the United States and it wants to [provide a counterbalance to] the United States," Mikael Wigell, a researcher specializing in Latin America at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told RFE/RL in an interview in January. "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," he said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-venezuela -coup-bad-news-moscow/29913164.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Opposition Protesters Gather in Venezuelan Capital As Moscow, Washington Trade Accusations By RFE/RL May 01, 2019 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 Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/opposition-protesters-gather- in-venezuelan-capital/29914866.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Air Force F-35s Just Carried Out First-Ever Combat Mission in THIS Country Sputnik News 16:14 01.05.2019 The mission was the first combat deployment of the plane's F-35A modification, and just the third deployment of any variant of the F-35 following their use by Israel for strikes against Syria in May 2018 and the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan last September. A pair of USAF F-35As was used to attack a suspected Daesh (ISIS)* arms cache and tunnel network in Wadi Ashai, northeastern Iraq, USAF Central Command has confirmed. "The F-35As conducted the airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike an entrenched Daesh tunnel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains, a location able to threaten friendly forces," AFCENT reported, providing photos of the mission on its official twitter account. The military did not provide any information as to whether or not the strikes were successful. The strikes were part of an offensive by Iraqi security forces with US air support to prevent Daesh's resurgence in the region. The Air Force deployed several F-35As ordinarily based at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah to the Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE in mid-April, with these planes said to have been used in Tuesday's strikes. AFCENT emphasized that the strikes were the first-ever "combat employment" for the F-35A, with Marine Corps F-35Bs conducting an airstrike in Afghanistan last year. Israel is reported to have employed its own F-35s in strikes in Aleppo, Syria on at least two occasions starting in May 2018. While the Air Force boasted about the plane's stealth capabilities in its press release, The Drive contributor Tyler Rogoway said the configuration of wingtip pylons and radar reflectors on the planes' fuselage giving off a larger than normal radar signature during Tuesday's strikes was an indication that the Sidewinder-equipped F-35As weren't flying in stealth mode over Iraq, given the absence of any sort of enemy air force or advanced air defences. The F-35 is the most expensive defence project in history, with a projected total cost of $1.5 trillion over its 55 year lifespan. In addition to cost, the plane has been criticised for a plethora of glitches and suspected design flaws, many of them believed to be dangerous to pilot safety. Last month, Japan, the second-largest buyer of F-35s after the US itself, temporarily grounded its entire fleet of F-35A jets after one of the planes was lost in the waters off of northeast Japan during a routine training flight. * A terror group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan Warns India of Much 'Stronger Response' in Case of Fresh Conflict Sputnik News 15:50 01.05.2019(updated 16:21 01.05.2019) While formally naming the response "Operation Swift Retort", Pakistan's Chief of Air Staff said the PAF's retaliatory action to the Indian airstrike in February was a demonstration of firm resolve, capacity and capability in thwarting hostile actions against the country. New Delhi (Sputnik) Pakistani Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan on Wednesday said his country's response on 27 February to the Indian airstrike a day before is worth remembering in history, adding that if such a response is require again it would be more intense. "PAF response on 27 February 2019 against the enemy aggression will be remembered in history as 'Operation Swift Retort'", Khan said while addressing the 264th Air Staff in Islamabad on Wednesday. Stating that every rank and file of the Pakistani Air Force (PAK) deserved special appreciation for proving equal to the task at forward operating bases during these testing times, the air chief warned that "in case of any misadventure by the adversary, PAF response would be even stronger than before". Pakistan's chief military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor on Tuesday slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who recently threatened Pakistan with the "mother of all nuclear bombs". "In your [Indian] rhetoric, you keep using nuclear power as a threat Nuclear powers are not a threat, they are a weapon of deterrence that should not be mentioned lightlyDo not test our resolve," Ghafoor said on Tuesday. India conducted an airstrike in the early hours of 26 February on alleged terror infrastructure in Pakistani territory after a Pakistan-based terror outfit claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack on Indian soil. The following day, Pakistan retaliated by conducting airstrikes in Indian territory and in the ensuing dogfight reportedly downed two Indian aircraft. A pilot who ejected was released a few days later in what Islamabad described as a "peace gesture". India, however confirmed the loss of only one of its warplanes and claimed that its downed MiG-21 Bison jet had shot down a Pakistani F-16 during the aerial combat. Pakistan denies losing any of its fighter jets. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Germany, Norway Seeking to 'Plot a Path' for Joint Sub Programme Report Sputnik News 09:47 01.05.2019 The submarine programme dates back to 2017, when then-Norwegian Defence Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide and her German counterpart Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen agreed to develop bilateral cooperation on naval defence equipment. Naval chiefs and other high-ranking defence officials from Germany and Norway have held talks in Munich to "plot a path" related to the implementation of a joint submarine program, the website Defence News reports. The media outlet cited the officials as saying that during the meeting, they discussed the way "to push toward an agreement on the timing, cost and performance characteristics of the 212-CD project". With the design of the 212-CD submarines yet to be locked down, the programme stipulates clinching contracts with leading German vendor ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in 2020 and delivering first such vessel to Norway in late 2026. German Navy chief Vice Adm. Andreas Krause tweeted that after "a successful meeting" in Munich, both sides "are convinced that we want to make #U212CD a success story". "We will act and speak as if we were ONE Navy. Both navies need the new submarines delivered on time, [and are looking at] cost and quality. Everyone involved in this project should never forget its relevance", he added. In this context, Defence News cited Sebastian Bruns, a naval analyst with the University of Kiel in northern Germany, as saying that such a cooperation is "new for Germany" given that "everything from spare parts to training and operational aspects is designed to be bilateral from the start, possibly tying the two sea services together for decades". Under the 2017 strategic cooperation programme on submarines, TKMS is due to produce four such vessels for Norway and two more for Germany. Additionally, the programme envisages the Norwegian missile-maker Kongsberg outfitting German warships with upgraded naval strike missiles. The implementation of the programme comes as the German military seeks a budgetary boost, with German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz saying last month that although an extra $2.4 billion will be allocated for military spending in 2020, expenditure share will roll back to 1.25 percent of the country's GDP, or $50.2 billion, by 2023. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuelan President Maduro Delivers Address to 'Venezuelan People and World' Sputnik News 04:33 01.05.2019(updated 12:09 01.05.2019) Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has appeared on state television together with Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino and the head of the National Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello. Maduro has delivered "a message to the Venezuelan people and the world" in a live stream, during which he said that he had appointed prosecutors to investigate a coup attempt in his country. He also added that a number of people are being questioned in connection with the issue. In his speech, Maduro said that the coup was led by Venezuelan opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez. Earlier in the day, Chile's foreign minister said that Lopez had entered the Chilean diplomatic mission in Caragas, updating later that he'd moved to Spain's Embassy. Maduro also said that five military staff were injured during the unrest on Tuesday, adding that two of them were in critical condition. On Tuesday morning, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and his supporters gathered in Caracas on a highway in front of La Carlota military base. Previously, Guaido had called on the people of Venezuela and the army to take to the streets to complete an operation to overthrow President Maduro. "This cannot go unpunished. I have spoken to the attorney general, and he has appointed three national prosecutors who are questioning everyone involved in this event, and they are tasked with investigating and filing criminal charges," Maduro told the state television. The Venezuelan president has also announced that he appointed Gen. Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez as the head of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service of Venezuela (SEBIN). "I welcome the new director of SEBIN, Gen. Gonzalez Lopez, who is always fighting, always active", Maduro said during a meeting with his supporters, as broadcast by Venezuela's state television. Gonzalez Lopez already headed SEBIN in 2018, but was then replaced by Gen. Manuel Christopher Figuera. Meanwhile, Venezuelan Ambassador to the EU Claudia Salerno has stated that Caracas does not expect the EU states to support the US military's actions in the Latin American country. Large-scale protests against Maduro began in Venezuela on 21 January, soon after he was sworn in for a new term. National Assembly head Guaido proclaimed himself 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 as its puppet. Russia, China, and a number of other countries have voiced their support for Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address End 'political opportunism' that's letting hate speech flourish, urges top UN genocide official 1 May 2019 - With murderous attacks against religious institutions on the rise, leaders across the world need to do more to end "political opportunism" and policies which allow hate speech and violent extremism to flourish, said the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide on Wednesday. Speaking at the end of the second Global Summit on Religion, Peace and Security, at UN headquarters in Geneva, Adama Dieng noted that in the wake of dozens killed inside Sri Lanka churches, a synagogue attack in California, and killings inside a church in Burkina Faso, the threat of another genocide somwhere, was only growing larger. "We are speaking about peace, we are speaking about justice, we are speaking about strong institutions", said the Special Adviser, adding with urgency, that "it's easy to accuse the extreme right-wing leaders, but what are the others doing?" More moderate politicians need to be "speaking out" too, and getting "better mobilized, but sometimes you see also the political opportunism, even in those camps", he said. This needed to be addressed fast he said, especially in Europe, where the same signs of growing, militant nationalism, that allowed the rise of violent regimes based on racist ideology in the 1930s, can be seen today. "We need to bring an end to this cynical, politicians' discourse" said Mr. Dieng. "Big massacres start always with small actions and language", he warned, noting that the Holocaust against the Jews perpetrated by the Nazis, was preceded by hate speech, and hate crimes, that robbed Jews of their basic humanity. "We witnessed the same in Rwanda" he said, in 1994, against the Tutsis and others, where they became known as "snakes". "It started with those words, and what we are seeing today, is pretty close". Alliance of Civilizations chief visits Sri Lanka, pledges support of UN In the wake of the deadly attacks which left more than 250 dead in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on 21 April, the UN High-Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Miguel Moratinos, made the first visit by a high-level UN official to the country on Tuesday, expressing support for the Government's efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism. Mr. Moratinos met top politicians, religious leaders, representatives of civil society and the UN Resident Coordinator as well as the UN Country Team, said a statement released by UNAOC. In his meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena, the High-Representative conveyed "his personal deepest sympathies as well as the heartfelt condolences of the UN Secretary-General. "You are not alone" he told the President, who expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the visit and support of the High-Representative. President Sirisena said he was "determined to move forward and restore security and safety" to his country. Mr. Moratinos said the UN stood ready "to support those efforts to help in restoring harmony, unity and social cohesion", stressing that there is an urgent need to find a long-term solution to the problem of asylum seekers and refugees in Sri Lanka to ensure their safety and well-being. Some 1600 refugees and asylum seekers mainly Ahmadi Muslims had been under attack in the wake of the Easter bombings. High Representative Moratinos who has officially been tasked by UN chief Antonio Guterres to lead an initiative to help ensure the safety of religious sanctuaries also met Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, with whom he exchanged views on the current efforts undertaken to restore unity and peaceful co-existence within Sri Lankan society. In response he has set two "urgent initiatives" in motion; the drawing up of UN plan of action to "fully mobilize" the system to tackle hate speech, led by Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, and an effort being led by the High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Miguel Moratinos, to help ensure the safety of religious sanctuaries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuela: UN human rights office calls for 'maximum restraint' by authorities in face of new demonstrations 1 May 2019 - With another day of mass protests taking place across Venezuela, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Wednesday it was "extremely worried by reports of the excessive use of force" by security forces, loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, a day after an opposition-led uprising appeared to stall. Opposition leader, Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim leader in January, appeared on social media flanked by members of the armed forces on Tuesday, calling for action to remove Mr. Maduro from power. President Maduro accused his rival of an "attempted coup". In the light of Wednesday's day of planned protests, OHCHR Spokesperson, Marta Hurtado, said in a statement that reported violence against demonstrators on Tuesday by pro-Government forces, had allegedly resulted in dozens being injured. "Many have also reportedly been detained", she added, calling on "all sides to show maximum restraint and on the authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly. We also warn against the use of language inciting people to violence." She said that State authorities had a duty "to ensure the protection of the human rights of all people regardless of their political affiliation. All sides should renounce the use of violence", she added. Protesters supporting the Government also reportedly took to the streets on Wednesday, with Mr. Guaido addressing his supporters in the capital Caracas, reportedly saying that the demonstrations were "irreversible" and "there is no turning back". Ms. Hurtado, urged political leaders "to engage in meaningful discussions to work towards resolving the current crisis", adding that OHCHR would "continue to monitor developments in the country." The UN human rights office does not have a presence in Venezuela, but in March, a five-person team was in the country for a "preliminary technical mission", deployed ahead of a possible visit by the High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet. On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said via his Spokesperson, that he was following events in Venezuela "very closely", and was reaching out to both sides of the political divide. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Military, Key Watchdog in War of Words Over Unfavorable Data By Jeff Seldin May 01, 2019 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." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US-Taliban Resume Talks Amid Optimism By Ayaz Gul May 01, 2019 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 group's 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. Wednesday's 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 group's 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. Pakistan's 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Military Data Breach Prompts Immigrant Recruits to Apply for US Asylum By Aline Barros May 01, 2019 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, Ma's 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 Department's 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. Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address AG Barr Defends Handling of Mueller Report By Masood Farivar May 01, 2019 U.S. Attorney General William Barr appeared before Congress on Wednesday to defend his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's recent report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Barr's controversial determination that President Donald Trump did not obstruct the investigation. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since Mueller concluded his two-year investigation on March 22, Barr faced tough questions from Democrats about his decision to release a four-page summary of the report shortly after the investigation concluded but to hold off on making public the full report for several weeks. "It was my baby whether or not to disclose it to the public," he said. "I determined that it was in the public interest for the department to announce the investigation's bottom-line conclusions, that is, the determination whether a provable crime has been committed or not. 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." Much of the hearing focused on a letter Mueller wrote to Barr on March 27 in which he complained about the summary letter to Congress. Mueller wrote that the summary "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions," and he urged the attorney general to release the report's executive summaries. In response, Barr said he turned down the special counsel's request because he wanted to make the full report public as soon as possible. In a subsequent phone call with Mueller, the special counsel expressed concern about how the report was being portrayed by the media, but he did not characterize it as misleading or inaccurate, Barr said. The Washington Post first published a story on the Mueller letter late Tuesday. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released a copy of it on Wednesday. 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. Barr summarized the report's two principal findings in his March 24 letter to Congress. While Mueller had not reached a conclusion on the question of obstruction, Barr wrote that he and 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. Asked by the committee chairman, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, whether he "felt good" about his decision, Barr responded, "Yes." But Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said the Mueller report "contained substantial evidence of misconduct" by Trump. The Mueller report examined 11 instances of potential obstruction of justice by Trump, including an attempt in June 2017, shortly after Mueller's appointment, to get the special counsel fired. Those efforts came to light when a redacted version of the 448-page report was released to the public earlier this month. 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 it exonerated Trump of colluding with Moscow and said that later, after assuming power, Trump had "no corrupt intent" to obstruct the probe. Barr, a Trump appointee, said the president "took no act that in fact deprived" Mueller of "documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation." With the release of the full report, committee Republicans said the issue had become moot. But Democrats vowed to summon Mueller to testify before Congress to answer their questions. Barr said he had no objections to Mueller's testifying. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pompeo: US Prepared for Military Intervention in Venezuela By Ken Bredemeier May 01, 2019 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Maduro, Guaido to Hold May Day Rallies as Political Standoff Escalates By Ken Bredemeier May 01, 2019 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Panel: South Sudan Killed Activists By John Tanza May 01, 2019 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 People's 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 Sudan's 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 VOA's "South Sudan In Focus" team on several occasions that the government is not to blame for Luak and Idri's 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. Idri's wife Aya Warille said she holds South Sudan's first vice president, Taban Deng Gai, responsible for her husband's 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 Sudan's 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 Sudan's 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trying to 'Cover Up a Problem': US Stops Reporting Afghan District Control Data Sputnik News 00:26 02.05.2019 Resolute Support, the US-led mission in Afghanistan, has told the government watchdog SIGAR it will no longer report "district control data" showing what percentage of the Afghan population is controlled by the Taliban, saying the data was of little use. "This quarter, the US-commanded NATO Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan formally notified SIGAR that it is no longer assessing district-level insurgent or government control or influence. The RS mission said the district-level stability assessments were 'of limited decision-making value to the [RS] Commander,'" Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) chief John Sopko wrote in his quarterly report, published April 30. "RS added that there is currently no other product or forum through which district-level control data is communicated to the command. " "The last district-stability data RS produced was for its October 22, 2018, assessment; SIGAR reported on that assessment in its January 2019 Quarterly Report to the United States Congress," Sopko noted. That final report was pretty unfavorable to the US mission and came shortly after the war entered its 18th year, finding that "[T]he Afghan government's control or influence of its districts decreased by nearly two percentage points since July [2018] to 53.8 percent." AP noted that this decline followed nearly two years of unchanged stats on the subject. That's a far cry from the goal expounded in November 2017, when then-commander of US Forces-Afghanistan Gen. John Nicholson said that 80 percent was the "critical mass necessary" to ensure victory over the Taliban. "We are focused on setting the conditions for a political settlement to safeguard our national interests," Col. David M. Butler, a spokesman for the new US Forces-Afghanistan commander, Gen. Scott Miller, told AP 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 new policy is in line with the new attitude coming out of the White House this year, one of ambivalence about the use of such reports. "They do a report on every single thing that's happening, and they release it to the public," US President Donald Trump lamented in January, at his first cabinet meeting of the year. "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. Those reports should be private reports." "I don't want it to happen anymore," the president reportedly told acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan at the meeting. "I don't think it makes sense," Sopko told reporters last week. "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." Author and journalist Daniel Lazare told Sputnik Wednesday the Trump administration's stifling of information coming out of the Afghan war "is a last-ditch attempt to cover up a problem that is rapidly deteriorating." "The conflict has been going on for 18 years, the Taliban are steadily advancing, and the US public is sick and tired of what is, by now, America's longest war," Lazare said. "He can't send in more troops because voters won't stand for it, but he can't pull them out due to the incalculable loss to US prestige so he dithers." "The great Afghan misadventure was a major factor in the demise of the Soviet Union, and there's no doubt that a comparable debacle under Trump would have similar ramifications in the US, so Trump continues to pretend that he's winning, even though the truth is otherwise," Lazare said. The writer noted that US power is in trouble around the world, not just in Afghanistan. "Trump also can't figure out whether to stay or go in Syria, while regime change is definitely not going according to plan in Venezuela. Nicaragua and Cuba continue to thumb their nose at Washington," Lazare said, noting that the reliably pro-American Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko "just suffered a 3-to-1 defeat. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were disasters as secretary of state, but Trump's foreign policy team of [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo, [National Security Adviser] John Bolton, and [Vice President] Mike Pence is even worse: they are truly the gang that couldn't shoot straight, yet they continue to blunder on." "If America had a halfway-rational government, it would try to pare back its losses by concentrating on what's worth saving and what's not but an orderly retreat is the most difficult military maneuver to pull off, so rather than pulling back, Trump prefers to close his eyes to reality and pretend he's winning across the board. But he's not; it won't work. A crisis is coming, most likely in the Middle East and when it hits, it won't be pretty." The decision comes as a new set of peace talks between the US and the Taliban got underway Wednesday in Doha, Qatar. Representatives from the two sides have met periodically since January. However, there have been some snags. Notably, the Taliban has refused to negotiate with the government recognized by the US in Kabul that of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, whom the Taliban views as a US puppet. US officials hope to thread a careful needle that permits a US withdrawal while also preserving peace between the Taliban and central government. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran criticizes U.S. plan to designate Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Wed / 1 May 2019 / 17:30 Tehran (ISNA) - Iran criticized U.S. plan to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, Iranian Foreign Minister 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," Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif 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. "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. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Lists Pakistani Cleric as Global Terrorist By Ayaz Gul May 01, 2019 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 region's 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 Azhar's 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 Azhar's 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, India's ambassador and permanent representative to the U.N. Pakistani officials noted that Wednesday's 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. committee's 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. Cindy Saine at the State Department contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Sends China Replacements for Storm-Damaged S-400 Missiles - Reports Sputnik News 21:59 01.05.2019 Replacement missiles for the S-400 anti-air missile system sold to China by Russia last year have been sent, according to media reports. Some of the system's missiles and other equipment were damaged in a storm in the English Channel in December 2017. The replacement missiles departed from Russia at the beginning of April, The Diplomat reported, citing Russian military diplomatic sources. It's not known how many of the interceptors were damaged and required replacement. Beijing bought six units of the advanced anti-air interceptor system in 2015 for $3 billion, but the first batch was delivered only in April 2018, following several months of delays caused by a storm in the English Channel in December 2017. The tempest damaged several components of the system, including some of the missiles and auxiliary equipment, causing the ship to turn back, Sputnik reported, citing Russia's defense industry cooperation service. In early April, Sputnik reported that the second shipment of S-400s would arrive this summer, five months earlier than expected. The S-400 is highly sought after because it's both effective and cheap compared to competitors like the US' MIM-104 Patriot. With a range of up to 600 kilometers and an effective intercept altitude of up to 27 kilometers, an S-400 unit can reportedly handle up to 72 missiles simultaneously flying at 36 different aerial targets. Each unit includes a control center with radio location system, an all-altitude radar station, a portable antenna tower and up to six air defense systems, which are themselves composed of a radar station and up to 12 launcher systems. Each launcher system consists of four tubes on the back of a truck, which rotate to launch vertically, enabling them to fire in any direction quickly. China is the first country to buy the systems from Russia, and has made them a key component of its Rocket Force. Since the 2015 deal was inked, though, many other nations have sought to buy the systems as an alternative to Washington's, too a practice the US has sought to curb, sometimes with sanctions, as it has done with Turkey. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese Economic Outreach in Latin America Draws US Concerns By Rob Garver May 01, 2019 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." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Suspected Maoist attack kills 15 police commandos, driver in Indian state of Maharashtra Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 05:52PM Maoist rebels have attacked a van carrying police commandos in the insurgents' stronghold in western India and killed 15 officers and their driver in the western state of Maharashtra, local police officials say. "Maoists attacked a team of commandos travelling in a private vehicle to inspect an earlier attack. So far 16 men have died," media outlets quoted an unnamed official at police headquarters in the state of Maharashtra as saying. "More teams have been sent to site for rescue and combat operations," added the officer. Sharad Shelar, a second police officer said that the casualties were caused as rebels triggered a land mine blast in the forested Gadchiroli area in Maharashtra state as the vehicle was passing through. Police have blamed the blast on Naxal militants known to be active in the region. Local media reports 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. They routinely attack government troops and officials and have been called India's greatest internal security threat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Twitter post on Wednesday swiftly condemned the latest attack on police commandos. "Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel," Modi wrote, adding, "Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared." 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." S. Mungantwar, Maharashtra state minister 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. Suspected Maoists have also struck during India's elections, which are currently ongoing. India's nationwide election began on April 11 and runs until May 19. On April 18, a polling supervisor was gunned down by alleged Maoist militants in the eastern state of Odisha. The supervisor, Sanjukta Digal, was leading a team to a polling station in the Kandhamal district on the eve of the second phase of voting in the state. In another incident in the same district, Maoists approached a vehicle heading towards a polling center and forced officials to disembark before setting fire to it. Last weekend, at least two constables were killed after rebels opened fire on Indian police in the central state of Chhattisgarh. A roadside bomb attack on a political convoy in early April killed five people in the same troubled state. In April 2017, at least 25 police officers were killed when hundreds of suspected Maoist rebels attacked a convoy in central India. According to India's Ministry of Home Affairs, 90 districts across 11 states are currently affected by some form of Naxal or Maoist militancy. The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 Indian states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Maoist rebels accuse the Indian state of plundering the mineral-rich and underdeveloped east and central regions of the country at the expense of the poor and landless, among whom they retain some support. Indian forces have been fighting Maoists rebels for decades in several areas, in an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands. Indian Maoist groups have been active in the country since the 1960s, but the new wave of insurgency did not begin until the early 2000s. More than 2,100 civilians in India have been killed in the Maoist insurgency since 2010. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran considering new ways for oil exports: Oil Minister IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, May 1, IRNA -- Iran's Minister of Oil Bijan Zangeneh said on Wednesday that some new ways have been adopted for oil exports drawing up new mechanisms. Describing the crude export as the top priority of Iran's oil industry, the minister said that other priorities included providing the private sector with opportunity for investment in oil industry, vast cooperation with knowledge-based and startups, and cooperation with academic centers. Speaking at the ceremony of inauguration of the 24th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition in Tehran, he said, 'Iran is not in hostility with any country in the region, but, two neighboring countries are trying to fill up Iran's place. They issue statements exaggerating their own production capacities.' Zangeneh noted that the exaggeration is not only for their output capacities, and they exaggerate about their oil reservoirs as well. 'The oil market cannot be governed by statements, rather the prices are being determined by the real production available. The fragile market of oil cannot be governed by the statements. Their approach focused on creating positive psychological attitude in the market by statements,' he said. The oil minister emphasized that Iran would never used the commodity as a political means, emphasizing that whoever does so, they should suffer the consequences. Iran is targeted by US unilateral sanctions with Washington having claimed that it will halt Iran's crude sale. Last week, the US announced that sanctions waivers for six major Iran oil buyers would not be extended. President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iran's path for oil exports is not blocked as there are 'six more alternatives' for. 9156**1416 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran officially launches trade mechanism to match INSTEX ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Wed / 1 May 2019 / 16:40 Tehran (ISNA) Following registration and establishment of Iranian mechanism similar to INSTEX called the "Special Trade and Finance Institute" (STFI), the first financial transactions between Iran and Europe will be carried out in coordination between Iranian and European sides and banks. The CEO of STFI, Ali Asghar Noori announced, "Following registration and establishment of STFI and with regard to the meetings held with European countries and the Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), it is decided that the first financial transactions between Iran and Europe to be carried out in coordination between Iranian and European sides and banks". "After technical talks with European side, we announced our readiness to operationalize the mechanism and transactions. We also stressed on the importance of accelerating the implementation of the financial channel," he added. "In this regard, the coordination sessions have been held with Iranian banks and a series of meetings will be held with Iranian importers and exporters next week to introduce the Iranian company," the CEO of Special Trade and Finance Institute went on to say. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chaos pending: US bans on Iran oil keep market on edge Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 07:50PM The United States' insistence on zeroing out Iran's oil exports is starting to cause all kinds of commotion in the global market, keeping confused both experts and buyers as they look straight into what is shaping up to be a chaotic chapter for the petroleum industry. Iranian officials and experts across the world seriously doubt that the administration of US President Donald Trump would be able to deliver on its ambitious pledge, even though Washington has announced that it will no longer extend oil waivers for Iran when they expire on May 1. This is while China and several other major purchasers of Iranian energy already complained to the US about the new decision, calling for some sort of extension that would allow them to buy more until they can find an alternative. Qatar warns US against revoking waivers Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told reporters in Doha on Wednesday that the decision to end the waivers would harm countries that rely on the supplies. "The sanctions should not be extended because they have an adverse impact on countries benefiting from Iranian oil," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a press conference in Doha. "In Qatar, we do not believe unilateral sanctions bring positive effects for crises which must be solved through dialogue and dialogue only," he added, alluding to his country's ongoing boycott by Saudi Arabia, the the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain since 2017. Possible extension There are already rumors flying around that a short extension would be announced in the coming days to let Iran's buyers put in orders for long after the waivers expire. "Given President Trump's unpredictable negotiating style, it remains possible that a modest waiver extension will be provided beyond early May, or that sanctions against certain buyers will not be fully enforced if imports are cut dramatically," Paul Sheldon, chief geopolitical adviser at S&P Global Platts Analytics was quoted as saying by MarketWatch. However, he argued, given how Washington has been outspoken about its plans, there might be no waivers at all. "Therefore, attention will soon shift to the US's willingness and ability to enforce its 'zero' exports policy," Sheldon said. But to make that policy work, the US needs to find viable replacements for Iranian oil. While Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Russia have been said to be preparing to increase output to make up for Iran's missing oil, all three insist that they do not have the ability to boost production immediately. "Iranian exports will not go to zero because there are ways to get around the sanctions, either by switching oil at sea to other tankers or on vessels that can circumvent the sanctions," Marshall Steeves, energy markets analyst at Informa Economics, told MarketWatch. But Sheldon thought the opposite was true. "Recent history indicates that few buyers will be willing to risk exclusion from the US market and financial system, judging by the rapid and dramatic reduction in Iranian exports after the US pulled out of the nuclear deal last year," he argued, pointing to Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement with the six world powers. He said he expected "full compliance form most customers, with modest exports continuing to a few buyers without notable exposure to the US." The uncertainty is causing a price hike in heavier crudes like Norway's Grane and Heidrun, according to Reuters. Over April, the price of Grane rose from around dated Brent plus 10 cents to close to dated Brent plus $1.00 a barrel. Iraq's SOMO also sold 2 million barrels of Basra Heavy crude to China's Unipec at a premium of over $2 a barrel to its official selling price (OSP), the highest in months, sources said. Angola's State oil company Sonangol was said to have sold a cargo of one of its heaviest grades, Dalia, over the last week for $2 a barrel above dated Brent, a $7 increase from two years ago. Typically, the grade trades at a discount of $1 or more. This is while some buyers are refusing to buy crude at current prices. "We're resisting it as much as possible," one potential buyer told Reuters. Meanwhile, analysts say that what really would help end the uncertainty is China's decision. They say Beijing is likely to flout the US restrictions, knowing that Washington cannot sanction Chinese companies buying from Iran because they are at the same time key buyers of US oil and liquid natural gas. Sweden's SEB has gone even further, suggesting that Beijing could lift its imports of Iranian crude in the coming months from some 600,000 barrels per day in March to around 1 million bpd. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran warns countries using oil as weapon, says OPEC could collapse Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 05:32PM Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says a US bid to cut Iran's oil exports to zero is a "pious hope," warning countries using oil as a weapon about repercussions of further volatility in the global market. "As I have already said, the US wishes to cut Iran's oil exports to zero but this is a pious hope. Any independent market expert knows that a surplus of capacities declared by certain countries is exaggeration and overstatement," Zangeneh told the opening of the 24th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition in Tehran on Wednesday. He said that Iran held no grudge against any countries in the region but noted that two regional states overstate their production capacities to reassure the market that Iran's output restraint would result in no supply cuts. Oil prices have hit their highest since November in recent days after the US said all waivers for those importing Iranian oil would end this week. Washington says it is working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure oil markets are "adequately supplied," but traders worry about tight supplies. Following its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2017 and reimposition of unilateral sanctions against Tehran last year, the United States gave waivers to eight major buyers of Iranian crude, which allowed them to import Iran's crude without facing sanctions. Washington announced last week that the waivers would end after May 1. Elsewhere in his remarks, Zangeneh pointed to the volatility of the oil market and criticized certain countries for using oil as a weapon, saying the fragility of the oil market would not be compensated by issuing statements and denying shortage in the market. "Iran has never used oil as a political weapon. Any country using oil as a political tool should accept its repercussions as well," the Iranian oil minister said. Those countries using oil as a weapon against two OPEC founding members are turning unity in the organization into division and are causing the death and collapse of OPEC, the responsibility of which falls upon them, Zangeneh said. Apart from Iran, the US has targeted crisis-hit Venezuela, once a top-three OPEC producer, with sanctions over the recent political turmoil in the Latin American country. Saudi Arabia has said it would replace losses in Iran and Venezuela. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to raise gas exports to Iraq despite US opposition Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 11:42AM Iran is about to raise gas exports to neighboring Iraq to 35 million cubic meters a day this year, head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hassan Montazer Torbati said on Wednesday. "Last year we exported gas to Turkey, Baghdad and Basra with an average of over 40 million cubic meters a day, and this year, gas exports to Iraq will reach more than 35 million cubic meters per day," he told a news conference in Tehran. Torbati also said Iran's gas refinery and transmission capacity will reach more than a billion cubic meters a day by the end of the current Iranian year on February 20, 2020. "We will continue to focus on investing in South Pars and plan to increase gas production by 60 million cubic meters before the coming winter," Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said on the sidelines of an oil industry show in Tehran. Iran will also bring online 18 new petrochemical plants in the current and next Persian years, raising its total capacity to 50 million tonnes which will increase the country's exports to $36 billion a year, he added. Iran is currently increasing gas exports to a number of countries including Turkey, Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan, officials say. Torbati said in March Turkey, which depends on gas-fired plants for nearly 40 percent of its electricity, had requested to purchase more natural gas from Iran. Turkey is currently a key importer of Iranian natural gas, with 11 billion cubic meters shifted along the Tabriz-Ankara pipeline annually. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey will continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite US sanctions chiefly targeting the Islamic Republic's energy sector. The US has pledged to be "aggressive and unwavering" in enforcing economic sanctions on Iran and not allow any country to flout them, but Erdogan has said Turkey would not remain silent to the "use of economic sanctions as weapons". Iranian deputy industry minister Mohsen Salehinia said in March Iran and Turkey were negotiating the possibility of setting up joint industrial parks. "The Turks are demanding cheap Iranian energy for joint production and in case we manage to reach a conclusion with the ministry of energy, a joint town will be set up," he told a news conference in Tehran. Iraq also relies on Iran for natural gas that generates as much as 45% of its electricity. Iran transmits another 1,000 megawatts directly, making itself an indispensable energy source for its Arab neighbor. The Trump administration said in March it was extending a 90-day waiver for the second time to let Iraq continue energy imports from Iran. Iran is the sole foreign supplier to Iraq where energy production and grid capabilities have lagged since the US invasion of 2003 and blackouts in cities are common even with the current purchases. The electricity shortfall is especially acute in the sweltering summers, which led to violent protests in Basra in September and turned into a national crisis. Iraq's electricity demand is expected to surge again this summer and any cuts in Iranian supplies are set to spark more protests, destabilizing the Arab country. The Trump administration is pressing Iraq to stop buying natural gas and electricity from Iran, but Baghdad is pushing back against the pressure, the New York Times reported in February. Washington has warned Iraqi officials to forgo a $15 billion power generation deal with Germany's Siemens and award it to General Electric instead. The United States has also been trying to scuttle oil swap between Iran and Iraq. In February, the two neighbors began exchanging crude oil following a 10-day halt which came after the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) suspended the swap. Crude from Kirkuk field in northern Iraq is shipped to Iran according to a deal agreed in 2017 to truck 60,000 barrels per day to Kermanshah in western Iran. Iraq's southern Basra port receives the same amount of crude from Iran either by tanker or pipeline. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran: US power doesn't match its bluster Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 10:35AM Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the United States government is not as long on actual power as it is on threatening language. President Rouhani said during an event in the western province of Kermanshah on Wednesday that US officials' threatening rhetoric against Iran did not match America's actual strength. "The Americans' words are completely baseless. Their power does not [nearly] match their bluster," the Iranian president said. "We know the region and the power of the great Iranian nation better than them. Our nation's [capacity for] sacrifice and power is greater than what the Americans can conceive." Under President Donald Trump, the US has initiated what it calls a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, pulling out of a multilateral deal with the country and imposing sanctions against it. With the sanctions, Washington has been seeking, among other goals, to bring Iran's oil sales down to "zero." The White House has also imposed so-called secondary sanctions that target other countries doing business with Iran. President Rouhani said Iran would continue to sell its oil nevertheless. "We will be weathering the difficulties, selling our oil, and meeting our needs." "We bear no hostility toward anyone but would not stand idly by in the face of conspiracies [either]," the Iranian president said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zarif: US unilateralism existential threat to entire world Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 10:05AM Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says American unilateralism poses an "existential threat" to the whole world. Addressing the 16th ministerial meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialog (ACD) in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Zarif said all nations would have to deal with that threat at one time or another. "We need to collectively address the alarming unilateralism of the current US administration. The imposition of the will of a single power over all other nations is an existential threat sooner or later for everyone," Zarif said. He said the "short-sighted adventures and the aggressive unilateralism of the current US administration" was the primary source of crises that had come to afflict the entire Asia, most notably its western part, and the Persian Gulf region. 'Unilateralism to lead to rule of jungle' The Iranian foreign minister said the "rising and aggressive unilateralist wave" threatened to affect the entire world, in which case, he said, the rule of jungle would quickly replace the rule of law. The administration of US President Donald Trump faces international criticism for pursuing a self-centered approach to international affairs. Under Trump, Washington has unilaterally pulled out of bilateral or multilateral agreements, including the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change, a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other nations, and the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia. Following its withdrawal from the Iran deal, the US also imposed sanctions both against Iran and the countries that would do business with it. Zarif said that in order to stop the unilateral US policies from coming to govern the whole world, Asian countries had to join forces in pursuit of multilateralism. Iran a stalwart of dialog He also reasserted Iran's commitment to dialog amid Washington's actions targeting global inclusion and interaction. "Let me assure you that in the relentless pursuit of dialog and multilateralism, Iran will always be a steadfast partner," he said. 'US in no position to blacklist others' Separately, he addressed reporters on the sidelines of the conference, lambasting a US plan to designate the Egyptian movement of Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist organization." Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a close ally of Trump's, has already banned the country's biggest opposition movement, and his regime is accused of killing hundreds of its members and supporters in order to cement its grip on power. "The US," Zarif said, "is not in a position to [...] start naming others as terror organizations and we reject any attempt by the US in this regard." The US recently labeled Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) a "foreign terrorist organization." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Enemies on war footing against Iran on various fronts: Leader Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 09:53AM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned that enemies have been on a war footing against Iran on various fronts, calling on the nation to stand ready to fully confront them. Ayatollah Khamenei was addressing a large group of teachers on the eve of National Teachers' Day in Tehran on Wednesday. The enemies, the Leader added, have been in a "war-like posture" and engaged in acts of aggression against Iran in different areas, including in politics, economy and intelligence. Ayatollah Khamenei said the enemies do not appear to be in battle array militarily, adding, "Still, their armed forces are keeping an eye on us." In the face of such a war-like posture, all ranks of Iranian people and elite should similarly be on a war footing against the enemies and stand up to them, Ayatollah Khamenei said. "The US and Zionism (Israel) have been plotting and acting [against Iran] in all spheres. Such conduct is, of course, not peculiar to the current US administration. The previous administrations used to take similar measures albeit in velvet gloves," the Leader said. Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the US administration's stepped-up hostile campaign against Iran and said the current American president has done Iran a favor by "removing those gloves." The Leader, however, gave assurances that the plots hatched by the enemies will lead nowhere and will instead "work to their own detriment" despite their widespread propaganda aimed at misleading public opinion. "Our young people will definitely witness the defeat of America and Zionism as well as the ultimate dignity and grandeur of the Iranian nation," the Leader said. Elsewhere, the Leader outlined the real motives of the Education 2030 Agenda which charts out development goals for world nations as well as the outsiders' "overt and covert insistence" for Iran to base its education system on the UN-devised document. The 2030 Agenda stipulates that children should be taught the philosophy of life on the basis of Western values, Ayatollah Khamenei said. Iran signed the document in 2016, but said it had officially notified UNESCO that parts of the agenda which were against the country's cultural, religious, social and moral standards were not executable. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran oil exports at 8-month high as US waivers end Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 09:43AM Asian buyers lifted 1.57 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from Iran in March, the highest in eight months, data from government and trade sources show. The imports by China, India, Japan and South Korea were up 36 percent from the previous month and the highest since July. Data on Refinitiv Eikon also showed China has Iranian oil arriving in early May despite the end of US waivers for imports from the Middle Eastern country on Wednesday. Iranian oil exports for April will also reach Japan, South Korea, India and China, the global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure said. "Americans are looking to zero out Iran's oil exports, but we will never allow this dream of the enemy to come true," Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said on Wednesday. The record imports came as Asia's top oil buyers rushed for more cargoes from Iran ahead of May 1 on which Washington has pledged to revoke the waivers. The United States granted eight buyers of Iranian crude waivers to the import sanctions that went into full effect in November but did not extend them last week. According to Consultancy FGE, China is most likely to continue Iran oil imports, while other buyers are also about to get cargoes from the country. "The new tougher stance from the US implies that exports will likely be some 300,000-400,000 bpd lower than we previously expected," FGE said. The loss in supplies, it said, will make the market more skittish and lead to price rises. US officials contend there are sufficient supplies to replace Iran's oil, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ready to meet additional demand. However, Iranian officials and international energy analysts have cast doubt on that and said the question is how they can really do it and for how long. In the absence of Iranian barrels, Asian refiners are expected to reach out to producers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for more supplies. However, OPEC oil supply hit a four-year low in April, a Reuters survey released on Tuesday found, due to further involuntary declines in sanctions-hit Iran and Venezuela and output restraint by Saudi Arabia. According to the news agency, the 14-member organization pumped 30.23 million barrels per day (bpd) this month, down 90,000 bpd from March and the lowest OPEC total since 2015. "The survey suggests that Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies are maintaining even larger supply cuts than called for by OPEC's latest deal, shrugging off pressure from US President Donald Trump," it said. The Iran sanctions, Norbert Ruecker of Swiss bank Julius Baer told Reuters, come on top of already fragile supplies and raise concerns about tightening markets. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US to blame for any clash between IRGC, CENTCOM in Persian Gulf: Iran Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 02:12AM Iran says the IRGC forces and those of the US Navy Central Command (CENTCOM) may engage in clashes in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere, and that's blamed on the US government which fanned the flames by blacklisting the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. The remarks were made by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araqchi in a Tuesday address to the Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE) in Ankara, Turkey. "The two forces, which have been reciprocally designated as terrorist groups, may engage in clashes in the Persian Gulf or any other region," Araqchi warned. "There is no doubt that the US will be held accountable for such a situation," he added. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday signed off on the law recently approved by the Iranian Parliament, which designated the American forces based in West Asia known as the United States Central Command as a terrorist organization. The chief executive put his signature to the legislation, 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 the IRGC. The legislation was approved by 173 to 4 votes, with 11 abstentions. 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." 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." Back on Sunday, Iran's top military commander said that all American ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz have so far remained answerable to the IRGC as the force in charge of security in the strategic waterway despite Washington's latest wave of hostile measures against the Iranian nation. Chairman of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said no change has so far been reported in the conduct of US warships, commercial vessels and oil tankers, and they have up until now been responding to the IRGC's questions as usual while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz He said Iran wants the strait through which nearly one-third of all oil traded by sea passes to remain open and secure, warning that the country will not allow anyone to destabilize the waters. "As oil and commodities of other countries are passing through the Strait of Hormuz, ours are also moving through it," said Baqeri. Iran "will definitely confront anyone who attempts to destabilize the Strait of Hormuz, and if our crude is not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, others' [crude] will not pass either." The Iranian commander explained, "This does not mean [that we are going to] close the Strait of Hormuz. We do not intend to shut it unless the enemies' hostile acts will leave us with no other option. We will be fully capable of closing it on that day." Iran has said it may close the Strait of Hormuz if prevented from using the waterway, which links crude producers in the Middle East to markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and beyond. In a recent interview with Reuters, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran was "not going to take any action" should the US continue observing the rules of engagement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over 340 Killed, 1,652 Injured Since Start of LNA Offensive on Tripoli - WHO Sputnik News 04:20 01.05.2019 CAIRO (Sputnik) - As many as 345 people were killed and 1,652 more were injured since the beginning of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) offensive on Tripoli, which is controlled by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. "Tripoli toll as of 28 April is 345 dead & 1652 wounded. WHO surgical teams deployed to the area's hospitals have performed more than 140 major surgeries," the WHO said on Twitter. The clashes in Libya erupted on April 4, when Haftar ordered his troops to advance on the Libyan capital to free it from what he called terrorists. As a result, LNA gained control over the cities of Surman and Garyan located near Tripoli. On April 7, the GNA announced a counteroffensive, dubbed Volcano of Rage, to confront the LNA. Libya has been suffering from unrest since 2011, when its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed. Since then the country has been split between two rival governments, with an elected parliament, supported by Haftar's army, governing the country's east and the UN- and EU-backed GNA ruling the west from Tripoli. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Israel to supply anti-aircraft missiles to Kurdish militants in Syria: Report Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 08:19AM The United States and Israel are reportedly set to supply anti-aircraft missiles to Kurdish militants in northern Syria amid tensions between Ankara and Washington over the latter's support for the militants, which the Turkish government views as terrorists. Citing local sources, Turkey's Yeni Safak daily reported that the US is set to deliver shipments of Stinger Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) to militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK, it added, has designated the towns of Rmelan and Shaddadah in Syria's Hasakah Province as well as the Jalabiyah and al-Omar regions as launching points for its American-supplied missiles. Ankara is unhappy with Washington's support for Kurdish militants of the People's Protection Units (YPG), which it views as an extension of the PKK, and has repeatedly called on the US administration to stop providing them with arms. The PKK has been fighting for autonomy inside Turkey for decades and runs bases in neighboring Syria and Iraq as well. The report further said the regime in Israel has also vowed to supply the Kurds with Spike anti-aircraft missiles in the Syrian provinces of Dayr al-Zawr and Raqqah following high-level meetings between the militants and Tel Aviv. Israel has long been backing the militants operating against the Syrian government. The regime has, on several occasions, criticized Turkey for its operations against the Kurdish militants. The US-Kurdish alliance is closely coordinating the missiles' deployment to Syria as part of a "special joint strategy," according to the report. It further said that a group of 30 PKK militants have already received training to handle the advanced anti-aircraft missiles. Turkey has since 2016 launched two military operations inside Syria against the US-backed Kurdish militants and has threatened a third if they fail to leave the east of the Euphrates. Like Turkey, the US has listed the PKK as a terrorist group, but views the YPG as an ally in its so-called fight against the Takfiri Daesh terror group. Turkey has repeatedly questioned Washington's deployment of heavy weapons in Syria despite the defeat of Daesh. Last December, US officials said the Pentagon was considering recommending that Kurdish militants be allowed to keep American-supplied weapons after the withdrawal of troops from Syria. In February, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Turkey's NATO allies for supplying huge loads of weapons to Kurdish militants in northern Syria, while ignoring Ankara's arms purchase requests. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, Turkey Should Increase Patrols in Syria's Idlib - UN Special Envoy Sputnik News 01:57 01.05.2019 UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Russia and Turkey should uphold the ceasefire and increase patrolling in Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said at a Security Council meeting. "The situation is relatively more stable after the ceasefire that was agreed upon through Turkey and Russia We encourage Turkey and Russia to continue to uphold the ceasefire and also to increase patrolling in the area. We believe this is a key," Pedersen said on Tuesday. The special envoy said last week, the de-escalation zone had noticed the surge of violence coming from both the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (banned in Russia) attacking civilians and from the Syrian government responding to those attacks. "This has led to increased civilian casualties and indeed also further displacement," he added. Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the government forces fighting against numerous opposition groups and militant and terrorist organizations. Russia, along with Turkey and Iran, is a guarantor of the ceasefire regime in Syria. Moscow has also been providing humanitarian aid to residents of the crisis-torn country. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK defense minister sacked over Huawei leak Iran Press TV Wed May 1, 2019 07:20PM Britain's defense secretary Gavin Williamson has been sacked from the cabinet over a controversial leak of government discussions suggesting that Chinese telecommunication company Huawei will be a partner in UK's future internet projects. A government spokesperson said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Theresa May had lost confidence in Williamson after it emerged as part of an investigation that the former defense minister was the source of the Huawei leak. "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," said the spokesperson, making a reference to discussions in NSC last week in which May had granted a partial role to Huawei to build Britain's 5G network. Firing Williamson came after the United States, which has banned Huawei from a similar 5G project in the country, became angry at UK's decision to cooperate with the Chinese company. US officials warned earlier this week that they would withhold sensitive intelligence from the UK if London goes ahead with its partnership with Huawei. China, however, have been urging the British government to think of its own interests and ignore Washington's claims that Huawei could become a spying tool at the hands of the Chinese government. Williamson is quite known for his pro-US stances and has consistently campaigned for close defense and intelligence cooperation with the US. He was one of five cabinet ministers suspected of leaking NSC discussions to the Daily Telegraph. The government had announced as part of its inquiry that the perpetrators could even face criminal investigation. That could force Williamson to resign his parliamentary seat and prompt a by-election in his constituency. Williamson had denied any role in the leak while insisting that no one from his department had been involved. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Theresa May Fires UK Defence Secretary Williamson Over Huawei Leak Sputnik News 19:58 01.05.2019(updated 21:42 01.05.2019) On Monday, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt stated that the United Kingdom and its businesses should exercise a certain degree of caution in cooperation with Chinese companies, such as Huawei, as they allegedly could be a threat to national security. Compelling evidence indicating that UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was behind the Huawei leak led to Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to sack the high-profile official, Theresa May's office said on Wednesday. At the same time, the British government has appointed Penny Mordaunt as the new defence secretary. "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," according to her official spokesman. The spokesman specified that May's decision has been informed by Williamson's "conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council." Later in the day, Gavin Williamson reacted to the prime minister's office statements saying that he categorically denies that he was complicit in the Huawei leak. "I am sorry that you feel that 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 through and formal injury would have vindicated my position," Williamson wrote in a letter to May. The decision to sack the official comes after earlier this week UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned the United Kingdom and its businesses, saying that they should exercise a certain degree of caution when cooperating with Chinese companies, such as Huawei, as they allegedly could be a threat to national security. However, this follows earlier reports that UK Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly endorsed Huawei's partial participation in the building of Britain's future 5G mobile phone network. Huawei has been accused by several countries of being sponsored by the Chinese state and spying on its behalf through its devices. Last year, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States banned the company from participating in government contracts due to security concerns. Huawei has vehemently denied the accusations. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX: SGQ, HK: 1878) (SouthGobi or the Company) announces that the board of directors (the Board) will meet on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 to consider and approve the financial results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the first quarter of 2019. These results will be released on May 14, 2019. About SouthGobi SouthGobi, listed on the Toronto and Hong Kong stock exchanges, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi Region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China. Contact: Investor Relations Kino Fu Office: +852 2156 7030 (Hong Kong) +1 604 762 6783 (Canada) Email: kino.fu@southgobi.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. 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. English French OTTAWA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Across Canada, the month of May is dedicated to celebrating, advocating for, and educating on all things Fairtrade. New Globescan research indicates that Canadians have made a strong head start on the celebrations. Findings show that consumers are increasingly demanding more ethical options. According to the research, 77% of Canadians are familiar with ethical labels. Of those who have seen the Fairtrade Mark, more than 8 out of 10 responded they trust the Mark. Additionally, 70% of these respondents reported buying products with the Fairtrade Mark on an ongoing basis. During Fairtrade Month, thousands of campaigners, retailers, and socially responsible companies will hold events and promotions to celebrate the farmers and workers behind our favorite foods, drinks, and clothing. Fairtrades focus on living income and wages for producers, respect for human rights, and improving livelihoods around the world resonates with people across Canada. As we become more aware of the treatment of farmers and workers, the increasing impact of climate change, and growing income inequalities built into systems of trade, we need to take conscious steps to live our values in our everyday choices, says Julie Francoeur, Executive Director of Fairtrade Canada. The assurance that an independent, third party certifier like Fairtrade can offer is part of the journey towards conscious consumer choices that support a system of trade based on equal opportunity for all. The Fairtrade Mark makes it easy for people to identify products that align with their values. Over 50% of those surveyed said that the Mark made it easier to assess if a product was ethically-produced. Globescan also found that nearly 77% of people would view a brand they already buy more favorably if it was Fairtrade certified. Each day we make hundreds of small decisions, and each decision has an impact that extends far beyond that one simple choice, says Sean McHugh, Executive Director of the Canadian Fair Trade Network. Here in Canada, we have the power to shape the future of trade by voting with our wallets. When I see the Fairtrade Mark on a product, I know that the fundamental rights of farmers and workers in the Global South are being respected. Other findings from 2019 Globescan research include: Share with your neighbors - 73% of consumers familiar with the Fairtrade Mark would recommend Fairtrade products to their friends. - 73% of consumers familiar with the Fairtrade Mark would recommend Fairtrade products to their friends. Live your values - More than 50% of consumers believe that Fairtrade reflects their values. - More than 50% of consumers believe that Fairtrade reflects their values. Fairtrade = high quality - 47% of consumers 18-34 years old associate Fairtrade with high quality products. Resources: Fairtrade Month Digital Toolkit Fairtrade Month Community Video Fairtrade Month Participating Retailers Fairtrade Month Campaigner, Business and Retail Activities About Fairtrade Canada Fairtrade is a global movement for change with a strong and active presence in Canada, represented by Fairtrade Canada. We work directly with businesses, consumers and campaigners to make trade fair for farmers and workers by ensuring fair, sustainable and ethical supply chains for the products we consume. The international Fairtrade system represents the world's largest and most recognized independent certification system, representing over 1.66 million farmers and workers in 73 countries. Visit fairtrade.ca to learn more. Media Contact Pippa Rogers, Fairtrade Canada pippa.rogers@fairtrade.ca / 613 563 3351 ext. 250 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4b581639-8438-4cb4-8f94-2d48bb2904af English French Top Line Efficacy Results from Phase 2 Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) Trial 22% reduction in liver stiffness in PBC patients with liver fibrosis compared to a 4% increase for placebo (p=0.038), supports anti-fibrotic mechanism Statistically significant reduction in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) for overall treatment effect (p=0.002) Reduction of 19% in gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) maintained over 24 weeks but not statistically significant at week 24 Genkyotex to hold a conference call and webcast today at 1 pm CEST (in French) and at 2pm CEST (in English) ARCHAMPS, France, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genkyotex (Euronext Paris & Brussels: FR0013399474 GKTX) announced today top-line efficacy data for its NOX1/4 inhibitor GKT831 Phase 2 trial in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). In a pre-defined patient population with an estimated liver fibrosis stage of F3 or higher, GKT831 achieved a 22% reduction in liver stiffness compared to a 4% increase for placebo (p=0.038). The top-line data provide a clinical proof of concept for GKT831 and highlight its potential as an anti-fibrotic therapy in the liver and other organs. Further analyses are ongoing and the full results will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming international liver conference. Elias Papatheodorou, Chief Executive Officer of Genkyotex, said: The trial results provide evidence for a potential breakthrough treatment in complex and difficult to treat fibrotic disorders. We thank participating patients, their families, and the medical teams involved in this landmark clinical trial. We are looking forward to advancing GKT831 into late stage clinical trials in PBC and other fibrotic liver diseases, like NASH and PSC. In addition, we anticipate the launch of the NIH funded Phase 2 trial of GKT831 to treat lung fibrosis in the coming months. The 24-week double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 PBC study enrolled 111 patients in 9 countries, making it one of the largest and longest Phase 2 trials ever conducted in this indication. The primary endpoint was defined as the percent GGT reduction at week 24 and secondary endpoints included ALP changes, Fibroscan elastography and quality of life (QoL). Statistical significance for all endpoints at week 24 was set at p<0.023, according to the Hochberg adjustment method for multiple analyses. At week 24, GGT reductions were -9% for placebo, -5% for 400mg OD, and -19% for 400mg BID. These changes did not achieve statistical significance at week 24, although statistical significance was achieved at the 6-week interim analysis. In patients with higher baseline GGT ( 2.5 XULN, n=86), GGT reductions were -6% for placebo, -14% for 400mg OD, and -21% for 400mg BID (p<0.039). A statistically significant reduction in overall treatment effect was observed for alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels (p=0.002) over the course of the treatment period. At week 24, GKT831 400mg BID achieved meaningful reductions in alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Changes were -3% for placebo, -10% for 400mg OD, and -13% for 400mg BID (p<0.049 vs placebo). No changes were observed for total bilirubin (+11% for placebo, +5% for 400mg OD, and +15% for 400mg BID). On the composite endpoint of serum ALP <1.67xULN, an ALP decrease >15%, and total bilirubin (TB) 9.6 kPa (the predefined value for advanced disease), median baseline LSM was 12.3 kPa for placebo, 14.1 kPa for 400mg OD, and 12.1 kPa in the 400mg BID group. Mean percent changes at week 24 were +4% for placebo, -4% for 400mg OD, and -22% for 400mg BID (p<0.038). Quality of life was evaluated with the PBC-40 questionnaire, which evaluates several important quality of life domains, which are presented in the table below. GKT831 improved parameters important for the quality of life of patients, such as fatigue, emotional and social domains. Favorable trends on additional secondary endpoints related to liver inflammation and fibrosis were observed but did not reach statistical significance. GKT831 exhibited a favorable safety profile throughout the 24-week treatment period. No drop outs or treatment interruptions due to pruritus or fatigue were reported. Only two serious adverse events were reported, a grade 1 urinary infection and multiple bone fractures related to a traffic accident. Both cases were deemed unrelated to study drug by the investigators. Philippe Wiesel, Chief Medical Officer of Genkyotex, said: These results indicate that GKT831 has the potential to address the major unmet medical need in fibrotic liver diseases, which is to delay disease progression, obviating the need for transplant and death in multiple fibrotic disorders. In addition, in PBC, improvement in quality of life is key for patients and we are excited to see positive trends in multiple QoL domains important to PBC patients. Finally, the excellent safety profile of GKT831 has exhibited over the course of the treatment period clearly indicates that GKT831 may also be developed in combination with other complementary mechanisms of action, like generically available fibrates or UDCA. About the PBC phase 2 trial of GKT831 in PBC The 24-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in 62 centers in the USA, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, UK and Israel. The trial enrolled PBC patients with inadequate response to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). This is a difficult to treat patient population likely to progress to cirrhosis, liver transplant or death. To be eligible for the trial, patients were required to have elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALP; >1.5XULN) and elevated gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT; >1.5 XULN). The primary efficacy endpoint was percent change in GGT at week 24. Key secondary endpoints include additional markers of liver and bile duct injury, markers of inflammation, non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis. In addition, indicators of quality of life including pruritus and fatigue were assessed. Markers of bile acid metabolism and immune activation were also investigated. A total of 111 patients have been allocated according to a 1:1:1 randomization ratio to three groups: UDCA plus placebo, UDCA plus GKT831 400mg once a day (OD) and UDCA plus 400mg twice a day (BID). This trial is one of the largest Phase 2 PBC trials conducted to date. Additional information about the trial design and eligibility criteria, can be found at ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT03226067 . Change in Quality of Life score Percent Changes in Qol Domain Scores Placebo GKT831 400 mg OD GKT81 400 mgBID Symptoms 1.1 1.1 -3.7 Itch (Pruritis) -6.8 -11.4 -9.5 Emotional 8.7 4.9 -16.9 Fatigue 2.4 0.3 -9.9 Social 9.3 8.1 -7.7 Cognitive 5.2 16 -1.9 Conference call details Genkyotex will hold a conference call today at 1 pm CEST (in French) and at 2 pm 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 language Call at 1 pm Paris time: 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 language Call at 2 pm Paris time: 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/ 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 II clinical trial in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC, a fibrotic orphan disease) and in an investigator-initiated Phase II 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. Its second product candidate, GKT771, is a NOX1 inhibitor targeting multiple pathways in angiogenesis, pain processing, and inflammation, currently undergoing preclinical testing. 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. Media relations Sophie Baumont LifeSci Advisors +336 2774 74 49 sophie@lifesciadvisors.com Investors relations Brian Ritchie LifeSci Advisors, LCC +1-212-915-2578 britchie@lifesciadvisors.com 1 Corpechot C et al. Baseline Values and Changes in Liver Stiffness Measured by Transient Elastography Are Associated With Severity of Fibrosis and Outcomes of Patients With Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. Gastroenterology 2014;146:970979. 2 Corpechot C et al. Assessment of Biliary Fibrosis by Transient Elastography in Patients With PBC and PSC. 3 Park CC et al. Magnetic Resonance Elastography vs Transient Elastography in Detection of Fibrosis and Noninvasive Measurement of Steatosis in Patients with Biopsy-proven Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Gastroenterology. 2017 February ; 152(3): 598607.e2. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2016.10.026. German English Basel, Switzerland, May 02, 2019 Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) announced today that its partner Avir Pharma Inc. (Avir Pharma) has launched the antifungal Cresemba (isavuconazole) in Canada. David Veitch, Chief Executive Officer, said: We are very pleased with the launch of Cresemba in Canada. We look forward to Avir Pharma making Cresemba available to patients in Canada as an important new treatment option for potentially life-threatening invasive mold infections. Through our global partnerships Cresemba is already available in more than 25 countries worldwide. In June 2017 Basilea entered into a distribution and license agreement with Avir Pharma for both Cresemba and the hospital antibiotic Zevtera (ceftobiprole). Basilea supplies Avir Pharma with products at a transfer price. The granting of the regulatory approval for Cresemba in Canada triggered an undisclosed regulatory milestone payment to Basilea and Basilea is eligible to receive further sales milestone payments. About Cresemba (isavuconazole) Isavuconazole is an intravenous (i.v.) and oral azole antifungal, commercialized under the trade name Cresemba. Cresemba is approved in Canada for patients 18 years of age and older for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis.1 Cresemba is also approved in the United States, the European Union and several additional countries in and outside of Europe. It has U.S. and European orphan drug designation for its approved indications. Basilea has entered into several license and distribution agreements for isavuconazole covering the United States, Europe, China, Japan, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Canada, Russia, Turkey and Israel.2 About Basilea Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on the development of products that address the medical challenges in the therapeutic areas of oncology and anti-infectives. With two commercialized drugs, the company is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea's website www.basilea.com. Disclaimer This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements, such as "believe", "assume", "expect", "forecast", "project", "may", "could", "might", "will" or similar expressions concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical studies for product candidates. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For further information, please contact: Peer Nils Schroder, PhD Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations +41 61 606 1102 media_relations@basilea.com investor_relations@basilea.com This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com. References 1 CresembaTM (isavuconazole) Product Monograph: Avir Pharma Inc., December 24, 2018 (http://avirpharma.com/pdf/Product-Monograph-Cresemba.pdf) 2 The registration status and approved indications may vary from country to country. Attachments English Estonian The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) informed AS Tallinna Vesi on 1 May 2019 that the Tribunal is unable to render its award in the arbitration case between AS Tallinna Vesi, United Utilities (Tallinn) B.V. and the Republic of Estonia by 3 May 2019, as previously announced, and will potentially render the award in June 2019. The definite date of rendering the award will be announced in mid-May. In October 2014, AS Tallinna Vesi and its shareholder United Utilities (Tallinn) B.V., registered in the Kingdom of The Netherlands, commenced international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Estonia for breach of the Agreement on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the Republic of Estonia. The international arbitration hearings were held in November 2016. Eliis Vennik Head of Customer Relations and Communications Tallinna Vesi (+372) 626 2275 Eliis.vennik@tvesi.ee Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) will release its first quarter 2019 results on Thursday 09 May 2019. CEO Bjrn Petter Lindhom and CFO Hege Veiseth will present the results from 10:00 CET. The presentation will be broadcasted live over the Internet, and the webcast can be accessed on www.emgs.com . It will be possible to post questions through the webcast. The quarterly report and the presentation will be available for download on EMGS' website www.emgs.com and the Oslo Stock Exchange, www.newsweb.no from about 7:30am on Thursday 09 May 2019. Contact Hege Veiseth, CFO, +47 99 21 67 43 About EMGS EMGS, the marine EM market leader, uses its proprietary electromagnetic (EM) technology to support oil and gas companies in their search for offshore hydrocarbons. EMGS supports each stage in the workflow, from survey design and data acquisition to processing and interpretation. The Company's services enable the integration of EM data with seismic and other geophysical and geological information to give explorationists a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface. This improves exploration efficiency and reduces risks and the finding costs per barrel. EMGS operates on a worldwide basis with offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Houston, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur. For more information, visit www.emgs.com This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK) ("MacDonald Mines" or the "Company") expands the information on the exploration potential of its newly acquired Scadding Mine, located 50 kilometres from Sudbury, Ontario. The mine produced 914 kg of gold from 127,000 tonnes of ore grading 7.2 g/t between 1984 and 1990 (OFR 5771). It included three shallow pits (North, South and East-West Zones) and an underground ramp development in the Central Zone. Attributes of the Scadding Deposit and of MacDonalds land position in the Southern Province The Scadding Deposit is one of several polymetallic gold deposits, with variable copper and cobalt showings and occurrences, that are hosted in Ontarios Southern Province. Recent studies suggest that the mineralized systems of the Southern Province share affinities with iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) systems. IOCG systems can host large tonnage and low to medium-grade polymetallic gold-copper, and possible cobalt deposits. These types of deposits make for highly profitable mines. Within the Southern Province, the Geological Survey of Canada identified the Wanapitei area (which hosts the Scadding Mine) as a promising district for IOCG exploration1. The district features key indicators of IOCG mineralization: regional corridors of sodic alteration; an important period of granitic magmatism that is contemporaneous with the formation of the sodic alteration zones; the localized formation of iron oxide mineralization; potassic-iron alteration associated with polymetallic mineralization; and the presence of gold and copper in mineralized zones. The acquisition of the Scadding Mine and surrounding mineral claims, in addition to MacDonalds Jovan-Powerline Property, considerably expands the Companys strategic land position in the Southern Province. The expanded position, covering several corridors of albitization, increases the probability of discovering new zones of polymetallic gold mineralization, and provides additional opportunities to expand the known gold-copper-cobalt showings on the property. Exploration Potential at the Scadding Mine The Scadding Deposit has seen a considerable amount of exploration drilling (30,338 metres of diamond drilling by 7 operators) and some mining since its discovery in 1973. Nevertheless, recent diamond drilling programs (1990s to 2010s) show that significant near-surface gold zones remain in the deposit (Table 1). MacDonalds review and 3D compilation of historic data suggests that the mineralization is hosted in a set of mineralized structures that are striking NNW and dipping to the ESE (Figure 1). The drilling programs of the 2010s drilled down-dip of the mineralized structures and appear to have missed them. This offers a considerable opportunity for MacDonald Mines to fill in the gaps and prove up mineralization that was likely missed. Quentin Yarie, President and CEO of MacDonald Mines, stated We are very excited by the exploration potential at Scadding. We have an excellent technical team with expertise in reinterpreting historical data and finding new ways of approaching exploration to create untapped value for our shareholders. In addition, some of the hidden value in this property is the fact that the Scadding Mine is permitted, meaning that successful exploration programs can quickly translate into near term production, assuming the necessary financing can be brought into place. Table 1. Historical drill holes assay results 1 The reader is cautioned that a qualified person has not done sufficient work to verify these values. These are historical values that may not be representative of the mineralization present at the Scadding Deposit and there can be no assurances that the Scadding Deposit contains economically viable mineralization. Company Zone Drill Hole Year drilled From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Source Currie Rose North Zone CR-2 1997 11.28 16.01 4.73 55.06 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE2005 Including 13.41 13.72 0.31 718.17 Currie Rose North Zone CR-2 30.88 48.29 17.41 3.02 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE2005 Including 32.62 33.54 0.92 15.77 41.83 42.50 0.67 16.66 Currie Rose North Zone CR-3 1997 6.49 11.59 5.10 30.53 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE2005 Including 9.63 10.03 0.40 296.86 10.79 11.59 0.80 20.71 Trueclaim Exploration North Zone TRM-10-07 2010 52.35 71.64 19.29 12.85 Drill Hole Report 20000006269 Including 71.00 71.64 0.64 106.29 Currie Rose New Zone CR-25 1997 53.26 58.26 5.00 42.68 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE2005 Including 56.77 57.13 0.36 201.16 57.13 57.84 0.71 136.50 Currie Rose New Zone CR-28 1997 54.57 54.88 0.31 250.14 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE2005 Trueclaim Exploration New Zone TRM-11-22 2011 32.00 33.00 1.00 141.18 Moss et al, 2011. Northgate Exploration Central Zone N-11 1980 57.79 67.18 9.39 5.92 41I10NE0185 Including 57.79 58.40 0.61 41.14 Northgate Exploration East-West Zone N-17 1981 6.10 8.05 1.95 55.57 41I10NE0185 Trueclaim Exploration South Zone TRM-11-10 2010 53.00 66.00 13.00 6.33 Moss and MacMillan, 2011 Including 57.00 58.00 1.00 20.81 Northgate Exploration Central Zone N-6 1980 87.66 101.00 13.35 20.33 41I10NE0185 Including 92.81 93.57 0.76 189.91 93.57 94.34 0.77 62.39 D.R. Watt Central Zone W-29 1979 91.04 123.2 32.16 12.00 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE0185 Northgate Exploration Central Zone N-10 1980 87.66 101.00 13.35 20.32 Drill Hole Report 41I10NE0185 Including 92.81 93.57 0.76 189.91 1 Technical Report NI 43-101 on Scadding Gold Property, Scadding Township, District of Sudbury Ontario, L.D.S. Winter, P. Geo., June 2009. An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2e04aace-6a05-4e5c-98cd-7e4eb254c245 Optimize Group Macdonald Mines has contracted Optimize Group Inc. (Optimize Group) to assist in its program to develop the Scadding Mine once again. The Optimize team has an established track-record of delivering mineral reserves estimates, mine plans, design optimizations, and development projects. Optimize Group offers MacDonald Mines the expertise to potentially bring the Scadding Mine back into operation. Board and Management Changes MacDonald announces that Ms. Petra Decher is stepping down as CFO of the Company, to pursue other opportunities. Ms. Tara Gilfillan steps down from the Chairman of the Board position to replace Ms. Decher as CFO. Quentin Yarie, President and CEO of MacDonald Mines stated We would like to thank Petra for the many contributions she made to MacDonald Mines and we want to wish her all the best in her future endeavours. We are happy Tara is taking on the role of CFO. Her knowledge of the Company and her experience will be invaluable as we develop our new Scadding property. Qualified Person Quentin Yarie, P. Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release. About MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. is a mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario focused on gold exploration in Canada. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "BMK". To learn more about MacDonald Mines, please visit www.macdonaldmines.com For more information, please contact: Quentin Yarie, President & CEO, (416) 364-4986, qyarie@macdonaldmines.com Or Mia Boiridy, Investor Relations, (416) 364-4986, mboiridy@macdonaldmines.com 1 Corriveau, L., 2007, Iron oxide-copper-gold deposits: a Canadian perspective, in: Goodfellow, W.D., (ed.), Mineral deposits of Canada: a synthesis of major deposit-types, district metallogeny, the evolution of geological provinces, and exploration methods: Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits Division, Special Publication 5, p. 307-308. Cautionary Statement: 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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. The foregoing information may contain forward-looking statements relating to the future performance of the Company. Forward-looking statements, specifically those concerning future performance, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the Companys plans and expectations. These plans, expectations, risks and uncertainties are detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with the TSX Venture Exchange and securities regulators. MacDonald Mines does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD; MSE:ERDN) ("Erdene" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Jenkins as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective May 1, 2019. Roberts appointment coincides with the retirement of Kenneth MacDonald, who has served as Erdenes CFO since inception. Mr. Jenkins is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 15 years financial management experience. He joined Erdene as Vice President Business Strategy in 2018, with responsibility for strategic and financial planning. Bob began his career with Deloitte LLP and from 2010 to 2017 he held a series of progressive finance roles with Brookfield Asset Management. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Ken for his enormous contributions to Erdene, stated Peter Akerley, Erdenes President and CEO. Ken has worked with the Company since its inception and has been instrumental in the development of the Company from grassroots explorer through to the discovery of the high-grade Khundii Gold District in southwest Mongolia. Bob has been an excellent addition to the Erdene team and I am pleased to welcome him to Erdenes executive management, continued Mr. Akerley. His extensive finance and management experience will be of significant value to Erdene as the Company develops its flagship Khundii Gold Project. Review of Khundii Gold Project Development Erdenes deposits are located in the Edren Terrane, within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, host to some of the worlds largest gold and copper-gold deposits. The Company has been the leader in exploration in southwest Mongolia over the past decade and is responsible for the discovery of the Khundii Gold District comprised of multiple high-grade gold and gold/base metal prospects, two of which are being considered for development: the 100%-owned Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar projects. Together, these deposits comprise the Khundii Gold Project (the Project). The Company delivered the Projects maiden mineral resource estimate in Q3 2018 with a Measured and Indicated (M&I) resource of 751,000 ounces (oz) gold at an average grade of 2.3 g/t gold and an Inferred resource of 291,000 oz gold at an average grade of 1.8 g/t gold (cut-off grade of 0.7 g/t gold). This was followed by a National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) Preliminary Economic Assessment in December 2018 which returned an after-tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate (NPV5%) and a US$1,200/oz gold price of US$99 million and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 56%. The initial development has a life of mine head grade of 3.42 g/t gold with an average annual gold production of 51,200 oz over an eight- year mine life. Based on the potential for additional discovery and expansion on the current license areas the planned development is considered as a foundation for growth. About Erdene Erdene Resource Development Corp. is a Canada-based resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metals in underexplored and highly prospective Mongolia. The Company has interests in four exploration licenses and a mining license in Southwest Mongolia, where exploration success has led to the discovery and definition of the Khundii Gold District. Erdene Resource Development Corp. is listed on the Toronto and Mongolia stock exchanges. Further information is available at www.erdene.com. Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information regarding Erdene contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Erdene believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Erdene cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Erdene currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE Erdene Contact Information Peter C. Akerley, President and CEO, or Robert Jenkins, CFO Phone: (902) 423-6419 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErdeneRes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErdeneResource LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/erdene-resource-development-corp-/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILs5s9j3SLmya9vo2-KXoA English Swedish Press release Hrsholm, Denmark and Cambridge, MA, US, May 2, 2019 Oncology Venture A/S today informs that Duncan Moore, Chairman of the Board, Peter Buhl Jensen, CEO through Buhl Krone Holding ApS, Niels Laursen, CFO and Claus Frisenberg Pedersen, CCO will participate in the current rights issue. Trading in subscription rights resumes Friday May 3, 2019 and the last day of trading subscription rights will be May 8, 2019. Subscription for shares ends May 10, 2019. For further information, please contact: For investor inquiries Ulla Hald Buhl IR & Communications E-mail: uhb@oncologyventure.com Telephone +45 21 70 10 49 For media inquiries Thomas Pedersen Carrotize PR & Communications E-mail: tsp@carrotize.com Telephone +45 60 62 93 90 About the Drug Response Predictor DRP Companion Diagnostic Oncology Venture uses its multi gene DRP to select those patients who by the genetic signature of their cancer are found to have a high likelihood of responding to the drug. The goal is developing the drug for the right patients, and by screening patients before treatment the response rate can be significantly increased. The DRP method builds on the comparison of sensitive vs. resistant human cancer cell lines, including genomic information from cell lines combined with clinical tumor biology and clinical correlates in a systems biology network. DRP is based on messenger RNA from the patients biopsies. DRP has proven its ability to provide a statistically significant prediction of the clinical outcome from drug treatment in cancer patients in 29 out of 37 clinical studies that were examined and is currently demonstrating promising results in an ongoing phase 2 study prospectively using LiPlaCis and its DRP to track, match and treat patients with metastatic breast cancer. The DRP platform, i.e. the DRP and the PRP tools, can be used in all cancer types and is patented for more than 70 anti-cancer drugs in the US. The PRP is used by Oncology Venture for Personalized Medicine. The DRP is used by Oncology Venture for drug development. About Oncology Venture A/S Oncology Venture A/S is engaged in the research and development of anti-cancer drugs via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Oncology Venture Product Development ApS. Oncology Venture uses Drug Response Prediction DRP to significantly increase the probability of success in clinical trials. DRP has proven its ability to provide a statistically significant prediction of the clinical outcome from drug treatment in cancer patients in 29 out of 37 clinical studies that were examined and is currently demonstrating promising results in an ongoing phase 2 study prospectively using LiPlaCis and its DRP to track, match and treat patients with metastatic breast cancer. The DRP alters the odds in comparison with traditional pharmaceutical development. Instead of treating all patients with a particular type of cancer, patients tumors genes are first screened, and only the patients most likely to respond to the treatment will be treated. Via a more well-defined patient group, risks and costs are reduced while the development process becomes more efficient. The current OV product portfolio includes: LiPlaCis, a liposomal formulation of cisplatin in an ongoing Phase 2 trial for breast and prostate cancer; 2X-121 a PARP inhibitor in an ongoing Phase 2 for breast cancer; dovitinib, which will enter Phase 2 trials for indications dependent on further Dovitinib-DRP retrospective/prospective analysis of studies completed by Novartis. 2X-111, a liposomal formulation of doxorubicin under manufacturing for Phase 2 in breast cancer; irofulven, a Phase 2 is ongoing for prostate cancer; and APO010, an immuno-oncology product in Phase 1/2 for multiple myeloma. Oncology Venture has spun out two companies as Special Purpose Vehicles: Oncology Venture U.S. Inc. (previously 2X Oncology Inc.), a US-based precision medicine company focusing on developing 2X-121 and 2X-111, and OV-SPV 2, a Danish company that will test and develop dovitinib. Oncology Venture A/S has an ownership of 92% in Oncology Venture US and 55% of dovitinib with an opportunity to acquire further 30%. Learn more at oncologyventure.com Follow us on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oncologyventure/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncology-venture/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/OncologyVenture Forward-looking statements This announcement includes forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of OVs control and which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning OVs plans, objectives, goals, future events, performance and/or other information that is not historical information. All such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements and any other cautionary statements which may accompany the forward-looking statements. OV undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances after the date made, except as required by law. Certified Adviser: Sedermera Fondkommission. Epost: ca@sedermera.se, telefon 040-615 14 10 This information is information that Oncology Venture A/S is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication on May 2, 2019. Attachment Toronto, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Rover.com , the largest network of 5-star pet sitters and dog walkers, released The Secret Lives of Cat People and Dog People report, which investigates how having a cat, a dog or both affects Canadians and the relationships we cultivate with our pets. The data revealed that cats and dogs occupy a familial role in pet parents lives, affecting purchasing and financial decisions like buying a home (42 per cent), buying a car (40 per cent) or choosing furniture (37 per cent). Rovers report also found that pet parents love their pets dearly, sometimes even more than family and friends. In fact, 50 per cent of cat people prefer to spend time with their cats versus people, and 76 per cent of dog people prefer to spend time with their dogs over people. Traditional family habits are shifting to cater to the family members we choose, our cats and dogs. Millennials are adopting pets as starter families and Baby Boomers are welcoming pets as extended family, and behaviour is adapting accordingly, said Alison Rutty, Rovers Director of Cats and New Business Lines. Pet parents not only want their pet to be their best friend, but to be their pets best friend in return. So, its not surprising to see that's what the data tells us: we have conversations with our cats, comfort our dogs after they have nightmares, and consider all our pets in big life decisions. The Secret Lives of Cat People and Dog People: Report Findings The Secret Lives of Cat People and Dog People report includes responses from more than 800 pet owners across Canada. The report included dog owners, cat owners, and those who own both. Overall, the data revealed that the human-dog relationships and human-cat relationships are different, but equally devoted. Pet Parenting Secrets Revealed Dog people are 39 per cent more likely than cat people to admit they are bothered when their pet cuddles with other people. Cat people admit to talking to their pets 6-10 times a day, whereas dog people talk to their pets 1-5 times per day. Dog people love singing to their pets, with 88 per cent making up new songs all the time or singing to their pet at least sometimes. Cat and dog people love to take pictures of their pets and 75 per cent indicate that up to half of the photos on their phone are of their pets. Furry Family Members The majority of both dog (84 per cent) and cat (72 per cent) people admit they say hello to their pet before their family when they get home. Nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of cat and dog people said their pets are spoiled and always take over the couch or bed. Kitten cuddles: Cat people varied between 1-2 hours (42 per cent) and 3-7 hours (28 per cent) of cuddling per day, whereas dog people were firmly 1-2 hours a day (67 per cent). Living with Cats & Dogs The majority (74 per cent) of both dog and cat people have 1-5 nicknames for their pet. Dog people have a much harder time sleeping in, with 74 per cent finding their dogs always wake them up in the morning, compared to just 36 per cent of cat people. Beware of shedding: Dog people take the lead (87 per cent) in owning lint rollers, followed by 69% of cat people. Meow-th Reader: 49 per cent of cat people claim to understand the meaning of the sounds their cat makes. To view the comprehensive report findings and infographic, visit https://www.rover.com/blog/ca/secret-lives-cats-dogs/. This new research on cat people comes on the heels of Rovers introduction of a new booking experience for cat owners, which makes it easier for pet parents to book trusted care for their cat. While most cat owners dont want to leave their pets alone while they travel, the cat care options currently available are limited. With Rover, cat owners will be able to find affordable, local pet care from providers who can offer in-home services, like drop-in visits or overnight sitting. Cat owners can now choose from more than 245,000 cat sitters on Rover in thousands of cities across Canada, the U.S and the UK. For more information about Rover.coms cat services, visit www.rover.com.ca/cat-sitting/ . About the Report For The Secret Lives of Cat People and Dog People, Rover.com conducted a survey via PollFish in March 2019 among 832 Canadian adult dog and cat owners. About Rover.com Founded in 2011 and based in Seattle, Rover.com is the worlds largest and most trusted network of five-star pet sitters and dog walkers. Rover connects dog and cat owners with pet care whenever they need it. Millions of services have been booked on Rover, including pet sitting, dog walking, in-home boarding, overnight sitting and doggy daycare. Rover makes it easier for people to have pet love in their lives through the Rover Guarantee, 24/7 support, vet consultations, and GPS walk tracking. And by sharing expertise on TheDogPeople.comone of the worlds top pet blogsRover provides tips and articles that delight, inform, and enhance the bond between people and their pets. To learn more about Rover, please visit http://www.rover.com /ca . Attachment Lithuanian English LITGRID AB, company code 302564383, registered office address A. Juozapaviciaus 13, Vilnius, Lithuania. On 23th April 2019 during the Ordinary General Meeting of LITGRID AB Shareholders the Companys audited Annual Financial Statements and Annual Report have been approved. Annexes: 1. Consolidated financial Company financial statements for 2018, prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards adopted by the European Union, together with the conclusion of the independent auditor and consolidated yearly report. 2. Profit (loss) distribution project for 2018. The individual authorized by Litgrid AB to provide additional information: Jurga Eivaite Head of Communication Division phone. +370 613 19977 e-mail: jurga.eivaite@litgrid.eu Attachments SANDY, Utah, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mountain America Credit Union is pleased to announce the opening of its new Daybreak branch in South Jordan, Utah. The Daybreak branch is located directly off of Mountain View Corridor, providing convenient access for residents living in west Daybreak. A ribbon cutting will be held Friday, May 3, at 11:00 a.m. followed by a Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, May 4, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. With a modern design, the Daybreak branch will feature a unique, streamlined layout that allows our team to come into the lobby to greet members without passing through gates or doors. The open design fosters a more engaging and inviting environment and experience. The branch lobby and drive-thru will be available Monday Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. South Jordan is the most amazing city; it is wonderful to be part of this community. The initiatives that are constantly underway are astounding, says Amanda Morton, Daybreak Branch Manager. I look forward to our new branch being another positive addition. Amanda has spent the last five years working in the financial services industry. Before her career in finance, she spent nine years as a general manager for a multi-location international salon brand before opening her own salon. As a South Jordan resident, Amanda is active in the community, serving as an ambassador for the South Jordan Chamber of Commerce and sits on many committees including Budget and Finances for Daybreak. The Daybreak Branch provides a wide range of financial products and services, including traditional savings, insurance, investments, auto and RV loans and a full array of mortgage loans and services. Mountain America also offers the innovative MyStyle CheckingSM account with customizable rewards. Being federally chartered, Mountain America provides an additional broad assortment of services, including real estate and business lending. About Mountain America Credit Union With more than 810,000 members and $8.5 billion in assets, Mountain America Credit Union assists members on the right path to help them identify and achieve their financial dreams. Mountain America provides consumers and businesses with a variety of convenient, flexible products and services, as well as sound, timely advice. Members enjoy access to secure, cutting-edge mobile banking technology, over 90 branches across five states, thousands of shared-branching locations nationwide and more than 50,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Mountain Americasafely guiding you forward along your financial journey. Learn more at macu.com . A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/619e7903-15e4-4672-a11f-b681ebb21e86 2019 earnings guidance increased to range of $3.40 to $3.60 per share 2020 earnings guidance reaffirmed in range of $3.50 to $3.80 per share Capital investment forecast for 2019 through 2023 increased by $246 million to $2.8 billion RAPID CITY, S.D. , May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2019. Net income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2019 compared to the first quarter of 2018 was: Three Months Ended Mar. 31, 2019 2018 (in millions, except per share amounts) Income EPS Income EPS GAAP: Net income from continuing operations $ 103.8 $ 1.73 $ 135.3 $ 2.50 Non-GAAP: Net income from continuing operations, as adjusted * $ 103.8 $ 1.73 $ 88.1 $ 1.63 * A schedule for the GAAP to non-GAAP adjustment reconciliation is provided below. Our team delivered excellent operational and financial performance in the first quarter, said Linn Evans, president and CEO of Black Hills Corp. Our natural gas utilities benefited from earnings on significant capital investments to better serve customers. Also, our electric and natural gas utilities benefited from colder than normal weather, driving strong quarterly earnings. Adjusted earnings per share increased 6 percent over the prior year, overcoming share count dilution resulting from the November 2018 unit mandatory conversion. Given our strong first quarter performance, we are increasing both ends of our 2019 earnings guidance range by $0.05 per share. We advanced our initiative to consolidate our natural gas utility companies located within the same state. These consolidation efforts will make our team more efficient, reduce regulatory burden and improve our overall customer service and experience. During the quarter, we filed a consolidated rate review in Colorado and applications for legal consolidation in both Nebraska and Wyoming. We continued to execute our customer-focused capital plan, advancing key projects and adding $246 million of investment to our five-year forecast. Our power generation segment commenced construction on the $71 million Busch Ranch II wind farm in Colorado and our South Dakota electric utility continued construction on the final segment of its $70 million electric transmission line. Both projects are expected to be in service this fall. In addition, the regulatory approval process is underway for the Renewable Ready program and the $57 million Corriedale Wind Energy Project to serve our South Dakota and Wyoming electric utilities. Severe winter storms, record-breaking cold temperatures and flooding impacted states across the Midwest during the quarter, including portions of our service territory. I'm proud of how our Black Hills team responded to these extreme weather conditions. We were prepared to serve our customers and communities through the worst of these conditions to reduce the number of disruptions and shorten inevitable outages, helping affected areas recover more quickly. We are ready for the growing energy needs of our 1.27 million customers across eight states. We expect to invest $2.8 billion over the next five years centered on safety, reliability and enabling growth for customers and communities. As we continue to execute our customer-focused utility growth strategy, we will enhance long-term value for both customers and shareholders, concluded Evans. Black Hills Corp. highlights, recent regulatory filings and other updates include: Utilities On April 30, the Wyoming Public Service Commission approved Wyoming Electrics application for a new Blockchain Interruptible Service Tariff. The utility has partnered with the economic development organization for City of Cheyenne and Laramie County to actively recruit blockchain customers to the state. This tariff is complementary to recently enacted Wyoming legislation supporting the development of blockchain within the state. On March 29, Nebraska Gas filed an application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission requesting to merge its two natural gas distribution companies in the state. The two companies currently serve 292,000 natural gas utility customers. On March 6, Wyoming Gas filed an application with the Wyoming Public Service Commission requesting to merge its four natural gas distribution companies in the state. The four companies currently serve 128,500 natural gas utility customers. On Feb. 1, Colorado Gas filed a rate review application with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to consolidate the rates, tariffs and services of its two existing gas distribution territories in Colorado. The rate review also requests $2.5 million in new revenue to recover investments in safety, reliability and system integrity for natural gas service to its 187,000 customers. Colorado Gas is also requesting a new rider mechanism to recover accelerated safety and integrity investments in its system. In October 2018, Black Hills received approval to consolidate its two gas utility businesses into a new company called Black Hills Colorado Gas. During the first quarter, South Dakota Electric continued construction on a $70 million, 175-mile electric transmission line from Stegall, Nebraska to Rapid City, South Dakota. The 94-mile final segment of the transmission line is expected to be completed and placed in service in the fall of 2019. During the first quarter, South Dakota Electric and Wyoming Electric continued the regulatory approval processes for the proposed Renewable Ready Service Tariffs and related jointly-filed certificate of public convenience and necessity for the $57 million, 40-megawatt Corriedale Wind Energy Project in Cheyenne, Wyoming. If approved, the wind project will be jointly-owned by the two electric utilities to deliver renewable energy to large commercial and industrial customers and governmental agencies. The project is planned to be constructed and placed in service in 2020. Power Generation On March 11, Black Hills Electric Generation commenced construction on the $71 million, 60-megawatt Busch Ranch II Wind Farm near Pueblo, Colorado. Through a competitive bidding process, Black Hills Electric Generation was selected to deliver renewable energy under a 25-year power purchase agreement to its Black Hills electric utility affiliate in Colorado. The wind farm is expected to be completed and in service in the fall of 2019. Corporate On April 29, Black Hills board of directors declared a quarterly dividend on the common stock. Shareholders of record on at the close of business on May 17, 2019, will receive $0.505 per share payable on June 1, 2019. The annual equivalent rate of $2.02 per share represents 49 consecutive years of dividend increases, the second longest in the natural gas and electric utilities industry. During the first quarter, Black Hills issued 280,497 shares under its At-the-Market equity offering program for net proceeds of approximately $20 million. BLACK HILLS CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS (Minor differences may result due to rounding) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in millions) Adjusted operating income (a) (b): Electric Utilities $ 41.0 $ 38.5 Gas Utilities 103.3 95.4 Power Generation 12.0 11.8 Mining 4.3 4.3 Corporate and Other (0.5 ) (1.7 ) Operating income 160.1 148.3 Interest expense, net (34.7 ) (35.0 ) Other income (expense), net (0.8 ) (0.1 ) Income tax benefit (expense) (c) (17.3 ) 25.8 Income from continuing operations 107.4 139.0 Net (loss) from discontinued operations (2.3 ) Net income 107.4 136.6 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (3.6 ) (3.6 ) Net income available for common stock $ 103.8 $ 133.0 (a) In 2019, we changed our segment measure of profit to Adjusted operating income. (b) Adjusted operating income removes the impacts of capital lease accounting relating to the 20-year PPA between Black Hills Colorado IPP and Colorado Electric for the Electric Utilities and Power Generation segments and Corporate and Other. These changes had no impact on consolidated financial results. (c) Income tax benefit (expense) for the three months ended March 31, 2018 included a $49 million tax benefit resulting from legal entity restructuring and $2.3 million of income tax expense associated with changes in the prior estimated impact of tax reform on deferred income taxes. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Weighted average common shares outstanding (in thousands): Basic 59,920 53,319 Diluted 60,060 54,122 Earnings per share: Basic - Continuing Operations $ 1.73 $ 2.54 Discontinued Operations (0.05 ) Total Basic Earnings Per Share $ 1.73 $ 2.49 Diluted - Continuing Operations $ 1.73 $ 2.50 Discontinued Operations (0.04 ) Total Diluted Earnings Per Share $ 1.73 $ 2.46 2019 EARNINGS GUIDANCE INCREASED Black Hills is increasing its guidance for 2019 earnings per share from continuing operations available for common stock, as adjusted (a non-GAAP measure*), to be in the range of $3.40 to $3.60 per share from $3.35 to $3.55 per share. The guidance range is based on the following assumptions: Capital spending of $777 million; Normal weather conditions for the remainder of the year within our utility service territories including temperatures, precipitation levels and wind conditions; Normal operations and weather conditions for the remainder of the year for planned construction, maintenance and/or capital investment projects; Completion of utility regulatory dockets; Complete construction and place in service the Rapid City, South Dakota, to Stegall, Nebraska, electric transmission line, Busch Ranch II wind project and Natural Bridge Pipeline by year-end 2019; No significant unplanned outages at any of our facilities; Equity financing of $80 to $100 million during 2019 under our At-the-Market equity offering program; and No significant acquisitions or divestitures. * Earnings per share from continuing operations, as adjusted, is defined as GAAP Earnings per share from continuing operations, adjusted for expenses and gains that the company believes do not reflect the companys core operating performance. Examples of these types of adjustments may include unique one-time events, impairment of assets, and acquisition and disposition costs. The company is not able to provide forward-looking quantitative GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation for the 2019 earnings guidance, as adjusted, because we do not know the unplanned or unique events that may occur. 2020 EARNINGS GUIDANCE REAFFIRMED Black Hills is reaffirming its guidance for 2020 earnings per share available for common stock, as adjusted (a non-GAAP measure*), to be in the range of $3.50 to $3.80, based on the following assumptions: Capital spending of $777 million and $582 million in 2019 and 2020, respectively; Normal weather conditions within our utility service territories including temperatures, precipitation levels and wind conditions; Normal operations and weather conditions for planned construction, maintenance and/or capital investment projects; Completion of utility regulatory dockets; Complete construction and place in service the Rapid City, South Dakota, to Stegall, Nebraska, electric transmission line, the Busch Ranch II wind project and the Natural Bridge Pipeline by year-end 2019, and the Corriedale Wind Energy Project by year-end 2020; No significant unplanned outages at any of our facilities; Equity financing of $80 to $100 million in 2019 and $40 to $80 million in 2020 under our At-the-Market equity offering program; and No significant acquisitions or divestitures. * The company is not able to provide a forward-looking quantitative GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation of guidance for 2020 earnings, as adjusted, because unplanned or unique events that may occur are unknown at this time. CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST Black Hills will host a live conference call and webcast at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, May 3, 2019, to discuss our financial and operating performance. To access the live webcast and download a copy of the investor presentation, go to the Black Hills website at www.blackhillscorp.com, and click on Events and Presentations in the Investor Relations section. The presentation will be posted on the website before the webcast. Listeners should allow at least five minutes for registering and accessing the presentation. Those interested in asking a question during the live broadcast or those without Internet access can call 866-544-7741 if calling within the United States. International callers can call 724-498-4407. All callers need to enter the passcode 1069940 when prompted. For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available on the companys website. AGA FINANCIAL FORUM ATTENDANCE Leadership from Black Hills will present at the 2019 AGA Financial Forum at 9 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. A live webcast of the companys presentation and accompanying slides will be available on Black Hills website at www.blackhillscorp.com under the Investor Relations section. A replay of the webcast will be made available at the same location following the conclusion of the webcast. USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURE As noted in this news release, in addition to presenting its earnings information in conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the company has provided non-GAAP earnings data reflecting adjustments for special items as specified in the GAAP to non-GAAP adjustment reconciliation table below. Net income from continuing operations available for common stock, as adjusted, is defined as Net income from continuing operations, adjusted for expenses and gains that the company believes do not reflect the companys core operating performance. The company believes that non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because the items excluded are not indicative of the companys continuing operating results. The companys management uses these non-GAAP financial measures as an indicator for planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures should not be construed as an inference that future results will not be affected by unusual, non-routine, or non-recurring items. Gross margin (revenue less cost of sales) is considered a non-GAAP financial measure due to the exclusion of depreciation and amortization from the measure. The presentation of gross margin is intended to supplement investors understanding of operating performance. Gross margin for our Electric Utilities is calculated as operating revenue less cost of fuel and purchased power. Gross margin for our Gas Utilities is calculated as operating revenue less cost of gas sold. Our gross margin is impacted by the fluctuations in power purchases and natural gas and other fuel supply costs. However, while these fluctuating costs impact gross margin as a percentage of revenue, they only impact total gross margin if the costs cannot be passed through to customers. Gross margin measure may not be comparable to other companies gross margin measure. Furthermore, this measure is not intended to replace operating income as determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of operating performance. Three Months Ended March 31, (In millions, except per share amounts) 2019 2018 (after-tax) Income EPS Income EPS Net income from continuing operations available for common stock (GAAP) $ 103.8 $ 1.73 $ 135.3 $ 2.50 Adjustments: Legal restructuring - income tax benefit (49.5 ) (0.91 ) Tax reform 2.3 0.04 Total adjustments (47.2 ) (0.87 ) Tax on Adjustments: Adjustments, net of tax (47.2 ) (0.87 ) Net income from continuing operations available for common stock, as adjusted (non-GAAP) $ 103.8 $ 1.73 $ 88.1 $ 1.63 SEGMENT PERFORMANCE SUMMARY Our segment highlights for the three months ended March 31, 2019, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2018, are discussed below. The following segment information does not include certain intercompany eliminations. Minor differences in comparative amounts may result due to rounding. All amounts are presented on a pre-tax basis unless otherwise indicated. Certain industries in which we operate are highly seasonal, and revenue from, and certain expenses for, such operations may fluctuate significantly between quarterly periods. Demand for electricity and natural gas is sensitive to seasonal cooling, heating and industrial load requirements. In particular, the normal peak usage season for our electric utilities is June through August while the normal peak usage season for our gas utilities is November through March. Significant earnings variances can be expected between the Gas Utilities segments peak and off-peak seasons. Due to this seasonal nature, our results of operations for the three and three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be expected for any other period or for the entire year. Electric Utilities Three Months Ended March 31, Variance 2019 2018 2019 vs. 2018 (in millions) Gross margin (non-GAAP) $ 109.6 $ 104.8 $ 4.8 Operations and maintenance 47.1 45.1 2.0 Depreciation and amortization 21.5 21.2 0.3 Adjusted operating income $ 41.0 $ 38.5 $ 2.5 Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Operating Statistics: Retail sales - MWh 1,358,001 1,320,439 Contracted wholesale sales - MWh 223,020 237,704 Off-system sales - MWh 140,850 129,041 Total electric sales - MWh 1,721,871 1,687,184 Regulated power plant availability: Coal-fired plants 96.2 % 95.0 % Natural gas fired plants and other plants 90.7 % 96.5 % Wind 96.8 % 97.1 % Total availability 92.9 % 96.1 % Wind capacity factor 42.6 % 50.4 % First Quarter 2019 Compared with First Quarter 2018 Gross margin increased as a result of: (in millions) Reduction in purchased power capacity charges $ 1.6 Off-system power marketing 1.3 Weather 0.6 Rider recovery 0.4 Residential customer growth 0.3 Other 0.6 Total increase in Gross margin (non-GAAP) $ 4.8 Operations and maintenance increased primarily due to higher outside services expenses and higher employee costs driven by labor and benefits. Depreciation and amortization was comparable to the same period in the prior year. Gas Utilities Three Months Ended March 31, Variance 2019 2018 2019 vs. 2018 (in millions) Gross margin (non-GAAP) $ 203.8 $ 187.7 $ 16.1 Operations and maintenance 77.9 70.9 7.0 Depreciation and amortization 22.5 21.3 1.2 Adjusted operating income $ 103.3 $ 95.4 $ 7.9 Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Operating Statistics: Total gas sales - Dth 49,011,393 45,228,975 Total transport and transmission volumes - Dth 46,316,160 44,733,475 First Quarter 2019 Compared with First Quarter 2018 Gross margin increased as a result of: (in millions) New rates $ 8.9 Weather (a) 5.2 Customer growth - distribution 1.8 Transport and transmission 1.7 Other 0.9 Excess deferred taxes returned to customers (2.4 ) Total increase in Gross margin (non-GAAP) $ 16.1 (a) Heating degree days at the Gas Utilities for the three months ended March 31, 2019 were 11% higher than normal compared to 2% higher than normal in the same period in the prior year. Operations and maintenance increased primarily due to $3.3 million of higher outside services expenses and $2.3 million of higher employee costs driven by labor, benefits and additional headcount. Various other expenses comprise the remainder of the increase compared to the same period in the prior year. Depreciation and amortization increased primarily due to a higher asset base driven by previous year capital expenditures. Power Generation Three Months Ended March 31, Variance 2019 2018 2019 vs. 2018 (in millions) Revenue $ 25.2 $ 23.9 $ 1.3 Operations and maintenance 8.7 8.1 0.6 Depreciation and amortization 4.6 4.0 0.6 Adjusted operating income $ 12.0 $ 11.8 $ 0.2 Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Operating Statistics: Contracted fleet power plant availability - Coal-fired plants 94.8 % 94.7 % Gas-fired plants 95.6 % 99.5 % Wind 90.4 % N/A Total availability 94.1 % 98.3 % First Quarter 2019 Compared with First Quarter 2018 Revenue increased in the current year due to increased wind megawatt hours sold and higher power purchase agreement prices. Operating expenses increased in the current year due to higher employee costs and higher depreciation from new wind assets. Mining Three Months Ended March 31, Variance 2019 2018 2019 vs. 2018 (in millions) Revenue $ 16.4 $ 17.1 $ (0.7 ) Operations and maintenance 9.9 10.9 (1.0 ) Depreciation, depletion and amortization 2.2 1.9 0.3 Adjusted operating income $ 4.3 $ 4.3 $ Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Operating Statistics: (in thousands) Tons of coal sold 997 1,078 Cubic yards of overburden moved 1,994 2,022 Revenue per ton $ 15.87 $ 15.89 First Quarter 2019 Compared with First Quarter 2018 Current year revenue decreased due to 8 percent fewer tons sold driven by a planned outage at the Wyodak power plant. Operating expenses decreased primarily due to lower royalties and production taxes on decreased revenues, and lower major maintenance expenses. Corporate and Other Corporate and Other represents certain unallocated expenses for administrative activities and interest and taxes that support our reportable operating segments. Corporate and Other also includes business development activities that are not part of our operating segments. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Variance (in millions) Adjusted operating (loss) $ (0.5 ) $ (1.7 ) $ 1.2 First Quarter 2019 Compared with First Quarter 2018 The variance in Adjusted operating loss was primarily due to prior year expenses related to the oil and gas segment that were not reclassified to discontinued operations. Consolidated Interest Expense, Other (Expense) Benefit and Income Tax (Expense) Benefit Interest Expense, net Interest expense, net for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $35 million compared to $35 million for the same period in 2018. Other (Expense) Income Other (expense) income, net for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $(0.8) million compared to $(0.1) million for the same period in 2018. Income Tax (Expense) Benefit Income tax benefit (expense), net for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $(17) million compared to $26 million for the same period in 2018. The increase in tax expense was primarily due to: A prior year $49 million tax benefit resulting from legal entity restructuring, partially offset by: A prior year $2.3 million income tax expense associated with changes in the prior estimated impact of tax reform on deferred income taxes; and A current year $3.4 million increase in income tax benefit from forecasted federal production tax credits and state investment tax credits as well as $1.8 million of income tax benefit for deferred tax amortization related to tax reform (which is offset by reduced revenue at our utilities). ABOUT BLACK HILLS CORP. Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) is a customer-focused, growth-oriented utility company with a tradition of improving life with energy and a vision to be the energy partner of choice. Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, the company serves 1.27 million natural gas and electric utility customers in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. More information is available at www.blackhillscorp.com , www.blackhillscorp.com/corporateresponsibility and www.blackhillsenergy.com. CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release includes forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. This includes, without limitations, our 2019 and 2020 earnings guidance. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions which we believe are reasonable based on current expectations and projections about future events and industry conditions and trends affecting our business. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to our expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that, among other things, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation, the risk factors described in Item 1A of Part I of our 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, and other reports that we file with the SEC from time to time, and the following: The accuracy of our assumptions on which our earnings guidance is based; Our ability to obtain adequate cost recovery for our utility operations through regulatory proceedings and favorable rulings on periodic applications to recover costs for capital additions, plant retirements and decommissioning, fuel, transmission, purchased power, and other operating costs and the timing in which new rates would go into effect and the results of regulatory proceedings regarding the effects of the TCJA; Our ability to complete our capital program in a cost-effective and timely manner; Our ability to execute our utility jurisdiction simplification plan; The impact of future governmental regulation; and Other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the SEC. New factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements emerge from time-to-time, and it is not possible for us to predict all such factors, or the extent to which any such factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statement. We assume no obligation to update publicly any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. (Minor differences may result due to rounding.) Consolidating Income Statement Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Electric Utilities Gas Utilities Power Generation Mining Corporate Other Inter-Co Eliminations Total (in millions) Revenue $ 176.9 $ 410.4 $ 2.7 $ 7.8 $ $ $ 597.8 Intercompany revenue 6.0 0.7 22.6 8.6 88.3 (126.2 ) Fuel, purchased power and cost of gas sold 73.3 207.3 0.1 (31.9 ) 248.8 Gross margin (non-GAAP) 109.6 203.8 25.2 16.4 88.2 (94.3 ) 349.0 Operations and maintenance 47.1 77.9 8.7 9.9 73.3 (79.1 ) 137.9 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 21.5 22.5 4.6 2.2 5.5 (5.3 ) 51.0 Adjusted operating income (loss) 41.0 103.3 12.0 4.3 9.5 (10.0 ) 160.1 Interest expense, net (35.0 ) Interest income 0.3 Other income (expense), net (0.8 ) Income tax benefit (expense) (17.3 ) Income (loss) from continuing operations 107.4 (Loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax Net income (loss) 107.4 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (3.6 ) Net income (loss) available for common stock $ 103.8 Consolidating Income Statement Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Electric Utilities Gas Utilities Power Generation Mining Corporate Other Inter-Co Eliminations Total (in millions) Revenue $ 167.4 $ 396.9 $ 2.1 $ 9.0 $ $ $ 575.4 Intercompany revenue 6.1 0.4 21.8 8.2 91.3 (127.9 ) Fuel, purchased power and cost of gas sold 68.7 209.7 (30.8 ) 247.6 Gross margin (non-GAAP) 104.8 187.7 23.9 17.1 91.3 (97.1 ) 327.8 Operations and maintenance 45.1 70.9 8.1 10.9 78.9 (83.1 ) 130.9 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 21.2 21.3 4.0 1.9 5.3 (5.2 ) 48.6 Adjusted operating income (loss) 38.5 95.4 11.8 4.3 7.0 (8.7 ) 148.3 Interest expense, net (35.3 ) Interest income 0.3 Other income (expense) (0.1 ) Income tax benefit (expense) 25.8 Income (loss) from continuing operations 139.0 (Loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax (2.3 ) Net income (loss) 136.6 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (3.6 ) Net income (loss) available for common stock $ 133.0 Investor Relations: Jerome E. Nichols Phone 605-721-1171 Email investorrelations@blackhillscorp.com Media Contact: 24-hour Media Assistance 888-242-3969 French English MONTREAL, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL; TSX and NYSE) today announced that the ten nominees proposed as directors in its management proxy circular dated March 6, 2019 were elected as directors of the Company by a majority of the votes cast by the shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at its annual meeting of shareholders held on May 2, 2019 in Montreal. The voting results are detailed below: NOMINEES FOR WITHHELD Number % Number % William D. Anderson 166,985,650 99.77 383,555 0.23 Donald C. Berg 163,606,007 97.75 3,763,198 2.25 Maryse Bertrand 164,746,488 98.43 2,622,717 1.57 Marc Caira 161,964,927 96.77 5,404,278 3.23 Glenn J. Chamandy 167,211,733 99.91 157,472 0.09 Shirley E. Cunningham 164,442,506 98.25 2,926,699 1.75 Russell Goodman 162,454,564 97.06 4,914,641 2.94 Charles M. Herington 161,841,588 96.70 5,527,617 3.30 Craig A. Leavitt 164,439,760 98.25 2,929,445 1.75 Anne Martin-Vachon 161,845,029 96.70 5,524,176 3.30 About Gildan Gildan is a leading manufacturer of everyday basic apparel which markets its products in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, under a diversified portfolio of Company-owned brands, including Gildan, American Apparel, Comfort Colors, Gildan Hammer, Prim + Preux, Gold Toe, Anvil, Alstyle, Secret, Silks, Kushyfoot, Secret Silky, Therapy Plus, Peds and MediPeds, and under the Under Armour brand through a sock licensing agreement providing exclusive distribution rights in the United States and Canada. Our product offering includes activewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and legwear products sold to a broad range of customers, including wholesale distributors, screenprinters or embellishers, as well as to retailers that sell to consumers through their physical stores and/or e-commerce platforms. In addition, we sell directly to consumers through our own direct-to-consumer platforms. Gildan owns and operates vertically-integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities which are primarily located in Central America, the Caribbean Basin, North America, and Bangladesh. With over 52,000 employees worldwide Gildan operates with a strong commitment to industry-leading labour and environmental practices throughout its supply chain in accordance with its comprehensive Genuine Responsibility program embedded in the Company's long-term business strategy. More information about the Company and its corporate citizenship practices and initiatives can be found at www.gildancorp.com and www.genuineresponsibility.com, respectively. TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Martinrea International Inc. (TSX : MRE), a diversified and global automotive supplier engaged in the design, development and manufacturing of highly engineered, value-added Lightweight Structures and Propulsion Systems, today announced the release of its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 and that it has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.045 per share. HIGHLIGHTS Total sales of $1.023 billion; production sales of $927 million Record quarterly diluted net earnings per share of $0.66 Record quarterly adjusted diluted net earnings per share (1) of $0.67 of $0.67 Quarterly adjusted operating income (1) margin of 8.2% margin of 8.2% Record first quarter adjusted EBITDA (1) New business awards of approximately $55 million in annualized sales at peak volumes Quarterly cash dividend of $0.045 per share declared $26 million in share repurchases in the quarter; normal course issuer bid completed OVERVIEW Pat DEramo, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated: Our first quarter was a very strong one for Martinrea and our people, with quarterly sales over a billion dollars including tooling, and record earnings per share. In a year when the overall market is seeing some volume headwinds, and a number of suppliers have seen reduced margins and earnings, our margins and earnings have remained very solid. We are in the midst of a very heavy launch cycle, but launches are proceeding well. We continue to see heavy quoting activity, and in the past few weeks we have won approximately $55 million in annualized sales at peak volumes, including $40 million in a combination of lightweight structures and propulsion systems work on Fords new small pick-up truck to be assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico, approximately $10 million in additional product wins for the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, and some additional work from Toyota and Nissan. Our people are performing well, and we thank them for their efforts. Fred Di Tosto, Chief Financial Officer, stated: Sales for the first quarter, excluding tooling sales of $96 million, were $927 million, in the mid range of our previously announced sales guidance. In the quarter, our adjusted net earnings per share, on a basic and diluted basis, was $0.67 per share, also in the mid range of our quarterly guidance and a record quarter. Adjusted operating income margin for the quarter was 8.2%, a good start to the year. Our balance sheet remains strong, as we look to maintain a leverage ratio of about 1.5:1 net debt:adjusted EBITDA excluding the impacts of IFRS 16, even while paying increased dividends, repurchasing a significant number of shares under our normal course issuer bid, making a strategic investment in NanoXplore, and investing in our operations to fund our future. The year 2019 is off to a solid start and we expect second quarter sales, excluding tooling sales, to be in the range of $870 million to $910 million, and adjusted net earnings per share in the range of $0.64 to $0.68 per share. 1 The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). However, the Company considers certain non-IFRS financial measures as useful additional information in measuring the financial performance and condition of the Company. These measures, which the Company believes are widely used by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties in evaluating the Companys performance, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other publicly traded companies, nor should they be construed as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with IFRS. Non-IFRS measures include Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Earnings per Share (on a basic and diluted basis), Adjusted Operating Income and "Adjusted EBITDA. Rob Wildeboer, Executive Chairman, stated: It is great to see 2019 off to a great start of what we believe will be another record year for Martinrea. We believe that our story in 2019 and 2020 will be a very good one, on both an absolute and relative basis. We are seeing some softness in automotive markets, and are doing well overall despite the headwinds. Our North American segment has done extremely well year to date despite some reduction in overall market volumes. The North American economy continues to perform positively, and the trade and tariff issues that we still face in our industry have had some negative effect, but limited in scope and severity. Our European segment saw steady sales and operating income year over year during the quarter, but there has been softness there in overall volumes and in the volumes of some key customers, whether caused by the Brexit uncertainty or the uncertain regulatory environment. We do see some continuing softness there. Our Rest of the World segment, while a very small part of our business, has had some major volume challenges, some regional and some with the volumes of our customers in the regions, being China and Brazil, resulting in reduced sales and losses for the segment. Our fluids plant in China and our aluminum Brazilian operations, in particular, have been negatively impacted by these volume headwinds. As such, we are currently contemplating downsizing these facilities to keep costs in line with sales and, ultimately, improving our competitiveness in these sometimes difficult markets. We are also seeing some supplier stress in the overall market, making some assets available. I am pleased to report that we recently acquired a small plant in Mississippi from Variform at a very attractive price, along with the related work for Nissan. We will buy assets when the values are compelling. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS All amounts in this press release are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated; and all tabular amounts are in thousands of Canadian dollars, except earnings per share and number of shares. Additional information about the Company, including the Companys Management Discussion and Analysis of Operating Results and Financial Position for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 (MD&A), the Companys interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 (the interim consolidated financial statements) and the Companys Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2018, can be found at www.sedar.com. Results of operations may include certain unusual and other items which have been separately disclosed, where appropriate, in order to provide a clear assessment of the underlying Company results. In addition to IFRS measures, management uses non-IFRS measures in the Companys disclosures that it believes provide the most appropriate basis on which to evaluate the Companys results. OVERALL RESULTS The following table sets out certain key financial metrics underlying the Companys performance for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. Refer to the Companys financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2019 for a detailed account of the Companys performance for the periods presented in the table below. Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 $ Change % Change Sales $ 1,023,161 $ 963,900 59,261 6.1 % Gross Margin 157,501 144,429 13,072 9.1 % Operating Income 83,463 78,441 5,022 6.4 % Net Income for the period $ 55,268 55,959 (691 ) (1.2 %) Net Earnings per Share - Basic $ 0.66 $ 0.65 0.01 1.5 % Net Earnings per Share - Diluted $ 0.66 $ 0.64 0.02 3.1 % Non-IFRS Measures* Adjusted Operating Income $ 83,463 $ 78,441 5,022 6.4 % % of Sales 8.2 % 8.1 % Adjusted EBITDA 133,911 119,962 13,949 11.6 % % of Sales 13.1 % 12.4 % Adjusted Net Income 55,776 56,630 (854 ) (1.5 %) Adjusted Net Earnings per Share - Basic and Diluted $ 0.67 $ 0.65 0.02 3.1 % * Non-IFRS Measures The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). However, the Company considers certain non-IFRS financial measures as useful additional information in measuring the financial performance and condition of the Company. These measures, which the Company believes are widely used by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties in evaluating the Companys performance, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other publicly traded companies, nor should they be construed as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with IFRS. Non-IFRS measures include Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Earnings per Share (on a basic and diluted basis), Adjusted Operating Income, "Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow. Impact of the Adoption of IFRS 16, Leases Effective January 1, 2019, the Company adopted the new accounting standard, IFRS 16, Leases (IFRS 16). In adopting the new standard, the Company used the modified retrospective approach which involves recognizing transitional adjustments in opening retained earnings, if any, on the date of initial application without restating comparative prior periods. As such, 2018 prior year comparatives have not been restated. The adoption of the new standard resulted in the recognition of lease liabilities of $228.6 million and right-of-use assets of $223.8 million, net of accrued liabilities related to the leases of $4.8 million, recognized as at January 1, 2019 in the interim condensed consolidated balance sheet. From an earnings perspective, while timing differences may exist, the new standard results in a decrease in operating rent expense essentially replaced by increases in finance and depreciation expenses as recognized in the interim condensed consolidated statement of operations. As such, the adoption of IFRS 16 did not have a significant impact on the Companys operating results and the financial metrics for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 outlined above other than Adjusted EBITDA. The adoption of IFRS 16 contributed approximately 7% of the year-over-year growth in Adjusted EBITDA due to the recognition of depreciation expense on right-of-use assets, in lieu of operating rent expense, as required by the new standard. The adoption of the new standard is further explained in Recently adopted and applicable accounting standards and policies in the MD&A and note 1(d)(i) of the financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The following tables provide a reconciliation of IFRS Net Income to Non-IFRS Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Operating Income and Adjusted EBITDA. Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 Net Income $ 55,268 $ 55,959 Unusual and Other Items (after-tax)* 508 671 Adjusted Net Income $ 55,776 $ 56,630 *Unusual and other items are explained in the "Adjustments to Net Income" section of this Press Release Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 Net Income $ 55,268 $ 55,959 Income tax expense 18,385 17,953 Other finance income - excluding Unusual and Other Items* (567 ) (2,739 ) Finance expense 9,796 6,501 Unusual and Other Items (before-tax)* 581 767 Adjusted Operating Income $ 83,463 $ 78,441 Depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets 46,894 38,058 Amortization of intangible assets 3,665 3,477 Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment (111 ) (14 ) Adjusted EBITDA $ 133,911 $ 119,962 *Unusual and other items are explained in the "Adjustments to Net Income" section of this Press Release SALES Three months ended March 31, 2019 to three months ended March 31, 2018 comparison Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 $ Change % Change North America $ 811,137 $ 741,155 69,982 9.4 % Europe 190,395 185,723 4,672 2.5 % Rest of the World 23,332 40,381 (17,049 ) (42.2 %) Eliminations (1,703 ) (3,359 ) 1,656 49.3 % Total Sales $ 1,023,161 $ 963,900 59,261 6.1 % The Companys consolidated sales for the first quarter of 2019 increased by $59.3 million or 6.1% to $1,023.2 million as compared to $963.9 million for the first quarter of 2018. The total increase in sales was driven by year-over-year increases in the North America and Europe operating segments, partially offset by a decrease in the Rest of the World. Sales for the first quarter of 2019 in the Companys North America operating segment increased by $70.0 million or 9.4% to $811.1 million from $741.2 million for the first quarter of 2018. The increase was due to the launch of new programs during or subsequent to the first quarter of 2018 including the next generation GM Silverado/Sierra, RAM pick-up trucks, and the new Chevrolet Blazer; the impact of foreign exchange on the translation of U.S. denominated production sales, which had a positive impact on overall sales for the first quarter of 2019 of approximately $35.0 million as compared to the first quarter of 2018; and an increase in tooling sales of $20.7 million, which are typically dependant on the timing of tooling construction and final acceptance by the customer. These positive factors were partially offset by lower year-over-year production volumes on certain light-vehicle platforms including the Ford Escape and Jeep Wrangler, and programs that ended production during or subsequent to the first quarter of 2018. Sales for the first quarter of 2019 in the Companys Europe operating segment increased by $4.7 million or 2.5% to $190.4 million from $185.7 million for the first quarter of 2018. The increase can be attributed to the launch of new programs during or subsequent to the first quarter of 2018, including a 2.0L aluminum engine block for Ford, and a $9.4 million increase in tooling sales. These positive factors were partially offset by lower year-over-year production volumes on certain Jaguar Land Rover platforms, and a $1.3 million negative foreign exchange impact from the translation of Euro denominated production sales as compared to the first quarter of 2018. Sales for the first quarter of 2019 in the Companys Rest of the World operating segment decreased by $17.0 million or 42.2% to $23.3 million from $40.4 million in the first quarter of 2018. The decrease was due to a lower year-over-year production volumes on the Ford Mondeo and Cadillac CT6 vehicle platforms in China; lower year-over-year production sales in the Companys facility in Brazil; a $5.4 million decrease in tooling sales; and a $1.0 million negative foreign exchange impact from the translation of foreign denominated production sales as compared to the first quarter of 2018. These negative factors were partially offset by the ramp up of new aluminum structural components work for Jaguar Land Rover in China, which began to ramp up in the first quarter of 2018 but at significantly lower-than-expected volumes. Overall tooling sales increased by $24.7 million or 34.7% to $95.9 million for the first quarter of 2019 from $71.2 million for the first quarter of 2018. GROSS MARGIN Three months ended March 31, 2019 to three months ended March 31, 2018 comparison Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 $ Change % Change Gross margin $ 157,501 $ 144,429 13,072 9.1 % % of Sales 15.4 % 15.0 % The gross margin percentage for the first quarter of 2019 of 15.4% increased as a percentage of sales by 0.4% as compared to the gross margin percentage for the first quarter of 2018 of 15.0%. The increase in gross margin as a percentage of sales was generally due to: productivity and efficiency improvements at certain operating facilities; and general sales mix including new and replacement programs that launched, and old programs that ended production, during or subsequent to the first quarter of 2018. These positive factors were partially offset by operational inefficiencies and other costs at certain other facilities including upfront costs incurred in preparation of upcoming new programs and related to new business in the process of being launched, and an increase in tooling sales which typically earn low margins for the Company. ADJUSTMENTS TO NET INCOME Adjusted Net Income excludes certain unusual and other items, as set out in the following table and described in the notes thereto. Management uses Adjusted Net Income as a measurement of operating performance of the Company and believes that, in conjunction with IFRS measures, it provides useful information about the financial performance and condition of the Company. TABLE A Three months ended March 31, 2019 to three months ended March 31, 2018 comparison For the three months ended For the three months ended March 31, 2019 March 31, 2018 (a)-(b) (a) (b) Change NET INCOME (A) $55,268 $55,959 ($691 ) Add Back - Unusual and Other Items: Unrealized loss on warrants (1) 581 767 (186 ) TOTAL UNUSUAL AND OTHER ITEMS BEFORE TAX $581 $767 ($186 ) Tax impact of above items (73 ) (96 ) 23 TOTAL UNUSUAL AND OTHER ITEMS-AFTER TAX (B) $508 $671 ($163 ) ADJUSTED NET INCOME (A + B) $55,776 $56,630 ($854 ) Number of Shares Outstanding Basic (000) 83,364 86,746 Adjusted Basic Net Earnings Per Share $0.67 $0.65 Number of Shares Outstanding Diluted (000) 83,586 87,352 Adjusted Diluted Net Earnings Per Share $0.67 $0.65 Unrealized loss on warrants As further described in note 7 of the financial statements and later on in the MD&A under Investments, Martinrea holds 2,955,900 warrants in NanoXplore Inc., a publicly listed graphene company on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol GRA. The warrants represent derivative instruments and are fair valued at the end of each reporting period using the Black-Scholes-Merton valuation model, with the change in fair value recorded through profit or loss. As at March 31, 2019, the warrants had a fair value of $1.6 million. Based on the fair value of the warrants as at March 31, 2019, an unrealized loss of $0.6 million was recognized for the three months ended March 31, 2019 (2018 - $0.8 million), in other finance income (expense) in the interim condensed consolidated statement of operations. This unrealized loss has been added back for Adjusted Net Income purposes. NET INCOME Three months ended March 31, 2019 to three months ended March 31, 2018 comparison Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 $ Change % Change Net Income $ 55,268 $ 55,959 (691 ) (1.2 %) Adjusted Net Income $ 55,776 $ 56,630 (854 ) (1.5 %) Net Earnings per Share Basic $ 0.66 $ 0.65 Diluted $ 0.66 $ 0.64 Adjusted Net Earnings per Share Basic and Diluted $ 0.67 $ 0.65 Net income, before adjustments, for the first quarter of 2019 decreased by $0.7 million to $55.3 million from $56.0 million for the first quarter of 2018. Excluding the unusual and other items recognized during the first quarters of 2019 and 2018 as explained in Table A under Adjustments to Net Income, net income for the first quarter of 2019 decreased by $0.9 million to $55.8 million or $0.67 per share, on a basic and diluted basis, from $56.6 million or $0.65 per share, on a basic and diluted basis, for the first quarter of 2018. Despite the year-over-year decrease in Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Earnings per share is up year-over-year due to the lower outstanding Martinrea share count as a result of the recent share repurchases the Company completed under a normal course issuer bid, as further explained in note 12 of the financial statements and later on in the MD&A under Disclosure of Outstanding Share Data. Adjusted Net Income for the first quarter of 2019, as compared to the first quarter of 2018, was negatively impacted by the following: operational inefficiencies and other costs at certain other facilities including upfront costs incurred in preparation of upcoming new programs and related to new business in the process of being launched; a year-over-year increase in research and development costs due to increased new product and process research and development activity; a year-over-year increase in SG&A expense; a year-over-year increase in depreciation expense, due to the adoption of IFRS 16; a year-over-year increase in finance expense on the Companys revolving bank debt and equipment loans as a result of increased debt levels and borrowing rates, and interest on lease liabilities as a result of the adoption of IFRS 16; a net unrealized foreign exchange gain of $0.5 million for the first quarter of 2019 compared to a net unrealized foreign exchange gain of $2.7 million for the first quarter of 2018; and a higher effective tax rate on adjusted income due generally to the mix of earnings (24.9% for the first quarter of 2019 compared to 24.2% for the first quarter of 2018). These factors were partially offset by the following: higher gross profit on increased year-over-year sales as previously explained; productivity and efficiency improvements at certain operating facilities; general sales mix including new and replacement programs that launched, and old programs that ended production, during or subsequent to the first quarter of 2018; and lower operating rent expense due to the adoption of IFRS 16, generally replaced by increases in finance and depreciation expenses. DIVIDEND A cash dividend of $0.045 per share has been declared by the Board of Directors payable to shareholders of record on June 30, 2019, on or about July 15, 2019. ABOUT MARTINREA Martinrea International Inc. (TSX : MRE) is a leader in the development and production of quality metal parts, assemblies and modules, fluid management systems, and complex aluminum products focused primarily on the automotive sector. Martinrea currently employs approximately 15,000 talented and motivated people in 47 operating divisions in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Slovakia, Spain and China. Martinreas vision is to make lives better by being the best supplier we can be in the products we make and the services we provide. For more information on Martinrea, please visit www.martinrea.com . CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS A conference call to discuss the financial results will be held on Friday, May 3, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. (Toronto time) which can be accessed by dialing 416-340-2218 (international: 001-416-340-2218) or toll free 800-377-0758. Please call 10 minutes prior to the start of the conference call. If you have any teleconferencing questions, please call Ganesh Iyer at 416-749-0314. There will also be a rebroadcast of the call available by dialing 905-694-9451 (international: 001-905-694-9451) or toll free 800-408-3053 (conference id 7108120#). The rebroadcast will be available until May 21, 2019. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws including statements related to the growth or expectations of, improvements or belief in, expansion of and/or guidance or outlook as to future revenue, sales, gross margin, earnings, and earnings per share (including as adjusted), operating income margins, a record 2019 and 2020 performance, strength of the Company, debt ratio, the intention to maintain a strong balance sheet , program wins, expected volumes, the ramping up and launching of new programs and the financial impact of launches, pursuit of its strategies, the payment of dividends, statements regarding softness in volumes, potential downsizing or restructuring in China and Brazil, the impact of trade issues and any uncertain regulatory environment, the acquisition of assets, as well as other forward-looking statements. The words continue, expect, anticipate, estimate, may, will, should, views, intend, believe, plan, outlook and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company believes are appropriate in the circumstances, such as expected sales and industry production estimates, current foreign exchange rates (FX), timing of product launches and operational improvements during the period and current Board approved budgets. Certain forward-looking financial assumptions are presented as non-IFRS information, and we do not provide reconciliation to IFRS for such assumptions. Many factors could cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the following factors, some of which are discussed in detail in the Companys Annual Information Form and other public filings which can found at www.sedar.com : North American and global economic and political conditions; the highly cyclical nature of the automotive industry and the industrys dependence on consumer spending and general economic conditions; the Companys dependence on a limited number of significant customers; financial viability of suppliers; the Companys reliance on critical suppliers and on suppliers for components and the risk that suppliers will not be able to supply components on a timely basis or in sufficient quantities; Competition; the increasing pressure on the Company to absorb costs related to product design and development, engineering, program management, prototypes, validation and tooling; increased pricing of raw materials; outsourcing and insourcing trends; the risk of increased costs associated with product warranty and recalls together with the associated liability; the Companys ability to enhance operations and manufacturing techniques; dependence on key personnel; limited financial resources; risks associated with the integration of acquisitions; costs associated with rationalization of production facilities; launch costs; changes in governmental regulations or laws including any changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement; labour disputes; litigation; currency risk; fluctuations in operating results; internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; environmental regulation; a shift away from technologies in which the Company is investing; competition with low cost countries; the Companys ability to shift its manufacturing footprint to take advantage of opportunities in emerging markets; risks of conducting business in foreign countries, including China, Brazil and other growing markets; potential tax exposure; a change in the Companys mix of earnings between jurisdictions with lower tax rates and those with higher tax rates, as well as under-funding of pensions plans; the cost of post-employment benefits; impairment charges; cybersecurity threats; the potential volatility of the Companys share price; and dividends. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Companys forward-looking statements. The Company has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. The common shares of Martinrea trade on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol MRE. For further information, please contact: Fred Di Tosto Chief Financial Officer Martinrea International Inc. 3210 Langstaff Road Vaughan, Ontario L4K 5B2 Tel: 416-749-0314 Fax: 289-982-3001 Martinrea International Inc. Interim Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands of Canadian dollars) (unaudited) Note March 31, 2019 December 31, 2018 ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents $ 76,447 $ 70,162 Trade and other receivables 2 700,993 597,796 Inventories 3 468,452 492,759 Prepaid expenses and deposits 25,856 23,275 Income taxes recoverable 30,610 21,301 TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 1,302,358 1,205,293 Property, plant and equipment 4 1,483,591 1,481,452 Right-of-use assets 5 216,349 - Deferred income tax assets 141,769 145,354 Intangible assets 6 68,399 70,931 Investments 7 24,313 10,781 TOTAL NON-CURRENT ASSETS 1,934,421 1,708,518 TOTAL ASSETS $ 3,236,779 $ 2,913,811 LIABILITIES Trade and other payables 8 $ 874,485 $ 862,699 Provisions 9 5,151 5,393 Income taxes payable 6,836 7,816 Current portion of long-term debt 10 16,445 16,804 Current portion of lease liabilities 11 28,581 - TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 931,498 892,712 Long-term debt 10 793,107 723,913 Lease liabilities 11 193,173 - Pension and other post-retirement benefits 58,812 61,267 Deferred income tax liabilities 83,644 84,370 TOTAL NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES 1,128,736 869,550 TOTAL LIABILITIES 2,060,234 1,762,262 EQUITY Capital stock 12 681,451 680,157 Contributed surplus 41,958 42,016 Accumulated other comprehensive income 127,676 158,395 Retained earnings 325,460 270,981 TOTAL EQUITY 1,176,545 1,151,549 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $ 3,236,779 $ 2,913,811 Contingencies (note 18) See accompanying notes to the interim condensed consolidated financial statements. On behalf of the Board: Robert Wildeboer Director Terry Lyons Director Martinrea International Inc. Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) (unaudited) Three months ended Three months ended Note March 31, 2019 March 31, 2018 SALES $ 1,023,161 $ 963,900 Cost of sales (excluding depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets) (822,231 ) (783,859 ) Depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets (production) (43,429 ) (35,612 ) Total cost of sales (865,660 ) (819,471 ) GROSS MARGIN 157,501 144,429 Research and development costs (9,289 ) (6,684 ) Selling, general and administrative (60,858 ) (56,342 ) Depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets (non-production) (3,465 ) (2,446 ) Amortization of customer contracts and relationships (537 ) (530 ) Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment 111 14 OPERATING INCOME 83,463 78,441 Finance expense (including interest on lease liabilities) 15 (9,796 ) (6,501 ) Other finance income (expense) 15 (14 ) 1,972 INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES 73,653 73,912 Income tax expense 13 (18,385 ) (17,953 ) NET INCOME FOR THE PERIOD $ 55,268 $ 55,959 Basic earnings per share 14 $ 0.66 $ 0.65 Diluted earnings per share 14 $ 0.66 $ 0.64 See accompanying notes to the interim condensed consolidated financial statements. Martinrea International Inc. Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) (unaudited) Three months ended Three months ended March 31, 2019 March 31, 2018 NET INCOME FOR THE PERIOD $ 55,268 $ 55,959 Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax: Items that may be reclassified to net income Foreign currency translation differences for foreign operations (28,038 ) 39,433 Cash flow hedging derivative and non-derivative financial instruments: Unrealized gain in fair value of financial instruments 2,038 - Reclassification of losses to net income 371 - Items that will not be reclassified to net income Change in fair value of investments (776 ) (1,005 ) Transfer of unrealized gains on investments to retained earnings on change in accounting method (note 7) (4,314 ) - Remeasurement of defined benefit plans 1,085 2,075 Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax (29,634 ) 40,503 TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE PERIOD $ 25,634 $ 96,462 See accompanying notes to the interim condensed consolidated financial statements. Martinrea International Inc. Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity (in thousands of Canadian dollars) (unaudited) Accumulated other Contributed comprehensive Retained Capital stock surplus income earnings Total equity BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 2017 $ 713,425 $ 41,981 $ 94,268 $ 108,825 $ 958,499 Net income for the period - - - 55,959 55,959 Compensation expense related to stock options - 174 - - 174 Dividends ($0.03 per share) - - - (2,602 ) (2,602 ) Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax Remeasurement of defined benefit plans - - - 2,075 2,075 Foreign currency translation differences - - 39,433 - 39,433 Change in fair value of investments - - (1,005 ) - (1,005 ) BALANCE AT MARCH 31, 2018 713,425 42,155 132,696 164,257 1,052,533 Net income for the period - - - 129,924 129,924 Compensation expense related to stock options - 477 - - 477 Dividends ($0.135 per share) - - - (11,611 ) (11,611 ) Exercise of employee stock options 2,523 (616 ) - - 1,907 Repurchase of common shares (17,699 ) - - (7,814 ) (25,513 ) Estimated repurchase of common shares subsequent to year-end under an automatic share repurchase program with a broker (18,092 ) - - (5,779 ) (23,871 ) Other comprehensive income (loss) net of tax Remeasurement of defined benefit plans - - - 2,004 2,004 Foreign currency translation differences - - 33,177 - 33,177 Change in fair value of investments - - (1,862 ) - (1,862 ) Cash flow hedging derivative and non-derivative financial instruments: Unrealized loss in fair value of financial instruments - - (6,036 ) - (6,036 ) Reclassification of losses to net income - - 420 - 420 BALANCE AT DECEMBER 31, 2018 680,157 42,016 158,395 270,981 1,151,549 Net income for the period - - - 55,268 55,268 Compensation expense related to stock options - 314 - - 314 Dividends ($0.045 per share) - - - (3,724 ) (3,724 ) Exercise of employee stock options 1,294 (372 ) - - 922 Repurchase of common shares - - - (2,464 ) (2,464 ) Other comprehensive income (loss) net of tax Remeasurement of defined benefit plans - - - 1,085 1,085 Foreign currency translation differences - - (28,038 ) - (28,038 ) Change in fair value of investments - - (776 ) - (776 ) Transfer of unrealized gains on investments to retained earnings on change in accounting method - - (4,314 ) 4,314 - Cash flow hedging derivative and non-derivative financial instruments: Unrealized gain in fair value of financial instruments - - 2,038 - 2,038 Reclassification of losses to net income - - 371 - 371 BALANCE AT MARCH 31, 2019 $ 681,451 $ 41,958 $ 127,676 $ 325,460 $ 1,176,545 See accompanying notes to the interim condensed consolidated financial statements. Martinrea International Inc. Interim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) (unaudited) Three months ended Three months ended March 31, 2019 March 31, 2018 CASH PROVIDED BY (USED IN): OPERATING ACTIVITIES: Net Income for the period $ 55,268 $ 55,959 Adjustments for: Depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets 46,894 38,058 Amortization of customer contracts and relationships 537 530 Amortization of development costs 3,128 2,947 Unrealized loss (gain) on foreign exchange forward contracts 583 (1,304 ) Unrealized loss on warrants (note 7) 581 767 Finance expense (including interest on lease liabilities) 9,796 6,501 Income tax expense 18,385 17,953 Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment (111 ) (14 ) Deferred and restricted share units expense 2,132 302 Stock options expense 314 174 Pension and other post-retirement benefits expense 1,023 1,177 Contributions made to pension and other post-retirement benefits (1,258 ) (643 ) 137,272 122,407 Changes in non-cash working capital items: Trade and other receivables (112,987 ) (72,686 ) Inventories 16,067 (36,415 ) Prepaid expenses and deposits (2,952 ) (3,079 ) Trade, other payables and provisions 61,775 100,176 99,175 110,403 Interest paid (including interest on lease liabilities; excluding capitalized interest) (10,584 ) (6,933 ) Income taxes paid (28,465 ) (31,678 ) NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES $ 60,126 $ 71,792 FINANCING ACTIVITIES: Repurchase of common shares (26,335 ) - Increase in long-term debt 81,420 19,689 Repayment of long-term debt (4,081 ) (5,279 ) Principal payments of lease liabilities (7,275 ) - Dividends paid (3,817 ) (2,602 ) Exercise of employee stock options 922 - NET CASH PROVIDED BY FINANCING ACTIVITIES $ 40,834 $ 11,808 INVESTING ACTIVITIES: Purchase of property, plant and equipment* (77,418 ) (71,453 ) Capitalized development costs (2,316 ) (2,992 ) Investment in NanoXplore Inc. (note 7) (14,999 ) (680 ) Proceeds on disposal of property, plant and equipment 483 770 NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES $ (94,250 ) $ (74,355 ) Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (425 ) 957 INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 6,285 10,202 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, BEGINNING OF PERIOD 70,162 71,193 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, END OF PERIOD $ 76,447 $ 81,395 *As at March 31, 2019, $36,236 (December 31, 2018 - $45,341) of purchases of property, plant and equipment remain unpaid and are recorded in trade and other payables and provisions. See accompanying notes to the interim condensed consolidated financial statements. Vancouver, May 2, 2019 - Cache Exploration Inc. (the "Company", or "Cache"), (TSX-V:CAY) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 100% mineral interest in a gold project in Mali, Africa ("Mali Gold Project"). Mali Gold Project The Company has signed a definitive agreement with a private vendor Rachid Mogabgab (the "Vendor") to acquire a 100% mineral interest in a gold project in Mali, Africa. The acquisition includes an estimated $250,000 in mining equipment previously utilized at the Mali Gold Project. A finders' fee is payable on this transaction. This acquisition is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. The Kokoyon property is located in southwestern Mali. It is easily accessible by road, and is a 2 hours drive from the capital Bamako. The property is underlain by Birimian volcano-sedimentary rocks and granitic intrusives. The first work in the area started in 1989 with the Or Bagoe project, consisting of geochemical prospecting on a 1,000m x 250 m grid. In 1998, the Technical Assistance to the Mineral Sector Project re-analyzed the samples obtained during the Or Bagoe project. Anomalous results were obtained for the Kokoyon property with the highest being 9.9 g/t Au. In 2014-2015, a spanish operator established a medium size gravity plant to process material from a pit dug on the property. In 2015 the operations stopped, no reason was given, and no production records were reported. In 2017, during the course of a NI 43-101 report, a site visit was completed and 8 samples collected from the pit and assayed by SGS laboratory in Bamako. The size of the pit was evaluated at 6,500 m2, some samples were taken from gold panners rejects, and other were taken in situ. Gold results varied from 1.6 to 220.28 g/t Au including four results over 100 g/t Au. Geophysical, geological and soil sampling surveys followed by drilling are suggested to resume exploration on the property. Donald Theberge P. Eng. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical mining information provided on the Kokoyen property. CEO, Jack Bal Comments, "We are very excited to acquire this high grade Mali Gold project. The Company plans to explore the high grade Gold samples on the property immediately after approval of this project." As full consideration for the purchase the Company will issue to the Vendor: 1.2,500,000 common shares of the Company on the Closing Date at a deemed price of $0.05 per share subject to Exchange approval; and 2.$210,000 payable as follows: a.$35,000 upon TSX approval b. 7 payments of $25,000 payable every 3 months after Closing Date of the Definitive Agreement About Cache Exploration's Kiyuk Lake Gold Property The Kiyuk Lake Property covers 590 square kilometers in Kivalliq Region - Southwest Nunavut. The 2017 drill program confirmed and extended a known target and discovered significant gold mineralization at a new target area, East Gold Point (see Company Press Release, October 26, 2017). At Rusty Zone the Company not only confirmed that mineralization extends to 200m below surface but also intersected a previously unknown high-grade phase of 8m of 26.4 g/t gold. At the same time, the Company discovered extensive mineralization at East Gold Point with 64 m at 1.5 g/t gold and 10 m at 6.5 g/t gold. Prospecting returned two +5 g/t gold samples and the till campaign isolated two new anomalous areas that offer compelling evidence for further possible discovery. Kiyuk Lake 2017 Drilling Highlights (True width not determined yet) - KI17-001 at Rusty Zone returned 8m at 26.4 g/t gold from 108m - KI17-004 at Rusty Zone returned 122m at 1.8 g/t gold from 188m - KI17-005 at newly discovered East Gold Point Zone intersected: 64m at 1.5 g/t gold from 35m and 10m of 6.5 g/t gold from 248m Prospecting samples returned: - 5.57 g/t gold from west of the Rusty Zone - 5.60 g/t gold grab sample from north of Kiyuk Lake and from the newly identified Nansen target area One to two kilogram till samples collected in the field were screened to -230 mesh at the Bureau Veritas Minerals laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia before being digested using a dilute aqua regia digestion of a 30g subsample (code AQ252) and analyzed by ICP-MS for a suite of 37 elements, including gold. Data accuracy and precision is monitored with certified reference materials submitted with the samples and field duplicates, as well as through monitoring of laboratory internal standards and pulp duplicates. Drill core and rock samples are bagged and sealed and submitted to SGS in Red Lake, Ontario for sample preparation. Sample preparation involves crushing 2m lengths of split drill core to a nominal 75% passing 2mm, followed by pulverization of a 250-g split to a nominal 85% passing 75 microns. Gold analysis is completed in the SGS Red Lake lab with a 50g fire assay and AAS finish (code GE-FAA515). Samples returning >10g/t Au are re-assayed with a gravimetric finish (code GO-FAG505). Control samples (certified reference materials, coarse blanks and 1/4 core duplicates) were inserted on a regular basis. Laboratory internal standards, coarse crush duplicates and pulp duplicates are also monitored. Results are assessed for accuracy, precision and contamination on an ongoing basis. Please click http://cacheexploration.com/CAY-NR-10-26-17 to view: - Plan map of the Rusty Zone and East Gold Point - Detailed section showing the recent KI17-004 drill results - Plan map of the East Gold Point Zone - Detailed section showing the recent KI17-005 drill results - Maps of rock and till sampling results Qualified Person Chris Pennimpede, P. Geo., Vice President, Exploration and Director for the Company is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical mining information on Kiyuk Lake provided in this release. For more information about Cache Exploration, please visit: http://www.cacheexploration.com/ On behalf of the Board of Directors Cache Exploration Inc. "Jack Bal" Jack Bal Chief Executive Officer FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Jack Bal 604-306-5285 jackbal@cacheexploration.com FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the Kiyuk Lake Property and the Deep Lake Property: statements pertaining to the ability of Cache Exploration Inc. ("CAY"); the potential to develop resources and then further develop reserves; the anticipated economic potential of the property; the availability of capital and finance for CAY to execute its strategy going forward. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by CAY in light of its experience and perception of current and expected future developments, as well as other factors that CAY believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause CAY's results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including: discrepancies between actual and estimated results from exploration and development and operating risks, dependence on early exploration stage concessions; uninsurable risks; competition; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; currency fluctuations; defective title to mineral claims or property and dependence on key employees. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, 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 expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The TSX Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release Copyright (c) 2019 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. SPEED READ: Protesting teachers in South Carolina this week demanded more free-speech rights. Lawmakers across the country have proposed bills to punish teachers who strike. Teachers in Sacramento, Calif., and Oregon could strike later in the month. Do teachers need more free-speech protections? That's the case made this week by educators protesting in South Carolina.Thousands of South Carolina teachers rallied outside their state capitol Wednesday, demanding pay raises, more planning time, increased school funding -- and, in a twist, more legal protections for their freedom of speech.SC for Ed, the grassroots activist group that organized Wednesdays demonstration,told CNNthatmany teachers fear protesting or speaking up about education issues, worrying theyll face retaliation at work. Saani Perry, a teacher in Fort Mill, S.C., told CNN that people in his profession are expected to sit in the classroom and stay quiet and not speak [their] mind.To address these concerns, SC for Ed is lobbying for the Teachers Freedom of Speech Act , which was introduced earlier this year in the state House of Representatives. The bill would specify that "a public school district may not willfully transfer, terminate or fail to renew the contract of a teacher because the teacher has publicly or privately supported a public policy decision of any kind." If that happens, teachers would be able to sue for three times their salary.Teachers across the country are raising similar concerns about retaliation. Such fears aren't unfounded: Lawmakers in some states that saw strikes last year have introduced bills this year that would punish educators for skipping school to protest.In West Virginia, where striking teachers initiated a national wave of rallies last year, lawmakers considered a bill that would have withheld teachers' pay each day their protests closed schools. Teachers went back on strike to protest the bill , which was quickly abandoned. In Arizona, which also saw widespread teacher protests last year, legislators took up several protest punishment bills, including one that would have fined teachers $5,000 for school closures that they caused. In Oklahoma, lawmakers proposed making it illegal for teachers to protest (striking already is illegal) and revoking their certifications if they do."These cynical bills were written with one goal in mind: to retaliate against educators and the communities who stood up for public education during the walkouts," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told CNN in February.Supporters of the bills say their intent is to keep kids in school and to keep classes running.Most of the measures on either side of the debate -- to protect teachers' free speech or limit it -- aren't going anywhere fast. They're either stuck in commitee or have already died there as legislative sessions have ended.In Kentucky, teacher protests have divided the governor and the attorney general. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has subpoened school districts for the names of teachers who walked out earlier this year. In response, Democratic AG Andy Beshear sued to stop the governor's investigation earlier this week.Teachers and their unions are likely to remain in the national spotlight throughout this month. The Sacramento City Teachers Association is scheduled to hold a one-day strike -- its second of the year -- on May 22. And teachers in Oregon may walk off the job next Wednesday. Baltimore County's Del. Adrienne A. Jones was unanimously elected the next speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates on Wednesday, making history as the first woman and African American to hold the position.In a state that had never elected anyone but white males as speakers, Jones, 64, emerged as a compromise candidate -- endorsed by progressives, Republicans and the Legislative Black Caucus -- after an intense, closed-door battle between Baltimore's Del. Maggie McIntosh and Prince George's County's Del. Dereck Davis, both Democrats, produced no consensus winner.McIntosh initially won a vote of the Democratic Caucus by 58-40 over Davis, but then the Republican Caucus announced its 42 votes would go to Davis, setting up a bitter floor fight some feared would divide the state -- and the Democratic Party -- for years. That's when both McIntosh and Davis approached Jones, the quiet, but well-respected speaker pro tem who had bowed out of the race last week.When the House convened after hours of negotiations for the special session to elect the speaker, it was McIntosh who nominated Jones for the speaker's position. She was given a rousing standing ovation."These walls will never be the same!" declared McIntosh, referencing the large portraits of the past House speakers -- all white men.McIntosh said of Jones: "She is the hardest-working person in this House. I look around and think: 'How can she do all that?' She has, like, five jobs and she does them all with grace and dignity."Then Davis stood to second the nomination of Jones, whom he called "a dear friend.""'House of Cards' doesn't have anything on us. Talk about high drama," Davis said.He praised Jones' courage and conviction in leading the House in the final weeks of this year's General Assembly session, when Speaker Michael Busch was hospitalized with pneumonia. Jones served as Busch's second-in-command until his death on April 7.The final vote was 139-0. The House again rose for another standing ovation for Jones.At a news conference following the vote, Jones was flanked by Davis and McIntosh. She pointed to them and said: "It is because of these two individuals ... that I'm in this position that I am in today."After Busch's death, Jones said she waited several days to begin making calls in her bid for speaker, while her rivals immediately began working the phones in pursuit of votes. She dropped out of the race last week and endorsed Davis at a Legislative Black Caucus event in which she said she wanted to put party unity ahead of self-interest."Discussion went back and forth within our caucus in terms of who could get the 71 votes and because of these two individuals that put unity of this House before their own ambition ... they both came and talked with me separately that they would want me to be that person," Jones said of the vote Wednesday.Anne Arundel County Del. Nic Kipke, the House minority leader, appeared alongside the Democrats at a press conference and said Jones has been "a great friend" to the Republican delegates."Our Caucus is proud to have been a critical piece in this historic election and we offer heartfelt congratulations to the new Speaker of the House," Kipke said.Jones has been a member of the House since 1997, when she was appointed to fill a seat left vacant by the death of Del. Joan N. Parker. Jones was chairwoman of a subcommittee that handles the budget for state construction projects, putting her in touch with lawmakers around the state who seek support for projects in their districts.Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, celebrated the elevation of Jones, an alumnus. He called Jones' election an example of politicians working together for the common good."What we saw here in the Maryland House of Delegates is what we want to see in our country, which is people finding the common ground and focusing on the public good. That is the theme here today," Hrabowski said.Hrabowski said Jones, who earned a psychology degree from UMBC, is a hard-working leader who focuses on "evenness and a willingness to listen to different points of view."The race had grown nasty in its final stretch as Davis supporters attempted to win with Republican votes. Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Maya Rockeymoore Cummings tried to intervene in the fight -- calling it "unacceptable" for all Democrats not to unite behind the winner of the caucus vote.That prompted Del. Darryl Barnes, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, to accuse Rockeymoore Cummings of "bullying and threatening" his members.Then some delegates accused the Barnes of making a homophobic remark against McIntosh -- which he denied -- and some lawmakers began referring to the race as "toxic."After Wednesday's vote, Barnes said the Legislative Black Caucus was "extremely pleased" by Jones' victory."Since the first speaker was elected in 1777, no African American has held the post," he said. "I want to particularly thank all the members of the caucus for coming together to support Speaker Jones. Without them this historical vote would not have happened."Todd Eberly, a political scientist from St. Mary's College of Maryland, said Jones' willingness to step aside showed leadership."Last week Adrienne Jones was willing to walk away from the Speaker race and now she is the Speaker," he wrote on Twitter. "A person willing to give up power is precisely the type of person we should entrust with power."Ralph Moore, a longtime Baltimore activist who supported Jones' bid for speaker, said it was "only appropriate" she emerged victorious."I'm tired of seeing the upper reaches of our government either be all male and all white," Moore said. "Adrienne is qualified. It was her turn."Moore said he's known Jones since they were kids. Jones grew up in Arbutus and attended church with him in Harlem Park at Saint Pius Memorial Roman Catholic Church. He said he sees Jones' election as an opportunity to boost the Baltimore region from a powerful position in Annapolis.Moore noted that Jones' selflessness in stepping aside during the race in hopes of unifying the party ended up benefiting her."There's a certain karma in what happened," Moore said. "She was honorable, and that's not in large supply down there. Adrienne is great. It means there can be some change in our state. It was perfect in every way."Maryland's Speaker of the House has tremendous power to guide the direction of the state. Jones will be able to appoint committee chairs and make committee assignments and help dictate which legislative policies succeed or fail. She said she had no immediate changes to leadership positions."I didn't think I would be here when I left my house this morning," Jones said. Texas prison officials on Tuesday abruptly halted the practice of sharing death row inmates final written statements after a lawmaker expressed outrage over the state relaying the last words of an avowed racist executed for the 1998 dragging death of a black man, James Byrd Jr.It marks the second recent change to execution-day procedures in the nations busiest death chamber. Earlier this month, Texas also stopped letting clergy inside after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of a man who wanted his Buddhist spiritual adviser with him.Death penalty opponents criticized the back-to-back changes, saying they underscore a need for more oversight in decision making surrounding executions in Texas, where a fourth person this year is set to die by lethal injection Thursday.State Sen. John Whitmire had chastised prison officials Monday for reading John William Kings final written statement last week after he was executed for Byrds killing. (TNS) This week, both the Minnesota House and Senate released bills that included money for the Border-to-Border Broadband Grant Program; however, both bills take different directions in terms of money offered.The House Jobs Omnibus Bill passed 74-59 and includes $70 million in funding for the program, while on the other side of the aisle, the Senate Agriculture Omnibus Bill passed 43-24, but comes up $40 million short of the Houses number at $30 million.The House bill drew praise from the Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition; however, while not necessarily drawing criticism, the Senate bill did cause disappointment for the coalition as well as some members of the Senate including Senate Democrat Dan Sparks (27B).Its a very common sense thing, said Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition spokeswoman Judy Erickson. The Senate has said its a top priority for them, but were disappointed in the $30 million decision.Sparks applauded the addition of the money in the Senates bill, but also expressed disappointment in how much less was offered.I think obviously this program is very important in our area and across the state, he said. There are rural areas that are unserved and underserved. Our schools need it. Its not really a luxury, but a necessity.The original proposal, which came earlier in the session from the Senate, suggested an equal proposition as the Houses $70 million.In 2018, the Governors Broadband Tax Force showed in its annual report that $70 million every two years would meet state speed goals of 25mbps download and 5mbps upload for every business and home by 2022.Statutory speed goals of 100 mbps download and 20mbps upload by 2026 would also remain on track.However, should the $30 million proposed by the Senate go through, it could create a costly delay in reaching those goals.That delay would in turn affect farmers and small businesses economically, cutting into the efficiency of running their operations.If you live in an unserved, underserved area, the ability to do your work and connect to the world is limited, Erickson said. We have heard stories of people going to McDonalds to do their data upload. Its all about economic activity.Still, Sparks remains optimistic that hooking Minnesota up to broadband internet will continue forward as both sides appear dedicated to expanding it throughout the state.I think well be okay, he said. Its always tough to get these big budget bills off the House and Senate floors. I would say from a negotiating standpoint, were in pretty good hands. (TNS) Nassau County Executive Laura Curran on Tuesday extended the deadline for filing online tax challenges until 11:59 p.m. Friday after a county assessment website went down for nearly 12 hours on the eve of the filing deadline.Website outages continued Tuesday afternoon, even after Curran extended the deadline. A county spokeswoman called the situation "troubling," and said officials were monitoring the website to determine whether another extension is necessary.Hard-copy grievances can be filed at the county Assessment Review Commission's offices in Mineola until 4:45pm Friday, or be postmarked by May 3.Curran, a Democrat, said the website for filing challenges went down around 9:30 p.m. Monday and began working again at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.During the outage, links to the countys Assessment Review on The Web page directed taxpayers to an inactive page with the headline: The page cannot be displayed.The Assessment Review Commissions website was down temporarily overnight last night," Curran said Tuesday morning. "Now, Ive just been informed of intermittent failures this morning. Honestly, this is incredibly frustrating.Curran continued, We are working with the vendor to identify the problem. This is an old system. These problems have happened in past years. And it just shows the incredible need to update our technology. We inherited this technology and we are working hard to update it and modernize it.Curran said in a statement, "We apologize for any inconvenience."The county is undergoing its first countywide property reassessment in nearly a decade. Property owners have filed 245,908 grievances so far this year, compared with 241,011 by this time last year, officials said.The reassessment has been marked by errors and other issues. In November, for instance, the county said it would have to correct 20,000 tax disclosure notices because they included assessments that increased by more than the 6 percent allowed under state law.On Tuesday, Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) urged the Curran administration to extend the deadline for online grievances until Tuesday due to the website problems.Every resident deserves the right to challenge their assessment if they think that the county has assigned the wrong value," Nicolello said. "It is now clear that technological problems at the county may cause many residents to miss the deadline. We cannot allow this latest problem with reassessment to defeat the rights of the residents.Curran noted in an interview she already had asked the Assessment Review Commission to extend the grievance deadline from March 1 to April 30, "which is actually unprecedented. Its never stayed open this long, the grievance period, except for [after superstorm] Sandy.In response to Nicolello, Curran had said earlier Tuesday, I dont believe that an overnight website outage of less than 12 hours necessitates staying open for an extra week."Also Tuesday, Nassau County Legis. Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence) and Hempstead Town Tax Receiver Donald Clavin urged Curran to extend the Friday night deadline for online filings until May 7, arguing it was unfair to Orthodox Jewish residents who observe the Sabbath.Clavin, in a letter to Curran, called the extension deadline, "downright disrespectful to our Orthodox Jewish community. This is troubling and unfair."In a statement, Kopel urged Curran "to respect and accommodate the unique needs of the Orthodox residents of Nassau County and move the deadline to grieve to May 7th."Geed did not respond directly to Clavin's and Kopel's comments. But she called "troubling" the Assessment Review on the Web "system is not up and running consistently. We need a reliable website and we plan to monitor the situation and downtime over the next couple of days and determine whether an additional extension is needed." (TNS) Three years ago, the roof of Albert Pearce's home in the Southgate RV Park collapsed during Hurricane Matthew, leaving a gaping hole in his ceiling."The wind and the rain were coming in my house probably for about 28 hours," Pearce said. "I moved in with mom for for four months. I'm a grown man. I felt funny living with my mom, so I just went back home and started working on my house."Over the years, he's continued to work on his house using his own money after his homeowner's insurance failed to cover all the expense.On Wednesday, he was smiling as he signed papers to receive a $25,000 federal grant check that will reimburse him.The funds are coming from a federal program designed to help low-to-moderate-income residents repair homes damaged by storms.Pearce was the first recipient of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds to Fayetteville for Hurricane Matthew damage.The program also is offering Pearce about $11,000 worth of additional repair work if it's needed.Pearce is just one of many Fayetteville homeowners affected by Hurricane Matthew flooding who still are seeing relief.There were 12 homeowners who received state funding for home buyouts from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the remaining qualified homeowners should be paid by mid-May."We will be awarding more in the coming weeks," said Cynthia Blot, the economic and community development director for Fayetteville.A number of people who qualified for funding owned homes in Hollywood Heights, a low-lying area where homes have repeatedly sustained flood damage.The buyout program is designed to get rid of homes in low-lying areas with flooding. The total appraised property value for the homes is $1.326 million. Homeowners who received funds through the program had to be in the 100-year floodplain to qualify, but were not restricted based on their incomes."Those checks were based on pre-hurricane values," Blot said.The recovery funding awards began Wednesday. Horne LLP is facilitating the local process.Fayetteville City Council members have been critical of the amount of time it has taken for residents to get the federal funding.However, the reason for the the grant money delay was that it had to come after all other funding sources were exhausted, such as homeowners insurance and Federal Emergency Management Agency funding, Blot said.She said people still can apply for grant money."The Matthew (recovery programs) are closed," Blot said. "The Florence programs are open. We recommend everybody who is interested whether it's a business or a resident call 211 or go online and the application is there."Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@fayoberver.com or 910-486-3596.2019 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.)Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at www.fayobserver.com (TNS) 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.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.Since the beginning of 2016, seven different disasters have been declared across different parts 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.2019 the Houston ChronicleVisit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Infant mortality rate High school graduation rate Broadband connectivity Poverty rate Enrollment in federal programs such as Medicaid and SNAP County jail population How many followers the county has on social media Child support payments The countys credit rating Greenhouse gas emissions Job creation and retention Community development and demolition Internal county employee data (TNS) Cuyahoga County is tracking its own effectiveness and sharing the information with the public.The administration of County Executive Armond Budish on Tuesday launched a publicly accessible website containing performance-related data on subjects such job creation, pre-kindergarten programs and jail populations.Chief Innovation and Performance Officer Catherine Tkachyk told cleveland.com that the website also offers comparable data, when available, for similar counties in Ohio and elsewhere.Check out the website here. Information now posted on the site is from 2018 and the first quarter of 2019. But Tkachyk said her office will update the website quarterly to create a running tally of how well county government is meeting the needs of residents.In a Monday meeting with cleveland.com, Budish acknowledged that not all the information is positive. But he said he believes the public has a right to know about both the countys successes and shortcomings.This is not intended to be a PR-type report, he said. Were here to track our programs. The purpose for this is to impact our work as we go forward, so we can improve things.For example, the website reports on one of Budishs key initiatives, making available more high-quality, pre-kindergarten programs for children in the county.Data for the first quarter of 2019 show about 3,600 children enrolled, and about 88 percent of the open classroom spots filled. Going forward, the public will be able to see whether enrollment increases or declines, and whether those fluctuations are seasonal.Among the information the public can now check out for themselves:2019 Advance Ohio Media, Cleveland. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) The USDA has announced it is now accepting online applications for funding through a ReConnect Rural Broadband Pilot Program.The funding will enable the federal government to partner with the private sector and rural communities to build a modern broadband infrastructure in areas with insufficient Internet service. Insufficient service is defined as connection speeds of less than 10 megabits per second download and 1 megabit per second upload.Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said reliable high-speed broadband Internet is vital to improvements in education, health care, agriculture and manufacturing.Congress began appropriating funds for the new Rural e-Connectivity Pilot Program (ReConnect) in 2018.In the first round of funding, the agency is making at least $600 million available in rural broadband projects via $200 million in loan and grant combinations and $200 million in low-interest loans.Application deadlines for each of the funding packages are as follows: Friday, May 31, for projects that seek federal funds from the grants-only package; Friday, June 21, for projects seeking a combination of federal loans and grants; and Friday, July 12, for projects that seek low-interest federal loans.The $600 million appropriation from Congress more than doubles federal funding available through USDAs longstanding broadband programs. Future rounds of ReConnect funding will be announced later in the year.ReConnect funding applications can be submitted at reconnect.usda.gov 2019 the St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Mo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Is Space the Next Frontier for Innovation in Gov Tech? (TNS) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is gauging potential vulnerabilities of the type of voting machines that will soon be used in Georgia.The federal government will work with election officials to better understand the security and auditability of voting systems, said Scott McConnell, a spokesman for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , part of the Department of Homeland Security.This includes helping to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities for deployed systems as well as informing the development of future systems, McConnell said.Georgia is preparing to buy a $150 million statewide election system with voting machines called ballot-marking devices. Like the states current electronic voting machines, voters using the new ballot-marking devices will choose their candidates on touchscreens. Then printers will create paper ballots for voters to review and insert into scanning computers for tabulation.Federal scrutiny of voting technology comes after a study published last week pointed out weaknesses in ballot-marking devices.If ballot-marking devices are hacked or tampered with, they could print out falsified ballots, according to the study by three cybersecurity experts.Many voters won't bother to double-check their paper ballots, and those that do might not notice inaccuracies, the study says. When a voter does find a problem, he or she could fill out a replacement ballot, but theres no way to correct previous voters ballots affected by those problems.This is the essential security flaw of BMDs: Few voters will notice and promptly report discrepancies between what they saw on the screen and what is on the BMD print-out, and even when they do notice, there's nothing appropriate that can be done, wrote the studys authors, Princetons Andrew Appel, Georgia Techs Richard DeMillo and University of California, Berkeleys Philip Stark.In addition, the study warned that ballot-marking devices generally encode votes in bar codes alongside the printed text of voters' choices. Voters wouldn't be able to verify the accuracy of bar codes before they're scanned by tabulation computers.Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffenspergers office didnt provide comment when asked Tuesday whether ballot-marking devices are secure and accurate. Former F1 driver Thierry Boutsen thinks Ayrton Senna could have gone on to become president of Brazil. This week, the worlds of Formula 1 and sport more generally are marking the 25th anniversary of the Brazilian legend's death at Imola in 1994. One of Senna's best friends in the paddock was Boutsen. "I have his helmet on my desk," the Belgian told the Sporza broadcaster. "I see it every day and think about him every day. He was my friend and my son's godfather. He was family," the 61-year-old said. Boutsen says thinking about the Imola crash still causes him "a lot of pain". "But I also remember the beautiful moments," he said. "We often went on holiday together and were inseparable. We also flew around the world for races or tests. He was my best friend." And Boutsen also said Senna was simply the best. "He was clever, fast and could win a grand prix with an inferior car. He just had something more than the others," he said. "The best. "He always gave 100 per cent of himself in everything he did. In motor racing yes, but also in normal life. He still had many plans for the future." One of those plans, Boutsen thinks, was politics. "He was an idol for many people," he said. "He could easily have been president, he was that big. And his myth persists, because there is no second Senna and there will never be a second Senna." (GMM) Ballard Power Systems reached agreement with Weichai Ballard Hy-Energy Technologies Co., Ltd. (Weichai-Ballard JV) for the supply of a mix of certain fuel cell products and components that will be used in the assembly of modules to power zero-emission fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in China. The order will have a total value of approximately $44 million to Ballard. Once assembled by the Weichai-Ballard JV, final modules will be sold to Weichai Power Co., Ltd. to support initial deployments against Weichais commitment to supply a minimum of 2,000 fuel cell modules for commercial FCEVs in China. All products and components to be supplied by Ballard, as well as related applications engineering support, are planned for delivery in 2019 and 2020, and will be based on Ballards next-generation LCS stack technology. This is a very exciting next step for our Weichai-Ballard joint venture. Weichais commitment to support the deployment of 2,000 FCEVs in China is the largest to date globally. It will enable further fuel cell cost reductions as we move toward commercial scaling. Weichai intends to be at the forefront of zero-emission FCEV deployments in China. Since the closing of our strategic collaboration, we have been moving very quickly together to prepare the Weichai-Ballard JV manufacturing facility for the assembly of Ballard fuel cell stacks and modules. We anticipate the Weichai-Ballard JV facility will be operational by the end of 2019, positioning us with a strong set-up in the China market for 2020. Randy MacEwen, Ballard President and CEO Ballard closed a strategic collaboration transaction with Weichai in November 2018. The transaction includes: an equity investment by Weichai in Ballard in the amount of approximately $163.6 million, representing a 19.9% interest in the company; establishment of a joint venture company in Shandong Province, in which Weichai owns 51% and Ballard owns 49%, to support Chinas FCEV market, along with $90 million in technology transfer payments from the Weichai-Ballard JV to Ballard; and Weichais intent to support the deployment of at least 2,000 commercial FCEVs by 2021, using Ballard technology Established in 2002 and with listings on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges, Weichai Power Co., Ltd. is a leading automotive and equipment manufacturer specializing in the production of powertrains, automobiles, intelligent logistics, automotive parts and components. In 2017 Weichai manufactured more than 617,000 engines, 149,000 heavy duty trucks and 200,000 forklift trucks, and generated total revenue of 151.57 billion RMB (approximately $22.7 billion), with an employee base of 74,474 people. Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Toyota AI Ventures (TAIV) has launched Fund II, a new $100-million fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups developing technologies and business models in the autonomous mobility and robotics markets. Led by founding Managing Director Jim Adler, who also serves as executive advisor at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), Toyota AI Ventures was founded in July 2017 as a subsidiary of TRI. In less than two years, Toyota AI Ventures has invested in a diverse portfolio of 19 startups. Fund II brings the firms total assets under management to more than $200 million to invest in and to support promising startups around the world. Auto manufacturers must participate in the startup ecosystem to stay ahead of the rapid shift in the auto industry, said Jim Adler, managing director of Toyota AI Ventures. Investing in startups creates long-term relationships that help Toyota explore the latest innovations in mobility. Toyota AI Ventures looks for early-stage startups across a range of industries that are applying AI, data, and cloud technologies to tackle important problems and create new market opportunities. Existing investments include such diverse companies as: Elementary Robotics: Developing robotics platforms to assist with automating everyday tasks. Intuition Robotics: Creating social companion technologies using cognitive AI. Joby Aviation: Pioneering an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft service. May Mobility: Offering communities a Level 4 self-driving shuttle service. Sea Machines: Building autonomous control and navigation systems for the maritime industry. With Fund II, Toyota AI Ventures will expand its search for talented entrepreneurs to invest in as part of its mission to help discover whats next for Toyota. Toyota AI Ventures will also use Fund II to continue to strengthen its portfolio services. In addition to offering capital, TAIV partners with portfolio companies to provide ongoing support and resources to enable their long-term success, including assistance with product-market fit, and an opportunity to connect with Toyotas deep technical expertise and its extensive global network. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VWGoA) launched the Inclusive Mobility initiative, an industry-first effort to engage directly with disability groups early in the design of vehicle technologies, user experience and mobility services. Much of the public discussion around automated vehicle technologies has focused on safety, comfort, and convenience. However, for those who face continued barriers to safe, reliable, independent and affordable transportation, development of this technology has the potential to be a lifechanger. Transportation is the key to full participation in society. And for individuals with disabilities today, the options can be limited. Volkswagen is known as the peoples car company, and as the technology allows, we want to design vehicles that are more accessible. Scott Keogh, president and CEO, VWGoA The initiative began last year through outreach and collaboration with disability groups including the National Federation of the Blind, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF), and the National Association of the Deaf. Initial research efforts have included a series of expert and user interviews on disabilities related to mobility, vision, hearing, and cognition. VWGoA hosted a working meeting earlier this month to help find design solutions for securing wheelchairs in future autonomous and electric vehicles. The workshop included representatives from wheelchair manufacturers and securement providers, the We Will Ride Coalition of national disability organizations, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and Volkswagen AG. Theres been a lot of talk about what autonomous vehicles will provide, but for that potential to be realized, automakers will need to involve the disability community directly in the design and functionality of these vehicles. Thats why were so encouraged to be working with the Volkswagen Group from the outset. For the first time, an automaker has brought people together to begin to address the myriad of design, technical, safety and equity challenges that will need to be overcome. Carol Tyson, government affairs liaison for DREDF In addition to product development, the recent meeting focused on the need to create global safety standards for wheelchair securement in autonomous vehicles. Prezley Dillon lays on the floor, pretending to have been shot at the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport Saturday. The airport hosted an active shooter drill in coordination with emergency responders throughout Sweetwater County. As 147 people prepared to board a direct flight to Wendover, Nev., for long weekend of fun Saturday afternoon, airport and emergency management officials prepared for a situation everyone hopes won't ever happen. The Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport hosted an emergency response drill for several agencies, using an active-shooter scenario to test agencies' preparedness. The airport solicited volunteers to play the role of passengers caught up in the gunfire, some of whom ultimately needing treatment for injuries. According to airport manager Devon Brubaker, the airport hosts an emergency drill every three years. "It's a great learning opportunity," Brubaker said. Lt. Rich Fischer, operating the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office's mobile command vehicle, said their role was to provide assistance and backup to the Rock Springs Police Department, while also providing a mobile command post for the operation. Karla Roich from Sweetwater County Public Health said her organization was also on hand to provide support for the scenario, as well as monitor and provide a "hot wash" of the scenario, reviewing what went right or wrong and how to improve. For Jim Wamsley, Rock Springs Fire Department chief, the scenario gives the fire department a chance to see how they fit in with a hazardous environment like the aftermath of a shooting. He said each group of emergency responders has a risk tolerance and that tolerance is higher for some responders in certain situations. Using an example of a burning building, he said emergency medical services would not enter the building to save a person's life, but a firefighter would. He said the department responds to six or seven calls a day, many of which are not involved with fighting fires. Those calls may involve assisting someone who fell and cannot get back up, a hazardous materials spill and other situations. He said the role of the fire department has changed in the past several decades, where fires are only one part of the department's responsibilities and now have a much wider scope than simply fighting a fire. Shortly before the scenario started, volunteers at the airport donned protective head gear because the exercise would involve the use of a real handgun and special plastic rounds to simulate gunfire. Volunteers were told the rounds can be painful if struck by one and they're capable of injuring a person's eyes. Despite the heavy tone for the actual scenario, some volunteers remained light-hearted minutes prior to the event. For Green River residents Kurt and Will Allen, the event offered an opportunity for the two to see how a response would be made in an active shooter situation, as well as playfully rib each other beforehand. "If you die, just know I love you and I regret not insuring you," Kurt told his son. "I would not like to see that," Will said about being shot. "That would not be great -- that would be the opposite of great." Kurt said he was interested because he has participated in drills at Solvay, but had not seen a drill outside the plant. He said Will became interested in the event after reading a call for volunteers from the airport, deciding to sign up afterward. Once the shooting began, Will hid in a rental car office, shutting and locking the door before anyone else could come in. People acting injured after the shooting were transported by ambulance to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County where they received treatment. According to Deb Sutton, marketing and public relations director for Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, the hospital's portion of the scenario involved the treatment of people injured by gunshot wounds. Eight people were taken to the hospital, four of which were listed in critical condition. Sutton said the scenario helps the hospital gage its response in its emergency room while giving staff a chance to review how its chain of command works to provide the best care possible. "It's an amazing process, everyone does their job," Sutton said. She said the hospital was fortunate to not be busy during the scenario, giving staff a better chance to work through the scenario. Circuit Court Judge John Prokos set bond for Joaquin Leon-Guzman at $750,000 cash or surety Tuesday afternoon, citing Leon-Guzman as a flight risk. Leon-Guzman, 33, is charged with felony aggravated assault and battery and three misdemeanor counts of reckless endangering stemming from him allegedly shooting at bystanders in front of the Bareback Saloon in Rock Springs early Sunday morning. One person was injured in the shooting. If convicted, Leon-Guzman could face up to 10 years in prison, three years in jail and a total fine of $12,250, not including court costs. He was lucky no one was killed, Kristi Pucci, representing the Sweetwater County Attorneys Office, said during Leon-Guzmans initial appearance hearing. Even if Leon-Guzman can provide the bond amount, he is under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, which according to Prokos means Leon-Guzman could be shipped to another holding facility and would not be released before his trial. According to court documents, officers with the Rock Springs Police Department responded to the Bareback Saloon at 1:27 a.m., Sunday to a report of shots fired outside the club and a person being injured. Witnesses at the club described the shooter as being a Hispanic male with a beard driving a black, lifted Dodge pickup truck. While processing the scene, officers found two bullet defects on the lower part of the building where four people were standing. One man, Kory White, was shot in the upper thigh during the incident and was transported to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. The bullet entered and exited Whites thigh and hospital personnel claimed the injury was not fatal. In a statement White gave to officers, White said he and three other people were standing outside the clubs front entrance when a bearded Mexican in a black lifted truck drove in front of the club and yelled towards the group in Spanish. He claimed the man aimed a rifle in their diction and heard two pops. White said he thought the man fired at them and believed the rifle was a .22 caliber because the pops werent loud. White then said he went into the bar and passed out at the entrance. The truck was later found near the Fire District No. 1 building on College Hill, with Leon-Guzman being the sole occupant in the vehicle and matching the description provided to officers. During a search of the vehicle, officers found a .22 caliber model AR-15 rifle, laying on the back seat. Leon-Guzman was then transported to the RSPD for questioning, while his truck logged as evidence for processing. During an interview at the police department, court documents state Leon-Guzman said he initially went to the Bareback Saloon at 11 p.m. that night. He went to the bar for a drink, but the bartender denied him alcohol. After he bought a drink from another woman at the bar and proceeded to play pool. Later, he offered to buy other patrons a round of drinks and the bartender told him he wouldnt do that and was told to leave. Leon-Guzman said the bartender called him a an expletive Mexican and escorted him outside. Once outside, he said the bartender kicked him multiple times in front of a group of bystanders who did not intervene. Leon-Guzman said he thought he heard the group say kill him as he was attacked and said a bouncer came out and kicked him as well, but wasnt entirely sure. Leon-Guzman, feeling enraged over how he was treated, said he went to his truck and drove in front of the club, pulling out a .22 caliber rifle and firing in the direction of four people standing near the entrance. Court documents state he told officers he wasnt shooting at anyone in particular, just shooting because he was upset. He claimed he was unaware someone was injured during the shooting. Documents also claim he said he would take full responsibility for his actions and that he did not mean to hurt anyone. I apologize for what I did. I did not consider the people who were there, Leon-Guzman said through an interpreter at the hearing Tuesday. How an early retirement of two units at the Jim Bridger Power Plant will impact the countys valuation remains to be seen, but Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis said the valuation of the plant itself may change. Last week, Rocky Mountain Power released an updated study which suggested its customers could save $248 million if the company sped up plans to retire four coal using power units at two plants in Southwestern Wyoming. Two of the units are at the Jim Bridger plant, while the other two are at the Noughton Plant in Lincoln County. The retirements are anticipated to start as ear... With news that Rocky Mountain Power is considering an early retirement for two of the four units at the Jim Bridger Power Plant, Sweetwater County needs determined and thoughtful leadership now more than any time in the last 30 years. One thing we would like to stress to the areas elected officials is while we can take some solace in the fact the company intends to continue operating the Bridger plant until 2037, we shouldnt act like that is a promise to operate the plant until then. Further analysis may show the company could save money by closing the plant sooner, similar to the stu... Three teenagers families are hosting a fundraiser to help raise money for a trip and a service dog. Jaron Shereda and Timmy Golightly are trying to raise money for a trip to New York City to attend the Open Jar Acting Institute. While on this trip, both Green River High School students will have the opportunity to attend five days of high-intensity workshops in acting, singing, dance and audition techniques. All of these workshops will be taught by Broadway professionals. They will also have the opportunity to attend a few Broadway shows. Not only will they see musicals and plays, but w... A Green River High School sophomore is trying to raise money to pay for a service dog to help her manage her Type 1 diabetes. "I was diagnosed Oct. 5, 2017, with Type 1 diabetes," Mya Tollefson said. "My pancreas was attacked by my body and not working, so I have to take insulin." While Tollefson was at school, her friend, Delaney Gardea, was telling her about service dogs that can detect when someone' blood sugar is too low or too high. "I didn't know what she was planning," Tollefson said. "I got a surprise for you." Tollefson said Gardea told her she was going to get her a service dog. "... Danielle, Sylvia and Kara react to something Climb Wyoming Program Director, Brittany Gray said at their graduation ceremony. For 10 single mothers, it was an evening to show family members and the community how important the Climb Wyoming program is to them. Climb Wyoming is a nonprofit organization that provides free job training programs for single mothers. They have trainings available in Rock Springs, Jackson, Gillette, Laramie, Cheyenne and Casper. According the Climb Wyoming's website, "On average, Climb graduates more than double their monthly income, reduce or remove their need for government assistance, and are still in jobs over two years after completing the program. To date, we've helped more than 2,... GREENSBORO A tip from the public led Greensboro police to the body of a man missing since 2016 who died from a gunshot wound. Gary Terrell Everette, 25, faces first-degree murder and concealment of death charges after police found 22-year-old Darace Xavier Bolton dead in a small community in Brunswick County. If convicted, Everette could face the death penalty or life in prison on the murder charge and two years in prison on the concealment charge. In a first appearance Wednesday, Chief District Court Judge Tom Jarrell appointed the capital defender's office to represent Everette and denied him bail. Steve Cole, Guilford's chief assistant district attorney, told Jarrell that Bolton was reported missing in September 2016. Cole said in October 2018, police received a tip that matched information officers had already developed about the case. The tip led them to Bolton's body off a road in Winnabow. DNA and an autopsy confirmed the body belonged to Bolton and that he had been shot. Cole said from there police developed Everette as the suspect. Everette, who had previous drug and gun convictions, was out of jail on a $152,500 bail on pending drug and gun charges when he was arrested Tuesday. Contact Danielle Battaglia at 336-373-4476 and follow @dbattagliaNR on Twitter. Taft Wireback (April 18) reports that state Rep. John Faircloth now wants to modify a state law he himself introduced. But the omission of background context from Wirebacks report, as informative as it was, limited its communication of just how dangerous for democracy this law really is. Passed in 2016, Faircloths law declares that all police recordings are not public records and are not subject to public disclosure except by court order But why does the police bureaucracy want to conceal what once were public records? Before that original bill, HB 972, became law, there was discussion in these pages (and elsewhere) about why the Greensboro Police Department was putting video from body-worn cameras into personnel files when such videos were public records. Ultimately, the reason given was that this oddball practice protected the Fifth Amendment rights of police officers. But in Walder v. United States (1954) the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the Fifth Amendment cannot be used to suppress a public record. A national consumer advocacy group is urging federal energy regulators to reject certain incentives being sought by The United Illuminating Co. as the Orange-based utility company seeks to replace its Pequonnock substation in Bridgeport with a newer one. The group Public Citizen said one of three incentives UI is seeking approval for from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would add $6.5 million to the price tag of Pequonnock substation project, which the company has said in regulatory filings is expected to cost in excess of $100 million. The project, expected to break ground during the third quarter of this year, would relocate the existing substation at 1 Atlantic St. to higher ground a short distance away. In addition to relocation of the substation, the existing transmission and distribution lines that connect to the facility would have to be moved, as well. The project is expected to be completed and the new substaion put into service by December 2022, according to regulatory filings. Tyson Slocum, energy program director for Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen, said the project is needed, but he objected to an incentive added for increased risks and challenges of the project. UI and its shareholders should share in the responsibility for this project, not be seeking incentives on top of incentives, Slocum said Thursday. When Connecticut and New England deregulated the electric utilities it was because we needed a new paradigm in terms of risk, one that shifted away from ratepayers facing it alone. The issue is before FERC because the agency has authority over transmission projects and substations are considered to be part of that segment of the electric grid, according to Ed Crowder, a UI spokesman. If FERC approves the request UI has made, the project would be paid for by all electric ratepayers in New England rather than just UI customers alone, because transmission improvements are usually considered to benefit the entire region rather than just one specific area. FERC offers these incentives to encourage companies like ours to invest in projects like this, Crowder said. Crowder said regarding the incentive that Public Citizen is opposing, it is not safe to assume that translates directly to a rate increase. We always have projects on the books to maintain, modernize and harden our transmission and distribution infrastructure, he said. Pequonnock is a particularly big project, but its one among many. As new assets come into service, they become part of the rate base and costs are recovered via rates during their service life. At the same time, Crowder said, other assets are depreciating in value or being taken out of service, reducing the overall rate base. It will be spread across a lot of ratepayers over a long time, an estimated40 years, he said of the cost of the Pequonnock project. UI is claiming it needs this incentive because it doesnt have access to the necessary expertise and capital for the project, Slocum said. Such a claim is dubious, according to Slocum, because UI is owned by Spanish energy giant Iberdrola. That claim may have been true when they were a small, independent utility, but it isnt now, he said. Joining Public Citizen as intervenors in the case are the Connecticut Attorney Generals Office and the state Office of Consumer Counsel, Slocum said. The company, he said, is asking FERC to have Public Citizens intervenor status revoked, even though a decision by the agency on the companys filing likely only is a month away. They have high-powered attorneys who they pay a lot of money to flex the companys muscle, Slocum said. UI is proposing the relocation nearly seven years after storm surge from Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012 forced officials with the utility to de-energized the sub-station to protect it from flood damage. The company spent $11 million in 2013 to implement interim measures to protect the Pequonnock substation and six others in Bridgeport and New Haven from flooding during severe storms. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com GREENWICH Revenues and profits dipped in the first quarter for transportation-and-logistics giant XPO Logistics, reflecting a recent nine-figure loss of business from its largest customer, the company reported this week. Revenues dropped about 2 percent year-over-year, to $4.12 billion. Profits fell to $43 million, from $67 million a year ago. XPO officials disclosed in February a $600 million hit, worth two-thirds of its transactions with a client that it is widely believed to be Amazon. Its results were also affected by foreign-currency exchange factors, increased interest expenses and a higher effective tax rate. Executives said they were still optimistic about the companys future, pointing to it closing in the past quarter on $1.1 billion of new business, up 15 percent year-over-year. XPO also grew its sales pipeline to a record $4.1 billion. I dont think were 100 percent out of the woods yet on the curveballs weve had in the last year, but were making excellent progress faster progress than I would have expected three months ago, XPO CEO Bradley Jacobs said on a call Thursday with investment analysts. Company shares closed Thursday at about $64, down 4.5 percent from their Wednesday finish. XPO officials also said they did not anticipate that the controversy embroiling top 20 customer Boeing will affect financial performance. Two of Boeings 737 Max 8 planes were involved in fatal crashes last October, in Indonesia, and last February, in Ethiopia, that killed a total of over 350 people. The issues theyve got with their various products have not affected us for the time being, Jacobs said. Were going to watch it and see how it develops. It could, potentially, in the future. But it wouldnt be material to our overall results. Meanwhile, XPO has faced growing scrutiny of its labor practices. It announced in February that a warehouse in Memphis, Tenn., that is the source of employee allegations of pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment, will close due to what XPO described as an overall business model change by the plants customer, which is believed to be Verizon. All of the facilitys 375 hourly workers will be able to get new jobs at the same wage levels and without having to apply again at 11 other Memphis-area distribution centers, XPO said. In addition, XPO plans to hire 80 for a new warehouse opening across the street from the facility that is closing. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union which does not represent any of the centers workers, but is an outspoken critic of XPOs labor practices has described the shutdown as retaliation. XPO said it has a strict no-retaliation policy in place that applies to the company, as well as individuals. As media coverage of the Memphis facility grew, the company announced last December a new policy for the care and support of pregnant workers that includes paid family leave, pregnancy and postpartum benefits, and flexible working arrangements. Eligible workers will receive their regular base wages while they used their accommodations and will still qualify for pay increases during that time. In February, XPO announced a program for U.S. employees and their families that gives them mobile-app access to a network of more than 1,400 health practitioners across 20 specialties, including fertility, lactation, infant sleep, nutrition and mental health. pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott GREENWICH In the wake of the horrific Poway Chabad House shooting last weekend, Chabad of Greenwich is encouraging local Jews to stand together and Share Shabbat by joining synagogue services this weekend. Additionally, Chabad encourages Jewish women and girls to honor Lori Kaye, who was murdered in her synagogue, by lighting candles before Shabbat, as she did each week. They also ask Jewish men to put on tefillin before Shabbat in honor of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein who lost a finger in the shooting, which, injured two others. The gunman wanted Jews to cower in fear, leaving synagogues empty, said Rabbi Yossi Deren, firector of Chabad of Greenwich. Lets fill up Greenwichs Chabad Center and synagogues to show that we will never back down in the face of hatred. Chabad will hold Shabbat services at 6:45 p.m. Friday and at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with the Sermon entitled The Power of Poway at 11 a.m. Prayers for the recovery of those wounded in the attack will be offered. That service will be followed by a community kiddush social. Cold-blooded, fanatical hatred can only be uprooted by filling our world with pure, undiscriminating love and acts of kindness, said Deren. Lets stand proud of our heritage. After the shooting last Saturday, Deren flew across the country to check on Goldstein, who is a longtime friend. When Deren arrived in California, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who had been shot in the hand in the attack on Chabad of Poway, jumped up and gave him a hug. The two rabbis shared a greeting, exchanging words from the prophets. Man must help his fellow, Goldstein said. And Deren responded by saying, And brother must give strength to his brother. The two longtime friends had time for only a brief visit, but it was a meaningful one. The Chabad movement around the world is a very tight-knit organization, Deren said. The suspect, 19-year-old John Earnest, has been charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder, and could face the death penalty if convicted. The shooting occurred on the sixth-month anniversary of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were killed and seven more injured. Deren returned to Greenwich from his visit, hoping to make a difference locally as incidents of hatred and bigotry seem to be increasing globally. This is not about Chabad, Deren said. This is not about people being murdered while they are in bible study at their church. This is not about people being murdered while going to their mosque. Its about an entire society where we are raising children who can turn into monsters who are capable of committing acts like these and are capable of going to their schools and killing their classmates, he said. You look at this and you have to ask, What have we done? We have to have a response for this. As part of the local response, police and elected officials in Greenwich are inviting all local clergy to attend a summit on security at houses of worship. It will be held May 7 at police headquarters. The police departments advisors will review current topics, threat analysis, security recommendations and situational awareness. Police Chief James Heavey and First Selectman Peter Tesei will speak. In calling for synagogue attendance this weekend, Deren also quoted his Goldstein, who just moments after the attack said: We are going to stand tall, we are going to stand proud of our heritage. If a little light can dispel a lot of darkness, than many lights can truly illuminate the whole world. For more information on the weekend services, visit Chabadgreenwich.org/ShareShabbat. GREENWICH A National Day of Prayer gathering was held Thursday afternoon in the Meeting Room at Greenwich Town Hall. The Town of Greenwich welcomed community religious leaders in a celebration of different religions through scripture readings and prayers for the nation, education, military, government, family, business and media under the theme "love one another." GREENWICH Greenwich Country Day School has acquired another Greenwich Public Schools administrator as it prepares to add a high school this fall: Director of Communications Kimberley Eves. Eves snow-day emails brought joy to students and caused parents to change their plans. Her annual Community Service Awards brought together past and present administrators to recognize stellar students who give back. Eves, a district veteran of nearly two decades, is the face behind the districts new website, its community engagement efforts and its communications during crises. For almost 19 years, the Greenwich Public Schools has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to combine my passions for communications and education in a career path that I love, Eves said. During my time with the Greenwich Public Schools I have had the opportunity to work with and forge friendships with some of the most intelligent, caring, hard-working and dedicated people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Now, she follows former Greenwich High School headmaster Chris Winters, who last summer accepted the job of creating the new upper school at Country Day. I have a rare opportunity to take on a new and exciting challenge at Greenwich Country Day School as they launch a new high school after over 90 years as a nursery through Grade 9 school, she said. I will truly miss working with our amazing GPS team. Eves has also communicated strategic planning and support for the districts 15-year master facilities plan, developed the districts Family and Community Engagement Standards, coordinated the opening of the new New Lebanon School as a magnet school and developed a strategic communications action plan for the districts transition to a digital learning environment. Kim Eves has devoted the last 19 years of her life to the Greenwich Public Schools, Interim Superintendent of Schools Ralph Mayo said. She cares deeply about our district and the students that attend our schools. Communication is just a small portion of her current position as she has used all of her skills and extensive knowledge to help develop and implement multiple strategies in support of the districts strategic plan to keep the district moving forward on many fronts. Mayo said he was saddened by her departure. We wish her well in her new position and will truly miss her smile and positive attitude as she moves on to the next phase of her career, he said. The search process for a new director of communications will begin immediately. Eves began her career as an accounts supervisor for Opt-X Advertising in Clifton, N.J., before establishing Dearborn Associates in Old Greenwich in 1995. Beginning in 1998, she spearheaded and served as a co-founder of the International School at Dundee in the Greenwich Public Schools, which opened as the districts first public magnet school in 2001. She became the communications director in 2000. Eves received a bachelors degree in business administration from Northeastern University in Boston and a masters degree in strategic communications from Columbia University. Eves is affiliated with the National School Public Relations Association, and serves as the Connecticut Chapter President. She is a co-founder and GPS liaison member of the Greenwich Alliance for Education, an ex-officio member of the Greenwich Distinguished Teachers Awards Committee and a member of the United Way of Greenwich Community Planning Council. jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com NEW HAVEN Theres a new coffee shop on College Street. But not so fast. The Shiru Cafe, which bills itself as an innovative new networking concept aimed at connecting college students with employers, serves only university students, faculty, and staff who register for free coffee and access to Wi-Fi at cafe locations via a branded app, according to the companys release. Thursday marked the second day that the cafe was open in New Haven. In the early afternoon, under a warm May sun, a young woman walked up to the double-door entrance and tried the left handle. It was locked, but the right side opened easily. The woman stepped inside. At a set of tables by the window, several students worked on their laptops; more sat in niches near the back of the coffee shop. According to store manager Barbara Jeanne Lafond, Shiru Cafes New Haven branch served some 100 people on its opening day. All of those people had to be affiliated with a university, either as students, faculty or staff. A spokeswoman for a firm representing Shiru said baristas check IDs of patrons to ensure they are a student or faculty member. Lafond said non-university students have frequently tried to come into Shiru, especially from the nearby Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. When asked what explanation staff offer those not eligible for service, Lafond said they describe the companys mission. Were more of a recruiting location than we are a business, she said. Its about making sure that we stick with our mission and our morals and our values, Lafond said. But what are those values? Were completely all about the student life, said Lafond, who added that Shirus goal is to help students make it through college and land in the workplace by connecting them with recruiters. Students register to use Shirus services through an app, and in that process they inform Shiru of their course of study, Lafond said. According to the Shiru Cafe website, customers provide information that will help the company give them the most relevant information about events and opportunities available through Shiru. The site gives describes the process further: For example, if you indicated that you are interested in non-profits, we will put extra effort to notify you on non-profit related events and opportunities. We never give the data you provide to anyone else, and you can choose to include as much or little about yourself in the questions we ask. You always have the option to add or delete anything that you previously entered too. Recruiters cannot directly contact the students, Lafond said, but Shiru instead acts as an intermediary, emailing students about opportunities at various partner companies. Those companies, which Lafond referred to as partners, buy in to Shiru financially, and often use the space to give talks and network with students, Lafond said. This is a unique way...of recruiting. Opportunities from Shirus partners flash on three TV screens mounted on a cafe wall. Right now, some of the partners include the marketing agency Racepoint Global and the veteran-geared organization Service After Service, Lafond said. Students registered with Shiru get access to the cafes WiFi, its charging outlets and one free coffee every two hours, Lafond said. Specialty coffees, like lattes, and coffee to go cost $1 each, and pastries match the price at which Shiru bought them from vendors, according to Lafond. At the New Haven location, Shiru gets their pastries from Katalinas on Whitney Avenue, and their coffee from Downeast Coffee Roasters, Lafond said. Related: Service allows students to take virtual tours of prospective firms Were excited to see a concept like Shiru Cafe open its doors in downtown New Haven. The relaxed and comfortable environment complete with technology plans to take networking and information sharing among students and the business community to another level, Tameika Miller, vice president of marketing & events at the Greater New Haven Chamber, said in a release from Shiru . The Chapel Street location was officially opened by Shiru Cafe CEO Yuliy Kakimoto, who traveled from Kyoto for the ceremony, per the same release. We are excited to continue to expand the Shiru Cafe network of students and employers and believe that New Haven is the perfect community for our mission of connecting students with the professional world, he said, according to the release. Shiru Cafes welcoming environment and comfortable off-campus meeting space provides an alternative to the traditional landscape of corporate campus recruiting. Founded in Japan in 2013, there are two other Shiru Cafes now operating in the United States: in Amherst, Mass. and Providence, R.I. After the company announced their 2018 opening in Providence, two undergraduate students wrote a letter to the Brown Daily Herald asking their peers to boycott Shiru, noting that they help recruit students to corporations, like JP Morgan, whose principles are frequently at odds with those of our community. Within a 10 mile radius of Southern Connecticut State, Quinnipiac, New Haven and Yale Universities, this is the third location for Shiru Cafe USA, part of a 25-strong global network of cafes also in Japan and India, the company says. We believe that New Haven holds promise for Shiru Cafe due to its variety of top-notch universities and thriving business community, said Isabel Strobing, VP of Client Strategy, Shiru Cafe USA, in the release. We work closely with local and regional employers who partner with us at each of our locations to connect with students about internship and job opportunities. We look forward to working with national, as well as greater New Haven employers, now that weve established a presence in the city. WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has signaled in recent weeks that it may seek the permanent renewal of a surveillance law that has, among other things, enabled the National Security Agency to gather and analyze Americans' phone records as part of terrorism investigations, according to five U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The White House, these officials said, was prepared to issue a public statement calling on Congress to reauthorize in full Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which in the past has been the focus of heated debate over the acceptable bounds of government surveillance. The plan to issue a statement was put on hold, officials said, but it illustrates nonetheless where the administration stands on the contested issue of national security authority. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an issue that remains deeply sensitive. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment or explain why the statement was not issued, saying only that the matter is still under deliberation. Section 215 was last revised in 2015 as part of the USA Freedom Act after a former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, exposed how the government was collecting vast quantities of Americans' phone logs to be able to scan them for clues to terrorist plots. This "metadata" denoted the calls' time, date and duration, and who called whom, but did not include the conversations' content. The ensuing uproar led Congress to impose restraints, and last year, the NSA reportedly suspended the program because of technical issues that put Americans' privacy at risk. The statute expires in mid-December, and the reported suspension of the phone records program had raised questions about whether the Trump administration would seek to renew it. National security officials widely expect the administration to call for Congress to reauthorize the law without changes. But the statute, which dates to 1998, empowers more than just the phone logs program. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress expanded the law to enable agencies investigating suspected espionage and terrorism to request court permission to gather data not just from a narrow set of businesses - such as hotels, warehouses and car rental agencies - but also from any third party. And they could seek data related not just to "agents of a foreign power" but also to anyone whose information would be "relevant" to an ongoing investigation. Allowing the law to lapse would "reset the clock back to 1998 and gut much more than the phone data aspect," said Robert Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "It would set the general document collection power back to a highly narrow authority limited to a handful of industries." Moreover, analysts note, the NSA might want to restart the phone logs program in the future if it can figure out how to make such data collection viable without violating citizens' privacy rights. Preserving the full authority would permit that. It remains a polarizing issue, however. Last May, the NSA purged hundreds of millions of call and text records after officials noted "technical irregularities" in data received from phone companies. Some was material it was "not authorized to receive," the NSA reported. The program's utility also is in question as terrorists have largely moved to secure communications that don't always leave metadata, analysts said. "While I have doubts about reauthorizing the [phone data] program, I'm certainly open to hearing from the intelligence community about all the authorities set to expire near the end of 2019," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate Intelligence Committee's 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 it's 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." Nakasone said at a conference recently that the NSA was in discussions with other agencies and the White House about the path forward on Section 215. It would likely be "a little bit of time" before a decision is made, he said. Section 215 "remains a relatively useful authority and is probably not objectionable given the reforms made to it in 2015," said one congressional aide, who was not authorized to speak on the record. But, the aide said, the administration should expect lawmakers from both parties to object to its permanent renewal. And civil liberties advocates likely will seek to strengthen the law's privacy protections. In 2017, NSA collected more than 500 million records from phone companies for just 40 terrorism suspects, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That's a staggering number, considering they were gathered under the 'reform' version of the program that was supposed to protect Americans' privacy rights," said Neema Singh Guliani, senior legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union. Last year, the number was 434 million for 11 targets, according to a report ODNI issued Tuesday. That was despite the program reportedly having been suspended for part of the year. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has called for Congress to strip from Section 215 the authority to collect phone logs. "It is increasingly clear to me that the NSA's implementation of reforms to the phone records dragnet has been fundamentally flawed," he said in a statement. Also expiring in December are two authorities the FBI has supported. The "lone wolf" provision enables the government to seek a surveillance order on non-U.S. suspects in a national security probe who cannot be linked to a foreign terrorist organization or other foreign power. The "roving wiretap" authority enables the FBI to seek one wiretap order for a criminal suspect and continue using it even if the suspect switches phones. The White House was prepared to seek the permanent renewal of those powers as well, officials said. Nakasone noted last month that the program grew from 9/11, "when we had a difficult time understanding that there were foreign terrorists that were making calls into the United States." Phone metadata helped identify links to terrorists, he said, adding: "It does have a place. The question becomes is this a tool that we continue to need to have for our nation's security?" Actor Peter Mayhew, known as the man behind the mask of Chewbacca in the original Star Wars trilogy, died Tuesday. He was 74. His family was by his side at his North Texas home, his family said Thursday in a news release announcing his death. The 7 foot, 3 inch Mayhew played the beloved and furry Chewbacca, sidekick to Han Solo and co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon, in the original Star Wars trilogy. "He was the gentlest of giants," said "Star Wars" legend Mark Hamill. "A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him. Thanks Pete." Mayhew went on to appear as the Wookiee in 2005s Revenge of the Sith and shared the part in 2015s The Force Awakens with actor Joonas Suotamo, who later took over the role. By that time, the actor was fighting his way to stand from being wheelchair-bound. He put his heart and soul into the role of Chewbacca and it showed in every frame," the family said in a statement. Mayhew developed lifelong friendships with the other Star Wars actors and spent three decades traveling the world to meet his fans, the statement says. Mayhew's portrayal of the beloved "Star Wars" character also was integral to the trilogy's success, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said. "When I first met Peter during 'The Force Awakens,' I was immediately impressed by his kind and gentle nature," she said. "Peter was brilliantly able to express his personality through his skillful use of gesture, posture, and eyes. We all love Chewie and have Peter to thank for that enduring memory." Mayhew, a native of London, established a foundation to support "everything from individuals and families in crisis situations to food and supplies for children of Venezuela during their recent road to freedom," the family's statement says. Born and raised in England, Mayhew had appeared in just one film and was working as a hospital orderly in London when George Lucas found him and cast him in 1977s Star Wars. Mayhew is survived by his wife, Angie, and three children. A memorial service for friends and family is planned for June 29. A public memorial for fans will be held in December at EmpireConLA. The "Star Wars" fans convention is set for Dec. 6-8. Instead of gifts and flowers, the family asks that donations be considered for his foundation. The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report. / Greenwich Police Department GREENWICH A man who allegedly ran from officers, while in possession of 13 grams of cocaine, is facing another round of drug charges, Greenwich police said. Vincent Tyrone Chambless, 29, of Grace Church Street, Port Chester, N.Y., was pulled over by officers for driving with overly tinted windows on his BMW sedan in December, according to police. An officer smelled the odor of marijuana, giving police probable cause to search the vehicle, police said. 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 South Korea was the first country to introduce commercially available 5G at the beginning of April and according to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the country's three telecoms now boast a combined 260,000 subscribers for the next gen networks. Out of the three main carriers, Korea Telecom (KT) takes the leading spot with 100,000 subscribers while SK Telecom and LG Uplus have not disclosed their exact 5G customer count. The rapid push towards 5G has caused some issues for early adopters, who reported connectivity problems with the first 5G capable device - Samsungs Galaxy S10 5G. According to the ICT ministry, the country now boasts more than 54,000 5G base stations which should help improve network coverage. 5G coverage in South Korea is still limited to areas in the capital of Seoul. As other countries are preparing to join the new network standard, we can expect some time to pass before the wider availability and connectivity issues are sorted out. Source | Via The Motorola One Vision that we've been hearing of since March is tipped to launch on May 15 at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This information comes to us from a Twitter user who shared an official-looking media invite of the event. There's no word from Motorola about the One Vision yet, but thanks to previous leaks, we know what it will look like and what hardware it will come packed with. The One Vision will boast a 6.2-inch 21:9 FHD+ punch-hole display and will have Exynos 9610 SoC under the hood. The chipset will be paired with 3GB or 4GB RAM, and the storage will either be 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB. This Android One smartphone will run Android Pie out-of-the-box and sport a dual camera setup at the back with the main sensor being a 48MP unit. The rear cameras will be accompanied by a fingerprint scanner, and there will be a 3,500 mAh battery underneath which will charge through a USB-C port. The One Vision is rumored to hit the Chinese market under the P40 moniker. Source After releasing their flagship Z6 Pro last week, Lenovo is looking to grow its portfolio with a midrange offering. Thanks to TEENA we have the spec sheet of the upcoming Lenovo L38111 which will come in a plenitude of color options and a triple camera setup. Speculations also point that the midranger will be part of Lenovos K-series of devices. The device packs a 6.3-inch FHD+ IPS display with a waterdrop notch for the 8MP selfie cam. Around the back, the phone features what seems to be a glass design but it could just be plastic. The highlight of the L38111 will likely be its triple camera setup with a 16MP main sensor. The rear also features an LED flash and fingerprint reader. Lenovo L38111 The processor inside the upcoming phone is not mentioned but it will feature an 8 core CPU running at 2.2GHz. Users will be getting either 3/4/6 GB RAM paired with 32/64/128GB storage, expandable via microSD. The phone will also feature a solid 3,930 mAh battery, which will also support 18W fast charging. The device will run Android 9.0 and come in a plethora of colorways ranging from Black, White, Gray, Silver, Gold, Green, Red, Purple, and Blue. Source (in Chinese) | Via Qualcomm released its quarterly report with some pretty juicy details about the deal with Apple. The chip company will score between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion in revenue from the settlement with Cupertino that saw Intel quit the 5G modem market. The deal was announced mid-April, where Apple and Qualcomm dropped all lawsuits against each other and miraculously became best friends, working towards the 5G future of the upcoming iPhones. While we know how much Qualcomm will earn in the future, we dont know how much it got from backdated deals, but some analysts predict anywhere between $5 billion and $6 billion. Qualcomm also revealed it will be the chip provider in the next two years and will include direct six-year licensing agreement. This means 2020 iPhones will come with Snapdragon chipsets and modems, likely an evolution of the X50 module. The original plan for Apple was to stick with Intel, but tension rose after the chip manufacturer wasnt meeting development goals. In other numbers, Qualcomm reported +3% increase in revenue QoQ, but 5% decline on a yearly basis. Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of the company, said their partnership with Apple is executing well on strategic priorities as 5G commercial launches begin around the world. San Diego is expecting bigger revenue in the next quarter, with the numbers towering up to $10.2 billion, which should be 83% increase. Source PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Ingalls Shipbuilding has been awarded a contract worth up to $931.7 million over six years to provide service and support for Littoral combat ships (LCS). Littoral combat ships are comprised of two classes -- the Freedom class and the Independence class -- of relatively small surface ships designed for near-shore operations for the U.S. Navy. LCS have the ability for small assault transport, can house two SH-60 or MH-60 Seahawk helicopters, have a stern ramp for launching small boats, and the cargo space and payload to deliver a small assault force with support vehicles to a roll-on/roll-off port facility. The first of the LCS was the USS Freedom, commissioned in November 2008. The Ingalls contract calls for planning yard design services for in-service LCS with post-delivery lifecycle support, including fleet modernization program planning, design engineering and modeling, logistics support, long lead-time material support, and preventive and panned maintenance system item development and scheduling. Unique to the contract is the requirement to manage the scheduling of all planned, continuous and emergent maintenance, according to the shipyard. Ingalls Shipbuilding will build on 35 years of planning yard experience to join our Technical Solutions division in fully supporting this life-cycle work on the LCS program, said Ingalls president Brian Cuccias. Our talented shipbuilding team has the resources and program management experience necessary to ensure the post-delivery work on the LCS program meets the requirements and missions of our U.S. Navy customers. The majority of the work will be accomplished in Pascagoula and Hampton, Va., by designers, engineers, logisticians, planners, program mangers and a variety of additional subject matter experts. Ingalls and Huntington-Ingalls Technical Solutions division will also provide waterfront support at the LCS homeports. Since March 2018, Ingalls Shipbuilding has been awarded six new contracts with a total value of just under $8.7 billion: JACKSON COUNTY, Mississippi -- Horses, steers, bulls and the like will once again fill the Conrad Mallette Arena in Vancleave as professional rodeo comes to Jackson County May 10-11 for the annual Jackson County Sheriffs Rodeo. Money raised through the rodeo goes to the Sheriffs Auxiliary Division, local charities and members of the community who have fallen on hard times. Over the past year, Auxiliary officers have worked more than 10,000 hours in the community while supporting the regular Patrol Division. Its hard to believe its been 18 years weve held this rodeo as a fundraiser for our department, said Sheriff Mike Ezell. This is a fun event that brings families and the community together for an exciting weekend of bull riding, calf roping and barrel racing. The National Cowboy Pro Rodeo Association and Premier Bulls Tour will be competing in the event, which features competitions across a wide spectrum of rodeo categories, including bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, calf roping, team roping, cowgirls breakaway roping, cowgirls barrel racing, and bull riding. Contestants will be competing for more than $10,000 in prize money. Among those competing for the cash will be Jackson Countys own Dylan Emerson. The 25-year-old Hurley native is the 2018 bull riding champion of the National Cowboy Professional Rodeo Association. Its not every day you get to do what you love in front of the ones you love, Emerson said. I am looking forward to competing both nights and hopefully winning this rodeo with my hometown advantage. Competition both nights begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under and are available at the door. Haiti - Politic : Jovenel Moise celebrates May 1st on the dam site of the Marion River Wednesday, May 1st, Feast of Agriculture and Labor, President Jovenel Moise accompanied by his wife Martine, ministers, parliamentarians and other local authorities in the presence of people from all communes, municipalities and localities of the department of North-East, celebrated this celebration, on the site of the dam project of the Marion River, in Grand Savannah (Terrier Rouge, Northeast) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24264-haiti-politic-official-inauguration-of-dam-works-on-the-marion-river.html In his intervention Head of State drew attention to his vision of the agriculture sector and his determination in the construction of this important infrastructure that should be completed in 2020 with the help of Cuban cooperation https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26713-haiti-technology-towards-a-transfer-of-hydraulic-knowledge-with-cuba.html For the past 15 months, Haitian and Cuban technicians have been working on three dikes, intake channels and diversions. Thanks to this huge project, a reservoir of 10 million cubic meters of water https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24264-haiti-politic-official-inauguration-of-dam-works-on-the-marion-river.html will allow irrigation of 10,000 hectares of land, produce electricity, allow fish farming and treatment of drinking water. The delegation also visited the 53kw solar pumping system, which will allow farmers, particularly rice farmers, to obtain water for their land and then visit the site of the Ferrier seed center, one of the three that the Moise administration will build (Northeast, Artibonite and South) to allow rice farmers to obtain high quality seeds to feed the Haitian population. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26713-haiti-technology-towards-a-transfer-of-hydraulic-knowledge-with-cuba.html 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 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24264-haiti-politic-official-inauguration-of-dam-works-on-the-marion-river.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22357-haiti-politics-towards-a-cooperation-with-cuba-in-the-construction-of-dams.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Smuggling : Haitian customs cooperate few with Dominicans Last March in Washington, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published its recommendations to Haiti and the Dominican Republics in the fight against smuggling on both sides of the Haitian-Dominican border. During this presentation, several Haitian personalities including President George B. Sassine of the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH), Laurent Saint-Cyr, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham - Haiti), representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti (CCIH) and the Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIO) among others were present, while the absence of Haitian officials and the Dominican private sector was very noticed. The parties present agreed on the urgency to fight smuggling at the Haitian-Dominican border. For this, the process will have to be started on both sides with the support of the international community. The priority for the success of this advocacy is to involve the political will that each of the two countries of the island must have. The Dominican Ambassador in Haiti, Alberto Despradel, recalled that his country attaches great importance to dialogue in all areas especially in the fight against smuggling. However, in the field, beyond the Haitian political statements on the loss of nearly 350 million US dollars per year of tax revenue, caused by smuggling and calls from the private sector that continues to demand the strengthening of Border control, it must be noted that the Haitian customs agencies collaborate little with the Dominican customs, thus encouraging the increase of contraband. While the Dominican authorities proudly praise the results of their actions against smuggling from Haiti, they do not fail to point out the inaction and lack of cooperation with Haiti. In a statement issued by the Dominican General Directorate of Customs (DGA), it explains the measures taken to fight against smuggling from Haiti, faced the little cooperation of Haitian customs services "The discoveries of hundreds of cell phones and cigarette packets seized at the Haitian border in recent weeks underline the need for controls and justify the actions carried out by the various Dominican security and customs agencies." The DGA recalls that it has offered its cooperation to Haiti in several bilateral agreements signed one in the framework of customs cooperation in 2014 and the other in 2017 on the exchange of information, the latter aiming to allow Haitian Customs to receive information electronically in real time. However, the DGA regrets that for the last two years it has been waiting for its Haitian side to be ready to implement this dynamic. The DGA underlines that on March 26th and 27th there were 2 videos conference with the Haitian customs for the approval of the annual work proposal for 2019 of the binational cooperation program Haiti / Dominican Republic, subcomponent of the customs with the sponsorship of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), which includes a proposal for a protocol for the joint inspection of the customs administrations of the two countries and training in coordinated border management, in order to improve controls and facilitate the legitimate trade. Recalling in conclusion that in order to fight smuggling effectively all efforts require the participation of both sides of the border and continuity of actions to carry out this task, which has not been possible so far as expected. See also: https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27504-haiti-dr-3-million-contraband-cigarettes-from-haiti-seized-at-sea.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26872-icihaiti-dr-important-seizure-of-contraband-products-from-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26364-haiti-dr-seizure-of-more-than-5-000-bottles-of-contraband-alcohol-from-haiti.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26004-icihaiti-dr-seizure-of-500-kg-of-contraband-garlic-from-haiti.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25363-icihaiti-economy-dr-effectively-fights-haitian-smuggling.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23721-icihaiti-rd-partial-assessment-of-the-fight-against-haitian-smuggling.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27342-haiti-dr-more-than-600-kg-of-marijuana-seized-on-a-boat-from-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27300-haiti-economy-towards-a-haitian-dominican-summit-on-smuggling.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27003-haiti-rd-seizure-of-more-than-500-gallons-of-contraband-fuel-destined-to-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26961-haiti-dr-israel-proposes-its-technologies-to-protect-the-border.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - DR : 1,510 Haitians in an irregular situation arrested and deported to Haiti The General Directorate of Migration (DGM) continues to conduct daily migratory control actions throughout the Dominican territory and track down where there are Haitians in an irregular situation. In this context, migration control operations were carried out at the end of April in 10 provinces : Azua, Duarte, Hermanas Mirabal, Espaillat, La Altagracia, La Vega, Montecristi, Santiago de los Caballeros, Valverde and Puerto Plata, as well as in the district national and the municipalities of Santo Domingo West and East, during which 1,911 Haitians were controlled informs the DGM Immigration Control Officers participated in these operations with the support of the military personnel of the Army, Navy and Air Force of the Dominican Republic and representatives of the Public Prosecution Service of the Provinces and Municipalities referred to above. After the verification process using biometric readers and the central database, 1,510 compatriots (79%) were declared in an irregular migration situation (paperless or in possession of false documents) and led to the Dajabon border posts and Elias Pina to be registered and deported to Haiti. See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-27529-icihaiti-dr-23-941-haitians-repatriated-in-the-first-quarter.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-27489-icihaiti-dr-2-081-haitians-repatriated-to-haiti.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-27316-icihaiti-dr-981-haitians-in-irregular-migration-situation-deported.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26826-haiti-dr-migration-maintain-the-pressure-1-153-haitians-deported.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26682-icihaiti-social-more-and-more-difficult-to-live-illegally-in-the-dominican-republic.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26744-haiti-rd-nearly-340-000-haitians-deported-or-sent-back-to-haiti-in-3-years.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Death of the Gang Leader "Ti je" a symbolic act The death on Monday, April 29th of the Gang Leader "Ti je" under the bullets of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) he https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27595-haiti-flash-the-dangerous-gang-leader-tije-dies-under-the-bullets-of-the-pnh.html , "is only a symbolic act that does not put an end to insecurity, but which must serve as an example and signal the bandits to lay down their weapons if they do not want to suffer the same fate," said Government Commissioner Paul Eronce Villard. See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-27606-icihaiti-security-congratulations-from-the-pnh-for-neutralizing-the-gang-leader-tije.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27595-haiti-flash-the-dangerous-gang-leader-tije-dies-under-the-bullets-of-the-pnh.html Jovenel Moise is idle After several working sessions Jovenel Moise with the 8 moderate political parties (G8) with whom the Head of State dialogues (Fusion, KONTRAPEPLA, OPL, MOCHRENA, VERITE (a fringe) "Ayisyen for Ayiti", "Tet ansanm" and "Veye yo") no agreement on the signing of a political agreement to also form the government has yet been found. A deep disagreement persists between Moise and the G8 on the appointment of the prime minister. The G8 demands the choice of another prime minister as one of the prerequisites for signing a political agreement. May 1st, no balance sheet "This Wednesday, May 1st should be considered as a moment of assessment of projects and interventions made in the agricultural sector in Haiti. Unfortunately, no one is able to present delivered or deliverable projects that can contribute to food security and the fight against poverty. A special thought for the farmers of my country," said Talot Bertrand, Specialist in Environmental Education and Engineer-Agronomist (PROMODEV) The PNH regains control of the ground Following the operation of April 29, the National Police of Haiti (PNH) took control of the neighborhoods that were under the control of the armed men of the Gang "Tije", including "Savane Pistache" confirms the Inspector According Gary Desrosiers Spokesman of the PNH Trial of Clifford Brandt, end of general debates Tuesday, in the trial of Clifford Brandt and his accomplices, the President of the Criminal Court of Gonaives, Denis Pierre Michel, ended the general debate, all parties have sufficiently defended their case. At the end of this last hearing, the magistrate ordered the filing of all important documents. Within a reasonable time, the judge promised to render his decision. Saurel Jacinthe says INITE is not dissolved Reacting to the announcement of the dissolution of the INITE Party in the media https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27602-haiti-politic-the-inite-party-founded-by-preval-no-longer-exists.html the Senator Saurel Jacinthe elected under the banner of the Party affirms that this decision is not valid affirms the constitutive act of the party on its dissolution is clear "The unique way the party INITE can be dissolved remains a decision taken by 2/3 of the members gathered in national congress". Which is not the case, saying that he will write to the Minister of Justice to explain that the INITE Party is still functional. HL/ HaitiLibre The CEO of Giesecke + Devrient studied Economics in Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Hagen. At Giesecke + Devrient, he is leading one of the most succesfull companies in nanotechnologies. Hier geht es zur deutschen Version des Essays. Society is currently being influenced by many diverse and simultaneous changes: political and economic revolutions, digitalization and rapid technological developments, global financial instability and advancing climate change are just a few of the most pressing issues. In these times, how can countries and institutions but also companies still be led effectively? How can we make sense of todays complexity? The political populism that has been gaining momentum in recent years offers simple but unrealistic answers. Withdrawal and nationalism are not answers to the far-reaching social and economic changes that will take place, for example, as a result of advancing digitalization and artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, in the face of increasingly complicated global contexts, growing political frustration and a sense of overload are recognizable. Jetzt die besten Jobs finden und per E-Mail benachrichtigt werden. That brings us to a pivotal question for Germany and Europe: Are we adequately addressing the societal changes and underlying circumstances? I would say that so far, the answer is no. Without an understanding of the correlations, we ultimately cannot develop any awareness of new paths or solutions. This is by no means a new issue. For renowned German philosopher Immanuel Kant it was a major problem that people quickly surrender to their fates, and in so doing put themselves into a situation of dependence. With that in mind, I would like to focus on two issues that can and should guide us Europeans in setting the course for the future. The first is the protection of values and individual self-determination, and the second is the strengthening of economic power in the European region. Why are these aspects important, and why must the countries of Europe implement them together and in unity? A new course for a changed world Changes are usually multi-dimensional. A most obvious contemporary example is the rapidly advancing digitalization, which affects all areas of life. In a positive sense, the result of these developments is phenomenal: Within seconds, all human knowledge can be accessed via web platforms. Connecting with other people is easy, quick and boundless thanks to user-friendly apps. New business models have seen companies spring up from nothing, virtually overnight. In some cases, however, the simple use of digital applications is causing existing products and services to disappear. Social networks have revolutionized communications and media perception. The Internet of Things is invading our living rooms and factory floors, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing relentlessly, in areas from machine translation to autonomous cars. In the field of medical technology, recognition of patterns and not clearly defined pathologies is opening new possibilities for healing and recovery. Undoubtedly, digitalization and AI offer tremendous opportunities and possibilities. However, there are also negative aspects to this rapid technological progress: data collection is leading to data misuse; IT infrastructures are being manipulated by cyberattacks; and the dark web operates as a trading platform for criminals. Two examples illustrate social consequences of the digital world. This article is an extract from the book: Sven Afhuppe, Thomas Sigmund (Hg.): Europa kann es besser Wie unser Kontinent zu neuer Starke findet. Ein Weckruf der Wirtschaft Herder publishing house 2019, 240 pages, 20 euros ISBN 978-3-451-39360-0 Published on 15. April 2019 Order the book on amazon. An ever-increasing number of people communicate and connect via social media. In China, more than 800 million people now use the WeChat app. WeChat is described as Chinas social operating system, because it is not used just for chatting, but also, for example, to make payments, book taxis and order food. Meanwhile, users can use the app to assess one another in the form of an evaluation. These evaluations are used to generate rating scales, which in turn enable conclusions to be drawn about the behavior and lifestyle of the individual being rated information which is already being used in the issuing of loans. Where is this social monitoring leading to? For the second example of social consequences I would like to highlight the vulnerability of people in the digital world. In centuries past, the availability and distribution of information allowed people to form opinions, which put them in a position to examine various issues critically. Certainly, the digital world supports greater availability of information. Never before have people been so readily able to access such immense volumes of information and knowledge. And yet, the very structure of digital platforms, and the aggregation of data that they facilitate, create the opportunity to falsify and manipulate information. The users ability to judge and to critically evaluate decrease. The result is control and restriction of informational self-determination. We are moving from a phase governed by critical discernment to one of excessive control. This development accompanied by the already described consequences for society stands in diametrical opposition to the fundamental values of Europe and Germany. These values are founded on the base of security ensured by the state, property, freedom of action, and the dignity and self-determination of the individual. From a historical perspective, the cost of attaining these values has been very high, which makes them all the more valuable. Europe focuses on the dignity of its citizens Human rights and the inviolability of human dignity are enshrined in our laws and our constitution. This raises the question of how Europe and Germany can redefine their pluralism, their inventiveness and their productivity in the digital age without losing sight of their fundamental liberal and democratic values. The matter can be adressed from several starting points, which, when developed in connection with European allies, become stronger than if pursued individually by each country. People in Europe must be given the possibility to protect their identities, even in the digital age. To this end, it is crucial to raise awareness of informational self-determination, and establish it firmly through practicable implementation. The strict legal framework we already have for the protection of informational self-determination, including the safeguarding of digital identities, could only have ever originated in Europe. It is distinctively different than data protection and the protection of digital identities in the United States and China. We are advancing, as it were, to the land of the digitally free. However, we cannot settle with just protecting informational self-determination, as digitalization has revealed another challenge facing every single country in Europe: To remain competitive, to play in the big leagues economically, and to take an influential position on digital platforms, we need to pool our strengths across the entire European Economic Area. In order to do this, Europe needs a clear, active industrial policy with concrete results and a focus on future technologies. The current fragmentation and compromises in economic policy hardly serve to strengthen the European economy and fail to recognize the enormous potential that exists here. Relaxation and modification of the mergers and anti-trust law would be an important first step. Targeted support and the use of key technologies from Europe for Europe would also strengthen the European market. A new course from Europe Therefore, its not a wake-up call for Europe that is needed, but a wake-up call from Europe. Europe has to develop an awareness for its future role as a leader and present its unique strengths confidently on the global stage. In this sense, Europe can be the world region that stands as a beacon of digital self-determination for every citizen, and which opposes the dogma of digital mass control. Achieving this requires courage to join forces to withstand the strong competition from other continents. By consolidating our strengths within Europe and in Europes interest, we can maintain our competitiveness. Implementation can be easy: reduce and simplify the sometimes absurd regulation. After all, despite all its problems and challenges, Europe today stands as the continent in which people have the power to shape their own lives even if it is not always an easy task. In any case, under no circumstances do I wish to see an agenda of control in Europe. Born in 1967, the native austrian has become one of the most important managers in telecommunications. Since 2015, he is leading Vodafone Germany. Hier geht es zur deutschen Version des Essays. For me, Europe embodies a sense of boundlessness. I see it as a networked and connected union of states that share a common vision. Recent populist and nationalist trends have no place here. The people of Europe should be able to take human rights, equality of opportunity and social responsibility for granted and the same applies to free access to knowledge and the media. The internet wasnt invented for the Germans or the Spanish or the British. It was invented for the global community as a platform for sharing information, doing business and communicating across geographic and cultural borders faster and more efficiently than ever before. The idea of a United States of Europe is inherent to the nature of the internet because the internet has no national borders. Why, then, are we on the brink of establishing boundaries in our digital infrastructure? Top-Jobs des Tages Jetzt die besten Jobs finden und per E-Mail benachrichtigt werden. Standort erkennen For many years decades even the worlds trading powers looked up to Europe with envy; and we are still one of the wealthiest continents on Earth. Digital infrastructure: data are the building blocks of the future We have the largest single market, the second most widely used currency and were a global leader in renewable energy. Our manufacturing, agricultural and services industries are flourishing. But what use is that to us when the building blocks of our future prosperity are digital data, not analogue steel? We lost our best in class status a long time ago, and were dragging our feet when it comes to digital infrastructure. Weve forgotten what it means to play an active role in shaping our future. Weve manoeuvred ourselves onto the analogue holding track and now were watching the other nations overtaking us in the broadband deployment process. The European Commission put an important cornerstone in place for Europes gigabit future in 2016 long before the EU Member States even tabled the issue. The new European order puts monopolists who are attempting to turn back the competition situation by two decades and hinder progress in Europe in their places. It puts a clear focus on genuine future technologies such as cable, fibre and 5G. And it rules out bridging technologies like vectoring when future technologies such as fibre are available. The European Commissions 5G Action Plan is another important strategic initiative for EU-wide 5G deployment. If Europe is to achieve the dream of being at the forefront of digital connectivity, we need common broadband targets for all EU Member States and a common framework that promotes competition and fosters investments. We also need substantial rather than superficial investments. The government builds motorways so that it makes economic sense to sell cars, so why isnt it building a framework for broadband infrastructure deployment that it makes economic sense to invest in? Such an infrastructure will depend on the coordinated allocation of 5G frequencies by 2020 because mobile radio signals dont stop at geographic borders. This article is an extract from the book: Sven Afhuppe, Thomas Sigmund (Hg.): Europa kann es besser Wie unser Kontinent zu neuer Starke findet. Ein Weckruf der Wirtschaft Herder publishing house 2019, 240 pages, 20 euros ISBN 978-3-451-39360-0 Published on 15. April 2019 Order the book on amazon. We have to achieve this together: as Europe. Pacts and programmes are no use to us if we reinstate long-abolished physical borders in the digital world. If the EU Member States all have different starting points, how can they possibly achieve a common digital objective? Imagine what it would mean in a united Europe if self-driving cars had to turn back at the national borders because the infrastructure on the other side didnt support them. We Member States have to join forces and multiply our possibilities. We need system connectivity across all Member States. This will only be possible with an EU-wide digital single market in addition to the analogue single market. I believe that the free flow of data should be the fifth democratic pillar. Lets include startups in the future debate To make it work we need a European answer to the American digital model: a model that empowers us to reduce the dominance and influence of the Googles, Amazons and Facebooks of this world. Im not saying we have to build a Google Europe. We need a European solution. There is so much talk about how startups enrich the world of business with their agility and innovativeness. So why arent we boldly investing in them and engaging with them in the public debate about our digital future? In the past the government and the major corporations have written the digital transformation narrative. Now its time for a mental transformation towards an inclusive, European digital growth model. We have to invest more venture capital to prevent Europe from becoming a subcontractor to the USA or China. And we have to create equality of access to the entire European territory for startups. Then we can make ideas happen. And prevent those ideas and the startup entrepreneurs from wandering over to the other side of the pond. Ideas always go where the money is, because it takes money to realise them. All too often that money isnt in Europe. In fact, Europe only spends around a quarter of the USAs venture capital expenditure. Why doesnt the largest single market in the world set up one of the largest startup funds in the world and make what I believe would be a very worthwhile investment in Europes future? We need more digital confidence Looking at the wider picture beyond Europe its hard not to feel pessimistic. But we shouldnt. We need more digital optimism and more confidence. We need a positive future vision for a digital Europe. As things stand, scepticism prevails over confidence. In a study conducted by the Vodafone Institute not even half of respondents are positive about the future when it comes to the use of digital technologies partly as a result of the concentration of power in the hands of a few digital giants. We need both consensus and a code to ensure that machine serves man and not vice-versa. They have to be firmly anchored and communicated to the public. If we cannot gain the acceptance of the people in whose hands the future of Europe will rest, we will never catch up with the other world powers. One thing that particularly concerns me is the fact that we Europeans dont actually trust our political institutions to prepare for the digital future. Only 40 percent of Europeans believe that their governments are committed to supporting the digital transformation. And only one-third are confident that those governments have the requisite skills. Although we are completely underperforming on our digital potential compared to the USA and India, one thing does unite us as Europeans. We see our governments as the main guardians of ethical principles. More than one out of two Europeans believe that governments should be sanctioning unethical behaviour in the digital age not technology companies. We, as individuals, make up the state. So what the state makes out of Europe is in our hands. We can either steer our continent into the fast lane. Or allow it to spend its future in the digital layby with all the associated negative consequences for business, prosperity and sovereignty. Do we really want to be explaining to our kids in ten years time how we threw away Europes future, rather than how we saved Europe in 2019? This continent and the European idea need us today more than ever before. Montana agricultural organizations are at odds over a proposal that failed during the legislative session on an issue that seems simple: letting shoppers know where their beef and pork was raised. Sen. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, and Rep. Bradley Hammett, D-Cascade, each proposed bills requiring Montana grocers to put up placards saying where beef and pork originated, a revival of the country-of-origin labeling idea. Both bills failed. A motion to take Hammetts bill from committee to be debated and voted on on the House floor failed 48-50 with one legislator excused and one absent. Rep... Havre Police Department Sarah Jean Nalder of Havre, 34, was issued a summons at the police station Wednesday at 8:13 p.m. on a criminal contempt charge related to a 24/7 Sobriety Program violation. -- A caller on 11th Street West reported Wednesday at 9:43 a.m. finding law enforcement records, and the report was referred to another law enforcement agency. -- A Havre area caller reported a vandalized vehicle at 11:06 a.m. Wednesday. -- A 14-year-old was issued a summons on a charge of under-age tobacco possession or consumption, after an officer was called to Havre Middle School, Wedn... From Hill County Electric Cooperative Hill County Electric Cooperative, Inc. will hold its 74th Annual Meeting of Members Saturday, May 11, at the Student Union Building on the campus of Montana State University-Northern in Havre. Registration will begin at 9 a.m; the business meeting will start at 10 a.m., followed by lunch and prize drawings. During the business meeting, a trustee election for District 1 will be held. In addition, Luck of the Draw scholarships will be awarded during the meeting for members or member dependents who will be attending college in the fall and are... The Montana Cattlemens Association is very disappointed that the Montana Legislature refused to enact a Montana Country of Origin Labeling law (Mt-COOL). Although the bill did receive limited bipartisan support, it was primarily the majority party that refused to vote for this common sense proposition overwhelmingly supported by Montanas consumers and livestock producers. The proposed law was based on the Mt-COOL law which was enacted by the 2005 Legislature. This 2005 law had a sunset clause for when a national COOL was enacted, which happened in 2008. Congress inexplicably rescind... Hundreds of people are making their way to the polls today (Thursday) to vote in town and district council elections. Polling stations in Henley and the surrounding villages opened at 7am and will close at 10pm. The count will then take place at White Horse leisure centre in Abingdon overnight with the results expected to be announced tomorrow. There are 27 candidates standing for the 16 seats on Henley Town Council, as well as as further 31 hoping to be elected to seven wards in the South Oxfordshire District Council elections. The wards are: Henley, Benson and Crowmarsh, Kidmore End and Whitchurch, Woodcote and Rotherfield, Goring, Sonning Common and Watlington. Elections are also taking place in the Caversham and Peppard wards on Reading Borough Council. The Henley Standard went around the polling stations in Henley to ask how people voted in the town council election and why. Nick Clemo, 62, of Green Lane, voted at the Christ Church Centre in Reading Road with his wife Kate. He said: I just believe in expressing democracy and having my say on matters. As a place to live I enjoy Henley and I like to town to feel good. Mr Clemo voted for the Henley Residents Group and said he hoped they would look after local services such as the leisure centre in Gillotts Lane and the environment. Mrs Clemo, 58, also voted for the Henley Residents Group. She said: I always vote when I can because a school teacher of mine told me that women had died in order to get us the vote. I think its really important that I excercise my constitutional right. People who are going to stand on an independent platform are going to work quite hard for the community. I think for Henley, its about keeping the town vibrant and supporting local businesses, in particular, so theres a sense of continued community. Jo Wilby, 61, of St Marks Road, said: I voted Conservative, particularly for Laurence Plant. I like the ideas that he had in his manifesto. He was talking about affordable housing for young people in Henley because Im sure the demographic is towards the older, and young people cant afford to live here. Its nice to see a young person wanting to stand. Tim Capell, 57, of St Marks Road, would not say how he voted, but said: I think youve got to get involved in local elections because it is important that we have a say and that we get involved in our local community and local town. The important issues are traffic, house building and the town centre. Some shops are empty and pubs are closing. We seem to have 18 coffee shops. We could make more of it. Ramsay Adams, 60, of Ravenscroft Road, voted for the Henley Residents Group at the town hall. He said: I have always voted and I see it as a civic duty regardless of political parties. I believe that they (HRG) are apolitical, and at this level that politics should be apolitical. Richard Guy, 71, of New Street, voted for a mix of HRG and Conservative candidates. He said: It is an opportunity to choose the councillors that are actually going to represent you. I voted on my perception of who the better councillors were or who will be a better councillor. Ive met some of them and others I know by reputation. You read their comments in your newspaper and some of them I am not so impressed with. Andrew Fletcher, 61, of Western Road, voted for Henley Residents Group at Trinity Hall in Harpsden Road. He said: I always vote and I just feel it is part of my responsibility. My father fought in the war and on his death bed he made me say I would vote in every election going. Im just anti-Tory Party and what they stand for. They are more extreme now than they used to be. Caroline Thompson, 60, of Rotherfield Road, would not say how she voted but encouraged others to take part. She said: People die for a vote and some still do not have a vote. Its important that you use your right: you cant complain aftwerwards if you dont. Martin Eggleton, 66, of Gainsborough Crescent, voted for the Henley Residents Group at Henley Leisure Centre in Gillotts Lane. He said: I think they are more in touch with the issues in Henley. Most of them have probably lived in Henley all their life. I think most of them were born here. Conservative Jessica Piasecki-Jarvis is standing for the Conservatives. She said: I think even though it seems to have been quiet this morning, I think the postal vote is going up. They are all positive signs. So much goes on behind the scenes. We have to push social media. I think people still care about Henley. They do still realise that this is about the town. HENLEY has some beautiful outdoor spaces. Mill Meadows and Marsh Meadows are beloved by both residents and visitors on a sunny bank holiday weekend. Gillotts Corner Field, Watermans Spinney, the chalk bank and Freemans Meadow are all havens for wildlife. Then theres the community orchard, two sets of allotments and a number of other green spaces. They are all looked after by the town councils parks service team, a group of horticulture and conservation experts who go out in all weathers all year round to help keep the town looking beautiful. The team are led by 32-year-old Karl Bishop, who took charge following the death of manager, Gareth Bartle last May, aged 53. Mr Bartle had worked for the council for about 14 years and in the six years before his death Henley won consecutive gold awards in the Thames and Chilterns regional category of Britain in Bloom and a national gold as well as silver in Entente Florale in 2015. Such was his importance that the council withdrew from last years regional competition, although the teams work continued. This year, Henley is back in the competition with Mr Bishop hoping to continue his predecessors success. He says: When Gareth passed away, the wind was taken out of our sails. We found it very hard to regroup and morale took a definite beating but we are driven to succeed and get the awards again in his honour. We wouldnt be where we are now without the solid foundations laid by Gareth. He was very passionate about what he did and he loved working in Henley. It was a big part of his life. He had a vision and he moulded his team to that vision and we just want to carry on working hard to fulfil what he mapped out. Mr Bishop, from Rotherfield Greys, joined the parks team in 2004 as a weekend assistant and appreciated working for Mr Bartle. He says: Gareth always backed the underdog. If he felt like somebody needed a chance, Gareth would give you it. I think it was just in his nature. He had a very good heart and he is very greatly missed in the team. Park warden Joe Postles, 21, from Theale, who joined in 2014, adds: I think a lot of us might not be here or enjoy it nearly as much if it wasnt for him. He helped a lot of people in his own way. Following Mr Bartles death, the council brought in conservation park warden Ilona Livarski, 23, and senior park and horticulture warden Kyle Dowling, 30, so the team now has six wardens and a total of nine full- and part-time staff. Between them, they work 364 days a year with Christmas Day being the only day they all have off. The team works with Henley in Bloom and several volunteer groups on projects around the town. Becky Walker, the councils estates manager, says: All year round we try to make sure we are working to the Bloom rules because it is good for the town and entering the competition means it focuses our calendar. We are usually judged just after the regatta and the aim is to get the town looking good for regatta anyway, so it doesnt give us more work. The work starts months before by talking to community groups and trying to get projects off the ground and we all work together on it. Mr Bishop says: Every year we put in a lot of hard work just to maintain the standards that we want to uphold. When you are being judged you go round a certain route and highlight all the nicer bits, so its more a case of making sure those areas are pristine for the day but at the same time not neglecting the rest of your responsibilities around town. Mr Dowling says: We always strive for high standards around the town, so its just little tweaks that are made before judging time. Regardless of judging, the work will still be done. We really do take pride in what we do. The teams most visible presence is at Mill Meadows by the river. In the summer, the wardens patrol the area, stopping people having barbecues, which are banned, and clearing dog waste or drug paraphernalia. Sometimes they also have to deal with vandalism or people camping and they liaise with neighbourhood police to remove people who are drunk. They have even been known to unblock toilets and remove dead ducks or geese. This vital work ensures that Mill Meadows is suitable for events such as the Chelsea Fringe Henley flotilla, Music on the Meadows and performances on the bandstand. In 2014, the councils work at the meadows earned it the Green Flag, a national accreditation from Keep Britain Tidy, and it has retained this every year since. The award recognises green spaces which offer a wide range of facilities and are maintained to a high standard. To retain it, the standard is expected to rise each year. Mr Postles stresses that the riverside doesnt get special treatment. He says: As much time and effort goes into other areas but people just dont see it Mill Meadows is just more visible. We put in the same amount of work all round. People would be surprised by the amount and variety of jobs we do. Sometimes well do a job once and never have to do it again but its still a job that has to be done. An example was an occasion when it was snowing and the wardens used their Land Rover to transport a coffin to Fair Mile Cemetery for a funeral because the hearse was unable to reach the church. Mr Bishop adds: We have to do grubby jobs too. People look outside and see us on ride-on mowers but its not all like that. We do have to do the nitty gritty side of it as well. To the general public there is always that stereotypical, cushy council job, which is not the case with our team. That is something we try to eradicate. The teams other jobs include clearing overgrown and neglected footpaths and installing benches, signs, noticeboards and fencing. They also apply herbicide across the town each year a distance of 200km is treated. Two wardens do this over 24 days and all the councils green spaces are inspected for invasive weeds throughout the growing season. The team also cuts 198 hectares of council parkland and verges annually as well as cutting hedges. It also collects rubbish more than 100 tonnes of general and recyclable waste was collected last year from Mill and Marsh Meadows, Makins recreation ground, Freemans Meadow, Fair Mile Cemetery, Wootton Manor car park and the town hall. The wardens also conduct 1,352 visual inspections of play areas each year and 72 full inspections. They support town events such as the May Fayre and the Remembrance Sunday Service, both in Market Place, as well as putting up the cross at Easter and the giant Christmas tree in December. Other duties involve monitoring the car park at Mill Meadows as well as 800m of temporary moorings twice a day. The wardens say that because of the size of the team, they are often stretched. Mr Dowling says: If someone is having a barbecue on Marsh Meadows its like the public expect a response immediately, which is absolutely right and its what we try to achieve, but they expect us to be working 24 hours. For the amount of work we undertake and the size of Henley, it is a relatively small team, which I dont think the public appreciate sometimes. Ms Walker adds: The team go home at 5pm and the problems happen when we are not actually there. Mr Bishop says: We do get positive feedback from the general public, which is always nice to hear. You do also get negative feedback but that is information that you can use to work towards improving. Warden Alex Bell, 42, who lives in Reading, said: I started in 2012 and I strongly believe this is the best parks team we have ever had. I enjoy getting involved in all the different projects. I have been involved with Mill Meadows and the day-to-day running of that. I grew up in Upton Close and went to school at Gillotts so I take pride in the work that we carry out. The feedback that we get from the public at the river and throughout town generally is positive and it is such a buzz to be part of such a good, positive team. Assistant park warden Peter Lemaire, 20, from of Potash Mead, Benson, says: When I first got the weekend role it was just a start and a nice bit of money but over the years I realised its a really good place to work. Miss Livarski says: I started at the end of last July. I was at the National Trust before that as an assistant ranger. I saw it as a challenge coming from a job where I was told what to do most of the time to one where I can govern what I want to do on certain conservation areas. Its a good challenge that I have really enjoyed so far and I havent even done a full year yet. As a conservationist, I love seeing all the wildlife around town. I came from a 5,000-acre estate with really old trees and really nice hillside in the Chilterns where all that wildlife was already there before I started working. Coming to Henley, I didnt know what was going to be around or if I was starting from scratch to get the wildlife to come out. The wildlife is actually there its just a bit sneakier. I really enjoy meeting lots of members of the public who are interested in what Im doing. For example, I have been up at Gillotts Field cutting the grass and raking it all up and Ive enjoyed talking to members of the public who are really interested in what is there. Mr Dowling says: The horticultural side is my favourite part of the job. I love getting involved in projects around town and working with the community. I like enhancing things and coming up with ideas that will benefit the town. That is definitely my favourite part. The team has got a great morale. Lots of them started from a young age and progressed, which is good and is why everyone takes so much pride in the work that they do. They really appreciate the town and they want it looking the best at all times.want it looking the best at all times. Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him Murderer Patrick Quirke today spends his first full day behind bars after being handed down a mandatory life sentence for the murder of part-time DJ Bobby Ryan. The farmer, now known by his prison number 107243, did not react as the guilty verdict was read out yesterday. The verdict came at the end of the longest running murder trial in Irish criminal history. Barristers for the prosecution and defence took five days to complete their closing speeches to the jury, which took 20 hours and 39 minutes to come to its decision, a verdict which came six years and one day after Mr Ryan's remains were recovered. He was found guilty of the murder of Bobby Ryan by a 10-2 majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court. Quirke, who was sentenced to the mandatory life imprisonment, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of 52-year-old Mr Ryan, a popular DJ and musician with the stage name 'Mr Moonlight'. Mr Ryan disappeared after leaving his girlfriend Mary Lowry's home at about 6.30am on June 3, 2011. Rekindle His body was eventually found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by Quirke at Fawnagown, Tipperary, 22 months later on April 30, 2013. The prosecution said Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry (52). Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury, telling them they had shown "exceptional patience", and exempted them from further service for life. From the outset, the prosecution said there was "no smoking gun" that would link Quirke to the murder, 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 were frequently interrupted by legal argument, the jury was told that Mary Lowry was married to Martin Lowry, the best man at 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 12,600 per year. It later emerged that a Single Farm Payment from the EU of 11,000 meant that the net cost of the lease to Quirke was 1,600 per year. In early 2008, Quirke and Ms Lowry began a sexual relationship - one that Ms Lowry described to the jury as "seedy", "sordid" and something she regrets. In August 2010, Ms Lowry met Bobby Ryan at a dance. They kept in touch and he even helped her to obtain tickets to the All-Ireland hurling final. Ms Lowry described Bobby as a "breath of fresh air" in her life. He was fun and funny, they shared a love of 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 at Ms Lowry's home some time after 9pm. He stayed the night and he left at about 6.30am. But 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. Searched A search focusing on the woods began and within a few days gardai searched the land and farm buildings at Fawnagowan, but found nothing. Some 22 months later, 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. 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 said 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 some weeks earlier. Part of the tank was covered by two movable slabs of concrete, each weighing about 160kg. Over the rest of the tank was a larger piece of poured concrete which was not designed to be moved. 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. 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 said he immediately knew it was a body - and guessed it was Bobby Ryan's. A number of passengers had to be removed after fights broke out on board a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Malta on Tuesday, it has emerged. "The crew of this flight from Dublin to Malta on April 30 requested police assistance upon arrival after several passengers became disruptive in-flight," an airline spokesman told the Herald. "The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained these individuals. We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This is now a matter for local police." Shouting Speaking on the News At One on RTE, reporter Ciaran Dineen, who was on board, told Claire Byrne that the flight was late taking off due to passengers shouting and misbehaving onboard. He told how passengers bought alcohol on the flight as well as drinking from large bottles of duty-free rum and vodka. Many passengers were heading to Malta for the Lost & Found Dance Music Festival taking place over the May Bank Holiday weekend, he said. "There was a lot of young people, many of them quite inebriated. It wasn't until I was on the plane that I realised it wasn't just young people going to Malta for a holiday away, but out of 180, 150 were going to a dance festival," he said. "Several fights broke out. There was one man pinned to the ground by two other men to keep him under control, there were punches thrown, one man was held up against the window by his neck for the duration of the flight. "There was quite a number who were unruly and it was quite scary for other passengers," he said. "We were late taking off because people kept jumping out of their seats. Some were shouting at the stewards or giving a hand gesture. We took off to the sound of dance music blaring all over the plane." Gardai have seized a loaded shotgun believed to be linked to a gang involved in a Dublin feud with former members of the Westies. On Tuesday, gardai carried out a search in Sheephill Park, Corduff, as part of an ongoing policy targeting local gangs. An area of wasteland near the property was also searched, and a loaded semi-automatic sawn-off shotgun was recovered hidden in undergrowth. Violent Gardai suspect the firearm is linked to a gang led by two brothers involved in the violent feud with former members of the infamous Westies gang. The dispute has seen a number of tit-for-tat shootings and beatings. The recovered firearm has been sent off for ballistics tests at garda headquarters. "There have been no arrests as part of the investigation as nobody was actually found in possession of the shotgun," a source told the Herald. "But it was located very close to the home of two brothers heavily involved in the feuding and gardai suspect they were hiding it there." Gardai have increased armed patrols in the area in an effort to prevent any further violent incidents following a spate of gun attacks and assaults. On Monday night, shots were fired at a home linked to a criminal associated with the drug dealer 'Mr Flashy' for the second time in just over a fortnight. Gardai were called to the Cappagh Drive area of Finglas after receiving reports of gunfire shortly before 11pm. When gardai, including members of the Armed Support Unit, arrived, they found 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. Investigators at Finglas Garda Station are appealing for anyone with information to contact them. On April 13, shots were fired at the house at around 11pm, but again witnesses would not cooperate with gardai. 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. Nine shotgun cartridges and four 9mm bullets were also found at a separate location. As Patrick Quirke stared down the barrel of a life sentence for murdering Bobby Ryan, he attempted to paint a picture of a man without a care in the world. The 50-year-old farmer, now just another number in the Irish prison system, was until last week trying to keep a somewhat composed figure in his home town of Tipperary. Locals yesterday spoke about how the convicted killer returned home in the evenings during his case at the Central Criminal Court and would, most days, enjoy a leisurely dog walk through the busy town while holding hands with his wife. He did this, members of the community said, almost every day during the lengthy murder trial. "You would see him walking through the town with the wife, and their dog. Every day after he got off the train back from Dublin," one local businessman said. "It was like he was trying to show people that he had nothing to worry about. Shocked "I would have met him a few times but I didn't know him too well at all," the man added. "He could have been trying to keep up appearances. Who knows what was going through his head?" Others in the town said they were "shocked" after hearing of the guilty verdict. One man said that although locals thought he was guilty, they were surprised he was convicted after following the progress of what had become the longest murder trial in the history of the State. "I was shocked and I just didn't think the evidence was there," he said. "At the start of the trial I thought he was done for, but as it went on there was a feeling he'd get off. "When Bobby first went missing there were a few suspicions here and there but nobody was pointing the finger directly. Then it became obvious after a while what Quirke had done. Fair play to the gardai, I guess. Justice was done at the end of the day." As the coverage of the verdict played out on media channels in Tipperary town, some people were glued to the television screens in various pubs and stores, but business continued as usual for many on the busy Main Street. Just a short distance from where Quirke enjoyed his evening strolls during the trial is the farm at Fawnagowan where he callously and mercilessly dumped the body of DJ Bobby Ryan, known locally as 'Mr Moonlight'. Meanwhile, in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison, Quirke spent the first of many nights behind bars as he began his mandatory life sentence for the murder of Bobby Ryan. Leo Varadkar has denied accusations by protesting beef farmers that he is a vegan. The Taoiseach said he's "very much an omnivore" and added: "My problem, if anything, is I probably eat too much of everything." It came after an Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) protest laid siege to Cork City Hall where the Cabinet met yesterday. Hundreds of farmers showed up to vent their anger at low beef prices and fears of how Brexit will impact on the beef industry. Up to 20 tractors circled the block outside as ministers conducted their meeting. Mr Varadkar was greeted with chants of "where's the beef, ye vegan?" when he arrived. This was a reference to his remarks earlier this year where he said he was eating less meat to reduce his carbon footprint. IFA president Joe Healy took the opportunity to confront Mr Varadkar, telling him farmers wanted a "clear message" from ministers on the help on offer. Mr Varadkar replied that the Government wanted to do more for beef farmers, but also said they already received far more support than other businesses. After ministers went inside, Mr Healy addressed the crowd. "We're here in the rebel county and this is very much a farmers' rebellion, and we make no apologies for it," he said. He warned that if help wasn't forthcoming, the industry faces "extinction". "That's the message that we were getting across to every minister and the Taoiseach who went through that door today," he said. Struggling The farmers are seeking supports totalling 100m. After the Cabinet meeting, Mr Varadkar said everyone in Government acknowledges that beef farmers are struggling and said the European Commission is being pursued to see how additional income support can be provided. He also denied he was a vegan, saying: "I'm very much an omnivore. My problem, if anything, is I probably eat too much of everything." Separately, he said the record number of people experiencing homelessness is "disappointing and very depressing", but said Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has his "full confidence". Mr Varadkar was speaking after the number of people living in emergency accommodation rose to 10,305 in March. Despite the record high in the number of homeless people, the Taoiseach defended his Fine Gael colleague, saying: "I've full confidence in Eoghan Murphy as Housing Minister, it's a very difficult job." He added that Mr Murphy did not cause the housing crisis, which he blamed on the economic crisis and the Fianna Fail-led government that was in power at the time. Mr Varadkar insisted that progress was being made in resolving the crisis and that 18,000 new houses were built last year, more than any other year in a decade. These elk are a Rocky Mountain variety, however and not the Eastern elk that once roamed this region more than a century ago, Cleary said. So far, weve had 100 % success rate on all our tours, Cleary bragged. Last Saturday, we saw 85. Tours are held in the evenings. Because of the heat of the day, thats why we usually dont do the tours until the evening, Cleary said. The sun gets lower, and it starts to cool off. That is also when the elk start strutting. Still, these tours keep their distance from these big beasts, sporting antlers and weighing hundreds of pounds. They know how big they are, Cleary said with a smile. You never know what theyre going to be doing when you find them. Some will be starting to wander out ... and some will be grazing. Tours are being held Saturdays this month through May 18. But the tour schedule pauses after that until Aug. 24. Well take a little break, Cleary said. The summer, just the heat drives them further and further into the woods. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Mavis Hutton, a resident who lives across from the entrance to Roberts Creek Road, told the Bristol Herald Courier the sirens woke her up early Wednesday. I didnt know what was going on at first, she said. I ran across the road several times trying to find out what was happening. Hutton said she knew the situation was serious when she saw officers from Washington County arrive at the scene. They were putting their safety vests on, and they looked so serious, she said. Hutton has lived in the Hiltons area for most of her life her family used to own the former McMurray Grocery Store. She said shes never seen anything like Wednesdays events in the small, quiet community. Holder, who described Hiltons as a typically safe community, said he placed Hiltons Elementary School on lockdown as a safety precaution. A school resource officer and a Gate City police officer were stationed on the schools campus. Parents who live in Hiltons were asked to pick up their children from school. Assistant Superintendent Jason Smith said the buses did not run in the community due to the increased danger. BRISTOL, Va. The partners of a proposed resort casino have established a political action committee to promote their efforts. The new single-issue PAC, called Betting on Virginia Jobs, was established in recent weeks, according to information on the Virginia Public Access Project website. To date, the committee has two contributions of $50,000 each from The United Co. and Clyde Stacy, both of Bristol, Virginia. Stacy and Jim McGlothlin, chairman and CEO of The United Co., are partners in the Bristol Resort and Casino project proposed for the vacant Bristol Mall. Uniteds contribution came on April 4 and Stacys on April 22, according to VPAP.org. The pair was successful in helping get legislation passed during the last General Assembly session that could pave the way for casino gambling in the state. Senate Bill 1126 calls for a study of casino gaming regulations by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that is due Dec. 1. If the next General Assembly reenacts the legislation, it would establish the framework for the Virginia Lottery Board to oversee gaming and would allow certain localities, including Bristol, Danville, Portsmouth and Richmond, to conduct voter referenda. The suspect is described as a white male, middle-aged, medium-build, wearing a white shirt and jeans. Holder said the man has tattoos on his neck. The sheriff said he is unsure of where the suspect is from, but the tags on the suspect's car were from out of state. He would not provide a description of the car. Mavis Hutton, who lives across the street from the scene, said she was woken up by the sound of sirens heading down Roberts Creek Road this morning. She said has lived in the Hiltons area for most of her life and said she has never seen anything like this in this "small, quiet" community. Roberts Creek Road is a heavily-wooded area off of Bristol Highway that runs along the Holston River. The road is less than 5 miles from Hiltons Elementary School. The road is currently blocked off and the school is under a soft lockdown as a precaution. Students are not believed to be in any immediate danger, Jason Smith assistant superintendent of Scott County Public Schools said. First, though, lets review the political landscape. This being Virginia, we need to spend a lot of time talking about our past before we get to our future. Virginia has had one of the narrowest paths to the governors mansion of any state in the union. For a long time, that route ran through the apple orchards of U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. When the Byrd Machine dominated state politics, Byrds blessing was pretty much tantamount to election. Virginias modern political history did not begin until 1969 when Linwood Holton a Republican lawyer from Roanoke shattered the states one-party rule. Since then, weve had 13 governors. Of those, nine had previously served as either lieutenant governor or attorney general. That surest way to get elected governor is to first get elected to one of those two offices. Of the four exceptions, one was George Allen, who was a former congressman and before that a state legislator, so was very much part of the states political ecosystem. That leaves just three others who came from a nontraditional background Holton, Mark Warner and Terry McAuliffe. None of them had held elected office before being elected governor, although all three had been involved in politics in other ways. Virginia hasnt had a true outsider as governor since Westmoreland Davis, a lawyer, farmer and magazine publisher from Loudoun County, won over a divided establishment field in 1917. Under normal circumstances, the Democratic nomination in 2021 would have been a showdown between the lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, and the attorney general, Mark Herring. Weve seen that happen many times before when one party has held all the top offices. 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. People are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned meats and fish, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on that Saturday. Do not donate frozen food, homemade food or home-canned items. Also, do not donate items that have expired or are in glass containers. Rob Setliff, The Salvation Army Business Administrator said the annual food drive provides more than half of the food it gives out. It is very important for us to receive at this time of the year because we currently have three weeks of food left on our pantry shelves, Setliff said. Executive Director for Eastern Catawba Cooperative Christian Ministry Rev. Robert Silber said this event is equally impactful for ECCCM. We will have one or two youth groups working the event, unloading postal vehicles, then loading the food on the ECCCM truck, Silber said. This drive, on average, has a major impact on over 200 families or 700 individuals. In every age, wherever people have built communities, the danger of fire has loomed on the periphery. Calm summer evenings and quiet wintery nights have been spliced by the sound of a fire station alarm. Men and women from all walks of life have scrambled to the call, the majority of which were volunteers. Volunteers staffed the first fire stations in the U.S., and not much has changed-- except their numbers. In Catawba County, North Carolina, the volunteer firefighter shortage has reached a critical emergency state. Every 4.1 days in North Carolina, a life is lost to fire. Thats one person gone every week or less. Volunteers make up the largest part of our states firefighter personnel. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 72 percent of North Carolina firefighters are volunteers, and NC fire departments have lost an average of 600 firefighters every year since 2016. What are the stark effects of this volunteer shortage? Fewer volunteers create the need for us to call on other departments outside our district to assist. This strains other departments and leaves fewer firefighters to respond if a fire breaks out elsewhere. Were taking action. Nepal visit of Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale, national Guide of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) Kathmandu (Nepal) : Try to understand the pure nature of Dharma. Hindus have strength of number so also physical strength; but mission can be undertaken only on the basis of Atma-bal and Dharma-bal i.e. spiritual strength; therefore, everyone should practice spirituality and awaken such Atma-bal and Dharma-bal, was the appeal made by Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale, national Guide of HJS, to citizens of Nepal. Shri. Mahendra Pokharel, Secretary of You Tube news-channel farak sandesh.com had a talk with Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale on 12th April 2019. Shri. Pokharel told Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale about Nepal being a secular country, when Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale said, Culture and Dharma of Nepal and India is one though these are two different countries. Nepali people are religious and love their religion. Nepali citizens wish to have government based on Dharma. There is unrighteousness where there is no Dharma; so secular country means country related to unrighteousness. While talking about conversions in India, Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale said, Hindus believe in Sarva-Dharma-Sama-Bhav; but what about non-Hindus? Do they believe in Sarva-Dharma-Sama-Bhav? If there is Sama-bhav, why do they convert people? Why is there jihad? Conversion of religion is prohibited under Indian Constitution. Under Section 48 of the Constitution, giving information about Dharmacharan to an individual and to people is the right conferred on citizens. Right to propagate religion does not, however, mean Right to convert. Any movement staged without creating awareness amongst people towards it, is a failure ! Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale Kathmandu (Nepal) : On 14th April, Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale, national Guide of HJS called on Shri. Rajendra Oza, Central Coordinator of Sanatan Dharma Sanrakshan Abhiyan. While giving guidance on the direction for establishing Hindu Rashtra, Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale said, People are dependent and not in condition to take decisions; therefore, awareness has to be created amongst them. Any movement staged without creating awareness amongst people does not succeed. Christians and Muslims present their demands to Government with unity. Rulers try to appease those who elect them to power. Not only Congress but communists would also try to appease Hindus if such awareness was created amongst Hindus. All efforts will fail if people did not wake up and fight for their rights. Guidance to activists of Nepal Sanatan Dharma Sanskruti Kathmandu (Nepal) : Shri. Pushparaj Purush, Secretary of Rashtriya Dharmasabha Nepal and Founder of Jai Sangat organized guidance of Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale for activists of Nepal Sanatan Dharma Sanskruti. Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale said in his guidance.. 1. Something that helps in worldly and spiritual development of a person is Dharma and it also helps in maintaining good social system. This is the definition of Dharma given by Adya Shankaracharya. Considering his definition, it seems that people demanding secular country; do not want worldly and spiritual development of individuals or good social system. 2. Extreme sacrifice is required for undertaking Dharmakarya. Desiring a post in any organization is an obstacle in unification. Only people, who work without any expectations, who are selfless and impartial, can unite people. 3. Indifferent people are the power of politicians while alert people are the power of democracy. 4. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who drafted Indian Constitution, was opposed to secularism and there is a note of the same. 5.Those, who have House of Lords and House of Commons, are today trying to teach us equality, touchability- non-touchability etc. 6. Those, who killed 30 lakh Red Indians for setting up America, are teaching us humanity today. 7. Our ignorance is increasing perverted communism. There was never struggle based on castes in Sanatan Dharma, the struggle was only between righteousness and unrighteousness. 8. Take names of any 10 Sages you know and see how many of them were Brahmins. Communalism was created only to divide Hindus. Highlights : One of the participants said that Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale seemed to be from Nepal due to the affection he has for everyone. Only Sanatan Dharma has power to save the world ! Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale Kathmandu (Nepal) : Concept of Hindu Rashtra is connected to political party but instead, it should be associated to Sanatan Dharma. Governance should be as per the tradition of Sanatan Dharma. The process of establishing Hindu Rashtra is of 3 generations. Sanatan Dharma is for all living beings. Sanatan Dharma has the capacity to save the whole world, stated Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale. Dr. Shweta Dipti of Himalini, the only Hindi monthly periodical in Nepal talked to Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale on 14th April 2019. While explaining reason for decline of Hindu Dharma, Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale said, After rise of Christianity, whole Europe adopted it within 50 years. After rise of Islam, within 30-50 years, all Arabians adopted Islam; but even after facing attacks for 1200 years, Hindu Dharma has still sustained. After Indias independence, however, Dharma has been neglected. We fell short in the process of passing on knowledge, traditions etc to next generations. We are getting defeated not from others but from our own people. We are becoming westernized; leaving own Dharma. Kings rule or democracy in Hindu Rashtra? was the question asked when Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale said, There is Kings rule as per tradition of Dharma and democracy as per the present tradition; but in reality, there is no democracy. Democracy, which is thrust upon us, protects Christian Protestants. Only Protestant Christians can become Prime Minister or be connected to the royal family. Germany, France are catholic countries. Arabian countries protect Islam. In many countries in Europe, there is kings rule as well as democracy. We want system which will protect Hindu Dharma, traditions, Vedas, Puranas and religious and mythical history. Ruler should be righteous and should protect his subjects like a father. Otherwise, our tradition is connected to kings rule. If a new governing system is getting formed where the Prime Minister would be loyal to the kingdom and he would protect his subjects, Dharma, culture and nation, that can also be possible. It is to be decided by people of Nepal about which system do they want. Highlights : Shri. Satchidananda Mishra, Editor of Himalini periodical told Sadguru (Dr.) Pingale about obtaining information in Hindi and English on religious matters and publishing the same through his monthly issues and on portals. On April 5, PepsiCo India filed a case against four potato farmers of Sabarkantha district of Gujarat, accusing them of growing a variety of potato (FC5) that is exclusive to it. The multinational corporation (MNC) claims to have exclusive rights over this variety of potato under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001. Three days after the case was filed, a commercial court in Ahmedabad passed ex-parte interim injunction orders (against infringement) against the defendant farmers. The company is also seeking to recover damages from the infringement to the tune of 1.05 crore from each farmer. However, due to political and civil society pressure, PepsiCo India has now proposed to amicably settle with people who were unlawfully using seeds of its registered variety. The company is suggesting that they may become part of its collaborative potato farming programme. But was there an infringement at all? The MNC is claiming that FC5 was developed by its scientists in the US and that PepsiCo India was granted a Certificate of Registration by the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers Rights Authority in 2016 for this variety as FL-2027. But this variety has actually been in use in India since 2009 and unsurprisingly the seeds can be found with many farmers because of certain practices that they follow: saving and resowing of seeds, exchange of seeds and sourcing of seeds from the market. In India, farmers cannot be expected to know which varieties are being registered under the PPV&FR Act and if this has many implications for them. Importantly, the farmers dont need to use the above two explanations as part of their defence in the court. In compliance with World Trade Organizations TRIPS Agreement, India had adopted a sui generis or unique approach, which takes into cognisance farmers traditional practices around seed management and also recognises them as seed breeders too. The PPV&FR Act emerged from this approach. The PPV&FR Acts Section 39 entitles farmers to save, use, sow, resow, exchange or sell his/her farm produce, including seeds of a variety protected under this Act, provided that such seeds are not branded. In fact, Section 39s articulation makes other provisions of the Act subject to this Section. A perusal of the 1999 version of the PPV&FR Act, the revised Bill of a Joint Parliamentary Committee, and the parliamentary debates in August 2001 clearly illustrate the legislative intent behind this statute, and it was clearly an intent to protect farmers interests. PepsiCo India is on shaky ground inside and outside the court in this case. The sued farmers, who are not in any buyback arrangement with PepsiCo India, have decided against any settlement since they realise that the fight here is larger than their individual cases. It is about the assertion of their seed freedom/sovereignty and the correct judicial interpretation of the PPV&FR Act. It is now in PepsiCo Indias interest to withdraw the cases unconditionally. I hope the judiciary will reinforce unequivocally Section 39 of the PPV&FR Act since this has huge ramifications for farmers and their livelihoods. Kavitha Kuruganti is with Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture, an advocacy platform for farmers rights and sustainable farm livelihoods The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a span of less than two weeks, the Madras High Court has imposed and lifted a ban on the TikTok mobile application, an increasingly popular video and social platform. While rescinding the ban is welcome, the events tell a worrying tale of how the courts can arbitrarily censor online expression with little accountability. On April 3, the Madras High Court heard a public interest litigation petitioning for the TikTok mobile app to be banned in India because it was encouraging pornography, degrading culture, causing paedophiles, spreading explicit disturbing content and causing health problems for teenagers. It is difficult to establish the truth of these extreme claims about content on the platform that has user generated content, but the court was confident enough to pass wide ranging interim orders on the same day without hearing ByteDance, the company that operates the Tik Tok app. The interim order had three directives. First, the Madras High Court ordered the government to prohibit the downloading of the app. Second, it restricted the media from broadcasting videos made using the app. Third, it asked the government to respond about whether it plans to enact legislation that would protect childrens online privacy. While the third directive poses an important question to the government that merits a larger discussion, the first two completely lacked a legal rationale. The court order also implied that the availability of pornography on the platform was problematic, even though it is not illegal to access pornography in India. Appallingly, the order makes no mention at all of the most pertinent legal provision: Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act and the rules issued under it, which form the liability regime applicable to intermediaries (online services). The intermediary liability rules in India generally shield online platforms from liability for the content uploaded to their platform as long as the company operating is primarily involved in transmitting the content, complies with government and court orders, and is not abetting illegal activity. It is this regime that has ensured that online platforms are not hyperactively censoring expression to avoid liability, and has directly supported the proliferation of speech online. The courts do have some powers of online censorship under the provision, which they have used many times in the past. They have the authority to decide on questions of whether certain content violates law and then direct intermediaries to disable access to that specific content. Such a legal scenario was certainly not the case before the Madras High Court. We can also be sure that the app stores run by Apple and Google, on which TikTok is available, were not the intermediaries under consideration here (which would also be problematic in its own ways) since the interim order makes no mention of them. So, despite the fact that the courts order had no clear jurisdiction and legal basis, Apple and Google were ordered by the government to remove TikTok from their respective mobile app stores for India. ByteDance Technology appealed to the Supreme Court of India to rescind the ban, arguing that they qualify as intermediaries under the IT Act and should not face a blanket ban as a repercussion of allegedly problematic content on their platform. The Supreme Court refrained from staying the problematic Madras High Court interim order, but decided that the ban on the app will be lifted by April 24 if the case wasnt decided by then. On April 24, sense finally prevailed when the High Court decided to take the interim directive back. Admittedly, popular online platforms can create certain social problems. TikTok has faced bans elsewhere and was fined by the Federal Trade Commission in the United Sates for collecting information on its users who were below the age of 13. There is no debate that the company is legally bound to follow the rules issued under the IT Act, be responsive to legally valid government and court orders, and should strictly enforce their community guidelines that aim to create a safe environment for the young demographic that forms a part of its user base. However, a ban is a disproportionate move that sends signals of regulatory uncertainty, especially for technology companies trying to break into an increasingly consolidated market. The failure of the government to enact a law that protects childrens privacy also cannot be considered a legitimate ground for a ban on a mobile app. Perhaps most importantly, the interim court order adds yet another example to the increasing number of times the judiciary has responded to petitions by passing censorship orders that have no basis in law. As constitutional scholar Gautam Bhatia has pointed out, we are faced with the trend of judicial censorship wherein the judiciary is exercising power without accountability in ways not envisioned by the Constitution. Rather than critically examining the infringement of liberties by the political executive, the Indian courts are becoming an additional threat to the right to freedom of expression, which we must be increasingly wary of. Gurshabad Grover is senior policy officer, the Centre for Internet and Society The views expressed are personal Actor Salman Khans upcoming film Dabangg 3 will hit the screens on December 2019 and audience will get to meet cop Chulbul Pandey all over again. Looks like fans of the film and its central character arent restricted only to India. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, there is a restaurant in Argentina called Gran Dabbang (Great Dabbang), which has its walls decorated with Dabangg posters. The report adds that the restaurant specialises in Argentine and South Asian cuisine. On a Facebook page, which appears to be the official page of the restaurant, there are pictures and posters from the film; in one, Salman has his favourite sunglasses on, only these are heart-shaped. Another poster is the one featuring Salman in a police uniform with a sari-clad Sonakshi Sinha next to him. Also read: Sophie Turner, Joe Jonas marry in Vegas, pull off most anti-Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas wedding ever. See pics, videos Also read: Sophie Turner, Joe Jonas marry in Vegas, pull off most anti-Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas wedding ever. See pics, videos Salman had shared the news of Dabangg 3s release date with his fans on Friday. Taking to Twitter and sharing an image with the release date of December 20, 2019 mentioned on it, he wrote, Chulbul is back. Earlier, the actor shared a still of his character Chulbul Pandey after he wrapped up shooting for the Maheshwar schedule of the film. Dabangg 3, which is the third film in the Dabangg franchise, is being helmed by Prabhudeva and produced under the banner of Salman Khan Films and Arbaaz Khan Production. The upcoming film also stars Sonakshi Sinha reprising her role of Rajjo from Dabangg; she had made her debut with the franchises first iteration in 2010. According to media reports, Arbaaz Khan will once again be seen playing Makkhi in the film. Salmans next film Bharat is all set for a June 5 release on Eid. The film stars Katrina Kaif, Jackie Shroff, Disha Patani, Sunil Grover and Tabu in pivotal roles. (With ANI inputs) Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood actor Disha Patani is garnering all the attention for her song Slow Motion and her designer for the song, Ashley Rebello, has now revealed the sari-look was actually inspired by Helen, her song Oh Hasenaa and Mera Naam, apart from other 60s heroines. He also denied having been inspired by Raveena Tandon and her famous song, Tip Tip Barsa Paani. Slow Motion is from Salman Khan-starrer Bharat in which Disha is playing the role of a trapeze artist. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the film traces the life of Salmans character Bharat across 60 years. It also stars Jackie Shroff and Katrina Kaif. In an interview to Mumbai Mirror, Ashley Rebello said, We borrowed a lot from these songs (O Haseena Zulfonwali and Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu), from the tassles to the hairstyles. Ali was very clear her look should be sensuous and classy rather than overtly showy. The way Disha sari draped her sari attracted a lot of flak online and got Twitterati cracking jokes. Also read: Disha Patanis Slow Motion inspires jokes, netizens say if you ever feel useless, think of Dishas pallu We had initially planned on a yellow and red saree but eventually settled for yellow. No, Raveenas saree was not on my mind, This is more of a dhoti saree, contemporary with a flair of the 60s, he added. The designer also claimed to have found references from Hollywood films and the Russian circus. Disha is a pleasure to work with, the only thing she ever said is that she knows she is in the hands of professionals who know their jobs and will make her look good. Talking about preparing for the song, Disha had earlier said, I remember breaking my knee while rehearsing. I was also practising gymnastics simultaneously. You must have seen the front flip and other stunts in the song. I was actually over training and broke my knee a week prior to the shoot, she said. I couldnt walk and was literally on the bed before the shoot started. It was really hard for me. After every take, I had to use a cold press, which hurt a lot. But I am happy to see the result and feel that everything was worth it. Bharat is the big Eid release of the year and is scheduled to hit the theatres on June 5. Follow @htshowbiz for more. After impressing fans with the teaser and posters of the movie, Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor shared Indias Most Wanteds trailer and it looks interesting. Directed and written by Raj Kumar Gupta, the film is about an officer who wants to track down and arrest a terrorist without firing bullets, in a secret mission. The trailer shows Arjun as a confident young officer who has asked his supervisor to let him chase after a deadly terrorist. Arjun and his team of four men go after Indias Osama to Kathmandu, unaided and without any support from the government. They call him crazy but he is crazy for his country. Watch the trailer here: Also read: Aishwarya, Aaradhya, Abhishek Bachchans family hug wins the internet In the film, Arjun plays the role of Prabhat Kapoor while Amrita Puri of Kai Po Che! fame stars opposite him. Slated for a May 24 release, Indias Most Wanted also stars Rajesh Sharma and Prashant Singh and was shot mostly in Nepal and Delhi. Raj Kumar Gupta has delivered successful suspense thrillers including Ajay Devgn-starrer Raid and Rani Mukerji-starrer No One Killed Jessica. Speaking about his lead hero, Gupta had earlier said, We have been thinking of working together for long. So as soon as Raid [2018] got over, we discussed this and started working. Arjun had done a very good job and we have finished the film on time. I am happy with the way the film has turned out. Apart from Indias Most Wanted, Arjun is also working on Ashutosh Gowarikars Panipat where he plays the role of Sadashiv Rao Bhau. It also stars Kriti Sanon, Sanjay Dutt and Mohnish Bahl in prominent roles and is set to hit theatres on December 6. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Soni Razdan has been facing personal attacks from Kangana Ranauts sister Rangoli Chandel for sometime now, mostly for her British citizenship. Asked if she feels bad that Rangoli talks about her personal life, Soni has said it is human to feel bad when attacked personally but added that she 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 Ranauts 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. Watch | Mahesh Bhatt refuses to comment on Kanganas tirade, says its against upbringing Everybody is human, and Im not an alien... I do feel bad but then at some point you have to stop feeling bad. You have to think whos 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 youll find the answers. And then you stop feeling bad immediately. Why give this person the power to make you sad in the first place? Also read: Mahesh Bhatt refuses to comment on Kangana Ranaut-Alia Bhatt row, calls Manikarnika actor a bachchi 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, Dont 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 Im dead? You come to a certain age in life and wonder I am holding back for what? Why not just say it? she asked. Rangoli had attacked Soni and Alia, calling 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. After Kangana called Alias performance in Gully Boy mediocre, Alia said she would like to earn Kanganas approval with hard work, refusing 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 said, 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. Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, who will be seen with Hrithik Roshan in his upcoming action film, has said the idea of the project is like having a battle between Tom Cruises Mission Impossible character Ethan Hunt and iconic British spy James Bond. Tiger is currently gearing up for the release of Student of the Year 2, where he will be seen opposite Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday. Directed by Siddharth Anand, the yet-to-be-titled action film is backed by Yash Raj Films. Actor Vaani Kapoor also stars in it. I feel that film is going to be something cool. The idea is to get Tom Cruises Ethan Hunt of Mission Impossible versus James Bond, together in the same film. Thats the idea, Tiger said in a group interview. The films shoot is almost over, with dance potions still remaining to be shot. Also read: Happy Birthday Anushka: Here are the five firsts the actor can be proud of The Baaghi 2 star said he was so 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 couldnt 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. Yes, that was a bit of a problem. Luckily Rambo has a different terrain altogether now, a different world, something people wont expect. Tiger will be next seen in Student of the Year 2. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow @htshowbiz for more When 70-year-old migrant Kashmiri Pandit Roshan Lal Mawa returned to his home in old city here after 28 years to restart his family business, this was the least he was expecting: A rousing reception. For Roshan, the return journey to his roots was no cakewalk. The trader 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, Mawa re-opened his shop in Zainakadal --- a commercial hub --- and hundreds of locals jostled to greet him and his son Sandeep Mawa. They even performed a dastaar bandi a traditional welcome wherein a white turban is tied on the head as a mark of respect. The gesture made Mawa emotional. There is no place like your own homeland. The extraordinary respect people gave me here today; I have no answer to that. This proves Kashmiriyat. We are one blood. People here want Kashmiri Pandits back, he said. I hugged some 5,000 people and thousands more are coming to meet me, said Mawa who has restarted his family business of selling dry fruits, dates and spices. People tell me that dont you fear for your life? Those were bad times and that is over. Ninety nine per cent of people here are good. A small fraction may have a different outlook, but they can also be made to understand, he said. The migrant Pandit said that he was well settled in Delhi but the longing of returning home always nagged him. I have a house, a good business outside but I always missed my home-Kashmir. I want to die here. That is why I have started a shop here, he said. His son Sanjay runs J&K Reconciliation Fronta , body that promotes harmony and brotherhood between Pandits and Muslims. After long, I was able to convince my father to return and the response of people here was amazing. It was like a mela here, Sanjay said. He said that Pandits should make efforts to return. It is true that 1990s were bad. Pandits suffered but Muslims have equally suffered, he said. My next step is to bring 200 Pandits back to their roots in coming months, added.Sanjay. Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Sheikh Ashiq said all migrant Pandit traders should follow in Roshans footsteps and return home. We have many non-Muslim traders doing their businesses despite turmoil here. People here have no ill will against any community and the welcome extended to the trader today proves that, he added. One of the gaps in the Congresss campaign so far has been its inability to confront Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on three issues. All surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest that Mr Modis popularity is high and this arises from faith in his integrity, which, in turn, stems from his humble roots and a sense of the purity of his intent. The second issue is national security. After the Balakot strikes in particular, the BJP has been able to project its muscular response to Pakistan as testament of its decisive leadership, compared to what it calls the feeble responses of the past. And the third broader issue is of credibility. The BJP has, for instance, been able to question a scheme like Nyuntam Aay Yojana (Nyay) by saying that it is not only economically unfeasible but also that the Congresss track record on poverty offers little hope that it can lift people to respectable standards of living. In an interview to this newspaper, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken on the BJP on precisely these issues. Despite the dip in his reputation because of the record of the United Progressive Alliance 2 (UPA 2) government, Mr Singh is a credible and respected voice. He has first taken on Mr Modi directly, and spoke of both how a range of national leaders have come from humble roots, yet never made it an electoral card. Working hard has to be taken for granted, not sold as a virtue, a point that does deserve consideration. Mr Singh has also sought to challenge the national security narrative by pointing to both the successes of the UPA in building Indias case on terror, and the NDAs intelligence failures which have led to attacks. And finally, Mr Singh has reiterated his unequivocal support to Nyay as both a fiscally feasible scheme and one which can kickstart the economy. These are important interventions, and the Congress would do well to use Mr Singh more effectively. The challenge, however, for the Congress is that its message is often lost in the echo chambers of its existing supporters. Unless the party is able to take on Mr Modi and the BJP on precisely these issues on the ground, its narrative will not have the desired impact. The fact remains that a large section of the electorate continues to believe in Mr Modi; that it sees the BJPs response on terror as stronger; and that it has doubts on Nyay. Mr Singh has made a start. The party must use his message in the remaining phases of the polls if it wants to challenge Mr Modi. The hemlines this summer seem to be going up and our millennial Bollywood beauties have fallen for the allure of the mini silhouette hook, line and sinker. Be it Ananya Panday, Janhvi Kapoor or Tara Sutaria - millennials and Gen- Z icons have warmed up to gravity-defying mini dresses and itsy-bitsy micro shorts like never before. Internationally, designers like Saint Laurent, Balmain, Hedi Slimane and in India, labels like Falguni and Shane Peacock have brought fashions attention to the thigh-baring numbers. Invented in the swinging 60s by the iconic Mary Quant and Andre Courreges - the mini in its contemporary avatar comes with holographic shine and a high-low hem. Designer Monisha Jaising observes that the current updated version is a far cry from the 80s bandage dress. Todays stars wear it in a relaxed, athleisure-inspired style and strike the right balance - for instance, a voluminous top is worn with a mini skirt or an oversized shirt is teamed with a pair of shorts. In haute couture space too, designers like Giambattista Valli have toyed with a panoply of short dresses. A great mini does justice to a nifty pair of shoes or even a pair of trainers, says Monisha. Also, the popularity of mini dresses brings in an element of sexiness. Stylist Mohit Rai recalls, Thankfully, we live in an era when girls in miniskirts arent tagged in a negative way. How to ace the mini -Team a pencil mini skirt with a sweatshirt hoodie. -Club it either with a pair of thong heels or sneakers. -Combine it with an oversized shirt or a blazer to balance the overall silhouette. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A personnel of Assam Rifles, a central paramilitary force, was killed and two others injured on Thursday morning when a jawan opened fire after an altercation with his colleagues. The personnel who lost his life was identified as Bholanath Das. The injured, Anil Rajbanshi and Rantu Mani, were admitted to a Kolkata hospital in critical condition. The assailant, Lakshmikant Burman, who fired 18 rounds from his service rifle was arrested. Burman was arrested. Apparently, he was in a mentally unstable condition..., said additional director general (law and order), Siddhnath Gupta. The incident took place at Bangalpur Jyotirmoyee Girls High School in Howrah district. The personnel had come to Bengal on poll duty. Polling will be held in the constituencies of Howrah district -- Uluberia and Howrah -- on May 6. Senior police officials of the district were tight-lipped. Locals said that around 11:20 AM, they heard several gunshots. A police contingent led by an additional superintendent, rushed to spot and cordoned off the school building where the Assam Rifles personnel were set up. Rapid action force personnel were deployed. Howrah district police forwarded a preliminary report to the state secretariat and the chief electoral officer, West Bengal. A 50-year-old man was beaten to death by a mob on the suspicion of being a cattle thief in Bihars Araria district, police said on Thursday. This is the second incident in the district within five months in which an individual has been targeted by alleged cow vigilantes. The incident took place at Das Haripur village under Forbesganj police station, around 300 km from the state capital Patna on Wednesday night. According to the police, some residents of Das Haripur village caught a man with stolen cattle and allegedly thrashed him. Police intervened later and rushed the victim to Forbesganj referral hospital where he was declared dead. The man, identified as Mahesh Yadav of Achra village under Fulkaha police station, had died on the way to hospital. He had several criminal cases registered against him, a police officer said speaking on the condition of anonymity. Forbesganj sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Manoj Kumar said a first information report (FIR) has been filed against unidentified people in connection with the case. A villager was also injured when the alleged thief attacked him with a knife. Air India has submitted a plan to the aviation ministry detailing how it would help employees occupying 676 of the 810 flats in the airlines housing complex in south Delhis tony Vasant Vihar neighbourhood to find alternative accommodation if they were asked to vacate the apartments, two officials familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. Air India has been issuing auction notices relating to properties it owns across the country, including the iconic 23-story building located in Nariman Point in Mumbai. The plan for the Vasant Vihar housing complex was discussed with the civil aviation ministry, which said that in case the government went ahead with its privatisation, the property would need to be vacated before being sold. The officials cited above clarified that the proposal for the Vasant Vihar colony did not mean its redevelopment was finalised - it was just a plan that could be implemented if the privatisation goes through. To be sure, a previous attempt to sell Air India flopped last year when no one bid for the state-owned airline, burdened by heavy debt and accumulated losses, and theres no clarity on a revival of the sale, meaning the property divestments are likely a distant exercise . Press Trust of India (PTI) reported in January, citing an official it didnt name, that the government expected to raise $1 billion from the sale of the airline.in fiscal 2019-20. A meeting was held regarding the issues relating to Air India properties at Vasant Vihar and Baba Kharag Singh Marg, New Delhi. In the meeting, it was pointed out by joint secretary that in case of disinvestment or demolition of property at Vasant Vihar, alternative arrangements for providing accommodation to employees of Air lndia is required to be explored and hence, Air lndia was advised to work out modalities for accommodation facility to the employees living in Vasant Vihar colony...and furnish the same to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Meenakshi Kashyap, general manager of Air India, wrote in a letter to the ministry on April 11. In the proposal, a copy of which has been seen by HT, the airline said employees will be advised to take flats on rent. Air India would be willing to enter lease agreements directly with the owners and also provide a subsidy of between 5,000 and 25,000 based on the designation of the employees, it said. Property consultants in Vasant Vihar said the value of the 30 acres of prime land owned by Air India in the neighbourhood could range between 3,000 crore and 4,000 crore. but height restrictions on buildings because of the airport being in close proximity could affect the value. It is definitely a high-value, prime land and in this area a 400-yard plot is sold at 6-7 lakh per yard but as the size gets bigger, the per-yard value starts coming down. But we feel height restriction will define the value of the property as because of the airport, the new property may not be that high, thus reducing the value, said Dipesh Garg of SanD advisory, a real estate appraiser based in south Delhi. Air India has said that it will form a committee comprising representatives of its personnel, properties and facilities, and finance departments to carry out a market survey to identify the areas where safe and suitable accommodation is available for rent or lease.The committee will be asked to find the accommodation, as per the current entitlement of the employees, in terms of the area of the flat. Wherever applicable, Brokerage Charge will be borne by the company. At the time of vacation of the colony accommodation, the transportation of household goods to the new accommodation in terms of the transfer policy of the company may be considered, the airline said in its proposal. According to residents of the colony, they have not received any notice to vacate but are aware that a plan has been submitted to the ministry. It will be very difficult to vacate these 676 flats especially when several of them have no accommodation in Delhi or are on transfer from other bases, as also their children are studying in the school situated in the colony or in neighbouring area, the airline said in the proposal. Last month, the airline issued auction notices for 23 properties in 14 cities across the county including a holiday home in Lonavala and flats is Delhis Asiad village and land in cities like Mumbai and Trivandrum. Last year, the national carrier had put up some apartments in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, as well as properties and land parcels in Kolkata, Pune, Bhuj, Goa, Gwalior, Trivandrum and Nashik for auction. So far the airline has generated about 400 crore from these properties. According to an Air India official familiar with the matter, the money generated from these sales will go to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Air India Asset Holding Limited. The government has already decided to transfer 29,000 crore of the total 55,000 crore debt of Air India to this SPV. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Hyderabad police on Thursday arrested a constable belonging to Andhra Pradesh who opened fire in a crowded state-run road transport corporation bus following an argument with co-passengers earlier in the day. The accused was identified as R Srinivas, who belongs to the security wing of the AP state intelligence department and is presently working as a gunman for a VIP in Hyderabad. The task force police identified the accused through the video footage obtained from the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and took him into custody at his residence in Kukatpalli on the outskirts of the city. At the same time, the Telangana police also informed their Andhra Pradesh counterparts. AP Director General of Police R P Thakur told reporters that he would get the matter investigated and take appropriate action. Firing in public places is a big crime. We have just received information from the Telangana police and we will investigate the circumstances that led to the constable losing his cool and fire in the crowded bus. There is absolutely no work pressure on our police personnel, he said. The incident happened at around 10.45 am in the bus (registration number AP 28Z 4468) run by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) between Secunderabad and Manikonda via Film Nagar (Route No. 47L). According to eye-witness accounts, the bus was already overcrowded with office-goers. A person wearing a safari suit was standing near the footboard of the rear entry door blocking the way of other passengers, who were boarding the bus at Punjagutta bus stand. When one of the passengers asked him to either get down or move inside to facilitate other passengers to get into the bus, he picked up an argument with him, the eye-witness said. When others also started questioning the passenger, he got angry and suddenly took out his revolver from his pocket and fired in the air, before getting down from the running bus and escaping. The bullet pierced through the roof of the bus, the eye-witness said. Bus driver, Yakub Basha, drove the bus without stopping anywhere for a few kilometres. Later, he and conductor Bhupathi asked the passengers to get down and took the bus to the Secunderabad Cantonment depot, where they reported the matter. They went to the Panjagutta police station to lodge a formal complaint. Based on the complaint, the police took up the investigation and after going through the CCTV camera footage, they identified the person as Srinivas, a constable from the Andhra Police. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON What does a former Prime Minister with multiple degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge think about the NDA regimes disdain of elite education? In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had famously coined the phrase Harvard versus hard work when dismissing the forecasts of well-known economists like Amartya Sen about the impact of demonetisation. When asked, Dr Manmohan Singh said, Attractive catch phrases can never replace indelible commitment to Indias prosperity. Listing the names of a number of leaders such as Dr Ambedkar, Homi Bhabha, Dr Hargobind Khurana and Dr APJ Kalam, all known for their scholarly abilities, he said, They did not brag about their hardships or their humble backgrounds. Despite being subjected to high degree of poverty and social discrimination. Dr BR Ambedkar went to the United States on a scholarship and later studied in London School of Economics. Should we question these men and womens hard work or contribution to the country? Also Read | Many surgical strikes during UPAs tenure, says former PM Manmohan Singh HT also asked Dr Singh if he identified with Prime Minister Modi when it came to coming from modest backgrounds. If Narendra Modi once sold tea to make ends meet, Dr Singh is from a migrant family from Pakistan and walked miles to school every day. However, the former PM rejected this by saying, One must not wear his humbleness as a tool for self-aggrandisement. Progress of the country and policies of the successive governments in last 70 years have played a definite role in creation of opportunities and empowerment. They played a role in making me what I am today, and they played their part in Mr. Modis life too. As I said earlier,there is a long list of men and women from humble backgrounds who reached the highest offices in India. When Prime Minister Narendra Modis bulletproof SUV rolled into Assi crossing during his roadshow in Varanasi last Friday, the crowd broke into a frenzy. As he waved to the hundreds thronging the streets and huddled on rooftops and balconies, loud chants of Modi, Modi rent the air. Being a resident of the prime ministers constituency is a privilege, said Anand Pandey, a medical representative who came to Assi crossing to catch a glimpse of Modi. Nobody wants to lose it. Modi won his first Lok Sabha battle from Varanasi in 2014, polling 580,000 votes and defeating Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party by a margin of 370,000 votes. He is seeking re-election from the same constituency and looks set for an easier ride. There are two reasons for it. First, he is the prime minister who has a story to tell his voters. Varanasi is a changed city in five years. The overhead electricity wires are now underground, the ghats are clean, and the civic infrastructure has improved. Also read | PM Modi doesnt come anywhere close to Indira Gandhi or Shastri: Manmohan Singh When he took over, Varanasi had been crumbling under its own weight. The big push he gave to infrastructure projects has left voters impressed. Two cancer hospitals, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) status to Banaras Hindu Universitys Institute of Medical Sciences, a highway connecting the airport to the city, two more bridges over the Ganga, the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor, separate plants to treat sewage and solid waste, a rice research institute, gas connections for 100,000 families, free power connections for another 125,000 families, and houses for 15,325 families are among several benefits Varanasi has received in the last five years. All these schemes were directly monitored by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the execution was done at a rapid pace. Modi was hope in 2014. He is a belief in 2019, said a BJP office bearer who works closely with the PMO on Varanasi projects but did not wish to be named. Today, the change is visible. Abhinav, who reads ceramic engineering at Indian Institue of Technology - BHU, will vote for the first time in a Lok Sabha election. He is impressed with the improvement in law and order. You can see girls and boys sitting on the ghats along Ganga till late in evening. This was not the scene earlier. Another group of IIT BHU students asked, Who is there against Modi? This is Modis second advantage in Varanasi. The buzz about Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contesting from Varanasi had promised to spice up the fight, but it died out. Congress has fielded Ajay Rai, a former MLA and its 2014 candidate. Rai polled 75-000 odd votes in that election. The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday replaced Shalini Yadav, who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 mayoral poll, with former BSF trooper Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was dismissed from service two years ago after he posted a video on social media complaining about the quality of food served to jawans. On Wednesday, however, Tej Bahadur Yadavs nomination papers were rejected by EC, forcing the SP to fall back on its original choice. It is surprising that the opposition has not been able to find a strong candidate against Modi, said Aatib Ahmad, a man in his early thirties who works with an app-based cab company to raise his family of three. Modi is surely winning, but there should have been a contest at least. Satish Rai, who taught political science at Kashi Vidyapeeth, said, Congress is stronger than the SP-BSP alliance in Varanasi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Stating that media freedom is neither a western value nor a colonial imposition, Britains foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday quoted Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to push for more media freedom, insisting that curbing journalists does not make problems go away. Speaking at a UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event, Hunt said media freedom is a force for progress from which everyone benefits. Sens research into famine prevention and democracy privileges the role played by the news media. Hunt said: Today, my argument is simple: media freedom is not a Western value, still less a colonial-style imposition, but instead a force for progress from which everyone benefits. The Indian Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, defined the expansion of freedom as what he called the pre-eminent objective of development. Far from being in tension, he showed that freedom and development were one and the same, and a flourishing media should be seen as part of the broader progress of a nation, he added at the event hosted by the African Union in Addis Ababa. Also read| Attractive phrase: Manmohan Singh on PMs Harvard vs hard work remark Announcing UK government initiatives on media freedom, Hunt said when everyone is able to exchange ideas freely, a society benefits not just from the brains of the people at the top, but from the originality and creativity of the entire population. Thats why half of the ten most inventive countries, as ranked by the Global Innovation Index, are also in the top 10 for media freedom. Thats also why, however fashionable it may be becoming in some countries, the authoritarian model of development is ultimately flawed. According to him, whatever politicians claim during election campaigns, no single party or leader or philosophy has a monopoly on wisdom. Instead, the progress of humanity shows that wisdom arises from the open competition between ideas when different viewpoints are given the oxygen to contend freely and fairly. Noting that corruption is one of the biggest sources of anger in many countries, Hunt said far more effective than the crackdowns regularly launched by authoritarian regimes is the sunlight of transparency. There is a striking overlap between the least corrupt countries in global indices and those with the freest media, he added. Also read| Top Oxford honour for Nobel laureate Amartya Sen Indeed no fewer than seven of the top ten cleanest nations in the world, as ranked by Transparency International, are also in the top ten for Press Freedom. And there is no mystery why. Powerful people care about their reputations. They are therefore far less likely to abuse their positions if there is a real risk of exposure, Hunt said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a massive operation, the National Investigating Agency on Thursday seized cash, crude weapons, laptops and hard disks as well as incriminating documents, from the office premises of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) across Tamil Nadu. The raid at 20 locations were carried out in connection with the February 5 murder of PMK functionary, Ramalingam, by suspected Islamic radicals for opposing religious preaching in a Dalit enclave at Thirubuvanam near Kumbakonam in Thajavur district, an NIA release said. During the searches, a number of digital devices including 16 mobile phones, 21 SIMN cards, 3 laptops, 9 hard disks, 7 memory cards, 118 CDs/DVDs, 1 Tab, 7 memory cards, 7 diaries, 2 PFI Banners, I DVR were seized, the release listed. Further, seizures included a sword, a knife and cash 2 lakh besides 100 incriminating documents. According to the NIA, these were recovered from three different houses which were searched since the morning. The NIA had taken over the investigation into the case recently from the state police. A catering contractor, Ramalingam (42), was waylaid and hacked to death at night while returning home on February 5, a day after a video of him countering a few members of an Islamic group engaged in preaching at a Dalit colony, started circulating. It was a well planned conspiracy, the NIA says adding that Ramalingam, returning in his minivan was waylaid and attacked with lethal weapons like billhook and both his hands were chopped off. He died on the way to the hospital due to excessive bleeding. The Thiruvidaimaruthur police have registered a case and arrested 10 people while six others wanted in the case are absconding. All the accused are either active members or office-bearers of the PFI. They include, Rahman Sadiq, an administrator of masjid activities in the district and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, district secretary of PFI. According to the FIR, the murder was carried out to avenge those defaming and opposing Islam. The NIA raids come close on the heels of the deadly Easter day bombings in Sri Lanka, which have cast a shadow on the radical Islamic outfits in the state. Though no conclusive evidence has surfaced, clouds of suspicion persist about the radical Islamic outfits with the fundamentalist group linked to the Lankan bombings. Teams of NIA sleuths, led by Inspector General Alok Verma have carried out the raids at Kumbakonam, Karaikal, Thanjavur, Trichy among other places. Apart from the PFI and SDPI offices, the residence of a Muslim cleric of Thirubhuvanam, an absconding accused, was also searched. The NIA is looking at unravelling the murder conspiracy, funding, execution, the execution team and gathering material, scientific and digital evidence. The Tamil Nadu police which registered a case, have arrested 11 people and the accused include, Rahman Sadiq, an administrator of masjid activities in the district and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, District Secretary of PFI. SDPI president Dhehlan Baqavi is the candidate from the Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency as an ally of TTV Dhinakarans Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazagam (AMMK). Neither SDPI nor PFI could be reached for their reaction over the phone. Meanwhile, a lower court has remanded to custody Dhanuka Roshan, the Sri Lankan national arrested on Wednesday. Roshan was arrested following an NIA raid on a gated community near Poonamalee, on the outskirts of Chennai. Former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar claimed on Thursday that Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) plea for his custodial interrogation in connection with Saradha and other chit funds cases was a politically motivated exercise that is mala fide. Kumars lawyer, senior advocate Indira Jaising, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, that Kumar was innocent. He was in-charge of the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the West Bengal government in 2013 to probe the Saradha case and no vicarious liability can be laid upon him, she said. The case was transferred to the CBI in 2015. The top court is hearing CBIs application asking it to vacate the order that restrains the central agency from arresting Kumar in connection with the case. Kumar was only supervising the work of the SIT comprising 170 personnel, and was merely entrusted with the task of providing logistic supports in the form of infrastructural facilities to the team, she argued. Jaising also claimed the CBIs action was motivated by malice and it was evident as it did not take any action against then Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Kunal Ghosh, who was charge-sheeted by the West Bengal police in the Saradha case. At the end of the fourth phase of polling, Congress is confident of crossing the three-digit mark in the 17th Lok Sabha polls. According to an internal assessment, Congress will significantly improve its tally compared to the 2014 election when it bagged just 44 of the 543 seats. That was its lowest tally in any Lok Sabha election, beating the previous low of 114 seats in 1999. In 2014, Congress failed to open its account in 13 states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Odisha, and could not cross the double-digit mark in any state. It did not get Leader of Opposition status as it failed to win 10% of total seats of House. On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the first political party to secure an absolute majority on its own in 30 years by winning 282 seats. Also Read | PM Modi doesnt come anywhere close to Indira Gandhi or Shastri: Manmohan Singh The Congresss evaluation for 2019 indicates gains in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. But it is not expecting a good showing in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Delhi and the North-East. The internal assessment is based on feedback from the ground in several Lok Sabha constituencies across the country, a Congress functionary familiar with matters said. The party is expected to revise its assessment after the final phase of polling on May 19. Votes will be counted on May 23. On record, Congress said people were voting for change and the fall of the BJP government at Centre was imminent, as evident from statements of PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Our first and foremost assessment comes from Modis desperation and nervousness... Sometimes, he indulges in abusive language against Congress president Rahul Gandhi, second day he says he is going to bring down an elected government in West Bengal through defection, and on the third day... he and his home ministry indulges in absolute rubbish of questioning Rahul Gandhis citizenship, partys chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. It seems he is trying to hold on to every straw to somehow stop his boat from sinking. Surjewala said the partys second assessment comes from the observations of workers on the ground. That is extremely encouraging and shows massive gains for Congress and allies and consequent losses for BJP, he said. He said the third assessment comes from online and physical surveys that have established the observations of workers on the ground. When contacted, BJP refused to make any comment on it. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two projects widely seen as test cases of environmental regulation in India have received approvals from the environment ministry in the face of concerns among green activists over suspected irregularities. On April 23, the ministrys expert appraisal committee (EAC) granted environmental clearance to development of a greenfield international airport in north Goa and granted terms of reference (TOR) to the expansion of a waterfront development plan for Mundra Port by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ), according to the minutes of the meeting published on the environment ministrys Parivesh portal on Thursday. TOR forms the basis for grant of an environmental clearance in future. Environmental law experts say violations have been recorded in various government and legal documents pertaining to the projects. In both cases, there have been or are incomplete environmental assessments, legally recorded non-compliance, pending resolution of court and administrative directions and ongoing litigation. With existing and potential impacts clearly established, the EAC should have had an additional responsibility to uphold rule of law and the precautionary principle, said Kanchi Kohli, legal researcher at the think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR). Apart from standard TOR granted to the main project, the ministry asked for the inclusion of other issues. These include the importance and benefits from the expansion, a certified compliance report by environment ministry for the conditions stipulated in previous environmental clearances, the impact of dredging on marine ecology, and a biodiversity report and management plan for aquatic species. Granting of TOR is a significant step on determining how the project will be assessed, said Kohli. The Navinal Gram Panchayat in Mundra, in Kutch district of Gujarat, had urged the EAC on April 22 to assess all previous violations committed by the project before considering expansion. We would like the committee to take this and the fact that no remediation measures have been taken till date, into account while considering the expansion proposal, said the gram panchayat letter. It added that the environment ministry had earlier found instances of destruction of mangroves, sand dunes, and blockage of creeks in the APSEZ area. The developer disputes this. Sustainable development has been the growth mantra of the Adani Group and the Mundra port has been an ideal example of this philosophy. Till date, the group has planted mangroves across 2,885 hectares along the Gujarat coastline with a survival rate of 85%. On April 23, the EAC heard our proposal for grant of Terms of Reference (TOR) with regard to the Waterfront Development Project at Mundra Port. Environment ministry has published minutes and thereby recommended TOR for the project, said a spokesperson for the Adani Group, on May 2. The ministry issued show-cause notices to the project on 15 December 2010; 30 September 2013; and a report on status of compliance on September 18, 2015. In its 2015 report, the ministry asked for a detailed conservation plan that would monitor disappearance of mangroves and the condition of creeks to be implemented by the Gujarat Coastal Management Authority and said the grazing land of villagers should be returned. The ministry should have first verified whether the company had complied with the conditions of the earlier environmental clearance that was granted to them. How can the ministry proceed abruptly without verifying whats happening on ground? We havent got access to our grazing land neither have they to restored the mangroves, said Gajendra Jadeja, a member of the Navinal village panchayat, which has sent Google Earth images to the ministry showing continuing construction on creeks. There are also legal cases pending against the APSEZ project in SC and in the Gujarat high court. About 385 million tonnes per annum of multipurpose (MTPA) liquid, gas and cryogenic cargo will be handled after expansion of the SEZ, in addition to the existing approved capacity of 225 MTPA. The expansion of water front development facility will involve 5170 ha, which will be utilised for the multipurpose cargo handling costing over 56,000 crores. No unauthorised construction is carried out in the creek area. As a responsible corporate, we have been regularly submitting compliance reports to all concerned authorities including the environment ministry. The same applies to the project for proposed expansion of waterfront development in Mundra, the Adani Group spokesperson added. In the Mopa airport case, the Supreme Court on March 29 suspended the environmental clearance already granted to the project. The SC found that important details of the ecology and natural features of the region had been omitted in the environment impact assessment (EIA) report. SC noted that the EIA failed to capture the fact that ecologically sensitive zones of the Western Ghats are located within a 10km radius of the project. It ordered that the EAC revisit its decision to grant environmental clearance to the project in the light of environmental impact. On revisiting the project, the EAC found seven reserve forests within 15km of the airport project. The area falls in the Western Ghats and has four rivers and several wetlands in the vicinity. There are 10 ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) near in the vicinity of the project on the Maharashtra side. These details were missing in the first EIA report, based on which the project proponent had got clearance. The project executors have felled over 54,000 trees against which they have promised to plant 550,000 trees. The project proponents had lied and concealed several facts. Its obvious from the EAC minutes. They havent disclosed the fact that Mopa airport is located extremely close to reserve forests and wetlands. They said 55,000 trees may have to be felled only after they received the environmental clearance. This time I think the project should be assessed after a fresh study. There is no study of impact, said Ritwick Dutta, an environmental lawyer who is representing the petitioners in the case in SC. The petition was heard by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) but in August 2018, the tribunal declined to quash the environmental clearance granted to the project. Mopa airport is being developed by GMR Goa International Airport Limited, a subsidiary of GMR Airports Limited, and has a capacity to serve 5 million passengers annually. An email sent to GMR on April 29 and another on May 2 seeking a response remained unanswered. The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed a charge sheet against controversial preacher Zakir Naik in a Mumbai court, saying it has identified proceeds of crime to the tune of ~193.06 crore that he has allegedly stashed in various cities in India and abroad including, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to an official familiar with the probe. Once the court takes cognisance of the charge sheet, the agency will file an application under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 to declare him as a fugitive economic offender, said the official asking not to be named. This is the first charge sheet filed against Naik (54) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which could provide a fillip to Indias efforts to get him extradited from Malaysia where he is currently residing. Another ED official said the charge sheet will be shared with the Interpol as a red notice against Naik is currently under consideration in the international police body. Naik is under investigation for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious communities, giving hate speeches, money laundering and inciting Muslim youth to commit terror acts. Currently residing in Malaysia, Naik fled from India in July 2016. We have identified proceeds of crime worth ~ 193.06 crore out of which Naiks properties worth ~50.46 crore so far has been attached including investments in mutual funds, Islamic International School in Chennai, 10 flats, three godowns, two commercial buildings and land in Pune and Mumbai apart from 10 bank accounts, said the first official. Further, Naik has also made investments in Dubai wherein he is developing high-end bungalows. There are also properties related to several dummy companies/entities linked to Zakir Naik identified in the UK, which have been identified and attached, said the second ED officer. The EDs money laundering probe is based on an anti-terror probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Naik. The NIA has already filed a charge sheet against him in 2017 and has sent an extradition request to Malaysia. It has been alleged that Naik used to deliver hate speeches at events organized by his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), which was banned by the home ministry last month. He is allegedly involved in a few cases of religious conversion as well. The ED has claimed that IRF received Rs 64.86 crore between 2003 and 2017, mostly from dubious sources. Subsequently, he received money through donations which he used in building a school in Chennai, the agency said. He also allegedly invested ~ 9.41 crore in mutual funds. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged, Naik received Rs 49.20 crore from 2012 to 2016 from accounts maintained in the UAE. The source of income in these accounts is not known, it added.Using the funds from the United Arab Emirates, he purchased several properties in Mumbai and Pune...in the name of his close relatives, said the second ED official. Naik also established several companies in the UK and India by appointing his close aides and relatives as their directors, according to the ED. Naiks spokesperson did not respond to calls and messages from HT. An invasive caterpillar from the Americas that devours crops is fast spreading through India, having marked its presence in 10 states within nine months since the first time it was detected. The Fall Armyworm (FAW) is currently making its way through the maize fields of southern and eastern India, affecting not just thousands of farmers but also the poultry industry, which relies heavily on the crop for feed. The insect feeds on leaves and stems of crops such as paddy, sweet corn and sugarcane as well as rice, vegetables, and nearly any produce at all, which is what earned the pest its name. The insect, originally from the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Americas, landed in Africa three years ago through imported produce. It has since destroyed thousands of hectares worth of crops in over 50 countries all over Africa and Asia, affecting millions of lives. Apart from India, the Asian countries affected so far are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Yemen and China. Initial wave The caterpillar, Spodoptera frugiperda (frugiperda is Latin for lost fruit), was encountered for the first time in Asia last June, in Karnataka. Entomologists CM Kalleshwara Swamy and Sharanabasappa first detected it in the maize fields at the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga. The insect was initially identified as the Northern Armyworm, which is common around the region, but the FAWs distinct genitalia gave it away. They are also easily identifiable by farmers. They have a distinct Y-shaped mark on their foreheads, four dots in the form of a square on the penultimate segment of their body, and often random dots on the top side of their body. Researchers across the country soon took note of the pest as it reached the other southern states before marking its presence in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh as well. Now, as predicted, it has also been spotted in the east, in Mizoram. As much as 70 % of Mizorams population comprises farmers, and the insect has affected over 80 villages in all eight districts since March. According to state officials, FAWs have already destroyed crop worth 18.4 crore. Researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, have actually warned that the invasion is probably not just tropical anymore and could spread globally, moving on next to Europe, and rest of North America through the warmer and wetter parts of these countries. There are two genetic strains of FAW: The rice-strain, which feeds on rice, paddy, grass, millets, etc, and the maize-strain, which destroys maize, cotton, sugarcane, among other crops. Both eat through crops rapidly, as all armyworms do. The FAW is polyphagous, meaning it can feed on many foods it can eat 186 plant species. Apart from leaves and stems, it also feeds on the flowers of several plants. Pesticide question The first recourse against the pest is, of course, pesticide. But because they reproduce so rapidly, they adapt quickly to chemicals. Pesticides are effective for a few days, and then stop working. Additionally, the overuse of pesticides by desperate farmers is a cause of concern over the toxins possible entry into the food chain. FAWs are cannibalistic, which means they consume each other. But counter-intuitively, this isnt an effective method to reduce their population or spread because they consume each other, there is less competition for resources, thus leading them to actually grow faster and stronger. Birds, mice, and other larger insects feed on the FAW, and are capable of impacting their populations in large numbers. But these also increase other kinds of damage to crops. The only sustainable method of inhibition seems to be the potential use of biological agents. While this has been demonstrated in laboratories, a scalable solution is yet to come into Indias fields. On to sugarcane Due to shrinking reserves of maize on account of their onslaught, FAWs are now shifting their focus to another crop: Sugarcane. In October, Karnataka was the first to report this trend, followed by Tamil Nadu in December, prompting the Coimbatore-based Sugarcane Breeding Institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to issue an advisory. Sugarcane is also said to be under attack in Maharashtra now. The infestation worsens in the summer, and it doesnt help that the insect is a strong flier. A FAWs life cycle lasts 30 days, with 10 to 20 days of adulthood, during the summer and longer during other seasons. In the first 10 days of its life, FAWs eat very little, but consume 50 times that amount over the next 20. In Maharashtra, where the insect has also affected vast swathes in the drought-hit Vidarbha region, the prices of maize have gone up drastically due to scarcity. In Chhattisgarh, FAWs are also consuming paddy, chickpea, jowar, and groundnut, according to a report in Down To Earth. The Election Commission (EC) has given the go-ahead for central universities to recruit faculty members and non-teaching staff to fill vacancies, provided they make the appointments after the completion of the Lok Sabha poll process, a government official familiar with the matter said. The HRD ministry had sought the Commissions approval to fill more than 6,000 teaching and non-teaching positions that are vacant ahead of the 2019-2020 academic session, which begins in June , the official said on condition of anonymity. The ministry had been keen to fill the vacancies in the next two months, according to the official. With the Model Code of Conduct in place for the duration of the 17th general elections, the ministry had to approach EC for a nod. The commission expressed that it has no objection to the starting of the recruitment process subject to the condition that declaration of result and appointments shall be done after the completion of the election process, the official said. In January, the SC upheld an Allahabad high court judgment on the recruitment of teachers that said reservations in faculty position should be applied department-wise and are not to be determined by considering the university as a unit. An extremely severe cyclonic storm that is likely to make landfall south of Puri on Friday has put Odisha on high alert and prompted authorities in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh to take precautionary measures. On Thursday, the Odisha government conveyed to the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the countrys top body for handling emergency situations, that 10,000 villages and 52 towns in nine districts will be affected due to Cyclone Fani , a home ministry statement said after a meeting of the NCMC, which was headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha. Flight operations from Bhubaneswar remained suspended from Thursday midnight and from Kolkata from Friday morning, with the cyclone packing winds gusting up to 200 kilometres per hour and torrential rains approaching Indias eastern coast. Services will be resumed as soon the conditions improve. The railways has already suspended operations of trains in Odisha, the home ministry statement said. As the cyclone progresses into West Bengal, it should weaken gradually into a severe cyclonic storm with winds of 90-100 kph and gusts of 115 kph before entering Bangladesh as a cyclonic storm on Saturday evening with winds of 60-70 kph. A total of 1.1 million people in Odisha were moved to safer areas and the state has advised the public to remain indoor on Friday. Around 900 cyclone shelters have been made ready. The storm is likely to impact Odishas coastal districts Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore. In West Bengal, it will affect the districts of East and West Medinipur, South- and North-24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram as well as Kolkata. In Andhra Pradesh, the cyclone is likely to hit Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts. The power ministry has made arrangements to restore supply in affected areas with least downtime. The drinking water and sanitation ministry has made arrangements to move additional water supplies in the affected areas and is keeping in readiness packaged drinking water. The ministry of food processing industries is keeping in readiness packaged ready-to-eat food. The health ministry has mobilised emergency medical teams, medicines and also coordinated with the Red Cross to provide assistance. It has kept ready 17 public health response teams and five quick response medical teams with emergency drugs. The department of telecommunication has issued orders to all operators to allow free SMS for cyclone-related messages and inter-operability of mobile networks by other operators. The petroleum ministry has ensured availability of sufficient petroleum and oil in the affected areas. The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations while the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force units in the three states have also been put on standby. The ministry of shipping has disengaged all ships at Paradip Port and has deployed emergency vessels The railways on Thursday said around 102 trains have been cancelled in the last two days, while three special trains pressed into service to ferry stranded passengers from affected areas.Four trains have been diverted, it said. The national transporter said it will grant full refund to passengers for the cancelled or diverted trains if tickets are produced for cancellation within three days from the scheduled date of journey. The railways had announced cancellation of 81 trains on Wednesday. So far, the railways has announced three tourist special trains to ferry passengers from affected areas. The national transporter has also instructed that sufficient amount of cash be made available at major stations for granting refunds to passengers and meeting other exigencies. Frontline staff are to be advised to be extremely polite while dealing with passengers and leaving no scope for complaint, it added. Emergency control is to be operated round the clock with helpline numbers for guiding passengers. No staff are to be allowed to go on leave for the next three days, the railways said. In West Bengal capital Kolkata, authorities directed advertisers to take down all hoardings in the city. Hotel owners in tourist spots along the Bengal coastline such as Digha, Mandarmani, Tajpur and Shankarpur fear a loss of business. Digha, West Bengals most popular beach resort, is about 342km east of Puri, and close to the Odisha border. There are about 650 hotels in the area that attracts average footfalls of about 0.2 million people every day. Even if you consider them spending Rs 600 per head a day, the direct loss of business is at least Rs 12 crore a day, said Bipradas Chakrabarti, secretary of the Digha Shankarpur Hoteliers Association. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government had conducted multiple surgical strikes when it was in power, but did not believe in using them for vote garnering, and criticised the Narendra Modi-led government for its unpardonable failures on the economic front which is forcing it to hide behind the valour of the armed forces, a behaviour he termed shameful and unacceptable. Singh, 86, a member of the Rajya Sabha, has been attacked during the ongoing election campaign by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for an inadequate response to 26/11, the terror strikes by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Mumbai that killed 166 people in 2008. In a rare interview, Singh said that while India could have taken the military route after the Mumbai attacks in 2008, his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government decided to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub. Within 14 days of the Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare (LeT chief) Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist. The UPA ensured that a $10 million bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator and the founder of Pakistan-based LeT by America, he added. HT spoke to several serving and retired army officers who confirmed that there had indeed been several cross-border operations before 2014. However, the difference is that the previous regime did not talk about the targeted operations. This government took ownership of the strikes and announced to the world that India would pursue terrorists beyond its boundaries, one of them said on condition of anonymity. The Modi government has disclosed details of two strikes, one on September 29, 2016 after the Uri terror attack and another, an air strike, on February 26, after the Pulwama terror attack. It has also made national security one of the main talking points of its current election campaign, which has also sought to portray the response of the Congress-led UPA to such attacks as weak. The campaign has also sought to project Modi as a strong, decisive leader compared to his predecessors other than Indira Gandhi. In a counter-charge, Singh said that when his government suggested a coastal security mechanism via the National Counter Terrorism Centre, it was then Gujarat chief minister Modi who opposed the idea. He also dismissed the comparison and said Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri were determined, decisive leaders. There cannot be any comparison between their greatness and the pettiness of the present regime... Neither Mrs Gandhi nor her predecessor took away the credit of our armed forces in the 1971 or 1965 wars with Pakistan, Singh said. BJP spokespersons declined to react to the former PMs comments. On the day Hindustan Times met with him, Singh was to meet with a team of party managers to chalk out his campaign strategy. There is talk of a road show in Delhi too for the former Prime Minister, but Singh rules out being part of government if the Congress wins and if Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister. Time has come to pass the leadership mantle to the young, he said, although adding that he would continue to serve in public life. A court in Surat Thursday issued summons to Rahul Gandhi in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA over the Congress presidents how come all thieves have Modi as common surname remark. Chief judicial magistrate of Surat, B H Kapadia, issued summons to Gandhi, directing him to be present before the court on June 7. The complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP legislator Purnesh Modi on April 16 under IPC sections 499 and 500 that deal with defamation. In his complaint, the MLA from Surat-West seat claimed the Congress president was defaming the entire Modi community by saying all Modis are thieves. He was referring to an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, where Gandhi asked, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as common surname. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? Talking to reporters after filing his defamation suit last month, Purnesh Modi had claimed that Gandhis remark has defamed the entire Modi community. There are a large number of people with Modi surname. Does it mean all members of the Modi community are thieves? He has defamed the community and also me as I carry the surname. This is why we have moved a complaint (against Gandhi) in a Surat court, the MLA had said. A man was arrested in Bhopal on 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 on 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 girls family filed a complaint, police nabbed Sahu Wednesday. The BJPs 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 victims 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 ministers Lok Sabha constituency. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) The Muslim Educational Society (MES), a Kerala-based progressive outfit which runs around 150 educational institutions in the state and the Middle-East, issued a circular on Thursday banning the hijab which covers the face of women in all its institutions. Among the 150 institutions that MES runs are 10 professional institutes, 18 arts and science colleges, 36 CBSE schools and many other institutions. It collectively serves 85,000 students and has more than15,000 employees. The MES directive came in the wake of the developments in Sri Lanka and the Shiv Senas demand to ban the burqua in India also. However, the outfit denied these incidents had anything to do with its decision. After the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, which claimed more than 250 lives, Sri Lankan President M Sirisena had banned the burqua in public places citing security reasons and the Sena mouthpiece Saamna had lauded the move saying India should also follow suit triggering a debate in the country. The circular issued by MES president P A Fasal Gafoor instructed all educational institutions to implement the decision strictly from the next academic session onwards. Covering ones face is against the individuality of the person and one should not wear a dress which is not acceptable to the society in general, it said adding the recent court orders against covering womens faces forced it to issue such a circular. It is nothing new. We have been taking a consistent position on this. Some orthodox elements are imposing a dress code on women. It is nothing to do with Islam. We will go ahead with our plan, said Gafoor adding it was nothing to do with developments in Sri Lanka. While many Muslim activists and scholars have welcomed the move traditionalists opposed it vehemently saying it was an incursion on religious freedom. The veil is a part of Arab culture. Some orthodox elements are planning to impose it in Kerala. It is nothing to do with Islam. Saner elements in the religion should oppose such elements who want to hide women under veils, said Islamic scholar Prof Hameed Chenamangaloor. He said the burqua invasion in the state began 25 years ago after some radical outfits started intruding the religion. He said the states exposure to the Middle East (18 lakh people work in oil rich Gulf countries) led to the practice of wearing the veil in the state. I studied in a Muslim management college 40 years ago. In those days Muslim girls used to wear normal dress. It is sad, now it is prevalent everywhere. Some priests and radical elements are behind this and they are doing a big disservice to the religion, he said. But many outfits like Samastha Kerala Jemiayathul Ulema said they will oppose the move to ban the burqua. The burqua is the identity of Muslim women. Nobody can fiddle with our customs, said a leader of the E K Sunni faction who did not want to be identified. Sunni Samastha president Muthukoya Thangal also criticized MESs move saying, The MES has no right to dictate terms for believers. Burqua is the identity of Muslim women and nobody can deny this, and demanded the withdrawal of the circular. A CBI court on Thursday dropped the proceedings against retired Gujarat police officers DG Vanzara and NK Amin in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Special judge JK Pandya pronounced the judgment, saying that the probe agency couldnt get the required sanction to prosecute the officers. Both the central and state governments consider it as a discharge of duty. Based on this the CBI court in Ahmedabad has discharged Vanzara and Amin, CBIs counsel RC Kodekar said. After physical and mental ordeal of years, including eight years in jail, finally it has been accepted that we were on discharging our duty, NK Amin said after the verdict. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jayant Sinha, BJPs nominee from Hazaribag, is the third richest candidate in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls to be held on May 6 in the country , according to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysis. Sinha, in his self-sworn affidavit to the election commission, has declared his total assets worth 77.07 crore, which makes him Jharkhands richest candidate. In term of liabilities, he is also in the third position with 19.32 crore. Jharkhands four constituencies Koderma, Ranchi, Khunti (ST) and Hazaribag will go to polls on May 6. There are 674 candidates across 51 parliamentary constituencies that are going to polls in the fifth phase. Poonam Shatrughan Sinha, wife of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, is the richest candidate in the countrys fifth phase polls with total assets of 193.54 crore. Samajwadi Party candidate, Sinha is contesting the polls from Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow seat. Vinay Kumar Mishra, a Pragatishil Samajwadi Party (Lohia) candidate from Sitapur constituency in UP, is the second richest person in the phase, according to ADR report. Of the 61 contestants in Jharkhands four Lok Sabha constituencies, 14 are crorepati candidates. Thirteen candidates face criminal charges and nine of them face serious criminal cases, the ADR analysis says. BJPs all four candidates from the four constituencies, Jayant Sinha from Hazaribag, Sanjay Seth from Ranchi, Arjun Munda from Khunti and Annapurna Devi from Koderma are crorepati candidates, says ADR report. The grand alliance, a group of four parties-Congress, JMM, JVM-P and RJD has three crorepati candidates namely Gopal Prasad Sahu from Hazaribag, Subodh Kant Sahay from Ranchi and Babulal Marandi from Koderma. Ranchi has maximum five crorepati candidates out of 20 candidates contesting the polls, while Hazaribag has total four crorepati candidates out of 16 candidates. In the fifth phase, no BJP candidate has declared criminal cases against them, while two grand alliance candidates have declared criminal charges. JVM-Ps Babulal Marandi, who is contesting from Koderma seat as grand alliance candidate, has declared the maximum 10 cases against him, while the Congress Subodh Kant Sahay declared one case against him. Of four constituencies, Koderma and Hazaribag parliamentary seats have maximum five candidates each facing criminal charges. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Dominated by tribal and Christian populace, the Khunti Lok Sabha seat has become one of Jharkhands high profile parliamentary constituencies as the states three-term chief minister and BJPs tallest tribal face Arjun Munda has thrown his hat into the ring. The seat is a reserved one for scheduled tribe candidates. A BJP stronghold since 1989, people of the constituency have shown indomitable faith towards the saffron party by electing its candidate Karia Munda for eight terms. The parliamentary seat had been represented either by Congress or BJP except in 1971 and 1980 when Jharkhand Partys Niral Enem Horo won the elections. The upcoming Lok Sabha election in Khunti, however, is going to be a popularity test for BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for two specific reasons - first, the BJP has taken the risk to drop its eight-term sitting MP Karia Munda to try Jharkhands ex-chief minister Arjun Munda; second, Congress, backed by oppositions grand alliance, has fielded Kalicharan Munda, a member of the same Munda tribe community members. The constituency will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 6. Political experts say unlike previous elections, it would not be a cakewalk for BJP in Khunti due to a number of social and economic factors. Real issues The region, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, is still supremely underdeveloped, with literacy level as low as 64%. Education, unemployment, health, drinking water, road, electricity, mobile connectivity and other issues are a cause of concern but these problems never hit the poll agenda of any political party, said 22-year-old Amar Sao from Khuntis Arki block, who completed industrial training from a Rourkela institute. However, the MPLAD (member of parliament local area development) fund data till February 2019 says the sitting MP has utilised 84.34% of the total funds released by the union government. Political experts say, The region recently witnessed the worst ever separatist movement--Pathalgadi, which had a good support of tribal population. The experts further say The peoples resentment against the government was mainly due to underdevelopment. Besides, people feel that the government wanted to alienate them from their land by amending tenancy laws. Pathalgadi was a practice of raising huge stone plaques at village outskirts with warnings and declarations inscribed on it. The plaques declared village gram sabha the only sovereign authority. It banned entry of outsiders in the village. Groups of young men equipped with traditional weapons watched over these unofficial frontiers. The movement was quelled after the arrest of its leaders last year. Experts also say that due to unemployment and low income generation, poppy cultivation on farm land is on the rise. No mega project was launched in this region to alleviate the issue of employment. Nothing was done to exploit the huge tourism potential of the region, experts say. Highlighting another sociopolitical issue, they say, The Christian population too are not happy with the government which enacted an anti-conversion law. Political Scenario The Khunti Lok Sabha seat comprises the six reserved assembly constituencies of Kharsawan, Tamar, Torpa, Khunti, Simdega and Kolebira, currently represented by NDA and UPA in equal proportion. The BJP was recently defeated at the hands of Congress in the Kolebira by-poll, held in December, 2018. A direct fight is now evident between BJP and Congress. Going by the persona and work experience of the two candidates, BJPs Arjun Munda has an upper hand. Besides, he has an open support of parliamentarian Karia Munda, who is campaigning for him. While Arjun Munda has vast political experience of serving as the states chief minister for three terms and also representing the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat once, Congresss Kalicharan Munda is yet to taste victory. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he stood third. Arjun Munda too was defeated in 2014 assembly elections from Kharsawan seat. Kalicharan hails from a political family. His father T Muchirai Munda was a Congress MLA. His younger brother Neelkant Singh Munda, is a minister in the incumbent BJP government. It will be a big challenge for the two brothers to maintain utmost allegiance towards their respective parties. Social structure The constituency is dominated mostly by scheduled tribe and Christian population which accounts for 64% of the total population. The remaining 36 per cent population is dominated by Mahatos, who inhabited the areas of Kharsawan and Tamar. The business community comprising Teli and Sao are also present across the constituency in good numbers. BJPs Arjun Munda, who carries a soft and acceptable to all image, is banking on every section of the society. Development is my first priority. I have been always fighting for tribal issues and their problems, Arjun Munda further said. The former CM had openly opposed the state governments move to amend the Chhotanagpur Tenancy/Santhal Pargana Tenancy Acts. The government later withdrew its decision. The tribal population of this area would definitely vote for him, said Kali Munda, a Khunti resident. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Indian armed forces received a free hand to respond to external threats during the term of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as well and the Bharatiya Janata Partys attempt to gain electoral mileage from military operations are shameful and unacceptable, says former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure, too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises, Singh, 86, said in an interview with Sunetra Choudhury of Hindustan Times. Q. As we go into the final phases of elections 2019, the BJP is pitching PM Narendra Modi as one of the strongest PMs we have seen, and who gave a decisive response to terror attacks like the one at Pulwama. They say that only Modi is strong enough to protect Indias borders. Some compare him to Indira Gandhi and her role in creation of Bangladesh. How do you see this? A. Compromise on Indias National Security is unacceptable. 40 of our brave CRPF soldiers were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack at the most secure National Highway in the country. This is a grave intelligence and national security failure. Since then, it has come out that CRPF and BSF were requesting for airlifting the soldiers but the Modi Government refused it. Government also ignored solid intelligence inputs from J&K police about an IED attack, besides turning a blind eye to a video warning of a terrorist organization. In the past five years, Pakistan based terrorists have repeatedly targeted Indias military installations at Pampore, Uri, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Sunjwan Army Camp, and even attacked the Amarnath Yatra. Inviting ISI to investigate the Pathankot Air Base terror attack is the biggest strategic blunder committed by the Modi government. This demoralized our Armed Forces. In the past five years, internal security situation in Jammu & Kashmir has rapidly deteriorated on account of an opportunist PDP-BJP government as also lack of a clear-cut Pakistan policy. Let me remind you that our armed forces were always given a free hand to operationally respond to every threat. Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises. In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces. Such attempts to politicize our forces are shameful and unacceptable. All this is being done to draw the attention away from unpardonable failures of Modi Government on the economic front, on jobs, on rural distress, on MSMEs and the informal sector. As far as the Bangladesh Liberation War and the political role of Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1971 or the 1965 War and the political role of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri are concerned, these situations had a very large canvas of determined and decisive leadership. There cannot be any comparison between their greatness and the pettiness of the present regime. These leaders were appreciated for their towering diplomatic roles and for spearheading the reshaping the geography of the region. Neither Mrs Gandhi, nor her predecessor took away the credit of our armed forces in winning these wars. Q. PM Modis supporters attack your government by saying that your response to 26/11 wasnt strong enough. Looking back, is there anything that you would have done differently? A. In the absence of facts, everyone can re-judge history in hindsight. I disagree with the insinuation that we were not ready with military punitive actions. However, different geopolitical conditions require different responses. Our response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for decisive action against terrorists. We succeeded too. Within 14 days of the Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN. Congress-UPA ensured that a $10m bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator and the founder of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed by America. Another mastermind, David Headley was convicted to 35 years of prison during UPA-Congress Govt in 2013. The UN Security Council also put top LeT members involved in Mumbai attack on sanctions lists as terrorists. This has virtually rendered LeT ineffective today. We made counterterrorism cooperation in the international community against LeT more effective. Countries like Saudi Arabia and even China co-operated to a great deal. Several terrorists were arrested and deported to India, as they travelled outside Pakistan. Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, handler of the 26/11 attack and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) chief of operations for India, was subsequently picked up in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and brought to Hyderabad and formally arrested in January 2010. Zaibuddin Ansari (aka Abu Hamza/Abu Jundal) was arrested at the Delhi airport in June 2012, after he was deported from Saudi Arabia. Post the 26/11 attack, the Congress-UPA Government strengthened coastal security and mooted the idea of a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), but the then Gujarat CM, Shri Narendra Modi unequivocally opposed the idea. We also conceived the NATGRID, which is an integrated intelligence grid connecting databases of core security agencies of the Government of India to collect comprehensive patterns of intelligence that could be readily accessed. But the Modi government has virtually put NCTC & NATGRID in cold storage. Q. You have spoken about maintaining taboo on nuclear weapons while the PM has said that they werent just meant for Diwali. Do you think his may resonate with the masses more? A. Our nuclear capabilities are our strength and a security deterrent. Pandit Nehru laid the foundation of our nuclear capabilities. Indira Gandhi conducted our first nuclear test in Pokhran, in 1974. Since then, every Congress government has carried the resolve of strengthening and advancing our civil and military nuclear programme forward. As a result, our weapons capability was tested by the 13-month long Vajpayee Government. Nuclear deterrence and peaceful use of nuclear power are two time-tested responsible policies of our nation. You would recollect that for harnessing nuclear energy for the nation, we had put at stake the very existence of UPA-Congress government. The entire nation remembers the no-confidence vote initiated by a hypocritical BJP on the issue of making India strong and independent in nuclear energy. Why did Mr. Narendra Modi and the BJP oppose it then? Yet, we never used the issue as a political prop. This is the gold standard of our resilience, restraint and sensitivity towards our nuclear capabilities. No Prime Minister has used the issue of our nuclear capabilities for political purposes. I suppose this reflects the political desperation in face of an imminent defeat. Q. Would you agree that the BJP has been successful in making security and terror a major election issue instead of jobs and rural distress which Congress was pushing for? A. Riding on empty rhetoric, the Modi Government has been an utter failure on the issue of national security. In the last five years, terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir alone have gone up by 176% ; ceasefire violations at the border by Pakistan have increased by 1,000%. There have been 17 major terror attacks on our security installations. Defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP is lowest in the last 57 years. Does it not speak volumes about the performance and priorities of this government? How can anyone say that jobs or rural distress or livelihood issues are interchangeable with internal security? Truth is that Modiji promised 20 million jobs per year, but his disruptive policies of demonetisation and a flawed GST have snatched over 40 million jobs from the youth. Joblessness and unemployment is at a 45-year high of 6.1%. It was 2.2% during the Congress-UPA in 2011-12 [NSSO Report, 2017-18]. The demonetisation disaster and a flawed GST have wreaked Indias growth story that UPA-Congress government built successfully. The monumental failure of demonetisation alone has set the GDP back by close to 2% and caused a loss of Rs 3 lakh crore to the economy. It decimated the informal sector as also thousands of small and medium businesses. Hard-earned savings of people of India were extinguished overnight. Should the government not be held accountable on these issues of livelihood? Rampant rural distress has hit Indias farmers the hardest. BJP promised cost plus 50% profit on farm produce but farmers have not even got the declared MSP. No wonder, average agriculture growth rate under five years of this government is at an abysmally low 2.9%, compared to 4.2% under 10 years of the UPA. Even the PM Fasal Bima Yojana has become a profiteering tool for private insurance companies rather than providing succor to farmers. Rapidly falling agriculture exports and the increased imports of agri commodities have further aggravated the agrarian distress. Should Indias farmers not be part of the national narrative? BJPs political distress emanates from its failed track record. BJP is searching for new narratives everyday. This reflects the bankruptcy of a vision for the country. Q. Speaking of rural distress, the Congress has come up with a minimum income guarantee scheme, NYAY. As an economist, dont you think it will impact Indias fiscal health? A. NYAY Nyuntam Aay Yojana, is a powerful idea unveiled by the Congress President, Shri Rahul Gandhi, with dual objectives to wipe out the last remnants of poverty and to restart stalled economic activity in our nation. Under NYAY, the poorest 20% of Indian families will be given an annual income support of a uniform amount of Rs 72,000 for each family. I am glad to note that the NYAY idea has been received with tremendous enthusiasm by people and discussed widely across the nation. Post-independence, poverty levels have been reduced from 70% to 22% on account of the sound anti-poverty measures by successive governments. It is time to renew our pledge to wipe out the last remains of poverty. NYAY will ensure this. NYAY will help restart the economic engine that has come to a stop today. Money in the hands of the needy will stimulate demand in the economy which will lead to increased economic activity and job creation. The Congress party is committed to fiscal discipline. NYAY scheme will cost between 1.2% - 1.5% of GDP at its peak. Our nearly $3 trillion economy has the fiscal capacity to absorb this expenditure. We are committed to not taxing the middle class to finance NYAY. The economic stimulus that NYAY will provide will further jump start the economy. NYAY has been conceptualized after much thought and consultations with experts. Just as we brought in a new paradigm for Indias development with the de-licensing regime in 1991, a rights based approach to governance including the Right to Work under MGNREGA, I am confident that a Congress party led government in 2019 will implement NYAY successfully and usher in a new model for social justice and prudent economics. It is my sincere belief that NYAY has the potential to catapult India into the club of poverty free nations in the world and I hope to be able to live to see our nation achieve this historic milestone. Q. What about GST and demonetization? How do you propose to handle those? A. The Congress promises to review and replace the current GST laws with the GST 2.0 regime that will truly reflect the intent and purpose of a non-cascading, value-added, indirect tax. The GST 2.0 regime will be based on a single, moderate, standard rate of tax on all goods and services instead of multiple taxes, as is being implemented by this government. The rate will be revenue neutral to the current indirect tax revenues of the Central and State Governments and will take note of the potential of GST 2.0 to boost their tax revenues. The GST implemented by the Congress party will be easy to administer, easy to understand by the taxpayer, and easy to comply with. We are confident that GST 2.0 will promote growth, new businesses and employment. The taxpayer will be required to file a simple, single quarterly return for his/her business and an annual return. Every tax payer will be subject to assessment by a single authority based upon turnover. We have also proposed that the GST Council will be the policy-making body and will be served by a permanent secretariat of tax economists, tax policy experts and tax professionals so that political one-upmanship is minimized. Its minutes will be put in the public domain. Q. There was buzz about you and Amritsar elections which were then denied. But if Rahul Gandhi became PM, would you like to be in his cabinet? I am fortunate to have served the country in different positions for over six decades. I am honoured to have led the country as Prime Minister for a decade. I have been in public life and would always serve. Time has come to pass the leadership mantle to the young. I have full faith in Shri Rahul Gandhis leadership and commitment to the nation. Q. You made the transition from RBI to government, now there is talk that Raghuram Rajan may potentially play such a role in government (if the Congress comes to power). What kind of a minister do you think he would make? Dr Raghuram Rajan is one of the finest economists I know. His expertise has guided us as also the present government. His immense contribution has been widely applauded. The question about any of his future roles can be answered best by him. Q. Speaking of new entrants, what kind of difference do you think Priyanka Gandhis entry makes to Congress prospects? Priyanka Gandhi has a natural connect to the Congress worker. Her understanding of grassroot issues and the honest desire to redress peoples pain have always endeared her to the masses. Her unassuming simplicity is her biggest virtue. I have full faith that she will galvanize the rank and file of the Congress party. She has a very challenging assignment right now in Uttar Pradesh. I see her touring everyday. Workers are feeling enthused. People have embraced her foray with open arms. I wish her well. Q. On a personal front, the PM has said in recent interviews how he changed things in PMO by staying there till late night and not sleeping for more than 3-4 hours. His supporters also love him for his energetic campaigning hopping from one part of the country to another in a single day. Do you think it makes for a more efficient leadership? Prime Ministers Office carries with it an onerous responsibility and untiring hardwork in the service of people. There is no scope for complacency. Everyone, who has occupied the PMs chair and has worked tirelessly, has not done any favour to the country. This is the bounden duty of the individual serving the nation. All Prime Ministers have maintained a high degree of dignity, discipline and work culture required for the post. Self-promoting advertisement of the job profile reflects a lack of gravitas on part of the present incumbent. By seeking to publicize the essential pre- requisites expected of the Prime Ministers position, the dignity of the office he holds is being lowered. Q. One major slogan of the BJP is Hard work versus Harvard. You are from Oxbridge and had many from Ivy league schools in your cabinet, what would you say about such a comparison? Does the BJP feel that people who go to Harvard or IITs or IIMs or other institutions of excellence, in India or abroad, do not work hard? Education opens the door to knowledge and enlightenment. Education builds character and teaches the value of truth. Education is an enabler for people from the most humble backgrounds to achieve pioneering positions in every sphere of life. Many public figures have risen from very humble backgrounds on account of their distinguished academic record. Can anybody undermine the contribution of Savitribai Phule, Dr B R Ambedkar, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Homi Jahangir Bhabha, Dr Hargobind Khurana, Dr K R Narayanan, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and a galaxy of men and women that have led India in different walks of life and continue to do so. They did not brag about their hardships or their humble backgrounds. Despite being subjected to high degree of poverty and social discrimination, Dr B R Ambedkar went to United States on a scholarship and later studied in London School of Economics. Should we question these men and womens hard work or contribution to the country? If you have to draw comparisons, it should be founded upon your service to the nation, your commitment to alleviate poverty, your determination to eradicate agrarian distress, your capacity towards job creation for the young, and your adherence to the economic wellbeing of India. Attractive catch phrases can never replace indelible commitment to Indias prosperity. Q. If there is a commonality between you and PM Modi, it is your modest beginnings. He as the tea seller and you as a migrant with no electricity in your village and walking a long distance to school. You once said that you dont want the country to take pity on your humble background. But would you admit that it makes the masses identify more with you? This is an ode to our founding fathers and framers of our Constitution led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Dr B R Ambedkar, Maulana Azad and members of our Constituent Assembly. Our Constitution and rule of law is the biggest leveler between the haves and have nots. However, one must not wear his humbleness as a tool for self-aggrandizement. Progress of the country and policies of the successive governments in last 70 years have played a definite role in creation of opportunities and empowerment. They played a role in making me what I am today, and they played their part in Mr. Modis life too. As I said earlier, there is a long list of men and women from humble backgrounds who reached the highest offices in India. I believe the important issue is not where you come from, but the important issue is what have you contributed to pave the way for millions of others to achieve and aspire for a better future. My biggest satisfaction in 10 years as Prime Minister was to introduce the Rights based paradigm of MGNREGA, RTI, RTE, Forest Rights Act, Food Security Act as also to alleviate 140 million people out of the cycle of poverty. As each one of us comes to the end of our innings, we must ask whether our humble backgrounds enabled us to leave behind a legacy of compassion and cohesiveness as opposed to division and diversion. This is the real and the only test. A Maoist commander who plotted the Dantewada attack in Chattisgarh that killed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Bhima Mandavi and four policemen last month was shot dead in an encounter with security forces on Thursday, the police said. The killing of commander Madvi Muiya came a day after members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist), detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) that blew up a vehicle carrying commandos of the C-60 security force in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district, killing 15 of them and the driver. Muiya, 29, was carrying a reward of 8 lakh on his head and was active in the Malangir area where Mandavi and the four policement were killed on April 9 when their vehicle was blown up, the police added. The legislator was killed d in Chhattisgarhs Bastar, two days before the region voted in the first phase of the 2019 general election. Maoists, known as Naxalites, are active in Bastar. Bhima Mandvis killing was one of a string of attacks staged by Maoists since March, when the Maoists started their annual tactical counter offensive campaign. The IED blast on Wednesday in Gadchiroli, too, may have been part of the campaign and in reprisal for the deaths of 40 Maoists a year ago, the police have said. Muiya, a resident of Aranpur in Dantewada, was one of the executors of the attack in which the MLA and four policemen were killed and was also involved in the killing of a Doordarshan journalist last year, said Abhishek Pallav, superintendent of police, Dantewada. He said a rifle and two magazines of AK-47 assault rifles were also recovered from the site of the encounter. Muiya was also the member of battalion number 1 of CPI (Maoist) in 2017, headed by Mandavi Hidma and involved in Burkapal attack on April 24, 2017, in Sukma in which 25 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed, said Pallav. Muiya was also one of the planners of the Bhejji attack in which 12 CRPF personnel were killed in March 2017 in south Sukma. In 2014, in the Budgum encounter in Dantewada district, his brother Dewa Muiya was killed and after this to avenge his brothers death he came to Dantewada. Since then, he was present in every attack in Dantewada, an officer posted in the region said on condition of anonymity. In March 2018, he was detained by the CRPF in Dantewada but was released later because the force couldnt identify him as a rebel. The CRPF was not able to recognize him and later his identification was made by one of surrendered Maoists in Dantewada, said the officer. The major organizational expansion of Maoists in Aranpur and Kuakonda axis was due to Muiya, the SP added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Maoist commander who is alleged to be one of the plotters in the Dantewada attack that killed BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four policemen last month was shot dead in an encounter on Thursday, police said. Commander Madavi Muiya(29) was carrying a reward of 8 lakh on his head and was active in Malangir area committee of CPI (Maoist) where the Bhartiya Janata Party MLA was killed on April 9, the police added. Muiya, a resident of Aranpur in Dantewada, was one of the executors of the attack in which the MLA and four policemen were killed and was also involved in the killing of Doordarshan journalist last year, said SP Dantewada Abhishek Pallav. He said that a rifle and two magazines of AK-47 were also recovered from the spot after the encounter. Muiya was also the member of battalion number 1 of CPI (Maoist) in 2017, headed by Madvi Hidma and involved in Burkapal attack on April 24, 2017, in Sukma in which 25 CRPF personnel were killed, said Pallav adding that Muiya was also one of the planners of Bhejji attack in which 12 CRPF personnel were killed in March 2017 in south Sukma. In 2014, in Budgum encounter in Dantewada district his brother, Dewa Muiya, was killed and after this to avenge his brothers death he came to Dantewada. Since then, he was present in every attack in Dantewada, said an officer posted in the region. Also read: Maoist attack that killed BJP MLA seems a political conspiracy: Amit Shah The officer further said that in March 2018, he was detained by CRPF in Dantewada but was released later because of non-identification. The CRPF was not able to recognise him and later his identification was made by one of surrendered Maoist in Dantewada, said the officer. The major organizational expansion of Maoists in Aranpur and Kuakonda axis was due to Muiya, the SP added. . . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia, the White House has said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed the move and said that it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism. Pompeo also congratulated the US mission in the UN which took the lead in Americas diplomatic effort to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, after China finally lifted its nearly 10-year technical hold on such an effort by India, the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council including Britain and France. Also read: What the listing of Masood Azhar as global terrorist means Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEMs Masood Azhars #UN designation as a terrorist, Pompeo tweeted. This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia, Pompeo said. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on Wednesday announced 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. Reacting to the development, Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House said: Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia. Also read: Masood Azhar banned, Pakistan to prop up Lashkar if Jaish goes off radar The US commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Azhar, the leader of JeM, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian security personnel, Marquis said in a statement. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that the JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace in South Asia. The JeM was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 and has been listed by the UN since 2001, she said. As JEMs founder and leader, Azhar clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN. This listing requires all the UN member states to implement an asset freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations, Ortagus said. Todays designation is an important step in promoting a peaceful and stable South Asia, she said. In line with this vision, we appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khans stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow militant and terrorist groups to operate from its territory, Ortagus said. The spokesperson said that the US looks forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan consistent with its international obligations. The US, France along with the UK 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. 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. Nepal officials have dismissed the Indian Armys claim that one of its mountaineering expedition teams had discovered footprints of the mythical Yeti in the Makalu-Barun Conservation Area near the Nepal-Tibet border. In a tweet, accompanied by a photo of the expedition team and three photos of footprints in the snow, the Indian Army on Monday night said it had sighted Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast Yeti measuring 32X15 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019. The elusive snowman had only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past, the tweet continued. But the local porters who accompanied the Indian Army, locals in the area and the Nepal Army liaison officer dismissed the Indian Armys claim, saying that such kind of footprints frequently appear in that area and were the footprints of a wild bear. A team of Indian Army had noticed the footprints and our liaison team was together with them... We tried to ascertain the fact, but locals and porters claimed that it is the footprints of wild bear that frequently appear in that area, Nepal Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Bigyan Dev Pandey, told HT. Odisha started evacuating lakhs of people from its seaside villages and interior districts in buses and smaller vehicles on Thursday, a day before an extremely severe Cyclone Fani is expected to make landfall near the pilgrim town of Puri, officials said. (Follow live updates here) The Indian Meteorological Department said Cyclone Fani is heading towards Puri with wind speeds ranging between 170-180km per hour and is expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon near Balukhanda area. Fani lay centred about 430 km south-southwest of Puri and 225 km off Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh till 8.30am on Thursday and was moving towards the coast at a speed of 15km an hour. It is expected to travel another 30 hours over the sea before making landfall, weather officials said. Also Read | Why Lanka changed cyclone name. Read all about naming norms Special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said at least 800,000 people on Odishas coast, as well as interior districts, would be evacuated from their homes to cyclone shelters before Thursday evening. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has set a target of zero casualties. We are sparing no effort to evacuate everyone, with special focus on children, women, old and disabled persons, said Sethi. We have sent 3.3 million SMS to people who are likely to be affected by Cyclone Fani through Early Warning Dissemination System from State Emergency Operations Centre, the senior official said. If the need arises, we would evacuate more people from their homes, he added. Odisha has 879 multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters that can house more than 1,000 people each. In addition to it, school and college buildings are likely to be used to house the evacuated people. The livestock of the people would also be evacuated and housed at these cyclone shelters. Also Read | Its Delhi but doesnt look like it Senior bureaucrat Suresh Mohapatra, in charge of the rescue and relief operations in Puri, said at least 100,000 people from 150 villages on the coast as well as those on the bank of Chilika lake are being evacuated. Mohapatra said all the tourists staying in various hotels of Puri are being sent back in special buses and a train. Five special buses of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation and special train with Bengali tourists would leave from Puri for Kolkata in a few hours from now, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer said. Officials said two special trains, including one at 12pm to West Bengals Shalimar and second to Howrah at 3pm, have been arranged to evacuate tourists from Puri. The third train to Howrah will leave at 6pm, the officials added. As Cyclone Fani is likely to disrupt rail traffic on the Visakhapatnam-Puri section, the East Coast Railway has cancelled 103 trains in the first phase and is likely to cancel more on Friday. The South Eastern Railway (SER) has cancelled 17 trains bound for south India and Puri in Odisha. It has also decided to cancel 26 trains originating from south India, a railways official said, according to news agency PTI. Trains from Bengaluru, Chennai and Secunderabad to Howrah on Thursday evening are among those which were cancelled. Special patrolling is also being carried out to keep their passengers safe. Breakdown vans and relief trains have been kept ready to cater to areas likely to be affected by the cyclone in the two states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the official said. Officials said a red warning, indicating the highest level of alert, has been issued for 18 districts including six coastal districts over the possibility of damage due to high winds and severe flooding. IMD officials estimate Odisha to get 20cm of rainfall, 10% of its annual average, in the next two to three days during Cyclone Fani. While the Centre has asked the Indian Navy to be on standby along with the Indian Air Force and Coast Guard, 18 units of National Disaster Response Force have already been deployed in the coastal districts. The Indian Navy tweeted that its ships Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) stores including food, medicines and clothing will be following the cyclone keeping south of the eye of the storm and remain standby to be the first responder when it crosses the coast. Twenty units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force and 335 units of the fire department have been deployed or are on the way to the areas likely to be affected by the cyclone. Odisha high court would remain shut on Thursday and Friday in view of the cyclone, said Odisha High Court Bar Association officials. The state government has already shut down schools, colleges and universities and deferred scheduled examinations. Leaves of all government doctors have been cancelled. The state government has dispatched 12 IAS and Odisha Administrative Service and 11 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to the affected districts to oversee and coordinate relief and rescue operations. Andhra Pradeshs chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has also requested the Election Commission for a relaxation of the model code of conduct in four districts which will be affected by Cyclone Fani. The West Bengal government has made elaborate precautionary arrangements to tackle the situation, an official said. An alert has been sounded in all coastal districts and people living in the coastal areas along with tourists have been asked to leave and go to safer places, the official said. Fishermen, who have gone to the mid-sea, have been asked to return immediately. The strongest ever cyclone to hit Odisha came in October 1999 while the second biggest, Cyclone Phailin hit the coast in October 2013. Cyclone Titli that hit Andhra Pradesh coast in October last year, had killed 61 people, many of them in tribal-dominated Gajapati district and wreaked huge damage in Odisha as it changed its direction and moved towards the northeast after making landfall. (With agency inputs) Much before Beijing lifted the technical hold that led to global ban on Jaish chief, Pakistan and China had reconciled to the distinct possibility that they might not be able to block Masood Azhars global terror tag any longer but wanted the United Nations to designate the Jaish boss as a global terrorist only after the Indian elections. Pakistan didnt want the terror listing to happen at a time India was in the middle of national elections as it could benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in the middle of a campaign for a second term, people familiar with developments said. Watch | Pakistan, China wanted Masood Azhar ban after elections, felt will help Modi Its all-weather ally China had proposed to lift its technical hold on the Azhar ban around May 15 before the last round of polling for the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections. But the United States, which played a lead role in nudging China to back down on the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar ban, was unwilling and had proposed April 23. The date was then moved by the US to April 30 and later a compromise of May 1 was reached. Also read: Brief the boss: The backstory of Masood Azhars global terror tag There has a clear realisation in the Trump administration after the February 14 Pulwama suicide bombing the deadliest in 30 years of militancy in Kashmir that the terror tag for Masood Azhar was an firm step for peace. It is a point that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to in his first reaction to the UN listing, describing it as a victory for US diplomacy and global community against terrorism and an important step towards peace in South Asia. Jaish, the terror group that Masood Azhar had founded and led, had claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. China had already blocked three attempt to sanction Masood Azhar over the last many years. This time, France, with the backing of the US and the UK, moved a proposal at the 1267 Sanctions Committee to sanction 50-year-old Azhar. China blocked the proposal on March 13 by saying more time was needed to discuss the issue. An angry US threatened to take the matter to the UN Security Council. It didnt go down well with China but Beijing and Islamabad, people familiar with the developments said, figured that it wasnt a question of if, but when. Also read: Masood Azhar banned, Pakistan to prop up Lashkar if Jaish goes off radar At the UN Security Council, discussions are held in public unlike consultations held behind closed doors by the sanctions committee. It would be difficult for anyone to defend blocking the terror tag for Masood Azhar, not when the Jaish-e-Mohammed that he leads was designated a foreign terror group by the US in 2001, and has been listed by the UN since 2001. Back in Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khans government had gone into damage control mode hours before the UN listing became public. Pakistan government attempted to attribute the absence of a reference to Kashmir or Pulwama in the UN listing as a diplomatic victory. Indian officials have said that the Masoods Azhars Jaish-e-Mohammed was already named in the February 21 UN Security Council unanimous resolution that included China as responsible for the dastardly Pulwama suicide attack on CRPF convoy. Also, this resolution talked about nailing the perpetrators. India with its key P3 allies decided to nail the leader rather than get into peripheral issues. If Pakistan says that they accepted the UNSC listing of Azhar as Pulwama was not there, then what was stopping them in 2009, 2016 and 2017 when there was no Lethpora attack. JeM had been held responsible for Pulwama, hence we ipso facto decided to go for listing of the leader, said a senior official. Also read: What the listing of Masood Azhar as global terrorist means SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Pakistan government has issued a notification directing authorities to implement sanctions against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar following his listing as a global terrorist by the UN though it was unclear whether he would be detained. A statutory regulatory order (SRO) issued by the foreign ministry said authorities should freeze Azhars funds and financial assets and enforce a travel ban and arms embargo against him. The order was issued after the UNs Islamic State and al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee listed Azhar on Wednesday after China removed its long-standing block to the move. Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said Pakistan would immediately enforce the sanctions on Azhar. He added Prime Minister Imran Khan had clearly stated there is no space for any proscribed organisation or its affiliates to operate from Pakistani territory. Azhar, 50, is believed to be ailing and is reportedly based at a JeM facility at Bahawalpur in Punjab province. He has rarely been seen in public in recent years and had created a flutter when he emerged from years in seclusion to address a rally in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by phone in January 2014. After the JeM claimed the Pulwama suicide attack on February 14 that killed 40 Indian troops, Pakistani authorities rounded up scores of operatives of the banned group, including Azhars son Hamad Azhar and brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, and took over several madrassas and other facilities in March. People familiar with developments said it was not immediately clear whether Azhar too will be detained. In March, the Pakistan government issued the UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order, providing the legal basis for freezing or seizing properties owned by designated terrorists and terror groups. The order was also meant to meet the Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) requirements related to implementing UN sanctions. In New Delhi, Indian officials said Azhars listing will lead to increased pressure on Pakistan from FATF to crack down on terror financing. The Paris-based multilateral watchdog placed Pakistan on its grey list last year for failing to do enough to counter the funding of groups such as JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Finance minister Arun Jaitely told reporters India will also ask the FATF to put Pakistan on a black list, a move that could invite harsher sanctions. We want Pakistan downgraded on the FATF list, he said, adding India will make its request at the bodys next meeting. In February, the FATF said after a review that Pakistan does not demonstrate a proper understanding of terror financing risks posed by groups such as JeM. It also urged Pakistan to meet its targets under an action plan before another review in May. The Indian officials, who didnt want to be named, said FATFs action plan specifically mentioned Pakistan has to demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all UN-designated terrorists, including preventing the raising and moving of funds, identifying and freezing movable and immovable assets and prohibiting access to funds and financial services. The June 2010 interrogation of Mumbai attacks accused David Coleman Headley by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) provides a fascinating insight into the competitive rivalry among Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) fighters to hurts India the most by killing innocents. Headley, a US national of Pakistani origin, recounted that it was after the success of LeTs Abdur Rehman Hashims Karachi project, which produced Indian Mujahideen cadres on a mass scale to target India, that fellow jihadi Sajid Majid orchestrated the 26/11 attacks to show up the former. While the long awaited UN designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is a step in the right direction, this move will not end terror attacks on India by Pakistan-based groups or reduce the level of violence in the Kashmir Valley. Read: Big victory, says PM Modi on Jaish chief Masood Azhars listing as global terrorist The September 18, 2016 attack in Uri was engineered by LeTs Hafiz Saeed even though the terror group, the individual leader and the parent organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, were all under UN sanctions. The US has also declared a $10-million bounty for Saeed in April 2012. Watch | Pakistan, China wanted Masood Azhar ban after elections, felt will help Modi The Uri attack came within months of the assault on Pathankot airbase, which was planned and executed by Azhar and his brothers Athar Ibrahim and Rauf Asghar. These organisations are only relevant to the Pakistani military establishment till such time that they target India. Headleys interrogation revealed that all those from the LeT who wanted to fight US forces in Afghanistan, instead of India, were brutally dealt with by the Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence. Saeed and Azhar, the two arms of the ISI, have a lot in common, with their entire families, kith and kin involved in jihad against India. The madrasas, charity organisations and terror camps linked to their groups operate with impunity under the watchful eyes of the militarys General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Read: Will immediately enforce sanctions imposed on Jaish chief Masood Azhar, says Pak It is only logical to predict that even if JeM goes off the radar for some time, like it did after the 2001 attack on Indias Parliament, the Pakistani establishment will prop up LeT and its proxies in the interregnum to take care of its needs against India. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown the courage to strike at the heart of terror in Pakistan with the Balakot air strike, there is a need to hold the Pakistani military and weak political leadership accountable for terrorist actions in future. Just as India rejected again linking Azhars listing with the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, as advocated by China, it needs to remove Islamabad totally from the Kashmir equation by proactively neutralising pro-Pak guns in the Kashmir Valley. Good governance cannot be possible in Kashmir with a terrorist gun to the head of innocents in the state. This can only happen if Islamabad shuts down jihadist factories in Pakistan, as the end of one Azhar will give birth to another. After all, Pakistan is home to globally designated terrorists, such as Indian-origin Dawood Ibrahim and hundreds of others listed by the 1267 Sanctions Committee and belonging to more than 46 jihadist organisations. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Snacks and beverages maker PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd has decided to withdraw lawsuits it had filed against nine Gujarat farmers for allegedly growing a potato variety owned by the company without its permission. The company had registered cases of infringement of proprietary rights against four farmers in April 5 and five in 2018, demanding 1 crore from each in damages. Pepsico, one of the worlds largest multinational corporations, had to face widespread backlash from farmers for bringing the lawsuits. Its legal action had sparked outrage among farm activists. The company had claimed that the farmers had grown potatoes of a variety known as FL2027, which it had developed and registered as a protected strain under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority. The Gujarat government was involved in talks between farmer groups and the company to settle the matter. After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw cases against farmers, Pepsico said in a statement Thursday. The company had pressed charges of infringement of its exclusive rights over the seed variety, which it uses in Lays crisps, under sections 28 and 64 of The Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right Act, 2001. Farm activists however claimed that section 39 of the Act allows Indian farmers to freely grow, use or sell a proprietary or a protected variety of seed as long as they dont sell it as a branded item. Pepsico had wrongfully charged the farmers because the same Act gives farmers the freedom to use or grow protected seeds. The Indian legal system governing agricultural innovations offers farmers full freedom, unlike in the US, said Kapil Shah of Jatan Trust, a farm organisation that was involved in defending the farmers. PepsiCo introduced this variety of potato, which is sourced from its US arm, for commercial use in 2009. The low moisture content of the variety makes it ideal for processing. We are relying on the said discussions to find a long term and an amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection. The company remains deeply committed to the thousands of farmers we work with across the country and towards ensuring adoption of best farming practices, the companys statement said. Over 200 farmer organisations, civil society representatives and activists had opposed PepsiCos move before the government. Several farmer organisations affiliated across the political spectrum, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, had vowed to fiercely resist PepsiCos legal action. The company had entered into exclusive buyback arrangements with farmers in India, including in north Gujarat. In its infringement suit, PepsiCo claimed that some farmers were growing and selling their variety without any licence or agreement with them, thereby hurting the firms commercial interests. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday ordered an inquiry into possible lapses that may have led to the Maoist attack in Gadchiroli a day earlier. Fifteen security personnel and their driver was killed in the attack. We have authorised the DGP [director general of police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal] to probe the incident and, if lapses are found, action would be taken accordingly, said Fadnavis, who flew to Gadchiroli to take stock of the situation on Thursday. The probe was ordered as family members of the slain security personnel said they could have been saved if the right protocol had been followed. Swati Kharde, who lost her husband Sarjerao Kharde in the attack, wondered why they were sent in a private vehicle for a search and combing operations hours after Maoists torched about three dozen vehicles near the attack scene. An official blamed lack of intelligence for the attack. How could they allow the personnel to go in pursuit of the Maoists without an anti-landmine vehicle, which is a part of the normal procedure? The Maoists had openly challenged the police force that they would avenge the killings of 40 of their cadres in Kasnasur last year and had even put up posters and banner in this regard in the area, he said. Police on Thursday found banners the Gadchiroli unit of the Maoists had reportedly put up near the attack scene. The banner condemned the killing of 40 Maoists last year and that of Ramco Narota, a Maoist leader, in an exchange of fire on April 27. The banners said that the development work in this area is not for the locals, but for the benefit of a handful of rich people, an official quoted the banners as saying. Officials said a preliminary probe into the attack pointed towards the involvement of Basavaraj, who has led the Maoists after Ganapathy alias Muppala Lakshmana Rao relinquished his post in November last year. Maharshtra home department officials said the police had been getting intelligence inputs of a possible attack. According to a home department official, security forces in the Maoist-hit areas are following the guidelines. The intelligence inputs were minutely monitored by the security forces and there were many such attempts even during the electioneering. ...it appears that due care was being taken by the forces. A sanitisation van was sent on the route before passing of the fateful vehicle, the official said on condition of anonymity. 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 number 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. 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. Also read | Its Delhi but doesnt look like it 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 general elections peacefully, the spokesperson said. Also read | Dont use sewage to cultivate farms along Mumbais railway tracks: Bombay HC 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 the local administration would continue to facilitate movement of civilian traffic as has been happening so far, including by allowing public transport of Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation to move on the NH. The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an application, filed by retired bureaucrat Harsh Mander, seeking recusal of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi from hearing a case related to lack of amenities in Assam detention centres where 900-odd people have been locked up after being declared illegal migrants by foreigners tribunals. Asserting that nobody can browbeat the institution, a bench led by CJI Gogoi also ordered deletion of Manders name as the petitioner in the matter and renamed the case as Supreme Court Legal Services Authority of India versus Union of India. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was arguing for Mander, was appointed amicus curiae (friend of the court) and asked to render assistance in the matter. Manders application said his petition had highlighted the inhuman conditions under which foreigners were forced to live in detention centres, but the bench had converted the matter into a case for deportation of thousands of people. He alluded to CJI Gogois remarks that out of 1.08 lakh persons declared as foreigners by the tribunals, the Centre has deported only 4 persons in the last decade and allowed thousands to inter-mingle with the local population. Mander was a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Sonia Gandhi, during the UPA regime. NAC acted as the then governments policy advisory body. Reacting to Manders plea, CJI Gogoi remarked: We are not for once thinking of recusal. Recusal is destruction of the institution. We are not recusing. We will not allow anybody to browbeat this institution. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for both the Centre and Assam government, called for necessary action against Mander, saying his action was scandalous and contemptuous. But the court refrained from proceeding against Mander and dismissed his application. At the last hearing on April 25, Justice Gogoi had warned the Assam chief secretary with disciplinary action against the bureaucrat for filing an affidavit stating that all those persons living in detention centres could be released subject to their executing sureties and biometric details with the authorities. A senior banker lost an iPhone worth Rs78,000 to the thakthak gang. This is the second reported case of the gang in action, in the last two months. The case of the senior banker took place on April 23. Shyam Maheshwaran Unnithan, 37, a vice president at Deutsche Bank, was driving to his Powai home from his Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) office at 9pm, when two men targeted him at a signal in Kurla. A few seconds after Unnithan stopped his car at the red light, a man knocked on the window of the passenger seat and pointed to the front tyre, the police said. Unnithan rolled down the glass and was trying to make out what the man was saying, but by then, another man knocked on his window, claiming the car had hit him, said a police officer close to the investigation. By the time Unnithan responded to the second man, the first had left. Soon, the second individual also walked away, the officer said. Unnithan immediately realised something was amiss. I was on a call with my wife and the phone was connected to the cars bluetooth system. When the call got disconnected, I realised the men had walked away with my phone, Unnithan said. Unnithan had bought the latest model of the phone from Dubai in November 2018. He filed a complaint against two unidentified people, who the police have booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). We are checking if CCTV cameras in the area caught the men and their movements, said another police officer. InvestigaWorli. tors are also checking police records to match it with the description the complainant has given of the accused, the officer said. Earlier, Vinita Kamte, the wife of 26/11 martyr Ashok Kamte, filed a complaint after her bag, containing valuables worth 1.16 lakh, was stolen by the gang in Members of the gang usually knock on car doors and distract the drivers and passengers with conversations while they lift valuables from the car. The method is quickly becoming one of the most common kind of street crimes being reported, police officials said. More than 40 trains have been cancelled between Howrah and Puri and other stations in south India over the next two days as Cyclone Fani, which has turned into an extreme severe cyclonic storm, approached Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. The India Meteorological Department has categorised Cyclone Fani as an extremely severe cyclonic storm and the strongest pre-monsoon cyclone in the last four decades. The met department said early on Thursday that Cyclone Fani is about 540km south-southwest of Puri. It is moving northwards with a speed of 5kilometres per hour in the last six hours and likely to make landfall at Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali on May 3 with a wind speed of up to 200kmph, it said. Also Watch | Cyclone Fani likely to hit Odisha on Friday; NDRF, rescue teams kept ready The neighbouring coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been put on high alert. Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaiks office said that around 800,000 people will be evacuated from the states 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. The South Eastern Railway (SER) has cancelled 17 trains bound for south India and Puri in Odisha. It has also decided to cancel 26 trains originating from south India, a railways official said, according to news agency PTI. Trains from Bengaluru, Chennai and Secunderabad to Howrah on Thursday evening are among those which were cancelled. Also read | Odisha evacuates 800,000 people as Cyclone Fani nears coast Special patrolling is also being carried out to keep their passengers safe. Breakdown vans and relief trains have been kept ready to cater to areas likely to be affected by the cyclone in the two states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the official said. SER is also in touch with the local authorities and disaster management teams. The Eastern Railway announced the cancellation or delay of 81 trains on the Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Puri-Visakhapatnam section. The Indian Navy tweeted that its ships Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) stores including food, medicines and clothing will be following the cyclone keeping south of the eye of the storm and remain standby to be the first responder when it crosses the coast. Odisha has shut all schools and colleges as emergency personnel races to make preparations for Cyclone Fani barrelling towards the state. Officials in Bhubaneswars Nandankanan zoo also decided to close the zoo from May 2 to May 4 and keep all the captive animals in feeding chambers. The Election Commission gave its nod for shifting of the EVMs to safer locations in Odisha, where four-phased elections for the Lok Sabha and state assembly were completed on April 29. Andhra Pradeshs chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has also requested the Election Commission for a relaxation of the model code of conduct in four districts which will be affected by Cyclone Fani. The West Bengal government has made elaborate precautionary arrangements to tackle the situation, an official said. An alert has been sounded in all coastal districts and people living in the coastal areas along with tourists have been asked to leave and go to safer places, the official said. Fishermen, who have gone to the mid-sea, have been asked to return immediately. The strongest ever cyclone to hit Odisha came in October 1999 while the second biggest, Cyclone Phailin hit the coast in October 2013. Cyclone Titli that hit Andhra Pradesh coast in October last year, had killed 61 people, many of them in tribal-dominated Gajapati district and wreaked huge damage in Odisha as it changed its direction and moved towards the northeast after making landfall. Congress leader Siddaramaiah Thursday expressed his displeasure over Karnataka minister GT Deve Gowdas statement a day earlier saying Janata Dal (Secular) had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Mysuru. Gowda claimed the JD (S)did not back the ruling coalitions nominee, Congresss CH Vijayshankar. I, too, am surprised by the statement of GT Deve Gowda. I hope it isnt true. We will know how true this is on May 23 [when Lok Sabha election results would be declared]. There is no point in thinking about something that is over. Lets wait and see, Siddaramaiah tweeted. Siddaramaiah, a former Karnataka chief minister, is the chief of Congress Legislature Party. Mysuru and Mandya are among states 28 Lok Sabha seats that have strained the relations between the ruling coalition partners. CM HD Kumaraswamys son Nikhil was up against independent candidate Sumalatha, the widow of late Karnataka Congress leader MH Ambareesh, in Mandya. Polls in Karnataka were held on April 18 and 23. A purported video clip of rebel Congress leaders from Mandya dining with Sumalatha on Tuesday night worsened the atmosphere of distrust between the two parties. N Cheluvarayaswamy said they were asked to maintain distance from Sumalatha during polls. We gave our word to [Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao] and Siddaramaiah. It is difficult to maintain distance even after the elections, he said. Cheluvarayaswamy said Kumaraswamy was made the CM and asked what has he ever done for the coalition. He has not done anything at all zero. Rao said the party would look into the matter and take action if it is proved that the rebels had acted against the party. Repeated attempts to reach JD(S) leaders for comment went unanswered. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Union Transport Minister and senior leader of BJPNitin Gadkarion Wednesday, criticised the Congress saying the party has always pitched poverty eradication to citizens as a means to come into power. However, he said, that only those belonging to the Congress and the family have prospered. Gadkari said the nation has witnessed unprecedented growth in BJPs five-year regime, while addressing a meeting in favour of BJPs Mandi candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma, at Sangla, Kinnaur district. Even today, people are suffering from poverty. And even after 72 years, there is lack of basic amenities. India is a rich country, but Congress wrong policies and visionless leadership from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi are responsible for the prevailing poverty in the country, he said. Also read | SP, BSPs blood pressure shoots up when they see love for me: PM Modi in Ayodhya Praising Himachal for its potential in tourism sector, the minister said that the state has seen a spike in tourism during the past five years because the Centre has strengthened the road network in the state. Gadkari said there is a great need to lay thrust on industry and agriculture sectors to generate employment opportunities. The Centre has decided to transfer cash directly to the small farmers accounts who will get 6,000 per year, of which the first installment of 2,000 has already been deposited, he added. Also read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: In east UP, Congress banks on Priyanka Gandhi in triangular contest He further said, As many as 69 roads have been declared as national highways at a cost of 50,000 crores. The three main roads of Himachal has been brought under the Bharat Mala project and new work will start on about 600 km highway to help the state forge ahead on the path of development with more speed. Gadkari also said he showed the model of sky bus to CM Jai Ram Thakur for which a detailed project report is being prepared. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Wednesday, launching the partys campaign for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, asked residents to vote for national security in the upcoming polls. Shah criticised Congress chairperson Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal for questioning the Balakot air strike, supporting Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and opposing the Modi governments national register of citizens (NRC), which is aimed at removing infiltrators from the country. Addressing a rally at a DDA Park in South Delhis upscale Vasant Kunj area, Shah urged Delhiites to vote for national security instead of voting for the works done by the seven sitting BJP MPs or the money spent by the Centre on Delhis development. In his 30-minute speech, the BJP leader also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the United Nations declaring Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azhar a global terrorist. Recently, in Pulwama, Pakistan-based terrorists killed 40 of our soldiers. There was anger and disappointment all over the country. Pakistan also immediately deployed their army at the border. But our Modi ji also showed the strength of his 56-inch chest and deployed the air force instead. We bombed the terror camps in Pakistan and killed all the terrorists, he told the audience, which mostly comprised of BJP workers and supporters. That day (the day of the air strikes), everyone in the country was celebrating, but only two people were mourning one was Rahul Gandhis office and the second was the office of the Delhi chief minister Kejriwals party questioned the air strike by asking for proof that terrorists were actually killed. Even children have learnt that you just need to switch on any Pakistani television channel to see their reaction, Shah said. Delhi goes to poll on May 12 and the results are scheduled for May 23. While both the BJP and the Congress have fielded their heavyweights, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has put up new faces for all seven seats. Referring to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case, Shah attacked Delhi CM Kejriwal by saying that the AAP leader has created a strange kind environment in the country. The country will not forgive this. Do you think anyone should support the tukde-tukde gang? Can Rahul baba and Kejriwal keep India safe? he said. Listing out the works carried out by the Central government in Delhi, Shah said the Modi government has spent about 1 lakh crore for infrastructure works in Delhi, spanning from the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway to Delhi-Meerut Expressway. When we identified 40 lakh illegal immigrants in Assam, Rahul baba and Kejriwal and company were creating a brouhaha, claiming it was a violation of human rights. They are just worried about their vote banks. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, we will throw away illegal immigrants from the country, Shah said, referring to Kejriwal as a master of U-turns. First, he said he was Annas soldier. But, Anna is stuck in Ralegan Siddhi while Kejriwal is busy with politics. He swore on his children that he wont take a government facility. But, he is enjoying all services. He had talked of putting Sheila Dikshit behind bars for corruption, but despite her refusal for an alliance, Kejriwal desperately went to her to find a solution, he said. The AAP and the Congress were not available for comments. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hardeep Singh Puri, the lone turbaned Sikh in the Union cabinet, may be contesting his maiden election but as the BJP candidate, he is striking the right notes, and balance, to win over voters of the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency that goes to the polls on May 19. Campaigning in a constituency with 65% Sikh voters, Puri lists the opening of the Kartarpur corridor to Pakistan; justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots; and exemption of the goods and services tax (GST) on langar items served at Golden Temple, as achievements of the Narendra Modi government. Puri, 66, hit the campaign trail in Amritsar from April 25, four days after he was chosen by the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance to fight from Amritsar, which is home to the supreme temporal seat of Sikhism. He is pitted against Congress Gurjit Singh Aujla, who won the 2017 Lok Sabha byelection by defeating BJPs Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina with a margin of 2 lakh votes. Also read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: Badal to hit campaign trail from Patiala on May 5 A 1974-batch Indian Foreign Services (IFS) officer, Puri has been holding public meetings across the constituency daily. While addressing the 25% voters in Hindu-dominated areas of the border constituency, he deftly shifts focus to the issue of national security. Having roots in Delhi, the Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs may be the BJPs parachute candidate, but he is leaving no stone unturned to make Amritsar his home. His wife, Lakshmi, is also camping and campaigning with him after the couple bought a house in Shastri Nagar recently. FAITH MATTERS Addressing a rally in Sikh-dominated Amritsar South, Puri says, The Centre has formed a committee led by home minister Rajnath Singh to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. There were many recommendations, including making Sultanpur Lodhi town a smart city, establishing chairs in Indian and foreign universities for study and research on the first Sikh Guru and opening the Kartarpur corridor. On the basis of the recommendations, our government approved the building and development of the corridor. Due to the efforts of the BJP government, the corridor is becoming a reality. But Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has wrongly been claiming credit. I would like to remind Sidhu that the issue of opening the corridor has been raised by the BJP and the SAD since 1999 when the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal visited Lahore. During the discussion in Lahore, Badal strongly demanded opening the corridor. Referring to the arrest of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, Puri says: It was Prime Minister Modi who formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe antiSikh riots in 1984. After the SITs report, families of those killed in the riots finally got justice and the accused were convicted. Puri lauds the SAD-BJP alliance for waiving GST on food items used for langar (community kitchen) at the Golden Temple. Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had written to the Union cabinet to waive GST on langar. Considering her request, the Union cabinet, including me, had exempted the items from GST. However, outgoing Congress MP Aujla is trying to take credit for this. SECURITY ISSUE Addressing a rally in Amritsar West on Tuesday night, Puri focuses on national security. On November 26, 2008, terrorists entered Mumbai and killed about 300 innocent people. The Congress government at the Centre didnt act against the neighbouring country. In 2016, however, the BJP government launched a surgical strike against militant launch pads across the Line of Control after the attack on an army camp in Uri. Our government also took action after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Indian soldiers were killed. The Indian Air Force entered 85 km inside Pakistan and destroyed the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed responsibility for the attack, Puri said. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi of wrongdoing in one complaint each of violation of the model code of conduct they faced for speeches made on the Lok Sabha campaign trail. ECI said on Thursday that it found no violation in the speech Modi delivered at Barmer in Rajasthan on April 21 in which he said India hadnt kept a nuclear arsenal for use on Diwali, the festival of lights and fireworks. Its the third complaint on which the commission has absolved the prime minister. In the speech, Modi said: Every other day, they [Pakistan] say we have nuclear button, we have nuclear button. What do we have then? Have we kept our nuclear weapons for Diwali? ECI said it reached the decision after pursuing a detailed report by the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Rajasthan. 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 10 pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer, 17 Barmer Parliamentary Constituency, the order read. Gandhi received a clean chit for a speech in Siroha in Madhya Pradeshs Jabalpur, where he called Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah a murder accused. In the campaign speech, Gandhi made comments about Shah and his son, Jay Shah. Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah. Waah, kya shaan hai! (What greatness!) Have you heard of Jay Shah? Hes a magician; he turned ~50,000 to ~80 crore in three months, Gandhi said. Also Watch: Re-election of Modi is main mudda: BJPs Manoj Tiwari on Campaign Trail ECI said the Madhya Pradesh chief election officer (CEO) did not find any violation of the model code in the speech. 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... Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of MCC is made out, the ECs order read. A BJP functionary has also filed a defamation case in Gujarat against Gandhi in connection with the remarks. The contention of the partys Khadia councillor Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt,who filed the case, is that a Central Bureau of Investigation court had absolved Shah of murder charges on January 2, 2015, in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. On Thursday, ECI also issued a show cause notice to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for the Babar ka aulad remark he made in Sambhal on April 19, a day after he restarted his campaign following a 72-hour ban. At the rally, Yogi had attacked the opposition Samajwadi Party candidate in Sambhal. Once I was in Parliament, and I asked the SP candidate, who was the MP from Sambhal, as to who were his predecessors; he said he was. ECIs decisions were announced hours after the Supreme Court asked the commission to rule by May 6 on remaining complaints against Modi, Amit Shah and Congres president Rahul Gandhi for alleged violations of the model code. Congress spokesperson Pranav Jha said: The ECs decisions are more relevant for PM Modi and Amit Shah as they are habitual violators, and have been aided by a lenient EC. Rahul Gandhi does not have much to worry as he was not trying to garner votes through illegal means. In 11 complaints, it took the EC 30 days to respond to one. Under pressure from the Supreme Court, it looks like the EC is hurriedly disposing of cases without looking at the merits of the complaints. The lawyer for EC informed a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi that it had already decided on two out of 11 complaints lodged by the Congress party (the decision on the third was announced on Thursday evening). The court was hearing a petition filed by Congress Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev accusing the ECI of inaction on the partys complaints. The remaining representations of the petitioners shall be decided by the Election Commission before we hear the matter again on Monday [May 6], ordered the bench, also comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. ECI had earlier given a clean chit to PM Modi on two of the complaints made by the Congress. One related to his April 9 speech in Latur, Maharashtra, in which he urged first-time voters to dedicate their votes to the air force personnel who carried out an air strike on a terror camp in Pakistan on February 26, and the 40 paramilitary troopers who died in a suicide car bombing in Pulwama. The other complaint was over Modis speech in Wardha, Maharashtra, on April 1 in which he said Wayanad in Kerala was a constituency in which the minority is majority, in an attack aimed at Congress president Rahul Gandhi who chose it as his second seat in addition to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Dev has claimed that inaction by the EC on Congress complaints was a sign of invidious discrimination. Since March 10, that is the date on which General Elections, were notified, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, specifically in sensitive areas and states, have ex-facie violated the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act and the Conduct of Election Rules and the process, thereof, read the petition. Dev said ECs silence on the complaints was arbitrary, capricious and impermissible as it was destructive of the integrity of electoral process. It is in public domain that they have indulged in hate speeches, repeatedly used the armed forces for political propaganda, despite a clear prohibition on the same by the EC, her petition alleged. She said she was forced to move the top court for a quick decision on the complaints made by the Congress party, which EC is unable to do despite cogent evidence placed before it. The inactions, omissions and commissions by the EC are in complete and direct violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and which are impeding free, fair and unbiased General Elections, read the plea. She referred to the ECs circulars that prohibit parties and candidates from using pictures of armed forces for their propaganda and speeches invoking religious sentiments. All the four political majors in Haryana, namely the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and its splinter outfit Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) are locked in a pitched battle of prestige in the Sirsa (SC) parliamentary seat. Since its formation in 1967, the Sirsa parliamentary seat has never gone to the BJP but the party has hopes on the Modi wave. The constituency has been a stronghold of the Congress, though Sirsa has also been a citadel of the INLD as it is the home of its patriarch and former deputy prime minister Devi Lal and his clan. Of the total 14 times the constituency has gone to the polls, the Congress has won eight times, INLD three times and Janata Party, Janata Dal and Lok Dal, once each. INLD has fielded its sitting MP Charanjeet Singh Rori from the seat this time. Sunita Duggal, the BJP nominee from the seat this time, was first given a ticket for Ratia assembly seat in 2014 but lost to INLDs Ravinder Baliana by about 400 votes. This time, she and the party workers are enthusiastic about the Modi wave. Congress candidate Ashok Tanwar who finished second with about 3.9 lakh votes in 2014 polls, hopes to have more votes this time. He has also been to Dera Sacha Sauda and is hopeful of a positive response. SIKH VERSUS SIKH Political observers opine that INLD sitting MP Rori, who won with over 5 lakh votes, may have to share his support base with JJPs Nirmal Singh Malhadi, owing to the recent crippling split in the party. The INLD traditionally has had a strong support base in Rania, Ellenabad, Dabwali, Kallanwali, Narwana and Ratia and has its MLAs in seven of the total nine assembly segments. While its five MLAs are with it, Pirthi Singh (Narwana) and Dabwali MLA Naina Chautala are siding with JJP. Only Tohana segment is with BJP (Subhash Barala) while Kalanwali segment is with Balkaur Singh of SAD. The Sirsa LS seat has about 30% schedule caste votes, about 25% Jat and the remaining is divided among Punjabi, Brahmin, Baniya and other castes. The INLD or JJP leaders may hate to admit it, the split has left a bitter taste in voters mouth. Suresh Kumar, a dhaba owner in Fatehabad, says that the INLD voters have till recently been dedicated to the party but the split has left them divided as well. People across the constituency appeared divided between BJP, Congress and INLD candidates. THE DERA FACTOR The Dera Sacha Sauda, headquartered at Sirsa, carries a considerable sway in the constituency but it has so far not declared its support for any party. The Dera supporters presence is in a sizeble number in six (of the total nine) assembly segments Ratia, Tohana, Kallanwali, Dabwali, Rania and Sirsa. With an eye on their support, Tanwar has attended the Dera congregation on Sunday. The candidates of other parties, particularly the BJP, which benefited from the Dera support in 2014 state polls, are also not averse to seeking its support. The Dera is divided over the support to ruling BJP in the state due to its crackdown on Dera supporters who were protesting against conviction of Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a rape case two years ago when 36 Dera supporters were killed in subsequent clashes across the state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON EC gives clean chit to PM Modi for his speech in Barmer EC has given clean chit to PM Narendra Modi on his nuclear button for Diwali remark at Barmer in Rajasthan, said officials as quoted by news agency PTI. Your vote a strong instrument to teach a lesson: Sonia Gandhi in UP Your vote is a strong instrument to teach a lesson to those who made false promises, said Sonia Gandhi while addressing a public rally in Uttar Pradeshs Rae Bareli. Apex court directs EC to decide on complaints of poll code violation by PM, Amit Shah before May 6 Supreme Court has asked Election Commission to decide on, before May 6, the 9 complaints filed by Congress party against PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct. :ANI Supreme Court asks Election Commission to decide before May 6, the 9 complaints filed by Congress party against PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct. pic.twitter.com/bbq2YDtEgm ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 BJP removed part from video where I stopped children from chanting inappropriate slogans about PM: Priyanka Gandhi I stopped children from saying slogans which I think werent correct about PM. BJP edited the tape, removed the part where I was stopping them and theyre making this allegation, which is typical of them. What they do is twist truth, what I do is I speak the truth, said Priyanka Gandhi. :ANI Priyanka Gandhi Vadra: I stopped children from saying slogans which I think weren't correct about PM. BJP edited the tape,removed the part where I was stopping them&they're making this allegation,which is typical of them. What they do is twist truth,what I do is I speak the truth pic.twitter.com/cza3zZUKDJ ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 Cultured families should keep their children away from people like Priyanka Gandhi: Smriti Irani Doesnt Mrs Vadra know that you cant use children for political activity? What values are you giving to children. Id say that cultured families should keep their children away from such a person, said Smriti Irani on Priyanka Gandhi Vadras video with children raising anti-Modi slogans. :ANI Congress party in UP is fighting a battle to lose: Smriti Irani in Amethi Congress party in UP is fighting a battle to lose. We gave chase to Congress president so much so that he had to literally run even after SP-BSP pledged support on this seat. This is not a fight between BJP and Congress,this is a genuine fight between people and a lapata sansad, said Smriti Irani in Amethi. :ANI Smriti Irani in Amethi: Congress party in UP is fighting a battle to lose. We gave chase to Congress Pres so much so that he had to literally run even after SP-BSP pledged support on this seat. This is not a fight b/w BJP& Cong,this is a genuine fight b/w people&a 'lapata sansad' pic.twitter.com/G43h7TLCVz ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 BJP wants to deflect publics attention from real issues: Priyanka Gandhi BJP wants to build a narrative which is not concerned with the public. It wants to deflect the publics attention from the real issues, said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Raebareli. :ANI For 2019, focus is to defeat BJP, for 2022, to strengthen Congress: Priyanka Gandhi My focus is on both 2019 and 2022 (UP Assembly elections). For 2019, the focus is to defeat the BJP. By 2022, I want to strengthen the Congress so that we can fight well, said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Raebareli. :ANI Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Raebareli: My focus is on both 2019 and 2022 (UP Assembly elections). For 2019, the focus is to defeat the BJP. By 2022, I want to strengthen the Congress so that we can fight well. pic.twitter.com/7k3qtfu4Pc ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 2, 2019 India wants NYAY: Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi tweeted on his officials handle, 115 election rallies in 60 days. Its been a long election campaign! Across India the energy & enthusiasm of the crowds we are pulling indicate that big change is in the air. India wants NYAY. Some pics from todays rally at Simdega, Jharkhand. :Rahul Gandhi 115 election rallies in 60 days. Its been a long election campaign! Across the energy & enthusiasm of the crowds we are pulling indicate that big change is in the air. India wants NYAY. Some pics from todays rally at Simdega, Jharkhand. pic.twitter.com/VaKAs1nCue Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 2, 2019 We put those who chanted slogans against Indias unity, Cong wants to go easy on them: Amit Shah We picked up all those who chanted bharat mata ke tukde ho and put them in jail. However, Rahul Gandhi has come up with a manifesto that intends to go soft on these anti national people, said Amit Shah. Modi govt bore medical expenses of up to 5 lakh of 50 crore poor: Amit Shah One of the best things that the Narendra Modi government has done is to bear the medical expenses up to 5 lakh of the 50 crore of poorest people of India, said Amit Shah/. :ANI If they shoot at us, we will get back at them with bombs: Amit Shah If the terrorists shoot at us, our government will get back at them with bombs, said Amit Shah in Madhya Pradeshs Rajgarh. Before asking what PM did for the nation in 5 year, tell us what Congress did in 55 years: Amit Shah in Rajgarh How can you ask PM Modi what he did for the country in the past five years? Your family ruled the nation for 55 years, first you tell us what you did for the nation, said Amit Shah in Madhya Pradesh. BJP made commission for backward classes constitutional: Amit Shah Within two years, BJP made sure that the commission for backward classes was made constitutional. This was possible only because you made Narendra Modi the prime minister, said Amit Shah. Amit Shah addresses public meeting in Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh I have come here after having travelled a lot. Everywhere I went, I heard people chanting the name of Modi, said Amit Shah. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday warned people against falling for rhetoric by rivals and elect a weak an unstable government of those who plundered the state exchequer and created lawlessness and anarchy in the state. The Prime Minister was addressing a rally at Patahi airstrip in Muzaffarpur. He said the unholy political alliance of the opposition was exercising a lot to come to power for filling up their own coffers. Endeavours of NDA to tighten noose around the corrupt politicians will continue if voted to power and will leave no stone unturned in demolishing the shopping malls erected with corrupt sources of income. They will have to show the source of income or get ready to be demolished by the competent agencies, Modi said. In an apparent dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Modi, without naming him, said a leader was daydreaming to become the Prime Minister. He is only interested in fortifying his security ring and keeping glory and pride of his family intact. After four rounds of elections for 381 Lok Sabha seats, those who crying hoarse against the NDAS policies are no longer in the race, Modi said. Referring to explosions and bomb blasts outside temples, railway stations and public places in the country during the UPA regime, the PM said he had enough guts to wipe out terrorism and curb its menace ruthlessly. Modi alone can wipe out terror outfits operating from Pakistan and the factories of terrorism in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POKS) are on his hit list, he said. He appealed to voters to support NDA candidates in fray from Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi Lok Sabha constituencies. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, union minister and LJP Chief Ram Vilas Paswan , deputy CM Shushil Kumar Modi and others also addressed the rally. Muzaffarpur goes to polls on May 6, during the fifth phase of elections. BJPS Ajay Nishad is the sitting MP from the constituency. He is pitted against Raj Bhushan Choudhary of the Vakassheel Insaan Party (VIP), which was allotted the seat as part of the Grand Alliance deal. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, Nishad had defeated Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress. The Election Commission on Thursday gave PM Narendra Modi a clean chit for his speech in Barmer where he had said that Indias nuclear weapons were not meant for Diwali. Addressing an election speech in Barmer in Rajasthan, PM Narendra Modi had said, Every other day they used to say we have nuclear button, we have nuclear button. What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali? He was referring to the diplomatic win in the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was taken captive by Pakistani forces after his MiG-21 bison was downed in an aerial engagement with the Pakistani air force after the air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Balakot in Pakistan. The Congress had lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the PMs speech claiming that it constituted a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. In its order, the Election 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...Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, within hours after being served a notice by the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi over allegations of violating the Model Code of Conduct, on Wednesday urged voters to accept money from the BJP and the Congress but cast their votes in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party. Earlier in the day, the Delhi CEO served a notice to Kejriwal, also the convener of the AAP, seeking his response over allegations made by leader of opposition Vijender Gupta that pamphlets were being distributed by the party asking voters to take bribe from the Congress and the BJP but cast their votes in favour of AAP in the May 12 polls. We sent a notice to Arvind Kejriwal, convener of AAP, seeking his response on the matter. Kejriwal was asked to reply by Wednesday, 5 pm. But as the letter was dispatched late, we would wait for his reply till Thursday, said a senior official from the Delhi CEOs office. Also read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: Akali Dal banks on BJP top guns for final poll push Around 8 pm, however, while addressing slum clusters in Wazirpur as a part of his road show in Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituency, Kejriwal repeated the statement. Before the elections, other parties would come and distribute money. What would you do then? Take all the money but cast your vote in favour of the broom (AAPs election symbol). No one will come to know in whose favour you have cast your vote, Kejriwal said on Wednesday. Repeated calls and messages to Saurabh Bhardawaj, the AAPs national spokesperson, and Gopal Rai, AAPs convener in Delhi, went unanswered. The poll panel served the notice to Kejriwal after two senior leaders of the BJP, Vijender Gupta and Arti Mehra, lodged a complaint with the CEO against AAP on Monday for allegedly distributing pamphlets in slum clusters. HT has a copy of the letter sent to Kejriwal and the pamphlet that was being allegedly distributed by AAP. Kejriwal is violating the MCC (model code of conduct) even after being served a notice by the poll panel. This is highly condemnable and objectionable. This is absolutely lawlessness, said Gupta. This is not the first time that such allegations have come up against AAP and its convener. In 2015, Kejriwal had made similar remarks during the Delhi assembly election campaign. In January 2017, during the Goa assembly elections, Kejriwal urged voters to accept money from other parties and vote for AAP. Following the incident, the Election Commission of India had issued a warning to the party. The trailer of Mahesh Babus forthcoming Telugu film Maharshi was released at the films pre-release event on Wednesday. Going by the visuals, the film tracks the journey of a character called Rishi, who wants to rule the world. The trailer opens with Rao Rameshs character asking Mahesh Babu what he wants to do in life and he replies, I want to rule the world. This opening introduction shot is followed by grand visuals of Mahesh Babu walking in slow motion as a billionaire business tycoon. We also see him as a college student with a good sense of humour. The trailer also makes it clear that Mahesh is afraid of losing and hed do anything to not lose. Jagapathi Babu plays the antagonist and we get a glimpse of confrontation Maheshs character and him in the trailer. It also teases with some shots of what appears to be a very violent action sequence. Also read: Game of Thrones The Long Night is series second worst rated episode on Rotten Tomatoes. Can you guess the worst one? Directed by Vamshi Paidipally, Maharshi also stars Pooja Hegde and Allari Naresh in crucial roles. The film was originally planned to be released on April 25. However, last month, producer Dil Raju in a press conference confirmed that the release has been pushed to May 9. He revealed the reason for postponement of the release as post-production work which was taking more time than expected. The film, which has been jointly produced by Dil Raju, Ashwini Dutt and PVP Cinema, has music by Devi Sri Prasad while KU Mohanan has cranked the camera. Mahesh Babus last film Bharat Ane Nenu turned out to be a hit, coming after two duds the AR Murugadoss directorial SPYder and Brahmotsavam. Bharat Ane Nenu was the story of a student who unexpectedly becomes a leader in Andhra Pradesh and attempts to reform politics. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A member of parliament who lied about a speeding offence has become the first casualty of the Recall of MPs Act of 2015, triggering a by-election after a large number of constituency voters signed a recall petition. Fiona Onasanya (Labour), disgraced by her lying and jailed in January for perverting the course of justice, has now been removed from the House of Commons. She represented Peterborough, but was expelled by Labour due to her conduct. Onasanya became the first MP to be recalled under the law enacted during the prime ministership of David Cameron in the wake of the 2010 scandal of MPs misusing allowances and expenses that sparked much public anger. House of Commons speaker John Bercow confirmed that the recall petition was successful, telling MPs: 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. Under recalls laws, at least 10 per cent of eligible voters in a constituency need to sign the petition during a period of eight weeks. The Peterborough City Council said 19,261 voters had signed the Onasanya petition, representing 27.6% of those eligible to vote. Onsanya, who won in 2017 with a small margin of 607 votes, will be able to stand as a candidate in the by-election. Labour chairman Ian Lavery said: Labour campaigned hard for a victory in this recall petition. Labour will vigorously fight the by-election in Peterborough. The first recall petition under the act was triggered in July 2018 against Northern Ireland MP Ian Paisley, when he failed to declare two holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government. But the petition failed when it fell short by 444 signatures. The act provides for a recall petition to be triggered if an MP is sentenced to a prison term or is suspended from the house for at least 21 sitting days. If either occurred, the speaker would give notice to a petition officer, who in turn would give notice to parliamentary electors in the constituency. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The US has said the UN designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar reflects international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan, quashing Islamabads efforts to portray the absence of a reference to the Pulwama attack in the listing as a diplomatic win. Indias external affairs ministry, too, responded to pointed questions on the lack of references to the Pulwama attack and terrorism in Kashmir in Azhars listing by saying the global terrorist tag for the JeM founder will increase pressure on Pakistan to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorists based on its soil. The proposal moved on February 27 by France, the US and the UK to list Azhar contained a reference to the Pulwama attack, which was claimed by JeM and resulted in the death of 40 troopers, and also to Jammu and Kashmir. The notification issued by the UNs 1267 Sanctions Committee on Wednesday dropped these references a face-saving measure for Pakistan apparently at the behest of China, which lifted its technical hold for the designation to go ahead. Pakistan was quick to latch on to this, with foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal describing it as a huge diplomatic win. A Pakistani statement contended Azhars listing was approved after politically motivated references to the Pulwama attack and the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination were removed. However, US National Security Council spokesperson Garrett Marquis clearly linked Azhars listing with terrorism emanating from Pakistan in a statement. Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, he said. Marquis directly linked Azhar to the Pulwama carnage, saying the US commended the 1267 Sanctions Committee for designating Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian paramilitary forces. The US, the driver of the designation, sought to tie the implementation of the listing imposing a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo on Azhar to Prime Minister Imran Khans stated commitment to eradicating terrorism. State department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus acknowledged initial steps taken by Islamabad against terror groups operating from its soil and said: We look forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan [against terrorism], consistent with its international obligations. External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar ruled out any sort of deal on the listing, saying: Let me make it very, very clear we do not negotiate with any country on terrorism and on matters related to the security of the country. Kumar said Pakistan was harping on irrelevant details to divert attention from a diplomatic setback. The terror attack in Pulwama did play a role in coming to this decision, he said, adding Pakistan will have to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorists. The main objective was the designation of Azhar, a process that began in 2009, when the Pulwama terror attack had not taken place, he said. The designation is not based on a specific incident but on the basis of evidence shared with members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Masood Azhar to terrorism...The [UN] notification is not supposed to be a bio-data of the terrorist and include all acts of terrorism perpetrated by him, Kumar added. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo welcomed the listing, saying in a tweet: This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia. He added, Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEMs Masood Azhars #UN designation as a terrorist. In a conference call with reporters, a senior US administration official had remarkably sharp observations about China for its defence of Azhar. After 10 years, China has done the right thing by lifting its hold on the designation. I think China has seemed to have understood that it was increasingly important that its actions on the international stage on terrorism matched its rhetoric, the official said. Asked about the missing references to Pulwama and Kashmir, the official said, Irrespective of the verbiage that was agreed upon, it was the designation that came through and the designation is not denuded by the words that were or were not used. China had blocked four attempts to blacklist Azhar at the UNs 1267 Sanctions Committee in 2009, 2016, 2017 and February this year by using a technical hold. It lifted the hold on Wednesday after France, the US and the UK moved a revised proposal for the listing. JeM was designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation in 2001 and it was listed by the UN the same year. The ban on Azhar took a political colour in India in election season, with Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman saying opposition parties were reluctant to celebrate it. When the country wins, every Indian wins but what is unfortunate is that the Opposition thinks if it joins the celebration, then it will have to pay a political price. So, it says what is the big deal, Jaitley said. The Congress responded, saying such designations were the result of a continuous process and just one government should not take credit for it. We humbly request them to not take credit for everything. Stop taking credit and applauding yourself. Also, tell the country that you had freed Azhar from a Jammu jail. We had got Hafiz Saeed designated [as a global terrorist after the Mumbai terror attacks], party spokesperson Rajiv Shukla said at a press conference. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was on Wednesday designated a global terrorist by the United Nations after China withdrew its long-standing opposition to the move. 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. So, what follows the designation? All member countries of the UN will be required to enforce the following steps: Asset freeze All countries that are members of the United Nations have to mandatorily freeze all funds and other financial assets or economic resources for designated organsitaions and individuals. Travel ban Entities and organsiations designated as terrorists are banned from travelling to or transiting through the member countries. Arms embargo All UN member countries have to stop and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their citizens of arms and related material of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities. What amounts to flouting of the ban? 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 the banned entity, organisation Supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to them Recruiting for; or otherwise supporting acts or activities of banned individuals, groups splinter group or derivative thereof. How are the sanctions monitored? The sanctions committee oversees the implementation of the sanctions measures and reports annually to the Security Council on the implementation of these measures. They are authorized to consider and decide upon notifications and requests for exemptions from the sanctions measures and for removing an entity from the proscribed list. Despite Al Williams impressive list of aviation accomplishments, the racing, test and aerobatic pilots orange-painted airplanes are better known today than he is. Lindbergh, Earhart, Doolittle, Rickenbacker, Roscoe Turner, Wiley Post, Bernt Balchen, Harold Gatty, Paul Mantzthe deans list of 1920s and 30s pilots goes on, but rarely will you find Alford J. Williams Jr. on it. A Wikipedia search for list of pilots turns up almost 200, from Bert Acosta to Bernard Ziegler, but still no Al Williams. He may be the only aviator whose airplanes are more famous than he is. They were all called Gulfhawks and painted pumpkin orange; two of them are in the National Air and Space Museum. Yet Williams was one of the most multitalented pilots ever to stir a stick. He had been a pitcher with the New York Giants farm team. A lawyer with a degree from Georgetown University and a license to practice in New York. A writer who tapped out on his portable Underwood millions of words for a nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column as well as several bestselling books. An executive of one of the worlds largest oil companies. A near concert-quality pianist who also played the guitar and accordion. A boxer who some said could have made a living in the ring. Oh, and also a raceplane pilot who won the Pulitzer Trophy and competed for the Schneider Trophy. Holder of several world speed records. Chief test pilot of the U.S. Navy and a Marine Corps aviator as well. One of the countrys finest aerobatic and airshow pilots. An important figure in the development of dive bombing. And the force behind the design and construction of two ambitious Schneider Trophy racers, though neither ever made it to the starting line. U.S. Navy Lieutenant Williams (left) stands with Charles Lindbergh (center) and Jimmy Doolittle in 1929. (National Archives) U.S. Navy Lieutenant Williams (left) stands with Charles Lindbergh (center) and Jimmy Doolittle in 1929. (National Archives) Williams started his aviation training in 1918 and became a naval reserve ensign and aviator. Within six months, he was made a test pilot. Obviously graced with an iron stomach and fearlessness, Williams soon became the Navys inverted-flight expert. He developed inverted-spin recovery techniques, assessed various inverted and vertical maneuvers for their potential use in combat and sometimes is claimed to have been the first person to fly an outside loop. (The credit for that actually goes to Jimmy Doolittle.) When Williams became an airshow pilot, one of his most impressive maneuvers was an inverted falling leaf into a half-roll to a landing at the last moment. His greatest talent as a test pilot was that, like a good racecar driver, he could quantify a machines faults rather than simply say it vibrates or feels squirrely. If his assessment needed graphs or mathematical calculations, they handed him a pencil and paper. Williams was the first serious advocate of what today is called unusual-attitude training. He believed that every pilot should be taught how to recover from every flight condition that diverged from straight-and-level. He also became a fan of parachutes, though he rarely used one during a career that included two major crashes. In the mid-1920s, he led the drive to ensure that all future Navy aircraft were designed with pilot and aircrew seats that accommodated parachutes. The premier air competition of the early 1920s was the Pulitzer Trophy Race, the Indy 500 for airplanes. The U.S. Army Air Service won the trophy in 1920, the first year it was held. In the 1922 race, the Navys Al Williams could do no better than fourth. The Navy reacted like Annapolis when Army stole their goat, and Bureau of Aeronautics head Admiral William Moffett ordered his boys to take the 1923 trophy. The Navy did exactly that, filling the top four spots, with Williams in the lead. His speed, 243.67 mph after four laps around the 31.1-mile course in a Curtiss R2C-1 biplane, was faster than the existing world speed record, so the Navy decided Williams and his friendly rival Lieutenant Harold Brow should make an official attempt at that record. In November 1923, Williams and Brow went at it over a 3-kilometer straightaway at New Yorks Mitchel Field, trading top speeds back and forth. Again Williams came out on top, with a world record 266.59 mph. His reputation was made: fastest man on the planet. Williams now found himself with an influential patron in Admiral Moffett, one of the most powerful officers in the Navy. In fact, he became Moffetts personal pilot. (Moffett, though the most air-minded admiral in the Navy, wasnt himself a pilot.) The relationship was strong enough that in May 1924 Williams performed a silly stunt during an airshow at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, the Navys big lighter-than-air base, and got away with it: He flew through the airship Shenandoahs huge hangar in a Vought VE-7 biplane. It took him two tries to get lined up properly, but the crowd loved it and the Navy looked the other way. Williams flies a Vought VE-7 biplane through the airship Shenandoahs hangar at Lakehurst, N.J., during a 1924 airshow. (HistoryNet Archives) Williams flies a Vought VE-7 biplane through the airship Shenandoahs hangar at Lakehurst, N.J., during a 1924 airshow. (HistoryNet Archives) Utterly intent on furthering the cause of high-speed flight, Williams refused to stand sea duty, which was required of every Navy line officer. Though the Navy admitted that he was an outstanding air racer and aerobatic pilot, his proficiency in tactics and gunnery was deemed far below the standard required of line officers in Naval aviation. Nor did he know anything of carrier or scout-catapult operations. Moffett, however, was a huge Schneider Trophy fan, and that seaplane competition was meant to be Williams next act on the world stage. The Navy had won the trophy in 1923, and Williams joined the combined Army-Navy race team in 1925. (There was no 1924 race.) But he didnt make it through the preliminary trials, and Army pilot Jimmy Doolittle won the race. Williams wasnt selected for the 1926 team, which must have vexed him, since the Schneider that year was run right on his doorstep, off the big naval base at Norfolk, Va. Italian racers won first and third; Americans finished second and fourth. Realizing that the Curtiss R3C raceplanes and their modified Curtiss Conqueror V-12 engines were reaching the end of their development potential, Williams set out to build his own private-entry raceplane for the 1927 Schneider: the Kirkham-Williams Racer. It would be powered by a 24-cylinder Packard engine partially funded by the Navy. The X-2775 was essentially two 600-hp Packard V-12s with a common crankcase and crankshaft between them. Since each V-12 had a 60-degree angle between its cylinder banks, this created a relatively slim, tightly cowled X engine. Output was intended to be 1,200 hp, making it Americas most powerful aircraft engine. The Kirkham-Williams airframe, however, was not so advanced. Patterned after the Curtisses hed been racing, it was a biplane at a time when the Italians and British were showing that monoplanes were the path to the future. Williams also chose to cover both the upper and lower surfaces of its wings with 12,000 feet of brass tubing through which engine coolant flowed, creating an enormous surface radiator. Unfortunately, the tubing decreased lift, doubled the drag of the wings and slowed the airplane down by 20 mph, according to testing later done by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Williams stands on the float of his Kirkham-Williams Racer, built for the 1927 Schneider Trophy Race but unable to compete. (U.S. Naval Institute) Williams stands on the float of his Kirkham-Williams Racer, built for the 1927 Schneider Trophy Race but unable to compete. (U.S. Naval Institute) The Kirkham-Williams did fly, but the 290 mph that the floatplane was barely capable of simply wasnt Schneider-competitive. Williams canceled his participation in the race, saying the airplane was nose-heavy and its floats vibrated. The Navy, becoming increasingly disenchanted with the concept of raceplanes as fighter precursors, didnt even send a team to the 27 Schneider Trophy races. Why not put the Kirkham-Williams on wheels, then, and try for a world speed record? In November 1927, Williams did exactly that. He was able to make a single run, at an unofficially world-beating 322.42 mph, aided by a 40 mph tailwind. It was the Kirkham-Williams last flight. But Williams wasnt ready to give up. He and his backers, which still included the Navy, created the 1929 Williams Mercury floatplane. Outwardly it looked like a monoplane version of the Kirkham-Williams, but it was actually an all-new airframe, though still powered by the Packard X-2775. The wings were now covered by flush surface radiators, not tubing, and the engine had a reduction gearbox that turned the propeller at two-thirds crankshaft speed for better efficiency. During the Kirkham-Williams development, the X-2775 had also gained a supercharger that, although heavy and inefficient, increased output to 1,400 hp. The enormous torque of the huge 24-cylinder Packard buried the airplanes left float and left wingtip during takeoff runs. The resultant spume bent prop blades. In fact, photos make it plain that the Williams Mercury was throwing up a wall of water, not just spray. The solution would have been to make a careful, partial-power takeoff run until the ailerons and rudder became effective, but by the time Williams figured this out, he had mangled several props. The Williams Mercury never really flew, outside of one Spruce Gooseish 300-foot run in ground effect. The Navy rescinded its support and ordered Williams to sea duty, though he wanted another year on the beach to fix his racers problems. No dice, the Navy said, pack your seabag. In a classic you-cant-fire-me-I-quit move, Lieutenant Alford Williams Jr. resigned from the Navy in March 1930, though he soon joined the Marine Corps Reserve. He quickly became a popular airshow and aerobatic-display pilot, having bought a Curtiss Hawk 1A demonstrator originally built by Curtiss to showcase the fighter for potential foreign clients. Williams airplane was based on a Navy F6C-4. With a steel-tube, wire-braced, overengineered fuselage and many-ribbed wings, the Hawk was hell for stout, in the words of film stunt pilot Frank Tallman, who during the 1960s restored and flew the original Williams Hawk. Tallman had found the decrepit Curtiss parked on the fifth floor of a Manhattan building that housed an aviation trade school. In his book Flying the Old Planes, Tallman also noted that the Hawk was named after a category of birds famed for their vertical-dive speed, and Williams would demonstrate that no power dive could break a Curtiss Hawk. Williams did soon break it, however, when in October 1931 the Hawks engine failed during an airshow inverted falling-leaf maneuver. He managed to pancake the airplane into a parking lot, but it needed major repairs and a new engine. This led to Williams involvement with an aviator as oddly multitalented as he was: Roger Wolfe Kahn, an aviation enthusiast who lent Williams his Vought O2U Corsair biplane so that Williams could continue to fly airshows while his Hawk was repaired. Kahn was a jazz musician of considerable note, a Gatsbyesque playboy and an occasional film actor whose exploits had put him on the cover of Time magazine in September 1927. Kahns and Williams paths would soon cross again, when Kahn foreswore his musical career and became, of all things, a test pilot for Grumman and ultimately manager of its technical services and sales division. In 1933 Al Williams had been suggested as assistant secretary of war for aeronautics under new president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he had substantial support for that position from both the military and aviation communities. Instead, he took a job as sales manager for the brand-new aviation products division of the Gulf Oil Corporation. He brought his airplane with him, and Williams Hawk became Gulfhawk, resplendent in a vivid orange paint job with a white sunburst atop the upper wing (so airshow crowds could tell when the airplane was inverted). Williams represented Gulf Oil in a variety of ways, particularly by encouraging private flying and by establishing an aviation youth group, the Scripps-Howard Junior Aviators. The club ultimately had well over 400,000 teenage subscribers to his weekly aviation newspaper columns, modeling contests and radio talks. Many of those kids went on to fly in World War II. Despite his dash through Shenandoahs hangar, Williams despised stunters, his label for pilots who attempted record flights for their own glory and profit. One particular focus of his ire was Amelia Earhart, whose Lockheed Electra, he wrote in one of his Scripps-Howard newspaper columns, constituted the latest and most distressing racket that has been given to a trusting and enthusiastic pilot. Theres nothing in that Flying Laboratory beyond duplicates of the controls and apparatus to be found on board every major airline transport. Williams Gulfhawk became the source of an oft-cited but false claim: that he invented dive bombing. Its clear that he used the Hawk to demonstrate steep dives and mock bomb drops at airshows, but the principle of dive bombing was understood and tried by the British in World War I: Pointing an airplane and its bomb at a target was more accurate than cruising over it in level flight and guesstimating when to release. The U.S. Marine Corps flew dive-bombing missions with de Havilland DH-4s during the Haitian and Nicaraguan campaigns in the 1920s, and it was not Williams but Navy Lt. Cmdr. Frank Wagner who flew the first near-vertical power dive in a Curtiss Hawk, in October 1926. Williams, however, had befriended the German World War I ace and aerobatic pilot Ernst Udet, whom he brought to the U.S. in 1931 to represent Germany at the National Air Races, in Cleveland. There the German ace first witnessed Williams dive-bombing display. Hugely impressed by the Curtiss Hawk, Udet acquired two for the infant Luftwaffe and used them to experiment with the tactics that ultimately produced the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka, the worlds most notorious dive bomber. The Hawk was a 1920s design, and the small world of oil company demo pilots was a competitive one. Roscoe Turner flew a Wedell-Williams raceplane for the Gilmore Oil Company, Jimmy Doolittle of Gee Bee fame was the manager of Shell Oils aviation department, Frank Hawks and his Northrop Gamma Sky Chief represented Texaco, Wiley Posts Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae was sponsored by Phillips Petroleum and other famous airplanes sported oil company logos. Williams needed something splashier than a postWorld War I airplane. He found it in Grummans state-of-the-art (at least by U.S. standards) F3F fighter, a barrel-bodied biplane with a big radial engine and hand-cranked retractable gear. Painted Gulf Oil orange, blue and white and with short F2F wings for greater maneuverability, it became the G-22 Gulfhawk II, the best-known of Williams airplanes. Williams flew the F3F in the service of Gulf Oil from 1936 until 1948. The big biplane was used to test Gulf high-octane fuel and mil-spec lubricants, and Williams often flew Gulfhawk II while wearing a throat microphone, a device hed refined (though not, as is often claimed, invented; that honor goes to Wiley Post). The throat mike picked up voice comm from small microphones strapped around a pilots neck over the vocal cords. It allowed a fighter pilot to maneuver and talk with one hand on the stick and the other on the throttle. The only other pilot ever to fly Gulfhawk II was Udet, while the airplane was in Germany during a European tour in 1938. Williams badly wanted to fly a Messerschmitt Bf-109, and that was the quid pro quo for allowing his German friend into the Grummans cockpit. Williams was the first American to pilot a Bf-109, and he came away from the experience convinced that it was the best airplane hed ever flown. Like Charles Lindbergh, who flew a 109 soon after him, Williams returned to the U.S. to warn the War Department not to underestimate the new Luftwaffe. Williams Grumman G-22 Gulfhawk II biplane shows its age alongside Grumman G-58A Bearcat Gulfhawk IV. (Aviation History Collection/Alamy) Williams Grumman G-22 Gulfhawk II biplane shows its age alongside Grumman G-58A Bearcat Gulfhawk IV. (Aviation History Collection/Alamy) Williams had always advocated for a strong military air arm, something that made him no friends among the Navys battleship admirals; in a sense he was the Navy version of Billy Mitchellforesighted and outspoken. He also said that such an air arm should be independent, not a subsidiary of the Army or Navy. Unfortunately, he was a decade too early. The Marine Corps, in fact, forced his resignation as a major in 1940 for what they considered to be his extreme public statements. Williams went on to use Gulfhawk II to demonstrate aerobatics and precision flying to aviation cadets during World War II. The F3F was an antique by wars end, so Gulf replaced it with the G-58A Gulfhawk IV, a civilianized Grumman F8F Bearcat identical to one his pal Roger Wolfe Kahn was flying on his sales calls. (Gulfhawk III was a two-seat version of Williams F3F that Gulf used for PR rides and utility transportation. There was also a Gulfhawk Junior, a Stinson Voyager reserved for Williams personal use, and five unnamed Gulf Stinson Reliants.) Gulfhawk IV lived a brief life from August 1947 until January 1949, when the colorful airplane died in a fiery landing catastrophe at New Bern, N.C. Williams was returning from a Florida airshow when bad weather ahead caused him to opt for a precautionary stopover. Many reports suggest that the left landing-gear leg folded, though Grumman test pilot Corky Meyer, who had originally checked Williams out in the big fighter, frankly wrote that he failed to extend his landing gear. Whatever the case, the Grumman crushed its external belly tank, which was full of avgas. Williams escaped in time, but the inevitable fire consumed the airplane. Years later, warbird collector Elmer Ward bought Gulfhawks paperwork and built a replica from Bearcat components, which he painted in Gulf colors and registered with Williams original tail number, NL3025. It too crashed, after an engine failure at the 1993 Oshkosh EAA airshow, within months after completion of the rebuild. Al Williams retired from Gulf in 1951. He died of cancer in 1958 at age 62 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. For further reading, contributing editor Stephan Wilkinson recommends Williams 1940 book Airpower and Al Williams: The Fleets First Frequent Flyer, by Dr. Raymond A. Wiley. This feature originally appeared in the July 2019 issue of Aviation History. Subscribe here! In 1914, days after it declared war on Germany, Great Britain set up a secret propaganda bureau to help defeat the enemy. IN 1917 BRITISH AND AMERICAN PUBLISHERS RELEASED what they said was a nonfiction book titled Christine, by Alice Cholmondeley. The books protagonist is a young English woman living in Berlin just before the outbreak of the World War I. Shes a violin student, and she frequently writes her widowed mother about her life in the German capital. At first she is happy and captivated by her experiences in Berlin, which a romance with a handsome German military officer. But as war approaches, Christines portrayal of the German people turns dark. They gradually reveal themselves to be not gracious but sour, conformist, and callous. The government announces harsh new regulations for civilians, the police become cruel, and Christine gets elbowed as she walks in the street. The Germans develop a bloodlust for the spoils of military victory. The Germans have gone mad, Christine writes. The streets seem full of drunken people, shouting up and down with red faces all swollen with excitement. Her impending marriage to the German officer is blocked, and when she tries to leave Germany she is stopped and held for hours. She develops pneumonia and dies in Stuttgart on August 8, 1914just four days after Britain enters the war. Readers in Britain, the United States, and elsewhere were moved by the womans tragic storyand appalled by the brutish behavior of the Germans. As was later learned, however, the book was a hoax. There was no young girl named Christine, and no author named Alice Cholmondeley. The real author was Countess Mary Annette (Elizabeth) Russell, a novelist who was married to the elder brother of English philospher Bertrand Russell. Her knowledge of Germany gave credibility to a clever work of propaganda, created by the British government to arouse international antipathy toward Germany. It succeeded brilliantly. THE USE OF PROPAGANDATHE SHAPING OF OPINION BY SYMBOLS, STORIES, RUMORS, reports, films, and other forms of communicationgoes back at least to the 16th century, when Thomas Mores Utopians employed it to avoid war. Propaganda figured in the early 17th-century struggle between Catholicism and emerging Protestantism. But it wasnt until the Great War that the concept of psychological warfare became a bona fide tactic to be used alongside the more conventional military and economic pressure. By most accounts, Germany was the first of the combatant nations to use propaganda, but it was Great Britain that proved the more cunning manipulator of hearts and minds around the world. That was true for a couple of reasons: first, because Germany was the aggressor and therefore naturally on the back foot when it came to making its case for international support; and second, because the British government had createdin complete secrecya War Propaganda Bureau. From the Wellington House headquarters of the National Insurance Commission, it churned out books, pamphlets, illustrated magazines, cartoons, and movies, in many languages, that with sophistication and sometimes subtlety advanced the war aims of the British and their allies. The idea was to publish credible pro-Entente material and distribute it through intermediaries to opinion leaders in neutral countries. That way the material would not be perceived as government propaganda. Britains Wellington House operation helped to rally support for the war at home and in its Dominions and, more important, played a role in the decisions of neutral countries such as Italy, China, Greece, Romania, and especially the United States to throw in with the Allies. (Turkey and Bulgaria chose to fight with Germany.) It also undercut the morale of the German people. The British propaganda effort was unprecedented, improvised, and effective. And it was so secret that the British public didnt learn of it until 1935. Historian M. L. Sanders judged the psychological campaign to be vital to the war effort, adding that British propaganda proved far more effective in the United States than the crude, clumsy German propaganda at the beginning of the war. In his War Memoirs, 19141918, German general Erich Ludendorff wrote that Germans were hypnotized by enemy propaganda as a rabbit is by a snake. It was, he added, an unobtrusive onslaught of amazing force. THE WAR PROPAGANDA BUREAU WAS ORGANIZED AND RUN by Charles C. G. Masterman, a journalist, author, and once promising Liberal politician. A graduate of Christ College, Cambridge, Masterman was smart, jovial, and quick witted but also high strung and prone to depression. He had been elected to Parliament in 1906 and, soon after, married Lucy Lyttelton, whose family was politically well connected. Masterman impressed his colleagues in the House of Commons and got a series of plum appointments, including undersecretary of state of the Home Office and then financial secretary to the Treasury. In the latter post he proved of enormous help to David Lloyd George, the chancellor of the Exchequer. Masterman was influential in the passage of important legislation, especially the National Insurance Act of 1911, which controversially created what is today Britains national health system. In 1914 Liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith promoted Masterman to a cabinet position as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In order to accept the promotion, Masterman was obliged to resign his seat in Parliament and run again in a special election. He lost, and then lost again in a different district. When Masterman waved off another election opportunity that Lloyd George proposed to him, he lost the support and friendship of a powerful colleague soon to be prime minister. That effectively ended his political career. In August 1914 Asquith asked Masterman to take charge of a new War Propaganda Bureau. Masterman at first demurredhe was the chairman of the National Insurance Commission, based at Wellington House, and still had his cabinet position. But Asquith insisted, and Masterman took the job. Masterman didnt know much about the dark art, but he was clever enough to see the potential value in duplicity, in contrast to the heavy-handed war messages coming from Berlin. He aimed to be the unseen engineerto borrow a phrase from French writer Anatole Franceof Britains wartime communications. One of Mastermans first moves was to invite Englands literary elite to a meeting at Wellington HouseArthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, John Galsworthy, and G. K. Chesterton, among others. Masterman asked for their help, and several agreed to write essays promoting the governments point of view. At the same time, he persuaded Englands leading book publishers, including Thomas Nelson, Oxford University Press, and Macmillan, to publish the War Propaganda Bureaus material. Together, the authors and publishers were useful cover, as was the National Insurance Commission behind whose walls the bureau operated. Masterman hired an impressive array of academics, along with some 200 clerks. Oxford dons Arnold Toynbee and Edwyn Bevan were department officials. Most of the clerks were women or older men not fit to fight. Work was segregated into national sectionsfor Scandinavia, for Spain and Portugal, for South America, for Italy and Switzerland, and what Masterman called a most important, special branch for the United States. There were departments for Muslim countries, and the Holland section was charged with funneling propaganda into Germany. Analysts in each section not only studied press accounts and assessed public opinion in their assigned countries but also cultivated journalists and writers. The bureau also translated hundreds of speeches, newspaper articles, and official documents from various countries and had them distributed internationally. (Imperial War Museums) Masterman favored serious works, academic in tone and content, rather than political diatribes, M. L. Sanders wrote, his aim being for readers to reach their own conclusions. Foreign Office representatives recommended distribution agents in target nations. According to Ian Cooke, curator of propaganda at the British Library, Masterman wanted to make the case for support of the Allied powers in a sober way. He did not like jingoism or expert speakers who, according to one Wellington House report, rushed impulsively to lecture the United States on her duty in the war. Wellington House wasnt the governments only information operation. The Foreign Office News Department was the official source of war news for the foreign press in England, and the so-called Neutral Press Committee performed the same function in neutral countries. A National War Aims Committee was charged with producing domestic propaganda. Wellington House did nearly everything else, at least in the first two and a half years of the war. Its output was prodigious: By June 1915 Wellington House had published and distributed some two and a half million pamphlets and other documentary propaganda in 17 languages. By February 1916 the total had risen to some seven million. It also used the telegraph and Reuters News Service to reach readers in such countries as Egypt, Persia, and Argentina. The bureaus biggest coup was a publication titled Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages. Also known as the Bryce Report, for Lord James Bryce, an academic, politician, and former ambassador to the United States who headed the committee that produced it, this piece of atrocity propaganda purported to document crimes against Belgians by German troops occupying their countryincluding murder and rape. It featured some 1,200 depositions of witnesses to German atrocities in Belgium. Dutch illustrator Louis Raemaekers provided drawings to accompany the text. One case involved the execution of British nurse Edith Cavell, whom the Germans accused of helping Allied prisoners and Belgian citizens flee the country. The Bryce Report triggered international outrage. Many of the eyewitness accounts were later discredited, but as Randal Marlin, a professor at Carleton University who specializes in the study of propaganda, has written, they were sensationaland very effective in producing the desired result, namely, a sense of revulsion against Germany that strengthened the resolve of the Allies and helped to bring about the support of neutral nations. Jo Fox, a professor at Durham University who specializes in the history of propaganda, has noted that German atrocities were a master narrative of Allied propaganda. Among the many posters graphically depicting German brutishness was one showing a ghastly figure holding Cavells head on a salver; another showed a Belgian child impaled by a German bayonet. The sinking of the British passenger liner Lusitania, the German use of poison gas, the Zeppelin raids on Londonall were exploited by Wellington House to confirm the notion of German barbarism. CULTIVATING AMERICAN JOURNALISTS AND OPINIONS LEADERS WAS A WELLINGTON HOUSE PRIORITY. Both Britain and Germany, desperate to find favor with President Woodrow Wilsons government, were bombarding America with self-serving information. Given that Germans were the largest ethnic group in the United States (at nearly a tenth of its population in 1914), American support for the Allied war effort was anything but a sure thing. Britain (and France) needed U.S. financial aid and materiel, and, later, soldiers. Germanys objective was to keep the United States out of the war. Berlin used posters, flyers, and German-language newspapers in the United States to recruit German-Americans for its army, to rally support for Kaiser Wilhelm II, and to promote its propaganda themes. Masterman, according to M. L. Sanders, insisted that foreign reporters be supplied with full and accurate information concerning the war, andencouraged to write their own articles based on information supplied [by Wellington House]. Given the importance of winning U.S. support, he didnt want to alienate American journalists by giving them reports that could be found to be false or only half true. Sir Gilbert Parker, a Canadian novelist and politician, led the War Propaganda Bureaus campaign in the United States. He established a mailing list of some 250,000 influential individuals and organizations and began sending them Wellington House pamphletsincluding essays written by Galsworthy, Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and Arnold Bennett. He distributed material to more than 500 U.S. newspapers. His approach, Parker later said, was gentle and modest courtship. China and other countries got much the same treatment, though on a smaller scale. The British avoided buying or starting newspapers, but the Foreign Office agreed to finance the new Anglo-Japanese Review and subsidized a few papers in South America and Greece. Britains top writers certainly did their bit. Some extolled the virtues of British courage and the necessity to fight; others excoriated the Prussian mindset. Conan Doyle wrote a 1914 recruiting pamphlet titled To Arms! Masterman later sent him to tour the front, after which he wrote the 1916 pamphlet A Visit to the Three Fronts. Conan Doyle would go on to write several books on the war for the government. Chesterton wrote an essay, The Barbarism of Berlin, that impugned the Teutonic worldview. Ford wrote When Blood is Their Argument: An Analysis of Prussian Culture, in which he lamented Prussian militarism and its political point of view. Kipling, an ardent nationalist, wrote six articles for the Daily Telegraph on the training of British volunteer soldiers. The War Propaganda Bureau compiled the stories in a 1915 book The New Army in Training, published in both Britain and the United States. However the world pretends to divide itself, Kipling wrote in the June 22, 1915, edition of the London Morning Post, there are only two divisions in the world todayhuman beings and Germans. Kipling lost his only son in the war, Conan Doyle his first son. John Buchan, one of five journalists attached to the British Army, produced an ongoing history of the war for Wellington House in the form of a monthly magazine. The first issue of Nelsons History of the War appeared in February 1915, when the Battle of the Somme commenced. In all, 24 issues were published. But despite Mastermans emphasis on accuracy, much of the information in History of the War was slanted, if not false. OFFICIALS OF THE WAR PROPAGANDA BUREAU SOON CAME TO SEE the strong appeal of photographs and motion pictures, the latter a new medium. Wellington House produced The War Pictorial, a news magazine modeled on Illustrated London News; its circulation soared from 500,000 in December 1916 to one million a year later. Wellington House went on to create facsimiles of War Pictorial for other countries. At one point it was also distributing 4,000 photographs a week. The effect that actual war scenes could add to the printed word was unlimited, M. L. Sanders wrote. It was a prevailing assumption that the camera could not lie. The War Propaganda Bureau started a cinema department in August 1915. A Wellington House report called cinema the bible of working-class people who, it said, didnt bother to read. Germany and France had already been using movie crews to dramatize the war when Britain sent two camera operators to the front to shoot war footage, which Wellington House used to produce the documentary Britain Prepared. The premiere was a success, and Britain Prepared was then distributed in other countries. Demand for it was widespread. The Japanese imperial family and its guests were impressed by the footage of the British fleet firing its 15-inch guns and by the king walking among the troops. The War Propaganda Bureau made a point of showing the documentary in Russia, hoping to counter feelings there that Britain had allowed France and Russia to bear the brunt of the war effort. The British gave the film Russian subtitles and hired a Russian captain to promote it. He organized a showing in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) in April 1916 for the tsar, top military officials, and the press. The captains association with the British was kept secret. The movie was well received, and the captain then arranged to show the movie to General Aleksei Brusilovs armies on the southern front, using lorries to transport a screen, projector, and generators. By May 17 some 100,000 Russian soldiers and 3,000 officers had seen the movie, thanks to 44 showings. (The Russian troops always cheered at the end.) The captain next took Britain Prepared to the northern front and Finland. The War Propaganda Bureau was not averse to any pictorial material that might have influencepostcards, cigarette cards, even fine art. In 1916 Masterman recruited Scottish artist Muirhead Bone and sent him to France, with an honorary rank and a salary, as Britains first official wartime artist. Bone returned in six months with some 150 sketches. The British government later printed and sold two volumes of Bones wartime drawings: The Western Front and With the Grand Fleet. Six of Bones lithographs of British naval shipyards were included in a government-funded art book titled Britains Efforts and Ideals. Its works were exhibited in Britain and abroad and sold as prints. Masterman hired many more artistsamong them Sir William Orpen, Francis Dodd, Paul Nash, and William Rothensteinand the bureaus use of wartime paintings and drawings steadily expanded. Nash, for one, complained about the War Propaganda Bureaus control of his subject matter. I am no longer an artist, he wrote. I am an artist who will bring back word from men who are fighting to those who want the war to go on forever. THE WAR PROPAGANDA BUREAU WAS SUBJECTED TO REGULAR MEDDLING at the hands of officials in the War Cabinet. In 1916 it was put under the control of the Foreign Office, and in January 1917 new prime minister Lloyd George asked Robert Donalda Liberal press allyto join the operation at Wellington House and to review its work from the inside. Donald praised its programs in the United States, writing that they could not have been handled more successfully or with more tact. But he was critical of the overall operation, which he asserted was drifting due to the casual way in which propaganda is originated and to the promiscuous way it has expanded. Donalds report resulted in a major reorganization of Britains propaganda effort. Lloyd George named Buchan, who was then in the Foreign Offices propaganda department, to head a new Department of Information. Masterman stayed at Wellington House, but in a subordinate position overseeing only books and pamphlets. It was one of four departments within the new structure, the others being cinema, political intelligence, and news. Buchan streamlined the operation but had little or no access to the prime minister. Unhappy, he suggested that a new director with more political clout be chosen, and in September 1917 the War Cabinet named Sir Edward Carson as minister in charge of all propaganda. At the end of that year two additional evaluations of Wellington House were commissioned. The first, by editor and publisher Arthur Spurgeon, praised Mastermans extraordinarily good work. The second, by Donald, contained more complaints than compliments. Donald asserted that the bureau was spending too much money and had become inefficient. Piles of propaganda material, he wrote, were wasting away in embassies and distribution agencies. And Wellington House, he added, was wasting huge quantities of paperdespite a paper shortage in Britain. Buchan, according to historian M. L. Sanders, countered that Donalds evaluation was singularly incompetent and superficial. A committee of London press barons decided that another reorganization was needed. Lloyd George dismissed Carson and in March 1918 created a new Ministry of Information. Max Aitken, the editor of the Daily Express and soon to become Lord Beaverbrook, was named its chief. He was another political ally of the prime minister. The Wellington House operation was dismantled. Politicians complained that psychological operations were now being run by a press gang. Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, the editor of The Times, was put in charge of propaganda in enemy countries but reported to the War Cabinet, not Beaverbrook. The National War Aims Committee retained control of home propaganda; Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, the editor of the Daily Telegraph, was made director of propaganda in neutral countries, but the production of books and pamphlets had been cut dramatically. The new emphasis was on film, cable, and wireless, and general press messaging. Whereas Wellington House focused on indirect appeals to intellectual elites, the new Ministry of Information sought to reach the masses directly. The approach became more proactive rather than reactive, according to a confidential report on Wellington House produced in the summer of 1918. Having been dislodged from overall control of propaganda, Masterman lost his enthusiasm. Meanwhile, he had become chairman of the British War Memorials Committee. The new ministry, however, wasnt a success. Parliament was suspicious of its role and the growing power of the press. Established ministries saw it as a further encroachment on powers already steadily eroded by the War Cabinet. Through it all the Germans had themselves been busy pushing propaganda, just not as effectively as the British. They tried to persuade Americans that Britain was a leech; they tried to dissuade Indian and other colonial troops from fighting for Britain; and they tried to convince the Allies that the United States aimed for global commercial supremacy. In 1918 the Germans dropped leaflets on the American sector urging U.S. troops not to die for England and France. GERMANY, HOWEVER, WAS LOSING THE WAR ON ALL FRONTS. The Allies continued to shower German troops and German citizens with propaganda leafletsmillions of them. In the sphere of leaflet propaganda, a German army message bluntly said, the enemy has defeated us. In his book Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the German Empire in 1918, George Bruntz notes that the German Imperial Command that year began offering rewards for enemy leafletsat one point paying more than 250,000 marks for about 800,000 leaflets. Some generals and right-wing politicians even blamed Germanys defeat on Allied propaganda and disloyal elements in German society. In August 1918, just before the war ended, a Conservative British MP started a parliamentary discussion about the mysterious new Ministry of Information. During the exchange he paid tribute to the exceedingly good work done by Masterman and the small body of men working in private at Wellington House in the early years of the war. After the armistice, the Ministry of Information was disbanded. Meanwhile, Mastermans life began to spiral downward. He spent long periods away from home and became dependent on alcohol and paraldehyde, a sedative. He had financial difficulties. He managed to write one more book and was elected again to the House of Commons in 1923. But the Liberal Party was in decline and Masterman lost his seat a year later. Masterman, whom his wife described as the vivid, tormented man I loved, died in a clinic in 1927 at age 54. Hed not fulfilled his considerable political promise, but he had conceived and managed a singularly successful war propaganda operation, whatever its blemishes. As Buchan had told him in a letter a few years before his death, You were the pioneer of the whole business. MHQ Richard Ernsberger Jr. has been a writer, senior editor, and foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine and a senior editor of American History magazine. This article appears in the Spring 2019 issue (Vol. 31, No. 3) of MHQThe Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: The Fog Factory Want to have the lavishly illustrated, premium-quality print edition of MHQ delivered directly to you four times a year? Subscribe now at special savings! Rebranding 2 May 2019 The Notary Hotel to Feature Deluxe Amenities and Open in Early Summer 2019. Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: BHR) ("Braemar" or the "Company") today announced the planned opening of The Notary Hotel in early summer 2019. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the former Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia Downtown underwent a rebranding and renovation in excess of $20 million to create The Notary Hotel. Fusing Philadelphia's unique soul with its historic legacy, the hotel now joins Marriott International's Autograph Collection Hotels, a diverse portfolio of 177 independent hotels around the world that reflect unique vision, design and craft. 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. Appointment 2 May 2019 In tandem with its revitalized look, Waterfront Hotel welcomes General Manager Jeffery Durkin, who brings more than 25 years of diverse hospitality management experience to the role. Leading with a hands-on approach to hospitality, Durkin will lead the property's implementation of elevating guest service standards and manage various departments and hotel staff. Prior to joining the Waterfront Hotel team, Durkin served as general manager at The Lauren Inn, another distinctive Joie de Vivre property in San Franciscowhere he headed the 49-room boutique hotel through a $3.1 million renovation in 2017. A veteran hospitality professional, Durkin also served as general manager for a number of top-tier boutique properties in Northern California including Larkspur Landing properties in Milpitas, Pleasanton, Campbell, and Sunnyvale; as well as Hilton Sonoma Wine Country and Ultima Hospitality's Holiday Inn Express in Mill Valley. With a focus on guest touchpoints, Durkin strives to enhance transient guests' itineraries with localized packages that highlight Oakland's lively restaurants, urban breweries, wineries, and diverse arts and culture scene. This includes amenities such as the Urban Wine Trail Package, through which Waterfront Hotel guests are welcomed with a bottle of local Oakland wine to be enjoyed with the self-led wine tour through Jack London Square's favorite urban wineries housed in renovated warehouse spaces. Event The world is shifting. Our inner longing for peace, happiness and health has created a momentum for HEALING. Are we on the edge of a collective evolutionary change? The HEALING SUMMIT is the conference to attend for those in the global business community who advocate for this transformational movement. The HEALING SUMMIT is about educating, experimenting and networking. Produced by HEALING HOTELS OF THE WORLD, a German based global brand with a solid and strategic vision to build a robust healing community, the company currently has over 100-member hotels world-wide. For the first time in the history of the hospitality field, the worlds' premiere hotels and resorts have committed themselves to offer holistic healing for body, mind and soul. Our member hotels have provided the space for guests to learn about their best choices and to embark upon a healing journey. Our Healing Hotel member hotels are the places where lifestyle solutions can be found, as it takes cultivation and practice for healing to become an organic and integrated lifetime experience. At the Summit, cutting-edge business visionaries, hoteliers, scientists and individuals dedicated to exploring our personal and collective evolution, come together to share wisdom, meet with openness, forge beyond concepts and allow new ideas to unfold. In 2019, the 6th annual HEALING SUMMIT is expanding and taking place in Portugal. We have chosen a special location that provides exquisite natural beauty, a healing environment, and a fabulous space to contemplate and collaborate. We feel it's important to showcase a Healing Hotel as our host for this event: The HEALING SUMMIT 2019 will be held at The Pine Cliffs Resort at the Algarve Coast. The land itself, with a stunning coastline, situated right at the edge of the European continent, has been recognized by scientists for its strong healing qualities. Your presence, wisdom and knowledge is important. We invite you to join us. HEALING SUMMIT 2019 is organized by Event The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Center (BCC) will co-organize the 5th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism on 2-3 May 2019 at the Kursaal Congress Center in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. The Forum is supported by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of Spain, the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the City of Donostia. Returning to its origins in San Sebastian, the fifth edition of the Forum will bring together Ministers of Tourism, representatives from National and Local Tourism Administrations, chefs, entrepreneurs, academia and related stakeholders from tourism and gastronomy. This years edition will focus on job creation and entrepreneurship as a means to advance tourisms contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this regard, the Forum will seek means to create favorable frameworks to stimulate jobs and entrepreneurship along the gastronomy tourism value chain as well as shed lights on more relevant skills for gastronomy tourism. The UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism was created with the aim of promoting the exchange of experiences between experts in tourism and gastronomy, to identify good practices and to promote gastronomy tourism as a factor of development of countries. With this in mind, UNWTO and BCC are also organizing Masterclass focusing on key factors to develop real "person centric" competitive and sustainable gastronomy tourism in destinations. Separate registration is required for the Masterclass. UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism is organized by Press Release 2 May 2019 Swiss-Belhotel International announced today at the Arabian Travel Market the launch of four new brands in the Middle East in 2019. Coming to the region for the first time are Grand Swiss-Belresort (Bahrain), Swiss-Belsuites (Bahrain), Swiss-Belboutique (Kuwait) and Swiss-Belinn (Oman and Qatar) with openings scheduled over the next few months. Advertisements Laurent A. Voivenel, Senior Vice President, Operations and Development for the Middle East, Africa and India, Swiss-Belhotel International, stated, "We are very excited to introduce this year four new brands in the Middle East region from our unique and diversified portfolio of 14 brands giving greater choice to our guests. This creates a tremendous opportunity for growth as we expand our brand portfolio in the market offering more options to both owners and travellers in more destinations. Our aim is to position Swiss-Belhotel International as the best alternative to blue chip companies in the market offering superior returns, unbeatable value and unforgettable experiences. Passion and Professionalism are the core of our brand culture." Emphasising on the brand concepts Laurent stated, the Grand Swiss-Belresort is a distinctive luxury brand offering premium amenities and service for discerning travellers. On the other hand, Swiss-Belboutique is a stylishly designed upscale urban, lifestyle brands in the 4-star category offering guests a personalised experience in contemporary and intimate settings right at the heart of all the action. Similarly, Swiss-Belsuites is primarily designed for long-stay guests and families who desire additional space. It offers stylishly furnished, thoughtful spaces for both working and living. Laurent added, "Swiss-Belinn is a brand positioned in 3-star category and has been created around the core concept of fewer frills in trendy surroundings with a focus on amenities and services that guests actually want at an affordable price. The hallmarks of this brand are accessibility and connectivity for smart and technology savvy travellers on the go." Elaborating on the changing profiles of travellers and how Swiss-Belhotel International is responding to the changes, Laurent stressed, "We are seeing a new generation of travellers who are in search of unexpected and authentic, locally inspired experiences. They are looking for accommodations that are trendy and well-designed and are equipped to cater to their lifestyles. At Swiss-Belhotel International we are well-placed to meet these emerging trends with a comprehensive choice of brands offering spectacular portfolio of hotels to serve the varied market segments." Swiss-Belhotel International has announced the opening of seven hotels this year in the MENA region that are already in pre-opening stages with Swiss-Belboutique Bneid Al Gar and Swiss-Belinn Doha opening in Q2 of 2019 followed by Swiss-Belsuites Admiral Juffair Bahrain and Swiss-Belinn Airport Muscat opening in Q3 of 2019. Three others namely Swiss-Belhotel Al Aziziyah Makkah, Grand Swiss-Belresort Seef, Bahrain and Swiss-Belresidences Al Sharq will be ready for opening in Q4 of 2019. Performance 2 May 2019 HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee The Canadian hotel industry recorded negative year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 21-27 April 2019, according to data from STR. Advertisements In comparison with the week of 22-28 April 2018, the industry reported the following: Occupancy: -6.1% to 64.9% Average daily rate (ADR): -1.1% to CAD148.97 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): -7.2% to CAD96.67 Among the provinces and territories, Prince Edward Island posted the largest increase in RevPAR (+25.3% to CAD75.56), driven by the largest lift in ADR (+8.6% to CAD129.88). Occupancy in the province rose 15.4% to 58.2%. Newfoundland and Labrador experienced the highest rise in occupancy (+22.7% to 57.5%) and the second-steepest drop in ADR (-8.7% to CAD120.30), which still combined for the only other double-digit jump in RevPAR (+12.0% to CAD69.13). Nova Scotia reported the largest declines in each of the three key performance metrics: occupancy (-16.0% to 63.2%), ADR (-10.7% to CAD131.58) and RevPAR (-25.1% to CAD83.12). Ontario posted the second-largest decrease in RevPAR (-11.3% to CAD105.43), due primarily to the second-steepest decline in occupancy (-8.1% to 69.0%). Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Vinegar 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 Vinegar Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38889 The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company: Mizkan Holdings Jiangsu Hengshun Vinegar Shanxi Shuita Vinegar Kerry Group Kraft Heinz Sichuan Baoning Vinegar Kikkoman Corporation Shanxi Zilin Vinegar Industry Acetificio M. de Nigris s.r.l. Tianjin Tianliduli Matutre Vinegar Burg Groep B.V. Shanxi Mature Vinegar Group Qianhe Condiment and Food Fujian Yongchun Laocu Vinegar Industry Borges International Group jiajia Food Group Market size by Product Mature Vinegar Balsamic Vinegar White Vinegar Wine Vinegar Cidar Vinegar Others Market size by End User Commercial Household Table of Contents Market size by Region North America United States Canada Mexico Asia-Pacific China Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Vinegar Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/38889-vinegar-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 Apple Cider Vinegar Market Research Report 2018 About Us: DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed. For More Details: DecisionDatabases.com E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ This publication is a 30-page Staff Alert Device Buyer's Guide which organizes a plethora of questions to consider for companies who may be contemplating solution providers to partner with for the deployment of on-property staff alert technology. Hospitality Technology Next Generation's (HTNG's) Staff Alert Technology Workgroup, in partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), releases a Device Buyer's Guide to point hospitality companies in the right direction whether at the start or during the process of device adoption. This publication is a 30-page Staff Alert Device Buyer's Guide which organizes a plethora of questions to consider for companies who may be contemplating solution providers to partner with for the deployment of on-property staff alert technology. The HTNG workgroup was led by Chairs Parminder Batra, co-founder and CEO of TraknProtect and Nicole Fessler, director of risk management at White Lodging. "Created with extensive feedback from hoteliers, property management group and suppliers, the HTNG Staff Alert Vendors Guide represents a highly effective resource for developing vendor RFI or RFPs and to realize the best solution to support their employee's security," said Batra. "Our announcement of the 5-Start Promise was an unprecedented show of unity within the hospitality industry, prioritizing the safety and security of the more than eight million employees and millions of guests that our industry supports," said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA. "As we approach the one-year anniversary of that commitment, we are shifting our focus to the challenging, but critical process of implementation. This dedicated resource will aid many hoteliers working to reach that next phase." There are potentially thousands of hotels who may need to select and deploy solutions to meet unique requirements and diverse environments. Workgroup members have developed this buyer's guide to assist hoteliers, from general or operations management to corporate brand executives, in building a Request for Information (RFI) or Request for Proposal (RFP) for their hotel property, portfolio or brand. The objective of this guide is to assist the procurement team with identifying the most relevant questions, and to allow the development of the tailored RFI or RFP for their property or brand. Similar to HTNG's Staff Alert Technology Workgroup, AHLA leads a task force of industry participants to begin the process of outlining an implementation framework. This Staff Alert Device Buyer's Guide is released in conjunction with the AHLA Safety Summit, taking place today in Washington D.C. The partnership with AHLA was a natural fit with the industry's commitment to the 5-Star Promise, a pledge to provide hotel employees across the U.S. with employee safety devices (ESDs) and commit to enhanced policies, trainings and resources that together are aimed at enhancing hotel safety, including preventing and responding to sexual harassment and assault. The organizations, HTNG and AHLA, are committed to continue working together to back the 5-Star Promise and deliver positive results to the hospitality industry. To download the Staff Alert Device Buyer's Guide, click here. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource India's fast-growing hotel chain Oyo will expand in Europe with the purchase of an Amsterdam-based vacation rental firm. Excerpt from BBC India's fast-growing hotel chain Oyo will expand in Europe with the purchase of an Amsterdam-based vacation rental firm. Oyo will reportedly pay 369.5m ($415m; 317.9m) for @Leisure. The Indian firm has grown rapidly since its launch in 2013 and claims it is the world's sixth largest hotel chain. Founded by Ritesh Agarwal, now 25, Oyo has received funding from Japanese conglomerate Softbank as well as Airbnb. Last month the firm secured a "strategic investment" from Airbnb, reportedly valued at $100m. Click here to read complete article at BBC. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource A study undertaken by a consortium of leading institutions (nationwide) published a startling fact sheet earlier Today. According to the empirical data they compiled, at least half (on average) of America's college-level students can't afford to buy themselves food. The survey lists this inability to procure basic needs and resources as a "food insecurity," which the researchers went on to categorize as a "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food in a socially acceptable manner." https://twitter.com/_/status/1123563733165461505 A good example of a "food insecurity" occurs when say, a student semi-consciously skips out on a meal due to preconceived notions (informed by a dire lack of funds nonetheless). Another 56 % of the students that were surveyed listed themselves as "housing insecure," while a startling 17% of respondents claim they experienced homelessness while pursuing post-secondary education. Sarah Kerver/Getty Images NPR's MarketWatch explained this social deviation by a series of factors. Most obvious to note is a noticeable spike in the price of food, and in the rental market. Mind you, the single most difficult hurdle Americans face during their collegiate years (current and always) are the exorbitant tuition fees students are being asked to shoulder in the form of crippling student loans. If this is study is any indication, these economic pressures seem to begin well before the penultimate phase of their undergraduate diplomas. As crazy as it sounds given these athletes take in their pro career, scholarship-eligible recruits aren't exempt from these problems either, explained in part by the countless "recruitment scandals" plaguing the NCAA. [Via] D'Angelo Russell had a breakout season this year with the Brooklyn Nets which allowed him to finally shake off the reputation of being a "bust" that he had acquired while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Nets were able to win one game against the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs but were promptly eliminated in just five games. Now that the offseason is here, players like Russell can go about their business and relax however they see fit, as long as their activities are within the law. According to TMZ, Russell was coming back from Louisville when he was stopped at LaGuardia Airport by authorities. Russell was flagged due to a suspicious can of Arizona Iced Tea. When authorities went to search it, they found marijuana stashed away inside. Fortunately for Russell, he didn't get into too much trouble as he was simply cited for possession of marijuana (under 50 grams). After the citation, Russell was told he could leave. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Since then, the Nets have issued a statement on the incident saying "We have been made aware of the situation involving DAngelo Russell and are in the process of gathering more information at this time." Stay tuned for any updates on this situation as we will be sure to bring them to you. With cannabis becoming more and more widely accepted by the mainstream, a Manhattan-based investor has dropped a few Ms to bring more awareness to its benefits. The alumnus of Harvard and MIT donated $9M to the schools to conduct further research on the plant. Kevin Winter/Getty Images According to the Harvard Gazette, Charles R. Broderick donated $4.5M each to Harvard and Massachusetts Institution of Technology to further analyze the health and behavioral of cannabis. Broderick's donation reportedly sets a new high for the biggest private donation made for independent research of cannabis. Broderick wants people to be more informed when they make decisions regarding the use of cannabis. Our desire is to fill the research void that currently exists in the science of cannabis, Broderick said. I want to destigmatize the conversation around cannabis and, in part, that means providing facts to the medical community, as well as the general public, he continued. Then were all working from the same information. We need to replace rhetoric with research. The research over a year after the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shared a report which called for philanthropic organizations, private companies, public agencies, and others to create a more "comprehensive evidence base" on the effects, both short and long-term, of cannabis. The $9M donation will go towards funding a three-year study exploring cannabis' impact on brain development, organs, and overall heatlh. Robert Kraft is currently embroiled in a fairly contentious court case stemming from his alleged involvement in a prostitution ring at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. Recently, Kraft was told he must face the judge in person, which is pretty large development in the case. Despite all of his legal troubles, Kraft has been a part of Meek Mill's fight to reform the criminal justice system. Meek Mill has received a ton of support from Kraft over the last few years, especially while he was in prison for probation violations. On Wednesday, Meek, Kraft, and Jay Z were all in a meeting together for the REFORM Alliance which is dedicated to criminal justice reform. CNN host Van Jones is actually the CEO of REFORM and was also on tap for the meeting. Afterward, all of the men joined in for a group photo which shows Kraft putting his arm around Meek, with Jay Z to the left of the Patriots owner. "Unimaginable game given," Meek wrote on Instagram while posting a picture from the meeting. Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin was also on tap for the meeting. Rubin was another big supporter of Meek Mill while he was battling through legal troubles. According to TMZ, the group has pledged $50 million to get 1 million prisoners released over the next five years. Rapper Remy Ma's legal drama is heating up after she turned herself in to authorities on Wednesday. The Love & Hip Hop New York star was accompanied by her lawyer when she was booked on charges of misdemeanor assault and harassment. This could send the rapper back to prison for a lengthy amount of time considering she's currently on probation following a six-year stint behind bars. According to Remy's lawyer Dawn Florio, there is unquestionably no truth behind the allegations against her client. She says Remy was home nursing her four-month-old daughter when the alleged attack on Brittney Taylor, Remy's Love & Hip Hop co-star, was supposed to have happened. Shes going to fight this to the end, Florio said. Remy's longtime friend and collaborator Fat Joe showed up to the court to support her, along with her husband, rapper Papoose. After posting bond, the couple left the court hand in hand as they navigated their way through the paparazzi. Florio admits that Remy was at the Irving Plaza on the night in question, but the rapper was home with her family by 9:30 p.m., the time that Taylor says she was punched in the face. The attorney also states that there are several witnessed who were present at the venue who will go on record saying Remy "had absolutely nothing to do with this incident." Florio says Taylor "is a liar, and my client did not touch her." Recently, Taylor did an interview where she detailed what led up to her alleged assault. She said that during Spring Break she was with Remy's step-daughter Dejanae. Taylor claims that she defended Dejanae from a man who was beating her up. 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]." Remy is scheduled to return to court on May 24. (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. Twice a week, Bridgette Jenkins worries that she may traumatize her students. They could get spit on, cursed out, shoved, hit or slammed to the ground. Thats because two days a week, her students at Houston Baptist Universitys School of Nursing are training in hospitals. Its the unfortunate reality of nursing. In Texas, half of nurses experience physical violence at some time over the course of their career, a 2016 study by the state Health Services Department found. Employees in nursing and residential care facilities had the highest rate of incidents of occupational injuries of any industry in 2017, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For most nurses, abuse is part of the job. In a year, 6 percent of Texas nurses said they experienced sexual harassment, 12 percent experienced physical violence and nearly half experienced verbal abuse, according to a Texas Health services study in 2016. While common knowledge among those in the industry, the dangers posed to health care workers only recently began to garner attention from policy-makers. Health care institutions have long struggled to address the issue with potentially deadly consequences. A nurse in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, recently died of a blood clot after a patient attacked her and she suffered a torn leg muscle and head injury. Just part of the job Earlier this month, said Jenkins, a patient started kicking and fighting the nurses. The patient tried to get out of bed to hit one of her students, but couldnt, instead throwing a cup of urine at the students face. Afterward, the nursing student told Jenkins she never wanted to go back to that hospital again. Incidents like this are traumatizing, forever, nurses said. Seventeen years ago, Jenkins, a nurse for 20 years in Houston and professor for 10, had her own experience with workplace violence when a psychiatric patient hit her so hard that half her face became swollen and doctors encouraged her to get an x-ray to ensure her jaw wasnt broken. To this day, Jenkins wont work in a psychiatric ward. Even though patients are not always aware of their actions, it takes a toll. Yalanda White, a school nurse for Houston Independent School District, has worked at several Houston hospitals over the course of her 16-year nursing career. She said verbal abuse is very common, which she attributes to a lack of respect for nursing by the general public. They just see you as a glorified maid, said White, who decided to leave working in hospitals for more regular work hours. They feel a nurse is just a warm body. But we are not being paid just to change a bed, were paid for the knowledge that we have to keep people alive. As black nurses, White and Jenkins said they also face discriminatory harassment they are called the N-word and some patients refuse their treatment, most often elderly patients with Alzheimers or dementia. We know its part of the disease process, but it is overwhelming, Jenkins said. You go to work every day to care for these people, but they cuss you out from the time you get there until the time you leave. Workers rights: More than 970 labor violations self-reported in Houston in 2018 An attitude that its their duty to serve in a high-stress work environment makes for a culture in which nurses tend to take the abuse rather than report it or press charges, several current and former nurses said. Patients account for about half the violent incidents, according to a Texas Health Services Department study. Kimberly Curtin, a nurse for nearly 28 years in Houston, was punched in the side of the head by a patient as a young nurse. Her colleague said to her, Welcome to ER. She drove home that night sobbing. She said she remembers it like it happened yesterday. I thought, I didnt sign up for this, said Curtin, who works at MD Anderson hospital, previously at St. Lukes, and teaches University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing. It really affected me; it really took a hit on my confidence. Protected? In Texas, it depends. Lawmakers and policy-makers are only beginning to address the problems. Texas conducted a study of violence in the health care industry in 2016 and increased penalties on patients who assault emergency room personnel in 2013. Instead of a misdemeanor, such attacks can now result in felony charges, similar to assaulting a police officer or other first responders. Across the state, hospital policies to address incidents of workplace violence vary widely, ranging from no policies at all to extensive staff training programs and detailed reporting of incidents, according to the states study. Houston hospitals largely declined to disclose their policies on addressing, preventing and reporting workplace violence. A spokeswoman for Houston Methodist Hospital said reports of workplace violence in its health care system have increased every year since 2014, but declined to provide the statistics. Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Texas Childrens Hospital and Baylor St. Lukes Medical Center declined to provide any data on workplace safety. Several institutions in Houston confirmed they have workplace violence prevention policies, but declined to share them, citing security or privacy concerns. The Texas Legislature is considering legislation that would require all health care facilities to provide workplace violence training and establish a system for investigating and reporting incidents of violence against their workers. Health care facilities would have to develop workplace violence prevention plans, conduct training annually, offer immediate treatment to harmed employees after an incident and protect workers who report incidents of workplace violence from retaliation by management or peers, who might think its just part of the job. Bills for workplace safety: #MeToo bills gain momentum in Texas Legislature The bill, introduced by two registered nurses, Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat, and Rep. Stephanie Klick, a Republican from the Fort Worth area, recently passed committee in the House. One size doesnt always fit all, Howard said, but there are some basic things that all facilities can have. Unlike laws in other states, which prescribe specific measures such staffing minimums or alarms for staff in patient rooms, the Texas legislation would give hospitals more flexibility to meet the requirements, Howard said. Such an approach is more likely to win support in the fiercely pro-business Texas Legislature. Whenever youre talking about requiring businesses to do anything here, theres a lot of pushback, Howard said. It required incremental efforts. No more Ms. Nice Girl Nationally, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act was recently introduced in Congress. The bill would require hospitals to implement plans to prevent violence, with take specific measures such as installing alarm systems and establishing exit routes from the patients rooms. Curtin, a member of both the Texas Nurses Association and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, occasionally gives presentations at conference events on workplace safety, which includes communication techniques to de-escalate stressful workplace situations. Shes found that young nurses are more empowered and less willing to take the abuse than when she was entering the industry, because, in a majority-female industry, women today are more confident, she believes. They grew up learning to speak up for themselves, she said, which has in turn drawn more attention to the problem. I had to be the nice girl and keep my mouth shut, said Curtin of her early nursing career. Now, I think nurses are less tolerant of that. But if you need a job, you need a job. Another brewery is moving into one of Houston's transitioning urban neighborhoods. Shady Acres will soon be the recipient of New Magnolia Brewery. The city recently approved a building permit to convert a 7,500-square-foot warehouse at 1616 Bevis St., just east of White Oak Bayou, into the brewery's home. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Selfie Sticks 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 Selfie Sticks Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38922 The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company: Anker Fotopro KobraTech Kootek Looq Robotics Momax Mpow Fromm Works Satechi Selfie on A Stick Selfie Stick Gear Xiaomi Market size by Product Remote-Triggered Selfie Stick Wired Selfie Stick Bluetooth Selfie Stick Market size by End User Mobile Phone Application Camera Application Other Market size by Region North America United States Canada Mexico Asia-Pacific China Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Selfie Sticks Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/38922-selfie-sticks-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 View More Related Reports @ United States Selfie Camera Market Report 2021 Global Pogo Sticks 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 Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ The K-pop craze shows no signs of slowing down in the U.S. And that means new groups are continually vying for spots next to BTS and Blackpink. NCT 127 (whose name combines the phrase Neo Culture Technology with the longitudinal coordinate for Seoul) looks to be the next in line for superstardom. The 10-member groups U.S. debut album, Regular-Irregular, peaked at No. 1 on iTunes in 22 countries, and several dates on its first North American tour are sold out. NCT 127 performs Sunday at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land. UNIVERSAL APPEAL: K-pop finds a home in Houston and beyond The group including Taeyong, Taeil, Yuta, Jaehyun, Mark, Haechan, Johnny, Jungwoo and Doyoung features several English-speaking members from Korea, Canada, Japan and the U.S. That diversity is reflected in the sound, which combines pop, R&B, hip-hop and Latin trap. Recent English-language single Regular, in fact, plays like a companion piece to Cardi Bs I Like It. Members recently took turns answering questions about the U.S. experience and the balance of personalities. K-pop is enjoying a lot of U.S. love. Why do you think so? Doyoung: Im just so grateful for all the attention and love K-pop and NCT 127 has been getting. Id say the main reasons are because there are so many different music genres even within K-pop and, of course, I think fans really love all the spectacular performances. Houston and Texas are huge K-pop markets. What comes to mind when you hear Texas? Johnny: The first things that come to mind when I think Texas are probably saying, Howdy yall. Texas barbecue, cowboys and cowboy hats. Your music incorporates a lot of different sounds and styles. Where does it all come from? Taeyong: The biggest inspiration points for our music come from the fans who love our music. They really inspire us to work hard. In terms of actually producing and making our music, my bandmates and I are always talking with each other and other staff about the ways we can incorporate our own flavor and style within our music. Is there one song in your catalog thats particularly important to the band? Jaehyun: Replay is a song where we connected with our fans during the Neo City The Origin Tour using our official light sticks, so those memories make this song really meaningful to me. Whats your favorite American experience youve had so far? NCT 127 Neo City World Tour When: 8 p.m. Sunday Where: Smart Financial Center at Sugar Land, 18111 Lexington Blvd. Details: $94-$210; ticketmaster.com See More Collapse Haechan: I would have to say In-N-Out! That was definitely an unforgettable experience and one of my top favorite memories I have of my time in the States. Its so good that I think about it sometimes when Im in Korea. A big group makes for a lot of personalities. Whos the funniest? Yuta: I would say its Johnny. Hes the mood-maker of the group and always knows how to up our energy levels and hype us up. I think his facial expressions and the way he talks is just funny in general. Whos the sleepiest? Taeil: Id say its me. If I were to name one more, Id probably say Haechan. He can fall asleep almost anywhere. Who gives the best advice? Jungwoo: Mark gives a lot of great advice. And whenever he does, I feel like hes genuinely guiding me toward a positive direction. Im always thankful for him. Whos the sweetest? Doyoung: Johnny is the really caring type. He remembers the most minor details and is thoughtful with his gifts. Whos the best cook? Johnny: Definitely Doyoung. joey.guerra@chron.com twitter.com/joeyguerra 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. 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 bbb.org/scamtracker or to the Federal Trade Commission at 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. Ramadan is the busiest time of year for mosques in the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. Its 30 days spent on spiritual growth, said ISGH president Sohail Syed. This year, the month celebrating the revelation of the Quran to the prophet Muhammad will be celebrated from Sunday through June 4. Muslims fast between sunrise and sundown during the holiday and often break with feasts after sunset at their local mosques. Syed said that congregations plan for meals, as well as special activities during this period. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston is comprised of 21 mosques, each with a calendar planned for Ramadan, as well as six full-time schools, which will celebrate in their own ways as well. Syed added that Ramadan is also a time of increased giving in the Muslim community. In addition to fasting to connect with God, the time is meant for self-reflection and spiritual improvement. A lot of people focus on charity during Ramadan, Syed said. In some ways, the month serves as a time for spiritual realignment, a time to reconnect, he added. You should carry that training forward the rest of the year, he said. Thats where ISGH comes in. The group facilitates outreach from replacing books at the Barbara Bush library after Hurricane Harvey to collecting nonperishables at the Islamic schools to take to area food banks. During Ramadan, the organization will sponsor the Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houstons Operation IMpact, which prepares thousands of meals for homebound seniors in preparation of hurricane season. We want to make sure our community is involved in service projects throughout the greater community, Syed said. Increasing outreach at ISGH is his main goal. The nonprofit, established in 1969, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Syed became president in January - and the organization is planning for its future. In addition to attending to religious services for members, it aims to provide greater understanding and communication with the greater Houston community. Participating in charitable activities throughout the year is a key to making the group more visible and better understood, Syed explained. He moved to Houston from Rhode Island in 2000, searching for a spot with a well-organized community, where he could raise his children. I found Houston to be the best place, he said. That was mainly because of what ISGH had become. It had humble beginnings, longtime member Shazia Ashraf said, with a group of students from the University of Houston looking for a place to pray. Four families met every Sunday for prayers and meals together, she said. Eventually, more families joined. They put their savings together and purchased an old-fixer upper building at Richmond and Woodhead. While the founders were renovating the house, John de Menil invited them to hold their prayers at the Rothko Chapel, she added. In November 1969, the paperwork to register the nonprofit was completed by Dr. Ebrahim Yazdi, Damir Karsan, Shukri al-Kadi and Dr. Mazhar Kazi. All Muslims in Houston are considered members of the organization. Fees are only in place for individuals who want to vote. Sayeed Siddiqui settled in Houston in 1974, following his career. A classmate told him about ISGH so he drove here to check it out with his wife. There was this old house with a leaking roof, he said with a laugh. That was the only gathering place in the whole town. Still, the people he found inside were so engaging, the couple made a habit of going back every Sunday. These people were really knowledgeable, he said. We would read the Quran together and discuss the meaning of it, the impact on our present lives. Siddiqui was enthralled with the debates that ensued, the dedication members had to improving their lives. He also enjoyed how his 2-year old son was able to play in the background. It was like a family, he said. There was a feeling of a mission in the minds and hearts of the founders. They were there to improve themselves and the community. Over the past 50 years, the organization has grown in size, to accommodate Houstons expanding Muslim population. In addition to mosques and the full-time schools, the group added community health clinics, funeral homes, weekend Islamic schools and cemeteries to its offerings. From Galveston County to Montgomery County and from the east to the west, our centers have organically grown, Syed said. Past president MJ Khan joined the nonprofit in 1980, when he moved to Houston from New York and ISGH was still relatively small. Even at that time, I knew that the Islamic Society of Greater Houston was a very good model, he said. Now, you cant find anything like it in the country. Khan explained that from the beginning, there was a pragmatic sense of developing an umbrella organization to serve many needs in the community We decided back then that we would follow the democratic principles of having a board, and thats not really practiced in other places, he said. Democratic principles can be sometimes very challenging, but its the best way for people to organize themselves. In addition, Khan said regular elections ensured the activation of new ideas and transparent accounting methods. Any flaw gets corrected right away, he said. Thats why you see growth in terms of facilities, growth in terms of revenues. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston is totally community supported and community sustained. While he was president, he made empowering young adults a goal. If youth are not active in an organization, it can eventually die, he said. Asking them what is appealing for young families is key, Khan added. Ashrat said ISGH gave her needed support growing up. Its the first place I felt community, she said. Its where I first learned to read the Quran. Its where I met my mentors. It encouraged me to be a better person. At 17, ISGH allowed her to start a scholarship fund and then a mailed out newsletter. Later, she became chair of the sisters committee. They invested in young folks to become leaders, she said. They get women involved in leadership roles. This organization has been a part of my life since I was a young girl, and it means a lot to me. Building a spiritual identity at a young age has also been an important goal, said Zuhaira Razzack, principal of the organizations ILM Academy. She moved to Houston 20 years ago and connected right away with ISGH. Whats unique is the size and scope of the organization, she said. Its the only one that encompasses so many different centers, so many people, and everyone gets involved and really contributes. Lately, Razzack is working on ways to advance the group and make it more inclusive. The organization was formed many years ago, she said. The nature of society has changed. We need to see what we can do to revamp it and make it work with the times. Khan hopes to see more women represented in leadership roles for ISGH and that the outreach programs continue to grow. What I would like to see is the Muslim community getting more and more involved in mainstream society in an active manner, he said. He said caring for seniors, homeless and the poor should be central tenants for the organization, as well as fighting racism and anti-Semitism. We should not only be concerned when bad things happen to Muslims, he said. The Muslim community should be in the forefront of addressing issues and providing answers. In Islams history, Muslims are champions of justice and peace in society. Some of the first steps, Syed said, will be focusing on mental health and marriage counseling, as well as ensuring that all centers are easily accessible for those with physical disabilities. Syed is also working with chair of the planning committee Ahmad Durrani, a Rice professor who moved to Houston in 1982. Siddiqui is also a member of the committee and wants to renew that sense of mission that existed in the early days. Durrani is a longtime member of ISGH but, until recently, he stayed mostly on the sidelines. I believe that religion is more than worship, he said. Its service to the community. Durrani wanted to get more involved envisioning the groups future. In 50 years of life, the Islamic Society of Greater Houston has been somewhat insular from a large part of the community, he said. Getting involved meant going to mosque or running for election. Durrani is reimagining what the organization can be now. It will no longer be about being a Muslim; it will be more than that, he said. It will engage service not just to the community itself but beyond that. He believes that leadership can be more strategic about ways to promote and maintain Muslim identity, while also creating opportunities for fellowship with all Houstonians. We are Muslim Americans, he said. Were contributing now, and we want to contribute more as a part of the fabric of society. A Few Good Men Apollo-era legends frustrated with the course agency has taken in recent decades A Few Good Men Apollo-era legends frustrated with the course agency has taken in recent decades Published May 2, 2019 One in an occasional series The legends of the Apollo era get the same far-off look of wonder and amazement in thinking back 50 years to the July 20, 1969 moon landing. They even use the same words to describe it. About this series Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. The July 20, 1969, moon landing changed the world and forever changed Houston. Our "Mission Moon" project will explore how the country came together to fulfill President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the lunar surface by 1970, NASA's bold missions and crippling tragedies since that historic day, the future of space exploration and the fate of Houston as America's "Space City." Read our entire series here. Suspenseful. Incredible. Wonderful. And they largely have the same dim view of the direction NASA is headed today. Former astronauts, flight directors and administrators who lived through NASA's golden years of putting men on the moon say the NASA of today barely resembles the fledgling space agency that they lived for. It was an organization that made tough decisions with speed and finesse, that flew by the seat of its pants and learned at breakneck speed, with a reputation for good leadership and trust among the ranks. Now, they see an agency plagued by inadequate budgets, where missions change with each presidential administration. Their beloved NASA, they say, is at the mercy of politicians who are afraid of taking risks for the betterment of society. "I'm not the only one of us who says this, but I feel fortunate to have lived when I did," Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham told the Houston Chronicle in April. They're frustrated by the nation's lack of progress. "It seems to have been just fits and starts in the last 50 years since Apollo 11," said Glynn Lunney, a former mission control flight director who was on duty at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston during the moon landing. "What do we have to show for it? The space station, sure. But what else?" 'Flailing for 25 years' Soon after the Apollo 11 astronauts returned home from the first mission to the lunar surface, NASA personnel began planning for a future in which human space exploration was commonplace. They dreamed of a module much like the space station orbiting the moon by 1978, a 50-man station orbiting Earth by 1980, a lunar surface base that same year. They even had detailed plans of landing humans on Mars by 1983. The plans seemed feasible at the time because the Apollo lunar surface missions there were nine more planned after Apollo 11 were expected to lay the groundwork for a base on the moon. A group of flight controllers gathers around the console of Glynn S. Lunney (seated, nearest camera), the flight director, in Mission Control Center on April 15, 1970 at what was then called the Manned Spacecraft Center. Among those looking on is Dr. Christopher C. Kraft, deputy director of the space center, standing in a black suit, on right. When this photograph was taken, the Apollo 13 lunar landing mission had been canceled and the problem-plagued Apollo 13 crew members were attempting to bring their crippled spacecraft back home. less A group of flight controllers gathers around the console of Glynn S. Lunney (seated, nearest camera), the flight director, in Mission Control Center on April 15, 1970 at what was then called the Manned ... more Photo: NASA Photo: NASA Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close NASA is stalled: Apollo-era legends frustrated with the course agency has taken in recent decades 1 / 10 Back to Gallery But instead, personnel watched helplessly as the Apollo program they built was shuttered before its time, its moon missions axed from the agency's plans. Apollo's budget was slashed in half in 1971, receiving less than $1 billion for the first time in eight years. The 1972 Apollo 17 flight was to be the last. "We all thought we'd keep going," Lunney said. "We thought we'd go back to the moon, and then Mars." Lunney said it feels as though NASA has been "flailing for 25 years." Christopher Kraft, NASA's first mission control flight director who worked on the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo programs, gets choked up just talking about the end of the Apollo program and the nation's failure to return to the moon since. Kraft told the Chronicle that people lost interest in sending humans to the moon after NASA proved it could be done. Trying to match the political will of President John F. Kennedy to keep it going, he said, "is impossible." "But isn't it a shame that if we had been doing what we should have been doing, we'd have had men on the moon commercially at least 25, maybe 30 years ago?" Kraft said. Aiming for Mars That's not to diminish programs such as Skylab the U.S.'s first space station that was operated for about a year in the early 1970s or the 30-year space shuttle program and International Space Station, which has been flying in low-Earth orbit for two decades. George Abbey, who was assigned to the Apollo program in 1964, touted the brilliance of the space shuttle program when he spoke to the Chronicle in early March. The space shuttles flew missions from 1981-2011 and during that time, Abbey oversaw astronaut selection, helped develop the space station and served as director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Shuttle should never have ended," Abbey said. "It had the ability to assemble in Earth's orbit, where we could assemble what you needed to go to the moon or Mars. But now we've got those on display in museums." It's good NASA is trying to return to the moon, Abbey said, but the hardware being built to take astronauts there is severely lacking. "We're going back to the capsules we flew in the '60s and they're not as good as the ones we flew," Abbey said. "You look at what we're spending across the government and it doesn't really add up." Soon after taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would return to the moon as a stepping stone for a mission to Mars. To do this, NASA would use hardware that already was being developed: The Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System, the biggest rocket the U.S. space agency has ever built. "I'm optimistic now that we have an administration that seems to be committed to getting us back to the moon and to use that experience there not only for science, but also to prepare to go to Mars," said scientist Harrison Schmitt, the 12th man to walk on the moon. But several Apollo legends find the decision to keep moving forward with the SLS rocket downright absurd. "We should not have built it," Kraft said. "We've been trying to build big, dumb boosters and it's kind of ridiculous because we don't need them. We have all kinds of rockets in the world right now." 'Where the hell is something new?' The Orion spacecraft was part of President George W. Bush's Constellation Program, which aimed to return humans to the moon as a way to get to Mars. But President Barack Obama killed Constellation in 2010, opting for a mission to an asteroid and, eventually, Mars. Obama kept the Orion spacecraft as part of the project, adding the SLS rocket into the mix. It's had problems ever since. NASA Administator Jim Bridenstine after momentarily suggesting in March that the first Orion mission should be launched on a commercial rocket indicated the SLS rocket would again miss its launch date, most recently scheduled for June 2020. The first Orion-SLS mission originally was set to launch in 2017. "What we have found is that the development of SLS has proven to be more challenging than previously anticipated," Bridenstine told Congress in April. The rocket is being built by Boeing. To Lunney and Kraft, it seems as if NASA is trying to copy the Apollo mission by using a small capsule and an enormous rocket, instead of developing new technology. "Where the hell is something new?" Lunney asked. Lunney is particularly concerned that NASA isn't doing enough to develop a new propulsion system that could, potentially, get the nation to Mars. With current rocket technology, it would take about nine months to reach the Red Planet. "We need a significant breakthrough in propulsion," Lunney said. Bill Gerstenmaier Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA, told the Chronicle in April that the agency has started to explore nuclear thermal propulsion as an option for future spaceflights, as opposed to the chemical propulsion currently used. "It's not at a very high level, but we've definitely started doing work on it," Gerstenmaier said. Building a mini-space station orbiting the moon, known as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, is also part of Trump's plans for the space agency. The gateway would bring together international and commercial partners to utilize the moon, for research, resources and a potential platform to launch to Mars. It's a good step, Lunney said though he doesn't know if it's the right step. Abbey, however, thinks it's "crazy." "You don't build a space station to orbit a space station. God gave you a space station called the moon," he said. "You need to look at programs realistically and make do with what you have and ... I think, unfortunately, NASA is not doing that." 'It seems like we've lost our vision' The policy fluctuations make it difficult for NASA engineers and scientists to make headway on projects a problem some blamed on leadership within the agency. "We do not have the leadership we had 50 years ago," Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden told the Chronicle in April. "It disappeared about 40 years ago and we've never gotten back to having dynamic leaders who put programs together and made sure they worked." Lunney agreed. "NASA starts things a number of times and then have to stop because people change their mind," he said. "NASA is stalled." The problems were evident to astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. In Armstrong last's interview before his death in 2012, he said he was "substantially concerned" about the state of NASA policies. "We have a situation in the U.S. where the White House and Congress are at odds over what the future direction should be," he said. "They're sort of playing a game and NASA is the shuttlecock that they're hitting back and forth." Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, told the Washington Post in 2014 that he felt the space agency was "adrift," citing the fact that the U.S. has relied on the Russians to take its astronauts to the space station since 2011. Regardless of the reasons, NASA is struggling, Lunney said. "I think they're trying," he said. "I'm sympathetic to how difficult it is. But it seems like we've lost our vision." Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and science for the Houston Chronicle. She is a 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner for her work at the Salt Lake Tribune on how Utah colleges handle reports of sexual assault. She's previously worked at newspapers in Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Phoenix and Idaho Falls. Her reporting has landed several people in prison. She loves puppies, elephants and curling up with a good book. She shares a birthday with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean. Contact her at alex.stuckey@chron.com. Follow her on Twitter at @alexdstuckey. Photos by Houston Chronicle staff Design by Jordan Rubio and Jasmine Goldband *** MISSION MOON: Nearly 50 years have passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Our special Apollo 50 anniversary coverage explores how the country came together to fulfill President John F. Kennedys goal of reaching the lunar surface by 1970, NASA's bold missions - and crippling tragedies - since that historic day, and the future of space exploration and Houston as America's "Space City. *** NASA has long scored public relations points by noting how many of its technical advances have found their way into everyday life. In fact, the agency has a yearly report called Spinoff that highlights this transfer of innovation into the commercial sector. The era leading up to and including the Apollo missions was particularly verdant for tech advances after all, NASA was literally inventing the technology to support space exploration as it went along and some things we take for granted today became household items years later. Heres a look at some of them. Software engineers An earlier Mission Moon story detailed how the software that helped get humans onto the lunar surface and back home again was remarkable for its resilience and ability to prioritize tasks. It was the first time a computer controlled a vehicle carrying humans. Overseeing the work on that code was Margaret Hamilton, a 33-year-old programmer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Instrumentation Laboratory. Hamilton is credited with coining the term software engineer, which she says initially drew derision from other technically oriented professionals. Hamilton said in a 2014 interview with El Pais, the Spanish-language newspaper: When I first started using this phrase, it was considered to be quite amusing. It was an ongoing joke for a long time. They liked to kid me about my radical ideas. Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline. Dustbusters When NASA needed a lightweight, battery-powered drill to collect samples from as deep as 10 feet below the lunar surface, it turned to electric toolmaker Black & Decker. The space agency wanted something lightweight, powerful and with decent battery life. Black & Decker delivered big time, using a specialized computer program that helped design a tool that balanced all the design requirements. The companys leaders also realized that what they learned from the moon drill could be applied to earthbound tools as well. Thus was born the Dustbuster, a lightweight, handheld vacuum cleaner that debuted in 1979. Like the lunar drill that inspired it, the Dustbuster was powerful but could go a while on a charge. Black & Decker developed other cordless home products after the success of the vacuum, which has since been enshrined in the Smithsonian. Digital photography Though NASA didnt necessarily invent digital photography, the concept was first proposed by a researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In a 1961 paper for an American Rocket Society conference, Eugene F. Lally outlined the concept of digital photography for use primarily on board spacecraft. In fact, hes generally credited with coining the term. Lally suggested using digital imaging sensors to capture light, a technology that he also proposed be used for navigating in space. It was not until 1973, however, that Fairchild Semiconductor working from research on Lallys concept conducted at Bell Labs introduced the first photo detector array. It was only 100-by-100 pixels. Todays smartphone cameras use sensors that result in images in millions of pixels. Lallys concept for using digital imaging for navigation also took a while to catch on. But a system built on his description now known as Autonav has been used by NASA since the 1990s as the primary method by which modern spacecraft find their way through the heavens. NASA continued to work on digital imaging technologies. In the 1990s, it developed improved complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor, or CMOS, sensors, which became the primary technology used in smartphones. Firefighter breathing gear Equipment designed to prevent smoke inhalation by firefighters has been around for a long time, dating to World War II. But it was extremely heavy and hated by firefighters, who tired quickly while using it. In response to requests by fire chiefs, NASAs Johnson Space Center worked with the Fire Technology Division of the National Bureau of Standards to craft a new design based on the life-support systems the Apollo astronauts used as they explored the lunar surface. Working with multiple companies over four years, NASA helped develop a system that was about a third lighter than the older breathing apparatus. Improvements were made to the facemask, air regulator and harness, redistributing the weight so it would not cause fatigue as quickly. The lighter-weight oxygen tanks were made from the same material as rocket-engine casings. The Houston Fire Department was among the first to field-test the design, which is now the standard. Scratch-resistant eyeglass lenses Eyeglasses, as you can guess by the name, used to be made of actual glass. This material provided excellent correction for those who couldnt see well, but it also was heavy and, if it broke, could damage the eye. In the early 70s, the Food and Drug Administration decreed that all eyeglasses should be made of plastic which, unfortunately, was prone to scratching. NASA researcher Ted Wydeven came up with a type of coating that was so hard that it resisted scratching. But he didnt find it while researching tougher plastic. Instead, he was working on a water-filtration system at the Ames Research Center when he used a new technique to coat a filter. The substance turned out to be extremely tough as well as clear. Initially, it was used on space helmets and their visors. But in the early 1980s, sunglasses maker Foster Grant licensed the technology for use on eyeglass lenses. If youre reading this through eyeglasses that are scratch-free, thank NASA. dwight.silverman@chron.com NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY BAHRAIN - Petty Officer 2nd Class Aaron Miller, a Houston native, has a long line of military service in his family and knew he wanted to join the Navy. Now, two years later and half a world away at Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Miller serves at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) / U.S. 5th fleet. The most challenging aspect is the high tempo of the command, said Miller. This is the most active area of responsibility in the world. Miller, a graduate of Deer Park High School, is an information systems technician at U.S. 5th Fleet, headquartered in Manama, Bahrain. I maintain a network for a coalition of allied countries, which is used for anti-piracy, anti-terrorism and anti-drug operations, said Miller. Miller credits success at U.S. 5th Fleet, and in the Navy, to many of the lessons learned in Houston. I learned to never let other people's words define you and to work hard for everything you get in life, said Miller. U.S. 5th Fleet directs naval operations to ensure maritime security and stability in the Central Region, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean through the western Indian Ocean. They work with partner nations to ensure freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in international waterways. Three of our task forces use the system I am responsible for to communicate with their assets in the 5th fleet area of responsibility, said Miller. The Navys U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of ocean, and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. This expanse, comprised of 20 countries, includes three critical choke points; the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen. Serving in the Navy means Miller is part of a world that is taking on new importance in Americas focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy. A key element of the Navy is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, and that the nations prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the worlds oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earths surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the worlds population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea. Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships, said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities. Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Miller is most proud of completing a three-month troubleshooting evolution to repair an information system on board a ship. My work allowed the ship to communicate effectively with allies and complete its mission, said Miller. As a member of one of the U.S. Navys most relied upon assets, Miller and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes contributing to the Navy the nation needs. Being in the Navy means I am able to change the world, said Miller. Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David R. Finley Jr. is with the Navy Office of Community Outreach. Sex Toys 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. 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Download Free Sample Report of Sex Toys Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38924 The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company: Ansell Healthcare Church & Dwight Reckitt Benckiser BMS Factory LELO Luvu Brands Doc Johnson Adam & Eve Fun Factory Aneros Bad Dragon Beate Uhse Crystal Delights Happy Valley Jimmyjane Lovehoney OhMiBod Tantus Market size by Product Erection Rings Dildos Adult Vibrators Other Market size by End User Online Stores Retail Outlets Specialty Stores Market size by Region North America United States Canada Mexico Asia-Pacific China Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Sex Toys Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/38924-sex-toys-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 View More Related Reports @ Global Sexual Wellness Products Market Insights, Forecast to 2025 Global Inflatable Toys Market Research Report 2018 About Us: DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed. For More Details: DecisionDatabases.com E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ 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. Be in the know 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 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." Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Suede Fabric Industry 2019 Global Market research report presents you analysis of market size, share, and growth, trends, and cost structure, statistical and comprehensive data of the global market. Get Sample Copy of this Report https://www.orianresearch.com/request-sample/949649 The Global Suede Fabric Market 2019 research provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Global Suede Fabric Market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins. Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @ https://www.orianresearch.com/enquiry-before-buying/949649 The report, like all reports added to the provides a comprehensive and descriptive view of the Global Suede Fabric Market. It develops market dynamics, the Suede Fabric of growth in different segments and regions and other parameters that have been so far effective in expanding in value and size. This study is therefore a quantitative and qualitative study aimed at providing a clear view of all possible situations and structures in the global market for Suede Fabric, as well as factors that may exist between 2019 and 2025. Global Suede Fabric Market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the TOP PLAYERS including: Kuraray TORAY Teijin Limited Favini Majilite Corporation Aurora Textiles Anhui Anli Fujian Tianshou Shandong Jinfeng Yantai Wanhua Shandong Tongda Jiaxing Hexin Kunshan Xiefu Yuan Jia In our aim to provide our erudite clients with the best research material with absolute in-depth information of the market, our new report on Global Suede Fabric Market is confident in meeting their needs and expectations. The 2019 market report on Global Market is an in-depth study and analysis of the market by our industry experts with unparalleled domain knowledge. The report will shed light on many critical points and trends of the industry which are useful for our esteemed clients. Order a copy of Global Suede Fabric Market Report 2019 @ https://www.orianresearch.com/checkout/949649 Conclusively, the Suede Fabric Market Research report inspects manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of Suede Fabric Market along with sales channel, data resources, research findings and appendix. Market Segment by Product Type Cotton Suede Fabric Faux Suede Fabric Others Market Segment by Application Automotive Interiors Home Use Consumer Goods Others The study objectives are: To analyze and research the Suede Fabric status and future forecast in United States, European Union and China, involving sales, value (revenue), growth rate (CAGR), market share, historical and forecast. To present the key Suede Fabric manufacturers, presenting the sales, revenue, market share, and recent development for key players. To split the breakdown data by regions, type, companies and applications To analyze the global and key regions market poSuede Fabricial and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market Major Points from Table of ConSuede Fabric: Global Suede Fabric Market Professional Survey Report 2019 1 Study Coverage 2 Executive Summary 3 Market Size by Manufacturers 4 Suede Fabric Production by Regions 5 Suede Fabric Consumption by Regions 6 Market Size by Type 7 Market Size by Application 8 Manufacturers Profiles 9 Production Forecasts 10 Consumption Forecast 11 Upstream, Industry Chain and Downstream Customers Analysis 12 Opportunities & Challenges, Threat and Affecting Factors 13 Key Findings 14 Appendix Methodology Analyst Introduction Data Source About Us: Orian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients. Contact Us: Ruwin Mendez Vice President Global Sales & Partner Relations Orian Research Consultants US +1 (415) 830-3727 UK +44 020 8144-71-27 Email: info@orianresearch.com Website: www.orianresearch.com/ Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/13281002/ 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. Voters in seven Greater Houston school districts will decide Saturday whether to authorize about $3.6 billion in bonds aimed at keeping up with constantly-growing enrollments, renovating older facilities and upgrading campus security following deadly school shootings. Districts considering large bond issues include Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, which is seeking a district-record $1.76 billion package, and Conroe ISD, which faces some Republican opposition to its $807 million proposal. Residents of Brazosport, Channelview, Cleveland, Goose Creek and Sweeny school districts will vote on bonds ranging from $28 million to $335 million. The bonds likely would result in tax increases for most voters, though many residents would see only nominally larger tax bills if the packages pass. School districts use bonds to finance costs associated with facility construction, transportation vehicles, technology upgrades and other capital purchases. The bond money cannot be used to pay for staff salaries, employee benefits or other day-to-day operations costs. Locally, school bonds rarely are rejected by voters, with 66 out of 72 passing over the past decade in Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris and Montgomery counties. In Cy-Fair, the states third-largest public school district, voters will decide whether to support nearly $1 billion in building renovations, as well as about $250 million for a new elementary school, middle school, administration building and performing arts center. Another $530 million would pay for technology, security and transportation upgrades. The bond could result in the districts property tax rate, currently at $1.44 per $100 in assessed value, rising by 3 cents over a six-year period. For a homeowner with property appraised at $250,000 with standard homestead exemptions, the final 3-cent increase would raise taxes by about $52.50 per year. Related: Cy-Fair ISD calls for $1.7 billion bond election Julie Hinaman, who served as a co-chair of Cy-Fairs long-range planning committee, said about 50 people considered the districts most recent facilities assessment and enrollment patterns when crafting the bond proposal. I feel very blessed to live in a community that values our local public schools, Hinaman said. Parents with kids in schools, empty nesters, the business community, they all see the value in investing. Unlike 2014, when some tea party-affiliated residents unsuccessfully tried defeating the districts $1.2 billion bond, no organized opposition has emerged this year. Cy-Fair ISD voters have approved all six bonds sought over the past 20 years. In deeply conservative Montgomery County, however, Conroe ISDs $807 million bond request faces more resistance. The bond includes nearly $200 million for construction of four new campuses, $146 million in upgrades and renovations to the 4,100-student Conroe High School and about $125 million for projects at seven other campuses. The districts property tax rate, currently at $1.28 per $100 in assessed value, would increase by up to 3 cents over a four-year period. Bond supporters argue the proposal addresses Conroes rapid growth in enrollment projected to rise from 64,200 to 76,560 over the next decade and needed updates to several of its secondary schools. Even with a 3-cent increase, Conroes total school tax rate would remain well below average for large Texas districts. The argument that theyre going to increase your taxes and keep going isnt what theyve done in the past, said Cody Bartlett, chair of Community for Conroe ISDs Future, a political action committee backing the bond. Related: Conroe ISD bond package, new attendance zones geared toward growth The Montgomery County Tea Party, Texas Patriots PAC and one of the two Montgomery County Republican Party factions have staked opposition to the bond request. Kelli Cook, a member of the Montgomery County Tea Party board of directors, said the tax rate increase, combined with rapidly rising property values, would overburden homeowners. Cook also said some projects are unnecessary or should be paid out of other district budgets. Theres a lot of organized opposition, and pretty much all of the politically conservative organizations want a better bond, Cook said. I think its got a good chance of failing, and theyre going to need to bring back a more reasonable bond. In Goose Creek CISD, bond proponents hope their proposal will appease voters who rejected two bonds totaling $435 million last year. The revised package no longer includes a $60.5-million multipurpose center and stadium, along with $40 million more in cutbacks. However, the bond still would increase Goose Creeks school tax rate from $1.432 to $1.547 per $100 in assessed value, among the states highest rates for medium and large districts. Byron Schirmbeck, a lead organizer for the Better Baytown Bond Committee, which opposed to the 2018 bond but did not take a position on the latest proposal, said changes in this years plan have swayed some residents. About 58 percent of voters opposed the 2018 package. My feeling is, its probably going to pass, but itll probably be a slim margin, said Schirmbeck, who personally opposes the 2019 bond. We didnt reach a consensus view in the (committee). Some thought it was good enough this time around, some didnt. Related: Early voting wraps up ahead of May municipal elections In Brazosport ISD, home to about 12,400 students, voters will consider a $267-million bond proposal that carries no tax increase. In 6,600-student Cleveland ISD, which has doubled in size since 2014, voters will decide whether to accommodate the rapid growth with a $250-million bond, potentially raising property taxes by 12.5 cents per $100 in taxable value. Channelview residents will decide on a $195.4-million bond that comes with a tax rate increase of just under 12 cents per $100 in taxable value, allowing the district to replace three schools and renovate campuses, among other projects. In small Sweeny ISD, with nearly 2,000 students, voters are asked to approve a $28-million bond for facilities upgrades with no tax increase. A terminally ill inmate battling a rare cancer is suing the Texas prison system, claiming officials abruptly cut off his morphine and forced him to detox cold turkey in retaliation for filing a sexual harassment complaint. In a neatly typewritten legal claim filed in federal court last month, Jeremy Needum detailed how officials at a Fort Bend County prison allegedly ignored his medical needs, letting him go into opioid withdrawal so severe that he passed out on the floor and was later hospitalized. The providers only see plaintiff as a burden; a drug-user seeking drugs, he wrote in a 15-page filing in the Southern District of Texas. They did and do not see plaintiff as a terminally ill cancer patient in palliative care. The 44-year-old from Denton County had already been in prison for more than a decade when he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in 2016. Because its not common, the best treatments for the disease are not well-defined. And since none of the usual therapies cures it, the prognosis is poor, Needum wrote. By the end of 2018, he was in palliative care and getting morphine every few hours. Hed been hospitalized 12 times over a three-year period for cancer-related issues. Plaintiffs final diagnosis will never change because his illness is not curable, he wrote. The goal is to make plaintiff comfortable so the remaining life he has left is not in pain. But last fall, Needum was transferred to the Jester III Unit, a 1,100-man lock-up in Richmond. There, he said, a medical staffer started encouraging others to question his use of morphine and eventually cut back his intake of the drug, swapping out 90-milligram tablets for 30-milligram tablets. Repeatedly, over many months, Needum complained that he was in pain. The sheer number of specific instances in which these providers knew and insisted on continuing courses of treatment that the providers knew were causing plaintiff pain and that were ineffective caused a substantial risk of serious harm to the plaintiff, he wrote, listing dates on which he notified officials of his situation along with grievance numbers associated with some of his complaints. Then in December, as Needum still fought for his medication, he filed a sexual harassment complaint against one of the medical providers, under protections provided by the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The lawsuit doesnt lay out the exact allegations regarding the allegations that sparked the harassment complaint, but alleges that afterward one of the medical providers threatened to stop treating him. On Feb. 13, officials took him off his morphine, and four days later he was found on the floor in severe pain from withdrawals. On Feb. 18, he was taken to OakBend Medical Center for symptoms of withdrawal, according to the lawsuit. Two months later, he filed suit. Prison officials must respond to all of plaintiffs serious medical needs, not just the minor ones they can actually handle, he wrote, asking the court to order injunctive relief to force officials to give him morphine again. He also requested an unspecified amount of compensatory damages. The Denton County man who was in prison for aggravated assault on a public servant, resisting arrest and endangering a child is representing himself in the case. Prison officials did not offer comment on the case, and the prison medical provider, the University of Texas Medical Branch, declined to weigh in on pending litigation. None of the nine named defendants including the warden, the medical director and a number of other prison and UTMB employees has responded to the filings yet in court, but the judge in late April asked Needum to file a supplemental statement offering more information. keri.blakinger@chron.com A two-year vice probe has led to the arrest of nine people accused in multi-million dollar laundering plots at two west Houston poker rooms, according to court documents. Police made the arrests around 11 a.m. Wednesday before searching the Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club, two clubs that since 2017 have made a combined $10 million or so in bank deposits. Accounts for the unrelated clubs have been frozen and face seizure, officials said. Houston police officers brought Prime Social owner Dean Maddox and his general manager, Brent Pollack, out of their poker room at 7801 Westheimer Ave. in handcuffs before a week-long $150,000 Texas Hold Em tournament was scheduled to begin, witnesses said. Steven Farshid, Prime Socials assistant general manager, and Mary Switzer, the comptroller, were also arrested, the district attorneys office said in a statement. UPDATE: Ogg dismisses poker room cases, citing conflict with consultant and fundraiser Undercover officers in April posed as poker patrons at Prime Social after a number of service calls for incidents involving theft and terroristic threats were linked to possible laundering, according to a civil suit lodged by the Harris County Attorneys Office. The officers were asked to pay a membership fee, a door fee and a fee to play at a poker table, documents state. The officers also bought poker chips and were charged a fee to play. The undercover officers then turned in their chips for an unspecified amount of cash winnings. The district attorney's office reviewed club records and found that the operators had opened four bank accounts that from October 2017 to Jan. 31 of this year accrued six million dollars. A large portion was cash, records stated. Maddox, Pollack and Farshid, all of whom are defendants in the civil nuisance abatement and injunction case, have been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, gambling promotion and money laundering. The vice operation included the Post Oak Poker Club at 1001 West Loop South, according to a another civil suit. On one occasion, undercover officers found the club bustling with about 100 patrons. A review of their records found that from August 2017 to September 2018 the owners deposited more than $4 million, some of which was also cash, into a bank account. Post Oak Poker Club co-owners Daniel Kebort, William Heuer, Alan Chodrow, Kevin Chodrow and Sergio Cabrera were also arrested. Poker rooms are illegal in Texas, District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a written statement. 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. The private clubs have found ways to skirt around the state's gambling laws by not taking a share of the gambled money and charging membership fees. All bettors are supposed to have an equal opportunity of winning. Players would not be targeted, Ogg assured, but those who planned to compete for Prime Social's pot declined to identify themselves for fear of repercussions. A card player from Dallas spent thousands of dollars on chips only to learn of the bust. This is like the most legitimate poker room there is. Its ridiculous what happened, said a competitor who drove in from Dallas. The card player learned of the bust after checking into his hotel and went to the club to learn the fate of his chips he bought to play. The chips were worth thousands of dollars, he said. Another player said he heard rumblings that Prime Social would be raided hours before it happened. He saw police swarming the building as he arrived soon after 11 a.m., he said. I didnt want to spread mass hysteria on the day of a big tournament, he said. It couldnt have happened on a worst day for Prime. Hours after the raid, employees milled the parking lot wondering if their afternoon shift would still happen. A Facebook page for Prime Social said the club would be closed until further notice. The investigation followed the 2018 arrests of nearly three dozen people, including three police officers, for alleged illegal gambling operations in Chinatown. We cant allow illegal gambling to go on, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. It drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity. In December, Prime Social teamed up with the Blue Santa Program organized by HPD officers for a holiday toy drive. nicole.hensley@chron.com samantha.ketterer@chron.com Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourke is heading to North Texas for a pair of events. ORourke is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting in Fort Worth on Friday night, then deliver the commencement address at Paul Quinn College in Dallas. The event in Fort Worth will be at 5:30 p.m. at Flying Saucer, 111 E 3rd St, Fort Worth. It will mark the first time ORourke has ever delivered a commencement address. Hes been a frequent visitor to Paul Quinn College, the oldest historically black college in Texas. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox ORourke wont be the only Democratic contender in the state this weekend. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York will be in Dallas on Sunday. Starting at 1 p.m. she will be meeting with supporters at The Sundown at Granada, 3520 Greenville Ave., Dallas. ORourke, a former Congressman from El Paso, is fresh from a four-day trip to California and is set to return to Iowa after his speech in Dallas. Polls show ORourke remains among the top 10 candidates in the Democratic field. SpaceX officials confirmed Thursday that a "mishap" during engine testing last month destroyed a spacecraft being built to take humans to the International Space Station. Hans Koenigsmann, the company's vice president of mission assurance, said he hopes the company can still launch astronauts this year. "I hope this is a relatively swift investigation at the end of the day," he said during a news conference. "I don't want to completely preclude the current schedule, but certainly this is not good news for the schedule." Experts say it's certain the schedule will be delayed. POTENTIAL DELAY: SpaceX commercial crew vehicle appears to blow up during a test NASA has relied on Russia to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station, at a cost of $82 million per seat, since the space shuttle program was shuttered in 2011. SpaceX and Boeing were supposed to reduce that reliance with their commercial crew vehicles, but both companies have struggle to meet NASA's standards for humans on board. The SpaceX incident occurred in Florida 12 days ago and at the time, both SpaceX and NASA were mum about what exactly happened during testing. Photos and a now-confirmed video indicated that the module blew up on the test pad. Koenigsmann said the company is focused on determining the root cause of the explosion. It is reviewing telemetry data and imagery, and will soon analyze pieces of the spacecraft recovered from the test site. He added that some in the company were shocked by the failure. In 2014, NASA awarded SpaceX and Boeing contracts totaling $6.8 billion to build commercial crew vehicles. Both companies, however, failed to meet their deadlines to launch in 2018. Boeing announced last month that its test flights would be delayed several months as well. Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and science for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. The Global Acrylic Waterproof Coating 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 Acrylic Waterproof Coating Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-39359 The following manufacturers are covered: AkzoNobel Sika Mortars PPG Sherwin-Williams Grupo Puma Koster BASF Weber Building Solutions Davco Henkel BADESE Oriental Yuhong Huarun Mapei Segment by Regions North America Europe China Japan Segment by Type Liquid Dry Segment by Application Road Construction Building Construction Bridge and Tunnel Construction Other Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Acrylic Waterproof Coating Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/39359-acrylic-waterproof-coating-market-analysis-report Table of Contents-Snapshot - Executive Summary Chapter 1 Industry Overview Chapter 2 Industry Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 3 Industry Production Market Share by Regions Chapter 4 Industry Consumption by Regions Chapter 5 Industry Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Type Chapter 6 Industry Analysis by Applications Chapter 7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Industry Business Chapter 8 Industry Manufacturing Cost Analysis Chapter 9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers Chapter 10 Market Dynamics Chapter 11 Industry Forecast Chapter 12 Research Findings and Conclusion Chapter 13 Methodology and Data Source More Related Report By DecisionDatanases.com @ United States Demulsifiers Market Report 2018 About Us: DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed. For More Details: DecisionDatabases.com E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ Regarding Shaming families wont transform our schools (Opinion, Tuesday): As an educator of 50 years from first grade to college, I have seen parents come to school in such an array of inappropriate attire that makes me wonder if they have any mirrors in their home. From pajamas to bikinis, they paraded through the halls of learning without the slightest understanding of self-respect and dignity. How can an educator teach these very valuable lessons to students when such disgusting displays of outright vulgar dress are permitted by parents, who themselves set such poor examples? The writer, M. Yvonne Taylor, is wrong. We set standards by example, and educators as well as parents have a moral obligation to guide our young people toward good moral and physical choices. Bravo to the Madison High School principal for her stand on dignity. A. Landry, Pearland Depends on neighborhood The dress code at Madison High is based on elitism; poor people are judged in a way others are not. Sit outside River Oaks Elementary, Pin Oak Middle School or Bellaire High School and see how many moms run into the school in their yoga pants and workout tops or with their hair in a scarf and rollers for the evenings event. No one shakes a finger and says they are not setting a good example and certainly would not dare threaten one with arrest. Joanna Pasternak, Houston Kudos to the principal Has Ms. Taylor visited the hallowed halls of any Houston-area public school? If so, she would find certain children who regularly scream, kick, cry and otherwise disrupt the classroom. These are learned behaviors, unless a mental health issue is present, and reinforced by parental acquiescence. Ill-behaved students have tantrum issues, inappropriately dressed parents, compliance issues. To get along in the world, we must conform to acceptable standards, respect authority and follow rules. Whether or not we like it. Rosemary Mackin, Houston Level the playing field Regarding Texas looks to snuff renewables subsidies (Front page, Tuesday): As I read the article, I kept thinking about all the tax benefits the fossil fuel industry continues to receive. If the fossil fuel industry wants a level playing field, that will only occur if all power producers are treated the same way. If the mentioned tax benefits and subsidies are to be removed from the renewable providers, then the billions of dollars of tax benefits and subsidies should also be removed from the fossil fuel and nuclear power providers. That way the true raw cost for providing renewable power could be fairly compared with fossil and nuclear power without the results of millions of dollars spent for lobbying to achieve an advantage. Allan Berger, Houston Interest on loans is killer Regarding Warren unveils plan to forgive college debt (Newsmakers, April 23): Having a daughter with huge loan debt, I and many others would like some relief for our children , obviously. Im surprised that something along the lines of this has not been considered: repayment, interest-free, for 15 years, before interest resumes on the loan. The loan amounts often are huge. The interest, however, is the killer. Over time, it actually doubles the loan amount. Our government spends enough money on superfluous things. This would be a more practical option than Warrens plan. M. Donnelly, Pearland Health disparities between black Americans and other groups have been well documented: diabetes, high-blood pressure, obesity and HIV. But there is a systematic way to close the historic gap in black health outcomes that stretch beyond the physicians front door. Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called attention to those disparities with the goal of bringing awareness and actionable steps toward improvement. And to address those disparities, the root causes need to be diagnosed and treated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blacks in America have a 77 percent higher risk of diagnosed diabetes than whites, and the highest rates of obesity and HIV diagnoses. In Harris County, 49 percent of those living with HIV are black, and both cancer and diabetes mortality rates are highest among blacks. Why the disparity? Lower income may seem like the obvious culprit, but disparities exist for higher-income black Americans as well. In fact, black American women have the highest rate of maternal mortality across all income brackets. The cause of these disparities is multifactorial, and inequities are often a root cause. Many African-American communities lack access to safe neighborhoods, healthy foods, medical practices, gyms, clean air and water and quality schools. Grocery stores and healthy restaurants are scarce, while fast-food eateries, convenience and dollar stores abound but offer few healthy options . And when those communities are plagued with loose dogs, deteriorating sidewalks and poor lighting, the very basic, free exercise of walking is unattainable. Trust is another root cause of black American health disparities. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. Unfortunately, a number of unethical studies involving the black community has caused an overall distrust of the health care system. The 1932 Tuskegee Experiment, which enrolled hundreds of black men in a study of syphilis, is a key example. The men were followed for decades by public health officials, but were never told they had syphilis and were left untreated, spreading the debilitating disease to their spouses and children. In 1972, when the media uncovered the unethical and inhumane study, it ceased and became national scandal. Years later, former President Bill Clinton would apologize for the catastrophic injustice, but its effect within the black community still lingers. One study has cited it as the reason many black men distrust doctors, resulting in their having the worst health outcomes today. Then theres Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey, three enslaved black women who were the victims of 19th-century medical experimentation. Dr. James Marion Sims, dubbed the father of modern gynecology, believed blacks had a higher tolerance for pain. Armed with his unfounded, racially biased belief, he performed numerous experimental gynecological surgeries on the women without anesthesia. This sort of archaic belief may seem a thing of the past, but unfortunately, it is not. A 2016 study by the University of Virginia concluded that black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain. The researchers found that medical students held racially biased beliefs, including the belief that blacks have thicker skin and less sensitive nerve endings than whites. I was not surprised by their results. During my more than 15 years of practice, I have seen black patients undertreated for pain. I suspect racial bias may have been the cause. If were going to eliminate racial bias in health care, we must first admit that it exists, then require cultural competency training as part of medical licensing. More African-Americans need to be recruited into the medical field. Many patients feel more comfortable with a physician with whom they can relate. Yet, according to Data USA , blacks account for only 6 percent of the physician and surgeon workforce. Solutions are available. It will take a multipronged, team approach to close the gaps in African-American health outcomes. Organizations across all sectors must work together government and businesses to make equitable investments in black communities, health care to make concerted efforts to build trust, and community-based organizations to make improving health a priority. This will not be easy. But I am an optimist, and I believe that together, we can make black American health inequities history. Onyiego is the chronic disease prevention physician for Harris County Public Health. HCPH is the public health department for Harris County, providing a wide variety of activities and services aimed at improving the health and well-being of all Harris County residents. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! 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Black Beer 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 Black Beer Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38804 The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company: Budweiser Modelo Heineken Coors Stella Corona Hite Beck's Miller Market size by Product Pasteurimd Beer Draft Beer Market size by End User Supermarket & Mall Brandstore E-commerce Others Market size by Region North America United States Canada Mexico Asia-Pacific China Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Black Beer Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/cp/38804-black-beer-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 View More Related Reports @ Global Pasteurimd Beer Market Insights, Forecast to 2025 Global Root Beer 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 Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com Govt. of Belize announces the end of fisheries licenses for Guatemalans April 30,2019 | Source: BBN Keeping with an announcement made last week, the government of Belize announced yesterday that Guatemalans who have licenses to fish in Belize will no longer be able to renew those licenses. The announcement said that on April 16, 2019, Cabinet approved an amendment to the Fisheries Regulations to remove the category of permanent residents from those persons eligible to obtain a fishing license in Belizes territorial waters. All active licenses as of this date will be permitted to run their course and expire. This amendment is aimed at further promoting local fisherfolk stewardship of our fishery resources in the framework of managed access, GOB said. The government added that the amendment is also aimed at improving the efficacy of law enforcement in our territorial waters in collaboration with the security forces. Originally, permanent residents were not granted licenses, but GOB said that the regulations were loosened in 2005 to allow or permanent residents to get licenses. That loosening was done in an attempt to control fishing activities; however, GOB said that the provisions proved too difficult to control. The Belize Network of NGOs had recently called on GOB to address Guatemalan fishermen in Belizean waters because their presence is costing Belize millions of dollars in lost revenue due to their taking the fish to Guatemala. 2019, BreakingBelizeNews.com Theme(s): Others. Danish fishing communities fear Brexit could sink them by Andreas Mortensen May 01,2019 | Source: Reuters In the small fishing town of Thyboron on the northwestern coast of Denmark, many fishermen worry the British waters they have become increasingly dependent on will be out of reach when Britain leaves the European Union. Poul Erik Rom, 35, and his father Ejvind, 65, are from a long line of fishermen. Each year they land fish worth some 25 million Danish Crowns ($3.75 million) from their vessel, one third of which come from British waters. Poul Erik began his career in the offshore oil industry, but in 2011 he bought into a fishing vessel made by his father, who has been a fisherman all his life. "I like the unpredictability of fishing. Sometimes we catch 200 kilos, sometimes two tonnes, and we never know what prices we will get," says Poul Erik. But the uncertainty as Britain leaves the European Union is more excitement than he had hoped for. Since the 1970s, EU fishermen have had access to British waters under a deal, that many in Britain saw as unfair. Now some see Brexit as a chance to "take back control" of their waters and keep foreign vessels out. "This town could end up closing down because of Brexit," says fisherman Michael Bork, 36, who has been fishing since the age of 10. Between 30 and 40 percent of the catch landed in Thyboron Port come from British waters. "We just hope we can stay afloat. But without access to British waters, fishing spots in Danish waters will be congested with Dutch and Belgian fishermen along with the Danish vessels. There simply aren't enough fish for that. The industry will collapse," says Michael Bork. In 2015 - one year before the British voted to leave the EU - Poul Erik and his father retrofitted their vessel to make room for a bigger catch on their longer journeys deeper into British waters. "It seems like we have to sail further and further away from the shore to find the fish," says Poul Erik, who worries what will happen if he is restricted access to British water. The problem for Poul Erik and his father is that as the water warms due to climate change, the fish they rely on such as cod and haddock tend to swim towards colder waters nearer the UK and further north. Under a 'no deal' Brexit scenario, Britain can choose to close its sea border completely overnight or wait until the end of 2019, according to the Danish fishing minister. If a deal is reached, EU fishing vessels could have temporary access until a permanent trade deal is reached. European Union leaders this month gave Britain six more months until Oct. 31 to leave the bloc, but the British political elite is still squabbling over how, when or if it will Brexit. The latest postponement essentially means all options - including the hard exit are open. "For me personally I could lose my job, if our fishing in British waters was limited," says Mikkel Jakobsen, 22, who works onboard the Pia Glanz fishing vessel along with nine other crew. "It's always annoying when politics get in the way," says Jakobsen. "We ordinary people can't do much about it anyway no matter how loudly we speak." The uncertainty is already having an impact on the local fishing industry, as new investments are being held back in ships and fishing quotas. Reuters Theme(s): Post Harvest Technology and Trade. A senior Pakistani journalist was killed by bikers who opened fire on him in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, situated in the north-western region of the country, on April 30. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in condemning the brutal killing and calls on authorities to investigate the case and locate the perpetrators. Aman Ullah Gharro, from Dera Ismail Khan located about 300 kilometres south of the provincial capital Peshawar, was in the jurisdiction of University Police Station near Lunda Sharif attack when he was shot and killed by unknown bikers. Aman Ullah Gharro was working for Janbaz, a local television, and has filed news against non-state actors allegedly involved in terrorism. Aman also worked as a correspondent for a local newspaper Meezan-e-Adal. The PFUJ demand the local administration to take early action to arrest the culprits and put them behind bars while also calling on the Punjab Government to take necessary action to provide safe environment to the journalists to perform their duties in the region. A number of journalists have been subject to terrorism and lost their lives in the line of duty but the law enforcement agencies had failed to provide justice to the victim families," the PFUJ leadership said. This is not the first killing of a journalist in the troubled region. Aman Ullah Gharro was the third journalist to be directly targeted and killed in the KP province of Pakistan within the last 12 months and the fourth journalist killed in Pakistan in the period May 1 to April 30. On October 16, journalist Sohail Khan was shot dead after reporting a story on a local drug cartel in the region. He had just left the District Police Office after filing a police-protection application relating to multiple death threats. On December 3, a second journalist Noor ul Hassan, of Royal TV, was killed when two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying the journalist. The IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "This is a tragic and senseless killing on the eve of World Press Freedom Day that brings to light the dangers for journalists working in the toughest parts of Pakistan. We call on the provincial police to investigate this brutal murder and determine if the connection was work-related and to refer the matter to appropriate bodies at national level. The frequent attacks against journalists and media workers in Pakistan continues to blight the country." To mark World Press Freedom Day on 3rd May, journalists from across the world are joining forces to launch tips for safe and fair coverage of elections at a time when politicians and their supporters are increasingly turning their fire on reporters. In its campaign, the Federation has exposed the abuse of power, disinformation, internet shutdowns, self-censorship, harassment and violence as ongoing challenges facing journalists when reporting elections. The campaign is calling on governments to ensure a safe working environment for journalists to allow them to report with full objectivity, impartiality and balance and on all politicians not to stigmatise media. IFJ affiliates have been active in fighting for free and quality election coverage. AJI in Indonesia supported a fact-checking campaign during the elections in April; APU in Uruguay campaigns against misinformation through developing an Ethical Pact for political groups to sign; the NUJU in Ukraine campaigned for presidential candidates to endorse a Declaration of Free speech, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo IFJ affiliates SNPP and UNPC collaborated with the Belgian APJ and the IFJ to train journalists across the country on election reporting in November. This years UN World Press Freedom Days theme is Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation and the IFJ will address ongoing challenges facing journalists in elections and the importance of reporting fully and freely for the public to make informed decisions at events across the world. Elections represent a test of political commitment to democracy, when the impulse to manipulate media and to control information is strongest among ruling parties and candidates running for office, said IFJ President Philippe Leruth. Too often, journalists are being put under huge and unnecessary pressure and we call on all governments to take specific precautions to allow journalists to report freely. To support its campaign, the IFJ has compiled a series of testimonials from union activists across the world whose countries have just been through or will run elections this year and where election coverage has been marred by self-censorship, disinformation and attacks on media and the right to report. In the Philipines, Nonoy Espina, chairman of NUJP points at the incidence of harassment and threats that results in increased self-censorship among journalists. This tends to detract greatly from the quality of coverage, both of the election process and of candidates, although shallow reporting has also been a perennial problem he says. There is a cacophony of voices shouting everywhere. Disinformation is the biggest threat to any election process no matter how well the electoral framework is organized, and South Africa is no exception says Tuwani Gumani, general secretary of Media Workers' Association of South Africa (MWASA). We noted a trend from politicians to systematically disqualify the work of journalists who publish information they dont agree with , said Sophie Lejoly, deputy General Secretary at AJP, Belgium. The IFJ's new tips on elections reporting combine professional ethics and safety tips to support journalists around the world. Raising standards in journalism to levels of public expectations during elections campaign is more relevant than ever before, in the current climate of fake news fuelling misinformation on increasingly influential social networks. At the same time, covering elections carries some safety risks, which journalists need to assess, prevent and reduce. says Philippe Leruth. The federation recalls that 15 journalists have been killed this year while carrying their jobs. Before the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, it took UK companies an average of 60 days to realise they had been the victim of a data breach. One business took 1,320 days to report. Nine out of 10 reports submitted to the Information Commissioner's Office were missing critical details; for instance, the date the breach occurred. A common criticism of European regulation in general one that often appears on the pages of this magazine, in fact is that it purports to solve a problem that didn't previously exist. From providing increased transparency to investors who couldn't care less to forcing banks to shore up obscene amounts of capital that may not even help them with a specific, unknown problem that arises on a given rainy day at some point in the future, many argue that such rules are a mere representation of the tail wagging the dog. But these statistics make that argument difficult in the context of the GDPR. In fact, for data and technology in general, the dog is very clearly in control. Again, for many, their contempt of post-crisis regulation is that it is only capable of preventing future crises if they look exactly like the last one. Huge warehouses of liquid capital won't help banks back on their feet if it's not a capital shortage they're faced with. Yet any self-respecting list or discussion of the biggest risks to global financial stability is not complete without a mention of cybersecurity and the world's vulnerability to the multitude of threats posed by hackers. It's no secret that regulators have long struggled to keep up with the sheer scale of big tech and the accompanying risks. But from the GDPR to competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager's valiant work that saw Google pay Ireland 13 billion in back taxes, European regulators are at least trying to get a handle on it. Arguably the most common refrain on the GDPR in particular is that it's a step into the unknown. Last May it succeeded the 1995 Data Protection Directive, which was drafted when many of Silicon Valley's top executives were still in nappies. Given the progress made in tech over the past 25 years, tackling something new should not be a bad thing. By forcing firms to report data breaches within a set period of time and threatening to hit them where it really hurts, with up to four percent of global turnover at stake, European regulators are leading the way globally in protecting the data of their citizens. Plus, the Commission has already shown it's serious on data protection, and may only just be getting started. In less than a year since implementation more than 200,000 cases have already been reported, and Google leader of the pack, as ever has already been hit with a 50 million fine. Say what you like about EU regulators, but when it comes to facing down one of the most significant threats to economic security, they mean business. 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs. Share this article If you want to start a business, they say you're better off selling aspirin than vitamins. Selling aspirin of course is a metaphor for curing headaches -- a deeply felt pain that customers are very willing to pay to fix right now. Selling vitamins is more about selling a nice-to-have. The pain point just isn't as deeply felt. List all the pain points in life, and there are few more acute than what a mother or father feels when his or her child is in need. It never really goes away, I think, no matter how old your kids get. But, I think it's most acute when your children are young -- especially if you're a first-time parent. That's part of what makes the new parent market worth a reported $70 billion market in the U.S. alone. It also means it's a market ripe for scammers, or at least for potentially dangerous products that wind up doing the exact opposite of what parents hope. Inc.'s Jeff Bercovici tells the story of Jon Sumroy, a British-born pharmacist-turned-inventor living in Israel, who launched an Indiegogo campaign a child's booster seat, for use in cars, that folded down to the size of a paperback book. He's not the scammer in the story; he's the good guy. In fact, Sumroy had to use aircraft grade metals to make his Mifold car seats secure enough to pass safety regulations in countries around the world. But, no sooner did he get to market, than he started seeing plastic knockoffs on Amazon. So, Sumroy bought a bunch of the knockoffs, ran them through through a crash test, and did a video exposing them. He's had some success getting them taken off Amazon. But not 100 percent, and that means there are likely some parents out there, desperate for a safe, portable kid's booster seat -- who are going around with a danger they know nothing about. It's not supposed to be like this, right? In the U.S., we're supposed to have good regulatory agencies that root this kind of thing for us. But that system is under fire. Last month, the Consumer Products Safety Commission said Fisher-Price was recalling 4.7 million of its Rock 'n' Play sleepers. It seems like the responsible thing -- but then, you see that both Consumer Reports and the American Academy of Pediatrics had been urging the product be recalled for years beforehand -- saying that it had caused the death of at least 32 infants. It all adds up to something very scary. It's hard to believe that in 2019, it's up to the parents, sleep deprived as they probably are when their children are that young, to beware of unsafe from famous companies products and ripoffs from scammers. In 2015, Jon Sumroy, a British-born pharmacist-turned-inventor living in Israel, posted an Indiegogo campaign for his new product concept, a child's booster seat, for use in cars, that folded down to the size of a paperback book. Sumroy was looking for $40,000 to fund its development. It took his campaign all of three hours to reach that amount in pledges, and topping the stretch goal of $500,000 wasn't much harder. Before it was all over, he had raised $2.6 million for his startup, which he called Mifold. While crowdfunding is a great way for inventors like Sumroy to market-test ideas, it's also a useful tool for less ethical entrepreneurs to discover unsatisfied pockets of consumer demand. So it was unsurprising when Sumroy started seeing copycat products popping up on Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com, and AliExpress. Unsurprising, but quite alarming. Mifold had spent a considerable sum on research and development to figure out how to get a small, lightweight piece of equipment to comply with the stringent demands of regulations that govern safety devices like infant car seats, such as U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213. The answer involved expensive materials like aircraft-grade aluminum and plastic polymers developed for use in military equipment. "We found it was the only way to make these products strong enough to withstand the forces of a collision," he says. Suspecting the me-too versions were cutting corners to achieve their considerably lower prices than the Mifold, which retails for $35, Sumroy has purchased several and paid for them to undergo crash testing. "Every single one of them has failed," he says. "These things just break, or fall to pieces." You can watch one of the ersatz seats failing a crash test in a video Sumroy made to highlight the issue. In it, he pulls copycats apart with his hands to show how the manufacturer of one product attempted to mimic the look of the Mifold's hardened-steel lap belt guides by slapping metallic stickers over flimsy plastic. "It's definitely a safety problem," he says. "If people unwitting buy one of these, they're assuming it's going to protect their kids in an accident. But if they're ever relying on it, it definitely won't." On Amazon.com, which accounts for about half of the e-commerce sales in the U.S., Mifold operates as a vendor, meaning it wholesales its products to Amazon, which then retails them to consumers. Like other wholesalers selling regulated children's products, Mifold is required to produce documentation to show it complies with regulations like FMVSS No. 213. Invariably, however, the wannabe Mifold makers reach Amazon's massive customer base through a different route: its third-party marketplace. Because sellers on the Marketplace don't have to provide the same sorts of certifications Amazon and other retailers require, it's popular with counterfeiters and other shady manufacturers, often based in China, because it allows them to ignore laws meant to compel safety testing, product labeling, disclosure of restricted chemicals, and the like. An Inc. investigation recently turned up a number of dangerous children's and baby products, including pacifiers that broke apart in babies' mouths and pool floats that were listed for sale despite an official ban. With car seats, there's no need for imagination to grasp the dangers. "You're buying a child safety device that is supposed to protect your child from one of the biggest killers of children," says Joseph Colella, director of child passenger safety at the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. To prepare for a recent presentation before a group of safety technicians on the prevalence of dangerous vehicle restraint systems for children, Colella reviewed offerings on Amazon, eBay, and Walmart. "There were at least half a dozen I found within 10 minutes that were noncompliant devices being sold as car seats," he says. "I could tell some of them were noncompliant just from looking at the pictures" -- for instance, those that used plastic clips as fasteners, instead of metal buckles. Engineering like that falls far short of the requirements of FVMSS No. 213, which dictates things like how much force materials must be able to withstand without breakage and how much parts can shift or reposition in a collision. Makers of car seats and booster seats must certify they meet these requirements and submit to periodic verification by the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration. Most states also mandate 213-compliant car seats for small children, which means unwitting owners of shoddy knockoffs could, in theory, be ticketed for them. A related problem, says Colella, is products that aren't intended to be used as car seats in the first place but are marketed as alternatives. This "Convertible Car Baby Safety-Seat Cushion" claims to offer "the safety of traditional car seat [sic]," to be suitable for babies as young as one year, and to be "engineered & rigorously crash tested to meet or exceed US Standard FMVSS 213." The listing's product photos include a poorly photoshopped image of an infant strapped into one, with no other protection, in the back seat of a car. Yet the product itself is nothing but a fabric pad with straps. To use it as the only child restraint for a child of any age would go against all the guidelines established by the NHTSA. A crash-test video graphically illustrates the utter lack of protection such a device would afford in a collision. In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said the company requires sellers on its marketplace to agree to policies that include complying with relevant safety regulations. "When necessary, we take action against sellers who violate our policies and threaten our customer experience," reads the statement. "Policy violations can result in cancellation of listings, removal of selling privileges, withholding of funds, and legal action, depending on its severity." But by policing dangerous products in its marketplace only on an ad hoc basis -- rather than demanding proof of safety up front, as it does with wholesalers -- Amazon makes it possible to sell children's safety devices that are lethal to children. "We assume, 'OK, it's coming from Amazon, it's coming from Walmart, these are the brands I trust. I'm going to purchase it,'" Brittany Joplin, a car seat technician for St. Luke's in Boise, told the public radio show Idaho Matters after discovering counterfeit car seats being used to transport newborns home from the hospital. "But because it's coming from a third-party vendor, they don't regulate it. They don't watch for these products that are putting children in danger." Sumroy says he has been mostly successful getting dangerous Mifold clones off Amazon -- but only because the makers are usually incautious enough to use his intellectual property in their product listings. "We don't have a way of talking to anybody at Amazon," he says. "Unless we have a legitimate claim based on breach of patent or trademark or design, they tend to reject them. I can't find a way of saying, 'Look at this crash test video, this car seat falls to pieces with this six-year-old crash test dummy.'" Like other entrepreneurs who contend with the scammers and knockoff artists swarming on Amazon, Sumroy is happy to see the company getting more serious about the problem. But to treat fake, faulty car seats as just another product category that can be managed with a low-touch, automated approach -- to treat it as a matter of "customer experience" -- is courting disaster. Starting and running a business is fraught with challenges and risks, yet some 25 million Americans rise up to meet these hurdles every year, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Why do they do it? The answers run the gamut from enticing opportunity at one end of the spectrum, to stark necessity at the other. In a recent survey, the two most common motivations cited were, "ready to be my own boss" and "wanted to pursue my passion." But no matter what their individual reasons for taking the plunge, business owners all share one important characteristic: they are difference makers. Being a difference maker is inherent in the very nature of what you do as a business owner. Some entrepreneurs see an unmet need in the marketplace and decide to fill it. Some look at existing products or services and imagine ways to provide them better, faster, cheaper--or all three! But, all business owners believe that what they are doing, or plan to do, is going to make a difference in people's lives, including their own. They are driven to continuously improve themselves and the world around them in new and different ways. At Lenovo, we share that mindset because, like you, we believe that different leads to better. We are dedicated to providing the technology, services, and support you need on your journey to make a difference, and this eBook is a part of that effort. Technology and food incubators are just two of the reasons Cleveland, a Rust Belt city, is booming. Here's everything you need to know about its startup scene, from the most interesting up-and-coming startups, to where to rub elbows over cayenne-infused juice or a Singapore Sling. Startup Neighborhoods Trendy Ohio City is an entrepreneurial hotbed with indie boutiques, about a dozen craft breweries, and two popular co-working spaces: Beauty Shoppe, in the circa-1876 Seymour Building, and Limelight, which houses mobile payment app Mezu and Wisr, a networking platform for college alumni. Cleveland has worked hard to shed its "Mistake on the Lake" reputation, especially downtown, where millions have gone toward converting empty office buildings into lofts, retail space, and restaurants. In the Terminal Tower on Public Square, co-working space StartMart hosts 24 businesses, along with its own accelerator and micro venture capital firm Flashstarts. $66,409 Average salary for a software developer in Cleveland. Source: Glassdoor 68 Number of medical device, health IT and services, and biotech exits in Northeast Ohio since 2001. Source: BioEnterprise $5.6 billion Approximate value of Cleveland's biomedical sector. Source: BioEnterprise East of downtown, St. Clair-Superior is a once-blighted area now on the upswing. Tyler Village, a sprawling industrial campus, hosts Cleveland Flea, a weekend bonanza of 170-plus vendors, along with eclectic small businesses, like vinyl pressing plant Gotta Groove Records and frozen-fruit-pop maker Chill Pop. Where to Talk Shop For your caffeine and grease fixes, grab a nitro cold brew on tap at local roaster Phoenix Coffee Company and a Reuben pizza at Masthead Brewing Company on Superior Avenue--and then, to undo it all, detox with a cayenne-infused Immunity juice at Restore Cold Pressed. After work, hit Porco Lounge & Tiki Room, near the historic Tremont neighborhood, for a Singapore Sling. Less than 10 minutes east is the Spotted Owl, where founders gab over $2 Miller Lites. Scarf an open-faced Sloppy Joseph at TownHall, the city's first non-GMO restaurant, and then cap the night with a Chillwave Double IPA at Great Lakes Brewing Co. Red Flags Because it's spread out geographically, "Cleveland has a density problem," says Paul McAvinchey, co-founder of Product Collective, a media startup that hosts an annual three-day conference for software developers. "You're not likely to often bump into people who might help you." Matt Rodak, founder of Fund That Flip, a startup that offers short-term loans to house flippers, says the number of investors in Cleveland remains small, so do the math: "Some will say maybe," Rodak says of investors, "and even fewer will say yes." The Players "Until we met Lynn-Ann Gries, our pitch meetings in Cleveland were with men," says Chill Pop co-founder Elizabeth Pryor. Over the course of Gries's career, the JumpStart co-founder has invested in more than 90 companies--including Chill Pop--and now, along with managing a New Hampshire-based venture fund, gets female entrepreneurs in front of Cleveland-based women investors. Ed Buchholz, co-founder and managing director of Start in CLE, a nonprofit devoted to growing the city's entrepreneurial community, is a veteran of Northeast Ohio's software scene. He's mentored outbound sales platform Growbots, ran ExpenseBot, and serves as managing director of Bounce Innovation Hub in Akron. Charu Ramanathan co-founded CardioInsight, a noninvasive cardiac mapping system she sold to Medtronic for $93 million in 2015. The Case Western grad has since launched more companies, most recently Vitalxchange, a social network for health care consumers, and Lokyata, a global lending platform. "Charu is relentless," says Aram Nerpouni, the CEO of BioEnterprise, a Northeast Ohio startup accelerator. Companies to Watch Platform Beer Co., co-owned by Paul Benner and Justin Carson, uses data to power its mini brewing empire, which includes four unique taprooms in the state's biggest metros and a steady flow of new small-batch beers. Yuval Brisker, who sold TOA Technologies to Oracle in 2014, co-founded Mezu, which has raised $10 million to engineer the ultimate fintech fantasy: allowing people to give and send money anonymously, without sharing their personal information. Prerevenue startup Augment Therapy, founded by longtime physical therapist Lindsay Watson, uses augmented reality--via a video game--to get kids doing targeted physical therapy. Talent Pipeline Alumni of Case Western Reserve University's startup incubator, Sears think[box], include FGC Plasma Solutions, which aims to improve jet engine efficiency with plasma, Beauty and the Bolt, a STEM nonprofit geared toward young girls, and Lumen Polymer, which invented a bandage that comes off easily after exposure to ultraviolet light. Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are renowned for bringing biomedical and health IT startups to market, including Cleveland HeartLab, a cardiovascular diagnostic testing company acquired by Quest Diagnostics in 2017. Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen hosts a new manufacturing and warehouse space, Cleveland Food Hub, and has helped launch some 200 food startups since 2013. They include Cleveland Kraut, which wooed its first backer while handing out eight-ounce tubs of sauerkraut to tailgaters at a Browns game. They're now sold at Target and Whole Foods. Recent Exits LED lighting technology company Mr Beams to Ring, now owned by Amazon, for an undisclosed sum (2018) Electronic prior-authorization service CoverMyMeds to health care distributor McKesson, for $1.3 billion (2017) Health care cloud-computing platform Explorys to IBM, for an undisclosed sum (2015) Notable Funding $145.7 million BioMotiv (pharmaceutical accelerator) $59.1 million ViewRay (MRI-guided radiation therapy) Even America's busiest CEOs make time for good reads. But it's not exactly leisure reading--many business leaders see books as crucial for helping them run their companies. Call it brain fuel or creative inspiration. Here are five must-reads as recommended by the CEOs of some of America's fastest-growing private companies. 1. Good to Great by Jim Collins --Kevin Lustig, Scientist.com, No. 9 on the Inc. 5000 "I found that I absolutely resonated with almost everything in there," says Lustig, the CEO and founder of the Solana Beach, California-based online health care marketplace. It's a fairly quick read that analyzes successful companies and their CEOs. The author emphasizes that truly great companies do not have "flashy CEOs who go around beating their chest" like they are celebrities, Lustig says. "The best CEOs are the ones that realize that it's the employees that do all the heavy lifting and that they're there to build the culture." 2. Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan and John King --Justin Quinn, Natural Force, No. 431 on the Inc. 5000 Quinn says this book taught him that leadership is the one skill that can't be outsourced. Quinn's co-founder, Joe Rakoski, says that Tribal Leadership is now required reading for all new team members at the Jacksonville, Florida-based fitness supplement company. "The more leadership you can foster throughout all arms of your business, the easier it will be to continue to scale your businesses' growth," Rakoski says. "And you better get damn good at empowering others if you hope to navigate fast growth," Quinn adds. 3. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries --Patrick Vihtelic, Home Chef, No. 3 on the Inc. 5000 Eric Ries's seminal business book inspired the Chicago-based meal kit company founder to make the leap into entrepreneurship. Vihtelic says he read it shortly after it came out in 2011, "as I was more seriously considering making a transition out of finance and into the entrepreneurial world." In 2013, he started his company with those thrifty principles in mind. In 2017, his company booked nearly $255 million in revenue, a 60,166 percent jump since 2014. 4. What Does It All Mean by Thomas Nagel --David Barnett, PopSockets, No. 2 on the Inc. 5000 This is no business book. The author is frank in his attempt to analyze philosophical theories. The first sentence of the book reads, "This book is a brief introduction to philosophy for people who don't know the first thing about the subject." For Barnett, a former philosophy teacher, suggesting this book makes sense: "It touches quickly on some central problems of philosophy," the founder of the Boulder, Colorado-based cellphone-grip maker says. "It will get the mind going." 5. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing --Mark Gallagher, GForce Life Sciences, No. 8 on the Inc. 5000 "It's about overcoming tremendous odds," says the founder of the Chicago-based biotech staffing firm. Gallagher says the story resonated with his own personal experience with struggling. GForce is the founder's second business. He got pushed out of his first staffing firm, which he co-founded with his cousin in 1987. EXPLORE MORE Inc. 5000 COMPANIES A newly-identified sketch of Leonardo da Vinci is to go on public display for the first time at Buckingham Palace. The drawing of a bearded man is believed to be one of only two surviving portraits made during the artists life time. Martin Clayton, head of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection, uncovered the image while examining papers stored in Windsor Castle. He identified it as a study of Leonardo made by an unidentified assistant shortly before the artists death, aged 67, in 1519. The only other contemporary portrait was made at around the same time by Leonardos pupil Francesco Melzi, the expert said. Another drawing in Turin is widely believed to be a self-portrait of the Italian master but Mr Clayton and other experts have questioned the claim. Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Show all 5 1 /5 Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Early sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting The Last Supper PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Studies of hands for Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo Da Vinci PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Studies of the fetus in the womb by Leonardi Da Vinci PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies A drawing that has recently been confirmed as a portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies The only other known contemporary portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, by his student Francesco Melzi PA If you compare this sketch with Francesco Melzis portrait of Leonardo, you can see strong indications that this too is a depiction of the artist, said Mr Clayton. The elegant straight nose, the line of the beard rising diagonally up the cheek to the ear, a ringlet falling from the moustache at the corner of the mouth, and the long wavy hair are all exactly as Melzi showed them in his portrait. Alongside Melzis portrait, this is the only other contemporary likeness of Leonardo. Recommended Da Vinci becomes most expensive painting in history Mr Clayton said Leonardo was aged around 65 in the sketch and appeared a little melancholy and world-weary. He knew that he was dying, the expert added. A paralysis had struck his right arm, he could no longer paint he could still draw and he knew that his body was failing. He added: Leonardo was renowned for his well-kept and luxuriant beard, at a time when relatively few men were bearded though the beard was rapidly coming into fashion at this time. The portrait appears on a double-sided sheet of paper bearing Leonardos detailed studies of a horses leg for an equestrian monument. Art historian Kenneth Clark suggested that it was just conceivable that the portrait was of da Vinci when he compiled a scholarly catalogue of the drawings in the collection in 1968. But the Royal Collection Trust said the suggestion went no further and it has only been positively identified during Mr Claytons research. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events It will be displayed alongside 200 drawings by the artist in an exhibition at the Queens Gallery from 24 May. Other highlights include Leonardos studies for The Adoration of the Magi painting and The Last Supper. In November a selection of 80 drawings will move to the Queens Gallery in Edinburgh for the largest exhibition of da Vincis works shown in Scotland. Additional reporting by Press Association Everyone in Criccieth seems to know Jan Morris, even the waitress at the local fish restaurant. Have you met Jan before? she asks as Morris materialises from what, due to a trick of the light, looks to be the ocean itself, clouds of white hair wafting and fluffing around her face. Morris is 92 and walks carefully, with the help of a cane. She has lived in this corner of north Wales a three-plus hour train ride from London, and then another 45 minutes by car for most of her life. In Britain, she is a renowned and beloved essayist, historian, journalist and chronicler of places, the author of more than four dozen books, but it wasnt until her latest work, In My Minds Eye, was serialised on BBC radio last autumn that many of her neighbours realised there was a celebrity in their midst. Morris has lived many lives, and it is impossible to separate who she is now from who she was before: James Humphrey Morris, who was born in 1926 in Somerset, England, and whose education and career were typical of privileged Englishmen at the time. Morris was a choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, served in the 9th Queens Royal Lancers during the waning years of the Second World War, and at age 23, met and married Elizabeth Tuckniss, the daughter of a tea planter. They raised four children together (a fifth died in infancy). Morris worked as a journalist specialising in splashy, intrepid assignments for The Times. In 1953, an exclusive account of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgays historic ascent of Mount Everest turned Morris into that rare thing, a famous journalist, because of how exciting and competitive the story was and how physically dangerous to cover. I was three or four years old when I realised that I had been born into the wrong body Morris A different sort of fame would come in 1972 when, after a lifetime of feeling trapped inside a body that felt as if it belonged to someone else, Morris travelled to Casablanca, Morocco, and underwent gender-reassignment surgery. She was 46. It was an extraordinarily bold thing to do. Few people at the time understood what such a transition entailed, let alone knew anyone who had one. I was three or perhaps four years old when I realised that I had been born into the wrong body, and should really be a girl, the author, now known as Jan, wrote later in Conundrum, her account of her struggle to reconcile body and spirit. Freed from the constraints of her old body, and freed perhaps of the expectations that come with being a male writer, Morris shifted into a different sort of writing, writing lyrical non-fiction books about places (Venice, Trieste and Oxford, among others) and history, including Pax Britannica, a three-volume history of the British Empire. The biggest constant in her life has been Elizabeth, who was first her wife and then her ex-wife same-sex marriage was illegal in Britain in 1972 and is now her legal civil partner, her closest companion for more than 70 years. The couple settled here in Wales; Elizabeth mostly stayed home and Morris lived a peripatetic existence, travelling and writing and then travelling again. At lunch, wrestling with a pizza and sipping a glass of wine, Morris is looking back at her life from the vantage point of her 93rd year and reminiscing about the Everest expedition. Jan Morris was the first reporter to break the news that Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing had conquered Mount Everest (PA) Covering the story required being embedded with the Everest team, climbing 17,900 feet to base camp for word from the summit, and then, thrillingly, sending a coded telegram via runner to announce the news to the world. Morris felt a kinship with the rest of the expedition, she says, that never really went away. It altered my life so much, Morris says. And now Im the only surviving member of the expedition, and I miss them all. When Hillary died, in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2008, the New Zealand government flew her and Elizabeth there to mark the significance of their shared history. Morris now lives in the difficult, vexing, preoccupying land of what she calls extreme old age. Although longevity has made her more interesting, she thinks, it is not so fun when there is too much of it. She is no longer able to travel much, for instance, and has had to curtail her old wanderlust. Old age is a great mistake, she says. But the remark comes with such a disarming smile and so much charm. In My Minds Eye a collection of mini-essays, written one per day over the course of many months reveals that her writing is just as elegant and erudite, and her mind just as supple, playful, curious, rigorous, humorous and surprising as ever. The essays range wildly, touching on, among other things, the superiority of her car; the beauty of Welsh rainbows; the felicity of the word anathema; the question of whether absolute truth in recollection is possible; the madness of contemporary politics; and the transcendent mundanity of family life. She also writes about the importance of kindness, to each other and to nature. When she sees a bug in the house, Morris ushers it to safety; when she inadvertently kills a woodlouse, as she recounts in a scene in the book, she apologises. Thats the very last thing I wanted to do to an old friend, she says to the dead woodlouse, as it disappears down the drain. Its so simple, and everyone agrees with it, she says at lunch, of being kind. If you could make it the basis for all society, how lovely it would be. To me gender is not physical at all Morris Morris is a handsome woman, tall and formidable, wearing a butter-yellow coat over a pair of trousers and sweater. She is impatient with questions about transgender politics, possibly because she made peace with her own decisions so long ago. Having reached her age and lived for equal amounts of time as a man and as a woman, she says, the transition she made so long ago somehow feels less relevant. Ive never believed it to be quite as important as everyone made it out to be, she says. I believe in the soul and the spirit more than the body. Or, as she writes in Conundrum: To me gender is not physical at all, but is altogether insubstantial. It is soul, perhaps, it is talent, it is taste, it is environment, it is how one feels, it is light and shade, it is inner music, it is a spring in ones stem or an exchange of glances, it is more truly life and love than any combination of genitals, ovaries and hormones. In reading Conundrum, youre struck (among other things) by the good humour, practicality and non-judgemental nature of Morriss friends and colleagues. Back then, most people seemed to accept her transformation with equanimity, in some cases because they genuinely thought it was none of their business or were too British to bring it up. Gender politics doesnt seem to intrude too often around here, either, and Morriss unconventional history has been at once extraordinary and perfectly normal to her neighbours, she says. Ive lived two genders, and in this part of Wales they havent twitched at all. Morris is happily working on another book of journal entries, though her age has given her the licence to select only what she wants to do. In Minds Eye she recounts her response when offered a writing assignment: Its very kind of you to think of me, but to be honest I cant be bothered. (To which the editor replied, Bravo!) She also has another book of essays, meant for posthumous publication. Its quite a nice book, but I dont know why I have decided that this particular one shall be my last, she says. Everyone thinks its because I have a flaming revelation. I wish I had, but I havent. Morriss deep love of Elizabeth, her lifelong companion, has run like a golden thread through the conversation. When they first met, they so delighted in each others company that when Elizabeth took the bus to work, Morris would ride with her so the two could keep talking. But now Elizabeth is suffering from dementia, what Morris calls that subtle demon of our time, and it is a difficult time for a couple who have always shared everything. Morris prefers not to dwell on it, but it is clear that it weighs heavily. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events It has made both of them by turns bewildered and grumpy and scared, she says. But kindness reconciles us still, Morris writes in Minds Eye. In all our long years together, in life as in love, we have not once said good night without the sweet kiss of reconciliation. They have already had a headstone made for the grave they will eventually share. It is sitting under the stairs in their house. It says, in both Welsh and English: Here are two friends, at the end of one life. New York Times Lily Collins has suggested she was visited by the spirits of some of Ted Bundys victims as she prepared to film a biopic about the serial killer. The actor plays Bundys former girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which wiill be released on 3 May on Netflix across the world. She told The Guardian that as she prepared for to portray Kloepfer, she began waking up at 3:05am every night. Ultimately, she started being woken up by flashes of images, like the aftermath of a struggle, as she told the newspaper. Collins did some online research about the situation and said she found out that 3am is the time when the veil between the realms is the thinnest and one can be visited. Best films of 2019 (so far) Show all 49 1 /49 Best films of 2019 (so far) Best films of 2019 (so far) The Favourite Macabre and fraught though The Favourite gets, this isnt so much a film about sex or power as it is about plain mischief. Its a hilarious, buffoonish pleasure, right down to the sets and costume design, and a breeze to spend 120 minutes with. Christopher Hooton Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Beautiful Boy Casting Chalamet as Nic was a very clever move. The young actor from Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird has a natural charm and charisma. He still engages an audiences curiosity and sympathy even when his behaviour is at its most selfish and erratic. Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) The House by the Sea Guediguians storytelling style is deceptive. At first, it seems as if this is low-key social realism in the Dardennes or Ken Loach mould, albeit set on the French Riviera. Gradually, though, we realise how stylised and theatrical his approach really is. Geoffrey Macnab Best films of 2019 (so far) Stan & Ollie Director Jon S Baird, whose previous film was scabrous Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth, wrings every last drop of pathos he can from his material. This is very much a case of the tears of the clowns. Geoffrey Macnab Entertainment One Best films of 2019 (so far) Vice Vice is bravura storytelling. McKay isnt only taking us through Cheneys life and career but is giving us a whistle stop tour through US politics from the Nixon administration almost right to the present day. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Can You Ever Forgive Me? Playing Lee Israel, McCarthy manages something very special: she makes a character who is odd, obnoxious, difficult and alcoholic seem lovable and even heroic. The rest of the world is at fault, not Lee. Geoffrey Macnab Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Green Book "Green Book flatters the audience about its own good sense and tolerance. It deals with racism and homophobia but still has a fairytale, fantasy feel to it. Whatever humiliations Don endures on their road trip, we know no real harm will ever come to him as long as Tony is at his side. Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Velvet Buzzsaw The golden age of bonkers horror movies is gloriously evoked by Netflixs latest feature length presentation. Beginning as a satire of the arts world, Velvet Buzzsaw swiftly and gleefully descends into a savage splatter-fest, smeared in paint, viscera and garishly-bright blood. Ed Power Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) If Beale Street Could Talk The setting is New York in the 1970s. Anyone who has watched Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver knows this was an era of violence, corruption and sleaze on a monumental level, but [Barry] Jenkins somehow makes the city seem like a modern-day Eden. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) All Is True Written by Ben Elton and directed by its star Kenneth Branagh, the film plays so fast and loose with the playwrights final years that they neednt have bothered fitting Branagh with a prosthetic nose accuracy is clearly not the priority here. Alexandra Pollard Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is the doomed progeny of a celebrated genius brilliant but slightly stunted by the knowledge they will never live up to their predecessor. Clarisse Loughrey Warner Bros. Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Piercing Nicolas Pesces sleek and stylish horror comedy is repulsive and funny by turns. In adapting Ryu Murakamis cult novel, Pesce strikes just the right balance between humour and Grand Guignol-style shock tactics. Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Capernaum "The best moments here are remarkable. Labaki elicits an astonishing performance from her young lead. Hes an irrepressible figure with such an inbuilt sense of moral decency the film seems upbeat and optimistic, even at its darkest moments. Geoffrey Macnab Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The White Crow "Ralph Fiennes combines thriller elements with poetic flashbacks to ballet legend Rudolf Nureyevs childhood and keeps a tight focus on the dancer. When he is most at risk, Nureyev makes decisions with his artistic future more in mind than his personal safety. As Fiennes reminds us again and again in what is his best film yet as a director, the 'white crow' will do anything to put himself in the limelight, the one place he is convinced he belongs." StudioCanal Best films of 2019 (so far) Border "Border reverses the perspective taken by most other horror films. In more conventional genre fare, Tina and Vore would be portrayed as malevolent outsiders, but in the world conjured up by director Ali Abbasi, the humans are the monsters. Tina is the innocent a visionary who hardly understands her own powers but who can sense human venality and corruption wherever it appears." TriArt Film Best films of 2019 (so far) Fighting with My Family "Certain scenes feel very trite and predictable but the film gets you in a choke hold early on and wont let you go. It is far more gripping than its subject matter might suggest. Who ever would believe a story about a wrestling family from Norwich could have quite such heart and resonance?" James Field Best films of 2019 (so far) Us "Doppelgangers abound in Jordan Peeles weird, creepy and ingenious new horror film. As in his Oscar-winning 2017 feature Get Out, Peele leavens matters with ironic humour but the joking becomes increasingly uncomfortable once the main characters come face to face with dark shadows of themselves which wish them extreme harm." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Avengers: Endgame "The Avengers cycle comes to a rich and very satisfying conclusion with Endgame, surely the most complex and emotional superhero movie in Marvel history. At 181 minutes, this is a veritable epic, but with so many characters and plot strands, it fully warrants its lengthy running time." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Eighth Grade "Its a rare and precious feeling when a film completely dismantles you. Eighth Grade the directorial debut of US comedian Bo Burnham breaks down every delusion we have about ourselves and burrows deep into those parts weve made such an effort to lock away. You may cry. You may shudder as every awkward social interaction thats kept you up at night replays in your head all at once. You may feel the sharp pain associated with those moments when you feel completely isolated from the world. Burnham may have crafted a simple story about the most ordinary of teenage girls, but it speaks with the emotions of a true cinematic epic." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Vox Lux "Natalie Portman gives her fiercest, most memorable performance since Black Swan in Brady Corbets enjoyably subversive satire about a troubled pop star whose loss of innocence mirrors the fall from grace of the US itself. Portmans character, Celeste, is certainly one of the most objectionable figures she has played: a pampered, hard-drinking drug-taking floozy whose appearance and high-handed behaviour rekindle memories of Liz Taylor and Joan Crawford at their monstrous worst." Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) High Life Robert Pattinson gives one of his most striking performances as Monte, the death-row criminal in outer space, tricked into making a voyage described at one stage as a class-one suicide ride. The former Twilight star makes his shaven-headed, gaunt-faced character seem hyper naturally sensitive and feral at the same time. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Amazing Grace Amazing Grace is as uplifting a film as you will see all year. Its a concert movie filmed over two nights and featuring Aretha Franklin, the first lady of soul, performing gospel standards in a church in Los Angeles in 1972, with a huge backing choir and an enthusiastic congregation. Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) Aladdin Disneys live-action remake of its 1992 animated feature is a rip-roaring, old-fashioned matinee-style spectacle that turns out far better than we had any right to expect. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Booksmart Olivia Wilde is a visually inventive director, who keeps the tempo here so brisk that we hardly notice how glib the storytelling sometimes becomes. We can tell exactly how the film will end, but it still feels original both in its screwball energy and in the deft way it continually reverses stereotypes and gender cliches. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Late Night Late Night is a caustic satirical comedy that turns into an unlikely tearjerker. Its by turns snide and uplifting, and often very funny too. Its writer/producer/star Mindy Kaling makes vicious observations about the inanity, narcissism and corruption of the mainstream US media at the same time as she celebrates the professionalism of many of those who work within it. The film has a glorious performance from Emma Thompson and a very sly one from Kaling. Thompson is at her most imperious as Katherine Newbury, a legendary entertainer, the only female in a male-dominated field, but one whose career is beginning to slide. Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) Gloria Bell Gloria Bell is somewhat exhausting both unbearably intimate and at a constant remove but it is endlessly pulled back into focus by Moore, who has a firm understanding of the delicate balance between contentment and yearning, joy and pain, recklessness and spontaneity. In a remake that could have felt indulgent in the hands of people less skilled, she more than justifies its existence. Geoffrey Macnab Curzon Best films of 2019 (so far) Toy Story 4 "The brilliance of the new film lies in the surefooted way it caters both for children too young to have seen its predecessors and for adults whove grown up (or grown older) watching the previous instalments. It takes some kind of genius for the Pixar animators to give such a searing emotional charge to a story in which one of the main characters is a single use plastic spork retrieved from the trash." Pixar/Disney Best films of 2019 (so far) In Fabric In Fabric feels like Peter Strickland at his most free and playful, drawing as much from the British sense of humour dry and morbid to a fault as from Italian glamour. Curzon Artificial Eye Best films of 2019 (so far) The Flood "Perhaps The Flood isnt quite the urgent, profound film a crisis of this scale deserves, but in a culture where refugees are so rarely shown any empathy in mainstream media, maybe this is the film we need right now." Best films of 2019 (so far) Midsommar "Ari Aster's follow-up to Hereditary serves up much of the same: its a break-up movie wrapped up in pagan horror. Its also bound to be one of this years most memorable films, proving that Aster is far from a one-hit wonder." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lion King "The Lion King is undoubtedly a technological marvel that, much like Avatar, will come to be viewed as a milestone in special effects history, yet its just as interesting to see how all this innovation has been employed." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Varda by Agnes "For a film thats almost entirely narrated by Agnes Varda's own voice, it doesnt feel driven by ego, but by pure intellectual and emotional curiosity." Best films of 2019 (so far) Animals "Animals treats its subjects with patience and generosity. Youll find no life lessons here. Its main characters are free to pursue their desires, to whatever end." Best films of 2019 (so far) Blinded by the Light "Blinded by the Light offers not only a reminder of Springsteens lyrical genius, but of how hes always served as a beacon for the disenfranchised." Warner Brothers Best films of 2019 (so far) Good Boys Lined up against some of this years other more heartfelt offerings, including Booksmart, Good Boys offers further proof that putting a little humanity in our comedy always gets the best results. Best films of 2019 (so far) Hustlers "Hustlers is an electrifying response to the deluge of stories weve had over the years about very rich, very bad dudes. Finally, we can turn the tables on every film thats used women, specifically strippers, as decorative accessories to drape over businessmen as they conduct their illicit backroom meetings. Or, failing that, to shake their out-of-focus tits in the background of a shot." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) For Sama For Sama is one of the most profoundly intimate depictions of the Syrian conflict ever put to film. Its the push to help those on the outside process something so incomprehensible in the depth of its horrors. Republic Film Distribution Best films of 2019 (so far) Ad Astra The real drama here is not whether or not apocalypse can be avoided but whether Brad Pitts character can reconcile himself with his father and overcome his own extreme emotional repression. In other words, in spite of all the jargon and the hardware, this is an intimate family melodrama at heart. Thanks to Pitts performance and Grays delicate direction, it turns into a very moving one. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) The Farewell Wrapped up in all the intricacies of immigrant identity and family politics, The Farewell is a comedy of warmth and bracing honesty. Simply put, its one of the best films of the year. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Judy This is Renee Zellwegers Judy. It doesnt belong to Rupert Goold, its director. Nor does it belong to Tom Edge, its screenwriter. Its a performance of such overwhelming force that it wrests authorship from every other hand that guided the films creation. Pathe Best films of 2019 (so far) Ready or Not As absurd and self-indulgent as Ready or Not can get, it doesnt mess around with its social commentary. The class system is the game we never asked to play, dont get a fair chance at, and have no hope of winning. Its a timeless metaphor. 20th Century Fox Best films of 2019 (so far) A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Despite its mouthful of a title, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is an utter delight proof that good storytelling and strong craft are what matters, however familiar the packaging. Studio Canal Best films of 2019 (so far) The Beach Bum Clearly, Harmony Korine is steered by his attraction to the theatrical, the absurd and the grimly nihilistic. The Beach Bum is all of that and absolutely none of it, too a leisurely, neon-soaked stroll through chaos and hazy bohemia, full of slapstick and pathos. It is as much Korines most mature film as it is his most juvenile. Neon/Vice Best films of 2019 (so far) The Last Black Man in San Francisco Its a beautiful, frightening and tragic vignette of the urban nightmare, though The Last Black Man in San Francisco isnt really an angry film. Its less of a rallying cry against gentrification than a rumination on the kind of pained acceptance those who suffer its effects must face. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) The Irishman Scorseses signature camerawork goes down like a glass of fine whisky, as smooth and as elegant as youd expect. The violence arrives in short, sharp shocks. Steven Zaillians screenplay even nails the mobster patter, with arguments about fish, tardiness, and business shorts that feel destined to one day be quoted to death. Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) Le Mans '66 The films greatest trick is saved for its final reel. For much of its running time, youd be easily fooled into thinking Mangold had made a grand ode to the American dream. Its a film about an immigrant worker who, through perseverance and toil, gains the respect of one of the richest men in the country. And then the rug is pulled right out from underneath you. Le Mans 66 may relish in the high life, but its final moments feel devastatingly hollow. AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Marriage Story The film never loses its sense of humour and absurdity. Somehow, in spite of the bleakness of the subject matter, it feels more redemptive than despairing. Best films of 2019 (so far) The Report Adam Driver plays Jones, Annette Bening Senator Feinstein, and director Scott Z Burns captures the events in a cold, rigorously factual, and largely dispassionate manner. But thats the point. The Report chooses to value the truth over bombastic displays of morality. AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Knives Out Casting an ensemble film is a little like perfecting a cocktail blend, balancing flavours until they sing together in harmony. Knives Out hits the mark here: the actors all feel well-suited to their roles and they bounce off each other with ease. Lionsgate The actor now believes that some of Bundys victims might have been trying to get in touch with her. I didnt feel scared I felt supported, Collins said, adding that she felt as though people were thanking her for telling the story of Bundy and his murders. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Bundy, who was executed in 1989 at the age of 42, confessed to killing 30 women and girls across seven states, though the actual death toll could be higher. Toy Story 4 will contain an Easter Egg for Pixars next movie, Onward, a producer has revealed. Jonas Rivera, one of the producers who worked on Toy Story 4, told Digital Spy that viewers should look out for a fun surprise when the film is released in June. He explained that fans have previously figured out that Duke Caboom, the character voiced by Keanu Reeves in Toy Story 4, makes a stealthy appearance in Incredibles 2, which came out last year. Duke Caboom was in Jack-Jacks crib in Incredibles 2 and, yes, I wont spoil it, but youll see a little nugget of Onward somewhere hidden in Toy Story 4, its really fun, Rivera said. Onward, which will be voiced by Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Octavia Spencer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, will be released in 2020. Best films of 2019 (so far) Show all 49 1 /49 Best films of 2019 (so far) Best films of 2019 (so far) The Favourite Macabre and fraught though The Favourite gets, this isnt so much a film about sex or power as it is about plain mischief. Its a hilarious, buffoonish pleasure, right down to the sets and costume design, and a breeze to spend 120 minutes with. Christopher Hooton Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Beautiful Boy Casting Chalamet as Nic was a very clever move. The young actor from Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird has a natural charm and charisma. He still engages an audiences curiosity and sympathy even when his behaviour is at its most selfish and erratic. Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) The House by the Sea Guediguians storytelling style is deceptive. At first, it seems as if this is low-key social realism in the Dardennes or Ken Loach mould, albeit set on the French Riviera. Gradually, though, we realise how stylised and theatrical his approach really is. Geoffrey Macnab Best films of 2019 (so far) Stan & Ollie Director Jon S Baird, whose previous film was scabrous Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth, wrings every last drop of pathos he can from his material. This is very much a case of the tears of the clowns. Geoffrey Macnab Entertainment One Best films of 2019 (so far) Vice Vice is bravura storytelling. McKay isnt only taking us through Cheneys life and career but is giving us a whistle stop tour through US politics from the Nixon administration almost right to the present day. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Can You Ever Forgive Me? Playing Lee Israel, McCarthy manages something very special: she makes a character who is odd, obnoxious, difficult and alcoholic seem lovable and even heroic. The rest of the world is at fault, not Lee. Geoffrey Macnab Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Green Book "Green Book flatters the audience about its own good sense and tolerance. It deals with racism and homophobia but still has a fairytale, fantasy feel to it. Whatever humiliations Don endures on their road trip, we know no real harm will ever come to him as long as Tony is at his side. Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Velvet Buzzsaw The golden age of bonkers horror movies is gloriously evoked by Netflixs latest feature length presentation. Beginning as a satire of the arts world, Velvet Buzzsaw swiftly and gleefully descends into a savage splatter-fest, smeared in paint, viscera and garishly-bright blood. Ed Power Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) If Beale Street Could Talk The setting is New York in the 1970s. Anyone who has watched Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver knows this was an era of violence, corruption and sleaze on a monumental level, but [Barry] Jenkins somehow makes the city seem like a modern-day Eden. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) All Is True Written by Ben Elton and directed by its star Kenneth Branagh, the film plays so fast and loose with the playwrights final years that they neednt have bothered fitting Branagh with a prosthetic nose accuracy is clearly not the priority here. Alexandra Pollard Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is the doomed progeny of a celebrated genius brilliant but slightly stunted by the knowledge they will never live up to their predecessor. Clarisse Loughrey Warner Bros. Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Piercing Nicolas Pesces sleek and stylish horror comedy is repulsive and funny by turns. In adapting Ryu Murakamis cult novel, Pesce strikes just the right balance between humour and Grand Guignol-style shock tactics. Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Capernaum "The best moments here are remarkable. Labaki elicits an astonishing performance from her young lead. Hes an irrepressible figure with such an inbuilt sense of moral decency the film seems upbeat and optimistic, even at its darkest moments. Geoffrey Macnab Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The White Crow "Ralph Fiennes combines thriller elements with poetic flashbacks to ballet legend Rudolf Nureyevs childhood and keeps a tight focus on the dancer. When he is most at risk, Nureyev makes decisions with his artistic future more in mind than his personal safety. As Fiennes reminds us again and again in what is his best film yet as a director, the 'white crow' will do anything to put himself in the limelight, the one place he is convinced he belongs." StudioCanal Best films of 2019 (so far) Border "Border reverses the perspective taken by most other horror films. In more conventional genre fare, Tina and Vore would be portrayed as malevolent outsiders, but in the world conjured up by director Ali Abbasi, the humans are the monsters. Tina is the innocent a visionary who hardly understands her own powers but who can sense human venality and corruption wherever it appears." TriArt Film Best films of 2019 (so far) Fighting with My Family "Certain scenes feel very trite and predictable but the film gets you in a choke hold early on and wont let you go. It is far more gripping than its subject matter might suggest. Who ever would believe a story about a wrestling family from Norwich could have quite such heart and resonance?" James Field Best films of 2019 (so far) Us "Doppelgangers abound in Jordan Peeles weird, creepy and ingenious new horror film. As in his Oscar-winning 2017 feature Get Out, Peele leavens matters with ironic humour but the joking becomes increasingly uncomfortable once the main characters come face to face with dark shadows of themselves which wish them extreme harm." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Avengers: Endgame "The Avengers cycle comes to a rich and very satisfying conclusion with Endgame, surely the most complex and emotional superhero movie in Marvel history. At 181 minutes, this is a veritable epic, but with so many characters and plot strands, it fully warrants its lengthy running time." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Eighth Grade "Its a rare and precious feeling when a film completely dismantles you. Eighth Grade the directorial debut of US comedian Bo Burnham breaks down every delusion we have about ourselves and burrows deep into those parts weve made such an effort to lock away. You may cry. You may shudder as every awkward social interaction thats kept you up at night replays in your head all at once. You may feel the sharp pain associated with those moments when you feel completely isolated from the world. Burnham may have crafted a simple story about the most ordinary of teenage girls, but it speaks with the emotions of a true cinematic epic." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Vox Lux "Natalie Portman gives her fiercest, most memorable performance since Black Swan in Brady Corbets enjoyably subversive satire about a troubled pop star whose loss of innocence mirrors the fall from grace of the US itself. Portmans character, Celeste, is certainly one of the most objectionable figures she has played: a pampered, hard-drinking drug-taking floozy whose appearance and high-handed behaviour rekindle memories of Liz Taylor and Joan Crawford at their monstrous worst." Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) High Life Robert Pattinson gives one of his most striking performances as Monte, the death-row criminal in outer space, tricked into making a voyage described at one stage as a class-one suicide ride. The former Twilight star makes his shaven-headed, gaunt-faced character seem hyper naturally sensitive and feral at the same time. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Amazing Grace Amazing Grace is as uplifting a film as you will see all year. Its a concert movie filmed over two nights and featuring Aretha Franklin, the first lady of soul, performing gospel standards in a church in Los Angeles in 1972, with a huge backing choir and an enthusiastic congregation. Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) Aladdin Disneys live-action remake of its 1992 animated feature is a rip-roaring, old-fashioned matinee-style spectacle that turns out far better than we had any right to expect. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Booksmart Olivia Wilde is a visually inventive director, who keeps the tempo here so brisk that we hardly notice how glib the storytelling sometimes becomes. We can tell exactly how the film will end, but it still feels original both in its screwball energy and in the deft way it continually reverses stereotypes and gender cliches. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Late Night Late Night is a caustic satirical comedy that turns into an unlikely tearjerker. Its by turns snide and uplifting, and often very funny too. Its writer/producer/star Mindy Kaling makes vicious observations about the inanity, narcissism and corruption of the mainstream US media at the same time as she celebrates the professionalism of many of those who work within it. The film has a glorious performance from Emma Thompson and a very sly one from Kaling. Thompson is at her most imperious as Katherine Newbury, a legendary entertainer, the only female in a male-dominated field, but one whose career is beginning to slide. Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) Gloria Bell Gloria Bell is somewhat exhausting both unbearably intimate and at a constant remove but it is endlessly pulled back into focus by Moore, who has a firm understanding of the delicate balance between contentment and yearning, joy and pain, recklessness and spontaneity. In a remake that could have felt indulgent in the hands of people less skilled, she more than justifies its existence. Geoffrey Macnab Curzon Best films of 2019 (so far) Toy Story 4 "The brilliance of the new film lies in the surefooted way it caters both for children too young to have seen its predecessors and for adults whove grown up (or grown older) watching the previous instalments. It takes some kind of genius for the Pixar animators to give such a searing emotional charge to a story in which one of the main characters is a single use plastic spork retrieved from the trash." Pixar/Disney Best films of 2019 (so far) In Fabric In Fabric feels like Peter Strickland at his most free and playful, drawing as much from the British sense of humour dry and morbid to a fault as from Italian glamour. Curzon Artificial Eye Best films of 2019 (so far) The Flood "Perhaps The Flood isnt quite the urgent, profound film a crisis of this scale deserves, but in a culture where refugees are so rarely shown any empathy in mainstream media, maybe this is the film we need right now." Best films of 2019 (so far) Midsommar "Ari Aster's follow-up to Hereditary serves up much of the same: its a break-up movie wrapped up in pagan horror. Its also bound to be one of this years most memorable films, proving that Aster is far from a one-hit wonder." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lion King "The Lion King is undoubtedly a technological marvel that, much like Avatar, will come to be viewed as a milestone in special effects history, yet its just as interesting to see how all this innovation has been employed." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Varda by Agnes "For a film thats almost entirely narrated by Agnes Varda's own voice, it doesnt feel driven by ego, but by pure intellectual and emotional curiosity." Best films of 2019 (so far) Animals "Animals treats its subjects with patience and generosity. Youll find no life lessons here. Its main characters are free to pursue their desires, to whatever end." Best films of 2019 (so far) Blinded by the Light "Blinded by the Light offers not only a reminder of Springsteens lyrical genius, but of how hes always served as a beacon for the disenfranchised." Warner Brothers Best films of 2019 (so far) Good Boys Lined up against some of this years other more heartfelt offerings, including Booksmart, Good Boys offers further proof that putting a little humanity in our comedy always gets the best results. Best films of 2019 (so far) Hustlers "Hustlers is an electrifying response to the deluge of stories weve had over the years about very rich, very bad dudes. Finally, we can turn the tables on every film thats used women, specifically strippers, as decorative accessories to drape over businessmen as they conduct their illicit backroom meetings. Or, failing that, to shake their out-of-focus tits in the background of a shot." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) For Sama For Sama is one of the most profoundly intimate depictions of the Syrian conflict ever put to film. Its the push to help those on the outside process something so incomprehensible in the depth of its horrors. Republic Film Distribution Best films of 2019 (so far) Ad Astra The real drama here is not whether or not apocalypse can be avoided but whether Brad Pitts character can reconcile himself with his father and overcome his own extreme emotional repression. In other words, in spite of all the jargon and the hardware, this is an intimate family melodrama at heart. Thanks to Pitts performance and Grays delicate direction, it turns into a very moving one. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) The Farewell Wrapped up in all the intricacies of immigrant identity and family politics, The Farewell is a comedy of warmth and bracing honesty. Simply put, its one of the best films of the year. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Judy This is Renee Zellwegers Judy. It doesnt belong to Rupert Goold, its director. Nor does it belong to Tom Edge, its screenwriter. Its a performance of such overwhelming force that it wrests authorship from every other hand that guided the films creation. Pathe Best films of 2019 (so far) Ready or Not As absurd and self-indulgent as Ready or Not can get, it doesnt mess around with its social commentary. The class system is the game we never asked to play, dont get a fair chance at, and have no hope of winning. Its a timeless metaphor. 20th Century Fox Best films of 2019 (so far) A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Despite its mouthful of a title, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is an utter delight proof that good storytelling and strong craft are what matters, however familiar the packaging. Studio Canal Best films of 2019 (so far) The Beach Bum Clearly, Harmony Korine is steered by his attraction to the theatrical, the absurd and the grimly nihilistic. The Beach Bum is all of that and absolutely none of it, too a leisurely, neon-soaked stroll through chaos and hazy bohemia, full of slapstick and pathos. It is as much Korines most mature film as it is his most juvenile. Neon/Vice Best films of 2019 (so far) The Last Black Man in San Francisco Its a beautiful, frightening and tragic vignette of the urban nightmare, though The Last Black Man in San Francisco isnt really an angry film. Its less of a rallying cry against gentrification than a rumination on the kind of pained acceptance those who suffer its effects must face. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) The Irishman Scorseses signature camerawork goes down like a glass of fine whisky, as smooth and as elegant as youd expect. The violence arrives in short, sharp shocks. Steven Zaillians screenplay even nails the mobster patter, with arguments about fish, tardiness, and business shorts that feel destined to one day be quoted to death. Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) Le Mans '66 The films greatest trick is saved for its final reel. For much of its running time, youd be easily fooled into thinking Mangold had made a grand ode to the American dream. Its a film about an immigrant worker who, through perseverance and toil, gains the respect of one of the richest men in the country. And then the rug is pulled right out from underneath you. Le Mans 66 may relish in the high life, but its final moments feel devastatingly hollow. AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Marriage Story The film never loses its sense of humour and absurdity. Somehow, in spite of the bleakness of the subject matter, it feels more redemptive than despairing. Best films of 2019 (so far) The Report Adam Driver plays Jones, Annette Bening Senator Feinstein, and director Scott Z Burns captures the events in a cold, rigorously factual, and largely dispassionate manner. But thats the point. The Report chooses to value the truth over bombastic displays of morality. AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Knives Out Casting an ensemble film is a little like perfecting a cocktail blend, balancing flavours until they sing together in harmony. Knives Out hits the mark here: the actors all feel well-suited to their roles and they bounce off each other with ease. Lionsgate It tells the story of two teenage elves who set out to find out whether magic still exists. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Dan Scanlon, the maker of Monsters University, is directing the suburban fantasy. Photographer Matthijs Kuijpers has spent nearly 30 years in pursuit of the worlds most remote cold-blooded creatures and is now set to release a book featuring the most rare and bizarre of those that he has encountered. Of the 72 reptile and amphibian species that feature, Mr Kuijpers found that most are unduly feared by humans and he wants to challenge those attitudes. He argues that far from being threatening, these creatures are vulnerable and their survival is under threat from climate change, habitat loss and poaching. Mr Kuijpers has chosen to capture each animal against a plain, black background in order to record them in their simplest form. Since his first trip to Madagascar 27 years ago, he has visited every continent and photographed more than 1,500 species. His first book, Cold Instinct, will be released in Autumn 2019. At the Billboard Music Awards, Drake gave a surprise shout out to a Game of Thrones character. The rapper was presented with the Top Billboard 200 Album for Scorpion, released last year. After thanking friends and family, the artist added an unexpected name - Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams on the fantasy HBO show. And hey, shout out to Arya Stark for putting in that work last week, Drake said. As those who have watched the most recent Game of Thrones episode know, Arya was key to defeating the Night King. The episode, titled "The Long Night", was gritty, epic and profoundly silly, according to our critic, who awarded the episode five stars. Meanwhile, the intense trailer for next weeks episode sees everyone turn their attentions to the Iron Throne and the fate of Cersei Lannister. Our extensive ranking of every character in the series from worst to best is below. Game of Thrones characters - ranked Show all 70 1 /70 Game of Thrones characters - ranked Game of Thrones characters - ranked 70. Rickon Stark Played by: Art Parkinson : Art Parkinson Easily the most annoying Stark child an impressive feat next to Bran Rickon was at least handed one hell of a death scene: taken out by an arrow courtesy of Ramsay Bolton. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 69. Robin Arryn Played by: Lino Facioli : Lino Facioli Robin Arryn is remembered by most Thrones fans as being the 10-year-old breastfed by his mother (still weird). That's about it. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 68. Renly Baratheon Played by: Gethin Anthony : Gethin Anthony The Rickon of the Baratheon brothers. His claim to the Iron Throne was tenuous, considering his older brother, Stannis, was still alive. When Stannis's shadow monster came to kill him, it was only good news for the show. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 67. Leaf Played by: Kae Alexander : Kae Alexander A lot of mystery may surround Leaf, one of the show's mythical Children of the Forest, but her noble sacrifice to save Bran, Meera and Hodor from a horde of wights robbed her of any worth. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 66. Tommen Baratheon Played by: Dean-Charles Chapman : Dean-Charles Chapman Another boring younger brother. Whereas Joffrey was pure evil, Tommen was innocent and, inevitably, very boring. His cat, Ser Pounce, was an asset to the show. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 65. Lysa Arryn Played by: Kate Dickie : Kate Dickie Lysa, the creepy sister to Catelyn Stark, was first seen with Robin Arryn, her 10-year-old son, latched to her breast. Her death being pushed through the Moon Door couldn't have come sooner. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 64. Benjen Stark Played by: Joseph Mawle/Matteo Elezi : Joseph Mawle/Matteo Elezi Having gone missing in season one, Benjen returned during season six to save his nephew, Bran. The moment was a surprise to TV watchers book readers, however, had long speculated that Coldhands was an undead version of the Stark. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 63. Syrio Forel Played by: Miltos Yerolemou : Miltos Yerolemou The ill-fated Syrio's appearance way back in season one was a formative experience for one Arya Stark (Maisie Williams); he's the one who helped her on her way to becoming the vengeful assassin fans know and love today. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 62. Jeor Mormont Played by: James Cosmo : James Cosmo Father of Jorah Mormont, Jeor was an honourable leader of the Night's Watch perhaps to a fault. After giving Jon Snow the sword Longclaw, Mormont inadvertently showed the Stark bastard that Valerian steel can cut through White Walkers. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 61. Roose Bolton Played by: Michael McElhatton : Michael McElhatton Let's be honest: it's hard to really like as scheming a character as Roose Bolton, the man who orchestrated the violent Red Wedding the most infamous scene in the show's six-year history that saw the death of Robb, Catelyn and Talisa. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 60. Ellaria Sand Played by: Indira Varma : Indira Varma Ellaria Sand may have been a more enticing creation on the page, but in the series, her screen time regrettably amounts to reacting to loved ones being killed off in increasingly awful ways. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 59. Grand Maester Pycell Played by: Julian Glover : Julian Glover The secretly sprightly Pycell had seen a lot of things in his time, but there's an element of "unfulfilled potential" surrounding Glover's character whose late betrayal of Cersei Lannister saw a grisly end to his life of luxury at King's Landing. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 58. Three-Eyed Raven Played by: Max von Sydow : Max von Sydow Perhaps it was the casting of Max von Sydow that heightened anticipation for the Three-Eyed Raven in the series, but the half-hearted story arc left a lot to be desired. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 57. Gilly Played by: Hannah Murray : Hannah Murray Gilly's long journey from Craster's Keep to Winterfell sounds exciting on paper. But, unfortunately, she has been merely a passenger on Sam's journey for far too long. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 56. Daario Naharis Played by: Michael Huisman : Michael Huisman The man who won the heart of Daenerys Targaryen, only to be left behind in Essos. Ed Skrein originally played the character, but was soon replaced after the actor landed a role in Deadpool. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 55. Shae Played by: Sibel Kekilli : Sibel Kekilli Oh Shea. Her ill-fated betrayal sleeping with Tywin (Charles Dance) was a slap in the face not just for lover Tyrion, but the viewer also. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 54. Grey Worm Played by: Jacob Anderson : Jacob Anderson Leader of the Usullied, Grey Worm remains unmoved at all times unless around Missandei. While their romance can be heartwarming, it's hard to invest in two characters who are so wooden. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 53. Talisa Maegyr Played by: Oona Chaplin : Oona Chaplin To be fair to Robb Stark's wife Talisa, should she have avoided being murdered in arguably the most horrific way during the Red Wedding, she would most likely have been higher on this list. Alas. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 52. Shireen Baratheon Played by: Kerry Ingram : Kerry Ingram All the Greyscale-suffering Shireen ever wanted to do was read stories in her chamber, but due to her impressionable power-hungry father, Stannis, she was tragically reduced to ashes after being sacrificed to the Lord of Light. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 51. Viserys Targaryen Played by: Harry Lloyd : Harry Lloyd Viserys wanted the Iron Throne at any cost, giving away his own sister in exchange for an army. Dany, though, had other plans. Her new husband, Khal Drogo, covering Viserys in molten gold made for one of the show's most memorable death scenes. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 50. Maester Luwin Played by: Donald Sumpter : Donald Sumpter The kindly Maester Luwin was one of the nicest characters in the first few seasons, becoming a stand-in father for Bran and Rickon while the Starks endured horrors elsewhere. He was eventually killed when Ramsay Bolton took over Winterfell. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 49. Thoros of Myr Played by: Paul Kaye : Paul Kaye Thoros spent the majority of his time on the show resurrecting Beric and was most recently seen wielding his flaming sword alongside Jon Snow beyond the wall. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 48. Mance Rayder Played by: Ciaran Hinds : Ciaran Hinds Ciaran Hinds brought an intensity to Mance Rayder, a character who would otherwise have got lost in the crowd. As a result, his death at the hands of Melisandre was unexpectedly affecting. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 47. Podrick Payne Played by: Daniel Portman : Daniel Portman Ever loyal, Podrick Payne has become a fan favourite for being surprisingly brave in the face of adversity. He and Brienne of Tarth make an excellent duo. HBO/Helen Sloan Game of Thrones characters - ranked 46. Euron Greyjoy Played by: Pilou Asbk : Pilou Asbk While Euron Greyjoy may have only joined the show in season six, his presence was immediately felt. A wildcard character, Greyjoy's cut-throat, power-hungry nature has proven exciting to watch. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 45. Jaqen H'ghar Played by: Tom Wlaschiha : Tom Wlaschiha Jaqen H'ghar one of the Faceless Men of Braavos had such promise, but ultimately ended up being the one responsible for sapping Arya's story of the energy she'd had seasons before, alongside The Hound (Rory McCann). HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 44. Missandei Played by: Nathalie Emmanuel : Nathalie Emmanuel Missandei has somehow managed to come up trumps within the new world order, being an advisor to Dany. However, her stilted nature can make for some awkward encounters but at least she and Grey Worm are happy together. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 43. Ygritte Played by: Rose Leslie : Rose Leslie Ygritte the Wildling lover of Jon Snow will go down in Thrones lore for providing the series the with oft-quoted famous line: "You know nothing, Jon Snow." Spoken with a northern accent, obviously. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 42. Hot Pie Played by: Ben Hawkey : Ben Hawkey Has an actor ever been more suited to a role? Ben Hawkey, after all, has gone on to run a bakery of his own, even selling Thrones-themed goods. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 41. Walder Frey Played by: David Bradley : David Bradley One of the orchestrators of the Red Wedding, Walder Frey was a lurching, terrifying villain. When Arya unmasks herself and kills the old man, it's a sweet, sweet moment of revenge. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 40. Gendry Baratheon Played by: Joe Dempsie : Joe Dempsie The true heir to the Iron Throne. Gendry may have spent a few seasons rowing out at sea, but his return hints at big things to come for the Baratheon bastard. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 39. Robert Baratheon Played by: Mark Addy : Mark Addy Mark Addy brought a certain gravitas to Robert Baratheon, making him a believably world-weary king. Despite only having a few scenes, his character's presence is still felt on the show thanks to Gendry. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 38. Barristan Selmy Played by: Ian McElhinney : Ian McElhinney After being fired by the Lannisters, Selmy pledged allegiance to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), bridging the gap between two of the show's key characters. He was also a bloody good warrior. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 37. Yara Greyjoy Played by: Gemma Whelan : Gemma Whelan Lily Allen was initially wanted for the role of Theon's sister. However, she declined: 'I felt uncomfortable because I would have had to go on a horse and he would have touched me up and s***.' Seeing as Allen's brother, Alfie, had already been cast as Theon, it was probably for the best. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 36. Margaery Tyrell Played by: Natalie Dormer : Natalie Dormer Margaery Tyrell was one of Game of Thrones's biggest players, wheedling her way into the Lannister family politics and actually becoming Queen for a spell. Her number was up the moment she made an enemy of Cersei, and her fiery death, while underwhelming, was a huge moment. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 35. Samwell Tarly Played by: John Bradley : John Bradley There's a theory going around that Samwell Tarly, who trains as a maester, is actually the author of the Song of Ice and Fire AKA the book series. In other words, Sam is George RR Martin. Go figure. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 34. Osha Played by: Natalia Tena : Natalia Tena The underused Osha was our very first wildling, an unpredictable knife-wielding danger to the characters we loved. Her subsequent evolution into Stark servant was interestingly played, which made the fact she was sidelined for multiple seasons, before being brought back just to be unceremoniously offed, a travesty. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 33. Ramsay Bolton Played by: Iwan Rheon : Iwan Rheon Ramsey cut off Theon's penis and sent it to the Greyjoy's father. He imprisoned and raped Sansa Stark. He killed Rickon Stark in front of his brother. And Ramsay eventually died by being fed to his own dogs. A terrifying death for a terrible human. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 32. Night King Played by: Richard Brake, Vladimir Furdik : Richard Brake, Vladimir Furdik The embodiment of evil. Why, exactly, the Night King marches South to destroy mankind remains somewhat a mystery. But, whatever the reason, he's a terrifying foe. Winter has, as the Starks say, finally come. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 31. Beric Dondarrion Played by: Richard Dormer : Richard Dormer Beric danced on the outskirts of the series until its third season when he surfaced as the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners. His introduction paved the way for the Lord of Light's ability to resurrect the dead, a mystical sub-plot that would become very important for Jon Snow. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 30. Bran Stark Played by: Isaac Hempstead Wright : Isaac Hempstead Wright It says a lot that Bran Stark has become marginally more interesting since he sacrificed his personality in favour of becoming the spiritualistic heart of the series. His role in the final season looks set to be a huge one what with the long-standing theory that he could become the fearsome Night King. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 29. Theon Greyjoy Played by: Alfie Allen : Alfie Allen While Theon starts as a cocky kid, after being neutered by Ramsay he becomes the annoyingly weak Reek. Thankfully, Theon comes back around again in the later seasons, but not without us still hating his guts for not saving Sansa sooner. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 28. The High Sparrow Played by: Jonathan Pryce : Jonathan Pryce While at first a seemingly wise old man, the High Sparrow quickly becomes a tactical villain, using his newfound powers under King Tommen to turn King's Landing into his own domain. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 27. The Mountain Played by: Hafor Julius Bjornsson : Hafor Julius Bjornsson The hulking Clegane brother known as The Mountain now a zombie-esque servant to Cersei may not have come face-to-face with lots of characters in the series, but his presence is known by all in Westeros. His biggest moment? Battering poor Oberyn's head into mush. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 26. Khal Drogo Played by: Jason Momoa : Jason Momoa To the world he's now Aquaman, but for a brief time, Jason Momoa was Khal Drogo, the beloved Dothraki husband of his Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 25. Jon Snow Played by: Kit Harington : Kit Harington Every show needs a hero, and they do not come more obvious than Jon Snow. Rising from discarded bastard to King of the North, his climb has been one of the show's best storylines. A shame, then, that Snow can be such a bland person, doing only what is right and seemingly having no faults. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 24. Stannis Baratheon Played by: Stephen Dillane : Stephen Dillane With his propensity to make tough decisions for the greater good, Stannis could have been a heroic warrior. However, the Baratheon brother's continual fall from grace including sacrificing his own daughter and murdering his own brother were horrendous decisions that eventually doomed him. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 23. Hodor Played by: Kristian Nairn : Kristian Nairn Once you get over the fact that Kristian Nairn was essentially getting paid to repeat the word "Hodor" over and over, it's hard to deny that Bran Stark's protector was a heartwarming addition to the show. His death the breathtaking "Hold the Door" sequence will go down as one of the show's most memorable moments. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 22. Tywin Lannister Played by: Charles Dance : Charles Dance Stannis was a horrible father. His two favourite children became incestuous lovers, and he blamed his youngest for the death of his wife. Without Tywin, though, the Lannister family would not be nearly as riveting as they are to watch. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 21. Tormund Giantsbane Played by: Kristofer Hivju : Kristofer Hivju Tormund has some of the best lines in the series, particularly when expressing his admiration for Brienne. Here's one of the least explicit: "I want to make babies with her. Think of it. Great big monsters. They'll conquer the world!" HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 20. Daenerys Targaryen Played by: Emilia Clarke : Emilia Clarke "Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons." Every time Dany meets someone new, she forces Missandei to read out her entire CV. I guess everyone would if theirs was as impressive. Dany really has had a great journey to the top a shame she could not have come to Westeros slightly earlier. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 19. Olenna Tyrell Played by: Dianna Rigg : Dianna Rigg Olenna's scenes were always ones to cherish. The Queen of Thorns was as cunning as the best of them and seemed like she could worm her way out of any situation, all from the comfort of her own chair. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 18. Jorah Mormont Played by: Iain Glen : Iain Glen Poor Ser Jorah. Dany may be 25 years younger than him, but that never stopped the disgraced warrior from loving her. He even fought off Grey Scale to fight by her side. If that's not true love, then what is? HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 17. Davos Seaworth Played by: Liam Cunningham : Liam Cunningham Liam Cunningham's performance as the curt Davos Seaworth has quietly been one of the best things about the series since his introduction. As Jon Snow's kingly advisor, he's recently seen himself thrust into the heart of the series and, simply put, Game of Thrones would be a less enjoyable show without him. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 16. Melisandre Played by: Carice van Houten : Carice van Houten Lest we forget that Melisandre is actually a shrivelled old witch who has been manipulating men for hundreds of years. Her faith in the Lord of Light, though, could very well be misplaced. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 15. Oberyn Played by: Pedro Pascal : Pedro Pascal Few shows can bring in characters midway through their run that have such an impact as Oberyn. The Viper quickly became a fan favourite, and his death remains one of the show's most squirm-inducing moments. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 14. Eddard "Ned" Stark Played by: Sean Bean : Sean Bean Killing off a main character during a show's first season was practically unheard of before Game of Thrones. Yet, as dictated by George RR Martin's books, they cut off Sean Bean's head without a second thought, setting the tone for everything to come. No death has impacted the Thrones quite as much since. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 13. Varys Played by: Conleth Hill : Conleth Hill Early on in the series, it was hard to pin down Varys, a slippery eel of a character who has "little birds" fluttering around Westeros, feeding back crucial information. Going into the final season, his true intentions are clear: he's all for Daenerys taking the Iron Throne, even if he doesn't live to see the day (I have to die in this strange country, just like you," Melisandre prophesied last season). HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 12. Bronn Played by: Jerome Flynn : Jerome Flynn Perhaps the show's best wise-cracking side-kick, Bronn only has one loyalty: money. Paired with either of the Lannister lads, Tyrion or Jaime, Bronn makes for excellent company. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 11. Robb Stark Played by: Richard Madden : Richard Madden Before Bodyguard, Richard Madden was the extremely temporary king of Westeros. Robb was a man of honour, trying to bring light to the Thrones universe. He was a likeable presence who ruled with his heart, an act that ultimately saw him die during the infamous Red Wedding in season three. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 10. Brienne of Tarth Played by: Gwendoline Christie : Gwendoline Christie Brienne is a reassuring force of good in a world filled with scheming layabouts. She's also one of the most deadly. Her time on the series has been spent protecting the likes of Renly Baratheon, Catelyn Stark and Jaime Lannister, the latter of which made for an interesting turn as it put her at odds with her loyalty. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 9. Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish Played by: Aidan Gillen : Aidan Gillen There would be no Game of Thrones without Littlefinger. The silver-tongued manipulator had Jon Arryn killed, setting off a snowball that turned into an avalanche. As smart as he may have been, Littlefinger was finally outplayed by his own pupil, Sansa Stark. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 8. Sansa Stark Played by: Sophie Turner : Sophie Turner Sansa has perhaps had the most interesting story arc of any character on Thrones. Beginning as a cliched annoying teenager, she gradually became a stone-cold killer, capable of holding Winterfell and outsmarting even Littlefinger. With any luck, she could sit upon the Iron Throne when the war is over. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 7. Arya Stark Played by: Maisie Williams : Maisie Williams Arya Stark, arguably the greatest character of the first few seasons, was one of the biggest victims of the series overtaking George RR Martin's source material. Her limited screen time, due to being away from the central action, robbed us of classic moments that we're grateful she's been a part of in an otherwise lacklustre season eight. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 6. Sandor "The Hound" Clegane Played by: Rory McCann : Rory McCann From his regular delivery of the phrase"F** the king" to that chicken scene, The Hound is a reckless creation whose high ranking on this list can be attributed to the searing performance from Rory McCann. Most effective when paired with Arya Stark. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 5. Joffrey Baratheon Played by: Jack Gleeson : Jack Gleeson No character has been as hated by the fandom as Joffrey. His wicked ways and disgusting behaviour haunted the show's first four seasons. You never knew what was going to come next: whether he was about to behead your favourite character or start crying to his mother. It made for thrilling television. But, as The Hound says, "F**k the King". HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 4. Catelyn Stark Played by: Michelle Fairley : Michelle Fairley The lady of Winterfell, Catelyn Stark, became the show's honorary lead after the untimely beheading of her husband, Ned (Sean Bean) at the end of season one. As she tried to take control of spiralling events in the second and third run, Thrones was handed its most resilient character. Michelle Fairley's guttural cry of anguish before meeting her tragic end during the Red Wedding will always be the show's most horrific moment. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 3. Jaime Lannister Played by: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau : Nikolaj Coster-Waldau If the characters above Jaime in this list are the show's greatest characters, Jaime is the show's most disarming. The Lannister brother the Kingslayer started the series as a long-haired bad guy of the tallest order, but his humbling over the past few seasons have seen him inch his way into the hearts of viewers. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 2. Tyrion Lannister Played by: Peter Dinklage : Peter Dinklage Blamed for the death of his mother and hated for being a dwarf, Tyrion turned to drink and prostitutes to numb the pain. However, Tyrion has a fierce intellect, capable of outsmarting the toughest enemies (and offering cutting lines that George RR Martin says often take weeks to write). More importantly, despite being betrayed and cast away time and time again, Tyrion selflessly only wants the best for the people of Westeros. A true hero. HBO Game of Thrones characters - ranked 1. Cersei Lannister Played by: Lena Headey : Lena Headey The Mad Queen, alone on the Iron Throne. Cersei has, over the course of seven seasons, seen her three children die, driven her lover/brother away, blown up a church with a half dozen major characters inside, arranged the death of her husband (King Robert) and attempted to have her other brother (Tyrion) killed multiple times. Yet, thanks to Lena Headey's empathetic performance, you still feel sorry for the terrifying Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. As one of the most complicated character to have ever reached television screens, there's no denying her place as the best Thrones character to date. HBO The final season of Game of Thrones continues every Sunday. The show will be available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK. Nasa is already preparing for the arrival of a huge asteroid named the God of Chaos that will skirt past Earth in 10 years. On 13 April, 2029, people looking towards the sky will see a speck of light streaking across it, which will quickly get brighter and faster. It will be travelling so fast that it will cross the width of the Moon in a minute and be as bright as stars in the sky. Scientists have named the rock Apophis, after the Egyptian god of chaos. The glowing speck will be a huge asteroid, 340 meters across, that Nasa is already preparing to watch as it flies past Earth. The space agency says that it will fly far enough away as to be harmless at a distance of 19,000 miles but that is as close as some of the spacecraft that flies past Earth. It is also close enough that researchers will be able to get an unprecedented look at the asteroid itself. They will be able to see the rock in sharp detail, allowing them to observe it in new ways. 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 Its very rare for asteroids of this size to go past so close. Scientists have seen smaller asteroids at a closer distance, but something of such a colossal size are far fewer in number, Nasa said. 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, California, who works on radar observations of near-Earth objects (NEOs). 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. Scientists meeting this week at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland where they have also been role-playing a fictional collision with an asteroid have been discussing how to watch the asteroid and missions that could be sent out to meet it. It will first be visible to the naked eye when it arrives in the night sky over the Southern Hemisphere, shooting across the east coast to the west coast of Australia. It will make its way around the world, cross the Indian Ocean on its way to the US. Recommended Nasa to pretend asteroid is about to smash into Earth Its closest approach will be over the Atlantic Ocean, as the evening arrives in the US. It will move so fast that it will cross the ocean in just an hour, and will then fly off into space. Apophis was first spotted by astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in June 2004. Soon after spotting it, further work was derailed by technical and weather problems. But it was spotted again by scientists in Australia, who calculated it had a 2.7 per cent chance of hitting Earth when it passed by in 2029. It has since been watched more closely and that possibility has been ruled out. Researchers now say that further work and calculations show there is only a 1 in 100,000 chance the asteroid will hit Earth. But further work will be required to rule out future impacts. When it arrives in 2029, that observation will continue. Scientists hope to learn more about the asteroids size, shape, composition and maybe its interior. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events At the conference, researchers discussed questions such as whether the asteroid will affect Earths gravity, whether they will be able to peer inside and whether it should be met by a spacecraft. We already know that the close encounter with Earth will change Apophis orbit, but our models also show the close approach could change the way this asteroid spins, and it is possible that there will be some surface changes, like small avalanches, said Davide Farnocchia, an astronomer at JPLs Center for Near Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS), who is co-chairing the April 30 session on Apophis with Brozovic. And researchers hope that the work they do on this flyby could protect us if any other asteroid were to come towards Earth. Apophis is a representative of about 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), said Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS. By observing Apophis during its 2029 flyby, we will gain important scientific knowledge that could one day be used for planetary defense. Holocaust Remembrance Day, otherwise known as Yom HaShoah in Hebrew, commemorates the deaths of approximately six million Jewish people during the genocide of the Holocaust in the Second World War. The first Holocaust Remembrance Day took place in Israel in December 1949, a year and a half after the country established independence. The occasion was marked with the burial of the bones of thousands of Jewish people in Jerusalem who died at the Flossenburg concentration camp near Munich. In 1959, Holocaust Remembrance Day was made an official observance by the Knesset, the national legislature of Israel. Here's everything you need to know about Holocaust Memorial Day: When is it? This year, Holocaust Remembrance Day starts on the evening of Wednesday 1 May and ends on the evening of Thursday 2 May. This observance is different to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day established by the United Nations in 2005, which takes place on 27 January every year. Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Show all 20 1 /20 Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau The main gate entering the Nazi Auschwitz death camp Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau A warning sign is seen in front of a watch tower of the former Auschwitz concentration camp held by the Nazis in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Visitors walk between barbed wire fences at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Guard towers and barbed wire fences stand at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on the night prior to commemoration events marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp on 26 January 2015 in Oswiecim, Poland Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust survivor Mordechai Ronen (C) from the US is comforted by his son as he is overcome by emotion standing next to President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder (2nd R) as he arrives at the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim on 26 January 2015 Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz and Belsen concentration camp survivor Eva Behar shows her number tattoo in her home in London Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau A wall with historic photos is pictured at the memorial site of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau A general view of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau The 'wall of death' at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau General view of wooden bunks inside a destroyed barracks at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau near Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau View of the barracks of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau View of the barracks of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Empty Zyklon B canisters are displayed at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Prosthetic limbs confiscated from Auschwitz prisoners lie in an exhibtion display at the former Auschwitz I concentration camp, which today is a museum, in Oswiecim, Poland Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Eyeglasses confiscated from Auschwitz prisoners lie in an exhibtion display at the former Auschwitz I concentration camp, which today is a museum, in Oswiecim, Poland Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Children's shoes confiscated from Auschwitz prisoners lie in an exhibtion display at the former Auschwitz I concentration camp, which today is a museum, in Oswiecim, Poland Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Suitcases confiscated from Auschwitz prisoners Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Enamel bowls used by Auschwitz prisoners Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Visitor are seen walking behind barbed-wire fences at the memorial site of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim Holocaust Memorial Day 2015: Haunting images of Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau A cargo wagon is parked at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau near Oswiecim The date of Holocaust Remembrance Day varies according to the Gregorian calendar. The commemoration occurs on the 27th day of the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew or Jewish lunisolar calendar. If 27 Nisan falls on a Friday, then Holocaust Remembrance Day is held on the Thursday before. Meanwhile if 27 Nisan falls on a Sunday, the observance is moved to the following day. How is it commemorated in Israel? In Israel, the commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance day begins with a ceremony at sundown at Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to victims of the Holocaust. The ceremony will be attended by the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Recommended The women who risked their lives to uncover crimes of the Holocaust It will also be attended by survivors of the Holocaust, their families, dignitaries and members of the general public. The ceremony will be broadcast live on YouTube from 6pm GMT. Services in observance of Yom HaShoah are held across Israel, in places including schools and military bases. Furthermore, public venues including theatres, cinemas and bars are closed in commemoration of the event. At 10am, an air raid siren is emitted across the country to mark the beginning of a two-minute silence. How is it observed across the world? Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations are also held by Jewish communities across the world, in places including synagogues and Jewish schools. In Poland, thousands of people take part in the "March of the Living", walking silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau in the largest Nazi concentration camp from the Second World War. The march was first held in 1988. Since then, more than 260,000 individuals from 52 countries have taken part in the 3km walk in honour of the victims of the Holocaust. Every year, on the first Monday of May one of the most significant events in the fashion calendar takes place the Met Gala. Last March, it was announced that 2020's Met Gala had been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, having previously been scheduled to take place on Monday 4 May. It was later cancelled. Despite the fact that this years Met Gala was also postponed, it will now take place on Monday 13 September. While in the past the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit as the Met Gala is officially known has attracted the likes of supermodels, Hollywood A-listers and fashion royalty, it has also seen a number of real royals grace its famous grand entrance stairs. Princess Beatrice the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York joined the likes of Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and Blake Lively at 2018s event, which had the theme Heavenly Bodies: Fashion And The Catholic Imagination. For the occasion, 30-year-old Beatrice wore a violet Grecian-style ball gown courtesy of Alberta Ferretti. 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Show all 10 1 /10 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Diana, 1996 Princess Diana attended the 1996 Met Gala alongside friend and former Harper's Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis. The royal wore a navy blue camisole dress from John Gallianos debut couture collection for Dior and a pearl, diamond and sapphire choker around her neck. AFP/Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Lee Radziwill, 2001 Lee Radziwil, the younger sister of Jackie Kennedy, attended the Met Gala in 2001 wearing a flowy white gown with intricate embroidery. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Andrea Casiraghi, 2006 Andrea Casiraghi - the elder son of Caroline, Princess of Hanover - attended the Met Gala in 2006 with his now wife, Tatiana Santo Domingo. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Queen Rania of Jordan, 2007 Queen Rania of Jordan made an appearance at the Met Gala in 2007 wearing a navy silk gown featuring a wide black belt. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Charlotte Casiraghi, 2016 Charlotte Casiraghi - the daughter of Caroline, Princess of Hanover - attended the event in 2016 wearing a tiered floor-length dress by Gucci. The colourful gown featured an ombre effect from canary yellow to fuschia pink and purple. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece, 2016 Socialite Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece attended the Met Gala in 2016 wearing a cream strapless mini-dress by Balmain with pointed thigh-high boots. 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Queen Rania of Jordan, 2016 In 2016, Queen Rania of Jordan was the definition of elegance as she attended the Met Gala in a black and white feathered Valentino gown. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis, 2016 Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis - the daughter of Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis - attended the Met Gala in 2016 wearing a gold mini-dress by Mary Katrantzou. The royal accessorised her look with a metallic choker, matching handbag and feather ear piece. Rex Features 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis, 2017 Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis also attended the Met Gala the following year wearing a pale pink overcoat designed by Simone Rocha. The garment was covered in 3D floral embellishment and paired with red square toe heels. Rex Features 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Beatrice, 2018 For her first time attending the Met Gala in 2018, Princess Beatrice wore a purple floor-length gown designed by Alberta Ferretti. The dress featured sheer sleeves, a high neck and embellishments across the bodice. Beatrice accessorised the look with a beaded headband and gunmetal silver clutch bag. Getty Images But she wasnt the first royal to attend the glamorous event. In 1996, Princess Diana made her mark at the Met Gala wearing a navy slip dress designed by John Galliano for Dior and a seven-strand pearl necklace with sapphires and diamonds. Other royals from across the globe have also attended the gala over the years, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Monacos Charlotte Casiraghi. Click through our gallery to see all the royals who have attended the Met Gala. Like so many of us, I grew up in a world that glamorises modelling. Its a career thats often portrayed as a fairytale a scout discovers you as a gawky teenager and turns you into a goddess, gracing catwalks and glossy magazine pages. But as someone whos had this exact experience, I can tell you it is all smoke and mirrors. Behind the facade of beauty and luxury, I found myself in a job with no possibility of progression, the feeling of being exploited at every angle and dealing with the mental health issues that arise as a result. I started modelling at the age of 13, when my mum sent a photograph of me to a local agency. Having been bullied for the way I look for years, it wasnt something Id ever considered, but before I knew it I was being told that my photos would be in some of the biggest fashion magazines out there, which kick-started a career that lasted more than a decade. One of the things no one ever tells you is that often as a model you have little control over your contracts or even experiences at work. Models are often seen as objects to be hired out for the day, in any capacity, and this can lead us to forget that we have rights. Really, the only power you have as a model is choosing an agency. But there is no real guidance or official quality control system for the industry, making it hard to know whether youre making the right choice. 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Show all 10 1 /10 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Tilda Swinton Fashion: Gucci, Marc Jacobs Jewellery: Lisa Eisner Jewelry, Vela, Uno de 50, A. Brandt + Son Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire, 2018 Tim Walker Studio 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Zo, Kiran Kandola, Firpal, Yusuf, Ravyanshi Mehta, Jeenu Mahadevan, Chawntell Kulkami, & Radhika Nair Fashion: Marni, Paolina Russo, Missoni, Ahluwalia Studio, Bottega Veneta, Chloe, Lou Dallas Pershore, Worcestershire, 2018 Tim Walker Studio 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Duckie Thot, Aubreys shadow Fashion: Saint Laurent London, 2017 Tim Walker Studio 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Sarah Grace Wallerstedt Fashion: Moncler London, 2018 Tim Walker Studio 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Tobias and Sara on their Wedding Night About 1520 Cologne, Germany Stained glass panel with painted details and silver stain The V&A collection Victoria and Albert Museum, London 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Karen Elson, Sgaire Wood & James Crewe Fashion: The Row, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vacarello, Daniela Geraci, Sarah Bruylant hat, Molly Goddard London, 2018 Tim Walker Studio 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Krishna and Indra About 1590 Lahore Watercolour painting and gold on paper The V&A collection Victoria and Albert Museum, London 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Conservatory at Renishaw Edith Dawson (1862-1928) About 1885 Watercolour and pencil on paper The V&A collection Victoria and Albert Museum, London 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition The Peacock Skirt Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) 1894 Line block print on Japanese vellum paper The V&A collection Victoria and Albert Museum, London 10 projects at fashion photographer Tim Walker's V&A exhibition Dress from The Horn of Plenty Autumn/Winter collection Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) 2009 Printed red and black silk The V&A collection Victoria and Albert Museum, London In one instance, I actively chose a prestigious agency but quickly found myself being sent on unpaid test shoots that I later found out I was being charged for some up to 400. I had experience working for big brands so I could stand up for myself, but even so I felt heavily pressured by the agency. After a week I found myself in almost 1,000 of debt, with no sign of actual paid work on the horizon. It was impacting my mental health so terribly that I was having continuous panic attacks, and when I tried to leave I was threatened with legal action. I have also often been humiliated at castings and spoken about as an object on the job. One client complained for two hours about the evenness of my eyebrow height. 'I left the agency, as my doctor advised me to for my mental health' (Gabi Mulder) The majority of models I know have also been pressured to lose weight. I was scouted by an agency who told me to lose three inches (7.6cm) from my hips. When I refused, they dropped the request to 3cm. Months followed of me having weekly measurements taken at the agency after being invited in for a quick chat. It was humiliating and degrading to be continuously told off for not being thin enough, and I felt pathetic and worthless as a result. Everyone around me seemed to think it should be easy. When I finally lost the weight they asked me to lose another 2cm. At this point I finally realised nothing would ever be enough. As models, people often assume that our bodies are fair game. This created a complex relationship with my body I suffered eating disorders as a result and still have severe body dysmorphia. But it also leaves us vulnerable to sexual harassment and exploitation. 'I started modelling at 13' (Leanne Maskell) It is completely normal for castings and shoots to be held in hotel rooms, which can put us in uncomfortable positions. At one casting I was alone in a hotel room for with a male client who asked me to get undressed. I did not feel comfortable and when I refused, I was told that I could do escort trips in Dubai, earning thousands of pounds for one day. I am not a sex worker and the implication that I may as well have been in this mans eyes made me feel incredibly unsafe. On another test shoot, I had to leave half way through as I felt incredibly pressured into having a drink and posing nude in a strangers bedroom. I recall a shoot where I was asked to spank another models backside with a ping pong bat, and told to "cover my face with my hair" by a photographer when I refused and was visibly upset. I ended up being maneuvered into a sexual position by the team as I cried from humiliation. I didn't feel like I could just walk out for fear of seeming unprofessional and I wasnt even being paid. While agencies presumably dont want their models to have negative experiences, the industry is largely unregulated, making it hard for them to know whether the photographer theyre sending us to is legit, or just a creepy amateur. The stress of being consistently sexualised while doing your job inevitably takes a toll. I feel strongly that if models are aware of their rights we can ensure that these situations do not happen to other vulnerable people thats why Ive written a book sharing my experience. I hope that this starts the much needed global conversation of how to improve the modelling industry. The Model Manifesto by Leanne Maskell is out today Aircraft maker Bombardier is to sell its Northern Ireland operation which employs more than 3,600 people. Bombardier operates from a number of locations in Northern Ireland including a factory in Belfast which makes wings for its A220 plane. The Canadian firm said there would be no new workforce announcements as a result of the decision. The company announced in November that it would cut 490 jobs in Belfast as part of 5,000 set to go across its global business. Workers also faced months of uncertainty over the future of the plant after US president Donald Trump slapped 300 per cent tariffs on Bombardier planes, arguing that the company received unfair subsidies from the UK and Canadian governments. The US trade commission voted unanimously against the tariffs in January 2018. Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty Trade unions expressed shock at the latest announcement and called for stronger assurances on jobs. Our members and their families have already suffered a terrible year, said Michael Mulholland, an organiser for GMB. After months of uncertainty following Trumps tariffs they were then hit with the news of 490 job losses, and now this. A spokesperson for Unite said: The UK government must stand ready to ensure the retention of jobs and skills at these sites, Bombardier is simply too important to the Northern Ireland economy to allow anything less, Unite said in a statement. On Thursday, Bombardier laid out plans to consolidate its aerospace business into a single unit under the Bombardier Aviation brand. The Canadian firm will also offload assets in Morocco. While Bombardier did not lay out any impact on jobs, it said that it would continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives to improve productivity and increase our competitiveness, to make it more attractive to potential buyers. The statement added: Our sites in Belfast and Morocco have seen a significant increase in work from other global customers in recent years. We are recognised as a global leader in aerostructures, with unique end-to-end capabilities through design and development, testing and manufacture, to after-market support. Alain Bellemare, the firms president and chief executive, said: We are very excited to announce the strategic formation of Bombardier Aviation. It is the right next step in our transformation. The consolidation will simplify and better focus our organisation on our leading brands. A cancer patient has been told his best chance of a cure has been delayed indefinitely because of Brexit. Richard Kelly was due to start the cutting-edge treatment known as selective internal radiation therapy (Sirt) for cancer in his liver last month, alongside chemotherapy. But now the 53-year-old has claimed that his oncologist at Bristol Royal Infirmary told him: The treatment had been delayed due to Brexit. Mr Kelly told The Independent his consultant said: NHS England were unable to set a budget for this kind of treatment because of the chaotic nature of the Brexit negotiations and the actual leaving of the European Union. Therefore this essential treatment was delayed, with no suggestion of a date when it would be available. Consultants proposed he undergo the groundbreaking treatment method after they found signs the bowel cancer he was initially being treated for had spread to his liver and was incurable with surgery - though it could be contained with chemotherapy. Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Show all 18 1 /18 Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well These billboards were plastered by campaign group Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well PA Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter This Sirt offers a possibility and I stress possibility of a cure for liver cancer without surgery, he added. Theresa May agreed to delay Britains scheduled departure date for leaving the European Union last month in a bid to limit the damaging consequences of a no-deal Brexit. Before Britain voted to leave the bloc and in the wake of the decision to trigger Article 50, experts warned that crashing out of the EU could particularly harm the NHS and the most vulnerable patients. Fears that cancer patients could suffer delays to treatment because of the inability to import radioactive isotopes were raised repeatedly. Drug delays and the loss of EU-trained radiographers, cancer nurses and other specialists could all have an impact on care. Now Mr Kelly said he is living with the consequences, before the UK even leaves. Its a farce, this is my life on the line here, he said. Vote Leaves campaign bus falsely claimed leaving the EU would free 350m a week for the NHS. (Getty) While his doctors did not discuss whether other patients were affected, he said he had heard other accounts from friends of Brexit delays for others. I cant be the only one how serious is this going to get? We havent even left, he added. That big red bus said 350m a week going into the NHS, yet we cant even afford cancer treatment. This is the reality of it thanks a bunch, Nigel Farage. However NHS England denied that Brexit was a factor in Sirt being delayed. The NHS introduced new guidelines for this treatment last month so that every patient who meets the criteria can receive it in one of the 10 specialist centres across the country," a spokesperson said. "This has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit, and we are pursuing this case with the trust to ensure Mr Kelly gets the right treatment for his condition. The Independent has approached University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust for comment. An antidote to the sting of the worlds most venomous creature has been discovered by scientists. The Australian box jellyfish carries enough venom in its tentacles his to kill more than 60 people. A single sting from can cause excruciating pain, scarring and even cardiac arrest leading to death within minutes if the exposure is large enough. But now researchers at the University of Sydney have found a way to block the venoms ability to destroy cells. The team used the genome-editing method known as CRISPR to work out exactly how the venom attacks, before using a cholesterol-absorbing drugs called cyclodextrins to prevent it from killing cells. Our drug works on the big beast, said associate professor Greg Neely, one of the study's authors. We dont know yet if it works on other jellyfish, but we know it works on the most-deadly one. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary The antidote blocks the symptoms of a box jellyfish sting if administered to the skin within 15 minutes after contact. It was shown to work on human cells outside the body and then tested effectively on live mice. The Australian pain researchers now hope to develop a topical application for humans. 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, said Dr Raymond Lau, the lead author of the paper published in the journal Nature Communications. We took one of those drugs, which we know is safe for human use, and we used it against the venom, and it worked. Its a molecular antidote." The researchers do not know yet whether the drugs could be used to stop a heart attack induced by a box jellyfish sting. They hope their findings could lead to a cardiac injection treatment in the emergency room in very severe cases. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Writing for the academic site The Conversation, Prof Neely said the really cool thing is that cyclodextrins are known to be safe for us in humans, and are cheap and stable. He added: So now we are trying to work with the state or national government, or first responders, to see if we can move this venom antidote forward for human use. An Aboriginal man demanding the return of an ancestral shield seized by James Cook in 1770 has become the first living member of his clan to hold it after being invited to a private viewing by the British Museum. Rodney Kelly is the sixth generational descendent of a warrior called Cooman of the Gweagal clans Dharawal tribe. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a court that he does not consent to being extradited to the US for doing journalism. The WikiLeaks founder has been charged by American authorities with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. They claim he conspired to break into a classified Pentagon computer. Speaking via video link from Belmarsh prison, Assange told Westminster Magistrates Court: I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people. After the 10-minute hearing, the case was adjourned until 30 May for a procedural hearing; a more substantial hearing is planned for 12 June. The full extradition hearing was months away, the court was told. Assange, who after almost seven years was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London last month, was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court earlier this week. 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 He sought refuge there in June 2012 to avoid an extradition order to Sweden over a rape allegation, which he denies. In April, US prosecutors announced that he had been charged with conspiring, alongside intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, to infiltrate a Pentagon computer. They said the charge carries a maximum of five years imprisonment and relates to Assanges alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in US history. Prosecutors claim he assisted Manning in cracking a password to help her leak classified records. Ben Brandon, a lawyer for the US government, said investigators had uncovered 2010 chatroom conversations between Assange and Manning. He claimed the pair had engaged in real-time discussions regarding her dissemination of confidential records to Assange. DO NOT USE Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrested by UK police and removed from Ecuador embassy A large group of his supporters gathered both inside and outside Westminster Magistrates Court to offer solidarity at his latest hearing. Some of those who got inside Court Three for the hearing had to stand or sit on the floor. Lauri Love, who saw his own extradition decision over allegations he hacked US government computer networks overturned by the High Court last year, was among them. Judges ruled the extradition of Mr Love, who has Aspergers, would be oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition. Ai Weiwei and pro-Assange demonstrators protest with masks of WikiLeaks founder in Berlin on Thursday (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) The 34-year-old from Suffolk, said he came to court to keep an eye on the process and make sure that its done as fairly as possible. He added: Ive been through this whole mill so I am supporting Julian in opposing extradition to the US where I think he would, like myself, not have a very strong chance of having a fair trial. I know how traumatic this ordeal can be, years of having to be afraid of being taken to another country and treated badly. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and other demonstrators also donned masks of Assange at a rally for the WikiLeaks founder at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. One of their banners read: We are all Julian Assange! Additional reporting by agencies The European parliaments outspoken Brexit chief is coming to Britain next week to knock on doors in the European elections on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. Guy Verhofstadt, who is himself seeking re-election as a Belgian liberal MEP, will hop on the Eurostar from Brussels to join Lib Dem canvassers on the doorstep on Friday. While Mr Verhofstadt is best known in Britain for being the parliaments voice in Brexit talks, the former Belgian prime minister is also leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European parliament, in which the Lib Dems sit. His visit to the UK is a potential boost for the party, who are locked in competition with the Green Party and Change UK for the hardcore Remainer vote. All three parties have argued that people who want a final say referendum should vote for them but the vote is in danger of being split. Mr Verhofstadt, who recently warned that a Brexit revolt was underway in Britain, is also expected to meet the colourful Remain campaigners who have been more or less permanently camped outside the Houses of Parliament for months. A source close to the EU liberal leader said he would use the seat of Britains parliament as a backdrop to launch a 10-point plan for the future of Europe. He made headlines recently after he accused the Conservatives and Labour of putting politics ahead of the interests of the UK. He also caused a stir after accusing Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage of being a fifth columnist fan of Vladimir Putin. But despite Mr Verhofstadts closeness to the Lib Dems, there could be some awkward moments on the visit. He has emphatically backed Theresa Mays Brexit deal which the Lib Dems are against and opposed the extension of Article 50 which allowed the UK to take part in the elections in the first place. Last month during a debate in the European parliament he also raised eyebrows and irked some British Remain campaigners by warning that only Nigel Farage can save us arguing that the UK should not be allowed a further Brexit delay. Guy Verhofstadt hails 'Brexit revolt' in UK But with British voters now almost certain to be asked to cast votes in the continent-wide contest, he appears to be making the best of the situation and campaigning for the UKs liberal party to win as many votes as possible. As leader of the liberal group ALDE, Mr Verhofstadt is responsible for negotiations with Emmanuel Macrons En Marche! party, whose MEPs he is trying to convince to join after the elections. He is also expected to hold talks at some stage, though not necessarily during his visit to the UK, with representatives from British new centrist party Change UK in a bid to get them to join ALDE or whatever the group becomes after the elections. The party has not said which group it will sit in after the elections, with the centre-right European Peoples Party also seen in Brussels as a possible natural destination for them. "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Show all 15 1 /15 "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage waves from the top deck of the Brexit Betrayal bus on the march from Sunderland to London Reuters "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Marchers pass a sign to "Cuckoo Land" in Easington Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Marchers plod on near Grangetown, Tyne and Wear Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A marcher holds up a blue passport as the march passes Grangetown, Tyne and Wear Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage poses for a photo in a pub in Hartlepool Reuters "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage pays his respects to Tommy, the statue of a First World War soldier in Seaham, County Durham Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march An anti-Brexit van has been graffitied in Sunderland on the Brexit Betrayal march Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A marcher carries a Union flag reading "Storm Brexit" in Sunderland Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A couple push a Save Our Sovereignty trolley through a tunnel in Easington, County Durham during the Brexit Betrayal march Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage enjoys a pint with fellow marchers in Hartlepool Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march A pro-European counter-marcher lets off a smoke grenade with the colours of the EU flag Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage leads the march in Easington Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Marchers plod on near Easington Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage takes part in the Brexit Betrayal march Getty "Leave means leave" - Brexit Betrayal march Nigel Farage poses on the top deck of the Brexit Betrayal bus in Seaham Getty Membership of ALDE for Change UK could be made harder by the fact the Lib Dems are already members given the lack of cooperation and rivalry between the two groups. Friends of Mr Verhofstadt says he has his eye on becoming president of the European parliament after the contest meaning the leadership of the group could pass on to someone else, possibly from the French delegation of Emmanuel Macrons party. One Lib Dem source told The Independent: Were looking forward to Guy and other Lib Dems from across Europe joining us to campaign for the EU elections. Our message is clear: a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit. A former director of public prosecutions said the Huawei leak did breach the Official Secrets Act, as criticism grew of Theresa May for refusing to refer Gavin Williamson to the police. Ken Macdonald criticised the government for insisting the matter was closed arguing any damaging disclosure relating to security or intelligence was a criminal offence. The prime minister continued to rebuff calls for a police investigation into her sacked defence secretary, saying the crucial issue was not what was leaked, it was about where it was leaked from which was the top-secret National Security Council (NSC). The prospect of a criminal inquiry appeared to vanish, as Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, said she would not act without a referral from the cabinet office which will not be sent. Mr Williamson continued to protest his innocence. But Lord Macdonald told the BBC that security chiefs at the NSC required completely frank conversations in total confidence with very senior government figures. If an authorised disclosure is made of a matter that is damaging to the security and intelligence services that is the breach of the Official Secrets Act, he said. Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Show all 20 1 /20 Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An employee enters a train in the Huawei's Ox Horn campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China A worker cleans a waterway as office buildings are seen at Huawei's new Ox Horn Research and Development campus in Dongguan, near shenzen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An area of Huawei's Ox Horn campus modelled after Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China The real Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees sleep in their cubicle in the research and development area after lunch at the Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An area of Huawei's Ox Horn campus modelled after Heidelberg in Germany Getty Images Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees play basketball on a court within the staff housing complex at the end of the workday at the Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China A replica of the Karl Theodor Bridge in Huawei's Ox Horn campus Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China The real Karl Theodor Bridge in Heidelberg, Germany Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Huawei's Ox Horn campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees ride the bus home at the end of the workday from the company's Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Huawei workers eat their subsidised lunch in one of many large cafeterias at the company's Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Reception staff walk in front of a large screen showcasing different technologies in the foyer of a building used for high profile customer visits at the campus in Shenzen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An employee reads in the staff library on a break at the company's Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An area of Huawei's new Ox Horn campus modelled after a European City Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Servers are seen inside Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China The conductor waits for a train in the Huawei's Ox Horn campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China A general view shows the research and development centre at Huawei's Ox Horn campus AFP/Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees works on a mobile phone production line at Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An office building on the Huawei campus in Dongguan AFP/Getty The criticism backed up the view of Peter Ricketts, a peer who was David Camerons national security adviser, who said: On the face of it this is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. All the ministers and officials around the table will have signed that, so it seems to me that the police ought to be considering is there a case? Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, also said there was certainly an argument for the matter being referred to the police, speaking to Sky News. But, answering an urgent question in the Commons, David Lidington, the de facto deputy prime minister, fought off demands for the controversy to be referred to the police. The prime minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the cabinet secretary [Mark Sedwill] does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police, but we would of course cooperate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. Ms Dick said: If the cabinet office were to send us a referral at any point that relates to apparent official secrets or leaks we would assess that. However, the commissioner added: That is hypothetical because we have not had any referral from the cabinet office. Meanwhile, No 10 revealed Mr Williamson will receive a 17,000 payoff and keep his privileged place on the Privy Council despite the shame of his sacking. He is entitled to the normal severance settlement enjoyed by any cabinet minister which is three months of his annual salary of 67,505. Asked by The Independent, if Mr Williamson would receive the standard payoff despite being sacked, rather than resigning her spokesperson replied: Correct. He also confirmed he would remain a privy counsellor, a body dating back to Norman times but a largely ceremonial honour for non-government ministers. Calls are mounting for a criminal probe into allegations that former defence secretary Gavin Williamson broke the Official Secrets Act by leaking details of intelligence discussions over Chinese technology giant Huawei. Dramatically sacked after the prime minister said she had received compelling evidence that he passed on information from a National Security Council meeting, Mr Williamson has strenuously denied he or any of his staff were to blame for the leak. In a letter to Theresa May, he said he rejected the offer to resign rather than be sacked, saying that this would have implied guilt. He also insisted he would be absolutely exonerated by a police investigation. Both his supporters and critics have called for a criminal investigation to establish the truth of the allegations. Is Mr Williamson being investigated? Currently, he is not being investigated by police. His sacking came after an internal inquiry carried out by Sir Mark Sedwill the cabinet secretary and national security adviser. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge. Getty UK news in pictures 21 December 2021 People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year PA UK news in pictures 20 December 2021 An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton PA UK news in pictures 19 December 2021 Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at Molineux Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 December 2021 Freight lorries queuing at the port of Dover in Kent PA UK news in pictures 17 December 2021 Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, bursts 'Boris' bubble' held by colleague Tim Farron, as she celebrates following her victory in the North Shropshire by-election PA UK news in pictures 16 December 2021 Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire PA UK news in pictures 15 December 2021 Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 14 December 2021 The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool PA UK news in pictures 13 December 2021 People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas's Hospital in Westminster Getty Images UK news in pictures 12 December 2021 People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 11 December 2021 People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds, PA UK news in pictures 10 December 2021 Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judges decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange PA UK news in pictures 9 December 2021 Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service PA UK news in pictures 8 December 2021 Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine PA UK news in pictures 7 December 2021 Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow PA UK news in pictures 6 December 2021 A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra Getty UK news in pictures 5 December 2021 People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin's former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother PA UK news in pictures 4 December 2021 People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square Reuters UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 2 December 2021 Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum Getty UK news in pictures 1 December 2021 Meerkats at London Zoo with an advent calendar PA UK news in pictures 30 November 2021 Workers put the finishing touches to the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree ahead of the lighting ceremony later in the week PA UK news in pictures 29 November 2021 Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana Getty UK news in pictures 28 November 2021 Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow Manchester City/Getty UK news in pictures 27 November 2021 Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as Storm Arwen triggered a rare red weather warning AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 26 November 2021 A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 November 2021 A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border PA UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 November 2021 Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel. AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 23 November 2021 The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London PA UK news in pictures 22 November 2021 The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 21 November 2021 London-based midwife Sarah Muggleton, 27, takes part in a 'March with Midwives' in central London to highlight the crisis in maternity services PA UK news in pictures 20 November 2021 Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 19 November 2021 A giant installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson made from recycled clothing goes on display at Manchester Central, as part of Manchester Art Fair, in a 'wake-up call for the Prime Minister to tackle textile waste' PA UK news in pictures 18 November 2021 The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke PA UK news in pictures 17 November 2021 The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 16 November 2021 ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 15 November 2021 Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool Reuters UK news in pictures 14 November 2021 Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London PA UK news in pictures 13 November 2021 Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was caught in a dispute between two states PA UK news in pictures 12 November 2021 Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2021 Seagulls fly around the statue entitled 'Tommy', a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 10 November 2021 Climate activists dressed as characters inspired by the Netflix series Squid Game protest as they ask Samsung to go 100% renewable energy, outside the venue for COP26 in Glasgow Reuters UK news in pictures 9 November 2021 A deer statue silhouetted at Loch Faskally in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 8 November 2021 Sunrise over St Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2021 Activists from Friends of the Earth during a demonstration calling for an end to all new oil and gas projects in the North Sea outside the UK Government's Cop26 hub during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2021 Protesters take part in a rally organised by the Cop26 Coalition in Glasgow demanding global climate justice PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2021 Final touches are made to a life sized Sir David Attenborough cake surrounded by animals as part of a display created by a group of cake artists during Cake International at NEC Birmingham PA He stepped in after The Daily Telegraph revealed that a meeting of the top-secret National Security Council (NSC) had agreed to give Huawei a role in building the UKs 5G network. Meetings of the NSC are carried out behind closed doors and details are kept secret, so their appearance in a newspaper caused uproar in Westminster. There were also concerns that such an unprecedented leak could affect Britain's intelligence relationship with key allies. The US has banned Huawei from its government networks and put pressure on the UK to do the same, over fears denied by the company that it is a vehicle for Chinese government spies. Mr Williamson was among five cabinet ministers reported to have raised objections at the meeting, putting him under suspicion. All ministers present and their special advisers, have been interrogated in the days since. Some were ordered to hand in mobile phones to be swept for contacts with The Daily Telegraph. The prime minister said the probe uncovered compelling evidence that Mr Williamson was to blame and had not fully cooperated with the inquiry as others had. In a letter to Mr Williamson, Theresa May said all others had answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible, adding: Your conduct has not been of the same standard as others. She wrote: 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. Gavin Williamson not Lionel Messi of Cabinet says former civil service chief Lord Gus O'Donnell Is there a criminal probe? Not yet. London's Metropolitan Police said the alleged leak was a matter for the National Security Council and the Cabinet Office to look at. At this time, were not carrying out an investigation, a spokesperson added. Clearly if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that. Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said she would reply to letters from politicians calling for an investigation but officers could not progress without seeing the evidence. If the Cabinet Office were to send us a referral at any point that related to apparent official secrets or an associated leak, we would assess that, scope it and go through a very formal gateway process for taking on any criminal investigation, she told journalists. Ms Dick said the Metropolitan Police had the expertise to investigate Official Secrets Act cases and worked with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on the complex case law surrounding them. When asked if Scotland Yard needed permission to investigate Mr Williamson, Ms Dick said police would have to be made party to material [held by the government] and at the present time there is no referral and we are not in possession of that material. Asked whether Mr Williamson could have broken the law by sharing concerns about a governmental decision that would later be made public, Ms Dick said such questions would be addressed by CPS lawyers. The fact that the material would include classified intelligence or information subject to the Official Secrets Act makes government sharing unlikely. There has been no signal from the government that it would support or facilitate a police inquiry. 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. Cressida Dick said a criminal investigation could not proceed without the government referring the case and handing over evidence (Getty) Can Mr Williamson be prosecuted? If a criminal investigation took place, prosecutors could consider charging him under offences contained within the Official Secrets Act. It makes it illegal to disclose covered information or documents without lawful authority. There was a public interest defence until 1989, when the provision was removed from the updated law. But prosecutors cannot act unless cases are referred to them and the Act stipulates that such a charge would have to be approved by the director of public prosecutions or attorney general. If an Official Secrets Act case were to go to court, it would trigger complex submissions from intelligence services over redacting evidence and holding hearings in private to protect intelligence. Juries can only convict someone when their guilt is beyond reasonable doubt a higher legal bar than that used in internal inquiries and any acquittal would be a scandal for the government. Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Show all 20 1 /20 Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An employee enters a train in the Huawei's Ox Horn campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China A worker cleans a waterway as office buildings are seen at Huawei's new Ox Horn Research and Development campus in Dongguan, near shenzen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An area of Huawei's Ox Horn campus modelled after Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China The real Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees sleep in their cubicle in the research and development area after lunch at the Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An area of Huawei's Ox Horn campus modelled after Heidelberg in Germany Getty Images Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees play basketball on a court within the staff housing complex at the end of the workday at the Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China A replica of the Karl Theodor Bridge in Huawei's Ox Horn campus Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China The real Karl Theodor Bridge in Heidelberg, Germany Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Huawei's Ox Horn campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees ride the bus home at the end of the workday from the company's Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Huawei workers eat their subsidised lunch in one of many large cafeterias at the company's Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Reception staff walk in front of a large screen showcasing different technologies in the foyer of a building used for high profile customer visits at the campus in Shenzen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An employee reads in the staff library on a break at the company's Bantian campus in Shenzhen Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An area of Huawei's new Ox Horn campus modelled after a European City Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Servers are seen inside Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China The conductor waits for a train in the Huawei's Ox Horn campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China A general view shows the research and development centre at Huawei's Ox Horn campus AFP/Getty Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China Employees works on a mobile phone production line at Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan Reuters Inside Huawei's new campus for workers in China An office building on the Huawei campus in Dongguan AFP/Getty What is the Official Secrets Act? The first version of the UKs Official Secrets Act dates back to 1889, but the law has been updated several time to cover different forms of espionage. The 1989 act created new laws over the unlawful disclosure of information relating to security, intelligence, defence, international relations, crime and investigations. A briefing paper issued in 2017 by the House of Commons library said prosecutions under the laws have been very rare fewer than one a year. For members or former members of the security and intelligence services, any unlawful disclosure relating to security or intelligence is an offence, the report said. For Crown Servants [including ministers, civil servants and police] and government contractors, however, an unlawful disclosure related to one of the six categories must be deemed damaging for it to constitute an offence. The law sets out damage tests that require the government to prove that UKs national interests have been harmed for a case to proceed. The maximum penalty for an unauthorised disclosure under the Act is two years' imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both. Anna Bradshaw, a partner at solicitors firm Peters and Peters, said the damage does not have to materialise for the law to be broken. It is potentially applicable to such a broad range of scenarios that the requirement for authorisation [from the director of public prosecutions or attorney general] acts as a safeguard against over-enthusiastic prosecutions, she told The Independent. Its difficult to imagine something that wouldnt potentially be in scope of the law because of the wording of all the provisions. Its deliberately drafted widely. High-profile cases include a case that saw a member of police staff jailed for eight months for passing a Sunday Times journalist information on planned al-Qaeda terror attacks in 2007. Five years before, MI5 agent David Shayler was jailed for six months for selling information and documents on topics including the IRA and Communist Party of Great Britain to the Mail on Sunday. In 1983, Foreign Office clerk Sarah Tisdall was given a six-month sentence for passing documents to The Guardian which gave the arrival date of missiles to an RAF base. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Who wants Mr Williamson to be investigated? Mr Williamson has claimed he would be exonerated by a police investigation and some of his colleagues and supporters are unsatisfied with the lack of transparency in the Cabinet Office inquiry. Former national security adviser Lord Ricketts told the BBC: On the face of it, this is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. All the ministers and officials around the table will have signed that. So, it seems to me the police ought to be considering, is there a case to be considered there? It would be for the director of public prosecutions to make the decisions, not ministers. Labour has led calls for prosecution, with deputy leader Tom Watson telling the Today programme: This is about the law applying equally and to everyone. "We have had high-profile civil servants go to jail for breaching the Official Secrets Act. The logic of the prime minister's letter is she says she has compelling evidence that suggests he has done the same. He is denying it and he has the right to clear his name the way to do that is a criminal inquiry if confidential information has leaked." Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, echoed the demand, insisting: This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office." He added: 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 Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to ask for a criminal investigation. China's ambassador to the UK has urged the government to act independently and resist external pressure. Gavin Williamson will receive a 17,000 pay-off and keep his privileged place on the Privy Council despite the shame of his sacking, Downing Street says. The former defence secretary is entitled to the normal severance settlement enjoyed by any cabinet minister which is three months of his annual salary of 67,505. Labour had led calls for Mr Williamson to be stripped of his severance pay, as well as demanding his prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, if Theresa May believed him to be guilty of the Huawei leak. But, asked by The Independent if he would receive the standard pay-off despite being sacked, rather than resigning her spokesman replied: Correct. He declined to say whether the prime minister was concerned that the public would resent Mr Williamson receiving the money, adding: There are long-standing rules in place and there are no changes to those rules, which are very transparent. Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Show all 9 1 /9 Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Boris Johnson Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has long been hopeful, he previously stood in the leadership contest that followed the Brexit vote and has at many times since been thought to be maneuvering himself towards the goal. He remains a darling of the party's right wing, particularly those in the ERG, and is the most popular choice among Tory voters but his leadership bid would be fiercely opposed by many MPs PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Michael Gove Environment secretary Michael Gove is another member who has long wanted to be leader. He has lately been known for rousing his party in the commons, his recent speeches on the Brexit deal and Labour's no confidence motion have overshadowed the Prime Minister's. He has been loyal to the Prime Minister, partly to shed his reputation as a backstabber who abandoned Boris Johnson to stand against him in the 2016 leadership election Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Dominic Raab Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has emerged as a favourite to be the Brexiteer candidate in a contest to succeed to Ms May. He displayed a grip on detail in his role as Brexit secretary. When asked recently if he would like to become prime minister he replied "never say never" Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Rory Stewart International development secretary Rory Stewart is pitching himself as the sensible candidate, promising to rule out both a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit. He was only recently promoted to the cabinet, previously serving as prisons minister, where he caught headlines with a pledge to resign if he could not reduce levels of violence within a year PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Esther McVey The former work and pensions secretary announced that she will be standing for the leadership when May leaves. McVey is the first to explicitly state that she intends to stand. She resigned from the cabinet in protest over May's Brexit deal AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Sajid Javid Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to have a plan in place for a leadership race. He made headlines over Christmas when he declared that people smuggling over the English channel was a "major incident" and more recently when he revoked the citizenship of ISIS bride Shamima Begum. Son of a bus driver, he wants the Conservatives to be seen as the party of social mobility PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Jeremy Hunt Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was recently thought to be the favourite in the event of a leadership race as he could sell himself as the man to unite the party. Critics worry that his long stint as health secretary could return to haunt him at a general election. He has reportedly been holding meetings with Tory MPs over breakfast to promote his leadership PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Andrea Leadsom Following the Prime Minister's second defeat over her Brexit deal, Leader of the house Andrea Leadsom hosted a dinner party at which "leadership was the only topic of conversation", The Times heard. Leadsom ran against Theresa May in the 2016 leadership election before dropping out, allowing May to become Prime Minister AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Priti Patel Former international development secretary Priti Patel is thought to be positioning herself as a contender. One MP told The Independent "she knows she's from the right of the party, the part which is going to choose the next leader, so she's reminding everyone she's there." Patel left the government late in 2017 after it emerged that she had held undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials PA Downing Street also confirmed he would remain a privy counsellor, a body dating back to Norman times but a largely ceremonial honour for non-government ministers. The Conservatives had already said there were no plans to remove the whip from Mr Williamson, who is expected to remain an MP as the prospect of a criminal investigation receded into non-existence. Answering an urgent question in the Commons, David Lidington, the de-facto deputy prime minister, fought off demands for the controversy to be referred to the police. At the same time, Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, said she would not act unless there was a referral from the Cabinet Office which will not be sent. The unauthorised disclosure of any information from government is serious and especially so from the National Security Council, Mr Lidington told MPs. But he added: The prime minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the cabinet secretary [Mark Sedwill] does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police, but we would of course cooperate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. Ms Dick said: If the Cabinet Office were to send us a referral at any point that relates to apparent official secrets or leaks we would assess that. We would scope it and we would go through a very formal gateway process before working on any investigation. However, the Commissioner added: That is hypothetical because we have not had any referral from the Cabinet Office. Opposition politicians condemned the pay-off, Tom Watson, Labours deputy leader, saying: It is staggering that Theresa May deemed Williamsons breach of trust and duty so serious that she sacked him yet he is now to be rewarded with a massive pay off. And Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader said: It is an outrage that Gavin Williamson is to be handed a payoff despite being sacked for gross misconduct. In most professions, that would never be the case. A Liberal Democrat council candidate had his car vandalised with far-right graffiti before voters went to the polls for the local government elections. A swastika was spray painted on one side of Alexander Stennings Suzuki Swift and the word Ukip was daubed across its bonnet. The vehicle had also been egged and its tires slashed. It had been parked in a street in the Kent town of Sittingbourne, when the vandals struck in the early hours of Thursday morning. The 27-year-old candidate for the Milton Regis ward for Swale borough council. only realised that one of the cars tyres had been slashed after he started driving the car. My understanding is that he found the car covered in graffiti," Antony Hood, Liberal Democrat councillor for Faversham, told The Independent. "He only realised the tyres had been punctured once hed started driving, so it could have been a lot more dangerous than it was. Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Nigel Farage has spent his political career campaigning for the UK to leave the EU. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Boris Johnson's support for Brexit took many by surprise before the EU referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The UK and EU are yet to agree on a withdrawal deal. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises This was taken from a 2012 speech delivered by Mr Davis. He does not currently support a second Brexit referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Boris Johnson now supports a hard Brexit and resigned from the cabinet in 2018 over Theresa May's strategy. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The US recently issued trade negotiation objectives for future talks with the UK. The country made clear that it expects access to the UK's agriculture industry, reviving the debate about chlorinated chicken. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Nigel Farage does not support the current campaign for a second Brexit referendum. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Despite this quote, in February 2019 Boris Johnson said a no deal Brexit "may yet be the best option for the UK". Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises The UK and EU are yet to begin negotiating a deal regarding their future relationship. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Theresa May announced that the UK would be leaving the Single Market in her Lancaster House speech in January 2017. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Theresa May triggered Article 50 on 29 March 2017. Her withdrawal deal is yet to be passed. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises A classic from the 2015 general election campaign. David Cameron resigned on 24 June 2016, following the EU referendum result. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises David Davis resigned from his post as Brexit secretary in July 2018 after disagreeing with Theresa May's negotiation strategy. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Michael Gove was one of the most influential Leave voices during the EU referendum campaign. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Brexit billboards: Campaigners remind MPs of past promises Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent backbencher, does not support a second Brexit referendum. He has called the use of this quote "fundamentally dishonest" as it was taken from a 2011 speech discussing the option of referendum before David Cameron entered negotiations with the EU. Such a vote was never held. Twitter/Led By Donkeys Theres no doubt that its a blatant attempt to intimidate", he said, adding that he understood a witness had taken down a car registration number, "so the police do have a lead. Describing Mr Stennings as a young lad, in his twenties," he said that his colleague was "a little bit shaken but Ive actually been very impressed at how he has dealt with it." Alexander Stennings car was vandalised on Thursday (RD/Twitter) He added: "Hes been to a garage, theyve changed the tyres and managed to get the graffiti off so it wont cost thousands of pounds, as Im sure whoever did it intended." Mr Hook said he had "received some similar [far-right] stuff in the post." He added: "Theres a few slammed doors [during the campaign] but that happens every year. Were going to carry on. Not going to let some far-right idiot stop us. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Kent Police confirmed that officers were looking into the incident. Initial enquiries are being made," the force said. Last month parliaments Human Rights Committee heard that MPs and peers were experiencing skyrocketing levels of abuse and death threats over Brexit and other political issues. Theresa May has refused to commit to acting now to end the UKs net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as demanded by her climate change advisers drawing fire from environmental groups. Campaigners voiced alarm after the prime minister said only that she will respond urgently to the call for new laws pointing to the need to examine a long and detailed report first. The comments fell far short of the call by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) to enact immediately a legally binding duty to hit the 2050 target, ahead of a UN summit in September. Greenpeace warned the prime minister of a public backlash if ministers think they can keep their heads down and wait for this to blow over, while Friends of the Earth urged her to stop dithering. And Bright Blue, a liberal Conservative think tank, urged Ms May to do something uncharacteristically bold by making the legal commitment before she quits No 10. John Gummer, the CCCs chairman, had called for the zero-emissions target for 2050 to be made law immediately, saying: We must do it now. The urgency is not just a matter of a shortness of time the quicker you do it the cheaper it is. 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 Quizzed about the report, Ms Mays spokesperson said it sets us on a path to be the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to global warming entirely. But asked, by The Independent, if the prime minister would act immediately, they said: The report is 300 pages long it contains a lot of detailed analysis and recommendations We will be responding urgently to those, but we do need to give those proper considerations. Pressed again on the call to act without delay, the spokesperson added: We welcome the report, but we do need to look at its recommendations, because it is a very long and detailed and thorough report. The comments follow growing criticism that the Brexit crisis has left a zombie government without the bandwidth to respond to other challenges. In the most notorious example, it is four months since the health secretary, Matt Hancock, pledged that plans to end the social care crisis would be published soon but they have yet to appear. Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace UKs chief scientist, said: Were in a climate emergency, so the government needs to commit to legislate on this as soon as possible. The important thing is to set out political ambition straight away. If the government think they can keep their heads down and wait for this to blow over theyve not been paying attention. The CCC blueprint would mean the end of petrol and diesel cars and gas boilers, a drastic cut in peoples meat consumption, and the planting of at least 1.5 billion trees. The target is for net zero emissions because greenhouse gases from some activities, including air travel and farming, will remain unavoidable by 2050. These would be balanced by taking carbon out of the air by growing trees or burying carbon dioxide below ground level. Chris Stark, the CCCs chief executive, said planning to cut emissions rapidly should start as soon as the zero-emissions target was set and preferably before the UN summit in September. Cinco de Mayo is a cultural phenomenon in the United States. Its a time to celebrate Mexican culture and, for some, an opportunity to indulge in margaritas and a few cervezas. But it is also a frequently misunderstood holiday. Here is what Cinco de Mayo, coming up on Wednesday, 5 May, is all about. What is Cinco de Mayo? People often mistake Cinco de Mayo for a celebration of Mexican independence. But theyre wrong. The holiday celebrates a failed French invasion after a fledgling Mexican state defaulted on debt payments to European governments. In 1861 Mexico was suffering from financial ruin following years of internal strife. This was exploited by the French President Napoleon III, who thought it would be a fantastic time to try and build an empire there. Mexico had defaulted on debts with Britain and Spain as well, but those two countries negotiated with the country and withdrew their navy. The French invaded Mexico in late 1861 with well-armed forces and stormed Veracruz, forcing the Mexican government and its forces to retreat into northern Mexico. Confident of further victories, French forces focused their attention on the city Puebla de Los Angeles. Anticipating the attack, Mexican President Benito Juarez brought together a group of 2,000 men to fight back, many of whom were indigenous Mexicans or of mixed ancestry. When the French finally attacked, on May 5, 1862, the battle lasted from daybreak to early evening. The French ended up retreating after losing almost 500 soldiers. The Mexicans lost fewer than 100. Was the battle significant? Strategically, not really. The battle represented more of a symbolic victory for the Mexican forces and added to the resistance. French forces didnt leave until 1867 after years of fighting. Mexicans were helped in part by the end of the Civil War, when the US was able to send their own troops to help out their besieged neighbour. 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Show all 17 1 /17 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Dia de los Muertos is a festival to remember friends and family members who have died and is celebrated throughout Mexico and by people of Mexican heritage living in the United States AP 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico AP 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Reuters 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Reuters 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico AP 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico AP 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Reuters 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Getty 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico EPA 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Getty 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Getty 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico EPA 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico AP 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico EPA 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Reuters 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Reuters 'Dia de los Muertos' - Day of the dead festival in Mexico Famers harvest cempasuchilt and velvet flowers to celebrate the Day of the Dead in Atlixco, Puebla, Mexico. The flowers will be sold at the 'Market of the flower EPA Does all of Mexico celebrate Cinco de Mayo? People in Puebla celebrate, as thats where the unlikely victory occurred, but the festivities arent nationwide. Cinco de Mayo isnt a federal holiday so the day is just like any other day for most people in Mexico. When does Mexico celebrate its independence? Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16. On that day in 1810, Mexican revolutionary priest Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla made a famous call to arms for his fellow men and women to resist Spanish colonial government. Why is it celebrated in the United States? The holiday is widely seen as a celebration of Mexican cultural heritage for Americas growing Hispanic population. Latino activists raised awareness for the holiday in the 1960s. In large part, those early holidays in the US were a forum to celebrate the fact that a group of indigenous people were able to successfully hold back French forces. The holiday has really taken off in the US since then and people today celebrate with parades, parties, mariachi music, and traditional Mexican foods. Has Cinco de Mayo become particularly significant in recent years? Donald Trumps election had bred some uncertainty and fear amongst some people of Mexican heritage in the United States. Mr Trump favoured anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, including a promise to deport all undocumented immigrants in the country and build a wall on the border with Mexico to keep people out. In 2017, Mr Trump tweeted out a photo of him eating a taco bowl (which is not a traditional Mexican dish) on Cinco de Mayo with the statement I love Hispanics. But Mexican-Americans arent necessarily encouraged by that tweet or the presidents actual positions since, and some have said they are fearful of celebrating Cinco de Mayo during this administration because Mr Trump has stepped up immigration enforcement since taking office. Since that 2017 photo, Mr Trumps administration has overseen a particularly brutal crackdown on immigrants and has received plenty of attention for its separation of migrant families arriving at the US-Mexico border seeking asylum. Mr Trump has in turn used the issue to drum up political support, and has demanded billions to build a border wall as a result of the immigration crisis he says is threatening the US. An FBI investigator posing as a research assistant at Cambridge University met with Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos in London in September 2016, it has been reported. Known to Mr Papadopoulos and those involved as Azra Turk, the investigator said she was an assistant to Stefan Halper, a longtime FBI informant, The New York Times said. Mr Halper was previously revealed to be monitoring the Trump campaigns activity for the FBI, which began its operation shortly before the September 2016 meeting, but the new information regarding Ms Turks role in the operation suggests a certain level of urgency. In a bar in London, Ms Turk reportedly directly asked Mr Papadopoulos if the Trump campaign was working with Russia during their first meeting, arranged by Mr Halper. In his book, Deep State Target, testimony given to the FBI, and tweets in recent weeks, the Trump aide, who was sentenced to 14 days in jail in September 2018 for lying to the FBI, has recalled the meeting with suspicion. He has repeated several times the claim that Ms Turk may have been working for Turkish intelligence. In testimony before congress, he said he believed her name was fake but that it suggested her ties to Turkey, saying hed been ...reading Twitter and people saying that Azra in Turkish means pure and then Turk. So unless she has the name of pure Turk. I don't know. Maybe that's - those are common names in Turkey. I don't know. According to the Times, Ms Turk and Mr Papadopoulos exchanged emails. I am excited about what the future holds for us :) Ms Turk wrote in one, which was provided by Mr Papadopoulos. It appears from the report that the two did not meet again. The revelation that Ms Turk was an FBI investigator is already being heralded online as confirmation by right-leaning pundits as confirmation of President Donald Trumps Spygate conspiracy theory. British intelligence say they were not involved in the operation. The FBI maintains that the operation was legal. On Twitter, Mr Papadopoulos has responded to the story by hinting that more salacious details of his experience can be found in his book. More than half a million bees have been killed after someone set their hives alight in a rural area of south east Texas. 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 after the attack on Saturday, 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 organisation, 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 neighbours know about it. He said that vandals had occasionally struck before, but a living hive had never been set on fire or drowned. You cant recover, he said. In Brazoria, a coastal county south of Houston of about 350,000 people, the bee slaughter has captivated residents and mystified fire officials and deputies. As far as crimes go, it was not all that serious there were no deaths or injuries, not even superficial burns from the deputys firefighting efforts, police spokesperson Lieutenant Varon Snelgrove said. No surveillance cameras were at the scene, near a farm on the outskirts of the city of Alvin, and the authorities do not know if there was a single culprit or more. Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Show all 9 1 /9 Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest A beekeeper holds dead bees during a protest against the merger of Germany's pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG with U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company Monsanto Reuters Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Bayer shareholders walk on a way full of dead bees as activists protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany EPA Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Bayer shareholders walk on a way full of dead bees as activists protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany Reuters Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest A protester grabs from a pile of dead bees that were killed by pesticides Getty Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Bayer shareholders walk on a way full of dead bees as activists protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany AFP/Getty Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Protesters hold dead bees during a protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany Getty Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Bayer shareholders walk on a way full of dead bees as activists protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany EPA Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest A protester holds dead bees during a protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany Getty Dead bees scattered in pesticide protest Bayer shareholders walk on a way full of dead bees as activists protest outside the annual stockholders' meeting of Bayer AG in Bonn, Germany Getty You could look at it from two different avenues, Mr Snelgrove said, speaking before a meeting on Wednesday with investigators. Was someone just creating mischief for no other reason than to destroy something? he asked. Or did someone have an ax to grind with someone? Could it be another beekeeper? There are a lot of different avenues that it could take. The drowning and fire damaged the hives in the middle of a crucial time of year. In recent weeks, the blooming of plants has set off the honey flow, and queen bees are laying thousands of eggs a day, Mr Brackman said. The honey bee, which is the species of bee that has been the dominant pollinator for decades, is threatened by pesticides, poor nutrition and other causes. In 2017, US beekeepers lost an estimated 40 per cent of their managed honey bee colonies, according to the Bee Informed Partnership, a non-profit that advises beekeepers. Pesticides and genetically modified plants shorten the bees life span, Mr Brackman said. And fewer nutrients are brought back to the hive for the rest of the brood, which is now fed nectar and pollen infused with the chemicals. In south east Texas, the warm climate attracts beekeeping enthusiasts from around the US, who bring their hives to the state to escape cold winters. The bees that were killed on Saturday belonged to four owners, who were raising them as a hobby, as part of education programmes, or to sell honey and its related products at a market hosted by a nearby farm. They installed their hives on wooden stands on the grassy 3-acre patch of land because they did not have space on their own property. Eight hives each with about 60,000 bees that were destroyed belonged to Sam Degelia, 69, a retired welder who supplements his income by selling honey at the farmers market for about $8 a pound. He lost an estimated 1,000 pounds worth of honey from his Buckfast bees, which are a species of honey bee. If you can get through the multiplication, thats quite a bit, he said in an interview. The sheriffs office called him around 2am on Saturday to tell him about the fire. Mr Degelia went out to the land when it was still dark, using a flashlight until it became impossibly swarmed by stray, homeless bees. Boxes burned, grass was burned, he said. A really big loss. I dont want to say its like losing a kid, but you put all your hard work and pride in it, and somebody kicks the bucket from under you, he said. First there is the shock of losing the bees, and then you say, Well, there goes my honey flow. The remnants of four hive structures have been salvaged. But the future of their societies is in question because the queens and their eggs have not been detected in them, Mr Brackman said. The pheromones are gone and the colony is scattered, he said. When she is killed off, the colony goes into panic mode. They know without the queen, they are going to die. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events He said that members of the group at the beekeeping spot had not had previous complaints about their activities. The nearest residence is about 50 yards away, he said. Far enough away that they would not be bothered by any bees, he said. You could stand there by the fence, and a bee might land on you, maybe trying to lick the sweat off your face. Only when you interfere with the hive does trouble come in a swarm of hundreds. Then they sting in defence of the colony, he said. New York Times Fraternities at a college in Pennsylvania have disbanded following a sit-in by the schools students in the organisations houses. The sit-in was the result of a leak of unofficial minutes from one of the schools fraternities, which indicated a culture of misogyny and racism, in which rape and sexual assault may have occurred. Last week, two student newspapers at the elite Swarthmore College published over 100 pages of unofficial minutes from Phi Psi fraternity, one of the two fraternities at the school. The minutes are excerpted from classes from 2010 to 2016, and written in a casual, joke-heavy tone. Besides recording incidents of sexual assault committed by members of the fraternity, the documents include jokes about members of the schools LGBTQ community, as well as students of colour. They also include references to hazing. The documents also reference the schools other fraternity, Delta Upsilon, in a joke about the fraternitys house, located on campus, containing rooms for rape. Also how embarrassed would you be if you were in DU right now? the minutes read. Your parties suck, you have both a rape tunnel AND a rape attic (gotta choose one or the other). Recommended Female students sue Yale fraternity attended by Brett Kavanaugh Both fraternities were temporarily suspended by the schools administration following the leak, which prompted sit-ins in the fraternitys houses by students, who did not feel the action was strong enough. According to the student newspaper The Phoenix, Swarthmores students have been communally vocal about their disapproval of the schools fraternities since 2013, when a student referendum on Greek Life resulted in what the schools students refer to as the Spring of Discontent. Incidents including urination on anti-fraternity chalk drawings on campus are recorded in the Phi Psi documents. A group formed at the school in Spring 2017 called Organizing for Survivors, or O4S, appears to have led much of the protests following the minutes publication. A Tumblr called Why Swarthmore Fraternities Must Go was also established, which allowed students to anonymously submit stories of troubling incidents involving the two fraternities. Americas fraternities have long been known for their misogynistic and racist attitudes. In recent years, many have come under fire for their internal practice of hazing new members with extreme physical discomfort, such as heavy drinking, which has resulted in a number of deaths. Swarthmores sit-ins and the resulting disbandment mark a rare case in which a schools fraternities have answered for their behaviour to those outside of the so-called brotherhood. The progressive colleges fraternity scene was unusual in comparison to many US universities prior to the leak of the documents. Swarthmores Phi Psi disaffiliated with the national chapter of the fraternity in 1963 in order to desegregate its own chapter. Black members were not allowed; it is not atypical for historically white fraternities to not allow non-white members. Current members of Swarthmore's Phi Psi chapter responded to the leak of the documents with measured shame, noting that current members were in high school and middle school at the time of the writing of these documents. In a statement on Facebook regarding their unanimous decision to disband, the chapter wrote We cannot in good conscience be members of an organisation with such a painful history. Delta Upsilon, whose decision to disband was also unanimous, appeared to offer up the fraternitys house on campus in their own Facebook statement, writing: We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe, and promotes healing. On Twitter, video of the students engaging in the sit-in celebrating the news was shared by Swarthmore Voices, one of the student newspapers that broke the documents. Valerie Smith, the president of Swarthmore, wrote a statement approving of the decision, while also noting that the school itself would continue to look into the matter. At this time, we have no evidence that any current student participated in the behaviours documented in the unofficial 'minutes.' An external investigator will still conduct a review, she wrote. In an op-ed from the Phoenix's editorial board, students suggested that they expected stronger leadership from the school. What the past week has made clear is that, since at least 2013, the administration has turned a blind eye to seemingly-constant allegations of violations of college policy, offering empty rhetoric instead of meaningful action, the editorial reads. The college brands itself as an institution committed to social justice, touting its students storied history of groundbreaking activism but its actions speak louder than its words. A Trump fan convicted of making racist threats to kill Barack Obama and Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison. Stephen Taubert, 61, was found guilty of calling congressional offices in 2017 and 2018 and using racial slurs and other vile language to threaten public officials, prosecutors said. On Tuesday, Taubert was sentenced to 46 months in prison for the phone calls in the US District Court in Syracuse, New York. "Racist threats to kill present and former public officials are not protected free speech, but serious crimes, Grant C Jaquith, the US attorney for the Northern District of New York, said in a statement on Tuesday. Tauberts lawyer, Courtenay K McKeon, declined to comment. But in court on Tuesday, she and Taubert both said that he was mentally ill and deserved a more lenient sentence, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard. 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 Taubert blamed social media and his conservative politics in part for his behaviour, the newspapers website reported. Taubert, who said in court that he once served in the US Air Force, worked as a janitor at a variety of offices, including some government employers, until 2011, when he had a stroke and had to stop working, according to court papers. Probably the worst thing for me is social media, Taubert said during the sentencing hearing, the Post-Standard reported. I should stay off of it. When I hear all these people knocking the president, it upsets me. Taubert threatened Ms Waters and her staff members last July, when the congresswoman was in a high-profile verbal feud with the Trump administration. The previous month, White House officials had been heckled at restaurants by protesters opposed to the administrations zero tolerance immigration policy that separated children from their families. At a rally, Ms Waters, a frequent critic of the White House, commended the protesters and encouraged her supporters to take similar actions. She specifically told them to show up wherever they had to, create a crowd and push back. Some conservatives took issue with her comments, arguing that push back had a physical connotation that was tantamount to inciting assault. Two days after Ms Waters remarks, Donald Trump joined in the criticism, writing on Twitter that the California congresswoman had called for harm to his supporters. Then he warned her to be careful what you wish for. Roughly a month after Mr Trumps tweet, Taubert called Ms Waters office in Los Angeles. Using pejorative slurs for women and African Americans, he said that he planned to attend all of Waters public events and vowed to kill her and her staff, prosecutors said. When asked about that call by police officers, Taubert repeated his racial slur against her, according to court papers. He also called Ms Waters low IQ, a comment that mirrored the language of Mr Trumps tweet. The call to Ms Waters office came 13 months after Taubert made multiple calls to the Washington office of Al Franken, then a Democratic senator from Minnesota. In two of those calls, Taubert said he was planning to go to Washington the next day to hang Obama at his home. Prosecutors said that Taubert had a history of threatening phone calls dating back to 2013, when he said he was going to burn down the NAACPs building in Baltimore. In letters of support filed with the court and provided to the New York Times, Tauberts family and friends said he had apologised several times for the calls. They portrayed him as a man who exercised poor judgment but who had no intention of following through on his threats. But Judge Glenn T Suddaby cited Tauberts history of menacing phone calls as he handed down the sentence. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events They claim hed never hurt anybody, Mr Suddaby said in court, The Post-Standard reported. Mr. Taubert, youve repeatedly hurt people with your words. Taubert was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, and will face three years of supervised release after completing his prison term. A representative for Mr Obama declined to comment. Representatives for Ms Waters did not immediately respond to requests for comment, though in March, after Taubert was found guilty, Ms Waters said in a statement that she was pleased by the conviction. New York TImes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called for William Barrs resignation following the attorney generals refusal to hand over an unredacted version of the Mueller report to the House judiciary committee. Barr needs to resign, the influential Democratic congresswoman tweeted on Thursday. On Wednesday Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono told Mr Barr to his face he should resign. At a remarkable Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, she accused him of trying to protect Donald Trump, claiming he had sacrificed a once-decent reputation for the grifter and liar that sits in the Oval Office. The attorney general has failed to turn up for todays House Judiciary hearing on the special counsels report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and the Justice Department. Mr Barrs decision he cited a disagreement over the questioning format came the day the department missed a committee deadline to provide the panel with a full version of the report and its underlying evidence. 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 Those moves are likely to prompt a vote on holding him in contempt and possibly the issuance of subpoenas, bringing House Democrats and the Trump administration closer to a prolonged battle in court. House committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said he would carry on with the Thursdays hearing, despite an empty chair for the scheduled witness. As Barr refused to testify, Democrats sought to speak to Robert Mueller himself. Mr Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on 15 May and the panel was firming up the date. The Justice Department has already made a less-redacted version of the report available for a small number of lawmakers, including Mr Nadler and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Democrats have so far declined to read it, saying they want the entire report released to a wider audience. It looks like Donald Trump has found his nasty woman for the 2020 presidential campaign trail. Kamala Harris was forced to respond after the president once again called her nasty the second time in a week following her high-profile questioning of his Attorney General William Barr on Capitol Hill. A clip of the California Democrat and 2020 hopeful grilling Mr Barr over his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report went viral Wednesday, after he failed to answer whether the president or anyone in the White House suggested the Justice Department launch an investigation into anyone. We have a president of the United States whose primary interest I think that has been clear as a result of what we know as a result of the Mueller report, his primary interest has been to obstruct justice, Ms Harris said in an interview with CNN. My primary interest is to pursue justice, she continued. You can call that whatever name you want, but I think that's what the American people want in a leader. The comments arrived after Mr Trump discussed her line of questioning in an interview on Fox Business, saying she was probably very nasty. It also follows a history the president has with referring to his female critics and opponents as nasty, a term women in The Resistance movement adopted after his election in 2016. 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 Mr Trump said Ms Harris has a little bit of a nasty wit in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity just days earlier. In 2016, he referred to Hillary Clinton as such a nasty woman after she explained how both of their Social Security payroll contributions would rise under her plan to tax the wealthy, and joked that he may try to get out of it. Hes also referred to women as fat, ugly, and horseface, among other disparaging comments. Recommended How Kamala Harris could radically transform US criminal justice system Ms Harris has been travelling across critical states in the upcoming Democratic primaries since launching her campaign for the White House, taking aim at the current administration over its economic, immigration and health care policies. Shes also frequently hit Mr Trump against accusations he obstructed justice throughout the special counsels investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Ms Harris sits on the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. There are almost too many Democrats to count in the 2020 primaries but any of the top five leading candidates would beat Donald Trump in a general election, according to the latest polling. Despite the majority of those surveyed saying the president is doing a good job with the nations economy (56 per cent), each of the five highest polling Democrats on the campaign trail beat Mr Trump in CNNs head-to-head polling conducted by SSRS. Beto ORourke bests Mr Trump by the highest margin, with 52 per cent of voters saying they would vote for him compared to 42 per cent who said they would vote for the president in a race against the Texas Democrat. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders each beat out Mr Trump as well with a six and seven per cent advantage respectively, while Kamala Harris leads the president by four per cent. Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg who has climbed in the polls in recent weeks and proved effective at national fundraising despite little name recognition also would beat Mr Trump by three per cent, according to the poll. 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 Elizabeth Warren appears to be the only candidate polled in the SSRS survey who did not beat out Mr Trump, though the two politicians are effectively neck-and-neck. While Mr Trump holds 48 per cent in a race against the liberal Massachusetts senator, Ms Warren maintains 47 per cent of support if she were to secure the Democratic nomination. Recommended Warren reveals plan to make birth safer for African American women Mr Trumps acting chief of staff suggested voters would effectively return him to the Oval Office in the 2020 elections during a talk this week in California, where he foreshadowed the economy would serve as one of the top factors in his re-election victory. You hate to sound like a cliche, but are you better off than you were four years ago? It's pretty simple, right? It's the economy, stupid. I think that's easy. People will vote for somebody they don't like if they think it's good for them, Mick Mulvaney said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The poll was conducted between 25 April and 28 April with a sample of 1,007 respondents. During negotiations on an international statement on Arctic policy, the United States pushed to remove references to climate change from the document a position that threatened to spark a standoff between the US and other Arctic nations, a new report says. The US pushed to have references to climate change and the Paris climate treaty moved from the policy statement, which is created by the eight Arctic nations in a meeting that occurs every eight years. The push to remove the language, in the beginning, lead contention among the negotiators, even though the statement itself is non-binding. The US indicated its resistance to any mention of climate change whatsoever, one official told The Washington Post, which first reported on the the effort. There have been challenges in the negotiations with the United States, another official told that paper, noting that the US position has appeared to soften in recent days. 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 At one point they wanted to remove the expression climate change and blocked references of the Paris agreement and other international agreements in the language. But the dialogue has improved during the last couple of days, the official continued. An email sent to the State Department seeking comment on the Washington Posts report was not returned. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to travel to Finland for a two-day session with the Arctic Council, where he will be joined by foreign minister for Russia, Canada, and Nordic nations in the group. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The State Department is in charge of Americas involvement in the council, which was formed in 1996. The US government has been hostile to the idea of mitigating the causes of climate change since Donald Trump became president, and has pushed for an expansion in offshore drilling, and for the removal of regulations that impact fossil fuel burning and greenhouse gas emissions. Donald Trump has invited Hungarys far-right leader Viktor Orban to Washington for a working meeting, according to a Hungarian government spokesman. Zoltan Kovacs tweeted on Thursday night that the countrys prime minister will travel to the US for formal talks with the US president on 13 May. He said the pair would discuss energy security, defence cooperation, bilateral relations and regional security, explaining that the trip had been confirmed by Hungarys foreign minister. Mr Orban became the first national leader in the EU to endorse Trump in the 2016 election campaign. Taking office in 2010, he has made anti-immigration measures his main focus in recent years, becoming a role model for many of Europes far-right parties. His ruling Fidesz Party was suspended from the mainstream centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament in March over its record on respect for the rule of law, freedom of the press and minorities rights. Trump and Farage - a working friendship Show all 7 1 /7 Trump and Farage - a working friendship Trump and Farage - a working friendship Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pose in the golden elevator at Trump Tower on 12 November 2016, four days after Trump was elected president. Farage was the first British politician to meet with Trump after the election LeaveEUOffical/Twitter Trump and Farage - a working friendship Not long after their meeting at Trump Tower, then-president elect Trump tweeted in favour of Nigel Farage being appointed ambassador to the US Trump and Farage - a working friendship Farage appears at a Trump campaign rally in Jackson, Mississipi on 24 August 2016. Farage drew parallels between the recent vote for Brexit in the UK and a vote for Trump in the US, saying "they could take back control of their country, take back control of their borders and get back their pride and self-respect" Getty Images Trump and Farage - a working friendship Trump introduced Farage as "Mr. Brexit" Getty Images Trump and Farage - a working friendship President Trump with Nigel Farage when they met met face-to-face to discuss why the President should back a no-deal Brexit on 3 March 2019 PA Trump and Farage - a working friendship From left to right: Gerry Gunster (US pollster and campaign adviser to Leave.EU), Arron Banks (Leave.EU founder who is being investigated over the funding of the Brexit campaign), Donald Trump (then president-elect), Nigel Farage (then leader of UKIP), Andy Wigmore (communication director of Leave.EU) and Raheem Kassam (then-advisor to Farage and later UK editor of Breitbart news) Trump and Farage - a working friendship Farage and his adviser Raheem Kassam arrive to meet with Trump on November 12 2016 Getty Images In March Mr Trump invited Brazils far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro to the White House and said they had many views in common. He has also referred to his great relationship with the Philippines strongman president Rodrigo Duterte, inviting him to the White House in 2017. Last November former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said he planned to work with Mr Orban in the run-up to the European Parliament elections. The US campaigner also revealed he had visited Budapest for meeting with the leader and his aides, and suggested Hungary would make an ideal home for his right-wing populist group The Movement. I love it so much there John McLaughlin, who is my pollster in the United States, is going to run this overall polling effort in Europe. He is also the pollster for Orban in Hungary, Mr Bannon told the French radio network RTL. Mr Orban will be hosting Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini, who also strongly opposes immigration, later Thursday. The Hungarian prime minister has said the EPP grouping must forge an alliance with populists and nationalists further out on the right after forthcoming EU elections. The EPP is preparing to commit suicide and wants to tie itself to the left, he said. Additional reporting by AP Democrats are edging closer to holding the attorney general of the United States in contempt of Congress, after William Barr ditched testimony in which he was expected to discuss his controversial handling of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia report. The threats to hold Mr Barr in contempt followed shortly after House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler gaveled in a nearly empty hearing on the report Thursday morning, and Democrats began decrying what they see as an administration running rough-shod over US democratic institutions. With a seat assigned to the attorney general sitting vacant, Democrats railed against Americas top law enforcement officer for refusing to hand over the full Mueller report, and the underlying evidence, and questioned why he made false statements to Congress about the report in April. The attorney general must make a choice, Mr Nadler said, as a colleague ate fried chicken nearby in a statement about the attorney generals lack of courage before the committee. Every one of us must make the same choice, the New York Democrat continued. That choice is now an obligation of our office. The choice is simple: we can stand up to this president in defence of the country and the Constitution we love, or we can let the moment pass us by. 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 Of particular concern for Democrats is the recently revealed letter from Mr Mueller to Mr Barr in March, in which he expressed concern about a four-page summary letter the attorney general sent to Congress shortly after receiving the special counsels full report. Mr Barr would later tell Congress, weeks later, that he was unaware that Mr Mueller had any misgivings on his portrayal of the report. Later on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the gravity of the scenario. What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States, Ms Pelosi told reporters, referencing April testimony in which Mr Barr said he was not aware that Mr Mueller was uncomfortable with the way he had portrayed the report. Thats a crime, Ms Pelosi continued. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events In response, the Justice Department released the following statement, according to The New York Times: Speaker Pelosis baseless attack on the attorney general is reckless, irresponsible and false. During his Senate testimony on Wednesday, Mr Barr had attempted to explain away the letter from Mr Mueller by saying he had reached out directly to the special counsel to discuss his concerns. After that conversation, Mr Barr said, he came away with the impression that there was no real issue. Democrats are also seeking to force the Justice Department to hand over the full Mueller report, and the underlying evidence uncovered by the nearly two year investigation. It is unclear how they may force the attorney generals hand, should he decide not to cooperate. But, following the release of the letter from Mr Mueller, some lawmakers have raised the potential of opening an impeachment inquiry, which would give the House the power to demand information from the executive branch. Rep. Steve Cohen mocks William Barr's refusal to attend hearing with box of fried chicken: 'he's here!' Others have raised the potential to hold Mr Barr in contemplate, which is not a punitive measure but would be a mark on the mans record. The strategy was used in 2012 by House Republicans against then-attorney general Eric Holder after he refused to hand over internal Justice Department documents. Republicans have pushed back on Democrat attacks of Mr Barr and the president, who has also been the target if whispers of impeachment and have said their Democratic colleagues are to blame for Mr Barrs refusal to return to Congress for a second round of testimony on Thursday. The reason Bill Barr is not here today is because the Democrats decided they did not want him here today, said Representative Doug Collins, indicating he thinks Democrats were creating a conflict for Mr Barr. Mr Nadler has said that Mr Mueller has agreed to speak to the House Judiciary Committee sometime in May, although a specific date has not been set. Mr Barr, on Wednesday, indicated that he has no issue with Mr Mueller testifying. A US congressman bizarrely brought a bucket of fried chicken to the House Judiciary Committee hearing that Attorney General William Barr refused to attend Thursday morning. Seemingly a shot at Mr Barrs fear of the committee, Rep. Steve Cohen, the Democratic representative from Tennessee, also brought in a ceramic chicken. He placed the chicken in what would have been the Attorney General's spot before the committee. He told reporters Hes here! and gestured to his bucket of fried chicken. He then proceeded to eat from the bucket, and offer its contents to his colleagues. Perhaps because the chicken was presented well before noon, none took him up on the offer. Mr Barr hinted late Wednesday night that he would not be attending the House Judiciary Committee hearing to review special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Thursday, after a long day of being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. On Thursday, he did not show up to the hearing. Todays hearing would have allowed lawyers from both political sides to question the attorney general after the traditional round from members of Congress. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The Justice Department expressed its disapproval over this format, which has been used in notable situations in the past. Members of congress have responded by using their time to express their disapproval of Mr Barrs failure to appear. In Rep. Cohens case, his opinion of the nature of Mr Barrs lack of appearance is clear. India is evacuating around 800,000 people from coastal areas on the Bay of Bengal as a cyclone is forecast to bring flooding, heavy rainfall and winds gusting up to 200kph (125mph). The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said Cyclone Fani would make landfall in Odisha state on Friday afternoon, and recommended the extensive evacuation of coastal areas. Fishers were urged to return to coasts and it was predicted that the storm would bring widespread disruption to power supplies, rail and road traffic inland. The government said people living in 14 low-lying districts of Odisha would be moved to shelters and sturdier school and college buildings. Tourists were urged to leave coastal areas in both Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal. We are maximising efforts at all levels for evacuation for the time being, Odishas special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi told the Reuters news agency. Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Show all 40 1 /40 Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India A man removes debris from a collapsed house after floods in Paravur Reuters Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An ariel shot of Kerala from Thiruvanpuram Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Murgan and his family clean up their house in Mundancavu village at Chegannur upon returning home after the flood waters receded Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India People assess damage caused by floods on the outskirts of Kochi AP Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Men paddle their boat through the lawns of a partially submerged church at Kuttanad in Alleppey district Reuters Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Sandhya Biji and her son in front of their damaged house on the banks of Pamba river Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Border Security Force distribute food food and water to the residents who are stuck in their houses as well who have not vacated houses because of the flood water in interior places at Allapy Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India A damaged house on the banks of Pamba river Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Murgan cleaning up his house Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An aerial view shows partially submerged houses at a flooded area in the southern state of Kerala Reuters Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Murgan and his family clean up their house Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India People are airlifted by the Indian Navy soldiers during a rescue operation Reuters Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India People wait for aid on the roof of their house Reuters Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian volunteers and rescue personal evacuate local residents AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian people use a boat to rescue an elderly man in the flooded water in Kochi EPA Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An aerial view shows partially submerged houses at a flooded area in the southern state of Kerala Reuters Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An Indian woman watches residents walking through flood streets next to their marooned houses AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian army personal evacuate local residents AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian commuters wade through flooded streets AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India People move past a flooded road in Thrissur AP Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Water gushes out following heavy rain and landslide in Kozhikode AP Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Fire and Rescue personnel evacuate local residents in an inflatable boat from a flooded area at Muppathadam near Eloor AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian residents look at the Shiva Temple submerged AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Roads and houses engulfed in water following heavy rain and landslide in Kozhikode. AP Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India People look at vehicles stuck in the mud AFP/Getty Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India A young man wades through a flooded street in Kochi EPA Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Rescue operations being conducted at the landslide location at Kuttampuzha AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An elderly woman is rescued in a cooking utensil AP Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Local residents look at a partially destroyed house after heavy monsoon rains led to a landslide in Kannappankund AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An Indian woman sits inside her house immersed in flood waters in Ernakulam district of Kochi AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian fire and rescue personnel evacuate local resident AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India A woman stands at the door of her flooded home in Kochi EPA Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India India residents stand on the shore as Periyar river flooded AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India An Indian man carries a basket of bananas next to houses immersed in flood waters AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Laborers hailing from northern states wade through flood waters as they shift to higher ground AP Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan (L) along with opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala (2L) visit relief camp in Chengamanadu Government Higher Secondary School AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Athirampally Falls EPA Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India EPA Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Indian residents look at houses destroyed by flood waters at Kannappankundu AFP/Getty Images Kerala floods: heavy monsoon rains lead to deaths in India Kochi's International airport apron flooded AFP/Getty Images Fani is the first major storm of Indias cyclone season, which generally runs from April to December. The tracking service Tropical Storm Risk rated it a mid-range category 3 storm. In its latest bulletin on Thursday morning, the IMD warned the worst-affected coastal districts would see a storm surge of about 1.5m above regular tidal levels, which was very likely to inundate low lying areas. Parts of Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh would experience extremely heavy rainfall of above 20cm, it warned. Sea conditions would be phenomenally rough, the bulletin said, adding that large boats and ships may get torn from their moorings. Cyclones coming in from the Bay of Bengal lead to many evacuations every year, and can cause widespread destruction to properties, damage to crops and deaths across both India and Bangladesh. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Two decades ago a super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people, while in 2013 a mass evacuation of nearly a million people is likely to have saved thousands of lives. Additional reporting by agencies India has welcomed the UN blacklisting of militant leader Masood Azhar and said that its next step will be to call for action against Pakistan itself for failing to stop terrorism financing. Azhar is the leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group that claimed responsibility for a major bomb attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers in Pulwama, Kashmir, in February. In a big diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council passed a resolution late on Wednesday to add Azhar to a list of global terrorists, meaning he will face a travel ban, a freeze on his assets and an arms embargo. Indias foreign ministry said it welcomed the decision, which it has been lobbying for for more than a decade. Azhars designation was a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers, said spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. The government will now ask the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to move Pakistan from its grey list to its full blacklist of countries with inadequate controls to curb money laundering and terrorism financing. Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Show all 13 1 /13 Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian muslims in Mumbai burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Hafiz Saeed, chief of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40 AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Policeman walk past vehicles set on fire in Jammu by a mob during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Vehicles are set on fire in Jammu during protests following the attack AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian Muslims hold a protest in Mumbai the day after the terrorist attack AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Protestors in Jammu throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian police men keep vigil next to a barbed wire fencing during the third day of curfew in Jammu AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan as part of protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers pay tribute to their colleague Maneswar Basumatary, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian army soldiers patrol during a curfew in Jammu on February 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A crowd carries a victim's coffin during a cremation ceremony AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A relative of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Sudip Biswas mourns over his coffin at Kolkata airport AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Speaking on Thursday, Indias finance minister Arun Jaitley said: We want Pakistan downgraded on the FATF list. He said the FATF would meet in mid-May and India would make its request then. In February, the FATF said Pakistan does not demonstrate a proper understanding of terrorism-financing risks posed by militant groups, including the JeM. The watchdog can make recommendations to any member states, as well as to other nations, but it has no power to impose sanctions. The core issue is that he [Azhar] has been declared an international terrorist, Mr Jaitley said. He and his country now face the consequences of that. JeM has been operating out of its base in Pakistan since it was founded by Azhar in 1999, after he was released by India in an exchange with militants who had hijacked an Indian Airlines plane. The fact that Azhar has been able to live freely within Pakistan has been a source of contention between the country and its western allies for many years. Previous attempts by the likes of the US, France and the UK to raise Security Council sanctions against Azhar have been blocked by China, a close Pakistani ally. A senior US administration official told reporters on Wednesday that after 10 years China has done the right thing by lifting its hold on this designation of Azhar. The final straw appears to have been the devastating attack on a convoy of Indian security personnel in Kashmir on 14 February this year. In the attack, a young local separatist militant named Adil Ahmad Dar drove a car full of explosives into a convoy carrying Indian paramilitary officers. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Dars family told The Independent in interviews that he was motivated to act by past harassment by Indian security forces, including one incident where an Indian solder shot him in the leg. But JeM, which lists Kashmirs separation from India as one of its primary goals, claimed responsibility for the attack, and India launched its first airstrikes on a JeM-linked target in Pakistani territory in response. Pakistan confirmed Azhar had been sanctioned at a press conference in Islamabad. Foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal noted that prime minister Imran Khan had already ordered a crackdown on assets and property linked to JeM in the wake of the Pulwama bombing. Pakistan has also detained dozens of people suspected of involvement in the attack, though its own investigations have not found any direct link between Azhar or his group and the actions of the bomber, Dar. A 19-year-old has died after he was gored by a bull in eastern Spain, becoming the second person killed at bull festivals in the Mediterranean country over the past fortnight. Fran Gonzalez was reportedly speared in the groin area as he attempted to dodge one of the mammals during an annual celebration in the province of Castellon on Tuesday. The teenager died soon after he was taken to a nearby hospital, having suffered extensive bleeding, according to the La Vanguardia newspaper. The San Vicente Ferrer festival held a minutes silence on Wednesday as a public show of condolences for his family and friends. It follows the recent death of a 74-year-old who was gored by bull during a traditional bull running event in the Andalusian town of Vejer de la Frontera. Man gored in running of the bulls Show all 8 1 /8 Man gored in running of the bulls Man gored in running of the bulls 621701.bin AP Man gored in running of the bulls 621166.bin Reuters Man gored in running of the bulls 621167.bin EPA Man gored in running of the bulls 621237.bin EPA Man gored in running of the bulls 621245.bin Getty Images Man gored in running of the bulls 621246.bin AP Man gored in running of the bulls 621244.bin AP Man gored in running of the bulls 621247.bin AP The Spanish spectator, named as Juan Jose Varo, suffered a punctured lung and several broken ribs when the animal knocked him over as he tried to climb to safety on top of a set of railings. Medics had to treat another man who needed seven stitches after he was wounded by the same bull, and a woman who fainted. The Vejer de la Frontera festival features the running of two bulls through the streets of the hill-top tow every Easter Sunday. This weeks death at the San Vicente Ferrer festival happened as the 19-year-old took part in a bullfighting event on the streets of Chilches. The teenager was an amateur recortadore someone who attempts to dodge the bull as it runs at them in confined spaces according to Spanish media. The El Natural bullfighting club in La Vall dUixo said it was sad, dismayed and shocked to learn of Mr Gonzalezs death. At least 15 people are believed to have been killed while running with the bulls in Pamplona during Julys San Fermin celebration, the most popular bull festival in Spain. Protesters in Sudan have vowed to take their rallies to embassies across Europe, as hundreds of thousands marched in Khartoum and other parts of the country to demand the military hand over power to civilians. Three weeks after president Omar al-Bashir was overthrown, demonstrators gathered across the capital and marched to a main sit-in outside the military headquarters. A coalition of activists led by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) said Thursdays self-styled Million Man March was held because talks with Sudans military council have reached a deadlock. Angered at the support countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE have given the Sudanese armed forces, protesters told The Independent their next step is to stage rallies at their embassies across Europe and the United States. In Sudan, they vowed to continue their sit-ins and rallies until a civilian-led sovereign council, tasked with ruling the country until elections are held, is formed. Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Show all 20 1 /20 Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Alaa Salah leads the protest against President Omar al-Bashir Lana Haroun/Twitter Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters run from tear gas deployed by security forces as they take part in a demonstration to demand the departure of the Sudanese government EPA Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 Sudan Congress Party Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 10 Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Alaa Salah, a Sudanese woman propelled to internet fame earlier this week after clips went viral of her leading powerful protest chants against President Omar al-Bashir, addresses protesters outside of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters march on the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters pray as they rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters chant slogans as they march in protest against President Omar al-Bashir Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters climb onto a military vehicle beside soldiers during protests in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Security forces deploy tear gas to disperse protesters against the Sudanese government Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters rally outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on April 8 AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A wounded protester rests during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A Sudanese protester shows bullet cartridges as protesters gather in Khartoum AFP/Getty Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Protesters march on the military headquarters in Khartoum Sudan Congress Party Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan Sudanese protesters march on the defence ministry in Khartoum to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down Reuters Military HQ occupied by anti-government protesters in Sudan A Sudanese protester picks up waste during a demonstration in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum AFP/Getty Todays rally is a message to the military council as well as regional and international players that the Sudanese people will not give up on their demand for a civilian government, said Ahmed Rabie, a leader in the SPA, which led the four months of protests that drove Mr Bashir from power. Mr Rabie, a member of the protesters delegation to the talks, said they proposed an 11-member sovereign council with three seats reserved for the military. The military, however, have demanded they hold the majority, with at least seven seats. Recommended Sudan protesters vow to maintain pressure on regime until demands met In the latest attempt to break the stalemate, a committee of public figures has been formed to mediate future talks. The members of this committee are all patriotic public figures... however, they are not authorised to sign off on any deal on our behalf, Mr Rabie said. Sudan is currently ruled by a military junta led by lieutenant general Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan, after armed forces pushed Mr Bashir from office on 11 April following months of protests against his 30-year rule. The former leader has since been jailed alongside other former senior officials. In Khartoum, Waem Shawgi, a 28-year-old businesswomen and womens rights activist, told The Independent people were distrustful of the military, fearing the very generals who helped end Mr Bashirs reign would want to hold onto power or cut deals with remnants of the former presidents regime. The protests in and out of Sudan are crucial, the military will do anything in its power to try to push protesters to accept half a victory Mohamed Abubakr, Sudanese activist and president of the Washington-based African Middle Eastern Leadership Project She said protests both in Sudan and abroad were the last chance they had to ensure a transition to a civilian government. Earlier this week, the military demanded that demonstrators clear roadblocks around their main sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. Protesters responded by building more barricades. We cannot trust the military who were behind such an authoritarian regime for 30 years, she said from within the Sudanese capital. If we go back home now we will have lost all the power, all the blood loss in the street will have been for nothing. This is our last chance. We do not have anything to lose, she added. Mohamed Abubakr, a Sudanese activist and president of the Washington-based African Middle Eastern Leadership Project said protests were planned this week at the Egyptian, Saudi and Emirati embassies in Washington and cities across Europe, against the militarys interference in the transitional process. He said many protesters were particularly concerned by Gulf support of newly-appointed vice president Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan. This is our last chance. We do not have anything to lose Waem Shawgi, Sudanese womens right activist Hamdan, who is known by his nickname Hemeti, is the head of paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which rights organisations have accused of violating international human rights and humanitarian law in the long-embattled region of Darfur. Hundreds of RSF fighters have also died fighting for a Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen. The protesters are asking these countries to stop meddling in Sudans business, as they have been heavily invested in promoting Hemeti, Mr Abubakr said. The protests in and out of Sudan are crucial, the military will do anything in its power to try to push protesters to accept half a victory, he added Brexit Day may have been postponed, but whenever it actually ends up happening, one things for sure: British tourists will still be welcome in Portugal. Europes western-most country has been at pains to emphasise its enduring commitment to UK holidaymakers, even launching a Brelcome campaign (tagline: Portugal will never leave you) that offers assurances of free healthcare, visa exemptions, possible mutual recognition of driving licences and even simplified rules for British pets after weve left the EU. What better way to celebrate such unprecedented hospitality than by taking our next microtrip where The Independent spends no more than a day in a city to experience only its best bits to Lisbon? The Portuguese capitals popularity as a city break destination has skyrocketed over the last 10 years, prompted by a slew of exciting museum and gallery openings alongside its sheer prettiness: think cobbled, winding streets, intricately patterned tiles on the buildings and vintage trams trundling up and down. Heres how to see it in just one day: Best cities to live in 2019 Show all 20 1 /20 Best cities to live in 2019 Best cities to live in 2019 19. Hamburg, Germany Joint 19th Getty Best cities to live in 2019 19. Ottawa, Canada Joint 19th Getty Best cities to live in 2019 18. Luxembourg Getty Best cities to live in 2019 17. Melbourne, Australia Getty Best cities to live in 2019 16. Toronto, Canada Alamy Best cities to live in 2019 15. Wellington, New Zealand Getty Best cities to live in 2019 14. Bern, Switzerland Getty Best cities to live in 2019 13. Berlin, Germany Getty Best cities to live in 2019 11. Amsterdam, Netherlands Joint 11th Getty Best cities to live in 2019 11. Sydney, Australia Joint 11th Getty Best cities to live in 2019 10. Basel, Switzerland Getty Best cities to live in 2019 9. Geneva, Switzerland Getty Best cities to live in 2019 8. Copenhagen, Denmark Getty Best cities to live in 2019 7. Frankfurt, Germany Getty Best cities to live in 2019 6. Dusseldorf, Germany Getty Best cities to live in 2019 2. Auckland, New Zealand Joint 2nd Getty Best cities to live in 2019 2. Munich, Germany Joint 2nd Getty Best cities to live in 2019 2. Vancouver, Canada Joint 2nd Getty Best cities to live in 2019 2. Zurich, Switzerland Joint 2nd Getty Best cities to live in 2019 1. Vienna, Austria Getty 06.30: At the airport Were on the second TAP Air Portugal flight of the day from London Heathrow to Lisbon. At 8am, its early but not too early, requiring a 5am wake-up call. 08.00: Take-off A couple of coffees is all it takes to pep us up for the day ahead plus an inflight snack, provided gratis by TAP despite the journey being just over two and a half hours long. Lisbon has skyrocketed in popularity (Getty) 10.40: Touch down No need to reset your watch: Portugal is on the same timezone as the UK. Were hand luggage only, so its straight through passport control to pick up our 24H Lisboa card at the tourist information desk. Priced at 20, its a great-value way to see a lot in a day, offering unlimited free travel by bus, metro and tram and free entry to a heap of the citys best museums and galleries. 11.30: Uber into town While catching the metro from the airport is cheap and easy, it isnt the fastest way of getting into the city centre. As time is of the essence, we opt for getting an Uber instead the 25-minute trip to the Time Out Market costs 13. 12.00: Get food envy at Time Out Market and Mercado da Ribeira Lisbons revolutionary food court concept is often heralded as one of the citys must-visit attractions. This expansive hall has myriad stalls, some of which are outposts of Lisbons best restaurants, lining the outside; while in the middle long tables provide seating for those gorging on dishes ranging from fresh seafood to gelato. Next door is the more traditional Mercado da Ribeira, where visitors can stock up on fruit and veg. The Time Out Market offers a host of culinary workshops (Getty) (Getty Images) 12.25: Learn to make a custard tart Portugal is famous for its pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts to you and me), and how better to enjoy this combination of beautifully flaky pastry and rich custard dusted with cinnamon than by learning how to make one? At Time Outs Academia, a cookery school offering a range of workshops, we quickly get stuck in, bringing together milk and flour in one pan, sugar, water and cinnamon in another. Once cooked and cooled, it turns out these tasty tarts are even dreamier when youve whipped them up yourself. 13.30: Lunch on the run From dessert to main course we make a stop at Aura, a restaurant specifically chosen because it offers a buffet no waiting around to order here. We load our plates high with Portuguese sandwiches, marinated fish and roasted vegetables while enjoying the restaurants cool Mediterranean decor: crisp white walls and high, arched ceilings provide the backdrop for a full-size classical statue, perfectly spherical-shaped trees in pots, a line of white animal heads and intricately patterned blue and white chairs. 14.30: Marvel at the Augusta St Triumphal Arch Out onto the Praca do Comercio, a vast and vibrant square next to the Tagus river, we hang a left to gawp at the majesty of the Augusta St Triumphal Arch, a sumptuous neoclassical arch that marks the entry to the Baixa district. We wander down pedestrianised Augusta Street, thick with tourists and men selling umbrellas to combat the rain showers that accost us every 10 minutes or so. I try (and fail) to get a decent picture of it all. Augusta St Triumphal Arch is found in the vibrant square of Praca do Comercio (Getty) (Getty Images) 14.45: Tram to Belem Although its not one of the pretty vintage ones, the number 15 tram whisks us from Cais do Sodre square westwards to the historic Belem district. 15.15: Ogle some art We hop off and head to the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, aka MAAT, which opened to much fanfare in 2017. Before going inside, we take the time to clamber the steps to the top of this gently undulating building: phenomenal views of the Tagus river and Ponte 25 Abril Bridge await. Head inside to discover a diverse selection of exhibitions we scope out Fiction and Fabrication, which brings together work by nearly 50 artists focusing on the imagery of architecture. MAAT is one of Lisbon's most eye-catching museums (Getty) (Getty Images) 16.00: Contemplate monastic life We stride down the road to Jeronimos Monastery, a humdinger of a building thats worth a look even if you dont go inside. Built during the 15th century, the sprawling structure has a place on Unescos World Heritage list thanks to its impressive Portuguese late gothic Manueline architectural style. We dont have time to swing by, but not far from here is the historic Pasteis de Belem, a bakery famed for its custard tarts made to a centuries-old recipe. 16.45: Browse some books Bertrand is a Lisbon legend its Portugals oldest bookshop. That alone makes it worth a look, but it also offers beautifully arched ceilings and a wide selection of English-language books that I just wish I had a little longer to browse. Buy one and theyll even stamp the front page to show that you woz ere. The Jeronimos Monastery is an Unesco World Heritage Site (Getty) (Getty Images/iStockphoto) 17.15: Grab a drink with a view One of the benefits of Lisbon being such a hilly city is that bars with smoking views abound. There are plenty of rooftop watering holes to choose from, but we opt for Park. Situated at the top of a multi-storey carpark, it has a grungy, those in the know vibe that adds to the pleasure of finding ourselves looking out across the city as the rain finally stops and the sun makes her grand entrance. I plump for one of Portugals signature drinks, a white port and tonic, and soak up the rays before a glance at my watch that says its time to go 18.00: Jump in a cab Another Uber schleps us back to the airport in less than half an hour. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events 20.20: Flight to London We take off (thankfully) on time, bleary-eyed after about eight hours on the ground but awake enough to rubberneck the gorgeous city views below. 22.55: Land at Heathrow In a dizzy, dreamlike state we stumble off the plane and into the Tube. Were we really just here this morning? Did we really manage to pack in pastry-making, port-drinking and Praca do Comercio-wandering in just one day? Looks like it. Travel essentials Getting there TAP Air Portugal flies from London to Lisbon from 81 return. Visiting there To plan your trip, visit visitlisboa.com. Q I want to book a holiday villa through a website which looks legitimate but for which I cant find any reviews, nor any Twitter or Facebook activity. Do I hand over my hard-earned cash? Name withheld A Villa fraud costs travellers millions of pounds every year. The standard model is that an attractive website is set up with masses of availability at low prices. People book in good faith, but then discover that they have lost all their money often only at the point when they arrive at the property. Fifteen years ago this week, the European Union grew overnight from 15 members to 25 in the biggest and most ambitious enlargement it had ever ventured. The new members, eight of them former Soviet-bloc states, were ablaze with celebratory fireworks; there was ecstatic waving of blue and gold flags; Beethovens Ode to Joy played on a seemingly eternal loop. And among the most enthusiastic supporters of this larger, wider EU was none other than the UK. Among existing EU states, enlargement, especially to the east, was desired for a host of reasons. It was the realisation of a dream few had believed attainable even 15 years before: the restoration of a Europe whole and free. It salved the consciences of many western Europeans by offering a kind of recompense to all those other Europeans forced to languish for so long behind the Iron Curtain. And it reinforced what was seen as a constellation of shared (Enlightenment) values. For Thatcher and her successors, however, another motive was also in play. This wider Europe, they hoped, would be harder to dragoon into line behind the Franco-German aspiration for an ever-closer union. A wider, initially at least more diverse, European Union could not only delay the achievement of a deeper EU, but might have the effect of sabotaging that deeper union once and for all. All these years on, it could be argued that this enlargement to the east, augmented three years later by the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, and followed six years later by Croatia, has sabotaged a lot more than the striving for an ever-closer union. 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Show all 10 1 /10 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Naples to Sorrento, Italy The beautiful bookends of the Bay of Naples are connected by the Circumvesuviana, a partly single-track railway prone to disruption and using rolling stock almost as old as the Roman Empire. But all is forgiven as it arcs around the bay beneath the skirts of that infamous volcano, Vesuvius. You can alight to explore this rumbling giant, or the cities that it devastated: Pompeii and the much less visited and more rewarding Herculaneum. Stay on the line to Sorrento and you discover one of Italys most indulgent resorts, itself a scenic wonder. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Hendaye, France, to San Sebastian, Spain From a station on the French side of the Franco-Spanish border, the narrow-gauge line steals across the river that makes the frontier, and then carves a course close to the Basque Coast with a wide-screen vision of mountains, villages and the spectacular shoreline, before ending the journey in arguably Spains most glorious city. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe St Moritz to Zermatt, Switzerland The Glacier Express is the slowest express train in Europe, taking eight hours between these mountain resorts. The line between them owes its existence to an influx of wealthy tourists in the early 20th century, lured by the spectacular landscapes of the Swiss Alps. The route follows numerous gorges and the early stage of the Rhine. The engineering high point is the Landwasser Viaduct, which passes 213 feet over the Landwasser River before disappearing into a tunnel in the adjacent cliff. The altitudinal high point is the Oberalp Pass, where the line reaches a height of 6,670 feet. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Prague, Czech Republic, to Vienna, Austria Modern expresses use the historic line between the Czech and Austrian capitals, through deep valleys and across high moorland. While experiencing a slice of 19th-century Europe beyond the windows, you can enjoy free wifi and draught beer on tap. As you cross the near-invisible international frontier at high speed, toast the collapse of the Iron Curtain three decades ago. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Howth to Dun Laoghaire, Ireland The Dart (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) railway through the Irish capital is a humdrum suburban train that happily fringes Dublin Bay, connecting two fine coastal towns and giving a new perspective as it slices through the city centre. All yours in return for an investment of under 5 and under an hour. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Fort William to Mallaig, Scotland Scotland has so many superb rail journeys that it could fill all 10 spots. Many contend that the West Highland Line north from Glasgow over the wilds of Rannoch Moor to Fort William is the most spectacular. But the continuation to Mallaig is even more impressive. It offers views of Ben Nevis, the UKs highest mountain, as the train rumbles north and west parallel to the historic Road to the Isles. Pause at Glenfinnan for a walk to the viaduct that features in Harry Potter, or to stay the night in a vintage railway carriage. Watch the mesmerising scenery towards the raw edge of mainland Scotland and, from Mallaig, the ferry to southeast Skye and the end of the world. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Villefranche to Latour-de-Carol, France France has Europes original high-speed rail network, but I prefer some other 20th-century achievements most of all this absurd line from the pretty town of Villefranche, inland from Perpignan, into the high Pyrenees. This narrow-gauge railway folly took 24 years to complete, and today the engineering miracles of its creation still form part of the great SNCF empire. The Petit Train Jaune (little yellow train, which also has flourishes of red) even has open-top carriages in summer, for an all-round vision of some of Europes mightiest mountains. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Menton to Grasse, France Among the many other great journeys in France is this classic line along the Cote dAzur west from Menton on the border with Italy but then turns inland to reach the fragrant Provencal hill town of Grasse. The train makes 26 stops between the two, including subterranean Monaco, handsome Nice Ville and high-end Antibes. At Juan-les-Pins, the line runs through a faded tableau of terracotta then converges with the coast. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Bucharest to Constanta, Romania The former eastern bloc has a million great train journeys, such as the line of the Orient Express through Bulgaria and the steam-hauled main line services in western Poland. They are also pleasingly cheap. Best of all is the four-hour journey from the Romanian capital, paralleling the Danube through bucolic countryside to the handsome resort of Constanta on the Black Sea. Getty 10 most scenic rail journeys in Europe Moscow to St Petersburg, Russia The journey between the present and past Russian capitals has neither the scale of the Trans-Siberian nor the drama of some other railways in the worlds biggest country, such as the line that runs between the mountains and the Black Sea serving the resort of Sochi. But its beauty lies in the way that it portrays day life in rural Russia a sequence of images of cottages, lakes and meadows, into which grim Soviet relics only occasionally intrude. You can cover the 400 miles on an express in as little as 3h30m, but I prefer to take a slower train to appreciate the nuances and to stop off in the fine city of Novgorod. Getty First, it is questionable how successfully old and new Europe terms for which the central and east Europeans harbour a special hatred have really knitted together. Economically, an initially impressive spurt in growth has not for the most part been sustained, leaving a persistent lag between old and new. There is simmering resentment among new Europeans that they provide cheap labour to old Europe, and even that they are treated as markets for substandard goods. The resentment is mutual. Poland had to stop treating the EU as a cash cow, a senior EU official warned this week. But it is the question of shared values that has loomed largest, with both Poland and Hungary facing punitive measures from Brussels for what are seen as flaws in their democracy and judicial systems. Indeed, the values gap seems to have widened, following the election of more nationalistic and Eurosceptic governments in these countries. New Europes reluctance to accept a share of the many migrants who made their way to the EU borders in 2015-2016 has been a particular cause of friction. This is thought to be one reason why according to a recent survey by the Koerber Stiftung nonprofit organisation almost half of all Germans asked (46-47 per cent) now say enlargement was a mistake. Previously, they had been among its greatest supporters. Now, it is true that a majority of the former Soviet-bloc countries are not guilty of backsliding; true, too, that idealism in the west may have obscured a big difference in attitude at the outset. Where old European states saw membership of what became the EU by and large as a sharing of sovereignty designed to fend off another war, the former Soviet-bloc states tended to see EU membership rather as a shelter for their newly restored or acquired sovereignty, which they were not at all willing to share. Which leads to the second factor: security and Russia. For entirely understandable reasons drawn from their recent and not so recent past, the central and east Europeans brought with them into the EU a pervasive fear of their giant neighbour to the east. Reinforced by the UKs persistent cold warrior mindset, this had the effect of skewing the EUs foreign policy and security priorities which had previously been more balanced as between northeast and south. What had been a generally pragmatic way of getting along between the EU and Russia quickly grew adversarial after 2004, to the point where the relationship became dubbed a new cold war. This was largely a consequence of Natos expansion to Russias western border. But the EUs mishandling of its talks on a free trade agreement with Ukraine whose most fervent advocates were to be found among the new Europeans only made matters worse. There had been a time when Russia drew a clear distinction between Nato and the EU, which allowed the European Union a more productive role. But security aspects of the EUs draft agreement with Ukraine put Russia on its guard, with the result that Nato and Russian forces are now deployed in close proximity on what has become the new dividing line of Europe. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Where, it might be asked, would EU-Russia relations be now if neither the European Union nor Nato had expanded to the east, and/or if the clash over Ukraine had been avoided. Would new Europe feel less secure, or would it in fact be safer because Russia would feel more secure, too? Alas, we shall never know. Then, of course, theres the big one: Brexit. It is true that the Leave campaign played fast and loose with facts and figures. But would Leave have won without the Blair governments misjudgement on how many new Europeans would take advantage of free movement to the UK after 2004? It still seems to me that there was a scandalous blurring of the lines between EU free movement and non-EU migration (which the government has failed to control, although it has the power). But migration was an issue in the referendum, and EU membership was widely blamed for the UK governments perceived loss of control. After 15 years, then, the verdict on EU enlargement looks distinctly mixed. The words hasty and overambitious come to mind, with a large dollop of unintended consequences. It seems a high price has been paid by the European Union for a project that seemed at once so idealistic and so right. But could the verdict change? Recommended Hundreds arrested across Europe as May Day protests turn violent To look on the bright side, it was probably unrealistic to expect that new and old Europe would mesh successfully after so long apart and 15 years of such different experiences. It may simply be a matter of time before the new European states get over their preoccupation with sovereignty. Genuine economic convergence may also take much longer than they, or we, had expected or hoped. Similarly with Russia. There are already signs that a more realistic appraisal of Vladimir Putins actual power and Russias actual intentions may be gaining a hold in the EU mainstream, and that fresh concerns about the EUs southern flank may restore something of the old balance to foreign policy. Doubts about the commitment of the United States, both now and in the future, to Europes defence could also encourage a fresh approach to Russia. The election of the new president of Ukraine offers an opportunity for both east and west. Lastly, Brexit. There were many who predicted Brexit would precipitate the break-up of the EU, as others followed. So far, the opposite is true. Cohesion has increased, and could increase further once the always odd-member-out, the UK, has left (assuming it does). In the end, then, the consequences of enlargement may be judged to have brought as many benefits as losses but it may take another 15 years to find out. After years of fighting, the Syrian Democratic Forces have declared final victory over Isis. This victory is a gift and provides hope, not least for those who suffered under their cruelty. But as we celebrate the defeat of Isis we must not forget the sacrifice of women as the battle for Syria continues. In the midst of the horrors, many women have emerged who can act as an inspiration for us all, be it the remarkable young women who have taken a leading role in the opposition to Assad and Isis, the women tortured and murdered in Assads prisons or the Yazidis enslaved and raped by Isis. In 2013, Syrian military intelligence operatives raided a house in an upmarket suburb of Damascus. They knew the address well, having stormed the house the day before to arrest Abdul Rahman Yasin. On this occasion they didnt come to arrest anyone, they came to loot, and they stole everything, including the paperwork for the property itself. They did so right in front of Abduls wife Rania and their six children, who were forced to watch their entire world carried out the front door and driven away on the back of a lorry, as Abdul had been the day before. The following day, the military intelligence operatives returned, and they took Rania and her six children. Rania was a dentist and a mother, she posed no threat to Assad, yet she has spent the last six years in prison. Rania is my cousin, her children are all part of my family, none of whom we have heard from since and none of whom will be free until Assad is gone. Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Rania is not alone. Across Syria there are thousands of women like her. Yet in the midst of the horrors these women endured, many emerged as the leaders that inspired and led the Syrian opposition. As a journalist from Damascus I am very familiar with Syrian prisons. Until I fled Syria I was routinely detained, questioned and psychologically tortured by Assads thugs for criticising the regime. Despite the risks, I considered it a personal duty to spread the truth about what was going on in my country to the world. I worked with both British media and media from within Syria itself, although the website I was primarily writing for eventually was banned by the regime. Sometimes I would be called in and questioned for an article I hadnt even written but the security services would insist it had been me as they thought it was written in my style. Eventually there came a point when my son and I were in too much danger to remain in our homeland, and we decided to make a new life for ourselves in the UK. My experience is by no means unusual it reflects the wider suffering of Syrians. The Syrian people have suffered immeasurably under the cruelty of Assad and the barbarity of Isis. Families have been torn apart, millions have been left homeless and entire cities destroyed. In response, many women have joined the ranks of the various Kurdish and Syrian opposition forces, and have played a leading role, both on and behind the frontlines. The bravery, sacrifice and leadership shown by so many of the female Yazidis have been seen across Syria. In every community Syrian women have taken a leading role, be it diplomatically, taking up arms, or challenging Assad in his own courts. Take for example Ilham Ahmed, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Ilham has travelled the world, lobbying governments to support the Syrian people in their fight against Assad and Daesh. She has garnered a lot of media attention and is regarded as one of the most important members of the Syrian opposition. She is emblematic of the leading role women have played in the wider Syrian struggle. I do not know, nor can I predict, what the fate of Syria will be in the years to come. I do know that if we give up on Syria or lose faith in its people, the sacrifice of women like Ilham will have been in vain. Many of us believe the job is far from complete and rightly fear the vacuum Isiss departure could leave. Yet the leadership women have shown must be supported if we hope to free Syria from all oppressors and free women like Rania who remain locked up. We must continue to work towards a future where Syria is free from war and look forward to a day when Syria is free from Isis, Assad and all the other terrorist parasites sucking the life out of our country. We want to build a democratic, tolerant and open Syria where we can live in peace, journalists are not persecuted and where the people elect their leader. If the world fails to support the Syrian opposition as they continue to the fight for their freedom, the women who made these sacrifices would have done so for nothing. I beg you all to support these women and the entire Syrian people who only want to secure a better future they should not have to choose between Assad and terrorism. Things didnt go well for US Attorney General William Barr during Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. To be fair, given that reports revealed Special Counsel Robert S Mueller told Barr his four-page letter outlining Barrs statement of the principal conclusions created confusion by failing to fully capture the context, nature, and substance of his report, it was always going to be an uphill battle. Three people who did come out looking good were Democratic senators (all presidential hopefuls by the way) Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris. Everyone including the POTUS knew it too. In an interview following the hearing, President Trump told Fox Business Network that Kamala Harris was probably very nasty, to Barr a comment that strongly suggested he hadnt watched the hearings or been briefed fully on the exchanges. Trump added that the three Senators were just looking for political points. Now, you probably wont often (if ever) find me agreeing with President Trump, but he has a point: those three presidential candidates were absolutely trying to score political points, and I understand why. They are competing in a crowded field of Democratic candidates, which now stands at 21, with todays addition of Senator Michael Bennett. Theyre also competing against two political juggernauts; former Vice President Joe Biden and the independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. Both men raised the most money in their first 24 hours than other candidates (Biden raised $6.3m while Senator Sanders raised $5.9m in the same time frame). Both men have more name recognition than their competitors and are favourites with some of the white working class electorate who voted (or considered voting) for Trump in 2016. This weeks Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was likely the best opportunity Booker, Harris and Klobuchar had to stay viable in the race. For the most part they did a good job. Cory Booker took the opportunity to tell Barr and those of us watching that America was at a moral crossroads and that the treatment of Special Counsel Muellers report raised concerns in him that the country is descending into a new normal that is dangerous for [our] democracy. He did fine until he mistakenly used the word obstruction when he should have said collusion. This mix-up may have cost him badly especially when WIlliam Barr reminded him that obstruction was a legal term, something Booker probably knew. In that moment, Barr had the upper hand, and Booker never really recovered from that. In contrast, Klobuchar and Harris came out of the gate swinging. Within the first three minutes, Klobuchar established herself as the candidate who would secure voting rights, by talking up her efforts to get the Secure Elections Act passed. She did it artfully I didnt see it coming, and Im not sure Barr did either. She even got him to say on camera that he would work with her to enhance the security of the next election. It was a brilliant piece of political maneuvering. Once she got what she wanted, she pivoted to the topic at hand and did so by pointedly telling Barr his four-page letter was clearly a summary and thats why Director Mueller called it a summary. 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 clear winner was Kamala Harris, though. She was a prosecutor in a previous life, and yesterday her years of training and expertise paid off. She left Attorney General WIlliam Barr stammering with just one question during her first minute of testimony: Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? For anyone who hasnt seen the footage, the visuals are powerful. Harris, with her hand on her chin, eyelids slightly lowered, waited for an answer that, shifting around in his seat, searching around the room looking for help, Barr could not give. Her performance was so powerful that Vanity Fair wrote the following headline about the exchange: Kamala Harris Guts Barr Like A Fish, Leaves Him Flopping on the Deck. Nuff said. Today were seeing the fruits of that labour. News networks want to talk to Harris about her performance and her calls for Attorney General Barrs resignation. Commentators are wondering out loud if she really could beat Trump in 2020. And with every show appearance and quote, shes letting everyone know that shes not afraid to pursue justice and right any wrongs. Im not sure that will be enough to win her the Democratic nomination or even the presidency but dont rule out seeing her name on a presidential ticket just yet. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report revealed the scope of Russia's attacks on US democracy and unprecedented corruption on the part of President Trump and his 2016 campaign. Not only did Mueller outline how receptive the Trump campaign was to Russia's election assistance, he outlined 10 key areas of obstruction of justice. But when it comes to this report, there is a new saga unfolding before our eyes. How the release of the report was handled and presented to the American people has seemingly revealed new efforts to interfere in the administration of justice, this time on the part of Attorney General William Barr. Today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing showcased Barr's dishonesty as well as the full extent of the Republican Party's sycophancy towards President Trump. The Attorney General of the United States conducted himself like the personal attorney of Donald Trump, not of the people. Senate Republicans attacked the FBI, targeted Hillary Clinton, and downplayed the Mueller report to protect President Trump's image. As today's hearing began, the nation was digesting yesterday's news. After Barrs 24 March summary of the Mueller report, Mueller wrote Barr a letter stating that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions" and asked him to release the Special Counsel Office's summaries. In spite of the fact Mueller made his concerns known, Barr went on to misrepresent the report during his 18 April press conference and did so again today. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) kicked off the hearing with an admission he has not read the report and a partisan diatribe that included accusations of wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton and the FBI. Graham went on to discuss how Mueller determined Trump did not collude with the Russians and that Mueller left the prosecutorial decision up to Barr on obstruction. Barr echoed these sentiments throughout the hearing. Since these are some of the most repeated lies among Republicans, let's break it down. Although Mueller did not charge the Trump campaign with a criminal conspiracy, the redacted report outlined over 100 pages of collusion evidence. When it comes to obstruction, Mueller did not ask Barr to make the prosecutorial decision. Mueller's report specifically cites the Office of Legal Counsel's (OLC) analysis that states: "Congress can permissibly criminalize certain obstructive conduct by the President." Barr, who previously wrote a 19-page memo attacking Mueller's obstruction case, took it upon himself to clear President Trump of obstruction within 48 hours of receiving the report. One part of the hearing today was particularly eyebrow-raising. As Mueller's report outlines, President Trump called then-White House Counsel Don McGahn twice in May 2017, asking him to get Mueller removed as Special Counsel. McGahn refused to do so. When the New York Times later reported on this attempt to fire Mueller, Mueller alleges that Trump asked McGahn to falsify evidence claiming Trump never asked McGahn to fire Mueller. When asked if it would be considered obstruction of justice if a president directed a witness to lie, Barr said yes. But when pressed if what Trump asked McGahn to do was considered obstruction, Barr tried to claim Trump didn't explicitly ask McGahn to "fire" Mueller. 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 On multiple occasions during the hearing, Senate Republicans and Barr regurgitated President Trump's debunked conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign was "spied" on. When Republicans had the mic, it was a Trump supporter's dream come true. Needless to say, that was not the case when the Democrats ran questioning. Democrats pointed out how Barr claimed that the OLC guidance which stated that the President cannot be indicted did not factor in Mueller's decision-making. Mueller's report explicitly says it did. Barr claimed it wasn't clear the Trump campaign sought to benefit from Russia's interference. Mueller's report explicitly says they did. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) called Barr out on his early April lie to Congress, in which he stated he was not aware if Mueller supported his conclusion. There were a few instances during the hearing that raised questions as to whether Barr read the report at all. When questioned by Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), Barr admitted he did not examine the underlying evidence from the Special Counsel's office. Barr refused to say whether he has given Trump information about the Southern District of New York's investigation. Barr also refused to say whether anyone in the White House has suggested he investigate political opponents. Kamala Harris asks William Barr whether Trump or White House asked him to open an investigation Barr's expansive view of executive power is no surprise to anyone, but what we are seeing here is an effort to place the President of the United States above the law. Any remaining credibility Barr had was shattered during this hearing and calls for his resignation will likely continue to surge. Republican lawmakers, who are supposed to uphold the rule of law and enforce the Constitution, have instead decided to uphold a lawless presidency and enforce his authoritarian whims. Needless to say, Mueller must testify so that the American people can get the full truth and House Democrats can reasonably consider fact-finding impeachment hearings. Ahmed Baba is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Rantt Media With press freedom and journalists under attack all over the world, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunts decision to make global media freedom his priority in 2019 is welcome and much-needed. In a PR-friendly move as part of the UK and Canadas international media freedom conference in London this July, Hunt recently appointed international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney as his special envoy on media freedom. She will chair a panel of legal experts that will help countries to improve their media freedom laws and strengthen legal mechanisms to protect journalists worldwide. The move could help to prevent tragedies such as the killing of Lyra McKee, which sadly, is only the latest in a long line of attacks on reporters. Deaths in 2018 included the contract killing of 27-year old journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee in Slovakia, who had been investigating links between influential individuals and Italian organised crime. 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 Arrests have followed, but crimes against journalists often go unpunished. The assassination in Malta in 2017 of investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, for example, remains unsolved and the authorities have resisted calls for a public inquiry. And there are many more examples of how journalists all over Europe are jailed, threatened, assaulted and deliberately discredited in Index on Censorships report Demonising the media. These are issues that should be high on the international political agenda. Hunts campaign, which aims to shine a spotlight on media abuses and reverse the trend of violence against journalists, can help to achieve that. However, Hunt could find that if you shine a spotlight on others they may shine it right back at you and media freedom is an area where the UK has its own problems. There is the deeply troubling case of Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, who were arrested in August last year in connection with alleged theft of documents from the office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI). Both men were involved in making the documentary No Stone Unturned, which investigated the murders of six men in Loughinisland village in 1994 and raised questions about alleged collusion between police and loyalists. The arrests have been widely condemned, but Birney and McCaffrey remain on bail. Earlier this year, the draconian new counter-terrorism and border security act made it an offence to publish a picture of clothing or, for example, a flag, in a way that raises reasonable suspicion that the person doing so is a member or supporter of a terrorist organisation. This is very likely to restrict journalists and encourage self-censorship. The act also brought in far-reaching new border security powers that lack safeguards for journalists and their confidential sources. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A few weeks ago the government released a white paper setting out how it plans to tackle online harms. The harms include a bewilderingly wide range of issues, for example terrorist content, child sexual exploitation, organised immigration crime, modern slavery, content illegally uploaded from prisons, cyberbullying, disinformation, coercive behaviour, intimidation, under 18s using dating apps and excessive screen time. Culture secretary Jeremy Wright has responded publicly to concerns about the press freedom impacts of the white paper proposals, but many remain unconvinced that the press will be protected. It is difficult to see how harmful news stories would escape being removed from online platforms, especially as the white paper includes substantial fines and possibly even personal criminal liability for senior managers, all strong incentives to remove content. Index on Censorship has filed notifications about these UK developments with the Council of Europes platform to protect journalism, which tracks media freedom threats and violations. Several international experts have raised concerns about the media freedom impacts of the UKs new counter-terror legislation. Similar reactions can be expected in response to the proposals in the online harms white paper. While the aforementioned efforts are commendable on the surface of things, international attention to media freedom may turn out not be an entirely comfortable experience for the UK. Culture minister Josepha Madigan (centre) with President of The Law Society Patrick Dorgan (left) and Deputy Director General Mary Keane (Brian Lawless/PA) The Law Society of Ireland has called for a Yes vote in the upcoming divorce referendum. The legal body announced its support of the Governments proposal to remove from the Constitution the minimum living-apart period for spouses seeking a divorce. At present, married couples must be living apart for four out of the last five years before divorce proceedings can be initiated. A Yes vote would see that condition removed from the Constitution and allow the Oireachtas to set a new limit. If passed, the Government plans to reduce the waiting time to two years. The referendum is being held on May 24, the same day as the local and European elections. Today, we are launching a major report on Divorce in Ireland, endorsing a yes vote in the upcoming #Divorceref and other legal reforms. You can read it for yourself here: https://t.co/HbG36k1ajv pic.twitter.com/gWJNTkdksF Law Society Ireland (@LawSocIreland) May 2, 2019 The society made their announcement on Thursday at the publication of a major report into divorce in Ireland over the past two decades. Law Society of Ireland president Patrick Dorgan described the introduction of divorce in 1995 as a watershed in Irish legal and social history. But he said the Divorce Act, in particular the living apart requirement before proceedings could start, had given rise to difficulties and uncertainties. Based on its report, the society has recommended that a provision for clean break divorces should be put in place in appropriate cases, that a specialised family court structure should be established, and that a definition or definitions of living apart should be developed. The society also believes that a review of the issue of maintenance payments needs to be prioritised. Delighted to launch @LawSocIrelands report on Divorce in Ireland which endorses a #YES vote in the upcoming #Divorceref & backs the reduced waiting time for #Divorce. I commend Dr Geoffrey Shannon on his work producing this report.#VoteYES See: https://t.co/vw6uG2wPV6 pic.twitter.com/dekquRrNki Josepha Madigan (@josephamadigan) May 2, 2019 Report author Dr Geoffrey Shannon said: Divorce has now been in operation in Ireland for over two decades. During that time Ireland has witnessed radical change that has resulted in a more secular, more modern and less traditional society. The council of the Law Society, having considered the report, decided to call for a yes vote in the referendum due to take place later this month. While each case is unique, the current requirement to live apart for a period of four years prior to the institution of divorce proceedings may now be considered too long. It may result in a duplication of legal expenses and protracted proceedings, where parties are involved in both judicial separation and divorce proceedings over time. According to the Central Statistics Office, the number of divorced people in the State has increased from 35,100 in 2002 to 103,895 in 2016. Dr Shannon added: Undoubtedly, the rise in the number of divorced persons also reflects an increasing acceptance of divorce within Irish society as a remedy to an irretrievably broken-down marriage. The questions facing Ireland now relate to what type of legal framework and practice should underpin its law in this arena. Culture minister Josepha Madigan said she was delighted that the society was backing a Yes vote. More than 270 lots with a combined value of about 42m will be auctioned by BidX1 at its online auctions on May 22 and 23 next. While about 20pc of the lots will be commercial, these are all within the range of medium-sized investors as all of them have guide prices of less than 1m. The highest guide price is for a mixed use investment in the village of Ballyboughal in north county Dublin which has an 840,000 price tag and it is being sold by a private investor. Known as Unit 1-5 Gaia Cottage, Main Street, altogether its annual rents total 93,600 which equates to an 11.4pc gross yield. The combined premises extend to 5,070 sq ft. Unit 1, which is thatched, is let to Caphe Limited trading as The Brew. Units 2 and 3 are let to Arney Retail Limited until 2038. Unit 4 is let to Mario's fish and chip shop until 2034 and Unit 5 is let to Red Velvet Hair Salon. A commercial investment property on Main Street, Celbridge, Co Kildare, has a 750,000 guide price. It generates 89,000 in annual rent of which 47,500 comes from a Paddy Power bookie shop on the ground floor and 27,000 from River King Chinese Restaurant on the first floor. Both of these leases run until May 2023. A telecoms mast licenced to Meteor generates 14,500. The combined rent equates to a gross yield of 11.86pc. With a total floor area extending to 481 sq m (5,177 sq ft), the terraced property is situated on English Row, west of the River Liffey. A Georgian residential apartment investment at 57 Blessington Street, Dublin 7, also has a 750,000 guide price. It extends to 212 sq m (2,282 sq ft) with four floors over a basement and is laid out as seven studio flats and a basement apartment. It generates 12,660 in annual rent from two of the studios. The rest are vacant. The property is situated close to the Blessington Street junction with Mountjoy Street. The next most valuable lot is a multi-let industrial unit, Rock Industrial Estate, Cashel, Co Tipperary, which has a 650,000 guide price. While eight of its 12 units are vacant, these vacant units account for only 25,800 sq ft or less than 38pc of the 68,000 sq ft floor area. Its total current rent reserved is 101,290 per annum. Barware is its largest tenant, accounting for 27,000 sq ft of the premises at an annual rent of 55,000 but Barware's lease is due to expire next October. It stands on a 4.6-acre site on the Camus Road on the outskirts of the town. Own-door access is provided for each unit with car parking to the front. The property benefits from a shared tarmac surfaced marshalling area to the front of the units. Four retail warehouse units at 37 Fashion City, Ballymount, Dublin 12, together offer the prospects of a gross yield of 12.35pc at a guide price of 600,000. Alternatively there is the prospect of vacant possession as three of the tenants have seen their leases expire. Extending to 750 sq m (8,180 sq ft) in total, the four units generate annual rent of 74,100. One of the tenants, Ardwick, takes 200 sq m (2,153 sq ft) at 18,000 per year until the end of November next. CJ Agencies has 171 sq m (1,841 sq ft) at 21,600 per year. Elli Wholesale has 162 sq m (1,744 sq ft) at 16,500 per year. Dr Bear has 190 sq m (2,045 sq ft) at 18,000 per year. Overlooking the M50, Fashion City was built by Park Developments as a location for fashion, clothes and footwear wholesalers and retail warehouse outlets and Ballymount is situated about 9km south-west of Dublin city centre. For investors who prefer a strong covenant, an investment known as CCS House, Main Street, Tramore, Co Waterford, offers the attraction of having Boots pharmacy as a tenant. Extending to 517 sq m (5,565 sq ft), its ground and second floors are let to Boots at a rent of 61,860 per year with a lease which will run until 2033. The first floor is let as offices to Manguard Plus until 2022. With a combined annual rent of 71,860, this brings the gross yield to 14.37pc. Among the properties which may appeal to those in the hospitality sector is the Mount Brandon Hostel, Cloghane Village, on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. This lot has a 575,000 guide price. Sitting on a 0.6-acre site, it comprises a retail unit, two apartments and 12 ensuite bedrooms which can cater for groups of up to 50 people. The buildings extend to 573 sq m (6,167 sq ft). and are located in the village while the site fringes the sea shore. Also in the hospitality sector The Times Hotel, Bank Place in Tipperary town is for sale as an investment. Comprising a 10-bedroom, end-of-terrace hotel, with four self-contained residential units, a restaurant and a bar, it extends to 1,115 sq m (12,000 sq ft). It is let to an individual and has a current annual rent reserved of 57,200. With a 380,000 guide price, this equates to a yield of 15pc gross. The guide price has been reduced for a large bar and restaurant trading as Walters, Main Street, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. In the last BidX1 auction, it was guided at 575,000 but this has been reduced to 495,000 for this month's auction. Last year it was also offered to the market with an even higher 850,000 asking price. Called after the founder of the town, Walter Bagenal, the landmark corner building extends to 7,407 sq ft. over part ground and two upper floors. Its accommodation comprises a public bar, dining area, kitchen, function room, lounge and cocktail bar and it has a current publican's licence. The INHFA has called for clarity in relation to overall Pillar 2 spending, with the farmer body claiming that the total underspend on the current CAP programme could be as high as 200m. The Department of Agriculture has insisted that the full budget for Pillar 2 funds under the current CAP regime from 2014 to 2020 will be utilised. However, INHFA spokesman Vincent Roddy said there was an absence of clarity on the part of the Department on the overall Pillar 2 spend to date and the allocation of funding for schemes during 2019 and 2020. He said this needed to be addressed by the Department or the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed. While Mr Roddy accepted that the spend on Pillar 2 schemes over the next two years was expected to increase significantly, he pointed out that there was a major underspend on GLAS and AEOS during 2014 and 2015. Department of Agriculture figures show that the total spend on GLAS and AEOS for 2014 and 2015 was under 225m, even though funding of 250m per year was understood to be available for agri-environment schemes. Expenditure on agri-environment schemes totalled 212m and 236m in 2017 and 2018 respectively. TAMS and ANC have seen the biggest increases in Pillar 2 spending over the last two years. The total spend on the ANC scheme jumped from 205m in 2017 to 229m in 2018. The total spend on TAMS increased from 7.8m in 2016 to 31m in 2017, and to 67m last year. Meanwhile, IFA deputy president Richard Kennedy urged the Minister Creed to pay out approximately 45m which is owed to farmers in respect of schemes that they applied for in 2018. The make-up of the money owed is as follows: Remaining 15pc GLAS balancing payment worth over 30m Full GLAS payment to 1,500 farmers who have not received any payment for 2018 worth 6m Balancing payment for organic farmers worth 2m Outstanding KT payments worth 2m Balancing payment under the Sheep Welfare Scheme worth 3m A small number of outstanding BPS, ANC and BDGP payments worth 2m. On top of this, there are approximately 800 farmers who awaiting TAMS payments of 11.5m. At what point does a dairy cow become a beef cow? This is a question that has been rumbling around in my head as I follow a Twitter debate about research that ranks the carbon footprints of Irish dairy and beef production as among the worst in Europe. This totally flies in the face of all we have been led to believe about Irish farming. But the controversial data comes from a very reputable source - the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Is this another example of reality versus the alleged 'green-washing' of Irish farming that even Teagasc are now beginning to fret about? When I rang some of my trusty sources within the business, their initial response was invariably a long sigh. It was an acknowledgement that there is a long and frustrating road ahead for Irish farmers keen to know what exactly they can and cannot rightly claim about the merits of the food they produce. The dairy cow is a classic example. The Irish agricultural community is hardwired at this stage to assume that there is no more environmentally friendly way to produce milk than calving a cow in the spring and grazing her outdoors for the remainder of the year. So why do figures from the FAO rank her greenhouse gas emissions as third highest in the EU? It's all about the data. If you want to compare the emissions from a litre of milk produced in Ireland versus a litre produced in Bulgaria or Brazil, you need a lot of stats. And quite often this information just doesn't exist. This leaves researchers filling in the blanks with their next best guess. You would like to think that any data published by the FAO would be based on pretty good guesswork. However, Teagasc researchers are adamant that the numbers in this instance are sketchy. Instead, they point to the copious amount of research produced by their own researchers, including Donal O'Brien in Teagasc Moorepark. Of his many internationally cited papers, I was particularly taken by the one looking to compare emissions from an Irish grass-based dairy cow with her confined equivalent in the US or the UK. Among the many imponderables that O'Brien attempted to address was the issue of how to account for the emissions that don't come from the cow while she is lactating. This includes when she's being reared and when she's being fattened for beef at the end of her milking career. It's only when you start looking into this that you realise how many grey areas there are in an industry built on black and whites. Is a bull calf from the dairy cow a by-product of milk production or an integral part of the beef industry? What percentage of his emissions should be allocated to the dairy cow? Should this calculation be based on the kilos of protein from his final carcase weight versus the total protein in the milk, his economic value or on his actual emissions? Should we allow for the carbon sink that grassland undoubtedly is? If we do so, we are breaking with the current agreed international formula. Given that pasture only becomes a carbon sink after 20 years, is it possible that the recommendation to reseed every 10 years will forever rule out Irish grassland as a carbon sink? It turns out that if the carbon sequestered by our pastures is not included in carbon emission calculations, then there is very little difference between the carbon footprints of a litre of milk produced in the searing heat of a Californian feedlot or a wet field in Camolin. That's an extraordinary result given the US cow only lasts for about 2.5 lactations. But the increased emissions associated with all those extra replacements and cull cows is more than diluted by the huge amounts of milk produced by the confined cow (which is double the average Irish equivalent). Suffice to say that this is an evolving situation and what we think is a positive now may well be turned on its head in the future. But farmers will have to get familiar with this type of debate not just to be able to defend their own system of production. They also need to know where the scope for big improvements lie. The sudden spike of interest in protected urea is a perfect example with Irish merchants reporting a massive increase in queries and orders for the product in the last month. The increase in cost to the farmer per unit of nitrogen is marginal, while the use of the product can reduce ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions by over 70pc. The availability of this product has only been driven by farmer interest, which in turn has been driven by knowledge. If farmers knew that the carbon footprint associated with soya from the US was at least three times smaller than that coming from South America (due to the associated forest clearance), would there be a similar shift on buying patterns? There will be a myriad of other emission-reducing info and technologies coming on-stream for farmers over the coming years. News that Carbery Co-op are trialling a system that squeezes the water out of grass before feeding it to cows in an effort to reduce emissions sounds bizarre, but is an indication of the no-holds-barred-approach that is gradually gripping the sector. However, the most important piece in this jigsaw is the farmer. Keeping up and understanding all that's involved will be just another task in the already heavy workload facing the modern agriculturalist. No-one ever said it was going to be easy. Darragh McCullough farms in Meath and presents RTE's Ear To The Ground television programme. Queen of the Land and 24-year-old dairy farmer Louise Crowley from Tullovin, Croom, Co Limerick is taking over FarmIreland's Instagram today. From the age of 16, Queen of the Land Louise knew she wanted to become a farmer. With this in mind, she decided against filling out a CAO form and instead attended Pallaskenry Agricultural College, a 20 minute drive from her family's dairy farm in Tullovin, Croom, Co Limerick. Click here to visit the FarmIreland Instagram page and to follow Louise's farming adventure's today. Louise went on to complete a degree in Agricultural Science from Cork Institute of Technology, which she graduated from in 2018. While farmers entering into partnerships with their sons has been the norm for generations in Ireland, it's only in recent years that more farmers' daughters have been getting into the business with their parents. As the eldest of three daughters, Louise says she was lucky her father John was always supportive of her desire to work on the home farm with him. "Dad was always on board - that was never an issue. He backed me even when I was sceptical of myself and I questioned whether I could do it. I owe him everything," says the 24-year-old. Expand Close Louise Crowley feeding calves on the family farm in Tullovin, Croom, Co Limerick. Photo: Liam Burke/Press 22 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Louise Crowley feeding calves on the family farm in Tullovin, Croom, Co Limerick. Photo: Liam Burke/Press 22 After four years of studying, in 2018 Louise finally returned home full-time to enter into partnership with her dad. While her father kept 70 Holstein Friesian cows on their 167ac home farm, in an endeavour to support two incomes, Louise took out a loan with AIB and bought a 72ac holding nearby and constructed a new cubicle shed. "We have managed to increase to 150 cows. I was hoping we would get to 170 by this year, but we had to cull 30 cows due to mastitis in the herd last summer, so that brought down the numbers," she says. Louise admits that balancing the role of Queen with farming wasn't easy, but said she wanted to give it her all as it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. "I'll never again be Queen of the Land, so I want to say at the end of it that I gave it my all and went to as many events as possible. Dad was great during calving - he did most of the night shifts as he knows this opportunity won't come for me again. Things will settle down next year." Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier has announced it plans to sell its aerostructures business in Belfast. The Montreal based group has also announced plans to sell its operation in Morocco. Around 4,000 people are employed in the east Belfast plant. No new redundancies have been announced and Bombardier has said it is committed to finding the right buyer. Bombardier is already embarking on a series of cost-cutting measures within its Northern Ireland business. In November it announced plans to shed 490 jobs, which would leave its workforce at 3,600, around half of what it was five years ago. In a statement the company said: Our sites in Belfast and Morocco have seen a significant increase in work from other global customers in recent years. We are recognised as a global leader in aerostructures, with unique end-to-end capabilities through design and development, testing and manufacture, to after-market support. Bombardier is committed to finding the right buyer one that will operate responsibly and help us achieve our full growth potential. We understand that this announcement may cause concern among our employees, but we will be working closely with them and our unions as matters progress, and through any future transition period to a new owner. There are no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, but our management team will continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives to improve productivity and increase our competitiveness, to give more weight to our unique value proposition to potential buyers. The Belfast plant specialises in aircraft components, engine nacelles and manufactures wings for the A220 aircraft. Airbus took a majority stake in the narrow body jet series in July 2018. Bombardier bought the Short Brothers operation in 1989. The original company dates back to London in 1908, but Shorts started building aircraft in Belfast in 1936. The facility became increasingly important during World War Two and by 1948, Shorts became a Belfast company in its entirety. Business Secretary Greg Clark described the Belfast plant as one of the "most important aerospace facilities in the country" at a "vital asset" to the sector. The Belfast plant, its expertise and its highly skilled and dedicated staff will be highly sought after - the Government will work with potential buyers to take this successful and ambitious business forward," he added. In response to the announcement, trade union GMB, which represents many Bombardier employees, said it was demanding the company provide reassurances over the future of its workers in Northern Ireland. Our members and their families - have already suffered a terrible year," said GMB organiser Michael Mulholland. After months of uncertainty following Trumps tariffs they were then hit with the news of 490 job losses - and now this. "Bombardier jobs are absolutely vital to Northern Irelands economy and its time workers were treated with the respect they deserve. GMB will be meeting reps today and over the next few days to discuss next steps." Jackie Pollock of Unite the Union said: "It doesnt matter whose name is above the gate what matters is that we safeguard jobs and skills in this critical industry. "The UK government must stand ready to ensure the retention of jobs and skills at these sites, Bombardier is simply too important to the Northern Ireland economy to allow anything less. Bombardier workers in Northern Ireland are among the most highly-skilled workers in the sector globally we produce a world class product here with a world-class workforce. "Whoever the buyer is theres an undeniable case for investment to not only sustain but expand production and employment into the future. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he will be meeting with Bombardier representatives "as soon as possible" in a bid to secure assurances for workers. It is critical that those most affected by this announcement are offered certainty about their long-term security in the time ahead and supported throughout any transition process when a buyer is identified," he added. Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said the announcement was "hugely concerning" for the workers affected and Northern Ireland's wider economy. I have spoken this morning to company Chief Executive Michael Ryan and Sinn Fein has already been in contact with representatives of Unite the Union and workers representatives," she added. I will also be meeting with the Head of the Civil Service and the Department for the Economy to discuss what can be done to help find a buyer in order to protect the jobs at the Belfast plant." Dalata has a pipeline of almost 2,200 rooms scheduled to open between late 2020 and early 2021 Dalata has reported 2.4pc growth in revenue per available room in Dublin for the first three months of 2019. Irelands largest hotel group said the performance in its regional hotels is positive and ahead of the market as a whole. In a trading update ahead of the groups AGM today, John Hennessy, chairman of Dalata, said the companys momentum from 2018 has continued into 2019, as we maximise on-going returns from our existing portfolio. Mr Hennessy said the six new hotels that opened during 2018 and early 2019 are progressing well. Revenue per available room in Dalatas UK hotels was up 3pc in the first three months of this year, and in all but one city, the groups hotels outperformed the market in terms of revenue per room growth. The group, whose hotels include the Maldron and Clayton chains, has a pipeline of almost 2,200 rooms scheduled to open between late 2020 and early 2021. We are confident that 2019 will be another exciting year for the group. Our strong team of people will continue to drive the business forward and ensure we are focused on delivering excellent returns for our shareholders," Mr Hennessy added. The Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin is co-owned by Hammerson Hammerson executives have been left chastened after shareholders in the UK group - which owns half the Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin - baulked at what they see as excessive pay for the group's directors. In a resolution to approve Hammerson's remuneration report at its annual general meeting, almost 30pc of the shares cast were against the motion - a significant blow for a listed company. Prior to the meeting, investor advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that the pay report be voted down because of concerns over stock awards and bonuses worth millions awarded to top executives, including boss David Atkins. ISS said such awards flew in the face of Hammerson's declining share price and a failure to achieve financial targets. Apart from its 50pc stake in the Dundrum Town Centre, Hammerson owns also owns half of the Pavilions shopping centre in Swords, and 50pc of the Ilac Centre. It also owns 41pc of the Kildare Village outlet mall. While the so-called 'say on pay' at the Hammerson annual general meeting is non-binding, such votes are notable because they can indicate that major investors may be unhappy with pay structures. After the AGM, Hammerson said it noted the opposition to its remuneration report. "The board understands the concerns of some investors, but notes that the reward structure is in line with the remuneration policy and recent previous practice," it said. "No bonuses were awarded to the continuing executive directors for 2018, and the LTIP [Long-Term Incentive Plan] which vested in 2018 had, when it had been granted in 2014, been reduced by 50pc from the normal policy level," it said. "In the coming months the remuneration committee will be undertaking its regular triennial review of the remuneration structure and quantum, prior to submitting the revised remuneration policy to shareholders at the AGM in 2020. It said that as part of that review, the views of shareholders and voting agencies will be considered "to ensure that executive reward continues to be aligned with shareholder interests". In February Hammerson, which also owns the iconic Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham, swung to a loss after a year of retail failures put pressure on property values. It booked a loss before tax of 266.7m (310.3m), compared with a profit of 413m (480.6m) in 2017. A year ago, it also aborted a 3.4bn (3.9bn) takeover tilt for rival Intu, and fought off a 5bn approach from France's Klepierre. Earlier this year, Hammerson CEO David Atkins outlined a planned sale of 500m worth of assets in 2019, but said the group is in discussions regarding the potential sale of up to 900m of assets. In agreement with activist US investor Elliott Advisors, Hammerson said it will ditch more assets across Europe, including retail parks, to cut debt amid a hugely challenging time for UK retail. Elliott owns somewhere between 5pc and 10pc of Hammerson. "Our goal is to bring net debt levels down from 3.4bn (3.9bn) currently, to around 3bn," said Mr Atkins, reiterating its medium-term plan to exit retail parks. "If we get an offer for an asset at an attractive price and we believe it's a good deal for shareholders, we will take that opportunity," he said at the time. Chief executive David Atkins said: "2018 was a tough year, particularly in the UK. Tenant failures, the structural shift in retail and a more considered consumer created a difficult operating environment, putting pressure on property values." Major retailers such as Maplin and House of Fraser went into administration last year, while many others used a form of insolvency known as a company voluntary arrangement to shut stores. Most recently, department store operator Debenhams went into administration. It has been hit by a sharp slowdown in sales and rising rents. Hammerson's boss in Ireland, Simon Betty, said this year that the group has ambitious plans for its assets here, and confirmed it will seek planning permission to build 100 apartments beside the Dundrum mall later in 2019. That scheme will cost 40m to develop and is the first of a total of 600 units Hammerson envisages beside the centre. Hammerson said footfall at its three flagship Irish properties in 2018 was just under 50 million. Additional reporting PA Q. I run a cafe with a great team of staff and suppliers. We do some really unique work and have a great story to tell. I am increasingly worried that our customers are not getting our message. Any suggestions? A. This is probably one of the biggest struggles any business that focuses on being unique has in the marketplace. You invest lots of money in buying the best of ingredients, in hiring the best of staff and creating something that is truly unique. If your customer doesn't have an understanding of this, you run the risk of them leaving your establishment and simply saying 'that was very expensive'. In all probability - because of the quality of your ingredients, your links with your producers and the efforts made by your back and front of house staff - your menu price is probably going to be more expensive than everywhere else. If there is a gap in your communication of your key messages, then you are in big trouble. I remember meeting a small cafe owner a few years ago who told me that they got up at 4am every day to bake all of their own bread and cakes. I asked if their customers understood this or not, at which point the owner gave a resounding 'yes'. However, on meeting the owner again a month later she was rather sheepish about her opinion on what customers knew about her business. In the weeks following my question several customers had asked her where did she buy her bread and cakes from as they were really gorgeous. She had made the classic mistake of assuming everyone understood what she was doing. I have no doubt that if you ate the bread and cakes you would come out of the establishment saying they were wonderful. However, she should have been making a strong statement which in effect said to customers 'You won't get these anywhere else, as we make them ourselves'. My advice to you would to be to create a communications plan (a simple one-page document) which sets out all of the ways which you can get the message across. Harness your social media platforms and perhaps include videos from your producers and growers showing all of the work they are doing for you. Equally, give your chefs some airtime to talk up some recipe ideas and give a glimpse into the magic they are creating. Don't ignore opportunities within the premises itself - photographs on the wall of your teams at work manufacturing product, tent cards on tables calling out some key facts - eg did you know that we only use Irish chicken in all of our dishes, etc. Even the way that your menu is written might need to be reviewed. I always admire the menu in the Winding Stair in Dublin. It is like a 'who's who' of Irish producers and certainly one is left in no doubt about where your food is coming from. In summary, my message is to identify clearly what your story is and use every possible channel to communicate this. Don't forget that your front of house staff will play a key role in telling the story, so do make sure that they are clear on the messages to be communicated and that they have a real appreciation for all of the dishes and your great suppliers and producers. Q. My business has been trading for 20 years and my manager has been pushing me hard to use the occasion to promote the business. It all seems like a lot of work for no great reason. What is your opinion? A. Your manager deserves an award for their ability to spot a marketing opportunity. Lots of businesses struggle to find reasons to promote the business. You have a fantastic excuse being handed to you on a plate. Well done on getting the business to the 20-year mark. Now you need to reap the rewards for this. Whether it is some free PR in the media, a celebratory newsletter to your key customers or just a general raising awareness of the business and its track record, you need to seize the opportunity. My recommendation is that you enlist the help of a marketing expert, if you don't have one within the business, and create a plan for the next nine months or so in terms of how you are going to use the opportunity to build your brand further. This should involve your digital media strategy, a PR campaign, a celebration with your staff and customer initiatives. The fact that you will have a plan will ensure that these events and activities are scheduled well ahead of time and the effort that you referred to in your email is minimalised for everyone, while at the same time getting maximum benefit for the company. Happy birthday, by the way! Q. I am a manager in a mid-size manufacturing business and there is a really strong focus on growing sales from the owner. The only problem is we are becoming less and less profitable, and I can't seem to get him to focus on this. Is it okay to grow sales in the short-term while making no profit? A. Many businesses have a strategy of aggressively discounting in order to grow market share and while there is some validity in this if it is part of a strategy, I detect from your email that there is probably no strategy in place and it is probably more of a case of nobody paying attention to the bottom line. I don't need to remind you of the overused quote 'Sales is vanity and profit is sanity'. I have also come across some business case studies where the owner actually decided to cut back on some unprofitable sales resulting in overall sales falling, but they made considerably more profit by focusing on only those accounts that were profitable. I recall in Superquinn during some very difficult recessionary years a few decades ago, the chairman of our business giving us all a wakeup call when the business was making very little profit, by saying that we would be better off selling the company and investing the money in the bank, because we were going to make more profit on the interest then we were in running the business. If we ever needed a wakeup call that was it. You are in business to make a profit and yet at times that objective may have to be given a lower priority as part of a growth strategy. There must be a parallel strategy to return the business to significant profitability once this has been achieved. I would recommend that you sit down with the business owner and try to get an understanding of what the strategy is. If you find it is absent, then it may be up to you to put one in place. Enlisting the help of your financial controller/accountant might also be a good way forward. Q. My business is three years old and I am struggling to grow it to a level of sales and profitability that I need for it to be sustainable. Can you give me any inspiration? A. I was talking to a man recently who had closed his business after a 10-year struggle where he had pumped lots of his own money into it. He described it a bit like 'Waiting for Godot', due to the elusive sales and profitability which never arrived. He deeply regretted not questioning his journey earlier. I would applaud you for asking the question now, rather than be lured on indefinitely. My message is simple. It is okay to change, alter and amend your business model as you go through your journey, if the first model isn't working. Some business owners feel that they must beat the first model to death and don't realise that it is okay to make substantial changes or even scrap plan A if it is not working. A point comes where you have to ask yourself if the business is meeting the objectives you set out before you started. It would be easy to convince yourself that success will come 'in the next 12 months', but there have to be some clear lines in the sand which you don't go past. The Ryanair story in its earlier years is well catalogued and the model was reinvented many times before the successful formula was eventually realised. You will hear similar stories from many other successful businesses. My suggestion to you is that you conduct a major review of the business now and possibly enlist the help of someone external to help you with this, a business mentor or a consultant with expertise in your sector would be good to have on board for this. If you have to spend any money on this external advice, it will be money well spent in my opinion. Making the correct decisions now could make you a lot of money in the future. Q. I read somewhere that progressive retail businesses ensure that their staff are good at upselling and related sales. I find this very off-putting as a customer and I am struggling to implement it in my own business. A. What is needed first is clarity on the definition on upselling and related sales. Some businesses handle this very badly and try to make an additional sale to the customer where there are no synergies between the two products. What does work very well is where there is a natural relationship between product X and product Y and the staff member adds this into the conversation in a very conversational manner. I was listening to a group of retailers chatting recently and one of them from the fashion industry was explaining to the others that when customers are trying on a garment in the changing room, staff encourage them to take in related products just to try the look and the feel. Typically, they explained, the customer comes out, looks in the mirror, and feels on top of the world. Without any prompting many buy the full outfit. I was talking to the owner of a computer shop recently who told me about their strategy. They simply greet customers on arrival and reassure the customer that they are on hand if they need advice, but they leave the customer to work away on their own at the beginning. The staff member then proceeds into the area where the customer is viewing but still doesn't approach them, but starts to play the features of a piece of technology in that area. The customers are immediately attracted and make the first approach to which the staff member replies 'Are you familiar with this? Let me show you how it works'. The conversation then proceeds where the staff member finds out what exactly the customer is looking for and the process begins from there. I was also impressed by the 'language' that retailer used when the customer was very specific about what they wanted - eg "I want that particular laptop at 400". To which the staff member would reply "Perfect, I'll get that for you... just before I bring it out can I point out to you this other laptop which has five additional features for only 50 extra". They told me that the majority of their customers are only delighted to be shown the extra features and most opt for the higher-spend item. We have all seen the bad upselling and related sales. It is completely off-putting but it is not a reason for your business not to look at this. You also need to be careful that your own perception as a customer isn't clouding your judgment. There is no disputing that upselling and related sales handled properly, are a key driver of sales for any retailer and you need to be exploring this in a way that is compatible to the ethos of your business. Feargal Quinn 1936 2019 The government is committed to a state-subsidised National Broadband Plan because there is no alternative for 25pc of the population, Communications Minister Richard Bruton said today. Speaking in Dublin at the Small Firms Conference, Mr Bruton hinted that the government is ready to proceed next week with the 3bn National Broadband Plan (NBP) project, which aims to connect 540,000 rural homes and businesses with fibre-grade broadband. He also said that the government favours construction of a rural network on existing private infrastructure rather than building a complete new isolated network. We've developed this [NBP] proposal on the basis of subsidising the private sector to reach areas that need to be reached, said Mr Bruton. When the private sector has built an existing networks of poles and ducts, it is absolutely logical that the state should seek to build on that rather than have, in its own ownership, isolated ports and wires at the end of a network that is otherwise in private hands. Mr Bruton is expected to bring the NBP proposal to Cabinet next Tuesday to seek approval for it. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has indicated that he supports the plan. The private sector is not able to commit to [high speed broadband] for the remaining 25pc of the population, said Mr Bruton. And that's why we have committed to the National Broadband Plan that we have been tendering for. We're getting to a very advanced stage in moving to make a decision. The only bidder for the National Broadband Plan is Granahan McCourt, a consortium led by businessman David McCourt. 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 is expected to take three years to build. 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. Mr Brutons comments come after he all but ruled out mobile broadband as an alternative to fibre for the state-backed rural rollout. Earlier this week, the Communications Minister said 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 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 Irelands 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 30 Mbps 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 Brutons 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 states 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 connect individual households and businesses to the state fibre. Driver of change: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman 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 Few American foreign-policy challenges are more vexing or divisive than relations with Saudi Arabia today. US interests would seem to dictate close ties, but American values argue otherwise. For President 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 journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as conduct of the war in Yemen. Congressional attempts to punish the Saudis, including ending all US 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 protecting them is wrong. Second, the US is increasingly energy-independent and buys little Saudi oil making many on Capitol Hill believe the stakes in the Saudis are lower. 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 factor 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 modernisation are replacing Wahhabism, a rigid, intolerant interpretation of Islam that fuelled al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the recent Sri Lanka church bombings. It is the doctrine that the US 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 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 royal palaces have women's bathrooms. 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 modernising 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. Yet the Saudis I talked to - young and old - are deeply resent the congressional criticism of the crown prince and feel that if Saudi Arabia is shunned by the US, the kingdom will shun the US 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 US military support. The kingdom's investment holdings in the US exceed $800bn. The vast majority of the 190,000 students and family members sent abroad are in the US, and return with instinctive attachments to America. And, case in point, most of 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 US By the same token, how easy would it be for the US 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 70pc 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 efforts to transform the country, even as we make clear we will criticise what we believe is wrong. Killing dissidents 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 co-ordinated to avoid ill-considered, reckless policies. Washington will need help from the Saudis, with the crown prince repeating that the Khashoggi murder was a "heinous crime", and explaining the lessons learned and changes made because of it. The Saudis should also seek a quiet discussion with congressional leaders to hear their criticisms, respond 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. Bloomberg Opinion What would Ronald Tolkien have made of his works posthumous success? He died in 1973, living long enough to see his Lord of the Rings trilogy embraced by addled hippies across the globe, but cannot have known that the popularity of his epic fantasy novels would mushroom to ever greater heights in the decades beyond, culminating in a five-film series that grossed almost $6 billion. Would he have approved of Peter Jacksons CGI-enhanced spectaculars? Possibly, but he was a quiet, withdrawn, bookish man, and might have prefered his hobbits, wizards, orcs and ents to remain figments of his readers imaginations. Like many a teenager, I ploughed my way through Lord of the Rings, and while reading it again would be a penance, one cannot but admire the staggering fecundity of the mans imagination. Strange beasts, kingdoms, realms, entire worlds flooded from his busy pen: he dreamt up working languages for the elves and dwarves, wove mythic cultures using fragments of Norse and Finnish legend. But according to Tolkien, he didnt make everything up: Dome Karukoskis film suggests that the plots of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were partially inspired by the authors experiences at school, college and during the Great War. Born in South Africa in 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien was no stranger to tragedy. His father died of rheumatic fever when he was just three: thereafter, the family returned to live a financially precarious life in the English midlands. But when Ronald was 12, his beloved mother Mabel died of diabetes, leaving he and his younger brother Hilary orphaned and penniless. They were taken into the care of a stern but kindly Jesuit priest, Father Francis Morgan (played here with some grace by Colm Meaney), and placed in an Edgbaston boarding house run by a doughty widow called Mrs. Faulkner (Pam Ferris). These drab surroundings are brightened by the presence of Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), a fellow orphan and paid companion who pumps out sentimental tunes on the piano for the amusement of Mrs. Faulkner. Young Ronald (Nicholas Hoult) falls madly in love with her, and finds love of the platonic kind when hes sent to a new school. At King Edwards, he forms an intense attachment to three boys who share his artistic aspirations. Geoffrey Bache Smith (Anthony Boyle), Robert Gilson (Patrick Gibson) and Christopher Wiseman (Tom Glynn-Carney) will become Tolkiens bosom pals, and form a secret society together. But their fellowship will be sorely tested by the outbreak of the First World War, as indeed will Ronalds relationship with Edith. The guardians of the Tolkien estate have been at pains to point out that they did not approve of, authorise or participate in the making of this film, and do not endorse it or its contents in any way. But Im not sure what it is theyre worried about, because Tolkien emerges in this solid and very watchable biopic as a kind, gentle, resourceful man whose loyalty to friends and family is beyond reproach. Its based on an original screenplay by Irish writer and filmmaker David Gleeson, and focuses exclusively on Tolkiens teenage years and young adulthood, using the authors experiences in the trenches as a haunting framing device. And although we dont see him writing or publishing Lord of the Rings (the film ends as he coins the word, hobbit), we do get a sense that Tolkien spent many decades dreaming up Middle Earth. Video of the Day His passion for language is explored: Ronald learnt Esperanto in his teens to amuse himself, mastered many tongues and later became a Professor of Anglo-Saxon. When he goes to study at Oxford, his gifts are noticed by an eccentric linguistics professor (Derek Jacobi, in a wonderfully colourful cameo), who encourages him to hone his poetic gifts. Hes busily doing so when Germany invades Belgium, and Britain declares war. Ronald and his friends are dragged into the patriotic frenzy, but whats pitched as a jolly and glorious chivalric adventure will turn out to be anything but. Dome Karukoskis film rather overdoes it when searching for literary inspirations in Tolkiens life. When Ronald, giddy with trench fever, is frantically looking for his friend Geoffrey, hes helped by a steadfast batman called Sam. Tolkien may have had visions of orcs and dragons gliding through clouds of mustard gas, but their appearance here seems clumsy, and in the context almost glib. But overall Tolkien is a touching, entertaining, nicely handled film, which gives real insights into the creation of one of the most popular books ever written. Also releasing this week: Read More Read More Jack Whitehall will host The Graham Norton Show when the regular presenter misses his first show in 20 years. Norton will be absent for the first time in two decades in order to travel to Tel Aviv for the Eurovision song contest. Whitehall has been chosen to stand in for the BBC presenter and is filled with fear and excitement at the prospect. The comedian will host The Graham Norton Show on May 17, when the regular host travels to Israel. Norton has assured fans and warned Whitehall that he will return to the show following Eurovision. Expand Close Graham Norton will be travelling to Israel. (Ian West/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Graham Norton will be travelling to Israel. (Ian West/PA) Whitehall will welcome guests Luke Evans, Paloma Faith and Gwendoline Christie to the famous red couch. The comedian said: I was so honoured Graham asked me to do this for him. 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. Norton has presented his award-winning show on the BBC since 2007, and it has had a home on BBC One since 2009. Video of the Day During his time on Channel 4, he hosted So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton. According to the BBC, this is the first time Norton has missed a show in 20 years as a host, but he has assured fans he will return. Norton said: Im thrilled to know that I am leaving the show in Jacks 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, Ill be back. The one-off Whitehall show will air on May 17. The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final airs the following evening. Reached out for advice: The letter Patrick Quirke wrote to the Dear Patricia agony aunt page of the Sunday Independent Patrick Quirke's despair at how he had made a "right mess" of his life was laid bare in a letter to the 'Dear Patricia' agony aunt page in the 'Sunday Independent'. In the course of the Bobby Ryan murder trial, Mary Lowry said she had seen the letter in February 2011 from a married man complaining that he had an affair with a woman who had dumped him. She said the details seemed to show it was Patrick Quirke, and when she confronted him about it, he said he had nobody else to turn to. But while the court heard some details about what was in the letter he sent to agony aunt Patricia Redlich, her no-nonsense response was not read out. In the course of the letter he said: "I'm still in love with my ex-lover even though I accept that the affair is over. "I wish I wasn't, and wish I could transfer the feelings I have for her back to my wife. How do I begin to rebuild my life?" Expand Close Patrick Quirke arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice. Photo: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice. Photo: Steve Humphreys The Irish Independent can reveal that in her response, Ms Redlich said: "You could begin by ditching the self-pity. Don't you know the most basic rule in life, namely that the wrong-doer doesn't get the luxury of saying he's having a hard time? And he most certainly can't feel sorry for himself. "You chose to have an affair. It's gone south. Tough. "And that's letting you off lightly. We could tell this story differently. You made a move on a newly widowed woman, who not only saw you as a support because you were her husband's friend, but who also depended on you for business reasons. She was vulnerable. "Even if she made the first move, a kind man would have sidestepped, allowing her time to get back on her feet. Expand Close Robert and Michelle Ryan, with a photo of their murdered father, Bobby Ryan, outside court after the jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of Patrick Quirke. PIC: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Robert and Michelle Ryan, with a photo of their murdered father, Bobby Ryan, outside court after the jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of Patrick Quirke. PIC: Collins Courts "A married man with any decency would definitely have backed away. "It could be argued, in short, that you've broken faith with two women. Not to mention the fact that all of this is effectively happening within the family, so very definitely in your own backyard. Not nice. "There's something else you apparently don't understand. As her married lover, you had no claim on this woman at all. She didn't cheat on you. She simply found someone else. Just as you hung on to someone else, namely your wife." The reply also said: "The really troubling thing is that you are so self-absorbed. Not to mention the fact that even now you're failing to take responsibility for your own actions. "You say you unfortunately had an affair, as if it were entirely beyond your control. "And while you mention shame, it doesn't ring true, to be brutally honest." Ms Redlich said: "Sometimes happiness is simply a question of taking stock. And then being grateful for what life has given you." She added: "You're getting a second chance, an opportunity to make good." The two boys accused of murdering schoolgirl Ana Kriegel exchanged "a look" before their paths diverged as they walked gardai along the route they said they took with her before she disappeared, the Central Criminal Court has heard. Gardai decided to interview the two boys after the park route they were initially shown by one accused "significantly changed" when both were present. Garda Conor Muldoon said in evidence that at 10.45pm on the night Ana disappeared, he called to Boy B's home. His mother answered, before calling her son to the front door. Boy B told him he and Ana had left her house, walked towards a park and spoke briefly, before going in different directions. Gda Muldoon said Boy B told him he knew Ana, but not particularly well. Gardai conducted a number of patrols looking for Ana that night but failed to find her. They also repeatedly called her mobile, which went unanswered. Garda Eoghan Kelly got a photo of Ana from her mother to post details of her as a missing person on social media. There were a number of reported sightings of Ana, including one of her at the arrivals hall in Dublin Airport. They were investigated but proved to be false. Garda Sergeant John Dunne said the next morning, when he was spoken to again, Boy B told him he had walked with Ana to the park. Sgt Dunne said Boy B told him that Ana was "fond" of his friend, Boy A, but Boy A was "not interested in having a relationship with her". A meeting had been arranged by Boy A to let Ana know he wasn't interested in her, it was alleged. Boy B showed Sgt Dunne the route and said they all walked away separately after. Later that afternoon, Sgt Dunne said he had passed a man and a boy as he searched the park and the man said an area near a sewage plant "might be worth a look" as there were huts there where youths would hang out. When he called to Boy A's house later, he realised this man was Boy A's father, and they acknowledged having met earlier. Boy A, his father and Boy B then went to walk the route with Sgt Dunne. At one point, he said, "[Boy B] stopped and he stated that he went no further than this. I observed (Boy A) having a glance at him, a look at him. "There was a very obvious interaction between the two boys. I call it a look. Nothing was said." Sgt Dunne stayed there with Boy B and a colleague continued on with Boy A and his father. Both boys were asked to make statements to clarify the route because there was "clearly a difference between them". In cross-examination, Sgt Dunne told Damien Colgan SC, for Boy B, that it was only when they got to a certain point in the walk that there was a "divergence between the parties". The trial continues today. A motorist, whose car registration number was cloned, has successfully fought off a 60,000 damages claim against him in the Circuit Civil Court for alleged personal injuries. Judge Petria McDonnell said she did not believe that interpreter Waheed Ullah Ahmadzai had been involved in a road traffic accident and accepted instead that an unidentified individual had copied and used his registration number illegally on their vehicle which had been involved in a crash. Cillian Mills, of Edenvale, Grange Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin, told the court he had been engaged in some last minute Christmas shopping in December 2013 at Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Rathfarnham and, while stopped at a junction, felt a jolt and realised the back of his vehicle had been hit. Mills (32) said he got out of his car to see who had collided with him and saw a man of Arabic decent with a full beard and white gown walking towards him. This man had written down his name and address as Adi Khan but before Khan had pulled away he had noted his registration number had later given it to the gardai. Mr Mills said he had suffered shoulder and neck pain following the accident and self- medicated on painkillers before later attending his doctor and receiving physiotherapy. Barrister Mark Dunne, counsel for Ahmadzai, in cross-examination asked Mills if the alleged Adi Khan was in court. Mills said he was not and told Mr Dunne that his client, Mr Ahmadzai, was not the man who had been driving the vehicle that collided with him. Ahmadzai, of Loretto Road, Rathfarnham, told the court that gardai had traced the registration of the car involved in the collision at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre to his home address. Investigating gardai had referred to him as Mr Khan and he had told them this was not his name and that he had not been involved in the accident they had referred to. Mr Ahmadzai told Mr Dunne, who appeared with Ennis and Associates solicitors, that his car had been re-registered in his wifes name and afterwards they had begun to receive eFlow toll bills they had not been responsible for. The bills had been accompanied with Toll pictures of a Nissan Almera, a vehicle that had never been theirs, but which carried the registration of the Ahmadzai family Toyota Corrolla. Judge McDonnell told Mr Dunne that she accepted the eFlow bills and pictures as proof that his clients vehicle registration had been cloned and that he had not given his car to anyone else. Robert Ryan Jnr. and Michelle Ryan the children of Bobby Ryan pictured leaving the CCJ after Patrick Quirke was convicted of his murder. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin The key players: Pat Quirke Murderer was described as forceful and controlling man who manipulated widow At Bobby Ryan's funeral in May 2013, his daughter Michelle told the congregation: "God didn't take daddy from us, someone else playing God did that." That person was Pat Quirke. It is an irony of most murder trials that of all the people involved in the proceedings, we probably know least about the person who is actually on trial - unless they actually give evidence. Quirke (50) was a talented dairy farmer and, among the agriculture industry, was considered one of the top 50 dairy farmers in the country. In 2001, he was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, a prestigious programme that saw him travel to New Zealand and the United States as well as throughout Europe to study dairy co-operative movements. At that time, he was also chairman of the IFA Dairy Committee in South Tipperary. In 2005, he gave an interview to the 'Farming Independent' talking about his investments, saying he had grown the farm from 67 acres to 115 acres over the preceding decade. He was also heavily involved in off-farm investment, and remortgaged the family home to buy three houses. Quirke was described by Mary Lowry during the trial as a forceful, controlling person who manipulated her ever since her husband died. He was jealous of her new relationship with Mr Ryan and sought to break them up, even urging Ms Lowry's brother to 'have a word' with her. Quirke sought medical advice from his GP because he wasn't sleeping following his breakup with Ms Lowry. He also had counselling. Ms Lowry's son Tommy described Quirke as "a very overpowering guy who told us to keep away from his stuff". "I didn't like to spend time with him. I didn't like it one bit. It's just the way it was," he said. Tommy's brother Jack, however, recalled how he always got on well with him in the early years, and particularly with his son, Alan. Artificial insemination technician Breda O'Dwyer painted Quirke as a man who was meticulous and precise. He would always be "washed up, the place spotless and on his way to breakfast" when she would call to his farm at Breanshamore, in springtime. Married to Imelda Lowry, the couple had three boys. However, 14 months after the disappearance of Mr Ryan, their son Alan (11) died in the family's farmyard at Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, in August 2012 - tragically and accidentally struck by his father's 4x4. The accident happened as his father was leaving to travel the short distance to his dairy farm for the routine evening milking. Alan had been with his friends at the house when he attempted to jump on to his dad's 4x4 and livestock trailer as it pulled away from the house, but he lost his footing. Expand Close Patrick Quirke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke Bobby Ryan 'Wow... He was a brilliant father with a great personality' The longer the trial went on, the more poignant became the photograph of Bobby Ryan with his kindly round face and twinkling eyes. Not a single bad word was uttered about him. He was a truck driver at a quarry, a part-time DJ on the side, who delighted in the pleasures of playing to a crowd. "Wow," was the word Michelle Ryan used in court to describe her father. He was "one of a kind", she said, "a brilliant father with a great personality". To his former wife, Mary Ryan, he had remained a friend, despite the ending of their marriage. Likewise, he had remained a friend to his former partner Mary Glasheen after the end of their three-month relationship. They would still go out for a meal or a drink "if he was up to nothing", she told the court, describing him as "bubbly, kind, liked dancing, happy". His boss at Killough Quarries, Niall Quinn, recalled him as a punctual and "perfect" employee. Michelle described how her parents had split up when she was around 18 or 19 and she and her brother, Robert Jnr, lived with her father. She described her relationship with him as "brilliant". After her parents split up, she had concerns for his mental health because he was "very down" afterwards. It was definitely nine months before she could say, "Yeah, there's Daddy again", she said. Put to her that over the course of that time, he had got his love of life back, Michelle said: "Correct." In terms of work, he was "precise", she said. "You could set your clock by him, that's the type of man that he was," she said. "If he was running late he would ring but that man would make sure he was never running late," she added. Then, at the weekends, he would always be "playing his music - putting on a smile. He was... one of a kind," said Michelle. As DJ Mr Moonlight, he would play local venues, mostly Pat Foxes Pub in Cashel, Co Tipperary. She got into being a DJ through him. "He was Mr Moonlight and I was Shelley Moonlight," she told the court. Her brother Robert was asked to describe Bobby Ryan generally, he said: "Happy, yeah, yeah, always a bit of craic." His father had had a few girlfriends or friends since his marriage had broken up a number of years before. He said it was around Christmas 2010 that he noticed it seemed to be serious between his father and Mary Lowry. Mary herself spoke glowingly of Bobby, saying: "I loved him to bits. He made me laugh. He made my children happy. What more could you want?" Expand Close Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him Mary Lowry 'I was led to have an affair - I was a vulnerable young woman with three small children, lost' All eyes were on Mary Lowry over her four days of evidence during which she "bared her soul" for the benefit of the prosecution. An attractive and articulate woman, she had people flocking to the courtroom in a hope of catching a glance of her. "Look, it's not easy talk - it's embarrassing," she admitted in her first day on the stand but she stood courageous, laying everything out in the open to be picked over by the lawyers. A series of robust exchanges with Bernard Condon SC, for the defence, marked her third day in the witness box as he accused her of telling lies and of painting Pat Quirke in as bad a light as possible. He claimed she had made up the detail that she thought it "unusual" he was on her farm at 8.30am on the morning of Bobby Ryan's disappearance and that he looked "hot, sweaty and bothered looking". "I've bared my soul in this court case and it's the truth," she insisted. Born Mary Quigley, she was the third of six children, her father a small farmer with 15 acres in the Newport area of north Tipperary. She worked for a meat company for 14 years, doing accounts and reception, and then met her husband, Martin, in a nightclub in Limerick. There was no "big romantic proposal," she told the court. "He didn't get down on one knee." The couple built on an extension to Martin's family home at Fawnagown and had three children, Tommy, Jack and Micheal. In 2007, Martin was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in September of that year. His death notice described Mary as his "loving wife and best friend". She was left in a good financial situation thanks to a life insurance policy and she inherited the family farm. Her relationship with Quirke began in January 2008. She described it as a "sordid" and "seedy" affair of which she was "ashamed". "I was led to have an affair. I was a very vulnerable young woman with three small children, lost," she told the trial. "I'd loved my husband to bits - he died of cancer, I went to every appointment. My life had fallen apart. Pat Quirke tried to come in and control everything. They were the facts." In 2010, she met Bobby Ryan and their relationship developed. "We were having a very good time. He was good fun. I loved him to bits. He made me laugh. He made my children happy. What more could you want?" she asked. When Bobby disappeared, her affair with Quirke resumed but it wasn't the same as it had been before, she said. She began seeing Flor Cantillon in 2012 and was unaware one of their conversations at her home had been secretly recorded by Quirke. On the day Bobby's remains were discovered in a tank on her farm, Mary left her home at Fawnagown for good and never returned. Expand Close Mary Lowry leaving the CCJ. Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mary Lowry leaving the CCJ. Photo: Mark Condren Imelda Quirke Trial took a physical toll on long-suffering wife Imelda The long-suffering wife of defendant Patrick Quirke, Imelda, accompanied him faithfully to court every day. The couple travelled up and down from Limerick Junction by train - a gruelling ordeal, even without the daily trauma inflicted upon her by the evidence she heard mounting up against her husband, the open discussion of his affair and the mention of the tragic death of their son Alan (11) in 2012. Having already been through so much in recent years, since the loss of her son and the fallout of the discovery of Bobby Ryan's remains in 2013, the trial took a marked physical toll upon her. Already small and slight, Ms Quirke lost a considerable amount of weight and appeared frozen and sometimes bewildered by what she was hearing. But she never lost her composure throughout the 13 long weeks of evidence, and she was attentive to her husband in the courtroom, passing him bottles of water and checking to see how he was. Sometimes, she was accompanied by her eldest son. The couple ate lunch together and, at least once, took a lunchtime stroll in the Phoenix Park. At one stage, Ms Quirke had a good relationship with her sister-in-law Mary Lowry, who was married to Ms Quirke's brother, Martin. When Martin passed away, Ms Lowry and her three boys would join the Quirke family for holidays abroad, staying in luxury villas in Spain and Portugal. Her husband began an affair with Ms Lowry in January 2008 and, asked about it by gardai, he said he thought his wife "probably" knew, but she never said anything to him about it. On the day of Mr Ryan's disappearance, Quirke took his wife away for the weekend for her birthday, staying in the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise. They were "getting on well", he told gardai. Ms Quirke was the first person he told about the presence of Mr Ryan's body in the tank. When a garda put it to Quirke that if it had been his wife, he would not have wanted her to see the body in the tank, Quirke replied that his wife always knew what to do. In 2012, after Ms Lowry began to see Flor Cantillon, Quirke told his wife about the affair and Ms Lowry sent Ms Quirke a card saying "sorry". Quirke told gardai his wife was "furious" and tore up the card. Explaining to gardai why he had told his wife about the affair, he said: "I needed to know if our marriage could survive it. I needed to be honest." In his letter to agony aunt Patricia Redlich, which formed part of the evidence, Quirke wrote: "My wife has been a tremendous support and loves me deeply. Ironically, this almost makes things worse." Patrick Quirke pictured arriving at the Courts of Criminal Justice where he was convicted of the murder of Bobby Ryan. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Convicted murderer Pat Quirke (50) was committed to Mountjoy, where he was given the prisoner number 107243, after the majority jury verdict in the Central Criminal Court. The jail on Dublin's northside is the committal prison for defendants jailed by the Central Criminal Court. It will have been a shock to the system for Quirke, who had no previous convictions and came to gardai's attention only in June 2011 following the disappearance of his victim, Bobby Ryan. It is likely he will end up being moved to a prison closer to his Tipperary home at some stage in the near future to ease the hardship on relatives who may wish to visit him behind bars. In line with procedures for new prisoners, Quirke was monitored closely by prison staff last night. It is thought he was checked on as often as every 15 minutes, a routine practice known as suicide watch. This is due to the fear new prisoners can self-harm after being committed on lengthy sentences. This form of intense monitoring can continue for a lengthy period if the prisoner does not react well to being incarcerated. After receiving supper, prisoners tend to be locked into their cells at 8pm for the night. Once he has settled into the prison population, Quirke is likely to get a cellmate. He will also be assigned a job, such as in the kitchen, metal shop or laundry, or he can attend educational classes. Memories: Bobby Ryans children Robert and Michelle Ryan hold a photo of their father outside court after the verdict and sentence. Photo: Steve Humphreys Farmer Pat Quirke has begun a life sentence after being found guilty of murdering his love rival Bobby Ryan. A jury at the Central Criminal Court returned a majority verdict of 10-2 yesterday afternoon after deliberating for over 20 hours. The verdict comes after a 71-day murder trial, the longest in the history of the State. Quirke (50), of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, had denied murdering Mr Ryan (52), a quarry worker and part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight, on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013. Expand Close Bobby Ryan's children Robert Jnr and Michelle outside court / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bobby Ryan's children Robert Jnr and Michelle outside court Quirke gave no reaction when the verdict was read out, staring straight ahead. The prosecution alleged Quirke was motivated by "love and money" to kill Mr Ryan and dump his body. It said Quirke killed his victim so he could rekindle his affair with Mary Lowry, the widow whose farm Quirke was leasing at Fawnagown, Co Tipperary. This was denied by Quirke, who attempted to deflect attention onto Ms Lowry when he was interviewed by gardai. Ms Lowry had what she described as a "seedy" and "sordid" affair with Quirke between 2008 and 2010 and gave him financial assistance. But she was in a relationship with Mr Ryan, a father-of-two, at the time of his disappearance. The jury had heard Mr Ryan disappeared after leaving Ms Lowry's house 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. Expand Close Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him Yesterday morning, after the jury had been deliberating for 18 hours and 24 minutes, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon told them she would accept a majority verdict on which 10 of them were agreed. She said that if they could not reach at least a 10 to two majority they could write "disagree" or "disagreement". Around 2.30pm word came through the jury had finally reached a verdict. They filed into the jury box at 2.38pm, having been out for 20 hours and 39 minutes. The jury foreman confirmed to the court registrar it had reached a verdict of guilty on a majority of 10 to two. A number of friends and relatives of Mr Ryan wept after the verdict was delivered. Quirke was quickly taken into custody, only to be brought back to court a short time later to be sentenced. Expand Close Patrick Quirke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke This time he was shorn of the tie he had been wearing earlier. Again, he stayed looking straight ahead as his victim's daughter, Michelle Ryan, gave a moving victim impact statement. There was no sign of emotion on his face. She told the court how on June 3, 2011, the life and the world she and her family knew "was torn apart". "I can't 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," she said. Ms Ryan spoke of the mental anguish the family endured, wondering if her father had called out their names for help as he was killed. "We close our eyes every night and picture Daddy with fear in his eyes," she said. Ms Ryan said her family would carry him forever in their hearts. "So until we meet again, Moonlight, just know how much you are loved and sorely missed by us every day." After the victim impact statement was read, Ms Justice Creedon imposed a mandatory life sentence on Quirke. The judge 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 verdict brought an end to a case which was almost entirely based on circumstantial evidence. There was no murder weapon, no murder scene was identified and the case was described as being "forensically barren". However, the prosecution argued there was a lot of circumstantial evidence. Taken in isolation, each piece of evidence may merely have aroused suspicion. But the prosecution successfully argued that when woven together, the various strands of circumstantial evidence proved Quirke's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In the tight-knit Tipperary community that Bobby 'Mr Moonlight' Ryan called home, almost everyone suspected within 24 hours of his disappearance eight years ago that something was badly amiss. It was simply out of character for the likeable quarry worker to vanish and not tell anyone, least of all his family and children, where he had gone. It just wasn't how he operated. A larger-than-life character, Bobby was a lifelong fan of Tipperary hurling and passionate about music and dancing. Almost everyone around south Tipperary knew him better by his DJ moniker of 'Mr Moonlight' - a nickname Bobby revelled in. "Music was his life," a family member explained. "The part-time DJ work wasn't about the money at all for Bobby - it was just that he loved music and being a part of the local social life. "He was a great character and loved the local social life. If there was music being played, you'd see Bobby somewhere nearby." The kind-hearted Bobby would also offer his DJ services free gratis to Tipperary charities or local fundraisers. "That's just the kind of man that Bobby was. You never saw him but that he was smiling or willing to do you a [good] turn," he added. "Everyone knew Mr Moonlight around Tipperary town." Alarming Bobby was last seen leaving the Fawnagown farm of Mary Lowry for work at Killough Quarry outside Thurles early on the morning of June 3, 2011. He had travelled to the property the previous evening from his home at The Crescent in Boherlahan. But Bobby never arrived at work. Subsequent calls to his mobile phone from his family went unanswered and, in an alarming development, his van was discovered later than evening at Kilshane car park leading to a popular local beauty spot, Bansha Wood. The van was distinctive with two black stripes and the logo 'Mr Moonlight' across the top of the windscreen. But there was no trace of the 52-year-old or any indication as to what might have happened to him. A few items were found inside the van, including a black diary and Bobby's driving licence. A bottle of aftershave was found in a storage area inside one of the van doors. The Ryan family immediately suspected something sinister as the developments were totally out of character for Bobby. It was a suspicion shared by Tipperary gardai. There was nothing in his life to justify him leaving the area where he had lived his entire life or, even worse, for him doing something tragic. In fact, he had been extremely happy over recent times due to the success of his DJ business and, in part, due to a new relationship he had become involved in. Mary Lowry was the object of Bobby's recent affections. A widowed mother of three, she had met Bobby at various music events and socials in Tipperary in early 2010. Mary's husband, Martin, had died in 2007 after a battle with cancer. "He was one lovely fella - he worked almost up until the day he died," one neighbour recalled of Martin. Martin had built a bungalow, complete with granny flat for his mother Rita, at Fawnagown on the site of an old cottage. The farm had been in the family for several generations. "He was a great farmer and a great neighbour. There was nothing Martin wouldn't do to help you," said the neighbour. Friendship For more than two years after his death, Mary didn't frequent many socials or events. Then, in August 2010, she happened to be at a local social and mentioned in passing to Bobby she was frustrated at not being able to secure an All-Ireland hurling final ticket. The DJ managed to secure a ticket for her and it sparked a growing friendship that, within a few months, had turned into a budding relationship. In early 2011, that relationship had become intimate and Bobby started spending an increasing amount of time at Fawnagown. Bobby and Mary were suddenly spotted together at dances and socials across Tipperary. Both adored music and Mary was thrilled that Bobby also enjoyed dancing. It was a relationship that stood in marked contrast to the affair Mary was in the process of trying to end. She had been having an affair since 2008 with Patrick Quirke whose wife, Imelda, was her late husband's sister. Affair It was a clandestine affair with the meetings at her Fawnagown home or a handful of meals far outside Tipperary. Mary's children also weren't impressed by the increasing amount of time Quirke, who had taken a lease on the Fawnagown farm, was now spending at their home. Eventually, the widow came to believe the affair was "seedy" and the result of her vulnerability after her husband's death. From the summer of 2010, Mary had been trying to end the affair but the split was anything but amicable. Concerned about security at her home, she secretly had CCTV security cameras installed. This followed a number of break-ins at the property, one of which occurred on the day of her father's funeral. In December 2010, Mary checked CCTV footage and it showed Quirke walking around her property late at night and looking in the windows. Solicitors' letters were exchanged over the lease on the Fawnagown farm and Mary's belief it was now in everyone's best interests for Quirke to cease his farming activity there. The discovery that Mary was involved in a budding relationship with Bobby came as a shock to Quirke in late 2010. In his own words, he was "quite hurt" at the manner in which his relationship with Mary had ended. Then Bobby Ryan vanished. As repeated Garda appeals for information on his whereabouts led nowhere, the Ryan family took it on themselves to print missing posters. But gardai were now convinced Bobby's disappearance had a sinister background. On April 30, 2013, a badly decomposed body was discovered in a run-off tank at the Fawnagown farm. Rumour Quirke - who was about to end his lease on the farm - was checking the run-off tank, and he spotted what he thought were human remains. In a community where rumour and speculation had surrounded the disappearance of Mr Ryan for almost two years, the grim discovery confirmed everyone's worst fears. In late 2013, Quirke was charged before Tipperary District Court with assault causing harm to Mary Lowry between August 1 and 31, 2012. He was also charged with burglary and handling stolen goods. The charges caused a sensation locally. Just five months later, all three charges levelled against Quirke were withdrawn after the Director of Public Prosecutions considered the Garda file. No reason for the decision was publicly given. Almost three years later, Quirke appeared again before Tipperary District Court - but this time charged with Mr Ryan's murder. With a large media entourage attending the brief hearing, it was the first sign of the huge public interest the so-called 'Tipperary Love Triangle' trial would ultimately generate. Heartfelt tribute: Bobby Ryans children Robert Ryan and Michelle Ryan at court after Patrick Quirke was convicted of murder. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin The children of murdered DJ Bobby Ryan declared "We got justice for Daddy today" as they told of the harrowing impact his death had upon their family. Relief played across the faces of Michelle and Robert Ryan as they left the court complex to face the waiting media, clutching between them a cherished picture of their father. But while they offered a faint smile for the cameras, the victim impact statement delivered inside the courtroom laid bare their grief. Nightmares, torment and the loss of a fantastic father who was fondly known as 'Grandad Bob' by younger members of the family. He was "here one minute and gone the next" and the entire family was struggling to come to terms with that reality. The two siblings hugged as they told reporters: "We got justice for Daddy today. "It will never bring him back but we hope that he is at rest." Patrick Quirke had just been found guilty of the murder of Mr Ryan by a 10 to two majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court. "On June 3, 2011, our lives and world as we knew it was torn apart," Mr Ryan's daughter Michelle said in a statement a short time after the verdict. "I can't 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. "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. We wake up every night with the nightmares. "This is something we will never, ever come to terms with. God didn't decide to take Daddy from us and knowing how his life was taken and where he was found rips us apart every day. "We are completely destroyed beyond repair because of the trauma of how our father was brutally taken away from us. "We don't have a life to live anymore, just an existence for us to drag ourselves through every day. "Daddy was also a grandfather whose grandchildren love him dearly. "You know he was their 'Grandad Bob' and the ones who do remember him struggle every day to try to come to terms with how Grandad Bob was here one minute and gone the next, and the other little ones just have a picture of him that they carry every day. "Grandad Bob will always be a part of their lives because we talk about Daddy every day and tell them stories of their Grandad Bob. "They laugh and smile remembering Grandad Bob and the little ones wondering what kind of grandad he was, and our torment growing bigger knowing someday we will have to sit them down and try to explain how Grandad Bob was taken away from us and visioning the light burn out in their eyes and hearts as well. "Our lives will never be the same again, we know we have to carry this cross for the rest of our lives and we know our children will have to bear it as well. "We will never be doubtful of just how much Daddy loves us, I can't put into words how much we love him, we will continue to love and cherish what precious memories we have of Daddy. "That is something no one will ever take from us, this has consumed our lives completely. We will live through this heartache for the rest of our lives. "While we hope that Daddy will now rest in peace, it's a peace that we will never know until we meet him again. "Daddy, I described you as 'Wow' when I was asked because that's 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." Poignantly, she then referred to her father by the name, Mr Moonlight, which he had taken on the DJ circuit. "So until we meet again, Moonlight, just know how much you are loved and sorely missed by us every day. "So spread your beautiful wings and fly high with the angels. You are gone but will never be forgotten". Quirke had pleaded not guilty to the murder of 52-year-old Mr 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 Fawnagowan, Tipperary, 22 months later, in April 2013. The case became an endurance test for the family as it was the longest murder trial in the history of the State. Evidence 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, which took 20 hours and 39 minutes to come to its decision. But before they could finally start to close the traumatic chapter this lengthy and painful murder trial has marked in their lives, the Ryan siblings paused to offer thanks. "We would like to thank Mr [Michael] Bowman and his prosecution team and also Superintendent Patrick O'Callaghan and the team in Tipperary for working tirelessly on this case to get justice for our father. "We would also like to thank the members of the public for all their continued support and kind words they have given us throughout this ordeal and one of the hardest times of our lives. "We would also like to thank, most importantly, all of our family and friends who have stood by us the whole time every step of the way. "Without them we would be lost. We would like to thank them sincerely. "We also ask at this time that the media respect our privacy and let this sink in. "Thank you." Fifty packages of drugs and other contraband were thrown or delivered by drone to Wheatfield Prison in one week in March, according to the general secretary of the Irish Prison Officers Association. Speaking at its annual conference in Sligo, John Clinton called for nets to be put over the exercise yards because prison officers are facing very challenging situations trying to retrieve the packages while surrounded by a lot of prisoners. There was huge fanfare made in the media three weeks ago when a number of drones were caught outside Castlerea Prison and in the Irish Prison Service recent strategy statement that they intend to bring in technological answers to this problem, said Mr Clinton. We don't know what these are so we are asking the Minister what are these technological solutions to this problem, because we heard of technological solutions to mobile phones by using phone blockers going back many years, and it never happened, he added. You put the net over the exercise yard. I understand you can't put it over the whole prison, they know where these persons are being delivered to, that's the area you target with the netting, Mr Clinton suggested as a solution. Another effect is that prisoners are not allowed to go out for their evening recreation after deliveries like this come in, which means those in prisons who are not involved in drugs are being victimised as well. The prison system should also be there for those who want to be helped, he added. Expand Close A drone and drugs were intercepted outside Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A drone and drugs were intercepted outside Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon (Niall Carson/PA) Mr Clinton also addressed smoking in prisons, where prisoners are allowed to smoke. The problem is we are prison officers, we have lungs the same as everyone else and we suffer the same health issues are everyone else. The smoking ban was introduced into the workplace 15 years ago. People said it wouldn't work in pubs and other public places, it has worked and being maintained, he said. It is possible at the moment and there are clear examples of smoke free prisons across Europe. The management is aware of them, we are aware of them. It's 15 years now since that smoking ban was introduced and we want that introduced and we want the same health and safety protection that every other employee in this state is currently enjoying, he added. Jim Mitchell, the POA deputy general secretary, said there is an assault from a prisoner on a staff member on average once a week in Mountjoy Prison. We find that this is intolerable. Over the years we've looked for a specific violence reduction unit. Thankfully it has recently been introduced in the Midlands Prison, there is one National Violence Reduction Unit there, he said. Unfortunately, from our perspective, that only deals with ten prisoners maximum at any particular time. We believe there should be a Violence Reduction Unit in every closed prison in the State because there are more that ten violent prisoners within the system, he explained. When you get a gang leader into prison it exacerbates the problem because they are trying to exert a degree of control to the prisons. There is competition from them trying to get higher up the pecking order which inevitably involves violence and inevitably involves our people having to put themselves in harm's way to actually go and deal with it, he added. From our perspective the gang culture isn't going away any time soon. There are in and around 19 factions in Mountjoy alone. There is something like eight on one particular landing in the Midlands, and this is reflected across the entire system. Its something that isn't going away. We do believe there is a need to totally isolate the bigger groups of gangs in one complete and total isolated system, Mr Mitchell explained. "Mortified" students can't stomach the reality of modern farm life such as cows calving, according to a leading UCD professor. Dr Paddy Wall, professor of public health at the university, said there has been a drop in the popularity of farm visits among his food safety masters students, some of whom are alarmed at everyday farm practises. "The farm visits used to be really popular but I've noticed a trend that the students don't 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 see all the time. "We have to be aware there's a big disconnect between consumers and us," he said. Dr Wall was speaking at the IFA Smart Farming Seminar yesterday. He said students were "mortified" by what they had seen on another visit to a beef farm. Expand Close Stock photo. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stock photo. "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 can't have a calf normally. They said that shouldn't be allowed." Dr Wall said he was not "losing sleep" over the fact future food safety professionals were not finding the farm visits as enjoyable. Instead he said it is up to 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 don't 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 didn't have any customers we wouldn't have any businesses. "There's a disconnect between customers and how our food is produced and that is getting wider and wider," he added. Irelands embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is getting involved in efforts to help bring emigrant teachers in the Gulf states back home. It is estimated that there are thousands of Irish graduates teaching in the UAE, at a time while schools in Ireland are suffering severe shortages. Education Minister Joe McHugh is planning an early visit to the UAE to talk to the emigrant teachers, and ahead of that the embassy is conducting an online survey to build data on numbers involved, what their subjects are and the level of interest in returning home. Mr McHugh was reminded of the teacher recruitment and retention difficulties today at the annual conference of Joint Managerial Body (JMB), representing managers in over half the countrys second-level schools. JMB president Deirdre Matthews, principal of St Vincents Secondary School, Dundalk, Co Louth, told Mr McHugh that the most pressing problem for school leaders was teacher supply. Second-level schools have particular difficulties recruiting for a range of subjects, including maths and other STEM subjects, Irish, foreign languages and home economics. As well as permanent positions, Ms Mathews said that filling the gaps on a timetable that arise through teacher absences while on approved leave had been the greatest challenge facing schools this year. Ms Matthews said it was important that the Minister understood that the crisis now affected all subject areas during the school year. The Department of Education is working on a number of responses to teacher shortages and Mr McHughs planned visit to the UAE is among them. He believes a lot of the teachers working abroad want to come home and the purpose of the UAE visit is to find out what they see as the barriers to returning. One issue is that many of the Irish teaching in the Gulf emigrated with another degree and have done a UK-based online masters teaching qualification, which is not immediately recognised by the Teaching council. Meanwhile, teacher unions say two-tier pay scales are the biggest disincentive to returning for teachers who qualified post 2010, when pay for new entrants was cut. Mr McHughs trip will probably take place in June and he said today that up to three town hall meetings are being arranged where he will meet teachers and talk to them about the issues involved. He said today that embassy survey would start next week and continue until May 25. Trinity College Dublin (TCD) is launching a worldwide fundraising campaign to help it reach a target of 400m to develop the campus, recruit more academic staff and improve the student experience generally. It is Trinitys first major philanthropic campaign in its more than 400-year history and the largest ever undertaken in education on the island of Ireland. The initiative represents a departure in terms of how Trinity plans to drive its ambitions and comes against a backdrop of a tighter rein on State funding for higher education. Trinity has quietly raised 272m from 10,244 private donors in 68 countries in recent years and todays launch represents the public phase of the campaign, to bring in a further 130m over the next two to three years. International launches will follow in major cities, including London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong, tapping into Trinitys global alumni network, and other potential donors. Trinity has 140,000 registered alumni. It will help to pay for flagship building projects including the proposed Trinity St Jamess Cancer Institute, its E3 Institute in Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies, work on which starts this year, and redevelopment of Trinitys historic Old Library. Some of the money will fund new academic posts and professorships. TCD Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said they wanted to bring the academic staff: student ratio down to 14:1 the average in UKs prestigious Russell Group universities. Priority will also be given to scholarships to support access to the university by students from under-represented groups in society. The campaign, known as Inspiring Generations, also involves asking alumni to give of their time to students and graduates and has set a goal of building 150,000 volunteer hours to support that hope. Dr Prendergast said that the initiative will advance Trinity into the next decade and lay the groundwork for us to inspire generations to come. Irish universities suffered severe cuts in funding during the economic crisis, which have not been reversed, forcing the sector to look elsewhere for the money to deliver on its ambitions. While Ireland does not have a big history in philanthropic donations, increasingly, it is a key part of operations in world-leading universities, particularly the US. According to the Provost, the scale of the campaign made it the fourth largest in the UK and Ireland after the University of Oxford (3bn), the University of Cambridge (2bn) and University College London (600m). Dr Prendergast said the ideal situation was a publicly-funded higher education system but we cant depend on that in a straightforward way like have might have been able to do in the past. He said projects were not fully funded by the State anymore, but were supported by a combination of public and private funding. However, he said philanthropy went beyond that. Philanthropy allows us to reach for excellence in several areas. It is very important ; It is not replacing Government funding, but giving the direction and capacity to build new infrastructure and hire professors we wouldnt have otherwise been able to hire. Dr Prendergast said they were trying to build philanthropic funding into the DNA of Trinity. Up to now, it might have been seen as something nice to have, but the truth is, it is an essential element of what a top quality, world leading university does now. The shape of the campaign has been assisted by a 45-strong advisory group, known as the Provosts Council, made up of leading figures in business and industry, which was set up three years ago, for this purpose. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) is "alarmed" at the Government response to a group of four doctors who highlighted concerns about sub-standard conditions at a Waterford hospital mortuary. The IHCA was responding to the ongoing row which followed revelations last week that four senior doctors at University Hospital Waterford claimed that conditions are so cramped, bodies have to be placed in corridors, and a lack of temperature control caused some to leak and decompose. The hospital said it has no evidence to substantiate the claims and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the issues highlighted as "strange". However, in response the IHCA backed the doctors involved. Professor Rob Landers is one of the pathologists at University Hospital Waterford who wrote to the hospital last October outlining their concerns. He said the recent 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". "For the HSE to claim they were unaware of the issues and risks associated with the mortuary is at best disingenuous," he added. At a post-Cabinet press conference, Mr Varadkar was challenged on remarks where he said there isn't any evidence to back up the claims about Waterford Hospital. "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," Mr Varadkar said. "What really matters is that the new mortuary be built, it is being built, the planning permission is secured and the project is going out to tender," he added. He was asked if he thought that the consultants were lying. "No, I didn't say that. What I said was a statement of fact," Mr Varadkar replied. "There is a dispute about what the true facts are." He added that "the only way we can get to the bottom of it is through further investigation and I know that's being considered by the joint Oireachtas committee or by Hiqa." But a spokesman for Hiqa said: "That is not correct. We have no powers to investigate mortuaries." People who wish to donate an organ to a stranger will be able to do so 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 parts of an adult's body can be used in transplants unless they have opted out - but next of kin still have a veto over organ removal. The issue of altruistic donations has been highlighted by a Dublin doctor who travelled to Northern Ireland to donate a kidney to a sick stranger. Dr Dominick Natin, an occupational physician in the Mater, is one of a handful of altruistic donors who have given a kidney to someone they do not know. In the Republic, donation of kidneys is confined to people who have died or from living donors among relatives or friends. Nurses in the countrys biggest nursing union have voted in favour of the new 35m a year pay and allowances deal which was brokered after their crippling all-out strike earlier this year. The unions ballot result reported a 62pc vote in favour of acceptance- a lower majority than expected. Nurses engaged in three days of strike in January and February this year bringing hospital and community health services to a standstill before the peace terms were agreed at Labour Court negotiations. The proposals include measures such as: Commitment to safe staffing levels, based on patient dependency; A new, higher salary scale for staff nurses and midwives; An independent expert group to look at pay for those in managerial grades; Increased and expanded allowances; Extra promotional opportunities; Supports for professional development and education. INMO nurses and midwives took strike action for three separate days - January 30, February 5 and 7. INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, said:INMO nurses and midwives fought hard for patient safety and staffing in a determined, controlled and collective manner. We are extremely proud of the safe, patient-focused strike organised by our strike committees. The government have committed to full implementation of these proposals. We now seek an immediate meeting with them to ensure this happens without delay. I want to thank our President, officers, and Executive Council for their tireless work and brave decisions throughout this dispute. I would also like to thank our colleagues in other unions for their solidarity especially Patricia King in ICTU, who gave us great assistance. We are also grateful to the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission for their considerable efforts to resolve this dispute. Expand Close Nurses pictured during the rally at Merrion Square, in support of Nurses and Midwives pay. Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 9/2/19 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Nurses pictured during the rally at Merrion Square, in support of Nurses and Midwives pay. Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 9/2/19 Finally, I would like to thank the public who showed Irelands nurses and midwives such support during our strike days. Health Minister Simon Harris said :I very much welcome the positive outcome of the INMO ballot which was announced this afternoon. "The Labour Court recommendations which the INMO members have now accepted, envisage a range of tangible and specific enhanced nurse practice measures that should form the basis for a fundamental change in the role of the Staff Nurse grade. The new Enhanced Nurse Practice contract which has also been accepted through this ballot result, should be the beginning of a transformation process of the profession. "Intensive engagement between Health Service Management and Unions took place in recent months. I would again like to take this opportunity to thank the offices of both the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission in assisting us in reaching this positive position today. "As I already commented, I believe that the recommendation is good for the nursing and midwifery profession as well as good for the Health Service. "I would now like to see eligible staff nurses and midwives move to the new role of Enhanced Nurse and make sure that both the profession and the patient see the benefits as soon as possible. " Major reforms of Ireland's divorce regime, including provision for "clean break" divorces and prenuptial agreements, have been recommended in a major report by family law expert Dr Geoffrey Shannon. The report, written for the Law Society's child and family law committee, also makes the case for shortening the period former couples must wait before they can divorce. It examined 50 divorce and judicial separation cases in the courts and found the largest group of people were parties seeking a divorce as soon as they legally could. Under the law as it currently stands, divorcing ex-couples must have lived apart for four of the previous five years. A referendum later this month will see voters asked to remove the waiting period from the Constitution so the Oireachtas can legislate for a shorter minimum waiting period of two years. Dr Shannon said that having considered the report, the council of the Law Society had decided to call for a yes vote. "While each case is unique, the current requirement to live apart for a period of four years prior to the institution of divorce proceedings may now be considered too long. It may result in a duplication of legal expenses and protracted proceedings, where parties are involved in both judicial separation and divorce proceedings over time," he said. However, it is clear from the report the waiting period is not the only area of divorce law where reform may be needed. The report calls for a definition to be introduced for "living apart", saying the absence of such a definition has caused difficulties. In a minority of cases a spouse has argued he or she has lived apart from the other spouse while they were sharing the same house or dwelling. In such cases the spouse has had to satisfy the court through the provision of specific evidence that he or she has lived a separate life. This can include eating separate meals, limited interaction while in the house, and not holidaying together. Another area where reform was recommended was in relation to "clean break" divorces. These are divorces where the parties will no longer have financial ties once the order is given by the court, but the Divorce Act has been interpreted as prohibiting them. The report calls for the Succession Act to be reviewed, with particular regard to the consideration of "clean break" divorce scenarios. Dr Shannon's report said historically there was a genuine fear wives who worked in the home would be discriminated against, as they would have sacrificed their earning capacity to benefit the family, and then upon a "clean break" divorce would be left financially desolate. However, Dr Shannon said that in practice this fear had not materialised. The report also calls for a review of the law to allow for the development of pre-nuptial agreements that are valid and enforceable. Such agreements are effectively precluded under Irish law, but Dr Shannon's report recommended they should be valid and enforceable to the extent they support and foster the best interests of children and spouses. It said judges should also retain a wide discretion to vary the terms. The report, being published today, will be examined by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. A spokeswoman said the minister's immediate priority was to ensure the passage of the referendum. "Should it pass, the minister hopes this will create more momentum in the family law space and create opportunities for the Oireachtas to engage on all of these issues," the spokeswoman said. A man is arrested in a raid on a house at Walkinstown Avenue. A senior Kinahan cartel lieutenant was arrested in connection with alleged money laundering offences as part of a major CAB investigation. Convicted drug dealer Graham 'The Wig' Whelan (36) was arrested at his Dublin home by detectives yesterday. Heavily armed gardai attached to the force's Emergency Response Unit (ERU) were used to raid some of the 18 properties searched yesterday as part of the significant money laundering probe. A 58,000 Rolex watch seized during the search of a house in Kildare was linked to a woman who is related to a famous sport star. This woman has no involvement in criminality, but gardai believe a man known to her is connected to Whelan through a business. Whelan is considered to be a senior associate of the Kinahan cartel's Dublin branch and is also involved in the drug trade in Liverpool. Expand Close Armed gardai and a CAB officer enter a house at Clonard Road, Crumlin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Armed gardai and a CAB officer enter a house at Clonard Road, Crumlin In total, 18 homes and businesses linked to Whelan were searched including solicitor firms, a car business and the criminal's home. He was last night being held at Irishtown garda station for questioning over alleged money laundering offences. Seven luxury Rolex watches were seized along with two SUVs, a 152 Nissan X-Trail and a 141 Land Rover Discovery. A GPS tracker, designer clothing and documentation related to assets and finances were also recovered along with mobile phones. Expand Close Gardai and CAB officers during a raid on a house at Walkinstown Crescent / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai and CAB officers during a raid on a house at Walkinstown Crescent Gardai said that "evidence of considerable expenditure" on a number of Dublin homes was also obtained and is being analysed by an expert for the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB). Several properties in Walkinstown, which are linked to Whelan but registered under different names, were searched as well as a house on Clonard Road in Crumlin. Armed gardai were also involved in the raid on a house near Maynooth while a business in Malahide was also searched. The major Garda operation, led by the CAB, began shortly before 6am yesterday when detectives, local gardai and armed units simultaneously raided a number of properties. The CAB was assisted by detectives from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB), for whom Whelan is a prime target. Gardai from the Kildare region, the Air Support Unit, the Dog Unit as well as detectives and Drugs Unit officers from the Sundrive and Crumlin stations also assisted. In a statement, gardai said the operation was targeting "the assets and activities of an international organised crime gang involved in the sale and supply of controlled drugs". They added that it "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". Originally from Clonard Road, Whelan has been based mainly in Liverpool and Ibiza, where he is suspected of being heavily involved in the cartel's operations. However, in recent years he has been back in Dublin on occasions and was arrested on foot of outstanding bench warrants last year and briefly detained. Whelan was a close friend of cartel figure David Byrne, who was shot dead in the Regency Hotel in February, 2016. Whelan was also central to the drugs bust that led to the bitter Crumlin/Drimnagh feud breaking out in 2001. In February of that year, he was jailed for six years for possession of IR1.25m worth of ecstasy tablets and cocaine at the Holiday Inn, on Pearse Street, in Dublin, a year earlier. Large survey: (from left) Patricia Stafford, Joan McNaboe, author of the research, Joyce Walsh, of Ulster Bank, Sonya Lennon, of Dress for Success, and Nikki Gallagher, of Solas. Photo: Maxwells Dublin More than two-thirds of women who work in the home and have a third-level education do not want to return to a paid job, according to a survey. Solas, the further education and training authority, surveyed 218,000 women, aged between 20 and 64, who were described as being on 'home duties', meaning they did not participate in the labour force. It found that, regardless of their education level, the majority of women did not want to return to the labour force. However, some 16,000 women said they could be encouraged to do so if they had the right supports - such as flexible working hours, childcare, apprenticeships and further education. Launching the report, Solas director of communications Nikki Gallagher said childcare was not the sole reason why some women opted not to work. "There's a common perception that women opt out of the workforce primarily because of childcare duties while their children are young," she said. "However, the research we're publishing today shows only one-third of those not currently working have children under the age of five. "Low levels of educational attainment, and long periods out of work, can also impact on a woman's decision to remain at home." Some 122,500 of the women surveyed had a Leaving Cert or less. Another 31,700 had further educational training, while 57,500 had a third-level education. Almost half of the women with a third-level qualification had children aged five or younger - compared with a quarter of women with an upper secondary education or less. Three-quarters of women with a third-level qualification had a partner in full-time employment. This fell to 48pc for women with an upper secondary education or less. Some 38pc reported that they were either lone parents or had a partner who was not working. Ultimately, there are over 16,000 women who are classified as "untapped potential", according to Solas, and could be attracted to joining the workforce. The right conditions such as childcare, flexible working hours, and taxation could help them to do so, said researcher Joan McNaboe. Dress for Success founder Sonya Lennon, who helped to launch the research, said the findings were a "punch in the gut" but agreed with Ms McNaboe that the right conditions may attract women to work. "It's all the old chestnuts, remote working, better access to childcare, all the nuggets that we know are holding women back," she said. "They don't want to work because work doesn't work for them rather than they don't want to be economically independent." She said there was no "one-size-fits-all solution" to getting women back into work. "When we look at the two big cohorts who could be in the workforce and are not, one of them is definitely the result of socio-economic issues and endemic unemployment. That is not going to need the same solution as the group of highly educated women who have fallen out of sustainable employment," she said. Arklow and Wicklow RNLI involved in rescue of three fishermen from 14m boat that caught fire. Photo: RNLI Three fishermen had a lucky escape after their trawler caught fire and sank off the Co Wicklow coast earlier today. The drama unfolded around 3:46pm this afternoon when the volunteer lifeboat crews from the Arklow and Wicklow RNLI received an emergency distress broadcast, or Mayday alert, from the trawlers emergency position-indicating radio beacon, known as EPIRB. Both lifeboats were launched along with the Irish Coast Guard rescue 117 helicopter which was dispatched from Waterford. Several private vessels also assisted in the rescue. When the Arklow RNLI crew arrived on the scene about 30 miles east of Arklow, they found the fisherman floating on a life raft and transferred them to a nearby vessel. Having assessed the situation, the lifeboat crew proceeded to transfer two of the casualties to the lifeboat and administer casualty care while a third casualty was airlifted by Rescue 117 and later brought to hospital for further observation, according to an RNLI spokesperson. Both RNLI lifeboat crews remained on the scene and were joined by a tug boat with firefighting capabilities. Despite their efforts, the 14 metre trawler sank. Arklow RNLI Coxswain Ned Dillon said: "Thankfully, all three fishermen were rescued this evening and we would like to wish them all a speedy recovery following what must have been a frightening experience for them. We would like to commend the skipper and his crew for doing the right thing and activating the EPIRB when they knew they were in difficulty, that was the right thing to do, he said. We would also like to thank and commend the crew of the vessels that were in the area and responded along with ourselves and our colleagues at Wicklow RNLI and in the Irish Coast Guard. It is always sad to see a fishing vessel sink but we are happy that all three fishermen are safe and recovering from their ordeal this evening, he said. Rising prisoner numbers is leading to inmates sleeping on mattresses on floors again and a risk of a return to the pack em, stack em and rackem culture that belongs to the past, the Prison Officers Association Conference has heard. The issue of overcrowding in prisons is again back on the agenda with numbers rising from 3745 in April 2017 to 3890 in April 2018, and up again to 4049 in April 2019, President of the POA Tony Power said. Prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors is becoming an all too common sight again but yet our Open Centers remain below capacity, he told delegates in Sligo. Taking one landing at the Midlands, initially designed to hold 38 prisoners, it regularly has prisoner numbers in excess of 65 and this is mirrored in many of the prisons, he said. Overcrowding provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and exert huge pressure on vulnerable prisoners, in particular to trafficking contraband, including weapons and illegal drugs, he added. Serious violence is often part of the scenario here and we prison officers pay the inevitable price. Overcrowding puts both prisoners and prison officers at unnecessary risk and this is totally unacceptable, he added. Mr Power said the Irish Prison Service strategy statement makes reference to the reopening of the Training Unit in Mountjoy. But not one red cent has been spent on it since the decision was taken to close it in 2016. So we need clarity on this issue as a matter of urgency, he explained. All of us believed this was a historic issue. None of us want a return to the Pack em, Stack em and Rack em days of the past, where both prisoners and prison officers pay a heavy price, he said, calling on Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan not to allow this to happen on your watch. In February it was revealed that there had been more than 3,400 cases in the previous three months where prisoners had to sleep on the floor in Irish prisons. The situation is worst in Limerick Prison, with over 1,500 cases between November and January. The statistics were revealed by Minister Flanagan in response to a parliamentary question from Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly in the Dail. There were six prisons in Ireland where they wasnt enough beds for prisoners in the period November last year to January this year. These were Cloverhill Remand Prison and Wheatfield Prison in Dublin, the Midlands Prison, Castlerea Prison, Cork Prison, and Limerick Prison. Sean Kelly posed with Michael Lowry on the campaign trail Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has sought to brush aside controversy over a photograph of a Fine Gael election candidate with controversial TD Michael Lowry, saying it is "a decision for them". European election hopeful Sean Kelly posted a photograph of himself and Mr Lowry on social media after he encountered him on the campaign trail in Tipperary. The photograph was criticised by the Opposition, with Labour Senator Aodhan O Riordain claiming that the "chummy" picture raised questions about Mr Lowry's relationship with his former party. Mr Lowry and his refrigeration company were last year fined a combined 25,000 for tax offences following a court trial. Previously, Mr Lowry was criticised in the 2011 Moriarty Tribunal report, after its finding that as communications minister, he assisted businessman Denis O'Brien in Esat Digifone's bid to secure the State's second mobile phone licence in 1995. Both men have rejected the tribunal's findings. Mr Varadkar was challenged on whether he was happy for one of his candidates to pose for a photo with Mr Lowry. He said: "That's really a decision for them - for Sean Kelly as an MEP and for Michael Lowry as a TD." Mr Varadkar added: "It's a statement of fact, as we all know, that Michael Lowry has been convicted for tax offences. "At the same time, he's also paid the penalty for that." The ministerial road-trip all began so well but it took in angry farmers and disruptive protests before the day was done. Beaming Cabinet members featured in a video posted by Culture Minister Josepha Madigan from the bus. She said she was wearing red for the trip to Cork, while Agriculture Minister Michael Creed chipped in: "Up the rebels." He may have regretted those words when they arrived to the "real capital" and found that hundreds of farmers had laid siege to City Hall. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was greeted with heckles of "Where's the beef, ye vegan?" Farmers hadn't forgotten his remarks earlier this year that he was cutting down on meat to reduce his carbon footprint. If some ministers were rattled, it wasn't the case with Finian McGrath, who was pictured posing with a bull that had been brought along for the occasion. That's despite the sign in the background that read: "Leo the lamb, where is the money for our beef?" Irish Farmers' Association president Joe Healy told the Taoiseach farmers wanted a "clear message" on the help they were going to offer. Mr Varadkar replied that the Government wanted to do more for beef farmers, but also said they already received far more support than other businesses. That's not the message farmers - who are demanding a 100m aid package - wanted. As ministers retreated inside, Mr Healy addressed the troops. "We're here in the rebel county and this is very much a farmers' rebellion and we make no apologies for it," he said. He warned that if help wasn't forthcoming, the industry faced "extinction". Inside, it was probably a relief for ministers to be discussing issues like the appointment of a Central Bank governor and proposals to allow altruistic organ donations for the first time. Mr Varadkar said everyone in Government acknowledged beef farmers were struggling and the European Commission was being pursued about additional income supports. He also denied he was a vegan, saying: "I'm very much an omnivore. My problem, if anything, is I probably eat too much of everything." Hours later a Fine Gael public meeting on proposals to bring in directly elected mayors in Cork and other cities was dramatically suspended due to protesters in the crowd. Members of a group called the Connolly Youth Movement were involved in the protests. Several protesters began to read out statements including criticisms of the homeless crisis and austerity after the economic crash. Deirdre Clune MEP suspended the meeting and warned it may have to be abandoned. When he spoke, Mr Varadkar said: "Whatever somebody's political beliefs may be we should all be committed to democracy and we should all be committed to free speech. "And trying to shout other people down or trying to shut down their meetings is profoundly undemocratic." The giddiness of a Cabinet away-day may be somewhat diminished after the experience in the rebel county. THE long-suffering wife of defendant Patrick Quirke, Imelda, accompanied him faithfully to court every day. The couple travelled up and down from Limerick Junction by train - a gruelling ordeal, even without the daily trauma inflicted upon her by the evidence she heard mounting up against her husband, the open discussion of his affair and the mention of the tragic death of their son Alan (11) in 2012. Having already been through so much in recent years, since the loss of her son and the fallout of the discovery of Bobby Ryan's remains in 2013, the trial took a marked physical toll upon her. Already small and slight, Ms Quirke lost a considerable amount of weight and appeared frozen and sometimes bewildered by what she was hearing. But she never lost her composure throughout the 13 long weeks of evidence, and she was attentive to her husband in the courtroom, passing him bottles of water and checking to see how he was. Sometimes, she was accompanied by her eldest son. The couple ate lunch together and, at least once, took a lunchtime stroll in the Phoenix Park. At one stage, Ms Quirke had a good relationship with her sister-in-law Mary Lowry, who was married to Ms Quirke's brother, Martin. When Martin passed away, Ms Lowry and her three boys would join the Quirke family for holidays abroad, staying in luxury villas in Spain and Portugal. Her husband began an affair with Ms Lowry in January 2008 and, asked about it by gardai, he said he thought his wife "probably" knew, but she never said anything to him about it. On the day of Mr Ryan's disappearance, Quirke took his wife away for the weekend for her birthday, staying in the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise. They were "getting on well", he told gardai. Ms Quirke was the first person he told about the presence of Mr Ryan's body in the tank. When a garda put it to Quirke that if it had been his wife, he would not have wanted her to see the body in the tank, Quirke replied that his wife always knew what to do. In 2012, after Ms Lowry began to see Flor Cantillon, Quirke told his wife about the affair and Ms Lowry sent Ms Quirke a card saying "sorry". Quirke told gardai his wife was "furious" and tore up the card. Explaining to gardai why he had told his wife about the affair, he said: "I needed to know if our marriage could survive it. I needed to be honest." In his letter to agony aunt Patricia Redlich, which formed part of the evidence, Quirke wrote: "My wife has been a tremendous support and loves me deeply. Ironically, this almost makes things worse." A victim of revenge porn is calling for perpetrators to be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register along with planned new tough legislation which could see offenders jailed. The woman known as 'Jane' told how she suffered anxiety after her ex-partner shared intimate imagery of her on a porn website. She went to gardai, but found the justice system was unable to stop her ex from sharing the images. But now revenge porn is set to be outlawed with new legislation which could lead to the jailing or fining of offenders. 'Jane' told Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio One: "My ex-boyfriend secretly filmed me and uploaded it to a porn website for over a year. "A friend of mine came across it and told me about it, it's the only reason I know. "I burst into tears. My first response was to run to the bathroom and throw up." 'Jane' said she went to gardai and was assured by an officer that they would be able to help. But the legislation available meant nothing could be done. The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill will provide for a six-month prison sentence under the proposals originally put forward by Labour in 2017. Offenders could be fined up to 5,000. Labour leader Brendan Howlin said that if there were serious, aggravating factors the prison term could be increased. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief executive Noeleen Blackwell said offenders could be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register in Scotland where they could also be jailed for up to five years. "If you take an intimate photo or film another person without their permission, or share it without their consent, you are violating that person's dignity and their right to privacy," she said. Women's Aid also welcomed the proposals, saying 561 disclosures of digital abuse and stalking were made in 2018 and this was "only the tip of the iceberg". Chaos: The Ryanair flight to Malta was delayed. Photo: REUTERS A passenger has told of chaotic scenes on a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Malta as "inebriated" passengers fought and dance music blared "all over the plane". Journalist Kieran Dineen said take-off was delayed because of passengers shouting at the crew and misbehaving. He said many passengers on the flight on Tuesday were heading to a dance festival in Malta. "There was a lot of young people, many of them were quite inebriated. "It wasn't until I was on the plane that I realised it wasn't just young people going to Malta for a holiday away but out of 180, 150 were going to a dance festival," he told RTE's 'News At One'. "Several fights broke out there was one man pinned to the ground by two other men to keep him under control, there were punches thrown. "One man was held up against the window by his neck for a long duration of the flight. "There was quite a number who were unruly and it was quite scary for other passengers," he added. "We were late taking off because people kept jumping out of their seats. "Some were shouting at the stewards. "We took off to the sound of dance music which was blaring all over the plane. "When we got up in the air the real messing started when large groups congregated beside both bathrooms where the drink carts were. "They bought a lot of drinks and large bottles from the duty free were opened, bottles of rum, bottles of vodka, being downed on the plane. "One man walked up and down the plane with a big bottle of vodka for people to take sups out of." In a statement, Ryanair said a number of people were removed from the aircraft by the Maltese police. "The crew... requested police assistance upon arrival after several passengers became disruptive in-flight. "The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained these individuals "This is now a matter for local police," the statement said. Tourism bosses in Northern Ireland have been challenged to "aggressively" target visitors in Dublin and tell them: "You're in the wrong part of the island." DUP MP Ian Paisley delivered the hard-hitting message to officials yesterday. Addressing delegates from Visit Belfast and Visit Derry at Westminster, Mr Paisley suggested that Dublin was unfairly marketing on this side of border. He asked if Northern Ireland should "put it right back in their face". "It's been put to me that 70pc of Dublin Airport's marketing budget on the island is spent in Northern Ireland to attract people to go south," Mr Paisley said. "I'm 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 aren't you going north?' and put it right back in their face? "The song most Americans sing is Danny Boy - that's nothing to do with the Republic of Ireland, it's to do with Northern Ireland. "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.'" His comments were made at a meeting of the NI Affairs Committee, which has started an inquiry into tourism in Northern Ireland, and have sparked debate. Last night SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone, a former chair of Stormont's enterprise, trade and investment committee, said Mr Paisley was in no position to lecture on tourism. He referred to the MP's suspension from the House of Commons for 30 days last year for "serious misconduct" after failing to declare family holidays to Sri Lanka in 2013. In December Mr Paisley also faced questions over a luxury trip to the Maldives. Mr McGlone added: "It's nice to see Mr Paisley's recent tourist trips to Sri Lanka and the Maldives have helped him become such an expert in tourism. "But perhaps he could have been warned that such ill-advised comments would only draw more attention to those overseas trips. "The tourism industry will always work hard to attract as many visitors to Ireland both north and south, and we welcome all to these shores. "I wonder how many times Mr Paisley has flown out from Dublin Airport since he's so aware of the lack of marketing for Northern Ireland? "Most visitors from overseas have no choice but to land in Dublin if they want to visit. Telling them they've landed in the 'wrong place' is not the message we should be putting out." Sinn Fein said that "clearly Ian Paisley has a great deal of experience of tourism and overseas travel... but he obviously knows nothing about marketing". "Tourists from across the world see Ireland as a single entity and it is rightly marketed as such," it said. "His comments also show a lack of understanding of the north-south bodies which his party colleagues sat on which have responsibility for all-Ireland tourism marketing." Hospitality NI chief Colin Neill said that something has to be done to ensure Northern Ireland maximises its tourist potential. However, he admitted Mr Paisley's words was "not the sort of language I would have used". "The Republic of Ireland is our second biggest market behind Great Britain," he said. "Around 70% of air traffic of visitors to Northern Ireland comes through Dublin Airport, so yes, we need to do everything we can to make sure they turn left as well as right after they arrive. "But there's a bigger issue and that concerns infrastructure in Northern Ireland. "We have to do more to attract international flights to Belfast airports. Ways of bringing visitors directly into Northern Ireland have to be addressed." He called for reductions in air passenger duty and the development of new routes as tourism here "could be missing out on as much as 1bn a year". "It's easier to keep people in Northern Ireland if they arrive at one of our airports in the first place," he said. Gerry Lennon from Visit Belfast and Odhran Dunne from Visit Derry appeared before MPs at yesterday's Westminster committee hearing. Both agreed that more marketing was essential, but warned that resources were tight and more public sector funding is needed. Tourism NI, the organisation which handles marketing in the Republic, said it was not in a position to comment as it would be contributing to the committee at a later date. Tourism Ireland is the body responsible for marketing overseas. Fianna Fail tourism spokesman Robert Troy said: Tourism Ireland was founded under the Good Friday Agreement as a body to promote Ireland as a whole. It has served our island well. "We should be working together to compliment each other instead of aggressively targeting each other. This behaviour would not benefit anyone. 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. The Glenfinnan viaduct, as featured in the movie versions of Harry Potter, by JK Rowling Fancy travelling around Europe for free? The EU has made a further 20,000 Interrail travel passes available for 18-year-olds to explore Europe this summer. A new round of applications for the DiscoverEU passes is open from today on the European Youth Portal (it closes at 12.00 CEST on May 16). To apply, you need to have been born between July 2, 2000 and July 1, 2001. You must also be a National of one of the 28 EU member states. The DiscoverEU scheme aims to give young Europeans, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, the chance to learn whilst travelling. It launched last year with a budget of 12 million; this year that rises to 16 million. In 2018, some 30,000 young people awarded a travel pass - of almost 5,000 Irish applications, 314 were succesful. On this round of applications, winners will be able to travel around Europe for up to 30 days between next August and January 31, 2020. Applications can be made as individuals or groups of up to five people. For the scheme's second year, the European Commission is focusing on enhancing the learning dimension of the project. Participants will be provided with information and travel tips about what to visit in Europe, it says, and those interested can also receive a travel journal to record and reflect on their experiences. "There is so much to learn across Europe and a scheme such as this is very welcome in helping young people as they learn and develop," commented Ireland South MEP, Fine Gael's Deirdre Clune. "It is great to see so much interest from young people. Winners will be notified in June 2019, the European Commission says, with another application round due before the end of the year. Read more: How often do I get to have a mother and daughter date night? Not often. True, you will see us together doing perfunctory things like the grocery shopping, walking the dog and grabbing a quick dinner together. However, I cannot remember the last time we plotted a night in our diary to go out, get all dressed up, high heels, the lot. Just the two of us with lots to chat about over dinner while the mobile phones stayed in our handbags. And of course we did exactly what married couples do when they go out on dates... we talked about the children! Well, in this case, it was the recovering dog and who was taking Romy to her next vet's appointment. But last Monday, there was another agenda afoot. We had music on our minds and I was processing a healthy dose of mother's guilt. We were off to see Take That at the 3Arena. The last time, I committed the biggest faux paux - I kept my daughter standing outside the office on a Friday night while I finished off something pressing. By the time I exited on to Talbot Street to catch a train to Belfast from Connolly Station, it had just left and I was left looking at its final carriage pulling away down the platform. "You see, it wasn't a 5pm train, it was the 4.50pm," the disgusted schoolgirl told me with angry tears in her eyes. We had two hours to kill until the next train and by the time we finally got to the arena in Belfast, the band were halfway through their set and had sung many of the schoolgirl's favourite songs. Ten years later, this time around, I invited my daughter to go see them again - Take That are now a threesome minus Robbie and Jason - and I didn't have to ask twice. I must say, it is very, very satisfying finally assuaging your guilt after all these years to go back and correct the wrong. Years on, we were doing it the adult 'posh' way with dinner first at a club in the venue and then a short walk to our seats. My daughter was in such good form, she didn't even comment on how I left her standing outside the office, again. "You were early," I volunteered with a cheeky grin but, of course, she wasn't. I was up to my old tricks again. Always five minutes late. I swear, I'll be late for my own funeral. It was interesting how, by formalising our night out, almost elevating it to a new level, the mood was different and we were definitely making an effort to enjoy time out together. We were not taking each other for granted. Kicking mundane to touch had worked. "We really should do this more often," I suggested as we left the arena, and over after-dinner drinks, we plotted musical possibilities. We smiled like a pair of auld ones, nodding across at each other as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner, Matthew, were besieged for girls looking for selfies. They were spotted when the lights went up and the girls went racing across when they recognised an Instagram opportunity. It's interesting how parents and children can share such common ground and then our tastes on other things differ wildly. Take That was common ground. I listened to the Mancunians when, as a new mum, they were always on the radio in the car. The only blip in an otherwise perfect night out was of my own making. I chose to go to the loo at the wrong time. "You missed your favourite song," my daughter told me when I got back to my seat. I didn't tell her that I'd actually caught 'Back For Good' and had been dancing like a mad woman at the back. If she had seen me, she would have been mortified. Middle-aged mothers can be such a source of embarrassment. On reflection, I think we might just have tapped into new territory for quality time together. Talk before and after, enjoy the music in between. Music festivals are a no-go. I mean who wants to be seen with their mother even if she was at Live Aid in 1985 and saw Freddy Mercury perform 'Radio GaGa', but that's worth a column in itself. In the meantime, I might try and coax my daughter on a date night to go to The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac in Dublin. She's never seen them in concert, but she'll know every one of their hits from the womb. Sometimes mums know the best music after all. Patrick Quirke faces life in prison. Bobby Ryan was murdered. Lives are in ruins, there are no secrets - and all over a few fields. There have been many day-trippers who travelled to Dublin to attend the most talked-about show in town. The Tipperary murder trial could have been named 'The Field 2'. My dad John B Keane wrote 'The Field' back in 1965 as a warning over the "unappeasable greed for land". The trial of Patrick Quirke had much in common with both the play and the subsequent movie. My dad's mother Hanna and his uncle Mick Purtill fought in the War of Independence. The war was more than about independence. The Irish people wanted their land back. My nana told me the story of how a baby and her mother were found dead outside the door of the workhouse in Listowel on a cold January morning in the late 1840s. The baby was at her mother's breast, but there was no milk. The mother and baby had been evicted from their smallholding for non-payment of rent. This story was told to my nana by her mother, who was alive during the Famine. Expand Close Bobby Ryan's children Robert Jnr and Michelle outside court / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bobby Ryan's children Robert Jnr and Michelle outside court People died for the land and fought for the land. The way of the land was "we will give you the shirt off our backs, but not the grass off our fields". The prosecution in the Tipperary murder trial proved Bobby Ryan was murdered by Quirke because he was the boyfriend of Mary Lowry. Quirke was Mary's ex, and Quirke would lose out on the land he was renting from her. Ms Justice Eileen Creedon, in her summing-up, referred to correspondence between solicitors about the termination of Quirke's lease on Ms Lowry's farm. No lease meant no Lowry land for Quirke. Quirke owned 50 acres and rented 110 acres. He milked 100 cows. Where was he going to feed the cows? Fifty acres is a small enough holding nowadays. Quirke needed the Lowry land, and he needed it badly. Expand Close Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke left the body of Bobby Ryan (pictured) in a run-off tank after killing him There is hardly a month goes by that there is not some mention of 'The Field' in the course of bitter disputes in the courts over land. My dad saw and heard of many land disputes in our pub. He thought that by writing the play, he could show people the error of their ways. There was a bomb threat to the pub before 'The Field' was about to be produced. We lived over the bar, but my mother told my dad he had to write the play. Expand Close Hiding place: the underground run-off tank on the farm leased by Patrick Quirke, where he stashed the body of Bobby Ryan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hiding place: the underground run-off tank on the farm leased by Patrick Quirke, where he stashed the body of Bobby Ryan My mother was a farmer's daughter and she knew all about the poison spread by land disputes. Jim Sheridan and Richard Harris got that across brilliantly in the movie. Harris was nominated for best actor in the Academy Awards. Nearly every land dispute involves intimidation and threats. People take sides and communities are split. Families are torn apart. Very often, the disputes became generational. If you inherited the farm, you inherited the hate. Expand Close Patrick Quirke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke There is also a sense the protagonists in these murder cases are bound not by the laws of Ireland, but by the law of the land. The green grass is green gold. This is an insatiable lust beyond ordinary madness. No doubt now that the verdict has been delivered, there will be those on all sides who will breathe a sigh of relief and say "thank God that's all over". But it's never over. 'The Field' is based on the story of the murder of Mossy Moore in 1958 at Raemore, about 11km from Tralee. Dan Foley was the chief suspect. He was never charged, but he was boycotted by his neighbours. Dan and his wife lived a lonely life. His brother Mick was disabled and he used to play the concertina for the neighbours, but no one came to hear Mick's tunes after the murder. There was an attempt to bomb the Foley house. Expand Close Relative: John Ryan, brother of Bobby Ryan, leaves court after the verdict and sentencing. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Relative: John Ryan, brother of Bobby Ryan, leaves court after the verdict and sentencing. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin The Foley land was sold, but Dan's nephew John Foley bought back the overgrown fields a few years ago. John always maintains his uncle was innocent. The evidence was circumstantial at best. John is still angry and we will see how the story of the Foley fields plays out in a place where the past is still part of the present. After a visit to the scene of the murder, we wrote "there's a terrible, atmospheric sadness in this forlorn spot where such terrible events occurred over half a century ago. It seeps under the skin. The very land is anaemic. No birdsong here in this bleak place or the sound of playing children. It's as if Mick's concertina is playing a requiem for the dead". I wonder will Patrick Quirke's conscience trouble him when the lights go out in his prison cell tonight, and for many nights to come? The craze for land will diminish with the years, and will the grey-faced old man in the lifer's cell come to say some day: "Was the killing of Bobby Ryan worth all this?" AIR: when you have it, you don't think about it; when you don't have it, it's all you think about. It would be an exaggeration to say the average person getting on with life thinks about economic growth in the same way we all do about the air we breathe. But there are parallels. When the Irish economy crashed in 2008 and the world economy looked to be heading towards another Great Depression, almost everyone started taking much more interest in the dismal science than they had when times were rosy. Issues as arcane as the government bonds and their yields (interest rates) became the subject of pub and taxi talk. The Irish economy emerged from a half decade of gloom in 2012, and since then it has been pretty much all good news. The national conversation, when it has focused on matters economic, has tended to focus not on the upsides of growth, but on the downsides, most notably housing shortages and affordability issues. The past seven years have not quite been years of feast, but most measures of economic performance have been on the up most of the time. There have been occasional soft patches. These pauses for breath have caused those of us who crunch the numbers to fret that the economy was about to run out of puff. So far, however, those concerns have - happily - come to naught. That was reaffirmed on Monday when the latest shopping figures were published. The CSO retail sales figures for March showed little sign of consumers being spooked by fears of a hard Brexit. Wallets and purses are still being opened. Spending in the shops continues to trend upwards. This morning, the latest dole queue figures will be published. As this writer was once in the economic forecasting business (a mug's game), I hesitate to make a prediction. But if I had to bet, I'd put a fiver on a further fall in the numbers on unemployment benefit. Why? Because they have fallen in 76 of the past 77 months. This is good news for everyone, and the scale of the change is worth highlighting. At the low-point of the recession, close to half a million people were on the dole. In February of this year, the numbers fell below 200,000 for the first time in a decade. Fingers crossed for another chunky decline in this morning's figures. But even if fewer people turn out to be on benefits last month than the month before, there is still a distance to travel before anyone can rest on their laurels. Almost half of the 28 countries in the EU had a lower unemployment rate than Ireland's as of March, so there is no room for complacency and talk of "full employment" by Government ministers is little more than an invitation to complacency. Nor is there reason for complacency on the public finances. The Government's debt rose last year by another 5bn. Despite a sustained period of decent growth, the only reason the Government is not going even deeper into debt is because companies keep pumping profit tax revenues into the exchequer at a rate even the mandarins can't comprehend - 30m per day last year, and still rising fast in 2019, according to the latest exchequer returns. The precarious position of the public finances means that if the economy were to take a serious hit, there would be the equivalent of a sudden loss of oxygen and people would be back talking about austerity and bond yields in jig time. With Brexit, Donald Trump's threats of trade wars and trouble in the euro area never far over the horizon, there is no shortage of things that could clobber the Irish economy. All of these threats are still very real - chances of a no-deal Brexit later in the year remain alarmingly high, for instance. But let's focus today on the good news from the continent rather than the pantomime across the water. On Tuesday, the EU's statisticians published the latest economic growth and joblessness figures from across the bloc. They were pleasantly surprising. After almost a year during which the continental economy has been slowing, they brought news that both the EU as a whole (all 28 member economies) and the eurozone (a subset of 19 economies) had a burst of energy in early 2019. After flirting with recession in the second half of last year, economic growth accelerated in the first months of this year. These figures mean the risk of European recession has receded considerably. That conclusion was buttressed by what has been happening in the European labour market. Joblessness continues to trend downwards in all EU countries. In March, the EU-wide rate of unemployment fell to close to 6pc, yet another 21st-century low. Across the eurozone, which excludes two big low-unemployment economies - the UK and Poland - the jobless rate last month was 7.7pc, just a smidgen off the lowest rate recorded since the single currency was created 20 years ago. On current trends, there is a good chance that by high summer unemployment in the euro bloc will fall below the previous low point, reached just before the crash hit in 2008. Yet another reason to breathe a sigh of relief this week was news from south of the Alps. In Rome on Tuesday, Italian statisticians published the latest growth figures for that recession-racked country. Having gone into an outright slump in the second half of last year, many observers were braced for more bad news from a country that is perilously close to following Greece down the path of national insolvency. Ireland's woes in the 2010-12 period were made a lot worse by the Greek crisis. A similar eruption on the other side of the Aegean could do for the euro, with disastrous consequences for all those who use the currency, from Ireland to Italy. Given this Vesuvian risk, it was good news to see a surprise rebound in the Italian economy in the early months of this year, with employment up, joblessness down and GDP stronger. There is no reason to believe Italy will not end up erupting, but this week's news points to settling down of the economic Richter scale. For now at least. Patrick Quirke became a "person of interest" - official police-speak for suspect - within days of Bobby Ryan's disappearance, because he had a motive to murder. The popular part-time DJ was in a relationship with widow Mary Lowry, who was Quirke's former secret lover. Quirke is married to her late husband Martin Lowry's sister Imelda. That morning, Bobby Ryan left Ms Lowry's home at around 6.30am to go to work in a nearby quarry, but he never turned up and she later reported him missing to gardai, who launched an investigation. Investigators first had to assess the possible reasons for the disappearance in a process of elimination with three scenarios to consider: Mr Ryan had inexplicably decided to go somewhere without telling anyone; he had taken his own life, or he had been the victim of foul play. But the testimony of those closest to the missing man quickly ruled out the likelihood of his leaving or taking his own life. As pointed out by prosecutor Michael Bowman SC in his summing up of the State's case, Mr Ryan was a man who loved life, his job, music and dancing and was universally loved and liked. Expand Close Hiding place: the underground run-off tank on the farm leased by Patrick Quirke, where he stashed the body of Bobby Ryan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hiding place: the underground run-off tank on the farm leased by Patrick Quirke, where he stashed the body of Bobby Ryan He had been in a meaningful relationship with Ms Lowry for almost a year and he dearly loved his children, Robert Jnr and Michelle. "Who would want to kill Mr Ryan and strip him of his possessions, his clothes, his dignity, and leave his body to decompose for 22 months in a sealed chamber on a farm in Tipperary?" Mr Bowman asked the jury. The answer was Patrick Quirke - who emerged as a suspect after gardai had ruled out other possible scenarios. Quirke's motive for murder began to materialise from the statements of Ms Lowry and others. A relative of Mr Ryan told gardai that Mr Ryan said that Quirke had threatened his life if he didn't back off. However, this information was not presented as evidence before the jury on the grounds that it was hearsay. But a clear motive was emerging from the testimony of witnesses: the killer, who was not known as a violent person, had been driven by jealousy and the warped hope that with his love rival out of the way, he could rekindle his secret affair with Ms Lowry. And while gardai had strong, reasonable suspicions, there was no evidence on which to mount a murder charge. An extensive land search by gardai failed to locate a body, and when detectives interviewed Quirke, he gave nothing away. In the absence of a body, gardai could not prove that a murder had even taken place, so the investigation file remained open as a missing person case. But then, almost two years later, on April 30, 2013, there was an unexpected breakthrough when the prime suspect reported "finding" human remains in an overgrown slurry pit on Mary Lowry's farm, which Quirke had been renting. Having confirmed that the remains were those of Bobby Ryan, gardai began to develop a theory as to how the murder had taken place. Quirke had possibly been lying in wait for his love rival as part of a pre-ordained plan, or had attacked Mr Ryan in a fit of rage as he left Ms Lowry's home on the morning he vanished and then dumped his naked remains into the covered disused slurry pit. The pit had been so well concealed under a carpet of muck and grass that gardai missed it during the initial searches of the property. It was no coincidence either that the timing of the discovery by Quirke overlapped with the imminent termination of his lease of Mary Lowry's lands. This dramatically increased the risk that the remains would be discovered when work was carried out on the area of the overgrown slurry pit. Expand Close Memories: Bobby Ryans children Robert and Michelle Ryan hold a photo of their father outside court after the verdict and sentence. Photo: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Memories: Bobby Ryans children Robert and Michelle Ryan hold a photo of their father outside court after the verdict and sentence. Photo: Steve Humphreys By finding the remains himself, Quirke reckoned it would serve to divert blame from him and on to Ms Lowry. And so gardai began the painstaking process of building a wall of mostly circumstantial evidence in a case that the prosecution conceded was "forensically barren". In the initial stage of the murder investigation, detectives suspected that Quirke was on the brink of a nervous breakdown and might confess his role in the crime. They had been told that he was plagued with guilt and remorse for the murder of Mr Ryan, believing the subsequent tragic death of his son was the result of bad karma. However, when gardai did arrest the prime suspect, he robustly denied having any part in the crime and attempted to shift the suspicion on to his former lover. Among the evidence gathered by gardai that exposed Quirke as a liar was that of a forensic entomologist, an expert in insects, who established that the slurry tank containing the body had been opened at up to two weeks before Quirke claimed he made the discovery. Like so many killers before him, Quirke unconsciously left a trail of circumstantial evidence on his computer, including searches for "body decomposition timeline". When detectives questioned Quirke about this, he told them his son had died and "that's all I'm saying". But a forensic search of his computer showed that the killer had carried out similar online searches before his son's death, which took place in August 2012, thus exposing another lie. Further evidence revealed searches for wife killer Joe O'Reilly and reports of how he was caught. Quirke, like O'Reilly, probably assured himself that he had covered his tracks and would not get caught - he had pulled off the perfect murder. Now Quirke has plenty of time to share notes with O'Reilly and work out where he went wrong. We will probably never know for sure the exact reasons why a jury of six men and six women decided to convict farmer Pat Quirke of the murder of his supposed love rival Bobby Ryan. The law is strict when it comes to deliberations in the jury room. They simply cannot be disclosed. It is a contempt of court punishable by a fine or imprisonment to repeat any statements made in the jury room. However, we do have some clues regarding the issues on which the jury focused. Very early in their deliberations, they requested print-outs of Quirke's interviews with gardai. They also sought phone records. In particular, the jury foreman asked for a transcript of an interview given by Quirke on April 30, 2013. This was the day he "discovered" Mr Ryan's remains in a run-off tank on the farm he was leasing from widow Mary Lowry. Mr Ryan had been missing for 22 months, having last been seen at Ms Lowry's home in Fawnagown, Co Tipperary. The phone records confirmed Quirke rang his wife Imelda rather than ringing gardai after seeing the body in the tank while supposedly draining water to assist with the agitation of slurry. During his voluntary interview that day, Quirke appeared to attempt to shift the focus on to Ms Lowry, with whom he had an affair between 2008 and 2010. She later formed a relationship with Mr Ryan. The prosecution contended Quirke tried to suggest Ms Lowry knew more than she was letting on. For example, he told gardai she knew about the tank because of an incident in which a calf got its leg stuck between the slabs of concrete that covered it. However, according to evidence given by farm hands Sean Dillon and Emmet Kenny, the calf got stuck in a septic tank in another part of the farm. Prosecution counsel Michael Bowman SC said there was no evidence Ms Lowry knew about the tank and the suggestion by Quirke that she did "communicates something that I think is quite extraordinary". Quirke also claimed Ms Lowry had a "couldn't-care-less attitude" about the disappearance of her boyfriend. He claimed what he knew of Mr Ryan's disappearance was what Ms Lowry had told him. But he said she couldn't be clear whether it took 10 minutes or two minutes for Mr Ryan's van to leave her driveway on the morning of his disappearance. He also asked how she found Mr Ryan's van so quickly later that day in the car park leading into Kilshane Woods. Quirke wondered why she did not travel along the route Mr Ryan would normally have taken but instead drove to the woods. However, Mr Ryan's daughter Michelle told the trial it was her idea to go to the woods as she had a "terrible feeling" her father's van was there. The trial heard indentations on an A4 sheet of paper recovered from Quirke's home indicated many of the questions he posed to gardai about Ms Lowry had been written down. It was unclear when the note was made. If the jury did not believe the answers given by Quirke in his interviews, it is likely to have been a major factor in its decision to find him guilty. However, it is unlikely to have been the only reason. The case against Quirke was "forensically barren". There were no eyewitnesses, no definitive time of death, no place of death, and no murder weapon. Even the manner in which his victim was killed was the subject of uncertainty, with a blunt object and a vehicle suggested by pathologists as possible murder weapons. Despite all of these missing elements, there was a substantial circumstantial case against Quirke. It may well be the sheer weight of the circumstantial evidence was what convinced the jury of his guilt. Mr Bowman told jurors that taken on their own, each strand amounted to nothing more than suspicion or something uncannily coincidental, but when woven together they proved his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The circumstantial evidence put forward by the prosecution included efforts by Quirke to sabotage the relationship between Mr Ryan and Ms Lowry. In one incident, he told Mr Ryan he was "being played for a fool" by Ms Lowry. A second attempt at sabotage came when Quirke reported Ms Lowry to Tusla, claiming she was neglecting her children emotionally because of her new relationship. If Tusla had got involved, it could have forced Ms Lowry to choose between Mr Ryan and her children. In a letter to an agony aunt in the Sunday Independent, Quirke wrote of being "heartbroken and angry" following his break-up with Ms Lowry. The prosecution said Quirke was "well and truly rumbled" when he was seen on CCTV in December 2012 interfering with Ms Lowry's clothesline and her postbox and using a key to open her front door, setting off the house alarm. This led to Ms Lowry seeking to terminate the lease, meaning Quirke would no longer have access to the farm and the hiding place of Mr Ryan's body. The jury was told Quirke was one of only four people who knew of the existence of the tank where the body was dumped and he had exclusive access to it since 2008. Ms Lowry testified that Quirke looked "hot and bothered" when she had seen him in the farmyard on the morning of Mr Ryan's disappearance. Artificial inseminator Breda O'Dwyer, who had dealings with Quirke for 15 years, gave evidence he was still milking at 9.30am that morning, which was unusual. On the day Mr Ryan's body was "found", Quirke was wearing a jacket, shirt and pants rather than overalls as expected if he was planning the "dirty job" of agitating slurry. The prosecution asked why Quirke decided to draw water from the tank, as it had never been used for that purpose before. Mr Bowman said Quirke claimed to have been shocked when he discovered the body, but pointed out that after ringing his wife he also called his vet and his voicemail. "I don't think he was shocked or afraid for one moment," Mr Bowman told the jury. Then there were internet searches for "DNA" and "human body decomposition" in the months before the body was recovered. While Quirke claimed his son's death was the reason, this did not explain all of them, lending further weight to the prosecution's case. In the slugfest that makes for political interaction, there is seldom room for serious discussion on social responsibility. With all sides swinging, voters can feel left out of the picture. Such short-sightedness has left many a government blind-sided come election time. Thus Fianna Fail, traditionally the party that builds houses, may not need to steal the next election. The Government is leaving its back door open through its inexplicable failure to face up to the housing crisis. And Micheal Martin knows how to deliver a sucker-punch. The Fianna Fail leader accused the Government of conducting a social experiment to turn Ireland away from a nation of home-owners to a nation of renters. He told RTE: "People want to live in houses that are affordable. This has been a distinctive feature of Irish life and it's something we shouldn't throw away." The damning failure to build enough houses in a context where there are 10,305 people homeless is a scandal. And pressure builds on the Government each week as we learn of vulture funds buying blocks of apartments and streets of houses, with a view to renting them at prices only the wealthy can afford. Middle and lower earners are wondering how it has come to pass they could be so left behind. Now an entire generation may not entertain the notion of owning a home. The creation of the working poor is a recent phenomenon. But they are not invisible and will not be ignored, nor forgotten. Too many share an anxiety that a force which cannot be confronted may suddenly loom up and deliver a crushing blow, rendering them homeless. But when too many discover having a job is no guarantee one can keep a roof over one's head, the Government also has a serious problem. Focus Ireland's Mike Allen has warned how single people who rent are now a growing cohort among the homeless. Yesterday on RTE, Minister of State for Housing Damien English said: "The [homeless] figures look as if they are really high." They don't just "look" it; they are at an all-time record; nor are they "figures" but human beings. Mr English added there was "no magic solution". Nobody outside of Government is deluded enough to be waiting on a Dumbledore to wave a wand to make all this suffering go away. The Government is not just missing its own "targets", it is missing the point: lives are being ruined. If fear is all that is rendering the Government impotent, it should remember retribution from scorned voters could take a terrible toll on seats. The desire to be safe and have somewhere to call one's own is primal. The commodification of housing by our Government was called out by the UN. One should not need to be homeless to appreciate the notion of the emptiness and desolation of being left out in the cold. Those with the power to do something about it and who choose not to can scarcely complain should they also find themselves brushed aside at the polls. I hate tipping. Not because I hate handing over money to poorly paid waiting staff - as a former waitress of many years standing, I'm only too aware of just how much restaurant staff rely on them to make ends meet. But as someone who's always been terrible with numbers, I hate the on-the-spot mental gymnastics required at the end of a nice meal to calculate the appropriate percentage to add to the bill. Nothing erases the memory of a leisurely lunch faster than trying to calculate 15pc of some random figure while the rest of your party already have their coats on and are halfway out the door, urging you to hurry up. And there's also the ever-present internal debate of how much to leave. You want to be generous to the lovely waitress who diplomatically overlooked the fact that your kids have smeared ketchup on the floor and mashed potato on the walls. But you don't want to overdo it with staff who studiously refused to acknowledge your presence until you all virtually fainted from hunger. Lately, though, a whole new set of tipping pitfalls has emerged, amid changing practices in restaurants and hotels. At the weekend, we had an encounter with the loveliest young waiter. He'd impressed us before we'd even sat down; as I parked outside, the car in front reversed into our car, before driving off at speed. The waiter burst out the front door, outraged on our behalf. "I saw that!" he said, before handing me a pen and paper to take down the number of the errant vehicle and offering to check the CCTV cameras for footage. Fortunately, there was no damage done, so we didn't need to take him up on his kind offer. But after serving us a lovely meal, and being ridiculously sweet to our small kids, I wanted to leave him a generous tip. However, when it came to paying the bill, he said he couldn't add a gratuity on the card machine. And as I had no cash - I never have any cash - there was nothing more I could do. Days later, at a family dinner in a hotel restaurant when my father went to pay the bill, he was told by the waitress that he was wasting his money leaving the tip on the card, as the waiting staff wouldn't get it. Where would the money go then, he asked? "Upstairs," she replied darkly. Enough said. Fortunately, dad did have cash, and we left happy knowing the waitress was personally taking her tips home, rather than it disappearing into owners' pockets. After the well-publicised row at plush Dublin restaurant The Ivy, where waiting staff protested that they were unhappy with how the tips were being shared, diners are becoming a little more curious about what happens to that money added on the bill. And waiting staff, rightly, have become more vocal with customers about it too. Yesterday, newspaper reports revealed that cash tips in some restaurants are allegedly being used to top up managers' salaries, so that they can avoid paying taxes. Added to the increasingly common practice of restaurants automatically adding a 12pc service charge to all bills, regardless of the size of the party, it's no wonder that tipping has become a total minefield. I dread it more than ever now. Restaurants need to start being upfront about all this, by explicitly outlining their service charge and tipping policies on the menu, and in a nice large font so that people can actually read it. Giving diners a heads-up of what's to come before they've even ordered would go a long way to taking the sour taste out of our mouths. ONE of the most significant dates in prehistoric and early historic Ireland was the Festival Of Bealtaine. The first of May is the ancient festival of Bealtaine or Beltane, the cross quarter day marking the midway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. It is exactly six months away from Samhain - the New Year on November 1. Like many ancient festivals the date has an agricultural significance as it marks the end of the unfarmable winter in the Northern hemisphere and symbolised the start of the summer - when the cattle were moved to the high pastureland. The word Bealtaine is still used in the Irish language and translates as the month of May. Old traditions involved lighting fires at sunset on Oiche Bealtaine or May Eve, April 30, and these traditions still survive in part of the country, particularly in parts of Munster. The name is said to derive from Old Irish, meaning "bright fire" where Bel means light - the Celtic sun and healer god was Belenus. In ancient times the main Beltane fire was lit at the Hill of Uisneach in County Westmeath - regarded as the centre of the country and traditionally known as the navel of Ireland. Prior to the lighting of the main fire, hearth fires were extinguished and cinders and torches from the main bonfire would pass from townland to townland where each community would light their own bonfires. Passing between two bonfires was seen as a rite of purification and herds of cattle were driven between two fires in many villages. Members of the community would also pass between the fires and it was considered lucky to do this while the more daring would leap the bonfire to ensure their fertility in the coming year. On the morning of May 1 many people would rise at dawn to collect flowers and boughs from the mountain ash or rowan tree to hang across doorways or on the outside of the windows of their homes. The usual traditions of hospitality and generosity were turned on their heads as anything taken from the home on May Day could be used for malicious spells against the owner and guests were turned away at the door. Other traditions on Bealtaine include walking the circuit of one's property (beating the bounds), repairing fences and boundary markers as well as feasting, dancing and drinking. According to the ancient Irish Book of Invasions, the first settler of Ireland, Partholan, arrived on May 1, and it was on May 1 that the plague came that destroyed his people. Years later, the mythical group knows as the Milesians, were said to have conquered the Tuatha De Danann on May Day. Today the traditional bonfires have been revived in many areas as part of local festivals celebrating the start of summer. Unfortunately some of these fires are simply an illegal form of waste disposal. Timber is the only material that should be added to the fires. Any material regarded as a waste cannot be burnt, at any time of the year. So this year celebrate the festival of Bealtaine, but not by burning your rubbish - that was never part of the tradition. And, with May in the air, if it is feasting, music and dancing you want - head for Dingle's Feile na Bealtaine which runs this year from May 2 - 6. All details available on www.feilenabealtaine.ie Thursdays local elections saw both humans and their pets going to the polls. With votes being cast in 248 English councils outside London, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland, people lined up to cast their votes, with many taking their dogs. The hashtag #DogsAtPollingStations took off again on Twitter, following what has now become a tradition on election days. Holly Nicholson, from Lancashire, who has owned her dog for a year, said: I like to get her out and about as much as possible. As a young woman I think its so important to have your say and get your vote in. The hashtag has been popular for several years, with people often choosing to combine walking their dog with casting their vote. However, dogs may not be allowed in buildings being used as polling stations, and, if they are, they must be kept on a lead at all times. Louise Timlin, a WEP candidate for Evendons ward in Wokingham, Berkshire, joined in with the hashtag using a slightly different animal. She created a new trend, #HamstersAtPolling station, saying: When you dont have a #DogsAtPollingStations. Politicians also welcomed the hashtag, which crops up at almost every UK election. Labour MP Jess Phillips said: A steady stream of these today if you dont mind. We dont have local elections in Birmingham so I feel excluded. A steady stream of these today if you don't mind. We don't have local elections in Birmingham so I feel excluded. I'm off out to help in Solihull. https://t.co/6SA76vBI86 Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) May 2, 2019 Polls opened at 7am on May 2 and will close at 10pm. Counting will take place overnight in about 120 areas but will be carried out during the following day in others, with the last result not expected until about 9pm on Friday. Nearly 60% of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England are currently Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour. Activist investor Edward Bramson has conceded defeat in his attempt to gain a seat on Barclays board (Matt Crossick/PA) Barclays has staved off a challenge mounted by an activist investor at its annual meeting, but got a bloody nose from shareholders over its executive pay. Almost 30% of votes were cast against the firms remuneration report, following calls for chief executive Jes Staleys pay to be docked following the whistleblowing scandal. In response to the vote, Barclays said: We are disappointed in this outcome and will seek and reflect carefully on feedback from our shareholders in order to understand more fully the reasons for the opposition to this resolution. Meanwhile the overtures of Edward Bramson whose investment vehicle Sherborne Investors owns a 5.5% stake in Barclays were voted down by 87.2% of investors. The activist had been trying to muscle his way on to the top table, while also calling on the lender to curtail its investment arm and increase returns for investors. His campaign had gained little traction with investors, though he received backing of 12.8%. Before the meeting, Mr Bramson conceded that he did not have enough support, and signalled that he will give the banks new chairman, Nigel Higgins, time to stamp his authority on the lender. Sherborne will retain its stake in Barclays. Advisory groups Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis had recommended investors vote down Mr Bramsons election to the board, and Barclays bosses were also scathing of the attempt. The beginning of the AGM was also hit by climate protesters, who interrupted Mr Staleys speech, calling for Barclays to tell the truth. Demonstrators linked arms and shouted: What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now. It came a day after a group of Barclays investors wrote a letter urging the bank to stop funding companies involved in coal mining and oil sands exploitation. The letter was penned by the likes of Hermes EOS, Edentree, Boston Common and Sarasin & Partners as part of a campaign organised by ShareAction. The lender is also expected to come under fire over pay for top bosses amid a scandal that saw chief executive Jes Staley attempt to unmask a whistleblower. ISS recommended shareholders vote against the banks remuneration report as the measures taken by the remuneration committee did not go far enough after regulatory investigations and a 15 million US dollar (11.5 million) fine by US authorities over the matter. Expand Close Barclays chief Jes Staley was fined 642,430 by the Financial Conduct Authority over his attempt to unmask a whistleblower (Debra Hurford Brown/Barclays/PA). / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Barclays chief Jes Staley was fined 642,430 by the Financial Conduct Authority over his attempt to unmask a whistleblower (Debra Hurford Brown/Barclays/PA). Mr Staley was also personally fined 642,000 by UK watchdogs, while the bank clawed back 500,000 of previous bonuses following investigations into the affair. The group reduced its overall bonus pool by 290 million to 1.6 billion for 2018 due to conduct charges, although it was higher than the 1.5 billion shared out among staff for 2017. The banks annual report in February revealed that Mr Staley was still paid a total of 3.4 million for 2018, down from 3.9 million in 2017, while he received an annual bonus of 1.1 million for last year. 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 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 it was the first time he had expressed contrition over his actions, which she said cost at least 16m (18.6m) in public funds. She said it was "difficult to envisage a more serious example" of breaching the Bail Act, as she sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail, 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 on April 11 - defiantly raised his fist to supporters when he was led to the cells. They shouted "free Julian" and "shame on you" to the court. Judge Taylor had told Assange: "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 said this "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". "I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case," he said. "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." 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. But the judge found the background to the case was being used as mitigation "rather than as any reasonable excuse" for Assange's failure to surrender. 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 a "witch hunt", said he was at risk of being taken to the US if he was sent to the Scandinavian nation. Tomorrow, he will face a hearing about his potential extradition to the US over the allegation he conspired with 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. A group of Roman Catholic priests, academics and intellectuals have issued an open letter to bishops asking them to declare Pope Francis a heretic, in the latest broadside by ultra-conservatives against the pontiff. "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," the 20-page letter reads. The most prominent of the 19 signatories of the scathing letter is Fr Aidan Nichols, a 70-year-old British priest of the Dominican order who has written many books and is one of the best known theologians in the English-speaking world. Injured: A Paris protestor is helped from the scene by medical personnel. Photo: Reuters/Benoit Tessier French police fired tear gas to push back masked demonstrators in central Paris yesterday as thousands of people used an annual May Day rally to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's policies. Labour unions and so-called 'yellow vest' protesters were on the streets across France, days after Mr Macron outlined a response to months of street protests that included tax cuts worth around 5bn. A Reuters journalist saw riot police use tear gas 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. Some protesters wearing hoods or yellow vests responded by throwing projectiles at the police. Television footage showed a van with its windows smashed. Several people were lightly wounded. By mid-afternoon, the main march crossing the southern part of the capital was finally able to move amid relative calm, although it appeared yellow-vests and more radical elements rather than labour unions were dominating the march. The hard-left CGT union denounced police violence. "While the inter-union procession was to start at 2.30pm, 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." A Reuters photographer saw several masked protesters removing their outfits to merge into the crowd. 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 traditional May Day union rallies. Some 7,400 police were deployed in Paris and made 200 arrests. 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. Many in the grassroots movement, which lacks a leadership structure, have said Mr Macron's 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. Face to face: A supporter (left) and an opponent of Nicolas Maduro argue outside the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico. Photo: Getty Images THE Trump administration warned Russia to stop meddling in Venezuela yesterday and talked up likely US military action as protesters and security forces clashed for a second day. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said that military involvement of some form was "possible" as he accused the Kremlin of convincing embattled president Nicolas Maduro to remain in post. John Bolton, the US national security adviser, raised the possibility of sanctions as he told Russia publicly that it had no business 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 Washington's actions a "gross violation of international law". The US-Russia tensions flared as Juan Guaido (35), the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January, once again took to the streets after urging a military uprising, despite dozens of his supporters being injured the day before. Expand Close Pressure: Juan Guaido is trying to topple Nicolas Maduro. Photo: Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pressure: Juan Guaido is trying to topple Nicolas Maduro. Photo: Getty Images In Caracas, national guardsmen loyal to Mr Maduro rode 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 country's history. Supporters of Mr Maduro (56) took to the streets as well. Mr Maduro was due to attend a rally himself and vowed that military figures who turned on him would not go "unpunished". Tuesday's 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, an opposition politician who escaped 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. Tensions have been mounting between the US, one of more than 50 countries backing Mr Guaido's claim to power, and Russia and Cuba, which 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. The Russian foreign ministry called it "absolute disinformation and fake news". Mr Pompeo doubled down on the Trump administration's 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 [we] will do," Mr Pompeo told Fox Business Network. He later talked to Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and urged the Kremlin to stop its "destabilising" actions, according to the US state department. Mr Lavrov in turn called US actions illegal, according to the Russian foreign ministry, and warned "the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences". With Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, 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, said: "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." ( Daily Telegraph, London) Leading Democrat Nancy Pelosi has accused attorney general William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress. Mr Barr skipped a House of Representatives hearing on Thursday on special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trumps Justice Department. Mr Barrs decision to avoid the hearing, made after a disagreement with the House Judiciary Committee over questioning, came the day after the department also missed the committees deadline to provide it with a full, unredacted version of Mr Muellers report and its underlying evidence. In all, it is likely to prompt a vote on holding Mr Barr in contempt and possibly the issuance of subpoenas, bringing House Democrats and the Trump administration closer to a prolonged battle in court. Expand Close Steve Cohen places a prop chicken on the witness desk in place of Attorney General William Barr (Andrew Harnik/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Steve Cohen places a prop chicken on the witness desk in place of Attorney General William Barr (Andrew Harnik/AP) Democrats convened a short hearing that included an empty chair with a place card set for Mr Barr. Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said that if the attorney general does not provide the committee with the information it demands and the respect that it deserves, Mr Barrs moment of accountability will come soon enough. Shortly afterwards, House Speaker Ms Pelosi increased the tensions further. In a reference to the attorney generals testimony last month, Ms Pelosi said Mr Barr was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States thats a crime. At a hearing on April 9, Florida Representative Charlie Crist asked Mr Barr about reports that members of Mr Muellers team believed he had failed to adequately portray their findings in a four-page memo that was released before the full report. Expand Close Committee chair Jerrold Nadler waiting to start the hearing (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Committee chair Jerrold Nadler waiting to start the hearing (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Mr Crist asked at the hearing: Do you know what they are referencing with that? Mr Barr responded, No, I dont, and went on to say Mr Muellers team probably wanted more put out about what they had found. Democrats have raised questions about that testimony since it was revealed this week that Mr Mueller had written to Mr Barr two weeks earlier, on March 27, complaining that the attorney generals memo did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of his work. Mr Barr said on Wednesday his answer was not misleading because he had been in touch with Mr Mueller, rather than members of his team, and that the concerns were mostly about process and not substance. Within minutes of Ms Pelosis comments, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called her words reckless, irresponsible and false. Ms Pelosi also said the administrations refusal to respect subpoenas by a House committee is very, very serious and noted that ignoring congressional subpoenas was one of the articles of impeachment against former President Richard Nixon. As Democrats portrayed Mr Barr as untruthful, they sought to speak to Mr Mueller. Mr Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on May 15 and the panel was firming up the date. It is unclear whether Mr Barr will eventually negotiate an appearance with the House panel. Mr Nadler said he would not immediately issue a subpoena for Mr Barrs appearance but would first focus on getting the full Mueller report, likely including a vote holding Mr Barr in contempt of Congress. While a contempt vote would make a strong statement, it is unlikely to force the Justice Department to hand over the report. A vote of the full House on contempt would send a criminal referral to the US attorney for the District of Columbia a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the administrations interests. But even if the US attorney declines to prosecute, Democrats could pursue other avenues in court or even issue fines against witnesses who fail to appear. The largest shareholder of property developer Shaftesbury has threatened to take the company to court over an ongoing dispute. Samuel Tak Lee, who has a 26% stake in the company, has written to the firm saying he could seek restitution for alleged losses of 10 million. The claim relates to Shaftesburys December 2017 share placing, which Mr Lee alleges was intended to dilute his ownership interest and hamper any attempts to launch a takeover bid. Shaftesbury, which owns a swathe of central London retail property in the likes of Chinatown and Carnaby Street, raised money in 2017 through the placing of new shares at a 5% discount to the previous days closing price. It said the financing would be used to acquire properties including two sites in Soho. In a statement to the market on Wednesday, Shaftesbury said it was disappointed that Mr Lee was considering legal action. In the 17 months since the placing, the board has responded promptly and appropriately to numerous letters from Mr Lees lawyers. The board has also extended numerous invitations to enter a dialogue with Mr Lee, yet on each occasion he has chosen not to respond or declined the opportunity to engage directly with the company. A representative for Mr Lee, himself a notable London landlord whose properties include the historic Langham Estate, refuted this version of events, saying the board had failed to engage meaningfully with Mr Lee over his concerns at every stage of this process. The spokesman added: As Mr Lee explained in his statements to shareholders in the lead-up to Shaftesburys 2018 and 2019 AGMs, his investigations indicate this capital raising was pursued for an improper purpose, including with a view to diluting his ownership interest and making any potential future takeover bid by him more difficult. These are contrary to the purposes stated by Shaftesburys board to the market at the time of the capital raising. In February, Mr Lee voted against the reappointment of Shaftesburys CEO, CFO and chairman and opposed director pay packages at its annual meeting. US attorney general William Barr has skipped a House Judiciary Committee hearing on special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia report. Mr Barrs decision, made after a disagreement over questioning, escalates an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Trumps Justice Department. And it comes the day the department also missed a committee deadline to provide it with a full, unredacted version of Muellers report and its underlying evidence. Expand Close Representative Doug Collins, right, accompanied by Judiciary Committee chair Jerrold Nadler, left (Andrew Harnik/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Representative Doug Collins, right, accompanied by Judiciary Committee chair Jerrold Nadler, left (Andrew Harnik/AP) In all, it is likely to prompt a vote on holding Mr Barr in contempt and possibly the issuance of subpoenas, bringing House Democrats and the Trump administration closer to a prolonged court battle. As the hearing opened, lawmakers faced an empty chair with a place card set for Mr Barr. Democratic members of the committee had fun with the spectacle, placing a prop chicken by Mr Barrs microphone to underscore their contention that he was afraid to appear and jokingly looking under the desk to make sure he was not there. Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said that if Mr Barr did not provide the committee with the information it demands and the respect that it deserves, Mr Barrs moment of accountability will come soon enough. Expand Close Committee chair Jerrold Nadler waiting to start the hearing (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Committee chair Jerrold Nadler waiting to start the hearing (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Republicans were not amused by the antics or Mr Nadlers tough talk. The reason Bill Barr isnt here today is because the Democrats decided they didnt want him here today, the top Republican on the panel, Georgia Representative Doug Collins said. Mr Nadler and the Democrats had demanded that staff attorneys in addition to lawmakers be allowed to question Mr Barr. Mr Barr said he would not attend under that condition. As Mr Barr refused to testify, Democrats sought to speak to Mr Mueller himself. Mr Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on May 15 and the panel was firming up the date. The attorney generals cancellation meant he would avoid another round of sharp questioning after testifying on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats on the panel contended that Mr Barr was protecting Mr Trump after he assessed Mr Muellers report on his own and declared there was not enough evidence that the president had committed obstruction of justice. Mr Mueller did not charge Mr Trump with obstruction but wrote that he could not exonerate him either. The standoff with the Justice Department is one of several fights House Democrats are waging with the Trump administration. Mr Trump has vowed to fight all of the subpoenas as multiple committees have sought to speak with administration officials or obtain documents relevant to his policies and finances. Democrats have signalled they will not back down and will take the steps necessary including in court to get the White House to comply. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she is not interested in impeachment, for the moment. But she said on Wednesday that the threat of impeachment is always there. Mr Nadler and the Justice Department traded barbs on Wednesday shortly after Mr Barr informed lawmakers of his decision on the hearing, with Mr Nadler saying the attorney general was trying to blackmail the committee by setting his own terms. Also weighing in on the matter of who would ask questions was Mr Trump. They want to treat him differently than they have anybody else, the president told Fox Business Networks Trish Regan on Wednesday night. He added: You elect people that are supposed to be able to do their own talking. Mr Trump said he heard that Mr Barr had performed incredibly well before the Senate panel. It is unclear whether Mr Barr will eventually negotiate an appearance with the House panel. Mr Nadler said he would not issue a subpoena for Mr Barrs appearance on Thursday but would first focus on getting the full Mueller report, likely to include a vote holding Mr Barr in contempt of Congress. While a contempt vote would make a strong statement, it is unlikely to force the Justice Department to hand over the report. A vote of the full House on contempt would send a criminal referral to the US attorney for the District of Columbia a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the administrations interests. But even if the US attorney declines to prosecute, Democrats could pursue other avenues in court. Dillon has sampled life in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard in his first two Mission 600 visits, both of which gave the Welcome, North Carolina, native a new perspective in his appreciation for the military. As part of the 600 Miles of Remembrance program, Dillon will carry the name of a fallen member of the U.S. Armed Forces on his race car's windshield during the Coca-Cola 600. "It's very special," Dillon said. "I feel like our fallen soldiers ride along with us. Their families become a part of our racing family. The Coca-Cola 600 and Memorial Day weekend is probably my favorite weekend of the year. When we have the flyovers and everything that goes into that race, the preview of it is fun for us to watch and see the military represented so well." Chief Petty Officer Jeremy Thomas was among the members who hosted Dillon and his crew on Tuesday. "It was great to see the interaction between Coast Guard members and Austin and his crew," Thomas said. "It looked they had a lot of fun. That's the goal: to give them a chance to enjoy themselves and see a day in the life of the Coast Guard." With a diverse student population, Rowan-Cabarrus meets people where they are, with the same goal for all: Navigate Forward. Jessica Jacobsen overcame a difficult childhood and early adult years by earning her GED at Rowan-Cabarrus, where she is now pursuing an accounting degree and is an active leader on campus. I realized I could accomplish anything if I pushed myself, and my experience at Rowan-Cabarrus taught me that you can come from anywhere and still do anything, she said. You just have to make the choice and refuse to give up. Daniel Leonard took college classes at Rowan-Cabarrus while in high school and enrolled full-time as a college student. He plans to graduate at the age of 20 with two associate degrees, one in air, heating and refrigeration technology and another in electrical systems technology. I will graduate with two degrees, little to no debt, and the ability to have a successful career in something I love to do, he said. Before there was an elected system of governance in Akwesasne, the community was governed by Community Life Chiefs. These Life Chiefs were known as the Rotinonkwiseres, which means They Have Long hair. These men were chosen by the Clanmothers, as is tradition among the Haudenosaunee. For centuries, this was the way the Mohawk community of Akwesasne had decided to choose their leaders. The newly formed government of Canada had a different plan and a law to determine Akwesasne leaders that were meant to change the way the Mohawks, and all Natives, governed themselves. In an attempt to get rid of the Life Chief system, Canadas Department of Indian Affairs created the Indian Act, which made it the law that elections were the only way to choose leaders on Native Reserves. The Department of Indian Affairs sent Indian Agents to every Reserve to communicate between the Natives and the Federal Government. The Indian Agents were also assigned to make sure Natives held elections for their leaders. However, some of these Indian Agents did not like the Natives and took advantage of their trust. The Native communities were not pleased with the Indian Act and vowed to fight it.Many Clanmothers and Elders wrote letters to different officials in the Department of Indian Affairs about the elections. When the letters were ignored, the Clanmothers and Life Chiefs requested meetings with officials. Nobody from the Government of Canada would meet with them. Eventually, enough time passed that the Akwesasne community thought that the Federal Government had given up and dropped its efforts to impose elections. Sadly, they were wrong. On May 1, 1899; in the village of Kanatakon, Dominion Police Officers led by Lieutenant-colonel Percy Sherwood met with Indian Agent George Long. They formulated a plan to force the Life Chiefs to allow elections to occur in Akwesasne by threatening them with arrest. The Indian Agent spread word that he wanted to meet with the Life Chiefs and other men at his office about the possibility of work. One of the men asked to attend the meeting at the Indian Agents office was a Community Life Chief named Jacob Ohnehtotake Fire. Ohnehtotake had a younger brother, John Saiowisakeron Fire. Saiowisakeron, which translates to The Ice That Floats By, lived with his small family - his wife, Teioshirake, and their daughter, Sarah. Jake Ohnehtotake Fire is sometimes confused with his elder brother, John Saiowisakeron Fire. Friends nicknamed the two Jake Ice & Jake Fire playing on the English translation of Saiowisakerons name. Ohnehtotake and other Life Chiefs went to the Indian Agents office in Kanatakon, not knowing that Dominion Police were waiting to arrest them for opposing elections. Upon entering the office they noticed the officers and an argument began. Word of the incident quickly spread throughout the village and soon reached Saiowisakeron. After hearing that his brother Ohnehtotake was involved, Saiowisakeron rushed to the Indian Agents office. Most likely startled by the loud Mohawk man entering the small office, Dominion Officer Sherwood fired his gun twice - killing Saiowisakeron. Over time, Akwesasne as a community and the Mohawk as a nation have continued to exist as distinct, powerful and culturally rich people despite struggles. Saiowisakeron was one man in the history of these struggles that has become symbolic of Akwesasnes strength and commitment. He is one man who on May 1, 1899 gave his life for his community. Akwesasne has chosen to celebrate the life of Saiowisakeron, as he continues to represent that which has kept the community proud and resilient. We will continue to honor his life for generations to come. Saiowisakeron was a man of integrity, honour and cultural pride. This year, Friday, May 3 is Saiowisakeron (Jake Fire) Day. A settlement has been reached in Lewis v. Clarke , a sovereign immunity case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in a loss for tribal interests. In the case, the Supreme Court held that an employee of the Mohegan Tribe gaming enterprise could be sued in connection with an accident that occurred when he was on the job. Sovereign immunity is not implicated, the April 2017 decision stated Brian and Michele Lewis, the husband and wife who were injured in the accident, have since settled for $110,000, The Connecticut Law Tribune reported. But their attorney told The New London Day that he didn't know who was actually going to pay the amount -- the employee William Clarke or the tribe. Whether the money comes from him, the tribe or an insurance policy, we dont know," attorney James Harrington told The Day. "My guess is its not coming from Mr. Clarke. The accident in question occurred off the reservation in 2011. But the location wasn't a factor in the Supreme Court's decision. After the ruling, the tribe expressed belief that the case could proceed through its own judicial system. A second couple who was involved in the accident went through the Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court The Lewises, however, stuck to state court, which is where the settlement was entered, according to news reports. Read More on the Story U.S. Supreme Court - Lewis v. Clarke U.S. Supreme Court Decision U.S. Supreme Court Documents Connecticut Supreme Court Decision Join the Conversation Related Stories The Stockbridge-Munsee Community has once again been turned away in its effort to challenge another tribe's casino in Wisconsin. The tribe sued the state after the Ho-Chunk Nation announced an expansion of one of its gaming facilities. But the case was filed too late, a panel of three judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals determined. At the earliest, the tribe should have filed suit after the land for the Ho-Chunk casino in Wittenberg was place in trust in 1986, Judge Frank Easterbrook concluded. At the latest, the tribe should have sued after the Wittenberg opened in in 2008, he said. "Either way, the community waited too long," Easterbrook wrote in the cour'ts decision , which affirmed a lower judge's ruling in the case. The Ho-Chunk Nation operates multiple casinos on its homelands in Wisconsin. Its Class III gaming compact defines Wittenberg as an "ancillary" facility, meaning "fifty percent of more of the lot coverage of the trust property" is to be used for non-gaming purposes. The Stockbridge-Munsee Community contended that an expansion of Wittenberg violated that provision. But a decision was never reached on that issue because the tribe went to court to late. The Ho-Chunk Nation was named as a defendant but was dismissed from the case in 2017. The tribe was able to unveil the $41 million expansion later in the year without any problems. The Wittenberg casino is about 16 miles from the North Star Casino Resort , operated by the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Bowler. Going forward, the Stockbridge-Munsee Community could ask the 7th Circuit to rehear the case. Or it could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which rarely hears Indian gaming disputes. Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Stockbridge-Munsee Community v. State of Wisconsin Read More on the Story 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Join the Conversation Related Stories The Ponca Tribe can engage in gaming on its trust land in Iowa, federal regulators ruled for a third time in the long-running saga. As a tribe that was restored to federal recognition, the Poncas are entitled to operate a casino on restored lands in Carter Lake, the National Indian Gaming Commission said on April 30. The decision came after a federal judge cast doubt on the status of the Prairie Flower Casino , which opened last October amid ongoing litigation. The National Indian Gaming Commission reaffirmed what we have known to be true for over a decade: The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has the right to operate Prairie Flower Casino on their tribal land in Carter Lake, Iowa, attorney James Meggesto said in a statement. Indianz.Com Video by Kevin Abourezk: Ponca Tribe Celebrates Opening of New Casino The third decision in favor of the tribe was signed by NIGC Chairman Jonodev Chaudhuri, who will be leaving the agency after more than five years of service, and by NIGC Vice Chair Kathryn Isom-Clause. E. Sequoyah Simermeyer, the third member of the NIGC, did not sign it. A final decision from the NIGC requires approval of at least two of the three commissioners. Chaudhuri, who is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, will be stepping down on May 15. He was nominated to serve as chairman by former president Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate four years ago. "During my time as Chairman, the commission worked hard at every turn to stress strong partnerships and consistent communication with tribal gaming operations to achieve compliance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act," Chaudhuri said in a news release. Chaudhuri served as vice chair of the NIGC prior to being elevated to the higher-ranking post. Chaudhuri and Isom-Clause, who is from the Pueblo of Taos, were the two commissioners who signed the decision in favor of the Ponca Tribe's gaming rights back in 2017. Opponents in Iowa and Nebraska went to court to challenge the determination and secured a ruling last month that required the NIGC to take yet another look at the issue. That ruling resulted in the NIGC's new decision on Tuesday. The federal government filed notice of the decision in court on Wednesday. The tribe's land in Carter Lake was placed in trust in 2003. Generally, land acquired after the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988 cannot be used for gaming. But Section 20 of the law contains exceptions to that general rule. According to the NIGC, the "restored lands" exception applies to the Poncas because they were restored to federal recognition after their government-to-government relationship had been terminated by Congress. Read More on the Story National Indian Gaming Commission Documents 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Join the Conversation Related Stories The case of Stanley Patrick Weber, a former Indian Health Service pediatrician who was convicted of sexual abuse and awaits trial on even more charges, continues to cause headaches for the beleaguered agency. Though Weber was found guilty of abusing young male patients on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, he is still in line to receive his government pension, an amount that could run around $100,000 a year. That has one key lawmaker outraged. "A convicted pedophile should not receive one cent of taxpayer money," Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana) said at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, calling the situation "outrageous." The highest-ranking official at the IHS is also troubled by the case. Michael Weahkee, the principal deputy director at the agency, doesn't want Weber receiving his pension either, especially since the former employee is appealing his conviction while he awaits trial for abusing boys on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe , in South Dakota. I have personally submitted a letter requesting that Dr. Webers retirement pay be discontinued and we are working through with the legal counsel, whether or not we have the authority to do that, Weahkee said at a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing that was called to discuss the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the IHS. Dialogue continues as we evaluate whether or not we have current authority or if were going to need to seek legislative support to make those changes," added Weahkee, a citizen of the Pueblo of Zuni who remains in charge of the IHS because the Trump administration has failed to nominate a permanent director Amid that dialogue, Daines introduced the Denying Pensions to Convicted Child Molesters Act on Wednesday. The bill, if enacted into law, would prevent government employees from receiving taxpayer funds after being convicted of certain crimes. "Any monster who is guilty of the unspeakable crimes that Stanley Patrick Weber was convicted of in Montana will not receive a federal government pension," said Daines, who also serves on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs , where he previewed his plan to introduce the bill at a hearing last month, also calling him a "monster." The bill, however, only applies to crimes committed after its enactment. That means it will not affect Weber, whom federal prosecutors say abused IHS patients at Blackfeet between 1992 and 1995, before being sent to Pine Ridge, where he has been charged for incidents that took place between 1998 and 2011. Daines said he will encourage the Trump administration to "continue pursuing every possible to hold Mr. Weber accountable and to strip Mr. Weber of his pension." Weber, age 70, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the charges in Montana. If he lives to serve the entire term, he could receive upwards of $1.8 million in government retirement benefits. A 'pedophile': Stanley Patrick Weber, a former Indian Health Service pediatrician, has been convicted of abusing Indian children on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana and is facing a trial for abusing children on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo: U.S. Attorney's Office But Weber has other plans in mind. He is taking his case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of overturning his conviction Though his opening brief was originally due at the end of April, the 9th Circuit on April 23 granted his request for more time. It's now due on May 30, with the government's response due on July 1, according to a court docket entry. While that appeal is underway, prosecutors are moving forward with the Pine Ridge case. The trial is scheduled to start September 6 in federal court in Rapid City, according to the order from the chief judge The charges first broke in Native Sun News Today back in March 2017. But the IHS didn't publicly discuss the matter until a Dear Tribal Leader letter was sent out on October 26, 2018. The case has since drawn wider attention after being featured in the mainstream media. In February, The Wall Street Journal and FRONTLINE PBS debuted Predator on the Reservation , a documentary that explored how Weber was able to stay employed at the IHS despite long-standing questions about his dealings with young male patients. "Quite frankly, there are just not even words to describe the anger, the disappointment, the empathy for the victims," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chairman of the Senate subcommittee which writes the appropriations bill for the IHS, said on Wednesday. She said the IHS "mishandled" the situation by continuing to employ Weber amid doubts about his record. "Employees with a history of egregious conduct must not slip through the cracks," added Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), the top Democrat on the panel. He also serves as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which counts Murkowski as a member as well. Since February, IHS officials and employees have met with leaders of the Blackfeet Nation and the Oglala Sioux Tribe to discuss the case. "I expressed my sincere regret that children were victimized by those entrusted to care for them and have made it absolutely clear that IHS will not tolerate sexual assault and abuse in its facilities," Weahkee said on Wednesday. Indianz.Com on YouTube: Indian Health Service at United South and Eastern Tribes Impact Week The IHS also has taken other steps to address how it handles allegations of abuse within the system. Some were detailed in Weahkee's testimony and others in a letter sent to Sen. Daines on Tuesday. Among the actions, the IHS will engage an outside contractor to review "policies and procedures regarding the reporting of of allegations of sexual abuse," according to the letter. The contract is expected to be issued shortly and a report will be due within six months of the award date. Additionally, the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services has opened an investigation into the case. And the White House has established a Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health Service System to examine ways to prevent future instances of child abuse. The group held its first meeting last month in Oklahoma, where Weber once worked, and heards from Mark Butterbrodt, a physician who used to work at the Pine Ridge Hospital. He raised suspicions about the predator pediatrician but was then transferred to another state by the IHS. Despite numerous reported suspicions of Webers inappropriate behavior, IHS turned a blind eye and enabled Weber to continue his unspeakable actions for years, Daines said on Wednesday. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana) is seen at a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing on April 10, 2019, when he discussed the case of Stanley Patrick Weber, a former Indian Health Service employee who has been convicted of abusing young male patients and awaits trial on similar charges. Photo: SCIA 'Stanley Weber is a pedophile' Stanley Weber is a pedophile. For over two decades, he used his position as a pediatrician with the Indian Health Service to gain access to vulnerable prepubescent males, and subsequently committed terrible acts of sexual abuse upon his victims under the guise of providing them with medical treatment. While living and working on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Weber lured young juvenile males to his home by providing them with alcohol, pizza, soda, ice cream, video games, money, clothing, and overnight trips both on and off the reservation. Once isolated with these children, Weber seized his opportunity to act upon his deviant sexual desires by engaging in forced or coerced sexual activity with them. Weber leveraged his position within IHS and the communities where he worked and lived to gain the trust of many of his coworkers and supervisors, allowing him to survive multiple allegations and investigations into his suspicious behavior. Although the crimes at issue in this case occurred more than 20 years ago, Weber has never had to face the consequences of his actions. In fact, when questions were raised about his behavior, he simply moved to a new community where he continued his pattern of criminality. Meanwhile, his victims grew up, saddled with confusion, shame, and fear that they could not reveal what happened to them as children, lest they face further embarrassment and ridicule from members of their community. The impact of Webers crimes ultimately manifested in his victims in the form of legal problems, drug and alcohol abuse, the inability to maintain stead Even after his conviction, Weber continues to be unapologetic for his actions and shows no remorse for his victims or the harm he inflicted upon them. In fact, it is doubtful that he views his actions as criminal at all. His decades of predatory sexual abuse of children are among the most heinous and serious crimes cognizable by federal criminal law. At nearly 70 years of age, and with no sign of remorse, there is no reason to believe that Weber either recognizes the severity of his crimes or any realistic hope that he can ever be rehabilitated. Accordingly, justice demands that Weber face a severe sentence despite the age of his misconduct in this case. From the sentencing memorandum in Stanley Patrick Weber's case in Montana: 'Predator on the Reservation' Former IHS pediatrician Stanley Patrick Weber also awaits trial in South Dakota for allegedly abusing boys on Pine Ridge Reservation. He was subject of @frontlinepbs + @WSJ expose "Predator on the Reservation" https://t.co/DzNxaCNIbf indianz.com (@indianz) February 13, 2019 FRONTLINE PBS: Predator on the Reservation Join the Conversation Related Stories Boarding schools: Kill the Indian, save the man Native Sun News Today Columnist Christianity and assimilation arrived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1888 with the establishment of the boarding school known as Holy Rosary Mission. John F. Bryde, in his book (Modern Indian Psychology, 1971), discussed one unhelpful effect of Americas 1800s civilizing policy. Bryde, a former principal, became acutely aware of this phenomenon among Oglala Lakota students. A significant number of students were dropping out at unusually high rates. He saw that the children were receptive at an early age but then lost interest as they grew older. He determined that this particular event was a result of the fact that natives are omitted from American history and society. As an effort to counter this situation, I presented some of the omitted historical information at Isnala Wicasa Owayawa (Lone Man School). These particular facts of history are absent in the federal school system. Most federally-funded schools still operate on the 229-year old cultural assimilation policy. Most likely, some of the handouts I provided that day ended up in trash cans. I do know many native educators do not teach historys facts relating to Indians fearing they will create generations of angry people. It must be realized that it was Americas concealment of the truth combined with the civil rights movement that produced the so-called confrontational activists. Ivan F. Star Comes Out. Photo courtesy Native Sun News Today Winston Churchill said, The truth is incontrovertible [incontestable]. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Elvis Presley also quoted on truth, Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it aint goin away. Sadly, most Indian related events in American history have been distorted and then concealed from the American public. I eventually dropped out of school as an angry teenager while so many went on to become educated, or is it appropriate to say assimilated. Anyway, I was constantly reminded about being Indian but I had nothing to go on. Actually, all I had was the stereotyped imagery of the large-nosed, half-naked, sub-human savage or the noble and stoic Indian or the dumb and drunken Indian. This situation forced me into a lifelong search for historys truths. Following are some of those truths with brief explanations used in my presentation three years ago. Papal Bull. A decree issued in 1452 by a Pope Nicholas V of the Roman Catholic Faith authorized Spain to conquer Saracens and pagans and consign them to perpetual servitude. The term Saracens, as used in the bull refers to non-Christians, or Arabs and Muslins living in northern Europe. With two other bulls (1454, 1493) the global stage was set for slavery and exploitation. Manifest Destiny is the doctrine or belief that the violent expansion of the U. S. throughout the American continents was justified, inevitable, and divinely sanctioned. This event is still defended in the 21st century as necessary and benevolent. In other words, the U.S. was destined by God to expand and populate the land, at the cost of the original inhabitants lives, land, cultures, and history. Declaration of Independence. Although touted as a series of complaints against King George of England to justify the American Revolution, it also separated natives from the perception of humans. King George supposedly incited the merciless Indian savages into killing colonists. Treaties. A treaty is a formally concluded and ratified agreement between sovereign nations. More than 300 treaties were made between the United States and various native sovereigns. The U.S. never intended to honor them as evidenced by its violation of every single one. Although hardly known, credit needs to be given to the natives who are still upholding up their end of the treaties they signed. Civilizing the Indian. In 1818, James Monroe believed that independent savage communities could no longer exist within the civilized population of the United States. That is if the U.S. did not take complete control of the natives and civilize them, they would become extinct. The Act encouraged benevolent societies to educate native children. Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South Dakota, 57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com. Copyright permission Native Sun News Today Join the Conversation Protest march scheduled for May 12 Clarence Leading Fighter, 32, was shot and killed inside a church in Nebraska Reynold Richard wants answers, and he wants justice for his slain son. The 63-year-old Oglala Lakota man plans to hold accountable those who killed Clarence Leading Fighter He plans to do so on May 12, when he will join other Native activists for a protest march in Rushville, Nebraska, where his son was shot and killed by a sheriffs deputy on April 14 inside a church We met the sheriff, but it seemed like he wasnt cooperating or he was holding things back, Richard told Indianz.Com on Wednesday. He said he has learned very few details from authorities about the events that led to his sons death more than two weeks ago. Clarence Isadore "Chucky" Leading Fighter was shot and killed by a Sheridan County Sheriffs Deputy in Rushville, Nebraska, on April 11, 2019. He was 32 years old. Courtesy photo The Nebraska State Patrol is now investigating the incident, though an initial investigation indicated the deputy who killed Leading Fighter was justified in his deadly use of force. Initial investigation indicates the deputy used deadly force to protect himself and the parishioners from potential serious harm, the State Patrol in a news release shortly after the shooting. The shooting occurred shortly after 11 a.m. April 14 in the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church The events leading to the shooting began earlier that morning at a home in Rushville -- not far from the Pine Ridge Reservation -- where authorities found a woman with a broken arm. Shortly after, deputies found Leading Fighter at the church, and a deputy shot him a few minutes later. Leading Fighter died not long after that. Nebraska State Law requires a grand jury to convene as well. RIP my beloved nephew Clarence LeadingFighter you were on one of my joy of life it was so awesome to be part of your life I'll always love & miss Posted by Eileen Goodkill on Saturday, April 20, 2019 Eileen Goodkill: "RIP my beloved nephew ... you were on one of my joy of life it was so awesome to be part of your life" A close friend of Leading Fighters told Indianz.Com recently that Leading Fighter didnt own a gun. She said an employee at a funeral home that handled his body told her he had been shot twice in the back. She said she believes her friend was simply trying to escape deputies at the time of the shooting and seeking shelter in a place where he thought he would be safe. He is a very compassionate man, respectable, helpful and a provider for his family, she said. He also liked to bead in his free time to make ends meet. Richard said he requested the autopsy report for his sons body, but was told he would have to get it in Scottsbluff. He said he plans to sue the Sheridan County Sheriffs Office, city of Rushville and State Patrol for wrongful death and has received legal support from the Oglala Sioux Tribe to begin that process. Richard said he was able to speak to a witness who saw his son get shot and was told Leading Fighter was shocked with a Taser gun before being shot inside the church during Sunday morning services. When he actually got Tased, he stiffened up and fell between the doors there, Richard said. So once he fell, it seems like they could have just handcuffed him or something there because they already Tased him. But the officer that was closest to him took a step back, shot him twice. Thats first-degree murder right there because he intentionally did it. He said his son suffered from a mental disability and functioned at a third-grade level. He was a kid that his feelings got hurt, real easy on anything, Richard said. Leading Fighter, who was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe , grew up mostly in Scottsbluff, though he moved around a lot as an adult. Most recently, he had been living in Rushville with his girlfriend, the woman whom police found with a broken arm the morning Leading Fighter was shot and killed. Despite authorities attempts to blame Leading Fighter for his girlfriends broken arm, Richard said his sons girlfriend told him she had actually broken her arm several days earlier. They just pinned that on Clarence so they can cover themselves, he said. #NativeLivesMatter Native Americans are more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Jason Pero, 13 Bad River Ojibwe. Ashland, Wisconsin. November 8, 2017. Zachary Bear Heels, 29 Rosebud Sioux. Omaha, Nebraska. June 5, 2017. Loreal Tsingine, 27 Navajo. Winslow, Arizona. March 27, 2016. Paul Castaway, 35 Oglala Sioux. Denver, Colorado. July 12, 2015. Allen Locke, 30 Oglala Sioux. Rapid City, South Dakota. December 19, 2014. Joy Ann Sherman, 52 Oglala Sioux. Mitchell, South Dakota. November 8, 2014. Jordan Willis, 30 Choctaw. Mississippi. August 12, 2014. Mah-hi-vist GoodBlanket, 18 Cheyenne-Arapaho. Clinton, Oklahoma. December 21, 2013. John Williams, 50 Ditidaht First Nation. Seattle, Washington. May 30, 2010. Christopher Capps, 22 Oglala Sioux. Rapid City, South Dakota. May 2, 2010. prev next Join the Conversation Related Stories Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney isn't alone when it comes to a key issue -- advance appropriations for tribal programs. The leader of the Indian Health Service won't commit to advance appropriations for his agency either. But unlike his counterpart, Principal Deputy Director Michael Weahkee at least acknowledged that tribes are supporting efforts to provide funding for the IHS ahead of time. "I want to confirm that I have heard robust support for advance appropriations from both our tribal and our urban constituents," Weahkee, who is a citizen of the Pueblo of Zuni , said at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Weahkee also confirmed that advance appropriations would alleviate the problems that tribes and urban providers encountered during the recent shutdown of the federal government. He said he heard "very specific stories of the heartbreak" felt in Indian Country during the impasse, which lasted a record-breaking 35 days. Weahkee told the Senate Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies that he learned about tribal and urban "programs having to curtail services, having to lay off staff -- all of that information very recent and raw." Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico): Tom Questions IHS Leadership The comments came a day after Sweeney, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education , was asked about advance appropriations. Though she's been on the job for more than 9 months, she said she needed more time to study an issue that has drawn support from a growing number of tribes and lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike. "I don't have an answer for you today, but I would like to have the opportunity to provide you with a more in-depth answer," Sweeney told the House Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies on Tuesday. As a Senate-confirmed political appointee, Sweeney is in a better position that Weahkee to help the Trump administration develop a policy, for or against, advance appropriations. Tribal leaders, and key members of Congress, have repeatedly called on her to be a stronger advocate for Indian Country's concerns but that hasn't resulted in anything concrete so far on the issue of advance appropriations Weahkee, on the other hand, is a career employee with less of an influence in setting policy. He is the highest-ranking official at the IHS only because the Trump administration has failed to nominate a permanent director At least four advance appropriations bills have been introduced so far in the 116th Congress, although the idea goes back years . Supporters say forward funding will help the BIA, the BIE and the IHS carry out their trust and treaty responsibilities in a more consistent and reliable manner. Its really clear that we need to move in this direction and pass the Indian Programs Advance Appropriations Act, Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee, said of S.229 , the measure he is sponsoring. Advance appropriations isn't a partisan issue either. In the past, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chairwoman of the subcommittee, has sponsored legislation to provide forward funding for tribal programs. 'There are some bright spots in this years budget proposal that appear to take steps to address important health concerns in our Native American and Alaska Native Communities and a few other areas where we need some additional information," Murkowski said at the hearing on Wednesday. One area she expressed concerns about was a cut in funding for construction of IHS facilities. Besides S.229, bills in the 116th Congress that would provide advance appropriations to the BIA, the BIE and the IHS include: H.R.195 , the Pay our Doctors Act. H.R.1128 , the Indian Programs Advanced Appropriations Act. H.R.1135 , the Indian Health Service Advance Appropriations Act of 2019. The Senate hearing lasted about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Audio can be found on the Indianz.Com SoundCloud Michael Weahkee serves as Principal Deputy Director of the Indian Health Service. Photo: IHS In the event of a lapse in appropriations, IHS will continue to provide direct clinical health care services as well as referrals for contracted services that cannot be provided through IHS clinics. For more info on how IHS would be impacted, visit https://t.co/Q9GruV7h37. IndianHealthService (@IHSgov) December 21, 2018 Senate Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Notice Join the Conversation Related Stories Bringing closure: Volunteer group searches for migrant remains near the southern border Cronkite News SOUTHERN ARIZONA One works at a college, another runs an Airbnb. A third works with landscapers and contractors. But once a month, the three have one thing in common: They search for the remains of migrants who died trying to cross the southern U.S. deserts. Aguilas del Desierto is a nonprofit group in San Diego that organizes the monthly search efforts. January marked the seventh straight month Henri Migala took part in the searches. He has a background in international humanitarian aid work, and found out about Aguilas del Desierto after the group popped up on his Facebook feed. I reached out to them, contacted them, they were instantly very welcoming and very warm and very appreciative of my interest, he said. I came out on a search and Ive been doing it ever since. Cronkite News Video by Austin Westfall: Rescue group searches for lost migrants near the southern border Migala is the director of the University of San Diegos International House, a campus organization that pairs international students with U.S. students so they can room together. His humanitarian work, however, is his passion. Were not bringing happiness to people when we find these remains, but we do bring closure to some families who are anguished, he said. Most of the families of missing migrants reach out to the group for help through its Facebook page. Group volunteers said the calls to search for a missing loved one have increased in recent months as a flood of mostly Central American families has surged toward the border. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 92,607 people were apprehended between ports of entry in March. That number was 66,884 in February and 47,984 in January. As long as migrants try to cross the deserts, there will always be those who do not make it. Kathy Albrecht places a cross in Francisco Lemus backpack. The cross is planted in the event volunteers with Aguilas del Desierto find a body in the desert. Photo by Austin Westfall / Cronkite News Humane Borders, a humanitarian organization that aims to help and protect migrants, worked in conjunction with the Pima County Medical Examiners Office to map out the locations of all migrant remains that have been discovered by Border patrol and such groups as Aguilas del Desierto. Aguilas officials declined to reveal search locations but said many of the remains are found in the most barren areas of southern Arizona. Some of our guys get hurt so bad, weve got to get them out because they step into a cactus or fall or trip, Migala said. Volunteers said the challenging conditions and terrain are not deterrents. For them, this is a mission. I think this is just the right thing to do, Migala said. James Holeman of Flagstaff helps map out Aguilas del Desiertos next monthly search. Holeman is one of two Arizonans among the San Diego groups volunteers; the rest live in California. Photo by Austin Westfall / Cronkite News The group was started in 2009 by Eli Ortiz of San Diego after he lost two family members to the desert. A human trafficker left my brother and cousin behind at the Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwestern Arizona, Ortiz said through an interpreter. Ortiz wanted to search for his family but needed help to make the dangerous trek. He contacted local Mexican consulates and police agencies without luck. He eventually got in touch with a group called Angeles del Desierto that performed organized searches. It was four months later when we found the two bodies, said Ortiz, who works full time as landscaper in San Diego. After finding his brother and cousins remains, Ortiz knew he wanted to help others in similar situations, so he founded Aguilas del Desierto. Everytime Im out here, I go back to the same moment I was looking for my brother and cousin. It reminds me of what I went through at that time, he said. Ortizs daughter, Stephanie, 21, also helps with searches. Stephanie Ortiz said the long drives out to the search locations are a good opportunity to think about the kind of work the team does. We have six-plus hours to get here, and in that span of time, youre mentally preparing yourself because its a really intense psychological experience to be looking for peoples remains, she said. Gerardo Campos, the groups communications director, explained the impact searching for a potential body can have. We get emotional but not in a bad way, you know, it wont hurt us, I think. I think its going to help us to grow as human beings, Campos said. Henri Migala poses with an unexploded Air Force ordnance while searching for remains at the Barry M. Goldwater bombing range. Aguilas del Desierto found eight bodies during one search on the range in December. Photo courtesy of Henri Migala Pima County recorded 127 remains found in Arizona deserts in 2018. When bodies are found, the group reports back to authorities. The area is then treated like a crime scene and the bodies are transferred to the Pima County Medical Examiners Office. Aguilas del Desierto volunteers also find discarded water jugs and camouflage clothing, which are commonly used by migrants crossing the desert. Its just the kind of stuff you can get at a thrift store. Theyre just trying to make it. Migala said. The group consists of a few dozen regular volunteers. One of them is James Holeman of Flagstaff, one of two volunteers who live in Arizona. He has volunteered with Aguilas del Desierto since 2018, the year he closed McGaughs Flagstaff, the craft beer store he owned. He and his wife now are renovating properties and offering vacation rentals on Airbnb. Asked why he volunteers to search for missing migrants, he replied its something he doesnt think twice about doing. Why wouldnt you want to join a group like this? I dont understand why half of Phoenix isnt down here. This is our backyard, for Christs sake, Holeman said. Kathy Albrecht and her 3-year-old German shepherd mix, Mesa, were among the six canine teams that took part in Februarys search. Before joining Aguilas del Desierto, the pair helped in search efforts after the deadly Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in November. Photo by Austin Westfall / Cronkite News While searching the desert, Holeman wears a neon-green shirt, good hiking boots, Carhartt pants, snakebite ankle guards and a hat to block the sun. He also has his trusty Black Diamond Trekking Poles to help support his not super-great knees. He is proud of the work Aguilas del Desierto does to help migrants. I think its a damn shame that we turn a blind eye to them and criminalize humanitarian aid, Holeman said. Campos said that, for now, Aguilas del Desierto has been able to maintain a good relationship with such federal agencies as U.S. Customs and Border Protection. We let them know where we are going to be and they tell us they will give us back up if it is needed. Sometimes the group also has backup from cadaver dogs. During Februarys search, Aguilas del Desierto was joined by six canine teams. One of them was made up of Kathy Albrecht and her 3-year-old German shepherd mix, Mesa. Albrecht and Mesa, who are from El Dorado County in northern California, have been volunteering to search for bodies for about a year and a half. Before joining Aguilas del Desierto, the pair helped in search efforts after the Camp Fire killed more than 80 people and leveled the town of Paradise, California, in November. I think its important to contribute to your community and help others, Albrecht said, explaining why she made the drive to Arizona to assist. Albrecht is a plant broker during her day job, helping contractors find specific plants for their businesses. She chuckled when asked about the paradoxical nature of her life as both a plant broker and working on a cadaver search team. Its not like I have to be at an office from 9 to 5 downtown or something, so I can head out later in the afternoon with Mesa, she said. When she detects a cadaver scent, Mesa is trained to approach Albrecht and sit. Albrecht then asks the dog to show her where the scent is located. That never happened during Februarys search. The group did not find any remains during the two searches that Cronkite News joined in January and February. Its a crapshoot each time. Migala said Aguilas found eight bodies in one search back in December. Its really sad and tragic how we demonize these people coming across the border, because all theyre trying to do is either get back to family or get back to a job they had for years Migala said. However, the Trump administration has made it clear it intends to close what it calls loopholes in the current immigration system. Vicente Rodriguez of Aguilas del Desierto mans an informational table at a swap meet. The San Diego group regularly sets up at swap meets to collect donations. Photo courtesy of Henri Migala In an Oval Office statement in March, President Donald Trump doubled down on his belief that an invasion of migrants will eventually rush the U.S. southern border. People hate the word invasion, but thats what it is. Its an invasion of drugs and criminals and people. We have no idea who they are, but we capture them because border security is so good, he said. Volunteers with Aguilas del Desierto see the immigration situation very differently. All the time that Ive spent out here, all the months, weve never come across anybody like that. Never a criminal, never a bad guy, never drug traffickers, Migala said. Several group members said they wish they could commit more time to Aguilas del Desierto. Is it because theyre brown people? If people were dying in the same numbers coming over from Canada, would we treat it differently? Hell yeah, we would, Holeman said. This story originally appeared on Cronkite News and is published via a Creative Commons license . Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University Join the Conversation More than 60 years after the sn ayckstx people were declared "extinct," the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are celebrating another victory that reaffirms the rights of their citizens. In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia confirmed that the sn ayckstx, also known as the Sinixt or Arrow Lakes people, can continue to hunt on aboriginal territory in Canada. The favorable ruling marks the third of its kind since the saga began nearly a decade ago. We are very pleased that the courts of British Columbia have again held that the sn ayckstx people are not extinct in Canada and that Rick Desautel, as a sn ayckstx descendant, has the right to hunt in the traditional and historic territories of our people in British Columbia, Chairman Rodney Cawston said in reaction to the ruling. Desautel had been cited in 2010 and in 2011 for hunting without a license in the British Columbia. The provincial government there considered him to be a "non-resident" because he lives on the Colville Reservation , just across the border in Washington state. A provincial court, the B.C. Supreme Court and now the Court of Appeal have ruled otherwise. Even though the Canadian government has claimed the sn ayckstx no longer exist as a people, their rights have never been extinguished, the decision stated. BRITISH COLUMBIA COURTS: SINIXT NOT EXTINCT - Rick Desautel, a Sinixt member of the Colville Confederated Tribes, was... Posted by Tribal Tribune on Monday, March 27, 2017 Tribal Tribune: Rick Desautel celebrates court win in 2017 "Imposing a requirement that Indigenous peoples may only hold Aboriginal rights in Canada if they occupy the same geographical area in which their ancestors exercised those rights, ignores the Aboriginal perspective, the realities of colonization and does little towards achieving the ultimate goal of reconciliation," Justice Daphne M. Smith wrote for the court "In this case, such a requirement would extinguish Mr. Desautels right to hunt in the traditional territory of his ancestors even though the rights of his community in that geographical area were never voluntarily surrendered, abandoned or extinguished," Smith continued. The territory of the sn ayckstx people stretches from the Arrow Lakes region in British Columbia to the present-day reservation in Washington . They freely exercised their rights in that area without regard for the border between U.S. and Canada, according to the tribe. The situation began to change in 1846, when the international boundary was formally established by treaty . Then in 1896, the B.C. government passed a law declaring that non-resident "Indians lack hunting rights in the province. According to the tribe, that's when many sn ayckstx descendants were forced to live in Washington on a more permanent basis Then Canada claimed they were "extinct" following the death of Annie Joseph in 1953 . She was one of the sn ayckstx who stayed on her aboriginal territory in British Columbia. Upper Arrow Lake in British Columbia, Canada, falls within Sinixt or snayckstx territory. Photo: Gwk As a result, the Canadian government does not consider sn ayckstx descendants to fall under the Indian Act so they aren't treated the same as other Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Arrow Lakes Band ceased to exist as a band for the purpose of the Indian Act when its last member died on October 1, 1953, Ron Irwin, a former Indian Affairs minister in Canada said in 1995. It does not, of course, mean that the Sinixt people ceased to exist as a tribal group. But descendants like Desautel, who is a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, never forgot the connection to their homelands in Canada. And Colville law asserts authority over sn ayckstx territory in British Columbia as an exercise of its sovereignty. In reaction to the court's decision Desautel said he is very gratified to see our indigenous traditions, spirituality, and laws upheld once again, and I will continue my work to strengthen our relationships to the land and with the people of British Columbia. Today, the sn ayckstx, also known as the Lakes Band or the Arrow Lakes Band, account for more than 2,000 of the 9,000-plus citizens of the Colville Tribes. A total of 12 bands make up the nation, which is recognized by the U.S. government, unlike the situation across the border. Once again, the courts have resoundingly rejected the argument that Aboriginal identity can be erased by the imposition of laws, government policy, or an international border," said attorney Mark Underhill, who represented Desautel. "This is an important victory for all indigenous peoples on both sides of the border. In addition to the court victories, sn ayckstx descendants are beginning to assert more and more of their rights in Canada, including the ability to engage in treaty negotiations with British Columbia. Among them is Dr. Michael Marchand, a former chairman of the Colville Tribes who has suggested pursuing a land claim But for now, the tribe is hoping the hunting rights litigation will stop. The B.C. government could try to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. If the government chooses to pursue a further appeal, we will step up to defend it, and will do whatever it takes to ensure that the rights of our ancestors are preserved for future generations, Chairman Cawston , who descends from the Lakes, Nez Perce and Okanagan peoples, said, but we sincerely hope that the government will instead consider the long overdue process of reconciliation with the sn ayckstx, as the Canadian Constitution demands, rather than continuing to fight us in court. Great news for my tribe. I am Arrow Lakes and Okanogan of the Colville Confederated Tribes. The Okanogan and Arrow Lakes existed on, still exists on land, that was divided by the implementation of the Canadian/US border. #ColvilleTribes https://t.co/r7OynVRyei Michelle Shining Elk (@MShiningElk) May 2, 2019 No I am not extinct https://t.co/7tf1Mb8iXd Percy (@NcicnPercy) May 3, 2019 Amazing news for my people hard work after some long years https://t.co/yuHwW4qbas Ryan Phillips (@rphillips_32) May 3, 2019 Dope!! I've been hoping this would happen for awhile now. https://t.co/L6Pp5NW69e Dylan (@DADADyl) May 3, 2019 War Pony Pictures: Sinixt Documentary: An Interview with Rodney Cawston Vine Deloria, Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium: Michael Marchand - Colville Tribe and the Sinixt Hunting Rights Case Colvilles' are #SinixtStrong in Nelson B.C. Yesterday Chairman Dr. Michael Marchand took the stand and testified on... Posted by Colville Council on Thursday, October 6, 2016 Court of Appeal for British Columbia Decision Join the Conversation Related Stories Films inspire us a great deal, but when we try to emulate our reel idols in real life, things sometimes don't go as planned. A 24-year-old drunk youth Raju, in Bengaluru realised this the hard way. The man tried to copy a scene from a Kannada movie where the hero had kissed an elephant. However, in reality, the inebriated man ended up in hospital, according to a Times of India report. Reuters/Representational Image The incident took place near Malur, 50km frm Bengaluru, when forest officials and police personnel were trying to drive a herd of elephants back into the forests. During the commotion, a lot of onlookers had gathered to take pictures of the elephants and the officers there found Raju bleeding in the face. Seeing his condition, they decided to shift him to a nearby hospital. TOI Villagers there told officers that Raju was trying to move closer to the elephants. Few minutes before the incident, Raju had bragged to his friends about wanting to copy an actor who had kissed a jumbo on screen. What happened next was history. This is not the first time an incident involving an elephant was in the news. Last week, an elephant in Purulia district of West Bengal was offended at the sight of a farmer defecating in the open. He became so furious that he wrapped the man around his trunk before running for almost 50 metres through the field. People on social media have found a woman who has an uncanny resemblance to the woman who moral policed a group of girls in Gurgaon. Uncanny enough, that they both share the same name. Soma Chakraborty, the woman who is being trolled and is sent negative messages by people on social media, is not the one who abused girls wearing short clothes in a restaurant in Gurgaon. She asked men at the restaurant to rape them for wearing short clothes. Daughter of Soma Chakraborty shared a post on social media putting it out clearly that the woman in question is not the accused. Also, they live in Kolkata. She and her daughter are being brutally harassed on social media. On May 1, a video was shared by a group of girls who were abused and harassed by a woman at a restaurant in Gurgaon. Excuse me, aapko sharam nahin aati aapke thighs dikh rahe hain (arent you ashamed of showing your thights)?, was what a middle-aged woman told her when she entered an eatery at JMD Megapolis Mall in Gurgaon. Shivani, a-30-year-old copy writer and her five other friends were harassed at the eatery. The woman told them: Women get raped because of women like you. Addressing a group of men sitting nearby, she asked them, Agar aapko aisi ladkiyaan dikhti hain to rape kar do (If you see such girls, rape them). What happened later went viral on social media. Shivani and her friends confronted the woman at a home decor store asking her to apologise, but she did not. A lot has been written and said about how Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesnt have any formidable challenger, and to some, this may look evident, given the current opposition in the country. Defeating PM Modi is said to be as unthinkable as it was once perceived for But former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Despite opposition leaders like JP Narayan, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Morarji Desai, everyone looked clueless about how to checkmate her. PTI/Frontline But there was one man, who not only challenged her twice electoral duel - once in court too - but finally managed to defeat her in 1977 general elections. The polls happened right after emergency. In fact, Indira Gandhis loss to him in the Allahabad High Court said to have paved way for the emergency. This is story of Raj Narain, who remained associated with a slew of parties. 1971 - The challenge began The opposition parties made Raj Narain their candidate from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. The polling happened in March 7 and the result came in March 10th in which Raj Narain was defeated by former PM Indira Gandhi with the difference of over a lakh of votes. He, however, didnt accept it and accused former PM Indira Gandhi of malpractice and the use of state machinery for her victory. Approached Allahabad High Court After the polls, Raj Narain approached Allahabad High Court, accusing Mrs Gandhi of electoral malpractice and the court on June 12, 1975, found her guilty of misusing government machinery under section-123 (7) of Representative of Peoples Act, 1951. The court ruled that Mrs Gandhi couldn't continue as the PM and the court also debarred her contesting election for six years. Mrs Gandhi challenged the Allahabad High Court order in Supreme Court. The apex court, despite being closed due to vacation, granted a conditional stay on Allahabad High Courts order. Emergency imposed next day Mrs Gandhi, announcing the national emergency AIR studios on June 26, 1975, Indian Express On June 25, 1975, a state of emergency was declared by then President Fakhrudeen Ali Ahmad, citing internal disturbance. But, Allahabad High Courts judgement in Raj Narain vs the state of Uttar Pradesh, was said to be the main reason behind emergency. The 39th Constitutional amendment and article 329-A While the case was in SC, the Parliament passed 39th Constitutional amendment and introduced a new article 329-A to the constitution of India. The new article 329-A stated that the election of Prime Minister and the speaker cant be challenged in any court of law (clause-IV) in the country and it can only be challenged before committee formed by the Parliament. The amendment was to be implemented in the retrospective effect to override Allahabad High Courts judgement. The SC stood its ground The constitutional validity of 39th Amendment was challenged in the SC in Indira Gandhi vs Raj Narain case. On November 7, 1975, the SC upheld the contention of the petitioner and deemed Clause 4 of Article 329-A unconstitutional citing it would be an outright denial of Right To Equality enshrined under Article-14 of the constitution and the court said, it would violate the basic structure of the Indian constitution. Defeat of PM Indira Gandhi in 1977 Indira Gandhi addressing the crowd from Ramlila Maidan In February 1977. (The Indian Express) Raj Narain again contested against Mrs Gandhi from Rae Bareli in 1977 election held after emergency. This time, he defeated her. It was quite an unbelievable result. Served as health minister Wikipedia In Janta party government, Raj Narain held the portfolio of heath. In 2007, the UPA government issued a postal stamp in his honour. (With inputs from lawtimesjournal.in, lawnn.com, and indiankanoon.org) Life has come full circle for 70-year-old Roshan Lal Mawa, as he returned 'home' to Kashmir after 29 years to resume his family business. Mawa, a Kashmiri Pandit was driven out of his homeland like most members of his community in the 1990s by Islamic extremists who wanted to demographically re-engineer the valley into a 'Muslim-only area'. But, on Wednesday, Mawa went back to where he rightfully belongs - to Kashmir and opened his new shop in Gada Kocha, a famous spice market in the heart of the old city of Srinagar. Much to his surprise, keeping the spirit of 'Kashmiriyat' local traders and residents, who are mostly Muslims turned up in large numbers to greet Mawa and his son Sandeep Mawa as they opened their business. They even performed dastaar bandi the traditional welcome by tying a white turban on the head. An emotionally overwhelmed Mawa had tears in his eyes as he was given a welcome he could not even have imagined. Mawa, once an established businessman in the area dealing in dry fruits had suffered the same fate of other Kashmiri Pandits. In October 1990 he was shot with four bullets, leaving him injured. Mawa along with his family initially fled to Srinagar and lived in one of the refugee camps before moving to New Delhi. In Delhi with the help of his son Sandeep, who is a practicing doctor, Mawa resumed his family business under the same name - Nandlal Maharaj Krishan. "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," Mawa told IANS. "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," he added. Overwhelmed by the reception he got on his homecoming, Mawa said every Kashmiri Pandit wants to come back. Over 99 percent of 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. His son Sandeep is heading J&K Reconciliation Front which works to encourage improving the relations between the two communities. "I am the president of the reconciliation front and I am committed to bringing back the migrant Pandits. Since charity begins at home, I am here with my father today," he said. He said that in the near future, many families of migrant Pandits would be returning to their roots in the Valley. India faces the second highest number of cyber attacks each year, hitting a whopping 120 crore attempts in 2018. Defending against all of those attacks isn't cheap, neither is the payout for insurance companies when they occur. And that price just went up. According to the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), the average cost of data breaches rose by 8 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year, going all the way up to almost Rs 12 crore. The cost for whom you ask? Well the cost for insurance companies covering cyber attacks and, based on buyers of said insurance, you as well. For instance, the report cites the attack on the Pune-based Cosmos Bank last year, which cost Rs 94 crore. Financial institutions are some of the most valuable targets for hackers, and therefore have to spend more on cybersecurity and the related insurance. Banks and IT companies, the report indicates, spend the most on cyber insurance, the premiums for which vary between Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 80 crore a year. But these banks obviously aren't eating the costs themselves. That means, as cyber insurance gets more expensive, the costs will trickle down to your loans, interests rates, and even the insurance you buy. Other buyers of such policies include pharmaceutical companies, retail companies and the hospitality industry. So that means higher prices for you all around too. It's not just the threat of a hack either, most companies are forced to buy cyber insurance thanks to changing global policies. "Prominent data breach events in the US (the most attacked country) and the Western world, and recently enacted laws such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are driving the uptake of cyber insurance by Indian firms with global exposure," said Anup Dhingra, president of risk management company Marsh India. That plus the increasing switch over to cloud and mobile operations means greater risks. So be prepared for everything from your medicines to your banking to get pricey all around. The transparent box jellyfish is one of the most venomous creatures in the world, capable of even killing a human being with a single sting. Now, scientists may have designed an antidote for one of the more deadly species of this kind, thanks to genetics research. The Chironex fleckeri is one of the most deadly species of the venomous box jellyfish. Using its 3m-long tentacles it can sting and is capable of causing cardiac arrest in humans. Until now, scientists have been unable to figure out exactly how its venom works. However, that changed recently. Scientists at the University of Sydney began testing the jellyfish's venom on human cells grown in a lab some time ago. Using the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR, they then began changing the genetic makeup of these cell batches, turning off certain genes. Eventually, they hit upon a combination of genes that, when hit with the venom, were able to sustain themselves. "What we do is grow up millions of human cells, then we use CRISPR to knock out every gene in the human genome," says Greg Neely, a functional geneticist at the University of Sydney, and lead on the research paper. What they managed to pinpoint then was the exact set of genes that, when removed, render the venom useless in humans. The scientists found four genes in particular that were responsible for the venom's deadliness, all using certain pathways. More importantly, we already have drugs that block these pathways. These medications are capable of preventing this venom from working even 15 minutes after it was injected. That could save a lot of lives. "By shutting down this pathway for a short period of time, we can shut down the venom death pathway," says Neely. Drug cartels are known to work secretly but they are not immune to slip ups and mistakes. And mistakes in their case mean immediate arrests and/or raids. In one such case of an alleged 'slip up' by a clandestine drug peddler, an elderly Australian couple reportedly ended up receiving a drug package worth millions. AFP/Picture for representation The couple from Melbourne discovered bags containing the white powder inside a parcel. The bags contained 20 kilograms of methamphetamine which has a street value of 7 million dollars in Australia. The good thing about this incident that the meth haul didn't land in the hands of a curious teenager. Melbourne police spokesman told ABC that the couple had been "unsure of the significance of the find". The couple, who reportedly received the package, went onto help the police to nab the culprit. Police meanwhile also requested that not to be identified by media. After an investigation, the cops found 20 more kilograms of methamphetamine in another Melbourne house and arrested a 21-year-old man, reports AFP. The man was charged with importing a marketable quantity of controlled drug. Yadvinder Singh Sandhu pleaded guilty early this year, saying he personally assisted around 400 people to unlawfully enter the U.S. between 2013 and 2015. The U.S. Department of Justice headquarters is seen above. (Wikipedia.org photo) San Franciscos new public defender Manohar Raju was officially sworn into office April 25 by Mayor London Breed. The Indian American told India-West he hopes to develop a system in which jurors biases can be detected before they are selected to serve. (San Francisco Public Defenders office) Undergraduate seniors in the U.S. showed higher levels of skill in computer science than their peers in India, China and Russia, according to a study led by Prashant Loyalka, an Indian American professor at Stanford University. (Stanford.edu photo) The reduction of transport costs for the mineral sector through the use of high-capacity marine cargo-handling solutions was a key topic of this years annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, held in Toronto in March. The CSL Group is a privately owned shipping company based in Montreal, Quebec, and is the worlds largest owner and operator of self-unloading vessels. It explained how its systems can improve the logistics chain and better integrate cargo loading with mining operations. CSLs in-house design and development unit, Global Technical Services, has been researching ways to improve transhipping, which is the movement of bulk mineral cargoes between coastal land-based storage sites and merchant vessels anchored offshore. It has been developing floating offshore transfer barges (FOTBs) and self-unloading barges (SUBs) that shuttle between shallow port facilities and cargo vessels to create systems moored in deeper water, for use in remote areas that have no deep-water ports. Showcased at the PDA was CSLs Gravity Transhipment Shuttle Vessel, or TSV, which it says can outperform older, often crane-based, transhipment options. CSL adapted the gravity-based self-unloading technology already in use among its global fleet of bulkers to create this new line of vessels. They retain the storage, conveyor and loading boom systems common to self-unloaders, but have enhanced manoeuvrability that allows them to operate independently, without the assistance of tugs. Speaking at the PDAC presentation, Jakob Hansen, commercial vice-president for CSL Europe and Transhipment, explained why demand for high-capacity transhipment is growing. New mines are emerging in remote areas that lack natural deep-water ports, he said, while economic and environmental constraints inhibit the construction of new ports or the modification of existing assets. "No two [port facilities] are the same," Hansen said. "Each has unique physical, regulatory and environmental issues. But we will purpose-design [equipment for use in such circumstances] depending on the location." TSVs can range in size from 22,000 to 60,000 metric tonnes deadweight, although smaller vessels in the 10,000-tonne range may also be designed for ports and rivers with draft restrictions as shallow as five metres. Depending on their individual size, Hansen said that these new TSVs can tranship cargo at rates of 5,000-10,000 tonnes per hour, offering an efficient means of moving minerals to larger vessels, including Panamax, Suezmax or even Capesize bulk carriers. Freight costs are key Hansen also spoke about the effects of freight costs on commodities such as bauxite, which can require large Capesize vessels to competitively move minerals on long hauls to markets such as China. "If you look at the west coast of Africa, around South America, even parts of Australia, you really have no natural access to deep-water ports," he said. "And building a new port can be environmentally difficult, or just cost-prohibitive, especially if you are only moving 5 million tonnes per year. Thats where transhipment comes in." The newest generation of TSVs reduce the operational costs for miners by limiting capital expenditures on shoreside infrastructure, and on the maintenance dredging of harbors to accommodate deep-draft vessels. CSL has also taken into consideration environmental concerns in the design of the TSVs. The vessels use a fully enclosed gravity-based cargo-handling system that eliminates the risk of fugitive material. It has also optimised the design of the vessels to minimise noise and vibration, in both air and water. Using its TSV concept, mining projects can move as much as 15 million tpy of product, CSL says. It also says that this reduces the cost of transhipping between port facilities and ocean-going cargo vessels to about $3 per tonne - before taxes, duties and other fees. Adaptation possible Beyond its cost-effectiveness, CSL highlighted how the TSV concept can be adapted to a customers individual infrastructure requirements and local operating conditions. The firm emphasizes that it can support mining companies from the pre-feasibility study phase of projects throughout the life of a mine. In the initial stage, CSL will conceptualize solutions to transhipping for a customer, providing a detailed analysis of productivity, throughput, lead time, risk and cost. Then, once an investment decision is made to proceed, CSL will provide all the capital for the TSV, building it, retaining ownership and operating the vessel. It also guarantees productivity using this system, charging customers on a per-tonne basis. Another key component of this new generation of transhippers is the speed with which CSL can deliver a vessel to a customer. According to Reg Leworthy, a CSL materials handling specialist, the firm has streamlined the process by which it can assess a customers specific requirements and then provide a transhipment solution. For instance, the firm can re-purpose a ship from within its global fleet as a dedicated TSV, which allows it to find a vessel whose dimensions length, beam and draft will meet the requirements of the port facility in question. "We can provide this capability within a short timeframe, a year-and-a-half," Leworthy said. "In the case of a customer in Australia, we went from first contact with them to full operation of the TSV at the site in 14 months." Leworthy said that CSL currently operates five dedicated transhippers around the world, with another eight in development. The expectation is that the next generation of TSVs will be able to handle bulk cargo export volumes of as much as 100 million tpy. Additionally, Leworthy pointed out the flexibility of CSLs transhipping capabilities to mining companies. In the short term, their use can provide an interim means for a customer to move cargo to market, while expansion of a port facility is continuing, thus avoiding transportation bottlenecks. In the long term, they can provide a permanent solution that offers a viable alternative to large port developments. Hansen said that transportation solutions, such as TSV, will become increasingly important for minerals companies. "This is cost-efficient, with reduced environmental consequences," he said. "It is a flexible design that has pulled together all of CSLs experience into a single asset that is perfectly suited to the mining world." Sixty is the new 45, 80 is the new 60, and 100 is well, really dang old. But even centenarians know that once you stop learning, you star... Reginald Mengi a Tanzanian self-made media magnate and philanthropist has died. According to reports, Mengi died in Dubai at the age of 75. Mengi owned a number of manufacturing, mining and media conglomerate IPP companies as well as newspapers and radio and TV stations. Reginald Mengis net worth was estimated In 2014 by Forbes at $560m (430m). Mengi who was born into a poor family finished his education in Scotland before returning to his country to establish his numerous businesses. President John Magufuli has since paid tribute to the role Mengi played in the countrys development. May his soul rest in peace. President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of not possessing the academic qualification, he claims to. This was submitted to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal by the PDP and its candidate in response to the presidents reply to their petition. They argued that claims by Buhari that he was more qualified than Atiku in his response to their petition were false. The opposition in their rely filed via their lawyer, led by Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), dated April 15th, it argued that, since Buhari failed to attach his academic credentials to the Form CF001, submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it was safe to conclude that the President does not have his certificates with the Army as he claimed. According to Atiku and PDP, Buhari being the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he has all the powers to direct the Army to produce his credentials. In further response to Paragraph 381(iv) of the second respondents reply, aver that the petitioners have no knowledge of any certificates or alleged qualifications issued to the second respondent (Buhari), but contend that second respondent falsely represented that his certificates are in the custody of the Nigerian Army when the second respondent, by his own admission, is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. In further response to Paragraph 381(iv) of the second respondents reply, the petitioners aver that the second respondent as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria could easily order the Army Secretary to produce the certificates allegedly submitted if they actually exist. Contrary to Paragraph 381 (i-iv) of the second respondents reply, the petitioners aver that the second respondent does not possess the educational qualification he claimed to have in his INEC Form CF001 submitted to the first respondent (INEC), having not been attached as required. In reply to Paragraph 383 of the second respondents reply, the petitioners aver that the first petitioner (Atiku) is eminently qualified to contest election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and had indeed attached evidence of his educational qualifications to his INEC Form CF001 submitted to the first respondent, unlike the second respondent (Buhari) who did not attach evidence of the qualifications he claimed in his INEC Form CF001 because he does not possess them as he falsely claimed. The opposition party and its candidate claimed that the purported training and courses that Buhari says puts him head and shoulders above Atiku, did not culminate in the issuance of any certificates he claimed in his INEC Form CF001. While they dismissed claims by Buhari that he is head and shoulders above Atiku, in terms of qualification and experience, as erroneous. The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to return the country and deal with the escalating security challenges. This demand was made by the Spokesperson of the PDP, Kola Ologbodiyan, in a statement on Thursday. Full statement below The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) charges President Muhammadu Buhari to end his private visit abroad and immediately return home to face the deteriorated security situation in the country. The party describes as completely unacceptable for President Buhari to practically abandon his responsibilities, as the Commander-In-Chief, at least for now, to pursue unexplained private matters in foreign lands, while bandits, marauders and insurgents seize our nation; maim, kidnap and kill our citizens with reckless abandon. President Buharis inattention has emboldened insurgents and bandits to continue to over-run communities, unleash mayhem and bloodletting on citizens in Borno, Zamfara, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe Taraba, Kaduna, Benue, Kogi and other states of the federation, including Mr Presidents home state, Katsina. While President Buhari wanders abroad, bandits are having a field day, pillaging communities in Katsina state; killing several persons and abducting the District Head of his hometown, Daura, Musa Umar; the father-in-law of Mr Presidents security aide. Within this period, marauders invaded communities in Adamawa and killed no fewer than 26 innocent Nigerians; many more have been killed in Borno, Taraba, Benue, and Zamfara states, where bandits also reportedly attacked Government Girls Secondary School Moriki and kidnapped some school girls. While the Buhari administration remains virtually nonchalant, kidnappers have taken over many of our major highways, with hundreds of compatriots held in captivity in forests along Kaduna-Abuja, Taraba-Katsina-Ala and other highways in the country. It is clear that President Buhari has not demonstrated the required capacity to control the security situation and now resorts to cheap escapism, particularly in the face of allegations in the public space that certain individuals around his administration are benefitting from the situation. This is in addition to allegations that some of the bandits arrested, in states such as Katsina, are not Nigerians but aliens allegedly imported by the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Niger Republic to assist it in unleashing violence and rigging the 2019 general elections. The PDP urges the police to investigate this alleged links. The fact remains that President Buhari has completely failed our nation. In fact, his dereliction to duty is a clear signal that he has been practically overwhelmed, deflated and has nothing to offer. The situation in Nigeria today signposts the terrible condition our nation will face if the Presidential mandate is not retrieved at the tribunal to enable competent and uncompromised hands to run the affairs of our country. The PDP, therefore, calls on President Buhari to immediately return home and use the remaining part of his tenure to seek help instead of wandering abroad under the guise of private visits. Mavin Records boss, Michael Collins, popularly known as Don Jazzy, in a beautiful farewell message to Tiwa Savage, thanked her for an amazing seven years. Tiwa who has been with Mavin Records since 2012, on Thursday signed a deal with international media mogul, Universal Music Group. Taking to his Instagram account, Don Jazzy wrote: Thank you for an amazing seven years photo which he captioned: Our darling Tiwatope. We at Mavin would like to say a very big thank you for being such an inspiration to all of us, a friend, a sister. Its been an epic journey with you and we are very proud of what we have achieved together. As you start this new chapter in your life we want you to know that we are solidly behind you and cant wait for the world to see what we have always believed you can be. Your jersey as the `First Lady of Mavin will forever be yours as we do not intend to fill that position with anyone else. We love you from the bottom of our hearts and pray GODs blessings to continue to follow you. Amennnn. Tiwa has had an amazing music career and her joining UMG, is yet a big step forward. This deal makes her the first Nigerian female act to join the international label. Tiwa has nailed a number of firsts in her career. The first female to be awarded the Best African Act at the MTV European Music Awards. Also, she capped the first African female act to sell out Londons Indig02 and a couple of the amazing feats Senator Shehu Sani in a tweet on Thursday morning urged Nigerians to video the actual language, they are checking in at the airport counter. This follows reports that a notorious airport cartel is in the business of planting drugs in travellers bag(s) or tagging their names and particulars to a bag containing drugs. Recently, a young Nigerian student, Zainab Aliyu escaped a death sentence in Saudi Arabia by a whisker after a cartel planted drug in her bag at the Aminu Kano Airport. Fortunately for Zainab, investigations in Nigeria revealed her innocence Which prompted the Nigerian government to move swiftly for her freedom. Aliyus case has served as an eye opener to many Nigerian travellers. Senator Sani in his advice says videotaping your actual luggage will prevent you from falling into the hands of those in the business of setting people up. Advice; When traveling in or out of the country, use your phone to videotape the actual luggage you are checking in at the Airport counter, to protect yourself from those in the business of setting up. A stitch in time saves nine, he tweeted. See post Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has taken to his Twitter handle to celebrate Kaycee Madu, an Igbo man who was elected member of Parliament in Canada and now a minister. Reno in his reaction shared that the achievement further vindicated him as he once said Igbo marginalization is God creating an atmosphere for them to leave Nigeria to dominate the world. His tweet: Nollywood actor, Walter Anga has described the Nigerian movie industry, Nollywood as the mirror of the society as a result of the ongoing controversies being generated by the industry. This statement is connected to the ongoing social media controversy that has engulfed most of the stars in Nollywood. Walter Anga also tagged Nollywood stars as destroyers of what they are supposed to preach against. Also Read: Is Your Mouth Too Heavy To Drop Advice? Tonto Dikeh Slams Funnybone He wrote on Instagram; Tonto in her interview had revealed her husband is a yahoo boy. In her words; After I came back from giving birth to my son, I had been suspecting that he was into Yahoobefore I even came back to Nigeria I had already begun to suspect but the only thing that made me confirm was the night that he wasnt supposed to be home and I slept early because of my son. And I heard some noise in his room because hes in the penthouse and my room is under. So, I heard a noise upstairs, nobody was supposed to be in that room. I opened up this room, I saw a full-grown man wearing a red cloth in his waist with red candles everywhere around him with a laptop in his hands. Immediately I saw that I was shocked, I was simply shocked. I was not scared but I was shocked. I just started laughing and he got me and that was one of the first fights we had after I had King, she said. Tis caused many celebrities to come for her with Etinosa being the latest by mocking her revelation of Churchill being a Yahoo boy. Sharing a photo of herself with a red background, Etinosa stated that the photo made her look like Churchill as Tonto described seeing him some years ago. Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. Last year, the markets non-life insurers paid out a total of KRW7.5 trillion (US$6.5 billion) in insurance claims, with over KRW1 trillion (US$860 million) failing to reach the policyholders, the survey said. Rep. Koh Yong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea filed a bill that sought to amend several laws to help simplify the insurance claims procedure. The bill will require hospitals to supply all the necessary documents for the policyholder's claim to the insurance company. The bill should be ratified immediately. Actual insurance policyholders have a right to get their claims without such a complicated procedure, said Koh in a joint statement with a consumer rights group. In the current system, policyholders must obtain the necessary documents from the hospital before submitting them to the insurance company. The bill will require hospitals to send the documents directly to the insurance company, upon the policyholders request. While financial authorities and insurers reacted positively to the proposal, the Korea Hospital Association opposed it, saying it could lead to the leakage of personal data. The practice could impose an administrative burden on hospitals, the association said in a press statement. Plus, there are not many hospitals across the country featuring such automated teller systems for insurance claims. Addressing media at the RIMS Annual Conference in Boston, South commented: This is not going to be a steamroller merger at all. Weve had a lot of calls from clients saying: Were delighted with the transaction, but please keep my team the same. Were taking that on board. Weve been going through this process very thoughtfully its going to be team by team and person by person, getting people settled into their roles. Its about getting the best people in our organisations into the best roles. Its also getting the best practices wherever they are - it could have been at Marsh, it could have been at JLT, and it could be a new way that we work out together. We really want to get those synergies from the deal. Its really about weaving [JLTs] DNA into ours as thoughtfully as we can and ensuring employees are settled, engaged and comfortable. As the largest insurance broker in the world, Marsh advises around 95% of Fortune 1000 companies. The firm announced that its acquisition of JLT has significantly expanded its presence in the middle market and small commercial sectors, while also bringing an influx of around 10,000 talented individuals. Of course, when companies merge on such a grand scale, its only natural that there will be some duplication of roles leading to potential redundancies. When the merger was first announced in September last year, it was suggested that overlap between the two brokerages could lead to around 3,750 job losses, especially in function areas like IT, HR, operations, legal and administrative support staff, and so on. That naturally caused some staff anxiety, especially within JLT, about the merger, but as familiar players in the M&A space, both leadership teams are addressing these issues effectively, according to Donnelly. One of the things thats really comforting for our people and our teams [at JLT] in getting through that initial period of uncertainty is the Marsh leadership team is up for business and it knows the business well. That level of credibility and the respect our people have for people and leaders who have built businesses like they have [at Marsh] thats really important, he said. From our perspective, Marsh is pretty seasoned on executing in acquisitions and integration. JLT didnt do as many but we did have a very deliberate process. From both sides, I think we appreciate how to make something like this work. Weve got an integration team in place thats very experienced, and the integration committees and the work streams have representation from both firms. If your aspiration is to reach the best of both, the first step is having both sides represented in a discussion, really listening to each other, and being open to hearing about another way or a different way. Were going through that process now. Both South and Donnelly were in agreement that Marsh and JLT have a lot more in common than [they] have differences. At the RIMS media briefing, the two execs sang each others praises after finding themselves in simpatico on so many issues. In Souths words, its a bit like a bromance. He added that Donnellys past experience building JLT up in the US, as well as leading teams at larger organisations like Aon and Accenture, means he understands how the larger models work and has been very sympathetic for us to work together. Donnelly commented: Weve come to learn that we have a lot more in common than we have differences. We share a passion for colleagues and clients. I think specific to Martin he has a healthy paranoia, not only about how he runs the business but also about the issues of the day. [For example] issues of diversity and inclusion are so important to him hes really leading that at Marsh. That has made this transition a lot easier for our colleagues as the leadership team has gotten around to meet our people, spend time in town halls and one-on-one meetings. That all alleviates some of that initial uncertainty that we had. The event will include one-on-one consultations for policyholders and their insurers to enable discussion of their individual claim and specific concerns, and will also be attended by Queensland Legal Aid and Australian Financial Complaints Authority representatives. The consultations and forum are an opportunity for customers to speak to insurance representatives about their individual circumstances, said ICA CEO Rob Whelan. Many attendees may want a better understanding of rebuilding timeframes and agreement of scopes of work. The insurance industry knows the impact of the monsoon on Townsville has been difficult for many households and businesses, and insurers are focusing on how to help all customers, including those who were underinsured or may have elected not to buy flood cover. To date, 27,355 claims have been lodged with insurers, with losses estimated at $1.132 billion. More than 25% of 1,518 critical home building claims have been completed, and at least $327 million has been paid by insurers to cover a broad range of repairs, services, emergency accommodation, and replacement items. Steve McGill, formerly Group president of Aon, will lead the business as chief executive officer. He has a highly experienced senior leadership team on his shoulder, including Oliver Corbett, former CFO of Hyperion, Stephen Cross, former Chief Innovation Officer of Aon Risk Solutions, Denise Garland, former COO of Tokio Marine Kiln and a number of others. The leadership team will also include Dominic Casserley and Tim Wright who will join as non-executive directors. Our ambition is to create a new, best-in class specialty risk solutions business that will bring capital closer to clients and open up an alternative distribution channel for the benefit of clients and carriers, said McGill. We launch with a new and highly differentiated value proposition that will deliver an unprecedented level of client transparency and alignment. Weve assembled a highly experienced leadership team and strong support from a leading global private equity firm. Im excited about building a world-class business and capitalising on the opportunities that a rapidly changing market environment will bring. The build-out and growth of McGill & Partners will be funded on a through an initial equity commitment of up to $250m from funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus, alongside substantial financing from management. Dan Zilberman, Warburg Pincus head of Europe, commented: Were excited to partner with Steve and his talented team of senior industry executives to create a new transatlantic market-leader in risk solutions. As a long-term investor in the insurance brokerage and insurance sectors, we see this team bringing incredible value and choice to both clients and carriers. Our joint mission is to build a leading specialty risk solutions business focused on independence, alignment and choice. The utility company blamed for Septembers natural gas explosions in Massachusetts has settled a negligence lawsuit from a family injured in the disaster. Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and the Figueroa family didnt disclose the settlement amount Tuesday but say it includes providing a motorized wheelchair, a mobility van and modifications to the familys Lawrence home. Twenty-one-year-old Shakira Figueroa was severely injured and two family members were hurt. A family friend, 18-year-old Leonel Rondon, died when the homes chimney fell on his SUV. Family lawyer Socrates De La Cruz says that the settlement is an important step toward healing but that the family will never be the same. Joe Hamrock is head of NiSource, Columbia Gas parent company. He says our hearts go out to the family and the community. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Massachusetts The owners of New Englands 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. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Profit Loss New York state is preparing for a worst-case scenario as water levels rise along Lake Ontario where flooding caused extensive damage in 2017, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. The Democrat was in Sodus Point in Wayne County to detail steps being taken to combat potential flooding. Flooding from heavy rain and snow melt is a real possibility, Cuomo said, so the state is providing thousands of sandbags and putting members of the New York National Guard on standby. The governor said state representatives will meet this week with members of the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada entity that controls water outflows from Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River. He said talks will involve New Yorks concerns for lakeside property owners threatened by a repeat of 2017s flooding. Many of the properties have been improved from 2017, Cuomo said in Sodus Point, which was among the worst-hit areas two years ago. The state has additional money that is available for that purpose. The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services is coordinating preparedness with local officials. More than 200,000 sandbags are being sent to sites in an eight-county region stretching from the Niagara River near the lakes western end to the St. Lawrence River. The mayor of Sodus Point, David McDowell, said residents are concerned, and rightly so. The waterfront community 30 miles east of Rochester often is the first place in the region to feel the impact of high water. Bill Reilich, town supervisor for the town of Greece, outside Rochester, said crews there started filling sandbags Sunday night. The town has been preparing for weeks and is ready for predicted rain, he said. Authorities said the 2017 flooding was caused by record-high rainfall totals that spring, but some local officials and residents blamed it on the Joint Commissions management of water levels on the lake. Flooding has already caused problems across the lake in Ontario, where several days of heavy rain have swollen rivers and reservoirs. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Flood New York Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of Australian insurance broker AgriRisk Services Pty Ltd. 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, which will complement Gallaghers existing strengths in farm insurance. Their North Sydney and Toowoomba teams will relocate to Gallaghers 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 of Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based Gallagher. I am delighted to welcome John and his associates to Gallagher. Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Topics Mergers Agencies Agribusiness A.J. Gallagher Australia Insurance broking veteran Steve McGill and a team of insurance industry veterans have partnered with Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, to launch McGill & Partners, a new specialty risk solutions business. The broker will focus on strategic risk placement and advice for corporate clients, particularly those with complex insurance requirements, said a statement from New York City-headquartered Warburg Pincus, which focuses on growth investing. McGill & Partners will offer clients a differentiated value proposition and comprehensive access to risk capital globally. The business will be headquartered in London with a center of excellence in New York and further operating hubs in other key markets over time. The build-out and growth of the business will be financed through an initial equity commitment of up to $250 million from funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus and a substantial additional commitment from management. Significant further capital may also be deployed to support future business expansion and reinforce the value proposition. The business will be led by McGill, who has more than 40 years of insurance broking experience, most recently at Aon from 2005 to 2017, where he was group president of Aon plc, with responsibility for all insurance and reinsurance broking operations worldwide. Prior to this, he worked at JLT from 1989 to 2005, where he held various leadership positions including group CEO from 2001 to 2004. McGill has also served as a non-executive director of The Hartford since 2017. McGill will be joined in his new broking company by a team of industry veterans, including Oliver Corbett, former CFO of Hyperion; Stephen Cross, former chief innovation officer of Aon Risk Solutions; Denise Garland, former COO of Tokio Marine Kiln, and a number of other senior insurance executives. The leadership team will also include former Willis Towers Watson executives Dominic Casserley and Tim Wright who both will join as non-executive directors. Casserley is the former CEO of Willis Group Holdings and currently a senior adviser in Warburg Pincus Financial Services Group. Wright is a strategic adviser and director for Archipelago Analytics, described in his LinkedIn profile as a new venture-backed company focused on discovering win-win solutions across the risk and insurance value-chain. Wright was head of corporate risk & broking at Willis Towers Watson between between January 2016 and October 2016. He also held executive positions at Willis before it merged with Towers Watson, a deal that completed in January 2016. Our ambition is to create a new, best-in class specialty risk solutions business that will bring capital closer to clients and open up an alternative distribution channel for the benefit of clients and carriers, said CEO McGill. We launch with a new and highly differentiated value proposition that will deliver an unprecedented level of client transparency and alignment, he added. We have assembled a highly experienced leadership team and strong support from a leading global private equity firm, McGill went on to say. I am excited about building a world-class business and capitalizing on the opportunities that a rapidly changing market environment will bring. Dan Zilberman, Warburg Pincus head of Europe, commented, We are excited to partner with Steve and his talented team of senior industry executives to create a new transatlantic market-leader in risk solutions. As a long term investor in the insurance brokerage and insurance sectors, we see this team bringing incredible value and choice to both clients and carriers. Our joint mission is to build a leading specialty risk solutions business focused on independence, alignment and choice. The transaction is expected to close in May 2019. Source: Warburg Pincus Topics Mergers Agencies Excess Surplus The German insurer Talanx has acquired the property/casualty insurer ERGO Sigorta A.S. from a Munich Re subsidiary. Financial details of the transaction where not disclosed. Talanx purchased ERGO Sigorta from ERGO International, which is a unit of ERGO, the primary insurance unit of Munich Re. Talanx said the deal is in line with its business strategy for its five core retail international markets in that it moves the company closer to its goal of ranking among the top five insurers in Turkey. In addition to Turkey, Talanxs other core retail international markets are Poland, Brazil, Mexico and Chile. As a result of the acquisition, the premium volume generated by Talanxs businesses in Turkey will increase by 139 million ($119.4 million) to more than 400 million ($343.7 million) and the market share will rise to more than 5 percent. The transaction is expected to deliver a positive profit contribution by the second year at the latest and hence also has favorable implications for earnings, said Talanx. The transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant supervisory authorities, which is anticipated for the third quarter of 2019. This acquisition boosts HDI Sigorta from number 11 among insurers in Turkey to the number seven spot, commented Sven Fokkema, chief executive officer of HDI International AG and a member of the board of management of Talanx. We have thus moved a major step closer to achieving our strategic goal of ranking among the top five insurers in each of our core markets, he added. Through economies of scale and by leveraging potential synergies we are aiming to further enhance the operating profit in Turkey. The acquisition also substantially improves the diversification of Talanxs product portfolio, Fokkema said. In 2018 ERGO Sigorta A.S. reported a gross written premium volume of 139 million ($119.4 million) with a market share of 1.6 percent. The company employs around 320 staff and has a distribution network comprised of 1,500 intermediaries. Talanx existing subsidiary, HDI Sigorta A.S., has been operating in the Turkish property/casualty insurance market since 2006. The company offers insurance services through roughly 420 employees, nine regional offices and more than 2,000 insurance brokers and agents as well as 10 bank partners. The gross written premium volume booked by HDI Sigorta in 2018 amounted to 278 million ($238.9 million), equivalent to a market share of roughly 3.5 percent. With the acquisition of the ERGO subsidiary this market share is now expected to grow to 5.1 percent, Talanx which is the parent company of Hannover Re. Source: Talanx Topics Mergers Carriers Property Casualty Walmart Stores East LP in Indianapolis, Indiana, will pay $10,000 and furnish other relief to resolve a disability charge filed by the Indianapolis District Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced. The EEOCs investigation found reasonable cause to believe that the Walmart Stores East LP store #2787 in Indianapolis refused to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee with a disability. As a result, the employee was forced to resign, the EEOC said. Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects people against employment discrimination based on disability. The ADA also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with a disability if they need the accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job. The conciliation agreement settling the discrimination charge provides $10,000 in monetary relief to the employee. The agreement prohibits Walmart East Stores LP from violating the ADA in the future, specifically the obligation to reasonably accommodate any employee who qualifies for an accommodation under the ADA. Walmart East Stores LP also acknowledged its obligation not to engage in unlawful retaliation. Walmart East Stores LP will reissue its computer-based learning module pertaining to the companys policies against disability discrimination and accommodations in employment, to those salaried members in management in Store #2787. The conciliation agreement also provides for the EEOC to monitor the companys compliance with reporting provisions. Source: EEOC Topics Abuse Molestation Indiana Communities in several states along the Mississippi River are watching the skies this week as rainfall will likely determine whether the river reaches record crests and how much it will raise floodwaters. The National Weather Service had issued flood warnings for areas directly on either side of the river in 10 states, from Minnesota and Wisconsin south to Louisiana and Mississippi. Its pretty much the entire river, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, Mike McClure, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport, Iowa, said Tuesday. In Iowa, some cities on the rivers banks including Davenport and Muscatine have shut down low-lying streets and erected flood walls and sandbag barriers. Flooding also led officials to close some roads along the river, including Iowa Highway 22 from Davenport downstream to Muscatine and US Highway 67 north of LeClaire, Iowa. Flood watches have been issued for larger tracts around in the river in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, as well as sections of Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, as heavy rain that began in some places Monday was set to continue into Tuesday and Wednesday. The rain comes as the Mississippi River is set to reach record or near-record crests in Iowa, Illinois and northern Missouri. In suburban St. Louis, the river is expected to reach 9 to 10 feet (2.74 to 3.05 meters) above flood stage Saturday at several locations in northeast Missouri, including Hannibal, Louisiana, Clarksville and Winfield, and at Quincy, Illinois. Water at that level would result in a top-10 flood in those communities. With up to 4 inches of rain possible in the region through Friday, the weather service cites a high risk of flash flooding and warns that river forecasts could rise even higher. If the river reaches the projected 24.2 feet in Louisiana, a town of 3,300 residents some 90 miles (144.83 kilometers) north of St. Louis, roads and highways will be covered, railroad tracks will be swamped, and the Champ Clark Bridge crossing the river will have to close, Pike County, Missouri, Emergency Management Director Al Murry said. Water that high also could threaten levees that protect thousands of acres of farmland, he said. The potential for cropland damage if you have a levee burst thats a really big deal, Murry said. The gauge at Davenport showed the level Tuesday afternoon at less than a foot under the record crest of 22.6 feet (6.9 meters) set in July 1993. Its expected to crest Wednesday evening a few inches short of the record. The Muscatine gauge showed the river just under 3 feet (1 meter) below the July 1993 record of 25.6 feet (7.8 meters). Its expected to crest a little more than a foot under the record at Muscatine, where officials have placed new berms and are diverting downtown traffic. Associated Press writer Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Louisiana Flood Missouri Mississippi Illinois Iowa Elon Musks Tesla plans to launch its own insurance product for Tesla drivers, which will be fronted by Markel Corp.s subsidiary, State National. Markels Co-Chief Executive Officer Richard R. Whitt confirmed the partnership during the companys first quarter earnings call on May 1. State National is a company that providesthe plumbing to move risk to capital, said Whitt, answering a question from an investor. Whitt noted that Markel was originally attracted to State National, which it purchased in 2017, because they are quite honestly the best in the business in terms of offering that fronting model. State National aims to help people with innovative ideas navigate the regulatory environment and help them execute their ideas, Whitt explained during the conference call. Thats where State National can come to the table and help them, he said, noting that State National is supporting Teslas innovative ideas with capacity from risk-taking partners. State National does not retain any business, their model is not to retain any of the business, and so this business is being ceded onto Teslas risk-taking partner, he continued. California Department of Insurance approved Teslas insurance product, fronted by State National, on April 9. Musk has frequently complained that Tesla customers are charged higher insurance rates, despite the safety features embedded in Tesla vehicles, such as Autopilot, which helps avoid crashes. Tesla partnered with Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. in October 2017 to offer insurance called InsureMyTesla, but car owners are still complaining about high premiums. For example, a Twitter user in July 2018 complained to Musk that rates offered from InsureMyTesla are twice as high as competitors. A Liberty Mutual representative was not immediately available to comment on the InsureMyTesla rates. Musk has described Teslas new insurance product as much more compelling than anything else out there, which will reward good drivers with lower insurance premiums. Tesla often says its technology, including its Autopilot system, makes its vehicles safer, reducing crashes by 40 percent which also could provide a reduction in auto premiums. The Tesla safety claim has been challenged in several lawsuits, which blame fatal crashes on failures of the Autopilot system. In addition, a February 2019 study conducted by Quality Control Systems Corp. disputed findings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations in 2017, which concluded there was a 40 percent reduction in the rate of crashes by Tesla vehicles after they were equipped with automated driver-assist systems marketed as Autopilot. Bedford, Tex.-based State Nationals website describes its Program Services division as providing A rated paper in all 50 states through three admitted carriers: State National Insurance Company, National Specialty Insurance Company and City National Insurance Company, as well as two excess and surplus lines carriers, United Specialty Insurance Company and Independent Specialty Insurance Company. Related: Topics Carriers Tesla Autonomous Vehicles The U.S. must take an active role in mitigating climate change on the global stage. So says the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted today on H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. The bill, which passed 231-190, largely along party lines, requires the Trump administration to develop and update a plan for the country to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement on climate change hammered out in 2015 under the Obama Administration. The bill would require the President to develop and annually update a plan for the U.S. to meet its contribution under the Paris Agreement. The plan must outline steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, as well as confirm that other parties to the agreement with major economies are fulfilling their contributions. The bill, which would also prohibit federal funds from being used to withdraw from the agreement, as Trump has stated it is his intent to do, is unlikely to garner similar support in the Senate. And its detractors see its passage as little more than a political statement. U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., remarked from the House floor that this is nothing more than another messaging bill against the president of the United States. The bill is less ambitious than the Green New Deal, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., which calls for a quick shift by the U.S. completely out of fossil fuels and into renewable energy. Karen Orenstein, deputy director of economic policy at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: The climate emergency requires that the United States the worlds largest historical climate polluter and largest economy robustly engage multilaterally. To that end, we applaud the sentiment of H.R. 9. But it is not enough that the U.S. not withdraw from the global climate stage; our climate commitment under the Paris Agreement is radically out of line with what science, justice and equity demand. The U.S. must re-emerge in the international arena in a manner that recognizes that all people whether in Mozambique, Mogadishu or Miami are equally deserving of dignified lives. This Buds for You Did you know that Anheuser-Busch InBev SA often delivers cans of emergency drinking water to areas affected by natural disaster? Now the beverage giant has a new public service goal based on the shifting realities of climate change. The Leuven, Belgium-based company is now pre-shipping the drinking water to disaster-prone areas, with the assumption another event is always right around the corner. Anheuser-Busch announced late last month it will send 1 million cans of water to volunteer fire fighters in vulnerable areas of California, Colorado, Arizona and other states before the West Coast wildfire season begins again June 1. The reality is there are more wildfires, Adam Warrington, vice president of corporate social responsibility for the company, said in a statement. Hydration needs before, during and after them have evolved. The maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois reports donating between 1 million and 4 million cans of water each year to communities after disasters. But that all changed after 2017s Hurricane Harvey. There were 14 separate billion-dollar disaster weather events in 2018 in the U.S. alone, the company noted in an announcement of its new initiative. The worlds largest beer producer last year added a second U.S. factory thats capable of halting regular beer production to produce emergency water instead. The cans are particularly useful after disasters, because local water supplies are often compromised and cans are easier to collect and recycle than plastic, according to the company. Newsweek The folks at Newsweek have come up with six ways to halt climate change and global warming. An article out today authored by Peter J.S. Jones and Rick Stafford outlines a number of lofty ideas from the two professors in simplified form. Less focus on economic growth: The authors suggest that using GDP as a good measure of a countrys progress means we consume more products, which require raw materials and energy to produce, and it often results in excessive waste when they are disposed of. Achieving growth isnt necessarily badbut focusing solely on growth is, they write. Instead we should be agnostic about economic growth and embrace other measures of societal well-being, according to the professors. Higher taxes and subsidized transport: Incremental increases in tax on, for example fuel, without alternatives, do little to change behavior, they assert. To drive changes in consumer behavior, there needs to be large tax increases on the most environmentally damaging products to turn them from everyday items into luxury goods, the authors write. This would include air travel, fossil fuels and red meat. Work less: From an environmental perspective, working less has many benefits: less commuting, more time to cook healthy food and more time to take holidays without the need for flying, the authors argue. The reduction in household income also means less opportunity for over-consumption of luxury goods that drive economic growth without adding much value to society, they write. Leave the other three ideas to your imagination, or read Six Ways To Stop Climate Change And Global Warming According To Scientists, for the rest of their suggestions. Drought A group of scientists say they have detected the fingerprint of human-driven global warming on patterns of drought and moisture across the world dating as far back as 1900. This is reportedly the first time researchers have identified resulting long-term global effects on the water supplies that feed crops and cities. The scientists documented drying of soils across North America, central America, Eurasia and the Mediterranean, while other areas, including the Indian subcontinent, have become wetter. They say the trends will continue, with severe consequences for humans. The study, Twentieth-century hydroclimate changes consistent with human influence, which appeared this week in the journal Nature, asserts that in the first half of the century (19001949), a signal of greenhouse-gas-forced change is robustly detectable. The scientists used tree rings dating back 600 to 900 years to estimate soil moisture trends before human-produced greenhouse gases began rising and compared that data with 20th-century tree rings and modern instrumental observations to see if they could pick out drought patterns matching those predicted by computer models. Multiple observational datasets and reconstructions using data from tree rings confirm that human activities were probably affecting the worldwide risk of droughts as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, the study states. Past columns: Topics California USA Wildfire Climate Change Parsippany, New Jersey-based CRC Group, a nationwide wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products, has acquired Argenia LLC, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based managing general agent (MGA) and surplus lines broker. Founded in 1976, Argenia currently operates in more than 10 states with numerous specialty programs. CRC Group said the addition of Argenia complements the groups capabilities in Arkansas and the surrounding region and builds on a previous acquisition made in Arkansas by CRC Group last year. In the short-term, Argenia will continue to operate under the companys current brand with the same underwriters and the same contact information. Over the coming months, CRC will work to fully integrate the operations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Source: CRC Group Topics Mergers Insurance Wholesale Weeks after a massive fire at a Houston-area petrochemical storage facility garnered national attention, a panel of state lawmakers heard dueling testimony Monday night on a bill that would strengthen state oversight of above-ground tanks that hold petroleum products and hazardous chemicals. Freshman state Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, authored Senate Bill 1446. It would require Texas environmental regulatory agency to develop and enforce standards for the design and operation of larger storage tanks in areas vulnerable to flooding and hurricanes to ensure that they dont float away or otherwise fail. Government regulation of storage tanks came roaring back into the spotlight last month when a leak at a Deer Park tank farm owned by Intercontinental Terminals Company sparked a massive fire that spread to almost a dozen more holding drums. There are thousands in the Houston area alone all sizes, usually made of steel plates welded together. State lawmakers already had been studying oversight of tanks after Hurricane Harvey, when at least 15 drums holding crude oil, gasoline and other hydrocarbons ruptured or malfunctioned. (A Texas Tribune investigation published a year before Harvey detailed research on the vulnerability and patchy government oversight of storage tanks.) A December report by the Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee didnt make explicit recommendations but said lawmakers should move to ensure that storage tank designs along the Texas coast are protective of human health. At a hearing of another Senate panel Monday night, officials from environmental and citizen groups, as well as the city of Houston and Harris County, told lawmakers that the current standards fall far short of that goal. But officials from industry groups told the Water and Rural Affairs Committee that they are more than sufficient. Loren Raun, the chief environmental science officer for the Houston Health Department, told the committee that the ITC fire would have been extinguished quicker and probably not allowed to spread to additional tanks if there had been standards in place for what kind of water pressure firefighters can use when addressing blazes at tanks. Currently, large, above-ground storage tanks dont have performance standards, and while the tanks can be inspected for basics, theres clearly a need for performance standards to prevent the kind of disasters exemplified recently, she said. And Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen, who noted she worked in the oil and gas industry for 18 years before going to work for the county, said that theres not necessarily a regulatory agency coming in and performing inspections. Until something occurs or a complaint comes in, those things arent looked at, she said. Cyrus Reed, interim and conservation director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, noted that there are stricter regulations for underground storage tanks. But Don Lewis, an attorney representing the Texas Pipeline Association, said its unfair to characterize storage tanks as unregulated. There are plenty of laws on the books against pollution, so we have incentive and we work very hard to prevent spills and accidents, he said. Sam Gammage, general counsel for the Texas Chemical Council, said it could cost as much as $1.6 million to retrofit one tank with the kind of roofs that are known to withstand floodwater. Cory Pomeroy, vice president and general counsel at the Texas Oil and Gas Association, argued that the bill was outside the purview of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality because it imposes construction standards rather than environmental ones. He said those are adequately set by the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group he described as the preeminent standard-setting entity for the oil and natural gas industry. Johnson, who proposed the bill, emphasized that it would require TCEQ to hold public hearings and gather input from the stakeholders as it crafts regulations. Im just not seeing what the panic is about, he said. The TCEQ is not known for being a hostile, left-wing organization. Theyre going to do a good job, and I trust them. Several high-ranking Republicans on the committee, including its chairman, Lubbock Republican Charles Perry, expressed support for strengthening oversight while making it clear they dont want to harm the oil and gas industry. I do want to make sure we dont make this overly burdensome, said Larry Taylor of Friendswood. But we do need some legitimate standards. Perry didnt call for a vote on the bill before the committee adjourned Monday night. This story originally ran in The Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/29/after-houston-chemical-fires-texas-senators-eye-storage-tank-regulatio/. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Topics Texas Legislation Energy Oil Gas Pollution Politics Nine individuals and business owners have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a large-scale organized scheme to defraud insurance companies out of more than $600,000 in fraudulent insurance claims, according to a statement from Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis. The arrests came after a year-long joint insurance fraud investigation dubbed Operation Rubicon that included fraud detectives with the Florida Department of Financial Services, the Miami-Dade Police Department and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundles office. The joint fraud investigation was initiated after several insurance companies notified authorities of suspected fraudulent residential insurance claims in the South Florida and Tampa areas. Detectives believe that The Rubicon Group, a public adjusting company owned by Barbara Maria Gonzalez, committed organized fraud and grand theft. Gonzalez allegedly utilized the services of unscrupulous Florida companies, including water mitigation and restoration companies, insurance agencies and agents, appraisers, and willing homeowners to allegedly commit the fraud, DFS said. The investigation remains open and ongoing and more arrests are expected. Patronis joined Rundle and Miami-Dade Police Department Director Juan J. Perez to announce the arrests at a press conference on Tuesday. Today, we arrested nine individuals who are the ringleaders of an elaborate fraud scheme, with more arrests to come, Patronis said. Those arrested include: Barbara Maria Gonzalez Rafael Exposito Rigoberto Lopez Ricardo Alvarez Jose Gonzalez Romy Valdespino Rodriguez Alessandra Kruger Alicia Pardey Ricardo Tello Rundle said on her Twitter page that 26 homeowners had been identified as participating in the scheme and would be arrested in the coming days. She added all will face RICO charges and, if convicted, could face up to 30 years in prison. All involved homeowners and fraud organizers who feel this is an easy crime will face justice, Rundle said in a statement. Patronis said DFS is expanding its insurance fraud investigative efforts to protect Florida as part of the Fraud Free Florida initiative. I will not stand by and let Floridians pay for higher insurance rates because of criminals gaming the system, he said. Source: Florida Department of Financial Services Topics Florida Fraud South Carolina lawmakers are considering another proposal to improve ridesharing safety. A bill that would create a new misdemeanor crime of impersonating a rideshare driver was approved Tuesday by a House subcommittee. Anyone convicted would face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. There probably isnt enough time for the measure to pass before the session ends May 9. In a better position to make it is a bill passed last week requiring Uber and Lyft drivers to display a sign with their license tag number on the front of their vehicles. The proposals were prompted by the death of 21-year-old University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson. Police say Josephson was killed in March after getting in the car of someone posing as an Uber driver. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation South Carolina Sharing Economy Ridesharing Prime Property & Casualty Insurance Inc. has entered the New Mexico commercial auto market as an admitted carrier specializing in insurance for distressed and substandard risks. PPCI offers the capacity to insure any commercial auto risk class with adverse account experiences such as unsatisfactory loss experience, poor driving records or lack of insurance history. PPCI uses a partnership approach with its producers, based on customized underwriting, claims handling and risk management to help insure commercial auto owners, employers and operators that are having difficult finding coverage for their vehicles and drivers because of imperfect histories or atypical business arrangements. PPCI offers coverage for the full spectrum of commercial auto risk classes, including trucking, taxi cabs, towing, waste hauling and paratransit operations, despite circumstances like adverse loss experiences, poor SAFER scores, hazardous cargo, prior insurance cancelations and more. PPCI handles claims in-house through its Claims Direct Access (CDA) service. Topics Auto Commercial Lines Business Insurance New Markets Property Property Casualty Casualty Mexico As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information May 2, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Building a mine is a succession of confidence-building steps. In the initial phases of exploration, when land is staked, samples are taken (channel, rock, chip) and surveys (geochemical and geophysical) are conducted, junior resource investors have a low level of confidence in the project. There may be good potential, based on historical exploration, and geological theories on the mineralization that lies beneath, but investing in the company and its project at this point is highly risky. Nothing has even been drilled yet. Mining kept simple is: What's in the ground? What's it going to cost to get it out? What can I sell it for? Drilling is the best proof a mine developer has of confirming its theories. A drill that intercepts mineralization has just removed the first layer of doubt in the minds of investors: there is in fact something of potential value. Once assays are taken from the initial drill core, investors are given the first picture of its potential. Drill core gives us a sense of how economic this mine property could be. How economic will depend on many factors, to name a few: the grades, the extent of the mineralization, scalability of the project and nearby, or not, infrastructure. A company that believes they have stumbled upon something big, can then move on to the next phase: a resource estimate. Releasing a resource estimate is usually the first move a junior makes to put its project on an investor's radar. Bigger, of course, is always better, although other factors come into play as to whether the resource estimate will ever have a hope of becoming a mine. Some of these include the jurisdiction (is it in mine-friendly Nevada, or a small African republic with a history of expropriating mines?), the weather, access to infrastructure needed for mining (roads, railways, power, water, disposal options), the surrounding population (those with competing rights or interests in the land, such as indigenous people, farmers, ranchers, etc.), and the environment (is the terrain subject to landslides, flooding, earthquakes? Are there species at risk? The RE answers the question, "What's in the ground? The next step, a preliminary economic assessment, goes further and addresses "What's it going to cost to get it out?" The PEA is an extremely important piece of early documentation that separates "fact from fiction". The PEA gets into the mining methods, the costs per tonne of extracting and processing the ore, a price range for the mined commodity(ies) - and internal rate of return - a metric used to estimate the future profitability of an investment. IRR is the number that investors look at to determine whether they are likely to receive a high enough return by investing in this particular project versus another. If a junior passes this step, it's on to a prefeasibility study, or just prefeas, in industry parlance. Here the junior needs to prove out, in greater detail, what was said in the PEA, the prefeas confirms extraction costs and what the miner gets when it sells the product. The prefeas may involve further drilling to confirm the resource estimate, upgrading resources to reserves, or refinements on the mineralogy (where the minerals are at what accumulation) and metallurgy. A successful prefeas at least confirms or, hopefully, betters the PEA. It pins down what would be the best mining method and the most efficient way of processing the ore (ie. at lowest cost) to receive the best price for the product(s), which may be further refined into end-products. These first five steps of a mine always present multiple entry points for an investor to get into a company and its project. The discovery stage is when the risk, but also the potential returns on capital invested, an investors rewards, might be highest. The PEA and prefeas stages are also great catalysts in that, if the numbers add up, the project is de-risked enough that a partner might come in and help finance the mine to completion, earn its way in through a joint venture, or buying the project (or even the company) outright. The junior may also decide it has the funds and the expertise to build a mine, without outside help. Although this is rare, since mine construction usually requires hundreds of millions in capital expenditures, some well-backed juniors are able to function as stand-alone entities and go mining. This article will take a deep dive into Ahead of the Herd's top pick in the lithium space - Cypress Development Corp (TSX-V:CYP) - in order to show readers how a potential mine, in this case the Clayton Valley Lithium Project - is successfully de-risked. Step 1. Claims acquisition Three and a half years ago Cypress began prospecting in the Clayton Valley, hoping to find a property that could support a lithium carbonate resource to compete with or possibly complement its neighbor, Albemarle's Silver Peak Mine, whose lithium brine grades are declining. Silver Peak is the only operating lithium mine in the US. Cypress' former head geologist noticed that some of claims on the south flank of an outcrop known as Angel Island had not been staked, and those that had been, had elapsed. Cypress wasted no time in acquiring two adjoining land packages located in Esmeralda County: the 1,520-acre Glory property and the 2,700-acre Dean property. Step 2. Resource estimate Seismic data from a technical report indicated favorable lithium brine exploration targets along the western and west central portions of Cypress' Glory property. With geological data in hand and two prospective properties acquired, Cypress started taking surface samples in September 2016. The samples returned results ranging from 340 parts per million (ppm) lithium (chemical symbol Li) to 2,940 ppm. The first stage of a 2017 drill program involving nine core holes in the claystone delivered average grades of 900 ppm, or 0.48% LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent), throughout an average thickness of 76 meters starting from just below surface. In January 2018 Cypress completed the first five holes of a second-stage 12 to 14-hole program. The assays from the last two drill holes showed the mineralization continuing about 2.4 miles long and 1.2 miles wide across the Dean property. The fourth of five holes averaged 1,206 ppm over 88.4 meters while the fifth hole ended in three meters of 912 ppm. The 23-hole drill program concluded in the spring of 2018; the highlight was an intersection of 97 meters averaging 1,144 ppm Li in the final hole. A maiden resource estimate (RE) appeared on SEDAR on June 11. The report showed 1.3 billion tonnes containing 6.2 million tonnes of LCE, including 3.287 million tonnes LCE in the indicated category and 2.916MT LCE inferred. The RE was later upgraded in the PEA - see below. The deposit remains open at depth, with 21 of 23 holes ending in lithium mineralization, meaning the drills have plenty of room to run in expanding the resource. Step 3. Metallurgy The size of a lithium deposit is of limited value if the metallurgy doesn't work. Importantly CYP's deposit contains non-hectorite clay, meaning the process to separate the lithium from the clay is simpler and less costly than clay containing hectorite. The company has shown that lithium can be extracted from the claystones using a flowsheet whereby recoveries of around 80% can be achieved in short leach times (4 to 8 hours) using conventional dilute sulfuric acid leaching. The amount of sulfuric acid reagent needed is relatively low, and being able to leach the lithium with acid avoids more costly processing associated historically with other claystone deposits, specifically those needing high-temperature roasting. Next steps will include more testing to demonstrate that lithium products can be reliably produced. This will entail further bench-scale testing, followed by a larger bulk test using a pilot plant which CEO Bill Willoughby says they are planning. Step 4: PEA The detailed PEA released in June, 2018 showed an attractive net present value of $1.45 billion at an 8% discount rate, yielding an internal rate of return (after tax) of 32.7%. Payback is just under three years. The IRR is predicated on a lithium carbonate price of $13,000 a tonne, based upon a market study by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a trusted lithium industry research firm. The proposed mine would produce an average 24,042 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year, and have a minelife of 40 years. The mine would be neither a hard-rock nor a lithium brine operation, but rather, would process the lithium from clays in Nevada's Clayton Valley by leaching with sulfuric acid. The IRR is all the more impressive considering that Cypress only spent a million dollars in exploration. What's more, the present resource increased 39% from the original resource estimate. The Clayton Valley Lithium Project now has a 1.8 billion-tonne- resource, hosting a combined (indicated and inferred) 8.9 million tonnes of LCE. This breaks down to 3.835 million tonnes of LCE in the indicated category, and 5.126 million tonnes of LCE in the inferred category (or for easy math, about two-thirds are inferred and one-third is indicated). The grades are 867 parts per million (ppm) indicated and 860 ppm inferred, based on a 300 ppm Li cutoff grade. The initial pit shell in the PEA contains about 500 million tonnes of claystone, more than enough to last Cypress 40 years of mining at the rate of 5.5 million tonnes per year. Cypress' PEA has a capex of just under half a billion ($482 million), $110 million of which will go into a building a sulfuric acid plant. The processing method - "the flowsheet' - involves evaporation, purification and crystallization to produce high-grade lithium carbonate free of impurities like magnesium. The plan is to use the agitated tank leaching method, this emulsifies the clay, putting it into a solution to which sulfuric acid is added, thus leaching out the lithium. Processing costs are estimated at just under $4,000 per tonne of lithium carbonate ($3983/tonne) compared to around $5,000 a tonne for hard rock mining. The mine would churn cash of $150 million to $200 million a year for the next four decades. At the end of the day, the aim is to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, on site, for sale to end users. "The metrics off the PEA were, in my opinion, very good for a project that size, and with a long life," Cypress' CEO Bill Willoughby told Ahead of the Herd over the phone on Monday. Willoughby noted that 15,000 tonnes of material a day can be moved at low cost. This is due in part to the lithium-bearing clay being at surface and having virtually no stripping ratio. At $2 a tonne, the cost of mining the clay is a fraction of the cost of the sulfuric acid needed to process it into lithium carbonate. Indeed, a full one-quarter of the $482 million capex represents the acid plant. Acid plant A sulfuric acid plant converts molten sulfur into sulfuric acid. The PEA economics presume that sulfuric acid will be used as a reagent to convert lithium into lithium carbonate. It takes one tonne of sulfur to make three tonnes of sulfuric acid. That means about 700 tonnes of sulfur would be trucked in daily to produce 2,000 tonnes of sulfuric acid per day. There is also the potential to sell excess sulfuric acid and generate more revenue that way - further bringing down its costs per tonne - while generating electricity from the acid plant to recover power costs. Excess acid could be sold locally to large consumers and if a co-generation facility were built in, it could provide enough carbon-free electricity to power the entire project with excess power being sold to the grid. However, it's important to note that Cypress does not depend on acid sales to be profitable ie. the $3,983 per tonne cost figure does not factor in any acid sales (or for that matter any by-product credits, that is a stand alone lithium cost figure). Water Lithium brine operations use a lot of water. Just ask Albemarle and SQM who are fighting over water rights to the Salar de Atacama they share in Chile. Cypress has negotiated a plan to access enough water for the project and Willoughby doesn't expect it to be a problem. The Clayton Valley Lithium Project expects to use between 1,000 and 2,000 acre-feet per year of makeup water; the amount depends on the final water balance to be determined in the prefeas. The PEA includes a segment outlining a joint-venture agreement between Cypress and Dajin Resources Corp (TSX-V:DJI) including water rights applied for by Dajin at its neighboring Alkali Spring Valley Lithium Property. If the prefeas follows this concept, and the application is successful, water from Alkali Spring Valley would be piped about 13 kilometers to the project in Clayton Valley. Step 5: Prefeasibility study The PEA was all about showing what is possible at the Clayton Valley Lithium Project, with Cypress having hired an independent consultant to crunch the numbers. But the numbers are, as the P'in PEA states, preliminary. The next step is a prefeasibility study (PFS) that will improve the accuracy of those figures. Institutional investors and financiers need to know that CYP's numbers are solid and that they can deliver on what the report says they can do. A PFS is expected out in the next two to three months. As mentioned, a prefeas is meant to confirm the numbers that have been presented in the PEA, or better them. But according to Willoughby, just matching the PEA is enough to move the project forward to the next step, a bankable feasibility study. "I'll be happy if the prefeas comes out right where the PEA had it," he says. "We may be looking at different production rates to see whether the economics are better if we go up or down from that 24,000-tonne a year LCE number, but the PEA numbers were strong for a project of this scale." To complete the PFS, Cypress is envisioning two phases: initial metallurgical testing to confirm the PEA numbers (already done) and a second phase involving in-fill drilling and testing the flow sheet, with the goal of demonstrating a viable process exists to make lithium carbonate. "That involves upgrading some of that resource number to a reserve category, and also looking at all of the flowsheet, determining the critical points in the flowsheet, testing those, and making sure we've got the reagent consumption, the processing rates, and recoveries right. The last step is updating the capital and operating costs and inputting all that back into the economic model," says Willoughby. The completion of the PFS first phase confirmed that lithium can be acid-leached to between 75% and 83% extraction with sulfuric acid consumption of between 85 and 132 kilograms per tonne in line with the 125 kg/t estimated in the PEA. The tests also showed impurities such as magnesium - which can significantly increase the complexity and costs of processing lithium, are controlled through conventional processing. Listen to an Ahead of the Herd interview with Bill Willoughby , explaining what was achieved in the first stage of the PFS. Saleable products The next stage of the prefeas is to produce lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide in forms that can be marketed to end users. "We're going to take clay out of the ground at a bulk rate and process it by agitated tank leaching, and then recover the lithium out of the solution. There are few moving parts in terms of picking up material, moving it, and setting it down. That, to me, is a key principle to having an operation that has low operating costs," Willoughby said. He added: "All we have to do is demonstrate a project of size based on lithium. We can do that. We've got a tremendous resource. The drilling that we just completed backs that up. We have other potential credits in the way of by-products and energy from sulfuric acid generation, but our goal is to have the project stand on its own merit based on lithium." Infill drilling The drilling Willoughby is referring to is described in an April 23 news release. Assay results were given for six holes drilled in the southwest portion of the pit area, that is expected to be the source of the project's first production. The goal of the infill drilling program was to define an area of relative higher-grade lithium, upgrade the resource categories, and provide the tonnage for the PFS mine plan and production schedule. The program also provided fresh material for geotechnical and ongoing metallurgical testing. According to Willoughby, infill drilling was an important part of the PFS, telling Ahead of the Herd: "The whole project relies on being able to mine a certain grade of resource, and the idea of an infill program is to confirm that your resource model is correct and that you've got an adequate drill spacing and understanding of the deposits. Our drill program was designed for that. We went in between two known drill holes in the resource model that had indicated that we had some of the better grade material around them. We hit six for six on all holes. Every hole had better than 1,100 ppm throughout and good intervals of thickness, ranging from 50 to 85-plus meters, and the program was quite successful in proving that we have continuity and grade there. With that in hand, we are going to be able to update the resource model, and probably wind up with measured, as well as indicated resources." Why is that important? Recall one of the key elements of a prefeasibility study is upgrading resources to reserves. Inferred resources are considered waste material, in terms of cash flow, within a prefeasibility study. Successful infill drilling gives a mine developer confidence that they will be able to convert the resource into measured and indicated resource categories, which can then be turned into proven and probable (P&P) reserves in the course of the PFS. And that, in turn, makes it possible for a company to optimize the mine plan - in Cypress' case, refining the PEA production schedule which assumed mining within the starter pit at a rate of 5.5 million tonnes per year. "You always want to go to the best place in the deposit to the mine first, and get the best grade into the cash flow model that you can, and that's what we've been doing by focusing in on one area of deposit with the infill drilling program," says Willoughby. Cypress doesn't yet know how much the results of the infill drilling will upgrade the resources, but Willoughby says he expects they will: "For the most part, where we outlined that 500-million-ton pit for the PEA, quite a bit of that was already in the indicated category. The drilling likely upgraded some inferred material in the pit to indicated, I'm sure of that. I can't tell you how much, but the more important thing is, now we have the confidence that we should be able to convert those resources in a PFS into reserves." "As it stands, we're going to be able to flesh out a production schedule, be it 5 million tonnes a year or more, in the course of the PFS." There's even a chance of shaving some dollars off the estimated $4,000 per tonne operating cost from the PEA, if the new, higher-grade material from the starter pit, is fed into the future mill: "You do expect to see a change in the operating cost as you mine higher grade and you have certain costs such as acid consumption which are fixed costs per tonne," says Willoughby. "So, if we're sitting at around 125 kilograms per ton of sulfuric acid consumption, but you up the grade, say, by 20%, then you'd expect your operating cost to drop proportionately." Summing up the infill drill program, Willoughby says it wasn't really necessary to do it for the PFS considering the amount of indicated resources they had already had from the PEA. But he's pleased with the results. "We did have a lot of indicated tons to begin with, but it was a good step to go ahead and do the [infill] drilling. We have outlined an area of a higher-grade material that we can bring into the production schedule now, and we should see some good results come out of the mine model. Those are all positives." Pilot plant Looking further ahead to a bankable feasibility study (BFS) - the highest level of certainty in developing a mine - before permitting and actual construction - one of the most important milestones for Cypress will be constructing a pilot plant. The goal would be to produce lithium carbonate and/ or lithium hydroxide right on site, in the Clayton Valley. So far, Willoughby is confident they'll be able to do that, considering that phase one of the prefeas confirmed that lithium can be acid-leached at a recovery rate of around 80%. "We did produce a high-grade evaporated concentrate that was running better than 4,000 ppm lithium, and it had low impurities, and from that, we're confident we can go to either lithium hydroxide or carbonate," he said. As for the details on the pilot plant, it's a little too early to say, but the CEO let on it would likely be in the cost range of $2-3 million, processing a bulk sample of between 100 and 1,000 tonnes of material. A relatively small pilot plant could be set up a long distance away, whereas something larger would have to be built within close proximity to the project. Willoughby said they've already identified a couple of locations that have power, a water supply and tailings disposal. Metallurgy Recall that Cypress has shown that lithium can be extracted from the claystones using a flowsheet whereby recoveries of around 80% can be achieved in short leach times (4 to 8 hours) via sulfuric acid leaching. More metallurgical testing is planned, with the results expected to be included in the prefeas. About 60 gallons of leachate that Cypress has produced is being sent to several labs for testing: "We're going to do more work on the base case of purification, evaporation, and crystallization steps, as well as look at ion exchange. Those are the steps for lithium production in that part of the flowsheet that we're looking at." says Willoughby. Another aspect of metallurgical testing will be to test the material drawn from the infill drilling, to see if it has the same leachable characteristics as previously found claystone. Geotechnical Along with infill drilling, Cypress has also, in completing phase two of the PFS, been collecting samples for geotechnical testing. The first reason is to confirm that the starter pit slope is correct - not a big deal considering CYP is only planning on carving about an 80-meter-deep pit. The second reason is to test the stability of the ground in areas that Cypress wants to build structures. As luck would have it, within a property where the great majority of material is soft claystone, the location Cypress would want to build a plant site happens to be on bedrock. In the above section on "Step 1: Claims Acquisition" I mentioned an outcrop called Angel Island, that Cypress staked. The outcrop is a blend of Cambrian sedimentary rock that juts from the claystone-rich valley. Perfect for placing foundations on. "Angel Island is a prime piece of high ground for building a plant site. I've been quite happy that that's in our land holdings," says Willoughby. Conclusion That's a good way to end this update on Cypress and its Clayton Valley Lithium Project. I asked Bill Willoughby what he thinks could happen to CYP after the prefeasibility is released, in two to three months. He had two points to make. First, the prefeas puts more reliable numbers to those outlined in the PEA. That lowers the risk and perks up the ears of a potential lending partner. "A PFS should be able to get us that sort of confidence and metrics in terms of the economics, that we would be able to interest, say, a joint venture partner of size or get financial backing on our own to carry it forward," says Willoughby. Second, a PFS gives the company options. Does Cypress want to keep the operation small, and stickhandle the entire process going forward, including mine building? Or does the PFS entertain the idea of a very large mine that would entail some kind of partnership with a mining company, battery manufacturer or other lithium end user? "The PFS is a confidence builder in de-risking the project for whatever the future holds, whether we do it ourselves, or whether somebody comes in and wants to work with us," says Willoughby. In other words, Cypress management is flexible and the project, size and production is scalable. Cypress is sitting on a massive potential lithium mine and the company is smartly taking all the right steps to de-risk it. The impressive resource estimate and PEA, both released last year, should have significantly boosted the stock price. Yet, in our opinion, it is still outrageously undervalued at $0.22 a share. It also needs to be stressed, Cypress is the only advanced lithium project in North America without a strategic partner or offtake agreement. Obtaining either following a successful PFS, would be a significant catalyst for a market re-evaluation. Cypress Development Corp TSX-V:CYP Cdn$0.22 April 30 OTCQB:CYDVF Shares Outstanding 73.2m Market cap Cdn$16.1m Cypress Development Corp website Richard (Rick) Mills aheadoftheherd.com Ahead of the Herd Twitter Ahead of the Herd FaceBook Legal Notice / Disclaimer This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified. Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report. Cypress Development Corp (TSX.V:CYP), is an advertiser on Richard's site aheadoftheherd.com. Richard owns shares of CYP More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp 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."\ GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) forecast that 2019 sales of its shingles vaccine would be more than 1bn (1.1bn) but the drugmakers shares slipped on concerns about its pharmaceutical business and free cash flow. Shingrix, the shingles vaccine launched in 2017, is an important source of growth for chief executive Emma Walmsley, as she strives to improve GSKs commercial performance after streamlining its operations and spinning off or selling units. Shingrix has delivered another fantastic performance in the quarter, Ms Walmsley said on a media call. The company said it expected sales of the vaccine to be significantly more than 1bn in 2019. GSK employs around 1,700 people in Dungarvan, Cork and Dublin, but is in the process of closing s site in Sligo. The strength in its vaccines unit, whose sales rose 20% in the quarter to the end of March, comes at a time when some of GSKs major drugs face generic competition. Ms Walmsley, who took over as CEO of GSK in 2017, has been looking to reenergise the drugmakers pharmaceutical business, its biggest unit, buying US cancer specialist Tesaro for $5.1bn (4.5bn) and giving it a presence in the oncology market. They are really refocusing into oncology and thats going to take some time to make that transition so I think its going to be a difficult time for the pharma business, said John Rountree, a partner at Novasecta, a biopharma consulting firm, adding that the vaccine business is growing. GSK shares closed almost 1% lower, with traders pointing to the companys respiratory drug sales, which came in at 631m, below analysts estimate of 651m. Also, weighing on the stock was a 50% drop in free cash flow. - Reuters The expansion of Londons Heathrow Airport inched closer 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 UK governments transport minister acted unlawfully when he approved the expansion of Europes 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 south-east of England. If finally opened, it will be the first full-length runway built in the London area for 70 years. Prime Minister Theresa Mays government has argued that expansion will show Britain is open for business and able to develop stronger trading ties with Asia after it leaves the EU 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. 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, Mr McDonnell said on Twitter. The airport, which is jointly owned by Spains Ferrovial, the Qatar Investment Authority, China Investment Corporation and other investment companies, is in Mr McDonnells constituency. The expansion plan, endorsed by parliament last year, is forecast to cost around 14bn (16.2bn). Under the current plan, the third runway is expected to become operational by 2026. - Reuters 100 new jobs are being created by technology company JRI America in Co Kerry. The group will create the roles over the next five years at its Technology Centre in Tralee. Japan Research Institute Ltd (JRI) is a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) which in turn is part of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), Japan's second-largest bank by market capitalization. In Ireland, SMFG/SMBC employs over 300 staff in five separate operations, including JRI America which established its centre in Tralee in 2011. As @JriAmerica announce the expansion of its IT Centre in #Tralee, here's an extract from a video we created in 2017. You can watch the complete video at https://t.co/87gpKOTnX1 #InvestInKerry #WhyIreland pic.twitter.com/WX3USB7GH8 IDA Ireland (@IDAIRELAND) May 2, 2019 The company is hiring 25 people to work across its security operations, while the additional roles will be created within the company's testing, data and helpdesk operations. Speaking today in Tralee, Managing Director & General Manager, CIO Americas and EMEA and President & COO JRI America, Inc. Michael ODea said: Today's announcement of the commencement of operations in our Security Operations Centre in Tralee is a welcome addition providing additional roles necessary to our Cybersecurity capability. Minister of State Brendan Griffin said: The jobs created by JRI America, Inc. continue to contribute positively to our rural communities and to the strengthening and diversification of the wider economy of Kerry. I welcome todays announcement that JRI America, Inc. will continue to focus on supporting jobs in this region steadily over the next 5 years. IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said it was "an excellent announcement" which will be of substantial benefit to the local and regional economy. Law firm Comyn Kelleher Tobin (CKT) has become the first Irish law practise to welcome legal mental health charity LawCare to speak to all employees solicitors, legal executives and support staff. LawCare is a registered charity that promotes and supports good mental health and wellbeing across the legal community in the UK and Ireland with a helpline, peer support network and other resources. Uncertainty again faces 3,600 jobs at Bombardier in Belfast after the Canadian planemaker said it had put up for sale facilities across the city. The planemaker has a long-established manufacturing plant in east Belfast, once known as Shorts, as well as three other sites and has long been a mainstay of manufacturing in the North. Despite shedding jobs in recent months, it is still one of the regions largest private sector employers and its supply chain involves contracts across Ireland. But with the outcome of Brexit for the North still far from certain, potential buyers for the Belfast facilities remains uncertain. The Belfast plants faced a huge threat in 2017 but Bombardiers agreement with European planemaker Airbus to a stake of just over 50% in its troubled C-Series jet programme, now renamed the A220, had appeared to lift a huge cloud over the Belfast facilities. Belfast, which makes the wings for the jet then faced a new threat after the A220 was caught up in the trade dispute between the US and the EU. In an earnings statement from Montreal, Bombardier said it was seeking to sell its Belfast and Morocco aero operations, which is described as businesses with tremendous capabilities. We are recognised as a global leader in aerostructures, with unique end-to-end capabilities through design and development, testing and manufacture, to after-market support. Bombardier is committed to finding the right buyer one that will operate responsibly and help us achieve our full growth potential, it said. Bombardier said: We understand that this announcement may cause concern among our employees, but we will be working closely with them and our unions as matters progress, and through any future transition period to a new owner. There are no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, but our management team will continue to drive ongoing transformation initiatives to improve productivity and increase our competitiveness, to give more weight to our unique value proposition to potential buyers, it said. Trade unions said that they would seek assurances from Bombardier over its plans. Our members, and their families, have already suffered a terrible year. After months of uncertainty following Trumps tariffs, they were then hit with news of 490 job losses, and now this. "Bombardier jobs are absolutely vital to Northern Irelands economy and its time workers were treated with the respect they deserve, said GMB union organiser Michael Mulholland. Jackie Pollock, Unites regional secretary in Ireland, said that Unite will be seeking assurances from Bombardier and the government around this process. UK Business Secretary Greg Clark said: Bombardiers commitment to Short Brothers has transformed the business, housing the state-of-art A220 wing factory, formerly the C-Series, with a healthy order book of over 500, he said. The Belfast plant, its expertise and its highly skilled and dedicated staff will be highly sought after. The government will work with potential buyers to take this successful and ambitious business forward. Irish Examiner/PA WeWork gets a lot of headlines for its breakneck expansion into new markets, and now it is planning to go public. Yet the nine-year-old company faces stiff competition in Europe from established work-space providers. The number of serviced and co-working offices across Europe has ballooned by 200% in the last five years, according to a report by real estate broker Colliers International. WeWork has helped to drive this growth: It has 50 locations in London and has added sites, in places from Manchester to Moscow and Dublin. The IPO is a great milestone in the evolution of the flexible work-space scene, said Tom Sleigh, head of consultancy on the industry at Colliers. Its a signal to other operators that theyre able to expand, he said. While WeWork initially rose with an explosion of startups, big companies are increasingly seeking more flexible offices, too. Corporate clients now make up a third of WeWorks customers. IWG, which owns the Regus brand, has traditionally catered to corporate customers. Today, we released our first Global Impact Report, which showcases the economic ripple effect of communities pursuing their purpose around the world. Here's to those who do heroic work every day and exemplify the We movement. Find out more at https://t.co/7j3I9mJec9. #wework pic.twitter.com/gTPMDoADTO WeWork (@WeWork) April 29, 2019 WeWork and IWG account for about 78% of the European market for flexible work-space, Colliers data show. WeWork had about 600,000 square metres (6.5 million square feet) of office space in Europe at the end of 2018. That put it ahead of IWG, whose Spaces brand is more closely comparable to WeWork venues than the traditional serviced offices operated by its Regus unit. IWG is considering selling Spaces. A growing list of local operators are now battling WeWork and IWG for market share. Blackstones The Office Group and Germanys Design Offices are at the front of the chasing pack. Each of the firms has about 80,000 square metres of flexible office space. In many major European markets, including London and Paris, smaller, local players collectively account for a majority of the flexible office space market, according to the report. WeWorks IPO, and the financial information it discloses in the process could prove useful to its rivals, Mr Sleigh said. - Reuters Ryanair has today launched a new route from Dublin to Kiev in the Ukraine. Flights will operate twice a week as part of the airline's Summer 2019 schedule. A barber has been ordered by a judge to pay damages of 62,000 to a well-known barbershop chain for styling his hairdressing shop as part of the brand he had ended a five-year franchise agreement with. Judge Petria McDonnell told Greg Coleman in the Circuit Civil Court that his barbershop was a complete copy of the well-known Boston Barbers brand of shops he had decided to break away from. Mr Coleman had been sued by Les Duffy, founder of the Boston Barbers franchise company, Boston Brand Bars Limited, who alleged that after quitting the franchise in Cork, Mr Coleman had continued to pass off his shop as part of a chain. Mr Duffy told counsel Hugh OFlaherty that he first agreed a franchise arrangement with Mr Coleman in 2009. He said Mr Coleman had agreed to run a store titled Boston Barbers Blackpool and pay monthly royalties based on income in return for using the brand name identifying his shop as part of the highly successful chain. He told Mr OFlaherty, who appeared with Gaffney Halligan solicitors, that he had met Mr Coleman numerous times to plan the opening of a store in the Blackpool Shopping Centre in Cork city. In 2014, when the franchise agreement was coming to an end, Mr Coleman had told him he was not to renew the franchise agreement. Mr Duffy said that in 2015, Mr Coleman continued to run a barbershop, called Blackpool Barbers, in the same premises, which he claimed breached their agreement stipulating that another hairdressing business could not be run for a period of a year by Mr Coleman after their contract ended. Mr Duffy told the court Mr Coleman used the same trademark signage lettering over his shop with a very distinctive red and white barber pole interlocked in the word Barbers and which was exclusive to the Boston Barbers brand. He said Mr Duffy had changed the name of the shop only slightly to Blackpool Barbers. Judge McDonnell said Mr Colemans actions were contrived, referring to what she said was the fact he had signed his re-named business over to his mother and sister and becoming a director himself believing he was keeping himself within the law. The judge said Mr Coleman had been actively in breach of his franchise agreement by continuing to be involved with a barbershop business despite being legally restricted to not setting up a competing business for a year after any termination of the franchise agreement. Judge McDonnell ordered Mr Coleman pay 45,000 in relation to five years of royalties and a sum of 17,000 for having breached his contract with Boston Brand Bars Limited. Thousands of people across the country are being affected with payment delays due to a European Bank Holiday. All of the main Irish banks have issued statements saying transfers will be processed as soon as they can be. The focus must be on improving rates of family consent when providing an opt-out system of organ donation, the Irish Kidney Association has urged. Health Minister Simon Harris is to publish the general scheme of the Human Tissues Bill that will also provide for an opt-out system of organ donation. Under the proposed new system it will be presumed that people want to donate their organs unless they explicitly opt-out through an online register or their family declines. The IKA said it was already clear that the introduction of an opt-out system could not increase the pool of potential donors so the focus needed to be on improving rates of family consent. It has called for an opt-in register as well as an opt-out register, so instead of asking the family for a decision, the family would be asked to confirm the decision of their loved one. Delighted to see @SimonHarrisTD bringing this Bill before Cabinet, and we look forward to increased public engagement on the topic https://t.co/hRIrM2lcRU Irish Kidney Association (@IrishKidneyAs) May 1, 2019 More specialist nurses for organ donation would be needed and there would have to be a continuous public awareness and education campaign. The IKA said an annual donor audit should be conducted in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the system. It also said a "key misconception" was that a person had to have an organ donor card to be considered a potential organ donor. While the card is an 'ice-breaker' for a family conversation when a potential donor is identified their family is asked for consent for donation anyway. Meanwhile, the seven patient groups that are members of the Irish Donor Network (IDN) also want the proposed change in organ donor consent to be accompanied by the necessary resources. Thank u to my donor for 16 months of new life today.Her generous decision to be an organ donor saved me. In my heart each day,when the fragility of the world is sharp,and in the expanse of my lungs, singing out loud, I feel her. It is an immense privilege to be. #recycleyourself Orla Tinsley (@orlatinsley) April 21, 2019 Funding will have to be provided for an online registry, an awareness programme, the employment of more specialist organ donation and transplant staff the provision or pre and post-transplant rooms. Chairperson of the IDN and chief executive of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, Philip Watt, said while most Irish people were willing to donate organs many had not registered their wish or discussed it with their family. The new system will help to bridge that gap between wishing to do something and actually taking the steps to implement that wish. The seven patient groups represented by IND are the Alpha One Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, COPD Support Ireland, Cystinosis Ireland, the Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association, the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association and the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Ireland. Fianna Fail's two candidates in Ireland South deny that the party's decision to divide the constituency has caused tension between them. Billy Kelleher and Malcolm Byrne, speaking at the party's manifesto launch for the European Elections on May 24, insist that the vote management strategy is being done to maximise the party's chances of winning two seats. At the launch, party leader Micheal Martin said his party is aiming to win at least three of the 13 seats up for grabs on election day. The party is running five candidates in the three constituencies Mr Kelleher and Mr Byrne in Ireland South, Barry Andrews in Dublin and Anne Rabbitte and Brendan Smith in Midlands/Northwest. Mr Martin and the candidates emphasised that, if elected, they would vow to stand up and defend European values in the face of rising Euroscepticism and political extremism. Mr Martin said he believes these are critical elections for the future of the European Union. Others are seeking to undermine the union and are continuing to spread conspiracy theories about EU militarisation. In his most pointed comments, Mr Martin criticised Fine Gael's association with the European People's Party (EPP) which he said has been soft on Viktor Orban's authoritarian administration in Hungary. With a number of TDs standing for election to the EU Parliament, the likelihood of a number of by-elections in November arises, but Mr Martin insisted there is no immediate threat to the stability of the Government in terms of Dail numbers. I love elections, he said. Mr Martin said he is surprised by Leo Varadkar regarding the situation at the morgue at Waterford Hospital because he was essentially undermining the contributions that the doctors made". Billy Kelleher. I think theres a tendency to try to undermine people within our health system who try to raise serious issues, which I worry about. Its not just on this issue, its on other issues. "Theres a certain culture of fear within our health system to speak out for fear that the system will be down on top of you very quickly and thats something I dont like. "There are clearly issues with that mortuary in Waterford University Hospital, theres no point trying to undermine the people articulating the issues on that, theres ongoing correspondence on the issue," he said. Mr Kelleher told reporters that the European elections and local elections running concurrently means that theres a difficulty in getting a strong debate on issues in the EU and Europe, which Rabbitte agreed with strongly. A fisherman has been hospitalised after being injured on a crabbing vessel off the coast of Donegal. The man was fishing 40 miles off the coast of Arranmore Island when the incident occurred just before 10am. Three fishermen have been rescued after their trawler caught fire off the Co. Wicklow coast today. Their 14m trawler caught fire 30 miles east of Arklow and subsequently sank. The volunteer lifeboat crew launched their all-weather lifeboats at 3.46pm following a Mayday relay broadcast. Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 from Waterford was also tasked and multiple vessels in the area responded. The three casualties had evacuated on to their life raft and had transferred to a nearby vessel. The lifeboat crew proceeded to transfer two of the casualties to the lifeboat and administer casualty care while a third casualty was airlifted by Rescue 117 and later brought to hospital for further observation. A tug boat with firefighting capabilities made efforts to put the fire out but the vessel later sank. "Thankfully, all three fishermen were rescued this evening and we would like to wish them all a speedy recovery following what must have been a frightening experience for them," said Arklow RNLI Coxswain Ned Dillon. "We would like to commend the skipper and his crew for doing the right thing and activating the emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) when they knew they were in difficulty, that was the right thing to do. "We would also like to thank and commend the crew of the vessels that were in the area and responded along with ourselves and our colleagues at Wicklow RNLI and in the Irish Coast Guard. Update - May 3, 1.40pm: Angela McGrath/Butler has been located safe and well. May 2 - 5.50pm: Gardai in Waterford are appealing to the public for assistance in tracing the whereabouts of 36-year-old Angela Butler, also known as Angela McGrath, who was last seen in Waterford City on Monday, April 30. When last seen Angela was wearing white runners, blue jeans, a khaki jacket over a grey hooded top, and was carrying a hand bag. She is described as approximately 5ft3 in height with long dark hair. Anyone with information is asked to contact Waterford Garda Station 051-305300 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111. The Government is under fire amid confusion over who will bear the additional costs of directly elected mayors in Cork, Limerick and Waterford. Three weeks out from the plebiscite on the issue in the three cities, Cork City Fianna Fail Cllr, Terry Shannon, said the fact that voters are being given different messages about who will carry the costs of the proposed office, even after town hall-style meetings fronted by the Taoiseach this week, is proof the Government is making this up as they go along. The last time people voted in this kind of vacuum, it was called Brexit, he said. As voters go to the polls on May 24 for the local and European elections, voters in Cork, Limerick and Waterford will also be asked if they approve of the proposal to allow people in these cities to directly elect a mayor with executive functions. If the vote is yes, it is hoped to facilitate the first elections by 2021. The first full five-year term won't kick in until 2024. The 130,000 mayoral salary has been linked to a Minister of State and the mayor would have the right to appoint two advisers. Voter information leaflets say while the precise costs are unknown, the additional costs of the office could range from 313,000 to 450,000 per annum in Cork alone, pushing the full cost of a full five-year term to close to 2.25m. The voter information leaflets say: These estimates do not include possible pension-related costs for the Lord Mayor or two advisors. These costs would be met from Cork City Councils resources." Tanaiste, Simon Coveney, has dismissed the cost concerns, urging voters to focus on the bigger picture of local government reform. But John Paul Phelan, Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform, told a town hall-style meeting on the issue in Cork on Wednesday that any additional costs above the current mayor costs will be met by a 10m annual local government reform fund. Speaking ahead of the launch of his partys yes campaign in Cork tonight, Green Party candidate, Oliver Moran, welcomed the Ministers statement but has asked him for a written commitment. The cost of this is distracting from the main debate. What we are trying to do here is reform local government. "We believe the office is worth the additional money but the cost should be neutral for local authorities. The commitment is very important, but I think a written clarification or additional statement would be the correct channel to provide certainty for the public." Green Party leader Eamon Ryan will be in Cork tonight for the launch of his party's yes campaign. Cork City South-West was thrown wide-open by the changes to its boundary, but also by some internal decisions. In a big shock, two former Lord Mayors of Cork confirmed they would not be seeking re-election in May: Fianna Fails Mary Shields and Fine Gaels John Buttimer both announced their intention to step away from public office. Ms Shields, who was Lord Mayor in 2014, said that the time was right for her to step back from politics, while Mr Buttimer, who has served on the council since being co-opted, in 2007, cited the difficulty of balancing the requirements of work with the duties and expectations of a public representative. The massive expansion of his electoral area would make these duties substantially more demanding. Their decisions have thrown the constituency wide-open, leaving 3,000 first-preference votes up for grabs. Many of these are concentrated in the Bishopstown and Wilton areas, which used to form the heart of the constituency. Previously, securing even half of these votes would have been enough for a quota, but the significant expansion of the local electoral area has left all parties, and non-party candidates, with big questions about tickets and strategies. Unlike in some of the other city districts namely, Cork City South-East, which has very defined strategies for all the bigger parties there are some very busy tickets already in place. Fine Gael set their stall out early, with four candidates selected to run. Cllr PJ Hourican will run again in Cork South-West. He will be hopeful of bettering his tally of first preferences from 2014, when he got just 301. He made it over the line on transfers on the eighth count, taking the fifth seat. Mr Hourican is a veteran councillor, who has served on and off since 1992. Former County Mayor Cllr Derry Canty will join him on the ticket. Representing the Ballincollig end of the constituency, Mr Canty was elected in the 10-seater Ballincollig-Carrigaline municipal area of Cork County Council in 2014 and will be optimistic of repeating that. He was among the most vocal people in discussions of the city extension, nailing his colours to the mast as the Ballincollig candidate some time ago. Joining Mr Hourican and Mr Canty on the ticket are first-time candidate, Sinead Ronan, representing the city end of the constituency, and Garrett Kelleher, who missed out on a seat on Cork County Council by just a dozen votes in 2014. It is a strong statement by Fine Gael to target four of the seven seats in the expanded local electoral area, but they have form. In 2014, two of their five sitting councillors were elected in the south-west. In each of 2009 and 2004, they snagged two of the seats. Cork City South-West local election posters for Colette Finn and Thomas Kiely. Picture: Dan Linehan The strategy of splitting candidates between the city end and the Ballincollig end of the ward is replicated by all the major parties. Fianna Fail will have city councillor and former Deputy Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy running again. Mr Dennehy will be seeking to collect his vote from the Togher end of the constituency and will be optimistic about securing some of the Wilton and Bishopstown votes left spare by the retirement of Mary Shields. He is joined on a three-strong ticket by county councillor Daithi O Donnabhain and businessman Colm Kelleher, of Kellehers Tyres, both of whom are from the Ballincollig end of the ward. It is widely expected that a fourth candidate will be added, if someone in the Bishopstown or Wilton area is available to secure many of the votes formerly intended for Mary Shields. Sinn Fein, too, has adopted that same approach for sorting out their ticket. Cllr Henry Cremin, a Bishopstown resident, will be joined by teacher Eolan Ryng on the ticket. Originally from Bishopstown, Mr Ryng lives in Ballincollig. From here, there are eyes on Cllr Thomas Moloney, the current Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork. An Independent councillor, Mr Moloney took the last seat, ahead of fellow Independent, Thomas Kiely, in 2014, by just two votes. He will be hopeful that his more visible profile as Deputy Lord Mayor and, indeed, his work over the last five years, will avoid a repeat in May of such a close call. Among those eyeing up his seat will be Mr Kiely, who has confirmed his intention to run again. Aligning himself closely with the housing rights campaign, Mr Kiely is one of a large number of candidates hoping to take advantage of the expansion of the local electoral area and the congestion among the major parties. Shirley Griffin, another non-party candidate who has tied herself to the housing rights and reform campaign, is among them. She is a Ballincollig resident. In 2014, Labour ran Cllr Ger Gibbons in a bid to secure a seat but, as was the case throughout the city, the support was thin and the party missed out. They secured no seats on Cork City Council and will be hopeful that Ciara Kennedy can reverse their fortunes in Cork South-West. From Lehenaghmore, Ms Kennedy cut her teeth in Cork politics as a canvass leader for the Together for Yes campaign, during last years referendum on the Eighth Amendment. Cork City South-West was often a strong constituency for Labour. In 2009, the party secured two seats and they will be hopeful that they can end their spell out of council. With seven seats up for grabs and potentially a lot of transfers this may represent one of their best options. While candidates in other areas, such as Peter Horgan in Blackrock, may be better-known to some, they are up against stiff competition when it comes to the ballot paper, in terms of sitting councillors. Ms Kennedy and all those currently running for the first time can take solace in the fact that there are seven seats available and just six sitting councillors competing. In comparison with the new south-east local electoral area, which has eight councillors competing for six seats, it is a potentially promising situation for a newcomer. The Social Democrats will be hoping to secure their first seat in Cork city. The party has selected Ciaran McCarthy, a barrister and lecturer, to run in Cork City South West. Mr McCarthy is a Bishopstown native living in Ballincollig. It is the first time the Social Democrats will have taken part in a local election having formed in 2015 but the party can count County Councillor Joe Harris among their ranks already and will be keen to make their presence felt in the new, expanded Cork city. The Green Party has backed UCC lecturer Collette Finn in their efforts to secure a seat on the council. It will be her first run. Tjitske de Vries will run for People Before Profit; Joanne Murphy will run for Aontu, the new party founded by former Sinn Fein TD, Peadar Toibin; and Dr Lekha Menon Margassery, a microbiologist, has also announced a run and will choose between the South-West and South-Central wards in the coming weeks. For the non-party candidates and those from smaller parties, Cork city south-west represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Typically, it has been dominated by the major parties. Fine Gael have secured two seats in each of the last four local elections, with Fianna Fail doing so in 1999, 2004, and 2014. Labour enjoyed strong showings in 1999, 2004, and 2009, too. In fact, Thomas Moloneys election in 2014 is the only time an independent candidate has been elected in the south-west since 1991. But, with two high-profile candidates out of the equation and seven seats up for grabs, there is potential for significant change in the south-west. Stretching as far south as Ballygarvan and as far west as Ballincollig, the new Cork South-West local electoral area is, by quite a margin, the most populous constituency in the redrawn Cork City. While the neighbouring Cork North-West is a more vast area, South-West exceeds it in terms of population by more than 7,000 people. In fact, its closest challenger in this sense, Cork South-East, is still smaller by a margin of more than 4,000 people. As such, South-West is the only city constituency to have seven seats up for grabs and the decision by two former Lord Mayors to not run again has opened things up considerably. The population growth is primarily motivated by the addition of Ballincollig and its surrounds. The 2016 census put the population of Ballincollig at more than 18,000 and it is growing as new housing estates and other developments come on stream. Ovens and its approximately 2,000 residents are also coming into the city in a further population boost. The new local electoral area stretches as far south as Cork Airport and its business park, though this is something that is far more relevant for the citys commercial rates base than its electorate. In September 2018, county council officials estimated that the loss in rates as a result of the transfer of land to Cork City Council could be in the region of 70m, a significant portion of which would be from Cork Airport, though it is also due to parts of Douglas, Glanmire, and other areas transferring. While the loss would be offset by the county council no longer having to provide services to these areas, the deficit to their coffers could be in the region of 30m. But, despite swelling in size in its western environs, the South-West area is actually losing some land to a re-drawn Cork City South-Central. Previously, the eastern boundary of Cork City South-West was Donovans Road. It included the Lough and parts of Togher, though Togher was split between South-West and South-Central. That situation remains unchanged, though there have been other adjustments. The border will now run on Magazine Road, with areas north of the divide moving to South-Central. This includes UCC and Glasheen. The city parts of the new South-West will include Wilton and Bishopstown, though there are significant lands beyond this to consider now too. A large pocket of land south of the South Link has been incorporated, with an eastern border of the N27 established. It will include Cork Airport, Curraheen, and towards Bandon Road, with its western border now the N22. The new local electoral area will take in all of Ballincollig, stopping just short of EMC, and running back along the south of the river towards the city. It is at this end of the new local electoral area that things have been particularly contentious. It is a situation mirrored in Blarney, Tower, Douglas, and Glanmire, but there was vocal opposition in Ballincollig to the notion of being incorporated into the city. Those in the village, as it is still refer red to locally, felt that there was a strong, unique identity in Ballincollig. It is a community that has grown significantly in recent years and was viewed as essential by Cork City Council, something that was not lost on some very vocal members of Cork County Council who did all that they could to disrupt the expansion. Cork City South-West local election posters for Colette Finn and Thomas Kiely. Picture: Dan Linehan There were real fears to be addressed, though. In fact, some would say that there still are. For starters, Ballincollig never had a town council and, as such, a lot of what was undertaken in the town was spurred on by local community groups. There was concern about the funding mechanisms for these groups. Fears about the imposition of parking charges in the town were also vocalised, with many speculating that the re-drawn boundary could impact everything from the Tidy Towns to insurance rates. As far back as 2017, opponents of the extension were using the term land grab to describe the proposals when it came to Ballincollig. Fears were expressed that rates paid by Ballincollig businesses would be used to boost the city docklands and other projects. The opposition was so fierce that senior officials in Cork City Council were motivated to speak out on several occasions in a bid to reassure residents on these and other key issues: parking rates would be unaffected, rates would be reinvested, and the town would not be forgotten amid the changes. To date, the Ballincollig factor has dominated the debate in the South-West area, but there remain pressing issues on the city end of the new ward too. UCC, CIT, and CUH are rapidly expanding into the heart of some long-standing communities, and there are chronic traffic issues to consider in parts of the local electoral area. A motorist who crashed into a car and a bus and then drove away from the scene blamed the collision on a canister of lawnmower petrol bursting into flames inside in his car. Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said there was the unusual explanation for the collision and the behaviour of the motorist, Brendan OLoughlin of Castletreasure, Douglas, Cork. OLoughlin, aged 46, pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to several charges arising out of the hit and run accident. Judge John King said it was the kind of case which merited a custodial sentence particularly in light of previous driving offences but he decided not to jail the motorist. The judge said he was prepared to take into consideration the fact that the accused man had co-operated with the garda investigation when they identified him and questioned him shortly afterwards. If it were not for his co-operation he would be looking at a custodial sentence, Judge King said. The judge said he could do 200 hours of community service instead of three months in prison on the charge of driving without insurance. For careless driving he was fined 300 and he was disqualified from driving for the next four years. The judge took into consideration the fact that he had no licence and the charge of hit and run and failing to report an occurrence. Sergeant Ann Marie Twomey outlined the background to the incident which happened around noon on May 21, 2018. She said there was traffic at Curragh Road and South Douglas Road and that the defendants car collided with a bus and car that were stopped in traffic and that he then drove away from the scene. Sgt Twomey said that his previous convictions included two counts of driving without insurance and two for drink driving in the past. Mr Buttimer, solicitor, said there was an unusual explanation for what happened. He said the defendant had a canister of petrol in his car for his lawnmower at home and that this canister was closed but that it opened. It spontaneously combusted. There is a fire or a conflagration in the car. That diverts his attention. He collides with two vehicles. He flees in panic for two reasons: A, his car is on fire. B, he was now going to attract the attention of gardai. So he panicked and fled. The gardai were easily able to identify he was the owner of the car. One of the people at the scene saw it, Mr Buttimer said. New research published by Inland Fisheries Ireland has revealed that angel shark stocks have declined in Irish waters. Stocks of the species crashed in the late 1990s and remain depleted today, according to angling data published in Endangered Species Research. Analysis of angling data over a 40 year period at two hotspots in Irish waters, Tralee Bay in Kerry and Clew Bay in Mayo, reveals a sharp decline of at least 95% of the angel shark over the last 25 years. Only 20 angel shark have been recorded by Inland Fisheries Ireland since 2000, with just one caught since 2011, compared to an average of 65 angel shark tagged annually in Ireland in the 1980s. Between 1958 and 2016, a total of 1,261 angel shark were recorded with 85% captured in Tralee Bay and a further 9% captured in Clew Bay. The data for these historical hotspots for angel shark in Ireland are significant to international angel shark conservation efforts. While angel shark were common in waters from Scotland to North Africa, they are vulnerable to capture and, as a result, their populations have declined sharply. Since the 1970s, Inland Fisheries Ireland scientists have been coordinating the tagging of sharks and rays caught on Irish recreational angling boats. The Marine Tagging Programme distributes numbered tags to skippers along with information and a logbook while Irish Specimen Fish Committee coordinates the collection of information of specimen fish caught in Irish waters. Dr William Roche, study co-author and Senior Research Officer at Inland Fisheries Ireland said: The contribution of angling charter skippers to this programme has produced a dataset of international importance to marine conservation. Our analysis shows that catches of angel shark have declined to almost zero in both Tralee Bay and Clew Bay, however, there is still some hope for angel shark in Ireland, as there have been anecdotal sightings of the fish in recent years. Lead author Sam Shephard said: The imperative now is to learn more about the species in its previous strongholds and in any new locations, and work to protect these critical environments. "Inland Fisheries Ireland is keen to contribute to international efforts to safeguard this species." The return of overcrowding in Irish prisons is creating an atmosphere for the bully to thrive and to pressurise vulnerable inmates to smuggle drugs and weapons, according to prison officers. Speaking at the start of the annual conference of the Prison Officers Association in Sligo, president Tony Power said figures show that prison numbers have risen from 3,745 in April 2017, to 3,890 a year later and to 4,049 in April 2019. Prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors is becoming an all too common sight again, Mr Power said. Taking one landing at the Midlands, initially designed to hold 38 prisoners, it regularly has prisoner numbers in excess of 65 and this is mirrored in many of the prisons. Mr Power said rising prison numbers was having serious knock-on effects. Overcrowding provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and exert huge pressure on vulnerable prisoners in particular to traffic in contraband, including weapons and illegal drugs. Serious violence is often part of the scenario here and we prison officers pay the inevitable price. Overcrowding puts both prisoners and prison officers at unnecessary risk and this is totally unacceptable. He said overcrowding creates major challenges for prison officers on the ground. Mr Power also said the Irish Prison Service strategy statement referred to the reopening of the Training Unit in Mountjoy. Not one red cent has been spent on it since the decision was taken to close it in 2016. We need clarity on this issue as a matter of urgency, he said adding no one wanted a return to the pack em, stack em and rack em days of the past. Mr Power said overcrowding in the closed prisons was happening when numbers at the open centres remain below capacity. Mr Power will be raising his concerns with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan when he attends the conference later today. IPS figures show that Loughan House open centre in Cavan is at 77% capacity. The average across the 13 IPS institutions is 94%. Overcrowding is worst in the two female prisons. Figures for April 26 show Dochas is 126% over capacity with 132 inmates in spaces for 105 people. Limerick female is 129% over capacity with 36 inmates in spaces for 28 people. Limerick male is at 100% capacity, Arbour Hill is at 99% capacity, Midlands is at 98% capacity and Cork is at 97% capacity. A 74-year-old man accused of harassment of his neighbour by allegedly blocking a sewer pipe and other actions arising out of a disagreement over a window appeared at Cork District Court yesterday. Garda Gearoid Whelton charged Sean Butler, of Little Silver, Lehenaghmore, Cork, with two separate charges. Mr Butler was charged with causing criminal damage to a property at Fernwood Crescent, Togher, Cork, on August 17, 2018, by blocking a sewer pipe belonging to Cork County Council intending or being reckless as to whether damage would be caused. He was also charged with harassment of a man at Lehenaghmore between November 25 and 26, 2017, contrary to the Non-fatal Offences Against the State Act. Sergeant John Kelleher said the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed that the case could be heard at Cork District Court rather than by indictment at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. It was then a matter for Judge John King to decide whether he would also accept jurisdiction. Sgt Kelleher gave an outline of the background allegations for that purpose. The harassment was allegedly perpetrated by Sean Butler on a neighbour. The alleged harassment has its origins in the fact that in November 2017, this neighbour queried a Velux window that was put in a garage conversion belonging to Sean Butler. Over the next 12 months, it is alleged that Sean Butler sent him six letters which were abusive and highly insulting. This culminated in a sewer pipe being blocked, affecting (the complainants) property, and a sign with the text informer placed over the front number plate of his car. It is alleged there were also other incidents when the complainant was out walking his dog. Judge King accepted jurisdiction and adjourned the case to May 29. The defendant was remanded on bail on condition that he would stay away from the complainant. Free legal aid was granted for the defendant to be represented by solicitor Pat Horan. The approval of a major student apartment development near the Lough in Cork city has been described as a 'hammer blow' to the area. An Bord Pleanala has approved the construction of 57 apartments in four and five storey buildings on a site overlooking the Lough. The development, located on Bandon Road, will have space for 419 students. Developers, Lyonshall, had previously received planning permission from Cork City Council to develop a complex of 324 beds on the site, which incorporates the former O'Riordan's Joinery and a portion of land of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It is located close to a number of city bus routes and just a few minutes' walk from UCC. In January, they submitted a revised application to An Bord Pleanala, increasing the number of beds to 419. Lyonshall said that the development would answer a need for more student accommodation in the city, freeing up stock in the private market in the process. In its application, Lyonshall estimated that the development will be operational for the school term starting in September 2021. The initial application caused concern in the local community, prompting protests from local residents who claimed that the additional student population could damage the area. Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Mick Finn said that the approval of an even bigger development is a disappointing development: "This flies in the face of the chief executives report against the increased number of units and of course the residents of the are who are fearful that it will forever alter the fabric of the area. It is a hammer blow." We know that more student accommodation is needed in Cork but it is being prioritised over housing for families because of greed, nothing else. More, smaller units will yield more rent. Mr Finn said he is concerned about the impact of the development on the Lough: We are forever altering the precious amenity and wildlife sanctuary and landscape that is The Lough; an oasis in the heart of the city. This is a mistake compounded now by an increased footprint sanctioned by people who are unaffected by it." Apartments with space for more than 800 student beds are already under construction in Cork city. Planning has now been granted for more than 2,000 additional beds on various sites. In granting permission for the development on Bandon Road, An Bord Pleanala noted that "the proposed development would make a positive contribution to the urban landscape of the area and respect its existing character, would not seriously injure the residential amenities of properties in the vicinity, would not be injurious in terms of biodiversity, and would be acceptable in terms of pedestrian and traffic safety and convenience". The developer is required to submit a finalised student accommodation management plan, including 24/7 on-site management, before commencing construction. They are also required to take 'all feasible measures ... to avoid the introduction or spread of invasive alien species into the site or the nearby Cork Lough Natural Heritage Area'. An Bord Pleanala has also directed the developer to amend plans for bicycle parking, replacing a proposed two-tier bicycle parking structure with single tier bike stands and, if required, reduce the number of car parking spaces at the development if necessary. The Supreme Court has said it will rule by the first week of June on Facebook's appeal over a High Court decision to refer key issues concerning the validity of European Commission decisions approving EU-US data transfer channels to the Court of Justice of the EU. The referral was made by the High Court in proceedings by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) arising from complaints by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems that the transfer of his personal data by Facebook to the US breached his data privacy rights as an EU citizen. Max Schrems. The core issue the Supreme Court must decide in Facebook's appeal, heard last January with judgment reserved, is whether there is any right to appeal over a referral decision. The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, said this week the court would rule on the matter by the end of the current law term on June 6. The appeal concerns an October 2017 High Court judgment by Ms Justice Caroline Costello and her subsequent referral in May 2018 of issues for determination by the CJEU. The judgment was given in a case brought by DPC Helen Dixon, arising from the complaints by Mr Schrems, against Facebook Ireland, because Facebooks European headquarters are here - and Mr Schrems. No formal orders were sought against them and the core issue concerned the validity of data transfer channels known as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). Ms Justice Costello directed a referral to the CJEU of 11 issues concerning the validity of European Commission decisions approving the SCCs. Facebook argued before the Supreme Court last January it is entitled to appeal the referral and also disputed several of the High Courts findings, including that the DPC had well-founded concerns about mass indiscriminate processing of data by US government agencies under programmes authorised there. The US government was involved in the appeal as an amicus curiae, assistant to the court on legal issues. It supported Facebook's argument that no reference to the CJEU is required in light of the Privacy Shield agreement between the EU and US and the European Commission's determination the US ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred under the Privacy Shield. File photo of a Facebook Data Centre. Lawyers for the DPC said she has concerns whether the measures provided for under the Privacy Shield are comparable to the remedy available to EU citizens for breach of data privacy rights under Article 47 of the EU Charter. Mr Schrems opposed the appeal with his lawyers arguing Facebook had failed to identify an error by the High Court. There has been a surge in the number of prisoners put on protection for their own safety, with the sharpest rises in Mountjoy Prison and Cloverhill Remand Prison. Prison estimates show the number of significant gang figures behind bars now stands at around 300, up 50 on the last two years. This rise, and the knock-on impact on protection numbers, is driven in large part by garda successes against the Kinahan crime cartel. The Kinahan-Hutch feud is considered a main driver, in particular, in the rise in Mountjoy, where a third of inmates are on protection and locked up for at least 21 hours each day. The bulk of Kinahan-related inmates are detained in Mountjoy. However, Cloverhill Prison, which caters for inmates on remand awaiting trial, has witnessed a massive increase in protection numbers, jumping 10-fold in the last three years. The latest figures on protection numbers (dating from January 2019) show that 570 (14% of the prison population) were on restricted regimes. The bulk of them were on protection for their own safety (with most of them seeking the protection voluntarily). This compares to 339 (9% of the population) in January 2016 two months before the Kinahan-Hutch feud exploded with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel that February. An analysis of figures published by the Irish Prison Service show: Numbers on restricted regimes in Mountjoy increased from 126 (23% of its prison population) in January 2016 to 237 (34%) in January 2019. The numbers rose the most in Cloverhill remand prison, from 12 (3% of its prison population) in January 2016 to 113 (27%) in January 2019 In contrast, protection numbers in Limerick Prison, which, along with Mountjoy, had traditionally most protection prisoners, has dropped from 73 (32% of the population) to 14 (7%) in the same time period. Numbers in Wheatfield (where Hutch inmates are kept) have increased from 74 (16%) to 92 (19%), while in Cork they have gone from 17 (10%) to 37 (13%). The problem continues to place an enormous strain on management and prison officers, who have to try and keep various gangs separate, while at the same time ensuring those on protection get at least three hours out of their cells. Jim Mitchell, POA deputy secretary general, said the problem in Mountjoy was driven by one gang and many inmates not aligned to them going on protection. Its not just one group on protection and they associate with themselves, that would be a lot easier, within them you have groups and individuals on protection from each other, he said. He said this creates a headache for management and officers on the floor to handle, saying his members dread getting stuck in the middle of any clashes between different groups on protection. Prison bosses estimate there are 300 significant gangsters in prisons, around 100 high-level gang figures and 200 criminal associates. This is a rise of around 50 in the last two years. Three in five nurses have voted to accept Labour Court proposals aimed at resolving a dispute that triggered three days of strike action earlier this year. While the margin in favour was not overwhelming - 62% for, 38% against - Phil Ni Sheaghdha, general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said they had seen tighter margins in the past. The majority who considered the proposals accepted them by a decent margin, Ms Ni Sheaghdha said. She said they would now be looking to push ahead with phase two, where an independent expert group will examine pay for nurses and midwives in managerial grades. Phase one benefits staff nurses and midwives, who will earn close to 2,500 more each year of their career under a new enhanced practice salary scale. They will also reach the maximum on the scale in a shorter timeframe. Ms Ni Sheaghdha said the expert group needed to convene straight away, in order to have its work done in time for the next round of talks on a new public sector pay agreement. The current agreement expires in December 2020. The deal the nurses have just accepted sets aside 5m in funding for safe staffing levels in 2019, with extra funding in 2020 and 2021. Ms Sheaghdha said the commitment to fund a safe staffing framework, which sets nurse and midwife staffing levels by evidence-based patient needs, was huge for members. The deal also includes more widespread eligibility for allowances, speedier promotions, extra promotion opportunities for staff nurses working in intellectual disability and support for education and training. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER)has calculated the cost of the deal at up to 50 million for 2019 and 2020 - but has demanded productivity and cost-offsetting measures in return. DPER is facing other challenges as almost 6,000 psychiatric nurses belonging to the Psychiatric Nurses Association are also in dispute over pay and staff shortages. In addition, a number of unions have indicated that they will expect similar increases through knock-on claims. Health Minister Simon Harris welcomed the positive outcome of the INMO ballot. Welcome news that nurses and midwives have voted to accept the agreement with the Government. Good for nurses. Good for patients. Good for our health service Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) May 2, 2019 He said the Labour Court recommendations which INMO members had accepted should form the basis for a fundamental change in the role of the staff nurse grade. The new Enhanced Nurse Practice contract which has also been accepted through this ballot result, should be the beginning of a transformation process of the profession, he said. The minister said he believed the recommendation was good for the nursing and midwifery profession as well as good for the Health Service". "I would now like to see eligible staff nurses and midwives move to the new role of Enhanced Nurse and make sure that both the profession and the patient see the benefits as soon as possible," he said. Three days of strike action by INMO members in January and February caused widespread disruption in the health service, including the cancellation of tens of thousands of outpatient appointments and cancellation of scheduled surgeries. However, Ms Ni Sheaghdha said they were very grateful to their strike committees for ensuring a safe, patient-focused strike. She said they were also grateful to the Labour Court and Workplace Relations Commission for their considerable efforts to resolve this dispute, and to members of the public for their support. Cmere, myself and the Budgie have decided to become impresarios, helping young bands realise their dreams so we can live in a big gold house with loads of old dolls. Anyway, Budgies uncle do have a farm near Bandon and were putting on an Indie music festival there this weekend called Mild Contempt for Yourself. The tickets sold out in ten minutes, da berries, but do you know anywhere I could find a few bands? Dowcha Donie, Blackpool. My nephew has decided to get big into indie music, it was either that or wash his hair. I said, do you know any band that would be willing to play for peanuts in a field in West Cork. He said, sounds like shite. I said, I need the name of a band. He said, that IS the name of the band. I was holding the ladder for the cleaning lady the other day, she gets a bit nervous when I ask her to do the gutters. Then I hear this mad pinging, messages flying all over the shop on my WhatsApp group, Douglas Babes Who Like a Drink Before 5pm. The babes were furious after some writer in the Examiner, Eoin English, had a thing about a tug-of-war on Patricks Bridge involving people from Douglas Street, referring to them as southsiders. You tell this Johnny English (thats his name when you think about it) that Douglas Street isnt from the same southside as Douglas Village, ok. Can you do that for me now? Dee, Douglas. Sorry now, but I wont hear a word against Eoin. (Im temporarily deaf.) I dont know where you get the idea a street should have something in common with the place its named after. If that was the case, the Kinsale Road would be home to 300 perverted yachtsmen. And Dublin Hill would be full of langers. Im 43 and met this lovely guy from Kerry using a dating app called If This Doesnt Work You Might As Well Get a Cat. Everything went really well at first I made him wait until date three for a bit of action, its not like Im from Glanmire. Anyway back to his place on the third night, bit of smooching, upstairs we go, he asks me to put on a Kerry goal-keeper jersey and ties me to the bed. (This happens ALL THE TIME with Kerry guys.) Next thing, doesnt he start reading out the Proclamation of Independence in a mad theatrical voice, pausing every now and again to give me an old feel. How can I tell him I wouldnt mind a bit of straight sex, nothing fancy? Anne-Marie, Midleton. I deal with this exact problem in my new podcast, Cut to the Chase You Daft Bogman. Heres a tip: if he says hes considering a cruel and unusual punishment, tell him its bad enough that you have to live in Midleton. Im the leading social media influencer in the Western Europe, measured by the number of times I post a photo of me with a young model at the opening of a new car dealership with the hashtag #AintSheGorgeous, even though its obvious Im the hot one, do you know that kind of a way. Anyway, Im completely flaahed out from all the influencing and way too busy to tidy my house and stuff like that. #LookAtTheMess #DisgracetoMeMam. I asked around the influencer community, #fakebuthelpful, for tips on a cheap way to clean the gaff and they all said the same thing get an au pair. Wheres a good place to get one? @YouSoWishLike, Turners Cross and Monte Carlo, I dont have kids. I grabbed a quick word with my au pair there after she was finished plastering our extension. I said, what would you say if I told you a woman with no kids is looking to hire an au pair? She said, give me her number. I said, would you not miss minding two small kids all day? She actually wet herself a little bit with all the laughing. Ciao. Myself and Pepe are heading to Kinsale this weekend, to put the moves on beautiful blonde women in deck shoes who are no longer attracted to six foot ten Matt from Bristol, because he kept drinking from his beer after puking into it. Say what you will about the Kinsale Rugby 7s, but it is a very happy hunting ground for sophisticated Italian guys, not to mention Pepe and myself. The problem is our beautiful wives insist on coming with us, due to trust issues and their love of the sea. Is there a good distraction for women in Kinsale while their husbands sit outside the Spaniard in 500 shoes? Marco, Marco, Bologna and Ballygarvan, did you change your perfume? No. Do you want me to? #Willing. Love to help on this one. Unfortunately the dryballs lawyer says Im only allowed one line a week suggesting Kinsale is full of wife-swapping West Brits, and I used that earlier in the bit about the Kinsale Road. (#Hilaire.) So, Im afraid youre on your own. Unless youd like me to call over? After 50 years of bloody civil war in Colombia, which has claimed the lives of at least 220,000, including 177,000 civilians, a fragile peace has emerged in the South American country. Now, thanks to sculptor Doris Salcedo, ordinary Colombians who lived under the weight of two generations of violence can walk on the very weapons that used to control their lives. Salcedos powerful symbolic work Fragmentos, unveiled in Colombian capital Bogota last December, is a floor made from 37 tonnes of molten decommissioned guerrilla guns, beaten into textured tiles by 15,000 female survivors of military-led sexual abuse and torture. The floor is part of a contemporary art centre, where Colombians will be able to enjoy exhibitions, events and performances into the future. Its a memorial, but its not a monument; Salcedo describes Fragmentos as a counter monument. When faced with 37 tonnes of weapons, I couldnt bring myself to put such horror on a pedestal, she says, in Dublin to launch her first ever Irish exhibition. I thought it was important to reverse the relationship. I wanted the survivors and citizens in general to be able to revert the symbol of arms and power, to be able to walk on them. I invited victims of political violence to hammer the metal, so that their experience of the agency of that experience could be forged into the metal. Fragmentos is very much in keeping with Salcedos distinctive modus operandi; listening to the voices of victims of political violence and responding to their testimonies to produce work where everyday objects are imbued with symbolism, has been her approach for the past 30 years. Sexual violence In Colombia, as in many other war-torn countries, rape and torture have been used as a weapon of war. Salcedo has heard endless accounts from families of disappeared people, women who have been raped, or captured and forced into sexual slavery, and torture victims. Her large-scale responses to these testimonies, often with a performative element, have included Sumando Ausencias, an action that covered Bogotas administrative centre, Bolivar Square, in a shroud of 7,000 meters of white fabric, inscribed in ash with the names of the disappeared. Volunteering herself as a receptacle for testimonies of violence hasnt been without its personal toll. All I can say is that pain hurts and theres no way to avoid that, she says. Once youre exposed to extreme pain, it inhabits your body. "These multiple experiences are a part of me now. I cant leave them aside even for a moment, and they define everything that I do and the way I see the world. Its really painful. At the same time, my experience can never be as painful as that of the victims of torture and murder. "Theres no comparison. I havent lost a child, I havent been tortured, I havent been raped. None of those things have happened to me. "Its important to keep that clear, that what I feel is insignificant compared to what these people have suffered. At the same time, the work of listening is, Salcedo believes, a vital part of healing and of following future paths to non-violence. We need to come close to these experiences, she says. People are afraid to listen because its so painful, but I think that amounts to a lack of love, empathy and solidarity. "Because if we were paying attention and if we allowed the pain to hurt us, there would be less violence in the world, I am certain of that. Violence happens when we intentionally ignore the pain. She believes, she says, in arts ability to affirm the necessity of not remaining silent. The experience must be expressed and shared. Theres often a profound and ominous sense of unease emanating from Salcedos work. At her exhibition in the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Acts of Mourning, which contains a selection of her work since the 1990s, one such unsettling piece is A Flor de Piel, a vast, dull red shroud, hand-stitched from preserved rose petals. A Flor de Piel, a Spanish idiom whose literal translation is like the flower of skin, but which is more closely akin to the English expression to wear your heart on your sleeve, is, in Salcedos words, a flower offering to a victim of torture. It was made in response to the story of a nurse believed tortured to death in Colombia, whose body has never been recovered. The violence is always implicit rather than explicit, preserved in the meaning imbued in the materials Salcedo works with, rather than depicted. For the artist, this means a constant struggle to represent violence without violence, she says: We have to avoid violence. "If you represent violence, you repeat the violence over and over again. Tate crack Salcedos anti-violence message is not confined to her native country and the global refugee crises feature prominently; shes probably best-known for her audacious installation in Londons Tate Modern, where she installed a huge crack, running the length of the floor in the buildings vast Turbine Hall, the first artist to intrude on the buildings structure. Her intention was that viewers contemplate a world divided into haves and have nots, into those who live within the comfortable gated community capitalism provides, and those outside who clamour for inclusion. Palimpsest, at Madrids Palacio de Cristal, saw water bubble through the surface of the ground, endlessly writing and rewriting the names of people who have died crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe. Salcedos work and its central message is universally relevant, and although she often works to a very large scale, she remains uniquely sensitive to individual stories, too. The killing of Lyra McKee in Derry, with all its resonance for Irish people, and fears that it marks a return to sectarian violence that it has brought, happened on the eve of Salcedos arrival in Ireland to install her IMMA show. Salcedo is uniquely sensitive to the implications in Irish minds of this lone tragedy, and keen to reinforce the message of her lifes work: that political violence damages us all, as a species. The Irish journalist who was killed? All our lives have been degraded by that, she says. We lost a lot when that happened, every human being. And thats why I try to mark these things in my work, because the aesthetic we have in life reflects the ethics we have in life. In the face of death and violence, art can be a confirmation of life. It is hope, in itself. "I feel that the task of the artist is to give of themselves, because all our lives are degraded by violence. Doris Salcedos Acts Of Mourning is at IMMA until July 21. www.imma.ie Leonardo si ser Piero da Vinci departed this world on 2 May 1519 at the venerable age of 67, but he has enjoyed an astonishing afterlife. Born out of wedlock to a Florentine notary and a peasant woman, Leonardo became, in his own lifetime, an enduring figure in popular culture. The King of France is said to have cradled Leonardos head as he died. He was, in modern terms, a rock star, a bona fide celebrity. Leonardo is reputed to have served as the model for the white-bearded figure of Plato in Raphaels Vatican fresco The School of Athens, and while still alive was widely hailed as the greatest genius of all time. In the last years of Leonardos life, Francis I of France became his patron and close friend, commissioning him to create a walking, mechanical lion, the chest of which would open, to reveal a cluster of lilies. The Renaissance polymath left behind a legacy far beyond the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. A masterful artist, he was also an unrivalled scientist, anatomist and architect, inventing technologies so advanced as to be unrealisable during his lifetime. By most accounts a handsome, charismatic and good-humoured man, Leonardos private life appears to have been tumultuous, and, at a time when it was illegal, he was probably gay. Court records from 1476 show that 24-year-old Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy, but charges were dropped for lack of evidence. His closest relationships seem to have been with his students Salai, who lived with him for 30 years, and Melzi, who travelled to France with Leonardo in his final years. An artist given to procrastination, he broke the hearts of impatient patrons. His biographer Vasari claims that Leonardo, on his death bed, lamented that he had offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done. If Van Gogh is the archetype of the artist as tortured soul, then Leonardo is, in the popular imagination, the artist as inspired genius, fussing from one half-finished canvas to the next in a cluttered studio overhung by dreams of flying machines. The earliest works of fiction to feature Leonardo date from the 16th century, and he first appears in film in the 1919 Italian Leonardo da Vinci. He casts a long shadow on popular culture in the 20th and 21st centuries, appearing in film, literature, computer games and comics. The Da Vinci Code Dan Browns best-selling novel from 2003 features a conspiracy theory revolving around Leonardos works. It may be gripping, but its utter hogwash, based largely upon the debunked 1982 cod-history The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Apparently, Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and gave us the Merovingian kings of France. The lads in Opus Dei are in it, and Up To No Good. By the time I awoke during the film version, kindly old Gandalf Ian McKellen had been revealed as SPOILER ALERT the baddy. Hopefully Tom Hanks we knew he was sound before ever he made the Benhaffaf twins a video got a truly magnificent conservatory from the mountain of cash he got for attaching his name to this rubbish. Assassins Creed In the popular video game, Leonardo is a significant supporting character, befriending the Renaissance-era Assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and acting as his technical advisor. Mr Peabody and Sherman Leonardo is also a supporting character in Dreamworks charming animated sci-fi comedy (2014). Mr Peabody, a genius anthropomorphic dog, and his adopted 7-year-old human son, Sherman, travel through time, finding themselves - along with Shermans classmate Penny - in Florence in 1508. Sherman proves that Leonardos flying machine works, and Mr Peabody makes Mona Lisa smile. Star Trek Da Vinci lives long and prospers twice in Star Trek. In Requiem for Methuselah (1969), Leonardo is an alias of Flint, an immortal human who has had many names in his 6,000-year-long life. He tells Captain Kirk that he was also known as Solomon, Socrates, Alexander the Great, Lazarus and Brahms. A century later, in Star Trek: Voyager (1997), Captain Janeway relies on the counsel of her holographic mentor, a recreation of da Vinci played by a pre-Lord of the Rings John Rhys-Davies. Batman In DC Comics, Leonardos apprentice becomes a Renaissance Batman, while in Marvel Comics, Leonardo masters time travel, heading to the 1960s to contribute to the founding of S.H.I.E.L.D., the espionage agency led in the movies by Samuel L Jackson. My Favourite Martian In My Favourite Martian (1966), Uncle Martin uses his time machine to bring his friend Leonardo to the present day. Incensed that La Gioconda is now known as the Mona Lisa, he steals the painting and vows to take it home to the 15th century. Gentle time-bending hi-jinks ensue, and to preserve history, Martin has to resort to forgery. Doctor Who Temporal shenanigans and artistic fakery play a major part too in City of Death, the 1979 Doctor Who serial co-written by Douglas Adams. Leonardo doesnt appear on-screen, but he plays an important role, creating six copies of La Gioconda. In the end, five of the copies are destroyed along with the original, but one survives, indistinguishable from the prototype. The Doctor and his assistant Romana place the fake in the Louvre, reasoning that even if its a copy, its still the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchetts 1988 novel features the first appearance of Discworlds Leonard of Quirm, a painter famous for his masterpiece, the Mona Ogg; a happily imprisoned genius who invents weapons of war while believing naively that nobody would ever use them. Da Vinci also features in Pratchetts 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, soon to be a TV series on Amazon Prime. The demon Crowley owns Leonardos original Mona Lisa sketch, purchased from the artist and, the demon thinks, far superior to the finished painting. Leonardo had felt so too. I got her bloody smile right in the roughs, he told Crowley, sipping cold wine in the lunchtime sun, but it went all over the place when I painted it. "Her husband had a few things to say about it when I delivered it, but, like I tell him, "Signor del Gioconda, apart from you, whos going to see it? Anyway explain this helicopter thing again, will you? In many ways he is the quintessential artist: an artist so beloved as to outshine his art. 500 years after his death, Leonardo continues to capture the popular imagination. By the way, da Vinci was more his address. Like many superstars, he went by just one name. Perhaps there really is a case to be made that Leonardo was the first rock star. My husband and I were married two years ago, and the day was rooted in where we live. We celebrated in our local pub, and designers in our hometown of Kinsale made my wedding dress. I wanted to wear jewellery that would remind me of our love and of our children and of our beloved Cork, and when I found the Croi alainn stacking rings, created by Sabine Lenz, of Enibas, I knew I had found the ones for me. Stories like mine are at the heart of Enibas, a brand that started in a workshop behind German-born Sabines house, in Schull, twenty-five years ago. A love of the Irish language inspired the designer to create her much-loved collections, like Croi alainn and Las mo shli; beautifully delicate pieces charged with a sentimentality that makes Lenzs work so popular. I relate my story to Sabine and Marian OGorman, CEO of Kilkenny Group, when we meet in the cafe of Corks Crawford Gallery to talk about ANAM, a special collection that will be launched on May 8 at Kilkenny Shops nationwide. The collection marks twenty-one years of collaboration between Enibas and Kilkenny, and is Sabines most ambitious collection yet: a selection of lettered, silver or nine-carat gold discs accompanied by a smaller disc inscribed with the word gra. It was the right time to release a collection like this, says Lenz, and it feels good to do so with the backing of Kilkenny stores. To celebrate the launch, Enibas commissioned a number of short films, which tell customer stories, and the result is a collection that is meant to tug at your heartstrings. We asked people to send in their stories connected with Enibas and we expected one or two, but we got over 120, and some of them were so filled with love and so emotional, says Lenz. People who buy our jewellery become so emotionally invested in the piece and it absolutely blew me away. Kilkenny stores have long been the greatest champions of Irish craftspeople; and the relationship goes two ways, says Marian OGorman. Its not just about the product for us, its about the people behind it. The reason why Sabine is so successful is because she comes to our shops and makes sure that everyone knows her story, so that our staff can pass it on to our customers. Sabine and Marian have been working together for 21 years, and theyve had successes and theyve had failures. It is in the failures that you learn the most, says Marian. I always say try it! Whats the worst that can happen? she says. We are in the most wonderful position, that if we put a product in and it doesnt sell, it wont break us. Saol chain costs 255 "If you dont try new things, then you cant improve. One product might do really well in one shop, and not at all in another, and its all a learning curve. Its this attitude and brand-backing that makes Kilkenny a welcome home for Irish craftspeople, says Lenz. I think, what makes Kilkenny stand out is that they really work with you to make the best of your brand. "With ANAM, for example, Kilkenny are putting a sample in every store, so that customers can see it, and we can make the orders up without backlogging a lot of stock. When creating the new collection, Sabine wanted pieces that could mark milestones in our lives. She agonised over the Celtic font used on the pendants, and she rejected sample after sample, until she found the perfect one. The name, Anam, was a happy accident. I thought we were calling it name in Irish, but when I found out that anam actually meant soul, it felt absolutely perfect. Your name is a bit like your soul, I think. The collection is about loving yourself, loving your family, loving your life; thats why we included the tiny disc that says gra on every piece. Being able to provide Irish craftspeople with a platform that is renowned worldwide gives Marian OGorman a sense of great pride. What would she say to people who are starting out today? We encourage people to ask for advice. Our designers are extremely important to us. "For me, during my life, the greatest thing I have learned is the importance of respecting people. Be genuine; if you say you are going to do something, just do it. OGorman sees huge strength in women, and says that recognising their collective power is key to success. I found that when I was a young woman, starting out, I was dealing with an awful lot of men and, at the time, it seemed to me that there was a lot of talk and no action, she says. When I started dealing with designers directly, in a way that was genuine and straight-forward, it was so much easier. "I work with a lot of women, and, lets face it, none of us are oozing with confidence, but we know how to get on and get the work done. 'L' chain costs 139 Twenty-five years after Sabine moved to West Cork and started to make jewellery of the area, for the area, she says that without the support of Kilkenny Group, so many crucial members of the Irish craft industry would have failed to thrive. I dont say this lightly: if we did not have Kilkenny, many of us would not be able to make our businesses work. For Sabine Lenz, Marian and Kilkenny have acted as mentor and collaborator: offering advice as she opened her first and then second jewellery boutiques, and also advising on stock and staffing. I have learned so much from the team at Kilkenny, says Sabine. I have had wonderful advice over the years that has informed my shops and the way we do business, for sure. "Marian taught me that in business, its ok to make a mistake, and I think thats something that new business owners are scared to realise. Really, its one of the most important lessons. How does she hope Anam will be received? With love. Its about love, so I hope that people choose it to celebrate those special times in their lives. Anam launches on May 8. Prices start from 79 for a single, silver initial on a silver chain. A diamond can also be added, for 40. Available from Kilkenny stores nationwide, or from enibas.com. Cork is set for 11 days of theatre, literature, dance, circus and visual art to include 25 world, European and Irish premieres as the Midsummer Festival launched today. The world premiere of Ray Scannells apocalyptic black comedy The Bluffers Guide to Suburbia is among the highlights of the hugely popular festival. The Everyman and Rosa Productions will present a new musical, Evening Train, based on the acclaimed album by Mick Flannery as there promises to be events for the all the family throughout the festival. Providing a platform to showcase the work of brilliant Irish and international artists is at the very core of Midsummer," said Cork Midsummer Festival Director Lorraine Maye. "We embrace those at different stages of their careers offering a launch-pad for emerging artists and showcasing exciting new work by those who are more established. There is huge heart in this years Festival with themes of love, hope, the joy in simple acts of togetherness, and our need for connection explored throughout. "With the support of our funders, the festival uses the city as a stage and is programmed in partnership with our inspiring arts organisations and institutions. Together, we are very excited to welcome audiences this June. The theatre programme also includes Kaite OReillys Cosy at Firkin Crane by Gaitkrash Theatre Company, a dark comedy that looks at our attitudes to youth, ageing and death. Earlier: Reggae royalty, Irelands most famous comedy actress and Corks first ever Proms concerts are just a few of the attractions at this years Cork Midsummer Festival. Pauline McLynn and Peter Gowen in The Small Things Running from June 13-23, the full programme for the event will be unveiled today, but an early glimpse at the lineup suggests the festival is continuing its upward trajectory of recent years. Among the international visitors to be announced later will be the first visit to Cork by Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. Famous for a bass-heavy series of socially-conscious albums in the late 1970s and early 80s, the London-based poet will be reading at the Crosstown Drift literary strand. Linton Kwesi Johnson This years festival has lined up a particularly strong theatre programme, including a new Enda Walsh play, starring Pauline McLynn in a very serious role for her second collaboration with the Corcadorca company. Blarney troubadour Mick Flannery will also have his 2005 concept album Evening Train turned into a musical stageshow. Festival director Lorraine Maye promised an extra special event this year, adding: The festival works in partnership with the citys arts and cultural organisations and institutions to develop the programme every year, and much of what you see in this years festival is a reflection of their vision and commitment. Selected highlights include: Literature: As well as Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Crosstown Drift literary strand of the festival will feature the likes of Kevin Barry, Sinead Gleeson and Emilie Pine across a range of events, including a Magical Mystery Bus Tour and a Writers Dinner at the Crawford Art Gallery. Theatre: As mentioned, a feast of offerings include Mick Flannerys Evening Train at the Everyman, and Enda Walshs The Small Things at the Waterworks on the Lee Road, but there are several more impressive productions to be unveiled today. Opera/Classical: The Stalls stars Majella Cullagh in the third of Cork Opera Houses mini operas that are light enough to appeal way beyond afficionados of the genre. The same venue will also host the Cork Proms, three nights of music broken into the themes of Midsummer (music by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Vivaldi); Broadway; and Diva (pop, rock and soul). Dance opera A Different Wolf Dance opera: A Different Wolf also promises to be an intriguing piece, from innovative companies Junk Ensemble and Dumbworld, augmented by 100 choristers from local Cork choirs. Other music: Dublin post-punk heroes The Blades, and nu-harp heroines Saint Sister play St Lukes; while top Polish jazz pianist Marcin Wasilewski brings his trio to the Triskel. Cork Midsummer Festival runs June 13-23. The full programme will be unveiled this evening (Thursday). Box office now open. corkmidsummer.com Its been a heady few days for the boys and boys of the GRA. The Garda Representative Association has been holding its annual conference in Killarney. As with similar associations, the annual gabfest has been notable for the volume of whinging. Some of the whinging is entirely justified. More of it is most definitely not. But while the GRA excels at pointing and even wagging fingers at the minister for justice, the Garda commissioner, and the public, its capacity for self-analysis is roughly zero. The GRA represents 10,200 rank-and-file guards. To that end, the association is an important cog in the law-enforcement machine. Members have genuine grievances, and genuine contributions to make in bettering the system. But, right now, the membership is represented by a body that has practically no moral authority, and that is not good for members, An Garda Siochana, or the public. Its over a year since the consultant firm Ampersand delivered its devastating report into how the GRA is run. There is significant dysfunction in how the elected leadership body functions, declared the executive summary. The dysfunctional behaviours are seriously disturbing the lower levels of the organisation and affecting its representative effectiveness, reputation, and standing. And that in turn impacts on all members. Democratic participation by members on a national basis is inhibited by the poor communications system and the absence of consistent, accurate, and timely information required. As for the basics of corporate governance in an organisation that represents 10,200 public servants: Accounting and reporting systems are archaic and less than adequate. So it goes with the boys and boys of the GRA. Something missing? Oh yes, the 27% of female members. Ampersand found that the GRA was about three decades behind the norm in appreciating the importance of gender representation. Of the 31 members of the central executive committee, just one is female and her tenure is due to end this year. Ampersand characterised the upper echelons of the GRA as an old boys club where talent was observed as less important than loyalty to those in power, or time-serving, in breaking into the upper echelons of the association. Last year, the Irish Examiner reported on an extraordinary investigation into a complaint by a female member of bullying and harassment. Three of the four male members complained of didnt bother turning up for a hearing on the matter. Whether such actions are attributable to an attitude to women or simply towards any discipline within the GRA, is a moot point. The Ampersand report could have, should have, sent alarm bells screaming. Instead, the GRA is moving at a rate which might reasonably be interpreted as doing something in order to convey the impression that something is being done. The subcommittee system which delivered oodles of expenses gravy has been slightly curtailed. But the unwieldy central executive committee continues to be a cash cow for its members. At the last time of counting 2016 it delivered 653,057.30 in expenses for its members, which included little items like 12,551.46 in road tolls. The committee has continued on its merry way. In total, travel and subsistence in that year amounted to 1.14m, nearly half of all money collected in subscriptions. Corporate governance, in general, came out of the report making the FAI look like a frontrunner for the company of the year. One nugget in that department came to light in March of this year when it was revealed that the GRA had forked out 300,000 in a Revenue settlement as a result of misclassifying expenses and holiday vouchers. On it goes the sorry saga of a dysfunctional organisation which shows absolutely no sign of waking up in the real world. In such a milieu, the various demands and grievances aired at this weeks conference lose a lot of moral authority. The commissioners actions in cutting back on recruits were described at the conference as mind-boggling. As mind-boggling as to the manner in which the GRA is run? There was also criticism of the justice minister over budgets and resources. These may well be valid but are being issued from an organisation that conducts dozens of leisurely and disorganised gatherings as described by Ampersand at various levels each year on Garda time. Then there is the issue of civilianisation. Representatives from Cork City proposed a motion calling for a review on the hiring of hundreds of civilians. Wherefore irony lads? Since last month, the GRA has been run by a civilian in the form of retired garda Pat Ennis who has continued in his role after leaving the force, making him the first civilian to lead the organisation. The other issue with civilianisation from the Cork delegates is the impact it will have on older guards. These members baulk at being displaced from the civilian-type roles they now enjoy and having to revert to being real guards. Like much else on the agenda, that particular argument requires a helping of moral authority that was simply absent in Killarney this week. Neither will you hear much breast-beating about the failure of around half of all members of the force to sign up to the code of ethics. Any talk about that oul stuff might be too much even for an irony-free zone. While the delegates may well enjoy the few days break, spare a thought for those whom they purport to represent. The force has a disproportionate young membership, and, as stated above, over a quarter are women. Morale has been shattered in recent years following a series of scandals. A shortfall in required resources is real in certain quarters of the force. Violent crime is presenting an increased threat in border regions. In such a milieu, is it good enough that the interests of the vast majority of members are being represented in a forum that lacks the moral authority required to take on management? Finger pointing and finger wagging were in abundance at the GRA conference this week. The complete lack of self-analysis was sadly missing in action. It says a lot that at his first rally of Americas 2020 presidential election campaign, Joe Biden promised to rebuild the middle class. Let me say this simply and clearly, and I mean this: The country wasnt built by Wall Street bankers, CEOs, and hedge fund managers. It was built by you. It was built by the great American middle class. Warming to his theme, Barack Obamas vice-president, who is already 76, said America needed to redefine what constitutes a successful economy. Speaking in terms that resonate loudly on this side of the Atlantic, he continued: The stock market is roaring, but you dont feel it. The two trillion dollar tax cut last year, did you feel it? Of course not. All of it went to the top. He pointed to another great social injustice, as alive here as it is in the US, when he said the number of corporations that paid no taxes had doubled since tax cuts introduced by the Trump administration. Whether this rhetoric recaptures the constituency Hilary Clintons 2016 campaign ignored despite the prescient warnings of Bill Clinton remains to be seen. What might be delivered in the unlikely event of a Biden presidency is even fuzzier. What is certain, though, is that he hit a raw nerve, even if the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development recorded that Irelands middle class is growing. Ireland is one of the very few OECD countries where this is the case. Between the mid-1980s and mid-2010s, there was a drop of three percentage points in nine of the 17 countries that supplied data. There was a sharp fall in Sweden and Finland, while Germany, Luxembourg, and America also have a shrinking middle class. Ireland bucks that trend: in 2017, the Pew Institute found that of 11 western European countries, we enjoyed the most vigorous middle-class expansion between 1991 and 2010. Despite that, the report recognises that the middle class is undermined by stagnant wages, runaway housing costs, and job insecurity. The OECD argues that middle-class households need more government support. One issue, housing, confirms this. House prices have grown far faster than any middle incomes. This feeds the equation, making it more difficult to achieve or sustain a middle-class lifestyle. Taxation, despite protests to the contrary, has a disproportionate impact on middle-class incomes. About one in five pay tax at the higher rate, but they pay more than three-quarters of all income tax. Those on the standard rate account for 43% of taxpayers, but pay only 25% of tax. Those are the economic markers, but the idea of a middle class is about much more than achieving a certain income. Like every class, the middle class has it strengths and weaknesses, even if it requires sloppy generalisations to define them. History shows, though, that a secure middle class enhances civilisation, drives change, and, again a generalisation, cherishes education and achievement in a way that more often that not enhances society. Joe Biden is right: being middle class is about far more than having a comfortable lifestyle. It is as much a political definition as an economic one one that might sustain the idea of European liberal democracy. Today is World Press Freedom Day, an annual event to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom. First proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, this years event includes a conference taking place in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on the theme of journalism and elections in times of disinformation. Given the importance of speaking truth to power, it is worth reflecting on the role played by the so-called Fourth Estate, a phrase attributed to the 18th Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons in London. This is a dangerous time to be a journalist. At least 54 journalists were killed last year. Among that number, 34 were murdered due to their work, while the remaining 20 were caught in crossfire during a dangerous assignment. Just how dangerous that work can be came to our own shores last month when Lyra McKee was shot dead by the New IRA in Derry, a tragic event that prompted President Higgins to comment: The loss of a journalist at any time, in any part of the world, is an attack on truth itself. Being a journalist is also dangerous in other ways, with many practioners being subject to severe persecution, intimidation and threats. Emboldened by the hostile rhetoric of word leaders like Donald Trump and his characterisation of critical comments as fake news, more authoritarian governments are harassing, curtailing and jailing journalists. More than half of those behind bars are being held in Turkey, China, and Egypt, most of them on charges of opposing the state. In contrast to what is happening in many countries, the media in Ireland operates under a relatively benign regime; yet journalism is not without its constraints. While the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and the courts recognise that as extending to the media, the right to publish matters of public concern and interest is curtailed in a number of ways. Family court hearings are held in private; the right to publish must be balanced with the right to personal privacy and we still have a Censorship Board with the authority to prohibit any book or periodical that it finds to be obscene. Until the late 1980s, a number of newspapers and magazines were banned in Ireland including Playboy and the News of the World. A more insidious form of curtailment to freedom of the press in Ireland concerns our draconian defamation regime. As Newsbrands Ireland, the voice of our newspaper industry, today launches a campaign for reform, it should be noted that awards of more than 1 million are not unheard of and this has a chilling affect on journalists and media owners. Even a single judgement amounting to hundreds of thousands of euro against a newspaper or other media organisation may be enough to force it to shut its doors, potentially putting hundreds of people out of work. The reason for such high awards is generally attributed to the fact that Ireland is the only country in Europe where defamation actions are heard before a jury. In Britain, trials are held without a jury unless the court directs otherwise. There is also a huge disparity between awards for defamation and those given for personal injury. Damaged feelings are worth more than a damaged body. The case of Alan OGorman illustrates this well. At the age of 21, Alan, from Co Meath, had his stomach needlessly removed by surgeons at St Vincents Hospital in Dublin who incorrectly diagnosed him with cancer. In 2006, he received damages of 450,000, the same year that businessman Denis OBrien was awarded 750,000 in libel damages against Mirror Group Newspapers. For years, Ireland gave unlimited discretion to juries in assessing damages. The highest award ever was 10 million, awarded by a High Court jury in 2010 to a businessman who had been defamed by a press release issued by his employer. Such was the level of disproportionate jury awards and the exorbitant costs of libel actions that a new defamation regime was introduced in January, 2010 to shepherd, in the words of one Irish law firm, the wandering sheep sitting on Irish juries. The current legislation permits a plaintiff, instead of suing for damages, to seek an order in the Circuit Court that the offending publisher issue a public apology, correction or retraction and desist from republishing the defamatory material. Yet, suits for damages remain the norm and high awards are still the rule. Along with that, there is still no requirement that actual loss to business or personal reputation has to be proven. All the plaintiff has to do is make the claim. This is in stark contrast to the UK, where someone suing for libel has actually to prove that there was serious harm to their reputation as a result of the publication and where the maximum award in England and Wales for such a proven claim is 250,000 (291,000). Awards in Britain are higher than most of Europe but nothing as high as this jurisdiction and the contrast between Ireland and the rest of Europe is staggering. The highest award ever in Portugal was 75,000 and it was later deemed by the European Court of Human Rights to be excessive, with the court declaring that it inevitably risked dissuading journalists from contributing to public debate on questions of general interest. Some were harassed. Some were threatened. Some were murdered. Yet, they took the risk and always stood up for #FreedomOfExpression. For justice. For democracy. For you. Never give up on the fight for #PressFreedom! https://t.co/nA8s5TKLTJ #WorldPressFreedomDay pic.twitter.com/G00bXrLTFM UNESCO #Education #Sciences #Culture (@UNESCO) May 1, 2019 Defamation awards in Austria are capped at 20,000 for most cases while in Malta the maximum is 11,640, with most disputes going to arbitration. In the Netherlands, awards are, on average, between 1,000 and 5,000, while in Sweden 15,000 would be considered adequate compensation for a serious infringement. Reform has proven tortuous. It took 49 years for the 1961 Act to be replaced. We were promised a review of the current legislation within five years but that is yet to happen. Irelands defamation law has come to the attention of the Paris-based NGO, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) which measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries. Its World Press Freedom Index, published annually by RSF since 2002, it assesses the level of pluralism, media independence and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information. Ireland is ranked 15th in the world, up one from last year. While describing the highly concentrated nature of media ownership as the single largest threat to press freedom in Ireland, the review notes: the possibility of exorbitant damages, combined with the high costs of defending defamation suits, has resulted in a climate of self-censorship, in which prominent individuals known to be litigious become largely untouchable by the Irish media. That is neither good for the media nor for democracy which the Fourth Estate serves to protect. A woman has died in clashes between protesters and security forces in Venezuela. Dozens of people were injured in the latest day of protest in the country. However, those expecting the population to answer opposition leader Juan Guiado's call for the "largest march" in the country's history were largely disappointed. He has now called for an escalating series of strikes in a bid to force President Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power. For the third time this year, the big moment in Venezuela has turned into a bust. Trump administration officials had expected that Wednesday might turn out to be the beginning of the end for President Maduro with senior government figures withdrawing support and the opposition launching a mass uprising with military backing. But the promised defections did not happen, the military uprising never materialised and Mr Maduro still appeared to be firmly in command of the South American nation. Trump officials were back to complaining about the support Venezuela receives from Cuba and Russia while issuing vague warnings of military action. "Military action is possible," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Fox Business Network. "If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do." It was another reality check for an administration that has thrown its support behind the opposition with a series of diplomatic and economic measures that, so far at least, have failed to achieve their goal of ousting Mr Maduro. The US views Mr Maduro's re-election last year as fraudulent and illegitimate and has recognised Juan Guaido, the opposition head of the National Assembly, as interim president. Some in the administration thought they would achieve their mission in January, when the US formally recognised Mr Guaido and around 50 other nations followed suit. Others thought it might end in February, when the opposition entered the country with trucks of US aid to help the people of a once prosperous country where many now go without food and medicine amid a deep economic crisis. This week, administration officials were told the defence minister, the president of the supreme court, the head of the presidential guard and others would formally announce that they supported the Venezuelan constitution, implicitly backing the opposition, said Elliott Abrams, the special US envoy for Venezuela. It was "widely understood", Mr Abrams told reporters at the State Department, there would be huge May Day marches and Mr Guaido and his supporters hoped they "would lead peacefully to the end of the Maduro regime". Instead, US officials were caught off guard early on Tuesday with the release of a video featuring Mr Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader who suddenly appeared to have been freed from house arrest with the cooperation of soldiers guarding him. They called for a mass uprising with the military, dubbed "Operation Freedom". But the security services that have backed Mr Maduro throughout the crisis never switched sides to any notable degree. The defence minister, Vladimir Padrino, reaffirmed his support for the government early in the morning. By the end of the day, Mr Lopez and his family had sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence and then the Embassy of Spain. US officials said Mr Maduro would never be able to hang on without the support of Russia and Cuba, which they say has some 20,000 military and intelligence personnel in the country. Cuba angrily denied the allegations, saying the vast majority of its roughly 20,000 people in Venezuela are providing health care, education and basic infrastructure services. "To the allegations that Cuba has troops in Venezuela, they are totally and absolutely false," Cuba's director-general of US affairs, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, told The Associated Press in an interview in Washington. "Cuba does not participate in military operations or security operations in Venezuela of any type." On the ground in Venezuela, the situation remained unsettled and unclear. Mr Trump's top national security aides, including Mr Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who cancelled a trip to Europe to work on Venezuela, huddled at the White House to discuss possible options. Those options should not include the US military, said Representative Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was briefed by Mr Pompeo and Mr Bolton on the situation. Mr Engel, who recently visited Venezuelan refugees on the Colombia border and believes Mr Maduro should go, said Congress has too often gone along with military adventures abroad. "I think the days when the United States can intervene and send in the Marines are over and should be over," he said. Asia Leave My Country Alone, Sri Lanka President Tells Islamic State Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York, U.S in 2016. / Reuters COLOMBOSri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said a foreign mastermind may have planned the Easter Sunday bombings, claimed by Islamic State, telling the militant group to leave my country alone. Sirisena also warned it may be possible Islamic State had launched a new strategy by targeting smaller countries, Sky New said on Wednesday. A government source told Reuters on Tuesday police and other security forces across the Buddhist-majority country had been ordered to remain on high alert because the militants were expected to try to strike again, before the holy month of Ramadan which starts on Monday. Sirisena 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. Investigations revealed the bombs used in the Easter attacks were made locally, the president said in the interview. The suicide bombings on hotels and churches killed more than 250 people, including 40 foreign nationals. Police suspect members of two previously little-known groupsNational Thawheedh Jamaath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahimof carrying out the attacks. On Monday, Islamic States media network published a video message purporting to come from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which would be his first appearance since declaring the jihadists now-defunct caliphate five years ago. In the video, a bearded man with Baghdadis appearance says the Sri Lanka bombings were Islamic States response to losses in its last territorial stronghold of Baghouz in Syria. In the Sky News interview, Sirisena said he had a message for Islamic State: Leave my country alone. Sri Lankan authorities have previously said that they suspect the attackers had international links, although the precise nature of those connections arent known. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol, as well as other undisclosed foreign agencies, are helping Sri Lanka with the probe. Local intelligence officials believe that Zahran Hashim, a Tamil-speaking preacher from the east of the Indian Ocean island country, may have been a key player in plotting the Easter bombings. Officials believe he was one of nine suicide bombers. Burma The Struggle Continues for Myanmar Migrants in Thailand Myanmar migrant workers take a break from weaving fishing nets in the Thai tsunami-hit fishing village of Taplamu, about 120 km (75 miles) north of Phuket, Thailand. / Reuters CHIANG MAI, ThailandMyanmar migrant workers and advocacy groups in Thailand have called for their rights to minimum wages, safety at work, better accesses to social security and smoother work permit and visa extension application processes on International Labor Day, or May Day. While many migrant workers participated in the May Day march in Phang-nga, southern Thailand, dozens more gathered for a discussion event on Wednesday in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, alongside migrant rights advocates and experts, to share their experiences with the Thai government authorities. Nang Mya, a Myanmar housemaid working in Chiang Mai, said she doesnt get paid a full minimum wage despite working for eight hours a day. I want to earn the daily minimum wage (320 Thai baht in Chiang Mai), but I get 300 baht per day. When I asked my employer [about it], they said they could only give that amount, she said, adding that even though her pay doesnt meet the minimum, her job here earns her more than she earned in Myanmar. Ko Latt, who works at a shop which sells Buddhist shrines said that even though he earns above the minimum wage, he doesnt receive payment for overtime. I have been working in Thailand for six years and I do not get days off for public holidays. If I take leave on those days, I do not get paid. And there is no payment for extra hours after eight hours a day. There is no lunch break either. The accommodation is bad too. If I get sick, the employer would not care and there are no labor rights, he told The Irrawaddy. Other difficulties faced by migrant workers from Myanmar are higher costs for visa extensions, for obtaining official documents and social security issues, said Pi Thong Khan, adviser in migrant affairs at the Migrant Assistant Program (MAP) based in Chiang Mai. They (migrant workers) are worried about what to do when their visas expire next year, she said, saying the window during which migrants must renew their visas is between just 20 and 30 days. Additionally, an inadequate number of one-stop government service centers has led to the centers being packed with thousands of migrants which created more opportunities for brokers to exploit migrants. To tackle illegal migration and to reduce issues with undocumented migrants, the Thai and Myanmar governments signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2009 and since then have introduced a number of schemes to improve the documentation process for those working in Thailand unofficially. Many Myanmar migrants who had been working in Thailand for decades were unable to travel from one province to another until the government began issuing temporary Myanmar passports in 2009. Then, in 2013, there was a renewed push for migrants in Thailand to apply for regular passports which are valid for five years. To obtain these passports, however, all have to go through a national verification process to prove that they are Myanmar citizens, and to do this they must have national identification cards and household registration documents. And these are hard to come by. The passport should be one that migrants can use for a long time, and the cost should be reduced, Pi Thong Khan said, referring to the additional broker fees which migrant workers often have to pay in order to get the help of agents to overcome the complicated application processes. We dont want to have to go through brokers, as [we] have to pay them more fees than the normal costs, she added. Despite these difficulties, as of September 2018 there are over 2.2 million people Myanmar workers officially registered in Thailand. Myanmar workers make up the highest number of foreign workers followed at some distance by Cambodia (more than 820,000 workers) and Laos (nearly 300,000) who are registered. Among the 2.2 million workers, those with certificates of identification make up more than one million. Those whose visas will expire in March 2020 are more than 777,000. Labor rights groups estimate there could be tens of thousands more undocumented, particularly in the agriculture sector, construction and seasonal industries. Jai Han, a construction worker who has been working in Thailand for 10 years said it would be good if the Myanmar government could help migrant workers who hold certificates of identity to get official passports with the help of the embassy instead of [them having to go] back to Myanmar. He also requested for the Thai government to help migrants access safe working environments, to allow visa extensions for their dependents and to give migrant better work opportunities and not restrict them. Although there are demands from migrant workers for better labor rights and from labor advocates for better government policies, the visa and passport processes are the same as ever, according to U Htoo Chit, director of the Foundation for Education Development, based in Phang-nga, southern Thailand. He said he has seen many more Thai employers encourage their employees to obtain the official documents compared to previous decades, but that the government has not yet provided policies to smoothen processes for migrant workers. Since the 2009 MOU process was introduced, many more in the fishery sectorconsidered the most exploited sector employing migrantshave become legal. There are now more than 20,000 official laborers working in Thai waters, he added. Last year, the Thai and Myanmar governments agreed to increase employment efforts aiming to hire more than 42,000 workers. We explained to the workers that having certificates of identity and going through national verification is good for them, but many of them could not afford the high cost [compared to their wages], he said. He added that for those who have had to leave their homes in Myanmar due to civil war and those who are not members of the indigenous ethnic groups, like Gurkhas and Muslims, the troublesome verification processes continue to hamper their efforts in obtaining the necessary official documents. Burma Township Lawmaker Accuses Hotels of Spoiling Ngapalis Natural Beauty Hotel furniture on the sand at Ngapali beach in southern Rakhine State. / The Irrawaddy SITTWEA proposal was submitted on Monday to take legal action against hotels encroaching on Ngapali Beach, in the Thandwe region of southern Rakhine State. Thandwe Township lawmaker Nai Kyue Aye submitted the proposal, saying that nine beachfront hotelsAureum Palace Hotel, Jasmine Hotel, Amazing Hotel, Ngapali Paradise Hotel, Hilton Hotel, PVI Hotel, BT Bay Hotel, Memento Hotel and Jade Marina Hotelhave encroached on the sand area on the ocean side of their properties. Those hotels, he said, have spoiled the natural beauty of the beach by constructing swimming pools, retaining walls, restaurants and security guard posts on the beach next to their hotels detracting from the beachs beauty. In 2016, Ngapali was voted the top beach destination in Asia in TripAdvisors Travelers Choice Awards. Now, it is not even in TripAdvisors list of top 25 beaches in the world. According to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism guidelines on coastal beach resort areas, construction sites must be 50 meters back from the high-tide mark, must avoid building walls or fences that block views of the beach and must not use beach sand. Of the nine hotels that have encroached on the beach, the Thandwe Township municipality has filed a lawsuit only against the Aureum Hotel, said the lawmaker. The Rakhine State parliament has approved discussing Nai Kyue Ayes proposal. Rakhine State minister for planning and finance U Kyaw Aye Thein said he would make a field inspection this week. Rakhine State Parliament Speaker U San Kyaw Hla called for a speedy investigation into the case. According to the Thandwe branch of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Ngapali has 35 licensed hotels and guesthouses providing at least 1,300 rooms to tourists. There are also dozens of unlicensed hotels. News Tensions High Following Mon-Karen Clash at Three Pagodas Pass Mon National Liberation Army troops who have been trained for jungle conflict walk through their territory in Ye Township, Mon State. / Min Daysa / Facebook Military tensions have heightened between Mon and Karen rebels over a territorial dispute in the strategic area of Three Pagodas Pass in Karen State near the Thailand-Myanmar border following a skirmish on Monday, according to local sources. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), blocked all roads into Tha Dein Village where the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) troops have a military base causing tensions to rise. Both sides have been closely watching the others movements, with the KNLA calling in additional troops yesterday in preparation for an attack on the Mon groups base. The New Mon State Party (NMSP) informed the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, on Wednesday about the KNLA blocking roads in the area, confining locals to the village, including ill persons requiring treatment at hospitals outside. According to the NMSP, following their complaint, the KNLA reopened one road. They opened one road only for civilians to use but they continue to block other roads in order to stop our troops movements, Nai Oung Thein, the NMSPs deputy liaison officer, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. If the KNLA come inside the village, he said, his army will fight. We will not go [out] to attack them, but if they come into our area, we are prepared to fight them back. A small clash broke out on Monday between the KNLA and the MNLA in a disputed territory where NMSP staff are carrying out a logging project. When KNLA troops came in to stop the logging, the skirmish broke out. The main problem is that they accused us of cutting timber in an area where they control. But this is not truethat area is under our control, he said. In explaining the details on Mondays clash, he said the KNLA offered to negotiate via a local who came to the logging project area. But as soon as he left, the KNLA began firing at the NMSP soldiers anyway. They fired shots first and the shells fell near our troops. Fortunately, none of us were hurt, said Nai Oung Thein. The fighting continued for thirty minutes before the KNLA troops left the area, according to the NMSP. Neither party has reported any casualties following the clash. Regarding the suggested negotiations on the territorial dispute Nai Oung Thein said he did not know yet whether his partys top level would agree to meet with the KNU. The NMSP liaison office has attempted to arrange a negotiation session with their opponents liason office, but invites to the KNU side have gone unanswered. When The Irrawaddy tried to contact the KNU liaison office at Three Pagodas Pass for comment, the relevant persons were unavailable. The disputed area been seen peace since the NMSP signed a ceasefire with the Myanmar government in 1995. Both the KNU and the NMSP later made verbal agreements to work towards local development and economic improvement, especially in that area of forestry. When the NMSP carried out a logging project there in the past, they agreed to give the KNU 400 Thai baht for every ton of timber they harvested. But this time, the KNU did not accept the payment, and instead insisted the area belongs to them only. Commentary With the Bear and the Dragon, Myanmar Military Plays Safe Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Russian Navy deputy chief Vice Admiral Volozhinskiy Andrei Olgertovich and senior military officers from both countries pose for a photo in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 16. / Commander-in-Chiefs Office website Military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaings high-level visits to China and Russia in April demonstrated that Myanmars once isolated military continues to diversify while keeping its traditional allies happy. During his visit to China, the message from the commander-in-chief in Myanmar was loud and clear: Myanmar regards China as an eternal friend and a strategic partner country, reads a press release issued by Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaings office as he was meeting with top civilian and military officials in Beijing. The visit came ahead of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyis visit to China to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum and, more importantly, send a message to Wa rebels as they were holding their 30th anniversary celebrations. Myanmar needs Chinas support and understanding more than ever. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017 to escape a military crackdown triggered by coordinated attacks on security posts in Rakhine State by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. The UN called the militarys actions a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Last year, China voted against the UN Human Rights Councils move to establish a body to investigate possible genocide in Myanmar. Myanmar is thankful for China as a good neighbor for its correct stance and standing against the international community over the Rakhine State issue, the commander-in-chief said. Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing also told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing that Myanmars military was ready to cooperate on implementing Chinas ambitious BRI, which he said includes a host of projects that could benefit Myanmar. This statement should appease the Chinese. But behind the handshakes and smiles between the two leaders, there is uneasiness. (The most recent visit was Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaings fifth. His first overseas visit as commander-in-chief of military forces was to Vietnam in 2011a move seen by observers as snubbing big brother China.) External Destructive Elements Diplomatic relations between Myanmar and the Peoples Republic of China were established in 1950. They remain complicated due to Chinas economic and geopolitical interest in the country, unresolved border issues and Beijings backing of ethnic insurgents in Myanmar along the Chinese border. Underneath the rhetoric during his visit, the really pressing issue between China and Myanmar (which share a border that is more than 2,000 km long) is the powerful ethnic armies stationed along Chinas border with Myanmar. These groups, known collectively as the Northern Alliance, are well funded, well armed, resourceful and backed by China. During the visit, China requested that Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing extend the militarys unilateral ceasefire. On Tuesday, the Army announced that the ceasefire has been extended until June. In a limited edition, 99-page paper released in 2016, the Myanmar military specifically mentioned the military build-up of neighboring countries, and in particular Chinas involvement with ethnic armed groups along the border, though the paper also lauded Chinas emergence as a 21st-century power. In the paper it mentioned external and internal destructive elements who oppose national reconciliation and the development of border areas. Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing is no stranger to Chinese and ethnic insurgents along the shared border. In August 2009, then General Min Aung Hlaing, who was at that time chief of Special Operations 2, led an offensive against one of the ethnic groups in the region, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), forcing over 30,000 refugees to flee to the Chinese side. The surprise offensive undoubtedly strained relations between the two countries, particularly as the Kokang are ethnically Chinese. Beijing warned the junta at the time to properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability on the China-Myanmar border. A headline in The New York Times bore the bold headline: Myanmar Army Routs Ethnic Chinese Rebels in the North. The Kokang are a Han Chinese group, and generally speak Mandarin. The MNDAA is led by Peng Jiasheng, who is believed to be hiding in China or in nearby Wa territory. The conflict erupted again 2015 when the Kokang rebels launched an offensive to retake their former headquarters, Laukkai. The Myanmar Army mobilized troops and employed air power to quell the offensive, prompting the Chinese to ask the two sides to resolve the dispute peacefully so that refugees who had fled across the border could return home. Then-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing claimed he would defend Myanmars sovereignty by driving out foreign ethnic nationals, specifically the ethnic Kokang Chinese. This no doubt upset the Chinese. Myanmars generals have always been cautious in their dealings with China, and Beijing has long been suspected of supporting certain armed ethnic groups in northern Myanmar, particularly the United Wa State Army and the Kokang. Therefore, the issue of stability along the border with China was discussed during the recent visit. Myanmar promised to ensure stability in border areas and Beijing repeated its commitment to support peace and national reconciliation in Myanmar. But in reality, this is going to be difficult. Ethnic rebels based along the China-Myanmar border have developed not only lucrative trade ties but also patron-client relations with China. The Myanmar militarys containment strategy over ethnic armed groups along the border definitely needs to be defined and reviewed. Toys for Boys in Russia After his China visit, Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing went to Russia in the same month to attend the 8th Moscow Conference on International Security. Myanmar shares no border with Russia and there are no proxy armies in Russias pocket fighting against Myanmar; this means the two sides can get straight down to business. Like China, Russia is not interested in issues of democracy, human rights and press freedom in Myanmar. It is a relationship of convenience between the two. During the visit, Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaings delegation visited several military facilities. Russia is currently assembling six Sukhoi SU-30SM fighter jets for Myanmar under a contract worth about US$204 million (310.66 billion kyats) signed between the two nations last year. Previously, Myanmar bought MiG29B fighter jets and Yak-130 trainer aircraft from Russia. Myanmar also operates Mi-17, Mi-24 and Mi-35 combat helicopters. At a press conference, Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing praised Russias military hardware, saying it was very useful for the Tatmadaw in key locations in Myanmar. Upon meeting Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoigu said, I have learned that the Myanmar delegation visited Russian arms manufacturing enterprises and examined their production and manufacturing capacity. Now you have an independent opinion of our capabilities. Interestingly, Shoigu said Russia considers Myanmar to be a reliable ally and strategic partner in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific. Russia and Myanmar established ties in 1948, and three years later opened embassies in each others countries. Like China, Russia also voted at the UN Security Council to block a resolution on Myanmar over the Rohingya crisis. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Myanmar was the fifth-biggest importer of Russian weapons and aircraft in 2014, spending $20.4 million on Russian weapons in that year. Additionally, Myanmar sends officers to Russian military academies for training. (The Tatmadaw also sends officers to India, China, Japan and Israel.) China is one of Myanmars biggest trading partners but trade between Myanmar and Russia is very modest. Russia has invested in the energy sector but Russian businesspersons still see Myanmar as a risky market. However, Myanmar imports machinery, industrial equipment and vehicles, chemical products and metals from Russia and exports rice and textiles to the country. But defense ties between the two are strong, as Myanmar military leaders look beyond China to search for advanced and reliable weapons. Moreover, Myanmar also sees Russia as a helpful big brother to counterbalance the influence of China, India and Western powers. Some observers see Myanmar as a strategic market for Russia, which is eyeing increased arms sales in the region. Submarines Next? Interestingly, Myanmars military delegation paid a visit to St. Petersburgs Admiralteyskie Verfy Shipyard, one of the largest in Russia. There, the senior general and his team studied the manufacture, repair and maintenance of submarines. It is an open secret that Myanmars leaders want to acquire submarines, as the country has recently built up its naval capabilities. Over the past decade, Myanmar naval officers have undergone technical training in Russia, India and Pakistan. It is believed that Myanmar generals have been looking at several types of submarines, with diesel-powered models being the most likely option, as they are the best fit for Myanmars waters. When the military conducted its Combined Fleet Exercise-Sea Shield 2019 in the Bay of Bengal, Commodore Moe Aung, Navy chief of staff, told the press that Myanmar was planning to buy submarines. The Royal Thai Navy signed a contract with China to buy a diesel-electric submarine in May 2017. The vessel is expected to be delivered by 2023. In 2017, the Bangladesh Navy also bought two refurbished Type 035G (Ming class) submarines from China. Over the past decade, the Myanmar Navy has upgraded its frigates, corvettes and missile boats, and improved its domestic shipyards with help from foreign countries, especially China and Russia. Looking at Thailand and Bangladesh, the Myanmar Navy wants to safeguard its long coastline and foreign and maritime security threats, as well as tackle human trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism and drug trafficking. In 2008, Myanmar and Bangladesh sent warships into the Bay of Bengal amid escalating tensions over a vast disputed gas find. And with growing unresolved migration issues along the border, Myanmar military leaders no doubt see Bangladesh as a threat. In 2001-02, Myanmar engaged in serious military skirmishes with Thailand on the northern border in Mae Sai-Tachilek. Thailand scrambled F-16 jet fighters in the border region and successfully disrupted communications between commanders and frontline troops. Myanmars generals were humiliated and subsequently bought Russian-made MiG-29 jet fighters and missiles, and even sent secret military delegations to North Korea to buy more weapons. Guardian of the State According to the 2016 defense strategy paper, in which the military outlined its strategies and policies, one of its key goals is to build a strong, competent and modern patriotic force to serve as the guardian of the state. The military has also improved relations with neighbors including Thailand, Vietnam, China, India, Japan and Russia. The immediate concern Myanmar and the military face is continuing pressure from the West, including sanctions. This week, the European Union extended an arms embargo and placed sanctions on 14 top military and border officials. Military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told the media that most of the militarys weaponry systems come not from the EU, but from Russia and China, so Myanmar will not be affected very much. With Western sanctions on Myanmar remaining in place, Myanmar generals will have zero chance to forge military relations with the U.S., the E.U. and others in the West. It is true that Myanmars generals will have to contend with regional and traditional allies. The military is accused of human rights violations while wanting to retain its national political role. It is impossible that the generals will get a welcome reception in the West. When it comes to the Bear and the Dragon, history teaches Myanmars military leaders that their best bet is to play safe. Aung Zaw is founding editor-in-chief of The Irrawaddy. Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 (7:08 am) - Score 1,456 Business ISP Exascale has announced that unprecedented demand during Q1 2019 has caused them to extend their carrier grade MPLS network to Wolverhampton and Telford, which they say will support a range of competitively priced uncontented gigabit Point-to-Point Ethernet and contended FTTP services in selected areas. Its noted that the new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) service is expected to get a formal announcement soon (not yet fully unveiled). Elsewhere local businesses will also be able to take advantage of the Governments Gigabit Broadband Voucher (GBVS) scheme in order to cut their installation costs by up to 2,500 (500 for home owners in related areas). Meanwhile the provider added that they currently offer speeds of 10Mbps through to 10Gbps MPLS and internet connectivity nationally from all of their on-net datacentres, core network nodes and throughout the United Kingdom and Europe using their strategic connectivity partners. Thomas Bibb, Exascales Technical Director, told ISPreview.co.uk: Exascales full fibre rollout will focus upon both residential and business estates with a ratio of 10 houses per every business connected. Planning has already started for the Exascale full fibre rollout and specific areas will be announced within the coming weeks. [We] anticipate covering a 10KM radius of [our] core network nodes in both Wolverhampton and Telford within the next 12-18 months. Exascale will publish towards the end of Q4 2019, their wholesale proposition for their full fibre network. Allowing channel partners to take advantage of their rapidly expanding UK network. The ISP, which believes the introduction of their ultrafast fibre network will improve the local economy and create jobs, added that their carrier grade network is now present and on-net in data centres and core network nodes throughout the United Kingdom (e.g. Edinburgh, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Telford, Cheltenham and London). Alexa is Amazon's AI interface that the public would know best, but Amazon's Innovation Day not only looked at how the tech is being used today, but how it will all "evolve to meet the challenges of tomorrow". Bringing together "global and local leaders from industry and science to share how technologies are being used to solve problems for customers today", Amazon's Innovation Day 2019 was also about "how these technologies will evolve to meet the challenges of tomorrow". The event featured an audience of 8000 people who "heard how AI, Machine Learning, and robotics are changing our world and how this learning helps Amazon deliver for the customer". We're told that "leading research and industry experts helped attendees to think big by showcasing how AI and robotics can transform traditional industries like agriculture, how drones protect surfers, and how technology protects people and autonomous vehicles in high density urban areas. "The how of innovation was also explained stepping through models and processes that todays innovation leaders use to guide their work." So, what did some of Amazon's leaders have to say about the day? Tye Brady, the chief technologist for Amazon Robotics, said: Humans are really good at problem solving, abstraction, generalisation, using common sense. "And our machines that we develop? Crunching numbers, assessing databases, remembering a myriad of things, repetitive tasks, moving with precision, heavy lifting, machines are really good at these. "But if you can blend these together in order to achieve something that is stronger than any one of them alone, you are now achieving the symphony of humans and machines working together, and when done right this creates jobs. Since weve heavily invested in robotics in 2012, we have created over 300,000 jobs. Simply put, we couldnt achieve our customer obsession without adding robotics and automation. Weve just got to do it. To me its simple, the more robots we have, the more jobs were creating. Neil Lindsay, vice-president of Global Marketing at Amazon Prime & Engagement, said: "Well ask, what do we need to invent? And thats a really important question, because if theres nothing to invent, then is it really compelling enough, is this a big enough idea? When you have a big idea, when youre working back from a compelling customer promise, its quite common to get a lot of noes. Naysayers are common with big ideas. And its important to work hard to get to yes. Jenny Freshwater, leader of Forecasting & Capacity Planning at Amazon, said: Weve talked a lot today through all the presentations about automation, but its really still about the people. "We have deep learning algorithms that actually learn for themselves, but we still need people, smart scientists, to code those algorithms. And when we have a great model we move on and invent a better one. In our world and in likely yours, machine learning is not just a buzzword, its our future. Other presenters at Amazon Innovation Day included Tom Soderstrom, IT chief technology and innovation officer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce; Rob James, Group chief technology officer, Qantas; AI Futurist Dr Jordan Nguyen; Dominic Price, Futurist, Atlassian; Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, University of Sydney; and Baraja co-founders Federico Collarte and Cibby Pulikkaseril. So, with 2020 edging ever close, the next decade of AI, machine learning and robotics is nearly upon us, and as long as humanity doesn't blow itself up in a catastrophic nuclear, environmental, political or financial crisis first, Amazon is just one of the tech companies ensuring our dreams of an advanced sci-fi future becomes ever more science fact in the present with every passing day, and long may it continue! After more than a year when it has been stalked by privacy scandals, Google has announced that it will introduce an auto-delete feature for location history and activity data that it collects. With US regulators demanding answers by 7 May over the repeated scandals, this appears to be Google's method of dealing with the issue. In the past, even turning off location on smartphones has not stopped Google from collecting data, as an AP investigation in August last year found. The news agency said it had examined Google services on both Android devices and iPhones and found that turning off Location History had no impact at all. The company's support page says: You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored. But the AP found that this was a lie and even with Location History turned off, some Google apps store time-stamped location data. In April, The New York Times reported that law enforcement authorities were using a Google database called Sensorvault to track people they considered to be offenders. In announcing the auto-delete feature, David Monsees, product manager, Search, and Marlo McGriff, product manager, Maps, said: "You can already use your Google Account to access simple on/off controls for Location History and Web & App Activity, and if you choose to delete all or part of that data manually. In addition to these options, were announcing auto-delete controls that make it even easier to manage your data. "Choose a time limit for how long you want your activity data to be saved 3 or 18 months and any data older than that will be automatically deleted from your account on an ongoing basis. These controls are coming first to Location History and Web & App Activity and will roll out in the coming weeks." The feature will be available on both Android phones and iPhones, given that Google is the default search engine on Apple's Safari browser; Google pays Apple about US$9 billion a year to be the default search engine. Whether the feature will work as claimed remains to be seen. Researchers from Cisco's Talos Intelligence Group claim that attackers are actively exploiting a vulnerability in Oracle WebLogic servers running on Windows to install a new ransomware variant known as Sodinokibi. Pierre Cadieux, Colin Grady, Jaeson Schultz and Matt Valites said in a blog post that Sodinokibi attempted to encrypt data in a user's home directory and delete the shadow copy backups to make recovery that bit more difficult. They said Oracle has issued a patch for this issue, outside its normal patch cycle, on 26 April. "This vulnerability is easy for attackers to exploit, as anyone with HTTP access to the WebLogic server could carry out an attack. Because of this, the bug has a CVSS score of 9.8/10," they wrote. "Attackers have been making use of this exploit in the wild since at least 17 April." The initial release of the ransomware was on 25 April, a day before the Oracle patch arrived, with the researchers reasoning that this a trial to see if the server could be exploited. The next day, the attackers made an HTTP connection to a second vulnerable server, requesting the AsyncResponderService of the Oracle WebLogic Server. "Historically, most varieties of ransomware have required some form of user interaction, such as a user opening an attachment to an email message, clicking on a malicious link, or running a piece of malware on the device," Cadieux, Grady, Schultz and Valites wrote. One variant of the ransom note generated by Sodinokibi. "In this case, the attackers simply leveraged the Oracle WebLogic vulnerability, causing the affected server to download a copy of the ransomware from attacker-controlled IP addresses 188.166.74[.]218 and 45.55.211[.]79. The 188.166.74[.]218 IP address is also home to a pair of other malicious domains unrelated to this ransomware attack: arg0s-co[.]uk, which is likely a phishing domain, and projectstore[.]guru, a domain with bogus PDF-related Google search results. "The other IP, 45.55.211[.]79, hosts a pair of legitimate Chilean domains, and appears to have been infected and repurposed by the attackers. The attackers were ultimately successful at encrypting a number of systems during this incident." A second variant of the ransom note. They found that about eight hours after the initial attack, the same group attempted to exploit the same vulnerability with a different ransomware variant, Gandcrab. "We find it strange the attackers would choose to distribute additional, different ransomware on the same target," the researchers wrote. "Sodinokibi being a new flavour of ransomware, perhaps the attackers felt their earlier attempts had been unsuccessful and were still looking to cash in by distributing Gandcrab." They said given the fact that Oracle WebLogic servers were present in large numbers, more attacks were expected in coming days. Screenshots: Courtesy Cisco Talos Intellligence Group Microsoft's Azure cloud services have been hit by a major outage on Friday morning AEDT, with DNS resolution issues apparently responsible for the services being unavailable. The outage comes ahead of the company's Build conference for developers which is scheduled for next week and at which it normally announces new features in its products. Microsoft used its Azure Support Twitter account to send this message a short time ago: "Engineers have identified the underlying root cause as DNS resolution issues affecting network connectivity with impact to Compute, Storage, AAD, and Database services. "Mitigation steps are being applied, and we are starting to see signs of recovery." Engineers have identified the underlying root cause as DNS resolution issues affecting network connectivity with impact to Compute, Storage, AAD, and Database services. Mitigation steps are being applied, and we are starting to see signs of recovery. https://t.co/Dw19fIoS5H Azure Support (@AzureSupport) May 2, 2019 Earlier, prominent British security researcher Kevin Beaumont tweeted that Azure SQL databases and Sharepoint Online in Office 365 had collapsed. Additionally, Azure and the Office support request systems were also down., he said. Azure and Office support request systems are down. pic.twitter.com/JgCOinow0y Kevin Beaumont ?? (@GossiTheDog) May 2, 2019 A veritable litany of complaints was broadcast on Twitter earlier as Azure users found the service had gone missing. One said: "North Europe SQL down across the board too, Again no status update on Azure status, what a joke" Another stated: "AWS, Level3, etc. is all down! The end of the world as we know it has begun!" Office 365's https://t.co/60MCTIoyGQ portal showed no issues under Service health about 10 minutes ago. Now Service health itself is dead lol pic.twitter.com/uA4QQdSs8c bendodge (@bendodge) May 2, 2019 Microsoft's cloud services have experienced regular collapses over the last few months. In January, Microsoft 365 services went on the blink, with affected users unable to authenticate to, and access, them. A week before that, Office 365 mail was down in Europe for more than a day. And in November 2018, Microsoft had issues with the Office 365 service, with customers complaining they were unable to sign in to their accounts. A number of cloud services offered by the Redmond software giant use the MFA offered by Azure Active Directory to authenticate by default. Two days before that, users of the company's Exchange Online service were unable to access their email for more than 12 hours. And a week prior, Microsoft cloud customers using multi-factor authentication found themselves locked out of their accounts. Additionally, a lightning strike near one of Microsoft's South Central US data centres in September 2018 led to a massive outage in regions around the globe. The Azure service was hit by a fire suppression incident in 2017. It also suffered prolonged downtime in 2013. Update: Microsoft tweeted around noon on Friday AEDT that the DNS issue had been resolved and said it would post details later. Twitter accounts that are controlled largely by bots have been observed targeting Australians in the run-up to the Federal Election on 18 May, a researcher from the Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research Centre claims. Dr Timothy Graham, who is studying the phenomenon along with his colleague, Professor Axel Bruns, told iTWire that the research was still in an initial phase. He provided iTWire with a list of 127 Twitter handles which he said had a high bot score. Among the characteristics contribute to such a score are incomplete or very simplistic profile information; few or no connection with other accounts or connections only with accounts suspected of being bots; or patterns of posting tweets that were unlikely to represent human activity. "We used the state-of-the-art Botometer machine learning classifier to analyse the accounts," Dr Graham said. "The accounts I've sent you have a high bot score, which means that they are very likely to have been automated in a bot-like way. "It doesn't mean they are bots in the conventional sense, i.e., a piece of code controlling an account with no human intervention, but more that the account is highly automated in some way. "There is also some complexity between bots and trolls, whereby trolls are controlled by humans (e.g., the Russian interference via the Internet Research Agency) but use automated scripts to retweet content in a bot-like way." Dr Timothy Graham: "It doesn't mean they are bots in the conventional sense, i.e., a piece of code controlling an account with no human intervention, but more that the account is highly automated in some way." Professor Bruns, who studied the overall action patterns on Twitter during the 2013 and 2016 Federal Elections, told iTWire that his studies in those two years plus the 2017 Queensland state election focused more on the overall interaction patterns on Twitter around candidate accounts: who was getting attention, and what kind (were they being tweeted at, or were their messages being retweeted); what level of activity did the candidates themselves show in their tweeting; how did they interact with each other, and with the general public; and what themes and topics were being addressed in the tweets. "This enabled us to assess the relative engagement with each party, and the evolution of topics over the course of the campaign," he said. Two articles which he wrote about his studies during 2013 and 2016 were published in the online publication, The Conversation. In the 2013 poll, he and his team tracked about 117 ALP accounts, 100 Coalition accounts, 68 Greens accounts, and 112 independent and minor party accounts over the course of the campaign. "During the campaign period from 5 August to 7 September 2013, ALP candidates out-tweeted their competitors by a substantial margin. They posted more than twice as many tweets as Coalition candidates, in spite of their broadly comparable number of accounts. The Greens, by contrast, were considerably more active on Twitter outdoing even the Coalition, although they fielded only two thirds as many tweeting candidates," he wrote at the time. At the end of the 2016 campaign, Professor Bruns observed that ALP accounts were considerably more active than Coalition accounts, but the latter received a considerably greater volume of mentions than those of Labor candidates. Professor Axel Bruns says his studies of the 2013 and 2016 elections helped "assess the relative engagement with each party, and the evolution of topics over the course of the campaign". Dr Graham said the study was prompted by the events of the 2016 US presidential election - when fake news was posted on social media in an effort to sway voters - "not only in terms of outcome but also the events that occurred in terms of foreign or national interference in manipulating voters' opinions on social media. The Mueller report goes into some detail about this". He said misinformation in Australia was very likely to be different to other contexts, including the US. "Misinformation campaigns in the US largely were complex, and included a combination of strategies. One of these includes sowing discord and general unhappiness with the democratic process, potentially driving voters away from booths. "By and large, however, it was more a strategic effort to 'astro turf' political discussions and magnify/spread support for [Donald] Trump and dissent against [Democratic nominee Hillary] Clinton. This occurred in multiple ways, and one was certainly bots and trolls on social media, particularly those with a Russian origin (the Internet Research Agency)." Dr Graham studied Twitter activity during the US presidential election as well, beginning right after the first debate. For that study, he bought a dataset from Twitter through third-party data broker Uberlink. HE and his fellow researchers analysed 1.5 million accounts for influence, political behaviour and botness. He said that about 4.5% of accounts were believed to be bots, a percentage quite similar to that which he had found during his current study, adding that bots on the social media platform were 2.5 times more influential than humans. The current study was begun after the election was called on 11 April and Dr Graham said he hoped to finalise it a few months after the election, hopefully by August or September. Asked whether Twitter was aware of the study, he said he was not sure. "I am actually not sure if Twitter is aware of the study there are many thousands of Twitter-related research studies! We don't approach them for information. We use the Twitter API, which is a kind of data gateway that enables the public to access Twitter data through official channels." The New Town Shopping Center in western Winston-Salem has been sold for $4.04 million to two Clemmons groups. The purchase of the shopping center at 420 Jonestown Road was one of several commercial real-estate transactions listed in Forsyth County Register of Deeds filings this week. The shopping center buyers are New Town Group LLC, with Steven Smith listed as organizer, and K&O Ventures LLC with James ONeill and Konstantinos Kazakos listed as managers. New Town took a 60% interest in the shopping center, while K&O has a 40% interest. The seller was Reliable Tank Line LLC of Winston-Salem. The sale was completed Tuesday. The 4.64-acre shopping center contains 42,898 square feet of retail space with Golds Gym as the anchor tenant. The facility was built in 1971 and renovated in 2002. An online real-estate flier lists the shopping center at 94% occupied. In another filing, the CVS Pharmacy property at 1433 Lewisville-Clemmons Road has been sold for $2.58 million to NAPAS NC LLC of Miami. But Sam Gladding, a counseling professor at Wake Forest University, said, people shouldnt live their lives in fear, hard as it may be. It takes courage to live without fear and to expect the best while also being prepared for the worst, said Gladding, who has been at the university for 29 years. I think its very hard because people are in shock, people are in pain, people dont know exactly what to do after something so traumatic. While time heals, the process is slow, he said. Trauma has a ripple effect beyond the blow of the initial incident, and feelings of disbelief, shock and fear can persist. Gladding said people have to assess what they can and cant do. You can keep going to class, study, pay respect and tribute to the innocent victims of this tragic situation, he said. But you cant turn back time to where things were good and this event had not happened. You cant instantly heal. Gladding provided counseling after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting that left 32 dead. He was also on hand in New York in 2001 to help families of people killed in the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11. 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. Jewell started his remarks at the beginning of the rally by talking about the shooting at UNC Charlotte on Tuesday that left two students dead and four injured and called for a moment of silence. This incident is yet another example of the need for decision-makers to take action to prevent dangerous weapons from reaching the hands of dangerous people, he said. The thoughts and prayers are not enough to keep our students safe. And we call on our elected leaders now to take action to prevent the next mass shooting before it happens again. Cooper also spoke about the shooting and lauded law-enforcement officers on the scene who were able to prevent further harm to those on campus. But now we need to put the same type of coordination into preventing these shootings in the first place and telling legislators that school safety is vital, he said. And that doesnt mean putting guns with teachers in the classroom. Cooper went on to say that educators do more than teach the core subjects to their students. A significant jump in Unifi Incs income-tax provision contributed to a $1.53 million loss in its third quarter of fiscal 2019, the manufacturer reported Wednesday. Unifi had a $176,000 profit for the third quarter of 2018. The quarterly loss could have been larger if not for a $900,000 pre-tax gain from its Parkdale America LLC affiliate. The manufacturers provision for income taxes was $3.07 million, compared with $946,000 a year ago. The report was an unusually busy one for Unifi. It responded to preliminary anti-dumping duties applied Tuesday by the U.S. Commerce Department to certain Chinese and Indian polyester textured yarns. Unifi and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. America of Lake City, S.C., filed anti-dumping petitions in October. The manufacturer also provided a brief update on its executive management and operational shakeups highlighted by former chief executive Kevin Halls abrupt resignation by mutual agreement March 19. Hall had been replaced as chairman in January by board member Al Carey. The yarn manufacturer is based in Greensboro with about 1,000 production employees based in Yadkinville and over 250 in Rockingham County. Sen. Thom Tillis is talking totally out of both sides of his mouth, first stating how upset he was about how the president was going to deal with the national emergency and then changing his mind when he realized he was up for re-election next year. Does he think the voters are dummies? Rep. Virginia Foxx always seems to sneak into photo-ops with the president, regardless of the issue, and has she ever complained about what he has said? No. And then at the local level we have state Sen. Debra Conrad, who said the reason she wanted to change the school board election process was because most of the members were now of the other party? And she didnt bother to tell any of the local authorities about her bill. And then there was the plan to change the voting wards! Is she concerned about the voters? No only herself. These people are not representing us in any way! Are they? Don Witte Advance 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/ Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Cardero Resource Corp. (TSXV: CDU) (FSE: CR51) ("Cardero" or the "Company") reports that it has received termination notice of the option agreements for four of the five nickel-cobalt properties in south eastern British Columbia, (the "Kootenay Project" or the "Project"; Figure 1). The four properties covered by the termination notice cover 2,465 hectares. The Lardeau claim block, covered by the second option agreement between Wealth Minerals Ltd. and Cardero remains current. The Lardeau claim block covers 5,386.5 hectares. The Kootenay Project is within the prospective Lardeau Group, which hosts numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, including the past-producing Goldstream mine located north of Revelstoke. Details of Option Terms The terminated option agreement applied to the four properties of Ledgend, Enerplus-Tesla, Nico, and Spine, as well as two subsequent add-on blocks to the Lardeau property, being optioned from the underlying owners who are at arms-length to the company. Cardero had the exclusive option to acquire a 100% interest in the four properties by paying an aggregate of $895,000 in cash and issuing an aggregate of 3,000,000 common shares over a four year term. The second option agreement applies to the Lardeau project comprising three claims totalling 5386.5 hectares. The underlying owner is Wealth Minerals Ltd, a corporation which is not at arm's length to the Company. Cardero has been granted the exclusive option to acquire a 100% interest in the Lardeau project by issuing an aggregate of 1,400,000 common shares over a four year term are as follows: Date Cardero Shares Closing 200,000 (issued) Year 1 Anniversary 300,000 (issued) Year 2 Anniversary 300,000 Year 3 Anniversary 300,000 Year 4 Anniversary 300,000 Total 1,400,000 All of the claims are subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty. Cardero will have the right to purchase of the royalty applicable to the Lardeau property for a payment of $1,000,000 in cash at any time following the date that Cardero exercises its right to acquire the properties. Exploration Potential Cardero believes the metavolcanic and metasedimentary units of the southern Lardeau Group to have excellent potential for hosting volcanogenic massive sulphides (VMS) with significant nickel-cobalt ( copper-zinc) content. The other known VMS occurrences in the belt were either discovered in areas of good rock exposure, at high elevations, or by chance during construction of forestry roads. The heavily vegetated low-elevation regions are under-explored, and few previous workers in the area recognized the potential for nickel-cobalt mineralization. Past exploration has focussed on lead-zinc- silver replacement and silver-gold vein deposits. The claims within the Lardeau Group cover some of the most prospective of the anomalous nickel-cobalt regional silt anomalies produced by the regional sampling programmes of the B.C. Ministry of Mines. More details on each project are available at www.cardero.com. Exploration to Date The Lardeau property covers 5386.5 Ha of mostly low-lying forest with sparse outcrop west of the Lardeau River. It was staked on the basis of anomalous nickel-cobalt regional silt anomalies produced by the regional sampling programmes of the B.C. Ministry of Mines. Cardero collected 126 silt samples at approximately 200-metre spacing from the numerous small creeks which cut across the regional geological trend in the fall of 2017. Three drainages returned highly anomalous Ni (>100 ppm), Co (>30 ppm) and Cu (>50 ppm) values, over up to three kilometres of their length (Figure 2). Limited reconnaissance work along the access roads at Lardeau identified listwanite float in the northern anomalous creeks. Listwanite is a quartz-carbonate alteration product of nickel-bearing ultramafic rocks, and like the talc and actinolite schists found at Ledgend, is associated with nickel-cobalt mineralization. Ultramafic rocks are also associated with the massive sulphides at the Standard VMS showing. Cardero intends to fly helicopter-borne aeromagnetic survey over the north block of the Lardeau claims. Base metal mineralization at Lardeau is expected to be associated with pyrrhotite, which has a strong magnetic signature. New logging roads are also planned for this area and will aid in access for prospecting and geochemical sampling. Figure 1: Location of Kootenay Properties in Southeast B.C. Figure 2: Lardeau property nickel silt sampling anomalies. Sampling Procedures and Quality Assurance and Quality Control The work program at the Lardeau Project was designed and supervised by John Drobe, P.Geo., the Company's Chief Geologist. Soil samples were taken from the 'B' horizon whenever possible and were collected using a mattock or shovel. Sample sites were labelled with blue and orange flagging tape with the number recorded on the tape. Soil samples were placed in waterproof kraft envelopes, after which samples were dried and collated. All samples were then shipped in sealed bags to ALS Minerals laboratories in Kamloops or North Vancouver, B.C. The samples were dried at <60 degrees C. and sieved to 180 microns (Prep 41), then analysed by ICPMS for 51 elements (method AuME-TL43). Over-limit gold results (>1ppm) were repeated by method Au-AROR43. This sampling program did not include a comprehensive QA/QC programme. However, ALS Minerals is an ISO 17025 registered laboratory and inserted blanks, standards and duplicates following their QA/QC protocol. Note that the exploration results described here for the Kootenay Project are preliminary in nature and not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of a mineral deposit. Qualified Person John Drobe P.Geo., Cardero's Chief Geologist and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the scientific information that forms the basis for this news release, and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Drobe is not independent of the Company as he is an officer, a shareholder and holds incentive stock options. ABOUT CARDERO RESOURCE CORP. Cardero Resource Corp., headquartered in Vancouver, is a resource company focussed on building a minerals exploration and development company. Cardero has completed the option to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Zonia Copper Oxide Project, located in Arizona. Zonia is a near-surface copper-oxide resource and a brownfields site having already been mined in the late 1960s and '70s. The entire resource (NI43-101 as amended and dated October, 2017), as currently defined, is located on private land and Cardero's plan going forward is to complete detailed engineering in anticipation of permitting the Project. The resource as currently defined has been pre-stripped and is ready for mining to begin. In September 2016, Cardero completed staking a total of 57 claims, the Silver Queen block, covering 424.5 hectares (1049 acres) adjacent to the southeast edge of Zonia. The Company also has an option agreement covering one nickel-cobalt property in south eastern British Columbia the, Kootenay Project totalling approximately 5,300 hectares. The Project is within the prospective Lardeau Group, which hosts numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, including the past-producing Goldstream mine located north of Revelstoke. Detailed information is available at the Company's web site at www.cardero.com. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of CARDERO RESOURCE CORP. "Stuart R. Ross" (signed) Stuart R. Ross, CEO and President Contact Information: Stuart Ross or Marla Ritchie 604 408 7488 General Contact: Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Toll Free: 1-888-770-7488 Tel: 604 408-7488 Fax: 604 408-7499 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Forward Looking Information: This news release includes certain information that may be deemed "forward looking information". Forward-looking information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. All information in this release, other than information of historical facts, including, without limitation, the potential of the Kootenay project, general future plans and objectives for the Kootenay project, the availability of financing to the Company and the Company's plans in relation to exploration programs and exercising its options regarding the Kootenay project are forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such expectations are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information include changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, delays in receiving approvals, and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company and the risks and challenges of our business, investors should review our continuous disclosure filings which are available at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to 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. This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Pure Energy Minerals Limited (TSXV: PE) (the "Company" or "Pure Energy") is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement with subsidiaries of Schlumberger Limited (collectively, the "Investor") on the terms of an earn-in agreement (the "Earn-In Agreement") providing for the development of the Company's Clayton Valley lithium project in Nevada (the "Clayton Valley Project"). Under the Earn-In Agreement, the Company has granted an option (the "Option") in favour of the Investor to acquire all of the Company's interests in the Clayton Valley Project (the "Transaction"). The Investor may earn into the Option by constructing a pilot plant for the processing of lithium brine (the "Pilot Plant") at its cost and expense. The Investor has a three-year period in which to exercise the Option (commencing on the receipt of the final federal and state permits required to construct the Pilot Plant) and may only exercise the Option if it has completed construction of the Pilot Plant and test work which achieves certain parameters. Upon exercise of the Option, the Company will be entitled to a 3.0% net smelter returns royalty on minerals produced at the Clayton Valley Project and an advance minimum royalty payment of US$400,000 per year starting January 1, 2021 for a period of five years or until the Clayton Valley Project achieves commercial production. The Transaction, which is the result of negotiations between arm's length parties, is subject to the approval of Pure Energy shareholders and other customary conditions (including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange). The Company has called an Annual General and Special Meeting of its shareholders for May 28, 2019 (the "Meeting") to consider and approve the Transaction, and expects the Transaction to become effective shortly following the Meeting. The Company intends to mail an information circular in respect of the Meeting containing additional details regarding the Transaction to Pure Energy shareholders in the coming days. Upon the Transaction becoming effective, the Investor has also agreed to invest US$1,500,000 in the Company on a private placement basis (the "Placement") for 32,421,737 common shares to be issued at a price per common share of $0.0615. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Placement to make certain property payments and for general corporate purposes. Upon the closing of the Placement, the convertible note in a principal amount of US$400,000 previously issued by the Company to the Investor will automatically convert into Pure Energy common shares (the "Conversion"). After giving effect to the Placement and the Conversion, the Investor will hold approximately 19.9% of Pure Energy's issued and outstanding common shares. The closing of the Placement and the Conversion is conditional upon the Earn-In Agreement becoming effective and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (in addition to other customary conditions). On closing, the Company and the Investor will enter into an investor rights agreement providing for, among other things, the right of the Investor to nominate one director to the board of directors of Pure Energy (the "Board") and certain anti-dilution rights, in each case, for so long as the Investor holds at least 5% of the outstanding common shares of the Company. About Pure Energy Minerals Pure Energy Minerals is a lithium resource developer that is driven to become a low-cost supplier for the growing lithium battery industry. Pure Energy has consolidated a pre-eminent land position at its Clayton Valley Project in the Clayton Valley of central Nevada for the exploration and development of lithium resources, comprising 948 claims over 23,360 acres (9,450 hectares), representing the largest mineral land holdings in the valley. Pure Energy's Clayton Valley Project adjoins and surrounds on three sides the Silver Peak lithium brine mine operated by Albemarle Corporation. The Company has completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the Clayton Valley Project (news releases of June 26, 2017 and April 5, 2018) which includes an updated resource calculation and a preliminary economic evaluation. The economic analysis presented in the PEA is based upon inferred mineral resources only. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the Project envisioned by the PEA will be realized. The Company and its technical consultants have also completed the basic design for the proposed pilot plant which could cost an estimated $15 to $25 million US dollars (news release of May 31, 2018). The lithium-bearing brines identified at the Clayton Valley Project are of high quality with very low impurity levels, and have been shown by small scale pumping tests to be amenable to conventional extraction. Pure Energy has received a finite-term water right permit from the Nevada Department of Water Resources which is sufficient for construction and operation of the envisioned pilot plant and testing of brines (news release of January 3, 2019). Quality Assurance Walter Weinig, Professional Geologist and Qualified Person as designated by the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America (MMSA registration #01529QP), is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Weinig is not independent of the Company, as he is a former officer. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Mary L. Little" Mary L. Little Director CONTACT: Pure Energy Minerals Limited (www.pureenergyminerals.com) Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Telephone: 604 608 6611 Cautionary Statements and Forward-Looking Information The information in this news release contains forward looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "will", "expects", "intends" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to the exploration and development of the Clayton Valley Project and the proposed transactions with the Investor. Forward looking information pertaining to the Company is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause such differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined under the U.S. Securities Act) absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asanko Gold Inc. (Asanko or the Company) (TSX, NYSE American: AKG) advises it will hold its Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM) on Friday June 7, 2019 at 10am PDT, at Suite 1500 1055 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Materials for the AGM, including the Companys management proxy circular (the Proxy Circular), have been filed under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and are also available on the Companys website at www.asanko.com/Investors/AGM-Materials/. In the Proxy Circular, the Company provides details of its proposal to re-elect its current slate of eight directors, reappoint KPMG LLP as auditors and approve the Companys Amended and Restated Shareholder Rights Plan for continuation for a further three-year term. Shareholder Questions: Shareholders who have any questions or require assistance with voting may contact Asankos Proxy Solicitation Agent: Laurel Hill Advisory Group Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 International: +1 416-304-0211 outside Canada and the US By Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Neither Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Stewart, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 2, 2019) - Decade Resources Ltd (TSXV: DEC) ("Decade" or the Company) announces that it has received results for the geochemical sampling at Crest property. Due to the lack of snow at lower elevations in the Stewart area in December 2018, the Company took the opportunity to carry out silt and float rock sampling on the property. The Crest Property lies at the west edge of the "Golden Triangle" of northwestern BC. It is in Alaska, 7 km south of the Premier gold mine. It is underlain by the Texas Creek Batholith; a Jurassic age intrusion -193-195 Ma found near Stewart including the Mitchell intrusions at Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell. This is related to mineralizing events in the Stewart area and Sulphurets-Mitchell valleys. The suite of rocks are associated with gold mineralization at Brucejack Lake, Premier gold mine-Silver Coin deposit and the Scottie gold mine as well as numerous porphyry copper gold occurrences. The Golden Triangle of British Columbia which is among the world's most prolific mineralized districts, host to past and current mining operations including Eskay Creek, Scottie Gold, Porter - Idaho, Johnny Mountain, Red Mountain, Snip Mine, Premier Mine, Golden Bear and Valley of the Kings. The Golden Triangle has reported mineral resources (past production and current resources) in total of 67 million oz of gold, 569 million oz of silver and 27 billion pounds of copper. In the Premier area, a total of 667,000 ounces gold are indicated in 2,780,000 tonnes at 7.46 g/t gold for Premier, Big Missouri, Silver Coin and Martha Ellen zones. In the Premier area, a total of 1,390,000 ounces gold are inferred in 6,030,000 tonnes at 7.18 g/t gold for Premier, Big Missouri, Silver Coin, Martha Ellen and Dilworth zones (Ascot Website). The Company explored for mineralization on the newly acquired claims over the historic Crest property that is described in Bulletin 807, Geology of Hyder and Southeastern Alaska by A. F. Buddington in 1929. According to Buddington, a NW trending quartz-sulphide vein is present on the property. He describes the vein as follows: "At one open cut, in the bed of a small gulch, the vein consists of a number of small quartz stringers, some of which carry free gold. Assays of the quartz have yielded as high as $105 in gold to the ton. At another open cut a moil sample of the country rock and quartz stringers, 2 feet in width averaged $4.50 in gold to the ton. The mineralized shoots run from $7 to $12 in gold to the ton." These results are historic and have not been confirmed by Company sampling. Values of gold per ton above are calculated when the price of gold was $20/ton. In December, the Company conducted preliminary sampling in stream beds along the Granduc Road which crosses the property. A total of 5 silt were collected and 12 rusty appearing float rocks in the stream beds were sampled. Results indicate silt samples up to 0.224 g/t which is considered highly anomalous. In addition rock samples from several streams yielded high gold values. Results are as follows: Location Sample Number Gold g/t Silver g/t Creek 4 CR-18-13 2034 412 Creek 5 CR-18-14 3.91 2.0 Creek 5 CR-18-17 3.67 599 Sample CR-18-13 had low lead-zinc values but was associated with high arsenic values indicating the possible presence of arsenopyrite. Both CR-18-14 and CR-18-17 had high lead-zinc values associated with the rock. Loring Laboratories of Calgary performed the analysis on the samples. In the 2019 field season, the Company plans further sampling to locate the source of these rocks as well as evaluate the total property. Ed Kruchkowski, P. Geo., a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, is in charge of the exploration programs on behalf of the Company and is responsible for the contents of this release. E. Kruchkowski is not independent of Decade as he is the president of the Company. Decade Resources Ltd. is a Canadian based mineral exploration company actively seeking opportunities in the resource sector. Decade holds numerous properties at various stages of development and exploration from basic grass roots to advanced ones. Its properties and projects are all located in the "Golden Triangle" area of northern British Columbia. For a complete listing of the Company assets and developments, visit the Company website at www.decaderesources.ca which is presently being updated. For investor information please call 250-636-2264 or Gary Assaly at 604-377-7969. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DECADE RESOURCES LTD. "Ed Kruchkowski" Ed Kruchkowski, President "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 may contain forward-looking statements. 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." TORONTO, May 2, 2019 /CNW/ - Adventus Zinc Corporation ("Adventus" or the "Company") (TSX-V: ADZN; OTCQX: ADVZF) is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource estimate and results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the El Domo volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit ("El Domo"), located within the Curipamba project, Bolivar and Los Rios Provinces, Ecuador, which will be summarized in an independent National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 Technical Report within 45 days. The study was commissioned by Adventus and carried out by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. ("RPA") in order to provide a base case assessment for the development of El Domo by both open-pit and underground methods with onsite production of concentrates for copper, zinc, and lead. The Company has an option agreement with Salazar Resources Limited ("Salazar") whereby Adventus may earn a 75% interest in the Curipamba project and Salazar retains a 25% interest. Highlights Table 1: PEA Results Summary PEA Base Case -10% Pricing +10% Pricing Long-term Consensus Forecast(3) Spot Prices as of April 30, 2019 After-Tax NPV ($M, 8% discount rate)(2) $288 $225 $342 $330 $271 After-Tax IRR (%)(2) 40% 35% 45% 44% 39% First 6 Years of After-Tax Cashflow ($M) $449 $392 $500 $488 $434 Initial Capital Cost ($M, incl. refundable VAT)(4) $185 Life of Mine ("LOM") Sustaining Capital Cost ($M) $105 Total Capital Cost ($M) $289 C1 Cost ($/lb CuEq, see production below)(5) $0.96 $0.94 $0.98 $0.98 $0.91 Payback Period (years) Approximately 2 years Nominal processing capacity (tpd) 1,750 LOM CuEq Head Grade over 15 years 4.9% Average annual payable production (Years 1 - 14) Cu = 8,495 t Au =24,433 oz Zn = 10,831 t Ag = 558,160 oz Pb = 564 t CuEq = ~19,000 t Metal prices assumed $3.15/lb Cu $1,350/oz Au $1.15/lb Zn $18.00/oz Ag $1.00/lb Pb $2.84/lb Cu $1,215/oz Au $1.04/lb Zn $16.20/oz Ag $0.90/lb Pb $3.47/lb Cu $1,485/oz Au $1.27/lb Zn $19.80/oz Ag $1.10/lb Pb $3.38/lb Cu $1,436/oz Au $1.22/lb Zn $19.80/oz Ag $1.00/lb Pb $2.91/lb Cu $1,285/oz Au $1.33/lb Zn $14.91/oz Ag $0.88/lb Pb Notes: 1) Unless otherwise noted in this news release, all currencies are reported in US dollars on a 100% basis 2) Assumes an 18-month construction period as the basis for the internal rate of return ("IRR") and net present value ("NPV") calculations 3) Long-term, consensus metal forecasting has been provided by RPA 4) Capital cost estimates used for the PEA are based off benchmarking and not engineering design 5) C1 Cost is net of direct operating costs and royalties The economic analysis contained in this news release is based, in part, on Inferred Mineral Resources, and is preliminary in nature. Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too geologically speculative to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that economic forecasts on which this PEA is based will be realized. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. President and CEO of Adventus, Christian Kargl-Simard stated: "The positive results of the independent PEA support the significance of the El Domo deposit within the Curipamba project. El Domo's attractive economics compare well with other copper development projects globally across valuation metrics, including cash cost, IRR and capital cost. In particular, the potential free cashflows from El Domo over the first 6 years of mine life offer compelling returns when compared with larger and more capital-intensive projects. Adventus plans to continue engineering and project development activities to further advance El Domo towards a future construction decision. In parallel, our exploration team has commenced an airborne geophysical survey over the 21,500-hectare Curipamba project for the first time and expect to actively evaluate and drill new targets in 2019. We would like to thank our partner Salazar Resources Limited, as well as the team of independent consultants who have been instrumental in our progress on El Domo and the Curipamba project to date." PEA Contributors The following companies have undertaken focused work programs since July 2018 that have been referenced in preparation of the PEA for El Domo: RPA Lead author and Independent Qualified Person ("IQP"), Mineral Resource estimation, open pit and underground mine design, mine plan, and mine layout Klohn Crippen Berger Tailings storage and waste rock facilities Knight Piesold Ltd. Social and environmental matters, access roads and power transmission line Base Metallurgical Laboratory Ltd. Metallurgical laboratory work Independent Mining Consultants, Inc. Open pit production throughput analysis Geology and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate El Domo, located within the Curipamba project, Bolivar and Los Rios Provinces, Ecuador is hosted in a juvenile volcanic-magmatic arc of the Paleocene-Eocene Macuchi Terrane that is known to host at least two other volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. Sulphide mineralization at El Domo is principally located at the contact between a felsic volcanic dome and overlying volcaniclastic strata and is generally flat lying. It has been traced for approximately 800 m in a north-south direction and between 350 m and 500 m east-west. An update to the Mineral Resource estimate for El Domo has been completed as part of the PEA to include all recent infill drilling completed in 2018. The updated, open pit constrained, Mineral Resource estimate for El Domo has an effective date of May 2, 2019 and is supported on information provided from 309 core boreholes, totaling 60,449 metres, completed between 2007 and 2018. As seen in Tables 2a to 2c, Measured Mineral Resources for El Domo total 1.4 million tonnes grading 1.92% copper, 0.37% lead, 3.52% zinc, 3.75 g/t gold and 58 g/t silver. The Indicated Mineral Resources for El Domo total 7.5 million tonnes grading 2.02% copper, 0.26% lead, 2.81% zinc, 2.33g/t gold and 49 g/t silver. The Inferred Mineral Resources for El Domo total 1.3 million tonnes grading 1.52% copper, 0.20% lead, 2.25% zinc, 1.83 g/t gold and 42 g/t silver. The updated Mineral Resource estimate possesses a similar footprint to the previous Mineral Resource estimate (see January 31, 2018 news release), but infill drilling in 2018 resulted in the upgrading of portions of the Mineral Resource from previously classified Indicated to Measured and Inferred to Indicated categories. The new Mineral Resource estimate has a total tonnage distribution of approximately 14%, 73%, and 13% classified in the Measured, Indicated and Inferred categories, respectively, which includes the Measured category for the first time. The increases in average grades in the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource categories of approximately 24% for copper, 10% for gold, and 21% for zinc are the result of higher net smelter return ("NSR") cut-off values, the improved geological model and related grade estimation domains, and changes to capping levels. Table 2a. Total Mineral Resource for El Domo Resource Category Tonnes (Mt) Grade Contained Metal Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (kt) Pb (kt) Zn (kt) Au (koz) Ag (koz) Measured 1.4 1.92 0.37 3.52 3.75 58 27.8 5.3 50.9 174 2,704 Indicated 7.5 2.02 0.26 2.81 2.33 49 150.9 19.7 210.3 559 11,884 M+I 8.9 2.00 0.28 2.93 2.56 51 178.7 25.0 261.3 733 14,588 Inferred 1.3 1.52 0.20 2.25 1.83 42 20.1 2.7 29.7 78 1,783 Table 2b. Pit Constrained Mineral Resource for El Domo Resource Category Tonnes (Mt) Grade Contained Metal Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (kt) Pb (kt) Zn (kt) Au (koz) Ag (koz) Measured 1.4 1.92 0.37 3.52 3.75 58 27.8 5.3 50.9 174 2,704 Indicated 5.7 1.74 0.28 2.60 2.47 51 99.0 16.1 147.8 452 9,417 M+I 7.1 1.78 0.30 2.78 2.73 53 126.8 21.4 198.7 627 12,121 Inferred 0.7 0.67 0.21 1.72 1.60 46 4.6 1.5 11.9 36 1,032 Table 2c. Underground Mineral Resource for El Domo Resource Category Tonnes (Mt) Grade Contained Metal Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (kt) Pb (kt) Zn (kt) Au (koz) Ag (koz) Indicated 1.8 2.91 0.20 3.51 1.85 43 51.9 3.6 62.5 106 2,467 Inferred 0.6 2.46 0.19 2.82 2.09 37 15.5 1.2 17.8 42 751 Notes for Table 2a, 2b, and 2c: 1. Mineral Resources in these tables are effective as of as of May 2, 2019 2. CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources 3. A nominal minimum thickness of two metres was applied to the Mineral Resource wireframes 4. Bulk density assigned on a block per block basis using the correlation between measured density values and base metal grade 5. Mineral Resources are reported above a cut-off NSR value of US$25 per tonne for potential open-pit Mineral Resources and US$100 per tonne for potential underground Mineral Resources 6. NSR value is based on estimated metallurgical recoveries, assumed metal prices and smelter terms; which include payable factors treatment charges, penalties, and refining charges 7. Metal price assumptions were: US$3.15/lb Cu, US$1.00/lb Pb, US$1.15/lb Zn, US$1,350/oz Au and US$18/oz Ag 8. Metallurgical recoveries assumptions were based on three mineral types defined by the metal ratio Cu/(Pb+Zn): Zinc Mineral (Cu/(Pb+Zn)<0.33): 84% Cu, 84% Pb, 95% Zn, 51% Au and 71% Ag Mixed Cu/Zn Mineral (0.33Cu/(Pb+Zn)3.0): 88% Cu, 85% Pb, 96% Zn, 66% Au and 69% Ag Copper Mineral (Cu/(Pb+Zn)>3.0): 88% Cu, 69% Pb, 73% Zn, 27% Au and 50% Ag 9. NSR factors were also based on the metal ratio Cu/(Zn+Pb): Zinc Mineral (Cu/(Pb+Zn)<0.33): 29.94 US$/% Cu, 9.17 US$/% Pb, 11.52 US$/% Zn, 14.17 US$/g Au and 0.27 US$/g Ag Mixed Cu/Zn Mineral (0.33Cu/(Pb+Zn)3.0): 44.20 US$/% Cu, 11.34 US$/% Zn, 22.90 US$/g Au and 0.27 US$/g Ag Copper Mineral (Cu/(Pb+Zn)>3.0): 46.27 US$/% Cu, 6.86 US$/g Au and 0.19 US$/g Ag 10. Numbers may not add due to rounding Mining and Processing The principal mining method proposed in the PEA is open-pit mining at 1,750 tonnes per day ("tpd") throughput at the mill that can be conventionally extracted using trucks, loaders and backhoes. The open pit mine design consists of a single pit with a mining sequence optimized through four main phases to maximize grade, reduce stripping ratios, and maintain the mill at optimum capacity for production of saleable concentrates of copper, zinc and possibly lead. Mining is expected to begin with eighteen months of pre-production waste mining on steep terrain. Mining operations consist of four open pit phases and underground operation. Mining equipment in the open pit is expected to include 40-tonne haul trucks, 3.8 m3 backhoe loaders and 114 mm blasthole production drills. Additional support heavy equipment is expected to include dozers, graders, and water trucks. Underground mining operations would start in year 10 of the production schedule proposed in the PEA at a target rate of 1,000 tpd, using variations of room and pillar methods. Access to the mine would be from a single decline that will transport run of mine ("ROM") to the surface facilities. In conjunction with the owner's development team, it is conceived that a contractor would be engaged for the initial development of the mine. Mining equipment selection is based on production requirements and stope dimensions. Under the PEA mine plan, ventilation is expected to be established in phases as mine development progresses to facilitate mining through the various zones of mineralization. Metallurgical test-work had been previously conducted between 2009 and 2014 on composite samples taken from both drill core and assay sample reject material. In 2018, Adventus funded a new metallurgical test-work program designed to provide indicative metallurgical performance that could be expected during the production of saleable concentrates. Conventional rougher and cleaner flotation testing was completed on the composites and the selected optimum metallurgical settings for the composites were taken to locked cycle tests, which simulates the metal recovery process. Locked cycle testing indicates the expected metallurgical performance from the test materials that could result in the production of commercial concentrate material. Details of the most recent metallurgical test results can be reviewed in the April 15, 2019 news release. Net recoveries to copper, zinc, and lead concentrates total 80.7% for copper, 38.3% for lead, 78.5% for zinc, 57.5% for gold, and 69.0% for silver. The net recoveries only include metals that are payable in their respective concentrates. The process plant is expected to ramp-up operations over a six-month period after completion of construction to a steady state throughput rate of 612,500 tonnes/year (1,750 tpd). The processing plant design includes a comminution circuit consisting of a crushing circuit followed by ball milling, and a sequential flotation circuit producing copper, zinc, and lead concentrates. The tailings storage and waste rock facilities proposed for construction and development at El Domo are conventional in nature for the base case scenario and both facilities are located on owned concessions close to mine infrastructure. Klohn Crippen Berger completed an analysis of nine different tailings storage locations, with various designs and technologies in order to arrive at the preferred location. The tailings storage facility is designed for a 1 in 10,000-year earthquake event, with similar international design standards for storms and floods. The PEA proposed open pit production totals 7.5 M tonnes, which has been estimated through the application of a $25/t NSR cut-off value to the open pit constrained Mineral Resource estimate and then allowing for a dilution factor, mining recovery and design losses. The open pit mine life, including pre-stripping, is estimated at approximately 16 years, with a total strip ratio of 6.3. Potential underground production totals 1.2 M tonnes, which has been estimated through the application of a $100/t NSR cut-off value to the underground constrained Mineral Resource estimate and then allowing for a dilution factor, and mining recovery design losses. The underground mine life is estimated at approximately 6 years, with additional time required for underground access development and infrastructure construction. Initial Capital Costs The initial capital expenditures for the project as estimated by RPA is summarized in Table 4. Capital expenditures to be incurred after the start-up of operations are assigned to sustaining capital and are projected to be covered by operating cash-flows. Project contingencies have been added where applicable, excluding capitalized operating costs, which results in an overall contingency of $33.0 M or 25% for the PEA (excluding VAT). Adventus believes that El Domo will benefit from established infrastructure in Ecuador, noting that El Domo is only 150 km by road to the major port city of Guayaquil. Table 4: Initial Capital Cost Estimates Item Pre-Production (Initial Capital, $M) Contractor Mining $17 Processing $52 Infrastructure $24 Tailings $7 EPCM / Owners Cost / Indirect Costs $32 Contingency (25%) $33 VAT (12%, which is a credit against taxes once exporting) $20 Total (100% basis) $185 Notes: (1) Totals do not necessarily equal the sum of the components due to rounding adjustments (2) Direct process plant capital costs are based on benchmarking and not from engineering design Sustaining Capital Costs RPA estimates the LOM sustaining capital for El Domo to be $105 M, which is expected to be funded by operating cash flows. The sustaining capital estimate is primarily for the expansion of the tailings storage facility, development of the underground mine, and reclamation and closure. Adventus has assumed $10 M at the end of LOM, and that has been credited against $34 M in closure and reclamation costs. On Site Direct Operating Costs ("Opex") The estimated Opex for El Domo is $54.80/t of mill feed see Table 5. RPA has estimated the Opex based on industry benchmarking, proprietary information and its professional experience. Table 5: On Site Operating Cost for Base Case Area Cost ($/t) Mining $3.15/tonne moved for the open pit and $71.50/tonne for processed underground mining Processing $21.80/tonne processed G & A $4.74/tonne processed Total: $54.80/tonne processed for the life of mine (blended open pit and underground mining cost) Notes: (1) Totals do not necessarily equal the sum of the components due to rounding adjustments Off-Site Costs (Concentrate Transport, Treatment, and Refining Charges) Projected Treatment Charges ("TCs") and transport charges for the copper, zinc and lead concentrates were developed by RPA based on their extensive experience on engineering projects in Latin America. Adventus anticipates that the copper, zinc, and lead concentrates are likely to be sold primarily to smelters in Asia. Off-site costs are comprised of freight charges (highway and ocean), port handling fees, and smelter treatment and refining charges see Table 6. Table 6: Off Site Costs Copper, Zinc and Lead concentrates Item Treatment Charges Silver refining $0.50/oz Gold refining $5.00/oz Copper TCs $80/t Copper RCs $0.08/lb Lead TCs $200/t Zinc TCs $230/t Transportation $98/t conc. The concentrates are of good quality, with strong precious metals credits. A minor penalty for the zinc grade over 4% in the copper concentrate was assumed, at a rate of US$2 for every 1% over 4% zinc. Life-of-mine penalties for the copper concentrates are assumed at approximately US$3.3M, which could be decreased with future blending strategies. Taxes Income and other taxes, and royalties that are presented in the PEA were based on Ecuadorian legislated tax rates and do not reflect any tax planning opportunities identified by Adventus, RPA, or third-party tax advisors. LOM royalties to the government are estimated to be $63M, value added taxes ("VAT") are estimated to be $34M, while additional profit sharing of $73M and income taxes of $83M project an estimated total of greater than $253M in royalties and taxes to the government of Ecuador over the 15 year mine life. A 2% NSR royalty is payable to Altius Minerals Corporation. The VAT is assumed as refundable if the concentrates are exported internationally. Infrastructure The major infrastructure items considered and costed in the PEA support a mining and milling operation that is expected to operate 24-hours per day, seven-days per week. The design of project infrastructure has prioritized environmental protection, workforce safety, and operating efficiency while minimizing community impacts. Major infrastructure items include, but are not limited to the following: Power Supply: It is assumed that El Domo will connect to the Ecuadorian power grid along existing road access and a new mine access road based on work completed by Knight Piesold in early 2019. RPA has benchmarked and estimated the cost for power at $0.11 /kWh /kWh Road Access: Access to the project site is planned to use both new and existing road networks based off work completed by Knight Piesold in 2019. A new 12.5 km access road is expected to connect the project site to the existing road network. Secondary access roads to El Domo will also be maintained Mine haul road access for waste and feed to the mill that can accommodate 40-tonne trucks Mine facilities including but not limited to buildings for maintenance, warehousing, administration, laboratories, security, first aid, explosive storage, and fuel storage Mill and process plant including crushing, grinding, and flotation based on detailed metallurgical work done by Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd. under the direction of RPA Water supply and management systems Lined tailings storage facility and waste rock storage pads leveraging off studies completed by Klohn Crippen Berger in early 2019 Environmental and Community Matters Knight Piesold has reviewed the work completed at El Domo to date and concluded that the ongoing environmental monitoring and community engagement programs have provided appropriate support to the project. All exploration permits with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment are in good standing. Knight Piesold has subsequently been contracted to prepare a study plan to complete the Environmental Impact Assessment and environmental permitting to Ecuadorian and international standards. Baseline studies are underway and include geosciences, climate and water, terrestrial biota, the human environment, and natural and cultural heritage. An enhanced program to support mine development will commence in the second quarter of 2019. Opportunities and Future Work RPA and the Company have identified several areas and opportunities that may provide significant costs savings and improved economics for the project. Post-PEA the Company will embark on additional technical work and trade-off engineering studies to better position and further de-risk the project, including but not limited to the following: Mining Optimization of the production schedule, including transition between the open-pit and the underground mining operations Optimization of the open-pit and underground designs through collection of additional geomechanical information Further work to increase confidence in the Mineral Resource and lead to the definition of a Mineral Reserve Detailed equipment costing to determine potential discounts to list price for all major components, as well as review purchase versus leasing options for mining heavy equipment Back-filling of waste rock into the open pit Milling and Metallurgy Additional metallurgical work to optimize results from the mixed and copper geometallurgical domains and continue research on the optimum grind size, analyze recoveries of the various metals and the effects of the higher grade coming from the mineral sorters on metal recoveries Complete metallurgical test-work on the zinc geometallurgical domain through more detailed test-work and optimization Optimize reagents to reduce costs and improve metallurgy Investigate the potential for a gold recovery circuit from a pyrite concentrate not currently in the PEA Investigate ore blending as an option to simplify the three geometallurgical domains and find efficiencies in process design Tailings Storage and Waste Rock Facilities Detailed analysis of tailings storage and waste rock storage facilities for an integrated waste management plan and design to reduce overall costs Other Construction camp location, and a trade-off study between at site accommodation versus daily commutes to the project from local communities Investigate regional quarry sites and quality of quarry material for construction purposes, notably the tailing storage facility Water supply for the project site, and a trade-off study between a constructed reservoir with project infrastructure or a water pipeline from a local source Power sources for the project site, including a trade-off study between diesel generators as part of the project infrastructure or a power transmission line that links to the Ecuadorian power grid As a requirement of the earn-in agreement with Salazar, Adventus aims to commission and commence a detailed Feasibility Study later in 2019 (see September 14, 2017 news release). There is no assurance that the results of a Feasibility Study will recommend proceeding with a development project on El Domo, and any recommendation to proceed with development may differ significantly from the scope and design recommended in this PEA. Changes to the mine plan and mine design that may be recommended in the Feasibility Study, if approved and implemented, could impact the construction schedule, capital and operating costs, profitability and cash flows and timeline to production, the impact of which cannot be quantified at this time. As a result, there are additional uncertainties with respect to the size and grade of the Mineral Resources that may become Mineral Reserves and that will serve as the basis for the Feasibility Study, the extent of capital and operating costs, mineral recoveries and financial viability. In addition, Adventus will continue to conduct exploration activities with Salazar within the 21,500-hectare Curipamba project which encompasses El Domo. The objective of continuing regional exploration is to develop and assess targets that could further maximize Adventus' flexibility with respect to future development decisions on the El Domo, Curipamba project. Additional Considerations Related to the PEA Approximately 5% of the tonnage from the open-pit constrained Mineral Resource and 24% of the tonnage from the underground constrained Mineral Resource that forms the basis of the PEA is derived from Inferred Mineral Resources. The estimated costs in this PEA are subject to an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 30-35%. Investors should be cautioned that there is no guarantee that the future construction and development of El Domo will be completed in accordance with the 2019 PEA results set forward in this news release. There is no certainty that production will begin, or that operating capital, or that financial results will be consistent with the 2019 PEA. Technical Information and Quality Control & Quality Assurance ("QAQC") The Curipamba project work program is being managed and reviewed by Vice President Exploration, Jason Dunning, M.Sc., P.Geo., a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101. Salazar staff collect and process samples that are securely sealed and shipped to Bureau Veritas ("BV") in Quito for sample preparation that includes crushing and milling to prepare pulps that are then split for shipment to their facility in Lima, Peru for analysis. All assay data have undergone internal validation of QAQC; noting there is an established sampling control program with blind insertion of assay blanks, certified industry standards and sample duplicates for the Curipamba project. A QAQC program is also in place at BV and includes insertion of blanks, standards and duplicate reanalysis of selected samples. BV's quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025: 1999. At BV, gold is analyzed by classical fire assay techniques with an ICP-AES finish, and both silver and base metals are analyzed by a 44-element aqua regia ICP-AES technique. Overlimit protocols are in place for gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. Qualified Persons The following IQPs will co-author the technical report that will be based on the PEA. These IQPs have approved the information in this news release that pertain to the sections of the PEA technical report that they are responsible for. Geology: David Ross , P.Geo., RPA , P.Geo., RPA Metallurgy and Processing: Avakash Patel, P.Eng., RPA Mineral Resource: Dorota El Rassi , P.Eng., RPA , P.Eng., RPA Mining: Hugo Miranda , P.Eng., RPA , P.Eng., RPA Infrastructure and Economic Evaluation: Torben Jensen , P.Eng., RPA , P.Eng., RPA Environmental & Community: Ken Embree , P.Eng., Knight Piesold Each of the individuals above are IQPs for the purposes of NI 43-101. All scientific and technical information in this press release in respect of El Domo and or the PEA is based on information prepared by or under the supervision of those individuals. The Mineral Resource estimate in this news release has been classified in accordance with CIM Definition Standards For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (May 14, 2014). In accordance with NI 43-101, a Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of the disclosure of this news release. The technical and scientific information of this news release has been reviewed and approved as accurate by Mr. Jason Dunning, M.Sc., P.Geo., Vice President Exploration for Adventus, a non-Independent Qualified Person, as defined by NI 43-101. About Adventus Adventus is a well-financed exploration and project development company, focused primarily in Ecuador. Its strategic shareholders include Altius Minerals Corporation, Greenstone Resources LP, Resource Capital Funds, and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. The focus of Adventus is the advancement of the Curipamba copper-gold-zinc project in Ecuador as part of an earn-in agreement to obtain a 75% ownership interest. In addition, Adventus is engaged in a country-wide exploration alliance with its partners in Ecuador, incorporating the Pijili and Santiago projects to date. Adventus is based in Toronto, Canada, and is listed on the TSX-V under the symbol ADZN and trades on the OTCQX under the symbol ADVZF. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This press release contains "forward -looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. 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 "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "is expected", "scheduled", "estimates", "pending", "intends", "plans", "forecasts", "targets", or "hopes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "will", "should" "might", "will be taken", or "occur" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information herein includes, but is not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that Adventus expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future. Although Adventus have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Adventus undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Vancouver, British Columbia / TheNewswire / May 2, 2019 - Cache Exploration Inc. (the "Company", or "Cache"), (TSX-V:CAY) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 100% mineral interest in a gold project in Mali, Africa ("Mali Gold Project"). Mali Gold Project The Company has signed a definitive agreement with a private vendor Rachid Mogabgab (the "Vendor") to acquire a 100% mineral interest in a gold project in Mali, Africa. The acquisition includes an estimated $250,000 in mining equipment previously utilized at the Mali Gold Project. A finders' fee is payable on this transaction. This acquisition is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. The Kokoyon property is located in southwestern Mali. It is easily accessible by road, and is a 2 hours drive from the capital Bamako. The property is underlain by Birimian volcano-sedimentary rocks and granitic intrusives. The first work in the area started in 1989 with the Or Bagoe project, consisting of geochemical prospecting on a 1,000m x 250 m grid. In 1998, the Technical Assistance to the Mineral Sector Project re-analyzed the samples obtained during the Or Bagoe project. Anomalous results were obtained for the Kokoyon property with the highest being 9.9 g/t Au. In 2014-2015, a spanish operator established a medium size gravity plant to process material from a pit dug on the property. In 2015 the operations stopped, no reason was given, and no production records were reported. In 2017, during the course of a NI 43-101 report, a site visit was completed and 8 samples collected from the pit and assayed by SGS laboratory in Bamako. The size of the pit was evaluated at 6,500 m2, some samples were taken from gold panners rejects, and other were taken in situ. Gold results varied from 1.6 to 220.28 g/t Au including four results over 100 g/t Au. Geophysical, geological and soil sampling surveys followed by drilling are suggested to resume exploration on the property. Donald Theberge P. Eng. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical mining information provided on the Kokoyen property. CEO, Jack Bal Comments, "We are very excited to acquire this high grade Mali Gold project. The Company plans to explore the high grade Gold samples on the property immediately after approval of this project." As full consideration for the purchase the Company will issue to the Vendor: 2,500,000 common shares of the Company on the Closing Date at a deemed price of $0.05 per share subject to Exchange approval; and $210,000 payable as follows: $35,000 upon TSX approval 7 payments of $25,000 payable every 3 months after Closing Date of the Definitive Agreement About Cache Exploration's Kiyuk Lake Gold Property The Kiyuk Lake Property covers 590 square kilometers in Kivalliq Region - Southwest Nunavut. The 2017 drill program confirmed and extended a known target and discovered significant gold mineralization at a new target area, East Gold Point (see Company Press Release, October 26, 2017). At Rusty Zone the Company not only confirmed that mineralization extends to 200m below surface but also intersected a previously unknown high-grade phase of 8m of 26.4 g/t gold. At the same time, the Company discovered extensive mineralization at East Gold Point with 64 m at 1.5 g/t gold and 10 m at 6.5 g/t gold. Prospecting returned two +5 g/t gold samples and the till campaign isolated two new anomalous areas that offer compelling evidence for further possible discovery. Kiyuk Lake 2017 Drilling Highlights (True width not determined yet) KI17-001 at Rusty Zone returned 8m at 26.4 g/t gold from 108m KI17-004 at Rusty Zone returned 122m at 1.8 g/t gold from 188m KI17-005 at newly discovered East Gold Point Zone intersected: 64m at 1.5 g/t gold from 35m and 10m of 6.5 g/t gold from 248m Prospecting samples returned: 5.57 g/t gold from west of the Rusty Zone 5.60 g/t gold grab sample from north of Kiyuk Lake and from the newly identified Nansen target area One to two kilogram till samples collected in the field were screened to -230 mesh at the Bureau Veritas Minerals laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia before being digested using a dilute aqua regia digestion of a 30g subsample (code AQ252) and analyzed by ICP-MS for a suite of 37 elements, including gold. Data accuracy and precision is monitored with certified reference materials submitted with the samples and field duplicates, as well as through monitoring of laboratory internal standards and pulp duplicates. Drill core and rock samples are bagged and sealed and submitted to SGS in Red Lake, Ontario for sample preparation. Sample preparation involves crushing 2m lengths of split drill core to a nominal 75% passing 2mm, followed by pulverization of a 250-g split to a nominal 85% passing 75 microns. Gold analysis is completed in the SGS Red Lake lab with a 50g fire assay and AAS finish (code GE-FAA515). Samples returning >10g/t Au are re-assayed with a gravimetric finish (code GO-FAG505). Control samples (certified reference materials, coarse blanks and 1/4 core duplicates) were inserted on a regular basis. Laboratory internal standards, coarse crush duplicates and pulp duplicates are also monitored. Results are assessed for accuracy, precision and contamination on an ongoing basis. Please click http://cacheexploration.com/CAY-NR-10-26-17 to view: Plan map of the Rusty Zone and East Gold Point Detailed section showing the recent KI17-004 drill results Plan map of the East Gold Point Zone Detailed section showing the recent KI17-005 drill results Maps of rock and till sampling results Qualified Person Chris Pennimpede, P. Geo., Vice President, Exploration and Director for the Company is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical mining information on Kiyuk Lake provided in this release. For more information about Cache Exploration, please visit: http://www.cacheexploration.com/ On behalf of the Board of Directors Cache Exploration Inc. "Jack Bal" Jack Bal Chief Executive Officer FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Jack Bal 604-306-5285 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the Kiyuk Lake Property and the Deep Lake Property: statements pertaining to the ability of Cache Exploration Inc. ("CAY"); the potential to develop resources and then further develop reserves; the anticipated economic potential of the property; the availability of capital and finance for CAY to execute its strategy going forward. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by CAY in light of its experience and perception of current and expected future developments, as well as other factors that CAY believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause CAY's results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including: discrepancies between actual and estimated results from exploration and development and operating risks, dependence on early exploration stage concessions; uninsurable risks; competition; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; currency fluctuations; defective title to mineral claims or property and dependence on key employees. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, 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 expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The TSX Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release TORONTO, May 2, 2019 /CNW/ - Guyana Goldfields Inc. (TSX:GUY) (the "Company" or "Guyana Goldfields") today announced that it has filed a Management Information Circular Supplement and a WHITE form of proxy (collectively, the "Supplemental Proxy Materials") in respect of the upcoming Annual and Special Meeting of the Company's shareholders (the "Meeting"). The Supplemental Proxy Materials, which can be found on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and the Company's website (www.guygold.com), are being mailed to the Company's shareholders. As announced by the Company on April 29, 2019, the Company has reached a settlement with a group of shareholders who had requisitioned a special meeting of the Company's shareholders (the "Requisitioning Shareholders"). As part of the settlement, the Company appointed two experienced mining executives, Alan Pangbourne and Allen Palmiere, to join the Board as independent directors, and two long-serving independent directors have stepped down. The Supplemental Proxy Materials set out the Company's recommendation that shareholders vote FOR the election of each of the seven directors of the reconstituted Board at the Meeting: Peter Dey Wendy Kei Rene Marion Allen Palmiere Alan Pangbourne Maryse Saint-Laurent Scott Caldwell As part of the settlement, the Requisitioning Shareholders also withdrew their special meeting requisition. Accordingly, the Supplemental Proxy Materials reflect that the advisory resolutions set out in the Requisitioning Shareholders' special meeting requisition will no longer be considered at the Meeting. The Meeting is being held at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at Vantage Venues (formerly St. Andrew's Conference Centre) 150 King Street West, 27th Floor, St. Andrew's Hall S1, Toronto, ON M5H 1J9. The proxy voting deadline is 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on May 17, 2019 or, if the Meeting is adjourned or postponed, 48 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays or statutory holidays in the Province of Ontario) prior to the time and date to which the Meeting is adjourned or postponed. Shareholders with questions about how to vote their common shares of Guyana Goldfields at the Meeting should contact the Company's proxy solicitation agent, Laurel Hill Advisory Group, at 1-877-452-7184 (North American Toll Free); or 416-304-0211 (Collect Outside North America); or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Guyana Goldfields recommends that shareholders vote the WHITE form of proxy and/or voting instruction form for Guyana Goldfields' nominees. About Guyana Goldfields Inc.: Guyana Goldfields Inc. is a Canadian based mid-tier gold producer primarily focused on the exploration, development and operation of gold deposits in Guyana, South America. High-grade intersections expand South Mine Complex (SMC) to the east Key intercepts: 118.8 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Unidentified Hanging Wall Zone), 62.7 g/t over 1.9 m true width (New South Zone), and 73.8 g/t over 2.7 m true width (New South Zone) SMC intersected 250 m west of current Mineral Resource Key intercepts: 4,772.2 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Unidentified HW Zone), 436.9 g/t over 2.8 m core length (Unidentified HW Zone), and 436.9 g/t over 2.8 m core length (New South Zone) 158.0 g/t over 2.4 m true width (Lower SMC) High-grade intersections expand Lower SMC to east and to depth Key intercepts: 2,458.6 g/t over 1.8 m true width (Lower SMC) 523.1 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Lower SMC), and 20.0 g/t over 3.8 m true width (Lower SMC) New drilling, reinterpretation of historic holes, identifies two new areas of high-grade mineralization on Amalgamated Break Key intercepts: 429.1 g/t over 2.7 m true width (New drilling) (Amalgamated East), 164.8 g/t over 2.1 m true width (New drilling) (Amalgamated East), and 26.7 g/t over 1.2 m true width (New drilling) (Amalgamated East) 827.9 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Reinterpretation) (Amalgamated West), 360.9 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Reinterpretation) (Amalgamated West), 333.8 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Reinterpretation) (Amalgamated West). TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (Kirkland Lake Gold or the Company) (TSX:KL) (NYSE:KL) (ASX:KLA) today reported new high-grade drill intersections from underground exploration drilling within the SMC at the Macassa Mine, Kirkland Lake, Ontario. Results reported herein include 73 drill holes for 29,643 m of underground drilling from the east and west exploration drifts on the 5300-foot level (5300 Level) as well as from the 5700 Level Ramp Development (5700 Ramp). Underground drilling from the 5300 Level and 5700 Ramp will continue throughout the remainder of 2019. The Companys recent underground exploration drilling efforts have utilized three drill rigs to focus on four main target areas SMC East, SMC West, Lower SMC and the Amalgamated Break. A total of 14 drill holes for 6,940 m drilled to the east of the SMC from the 5300 Level exploration drift intersected high-grade mineralization up to 60 m outside of existing Mineral Resources (Figure 1). A total of 11 drill holes for 5,396 m of drilling were completed from the 5300 Level west exploration drift targeting the New South and Lower SMC zones. This drilling intersected a mineralized zone, interpreted to be the Lower SMC, approximately 250 m west of the current Mineral Resources. An additional 40 drill holes for 15,990 m were completed from the 5700 Level ramp development, which intersected high-grade mineralization and successfully expanded the Lower SMC Zone. Refer to Table 1 for a completed list of drill hole results. The Amalgamated Break provides areas of substantial exploration potential for Macassa that are largely untested with past drilling. In Q1 2019, preliminary drilling from the 5700 Level ramp development (8 holes for 1,317 m) successfully intersected a previously unidentified area of high-grade mineralization tightly associated with the Amalgamated Break. In addition, reinterpretation of intercepts from 15 previously drilled holes (2,953 m) from the 5700 Level ramp and five previously drilled holes (1,494 m) from the 5300 Level drift has resulted in the identification of a new, steep north-dipping mineralized zone north of, and likely associated with, the Amalgamated Break. This new zone remains open and represents a highly prospective target area for the addition of new resource ounces. Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: Todays results highlight what we have often said, that while it is a historic mine, Macassa is a modern operation, with high-grade, low-cost production and substantial exploration potential that will support mining well into the future. Early drilling in 2019 has successfully identified high-grade mineralization to the east, west and well below our existing Mineral Resource base in the SMC. In addition, areas running along the Amalgamated Break are extremely high-potential targets, the exploration of which will be enhanced immensely once we can drive underground exploration drifts off the #4 Shaft following its completion. While not generally well understood, these areas represent a whole new chapter for exploration in the Kirkland Lake camp. At surface, the Amalgamated Break is a fault that runs parallel to the Main/04 Break, the source for most of Kirkland Lakes 25 million ounces of historic gold production. Unlike the Main/04 Break, the Amalgamated Break is largely unexplored. The SMC is the first major high-grade zone discovered that is associated with the Amalgamated Break, and we are confident that there could be many more. In fact, with limited drilling, we have already identified two new areas of high-grade mineralization along the Break near our current mining operations. We will follow up on these results over the balance of this year and plan to expand our exploration efforts going forward. SMC East A total of 14 drill holes and 6,940 m of drilling has recently been completed from the 5300 Level east exploration drift targeting the New South and Footwall zones. Exploration efforts continue to intersect high grade mineralization outside of the current resource area supporting further resource growth. Drill holes of note in this area include: 53-3628 (62.7 g/t over 1.9 m true width (New South Zone)), 53-3572 (118.8 g/t over 2.0 m core length (unidentified HW zone, true width unknown)), 53-3623A (73.8 g/t over 2.7 m true width (New South Zone)). Ongoing exploration development to the east on 5300 Level in Q1 and excavation of diamond drill bay 165 m east of the current drill bay will allow for further testing of the SMC with the potential for resource growth. A diamond drill was mobilized into this new drill bay and commenced drilling at the end of Q1 and will continue to drill targets from this platform through 2019. SMC West A total of 11 drill holes for 5,396 m of drilling has recently been completed from the 5300 Level west exploration drift targeting the New South and Lower SMC zones. Completion of a diamond drill bay on the 5300 Level west exploration drift at the end of 2018 allowed for the mobilization of a diamond drill to the platform and commencement of drilling early in 2019. Phase 1 of the drilling program was designed to test the general mineralizing potential of the area with wide spaced holes. Initial efforts have intersected a mineralized zone, interpreted to be the Lower SMC, approximately 250 m west of the current resource (Figure 2). This significant step out is an early indication of the potential for future resource growth in this area. Drilling also resulted in several high-grade intercepts that will require further follow up to confirm geometry. Drill holes of note in this area include: 53-3697A (436.9 g/t over 2.8 m core length (New South Zone)), 53-3733 (158.0 g/t over 2.4 m true width (Lower SMC)), 53-3695 (79.0 g/t over 1.0 m true width (Lower SMC)), 53-3698 (4,772.2 g/t over 2.0 m core length (unidentified HW zone, true width unknown)) and 53-3697A (436.9 g/t over 2.8 m core length (unidentified HW zone, true width unknown)). Phase 2 of this drilling will focus on closer spaced drilling in an effort to add resource ounces to the current inventory. Exploration development continues to the west on the 5300 Level and excavation of a new diamond drill bay 165 m west of the current drill bay is anticipated later in Q2. Drilling from this new drill bay is anticipated to commence in Q2 and will allow for drilling coverage of a significant area west of the current SMC resource and testing of target areas deep on the 04 Break. Lower SMC A total of 40 drill holes for 15,990 m of drilling has been completed from the 5700 Ramp development targeting the central part of the Lower SMC. The drill program was designed to test outside of the current resource area. This drill program has been successful in expanding the Lower SMC zone in this area and shows potential for addition of resource ounces. Drill holes of note in this area include: 57-625 (2,458.6 g/t over 1.8 m true width (Lower SMC)), 57-658 (523.1 g/t over 2.0 m core length (unidentified HW zone, true width unknown)), and 57-622 (20.0 g/t over 3.8 m true width (Lower SMC)). The current drill program has been completed and the drill has been mobilized to the far east drill bay on the 5300 Level to test the east extension of the SMC. Amalgamated Break East and West A total of 8 drill holes for 1,317 m of drilling is being reported from the 5700 Ramp targeting the Amalgamated Break to the east. This early stage drilling program has identified an area of high-grade mineralization tightly associated with the Amalgamated Break. The Amalgamated Break has been largely untested and represents an important emerging exploration target which remains open and represents a highly prospective target area for the addition of new resource ounces. Drill holes of note in this area include: 57-704 (429.1 g/t over 2.7 m true width), 57-689 (164.8 g/t over 2.1 m true width) and 57-703 (26.7 g/t over 1.2 m true width). Drilling to follow up on the down dip and western extent of this mineralization will continue in Q2 and will continue throughout 2019 if warranted by further positive results. Reinterpretation of intercepts from 15 production drill holes (2,953 m) drilled to the west from the 5700 Ramp development and five exploration drill holes (1,494 m) drilled to the west from the 5300 Level has outlined a steep north-dipping mineralized zone north of and in the immediate hanging wall of the Amalgamated Break. This zone remains open and represents a highly prospective target area for the addition of new resource ounces. Drill holes of note in this area include: 57-425 (827.9 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Amalgamated West)), 57-423 (360.9 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Amalgamated West)), 57-418 (333.8 g/t over 2.0 m core length (Amalgamated West)). Refer to Table 2 for the complete list of production and reinterpreted drill holes. Additional drilling in this area is planned from the 5700 Ramp development in Q2 and will continue throughout 2019 if warranted by further positive results. 2019 Underground Exploration Development Underground development on the 5300 Level will be ongoing throughout 2019 and is scheduled to include 350 m of advancement to the east and 429 m of advancement to the west including all track development and the excavation of diamond drill bays. This development is part of an ongoing effort to expand the SMC in all directions and to test for and define new target areas. To view a PDF of the figures referenced in this News Release, visit the links below. Tables are provided at the end of this News Release. Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4: Qualified Person The Companys exploration programs at Macassa are conducted under the supervision of Eric Kallio, P.Geo., Senior Vice President, Exploration. Eric Kallio is the qualified person for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. QA/QC Controls The Company has implemented a quality assurance and control (QA/QC) program to ensure sampling and analysis of all exploration work is conducted in accordance with best practices. Samples are logged and sampled in a secure facility at the Macassa mine site and under supervision of Qualified Geologists. BQ sized core is sawn in half with one half of the core being shipped to Swastika Laboratories in Swastika, Ontario and the other half retained for future assay verification. Assaying of the samples is completed using Fire Assay techniques with samples less than 6 gpt being analyzed with Atomic Absorption (AA) and samples greater than 6 gpt with gravimetric finish. Selected high grade samples are also analyzed using the screen metallics procedure. Other QA/QC includes the insertion of certified reference standards, blanks and the regular re-assaying of pulps and rejects at alternate certified laboratories. The laboratory re-assays at least 10% of all samples and additional checks may be run on anomalous values. About Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. is a growing gold producer operating in Canada and Australia that produced 723,701 ounces in 2018 and is on track to achieve significant production growth over the next three years, including target production of 920,000 1,000,000 ounces in 2019, 930,000 1,010,000 ounces in 2020 and 995,000 1,055,000 ounces in 2021. The production profile of the Company is anchored by two high-grade, low-cost operations, including the Macassa Mine located in Northern Ontario and the Fosterville Mine located in the state of Victoria, Australia. Kirkland Lake Gold's solid base of quality assets is complemented by district scale exploration potential, supported by a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise. For further information on Kirkland Lake Gold and to receive news releases by email, visit the website www.klgold.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This Press Release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to the future business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words may, would, could, should, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made such as, without limitation, opinion, assumptions and estimates of management regarding the Companys business, including but not limited to; the continued exploration programs on the SMC mineralization, the timing and results thereof; the ability to continue to expand the SMC and to increase its level of resources and the timing thereof; the potential to increase the level of resources and reserves and potential conversion of mineral resources; the anticipated completion date of the #4 shaft and potential impact and benefits thereof; the amount of future production over any period; and assumptions made relating to operating cash costs based on forecasts and projections. Such opinions, assumptions and estimates, are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the Company's expectations in connection with the projects and exploration programs being met, the impact of general business and economic conditions, global liquidity and credit availability on the timing of cash flows and the values of assets and liabilities based on projected future conditions, fluctuating gold prices, currency exchange rates (such as the Canadian dollar versus the United States Dollar), possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in accounting policies, changes in the Company's corporate mineral reserves and resources, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, changes in project development, construction, production and commissioning time frames, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, higher prices for fuel, power, labour and other consumables contributing to higher costs and general risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, unexpected changes in mine life, seasonality and unanticipated weather changes, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, permitting time lines, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, and limitations on insurance, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis and Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law. Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors - Mineral Reserve and Resource Estimates All resource and reserve estimates included in this news release or documents referenced in this news release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") - CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended (the "CIM Standards"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators, which established standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. The terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve" and "probable mineral reserve" are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards. These definitions differ materially from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7") under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act. In addition, the terms "Mineral Resource", "measured Mineral Resource", "indicated Mineral Resource" and "Inferred Mineral Resource" are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards; however, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and are normally not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. "Inferred Mineral Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty 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 pre-feasibility studies, except in very limited circumstances. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a Mineral Resource exists, will ever be converted into a Mineral Reserve or is or will ever be economically or legally mineable or recovered. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Anthony Makuch, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director Phone: +1 416-840-7884 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Mark Utting, Vice-President, Investor Relations Phone: +1 416-840-7884 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Table 1: Complete List of Reported Drill Holes DRILL HOLE EASTING NORTHING ELEVATION (m) HOLE LENGTH (m) AZI DIP () Target FROM (m) TO (m) CORE LENGTH (m) True Width (m) Grade Au (g/t) Cut Grade (g/t) Zone 53-3570 570026 5331721 -1261 457 325 -64 East NSV 53-3571 570026 5331721 -1261 466 329 -60 East 245.5 249.0 3.6 3.4 3.2 1-12 Including 248.1 249.0 0.9 0.9 7.9 AND 256.0 259.1 3.0 4.5 AND 326.9 328.9 2.0 31.4 Including 327.5 328.1 0.6 96.9 53-3572 570026 5331721 -1261 442 343 -67 East 177.1 179.1 2.0 118.8 Including 177.8 178.2 0.4 650.2 AND 260.9 264.0 3.0 2.8 3.2 1-12 Including 262.4 262.7 0.3 0.3 10.0 53-3573 570025 5331722 -1261 516 350 -49 East 255.8 257.8 2.0 2.0 8.7 1-12 Including 255.8 256.8 1.0 1.0 16.7 AND 262.7 264.7 2.0 6.1 Including 264.0 264.3 0.3 38.8 AND 283.6 290.2 6.5 4.7 Including 287.7 290.2 2.5 8.5 53-3574 570026 5331721 -1261 488 354 -58 East 254.2 256.2 2.0 2.0 15.0 1-12 Including 254.9 255.3 0.5 0.5 55.9 AND 332.8 334.8 2.0 32.7 Including 333.8 334.8 1.1 60.5 53-3575 570025 5331722 -1261 549 356 -48 East NSV 53-3576 570025 5331723 -1261 686 357 -36 East 257.1 261.8 4.7 4.6 9.3 1-12 Including 257.1 257.6 0.5 0.5 38.8 Including 261.2 261.8 0.6 0.6 25.3 53-3577 570026 5331722 -1261 503 0 -55 East 253.3 255.3 2.0 2.0 31.9 1-12 Including 254.8 255.1 0.3 0.3 181.2 AND 280.2 282.2 2.0 15.6 Including 280.4 280.8 0.4 79.1 53-3578 570025 5331724 -1261 597 359 -33 East NSV 53-3579 570027 5331722 -1261 447 22 -59 East NSV 53-3619A 570026 5331721 -1261 408 309 -48 East NSV 53-3620 570026 5331721 -1261 396 312 -55 East 253.9 260.3 6.4 5.9 9.1 1-12 Including 253.9 256.0 2.1 2.0 22.1 Including 253.9 254.5 0.6 0.5 71.7 Including 259.7 260.3 0.6 0.5 16.2 53-3623A 570025 5331722 -1261 503 343 -44 East 314.4 317.3 2.9 2.7 73.8 1-12 Including 316.2 317.3 1.1 1.0 197.4 53-3628 570026 5331723 -1261 482 10 -49 East 266.9 268.9 2.0 1.9 62.7 43.6 1-12 Including 267.6 267.9 0.3 0.3 400.3 274.3 AND 418.2 420.2 2.0 10.8 Including 418.8 419.7 0.9 21.5 53-3685 568756 5331152 -1264 305 128 -74 West SMC NSV 53-3690 568756 5331152 -1264 969 287 -3 West SMC NSV 53-3691A 568756 5331152 -1264 579 295 -46 West NSV 53-3692 568756 5331152 -1264 305 293 -22 West 170.4 172.8 2.4 0.8 26.3 Including 170.4 171.6 1.2 0.4 47.2 53-3695 568756 5331152 -1264 494 307 -32 West 87.5 89.7 2.2 3.0 Including 88.7 89.7 1.0 5.0 AND 376.1 378.1 2.0 1.0 79.0 3-0 Including 376.6 377.3 0.8 0.3 208.0 53-3697A 568756 5331152 -1264 610 312 -18 West 57.9 61.8 3.9 6.8 Including 57.9 58.8 0.8 25.4 AND 135.2 138.0 2.8 436.9 Including 135.6 136.8 1.2 1015.8 AND 139.6 141.7 2.1 6.4 AND 143.9 146.7 2.8 3.2 AND 157.3 160.5 3.2 1.9 5.9 AND 415.7 417.7 2.0 1.4 30.0 3-17 Including 415.7 416.8 1.1 0.8 54.6 53-3698 568756 5331152 -1264 396 313 -40 West 216.5 218.5 2.0 4772.2 Including 216.5 216.9 0.4 26211.7 53-3733 568756 5331152 -1264 427 345 -25 West 346.9 349.3 2.4 2.4 158.0 23.5 3-17 Including 347.5 348.1 0.6 0.6 621.4 83.5 Including 347.8 348.1 0.3 0.3 1178.6 102.9 53-3734 568756 5331152 -1264 168 23 -35 West 102.4 104.4 2.0 1.8 30.1 Including 102.4 103.0 0.6 0.5 90.2 53-3749 568756 5331152 -1264 565 311 -13 West 183.4 185.4 2.0 2.0 9.6 5-14 Including 185.0 185.4 0.4 0.4 50.3 53-3750 568756 5331152 -1264 579 310 -16 West 156.1 158.1 2.0 1.1 30.5 Including 157.2 157.9 0.6 0.3 92.4 AND 309.6 311.6 2.0 1.0 8.4 57-580 569222 5331378 -1398 126 38 -62 Lower SMC NSV 57-581 569222 5331378 -1398 396 39 -55 Lower SMC 212.7 214.7 2.0 1.8 6.4 1-53 Including 213.4 214.1 0.7 0.6 17.3 AND 324.2 326.7 2.5 1.8 3.4 3-14 57-583 569221 5331374 -1398 427 47 -56 Lower SMC 73.8 76.7 3.0 7.9 AND 196.7 198.7 2.0 5.1 Including 197.6 198.1 0.5 14.4 AND 346.3 348.4 2.0 1.2 3.2 3-14 57-584A 569221 5331374 -1398 460 55 -60 Lower SMC 189.7 191.7 2.0 4.3 Including 190.7 191.1 0.4 21.2 AND 205.4 207.4 2.0 1.8 72.5 1-53 Including 206.3 206.7 0.4 0.3 342.2 AND 319.8 322.8 3.0 5.1 57-585 569221 5331374 -1398 518 302 -56 Lower SMC 413.2 415.2 2.0 1.4 13.6 3-14 Including 413.5 414.0 0.5 0.3 52.1 AND 432.1 434.2 2.0 3.3 57-586 569221 5331374 -1398 40 309 -61 Lower SMC Hole Restarted 57-586A 569221 5331374 -1398 472 312 -55 Lower SMC 69.8 71.8 2.0 6.4 1-37? Including 71.0 71.8 0.8 14.6 AND 272.6 274.6 2.0 13.2 AND 393.4 395.4 2.0 1.3 33.7 3-14 Including 394.3 394.8 0.5 0.3 134.6 57-588 569221 5331374 -1398 456 317 -59 Lower SMC 365.7 368.2 2.5 12.7 Including 367.8 368.2 0.3 83.6 57-607 569221 5331374 -1398 375 19 -54 Lower SMC 278.9 280.9 2.0 1.8 3.4 3-14 57-609 569221 5331374 -1398 488 19 -74 Lower SMC 293.9 295.9 2.0 3.5 AND 425.8 430.4 4.6 1.8 7.4 3-14 Including 425.8 427.0 1.2 0.5 16.2 Including 429.6 430.4 0.8 0.3 13.9 57-610 569221 5331374 -1398 396 37 -58 Lower SMC 332.8 334.8 2.0 1.3 5.5 3-14 Including 332.8 333.2 0.4 0.3 24.9 57-611 569222 5331374 -1398 152 61 -40 Lower SMC NSV - Target not reached 57-612 569221 5331374 -1398 274 68 -53 Lower SMC NSV - Target not reached 57-613 569222 5331374 -1398 305 73 -40 Lower SMC 92.1 95.0 2.9 4.1 AND 100.0 102.4 2.3 7.7 57-619 569221 5331374 -1398 457 306 -48 Lower SMC 409.5 411.5 2.0 1.3 6.4 3-14 Including 409.9 410.8 0.9 0.6 13.9 57-620 569221 5331374 -1398 488 306 -52 Lower SMC NSV 57-621 569221 5331374 -1398 457 309 -46 Lower SMC NSV 57-622 569221 5331374 -1398 418 310 -51 Lower SMC 161.8 163.8 2.0 3.1 Including 162.8 163.1 0.4 17.0 AND 197.5 199.6 2.0 12.6 Including 198.1 199.0 0.9 26.8 AND 391.0 393.0 2.0 6.0 AND 396.5 401.5 5.1 3.8 20.0 3-14 Including 396.5 396.8 0.3 0.2 64.7 Including 398.9 399.3 0.4 0.3 153.3 57-623 569221 5331374 -1398 457 312 -56 Lower SMC 385.6 387.6 2.0 1.3 4.2 3-14 57-624 569221 5331374 -1398 392 320 -60 Lower SMC NSV 57-625 569221 5331374 -1398 427 320 -62 Lower SMC 342.3 345.2 2.8 1.8 2458.6 3-14 Including 342.3 342.6 0.3 0.2 22469.3 Including 344.6 345.2 0.6 0.4 206.8 AND 357.7 361.8 4.1 3.9 57-626 569221 5331374 -1398 488 322 -65 Lower SMC 351.6 353.6 2.0 1.1 7.0 3-14 Including 352.7 353.6 0.9 0.5 15.5 AND 426.4 434.2 7.8 3.2 57-627 569221 5331374 -1398 451 327 -66 Lower SMC 441.7 443.7 2.0 15.8 Including 441.7 442.2 0.6 54.9 57-628 569221 5331374 -1398 366 342 -59 Lower SMC 180.0 182.0 2.0 3.9 Including 180.6 181.1 0.4 17.1 57-629 569221 5331374 -1398 396 335 -63 Lower SMC 310.3 312.3 2.0 1.4 66.2 3-14 Including 310.9 311.5 0.6 0.4 228.8 57-630A 569221 5331374 -1398 445 346 -70 Lower SMC 173.3 175.6 2.3 6.0 57-631 569221 5331374 -1398 456 27 -67 Lower SMC NSV 57-632 569221 5331374 -1398 366 36 -55 Lower SMC 208.8 210.8 2.0 1.9 4.3 1-53 Including 209.9 210.2 0.3 0.3 27.9 57-653 569221 5331374 -1398 482 309 -60 Lower SMC NSV 57-654 569221 5331374 -1398 480 349 -55 Lower SMC NSV 57-655 569221 5331374 -1398 30 348 -69 Lower SMC NSV - Hole Abandoned 57-656 569221 5331374 -1398 383 24 -58 Lower SMC 200.2 202.2 2.0 1.9 32.4 1-53 Including 201.0 201.4 0.3 0.3 166.0 57-658 569221 5331374 -1398 503 36 -69 Lower SMC 96.0 98.0 2.0 523.1 Including 96.1 96.4 0.3 2827.9 AND 186.1 189.7 3.6 3.5 16.0 1-53 Including 186.1 186.4 0.3 0.3 143.2 AND 246.9 248.9 2.0 6.1 Including 247.6 248.1 0.5 26.7 AND 401.6 407.1 5.5 1.8 8.9 3-14 Including 401.6 405.4 3.8 1.2 11.7 Including 401.6 402.3 0.8 0.1 44.5 57-682 569221 5331374 -1398 396 36 -46 Lower SMC 220.2 222.5 2.3 1.9 5.1 1-53 57-683 569221 5331374 -1398 443 46 -58 Lower SMC NSV 57-685 569221 5331374 -1398 168 125 -41 AK BREAK NSV 57-686 569221 5331374 -1399 49 136 -50 AK BREAK Hole Restarted 57-686A 569221 5331374 -1398 137 136 -47 AK BREAK NSV 57-687 569221 5331374 -1398 137 176 -53 AK BREAK NSV 57-688 569221 5331374 -1398 229 186 -41 AK BREAK 69.3 71.3 2.0 2.0 5.0 3-26 Including 69.4 69.8 0.4 0.4 19.2 57-689 569221 5331374 -1398 277 235 -40 AK BREAK 94.5 97.5 3.0 2.1 164.8 3-26 Including 95.3 95.7 0.5 0.3 770.2 57-698 569221 5331374 -1398 405 312 -46 Lower SMC 376.7 378.7 2.0 4.8 3-14 Including 377.7 378.1 0.3 27.2 57-700 569221 5331374 -1398 486 317 -58 Lower SMC 345.4 347.4 2.0 1.3 26.4 3-14 Including 345.4 346.2 0.8 0.5 66.7 57-700A 569221 5331374 -1398 488 312 -59 Lower SMC 407.4 410.1 2.7 3.3 3-14 57-701 569221 5331374 -1398 472 4 -72 Lower SMC NSV 57-702 569221 5331374 -1398 472 19 -72 Lower SMC 179.0 181.1 2.0 3.6 1-53 Including 180.1 180.4 0.3 20.5 AND 269.3 271.3 2.0 3.2 Including 270.4 270.8 0.3 21.0 AND 431.3 433.3 2.0 39.6 3-14 Including 432.0 432.5 0.5 140.3 57-703 569221 5331374 -1398 168 241 -46 AK BREAK 63.3 65.3 2.0 7.1 Including 64.7 65.3 0.6 23.3 AND 101.9 103.9 2.0 1.2 26.7 3-26 Including 101.9 102.7 0.8 0.5 67.4 57-704 569221 5331374 -1398 152 228 -44 AK BREAK 79.2 82.6 3.3 2.7 429.1 3-26 Including 79.2 79.9 0.6 0.5 1986.7 NSV = No significant value, VG = Visible Gold; Tell = Tellurides; *Cut = cut to 274.3 g/t for New South Zone and 102.9 g/t for Lower SMC. The top cut only applies to New South Zone and Lower SMC where a statistical cut has been calculated. All other zones remain uncut. * Assay result reported was completed at Macassas on-site laboratory as part of a definition drilling program. **As part of routine QA/QC procedures to verify a select sample of high-grade assay, the pulp from this sample was also sent to an off-site independent lab for assay. Drill Hole EASTING NORTHING ELEVATION (m) HOLE LENGTH (m) AZIMUTH DIP () FROM (m) TO (m) CORE LENGTH (m) Grade Au (g/t) 57-418 568974 5331174 -1389 69 287 -45 23.6 25.5 2.0 333.8** Including 23.9 24.2 0.3 2097.3** 57-419 568974 5331174 -1388 144 302 1 NSV 57-420 568974 5331174 -1388 122 300 -6 11.6 13.6 2.0 10.1** Including 12.0 12.7 0.7 27.2** 57-421 568974 5331175 -1388 168 311 0 NSV 57-422 568974 5331175 -1388 175 316 11 9.8 11.8 2.0 8.5* Including 10.5 11.0 0.6 22.2* 57-423 568974 5331175 -1388 160 323 10 10.2 12.2 2.0 360.9** Including 10.5 10.8 0.3 2325.7** 57-424 568974 5331175 -1388 168 322 2 10.8 12.7 2.0 45.6** Including 10.8 11.1 0.3 233.6** 57-425 568974 5331175 -1388 114 324 -5 10.5 12.5 2.0 827.9** Including 11.1 11.8 0.7 2317.7** 57-426 568975 5331175 -1388 206 -27 7 11.3 13.3 2.0 3.6* 57-429 568975 5331175 -1388 107 -15 -13 10.2 12.2 2.0 19.2** 57-430 568975 5331175 -1388 145 -5 5 NSV 57-432 568976 5331175 -1388 99 22 -16 22.5 25.2 2.7 15.8** Including 22.5 23.6 1.1 31.4* 57-439 568974 5331175 -1389 457 318 -36 14.8 18.1 3.3 17.3* Including 14.8 15.3 0.5 86.7* 57-440 568974 5331175 -1389 457 323 -36 14.2 18.1 4.0 4.0* 57-442 568975 5331175 -1389 362 -25 -38 15.9 18.7 2.7 14.1** 53-2150 568905 5331233 -1266 213 118 -58 156.7 158.6 2.0 53.5 Including 158.3 158.6 0.3 322.5 53-2253 568905 5331233 -1266 229 131 -66 178.2 180.7 2.5 32.9 Including 179.8 180.7 0.8 92.5 53-2230 568905 5331233 -1266 213 129 -67 187.5 189.5 2.0 33.5 Including 187.5 188.2 0.7 91.3 53-2255 568902 5331232 -1266 610 183 -66 177.8 182.1 4.4 16.7 Including 177.8 178.7 0.9 60.9 Including 181.6 182.1 0.5 24.4 53-2256 568901 5331232 -1266 229 202 -59 193.3 195.3 2.0 4.0 NSV = No significant value, VG = Visible Gold; Tell = Tellurides; * Assay result reported was completed at Macassas on-site laboratory as part of a definition drilling program. **As part of routine QA/QC procedures to verify a select sample of high-grade assay, the pulp from this sample was also sent to an off-site independent lab for assay. GOLDEN, Colo., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Minerals Company (Golden Minerals, Golden or the Company) (NYSE American and TSX: AUMN) today announced financial results and a business summary for the quarter ending March 31, 2019. First Quarter Summary Financial Results Revenue of (approximately US) $1.9 million and a net operating margin (oxide plant lease revenue less lease costs) of $1.3 million related to the lease of the Companys oxide plant in the first quarter 2019, compared to a $1.1 million net operating margin realized in the first quarter 2018. Other operating income of $0.1 million compared to $1.2 million in the year ago period, with the latter including $1.0 million received for extending an option on a formerly-held Mexican property. Exploration expenses of $0.9 million, unchanged from the year ago period. Net loss of $2.4 million or $0.02 per share in the first quarter 2019, compared to a net loss of $0.7 million or $0.01 per share in the first quarter 2018. Cash and cash equivalents balance of $2.2 million as of March 31, 2019 compared to $3.3 million at year-end 2018. Debt balance of zero as of March 31, 2019. First quarter Business Summary In March 2019, Golden began a 3,000-meter, approximately $0.6 million drilling program at its El Quevar silver project in Argentina, with the goal of further defining additional mineralized material in the Yaxtche deposit and surrounding area. The Company continues to advance the Yoquivo Au-Ag project in Chihuahua, Mexico and plans to begin drilling in Q2 2019. Financial Results The Company reported revenue of approximately $1.9 million in the first quarter 2019 related to the oxide plant lease and costs of approximately $0.6 million related to the services Golden provides under the terms of the lease, for a net margin of approximately $1.3 million. Golden received $0.4 million in proceeds from the sale of common stock under the existing Lincoln Park Capital Commitment Purchase Agreement (LPC Program) during the quarter. Exploration expenses were $0.9 million in the first quarter, reflecting work at the Yoquivo, Santa Maria and other properties primarily in Mexico, as well as property holding costs and allocated administrative expenses. El Quevar project expense was $0.3 million in the quarter and includes costs associated with the drilling program begun in March 2019 as well as project evaluation and property holding costs. Administrative expenses totaled $1.1 million in the first quarter 2019. These expenses, including costs associated with being a public company, are incurred primarily by the Companys corporate activities in support of the Velardena Properties, the El Quevar project and the Companys exploration portfolio. Golden reported a net loss of $2.4 million or $0.02 per share in the first quarter 2019 compared to a net loss of $0.7 million or $0.01 per share in the year ago period. Twelve Month Financial Outlook The Company ended the first quarter 2019 with a cash balance of $2.2 million and expects to receive approximately $4.8 million in net operating margin from the lease of the oxide plant during the 12 months ending March 31, 2020. Additionally, the Company received $0.1 million from the sale of its common stock under the terms of the LPC Program since March 31, 2019. The Companys currently budgeted expenditures during the 12 months ending March 31, 2020 are as follows: Approximately $2.0 million on exploration activities and property holding costs related to the Companys portfolio of exploration properties located primarily in Mexico, including project assessment and evaluation costs related to Yoquivo and other properties; Approximately $1.5 million at the Velardena Properties for care and maintenance; Approximately $1.0 million at the El Quevar project to fund ongoing exploration and evaluation activities, care and maintenance and property holding costs; and Approximately $3.0 million on general and administrative costs. The Companys currently budgeted expenditures are slightly greater than its resources noted above. Therefore, during 2019 the Company intends to take appropriate actions, which may include sales of certain of the Companys nonstrategic exploration assets, reductions to the Companys currently budgeted level of spending, and/or raising additional equity capital through sales under the ATM Program, LPC Program or otherwise. Additional information regarding first quarter 2019 financial results may be found in the Companys 10-Q Quarterly Report which is available on the Golden Minerals website at www.goldenminerals.com. Financial Statements CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (US Dollars, unaudited) March 31, December 31, 2019 2018 (in thousands, except share data) Assets Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 2,237 $ 3,293 Short-term investments 225 330 Lease receivables 490 481 Inventories, net 231 229 Value added tax receivable, net 12 14 Prepaid expenses and other assets 1,249 1,188 Total current assets 4,444 5,535 Property, plant and equipment, net 6,844 7,109 Total assets $ 11,288 $ 12,644 Liabilities and Equity Current liabilities Accounts payable and other accrued liabilities $ 1,493 $ 1,702 Deferred revenue, current 293 293 Other current liabilities 50 12 Total current liabilities 1,836 2,007 Asset retirement and reclamation liabilities 2,675 2,683 Deferred revenue, non-current 234 307 Other long term liabilities 10 Total liabilities 4,745 5,007 Commitments and contingencies Equity Common stock, $.01 par value, 200,000,000 shares authorized; 96,868,433 and 95,620,796 shares issued and outstanding respectively 968 955 Additional paid in capital 519,050 517,806 Accumulated deficit (513,475 ) (511,124 ) Shareholders' equity 6,543 7,637 Total liabilities and equity $ 11,288 $ 12,644 CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (US dollars, unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in thousands except per share data) Revenue: Oxide plant lease $ 1,932 $ 1,637 Costs and expenses: Oxide plant lease costs (597 ) (503 ) Exploration expense (855 ) (899 ) El Quevar project expense (315 ) (272 ) Velardena shutdown and care and maintenance costs (517 ) (489 ) Administrative expense (1,074 ) (1,061 ) Stock based compensation (564 ) (15 ) Reclamation expense (59 ) (51 ) Other operating income, net 108 1,226 Depreciation and amortization (274 ) (296 ) Total costs and expenses (4,147 ) (2,360 ) Income (loss) from operations (2,215 ) (723 ) Other income and (expense): Interest and other (expense) income, net (98 ) 3 Loss on foreign currency (38 ) (15 ) Total other income (loss) (136 ) (12 ) Income (loss) from operations before income taxes (2,351 ) (735 ) Income tax Net income (loss) $ (2,351 ) $ (735 ) Net income (loss) per common share basic Loss $ (0.02 ) $ (0.01 ) Weighted average Common Stock outstanding - basic (1) 95,755,304 91,726,375 (1) Potentially dilutive shares have not been included because to do so would be anti-dilutive. About Golden Minerals Golden Minerals is a Delaware corporation based in Golden, Colorado. The Company is primarily focused on advancing its El Quevar silver property in Argentina and on acquiring and advancing mining properties in Mexico with emphasis on areas near its Velardena processing plants. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forwardlooking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements relating to plans to continue a drilling program at El Quevar and productivity projections from the El Quevar project; future drilling plans and exploration activities at Yoquivo and other properties; financial projections, including budgeted expenditures and the anticipated net operating margin from the Velardena oxide plant lease; potential sales of certain non-strategic exploration assets of the Company; projected cash balances and anticipated spending during the 12 months ended March 31, 2020; and assumptions regarding raising additional equity capital through sales under the Companys ATM or LPC programs or otherwise. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including changes in interpretations of geological, geostatistical, metallurgical, mining or processing information and interpretations of the information resulting from future exploration, analysis or mining and processing experience, new information from exploration or analysis; unexpected variations in mineral grades, types and metallurgy, fluctuations in silver and gold metal prices; failure of mined material or veins mined to meet expectations; lower than anticipated revenue from the oxide plant lease as a result of delays or problems at the third partys mine or the oxide plant or earlier than expected termination of the oxide plant lease; increases in costs and declines in general economic conditions; and changes in political conditions, in tax, royalty, environmental and other laws in Mexico and Argentina, and financial market conditions. Golden Minerals assumes no obligation to update this information. Additional risks relating to Golden Minerals may be found in the periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Golden Minerals, including the Companys Annual Report on Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 2018. South Sudans warring parties will hold talks in Addis Ababa on Thursday, in a bid to salvage a stalled peace deal, with just days to go until a unity government is meant to be formed. President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and a handful of other groups inked the peace deal in September 2018, the latest in a long line of efforts to end a devastating conflict now in its sixth year. However the parties have failed to resolve several crucial issues before a power-sharing government is to be installed on May 12, and are at odds over how to proceed. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc for East Africa, said in a statement it had called the two-day meeting to develop a clear roadmap for the formation of the government, and tackle pending tasks of the agreement. Government has insisted the meeting must focus on how to push forward with the formation of the unity government, while Machars camp wants a delay of six months to resolve issues such as security for his return. Machar is living in exile in Khartoum, having been hounded out of Juba in a hail of gunfire in 2016 when a prior deal collapsed. He is set to return as first vice president under the new deal. Observers say that crucial steps envisioned in the deal such as establishing a unified army and discussing security control of the capital have yet to take place. We would like to see an extension being agreed upon by the parties, but we would also like to see that the government is committed politically and resources wise, so that we implement the activities in the agreement, senior SPLM-IO member Kang Pal Chol told AFP. For now we believe we will reach a consensus, he said, adding that Machar would attend the meeting in Addis Ababa. Kiirs spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the president would be represented by members of his negotiating team. Lack of political will South Sudans war broke out two years after independence from Sudan, after Kiir accused his former vice president Machar of plotting a coup against him. Battles between members of Machars Nuer community and Kiirs Dinka people were characterised by brutal violence on both sides, rape and UN warnings about ethnic cleansing. An August 2015 peace deal collapsed almost a year after it was signed and the conflict spread, drawing in more groups around the country. The fighting has killed around 380,000 people and forced more than four million South Sudanese almost a third of the population to flee their homes. While the latest peace deal largely stopped fighting, violence has continued in some regions with rebel groups who did not sign up to it. A United Nations panel of experts report released on Tuesday said that patience was wearing thin, with the failure to advance on a deal described as a bargain between elites facing a narrowing range of options. The report highlighted governments resistance to provisions in the deal for warring parties to canton their troops, demilitarise civilian areas, collect certain heavy weapons and reveal the size and location of their forces. The latest peace deal was also largely pushed by longtime Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, whose ouster has raised fears there is no one with the will or influence to get the South Sudanese to implement it. Another development has raised questions about governments will to push forward with the deal. The Addis meeting comes just days after it was revealed Kiir had hired an American lobby firm to block the formation of a hybrid African Union-South Sudan court to try war crimes, stipulated in the peace agreement. Malis new Prime Minister Boubou Cisse signed an accord with opposition and majority parties in Bamako Thursday that paved the way for the formation of a new government. Cisses predecessor Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga resigned on April 18 with his entire cabinet following the massacre of some 160 members of the Fulani herding community on March 23 in the village of Ogossagou near Malis border with Burkina Faso. Given that the opposition and the majority have indicated their readiness for a politically-inclusive government, they agreed to the formation of a new government, according to a copy of the document, seen by AFP. It was signed by majority parties and some in opposition. Our country is in crisis, Seydou Diakite, a member of the opposition PSP party, told AFP after the signing ceremony. All its sons must get together and decide to work together on a sound basis, which is why we signed. The document was also inked by a former rebel group, but not by the URD opposition party of Soumaila Cisse, a presidential candidate in 2018 who lost in the second round of elections. He claimed fraud. Malis president named economy and finance minister Boubou Cisse as prime minister last month, charged with forming a broad government to stem bloodshed in the country. This came after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Bamako on April 5 to protest against an upsurge of inter-communal violence that has claimed some 600 lives. They accused the government of not doing enough to stop it. On Thursday, the UNs MINUSMA mission said the Ogossagou massacre had been planned, organised and coordinated and could constitute a crime against humanity. In the heat of Georgias presidential election late last year, an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation suddenly became a campaign issue. It was so serious that Nika Jeiranashvili, executive director of Justice International, an international NGO, decided to rush back to his home country from The Hague to try and help diffuse a situation that he feared could spark civil conflict. Ultimately, what it showed was there was a critical need for information, Jeiranashvili said, due to the fact that the ICC had failed to adequately explain its investigation into crimes committed on all sides during Georgias 2008 war with Russia and forces of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. He and other civil society members took to social media, television and the press to emphasize the ICCs neutrality amid rumours that the investigation could be used to target military officers for political purposes. We had to step in, Jeiranashvili said. Three years of investigation and little information The controversy erupted following remarks by the winning candidate, Salome Zourabichvili, who blamed the administration of former President Mikheil Saakashvili for starting the war. Some politicians started accusing the government of initiating the ICC investigation in order to target Saakashvili and his allies, and military generals then waded into the discussion, said Jeiranashvili in an interview with JusticeInfo.net in Georgias capital, Tbilisi. You could almost see they were taking sides the government and the previous government, said Jeiranashvili, who met with some generals. It could have led to a split in the armed forces, even civil war. More than three years into the investigation the first launched by the ICC in a non-African country almost nothing about its progress has been made public, and civil society groups say the courts lack of outreach has left a dangerous void of information. Kapuo Kand, who represents the ICC in Georgia, said the court has made efforts to reach out to the public and to counter rumours. I gave an extensive interview to Georgian public television at the end of December about some issues raised in the campaign, he said. He added that the ICC registrar, Peter Lewis, was in Tbilisi for a regional seminar in late October and also gave interviews, as did a senior member of the ICC Prosecutors office, Phakiso Mochochoko. Noting that up until April the ICC office in Tbilisi has consisted of himself and an assistant, Kand said his outreach strategy is to meet with victims, as well as civil society groups, academics and others who can disseminate information through media and other contacts. There has been a lot of misinformation around the ICC in Georgia, said Kand. Its not an easy period in general. The ICC standard answers Little is known about the ICC even among victims of the 2008 war, according to a recent survey carried out by civil society groups among the approximately 30,000 people who fled their homes in South Ossetia and remain in settlements in territory controlled by Tbilisi. Of those surveyed, 49 percent reported that they had never heard of the ICC, according to Nino Jomarjidze of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association. Upon further questioning, she said, it emerged that about half of those who said they were familiar with the ICC were actually confusing it with the European Court of Human Rights, which is considering two cases filed by Georgia against Russia in relation to the 2008 war. Even those who had heard of the ICC knew no details about the investigation or its possible outcome, said Jomarjidze. That is hardly surprising the court has been extremely tight lipped. Investigative activities are, and must remain, completely confidential, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), said in response to a request for comment by JusticeInfo.net. This is required in order to preserve the integrity of the investigative process and the evidence collected, as well as to ensure the safety and security of all involved in the course of the investigation. The OTP added that there is no specific time-line, and the investigation will take as long as required. Kand also stressed that the court is not political, and that it functions as an independent judicial institution. That is the standard answer civil society groups have received as well, but its not good enough, said both Jeiranashvili and Jomarjidze. Fear and intimidation Jeiranashvili said the ICC needs to manage expectations among victims who may assume that they will receive compensation for lost property, or be able to return to their homes at the end of the process. Jomarjidze argued that the OTP could release information that would not compromise its investigation, but would instil a sense of confidence in the process among victims. Similar investigations have disclosed, for example, the number of victims and witnesses interviewed, she said. What we want them to do first is to share even some general knowledge about the investigation, said Jomarjidze. When you dont know information about their activities, how can you trust them? How can you decide whether or not to cooperate? Building trust among victims is especially important as they are living in a climate of fear, said Jeiranashvili. Pro-Russian groups have circulated among displaced communities to discourage them from cooperating with the court, he said, while abductions have occurred along the administrative boundary line. One of the most high profile cases involved Archil Tatunashvili, a former soldier in the Georgian armed forces who had served in Afghanistan as part of his countrys contribution to the NATO mission there. Tatunashvili died while being held in detention by authorities in South Ossetia who kept his body for almost a month before sending it over the boundary, which is controlled by Russia. Jeiranashvili said the incident sent a chill through communities of people who fled the war, who thought: If Russia can do this to him, what can they do to us? No access, no cooperation To complicate matters further, neither Russia nor the South Ossetian authorities are cooperating with the investigation, and Russia withdrew in 2016 from the process of joining the ICC. Investigators have no access to South Ossetia where the majority of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly occurred, including the torture of prisoners of war, as well as widespread attacks against civilians and destruction of property that drove ethnic Georgians out of the region. Jomarjidze urged the ICC to speak out about the barriers investigators are facing. It would be very important to publish a statement about the issue and encourage Russia to cooperate with investigation, she said. It could encourage other states to call for Russia to cooperate and to give access for the OTP to South Ossetia. That lack of cooperation raises the possibility that if the investigation does result in arrest warrants, only citizens of Georgia a member of the ICC would face trial, even though the bulk of the allegations are against Russian and South Ossetian forces, according to civil society groups. Due to a dearth of information, many people were not aware that the ICC was looking into accusations against Georgian soldiers until the issue arose during the presidential election. This is why the public went crazy last year, said Jeiranashvili. When they heard that any Georgian serviceman up to high-ranking generals could face charges, it was unacceptable. Without more information about the investigation and the ICC in general, he added, such a scenario is likely to repeat during parliamentary elections next year. This will happen in the future as well, said Jeiranashvili. Kansas State University tabbed as role model for first-gen student success Thursday, May 2, 2019 Kansas State University will serve as a role model for universities interested in strengthening programs for first-generation students as part of the First Forward initiative by the Center for First-generation Student Success. | Download this photo. MANHATTAN Kansas State University is among nine institutions that will lead others in developing programs nationally that help first-generation college students succeed. The Center for First-generation Student Success, an initiative of the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, or NASPA, and The Suder Foundation, has invited Kansas State University to serve on its inaugural First Forward advisory board. The board will help the other 80 inaugural First Forward cohort universities across the nation improve experiences and advance outcomes for first-generation students. Institutions may apply for the First Forward designation. After two years in the program, they may apply to serve on the advisory board, where they mentor other institutions and facilitate discussions about best practices regarding first-generation student success. Kansas State University was selected to be among the inaugural advisory board because of its many successful existing programs. "Through the application process, it was evident that K-State is not only taking steps to serve first-generation students but is prepared to make a long-term commitment and employ strategies for significant scaling and important advances in the future," said Sarah E. Whitley, senior director of the Center for First-generation Student Success. The university opened its Office for First-generation Students in June 2018 to support students who do not have any college graduates in their family. The office connects those students to campus resources and coordinates university efforts to foster a first-generation community of peers and faculty. "Regardless of their background, all students should have the opportunity to seek an education and develop the skills to have a successful career," said Charles Taber, provost and executive vice president. "Helping first-generation students navigate the college process successfully is at the heart of what K-Staters do as the nation's first operational land-grant university." The university also launched the initiative, Improving the Graduation and Persistence Rates of First-Generation Students, to become a national model for all first-generation student success. The initiative has helped build a mentoring network, increase the number of students enrolled in learning communities, developed recruitment materials for first-generation students and identified entry-level classes that help with retention and student engagement. "We want to be the university of choice for first-generation students in Kansas and beyond," said Stephanie Bannister, assistant vice president for student life. "As part of the First Forward initiative with NASPA, K-State will work with peer institutions across the country to develop programs and become a national leader for first-generation student success." The First Forward Institution designation will give faculty and staff access to professional development opportunities, community-building experiences and the center's research and resources. One of the benefits now available to K-Staters is the opportunity to attend the First Forward Workshop on June 15 in Orlando. These opportunities are provided to further strengthen university efforts that ultimately help first-generation students at Kansas State University and nationwide. SACRAMENTO, Calif. A list of suspected predator priests recently released by the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento names 44 priests from the Diocese that have been accused of sexual abuse. The list includes more than a dozen priests from the North State. According to Jaime Soto, Bishop of Sacramento, the list is based on a review of personal records of staff that spans seven decades, starting in 1950. This list is heartbreaking. It is a sickening and sobering account of the history of sex abuse by clergy in our diocese, said Bishop Soto. It is repulsive to see the evil acts that were perpetrated upon innocent children and young people entrusted to our care." None of the accused men are currently in ministry with the diocese. "Wow you wouldn't think that it would've happened right here," said Vince Haynie, a long-time resident of Chico, California. Haynie was shocked to learn that more than a dozen Catholic priests are on a list that includes suspected and convicted child predators. "Obviously these men were influenced not by the Ten Commandments and there's more than that, they were influenced by another spirit," Haynie said. "I know what the bible says about Satan . . . he roams around like a roaring lion that means Chico's not off limits and Butte County's not off limits to the demonic influence." Father Chuck Kelly from Sacred Heart Church in Red Bluff said seeing the list affected him personally. "It was sad to see some names of priests that I knew that I have worked with and that hurt," Kelly said. Kelly said neighbors have already been calling and emailing him, concerned about their children and the future of Sacred Heart. "We would like to have it black and white, and I think people want to know 'how are you going to guarantee me that my child will never be hurt,' and my answer to that is you know we live in a fallen world and we can't guarantee this will never ever happen again so what we have to do is be vigilant forever," Kelly said. Bishop Soto struck a somewhat more hopeful tone in his letter to parishioners: "I apologize for the sins and failures of the past," he said. "I am determined that such acts of abuse should never again occur in our diocese. I pledge to you that I and my brother priests are zealous in our efforts to ensure that our parishes and other Church ministries are safe environments for our children and young people." Below is a map of locations where 23 men have been accused of sexual abuse in the Northstate. Some of these men worked in multiple churches, so please click the link in each description for additional information. CHILOQUIN, Ore. UPDATE: The Bray Mill Fire near Chiloquin is 100% contained as of Friday afternoon at 1pm. The fire grew to be 405 acres. (Updated 5/4/19 at 10:00 a.m.) ------- UPDATE: Firefighters expect to have the Bray Mill Fire near Chiloquin fully contained by 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon, according to the latest update from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The burn area has not grown beyond 405 acres. "There were no significant changes overnight and firefighters were aided by good relative humidity recovery," USFS said. Officials cautioned that smoke will still be visible throughout the weekend as pockets of fuel and stump holes within the containment area continue to burn. Traffic from fire crews could continue through the weekend on Sprage River Hwy and Williamson River Rd. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. (Updated 5/3/19 at 11 a.m.) UPDATE: By Thursday evening, federal fire officials estimated that firefighters had reached 75 percent containment on the Bray Mill Fire just four mile northeast of Chiloquin representing a herculean acheivement from Wednesday, but meaning that the fire will not be fully contained until Friday. "Full containment has been pushed back to midday tomorrow as firefighters take their time to ensure containment lines hold. Mop-up activities have also started," USFS said in a statement. The agency said that locals might notice an influx of fire traffic on Sprague River Highway and Williamson River Road outside of Chiloquin as work on the wildfire continues. "Public and firefighter safety continues to be the highest priority," USFS said. "Fire managers ask the public to avoid the area as firefighting operations continue." The fire's cause remains under investigation at this time. (Updated 5/2/19 at 5:30 p.m.) INITIAL REPORT: Fire officials have confirmed to NewsWatch 12 that the Bray Mill Fire northeast of Chiloquin now covers roughly 405 acres, but the fire's forward progress has been halted. Firefighters worked through the night to achieve some containment of the fire, which is now estimated at 25 percent. Crews are beginning mop-up in some areas while they work to finish containing the wildfire, which they expect to achieve by Thursday night. The Bray Mill Fire has been burning about four miles northeast of Chiloquin near Fremont-Winema National Forest land, and was reported on Wednesday around 3 p.m. The Winema and Lakeview Interagency Hotshot crews worked with four fire engines, two dozers and a water-tender to attack the fire from Wednesday afternoon and into the night, with help from the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Chiloquin Rural Fire Protection District. "Firefighters were able to use previous hazardous fuel reduction and forest restoration projects in the area to safely and effectively make progress containing the fire," the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) said. The fire's cause remains under investigation, but federal forestry officials said that it was not associated with the "North 2" prescribed burn last week, which was conducted about 4 miles from the Bray Mill Fire's point of origin. "With the snow melting and things starting to dry out, every day brings increased risk of wildfire and brings the Forest closer to fire season," USFS said. "Spring in the area also brings variable temperatures, increased winds and conditions that can help fire spread rapidly." Examining the burn area, USFS officials called it a "mosaic fire effect" showing a mix of dead winter fuel that burned quickly, interspersed with new spring greenery that survived the flames. The effect is similar to historical forest fires, where the flames would work to reduce future fire risk without wiping out vegetation altogether. Many of the trees in the area are ponderosa pine, which have thick bark, resistant to fire. Visitors to the forest are asked to be careful with fire or anything that can throw a spark. Campfires should never be left unattended, and should be "dead" before visitors leave, USFS said. This means that the fire is doused with water, stirred and judged cold to the touch with no warm spots. SEATTLE (AP) Marchers and protesters have taken to the streets in Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and other Northwest cities for annual May Day demonstrations. For the 20th year, May Day in Seattle featured a March for Immigrant and Workers Rights. That and other rallies merged together at times downtown Wednesday afternoon. Salem May Day rally focuses on drivers licenses for undocumented residents https://t.co/lwmK094IYB pic.twitter.com/Hz0yTBb1a6 The Oregonian (@Oregonian) May 1, 2019 In Portland, a crowd of protesters marched to the city's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters and were told by police to move onto sidewalks or be arrested. Conservative group Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson traded taunts with protesters there but no arrests were made. Many protesters said they were next headed to a Northeast Portland park for a rally. In years past, May Day has been marred by self-proclaimed anarchists and far-right activists who have clashed with police and damaged property. However, last year's May Day was marked by a peaceful march and little mayhem. While those major cities saw relatively large turnouts for a variety of causes, a smaller band of demonstrators gathered at Vogel Plaza in Medford after 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Some of the activists, organized by the Unete Center for Farm Worker Advocacy, held signs displaying their support for driver's licenses "for all" including undocumented immigrants. Immigrant rights advocates have been pushing for this measure for years, seeing both success and setbacks with lawmakers over the past two decades. CLICK HERE for our previous story on the issue of driving privileges for undocumented immigrants. MEDFORD, Ore. -- The City Council will be presented with a list of options to consider at Thursday's meeting. The current Medford Code allows Oregon legal consumer fireworks in the city limits and prohibits the use of all fireworks in hazardous wildfire areas, the Bear Creek Greenway, any city park, and public schools. The options the Council will consider include: Keeping the current code language without changes Keeping the current code language with increased penalties/fines as a deterrent Limit the use of legal fireworks to July 4 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and December 31 from 6 p.m. to January 1 at 1 a.m. with increased penalties/fines for violations Total ban on all fireworks with increased penalties/fines for violations Between 1993 and 2009, the City approved a ban on all fireworks in the city limits. Medford Fire Deputy Chief Greg Kleinberg said it was difficult to enforce the full ban for a few reasons. "It was very hard for us back when the full ban was in effect to tell people fireworks were prohibited, but if you use them, here are some safety things that you need to know so that you don't injure yourself," Kleinberg said. "It's difficult sometimes to find where they're shooting them off and if we have to enforce a complete ban that's going to be challenging with the amount of staffing we have." Kleinberg also said the full ban made it difficult to teach firework safety. Ward 3 Councilman Kevin Stine said he isn't on board with many of the options, and he doesn't believe increasing the penalty fine would be a successful deterrent. "I don't know if we made it $1,000 that it's going to stop the types of people that are going to willingly break the law in the first place," Stine said. Stine also said he will not support a complete ban. "That would make it where the people that are following the rules and are having an enjoyable time with their friends and family would be prevented from doing so," Stine said. MEDFORD, Ore. When the Camp Fire raced through Paradise, California, many people lost everything. Those who evacuated as their homes burned were lucky not to have lost their lives because others did perish. Rebuilding after that fire is a long, arduous, and ongoing process, but in some cases small acts of kindness have made all the difference. "I was in band and our principal came in and asked us to go home and evacuate," said Stacy Wisener. "It all went crazy from there." Rogue Valley Adventist Academy is collecting instruments for students in Paradise, California. More than half the students who attend Paradise Adventist Academy lost their home. This includes their favorite musical instruments, and choir/band clothing.https://t.co/usedaDTwhE Leah Thompson (@LeahNW12) December 12, 2018 Wisener is a student and musician at Paradise Adventist Academy. While her instrument survived the fire, the same can't be said for the instruments of all of her bandmates. Following the deadly fire, people from around the Rogue Valley donated instruments to those students who had lost everything in the Camp Fire and were unable to participate in the school band. Other communities from throughout Oregon, Washington and California pitched in as well. CLICK HERE for our story on the Biggers, who donated their murdered daughter's flute to the school 22 years after her death. "When they actually came to the school, we had kids who were waiting for the instruments," said Wisener. "And their faces lit up, it was really . . . it was nice." Now, months later, student from Paradise Adventist are traveling and playing music for other schools celebrating how they've begun to recover and repaying the acts of kindness that helped to facilitate it. "It's like one billion hugs, I don't know how to explain it better than that . . . it's genuinely been so amazing," Wisener said. Katie Hamilton, a choir student at Paradise Adventists, is also at a loss for how to explain what the gestures have meant to them. "There aren't words . . . thank you, thank you, thank you, we appreciate it so, so much!" Today is the last day of their week-long band tour, but it's certainly not something they will soon forget. "It's so nice, it's like a breath of fresh air," said Wisener. GRANTS PASS, Ore -- Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc. is hosting their Launch Talk at the Hivve Thursday night starting at 5:30 P.M. It will be holding a panel about Building Brands Customers Love. It will feature the co-founder of the Hivve and former Dutch Bros marketing director Trevor Yarrish, brand strategist Kenneth Windsor, and CEO & Founder of MTO Agency Gretchen Fox. Tickets cost $10. In the video above, SOREDI Venture Catalyst Alex Palmer gives us a look at what to expect at the event. Kauders joined MONA in 2002 after 21 years at Joslyn Art Museum as deputy director and a stint as Joslyns interim director. Before moving to Omaha, she started her museum career at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama. She earned her bachelors degree in speech and drama from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, and her Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She was also selected for the four-week resident Museum Management Institute at the University of California, Berkeley now the Getty Leadership Institute. During her time as MONA director, nearly 1,500 works of art were added to the collection and more than 650 exhibitions were displayed at the museum in downtown Kearney and other venues across the Midwest. MONA also received seven named endowment funds during her leadership, bringing the total to 16 and increasing the overall value from $600,000 to $4.18 million. It has been an absolute privilege to serve as MONAs director for over 17 years, Kauders said. Im very passionate about museums and how important they are to everyday life for many people. Im particularly proud that MONA has always had free admission, so money is not a barrier to experiencing art in a museum setting. 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. ____________________________________________________________ According to a report by e-nigerianng.com, the newly wed actress is 4 months pregnant for her alleged billionaire husband, Ned Nwoko. A family source hinted that 18-year-old Regina Daniels who just got hooked to her 59-year-old lover, Ned nwoko is already 4-months pregnant. Buttressing further, the source revealed thus, not only is she pregnant, but for now, Regina Daniels remains Ned Nwokos most favourite wife, with unlimited access to his most expensive cars, houses, as well as his private jet which she brandishes all about. None of Neds wives nor concubines are said to have access to his Rolls Royce (valued at over N100 million), his expensive Ferrari, his private jet as well as his latest delivery; a Mercedez Brabus with an Abuja number plate, YAB-486 BH except Regina, squealed our source.Furthermore, e-NIGERIA! also gathered that, ahead of her baby delivery, Mr. Nwoko has also acquired a house for Regina in a yet to be disclosed location in London 62 Shares Share As a physician trying to keep up with all the new information about artificial intelligence, I want to know how machine learning and deep learning are impacting medicine now and to separate the hype from reality. Heres a look at some ways AI is being used successfully in health care and some ways it is not. AI has been validated for use in interpreting medical scans, pathology slides, and reading electrocardiograms. These programs operate using a type of computer machine learning that is based on computer algorithms called convolutional neural networks (CNNs). CNNs excel in pattern recognition and have been shown to surpass human ability in speed and accuracy. Recently the FDA approved a machine that uses a computer deep learning algorithm linked to a retinal camera to diagnose diabetic retinopathy without the need for an eye doctor. The machine has a very high degree of accuracy and will be used in primary care offices. AI virtual nursing assistants already facilitate ongoing patient communication and monitoring. App-based computer platforms are being used by hospitals to follow patients when they return home after surgery or to manage chronic diseases. Patients have found checking in with AI-powered health assistants or avatars on a routine basis very acceptable especially when theyve been programmed with deep mind empathy algorithms. These nursing assistants are also being used in hospitals to carry out small, repeatable tasks to free up time for nurses and clinicians. AI can ease the burden of administrative workflow especially with using electronic health records. Several major academic hospital systems have partnered with a company offering natural language processing with highly accurate speech to text and data extraction methods to give their providers more time with patients and less time at the computer. AI-powered deep learning such as the Watson computer system has proven itself in the area of clinical recommendations. The University of North Carolina has used the computer systems analysis of peer-reviewed medical literature to suggest suitable clinical trials as treatment for more than 300 cancer patients, patients for whom possible treatment options were missed by UNC doctors. Although suggesting treatment is not the same as increasing diagnosis, Watsons ability to review the more than 160,000 cancer research papers published per year is expected to ultimately led to improved diagnosis. But not all the AI hype has come to pass. In any technological revolution, the anticipated promise does not always produce expected results. While UNCs partnership with Watson has been successful, Watsons 62 million dollar collaboration with MD Anderson failed to create a platform for leukemia based diagnosis. Although mainstream news coverage reported success in deploying a system using Watsons cognitive computing to revolutionize cancer treatment worldwide, the platform never existed. There were a series of missteps and misunderstandings. Having millions of pages of medical information did not mean the system could make sense and use all the information. Watsons infrastructure didnt work well with Andersons electronic medical records system to be able to personalize recommendations, and the collaboration could not show using Watson resulted in improved diagnosis or treatment of a patients cancer. Across the pond, the U.K.s National Health Service has partnered with Babylon to use their highly rated app for British patients to quickly videoconference with a doctor. The app has been hugely successful with its triage chatbot for advice on whether to see a doctor for common ailments. However, practice doctors found that around 10 percent to 15 percent of the chatbots 100 most frequently suggested outcomes, such as a chest infection, either missed warning signs of a more serious condition like cancer or sepsis or were just flat-out wrong. Babylon was asked to investigate the complaints by the UKs medical regulator but no official investigation has been opened. Most experts agree AI is already revolutionizing health care for the better. While its exciting to learn all the ways patient care will improve, it comes as little surprise that AI hasnt evolved to the point where it can replace human medical doctors. And yet as I dive deeper into understanding AI, I am reminded of what Bill Gates said: We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Dont let yourself be lulled into inaction. Kathryn Peper is an internal medicine physician. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 3K Shares Share I follow a Facebook group of physician moms. We share and offer feedback on everything from a clinical puzzle to a frustrating patient encounter, and we offer our tricks for how to find balance in a crazy medical life. Ive seen several recent posts about women being called Mrs. even when it is known they are a physician. Most recently there was a long post where a female physician at a social event was told by a male friend that it was arrogant to let people other than patients or professional colleagues refer to you as doctor. Im sure you can imagine the responses from our group. But, the fact that this is even a discussion point in 2019 baffles me. I am certain this is not a conversation that has been directed to male physicians. This is what I wish she had said: First, using my title does not mean Im choosing my profession over my husband. It is my title. I earned it, it is socially correct to use it, and this is not about me it is about you not choosing respect. Furthermore, I bet if your wife collapses and someone yells, Is there a doctor in the house, you would then surely want me to respond? Sadly, as physicians, we also perpetuate the issue. A study, published in the Journal of Womens Health, monitored over 300 conferences in a two-year time span at Mayo. When males introduced the physician speakers, they used titles introducing men 72 percent of the time versus 49 percent for women speakers. When females were doing the introductions, they used titles 96 percent for men and 66 percent for women speakers. I should be shocked, but Im not. Women are graduating medical school in higher numbers than men, but the stories continue to pour in of women physicians being mistaken for nurses or patients looking to a male medical student instead of the female attending to answer the difficult questions. A father and son are involved in a car accident, and both are both are badly hurt. They are taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon states, I cannot do the surgery because this is my son. Why is this a riddle? I heard it being shared as recently as a few years ago at a pub table of 30-something-year-olds scratching their heads. There are now more females than males enrolled in U.S. medical schools. It is probable that there will be more actively practicing female physicians than male physicians in the U.S. in our lifetime. Yet, we still have an imbalance of public perception. I dont get hung up on being called doctor, but in a situation where a title should be used then, absolutely yes, I want my two letters and one period utilized. I want my years of study, my dedication to a noble profession and my level of expertise recognized. I want it to ring in the ears of all that are in the vicinity to hear it. Why? Because, just like my male physician colleagues, I earned it, Im proud of it, and I am a doctor. Laura Beaty is a family physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, Laura Beaty MD. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 9K Shares Share The April 18, 2019 CNN headline was a prime example of clickbait: Feds charge doctors in 8 states in opioid bust, including Rock Doc accused of trading pills for sex. The only problem with this headline? Of the 60 individuals charged, half were not physicians. More importantly, Jeffrey Young, the so-called Rock Doc who prescribed nearly 1.5 million pills of opioids and benzos often in exchange for sex, is not even a doctor at all. Young is a nurse practitioner who had his nursing license restricted for similar accusations in November 2018. The media seems to love to hate doctors. For example, do a Google search of physicians and NPR. At the top of the fold: Are Doctors Overpaid? followed by Dollars for Docs: How Pharma Money Influences Physician Prescriptions. Interestingly, this media bias does not extend to other medical professionals in the same way. Try the same Google search of NPR, but this time, type nurse practitioners instead of physicians. The first hit: How 2 Nurse Practitioners Decided to Help Babies Touched by the Opioid Crisis. Next up: As Health Care Demands Grow, So Does the Need for Nurse Practitioners. Even physicians contribute to our own media bias. In the April 19, 2019 NPR report Why do Doctors Overtreat? For Many, its What Theyre Trained to Do, family physician Mara Gordon describes a push for excessive testing in physician residency programs. She cites her own story, a case of a young man with rectal bleeding who she referred for a colonoscopy. Gordon bemoans her aggressive referral: the patients bleeding was almost certainly caused by hemorrhoids and watching and waiting for a few weeks would have been safe and helped the patient avoid an invasive procedure. As a health and media fellow at NPR, Gordon is following the party line. But as a physician, she knows perfectly well that any ongoing rectal bleeding will warrant a colonoscopy even in young people, as the rates of colorectal cancer are rising precipitously in young adults. One thing is certain: had Gordon chosen not to refer her patient, and he was later found to have colon cancer, no doubt the media headline would have condemned her failure to act. Doctors just cant win. But worse, when physicians face excessive media criticism, patients also lose. First, the media bias against physicians has inspired a public distrust of doctors. Most physicians are dedicated individuals who hold patient care as sacrosanct. But patients rarely hear stories of these doctors in the media. Instead, they are barraged by terrifying stories of the occasional bad actor. This may cause patients to become fearful of all doctors and lead to a delay in seeking necessary medical care. In addition, negative publicity is taking a toll on physicians, who are already facing high levels of burnout. For example, the British Medical Journal reported that a critical portrayal of doctors in the media has a demoralizing effect on physicians. Forty-eight percent of all doctors are already making active plans to leave the practice of medicine. Damning headlines meant to inspire public outrage against physicians can only worsen the physician exodus from medicine. As physicians leave practice, patients will suffer. Why such negativity against doctors? While some media bias may be a simple matter of attracting readership by sensational headlines, funding sources are likely a contributing factor. For example, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is committed to expanding the role of nurse practitioners across the country, donated $4 million to NPR in 2018 to strengthen health coverage through new content and coverage areas. Examples of this expanded health coverage include an April 15, 2019, NPR piece on the use of artificial intelligence for ophthalmologic exams featuring interviews with nurse practitioners. And the February 2019 report on CVS making drugstores a destination for health care, which points out that CVS is easier for patients to get to than doctors offices, and asks us to imagine a world where a patient can walk into a drugstore and talk to a nurse practitioner. And we cant forget Gordons NPR piece accusing doctors of overtreating patients, which failed to mention studies that show nurse practitioners and physician assistants order more imaging tests, perform more unnecessary skin biopsies, prescribe more unnecessary antibiotics, prescribe more steroids for colds and give more psychotropic medications to children than physicians. If anything, doctors are showing improvement between 2003 and 2015, the number of skeletal X-rays ordered by non-physicians increased by 441%, while the rate of X-rays ordered by primary care physicians decreased by 33.5%. However, NPR rarely reports positive news about physicians. Their health coverage failed to mention the February 2019 JAMA report showing that a greater primary care physician supply is associated with lower mortality in the United States. In fact, when I Google primary care decrease mortality and NPR, there is no mention of the report. Instead, heres the first hit: Steep Climb in Benzodiazepine Prescribing by Primary Care Doctors. Doctors are noticing this media bias and starting to speak out. When NPRs Planet Money did a segment advocating for nurse midwives, physicians complained so vociferously that the NPR ombudsman wrote an article acknowledging one-sided reporting (Call the Midwives, But Ring the Doctors, Too) but offered no retraction or additional information to listeners. The media has a responsibility to present fair and unbiased information to the public, and that includes accurate reporting about physicians. Patients and physicians must hold media organizations accountable by speaking out against this ongoing assault. Rebekah Bernard is a family physician and the author of How to Be a Rock Star Doctor: The Complete Guide to Taking Back Control of Your Life and Your Profession. She can be reached at her self-titled site, Rebekah Bernard, MD. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 658 Shares Share Pseudoscience hate groups of all kinds are targeting physicians who openly advocate for public health issues. This is a favorite intimidation tactic used by anti-vaccine activists: When pediatrician colleague Jen Trachtenberg posted a video for National Immunization Awareness Month 2018, she was blasted with thousands of horrible comments and fake online reviews. I wrote a blog post in her defense, and immediately, I was similarly targeted, with over 100 one-star ratings suddenly appearing on multiple doctor ratings websites. It took months of filing reports, sending emails and making phone calls for the fake negative reviews to be examined and removed. Scores of physicians have been attacked like this, a problem that is recently being covered by major news outlets like Newsweek and the LA Times. Its not just anti=vaxxers, either. Maine family medicine physician Cathleen Greenberg London posted a compassionate NYT opinion piece about female dyspareunia and was viciously attacked on social media by anti-circumcision activists (Intactivists). They even filed a board complaint against her that incredulously is moving forward, infringing on First Amendment rights. Dr. London, who was a verified Twitter user with over 21,000 followers, was forced to shut down her account as a result. Florida pediatrician Free N. Hess alerted parents to adult content spliced into YouTube Kids videos, exposing this dangerous issue. She was subsequently swarmed by anti-censorship anarchists, who even posted death threats against her and her family. She appealed to the local police and worked with security at her hospital and her daughters school to create a safety plan. She hired a lawyer and then spent days removing horrific messages from her professional social media platforms, email, and website. And it goes on. Basically, any evidence-based public health measure you can think of has a physician advocate who has been targeted. These coordinated online campaigns can include swamping practice websites and social media feed with harmful commentary, and inundating doctor rating websites with fake negative reviews. Rockstar physician activist and public health advocate Zubin Damania (perhaps better known as ZDoggMD), has again and again stepped up and spoken out against these attacks, mobilizing his formidable following of over a million fans in support of science. I chatted with him about all of this recently, because I was curious: What Would ZDogg Do? Me: ZDogg, have you seen this increase in online attacks on docs? ZDoggMD: Yes. I get targeted all the time. Me: What groups have gone after you? ZDoggMD: Antivaxxers and certain patient groups who get offended if I dont do their pet cause justice have all sent me death threats [chuckling]. When you have the internet, apparently all opinions are equal, which is ridiculous. Me: What did you do about it? ZDoggMD: I think there are phases to individual physician responses to this sort of harassment because I went through them. Phase I is fear and regret, oh my god my career is over, people hate me. Phase II: Wait, how could this happen? Its not fair that Im penalized for doing whats right; this is straight bullying. Phase III: F*CK these people, Im going to wear this as a badge of honor and speak my mind loudly, and Im in the company of others whove been doing this a long time at great personal cost but have come out the other side stronger, more successful, and able to sleep at night due to a clear conscience. Me: Though the issue is finally being covered in the news, as far as practical assistance when mobs target a doctors professional reputation, docs have been on their own. Negative online reviews can be especially damaging. What do you think, should doctor rating websites be held more accountable? ZDoggMD: I think physician rating sites are bullsh*t. I personally think we should be able to shame and humiliate the ratings companies into policing better. Ive grown a big enough platform and voice that these attacks only create more cohesion in my group, rather than weaken us Much harder for full-time practicing physicians to do this. Me: Physicians are now banding together, like the new Facebook group Physicians Standing Together Against Cyberbullying started by pediatrician Free N. Hess, and the international Shots Heard Round the World group started by pediatrician Todd Wolynn (whose practice was attacked by anti-vaxxers in 2017). ZDoggMD: Maybe growing the power of collaborative social media groups like you mention, to do the heavy lifting, is the answer. Me: Besides groups like these, what else can we do to encourage highly educated physicians to get out there on social media and help combat pseudoscience, especially if theyre worried about risking their online ratings? ZDoggMD: This is a tough question. We can grow our personal brand online in a way that transcends them via SEO, web, and social presence that patients can see and can help them decide what type of doc you really are. *** True to form, ZDogg shared my anti-vaxxer attack experience on a Facebook Live spot titled We Dont Negotiate with Terrorists thats now been viewed almost 400,000 times. I wrote my own post on cyberbullying of physicians thats been viewed and commented on more than anything Ive ever written. Several hundred colleagues have already joined the brand-new collaboration groups mentioned above. And more physicians, spurred on by realities like mass shootings and measles outbreaks, are getting on social media to stand up for public health. We can (and will) overshadow and eclipse the pseudoscience cyberbullying by calling attention to it, organizing ourselves, and getting out there on social media en mass. Theres no need to name or personally attack our harassers. Telling the truth is enough. But we have to speak up. So, are you on Twitter yet? Monique Tello is an internal medicine physician who blogs at generallymedicine. Image credit: Shutterstock.com SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The National Interagency Fire Center is predicting a heavy wildfire season for areas along the West Coast of the United States this summer. The Boise, Idaho-based center said Wednesday that most of the country can expect a normal wildfire season in the period from May through August. But the states of California, Washington and Oregon are an exception. The agency says a heavy crop of grasses and fine fuels has developed across California and should elevate fire potential as it dries through the summer. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest has entered a period of moderate drought. That might mean an early fire season in the Cascade Range and the Okanogan region. LANE COUNTY, Ore. -- The Lane County Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol is warning boaters about two downed trees that are nearly completely obstructing the McKenzie River. Those two trees are in the same area, roughly halfway between Hendricks Bridge County Park and Bellinger Landing. The sheriff's office said drift boats may be able to pass the trees if they stay to the extreme right side of the river thanks to the current water levels, but warn that water levels and the position of the trees could change making it impossible to pass. Boaters are being asked to avoid the area and put in at or below Bellinger or to take out before they reach the obstruction. The obstruction on the McKenzie has been reported to the Oregon State Marine Board, which will decide if and when anything can be done to remove the trees. For the latest information about this obstruction and conditions of other waterways in the state, you can visit the Oregon Marine Board website. EUGENE, Ore. -- University of Oregon students are reaching out to the east coast, hoping to help students recover from the traumatic events at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Members of Pi Kappa Phi at UO have taken what was supposed to be an effort to help people on their campus and turned it into a coast-to-coast show of compassion by making hundreds of "grounding kits" to help people affected by the recent events at UNC-Charlotte. RELATED: NORTH CAROLINA CAMPUS SHOOTING LEAVES 2 DEAD, 4 INJURED Sights, smells and sounds have been packaged up and are being sent out to the UNC-Charlotte campus. "To help people that suffer from anxiety or go through PTSD," said Pi Kappa Phi member Nico Vargas. "Like, certain events in their life. They have to deal with that stuff, so we thought this is some way we can make a direct impact with those here on campus so we went for it and this is where we are now." Vargas and his fraternity actually planned this event before spring break as part of their philanthropy week called "War of the Roses." They reached out to the Accessible Education Center on campus, and the assistant director told them about these grounding kits that were put together for Umpqua Community College. "It's all aimed for you to gather yourself and focus on things that are happening right in front of you, rather than having your mind go all over the place and just get lost and start hurting yourself," Vargas said. On Tuesday a shooting happened at UNC-Charlotte that claimed two lives and injured several other people. Vargas said that's when their mission changed. "We're trying to spread this as far and wide as we can because we want to show them that we care about them, and, you know, they're going through a difficult time," Vargas said. Vargas said it was an easy decision to take this simple concept and use it to help others nearly 3,000 miles away. "I think that's the biggest message here: just focusing on what you can do for yourself here and if the opportunity comes about, just use what you know and make a difference," Vargas said. Vargas said thanks to the large effort that was put in on Wednesday to make hundreds of those bags in a very little amount of time, they'll hopefully be able to send them out tomorrow to help people in Charlotte. CHARLESTON, Ore. -- Coos County deputies arrested a woman accused of trespassing on Coast Guard housing on Wednesday. Garnet Gebhardt, 46, faces charges of resisting arrest, theft and trespassing. Deputies said they were dispatched to 63584 Boat Basin Road in Charleston after reports of a woman scattering clothes in the laundry room and then taking off with some of the clothes. When deputies arrived, they recognized Gebhardt. According to deputies, she didnt follow their lawful commands to stop and she resisted arrest. After investigating, she was arrested and transported to the Coos County Jail. Two beautiful new signs marking Kilkennys City Walls, and telling about its history, were unveiled at James Street on Wednesday to the sounds of traditional music from the young musicians of the CBS Trad Band. The colourful bilingual interpretive signs are part of Kilkenny County Councils strategy to highlight our heritage, and provide information for local people and visitors about the former medieval city walls. "They will help to develop interpretation and understanding of the City Walls, to provide an educational tool for schools and become part of the Kilkenny City Wall trail," Senior city Engineer, Simon Walton said. Welcoming the new initiative Leas Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Cllr Andrew McGuinness said: As our city grows and develops its important that we remember, celebrate and showcase our history and heritage this is what makes Kilkenny such a special place to live in. Although much of the original two miles of medieval city walls have been lost over the last hundreds of years, the foundations of the walls still exist beneath the streets of Kilkenny. And in some sections, such as beside the Mother of Fair Love School on Jamess Street, an impressive section of the walls still stands. St. James Gate, located on James Street near Tilbury Place, was one of seven gatehouses built in the city walls by the Anglo Normans in the 1300s. Outside the walls was a thriving suburb where the poorer Irish craftworkers lived and traded. It was also a meeting place for Irish pilgrims to gather before they set off to the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In the 1800s this area developed into a centre for education and religion with the construction of St. Marys Cathedral, the CBS and the Presentation Convent. Archaeological excavations commissioned by the Kilkenny CBS Secondary School during construction of an extension to the school at James Street a few years ago uncovered the original medieval ditch on which the city wall was built. Francis Coady, Kilkenny County Council Conservation Officer has worked closely with the CBS to record and highlight this valuable part of our citys heritage, and says. This project is a great example a positive partnership between Kilkenny County Council, the CBS, their architect and also the archaeologist and illustrators who were part of the design team for the new signs. The focus here was to create an interpretative piece that highlights the importance and value of our City Wall, a National Monument, to local people as well as the tourist. According to Kilkenny County Council Heritage Officer, Dearbhala Ledwidge, What is particularly special about these signs is that the illustrations are evidence-based recreations of what the area would have looked like and they tell the story of life and conditions outside the city walls - from the perspective of the native Irish population. I think that they will be a really useful educational resource for history teachers and students around the county. One sign is located at the corner of James Street and Tilbury Place, and the other is on the grassy area in front of the City Wall on Chapel Lane. The signs were co-funded by Kilkenny County Council, the Irish Walled Towns Network and Kilkenny CBS Secondary School. They are part of a series of City Walls signs developed by Kilkenny County Council to highlight the fascinating history and stories of Kilkennys medieval City walls. Design and artwork was by Ale Mercado; archaeological illustration by Philip Armstrong; and archaeological and historical research by Coilin ODrisceoil, Kilkenny Archaeology. Are you a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person? When you think about the future, do you see limitless opportunities or multiple barriers? Do you get excited about international travel and interaction with other cultures, or do you think its a shame all our U.S. jobs are going overseas? Be honest. Depending on your response, you either have an abundance or scarcity mindset. If you answered affirmatively to the first half of each question (i.e., glass-half-full, limitless opportunities, and excitement), you likely have an abundance mindset. Congratulations! An abundance mindset accelerates personal growth in unimaginable ways. BUT not everyone is like you. If you answered affirmatively to the second half of each question (i.e., glass-half-empty, multiple barriers, shameful globalization), you are probably operating under the scarcity mindset. You may be concerned that there is never enough and may feel like a victim. This article is intended for you! Well answer three critical questions: What is an abundance mindset? Why is it important? Can you change your mindset? What is an abundance mindset? Steven Coveys 1989 bestseller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, coined the term abundance mentality. An abundance mindset helps you: Create meaningful life experiences. Pursue new, interesting opportunities. Live a full and satisfying life. Find happiness even amid struggle. Feel inspired and creative. People with an abundance mindset see the potential to move beyond present circumstances and have hope in a brighter future. They feel empowered, rather than frustrated and overwhelmed. Why is an abundance mindset important? True transformation requires an abundance mindset. As faith believers, we are called to transformation, not tweaking. One of my favorite writers is Matthew Kelly of Dynamic Catholic. Each book Matthew publishes is short but impactful. He takes a 2,700 year-old-text (the Bible) and simplifies it into powerful, digestible messages. Matthew Kelly was the first person to help me make a connection between the abundance mindset and a spiritual focus on becoming the best version of myself. When you try to become a better version of yourself daily, you cant help but be excited about what tomorrow holds. You think about todays mistakes but dont dwell on them. You treat stumbling blocks as learning experiences and move on. An abundance mindset aids you personally and also accelerates growth on many other levels. Men become better fathers, husbands and sons. Women become better mothers, wives and daughters. Your family may notice a positive difference in you, and it might just shape their perspective on life. In the workplace, youll be focused and driven but will also keep your priorities aligned. Once your family and workplace have benefitted from the new you, youll probably think about how you can use your gifts to help others in your community (or the broader world). An abundance mindset is freeing, and its where transformation begins. Can mindset be changed? The short answer is YES! The Chopra Center offers several suggestions to move into an abundance mentality, including: Become aware of your thoughts through mindfulness. Notice the types of thoughts circulating through your head, and make a conscious effort to shift toward abundance. Practice gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal, recording at least 10 items daily. Recognize the unlimited possibilities. Focus can be incredibly powerful but also unhelpful if your focus is too narrow and you fail to notice other possibilities. Cultivate and share your passions and purpose. Serve others by sharing your unique gifts and providing value. Think about what is going right. Human brains are wired to notice the bad more easily than the good. Take a holistic approach and play to your strengths. We have the highest living standards of any generation in history. Our World in Data shows how global living conditions are changing. Poverty, illiteracy and childhood mortality rates have dropped significantly since 1950. Political freedoms stemming from democracy and postsecondary education rates have soared. Yet 90% of people think the world isnt getting better, according to Our World in Data. The news often focuses on bad events, such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters and mass shootings. Its quite rare to see any news channel spend more than five minutes of a 30-minute show on feel good segments. We dont get to see our everyday heroes on TV or in the newspapers; police officers, firefighters, teachers and missionaries make the headlines for conflict and controversy, not when things are business as usual. Despite the good work happening in our neighborhoods and communities worldwide, 1 in 10 people today still live in extreme poverty. To solve big problems like poverty, we need to stop living in isolation and collaborate. Get behind a cause and garner support from others who are interested in advancing the same social change. When you operate from a place of abundance, it means you are open to new opportunities. Any prior mistakes can be acknowledged and treated as a learning experience. Remember that your past isnt a script for your future. With three grandfathers hailing from Ireland, Edward Subotich always assumed his ancestors were overwhelmingly Irish. But the results of a DNA test eventually took him overseas to learn about a great-grandfather who was born in Austria. After taking the DNA test from the genealogical company Ancestry, Subotich discovered he was 60% Irish, 30% English and 10% Austrian. His daughters friend, an amateur genealogist, then did some digging at Ancestry.com. She found his DNA matched that of two women in Liverpool, England, who had been searching for descendants of Nicholas Subotich. Edward had never heard of the man, but he learned from these newfound cousins that Nicholas was his great-grandfather who once lived in Liverpool. Like many others who are discovering their ethnic roots through DNA tests, Edward decided to take a journey to explore his personal history. In September, he and a friend visited his cousinstwo sisters in their sixties. They rolled out the red carpet for me, says Edward, 80, who lives in Weston, Conn., and owned a party-planning business with his late wife. His cousins, Marie and Jean, told him that Nicholas was born in Trieste, which was then part of Austria (now part of Italy). Nicholas moved to Liverpool in the mid 1800s and married an Englishwoman named Jane. They had seven children. Edwards cousins gave him a scrapbook with photos. They were stern looking, like they just got out of prison, Edward says. Nicholas and Jane moved to New York City, where he worked as a bricklayer. They eventually returned to Liverpool, but one of their sons, James, stayed behind, married an Irish woman and had three children, including Edwards father. During Edwards visit, Marie took him to the street where Nicholas and Jane lived. Edward intends to stay in touch with his recently discovered relatives. It was like finding a firstborn who was missing for 50 years, he says. Im still reeling. Heritage travel is not new. But the advent of DNA testing and advances in online genealogical research are providing people with more information about their roots than they ever had before. Travel companies that include DNA testing in creating itineraries are reporting brisk business. People want to walk where their ancestors walked, says Robin Hauck, director of business development and strategic partnerships at Go Ahead Tours, which in 2017 teamed up with Ancestry to create a collection of heritage tours. A DNA test requires a saliva sample or cheek swab. You can order a test from a growing number of companies, including 23andMe.com, FamilyTreeDNA.com and National Geographic Geno 2.0. With more than 10 million test-takers in its database, Ancestrys technology may be able to match your DNA to genetic communities, which are groups of members who share DNA because they share common ancestors. Sometimes, members in a genetic community have posted family trees of known ancestors. A genetic community is identified as any of 350 subregionsfor instance, County Cork, rather than just Ireland. The DNA can help you get more specific, says Kyle Betit, senior genealogist and research manager of Ancestry ProGenealogists, the research division of Ancestry. By looking at the trees of all the people that the technology has isolated, you may find a shared origin. Diversified South African miner, Anglo American, is giving $1 million to the World Banks Climate Smart Mining Facility to encourage sustainable mining operations. The World Bank announced yesterday that Anglo American would become a founding donor of the initiative. The World Bank says that the facility ...will support the sustainable extraction and processing of mining products used in developing clean energy technologies, such as copper used in energy storage and electric vehicles. Anglo Americans CEO, Mark Cutifani, said the organization dovetails with the miners stated goal of becoming carbon neutral. We need to do things in dramatically different ways if we are to transform our footprint and be valued by all our stakeholders, said Cutifani in a news release. At Anglo American, we have set ourselves on a journey to carbon neutrality operationally, with our 2020 and 2030 targets as staging posts. Our FutureSmart Mining technologies will be a key driver of this. VIENNA, May 2 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should not be swayed by a single set of data, Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Thursday after better-than-expected euro zone growth figures for the first quarter. "With regard to the immediate economic developments ... we have to take a medium-term perspective. I think we should not be guided by measures from one month," he told a news conference when asked about recent growth figures. (Reporting by Francois Murphy Editing by Gareth Jones) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. Photo by Brian Senic/Shutterstock.com (Kitco News) - Although gold prices are struggling to find momentum, one Canadian bank still sees an investment case for precious metals producers and royalty and streaming companies. In an investor conference call, Colin Hamilton, commodity analyst at BMO Capital Markets said that although the gold market has struggled in recent months, the precious metal has shown some resilient strength in the face of a stronger U.S. dollar and record equity markets. Hamilton reiterated the banks gold forecast, which sees prices pushing back above $1,300 an ounce later this year. June gold futures last traded at $1,272.10 an ounce, down nearly 1% on the day. This range-bound stability at what is a decent level is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly when you think about gold prices in producer currencies, he said. Andrew Kaip, precious metals analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said that he sees a goldilocks environment for mining companies; even in the current gold price environment, he said that as there is the potential for companies to increase their free cash flow by increasing production while cutting costs. For this year, Kaip said that BMO is focusing on mining companies that have demonstrated solid execution and production plans. Meeting these criteria is the banks top mining pick, Agnico Eagle (NYSE: AEM, TSX: AEM). Kaip added that the mining team also upgraded its outlook for Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI). These are the two large producers under coverage that are nearing the end of investment of new mines and are on the cusp of growing production while lower costs, he said. Agnico has been a solid execution story for a number of years, and at Gold Fields, we see signs of improving execution. The current price environment and growing mine production also continue to benefit royalty and streaming companies. BMO is constructive on two companies: Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE: WPM, TSX: WPM) and Osisko Gold Royalties (NYSE: OR, TSX: OR). The BMO analysts also see growing investment potential in the mid-tier mining sector, as merger and acquisition activity pave the way for new growth. Kaip noted that M&A activity has dominated discussion in the mining sector since mid-2018 and with the creation of two mega gold producers, there is room for other companies to fill gaps in the large-cap segment. We do expect M&A activity to emerge into the mid-tier space, said Brian Quast, precious metals analyst with a focus on mid-tier and junior producers at, BMO Nesbitt Burns. There is a wide dispersion of multiples in the mid-cap producer space, both high and low. This obviously sets the stage for mid-cap consolidation on an all-share basis. In the mid-tier space, Quast said that they see growing potential for Alamos Gold (NYSE: AGI, TSX: AGI) and B2Gold (NYSE: BTG, TSX: BTO). Schiebel Wins Norway Tender for UAV Deployment in Arctic The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. USAF Says F-35As Made First Combat Sortie, Dropped JDAM Against Cave The page you requested is only available to subscribers. 1. If you are a Premium Service subscriber, please log in here to access this story: Log-in : Password : 2. If you are not a subcriber, you can: -- buy access to this page: unlimited access for seven days costs 3.00 EUR + VAT (at 20%) if applicable. Clicking on the "Ok" button below will place the item in your shopping cart and return you to our home page, where you will be able to select additional stories. -- select additional stories and services from our home page and pay for them at the same time. -- see your shopping cart. You can also see the contents of your shopping cart at any time by clicking on the "Order" tab on the navigation bar at the top of any page, or by clicking on the "Your order" light blue link in the top right-hand corner of our home page, immediately under the log-on box. PHILADELPHIA An Aldan woman facing jail for a DUI in Delaware County has been arrested in Philadelphia for stealing from three separate estates in her official capacity as a court-appointed guardian for the elderly, according to authorities and online court records. Gloria Frances Byars, 58, of the first block of South Woodlawn Avenue, a former Orphans Court guardian, is charged with four counts each of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, all third-degree felony offenses, according to a released issued Tuesday by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasners office. Gloria Frances Byars actions are despicable and what she did to these three elderly families as their court appointed guardian is deplorable, Krasner stated in the release. I would like to thank the good work of my offices Economic Crimes Unit, the County Detectives supporting them, and want to make it clear to everyone that their investigation into this defendant is far from over. Arrested at her home April 25, Byars was released on her own recognizance the following morning. Her next appearance in court is a status hearing Friday in the Stout Criminal Justice Center. According to the District Attorneys office, the investigation into Byars stated when the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas notified the Philadelphia District Attorneys office about calls centering on questionable expenditures they were receiving from several clients Byars was assisting. In one case, the Economic Crime Unit began looking into the paperwork, financial records, and inventory related to Estate #1. The investigation found that Byars listed her place of business as Global Guardian Services LLC in Clifton Heights. The estate was valued at about $570,000 and owned by a husband and wife living in an assisted-living facility. The husband had dementia, the wife was diagnosed with cancer, and both were elderly. Their home, which was not a hoarder house, was in both of their names and was free and clear of all liens and encumbrances. According to family, their home was kept in immaculate condition. They owned a grandfather clock, a large collection of German steins, and expensive jewelry and heirlooms. All of these mysteriously disappeared after Byars was appointed guardian, the District Attorneys office alleges. The investigation also found multiple instances of Byars routing funds from the estate into accounts linked to the Byars. For example: * An invoice for cleaning and disposing of entire contents of Hoarder House requires a (10) man team, (3) days, (3) 50 yard dumpsters, (621) trash bags and remove broken appliances, total cleanout cost $11,000; * $10,250 in checks, endorsed by Byers, made out to Asia Jones who was supposedly a home health care worker. After being contacted, Asia Jones said that she was not employed as a home health care worker and did not sign the checks; * $4,600 for roof repairs for the estate, though no such roof work was needed or made. During this time, according to the District Attorneys office, Byars and her husband planned a second fantasy wedding, to the tune of $39,000, to renew their vows. A second estate owned by an incapacitated person, with a son in a nursing home, valued at $539,000 and comprised of two properties in Philadelphia and two properties in New Jersey, and bank accounts and investment totaling $236,000. According to the District Attorneys office, after Byars was replaced as guardian, the new guardian found a court petition to sell one property for $158,000; two requests to spend $78,000, which included an $8,400 payment to a cleanout business owned by Byars husband; and a petition to sell a second property for $168,000. Byars documented the total proceeds from the sale of both properties as $151,000. When the court issued a decree ordering Byars to file an inventory account, the court found, minus approved expenses, she did not account for over $104,000 in missing funds and losses to the estate. In the third case, investigators interviewed the niece of an estate owner who had died. The estate included real estate, bank account savings, and bonds totaling more than $278,000. Before her death, the estate owner was a 78-year-old, non-verbal, blind woman suffering from Alzheimers and requiring a feeding tube most of the time. She was also living in an assisted-living facility with 24-hour care. But Byars billed the estate over $30,000 payable to a company that does not appear to exist. These payments were then deposited into an account linked to the Byars, according to the District Attorneys office. Additionally, after reviewing the contents of a safe deposit box, the investigation found 26 missing gold Krugerrand coins valued at approximately $32,000, with Byars as the only one with access to the coins. In an unrelated court case in Delaware County, Byars entered a negotiated guilty plea before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge John P. Capuzzi Sr. for a DUI involving a controlled substance, a misdemeanor offense that occurred June 22, 2018, in Aldan. Her attorney in that case, Stephen Schukraft, said Byars was sentenced April 29 as a first-offender to serve 72 hours to six months at the county prison. Her report date is May 16. As for the latest offenses in Philadelphia, Schukraft said he has not been retained as her attorney. Casa de Amistad will receive the San Diego County School Boards Associations Community Partner of the Year award at the 17th Annual Honoring Our Own Awards Dinner. The nonprofit, which provides mentoring and tutoring for low-income, underserved students in coastal North County San Diego, was nominated for the award by all trustees from the Solana Beach School District Board, the Encinitas Union School District Board and the San Dieguito Union High School Board. The award category states that the nominee has demonstrated exemplary support for their local schools and is a stanch contributor of valuable resources of time and financial support, realizing that educating a child is the business of us all. Solana Beach, Encinitas and the San Dieguito school districts united together to nominate Casa de Amistad since they significantly contribute to our students, said Julie Union, president of the Solana Beach School District board and Casa de Amistad volunteer. Casa de Amistad works to improve learning outcomes for over 230 students a week by enlisting community volunteers to provide weekly personalized tutoring and homework help, and by empowering parents to become partners in their childrens learning and academic success. Approximately 230 volunteers ranging in age from 14 to 83 years old volunteer on a weekly basis making heart-felt connections along the way, Union said. More than just tutoring and educational support, Casa de Amistad provides children, teens and their families with character development and helps bridge the opportunity gap. For 19 years, Casa de Amistad has continued to grow and flourish thanks to the hard work and passion of the staff, board members, tutors/mentors, students, parents of students, education and community leaders and donors, read the school boards nomination. A Community Partner Award would be very meaningful and our way of saying Thank you for making a difference in the lives of students! Casa de Amistad will receive the award at the 17th Annual Honoring Our Own Awards dinner on Saturday, May 11 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. I am thrilled for all of the volunteers and students to be recognized for their hard work, said Nicole Mione-Green, executive director of Casa de Amistad. It is an honor to be jointly nominated by the school districts for Casa de Amistads unique approach to serving our community. Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President Moon Jae-in attend an official welcoming ceremony in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan April 22. Reuters-Yonhap Moon returns home after trip to three Central Asian countries By Kim Yoo-chul Kazakhstan can be a good example of denuclearization for North Korea as it voluntarily and willingly gave up its nuclear weapons to prosper economically, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Tuesday. The aide said Kazakhstan could serve as the "right model" for the North to see the economic benefits that can come from nuclear disarmament. "The key takeaway we have to take a look at in the Kazakhstan case is the country voluntarily surrendered its nuclear weapons. In return, it received various types of assistance from the international community for economic growth and political stability," the aide said, asking not to be named. Kazakhstan inherited nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union suddenly collapsed in 1991 and it became an independent nation. The country handed over 1,410 nuclear warheads, 104 inter-continental ballistic missiles and biological weapons to Russia over four years from 1992. 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. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Cloudy early with showers for the afternoon hours. High near 50F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Showers early, becoming a steady rain late. Low 48F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Angola, IN (46703) Today Cloudy early with showers for the afternoon hours. High 49F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Showers early, becoming a steady rain late. Low 47F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Auburn, IN (46706) Today Cloudy with occasional showers for the afternoon. High around 50F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Showers early becoming a steady rain late. Low 49F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. New reading of Mesha Stele could have far-reaching consequences for biblical history The biblical King Balak may have been a historical figure, according to a new reading of the Mesha Stele, an inscribed stone dating from the second half of the 9th century BCE. A name in Line 31 of the stele, previously thought to read ??? ???, 'House of David', could instead read 'Balak', a king of Moab mentioned in the biblical story of Balaam (Numbers 22-24), say archaeologist Prof. Israel Finkelstein and historians and biblical scholars Prof. Nadav Na'aman and Prof. Thomas Romer, in an article published in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. The Mesha Stele was found in the 19th century in the ruins of the biblical town of Dibon in Moab (present day Jordan), and is now in the Louvre. The stone's inscription tells the story of the territorial expansion and construction endeavours of King Mesha of Moab, who is mentioned in the Bible. The stele was cracked in the 19th century and parts of it are missing, but portions of the missing parts are preserved in a reverse copy of the inscription, known as a 'squeeze', made before the stele cracked. The authors studied new high-resolution photographs of the squeeze, and of the stele itself. These new images made it clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned in Line 31, and that the first is the Hebrew letter beth (a 'b' sound). While the other letters are eroded, the most likely candidate for the monarch's name is 'Balak', the authors say. The seat of the king referred to in Line 31 was at Horonaim, a place mentioned four times in the Bible in relation to the Moabite territory south of the Arnon River. "Thus, Balak may be a historical personality like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the Deir Alla inscription, was considered to be an 'invented' figure," they suggest. "The new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze indicate that the reading, 'House of David' - accepted by many scholars for more than two decades - is no longer an option," the authors conclude. "With due caution we suggest the name of the Moabite king Balak, who, according to the Balaam story of Numbers 22-24, sought to bring a divine curse on the people of Israel. "This story was written down later than the time of the Moabite king referred to in the Mesha Stele. Yet, to give a sense of authenticity to his story, its author must have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from the ancient reality, including two personal names: Balaam and Balak." ### FURTHER INFORMATION All other queries: Saskia Kovandzich, Press & Media Coordinator Email: newsroom@taylorandfrancis.com Follow us on Twitter: @tandfnewsroom The article will be freely available once the embargo has lifted via the following link: http://www. tandfonline. com/ doi/ full/ 10. 1080/ 03344355. 2019. 1586378 About Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life. As one of the world's leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine. From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Cape Town, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues. This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. By Washington Examiner, April 30, 2019 Failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has ruled out running for Senate next year. The rumor is that the candidate who still hasn't admitted she lost last year's governor's race wants to take a crack at losing in the Democratic presidential 2020 primary. "I will not be a candidate for the United States Senate," the Georgia Democrat and election truther said Tuesday in a video uploaded to social media. "The fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job, and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for our nation's future." The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been flooded with well wishes as they celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary. Kensington Palaces Twitter and Instagram accounts thanked royal fans for their well wishes on Monday, as they tweeted throwback photos of the royal couple on their wedding day. Writing a sweet tribute caption alongside the three pictures, the palace tweeted: Eight years ago today thank you for your lovely messages on The Duke and Duchess of Cambridges wedding anniversary!. Prince William, 36, and Kate, 37, married on April 29th 2011 at Westminster Abbey and the couple share three children Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince Louis, 1. One post shows the famous picture of Kate and William standing on the balcony waving to fans following their nuptials, while another sees them walking down the aisle at Westminster Abbey, followed by Williams best man Prince Harry and Kates maid of honour Pippa Middleton. Another shows brothers William and Harry chatting at Westminster Abbey, while the last shows crowds of excited followers waving to them following the big day. Sharing their well wishes, one fan wrote: Eight years and three babies after! What an amazing royal couple!. Another said: William & Kates wedding was the first time most of us got a chance to watch a royal wedding and it surely didnt disappoint! It was every bit of magical and dreamy! Wishing the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge a lifetime of happiness together! Meanwhile one even urged them to have another baby, writing: Happy Anniversary to a wonderful couple! Your love for each other is obvious. So happy for your beautiful life and family. Heres to many more years of the same! Baby number 4?. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Alhaji Musa Umar, the district head of Daura, President Muhammadu Buharis hometown, has been kidnapped by four unidentified gunmen. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the kidnappers stormed Umars Daura 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. Umar, who is reportedly the father-in-law of the ADC to President Buhari, was sitting in front of his house with some people when the gun totting men came. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Two Iranian boys were flogged and secretly executed after being convicted of rape in an unfair trial, according to a human rights group. Amnesty International claims that the cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat, both aged 15, were put to death on April 25 in Adelbad prison, in Shiraz, Iran. The youngsters bodies were marked with wounds from a whip and both of them were unaware they had been sentenced to death until shortly before their executions, the organisation reported. Philip Luther, Amnesty Internationals director for the Middle East and North Africa, 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. The use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime is strictly prohibited under international human rights law and is a flagrant assault on childrens rights. It is long overdue for Iranian parliamentarians to put an end to this harrowing situation by amending the penal code to ban the use of the death penalty against anyone who was under 18 at the time of the offence. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Who is the stranger? Who is kin? What do we owe each other? What, in the inferno, is not infernal? Advertisement Thus opens Human Archipelago, a quietly powerful collaboration between writer Teju Cole and photographer Fazal Sheikh. Created in response to the inferno of the current global political moment, the book intersperses Sheikhs photographs of displaced people and sites of trauma across the globe with short, textual responses by Cole, himself a photographer, writer and photography critic for the New York Times Magazine. The result is a poetic, episodic meditation on nothing less than what it means to be human. There are no refugees, only fellow citizens whose rights we have failed to acknowledge. Teju Cole A photograph featured in the book Human Archipelago. From left, Shamso, Zahara and Alima, Somali refugee camp, Liboi, Kenya, 1994. (Fazal Sheikh) In other, less fraught political times, this ambition might have come across as pretentious. The appeal to a universal humanity would have seemed naive, or worse, reductive, reminiscent of Edward Steichens much-criticized 1955 exhibition and book, The Family of Man. But in these times, when basic human dignity is assaulted in lethal and symbolic ways every day, it feels wholly necessary to return to first principles. Sheikhs portraits are frank, beautifully framed and lit; they give the dignity of portraiture traditionally reserved for aristocrats and the wealthy to refugees, homeless people and orphans. For the most part, the subjects gazes are direct, unflinching. They look back at us, person to person. By contrast, the landscapes and aerial views are dispassionate, atmospheric, often bordering on abstraction. Their beauty belies the fact that many are records of violence, ruins of aggression, sites of imprisonment. Both people and places bear the scars of a human pact that has been broken. Why should the ruins of an American internment camp be any more affecting than the ruins of a bombed-out Palestinian town? Coles short textual responses none longer than a page, most barely a paragraph read like prose poems. They draw on multiple, far-flung sources, from Homer and Shakespeare to Martin Luther King Jr., postcolonial theory and recent news stories on racial profiling. They proffer meditations on the bounds of our common humanity: the stranger and the obligations of hospitality; the bonds between mothers and children; who speaks and who is silenced. Throughout, the texts return in fugue-like fashion to these concepts, building in a slow crescendo to a quiet rage against racism, torture, war, environmental degradation and our own blindness. Weve tried to tell you in every different way and can only now conclude youd rather not know, he writes, despairingly. The alternating texts and images feel almost cinematic, illuminating one another or creating unexpected juxtapositions. Commenting on a suite of portraits of older people, Cole compares their wrinkled faces to the folds of cloth draped around their heads: We are folded beings. Our skin, which is our interface (the word is carefully chosen) with the world, is a zone of folds. Its a touching conceit, that a person might be a collection of folds, of unknown depths that might one day unfurl before you. A photograph featured in the book Human Archipelago. Annu, Jai Hind squatter settlement, Delhi, India, 2008. (Fazal Sheikh) Another particularly lovely sequence takes advantage of the bilateral symmetry of the book. Its all images, pairing portraits of Palestinians and Israelis on opposite pages. When one closes the book, its as if they kiss. Theres only one problem. You wouldnt know they were Palestinians and Israelis unless you looked for the captions in the back of the book. Similarly, it was only by flipping back and forth that I learned what looked like a pockmarked wall was actually an aerial view of the remains of a WWII Japanese American internment camp. Anisa Ahmad Jaber Mahamid, Born in al-Lajjun, Jenin District in 1908, Umm el-Fahem Arab-Israeli town, 2011 (Fazal Sheikh) Footnote chasers like me will find our enjoyment of the books lyricism hampered somewhat by the compulsion to know at whom and what were looking. (Coles texts are also copiously annotated.) To be sure, a stream of notes would have interrupted the books clean design and our ability to regard its subjects simply as people, apart from racial, ethnic, national, class, religious, gender or geographical associations. However, their absence turns the subjects into generalized symbols of human suffering, dangerously unmoored from specific historical and contemporary realities. It makes it easy to extend our sympathy without having to confront very real differences of circumstance, background and belief. Yet this appeal to something larger is Cole and Sheikhs point: Why should the ruins of an American internment camp be any more affecting than the ruins of a bombed-out Palestinian town? Both are evidence of disregard for our shared humanity. As Cole writes, There are no refugees, only fellow citizens whose rights we have failed to acknowledge. In Human Archipelago this truth unfolds page by page, plain as day. :: Human Archipelago Fazal Sheikh and Teju Cole Steidl, 256 pp., $45 Mizota is an art critic and archivist whose writing appears regularly in the Los Angeles Times. A deep melancholy persists in the grim, breathtakingly beautiful debut novel by Chia-Chia Lin, who writes a story set in Alaska that tracks most closely Gavin, the school-age son of a family of four children and two parents with roots in Taiwan that junk island, according to the father, where you couldnt find pizza [y]ou couldnt mention certain dates which theyve abandoned to make a life on the bleak outer reaches of Alaska. At the center of The Unpassing, even an attempt to make cookies is a kind of teeth-clenching disaster for the family always just a notch away from normal. A foul burning stench comes from a stack of books theyve forgotten in the oven, part of the meager belongings theyve struggled to hide from their fathers boss. Then men drink baijiu, too much of it, and the matter of a faulty well the father built, which poisoned a child across town, remains unresolved. (How sick? his wife asks. Sick enough to ask for money, her husband says.) Moreover, the mother has forgotten to call Taiwan, and her father is going to die any day. A deep melancholy persists in the grim, breathtakingly beautiful debut novel by Chia-Chia Lin. In one poignant moment, mother and son scramble across train tracks to a giant boulder beside tidal flats. They encounter a man and then a beached whale. Here is a whale, I told myself, Gavin thinks, and then I wondered if it would die. The feel of the mud and the vast sigh of the suffering animal its nothing compared with the disappointment the mother shows when her son confirms to the stranger he does indeed have a father. Couldnt you just have pretended? Gavins mom pleads. For one stunning moment, the son realizes his mother wants something else. Advertisement Its not just poverty that drives a lot of the desire animating this riveting book. The husband not only cant but seemingly wont provide, including when two of his four children fall deathly ill. But the familys problem isnt just a lack of means; its also cultural dislocation. The father, we learn, keeps illnesses from a hospital because hes terrified of police, of having no one understand them. Every small thing, every tiny thing, he tells Gavin later, like how to hold your wallet and how to scratch your head, youll have to study. And even then youre not really seen as normal. Without the strength that money and social ties might provide, author Lin seems to suggest, any one of us might feel just as vulnerable when the worst happens: In this case, one of the children doesnt survive. That loss is just the beginning. Menace and decay creep in from all over. It seems, Gavin thinks, that the woods wanted something of us. And the farther you went into the woods, the bigger that thing was, and the more intense it was wanted. Nature and what goes wrong there haunts the book: not just the wilds of Alaska or the vast ocean that separates Taiwan from America, but the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine and the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle high above. Its this latter disaster that obsesses Gavins father: a mostly brittle and flawed figure, he clings to clippings of Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the female teacher-astronaut who died, hoping in re-readings of her too-brief excellence that he can learn something, even if it couldnt save her. The way this chilling, captivating book concludes will delight as much as it challenges. Lin excels when she gets small, with finely observed renderings of the familys surroundings. Theres that whale, and the flying squirrels in the attic, but also the mushrooms and a giant tree that falls, exposing its massive root ball, and the network of aspens that are thousands of years old. Things grow and die and snow falls and the ocean is giant and cold. Once a bull moose spent hours rubbing its mossy antlers against a cluster of young spruces near our house, Gavin recalls in a memorable image, thrashing the trees silly, and my mother had stood behind the front door with a piece of steel pipe in her hand. Gradually, the children stick up for themselves, learning how they might thrive, even if the parents apparently never will. Its maddening, the ease of non-family characters, who always seem to glide through life without any of the agony or calamity of an immigrant family in harms way. Gladness and guilt, Gavin comes to think, fought over every last space in me. Late in the novel, the reader will be torn: rooting for the family to survive but aching at the same time with the foreknowledge that survival might not be what they actually need. In other words: This America, this Alaska, will resist them. Do they go back to Taiwan? Even after another loss, forcing the family to flee their house for a spell that is entirely involuntary, the mother embodies the way a woman like her could be powerful but with a strength that can seem beside the point. Im not afraid of a little water, she says, announcing she will catch fish for dinner with a broken net shes found in their campsites overflowing garbage. Water is afraid of me. Facing yet another calamity, back in the ravaged house, she manages to sit her children down to dinner, but her love is also a threat: Sit, she says, and if you get up, Ill beat you to death. The Unpassing: A Novel by Chia-Chia Lin. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) The way this chilling, captivating book concludes will delight as much as it challenges, offering as it does a blend of escape, tragedy, triumph, loss and what weve expected all along. It was a kind of violence, Gavin concludes, thinking of his father. He had brought us to a place we didnt belong, and taken us from a place we did. Now we yearned for all places and found peace in none. :: The Unpassing Chia-Chia Lin Farrar, Straux, & Giroux, $26, 288 pages Deuel is the author of Friday Was the Bomb: Five Years in the Middle East. Amelie Wen Zhaos young-adult novel Blood Heir, which was postponed by the author earlier this year after some Twitter users accused it of being racially insensitive, will be released in the fall, Publishers Weekly reports. Zhaos debut book, the first in a planned fantasy trilogy, came under fire in January, several months before its initial June publication, from a group of young-adult authors and readers on Twitter. They objected to a scene in the book that depicted a slave auction, criticizing it as insensitive to African Americans. Zhao responded that the scene was inspired not by slavery in America but by human trafficking in Asia. (The Paris-born Zhao spent much of her life in Beijing, and now lives in the U.S.) Nonetheless, she agreed to postpone the book so she could revise it, and apologized to those who had taken offense. The issues around Affinite indenturement in the story represent a specific critique of the epidemic of indentured labor and human trafficking prevalent in many industries across Asia, including in my own home country, she wrote. The narrative and history of slavery in the United States is not something I can, would or intended to write, but I recognize that I am not writing in merely my own cultural context. I am so sorry for the pain this has caused. Advertisement The New York Times reports that Zhao changed some of the material in her novel and added new scenes after consulting with sensitivity readers, people who agree to read an authors manuscript to check for stereotypes or bias that the writer might have missed. On Twitter, Zhao wrote, Through important dialogue that occurred recently, it became clear to me that my book was being read in a different cultural context than my own, so I decided to take the time to make sure the hallmarks of human trafficking were being incisively drawn. Blood Heir is slated for publication Nov. 19 by Random House imprint Delacorte Press. In a decision opening yet another front in the battle over how to classify workers, a federal appeals court Thursday ruled that an international franchiser could be forced to treat its California janitors as employees rather than independent contractors. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the California Supreme Courts landmark 2018 Dynamex decision, which makes it harder for businesses to classify their workers as independent contractors, applies retroactively to a class-action case against cleaning giant Jan-Pro. The Georgia-based firm, with 10 California outlets and more than $400 million in global sales, operates a sophisticated three-tier franchising model, U.S. District Judge Frederic Block wrote in the case, Vazquez vs. Jan-Pro Franchising International. Under the model, ordinary janitors, many of whom are non-English-speaking immigrants, are classified as unit franchisees, independent contractors who are not subject to labor laws requiring minimum wages, overtime, disability insurance or other labor law protections. The lead plaintiff in the case, Gerardo Vazquez, paid Jan-Pro regional franchisee New Venture of San Bernardino $2,800 for the franchise allowing him to clean for the company. Two other named plaintiffs, Gloria Roman and Juan Aguilar, had similar arrangements with a Silicon Valley Jan-Pro franchise, Connor Nolan Inc. Advertisement Jan-Pro obviously has a financial interest in not opening the floodgates to nationwide liability for multiple years of back wages and overtime pay, the court said. However, the case has broader ramifications. Applying the California Supreme Court cases strict test for classifying workers as independent contractors ensures that plaintiffs can provide for themselves and their families. It also protects the janitorial industry as a whole, putting Jan-Pro on equal footing with other industry participants who treated those providing services for them as employees. Are you an employee or a contractor? Carpenters, strippers and dog walkers now face that question Catherine Fisk, a UC Berkeley labor law professor, suggested that the appeals court decision breaks new ground because it applies the California rule for determining who is an employee to the abuse of franchising.... Companies like Jan-Pro invent a franchise model that allows them to have a huge low-wage work force while disclaiming any responsibility for the working conditions. Workers who clean commercial buildings arent running independent businesses they are janitors. Whats radical, in my view, is the abuse of the franchise model to exploit low-wage labor. This decision is simply a straightforward application of settled law. Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents the Jan-Pro workers, has also brought cases against other big cleaning franchisers with California operations, including Texas-based Jani-King International and Florida-based Coverall. And she is seeking to apply the Dynamex decision to app-based firms such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash. The 9th Circuit decision, she predicted, will have a widespread impact throughout California to support workers who have been misclassified in a variety of industries. In a brief supporting Jan-Pro, the International Franchise Assn., a Washington, D.C.-based industry group, had argued that applying the Dynamex test would sound the death knell for franchising in California. After Thursdays decision, association spokesman Matthew Haller said, short of legislative relief or intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, Californias 76,000 franchise hotels, gyms, restaurants, and retail stores will live in legal uncertainty for the foreseeable future. Jeffrey Rosin, a Jan-Pro attorney, said the company will petition for a rehearing on the case, adding that the appeals court decision to retroactively apply the California Supreme Courts test presents an unfair situation. Janitorial companies have received less attention than newer, gig economy tech firms, but they have been fighting off misclassification lawsuits for more than a decade. Thousands of cleaning workers throughout California, many of whom are immigrants, have been exploited by a host of national cleaning companies, Liss-Riordan said. These companies claim they are offering workers a chance to start their own business but what they are really doing is selling them low-paid cleaning work, she said. Workers pay thousands of dollars for a franchise, when what they are really buying is the right to clean office buildings for these companies. The federal appeals court ruled only on the issue of whether Dynamexs strict employment test applies retroactively. In so doing, it sent the case back to a district court that had earlier dismissed the case, but must now rule on its merits, taking into account Californias new standard for independent contractors. The California Legislature is considering a law, Assembly Bill 5, to codify the Dynamex decision into permanent law. Businesses, including the large gig economy companies, are lobbying for exceptions that would allow them to continue to classify their workers as independent contractors. Unions and worker advocates want to maintain the California Supreme Courts strict test. margot.roosevelt@latimes.com Twitter: @margotroosevelt Writer-producer Dee Johnson, whos served as the showrunner for Nashville and Mars, is ready to sell her oceanfront slice of Ventura. Her home on Faria Beach is on the market for $2.995 million, records show. Boasting a vibrant blue exterior, the single-story residence saves its Spanish vibes for the inside, where Saltillo tile floors and beamed ceilings enhance the roughly 1,200 square feet of living space. A floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace anchors the living room, and the open floor plan also holds a dining area and remodeled kitchen. Sliding glass doors bring in views of the water. Advertisement The tile continues in the two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Outside, the front half offers a hedged courtyard, and the back half holds a patio with a fire pit and seawall. Beyond that, theres 52 feet of beach frontage. Gary Goldberg of Coastal Properties holds the listing. As a writer and producer, Johnson holds credits on Melrose Place, The Good Wife and ER. Earlier this year, she signed on as showrunner for Hulus upcoming The Vampire Chronicles series. jack.flemming@latimes.com | Twitter: @jflem94 Olivia Newton-John is hoping to hightail it out of the Santa Ynez Valley, where her 12-acre horse ranch of four years is on the market for $5.4 million. Thats $710,000 more than she paid for it in 2015, records show. Tucked into a private enclave on the Santa Ynez River, the scenic estate makes the most of its space. Theres a contemporary-vibe home built in 2008, a two-bedroom guesthouse, a four-car garage, a swimming pool and such equestrian features as a barn, stable, riding arena and pastures. 1 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 2 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 3 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 4 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 5 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 6 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 7 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 8 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 9 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 10 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 11 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 12 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 13 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 14 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 15 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 16 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 17 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 18 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 19 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 20 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 21 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) 22 / 22 Olivia Newton-Johns horse ranch (Village Properties) Advertisement Wood accents touch up the main residence, lining the sky-lighted ceilings in the great room, the windows in the gourmet kitchen and the walls in the sun room. Other highlights include an office and game room. The master suite, set under vaulted ceilings, expands to a lounge and a bathroom with a freestanding tub. Its one of four bedrooms and five bathrooms in 4,452 square feet. Out back, a cabana with a kitchen adjoins the swimming pool surrounded by lawns. Carey Kendall of Village Properties holds the listing. Newton-John, a four-time Grammy winner, has been steadily recording music since the 70s and is one of the bestselling artists of all time. As an actress, shes best known for her role in 1978s Grease, and her other credits include Toomorrow, Two of a Kind and Xanadu. The ranch isnt the only California home shes owned. In the 90s, she sold a 6,000-square-foot Malibu ranch to television producer Neal Martens. Its also not her only property on the market. In Australia, her 187-acre farm with a French Country-style home is up for sale at $3.9 million, according to the New York Daily News. jack.flemming@latimes.com | Twitter: @jflem94 In the latest sign that social media giants are feeling the heat for allowing their platforms to amplify voices of extremists, Facebook on Thursday banned conspiracy theorist and InfoWars founder Alex Jones and the accounts of other controversial figures. The company, citing violations of its policies on hate speech and promoting violence, is also blocking religious leader Louis Farrakhan, who is known for sharing anti-Semitic views; Paul Nehlen, a white nationalist who ran for Congress in 2018; far-right figures Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer; and conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson. Those individuals and accounts that represent them are also banned from photo-sharing app Instagram, which Facebook owns. For years Jones had used his Facebook channel to spread the idea that the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 children died, was a hoax. Jones followers took it upon themselves to harass the parents of murdered children. Hes being sued for defamation by 10 of those families. Weve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology, a Facebook representative said Thursday in a statement. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today. Advertisement But the companys enforcement of rules has long remained inconsistent. Just last July, Facebook tweeted, We just dont think banning Pages for sharing conspiracy theories or false news is the right way to go. Then in August, Facebook took down four Jones-related pages, saying it did not take them down for spreading conspiracy theories, but rather for glorifying violence. They have rules, but enforcement is completely random, said Roger McNamee, a high-profile Silicon Valley investor who has become a sharp critic of Facebook. They dont do anything about it until massive harm has been done and they can no longer find a dodge. Facebook is clearly feeling pressure. McNamee said Facebooks business model depends on amplifying content that stimulates fear and outrage, and banning a few influential figures doesnt change that. It is sacrificing a handful of the most visible extreme voices in order to protect a much larger number of users it needs to maximize profits, he said. The Menlo Park, Calif., company didnt say what specific posts or actions led to the bans, though a spokesperson said that Jones, Yiannopoulos and Loomer have all recently promoted Gavin McInnes, founder of the violence-prone far-right group the Proud Boys, whom Facebook banned in October. I think these are steps in the right direction that the company has been taking in terms of cleaning up the platform, said Dan Ives, an equity analyst at Wedbush Securities. Jones was temporarily suspended from Facebook last summer. His official fan page was also previously banned, though Jones was allowed to operate a personal account. Now that has been prohibited on Facebooks sites as well. Twitter permanently blocked InfoWars and Jones in September for violating its harassment policies. Yiannopoulos, the former editor of Breitbart News and a right-wing provocateur, and Loomer, a far-right activist who is also known for spreading conspiracy theories, have both previously been banned from Twitter Inc.s social media service. Facebook and other social media sites have long portrayed themselves as neutral platforms that are not responsible for what their users post, said Anthony Nadler, a professor at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania who researches how social networks and ad platforms can assist radicalization and spread disinformation. Theyve shied away from thinking of themselves as curators and publishers for a long time, Nadler said. After reports that international networks of propagandists used Facebook to spread disinformation that may have influenced the 2016 election, founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the suggestion that the company should have taken action, maintaining that it should not become an arbiter of the truth. But as criticism mounted of Facebooks algorithms and business model, the company has been forced to backtrack and respond. In March, two weeks after a gunman went live on Facebook before marching into a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, and killing dozens, critics said a semantic loophole in its ban on white supremacy let racism blossom on its platform. Facebook subsequently banned content that references white nationalism and white separatism. Meanwhile, Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies also have drawn fire from the right, on the claim that they suppress conservative opinion. In March, President Trump accused Facebook, Google and Twitter of colluding to stifle conservatives. Facebook denies its decisions are based on politics. When it comes to dangerous individuals who promote hate speech or violence, Facebook can ban users for actions they take in the real world, or on other services, such as YouTube. Jones, who was banned from YouTube last year, hosted McInnes on his talk show late last year and promoted him on Instagram earlier this year. A Facebook spokesperson says Yiannopoulos and Loomer have also publicly promoted McInnes. The news of the Facebook ban leaked out before the company had actually removed the controversial accounts. That gave Yiannopoulos a chance to notify his followers of the ban and promote his email newsletter, according to screenshots captured by BuzzFeed. When Facebook bans an individual or organization, it typically also removes posts from other users who praise or support them. In this case, a Facebook spokesperson said that people will be able to post about or praise these banned users, though they wont be allowed to share any of their views or opinions that Facebook considers hate speech or calls for violence. Our work against organized hate is ongoing, Facebook said in the statement. We will continue to review individuals, pages, groups and content against our community standards. Bloomberg contributed to this report. Facebook shareholders are getting fed up with Zuckerberg but cant do anything about him Facebook says settling FTC investigation could cost up to $5 billion A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics John E. Pizzinis first attempt at college didnt end as planned. At Michigan State University he studied engineering a path his father pushed him to pursue and he hated it. About two years after enrolling in 1979, he dropped out and left school with a drug addiction. Four prison terms and a move to California later, Pizzini took a second shot at his education in 2014. But this time he pursued his passion, receiving an associates degree in theater arts in 2018 and enrolling in Cal State Long Beachs theater program this year. Now 58, Pizzini spotted a flyer promoting auditions for In the Penal Colony, an adaptation of Philip Glass 2000 opera by the universitys California Repertory Company in collaboration with Long Beach Opera. With a libretto by Rudolph Wurlitzer based on the 1919 short story by Franz Kafka, In the Penal Colony tells of the high-ranking Visitor invited to a foreign island to observe the execution of a prisoner by a barbaric torture device. The prisons commanding Officer operates the device, which carves the condemned prisoners crimes into their flesh. The Officer struggles to persuade the Visitor to support its use. The university production is set in present day and incorporates stories from formerly incarcerated Cal State Long Beach students including Pizzini. Advertisement Ensemble members from Cal State Long Beachs California Repertory Company in Philip Glass In the Penal Colony. (Keith Ian Polakoff) SoCal classical music listings, April 28-May 5: Hear Now Festival and more Pizzini made his stage debut last week as one of eight prisoners in the nearly sold-out production, which runs through Sunday. Wearing pale-blue jumpsuits, the Cal Rep actors huddled in and around a giant illuminated glass box, the prison where they were held and tortured. A fragment of Pizzinis own incarceration story is one of several heard by the audience: I wasnt raised like this. Playing a role so deeply familiar felt surreal, Pizzini said. After being sentenced to his first prison term in 1997, Pizzini recalled, he broke down in an elevator on his way to a holding room. By the time it got to the first floor, there was only 12 feet between that elevator and the holding cell where theres 50, 60, maybe even 100 guys in there waiting. Throughout the 90-minute production, the prisoners mini monologues highlight the real stories of the formerly incarcerated: seeing snow for the first time behind bars, being reduced from a person to just a number, working for less than 10 cents an hour. The roles of the Visitor and the Officer are sung by two professional Long Beach Opera performers. When the Officer shows the torture machine to the Visitor, the prisoners embody the device, curling their hands into claws that descend onto the person strapped to the execution table. Thats what prisons do, they are places that leave a mark, leave a stigma, and that mark can sometimes never go away. Jeff Janisheski The spark for this adaptation began about three years ago when Jeff Janisheski, artistic director of Cal Rep and director of In the Penal Colony, read an article about Rising Scholars, a support group on campus for formerly incarcerated students. Partnering with Long Beach Opera on Glass work seemed like a way to weave in true stories from the Rising Scholars. Janisheski also was motivated by the fact that an estimated 2.2 million Americans are imprisoned, and that the country has the highest incarceration rate in the world. America is the penal colony, Janisheski said. The metaphor and the message of Kafkas story and the opera is that this machine leaves an indelible and brutal mark on people, he said. And thats what prisons do, they are places that leave a mark, leave a stigma, and that mark can sometimes never go away. Although the production follows Glass opera, Janisheski wanted to modify the work. The original story only has one prisoner who actually never speaks, he said. But I didnt feel it was politically viable at this point to stage a piece and continue to keep silent a group of people who have been so silenced in our society. So last fall, Janisheski reached out to the Rising Scholars faculty advisor and later began interviewing students from the group. The idea for the project seemed intriguing and a natural fit to Pizzini, even though hes not a member of Rising Scholars. So he auditioned. It was something to be cast in a mainstage play my first semester here, Pizzini said. For Janisheski, casting Pizzini was a simple decision. Not because I was trying to fill a quota, Janisheski said. I was deeply moved by his performance and him as a person. Pizzini brought context to the production as someone who can talk to the other actors about his experience and provide that perspective that none of them have, that I dont have, Janisheski said. Fragments of Janisheskis interviews were woven into the piece by playwright Juliette Carrillo. The mini monologues appear in expanded instrumental portions of the opera. The 11 voices included in the fabric of the play represent an overwhelming chorus of people who are imprisoned and brutalized by the machine, Janisheski said. Ensemble members in Long Beach Operas production of In the Penal Colony. (Keith Ian Polakoff) When the show ended on opening night and the house lights came up, Irene Sotelos eyes were filled with tears. As a co-founding member of Rising Scholars who was interviewed for the work, watching her story play out onstage was an emotional experience. The different parts of youre not human, youre a number and youre basically just state property when they were shouting that out, you can feel it, she said. She sat in a corner of the theater with another Rising Scholars member, Adrian Vazquez, whose story about seeing snow for the first time in prison opened the show. That made me cry, she said. I started crying right in the beginning. It felt like a flashback Despite an emphasis on inmate rehab, California recidivism rate is stubbornly high Raised in Norwalk, Sotelo saw her life take an early turn at age 11, when her mother committed suicide and Sotelo turned to drugs to ease the pain. She dropped out of school and got involved with gangs. By 18, though, Sotelo had tapered off hard drugs. By 21 she had her first child and lived with her husband as a PTA mom. But in her early 30s, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and became addicted to pain medication. Her cancer went into remission, but within a year she was hooked on meth. She left her family to live on the streets. She turned to crime and was sentenced to three years in prison. After suffering a heart attack while incarcerated, she entered a substance-abuse program. She left prison in her mid-40s and went back to school, graduating with a bachelors degree in sociology with a minor in criminal justice from Cal State Long Beach. Now 53, shes pursuing her masters in social work. Her plan is to help the formerly incarcerated get back on their feet, overcome trauma and reduce recidivism. The different parts of youre not human, youre a number and youre basically just state property. When they were shouting that out, you can feel it. Irene Sotelo Although Sotelos story is one of redemption, she still wondered what people would think when Janisheski acknowledged the Rising Scholars onstage before the show began. There is a big stigmatization that were labeled ... that were bad, she said. Were human like everybody else and make mistakes, but we dont have to pay for it the rest of our lives. Pizzini called his life transition a miracle. I never in a million years thought Id be in a play working with the Long Beach Opera, professionals of that caliber, he said. He plans to pursue work as an actor and a yoga instructor. Both Pizzini and Sotelo hoped In the Penal Colony would bring more awareness to the indignities of the prison industrial complex and the overall state of mass incarceration in California and across the U.S. Janisheski referred to one of the final lines in the opera: Stop the machine. I hope the audience seriously considers that line and takes on the moral weight of that statement that we need to stop this machine, he said, that this is not a viable system. Doug Jones as the Visitor and ensemble members from CalRep at CSULB. (Keith Ian Polakoff) ===== In the Penal Colony Who: Cal State Long Beachs California Repertory Company in collaboration with Long Beach Opera Where: CSULB Studio Theatre, 1250 N. Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday- Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $49-$150 Info: (562) 470-7464, longbeachopera.org, ci.ovationtix.com/34481/production/998560 In Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, an exasperatingly oblique account of the life and crimes of Ted Bundy, the actual crimes remain almost entirely off-screen. The ostensible protagonist is Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins), who was Bundys girlfriend before and during his notorious 1970s killing spree, and whose slow-dawning realization of his true nature the title provides a clue is meant to provide the storys dramatic fulcrum. When did Liz begin to suspect? More pertinently, the movie wants you to ask, would you have guessed the truth if you were in her unfortunate shoes? Rare is the viewer, of course, who could sit through this movie in blissful ignorance of who Bundy was and what he did. (Shortly before his execution in 1989, he confessed to having killed 30 women over several years; the actual number is thought to be closer to 100.) The director, Joe Berlinger, and the screenwriter, Michael Werwie, attempt something both structurally ambitious and self-defeatingly coy: Without letting you forget who their subject is, they do what they can to lull you into a state of temporary ignorance, to turn a known criminal record into a hypothetical proposition. Alternate explanations are propounded, including the possibility of an elaborate police frame-up. The ghastly particulars of the killings, some of which were accompanied by rapes (before or after death), are described but nearly all left off-screen. Bundy, whose good looks and enormous charisma were his most consistently deployed weapons, is cannily played by Zac Efron, a versatile actor who has always benefited from the audiences willingness to underestimate him. His usual charm offensive takes on a sly double edge here; you can just about make out a chilling blankness behind that easy-on-the-eyes smile. Advertisement That smile seduces Liz almost immediately after she meets Ted in a Seattle bar in 1969, then brings her home to where her 2-year-old daughter, Molly, is sleeping. You feel a brief, sickening spasm of suspense that the movie shamelessly milks again the next morning, when Liz awakens and sees that Mollys crib is empty, only to find the child seated happily in her high chair while Ted cooks them all breakfast. My, what a sharp knife hes got, but also, what an impossible dreamboat he is, as he makes clear to Liz just how much he loves her and wants to be with her. Zac Efron and Jim Parsons in the movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. (Brian Douglas / Netflix) His declarations of love continue even after the action skips ahead six years to 1975, when Ted, now a law student in Utah, gets pulled over for a moving violation in his soon-to-be-infamous Volkswagen Beetle. Before long detectives and prosecutors are tying him to the slayings and disappearances of women in multiple states, including Utah, Colorado and Florida. As he languishes in courtrooms and prison cells, he calls Liz incessantly and assures her both of his innocence and his inevitable exoneration. Liz, for her part, spends the next several years veering from shock to disillusionment, with heavy doses of drink, depression and misplaced guilt. Teds phone calls take on the quality of ritual torture, leaving little doubt that, in a very real sense, his girlfriend is one of his victims too. Collins is an effortlessly sympathetic presence, but the relentless cutaways to Liz lost in a fog of misery are moving without being especially revealing. They also obscure crucial elements of Kloepfers story, including one startling detail the movie springs as a rug-pulling twist. A picture as genuinely invested in her psychological state as this one purports to be would have revealed it at the outset. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is a rare but not unprecedented foray into dramatization for Berlinger, whose groundbreaking true-crime documentaries, including Brothers Keeper and the Paradise Lost trilogy, have often examined the slippery nature of the truth. His nonfiction work often has the compulsively watchable pull of a fictional Hollywood narrative, and its no surprise to see his natural skill at pacing, framing and scene construction here. But if the idea was to tell the story from Lizs perspective, the movie botches that perspective badly: Abandoning any sense of narrative rigor, it cant keep hunky, charming Ted from becoming the protagonist of his own hideous story. Zac Efron, Lily Collins and Kaya Scodelario in the movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. (Brian Douglas / Netflix) Nor can it resist dramatizing some of that storys juicier particulars, including Teds two daring escapes from prison and his ongoing relationship with Carole Ann Boone (Kaya Scodelario), who maintains an obsessive belief in his innocence. His ability to inspire this kind of collective delusion, mainly among young women who couldnt believe him capable of such crimes, is magnified a hundredfold at his nationally televised 1979 trial for the murders of two Florida college students. The resulting media circus becomes the storys extended climax, presided over by an amusingly hammy John Malkovich but dominated by Teds courtroom stunts and scene-stealing bow ties. The killings themselves, meanwhile, recede into the background. There is something scrupulous, I suppose, about the decision to withhold the images of graphic carnage that earlier Bundy biopics have freely indulged, though its unclear exactly what this movie gains from such an approach. At its worst, it flaunts its restraint as evidence of its virtue. Its as if Berlinger were trying to make his version of David Finchers Zodiac, a masterpiece of narrative reconstruction that refused to turn murder into cheap thrills or to feed the bloodlust that has turned serial killers into a particularly ghoulish national obsession. Thats a nice aspiration, but there is really no mistaking Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile for anything other than the well-made, high-minded exploitation movie it is. Its now available for streaming on Netflix alongside Berlingers other Bundy project, Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, a four-part documentary series that tries to find a different way into the terrifying void of its subjects mind. The directors fascination with a monster is plain to see, even if this particular dramatization makes it awfully hard to share. Director Joe Berlinger and stars Zac Efron and Lily Collins talk about Ted Bundy and the effect of portraying his life in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," at the L.A. Times Studio at Chase Sapphire on Main. ------------ Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Rated: R, for disturbing/violent content, some sexuality, nudity and language Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes Playing: Vintage Los Feliz Theatre, Los Angeles; streaming on Netflix justin.chang@latimes.com | Twitter: @JustinCChang Zhang Yimous Shadow has barely begun before two things become immediately apparent: this is an extravagant and exquisite visual tour de force with a plot that will take some time to sort out. An unlikely combination of wuxia-style pulp fiction and rarefied cinematic technique with some bloody Grand Guignol moments thrown in, Shadow is definitely a film that goes its own way. Which is what youd expect from director and co-writer Zhang. A stalwart of Chinas celebrated Fifth Generation of filmmakers, Zhang has done martial arts before (House of Flying Daggers), as well as personal stories (Raise the Red Lantern), political dramas (Coming Home), even misguided U.S./China co-productions like the Matt Damon-starring The Great Wall. Hes on firmer ground with the nihilistic Shadow, set during the legendary Three Kingdoms period of the 3rd century where warriors were mighty, weapons were deadly, but wounds no matter how grievous they looked were not necessarily fatal. Advertisement Speaking of looks, as shot by Zhang Xiaoding, Shadow is as gorgeous as it is stylized, and it couldnt be more stylized. Deng Chao in a scene from Shadow. (Well Go USA) Inspired, the director says, by the ink brush painting techniques of Chinese paintings, Zhang has decreed a film where it rains every day and the color palette is made up almost exclusively of infinite shades of black, white and gray. The only exceptions are the flesh-colored skin of the participants and the copious bright red blood that spills when the action gets hot and heavy. Which it eventually does. Reaching that takes awhile. Shadows script (co-written by Li Wei and director Zhang) takes great delight in obfuscation, throwing you right in the middle of things and introducing characters whose role and purpose is difficult to discern. Starting at the top, we are dropped in the court of the King of Pei (Zhang Kai), an effete dilettante who oversees, along with his sister Princess Qingping (Guan Xiaotong), a palace rife with betrayal and counter-betrayal. The real power in this city-state, however, belongs to the Commander (Chinese star Deng Chao), the calm and capable head of the armed forces who has just returned from challenging the formidable Yang (Hu Jun), the military chief of a neighboring city, to a duel. But, as the films title hints, were not seeing the real Commander, whos recovering from a serious wound, but Jing (also played by Chao), a look-alike who has been trained from childhood to take over from the Commander should the need arise. Qianyuan Wang in a scene from Shadow. (Well Go USA) With the real Commander scheming behind a hidden door deep in the palace, it is Jing who appears in public and displays the strength and skill necessary to fool everyone. (Plausibility is not one of this films strengths but no matter.) The only person who knows whats going on is the Commanders accomplished wife Madam (Sun Li), a long-suffering woman who is also a deft hand at playing the Chinese zither. Given the sensitive nature of Jing (who wonders aloud whether he is a man or a ghost) and the surly personality of the real Commander, its no surprise that a love-that-dares-not-speak-its-name attraction is evident between Jing and Madam. All that has to be put aside, however, as the Commander, his shadow and his wife secretly strategize the best way to defeat Yang. The plan they come up with, involving umbrellas made up of steel blades and warriors who embrace their feminine side is nothing if not unexpected. This may sound straight-forward enough, but it is the business of Shadow to keep us puzzled and guessing as long as it can before the inevitable showdown wraps up all this palace intrigue. Fortunately, both the films gorgeous look and its meticulously choreographed action sequences keep us more than occupied until the plot pieces fall into place. No one should be expecting, however, a completely rational wrap-up. This is, after all, a bleak world where magic salves exist and wounds that would cripple Godzilla can be shrugged off with barely a grimace. Shadow offers many things, but documentary realism is obviously not one of them. ------------ Shadow Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes Playing: Arclight, Hollywood; Landmark, West Los Angeles Summer doesnt officially begin until June 21, but May is the unofficial start of beach season. School is (almost) out, and ocean temperatures from Point Mugu to the South Bay can be counted on to climb above 60 degrees. As surfers ditch their winter wetsuits for lighter coverage, why not consider refreshing your own summer wardrobe with a high-low mix of essentials that seamlessly blend sun and style? Think: a sarong straight off the Paris runways; all-purpose sandals dreamed up in Echo Park; or a heat-wave-appropriate camisole courtesy of one of New Yorks most in-demand designers. The little things matter too, of course. Consider an SPF stick for discreet touch-ups and beach-ready accents that never need be taken off. Here are 11 items that will put you on the fast track to cool. 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(Net-a-Porter) Pack your essentials in this handwoven raffia and linen tote designed by the French Italian duo behind TL-180, Luisa Orsini and Antonine Peduzzi. $605. Available at net-a-porter.com. Oliver Peoples X the Row Oliver Peoples X the Row classic tortoiseshell frames. (Oliver Peoples) Oliver Peoples and the Row collaborated on these classic tortoiseshell frames, ending the hunt for the perfect summer shades once and for all. $455. Available at oliverpeoples.com. Santangelo Santangelo Tiger Stripe Anklet. (Santangelo) New York-based stylist Anna Santangelo is taking the shell jewelry craze to new heights with her Tiger Stripe Anklet, first spotted at Preens Spring 2019 show. $130. Contact the designer at santangelo.studio.com. Roxana Salehoun Roxana Salehoun bikini. (Roxana Salehoun) Get your groove on in L.A. swimwear designer Roxana Salehouns psychedelic patchwork bikini, inspired by vintage beach glamour. Halter top, $146. Side ruffle bottom, $116. Both available at roxanasalehoun.com. Billabong Billabong seagrass lifeguard hat. (Pacsun) Achieve maximum face protection with Billabongs one-size-fits-all seagrass lifeguard hat, complete with wide brim and adjustable draw cord. $22. Available at pacsun.com. Beatrice Valenzuela Beatrice Valenzuela Tangerine Monocolor Sandalia. (Beatrice Valenzuela) Echo Parks Beatrice Valenzuela elevates the humble shower shoe with these super-soft leather slides, fit for any summer destination. They come in a rainbow of earthy colors, including tangerine, shown here, lilac, terracotta and aquamarine. $328. Available at beatricevalenzuela.com. Mayde Maydes tasseled Turkish towel. (Mayde) Dry off with Maydes tasseled Turkish towel, which can double as a wrap when the wind picks up. $45. Available at maydestore.com. Nili Lotan Nili Lotan denim jumpsuit. (Goop) The jumpsuit trend shows no signs of waning, especially in L.A., where comfort is king. Israeli American designer Nili Lotans faded denim onesie is lightweight enough to work as a surfside coverup. $725. Available at goop.com. After a couple of decades working in the beauty business, Sharon Chuter became disenchanted with the lack of attention paid to skin tone variations, particularly of women of color. I got so frustrated with the industry, said Chuter, whos of Nigerian descent. Beauty has not been inclusive. Chuter, formerly with LOreal and LVMH, launched a solution in late April with Uoma Beauty, a collection of 108 beauty products for the face, lips and eyes that is intended for all skin colors. Advertisement We have 51 shades of foundation, Chuter said during a launch party for the brand at Neuehouse in Hollywood. (The affair was attended by actress Jamie Chung and Victorias Secret model Jasmine Tookes.) And theyre customized for the needs of the skin, Chuter said. A woman with very pale skin might have hypersensitivity, but a woman with brown skin will more likely have pigmentation issues. Its not just about the shade but the formula as well. Chuter has moved the brands headquarters from London to Los Angeles. After Uomas e-commerce launch last month, the line, which ranges from $18 to $44, will roll out Sunday into about 200 Ulta Beauty stores around the country. Products include Say What?! Foundation, Stay Woke Concealer, Black Magic Color Palette of 10 bold, glittery eye shadows and Boss Gloss lip colors; all are in shades that cover every skin type and tone. If we cant make it work for everyone, it gets cut, Chuter said. Uoma, uomabeauty.com and ulta.com Diptyque Diptyque has brought it scents and more to a pop-up at the Grove in Los Angeles. (Diptyque) Prestige French candle and home and personal fragrance brand Diptyque has brought its roster of scents to the Grove in L.A. with a pop-up that will showcase its latest fragrance. Julien Gommichon, president of Diptyque Americas, said the inside of the compact, 240-square-foot space has been designed to offer consumers a sensorial experience, highlighting some of the ingredients that go into the pedigreed fragrances as well as the story behind the companys thoughtful labels. The focus will be on the personal fragrance collection, and we will be showing the full range of product, said Gommichon, adding that these include the top-selling Eau Rose, which has notes of bergamot, blackcurrant and rose. New is Eau de Minthe, a genderless scent using mint, nutmeg and patchouli. Prices are between $65 and $315 for candles and $140 to $185 for personal fragrances. Diptyque pop-up, through May 31, the Grove, 189 the Grove Drive, Los Angeles, diptyqueparis.com Alexander Daas Alexander Daas has taken a trip to the Valley with its range of eyewear. The eyewear retailer has a pop-up shop open at Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park. (Alexander Daas) Designer eyewear retailer Alexander Daas, which has a boutique in Los Angeles Larchmont Village, is visiting the San Fernando Valley with a pop-up at Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park. People were driving from Thousand Oaks to come see us, said founder Alex Feldman, who designs the Alexander Daas collections. The retail event, which runs until mid-May, is a showcase of optical and sun frames from brands such as Barton Perreira and Thierry Lasry as well as the Alexander Daas collection. Current major trends in eyewear mirrored lenses, or frames with speckled and marbled patterns or touches of lavender and turquoise are on display in the 1,800-square-foot space. There also will be a private styling suite and on-site refraction exams. Prices for frames are about $400 to $600; an eye exam is $50 or free with purchase. Alexander Daas pop-up, through May 12, Westfield Topanga, 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Canoga Park, alexanderdaas.com image@latimes.com For fashion news, follow us at @latimesimage on Twitter. My first time at a Carnitas El Momo food truck, parked in the lot of a Mobil gas station in Boyle Heights, I ask for each of the four tacos listed on the sidewalk placard menu: maciza (chopped pork shoulder), cuerito (plush, translucent slivers of pork skin), buche (tender, wishbone-shaped slices of pork stomach) and carnitas mixtas, a combination of all three. Our tacos are big, warns the woman taking the order. This is too much food for one person. I hear her repeat the words to almost every customer after me. No one much heeds the advice. Individually, the cuts of meat are all impressive. Mixed together on the fourth taco, the trinity merges into something far greater. The Acosta family, which runs El Momo, sometimes brands its carnitas mixtas as the Aporkalypse. Its more of a wonder than a calamity, though the different textures lacy, hunky, slippery, soft-crisp do tumble around the taste buds like clothes in a dryer. Food Sign up for the Tasting Notes newsletter The pork braises in copper cauldrons called cazos for hours in lard and a secret mix of other ingredients: a homemade brown sugar syrup lurks in there. Whatever the wizardry, the pig parts emerge caramelized and herbaceous and generously salted but not overly so. Id studied El Momos Instagram account enough to know the family suggests trying at least one taco dressed with only pickled vegetables. I split open a whole jalapeno with my thumb and squeeze its vinegary juices over the meat. That addition sets off pinwheels and sparklers, a light show of acid and sugar and richness. In the quiet center is the freshest, purest flavor of pork. Advertisement Anyone who lives in Los Angeles and partakes of pig should know the splendor of El Momos mixta at least once. Certainly many regional and wonderful versions of carnitas are available throughout the city, but the superiority of these meats youll know it when you taste it distinguishes them as one of our lifeblood foods. Romulo Momo Acosta learned the art of exceptional carnitas from his father, a farmer and carnitero from Salamanca, a town about 200 miles northwest of Mexico City in the state of Guanajuato. Acosta moved to Southern California and began selling carnitas on weekends in the mid-1970s as a side gig from his job as a welder. His porcine mastery didnt become a citywide phenomenon until his children, including his daughter, Adriana Acosta, and son, Juan Billy Acosta, mobilized the family business with a food truck, and occasionally street stands, beginning in 2013. The Carnitas El Momo truck frequently parks in Boyle Heights. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) El Momo has popped up across far-flung stretches of the metro area over the years; lately the Acostas have been setting up closer to home in Boyle Heights. They post their daily locations faithfully on Instagram, frequently appearing at one spot during the day and another at night. In the evenings, lines typically form and the carnitas sell out. I find the truck often in the afternoon near the intersection of North Soto and Fairmount streets, with only a few souls gathered around a shaded table. Im amazed there arent larger crowds, but I gladly relish a transcendent lunch that takes 15 minutes start to finish. If Im feeling like a purist, Ill stick to the mixta zapped only with pickled jalapeno and carrots. Plenty of others around me ask for their tacos with onion and cilantro, painting the meats in red or green salsa from squeeze bottles. When hedonistic urges strike, I go for a mulita, with the carnitas sandwiched between two tortillas and sealed with queso blanco that oozes and seizes on the griddle; the orangey streaks of cheese look like bursts of energy blazing from a bad guys fingertips in a TV superhero cartoon. Im a goner. Once you grasp the El Momo basics, it pays to speak up and ask what else the kitchen has on hand: Perhaps itll be bronzed pork rib or a taco de surtido compiled from other offal cuts (the tradition of carnitas is one of snout-to-tail economy; little goes to waste). Were here for the pork, but occasionally the Acostas meander into other culinary territories as rotating specials: beef barbacoa, braised oxtails, more lately a riff on carnitas made with salmon. These are pleasant enough divertissements. Carnitas El Momos mulita is oozy, crunchy goodness. (Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times) One essential dish beyond carnitas does stand out: birria, stewed goat meat, electric with chile, that stains tortillas a shade somewhere between the colors of Bing cherries and stop signs. Its a recipe honed by the familys matriarch, Inocencia Acosta. Ask for a cup of the birria broth alongside. It warms you in a way that has nothing to do with the temperature outside. The Acostas serve this specialty along with carnitas, of course on mornings and early afternoons on Saturdays and Sundays at the address where they usually park the food truck on weekdays. You can smell the pork rendering a block away; follow the scents and the neighbors walking up the driveway to the semi-enclosed space with the menu written on the wall and tables covered in mismatched oilcloths. Family members might be standing at stoves or weighing out carnitas by the pound before wrapping them in aluminum foil. Spanish is the default language, though younger Acostas will switch to English in a blink. Adriana Acosta makes a birria taco at Carnitas El Momo. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) Its a heartening scene, always, this multigenerational gathering of customers, with perhaps a hung-over reveler or two wearing shades in the corner, eyes fixed on whatever futbol game is blaring from the television. Sadly, the setting has lately been missing its figurehead. Romulo Acosta suffered a heart attack in March while vacationing in Jerusalem and is recovering. His relatives have been turning out food as consistently and poetically as ever. Nonetheless, its a moment to be extra thankful for the pickly, lush, salty-sweet Salamanca-style carnitas Acosta gave Los Angeles and to maybe swing by, for the first or 50th time, to experience how truly incredible they are. One of each taco at Carnitas El Momo. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) As part of Food Bowl, Mays monthlong festival of food, dining and sustainability, the Los Angeles Times is presenting the third annual Gold Award to Bryant Ng and Kim Luu-Ng of Cassia. The Gold Award is given to a California chef annually, with the idea of honoring culinary excellence and expanding the notion of Southern California cooking. The award, which last year was given to Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken and the first year to Wolfgang Puck, celebrates intelligence, innovation and brilliance as well as sensitivity to aesthetics, culture and the environment. The Gold Award was picked by Jonathan Gold in the past; this year Laurie Ochoa, Jonathans wife and a Los Angeles Times editor whose duties have included overseeing food coverage, chose the Ngs. Advertisement At Cassia, which the Ngs opened in Santa Monica in 2015 in partnership with Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan, the menu is a sophisticated and inventive blend of Vietnamese and French cooking. Bryant Ng was the opening chef at Mozza and one of Food & Wines Best New Chefs in 2012, when he ran his Singaporean-influenced restaurant the Spice Table. Ng takes elements of his past restaurant and those hes worked in, as well as his familys history Ngs grandparents, immigrants from China, ran a Cantonese-Polynesian restaurant in Culver City; his parents ran a Chinese restaurant in Northridge and puts it on his plates. In so doing, his food represents the diverse culinary accomplishment of Los Angeles, fed by immigrants and their traditions. I love that Cassias food isnt just Vietnamese or Asian, but Southern Californian, says Ochoa, It embodies one of the big ideas behind the award expanding the notion of Southern California cooking. Fish sauce can be as important to the cuisine of Los Angeles as olive oil. In 2016, Luu-Ng, an immigration lawyer whose family fled Vietnam during the war, and Ng launched L.A. Chefs for Human Rights, a fundraising platform to benefit local human rights causes. The Ngs host an annual dinner at Cassia for LACHR, with funds from the first two years going to support the Program for Torture Victims, which provides medical services and legal support to refugees seeking asylum in Los Angeles. Last year, Cassia partnered with the People Concern to help solve L.A.s homelessness crisis, raising nearly $200,000 to help them feed hungry folks. In the last three years, theyve gathered together chefs such as Niki Nakayama, Nancy Silverton, Jessica Koslow, Carlos Salgado and Ray Garcia to help cook dinner for the cause. So many chefs are generous with their time, cooking for charity, Ochoa says, but it takes extra initiative to start an organization from scratch. As Bryant Ng put it, I think we were trying to process the honor of such an award and at the same time felt a sense of sadness because we miss Jonathan so much. Through his writing and advocacy, Jonathan brought a deep understanding of other cultures through food, helping to break down barriers and stereotypes, and promoting a better understanding of people that are foreign to you. He helped those who traditionally had less and promoted them in a way that benefited them. I cant imagine a bigger champion of immigrants. Kim and I would not be where we are in life without Jonathan. The Gold Award will be presented on May 8, at the Opening Night Collaboration Lab held on the first evening of our five-day Night Market. Food Bowl will run for the month of May, with hundreds of events happening across the city. For details on the mix of dinners, parties, tours, pop-ups, classes and films, go to lafoodbowl.com. amy.scattergood@latimes.com Instagram: @AScattergood Most recently the author of Feast: Food of the Islamic World, Anissa Helou grew up in Beirut with a Syrian father and Lebanese mother, and wrote her first book about Lebanese food in 1994. Now, she lives in Sicily (It has everything that I was brought up with: seasonality, sunshine, the sea, lovely people, hospitality. But there is no ISIS, she explains), but shes still writing about the food of the Islamic world Feast collects recipes from Muslim cultures ranging from Indonesia to Iran and India to Qatar. At Now Serving, Helou talked with Evan Kleiman about her research tactics, her favorite biryani recipe, and a one-time plan to make lardo from a camels hump. This interview has been edited and condensed. On essential foods in the Muslim world: Bread is an absolute staple almost everywhere in the Muslim world. Even in cultures where bread is not essential, there is bread. Theres also what I call the whole beast: animals that are killed to serve them at feasts and celebrations. And sweets, of course, because they are very much part of the hospitality, which is very important in the Islamic world. Advertisement Feasting and fasting: The meaning of the rituals of Ramadan On her favorite recipes: Before I started researching the book, I thought there were two or three different biryanis. When I started traveling, I realized I could have an entire section on biryanis; its a very important dish served at weddings and celebrations that goes from India to Pakistan to Indonesia to the Arab Gulf. As for sweets, kunafeh is my favorite. Its a sweet cheese pie made with hair pastry. The pastry is baked first, and then the cheese is laid on top. Then you pour a lot of syrup on, and if you want to be totally sinful, you make a sandwich. On her research methods: Before I travel, I consult chefs and friends. Once Im there, I talk to anyone I think is going to be inspiring or useful. The ideal situation is to see them cook in action; thats how you understand a recipe. Im always on the lookout for interesting food people, and because Ive been doing it for a long time, I kind of have a nose for it. I was in a market in Uzbekistan not so long ago, where I saw this wonderful looking man talking to two bread ladies. I zoomed over and started talking to him. It turned out that he was an ex-military guy. We had a really interesting conversation about decorated breads that are shown on the bridal table, not necessarily to eat. The food of the whole Islamic world, in one crazy-ambitious cookbook On camel humps: I was filming a series called The Chef Discovers, going around the Emirates and learning how to cook things. One of the episodes was about a camel party. The prize piece of the camel is the hump. But when we arrived at the party, the producer said, You cant come with us, youre a woman. And I said, What about the hump? How am I going to taste the hump if I cant go to that party? As luck would have it, two days later I was in a catering kitchen and they were cooking another camel for another party. The chef was really nice and he cut out a little piece of meat but it was an anticlimax, because it wasnt really good. Jonathan Gold and I once had a plan to make lardo with camel fat, but it never came to anything. Then I had the idea of writing an article about camel hump. I ended up at the slaughterhouse (like an idiot, quite well-dressed, in suede moccasins and a white shirt), and they brought a beautiful baby camel out. They slit the throat and butchered it and they gave me the hump, which I was very happy to have. I took it to my brothers flat in Dubai and put it on the kitchen counter and said, Today Im cooking you camel hump. I used the same marinade they use for the whole animal. Rosewater, saffron, garlic, lots of spices. I massaged it and roasted it. And I realized that the hump can be good if you have a baby camel, still milk-fed. A Syrian taxi driver told me that the reason they like camel meat is that its supposedly a monogamous animal; in Islam its good to eat an animal that is faithful to its wife. As Los Angeles homeowners prepare to trim grass, weeds and trees for the annual brush clearance inspections in May and June, the L.A. County Fire Departments Forestry Division advises moving beyond standard procedures when it comes to reducing wildfire risk. The state is trying to pull away from the term brush clearance and change the mind-set, says Assistant Chief J. Lopez. Clearing brush is going to help, but that puts the blame on brush only. So what should homeowners do? Harden your homes, Lopez says. The best chance for a home to survive is by protecting the first 30 feet surrounding the home. We know it works. Lopez suggests removing nearly all vegetation and trees next to dwellings and windows. Bougainvillea vines thrive in the California sun, but dead flowers can become fuel when hit by raining embers. Similarly, juniper trees can generate tremendous heat, causing single-pane windows to break. Advertisement But to thoroughly harden their homes against wildfire, homeowners need to think beyond greenery to windows, fencing, roofs and vents. Landscape designer and native plant advocate Cassy Aoyagi, who gives lectures on fire-resistance strategies, agrees that brush clearance is not a silver bullet. An inside-out way of thinking is going to protect your home the most, she says. Ryan Ulyate, co-president of the North Topanga Canyon Fire Safe Council, recommends neighbors band together and form a local fire safe council. If youve done your homework and your best to harden your home, youre going to be more than OK if you get the call to evacuate, he says. Everyone can do something to lessen the vulnerability of their home. The good news: With smart design and landscaping, homeowners can create plenty of defensible space around their homes. Here, Lopez offers tips for doing just that, mixing proven results with common-sense basics. The No. 1 thing anyone can do to protect their home is simple: Maintenance. Aluminum doors and windows with tempered glass increase fire resistance. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) WINDOWS Single-pane windows, skylights and large windows can break in fires, allowing embers into the house. To prevent breakage, install dual-pane windows with tempered glass on the outside. Los Angeles architect Cory Buckner blames the loss of her home in the Woolsey fire on the structures windows. What I know now is that the window type has a lot to do with whether a house will weather a firestorm or not, Buckner says. I had hopper windows in the main house that burned and there was one wall remaining with the hopper blown open. That may have been the reason why I lost it. Fifteen of the 22 homes in Buckners Yellow Hills neighborhood were lost in the firestorm, but the fireproof studio that Buckner and her husband had designed survived. FENCES Wood fences can easily ignite. If you cant install iron, brick, concrete or other nonflammable fencing, Lopez advises installing a protective barrier made of stone or metal between any wood fencing and your house. Breaking up the continuity of fuel will slow the fire as it approaches your home. Maintain your fence, Lopez says. And keep vegetation away from it. A home burns in Anaheim Hills in 2017 after embers from the Canyon 2 fire caused the roof to catch on fire. (Stuart Palley / For The Times) ROOFS Replace wood shake and shingle roofs with coverings that are Class A fire-rated, such as asphalt composition shingles, tile or steel. If you have a Spanish tile roof, seal any dry crevices and remove any birds nests you may have acquired near the edges. People have to be vigilant about sealing gaps that exist at the end of their roofs, Lopez says. That is where embers can enter. VENTS Research shows that one-eighth-inch wire mesh placed over basement openings and gutters can protect homes. Mesh comes with an added bonus, Lopez: It is also impossible for a raccoon to try and pry apart. Attic vents should also be covered. They are like the filters you see in restaurants, he says. Embers go in there and bounce so hard that they break apart. Detail of Wooly Blue Curls, a native plant that retains moisture. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) LANDSCAPING Creating breaks and walkways between plants can disrupt the path of a fire. Breaks will also provide critical access for firefighters. If you can have three to five feet of space, especially from the wall out, it will help firefighters walk through there, especially if they have hoses and disposables, Lopez says. Thinning trees and shrubs will ensure that fire stays on the ground. Both the Fire Department and Aoyagi recommend planting California natives that retain moisture and hold hillsides well. Native plants are going to be less likely to burn and will stay cooler, says Aoyagi. Dispose of invasive plants, such as Washington fan palms, that often grow in sidewalk crevices. And when it comes to gravel, balance is key. Permeable surfaces will hold water better when it rains, Lopez says. GUTTERS Regularly clear gutters of pine needles, leaves and other debris that can ignite. Screen or enclose gutters to prevent them from becoming clogged. Brick chimneys are about all that remain from three Ventura homes burned by the Thomas fire in 2017. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) CHIMNEYS Trim tree branches so that they are 10 feet away from the chimney. If you are in a fire zone, Lopez recommends installing a spark arrester. MULCH Mulches cut down on water needs, but they are flammable. A 2008 evaluation of mulch combustibility found that shredded rubber mulch burns most easily, while composted wood chips burned the least. Wooden mulch that has some moisture in it is much better than having rubber mulch, which is highly flammable, Lopez says. He recommends keeping mulch two to three feet away from your house and well irrigated. The moisture is going to be your best friend. DECKS Keep decks clear of debris, baskets, dried flowers, flammable cushions and propane tanks. Enclose the area underneath decks with fire-resistant materials. Flames climb up palm tree trunks outside a Malibu home during the Woolsey fire in November 2018. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) MORE TIPS The Los Angeles Fire Department provides more details on brush clearance, including requirements, a list of contractors, the inspection process and how to report a hazard. The University of California Fire Information Center maintains a checklist for creating fire-resilient homes. The L.A. County Fire Departments fuel modification webpage includes plant selection guidelines and the Ready! Set! Go! wildfire action plan. The University of Nevada Living With Fire program has a helpful interactive feature on its Be Ember Aware page, illustrating the many ways that embers can ignite a house. And the North Topanga Fire Safety Council offers more details on how to harden your home. The atmosphere of incongruity that pervaded this weeks annual Milken Institute Global Conference was practically palpable. The gathering of billionaires, hedge fund managers and other financial industry professionals who converged on the Beverly Hilton hotel largely had a particular end in mind: how to increase their alpha, which, not to get too complicated, means improving their investment returns. But while the 5,000 attendees could go to sessions on the state of capital markets, listen to the chairwoman of the International Monetary Fund and strike up conversations with some of the worlds most savvy investors, it all had to go down with a rather large dose of bitter medicine. If the barricades have not been erected in the streets, they were told several times over, they could soon be unless there is reform of the American economic system. Advertisement Its not whether we should be capitalist or socialist. Its how do we make sure that capitalism is working the way it has in the past, said Alan Schwartz, a managing partner at global investment firm Guggenheim Partners, who warned of class warfare. He noted that salaries and wages as a percentage of the economic pie are at a postwar low of 40%, prompting a throw out the rich mentality that would require some form of income redistribution to head off. The dire warnings were reflected in the conferences theme, Driving Shared Prosperity, and in a host of panel discussions that didnt forget that members of the 1% were in the audience. Consider Wednesdays lunch session on the weighty topic The Future of the Free-Enterprise System. The panel was hosted by Institute founder and L.A. billionaire philanthropist Michael Milken, and featured discussion of the threat of climate change as well as the rising popularity of socialism among young people. Milken told the audience that there is concern over the free enterprise system: Obviously it is not working for everyone. Kerry Healey, president of Babson College a suburban Boston school ranked high for its entrepreneurship education talked up the conscious capitalism movement, which posits that businesses need a higher purpose beyond just making money. We are trying to change peoples feelings about capitalism, she said. Niall Ferguson, a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said that when young people say they favor socialism what they really mean is simply a bigger role for government. Theres evidence they really dont know what socialism is, he said, pointing out how his students seem to admire European social democracies, which are nonetheless capitalist. Preceding all that, though, was a plug for the Washington, D.C., outpost of Neds Club, an elite offshoot of the SoHo House chain opening next year. It will be in the same building complex where the Milken Institute is constructing its Center for the American Dream, a paean to capitalism. The promotional video of the existing London location celebrated an opulent display of fine dining and merrymaking that was jarring amid all the talk of impending doom. But where better to prospect for members than at the conference? This was the 22nd year that the institute has held the event, which featured more than 100 public panels on a plethora of topics consistent with the research interests of the institute, which seeks to find free market solutions to various challenges. Panel topics on Wednesday alone, the last day of the conference, included discussions of blockchain technology, diabetes and obesity, harnessing the microbiome to treat disease, and artificial intelligence. But it was telling that Milken hosted the conferences last discussion, titled Keeping the American Dream Alive and featuring Ray Dalio, who built his Bridgewater Associates into one of the worlds largest hedge funds with some $150 billion under management. Dalio made a reported $2 billion last year alone and has an estimated net worth that tops $18 billion, making him the countrys 25th richest person, according to Forbes. He raised eyebrows last month with a post on LinkedIn that warned that unless the American economic system is reformed so that the pie is both divided and grown well the country is in danger of great conflict and some form of revolution that will hurt most everyone and will shrink the pie. He returned to that theme in his talk, asserting that lack of income growth among the bottom 60% of the population had led to a loss of hope reflected in rising death rates linked to suicides and opiate abuse. Dalio contrasted that with the New Frontier years of the Kennedy administration, when the nation thought it could eliminate poverty and set a goal to reach the moon. I think that is the magic of the United States and we are losing that, he said. It was hard to say that any comprehensive concrete solutions emerged out of the discussion, though there was much talk about the need to improve educational opportunities in lower-income neighborhoods. Milken had some additional thoughts, with political undertones, intentional or not. Amid the fierce debate today over immigration, he concluded the conference with excerpts of Ronald Reagans last speech in the White House in 1989, which celebrated immigrants as fundamental to renewing the American Dream. If we ever close the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world will soon be lost, Reagan said in the video, which ended to wide applause. Former First Lady Michelle Obama, who was told by her high school counselor that she wasnt Ivy League material but went on to Princeton and Harvard anyway, urged thousands of students to follow her lead on Wednesday during a high-energy appearance at UCLA. It marked the first time that Obama chose to celebrate College Signing Day on the West Coast. She started the event in 2014 to encourage teenagers to pursue higher education, career training or military service after high school. A major focus is on students who are low-income and the first in their families to attend college. The roar and cheers were deafening as she stepped onstage at Pauley Pavilion. Helloooo, Los Angeles! Obama said after being introduced by late-night TV host Conan OBrien. We are here today for all of you. I want you all to know you personally are about to make the best investment that you can possibly make. Advertisement Wearing a Compton College T-shirt to point out the importance of community colleges, she congratulated the 10,000 students in attendance for overcoming myriad hurdles. She warned that other people would try to bring them down, as her high school counselor had tried to do. In those times because they will come up you have to ask yourselves whether youre gonna believe the haters or whether youre gonna believe the own truth of your story, she said. Bouncing back from failure, she added, is the mark of a true champion. You do not do this alone, Obama said. Michelle Obama celebrated College Signing Day with 10,000 high school seniors and transfer students who have committed to pursuing a higher education. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Christina Furumasu, center, from Western High School, reacts to Michelle Obama onstage. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Participation in Obamas annual May 1 College Signing Day has grown from a few dozen schools to more than 3,000 campuses in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, said Eric Waldo, executive director of Reach Higher. Last year, the event inspired 1.24 billion social media posts tagged #collegesigningday in just 24 hours. The University of California where 4 in 10 undergraduates are first-generation college students contacted Reach Higher, Obamas nonprofit, about a year ago to host the event, Waldo said. All nine undergraduate campuses celebrated, the first systemwide effort to do so, said Carolyn McMillan, UC editorial director. Campuses invited about 6,000 high school and community college students to visit, and hosted rallies, hip-hop performances, inspirational speakers, college resource fairs and free swag. Reach Higher selected UCLA for the main event, in part, because the campus is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Waldo said. On Wednesday, nearly 50 celebrities took the stage to talk up college, including John Legend, Usher, Pentatonix and Bebe Rexha. LaLa Anthony and Lil Rel Howery served as emcees. Students, wearing T-shirts lettered with their colleges of choice, mugged for pictures against a College Signing Day backdrop. One friend group held up signs of their future colleges: Harvard, Duke, Dartmouth, University of Chicago and UC Berkeley. UCLA volunteers and Bruins mascots Joe and Josie handed out UC banners and goodie bags stuffed with water bottles, T-shirts and snacks. Some students traveled for hours to get there. Victoria Soldana Sanchez came to UCLA from the Central Valley with about 60 other seniors from Dinuba High School. She will attend UC Davis, where she hopes to major in biology and possibly become an ophthalmologist or optometrist an interest sparked by her own astigmatism and vision problems. She said her greatest inspiration has been her mother, an agricultural worker who picks seasonal crops grapes, oranges, strawberries although she went to secretarial school in her native Mexico. Kayla Perez, an El Rancho High School senior who plans to attend UCLA, managed to earn a 4.2 GPA while working three jobs, serving as captain of her schools Academic Decathlon team and being editor of her school newspaper. She said seeing Obama affirmed her own journey from high school to college. I feel as if all the hard work that I put toward my academics and activities is finally paying off, Perez said. Michelle Obama hugs Taahira Bholat, a senior at Lawndale High School who will be attending El Camino College. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Rising tuition and student debt loads have prompted some students to wonder whether college is worth it. But three-quarters of all jobs in the 21st century will require education or training beyond high school, according to Reach Higher. And research has shown that college graduates earn more as much as $1 million more over a lifetime vote more and contribute more to charity than their less-educated peers, said Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, UCLA vice chancellor of enrollment management. A college education is not only a benefit to the individual, its also a benefit to society, she said. In her best-selling memoir, Becoming, Obama shared her own educational journey growing up in the south side of Chicago. Ambitious and bright from childhood, she skipped second grade. She tested into Chicagos first magnet high school, Whitney Young, and woke up at 5 a.m. for a 90-minute commute on two city buses to get there in time. She got good grades, loved writing, built confidence and graduated in the top 10% of her class. When her high school counselor told her she wasnt right for Princeton, Obama fumed and then vowed: Ill show you. But attending the Ivy League university with mostly white men, many of them well-off, was startling, she wrote. She and other minorities became aware of their disadvantages for the first time no SAT tutoring, for instance, or college-caliber teaching in high school. She had never seen a syllabus and suffered from impostor syndrome. Ultimately, though, Obama held her own, graduated cum laude in sociology and went on to Harvard Law School. Obamas passion for education and personal understanding of the barriers faced in many underserved communities prompted her to launch Reach Higher to inspire all students to pursue education or career training beyond high school. Shes the school counselor in chief, Waldo said. On Wednesday, five students headed for universities, community colleges and the military joined Obama onstage and shared their dreams with the crowd to save lives as a paramedic, to protect the country as a U.S. Marine, to inform and empower communities as a journalist, to help underserved students as an educator. Sage Bennett, a senior at Antioch High School, jumped to his feet, let out a whoop and teared up when Obama appeared. Bennett, who is African American and gay, survived poverty, homelessness and bullying to excel in school with a 4.1 GPA. He will attend UC Berkeley this fall, receiving a full ride as a Berkeley Regents Scholar. Michelle Obama has been the person who showed me I can do this that no matter where you come from, you can always alter where youre going, he said. teresa.watanabe@latimes.com Twitter: @TeresaWatanabe The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week to stop transfers of detainees held in two Orange County jails that recently ended their contract with the federal agency. The Orange County Sheriffs Department announced on March 27 that the agreement with the government to house detainees was being ended. As a result, ICE detainees no longer will be housed at Sheriffs Department jails starting Aug. 1, and the federal agency has stated that they could be transferred farther away. That prompted the ACLU to file a lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court Central District against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to halt any such transfers. The ACLU is asking the court to prevent transfers of immigrants outside of Southern California if they already have attorneys or if they have immediate family in the region. The organization is also planning to file a request for a preliminary injunction to stop any transfers pending a full trial. Advertisement If ICE transfers these individuals thousands of miles away from their lawyers and their families, it makes it practically impossible for them to fight their deportation cases and then they could be deported to countries where they would suffer significant harm, persecution, torture, death, said Sameer Ahmed, senior staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California. Currently there are 404 detainees being held in Orange County jails. ICE said it does not comment on pending litigation. The suit was filed on behalf of several detainees being held in the James A. Musick and Theo Lacy facilities, as well as two legal organizations, Public Law Center in Santa Ana and Public Counsel in L.A., which provide free legal services to immigrants. Among the plaintiffs is Ubaldo Arroyo, who was arrested by ICE for an unknown reason on Feb. 23 and is being held at the James A. Musick Facility in Irvine. He is being represented pro bono in removal proceedings and, according to the lawsuit, he said he would be unable to pay for another lawyer to represent him if he were transferred far away. His immediate family, who live in Anaheim, do not have a car, but his mother still visits him as often as she can. Imagine if they send him somewhere else, said his mother, who asked not to be identified. I dont know what would happen and if I would see him again. The agreement with the Sheriffs Department ended in order to free up space for better treatment of mentally ill inmates, according to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, who said the county had seen a 40% increase in mental health cases in its jails since 2015. Its unclear exactly where the detainees will be moved to, but ICEs detention options in California have become increasingly limited, according to previous statements by agents. The ACLU has asked ICE several times when out-of-state transfers would begin and has not heard back, according to Ahmed. In a statement in March, ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley noted the effect on detainees and stated that ICE would have to depend on its national system of detention bed space to place those detainees in locations farther away, reducing the opportunities for in-person family visitation and attorney coordination. Obviously we dont want to wait until our plaintiffs are transferred thousands of miles away to file this lawsuit, Ahmed said. They said it was going to happen and thats why we had to file the lawsuit as soon as possible. Times staff writer Cindy Carcamo contributed to this report. New details have emerged in the attack on a Poway synagogue over the weekend that killed one woman and left three others wounded. Prosecutors say the suspect, John T. Earnest, legally purchased the weapon used in the attack, which was captured on surveillance video. He has pleaded not guilty. Authorities have not yet determined whether he will face the death penalty. Here is what we know from the pages of the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times: What do prosecutors say about the attack? Deputy Dist. Atty. Leonard Trinh told a judge Tuesday that Earnest was wearing a tactical vest when he entered the synagogue and had with him a semiautomatic rifle and five 10-round magazines. Advertisement The prosecutor said Earnest encountered Lori Gilbert-Kaye in the foyer of the building and shot her twice as she turned to flee. She died from her wounds. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was the next person shot, the prosecutor said. Goldstein was wounded in both hands and lost the index finger on his right hand as a result. Trinh said the gunman turned toward a room where there were several people, including children, and fired his weapon. Among those in the room were Almog Peretz, 34, who suffered a gunshot wound to one leg, and his niece, Noya Dahan, 8, who was struck in her face and one leg by bullet fragments. The gunman stopped firing, possibly because his gun jammed or he couldnt eject the magazine to reload, authorities said. Several people chased the shooter out of the synagogue, including an Army veteran who charged at him and an off-duty Border Patrol agent who fired several rounds at the shooters fleeing vehicle. Much of that was caught on surveillance video, the prosecutor said. Earnest was stopped by police on West Bernardo Drive, near Rancho Bernardo Road and the 15 Freeway, and taken into custody without a struggle. Trinh said a rifle, tactical vest, helmet and ammunition were recovered from the car. Inside the synagogue, 10 bullet casings were found. What have witnesses said? The prosecutors account builds on a dramatic recounting of the attack from Goldstein. The rabbi froze in the lobby of his synagogue, startled by the stranger in sunglasses pointing a rifle at him. As the shots zoomed toward him, he raised his hands in defense before scrambling to gather the young children nearby and move them somewhere safe. Miraculously, the gun jammed, Goldstein recounted. Lori took the bullet for all of us, he said, adding that the shooting could have been deadlier. [It] will forever scar me, but its going to remind me how vulnerable we are and how heroic each one of us can be, he said. No matter what happened, we are going to keep our freedom. We are going to grow from it. Gilbert-Kaye, 60, died of at least one gunshot wound. Goldstein said he did not see her get shot and did not know whether she jumped in front of him to save him, as some witnesses have claimed. Where did he get the weapon? Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan said Earnest, 19, bought the rifle legally. She would not elaborate on whether he purchased it out of state or in California before state law changed this year to ban rifle sales to anyone under 21. Will Earnest face the death penalty? On the question of seeking the death penalty, Stephan said she has spoken with some victims and families but would not say whether they have asked her to pursue the ultimate penalty on the murder count or a lesser penalty of life in prison with no possibility of parole. In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order putting a moratorium on executions while he is in office and providing a reprieve for the 737 inmates on Californias death row. That decision, however, does not prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty when they believe it is appropriate, because it is still state law. RELATED: This is the Army veteran who chased the gunman out of the California synagogue Prosecutors have to prove why a hate crime was committed by looking at the defendants words or actions before, during and after the killing, Stephan said. She said Earnest could get an additional 103 years to life if convicted of the extra charges against him. What do we know about a motive in the attack? Authorities say Earnest planned his attack on the Poway synagogue for weeks, inspired by horrific acts that preceded it: mass shootings at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and at two mosques in New Zealand. Authorities arrested Earnest soon after the shooting in Poway. Earnest appears to have left a nine-page manifesto filled with racist rants and details of his personal life. The Rancho Penasquitos resident wrote that he is a nursing student from the depths of California. In the document titled an open letter, Earnest allegedly said he was inspired by Brenton Tarrant, the Australian white nationalist who is accused of killing 50 people in attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15. It was the worst mass shooting in that countrys modern history. That shooting, the author wrote, led to his decision a month ago to attack the Chabad in Poway. How long did it take you to plan the attack? Four weeks. Four weeks ago, I decided I was doing this. Four weeks later, I did it, the manifesto said. An anti-Semitic letter revealed the authors disgust for Jews and a desire to kill them. Earnest, who is white, allegedly said he was willing to sacrifice his future for the sake of my people. The suspect also championed Robert Bowers who is accused of killing 11 people and wounding six more in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh six months ago as well as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. He identifies himself as a man of European descent. He does not claim any political labels, but asserts that Jews seek to doom the white race. In the screed, which is filled with quotes from the Bible, Earnest also appears to take credit for an arson attack at an Escondido mosque the week after the New Zealand shootings. To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries, the mans family said in an open letter. How our son was attracted to such darkness is a terrifying mystery to us. A 16-year-old boy died in U.S. custody after crossing the southern border without an adult, the latest of several young migrant deaths that occurred in federal custody in recent months, officials said Wednesday. The Guatemalan youth died Tuesday after spending several days in intensive care at a childrens hospital, Health and Human Services spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said in a statement. Stauffer declined to name the boy, the hospital or the city where he was treated. His death comes as the number of children and families seeking asylum at the southern border has reached historic levels. The White House said Tuesday that it needs another $4.5 billion to handle the surge of undocumented migrants at the border, with $2.8 billion of that amount going toward providing shelter to unaccompanied children and teens. So far this year, compared to the same time last year, 66% more unaccompanied children have been caught or turned themselves in at the border, making 35,898 total more than two-thirds of them in Texas, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protections most recent figures from the end of March. The number of families with children has increased 374% as of March compared with the same time last year. Advertisement The youth who died this week had initially shown no health concerns, according to Border Patrol clinicians, when he was transferred from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on April 20 to a shelter run by the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses migrant children, the statement said. The departments statement provided the following description of what happened next: The morning after he was transferred to the shelter, the youth became noticeably ill with fever, chills and a headache. Shelter personnel took him to an emergency room, and he was treated and released to the shelter later that day. A day later, on April 22, the youths health deteriorated again, and he was taken by ambulance to another emergency room, transferred to a childrens hospital and sent to intensive care, where he spent several days. While hospitalized, the youth was visited by his brother and Guatemalan consular officials, the statement said, and his family received updates from hospital staff. On Tuesday, he died. His cause of death was being investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services. Guatemalas Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the boy had a severe infection in his brain and had emergency surgery at a Corpus Christi hospital before he died. Guatemalan officials said the boy was from the southeastern state of Chiquimula and crossed the Mexican border into the El Paso area on April 19. The government of Guatemala laments the death of this young Guatemalan and offers its condolences to the family, the statement said. Officials are sending the boys remains to Guatemala. In recent months, federal officials have investigated the deaths of several other migrant children in U.S. custody after news of their deaths provoked widespread outrage. In December, 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo Gomez and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal both Guatemalan migrants traveling with their fathers died in Border Patrol custody in El Paso; in February a Honduran migrant mother suffered a stillbirth while detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas. Autopsies showed Jakelin died of a bacterial infection and Felipe died of the flu. After Jakelins death, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants urged U.S. officials not to detain migrants and called for an investigation. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, then Border Patrol commissioner, said medical screenings were added for all migrants and staff were transferred to the border to help process them. Migrant advocates have long complained that cramped holding areas and detention facilities were unsuitable for children and families health. Tornillo, a tent camp east of El Paso that once housed 2,800 migrant youth, closed earlier this year, but another shelter in Homestead, Fla., has since swelled to 2,200 youth. As more unaccompanied children and families arrive, Border Patrol officials saying they lack space have expanded spartan temporary shelters on the border. A massive temporary shelter is scheduled to be unveiled in Texass Rio Grande Valley on Thursday. The Brownsville Herald reported that the 16-year-old Guatemalan boy was held at a shelter in the Rio Grande Valley city run by Southwest Key, one of the countrys largest shelter operators, which has faced allegations of abuse that forced them to close two shelters in Arizona. Southwest Key spokesman Neil Nowlin referred questions to Stauffer, who did not respond late Wednesday. Marsha Griffin, a pediatrician in the Brownsville area and co-chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics special interest group on immigrant health, said the circumstances surrounding the 16-year-olds death need to be investigated, including the conditions in which he was held. She said its not clear whether Border Patrol have enough trained medical personnel in processing centers where migrants are initially held. They centers are often kept so cold, theyre known as hieleras, or ice boxes, which can contribute to making migrants sick, she said. Were going to need to know more about his situation and we need to be able to get into the Border Patrol processing centers to be able to monitor whether there is improved care being provided there, Griffin said. That oversight is really important. The White House struggled Thursday to salvage its public and covert campaign to oust the leftist president of Venezuela after the U.S.-backed opposition in Caracas sought to overthrow him this week, but failed and appeared to be losing support. After more than five months of pushing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down or leave the country, offering inducements to his military to switch sides, the Trump administration scrambled to find viable options to avoid an embarrassing foreign policy defeat. President Trumps senior national security advisors met in an emergency session Wednesday at the White House. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan also abruptly cancelled a trip to Europe to remain in Washington for Venezuela planning. The impasse has frustrated top White House officials, including national security advisor John Bolton. An intense debate appeared underway over whether the U.S. military should be used to raise pressure on Maduro, with senior Pentagon officials warning an armed intervention would be counterproductive. Advertisement Administration officials said secret talks had broken down with some of Maduros top aides in the effort to arrange his exit and organize a transition to democracy under Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim leader backed by the U.S. and many other nations. Maduro appeared Thursday at an army base in Caracas flanked by soldiers in what appeared a show of defiance. He called on his troops to resist what he called coup plotters. U.S. officials said the Pentagons Joint Staff and Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Southern Hemisphere, have given the White House an array of options for potential military action. Possible steps include U.S. naval exercises or deployments of warships outside Venezuelan waters, delivery of humanitarian aid into the country, and more military contacts with neighboring countries to try to enlist their support for joint action. Adm. Craig Faller, head of Southern Command, said the Pentagon was also carefully looking at plans to expand an embargo on Cuba, as Trump suggested in a tweet this week, to erode Havanas support for Maduros government. One question raised by the White House is whether the Pentagon could turn up pressure on Russia and Cuba to cut off their support for the Maduro regime. Russia has accused the Trump administration of violating international law in Venezuela, and Trump has rolled back an Obama-era outreach to Cuba. U.S. military officials have argued against direct intervention. For the moment, officials say, there is no indication that Trump wants to commit U.S. troops to support the Venezuelan opposition, but more modest steps are possible in the coming days. The debate between reluctant Pentagon officials and more aggressive White House aides over possible intervention has been heated at times. Pentagon officials said they may be ordered to get more involved, raising the risk of broader violence in the region. Bolton and other administration officials said they remained confident Maduro would eventually fall. And Pentagon officials said they would continue contingency planning. Were doing what we can now to collect intelligence and make sure we have good visibility on whats happening down in Venezuela and also be prepared to support the president should he require more from the U.S. military, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday. Shanahan, who also testified before the panel, added: When people say all options are on the table, they literally are. Weve done exhaustive planning. Theres not a situation or scenario that we dont have a contingency for. A former senior administration official with deep knowledge of the region described this weeks events, when the Venezuelan opposition along with Bolton expected the Venezuelan military to turn against Maduro, as the Bay of Pigs II a reference to the failed U.S.-backed attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro in 1961. This makes the U.S. look weak and unserious, and pushes toward some kind of intervention to make us look strong, the former official said. If you are Bolton, and youve walked President Trump down this blind alley it would seem we are moving ineluctably toward armed intervention. Bolton and the administrations chief envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, this week named several potential defectors from Venezuelas upper governing echelons, including the defense minister. They then conceded that the group ultimately did not come through on their supposed promises to abandon Maduro and join Guaido. On Tuesday, Guaido made a dramatic appeal for the military to revolt against Maduro. He posted a video of himself with a number of men in uniform and said he had the support of brave soldiers in Caracas. But security forces managed to break up street protests, and a senior opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, who had emerged from house arrest and appeared beside Guaido, later sought refuge with his family in the Spanish Embassy. Venezuelan officials announced a new arrest warrant for Lopez on Thursday. Analysts say the Trump administration has misread the dynamics of the Venezuela crisis. They said the White House underestimated Maduros resilience and fostered unrealistic expectations about the ease of regime change, partly by trusting apparently duplicitous Venezuelan military officials. They have made a series of terrible miscalculations, said Michael Shifter, president of the nonpartisan Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank that specializes in Latin America. The U.S. effort appeared clumsy at best after Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, whom Bolton had named as a potential turncoat, confirmed Thursday that he had been approached by unnamed opposition representatives who sought to turn him into a mercenary and lure him to their side. I was very insulted that they wanted to come and buy me off with a deceitful, stupid and ridiculous offer, Padrino said at a nationally televised military ceremony Thursday with Maduro and numerous senior officers in attendance. They want to pay us as if one had no dignity, he said. Those who fell for that, who sold their soul as a soldier, are no longer soldiers. Critics said the Trump administrations repeated ultimatums, hints of military intervention and threats to blockade Cuba could backfire by eroding broad international diplomatic support for the anti-Maduro forces, and by goading the Venezuelan armed forces to rally around him. This is characteristic of the neoconservatives who are running foreign policy now, said David Smilde, an expert on Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization. They think they can huff and puff and put forth strong rhetoric and the foe will back down. But time and again, that doesnt happen. The sociology of authoritarian governments is far more complex. Times staff writer Patrick McDonnell contributed to this report from Mexico City and special correspondent Mery Mogollon from Caracas. For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter A cruise ship reportedly owned by the Church of Scientology has been quarantined in St. Lucia after a positive measles test on board, a public health official confirmed. Merlene Fredericks James, the Caribbean island nations chief medical officer, said in a video message that authorities are investigating the situation after being told about a confirmed case of measles on the ship Tuesday. We thought it prudent to make the decision not to allow anyone to disembark, James said. James did not identify the ship but St. Lucia Coast Guard Sgt. Victor Theodore told NBC News that the boat is named Freewinds, the same name as a 440-foot cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology. Advertisement The church did not immediately return the New York Daily News request for comment. James said she was working in conjunction with the Pan American Health Organization and the Caribbean Public Health Agency in determining the best course of action for the ship. More than 700 people have been diagnosed with measles in the United States this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highest number in 25 years. Baltimores mayor resigned under pressure Thursday amid a flurry of investigations into whether she arranged bulk sales of her self-published childrens books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. Mayor Catherine Pughs resignation came exactly a week after her City Hall offices, homes and multiple other locations were raided by FBI and IRS agents. She is the second Baltimore mayor in less than a decade to step down because of scandal. She entered office contrasting her clean image with that of her main rival, ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who departed office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families. I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor, Pugh said in a written statement read by her lawyer, Steven Silverman. A federal grand jury has been empaneled, and state and local inquiries are also underway into the roughly $800,000 Pugh made over the years in exchange for her Healthy Holly paperbacks about health and nutrition. Advertisement Since the book scandal erupted in late March, Pughs fractured administration has lurched from one crisis to another, and various aides have been fired or left City Hall. Her resignation provides a measure of resolution after weeks of uncertainty and mounting pressure for her to step down. Marylands Republican governor and numerous Democrats had pressed for her resignation, saying she was no longer fit to lead Baltimore. This was the right decision, as it was clear the mayor could no longer lead effectively, Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement Thursday afternoon. Baltimore City can now begin to move forward. Now that Pugh has resigned, acting Mayor Bernard Jack Young automatically becomes the permanent mayor and will not need to be sworn in. Young, a Democrat and longtime City Council member, is currently in Detroit for a conference about economic development and will return to Baltimore over the weekend. I am confident that I have left the City in capable hands for the duration of the term to which I was elected, Pugh wrote in a letter to Young. In a statement, Young thanked the thousands of city employees who came to work each day under uncertain circumstances for weeks. Although I understand that this ordeal has caused real pain for many Baltimoreans, he said, I promise that we will emerge from it more committed than ever to building a stronger Baltimore. Citing deteriorating health following a bout of pneumonia, Pugh took a paid leave on April 1 and hasnt been seen in public since. The 69-year-old abruptly retreated to her home the same day that Hogan asked the state prosecutor to investigate public corruption accusations against her. In recent days, Silverman had repeatedly gone in and out of Pughs city home to discuss options with her while also asserting that she was so fragile physically and mentally that she was unable to make major decisions. Last week, Silverman had told reporters that she might be lucid enough to make a decision this week. At issue for multiple investigators are questionable financial arrangements she negotiated over years selling her hard-to-find Healthy Holly books. The books were meant to be provided to schools and daycare centers, but its unclear where tens of thousands of copies ended up. Hogan has called the accusations against Pugh deeply disturbing, and the states accountant described the book-selling arrangements as brazen, cartoonish corruption. The City Council called for Pughs immediate resignation, as did numerous state lawmakers and an influential business group, among others. The scandal erupted when it came to light that the University of Maryland Medical System, one of the states largest private employers, paid Pugh $500,000 for 100,000 copies of her childrens books. There was no contract behind the deal, and the hospital network described some of the purchases as grants in federal filings. A Camille Pissarro painting looted by Nazis from a Jewish woman in Berlin rightfully belongs to the Spanish museum that ultimately acquired it, or so a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles has ruled. His decision was not just a blow to the family members who filed the lawsuit, but also a troubling indication of how difficult it is to carry out the restitution of art works stolen in that era. No one disputes that Lilly Cassirer was forced to give up the painting of a Paris streetscape, Rue Saint-Honore, Apres Midi, Effet de Pluie, in exchange for an exit visa out of Berlin. What is disputed is whether the Thyssen-Bornemiesza Museum in Madrid, which bought the painting as part of the late Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemiszas collection in 1993 and has displayed it since the early 90s, is the rightful owner. Two of Cassirers descendants have waged a 20-year battle to get back the painting, last valued at $30 million. Similar battles have played out in courts and auction houses around the world as the whereabouts of artistic works have become easier to track online. Meanwhile, governments, museums, and auction houses have set stricter rules for determining the provenance of pieces they acquire and for returning pieces they realize were stolen. Advertisement But none of that makes restitution simple as the Cassirer case, which has been in federal court for years, has shown. The museums failure to investigate the provenance of the painting may have been irresponsible, he wrote, but it was not criminal. The paintings journey from Cassirers parlor in Berlin to a palace in Madrid that houses the Thyssen-Bornemiesza museum has been long and complicated. But according to Judge John F. Walter, the bottom line is that, under Spanish law, the painting (despite being stolen from Cassirer) now belongs to the museum. Walter found that the baron, a German industrialist and sophisticated art collector, did a poor job researching the history of the painting when he bought it in the late 1970s ignoring such clues as intentionally removed labels on the back of the painting and a torn label that indicated the painting had been in Berlin. Also, Pissarros were often looted by the Nazis. The Cassirer family and their lawyers have long maintained that there is ample evidence that the baron knew very well he was buying a looted painting. Nonetheless, Walter found that the baron did not have actual knowledge that the painting was stolen. Nor did the museum have certain knowledge of the theft, Walter ruled. The museums failure to investigate the provenance of the painting may have been irresponsible, he wrote, but it was not criminal. The Cassirer familys lawyers have said they will appeal. Officials at the museum, which is owned by the Kingdom of Spain and operated by a foundation, say they would not have purchased the Pissarro had they known it had been looted. If the investigation had revealed the slightest problem or if we (the advisors), or the Kingdom or the Foundation had had the slightest doubt about any painting (in terms of title or artistic authorship) it would have been immediately excluded, a former legal advisor to the museum told the court. That doesnt explain why the Thyssen-Bornemiesza has continued to hold on to the painting and has refused to compensate the Cassirers for their loss. Thats a failure of its moral responsibility a responsibility that the Spanish government, which owns the collection, committed to take on. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute Two decades ago, Spain and nearly four dozen other countries signed a nonbinding international agreement, the Washington Principles, dedicated to reaching a just and fair solution to cases of looted art when the owners or their heirs can be identified. Even Walter said in his ruling that the Thyssens refusal to return the painting was inconsistent with the Washington Principles. But he could not force the museum to comply with its moral commitments. The museum shouldnt need a court order to do the right thing, and its unconscionable after all these years in possession of a looted work of art that the museum has not done so. This is simply Spain ignoring its moral obligations, said Stuart Eizenstat, the former undersecretary of State who was the main negotiator of the Washington Principles. The museum should work with the Cassirer family to come up with a reasonable solution. That doesnt necessarily mean returning the painting. The museum could offer to pay the family in order to keep the painting. But refusing to recognize any obligation to Cassirers heirs is shameful. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook In November of 2016, a Darfuri man named Ameen, his wife, Aarya, and their daughter were referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement to the United States. That welcome news came after more than a decade of persecution and hardship for the family, first in Sudan, where the Janjaweed militia were systematically killing Darfuris, and later in Jordan, where they fled. In the past, such a referral generally meant that a refugee could hope to be resettled fairly quickly. But Ameen and his family are still waiting in Jordan as a result of a marked shift in U.S. refugee policy. In recent weeks, a lot has been written about President Donald Trumps xenophobic attacks on people seeking asylum at U.S. borders. But we should remember that the administration has also gutted and radically reshaped the other primary way people fleeing persecution come to the United States: the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The administrations stance ignores overwhelming empirical evidence, including from its own study, that refugees are a huge net benefit to the U.S. economy. Advertisement Part of the shift in how refugees are being handled can be seen in the numbers. In the last fiscal year of Barack Obamas presidency, the United States took in about 85,000 refugees. In fiscal year 2018, the first full year of Trumps presidency, the number dropped to about 22,500. For the current fiscal year, which ends in October, the administration has set a ceiling of 30,000 refugee admissions, but we are not on track to hit even that paltry number. Halfway through the fiscal year, we have admitted just over 12,000 refugees. And it is not just the numbers that have changed. Since Trump took office, a far smaller percentage of the refugees admitted to the United States are Muslim a significant shift, since many of the worlds most desperate refugees today are Muslim. That said, because admissions are down so sharply, the overall number of resettled Christian refugees is also down. The changes are rooted in Trumps broader policies targeting certain countries for much stricter visa and refugee policies. This process began with an executive order President Trump issued just a week after taking office in January of 2017. In addition to banning visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries, the order suspended all refugee resettlement for 120 days. Today, after many court challenges and some changes to the order, the so-called Muslim ban is now the law of the land, and millions of people are being prevented from entering the U.S. under its terms. In October 2017, the administration struck another blow to refugees, barring admissions from 11 designated countries (most of them predominantly Muslim), saying it was a temporary move to study the situation. About 44% of U.S. refugee admissions in fiscal year 2016 came from the countries targeted by that action, which included Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Yemen. Following a lawsuit brought by several organizations, including my organization, the International Refugee Assistance Project, a judge largely blocked this order, and the injunction was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. And yet, out of the 12,000 refugees admitted so far this fiscal year, only 602, a mere 5%, have been admitted from the countries the administration sought to block. The total number of refugees admitted from Sudan is 10 times lower than in past years. And only a single refugee has been admitted from Yemen, which the U.N. has said has the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Trumps efforts stem from a narrative that paints refugees, at best, as foreigners stealing jobs and draining government resources and, at worst, as criminals and terrorists. The administrations stance, however, ignores overwhelming empirical evidence, including from its own study, that refugees are a huge net benefit to the U.S. economy. To counter the administrations narrative, some on the left are taking a similarly flawed approach, portraying refugees as downtrodden victims plagued by poverty and war in desperate need of charity. This view helps fuel the rights fears that refugees are coming solely to take from our society and implies they dont have much to give. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute In actuality, refugees are a self-selecting group of some of the most tenacious, creative, democracy-loving people in the world. Far from being likely recruits for terrorists, they have stood up to terrorism. They have been through hell, survived, and found a way out with their families. The United States values ingenuity and entrepreneurship, traits essential to escaping from Islamic State-occupied Mosul, making the treacherous journey across another countrys border, and living to tell the story. Similarly, you would be hard-pressed to find someone with more appreciation for democracy than a former political prisoner of the Assad regime in Syria. Ameen, Aarya and their young baby, the Darfuri refugees whose resettlement is in limbo, would do well here in the United States. Ameen is a farmer by trade, and his skills would be useful in our agricultural sector, which is plagued by labor shortages. Aarya has studied to become a doctor, and their baby daughter is the embodiment of endless possibility. We would be lucky to have them as neighbors. Becca Heller is the co-founder and executive director of the International Refugee Assistance Project. The Supreme Court last week took three cases that will determine whether Title VII, the part of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, protects lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender employees. In each case two involving a gay man and one a transgender woman the plaintiffs clearly were terminated simply because of who they are. A loss would reverse decades of precedent and strip legal protections from millions of LGBTQ workers. What may be less obvious, however, is how the Trump administration in siding against the LGBTQ employees is attacking sex discrimination law more broadly. Over the past 20 years, the federal courts increasingly have held that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Transgender plaintiffs, in particular, have prevailed in nearly every contemporary case. This track record of success is not exclusively the result of growing public support for LGBTQ people, however. These plaintiffs succeeded because they relied on well-settled principles from non-LGBTQ cases. Advertisement It is hard to see how the Supreme Court could rule against the LGBTQ workers in these new cases without upending decades of established law. The Supreme Court repeatedly has held that workplace discrimination against an individual because of his or her sex is unlawful, even if the employer does not disadvantage all men or all women. A landmark case in this regard is Hopkins vs. Price Waterhouse (1989). The court ruled in favor of Ann Hopkins, a woman whod been denied partnership at an accounting firm because an all-male committee deemed her too macho and unfeminine. The court said such gender stereotyping violates Title VII, even though that prejudicial behavior did not disadvantage all women and might also have harmed men who were gender-nonconforming. The Supreme Court has also refused to limit Title VII to only the specific forms of sex discrimination Congress had in mind in 1964. In 1998, for example, in a unanimous decision authored by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, the court held that Title VII prohibits male-on-male harassment, even though Congress almost certainly did not consider that issue when it enacted the law. Statutory prohibitions often go beyond the principal evil that prompted the law to cover reasonably comparable evils, and it is ultimately the provisions of our laws rather than the principal concerns of our legislators by which we are governed, Scalia explained. These principles have led even conservative federal judges to conclude that Title VII must be applied to protect LGBTQ workers. After all, sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination is rooted in an individuals sex, even if it does not disadvantage either men or women as a group. If a man is fired for having a male partner, the employer has treated that man differently than a female employee with a male partner even if the employer would also fire a female employee with a female partner. Similarly, a policy barring transgender employees discriminates against individuals based on their sex, even if applied to both transgender women and transgender men. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion It is hard to see how the Supreme Court could rule against the LGBTQ workers in these new cases without upending decades of established law. And yet the Trump administration is asking the court to do just that. According to the U.S. solicitor general, who represents the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in one of the cases, lower courts have misconstrued the Supreme Courts sweeping declaration (made first in 1978 and repeated in Hopkins vs. Price Waterhouse) that in forbidding employers to discriminate against individuals because of their sex, Congress intended to strike at the entire spectrum of disparate treatment of men and women resulting from sex stereotypes. Instead, the solicitor general asserts that Title VII should bar only workplace policies that disadvantage all men or all women. Under that line of thinking, employers could again deny promotion to women like Hopkins who are unfeminine or macho because that wouldnt disfavor all female employees. In addition, he contends that Congress intended to prohibit only discrimination based on biological sex a restriction that would exclude many gender stereotyping claims. If accepted by the Supreme Court, these arguments would do far more than exclude LGBTQ employees from workplace protections. They would produce a radical change in the law, eliminating many of Title VIIs most vital protections. This would severely erode the foundation for individual claims of sexual harassment, hostile environment and gender stereotyping. Most lower courts have agreed, with remarkable consistency and across a wide range of political viewpoints, that Title VII prevents unfair treatment of all workers men, women, lesbian, gay and transgender alike. In effect, the Trump administration is inviting the Supreme Court to undo decades of these cases. It would be shocking if the court agreed to do so. But it is already shocking that the Trump administration is willing to harm all workers in order to strip LGBTQ people of these basic rights. Shannon Minter is the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and was lead counsel for same-sex couples in the landmark California marriage equality case. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook This weekend, Union Station the last classic rail terminal to be completed in the United States will mark its 80th birthday with live music, a model train exhibition, food trucks and a crafts fair. Ill be there, both to celebrate a structure that has long been one of my favorites in the city and to consider its complicated relationship to Los Angeles history. Union Station is an architectural masterpiece, designed by the father-son team Parkinson & Parkinson, the firm responsible for Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, City Hall, Bullocks Wilshire and the Alexandria Hotel. The year the station opened, 1939, was a hinge point in Los Angeles history and something of an annus mirabilis for the city. The Arroyo Parkway, the first freeway in Southern California, was under construction; it would open the following year. A trio of novels Raymond Chandlers The Big Sleep, John Fantes Ask the Dust and Nathanael Wests The Day of the Locust collectively articulated a vision of what happens when local boosterism yields to existential desperation, a point-of-view the city still supports. As beautiful as Union Station is, when voters chose it they cemented many of the citys problems. Advertisement This is the moment, in other words, when Los Angeles starts to grow into itself. When past and present come together in a building that exists for us now as a symbol of both pride and disrepute. The station with its grand hall, its stucco arches and countless deft and nuanced details must have seemed like the cherry on top of 1939, a marker for a burgeoning Los Angeles. It combined (unified, get it?) three powerful rail lines and was the largest terminal in the West. Its aesthetics combined futuristic Streamline Moderne style with the citys Mission Revival, or Spanish Colonial Revival, roots. As early as 1915, Los Angeles had sought to consolidate the rail operations serving Southern California. A decade later, these efforts led to a pair of competing ballot measures: one to build the station, another to create a network of elevated tracks that would link the railroads and their then-separate depots. This latter plan was connected to the Comprehensive Rapid Transit Plan drafted by the Chicago firm of Kelker, De Leuw & Co., which proposed 153 miles of subway, elevated trains and streetcar lines. To look at the Kelker, De Leuw drawings, with a transit network overlaid across the grid of streets, is to imagine an entirely different Los Angeles, denser and more vertical, not unlike the city we are making now. As beautiful as Union Station is, when voters chose it they cemented many of the citys problems: traffic congestion, competing power centers, an unwillingness to take the long view. And then there is racism. To clear ground for Union Station, Chinatown was condemned and razed in the early 1930s, after a long period of neglect. As that community sought to reconfigure itself, the city approved the creation of China City, a block-long Chinese village set that borrowed structures from the movie The Good Earth. (It was destroyed by fire in 1949.) The displacement of Chinese Americans is hardly atypical in Southern California. Local housing covenants prevented African Americans, Asians, Jews and other ethnic groups from living in many areas of Los Angeles until after World War II. In 1924, when pneumonic plague broke out in a Mexican neighborhood near downtown, some newspapers referred to the plague as being a Mexican disease, Bill Estrada of El Pueblo de Los Angeles told The Times in 2006. Poor Mexican immigrants were accused of bringing unsanitary conditions with them. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute Union Stations opening 80 years ago marked or seemed to mark a coming of age for Los Angeles, but it was on the cusp of obsolescence as soon as it opened its doors. The Arroyo Parkway was the regions transportation future, along with air travel. Within a decade, Los Angeles International Airport originally established as Mines Field in 1930 would expand into something like its current form, pushing rail travel into the background. And of course, the stations mission and Spanish colonial elements were nothing if not nostalgic, embodying less a real architectural history than a sentimentalized pseudo-Southern California style popularized by Helen Hunt Jacksons 1884 novel, Ramona. It doesnt go too far to say that the bell towers, fountains and Moorish tiles even in the hands of world class architects represent another cultural erasure, not unlike China City. We can appreciate Union Station as an enduring landmark aspirational, beautiful, emblematic only if we also take into account the way it effaces and prettifies our history, a reflection of the complex and conflicting narratives that define Los Angeles. David L. Ulin is a contributing writer to Opinion. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook To the editor: I disagree with letter writers who say former Vice President Joe Biden deserves support for the Democratic nomination in 2020 because he can most easily beat President Trump. I am old enough to remember when Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. His handling of that, and especially the testimony of Anita Hill, was awful. Since then he sided with credit card companies, corporations and banks rather than consumers. Hes the guy you can sit and joke around with, but when push comes to shove he is no Bernie Sanders. Sylvia Hampton, San Diego Advertisement .. To the editor: Finally, finally Biden has reached out to Hill to take responsibility for his part in how she was treated in 1991. Why did it take him so long? What is it with some men? When are they going to realize that it takes far more strength than weakness to admit to making a mistake, take responsibility and say Im sorry, and then learn from their mistakes? These poor men are raised to believe that being wrong is a sign of weakness or failure, rather than the main way we learn and grow. This disrupts their relationships, workplaces and friendships, and then we therapists have our jobs cut out for us. Susan Shell, Los Angeles Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: The article on the Manzanar pilgrimage relayed the important lessons that the U.S. governments internment of Japanese Americans during World War II holds for so many communities today. As a third-generation Japanese American, this is personal. My mother wrote for the Manzanar Free Press before she was sent to Arkansas to join my father, who was later sent to Europe as part of the famed 442nd Infantry Regiment. My uncle, who was the early inspiration behind the Manzanar Museum, met and married my aunt at the camp. After he died, we scattered his ashes over the small creek at Manzanar in accordance with his final wishes. Members of my generation fought for and won redress and reparations for surviving internees. In 1981, the Presidential Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians concluded that the imprisonment of Japanese Americans was a grave injustice caused by race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. Today we are witnessing incidents of family separation and detention without due process. As family members of internment survivors, we have a right and a responsibility to speak out on whats happening today. This is the legacy of the Manzanar pilgrimage. Advertisement Miya Iwataki, South Pasadena The writer is vice president of the Little Tokyo Historical Society. :: To the editor: I grew up in Los Angeles and attended Belmont High School, where I got an excellent education. My classmates were from countries on almost every continent of the world. All of us worked together, mindful but respectful of our differences. We were all L.A. kids. Many of my friends were Japanese Americans, and I later learned of the horrible incarceration of their families at Manzanar and other camps during World War II. I have never understood peoples hatred and cruelty to anyone different from themselves. Most young people are less concerned about their differences than about sharing experiences and enjoying each other. People of every age and place desperately need to respect each other and peacefully live together. Mona Gerecht, Los Angeles Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook House Democrats accused Atty. Gen. William Barr of lying to Congress and threatened Thursday to hold him in contempt, the latest salvo in a building constitutional clash between Democratic lawmakers and the Trump administration over access to witnesses and documents. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Barr broke the law when he testified on April 9 that he wasnt aware of concerns from members of special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs team that Barr had intentionally mischaracterized Muellers findings in a letter to Congress. The attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States, she told reporters. Thats a crime. Mueller had complained to Barr in a private letter on March 27 that the attorney generals summary letter failed to fully capture the context, nature and substance of the investigation and added to public confusion about critical aspects of the results. Advertisement As expected, Barr failed to appear for a scheduled House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, leaving an empty chair and name card at the witness table, after Democrats voted to let staff lawyers question him for an hour. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) brought a bucket of KFC chicken to imply that Barr was a coward for not showing up. The brief hearing quickly broke down, as Democrats and Republicans traded charges of bad faith. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the ranking Republican, accused Democrats of staging a stunt to make Barr look bad after he had testified for five hours on Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Justice Department also ignored a committee subpoena to provide Muellers unredacted report and underlying evidence, which the panel had requested by Wednesday. Roughly 10% of the reports 448 pages were blacked out. In a letter Wednesday, Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen Boyd told the committee that lawmakers lack any legitimate legislative purpose for seeking the complete investigative files. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) eats fried chicken during a House Judiciary Committee hearing to imply Atty. Gen. William Barr was a coward for not showing up. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images) Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, accused President Trump of trying to block legitimate congressional oversight of the executive branch and vowed to fight back. We will make sure that no president becomes a monarch, he said. With several House committees investigating Trumps businesses, finances and other matters, the administration has refused to provide the presidents tax returns, records on White House security clearances and other documents. It also has tried to limit or block testimony from current and former officials. We are at a very critical moment in this nations history, said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, whom Trump sued last week to block his demands for financial documents. The president is blocking us from interviewing White House personnel, executive people in his administration. The presidents stonewalling has made some Democrats willing to consider impeachment proceedings, which party leaders have repeatedly said they oppose for now. They have succeeded in building a near-unanimous sense in the Democratic caucus that the executive branch of government is in defiance of the Constitution and the rule of law, said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). Although the White House generally cooperated with Muellers team by providing documents and making officials available for interviews, Trump has vowed to block the Democratic-led inquiries and to fight all the subpoenas. Emmet Flood, a White House lawyer, said in an April 19 letter to Barr that Trump can instruct his advisors to decline to appear before congressional committees. The president is determined to protect from congressional scrutiny not only the advice rendered by his own advisors, but also advisors to future presidents, Flood wrote. The House Judiciary Committee could vote to hold Barr in contempt next week for ignoring their subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report, Democrats said. If they do, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) said Congress can levy fines or even order someone detained, although he said incarcerating a recalcitrant witness is unlikely. I dont think we would do that, but the courts have upheld that power because they understand that in the Constitution you have a system of checks and balances, he said. President Obamas attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., was held in contempt by the Republican-led House in 2012 when he refused to hand over documents involving a gun-tracking operation. He was the first sitting Cabinet member sanctioned that way. A lawsuit over the dispute was settled years after Holder left office. Republicans rallied around Barr and rejected Democrats accusations that he had perjured himself. I do not believe Attorney General Barr lied, said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield). I believe hes been very transparent in all of this. Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department representative, called Pelosis statement reckless, irresponsible and false. Barr denied that he misled Congress during his April 9 appearance, when he suggested he didnt have any knowledge of concerns from members of the special counsels office. During his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, he said he was only answering the question narrowly because of how it was worded. Barr called the entire controversy over his characterization of Muellers report mind-bendingly bizarre because the partly redacted document has now been released, allowing Congress and the public to assess the evidence Mueller assembled. Angry that the Justice Department wont comply with a congressional subpoena for an unredacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs report, and frustrated by Atty. Gen. William Barrs decision to skip a hearing where he was to testify Thursday, the Democratic-controlled House is threatening to hold Barr in contempt. It sets up a showdown over constitutional powers between the executive and legislative branches that President Trump and the House have built toward for months. Trump told reporters last week that hell fight every subpoena. For the record: A previous version of this article said the Senate was controlled by the Democrats when it refused to convict President Clinton after the House impeachment. The Senate was Republican-controlled at the time. Here are some things you should know about what could happen next. What is contempt of Congress? A contempt finding is how Congress may respond when someone refuses to testify or provide information as part of a House or Senate investigation. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld that Congress has a right to compel people to comply with its oversight efforts. Advertisement Such demands are more complicated when they involve other branches of the government. Presidents always have information they dont want to give Congress. In the past, the mere threat of being held in contempt not to mention Congress power over funding the government was usually enough to convince an administration to comply with a request, or at least negotiate a compromise. Unlike impeachment proceedings, either chamber of Congress the House or the Senate can pursue contempt charges without needing the participation or approval of the other chamber. How common is contempt of Congress? Not that common. Congress has found someone in contempt fewer than 30 times since 1980, according to the Congressional Research Service. What happens after Congress holds someone in contempt? Congress has a few options. The most common is that it can send a criminal contempt referral to a U.S. attorney. If prosecuted and convicted, the punishment is up to a $10,000 fine and a year in jail. But will the Justice Department enforce a contempt of Congress finding against a member of the executive branch? Good point. Probably not. Federal prosecutors have broad discretion over whether to bring charges or not, and its unlikely theyll do so against an executive branch official, especially if the person being held in contempt is the attorney general, the nations top law enforcement official. Also, the president has called subpoenas the weapon of choice for Democrats all-out political war and vowed to fight them all, especially those related to his familys finances or business dealings. Have we been in this situation before? Yes, and there is precedent. Most recently, U.S. attorneys cited their prosecutorial discretion to justify decisions not to pursue contempt charges against former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and then-White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in 2008, and Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in 2012. Then, like now, the executive branch was under one party while the House was controlled by the other. Is there anything else Congress can do? Yes, it can go to federal court. Thats the next option, but its a time-consuming one. Either the House or Senate can file a lawsuit in federal district court seeking a declaration that the person is legally obligated to comply with the congressional subpoena. But Trump would likely try to delay turning over any information to the House until after the 2020 election. It took four years after Holder was held in contempt for the courts to rule that the Obama administration had to hand over documents Republicans had requested about detailing the botched Fast and Furious gun sales operation. If the court rules in Congress favor, the person can be held in contempt of court and jailed. Any other options? Yes, but its rare these days and controversial, relying on a congressional authority known as inherent contempt. That method hasnt been used since 1935. Inherent contempt was once a fairly common tactic used by Congress to ensure compliance. This route involves a person being arrested by the sergeant at arms of the House or Senate, and brought before the full House or Senate for a trial. In this case, it would effectively involve the House ordering the arrest of the nations attorney general. Thats no small step. The person is then tried by the chamber that brought the contempt charge. If convicted, the person is imprisoned possibly on the Capitol grounds until they agree to comply. They would be released when Congress decides or when the two-year congressional session ends. What about impeachment? Thats another possibility. Democrats so far have been reluctant to impeach Trump, but they might be less hesitant to impeach an unelected official such as Barr. The problem is that even if the House votes to impeach, that is only the first part of the proceeding. Because impeachment involves both chambers, it is the Senate, now under Republican control, that would have the power to convict which requires a two-thirds vote and remove a person from office. That was the situation when the House voted to impeach President Clinton and the Senate refused to convict him. Impeachment is the biggest weapon in Democrats arsenal, but it is extreme and could backfire if voters perceive it to be politically motivated. The latest from Washington More stories from Sarah D. Wire The Los Angeles Times/Kaiser Family Foundation survey of adults with employer-sponsored health insurance is based on interviews with a probability-based sample of 1,407 respondents between the ages of 18 and 64 who reported having health insurance from an employer or union (excluding those covered by a parents employer). Interviews were administered online and by telephone from Sept. 25 through Oct. 9, 2018, in English and Spanish. Teams from The Times and the the Kaiser Family Foundation worked together to develop the questionnaire and analyze the data, and both organizations contributed financing for the survey. Each organization is solely responsible for its content. The NORC independent research organization at the University of Chicago conducted sampling, interviewing and tabulation for the survey using the AmeriSpeak Panel, a representative panel of adults 18 and over living in the United States. AmeriSpeak Panel members are recruited through probability-sampling methods using the NORC National Sample Frame, an address-based sampling frame. Panel members who do not have internet access complete surveys via telephone, and internet users complete surveys via the web (for this survey, 60 respondents completed via phone and 1,347 via web). Advertisement For this study, panelists with lower incomes were selected at disproportionately higher rates than those with higher incomes in order to allow for separate analysis of low-income people with employer-sponsored insurance. The combined results have been weighted to adjust for the fact that not all survey respondents were selected with the same probability, to address the implications of sample design, and to account for systematic non-response along known population parameters. The first weighting stage addressed differences in probability of selection for the AmeriSpeak Panel and accounted for differential non-response to the AmeriSpeak screening interview. At this stage, an adjustment was also made to account for the oversampling of lower-income panelists and to account for differential non-response to the survey screening interview. In the second weighting stage, the sample was adjusted to match known demographic distributions of the U.S. population ages 18-64 with employer-sponsored health insurance using the following parameters: age, age by sex, age by education, gender by education, education within non-Hispanic whites, race/ethnicity, census division, and household income. Demographic weighting parameters were based on the U.S. Census Bureaus March 2018 annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey. The margin of sampling error including the design effect for the full sample is 3 percentage points in either direction. All statistical tests of significance account for the effect of weighting. Numbers of respondents and margins of sampling error for key subgroups are shown in the table below. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. Sample sizes and margins of sampling error for other subgroups are available on request. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll. Kaiser Family Foundation public opinion and survey research and NORC at the University of Chicago are both charter members of the Transparency Initiative of the American Assn. for Public Opinion Research. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that California must take action to prepare for an inevitable wave of job losses due to the rapid rise of automation and advances in technology, an economic transformation that will affect millions of workers over the next decade. The governor announced the creation of a new Future of Work Commission at American River College in Sacramento, where he worked briefly alongside a campus custodian and landscaper to commemorate workers on International Workers Day. The commission, Newsom said, would identify sectors of the states economy most vulnerable to automation and recommend tangible ways to assist and retrain Californians at risk for losing their livelihoods. Were not just going to be bystanders as it relates to these macroeconomic changes. We want to shape them, and we think California can help shape that future, Newsom said. Im trying to meet this with a sense of urgency. Millions of Californians jobs could be affected by automation a scenario the next governor has to address Advertisement The future of work and effects of automation were major themes of Newsoms 2018 gubernatorial campaign. He warned that California could not afford to ignore the likelihood that the rise of automated vehicles would lead to truck and taxi drivers losing their jobs, along with thousands of warehouse and retail jobs potentially being eliminated by high-tech innovations. Among the options to consider, Newsom said Wednesday, are portable benefits that would stay with workers who change professions, as well as tax credits for Californians to use on training for new employment skills. The governor dismissed the assessment by some that technological advances were arriving too quickly to retool the workforce and that government-provided universal basic income in which a no-strings stipend would be paid to every adult in the state a smaller-scale program is being piloted in Stockton was the only solution. Its not my default. I think thats a worst-case, break-glass scenario, Newsom said. I think we are more than capable of addressing automation in a way that actually can frame abundance, as opposed to scarcity meaning come out the other side with more jobs, more opportunities, not less. So Im not willing to submit that [universal basic income] is where we need to end up. What would a universal basic income mean for America? Stockton thinks it has the answer The rapid increase in automation has created considerable anxiety among American workers. A 2017 Pew poll found that 72% of adults said they were worried about a future in which robots and computers perform human jobs. Virtual assistants such as Siri or Alexa are being used in hotels, standing in for concierges or front desk assistants. Amazon has opened cashier-less convenience stores and self-serve kiosks have popped up inside McDonalds restaurants. Newsom said his commission will comprise 14 to 18 members and include representatives from the public and private sectors, labor, and leaders in education and workforce development. The panel will provide its recommendations to the governor in February. Newsom signed the executive order creating the commission after a brief work day at the Sacramento community college where with television news cameras watching he changed the bulbs in a fluorescent light fixture, replaced a paper towel dispenser in a restroom and fixed a lawn sprinkler, among other tasks. I think its really important that we dont walk by people who are cleaning the toilets, that we acknowledge them, we celebrate them, Newsom said. Those are the folks who are the backbone of the country. Custodian Maria Arambula, 53, thanked Newsom for spending the morning with her. She told the governor that, despite having a good job and good benefits, its still difficult to get by. Were all just out there struggling, said Arambula, a mother of three daughters who has worked at the college for 23 years. Its hard. phil.willon@latimes.com Twitter: @philwillon The owner of Tonys Darts Away and Mohawk Bend is partnering with Burbank to create a new public amenity in the downtown area where residents and visitors can spend their evenings and weekends. The Burbank Community Development Department hosted a community workshop in the Community Services Building on Monday and presented the proposed Burbank Common project, a public-private partnership between the city and developer West Magnolia, LLC, with plans to redevelop a 2.4-acre site at 10 W. Magnolia Blvd. The proposed project would involve demolishing the existing 70,000-square-foot former AmeriCold cold storage warehouse and replace it with 33,000 square feet of event space, a roller rink, 19,000 square feet of restaurant, craft beer pub, cafe and special-event space and about 47,000 square feet of outdoor space where the public can congregate and eat. The site is located next to the Metrolink downtown Burbank station and behind Burbank Water and Power. Ross Young, a project manager for Burbank, said the project would use the 471 parking spaces currently located around the train station, of which 240 spaces will be adjacent to the site. Young said Metrolink users use about 65% of the spaces during weekdays. We know that the greatest demand for this project will be on evenings and weekends, so we think those opposing peak-period demands will accommodate both uses with the implementation of managed parking, he said. Young said the city, with help from its former Redevelopment Agency, bought the warehouse in 2003 to allow Burbank Water and Power to use the site to finish constructing a portion of its facility, and to use the site as a transit-oriented development. Burbank tried to demolish the site in 2008 but did not generate enough support from the City Council because of high demolition costs. After dealing with the dismantling of the Redevelopment Agency, Young said the city owns the property outright and will be working with West Magnolia to redevelop the site. Developer West Magnolia is looking to replace a 70,000-square-foot warehouse with an event space, restaurants, a brewery and outdoor public space. (Courtesy of the city of Burbank ) The man behind West Magnolia is Tony Yanow, owner of Tonys Darts Away in Magnolia Park and the brewpub Mohawk Bend in Echo Park. Yanow was also one of the original founders of Golden Road Brewing, one of the largest craft-beer breweries in Los Angeles. One of the reasons why we reached out to Tony and his team is the experiences that weve seen him create in the spaces theyve gone into, said Daniel Villa, an associate planner for Burbank. Villa added that the property will be owned by the city, but will be operated by Yanow and his restaurant group, the Artisanal Brewers Collective. Tonys Darts Away used to be an unassuming dive bar in Magnolia Park, but Yanow bought the business almost nine years ago and converted it into a popular brewpub that specializes in craft beer and vegan food. Thats also the case with Mohawk Bend, which was once a Vaudeville theater but is now a thriving restaurant with a focus on craft beer. Yanow formed the Artisanal Brewers Collective after selling Golden Road to Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2015 and has since been adding more establishments to his brewpub portfolio. Some of his latest projects include the Stalking Horse Brewery and Freehouse in Los Angeles, Brennans in Marina Del Rey and a new beer-focused eatery in downtown San Diego, Yanow said. Paige Reilly, a co-founder of the Artisanal Brewers Collective, said Burbank Commons goal is to offer a family-friendly space where craft beer fans can bring their families and socialize with others who have similar interests. There are some great production breweries that have some great small taprooms, but [theyre] literally... concrete jungle[s] with metal seats and a food truck outside, Reilly said. Youre not able to have a true comfortable experience where you can bring your families and sit for a longer period of time and have genuine conversations with other people that have that same passion [for craft beer]. Though the restaurant and brewpub are the main features of the Burbank Common project, Yanow and his team said that the proposed event space will address another issue that Burbank has had a lack of space for corporate events. Cary Berger, a member of the Artisanal Brewers Collective, said the proposed roughly 25,000-sqaure-foot event space on the west side of the site would be ideal for business conferences, expos, trade shows and conventions. Also, Yanow said that adding a roller derby rink can offer a more permanent and cleaner venue for girls and women who enjoy that activity. Its a great sport that empowers women, but its generally happening in dark parts of a city, Yanow said. Young said the project is currently undergoing its environmental analysis and community outreach phase. He expects the project will go before the Planning Board and the City Council by late summer. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio A sophisticated drug lab in a quiet Burbank hillside community was uncovered early Thursday morning after police said they responded to a report of suspicious activity at a home in the neighborhood. The Burbank Police Department was called to check on a home in the 3400 block of Castleman Lane around 1:20 a.m. after witnesses reported seeing a dog coming from a residence with its front door open. Sgt. Derek Green, a department spokesman, said officers saw the lights were still on inside the home when they arrived and several vehicles were parked in the driveway. However, no one responded to the officers when they approached. Fearing that someone was inside the home, possibly in distress, in need of help or the victim of a crime, the officers entered the residence, Green said. Inside police said they found drug manufacturing equipment in different parts of the home and the garage. Strange odors throughout the residence led police to believe they were dealing with a secret drug lab used to extract hash oil from marijuana plants. Green said officers secured the home, and personnel from the Burbank Fire Department and HazMat Response Team as well as investigators from the California Department of Justice were called in because of the volatile and dangerous nature of drugs labs. By midafternoon authorities had confiscated all the equipment and narcotics inside. Its not immediately known how long the lab had been in the home or if the listed owner for the property is connected to the operation, Green said. He said illegal labs typically garner calls from neighbors about suspicious activity because of a constant flow of traffic to and from the home. One man who was described as a house guest at the residence was briefly detained by police but was eventually released. It wasnt known how he was connected to the investigation. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland got a jolt Thursday morning after their plane skidded off a runway as it landed at Hollywood Burbank Airport. Just after 9 a.m., Flight 278 from Oakland slid on runway 26, which runs perpendicular to Hollywood Way, according to airport spokeswoman Lucy Burghdorf. For the record: This story has been updated with additional information about the incident. The aircraft continued to slide until it was stopped by an engineered materials arrestor system, or EMAS, near the end of the runway, located about 30 to 40 yards away from the street. The system involves a bed of materials a plane sinks into if it slides off a runway, thereby slowing it down, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The EMAS did exactly what it was supposed and designed to do it stopped the plane from going through the blast fence, Burghdorf said. It didnt hit anything else. The airport angel was with us this morning. A statement issued by the airline said no injuries were reported among the 112 passengers and five crew members aboard the flight. Hollywood Burbank Airport safety officials are investigating why the aircraft lost control. Although the airport remained open after the incident, several flights were canceled or delayed, according to Burghdorf. Passengers coming into or leaving the airfield were advised to check with their airline to see if their flight was affected. Burghdorf said the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident. A spokesman for the federal agency said it will take a while before an official cause is determined. During the flights rough landing the Southland was battered by heavy rainfall since early Thursday morning. Moe Storch, a passenger on the plane, said on Twitter the aircraft reportedly hydroplaned after landing on the wet runway. Wet runway... plane hydroplaned after landed... pilot regained control and hit brakes hit, reverse thrust, just in time Moe Storch (@MoeStorch) December 6, 2018 Los Angeles County was expected to see between .50 to 1.5 inches of rainfall through early Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The storm was ultimately stronger than expected and parts of L.A. saw around 2 inches of rain while the foothill areas saw nearly 4 inches. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc UPDATES: Dec. 7, 3:25 p.m.: This article was updated with the current status of the incidents investigation. Dec. 6, 11:25 a.m.: This article was updated with information on how the plane was stopped and the airports current status. This article was originally published on Dec. 6 at 10:15 a.m. Journalism is one of those professions that gets under your skin. Twenty years after I left community news, my work as a small-fry city hall reporter and city editor continues to inform my reading and my world view. For example, my friends know that if theyre going to bash the media to me, Ill demand they show why the journalists theyre mad at failed to do their jobs properly and didnt just fail to do them in a way my friend would have preferred. My experience informs my approach to grammar and language, too. This column would be very different if, instead of a background in journalism, I had a masters degree in English literature. In that case, Id likely focus on the beauty and artistry of the written word. Instead, I focus on language as a tool and on its utilitarian power to convey information journalism. So its from this you-can-take-the-girl-out-of-the-newsroom-but-you-cant-take-the-newsroom-out-of-the-girl perspective that Ive followed the news of Julian Assanges arrest and the ensuing debate over journalistic freedoms. The discussion should be moot. Assange was charged with hacking crimes, not publishing. Read the April 25 A Word, Please: Blog looks at weirdness of various languages Still, pundits have used his arrest as an excuse to furrow their brows and express grave concerns about what it all means for press freedoms. For them, and for anyone who shares my passionate support of a free press, I have good news: Assange is not a journalist. And I can prove it if youll follow me through two scenarios, one made-up, one real. Scenario one: A fictional worker at a fictional tobacco company sits at his computer typing up a press release about a research study. A lone scientist (never mind who pays him) produced data that starkly contradicts previous research showing that smoking can cause emphysema. The worker types up the news, blasts it out to an email list, posts it on the companys website, then starts penning an article hell submit to major media outlets in the hopes theyll publish the news. In his years on the job, this worker has come across a lot of studies about how smoking affects health. Most of them he ignores. Theyre not exactly instrumental to selling cigarettes. But this one hes determined to share with the world. Read the April 18 A Word, Please: When writing about doing without, forgo the E Scenario two: In 2010, a brash, high-minded Julian Assange is trotting around the globe bragging about a cache of juicy U.S. State Department cables in his possession. In an interview with a Russian news outlet, he mentions he also has dirt on the Kremlin. We have [compromising materials] about your government and businessmen, Assange tells news outlet Izvestia. Another WikiLeaks representative, Kristinn Hrafnsson, tells a reporter, Russian readers will learn a lot about their country. An odd series of events begins to unfold. Assange is arrested for sexual assault. His attorney, according to a 2014 New Republic article, says Assange is the victim of a honey trap laid by dark forces. An unlikely champion takes up Assanges cause: Vladimir Putin publicly condemns his arrest. The promised dirt on Russia never sees the light of day. The U.S. State Department cables dont get published, either. Read the A Word, Please: Dictionaries may come around to the misuse of nonplussed Instead, they get weaponized against Putin adversaries in Belarus. Assange lands in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and Ecuadors president will eventually get his own show on the Russian state TV network RT. It wont be the last time Assange declines to publish information that would embarrass the Kremlin. In the summer of 2016, Foreign Policy reports, Assange will turn down a chance to leak a new batch of Kremlin dirt, instead keeping his attentions focused on information harmful to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. The strategic nature and timing of Assanges publishing activity is well known. Wikileaks dump of stolen DNC emails just hours after news broke about an Access Hollywood tape harmful to Putins preferred candidate comes immediately to mind. Real journalism serves just one master the public. Conversely, public relations professionals have a different job: to promote a product, service, idea or agenda. To anyone who understands what public relations is and who knows what Assange has done, its clear hes no journalist. Hes a P.R. flack. June Casagrande is the author of The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know. She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Blue whales are congregating in local waters a little early this year, with an apparent affinity for Newport Beach. Daveys Locker, which runs four whale watching cruises a day out of Newport Harbor, recorded 35 sightings of blue whales on Sunday alone off Newports shores. That was a high point of a 10-day run in which boat captains logged at least five sightings a day of the giants, which are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Some were within a mile of the coast. Jessica Roame, head of marine education for Daveys Locker and its sister outfit Newport Landing, said this is the first time such double-digit blue whale sightings have been recorded off Newport Beach before the typical May to October season. She said blue whales typically dont peak in the area until late May and June as they move north in search of food. During the winter, blue whales gather in warmer waters off Mexico and Costa Rica. In the summer, they migrate primarily around the Channel Islands, Monterey Bay and the Farallon Islands, according to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito in Northern California. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that 1,500 to 1,600 blue whales feed along the California coast. Thats the largest concentration of blue whales in the world, the Marine Mammal Center says. At more than 85 feet long, the blue whale is the largest animal thats ever lived and feeds exclusively on krill, a tiny, shrimp-like crustacean that the whale filters through its baleen system. They will do this all day long, and its great for us because these whales will just stick around feeding in the same area, Roame said. Daveys Locker counted 127 blue whale sightings in April. By comparison, Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, which typically runs four tours a day out of Dana Point, reported 30 sightings in April, including one on Tuesday and six on Monday. Harbor Breeze Cruises, which runs two or three trips a day out of Long Beach, reported a total of seven sightings last month. A blue whale gets close to a whale watching boat operated by Daveys Locker last week off Newport Beach. (Courtesy of Daveys Locker) John Calambokidis, co-founder of Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, Wash., said its not highly unusual to see blue whale activity before May and that the overall numbers arent high, as blue whales move widely in search of food. But Sundays spike off Newport was notable, he said, even if some of the same animals were counted more than once. Though Calambokidis doesnt know whether the whales are here to feed or are just passing through, he said the lower number of sightings reported to the north and south suggest Newport-adjacent waters might be the site of a particularly good krill buffet. James Stewart, boat programs coordinator for Long Beachs Aquarium of the Pacific, said the timing of the whales arrival isnt unusual but the proportion might be. Stewart who trains aquarium naturalists to join Harbor Breezes cruises said blue whales can move 200 miles a day with a cruising speed of 8 to 10 mph, and without sleep as humans and other mammals know it. In other words, they dont stay in one place for long when theyre on the go, suggesting these whales are sticking around. Stewart said a congregation of animals suggests a healthy environment, and research shows blue whales have good memories for productive feeding spots. Its a positive sign that we see quite a few animals of certain groups, he said. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Two disgruntled companies have sent protest letters to the city of Laguna Beach contending they were treated unfairly during the citys recent bidding for a new smart parking guidance system. The chief executives of Indect and Fybr, companies that specialize in parking sensor technology, expressed concerns that the city didnt follow due process when putting out a request for proposals in December or when deciding the winning bidder, New Zealand-based Frogparking. Both companies requested that the city start over with the RFP process. We didnt get an interview, none of our references were [contacted] and we were significantly cheaper. It was a bit unusual, said Indect CEO Dale Fowler. To my mind, it sounds like they had already made a decision before they went out to bid. In a 4-0 vote April 2, the City Council approved appropriating nearly $1.3 million to roll out Frogparkings sensors at every city-owned parking space. The system would include a phone app to allow drivers to search for available parking before getting in their cars. The app also would enable drivers to pay parking meters through their phones. Fowler sent a letter dated April 15 asking the city to reconsider awarding the bid to Frogparking. He alleged the city did not contact any of Indects references during the vetting process. He also said he found out about losing the bidding from a news article online. Fowler said Indect integrated Frogparkings product into its system but the sensors ultimately had to be removed because they worked poorly. Frogparkings executive salesman Grant Johnson said Frogparking and Indect are still involved in some of the same projects, including at a Walnut Creek shopping mall and in Beverly Hills. Weve lost proposals in the past and we dont protest, Johnson said. This is part of the American capitalist system, and I think the results of this whole project will speak for themselves. Fowler said in an interview that Indects bid was nearly $150,000 cheaper than Frogparkings and included a lifetime maintenance warranty. Ive never protested anything before, because part of me is like, Ah, well good for him, Fowler said. But being a city, that makes me a little bit [concerned], especially when theres a big difference in the price compared to what was reported. We werent given an opportunity. We put in a bid that was 15% or 20% cheaper than these guys and we didnt even get a look in. That just seems odd to me. City Attorney Robert Owen wrote in a response letter, which Fowler gave to the Daily Pilot, that official notification would be sent once the contract with Frogparking was finalized. Owen said the city received no negative feedback from Frogparkings references or clients. Paula Faust, city deputy director of public works, declined to respond to questions about the matter and wrote in an email that procurement issues are a legal matter between the bidders and the city. Owen could not be reached for comment. A staff report for the April 2 meeting when the City Council approved Frogparking said that while Frogparking is not the lowest bid, they outweighed the other bids in the comprehensive technical solution that they provide. The report deemed Fybr, the other protesting company, non-responsive. Fybr CEO Bob Glatz disputed that label and said the city abused its discretion in giving the contract to Frogparking, since it was not the lowest bidder. In a 37-year career Ive never seen anything so egregious before that Ive wanted to spend a lot of money on lawyers, Glatz said. In a letter that Fybrs attorney sent to the city, the company alleged Laguna Beach did not follow public contracts code by properly noticing the RFP in December and that it inconvenienced companies by releasing the RFP over the holidays. Fybrs letter also said the city did not give a reason for deeming the companys proposal non-responsive. The letter gave several reasons that Fybr considers Frogparking a poor choice for the city. And like Indect, Fybr found out from news reports that it lost the bidding, Glatz said. The city attorneys response to Fybr, which the company sent to the Daily Pilot, said Fybrs arguments about defective noticing, improper publishing and failure to award the bid to the lowest responsible bidder are incorrect because the complaints were based on a contracts code article that relates only to public works projects. The RFP for parking guidance technology is not a public works project and is not subject to the provisions of that article, Owen wrote in the letter dated April 19. The citys letter also said Fybrs proposal was deemed non-responsive because it lacked certain information required in the RFP. In a reply April 23, Fybr said it provided the necessary information and that any perceived non-responsiveness was again erroneous and an abuse of discretion. I would like to see the process just be fair and do it over again, Glatz said. If you do it over again, the same partys not going to win. But Johnson said he believes the structure that the city went through was legal. I think the cities all are very well-trained at how to put out a fair bid and give notice, so I think the bid time was correct, the notice was correct, he said. The city expects to have 75% of Frogparkings sensors installed by summer, Faust said at the April 2 council meeting. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. UPDATES: This article was originally published at 3:10 p.m. and was later updated with additional information. Zot, zot, zot! Scores of high school students cheered during an explosion of blue and yellow streamers in the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine on Wednesday morning after being called to the stage at the end of the schools College Signing Day rally. They had committed to attend the Irvine institution. The university invited about 1,100 college-bound seniors from high school campuses throughout Orange County for a celebration of their commitment to higher education. The rally included performances by campus clubs such as Jodaiko and Kaba Modern. The College Signing Day rally is part of a larger celebration, co-hosted by the UC system and Reach Higher, an initiative by former First Lady Michelle Obama that seeks to inspire students to pursue education beyond high school. Last years College Signing Day was celebrated at Temple University in Philadelphia. This year the event was held on the West Coast with the primary celebration taking place at UCLA from which Obama addressed all nine UC campuses via live stream. We are proud to partner with the University of California, which is committed to opening the doors of college opportunity to all Californians and students across the country, said Eric Waldo, Reach Highers executive director, in a statement released by the UC Office of the President. This years College Signing Day fell on May 1, which is a common deadline for colleges and universities for students to accept offers for the fall semester. This is the first College Signing Day event that has been hosted on the West Coast, according to a statement from UCI. College will open up a world of possibilities for your future that you cant even begin to imagine right now, UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement at the rally. It will change your life and the lives of those around you. You will live a more satisfying and meaningful life; you will be a knowledgeable, thoughtful and discerning contributor to your community; and you will be a force for good in the world. You all did the work. You filled out those applications. You finished all your classes, did all the assignments, and you applied. You did it. You got into the colleges of your choice. You overcame so many hurdles and I know that, Obama said during her live stream. I was in shock. I couldnt believe I got accepted. Once I got in, I told my mom, and she was so happy for me. Estancia senior Kyra Avila So, I know it must have felt special to get those acceptance letters, she added. For Jessica Lopez, an undocumented student from Estancia High School who plans to attend UCI in the fall, it didnt hit [her] right away after receiving her acceptance letter. It hit me when I went to their welcoming orientation and just how hyped they were for the students who got admitted to their school, Lopez said. It made me feel so welcomed there. Not only myself, but my parents as well. I just knew there that I wanted to go to UCI. She said she applied to UCI because [it] has so many resources for undocumented students like myself. Lopez, who came to the United States from Mexico when she was 6, said she didnt start telling people she was undocumented until her junior year. She plans to major in child-care development and hopes to pursue a career helping children after graduation. Theres so many things, as an undocumented student, that you cant surpass. Many people dont know that, she said. Its just theres so many challenges that you cant really overcome, and we have to live with it and find a different plan. For fellow Estancia senior Kyra Avila, UCI was just the perfect fit for me. I was in shock. I couldnt believe I got accepted. Once I got in, I told my mom, and she was so happy for me. And I told my family, and they werent in shock, but, they were like, Wow. You did it. Like, everything paid off, she said. Avila plans to major in criminal justice at the Irvine campus. She said she hopes to one day join a police force and work her way up to being a homicide detective. [Signing Days] been fun. When I was in karate, this is where we used to have our tournaments. So like, being back here at the Bren Event Center is pretty cool. Everythings going well, Avila said. I love it here. She said she was excited and ready to move on to college after graduation, but said she was going to miss her friends and miss being still a kid. But, Im ready to grow up. Yamileth Bello, also a senior from Estancia who plans to be an elementary school teacher, said she will be committing to Cal Poly Pomona in the fall. She said she was in shock after she was accepted and wasnt sure if it was true at first. After I reread the email a couple of times, I was like Oh my God, this is true. This is a dream come true, Bello said. All three students are first-generation students and said they look forward to college and their high school graduation ceremony at Estancia High, which will be held on June 20. Sheri Ledbetter, a spokeswoman for the university, said more than 100 students in attendance were committed to UCI. From the rally at UCLA, Obama said Youre about to make the best investment that you can make and thats true whether youre going to a trade school, the military or to a community college or a four-year university. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Glendale has launched a housing lottery for 31 affordable apartments spread across five project sites. Applications postmarked by Nov. 27 will be considered for the 22 one-bedroom, seven two-bedroom and two three-bedroom units. All available apartments are considered very low income, except one, which is considered low income. Thirty-one units, to be truthful, wont go a long way, said Mike Fortney, the citys principal housing project manager, who has been overseeing the process. A housing lottery was held for eight affordable units earlier this year at the ONYX apartments in Glendale. Roughly 7,800 applications were received for those units. Were never going to meet the demand; all we can do is build as many [affordable units] as we can, and make the process as fair and transparent as we can, Fortney said. He added that he has noticed a recent uptick in developers seeking a density bonus, which allows them to increase a projects base density by 35% in exchange for making 11% to 15% of their units affordable. All of the units in the current lottery, launched Oct. 30, were the products of density bonuses. The project sites are located at 3901-3915 San Fernando Road, 507-525 W. Colorado St., 515 W. Broadway, 1407 W. Glenoaks Blvd., and 518 Glenwood Road. Typically, developers will hire a manager to oversee a lottery, with the city providing oversight, Fortney said. However, with so many projects coming online in a short amount of time, city officials thought it would save staff members time and energy by handling the operation themselves, he said. Its going to eliminate a lot of mistakes, Fortney said. Its just going to be a much cleaner process. Another lottery will be held in about six months for approximately 65 more affordable units, he said. It can take years for a project to go from concept to fruition, city spokesman Tom Lorenz said. A large residential project proposed by developer Carmel Partners to be constructed at 233 N. Jackson St. will include affordable units but could take five years to complete, Lorenz said. The current lottery comes as the city is looking into rent control and an inclusionary housing ordinance, which would require most new developments to offer a certain number of affordable units. Fortney, who proposed the housing ordinance, said a vote on it could come as soon as Nov. 13, when it is scheduled to come before the City Council. Applications for the current housing lottery can be found at GlendaleCA.gov/affordablehousing. For more information, call (818) 551-6937. lila.seidman@latimes.com Twitter: @lila_seidman What started as a normal visit to a coffee shop Thursday morning turned into the honor of a lifetime as a 91-year-old Marine Corps veteran was awarded a Purple Heart 72 years after being wounded. Samuel Lee Anderson was a 19-year-old corporal when he fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima. After 21 days of intense fighting, a landmine blast set off by a nearby soldier knocked him unconscious. While he cant recall how long he was out, Anderson said he remembers being happy to finally take a shower when he got to the hospital. All of a sudden, I was on a stretcher, he said. I ended up in Guam at an Army hospital hadnt had my shoes or anything off in 21 days, so I smelled. Joni the conversation on Facebook Eventually, he settled down, started a family and worked as a plumber. Todd Anderson, a retired Glendale police lieutenant, said his fathers time in Iwo Jima never came up during family dinners. Hard work and plumbing were regular topics of discussion but never Iwo Jima, he said. One day, he and his brothers decided to take a look at their fathers service record. What we found out clearly on his [discharge form], right out the gate, was that he was wounded, Todd Anderson said. Down below it, in remarks, it said no record of award of Purple Heart. That was two years ago. He eventually got in touch with Marine Lt. Col. Aaron Doty and set the ball rolling to honor his father, who lives in Woodland Hills. 1 / 9 Retired Marine Corps Cpl. Samuel Lee Anderson Jr., 91, of Woodland Hills, receives a Purple Heart from Lt. Col. Aaron Doty during a ceremony at Henris restaurant in Canoga Park. (Raul Roa / Glendale News-Press) 2 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, wipes tears after receiving the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 3 / 9 With his sons, retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson, 53, left, and Adam Anderson, 49, second from left, retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, listens to USMC Sgt. Allen Schocken, right, read a commendation, before receiving a Purple Heart from USMC Lt. Colonel Aaron Doty, second from right, during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr. was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 4 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, received the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 5 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, received the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 6 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, talks to the press after receiving the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 7 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, received the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 8 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, received the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 9 / 9 Retired United States Marine Corps Corporal Samuel Leland Anderson, Jr., 91 of Woodland Hills, received the Purple Heart during ceremony at Henris Coffee Shop in Canoga Park on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Anderson Jr., who was wounded on March 11, 1945, after 21 days of intense fighting at Iwo Jima, Japan, during World War II, is the father of retired Glendale police Lt. Todd Anderson, left. Anderson Jr.'s grandson and Todd Andersons son Nick Anderson, 29, is at right. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) Weeks later, on Feb. 9, Lee Anderson walked into Henris restaurant in Canoga Park to have breakfast with his friends something he does as part of his daily routine. What wasnt part of the routine was the procession of family and friends who streamed into the dining room at the end of his meal. They were all there to see him finally receive a Purple Heart. The group included his sons and his wife as well as several Marines in their dress blues and officers from the Glendale Police Department. The officers were there to show their support for both Andersons. Their ties to the local police agency continue as Todd Andersons son is an officer with the department, and his daughter works as an emergency dispatcher. Doty was on hand for the medal pinning and said it was something that shouldve been done a long time ago. Its my great honor to finally put this together and hang this medal on this mans chest who earned it back in 1945, he said. As a brother, as another Marine, this is an absolute honor and this is what Marines do love our own ferociously to the death. We take care of each other. Lee Anderson said he was grateful for everyone who showed up for the ceremony and that it was overwhelming. He was also surprised because he expected the medal would arrive in the mail. I never thought theyd ever have a big ceremony like this, he said. Its a great thing that my boys did for me, and I love them for it. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc My grandfather, Alfredo Puglia, was an illegal immigrant. In 1906 he fled Misterbianco, Sicily, and crossed the Atlantic. He was wanted for mayhem; subsequently, America was his only option. On the night before he left, he convinced his childhood sweetheart, Agatha, to run with him. America was a fledgling nation and needed immigrant hands to build the cities and infrastructures that define us. Papa was a stonemason and built the coke ovens of Western Pennsylvania, which remain on the National Historic Registry. Papa and Nonna raised five sons who were soldiers in World War II. Although Papa and Nonna snuck into our country across the Canadian border, their contributions to America are exponential as their grandchildren and great-grandchildren now define the American mosaic. Immigration is a point of contention and is built on a lattice of symbols. It doesnt take much imagination to move from images of people scaling corrugated fences to photos of huddled masses of immigrants on ships passing Lady Liberty. A line from The New Colussus, Emma Lazarus poem, Give me your tired, is a reminder that Americas past held principles weve moved away from. Yet the world has changed since Lazarus wrote these words in 1883. It is ludicrous to determine policy based upon the sensibilities of the past. However, we are a Constantinople, a nation of immigrants, which has worked because those who came assimilated. La Canada is part of this crossroad of people who come as immigrants and contribute to the American fabric. In Starbucks I had a recent conversation with Silvia Paredes, a young woman from Mexico who anticipates becoming an American citizen. Silvia works for Yolandas Pet Grooming, which is well known throughout La Canada. Yolanda is one of the miracles that I have found in America, Paredes attests. The best gift my mother gave me was the freedom to follow my dreams, she said. Therefore, Paredes attended a prestigious university in Mexico City, studying graphic design. She then qualified for a scholarship to study at Carlos III de Madrid University in Spain. She has a B.A. in graphic design with a specialization in illustration. She is indeed a gifted artist. In Spain, I matured and wanted to keep growing. So she came to America to develop her talents as an artist and to follow the American Dream. I believe immigration is what keeps the American Dream alive. However, for Sylvia and so many others, immigration comes with a price. The juxtaposition of dissimilarities between culture induces cultural shock a formidable barrier for many immigrants. Language and custom are typically impediments to assimilation. Silvia has done her due diligence and has studied English at Los Angeles City College and makes a concerted effort to absorb American culture, yet she maintains the values of Mexico. So often many of us take for granted what America offers. However, when I asked Silvia why she came to this country, she immediately answered with a single word: Freedom. In her eyes, the word is more than a cliche. Silvia Paredes is an example of American values. In America, I am free to work. I am free to try and be what I hope to become, she said. My conversation with Silvia touched on philosophy, religion, sociology and politics. Articulate on many levels, she maintained an open mind and did not see the world in absolutes. When referring to matters of faith and opinion, she remarked, This is not my only truth. America is an experiment of ideas. But we have an arduous journey to become that shining city on a hill. Therefore, immigration must remain a defining principle of who we are. Silvia showed an inscription on her Instagram: Living a dream life, working so hard trying to be the best version of me. She added, Freedom gives you that. I can only imagine what her American story will be. Joe Puglia is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at drjoemp@gmail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us. As part of its horse racing safety reform package, Santa Anita announced Wednesday that it is purchasing a machine that can provide rarely seen imaging of a horses ankle (fetlock) in the hopes of detecting injuries earlier. The track will be putting a Longmile Positron Emission Tomography Scan machine, called a MILE-PET, in its equine hospital on the backstretch of Santa Anita. While PET technology has been used on humans for a while, it is very rare to use it on horses. The machine will allow for the fetlock joint to be scanned while the horse is standing. It reduces the use of anesthesia when taking scans. The Stronach Group, parent company of Santa Anita, is joining with the Dolly Green Research Foundation and UC Davis to pay for the machine. TSGs contribution is $500,000. The cost of the machine was not disclosed. You cannot overstate how significant an advancement this is in equine diagnostic imaging and its a natural fit here in California, said Dr. Rick Arthur, the chief veterinarian for the California Horse Racing Board. PET is an advanced nuclear imaging technique and Santa Anita is already the home of the Dolly Green Nuclear Scintigraphy facility, which was the first of its kind when it was installed. Advertisement No date was given when the machine will be in full use. The safety reform package was announced by Belinda Stronach, president and CEO of TSG, after a spike in horse fatalities since the track opened its season Dec. 26. sports@latimes.com Royal Princess, one of Princess Cruises largest ships, sailed into the Port of Los Angeles over the weekend for an open house and tour. The company wasnt showing off the ships regal lines or its wow-factor glass walkway suspended high above the ocean. Instead, visitors had a chance to become familiar with OceanMedallion, a wearable device meant to streamline your cruise experience. Among the perks: No more long waits to board, personalized maps to help you find restaurants or other locations on board the ship, and an app that lets you order drinks and snacks on your smartphone. It all starts with a 1-inch plastic medallion that can be worn on a lanyard or necklace, on a wrist band or clipped to a shirt. As passengers move around the ship, the medallion, in essence a digital license plate, pings off sensors. You can order a drink in the casino, walk outside to the pool and the drink will be served at your new location. It also allows keyless entry to your stateroom and a touch-less credit card that gives cruisers an easy way to pay for purchases. Looking for an event? The technology offers a calendar you can scroll through to check on upcoming functions. Advertisement Princess Cruises and its owner, Carnival Corp., used the Royal tour to promote the technology, with Arnold Donald, Carnival chief executive, on board, as well as Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises. Arnold said the new tech gives cruisers a customized travel experience. Whether that means being able to spend more time with your kids or just having more time to do the things you want to do, we believe it will enable you to have the most outstanding vacation of a lifetime. The technology is only available currently on Royal Princess, Caribbean Princess and Regal Princess. Later this year, it will be added to Crown Princess and Sky Princess. It is expected to eventually spread to the entire fleet and also to the other Carnival Corp. brands such as Holland America and Carnival. Showing off technology isnt as easy as promoting a pool deck ride or game, but the tour made it clear many cruise ship hassles could be avoided by using the Medallion. Improved WiFi is one of the perks, said officials, crediting it to the technology aboard thats necessary for the Medallion to function. Another improvement is in boarding. Passengers who arrive at the terminal with travel documents such as passports uploaded to their profile have an expedited check-in process, according to spokesmen. Royal Princess is new to the Southern California region. It departed on its maiden voyage from the Port of Los Angeles to Mexico in late March and sailed that route through the end of April. It is now headed north to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for a season of Alaska trips before returning to Los Angeles in September where it will homeport for six months, continuing cruises to Alaska, the Mexican Riviera and along the California coast. Princess officials are calling it L.A.'s hometown ship. Royal Princess, which holds 3,560 passengers, first debuted in Southampton, England, in June 2013, and was officially named by Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. The original Royal Princess (1984) was christened by Princess Diana. Info: Princess Cruises, (800) 774-6237 or contact a travel agent travel@latimes.com @latimestravel One year ago this week, scientists on the island of Hawaii were worried. They were seeing troubling changes with the active Kilauea Volcano. Although unnoticeable to visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, many of whom traveled to the island specifically to view the cauldron of red-hot lava, big changes were afoot. On May 4, 2018, the fears of those scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory were realized as a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked the region, setting in motion events that fundamentally changed the park, and the surrounding area. Red-hot lava devoured Makamae Street as it moved through a neighborhood in the Puna District on May 6, 2018. It claimed more than 700 homes. (USGS) Lava poured from several fissures, and rivers of molten rock obliterated hundreds of homes in the Puna community near the southeast shore of the island. Advertisement As the eruptions and earthquakes 60,000 in all continued, most of the national park closed from May 11 through Sept. 22, scaring away visitors from Hawaii Island, revenue that is a lifeblood for the area. Flights to Kauais North Shore restart, after more than two decades Standing near the craters edge on April 19, park ranger Jozie Acasio shares information about last years eruption and its aftermath with guests. (Jay Jones) A year later, Pele, in Hawaiian tradition, the goddess of fire, has returned to the bowels of the earth. Park officials say the observance of those events a year ago will be noticeably low-key. The only event planned to mark the anniversary is a 30-minute presentation at 7 p.m. May 9. at the Kilauea Visitor Center. Admission is free, but park entrance fees apply. Seven hundred homes were destroyed, said park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane. Two thousand people were displaced. This is nothing to celebrate. Changing the face of Hawaii Island The Halemaumau Crater, vastly increased in size by last years earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, is seen in this March 22 photo. (M. Poland / USGS) Visitors arriving at the edge of the Halemaumau Crater now witness startling evidence of the forever-changed landscape. Gone is the lava lake that bubbled for years and illuminated the night sky. Seismic activity caused that lava to be sucked underground as the crater, a massive hold in the ground, nearly doubled in size -- to about three miles by two miles. New cracks in the earths surface, scientists call them fissures, appeared nearby, dramatically spewing molten lava into the air and creating destructive rivers of red. I get asked, Wheres the volcano? ranger Jozie Acasio told a group of visitors during an April 19 presentation at the easily accessed Steam Vents overlook near the rim of the Halemaumau crater. Helicopter tours provide visitors to Hawaii Island a visual understanding of the increased size of the crater and new lava fields formed by last years eruptions. (Blue Hawaiian Helicopters) Because Kilauea is a relatively young volcano, it is mostly flat; the customary peak takes millenniums to form, Acasio said. Were a different type of volcano than Mount St. Helens or Mount Rainier, she said of the two Washington state volcanoes. Mount St. Helens erupted in May 18, 1980, killing 57 people, causing a billion dollars in damage and wiping out 200 square miles of terrain. Rainier last erupted in 1894 and is considered dormant. No one died during last years eruption in Hawaii. Visitors are partially engulfed in volcanic steam as they walk along an overlook at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on April 19. (Jay Jones) Most of the park has reopened to the public, including the two-mile round-trip hike along Devastation Trail to Keanakakoi Overlook, considered the best spot from which to peer into Halemaumaus giant yawn. Some areas remain closed because of safety concerns. For example, much of Crater Rim Drive, which encircled Halemaumau, is not off-limits. A part of the road plunged 200 feet into the crater as it expanded in size. The popular overlook at the Jaggar Museum, and the museum itself, which contained geologic and cultural artifacts, are likely lost. The quakes damaged the building and the adjoining terrace. They now sit perilously close to the rim. Some exhibits rescued from the museum are now displayed at Pahoa Lava Zone Museum, about 32 miles from the national park. Although the bubbling, flowing red lava has disappeared, it will someday return. Kilauea remains an active volcano, and it will erupt again, the USGS said in an April 16 statement. Info: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park travel@latimes.com @latimestravel This year Amador County celebrates the 150th year since the planting of the Original Grandpere Zinfandel vineyard in the Sierra foothills southeast of Sacramento. The vines have endured, dodging pest invasions as well as Prohibition (the home wine-making loophole). Only three winemakers in the county (and one Lodi winery) now craft Zin from this tiny batch of grapes. The wine sells out quickly after its January release, so on a chilly March morning my husband and I headed to Amador County hoping to snap up a few bottles. The tab: $310 for two nights at the Hanford House Inn, breakfast included; $140 for dinner for two at Taste; and $20 for lunch at Amador Vintage Market. (Lou Spirito For The Times) THE BED You know the Hanford House Inn in Sutter Creek isnt your aunts B&B when you see modern art lining the walls. New owners Athena and Robert Gordon took the inn down to the studs, transforming 16 rooms and a standalone bungalow into a rustic-chic inn. Most rooms have fireplaces and balconies and offer local art for sale. Breakfast at Element, the inns sleek restaurant, is included, possibly the yummiest perk in the county. Advertisement THE MEAL Taste, on Main Street in Plymouth, is lauded as one of Amador Countys top restaurants, with an emphasis on local produce. At our visit, chef-owner Mark Berkner crafted what he calls mushroom cigars by wrapping three varieties (cremini, shiitake and oyster) in phyllo. For the entree he bathed Ora King salmon in mushroom broth. After an indulgent meal, we ordered the good for you dessert, a sugar-, dairy-, soy- and gluten-free masterpiece that lived up to its name. The next morning, we grabbed picnic fare from local caterer Beth Sogaards Amador Vintage Market. THE FIND The three Amador County wineries that make Zinfandel from Original Grandpere grapes are across the road from each other, so our unofficial taste test was a cinch. After sampling Andis unreleased vintages of Old Vine Zinfandel I asked to buy a bottle, but the 2019 release was already sold out. (It makes only 120 to 180 cases of this Zin.) At Vino Noceto, I learned that this style of Old World wine was meant to be paired with a meal. Too bad we missed one of the winerys pizza nights. And at the last tasting room, winemaker Scott Harvey of Scott Harvey Wines was pouring sips of his latest batch of his 1869 wine from his share of the OGP vineyard. Were not making the wine, Harvey said. Mother Natures making the wine. Weve just got to stay out of the way. We were in luck; Harvey had a bottle for purchase. THE LESSON LEARNED We had a great lesson in viniculture as we compared how three winemakers crafted their Zinfandel from the same grapes. Next time, Ill buy a bottle from each and pair the wine with food as it is meant to be enjoyed. Hanford House Inn, 61 Hanford St., Sutter Creek, Calif.; (209) 267-0747. Rooms from $155. One wheelchair-accessible room. Taste, 9402 Main St., Plymouth; (209) 245-346. Wheelchair-accessible. Amador Vintage Market, 9393 Main St., Plymouth; (209) 245-3663. Wheelchair-accessible. Scott Harvey Wines, 10861 Shenandoah Road, Plymouth; (209) 245-3670. Wheelchair-accessible. Vino Noceto, 11011 Shenandoah Road, Plymouth; (209) 245-6556. Wheelchair-accessible. Andis, 11000 Shenandoah Road, Plymouth; (209) 245-6177. Wheelchair-accessible. Venture into the northern reaches of Honshu, a rarely visited region of Japans main island, on a 14-day excursion. The trip, offered by InsideJapan Tours, begins and ends in Tokyo and will take visitors to rugged national parks, mountaintop temple communities and hot springs villages. Highlights include Nikko, home to some of Japans most elaborate religious architecture; Hiraizumi and the woodland temple Chuson-ji; Matsushima Bay and Sendai; and remote Sado Island, once home to banished emperors and aristocrats and now known for taiko drumming. Dates: June 10 and Oct. 21 Price: From $5,593 per person, double occupancy. Includes 14 nights accommodations, daily breakfast and seven lunches, and transportation within Japan. International airfare not included. Info: bit.ly/japannorthernsoultour; (303) 952-0379 Japans imperial palace has a new resident who earned an economics degree from Harvard, speaks at least five languages and has negotiated complicated trade deals as a diplomat. Its not Emperor Naruhito, who took the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday. Its his wife, Empress Masako. With millions of Japanese watching on television, she stood silently by Naruhitos side in a tiara, sash and long white gloves as he addressed the Japanese people for the first time after assuming the position his father had held for nearly 30 years. She wasnt permitted to attend the ceremonial rites that came earlier in the morning, from which royal women were banned. In the audience, a lone woman the only female minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abes Cabinet stood quietly in the back. Advertisement The symbolism of Masakos circumscribed role was hard to miss in a nation with one of the biggest gender inequalities in the developed world when it comes to what women are paid and the number in politics and executive positions. Perhaps no place in Japanese society encapsulates the countrys gender imbalance more powerfully than its imperial household, steeped in two millennia of tradition as the worlds longest-running monarchy. Under Japanese imperial law, women cannot be emperors. Discussions of the royal family and imperial law bring out the gender biases that are no longer explicitly expressed elsewhere in Japanese society, according to Jeff Kingston, a professor at the Tokyo campus of Temple University. Its patriarchal, antediluvian attitudes, he said. The problems that are besetting the monarchy are a microcosm of problems besetting the population in general. For all of her accomplishments, Masako has long lived in a position familiar to many Japanese women of her generation: the shadow of her husband. The daughter of a diplomat, a commoner, she once had a promising career as a foreign service officer. By many accounts, she has struggled to adjust to the role of sheltered royal wife. Shortly after she was engaged to Naruhito in 1993, she was criticized for being too forward because she walked through a doorway ahead of her husband and impudent for speaking 28 seconds longer than he did at a news conference announcing their impending betrothal. (Yes, someone counted.) RELATED: In the ashes of post-war Japan, a young Prince Akihito broke with tradition for an interview with an American Intense pressure to produce an heir became a national obsession and is said to have contributed to stress-related health problems officially described by the imperial household as adjustment disorder but widely believed to be a form of depression. She never gave birth to a son only a daughter, Princess Aiko, who is now 17 and will be required by law to relinquish her royal status when she marries. That has left the monarchy in a bind. When it comes to Aikos generation, theres only one viable heir: her cousin, Prince Hisahito, a 12-year-old who began junior high school last month. His father, 53-year-old Prince Akishino, and Naruhitos uncle, 83-year-old Prince Hitachi, are the only other males in the line of succession. Princess Aiko, the only child of new Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 1, 2019, the day of her fathers enthronement ceremony. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP/Getty Images) The shortage is forcing the Japanese public to engage in a debate it seems politicians would rather avoid: Should women be allowed to serve as emperors? Polls show the Japanese public overwhelmingly supports the idea of a female emperor, with three-quarters saying they would welcome a change in laws. After all, monarchies elsewhere in the world have adapted laws and traditions to permit women to rule. Japan has had eight female emperors in what is believed to be more than 2,600 years of continuous royal succession, albeit only as caretakers when there wasnt a male heir available. In fact, the imperial law expressly banning women from becoming emperors dates only to the 19th century. In interviews on the streets of Tokyo, where people were enjoying a 10-day holiday that coincided with the imperial transition, the dominant view was that a female emperor would be welcome, or at least acceptable. Why do you have to have a rule against women? said 15-year-old Yuni Iizuka, who was out on the town with her mother. She said that in contrast to her mothers generation, there was not widespread discrimination against girls her age, but that a female emperor would nonetheless send an important message. I want women to be empowered in society, she said. 1 / 10 Japanese Emperor Akihito, left, and his wife, Empress Michiko, second from left, are joined by Crown Prince Naruhito, second from right, and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, right, and other members of the royal familily inside the Matsu-no-Ma state room in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday. Emperor Akihito has formally stepped down, the first abdication in more than 200 years in the worlds oldest monarchy. (AFP / Getty Images) 2 / 10 Japanese Emperor Akihito speaks during his abdication ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday. His son, Crown Prince Naruhito, second from right, will ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday. (AP) 3 / 10 Japanese Emperor Akihito, left, and his wife, Empress Michiko, listen to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he delivers a speech during the abdication ceremony of Emperor Akihito on Tuesday. (AFP / Getty Images) 4 / 10 Japanese Emperor Akihito, left, hands over his abdication statement to an official during a ceremony inside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday. (AFP/ Getty Images) 5 / 10 People gather outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo as the abdication ceremony for Japans Emperor Akihito takes place on Tuesday. (Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty Images) 6 / 10 Spectators take photographs of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday as the countrys 85-year-old Emperor Akihito abdicates his throne. Akihito, who was crowned emperor three decades ago, is the first Japanese emperor to abdicate in more than 200 years. (Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images) 7 / 10 Japans Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako arrive at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday, ahead of Emperor Akihitos abdication ceremony. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP / Getty Images) 8 / 10 People cheer as Japans Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako arrive at the Imperial Palace to attend the ceremony of Emperor Akihitos abdication. (Naoya Osato / Associated Press) 9 / 10 Japanese police officers hold back crowds of people in Tokyos Shibuya district on the day of Emperor Akihitos abdication. (Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty Images) 10 / 10 Crowds of people gather in the rain in Tokyo to witness the end of the Heisei Era in Japan and usher in the Reiwa Era. Japans new emperor, Naruhito, faces the delicate task of balancing tradition within the worlds oldest monarchy with his own modern values. (Charly Triballeau / AFP/Getty Images) Fukiko Ochiai, who at 58 is three years older than Masako, said she empathized with what the empress went through, having herself given up her full-time job when she gave birth and later returning as a part-time worker at a bakery. I was so happy such a woman got married into the imperial family, said Ochiai, who was visiting Tokyo from her home in Chiba. But her role was so limited. If only the imperial family would let her have her opinion and use her diplomacy. Even so, she said that she personally felt the question of female succession was premature because there are still male heirs, and that tradition still dictated the emperor should be a man. I want Japan to preserve its unique culture, she said. We still have a boy. In the early 2000s, when it was looking doubtful that either of the princes wives would give birth to a son, Japanese lawmakers briefly discussed passing a law allowing for a woman to take the throne. But the debate was dropped as soon as Hisahito was born in 2006. The whole country had a sigh of relief in a way, said Takako Hikotani, a professor of modern Japanese politics and foreign policy at Columbia University. I was slightly frustrated they didnt continue the discussion. People would rather not talk about it, and everybody happily dropped the issue. Hikotani said there isnt a strong voice advocating for a change in laws in Japanese politics because progressives who might champion gender equality dont put much stock in the imperial family anyway. That matters little to Kei Yamashita, 16, who was visiting the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo with his mother and grandfather to celebrate the ascension of the new emperor. To him, its obvious that its time. It is tradition, but its important for culture to adapt, said the high school sophomore. I think were way behind culturally on what womens roles should be. Saito Satomi, who recently graduated college and began work at a trading company where there are no women in management roles, said having a woman take up such a prominent, symbolic role would help all women in Japan feel it was possible to rise up the ranks in society. Perhaps even as the emperors wife, Masako may still fulfill that role, said the 22-year-old. Maybe shell be a new type of unprecedented empress, she said. Special correspondent Makiko Segawa contributed to this report. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika returned to Algeria on Sunday after two weeks in a Swiss hospital amid massive demonstrations demanding he withdraw his candidacy for a fifth term. The 82-year-old Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 and has rarely been seen in public since. The decision to run for a new term in the April 18 election angered large swathes of Algerian society. Bouteflika arrived at Boufarik military airport, about 20 miles south of the capital, and was shown in video by private television station Ennahar in a fast-moving convoy heading toward the Algiers suburb of Zeralda. He could be seen inside a car slightly bent over and with a cap on his head. Bouteflika resides in Zeralda, not in the presidential palace in the capital. Earlier, Bouteflika had departed from a Geneva airport. Advertisement The official APS news agency confirmed that the president had returned home after a private visit to Geneva ... during which he underwent periodic medical tests. The power structure has been shaken by the size of the unprecedented citizens revolt, which has drawn millions into the streets of cities across the country to say no to a fifth term and to a system blamed for corruption and keeping Bouteflika in office despite his medical condition. A general strike Sunday was taking place as the president arrived, with numerous shops in Algiers and other cities closed. As if to lay the groundwork for change, the top Algerian party backing the beleaguered chief of state broke its silence Sunday over the massive demonstrations demanding the end of the regime, saying its ready to work with all parties to end the crisis. The National Liberation Front, or FLN, said in a statement that it wants to find a way out of the crisis with the least cost to the country. Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaid Salah added his voice, saying Sunday that the army and the people have the same vision of the future. Thousands of protesters in the Algerian diaspora protested Sunday in Paris and other French cities. Protests also were held in neighboring Rabat, Morocco. The protests trickled down to middle-schoolers and high-schoolers, with several hundred marching in the center of Algiers, also calling for Bouteflika to withdraw his bid for a fifth term.. Since I was born, the only (president) Ive known is Bouteflika, said a young protesting girl Amina, asking not to give her full name. These kids dont have any political calculations, said a mother on the sidelines of the protest, Karim Ziad. Theyre just 13-year-old kids. Peaceful nationwide protests began Feb. 22 to protest Bouteflikas plan to run for a fifth term in April 18 elections. The protest movement also wants a change in the much-decried system that has kept him there and maintained a stranglehold on the power structure. Bouteflika, first elected in 1999, is the first civilian president of the North African nation except for a short term by Ahmed Ben Bella after Algeria won its independence from France in 1962. He was deposed in a bloodless military coup in 1965 that set the stage for a series of generals serving as presidents. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Algiers calling for change in the biggest demonstration yet against Bouteflika. Similar marches were held across the country. Heavily armed assailants attacked an Ebola treatment center in the heart of eastern Congos deadly outbreak Saturday, with one police officer killed and health workers injured, authorities said, while frightened patients waited in isolation rooms for the gunfire to end. The early-morning attack in Butembo came less than a week after the treatment center reopened following an attack last month, which forced Doctors Without Borders to suspend operations in the city amid warnings that ending the outbreak would prove impossible if health workers werent protected. Dozens of armed groups are active in mineral-rich eastern Congo, though some have allowed health workers access to administer Ebola vaccines and track contacts of infected people after delicate negotiations. Security forces Saturday repelled the attackers, one of whom was wounded, Butembo Mayor Sylvain Kanyamanda said. Congos health ministry said in a statement that forces had surrounded the center after being tipped to a possible assault, saving many lives. Advertisement The attack occurred hours before the World Health Organization director-general and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director visited the center, which remained open. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus encouraged workers to continue their fight against the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which is spreading in a region compared to a war zone. It breaks my heart to think of the health workers injured and police officer who died in todays attack, he said. WHO has requested and received more support from United Nations and local police forces to protect treatment centers, he added, and blamed the attack on elements who are exploiting the desperation of the situation for their own purposes. Some community members wary of outsiders after years of deadly rebel attacks have shown hostility to health workers in a region that is facing its first Ebola outbreak. Misunderstandings have been high, especially over the need to conduct safe burials, a sensitive issue. Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever, is spread via bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead. On Thursday, the Doctors Without Borders president warned that Ebola containment efforts face a climate of deepening community mistrust seven months after the outbreak was declared, and the use of security forces complicates efforts. People are still reluctant to bring the sick to treatment centers, Joanne Liu said. That hesitance, and sometimes outright evasion, by some community members has deeply complicated efforts to track contacts of infected people and carry out vaccinations. To conquer Ebola, we must strike a delicate balance between providing accessible care, maintaining the neutrality of the response, and protecting patients and staff from attacks by armed groups, the WHO chief said Saturday. Another Ebola treatment center in Katwa was attacked late last month, with one person killed. Doctors Without Borders suspended its operations there. The attacks enormously disrupted virus containment efforts, Congos health ministry said, warning that a significant upsurge in new Ebola cases could follow. For those trying to contain the outbreak, the attacks are occurring in the worst possible locations. More than 86% of new confirmed cases over the past three weeks have been in Butembo and Katwa, the health ministry said Monday. The ministry, which last Sunday tweeted a photo of smiling workers reopening the Butembo treatment center, says 854 Ebola cases have been confirmed since this outbreak was declared Aug. 1, including 578 deaths. The outbreak is second to the one in West Africa that killed more than 11,300 people from 2014 to 2016. This time, dramatic advances have been seen. More than 86,000 people have received an experimental Ebola vaccine, a clinical trial of experimental treatments is underway, and new treatment facilities allow some Ebola patients to be within sight and sound of family members. Still, millions of people have been screened at transit points in the densely populated region as health workers try to keep Ebola from spreading into neighboring Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. We are committed to ending the outbreak, the WHO chief said, and we will not leave until we do. From November: As Ebola spreads, U.S. wont enter Congo war zone Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido triumphantly appeared outside La Carlota air base here Tuesday with a group of soldiers wearing blue armbands that signified support for his efforts to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro. To all the brothers of the armed forces, this is the moment, Guaido declared, anticipating what he called the final phase of the opposition campaign to bring down Maduro. We know that the pain of the armed forces is the same pain of a people enduring hunger and difficulties. We all want a change. By the end of the day, however, Maduro had declared an end to the coup, his supporters were denouncing traitors in the armed forces, and about two dozen defecting soldiers had taken shelter in the Brazilian Embassy. What Guaido who proclaimed himself interim president in January apparently viewed as a broad military uprising had failed. Advertisement They will not be able to divide the armed forces, Maj. Gen. Jesus Suarez Chourio, the Venezuelan army chief, vowed in a Twitter message, while denouncing the soldiers who deserted as lackeys of the empire. They will not again deceive and sell the homeland. We are eminently Loyal! And Patriots! He was among several members of the countrys top brass who reaffirmed their support for the president. The Venezuelan military is widely viewed as the key bloc keeping Maduro in power, and for now the command appears to be sticking with him despite a string of desertions and reports of minor uprisings within the ranks. U.S. officials have asserted that Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez was among a core group of Maduro aides in talks with the opposition, an allegation the Venezuelan government rejected. Both sides in the countrys ongoing political crisis have assiduously sought the support of the generals, and Washington has made public and overt appeals to military officials, both to gather intelligence and to encourage defections. We have the tools we need and were using the full range of these tools, Navy Adm. Craig Faller, the top U.S. commander for Latin America, said Wednesday in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Were using assets diligently and quietly. To date, though, Guaido and his U.S. backers clearly have been unable to flip Venezuelas military establishment. Experts said the reasons have to do less with ideology than with the evolution of Venezuelas armed forces as a lucrative partner in a government that doles out financial and other benefits and sundry perks to its military partners. Military officers have been been linked to industries as wide ranging as the oil sector, mining, the food import business and drug trafficking. Both Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, liberally bestowed general and admiral ranks on hundreds of officers in a bid to help cement their loyalty. The leadership of this armed structure acts as an armed political party, and its function is to channel and communicate at the service of the regime, said Jose Machillanda, a professor at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas. Rather than serving as a defender of liberal democracy, Machillanda said, the armed forces have become the promoter and protector of Maduros political agenda. Critics such as Machillanda, an ex-colonel, see self-interest at the core of the militarys continued backing of Maduro and worry that the armed forces establishment has become so intertwined with his administration that there could be serious legal and financial consequences if he is dislodged. The military is very self-interested, said David Smilde, a sociology professor at Tulane University and expert on Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy group. They have huge economic interests and are very compromised in the corruption and human rights abuses. They want things to continue as they are. Guaido and his supporters, including U.S. officials, have spoken repeatedly of an amnesty for military officials who agree to switch sides. But the somewhat vague guarantees do not seem to have reassured generals and others that they would not face a bleak future in a post-Maduro Venezuela. They have very high exit costs, Smilde said. A lot of them assume they will be strung up, either by the people or the next government. Some, too, have ideological motivations. Many rose in the ranks during the administration of Chavez, a former career officer whose Bolivarian revolution remains a touchstone for Chavistas, as his many disciples are known. Switching sides would be unthinkable for many steeped in Chavezs depiction of the United States as a kind of evil empire. For many Chavistas, including some senior military officials, the Bolivarian revolution that started two decades ago must continue, said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank specializing in Latin American issues. The regimes collapse would mean the end of that revolution. At the same time, the opposition says that hundreds of soldiers and some high-ranking officers have deserted, many fleeing to Colombia. Maduros government has boasted of busting several coup plots led by former officers, and experts said that Cuban advisors were helping him monitor and contain discontent within the ranks. The main branches of Venezuelas military the army, air force, navy and national guard number about 125,000. Maduro also has at his disposal between 500,000 and 1 million members of the Bolivarian Militia of Venezuela, a lightly trained pro-government faction. This week, as Guaido was proclaiming the final phases of what he calls Operation Liberation, he was accompanied by his longtime political mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who had been under house arrest for inciting violence in 2014 electoral protests. Lopez said that military officials had freed him from house arrest. Word soon filtered out that Maduro had fired his police intelligence chief, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, a general and longtime aide-de-camp to Chavez. Figuera was reportedly implicated in Lopezs release and in Tuesdays unsuccessful military uprising. In a subsequent statement, Figuera continued to refer to Maduro as his commander in chief, but denounced rampant corruption and said all the countrys woes could not be blamed on el imperio the empire, short for the United States. The disproportionate corruption that the country suffers from, and which many high-level public servants practice as a sport, is that also the fault of the empire? asked Figuera amid rumors that he had been arrested. A pro-government legislator, Gerardo Marquez, denounced the former police intelligence chief as one of the traitors who led the group of more than 90 deceived soldiers and security officers who defected to the opposition on Tuesday. The legislator also implicated a national guard colonel as being among the coup plotters. In an interview with Fox Business Network, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo called Figuera the highest-level defector to date from Maduros security services and asserted that dozens of other military personnel abandoned the government on Tuesday. Still, from all appearances the Venezuelan high command remained united behind Maduro at least for now. Special correspondents Mogollon and Kraul reported from Caracas and Bogota, Colombia, respectively. Times staff writers McDonnell and Cloud reported from Mexico City and Washington, respectively. Staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington and special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report. patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com Twitter: @PmcdonnellLAT A popular Nigerian media personality who is much known for making appearances in a lot of social functions has disclosed that she also parts with handsome rewards for showing face at such gatherings. It would be recalled that well known radio girl Toke Makinwa, has revealed in the past that she usually gets paid to attend most of the social gatherings she attends. However, it appears members of the online community are quickly forgetting and Makinwa wasted no time in reminding those that care to bother about where she goes or does not go. The radio star took to her Instagram story in a post in which she disclosed that 90% of the time she is spotted at events, she was paid to grace such gatherings with her presence. READ ALSO: In new video Tonto Dikeh reveals ex-husband Olakunle Churchill is a Yahoo boy, not Obasanjo's son She added that this has been so because she has been able to build a bankable brand over the course of the years. According to Makinwa, attaining the height has not been easy and as such there is no way she would be making appearances free of charge. She said: "90% of the time you see my pretty face at events, I got paid to be there. I have worked so hard over the years to build a bankable brand. It has not been easy and it definitely is not free." See her post below: I get paid to attend events - Toke Makinwa reminds the online community Source: Instagram PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app In a different post, the radio personality noted that she is not in business to convince or prove anything to anyone. See her post below: PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group Post from the radio star's Instagram story. Photo: @tokemakinwa Source: Instagram READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda In other news, Legit.ng gathered the report of Nigerian cleric Sam Adeyemi, who celebrated 26 years of marriage to his wife, Nike. The couple took to their respective social media pages to celebrate the love for share for one another. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better Nigeria Celebrities: How Much Do They Spend On Luxury Life? | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng Foodies who regularly patronize the Easton Public Market have been eagerly awaiting this date from the moment plans for Silvershell Counter + Kitchen were first announced. The anticipation is warranted as the clam bar and seafood market is the brainchild of the owners of Bolete, perhaps the Lehigh Valleys most acclaimed restaurant. Weve known since late February that it was in the works. In recent weeks, weve seen the kitchen equipment move in, the counters installed and even the menu posted. On Thursday afternoon, Erin Shea, who co-owns Bolete with her husband and chef Lee Chizmar, confirmed May 18 as the official opening date. Silvershell will be the couples second venture at the Easton Public Market. In 2016, they opened Mister Lees Noodles, a ramen bar that has maintained a robust business. Silvershell will be located just across from Mister Lees Noodles, to the left of the Northampton Street entrance of the public market in a space previously occupied by 3rd & Ferry Fresh Fish Market, which vacated the space in April 2018. Silvershells menu includes prepared foods such as crab cakes, lobster rolls, fried clams and chowder. It will offer a variety of oysters on the half shell. The seafood counter will sell raw fish who those who prefer preparing their own meals at home. For Shea, the venture is fitting. She grew up in Massachusetts and met Chizmar, originally from Allentown, in Boston when he first began working as a chef. She spent her summers along the Shore in Cape Cod and dreamed of someday owning a clam shack, the public market previously noted. Bolete in Salisbury Township earlier this year was nominated as a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant and is routinely recognized as one of the best fine-dining establishments statewide. Silvershell joins Taylor Taco, which opened in February, and The Modern Crumb, a bakery also slated to officially open this month, as the newest offerings at the public market. Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A person was found dead early Thursday in Berks County after a trailer burned, according to published reports. A passing Exeter Township police officer saw heavy smoke about 12:15 a.m. coming from Brice Villa Park in the 4800 block of Perkiomen Avenue in the township, the Reading Eagle reports. Neighbors informed arriving emergency personnel that someone was inside but the heat and flames made entry impossible, the Eagle said. Firefighters fight the flames in the mobile home Friday morning in the 4800 block of Perkiomen Avenue in Exeter Township. @ReadingEagle pic.twitter.com/eLIRLvyyvp Michael Yoder (@YoderReports) May 2, 2019 Firefighters arrived within five minutes and had the blaze under control by 12:30 a.m., the Eagle said. The county coroner was dispatched and a Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal also went to the scene to investigate, the newspaper said. The coroners office couldnt immediately be reached on Thursday morning but state police confirmed the marshal was at a deadly fire in the township. WFMZ reported the victim was resident Ronald Shuker, 71, a retired firefighter. Neighbor Jada Metzger described a scene of intense smoke and flames, WFMZ reported. "The fire just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, Metgzer told the television station. The fire actually dropped down onto the mans cars, and from then on it was actually just smoke everywhere. I actually got caught in the smoke because we were all the way over behind the trailer. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A teacher from Philadelphia has settled his lawsuit with Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in which he claimed he was racially profiled. The online court docket indicates the lawsuit was settled Tuesday. It has been dismissed from federal court by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl, records say. The settlement amount isnt listed in court records. A letter sent by one of Slaters attorneys to a judge in February said Slater had lowered his demand from $1 million to $500,000, but its not clear whether that offer was accepted as part of the settlement. It is this firms policy not to substantively comment on settlements, said attorney Matthew B. Weisberg of Morton, Pa., who wrote the settlment letter. Dorney Park spokeswoman Tana Korpics said she couldnt comment on the litigation but said that after a settlement conference Tuesday, Dorney Park vice president and general manager Mike Fehnel and Mr. Slater had a productive one-on-one conversation which ended on good terms. In his lawsuit, Slater claims he was targeted due to his race because he matched the description of someone going through purses and stealing wallets at the park in South Whitehall Township on June 17, 2018. Slater is black, the suit says. He says he was forced to empty his phone, keys and wallet out of his pockets, then was taken on an embarrassing and humiliating walk through the park with police, according to the lawsuit. Then he was escorted from the park, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit alleges Dorney Park trains its security officers to apprehend black customers and detain them when any black person is suspected of any alleged theft at the park. The legal response from Dorney Park denies any such training of security officers. It says Slater was detained and removed from the park due to his loud, disorderly conduct and use of profanity. A settlement isnt an admission of liability on the part of Dorney Park. Its an agreement to resolve the case without going to trial. A trial had been scheduled for August. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. David Smith exposed himself to a 2-year-old child and possessed child pornography. He understands thats a problem and promised a Northampton County judge hell do whatever it takes to fix it. He told a probation officer, however, that hes not completely to blame for the problem. In a pre-sentence investigation, he told a probation officer its 50% his wifes fault he possessed child pornography, according to Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Kulik. Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden hopes Smiths vow to reform himself is stronger than his tendency to blame others. She sentenced the 44-year-old Easton man to a combined five to 11 years in state prison. This particular situation here is really disgusting, McFadden said. She sentenced him on Feb. 8 for exposing himself to the 2-year-old girl. He was charged in February 2018 with that crime and pleaded guilty to indecent exposure and endangering the welfare of a child. The victim was known to Smith. McFadden sentenced him to two to four years in prison for those crimes. After he was charged, police found about 18 images of child pornography on his computer. He was charged in October 2018 with possessing the pornography. He pleaded guilty to possessing one image as part of a negotiated plea. McFadden sentenced him Thursday to three to seven years on the pornography charge to run consecutive to the other charges. Defense attorney Tim Prendergast said Smith has researched programs available to him in state prison and plans to take advantage of whatever sex offender treatment is offered. Youll never see me again, Smith told McFadden. Kulik said he presented himself differently during the pre-sentence interview. At first he said he didnt know how the pornography got on his computer. Then he blamed his wife. Neither Smith nor Prendergast addressed how his wife was to blame. After the sentencing hearing Kulik elaborated, saying Smith said he was upset his wife forced him to work second shift. She said shes not sure how that correlates to his decision to own child pornography. Smith must register as a sex offender for 15 years. He will be on probation for seven years once his prison and parole periods expire. McFadden said she hopes Smith takes advantage of the opportunity to address his problem. Well Mr. Smith, I hope that your intentions to do what you need to do in state prison are genuine. Because you have a serious problem, McFadden said. Yes. I know, Smith said. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. 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. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Union workers at a ExxonMobil research facility in Clinton Township are planning to strike starting Thursday. Members of The Independent Laboratory Employees Union have been working without a contract since the end of May last year, according to a statement on the unions website. Some 200 union members are planning to strike Thursday and Friday to protest what they called bad faith bargaining practices, according to the statement. About 1,200 people work at ExxonMobils Research and Engineering Technology Center. Union members are expected to picket both days at the centers two entrances, one off Route 22 and the other off Route 33, according to union President Michael Myers. There have been 25 bargaining sessions between the union and ExxonMobil, according to the statement. The ILEU-represented employees are currently working under the existing terms and conditions of the previous contract," Sarah Nordin a spokesperson for ExxonMobil, said. "(ExxonMobil) has had a long and successful relationship with the ILEU, and we look forward to working with the union on a resolution. According to the union, among the issues is that ExxonMobil is offering its members a new contract with yearly wage increases below the average 3% increase given to other union workers, and with no retroactive increase for the year they have been without a contract. Workers would get a $2,500 bonus if the contract is ratified. The union has been unable to get an agreement with the company on personal time, and union workers get one week of parental paid time off each year, in contrast to eight weeks offered to all non-unionized employees, according to the union statement. 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. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. 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. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A Bethlehem man was found guilty of fraud Wednesday for his participation in a biofuels scam to cheat the government and customers out of a combined $50 million, according to a news release. David M. Dunham Jr. claimed his company, Smarter Fuel, collected used cooking oil and processed it into biofuel when it fact the company didnt process the millions of gallons it claimed it did or didnt process it into ready-to-use fuel, court documents say. He operated the business in Wind Gap, Bethlehem, Allentown and other areas from 2010 to 2015, court records say. Dunham was convicted at trial of defrauding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and his customers to obtain renewable fuel credits for the green energy business, according to the news release from the U.S. Attorneys office. Dunhams attorney Caroline A. Goldner Cinquanto disagreed with the verdict. She said Dunham had trouble navigating government regulations she called confusing, complex and ever-changing. Changes to these regulations were not disseminated in any meaningful way to the public. Over the course of two years, Mr. Dunham hired at least four advisors to help him navigate this process. Mr. Dunham was an environmentally-conscious entrepreneur who was attempting to help this country lower its dependence on fossil fuels and in the process employed dozens of people, she said Friday. The government is seeking forfeiture of $1.7 million from Dunham and several parcels of real estate, the release says. The trial lasted four weeks before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl. You cannot lie, steal, or cover up your misdeeds. If you do, we will hold you accountable," said U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain in a prepared statement. Co-defendant Ralph Tommaso, of Warren Township, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy. Dunham was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and defraud the United States, wire fraud, filing false tax documents and obstruction of justice. Court records dont list sentencing dates for Dunham or Tommaso. WHAT THEY SAID Government officials react to the Dunham conviction: Todays conviction sends a clear message to any future fraudsters out there: crime does not pay. Especially when that crime involves defrauding American customers and multiple federal agencies, said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. David Dunham created an elaborate scheme that served no purpose other than to mislead and defraud the government, said IRS Special Agent in Charge Guy Ficco. Unfortunately for him, our special agents were able to track the movement of paperwork and uncover the deceit behind his actions. Todays conviction should send a clear signal that (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the integrity of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, said Jessica Taylor, Director of the EPAs Criminal Investigation Division. Mr. Dunhams conviction at trial sends a strong message regarding the benefit of working across agency lines to protect the integrity of government programs," said U.S. Department of Agriculture -Office of the Inspector General Special Agent-in-Charge Bethanne M. Dinkins. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. The case was over a festival involving the ritual sacrifice of animals. Neighbors testified that out-of-towners had trespassed on their farms. A witness warned of heavy traffic clogging a small road. A neighborhood feud with the undercurrent of a cultural clash seemed at first to be an unusual matter to be heard by a county agriculture board. But at its most basic level, it was still all about farming. Almost every county in New Jersey has an agriculture development board, a panel that aids in matters of farmland preservation and right-to-farm efforts. And for some in rural Warren County, the hearings involving attorneys, witnesses and testimony may be as close to a courtroom proceeding as they ever get. On Tuesday, the board sat at a dais and 20 people in the audience inside a dim county meeting chamber in Oxford Township. The soft light made eyes bleary as the proceedings lasted late into the night, well past the meetings targeted 10 p.m. conclusion. Testimony, in this case, involved statements from the owners of the Monique Cronce Farm about their operation, statements from a Harmony Township official about the complaints they received, and accounts from neighbors about their difficulties with the Cronce Farms annual event that draws hundreds of people. The farm, on small Esposito Road and owned by Monique and Theodore Cronce, sought farming protection from the ag board to continue their festival for a Muslim holiday. In the last few years, the farm has been the subject of complaints by its neighbors, so Harmony Township got involved. The purpose of Tuesdays hearing, the second on the matter, was to obtain an agritourism designation so the Cronces could continue the practice without going through the townships zoning practice. Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, symbolizes the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim (or Abraham, to Christians and Jews) to sacrifice his son with worshippers slaughtering sheep or other animals. Some of the meat is prepared and eaten by the celebrants, while the rest is distributed to the poor. Since 2012, the Cronce Farm has provided what Theodore Cronce called a space for worshippers to celebrate that is free from prejudice. Early in the meeting, Theodore Cronce described in detail the layout and procedure of the Eid celebration. The Cronces attorney described the annual event as less like a festival and more like a large, informal family reunion. Its just one where the farm buys animals, resells them at a markup, and allows them to be butchered, prepared and consumed on site. Then, the neighbors had a chance to speak. They stood up one by one, describing incidents of high traffic (one told of buses trying to maneuver around overflow parking on the tiny, curving road), and trespassers (multiple people told of visitors trying to open their gates, get into animal pens or barns). Some said they saw animal carcasses, though the Cronces said that is not possible from the road. I dont want a war on that street, said Patricia Williams, who owns a stable on Esposito Road. In almost the same breath, she described a shouting match with her neighbors that had to be broken up by state police. Later, Anthony Sposaro, the Cronces attorney, ascribed the neighbors dispute to a visceral reaction to the religious slaughter: Its something that is foreign to our culture. And because of that, it didnt sit well with some people. For the township, attorney William Mennen listed several of the municipalitys concerns, asking for more and better traffic signs and advance notice for neighbors. It was noted that heavy traffic on the backroads is unusual for the township of 2,500 people. The Cronces, for the most part, agreed to those requests. But it didnt matter. After patiently listening to all of this for about three hours, the verdict was in: The board voted 5-1 to deny the Cronces application. Their primary reason? Husbandry -- the conditions in which the animals were kept. That, Sposaro said, is at least something the Cronces should be able to address quickly. They still hope to gain approval before this years Eid al-Adha celebration in August. Still, the things that made the matter most noteworthy the religious aspect, the neighborhood quarrel, the traffic and the trespassing all were incidental to the actual farming, the board decided. So it actually turned out to be a rather routine hearing after all. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A Portlaoise based businesswoman has been named as Laois' Best Young Entrepreneur 2019. Amie Colgan was crowned Laois' overall winner of Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition at the Heritage Hotel in Killenard this afternoon and hosted by the Laois Local Enterprise Office. Chosen from an initial list of 65, which was subsequently shortlisted to 15, Amie featured and won in the Best Established Business category with her business, Nuvo Personnel. Amie Colgan set up Nuvo Personnel, a temporary recruitment specialist agency, in 2010. She has been placing staff in jobs since opening the business and is now looking at expansion in sector placements. Her business has a person centered ethos and her focus is to build teams that function to their maximum capability. As winner, she receives 15,000 for her business. Aisling Kirwan from IntegriLeads won the Best Start-Up. IntegriLeads is a lead generation company which schedules b2b appointments increasing sales pipeline. Aisling works with companies across all industries with a specific focus on IT. She utilises the latest technologies giving real-time access to contact information for millions of professionals globally enabling her to give a pipeline of qualifies leads to her clients. Meanwhile, Dr Diane Cooper won the Best New Idea. Dr. Diane Cooper has been a specialist researcher in obesity, insulin resistance and chronic disease for the past 15 years. Elsewhere, John Duff from Portlaoise Springs was runner-up in the Best Established; Marcin Duda from the Sweet Bakery was runner-up in the Best Start-Up and Philip Mulpeter, of Martial Arts League, was runner-up in the New Idea. All three category winners now progress to represent Laois at the regional IBYE finals where they face off against the winners from Kildare, Offaly, and Westmeath. Guest speaker at the county final in Killenard was Kelly Lou Ging of Kelly Lou Cakes. To date, she is the only Laois business person to make it to the national final. Other speakers included John Mulholland CEO, Laois County Council, Evelyn Reddin, Laois Local Enterprise Office CEO and Leas Cathaoirleach, Cllr Tom Mulhall. Prison officers say overcrowding is on the rise in Irish jails while official figures show that committals to prisons have dropped dramatically in the past three years. Overcrowding in jails has caused prison officers to demand action at their annual conference but official figures show that there has been a big drop in the number of people being put behind bars. An information note published in January 2019 by the Irish Prison Service shows that there were 8,709 committals involving 6,496 persons in 2018. This was down on the previous year but a significant fall in the figures for 2016 and years up before that. In 2016 there were 15,099 committals involving 12,579 persons - a decrease of nearly half. Most of the drop has been due to the scrapping of jail terms as a penalty for those who have not paid fines. The annual Prison Officers Association Conference in Sligo heard that the issue of overcrowding is back on the agenda. Tony Power, President of the Prisoners Officers Association, highlighted the issue at the conference. Prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors is becoming an all too common sight again but yet our open centres remain below capacity. Prisoner numbers have continued to rise year on year from 3,745 in April 2017 to 3890 in April 2018 and up again to 4,049 in April 2019. "Taking one landing at the Midlands, initially designed to hold 38 prisoners, it regularly has prisoner numbers in excess of 65 and this is mirrored in many of the prisons. Overcrowding provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and exert huge pressure on vulnerable prisoners in particular to traffic in contraband, including weapons and illegal drugs. Serious violence is often part of the scenario here and we prison officers pay the inevitable price. Overcrowding puts both prisoners and prison officers at unnecessary risk and this is totally unacceptable. Over the last year overcrowding made an unwelcome return to our prisons a problem, which always and ever creates major challenges for prison officers on the ground. The IPSStrategy Statement refers to the reopening of the Training Unit in Mountjoy, but Minister, not one red cent has been spent on it since the decision was taken to close it in 2016. So we need to clarity on this issue as a matter of urgency. He said the issue has to be raised with the Laois TD and the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan. I regretfully must raise the issue of overcrowding Minister, as all of us believed this was a historic issue. None of us want a return to the Pack em, Stack em and Rack em days of the past, where both prisoners and prison officers pay a heavy price you simply should not allow this to happen on your watch, he said. Staff and prisoners are at risk at the prisons in Portlaoise and other jails because of what is claimed to be a 'mismanagement' of prison officer hours. At the Prison Officers Association Conference in Sligo, the Prison Officers Association President Tony Power highlighted what were described as serious concerns around recruitment and staffing levels in our prisons. Some prisons had staffing shortfalls as high as 40 or 50 a day due to the mismanagement of the Additional Hours system. In the Midlands for example, due to this mismanagement, there have been days when the prison operated fully with less than 60% of the agreed staffing levels on duty. This bad planning is surely putting both staff and prisoners at risk," he said Tony Power said that a Regime Management Plan, much lauded by the former Director General, was to be put in place in each prison to ensure staff and prisoner safety but this is nonexistent in most institutions. "The Irish Prison Service recently began another recruitment campaign for Recruit Prison Officers and whilst the POA welcome any recruitment that will help us achieve something close to the agreed Prison Officer numbers in every prison I must advise caution. "When Minister Flanagan spoke in March this year at the launch of that particular Recruitment Campaign, he lauded the fact that 216 recruit Prison Officers would help to bring the overall staffing compliment of the Irish Prison Service close to full strength. "This would be the case except that neither the Minister or the Irish Prison Service have factored in the vast number of prison staff that can and are retiring, having completed their service. The shortfall of staff on the floor in our prisons and I emphasise on the floor as there never seems to be a shortfall of managers, has been and will continue to be a matter of grave concern to the Prison Officers Association. Mr Power said the issue was raised at previous conferences. "The net result is that we have operated with unacceptably low staffing levels over the past 12 months and this must be addressed, he concluded. Gangs and violence continue to be a major problem for prison officers at work in jails in Portlaoise and elsewhere according to their trade union. Jim Mitchell, Deputy General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association, speaking at their 2019 Annual Delegate Conference in Sligo said gangs are a threat. The numbers, motivation and behaviour of prison gangs within our prisons is a major concern for individual prison officers and this association. In our major prisons, in particular, individual prison officers must deal with threats of violence, prisoner on prisoner assaults and personal assaults on a daily basis There are roughly 28 different gangs and factions operating within Mountjoy prison alone, some are well known and high profile. There are over 230 prisoners on protection within the prison, for their own safety and this adds to the burden placed on prison staff. Not alone must we ensure the security around ongoing detention we must manage and control systems, which protect the gangs from each other and protect individuals from assaults by gang members, for various reasons. Life in prison mirrors the practices and behaviours in wider society. The majority of prisoners just want to serve their time and large numbers get involved in rehabilitation activities. Not so with the minority; especially those linked to the major gangs, who view time in prison as an extension of the gang culture with all the accompanying violence and control over other vulnerable people. This activity involves feuding, assaults, threats, drug and weapon smuggling and an ongoing determination to control crime and punishment on the outside. "This is a most serious and continuing problem, and we ask the Minister here today to put systems in place, which will reduce the impact of gangs and related violence with our prisons, Mr Mitchell told the membership. Drones have been used to get contraband to criminals in prison with over 50 drops at a Dublin prison in one week and nets over the yards are needed to stop these drops, prison officers say. The Prison Officers Association has said that over 50 packages of contraband were dropped by drones or thrown into the exercise yards in Wheatfield Prison in one week in March. President of the Prison Officers Association Tony Power said nets are needed over yards to stop these drone drops. In one week alone in March this year over 50 packages of contraband were either delivered by drones or thrown into the exercise yards in Wheatfield Prison. Without investment in nets for these yards, the only workable interim solution is to stop prisoner exercise on Reserve period. "Much was made in the National Media three weeks ago on the successful prevention of contraband entering Castlerea Prison by drone. "In March of this year staff successfully prevented another such attempt in Mountjoy Prison. "A prison service spokesperson, as quoted in the Irish Times said, the Irish Prison Service is exploring a number of technology options to deal with this problem. I ask what options are these and how soon can we expect them to be rolled out in our prisons? I hope we are not waiting as long for the solution here as we have been for the introduction of mobile phone blockers The danger linked to these incidents is unquantifiable Prison Officers, as officers will put their own Health and Safety at risk in an effort to retrieve this contraband," he said. Contraband such as mobile phones were seized 149 times in Portlaoise and Midlands prisons in 2018. Weapons were seized 100 times while drugs were seized 127 times according to information from the Irish Prison Service. Laois TD and Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has responded to issues raised by prison officers at their annual conference. In a speech to the Prison Officers Association the Minister, who has two prisons in his Laois constituency, also flagged reforms in the running and governance of prisons. In relation to overcrowding problems highlighted by officers, he said steps are in the works to create more space. "Plans are advanced for the re-opening of accommodation not currently being used within the system. Including the re-opening of the Training Unit, Im told that will provide an additional 140 prison spaces. "In addition, I understand an audit of existing accommodation is underway, in order to see where additional spaces can be brought on stream and I am told this has the potential to provide up to an additional 100 spaces," he said. He said a construction contract has been signed for a stand-alone female prison in Limerick as well as a new wing to Limerick male prison to provide 130 new spaces. Aside from overcrowding, prison officers called for action on the smuggling of drugs and contraband using drones. He said he was aware of "the serious challenges posed by drones". "They are a threat to prison security," he said. He admitted that they have been used to smuggle in contraband and drugs. "In terms of addressing it though, I understand that a working group has been examining a number of technologies and I am pleased to say a potential solution has been identified. I believe it will shortly be trialled in one prison and if it is successful, I understand consideration will be given to rolling-out it out across the estate," he said. Minster Flanagan acknowledged the problem of violence by prisoners which was also flagged by the officers "Central to the issue of deterrence is the prisoner disciplinary system. We need a system which is fair and transparent with sanctions imposed consistently from prison to prison. I am therefore pleased to announce that in line with a recommendation contained within the State Claims Agencys Report on Assaults on Operational Prison Staff by Prisoners, a full review of the prisoner disciplinary system has begun. This Review will not only consider the day to day operation of the system, it will also look at the level and type of sanctions imposed on prisoners who assault staff," he said. Minister Flanagan also flagged changes in how prisons are run, the need for change and accountability. He referenced the reforms that are underway in the Gardai when making the remarks. "There is much change underway throughout the other parts of the criminal justice system in my own Department and An Garda Siochana for instance. "And over the years, various entities have called for reform of the governance of the Irish Prison Service. In essence, these calls have been for an accountable and progressive prison service. Well in at least part answer to them, my officials are developing proposals to strengthen governance of the prison system. "One of the changes that I favour is reinstituting an Advisory Board for the Prison Service. "I want to see a number of sub Committees established. Each would have a specific role in relation to supporting governance in areas such as audit, risk, organisational culture and HR, and they would, in line with usual practice, report to the Board. "At individual prison level, there would also be new structures to help ensure that, as a publicly funded organisation, the IPS is fully accountable. "But while structures are critically important, in the end, it is people and how they behave that matters. "Given that much of your activity takes place behind closed doors, it is critical that the values which underpin the Service are those of integrity, accountability and openness. I know many of you personally and I have no doubt that you are motivated by the highest values of public service. "I ask you to continue to embrace and support this drive towards greater openness and accountability," he said. Speech by Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, at the Prison Officers Association Conference 2 May 2019 President, members of the Prison Officers Association National Executive, Branch Representatives, Distinguished Guests, Delegates - thank you for inviting me to your annual conference here in Sligo. Mr President - Tony Power - congratulations. I wish you the very best in your new role. I am sure, that during your time in office, you will represent your members with professionalism and dedication. Because professionalism and dedication are just two of the hallmarks of the officers you represent. I want, at the very outset today, to acknowledge that, on a daily basis, often unseen, across our 12 prisons, prison staff work in roles which are challenging and demanding. I want you to know my Government colleagues and I recognise that, and are very grateful to you for what you do. You work in an organisation, a service which is challenged.. I know that. It doesnt just have to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all of those who work and live within our prisons. It also faces many operational challenges challenges relating to rising prison numbers, drugs and contraband, mental illness and of course having to ensure appropriate regime activity for prisoners to assist with rehabilitation. To look at two particular ones though First of all, I want you to know I share your concern with regard to the increasing numbers in our prisons. While, it is still important to note that we have relatively low imprisonment rates by international standards, ensuring a safe working environment for you is a key priority for me and the Director General. To ensure we can provide this and ensure the safety and security of prisoners in our custody my Department has been working closely with the Director General and we are taking a number of short and medium term steps to address the issue. I understand for example that plans are advanced for the re-opening of accommodation not currently being used within the system. Including the re-opening of the Training Unit, Im told that will provide an additional 140 prison spaces. In addition, I understand an audit of existing accommodation is underway, in order to see where additional spaces can be brought on stream and I am told this has the potential to provide up to an additional 100 spaces. And of course we have also recently signed a construction contract for a stand-alone female prison in Limerick as well as a new wing to Limerick male prison. Together, I understand they are expected to provide 130 new spaces. Aside from overcrowding however, I know you are also concerned about the serious challenges posed by drones. They are a threat to prison security. They have the capacity to deliver drugs and other contraband. Indeed they have done so . And I want by the way to congratulate the Irish Prison Service and An Garda Siochana for the successful collaboration which recently led to arrests near Castlerea Prison. So please be assured that we do understand the threat, while also asking you to acknowledge that it is both complex and multi-faceted. In terms of addressing it though, I understand that a working group has been examining a number of technologies and I am pleased to say a potential solution has been identified. I believe it will shortly be trialled in one prison and if it is successful, I understand consideration will be given to rolling-out it out across the Estate. Another issue I know is of great concern to you is that of assaults on staff. Incidents of violence do occur. But while the reasons may vary, the fact remains that even one assault on a member of staff is one assault too many. I want you to know that my officials and I take every assault on staff as an affront against the entire prison system. So what can be done? How can prisoners be deterred from taking such actions? Well central to the issue of deterrence is the prisoner disciplinary system. We need a system which is fair and transparent with sanctions imposed consistently from prison to prison. I am therefore pleased to announce that in line with a recommendation contained within the State Claims Agencys Report on Assaults on Operational Prison Staff by Prisoners, a full review of the prisoner disciplinary system has begun. This Review will not only consider the day to day operation of the system. It will also look at the level and type of sanctions imposed on prisoners who assault staff. I am pleased that your Association has been invited to make a formal submission outlining your concerns and issues, and I want to assure you all that my officials are giving the Review full consideration. Your job is of course very difficult, but it must still be done, day in day out, in a humane and respectful way. Only a prison system with humanity and respect at its core will deliver rehabilitation, and we must always remember that a sentence is supposed, not just to punish, but also to rehabilitate and prepare an offender to reintegrate into a community. This is not a vague aspiration. It is an approach identified by the Penal Policy Review Group as a core principle. And it is also an approach which incorporates Human Rights. You have a new Director General in your Prison Service of course Caron McCaffrey. I would like to congratulate Caron, the first woman to serve in this challenging post, on her appointment and I wish her every success. But the reason I mentioned Caron at this particular juncture, just after I mentioned Human Rights, is because I know a particular priority for her will be upholding the human rights standards in our prisons. We will be accountable with regard to this of course, and I welcome the fact that, later this year, the CPT will visit Ireland to assess how persons deprived of their liberty are treated. CPT visits and reports are taken very seriously by the Government. Indeed their criticisms of slopping out played a significant part in almost completely eliminating that practice. So for my part, I look forward to them helping us drive human rights standards, and I know that the IPS will ensure the delegation gets a fair and open opportunity to evaluate how our system is working. Another example of valuable external scrutiny is the Office of the Inspector of Prisons. The Office has had a positive impact on the prison system in Ireland since its establishment in 2002, and now, since last year, we have, of course, a new Inspector, Ms Patricia Gilheaney. I welcome the Inspectors vision, drive and commitment to an independent, robust and professional inspection regime which meets international best practice, and I intend that she will have the appropriate frameworks and resources in place to deliver on this commitment. Robust prison inspection is to be welcomed. It helps us improve. But it also shines a light on excellent work. Recognition, as well as the criticism, is vital for ongoing organisational growth and development. As you know, one of the functions of the Inspector of Prisons is the investigation of deaths in custody. These reports are very important. They help the families of the deceased to understand what led to the death, they highlight policies or procedures which may need to be strengthened or improved, and they also highlight areas where compliance with procedures has not been achieved. It is vitally important of course, that all standard operating procedures are complied with, especially those regarding the monitoring of prisoners, including carrying out prescribed checks. The Irish Prison Service has recently published a new Policy on the monitoring of prisoners during periods of lock up, and I know that considerable action has been taken by the Director General, to raise awareness with staff regarding their obligations on prisoner monitoring. I welcome that. Another international pillar to protect the human rights of prisoners is the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture - OPCAT. This Protocol, which Ireland has signed but not ratified, is in addition and complementary to the United Nations Convention against Torture - UNCAT - which we have already signed and ratified. The Protocol is preventative in nature and provides for the establishment of National Preventive Mechanisms that would inspect facilities where a person is held involuntarily. The instrument impacts on a number of sectors but my Department has been tasked with progressing legislation so that it can be ratified. We have been consulting with a number of key stakeholders and on foot of these consultations, a draft scheme is being prepared. I intend to circulate it to stakeholders for comments as soon as possible, so that it goes to Government for approval and then to the OPC for formal drafting before the end of this year. Change is a word we hear a lot transformational change even. There is much change underway throughout the other parts of the criminal justice system in my own Department and An Garda Siochana for instance. And over the years, various entities have called for reform of the governance of the Irish Prison Service . In essence, these calls have been for an accountable and progressive prison service. Well in at least part answer to them, my officials are developing proposals to strengthen governance of the prison system. One of the changes that I favour is reinstituting an Advisory Board for the Prison Service. I want to see a number of sub Committees established. Each would have a specific role in relation to supporting governance in areas such as audit, risk, organisational culture and HR, and they would, in line with usual practice, report to the Board. At individual prison level, there would also be new structures to help ensure that, as a publicly funded organisation, the IPS is fully accountable. But while structures are critically important, in the end it is people and how they behave that matters. Given that much of your activity takes place behind closed doors, it is critical that the values which underpin the Service are those of integrity, accountability and openness. I know many of you personally and I have no doubt that you are motivated by the highest values of public service. I ask you to continue to embrace and support this drive towards greater openness and accountability. Indeed your association has played and continues to play a very important role in contributing to and supporting the introduction of many positive initiatives within the Service and I thank you all and commend you for that commitment to delivering excellence. In November 2018, I opened the National Violence Reduction Unit in the Midlands Prison. The Unit marks a significant change in how the Service engages with prisoners who represent the highest risk of violence to staff, to other prisoners and to our communities. This new approach involves meeting each prisoner's complex needs through improving their psychological health, their wellbeing and their behaviour. It all takes place in a centre of excellence operated by highly motivated, highly trained and highly competent staff. I am aware that the Prison Officers Association played a very significant role in the development of this concept and I want to thank you for that. I have no doubt that your positive leadership will deliver valuable dividends in making safer custodial environments for offenders and for staff. I am also aware that the prison environment poses other risks to the health and safety of staff and I have listened carefully to what you have had to say in relation to the issue of smoking within prisons. I understand however that an updated Smoking Policy, covering smoking in any form, including all vaping devices and e-cigarettes, was implemented across every prison in 2018. I want to say that I share the view of the Director General that only full compliance with the Smoking Policy is acceptable. Moreover, I am assured that Governors have been directed to vigorously police the Smoking Policy and ensure that violations are subject to appropriate sanctions. As well as creating a safer working environment, I know the Director General is also deeply committed, personally, to strengthening the supports provided to prison staff. The Employee Assistance Programme, peer to peer support and a free confidential counselling service are all essential in your complex and challenging environment and I am glad to learn that the IPS is continuing to work towards introducing the Critical Incident Stress Management model of support for prison personnel. Very welcome progress has also been made in relation to the provision of Continuous Professional Development to all staff. Indeed, I had the opportunity to open and the recently refurbished Irish Prison Service College last November. I see this major investment in training facilities as a very practical demonstration of the Services commitment to invest in and support its staff. I recognise that the safety and wellbeing of both staff and prisoners is best served by maximising the opportunities for structured activities across the prison estate. That is why I am pleased to see that bespoke Regime Management Plans have been developed and are being implemented in each prison. These plans are of course designed to ensure the optimum assignment of staff resources to support structured activity for prisoners. The Irish Prison Service is also commencing a review of staffing levels in support of essential services such as catering, laundry, waste management and industrial cleaning. And finally talking of a review of staffing levels, can I also talk about an increase in staffing levels. I am delighted that Prison Officer recruitment is continuing. I know how important appropriate staffing is to your workplace safety so I am delighted that Government has been able to fund the recruitment of 179 Recruit Prison Officers in 2018. I know too that another 43 have completed initial training this year, while another 48 are in training . So that is good news on the numbers coming in, while, for those of you already in, I am glad to announce the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 will see improvements in pay. This will come about through the significant unwinding of the financial emergency measures legislation that has applied to public servants since 2009. To conclude then, can I once again express my sincere gratitude and that of Government, to you, for your ongoing contribution. You ensure the safe custody of prisoners, the rehabilitation of offenders and safer communities. I would like to wish you well for the remainder of your conference. Thank you. The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) which represents organisations working with over 380,000 young people is encouraging young Laois people to make sure they are registered to vote before the deadline for inclusion on the electoral register on Tuesday next, May 7. Any young person who is 18 years of age on or before May 24 next is eligible for inclusion in this updated voters list. The NYCI are advising young people to check if they are on the electoral register on checktheregister.ie. Anyone not currently registered, needs to fill in the RFA2 form, have it signed and witnessed at a Garda Station, then return it by post or by hand to your local city or county council by the May 7th deadline, in order to make sure they will be able to cast their ballot on May 24. While the deadline to get your completed RFA2 form to local Councils is Tuesday, May 7, with the Bank Holiday on this coming Monday, applicants are urged to put the completed form in the post by latest Friday, May 3. This form also needs to be signed and stamped at a Garda Station. James Doorley, NYCI deputy director urged young people to register quickly. "We would encourage people not to leave it to the last minute, stated Mr Doorley. For almost every election and referendum we get calls from young people who have missed the registration deadline and are disappointed that they cannot vote, we urge young people to make sure they are registered and not to leave it to the last minute, so that they can vote in any upcoming local and European elections and referendum." Sinn Fein's local election team in Laois is 'determined' to up its representation on Laois County Council and also intends to retain a European Parliament seat. Sinn Fein launched County Council and EU elections for Laois in Portlaoise this week. The party wants to double its representation on Laois County Council (LCC) from two to four councillors and ensure that Liadh Ni Riada is re-elected as an MEP to the European Parliament. The party says it is making a determined effort to strengthen its team on Laois County Council by getting two new councillors elected to join Cllrs Aidan Mullins and Caroline Dwane Stanley. It says both Aidan and Caroline are "diligent and effective full-time councillors". Lorna Holohan Garry is campaigning in the Mountmellick/Borris in Ossory District, where Sinn Fein narrowly missed taking a seat in 2014. In the Portlaoise/Abbeyleix District, John Gormley from Abbeyleix is campaigning to take a second seat and join Cllr Dwane Stanley. Sinn Fein says it is prioritising a range of issues the party has been active on in particular Portlaoise hospital, housing, road improvements, road safety, broadband, community policing and climate change. Brian Stanley TD says the party must have a stronger voice in Laois. Doubling the number of Sinn Fein councillors to four would give us a stronger voice on the Council and enable us to have all parts of the county represented. Our existing two councillors work very closely with me, and we are determined to build further on our constituency and campaigning work, he said. Liadh Ni Riada is the Sinn Fein candidate in Laois for Europe due to the redrawing of the boundaries for the EU elections and the county's inclusion in Ireland South constituency. The party says the former presidential candidate has been an active and effective MEP since being elected in 2014 and has worked on a range of issues including education, agriculture and the environment. "Liadh is a prominent advocate for Irish unity and ensured in March 2018 the EU Parliament passed a key resolution to support the Good Friday Agreement in the face of Brexit and to protect Irish interests, said Deputy Stanley. Matt Carthy won an MEP seat in the last European elections when Laois was part of the Midlands, North and West constituency. A 16-year-old from Portlaoise has lots to celebrate after losing 5st 3lbs to reach the finals of a national slimming competition where he met TV star, Joe Swash. Brent Donohue was over the moon to make the final 28 of Slimming Worlds Young Slimmer of the Year 2019 competition. He represented the 25,500 16 to 21-year-olds attending 19,000 Slimming World groups across the UK and Ireland. The competition recognises the enormous achievements of young people who are making long-term lifestyle changes to become healthier, happier and more active. Joe, who co-hosts the Im A CelebrityGet Me Out of Here spin-off show Extra Camp, came along to make the day at Slimming Worlds Derbyshire head office extra special. Growing numbers of young people across the UK and Ireland are putting their health at risk because of obesity. Many young people are so severely overweight that theyre even beginning to suffer serious conditions like Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Slimming World supports people of all ages to make changes to their lifestyle and develop healthy habits for life. Since 2006, the organisations Family Affair programme has provided support free of charge for 11 to 15-year-olds who attend with a parent or guardian. Since joining the Abbeyleix group Brent has slimmed from 18st 12.5lbs to 13st 9.5lb, and feels on top of the world. As a result of his incredible achievement, his fellow members in the Abbeyleix group voted for him to represent them in the semi-finals of the Young Slimmer of the Year 2019 competition. Brent says, I knew that I had an issue with my weight and that I needed to address it but like many young people I just didnt know where to start when it came to making healthier choices. I was starting to become more and more self-conscious, and my weight was affecting me in lots of different ways. I would often feel as though I was the only person my age who was overweight and it was very isolating. My Slimming World group helped me to feel included, and I gradually started to feel better about myself. I felt nervous at the thought of joining a Slimming World group because I didnt think people my age did things like that and I was worried I might get judged for being young and overweight. I was wrong though, everyone was so welcoming and there were a few other young people there too so I felt a lot more at ease. My friends and family have all said that they are proud of my achievement and Im proud of myself too actually. I discovered that its possible to lose weight by satisfying your appetite and without going hungry! I enjoy everything from chicken to steak, pasta to potatoes and pile my plate with loads of veg. My favourite meals are curries and chicken in black bean sauce. Ive learned to cook from scratch and just have to make a few healthy swaps, like using low-calorie cooking spray and choosing lean cuts of meat. Now I have a better understanding about the relationship I have with food. I also began to think about becoming more active, so Ive started walking and I can walk up to 18km now. I also swim and go to the gym about four times a week and I love it. Ive learnt so much from my Slimming World group, as well as lots of guidance and support, theyve helped me to develop healthy habits that will stay with me forever. Joe was blown away when he met Brent at the semi-finals and said: I honestly cant believe the difference in Brent, to have achieved something like this at such a young age is just amazing. I think a lot of people think that losing weight is all about eating less, but everyone Ive met today loves food just as much as me! It takes a lot to turn your life around like that, so hats off to Brent for setting his mind to something and actually being strong enough to see it through. Carmel Minogue, who runs the Abbeyleix Slimming World group which Brent attends, agrees: Im so proud of Brent. What hes achieved is so much more than just losing weight. Ive watched Brent transform into a strong and confident person who has the world at his feet. Joining Slimming World has given him the knowledge and skills to make healthy choices and develop new active habits that will stand him in good stead for the rest of his life. Most of all its given him the self-belief to achieve whatever he puts his mind to. Anyone who wants to lose weight whatever their age and wants to know more about the difference that Slimming World can make is welcome to pop along to my group at Abbeyleix Manor Hotel or call me on 0872972305. Although he made the top eight, unfortunately Brent was not the overall winner of the competition. Slimming Worlds Young Slimmer of the Year 2019 was Lucie Hadley from Peterborough who lost 10st. The parents of a ten-month-old baby and a two-year-old child who were left unattended in a rubbish-strewn house with open alcohol containers and evidence of cocaine use have been charged with child neglect. At last weeks Portlaoise District Court, the 31-year-old male and 30-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the children, were both charged with three counts of neglecting a child, at a location in Laois on May 13/14, 2018. Sgt Justine Reilly gave evidence that on May 14, 2018, the man was involved in a road traffic collision in which his four-year-old daughter was not wearing a seat belt. As there were concerns that she may have been injured an ambulance was called and the man was arrested for drink driving. When the gardai went to his house they discovered a ten-month-old baby and a two-year-old child alone in the house unsupervised. The ten-month-old was saturated in urine and the two-year-old was smeared in faeces. Sgt Reilly said there were dirty nappies strewn around and open alcohol containers in the house, as well as evidence of cocaine use. Fluid was leaking from the ceiling, which Sgt Reilly said was caused by rubbish upstairs. Sgt Reilly told the court the woman had left the house the night before, leaving the children with the man. Others then arrived at the house for a party. The man made full admissions to being under the influence of alcohol and cocaine and had been driving while intoxicated. The woman said there had been an altercation between her and the man and she left the house, leaving the children under his care knowing that he was under the influence of an intoxicant. The man had 24 previous convictions and the woman had five. The children were subsequently taken into the care of the State, but because of a change in the couples circumstances the children are now back with them and the family are living in Dublin. Defence for the two accused said there had been a difficulty in the marriage. The woman felt the man was able to look after the children, and the man had intended to go to bed that night but then the lads landed. Remarked Judge Catherine Staines: He didnt have to let them in. Defence said this was accepted. Defence went on to say that both parties suffered with mental health difficulties, with the woman experiencing postnatal depression after the birth of her first child and the man taking to drink and drugs following difficulties in their marriage. Since then, both have accepted all the assistance of Tusla. The youngest child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, while the middle child is believed to be autistic. Defence asked the court to be lenient and said the family has only recently got back together and are reestablishing their lives. Sgt Reilly confirmed that the family is now under a safety care plan with Tusla. After hearing the facts, Judge Catherine Staines said this was an absolutely appalling case. These are small human beings totally and utterly reliant on the adults who care for them, God knows what damage has been done to them, said Judge Staines. Saying she wanted a report from Tusla, the matter was adjourned to July 4 next, with the judge also directing probation reports on the accused. A bail condition imposed on the accused was that they must have absolutely no drink or drugs. The nationalities of asylum seekers in Rathdowney cannot be revealed by the Department of Justice due to a right to privacy, a department spokesperson has said. A number of asylum seekers are living in emergency accommodation in a guesthouse in Rathdowney for over a month now. They are waiting for space in a direct provision centre. The number of people in the Rathdowney guesthouse, their nationalities, whether there are children or adults or whether children need spaces in local schools cannot be revealed to protect their identities. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) has a legal duty to protect the identities of people in the international protection process. Rathdowney was chosen as a location for emergency accommodation after a response to an advertisement. The advertisement was for 12 to 24 weeks of bed and board. Any premises offered to the Department of Justice and Equality for temporary accommodation was in response to advertisements placed in the national media in January of this year. The advertisement sought bed and board in hotels and guesthouses on a 12-24 week basis. During this period, RIA will work to identify additional accommodation centres and work with persons in accommodation centres who have status to move on and free up capacity, the spokesperson said. The guesthouse in Rathdowney is being used to meet the demand for spaces in direct provision centres. RIA is currently booking a number of rooms at a guesthouse in Rathdowney on a short term, temporary basis until spaces become available in a centre. The premises is not a direct provision centre. The RIA is working actively to expand the number of centres available to meet demands and ensure Ireland adheres to its obligations, the spokesperson said. Direct provision is a means to meet the basic needs of food and shelter for asylum seekers while their claims for refugee status are being processed. There are two direct provision centres in Laois at the former Montague Hotel in Emo housing around 200 people and the former Hibernian Hotel in Abbeyleix housing 60 people. The centre opened in Abbeyleix last September. Between 55 and 60 asylum seekers, mostly made up of families, moved into the facility at the former Hibernian Hotel at Pembroke Terrace, Abbeyleix. The Montague Hotel in Emo was opened in 2007 and is still in operation. Residents live in the full board accommodation which includes light, heat and laundry services free of other charges, and are paid an allowance of 21.60 per person per week. They may also qualify for other Social Welfare payments as determined by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Prison officers have put Government on notice that their 'pay must be forgotten' as the Prison Officer Association (POA) president put wages earned by officers in Portlaoise and other jails firmly on the radar at the trade union's annual conference. In his address to delegates, POA President Tony Power also cautioned the head of the Irish Prison Services about finding scapegoats when it comes to accountability. He warned that everyone had to look in the mirror on accountability issues. Early in a wide-ranging speech to officers, Mr Power gave the Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan, who represents many serving and retired prison officers in his Laois constituency, a message to bring back to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donoghue. "Minister, in September 2017 following negotiations the POA like many other Public Service Unions, signed up to the latest Pay Agreement in good faith. However, this Public Service pay deal must now address the lost spending power of incomes after living costs are factored in and the agreement must now also respond to profession-specific issues and ambitions, he said. He said pay adjustments in the wider economy are common and as all public servants suffered pay cuts at the same time then they should have pay restored at the same time. "Minister I have to put it to you that you ensure that Prison Officers are not forgotten here and if the Labour Court and the Government have recently recognised, in the nurses case, that the pay deal is capable of dealing with grade-specific claims, a process that had been absent from public service pay determination for over a decade, then surely the grades that we represent are as entitled to an independent pay review as any other group of Public Servants and before the end of this current agreement as now seems to be the case for the nurses. "It is imperative that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform engage with the Public Service Unions on pay including the broader implications of the nurses Labour Court recommendation," he said. The President also had a message for Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Ms. Caron McCaffrey and her officials who were also in Sligo. "Director General you have raised the issue of accountability in meetings with our national officers. You will be well aware that accountability must come from the top down. "Policies are not just documents that are taken down, dusted off and used when something goes wrong and you or your managers are looking for someone to scapegoat. Policies are lived every day and when it comes to accountability everybody must first look in the mirror," he said. TEXT OF SPEECH On behalf of the National Executive Council I offer you all a warm welcome to this years Annual Delegate Conference here in the Radisson Hotel in Sligo. I welcome the Minister for Justice & Equality, Mr. Charlie Flanagan, Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Ms. Caron McCaffrey and her officials. I would also like to thank the Lord Mayor of Sligo, Councilor Rosaleen OGrady for her address at the opening of our conference this morning. I warmly welcome our colleagues from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, who thankfully can still visit us without the need for a visa, our fellow Trade Unionists including those from Europe, invited guests, the national media and especially our delegates who are present here today. As we had branch elections earlier this year many of you are attending your first conference, so I hope you enjoy the experience and take something from it that will assist in your difficult role as a Staff Representative. I would like to extend the best wishes of everyone here today to our colleagues who have been the victim of serious assault or other traumatic incidents whilst carrying out their duties on behalf of the state. I would like to make special mention of Gavin Foley, Secretary of the Arbour Hill Branch as he battles serious illness. The thoughts and prayers of everybody here today are with Gavin, his family, friends and colleagues. Delegates, this is my first address to Annual Delegate Conference as President but the issues I will be speaking about here this afternoon have been on the agenda for more years that we care to remember. DIRECTOR GENERAL I would like to congratulate Ms. McCaffrey on her appointment to her role as Director General of the Irish Prison Service and look forward to working with you and IPS staff on the many critical issues that lie ahead. Director General you have raised the issue of accountability in meetings with our National Officers. You will be well aware that accountability must come from the top down. Policies are not just documents that are taken down, dusted off and used when something goes wrong and you or your managers are looking for someone to scapegoat. Policies are lived every day and when it comes to accountability everybody must first look in the mirror. PAY Minister, in September 2017 following negotiations the POA like many other Public Service Unions, signed up to the latest Pay Agreement in good faith. However, this Public Service pay deal must now address the lost spending power of incomes after living costs are factored in and the agreement must now also respond to profession-specific issues and ambitions. Pay adjustments in the wider economy are now a common occurrence and as all public servants suffered pay cuts at the same time then it is only just and fair that we have our pay restored justly, fairly and at the same time. Minister I have to put it to you that you ensure that Prison Officers are not forgotten here and if the Labour Court and the Government have recently recognised, in the nurses case, that the pay deal is capable of dealing with grade specific claims, a process that had been absent from public service pay determination for over a decade, then surely the grades that we represent are as entitled to an independent pay review as any other group of Public Servants and before the end of this current agreement as now seems to be the case for the nurses. It is imperative that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform engage with the Public Service Unions on pay including the broader implications of the nurses Labour Court recommendation. RECRUITMENT At our Annual Delegate Conference in 2017 my predecessor Mr. Stephen Delaney spoke about staffing levels and asked the then Minister Ms. Frances Fitzgerald to fight for the Prison Service. She failed to do so. At last years Conference Stephen once again spoke about staffing levels and the long awaited Recruitment drive. The net result is that we now operate with unacceptably low staffing levels over the past 12 months. This must be addressed. Some prisons had staffing shortfalls as high as 40 or 50 a day due to the mismanagement of the Additional Hours system. In the Midlands for example, due to this mismanagement, there have been days when the prison operated fully with less than 60% of the agreed staffing levels on duty. This bad planning is surely putting both staff and prisoners at risk. In some prisons Managers continued to exhaust Additional Hours budgets filling all posts at the start of a quarter and then wondering where all the hours had gone. A Regime Management Plan, much lauded by the former Director General was to be put in place in each prison to ensure staff and prisoner safety but alas this Regime Management Plan was and remains nonexistent in most institutions. The reason for this remaining nonexistent is senior prison management being deliberately ignored by local governors. Lets hope this new brush sweeps this clean! The Irish Prison Service recently began another recruitment campaign for Recruit Prison Officers and whilst the POA welcome any recruitment that will help us achieve something close to the agreed Prison Officer numbers in every prison I must advise caution! Minister, you spoke in March this year at the launch of that particular Recruitment Campaign, lauding the fact that 216 recruit Prison Officers would help to bring the overall staffing compliment of the Irish Prison Service close to full strength. This, minister, would be the case except that neither you or the Irish Prison Service have factored in the vast number of prison staff that can and are retiring having completed their service. The shortfall of staff on the floor in our prisons, and I emphasise ON THE FLOOR as there never seems to be a shortfall of managers, has been and will continue to be a matter of grave concern to the Prison Officers Association. THE NVRU On the 9th of November last, too much fanfare and mutual backslapping, the National Violence Reduction Unit, was opened by Minister Flanagan at The Midlands Prison. This unit, the first of its type in the country, was designed to house some of the most dangerous and challenging prisoners including those with a history of extreme violence towards staff. Members you are aware that this much-lauded unit caters for just 10 prisoners maximum. Believe me there are a lot more than 10 violent and disruptive prisoners in the system so Minister, the Prison Officers Association is calling on you to invest in initiatives like this and roll out more of these units across the prison estate. VIOLENCE IN PRISONS Minister, when I joined the Prison Service over 21 years ago an assault on a Prison Officer would have been the topic of conversation at every meal break for days on end, this regretfully is not so today. The POA has long been calling for introduction of standardized PPE for staff, batons, pepper spray etc. and it is indeed welcome to see that in their Draft Strategy Statement 2019-2021 that the Prison Service is committed to investing in standardized PPE for all staff. Lets hope they carry out this strategy and give our members the equipment they require and most definitely deserve to ensure their safety at work. Minister, also contained in your latest Strategy Statement and I quote, A more modern technology-driven prison Estate with a focus on - Tackling the increasing threats posed by drone incursions into prisons - Investing in front-of-house security measures to prevent contraband smuggling - Investing in equipment to assist in the search and retrieval of contraband within prisons - We will review and re-launch our Keeping Drugs out of Prisons Policy In one week alone in March this year over 50 packages of contraband were either delivered by drones or thrown into the exercise yards in Wheatfield Prison. Without investment in nets for these yards the only workable interim solution is to stop prisoner exercise on Reserve period. Much was made in the National Media 3 weeks ago on the successful prevention of contraband entering Castlerea Prison by drone. In March of this year staff successfully prevented another such attempt in Mountjoy Prison. A prison service spokesperson, as quoted in the Irish Times said, The Irish Prison Service is exploring a number of technology options to deal with this problem. Minister I ask what options are these and how soon can we expect them to be rolled out in our prisons? I hope we are not waiting as long for the solution here as we have been for the introduction of mobile phone blockers. The danger that incidents such as these create for Prison Officers is unquantifiable, as officers will put their own Health and Safety at risk in an effort to retrieve this contraband. Up until 2014 our canine unit had the facility to use Patrol Dogs in such situations but some genius decided that staff in blue shirts would be more effective than these highly trained dogs. OVERCROWDING I regretfully must raise the issue of overcrowding. Last year overcrowding made an unwelcome return to our prisons a problem, which always and ever creates major challenges for prison officers on the ground. Prisoner numbers have continued to rise year on year from 3745 in April 2017 to 3890 in April 2018 and up again to 4049 in April 2019. Taking one landing at the Midlands, initially designed to hold 38 prisoners, it regularly has prisoner numbers in excess of 65 and this is mirrored in many of the prisons. Overcrowding provides the perfect atmosphere for the bully to thrive and exert huge pressure on vulnerable prisoners in particular to traffic in contraband, including weapons and illegal drugs. Serious violence is often part of the scenario here and we prison officers pay the inevitable price. Prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors is becoming an all too common sight again but yet our Open Centers remain below capacity. The Strategy Statement refers to the reopening of the Training Unit, but Minister, not one red cent has been spent on it since the decision was taken to close it in 2016. Minister none of us want a return to the Pack em, Stack em and Rack em days of the past, where both prisoners and prison officers pay a heavy price you should not allow this to happen on your watch. MENTAL HEALTH In the recent recruitment campaign the Irish Prison Service described our prisoners as follows, each prisoners personal life story is unique, many of our prisoners have mental illnesses, behavioral issues and addictions Research indicates that up to 70% of prisoners have mental health issues ranging from anxiety and low-level depression to Psychosis. Up to 70% of prisoners have addiction issues. According to the former Director General, in May 2018 almost 10% of the 4000 prisoners in custody were deemed to be suffering from severe mental illness. In 2015 the CPT observed that Irish prisons continued to detain persons with psychiatric disorders too severe to be properly cared for in a prison setting. Unfortunately this continues to be the case, with our members having to deal with these individuals on a daily basis, without having received any related formal training. You will not find an unqualified nurse working with patients in A&E so why are our members being asked to do a job they have not been trained to do. These prisoners pose a continuing challenge to staff and add to the ever-increasing workload of already overburdened prison officers. Once again our members are going above and beyond the level to which they have been trained and this is totally unacceptable and increases the risk for all involved. We have also read recently of the possibility of some Irish citizens returning from involvement with ISISand perhaps spending time in our prisons. And if this happens prison officers could be involved in a deradicalisation process. And are we trained to do this? NO. We have been told that two IPS staff have been so trained, but not prison officers so once again we will be expected to make it up as we go along just not good enough. STAFF RECOGNITION & MERIT AWARDS On a positive note, in late 2018 the Irish Prison Service decided to put a fresh impetus into the Staff Recognition & Merit Awards Policy. This decision was fully backed by the Prison Officers Association who has been actively involved in its promotion. It is the intention of the national committee to standardize all aspects of staff recognition from 21, 30 and 40 year Medal Presentations to retirement presentations. To this extent Recognition on Retirement memento is being commissioned by the National Committee. Subject to the agreement of the retiring member this award will be presented to all retirees to formally recognize the service they have given over the course of their career. Should the retiring member wish they can have their retirement marked privately? The culture of blame is all too common in our job when something happens and to date there has been little recognition of what our members do each and every day to put things right. . For too long there has been little or no recognition of staff who have excelled in their job, have compromised their own health and safety for the good of others or have shown initiative or innovation. It had been accepted that only a manager could nominate someone for an award and too often the recognition of these actions has been down to If the face fits. The aim of the National Committee is to change this and to inform all staff that anybody can nominate someone for an award. With a proper buy-in by staff to this policy such disregard for these achievements should be a thing of the past. This brings me onto the issue of the 1916 Service Medal. We had a motion passed at our conference in 2017 that all grades represented by the Prison Officers Association be awarded the 1916 commemoration medal. I would ask you Minister to intervene in this issue and ensure that our members get the Commemoration Medal for their service to the state similar to all the other uniform bodies that have been awarded this medal. We in the Prison Officers Association fully understand and recognize the demanding, challenging and difficult job that our members do on behalf of society and it is only right that we should receive equal recognition. The long awaited awarding of this medal may in some way show our members that their work is not going unnoticed. CODE OF DISCIPLINE Minister, I must raise the Code of Discipline again this year as it has been on the agenda for the past 10 years. In 2009 the Prison Officers Association submitted a claim to the Justice Departmental Council for the establishment of a new Code of Discipline. The reason? No officer has been found NOT guilty of a charge levelled against him or her since 1996. Our present Code of Discipline was described to us by a Senior Counsel as an Appalling Document and no wonder. As Stephen Delaney said last year: Can you imagine if the courts system worked like this? You would need a prison the size of Offaly to accommodate all those being convicted? Over the intervening years we have had offerings that were copy and paste from similar uniform occupations from different jurisdictions. In some cases the font or the grades hadnt even been changed such was the lack of interest in this issue. It was for this reason that when the Civil Service Code was being changed we sought that we should be included so that we would be on a level playing field with all other Civil Servants given that we are supposed to be evaluated according to the same matrices like PMDS, Circulars, Policies etc. There now seems to be an issue regarding our inclusion with the other Civil Servants under this umbrella. Minister, whatever the difficulty is, could you please address this as a matter of urgency? Twenty-Three years of no Officer being found NOT GUILTY is not a statistic that anyone can stand over and our members who do a very difficult job on behalf of Irish society deserve better. It is a shame that in 2019 that we are still asking for a disciplinary code that offers fair and just procedures. The Civil Service Disciplinary Code was revised, changed, re-issued and implemented within a time frame of little over a year yet we put in our claim ten years ago and are still waiting for this matter to be resolved. SMOKING POLICY It is probably a little bit ironic that as the only smoker on the Administrative Council I am going to speak about the Smoking Policy in our prisons. Smoking in the workplace became illegal in 2004 but Prison Officers continue to be subjected to a smoke filled environment in our workplace. This has been a huge ongoing issue at our conferences with several related motions having been passed over the last few years. Over the past 2 years we have engaged with the Irish Prison Service in an effort to secure full compliance with the legislation but to date this has not happened. The reason? Because of the failure of managers whose responsibility it is to implement this policy. In many institutions, when a halfhearted effort was made to implement some modicum of the policy it was only aimed at staff. Minister, what will it take to have this policy implemented? Compliance orders from the HSA or a serious legal challenge? It is unacceptable that Prison Officers are still in a situation where they can develop serious health issues due to passive smoking. Minister, Director General, I am asking once again, on behalf of our members, that you instruct your managers to fulfill their legal obligation, implement this policy and provide Prison Officers with the same health and safety protection as any other worker in the state. CONCLUSION Delegates, as I said at the outset, this is my first address to Annual Conference so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and to let you know what an honour it is to represent the dedicated, hardworking and underappreciated men and women who do so much unseen work on behalf of the state. Over the years we have all seen change in our job and working conditions and none of us are that naive that we dont see further change coming down the line. But remember Delegates, we can influence and continually attempt to influence change but to do so we have to stick together, Our Unity is our Strength. I will end with an interesting quote from US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis: Strong, responsible unions are essential to industrial fair play. Without them the labor bargain is wholly one-sided And so say all of us. Go raibh mile maith agaibh go leir. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Communities around Laois are urged to get their applications in for the valuable Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Funding of up to 200,000 is available for rural towns and villages across Laois through the 2019 Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Laois TD and Minister for Justice & Equality, Charlie Flanagan urged communities to get involved in the scheme which targets money at rural towns and villages with populations of less than 10,000. I strongly encourage towns and villages in Co Laois to work with Laois County Council in preparing innovative and well thought-out projects under the scheme and I look forward to the announcement of the successful recipients of funding in the coming months. In order to avail of funding through the scheme, Laois County Council will be required to advertise for expressions of interest from towns and villages and will select proposals for development into detailed applications to be submitted to the Department by the end of June, he said. Details of the scheme BELOW: Two categories of town/villages are eligible for support under the scheme: Category 1: Towns/villages with a population of less than 5,000 people. Category 2: Towns with a population of 5,000-10,000 people. At least 60% of the funding available will be awarded to Category 1 towns and villages. Successful proposals will demonstrate close collaboration between communities and business interests in the design and delivery of proposed projects, and must have the support of the Local Authority. Sustainable impacts Projects which have clear positive impacts on a town or village in terms of place-making and town centre regeneration, or which stimulate economic activity between a town/village and its neighbouring townlands will be particularly welcome, as will proposals seeking to develop initiatives to encourage town centre living. Projects which demonstrate leveraging of, or linkages with, other schemes operated by Government Departments or agencies (e.g. in the areas of heritage, arts, culture, tourism, re-use of vacant premises, vacant sites, energy efficiency schemes, etc.) will also be encouraged. Grant levels Up to 80% of the total cost of a project under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme will be provided for any individual project. The minimum grant which is available is 20,000 and the maximum is 100,000. A higher maximum of 200,000 will be considered for a limited number of projects where a strong case can be made demonstrating exceptionally strong benefit to a town and/or its outlying areas. Full details of the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, along with the Application Form, are available on the Department of Rural and Community Development website, at https://drcd.gov.ie/about/ rural/rural-regeneration- development-fund/. GRANT BOOKLET This years Kildare and National Hunt gathering will be remembered perhaps, as the Emergency Punchestown, and hundreds of racegoers who made the pilgrimage on Tuesday and Wednesday last will certainly tell the tale of how they solved the transport problem, the Leinster Leader reported on April 29, 1944. It goes without saying that the crowds were not as big as usual, but, in the circumstances, the attendance was surprisingly large, especially on the second afternoon. Genial conditions were appreciated to the full by those who, by horse-drawn conveyance or push bicycle, came long distances by road. And come long distances they did. From Meath and Westmeath, Carlow and Kilkenny, Dublin and Wicklow and from counties more remote, they pedalled to Punchestown. Many of those Punchestown devotees had set out at cock-crow, had cycled over 30 miles to the battle ground and after cheering the winners, they faced the formidable return journey with light hearts and in most instances with lighter pockets. As to the cavalcade of horse-drawn vehicles, it baffled description. Every type of vehicle that could be imagined (and not a few that could not) had been pressed into service. Brakes, jaunters, wagonettes, four-wheelers, traps and gigs of every make and shape, farm carts, and even the humble ass and car, figured in the procession. And believe it or not, the writer saw one gallant and obviously determined gentleman arrive in a bath chair. The farm cart (especially that smooth running type fitted with balloon tyred wheels) was quite a popular mode of conveyance and not a few house parties ladies in Punchestown modes and their smartly groomed escorts, made the journey in such a vehicle, seated in comfort in well-upholstered chairs. And if the racing folk got there, so also did the men and women of the roads with their numerous progeny and the whine of the beggar was heard in the land, a minor accompaniment to the stentorian voices of the gentlemen who lay the odds. The latter probably had quite a profitable Punchestown with a couple like Prince Rowland and Princess Phillipa to cheer them on their way. Outstanding performer of the meeting was Mrs M Rowes Loch Conn, who on the opening afternoon won the Punchestown Cup in storming style. Saddled for the Ladies C Cup on the second afternoon and carrying a penalty, Loch Conn gave another wonderful display winning in facile manner. Horse and rider (Mr FD Boland) got a real Punchestown ovation. It would not seem right if a Punchestown went by without Mr Joseph Osborne sending out at least one winner and on Tuesday this popular local trainer duly obliged when his own mare Alice Baythorn won the Maiden Plate ridden by that fine horseman Aubrey Brabazon. Altogether it was a thoroughly enjoyable meeting, there being plenty of pep if no petrol. Midwife Sarah Cass from Kilkenny is the Bollinger best dressed lady for day three at the Punchestown Festival, Thursday, May 2. SEE ALSO: PICTURES: Style and glamour on Day 2 of Punchestown The 32-year-old stunned in a green Cherubina (Spanish brand) dress, and teamed it with a custom-made Marc Millinery headpiece, based in Cork. Sarah Cass from Kilkenny PICTURE: Michael Chester She wore a YSL bag and Zara shoes. It wasn't Ms Cass' first time on the red carpet, as she also made the final five on Tuesday. "I'm delighted, very surprised. I come to Punchestown every year and I love the style, I go to a lot of Ladies Days," she told the Leader. Ms Cass who is originally from from Gowran, won best dressed at the Curragh a couple of years ago, and won 'Elegance is an Attitude' at the Dublin Horse Show. She has been a widwife in the Rotunda hospital in Dublin for the last seven years, and fashion is something she's loved since she was young. "Since I was a child I'd always save up all my money for clothes and shopping, it's always continued then, my mother loves style as well, so I got it from her." Ms Cass already has her dress sorted for the grand finale tomorrow, and revealed monochrome will be the colour. Gretta Peters from Tipperary and Longford woman Kate Nally McCormack were the winners on the first two days of the festival. Ann Marie Phelan from Newbridge enjoying the races This year's overall winner will attend an exclusive invitational screening of the highly anticipated 25th James Bond movie in Paris in April 2020. In addition, the lucky lady and a friend will enjoy a money cant buy trip to the Bollinger Estate and Champagne Libraries, France. This trip includes an overnight stay in the beautiful historic town of Reims, the capital of the Champagne region, Michelin dining and luxury overnight stay in Paris, the City of Light. As well as a years supply of Bollinger Champagne. SEE ALSO: Longford woman wins best dressed on day 2 of Punchestown Festival Ballinamore Tourism Committee are organising A Celebration of the Life of John McGahern event, to mark National Community Weekend with the rest of Ireland, this Saturday, May 4 from 3.30pm in Ballinamore Tourism Office. Terry Shortt from the committee told the paper, We have people regularly visiting the town looking for landmarks from McGahern's books. We hope to make this an annual celebration of John McGahern and we want to build on it and maker bigger occassion. The event on Saturday starts with the official opening of The John McGahern Reading Room in the Tourism Office, with a short reading from one of his books. The event will then proceed to Pat McManuss Garage, where a plaque will be unveiled, honouring the late author. The plaque will be unveiled by Paddy McManus a relative of John McGahern. John McGahern spent many hours in the garage, chatting to Pat and all the other characters that called there. Pat McManus was the character The Shah in That They May Face The Rising Sun. The group will cross the road to look at the memorial seat which was erected by Ballinamore Tidy Town Committee in 2009 in memory of John McGahern. Across the square is the XL Supermarket, once a shop and boarding house which was ran by McGaherns Aunt Maggie. His aunt and uncle would have played a large part in McGaherns life. A bus will bring everyone on a tour of places of interest including Aughawillan where he lived and taught which had close links to John McGahern when he was growing up. Ballinamore is widely known for its close connections with John McGahern and the McManus family his mother was Susan McManus. The tour will end up in Glenview House for refreshments and Dr Michael ORourke, Lecturer, Trinity College, will deliver a lecture on the late John McGahern. This will be followed by a guided tour of Glenview Museum, where there is a section dedicated to the late John McGahern. The committee wish to acknowledge the assistance of Leitrim County Council, LCDC and the Government. The committee are inviting anyone who has a link to McGahern to attend. The tourism committee said they are still trying to get funding to convert Ballinamore's old courthouse into a writers residence or literary establishment linked to Ireland's famous author. Also read: John McGahern's manuscript worth 4,950 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. 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 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. AN ENHANCED expert review of University Hospital Limericks emergency department is to be carried out, Minister for Health Simon Harris has announced this Thursday morning. This follows calls from TDs in the Mid-West calling for an independent investigator to specifically investigate Limericks overcrowding crisis, after UHL set a new record for highest number of patients on trolleys on April 4. On that day, Minister Harris met with co-chairs of the Governments emergency department taskforce, where he requested the HSE to examine this proposal. The HSE has since advised that a clinical, analytical review will take place for all hospital groups and community health organisations across the country, but will start with the UL Hospitals Group and its emergency department in Dooradoyle. In an email to members of the Oireachtas this Thursday morning, Minister Harris stated: I wanted to provide you with a brief update on UHL and particularly recent calls for a review. As you may know, the issue of an independent review of University Hospital Limerick (UHL) was discussed at a meeting I had with the co-Chairs of the Emergency Department Taskforce on 4 April. At this meeting, I requested the HSE to examine the proposal. The HSE have since advised that, with the specific input of the Special Delivery Unit, it is currently undertaking a review of performance across all Hospital Groups and Community Health Organisations (CHOs) over the winter period. This review will now include an independent expert review and analysis of ED activity and relative performance of sites. This review will have a particular emphasis on the nine focus sites, will begin with the UHL Group and CHO Mid West and be led by independent clinical, analytical and management expertise. Senior officials in my Department are currently finalising details of this enhanced expert review with the HSE and I will update you further shortly. Welcoming the news, Fine Gael TD Tom Neville said that he had met with other TDs and the INMO to discuss UHLs challenges. I expressed this to Minister Harris after this meeting, and I welcome the fact now that he has acted upon delivering an independent review. I look forward to all parties cooperating with this review and inputting into this review. I look forward to the outcome and the results of it because, from speaking to the public, hearing the stories, changes need to be made ASAP. But we obviously have to make the right changes and this is coupled along with the advancement of the 60-bed modular unit on the back of a 96-bed permanent unit, so the resources are now coming to the hospital and are needed. Sen Kieran O'Donnell also welcomed the news this morning. "This is about looking at the particular situation. An independent expert review is being done nationally, but Limerick and the University Hospital Limerick is prioritised first to be done. The reason for that is that he [Minister Harris] fully understands the pressures here in bed capacity and we want everything that can be possibly done to ensure that we deal with the matter as quickly and, I suppose, a more efficient way as possible." There were 1,206 patients on a trolley in April at UHL, the worst ever recorded April in national overcrowding since records began in 2006. THE INFURIATED family of a 92-year-old woman who this week spent at least 105 hours on a trolley, has called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to witness Limericks overcrowding crisis during his visit this Thursday. This follows the Limerick Leaders survey on patient and staff experience in relation to overcrowding at UHL, which received close to 500 respondents in the space of a few days. Leo Varadkar is in Limerick all-day on Thursday, attending functions at City Hall, University of Limerick, Limerick city centre, and Thomond Park. However, there is nothing in the Taoiseachs schedule in relation to University Hospital Limerick, the most overcrowded hospital in the country. Annie McGirl, (92), was brought to UHLs emergency department by ambulance last Thursday at 11am, and was left on a trolley until Monday night or the early hours of Tuesday morning. Annies granddaughter Michelle Roughan claimed there was nothing ever written on her [medical] notes between receiving a CT scan on Friday evening and Monday afternoon, all while being on a trolley. She said that they asked UHL if the Shannon pensioner could be treated at Ennis Hospital. However, she said they were told that she needed to be treated in Dooradoyle. On Saturday afternoon, Michelles mother and sister were told that there were no updates on Annies condition. At this stage, Michelle said, Annie was feeling confused. It was absolutely heartbreaking to think that she was sitting on a corridor on her own at that age, she said this Tuesday. On Sunday, Michelle said that they were told Annie is priority and that she is first on the list for a bed. However, by 9pm on Sunday, they were told that there were no beds. The family were informed on Monday morning that Annie was to receive another CT scan. Ms Roughan said when she asked a nurse when she was to receive a CT scan, a nurse read through her grandmothers notes and confirmed that she wasnt receiving the scan. What she was looking at was Fridays notes, and that there was nothing ever written in her notes. The last thing that was written in her notes was Friday, and there was nothing else added. Michelle said that her mother left the hospital on Monday at 8.30pm when Annie was still on a trolley, 105 hours after attending the ED. The family were informed that Annie secured a bed on Monday night or Tuesday morning, and was later transferred to Ennis. She said: I would like if Simon Harris or Leo Varadkar to come down and arrive down and maybe they sit there and witness what we had to witness. It was just unbelievable how they think they can sit up there and think: Oh no, Limerick is fine. Its just absolutely not. Mayor of Limerick City and County, Cllr James Collins emailed the Taoiseach, urging him to visit UHL during as part of his visit. The Leader contacted the Taoiseachs office three times since Friday, asking if he was to visit UHL this Thursday, but did not receive a response. UL Hospitals Group said that it "sincerely regrets that any patient has to face long waits in our ED during busy periods and any distress or inconvenience this causes to patients and their loved ones. "When a patient attends the ED, they are triaged and observations recorded by nursing staff. Patients continue to be cared for by nursing staff whilst awaiting medical/surgical intervention. Once the decision is made to admit a patient, relevant documentation and interventions are completed by nursing staff, taking into account specific patient requirements and medical/surgical admitting physician requests while awaiting an inpatient bed. "Every patients care is documented on their chart and notes, this information is not on display in ED or at the bedside on wards, all patient notes and charts are held at the nurses station and care of patients is updated on these notes/charts from this location. "The ED at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is one of the busiest in the country and the numbers presenting continues to increase year on year. Attendances exceeded 67,800 in 2017, a growth of over 5% on the previous year. Attendances to the end of December 2018 were 71,823 - an increase of 6.2% on 2017." A FIRST-TIME local election candidate was bitten so deeply by a dog while she was out canvassing at the weekend that she required an X-ray to ensure the animal did not leave teeth behind in her leg. Trina ODea, a Fianna Fail local election candidate for the Adare Rathkeale area, was rushed to hospital on Saturday evening after she was badly bitten by a dog, which she believes was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, while canvassing in the Ballyneety area. The bite inflicted on Ms ODea was so deep the doctor could put his fingers straight in to her wounds and touch the bone in her shin, Ms ODea told the Limerick Leader when contacted this week. Because of the extent of the wounds, in other words how deep and long they are, this dog was narrowly close to taking away a severe chunk of my skin and leaving my leg wide open, she said. They told me in A&E that it was the worst dog bite they had seen in a long time. Doctors also had to use three litres of fluids to thoroughly clean her wounds, which required urgent care due to the highly infectious nature of dog bites. Her treatment was also further complicated by the fact the dog had vomited while clamped down on her leg. Caption above: Trina, recovering, but having to use crutches, pictured with Deputy Niall Collins I have a seven-year-old daughter and if that dog had attacked her like it did me, she wouldnt have a leg. That is the extent of how wide his jaw went around my leg. If it had been a child, they wouldnt have had a chance. The incident has been reported to gardai and the matter is currently under investigation, a garda spokesperson confirmed. We were canvassing the area and I had a local person with me, Ms ODea explained. There are a lot of big houses on that road, and a lot of electric gates and we dont interfere with them. We came to this house and there was no closed gates. I am always cautious of dogs and I am always cautious of people's privacy but there was no signage outside the house. There was no signage to warn of dogs and there was no signage to say no canvassers or trespassers. We proceeded to go in and knock on the door. We were waiting for a couple of seconds when the next thing, this dog came out of nowhere and just pounced and got my leg, Ms ODea said. He didnt bark, he didnt growl, he just attacked. He tried to drag me to the ground. At the door we were at, there was a railing I held onto and thats what kept me up. It all happened so fast. I cannot honestly tell you what made that dog let go of my leg, she said, adding they then called her husband, who was parked nearby, to drive down to pick them up. From there, I went straight to the emergency department, she added. In triage at the University Hospital Limerick, she was advised treating her wound was highly urgent. These people [at the hospital] didnt know me, or who I am or that I am involved in politics. They didnt know an iota about me. When they saw my leg, they informed me it required urgent treatment because of the nature of a dog bite. Following the incident, she is currently on a strong dose of antibiotics and may possibly require surgery. She must also use crutches until Friday at the earliest. The injury is on a very sensitive part of the leg so they cannot predict the healing time for it. My civic duty as an individual is to report this to the guards. The issue here is that the dog was on private property. Under the Dog Control Act, if the incident happens on private property that is the dogs home, there is very little the law can do in terms of repercussions for the dog or dog owners. My concern here is that while I am an adult, what could have happened if this was a child? What would happen if a child wandered onto this property or if a child was in front of this property and the dog was out? While I was there canvassing, and there are lots of people who say politicians should canvass or politicians shouldnt canvass, but what if I was a post-person delivering post or someone delivering a package, she asked. What if I was someone looking for directions and saw that this was the only open gateway on a road so went in there? Or a child looking for their ball? Are those people trespassing? To me, I am knocking on peoples doors to inform them of me and who I am and the things I want to do to make their community better. Does that mean I deserve a dog to do what he did to me? No. Irelands Dog Control laws need to be examined, she believes. There could be no repercussions in this case unless I take a civil case. Im not one to like seeing dogs being put to sleep and I know not all dogs are the same. But a dog that creeps up on an individual and attacks like that, it isnt a dog thats scared. Its a vicious dog and a hazard to public safety. An Garda Siochana was asked if contact has been made with the dogs owner and if the dog will be put down following the incident. A spokesperson confirmed that the incident is being investigated by gardai at Roxboro. A 9-year-old boy who heard a buzzing sound in his ear turned out to have a tick attached to his eardrum. Above, an image of the tick inside the boy's ear. There are some sounds you hope you never hear. For example, the buzzing sound of a tick burrowing into your eardrum. That's what happened to a 9-year-old boy in Connecticut who was taken to the doctor because he said he felt like there was something in his right ear, according to a report of his case, published yesterday (May 1) in The New England Journal of Medicine. The boy had also reported hearing buzzing noises in his ear a few days earlier, but didn't have any ear pain or trouble hearing. The cause of the boy's troubles were made immediately clear, however, when doctors looked inside his ear and spotted a tick latched onto his eardrum (also known as the tympanic membrane). They also noticed that the surrounding area was inflamed. Dr. David Kasle, an otolaryngology resident at Yale New Haven Hospital, who helped treat the patient, said he hadn't seen a case like this before, but added that such cases do occur rarely. The buzzing sound that the boy heard a few days before going to the doctor was likely the sound of the tick crawling through his ear canal. "Essentially, the closer any sound gets to the eardrum, the louder it's going to be [heard] by the patient," Kasle told Live Science. "As this bug got closer and closer, [the boy] probably heard it louder and louder." However, by the time the doctors spotted the tick, the critter was no longer alive, Kasle said. Kasle's colleague, Dr. Erik Waldman, chief of pediatric otolaryngology at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, initially tried to remove the tick during the office visit. But the tick's mouthparts were buried in the outer surface of the eardrum membrane, making it difficult to remove. "It wasn't coming out easily," Kasle said. The boy needed to be transferred to an operating room so doctors could attempt to remove the bloodsucker while he was under general anesthesia. [5 Weird Effects of Bug Bites] Doctors used a hook-like instrument to remove the dead tick. It was later identified as an American dog tick, or Dermacentor variabilis, the report said. After the tick was removed, the boy received antibiotic ear drops to prevent an infection from developing. One month later, the boy was doing well, with no signs of tick-bite-related illnesses, and his eardrum had healed well, the report said. Originally published on Live Science. A diver shows the skull and vertebra of an extinct canid known as Protocyon found underwater in Yucatan, Mexico. Divers excavating an underwater cave in Mexico have discovered the bones of giant meat eaters that lived there during the last ice age, a new study reported. The finding is remarkable, because few ancient animal remains survive in Mexico's hot, tropical climate. But these ancient beasts, the short-faced bear (Arctotherium wingei) and the wolf-like Protocyon troglodytes, fell to their deaths in a deep cave, which was flooded soon after. As a result, their bones were preserved in pristine condition, the researchers said. Both of these species were far from what scientists had considered the animals' homes. Previously, the creatures were known only from South America. This finding shows that they also lived much farther north, or more than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) away from their known habitat, about the distance from Boston to Miami. [Photos: These Animals Used to Be Giant] Divers found the animal bones in Hoyo Negro, a completely submerged pit inside the Sac Actun cave system in the eastern Yucatan Peninsula. Hoyo Negro is famous for its anicent human remains; in 2007, divers found the skull and bones of a teenage girl who lived about 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. A diver holds the skull of an ancient bear known as an Arctotherium. (Image credit: Copyright Roberto Chavez-Arce) The girl's bones, as well as those of the animals including tapirs, saber-toothed cats, cougars, elephant relatives known as gomphotheres, bears and canids were well preserved. That's because rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the caves, turning them into a low-oxygen environment that was favorable for bone preservation, said study lead paleontologist Blaine Schubert, executive director at the Center of Excellence in Paleontology at East Tennessee State University. However, because much of the attention paid to Hoyo Negro's bones focused on the teenage girl's remains, some of the animals were misidentified, Schubert said. Previously, the bear was mistakenly placed in the genus Tremarctos and the wolf-like species was thought to be the coyote Canis latrans. The new study sets the record straight, Schubert said. Since the initial excavation, divers have found even more bones. Researchers now have the bones of one, possibly two individuals of the canid and at least seven of the short-faced bear, which date to the late Pleistocene, about 11,300 years ago. "The whole previous record of this particular type of bear is just known from a few localities in South America, and those are fragmentary remains," Schubert told Live Science. "So, we went from not having any of this type of bear outside of South America to now having the best record of this type of bear from the Yucatan of Mexico." Exploring north and south The discovery also sheds light on the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI), which took place when North America connected to South America and animals from each region crossed over into new lands. Most scientists think that this connection happened about 2.5 million to 3 million years ago, Schubert said. The diver carefully puts the Arctotherium skull in a container. (Image credit: Copyright Roberto Chavez-Arce) During one of these early crossovers, the North American short-faced bear traveled down to South America, as did the wolf-like canid. These ancestors then evolved into the new species that were found in the cave, which, until now, scientists had never seen outside of South America. So, how did A. wingei and the wolf-like creature end up in Mexico? One idea is that they were able to recross that land bridge from South America into North America at a later time, Schubert said. However, it's also possible that when the bear and canid were coming down to South America, some of them stayed in Mexico, the researchers noted. [10 Extinct Giants That Once Roamed North America] Only one living relative of the short-faced bear currently lives in South America: the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus). This bear has never been found outside of South America. The new evidence suggests that's because A. wingei was blocking its way, likely taking up the same habitat and eating the same food that the spectacled bear needed to survive, Schubert said. "Perhaps they created a barrier," he said. The researchers did an impressive job of correctly identifying the bear and canid species, said Ross MacPhee, curator of mammalogy and vertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who was not involved in the study. The study highlights how useful these underwater sites are, especially in the hot, wet tropics where ancient bones usually degrade, Ross told Live Science. "You can get a probe into the past that you don't ordinarily expect to get, and that's the great thing about these caves in the Yucatan." The study was published online yesterday (May 1) in the journal Biology Letters. Originally published on Live Science. The pieced together remains of the ninth century B.C. inscribed tablet known as the Mesha Stele. A new reading of a hard-to-decipher ancient tablet suggests that the biblical King Balak might have been a real historical person, a new study suggests. But the study's researchers recommend that people take this finding "with due caution," and other biblical experts agree. "As the authors admit, this proposal is very tentative," said Ronald Hendel, a professor of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study. [Photos: Biblical-Era Fortress Discovered in Israel] The tablet in question is known as the Mesha Stele, an inscribed 3-foot-tall (1 meter) black basalt stone that dates to the second half of the ninth century B.C. The 34 lines on the Mesha Stele describe how King Mesha of Moab triumphed over the Israelites. The inscription is written in Moabite, which is very close to Hebrew. However, the Mesha Stele is extremely cracked and parts of it are challenging to read because of that damage. When Westerners became aware of the tablet in the 1860s, several people tried to buy it from the Bedouins, who owned the stone. As negotiations dragged on, one Westerner was able to get a paper rubbing of the Mesha Stele; that paper was torn during an ensuing fight, according to a 1994 report in the journal Biblical Archaeology Review. In the meantime, negotiations soured between the Bedouins and the prospective buyers, who included people from Prussia (North Germany), France and England, in part because of political affiliations with an Ottoman official, whom the Bedouins disliked. So, the Bedouins smashed the Mesha Stele into pieces by heating it up and pouring cold water on it. Since then, archaeologists have tried to reassemble the smashed tablet by connecting the broken pieces. Now, the Mesha Stele is on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris; about two-thirds of the tablet are made of its original pieces, and the remaining one-third is made of modern writing on plaster, which was informed by the torn paper rubbing, according to the 1994 report. What does it say? Researchers have spent countless hours trying to decipher the tablet's challenging portions. For instance, in the mid-1990s, it was proposed that line 31 referred to "the House of David," that is, the dynasty of the biblical king. But some experts are skeptical of this interpretation. In the fall of 2018, the France Secondary School (College de France) had an exhibit on the Mesha Stele, showing a high-resolution, well-lit image of the rubbing. "And of course, we wished to check the validity of the reading 'House of David,' suggested for this line in the past," said study co-researcher Israel Finkelstein, a professor emeritus at the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel. The text contained a definite "B," Finkelstein said. The earlier interpretation was that this stood for "Bet," which means "house" in Hebrew. But Finkelstein and two colleagues thought that it stood for something else: Balak, a Moab king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Numbers. [7 Biblical Artifacts That Will Probably Never Be Found] "If Balak is indeed mentioned in the stele as the king of Horonaim [a city in Moab], this is the first time in which he appears outside of the Bible, in real-time evidence, that is, in a text written in his own time, in the ninth century BCE," Finkelstein told Live Science in an email. But this is just one idea, and it might not be correct, Hendel said. "We can read one letter, b, which they're guessing may be filled out as Balak, even though the following letters are missing," Hendel told Live Science. "It's just a guess. It could be Bilbo or Barack, for all we know." Moreover, the Bible places King Balak about 200 years before this tablet was created, so the timing doesn't make sense, Hendel said. The authors acknowledge this gap in the study: "To give a sense of authenticity to his story, [the Mesha Stele's] author must have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from the ancient reality." In other words, "the study shows how a story in the Bible may include layers (memories) from different periods which were woven together by later authors into a story aimed to advance their ideology and theology," Finkelstein said. "It also shows that the question of historicity in the Bible cannot be answered in a simplistic 'yes' or 'no' answer." The study was published online today (May 2) in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. Originally published on Live Science. Among the worlds top-20 air cargo agents, only four managed YoY growth in Q1: Expeditors, DSV, Agility and Expolanka, WorldACD data indicates Figures from WorldACD have confirmed the anecdotal reports from various freight forwarders and carriers of falling air freight volumes worldwide this year, with the market data specialist recording a year-over-year (YoY) decrease in chargeable weight of 3.1% in the first quarter (Q1). WorldACD noted that with Chinese New Year driving down air cargo volumes in February to their lowest in 2019, March was bound to show a significant month-over-month (MoM) improvement. But even a large (MoM) increase of 25% was not enough to save the first quarter of the year, WorldACD said. Q1 2019 ended with a year-over-year (YoY) decrease in chargeable weight of 3.1%. But within this worldwide average, there were considerable differences between the various regions of the world. Of the 36 different geographical markets distinguished by WorldACD - six intra-regional and 30 inter-regional markets - 23 of these 36 markets decreased, YoY. Whilst Asia Pacific continues to be the worlds air cargo engine, it has become clear over the past half year that the engine is running much less smoothly than before, World ACD said. Markets within Asia Pacific lost 7.6% YoY in Q1. In the same period, 5 of the 10 markets to/from Asia Pacific also performed below the world average, notably the larger ones Asia Pacific to Europe (-4.9%), Europe to Asia Pacific (-4.3%) and North America to Asia Pacific (-4.7%). Markets recording growth in the quarter included Europe to North America (+0.6%), Asia Pacific to Middle East & South Asia (MESA) (+2.9%), Africa to Europe (+2.1%) and intra-MESA (+2.6%), as well as a number of smaller markets. Among the latter, Latin America to Asia Pacific and Africa to North America stood out (both +18%), WorldACD noted. It also highlighted that the largest exporting countries with YoY growth in Q1 were India, UK, Australia, Vietnam, Kenya Ecuador, Turkey and Chile, with YoY growth ranging from 0.1% to 6.7%. but with the exception of Vietnam and Kenya, growth in these origins was entirely thanks to growth in special cargo, most notably Fish and Seafood. Among the worlds Top-20 air cargo agents, WorldACD said only four managed to realise YoY growth in Q1: Expeditors, DSV, Agility and Expolanka. Among the other 16, decreases ranged from 0.2% to 16.4%. And on a quarter-on-quarter basis, WorldACD highlighted that between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019, there was a worldwide drop in kilogrammes of 10.3%. The origins North America and MESA suffered least (-3.7%), but Asia Pacific most (-16.8%): China and Hong Kong taken together decreased by more than 20%, double the worldwide drop, WorldACD said. Zooming in on Trumps Trade War, volumes from China to USA fell by 21% between Q4 and Q1, whilst USA to China fell by 12.5%. WorldACD indicated that the figures for April were broadly similar. All in all, we do not expect the April figures to cause a change in the trend seen so far this year, WorldACD said. Looking specifically at March, WorldACD said total chargeable weight was down 2.4% YoY, but was up by 25.2%, MoM. Within these figures, general cargo as down 4.8% YoY, but special cargo rose 3.5%, YoY. High-Tech & Other Vulnerable Goods (the largest category of special cargo) increased by 12.9% YoY. Meanwhile, average yields increased 0.5% MoM compared with February to US$1.80 per kilo, but were down 5% YoY. And the average cargo load factor dropped by 1.8 percentage-points YoY, but rose by 2.6 MoM. Exxon Mobil will pour $2 billion into expanding its Baytown chemical complex, creating 2,000 construction jobs and further cementing the region's role as a petrochemical hub. The Baytown expansion will allow Exxon to play off its rising oil and gas production in the Permian Basin to capture growing global demand for petrochemicals. Now it appears that at least a part of that increased gas production will go to 3,400-acre Baytown complex to be turned into chemicals that go into plastics. The flood of natural gas the feedstock for many chemicals and plastics from the Permian and other Texas shale formations has driven the petrochemical boom along the Gulf Coast. "Our Baytown chemical expansion will put us in a solid position to maximize the value of increased Permian Basin production and will deliver higher-demand, higher-value products produced at our Gulf Coast refining and chemical facilities," said Darren W. Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. "Global demand for chemicals is expected to be greater than energy demand growth and GDP growth over the next 20 years." RELATED: Exxon-Chevron Permian slugfest expected to last years Petrochemicals or chemicals made from oil and gas used in plastics, fertilizers, packaging, clothing, and thousands of consumer products are quickly becoming one of the main drivers of global oil demand, surpassing cars, planes and trucks, according to a 2018 study by the International Energy Agency. The Paris-based international energy information agency estimates that petrochemical will account for more than a third of the growth in world oil demand by 2030, and nearly half the growth by 2050. FUEL FIX NEWSLETTER: Get energy news to your inbox daily Exxon said Thursday the Baytown capital investment is on top of its $20 billion Growing the Gulf initiative announced in 2017 to expand its manufacturing and refinery presence on the Gulf Coast over the next decade. The oil major is also already building a huge $8 billion petrochemical complex near Corpus Christi in a joint venture with the Saudi Arabian petrochemical company SABIC. The Baytown expansion will create 25 permanent jobs when the new units start up in 2022, a company spokesman said. The project will add a 400,000-to-per-a-year polymers unit that will produce a type of plastic branded as Vistamaxx that the company says is more flexible, soft and elastic and allows everyday products to be made with less plastic. RELATED: First quarter slowdown spreads across energy industry Exxon will also be entering a new chemical market by adding a 350,000-ton-per-a-year linear alpha olefins unit to the Baytown complex. Linear alpha olefins are used in high-performing engine and industrial oils, waxes and building blocks for surfactants, polyethylene plastic for packaging and other specialty chemicals. Located about 25 miles from Houston along the Houston Ship Channel, Exxon's Baytown plant is the largest integrated petrochemical complex in the U.S., according to the company. The 100-year-old complex includes a refinery, chemical plant, olefins plant, plastics plant and global technology center. Also Thursday Exxon touted the results of a new economic impact study that concludes that Exxon contributed more than $43 billion the U.S. economy in 2017 and supports more than 177,000 jobs nationwide. Exxon commissioned the global consulting and accounting firm Ernst & Young to conduct the study in 2017, the year the Growing the Gulf initiative was launched. Spoilers ahead --- Still thinking about Sunday's big Battle of Winterfell on "Game of Thrones"? We are, too, and we can't get over the idea that the living could have employed some better tactics out there on the battlefield. So we asked Jesse Tumblin - a "Game of Thrones" fan and a military history scholar who is currently a visiting assistant professor in the history department at Boston College - what he thought. He recently wrote a book about how Britain's large colonies tried to use rapid militarization as a pathway out of colonial status in the early twentieth century. Tumblin broke down the egregious mistakes made by the living throughout the battle - and explained why he doesn't believe the characters would ever make those mistakes. --The Dothraki were sent to their slaughter (but why?!) Let's start where the battle does: with a horde of Dothraki cavalry charging the army of the undead with flaming arakhs (curved swords) while trebuchets (ancient pieces of artillery) shelled them with fiery projectiles. It's an impressive and terrifying scene. Mostly shown from the perspective of Jon Snow and Daenerys, who are surveying the battlefield from afar, the moment allows viewers to watch as the lit arakhs extinguish within minutes. Good television; terrible military tactics. It was "truly perplexing and truly beyond my ability to suspend disbelief that people who had military experience would agree to do things like this," Tumblin said. It's difficult to choose one aspect of the opening strike as the "most problematic" because, as Tumblin explained, it's all such a mess. For one thing, the artillery barrage begins as the Dothraki charge, meaning the living could only get off one or two shots before the projectiles from the trebuchets would actually be striking their own forces. They should have placed the artillery closer to, or behind,the castle walls to give the Dothraki more time to charge across the field. Finally, they also should have started the attack with the artillery. Instead, Tumblin said, "they begin with a charge that limits and ultimately destroys the effectiveness of all artillery forces that they have." Not to mention, he pointed out, that "the biggest abstract problem facing the living in this episode is sightlines, the ability to see, and the trebuchets can mitigate your darkness problem because they're throwing huge flaming [projectiles] onto the enemy," lighting up the battlefield. Then there's the issue of the Dothraki, who are "really fast and effective cavalry," but they're essentially sent to their slaughter. "They're the most mobile part of the coalition of living forces, and almost all conventional military thought would suggest that you would want to hold your cavalry in reserve for flanking maneuvers," Tumblin said. Instead, they put them right in harm's way, leading a frontal charge on an enemy that's many times the size of the living. --They should have put the infantry behind the trenches. So the initial strike might have been poorly orchestrated, but how were the defenses they set up, such as the river of fire in the trenches? "Absolutely mind-boggling," Tumblin said. "The one decently good tactical idea the living have is to trigger this river of fire" that burns alongside the Czech hedgehogs (pieces of wood lashed together and, in this instance, covered in dragonglass) to slow (or stop) the army of the dead, Tumblin said. "But the problem is they put most of their infantry and cavalry forces in front of that line, and then they build a single choke point in the line that actually works against them." Remember the part where all the living were trying to get through that one little gap in the flames? Tumblin said it would have been far more effective to have the troops behind the flames and to force the wights and White Walkers to go through that gap - picking them off as they go. "The great thing about a choke point is that, especially when you have a numerical disadvantage, it can mitigate your numerical disadvantage by forcing the enemy to go through your choke point one at a time," he said, adding, "This is the principle behind the Battle of Thermopylae, a classic military moment when a small number of Greeks were able to hold off a much larger force of Persians." It would have been even more effective when one considers the dragons. --They completely wasted their best weapon: the dragons. The dragons are the living's "only effective war-winning weapon." And yet, for some reason, everyone agrees to "hold the dragons in reserve to wait for the Night King to come for Bran." They break the plan when the Dothraki are snuffed out, a decision that Tumblin says "ironically and tragically was the most militarily effective thing that happens on behalf of the living in this entire episode." Now let's say the living had set up their defenses as Tumblin suggested. After the first charge of wights, once the enemy is bunched up against the trenches, then, Tumblin said, the dragons could fly in to hit "an absolutely perfect target for an air to surface attack." In other words, a dragon could just come and take out massive number the undead in one fell swoop, literally. --Bran should have been used as a 'reconnaissance weapon.' One tool that's "fundamentally misused is Bran," Tumblin said. "There's a part where, halfway through the episode, where Bran wargs into a flock of ravens and almost instantaneously locates the Night King. And so from the beginning, knowing what Bran is capable of - both what he knows and his ability to goggle into animals - is the most effective reconnaissance weapon that the living have at their disposal," he added. "But instead of putting Bran in the nerve structure of their command structure, who can tell them reconnaissance information as they need it, they park him in the godswood with Theon, where he can't help anyone." They also don't use Bran before the battle, Tumblin said, meaning, "They start the battle with two main problems: They don't know where the dead are or what formation they're in, and they don't know how many of them there are . . . Bran can discover these things in about five minutes." --Did Grey Worm even approve this plan? One aspect of the battle that struck Tumblin as historically accurate, though "ugly," was how the Unsullied and Dothraki were deployed. A little context: After the episode, many viewers wondered why all the nonwhite soldiers were essentially condemned to terrible deaths outside the castle, which housed most of the white soldiers and leaders. The show has been accused of having a "racial blind spot" in the past, though this season has seen issues of race woven into the plot, as Grey Worm and Missandei interact with unwelcoming Northerners. Tumblin pointed out the battle tactics follow a real-life racist practice. "It's a trope of military history that any time you have colonial troops on hand, often they are thrown at the most hopeless objectives or have their lives wasted because they are not valued as highly by the officer corps," he said. "And it seemed like this episode was inviting the viewer to notice that trope." For Tumblin, it didn't make sense that the Dothraki and Unsullied would be employed in such a way, considering "what I've been invited to believe about the characters in question over the course of the last seven seasons." The Dothraki are Dany's people, and the fact that she went along with this plan doesn't make sense with who she has been as a ruler, he said. On the other hand, there's Grey Worm, who has been "strategically in charge of Dany's military forces for several seasons now. And the idea that he would say, 'Yes, fine. We'll put our infantry on the outside of this defensive perimeter, then we'll fall back through a choke point that we ourselves built ourselves for no particular reason, and we'll serve as cannon fodder while the other main characters - who are from the Seven Kingdoms and not from Essos - [are safer], we'll just stand here and soak up the abuse' " is absurd. "The idea that he would not say something about the logic of the defensive perimeter violates my suspension of disbelief about his acumen as a military commander," Tumblin added. A day after Alabama passed what could become the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country, state Rep. John Rogers, a Democrat, took to the House floor to voice his support for a woman's right to choose. But the perplexing words he used have drawn intense pushback from conservatives, who are orchestrating a nationwide push in state houses this legislative session to restrict abortion access and, they hope, force the Supreme Court to reevaluate Roe v. Wade. Rogers argued Wednesday that "it ought to be a woman's choice" about terminating a pregnancy, an autonomy that would disappear entirely if the majority-Republican Alabama Senate passes the "Human Life Protection Act" - a bill that would criminalize abortion at any stage of pregnancy. "I'm not about to be the male tell a woman what to do with her body," he said, repeating a common refrain among abortion-rights advocates. "She has a right to make that decision herself." Then his argument took a turn. "Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or kill them later," he said. "You bring them into the world unwanted, unloved, then you send them to the electric chair. So you kill them now or you kill them later. But the bottom line is that I think we shouldn't be making this decision." In a statement, Alabama Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed, a Republican, called Rogers's remarks "chilling." "'Kill them now, or you kill them later'?" he said. "His comments should be condemned at the state and national level." Other conservatives have also criticized Rogers's comments. "This is stomach curling," Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump's eldest son, wrote on Twitter, calling on Democratic presidential candidates to respond to Rogers's words. Republican state Rep. Bradley Byrne, who is challenging Democrat Doug Jones for his U.S. Senate seat, used Rogers's words to highlight Jones's stance on abortion. "Alabama deserves a 100% pro-life voice representing us in the US Senate," Byrne wrote on Twitter. Rogers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post. His contact page on the state legislature website contains an invalid email address, and his voice mail inbox was full. But in a Thursday interview with local NBC affiliate WVTM-TV, Rogers said Trump Jr. should've been aborted himself. He went on to call the president's son "retarded" and "crazy." "Him being born, that's proof right there ... that's a very, very good defense for abortion right there," he said, adding, "I knew it's something wrong with that boy, I can look at him and tell something's wrong for him." The bill in question would make it a felony for a doctor to perform abortion - unless the woman's health is at risk. It does not include an exemption for women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. "This bill is focused on that baby that's in the womb that is a person," state Rep. Terri Collins, a Republican from Decatur, Alabama, told NPR. "That baby, I believe, would choose life." Similar bills have swept state houses nationwide this legislative session, though none as restrictive as Alabama's have passed. A handful of states have passed so-called fetal heartbeat bills, which make it illegal for doctors to perform abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat - which can happen as early as six weeks, before a woman even knows she is pregnant. The flood of antiabortion legislation has been a slow-building strategy for about a decade, one that has gained greater traction this year now that Trump has appointed two conservative judges to the Supreme Court. "The shift in the Supreme Court opened these flood gates," Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues director for the Guttmacher Institute, told The Post last month. "What we're seeing now is legislators wanting to pass an extreme abortion ban because they're aiming at overturning Roe v. Wade." WASHINGTON - Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, D, announced legislation Thursday to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana dispensaries in the nation's capital, setting up a potential showdown with the federal government. The District's marijuana laws are in limbo. Residents can legally grow and possess small amounts of the drug under a 2014 voter-approved law. But they cannot legally purchase pot, and the city cannot tax sales because of a provision in the federal budget that prohibits the District from enacting or enforcing marijuana legalization laws. Advocates have been hopeful that Congress would strip the anti-marijuana language - which originated with House Republicans - from the federal budget now that Democrats control the House. But it is unclear whether the next spending plan will pass before the 2020 elections. The mayor wants to get moving on legalization before then. "We want to be able to regulate, we want to be able to make sure we are collecting our fair share in taxes, we want to invest those taxes in ways that affect communities that have been disproportionately affected, and we want to train and hire D.C. residents," Bowser said in a Wednesday interview with The Washington Post at a medical marijuana cultivation center. A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who led the charge to stop the District from legalizing marijuana, did not immediately return a request for comment. The 69-page "Safe Cannabis Sales Act" would rename the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration and task the agency with licensing and overseeing marijuana businesses. The city's eight medical marijuana cultivation centers also would be authorized to grow the drug for recreational purposes if Bowser's bill passes. Regulators would be able to issue additional licenses six months after the law takes effect, but marijuana businesses would not be concentrated in specific neighborhoods, and they would have to have discreet signs. "We are not going to be a marijuana destination," Bowser said. "We will not be promoting it. We want D.C. residents to be able to have the choice to buy legally, and we also want to drive out the illegal market, which we know can promote violence in our communities." The minimum age to purchase marijuana would be 21. The bill would also crack down on attempts to avoid the existing restrictions on selling marijuana by offering it as a gift in exchange for purchasing clothing, artwork or other items. Bowser wants to impose a 17 percent sales tax on marijuana products, with revenue funding enforcement of marijuana laws and affordable housing programs. Home delivery would be permitted. The mayor's bill does not allow for smoking at rooftop bars, sidewalk patios or at other private businesses, but it gives regulators an opportunity to allow marijuana consumption at dispensaries and at hookah lounges. The D.C. Council briefly attempted to legalize pot clubs in 2016 but backtracked after concerns from Bowser. "It's important for us to successfully begin our recreational marijuana regime and look to expanding places of use at a later time," Bowser said. Home growing and a separate medical marijuana program would be preserved under the bill, with patients paying lower taxes than those who buy recreationally. There has been legal dispute about whether local officials can consider marijuana legalization. In 2015, Attorney General Karl Racine, D, warned the D.C. Council that even holding a hearing on a marijuana legalization bill would violate federal restrictions and place city employees in legal jeopardy. An attorney for the council disagreed. Bowser said she believes the council can hold hearings and debate how to legalize marijuana - a process that can take more than a year for complex legislation - but must wait for Congress to drop the anti-marijuana provisions before passing the bill. "That won't stop our introduction, and it certainly won't stop the council's discussion and action," Bowser said. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, D, said lawmakers will hold hearings on legalization, but that residents should not get their hopes up for quick action as long as the congressional prohibition remains law. "It's a ridiculous situation: that citizens may possess small quantities of cannabis, but it's illegal to buy it," Mendelson said in a statement. "Thanks, Congress." The legalization of marijuana in other states has been fraught with racial dynamics. Some have complained that the industry is dominated by white-owned businesses, even though African Americans have historically been disproportionately locked up for drug offenses. To address equity concerns, Bowser's bill would automatically seal the records of people with misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions and would allow them to work in the industry. It also requires 60 percent of marijuana companies owners and workforce to be D.C. residents, although those provisions would not apply to existing medical marijuana businesses. The legislation does not go as far as other jurisdictions have in specifically setting aside licenses for minority-owned businesses, but such firms could benefit from city contracting rules giving extra weight to their applications. Alternative marijuana legalization legislation by Council member David Grosso, I-At Large, would go further in expunging criminal records and also contains provisions to help businesses operating in the black market to transition to legal operations. "I'm glad to see the mayor has joined us," Grosso said. The District would be the first jurisdiction in the Mid-Atlantic with a full-fledged legal marijuana market if Bowser's bill passes. Ten states have legalized recreational marijuana, including the entire West Coast, Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Michigan. Nearby Maryland has a robust medical marijuana program, while Virginia is setting one up. WASHINGTON - The fifth grade boys fidgeted with their suit sleeves as the door to the hearse opened. They lowered their eyes when the casket emerged draped in red roses. It was large enough to hold an adult. But the funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday was for their friend Kieran Shafritz de Zoysa 11. Kieran was killed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 21, when a group of terrorists detonated explosives at hotels and churches across the country, leaving more than 200 people dead on Easter Sunday. Kieran was visiting one of those hotels with his mother and grandmother. He had just sat down for breakfast when a suicide bomber entered the buffet line nearby. Kieran's mother and grandmother survived the attack, but he was hit with three pieces of shrapnel. One pierced his heart. "That piece of shrapnel struck down our sweet, articulate, thoughtful, handsome boy," Kieran's father, Alex Arrow, told the more than 250 people who came to honor his son. Kieran had been living in Sri Lanka and attending an international school during an 18-month leave from Sidwell Friends in Washington. The private school, known for educating the children of presidents and dignitaries, is accustomed to having students depart for international journeys; soon after Kieran left in the fourth grade, his class FaceTimed him to say good night before he went to sleep. He returned to the United States often to visit his father in San Diego, and he planned to return to the District of Columbia with his mother, Dhulsini de Zoysa, this fall. Kieran was ready for the challenges middle school would bring. He'd long had a knack for math and science, telling his father at age 5: "Daddy, I have a hypothesis." With his top-of-the-class grades, Kieran had planned to become a neuroscientist. His father said he had wanted to be the one to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease - and after a few minutes of meeting him, most adults agreed he had the drive and intelligence to actually do so. The precocious boy's love for science extended to animals, particularly his pet ball pythons, Fromage and Escargot, for whom he built elaborate wooden mazes. He created films about their adventures, complete with David Attenborough-style voice-overs, his father told the congregation. Kieran snacked on kettle corn and preferred breakfasts of egg sandwiches. He had a tendency to lose things and took showers that were far too long. He did karate, climbed trees, rode a skateboard and was just starting to have his first crushes. He hadn't yet had his first kiss. All that Kieran would miss tormented his mother as doctors in Sri Lanka prepared to remove his ventilator. He had wanted to become a better kayaker. He had wanted to retake his IQ test to prove that he was smarter than his dad. The senselessness of his death and the deaths of hundreds of others at the hands of terrorists was at the forefront of mourners' minds Wednesday. Sri Lankan and American authorities have yet to determine how such a large-scale attack was coordinated, and who was behind it - a faction of a local extremist group, the Islamic State or both. "How did this happen? Why did this happen? These are the questions that haunt us," the Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, acknowledged during his sermon. "Why God allows such tragic events to take place, I do not know." In many of the pews, Kieran's classmates were tucked into their parents' embraces, listening. Ever since they'd heard the news, their school, their parents, the adults in their lives kept trying to explain. All they knew for sure was that their friend would not be sitting beside them in the sixth grade. In one row was a freckled 11-year-old boy with blue braces, named William. He was dressed in his gray suit, one not too different from the suits he demanded to wear to school when he first enrolled at Sidwell. "I was kind of that weirdo kid, and nobody was really that great to me," William said in an interview before the ceremony. The one exception: Kieran. "He was a really nice friend, and then, he kind of introduced me to other friends. He made me feel welcome." Beneath the towering columns and stained-glass windows, William listened as the pastor said Kieran's welcoming attitude was the opposite of how the terrorists viewed the world. "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 Kieran's example to us." When the speeches were done and the Sidwell students' choir finished singing "This Little Light of Mine," William and his classmates watched as the casket, now draped in a white cloth, was rolled to the back of the church. Then they quietly followed him out, clutching the programs against their chests. Inside was a quote from Kieran himself, something he had written in the third grade. "I always like looking on the bright side of things. I also tell funny jokes to cheer people up. I am hilarious (in my humble opinion), artistic, truthful, awesome, diligent and intelligent. But the most important thing about me," he said, "is that I am optimistic." Former vice president Joe Biden on Wednesday dismissed the notion that the United States should be worried about China as a geopolitical competitor, prompting criticism from some congressional Republicans who argued that Biden is underestimating the world's second-largest economy. The argument is one Biden has frequently made in speeches throughout the years, but it is drawing increased attention due to his status as the presumed front-runner among Democrats running for prisident. At a campaign stop in Iowa City, Iowa, Biden pointed to his years serving as vice president and as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, telling the crowd that there's not a "single solitary" world leader who would trade the problems the United States faces for those confronting China. "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," said Biden, who last week announced his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He argued that Beijing has its hands full dealing with its own domestic and regional problems, such as tensions in the South China Sea - which Biden called the "China Sea" - and the "mountains ... in the west." It was not clear to what mountains or issue Biden was referring. "They can't figure out how they're going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system," Biden said of China. "I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not competition for us." His comments drew a swift rebuke from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee. "This will not age well," Romney said in a tweet Wednesday night. During the 2012 campaign, Romney had famously described Russia as America's "number-one geopolitical foe," but he has also argued that China is among the countries that typically "stand up with the world's worst actors." Also pushing back against Biden's remarks was Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., who is running for Senate. "I was just at a manufacturing plant that is being threatened by China's corrupt trade practices," Byrne said in a tweet. "Not to mention the national security threats they pose. Joe is plain wrong. China is absolutely a threat." Biden's campaign responded on Wednesday by noting that the former vice president "underscored that, whatever challenges we face as a nation, including those posed by a rising China, they pale in comparison to the structural and social challenges that confront China itself." "Joe Biden believes it's never a good bet to bet against America and the fundamental strength, resilience, and ingenuity of its people," Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said. "If Republicans are so scared of Joe Biden that they want to take the other side of that bet to try and score political points, then they're welcome to it." - - - Twitter embed code WASHINGTON - A casual viewer of the White House's upcoming schedule might ask: "Why are Central European leaders getting invited to descend on Washington this spring?" Last month, President Donald Trump hosted Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis at the White House. On Friday, he will do the same for Peter Pellegrini, prime minister of Slovakia. And later this month, on May 13, the U.S. president will host Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban - his first visit to the White House since 2001. (The last of the prime ministers of what is known as the Visegrad group, Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki, was supposed to visit Washington last month, but his visit got postponed.) That the Central European leaders would eventually get a Trump meeting is not, in itself, so surprising. Since former assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia Wess Mitchell, who was confirmed in the fall of 2017, came on the scene, the Trump administration's approach to Central Europe has looked dramatically different than Obama's. The Obama administration, critics say, largely overlooked the region, refusing to engage until its increasingly illiberal leaders improved on human rights. The Trump administration, with a policy shaped by Mitchell, chose to not focus on human rights and instead to engage the region to compete with and counter Russia and China. In Mitchell's last week on the job, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled through the region, literally announcing that they were going to engage in the region by competing with Moscow and Beijing. "I think there is a growing concern in Washington about great power competition in Central Europe (which you touched on in your earlier piece), especially with China's Belt & Road, Huawei, etc. Following in Wess Mitchell's footsteps, the administration's idea is to engage, be present in Visegrad countries, and not rattle anybody's cage too much," Dalibor Rohac, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focused on European politics, wrote in an email. But the White House meetings aren't happening because the countries visited have done what Pompeo asked. On the contrary. Since Pompeo's trip to Central Europe, Hungary has moved ahead with plans to welcome in a Russian development bank, and the Czech president (who, it should be noted, does not control Czech foreign policy) went to China to meet with the head of Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications company that the Trump administration has been working to counter in Europe. And issues highlighted by the United States in Hungary-U. S. relations - for example, the expulsion from Budapest of Central European University, the institute founded by Hungarian-born American billionaire George Soros and Hungary's diplomatic spat with Ukraine - remain. "[It's] clear [the policy of re-engagement] hasn't worked - countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic continue to deepen their ties with Moscow and Beijing," wrote Christopher Maroshegyi, senior director at Albright Stonebridge Group. In addition to welcoming the Russian development bank and giving it diplomatic immunity, Hungary has also welcomed Huawei. "Huawei runs its largest logistics center outside of China in Budapest and in a meeting with Huawei in April Hungary's Finance Minister said they would roll out Huawei equipment across the country," Maroshegyi wrote. Hungary has done one thing the Trump administration asked, or at least has said it will: Hungarian officials are reportedly negotiating a "high-value arms deal" with the U.S. government. But the White House visits aren't, or aren't just, about trying once again to use Russia and China as leverage, nor are they just about arms deal money, experts say. "The goal of the visits seems more likely aimed at deepening Trump's club of autocratic leaders and shoring up populist leaders ahead of European [Parliament] elections on May 23," Maroshegyi wrote. "Otherwise it's hard to justify inviting such a controversial leader [as Orban] that is trying to raise his international profile to the White House just weeks ahead of a pivotal election." The Visegrad leaders, like Trump, are outspokenly opposed to immigration and ardent nationalists. Orban has said that the upcoming European Parliament elections will be about the issue. "We will decide whether to defend our Christian European culture or yield the terrain to multiculturalism," he told members and supporters of his party, Fidesz. "I think Pompeo's visit to Budapest made a difference in detoxifying Hungary - Orban made a big impression on him and they're seeing him now as an important European player who'll only grow in influence after the European election," said Rohac. And so Orban is coming to the White House. And the other, less controversial but still generally anti-immigrant leaders of Central Europe are, too. The twist is that some in Central Europe don't appreciate being painted with the same brush: They may all take a hard line on immigration, but Hungary and Poland have run afoul of the European Union, and Hungary has even launched an anti-Brussels campaign. "My hope is that Pellegrini can help de-homogenize Visegrad at his meeting with Trump tomorrow: affirm that Slovakia sees its place in Europe very differently from [Poland's Law and Justice] and Fidesz and also tell Trump that Central Europeans in general do not appreciate the administration's attitude toward the EU," wrote Rohac, who is originally from Slovakia. "But I wouldn't bet on it." It is, after all, the perceived ideological sameness that has likely helped get them, one by one, to the White House. A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without his parents fell ill while in federal custody and died Tuesday after spending several days in intensive care at a hospital in Texas, U.S. Health and Human Services said Wednesday. The teenager, who was not identified, had cleared initial health screenings after encountering U.S. officials at the border. But he deteriorated shortly after he arrived at the Casa Padre shelter, a converted Walmart housing approximately 1,400 minors in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. Officials have not released a cause of death, and the case remains under investigation. Guatemala's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the teen had "a severe infection" in his brain and underwent emergency surgery at a Corpus Christi hospital before he died. Guatemalan officials said the youth was from Camotan municipality in the southeastern state of Chiquimula, and crossed the border into the El Paso, Texas, area on April 19. "The government of Guatemala laments the death of this young Guatemalan and offers its condolences to the family," the statement said. Officials are working to repatriate the teen's remains to Guatemala. The boy was the third migrant youth to die in federal custody in the past five months, as a soaring number of Central American families and unaccompanied youths have been trying to enter the United States via the southern border. Advocates for immigrants called for an immediate investigation into the death, which was disclosed on the day that the White House sought emergency funding from Congress to address the border influx, including billions of dollars in humanitarian aid that could increase HHS shelter capacity from nearly 13,000 migrant youths to more than 23,600. HHS spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said Customs and Border Protection clinicians examined the teenager and cleared him for transfer to the HHS shelter. CBP officials declined to say when he crossed the border nor how long he was in agency custody before he was transferred to the shelter. When he arrived at the shelter on the night of April 20, the teen "did not note any health concerns," officials said. The next morning, the teen fell "noticeably ill," with a fever, chills and a headache. Shelter workers took him to the emergency room at a nearby hospital, which they did not identify. He was treated and released to the shelter later that day. Still sick on April 22, the teenager was taken by ambulance to a second hospital emergency room. He was then airlifted to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, where he spent about a week in intensive care and died, according to a person with knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the health care of a migrant. BuzzFeed was first to report the death on Wednesday. Southwest Key Programs, which runs the Casa Padre shelter, declined to comment and referred questions to HHS. The Nueces County medical examiner's office and a spokesman for Driscoll Children's Hospital said they did not have information about the cause of death. Carlos Holguin, a lawyer involved in a long-running class-action lawsuit regarding the care of migrant children, called the incident "troubling." He said he immediately asked a special court-appointed monitor in the case to investigate. "We're gravely concerned for the health and safety of the children," he said. Holguin said the death was the first he had heard of in HHS custody. In December, two young Guatemalan children died in Customs and Border Protection custody: Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, died of complications from influenza B infection, and Jakelin Caal, 7, died from a bacterial infection. HHS said the Guatemalan teenager's brother and consular officials were allowed to visit him in the hospital in recent days, and hospital staff updated his relatives in Guatemala about his condition. On Wednesday, the White House sent Congress a $4.5 billion emergency spending request for humanitarian aid and border security, saying the border influx is "threatening lives." A record number of Central American families and unaccompanied minors are surrendering to U.S. authorities at the border in large groups - including one this week with more than 400 people in New Mexico - and the number of unaccompanied children sent to HHS custody this year is 50 percent higher than the same time period last year. Dozens of children and adults have been discovered suffering from various illnesses and have been taken to local hospitals, some with preexisting health concerns, including influenza and liver disease. About $2.8 billion in the emergency request would go toward HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees a network of shelters where minors are sent after Customs and Border Protection processes them at the border. HHS is supposed to house the unaccompanied minors in what are considered less-restrictive settings - it is not supposed to be akin to jail - and to place them with a parent or guardian quickly, a process that now takes about two months. - - - The Washington Post's Erica Werner and Nick Miroff contributed to this report. A week ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made clear she didn't want Democrats to consider impeaching President Donald Trump, even after the release of a damaging special counsel report. But this week, she and her Democratic colleagues sound like they could be gearing up for an impeachment fight. Not of Trump, but of his attorney general. "He lied to Congress," Pelosi said of Attorney General William Barr to reporters on Thursday. "The attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime." Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chair of the House Judiciary Committee which would undertake any impeachment proceedings, used equally strong language Thursday to talk about the Trump administration. He said that nothing less than America's system of government is at stake right now as he threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for not showing up to his committee's hearing Thursday and for missing a deadline to hand over the unredacted report, written by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian election interference. "He's trying to render Congress inert as a separate and coequal branch of government," Nadler warned. "If we don't stand up together, today, we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future." Two of the most powerful Democrats in the House just accused the nation's top law enforcement officer of a crime and warned that the Trump administration's stonewalling of Congress threatens America's democracy. The language they used conspicuously echoes the "high crimes and misdemeanors" bar for impeachment of an executive branch official. And Pelosi is well aware that her words will electrify an already politically charged environment, where some Democrats want to impeach Trump, like, yesterday. If Pelosi and Nadler were inclined to give Barr any leniency, he didn't help his case at a hearing Wednesday in the Senate. A defiant Barr continued to mischaracterize or downplay key findings in the Mueller report that are damaging to Trump. Pelosi's accusation that Barr lied to Congress comes from his testimony in March that he wasn't aware that Mueller's team had concerns about his public summary of the Mueller report. But we now know Barr had at the time received a memo from Mueller saying he thought Barr's summary of the report "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his investigation. (Barr split hairs Wednesday in the Senate by telling lawmakers there's a difference between knowing what Mueller's team thought and what Mueller himself thought.) After that hearing, a number of Senate Democrats and 2020 presidential candidates called on Barr to resign, including former vice president Joe Biden. It suggests, said constitutional expert Josh Chafetz, that the center of the party is very much open to impeaching somebody in the Trump administration. Pelosi has made clear that she won't support impeachment of Trump, at least for now. But by accusing Barr of a crime and threatening to hold him in contempt of Congress, she's signalling a willingness to do something to someone close to Trump. Plus, Barr is a proxy for the president right now. For many congressional Democrats, he's a symbol of Trump's intransigence to work with Congress on anything. Trump is currently suing, stonewalling and ordering his administration to fight subpoenas in an effort to block half a dozen congressional investigations into him. That's not normal. And it's got some Democratic lawmakers and analysts wondering if Pelosi may be backing up into a corner on impeachment. She's urged her caucus to continue investigating him without using the other "i" word, lest it turn off swing voters who helped Democrats win the House of Representatives in 2018. But if Trump won't let Congress investigate him, what other choice does Congress have but to consider impeachment of him and/or the president's Cabinet members? Pelosi may have acknowledged as much on Thursday by opening the door just a little bit to impeachment talks. LOUISVILLE, Ky. - "How are you?" went the question at 7:44 a.m. Thursday. "Wounded," Richard Mandella said from Barn 28. The same goes for the 145th Kentucky Derby, which has become an epitome of a reminder about the horse-racing game: It forever reserves the right to incubate one's dreams, nourish them toward a fresh summit and then treat them to a decisive trampling. The texture of the race set for Saturday at Churchill Downs didn't change much when Mandella's trainee, the 4-1 favorite Omaha Beach, was scratched late Wednesday with an entrapped epiglottis. a condition that obstructs breathing. It went from wide open to wide open. It went from lacking any Tyrannosaurus rex entry to lacking any Tyrannosaurs Rex entry. What the 145th Derby lost was maybe its best scratched entry since A.P. Indy in 1992 plus its narrative of utmost sentiment: the potential of a 68-year-old Hall of Fame trainer (Mandella) and an accomplished 78-year-old owner (Rick Porter) to get their first Kentucky Derby win. Instead, Mandella waited for veterinary confirmation on Wednesday, then went to his hotel room, then attempted to reassemble shattered thoughts, then joshed Thursday about having his wife tie him to the bed so he wouldn't jump out the window. Instead, Omaha Beach, who looked enviably swell on Thursday morning - "If you didn't look up his nose with a scope you wouldn't know anything's wrong," Mandella said - left Barn 28 for Lexington one hour east, for a surgery often taken while standing on all fours. Instead, Mandella and veterinarian Foster Northrop appeared Thursday morning on the wrong side of the gigantic track, distantly opposite the barns, at a news conference that delighted nobody. Mandella had gone from the largest hope of a 45-year career to the largest disappointment, right after his horse coughed Wednesday during a workout. "It just seemed like everything was so in line," Mandella said. "In fact, I actually had a thought: Is this too perfect? Because nothing's that perfect. But it was very devastating. . . . It's the Kentucky Derby. Came flying in here like we had it written on us, and it didn't work. So Mel Stute [the 91-year-old trainer] said it best when he was interviewed about the Derby or whatever it was, and he said, 'I've got a lot of experience with disappointments. This game'll do it to you.'" The timing of the diagnosis, and two weeks recovery period from minor surgery, heaped another cruelty onto the pile. Had Omaha Beach gotten the diagnosis some weeks back his epiglottis could have proved both repaired and irrelevant. That was the case with Alysheba, who underwent surgery for an entrapped epiglottis in March 1987 and went on to win that year's Derby. Further cruelties: Omaha Beach figures to return with the stoutness that won him the Arkansas Derby, and with the kindness that Mandella values, and with the oomph that makes Mandella marvel that the horse trains like Muhammad Ali entering a ring . . . but only after the Triple Crown has passed. And so Mandella on Thursday ruled out Omaha Beach from the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in addition to the Derby. Mandella, who once won four races in one Breeders' Cup (2003), had not brought a Derby entry since 2004. He had brought six all-time without finishing better than fifth (Soul of the Matter, 1994). Porter, who had the 2011 Horse of the Year with Havre de Grace, had finished second here in 2007 with Hard Spun and second in 2008 with Eight Belles and with untold agony from her death from two broken forelegs and a breakdown after the wire. Still more: Omaha Beach has excelled in slop. Rain is expected Saturday, of course. "He's finally, like, 'I see what you go for, I finally have a horse,' " said trainer Bob Baffert, the five-time Derby winner. "There's nothing like coming to the Derby when you have a legitimate chance to win it. And when you have that chance, and then all of a sudden it's just, rug is just pulled out from under you, it's a tough feeling. But at least it's not - you know, the horse is gonna be OK." "But I had a nice message from Arthur Hancock yesterday," Mandella said, referring to the two-time Derby-winning owner, "and he said, 'Richard, [Charlie] Whittingham was 73 when he won his first one [with Ferdinand in 1986].' So who am I to think I should be doing this now?" For further consolation, he said he would have felt worse had the problem gone undetected only to show up during the Derby. "Again, our players can't talk to us," he said. "We have to use instincts, little signs that we see, hopefully a veterinarian that knows something, and occasionally, things get past us, but we all do the best we can, but it means the world to us, what our horses' condition is." It all left Mike Smith, who rode Justify to a Triple Crown last year, without a mount, Smith having switched off Baffert's Santa Anita Derby-winning Roadster to Omaha Beach, and Baffert sticking by Florent Geroux on Roadster, even after Geroux fielded a call from Baffert and guessed a sacking was nigh. It also left Baffert, his dominance screaming with two Triple Crown sweeps in the past four springs, with the top three horses in the race, per Mike Battaglia's odds: Game Winner (updated to 9-2), Roadster (5-1) and Improbable (5-1). "I don't think there's a really heavy-duty favorite now," Baffert said. "They were all so close. I keep looking at all the numbers. I mean, we all run the same! . . . So I think Maximum Security [now 8-1], I think he should be the favorite. I think he's a horse that nobody's talking about. And that's the horse that I'm worried about. You know, he's a good horse, he won the Florida Derby, and he's run faster than we have. You need to be at his barn, talking to him." That may wind up true, even if the real education of this 145th Derby would be at Barn 28. ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is pushing the Public Works board to vote next week on whether the state should pursue public-private partnerships to add toll lanes to the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, even though one of the panel's three members will be out of town. The projects could require more than $11 billion worth of 50-year contracts. Treasurer Nancy Kopp, a Democrat, said she told the Public Works board in November that she would be in Japan early this month to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary. So she was surprised to learn Friday that the Maryland Department of Transportation had submitted its toll lanes proposal for a vote May 8. Two members of the board - composed of the governor, comptroller and treasurer - are required to hold a vote and approve an agenda item. However, critics said a vote on such a massive project should not be taken without input from all board members, especially one of the state's fiscal watchdogs. Hogan has said the state's plan to relieve congestion by having companies pay to build additional lanes in return for keeping most of the toll revenue would be the largest public-private partnership in the United States. Kopp said she asked Hogan's office to hold off on a vote until she returned for the board's next meeting, May 22, saying there was a "long-standing tradition" of board members granting one another one-meeting delays when requested. The state Department of Transportation is responsible for submitting and withdrawing its own agenda items, a board official said. "I have a lot of serious questions," Kopp said in an interview Wednesday. "I just think for a project this important that's going to have such an impact for at least a half-century, it deserves more examination." Kopp said she "wouldn't want to say" whether she believed the governor or MDOT had intentionally planned a vote for when she would be absent. "I can only say they knew I wasn't going to be there." Kopp said she had shared some of her reservations about the proposal with MDOT. She said it's premature for the state to solicit proposals from the private sector before completing a study about the toll lanes' potential effects on the environment and nearby homes and other properties. She said she also has concerns about the financial details. "If I were forced to vote up or down," Kopp said, "I'd probably vote down." Hogan spokesman Michael Ricci said the governor's office has known since March that Kopp would be out of town for next week's meeting. However, he said, the timing of the vote during her absence was "absolutely not" intentional. "We did so knowingly, but intentionally makes it sound nefarious," Ricci said. "I don't think anything nefarious is being done here." He said Hogan has no plans to seek a delay until Kopp returns. "It's an unfortunate coincidence with her trip, and obviously we don't want her to have to postpone that," Ricci said. "I think we all have things in our lives that get in the way of our work." Asked about the optics of holding a vote on a major transportation proposal without the state treasurer, Ricci said Kopp could appoint someone to vote in her place. Asked why the governor's office couldn't delay the vote for two weeks, Ricci said, "It's one vote in a long process, but we have to keep moving. Something of this importance to the public's safety and well-being shouldn't be delayed." Ricci said the vote would only allow MDOT to begin soliciting companies' proposals. The board would vote later on each of five contracts before any deals are signed, he said. The first contract would probably go before the board in fall 2020, he said, after the federally required environmental impact study is completed. 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 Virginia's portion of the Beltway, recently said the company wouldn't bid on the first phase of Maryland's Beltway toll plan because it had a "complex political and economic path ahead," which creates "a lot of risk" for the private sector, according to reports. "The project was first announced 18 months ago," Ricci said. "We have had a robust public discussion, and we will continue to." A report that MDOT submitted to the board in connection with the vote also shows that the estimated cost of building the lanes has increased. When Hogan announced the toll plan in September 2017, he said adding toll lanes to the entire Beltway, I-270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway would cost a total of $9 billion. The state now says adding toll lanes to the Beltway and I-270, excluding the parkway, will cost $8.1 billion to $9.4 billion. However, that estimate includes only 48 miles of the 70-mile proposal: adding toll lanes to the Beltway between the George Washington Parkway in Virginia and Maryland Route 5, including rebuilding the American Legion Bridge, and adding lanes to I-270 between the Beltway and I-370. Critics of the toll plan said they were disturbed to hear that Kopp, elected as the state's "fiscal guardian" and known as a detail-oriented technocrat, would not get to publicly scrutinize the plan early in the solicitation process. "It's shocking," said Josh Tulkin, director of the Maryland Sierra Club. "The idea that they'd vote on it without the state treasurer is extremely concerning." Tulkin said he was troubled that the governor would push through a board vote after the state previously had to rebid a $90 million consulting contract on the project after it was reported that one of the initial winners in an expedited bid process included a former employer of state Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn. Hogan canceled the contract, and it eventually was awarded to a different bidder. "The governor pledged that speed should never be an excuse for a lack of transparency," Tulkin said, "but that's exactly what we're seeing here." Montgomery County Councilman Tom Hucker, D-District 5, chairman of the panel's transportation committee, said Hogan knows that many elected leaders in Montgomery and Prince George counties object to the toll plan. Voting without Kopp, he said, "is just the latest step that's going to erode public confidence in this project." The board's approval of a solicitation plan is significant because the state will negotiate the terms of a public-private partnership out of public view. By the time MDOT returns to the board for a vote on a contract, the process will be years along, and companies will have invested millions of dollars in crafting their proposals. Making significant changes at that point is difficult, experts say. Public scrutiny also is challenging on contracts that can be thousands of pages long and full of legalese and complex financing and engineering terms. "I think it's going to be pretty hard to ever look at this with scrutiny again once they're off to the races and they're talking with private partners about contracts," said Del. Marc Korman, D-Montgomery County, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Prince George's County Councilwoman Dannielle Glaros, a Democrat whose district includes neighborhoods along the Beltway, said she's concerned residents are just beginning to absorb the detailed maps the state released last month showing the lanes' potential impacts. The maps, which state officials said depict a worst-case scenario, show that up to 34 homes and four businesses could be destroyed, while up to 1,500 property owners could lose parts of backyards or other land. People in up to 4,500 homes, schools and other sites also could hear more noise. Glaros questioned why the state would begin to pursue a public-private partnership when the public comment period on the impacts study remains open. "It begs the question of whether the community's questions and concerns matter," Glaros said. "People are just now waking up to the fact that the (Beltway) sound walls in their backyards could be moved (closer) or homes could be taken. . . . They really need to slow down on this." Kopp, who lives near the Beltway in Bethesda, said she's well aware of the area's stifling traffic. Even so, she said, she's concerned that the state hasn't given more attention to expanding transit and hasn't explained who would pay to handle storm-water runoff from additional asphalt or toll lane traffic that could swamp congested local roads. She said she's particularly concerned about the potential impact of widening the Beltway before I-270, which could worsen the daily afternoon chokepoint where I-270 narrows around Clarksburg. "I want to go on record as being against traffic congestion," Kopp said. "I think this is a real opportunity for us to look at how we improve transportation of goods and people in our area for the next half-century. I just think we should take some time to look at it." ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland lawmakers elected a black woman Wednesday as speaker of the House of Delegates, choosing Del. Adrienne Jones as a consensus candidate to end a bitter fight over a powerful leadership position that for more than four centuries had been held by white men. Jones, 64, emerged as the surprise winner after a nearly five-hour closed-door meeting where Democrats who control the House were deadlocked between two other veteran lawmakers, one a black man and the other a openly gay white woman, in a battle that threatened to cleave the party in two. Jones's ascension has particular resonance in Maryland, a politically progressive state that until Wednesday had not elevated a woman or a person of color into the top tier of power in the state capital. "Wow," Jones, D-Baltimore County, said minutes after her election, running her hands along the polished rostrum. "I didn't think I would be here when I left out of my house this morning." The unanimous vote followed weeks of bruising public spats and clandestine maneuvering in Annapolis as Del. Dereck Davis, D-Prince George's, an African-American centrist, competed for the post against Del. Maggie McIntosh, D-Baltimore City, a white liberal who was the first openly gay lawmaker in the General Assembly. Their historic race divided House Democrats along ideological and racial lines. Once the caucus agreed to choose Jones, McIntosh was given the role of nominating her for the speakership, gesturing as she did so at the portraits of previous speakers that hang in the House chamber. "These walls will never be the same," McIntosh said. 3 1 of 3 Washington Post photo by Sarah L. Voisin Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Washington Post photo by Sarah L. Voisin Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Davis seconded the nomination. " 'House of Cards' has nothing on us. Talk about high drama," Davis quipped before directly addressing Jones, who had given up her quest for the speakership on Friday in hopes of marshaling the Legislative Black Caucus more solidly behind Davis. "You were willing to step aside for me," Davis said, "and I'm honored to step aside for you." The House then gave Jones a standing ovation. Maryland has no women and few people of color in its congressional delegation, even though nearly a third of the state's population - and almost half the House Democratic Caucus - is black. After the unexpected death of longtime speaker Michael Busch on April 7, electing an African-American speaker became a priority for most black lawmakers. The vacant speakership also became a growing source of division as progressive groups and left-leaning lawmakers sought a leader more liberal than Davis. "We have always been loyal to the Democratic Party," said Del. Benjamin Brooks Sr., D-Baltimore County. "Now it was time for the Democratic Party to be loyal to us." McIntosh won a vote in the Democratic Caucus on Wednesday morning by 58 to 40 - too few votes to assure victory in the 141-member chamber. Davis had secured the support of the House Republican Caucus. He was prepared to fight for the speakership on the floor of the House and preside with support from a minority of Democrats, a scenario that would have been unprecedented in deep-blue Maryland. Aghast at the possibility, Democrats stayed behind closed doors long past the scheduled noon vote, until they could coalesce around a candidate who could win on the strength of Democratic votes alone. McIntosh and Davis eventually offered to step aside if Jones were the nominee. After Jones won the unanimous support of Democrats, Republicans followed suit on the House floor. "She has been a great friend to us," said House Minority Leader Nicholaus Kipke, R-Anne Arundel. "Our members have great affection for her. We know this is going to be something we can all be proud of." Jones is the third African-American woman in the country to serve as a presiding officer in a state legislature, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., became the first to serve in the role when she was elected in California in 2008. Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes, D-Wicomico, the immediate past president of the Maryland Women's Legislative Caucus, said Jones's selection sends a message to young women of color across the country, "that African-American women can ascend to positions of leadership, beyond always being second." "Our nation is so divided, but what this shows is that there is still hope," Sample-Hughes said. "I did not know that we were going to come to this place today and walk out the door with an African-American female" as speaker. Jones, a member of the House since 1997, has worked for Baltimore County government for nearly 40 years. She lives in Woodstock, Maryland, and has two adult sons. She serves on the House Appropriations Committee, which McIntosh chairs. As House speaker pro tem for the past 16 years, Jones was second-in-command to Busch. But while McIntosh and Davis were top lieutenants of the speaker's who held visible roles chairing influential committees, the job of speaker pro tem was largely behind the scenes. That changed this year, when Busch was ill and missed the final three weeks of the legislative session. Jones ran the floor sessions in his place. She has said she did not consider seeking the top post until that experience, but then decided to pursue it because she thought she could be an inclusive and positive leader. "I don't want to look back years from now and say, 'I wish I did,' " she said in an interview last month, before she dropped out to support Davis. The competition between Davis and McIntosh deeply divided House Democrats and the Legislative Black Caucus, with many older and more centrist lawmakers - especially from Prince George's - backing Davis, and the more liberal and younger flank of the chamber supporting McIntosh. Progressive groups threatened to support primary challengers against Democrats who did not back McIntosh. Black Caucus leaders insisted that having an African-American speaker was long overdue. "We did our job," Del. Darryl Barnes, D-Prince George's, the caucus chairman, said after Jones was sworn in. "I've been fighting. I've 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, it's a woman and it's an African-American. So I'm extremely excited where we are for the state." The Democratic and Republican caucuses began meeting behind closed doors at 10 a.m. Wednesday. At times, the Black Caucus broke away from the Democratic Caucus to meet separately, then returned. Republicans scrambled to make sure their bloc was at full force. One lawmaker flew back from a vacation in Seattle to make the vote; another flew back from Tennessee. A third delayed a vacation to be in town, Kipke said. The Senate convened at noon, gaveling in as a formality so that the House could legally vote. While the private caucus meetings continued, dozens of reporters, advocates and political observers stood in the hallway awaiting developments. "History, history," said prominent Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy as members of the Black Caucus headed back to the Democratic Caucus room after the secret ballot. "It's a good day for history," said Del. C.T. Wilson, D-Charles, a Davis supporter. "It's not over, but I'm proud of the people here." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress. He lied to Congress, the San Francisco Democrat said at a news conference on Capitol Hill. If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law, not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general. She added, The attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime. Asked if Barr should go to jail, Pelosi answered, Theres a process involved here, and that it would be up to a House committee to decide how to proceed. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement that Pelosis baseless attack on the attorney general is reckless, irresponsible and false. Pelosi was apparently referring to a statement Barr made at a House committee hearing last month. Barr was asked about news reports that Special Counsel Robert Muellers attorneys were upset about Barrs characterizations of their report on allegations that President Trump had obstructed justice during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr said he wasnt aware of the reasons for their objections. Do you know what theyre referencing with that? Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist of Florida asked Barr at the April 9 hearing. No, I dont, Barr answered. 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. This week, a letter from Mueller himself emerged in which the special counsel said Barrs March 24 summary of the reports principal conclusions did not fully capture the nature, context, and substance of his findings. Mueller sent the letter on March 27, two weeks before the attorney generals testimony before the House committee. Mueller wrote that we communicated that concern the day after Barr released his summary. In his March 24 summary, Barr said Muellers report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as difficult issues of law and fact concerning whether the Presidents actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction. The Special Counsel states that while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. Mueller wrote in his report that Justice Department policy that bars bringing a criminal case against a sitting president meant he could not made a charging recommendation on obstruction. But his 448-page report made it clear there were several instances in which there was evidence that Trump had obstructed the probe into whether his 2016 campaign had conspired with the Russian government. The report found there was no evidence of a conspiracy itself. In testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr called Muellers March 27 letter a bit snitty and speculated it had been written by one of the special counsels staffers. Trapper Byrne is the San Francisco Chronicles politics editor. Email: tbyrne@sfchronicle.com. twitter: @trapperbyrne President Donald Trump pledged he wouldn't waive requirements that American vessels be used to transport natural gas among U.S. ports, Republicans defending the mandates said after a White House meeting on the issue Wednesday. The lawmakers from Alaska and the shipbuilding Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Louisiana said Trump ruled out relaxing mandates under the Jones Act in order to facilitate shipments of liquefied natural gas to Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. "He's not going to make any changes to the Jones Act," said Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana. "The president's not one to beat around the bush. He was pretty categorical." The pledge marks a rapid reversal in White House thinking -- and a victory for U.S. shipbuilding interests and their allies on Capitol Hill. The president was said to be leaning in favor of some kind of waiver after an Oval Office meeting on the issue last week. "The president gave his word," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana. "Every senator who walked out of that room felt confident" he would "oppose any changes to the Jones Act and any waivers of the Jones Act," Cassidy said. In addition to Kennedy and Cassidy, the lawmakers pressing Trump in Wednesday's meeting included Alaska Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan; Mississippi Republican Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith; and the No. 2 Republican in the House, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. They were leaning in to political arguments, with Kennedy saying it "would be foolish" for Trump to waive requirements in the nearly 100-year-old Jones Act, which requires that goods being transported via water between U.S. ports be on ships constructed in the country and crewed by American workers. "It's bad policy and it would be bad politics," Kennedy said in an interview ahead of the meeting. "And in a lot of states it would mean his electoral prospects were as dead as fried chicken." Waiver supporters, such as billionaire oilman Harold Hamm, have promoted the exemptions as essential to lower the cost of energy in Puerto Rico and ease the flow of American natural gas to the U.S. Northeast, where there aren't enough pipelines to deliver the product from Pennsylvania. However, opponents argue the Jones Act provides critical support to the U.S. shipbuilding industry, promoting domestic vessel manufacturing capabilities that are essential to national security and the country's maritime might. Jones Act supporters argued the move would be out of step with Trump's protectionist policies. "I don't think the president -- when he is fully briefed -- will want to" waive the Jones Act, Wicker told reporters before the meeting. "If there wasn't already a Jones Act, Donald Trump would be inventing the Jones Act." The Trump administration previously considered going the other way. Customs and Border Protection considered revoking rulings allowing foreign vessels to transport some equipment to offshore oil rigs in 2017, under a proposal first launched by the Obama administration. The agency ultimately withdrew the formal proposal after the oil industry warned it could cripple production in the Gulf of Mexico, but some Trump administration officials have urged reviving it. Washington For the third time this year, the big moment in Venezuela has turned into a bust. Trump administration officials had expected that Wednesday might turn out to be the beginning of the end for President Nicolas Maduro with senior government figures withdrawing support and the opposition launching a mass uprising with military backing. But the promised defections didn't happen, the military uprising never materialized and Maduro still appeared to be firmly in command of the South American nation. Trump officials were back to complaining about the support Venezuela receives from Cuba and Russia while issuing vague warnings of military action. "Military action is possible," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Fox Business Network. "If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do." It was another reality check for an administration that has thrown its support behind the opposition with a series of diplomatic and economic measures that, so far at least, have failed to achieve their goal of ousting Maduro. The U.S. views Maduro's re-election last year as fraudulent and illegitimate and has recognized Juan Guaido, opposition head of the National Assembly, as interim president. Some in the administration thought they would achieve their mission in January, when the U.S. formally recognized Guaido and around 50 other nations followed suit. Others thought it might end in February, when the opposition entered the country with trucks of U.S. aid to help the people of a once prosperous country where many now go without food and medicine amid a deep economic crisis. This week, administration officials were told the defense minister, the president of the supreme court, the head of the presidential guard and others would formally announce that they supported the Venezuelan constitution, implicitly backing the opposition, said Elliott Abrams, the special U.S. envoy for Venezuela. He said the U.S. didn't know exactly when this would happen but figured it would coincide with opposition rallies Wednesday, May Day. The future of Woodstock 50, a three-day concert marking the 50th anniversary of the original 1969 Woodstock music festival, looks bleak after its primary financial investor said it had pulled its funding and canceled the event. But one of the festivals co-founders says the show must go on. Despite our tremendous investment of time, effort and commitment, we dont believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees, Dentsu Aegis Networks Amplifi Live said in a statement released to Billboard on Monday, April 29. Dentsu Aegis Network was bankrolling the concert scheduled for Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, N.Y. As difficult as it is, we believe this is the most prudent decision for all parties involved, the statement continued. Tim OHearn, the administrator for Schuyler County, N.Y., confirmed Woodstock 50s cancellation to NPR. The next day, however, Woodstock 50 co-founder Michael Lang, who was also a co-founder of the original 1969 Woodstock concert, vehemently denied the cancellation in a separate statement, saying he was committed to ensuring that the 50th anniversary of Woodstock is marked with a festival deserving of its iconic name and place in American history and culture. Although our financial partner is withdrawing, Langs statement added, we will of course be continuing with the planning of the festival and intend to bring on new partners. The bottom line is, there is going to be a Woodstock 50th anniversary festival, as there must be, and its going to be a blast. The anniversary concert was set to feature acts such as Jay-Z, the Killers, Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons, Robert Plant, Common and Chance the Rapper, as well as veterans from the original 1969 Woodstock festival, including Santana, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Crosby and Dead & Company. Organizers had already spent more than $30 million on securing the lineup. The financial kerfuffle is the latest in a series of setbacks leading up the anniversary event. Organizers missed a deadline to put tickets on sale last week, and according to Billboard, there is concern that the Watkins Glen International Speedway about 115 miles northwest of the original Woodstock site will not be able to accommodate the 100,000 people expected to attend the concert. Fogerty, who attended a news conference announcing Woodstock 50 in March, told Rolling Stone on Tuesday that he was not surprised by news of the cancellation. They postponed announcing the tickets, and I remember reading a while ago that they didnt have some of the permits, he said. That just blew my mind. Youd think it would be the first thing youd do and not the last thing. You got the sense there was some shakiness to this whole thing. But the first Woodstock happened more by people wishing for it to happen than any effort of great organization. Another Woodstock anniversary event, dubbed the Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival, which also includes Santana in its lineup, is still set to take place on the farm where the 1969 concert was held. Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicles pop music critic. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF Written by ACM *Strasbourg/Palace of Congress/Angelo Marcopolo/- In a Joint Franco-German christiandemocrat/EPP Leaders' launch of a crucial Electoral Campaign, Today in Strasbourg, precisely 1 Month before the forthcoming EU Vote of May 26, 2019, headed by EPP's Spitzen-Candidate Manfred Weber from Germany, President of EU Parliament's biggest Political Group, that of EPP, together with French mainstream Opposition Leader, Experienced former many times Minister (from EU Affairs to Science, etc), Laurent Wauquiez, President of the Republican Party (Center-Right), as well as the New Chief of Republican MEPs, young Philosopher Francois-Xavier Bellamy, the current need to defend and develop the core of our common European Civilisation was confirmed as the main Focus. - Stimulated also by a Largely spread Public Emotion, Europe-Wide and even well Beyond, in several Countries accross the World, just after the recent, UnPrecedented partial Destruction by Fire of the upper parts of Internationaly Famous, UNESCO Monument, and popular Historic Paris' Cathedral of "Notre Dame de Paris" on 2019 (Comp. f.ex. : .., etc), following the December 2018 Deadly Terrorist Attack in Strasbourg, against its 'Cristmas Market", cowardly Targetting Civilian People, during EU Parliament's plenary session here (See, f.ex. : ..., etc), Weber, who has also succeeded to attract the Support of several Popular EU Leaders, such as f.ex. Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary (etc), particularly for his promise to Protect EU's External Borders, appeared adamant in his Reply to a relevant Question by "Eurofora": - Indeed, President Weber smiled, and agreed with "Eurofora", on the serious issue raised recently, inter alia, also by the famous Italian creator of the succesful "5 Stars" Movement, currently co-Governing the Country, when he Criticized "FrontEx" and/or other EU CoastGuards for reportedly, instead of really Protecting EU's External Borders from Smugglers and Human Trafficking, particularly after that UnPrecedented "Tsunami" of more than 1,5 Millions of Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants, particularly Recalcitrant to Integration in Europe, who suddenly arrived through Turkey since 2015/2016, on the Contrary, they in fact, their role, just into behaving as a kind of ..."TAXI" (sic !), by restricting their action only into ...Replying to Phone Calls asking for such Mass Migrants to be Transported from a makeshift Boat into a Real and Safe Ship bringing them all inside the EU... => With the notorious Result to Fill the EU, not so much with Real Refugees, but more and more with ...ISIS' Terrorist Killers, (as f.ex. at Bataclan in Paris since 2015, recently a mass-murderer of 25 Civilians, unmasked on 2019, etc), Rapers and/or Murderers (as f.ex. at nearby Freiburg, etc), Mass Brutal Aggressors of even underage Girls (as, f.ex. at Cologne 2016, UK 2017, etc), Aggressive and sometimes even Oppressive, heavily "Islamized" Radical Groups, InHuman and Brutal Thugs (as, f.ex. those who notoriously Attacked a Poor Homeless person sleeping at the street in Berlin, attempting to ..Burn him alive !), and/or Filling Poor Neighbourhood's Schoolclasses with an Excessive Number of Foreign "Kids" (often ..Adults, in fact), who doN't even speak the Language of the Host Country, with the result to make School-Life practically Impossible for Poor People's Children, threatening to provoke Heavy and Irreversible Delays of Education, which can leave irremediable Marks to the detriment of their whole Lives. Emergence of Socio-Cultural Ghettos, where EU Citizens can No more Recognize the Culture and History of their own Country, often follows, (etc)... I.e., Facts which obviously Push Desperate People far Away from the Mainstream Political area, towards various Extremes... >>> In such Circumstances (Comp. Supra), the EU should, at least, ensure that about 90%, or even more, of verified Irregular Migrants, (i.e. No Real Refugees), Return Back to their Home Countries, reacted Weber to the above-mentioned "Eurofora"s Question. -------------------------------------------------- - On this Key and Topical point, the Leader of France's mainstream Opposition, Laurent Wauquiez, "Thanked" Weber "for having placed EU's External Borders' Protection as Number 1 Priority", he stressed, Later-on, in his Speech, (See Infra). - In fact, "it's a Double Protection, that is Needed for EU's External Borders : A European one, and a National one. Because we Need an EU CoastGuards' Force, in Greece, Italy and Spain. We have to Bring Back those who come towards us, while Asylum Demands should be made, not inside Europe, but at Neighbouring Countries. So that, if someone enters Irregularly in Europe, he should never be given a legal permit : It's Time to put things in order !", Wauquiez vowed. + At the same time, we need also a National Protection of Borders, Not at all in order t bother legal TransBorder Workers, etc., but Only in order to be able to Control Irregular Migrants entering inside our Country, he explained. And, if one EU Country adopts a Policy which is Not Adapted to anOther EU Country, f.ex. because of Differences in Population Growth, Level of UnEmployement, etc., then, Each one should be able to act accordingly, Wauquiez added, applauded. - So that, in this, as well as on other issues, we do Not Oppose Nations alone, to Europe alone, Contrary to what Others do, but prefer to have Both the Nations and Europe, he underlined. ------------------- + Such Issues were naturally linked also with the problem of Turkey's controversial and unpopular EU bid, which had notoriously provoked EU's 1st Serious Crisis and Halt, back on 2005+, inciting the Leading Candidate of the ChristianDemocrats/EPP to clarify his position : - "Turkey is Not a European Country, and will Never enter inside the EU ! We simply want to have Good Neighborhoud Relations with Ankara. If I become EU Commission's President, I shall do what is necessary in order to make that clear for ever, Manfred Weber vowed in his speech, largely applauded by the People. + But, at the same time, in fact, the Main Popular Issue, Today, with which all he rest was linked, in one way or another, obviously was was that of the Vital Need to Defend and Develop, Nowadays, the core susbtance of the European Civilisation : => So that Weber, who had just, Symbolically chosen to launch his PanEuropean Electoral Campaign from Greece, where he visited some impressive huge Ancient Monuments of white marble, together with "New Democracy" (Center(Right/EPP) Party's Head, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a few Days ago, immediately went directly towards what was the main point for all ChristianDemocrats : - "European Countries are quite Different, one from another, But they all have, at least, one Main Point Alike for all : Wherever you Visit, (f.ex., from Greece to Denmark, and from Portugal to Poland, etc), you shall Always Find, here or there, a Christian Cross on the Mountains, and/or a Christian Church !", he stressed, lively Applauded, once again. - The recent Fire against the Historic Monument of "Notre Dame de Paris", in France, made European People Feel, all Together, what is a Key part of Our Common Cultural Heritage, Weber topically reminded. --------------------------------------------- - "Europe must rediscover its ideal of Human Dignity, developed in the Judeo-Christian tradition", the Head of the "Republican" Candidate MEPs in the crucial, May 2019 EU Elections, Young Philospher Francois-Xavier Bellamy stressed afterwards. + Adding that "it was a huge Error (back on 2001-2005) to Omit Europe's Judeo-Christian Roots from the EU Constitution, (when Turkey's controversial and unpopular EU bid was pushed by some, resulting in 3 "No" to EuroReferenda in France, the Netherlands and Ireland, which provoked a damaging Halt and Delay in the European Construction)... Bellamy reminded, however, that German intellectual Goethe had notoriously lived in Strasbourg, (whose Ancient University still hosts a beautiful Statute of him as a lively young man), long before, at his last moment, very old, he left this World with a famous demand for "Mehr Licht !", ("More Light !")... ----------------------------------------------------- - It's necessary, Today, "to Raise Politics Higher !", observed from the outset, as a matter of General Principle, the Leader of France's main Opposition Party, that of the "Republicans" (Center-Right), Experienced former Government Spokesman and many times Minister (of EU Affairs, Science/Research, etc), currently President of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes' Region, (which unites France's "Massif Central" to the Swiss Mountains, the Highest in Europe), Laurent Wauquiez, pointing, in this regard, to the fact that, f.ex., Bellamy had characteristically chosen, during a Debate with all Other Parties' Top Candidates for EU Elections, to open the Book of ... Ancient Greek "Homer's Illiad !", as he had observed. - Nowadays, "whoever Believes in Europe, is aware that the main point is the Franco-German mutual Trust and Cooperation", that we should Strengthen and take also Higher, Wauquiez want on to add, Thanking Manfred Weber for his participation to this Symbolic and Timely Strasbourg's meeting on the Elections which will determine EU's Future for the period of 2019-2024. - Revendicating the Historic Legacy of "our (Political) Group, which stems from Gaullism as well as ChristianDemocracy, and has Founded (modern) Europe", as he reminded, Wauquiez pleaded in favour of the "EPP Group (currently Headed by former Strasbourg's MEP, Joseph Daul, in Brussels) : the Biggest inside EU Parliament". - EU Parliament's plenaries are based in Strasbourg not only because of the importance of the Franco-German reconciliation and cooperation, but also as "a Sign" for the fact that real "Europe canNot be Only an Administration in Brussels" (i.e. EU Commision), but is also something More", thanks also to Alsace Region's Cultural contribution to "European Humanism". + Observing that Polls have recently noted a Growth of "+ 7% More, in just 2 Months", for the Republican Party, Wauquiez argued that this was "Because People want to have a Choice, between a risk of DeConstruction of Europe, against the "uro", by the Rightists", and a stagnation, by Liberals who "haven't understood that, Nowadays, "Europe Needs a Change", instead of staying in "a Deadlock" made by even "More Enlargement, even to Countries which are very Different from us", "More Rules", "More Agencies", "More Taxes", "that Europe of Bureaucracy, that we doN't Want !" - In fact, they have not understood that, "if one wants to ReVigorate Europe, we must Change it !", Wauquiez stressed. On the Contrary, "we Believe in Europe, and that's why we feel the need to Re-Think it anew", and put it on a good way ahead : => "The Europe that We Want, is that which we Loved, which Worked Well, the Europe which had a strong Soul, had Projects" : "a Europe Able to face both China and the USA", "to handle Climate issues and (mass) Migration", "a Europe which Protects and, at the same time, guarantees the Future of our Children", "the Europe which is Based on our Roots (Comp. Supra), and, simultaneously, has the Taste of the Future, and the Energy of Tomorow !", he Highlighted. - "Others focus on Sovereignity or Federalism", etc., but, in fact, they do Not really Speak about Europe, which was Build by the Founding Fathers, "Conscious that they made a Choice of Civilisation", Laurent Wauquiez stressed. - While, Nowadays, the Question which is raised, is, while "having inherited a Wonderfull Civilisation", whether we might, perhaps, be "Obliged to Alter our Way of Life, of shall we be Able to Transfer to our Children, what we have Received, and Enable them to be Proud and Deserve to receive it too ? In other words : - "Has the European Civilisation Died ?, Or are we able to Give it a ReNaissance and New Energy ?", he wondered. - "That's what is really at Stake in these (May 2019) EU Elections !" - Well, "I sincerely Believe that European Civilisation is Not Dead !" It's true that "there are Many Challenges, Competition is around us, there are threats of Islamism and MultiCulturalism, Dangers for our Ecohomy, etc. But, No : If we just Open our Eyes, the European Civilisation is Not Dead : It can be ReStructured, and is able to Restore Both France and Europe !", he vowed. - "First of all, a Civilisation has Borders", Wauquiez practically pointed out, Promissing also to strongly Support Weber, if he becomes EU Commission's President, in his Plan to Put an End to the controversial and unpopular Turkey's EU bid, (Comp. on EU Borders, Supra). - "But, in order to have a European Civilisation, we also need to have Common Projects", he stressed. "More Projects, Less Rules"... F.ex., EU Commission could Help restore Rhin river's capacity to transport Big Ships ; Set up Digital Networks and/or "G5" throughout all Europe ; Unite and Boost Scientific Research against Cancer, and/or Alzheimer, (etc), he proposed. + "A Civilisation is also the Defense of a Culture, which is Threatened Today : Because there are people who Hate whatever we are. There are people who have been welcomed, born and raised here, but so full of Hate that they are ready to turn their weapons against those who gave them that chance, he pointed out. I become Angry when I See that, even after Deadly Terrorist Attacks, the Necessary Measures are Not Taken, Wauquiez denounced. Some make Big Speeches against Political Islamism, but afterwards they Continue as usual... => On the Contrary, we must Open our Eyes, and look what we have to Fight against : We have to Fight against Islamist Integrism. We Must Fight it, with all our Force !", he Urged. "Otherwise, More People will continue to be Killed", he Warned. >>> Against that, Concrete Measures must be taken : F.ex., we Must Close Salafist Mosques in Europe !", Wauquiez stressed, applauded by many People. "We must Prohibit to Imams who preach Hate, to call for Killing others. We must Hinder Foreign States to Fund Mosques inside Europe, in order to Exploit them, afterwards, at the Dark of their Minarets, to spread Hate", he urged, also applauded. + And, "How it's possible for (French) Public Authorities to have Accepted the Return of 200 Jihadists who had Left the Country in order to Fight in Syria ?", he Questioned. On the Contrary, we must make it Clear : Those Jihadists have Betrayed Europe, and canNot Return here. They must be Judged and Imprisoned there where they are now (i.e. Syria or Iraq, etc). They have Nothing to do in Europe !", Wauquiez stressed, largely applauded by the People. At that point, he also Criticized Rightist Politician Marine Le Pen for allegedly Refusing a controversial Mass Surveillance of all Airplanes' Passengers' private Data, as a means to struggle against Terrorism. ++ Morover, Contrary to the Past, when France had succeeded to Integrate various People who came from Different Countries, Europeans or even Africans, etc., Because they were Eager to Work, and also adhere to the European Civilisation (NB). - Nowadays, paradoxically, some Inversed that order : Instead of those who came to be obliged to adapt to our Civilisation, it's now, pratically us (Europeans) who should adapt to the way of life of new-comers, he denounced. => Progressively, we Renounced to proudly Transfer our Culture, Teach our History, Transmit our Litterature, and Spread our Way of Life, Wauquiez Criticized. - But, "the Lesson given (recently) by "Notre Dame de Paris", is that "a Civilisation is precious", but there are "Visible Fires" and "InVisible Fires", he Warned : When someone is Blind or Coward, he Risks to Lose what was transmitted to him... >>> If we do Not Teach in Schools the History of our Country, Neither "Shoa", while also abandoning Young Girls to be Obliged by Force to wear a Scarf, if we let some Hinder even Christmas' Cribs, (etc), all these renonciations are dangerous retreats, he warned. On the Contrary, we should have the Generosity to transmit to our Children, and to those who arrive here, the Best of that Civilisation which was entrusted to us. Be proud of it, and Share its Values, is the Best Way : Europe is a Struggle, it's also Believe that every human person can Become Eucopean, on one Condition : to Share its Civilisation !", Laurent Wauquiez concluded, applauded by the People. (../..) It's time to collect canned goods for the Plainview Post Office. Your Plainview postal worker will distribute plastic bags to fill with nonperishable food items next week to be collected on May 11, said Howard Steffens, union steward for the National Association of Letter Carriers. The food drive is in conjunction with the annual National Association of Letter Carriers food drive and the National Rural Letter Carriers in cooperation with the United States Postal Service, he explained during a brief visit at the Plainview Post Office on Tuesday morning. Bags and postcards with instructions will start going out in the next few days for those interested in giving donations. The food collected will stay local and benefit Faith In Sharing House (FISH), Steffens said. Roger Stambaugh and Jennifer Gonzales, letter carriers who were also present, added that keeping the donations local has proven to be an important factor to local citizens interested in giving. The donation bags will be donated for the program by The United Family, Steffens said. If you're interested in donating more food than will fit in the bags, Steffens said boxes will also be accepted. Collections will be taken only on May 11. This is estimated to be the 27th year for the local drive, he said. Every year, the local carriers collect an average of 4,000 boxes of non-perishable food. This year they're hoping for better. "We'd love to top that," Steffens said. "It's growing every year." Mr Christian Lange, the German Parliamentary Secretary of State for Justice and Consumer Protection, visited Eurojust, the EU's Judicial Cooperation Unit. Mr Lange met with Mr Ladislav Hamran, President of Eurojust, and Mr Klaus Meyer-Cabri, Vice-President of Eurojust, to discuss Germany's invaluable contribution to fighting cross-border crime in the European Union, and how Germany can further support Eurojust's efforts towards a safer Europe. The discussions centred on enhancing judicial cooperation within the European Union and beyond, as well as on promoting the use of Eurojust's cooperation tools and instruments. Eurojust's President and Vice-President emphasized the bridge-making role of Eurojust in bringing together prosecutors from 28 different national jurisdictions and 30 legal systems, and stressed the need for appropriate funding for Eurojust's fight against cross-border crime. State Secretary Lange praised the progress made by Eurojust and the German Desk since his first visit in July 2015 in the fight against cross border-crime. He underlined Eurojust's importance in quickly and effectively coordinating transnational investigations and prosecutions of serious crime, including terrorism, thus ensuring criminal justice across the European continent. Mr Lange stressed: 'Eurojust plays a key role in the effective prosecution of cross-border crime in the European Union. German prosecutors frequently exchange information with their European partners via Eurojust. Joint investigation teams, for example, are a major success factor in the investigation of cross-border crime. The further development and strengthening of Eurojust are therefore important to the German Federal Government. In November 2018, the Ministers of Justice of Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands agreed to reinforce Eurojust and step up their efforts to share findings on criminals and terrorist activities. Germany, particularly the Federal Prosecutor General's Office, is heavily involved in these efforts, and is eager to contribute in this regard.' Mr Hamran stated: 'We warmly welcome the visit of the German Secretary of State as it demonstrates Germany's important commitment to enhancing our successful collaboration. Eurojust's successful work is based on European values, with respect for due process and the fundamental rights of European citizens. This work is also an inspiration for States outside the European Union. Only together can we create and sustain an area of freedom and security in Europe. I strongly believe that we can set an example for other countries to join the Eurojust family.' Mr Meyer-Cabri pointed out: 'Achieving coordinated investigations through Eurojust's coordination role is a key element to successfully fight cross-border crime. German prosecutors have fully recognised this potential. In the last four years alone, the support asked by them from the German Desk at Eurojust has risen by 350%. The second visit to Eurojust of the State Secretary shows the full political support of the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection for our work.' Photos Eurojust. Whats the expiration date on moral outrage over a gruesome murder? On Wall Street, at least, the answer seems to be roughly six months. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was my colleague at rhe Washington Post, walked into the Saudi Consulate in Turkey 6 months ago to take care of some paperwork. Then he vanished. In the days and weeks that followed, the world learned that a 15-member hit team dispatched by the Saudi government had strangled the 59-year-old Khashoggi, dismembered him with a bone saw while listening to music and disposed of his body. The CIA would conclude that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the countrys de facto ruler, had ordered the assassination. MBS, as the crown prince is known, was shocked shocked! that his thugs had not merely politely kidnapped the dissident as instructed. However upsetting Khashoggis death was for his grieving fiancee, children, colleagues, friends and admirers worldwide, MBS was surely more outraged than them all. After all, the murder was super inconvenient for the crown prince, at least timing-wise. Khashoggis assassination occurred just weeks before the splashy Future Investment Initiative forum, a Davos in the Desert designed to highlight Salmans economic and social reforms. And it did look as though some of these global elites had pangs of conscience about attending or pangs of PR concerns, anyway. At first. International executives and public figures dropped out of Davos in the Desert by the dozens. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, boycotted the event, explaining that the bank couldnt be seen in any way condoning the murder. Goldman Sachs said its partner who had planned to attend, former White House official Dina Powell, wouldnt go, either. The banks newly minted chief executive, David Solomon, proclaimed on CNBC, This incident is unacceptable, and clearly they have to answer questions. Goldman continued to quietly send other, more junior people, however. So did other institutions. HSBC, for instance, pulled its chief executive, John Flint, but dispatched a lower-ranking executive. Alas, even this halfhearted shunning of Saudi Arabia was brief. Thats because theres just too much money to be made, as a bond sale that closed this month illustrates. Saudi Aramco, the Saudi-government-owned oil business that happens to be the worlds most profitable company, closed its inaugural bond issuance. It appears to be part of a long-term effort to build relationships with international investors ahead of an initial public offering. Whatever the moral complications, those relationships are building fast: Initially expected to raise about $10 billion, the sale instead attracted a whopping $100 billion in orders, making it one of the most oversubscribed bond sales in history. Ultimately, Aramco decided to issue $12 billion in debt. And guess who managed the sale. Why, some of those very same financial institutions that had ostentatiously boycotted the Saudi forum last fall, including JPMorgan Chase (which led the sale with Morgan Stanley), Goldman Sachs and HSBC. JPMorgan CEO Dimon even made a rare appearance to market the bonds personally at a luncheon in New York. HSBC declined to comment on what changed between six months ago and today, saying it never comments on client relationships. JPMorgan excused the turnabout by saying its work would help the Saudi people (apparently, the Saudi people who arent being murdered, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons). Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs suggested that if theres a red line to be drawn on doing business with morally dubious countries, the entity to draw it should not be Goldman Sachs. So what lead, pray tell, has our government offered? On the one hand, on the same day that investors worldwide were placing tens of billions of dollars of orders for Aramco bonds, the U.S. State Department announced it was barring 16 Saudis from entry to the United States because of their roles in Khashoggis murder. On the other hand, MBS was not named, nor has he faced any other significant consequence. Instead, President Donald Trump has praised the crown prince, repeated Salmans protestations of innocence and called the Saudis a great ally. Perhaps it is naive to ask investment banks, at best amoral, to suddenly sprout a moral compass. What, then, is our governments excuse? crampell@washpost.com Marshall led No. 16 Louisiana heading to the final quarter, but the Ragin' Cajuns turned it on late, shutting down Marshall's offense and scoring the final 20 points of the game in a 36-21 win over the Herd in the 2021 New Orleans Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? The great and the good of the Irish country music scene will line up for this Friday nights Late Late Show Country Special, in what will truly be a family affair. In a night of unique performances, the show will kick off with the biggest opening number yet, featuring Daniel ODonnell, Nathan Carter, Cliona Hagan, Mike Denver, Michael English, Robert Mizzell, Derek Ryan and Trudi Lalor and 100 jivers from around the country giving it socks to an 80s classic. Ryan Tubridy will host a Circle of Friends, sharing family tales and hearing some of our stars favourite songs. Well hear from Robert Mizzell and his dad Richard, who will fly in from Louisiana, Susan McCann and 13-year-old granddaughter Sinead, Cliona Hagan and sister Nicole, and Jimmy Buckley and daughter Claudia. Ryan will also chat to the gentle giant of country Mick Flavin and his family about his 20-year road to success, overcoming alcohol addiction and having two sons who were born deaf and will never hear their father sing. Last month the Late Late Show team and the expert panel of Margo and Nathan Carter hit the road to audition hopefuls in the Search for a Country Star competition. Acts from up and down the country competed, and well meet the lucky winner on Friday, as well as see them perform a contemporary country hit with Nathan. Also read: Popular Tommy Tiernan Show returns for new series Derek Ryan, Mick Flavin, Mike Denver, Dominic Kirwan, Margo, Louise Morrissey and Mary Duff will bring us on a trip down memory lane with a tribute to Hank Williams, including tracks such as Hey Good Looking and I Saw the Light; and well roll out the Wagon Wheel of Fortune, with team captains Fred Cooke and Anna Geary leading Michael English, Trudi Lalor and our audience superfans in a battle to win the coveted trophy. Ryan will also catch up with the legendary Daniel ODonnell, but will the duo take to the stage to perform? All of this (and some surprises too) only on The Late Late Show Country Special, RTE One, Friday, May 3 at 9.35pm. Also read: Longford family's plea for life-saving meningitis vaccine following tragic loss of their daughter The ninth annual Legan Nifty 50 Run is being held on May 12, starting from Mitchell's Bar, Legan, at 12.3opm. The registration fee for any bikers wanting to take part is 20 and all of the proceeds go to the Irish Cancer Society. So far, approximately 30,000 has been raised for the charity over the course of eight years. The organisers of the Legan Nifty 50 would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that has supported the event and greatly appreciate all the support they have received from all of the generous sponsors. They have expressed their gratitude for all of the shops and pubs that have sponsored the event and kindly donated spot prizes and vouchers. We hope to get your support this year. It wouldn't have happened otherwise, said the delighted organisers. Special thanks has also been extended to the large number of bikers that support the event. This year's run will start at Mitchell's Bar in Legan before heading to Carrickboy towards Longford where it will then take the bypass out to the N4 axis. From there, the bikers will make their way through Longford town before heading to Ballymahon, through Moyvore to Ballinacarrigy and Raharney before finishing up in Legan. The run is a total of 60 miles. This year's run promises to be as enjoyable an event as always, raising much-needed funds for a very worthy cause. Longford Leader gallery: The 8th annual Legan Nifty Fifty Honda 50 Run in aid of the Irish Cancer Society Outgoing Midlands North West MEP Marian Harkin was the main attraction at Longford Library yesterday (Wednesday) as she launched a new project aimed at enticing more women to get involved in local politics. The SHE Project (See HER Elected) is a collaborative project of both The Womens Manifesto Project (a Longford Womens Link Programme) and 50:50 North West who have been working together for a number of years on the issue of supporting women in rural Ireland into public life. Following a joint conference in 2015 entitled Voices and Views from Local Elections 2014, both organisations committed to finding workable solutions to tackle the issue. The SHE project aims to address the under-representation of women in local government in rural Ireland by engaging in the provision of targeted training and supports as well as implementing the projects long term vision of ensuring a sustainable pathway for women in rural Ireland into local government. Speaking at the launch, Longford Womens Link Deputy CEO Tara Farrell welcomed the 16% increase in the number of female candidates contesting the local elections in 2019 compared to the 2014 elections and thanked the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for their support of the SHE Project and their recognition of the underrepresentation of women in local government in rural Ireland as an issue. Assumpta Kelly from 50:50 North West highlighted the years of collaborative work between the two organisations that had led them to todays launch and was delighted to see the project being launched in the run up to the 2019 local elections. Ms Harkin, who is stepping down from her role as an MEP at the end of the month, wished all candidates present at the launch the very best of luck in their campaigns while paying particular tribute to LWL and 50:50 North West for their long-standing dedication and commitment to supporting women to engage in public life in rural Ireland. The project is already delivering media training at regional radio stations to female candidates in a number of counties and will launch its website in the coming days. The battle between the old vs. new school is a generational debate that will never go away. The same people who bag the new school now, once had to defend the music of their era against the previous generation. And in the same regard, the current new school fans will eventually find themselves questioning the music of future generations. But Justin Bieber has taken that debate right to the top of the food chain, questioning Eminem's dissmissal of modern rappers on his track "The Ringer." Given Eminem's history of responding to criticism, Bieber has got balls. Taking to his IG story to voice his opinion, Bieber posted a screenshot of Eminem's track "The Ringer," which was followed up with a message from the pop sensation: The Boston Police Department is asking anyone with information about Wednesday nights quadruple shooting in Dorchester to come forward as officials continue to investigate the crime that left one person dead. Officers responded to a call for shots fired in the area of 32 Windermere Road around 6:26 p.m. Upon arrival, they found four men suffering from gunshot wounds. Three of the victims were transported to local hospitals with wounds that are not believed to be life-threatening, while one man was pronounced dead at the scene. The crime remains under investigation and police are asking anyone with information to contact Boston police Homicide Detectives at 617-343-4470. Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 800-494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463). BOSTON (AP) The Boston School Committee has selected former Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius to be the city public school system's next superintendent. The vote Wednesday was 5-2. Those who voted for her say she was the best of three finalists in the critical areas of boosting student achievement and repairing relationships with the community. Chairman Michael Loconto called the 51-year-old Cassellius a "uniter." Mayor Marty Walsh lauded Cassellius for her "deep experience improving educational outcomes for students." Cassellius, also a finalist for state superintendent in Michigan, indicated she would accept the Boston job, saying she was "humbled and honored." The other finalists were Oscar Santos, head of Cathedral High School in Boston, and Marie Izquierdo, chief academic officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida. The Boston system serves 55,000 students. LYNN, Mass. (AP) A Massachusetts firefighter police say walked naked into a Rhode Island convenience store on a dare to buy a soda says it never happened. Lynnfield fire Capt. John Walsh was charged with disorderly conduct after an employee at the Middletown, RI, store reported the nude customer April 3. Walsh and a woman, both clothed, were pulled over a short time later. The police report says when asked, Walsh admitted entering the store naked on a dare from his girlfriend. Walsh tells The Daily Item of Lynn "The bulk of the allegation is untrue" and disputes the officer's report. Walsh, a 40-year department veteran, says he's a defense attorney and would never counsel a client to answer such a question from police. Hes on paid leave and is due back in court May 10. MassMutual donated $1 million to support Bostons Way Home Fund, an effort by Mayor Marty Walsh to end chronic homelessness in the city. "I thank MassMutual for their generous contribution and for helping Boston get even closer towards our goal of ending chronic homelessness in our city," Walsh said in a statement. "We are committed to making sure that every person in our city has a place to call their home and build a better life, and the Boston's Way Home Fund is helping do just that." The fund, announced by the mayor in January 2018, set a goal of raising $10 million over four years to create 200 new units of supportive, sustainable, long-term housing for chronically homeless women and men. The National Alliance to End Homelessness says chronic homelessness describes people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year, or repeatedly, while dealing with a disabling condition like mental illness, substance use disorder or a physical disability. The city has raised more than $6.2 million including the donation from MassMutual, according to the mayors office. The money will be used to help projects like the Pine Street Inn affordable housing complex in Jamaica Plain. Pine Street Inn - which partners with people experiencing homelessness to help them move from the streets, to shelters and permanent homes - operates more than 850 units of permanent and supportive housing around Boston and Brookline already. "This gift will make a significant difference in our ability to create additional housing for those moving out of homelessness, helping to provide a safe, stable environment for men and women to begin rebuilding their lives," Lyndia Downie, the president and executive director of Pine Street Inn said in a statement The gift from MassMutual was announced at the Home Remedy breakfast for Pine Street Inn Thursday morning. They called themselves the Game Winners. The colorful and graphic but private Facebook group started as a way for a group of Lawrence High School students to communicate. Now its at the center of a murder trial for one of its members. Mathew Borges, 17, is facing a first-degree murder charge in Salem Superior Court for the beheading of his classmate Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino in the fall of 2016. Though Borges was 15 at the time of the killing, he is being tried as an adult. Jurors heard testimony from police and several teenagers who said they planned to rob Viloria-Paulino with Borges on Nov. 18, 2016, according to The Eagle-Tribune. Testimony in the case began on Monday. The trial is expected to last several weeks. On Thursday prosecutors presented screenshots of Facebook messages among the so-called Game Winners into evidence, according to the newspaper. In the messages, which Ed Hayden, the defense attorney for Borges calls meaningless teenage banter, the boys planned the armed robbery that prosecutors say led to Viloria-Paulinos brutal end. One of the members, a senior in high school who media was asked not to identify because he is underage, said on the day of the planned robbery Borges was supposed to lure Viloria-Paulino from his home, according to the newspaper. Borges was going to take Viloria-Paulino to the Merrimack Valley River to smoke weed at about 5:30 p.m. While he was gone, a group of other teenagers would steal his PlayStation, clothes, belts and other items, the teenager said, according to the Eagle-Tribune. This echoed Wednesdays testimony from Jonathan Miranda, Mucio Lopez and Wagner Sanchez, according to the newspaper. After the alleged robbery Borges called his friends and told them his hands were covered in blood, the newspaper reports. "I heard him say, 'He's dead.' After that everything blanked out," the teenager said in court Thursday, according to the newspaper. On Wednesday Miranda, 18, told jurors that Borges told him and several others that he "killed Lee and cut off his head," according to the newspaper. "He said he stabbed him" and cut off his head so he wouldnt be caught, Miranda said, according to the newspaper. Several law enforcement officers also testified this week. Under cross examination from Hayden, Lawrence police Detective Jay Heggarty, the lead investigator into Viloria-Paulinos disappearance, acknowledged police have found no murder weapon, no tool used to decapitate Viloria-Paulino, no blood and no DNA, according to the newspaper. Jurors are scheduled to tour Lawrence on Friday. CHICOPEE Western Massachusetts Stop & Shop workers Wednesday night ratified the three-year contract theyd fought so hard over an 11-day strike to secure. The Western Massachusetts United Food & Commercial Workers in Springfield, Local 1459, represents 1,300 Stop & Shop workers. More than 31,000 Stop & Shop workers in five New England locals went on strike for 11 days in April following more than two months of stalled negotiations with Stop & Shop owner Ahold Delhaize. The strike ended with a tentative contract during the evening hours of Easter Sunday. The four other locals all ratified the contract previously. The Western Massachusetts local was the last to do so. The ratification vote began at 5 p.m. at the Chicopee Council of Knights. UFCW said the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of accepting the contract. New England families have sent a powerful message to corporations across the country that when standing together, workers and customers can protect the good jobs our communities need, the local said in a statement after the vote. With growing income inequality, we are united by the shared belief that one job should be enough to provide for a family and that hardworking Americans do not have to struggle alone. The union said the contract gives members access to affordable & quality healthcare that maintains eligibility for spouses, protects Sunday premium pay, maintains paid time off and pension contributions. Additionally, the union said new hires will have a guaranteed pathway to earn above the states minimum wage, and part-timers will have a wage increase when switching to full time. Ahold Delhaize told investors that the strike cost the retailer more than $110 million in spoiled product and lost sales. Some Stop & Shop locations opened during the strike with replacement workers and management working , but many were closed at least intermittently over the 11 days. UFCW members said they struck in order to protect their pension and health care benefits and for better wages and for Sunday time-and-a half. Union members also decried Stop & Shops practice of replacing baggers with self-bagging carousels and checkout clerks with self-scanning kiosks. Union members also complained of wage compression. Recent state-mandated raises in minimum wage werent accompanied by wages for experienced workers that would have kept them above minimum wage. So veteran Stop & Shop employees were seeing new hires come on board making the same hourly rate as themselves. WESTFIELD Bank of America, which closed its branch office at 10-16 Main St. in 2016, is putting the buildings there up for auction for the second time in two years. But this time, an auction listing from Williams & Williams says the property is selling without reserve meaning there is no minimum bid. The auction will run online May 20-22 and the building will be open for inspection on Friday, May 3, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. But Bank of America is still requiring as it did the last time it tried to action off the property that the buyer lease back to it the walk-up and drive-thru ATM kiosk building at 16 Main St. so that it will continue to be a Bank of America ATM. The bank was formerly the Third National Bank of Hampden and a Fleet Bank among other brand names over the years. That requirement makes it unlikely another bank or credit union, one that is expanding locally, would want the property, city officials have said in the past. The bank building, which dates from 1900 according to city records, fronts the Park Square Green in Westfields downtown. It has 10,591 square feet of space of which 5,368 square feet is on the first floor.The basement is unfinished. Photos included with the auction listing show that some the upstairs offices are in pretty rough shape with damaged floors and collapsing ceilings. The downstairs appears to be in better condition. The building still has its vault. Westfield doesnt allow marijuana businesses in its core downtown district, a zoning category that includes this site, said Peter Miller, the citys community development director. The citys priority,he said, is to get active ownership of the site with frequent oversight and repairs and a plan to bring business to the building or to rent to someone who will. The movie Rafiki banned in its native Kenya, but shown at the Cannes Film Festival will have it Massachusetts premiere on Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m., at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton. The film, which centers on two young Kenyan women who fall in love and support each others dreams of college and careers, was banned in the African nation because the Kenyans Film Classification Board due to its homosexual theme and clear intent to promote lesbianism in Kenya contrary to the law. Later, a Kenyan court overturned the ban for seven days so the film could compete for an Academy Award. The Northampton screening falls on the weekend of the 15th anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts. Moviegoers are invited to watch Rafiki" in honor of all LGBTQ Kenyans, said Jaime Michaels, executive director of Out! For Reel LGBT Films, which is presenting the film. "'Rafiki is a wonderful film in its own right. But given the oppressive homophobic Kenyan government, Rafiki is also a trailblazer in the fight for equal rights for LGBTQ Kenyans, Michaels said. That is why on this 15th anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts, we invite everyone in the community to join us in watching this moving film in honor of all LGBTQ people in Kenya. Our global fight for LGBTQ equality continues. Rafiki is one more powerful step forward. The film has a 92% Certified Fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes with positive notices from Variety, The New York Times and Hollywood Reporter. SPRINGFIELD Bhumika Giri, 21, a junior pre-med student at the University of Massachusetts, was born in Nepal where her parents were living in a refugee camp following their escape from violence in Bhutan. Giris family was one of lucky ones to get to America after 20 years in the Nepalese camp. Last week, Giri was one of a dozen of Bhutanese and Nepalese immigrants many dressed in colorful garb -- who shared similar stories with an audience of 43 people during an afternoon a celebration of Nepalese, Hindi and Indian culture at the Forest Park Library, Giri, who was 12 when she came to the United States, remembered arriving in Springfield and being dropped off by her parents at the Forest Park Middle School feeling alone and scared, It was February and it was cold, she said. Quiet and shy, Giri sat alone the cafeteria lunch table. Then she met a girl named Yvette who welcomed her saying, I think were in the same homeroom.Forest Park Middle School was a far cry from the bamboo and cement classrooms in Nepal, Giri said. Education was poor and resources were limited, she said, but she was taught English by teaching volunteers, primarily from India and Ireland. After moving to Springfield, Giri said her growing command of the English language gave her confidence and a sense of belonging in her adopted home. At Central High School, Giri met other Bhutanese students as well as students from Thailand, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Giris father Bhagi, who also attended the Meet Your Neighbor event at the library, is the founder if the Community Upliftment Program, a community based non-profit organization serving the needs of the refugee community of Greater Springfield. Speaker Dil Tamang gave an overview of the Bhutanese journey and the Community Upliftment Program, which co-sponsored the event. The organizations mission is to provide members of the refugee community with a range if services to support their integration and assimilation in the United States, (www.communityupliftment,org) The April 27 program also featured dancing, a fashion show and a performance of Sarangi music by Shyam Nepali of Worcester, who is a member of a family of musicians who carve their wooden instruments they play. Nepali noted that the music he plays is surprisingly akin to American bluegrass. The program ended with a sampling of Indian and Nepalese food, provided by the Delhi to Kathmandu restaurant located at 427 White Street, site of the former Touch of Garlic. Library staffer Ann Harper said the Forest Park branch, which is celebrating its 110th year, makes an effort to sponsor programs like the Bhutanese-Nepali event to recognize and celebrate the diversity of the neighborhood. Ginger Elliott, a Forest Park neighbor, who attended the program. said she learned a lot about the hardships and dangers the refugees experienced. I learned that most Nepali refugees were in Bhutan for a long time then sent back to Nepal where ethnic cleansing is happening, including tribal infighting, Elliott said. The refugees who attended the program said Nepalis music reminded them of how much they missed their homeland, Elliott said. Giri said she hopes to visit her native country some day. Id like to go back to know where I started and where I am now. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey will be allowed to proceed with her lawsuit challenging President Donald Trumps policy on insurance coverage for birth control, after a U.S. Appeals Court overturned a lower courts ruling. Decisions about birth control are for women to make, not their employers, Healey said in a statement. Todays ruling from the First Circuit allows our office to continue our fight in court to stop the Trump Administration from rolling back the rights of women in Massachusetts and across the country to access affordable and reliable contraception. The lawsuit challenges the Trump administrations expansion of a religious exemption to the Affordable Care Act's requirement that contraceptive care be covered by insurance without co-pays. The Trump administrations rules would allow employers to deny contraceptive coverage if they have a religious or moral objection. Healey, a Democrat and prominent critic of Trump, sued the federal government in October 2017, challenging the rules. But U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton ruled last year that Massachusetts lacks standing to bring the case, since the state did not prove that Massachusetts will suffer injury from the federal rules. Massachusetts passed its own law requiring employers to provide health insurance that covers contraceptives without co-pays. MassHealth also covers contraceptives. On Thursday, a panel of three judges in the U.S. Appeals Courts First Circuit overruled the District Court judge and found that Healey has standing to pursue the lawsuit. In a decision written by Judge Juan Torruella, the Appeals Court found that Massachusetts is at risk of imminent fiscal injury, because some women could lose insurance coverage and be forced to turn to state-funded benefits for contraceptive care. That state estimates that between 300 and 1,500 women who work for self-insured companies regulated by federal law could be denied coverage, and between 100 and 350 of these women would qualify for state benefits. At least three companies in the state Hobby Lobby Stores, Autocam Medical Devices and Cummins-Allison Corporation are expected to eliminate contraceptive coverage. The proposed rules have not yet gone into effect because of lawsuits pending in other states. AMHERST - Police are seeking witnesses to a pedestrian crash that killed a 24-year-old graduate student three weeks ago. Jaskaran Singh was struck by a car and killed at about 10:40 p.m., April 12, near the crosswalk at 1001 North Pleasant St., close to Crestview Apartments, police said. The driver stopped immediately and remained at the scene. No citations were issued immediately but the crash remains under investigation, Mary Carey, communications director for Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said at the time. Police are asking for anyone in the area who may have information about the crash to come forward. Officers are specifically hoping someone who was on a PVTA bus that passed through the area at the time may have witnessed the crash. Anyone with any information is asked to call police Detective Joshua Harris at 413-259-3010. Singh, a native of India, was enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and was studying computer science. Eight current and former Springfield police officers have pleaded not guilty to charges that they misled investigators or lied to a grand jury, in the latest fallout from the alleged 2015 beating of four men following an argument with off-duty police officers at Nathan Bills Bar and Restaurant in Springfield. Thursdays court proceedings follow the arraignment of 13 current and former Springfield officers last month on charges that they either participated in the beating or filed false police reports. The officers were arraigned on and pleaded not guilty to the following charges: Springfield Police Officer Darren Nguyen, age 40, of Holland: Perjury, misleading an investigator Springfield Police Officer Shavonne Lewis, age 29, of Springfield: Perjury, misleading an investigator. Retired Springfield Police Sgt. Louis Bortolussi, age 57, of East Longmeadow: Perjury, misleading an investigator. Springfield Police Officer James DAmour, age 42, of Hampden: Perjury, misleading an investigator. Springfield Police Officer John Wajdula, age 34, of Springfield: Perjury, misleading an investigator. Current Massachusetts State Police trooper and Former Springfield Police Officer Nathaniel Perez, age 27, of West Springfield: Perjury, misleading an investigator. Springfield Police Officer Melissa Rodriguez, age 32, of Springfield: Perjury. Nathan Bills manager Joseph Sullivan, age 42, of Hampden: Perjury, misleading an investigator. Springfield Police Officer Jose Diaz, 54, of Springfield: Misleading an investigator. Officer Derrick Gentry-Mitchell and Nathan Bills co-owner John Sullivan are scheduled for arraignment in Worcester on May 14. Several off-duty officers and John Sullivan have been accused of assaulting Paul Cumby, Jackie Ligon, Jozelle Ligon and Michael Cintron in the early morning hours of April 8, 2015 following a verbal argument at Nathan Bills, a popular Springfield watering hole and off-duty police hangout. Diaz is also accused of pointing a handgun at the alleged victims, according to the AGs office. On-duty officers who responded to the fight are facing charges of lying and filing false reports to cover it up. All the defendants arraigned so far have pleaded not guilty. Shawn Allyn, Officer Daniel Billingsleys defense attorney, has said that his client was a victim in the fight and alleged that Cumby and his group were the actual aggressors. According to a statement of the case written by the Attorney Generals Office, the victims told responding officers Nguyen and Lewis that their attackers were off-duty police officers, and Nguyen arrested Jozelle Ligon for causing a disturbance. Bortolussi then arrived on scene and ordered Nguyen to prepare a report in violation of department policy, sparking a heated disagreement, the AG said. In contravention of department policy for officer-involved incidents, which requires the supervising officer to author the incident report, Bortolussi ordered Nguyen to prepare the report. He also ordered him to release Jozelle Ligon from custody, the statement said. Phone logs show that Lewis contacted several off-duty officers as Nguyen wrote a brief report that did not mention the allegation that off-duty officers were involved and understated the extent of the alleged victims injuries. No responding officers attempted to search for witnesses at Nathan Bills, despite Sullivan and Diaz remaining there long after closing time, according to the AGs Office. The AGs statement also alleges that two responding officers not only knew Diaz was still at the bar, but helped him search for his lost car keys. Nguyen, Lewis, Officer James DAmour, former Officer and current State Trooper Nathan Perez, and retired Sgt. Louis Bortolussi allegedly omitted details from their police reports and repeated their inaccurate statements to the grand jury. All are facing charges of perjury and filing a false report. John Sullivan, after initially telling the FBI that he did not recognize a photo of Diaz, later admitted that Diaz was a regular at Nathan Bills and that Diaz had asked him to say Diaz was not present the night of the altercation, the AGs Office said. An attorney for John Sullivan has denied the allegations, saying his testimony was truthful and that there is no evidence he took part on the altercation. BOSTON A former congressman. Law professors. Advocates for campaign finance reform. But no Republicans. The so-called Citizens Commission, created by Question 2 on the November ballot, now has all 15 of its members. The ballot question, which passed with 71% of the vote, established a commission to research and advocate for a constitutional amendment overturning the U.S. Supreme Courts 2010 ruling in Citizens United. That decision allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing a candidate as long as they do not coordinate directly with the candidate. The law says the committee members should represent a range of geographic, political and demographic backgrounds. Despite that requirement, the commission has nine Democrats and six unenrolled voters, but no Republicans. Attorney Jeffrey Clements, president of American Promise, a Concord-based group formed to limit the influence of money in politics that spearheaded the ballot campaign, is a member of the commission. Clements said he knows Republicans voted for the commission and applied to it. He said the ultimate appointments were a great group that reflect Massachusetts diversity. I have no doubt were going to engage Democrats, Republicans and independents across the spectrum, said Clements, who is unenrolled. This isnt a partisan issue. The commissions job is to make sure every Massachusetts citizen is heard, and thats what well do. Typically, it has been Democrats who tend to support overturning Citizens United. Both of Massachusetts Democratic U.S. senators, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, endorsed the ballot question and want to overturn the Supreme Court decision. The Citizens Commission members were appointed by the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, Senate president and House speaker. Gov. Charlie Baker is the lone Republican among that group. Bakers appointments were William Kilmartin, a consultant for Accenture and state comptroller from 1989-99; Matthew McKnight, a biotech executive and Marine Corps veteran; and Bopha Malone, vice president of Enterprise Bank, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress from the 3rd District. Malone is a Democrat; Kilmartin and McKnight are unenrolled. Affiliates of American Promise appointed to the commission included Clements and Joyce Sanchez, a former employee of American Promise who is now getting a masters degree in urban affairs at Boston University. Several members have political experience. Michael Harrington of Salem was a Democratic congressman who represented the 6th District from 1969-78. Carmine Gentile is a Democratic state representative from Sudbury. The commission includes three professors Vermont Law School professor Jennifer Taub, of Northampton; Harvard Law School professor Nikolas Bowie, of Cambridge; and Northeastern University political science professor Costas Panagopoulos, of Wellesley. Cheryl Clyburn Crawford is executive director of MassVOTE, which works to make voting more accessible to historically disenfranchised communities. Other members include Scott McDermott, a managing director of the investment firm New Harbour Partners and a lecturer at Boston Colleges business school; Dominick Pangallo, chief of staff for the Salem mayor; Noval Alexander, a substitute teacher and Army veteran living in Framingham; and Holliston attorney Jay Marsden. Applications for the commission are public, a policy established by the ballot question. Among the notable applicants who were not selected were former independent gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk, former Democratic Governors Councilor Michael Albano, former Republican candidate for auditor Helen Brady and Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. Clements said he hopes once commission members get sworn in, they will conduct hearings around Massachusetts to learn about how money in politics affects peoples everyday lives. He said the priority of the commission will be engaging people in recognizing the problem of money in politics and encouraging them to back a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. Clements said he hopes Massachusetts will be able to demonstrate how to bring people together across the political spectrum to move this forward. A cruise ship carrying 300 people and reportedly owned by the Church of Scientology has been quarantined in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia after a positive measles case on board. We thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship so no one was allowed to leave the ship, said St. Lucia chief medical officer, Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, in a video posted to YouTube. One infected person can easily infect others. St. Lucia health officials did not identify the vessel, but St. Lucia Coast Guard Sgt. Victor Theodore told NBC News that the boat is named Freewinds, the same name as a cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology. According to the Church of Scientology, Freewinds is a 440-foot ship based in the Caribbean. Its home port is Curacao. The ship, in turn, is the home of the Flag Ship Service Organization, a religious retreat ministering advanced levels of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion. Freewinds drew unwanted attention when two former church members claimed they were held against there will on board and forced to do hard labor during a 42nd birthday party for actor Tom Cruise in 2004, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The church has denied those claims. While no one has been allowed to leave the ship since Monday, St. Lucian authorities do not have the authority to keep it from leaving port. It is scheduled to leave St. Lucia at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. SPRINGFIELD The Springfield College AmeriCorps Program will receive $1.1 million in funding over the next three years, Springfield College announced Wednesday. The money comes from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency responsible for AmeriCorps and other national service programs. Springfield College is one of 26 Massachusetts-based organizations that receive federal funding that supports 6,611 AmeriCorps members tackling issues like early childhood education, job readiness and environmental conservation. The Springfield College AmeriCorps program is the largest in Western Massachusetts with 56 members. For 22 years, the Springfield College AmeriCorps program has provided Springfield and Springfield Public Schools with student support and academic support specialists, according to a news release. Staff and student volunteers provide mentoring, counseling, social-emotional reinforcement, direct interventions, and identification of risk factors that lead to dropping out of school. We wake up every morning knowing that there is more to give. So, we throw on our name badge and our quarter zip. The A we wear on our chest is no scarlet letter. Its something that we should be proud of it says we make the world better," Nick Fouche, a three-year veteran member, said in a news release. AmeriCorps is cerebrating its 25th anniversary. Since the programs inception in 1994, more than 1 million Americans have served, providing more than 1.5 billion hours of service and earning more than $3.6 billion in education scholarships, more than $1 billion of which has been used to pay back student debt, according to a news release. Every year, 75,000 AmeriCorps members partner with over 21,000 schools, nonprofits, and community and faith-based organizations to serve their communities. Judge Mark L. Wolf delayed sentencing retired Massachusetts State Police Trooper Daren DeJong on Thursday, citing a need for more information and the possibility of a conspiracy within Troop E in connection to the widespread overtime abuse scandal. Im not satisfied ... I received the information necessary, Wolf told prosecutors and DeJongs defense attorneys at the Moakley Courthouse in Boston on Thursday. DeJong, a 57-year-old retired trooper from Uxbridge, is one of 46 troopers authorities say took part in the scandal. Authorities said DeJong skipped or left early during overtime shifts, and created false traffic citations to make it look as though they were on patrol. He claimed nearly $64,000 in overtime pay in 2016, $14,062 of which was for unworked hours, authorities said. DeJong pleaded guilty to embezzlement earlier this year. He currently receives $6,251 per month in his pension. He was not sentenced on Thursday as Wolf said he needed more information to deliberate a proper sentencing. The former trooper is required to return a status report to Wolf in one week. On Thursday, Wolf questioned why the case of Troop E has not involved charges of conspiracy or RICO conspiracy, known as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization. Such charges are typically brought to prosecute all individuals involved in a single corrupt organization. Should a trooper like DeJong face a conspiracy charge, rather than a single embezzlement charge, he could face between 21 to 27 months in prison, or triple times the six month prison sentence prosecutors had suggested for him. The judge observed that there appeared to be a kind of interdependence ... among troopers involved in the case, suggesting they were working together to conceal the overtime abuse. Any one of them couldve blown the whistle, the judge added. Wolf referred to the information DeJong willingly gave to investigators in the Public Corruption Unit of the state attorney generals office last month. While the former trooper did not cooperate with federal investigators, he elected to share information on specific troopers and practices in the overtime scheme with state investigators, a move he and his attorney said was a first step in repairing his broken reputation. In one example, DeJong told state investigators he received a text from a trooper one day that said they would not be writing citations that day and that he should go home and be with his family. This, the judge said, appeared like a clear example of conspiracy among the troopers to coordinate their illegal activity of creating false citations. Wolf also questioned prosecutors on how far back the scheme could have gone, and why charges for DeJong concerned only the year 2016. Investigators found that the overtime abuse took place in 2015 and 2016 within the now-defunct Troop E. The scheme involved overtime shifts for the Accident and Injury Reduction Effort, created to reduce accidents on the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the X-Team, which focused on aggressive driving. An internal investigation began in the state police in 2017. Federal prosecutors said the investigation is ongoing, but did not elaborate on specific details. Prosecutors admitted that the government was constrained in its investigation, citing the fact that Mass. State Police records prior to 2015 were destroyed in a regular three-year retention process. Wolf asked how long the AIRE program has been in existence, to which prosecutors answered the program had been around more 10 years. It was possible, Wolf said, the overtime fraud could stretch back a decade. Prosecutors acknowledged that possibility but said it would be impossible to prove because of a lack of available records. Prosecutors also said there was little physical interaction among the troopers located across the state, and suggested there was not sufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy. A total of 10 troopers have been charged in the state and federal investigations. Eight of those troopers were charged in federal court on counts of embezzlement. Three troopers were charged in state court. Lt. David Wilson is the only trooper facing both state and federal charges. Former Trooper Eric Chin was sentenced to only one day in prison with a year of supervised release, while Trooper Gregory Raftery was sentenced to three months in prison with a year of supervised release. Leave it to our president to try and make a profit off of the neediest, most desperate people in the world. People whove literally left their home and country behind in hopes of finding security in another part of the world. I worry that they could be ripped off by the presidents plan. On many occasions, President Trump has expressed his utter disdain for asylum seekers. It's obvious he has neither compassion nor any desire to help them by granting them entry into this country. Now he wants to impose fees on them. My fear is that after they pay their fee, that the Trump administrations unspoken policy will be to deny the applications and simply keep the funds. Such a process would be a cash cow for the president, and Mister Trump loves cash. If asylum seekers must pay a fee, they should get something for their money. I think application fees for any applicant who is denied should receive a full refund. The United States of America should not be profiting off the backs of the downtrodden people of the world simply because they seek a better life here. If we're not going to help people, we certainly shouldn't be inflicting further hardship upon them by taking their money and sending them away. Denis G. Bessette, West Springfield Former Massachusetts Environmental Police Col. James McGinn claims he was ousted from his position because he reported employees for failing to show up to work and one officer for driving a state-issued vehicle after drinking at a Christmas Party, according to a whistleblower letter addressed to Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton. An attorney representing McGinn, who was fired last year amid allegations of ticket fixing and surveilling employees, called the ticket-fixing allegations ludicrous and argued that McGinn had the authority and responsibility to surveil his employees to verify when they showed up for work. Timothy M. Burke, the attorney, also claimed that McGinn had discussed installing surveillance cameras to his superiors while complaining about his employees alleged misconduct, according to the letter. In light of the current Federal and State criminal investigations regarding the abuse of overtime by members of the Massachusetts State Police, Colonel McGinns efforts should have been applauded by your office as well as the MEP," McGinns attorney, Timothy M. Burke, wrote in the whistleblower letter. "Instead, those who were the subject of the investigation(s) by Colonel McGinn, resurrected three-year-old allegations of misconduct during a political election year in an effort to thwart McGinns efforts to reform this agency. Burke said he plans to file a lawsuit on McGinns behalf against the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, alleging retaliation and wrongful termination. A spokesman from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs declined to comment on the letter, referring MassLive to the agencys internal report released Oct. 19. McGinn served as a sergeant in the State Police before retiring and becoming Gov. Charlie Bakers campaign driver during the 2014 election. After Baker took office, he appointed McGinn to lead the Massachusetts Environmental Police. McGinn faced resistance since he joined the Environmental Police in January 2015, according to the letter. He claims some ranking officers, who had been appointed by the previous administration, resented his efforts to hold them accountable for not showing up to work. Under McGinns tenure, the agency faced multiple controversies, including payroll discrepancies and questionable shakeup of his management team. Absenteeism complaints McGinn found several officers not working their full shifts or not showing up to work altogether, according to the letter. In response, McGinn sent out an email on Oct. 16, 2015, stating that officers must work out of their assigned offices from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. He also said he made officers sign in with dispatch when they arrived for work, disclosing their location. In August, he complained that one officer hadnt been in his assigned area in the Boston area for at least three hours, according to the letter. McGinn believed the officer was in his hometown of Shrewsbury. He claims Beaton told him to keep a lid on things and that no one wanted to hear about any problems before Bakers re-election campaign. McGinn also claims he told the department he planned to monitor the absenteeism situation, including possibly installing cameras at that location. The agencys internal investigation report released in October states that McGinn had asked for four cameras and the agencys director later discovered they had been installed in Westborough without any discussion with or notice to employees who work there. According to the internal investigation, McGinn had also hired a private investigation firm to observe and videotape an officer in August and September to verify whether the officer was showing up to work. The finance director told investigators he learned about it through an invoice. The internal agency report notes that any surveillance of an employee would have required legal approval, among other sign-offs. In the whistleblower letter, McGinns attorney mentions several other issues that he says were reported to Beaton. After a Dec. 17, 2015 Christmas party, McGinn claimed he had photographic evidence and a witness who saw an Environmental Police officer drinking at the party, held at a Westborough bar, before driving off in his state-issued truck. The officer denied drinking, but McGinn recommended firing the officer. The letter states that his superiors chose to discipline the officer differently, undermining McGinns authority. McGinn claimed that he spent months trying to get HR to order an independent examination of an officer who had been injured in spring 2015. According to the letter, McGinn asked the legal department on Dec. 11, 2017, whether the officer would return to work or retire with a disability. Additionally, McGinn said he tried to stop sending officers to teach at a for-profit summer camp without any reimbursement. The officers were tied up during the agencys busiest time of year. According to the letter, Beaton ordered him to assign the officers after he stopped. Ticket-fixing allegations In the letter, Burke repeatedly refuted allegations that McGinn fixed 2015 citations issued to two parents after their sons were allegedly caught riding unregistered dirt bikes. The allegation of ticket fixing is nothing short of ludicrous, Burke wrote. The Boston Globe reported last year that McGinns former neighbor called McGinn to contest one of the tickets. The internal agency report released in October said Major William Bilotta voided the citations after talking with McGinn. Burke argues that Bilotta never interceded on McGinns behalf and that state investigators never interviewed the neighbor, relying on the Globes article. In the whistleblower letter, Burke mentioned three instances in which McGinn was asked about parking or speeding tickets, where he told state officials to submit the citation for a hearing before the clerk magistrate. Rep. Steve Cohen brought a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a plastic chicken to Capitol Hill Thursday morning, offering the props as a replacement for Attorney General William Barr who declined to show up for questioning before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday. Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, ate the chicken and posed for cameras before delivering a message to reporters outside the hearing room. Chicken Barr shouldve shown up today and answered questions, Cohen said in a video by CNN. An Attorney General who was picked for his legal acumen and his abilities would not be fearful of other attorneys questioning him for 30 minutes. As he delivered the line chicken Barr to the cameras Cohen lifted a plastic chicken into the frame, before frying the nations top law enforcement officer and the president. This smacks so much of Watergate, he said. The president is not above the law. Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for hours on Wednesday, but declined to face questions from staff attorneys for the House Democrats. Cohen said Barr is acting like the presidents fixer and not an attorney general. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress in a closed-door meeting and then on Twitter. Politico reports Pelosi told Rep. Charlie Crist in a private caucus meeting that we saw [Barr] commit a crime when he answered your question. He lied to Congress. He lied to Congress, Pelosi told reporters at a news conference, according to Politico. And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general. The California Democrat then tweeted: Attorney General Barrs decision to mislead the public in his testimony to Congress was not a technicality it was a crime. Pelosi was referring to Barrs answer to a question by Crist before the House Appropriations Committee last month, according to Politico. During that hearing, Barr said he was not aware of any concerns special counsel Robert Mueller had about his four-page summary of Muellers investigation into the Trump campaigns interactions with Russia. This contradicts a memo by Mueller first reported by the Washington Post this week. In the memo Mueller wrote that the summery 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. 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, according to the Post. Though Pelosi told her colleagues she couldnt sleep last night after watching Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she still did not call for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, even as more colleagues do, Politico reports. Pelosi said impeachment is too good for Trump. More people are working than ever across the state, but as Massachusetts economy continues to grow, a need for housing is more critical than ever. Thats what Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito told a room full of local leaders during the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerces Business and Government Forum Thursday morning. Speaking about the future of the commonwealth, Polito said an investment in housing and workforce development is more important than ever. If (employees) cant find a good place to live that they can afford thats in a place they want to live, you might lose them to an employer out of state. Housing is a crucial piece of the future success of our commonwealth, she said. The problem is theres not enough. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Polito said 30,000 to 40,000 new units of housing were being built each year. Over the last two decades, those numbers have dropped to 8,000 to 10,000. Thats clearly a decline and not meeting the demand, especially in a hot economy we have all across Massachusetts, she said. To solve that problem, Polito said the state has to change its mindset. Every community in the state has a different set of zoning roles, and to change zoning at the local level requires a two-thirds vote. Sometimes that is a one vote difference between getting a zoning vote passed or not, getting a project that is impactful to a downtown or a Main Street passed or not, she said. The Baker-Polito administration is proposing a a Housing Choices bill would lower the threshold for most zoning bylaw amendments related to housing from the current supermajority requirement to a simple majority vote. Those best practices that would qualify include clustering new homes to preserve open space, reducing parking requirements and allowing accessory dwelling units or in-law apartments, among other methods that increase housing density. If we could create the momentum for that kind of shift in thinking, we could have people aging in their communities, freeing up single-family homes that's the next generation coming in and laying their roots, Polito said. She pointed to Worcesters CitySquare development as a prime example of the type of housing development communities should be looking to build. The apartments at 145 Front Street include 365 market-rate units in the citys downtown. That was really the catalyst for Worcesters renaissance, the housing density in the concentrated area young professionals, workforce kind of housing, she said. And while investing in places is important, Polito said investing in the people who fuel Massachusetts economy is equally critical. Strategic academic partners are an important component, she said, using Worcester Polytechnic Institutes partnership with the Worcester Red Sox as an example. The school is helping the club design and develop Polar Park, which will be home to the team in 2021. Polito said those types of investments must happen in the classroom, curriculum and the connections students form with community leaders. The classrooms have to look and feel a lot more like the workplaces of today, she said, adding the state has invested more than $50 million to add 3D printers, CNC machines and other hands-on learning tools in classrooms. Polito said schools must also place an emphasis on teaching computer science, while local business owners and leaders must take students under their wings to help cultivate talent. That includes offering internships not only to college students, but to high schoolers, as well, Polito said. "I would say the whole workforce development, including the investment in places for economic development, are the two places we should build off of as we move forward, she said. InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of reimbursment assessment report on Cardiac Pacemakers Reimbursement Analysis Report -2019 Request for ToC/Proposal: https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report-details/131-cardiac-pacemakers-reimbursement-analysis-research-report/#request-for-tocproposal Cardiac rhythm management (or electrophysiology) is an important arena of cardiovascular disease (CVDs) therapy which offers accurate diagnosis and treatment for various cardiac disorders. The cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices has proven with significant performance in cardiac rhythm problems such as bradycardia and tachycardia which are affecting hearts electrical system. Cardiac failure and its related disorders has posed a serious mortality as well as morbidity concern across the globe and thus this scenario offers a substantial opportunity for cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices market. Curious about this latest version of report? Obtain Report Details @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report-details/131-cardiac-pacemakers-reimbursement-analysis-research-report/#request-for-tocproposal The report provides a detailed analysis of reimbursement for cardiac pacemakers in the Key European Countries (France, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) including key products/procedures and payers perspectives throughout. Payers and KOLs also provide insights into the market/reimbursement trends, drivers and challenges. Cardiac Pacemakers Reimbursement Research Scope by Country France Netherlands Sweden Germany Italy Spain UK Key Companies Products Considered in Report Abbott Vascular Biotronik Boston Scientific MicroPort CRM Medico S.p.A. Medtronic Pacetronix Vitatron Qinming Medical Key Insights Included Key components of the healthcare systems, medical device markets and the regulatory framework in key European countries Overview of reimbursement system for medical devices Diagnosis coding Reimbursement tariffs for technology Procedure coding for technology Current and future outlook for reimbursement For More Information @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report-details/131-cardiac-pacemakers-reimbursement-analysis-research-report/#request-for-tocproposal About Us: InsightAce Analytic is a market research and consulting firm that enables clients to make strategic decisions. Our qualitative and quantitative market intelligence solutions inform the need for market and competitive intelligence to expand businesses. We help clients gain competitive advantage by identifying untapped markets, exploring new and competing technologies, segmenting potential markets and repositioning products. Our expertise is in providing syndicated and custom market intelligence reports with an in-depth analysis with key market insights in a timely and cost-effective manner. Contact Us: Email us: info@insightaceanalytic.com Call: +1 718 593 4405 Website: www.insightaceanalytic.com Follow Us on LinkedIn @ bit.ly/2tBXsgS Follow Us on Facebook @ bit.ly/2H9jnDZ The Americas healthcare human resources software market is going through a golden period due to the growth the region is witnessing in the healthcare sector. Effective running of the entire industry depends on mostly human resources department. The department includes functions like recruitment, salary hikes, vacation leaves, bonus, training, management and payment benefits management. Deft handling of these areas facilitates smooth workflow in the healthcare sector. The Americas healthcare human resources software market is eyeing for a robust growth during the forecast period (2017-2023), reveals Market Research Future (MRFR). The intense study encompasses segmental analysis and detailed discussion of factors that can be pivotal in furthering of the Americas healthcare human resources software market. Massive investment in the healthcare sector is one of the major factors that can take the Americas healthcare human resources software market forward. The efficiency of the human resources software market is of utmost importance as this is vital to simplify patient care. At the same time, reduction of labor cost has become inevitable to provide the hospitals all the upgraded technology needed for better treatment. However, lack of skilled hands to operate the system and low morale among the health personnel can pull back the Americas healthcare human resources software market during the forecast period. Request Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/586 Key Players: IBM Corporation (U.S.) Infor, Inc. (U.S.) BambooHR (US) Oracle Corporation (U.S.) Kronos, Inc. (U.S.) McKesson Corporation (U.S.) Gusto (US) Halogen Software Inc (Canada) SumTotal Systems Inc. (US) Zenefits Z2 (US) Automatic Data Processing Inc. (U.S.) Segmentation: The Americas healthcare human resources software market can be segmented by administration software, software, organization type, and end-users. On the basis of administration software, the Americas healthcare human resources software market can be segmented into payroll, time and attendance, benefits management and others. Based on type of software, the Americas healthcare human resources software market includes recruiting, software-as-a-service (SaaS), core HR and others. By organizations type, the Americas healthcare human resources software market comprises medium businesses, large enterprises, small business. Based on end-users, the Americas healthcare human resources software market can be segmented into pharmaceuticals, hospital and laboratories and other. Regional Analysis: Geographic analysis of the Americas healthcare human resources software market includes namely Canada, the U.S., and Rest of America. North America reigns supreme over 65% of the regional market, and its dominance can be attributed to the U.S. and Canada mainly. The U.S. has the maximum market share. Robust healthcare infrastructure, effective integration of the web and technology, and a huge pool of expert operators are pushing the market forward. Furthermore, an increasing number of patients and the demand for smooth workflow have pressurized the country to implement the latest technology. Canada is also generating a significant share of the revenue. The demand for healthcare human resources software can be attributed to the healthcare sector structure. Its healthcare system is publicly funded and has several strata such as provincial and territorial governments, the federal government, physicians, nurses and allied health care professionals. Labor cost reduction to improve the workflow has become essential. To substitute that, the software is needed and, in the process, it creates traction for the Americas healthcare human resources software market. Competitive Insights: Kronos, Inc., has emerged as one of the biggest companies to offer human resources software solutions. Their software includes time and attendance, HR, payroll, employee scheduling including nurse and physician scheduling, absence management, workforce analytics, workload management, and mobile applications this wide array help in predictive programming, improved cost management, and increased labor productivity. In May 2017, Saba Software Inc. took over Halogen Software which made them one of the largest independent talent management companies in their field. The intent is to optimize workflow and help their customers achieve their full talent potential and attain breakthrough business performance. Related Reports: Europe, Middle East & Africa Healthcare HR Software Market: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/europe-healthcare-hr-software-market-size-share-trends-growth-opportunity-analysis-swot-analysis-report-technology-development-forecast-to-2023-2019-04-11?mod=mw_quote_news Clinical Perinatal Software Market: https://www.reuters.com/brandfeatures/venture-capital/article?id=51722 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of market assessment report on Global Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market Assessment Revenue (US$ Mn) and Volume (No. of Units) Forecast Till 2027 Request for ToC/Proposal: https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report-details/130-cardiac-rhythm-management-devices-market-research-report/#request-for-tocproposal Cardiac rhythm management (or electrophysiology) is an important arena of cardiovascular disease (CVDs) therapy which offers accurate diagnosis and treatment for various cardiac disorders. The cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices has proven with significant performance in cardiac rhythm problems such as bradycardia and tachycardia which are affecting hearts electrical system. Cardiac failure and its related disorders has posed a serious mortality as well as morbidity concern across the globe and thus this scenario offers a substantial opportunity for cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices market. The key risk factors for cardiac disorders generally includes rise in cholesterol levels in blood, hypertension, unhealthy lifestyle, and excessive smoking. Rising epidemiology for cardiac disorder has resulted into rising demand for cardiovascular therapeutic devices such as cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices. Across the globe, various government bodies and organizations implement numerous initiatives to spread awareness about current trend and offerings in the market to judge their medical decisions, increase public awareness of cardiac disorder, and enhance the peoples quality of life suffering with heart disorder The cardiac rhythm management devices market is fragmented with presence of many players that operates in local as well as international market. Global cardiac rhythm management devices market reports cover prominent players like Biotronik, Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbot Vascular, Medtronic plc., Qinming Medical, MicroPort CRM, Medico S.p.A., Pacetronix, and Vitatron Curious about this latest version of report? Obtain Report Details @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report-details/130-cardiac-rhythm-management-devices-market-research-report/#request-for-tocproposal Market Segments Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Market Outlook (Value (US$ Mn) & Volume (no. of units), 2017 2027) Market overview Key Market Trends Key Mergers and Acquisitions Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Pipeline Assessment Disease Epidemiology -2018 Sick Sinus Syndrome Prevalence Atrioventricular Block Prevalence Ventricular Tachycardia Prevalence Ventricular Fibrillation Prevalence Competition Landscape Pipeline Assessment Key News/Industry Activities Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Market Outlook (Value (US$ Mn) & Volume (no. of units), 2017 2027) By Type of Device Cardiac Rhythm Pacemakers Single Chamber Pacemakers Dual Chamber Pacemakers Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemakers Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators Transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (T-ICDs) Subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (S-ICDs) Implantable Loop Recorder Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Market Outlook (Value (US$ Mn) & Volume (no. of units), 2017 2027) By Region Europe U.K. Germany France Italy Spain Russia Rest of Europe North America U.S. Canada Asia Pacific India China Japan South Korea Australia & New Zealand Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa GCC Countries South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Why should buy this report: To receive a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for global cardiac rhythm management devices market To receive industry overview and future trends cardiac rhythm management devices market To analyze the cardiac rhythm management devices market drivers and challenges To get information on cardiac rhythm management devices market size and forecast Major Mergers & Acquisition in cardiac rhythm management devices industry For More Information @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report-details/130-cardiac-rhythm-management-devices-market-research-report/#request-for-tocproposal About Us: InsightAce Analytic is a market research and consulting firm that enables clients to make strategic decisions. Our qualitative and quantitative market intelligence solutions inform the need for market and competitive intelligence to expand businesses. We help clients gain competitive advantage by identifying untapped markets, exploring new and competing technologies, segmenting potential markets and repositioning products. Our expertise is in providing syndicated and custom market intelligence reports with an in-depth analysis with key market insights in a timely and cost-effective manner. Contact Us: Email us: info@insightaceanalytic.com Call: +1 718 593 4405 Website: www.insightaceanalytic.com Follow Us on LinkedIn @ bit.ly/2tBXsgS Follow Us on Facebook @ bit.ly/2H9jnDZ MRFR has asserted that the Hybrid Operating Room Market is likely to capture a CAGR of 12.5% over the forecast period. hybrid operating rooms combine minimally invasive and interventional surgical techniques with medical imaging in a single operating room. They facilitate enhanced cost efficiency and better quality of care, especially in the case of medical emergencies. Market Research Future (MRFR) has thoroughly analyzed the trends and patterns governing the global hybrid operating rooms over the forecast period of 2017-2023 in a detailed report. Get Free Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/862 Global Hybrid Operating Room Market Research Report By Techniques (Fluoroscopy and Data Acquisition, Rotational Angiography, Digital Subtraction Angiography and others) By Applications (Cardiovascular Surgery, Neurosurgery, Thoracic Surgery, Endo-Bronchial Procedures and others) Finally By End Users (Hospitals, Clinics, Medical Research Firms, and others) Global Forecast till 2023 Key Players : Market Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in Hybrid Operating Room Market: There are plenty of large and small market players which operate in this market all over the globe. Cook Medical Inc. (US), Eschmann Equipment (UK), General Electric Company (US), Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (US), Maquet Holding BV & Co. KG (Germany), Mediflex Surgical Products (US), Mizuho OSI (US), NDS Surgical Imaging (US), Koninklijke Philips N.V (the Netherlands), SISCO Ltd (India), STERIS plc.(US), and Siemens Healthcare GmbH (Germany) Market Drivers The upswing in the prevalence of chronic diseases and trauma cases has corresponded to surge in the volume of surgical procedures. This, in turn, has triggered the demand for advanced operating equipment to facilitate surgeons to perform high-risk procedures with real-time imaging-guided medical procedures. Hybrid operating rooms are useful in cardiovascular care, neurosurgical procedures since they require state-of-the-art operating rooms. Segments : The global hybrid operating room market has been segmented based techniques, applications, and end user. By technique, the hybrid operating room market has been segmented into fluoroscopy & data acquisition, rotational angiography, digital subtraction angiography, and others. by application, the hybrid operating room market has been segmented into cardiovascular surgery, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery & endo-bronchial procedures, and others. By end user, the hybrid operating room market has been segmented into hospitals, clinics, medical research firms, others. Regional Analysis : by region, the hybrid operating room market has been segmented into the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe, and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). Robust healthcare sector which spends massively on healthcare infrastructure and the presence of key players in the region supports the growth of the North America hybrid operating room market. An increasing number of ambulatory services along with a rise in the volume of surgical procedures is supporting the growth of the market. In addition, the high adoption rate of advanced medical devices aids the growth of the market. Europe has captured the second most significant share of the hybrid operating room market. The Europe hybrid operating room market is driven by the surging prevalence of chronic diseases in the region which consequently generates demand for advanced healthcare facilities. The APAC Hybrid Operating Room Market is likely to expand at a relatively faster rate as compared to other markets. This rapid growth rate can be attributed to increasing healthcare expenditure in the developing countries of the region. The governments in the region are investing heavily towards the modernization of the healthcare sector which has been a plus for the market growth. Additionally, growing medical tourism is a key factor which cannot be ignored. The MEA hybrid operating room market accounts for a relatively lower share of the global market. Poor economic conditions and less healthcare expenditure restricts the growth of the market. However, the Middle East region is increasingly investing in modern healthcare facilities which are expected to spur the growth of the market over the forecast period. More Information About Related Report Operating room management Market Research Report Forecast to 2023: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/operating-room-management-market-size-by-global-major-companies-profile-competitive-landscape-and-key-regions-2023-market-research-futurer-2019-03-19 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Malaria Vaccines Industry 2019 Description:- The global malaria vaccines market is expected to reach USD 134.9 million by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 33.2% during the forecast period. The report Malaria Vaccines Market Size Report By Agent (Plasmodium Falciparum, Plasmodium Vivax, Anopheles Species); By Vaccines Type (Pre-Erythrocytic Vaccine, Erythrocytic Vaccine, Multi-antigen Vaccine); By Channel of Distribution (Hospitals, Clinics, Community Centers); By Regions: Segment Forecast, 2019 2026 provides an extensive analysis of present market dynamics and predicted future trends. According to the World Malaria Report published by WHO in November 2018, the cases for malaria were 219 million in 2017 in more than 90 countries which were up from 217 million cases in 2017. The total deaths due to malaria in 2017 were 435,000 which were registered in the malaria affected regions. Get a Free Sample Report @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3907773-malaria-vaccines-market-size-report-by-agent-plasmodium For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.com This mosquito-borne illness creates extreme disease in kids and in grownups. Expecting females and kids cannot get away from consequences of this fever. It is reported that malaria-affected expecting females offer early birth or occasionally bring to life dead babies. Different precaution to suppress this fever consist of using insect nets and splashing of pesticides. Existing research studies have wrapped up that a) insects are immune to pesticides, b) pesticides have hazardous impacts to human beings, as well as c) malaria fever ends up being immune to medications. Actions to suppress malaria fever progressively reduces. The market for malaria vaccines globally has been divided based on vaccine type, agent, channel of distribution and region. Considering the vaccine type, the market is bifurcated into pre-erythrocytic vaccine, erythrocytic vaccine, and multi-antigen vaccine. The channel of distribution used for malaria vaccines include the hospitals, clinics and community centers. Considering the agent used in the malaria vaccines, the global market is divided into plasmodium falciparum, anopheles species, and plasmodium vivax. Geographically, as per the WHO report, nearly half of the worlds population was at risk in 2017, wherein the African region was the most affected one. Along with Africa, Asia Pacific region is also expected to grow at a considerable rate among all the other regions with Middle-east and Latin America likely to be the other potential regions for malaria vaccines market. North America and Europe have lower cases of malaria related diseases with regions such as Africa monitoring some of the highest deaths of children related to malaria globally. Some of the major factors pushing the market include the expanding occurrences of malaria in addition to the existence of numerous companies that are introducing low profit margin vaccines throughout the world. Increasing awareness associated to the aftereffects of the disease, continuous R&D in this section and increased funding from the government of the developing and developed countries together is pushing the market for malaria vaccines globally. Weak supply chain and distribution network among some of the developing countries which are affected by malaria are creating restraints for the market growth in these regions, however companies and government organizations are working together to overcome this challenge. It is anticipated that the continuous R&D for malaria vaccines and the continuous growth of this disease will help the market to grow in the coming years. A few key strategies adopted by companies operating in the malaria vaccines market are new technology and product development, and geographical expansion among the developing regions to focus on proving vaccines to the areas highly affected by the disease at lower cost. The leading players operating in the market globally are GlaxoSmithKline, GenVec, Inc., Nobelpharma, and Sanaria. Some other promising vendors are Cadila Healthcare Ltd., CellFree Sciences Co. Ltd., VLP Therapeutics LLC, and Genome ReS Ltd. among others. The global malaria vaccines market on the basis of source type, application and region: Malaria Vaccines Agent Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 2026) Plasmodium Falciparum Plasmodium Vivax Anopheles Species Malaria Vaccines Vaccine Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 2026) Pre-Erythrocytic Vaccine Erythrocytic Vaccine Multi-antigen Vaccine Malaria Vaccines Distribution Channel Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 2026) Hospitals Clinics Community Centers Malaria Vaccines Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 2026) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany UK France Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Mexico Brazil Rest of LATAM Middle East & Africa Enquiry About Report @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/3907773-malaria-vaccines-market-size-report-by-agent-plasmodium Table Of Contents Overview and Scope Executive Summary Malaria Vaccines Market Insights Malaria Vaccines Market Size and Forecast by Agent Malaria Vaccines Market Size and Forecast by Vaccines Type Malaria Vaccines Market Size and Forecast by Channel of Distribution Malaria Vaccines Market Size and Forecast by Regions Continued CONTACT US: NORAH TRENT Partner Relations & Marketing Manager sales@wiseguyreports.com www.wiseguyreports.com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (US) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK) ABOUT US: Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 1, 2019 Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is pressing wireless carriers to for details about how they treat customers' location data. Real-time location information is sensitive data deserving the highest level of privacy protection, she wrote Wednesday in a letter to phone companies. She added that press reports revealed that the companies may have sold that data without the explicit consent of consumers and without appropriate safeguards in place. Her letter comes several months after publication Motherboard reported that a journalist was able to pay a bounty hunter $300 to track a phone's location to a neighborhood in Queens, New York. advertisement advertisement News of the incident prompted inquiries from lawmakers to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, as well as to the carriers. The incident also spurred the major phone carriers to vow that they would stop selling this information by the end of March. Rosenworcel is now asking AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon to say exactly when they ceased selling the data. She is also asking the carriers whether they required aggregators to destroy customers' location data. 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, she wrote to AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan. Alternatively, please explain what AT&T is taking to safeguard such data from use or onward sale that is inconsistent with consumers original consent, she added. (The other carriers received similar letters.) She gave the companies until May 15 to respond. Rosenworcel, a Democrat, also criticized the Republican-led agency for failing to publicly respond to reports about the data sales. The Federal Communications Commission has said it is investigating, but -- almost a year after this news first broke -- the agency has not provided the public with any details, she stated Wednesday. Nor has it taken any public action to ensure this activity has stopped. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, also a Democrat, issued similar criticism of the agency last month. Our location information isnt supposed to be used without our knowledge and consent, he wrote last month in an op-ed in The New York Times. The F.C.C. must use its authority to protect consumers and promote public safety, and act swiftly and decisively to stop illegal and dangerous pay-to-track practices once and for all. by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, May 2, 2019 Facebook doesn't only face the prospect of as much as $5 billion in fines by the Federal Trade Commission. The company also may create a new privacy committee, and hire an outside expert to evaluate compliance, in order to settle an investigation into its data-sharing practices. But Facebook likely will be able to continue to share information about users with developers, advertisers and other outside parties -- provided that it notifies users about the practice. That's the gist of reports in Politico and The New York Times about a potential deal between the FTC and Facebook. Facebook declined to comment on reports of the possible deal. advertisement advertisement News of the possible resolution is already being met with skepticism. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told Politico that nothing in the reported terms would establish new privacy obligations or ensure compliance. If it goes through, the settlement would resolve an investigation into whether violated a 2012 consent decree by allowing political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to harvest data from up to 87 million users. That consent decree prohibits Facebook from misrepresenting its privacy practices, and from misrepresenting the extent to which it makes users' information available to third parties. The seven-year-old order also requires the company to obtain biennial privacy audits by an outside company -- a requirement that seems similar to the potential new mandate for an outside evaluator. While the new potential settlement may not be as tough as privacy advocates would like, it's also not clear that the FTC would be able to prevail in a court battle with Facebook. That's because Facebook may have a good argument that it adequately notified users their data could be given to developers. Cambridge Analytica obtained the data from researcher Aleksandr Kogan, who collected it in 2014 through the personality-quiz app "thisisyourdigitallife." Only 270,000 Facebook users downloaded Kogan's app, but he was able to gather data about many of those users' contacts. At the time, Facebook allowed developers to glean information about users' friends, subject to their privacy settings. Facebook's terms of service prohibited developers from sharing that information. (In April of 2015, Facebook stopped allowing developers to access data about users' friends.) by Ray Schultz , May 2, 2019 Digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa worry 41% of consumers, primarily about passive listening and trust and privacy in general, according to Voice ReportFrom answers to action: customer adoption of voice technology and digital assistants, a study by Microsoft. Still, that number is outweighed by the 59% who do not share those concerns. And many users will share their email addresses or other non-PII data with digital assistants to receive information on: Personalized pricing/rewards 85% Free or upgraded shipping options 82% Expedited purchasing/checkout options 80% Personalized product recommendation/alerts 79% Automated rendering of frequent purchases 73% Lesser percentages will provide PII information such as name, address and phone number, the study says. Microsoft, which offers the Cortana digital assistant, is focusing on six key principles to build trust: Control Strong legal protections Transparency No content-based targeting (meaning the firm will not use the users email, chat, files or other personal content to target ads). Security Benefits to the consumer advertisement advertisement The study also found that: 69% have used a digital assistant. 75% of household will have at least one smart speaker by 2020. Over half of consumers expect digital assistants will help them make retail purchases within the next five years. Microsoft Marketing Intelligence surveyed 2,000 consumers online across the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and India. In addition, Microsoft received perspective from 5,000 U.S. consumers via its online research tool AskSuzy. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 2, 2019 A karate school owner who advertises on Google shouldn't be allowed to proceed with a federal class-action accusing the company of mishandling paid search campaigns, Google argues in new court papers. Instead, Mark Trudeau, co-owner of Troy Martial Arts, must pursue his claims in arbitration, Google contends in papers filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The company is asking the 9th Circuit to reject Trudeau's attempt to revive his lawsuit. The legal battle dates to February 2018, when Trudeau, a resident of Oakland County, Michigan, sued Google for allegedly displaying pay-per-click ads for his karate studio when users' queries contained negative keywords -- meaning terms that were supposed to prevent ads from appearing. Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose, California granted Google's motion to send the matter to arbitration. Freeman ruled that Google's contract with search advertisers required arbitration of all disputes. advertisement advertisement Trudeau is now asking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse that decision and reinstate the case in federal court. He argues that Google didn't add an arbitration clause to its advertiser contract until September of 2017 -- after the company allegedly mishandled his search campaign. He also argues that before September of 2017, Google had promised to avoid retroactive changes to its terms of service. Google counters in its new papers that Trudeau and his business could have eschewed the arbitration provision back in 2017. Google gave appellants the right to opt out of arbitration if they did not like any part of the dispute resolution agreement; they declined and chose to accept the 2017 terms in their entirety, Google argues. Trudeau alleged that he began advertising with Google in 2012, and agreed to pay between 50 cents and $5 per click. He also said he attempted to use negative keywords to block ads from being displayed when people's search queries suggested they lived far from Oakland County. For instance, he said, he wanted to block ads from being displayed to people who used the word Southfield in their queries, because he didn't believe people in Southfield would travel to Troy for martial arts training. Despite his attempts to block those ads, Google sometimes served ads when the queries contained negative keywords like Southfield, Trudeau alleged. For example, he alleged, if search users misspelled Southfield as Douthfield, Google sometimes showed ads for his studio in Troy. For its part, Google says it fully disclosed how negative keywords work and advised advertisers that they must include misspellings or variations of negative keywords if they want to block their ads from appearing in response to searches containing such terms. Trudeau is expected to respond to Google's newest argument by mid-June. Shareholder annual meetings are not fun. Unless a company is under fire from dissident shareholders or quirky gadfly investors, these confabs arent anyones idea of a big time. Then theres this Saturdays Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, starring Charlie Munger, the vice chair, and Warren Buffett, the CEO and chairman, taking questions and dispensing the kind of quirky brilliance his investors love. The annual meeting this year is due to attract 40,000 investors to the CHI Health Center auditorium, drawing from investors around the world. Some call it Woodstock for Capitalists. For the fourth year, Yahoo Finance is live-streaming the whole thing. Its hosted by editor-in-chief Andy Serwer and Yahoo Finance on-air hosts Jen Rogers and Myles Udland, with correspondents Julia LaRoche and Javier David in the field. The coverage begins at 9:45 in the morning and concludes at 5:30 pm. advertisement advertisement The stream has gotten to be a major event for Yahoo Finance, which claims it snared 11.5 million streams in 2016 and 17 million in 2017, testament not only to the increase in streaming but to the popularity of Buffett. Yahoo Finance is now a part of Verizon, and the event is also a rich advertising opportunity for Verizons ad platforms. Things have just gone up and up since Yahoo Finance began streaming the event. Last year we had 35 million people, from around the world, tune into the Yahoo Finance livestream, Serwer said in an email conversation. More people tuned in to watch Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger live than the 2019 Oscars. Theres clearly a huge appetite for the chance to hear directly from such legendary investors. The shareholder meeting is a different kind of business event. Investors in the audience range from Nebraska farmers to Wall Street and Chinese financiers. The weekend in Omaha is a trip, with special events for shareholders all over town. Theres quite a bit of novelty around Berkshire Hathaway-related shopping. Its a big weekend for the city, Serwer said. A lot of events and parties. Theres even a [5K] race the day following the shareholders meeting that makes its way through downtown. Ive done it for the past several years. This year, there may be some special questions for Buffett about the companys investments in Wells Fargo, Kraft Heinz and Coca-Cola, all in the midst of downturns. In addition, Berkshire Hathaway is up only about 6% so far this year, compared to about an 18% gain for the S&P 500. So there may be some real news at this meeting. For sure we call ball and strikes when we cover the meeting. Serwer. "And Buffett understands that. He understands the medias role in attending and reporting on the meeting. But it seems Buffett and Munger can get just as caught up in the hoopla as the shareholders who wouldnt miss this meeting for the world. Serwer recalled, Last year, during one of the breaks I was interviewing Glenn Close who is a huge Warren Buffett fan, by the way. We had just a few minutes to speak with Glenn before Buffett and Munger returned to the stage. "The conversation continued, and I was surprised our producer hadnt given us the signal to wrap yet. But we were live, so I had to keep the conversation flowing and couldnt stop to inquire about the delay. That interview stretched to 15 minutes, he said, until Buffett and Munger reappeared on stage. Guess what the delay was? Serwer continued. They were enjoying our interview with Ms. Close so much they didnt want the break to end! Crazy, right? We couldnt stop the interview until Munger and Buffett came on stage, and they wouldnt come on stage until we were done interviewing Glenn. Someone had to make them come back on. A new study has concluded that living alone is linked to common mental disorders. The authors have also identified the main driver of this worrying relationship. Share on Pinterest Researchers examined the links between mental health and living alone. Some common mental disorders (CMDs) include mood disorders, anxiety, and substance use disorders. According to some studies, almost one-third of people will experience a CMD in their lifetime. These conditions can have a significant impact on the individual, of course, but due to their high prevalence, they also affect society at large. Due to the widespread influence of CMDs, scientists are keen to understand the full range of risk factors that feed into mental health. In recent years, scientists have investigated whether living alone might be one such risk factor. A new study, the results of which now appear in the journal PLOS ONE, takes a fresh look at this question. The study authors conclude that there is a link between living alone and CMDs. They also find that it affects all age groups and sexes, and that primarily, loneliness is the driver. Living alone The number of people living alone is steadily growing throughout much of the Western world; this is due to a number of reasons, including the aging population, people tending to get married at an older age, and increased divorce rates. Researchers have already looked at the relationship between CMDs and living alone, but most have focused on older adults , so their findings may not apply to other age groups. Also, earlier studies generally focused on just one mental condition: depression. This might not provide the full picture. Previous work has also not quantified how other factors influence this relationship; for instance, people who live alone are more likely to be overweight, smoke, use drugs, and lack social support. So which of these, if any, is the main driver of CMDs? The authors of the new study aimed to fill in some of these gaps. They looked for links between living alone and CMDs in general, and they investigated which factors seemed to be influencing the relationship. Looking at the data To investigate, scientists from the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in France analyzed data from 20,503 adults, ages 1674, living in England. The data came from three National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys that experts conducted in 1993, 2000, and 2007. Participants completed Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised questionnaires, which assessed whether they had experienced neurotic symptoms during the previous week. The surveys also collated data on a range of variables, including height and weight, level of education, employment status, alcohol and drug use, social support, and feelings of loneliness. As expected, the authors found that the number of people living alone has steadily grown. In 1993, 8.8% lived alone. This is compared with 9.8% in 2000 and 10.7% in 2007. Their analysis also showed that across all age groups and sexes, there was a significant association between living alone and having a CMD. The size of this relationship was fairly similar across the three surveys. CMDs were more common in those living alone than those not living alone: 1993: 19.9% vs. 13.6% 19.9% vs. 13.6% 2000: 23.2% vs. 15.5% 23.2% vs. 15.5% 2007: 24.7% vs. 15.4% NEW YORK May 2, 2019 Sudan Omar al-Bashir April 11 Sudan's April 27 Khartoum Sudan Felice Gaer Sudan Darfur Sudan's Darfur Darfur Darfur Darfur April 19 Sudan Darfur /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) strongly supports calls for establishing an inclusive civilian government inthat supports human rights, the rule of law and democratic freedoms for all.Following months of nation-wide protests, Sudanese Presidentwas ousted from power in a military coup on, ending more than 30 years of harsh rule. Protesters and activists, in negotiations withTransitional Military Council, agreed onto form a joint civilian-military body to oversee a peaceful transition. However, mounting tensions over the composition of that council triggered a mass rally today in"With developing changes in, accountability for atrocity crimes committed by President al-Bashir and other members of his regime is an absolute necessity," said, Director of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. "The people ofare seeking a peaceful and democratic government that embraces human rights and the rule of law. Justice for victims of the genocide inand full civilian participation in the creation of their new government are essential components to this transition."Al-Bashir faces International Criminal Court arrest warrants, the first issued in 2009, for crimes against humanity and war crimes inregion. AJC has strongly spoken out about the genocide inand stood behind efforts to ensure accountability for the perpetrators.Between 2003 and 2008, an estimated 400,000 Darfuris were murdered and more than 3 million were displaced as government forces and government-backed militias, known as the Janjaweed, fought rebel groups in a scorched-earth offensive that included killings of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, sexual violence, and forced displacement.The African Union has given the military council three months to transition to a civilian government, stressing that this process should not be delayed. Meanwhile, protesters have said they will continue to mobilize in the streets until the military fully responds to their demands.In a UN Security Council briefing following the coup, the Joint Special Representative for the UN-African Union Mission inand the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs raised concerns about the impact of the current turmoil on civilians and ongoing humanitarian needs, particularly inAJC joins the African Union Peace and Security Council in affirming the "legitimate aspirations of the Sudanese people" to "democratically design and choose institutions that are representative and respectful of freedoms and human rights," as declared in a Council statement ofAJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights and AJC's Africa Institute have long followed developments in, including in View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ajc-calls-for-inclusive-transition-in-sudan-accountability-for-deposed-president-omar-al-bashir-300843130.html SOURCE American Jewish Committee SALT LAKE CITY May 2, 2019 Douglas Jones Layton, Utah Australia University of Utah Penn State University College of Medicine Creighton University Medical Center Douglas Jones /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Dr.brings expertise in providing quality care for allergy, asthma and immunologic disorders to both pediatric and adult patients at Tanner Clinic in. In 2008, Dr. Jones founded Rocky Mountain Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, an internationally recognized treatment center known for its innovative food allergy treatment program involving a desensitization process called oral immunotherapy (OIT). He brought his practice to the Tanner Clinic in 2016 to offer patients a complete health care solution.Dr. Jones and his team are one of the few practices offering this breakthrough treatment program to help alleviate the fear and burden of food allergies. OIT provides a long-term solution for a variety of food allergies, including milk, egg, wheat, peanut, corn, soy and treat nuts. He has recently added treatment for additional allergies, including chicken, shrimp, and sesame. It usually takes six to seven months, on average, and at the end of the program, most patients are able to consume the foods that once threatened their health, in unlimited amounts, with no allergic reactions.This past week, Dr. Jones had his 750th graduate from the OIT program. Due to the success of the program, Dr. Jones has treated patients who have traveled from all over the U.S. and several other countries for treatment, including 30+ families just fromAs a co-founder and current president of a non-profit organization, Food Allergy Support Team (FAST), Dr. Jones is an established leader in the treatment of food allergies. He also advocates for other rare diseases such as primary immunodeficiency disorders and hereditary angioedema.Dr. Jones is board certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. He attended thewhere he received a bachelor's degree in biology and then earned his medical degree fromin 2003. Following medical school, Dr. Jones completed a residency program in internal medicine and sub-specialty training in allergy, asthma, and immunology atDr. Jones has received numerous awards including: Who's Who Top Doctors Honors Edition, Most Compassionate Doctor, Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) Allies Award Winner, America's Top Physicians, and Patient's Choice Award.SOURCE Dr. Study 1: Breast Cancer in Young Women - A Multi-Center 10-Year Experience Advertisement This was a retrospective, multi-center study, conducted between 2008-2017 All breast cancer patients were below 35 years of age The study included 207 patients from 5 centers 35 patients were excluded from the study due to the following reasons: 27 due to lack of data 1 due to two different synchronous tumors 7 due to ductal in situ carcinoma carcinoma Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM, USA) The median age of the patients was 31 years The most common (91%) histological subtype was ductal invasive carcinoma The tumors were categorized into the following subtypes: 4 percent: Luminal A 20 percent: Luminal B HER2 positive 47 percent: Luminal B HER2 negative 8 percent: HER2 positive 21 percent: Triple negative 48 percent of patients were diagnosed with early stage breast cancer 45 percent of patients had locally advanced breast cancer 6 percent of patients had de novo metastatic breast cancer metastatic breast cancer 39 percent of patients underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT), of which 12 percent gave a complete response 83 percent of patients underwent adjuvant systemic therapy (CT or endocrine therapy) 18 percent exclusively underwent endocrine therapy The median follow-up time was 53.5 months 37 patients developed metastatic breast cancer The median survival time was 16.5 months for metastatic breast cancer 3 patients had a local recurrence with a median time of 27 months 85 percent of the patients were alive at the time of termination of the study Study 2: Breast Cancer Early Recurrences in Young Women This was a retrospective study conducted between 2010-2017 Medical records of 381 women 50 years were analyzed The women were undergoing treatment for Stage I-III invasive breast cancer The following parameters were assessed: Demographics Tumor biology Type of surgery Neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy Site/time of recurrence Survival Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves The median age of the patients was 45 years The median follow-up time was 45.6 months 22 patients (5.8%) were lost to follow-up 29 patients (7.6%) relapsed, among which 9 died 2 patients developed a second tumor in the contralateral breast The median interval to recurrence was 31 months The 3-year and 5-year risk for loco-regional recurrence was 4.7 percent and 9.5 percent respectively The 3-year and 5-year DFS was 94.3 percent and 91.2 percent respectively The 5-year OS was 93.3 percent Conclusion Breast Cancer in Young Women: Good Outcomes with Advised Therapy - (https://www.esmo.org/Press-Office/Press-Releases/Breast-cancer-young-women-aggressiveness-recurrence-Cima-Eiriz) Ines F. Eiriz, Breast Cancer in Young Women - A Multi-Center 10-Year Experience, Annals of Oncology, Volume 30, 2019 Supplement 3. Simona Cima, Breast Cancer Early Recurrences in Young Women, Annals of Oncology, Volume 30, 2019 Supplement 3. In this regard, ESMO Spokesman Dr. Matteo Lambertini, MD, PhD, from IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital, University of Genoa, Italy, said:Characterization of a cohort of young women with breast cancer with reference to incidence, biology, tumor stage, treatment, and survival.Dr. Ines F. Eiriz, the presenting author, attached to the Hospital Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca, Amadora, Portugal, said:Analysis of rates of recurrence of cancer in young breast cancer patients.Dr. Simona Cima, the presenting author, attached to the IOSI - Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Bellinzona, Switzerland, said:The findings of the two studies indicate that being diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age does not necessarily mean lower survival or higher chances of recurrence. Importantly, proper guideline-recommended treatments should be administered to all breast cancer patients, irrespective of age, with due attention to possible side-effects of anticancer therapies, including infertility.Source: Medindia The Battle of Winterfell was brutal, however, the main characters came out unharmed (oh, well mostly). The trailer for the upcoming episode 4 shows Daenerys Targaryen addressing the crowd for a battle that matters: A war against Cersei Lannister, who could possibly be the real villain of 'Game of Thrones'. But from the new photos of Season 8 Episode 4, that released yesterday, Queen Cersei has quite a bit of manpower awaiting the dragon queen. Take a look: HBO Besides Euron's Iron fleet and a handful of the Lannister Army, Qyburn's shady science experiments including the dragon killer army, there is now the Golden Company sans elephants, of course, and there are ships full of men waiting to wage a war. In 'A Song Of Ice and Fire' novels, the Golden Company is a mercenary army from Essos and is made up of 20,000 men, horses, and potentially elephants. (The elephants couldn't make it, sadly. Nonetheless, the army is a major force to be reckoned with.) Now, with the already exhausted and steadily depleting army of the Dragon Queen, Cersei's army will be... ahem quite a heavy wrecking ball to deal with. HBO The Golden Company has been mentioned a couple of times on 'GoT'. In Season 4, Ser Davos suggests Stannis hire the Golden Army. In season 7, Euron went off to hire "the most powerful army in Essos" to help Cersei keep the Iron Throne and it appears they've finally arrived. So, who do you think is going to win the war that matters? When it comes to choosing the perfect underwear for yourself, there's a lot to take into account. You have to wade through a wide variety of fits, styles, cuts, colours, and prints, before making your final decision. However, like with any other article of clothing, finding a perfectly fitting underwear is meaningless without the perfect fabric to compliment it. After all, it's the most intimate garment you wear, and stays in contact with your skin at all times. A man looks for three main things in a pair of underwear - comfort, breathability, and support. In fact, the best underwear for men should feel like you're not actually wearing anything at all! Most underwear brands have been using cotton as their go-to fabric, since it checks all three of those boxes. However, thanks to innovations in the world of fabrics, the modern man has a lot more options to consider. And one such fabric that stands out from the rest in all three of these departments is Lenzing Modal, which will transform your underwear experience for the better. Pexels What Exactly Is Lenzing Modal? What exactly is Modal, we hear you wondering? Well, it's a type of rayon, a semi-synthetic fibre that is extracted from beechwood. It's trademarked by Austrian textile giants Lenzing Group, which explains the name. After undergoing a variety of processing techniques, it emerges as a fibre that is stronger than rayon, while still being softer than regular cotton. This feature makes it the ideal choice for a variety of products in the textile industry, with innerwear being right on top. What Makes It Such A Good Fabric For Your Underwear? You might think that your cotton underwear was soft enough, but the sleek cross-section of Modal fibres makes it twice as soft as regular cotton. This makes it the ideal fabric choice when it comes to the best briefs for men , a style known for providing an extremely snug fit. Not only that, they have been proven to retain this softness for much longer, even after repeated washes. Speaking of longevity, Modal fibres are also adept at retaining their colour for much longer, thanks to pigments getting embedded much deeper within them. Along with superior colour retention and unparalleled softness, Lenzing Modal also offers unmatched breathability, a feature which enhances the appeal of even the best boxer briefs for men . Its fibres manage the transportation of moisture naturally, supporting the body's natural temperature regulation and offering a refreshingly cool sensation as a result. Shutterstock You Also Get To Save The Planet! If all that wasn't enough to convince you to give Lenzing Modal a try, there's another feature that will endear it to even the more environmentally conscious among us. These fibres are all derived from sustainable sources of wood, including natural forests, sustainably managed plantations, and other certified and controlled sources. So not only will you be rocking the softest, most vibrant, and most breathable underwear you've ever experienced, you can do so with the knowledge that there was minimal impact on the environment when they were being made. All things considered, trying out Lenzing Modal is sure to be a fashion upgrade you will be glad to make. More related links: Printed underwear for men Best briefs for men Best boxers for men Best trunks for men They say money can't buy happiness, and there is no denying that it's true. But money can buy things which brings a strange pleasure to those who seek it. Be it for the happiness of our family, or personal satisfaction, we sometimes don't mind spending money on things that do not make sense but bring us pleasure. However, while most of us can only afford to spend our hard-earned money on senseless stuff only once in a while when the temptation becomes too difficult to ignore, the billionaires of this world do not have such obligations. Given the amount of money that sits in their bank accounts, they can choose to spend their millions and billions in the most unnecessary and senseless ways, without giving it a second thought. Twitter A few hours ago, news broke that the world's richest man Jeff Bezos spent rupees 1.25 crore on bulletproof panels for his Seattle office. The inch-and-a-half thick fibreglass panels were chosen because they can reportedly withstand shots from military assault rifles. What's more, it is being said that Amazon spends over 11 crore rupees on Bezos' security annually. Now, we understand that the man needs protection, but that's a whole lot of money to spend on an individual's personal security. But this isn't all, we list down 5 other world billionaires who decided to go ahead and spend their money in even stranger ways. 1. Bill Gates Twitter Bill Gates is a great admirer of Leonardo da Vinci and maybe that is the only explanation as to why he chose to spend over 30 million dollars on the old man's journal. Back in 1994, Microsoft founder Gates spent 30.8 million dollars to gain the ownership of the Codex Leicester. It is a 72-page manuscript compiled by da Vinci compiled in the early 16th century and features the master polymath's diagrams, writings, sketches and ideas for future inventions. 2. Mukesh Ambani Twitter India's richest man and industrial magnate, Mukesh Ambani owns more money than we can count. With a net worth of 5,530 crore dollars, he sure built a house that speaks money. Mukesh Ambani spend 1 billion dollars to build the most expensive home in the world! A 27-storey skyscraper that stretches across 400,000-square-foot, it comes with a helipad and six-level underground parking. What's more, reportedly it also has a ballroom, a 50-seat theatre and nine elevators in the lobby alone, and requires around 600 staff to maintain the place. And all that for a family of six, that stays in the mansion at a given time. 3. Jocelyn Wildenstein's Plastic Surgeries Twitter A well-known Swiss socialite, Wildenstein always waded in money. However, things only got bigger and crazier after she received 2.5 billion dollars as a divorce settlement. Wildenstein, who is now in her late 70s, had been spending millions, almost excessively and obsessively, on plastic surgery. According to a Mirror report, Wildenstein has spent over 27 crores on her decade-long surgeries. 4. Elon Musk Twitter Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk is known for his eccentricity. For the man whose brain led to the inception of the Hyperloop tunnel, it only makes sense that he fancies different methods of personal transportation. Back in 2013, Musk acquired the Lotus Esprit submarine car of James Bond's glory, from 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and reportedly, he had to cough out almost 1 million dollars for the car which was found in a storage shed of a junk collector. 5. Hassanal Bolkiah Twitter Known as the infamous Sultan of Brunei, Bolkiah probably got the most expensive haircut in the world. Reportedly, the Sultan flies in a barber from London and pays him around 19,000 US dollars for a single haircut. Not only that, but the Sultan also takes care of the barber's accommodation and other requirements. That's some kind of job to have, no? The official visit of the Chief Administrative Secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, babu Namwamba, to Athens was concluded with a second meeting with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Terens Quick. There was an evaluation of all the meetings attended by the Kenyan official, both at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Ministry of Economy and Development and the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy. The intention of Kenya to host the meeting of the Joint Interministerial Committee, proposed by Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sia Anagnostopoulou, by late June was reaffirmed. It was also decided that both sides should expedite procedures so that all the memoranda of cooperation agreed upon be signed during the two-day meeting with respect to the following sectors: economic - trade relations, maritime transport, cooperation between the ports of Mombasa and Piraeus, tourism, culture, sports, agriculture and avoidance of double taxation. During discussions, the Chief Administrative Secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke most positively about the 40 Greek enterprises seated in Nairobi, the 10th fastest-growing city in the world, which are mainly active in the fields of construction and renewable energy sources. He also expressed the desire for Greece to become a gateway to the Balkans and Europe for exportable Kenyan products. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Terens Quick made the following statement: Today I bade farewell to a good friend of Greece and a personal friend of my own. In foreign policy, relationships are not built on black holes of 46 years of inertia. This is the 5th time that A. Namwamba and I cooperated within 7 months, during meetings held in Kenya, Brussels and here in Athens. I believe that this relationship of trust can lead to positive results in a country that dominates the eastern side of sub-Saharan Africa, through balanced policies and diplomatic relations with the great powers of the globe, with the countries of the European Union, and with its own neighbours. In fact, I appreciated particularly the fact that my Kenyan friend is, above all, a friend of Greece and an enthusiast of our ancient civilization. Today, he asked me to escort him on a visit to the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis, and I especially thank the Deputy Minister of Culture, Kostas Stratis, for the tour that was organized. The Chief Administrative Secretary had previously visited the Acropolis Museum. JOURNALIST: Your Excellency, lets talk about your visit to Qatar, how its going to help develop the relationship between Qatar and Greece? G. KATROUGALOS: Greece has always had excellent, brotherly I would say, relations with the Arab world and Qatar is now becoming a hub for the whole region. So, its very natural that we want to develop our bilateral economic relations. I came here with many Greek enterprises for the Economic Forum and I also had the honour to be received by His Royal Highness the Emir. I also had bilateral discussions with my counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other members of the government. JOURNALIST: How do you describe the historic relationship between Qatar and Greece? G. KATROUGALOS: As I said, we have always had brotherly relations with all of the Arab world. Greece has never been a colonial power and always wanted to develop its role as a kind of bridge between Europe and the Arab world, but, on top of that, we want also to develop deeper economic ties. JOURNALIST: What do you think about the embargo that was enforced upon Qatar by neighbouring countries, and what of the prospects for resolving this crisis? G. KATROUGALOS: We hope that its going to be resolved through dialogue and political means and we hope for a swift de-escalation. JOURNALIST: What do you think of it, is it legal or not? G. KATROUGALOS: I dont want to comment on legal terms, what I am saying is that we want to be a mediating force if our services are required, and that we hope it will be resolved through political dialogue. , : ... - . , (-) . : . , , ? : 25-27 - , . , -, . . , . 11 . 55 .., , 80 100 , . : ? : , . 10 , , . - 14-, 18- 26-. 24- . 24- . , , , , . . , , . 7 10 6 . , , - - 6, 10, . 3 , - 6 . - 25 , - . : - ? : 3 7 . , . - , ? . , 27 28-, . , , . , . , . : ? : , , , , . , . : , ? : . : , ? : . , - . , . : ... : 3 6 , 7 10 6 , ( ): , , , ... : , , ? : ? . , . , 50 50 , , . . , , , , . : - . ? : . . , , - - , . , 100 , 0.4 , , , , , . . , , . . , . , . . : - , - - . . 6 , . : -, . , . . , , -. .... . , , 50 - 80 , 5 - 6 . , , , , . , : 28 , , ? : . , , . , , , , , , , . , . , 6 10, . , , . 10 , , , , , , 19 . , 10 , . : , ... : , . , . : : ? : , , -. 150- , 50 - 60 - , . , . HURON COUNTY The legal standard for searching passengers during a traffic stop got a little more strict following a recent decision by the Michigan Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of a car passenger who said his rights were violated when police in Jackson County searched his backpack without his consent. The backpack held marijuana and methamphetamine. But, in a unanimous decision this week, the Supreme Court said the search was unconstitutional. Chief Justice Bridget McCormack said Larry Mead had a legitimate expectation of privacy. According to the prepared syllabus of the People vs. Mead, Mead was a passenger in a car stopped by a sheriffs deputy for an expired license plate. The deputy got consent from the driver that the car could be searched, along with consent from Mead to frisk him for narcotics and weapons. "The officer then asked (the) defendant to step away from the vehicle, and the officer searched the passenger side of the vehicle, including defendants backpack, which contained a digital scale, five prescription pills, 9.8 grams of marijuana, and 4.03 grams of methamphetamine," the syllabus states. "Defendant acknowledged that the backpack was his, and he was arrested." Mead was eventually sentenced to two years to 10 years in prison after being charged as a fourth-offense habitual offender, of which he wound up serving nearly three years. McCormack compared it to someone using a ride-sharing service. She says police cant search a passenger based on consent from a driver. The Supreme Court decision has law enforcement officials across the state taking note. Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson said there needs to be a reason to search a person or vehicle. Deputies will not ask for a search simply on the basis of expired plates. "The way I look at it, is you have to have a reason to search someone," said Hanson. "Most police officers look at it as there being a need to search an individual. And if they didn't comply, search warrants are normally obtained." Hanson said there can be different reasons for a traffic stop as well as different reasons for a search. For example, if an officer sees an open beer bottle, smells alcohol, or spots contraband, there could be reason for a search. And if the driver didn't consent to a search, a search warrant would likely be obtained. "The Fourth Amendment of both the United States and Michigan Constitutions protects against unreasonable searches and seizures," the syllabus states. "To invoke the Fourth Amendments protections, a defendant must first establish that he or she had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched. Moreover, the expectation of privacy must be one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable." It was one of the signal events in Civil Rights movement. Rosa Parks said it was the inspiration for the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, which indirectly gave rise to prominence of Martin Luther King Jr. This tragedy was the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who traveled from his home in Chicago to the Mississippi Delta in the late summer of 1955. Related: Tills classmate brings the slain teens story to Portland High School Coming one year after the historic Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, it threw a harsh light on racial inequities in America. There have been any number of versions of what happened or didnt happen on a hot day of Aug. 24, 1955, in a small convenience store outside Money, Miss. At one point, Till entered the store to buy a Coke. The clerk in the store, a 21-year-old white woman named Carolyn Bryant later alleged Till had sassed her. Some versions said he tried to flirt with Bryan, or that he boasted of having white girl friends back in Chicago, or that he touched her, or he may have wolf-whistled at her. Whatever happened, Bryant subsequently told her husband and his brother-in-law about the interaction - or someone did. Four days after Till entered that store, Bryants husband, Roy, and J.W. Milam, in the dead of night went to the home of Till great-uncle, where Till was staying, and took him away. They drove around with the child in Bryants truck and eventually dragged him into a barn where they set upon him. They beat Till, gouged out one of his eyes, tied him to a 75-pound cotton gin fan, shot him in the head and dumped his body into the Tallahatchie River. When he did not return home the uncles house, Till was reported as missing. Bryant and Milam were interviewed by deputies and acknowledged taking Till away, although they swore when they last saw him he was alive. Unusually for that time and that place, the two were arrested and charged with kidnapping. Three days later, Tills mutilated and bloated body was recovered from the river. The body was sent home to Chicago, where Tills mother, Mamie Till Bailey, demanded the casket be open so mourners who filed past it could see what hate had done to her child. Jet magazine printed a photograph of the body, further arousing indignation over the killing. The crime was so heinous even the white authorities in Mississippi were moved to condemn the killing. Bryant and Milam were charged with murder and stood trial in September, 1955. After the end of five days of testimony - including the defense claim Tills body was so wounded it was impossible to say with certainty it was in fact Till - the all-white jury returned a not guilty verdict after less than an hours deliberations. Bryant and Milam were freed. The next year they gave a paid interview to Look magazine in which they freely admitted murdering Till. They became pariahs and eventually left Mississippi. Everywhere they went they were shunned. What followed was a long, slow decline marked by arrests for various crimes, and their eventual deaths, both from cancer, Milam in 1980 and Bryant in 1994. Carolyn Bryant, having divorced Roy, faded from memory until 2017. Then, a Duke University professor who had written a book on the murder, revealed that Bryant (who had re-married) in an interview for the book admitted she had lied about the interaction with Emmett Till. Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him," Bryant was quoted in an excerpt in Vanity Fair as saying she felt tender sorrow for Tills mother, who died in 2003. MIDDLETOWN A month into the states $1.8 million Main Street sidewalk project, concerned citizens and the business community are urging officials to address the safety of pedestrians, many of whom are endangering themselves by entering the road to get across. The topic was addressed during the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce Central Business Bureau meeting Thursday, where representatives of the state Department of Transportation and Paramount Construction delivered an update on the project. At issue is the well-being of vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, those in wheelchairs/electric scooters or with other disabilities, as well as parents pushing strollers. Eighteen pedestrian bump-outs will be built from Union to Green streets along the Main Street corridor in a project that began April 1 and is estimated to be done by the end of August. This will put pedestrians in a visible location, instead of being tucked way back at the front of parked cars, way out of the sight line, state Transportation Supervising Engineer Erik A. Jarboe has told The Press. Curb extensions will also reduce the amount of time it takes for walkers to cross the intersection because theyll be standing in a protected portion of the sidewalk waiting for the light to engage. Many acknowledge there can be confusion when a walker crosses the street and sees a large construction site as they approach the opposite side, then realize theres a large perimeter of caution tape preventing them from accessing the walk button. The idea that pedestrians on Main Street should cross the street to keep going doesnt take into account how people really use downtown. The project needs to make pedestrian access a top priority, said Jennifer Alexander, Downtown Business District commissioner and owner of Kidcity Childrens Museum on Washington Street. Its different at every corner, so they cant use a one-size-fits-all approach to Main Street. They have to think about each corner, and how to find a safe way for pedestrians to get around that particular piece of construction and that shouldnt include having to cross the street, she said. Presently, at Washington and Main, there is a 28-second wait as walkers make their way along a 97-foot distance. Curb changes mean walkers will have a maximum of 14.5 seconds to make their way 55 feet from one corner to the other. The result is less exposure to traffic, adding to pedestrian safety. Theyre thinking about things from the cars perspective, not what its like to be a pedestrian. In a business community and for those of us who live downtown, these kinds of details really matter, Alexander said. Its a pedestrian safety issue, not a parking or public works project, said Parking Director Geen Thazhampallath, who has been fielding public concerns. People assume his office is handling the project because work is taking place in front of the meters, he said. Following the meeting, he and Deputy Director of Public Works Chris Holden went out to inspect the affected areas. We raised the issue with the contractor in early April, and the issues have persisted, said Thazhampallath, adding that Paramount project superintendent Chez Pace has been great to work with. We were startled by the fact we didnt have alternative pathways, and you could be on one side of the sidewalk and be forced to go to a completely other end, but theres no means to get there safely. We wanted to see it from our own eyes, and the reality is there are significant places of confusion when it comes to the various projects, Thazhampallath said. Essentially were saying, walk around the construction zone via crosswalks and push buttons the way youre supposed to. Once you see sidewalk closed, cross here, thats intended for you to hit the button and use that safely cross, said Pace, who acknowledged some people may misunderstand the signs. When were there during the day and were working, we have two, three Middletown police officers with us and a flagger, even our own Paramount personnel are more than happy to help the elderly or someone pushing a stroller. Well hold traffic and make sure things are done safely, Pace said. Marie Kalita Leary, chairwoman of the Downtown Business District, would like to see a temporary crossing area in place. The sidewalk is closed, so you turn around, walk back down the sidewalk, cross over the street, go to the opposite side of where need to go, so youre going to be criss-crossing back and forth. At the other end of the sidewalk, [the state] put up sign. At that end, people dont see anything, so they walk past it, Kalita-Leary said. People are seeing it and theyre going out into the road to go around the bump-outs, because were creatures of habit you walk a straight line. You dont jump back and forth, side to side, she said. We need to account for the fact that people, when they come up on the construction zones, dont know which way to go. What they are doing is taking the path of least resistance, which is into the roadway to get around and thats really on the project and the state to rectify that, said Thazhampallath, who would like to see temporary ramps for those with mobility issues. Pace is in constant communication with the chamber and city, as well as working with business owners asking for signs that tell customers the sidewalk may be closed but their establishment is open. I will personally do that. Its not on the plans, but if that will make small business happy, Im for that, Pace said. Im here for support and help, and trying to keep everybody happy. In fact, business signage was not including in the states plan, but I recognize their concerns, and I went out of my own way today to order business open signs we could post next to the sidewalk open signs. Alexander said everyone understands the project is relatively short-lived. It really does matter when people get the impression that youre closed, and we make it complicated for people to walk on Main Street: whether they live here or are visiting businesses, theyre both important. As temperatures rise, more and more people will be walking around downtown, Kalita-Leary said. We hope the city departments will work together and come up with a reasonable and safe plan so construction can continue. Wed rather be preventative than wait for something to happen. After somebody gets hurt, its too late. This is one of those issues where we all need to work together, whether its the state, city, public works, parking, whoever it is, to help improve communication here before somebody gets hurt. After the fact is not OK, Thazhampallath said. For project information, visit ct.gov/dot. Editors note: Calls and an email to the state DOT transportation supervising engineer were not returned by press time. PORTLAND The genial, energetic man who stood before a Portland High School assembly Wednesday is a living link to one of the darkest moments in American history. He was a schoolmate of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Chicago child who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in the summer of 1955. The lynching of Till was one the signal events of the civil rights movement that would change America over the next decade and a half But Arthur Miller is much more than just a witness and a participant to the re-making of America. He is by turns a deacon of the Roman Catholic church, an intelligence officer in the Army, a former businessman, a radio and TV host, and a published author. He is also a man unafraid to prick the consciences of those who otherwise might stand on the sidelines. Miller was a guest at the assembly Wednesday to speak to tenth grade students from Jaclyn Clarke and Robert Joness classes, who are reading a young adult book Mississippi Trial by Chris Crowe, about Tills horrifying death. He spoke in detail about Till. But he also spoke about another schoolmate, Victoria Hawkins, about having the courage to challenge bullies, and he offered advice to both boys and girls about how to conduct themselves. He did so with a mix of good-natured humor, old-fashioned common sense, and a commitment to stand up for equal rights for everyone. In other places and at other times, Miller has said, If God were to give us an 11th commandment, I believe it would read: Thou shall not be a bystander. About 1955, he said Till had gone south to visit family in Money, Miss. Going to Mississippi in the 50s was awful; it was like going to Iraq, Miller said. While there, following an encounter with a 21-year-old white woman named Carolyn Bryant, Till was kidnapped by Bryants husband and his brother-in-law. Till was savagely beaten, had an eye gouged out, and finally was shot to death before his body, weighted down with a 75-pound fan, was dumped in a near-by river. Miller quizzed the students about why Till was murdered. Most of the responses centered on the fact he was black. Not a bad answer, Miller agreed. But the real truth was he was killed because hatred was allowed to go unchecked. He was just a little boy. He didnt want to be a martyr. Bo Till sat next to Millers brother in the seventh grade in the then James McCosh Elementary School. At 14, Till was old to be in seventh grade, Miller said. But thats because he had polio when he was five, and had to stay back a year. His bout with polio also left Till with a speech impediment: he stuttered, which embarrassed him and tended to make made him shy, especially in front of strangers. Till would often whistle when he wanted to begin speaking. That resonates, because one of the claims made about what Till supposedly did or said to Carolyn Bryant was to whistle at her. Bryant and his brother-in-law killed Till. But they were able to do so because the 2,000 residents of Money allowed hatred to flourish, Miller said. People were quiet when evil raised its ugly head, in Money, in Mississippi, and in the entire United States, he said. It was lesson Miller was later to learn in his own life, he explained. First in elementary school and then high school, fellow student Victoria Hawkins repeatedly reached out to him to be her friend. He said he rebuffed her efforts, and only later did he realize other students in the school constantly bullied Hawkins. She endured six years of bullying, and my silence perpetuated her pain, Miller said, acknowledging the episode still causes him pain. Hawkins was so worn down by the bullying she didnt come to her high school graduation. It was then that I swore I would never be silent again, Miller said. He peppered his remarks with allusions of African-America of note, including Crispus Attucks, the first person to die from America, when he was killed in the Boston Massacre. How many of you know who Muhammad Ali was? Miller asked, only to be met by a small number of raised hands. He then invited the boys in the group to zone out while he spoke some home truths to the girls. Dont ever dumb-down for anyone. Dont ever be dumb for some boy. Kick that fool to the curb, he said. The most attractive things about any girl are intelligence, integrity and hard work. Then he spoke to the boys. You better work hard. Hard work overcomes everything, he said. Have respect... for anyone you interact with: thats called integrity. Do that, and the person you are supposed to be will emerge, he said. Miller has been arrested more than once for taking a stand against injustice. But I came to recognize that anger does not solve anything, he said. Miller said his older brother was smarter than he was, and the brother said Emmett was even smarter. When Bryant and Milams hatred killed Emmett, they murdered a future and all kinds of things we dont know that Till might have achieved. Anger cant solve anything. But passion can, he said. And so Miller challenged the students to Become passionate about everyones right to be who they want to be. Later in life, Miller went to Money to see where hatred killed Emmett Till. The Bryant store was abandoned and has gone to ruin. Miller took a brick from amid the ruins, a brick to remind him Hatred kills forever. Student Katherine Guilmette said she found the talk really inspiring, said Millers perspective really opened my eyes. Classmate Ahlaysha McCoy said she stood up for my cousin who was being bullied by students at the cousins school in Hartford. Now, following Millers talk, Ill be even more likely to do it, she said. There are any number of issues that affect her, McCoy said, But one thing I know where I can contribute is by stopping bullying. Brandon Young is a former U.S. Army Ranger, member of Team RWB and the chief advancement officer for the Tennyson Center for Children, helping traumatized and abused children stabilize, heal and reintegrate back into their community. "You have PTSD, Brandon ..." The certainty of her words hung in the air between us as my tears fell to the floor. Her words were as flat as the white coat she wore that said "Dr." "That's it? Just like that?" was all I could muster. I was stunned by how directly and emotionlessly it had unfolded. "Did you really think it was going to be any other way?" Kindly, but direct. "No ... " I really didn't, and I knew it. It was the beast lying in the dark all the while. It was 2014, five years after I had separated from the U.S. Army and three years after giving my life to Christ, a choice that led me to Team RWB, where we work relentlessly to enrich the lives of thousands of veterans. We meet them where they are at across the nation. In towns and big cities, on military posts and bases, and in their pain, their fear and uncertainty veiled behind the bravado of the warrior culture. Though a shock initially, a sense of relief washed over me in the weeks following my diagnosis. In the military, we learned to identify our target -- find, fix and finish -- but I just hadn't been able to put my finger on what was wrong. During my post-service years, I felt as if I had a shadow over me. The barrier between my family and me had ripped us apart. I finally had a name for what I was experiencing. I had identified the spectre in the dark, and this awareness empowered me. At this same time, within the leadership of Team RWB, we had "developed a program of research focused on defining and measuring [our] impact to establish leading practices, glean insights for innovation, and maintain accountability and transparency with key stakeholders (funders, partners, and organization members)." It was critical for us to "say what we meant, and do what we said," enriching veterans' lives with a combination of health, genuine relationships and a sense of purpose. I had been a member of the executive team for a year at that point, initially drawn to RWB because it was the first veterans service organization I could see myself in. Team RWB had figured out that the false narrative in America -- the hero or victim veteran persona -- was wholly inadequate to describe us. And wholly unhelpful for our reintegration home. I, like other veterans, sought more opportunities to serve, to connect to our families and to lead in our communities. Though I couldn't figure out how to get there on my own, I didn't want to feel pitied or like a project. Through this effort to unlock actionable insights and hold ourselves accountable to veterans, funders and America, what emerged has been a translation of the years of wandering without a name into a tool designed to see those who need us most. A light in the darkness. A rosetta stone for the wandering and hurting. The Enriched Life Scale (ELS) matters because we can now "see" people who are struggling right before us through the lens of mental health, physical health, genuine relationships, sense of purpose and engaged citizenship. People like me, who had a great job, an education and were providing for our families, all while hurting deeply on the inside -- trapped without the right words to describe what feels like failure and darkness hiding behind the veneer of normal and successful. Critical to the construction of the tool has always been the combination of science and lived experience, where systematic investigation meets user-centered design. With Senior Research Scientist Caroline Angel, R.N., Ph.D., at the helm of the approach, we were able to blend insights of the veteran experience for cultural authenticity with a scientific process for the good of those we aimed to serve. We translated and transformed, to help identify those in need and how our approach was helping them. The ELS tool is a flashlight that allows us to see the person, see where there may be struggles and walk them on a path to enrichment. Walk them home, together, where we all so desperately ache to be. As a co-author of the ELS, this may very well be what fills me with the most joy regarding this project. We are illuminating a path through uncertainty that lies before us -- a way for veterans to safely identify where they are at in their journeys and a culturally competent path to enrichment. We built an approach that speaks "veteran," with and for the people we aim to serve. In this process, we discovered that everything is not "OK" but that we could do something about it. The ELS moves past the old catastrophe-oriented tools of assessment that, basically, aim to discover if you're going to commit suicide or are contemplating it. No veteran is going to admit that to a white coat until they have reached the end of the line because every service member has been taught to overcome adversity and drive on to complete the mission, whatever the cost. We take this very seriously not because we aim to be rigid or difficult, but because we love who we stand to protect so much, Americans. The ELS can capture with one tool information that has typically been assessed with multiple instruments. It unlocks what's going on inside someone's life and focuses us to direct vulnerable people to life-giving solutions. We also unlocked a key insight, one that played out in a small Department of Veterans Affairs hospital room for me. That amongst veterans, "those who experienced combat and had service-related injury had significantly lower scores for all subscales compared with those who had no combat experience or service-related injury." Mental health being the very lowest of their scores. Partnerships are emerging now that will take this tool to the next level, empowering the highest levels of American leadership to look into the military, guided by the insights that the ELS can unlock, to identify where service members are at before separation. This will not only allow us to see those who are most vulnerable in their transition, but will also allow us to walk with them into life-enriching practices that will help them to fully come home to the community that we all so love. Communities like mine, nestled amongst the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where I live a rich life full of family, faith and meaning. Where I still have PTSD, but where PTSD doesn't have me. -- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration. Isaak Olson was two months from graduating in 2014 when he disclosed that his fiancee had given birth several months earlier... A new survey of active-duty troops has found that the number of sexual assaults in the U.S. military rose by 38% from 2016 to 2018, a dramatic increase that comes despite years of efforts to halt rape and other sex crimes in the ranks. The Defense Department's fiscal 2018 Report on Sexual Assault in the Military, released Thursday, found that roughly 20,500 service members experienced sexual assault, up from an estimated 14,900 in 2016. The sexual-assault rate for women jumped 50% -- a statistic that some advocates, who have worked for years to change the DoD's approach to sexual-assault prosecution, call "shocking." "How many more assaults and rapes and how many more victims denied justice must there be before a stubborn and selfish military brass stops fighting reform?" asked retired Col. Don Christensen, a former Air Force chief prosecutor and president of Protect Our Defenders. Related content: The 20,500 figure is derived from survey results of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel. But the actual number of reported incidents of sexual assault has also increased in the past two years, up 26% from 4,794 to 6,053. This means only a third of all sexual assaults in the U.S. military were reported in 2018 -- not surprising, since 43% of women who did report said they had a negative experience doing so, according to the report. In nearly 90% of cases, the assailant was another service member and, in 62%, also an acquaintance. Perpetrators tended to be between the ranks of E-3 and E-5, with most being the same grade, or slightly higher than the victim's rank. Junior enlisted women were at highest risk for sexual assault. According to the report, the national odds that a woman will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime are 1 in 17. But for young military women ages 17 to 20, it is 1 in 8. And for 21- to 24-year-olds, it is 1 in 11. Alcohol also plays a major role: It was a factor in 62% of assaults. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan sent a memo Wednesday to the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying he planned to make sexual harassment a crime and will introduce a program to encourage reporting to catch repeat offenders. He called the results of the 2018 report and other studies on military sexual assault "unacceptable." "To put it bluntly, we are not performing to the standards and expectations we have for ourselves or for each other," Shanahan wrote. Of the services, the Marine Corps had the worst record of sexual assaults against women, with an incidence rate of nearly 11%, followed by the Navy, 7.5%; the Army, 5.8%; and the Air Force, 4.3%. The incidence rates among men were significantly lower across the board, with the Navy having the highest at 1%, followed by the Marine Corps, .8%; the Army, .7%; and the Air Force, .5%. In a statement released Thursday, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said his service will institute rank-specific leadership training to improve staff non-commissioned officer and officer handling of sexual-assault reports, as well as overhaul its victims advocacy training and increase sexual-assault response coordinator training. "All Marines must be involved in preventing and addressing sexual assault and harassment. There is no room in the Marine Corps for either of these behaviors," Neller said. The report follows years of efforts to overhaul the Defense Department's sexual-assault prevention programs and improve the services' handling of reports and prosecutions for sexual assault. In 2019, several changes were made to the Uniform Code of Military Justice to increase victims' rights and, in 2016, administrative procedures were adapted to ensure that commanders and those investigating took allegations of sexual assault seriously. Some lawmakers continue to argue that these steps don't go far enough. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, has been advocating to take away a commander's authority to decide whether to prosecute a sexual-assault case, giving the decision over to military attorneys trained in handling such cases. Christensen said Thursday's report is proof that the current system is failing military personnel. "The senior military leadership consistently tells Congress that 'commanders are the solution' and to trust them to solve the sexual-assault crisis. Yet for decades, commanders have not been the solution," he said. "It is time for Congress to stop giving the failing military leadership the benefit of the doubt and pass real reform empowering military prosecutors. Enough is enough." A Marine lance corporal who is among the 20,500 troops sexually assaulted in 2018 told Military.com that the system must be changed to remove command authority. Attacked by a member of the Air Force in March last year, she reported the case, which went to a preliminary hearing. But while the prosecution wanted to move forward, an Air Force officer with decision authority decided to drop the case. "I honestly feel if it was in a civilian court, I would have gotten justice. All of it was so disheartening," she said. "I'm currently getting discharged from the Marine Corps for [post-traumatic stress disorder] related to the incident." In addition to an increase in the number of sexual assaults, sexual harassment and discrimination also are on the rise, according to the report. Roughly a quarter of women said that they experienced sexual harassment and 6% of men said they did, while 16% of women and 2% of men reported gender discrimination. Both were notably higher than in 2016, the report noted. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime. The Marine Corps could face another personnel drawdown as the next commandant looks for ways to pay for more modern equipment and training. The Marine Corps must conduct a "deliberate redesign of the force to meet the needs of the future," Lt. Gen. David Berger told lawmakers this week. That, he warned, could include personnel cuts as he pushes for expensive equipment resets with limited resources. "We will ... need to divest of our legacy equipment and legacy programs and also consider potential end strength reductions in order to invest in equipment modernization and necessary training upgrades," Berger said. One of Berger's biggest challenges as commandant, he added, will be keeping readiness levels high as the service pays for equipment upgrades amid constrained resources. The four-star select, who currently serves as head of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, was responding to written questions from members of Congress ahead of his Tuesday confirmation hearing. USNI News was the first to report on Berger's possible plans for personnel cuts. When asked if the Marine Corps was adequately sized, structured and resourced to respond to the types of near-peer threats laid out in the 2018 National Defense Strategy, Berger was clear in his response: It's not. Though he didn't specify what Marine communities could use additional personnel, the National Defense Strategy stresses the importance of combating cyber and information warfare threats. The Marine Corps' 2020 budget request also included more fund requests for infantry squad leaders, special operators and intelligence Marines. The Marine Corps' modernization efforts will come with a hefty price tag. Berger said the service must rapidly expand its robotics and autonomous vehicles at the same time it's investing in big-ticket items like the F-35, Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, amphibious combat vehicle and next-generation heavy-lift helicopters. "Our goal will always be not merely to meet new and emerging threats, but to maintain a margin of overmatch over potential adversaries," Berger said. The Marine Corps lost tens of thousands of leathernecks in recent years as it dropped down to about 182,100 personnel from a wartime high of 202,000. The service has since been authorized to expand up to about 186,000 Marines. Some of those new positions fall in the cyber community as the result of the Marine Corps Future Force 2025 analysis, which set the service up to respond to future threats. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Wednesday that the water on bases nationwide is safe to drink, but a deal has yet to be worked out on firefighting foam that could be polluting groundwater. "No one's drinking contaminated water at the over 400 sites in question," Shanahan said at a hearing of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. He said concerns raised by a September 2018 Government Accountability Office report on the firefighting foam used by Defense Department for decades, and the potential for runoff contaminating groundwater, are being addressed. "We no longer train with them [and] we no longer test with them," he said of the fire retardants. "The only use of them is in the event of a fire." Shanahan noted media reports that the DoD is pressing the Environmental Protection Agency for lower standards on the chemicals used in the firefighting foam. "We've agreed with the EPA on a common standard," he said. He did not specify what the common standard is but said the DoD was currently "in harmonization" with EPA standards. "We have the right standards," he said. The concerns center on the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS), highly fluorinated chemicals, in the firefighting foam, according to the 2018 GAO report. Shanahan was responding to questions from Rep. Betty McCollum, the Democratic-Farm-Labor Party representative from Minnesota, who referred to a detailed New York Times report in March that the DoD was pushing the EPA to adopt weaker standards for groundwater pollution. She asked Shanahan to clarify "what's going on with the EPA, what's going on at the Department of Defense with some chemicals known as PFAS?" Shanahan did not respond directly, but said that the health and well-being of service members and their families is a "number one priority" for the DoD. "Besides national security," the health of the force is "our No. 1 priority," he said. At a hearing in March of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, also pressed Shanahan on whether drinking water had been contaminated at Pease Air National Guard Base in her state. "No one knows what the long-term impacts of drinking that water is," Shaheen said. Shanahan gave assurances that he would "look into this matter," and said he was "accountable and responsible for the safety and security of our men and women." In a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in March, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, wrote of his "grave concerns regarding the delay in the finalization of EPA's groundwater cleanup guidelines" for PFAS substances. He said the guidelines had been held up since August at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Carper said he had learned that the reason for the delay was that the DoD, NASA and the Small Business Administration were "urging for the adoption of a much less stringent cleanup standard."' The GAO report last year said that the firefighting foam used at DoD installations could, at elevated levels, increase the risk of cancer or other health issues. The report said the DoD had identified 401 installations "with known or potential releases of these chemicals," and said that the department "took actions, like providing alternative drinking water, at 32 locations" as of August 2017. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Joseph V. Micallef is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker. Follow him on Twitter @JosephVMicallef. On April 21, a group of jihadists detonated suicide bombs in a coordinated attack on three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, the Shanghai-La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury, frequented by tourists. They also attacked three Catholic churches in the midst of holding Easter services in Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo, and the cities of Negombo in the north and Batticaloa in the east. As of April 29, the total casualties exceeded 350 people. Approximately 250 people were killed outright as a result of the explosions, and another 100 people have subsequently died from injuries suffered during the attack. An additional 600-plus people also sustained injuries in the explosions. Sri Lanka has a long history of terrorism activity that accompanied the civil war between the minority Hindu Tamil Tigers and the mostly Buddhist majority. Ironically, it was the Tamil Tigers that first used a suicide vest, sending young women into crowds of people to detonate their explosives. In 1991, a young Tamil Tiger woman detonated a suicide vest while she was adjacent to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, assassinating him. The civil war ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009. Of late, however, there has been rising tensions between Sri Lanka's small Muslim minority, about 10% of the population, and the island's Buddhist majority. During the civil war, hundreds of young Muslims were kidnapped and killed by the Tamil Tigers. Mosques in Kattankudy and Eravur were the scene of large massacres of more than 260 Muslims in 1990, and thousands of Muslims were forced to abandon their homes in northern towns that came under the control of the Tamil Tigers. Many have remained displaced, almost 30 years later. In 2018, the Sri Lankan government declared a national state of emergency after Buddhist Sinhalese groups in the central district of Kandy attacked a mosque, along with dozens of Muslim-owned businesses and private residences. In December 2018, an organization calling itself the National Thowheed Jamari (NTJ) came to prominence when its supporters were accused of attacking Buddhist shrines in the Kegalle district. The organization's name means National Monotheism Organization. The NTJ was formed in 2014 by militant Wahhabism preacher Mohamed Zahran. He is also known as Moulvi Zahran Hashim. The Tamil-speaking Imam was responsible for organizing religious gatherings, distributing videos and literature calling for a strict, literal interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah and Hadith. The Sunnah is the traditional social and legal customs and practices of the Islamic community, and the Hadith are the recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The two documents are an important source of Sharia or Islamic law. The NTJ is a breakaway from the larger Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamal (SLJT). That organization is also a hardline Islamist organization. It has been criticized by many, more moderate Sri Lankan Muslim organizations for promoting extremist, fundamentalist positions -- making mosque attendance compulsory, promoting Sharia law over Sri Lanka law, forcing women to cover their faces and to wear long robes rather than saris, engaging in the fundamentalist indoctrination of children and for inciting violence against Buddhist monks and monasteries. The group has often cited what it described as the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand by Buddhist groups. The SLJT disassociated itself from the NTJ following the Sri Lanka bombings. Following the attack, the Islamic State released a video through its AMAQ communications office that showed eight men standing under a black ISIS flag, declaring their loyalty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. All but one of the participants, identified as Mohamed Zahran, the NTJ's head, had their faces covered. Sri Lankan authorities claim that there were a total of nine suicide bombers, saying that eight of them have been identified and that one was a woman. The ISIS video identified seven attackers. It named the three jihadists who attacked the churches, using their nom de guerre, as Abu Hamza, Abu Khalil and Abu Mohammad. Three jihadists, identified as Abu Obeidah, Abu Barbara and Abu Moukhtar, were responsible for the attacks on the hotels. A seventh jihadist, identified as Abu Abdullah, was slated to detonate his bomb in the Taj Samudra hotel. His vest initially failed to detonate, however. It subsequently blew up outside a small hotel in a Colombo suburb, killing several police officers. Abu Abdullah, whose real name was Jameel Mohammed Abdul Latheef, was believed to have trained with ISIS operatives in Syria in for three to six months in 2014, where he learned how to make improvised explosive devices and conduct secure communications. He was sent back to Sri Lanka, supposedly, to organize a local affiliate of the Islamic State. In addition to its links with the Islamic State, NTJ is also believed to have close ties with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India (JMI), the Indian unit of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. The Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim, another Sri Lanka jihadists organization, is also suspected of having played a role in the bombings. Sri Lankan authorities have arrested 76 people suspected of being part of NTJ, or having materially assisted it. On April 27, Sri Lankan security forces clashed with militants from NTJ when they raided a militant safe house. Sixteen people, including six children, died during the raid. Three suicide bombers at the safe house blew themselves up. Also killed were Mohammad Zahran's father and two of his brothers. Since the bombing, considerable evidence has emerged that the Sri Lankan government had received numerous warnings, including one from the Indian government more than a month before, about the possibility of an attack. On April 29, ISIS issued a second video, this one featuring Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This was the first time that al-Baghdadi has appeared in an ISIS video since one in June 2014, in which he famously declared the creation of Islamic State. In addition to refuting claims that he had been killed, the video underscored the extent to which ISIS is embracing the Sri Lankan attacks as their own. In the video, al-Baghdadi claimed that the Sri Lanka attacks were retribution for the attack on the Islamic State's last stronghold of Baghuz. Sitting cross-legged with an AK-47 assault rifle at his side, a pose strongly reminiscent of one frequently taken by Osama bin Laden in al-Qaida videos, al-Baghdadi declared: "This is only part of the revenge awaiting the crusaders and their followers." He went on to assert that ISIS-inspired jihadists had already carried out 92 attacks across eight countries since the loss of Baghuz. Western intelligence agencies, however, have disputed the number. In the video, al-Baghdadi also referenced the overthrow of the presidents of Algeria and Sudan and the re-election of Israeli President Netanyahu to underscore that the video was current and that he is still very much alive. The Sri Lanka attacks have been cited as evidence not only that Islamic State is still active but that it is also growing in its international capabilities and sophistication -- specifically, that it's moving from working with lone wolves to working with packs of lone wolves. It is clear that Islamic State is still very much alive, as many intelligence professionals have warned since the fall of Baghuz. It does not, however, mark a change in how it interacts with jihadists around the world or how it conducts its operations. In the case of the Sri Lankan attacks, there are clear links between at least one of the suicide bombers and ISIS. However, this is not unusual. There were thousands of foreign fighters that trained and fought with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Many have returned home to train fellow jihadists, and to further radicalize jihadist sympathizers in their home countries. The Sri Lanka jihadists did demonstrate a significant degree of coordination, simultaneously attacking seven different targets and succeeding in detonating six different explosives within minutes of each other. Here again, however, this does not indicate any new ISIS capabilities. The 2015 Paris attacks involved six separate incidents, over the evening and early morning of Nov. 13 and 14, which began over about 35 minutes at six locations in central Paris. Likewise, in 2017, the Islamic State affiliate in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, took control over the Mindanao city of Marawi and held it hostage for five months, while Philippine government forces counterattacked. Both operations required a great degree of coordination among local militants. Even though both incidents involved jihadists who had spent time fighting for Islamic State, both operations were planned and carried out by local jihadists, working independently of the Islamic State. The Islamic State has always shown a great deal of operation opportunism in its tactics. It will endorse and take credit for the acts of lone wolves whose links to ISIS are limited to swearing allegiance to al-Baghdadi. Likewise, it will do the same for more elaborate operations where its links might be limited to having trained some of the participants in the past, even though it played no direct role in either planning or funding the attacks. In one sense, the Islamic State is evolving into a sort of jihadist franchisor where it provides the brand name and, in some cases, the training, without providing the capital or local management to carry out terrorist attacks, and then leverages the resulting publicity to further enhance its jihadist brand. In this regard, the Islamic State is evolving differently than al-Qaida -- becoming more decentralized while the latter still exerts a greater degree of central control over its affiliates. The Sri Lanka attacks do underscore, however, the vulnerability of churches to jihadist attacks. Attacks against Christian churches by ISIS-inspired jihadists have become increasingly frequent. In 2018, there were more than 80 attacks against Christian churches, which resulted in approximately 500 deaths and hundreds more injuries. In 2019, there have already been 15 attacks that have resulted in more than 360 deaths and around 1,000 injuries. The numbers increase even more dramatically if ISIS-inspired attacks against other religious groups are included. Churches are notoriously soft targets, invariably undefended and open, making them highly vulnerable to an attack. The attacks in Sri Lanka were clearly inspired by the Islamic State's jihadist ideology and carried out by militants who embraced and were affiliated with ISIS, even if it is unlikely that the attacks received any direct financial or other assistance from the group. It does underscore the continuing appeal of the Islamic State's jihadism and the fact that, notwithstanding its recent defeat in Syria and Iraq, it remains a powerful and highly persuasive force. Indeed, ISIS may be more dangerous as a franchisor of jihadism than it was as an armed state. -- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration. The Department of Veterans Affairs opposes three legislative proposals that would expand research on medical marijuana at the VA and give veterans access to the drug in states where it is legal. During a hearing Tuesday on eight VA health-related bills under consideration by Congress, VA officials told House lawmakers that as long as marijuana is illegal under federal law, the department cannot support legislation that promotes its role at the VA. "[The House Veterans Affairs Committee] can make strong proposals for us to move forward with recommendations of filling out forms and such but, in the end, we need to go back to the [Drug Enforcement Agency] and [Justice Department] for their opinion," said Larry Mole, chief consultant for population health at the VA. Three of the bills before the House Veterans Affairs health subcommittee relate to medical marijuana. One, the Veterans Equal Access Act, H.R. 1647, sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, would allow VA health providers to recommend medical marijuana to their veteran patients and fill out the necessary paperwork for them to enroll in state marijuana programs. Related content: Blumenauer, who has introduced the bill in every Congress since 2014, said that, for some veterans, marijuana and cannabis derivatives are lifesavers that keep them from using addictive medications such as opioids to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, seizures and glaucoma. Yet VA health care providers are not allowed to recommend it. "Opioids steal the lives of 115 Americans every day ... as veterans with PTSD, chronic pain and any number of ailments are looking for relief, lethal opioid overdoses among VA patients are almost twice the national average. We are doing something wrong," he said. Another bill, the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act, H.R. 712, would direct the VA to conduct a large-scale clinical trial on the effects of cannabis on conditions such as PTSD and chronic pain. Bill sponsor Rep. Lou Correa, D-California, said the research would examine the effectiveness of cannabis on various health conditions, as well as delivery methods. "It's time to do research. It's time for veterans to know what cannabis is good for and what cannabis is not good for," Correa said. A third, the Veterans Cannabis Use for Safe Healing Act, H.R. 2192, would protect veterans' benefits by prohibiting the VA from denying health care and compensation for veterans participating in a state medical marijuana program. Keita Franklin, the VA's national director of suicide prevention, said that while the department supports medical marijuana research and is currently involved in a trial for treating PTSD, it opposes the bills. According to Franklin, VA doctors would be subject to criminal prosecution if they recommended medical marijuana or made referrals to state agencies, as specified by DEA guidance. And Correa's bill, she said, would not follow standard practice in medical research. "Typically, a smaller early-phase trial would advance our knowledge and the benefits and risks regarding cannabis before moving to the expansive approach described in this legislation," she said. "Any trial involving human subjects must include an evaluation on the risks and the safety, and include the smallest number of participants to avoid putting the subjects at increased risk unnecessarily. For these reasons, we don't support this legislation." She added that the third piece of legislation is unnecessary because VA policy states that the department cannot deny benefits based on marijuana use, although VA physicians are allowed to tailor a patient's prescription medications based on whether they are using cannabis. Veterans advocates who testified expressed varying levels of support for the bills. Carlos Fuentes, director of national legislative service for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the VFW does not support the Veterans Equal Access bill because it doesn't think the VA should recommend unproven medical treatments, nor should it authorize a treatment for a veteran that would require the former service member to get it outside the VA, where they would be responsible for finding a quality product and paying for it. The VFW does, however, support VA research on cannabis. "VA's overreliance on opioids to treat chronic pain and other conditions has led to addiction and even deaths. To its credit ... VA has reduced the number of patients to whom it has prescribed opioids by 22 percent. Now, VA must expand research on the efficacy of nontraditional alternatives to opioids," Fuentes said. Joy Ilam, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, agreed. "We want to make sure there is no harm done. Research is the first step in doing that," Ilam said. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America research director Stephanie Mullen said the IAVA supports cannabis research and access to it. "It's past time for VA to catch up," Mullen said. "Veterans are suffering from their injuries today." Among the other bills and draft bills discussed at the hearing was one that seeks to expand complementary and alternative therapies and treatments at VA medical facilities, and another that would require the VA to report suicides and attempts that occur on VA campuses within a week of them happening. Franklin said the VA supports both proposals. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime. More than half of the military's repair and maintenance depots for major weapons systems are in poor condition, resulting in delays in getting assets from submarines to tanks back in the field, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Of the 21 depots that maintain, overhaul and repair complex weapons systems, 12 were listed in poor condition and operating with equipment past its expected service life, according to the 77-page GAO report, issued Monday. The result has been a "general decline in depot performance over the past 10 years" and delays in returning weapons systems to the field for operations and training, the report states. In addition, "the military services can't determine how much of the decline is due to facility and equipment problems," according to the GAO, Congress' audit, evaluation and investigative arm. The report makes 13 recommendations that mainly would require the service secretaries and the commandant of the Marine Corps to develop methods for tracking when depot conditions or the condition of the aging equipment used at the depots cause maintenance delays. The Defense Department concurred with 12 of the recommendations but "did not concur with our recommendation that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment develop an approach for managing service depot investments," the GAO said. The report states that poor conditions at the facilities "can make the overall repair process less efficient, as maintainers perform workarounds that can increase maintenance time and costs." "Because the depots are generally operating with equipment past its expected useful life, the depots may be incurring costs related to operating aging equipment, including performing equipment repairs, procuring spare parts, and expending labor hours to repair equipment while at the same time delaying mission-related work," the report adds. The report cites the following examples: At the Albany, Georgia, Production Plant, a shortage of paint booths results in vehicles remaining unpainted and stored outside, but exposure can lead to rusting that increases maintenance time and cost. At the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, officials had to re-inspect 10 years' of parts made in a single furnace, after it was discovered that the furnace's controls were reading incorrectly. At the Corpus Christi, Texas, Army Depot, engines were being moved across five miles of facilities to conduct repairs. "According to officials at the depot, this is the result of years of incremental construction that did not allow them to optimize their workflow," the report states. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Never Surrender: WWII in the Movies is a 75-movie series airing on Turner Classic Movies in recognition of the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The series runs on Thursdays in May and June. TCM host Ben Mankiewicz visited the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to film the channels trademark introductions with the museums staff and noted WWII historian Lynne Olson. He also talked with us about the series and TCMs unique relationship with its viewers. The month of May is devoted to movies about life and sacrifice on the homefront. June features the WWII combat movies that we know and love and quite a few obscure titles that deserve a first (or second) look. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon star in Mrs. Miniver. (MGM) Thursday, May 2 TCM Spotlight: WWII Homefront - Keep the Home Fires Burning First three films introduced by Nick Mueller, president and CEO Emeritus of the National World War II Museum. 8:00 PM Since You Went Away (1944) 11:00 PM Mrs. Miniver (1942) 1:30 AM Happy Land (1943) 3:00 AM The Human Comedy (1943) 5:15 AM The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) Porter Hall, Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken star in The Miracle of Morgans Creek. (Paramount) Thursday, May 9 TCM Spotlight: WWII Homefront - Comedy & Romance First three films introduced by Rob Citino, Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum. 8:00 PM The More the Merrier (1943) 10:00 PM The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) 12:00 AM The Clock (1945) 1:45 AM Miracle in the Rain (1956) 3:45 AM Class of '44 (1973) 5:30 AM The Very Thought of You (1944) 7:15 AM Janie (1944) John Hutton, Bette Davis and John Garfield star in Hollywood Canteen. (Warner Bros.) Thursday, May 16 TCM Spotlight: WWII Homefront -The War Effort First three films introduced by Lynne Olson, bestselling author of acclaimed WWII histories Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War and Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941. 8:00 PM Hollywood Canteen (1944) 10:30 PM Tender Comrade (1943) 12:30 AM Millions Like Us (1943) 2:30 AM Air Raid Wardens (1943) 3:45 AM The War Against Mrs. Hadley (1942) 5:15 AM The Gentle Sex (1943) 7:00 AM Rationing (1943) 8:45 AM Main Street Today (1944) Deborah Kerr and Van Heflin star in The End of the Affair. (Columbia) Thursday, May 23 TCM Spotlight: WWII Homefront - Under Attack First three films introduced by Rob Citino, Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum. 8:00 PM Hope and Glory (1987) 10:15 PM The End of the Affair (1955) 12:15 AM Journey For Margaret (1942) 1:45 AM Tonight and Every Night (1945) 3:30 AM The Lion Has Wings (1939) Harold Russell and Dana Andrews star in The Best Years of Our Lives. (RKO) Thursday, May 30 TCM Spotlight: WWII Homefront -Coming Home First three films introduced by Gregory Cooke, a filmmaker whose documentary Choc'late Soldiers from the USA examines the experience of the 140,000 black soldiers stationed in Great Britain during the war. 8:00 PM The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 11:00 PM Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) 1:00 AM Till the End of Time (1946) 3:00 AM Pride of the Marines (1945) 5:15 AM The Enchanted Cottage (1945) Robert Mitchum stars in The Longest Day. (20th Century Fox) Thursday, June 6 TCM Spotlight: WWII Combat Films 5:30 AM In Which We Serve (1942) 7:30 AM Screaming Eagles (1956) 9:00 AM Breakthrough (1950) 11:00 AM Fighter Squadron (1948) 1:00 PM 36 Hours (1964) 315 PM Dunkirk (1958) 5:45 PM Battle of Britain (1969) 75th Anniversary of D-Day / War in Europe Next three films introduced by Rob Citino, Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum. 8:00 PM The Longest Day (1962) 11:15 PM Overlord (1975) 1:00 AM A Bridge Too Far (1977) 4:00 AM Battleground (1949) 6:15 AM Attack (1956) John Agar and John Wayne star in The Sands of Iwo Jima. (Republic Pictures) Thursday, June 13 TCM Spotlight: WWII Combat Films 5:45 AM December 7th (1943) 7:15 AM Objective, Burma! (1945) 9:45 AM Air Force (1943) 12:00 PM Bataan (1943) 2:00 PM Back to Bataan (1945) 4:00 PM Flying Leathernecks (1951) 6:00 PM Operation Pacific (1951) War in the Pacific Next three films introduced by Seth Paridon, staff historian at the National World War II Museum. 8:00 PM Sands of Iwo Jima (1950) 10:00 PM Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) 12:45 AM Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) 3:15 AM Destination Tokyo (1943) 5:45 AM They Were Expendable (1945) Steve McQueen stars in The Great Escape. (United Artists) Thursday, June 20 TCM Spotlight: WWII Combat Films 6:00 AM Attack on the Iron Coast (1968) 8:00 AM They Who Dare (1954) 10:00 AM Darby's Rangers (1958) 12:15 PM Merrill's Marauders (1962) 2:15 PM Counter-Attack (1945) 4:00 PM The Purple Plain (1955) 6:00 PM Cry Havoc (1944) Behind Enemy Lines Next three films introduced by Seth Paridon, staff historian at the National World War II Museum. 8:00 PM The Great Escape (1963) 11:00 PM Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 2:00 AM The Guns of Navarone (1961) 4:45 AM Eight Iron Men (1952) Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy plays himself in To Hell and Back. (Universal) Thursday, June 27 6:00 AM Tank Force (1958) 8:00 AM Bitter Victory (1957) 10:00 AM The Hill (1965) 12:15 PM The Way Ahead (1944) 2:00 PM Sahara (1943) 4:00 PM The Gallant Hours (1960) 6:00 PM The Wings of Eagles (1957) Biopics Next three films introduced by Lynne Olson, bestselling author of acclaimed WWII histories Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War and Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941. 8:00 PM To Hell and Back (1955) 10:00 PM The Story of GI Joe (1945) 12:00 AM Hell to Eternity (1960) 2:30 AM PT 109 (1963) 5:00 AM Above and Beyond (1952) This article by originally appeared in Proceedings. I could not believe my ears. My husband, chief of staff at Naval Surface Force Atlantic, was headed into a meeting. I had called, and the front desk put me through to him so I could tell him that I was short of breath and unable to walk to the bathroom -- I thought it was a heart attack. His answer, "Honey, this is a really important meeting, call 911 and I'll be home as soon as it's over." I said nothing, just started to cry. Then I heard him crying too, "What the hell was I thinking -- I'm on my way." He made it home and we got through it, as we did six deployments, cancer, arthritis, and a number of other life challenges that are probably not out of the ordinary for a 25-year Navy marriage. But what should be out of the ordinary is the expectation the Navy places on "career at all costs," including family and -- as evidenced by the upward trend in suicide -- life itself. The Navy has a hard time seeing its own flaws. Recently, I read two stories that are profoundly related, but seemed to ignore each other completely. The first was titled "Fatigue and Training Gaps Spell Disaster at Sea" , and the second was titled "Navy Sees Sudden Rise in Suicide Rates Since 2015 --Unclear on Causes." Unclear? Really? The display of ignorance is stunning. The suicide of Vice Admiral Scott Stearney in Bahrain November 2018 should be a wakeup call, but just in case, good morning Navy -- consider this an intervention. You have a stress problem. My husband had been retired for about a month when I looked at him and said, "It's nice to have my John back!" He asked what I meant and I told him I that he was much less stressed than he had been for the past several years, when I was worried about not only his physical health, but also his mental health. He was so immersed in multiple sea tours and a tough shore tour that he had no idea the effect it had on him -- and on us. Certainly, other professions have inherent stress, but few, if any, require the sacrifices that military life does: multiple deployments, separation during training events and travel, and the pressure of deadlines, career progression, and selection boards that seem to define a Navy person's self-worth. I remember several years ago when John came home despondent--an acquaintance of his had taken his own life. "I just saw him a few days ago," he said, "and he did seem down. I know he is a geographic bachelor, having left his family in D.C. while he completed a commodore tour on the waterfront. He had shared that a couple of the ships in his squadron had done poorly at INSURV and made the comment that he thought he was on the fast track to flag, but the calls had stopped coming." My husband felt that he failed his friend by missing the signs of stress, but I saw things differently. Immersed in the same environment, it seemed "the way things have to be" when in a leadership position. No display of weakness would be tolerated, and seeking help for depression or mental illness almost certainly would result in the end of most leadership tours and command positions -- and thus a career. The Navy claims to be family friendly and acknowledges the stress of leadership and being at sea, but pays lip service to the problem. For example, a ship was on deployment and the executive officer (XO) received a call from home about a personal matter that left him devastated. He fell into a depressed state and refused to leave his cabin for days. The ship's corpsman gave him a shot to knock him out for a couple of days, but it didn't help. The commanding officer (CO) was now faced with a dilemma. The XO was still eligible but not yet selected for command at sea, and he was afraid that a report of his condition would result in the end of his career. The CO decided to send him home and not tell anyone, under the provision that he would seek professional help immediately upon his arrival. He was flown off on emergency leave, and no report was made; the department heads stepped up and covered his duties and the ship completed nearly two months on deployment minus the XO. Why did the CO make this decision? Because he had no faith that the Navy would treat this individual without stigma or prejudice. Also from the U.S. Naval Institute: There are other Navy policies that conflict with the narrative that mental health is treated the same way any other illness. Scientific advances in antidepressant medications have made treatment of mild depression more successful, especially when combined with counseling. However, in many parts of the Navy, such as nuclear operations and Master at Arms, sailors can lose their clearance or designator if they are taking antidepressants -- even on shore duty. As a result, it is easy to imagine that a number of operators suffer from untreated depression, potentially creating a more dangerous situation. I remember calling my husband on deployment as we normally did on Sundays and he asked why I was on speaker phone. For two Sundays I told him "no reason" but by the third week he figured out that something was amiss. Finally, I admitted that I had blacked out in the commissary and fell, hitting my head and breaking my left elbow and right wrist. I had not told him because I knew that he was the one person on his ship who could not come home. In this case, the Navy did take care of its own -- his boss's wife, who happened to be a nurse, stayed with me for several weeks. But where was the Navy? It was "every man for himself" while the ship was gone, but there was no infrastructure in place to care for those left behind. And this is my perspective as an officer's wife -- there is even less support for junior personnel. So, Navy, what can you do? First, get outside help. If you are immersed in the stresses of military life, you immediately will fall into making excuses and justifications -- I know it because I have seen it over and over. I watched the work of two Navy civilians, one a research scientist and sleep expert and the other leading the Navy's Operational Stress Control team, fight relentlessly to get the Navy's attention about the vicious cycle of stress, lack of sleep, and suicide for over a decade. They gained real traction after two deadly collisions, but so often they were marginalized and ignored by Navy leaders. I recall when my husband participated in a RAND workshop on "Sleep in the Military" and was the only operational active-duty representative in a group of more than 100. Navy leaders can't see the problem because they ARE the problem. Here are some things that might help: Set up a senior mentorship program where leaders can seek advice anonymously from someone with a similar background but not in their chain of command. Make mental health checkups part of routine preventive medical treatment--not a hotline, but a program that is part of their annual physical--for service members and their spouses. Incorporate operational stress control training into the training cycle and give it the same importance as shooting guns or running engineering drills. Provide free on-base child care for ALL shipboard sailors. You care about families? Put your money where your mouth is. Mandate a four-day workweek for ships in homeport -- every Friday off. Since the Navy will never get under the 100-hour work week at sea, this step will even things out (almost) and provide more family time. The work still will get done -- trust me and trust your Sailors. Designate a pool of former COs and XOs who can jump in when a commander has a personal emergency, then let them return when the issue is resolved. As much as the Navy likes to deny it, a ship is a ship. I am a German citizen, so my perspective is different. My German Navy friends used to joke with my husband during his exchange tour, "In the US Navy you are either the future CNO or a complete failure." Over there, naval officers were happy to serve out their career as a mid grade officer or enlisted in a decent job, contributing but with no chance of promotion. Imagine that in the SWO community! While Tricare has its challenges, overall it has been good to me, but it still pales in comparison with German health care. In Germany, a stressed-out executive has access to a "Kur" -- a health-focused retreat at a professional facility for three to four weeks, designed to return balance to his life. I recall once when my husband wanted to take off two consecutive weeks and was denied, despite having three times this much leave on the books, because "No one can be gone for so long without paying a price come FITREP time." Germans also take vacation in large blocks, usually three to four weeks at a time, with the basis that it takes this long to truly unwind, enjoy the vacation, and spin back up before returning. These ideas would represent foundational changes to Navy culture, but such a change is overdue. The article on suicide mentioned that the Navy has revamped its suicide prevention policies and practices, but it is only addressing the symptoms, not the cause. The Vice Chief of Naval Operations mandated ten consecutive days leave for flag officers and "hopes that others will follow suit," but even that is not enough -- last time I checked, ten consecutive days includes two weekends, which should be four days off anyway. Hello: Admirals who do not think their organization will survive without them for a week are part of the problem. While the Navy touts programmatic changes after the collisions in 2017, they do not address a culture that demands perfection, accepts family separation and high stress as part of the job, and stigmatizes those who seek help. Why? For the same reason the connection between the two articles is as invisible to the Navy as it is crystal clear to an outsider -- blindness and denial. Hello Navy: for the sake of the sailors and leaders that need help NOW to prevent another 32 suicides this year, don't make excuses -- get help. Since 1873, the U.S. Naval Institute has championed intellectual debate on key issues for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. For more go to usni.org. Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, sign up for a free Military.com membership and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox. Theres still time to cast your vote for our search for Michigans Most Iconic Restaurant. You have until Friday May 3 at noon to vote for your favorites in one of our six polls. For this search, we are looking for those classic, special occasion spots, that have been open for decades, and yet remain a favorite to this day. Places that are steeped in history, either through their historical location or their long standing menu, and that are destinations for generations of diners. Spots that serve up delicious dishes that you can only get there, or places that are just beloved by the local regulars for always serving up quality food through the years. These are the places you go to celebrate a birthday or an anniversary, toast your new promotion, or that you visit every year as a family tradition. We got close to 200 nominations across the state, and divided the state into six regional polls for you to vote in. After the polls close, our Michigans Best team of Amy Sherman and John Gonzalez will hit the road, and taste their way across the state. Well be posting stories from these locally owned gems, and sharing our picks for the best of the best over the next few weeks. Click on the link below to vote for Michigans Most Iconic Restaurant. Want to know whats happening behind the scenes? We are always posting videos, photos and more on our Social Media channels. Here's how to find us: @mlivemibest on Twitter @mlivemibest on Instagram Also, be sure to follow our new MI Best Facebook Page, which you can check out here. If you've tried a Michigan's Best pick, let us know! Use the hashtag #ItriedMiBest In addition: Amy Sherman is on Twitter @amyonthetrail, as well as Facebook and Instagram @amyonthetrail. John Gonzalez is on Twitter @michigangonzo, as well as Facebook and Instagram @MichiganGonzo. An estimated $53,000 worth of marijuana weighing out to about 15 pounds was recently seized at the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office reports in a Thursday, May 2 news release that it seized the marijuana in two different shipments during special operations. Related: CBP officers in Detroit see 60% rise in unreported money seized from travelers Back on April 26, officers stationed at the Blue Water Bridge selected two shipments on Canadian mail trucks that were labeled as bed clothes for an inspection at its examination station in Marysville. Upon inspection of the packages, vacuum sealed bundles of Marijuana were discovered, the federal agency writes in the release. The packages were tested and revealed a positive finding for the properties of Marijuana and were seized under federal law. #BorderSecurity U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers in #PortHuron have seized nearly 15lbs of #marijuana from a Canadian mail shipment. Read more here: https://t.co/xnZsd8Pekl pic.twitter.com/CpqULWIpkX CBP Great Lakes (@CBPGreatLakes) May 2, 2019 Related: Border agents seize more than 1,600 pounds of pot at Michigan-Canada bridge The days of buying a gallon of milk only to have to drink it in 10 days may soon be a thing of the past. An Australian food company says it has patented a process that will keep refrigerated milk fresh for up to 60 days, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The company -- Naturo -- has worked with food safety officials in Australia to ensure the process meets the current standards that require milk to be pasteurized. This has the potential to provide a very long shelf life fresh milk product that will allow fresh milk to go to markets that may have been previously unachievable with regular pasteurization," said Andrew Wilson, a compliance manager for Dairy Food Safety Victoria which regulates the dairy industry in Victoria, Australia. Typically, milk is pasteurized by heating it to a high temperature to kill any bacteria that could cause sickness. The new process achieves that without heating the milk up. Naturo CEO Jeff Hastings says the process was developed over the course of five years and verified their process over the last two years. Hastings says the new process will make milk more accessible to areas of the world that have trouble --either geographically or financially -- making milk available at an affordable price. By increasing the shelf life of a product it certainly opens up opportunities to different markets, Hastings said."Freights quite expensive by air. I know Norcos exported milk to China, fresh drinking milk, and its quite a difficult process with the short shelf life of the product." While he didnt detail exactly whats different about this new process, Hastings said its not as harsh on the milk and gives a purer flavor. It provides a far more gentle and minimal processing technique that does not rely on heat to kill the bugs, if you like, in the milk that is at the core of pasteurization, Mr Hastings said before going on to say Its got the taste of that old raw milk, that milk from the vat. Flavor to it. The Queensland government committed $250,000 to help scale the operation and Hastings says hes scouting sites for a production facility. The first facility would be capable of producing 10 million liters of milk per year. Military service members around the globe are receiving some unexpected sweet treats thanks to a Metro Detroit dentist office. The doctors at Berkman & Shapiro Orthodontics in Commerce Township invited local Girl Scout troops to come to their office with at least five scouts in uniform. If they did that, the office would buy two cases of cookies from each troop. Thats amounted to around 1,000 boxes to be shipped to men and women serving overseas, and the office is still buying cookies. 'Cookies for Courage has allowed us to combine our love of community involvement with our ability to give back in a meaningful way, said Dr. Lainie Margulis Shapiro. Weve had a blast meeting Girls Scouts of all ages, from kindergarteners to high schoolers. Through our interactions with them, we hope that weve been able to show them a bit about what we do as orthodontists and hopefully have even inspired a few future career choices. I have such wonderful memories of being a Girl Scout when I was a kid, so the Cookies for Courage program has been especially meaningful for me. The boxes of cookies theyve purchased will be sent to service members in the Middle East, Japan, Italy, training bases and VA hospitals, along with Thule Air Base in Greenland, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Some cookies have already been sent, with many more boxes on the way. So far, troops from Canton, Commerce Twp., Brighton, Northville, Wixom, Warren, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield, Clarkston, Berkley and other cities have participated in Cookies for Courage. My troop loved visiting the office and selling so many boxes," said Girl Scout Abby Berkheiser, 14, of Commerce Troop 70451. "We earned our Troops-to-Troops badge because of it, too! Girl Scouts can still come to the office to sell cookies for a couple more weeks. Berkman + Shapiro Orthodontics is located at 8898 Commerce Road, #5a in Commerce Twp. The stock of medical marijuana products at licensed Michigan businesses will soon change, as a result of new guidance from state officials. Effective immediately, licensed medical marijuana provisioning centers can no longer stock their shelves with products grown by caregivers, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency announced Thursday in a press release. Licensed shops can only buy from state-licensed growers and processors. Caregivers, however, will be allowed to sell to state-licensed growers and processors -- who will be required to test the product and enter it into the states tracking system. The switch away from the illegal supply of caregiver weed to the regulated market was supposed to occur April 1, but was delayed for a month due to a barrage of lawsuits filed against the state in a separate but entangled issue over the ability of unlicensed pot shops to operate. Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello issued his orders two days ago -- which allow unlicensed pot shops to stay open until 60 days after officials decide on their license applications. Borrello left the issue of caregiver product up to the Marijuana Regulatory Agency to decide. Now the embattled medical marijuana market will switch over to regulated product as its main source. Corporate mega-growers have criticized the use of caregiver marijuana for the past five months, as it has tested positive for E. coli, Salmonella, mold, lead and other heavy metals. No illnesses have been reported to the state from its use. Licensed growers have also complained that competition from caregivers is hurting their business. In turn, patients and caregivers have lashed out against the corporate growers. They claim mega growers arent manufacturing the medicinal products that they need and are only focused on products that recreational users will want. Jerry Millen, owner of a Walled Lake licensed provisioning center, predicted the market will not respond well as a result of the states latest regulatory action. Im afraid this is going to make the black market explode 100-fold, Milen said. Caregivers wont be keen to start new business relationships with the same licensed growers that insulted their products last week, Millen said. Instead, caregivers will likely flood the unlicensed pot shops that the state has allowed to open with their product -- a black market with lower prices and more medicinal products that patients will likely seek out, Millen said. Michelle Donovan, a lawyer with Butzel Long who sued the state over the caregiver supply issue, also predicted a surge in the black market as a result of the states action. Its going to allow the caregivers to sell their products directly to the dispensary centers that dont have their state license, Donovan said. Do I want to drop mine off and pay to get it tested, or do I go down the street? -- 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. YPSILANTI, MI -- A St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish priest in Ypsilanti has resigned amid claims he sexually harassed a female colleague, the Catholic Diocese of Lansing says. Rev. Robert Robbenbuck was placed on medical leave in February. The Lansing Diocese announced Roggenbucks resignation April 1. After his departure on Feb. 13, 2019, in the course of a diocesan inquiry at the parish, an adult female coworker made a credible claim of sexual harassment against him, the Lansing Diocese said. Rev. Roggenbuck has not been accused of harming any minors. While no crime has been alleged, the Diocese of Lansing has reported this claim to the Michigan Attorney General. Initiated by former Attorney General Bill Schuette, Attorney General Dana Nessels is continuing a probe into alleged priest sex abuse across Michigans seven Dioceses. Details of the behavior that led to Roggenbucks resignation werent revealed. All diocesan staff are bound by a code of conduct requiring all priests, employees and lay ministers to uphold Catholic values as they lead the faithful to be more perfect disciples of Jesus Christ, the Diocese said. The Lansing Diocese in March announced that Rev. Patrick Egan of Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor Township had his priestly faculties removed" related to inappropriate sexual behavior with an adult male. A Saginaw priest, Robert Deland, was sentenced last month to between two and 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury and gross indecency between males. Deland was found not guilty of attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in a separate case. MANCHESTER, MI - A Grass Lake man will serve three years of probation after being accused in a childs rape. Steven Hahne, 51, was sentenced Thursday, April 25 after pleading no contest to two counts of third-degree child abuse in March. The decision was met with anger by a fellow defendant in the courtroom, the so-called Detroit freezer mom Mitchelle Blair, who yelled Pedophile a-- b---h, at Hahne as she was removed from the room. Blair killed her own children and hid their bodies in a freezer. She was back in court for assaults on guards in prison. Hahne was originally charged in June 2018 with first-degree criminal sexual conduct of a child under 13 years old for an incident in 2014 or 2015 in the Manchester area, court records show. A plea agreement was difficult to reach, but was eventually executed so the victim wouldnt have to testify at trial, Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Amy Reiser said at the time. Chief Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Steve Hiller echoed the concerns for the child in a later phone interview. "There's a lot of things that go into these decisions and sometimes the right thing to do is to make an agreement that you might not make in every case," he said. The rape allegations came to light in early 2018 after the child, now a teen, attempted to commit suicide, her mother said during the Thursday hearing. "You have taken her joy," she said. The child was emotional when she testified at an August 2018 preliminary examination to the rape and to allegations Hahne burned her in a previous incident of abuse, according to transcripts. Michael Vincent, Hahnes Ypsilanti-based attorney, questioned the girls credibility, due to mental health concerns, and raised questions about the girls issues with Hahne as a disciplinarian. The Ann Arbor News does not publish the names of victims of sexual assault, except in rare cases. Hahne declined to speak at his sentencing. Vincent on Tuesday, April 30 said the plea deal was a hard-fought, fair resolution to a volatile case. He and his client wouldve fought the original charge 'til the very end, he said. I just think it would be a very difficult trial for everybody and for the prosecutors, he said, later adding: Im glad my client does not have to go through a trial and Im glad this young lady doesnt have to go through a trial. First-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by up to life in prison, and at least 25 years behind bards. Third-degree child abuse is punishable by up to two years in prison. Hahne will not have to register as a sex offender. However, he cannot live with or care for minor children, other than family, and will have to undergo any sex offender treatment referred by his probation officer, court records show. He must also complete community service. ANN ARBOR, MI - A pair of University of Michigan alums have earned Tony Award nominations. Dominique Morisseau and Celia Keenan-Bolger, who both graduated from the UM School of Music, Theater & Dance in 2000, earned nominations for the 73rd annual awards ceremony that takes place June 9. Keenan-Bolger earned her nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her work in To Kill a Mockingbird. She plays the role of Scout in the Broadway adaptation of Harper Lees book by Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin. She was joined by Chelsea native Jeff Daniels, who also earned a nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Atticus Finch. Morisseau is nominated for Best Book of a Musical for Aint Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations. Last fall, she was named a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. Morisseau also is the recipient of a Stavis Playwright Award, NAACP Image Award, Spirit of Detroit Award, Weissberger Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, TEER Spirit Trailblazer Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, the Samuel French Award for Impact & Activism in the Theatre Community, Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Prize for promotion of human rights (Blood at the Root), Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama and Obie Award. A complete list of nominations can be found here. FLINT, MI -- Flint water prosecutors made several incorrect statements in a motion filed in the criminal case against former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon last week, other attorneys for the state Department of Attorney General claimed in a new court filing Wednesday, May 1. In a notice of intervention filed in the criminal case against Lyon in Genesee Circuit Court, an assistant attorney general says the motion filed last week by the the Flint water prosecution team led by Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud was not a full and complete picture of procedures used to facilitate discovery in the criminal cases pending against Lyon and seven other current and former city and state officials facing criminal charges related to the water crisis. Hammouds motion for stay, set to be considered by Judge Joseph Farah on Friday, May 3, requested a six-month delay in the Lyon case for a number of reasons, including the recent discovery of millions of pages of Flint water documents in the basement of a state-owned building. The filing by the Department of Attorney General takes issue with that and other statements in Hammouds motion for stay. The solicitor general and attorneys involved in Flint water prosecutions work on one side of a conflict wall in the Attorney Generals office -- an arrangement designed to avoid conflicts of interest with other state attorneys, including Attorney General Dana Nessel, who have represented the state in other legal matters related to Flint water in civil cases or who have defended the actions of state offices and employees in civil cases. The potentially tangled relationship is described in detail in the 23-page notice of intervention by the Department of Attorney General, which includes nearly 400 pages of exhibits. The new court filing says incomplete or inaccurate statements in Hammouds motion for stay include: An allegation that the Attorney Generals Office took direction from attorneys for Lyon on what documents the departments clients should produce in response to investigative subpoenas filed by former special prosecutor Todd Flood. An allegation that the Attorney Generals Office concealed millions of responsive documents from them in a basement at the states Joint Operations Center. An allegation that the Attorney Generals Office failed to respond to investigative subpoenas issued by Flood. An allegation that the Attorney Generals Office represented that phone data did not exist when it did exist. An allegation that the Attorney Generals Office was complicit in an alleged destruction of evidence. An allegation that the Attorney Generals Office produced millions of pages of documents in a non-searchable format. The (Hammoud) motion leaves out important parts of the history between the (two sides of the conflict wall), Wednesdays notice of intervention says, and casts those not working on Flint water cases in the Attorney Generals office in a negative light. A spokeswoman for the Flint water prosecution team and Hammoud did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesdays court filing, which does not take a position on whether Farah should grant the motion to stop the Lyon case. While intervention in these circumstances is highly unusual, the (Attorney Generals office) believes that it is critical that this Court be provided with a full and complete picture of the procedures utilized to facilitate the discovery of relevant information over the course of the (Flint water) criminal investigation, the notice of intervention says. The filing is only intended to bring the information to the judges attention and doesnt require a ruling. This brief is intended to help inform the Courts decision to the extent that it is based, in any part, on the past conduct of (the Attorney Generals office) in producing information relevant to the criminal investigation, the notice says. It is also intended to show that the allegations of misconduct against assistant attorney generals are unsupported. Attorneys for Lyon have characterized the motion to postpone the case as a stall tactic. The stay request is worse than meritless; the motion invites the Court to rescue the prosecution from its own teams dysfunction, all at the expense of Mr. Lyon ..." Lyons attorneys said in its own court filing this week. The prosecution (also) sought a delay in the start of the preliminary examination (for Lyon) because it was then -- as it is now -- unprepared. Chip Chamberlain, an attorney for Lyon, said in an email to The Journal Wednesday that the representations by the Department of Attorney General are consistent with our understanding of the discovery process, which was handled by honorable career public servants. The Solicitor Generals representations are deeply troubling, because they appear designed to prejudice our client without recognition of the hard work of others who worked hard to keep politics out of the process, Chamberlains statement says. FLINT TWP, MI -- A job fair is set for this weekend to fill spots at the new Wahlburgers restaurant set to open in Flint Township. The job fair is scheduled from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5 at the restaurant to open in the Outdoor Village at Genesee Valley Center, 3341 S. Linden Road. The Boston-based restaurant chain owned by actors Mark and Donnie Wahlberg and their chef brother, Paul, previously selected a vacant 3,912-square-foot storefront between Barnes and Nobles and Bar Louie. The announcement came in July 2018 during a presentation that included a video featuring Mark Wahlberg discussing the plan. The Flint Township located is expected to open by June, according to Cindy Froheip, marketing director for Genesee Valley Center. In a FaceTime appearance for the announcement, Wahlberg said Flint is a place hes always looked toward in terms of a new location. "I want to be in Flint. I want to be in communities where people work really hard, they got love for their community," he said. "It's all about working together and celebrating and spreading the love. I'm so excited. I can't wait." Antonino Cutraro, a managing partner and construction director for Wahlburgers, previously said the new location is expected to employ between 60-70 people. Wahlberg, who has starred in dozens of films, including Fear, Ted, Boogie Nights, The Fighter, and 2007s The Departed, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, spoke of a possible Flint restaurant during an April 2018 visit to the Taylor Wahlburgers location. Weve been talking about Lansing, Ann Arbor ... I like Flint, too. Ive been pushing these guys at an opportunity in Flint. Weve been working on it, he told reporters in April 2018. Michigan has so much to offer. It really is about the people. I would love to put a big, beautiful Wahlburgers right in the middle of Flint. Two additional Wahlburgers previously opened in Michigan, including the August 2016 opening in Detroits Greektown and the April 2018 opening of a restaurant on Penn Street in Taylor. Another Wahlburgers is in the works for Royal Oak. I cant wait for me, my brother Paul, my brother Donnie to actually be there, open the restaurant, said Mark Wahlberg, adding When we come, were there, were in it. Ask the people of Detroit in Greektown, Taylor. Wahlberg has spent quite a bit of time in Michigan over the years for the filming of Transformers movies, as well as promoting the restaurants, and a surprise visit to Beaumont Childrens Hospital to meet with patients. Michigan is my home away from home. I fell in love with Michigan when I was making a movie there and you know what, so many great things happening and just to be part of it is absolutely amazing, Wahlberg said. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Two baby monkeys with Albert Einstein-like hair chase each other around at John Ball Zoo exploring their habitat. The monkeys, cotton-top Tamarins, are still learning how to navigate on their own. They were born just five weeks ago on March 28, the first babies to their parents, Kevin and Lilo. The monkeys, native to Colombia in South America, are endangered and part of the Species Survival Plan breeding programs in accredited zoos. According to the zoo, there are only about 6,000 left in the wild. Originally triplets, one of the monkeys died only a few weeks into life. He was rejected by the parents and the zookeepers cared for the tiny monkey until he passed. It is uncommon for adult cotton-top tamarins to care for more than two babies as it is difficult for the mother to nurse more than two. The two surviving monkeys are doing well and starting to explore their habitat on their own. John Ball Zoo is located on Fulton Avenue, one mile west of downtown Grand Rapids. The zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays in May and 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. on weekends. KENT COUNTY, MI A Grand Rapids man who was shot by police during a 2017 drug raid has filed a federal lawsuit against Kent County and the sheriffs deputy who shot him. Yusef Phillips, 41, who was shot in the chest outside of a drug stash house, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. He is serving 20 years in federal prison for his role in a major drug operation that brought cocaine and heroin from California to West Michigan. The government said the drug ring brought over 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 grams of heroin to Grand Rapids and Benton Harbor every two or three weeks. Phillips was shot with a rifle in the Sept. 3, 2017, raid in Grand Rapids. He was in a Grand Rapids apartment parking lot when he was shot by sheriffs Deputy Andrew Hinds, a member of the sheriffs Tactical Apprehension and Confrontation Team that was helping federal agents execute a series of search warrants, authorities said. The tactical team had been on-call over the course of three weeks while U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arranged high-risk, night raids with suspects known to carry firearms. Phillips was not armed when he was shot. Hinds said Phillips turned toward police, crouched and reached toward his waistband, police reports showed. I believed he posed an immediate threat," he said. Hinds was cleared of criminal responsibility but should not have shot Phillips, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker determined last year. "There is no evidence presented here that would support any conclusion other than Deputy Hinds fired because he feared for his safety, Becker said. "It was incorrect, but that does not change the analysis, Becker said. He said that Hinds was clearly wrong in believing that Mr. Phillips movements indicated a threat to him and other members of his team. Mr. Phillips had nothing more than a set of car keys in his hand. It is extremely fortunate that this mistake did not cost Mr. Phillips his life. However, it is not for us with the benefit of hindsight to state what could have been done, or what errors were made. Hinds was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting but returned to regular duty with no discipline after he was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the prosecutor. Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young declined to comment on pending litigation, a spokesman said. The shooting happened outside of Burtons Landing Apartments on Whispering Way Drive SE. Phillips, who filed the lawsuit on his own behalf, said he was unaware of police presence in the dark parking lot. He said he was walking to his car with both hands in plain sight. (N)one of the law enforcement officers made their presence known and were hidden in the shadows when the Plaintiff was suddenly shot in the chest with a rifle bullet, Phillips wrote. He fell to the pavement and was handcuffed while bleeding profusely, he said. He was in extreme pain and thought he would die. He included the prosecutors statement in his complaint. Phillips accused police of using excessive force and unjustified deadly force. He has asked for $10 million for medical expenses, pain and suffering, physical disability, psychological injury and punitive damages. He nearly did die as a result of Hinds improper use of deadly force, he wrote in the lawsuit. The failure of the defendants to provide training and supervision regarding the excessive force and how to avoid instances of the improper use of deadly force amounts to deliberate indifference to the safety and lives of the citizens of Kent County, and more specifically, Plaintiff Phillips. Phillips is in federal prison in Otisville, New York. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. At sentencing, his attorney, Paul Mitchell said Phillips had already suffered a significant punishment. The bullet penetrated a lung. Mr. Phillips has been justly, even poetically, punished for his offenses, Mitchell wrote. Mr. Phillips acknowledges he made terrible choices to end up where he is. The choices he has made have put him in harms way. Not only is he looking for a lengthy prison term, but he suffered a gunshot wound during execution of a search warrant in this matter when an overzealous officer shot him, despite the fact that he was unarmed and offering no resistance. Indeed he did nothing that could be construed as a threat of force nor of evasion. Mitchell described Phillips as an intelligent, thoughtful man whose many attributes tend to get overshadowed by the volume of his drug trafficking. At least 18 suspects were identified in the drug-trafficking investigation. Police seized $1 million, 30 kilograms of cocaine and heroin, along with three pistols, an assault rifle with an extended magazine and a bullet-proof vest, according to a 185-page criminal complaint. An informant described Phillips as a millionaire from drug proceeds and said he learned Spanish to deal with drug suppliers in Mexico, court records said. The leader of the organization, Alex Castro, was sentenced to 42 years in prison. He had ties to a Southern California street gang and the Mexican Mafia prison gang, federal prosecutors say. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Kent County Jail inmate is recovering after he was struck by a vehicle on I-196 while on a trash pickup duty. Grand Rapids police said the male inmate ran across the westbound freeway lanes, near Lake Michigan Avenue, when he was struck about 8:50 a.m. Wednesday, May 1. Crossing the freeway is a violation of the jails policy, according to Grand Rapids police Sgt. Cathy Williams. It wasnt immediately clear why he was trying to cross the road. He had several broken bones and was last known to be in stable condition at a local hospital. The vehicle driver had minor injuries, police said. The westbound I-196 lanes were closed about 90 minutes while police investigated the crash. OTTAWA COUNTY, MI Sheldon Pines School and nearby Careerline Tech Center were placed on lockdown Thursday, May 2, while police investigated what sounded like gunshots in the area. Just before noon, a staff member of Sheldon Pines, on 136th Avenue north of Port Sheldon Street, heard a loud bang noise, sheriffs Capt. Mark Bennett said. Several sheriffs deputies responded and quickly determined that no one was injured or in danger. During the investigation, police learned that a students vehicle in the parking lot had backfired upon starting, causing the loud noise. Police soon lifted the lockdown at Sheldon as well as the tech center on Port Sheldon, just east of U.S. 31. The schools followed proper protocol, Bennett said. Students and staff sheltered in place for about 15 minutes, an Ottawa Area Intermediate School District spokeswoman said. KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo County intermediate school district wants to expand and centralize the countys Career and Technical Education program, including construction of a new career center. A group of about 100 community, business and educational leaders met Wednesday, May 1, at Western Michigan Universitys Fetzer Center to hear a report from the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency on its Career and Technical Education (CTE) system. The report outlined research on the topic and proposed a larger, more centralized program be built in Kalamazoo County. According to the report, the majority of jobs in the United States require a one-year certificate or two-year degree rather than bachelors or masters degrees. Employers do not have enough skilled workers to fill jobs in the region, the report said. To many young people are leaving school without the skills employers desire, without a plan or hope for the future, the report said. Under the countys current Education for Employment program, training happens in a decentralized consortium model with programs offered at local high schools, work or community sites and at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, the report said. Created in 1985, EFE provides high school students with job training and technical knowledge for careers in skilled trades after graduation. Programs include training in business management, marketing, engineering, manufacturing and health sciences. The existing programs flaws include disjointed" instructional models, inadequate facilities and equipment, inequitable enrollment across locations, a lack of students and an over-reliance" on funding from local districts, according to the report. The intermediate school districts new plan would centralize programs and expand offerings, paired with an increase in KRESA and community funding. It recommends a new system including a countywide Career Center and smaller satellite campuses. Employers need more students enrolled in skilled trades programs, and starting at a younger age allows students to imagine future careers, KRESA Superintendent Dave Campbell said. A central career center is tangible" for businesses to imagine where future employees could come from, Campbell said. Investments in career and technical education programs are not cheap, he said. The tools and equipment alone are an expense to consider for programs like what KRESA is proposing, Campbell said. Officials are currently considering all funding options for the proposal, he said, including redirecting current streams of revenue, securing state and federal funds, engaging the community for support and bonding or millage options." Currently, residents living inside any of the nine KRESA school districts pay a 1.5-mill tax, which supplements state funding to the schools. Renewed most recently in 2017, the three-year millage will generate an estimated $11 million, distributed at $339 per student to each of the nine school districts. Kalamazoo RESAs service area covers Climax-Scotts Community Schools, Comstock Public Schools, Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools, Gull Lake Community Schools, Kalamazoo Public Schools, the Parchment School District, Portage Public Schools, Schoolcraft Community Schools and Vicksburg Community Schools. The plan presented Wednesday is the result of work done since January 2018, when KRESA convened a committee of 30 educational leaders from throughout the county to examine the health of the countys current CTE program and create a vision for systemic change, the report said. Three teams were created to identify career readiness and exploration, high school program design and community collaboration. The teams of 75 education, business and community members did additional research, data reviews and interviews to create plan. Wednesdays meeting meant to broaden the conversation among a greater section of the community, Campbell said in an interview with MLive. Now in its third phase, the world-class, systemic redesign of Kalamazoo Countys career and technical education program needs both community investment and commitment, Campbell said. The plan has not yet been presented for a vote to KRESAs Board of Education. The plan, in its current form, is not specific enough to present to the board, Campbell said. We want and need more input from the community to firm it up, he said. Todays forum was a big step in that direction, but we have many more steps to take in the months to come. The group gathered for Wednesdays presentation included administrators and board members from area school districts, Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell, business representatives and leaders from community organizations like Communities in Schools and Kalamazoo County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Southwest Michigan First CEO Ron Kitchens, one of several guest speakers, told the group the proposal was about more than a new facility or programs for individual students. This is about survival, Kitchens said. The leader of the regional economic development nonprofit said the community will lose 35,000 workers over the next 10 years because of a retiring workforce that outnumbers incoming workers. Kitchens cited data from other cities like Houston, Texas, that are gaining population quickly. Programs for career and technical education support job and economic growth in cities, he said. I believe the greatest force for change is a job, Kitchens said. This is a moment for us to decide what our future will be. The need for skilled trades workers increased after curriculum changes that put students on college-ready paths. The Michigan Merit Curriculum went into effect for the graduating class of 2011. Attempts to modify the curriculum in state government are met with support from skilled trades and manufacturing associations and opposition from those wanting to keep the rigorous requirements. The curriculum has already been amended to give students more flexibility to meet foreign language and math requirements. According to state data on the 2012 six-year graduation rate, cited in the report, 63% of Kalamazoo County students have not earned any post-secondary credential within six years of graduating from high school. Officials in Kalamazoo want to reduce stigma around technical education in areas where those jobs are seen as less important or valuable to society, Campbell said. Its important kids see there are great opportunities for them in CTE, he said. There is good money to make, good employers." Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Michael Rice said during the presentation that education for skilled trades is relevant, engaging and interesting to students. Others speaking Wednesday included the superintendents of Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools and Portage Public Schools, Mary Lewis, director of the Family Health Center and Randall Eberts, former president and senior researcher from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Leaders of the Kalamazoo Promise, a tuition scholarship program, are also refocusing efforts on skilled trades education. A recent rebranding of the organization includes a greater focus on multiple paths for success and emphasizes students ability to use Promise dollars to fund certificate programs or other education-for-employment type programs. The Promise recently partnered with the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights union, which opened a new $1.5 million training center near Wayland. Promise dollars will now be available to fund apprenticeships for students. Transportation is the biggest barrier for students to attend career and technical training courses as offered today. Currently students from surrounding schools drive themselves to a bus hub system at Loy Norrix High School before catching another bus to their location of study, the report said. This is a time-consuming and inefficient process resolved with a much more centralized approach, the report said. The new plan calls for a comprehensive, sequential curriculum designed to allow every Kalamazoo County student to explore a variety of career paths while assessing personal strengths, interests and abilities. Other goals of the curriculum will be for students to accumulate 21st century skills, develop social and emotional skills and develop a general understanding of what it means to work, the report said. Per the plan, career education would begin in elementary school. Throughout K-12, students are taken through the three stages: awareness, exploration and preparation. Another design team tackled community collaboration, which would create a bridge between students and local businesses for work-based learning opportunities, the report said. Beginning with middle school students, business leaders would connect through job fairs, as guest speakers, on-site work tours, summer campus and work-based projects and simulations. In high school, students would attend job shadows, do volunteer and service learning, pre-apprenticeships and complete resume and interview workshops. The last stage of the collaboration would include internships, paid apprenticeships and incorporation of Early Middle College for opportunities for credentials, certificates and associate degrees. COMSTOCK, MI -- A Comstock Public Schools sinking fund millage proposal to help fund school infrastructure improvements will be on the ballot for some Kalamazoo County residents Tuesday. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, though only about 15,000 Kalamazoo County residents will have a ballot to vote on in this election. Proposals on local ballots included a sinking fund proposal for Comstock Public Schools and a proposed millage renewal for Climax-Scotts Community Schools. Voters in Comstock Public Schools district will be asked to vote on a 1-mill sinking fund tax ($1 per $1,000 of taxable value) to be levied annually for 10 years, according to ballot language. The funds would be used for construction and repair of school buildings, including school security improvements, acquisition or upgrades of technology and for other purposes. We have a number of issues that have immediate needs, Superintendent Jeff Thoenes said. If passed, levied funds will go toward projects including paving improvements at all buildings, fixes to a leaking roof at Green Meadow Elementary School, flooring and carpeting repairs, improvements to over-50-year-old doors and windows, ceiling repairs, sidewalk repairs and wall repairs in multiple buildings, Thoenes said. Our children deserve to have facilities that meet modern standards, the superintendent said. If approved, the sinking fund is estimated to levy around $528,352 in 2019, according to ballot language. The tax, if approved by voters, would cost homeowners about $50 annually for every $100,000 of property value. The district has had similar sinking fund taxes in place in the past, Thoenes said, but no such levies are currently in place. In addition to repairs, Comstock Public Schools is implementing some major changes including a reconfiguration of district buildings, changes to daily school schedules and the return of a locally run preschool program. Facility renovation plans have been made possible by bond money passed by voters in 2016. The bond issue approved by voters in 2016 did not result in any tax increase for properties in the district, Thoenes said, since it replaced two previous bond issues that expired that year. But future maintenance of district facilities will require additional funding from the community, Thoenes said. The school district needs about $90 million for repairs and to keep its facilities modern and up to date, he said. The precincts voting on the Comstock Public Schools sinking fund millage proposal include precincts two, three, five, six and seven in Comstock Township, precinct 12 in Kalamazoo Township, precinct three in Pavilion Township and precinct 2 in Portage Township. Climax-Scotts Community Schools also has a millage proposal that will appear on ballots for some in Kalamazoo County Tuesday. The district is looking to renew its operating millage for another four years. Voters will choose whether to renew the millage rate of 18 mills for four years, 2020 through 2023, to provide funds for operating purposes. Some Kalamazoo County polling locations have changed due to the small number of voters expected in the May election. The changes are temporary and will only impact voters during the May election. Other recent changes to take note of before heading out to the polls include the reforms laid out in Proposal 3, approved by Michigan voters in November 2018. The new law: SAGINAW, MI More than a year after a 10-year-old girl went into fatal cardiac arrest while on a slide at a Frankenmuth water park, her father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the business. Gerald Eisenbeis, through Burton attorneys John J. Kalo and Jeffrey S. Zilinski, on March 5 filed his suit against Zehnders of Frankenmuth, Inc. and Splash Village in Saginaw County Circuit Court. The suit is on behalf of Eisenbeis daughter, London Grace Eisenbeis, a Grand Blanc fifth-grader who attended Myers Elementary School at the time of her death. The suit states London and her family visited Splash Village, 1365 S. Main St., on Feb. 18, 2018. At the time, the lawsuit claims Zehnders represented to the public that its lifeguards were certified by the American Red Cross in First Aid, CPR, and the administration of emergency oxygen, as well as having multiple automated external defibrillators (AEDs) available for use by its employees. The lawsuit states that about 5:20 p.m., London went down a water slide and exited it unconscious. An employee pulled her from the water, placed her in a dry area beside the pool and took control of her care. A fellow patron identified herself as a physician certified in advanced cardiovascular life support and offered her assistance, the suit alleges. This offer of assistance was refused/turned away by employees of Zehnders, the suit alleges. Ten minutes later, a 911 call was placed and Mobile Medical Response was dispatched, arriving at he scene at about 5:37 p.m. Medics placed London in an ambulance while she was still unconscious and not breathing, the lawsuit states. At about 5:54 p.m., the medic applied an AED to London, causing her to resume breathing and restoring her heartbeat to its regular rhythm, the suit states. London maintained her normal pulse and heartbeat until her death on Feb. 27 at the University of Michigan Hospitals Intensive Care Unit. She never regained consciousness. Londons cause of death was cardiac arrest and respiratory failure with anoxic brain injury, the suit states. No Zehnders employee used an available AED on her, the suit states. As such, the entity breached duties owed to London and her family, the suit alleges. Londons family is seeking damages in excess of $25,000, described as reasonable compensation for pain and suffering, anguish, outrage, fright, and shock, as well as recompense for medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses, and all other damages properly recoverable under the Michigan Wrongful Death Act. Attorney Stephen L. Witenoff, of Southfield, filed an affirmative defense on Zehnders behalf on April 4. In it, Zehnders denies London had been placed in a dry area on being removed from the pool. The entity also states the allegation that a physician offered her help and was turned away is untrue. The response denies there were multiple AEDs available for use by employees, stating there was only one in Splash Village and an additional two throughout the entire hotel complex. Furthermore, use of an AED was not indicated under the circumstances, the response states. The case is scheduled for an evaluation before Saginaw Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson on Aug. 22. SAGINAW, MI Originally sentenced to life without parole at age 17 for the killing of a U.S. Marine, a Saginaw man could walk free after 11 more years in prison. Fredrick A. McKinney, now 43, on Wednesday, May 1, appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson for resentencing. The judge ordered McKinney serve 35 to 60 years in prison. As McKinney has served about 24 years of his new minimum 35-year sentence, he could be released in 2030, at which time hed be 54. McKinney on Nov. 26, 1993, shot and killed 20-year-old Bruce Longuemire. Longuemire, a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps home for Thanksgiving, visited an ex-girlfriend at her friends house at 2019 Parkwood in Saginaw. Longuemire was accompanied by another Marine, Stewart Sumpter. About 9:40 p.m., McKinney arrived at the house and began pounding on the door. At the time, McKinney was dating Longuemires ex-girlfriend. Longuemire, Sumpter, and McKinneys girlfriend exited the house. Shortly thereafter, they encountered McKinney, who drew a gun and opened fire as Sumpter dove back into the house. Longuemire suffered two gunshot wounds, one to the right side of his neck and the other in the lower part of the left side of his back. McKinney later claimed the shooting was in self-defense. A jury in May 1994 convicted McKinney of first-degree murder and felony firearm. Circuit Judge Leopold P. Borrello on June 16, 1994, sentenced McKinney to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a mandatory sentence for someone convicted of first-degree murder in Michigan. McKinneys resentencing results from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 having ruled that mandatory life sentences for those 17 and younger is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. In 2014, then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder gave judges the discretion to sentence teen killers to life in prison or 25 to more than 60 years in prison to comply with the Supreme Court decision. Then, in a 6-3 decision in 2016, the nation's highest court ruled its 2012 decision applied retroactively. In a sentencing memorandum, Saginaw County Prosecutor John A. McColgan Jr. and Assistant Prosecutor Melissa J. Hoover wrote that McKinney has accepted responsibility for the killing and has expressed remorse for it. McKinney also appears to have made every effort to rehabilitate himself while incarcerated, which is commendable and speaks highly to his capability in terms of being reintegrated into society, the memo goes on. The prosecution maintained despite the utterly tragic circumstances of the crimes in this case, Defendant is not the truly rare juvenile that is incapable of reform. Thus, a term of years sentence would be appropriate based on the circumstances. McKinney is currently incarcerated at the Muskegon Correctional Facility. SAGINAW, MI A 20-year-old man is charged with murder in connection with the bludgeoning death of his cellmate in a state prison near Freeland. Anthony D. Shacks Jr., 20, on Thursday, May 2, appeared via closed-circuit television before Saginaw County District Elian E.H. Fichtner for arraignment on a charge of open murder, which contains both first- and second-degree murder. Anthony D. Shacks Jr. Fichtner denied granting Shacks bond and he remains imprisoned on prior convictions. Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner said Shacks and 44-year-old Michael E. Anastasio had only been cellmates for a short time before the fatal beating occurred the afternoon of April 8 in their cell within the Saginaw Correctional Facility. We have a hunch that it was caused by the deceased owing a debt to the defendant or others and that the defendant may have been enforcing the debt, Gaertner said. Prosecutors allege Shacks assaulted Anastasio with Master Lock tied to a hotplates electrical cord. Gaertner added the items were acceptable for the inmates to have in their cell. Michael E. Anastasio After Anastasios death, Shacks was moved to the Woodland Center Correctional Facility in Livingston County. Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz previously said corrections officers had arrived in the duos cell to find Anastasio unresponsive but still alive. Anastasio was transported to an area hospital, where staff pronounced him deceased. Autopsy results indicate Anastasio died of blunt force trauma, Gautz has said. Anastasio had been in the Freeland-area prison since Dec. 13. He had at least 12 felony convictions, Gautz has said. Anastasio was most recently sentenced to prison in 2018 for crimes in Macomb and Wayne counties. A Kent County judge on Feb. 13 sentenced Shacks to 22 to 40 years on two convictions of armed robbery, plus two years for felony firearm-pneumatic gun. All three crimes were committed on Feb. 28, 2018. Shacks is to appear for a preliminary examination May 22. BAY CITY, MI A 25-year-old woman faces federal charges after authorities allege she bought a gun for a Saginaw man who is accused of fatally shooting his brother. A grand jury in Bay City on April 24 indicted Jessica M. Peek on single counts of false statement during the purchase of a firearm and sale or transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person. Both charges are felonies. Charging documents state Peek bought a Kahr .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from Showtime Guns & Ammo, 3621 Bay Road in Saginaw Township. In doing so, she knowingly gave a false written statement, intended to deceive the licensed gun dealer, prosecutors allege. Peek gave the gun to Adrian L. Villanueva, whom she had reason to know was a felon and thus prohibited from possessing firearms, the documents state. Police say Villanueva, 33, used the gun to shoot and kill Jonathan I. Villanueva, his 25-year-old brother. The shooting occurred in the brothers shared residence at 4035 Emerick St. in Saginaw Township, after which Adrian Villanueva called 911 to report it. Saginaw Township Police Detective Sgt. Chad Brooks said Peek was living with Adrian Villanueva at the Emerick Street house when she bought the gun, though she now lives in Grand Traverse County. Peek was not in the house when the shooting occurred, Brooks said. Adrian Villanueva is charged with open murder, three counts of felony firearm, and two counts of felonious assault. The Villanueva brothers were natives of Georgia, according to their sister, Erica Durham, of Alabama. She said they were very close and that Adrian Villanueva has suffered from mental health issues much of his life. On March 21, Villanueva was court-ordered to undergo evaluation at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti, where staff are to assess his criminal responsibility. Peek remains in custody at the Saginaw County Jail. LANSING, MI -- Michigan gun owners could carry concealed weapons without a license, letting license-holders carry in gun-free zones and carry loaded weapons on off-road vehicles under Republican-sponsored bills pending in the state House. With firearm legislation flying, the House Committee on Military, Veterans and Homeland Security took up two gun-related bills this week -- one to decriminalize carrying a concealed pistol with an expired license, and another to allow residents to carry loaded rifles on their own property, including on off-road vehicles. The bills arent formally linked, but fall into a general grouping from Republicans looking to expand gun rights and peel back regulations. The caucus named protecting second amendment rights as one of its top priorities this session. Committee Chair Rep. Beau LaFave, R-Iron Mountain, said the bills are part of a broader effort to strengthen second amendment rights in Michigan, including a bills allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms without permission from the state, and allowing CPL holders to enter gun-free zones. LaFave and a handful of other Republican representatives are co-sponsoring several bills similar to legislation that languished in the 2017-18 session. Most are pending in the House Judiciary Committee or Committee on Military, Veterans and Homeland Security. LaFave said Michigan should be a constitutional carry state, a term referencing the Second Amendment right to bear arms. LaFave said the U.S. Constitution and Michigan Constitution clearly state government cant abridge an individuals right own firearms for self-defense. Opponents of the bills say requiring permits for concealed carry and establishing weapons-free public spaces are reasonable regulations designed to keep citizens safe. House Bill 4029 would allow a person to carry a concealed pistol or hunting knife without a permit. Currently, concealed pistol licenses can be acquired by legal residents who are over 21, complete a safety course and pass a background check. Michigan State Police Public Affairs Manager Shannon Banner said MSP is opposed to eliminating the concealed carry permit requirement. The bill is tie-barred with House Bill 4026, which allows license holders to carry concealed pistols in gun-free zones such as schools, churches, day care centers, bars, dormitories and stadiums. People without a concealed pistol permit wouldnt be able to bring firearms into gun-free zones, but LaFave said people who obtain a license should be able to carry anywhere in the state. Meanwhile, House Bill 4097 would allow retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed weapons in gun-free zones. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, and has bipartisan sponsorship, including from Lori Stone, D-Warren; John Chirkun, D-Roseville; and Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit. House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, sponsored past legislation that would have eliminated a state mandate requiring pistols to be registered. At the time, Chatfield said there is no need for the state to keep a list of people who legally purchase pistols. Chatfield could not be reached for comment on bills reintroduced in the GOP-controlled House. He is not listed as a sponsor on any of them. House Bill 4021 would create a lifetime license to carry a concealed pistol. People with a lifetime license can obtain a replacement in the mail without appearing in person. It also makes county clerks responsible for notifying each other when a license holder moves. House Bill 4434, introduced by Rep. Matt Hall, R-Emmett Township, would reduce the penalty for carrying a concealed pistol on an expired license from a felony to a civil fine, if the license expired within the a year. Hall presented the bill as common-sense criminal justice reform. If this is the only reason youre a felon, because you forgot to renew (the license), I dont think that punishment is proportional to the offense, he said. Michigan State Police legislative liaison Sgt. Chris Gerard testified against the bill on the grounds that it would make penalties for certain driving offenses more strict than a weapons violation. Thats kind of a drastic change, he said. People cant get lazy with something that has the potential to possibly kills somebody. Its more important to make sure that were understanding this is something we take very seriously." Gerard said citizens are notified months before their license expires, and renewing the license takes a quick visit to the county clerks office. House Bill 4331 would allow Michiganders to transport or store a loaded firearm in a vehicle under certain circumstances. LaFave said the government has no business regulating how citizens transport firearms on their own property. Owning property and paying enormous sums of taxes to the government should come with privileges, LaFave said. Several Michigan second amendment rights groups expressed support for HB 4434 and HB 4431. LaFave said state law criminalizing a paperwork" issue stands in complete defiance of the constitution. I dont like that Im making it a civil infraction, but its better than what it is right now, LaFave said. Im willing to make that compromise until we get leaders on both sides of the aisle that are willing to follow the constitutions, plural." Other pending bills include: Note: After this story was published, Michigan State Police Public Affairs Manager Shannon Banner said MSP is opposed to eliminating the concealed carry permit requirement, in a statement to MLive. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said a message of love is the best strategy to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020. Booker visited Detroit Thursday to speak at the National Organization of Black County Officials conference, his first Michigan visit of the presidential campaign cycle. The New Jersey Democratic presidential hopeful expressed an inspirational message for Michigans black leaders, calling on them to help build a bipartisan coalition to address inequities in communities big and small. We cant sit back and wait for a savior to go to one office, this election is about something bigger than one office and one person, Booker said. Its not about beating Republicans, its about uniting Americans. Presidential candidates have prioritized early campaign stops in Michigan, seen as a vital state to win if Democrats want to control the White House in 2020. Michigan will host campaign stops this weekend for Democratic candidates U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and businessman Andrew Yang. Kyle Klondik, managing editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball, a political newsletter run by the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Democrats path to victory relies on taking back Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Trump won the Midwest blue wall states in 2016, but each swung for Democrats in 2018 midterms. Julie McClain Downey, director of state communications for the Booker campaign, said Michigan is ground zero for significant fights for environmental and economic justice. Bookers campaign intends to spend significant time in Michigan, she said bringing a message of turning the common pain felt by Michiganders and communities across this country into a common purpose under his leadership. The former mayor of Newark, a majority black city, still lives in the citys central ward. Bookers mother is a native Detroiter. Thursday, Booker focused on pragmatic solutions to address inequity in Michigans largest city and drew on similarities to his home town. This city brought my family from poverty to the middle class, Booker said in Detroit. Klondik said increasing turnout in metro Detroit, an area most candidates have focused on so far, will be key to beating Trump in Michigan. Trump won the state by only 10,704 votes. Democratic turnout in Wayne County was down in 2016 by 76,400 votes from 2012, partially due to depressed turnout among black voters. Bernie Porn, president of polling firm EPIC-MRA, said Democrats have to try harder to connect with African-Americans. Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes agreed during a March interview with MLive. She said the party has been more active in black communities ahead of the election. Booker said his grandfather, who worked on an assembly line for the Ford Motor Company, helped register African-American Detroiters to vote for Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Fighting gun violence is a key part of Bookers campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Gun violence is a personal issue -- a young man was killed on his block in 2018 by an assault weapon. Booker said gun violence disproportionally impacts people of color and hurts the economic stability of high-crime areas. Booker discussed his plan to continue reforms in the criminal justice system, pushing the effort forward after the bipartisan First Step Act passed in Congress and was signed by Trump last year. Booker said America bears the shame of having a criminal justice system that discriminates against African-Americans and Latinos. Theres now African-Americans under police supervision in the United States than all the slaves in 1850, Booker said. He also touted his support for of economic opportunity zones, investment tools established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, to encourage investment in low-income urban communities. Booker expressed support for Medicare for All," but also said the 2020 campaign shouldnt be focused on slogans and buzzwords. He stressed the need for practical solutions to lower drug prescription costs and provide affordable housing. Local leaders have an important role to play in making change, Booker said. I came out here to try to inspire you, to let you know that in a crowded primary field, its the people that are in this room that are going to determine the outcome, Booker said. Trump is creating hatred and division across the country, Booker said. Though he only referred to the president a handful of times, Booker expressed an urgent need to find common ground among political enemies. Love is not a weak word, Booker said. It is not an emotion. It is action. It is deeds. It is leadership. Klobuchar is also scheduled to give remarks at the National Organization of Black County Officials conference in Detroit Friday. LANSING, MI -- The U.S. Supreme Court is required to hear why Michigan Republicans believe federal judges incorrectly determined the states political districts were illegally gerrymandered and must be redrawn before 2020 elections. The case is part of a rare subset of cases that the court must hear, said Samuel Bagenstos, a University of Michigan law professor specializing in constitutional litigation. However, Bagenstos said the high court is likely to delay a decision until it rules on similar gerrymandering cases in Maryland and North Carolina. This is one of the small class of cases where the appeal to the Supreme Court is in the mandatory jurisdiction of the court, Bagenstos said. They have to at least take the case and issue some kind of judgement on it. Redistricting that discriminates on racial, ethnic and partisan grounds was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but the court has been reluctant to articulate a standard for when partisan gerrymandering runs afoul of the 14th Amendment. The Michigan, Maryland and North Carolina cases offer a chance for the high court to finally establish limits on partisan gerrymandering ahead of the next round of redistricting in 2021. A panel of U.S. District Court judges ruled in favor of the League of Women Voters and Democratic plaintiffs who alleged Michigans legislative apportionment plan violates voters Constitutional rights. The three-judge panel ruled Michigans House, Senate and congressional districts were unconstitutionally drawn in 2011 to give Republicans an unfair advantage in the last four elections. Judges called the maps drawn in 2011 a political gerrymander of historical proportions" that caused severe constitutional violations. A wide breadth of statistical evidence points to partisan bias that strongly advantaged Republicans and disadvantaged Democrats, the ruling states. The Supreme Court could uphold the ruling, reverse the lower courts decision or send it back for reconsideration in U.S. District Court in light of a decision in the other apportionment cases, Bagenstos said. Gerald Tschura, constitutional law professor at Western Michigan Universitys Cooley Law School, said the three-judge panel presented pretty strong evidence that map-makers intended to gerrymander the districts. If I were a betting man, I would say there is a strong likelihood that the Michigan case would be upheld, Tschura said. High court intervention The Republican-led Michigan Senate, Michigans Republican congressional delegation, House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, three Republican state senators and one Republican state representative signed the appeals, according to federal court records. The filing did not contain legal arguments, which will come later. Bagenstos said Republicans will likely rehash similar arguments made in District Court, in the hope they are viewed more favorably in the high court. "The first thing I think Republicans will say is this just isnt a matter for the courts, Bagenstos said. I think theyll also make the argument that the plaintiffs here waited too long to sue. I dont expect youll see any new arguments from them. Republicans are expected to ask the Supreme Court to order the lower court to delay its ruling until the high court decides on similar redistricting cases in Maryland and North Carolina already underway. One case involves congressional redistricting plans that gave Republicans an advantage in North Carolina. The other involves one Maryland congressional district redrawn to help Democrats unseat an entrenched Republican incumbent. In the past, the Supreme Court declined to determine when gerrymandering becomes unconstitutional, Bagenstos said, but thats less likely with recent changes to the courts makeup. Former Justice Anthony Kennedy was seen as the swing vote on gerrymandering in a court divided between liberals who see the practice as unconstitutional and conservatives who believe courts have no place ruling on political redistricting. Chief Justice John Roberts in particular expressed concern about involving the court in partisan political matters. In a 2016 case involving Wisconsin redistricting, Roberts said the Supreme Court could be tasked with making decisions on a flood of cases because because redistricting cases are mandatory. We will have to decide in every case whether the Democrats win or the Republicans win, Roberts said. And that is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this Court in the eyes of the country." The traditional Republican argument, Tschura said, is that voters can remove legislators if they dont like their district guidelines. But, the 14th amendment requires equal protection under the law, he said, protecting the interests of those in the minority. They cant just say, well you elected us so we can draw these districts any way we want, Tschura said. Bagenstos said liberals on the court believe judicial intervention is needed when the political process shuts down avenues for voters to change policies, in this case preventing Democrats from voting out lawmakers who draw gerrymandered districts. With the inclusion of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Maryland Republican who replaced Kennedy in 2018, Bagenstos said the Supreme Court could finally rule on gerrymandering. Either way, the result would have serious implications in the Michigan case. Questions remain as deadline looms The Michigan legislature is up against an Aug. 1 deadline to redraw existing districts for the 2020 election. An outstanding question is whether second-term state senators would be ineligible to run in 2020. The Michigan Constitution limits senators to two four-year terms, unless filling a vacancy. Senators elected in 2018 would normally serve through 2022, but the court ordered an election with new districts two years early. Senators could see their terms cut short -- or extended by two years if the 2020 election counts as a special election. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in an interview Wednesday the situation could be analogous to a senator serving a partial term and then serving two more, which is currently allowed. My instinct is to see a similarity there, and to err on the side of allowing two full terms to qualify for term limits, Benson said. But she said its a completely new situation, one she would seek an Attorney General opinion or court guidance on. Ultimately, this would be a decision that the court would have to interpret, Benson said. Bagenstos said a state court will likely sort out the issue after the Supreme Court makes its decision. Theres no obvious answer" on what will happen at this point, he said. Thats true for gerrymandering questions before the Supreme Court in general, he said. Stay tuned, theres more to come, Tschura said. MLive Reporter Lauren Gibbons contributed to this report. When the US announced support for Venezuelas self-declared interim president Juan Guaido in January, European leaders heartily backed the move but three months later, after a second failed coup attempt, they are suddenly shy. With US backing, Guaido attempted to launch a second uprising on Tuesday, urging his supporters to take to the streets and calling on the military to seize power from President Nicolas Maduro. While both pro and anti-government demonstrators held rallies in Caracas, the military did not defect in great numbers and the coup attempt fizzled out. In January, European leaders instantly fell in line with US talking points on Venezuela. Germany, France and Spain issued almost identical threats to recognize Guaido unless snap elections were held within eight days. UK officials also wasted no time in voicing strong support for Guaido, with little concern for the millions of Venezuelans who support Maduro and worry about the destabilizing effects of US intervention and devastating effects of US sanctions. Also on rt.com Civilians are the real victims (and targets) of Trumps Venezuela sanctions This time around, however, having realized Guaido is not as powerful as they expected, Europe has not been as gung-ho in its support for him. Having initially added to the chaos by encouraging the first uprising, suddenly the EUs foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was calling for the utmost restraint in order to avoid the loss of lives. Venezuelan Ambassador to the EU Claudia Salerno Caldera believes the sudden European reticence shows thatEU leaders have begun to realize that [Guaido] was losing influence, that he was no president at all. With that realization, they began to give up their positions and change their narrative in order to make it more realistic and reflect the actual situation on the ground in Venezuela, she told Russian news agency RIA Novosti. It is likely that the EU knows that the US stance toward Venezuela is wrong, dangerous and illegal, but it has not got the courage to stand up and say so, Dr Michael Derham, senior lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies at Northumbria University told RT. The EU has to be seen to not advocate coups or violence and it is not convinced by the US ultimatum against Maduro but at the same time, Europe will never go against the US, even if it were to invade Venezuela, Derham said. Also on rt.com US military action in Venezuela possible if thats whats required Pompeo Another problem for Europe is that it is divided on the Venezuela issue. Therefore the ideological posture of the EU is more and more obsolete and neutralized between contradictory positions because it has never defined common geopolitical objectives, geopolitical analyst Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann told RT. Hardline European supporters of Guaido underestimated Maduros capacity of resistance as well as Russias determination to prevent another US-led regime change operation, Thomann said, adding that mainstream media never show this side of the story. At the same time, while the US is criticizing Russias posture on the Venezuelan crisis and is telling Moscow to stay out of affairs in the Western Hemisphere, the US and NATO have also been meddling and supporting uprisings in Russias own zone of interest in eastern Europe for years, he said. While some European countries (France, Germany, Spain, UK) took bold stances in favor of Guaido, apparently believing the January coup would be a success, they are now less and less in a position to renew relations with Maduro, Thomann said. But Derham said the fact that the UK in particular will need to expand its trade with Latin American when it leaves the EU, means the venal and hypocritical politicians in London will be prepared to crawl back to Maduro if he retains power. Also on rt.com Guaido calls on supporters to continue Operation Freedom after failed coup attempt in Venezuela Europes initial decision to fall in lock-step with Washington on Venezuela was not surprising, journalist and political commentator John Wight told RT, describing the coup attempts as open imperialism that youd associate with the 19th century. Whats more, the US sanctions which the EU supports in addition to its own sanctions on Venezuela, have only served to heighten the suffering of the Venezuelan people. To add insult to injury, if the coup attempt had been successful, it is not even Guaido who would be president, Wight said. It would be US National Security Advisor John Bolton who is running the coup effort from Washington and acting like a thug in a suit. Ultimately, while the EU has now realized it backed a losing horse in Guaido, and its reactions to the Venezuela crisis have exposed it to be a supine bloc when it comes to Washington and lacking any kind of moral or ethical principles. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Full implementation of US embargo law on Cuba is illegal under international law, the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said as she promised retaliatory measures amidst yet another row between Brussels and Washington. The full activation of US embargo legislation against Cuba is contrary to international law and goes against the previous US-EU agreements, Mogherini said on Thursday, promising to apply all appropriate measures to defend European interests. On May 2, the Trump administration did not renew the decades-old suspension of the Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, also known as Libertad Act, which regulates the embargo on foreign trade with Cuba. The provision allows US citizens to sue foreign companies profiting from properties which Cuba confiscated or nationalized after the 1959 revolution. Also on rt.com Tired of waiting: Iran slams Europe for lagging behind in launching trade mechanism EU officials fear that this will hit European firms. Last month, Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom reportedly penned a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in which they warned that the EU may launch a WTO case against Washington should its actions damage European trade. In her statement on Thursday, the EU foreign affairs chief reiterated that enforcing the US embargo law against European companies will cause unnecessary friction and undermines trust and predictability in the transatlantic partnership. EU nations began grappling to shield its companies from US sanctions last year when Washington re-imposed sweeping restrictions on Tehran. Senior officials in Brussels, as well as in Britain, France, and Germany, condemned the move and vowed to create mechanisms to protect firms engaged in legitimate business with Iran. Relations between the EU and Washington were further strained after Donald Trump imposed tariffs on a number of European goods. The US also tried to pressure Germany to scrap the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a major joint energy project with Russia. Berlin pushed back against the pressure, saying that the deal with Moscow will not undermine European interests. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! President Nicolas Maduro should not trust anyone around him, especially not the Cubans and the Russians, said the US point man for toppling the Venezuelan leader after the latest failed US-backed coup attempt. Elliott Abrams was appointed by the Trump administration to lead the effort to oust Venezuelas elected President Nicolas Maduro and replace him with self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido. The American protege on Tuesday tried to trigger a military uprising in the country by filming himself next to a military base in Caracas with a few uniformed men behind him while delivering a rousing speech, but failed. In the aftermath Abrams joined the chorus of top US officials telling the public that Maduros government is actually about to fall. Speaking to US-Venezuelan TV channel VPItv, the US special envoy for Venezuela said Guaido was engaged in negotiations with senior military commanders on the terms of their turning their back on Maduro, who was not aware of the meeting, Abrams assured that is until he revealed it on air. Also on rt.com Fire up the plane! Pompeo tells Maduro to flee Venezuela via CNN Abrams went on to attempt to sow the seeds of doubt in Maduros heart, should he ever watch the interview. Maduro can not trust his environment, including anyone who claims to be loyal to him. He can not count on that. Especially the Cubans and the Russians, he ominously said. Well, maybe the Venezuelan president will hear this and say to himself: this guy knows things and he must be telling the truth. But Abrams record is not exactly one of unblemished honesty. He was even convicted in 1991 for lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair the Reagan-era CIA operation to sell arms to Iran and use the unaccounted money to run guns to militants in Nicaragua but got a pardon from Reagans vice-president, George H.W. Bush, who had become president by that time. Also on rt.com Bolton mocks Maduros bunker-bound 'cowardice' on day he addresses crowds in Caracas Other primary figures in team Topple Maduro gave similarly bombastic statements to the media after the failed coup, explaining that the days of the regime are numbered. Secretary of State, and former CIA head, Mike Pompeo claimed the Venezuelan president was about to flee the country on Tuesday, but was told to stay by the Russians a story that Abrams told in his interview too. Moscow called it fake news. And National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed a scared Maduro was hiding in a military bunker afraid of his own people. Embarrassingly, Maduro at the same moment was delivering a speech in front of a thousands-strong crowd of his supporters in Caracas. But maybe US officials were giving their accounts about events in some alternative universe? Like this story? Share it with a friend! Prominent British journalist Peter Oborne has said the case surrounding former UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamsons firing exposes revolting double standards in how London deals with security breaches. Williamson was fired by British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday after being pinpointed as the leaker from a National Security Council meeting about Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and its involvement in the UKs 5G network. Williamson has adamantly denied he is the leaker, but an investigation found compelling evidence that he was the culprit. Oborne, who is the former political editor of the Daily Telegraph, was responding to a tweet by UK Times reporter Sean ONeill which recalled that two Northern Ireland journalists were arrested last year under the UKs Official Secrets Act after they exposed British police collusion with loyalist gunmen who had opened fire in a Catholic pub in the village of Loughinisland in 1994, killing six people. Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey helped produce a film which named the alleged killers, who they claim are known to police, and offered strong evidence of collusion between the two. For their efforts, Birney and McCaffrey were arrested last August and about 100 officers raided their homes. Also on rt.com Minister of Offence: 7 most ill-judged & preposterous Gavin Williamson moments Both Amnesty International and the National Union of Journalists said the arrests put freedom of the press in NI at risk. Birney said at the time it was highly ironic that the UK foreign office was supposedly concerned about press freedom around the world, while allowing one of its own British constabularies to arrest journalists in out of sight, out of mind Northern Ireland. Fast forward a year, however, and Williamsons alleged decision to leak information directly from a National Security Council meeting is being treated by London s a closed matter despite being a breach of the Official Secrets Act and Williamson himself not being a journalist. One tweeter wasnt surprised, however, saying that Downing Street still sees NI as a colony in a hostile land and any attempt to question what security services get up to there will be met with a more dramatic response than what a cabinet member might get up to in London. If you liked this story, share it with a friend! A guest on a Fox News show took to Twitter to refute the networks summary of his interview, which had falsely stated that hed said that Russia was storing nuclear weapons in Venezuela. After Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday, the network summarized his appearance with a noticeably misleading headline. During the broadcast, Carlson and Diaz-Balart discussed at length the geopolitical implications of the ongoing situation in Venezuela, after the failed US-backed coup attempt by Juan Guaido to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Also on rt.com Russia has NUKES in Venezuela? Fox News seemingly misrepresents guests claim The Florida representative offered all the expected hawkish exaggerations, of the potential threats emanating from alleged Russian and Chinese involvement in Caracas, and even of the presence of Iran and Hezbollah. However, Foxs web editors took his statements one step further, subtly manipulating his words to imply that Diaz-Balart believed with certainty that Moscow had placed nuclear missiles in the South American country. On Wednesday, Diaz-Balart tweeted clarification of his comments, that, while he believed Russia posed a threat, Fox had misinterpreted his words. As of now, the Fox story summarizing his appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight is still up with the click-bait headline and without correction. And it looks like for other outlets the story was too good to set those boring facts straight. WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, jailed by the UK authorities for 50 weeks over skipping bail, is adamant to fight the US extradition request, as Washington wants him for merely doing journalism. Assange faced a London court via a video link on Thursday for the first hearing over the US extradition request. When asked if he desires to consent to it, he rejected it and expressed determination to fight the extradition. I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people. The US wants Assange on charges of conspiring to commit computer intrusion, related to his work with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who leaked scores of classified documents related to the Iraq War. The offense carries a maximum penalty of five years behind bars, but Assange's legal team fears more charges will follow. Also on rt.com Shocking & vindictive: WikiLeaks slams UK prison sentence for Assange over skipped bail Supporters of the WikiLeaks co-founder speculate that he might even face charges under the Espionage Act of 1917, a harsh legislation protecting national interests, that envisions lengthy prison terms and ultimately the death penalty to those found guilty. The hearings on the extradition request have been adjourned, with a technical one scheduled for May 30 and the first substantive one expected on June 12. Also on rt.com Assange extradition process is life & death for him and for journalism itself WikiLeaks' editor Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! New Delhi is set to ask the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body designed to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing, to downgrade Islamabad on its list. The meeting of the commission is scheduled for mid-May. We would want that the FATF for Pakistan should be downgraded, Indias Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, as cited by Reuters. In February, the watchdog commended the countrys efforts in combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, yet was negatively critical of the overall pace of the changes. The FATF urged Islamabad to swiftly complete its action plan, particularly those with timelines of May 2019. Any potential sinking of Pakistans standing with the FATF might have grave consequences for the economically-embattled country, as it would scare off foreign investors. Jaitleys statement came a day after the UN sanctions committee added the leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group, Masood Azhar, to its terrorist list. The JeM issue has been on hold for a while, since China was reviewing Azhars case, yet eventually stated it had no objections to such a designation. New Delhi sought to brand Azhar a terrorist since 2016, and rejoiced over the UN decision. Jaitley lauded the move as well, praising wise foreign policies of PM Narendra Modi. 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, Jaitley tweeted. Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group is largely responsible for the recent flare-up between India and Pakistan. It was behind a February bomb attack that claimed lives of 44 paramilitary police in the India-controlled part of the disputed Kashmir region. Also on rt.com Treating Pakistan as a friend would be Indias biggest weakness Deputy FM Like this story? Share it with a friend! A report by the Pentagon on civilian deaths caused by the US military says 120 civilians were killed and 65 others injured by US military actions in 2018 but human rights groups say that figure is far lower than their estimates. The annual, Congress-mandated, report, released on Thursday, showed a sharp decline from 2017 in which the Pentagon says 793 civilians were killed and a further 206 injured. The 2017 figure has been revised upward by more than 50 percent on previous Pentagon reporting. The 20-page report on deaths and injuries in 2018 lists each casualty, date, military operation and location of the incidents spread across Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. The report claims no civilians were killed last year during US military operations in Libya or Yemen. Also on rt.com Rules of engagement have been liberalized: Ex-Pentagon analyst to RT on US killings in Afghanistan The new document cites the decline in operations against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) as reason for the fall in civilian deaths at the hands of the US military in 2018. Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, however, claim the actual number of casualties is much higher. A joint report published by Amnesty and Airwars earlier this year says more than 1,600 civilians were killed in 2017 during the US-backed offensive on Raqqa, Syria. Another report, this time by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said 406 civilians were killed by international forces, including the US military, in the Afghan conflict last year, most of whom died during aerial bombardments. READ MORE: Pentagon denies knowledge of prisoner abuse by US-backed forces in Yemen, but doubts linger The Pentagon report acknowledged discrepancies in casualty levels compared to the UNAMA report, and explained the difference by saying the US bases its figures on different types of information and uses a different methodology to assess whether civilian casualties have occurred, and whether such casualties occurred as a result of US military actions. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! The US Senate has failed to override US President Donald Trumps veto of a resolution which would have ended Washingtons military support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, which has been bombing Yemen for four years. The vote to uphold the veto is a victory for the Trump administration which has said it will continue backing Riyadh in the military operation which has led to thousands of deaths and brought millions of Yemenis to the brink of famine. The Senate passed the Yemen War Powers resolution in March with a vote of 54-46, but the Thursday vote fell short of the two-thirds majority (67) that was needed to override Trumps veto and force a change in US policy. Also on rt.com Trump vetoes congressional resolution to end US support of Saudi-led Yemen war Trump vetoed the resolution in mid-April after it had been passed by both the House and Senate, calling it unnecessary and dangerous and claimed the US was not engaged in hostilities in or affecting Yemen, despite the fact that US support has been crucial for Saudi Arabia to maintain its military campaign in the war-torn country. Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel said in April that Congress would no longer ignore its constitutional obligations when it comes to foreign policy and that the situation in Yemen demands moral leadership but Trumps veto was expected and the resolution was never really expected to have an effect. Saudi-led coalition forces have been accused of deliberately targeting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in its bid to oust Houthi rebels controlling the capital city of Sanaa and who they say are proxies of Iran. Speaking before the vote, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said that so long as the US participates in the military campaign while not helping to achieve a political settlement, it is complicit in the deaths that have and will continue to result "from starvation and disease and malnutrition. Also on rt.com Devastating footage of starving 12yo girl weighing just 10 kg captures Yemen war horror On the Senate floor, presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders said the US was supporting a catastrophic war which was being led by a despotic regime with a dangerous and irresponsible foreign policy. The move to show dissatisfaction with Trumps friendliness toward Saudi Arabia and to end US support for the war in Yemen gained momentum after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, which served to highlight Riyadhs human rights abuses. But the Trump administration has steadfastly refused to take any harder line against Riyadh and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintained that passing legislation to block US military support for the war would not help Yemenis, but work to their detriment. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Twitter has suspended a number of Venezuelan government and media accounts, but has also verified a new account for self-declared interim president Juan Guaido. The Ministry of Popular Power for Women, the Ministry of Popular Power for Education, and the Ministry of Popular Power for Petroleum were all suspended between April 30 and May 1, along with several Venezuelan media accounts including El Correo del Orinoco, the Diario Vea, and the television station ViVe Television. The ministry accounts have since been reinstated, but the media accounts are still suspended. On Monday, the newly-formed National Communication Center for Guaido set up a Presidencia_VE Twitter account claiming to be the official account of the presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which has since been verified by Twitter. Guaidos account is also verified. Twitter announced it was suspending its verification process in 2017, after it came under fire for verifying the organizer of the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. Our verified account program is currently on hold. We are not accepting any new requests at this time, it explains in its FAQ page. The company recently responded to outrage when it was revealed that it had continued to verify accounts, explaining, our teams around the world continue to work closely with trusted partners to verify select accounts. Also on rt.com Twitter quietly gives blue tick to Jack Dorseys mom despite account verification pause RT.com has contacted Twitter for comment about the latest verified account approvals. If you like this story, share it with a friend! Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro thanked his countrys armed forces for remaining loyal in the face of a failed opposition coup plot, holding a parade in their honor. Addressing a crowd of some 4,000 troops of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) prior to the march, the president said the military made history in repelling the uprising. The Bolivarian National Armed Forces has given the world a historical lesson, Maduro told the troops at Fort Tiuna in Caracas on Thursday. Maduro took part in chants with the soldiers, lending the rally an overall festive atmosphere. At this moment in Venezuela there is an Armed Force consistently loyal, cohesive and united as never before, defeating attempted coup plotters who sell themselves for Washington dollars, he said. FANB commander of strategic operations Remigio Ceballos also spoke to the soldiers, echoing the words of the president and pledging his loyalty. Maduro concluded the rally with a popular party slogan: Always loyal, never traitors! After the early morning address at Fort Tiuna the president led a military parade, billed on state media as a march to reaffirm the absolute loyalty of the armed forces. The troops marched en masse down the streets of Caracas flying the red banners of the ruling PSUV party, with Maduro out in front. Earlier in the day Maduro denounced the opposition coup plotters as traitors, and accused them of trying to purchase military defections as if we were mercenaries. US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday attempted to launch a national uprising to unseat Maduro from power. Guaido failed to persuade widespread defections in the military, and the coup plot fizzed after a day-and-a-half of demonstrations. to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you. Mike Pence found yet another reason to be offended by freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar after she criticized the Trump administrations effort to cripple the Venezuelan government with "death-causing" sanctions. The vice-president went on Twitter on Thursday to accuse the Minnesota representative of choosing socialism over freedom. The reason she did an interview with the online television news network Democracy Now, in which she criticized the US governments regime change operation in Venezuela. Unlike Omar, the Trump Administration stands with the freedom-loving people of Venezuela, Pence proudly stated. Omar is one of the new Democrat lawmakers often targeted by members of the Trump administration and the Republican party in general. Yet, unlike fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Omar more often gets bashing for her criticism of Israeli policies which critics interpret as anti-Semitism rather than support of socialism. Also on rt.com Fox News guest compares Ocasio-Cortez to Stalin, Hitler & Mao But apparently by objecting to the harsh economic sanctions, which the Trump administration imposed on Venezuela as part of its ongoing effort to topple the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro, Omar painted a target with a hammer and sickle somewhere on her back. Incidentally, the interview had nothing to do with GOPs favorite bogeyman of socialism. Omar criticized Trumps Venezuela approach due to the toll it is taking on the very same common Venezuelan people, which Pence claimed to be on the side of. She endorsed the position of economist Jeffrey Sachs, who was an earlier guest on Democracy Now. Also on rt.com Civilians are the real victims (and targets) of Trumps Venezuela sanctions Sachs recently co-authored a study, which estimated that at least 40,000 Venezuelans have died for causes likely linked to the sanctions like malnutrition, lack of medicine since 2017, when the Trump administration kicked sanctions against the country into overdrive. If you like this story, share it with a friend! WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson has failed to retrieve Julian Assanges belongings from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He was denied entry in a development which he called outrageous. Hrafnsson sought to collect Assanges belongings which were left behind in the embassy after he was arrested on April 11. However, the Icelandic investigative journalist failed to even enter the premises of the diplomatic mission, as, according to him, the Ecuadorian diplomats simply refused to open the door and let him in. I sent them an email and told them I would be there at 3 oclock with a full mandate from Julian Assange, his family and friends and that I am the editor-in-chief of the WikiLeaks. They did not open the door. It is disgraceful, Hrafnsson told a crowd of around 50 Assange supporters that had gathered in front of the embassy following the publishers extradition hearing. A crowd which staged an improvised rally in front of the mission chanted: respect the law, free Assange and open the door. Some of the demonstrators were also holding placards that read: Free Assange and Free Speech. Also on rt.com Assange extradition process is life & death for him and for journalism itself WikiLeaks' editor Hrafnsson told the gathering that the actions of the embassy staff amount to nothing less than a theft. He said that he called the police in an attempt to secure their help in retrieving property belonging to the WikiLeaks co-founder. But they declined to do so as they said it was not theft because those were not MY belongings, he said. Eventually, Hrafnsson managed to grab the attention of a police patrol walking down the street near the embassy and convinced them to enter the embassy to sort it out. However, police did not have any luck either and returned empty-handed while telling Hrafnsson that he should have arranged a formal meeting with the Ecuadorian diplomats. The police are going to take the matter further and I hope they will establish a channel so that we can retrieve the belongings that are illegally held here, he said. Embassy staff were not that scrupulous back in April when they allowed British police to detain Assange. He was dragged out of the diplomatic mission as he shouted: UK must resist! Assange spent about seven years in the embassy. Last month, he was formally convicted of skipping bail in the UK in 2012 when he was wanted over a rape allegation in Sweden a the case that was later dropped. Also on rt.com I won't surrender to extradition for doing journalism Assange On Wednesday, a British court sentenced him to 50 weeks in jail. Hearings on Assanges extradition to the US, where he is wanted on a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in relation to his work with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, were adjourned until May 30. During Thursdays hearing Assange refused to consent to extradition by saying that he refuses to surrender for doing journalism. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis offered a ringing defense of UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on social media, dismissing accusations of anti-Semitism as slander. Anti-Corbyn plotters are getting desperate, Varoufakis wrote on Twitter. To perpetuate their antisemitism slander they are lambasting Jeremy for writing, in a blurb to JA Hobsons Imperialisms new edition, that it was both brilliant and very controversial at the time. They need to try much, much harder. Critics, including Jewish leaders and members of Labour, have slammed Corbyn for penning the books foreword, arguing he endorsed anti-Semitic content. In response, Corbyn has labelled the accusations offensive, and insisted to the BBC Ive spent my whole life exposing racism in any form. The book, Imperialism: A Study, penned by British economist John A. Hobson in the early 20th century, digs into the moral, financial, and economic roots of imperialism as a form of a capitalist oligarchy. It indeed contains a common anti-Jewish trope, namely claims that European finance is dominated by men of a single and peculiar race. Also on rt.com Labour & anti-Semitism: Real goal of establishment smear campaign is to deny socialists power Varoufakis briefly served as the finance minister of Greece back in 2015 and led tough negotiations with the EU over austerity measures for the country. He resigned, however, when Athens finally gave in to the demands of European leaders. Like this story? Share it with a friend! A controversial American Baptist pastor has been banned from preaching in the Netherlands or from entering Europes 26-state Schengen Zone, over his extreme views against the LGBT and Jewish communities. Steven Anderson, who once praised the mass shooting at a gay night club in Orlando, was due to preach in Amsterdam on May 23 as part of his European tour, which also included public events in Sweden and Ireland. Concerned over the pastors well-documented hate statements, gay rights advocates and a number of MPs urged the Dutch government to ban him from entering the Benelux country. On Wednesday the government adopted measures barring the 37-year-old pastor from entering the Schengen Zone, a 26-country area of Europe where visa-free travel is allowed. Also on rt.com Prostitutes, gambling & drugs: Pastor who praised Pulse shooter resigns over grievous sins The government is taking strong action against extremist speakers who, by spreading their beliefs, restrict the freedoms of others or even incite hatred or violence State Secretary of Justice and Security Mark Harbers said, without providing further details. Anderson, who has yet to receive official notice from the Dutch regarding his ban, slammed Amsterdams decision which is preventing him from teaching the Gospel. Also on rt.com Satanic Temple sues city for withdrawing permission for DEVILISH monument (PHOTO) If they are going to reject a Bible-believing creature from coming and preaching the word of God, then its their loss, the pastor said, warning the Dutch that theyre going to end up the same way [as] Sodom and Gomorrah, code for sinners being destroyed by Gods wrath. The California native is no stranger to being banned from countries. Jamaica, South Africa and the UK have barred from him from entry in the past. He was also deported from Botswana, all because of his hate speech. Anderson is a well-known Holocaust denier and an avid anti-gay activist, who is also not shy to speak out against abortion rights. The preacher celebrated the deaths of 49 people by a lone-wolf gunman at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016, by posting a now-deleted YouTube message claiming it was good for disgusting perverts and pedophiles to be murdered. He also reportedly advocated executing homosexuals by way of a firing squad because thats what the Bible commands. The pastor from the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona also rejects abortion rights, preaching that women are to remain in the home to raise children. The American often criticizes Jews in his sermons on YouTube. He hasnt been banned from any of the social media he has accounts with. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Any citizen or group can move to amend the state's constitution by gathering enough signatures for a ballot initiative and letting the voters decide for themselves. Gary Kessler While a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution can take years to gain the approval of three-quarters of the nations state legislatures, any citizen or group can move to amend Ohios constitution by gathering enough signatures for a ballot initiative and letting the states voters decide for themselves. Ohio is one of 26 states with some form of initiative process that allows citizens, not just politicians, to propose and change laws. Ohioans can initiate a statute or constitutional amendment by gathering a required number of petition signatures. That can be anywhere from 3 to 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in the last election, depending on the type of measure being proposed. The fate of the ballot issue is then decided directly by a majority of voters in a statewide vote, says Steven Steinglass, dean emeritus of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law of Cleveland State University and the former senior policy advisor to the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, an advisory group that met from 2013 to 2017 on ways to improve the state constitution. Since the creation of the constitutional initiative process during a state constitutional convention in 1912, Ohioans have used it 71 times with 19 amendments approved and 52 rejected. Notable constitutional amendments initiated in Ohio through direct citizen action include: In 1936, voters banned sales taxes on the purchase of grocery foods. In 1949, voters banned voting for a partys entire slate of candidates with a single pull of the voting booth lever. In 1992, three separate initiatives were approved limiting the terms of Ohios congressional representatives, its state legislators, and executive branch officers (other than the governor who was already term-limited). In 1997, voters repealed a law passed by the state legislature that allowed citizens to register on Election Day. But Ohios form of direct democracy also opened the door for private companies to change the laws for their own economic gain, including the creation of state-backed monopolies. The incentives are great because theres just so much money to be made, says Herb Asher, a professor of political science at Ohio State University and a former member of the modernization commission. A committee of the commission helped formulate a remedy to the problem in 2015 when state legislators introduced a constitutional amendment making it more difficult for private interests to create monopolies through the initiative process. But that was only after Ohioans had passed Issue 3 in 2009, a constitutional amendment that granted monopoly control of gambling casinos in just four locations in Ohio. Back then, Ohios legislators were still mostly opposed to legalizing casino gambling, even though nearly every state surrounding Ohio, except Kentucky, had already taken the plunge. State legislators in 2009 were taking their cue from Ohio voters, who had defeated four earlier casino proposals in ballot initiatives over the previous two decades, all of them sponsored and heavily promoted by the gaming industry. But the Great Recession that began in late 2008 changed the playing field, leaving nearly 11 percent of Ohioans unemployed by November 2009. The timing was perfect for a pro-casino group that called itself The Jobs and Growth Committee to Promote Issue 3 a partnership between Penn Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming Inc., and Rock Ohio Ventures LLC, a group led by Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The companies gathered 850,000 signatures to place Issue 3 on the November 2009 ballot and pumped $50 million into a statewide advertising campaign. The ads touted that casinos would create 20,000 jobs in Ohio and generate $651 million in annual tax revenues for Ohios counties, cities and school districts. Voters approved Issue 3 by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent. But the amendment was a guarantee of a monopoly for the ballot sponsors and set in legal stone the four downtown locations for the casinos Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo. Columbus officials and the majority of Columbus voters objected to the plan, in part because it would place a casino in the citys already-crowded Arena District. As with any constitutional amendment in Ohio, changing the location would require another constitutional amendment to reverse the first. Did Issue 3 live up to its campaign promises to Ohioans? A 2012 Policy Matters Ohio analysis found that the four casinos generated just $227 million for Ohios counties and cities about a third of what was promised and made no significant financial contribution to its schools. In 2014, The Cincinnati Enquirer found the casino properties had created more than 14,000 jobs but that 9,600 of them were temporary construction jobs. Ohio voters learned their lesson in time for a 2015 ballot initiative that would have legalized the use of marijuana in the state for anyone over 21 but also would have created a cartel with exclusive rights to commercially grow the drug. Despite heavy promotion of the measure by Responsible Ohio, a group of private investors behind the proposed cartel, Ohioans turned it down with a whopping 64 percent majority vote. On that same ballot in 2015 was Issue 2, the reform measure aimed at preventing constitutionally backed monopolies in Ohio. After squeaking by with a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent, Issue 2 gave the Ohio Ballot Board the authority to determine if a ballot initiative would create a cartel or monopoly or give a particular business special tax treatment. If so, the sponsors of the amendment would have to secure passage of two ballot questions one specifically asking Ohio voters to approve their monopoly before it could become law. Now that we have that in the constitution, its very, very hard for anyone who wants to manufacture for themselves in the bedrock of our constitution a monopoly on widgets or anything else, says Mike Curtin, a former state legislator and editor of The Columbus Dispatch who was a member of the modernization commission. Private companies arent the only organizations to take advantage of Ohios initiative process. The Humane Society of the United States, the giant non-profit animal advocacy group, had already secured passage of an initiated statute in California on the care and housing of farm livestock and was setting its sights in 2009 to do the same in Ohio with a constitutional amendment. The initiative would be backed with a multi-million-dollar ad campaign. Can you imagine the emotional impact of that? Asher asks. All the ads showing pigs jammed into tiny cages and chickens smooshed together? The Ohio Farm Bureau knew if they didnt make certain changes to our laws, the humane society would take it out of their hands. To head off a constitutional amendment over which they had no control, the farm bureau and other agricultural lobbyists approached state legislators with its own set of animal care guidelines to be enforced by a new state agency, the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. With assurances that any complaints could be taken to the standards board, the Humane Society agreed to withdraw its ballot issue in Ohio. Ohio citizens also have a process, known as statutory initiative, for citizens to initiate new laws without amending the constitution. Its seldom used, however, because it requires a similar effort to gather petition signatures and persuade voters at the polls, but the resulting statute can be modified or reversed by the Ohio legislature after its passage. Instead, Ohioans have relied far more often on constitutional amendments, which can only be reversed with another initiated amendment, Steinglass says. To encourage greater use of the statutory initiative, a committee of the commission recommended creating a three-year safe harbor during which an initiated statute could only be changed or repealed by state legislators with a two-thirds vote. Another committee recommendation was to make passage of constitutional amendments more difficult by requiring a 55 percent majority vote. The full commission did not approve either proposal and time ran out as the General Assembly killed the commission in June 2017, four years before its original sunset date. Unlike previous movements to reform Ohios constitution, such as the constitutional convention in 1912 or the constitutional revision commission in the 1970s, legislators rather than private citizens dominated the 32-member modernization commission of 20132017, Steinglass says. None of the commissions recommendations, even those that were unanimously approved, were placed before voters by the state legislature. SIRO Clinpharm, one India's oldest clinical research organisation (CRO) promoted by Daftary family that also owns Bharat Serums & Vaccines, is eyeing a comeback on rising offshoring of clinical trials in India by global drug makers. Founded in 1996 by Gautam Daftary, SIRO conducts clinical trials from Phase II to Phase IV on Indian patients for various multinational and domestic drug makers. Near death CROs like SIRO are on a recovery path after clinical trial approvals by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) hit a bottom of 17 in 2013 from over 500 in 2010, following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Swasthya Adhikar Manch in Supreme Court and subsequent findings by a Parliamentary Committee about many irregularities in clinical trials, including lack of consent and compensation mechanism to the clinical trial subjects, falsification of data and alleged government failure to monitor clinical trials. All this forced the government to come-out with stringent laws, which stifled the industry. In 2012, over 115 clinical trial and contract research companies were operating in India based out of cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. That disruption had caused many CROs to wind-up their operations and remaining others had to relocate their trials to other countries. SIRO survived by focusing on providing offshore medical writing services, which now constitutes about two-third of its revenue. SIRO declined to provide financial details. "We did fall during that phase, but have steadied the ship since then. Now, we are looking at exponential growth," Akshay Daftary, son of Gautam Daftary, who heads business development at SIRO told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview. Akshay along with his younger brother Karan Daftary joined the business in the last couple years and are trying to chart a new direction for SIRO. "Our focus had shifted back to SIRO. As a family we took a bigger interest in SIRO. Two years ago, we bought back the stake held by private equity investors," Akshay said. Kotak Private Equity Group held 70 percent stake in SIRO. In the past two years, Akshay said they have concentrated their energies on building capabilities and expanding human resources. "We have two pronged focus. In India, we are focusing on clinical operations. Our current attention is on undertaking phase-2 to phase-4 clinical trials on Indians for MNCs and FMCG companies and alsoinching towards the space of real world evidence (RWE). In US and Europe, we are looking mainly at medical writing, which is offshored into India. We are also looking to open-up an office in the US for an operational presence there," Akshay said. He added that the company is seeing a big uptrend of MNCs trying to come back to India, with all of them approaching it for undertaking new trials. Offshoring of clinical trials to India is once again gaining traction as companies in the US and Europe are looking to cut costs. It is also becoming harder for companies to recruit patients, get qualified investigators and sites due to competition and limited number of these resources. With government approvals now hovering close to 100, Indian CRO sector is now seeing growth rates of around 12 percent. Karan Daftary attributes the rekindling of interest of global companies to government's efforts to streamline and speed-up the clinical trial approval process. Recently, the government unveiled Clinical Trial Rules, reducing the time taken for approving applications to 30 days for drugs discovered, developed and proposed to be manufactured in India. For drugs developed outside the country, the approval time has been fixed at 90 days. If approval doesn't come in this stipulated time period, the clinical trial is deemed approved. Currently, it takes around six to 12 months to secure approval for a clinical trial. The Ethics Committee can now be located within the same city or within a radius of 50 km of the clinical trial site. This helps to expand trial to more centres. The ethics committee reviews ethical standards and scientific merit of research involving human subjects. The Daftary's also came out with a refreshed logo and streamlined their brand architecture to convey the continuing evolution and growth of the company. SIRO was born when my father (Gautam Daftary) was in Germany making a pitch to a top executive of Mucos Pharma to distribute their enzyme-based therapeutic products in India over a mug of beer. The executive in turn asked my father whether he can help his firm to undertake clinical trials of the product in India. Thus, was born SIRO and there was no looking back. In its hey days, SIRO witnessed a revenue growth rate of 40-50 percent, which was an eye candy for PE investors who wanted a slice of the action in the sunshine sector. At one time, even Biocon was in news to acquire SIRO. In FY12, SIRO was running strong with a revenue of Rs 283 crore, expanded its clinical trial capabilities in Asia and Europe and started alliances with other partners in South Korea and Taiwan. But unanticipated regulatory changes saw the company crash landing. From then onwards, it went into a shell. With more favourable conditions now, SIRO is trying to regain back its lost glory. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More With Patanjali Ayurved acquiring debt-ridden oil firm Ruchi Soya in a Rs 4,350 crore deal, the lenders have agreed to a 52 percent haircut on admitted claims, Financial Express reported. The CoC will present Patanjali's resolution plan to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on May 7. The plan got a 96 percent approval from the committee after a vote on April 30. The Baba Ramdev-led company will infuse Rs 115 crore in the company. Sources in one of the lenders told the paper that the resolution plan offers Rs 4,235 crore to stakeholders, of which Rs 4,053 crore will go to secured lenders, whose admitted claims are nearly Rs 8,377 crore. This means their recovery is about 48 percent. Unsecured financial creditors will get Rs 40 crore according to the proposed plan, against a whopping Rs 1,007 crore of admitted claims, indicating a haircut of 96 percent. The bank with the most exposure to Ruchi Soya is State Bank of India, with a debt of Rs 1,822 crore through working capital loans among other things. Other lenders include Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of India, Standard Chartered Bank India, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Axis Bank, DBS Bank Singapore, Bank of Baroda, IDFC-Edelweiss ARC, Dena Bank, Karur Vyasa Bank and HDFC Bank. The corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of Ruchi Soya began in December 2017 after Standard Chartered and DBS Banks applied under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Many famous brands like Nutrela, Sunrich, Ruchi Gold and Ruchi Star have originated from the company. It posted a profit of Rs 30 crore in Q3FY19 as against a loss of Rs 1,956 crore in Q3FY18. In August 2018, Adani Wilmar was also in the race and had proposed a resolution plan for Ruchi Soya wherein Rs 4,300 crore would go to financial creditors and Rs 1,700 crore equity would go into the company. It was supported by 96 percent of the creditors. However, in January, Adani Wilmar withdrew its proposal citing delays in the corporate insolvency resolution process. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Realty major DLF on May 2 said it has transferred shopping mall in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, to its subsidiary firm for Rs 2,950 crore, as part of efforts to settle dues of its joint venture firm with GIC. DLF has to pay Rs 8,700 crore to the DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL), which is a joint venture firm of DLF and Singapores' sovereign wealth fund GIC. It wants to settle this dues by September this year through transfer of rental assets and land parcels. In a regulatory filing, DLF informed that the company has transferred its property, Mall of India, Noida to one of its subsidiaries Paliwal Real Estate Ltd, in the ordinary course of business at an arm's length consideration of Rs 2,950 crore, arrived on the basis of the valuation report of an independent valuer. "This is in line with the company's stated objective of streamlining and consolidating the operations and holding structure of its rental assets," DLF added. Mall of India is located in Sector 18, Noida, with a leasable area of 2 million sq ft. It was developed at a cost of around Rs 2,000 crore. According to sources, the transfer of Mall of India to a subsidiary firm has paved the way for selling this retail asset to DCCDL to clear the dues. DLF has 66.66 per cent stake in the joint venture firm, while GIC has 33.34 per cent shareholding. DCCDL currently holds around 30 million sq ft of rent-yielding commercial assets, largely in Gurugram (Haryana) with annual rental income of over Rs 2,500 crore. The JV was formed in December 2017 when DLF promoters sold entire 40 per cent stake in DCCDL for nearly Rs 12,000 crore. This deal included sale of 33.34 per cent stake in DCCDL to GIC for about Rs 9,000 crore and buyback of remaining shares worth about Rs 3,000 crore by DCCDL. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said its decision to donate 10,000 courses of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) medicine bedaquiline free of cost to India was based on the Indian governments request before the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Johnson & Johnson did not solicit direct requests from governments as part of the bedaquiline donation program, the company said in a statement. 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 statement added. 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), which ended in March 2019. "The patent application in question for the formulation of bedaquiline was filed in 2007, and became publicly available in 2008, as part of standard procedures when developing new medicines," the company said. "The application was first considered by the Indian Patent Office in 2012 and remains under review. A formulation patent would not prevent generic manufacturers from developing the active pharmaceutical ingredient in their own formulations after July 2023," it added. J&J also refuted the allegations linking its donation with the patent opposition, and said that it is committed to ensure the drug reaches as many patients as possible. The specific donation to India from J&J sparked questions from public health groups and activists about the timing and intent of J&J. The health groups have pointed out that the donation came 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 donation also coincides with multiple controversies that raised questions over the safety of the products sold by the company in India. A section of healthcare groups have alleged 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. Representative Image India's buffalo meat exports fell 8.7 percent in 2018/19 from a year ago to the lowest level in six years, a government body said on Thursday, as demand moderated from the country's biggest buyer China. India's buffalo meat exports were 1.23 million tonnes in the fiscal year that ended March 31, the lowest since 2012/13, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said in a statement. China, which accounts for more than half of Indian shipments of buffalo meat, has been buying less in the last few months, said Fauzan Alavi, vice president of the All India Meat & Livestock Exporters Association. "China is a huge market for us. Other buyers couldn't replace it. Exports will fall further in the current year," he said. Beijing does not allow imports of Indian buffalo beef due to fears over foot-and-mouth disease but the meat is often smuggled into the country through neighbouring nations along with other foods that have also been prohibited by China. India's buffaloes are mainly used for dairy and are only slaughtered for meat after their milk productivity has peaked. New Delhi's rice exports in 2018/19 dropped 7.2 percent from a year earlier to 11.95 million tonnes, the APEDA added. The drop was mainly due to poor demand for non-basmati rice from Bangladesh and African countries, it said, adding exports of non-basmati rice fell 14.5 percent from a year ago to 7.53 million tonnes. Rice exports in the current fiscal year could fall further due to an appreciating rupee and a rise in local prices, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm. India's guar gum exports rose 3.9 percent to 513,218 tonnes in the last fiscal year due to good demand from top buyer the United States, the APEDA said. India is the world's biggest exporter of buffalo meat, guar gum and rice. The country's exports of pulses jumped 59 percent last year to 285,783 tonnes, while dairy exports surged 77 percent to 180,682 tonnes due to government incentives for exports of skimmed milk powder, the agency said. Market regulator SEBIs final order in the National Stock Exchange colocation case could result in a two-year suspension for four senior officials of the bourse. SEBI has found Ravi Varanasi, head of business development, Nagendra Kumar, head of membership department, Deviprasad Singh, head of colocation support, guilty of colluding with two stock brokers Way2Wealth Brokers and GKN Securities to give them an unfair advantage over the rest of the market by way of faster access to the price feed on the bourse. SEBI has barred the three officials from holding any position with any stock exchange, clearing corporation, depository, and/or in any intermediary registered with SEBI, for two years. In addition, Varanasi has been barred from holding a position with a company listed in any of the stock exchanges recognised by SEBI for three years. Way2Wealth and GKN Securities were allowed to have a direct connection between their servers placed in the colocation racks at the NSE and the Bombay Stock Exchange. Colocation is a facility provided by stock exchanges which allows stockbrokers to rent specific racks and place their servers and systems within the exchange premises, in order to access price feeds from the exchange at a much faster pace. In a clear violation of rules, both stock brokers used the services of telecom service provider Sampark Infotainment, which was not authorized by the NSE for such work. When other brokers sought permission from the NSE to use the same facility offered by Sampark, they were refused. Because of the direct connection between the NSE and BSE colocation racks, Way2Wealth and GKN Securities had a much faster access to price feeds compared to their rivals. SEBI found Varanasi guilty of allowing Way2Wealth and GKN to continue availing the connectivity provided by Sampark even after finding out that Sampark did not have a requisite license. Also, Varanasis team inspected the sites of certain brokers to ensure that the connectivity from the brokers colocation rack terminated at the office of that broker and not elsewhere. However, the same procedure was not followed Way2Wealth and GKN. Way2Wealth, taking advantage of non physical inspection by NSE took the leased line connectivity from NSE colocation directly to their rack in BSE colocation without routing it through their office in BSE premises. This was in violation of the NSE rule which did not allow direct connectivity between NSE colocation servers and the BSE colocation servers. Nagendra Kumar and Deviprasad too has been found guilty of the same charges as Varanasi. As for Deviprasad, SEBI has found him guilty also of allowing W2W(Way2Wealth) to arrange cabling through Sampark in the colocation rack in a manner that W2W had lower latency compared to other trading members/stock brokers. The other brokers were connected to the Sampark multiplexer placed in the NSE Meet Me Room (MMR). Multiplexer is an equipment, like a junction box, used in the network system for connecting multiple users to the network line of the service provider. MMR is a place where telecommunications companies physically terminate their own infrastructure in the multiplexer. At the NSE MMR, connectivity is provided to stock brokers with the network service providers through the multiplexer installed by the network service providers. "The aforesaid arrangement (cabling) could not have taken place without collusion of W2W, Sampark and officials of NSE. It was the responsibility of colo support team of NSE to monitor the cabling and ensure fair and equitable access to all its trading members," SEBI said in its order. The regulator has found Suprabhat Lala, an assistant vice president at the stock exchange guilty of colluding with noted academician Ajay Shah, and Infotech Financial Services, in which Lala's wife Sunita Thomas is a director, through sharing of confidential information in course of his employment at NSE. Ajay Shah and Infotech Financial have been charged with fraudulently misusing confidential data of the NSE for developing and selling algo trading software. Lala has been barred from holding any position with any stockexchange, clearing corporation, depository, and/or in any intermediary registered with SEBI, for two years SEBI has pointed out that his wife Sunita had access to data and information about functioning of NSE other than the data that her company was entitled to receive from NSE for the Liquidity Index project. The order highlighted an email dated April 27, 2014 in which Shah wanted to have a meeting with the two directors of Infotech Financial Services and Lala "to discuss regarding happenings in NSE HFT (High Frequency Trade) and to make further plans." "The question that arises is if Noticee No.5 (Lala), who was looking after trading operations at NSE, had no nexus with Noticee No.1 (Ajay Shah) or Noticee No.2 (Infotech Financial Services), what was the need for him to be invited outside the exchange office premises to discuss the latest development about HFT trades at NSE? Why was he expected to share NSE's trade information to outsiders at an outside venue amongst strangers?," the order said. Chartered accountants' body ICAI on May 2 said it has released the e-version of compendium of revised Indian Accounting Standards that incorporates new standard on leases among other amendments. As part of annual improvements, the Ind AS (Indian Accounting Standards), which is based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), undergoes regular upgradation due to issuance of new standards or amendments in existing standards by IFRS, the accounting body said in a release. The e-version of compendium of Ind AS includes amendments that were made in Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Amendment Rules and became effective on April 1. "During the previous year there have been certain amendments to Ind AS which have all been incorporated in appropriate places and relevant standards in this updated version of compendium," the release said. The existing standard on leases has been replaced in the new accounting standards (Ind AS 116). "In the new lease accounting model for lessees, leases will be recognised on balance sheet by recognising a lease liability with a corresponding 'right-of use' asset," it said. Ind AS 116 will have an impact on the financial statements of the firms. The extent of impact would vary across industries depending on the financing and leasing structures prevalent in an industry, the release added. Similarly, the compendium also includes changes that provide guidance as to how uncertainty about a tax treatment should be reflected in the accounting for income tax. "The compendium of Ind AS will be highly useful to all stakeholders in particular prepares and auditors of financial statements. ICAI will also continue to engage in disseminating knowledge of these standards and the changes through a series of initiatives including webcasts, workshops, training programmes and certificate courses," Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) President Prafulla P Chhajed said. Indigo Partners and Lufthansa are among the likely bidders for Thomas Cook's airline business, with a deadline of May 7 set for expressions of interest, 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, in whole or in part, would enable the world's oldest tour operator to pay down debt and invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales in a bid to differentiate its offering from rivals. A source familiar with the discussions said that Indigo and Germany's Lufthansa were 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. Thomas Cook, Indigo, IAG, easyJet and Ryanair declined to comment. Lufthansa had no immediate comment. The airlines business provides access to valuable European slots linking Britain and Germany to key holiday destinations. However analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the airline fleet was ageing and some of the slots had limited value. Shares in Thomas Cook fell 4.3 percent to 24.82 pence per share by 1048 GMT, underperforming a flat European transport & leisure index. Lufthansa executives have said repeatedly that the German airline wants to "play an active role" in consolidation. Indigo, the private equity firm managed by veteran U.S. low-cost airline investor Bill Franke, has previously made investments in several airlines including Hungary's Wizz . Analysts at Goodbody said the most likely initial outcome was the sale of the Condor long-haul business to Lufthansa, but that they were concerned about what would happen to the competitive short-haul unit. "Depending on how this sale process plays out, this adds to our concern on penetration of German-EU flows from potential low-cost carrier competition," they said. Thomas Cook has been revamping various 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), including debt. Thomas Cook has a current market value of around 400 million pounds ($523 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. Cash-strapped Jet Airways is in discussions with over 15 companies to find alternate employment for the airline's employees, according to a report by The Economic Times. Three executives from the Jet Airways top management have quit, and two others are on leave, the report said. The company, which has around 20,000 employees, has not paid salaries since January. The airline also said it did not have funds to pay the premium on the staffs mediclaim policies. Jet Airways Chief People Officer Rahul Taneja has been talking to rival airlines and ecommerce companies, asking them to hire the airlines staff, especially the cabin crew, the report said. Taneja has spoken to Vistara, SpiceJet, and Amazon, sources told the paper. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the news. Jet Airways has not yet responded to a request for comment by The Economic Times. Also read - Bidders for India's Jet Airways not keen to follow up: Report The human resources (HR) team of Jet Airways is preparing a database of employees' profiles and sharing it with potential employers, the report added. SpiceJet has hired 1,000 employees while Air India is hiring around 250 pilots and cabin crew, the report said. Vistara is hiring around 500 staff 100 pilots and 400 cabin crew mostly from Jet Airways, according to a PTI report citing sources. Jet Airways has been struggling to find an investor for several months and temporarily suspended all operations on April 17. The airlines staff held a peaceful protest on May 1, Labour Day, asking the government to help save the airline. Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), a healthcare operating platform founded by US private equity firm TPG Growth, on May 2 said it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Nova IVI Fertility. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed but sources said the investment could be in the range of $70 - $75 million. Nova fertility operates Indias second largest network of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) centres with 20 centres across 15 cities. AHH currently operates a chain of 12 women and childrens hospitals across India under the Motherhood brand. Between Motherhood and Nova, AHH will create the largest mother and child-focused healthcare platform in India. Nova Fertility was started in 2011 and through its collaboration with IVI established a standardised clinical and operating model. The company performs more than 10,000 IVF treatments annually with 60 IVF and gynaecology specialists and 50 embryologists. Leveraging its experience of growing the Motherhood network, AHH team and leadership will work alongside Nova Fertility team to build operating synergies and scale the network in the region. With the rise of women healthcare consumers in India, this integrated approach creates a formidable position for AHH, driven by both clinical excellence and geographic reach. We are excited to see Nova Fertility join the AHH platform which has proven expertise in growing and scaling healthcare delivery systems. This will unlock Novas growth potential and strengthen our proposition in Indias fast-growing fertility segment, said Naresh Rao, CEO of Nova Fertility. TPG Growth has been one of the most active investors in healthcare in India and South Asia in the last five years. So far they have invested close to $400 million across a variety of segments, including medical technology, delivery, life sciences, and pharmaceuticals. The AHH platform, which is funded by TPG Growth, helps power multiple single specialty healthcare delivery companies through a single management team. Nova is well positioned to be a leader in IVF & fertility care with its best-in-class clinical capabilities and brand pull among clinician and patient community. This acquisition strengthens our thesis of establishing AHH as a leader in building a scaled, transformative and integrated single specialty healthcare platform, said Ankur Thadani, TPG. TPG has partnered with Vishal Bali at AHH to build a market leading franchise in single specialties across India and South Asia. AHH currently runs a network of 13 oncology hospitals under the name of American Oncology Institute (AOI), a network of 12 Women & Children hospitals under the Motherhood brand and Ampath, a network of Pathology Diagnostics labs. We believe Women healthcare consumers need one destination of care and that gets well served through our service offerings of Motherhood Hospitals & Nova Fertility said Vishal Bali, Executive Chairman, AHH. Global ratings agency Moody's on May 2 downgraded its outlook on Lodha Developers to 'negative' from 'stable' citing liquidity concerns emanating from falling sales and rising debt burden. The city-based company is one of the largest realty players in the country and also has projects in Britain. Moody's has, however, affirmed the corporate family rating at B2. "The change in outlook to negative reflects the weakening in Lodha's liquidity profile, because of lower- than-expected operating sales and delays in execution of its planned asset sales, both in London and India," Saranga Ranasinghe, an assistant vice-president and analyst at the agency said in a note. Operating sales in Mumbai and London were weaker by 20 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared to the agency's expectations for the nine months to December 2018, it said. It noted that sales in Mumbai, its biggest market, were affected due to tight liquidity conditions in the three months to December 2018, but picked up in the March quarter, but London remains a worry due to Brexit uncertainties. In the absence of improvement in operating sales in London, Lodha will have to rely on asset sales in both India and London to meet its liquidity needs, it said. Illustrating the company's debt commitments, it said Lodha has a 290 million pounds loan maturing in December 2019 (extended from August 2019), USD 324 million in bonds maturing in March 2020 after a USD 1 million buyback, and a further 517 million pounds loan maturing in March 2021. "The company's cash balance and expected operating cash flows will not be sufficient to meet these debt repayments," it said, adding asset sales will be crucial. The agency said it expects the company to generate around USD 250 million from the sale of a commercial building in New Cuff Parade n Mumbai and a retail mall in the nearby Palava, which would provide it with net proceeds of around USD 130 million after retiring around USD 120 million of debt. The company is also in the midst of divesting a 28 per cent equity stake in its London properties to a third party, which could allow the company to carry out further stake reductions, but there have been delays in the receipt of funds from the equity stake sale. The outlook is unlikely to return to stable so long as the Lodha's ability to repay its near-term debt remains contingent on its ability to execute asset sales, it said, adding a ratings upgrade is not possible for the next 12-18 months. India's prime minister Narendra Modi from the Bhartiya Janata Party and his chief challenger Rahul Gandhi from the Congress are busy in the race to form the next government of India, along with several other regional challengers. But like every other citizen of the country, they too have to manage their money box. Will their portfolios take care of their sunset years, are they sufficiently insured, have they diversified enough -- these are some of the questions they may face as much as anyone else. Moneycontrol decided to look into their portfolios, part of mandatory disclosures in their affidavits of assets and liabilities that every citizen who contests the Lok Sabha election has to file along with their nomination papers. What can the nation learn from their portfolios? Invest in mutual funds for long-term wealth creation While Modis portfolio does not have a single mutual fund scheme, Gandhis portfolio has a sizeable investment in mutual funds. Nearly 70% of his portfolio is invested in equity mutual funds (MF), including a small holding through directly-held shares of a single company. His investments in MFs total around Rs 5.17 crore, which he has diversified across 10 MF schemes; eight equity MFs and 2 hybrid schemes. "Gandhi has a concentrated portfolio of some good funds that come with a good, long-term, track record. Even though the total invested amount is large, he has kept the number of schemes to a manageable number, says Kalpesh Ashar, founder, Full Circle Financial Planners and Advisors. Gandhi seems to like mutual funds, an investment vehicle that we at Moneycontrol consistently recommend to all our readers. Equities have outperformed all other asset classes over the long run. Over five-year time periods, spread across the past 10 years, actively-managed equity funds have returned close to 15% returns in the past, according to Value Research figures. Even if you had just invested in index funds (that are passively-managed and therefore avoids fund manager intervention), youd have earned around 12% over 5-year time periods in the past 10 years, on an average. However, Vishal Dhawan, founder and chief executive officer of Mumbai-based Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors, feels that Gandhis selection of MF schemes could have been better. The schemes, though good, are mostly multi-cap funds. Most of the multi-cap schemes tend to behave the same way when markets go up or down, says Dhawan. Asset allocation This is the first step towards building a healthy portfolio. Most financial planners suggest a mix of equities and debt instruments in portfolios, depending on your age, what youd like to do with your money and how much risk you are comfortable in taking. Here too, Gandhi scores as he has invested 70% in equities, 27% in cash and the rest in gold and cash. Considering he doesnt seem to have any immediate goals, he is aggressive in equities. He has invested for the long run, says Mumbai-based financial planner Gaurav Mashruwala. Modi, on the other hand, does not have any equity investments. Almost his entire portfolio, 99%, is invested in debt instruments. Rest is in gold (four gold rings) and a small portion of cash. Typically- and as far as asset allocation goes - Modis portfolio may not pass the muster for many financial planners, but Ashar says that an individuals profile is also crucial while deciding the asset allocation. Ideally, Modis portfolio should have 30% in equities. But he has no dependents. Also, it doesnt look like he is going to retire anytime soon. His debt investments (more of that later) are enough to cover his retirement years as well as a life-long government pension he is likely to get. He can be forgiven for not holding any equities, he says. Tax-saving investments Both Modi and Gandhi seem to have diligently done their tax-saving investments every year. Modi seems to have chosen National Saving Certificate while Gandhi seems to have chosen a mix of NSC and Public Provident Fund (PPF). Modi has invested Rs 1.50 lakh in each of the past three financial years in NSC. Section 80C of the Income Tax act allows investments in specified instruments, including NSC, to be eligible for income tax deduction up to an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh. Gandhi too has invested in PPF-presumably as part of his tax-planning investments- and his total value in PPF is close to Rs 39.89 lakh. Neither Gandhi nor Modi have invested in tax-saving mutual funds schemes, popularly known as equity-linked saving schemes. Dhawan says that Modi need not have invested the entire sum of Rs 1.5 lakh in NSC as the interest that gets accrued every year -- which is automatically reinvested -- also qualifies for section 80C tax deduction. Low on gold, high on financial savings Both Modi and Gandhi have stuck to financial assets and less on gold. While Gandhi has invested just 0.50% of his portfolio in gold, Modi has four gold rings- his only holdings in gold- that form 0.83% of his overall portfolio. According the Gandhis affidavit, his gold investments amount to Rs 2.91 lakh. Both their assets in gold pale in comparision to their financial assets, even if in the case of Modi, he has stuck to debt investments like bank fixed deposits and NSCs. Modi also scores on account of a low real-estate holding. The only real-estate in his affidavit is his own residential building in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, which he had acquired in 2002 and now valued at Rs 1.10 crore. Infact, thats not even an investment in the books of financial planning, since it is his primary residential home. His current residence, 7 Race Course Road at New Delhi, is his official quarters. Gandhi, on the other hand, has an agriculture land in Mehrauli, New Delhi which he jointly owns with his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (valued at Rs 1.32 crore) and an office space in a commercial building in Gurugram (valued at Rs 8.75 crore), as per his affidavit. For the purpose of both their asset allocation, we have not accounted for their real-estate holdings. Concentration in bank FDs Of his investments totaling up to Rs 1.37 crore as per his affidavit, Modi has invested Rs 1.27 crore in fixed deposits. Whats more; they are all with just one bank, State Bank of India (SBI). Although SBI is Indias largest bank and is state-owned, experts say that Modi could have diversified a bit here and considered other options, as well. He could put some of that money in debt mutual funds, says Dhawan. Ashar says that his income from just this single investment ought to be enough to take care of his retirement years, though. Being the prime minister of India and putting so much of his wealth in SBI, he has shown faith in the countrys premier institution, adds Ashar. Moneycontrol take Whether you are a retail investor or a high networth individual, a common man or a person holding a high position, taking care of your personal wealth is important. Its comforting that both Gandhi and Modi have financialised their savings at a time when financial instruments are clearly the way to go in future. Unemployment and grim data on jobs were key concerns in India in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections and through the four phases of voting that have taken place. Senior economist and member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Shamika Ravi, on the other hand, does not believe it is worrisome. Ravi, in an interview, questioned the credibility and the reliability of the data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) which paints a bleak picture for jobs in the economy. She believes that it is the localised markets in India where jobs are created, and those must be studied to get a more accurate idea. According to Ravi, unemployment rates in Gujarat and Karnataka are at 0.9 percent and 1.4 percent respectively and much higher in Kerala at 13.5 percent. She considers the quality of jobs an issue and believes that public data should not be held by the government. In the estimates released by CMIE for the last week of April, unemployment rates fell from 8.4 percent in the previous week to 6.5 percent. However, Mahesh Vyas, the chief executive of CMIE, said that this might not be a reason to celebrate as the fall was temporary and very different from the monthly numbers. He attributed the 8.4 percent unemployment rate to the increase in the labour force participation due to the ongoing elections. He said the government shouldn't feel better just because of a fall in one week's data. He also said the Centre should refrain from holding back data regarding jobs as it had been doing. Yogendra Yadav, the national president of Swaraj India, also stressed on the fact that Modi government's performance on jobs throughout the five years should be assessed rather than recent monthly numbers. Yadav said, when the government came to power, the crisis of jobless economic growth was already there, and it only got worse in the current government's tenure. Forensic auditors told the Supreme Court on May 2 that Rs 9,590 crore can be recovered from the embattled Amrapali Group which has diverted Rs 3,523 crore of home buyers money. Of the money diverted as much as Rs 455 crore can be recovered from persons including directors of the realty firm, their family members and individuals holding hey managerial position. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit was told by court-appointed forensic auditors, Pawan Agarwal and Ravi Bhatia, that firm sold 5,856 flats at throw-away prices and Rs 321.31 crore can be recovered at the current market value. They also said that Rs 3,487 crore is recoverable from home buyers who have booked flats and taken the possession in 14 Amrapali Projects. The auditors in their 8-volume report submitted to the court said that till now they have detected Rs 152.24 crore which the company's directors and their family members have taken for paying income taxes, advances for purchase of share and under other heads. The summary report also pointed that from 35 group companies, persons holding key managerial positions including directors siphoned off Rs 69.36 crore, which was cash in hand with the firms. "Amounts given as advances without any business transactions which have not been adjusted along with the amount received/paid for the non-genuine transactions amount to Rs 234.31 crores and should be recovered from the management of the Amrapali Group of companies," the report said which included only the companies audited by Bhatia. The further report of Agrawal is yet to be placed before the court. The auditors pointed out that there were 5,229 unsold flats of Amrapali in 11 different projects and can be sold for Rs 1,958.82 crore. They said that non-genuine and bogus purchases amounted to Rs 1,446.68 crore and Amrapali Group has a liability of Rs 6,004.6 crore towards the Noida and Greater Noida authority. The top court has accepted the reports of forensic auditors and sought explanation from the group and its associates. On February 28, the apex court had allowed 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. May 10, 2019 / 08:04 AM IST live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Here are the stocks that are in news today: Results Today: Dabur India, Bandhan Bank, Hatsun Agro Product, Hindustan Zinc, JM Financial, MRF, Radico Khaitan, Sunteck Realty, Tata Power, Aurionpro Solutions, Bombay Dyeing, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Tanla Solutions Maruti Suzuki sells 1,43,245 units in April 2019 against 1,72,986 units in April 2018 Eicher Motors April 2019 sales down 17% at 62,879 units vs 76,187 units in April 2018 Atul Auto April 2019 sales up 22.21% at 3346 units against 2738 units, YoY Escorts April 2019 tractor sales decline 14.9% at 5,264 units agianst 6,186 units in April 2018 Ambuja Cements Q1: Standalone net profit up 57.1% at Rs 427 croreore against Rs 271.8 croreore, Revenue up at Rs 2,927.6 croreore against Rs 2,862.6 croreore, YoY Raymond Q4: Net profit up 24.26% at Rs 67.70 crore vs Rs 54.48 crore, Revenue up 11% at Rs 1,808.7 crore vs Rs 1,629.8 crore, YoY. Britannia Industries Q4: Net profit up 12% at Rs 294.3 crore versus Rs 263 crore, revenue up 10.3% at Rs 2,799 crore versus Rs 2,537.5 crore, YoY Future Lifestyle Q4: Consolidated net profit up 50% at Rs 189 crore versus Rs 126 crore, revenue up 27.3% at Rs 5,728 crore versus Rs 4,498 crore, YoY Ajanta Pharma Q4: Net profit falls 5.9% at Rs 88.9 crore versus Rs 94.5 crore, revenue down 2.8% at Rs 515.2 crore versus Rs 530.3 crore, YoY Zensar Technologies Q4: Net profit up 49.5% at Rs 82.7 crore versus Rs 55.3 crore, revenue up 2.1% at Rs 1,057.4 crore versus Rs 1,035.5 crore, QoQ Indian Hotels Q4: Net profit up 54.6% at Rs 122.5 crore versus Rs 79.3 crore, revenue up 8.8% at Rs 1,244.3 crore versus Rs 1,143.5 crore, Yo BHEL signs MoU with ARAI for various projects related to e-mobility TVS Motor Company Q4: Net profit down 19.2% at Rs 133.8 crore; revenue up 9.4% at Rs 4,384 crore. ICICI Bank board to consider fund raising on May 6 Lupin in alliance with Natco receives FDA approval for Bosentan tablets Tube Investments of India recommended final dividend of Rs 0.75 per equity share BASF India recommended a special dividend of Rs 2 per equity share Mercator sells its very large crude carrier - Nerissa (VLCC) for a total consideration of USD 27.5 million Lakshmi Vilas Bank has revised the Marginai Cost of funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) with effect from May 1, 2019 Tube Investments approves fund raising up to Rs 100 crore via NCDs PNB Housing Finance, Mphasis & L&T Infotech to be included in F&O from May 31 DHFL to consider fund raising on May 4 ICRA downgraded DHFL comercial paper rating to A3+ from A2+ Reliance Home Finance: Brickwork Ratings has revised rating to C for company's long-term debt programme and A4 for short-term debt programme Cochin Shipyard signs contract for the construction of anti-submarine warfare shallow water crafts (ASWSWCs) for Indian Navy Embassy Office Parks partners with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts to launch Four Seasons at Embassy One, Bengaluru ICRA assigned AA+ rating to the Ashok Leyland long term fund Nitin Desai, a 56-year old employee of a state-owned general insurer had prepared to take up voluntary retirement once his company merged with other two large insurers. His plan has been put on the dock for almost six months as the merger is now on standby. "We do not have any clarity. But whenever the process begins, it is a fact that several jobs will be lost," he added. The government had planned to merge three state-owned general insurance companies -National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance. The merger has been a pet project of the BJP government, and was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his February 2018 Budget speech. The idea being the merged entity will subsequently be listed on the stock exchanges. Sources said that several employees above the age of 50 years have sought clarity from the government on their job positions after the merger. The total employee strength of the three companies put together is around 42,000, spread over 5,700 offices. It is estimated that with the merger, there could be a 30 percent reduction in the employee count through the use of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and other mechanisms. A senior official at one of the merger candidates said that early intimation by the authorities will help them find suitable alternatives to earn a living. The idea to merge the three insurers was to create a stronger and larger insurance company that was sustainable in the long run. The other two state-owned entities, New India Assurance and General Insurance Corporation of India are already listed on the exchanges. On one hand, the modalities of the merger took a long time to finalise, while on the other, individual companies have different conditions placed for the merger. EY has been appointed as the consultant for the merger process. Further, there was also a wait to help each insurer spruce up their minimum capital requirements so that the merged entity was financially healthy. The unions have also expressed concerns about the merger of the three entities, saying this would lead to retrenchment of staff at the mid and junior levels. Initial estimates suggest that this will be the largest non-life insurance company in India, valued at Rs 1.2-1.5 lakh crore. After the new government takes over, the terms of the merger would be reconsidered. As at the end of FY18, the three general insurers put together had more than 200 insurance products with a total premium of Rs 45,126 crore and a market share of around 35 percent. The government had tried to expedite the process. However, initial planning and design took longer than anticipated. Congress candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat Digvijay Singh 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 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. 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. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on May 2 attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the "chaiwala" has betrayed people by going back on his promises. He also hit out at the "thoko (violent) policy" of the Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Addressing an election meeting for SP-BSP alliance candidates from Kaushambi and Pratapgarh here, the SP chief said, "The 'chaiwala' (tea seller) has gone back on the promises... they have been exposed... chaiwala has this time come as 'chowkidar' (watchman)." Modi has often referred to himself as a 'chaiwala' and 'chowkidar'. In a dig at the Yogi Adityanath government, Yadav said those pursuing 'thoko policy' were insulting the police force of the state. He had earlier alleged that police officers of the state were following the 'thoko neeti' (encounter policy) of the chief minister to avoid getting transferred. Talking about the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the former chief minister said there is a wave in favour of the alliance. "Public is the real king in a democracy. There is a wave in favour of the alliance," he said. "BJP supporters want to drag us down by hook or crook... we want that all castes get proper representation, only then social right and honour can be established," Yadav asserted. The SP leader urged the people to vote for the SP-BSP alliance as he said this single act can "teach a lesson" to the wrongdoers. "By pressing button for the alliance candidates, the 'chowkidar' and 'thokidars' will be removed," he said. Yadav added that the alliance was fighting for farmers, youths, Dalits, backwards and minorities. Union minister Nitin Gadkari on May 2 said development has always been the top agenda of the Narendra Modi government and in the last five years the Centre has given impetus to infrastructure projects. Addressing an intellectuals' meet here, Gadkari said the NDA government's thrust has been on diversification of agriculture into energy and power sector. Chandigarh's sitting BJP MP Kirron Kher and the party's city unit chief Sanjay Tandon were also present at the meet. "In the last five years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, our government has changed India's image. We have given impetus to infrastructure and laid out network of roads Development has always been on top of our agenda," Gadkari said. With increase in the volume of vehicular traffic in Chandigarh, the Centre has mooted starting a double-decker sky bus service, he said, adding, "It will run on electricity and help reduce pollution caused by diesel. We will take up this project at priority in Chandigarh." The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways informed the gathering that work on Meerut-Delhi expressway will be completed within a month which will bring down travel time from "four hours to 45 minutes". "We are building the Rs 1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai expressway, which will start from Gurgaon (Haryana) and pass through Alwar and Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan), Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh) and Vadodara (Gujarat). Once completed, the journey can be completed in 12 hours," Gadkari said. "We are trying to complete the work on highway from Ludhiana to Chandigarh, which will help cut down travel time of commuters by about an hour," he said. Gadkari said there was tremendous scope of alternate clean fuels in the country and can generate a large number of jobs and benefit the farmers. "Ethanol economy in the country is Rs 11,000 crore, which has the potential to reach Rs 2 lakh crore... Our petrol-diesel import bill is Rs 8 lakh crore and we import Rs 10 lakh crore worth plastic," the Union Minister said. Batting for bio-CNG and ethanol, he said, "150 buses in Nagpur will be run on bio-CNG, a cost-effective option." Referring to stubble burning which is a huge problem in Punjab and Haryana causing environmental pollution, Gadkari said, "Bio-CNG can be prepared from this stubble and farmers stand to benefit. It will help strengthen agricultural income and generate employment." Speaking about the Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, he hit out at the neighbouring nation for not following the spirit of the agreement. "In 1960, the agreement by name of Indus Water Treaty was signed by Ayub Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru. Six rivers involved in this. Water of three rivers went to our country and Pakistan got share in three rivers flowing to that country from India. "When I went through the contents of this treaty, I found that Pakistan was not following the key points and spirit of the treaty instead they were harbouring terrorism and indulging in proxy war against us. "We told Pakistan that if you have to stop aiding and abetting terrorism, we will be left with no other option to stop the water. I have asked my department to prepare DPRs (detailed report) in this regard as Pakistan was not following the points mentioned in the treaty. Then why should India give waters?" he posed. Gadkari, who also holds the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation portfolio, said the Centre had recently decided to take up a major project to link the Godavari and the Cauvery rivers that would resolve water issues between southern states. On the water dispute between Punjab and Haryana, the Union minister said that he spoke to the chief ministers of the two states on many occasions in the past. "There is no dearth of water, but what we need is water management. We have prepared a scheme which will end the dispute between the two states," he said. Asserting that the BJP government has laid emphasis on building water transport, Gadkari said in a lighter vein, "From Allahabad to Varanasi we made waterway, and taking benefit of this Priyanka Gandhi travelled on this route." "In my ministry, there has been time-bound, result-oriented, corruption-free execution of projects. Credit for this does not go to us, but the people who have elected us," he said and praised Kirron Kher for "vociferously" raising issues of Chandigarh in Parliament. "If Kirron ji is a bullet train, then I and Modi ji will act like her engine and my appeal to the people is to re-elect her to accelerate the development works in the city," Gadkari said. The Election Commission has held that Congress president Rahul Gandhi did not violate the model code of conduct during an election speech in Madhya Pradesh where he called his BJP counterpart Amit Shah a "murder-accused". Giving a clean chit to Gandhi, EC officials said the "complaint was examined in detail and after examination of the complete transcript of speech sent by the district electoral officer of Jabalpur, the Commission is of the considered view that no violation of the model code of conduct is made out." Gandhi made the purported remark during an election rally in Sihore district of Madhya Pradesh on April 23. Attacking the BJP president, Gandhi reportedly said, "Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah. Wah, kya shaan hai! (Wow, what a glory!)" The BJP had complained to the EC about the comment. The remark had prompted a strong rebuttal from Shah, who questioned the opposition leader's "legal knowledge" and said the "fake" charge was dismissed as "politically motivated" by the court long ago. "Let me tell you the gist of the order. I was slapped with a fake case and the court has already passed its order that it was a politically motivated allegation and was without any evidence. I don't want to make any comment on the legal knowledge of Rahul Gandhi," he said. In 2014, a special court discharged Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter killing cases, holding there existed "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons". The Election Commission of India (EC) on May 1 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. Gandhi has been given 48 hours to respond to the notice, failing which it will take action without further reference to him. Two 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. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an interview with Hindustan Times, has said India conducted multiple surgical strikes during his tenure. Terming the politicisation of military operations for electoral gains as shameful, Singh said the armed forces were given a free hand to counter security threats under the Congress dispensation too. Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure as well. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than be used for vote garnering exercises, Singh told the newspaper. The comment comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s election narrative revolving around national security. Prime Minister Narendra Modi throughout the campaign so far, repeatedly invoked the surgical strikes and the Balakot airstrikes. Senior Congress leaders, including party president Rahul Gandhi, have talked about surgical strikes having been carried out by Indias armed forces under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. However, Singhs comments assume significance as it is the first time the former prime minister has said it himself. Slamming the BJP for inviting Pakistans intelligence agency ISI to investigate the Pathankot Air Base terror attack in 2016, Singh said it was the biggest strategic blunder by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces, Singh said, adding that this was being done to divert attention from the failures of Modi government. File image 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. The election rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chaibasa on May 5 has been deferred by a day due to impending impact of the approaching cyclone Fani, expected to hit neighbouring Odisha Friday morning, a BJP leader said Thursday. The PM's rally at Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district will now be held on May 6, said BJP's Jharkhand unit spokesman Rajesh Kumar Shukla. He said the proposed rally of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Gopal Maidan in Jamshedpur (East Singhbhum) listed on Friday has also been put off due to the cyclone. The new date for Adityanath's public meeting will be announced in a day or two, the spokesman said. However, he said, Adityanath will address a public rally in Hazaribagh Friday. Shukla said there was no change in the scheduled programme of BJP president Amit Shah, who will address an election rally at Agrico here on May 8. A high alert has been issued in view of cyclone Fani in East Singhbhum district on May 3 and 4, official sources said. The district administration has declared closure of all private and government schools for two days starting Friday. Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the district-level disaster management committee was held here under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar. Kumar has instructed the Red Cross and Civil Defence personnel to remain on alert. A team of National Disaster Response Force has arrived here. The alert has been sounded in view of possible wind speed of 150 km/per hour and expected rainfall of 12 cm during the storm, the official statement said. The administration has also alerted people living in catchment areas of river Subarnarekha and Kharkhai and asked them to move to safer places. The deputy commissioner said temporary camps have been set up in schools and panchyat buildings in rural and urban areas and directed officials to make basic arrangements for people likely to be affected. Kumar directed officials to alert people in catchment areas through public address system and asked them to shift to safer places. He also instructed to deploy a medical team and equip makeshift camps with dry food like baked rice, juggery, gram and bread. Gulshan Sachdeva The second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum, which ended recently in Beijing, attracted representatives from large number of countries and international organisations including 37 heads of states or governments. It was also claimed that new deals worth $64 billion were also signed. Both the final communique and the speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping were full of specific key words green and clean connectivity, transparency, financial sustainability, international norms and standards, respect for laws and regulations of participating countries and commercial and fiscal sustainability of infrastructure projects. This was clearly aimed at projecting the BRI as a responsive and inclusive initiative. At the end of the summit, it was clear that the scope the BRI is expanding, and China seems to accommodate concerns raised by participating countries as well as independent observers. The initiative is also becoming more and more formalised. The BRI has now listed 35 economic corridors or projects; 14 sectoral initiatives; and 15 initiatives by partners. For the last few years, the whole BRI was being discussed mainly in the context of six Economic Corridors (EC). These were: (1) New Eurasia Land Bridge EC (2) China-Mongolia-Russia EC (3) China-Central Asia-West Asia EC (4) China-Indochina Peninsula EC (5) China-Pakistan EC (CPEC); and, (6) Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) EC. New Delhi did not participate in both summit meetings as it had serious objections to the CPEC due to sovereignty-related issues. Along with the CPEC, when the BCIM was also declared as an important part of the BRI, it created further difficulties for Indian policy makers. Four partner countries in the BCIM were already working for sub-regional cooperation for years. To integrate East and North-Eastern India with South West China along with Bangladesh and Myanmar, a Track II BCIM regional Economic Forum was established in 1999 in Kunming. In 2013, the concept was officially endorsed through the development of a BCIM-EC. One of the main objectives of the BCIM was to integrate Indias North-East with neighbouring economies. Since the BCIM was conceived much before the BRI, many in India argued that it should not have been subsumed with the larger BRI. As the BCIM became victim of the BRI geopolitics, no progress was made in recent years. Now from the new list of 35 corridors, China has removed the BCIM-EC. Instead, China-Myanmar EC and Nepal-China Multi-dimensional Connectivity Network (including railway project) are listed. In the long run, this could be a setback for the North-East as this corridor was an important part of Indian design to link North-East with dynamic Asian economies under its Look-East/Act East policy. Interestingly, now the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is part of the new BRI list. Established much before the BRI in 2000, India along with Russia and Iran are founding members of the INSTC. Since then 11 more countries have joined the project, which provides a shorter route for Indian traders to Iran, Russia and countries in Eurasia. In fact, if there were any alternative Indian plan to the BRI, the Chabahar port linked with the INSTC was going to be the central pillar of that strategy. Now the INSTC itself is listed as a BRI project. This is more serious than the BCIM listing. New Delhi now has to work with Moscow and Tehran to resolve this issue. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has already declared at the summit that Chinese BRI rimes with Russias idea to establish a Greater Eurasian Partnership, a project designed to integrate integration frameworks. Putin wants to align various bilateral and multilateral integration processes in Eurasia. He also clearly asserted that all the five Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) members have supported linkages between the EAEU and the BRI. So Moscow may not have any problem with listing INSTC as a BRI project. In the current geopolitical scenario, Tehran may also follow suit. So far, New Delhi has neither officially rejected the whole initiative nor endorsed it. Despite negative official narrative, India is now the second largest shareholder and largest recipient of concessional finance from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Expanding the BRI may create further challenges for India. As most countries in Indias neighbourhood and Eurasia are participating, their connectivity projects will be further linked with the BRI. It will become more and more difficult for India to isolate its own connectivity plans from the BRI-linked projects. The INSTC-BRI linkage could be beginning of this challenge. Activists of Shiv Sena and Dogra Front shout slogans against Pakistan as they celebrate the success for the declaration of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in Jammu on May 1. (Image: ANI) Harsh V Pant It was without any doubt a significant diplomatic victory for India when China finally lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). India has been doggedly pursuing this for more than a decade now and China was the last nation standing as an obstacle. As far back as October 2001, the UNSC 1267 Committee had listed JeM though it did not ban Azhar. It was India that India proposed the ban after the Mumbai attacks of November 26, 2008, but China kept on resisting the move under the pretext of lack of sufficient evidence. Even after the Pulwama attacks in February earlier this year, China continued with its convoluted position in order to shield Pakistan. So when it happened on May 1, it was not only a big relief for India but also underscored Indias growing ability to mobilise global opinion in its favour. 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. This is Indian diplomacy at its best. Led by the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister, Indian diplomats mounted a sustained campaign over the last few years and the result is evident. New Delhis diplomatic management of this has been very effective: aggressive yet focused, pragmatic not preachy, and silent as well as public. Many factors accounted for this success. Days after China put a hold on a French proposal to list Azhar under the 1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council, the US with support from the UK and France circulated a draft resolution to the UNSC in March to blacklist Azhar. Washington was aware that Beijing would continue to oppose the move but the fact that it was willing to take on China so openly on this issue underscored that it wanted to call China out publicly. This has been shaped by Indias diplomatic outreach over the last few years in which global support has been sought to reverse Pakistans support to terrorist organisations. However, what has given this an added sense of urgency is Indias decision to up the ante after the Pulwama attacks by taking the fight to the Pakistani territory. This has now put the onus on Islamabad to de-escalate, a reversal of the post-1998 situation where in every India-Pakistan crisis it was New Delhi which was expected to take steps for de-escalation even as every crisis was precipitated by Pakistan. After every crisis, the international community, especially the West, would persuade India to ease tensions, and in most cases India relented. The post-Pulwama South Asian strategic equilibrium has shifted as New Delhi has made it clear that it could not be expected to look the other way from Pakistani provocations. The American move vis-a-vis Azhar was an unprecedented one, and was not only aimed at forcing the Chinese hand on Azhar but was also a recognition of the new regional context in South Asia where a stronger global attempt to rein in Pakistan is the only viable option of maintaining regional peace. Meanwhile, New Delhi kept it channels of communication with Beijing open with the foreign secretary visiting Beijing recently and tried to convince China how its position is preventing a normalisation of Sino-Indian ties. Recognising the diminishing returns of its position and its growing isolation, China saved its face by suggesting that China was lifting technical hold to the listing proposal following a careful study of the revised materials. This is unlikely to fundamentally alter the state of play in Sino-Indian or Sino-Pakistan relations. Even as it changed its stance on Azhar, China made it a point to note that Pakistan had made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community and that China will continue to firmly support Pakistans efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces. In India many will view Chinas shift as merely tactical aimed salvaging something from a very deep diplomatic hole it had dug for itself. There will be those who will argue that the UNSC decision will hardly change the realities on the ground. Much like Hafiz Saeed, Azhar will continue to operate with few constraints in the Pakistani territory despite the tag of a terror-designate. Pakistani military-intelligence complex has little incentive in curtailing Azhars ability to operate or plan terror strikes against India but that India already knows. What is important in the UNSC decision is the symbolism of the move a symbolism that exemplifies Indias coming-of-age as a global political actor, one that can use its growing global heft effectively and leverage its ties with major powers to secure outcomes in its favour. In global politics symbolism of moves and countermoves has a long lasting impact. In this case Indias crafty diplomatic management has managed to ensure that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Harsh V Pant is director, Studies at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and professor of international relations, Kings College London. Views are personal. For more Opinion pieces, click here Congress president Rahul Gandhi on May 2 said his party's primary aim in Uttar Pradesh is to defeat the BJP and where it does not have a strong candidate, it is giving help to the SP or BSP. Gandhi's remarks echoed the views of his sister and party general secretary in-charge eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had said on May 1 that her party has fielded candidates either with prospects of victory or having potential to damage the BJP's chances. "It is pretty clear that in UP a secular formation is going to win, there are no questions about it. Whether it is BSP, SP, or Congress, a secular formation is winning," Rahul Gandhi said in an interview to NDTV in Rajasthan's Chomu. Asked if the Congress was dividing the anti-BJP vote in the state, he said: "No, where we do not have a strong candidate, we are giving help to the SP or BSP. We are going to harm the BJP. Where we have solid candidates, we are in our space." The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal are in an alliance in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress chief said he has told his sister and Congress general secretary in-charge UP (West) Jyotiraditya Scindia that the primary aim in UP is to defeat the BJP. "In the places where we are not going to win the elections, let's support the gathbandhan. And the gathbandhan and Congress party are going to clean UP up," he asserted. "Well obviously in the UP context, Congress is a threat to Mayawati and Mulayam Singh. But as far as I am concerned I am extremely respectful of Mayawati ji and Akhilesh Yadav ji. And I understand that there is a secular formation that is operating in the UP and it is going to crush the BJP," he said. On why the alliance in UP could not materialise, Rahul Gandhi said the SP and BSP felt they don't have to ally with the Congress. "Now my long term position in UP is very clear and I have told Jyotiraditya and my sister that we have to build the party in UP and that is assembly elections. "And in the short term here in Lok Sabha, we have to fight for our space, we have to make sure our space is defended. We have to defend our ideology in UP and wherever we feel that there is fight between the gathbandhan and BJP, we are going to support the gathbandhan," the Congress chief said. Priyanka Gandhi, speaking to reporters in Amethi, had said on Wednesday: "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'." File image 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. The Home Minister talked about the recent controversy created by the Tanishq advertisement that showed an inter-faith couple. Amit Shah said such small incidents cannot break India's social harmony and that its roots are very strong. BJP president Amit Shah 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. Accusing the BJP of indulging in horse trading, AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia 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. Sisodia did not reveal the names of the seven MLAs, but said he has audio visual proof of it which would be reveal soon. He claimed that the BJP had earlier tried to buy AAP MLAs ahead of the civic polls in Delhi. Reacting to Sisodia's allegation, Delhi 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. Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, seeking action against those indulging in "false and malicious" propaganda against him and his family on social media. In a video clip that was attached with Tewari's tweet, it was alleged that his father, late professor V N Tewari, was involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and petrol was supplied from his filling station to "burn Sikhs". Describing the propaganda against him as "gutter and despicable", the former Union minister, who is contesting from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, said his family never owned a petrol pump anywhere in the country and his father was assassinated by militants on April 3, 1984, six months before the riots. "My mother was a Jat Sikh. My father was an academic at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and my mother retired as the Dean of the PGI. Our family has never owned a petrol pump ever in our lives anywhere in India. We have complained to the returning officer, Ropar SSP and the CEC. They need to act against the miscreants as soon as possible," he tweeted. "Those who failed in trying to raise the outside bogey against me have now stopped too low to malign me and my family with outrageous lies," Tewari said on Thursday. The Congress leader is locked in a four-way contest against sitting MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Narinder Shergill and Punjab Democratic Alliance nominee Bir Devinder Singh. Voting in Punjab will take place in the last phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 19. Fielding "undertrial terror accused" Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls is BJP's way of consolidating the Hindutva votebank, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has charged. He claimed the BJP's fear of being unable to retain 50 percent of its seats has led it to rouse communal passions to get votes. In an article in the forthcoming issue of party mouthpiece People's Democracy, Yechury charged that the BJP and Narendra Modi were preoccupied with disrupting the unity of the country and its solidarity through their venomous campaign of communal polarization. He said the first three phases of the 17th general elections saw the electorate voting in 302 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The ruling BJP has 113 sitting MPs from these constituencies. "In the next four phases ending on May 19, the electorate will vote for the remaining 241 seats. Of these the BJP currently holds 161 sitting MPs. That is two-thirds of these seats. It is clear that if the BJP is unable to retain these seats, its desire to form the next government simply falls through. This is because in the first three phases, it is universally admitted that the BJP will not be able to retain at least 50 per cent of its sitting seats. "It is precisely this realisation that has prompted the BJP leadership to consciously adopt an aggressive campaign led by Narendra Modi to rouse unscrupulous communal passions as the only means left to garner votes," he said. Taking a dig at the Election Commission, Yechury said while the ruling party was resorting to the "worst form of vote bank politics consolidating the Hindu communal vote bank" the poll body was yet to take any action against Modi for the "unbridled" communal passions that he is rousing. "This is ominous for the health of Indian democracy. As an expression of its efforts to consolidate the Hindutva communal vote bank, the BJP has fielded Pragya Singh Thakur, an under-trial terror accused, currently out on bail on medical reasons, as its candidate from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Endorsing this choice, Narendra Modi hailed Pragya Singh Thakur as the 'symbol of our civilisational heritage'," he said. Thakur is BJP's candidate from Bhopal where she will contest against Congress' Digvijaya Singh. File image Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is flush with cash in the current Indian general election, and is expected to easily outspend opposition parties, as he seeks a second term in office. This year's election is expected to cost almost $8.6 billion, according to the Centre for Media Studies, as politicians splash out on everything from advertising to giant rallies, as well as gifts and transport across the nation of 1.3 billion. Here is an explanation of how Indian political parties get financing and how they spend the money: FINANCING RULES Individuals and corporations donate to Indian political parties, but lack of transparency makes it impossible to follow the money trail. Traditionally, parties have received funds in cash, cheques, and electoral trusts. Beginning in 2017, the BJP made several changes to election contribution rules. A cap on corporate donations to political parties, which banned donations worth more than 7.5 percent of average net profit over three years, was removed. Companies with partial foreign ownership were allowed to donate. And firms were no longer obliged to disclose which parties they were financially backing. The most high-profile change was the creation of 'electoral bonds,' which allow individuals or companies to deposit funds in a political party's bank account at the State Bank of India. Donors can purchase as many bonds as they please and their identity is not revealed. Political parties must declare the amount of money they have received through the bonds, but not the funders' identity. SPENDING RULES Political parties are free to spend at will while parliamentary candidates are only allowed to spend up to 7 million rupees (about $100,000) in this election. But lack of effective oversight by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has allowed candidates to flout the limit without much fear of being caught, according to politicians and election experts. The last time a candidate was disqualified for breaking spending rules was in 2011. Candidates from major national parties told Reuters that actual spending, that happens through 'unaccounted funds', is as much as eight times the limit. Hoards of cash, liquor and drugs - designed to garner support from voters - seized by the election body during elections is one of the indicators of money spent. Authorities say they have seized goods and cash worth about $456 million since March 26, more than twice the amount seized in the entire 2014 election. NUMBERS In the 2004 general vote, India's top six national parties officially spent about 2.69 billion rupees, as per their declarations to the ECI. A decade later, in the 2014 election that swept Modi to power, their declared spending had jumped nearly five-fold to 13.09 billion rupees. The gulf between the BJP and Congress has also grown. In the 2014 campaign, the BJP declared spending of 7.12 billion rupees, over 40 percent more than Congress. In the fiscal year end March 31, 2018, the BJP had an income of 10.2 billion rupees, five times the level Congress declared. 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 capitalise 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 programme. "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. 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 legitimised," 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. Rima M | Rakesh Sharma No people whose word for 'yesterday' is the same as their word for 'tomorrow' can be said to have a firm grip on the time. So said Salman Rushdie in Midnight's Children, and sure, it is often hard to have a sense of time and where we stand today as a Republic and as a democracy over seven decades after independence. Are we being pulled back towards the faultlines of the past or are we moving towards the future? These are questions we are forced to address more and more today. As the largest democracy in the world trundles into the last phases of the national elections, it may be a good idea to look back and remember in this edition of Digging Deeper, the very first time the country went to the polls. And to cut past the WhatsApp fallacies that reinvent history via mass forwards to rephrase just how India chose its leaders for the first time. The story of this "leap of faith" or "biggest gamble in human history" or "the greatest miracle of democracy," with me Rakesh Sharma, right here on Moneycontrol. When India began its tryst with destiny It goes without saying that freedom was hard won and trivia obsessed Indophiles will tell you how in 1952, the tribals of Odisha came to the voting booths with their bows and arrows, while the Nagas trekked the hills for days. They knew what they were voting for. A country that would include the rights of all Indians, without bias or exception. Today, as various fact files will tell you, India has nearly 900 million voters but are they mindful of what a hard won privilege it is to vote? That is possibly a conversation for another day but today we will recall just how idealistic and inclusive was the concept of a universal adult franchise where , all adults regardless of their social and economic standing, their religious beliefs, their caste or gender or literacy levels, had the right to vote. That India could choose its own leaders via a nationwide elections seemed an incomprehensible idea to most of the western observers. Especially because for the longest time, India had been painted by their erstwhile British masters as an unruly, illiterate congregation of uncivilised natives who did know how to govern themselves. It seems incredible that at a time when the idea of voting was alien and a large segment of the 173 million voters, was poor, illiterate, and rural, India dared to dream of self-governance. To counter the bane of illiteracy, election symbols on ballot boxes were introduced. The world watched disbelievingly as the Indian elections commenced over a span of four months from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952. The universal adult franchise, granted all those twenty-one years of age or older, the right to vote. The world press veered from calling the experiment a "leap of faith" to "a leap in the dark" . General Claude Auchinleck reportedly wrote in 1948, "The Sikhs may try to set up a separate regime... and that will be only a start of a general decentralisation and break-up of the idea that India is a country, whereas it is a subcontinent as varied as Europe. The Punjabi is as different from a Madrassi as a Scot is from an Italian. The British tried to consolidate it but achieved nothing permanent. No one can make a nation out of a continent of many nations." But the Constitution, formulated on 26 November 1949, had already set the ground rules for the country to move beyond its strife ridden past into the future by making a provision for an Election Commission. A Chief Election Commissioner was to oversee the elections independently of the executive or the parliament or the party in power. How disparate multitudes were organised A house-to-house survey was undertaken to register the voters. A million officials were assigned duties to supervise the proceedings. Nearly 620,000,000 ballot papers printed. Over 224,000 polling booths.One assigned almost to over 1000 voters. 2 1/2 million steel ballot-boxes and counting. One box for each candidate. 17,500 candidates from over 14 national and 63 regional or local parties. A large number of independents. 489 seats for the Lok Sabha . 3,283 seats for the state assemblies. 98 seats in the Lok Sabha and 669 seats in state assemblies reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. And just consider the staggering numbers for a country going for the first time to the polls: Countering the challenge from parties like Jan Sangh and CPI, Jawaharlal Nehru traversed nearly 40,000 kilometers to impact nearly thirty-five million people. The voter turnout was a healthy 45.7%. The Indian National Congress (INC) swept into power, winning 364 of the 489 seats and 45% of the total votes polled. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country. Looking back in wonder Excerpts from Ramachandra Guha's book on India's history India After Gandhi, carried by The Outlook in 2007, recalled how the world described the fledgling nation's first elections as the "biggest gamble in history" and how obituaries have been written repeatedly for Indian democracy. It has been said, time and again, that a poor, diverse and divided country cannot sustain the practice of (reasonably) free and fair elections. Even nine years after the first election, Aldous Huxley, the great writer of Brave New World declared, " When Nehru goes, the government will become a military dictatorshipas in so many of the newly independent states, for the army seems to be the only highly organised centre of power." It's 2019, and we have not become a military dictatorship. Quoting Guha, "In those first general elections, voter turnout was less than 46 per cent. Over the years, this has steadily increased; from the late 1960s about three out of five eligible Indians have voted on election day. In assembly elections, the voting percentage has tended to be even higher. When these numbers are disaggregated, they reveal a further deepening. In the first two general elections, less than 40 per cent of eligible women voted; by 1998, the figure was in excess of 60 per cent. Besides, as surveys showed, they increasingly exercised their choice independently, that is, regardless of their husband's or father's views on the matter. Also voting in ever higher numbers were Dalits and tribals, the oppressed and marginalised sections of society. In North India in particular, Dalits turned out in far greater numbers than high castes. As the political analyst Yogendra Yadav points out, "India is perhaps the only large democracy in the world today where the turnout of the lower orders is well above that of the most privileged groups." He describes just how much India loves voting including the peasants in Bihar who go to the polls despite threats by Maoist revolutionaries. We quote, "Likewise, in parts of the Northeast where the writ of the Indian state runs erratically or not at all, insurgents are unable to stop villagers from voting. That elections have been successfully indigenised in India is demonstrated by the depth and breadth of their reachacross and into all sections of Indian society, by the passions they evoke, and by the humour that surrounds them. There is a very rich archive of electoral cartoons, poking fun at promises made by prospective politicians, their desperation to get a party ticket, and much else. At other times, the humour can be gentle rather than mocking. Consider the career of a cloth merchant from Bhopal named Mohan Lal, who contested elections against five different prime ministers. Wearing a wooden crown and a garland gifted by himself, he would walk the streets of his constituency, ringing a bell. He unfailingly lost his deposit, thereby justifying his own, self-inflicted sobriquet of 'Dhartipakad', or he who lies, humbled, on the ground. His idea in contesting elections, said Mohan Lal, was "to make everyone realise that democracy was meant for one and all"." If that is not a triumphant articulation of a healthy democracy, we don't know what is. Guha also states that considering the size of the electorate, it is overwhelmingly likely that more people have voted in Indian elections than voters in any other democracy. He writes, "India's success in this regard is especially striking when compared to the record of its great Asian neighbour, China. That country is larger, but far less divided on ethnic or religious lines, and far less poor as well. Yet there has never been a single election held there. In other ways too China is much less free than India. The flow of information is highly restrictedwhen the search engine Google set up shop in China in February 2006, it had to agree to submit to state censorship. The movement of people is regulated as wellthe permission of the state is usually required to change one's place of residence. In India, on the other hand, the press can print more or less what they like, and citizens can say exactly what they feel, live where they wish to and travel to any part of the country." This was of course, his view in 2007. It would be interesting to know, if some of his opinions about the freedom of the press and democratic freedoms have been modified since then. But even then, he had struck a cautionary note. Why we must safeguard democratic software Says Guha, "If one looks at what one might call the 'hardware' of democracy, then the self-congratulation is certainly merited. Indians enjoy freedom of expression and of movement, and they have the vote. However, if one examines the 'software' of democracy, then the picture is less cheering. Most political parties have become family firms. Most politicians are corrupt, and many come from a criminal background. The percentage of truly independent-minded civil servants has steadily declined over the years, as has the percentage of completely fair-minded judges. Is India a proper democracy or a sham one? When asked this question, I usually turn for recourse to an immortal line of the great Hindi comic actor Johnny Walker. In a film where he plays the hero's sidekick, Walker answers every query with the remark: "Boss, phipty/phipty." When asked what prospect he has of marrying the girl he so deeply loves, or of getting the job he so dearly desires, the sidekick tells the boss that the chances are roughly even, 50 per cent of success, or 50 per cent of failure. Is India a democracy, then? The answer is well, phipty-phipty." He says, it mostly is, when it comes to holding elections and permitting freedom of movement and expression. It mostly is not, when it comes to the functioning of politicians and political institutions. Can India be one nation? The history of independent India, says Guha, has amended and modified theories of democracy based on the experience of the West. However, it has even more frontally challenged ideas of nationalism emanating from the Western experience. He wrote then, "Behind every successful nationalist movement in the Western world has been a certain unifying factor, a glue holding the members of the nation together, this provided by a shared language, a shared religious faith, a shared territory, a common enemyand sometimes all of the above. Thus, the British nation brought together those who huddled together on a cold island, who were mostly Protestant, and who detested France. In the case of France, it was language which powerfully combined with religion. For the Americans, a shared language and mostly shared faith worked in tandem with animosity towards the colonists. As for the smaller East European nationsthe Poles, the Czechs, the Lithuanians, etctheir populations have been united by a common language, a mostly common faith, and a shared and very bitter history of domination by German and Russian oppressors." What baffled observers is how democracy would work in a country of so much diversity. Guha wrote then, "The Indian nation does not privilege a single language or religious faith. Although the majority of its citizens are Hindus, India is not a 'Hindu' nation. Its Constitution does not discriminate between people on the basis of faith; nor, more crucially, did the nationalist movement that lay behind it. Gandhi's political programme was built upon harmony and cooperation between India's two major religious communities, Hindus and Muslims. Although, in the end, his work and example were unsuccessful in stopping the division of India, the failure made his successors even more determined to construct independent India as a secular republic. For Jawaharlal Nehru and his colleagues, if India was anything at all, it was not a 'Hindu Pakistan'. And as always the success rate of well-intentioned ideas has been phipty/phipty. Like Guha explains, " Like Indian democracy, Indian secularism is also a story that combines success with failure. Membership of a minority religion is no bar to advancement in business or the professions. One of the richest industrialists in India is a Muslim. Some of the most popular film stars are Muslim. Three Presidents and two Chief Justices have been Muslim. At the time of writing, the President of India is a Muslim, the Prime Minister a Sikh, and the leader of the ruling party a Catholic born in Italy. Many of the country's most prominent lawyers and doctors have been Christians and Parsis. On the other hand, there have been periodic episodes of religious rioting, in the worst of which (as in Delhi in 1984 and Gujarat in 2002) the minorities have suffered grievous losses of life and property. Still, for the most part, the minorities appear to retain faith in the democratic and secular ideal. Very few Indian Muslims have joined terrorist or fundamentalist organisations. Even more than their compatriots, Indian Muslims feel that their opinion and vote matters. One recent survey found that while 69 per cent of all Indians approve and endorse the ideal of democracy, 72 per cent of Muslims did so. And the turnout of Muslims at elections is higher than ever before." These were words from 2007. And again, if 2019 Guha will change anything in these statements now is a question we will address some other day. But even then he was prescient as he wrote, "Building democracy in a poor society was always going to be hard work. Nurturing secularism in a land recently divided was going to be even harder. The creation of an Islamic state on India's borders was a provocation to those Hindus who themselves wished to merge faith with state. My own viewspeaking as historian rather than citizenis that as long as Pakistan exists there will be Hindu fundamentalists in India. In times of stability, or when the political leadership is firm, they will be marginal or on the defensive. In times of change, or when the political leadership is irresolute, they will be influential and assertive." Pluralism in Indias first election According to Guha, the pluralism of religion was one cornerstone of the foundation of the Indian republic. A second was the pluralism of language. Here again, he says, the intention and the effort well predated Independence. In the 1920s, Gandhi reconstituted the provincial committees of the Congress on linguistic lines. The party had promised to form linguistic provinces as soon as the country was free. The promise was not redeemed immediately after 1947, because the creation of Pakistan had promoted fears of further balkanisation. However, in the face of popular protest, the government yielded to the demand. We quote, Linguistic states have been in existence for 50 years now. In that time, they have deepened and consolidated Indian unity. Within each state, a common language has provided the basis of administrative unity and efficiency. It has also led to an efflorescence of cultural creativity, as expressed in film, theatre, fiction and poetry. However, pride in one's language has rarely been in conflict with a broader identification with the nation as a whole. The three major secessionist movements in independent India, Guha saysin Nagaland in the 1950s, in Punjab in the 1980s and in Kashmir in the 1990shave affirmed religious and territorial distinctiveness, not a linguistic one. For the rest, as he puts it beautifully, it has proved perfectly possibleindeed, desirableto be Kannadiga and Indian, Malayali and Indian, Andhra and Indian, Tamil and Indian, Bengali and Indian, Oriya and Indian, Maharashtrian and Indian, Gujarati and Indian and, of course, Hindi-speaking and Indian." Even the denominations on the Indian currency note were given not just in Hindi and in English but in all Indian languages. The elections successfully negating the cynicism of Washington Post's Bernard Nossiter who once wrote, " India is a land of Babel with no common voice. From its birth the Indian nation had been plagued by particularist, separatist tendencies and the continuing confusion of tongues...can only further these tendencies and puts in question the future unity of the Indian state". As Guha observes, had Hindi been imposed on the whole of India, the lesson might well have been: 'One language, 22 nations'. A pluralist democracy vs a majoritarian one Right from the first election, we have however seen a conflict between that India that arches to include diversity and an India that according to some must reclaim its linguistic and religious majoritarianism. Guha recalls that a popular slogan of the original Jana Sangh was 'Hindi, Hindu, Hindustani' and the obvious attempt was to make Indian nationalism all about persuading or makingall Indians to speak the same language and worship the same gods. We quote, "In time, the bid to impose a uniform language was dropped. But the desire to impose the will of the majority religion persisted. This has led to much conflict, violence, rioting and deaths" Back to the future But back to where we started, the first Lok Sabha Elections in India. In March 1950, Sukumar Sen, a member of the Indian Civil Service then serving as chief secretary of West Bengal, was appointed chief election commissioner. The following month, Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act, which set the voting age at 21 and gave the right to vote to every Indian who had resided continuously in a constituency for 180 days or more. Says Guha, It is a pity we know so little about Sukumar Sen, an unsung hero of Indian democracy. Sen left no memoir and, it appears, no papers. Born in 1899, he was educated at Presidency College and at London University, where he was awarded a gold medal in mathematics. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1921 and served in various districts and as a judge before taking up his post in West Bengal in 1947. No Indian official had ever before been presented with such a stupendous task. The mechanics of the elections, which were finally scheduled for the first months of 1952, presented a "problem of colossal proportions. Over 16,500 clerks were needed to type up and collate the electoral rolls. About 380,000 reams of paper were used to print the rolls. 224,000 members of the police would be required to prevent violence and intimidation. The electorate was spread out over an area of more than a million square miles, and in places the terrain made the exercise horrendously difficult, says the writer. We quote, Bridges had to be specially constructed across rivers to reach remote hill villages; naval vessels would be required to carry the rolls to the voting booths on small islands in the Indian Ocean. A second problem was social rather than geographical: many women in northern India, where social practices were more conservative, were reluctant to register under their own names, wishing instead to identify themselves as A's mother or B's wife. Sukumar Sen was appalled by a practice he called a "curious senseless relic of the past," and directed his officials to correct the rolls by inserting the names of the women. Nonetheless, some 2.8 million eligible women voters who refused to cooperate. To prevent individuals from voting more than once, voters' hands were marked with a special indelible ink, developed by Indian scientists, which would not fade for a week. Nearly 3.9 million phials of this ink were used in the 1952 elections Sukumar Sen spoke of the forthcoming election as "the biggest experiment in democracy in human history. Guha also recalls C. R. Srinivasan, a veteran Madras editor, who demurred. "A very large majority [will] exercise votes for the first time: not many know what the vote is, why they should vote, and whom they should vote for; no wonder the whole adventure is rated as the biggest gamble in history. Sharing this skepticism was Penderel Moon, a scholar of Oxford's All Souls College and an ex-Indian Civil Service official who wrote to his father that "a future and more enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people. Even Nehru, Guha says, had periodic misgivings. In December 1951, he took a brief leave from campaigning to address a UNESCO symposium in Delhi. And said that though he believed democracy was the best form of government, he wondered whether "the quality of men who are selected by these modern democratic methods of adult franchise gradually deteriorates because of lack of thinking and the noise of propaganda. He [the voter] reacts to sound and to the din, he reacts to repetition and he produces either a dictator or a dumb politician who is insensitive. Such a politician can stand all the din in the world and still remain standing on his two feet and, therefore, he gets selected in the end because the others have collapsed because of the din. Euphoria post the elections Post the elections, reports Guha, The Times of India held that the polls had "confounded all those sceptics who thought the introduction of adult fran- chise was too risky an experiment in this country." The Hindustan Times claimed that "there is universal agreement that the Indian people have conducted themselves admirably in the largest experiment in democratic elections in the history of the world.. Most foreign observers were exultant too, rather than alarmist. Guha cites a British couple, he a former member of the Indian Civil Service and she a reporter for the Manchester Guardian, who pointed to the very low level of violence and said: "Indeed the entire tone of the elections, even on the Communist or Hindu Mahasabha platforms, was reminiscent of Hyde Park on a rainy day. A visiting Turkish journalist focused on the content rather than its form. He ad mired Nehru's decision not to follow other Asian countries in taking "the line of least resistance" by developing "a dictatorship with centralisation of power and intolerance of dissent and criticism." Yet the "main credit," he wrote, "goes to the nation itself. We quote, 176,000,000 Indians were left all alone with their conscience in face of the polling box. It was direct and secret voting. They had their choice between theocracy, chauvinism, communal separatism and isolationism on the one side; secularism, national unity, stability, moderation and friendly intercourse with the rest of the world on the other. They showed their maturity in choosing moderation and progress and disapproving of reaction and unrest. How will India vote this time and whether it will remember the lessons from the first election, is a question that will be answered soon. In the meanwhile , Shyam Saran Negi, the Indian who has voted in all the general elections so far told the The Print, recently that it is his duty to vote and strengthen the democratic spirit. Aaj tak maine apna vote barbaad nahi kiya. Ab toh last time hai life ka. Vote daalne jaroor jaunga (I have never wasted my vote. Now in the last days of life, I will definitely go to vote), he said. And he truly symbolises the resilience of Indian democracy. Leaders will come and go but the Indian citizen will survive the good, the bad and the ugly to vote in one more election. And then another. And will keep proving the writers of the likes of London Times wrong who wrote in 1967, The great experiment of developing India within a democratic framework has failed. (Indians will soon vote) in the fourthand surely lastgeneral election. It has often been said that there is no history without geography. Ireland is the most westerly landmass of Europe, separated from Britain on the east by the Irish Sea and the USA to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. While Ireland is a dynamic, lively and modern country with a young population and a successful, technologically-orientated economy, it also remains a country steeped in culture and tradition where music, conversation and making friends matters. It was the last developing nation in Europe until recent years and the only European country colonised. Today it is the number one fastest growing economy in the Eurozone and sixth in the world. It is home to Europes youngest and most educated population. Sound familiar? then welcome to Ireland. Culture - Visiting or living in Ireland gives you a chance to become completely immersed in its culture and traditions, its charm and its people. It is steeped in history, from ancient man to early Christians, Stone Age art, monasteries, castles and fortresses, all which can be still seen throughout the land today. Entwined in this rich history is Irelands fascinating mythology and folklore crossing over to the dramatic realms of saints and scholars. Irelands history of conquest and colonization, of famine and mass emigration, and of resistance, rebellion, and civil war etched its literature with a series of ruptures and revivals. World renowned writers such as W.B Yeats, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker and James Joyce all contributed in their own right in helping Ireland take its seat amongst the nations of the earth. Lifestyle - Modern Ireland has been a quick and dramatic story, emerging full of opportunity where dreams are being realised. Recently ranked fourth place in the top 10 places to live worldwide by the Human Development Index (UN, 2018) and now only sits behind Norway, Switzerland and Australia. The UN analysed three categories long and healthy lifestyle, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. Dublin, Irelands capital is a particularly popular city to live and has been named as the second-best city in the world to live by consultancy firm ECA International. Their study, compared 450 places for liveability which took into consideration factors such as climate, housing, social life, safety, air quality, and health services. Quality of life has improved faster in Ireland than anywhere else in the world over the past years, jumping 13 places between 2012 and 2017. In fact, Irish live more than 13 years longer that Indians per UN stats. Business - Ireland is a small highly globalised economy, with a large exporting sector and a significant number of multinational corporations, which boast some phenomenal stats in the technology and research arena, earning its title as the Silicon Valley of Europe. What many of the readers might now be aware is that the value of American investment in Ireland of $165 billion, is actually greater than the corresponding investment into Brazil, Russia, China and India combined. Over 1,000 giants in ICT, Social Media, Pharmaceuticals and Finance have made Ireland the hub of the European operations, with names such as Google, HP, Apple, IBM, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pfizer, GSK and Genzyme. Over 30 world leading Indian companies have established a base in Ireland including Wockhardt, HCL, Infosys, Zomato and Crompton Greaves. Education - In addition to its economic performance, the quality of the Irish education system is a big contributor to the increased demand of investment immigration to Ireland. Every child in Ireland currently on an investor visa is entitled to free, state-run primary and post-primary education. Irelands schools and universities, rank in the top ten globally. For a small city, Dublin has one of the highest concentrations of Fortune 500 companies in the world, hence, there is a very strong argument for career development in Ireland. All of these companies have excellent graduate programs, scholarships and active recruitment campaigns where employers have ranked graduates from Ireland number one in Europe. Ireland presently is home to over 4,000 Indian students, with 90% pursuing their postgraduate degrees. It is experiencing rapid growth with its guarantee of a 24 month stay back post-graduation. According to Education Ireland All of Irelands universities are ranked in the top 5% globally and Irelands Institutes of Technology are renowned for their close links with industry and their highly employable graduates, said Barry ODriscoll, Senior Education Advisor. As more and more students are opting for this beautiful country, Ireland is offering more scholarships to its international students. There are about 200 merit-based scholarships on offer directly from the HEIs, ranging from 10% to 50% fee waivers, across all disciplines, informed ODriscoll. All of these factors standard of living, education, people and culture, alongside a beautiful country both in soul and soil, add considerably to Irelands attractiveness as a destination for immigration investment. This is very much evidenced in the sharp rise in demand in 2018, where the applications number soared, rising to 420 from 5 in 2012. Are you ready to understand more on Ireland as your choice for investment? For more information, contact our Delhi based Senior Irish Advisor Linda Sweeney linda@nysaglobal.com live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Hero MotoCorp, the countrys largest two-wheeler manufacturer, will infuse Rs 1,500 crore in FY20 for setting up a new factory as well as for upgrading products to meet Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms, which will come into effect from April 2020. Capital expenditure (capex) will be nearly double compared to last fiscal's Rs 800 crore. Confirming this development, Niranjan Kumar Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, Hero MotoCorp, told Moneycontrol, In FY19, our capex outflow has been around Rs 800 crore on a cash basis. In FY20, we expect this number to go rise to around Rs 1,500 crore. This fiscal, we have a plant coming up in Andhra Pradesh and undertaking some BS-VI manufacturing lines. A combination of these two will lift our FY20 capex close to around Rs 1,500 crore. The Delhi-based manufacturer of Splendor and Passion is setting up a new plant at a time when its peers are initiating production holidays and cutting back on output due to fall in sales for the past two consecutive quarters and higher inventory at dealers end (currently pegged at 50-90 days from 30-45 normally). During Q4 FY19, Hero MotoCorp reported a 11 percent year-on-year fall in two-wheeler volumes to 1.78 million units. In Q3, volumes fell five percent to 1.7 million units. The company started work on its Rs 1,600 crore Andhra plant in March 2018. This plant, with an annual production capacity of 1.8 million units, is the eighth for the company and is scheduled to come on stream by December. When the additional capacity from the new plant comes on stream, its total manufacturing capacity will expand to 11 million units. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has predicted a 5-7 percent growth in two-wheeler volumes this fiscal. On a base of 21.18 million clocked during FY19, this would translate to a 22.66 million units by FY20-end. Despite muted growth during FY19, where Hero MotoCorp clocked three percent growth at 7.6 million units, which was lower than the industrys growth of nearly five percent, the management is confident of growing better than the two-wheeler industry in FY20. Gupta expects growth for the industry to be around mid-single digits. "Tale of two halves, probably first half flattish, second half closer to 10 percent growth (so this would mean) 5-7 percent growth. On the back of our launches and other planned initiatives, we would expect to do better than the industry, he stated. On May 1, the company launched three premium motorcycles Xpulse 200, XPulse 200T and Xtreme 200S in the Indian market to challenge the dominance of Bajaj Auto. At present, the company has an annual capacity of 9.2 million units per annum. As per data from the auto industrys apex lobby body, Hero MotoCorp produced 7.83 million units last fiscal, which represents a capacity utilisation rate of 85 percent. If the company's sales grows by seven percent to 8.15 million this fiscal, its utilisation rate will drop to 74 percent, leading to over capacity. For years now, veteran actors have been taking to politics in India. Not only have they been widely accepted by the public, but some of them also grew even more popular after becoming active politicians. This national general election too, several former television and movie stars decided to ditch the glitz and glam to work for the people. A host of such stars joined the bandwagon only recently, some just ahead of the elections and some after the seven-phase polls had started. Heres a look at the fresh batch of celebrities who decided to fight elections. Isha Koppikar The erstwhile actress joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January in the presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. She was appointed the working president of the BJP's women transport wing. Image: ANI Prakash Raj A national award-winning actor, he announced his entry into politics over a tweet in January. He decided to contest the ongoing parliament elections as an independent candidate. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Sreejithkoiloth Arshi Khan An actress whose claim to fame was Bigg Boss 11, Khan joined the Congress as the vice president of the party in Maharashtra. Announcing her decision, she said she joined the party because she believes it needs more youths who are outspoken in its fold. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Bollywood Hungama Also Read: From actors to sportsmen, stardust spreads on poll path this Lok Sabha election Poonam Sinha Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinhas wife Poonam Sinha joined the Samajwadi Party. Poonam, who was crowned Miss Young India in 1968, was an actress herself under the screen name Komal. She joined SP in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadavs wife Dimple Yadav. Vijender Singh Beniwal Indian pugilist Vijender Singh recently joined the Congress. The party is fielding the boxer from the South Delhi seat. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Manojkhurana Sunny Deol Best known for starring in patriotic movies like Border and Gadar, the actor has joined the BJP and is fighting the polls from Gurdaspur in Punjab this time for the saffron party. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Bollywood Hungama Nusrat Jahan A Trinamool Congress candidate and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee loyalist, she is out wooing voters in Basirhat constituency. Due to the strong polarisation of votes on communal lines, it is being touted as a tough gig for a Muslim candidate. Image: Twitter/@nusratchirps Jawed Habib The renowned hairstylist joined the BJP and declared that, from being desh ka hairstylist, he is now desh ka chowkidar. Jawed Habib | Profession Hairstylist/ Franchisee Owner | Jawed Habib joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on April 22, 2019. His candidature has not been announced yet. (Image: ANI) Urmila Matondkar The actress who sizzled the silver screen in the 1990s joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi. She stated that she joined the party because her ideology was in tandem with the partys and that she wanted to work to curb the growing sentiments of intolerance in the country. Urmila Matondkar Mimi Chakraborty A Tollywood actress, she joined the Trinamool Congress to further the partys aim of winning the support of the locals. She is being widely criticised for her 'lack of experience' and a detached approach towards election rallies. Image: Twitter/@mimichakraborty Shilpa Shinde The TV actress joined the Congress party. Famous for her role in the daily soap, Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hai, and a recent win in Bigg Boss, she joined politics in February. Shilpa Shinde Gautam Gambhir The former top-order Indian cricketer joined the Bharatiya Janata Party as a key candidate from the East Delhi constituency, fighting the poll-battle against Congress' Arvinder Singh Lovely and Aam Admi Party's star candidate Atishi Marlena. After the horrific battery-gate incident in which multiple Galaxy Note 7 devices exploded globally three years ago, Samsungs latest Galaxy S10 5G has burst into flames for unknown reasons as yet in South Korea. According to AFP, a user reported that his brand new Galaxy S10 5G had mysteriously burnt while it was kept idle on a table. The user identified with the surname Lee was quoted as saying that he initially smelt something burning after which he saw smoke coming out from the device. "My phone was on the table when it started smelling burnt and smoke soon engulfed the phone, he said. Lee further added that the device was so hot that he had to drop it to the ground. When Lee complained to Samsung, the company refused to reimburse $1,200 the cost of the smartphone. The report states that the charred Galaxy S10 was beyond repair as everything was burnt inside. Samsung on its side carried out an inspection and claimed that the problem occurred due to an external impact, as per CNET. This is the second time within weeks that a newly launched Samsung device has been in the news for a wrong reason. Recently, Samsung Galaxy Folds screen started blacking out or broke after few reviewers tried removing a thin film which they thought was a screen protector. Samsung since then has delayed the release of Galaxy Fold indefinitely. Samsung has proudly promoted its Galaxy S10 as the worlds first commercial 5G smartphone. The smartphone was first launched in South Korea on April 5 and has begun taking pre-orders in the USA. To recall, the Galaxy S10 5G has a massive 6.7-inch Quad HD+ Curved Dynamic AMOLED screen with a 19:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by a 1.9GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 9820 processor with a 5G compliant Exynos Modem 5100 or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset paired with Snapdragon X50 5G modem, depending upon the market. The device has 8GB RAM and internal storage options between 256GB and 512GB. The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G features best smartphone camera, as per DxO Mark. It includes four sensors at the back comprising of a 12MP primary camera with an f/1.5-2.4 aperture; a second 12MP telephoto camera with an f/2.4 aperture; a third 16MP ultra-wide sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a fourth 0.038MP for depth sensing. The front cameras are housed inside the punch-hole display which consists of a 10MP primary sensor and an hQVGA 3D-depth sensing camera. In terms of battery, the S10 5G packs a massive 4,500 mAh battery and has support for fast charging and wireless fast charging. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, GPS, Bluetooth v5.00, NFC, USB Type-C, 3G, and 4G. The phone comes with an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner and facial recognition for unlocking the device. It runs on One UI based on Android 9. There is no word on the release of the device in India. The designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, the White House has said. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on April 1 announced 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. Reacting to the development, Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House said: "Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia". The US commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Azhar, the leader of JeM, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian security personnel, Marquis said in a statement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed the move and said that it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism. Pompeo also congratulated the US mission in the UN which took the lead in America's diplomatic effort to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, after China finally lifted its nearly 10-year technical hold on such an effort by India, the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council including Britain and France. "Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist," Pompeo tweeted. "This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia," Pompeo said. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that the JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace in South Asia. "The JeM was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 and has been listed by the UN since 2001," she said. The US also designated Azhar as an SDGT in 2010. "As JEM's founder and leader, Azhar clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN. This listing requires all the UN member states to implement an asset freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," Ortagus said. Today's designation is an important step in promoting a peaceful and stable South Asia, she said. "In line with this vision, we appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khan's stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow militant and terrorist groups to operate from its territory," Ortagus said. The spokesperson said that the US looks forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan consistent with its international obligations. 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. Recent visitors to the bay surrounding a submarine base on the southern coast of China's Hainan Island describe a curious nocturnal phenomenon. Powerful spotlights are sometimes trained directly on the ocean frontages of neighbouring hotels at night, making visibility out to sea virtually impossible. Some of the lights are mounted on land and others on passing naval patrol boats. "The effect is incredible," said one recent visitor. "The glare is so great you can hardly stand it on the balcony. You go inside and draw the curtains tight." The blinding lights cannot obscure something of intense interest to the world's military intelligence agencies: evidence that China has made a breakthrough in its drive to rival America and Russia as a nuclear arms power. Satellite imagery reveals the regular presence of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines at the strategic base near the resort city of Sanya. Specialized surface warships and aircraft designed to protect the subs are prowling key waterways off the coast. Facilities at the base appear to have been built to store and load ballistic missiles. Antenna arrays that support the hunt for foreign submarines have appeared on Chinese-held islands in the hotly contested South China Sea. And a veteran submariner has been appointed to command Chinese forces in the south of the country. Taken together, this means China has a force of missile submarines that can launch nuclear attacks from beneath the waves and now appear to be heading out on patrols, according to serving and retired naval officers, diplomats and security analysts. That gives Beijing something it has until recently lacked: a more reliable "second strike" capability if its land-based nuclear arsenal comes under attack. After six decades of battling to master complex and challenging subsea military technologies, China has joined the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France in the nuclear ballistic missile submarine club. In its most explicit assessment so far of this Chinese capability, the Pentagon in its latest annual report on China's military, published in August, said that Beijing now has a "credible" and "viable" sea-based nuclear deterrent. An effective fleet of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, known as SSBNs, marks a dramatic boost to China's nuclear capabilities. Each of China's four Jin-class submarines is armed with up to 12 ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead with an estimated range of 7,200 kilometers (about 4,500 miles), according to the Pentagon. That would put the United States within striking distance from the Western Pacific. Analysts at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimate these missiles could fly at least 8,000 kilometers. The U.S. believes China has up to 100 nuclear missiles based on land. Beijing's enhanced nuclear capability is one of the hallmarks of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's ambitious revamping of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the world's largest fighting force. China's nuclear submarine fleet, Western strategists say, has added to the challenge that the increasingly powerful Chinese military poses to U.S. dominance in Asia. "The opposing side can never be exactly sure that it knows where all of the submarines are," said Peter Horobin, a retired Australian submarine commander and veteran of the Cold War battles to detect and monitor Soviet subs. China's Ministry of National Defense, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Pentagon did not respond to questions from Reuters. It is still unclear if the Chinese are deploying fully armed submarines to maintain a round-the-clock deterrent, as the other ballistic missile submarine powers do. Some analysts doubt China has advanced that far. But the United States and its allies are behaving as if China has. Western military officials say privately that in operational terms, America and its allies - including Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom - are already attempting to track the movements of China's missile submarines as if they are fully armed and on deterrence patrols. Asked about their role in tracking Chinese subs, Japan and the United Kingdom said they don't comment on operational details. "China's military modernization is consistent with its rapid economic growth," the Australian Department of Defense said. "As with all countries, we encourage China to be transparent about its military capabilities and strategic intentions to provide greater assurance to its neighbours." GROWING STOCKPILE "An armed Jin-class SSBN will give China an important strategic capability that must be countered," Admiral Harry Harris, then head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a congressional committee last year. That response appears to be happening. The United States and its allies are expanding their anti-submarine naval deployments across East Asia. This includes stepped-up patrols of America's advanced, sub-hunting P-8 Poseidon planes out of Singapore and Japan. With its relatively small force of nuclear missiles, Beijing has always worried that it might be vulnerable to a debilitating first strike. These fears were magnified as Chinese military planners watched Washington employ precision-guided weapons in conflicts like the Gulf wars, Afghanistan, Syria and the Balkans. As it strengthens and improves its nuclear arsenal, Beijing is the only major nuclear power to be adding warheads to its stockpiles. China is developing an air-launched ballistic missile and plans to build a long-range stealth bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons. With the sea-based second-strike deterrent in place, those programs suggest Beijing eventually intends to field a triad of air, sea and land-based nuclear weapons like the United States and Russia. In the past two decades, the PLA Rocket Force, the service which controls China's nuclear and conventional missiles, has invested heavily in expanding its stockpile of nuclear warheads and boosted the range and accuracy of the missiles that deliver them. It has also hardened the protection of its silo-based nuclear weapons, according to reports in China's state-controlled media. The Pentagon and official Chinese military publications have reported that China has also deployed modern, road-mobile missiles that are more difficult for an adversary to find and attack. Still, China lags far behind the United States and Russia in overall nuclear firepower. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that China has a total of 280 nuclear warheads. China does not disclose how many of its warheads are deployed and ready for conflict. The United States has 1,750 deployed warheads and Russia 1,600, the institute's 2018 report said. The United States and Russia each have thousands more warheads held in stockpiles, according to the report. Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists, said he had yet to see hard intelligence suggesting China had placed fully armed ballistic missiles on its submarines at sea, despite the intense activity. Just because the submarines exist, he said, "that doesn't mean that they have the weapons aboard the vessels." While acknowledging that China has significantly enhanced its nuclear deterrence, the Pentagon isn't convinced that Chinese subs are yet conducting around-the-clock patrols. In a January report, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the Chinese navy would need a minimum of five Jin-class submarines to maintain a continuous nuclear deterrence at sea. China now has four. UNDERSEA DUELS A fleet of nuclear missile submarines hidden in the vast expanses of the ocean would help offset Beijing's nuclear shortcomings, say Chinese and Western strategists. Chinese naval designers and nuclear technicians have been working to build a force of nuclear missile submarines since the late 1950s. A single vessel was launched in the 1980s, but it was never fully operational. This submarine served as a test bed as Chinese technicians and designers struggled to overcome problems with nuclear propulsion technology, missiles and excessive noise that would have made the vessels easier for an adversary to detect and target. To maximize its second-strike capability, China's missile subs would need to be stealthy enough to go undetected as they sail to their patrol areas in the open ocean. U.S. and other foreign naval analysts say the Jin-class submarines are a sharp improvement over China's earlier efforts, but they remain less stealthy than their U.S., Russian, French and British counterparts. The 11,000-tonne Jin-class submarines are stationed on the southern coast of China's Hainan Island, close to deep water channels leading into and out of the South China Sea. The geography of China's coastal waters has forced Beijing to base its missile submarines in this area, astride one of the world's most important shipping lanes. In the north, the Yellow Sea is too shallow to conceal big, ballistic missile submarines. The East China Sea is deeper but it's confined by the Korean Peninsula, Japan's island chain and Taiwan. And Japanese and U.S. forces can deploy advanced anti-submarine warfare ships and aircraft based in Japan to closely monitor these waters and the channels that pass out into the Western Pacific, where the submarines are ultimately headed. The Chinese need to reach these waters to be in a position to fire on the United States. The South China Sea, by contrast, is much bigger and in parts deeper, making it more suitable for concealed submarine operations, according to Western submariners with extensive experience of patrolling in this area. China would need to get its submarines out of Hainan, past surveillance and into seas east of the Philippines for their missiles to be in striking range of the United States. This is a key reason why China has gone to such lengths to reclaim and fortify islands and reefs in the South China Sea that are expanding Beijing's control over this area, according to Western submariners and military attaches. The sub fleet's vulnerability to detection also explains China's extreme sensitivity to the surveillance operations of the United States and its allies in these waters. A Chinese destroyer sailed within 45 meters of the American destroyer USS Decatur in late September, as the American warship patrolled in the Spratlys, a highly contested island chain where China has expanded its foothold in recent years. It was the latest in a series of close encounters in the past decade. China now appears to be on guard against foreign subs attempting to detect and shadow its ballistic missile fleet. As China's Jin-class vessels put to sea, they appear to be flanked by protective screens of surface warships and aircraft on station to track foreign submarines, according to military officers and analysts familiar with allied surveillance of the Chinese coast. Serving and former senior naval officers also point to the extensive, frequent deployments of the Chinese navy's latest Type 056A corvettes into key waters south of Japan and east of the Philippines. The Type 056A is China's most advanced submarine hunter. It is able to tow sonar arrays and other listening equipment deep beneath the surface to detect enemy submarines a advanced technology that China did not have just five years ago. China has also installed an array of sensors, antennas and satellite communications installations on islands in the Spratlys, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The PLA is tracking the foreign undersea hunters from the air, too. It has formed a squadron of Y-8GX6 aircraft on Hainan with the ability to comb vast areas of the sea surface for magnetic anomalies. The turboprop planes have already been seen landing on Woody Island, China's key offshore holding in the South China Sea. These patrols are not the infrequent exercises of the past, but now near-constant deployments, shadowing foreign warships as well. "We're looking at them looking for us," said one Western military attache. FURTIVE FORCE The submarine base near Sanya is now under direct control of the Central Military Commission, the top military decision-making body, chaired by Xi Jinping himself. The new communications installations in the South China Sea have helped knit together the new command structure, allowing tighter control from Beijing, right down to individual vessels. In 2017, Beijing appointed a veteran submariner, Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai, to head the Southern Theater Command, which is responsible for the South China Sea. His promotion was a clear indication of the importance China attaches to supporting nuclear sub-operations, according to Chinese naval experts. Yuan is the first naval officer to head a command of this type, a promotion that's part of a sweeping overhaul of the military structure by Xi Jinping. Commercial satellite images of the submarine base give insight into the furtive force stationed there. They appear to show missile submarines regularly tied up alongside long piers in the harbor. Satellite images from Google Earth in June last year show what appear to be three Jin-class missile submarines at the base. The vessels have a distinctive shape, with a hump-like structure that houses the missile tubes behind the sail, the vertical structure that rises from a submarine's hull. Clearly visible in the images: a partially submerged entrance to what appear to be underground submarine pens, beneath a hill next to the harbor. Construction at the base near Sanya also points to the PLA's ability to stealthily arm submarine-launched missiles with nuclear warheads. Western intelligence analysts familiar with satellite imagery of the area say a covered railway has been completed that runs into a hillside bunker a the suspected warhead arsenal. The railway in turn is linked by tunnels to the pens built for the submarines. This, they say, means the missiles can be armed and loaded on the submarines a without detection. JeM chief Masood Azhar (Left) India's objective of getting JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist has been achieved, official sources said, asserting that Pakistan is "mischievously" attempting to divert the narrative and salvage something out of this diplomatic setback. The assertion came after Pakistan 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. 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. From time immemorial, master storytellers have had an uncanny ability to foresee and forecast monumental happenings. That is why their tales not just manifest into reality but also change the future course and discourse of a society. From the vast fraternity of literary giants, the names of George Orwell and William Golding readily come to mind since their fictional narratives like Animal Farm, 1984 and Lord of the Flies foretold of despotic and democratic horrors much before regimes of terror were unleashed around the world! From time immemorial, master storytellers have had an uncanny ability to foresee and forecast monumental happenings. That is why their tales not just manifest into reality but also change the future course and discourse of a society. From the vast fraternity of literary giants, the names of George Orwell and William Golding readily come to mind since their fictional narratives like Animal Farm, 1984 and Lord of the Flies foretold of despotic and democratic horrors much before regimes of terror were unleashed around the world! Reel life is a reflection of real life on screen, yet it is a rare cinematic fiction that foreshadows the future. Ever since the astounding accusations against the Chief Justice of India, my mind is overwhelmed with scenes of the classic 1960 Hindi film Kanoon since they emit eerie echoes of similar decibels! To me, the metamorphosis of those fictional images into a near parallel reality today is a vital moment of introspection of our socio-political cauldron and though I have no intention to comment on the sensational allegations of sexual harassment against the topmost judge, I do wish to understand why Hindi films do not attribute negative shades to characters of judicial administrators? Though a miniscule number of films have depicted personal dilemmas of judges, none except Kanoon has ever castigated their professional actions in the deliverance of justice. Unlike the US where films regularly mock, satirise, lampoon and criticise the workings of the president, secretary of state, attorney generals, army officers, bureaucrats as well as judicial officers with great disdain, it is surprising why our film scripts never analyse the professional conduct of judges in India. Despite numerous public allegations about corruption and misuse of power, it is perplexing why our film stories have neglected cross examination of the judicial improprieties of the administrators of courts. If fictional shards of a film can induce dissection of a real life parallel six decades after its release, it has to be a brilliant creation and indeed Kanoon was an enthralling court drama due to Akhtar Ul Imans insightful writing and Baldev Raj Chopras deft direction. Devoid of songs, it highlighted an accusation by a lawyer (Rajendra Kumar) upon the judge (Ashok Kumar) of being a murderer, etching in the process one of the most gripping yet explosive court scenes ever shown on a movie screen. Mesmerising audiences with its taut suspense, Kanoon boldly sullied and sliced the judges character in view of his wager to plot a perfect murder! If fictional shards of a film can induce dissection of a real life parallel six decades after its release, it has to be a brilliant creation and indeed Kanoon was an enthralling court drama due to Akhtar Ul Imans insightful writing and Baldev Raj Chopras deft direction. Devoid of songs, it highlighted an accusation by a lawyer (Rajendra Kumar) upon the judge (Ashok Kumar) of being a murderer, etching in the process one of the most gripping yet explosive court scenes ever shown on a movie screen. Mesmerising audiences with its taut suspense, Kanoon boldly sullied and sliced the judges character in view of his wager to plot a perfect murder! But why is it that no film thereafter has been bold enough to depict the vexatious knots of legal functionaries? Is it the fear of punishment under the Contempt of Court Act? According to avant-garde film director Sudhir Mishra, since "any act... by word, spoken or written can be construed as scandalizing or obstructing the administration of justice or lowering the authority of a court, it is a huge deterrent for creative film makers. Sudhir opines the draconian Act makes film producers shy away from contentious subjects since any gesture, speech or act can be interpreted as an insult of a court of law. And with the new found habit of fringe elements to haul people to courts, Sudhir feels a character portraying an unscrupulous administrator of law could render a film maker as a sitting duck and nobody wants to lose peace and money if the law cannot save their skin. Would the courts be lenient to an exhibition of a judges professional impropriety on screen, I asked the highly respected former justice of the Rajasthan High Court Vinod Shankar Dave. A jovial man of great sagacity, Mr Dave frankly admitted that the decision would entirely depend on the conscience and wisdom of the judge deciding the case. Ruing plummeting levels of tolerance, Mr Dave conceded film producers face an uphill task in combating the statute in view of the combustible environment of our polity. But in his considered opinion, a plausible storyline depicting a flawed judicial persona should not invite punishment if there was no malafide intention to lower faith in the justice system. Disclosing he had not punished anyone under the Act even when he was severely criticised by the media, the former judge advocated punishment for contempt only as the last resort and that too if the majesty and dignity of the court had been trampled for selfish reasons. A strong votary of public criticism to build a vibrant and vigilant democracy, Mr Dave decried the fading ability of Indian luminaries to laugh at their own selves. With a throaty laughter at parting, he recommended Charles Ashmans book The Finest Judges Money Can Buy which cites proven examples of Americas judicial pollution since there were similar parallels in India too! Given the high prevalence of muddle headedness of Indian administrators as well as the timidity of censor boards, it is quite difficult to envisage a Hindi film in the near future about professional transgression by a legal practitioner. Surprisingly, a day after my conversation with Mr Dave, the former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti publicly lamented in Chandigarh that the greatest shortcoming in the justice delivery system was that those deserving to be appointed were not appointed at all while several judges unfit for appointment were elevated as High Court judges. Couldn't this resounding statement about Indian systems tolerance of judicial incompetence be used to script a new film? But will the courts allow universal exhibition of such preposterous shortcomings? Firefox Lockbox is a simple password manager which works exclusively with the Firefox Browser. If you are a Firefox fan, this means that any logins and passwords that you store in Firefox will be available to you on your mobile browser across websites and apps that you need to login to. You just need to install the app and sign into your Firefox account. Lockbox will copy all your passwords. Your credentials are protected with 256-bit encryption and even the makersMozillacannot access them. For an extra layer of protection, you can lock the app using your pin or fingerprint scanner or facial recognition, where available. There is also an auto-lock which bolts the app when not in use. You just need to install the app and sign into your Firefox account. Lockbox will copy all your passwords. Your credentials are protected with 256-bit encryption and even the makersMozillacannot access them. For an extra layer of protection, you can lock the app using your pin or fingerprint scanner or facial recognition, where available. There is also an auto-lock which bolts the app when not in use. Instead of sitting at your desk, a lunchtime stroll through a park is one of the most effective stress-lowering treatments that a doctor can prescribe, new research suggests. This research was conducted by a team of scientists led by Dr Mary Carol Hunter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, and has been published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology. Communing with nature has long been recognised as restorative but now scientists claim to have worked out the optimum daily dose. We know that spending time in nature reduces stress, but until now it was unclear how much is enough, how often to do it, or even what kind of nature experience will benefit us, says Dr Hunter. Our study shows that for the greatest payoff, in terms of efficiently lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol, you should spend 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking in a place that provides you with a sense of nature. The results from the study indicate that spending 20 to 30 minutes in surroundings that made a person feel connected to nature, lowers stress hormones by about 10%, enough to improve their feeling of well-being. Nature pills, as the experience is often referred to by healthcare practitioners, could be a low-cost solution to reduce the negative health impacts stemming from growing urbanisation and indoor lifestyles dominated by screen viewing. In order to assist healthcare practitioners looking for evidence-based guidelines on what exactly to dispense, Dr Hunter and her colleagues designated an experiment that would give a realistic estimate of an effective dose. For the study, participants were asked to take a nature pill over an eight-week period, for a duration of 10 minutes or more, at least three times a week. To track the effects of this dose, levels of cortisol were measured from saliva samples taken before and after the prescribed nature experience, once every two weeks. Participants were free to choose the time of day, duration and the place of their nature experience, which was defined as anywhere outside that in the opinion of the participant, made them feel like theyve interacted with nature, Dr Hunter explained. She further added, that there were a few additional constraints to minimise factors known to influence stress such as taking the nature pill in daylight hours, no aerobic exercise and avoiding use of social media, Internet, phone calls, conversations and reading. This particular experiment allowed participants to make allowances for their busy lifestyles by providing them with the freedom to choose an appropriate time slot for their nature experience. This novel experimental design also allowed researchers to gather meaningful results. Building personal flexibility into the experiment allowed us to identify the optimal duration of a nature pill, no matter when or where it is taken and under the normal circumstances of modern life, with its unpredictability and hectic scheduling, said Dr Hunter. The study accommodated for day-to-day differences in a participants stress status by collecting four snapshots of cortisol change affected by the prescribed nature experience. It also allowed researchers to identify and account for the impact of ongoing, natural drop in cortisol level as the day progresses, making the estimate of effective duration more reliable. The collected data revealed that just a 20-minute nature experience was enough to significantly reduce cortisol levels. But if you were to spend a little more time immersed in a nature experience, i.e., 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking, cortisol levels dropped at their highest rate. After that, additional de-stressing benefits continue to add up, but at a slower rate. Healthcare practitioners can use our results as an evidence-based rule to thumb on what to put in a nature pill prescription, says Dr Hunter. It provides the first estimates of how nature experiences impact stress levels in the context of normal daily life. It breaks new ground by addressing some of the complexities of measuring an effective nature dose. Dr Hunter and her colleagues hope that this study will form the basis of further research in this area. They are hoping that their experimental approach can be used as a tool to assess how age, gender, seasonality, physical ability and culture can influence the effectiveness of nature experiences on well-being. Dr Hunter believes that this will allow for customised nature pill prescriptions, as well as a deeper insight on how to design cities and well-being programmes for the public. The buy now, pay later business has turned its focus towards the UK, where AfterPay Touch Group Limited [ASX:APT] will use the name of its already acquired business: Clearpay. At the time of writing, Afterpays share price is still rising after the UK launch announcement, trading at $27.52, up 0.77 on top of yesterdays 5.47% Related: Find out whether Afterpay is one of Aussie stock picker Sam Volkerings top 4 stock picks in 2019. Afterpay/Clearpay details On Tuesday, Afterpay executive director David Hancock told a Macquarie Australian investment conference in Sydney, that: We will be using the same logo, we will be using the same tech, one of the reasons why weve done that is that theres a number of issues that we need to deal with, and the quickest way for us to get into market was to actually use the ClearPay name. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Afterpay makes up 10% of online sales, with one in every four Millennials using the platform in Australia. We are the largest referrer outside of Google for leads, Mr Hancock said. So many of our retailers really want to be on the platform because they are generating new leads for new customers. Mr Hancock said. Afterpay is playing quite an influential role in engaging with customers on behalf of retailers. This is especially true for David Jones, who is working with Afterpay to expand its user base to include the growing proportion of 37 to 55-year-olds, saying: Whilst we are a Millennial-focused company, we are seeing a halo effect of that pushing into other cohorts. Afterpays share price 2019 Heading further into 2019, investors can expect that Afterpay will continue on its mammoth expansion strategies. Mr Hancock told a Macquarie investment conference on Tuesday about the advantages from the UK strategy: Were building a strong security hub and the advantage about actually being in the UK is that you can get different talent. Because youre close to eastern Europe, theres a whole lot of security analysts and a number of other things that are essential over there. But shareholders should be mindful that global competition in similar services could bring Afterpays rising share price to a bit of a slowdown. That being said Mr Hancock seems confident in the unique product offering of Afterpays business model: We dont see anyone as a direct competitor. More to come. Regards, Ryan Clarkson Ledward, For Money Morning PS: If youre struggling to figure out which stocks are the best plays to boost your investment portfolio, look no further. Check out this free report by Aussie stock-picker, Sam Volkering, on the Four Must-Buy ASX Beauties for 2019 to potentially put some big winners in your line of sight. Download now. Today, Wesfarmers Ltd [ASX:WES] launched a $776 million takeover bid for lithium mining company Kidman Resources Ltd [ASX:KDR]. At the time of writing, Kidman Resources share price is trading 44.44% higher, at $1.86 apiece. Naturally, Wesfarmers share price is a little flat after the bid, down slightly by .14%, to $35.65 apiece. The offer was announced Thursday morning, upon winning the backing of Kidmans board and joint venture partner. It follows Wesfarmers $1.5 billion bid for rare-earth miner Lynas Corporation Ltd [ASX:LYC]. Related: Dont buy a single lithium stock until youve read this report. Read more about it here for free. Wesfarmers resource focus aids Kidman Resources share price Now more than ever, people are looking for alternative ways to power our way of life. The emerging energy market we are seeing today has thrusted lithium miners in high demand. Currently, Kidman has a 50% stake in a lithium project in Mount Holland, Western Australia. The project includes an under-construction mine, as well as a lithium hydroxide refinery in Kwinana. It seems Wesfarmers new resource focus is helping Kidman Resources rising share price, as the company is seeking to diversify itself and move out of supermarket chain Coles. Last year, Wesfarmers shed most of its stake in the grocery giant. Wesfarmers currently owns retail chains Bunnings, Kmart, Target and Officeworks. Wesfarmers boss, Rob Scott, commented on the takeover: The acquisition of Kidman provides an opportunity to invest in and develop a large-scale, long-life and high-grade lithium hydroxide project. It also creates a unique partnership with SQM, a global leader in the lithium industry with a long operating history and deep market knowledge. In support of the deal is the worlds largest lithium producer, and Kidmans joint venture partner, the Chilean group Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM), as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald. Kidman Resources waiting on shareholders Currently, Kidmans board members and members of its key management already support the takeover granted, there is no better offer put forward. Together they make up about 17% ownership of Kidman shares. But in order for the take-over to go ahead, the deal needs the support of the remaining Kidman Resources shareholders. With the extra muscle coming from Wesfarmers, investors could see further shifts to Kidman Resources share price, as funding for further lithium mining begins to pick up. But regardless, the growing demand for alternative energies and especially the use of lithium could, or at least should, breed more upside potential for investors. Regards, Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, For Money Morning Today shares of National Australia Bank Ltd [ASX:NAB] seem likely to continue to tumble on the back of its release of half-yearly results. NAB finished trading yesterday 1.70% higher, closing at $25.78 per share, but those gains could be erased upon trading today. At the time of writing NABs share price is trading $25.54, down almost 1%. NAB has seen its share price slip by 12.85% over the past 12 months because of the fallout from the Hayne Royal Commission. Australias Big Four banks are facing an increasingly difficult operating environment as smaller international institutions capitalise on consumers distrust. Special 2019 report: The next generation of Aussie income superstars revealed. Hint: its not the banks. Click here to claim your copy now. Hayne costs take hold Surging customer compensation bills in the wake of the Banking Royal Commission have forced NAB to slash their interim dividend by 16% from 99 cents to 83 cents per share. This is the first time in five years the bank has reduced its dividend. In its half-year results released this morning, cash earnings were up 7.1% versus 1H18 earnings to $2.954 billion. This was largely because of the big hit to the prior corresponding period from restructuring costs. Earnings this half include $325 million hit in customer remediation costs. In late April, the bank said it would take a new $749 million charge for customers given bad advice, which reduced reported cash profit by $325 million. Its compensation bill to customers has soared to about $1.1 billion. Excluding the remediation costs, 1H19 earnings are broadly in line with 1H18, with revenue up 1%, which CEO Philip Chronican says reflects market share gains in small to medium enterprises and home lending. Cash earnings in NABs consumer bank and wealth division slumped 20.6% to $638 million. The business and private bank earnings were down 1.3% and corporate and institutional was flat. New Zealand banking division outperformed performed, with cash earnings up 7.7%. Whats next for NABs share price? Mr Chronican said the dividend cut would: Significantly strengthen NABs balance sheet providing greater confidence in our ability to exceed APRAs unquestionably strong capital requirements from 2020. NABs common equity tier 1 capital (CET 1) ratio is at 10.4%, below the regulators benchmark of an unquestionably strong 10.5%. While NAB has seen some positive changes in terms of cost savings and reduced expenses over the past year, it is difficult to say whether the bank will be forced to cut its final dividend later in the year. Some factors to consider in a challenging banking environment are slowing economic growth (will remain above 2% in 2019), slow housing credit growth, and a highly changing regulatory environment. Regards, Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, For Money Morning PS: In this just released report, Matt Hibbard shows you his top five dividend picks for 2019. Click here to claim your copy today. Vitisak Payalaw and his crew were working on an oil rig 135 miles off the southern coast of Thailand on Friday when they spotted something unexpectedly bobbing in the gentle waves. It was a dog. The animal was fighting his way through the moving water, heading for the oil rig. As he approached the structure, Payalaw, an offshore planner for Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, held out a pole after the animal had splashed his way to the platform below the rig's deck. As a video Payalaw posted to his Facebook account shows, the pup was soaked, shivering and too exhausted to whimper or bark. "His eyes were so sad. He just kept looking up just like he wanted to say, 'Please help me,' " Payalaw told CNN. "At that moment, whoever saw this, they would just have to help." The crew, however, knew it had to act fast. The waves were kicking up, meaning the dog could be swept away soon. "I thought that if we didn't move quickly, I would not be able to help him," Payalaw said. "If he lost his grip, it would be very difficult to help him." It's now become tradition for mum and Duchess of Cambridge Kate to take the photos of her kids before the palace releases the portraits on their birthday. In the three new portraits shared, Princess Charlotte is pictured playing outside at both Kensington Palace and their home in Norfolk. Marshelyn Latai Fortner, 24, of 2716 U.S. Highway 70, in Connelly Springs, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. His trial date was set for May 6. Lee Earl Vaughn, 50, of 5125 Crawley Dale St., Lot 64, in Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a weapon by a felon. He was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $10,000 secured bond. Nancy Ann Miller Lackey, 58, of 314 Fletcher St., 6, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor larceny of animals. She was served with a criminal summons to appear. Chanda Marie McFalls, 28, of 65 Styles Drive, in Marion, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $50,000 secured bond. Her trial date was set for May 6. The following charges were served on Wednesday, April 17: Tahara Lee Herman, 48, of 100 Whitley Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. She was transported to Burke-Catawba jail and placed under a $280 cash bond. On April 17, a letter from the District 7 Chair of the State Employees Association of NC (SEANC) was published stating that House Bill 184 was bad for healthcare. The letter raised issues that are a concern to many of us. Undoubtedly, health care costs are too high, and a collaborative plan is needed to decrease those costs. However, the Clear Pricing Project proposed by State Treasurer Folwell is not the route to get us where we need to be. While we support the intent of the Treasurers plan to decrease the costs of health care, it must be done in a planned and more measured approach. We must work together so that rural health care systems and the citizens they serve are not facing unintended consequences. The Treasurers current plan would cut millions of dollars from our local health care system, and not only impact many jobs in our community, but also could impact critical care that is provided close to our homes. House Bill 184 is good for the health of our communities and will not stop progress in finding a solution to out-of-control medical costs. This bill simply proposes a delay in the Treasurers plan in order to allow time for all concerned parties to develop a plan that will decrease healthcare costs without compromising health care access for our citizens. The military is the second-largest employer in North Carolina. Its responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs and many billions of dollars of economic activity. In some eastern parts of the state, the military is the entire economy. Losing those bases would devastate North Carolina. The author of the letter Im responding to inaccurately argued that no one I mean no one in the military or the federal government has said that wind turbines pose a threat. Had the author listened to the public debate in the legislature on this bill, he would have heard the active duty commander of Seymour Johnson Air Force Bases testimony. The commander said that he needs the status quo to train fighter pilots for low-altitude bombing runs in the dead of night. Obstructions in the training flight path pose a risk to his training mission and to the pilots and aircraft. A retired general also spoke about the risk of losing military bases if this legislation doesnt pass. The general explained that another base closure proceeding is likely to happen in the next two or three years, and this exact issue plays a major role in determining whether to a base stays put or moves somewhere else. The legislature can and should do everything in its power to protect North Carolinas military bases and the men and women who train here. Putting dangerous obstacles in the middle of training routes is unnecessary and will harm the military and our state for decades to come. A stronger, more prepared military located in North Carolina is good for our state, and good for America. Thats why I support the Military Base Protection Act. Selbyville, Delaware, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The automotive diagnostic scan tools market is poised to rise from USD 33 billion in 2018 to over USD 49 billion by 2025, according to a 2019 Global Market Insights, Inc. report. The market growth is attributed to the increasing sales of passenger vehicles, transforming vehicles from hardware-driven machines to software-controlled electronic devices, electrification of vehicles, and an increasing number of service stations. In addition, the electrification of vehicles is encouraging manufacturers to increase in-vehicle electronic components and incorporate technological upgrades into vehicles to meet the government emission control standards. The increasing population of in-vehicle electronic components is increasing the demand for professional diagnostic services frequently to maintain vehicles, helping the growth of the automotive diagnostic scan tools market. In contrary, the highly-priced diagnostic equipment and lack of skilled professionals may adversely affect the overall growth of the market. The increasing in-vehicle electronics is resulting in the complex architecture of automobiles, creating challenges for automotive manufacturers and professional diagnostic solution providers. Moreover, the demand for automotive diagnostic scan tools is expected to increase significantly over the forecast timeline owing to the growth of the overall aftermarket automotive industry. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3262 The diagnostic software market is projected to register an accelerated growth during the forecast timeline, growing at a CAGR of around 8%. The automotive diagnostic scan tools market growth is attributed to the increased integration of in-vehicle software across the automotive industry. In addition, the presence of technology giants, such as Bosch, Continental, Denso, and Snap on Incorporated, enhances the growth opportunity of the diagnostic software segment as these companies have expertise in providing professional automotive diagnostic software solutions that can help repair shops to diagnose efficiently, safely, and quickly. The emission control is anticipated to exhibit a lucrative growth at a CAGR of over 9% in the automotive diagnostic scan tools market between 2019 and 2025. The growing global environmental concerns and stringent government regulations related to environmental safety require OEMs to build fuel-efficient engines with low-carbon emissions. Therefore, automotive manufacturers are deploying engine management systems to control fuel injection, fuel supply, ignition, and air management to improve fuel efficiency and emissions, encouraging the use of On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) in vehicles for tracking and controlling emissions. The commercial vehicles segment shows a promising growth rate in the automotive diagnostic scan tools market during the forecast period. This segment is being influenced by the increasing number of commercial vehicles across the world. The increasing adoption of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is propelling the demand for commercial vehicles, increasing the diagnostic requirements. The DIY diagnostic segment shows the highest growth rate during the forecast period. These diagnostic tools allow users to work independently by connecting vehicles diagnostics port to a smart device via Bluetooth. The users are expected to experience the desired comfort and flexibility with DIY diagnostic tools. Browse key industry insights spread across 260 pages with 391 market data tables & 22 figures & charts from the report, Concrete Surface Treatment Chemicals Market Size By Product (Curing Compounds, Mold Release Agent, Sealants), By End-user (Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Municipal), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait), Application Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 2025 in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/automotive-diagnostic-scan-tools-market The Asia Pacific automotive diagnostic scan tools market is expected to register the highest growth, growing at a CAGR of around 8% between 2019 and 2025. This growth can be attributed to the presence of emerging countries (such as China and India), leading manufacturers, and significantly large consumption markets in the region. In addition, the infrastructural development and growing industrialization in the emerging economies are creating opportunities for automotive OEMs as well as professional automotive diagnostic solution providers. Some of the key players operating in the automotive diagnostic scan tools market are Actia Group SA, Autel Intelligent Technology Corp., Ltd., AVL List GmbH, BMW AG, Bosch Automotive Service Solutions Inc., Continental AG, Daimler AG, Delphi Automotive PLC, Denso Corporation, DG Technologies, Fluke Corporation, General Technologies Corporation, Hickok Incorporated, Honda Motor Company, Ltd., KPIT Technologies, Launch Tech UK, Snap-on Incorporated, Softing AG, Volkswagen AG and Volvo Group. Make an Inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3262 Browse Related Reports: Vehicle Tracking Market Size By Product (Wired, Wireless), By Vehicle (PCV, LCV, HCV, Two-Wheeler), By Technology (Active, Passive), By Application (Private Cars, Logistics, Construction, Fleet Management, Two-Wheeler Tracking) Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland, Netherlands, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, KSA, South Africa, UAE), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/vehicle-tracking-market Occupant Classification System Market Size By Technology (Strain Gauge, Bladder, Pressure Sensitive Tape System), By Vehicle Type (Economic, Mid-range, Luxury), By Component (ECU, Sensor), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Poland, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa), Application Development Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 2025 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/occupant-classification-system-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data. Wed like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business. List Criteria Intermediate-Term Bond Funds Investors seeking diversification benefits for an equity-heavy portfolio can be well served by higher-quality, intermediate-term core bond funds, which blend government bonds, mortgage-backed securities, and high-quality corporate debt and have an average duration of greater than or equal to 3.5 years but less than or equal to six years. Gold- or Silver- Rated Funds The Analyst Rating for Funds is based on our fund analysts conviction in a funds ability to outperform its peer group (funds in the same category) and benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. If a fund receives a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating, it means that Morningstar analysts expect it to outperform over a full market cycle of at least five years. No-Load Funds This list includes only no-load funds. No load refers to a mutual fund that does not charge a fee (known as a load) for buying or selling its shares; the investor typically buys no-load funds directly from a fund company or through a fund supermarket. Load funds, on the other hand, are sold by an advisor or broker and charge a percentage fee at purchase or sale of the shares, which is meant to be compensation for the planners investment-selection advice. (Note: Not all advisors sell load funds. Many are compensated via a flat fee or a percentage of all assets under management.) Whether a fund charges a load or not isnt a reflection of its underlying quality. Many load funds are also Medalists, and some load funds are available without a load through 401(k) or other retirement plans. But were including only no-load funds here, since this list is designed to help investors who are primarily doing their own fund-picking. Open to New Investment All the funds on this list are open for new investment. Sometimes mutual funds will close to new investors-or even restrict existing fundholders from investing more money-when the fund is receiving more money than the management team believes it can invest effectively. Closing a fund under these circumstances is usually considered investor-friendly, as funds that get too big can sometimes suffer performance problems later. Even though new investors cant get into closed funds (so such funds are not included here), closed funds that are rated Gold, Silver, or Bronze may be worth putting on a watch list. Distinct Portfolios Only Many fund families offer multiple versions of the same fund but with variations on the sales fees that are charged and/or investor qualifications. Screening for distinct portfolios only removes all but one of these options to avoid having several share classes of the same offering cluttering the list. Morningstar normally designates the oldest share class as the distinct portfolio. In some cases, this share class may be for institutions (such as company retirement funds) or otherwise have a high investment minimum. In those cases, investors may want to consider an investor share class of the same fund, though the fund expenses may be higher for those share classes. People on the west coast, I would say are very open and very engaged with change, very interested in change; I almost think its part of the culture in California, he said. I did get a bit of a sense at our Florida show, not of resistance, but more of, I have to get myself to do it, and I know I have to do this. In order to help make technology adoptionand the adoption of AIMEs new platform ARIVEeasier, their Florida workshop included a 90-minute training on ARIVE. Casa said that theyve onboarded almost 1,000 users so far, and they hope to continue adding 500-1,000 users each week. It cant be understated that were professionals that have been using a certain system for 10, 20 years, and people are creatures of habit. But being able to actually sit there and not only show them how to use it, but show them . . . . how its going to save [them] time, and literally show them the time savingthat was impactful. Another impactful component of the event was when Phil Shoemaker, chief business officer of Home Point Financial, revealed the Customer for Life Program that the company has been working on with AIME in order to provide mortgage brokers with a long-term renewable income stream. Independent mortgage brokers are often out in the field being a relationships manger, but without a call center as a support, the brokers ability to retain clients for future transactions is about 14%, Shoemaker said. The big outfits with thousands of people in a call center have about a 70% chance of retaining a customer. Lenders would love to give brokers back customers, he said, but brokers dont have the technology in place or the teams in place to retain them. With this program, when a broker does a loan with a lender, if that lender ever repurposes a loan for that customer, the lender would compensate the original broker. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (the Company) announces that it has requested and obtained a temporary Management Cease Trade Order (MCTO) from the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) in connection with the Companys filing of its audited annual financial statements and MD&A for the financial year ended December 31, 2018. The Company obtained the MCTO in order to secure additional time to consolidate financial information from Indonesia in connection with an Indonesian subsidiary controlled by the Company (TNM, more particularly described below). During the financial year ended December 31, 2018, the Companys wholly-owned subsidiary Cobalt Power (Asia) Ltd. (CPA) acquired control of 100% of the equity securities of Mineral Harvest Ltd. (MHL). MHL holds a 65% equity interest in PT. Tablasufa Nickel Mining (TNM), which is the sole owner of the Cyclops Cobalt Project (the Project). The Project is more particularly described in the Companys December 8, 2017 technical report filed at www.sedar.com. Pursuant to a Conditional Sale of Shares and Purchase Agreement (the Agreement) between CPA and TNM dated June 15, 2017, CPA has the right to acquire TNM, and consequently TNMs ownership of the Project, in consideration of a series of staged cash payments. For more information in respect of the Agreement please refer to the Companys October 19, 2017 Listing Statement filed October 24, 2017 at www.sedar.com. Pursuant to ongoing negotiations between the Company and the equity owners of TNM, the 100% equity interest in MHL was transferred to the Company in order to increase the Companys possessory interest in the Project. In consideration of the transfer of MHL, the Company agreed to make installment payments of US$10,000 per month to the beneficial owner of the remaining 35% interest in TNM, US$80,000 of which has been paid to date (the Transfer Payments). In connection with its acquisition of MHL, CPA was given sole and exclusive authority to amend the terms of the Agreement, including payment terms. The Companys current expectation in respect of the payments due under the Agreement is that (i) the existing payment schedule will be extended and (ii) the Transfer Payments will be deducted from the amounts payable, however the Company has yet to determine its preferred structure in respect of payment and related amendments to the Agreement. By way of background and as required by the BCSC, please note the following: The Company is required to file its December 31, 2018 audited annual financial statements, managements discussion and analysis and the applicable CEO and CFO certifications in respect of such filings (collectively the Annual Filings) all in accordance with IFRS by April 30, 2019 (the Filing Deadline), as required pursuant to National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations. The Company does not anticipate that it will be able to complete its Annual Filings on or before the Filing Deadline. The Company and its auditors are working diligently to prepare and file the Annual Filings, on or before June 30, 2019. The Company confirms that it intends to issue a status report on a bi-weekly basis, for as long as it remains in default of the Filing Deadline in respect of the Annual Filings. There is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed. The Company has imposed an insider trading blackout pending the filing of the Annual Filings, and will comply with the alternative information guidelines described in National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders during such period. The Company also announces that Mrs. Leah Hodges has resigned as Corporate Secretary effective April 26, 2019, Mr. Steve Vanry, CFO and a director of the Company, has been appointed to replace Mrs. Hodges. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. Ranjeet Sundher Ranjeet Sundher CEO and Director About Pacific Rim Cobalt Pacific Rim Cobalt is a Canadianbased exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade nickel and cobalt deposits, key raw material inputs for the growing lithiumion battery industry. Visit https://pacificrimcobalt.com/ to find out more. Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. Ranjeet Sundher President and CEO (604) 922-8272 rsundher@pacificrimcobalt.com Steve Vanry CFO & Director (604) 922-8272 steve@vanrycap.com Sean Bromley Director & Investor Contact (778) 985-8934 sbromley@investfortuna.com Reader Advisory This news release may contain statements which constitute forward-looking information that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company and with respect to the results of exploration and prospective plans in regards to the Cyclops project. The words may, would, could, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such information is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. Although Pacific Rim Cobalt has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, success of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 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. FUEL FIX: Get energy news directly to your inbox "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. Magellan Midstream Partners is enhancing its refined products pipeline infrastructure, and Midland stands to benefit. The Tulsa-based company has announced plans to construct a $30 million refined petroleum products storage and distribution terminal in Midland on 30 acres it owns at 1407 S. County Road 1140. Construction is expected to begin immediately with operations beginning in mid-2020. Bruce Heine, vice president, government and media affairs, told the Reporter-Telegram by email the terminal will create four full-time jobs and approximately 100 indirect jobs associated with the construction. OIL REPORT: Railroad Commission announces enhancements to inspection database The new terminal will be connected to Magellan's refined products pipeline system, which provides refined products transportation to facilities in Odessa, Abilene, El Paso and New Mexico. The new terminal initially will offer approximately 400,000 barrels of storage for ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel with three state-of-the-art loading bays. Even though construction has yet to begin on, Magellan is already considering expansion. "We are actively considering future expansion plans at the facility for various octane grades of gasoline, renewable fuel and additional diesel fuel storage and distribution services," Heine said. The new terminal is the result of Magellan's plans, announced in mid-2018, to expand the capacity of the western leg of its Texas refined products pipeline system from 100,000 barrels per day to 175,000 barrels per day to accommodate increasing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel in the region. Mike Mears, Magellan chief executive officer, told investment analysts during the company's first quarter earnings call last week that enough commitments had been received to build the terminal. He also said the company will be expanding its pipeline capacity from Houston to Hearne and from Hearne to Alexander and to West Texas and New Mexico. Construction is already underway on the new East Houston-to-Hearne pipeline, with operations expected to begin in late August. Not one to sit in his corner office suite, Robin Watson prefers being a globe trotter. "I spend a lot of time getting around to see customers and staff," said Watson, chief executive officer of Wood plc, during a recent tour of the company's Permian Basin's operations. "I talk to the people in the field about their priorities, make sure the quality and standards of our work meet their needs, that they have the right access to the controls and procedures they need," he said during an interview with the Reporter-Telegram. Visiting Texas is not that different from his upbringing in a small town on the west coast of Scotland, he said. "Rural Scotland and Texas have a similar history," he said. OIL REPORT: Magellan Midstream plans new storage terminal in Midland Watson was accompanied on his Permian Basin trek which included a Texas barbecue at Wood's Seminole facility by Andrew Stewart, chief executive officer, Americas and a native Australian. "You can tell we're not from here," they said, joking, as they settled in for the interview. "We've been in Midland 20 years," said Stewart, noting the company has a Midland office on Desta Drive, a facility in Seminole and is in negotiations for a third facility just outside Midland. The company has approximately 2,000 employees in the Permian Basin. Watson said the Permian Basin is "the most exciting for us." Not only has the company seen its Permian workforce grow by 50 percent, but income has soared 100 percent since its arrival in the region. Stewart said the company is looking to add at least 500 more over the course of the year; currently there are 100 job vacancies. From its roots in the North Sea, the company has grown 60,000 employees in 60 countries. The company offers engineering and design, construction and maintenance. Sixty percent of its work is in the oil and gas sector, and 35 percent of its staff is in the Americas, according to Watson. The company began to expand into North American shale basins in 2012. "We invested $350 million to acquire shale capability, from the wellhead to processing to tankage to midstream pipelines," said Watson. "The businesses we acquired are located across the shale basins Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Permian Basin, Bakken and Utica." Half the company's shale activity is in the Permian. Beyond that $350 million, an additional $30 million was invested in facilities, such as fabrication facilities and man camps, Watson said. "The increase in production has been significant; infrastructure is at capacity," said Watson, noting that the company is doing a lot of processing and pipeline work. But the company also has a big downstream business for petrochemicals and refining. "We handle both ends the production in the Permian Basin and take it to the Gulf Coast refineries and petrochemical plants," he said. Stewart estimated the company is involved in 12 pipeline projects designed to carry Permian production to the Gulf Coast. Of those, he said he expects four or five will be built. OIL REPORT: Railroad Commission announces enhancements to inspection database Beyond upstream and midstream demand, Stewart sees high demand for power generation and water management systems in the Permian Basin. The company is also active in the cogeneration space, he said. Wood is doing a major project on the Gulf Coast that he expects could impact Permian Basin operators, Stewart said. Such demands open different investment opportunities for the company, the men said. The challenge, said Stewart, "how do we get better technology-enabled training programs?" That's why the company is considering investing in the creation of a dedicated training and development center for its Permian Basin workforce. A final decision on investing in the center will come soon, he said. Watson said he is observing an energy transition that the company has to take into account as it designs facilities for its clients. He agreed that "energy is energy." "Who would have thought we would use a 200-megawatt solar farm to power the transportation of unconventional oil and gas," he said. Referring to the "all of the above" option for energy, he said the company is well-positioned across different types of sectors -- whether it's the foundation for a solar farm or a tank battery. Watson and Stewart have also observed a transformation in its client companies active in the shale basins. "From 2012 to 2014, there were a lot of regional decision-makers," said Watson. "As the basin matures, it requires tens of billions of investment. There's a lot of thinking around that with the majors, who have shallow oil fields, gas fields; deep-water wells, are in global basins. In the last two years, I've seen shale move in-house in terms of that assessment." Stewart said that "as the supermajors come into the Permian, they'll seek long-term programs. We can do long-term contracts and up-scale contracts." Watson said he sees it as an opportunity to build good relationships with the supermajors and work them around the globe. Its nothing new when modern sounds meet classical music. Orchestras have been discovering the mashup of the sounds of Disney, Harry Potter and video games with its string and wind sections. But rock n roll can be a different animal. The Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale will conclude its season Saturday with its pops concert, Jeans n Classics: The Music of Elton John and Billy Joel at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center. MOSC will bring the classical side to the rock of the Jeans n Classics band. Well bring John Regan, the featured pianist, a bassist, drummer and two background vocalists and myself, vocalist Jean Meilleur said in a phone interview from Jeans n Classics base in London, Canada. The 80-member MOSC will share the stage with a six-piece rock n roll ensemble playing songs by Billy Joel in the first half. After intermission, the concert switches focus to Elton John. IF YOU GO: MOSC Pops: "Jeans 'n' Classics: The Music of Elton John and Billy Joel." 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center, 1310 N. Farm-to-Market Road 1788. MOSC.org See More Collapse Big hits are certainly involved in the evening, but Jeans n Classics dives into some deeper cuts. A lot of the audience probably hasnt heard all of this music, Meilleur said. So, when we rehearse with the symphony and they put their flair on these songs, its a special thing. Bigger hits include Joels Piano Man and Johns Circle of Life but also more hidden gems such as Ballad of Billy the Kid and Burn Down the Mission, respectively. With a rock band and orchestra, there must be balance. The former has the room to improvise or add another beat, but the symphony is all about precision. In this situation, the music is written down without the freedom to play around and change it, but that being said, there is room to put our own stamp and inflections on it, he said. Every orchestra brings their own edge to a show, so I can say I cant remember ever doing the same show twice. Its always a thrill. Meilleur said this isnt a tribute show. Neither he nor the band are trying to imitate the artists. We dont come out in costumes or anything like that, he said. And yes, there are certain musical landmarks that we cant deny, but we want it to be creative and fun along with having the freedom to interpret and celebrate the music. 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 A House bill that sets aside money for initiatives in areas significantly impacted by oil and gas production is out of committee and headed for a House floor hearing this morning. State Rep. Tom Craddick authored House Joint Resolution 82, which creates the Generate Reoccurring Oil Wealth (GROW) Texas fund. The bill calls for a commission to administer funds and advise the Legislature on making appropriations to address infrastructure needs related to safety, health care and education initiatives in those production-impacted regions. Craddick told the Reporter-Telegram on Wednesday that he spent the day wrangling support from House members. As of 5:45 p.m., he had more than 110 commitments and just one no vote. He said the proposed constitutional amendment would need 100 votes to pass the House. Im an old-style guy, so I polled the floor, Craddick said. I want to know where I am before I get there. The bill passed out of the House Committee on Calendars late Tuesday night. Should House members pass HJR 82, it then heads to the Senate. Craddick states in the information promoting the bill that the economic stabilization fund (ESF) or rainy day fund is projected to reach a record high balance of $15 billion at the end of the 2020-21 biennium because of the extraordinary growth in oil and gas tax revenue collected over the last decade. Those regions where production has taken place, including the Permian Basin, have experienced significant challenges that limit the growth of the energy sector and could pose a significant threat to the industrys long-term success, he said. HJR 82 seeks to propose a constitutional amendment to establish GROW Texas fund. If approved by the Legislature and then voters, HJR 82 requires the comptroller to reduce the amount of general revenue to be transferred to the ESF by 12 percent to the credit of the GROW Texas fund subject to a cap of $250 million each biennium. At the end of that biennium, the comptroller will return to the ESF any unobligated and unappropriated money that remains in the GROW Texas fund. Total potential GROW Texas Fund uses amount to $500 million to $600 million a year, according to figures from a Permian Basin-specific study conducted by the Permian Strategic Partnership. These uses include: - $300 million to $400 million a year specific to Texas Department of Transportation needs over the course of the next 20 years. These needs are in addition to current funding levels. The Permian Basin energy sector requires $2.6 billion in projects to meet current needs, and $2.1 billion is currently unfunded. Craddicks information also states there is a need for $50 million annually for city/county roads that GROW funds could help address. - $150 million a year to support the Permian Basins struggling education region (Region 18). Craddick notes here that Permian Basin Chapter 41 recapture is more than $200 million in 2019 and it is expected to increase. GROW grants could increase the per-student allotment in energy corridors by 10 percent to 12 percent. - As much as $50 million in health care expenditures. GROW grants could help in the recruitment of physicians, added emergency care facilities and pilot programs in rural areas, establishment of at least one Level 1 trauma center to serve the worlds highest-producing oil field and increase availability of care. Tom Craddicks bill that sets aside money for initiatives in areas significantly impacted by oil and gas production overwhelmingly passed the House on Thursday. The Craddick-authored House Joint Resolution 82, received 121 votes in support (100 are required for constitutional amendments). HJR 82 creates the Generate Reoccurring Oil Wealth (GROW) Texas fund. The bill calls for a commission to administer funds and advise the Legislature on making appropriations to address infrastructure needs related to safety, health care and education initiatives in those production-impacted regions. The bill heads to the Senate, and if it passes, Texans will vote on the amendment in November. We appreciate Rep. Craddick's leadership on this crucial piece of legislation, the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance stated in an emailed newsletter. Craddick stated in the information promoting the bill that the economic stabilization fund (ESF) or rainy day fund is projected to reach a record high balance of $15 billion at the end of the 2020-21 biennium because of the extraordinary growth in oil and gas tax revenue collected over the last decade. Those regions where production has taken place, including the Permian Basin, have experienced significant challenges that limit the growth of the energy sector and could pose a significant threat to the industrys long-term success, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram article. Craddick said he has no idea about what to expect from the Senate, whose leaders may be leery about setting aside money destined for the ESF. He told the Reporter-Telegram on Thursday if a constitutional election is to take place that he has a commitment from oil and gas companies to help fund the campaign to educate the electorate about the issues. If approved by the Legislature and then voters, HJR 82 requires the comptroller to reduce the amount of general revenue to be transferred to the ESF by 12 percent to the credit of the GROW Texas fund subject to a cap of $250 million each biennium. At the end of that biennium, the comptroller will return to the ESF any unobligated and unappropriated money that remains in the GROW Texas fund. Total potential GROW Texas Fund uses amount to $500 million to $600 million a year, according to figures from a Permian Basin-specific study conducted by the Permian Strategic Partnership. These uses include roads and other infrastructure, education and health care. 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." 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. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FinCanna Capital Corp. (FinCanna) (CSE: CALI), (OTCQB: FNNZF), a royalty company for the U.S. licensed cannabis industry announces that yesterday it acquired all of the rights and interests of Cultivation Technologies Inc. (CTI) in substantially all of the existing property of CTI, including but not limited to all accounts, contract rights, general intangibles including trade marks, service marks and trade names, furniture, fixtures and equipment and the economic benefits of CTIs membership interests in its subsidiaries. The acquisition of property was made through a foreclosure at public auction pursuant to California Commercial Code section 9610. The consideration paid by FinCanna was a partial offset against total amounts owing to FinCanna by CTI, and the amount of the remaining balance is still owed to FinCanna. About FinCanna Capital Corp. FinCanna is a royalty company that provides growth capital to rapidly emerging private companies operating in the licensed U.S cannabis industry. The Company earns its revenue from royalties paid by its investee companies that are calculated based on a percentage of their total revenues. FinCannas scalable royalty model provides an attractive alternative or complement to debt or equity financing for its investee companies. FinCanna is focused on delivering high-impact returns to its shareholders by way of a strategically diversified investment portfolio. For additional information visit www.fincannacapital.com and FinCannas profile at www.sedar.com FinCanna Capital Corp. Andriyko Herchak, CEO & Director Investor Relations: Arlen Hansen Kin Communications 1-866-684-6730 CALI@kincommunications.com Forward-Looking Information Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements about FinCannas ability to source suitable projects, the size and success of such operations and FinCannas ability to generate revenues therefrom. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the risks identified in the CSE listing statement and other reports and filings with the applicable Canadian securities regulators. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made, and the respective companies undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law. English Danish Company Announcement NO. 12 DFDS expects to publish the report for Q1 2019 on 9 May 2019 at around 08:00 AM CET. CEO Torben Carlsen will present the report on a live conference call. The presentation in English will be followed by a Q&A session. Investors, analysts and other interested parties are invited to take part. Date: 9 May 2019 Time: 10:00 AM CET Telephone DK +45 35445577 US +1 631 913 1422 UK +44 33 33000804 List of international numbers: https://event.sharefile.com/share/view/s451667d1ca54c838 Access code: 72783791# If you wish to take part in the audio conference, please dial up at least five minutes before the conference begins. It will start on time, and participants will be asked to register name and company name beforehand. The conference will be broadcast live on https://www.dfds.com/en/about and published there for future reference. Capital markets day 2019 DFDS' management is hosting a capital markets day for institutional investors and analysts on 18 June in Copenhagen. For more information and sign up, click here. Contact Torben Carlsen, CEO +45 33 42 32 01 Sren Brndholt Nielsen, IR +45 33 42 33 59 This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Attachment May 1, 2019 Powered by Philips HealthSuite digital platform, new General Practitioner telehealth service from Chipmunk Health aims to forge a closer and more effective relationship between patients and their doctors while improving health outcomes Amsterdam, the Netherlands Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that telehealth service provider Chipmunk Health , with locations in the Netherlands and Canada, is leveraging the capabilities and services of Philips HealthSuite digital platform to roll out its new GP-to-patient home monitoring solutions. Designed to allow general practitioners to keep a closer check on the health status of their patients, Chipmunk Healths telehealth services offer patients a closer relationship with their GP, without the waiting time and inconvenience of having to visit their GP for routine check-ups. The company will use the open, cloud-based infrastructure and services of Philips HealthSuite digital platform to connect multiple home monitoring devices, aggregate the acquired data via a dedicated smart hub, and securely transmit, store and analyze it. Philips HealthSuite digital platform is a vitally important element in rolling out our new services and scaling them up in a safe and secure way, said Erik Duijsens, founder and CEO of Chipmunk Health. We are convinced that our consumer-oriented telehealth services will provide more effective and qualitatively better healthcare than we already have, and at lower cost. Patients will be able to access all their health data in one place and doctors will be better equipped to serve their patients complex needs. Many Innovative telehealth start-ups have excellent ideas but dont have the resources to develop the secure, privacy-protected data infrastructure needed to unify and connect devices and data, and securely transmit, store and analyze patient data, said Dale Wiggins, Philips Business Leader for the HealthSuite digital platform. Supporting innovative companies like Chipmunk Health is one of the reasons why we made HealthSuite an open digital platform on which third parties can build their own applications. We are delighted that Chipmunk has joined the growing number of companies that recognize the growth and scale-up potential of our platform. Todays announcement follows similar recent agreements to use Philips HealthSuite digital platform by eye care provider Alcon , selfcare solutions company Ypsomed , and Internet of Things (IoT) managed service provider Integron . In such collaborations, Philips is the provider of the relevant cloud-based healthcare IT infrastructure and not involved in the commercialization of the products and services of these companies. Philips HealthSuite digital platform Philips HealthSuite digital platform offers companies Cloud-based services and technical tools that meet privacy, security and regulatory requirements that they can use to develop and run a new generation of connected healthcare applications. Unlike other digital platforms, HealthSuite is purpose-built to solve the complex challenges of healthcare, featuring capabilities to connect devices, collect personal and health data, store and share data securely, analyze data, build and deploy AI models, and create solutions on the Cloud. For further information, please contact: Joost Maltha Philips Group Press Office Tel: +31 6 10 55 8116 E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com Ben Zwirs Philips Group Press Office Tel: +31 6 1521 3446 E-mail: ben.zwirs@philips.com About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2018 sales of EUR 18.1 billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter . Attachment A sunny day Wednesday wasnt enough to stop flooding in west-central Illinois, which is expected to get hit by another round of storms today. Rain and thunderstorms Wednesday night into Thursday will raise the risk of continued flood issues, while flash flood watches for some counties have been extended through Thursday evening. The National Weather Service in Lincoln said showers and thunderstorms are mostly expected to move through the area before 2 p.m., but storms are expected to be responsible for up to a half an inch of additional rainfall. During the 24-hour period ending at 9 a.m. Wednesday, 2.83 inches of rain fell in Jacksonville, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the region reported 1 inch to 2.6 inches during the same period. Morgan County Emergency Management Director Phil McCarty said damage from the flooding still needed to be assessed because flood waters had not receded yet. As of Wednesday afternoon, though, there had not been any major power outages, roads impacted by debris or trees, or people caught in flood waters. A portion of Southbrooke Road that washed out was temporarily repaired early Wednesday and flood waters closed Illinois Route 78 North around noon. McCarty said it was hard to predict when the water would recede so the road could be re-opened. Drivers should stay away from roads with any water on them, he cautioned. Just stay out of it, he said. He added that people should be aware of the risks of flooding in their basements which many people were experiencing Wednesday including water reaching electrical outlets and pilot lights. More rain is possible Friday and Saturday, but should clear Saturday morning, according to National Weather Service. Showers and thunderstorms could return Monday and Tuesday. A flash flood watch is in effect for some west-central Illinois areas through the evening, including Cass, Morgan and Scott. Runoff from heavy rain causes flooding of small creeks and streams, country roads, farm land and low-lying areas, the National Weather Service warned. Rivers were also swollen Wednesday, with serious flooding possible this week. The Illinois River at Meredosia was above flood stage Wednesday afternoon and major flooding is forecast over the next few days. The river was also above flood stage in Beardstown and moderate flooding is forecast. With rain in the forecast and flooding already happening across the state, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency sent out a reminder for residents to use caution. Much of our state is under a flash flood watch because of current and predicted rainfall, Illinois Emergency Management Agency acting Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau said. Heavy rains carry significant risks to families and their homes. Do not let your guard down when it comes to spring flooding. 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. English Finnish SRV GROUP PLC INSIDE INFORMATION 2 MAY 2019, AT 11:00 EET SRV considers the issuance of New Capital Notes and announces Voluntary Tender Offers for its outstanding Capital Notes issued in 2016 and Senior Notes due March 2021 Not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore or any other countries or otherwise in such circumstances in which the release, publication or distribution would be unlawful. SRV Group Plc (SRV) is considering issuance of new euro-denominated capital notes in the amount of EUR 45-60 million (the New Notes). The issuance of New Notes may take place in the near future, subject to market conditions. In addition, SRV Group Plc (the Offeror) invites today the holders of the EUR 45 million 8.875 percent notes issued on 22 March 2016 (ISIN: FI40004198114) (the 2016 Capital Notes) and the holders of the EUR 100 million 6.875 percent notes due on 23 March 2021 (ISIN: FI4000198122) (the 2021 Notes and together with the 2016 Capital Notes, the Notes) issued by SRV, to tender their Notes for cash on the terms and conditions set out in the tender offer memorandum dated 2 May 2019 (the Tender Offer Memorandum) (the Tender Offer). The Offeror proposes to accept for purchase a maximum aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered in the Tender Offer of up to EUR 70 million. The Offeror however reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to decide on the 2016 Capital Notes final acceptance amount and the 2021 Notes final acceptance amount, including not to accept any purchase of the Notes. If the Offeror decides to accept for purchase 2016 Capital Notes or 2021 Notes, and the aggregate principal amount of relevant Notes validly tendered pursuant to the Tender Offer is more than the relevant final acceptance amount, the Offeror intends to accept such Notes for purchase on a pro rata basis. The purchase price of the Notes will be determined pursuant to a modified Dutch auction procedure, as described in the Tender Offer Memorandum. The 2016 Capital Notes minimum offer price is 102.50% and the 2021 Notes minimum offer price is 100.50%. Tendering holders may choose to accept the relevant minimum offer price or to specify a higher price acceptable to them. After the tender period, the Offeror will decide and communicate the final acceptance amount of 2016 Capital Notes and 2021 Notes as well as the final purchase price of 2016 Capital Notes and 2021 Notes. All Notes validly tendered at prices equal to or lower than the relevant Purchase Price will be accepted for purchase, subject to any potential pro rata adjustment. Accrued and unpaid interest will be paid in respect of all the Notes validly tendered and delivered and accepted for purchase. The completion of the Tender Offer is subject to, without limitation, the pricing and completion of the issue of the New Notes. The offer period commences on 2 May 2019 and closes at 4:00 p.m. Finnish time (EET) on 15 May 2019. The indicative tender offer results will be announced on or about 16 May 2019, and the final tender offer results and completion date will be announced as soon as feasible, but no later than 23 May 2019. The settlement date of the Tender Offer will in no case be later than 31 May 2019, subject to the completion of the issue of the New Notes. A holder that wishes to subscribe for New Notes in addition to tendering the Notes for cash pursuant to the Tender Offer may receive priority in the allocation of the New Notes (the New Issue Allocation). The New Issue Allocation may be given for an aggregate nominal amount of New Notes up to the aggregate nominal amount of 2016 Capital Notes or 2021 Notes subject to a holders valid tender instruction (subject to potential proration), where an allocation of the New Notes is also requested. Such tender instruction must relate to a minimum of EUR 100,000 in aggregate nominal amount of 2016 Capital Notes or 2021 Notes. To be eligible to receive a New Issue Allocation, a holder must request a unique allocation code from the Dealer Manager. If any holder wishes to subscribe for New Notes, it must make an application to subscribe for such New Notes to the lead manager of the issue of the New Notes. OP Corporate Bank plc acts as lead manager for the issue of the New Notes. OP Corporate Bank plc acts as dealer manager and tender agent for the Tender Offer. A copy of the Tender Offer Memorandum and information in respect of the Tender Offer may be obtained by qualifying holders from OP Corporate Bank plc: email: liabilitymanagement@op.fi / tel. +358 10 252 1668. For further information, please contact: Juha Pekka Ojala, President and CEO, tel. +358 (0)40 733 4173, jp.ojala@srv.fi Ilkka Pitkanen, CFO, tel. +358 (0)40 667 0906, ilkka.pitkanen@srv.fi Maija Karhusaari, Senior Vice President, Communications and Marketing, tel. +358 (0)45 218 3772, maija.karhusaari@srv.fi www.srv.fi IMPORTANT INFORMATION This announcement must be read in conjunction with the Tender Offer Memorandum, which may be obtained from OP Corporate Bank plc by, and is only available to, qualifying noteholders. This announcement and the Tender Offer Memorandum contain important information that should be read by the qualifying noteholders carefully before any decision is made with respect to the Tender Offer. If any holder is in any doubt as to the contents of this announcement or the Tender Offer Memorandum or the action it should take, it is recommended to seek its own financial and legal advice, including in respect of any tax consequences, from its broker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent financial, tax or legal adviser. Neither the Dealer Manager nor the Offeror makes any recommendation whether holders should tender Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. None of the Offeror or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents or affiliates assumes any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information concerning SRV, the Notes or the Tender Offer contained in this announcement or in the Tender Offer Memorandum. None of the Offeror or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents or affiliates is acting for any holder or will be responsible to any holders for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for advising any other person in connection with the Tender Offer. MiFID II product governance / Professional Investors, ECPs and retail clients target market Solely for the purposes of the manufacturers product approval process, the target market assessment in respect of the New Notes has led to the conclusion that: 1) the target market for the New Notes is: (a) eligible counterparties, professional clients and retail clients, each as defined in Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, MiFID II); (b) informed investors, having average knowledge of relevant financial products (an informed investor can make an informed investment decision based on the regulated and authorised offering documentation, together with knowledge and understanding of the specific factors/risks highlighted with them only) and advanced investors, having one, or more, of the following characteristics; (i) good knowledge of relevant financial products and transactions, or (ii) financial industry experience or accompanied by professional investment advice or included in a discretionary portfolio service; (c) clients that have the ability to bear losses of up to 100% of the capital invested in the product, and who have a high risk tolerance and therefore do not need a fully guaranteed income or return profile; (d) clients whose investment objective is to generate growth of the invested capital and have a medium- to long-term investment horizon. 2) all channels for distribution of the New Notes to eligible counterparties and professional clients are appropriate; and 3) the following channels for distribution of the New Notes to retail clients are appropriate: investment advice, portfolio management and non-advised sales or execution with appropriateness test, subject to the distributors suitability and appropriateness obligations under MiFID II, as applicable. Any person subsequently offering, selling or recommending the New Notes (a distributor) should take into consideration the manufacturers target market assessment; however, a distributor subject to MiFID II is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the New Notes (by either adopting or refining the manufacturers target market assessment) and determining appropriate distribution channels. OP Corporate Bank plc is the manufacturer of the New Notes for the purposes of MiFID II product governance rules. Offer and Distribution Restrictions The information contained herein is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore or any other countries or otherwise in such circumstances in which the release, publication or distribution would be unlawful. The information contained herein does not constitute an invitation to participate in the Tender Offer, or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, the New Notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this announcement may come are required to inform themselves of and observe all such restrictions. None of SRV and OP Corporate Bank plc or their respective representatives accept any legal responsibility for any violation by any person, whether or not the persons contemplating investing in or divesting SRVs securities, including the New Notes, are aware of such restrictions. United States The Tender Offer is not being made, and will not be made, directly or indirectly in or into, and cannot be accepted, directly or indirectly, from, or by use of the mails of, or by any means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce of or of any facilities of a national securities exchange of, the United States or to any U.S. Person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act) (each a U.S. Person)). This includes, but is not limited to, facsimile transmission, electronic mail, telex, telephone, the internet and other forms of electronic communication. The Notes may not be tendered in the Tender Offer by any such use, means, instrumentality or facility from or within the United States or by persons located or resident in the United States or by, or by any person acting for the account or benefit of, a U.S. Person. Accordingly, copies of the Tender Offer Memorandum and any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offer are not being, and must not be, directly or indirectly mailed or otherwise sent, transmitted, distributed or forwarded (including, without limitation, by custodians, nominees, trustees or agents) in, into or from the United States or to any persons located or resident in the United States or to any U.S. Person and persons receiving the Tender Offer Memorandum must not mail, send, transmit, distribute or forward it or any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offer in, into or from the United States. Any person accepting the Tender Offer shall be deemed to represent to the Offeror such persons compliance with these restrictions. Any purported acceptance of Notes in the Tender Offer resulting directly or indirectly from a breach or violation of these restrictions will be invalid and any purported tender of Notes made by, or by any person acting for the account or benefit of, a U.S. Person or by a person located in the United States or any agent, fiduciary or other intermediary acting on a nondiscretionary basis for a principal giving instructions from within the United States will be invalid and will not be accepted. Each holder of Notes participating in the Tender Offer will represent that it is not a U.S. Person, it is not located in the United States and is not participating in the Tender Offer from the United States, or it is acting on a non-discretionary basis for a principal located outside the United States that is not giving an order to participate in the Tender Offer from the United States and is not a U.S. Person. This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The New Notes have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act or under the applicable securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. United Kingdom The communication of this announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum and any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offer is not being made, and such documents and/or materials have not been approved, by an authorised person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended. Furthermore, this announcement does not constitute an offer of New Notes to the public in the United Kingdom. No prospectus has been or will be approved in the United Kingdom in respect of the New Notes. Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents and/or materials as a financial promotion may only be distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the Order) or (iii) high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons in (i), (ii) and (iii) above together being referred to as Relevant Persons). Any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with, Relevant Persons. Any person who is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on such documents and/or materials or any of their contents. European Economic Area (including Finland) This announcement has been prepared on the basis that any offers of the New Notes in the EEA, if and when made, will be made pursuant to an exemption under the Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended) (the Prospectus Directive), as implemented in the member states of the EEA, from the requirement to produce a prospectus under the Prospectus Directive for offers of securities, and in particular, any offer of the New Notes will be made pursuant to an exemption set out in Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive (in Finland pursuant to an exemption under Chapter 4, Section 3 of the Finnish Securities Markets Act). Accordingly, any person making or intending to make any offer of the New Notes within the EEA should only do so in circumstances in which no obligation arises for SRV or OP Corporate Bank plc to publish a prospectus under the Prospectus Directive for such offer. Neither SRV nor OP Corporate Bank plc has authorized, nor do they authorize, the making of any offer of securities through any financial intermediary. In relation to each member state of the EEA which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each a Relevant Member State), an offer to the public of any New Notes may not be made in that Relevant Member State, except that an offer of the New Notes to the public in that Relevant Member State may be made at any time under the following exemptions from the Prospectus Directive, if they have been implemented in that Relevant Member State: 1. to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Directive; 2. to investors who acquire the New Notes for a total consideration of at least EUR 100,000 per investor; and/or 3. in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive, in each case provided that no such offer of the New Notes shall result in a requirement for the publication of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive or the preparation of a key information document in any language other than Finnish pursuant to the PRIIPs Regulation by SRV or OP Corporate Bank plc. For the purposes of this provision, the expression an offer to the public in relation to the New Notes in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer of the New Notes to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase New Notes, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State. CALGARY, Alberta, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The federal government could provide greater certainty for major resource development projectssuch as pipelinesby establishing clear consultation guidelines and recognizing Indigenous property rights, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. Uncertainty surrounding Indigenous consultations is the biggest impediment to resource development in the country right now, and unless a clear framework for what adequate consultation looks like is established, Canada will continue to lose out on investment, said Jason Clemens, Fraser Institute executive vice-president. The study, Assessing the Duty to Consult , was written by Malcolm Lavoie, assistant law professor at the University of Alberta. It finds that the duty to consult, which is a constitutional obligation, creates uncertainty because the specific requirements for consultation are determined on a case by case basis. This uncertaintynot knowing what adequate consultation requires ahead of timecan significantly raise the cost of a project. And even though the duty to consult doesnt formally amount to a veto right for groups opposed to resource development, this uncertainty can stop projects from moving forward all together. (This dynamic is particularly troubling when some affected Indigenous groups support a project, such as a pipeline, while other Indigenous groups oppose it.) In order to both respect Indigenous rights, and also provide greater certainty necessary for major resource development projects to move forward, the study suggests that the federal government work with Indigenous groups to establish clear consultation protocols and timelines. Professor Lavoie also recommends that governments recognize well-defined Indigenous property rights and governance jurisdiction to provide even further clarity. It is possible to respect Indigenous rights and at the same time provide the level of certainty required for major resource projects to move forward in Canada, said Lavoie. Governments, project proponents and First Nations would all benefit from greater clarity surrounding the consultation process. MEDIA CONTACTS: Malcolm Lavoie, Assistant Professor University of Alberta Faculty of Law To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Bryn Weese, Senior Media Relations Specialist (604) 688-0221 ext. 589 bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook Selbyville, Delaware, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The industrial protective fabric market is set to rise from USD 2.9 billion in 2018 to around USD 9 billion by 2025, according to a 2019 Global Market Insights, Inc. report. The demand for industrial protective fabrics market is projected to boost due to its usage in chemical industry for facilitating personnel safety. Global petrochemical market size will surpass USD 950 billion by 2025 due to growing demand for plastics and lubricants. Rising utilization of chemical defending garments in petrochemical industry owing to prevention of workers from toxic gas exposure and chemical splash should foster the market growth. U.S. industrial protective fabric market size from flame retardant application may observe strong gains of 7.5% due to its usage in oil & gas industry due to explosion and fire hazards. Rising shale discoveries in U.S. along with policy deregulations including Clean Power Plan (CPP) has increased extraction of fossil fuels which should deploy more employees in working field, thereby driving product demand. Governmental initiatives including OSHA general industry standards and construction PPE standards requiring employers for mandatory employee safety should drive regional industry growth. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3264 Industrial protective fabric market size from flame resistant application may surpass USD 3 billion at the end of 2025. Flame-resistant fabrics are inherently flame and embers resistance in which threads and fibers naturally self-extinguish. Growing flame-resistant fabrics demand from petrochemical, construction, mining, military and chemical industries for employee protection should foster industrial protective fabrics market growth. Uncertified products owing to low price may negatively impact market growth. High prices of fibers including PBI and aramid owing to supply and demand gaps will restrict the market growth, thereby affecting market price trends. Aramid industrial protective fabric market size will witness substantial gains over 8% by 2025. This material is predominantly utilized in flame-resistant & heat protective clothing, helmets, body armor, composite materials, asbestos replacement and hot air filtration cloth manufacturing. It provides low flammability & weight, non-conductivity, abrasion resistance, and superior fabric integrity which will foster product demand. Rising product demand for electrical insulation & fire-resistant clothing owing to superior thermal, electrical and chemical resistance should accelerate the industry growth. India industrial protective fabric market share from mechanical protective clothing application may surpass USD 70 million during the forecasted timeframe. These fabrics are majorly used by personnel operating metal, glass and sharp machinery in order gain protection against cuts, puncture and abrasion hazards which should accelerate product demand. Supportive government initiatives including Audhyogik Suraksha Rath in association with 3M & Directorate General of Factory Advice Service & Labor Institutes in order to raise safety awareness among industrial worker should propel industrial protective fabrics industry growth. Browse key industry insights spread across 320 pages with 349 market data tables & 37 figures & charts from the report, Industrial Protective Fabrics Market Share & Forecast, 20192025 in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/industrial-protective-fabrics-market Polybenzimidazole fiber segment will witness substantial gains of over 7% by 2025. This fabric is predominantly utilized in safety & heat resistant clothing, plastic reinforcement and filtration cloth manufacturing. These products also offers flexibility, low moisture absorbency, high flame & chemical resistance, low tenacity and superior strength to weight ratio characteristics which should propel industrial protective fabrics demand. Growing PBI fabrics demand for protective apparels manufacturing including welders apparel, protective gloves and firefighting & space suits should drive the market growth. France industrial protective fabric market size from space suit application may surpass USD 1.5 million at the end of 2025. These suits are worn inside spacecrafts as a precautionary measure against cabin pressure loss and extravehicular activities. These fabrics offer self-contained oxygen supply and environment control system for personnels ease of movement throughout operation which should stimulate product demand. Government initiatives including Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable & inclusive growth aiming for scientific & employment growth in areas including telecommunication, navigation and earth observation which should stimulate space exploration industry thus, driving the market size. Industrial protective fabrics market share is a fragmented with prominent players which includes DuPont, Teijin, Klopman International, W. Barnet, W. L. Gore & Associates, Huntsman Corporation, Honeywell, Glen Raven and Loyal Textiles Mills. Manufacturers are engaged in joint venture, M & A, and partnership in order to develop advance technologies with increasing production capacities for lowering production cost to cater growing market demand. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3264 Browse Related Report: 1. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Market Size By Product (Head [Safety Helmets & Hard Hats, Bump Caps], Eye & Face Protection [Face Protection, Eye Protection Plano], Hearing Protection [Cap Mounted, Over the Head Type, Disposable], Protective Clothing, Respiratory Protection [SCBA Fire Service, SCBA Industrial, APR Disposable, Emergency Escape Devices], Protective Footwear, Fall Protection [Personal Systems, Engineered Systems], Hand Protection), By Application (Construction, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Chemicals, Pharmaceutical, Food, Transportation), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, France, Russia, China, India, Japan, Brazil), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/personal-protective-equipment-PPE-market 2. Neoprene Market Size By Product (Neoprene Sponge/Foam, Neoprene Rubber Sheet, Neoprene Latex), By End-user (Automotive, Electrical & Electronics, Building & Construction, Textiles), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, China, India, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE), Application Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 2025 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/neoprene-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein View Photos On Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) spoke on the what she called the discrepancies between Attorney General William Barrs letter to Congress outlining the findings of the Mueller report and the contents of the redacted Mueller report provided to Congress. Feinstein was Thursdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. The US Senator also called for the Senate to hear from Special Counsel Mueller directly. Last month, Feinstein released the following statement on the Mueller report: Regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Mueller report provides a very thorough review not only of Russian actions, but also of related activities carried out by Trump campaign officials. The report presents a campaign that, in Muellers words, expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts. Regarding obstruction of justice, the report lays out 10 instances where President Trump tried to obstruct the investigation. While some of President Trumps actions were public, the report provides significant new details about his efforts to interfere in the investigation and his desire to protect himself. The report goes on to state that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the Presidents corrupt exercise of the powers of office . Moving forward, Congress should receive the unredacted report and underlying evidence as soon as possible. Also, Attorney General Barr must commit to not interfere with other investigations, including the 14 investigations mentioned in the report and all congressional reviews. Finally, I will ask Chairman Graham to hold hearings before the Judiciary Committee, including with Special Counsel Mueller. Congress has an obligation to ensure that activities like those laid out in this report are never repeated. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. Acumen Research and Consulting, recently published report Fencing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Opportunities and Forecast, 2019 - 2026 LOS ANGELES, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global fencing market size is expected to reach USD 60.38 billion by the end of year 2026. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.8% over the forecast period 2019-2026. Fences are either made of metal, wood, and plastic and composites. Fences are utilized in private, business, and agribusiness areas. The real interest for fences originates from the private part. In the business area, steel fencing is seeing expanding request as they give better assurance and administration contrasted with different sorts of fences. Currently, there is an ascent sought after for fences made of plastics and composites, for example, vinyl. Created regions, for example, North America and Europe are seeing a rising interest for minimal effort imported fencing items. Nevertheless, the burden of levies on aluminum, steel, and Canadian softwood blunder is expanding the cost of fencing items produced using these crude materials. Every one of these variables is influencing the worldwide interest for fencing items. Free Download Sample Report Pages for Better understanding@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/request-sample/1326 The rising needs among ranchers to shield their property and domestic animals has filled the interest for fencing. The advancement of new materials that can cut down the expense and improve the solidness may add to gainfulness over the figure time frame. In any case, unlicensed temporary workers that utilization sub standard items may go about as a test for the market extension. The ascent in the cost of materials utilized, for example, iron, aluminum, and wood, may limit the business growth throughout the following nine years. The global fencing market is segmented into product, material, end user and region. On the basis of products, the global market is segmented into privacy fencing and picket fencing. On the basis of material, the global market is segmented into metal, wood, plastic, and composite. On the basis of end user, the global market is segmented into residential, commercial, and agriculture. On the basis of geography, the global market is segment into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The wood segment may observer between item rivalry from plastic and composite over the figure time frame inferable from lower costs. Sturdiness and high support costs are dared to frustrate the growth of wood items. Ease, toughness, and low upkeep may drive the interest for plastic and composite over the gauge time frame. The solid fragment is required to develop at a CAGR of over 6.1% from 2016 to 2025. View Detail Information with Complete TOC@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/fencing-market The developing need to protect ranch creatures, yields, and homestead territories from wild creatures and hoodlums is foreseen to drive request in the farming area. The mechanical section may see growth inferable from its interest from schools, universities, and modern premises. North America market overwhelmed the worldwide fencing market in the ongoing past and is required to hold market strength all through the conjecture time frame. Rising establishment of high-esteem fences, for example, plastics and composite and elaborate fencing, attributable to high protection from decaying are required to drive the market growth in this region. As indicated by the Association of Plastic Manufacturers, in 2015, the worldwide generation of plastic expanded by 3.4% when contrasted with 2014 and is relied upon to build multiple times by 2050. In any case, the establishment of fences requires licenses and this could be a factor obstructing the market growth. For example, as per the Government of Miami-Dade County, the establishment of fences requires licenses and its tallness ought not to surpass more than six feet. Browse All official Market Research Reports Press Releases@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/press-releases Explore Our Market Blog@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/blogs The Asia Pacific market is projected to show huge growth in the worldwide fencing market, inferable from expanding development action. As indicated by Indian Brand Equity Foundation a trust set up by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry Foreign Direct speculation (FDI) represented US$ 9.82 billion for development improvement area and framework exercises segment in 2017. Moreover, the accessibility of minimal effort fences is relied upon to impel the market growth over the figure time frame. Existing players are broadly following different inorganic growth methodologies including mergers and obtaining to combine their position and endure the challenge. Major companies contributing the global fencing market are Ameristar Perimeter Security, Associated Materials, LLC., Bekaert, Betafence Group, Builders Fence Company (BFC), Inc., Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A., Gregory Industries, Inc., Jerith Manufacturing LLC., Long Fence Company Inc., and Ply Gem Holding Inc. INQUIRY BEFORE BUYING@ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/inquiry-before-buying/1326 The report is readily available and can be dispatched immediately after payment confirmation. Buy this premium research report - https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/buy-now/0/1326 Would like to place an order or any question, please feel free to contact at sales@acumenresearchandconsulting.com | +1 407 915 4157 For Latest Update Follow Us: https://twitter.com/AcumenRC https://www.facebook.com/acumenresearchandconsulting https://www.linkedin.com/company/acumen-research-and-consulting/ A 28-year-old man who is a young father suffered a major stroke. Josh Hader, of Guthrie, Oklahoma, tore an artery in his neck leading to his brain. The cause of the stroke? He popped his neck. The moment I heard the pop, everything on my left side started to go numb, Hader said. I got up and tried to get an ice pack from the fridge, and I remember I couldn't walk straight. His father-in-law rushed him to the emergency room. I had about six or seven nurses and doctors surrounding me, Hader said. He could have formed more clot on that tear and had a life-ending stroke. He could have died, said Dr. Vance McCollom, at Mercy Hospital. McCollom showed us Haders X-rays. Hader tore his vertebral artery, a crucial vessel leading to the brain. COCAINE SHRIMP: Scientists are finding some shrimp are testing positive, but why? If you have a stroke in that area, you can end up with a patient (who's) locked in, McCollom said. They completely understand what's going on, but they can't communicate. They can't move anything. They can't speak. They can't breathe. Thankfully, Haders stroke wasn't that significant. But it did cause a lot of damage. One of the muscles that goes to his eye is weak because the nerve was injured, McCollom said. Hader had to wear an eyepatch for several days. Double vision. Blurry vision, Hader said. Doctors decided Haders condition was best treated with medicine and physical therapy. For the first few days, I couldn't walk without a walker, Hader said. Even though the walker is now put away, he still has a lot of trouble. It is difficult to walk with my left leg, Hader said. Also, Hader said he has a very strange side effect: He had hiccups for a week and a half straight, painful hiccups that, he said, nearly caused a panic attack. But Hader told KOCO 5 the most difficult part has been emotional -- not being able to help his wife with their two young children. I can't pick him up out of the crib, give him milk in the middle of the night. I can't do any of that, Hader said. KOCO 5 asked the doctor if there's any safe way to pop your neck. If you want to pop your neck, just kind of pop it side to side. Don't twist it, McCollom said. Whenever you twist it, there's a risk of tearing that vessel. Say my hand is his head, I suspect he just turned it real sharp and up, sharp and up and back. That's what really pinched it. Before Hader went into his procedure, he wanted to tell his wife one thing. He wanted to tell his wife he was sorry that he had popped his neck, McCollom said. His wife had been telling him, Don't pop your neck. You're going to cause a stroke. May is Stroke Awareness Month. Hader and his doctors want to remind you of the FAST symptoms of stroke: VIRGINIA CITY, Nev., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comstock Mining Inc. (the Company) (NYSE American: LODE) will host a conference call on Thursday, May 9, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to report First Quarter results and provide a business update. The live call will include a moderated Q&A, after the prepared remarks. The dial-in telephone numbers for the live audio are as follows: Toll Free: 1-888-241-0551 International Direct: 1-647-427-3415 Conference ID: 8058709 The audio will be available, usually within 24 hours of the call, on the Company website: ComstockMining.com/investors/investor-library About Comstock Mining Inc. Comstock Mining Inc. is a Nevada-based, gold and silver mining company with extensive, contiguous property in the Comstock District and is an emerging leader in sustainable, responsible mining. The Company began acquiring properties in the Comstock District in 2003. Since then, the Company has consolidated a significant portion of the Comstock District, amassed the single largest known repository of historical and current geological data on the Comstock region, secured permits, built an infrastructure and completed its first phase of production. The Company continues evaluating and acquiring properties inside and outside the district expanding its footprint and exploring all of our existing and prospective opportunities for further exploration, development and mining. The near-term goal of our business plan is to maximize intrinsic stockholder value realized, per share, by continuing to acquire mineralized and potentially mineralized properties, exploring, developing and validating qualified resources and reserves (proven and probable) that enable the commercial development of our operations through extended, long-lived mine plans and developments that are economically feasible and socially responsible. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and any related calls or discussions may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words believe, expect, anticipate, estimate, project, plan, should, intend, may, will, would, potential and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of doing so. Forward-looking statements include statements about matters such as: future industry market conditions; future explorations or acquisitions; future changes in our exploration activities; future prices and sales of, and demand for, our products; land entitlements and uses; production capacity and operations; operating and overhead costs; future capital expenditures and their impact on us; operational and management changes (including changes in the board of directors); changes in business strategies, planning and tactics; future employment and contributions of personnel, including consultants; future land sales investments, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, business combinations, operational, tax, financial and restructuring initiatives; including the nature and timing and accounting for restructuring charges, derivative liabilities and the impact thereof; contingencies; environmental compliance and changes in the regulatory environment; offerings, limitations on sales or offering of equity or debt securities; including asset sales and the redemption of the debenture and associated costs; future working capital, costs, revenues, business opportunities, debt levels, cash flows, margins, earnings and growth. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical and current trends, current conditions, possible future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, representations or warranties and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are unforeseeable and beyond our control and could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Some of those risks and uncertainties include the risk factors set forth in this report and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, and the following: adverse effects of climate changes or natural disasters; global economic and capital market uncertainties; the speculative nature of gold or mineral exploration, including risks of diminishing quantities or grades of qualified resources; operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or mining activities; contests over our title to properties; potential dilution to our stockholders from our stock issuances, recapitalization and balance sheet restructuring activities; potential inability to comply with applicable government regulations or law; adoption of or changes in legislation or regulations adversely affecting our businesses; permitting constraints or delays; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, us; acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, business combinations, asset sales, and investments that we may be party to in the future; changes in the United States or other monetary or fiscal policies or regulations; interruptions in our production capabilities due to capital constraints; equipment failures; fluctuation of prices for gold or certain other commodities (such as silver, zinc, cyanide, water, diesel fuel and electricity); changes in generally accepted accounting principles; adverse effects of terrorism and geopolitical events; potential inability to implement our business strategies; potential inability to grow revenues; potential inability to attract and retain key personnel; interruptions in delivery of critical supplies, equipment and raw materials due to credit or other limitations imposed by vendors; assertion of claims, lawsuits and proceedings against us; potential inability to satisfy debt and lease obligations; potential inability to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting; potential inability or failure to timely file periodic reports with the SEC; potential inability to list our securities on any securities exchange or market; inability to maintain the listing of our securities; and work stoppages or other labor difficulties. Occurrence of such events or circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows or the market price of our securities. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Except as may be required by securities or other law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Neither this press release nor any related calls or discussions constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Debenture or any other securities of the Company. Contact information: Comstock Mining, Inc. P.O. Box 1118 Virginia City, NV 89440 ComstockMining.com Corrado De Gasperis Executive Chairman & CEO Tel (775) 847-4755 degasperis@comstockmining.com Zach Spencer Director of External Relations Tel (775) 847-5272 ext.151 questions@comstockmining.com LOS ANGELES (AP) There is hardly any violence in the Ted Bundy movie "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," which premieres on Netflix Friday and stars Zac Efron as the notorious serial killer. It was a deliberate choice on the part of filmmaker, Joe Berlinger, now something of a Bundy scholar with this fictionalized film and his popular Netflix documentary series, "Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes." Berlinger believes that recreations of crimes have a "numbing effect" that desensitizes audiences. Plus, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" is told from the point of view of Bundy's girlfriend, Elizabeth (Liz) Kloepfer, a single mom who dated Bundy for about six years starting in 1969 and through some of his trials. He was executed on death row in 1989. OnExpressNews.com: Netflix co-founder to speak at San Antonio rally on Friday Kloepfer believes in his innocence even while everything seems to point to the contrary. "It's based on what Liz would have seen, which is nothing," said actress Lily Collins, who plays the part of Kloepfer. "In order to make the audience feel like they're in the mindset of Liz at the very end of the movie, you have to earn that. And it almost heightens the anxiety because you're teetering on the edge of 'is he or isn't he guilty?'" Collins and Efron decided to take the leap into the darkness of this story together. The two have been friends for over a decade, going to back to when Collins was a teenage Nickelodeon reporter interviewing Efron and the cast of "High School Musical" on the orange carpet. "We had talked about what type of projects we both wanted to do down the line," Collins said. "It was really exciting for me to see him taking that risk, and I thought to be a part of that felt really natural and very exciting." Efron had his hesitations about taking the role. "I had heavy reservations about playing a serial killer, especially one so popular as Ted Bundy," Efron said. "I didn't want to glorify or be a part of a project that glorifies any aspect of Ted Bundy or what he did. Nor am I interested in telling something just because it was true or shocking." READ ALSO: New on Netflix, HBO, Amazon and Hulu May 2019 But the script, which Michael Werwie adapted from Klopfer's 1981 memoir, "The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy," was different than he expected. "I liked the idea of bringing attention to the element of Ted Bundy that was so charismatic, and who was able to win over the world and yet be so evil and duplicitous," Efron said. "I got to really take a look and feel it and it was very uncomfortable." Collins was able to meet and spend time with Kloepfer and her daughter, who told her stories about their time with Bundy. "There was so much love and so much trust between the two of them (Bundy and Kloepfer), or so-called trust," Collins said. "There are these two worlds that I think were really important to show in the film because that's the truth of it. The reality is that there were happy times. She was leaning so far into those happy times that she didn't see the other side until later, in the trials." Neither Efron nor Collins are fans of the true-crime genre, which is booming on streaming services and in podcasts, but they understand why it's so popular. Efron noted that the Bundy case, which was televised nationally in the United States, may have helped contribute to the current obsession. And both are sure they couldn't have taken something like this on any earlier in their lives. "Honestly, if you would have asked me to try and do this a few years ago I don't think I would have been capable," Efron said. "I don't think I would've come out with solid product." It's an experiment that has been paying off. Since the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, both have gotten critical praise for their performances, especially Efron's unsettlingly natural and transfixing portrayal of Bundy. They're grateful, too, to have each other to bounce creative aspirations off of. "People who are our age who are still around in the area and want to do constructive things?" Efron said. "It's not a lot of people." ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Class Extractions Inc. (CSE: PUMP) (World Class or the Company) would like to congratulate Quadron Cannatech Corporation (Quadron) on its introduction of the Big BOSS, the latest model of Quadrons automated, next generation hemp and cannabis extraction system. According to Quadrons press release dated May 1, 2019, the Big BOSS provides the same advantages as the distinguished BOSS, but with significantly larger processing capabilities. The Big Boss is capable of processing up to 3,000 lb biomass per day, which translates to 66,000 lbs biomass processing per month (based on operating the Big BOSS 5 days per week), and nearly 800,000 lbs biomass processing per year. World Class and Quadron have signed an arrangement agreement which, subject to satisfaction of all required conditions, would result in the merger of the two entities (the Arrangement). The introduction of the Big BOSS reflects Quadrons ongoing commitment to leveraging its technical expertise and creating value for shareholders. World Class is extremely excited to complete its previously-announced merger with Quadron, a like-minded company, and work together to become a global leader in in the emerging, and rapidly growing, cannabis oils market, said Michael McCombie, Chief Executive Officer of World Class. World Class is also pleased to announce that it has granted 5,000,000 stock options (the Options) each to two officers of Quadron who will become officers of World Class post-Arrangement. The Options are subject to a vesting schedule, with 1,250,000 Options vesting on the date the Company and Quadron complete the Arrangement, and the balance of the Options vesting in increments of 1,250,000 Options every 6 months thereafter. The Options will be exercisable post-Arrangement for a period of three years at an exercise price of $0.21 per Option. However, if the Arrangement is not completed by July 1, 2019, then the Options will expire. The Options and underlying common shares are subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. About World Class Extractions Inc. The Company is a Canadian based developer of an innovative extraction process for both the hemp and cannabis industry. The Company intends to provide single step continuous flow extraction services to the hemp and cannabis industry. Using patent pending technology, the Companys results produce higher yields and better-quality crude hemp oil at faster rates. The technology allows the extraction of CBD Oil and other related extracts from wet or dried natural plants. The Company can save its clients floor space, utility drying costs, equipment and processing labour costs. For further information please contact: Michael McCombie Chief Executive Officer Email: mike@wcextractions.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, forward-looking statements), including those identified by the expressions anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, should and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Neither the CSE 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. San Antonio's Norah O'Donnell may shift from her role as co-host of CBS This Morning to the network's evening news segment. O'Donnell, who grew up in San Antonio and is a MacArthur High School graduate, is part of an anchor move around. Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil are expected to join Gayle King on the morning show while O'Donnell heads to the anchor desk at CBS Evening News, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ever find yourself uncontrollably ravenous but with nowhere to eat while strolling along the River Walk between downtown and the Pearl? Well, later this summer youll be able to scrounge up a few calories without having to hike another half mile when the new food truck park and cocktail bar 88 Social opens in an empty lot at 1009 Ave. B next to the historic VFW Post 76 property. Owner Ricardo Ortiz is days away from breaking ground at the site and hopes to open in August. The outdoor space will have covered seating, and a shipping container will house a walk-up bar and restrooms. San Antonio artists will paint murals on the shipping container, fence and furniture during upcoming live events. 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. WASHINGTON Nobody said regime change was going to be easy. President Donald Trumps top advisers woke up Tuesday believing that a rebellion in the Venezuelan military that day would galvanize a popular uprising and topple a leader they have described as a reviled despot who must be replaced. But at days end, President Nicolas Maduro was still in power and Trumps advisers were left to blame Cuba, Russia and three influential Venezuelan officials, who failed to switch sides, for frustrating their plans. The decision of the Venezuelans to stand with Maduro either because they were intimidated, got cold feet or never planned to defect raised questions about whether the United States had faulty intelligence about the ability of the opposition to peel away members of his government. It also raised questions about whether Trumps aides had fallen victim to a misreading of events on the ground, or whether Trump, who officials say has sometimes outrun his aides in an enthusiasm for forcing out Maduro, might lose faith in the effort as it wears on. Maduro has been weakened at home and discredited abroad, but he remains a stubborn rival unwilling to step aside for the opposition leader, Juan Guaido, recognized by the United States as the countrys de facto leader. While the administration got off to a sure-footed start on Venezuela, rallying dozens of countries against the Venezuelan president, critics said its response had become haphazard and chaotic as the crisis has dragged on. Trumps aides banked on Guaidos call for mass protests and the defection of the Venezuelan officials Tuesday as a turning point in the three-month campaign to oust Maduro. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted their support for Operacion Libertad, while the national security adviser, John Bolton, called it a potentially dispositive moment. Trump did not mention the operation, but later Tuesday, he assailed Cuba for its backing of Maduro, threatening to hit it with an embargo and new sanctions. Current and former officials said he was keenly interested in dislodging the Venezuelan leader, even raising the prospect in private meetings of limited U.S. military involvement to hasten that outcome. Still, Trump came into office rejecting the interventionist tendencies of his predecessors, and he has said less publicly about Venezuela than his aides, who have turned regime change into a social media crusade. Bolton has tweeted hundreds of times about the crisis, taped videos for the Venezuelan people and appeared almost daily on cable news shows to discuss it. To serve as special envoy to Venezuela, Pompeo recruited Elliott Abrams, even though the White House had vetoed him for other jobs because of his criticism of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Abrams is known for his neoconservative views and experience under President Ronald Reagan, where he was involved in the secret plan to supply weapons to the Contras fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and in the George W. Bush administration, where he was a proponent of the Iraq War. While Trump has used charged language with adversaries especially Iran he has generally shrunk from trying to force out their leaders in favor of his preferred candidate, believing that it prompts costly and futile military entanglements. He has held talks with Kim Jong Un of North Korea and offered to speak to Iranian leaders. Bolton and Pompeo, by contrast, have spoken frequently about the need for Maduro to go, and raised hopes that Guaido was on the cusp of driving him out. I worry that this kind of semiregular raising of expectations to very high levels wears and makes the kind of internal pressure that needs to build harder to happen, said Daniel Restrepo, a former Latin America adviser in the National Security Council during the Obama administration. As both sides in Venezuela dug in, administration officials pinned the blame on different culprits. Pompeo called out the Russians, claiming they had talked Maduro out of boarding a plane and fleeing the country Tuesday morning before the protests started. Bolton dwelt on the role of the three officials: Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the defense minister; Maikel Moreno, the chief judge of the Supreme Court; and Rafael Hernandez Dala, the commander of Maduros presidential guard. He said they would forfeit their chance to have Treasury Department sanctions against them lifted if they did not honor what he said was their pledge to join Guaidos forces. State Department officials have said they recognize it may take weeks or even months for Maduro to fall. The United States has not set any deadlines, nor has it moved beyond the presidents warning that military force is an option. But the flurry of statements by Trumps top aides suggest the White House is less patient. Trump is being prodded to take an aggressive position on Venezuela by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Ousting Maduro would be extremely popular with the Cuban exile community in South Florida, which views the socialist government in Venezuela as a proxy for Cuba. The National Security Council held a principals meeting Wednesday to discuss what additional steps need to be taken to speed up and secure a peace transition of power, Bolton said. Pompeo called the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, to warn Moscow not to interfere in Venezuela. Intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship, Pompeo told Lavrov, according to the State Department. The Venezuelan opposition may have been the source for the information that the three senior officials were considering backing Guaido. But Boltons diatribe Tuesday, in which he repeatedly called out the three men by name, was most likely a considered move, according to a former Trump administration official. Bolton favors a wink, wink, nod, nod strategy aimed at weakening Maduro, the former official said, referring to a recent episode in which he scrawled a note about deploying U.S. troops to Colombia on a yellow legal pad where reporters could easily spot it. The official said he believed it was less likely that Bolton had been taken in by bad intelligence and more likely that he was using that intelligence to run his own counterintelligence operation. By calling out the Venezuelan officials, Bolton would either push the three men to take action if they were planning to support Guaido or if they had a change of heart undermine Maduros faith in them. The administration has been generally skeptical of information from the Venezuelan opposition, although Trump does receive some information directly from Rubio or Sen. Rick Scott, Floridas other Republican senator. One area where the White House has been at odds with the CIA is the agencys assessment of Cuban participation and support for the Maduro government. Bolton and Pompeo have consistently criticized Cuba for its support for the Venezuelan government. But the CIA has concluded that Cuba is far less involved and its support has been far less important than senior officials in the administration believe, according to a former official. Military options do not appear to have been fleshed out in detail at the White House, and on Wednesday, Pentagon officials played down the prospect of intervention. But the recent events could cause the administration to look at developing potential courses of action. Nobody emerged stronger from Tuesdays chaotic events, analysts said. Guaido failed to muster military support for the overthrow of the government, but the military looked like fence-sitters, which weakened Maduros position. And the United States appeared to go all in on a forced transfer of power, only to see it evaporate. Some analysts said that in their frustration, Pompeo and Bolton revealed potentially sensitive intelligence, burning those channels. Pompeos comments about Russian messages to Maduro could force the Venezuelan leader to use a more secure communications channel. And Boltons conspicuous naming of the three Venezuelans could head off any future discussions with them about switching sides. The question is, to what objective? said Fernando Cutz, a former acting senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council in the Trump administration. There would have been a significant benefit to keep those channels open so we could try again or just to get intelligence out of them. This article originally appeared in The New York Times A man was taken into custody early Thursday morning after leading police on a chase while pouring PCP out of his car window, according to Houston police. The man has not been identified, and police are referring the possible charges to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Two boys were burned by a fire Wednesday afternoon in a garage on the Southwest Side. San Antonio Fire Department Battalion Chief Oscar Gonzalez said firefighters arrived to find the two boys just outside the home and smoke billowing from the garage at about 4 p.m. in the 5500 block of War Cloud Drive. The boys, ages 11 and 15, may have been trying to refuel a go-kart in the garage when the fire ignited, Gonzalez said. RELATED: Video: Off-duty officer saves woman from burning vehicle The two were taken to University Hospital. The 15-year-old received burns to his legs, while the 11-year-old had more extensive burns and needed assistance breathing, firefighters said. They were stabilized but they are going to have significant burn injuries, Gonzalez said. The two were the only ones at the home when the fire occurred, investigators said. Gonzalez said the father of the two arrived at the home as they were extinguishing the flames. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Firefighters extinguished the flames while keeping the blaze confined to the garage area, he said. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire. 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 Two men were arrested Tuesday in Comal County after investigators discovered 22 stolen vehicles worth more than $200,000 on their property. Kristopher Burkholder, 45, and Michael Anthony Pihota, 35, are now facing felony theft charges. They were booked into the Comal County Jail on $100,000 bails. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luminex Resources Corp. (TSXV: LR) (US OTC: LUMIF) (the Company or Luminex) is pleased to announce that it has commenced a 1,200-metre diamond drilling program at the Camp Zone in the northern area of its Condor Project. The Camp Zone is located proximal to Condors existing epithermal gold and silver resources at Los Cuyes, Soledad and Enma. The Camp Zone comprises a recently identified rock and soil gold-silver anomaly situated below the ridge upon which the current camp and core storage facility are built. The coherent anomaly extends for 400 x 200 metres and averages 0.6 grams/tonne (g/t) gold and 6 g/t silver based on over 600 rock chip and channel samples. Gold is interpreted to be hosted in intermediate sulphidation epithermal veins within volcanic and underlying batholith lithologies and may form an extension of the existing resource defined at Los Cuyes. The mineralized zone contains artisanal mine workings. Surface chip samples assayed as high as 47.5 g/t gold, 154 g/t silver, 23% zinc and 0.23% copper. Luminex plans on drilling approximately 1,200 metres from four holes below the axis of the soil anomaly to test the subsurface grades. Given its proximity to the Companys Condor exploration base, the drill program requires minimal access infrastructure and logistical support, which is expected to result in lower costs and efficient execution. Planned Camp Zone Drilling A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/67396e27-6d5e-48ca-82de-16f1048cd812 Earn-in Partnership Expenditure and Progress Updates Luminex filed its consolidated financial statements and managements discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the year ended December 31, 2018 on April 17, 2019. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (First Quantum) has spent approximately US$1.7 million on the Orquideas and Cascas concessions as of December 31, 2018. First Quantum has also paid the US$150,000 cash payment that was due in February 2019. Anglo American plc (Anglo American) has spent approximately US$1.5 million on the Pegasus concessions as of December 31, 2018. Anglo Americans next cash payment of US$300,000 is due in September 2019. Please see the MD&A for December 31, 2018 for more details. Luminex and BHP Group plc (BHP) continue to progress work on a definitive agreement and the original timeline of approximately three months from March 19, 2019 remains in place. Quality Assurance All Luminex reconnaissance sample assay results reported herein have been independently monitored and verified through a quality control / quality assurance (QA/QC) program including the insertion of blanks and the reanalysis of duplicate samples. Luminex samples are analyzed at ALS Lima and the Company is not aware of any sampling or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein. Gold content is determined by fire assay of a 50-gram charge with all other elements determined by four-acid digestion with ICP finish. Qualified Persons Leo Hathaway, P. Geo, Senior Vice President Exploration of Luminex and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed, verified and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release and has verified the data underlying that scientific and technical information. About Luminex Resources Luminex Resources Corp. is a Vancouver, Canada based precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on gold and copper projects in Ecuador. Luminexs inferred and indicated mineral resources are located at the Condor Gold-Copper project in Zamora-Chinchipe Province, southeast Ecuador. Luminex also holds a large and highly prospective land package in Ecuador consisting of approximately 100 thousand hectares, including the Tarqui, Orquideas, Cascas and Pegasus projects, which are being co-developed with BHP (subject to entry into a definitive agreement), First Quantum Minerals and Anglo American respectively. Further details are available on the Companys website at https://luminexresources.com/. LUMINEX RESOURCES CORP. For further information contact: Signed: Marshall Koval Scott Hicks info@luminexresources.com Marshall Koval, CEO and Director T: +1 604 646 1899 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to completion of a 1,200 metre drill program and that the drill program proximity of the four proposed drill holes to the Companys Condor exploration base will result in lower costs and efficient execution. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as plans or variations of those words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results are expected to be taken, occur or be achieved. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, the Company has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the prices of gold and copper, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. Although management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to: risks associated with the business of the Company; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage, grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; changes in laws (including regulations respecting mining concessions); and other risk factors as detailed from time to time in the Companys continuous disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities administrators. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. A former Community Bible Church employee used the same approach when soliciting nude photos from multiple boys he counseled, San Antonio police wrote in his arrest warrant. Zachary Wachholz, 24, was arrested in Georgia on April 1 after San Antonio police obtained an arrest warrant for online solicitation of minors. He was extradited to Bexar County Jail on Wednesday night. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox In February, Wachholz admitted to his supervisors that he was "sexting" up to eight boys between the ages of 13 and 16. Church officials fired Waccholz and banned him from the property after the alleged admission. Church officials heard rumors about Wachholz, but initially thought he was sending naked photos to other adults. When they confronted him, Wachholz revealed that he was soliciting pictures from boys at the church, according to his arrest affidavit. The admission "surprised" the supervisors, police said. Officers were called to the scene, and Wachholz allegedly detailed how he'd engage with the boys using Snapchat to obtain the photos. READ MORE: Former Community Bible Church employee accused of inappropriate behavior with boys arrested Wachholz would message the boys about sexual encounters he had with a woman. He'd then talk the boys into sending him shirtless photos, telling them he wanted to show a woman he was texting that he had "abs," according to the affidavit. Then, Wachholz would allegedly ask for photos of the boys genitals "explaining that he wanted to show the girl more," police wrote. Police believe Wachholz used the grooming method on at least three boys. Wachholz also admitted to engaging in a sexual act in front of one of the boys and sharing a pornographic video with them, according to the affidavit. Wachholz was awaiting release Thursday afternoon after a bond was posted for him, according to jail officials. His bail was set at $20,000. In a statement following Wachholz' arrest in April, the church's lead pastor, Dr. Ed Newton, said supporting the victims and their families was a top priority as the church continued to pray for them. "Wearerelievedthatanarresthasbeenmade," Newton said in the statement. "Weappreciatethehardworkoflaw enforcementauthoritiesandwehaveandwillcontinuetoassistintheinvestigationto ensurejusticeisserved." Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSA A San Antonio man was arrested Wednesday after a 16-year-old girl told authorities he sexually assaulted her for three years. Nicholas Velasquez, 27, is accused of continuous sexual abuse of a child, according to jail records. Two women were hospitalized early Thursday after a driver ran them over in the parking lot of a Northwest Side bar and then fled, police said. The driver ran over one of the women as she backed out of a parking spot outside The Well at about 2:10 a.m. in the 5500 block of UTSA Boulevard. The year 2019 will be remembered for a lot of things, but in foreign policy it may well be remembered as the year our luck ran out. How so? The period after World War II was one of those incredibly plastic moments in history, and we were incredibly lucky that a group of leaders appeared who understood that this moment of Western and U.S. dominance would not necessarily last. It was vital, therefore, to lock our democratic values and interests in a set of global institutions and alliances that would perpetuate them. They were leaders like George Marshall, Dean Acheson and Harry Truman in America, and Jean Monnet, a founding father of the European Union, and Konrad Adenaur, Germanys first postwar chancellor, across the Atlantic. In 1989, we saw another plastic moment, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Again, we were lucky that a group of leaders came together who peacefully managed the fall of communism, the reunification of Germany and the rise of a quasi-capitalist China. They were Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, George Shultz, George H.W. Bush, Brent Scowcroft, Helmut Kohl, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand and James Baker. 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 humans. And theres been a change in the climate of communications. Smartphones connected to the cloud are superempowering good people to be reporters, photographers, filmmakers, innovators and entrepreneurs, and theyre superempowering bad guys to be cybercriminals and breakers with a global reach. These four climate changes are creating a whole new set of governing challenges. 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. The Russians are using a new kind of warfare that I call Deep War. Deep War uses cybertools to disrupt Western democracies and elections to discredit them as an alternative to Vladimir Putins autocratic kleptocracy and to maintain Russias freedom to intervene around its borders. Im talking about the disorder that will come from more and more extreme ideas spread by social networks. This poison helps fuel the kind of violence weve seen in Sri Lanka, San Diego and New Zealand, and it erodes the truth needed to govern. And I am talking about the crushing of freedom that autocrats can now do so much more efficiently with cybertools, like facial recognition and big data, that favor centralized systems. The countries and leaders we counted upon in the past to build a global, systematic, strategic adaptation to these challenges the United States of America and the European Union are AWOL. And so is their secret sauce. And what was that? It is beautifully described in a valuable new book, The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal, by William J. Burns, who retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a 33-year diplomatic career. Burns argument is that what made American (and EU) leadership effective in the first two plastic moments was a spirit of enlightened self-interest meaning that sometimes we assumed greater economic or leadership burdens to build a coalition or buttress allies because in the long run, as the worlds biggest economy, we would benefit most from the stability and the commerce those would generate. Trump focuses only on self-interest, notes Burns. Its viability is yet to be proven anywhere. And the EU is fracturing thanks to a new generation of leaders who are not building big systems but just playing with them, like the Brits breaking the EU. We have never had a greater need for the EU and the U.S. to be led by people motivated by enlightened self-interest, who appreciate that virtually every problem destabilizing the world in this plastic moment is global in nature and can be confronted only with a coalition that is global. But instead, we are saddled with leaders who are much more adept at breaking things than making things. It just feels like our luck is running out. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. New York, NY, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG ) (Tauriga or the Company), a revenue generating Company that operates through the development, distribution, and licensing of proprietary products as well as the evaluation of potential acquisition opportunities and equity investments, today confirmed that its Presentation at the Think Equity Conference 2019 (the Conference) will take place this afternoon between 1:00-1:30pm EST. The location of the Conference is the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Midtown Manhattan -Time Warner Center (New York City). Link to Conference Presentation Schedule List: https://www.meetmax.com/sched/event_54167/list_presentations_inv.html?event_id=54167 Presenting on behalf of Tauriga Sciences Inc. will be its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Seth M. Shaw. After the Company completes its presentation, it will be meeting with several institutional investors (private 1x1 meeting sessions). The Company plans to present at a number of investor conferences, both domestic and international, over the course of the remainder of 2019. ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. ( TAUG ) is a revenue generating Company that operates through the development, distribution, and licensing of proprietary products as well as the evaluation of potential acquisition opportunities. One such opportunity on which the Company has acted, involves the Company having entered into the cannabidiol (or CBD) infused chewing gum product business, as more fully described above and in prior press releases. This CBD infused chewing gum product has been branded under the following name: Tauri-GumTM. See also our periodic reports filed by us with the SEC for a more complete description of our business and material agreements that we have entered into. Further, the Company continues to identify and evaluate additional potential opportunities to generate revenue, as well as shareholder value, and leverage its resources and expertise to build a diversified and sustainable business model. Please visit our corporate website at www.tauriga.com . In addition, on March 11, 2019, the Company announced the official launch of its E-Commerce site - as part of its Tauri-GumTM commercialization strategy. This site can be accessed by visiting the following URL address: www.taurigum.com DISCLAIMER Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: 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. I was in my kitchen when I heard a thud against the glass doors to my patio. I thought it might be a bird. It wasnt. Someone threw a plastic container of leftover spaghetti and sauce against the windows and walls of my patio through a locked gate. It wasnt an accident. Ive lived here for several years with no such problems. Why would someone do this? I dont know anyone whos angry with me; weve had no vandals in the neighborhood. The explanation was clear when the Nirenberg for Mayor sign in my yard was pushed over. Its frightening to think that freedom of speech and choice are under this kind of assault. Its terrifying. I have never had to pay a penalty for expressing my choice. Nor should I have to in America, which has been my home my entire life. Elizabeth Baird Chicken, not religion Chick-fil-A is a multimillion-dollar company, not a religion. No one is being deprived of their choice of food at the airport. Base your vote for mayor on the most qualified and best person to run our great city. Nancy Bellett Gone with the wind Re: Hurt heads, but no rush to helmets, Front Page, Monday: In Bruce Selcraigs article on whether scooter riders should wear helmets to lessen their chances of serious brain injury, Councilman Clayton Perry made a startling observation. He said he loves feeling the wind in his hair while hes riding a motorcycle without a helmet. The practice appears to have blown common sense right out of his head as well. Tom Belden Press not the enemy As an American, I was hurt and offended when Donald Trump skipped out on the White House Correspondents Association dinner an annual event and in such an ostentatious way, to blatantly schedule a campaign rally. I feel as if he has damaged the country. The press has been the Fourth Estate since the beginning of our country. It stands informally, but loud and proud, right alongside the other three branches of government: the legislative, executive and judicial. Other countries envy and admire our fourth branch. Trump refers to the press as the enemy of the people. I describe that as damage. Bobby Riley What couldve been Re: Local charters get $202M to expand, Front Page, Friday: Imagine what public schools could do with that $202 million. Ellen ONeal, Helotes The University of the Incarnate Word is slated to buy AT&T Inc.s eight-story building and 10-acre lot on Broadway, officials said Thursday. On ExpressNews.com: UIW president talks campus growth, the post-Agnese era The purchase will expand Incarnate Words main campus by 20 percent if the universitys board approves the acquistion at their June meeting, officials said in a news release. The AT&T property valued at $17 million last year sits across Hildebrand Avenue from the university. Its not immediately clear how much the university plans to pay for the site. AT&T did not list an asking price. Also unclear is how the university plans to use the site. The building has 350,000 square feet of office space, which AT&T will continue to occupy until the two parties settle on a timeline for Incarnate Word to take over the site. Our plan is to be patient and meticulous about the development of this space and take the time to maximize its potential to best serve the entire community, Incarnate Word President Thomas Evans said in a statement. On ExpressNews.com: Jefferson Bank tower planned near downtown San Antonio gets initial approval AT&Ts Broadway property is one of its last San Antonio remnants. The telecommunications giant moved its headquarters to Dallas in 2008 a move that flummoxed city and county officials, who mounted a years-long effort to reshape local economic development incentives to attract and retain companies. Among those efforts is the citys emphasis on gaining more nonstop flights at San Antonio International Airport, a sticking point for AT&T executives. After it sells the Broadway property, AT&Ts most valuable San Antonio holding will be its 476,000-square-foot office building at 105 Auditorium Circle, near the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts valued at $13.7 million this year by the Bexar Appraisal District. AT&T sold its building at 1010 N. St. Marys St. in 2014 to a New York real-estate investment trust but leases the space. That property was valued at $28.8 million in 2015, the earliest figure available from the appraisal district. Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering real estate, economic development and philanthropy. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports Police in Mashonaland West have launched a manhunt for two suspects who fatally assaulted a man who had confronted them for shooting his dog with a catapult at Cuba Shopping Centre in Battlefields, Kadoma. Julias Baro and Simbarashe Baro, assaulted Honest Mapute of No.3 Village 10, Cuba Battlefields, before the duo fled. Mapute succumbed to the injuries at Kadoma District Hospital. Mashonaland West police provincial spokesperson Inspector Clemence Mabgweazara appealed for information on the whereabouts of the two men. We are appealing to people who might have information on the whereabouts of these two men to assist us so that we can arrest them for the crime, he said. Insp Mabgweazara urged people to respect the sanctity of human life and always try to solve disputes amicably without resorting to violence. People should and must always know that violence is not a solution to problems, he said. Its better for someone to walk away and avoid committing a crime or find a person who can help solve the issue without taking sides. Insp Mabgweazara said on April 27, Mapute was drinking beer at a shop at Cuba Business Centre while his dog was lying beside him when Patrick Fambisa hit it with a catapult shot. Mapute reportedly confronted Fambisa, leading to a quarrel which turned violent when Fambisa hit Mapute on the forehead with a brick. The Baro duo reportedly joined in the assault, but fled the scene when Mapute fell unconscious. Mapute was taken to a local clinic from where he was immediately transferred to Kadoma District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police arrested Fambisa over Maputes death, but Julius and Simbarashe are still at large. Herald Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Since its formation in the late 1970s, the United African National Council (UANC) led by then Zimbabwe-Rhodesia leader Bishop Abel Muzorewa disappeared, only to resurface in 2018 under the leadership of the late clerics younger brother, Gwinyai. The UANCs plans to participate in the July 2018 elections faltered when its leader failed to secure a birth certificate under unclear circumstances. NewsDay (ND) reporter Jairos Saunyama spoke to Muzorewa (GM) from his base in the United States. Below are the excerpts. ND: What is your assessment of the economic situation in the country? GM: Zanu PF has failed to run the country. Firstly, the system is headed by a leadership that has long lost the essence of the revolution. Enough is enough; 39 years of misrule can only be replaced by new leadership. Secondly, since sanctions are only against the Zanu PFs corrupt fiscal mismanagement, the nation can be without sanctions almost overnight (if) the UANC assumes national leadership. The world knows that the UANC is not corrupt, and will manage the nations fiscal affairs in a transparent manner. The economy will turn around when there is a party that manages the civil affairs while the military does its constitutional function of guarding the nation against foreign invasion. We believe that every Zimbabwean needs a good life for his or her family. ND: MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa claims he has been calling in vain to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa to resolve the crisis. Are there any chances that the two leaders will meet and dialogue? GM: Those of us who have been supporting the opposition which has proved to be used by Zanu PF when the going is tough, are advised to look elsewhere. We (UANC) will end the tug of war between Chamisa and Mnangagwa. The argument between the two is not about who has a better economic plan to redeem the nation, rather, they are arguing about who won. We will join this fight with a different perspective, that is who has a better economic system that will save the nation. ND: Mnangagwa has called for national dialogue involving all political parties that contested in the last election, if you had contested, where you going to take part? GM: This national dialogue is not a genuine exercise. I called this a political filibuster because it is actually consistent with Mnangagwas philosophy that says munongovukura tichingotonga (you will continue barking while we rule you). How can Zanu PF that created and continues to fuel the crisis preside over the dialogue? Zanu PF is the problem. The system does not have the moral capacity to moderate or host the dialogue. As a party, we cannot participate in such an exercise because the government is merely using these men and women who wish they were ruling, but are not, to pacify the masses. This crisis had been brewing for a couple of decades until Zanu PF staged a coup in November 2017. At that time, we should have had the dialogue. The generals would have said: We have removed (former President Robert) Mugabe, now you the national leaders how shall we elect a good leader? Of course, that did not happen. But it needs to be said in order to understand the true motive of the Zanu PF leadership in this so-called dialogue. Actually, this dialogue is serving to perpetuate Zanu PF rule. I will not judge those who are participating in the dialogue. They are enjoying free meals. The real solution for the country is a new, uncorrupted, uncompromised and good government elected in a free and fair atmosphere. ND: Zanu PF has voved it will not share power until 2023, what can be done to turn the economy around, in the meantime? GM: I did not expect Zanu PF to agree to share power with the MDC. The point of rigging the election was so they can win at any cost. ED is not concerned about the plight of the people. He would have not even contested in July 2018 elections since he belongs to a failed regime. A failed government must not even contest for another term to fail the nation again. A good example to show Zanu PFs uncaring philosophy is the so-called command agriculture. One year later, 5,3 million Zimbabweans will not have food, yet people harvested and the maize was taken away by the commander. The price hikes completely disregard the unemployment situation in the country. ND: You failed to contest in the last election because you could not secure a birth certificate in time, do you blame yourself or the system? GM: My birth certificate issue has been a case of corruption, even at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Any government has the Registrars Office, which issues and store all national records, including birth certificates. I have had all my national ID, passport, birth and so on. Trusting that our government agencies are functioning normally, I wanted to collect my birth certificate only to be told that I had never had one. I should have made noise, but I am smarter than them. No one can convince me that the whole system is not corrupt. I find it most reasonable to replace a corrupt government with one that is not. The MDC was in Parliament, but did not make it a point to reform anomalies in the Constitution. ND: Zimbabwe is currently in an economic crisis characterised by massive fuel shortages and increase in prices of basic commodities. If you were in power, how would you deal with these challenges? GM: With the UANC in government, there will be no price hikes of fuel, food or cash shortage because the current cause for these crises will go with the Zanu PF system of corruption and fiscal mismanagement. In fact, there is need to create an economic atmosphere that is conducive to stability, economic growth and development. There is need to attend to civil servants salaries. There is need to appoint to high positions people with integrity. ND: What is your message to Zimbabweans between now and the next election? GM: Fellow Zimbabweans, in 2023 let us vote in a leadership that has the nations prosperity as a priority. The difference between us and Zanu PF is that the ruling party takes away from the nation, but the UANC brings to the nation prosperity through good governance and investor confidence. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Police say gunmen have kidnapped a traditional ruler in Daura who is distantly related to Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari. Musa Umar was seized on Wednesday evening from in front of his house by abductors who fired shots into the air, Katsina state Police Spokesman Gambo Isa told the BBCs Nasidi Adamu Yahya. Local police say one officer who was injured in a confrontation with the kidnappers is receiving treatment at a local hospital. Mr Umar is a distant relative by marriage of President Buhari, as well as being the father-in-law of one of his senior aides. Daura is the presidents home town. The BBCs Joshua Ajayi in Lagos says the kidnapping is an embarrassment to the president, as it shows that just about anyone can be abducted. The presidents office has not yet commented on the incident. Kidnappings, often for ransom, are on the rise in north-western Nigeria. On Tuesday, dozens of gunmen attacked two villages in the same state and killed 14 people. The Nigerian government has repeatedly claimed it is tackling the problem by deploying troops to the region but that has yet to bring the violence to an end. BBC News Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News Nurses in Chiredzi are exposing women to serious health risks by terminating pregnancies in circumstances where they are not fully attended to. Up to 90% of illegal abortions in Chiredzi are conducted by nurses. Police officers are also involved in human rights abuses by forcing juvenile sex workers to have sex with them for free. This was said by sex workers at a Parliamentary Consultative Forum on health and sexual reproduction in Chiredzi on Tuesday last week. Three Parliamentary Portfolio Committees, namely Health, Women Affairs and Justice and Legal attended the meeting. The committee came to Chiredzi after a resident Marko Shoko petitioned Parliament over rampant child prostitution around Chigarapasi Beer Hall. About 40 commercial sex workers who attended the meeting said that their members have to terminate unwanted pregnancies from time to time and they are assisted by nurses from institutions around Chiredzi who charge $400. They told the MPs that the biggest challenge of these illegal backyard terminations is that the sex workers are not given full care by nurses who are employed elsewhere. They pleaded with MPs for the legalisation of abortion. The sex workers also complained that their reports of rape and assault against their clients to the Police are not seriously looked into and most of them are thrown away. Rosemary Chiguvi, a sex worker and National AIDS Council peer educator argued at the meeting that sex workers dont enter the profession out of luxury. She said that there are many push factors including poverty, harsh economic environment and child-headed homes. There are many causes of prostitution that push even minors into the profession. There are also circumstances beyond our control that result in unwanted pregnancies and hence illegal abortions. We are approached by nurses who charge us to terminate pregnancies. They are involved in over 90% of terminations here in Chiredzi. Some of our members have died from these illegal abortions because of lack of due care, said Chiguvi. Another sex worker Lahoreuliet Gadzanai said tens of juveniles are joining the oldest profession due to poverty. She pleaded with Government to assist them with income generating projects. She said the juveniles are abused by Police officers who force them into sex for free. The committees which were jointly chaired by legislators Dr Ruth Labode (Health), Misheck Mataranyika (Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs) Brian Dube (Women Affairs) and Jasmine Tofa representing SADC PF promised to present the reports of what they heard in Parliament without favour. This will happen in the process of the enactment of sexual reproduction and rights laws. The consultative forum was supported by Right Here Right Now Zimbabwe initiative which involves organisations like Population Services Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and many others. Mirror Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. New information obtained as a result of depositions and document discovery in an ongoing lawsuit should make anyone concerned about privacy seriously consider crossing the US border without carrying any electronics devices. Im reminded of the old AMEX travelers check ad: Dont Leave Home Without Them. Now, with respect to electronic devices, the advice should be: dont leave home with them. Warrantless searches of electronics devices have nearly quadrupled at the US border since 2015, rising to 33,295 at the end of 2018. These are conducted for reasons broader than simple immigration or customs enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy allows border agents to search and confiscate anyones electronic device for any reason or for no reason at all. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may conduct a search of a device at the border without a warrant or probable cause, and usually without even reasonable suspicion. What happens if you refuse to allow the search? Well, I hope you dont have plans to meet anyone for dinner on the day you make that decision. The short answer is that the government would then simply choose to seize your device and take its sweet time in getting it back to you. During that time, border agents or anyone they may choose to hand it off to can study your device anyway. Theres no sensible provision that would lockdown your device until a judge ruled on whether a warrant was necessary to search the device. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) moved for summary judgment Tuesday in a case originally filed against the Department of Homeland Security in September 2017 on behalf of eleven plaintiffs. (A roster of legal documents can be found here). The government moved to dismiss the claim, citing the border search exemption, arguing that the First and Fourth Amendments do not apply to its border activities. At some level, lets say for the sake of argument, such an exemption may have made sense in the past, since in the pre-digital world, they only covered baggage and ones person. If you could leave the border and take your bags with you, you would be able to dump the contraband border officials might have been concerned about. Now, with the invention of digital devices and the government claiming the same set of rules apply border officials can root around wholesale in all those aspects of ones life that are stored there. No judge is ever even asked to rule on the scope or necessity of these fishing expeditions. Legal Proceedings In May 2018, US federal district court judge Denise Casper dismissed the governments motion to dismiss, and allowed the lawsuit to proceed. Since May 2018, the EFF and ACLU have reviewed documents obtained in response to discovery requests and conducted depositions. As a result of those investigations, plaintiffs asked the judge to skip the trial phase entirely and rule on their behalf. (The motion for summary judgment may be found here. Further supporting information uncovered in pretrial proceedings may be found here.) The ACLU summarized the most alarming of the scope of searches conducted in a press release: The information we uncovered through our lawsuit shows that CBP and ICE are asserting near-unfettered authority to search and seize travelers devices at the border, for purposes far afield from the enforcement of immigration and customs laws. The agencies policies allow officers to search devices for general law enforcement purposes, such as investigating and enforcing bankruptcy, environmental, and consumer protection laws. The agencies also say that they can search and seize devices for the purpose of compiling risk assessments or to advance pre-existing investigations. The policies even allow officers to consider requests from other government agencies to search specific travelers devices. In addition, the searches arent limited to the person who holds the device, but also extend to friends, family, and acquaintances. The ACLU again: CBP and ICE also say they can search a travelers electronic devices to find information about someone else. That means they can search a U.S. citizens devices to probe whether that persons family or friends may be undocumented; the devices of a journalist or scholar with foreign sources who may be of interest to the U.S. government; or the devices of a traveler who is the business partner or colleague of someone under investigation. What Happens to My Personal Information Once the Government Gets its Mitts on It? Of course, once collected, who knows where this information goes? It seems the ACLU has an answer to that question, too: Both agencies 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 Information Obtained Shows What the Government Is Doing, Is This Constitutional? Obviously, the government either thinks it is or more cynically, that no executive official, congressional committee, or judge will put a stop to its behavior. The EFF and ACLU are arguing the government is going too far. Put in simple constitutional terms? As an EFF press release reports: The evidence we have presented the court shows that the scope of ICE and CBP border searches is unconstitutionally broad, said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Adam Schwartz. 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. Although the government would like us to think that normal constitutional protections dont apply at the border, they in fact do although the jurisprudence on the issue is admittedly shakey. Along with other constitutional prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures, the scope of these protections has deteriorated significantly in recent decades initially eroded as part of the war on crime, followed by the war on terror. Nonetheless, over to the EFF again: This new evidence reveals that government agencies are using the pretext of the border to make an end run around the First and Fourth Amendments, said Esha Bhandari, staff attorney with the ACLUs Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 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. Were asking the court to stop these unlawful searches and require the government to get a warrant. In addition to asking that in future the government obtain a warrant before conducting border searches, the plaintiffs seek to have the data obtained from these warrantless searches expunged from government databases. Whats Next? Im not sure whether Judge Casper will go so far as to grant the summary judgment motion in the plaintiffs favor. Im not a litigator, so my call on this would not be particularly worthwhile, so I wont hazard one. If she does, her decision will certainly be appealed. If she doesnt, the case will proceed to trial where the result will certainly be appealed. Theres too much at stake here for this lawsuit to shake out otherwise. Im not at all confident that this particular genie can be put back into its bottle especially given the current make-up of the Supreme Court. So, what can we do? Well, it brings me back to where I started this post seriously consider what devices you take across US borders if youre concerned about your privacy. I dont as it happens have a smartphone although I know most people do. I think if stopped and questioned at the border, that true fact might somehow single me out for additional scrutiny. But I do have a laptop, which I rely on for my livelihood. You might have thought that the existence of this lawsuit might have led ICE and CBP to be more circumspect in their search policy while it was pending. Alas, the opposite has been the case. New findings from Independent Geologist Site Survey and Report state a conservative gold grade for Orofino Trench at 15gr per ton, revised from previous estimate of 10g per ton. Existing tailings have been estimated at 7g per ton. Arizona, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Discovery Minerals Ltd (Pink Sheets:DSCR) is an acquisition and development Company that targets natural resource properties primarily in precious metals and mining operations. Discovery Minerals is pleased to announce an update from the Board of Directors and CEO for the War Eagle Mountain. Russell Smith, CEO, led a team completing a two-week site visit and survey from late March to early April 2019. The Company engaged Geoff Boswell of Underhill Associates an independent geologist to review findings and prepare an updated report. This is an important step in the process to finish the comprehensive survey to begin mining operations on the Orofino Trench. The survey team also included Scott Barry, a Metallurgist and Milling Engineer in the project, Mr. Girvan Jackson, the Project Manager, and Mr. Bill Earl, Joint Venture Partner as well as other Company personnel. Mr. Boswell stated in his report: Geological Model of War Eagle Mountain: War Eagle Mountain is located in southwest Idahos Silver City districtApproximately 60 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny, subduction of thickened oceanic crust from the west under the North American continent was flattened due to the subducted crusts thickening and buoyancy and as a result, magmatism and volcanic mountain building due to the subduction occurred much further inland than to be expected normally. The subducted crust was naturally metal enriched and devolatilization of the surface of the subducted crust created an H2O, Alkali, CO2, Sulphur, metals and metalloids enriched melt within the shallow mantle. These are all necessary precursors for high grade gold and silver emplacement higher in the crust. Mining and Treatment program in 2019 1. The Orofino trench named in the calculations is the planned trenching of the Orofino vein for 500m at the northern end of its exposure. It is approximately 1m wide and the excavator will trench to approximately 13m (40 feet) deep after some blasting to break up the quartz. A conservative gold grade of 15g (1/2 Oz Au) has been assessed by prior sampling. 2. It is also planned to mine the Orofino veins beneath the trench as an initial high grade mine from the surface. This mining may add 60 vertical meters of mining to this scenario but this has not been entered into the initial calculations as it will involve some underground exploration and further modeling of the most efficient mining methods. 3. For the purposes of startup mill feed it has been decided to remove all suitable mill tailings and waste from War Eagle Mountain that lies within patented claims held by the company and use them to augment initial mill feed. It is thought that the tonnage of surface material may keep the mill going for up to 3 years and will certainly provide for full mill operations and significant cash flow while the underground mine is being drill tested and developed via an incline from the Sinker Tunnel. 4. All old shafts and underground workings were developed within veins (on ore) but where lower grade or development dilution produced development waste at lower than 2 oz gold per ton this rock would have been added to mine waste dumps at each shaft head. 5. Historical records suggest that the crushing of ore on the mountain was by stamper mills with mercury amalgam (over copper) tables. These mills historically had a recovery of approximately 70% of the metals. Other Assumptions. 6. Mine records show an approximate 1:10 to 1:13 ratio between gold and silver recovered. 7. Mine waste dumps and tailings may contain between 15 and 60 g/t gold. We have given them a conservative grade of 7 g/t gold. Report Conclusion. War Eagle Mountain contains high grade gold and silver veins, similar to those of the rich mines of northern Nevada, that provide a significant opportunity to a focused, small, narrow vein miner. The peak of War Eagle mountain appears to show a preserved top of the boiling zone and a preserved high-grade precious metal deposition zone. Mining can be achieved using the sinker tunnel for access via an incline up into the veins in the boiling zone. Historic mill tailings and waste may contribute significantly to cash flow during the initial assessment and mine feasibility to production phase. Russell Smith, CEO of Discovery Minerals, LTD, stated, The site survey and machinery inspection was extremely valuable in completing our comprehensive survey to begin mining operations. The near surface vein in the Orofino Trench remains our initial target. We were extremely pleased the independent geologist stated a 15g per ton AU grade as well as a 7g grade in existing tailings from historical mining operations. This is extremely conservative when you factor historical mining only targeted 2oz per ton and typically had a 70% recovery. We are finalizing our mining plan and look forward to announcing commencement of mining operations. It is important to note that where patented claims are involved we have the ability to begin operations. Our target is to commence within 60 days. As always I would like to thank our Shareholders for their continued support as we grow Discovery Minerals. About Discovery Minerals Ltd.: Discovery Minerals Ltd. (OTC PINK : DSCR) is an acquisition and development company that targets natural resource properties and cutting edge technology opportunities through its subsidiaries. The Board of Directors has determined that these activities be continued with an emphasis on early positive cash flow from any projects undertaken. Safe Harbor: This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approval for anticipated actions. Authorized by Russell Smith, CEO. On Friday, 3 May 2019, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will attend the change of command ceremony for NATOs Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), in Mons, Belgium. Media Advisory 11:00 Start of Change of Command Ceremony The ceremony will be streamed live on the NATO website . For accreditation related queries, please refer to the SHAPE Media Advisory or contact SHAPE Public Affairs at shapepao@shape.nato.int. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg) (Natural News) Levels of pollution on some cruise ships decks are worse than in the worlds most polluted cities, an investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches has found. (Article by Chloe Farand republished from Independent.co.uk) The undercover investigation on Britains biggest crew operator P&O Cruises aimed to find out how clean the air holidaymakers breathe when on a ship is. It focused on the levels of ultra-fine particles found in the air and around the cruise ship and emitted from the fuel the ships engines burn. But while passengers hope to escape the dirty air of cities for some fresh sea air, the investigation found cruise ships are having a negative impact on the environment. One cruise ship can emit as much particulate matter as a million cars in a day. Meanwhile cruise ships are becoming more popular with around two million people from the UK traveling on one every year. By using a P-Trak ultra-fine particle counter, Dispatches said it was able to measure the levels of the ultra-fine particulates on board the P&O Cruises ship Oceana, which can carry more than 2,000 passengers. The device found that the air on the deck downwind of, and directly next to the ships funnels, had 84,000 ultra-fine particulates per cubic centimeter. Directly next to the funnels on the deck, the numbers rocketed to 144,000 with a peak at 226,000. This is more than double the average found in central Londons Piccadilly Circus, where using the same device, the Dispatches team recorded 38,400 ultra-fine particulates per cubic centimeter. While the deck is popular with sun-bathers, passengers are likely to be breathing some of these particulates, which are harmful for health and the environment. Speaking to Dispatches, Dr Matthew Loxham said: It is clear from those results that there are certain areas of the ship that are affected by quite high levels of particulate matter. These are levels that you would expect to see in the most polluted cities in the world like Shanghai, Delhi and so on.? Looking at the results, Dr Loxham also said the findings suggested the majority of the particulates were coming directly from the ships funnels. He said: Short term exposure can cause increasing respiratory symptoms. People who are asthmatic for example, that might give them a wheeze. Similarly for people with cardiovascular disease. Now that is not to say that these levels of particulates on this ship are going to do that but there is much evidence out there to suggest that increase levels of particulates can cause these symptoms. Dr Loxham added that crew members working on the ship and who experienced repeated exposure could experience symptoms that we are just starting to understand. Speaking to the Dispatches team, Daniel Rieger, of the German environment association NABU (Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union), said: Ships cause not only greenhouse gas emissions, but also sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Per day one cruise ship emits as much particulate matter as a million cars. So 30 cruise ships pollute as much as all the cars in the United Kingdom. John Maggs, president of the Clean Shipping Coalition, also told Dispatches: Most large ships burn heavy fuel oil. Its a residual product from the refining industry, so after the refiners have produced the petrol and diesel we put in our cars, theyre left with what is essentially a waste product. Its called residual fuel, or heavy fuel oil. From an environmental point of view, its bad because of the air pollution caused by the very high sulphur content. The shipping industry, however, has traditionally liked it because its much cheaper than other fuels. Responding to the findings revealed by the investigation, P&O Cruises said: Since 2005 we have reduced our fuel consumption by 28 per cent, with the accompanying reduction in air emissions. It added that the Oceana is to be fitted with exhaust gas cleaning systems, which have been installed on 60 ships across its brands. This action significantly improves the quality of air emissions. Soot and particulate matter reductions in excess of 80 per cent have been achieved. P&O also said that in 2014 it had reduced CO2 emissions by 20 per cent and had renewed its goal to continue reducing the rate. It said: The health, safety and welfare of guests and crew across all our ships is our absolute highest priority We recognise that there is a public interest related to particulate matter and related health issues. Read more at: Independent.co.uk (Natural News) Everything youve been told about global warming, climate change and carbon dioxide by the mainstream media and mainstream science is an outright lie. Far from being a dangerous poison, carbon dioxide is a miraculous life-giving nutrient that plants need to thrive. Rising carbon dioxide is actually helping green the planet, as any legitimate science already knows. Without CO2 in the atmosphere, nearly all life on the planet would collapse, including both human life and plant life. (See my numerous science videos, below, which explain all this in detail.) (Article republished from ClimateScienceNews.com) Now, an eye-opening interview has emerged that features Istvan Marko, an organic chemistry researcher and professor at the Universite catholique de Louvain. He was recently interviewed by Gregoire Canlorbe, a science journalist and out-of-the-box thinker. Im publishing parts of the interview below, and I encourage you to read the full interview at GregoireCanlorbe.com. All the words below are from Istvan Marko, except the subhead titles, which are mine: The truth about carbon dioxide Again, CO 2 is not, and has never been, a poison. Each of our exhalations, each of our breaths, emits an astronomical quantity of CO 2 proportionate to that in the atmosphere (some >40,000 ppm); and it is very clear that the air we expire does not kill anyone standing in front of us. What must be understood, besides, is that CO 2 is the elementary food of plants. Without CO 2 there would be no plants, and without plants there would be no oxygen and therefore no humans. The equation is as simple as that. Plants need CO 2 , water, and daylight. These are the mechanisms of photosynthesis, to generate the sugars that will provide them with staple food and building blocks. That fundamental fact of botany is one of the primary reasons why anyone who is sincerely committed to the preservation of the natural world should abstain from demonizing CO 2 . Over the last 30 years, there has been a gradual increase in the CO 2 level. But what is also observed is that despite deforestation, the planets vegetation has grown by about 20%. This expansion of vegetation on the planet, nature lovers largely owe it to the increase in the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere. If we study, however, what has been happening at the geological level for several million years, we realize that the present period is characterized by an extraordinarily low CO 2 level. During the Jurassic, Triassic, and so on, the CO 2 level rose to values sometimes of the order of 7000, 8000, 9000 ppm, which considerably exceeds the paltry 400 ppm that we have today. Not only did life exist, in those far-off times when CO 2 was so present in large concentration in the atmosphere, but plants such as ferns commonly attained heights of 25 meters. Reciprocally, far from benefiting the current vegetation, the reduction of the presence of CO 2 in the atmosphere would be likely to compromise the health, and even the survival, of numerous plants. To fall below the threshold of 280 or 240 ppm would plainly lead to the extinction of a large variety of our vegetal species. In addition, our relentless crusade to reduce CO 2 could be more harmful to nature as plants are not the only organisms to base their nutrition on CO 2 . Phytoplankton species also feed on CO 2 , using carbon from CO 2 as a building unit and releasing oxygen. By the way, it is worth remembering that ~70% of the oxygen present today in the atmosphere comes from phytoplankton, not trees: contrary to common belief, it is not the forests, but the oceans, that constitute the lungs of the earth. The truth about the greenhouse effect About the supposed link between global warming and CO 2 emissions, it is simply not true that CO 2 has a major greenhouse effect. It is worth remembering, here too, that CO 2 is a minor gas. Today it represents only 0.04% of the composition of the air; and its greenhouse effect is attributed the value of 1. The major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is water vaporwhich is ten times more potent than CO 2 in its greenhouse effect. Water vapor is present in a proportion of 2% in the atmosphere. Those facts are, in principle, taught at school and at university, but one still manages to incriminate CO 2 alongside this learning, in using a dirty trick that presents the warming effect of CO 2 as minor but exacerbated, through feedback loops, by the other greenhouse effects. How status quo science brainwashes people and turns them into obedient robots who spout scientific nonsense I believe in science: I mean that I believe in the possibility of objectively knowing reality through science. I believe that there are truth and falsehood, that science allows us to distinguish between the two, and that truth must be known; that scientific knowledge must be placed in the hands of the population. I also believe in freedom. I believe that every man is entitled to lead his life and to manage his goods as he sees fit, that he is the only possessor of himself, and that statist socio-economic control is as morally reprehensible as it is harmful in its social, economic, and environmental consequences. I note two things distressing me: firstly, the population is increasingly misinformed scientifically; and secondly, the media and governments take advantage of this to propagate a theory that is doubtful, namely that of anthropogenic warming, and to promote coercive measures on its behalf. Few people take the time to get vital information about the actual CO 2 footprint; and few people, more generally, are still interested in science. I deeply regret that our Western societies have succeeded in cultivating such mistrust of science: such a reluctance to have confidence in its capacity to know the world objectively and to transform it positively. The theory of anthropogenic warming claims to be scientific; but if people accept this theory, if they hold it to be true, it is clearly not out of interest for science. Such a fragile theory, in view of the CO 2 facts I have presented to you above, could never have been accepted by people who truly care about science; and who possess a deep understanding in that field. In my eyes, there are two main reasonsor if you prefer, two main types of feelingsthat make people let themselves be seduced by the theory of anthropogenic warming so readily. In the first place, the Catholic religion is in decline in the Western world; and what I call ecologism comes to replace it. In the second place, Westerners have a pronounced taste for self-flagellation; and the theory of anthropogenic warming provides justification for that tendency, possibly anchored in our Judeo-Christian heritage. So, on the one hand, we have religious feelings: faith in a new system of thought, which is ecologism; the veneration of a new divinity, which is benevolent and protective Nature. On the other hand, we have a feeling of guilt, expressed in our conviction that, if the climate warms up, it is our fault; and that if we do not immediately limit our CO 2 emissions, we will have sullied and disfigured our planet. Rising ocean levels and melting ice caps Over the last 12,000 years, what we have witnessed is an oscillation between warm and cold periods, thus periods with rising and declining sea levels. Incontestably, sea and ocean levels have been on the rise since the end of the Little Ice Age that took place approximately from the beginning of the 14th century until the end of the 19th century. At the end of that period, global temperatures started to rise. That being said, the recorded rise is 0.8 degrees Celsius and is, therefore, nothing extraordinary. If the temperature goes up, ocean water obviously dilates and some glaciers recede. This is something glaciers have always done, and not a specificity of our time. Thus, in Ancient Roman times, glaciers were much smaller than the ones we know nowadays. I invite the reader to look at the documents dating back to the days of Hannibal, who managed to cross the Alps with his elephants because he did not encounter ice on his way to Rome, (except during a snow storm just before arriving on the Italian plain). Today, you could no longer make Hannibals journey. He proved to be capable of such an exploit, precisely because it was warmer in Roman times. Sea levels are currently on the rise; but this is an overestimated phenomenon. The recorded rise is 1.5 millimeters per year, namely 1.5 cm every ten years, and is, therefore, not dramatic at all. Indeed, it does happen that entire islands do get engulfed; but in 99% of the cases, that is due to a classic erosion phenomenon[2] and not to rising sea levels. As far as the Italian city of Venice is concerned, the fact it has been faced with water challenges is not due to any rise of the lagoon level; and is just the manifestation of the sad reality that the City of the Doges is sinking under its weight on the marshland. Once again, the global sea and ocean levels are rising; but the threat effectively represented by that phenomenon is far from being tangible. I note that the Tuvalu islands, whose engulfment was previously announced as imminent, not only have not been engulfed, but have seen their own land level rise with respect to that of waters around them. Still another phenomenon we tend to exaggerate is the melting of the polar caps. The quantity of ice in the Arctic has not gone down for 10 years: one may well witness, from one year to the other, ice level fluctuations, but on average that level has remained constant. Right after the Little Ice Age, since the temperature went up, the Artic started to melt; but the ice level in the Arctic finally settled down. Besides, ice has been expanding in Antarctica over the last 30 years; and similarly, we observe in Greenland that the quantity of ice increased by 112 million cubic kilometers last year. On a global scale, glaciers account for peanuts, with most of the ice being located in Antarctica and on Greenland. One cannot but notice an almost unchanged ice level over hundreds of years. We are told that the level of water will increase throughout the world and increase to the point that it will overwhelm a large part of our continents. As Hans von Storch, one of the worlds leading climate modelers, has shown, the models supporting those forecasts are, for 98% of them, totally false. We are told that the air we breathe in the big cities has never been so polluted. One only must review the documents oneself about the air that people used to breath in London in the 1960s to realize how much urban pollution has diminished. In Peking, often castigated for poor air quality, there happens, every now and then, a fog reminiscent of the London smog. But even that pollution in Peking is far from competing with that which, a short while ago, reigned in London. Global warming and temperature models Many other climate myths and legends exist. From storms to tornados, extreme events are going down all around the world; and when they occur, their level is much lower, too. As explained by MIT physicist Richard Lindzen, the reduction of the temperature differential between the north hemisphere and the equatorial part of our planet makes cyclonic energy much smaller: the importance and frequency of extreme events thus tend to decrease. But once again, the rise of temperatures shows a magnitude considerably lower with respect to that we currently project. If you look at satellite data and weather balloon measurements, you then note that the temperature rise around the world is relatively modest; that it is much lower than the rise that is predicted for us by authorities, and that these predictions rely on calculations that are highly uncertain. This is because the simulation inputs cannot take into account past temperatures (for which there is no precision data[3]), except by subjectively adjusting x, y, z data that are not always known. The recent temperature spikes measured by satellites and balloons are part of a classic natural phenomenon which is called El Nino. This short-term phenomenon consists of a return of the very warm waters at the surface of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The heat thus liberated in the atmosphere pushes up the global temperature and CO 2 plays no role in that process. Another issue I would like to raise: present deserts, far from expanding, are receding; and they are receding due to the higher quantity of CO 2 available in the air. It turns out that greenhouse operators voluntarily inject three times as much CO 2 in the commercial greenhouse as it is present in the atmosphere. The result we can observe is that plants grow faster and are bigger, that they are more resistant to diseases and to destructive insects, and that their photosynthesis is way more efficient and that they therefore consume, less water. Similarly, the rise of CO 2 level in the atmosphere makes that plants need less water and thus that they can afford to colonize arid regions. Regarding diseases and other weird phenomena hastily attributed to climate warming, there is a websiteglobalwarminghoax.com, if I recall that collects the different rumors and contemplations on this theme. The fact that masculine fertility decreases; the fact that birds wings shrink; the fact that a shark showed up in the North Sea; absolutely anything is likely to be connected to climate change if one displays enough intellectual dishonesty. That is where honest journalists come into play: your role is to investigate on the true reason of phenomena and to demystify the ready-made thinking that financial and political forces ask the media to channel slavishly. Climate-related diseases are relatively rare; and even malaria does not directly depend on the climate, but rather on the way we enable the parasite to reproduce and the mosquito to flourish in the place where we are located. If you find yourself in a swampy area, the odds you will get malaria are high; if you have drained the system and you no longer have that wetland, the odds you will catch the disease are very low. In the end, automatically blaming the resurgence of some disease on climate change comes down to removing the personal responsibility from the people involved: such as denying that their refusal of vaccinations, for instance, or their lack of hygiene, may be part of the problem. The economic failure of wind power The wind industry, over which ecologists swoon, produces highly unpredictable output, depending on the intensity of the wind. Even under good atmospheric conditions, wind delivers too little electricity to be a profitable industry on its own. Warren Buffet, who owns one of the largest wind farms in Iowa, said it without embarrassment: On wind power, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. This is the only reason to build them. They do not make sense without the tax credit. The ecological balance is just as bad: onshore wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands, even millions of birds and bats per year. As for wind turbines at sea, they kill many marine mammals, again in the utmost indifference of ecologists. Thoughts on world government and eco-tyranny Many persons, generally those coming from the former Eastern Bloc, let themselves be seduced by the idea that the resolution of our environmental problems would be that of global governance. In many respects, ecologism is also the communism of the 21st century. In the same way as Islam, it occupies the place left vacant by the decline of Marxism-Leninism. I do not know if a convergence of struggles between Islamists and ecologists will actually take shape; however, I note that we already have the equivalent, on a smaller scale, of the global ecological caliphate. I am thinking of the European Union, which gives us a foretaste of the bureaucratic, global, and totalitarian governance that the United Nations manifestly endeavors to establish. Since we are talking about globalization, envisioned in its political aspect, the prospect of a world government, but also in its economic and, say, informational aspectthe networking, sometimes instantaneous, of humans, goods, and ideasI would like to opine a possible perverse effect. As cultures and mentalities mingle, the Westerners ecologist (or Gaianist) religion, as well as their penchant for repentance, seem to even reach some of the Asian peoples. Japan, which emerged spiritually emasculated from the Second World War, is more conducive to letting itself be invaded by that Western sanctification of the self-denial of ecologism. The global depopulation agenda The agreement of the Paris COP 21 was not signed to save the planet and to prevent us from roasting due to an imaginary temperature increase of +2C. Behind all that masquerade is hidden, as always, the ugly face of power, greed, and profit. All the industrialists who are in favor of that commitment, which will ruin Europe and immensely impoverish its citizens, do so for the good reason they find in it a huge and easy source of income. As for NGOs, when they are not simply motivated by greed, their motive consists in a resolutely Malthusian ideology. Their object is to return the world to a very small population, on the order of a few hundred million people. To do so, they impoverish the world, remove the power of fossil fuel energies, and thus ensure that the number of deaths increases. Interview end. Thoughts on glyphosate Interestingly, Marko is pro-glyphosate, saying it is onlyhalf as toxic as salt. He even adds, I am ready to drink ten grams of glyphosate in front of you, but nowhere is he recorded as actually having done so. It just goes to show you that real scientists are independent thinkers who may have very diverse conclusions on a variety of science-based topics. To this day, however, I have not seen any scientist gobble down ten grams of glyphosate. Sadly, Marko has already passed, so he wont be available to demonstrate his confidence in this herbicide, either. Nevertheless, its clear that Marko was a brilliant thinker and a man who was dedicated to his pursuit of scientific understanding and truth. I thank Gregoire Canlorbe for conducting and sharing this enlightening interview, and I encourage you to visit his website at GregoireCanlorbe.com. Read more at: ClimateScienceNews.com (Natural News) In the mid-1800s, hundreds of thousands of Americans began migrating west along the Oregon Trail to take advantage of federal legislation guaranteeing a plot of land to anyone who settled the region. The trail was arduous and snaked through Missouri and present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and finally into Oregon, the History Channel notes. Thousands died of diseases and what are, today, easily treatable conditions like dysentery. Over the next century or so, Oregon flourished and became home to scores of patriotic Americans who worked hard, built lives, and made something out of an obscure frontier. But then something happened to destroy the frontier, can-do mentality of Oregonians: Democrats and their Left-wing supporters took over and now the state is hostage to anti-establishment, anti-patriotic lunacy. In the age of POTUS Donald Trump, Portland has become ground zero for Leftist protests and violence. The lawlessness has become so pronounced, in fact, that the local sheriff has now instructed his deputies to stay out of the city because its become too dangerous and they are getting no assistance from city police. As Law Enforcement Today reported: Portland just lost a huge chunk of its police presence. On Friday, Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts wrote an email to his deputies, stating his concern for their safety. I will not place you at unnecessary personal and professional risk, the email read. Portland is mostly patrolled by the Portland Police Bureau, which has come under scrutiny and criticism in recent years for doing too little to intervene against lawless Leftists and Antifa anarchists who regularly take over city streets using violence and mayhem. The PPB gets assistance from neighboring counties including the Clackamas Sheriffs Department. However, with Roberts decision, that means PPB officers will be under even more pressure from a lack of staffing, even as new protests are being staged and scheduled. On May Day, Portland underwent another Left-wing protest for immigrant and workers rights set for the downtown area. (Related: Portland Mayor and Portland Chief of Police should be arrested for being complicit in mob violence and terrorism against citizens.) Left-wing Democrats are destroying American cities and civility Part of the problem is that the Leftists who run Portland hamstring their own police department. In February, Mayor Ted Wheeler ordered an investigation into the Portland Police Bureau after hundreds of texts between a department lieutenant and right-wing activist Joey Gibson were made public, The New York Times reported. Community members have long expressed concerns about police bias during demonstrations, Mr. Wheeler said in a statement a day before he announced the investigation. Incidents like this contribute to the distrust that so many people have about the Portland Police Bureau. The complaining community members hes talking about are Left-wing activists who have demonstrated open hostility towards the PPB and all police departments and officers, unlike Gibsons organization. And this is why Sheriff Roberts wont send his deputies into Portland anymore: Left-wing hostility towards police that is sanctioned by city officials who are literally allowing the inmates to run the asylum. In August, Wheeler attempted to prevent his own police department from sweeping up protesters manning a fetid, disgusting camp at a local ICE office, which prevented federal workers from doing their jobs. Some ICE agents reported being threatened by Antifa types and left to fend for themselves because Wheeler forbade his officers from intervening to help federal immigration authorities. POTUS Trump blasted Wheeler: Last month, the mayor of Portland, Oregon shamefully ordered local police to stand down, leaving federal law enforcement officers to face an angry mob of violent people, the president said. This is what its coming to in American cities like Portland that are run by idiot Leftist Democrats: Lawless dens of violence and chaos, leading to a reduced police presence endangered residents. Get ready to reap what Democrats are sowing; when cops stop showing up, mayhem isnt far behind. Read more stories like this at CivilWar.news and Violence.news. Sources include: NYTimes.com WWeek.com LawEnforcementToday.com TheNationalSentinel.com (Natural News) Your carbon footprint: It seems like we hear those three words at least once a day. We are made to feel that just going about the daily business of living is having devastating effects on the planet. If all the articles in the mainstream media are to be believed, we should all be feeling really guilty, pretty much all the time. Global warming alarmists would have us believe that driving a car, heating your home, buying goods and eating food all contribute to the load of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. Since CO2 is one of the gases that trap heat in the atmosphere known as greenhouse gases environmentalists insist it is a large contributing factor to the catastrophic warming of our planet. Perhaps we should all stay home, stop eating, and freeze to death in winter? And guess what? It would be better if you stopped breathing! A Q&A article in The New York Times expounded on the Burden of Breathing yes, you read that correctly explaining that breathing makes a significant contribution to the burden of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year, since it involves exhaling carbon dioxide. The Times piece explained, A conservative estimate based on a person who spends eight hours a day sleeping and 16 hours in normal activities, but one who does not add to the atmospheric burden by exercise, would thus come to about 456 liters of carbon dioxide a day, or 166,440 liters every 365 days. Thats around 44,000 gallons of carbon dioxide per person, per year. And thats if we dont exercise! Back when the article was published in 1990, that was still okay. You see, back then, there were only 5.3 billion people on the planet, and as Joel S. Levine, an atmospheric scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration explained, all that carbon dioxide was pretty much eliminated by the uptake of carbon dioxide by vegetation in the process of photosynthesis. Now, we cant be sure that the balance is still intact after all, there are over 7.5 billion people on the planet today. We can rest assured, though, that if global population gets out of control, the powers that be will deal with the situation for the greater good. Perhaps a mass human culling is in the offing for the near future? But lets focus on Mr. Levines point for a moment. He correctly reminded readers that the carbon dioxide dispelled by breathing (and presumably by all that eating, driving, and temperature control) is balanced naturally by the process of photosynthesis. For those of us who may have forgotten elementary school science, photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide into food, using energy from the sun. To do this, they need sunlight, water, carbon dioxide and chlorophyll (the pigment that gives leaves their color). The leaves and stem of the plant contain tiny holes, known as stomata, through which the carbon dioxide enters the plant. At the same time, water enters the plant through its roots, and travels through the stem to the leaves. When sunlight falls on the leaves, chlorophyll captures the energy in it, and stores it for future use. That energy is eventually used to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide and used by the plant to produce its food, while the oxygen is released into the atmosphere through the stomata. This process is repeated over and over, and without it there could be no human or animal life. So, as much as carbon dioxide has been vilified by many scientists and the mainstream media, it is a vital component of life on our planet. And enough plants and trees could perfectly balance out any excess CO2 produced by food production, heating, driving and breathing. It doesnt take a scientific genius to think that perhaps we should be planting more trees rather than wasting time obsessing about global warming! Sources include: Buzzle.com EPA.gov TimeForChange.org NYTimes.com WorldOMeters.info (Natural News) Will the United States soon enter a second civil war? Polling data from Georgetown University shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe a civil war is coming down the pike and most people arent actually willing to make the changes necessary to stop it. Across the board, Americans are doubling down on their political values and are refusing to compromise on the issues tearing the country apart. Government officials say that there is a substantial chance that America will enter a civil war within the next 10 or 15 years, meanwhile other experts say the war has already begun. When the war truly begins may be up for debate, but at least one thing is clear: The United States is rife with civil unrest and political animosity. That could easily prove to be a greater threat to our nation than any foreign power. Survey shows voters believe America is on the edge Polling data collected by Georgetown Universitys Institute of Politics and Public Service indicates that more than half the likely electorate thinks we are more than 70 percent of the way to being at the edge of civil war. But thats not all. It turns out most people now blame the mainstream media and social networking sites for fanning the flames of unrest. The research was led by two polling groups: The Tarrance Group (Republican) and Lake Research Partners (Democrat). They found that in addition to believing in an imminent civil war, many voters are conflicted about compromise. Celinda Lake, of Lake Research Partners, says that 86 percent of voters surveyed said that finding common ground should be a goal for politicians yet 79 percent also said they were tired of leaders who compromised on their values, and instead want someone who stands up to the other side. While the nation is split on an array of political issues, voters on both sides of the aisle blamed media, politicians, special interests and social networks for the increasingly deep divide between the Right and the Left. Some 81 percent of survey respondents named special interests and social media as being key contributors to Americas vitriolic political landscape. Politicians and mainstream media outlets like CNN and MSNBC were also named as top influences in Americas unrest. The war is here already Last year, State Department official Keith Mines said that there was a 60 percent chance the United States would enter a civil war within the next 10 to 15 years. But many experts believe that the civil war has already started. It is not a secret that social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been actively conspiring to suppress conservatives. Their acts of blatant and unjustified censorship have been the subject of much scrutiny. Mike Adams, founder of Natural News and creator of Brighteon.com, was recently banned from Twitter without provocation and just two months later, another conservative has been put on the chopping block. Facebook has come under fire for similar unceremonious and unwarranted bans and suspensions, and for censoring a wide variety of content, including information on vaccines and advertisements for conservative politicians. The mainstream media, of course, has long been accused of pushing propaganda and creating their own version of events to supplement their agenda. The Covington Catholic scandal is plenty proof of that. It is no surprise then, that many experts believe the civil war has already started perhaps, beginning with the Lefts targeted attack of prominent conservatives. In addition to silencing them in the social media space, Democrat politicians have been accused of openly plotting to kill their conservative counterparts. Is it any wonder were at odds? See more coverage of the Lefts attack on America at CivilWar.news. Sources for this article include: WashingtonExaminer.com MarketWatch.com (Natural News) When your doctor prescribes you a medication, are they doing so because its something that is going to improve your health significantly, or is their motivation purely financial? Its a question a lot of people ask themselves when their doctor is pushing a treatment on them, especially when they dont feel particularly sick or at risk. Now, a study published in BMJ Open is adding fuel to that fire as it shows that overdiagnosis and overtreatment are surprisingly common following pharmaceutical marketing events. In the study, researchers looked at three conditions that are commonly overdiagnosed and over-treated: osteoporosis, depression and overactive bladder. They looked at events sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry in Australia across a four- year period. In total, they identified 3,132 events with roughly 96,660 attendees. Perhaps not surprisingly, they discovered that just a few companies were sponsoring the bulk of such events. For example, more than 70 percent of the depression events were sponsored by just two companies, while more than 80 percent of the overactive bladder events were sponsored by two main companies. These events often targeted primary care clinicians and provided them with dinner. Many of the sponsors products are not considered cost-effective options for the condition in question, but that hasnt stopped doctors from prescribing the treatments. Professional education for those in the medical field needs to be free of commercial sponsorship. Whether the influence is direct or indirect, theres no question that pharmaceutical companies are swaying doctors decisions in a way that isnt necessarily helping their patients and in some cases, it could even be harming them as the side effects of some medications are quite serious. Many times, the drug companies are greatly exaggerating their benefits while downplaying their side effects. For example, after researchers examined data used by GlaxoSmithKline to market their famous antidepressant Paxil, they found that the drug was not effective for adolescent depression, and it also caused serious side effects. Dangerous marketing practices are behind the opioid crisis If you want an example of just how horribly wrong this approach can go, take a look at what has happened with the opioid epidemic in America. The FDAs commissioner when OxyContin was approved, Dr. David Kessler, now admits it was a major mistake, calling the decision one of the worst medical mistakes. At the time, its maker, Purdue Pharma, sent promotional videos to roughly 15,000 doctors in which they claimed OxyContin was less than 1 percent addictive. This was later proven to be false, of course, and look at where we are now. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016, with more than 130 people dying each day from an opioid-related overdose. They estimate that 11.4 million people misuse prescription opioids. Not surprisingly, Purdue Pharma tried to shift the blame, with ex-president Richard Sackler writing in a confidential email that we have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals. Actually, the reckless criminals are the companies that were so blinded by greed that they lied about the safety of their drugs and shamelessly promoted them to doctors, wining and dining them and coercing them to get countless people hooked. A study in JAMA Network Open found that drug makers paid out nearly $40 million to doctors for meals, speaking engagements, and travel, and those counties that were targeted the most by such marketing efforts also had the greatest numbers of overdoses. This behavior has to stop. Its disturbing to think about how many more people could die before something is finally done about drug companies giving doctors kickbacks and helping themselves rather than their patients. Sources for this article include: GreenMedInfo.com HHS.gov NaturalNews.com (Natural News) In the interest of helping our readers better spot fake news coming even from supposedly trusted media sources, Natural News is issuing an alert about the allegedly conservative Fox News, which recently put out yet another hit piece targeting people who oppose vaccination. Written by correspondent Bryan Llenas, who was first hired on as a reporter for Fox News Latino back in 2010, the fake news article claims that the ongoing spread of measles is being fueled by anti-vaccination propaganda, and that parents need to rush out and jab their kids with Merck & Co.s MMR vaccine for their protection. Llenas apparently spoke with Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the current Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who told him that the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella is 100 percent safe and always effective which is a bald-faced lie, of course. The biggest challenge we face right now is misinformation and myths about the vaccine, Dr. Messonnier is quoted as saying, perpetuating the deception that the CDC is somehow the ultimate authority on vaccines, despite the fact that its already been proven that the CDC has been lying about vaccine safety for decades. Its important that parents realize that the (MMR) vaccine is safe and effective, Dr. Messonnier added, citing nothing but herself in making this ridiculous claim. For related stories about how the mainstream media constantly lies about vaccines, be sure to check out Propaganda.news. Previous National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director at the CDC told Fox News back in 2014 that nobody has died while having measles since 2003 Ironically, Fox News picked up a story back in 2014 from the Associated Press that cited statements made by former National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Dr. Anne Schuchat, who admitted that nobody has died while having measles since 2003 which is more than 15 years ago. During this same time period, however, well over 100 people have died from receiving the MMR vaccine that current National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Dr. Nancy Messonnier deceptively says has never harmed anyone and is a perfect preventative cure for avoiding measles infection. You wont find any of these pertinent details in Llenas article, though, as its purpose today is simply to scare as many Fox News readers and viewers into rushing out to get vaccinated with MMR as possible. Not at all surprisingly, Llenas article further claims that the vaccine-autism connection has been discredited, as has the idea that vaccines are made of aborted fetuses. But apparently Llenas missed the CDCs Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary, which clearly shows that MMR vaccines contains aborted human fetal tissue in the forms of WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts and MRC-5 cells, both of which are derived from aborted human babies. All of this would seem to be par for the course for Fox News, which earlier this year featured its official Medical Correspondent, Dr. Marc Siegel, calling for the arrest and imprisonment of doctors who issue vaccine medical exemptions to parents and their children. This is a disgrace, Dr. Siegel stated in disgust about parents being allowed permission from the medical overlords to not be forcibly injected with deadly viruses, toxic chemicals, aborted babies, and other poisons. And I am hoping that the doctors that are responsible for this get prosecuted, he added, tyrannically. Be sure to check out the full CDC Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary page to learn more about whats added to CDC-sanctioned childhood vaccines. You can also keep up with the latest vaccine injury news at VaccineInjuryNews.com. Sources for this article include: FoxNews.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com HumansAreFree.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Events are rapidly coalescing to the inevitable conclusion that America must either rise up and defend itself or fall to the lawless, lunatic Leftists and globalists who seek to destroy it from within. Soon, it will be time for President Trump to take decisive action to eliminate the domestic enemies of America (see full list below) and restore the rule of law to this sovereign nation. Although I dont have any special inside information about Trumps plans, an analysis of accelerating events points to an historic showdown as pro-American forces face off against anti-American traitors throughout every level of government and society. With deranged, lawless Democrats now demanding the impeachment of Attorney General William Barr for completely fabricated reasons i.e. they dont like the fact that he wont go along with the Russia collusion hoax that was fabricated by the treasonous deep state we are getting closer each day to the need for military arrests of those lawmakers and domestic terrorist organizations (see list below) who are actively conspiring to defeat America as founded and turn this country over to globalists to be looted, dismantled and erased from history. President Trump must know that We the People are ready and willing to defend this nation against domestic enemies The President needs to know that We the People wholly support his efforts to drain the swamp and lock them up. We are law-abiding patriots and defenders of the both First and Second Amendments, and we are ready to back President Trumps decisive commands with city-by-city, county-by-county defenses to identify and arrest all enemies of America who are attempting to destroy this nation from within. To be clear, yes, Im talking about armed, law-abiding citizens all across America who are willing to defend America from the traitors who are trying to destroy it. From idiotic lunatics who would push America into an all-out economic collapse (Ocasio-Cortez) to high-level treasonous criminals who armed Americas enemies with nuclear weapons and leaked U.S. military secrets to China and Iran (Barack Obama), all those who threaten the United States of America must be identified, arrested and removed from power as part of the process of restoring the rule of law in America. I dont have any special inside information of what Trump is planning, and I dont speak for Trump in any way. But some of the actions that Trump could take to restore the rule of law in America and eliminate the sabotage actions of the domestic enemies currently operating in America include the following: Deploy the military police nationwide to arrest and detain the CEOs of all tech companies and financial institutions that are systematically de-platforming conservatives, Trump supporters and Christians. Every CEO of every tech company (Google, Twitter, etc.) or financial institution (Chase, Mastercard, GoFundMe, etc.) that has de-platformed users for being conservatives must be charged and prosecuted for willfully denying Americans their basic civil rights to engage in speech and commerce. The domain names of all such tech companies and financial companies should be seized by the State Dept. and held in escrow until such time that the corporations sign consent decrees that guarantee the freedom of speech and freedom of commerce for all Americans, without interference, shadowbanning, de-platforming or algorithmic censorship. RICO Act racketeering laws can be used to level felony criminal charges against all those engaged in these activities. Every fake news media organization that actively participated in the sourcing and publishing of fabricated leaks what were intended to further the political coup effort against President Trump should have its conspirators arrested and removed from public influence. CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Buzzfeed, among others, have collapsed into journo-terrorism hubs where they attempt to terrorize the American public with fabricated news hoaxes with the aim of destabilizing the Trump administration. These activities are not expressions of a free press but rather active efforts to commit sedition and treason as part of a coordinated, deep state political coup to overthrow the results of the 2016 election and nullify the will of the voters. The left-wing media has essentially merged with the deep state and now functions as the propaganda extension of the very treasonous groups that are attempting to overthrow Americas democracy. Every member of Congress, in both the House and Senate, who has actively participated in furthering the Russia collusion hoax and attempted coup against the United States of America should be arrested by military police and charged with sedition, then removed from public office and held to face military trials. Sen. John McCain should be charged posthumously for his role in the Trump dossier which was used to obtain an illegal FISA warrant application to spy on Trump campaign and administration personnel (in total violation of U.S. law). As part of the cleanup operation to eliminate domestic terrorist groups that are operating inside the United States, Antifa must be designated a domestic terrorism organization, and all those who collude with Antifa to carry out acts of violence against conservative Americans must be arrested and charged with terror-related acts of conspiracy. This will include a very large number of college and university professors who exploit their positions of academic power to recruit and deploy domestic terrorist groups against the United States government. The mayors of sanctuary cities and the governors of sanctuary states must be declared to be engaged in an active insurrection against the United States of America, then arrested and subjected to military tribunals for their active roles in undermining the nation through willful complicity with criminal felons and terror-linked groups. All governors who signed laws authorizing the voting of illegal aliens must be arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit voter fraud. A national voter ID law must be put into place and fully enforced. Until California or any state agrees to enforce voter ID laws, that states members of Congress must be suspended and prevented from participating in federal legislation in any way whatsoever . The message to California? If you dont enforce voter ID laws, you will lose your Senators, members of Congress and your Electoral College votes. You cannot participate in democracy if you arent willing to follow the basic rules of democracy. . The message to California? If you dont enforce voter ID laws, you will lose your Senators, members of Congress and your Electoral College votes. You cannot participate in democracy if you arent willing to follow the basic rules of democracy. Activate American patriots to defend the national borders. Militia groups must be called up by the President to defend Americas territories against foreign invaders. Those attempting to illegally enter the United States via border crossings must be ordered to turn around and go home. Those caught inside the border must be arrested and immediately deported to their home countries. The message must be clear: Immigrants are only welcomed in the United States through legal processes, not illegal border crossings. If you want to become an American, wait in line like everybody else who immigrated legally. By now, President Trump knows that the American people are ready and willing to activate their Second Amendment responsibility nationwide, to protect and defend the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. There are millions of military veterans and both active duty and former law enforcement Americans who are ready and willing to enforce the rule of law and, at the direction of the Commander in Chief, do their part to identify and eliminate the threat of enemies within. Most real Americans have reached the point where they now realize their country will be completely overrun and destroyed if something isnt done to halt the enemies within. Time is growing short. The will of the American people to defend their nation is stronger than ever, but most Americans will not act unless they are given authorization by the President. That authorization will not come before the 2020 election, but once Trump wins a second term, theres nothing holding back a full-fledged defense of America and the complete rooting out and elimination of Americas domestic enemies. I have no doubt that President Trump already knows the American people are with him and are ready to defend his presidency and defend this nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Get prepared while you can, since the Democrats are desperately trying to disarm the American people before the big showdown takes place. I am also directing you to this very important tactical analysis of how a civil war might go down and why the treasonous Left will suffer a brutal loss as power, water and food supply lines to their cities are cut off by pro-America forces who are defending this nation against traitors and terrorists. That article is based on this article by Matt Bracken at AmericanPartisan.org. Its also a very important read. God bless America. #MAGA like a MOFO. (Natural News) On June 30, 2015, then-California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the infamous Senate Bill 277, an authoritarian legislative bill proudly sponsored and aggressively pushed by Senator Richard Pan of Sacramento that eliminated all vaccine exemptions throughout the Golden State, save for those considered to be medical in nature meaning only licensed doctors are allowed to sign off on them. Co-sponsored by Sen. Ben Allen of Redondo Beach, SB 277 was supposed to eliminate all measles outbreaks, or so we were told, like the one that occurred at Disneyland back in 2014, which Pan blamed on children who hadnt been vaccinated with Merck & Co.s MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella. But if Pans claims about unvaccinated children causing measles outbreaks like this are actually true, then why is California right now experiencing what the mainstream media is describing as a serious measles outbreak, more than four years after SB 277 became law, thats reportedly already led to at least two public college campuses having to quarantine their students and faculty? According to official news reports, more than 200 students and faculty members just in the Southern California area have been confirmed to have measles, and all of them were recently ordered to stay home and avoid all contact with others but how is this scenario even possible with Pans disease-preventing vaccine legislation in place? The only reasonable and logical answer, of course, is that, even when vaccines are mandated basically at gunpoint, they dont actually stop disease outbreaks. And in the case of measles, anyway, the MMR vaccine, which has repeatedly been shown to cause autism, doesnt even work as claimed at preventing measles. For related news, be sure to check out Vaccines.news. Merck is right now being sued for publishing fake efficacy data about its MMR vaccine We now know that Merck has been falsifying vaccine safety and efficacy data for a very long time, publishing fake research data about the MMR vaccine, in particular suggesting that it provides some protection against measles, mumps and rubella, without causing harmful side effects. In truth, however, the MMR vaccine doesnt actually work, and isnt at all safe, despite what fake news outlets, including Fox News, are now claiming in an attempt to scare the public into rushing out and getting jabbed with MMR. Childrens Health Defense, a health freedom child advocacy group, is actually in the process of suing Merck over its falsified MMR data, which continues to harm and kill innocent children whose parents have been falsely led to believe that the MMR vaccine is both safe and effective when its actually neither. 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, warns Mike Adams, the Health Ranger. So-called herd immunity is a total fraud Another massive science fraud being foisted on the masses is the concept of herd immunity, which maintains that vaccines only work if everybody gets them. Not only is such an idea completely preposterous from a medical standpoint, but its patently false in every way. Vaccines dont even provide real immunity, it turns out, but rather temporary, or artificial, immunity, at best, that wanes over time, leaving patients susceptible to not only contracting future infections, but also spreading them. This is exactly what we saw happen during the Disneyland measles outbreak, as only 14 percent of those affected were unvaccinated, according to a JAMA Pediatrics study. The other 86 percent of those who contracted measles at Disneyland had previously been vaccinated with MMR. Its important to also keep in mind that those who contract diseases like measles naturally obtain permanent, lifelong immunity once the disease subsides, which is what occurred for the 14 percent of unvaccinated people at Disneyland who contracted measles. The other 86 percent, on the other hand, not only werent protected against measles, but are now vaccine-damaged to the point where theyll never have permanent immunity to measles, and will likely contract it again and again. Fake news media constantly creates mass hysteria over disease outbreaks in order to push more vaccines that dont work But because millions of Americans still believe everything theyre told by corrupt politicians and the lying fake news media outlets and industries that control them, many folks are being successfully fear-mongered into getting themselves and their children vaccinated as a way to protect society against measles outbreaks which isnt even all that big of a deal, by the way, as its basically like contracting chickenpox. Millions of Americans also remain woefully unaware of the fact that many vaccines, including MMR, are loaded with harmful adjuvants like aborted human fetal tissue and deadly chemicals and thats because many of them simply wont read the manufacturer-issued ingredients lists that come with vaccines, and that are republished by the CDC, for themselves. Its a truly sad state of affairs where everyday folks who are fully capable of doing a little homework are refusing to do so, instead choosing to believe their favorite politicians and fake news media outlets that continue to claim that legitimate safety and efficacy concerns about vaccines are just Jenny McCarthy-inspired conspiracy theories. To learn more about how the fake news media and health authorities are deceiving the public about vaccines, be sure to check out Propaganda.news. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com CNN.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com FoxNews.com ChildrensHealthDefense.org NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) Boston 2019, the regions largest embedded systems conference, today announced a redesigned, five-track education program tailored to engineers looking to refresh their knowledge and skill set, in addition to a robust expo floor featuring companies innovating the embedded systems space. The event takes place May 15 and 16, at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, MA. ESC Boston is part of Advanced Manufacturing Boston and runs alongside Design & Manufacturing New England and BIOMEDevice Boston . To apply for a media pass to attend, please visit: boston.am.ubm.com/2019/registrations/ . As the demands of engineering employers grow, we want our attendees to stay ahead of the curve, so weve revamped our conference to reflect the basic fundamentals every engineer and developer needs whilst providing the latest tips and techniques that are moving this industry forward, said Suzanne Deffree, Brand Director, Intelligent Systems & Design, Informa. Leading Conference Education Thoughtfully curated, the five paid conference tracks at ESC Boston will cover a variety of topics in the embedded design industry. New to 2019 includes Track E: Focus on Fundamentals, meant to equip engineers with the core hardware and software skills needed to be successful in the embedded systems community. Attendees can expect laser-focused presentations and in-depth demonstrations focusing on the fundamentals of embedded system design. More details on each track below: Track A: Embedded Hardware Design & Verification Take a deep dive into the latest low-power design, systems architecture, and open-source hardware to engineer more efficient products. Topics include: Debug & Test, Firmware, FPGAs, MCUs, Security, Sensors, SOCs, and more. Track B: Embedded Software Design & Verification Drill into the new thinking behind device drivers and code reliability. Topics include: C/C++, Linux, Open-Source Software, Python, RTOS, Security, and more. Track C: IoT & Connected Devices Learn how networks are growing, integrating, and improving the way we build and experience the world. Topics include: Application Software, ARM Architecture, Edge Computing, Firmware, NFC (Near Field Communication), RF protocols, and Security. Track D: Advanced Technologies The tech landscape is being reshaped by advanced technologies. Take an in-depth look at what's next with these innovations, and how they'll impact your work. Topics include: 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, NFC, Security, Vision Systems, and VR/AR/MR. Track E: Focus on Fundamentals New to 2019, brush up on core topics with this learning modules refresher. These intense fundamentals-focused sessions will be equipped with the core hardware and software skills needed to be successful in the embedded systems community. Topics include: RTOS, JAVA, C/C++, and Debugging. Featured sessions at ESC Boston Beyond the Buzz: Why Machine Learning Is Important in Embedded Wednesday, May 15, 2:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m., room 108, featuring panelists: Jacob Beningo, President, Beningo Embedded Group and Michael Gionfriddo, Product Manager, Affectiva For embedded systems developers, AI seems far removed and as something that belongs in the cloud or on a high-end application processor. But with the right considerations, AI can be a practical engineering tool at any level. Come listen as an expert panel discusses why embedded engineers need to know about AI and machine learning, how to best implement it into your own project, and whats on the horizon for the future of AI in embedded systems. AI Apocalypse: Is it Time to be Scared Yet? Wednesday, May 15, 2:00 p.m. 2:45 p.m., Engineering Theater, featuring Max The Magnificent Maxfield, Editor-in-Chief, EEWeb.com; AspenCore Max Maxfield will host an interactive discussion to share his and the audiences thoughts on what was, what is, and what is to come regarding the lightning pace of technological development. Topics covered include information technology, AR, AI and the ways in which we interact with the outside world, our systems, and each other; and the ways in which the outside world (in the form of governments, mega-corporations, and bad-actors) accesses and manipulates us. Embedded Systems Through the Eyes of a Hacker Thursday, May 16, 9:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m., room 107C, featuring Joe Hopper, President, Fracture Labs The proliferation of IoT smart devices is creating interesting challenges in balancing innovation and security. As a professional hacker, Joe Hopper of Fracture Labs will take you through the mindset of an attacker. You'll learn what motivates hackers, how they approach an attack against your devices, and what stops them. 2019 Keynotes Keynote Address: Exploring Real World Applications for Dynamic Robots Thursday, May 16, 1:15 p.m. 2:30 p.m., Center Stage, featuring Kevin Blankespoor, VP of Product Engineering, Boston Dynamics Blankespoors address will educate attendees on the different working applications for mobile robots in the real world through years of research and development at Boston Dynamics, as well as provide a live demonstration of Boston Dynamics robot, Spot. For more information on 2019s Keynotes, please visit: esc-boston.com/2019-speakers . Connect with ESC Boston: #ESCconf, #AdvMfgExpo About Advanced Manufacturing Expos & Conferences: Informa PLCs Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is the leading B2B event producer, publisher, and digital media business for the world's $3-trillion advanced, technology-based manufacturing industry. Our print and electronic products deliver trusted information to the advanced manufacturing market and leverage our proprietary 1.3-million-name database to connect suppliers with buyers and purchase influencers. We produce more than 50 events and conferences in a dozen countries, connecting manufacturing professionals from around the globe. The Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is organized by Informa, which recently acquired UBM to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B events and exhibitions organizer in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information, visit www.informa.com . 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. 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." What to Know Michael Gargiulo, 43, is on trial for the stabbing deaths of two Los Angeles women and a third victim who fought off her attacker Prosecutors said the serial killings began in the Chicago area in 1993 The trial is expected to last about sixth months and with testimony from about 250 witnesses A prosecutor Thursday described an accused serial killer charged in the stabbing deaths of two Los Angeles women as a methodical predator who watched and waited before seizing his opportunity at the homes of the victims. Opening statements began Thursday morning in the trial of 43-year-old Michael Gargiulo. He is charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of two Southern California women, one of whom was dating actor Ashton Kutcher at the time of the attack. Gargiulo also faces an attempted murder charge involving a woman who was stabbed during a robbery at her Santa Monica home. Prosecutor Daniel Akemon called the serial killings the "systematic slaughter of women." "What you will hear is that Michael Gargiulo, for almost 15 years, was watching, always watching," Akemon said. "And his hobby was plotting the perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes." The trial is expected to last about six months with testimony from about 250 witnesses, possibly including Kutcher. The defendant has pleaded not guilty. Gargiulo sought out young women, lurking around their homes until seizing an opportunity to attack, according to prosecutors. The slayings occurred under the cover of night at the victims' homes, sometimes when they were in bed. The trial stems from crimes that occurred in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008, but prosecutors said the serial killings began in the Chicago area in 1993. That's when Tricia Pacaccio, 18, was killed outside her home after a night out with friends. Her father found her the next morning on her doorstep, keys still in hand. She had stab wounds to her neck and chest. It wasn't until about 10 years later that DNA from the Chicago victim provided investigators with a link to Gargiulo. By then, he had moved from Illinois to Southern California, where he crossed paths with Ashley Ellerin, 22, and Maria Bruno, 32. Ellerin, a fashion school student who dated Kutcher, was killed in February 2001. She was stabbed nearly 50 times inside her Hollywood home. Ellerin and Gargiulo first met when he offered to help her with a flat tire, according to investigators. The air conditioning repair man later asked her whether she needed help with a home heater and would show up at her apartment, investigators said. Kutcher, who starred in the television series "That 70s Show" and is married to actress Mila Kunis, told police he went to pick up Ellerin for a post-Grammy Awards party, but she did not answer the door of her Hollywood Hills home. He checked a back window and spotted what he thought were red wine stains on the carpet and then left. Her body was discovered the next day by a friend. The serial stabbing deaths continued in 2005 after Gargiulo moved to El Monte, where he lived in the same apartment complex as Bruno. She was attacked in her sleep. In April 2008, an attack in Santa Monica led to Gargiulo's arrest. Michelle Murphy was stabbed in her Santa Monica home, but she fought off the man, causing him to cut himself before he fled. Gargiulo was arrested about two months later. DNA found at the Santa Monica crime scene linked Gargiulo to the stabbing deaths of Ellerin and Bruno. He was later charged in Pacaccio's death in Illinois. Prosecutors described him as a serial sexual-thrill killer. They are seeking the death penalty. He is expected to be extradited to Illinois after the Los Angeles trial. Gargiulo's attorney, Daniel Nardoni, reminded jurors during his opening statement that his client is presumed innocent. "Wait to hear all the evidence and wait to hear our final arguments," he told jurors. Patrick Healy contributed to this report. Apropos of its host city, Berkeley's Bay Area Book Festival is deeply invested in social justice, this year tackling some of America's most pressing causes with the wisdom of words -- from mass incarceration and immigration to women's issues and the environment. There will even be socially conscious comic books. Now in its fifth year, the two-day bibliophile's paradise will be held Saturday and Sunday at various indoor and outdoor locations in downtown Berkeley and is expected to draw about 25,000 people. Book fans will have a chance to hear from more than 250 powerful voices in the literary world -- authors like Ishmael Reed, Tommy Pico, R.O. Kwon and Charlie Jane Anders -- who will participate in panels and literary sessions. There will be discussion groups, keynote speakers, musical performances, an outdoor fair with four stages, 200 literary exhibitors in a wide array of genres -- mysteries, sci-fi, food writing, kids' books and everything in between -- plus a children's and family area to "grow a reader." "This year more than ever, the festival presents a diverse array of authors, exploring some of today's most urgent, complex issues," said the festival's executive director, Cherilyn Parsons, who launched the event in 2015 and has since seen it grow to one of the nation's premier literary celebrations. "Magic happens when people come together around books," Parsons said. For 2019, the overall theme is "creating a better world through the power of literature." With this in mind, the keynote talk at 7:30 p.m. Saturday is titled, "Enough is Enough: Fighting Economic Injustice." Author Anand Giridharadas ("Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World") will be in conversation with former Secretary of Labor and author Robert Reich ("The Common Good"), and financial justice advocate Kat Taylor. The session will include a musical overture by Indian fusion artist Isheeta Ganguly. The Sunday closing discussion will focus on incarceration. In the talk, "The Unbreakable Human Spirit: Albert Woodfox on Survival in Solitary," Woodfox will discuss his recently published memoir, "Solitary," and share his story about four decades in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit. He'll be interviewed by Shane Bauer, Mother Jones reporter and author of "American Prison." Bauer is also a survivor of solitary confinement, arrested while hiking on the Iran-Iraq border in 2009 and imprisoned for two years. Other notable festival sessions include a tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti for his 100th birthday, a celebration of The Paris Review, a screening of the documentary "Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin" followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra performing original compositions inspired by the work of Bay Area poets. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. More information can be found at www.baybookfest.org. Road Closures: Two 14-year-olds witnesses a laptop robbery at a Peets Coffee shop in Lafayette Tuesday and thanks to their actions, two out of the four suspects were arrested. The boys were having a bite to eat when they saw four guys run out of the coffee shop with a laptop under their arms. Not knowing what else to do, one of the boys started running at top speed, chasing the car he saw the four men jump into. "I was hiding behind one of the trees by the street," he said. Lafayette police are searching for laptop thieves who hit a Peets Coffee shop Tuesday and got away in a four-door dark color Saturn with tinted windows. The teen pulled out a cell phone to take pictures of the alleged getaway car but one of the suspects yelled at him saying he had a gun in the car and he was going to shoot. "I got the cops called," the other boy said. "Sadly it was a bit too late." Police got a jump start on the case thanks to a picture of the license plate snapped by the boys. Detectives used city-owned cameras to help identify the suspects and they say the registered owners of the car had arrest warrants for similar crimes in the city of Berkeley. The car was found in Oakland and two of the suspects were arrested. Brunch. Its a small word that brings big joy to bellies. And San Francisco's Foreign Cinema just landed on a list of the best places for brunch in the United States. Yelp released its list Wednesday of the "Top 100 Places for Brunch" in the country in 2019. Foreign Cinema came in at #10. Other brunch spots in San Francisco include Brendas French Soul Food which came in at 91. San Jose's "The Table" came in at #69. Los Gatos Cafe in Los Gatos made #92. According to Yelp, the list was compiled based on Yelp reviews received by eateries across the country in the brunch category. Yelp considered both the rating and volume of the reviews, a rep for the website said, "while accounting for the overall volume of reviews in each businesss area in order to level the playing field for businesses in areas with lower review volume." To see the full list, click here. The fatal shooting of Oscar Grant on an Oakland train platform in the early hours of New Year's Day 2009 was one of the first police shootings caught on video by bystanders. His death sparked protests and contributed to a national conversation about racism and police violence. The document by the Meyers Nave law firm, which BART hired to run its internal investigation, long ago prompted the firing of the officer, Anthony Pirone. The report was released Wednesday under California's new police transparency law, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Pirone told investigators he had scuffled with Grant but the report says video of the Fruitvale Station encounter shows Pirone struck Grant in the head and kneed him, likely causing injuries documented in his autopsy. It adds that Grant did not fight back. "Pirone was, in large part, responsible for setting the events in motion that created a chaotic and tense situation on the platform, setting the stage, even if inadvertent, for the shooting of Oscar Grant," said Kimberly Colwell and Jayne Williams, the attorneys who authored the report dated July 31, 2009. Nearly a decade after a BART police officer shot and killed 22-year-old Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on New Year's Day, some are asking what has changed. Marianne Favro reports. Colwell and Williams cited Pirone's "repeated, unreasonable and unnecessary use of force," his "manifest lack of veracity" and his use of a racial slur while arguing with Grant in recommending the officer's firing. Pirone was not criminally charged. But prosecutors charged former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, who fatally shot Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward resident. Mehserle resigned shortly after the shooting. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a Los Angeles jury accepted his explanation that he accidentally shot Grant while believing he was squeezing the trigger of his Taser. But the report said videos showed Mehserle may have known he was drawing his firearm, not his Taser, before shooting Grant. "Despite the inability to interview Officer Mehserle, the conclusion can be made from a close viewing of the enhanced video that he was intending to pull his firearm and not his Taser," the report says, noting that Mehserle repeatedly reached for his gun "and on the final occasion can be seen looking back at his hand on the gun/holster to watch the gun come out." Mehserle was sentenced to the minimum of two years in prison. Pirone couldn't be reached for comment on Wednesday. A phone number listed for a company founded by Mehserle was disconnected. Read the internal report on the investigation below: Finnish English SATO Corporation, Press release 2nd May 2019 at 3:10 pm SATO Corporation and OP Corporate Bank plc have agreed upon a bilateral loan of 150 million without asset based securities. The agreement of the seven-year loan was signed in Helsinki on 2 May 2019, and the cash proceeds will be used for refinancing of maturing loans as well as for the Groups general financing purposes. The new financing agreement supports SATOs target to further increase the share of loans without asset based securities in the financing structure. At the end of 2018, interest-bearing debt without asset based securities accounted for approximately 66% of SATO's debt portfolio, and the share of unencumbered assets out of the whole balance sheet was around 74%. For more information, please contact: SATO Corporation Markku Honkasalo, CFO, phone +358 201 34 4226 or +358 50 598 8728 Janne Runsamo, Group Treasurer, phone +358 201 34 4009 or +358 45 671 3567 www.sato.fi/en SATO is one of Finland's leading rental housing providers. SATO aims to offer a comprehensive choice of rental housing and an excellent customer experience. At year-end 2018 SATO owned around 25,900 apartments in Finland's largest growth centres and in St. Petersburg. We promote sustainable development and initiative through our operations and work in open interaction with our stakeholders to generate added value. We operate profitably and with a long-term view. We increase the value of our housing stock through investments, divestments and repairs. The SATO Group's net sales in 2018 were EUR 290 million, operating profit EUR 273 million and profit before taxes EUR 231 million. The value of SATO's investment assets was roughly EUR 3.9 billion. Bishop Patrick McGrath is retiring after 20 years in the position with the Diocese of San Jose. Pope Francis accepted the request of McGrath to retire, the diocese announced Wednesday. All bishops must submit a request for retirement to the Vatican as they approach their 75th birthday and McGrath turns 74 in June. McGrath became just the second bishop of San Jose in 1999 upon the retirement of founding Bishop Pierre DuMaine. Oscar Cantu, bishop of Las Cruces in New Mexico, was appointed last year as coadjutor bishop of San Jose and has spent the past 10 months becoming familiar with the San Jose diocese. "The years have flown by," McGrath said in a news release. "I thank everyone for their encouragement and their support, for instilling in me the joy of serving the Lord and His people, and for imparting to me the spirit of gratitude that should always distinguish our lives." An interracial couple in Vacaville say they received a letter from someone who claims to be their neighbor but the content of the message is more threatening and demeaning than hospitable. As Marc Yu was heading to work Wednesday morning, he said he checked his mailbox and found the letter that said he and his Mexican-American wife are "not welcome here." The letter asked his family to move away from The Meadowlands neighborhood. "Renters like yourselves couldnt possibly afford a home in our area," the letter said. Yu is of Chinese and Filipino descent. The letter claimed that Yu's family, who moved into the predominantly white city of Vacaville 70 miles northeast of San Francisco last November, "destroyed" the front lawn of their rental home. Yu says he received an anonymous complaint a couple months ago about his yard, and after a notice from the city, he said he cleaned up the mess. "We have a lot of stuff. We have a lot of kids. So a lot of our stuff was in the driveway at one point," he told NBC Bay Area. "I worked really hard to get that house. I dont know why people would treat us that way," Yu said. The letter also threatened to contact Yu's landlord and request an eviction if he doesn't leave in the next 60 days. "We may sound harsh, but your interracial family is not welcome here," it read. Yu's wife, Sandy, said the couple own the home and that they're "not going anywhere. We're here to stay." Neighbors NBC Bay Area spoke with say they are stunned by the racist letter. "I think its disgusting. Theres a reason they didnt put their name on the letter. Its racist," neighbor John McCleese said. This suspected Russian spy is having a whale of a time in Norway. A beluga whale found in Arctic Norway wearing a suspicious camera strapped to its head has been joyously seeking out human contact and is in no hurry swim back to Mother Russia, or anywhere for that matter. "The whale was really friendly and came up to us and started opening its mouth, and just checking us out," Jorgen Ree Wiig, an official with the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, told NBC News on Thursday. "We were trying to talk to it." Wiig said he's rarely seen a whale so confidently seeking out human interaction: "Thats really untypical" The whale became a worldwide espionage sensation after Norweigan fishermen first spotted it last week with a harness wrapped near its head. An ex-CIA officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring with China to commit espionage after receiving a promise from his Chinese handlers that he would be financially set for life. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, admitted as part of a plea bargain struck Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria that he received regular "taskings" from his Chinese handlers in 2010 and 2011 after the meeting in which he was promised financial assistance. But the statement of facts filed in court is silent as to whether he actually succeeded in delivering any intelligence to China. Whether he delivered secrets to the Chinese "is a matter that will come out to some extent in sentencing," said U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who set sentencing for Aug. 23. Lee's lawyers, Ed MacMahon and Nina Ginsberg, said that if prosecutors had evidence Lee had delivered government secrets, they would have put it forward. MacMahon rejected assertions in some news reports that Lee was a mole responsible for exposing a network of U.S. assets in China who were eventually executed. The case against Lee "has never included any claim that Mr. Lee was responsible for getting anyone killed," MacMahon said. G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is prosecuting the case, said in a statement: "Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct." Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Hong Kong, could receive life in prison. But the plea deal sets federal sentencing guidelines at roughly 18 to 27 years depending on the final calculation. Ellis is free to go above or below the guidelines if he chooses. Lee served in the CIA from 1994 through 2007. During his time there, he served as an overseas case officer. According to the indictment, his primary duty as a case officer was to "recruit clandestine human intelligence sources." In court Wednesday, prosecutor Neil Hammerstrom said that when Lee left the CIA in 2007, he got a job in Hong Kong with a large tobacco company but was fired in 2009 and stopped receiving income in 2010. It was that year when Lee met with Chinese intelligence officers who promised to take care of him for life financially if he cooperated. They also promised an immediate cash gift of $100,000, investigators said. After that meeting, according to the indictment, Lee's Chinese contacts delivered more than 20 envelopes between 2010 and 2011 spelling out specific tasks they wanted him to perform, most of which asked him to reveal sensitive information. The indictment states that Lee traveled to mainland China in July 2012. The next month, when Lee was on a trip from Hong Kong to the U.S., authorities carried out a search warrant in a Honolulu hotel room and found 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. 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. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado jumped into the packed Democratic presidential primary on Thursday, announcing a 2020 campaign that had been stalled while he was treated for prostate cancer. Bennet, a former head of Denver Public Schools who has carved out a reputation as a policy-oriented moderate, made his announcement on CBS' "CBS This Morning," saying the country faces two "enormous challenges," among others: "One is the lack of economic mobility and opportunity for most Americans, and the other is the need to restore integrity to our government." "I think we need to do both of those things," he said. The son of a former ambassador to India and a Yale law school graduate who worked in the Clinton administration, Bennet worked for Republican billionaire Phil Anschutz when he moved to Colorado in the late 1990s. But when he re-entered public life, he did so as a Democrat, serving as chief of staff to then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper went on to become Colorado governor and now is also competing for the Democratic presidential nomination . The presence of two moderate Coloradans who started their political careers in Denver City Hall reflects how crowded the Democratic presidential field has become. Bennet's understated style and distaste for the sound bites required in a political campaign have usually led to speculation that he'd seek a Cabinet position rather than try to become the next president. But he began moving to assemble a presidential bid late last year and planned an announcement in April. He had to pause after being diagnosed with prostate cancer this spring. Bennet, 54, told Colorado journalist Mike Littwin that he'd resume the campaign if he was treated successfully but that he wanted to make a point by disclosing his medical condition. "I don't want to be hysterical, but if it was left in me undetected, it could kill me," Bennet said. "It won't because I have insurance and decent medical care. The idea that the richest country in the world hasn't figured out how to have universal health care is beyond embarrassing. It's devastating." Bennet has been a vocal opponent in the Democratic Party of the push for single-payer health care championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, another 2020 presidential candidate. Instead, Bennet proposes letting consumers buy into Medicare through insurance exchanges, arguing that that will be a more efficient and realistic path to universal coverage. Likewise, Bennet has pushed back against arguments by some other presidential hopefuls that Democrats should respond to Republican tactics by expanding the size of the Supreme Court, saying the party needs to avoid the same scorched-earth tactics that, he says, its main rival employs. Despite his professorial reputation, Bennet has shown an ability to be a tough campaigner. Appointed in 2009, Bennet won his first election in 2010 by pounding his Republican rival for opposing abortion rights and comparing homosexuality to alcoholism, eking out a narrow win in an otherwise disastrous year for Bennet's party. Four years later, Bennet chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a position that put him in contact with a network of national donors who also can help fund a presidential campaign. Bennet gained internet fame this year when he blasted Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for backing a bill to pay Coast Guard members during the partial government shutdown but not reopen the government. Bennet said Cruz once led a 16-day government shutdown in a failed bid to derail funding for the Affordable Care Act at a time when Colorado was experiencing catastrophic flooding, delaying relief efforts. "When the senator from Texas shut this government down in 2013, my state was flooded," Bennet shouted. "People were killed. People's houses were destroyed. Their small businesses were destroyed, forever." Bennet accused Cruz of crying "crocodile tears" this time around. Bennet's brother, New York Times editorial page editor James Bennet, recused himself from covering the election after the announcement. Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trump's Justice Department. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Barr had already lied to Congress in other testimony and called that a "crime." Democrats raised the prospect of holding Barr in contempt after the department also missed the House Judiciary Committee deadline to provide it with a full, unredacted version of Mueller's report and its underlying evidence. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said that if the attorney general doesn't provide the committee "with the information it demands and the respect that it deserves, Mr. Barr's moment of accountability will come soon enough." Barr's decision to avoid the hearing, made after a disagreement with the committee over questioning, and the Democratic pushback brought both sides closer to a court battle one that could pit Trump against House Democrats well into the 2020 campaign season. The standoff further heightened tensions sparked by Trump's refusal to comply with House investigations, with some senior Democrats hinting that a continued blockade could nudge them closer to impeachment. Nadler said he wouldn't immediately issue a subpoena for Barr's testimony but would first focus on getting the full Mueller report, likely including a vote holding Barr in contempt of Congress. With Barr absent, Democrats convened a short hearing that included an empty chair with a place card set for Barr. Shortly afterward, Pelosi increased the tensions further. In a reference to the attorney general's testimony last month, Pelosi said Barr "was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States that's a crime." At a hearing on April 9, Florida Rep. Charlie Crist asked Barr about reports that members of Mueller's team believed he had failed to adequately portray their findings in a four-page memo that was released before the full report. Crist asked at the hearing, "Do you know what they are referencing with that?" Barr responded, "No, I don't," and went on to say Mueller's team probably wanted "more put out" about what they had found. Democrats have raised questions about that testimony since it was revealed this week that Mueller had written Barr two weeks earlier, on March 27, complaining that the attorney general's memo "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance" of his work. Barr said Wednesday his answer was not misleading because he had been in touch with Mueller, rather than members of his team, and that the concerns were mostly about process and not substance. Within minutes of Pelosi's comments, Justice Department Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called her words "reckless, irresponsible and false." Pelosi also said the administration's refusal to respect subpoenas by a House committee is "very, very serious" and noted that ignoring congressional subpoenas was one of the articles of impeachment against former President Richard Nixon. As Democrats portrayed Barr as untruthful, they sought to speak to Mueller. Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on May 15 and the panel was "firming up the date." It wasn't clear whether Barr would eventually negotiate an appearance with the House panel. While a contempt vote would make a strong statement, it is unlikely to force the Justice Department to hand over the report. A vote of the full House on contempt would send a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the administration's interests. But even if the U.S. attorney declines to prosecute, Democrats could pursue other avenues in court or even issue fines against witnesses who fail to appear. "In the past they had a House jail," said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., a member of the Judiciary panel. "I don't think we're going to go that far, but courts have upheld that." At Barr's no-show hearing, Democratic members of the committee had fun with the spectacle, passing around fried chicken and placing a prop chicken by Barr's unused microphone to underscore their contention that he was afraid to appear. One lawmaker jokingly looked under the desk to make sure Barr wasn't there. Republicans were not amused by the antics or Nadler's tough talk. "The reason Bill Barr isn't here today is because the Democrats decided they didn't want him here today," said the top Republican on the panel, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins. Nadler had demanded that staff attorneys, in addition to lawmakers, be allowed to question Barr. Barr said he wouldn't attend under that condition. The attorney general's cancellation meant he would avoid another round of sharp questioning after testifying Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats on the panel contended that Barr was protecting Trump after he assessed Mueller's report on his own in the early memo and declared there wasn't enough evidence that the president had committed obstruction of justice. Mueller didn't charge Trump with obstruction but wrote that he couldn't exonerate him, either. Barr strongly defended himself against those criticisms and also Mueller's, saying at one point that Mueller's March letter to him was "snitty." The attorney general's confrontational approach is in line with the White House, which argued in an April 19 letter that Trump has the right to instruct advisers not to testify before congressional oversight probes. The letter from White House legal counsel Emmet Flood to Barr, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, argues that Trump would, if necessary, assert executive privilege to prevent advisers from testifying. Trump has vowed to battle "all of the subpoenas" as multiple committees have sought to speak with administration officials or obtain documents relevant to his policies and finances. The president, his business and his administration have already filed lawsuits to prevent the turning over of Trump's financial records and have declined to comply with a deadline to provide his tax returns. Trump signaled Thursday that he would not allow aides, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, to testify before Congress, telling Fox News: "They've testified for many hours, all of them. I would say, it's done." He insisted he provided "total transparency," to Mueller, and said Democrats "shouldn't be looking anymore. It's done." Democrats have signaled they won't back down and will take steps including in court to get the White House to comply. But advisers to the president have suggested that any legal fight, even one that ends in defeat, would likely extend well into the 2020 campaign and allow them to portray the probes as political. In the April letter, Flood blasted the Mueller report as defective and political. He called the 448-page report a "prosecutorial curiosity part 'truth commission' report and part law school exam paper." U.S. President Donald Trump will pay a three-day state visit to Britain as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II in June, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday more than two years after Britain extended him an invitation for a pomp-filled ceremonial stay. The palace said Trump and his wife, Melania, had accepted an invitation from the queen for a visit that will take place June 3-5. Though many other American presidents have visited the monarch, only two George W. Bush and Barack Obama were honored with a state visit, which typically features ceremonial greetings, a horse-drawn carriage ride and a banquet with the queen at Buckingham Palace. It's rare for a state visit to be announced just a few weeks before it takes place, but this one has been contentious ever since Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump soon after his inauguration in January 2017. The trip has been deferred amid concerns about the president's reception in the U.K. and Britain's extended crisis over Brexit, which has consumed most of the government's political energy. Trump finally made an official trip to the U.K. last summer, though that wasn't a state visit. Demonstrators followed him everywhere nonetheless, with tens of thousands flooding the streets of central London to protest his presence and a 20-foot (6-meter) balloon depicting the U.S. president as a screaming baby flown near Parliament. More protests are all but certain this time around. Emily Thornberry, foreign affairs spokeswoman for Britain's main opposition Labour Party, criticized the planned visit. "This is a president who has systematically assaulted all the shared values that unite our two countries, and unless Theresa May is finally going to stand up to him and object to that behavior, she has no business wasting taxpayers' money on all the pomp, ceremony and policing costs that will come with this visit," she said. In addition to meeting with the queen, Trump will also hold talks with May, whose handling of Brexit he has repeatedly criticized. The president has said he gave May advice on how to negotiate Britain's exit from the European Union, but she didn't listen. May has said Trump advised her to sue the EU. Trump has also said May's proposed Brexit deal, which calls for Britain to retain close economic and regulatory ties with the EU, would likely scupper the chances of a U.K.-U.S. free trade deal. It hasn't been announced whether Trump will address Parliament, an honor granted to presidents including Ronald Reagan and Obama. May said in a statement that Britain and the U.S. "have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests." "The state visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defense, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead," she said. The U.K. fits in with Trump's plans to attend the June 6 commemorations in France marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Trump and the first lady plan to attend a ceremony in the naval city of Portsmouth to commemorate D-Day on the final day of his visit, the White House said. Nations that took part in the campaign to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany have been also been invited to attend. They include Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece, and Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Germany has also been invited in keeping with previous D-Day commemorative events. After leaving Britain, Trump and his wife will travel to Normandy, in northern France, as a guest of President Emmanuel Macron to attend D-Day ceremonies at the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. While in France, Trump will also meet separately with Macron. Associated Press reporter Darlene Superville contributed. 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. Three students and two teachers were hurt in spray attack at Morgan Park High School the latest of at least four spray attacks at the school in a week. Officers responded at 12:24 p.m. Wednesday to an aerosol spray attack on the 2nd and 3rd floors at the 1700 block of West Pryor, Chicago police said. A police spokesperson could not confirm if it was pepper spray. Three students were taken to Metro South Medical Center in Blue Island and Little Company of Mary Hospital, police said. Two teachers affected by the spray refused medical treatment. Police said they were reviewing surveillance video to determine a suspect. At least three other spray attacks have been reported at the school since April 25. On Tuesday, two students and a teacher were sprayed about 1:10 p.m. at the school, police said. The students were taken to hospitals and the teacher refused medical attention. Last week, a student discharged pepper spray on April 25 and hit two adults and three minors, police said. A day earlier, at least eight people were injured by mace or pepper spray. In response to these attacks, Morgan Park High School has implemented additional safety screening measures and is creating a plan of action, CPS said in a statement. Students involved in the incidents have been identified and the situation will be handled in accordance with CPS policies, CPS said. A charity focusing on helping veterans by building tiny houses is all a scam, according to a lawsuit filed by the Illinois attorney general. Todd Olshefski and his wife Priscilla are the founders of the Lombard-based charity Veterans Christian Network. The attorney general's office alleges that the Olshefskis misappropriated more than $10,000 from the charity. That $10,000 was not donations, we have documented proof of that, that was our own money we invested into the organization," Todd Olshefski said Thursday. According to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's complaint, in March 2018 the couple began soliciting donations to support programs for veterans returning from combat. Raoul alleges the charity failed to register with the attorney generals office and failed to file reports accounting for network's charitable activities. The couple, wearing military fatigues, collected funds by panhandling in Wheaton. They say the money raised will build homes for veterans. "We did get a little money, but we saved it, we didnt use it for our own personal use," Priscilla Olshefski said. "We didnt get rich out there, it was hard." However, an investigation by Raouls office found that of $28,000 collected and deposited, it was unclear whether any money was used for programs benefiting veterans. Steven Fixler, of the DuPage County Veterans Assistance Commission, said the lawsuit reveals who the Olshefskis are. "I heard some mumbles and grumbles throughout the community about them and when I heard about the lawsuit it really opened my eyes about them," he said. The Olshefskis admit they used some of the funds but dont believe they did anything wrong. "We did use some of that money to assist us so we can keep a roof over our heads and have food on the table," Olshefski said. The couple says they want to meet with Raoul to figure out a way to continue operating. They may meet with a judge first, as they could also face charges from Wheaton police. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Water Ways Technologies Inc. (TSXV: WWT) ("Water Ways" or the "Company") reports today its financial and business results and is pleased to provide highlights and comments on the results for the year ending December 31, 2018. 2018 Year End Financial Highlights1 Record operating revenues of CAD $15.7M (USD $12.1M), including CAD $8.3M (USD $6.4M) in Project Services and CAD $7.4M (USD $5.7M) in Product Sales, for the year ending December 31, 2018, up 14% from CAD $13.7M (US$10.6M) for the year ending December 31, 2017. Increase due to deployment of ten irrigation service projects in Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Israel in the year ending December 31, 2018 compared with deployment of six irrigation service projects in Ethiopia, Cameroon and the Philippines in the year ending December 31, 2017. Increase due to deployment of ten irrigation service projects in Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Israel in the year ending December 31, 2018 compared with deployment of six irrigation service projects in Ethiopia, Cameroon and the Philippines in the year ending December 31, 2017. Record gross profit of CAD $2.39M (USD $1.84M) for the year ending December 31, 2018. Increase by CAD $140K (USD $110K) from CAD $2.25 (USD $1.73M) for the year ending December 31, 2017. Gross profit margin of 15.2%, in line with the Companys historical operations. Increase by CAD $140K (USD $110K) from CAD $2.25 (USD $1.73M) for the year ending December 31, 2017. Gross profit margin of 15.2%, in line with the Companys historical operations. Total comprehensive income was CAD $540K (USD $417K) for the year ending December 31, 2018 compared to CAD $871K (USD $671K) for the year ending December 31, 2017, primarily due to the costs of the qualifying transaction of approximately CAD $250K. Increase in total assets of CAD $8.36M (USD $6.14M) as of December 31, 2018, by CAD $937K (USD $210K) from CAD $7.44M (USD $5.93M) as of December 31, 2017; while decrease in total liabilities of CAD $4.85M (US$3.56M) as of December 31, 2018, by CAD $1.81M (USD $1.75M) from CAD $6.66M (USD $5.31M) as of December 31, 2017. __________________ 1 US Dollars is Irri-Al-Tal's functional and reporting currencies. CAD equivalent figures hereto are presented using the Bank of Canada USD:CAD annual exchange rate of 2018 of 1.2959 and of 2017 of 1.2976 for income statement items, where applicable; and the December 31, 2018 USD:CAD exchange rate of 1.3621 and December 31, 2017 USD:CAD exchange rate of 1.2540 for balance sheet items, where applicable. Irri-Al-Tal Financial Results Summary The table below presents the financial results of Irri-Al-Tal Ltd. ("Irri-Al-Tal"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, since the reverse-takeover transaction between Irri-Al-Tal and the Company has occurred after the completion of the year end. (CAD in thousands) FY 2018 FY 2017 Change % Revenues: Services Projects 8,271 6,917 19.6% Products 7,396 6,810 8.6% Total Revenues 15,666 13,727 14.1% Cost of Sales 13,281 11,481 Gross Profit 2,386 2,246 Gross Profit Margin % 15.2% 16.4% Operating Expenses 1,591 917 Other Income (Loss) (86) (197) Taxes on Income 168 261 Total Comprehensive Income (Loss) 540 871 Basic and Diluted Profit per Share $ 0.014 $ 0.024 Balance Sheet Items: Cash and Cash Equivalents 317 218 Total Current Assets 7,802 6,967 Total Assets 8,362 7,435 Total Current Liabilities 4,469 6,178 Total Non-Current Liabilities 376 478 (USD in thousands) FY 2018 FY 2017 Change % Revenues: Services Projects 6,382 5,331 19.7% Products 5,707 5,248 8.7% Total Revenues 12,089 10,579 14.3% Cost of Sales 10,248 8,848 Gross Profit 1,841 1,731 Gross Profit Margin % 15.2% 16.4% Operating Expenses 1,228 707 Other Income (Loss) (66) (152) Taxes on Income 130 201 Total Comprehensive Income (Loss) 417 671 Basic and Diluted Profit per Share $ 0.011 $ 0.024 Balance Sheet Items: Cash and Cash Equivalents 233 174 Total Current Assets 5,728 5.556 Total Assets 6,139 5,929 Total Current Liabilities 3,281 4,927 Total Non-Current Liabilities 276 381 Revenue change by geographic segments: FY2018 FY2017 Geographic Segments : Africa 25.6% 44.0% South and Central America 56.5% 40.7% Asia 0.8% 6.4% Europe 3.6% 2.8% Israel 12.2% 4.8% Others 1.3% 1.3% Total Revenues 100% 100% Business Highlights: 2018 Year End and Subsequent In 2018, the Company announced its planned development of the "Precise Irrigation System" ("Data Ways"). Uzbekistan: In Q4 2018, the Company added a sales executive, focused on CIS countries, to its sales force; as a result, Water Ways signed its first irrigation project in Central Asian in Uzbekistan in January 2019, which has an initial value of approximately C$0.5M and is expected to be delivered in Q2 2019. In Q4 2018, the Company added a sales executive, focused on CIS countries, to its sales force; as a result, Water Ways signed its first irrigation project in Central Asian in Uzbekistan in January 2019, which has an initial value of approximately C$0.5M and is expected to be delivered in Q2 2019. Canada: In March 2019, the Company signed an LOI to acquire certain assets of a Canadian distributor of irrigation and agriculture components located near London, Ontario. The distributor was established in 2004 and finished the year ended October 2018 with sales of approximately C$3.74M. In March 2019, the Company signed an LOI to acquire certain assets of a Canadian distributor of irrigation and agriculture components located near London, Ontario. The distributor was established in 2004 and finished the year ended October 2018 with sales of approximately C$3.74M. Qualifying Transaction: In 2018, the Company announced a qualifying transaction (" QT ") with Irri-Al-Tal Ltd., a company incorporated under the laws of Israel, and in early 2019, the Company closed the QT and commenced trading on the TSX-V under the symbol "WWT". In 2018, the Company announced a qualifying transaction (" ") with Irri-Al-Tal Ltd., a company incorporated under the laws of Israel, and in early 2019, the Company closed the QT and commenced trading on the TSX-V under the symbol "WWT". Equity Financings: In May 2018, the Company closed a private placement of C$1.75M at a price of C$0.175 per unit; in March 2019, the Company raised aggregate gross proceeds totally C$3.11M at a price of C$0.25 per unit. In May 2018, the Company closed a private placement of C$1.75M at a price of C$0.175 per unit; in March 2019, the Company raised aggregate gross proceeds totally C$3.11M at a price of C$0.25 per unit. Cannabis Sectors: In 2018, Irri-Al-Tal successfully launched the implementation of one cannabis project in Israel, including delivery of the irrigation, fertigation and Internet of Things control system to an Israeli subsidiary of the Cronos Group (TSX: CRON). The Company is currently in the process of submitting bids for similar projects to a number of future licensed producers in the Israeli market. Management Commentary Ohad Haber, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Water Ways, commented as follows: "2018 continued to set records for Water Ways growth and momentum across the globe. The Company witnessed a transformational year of 2018 as we initiated the capital raising and the listing process in Canada in early 2018 and successfully completed the listing in early 2019. In addition, we embarked on a mission to aggressively expand our business plan in the global legal cannabis sector, which we have advanced from a concept to tangible projects in multiple countries." Mr. Haber continued: "We are excited about the future of Water Ways as we continue to expand our global footprint and gain a presence in the new markets. As we became a public company and entered this new chapter of Water Ways, we look forward to demonstrating the full potential of Israeli innovation in the global irrigation sector." A comprehensive discussion of Water Ways financial position and results of operations is provided in the Companys Management Discussion & Analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed on SEDAR and can be found at www.sedar.com . About Water Ways Technologies Water Ways is the parent company of Irri-Al-Tal Ltd. ("IAT") which is an Israeli based agriculture technology company that specializes in providing water irrigation solutions to agricultural producers. IAT competes in the global irrigation water systems market with a focus on developing solutions with commercial applications in the micro and precision irrigation segments of the overall market. At present, IAT's main revenue streams are derived from the following business units: (i) Projects Business Unit; and (ii) Component and Equipment Sales Unit. IAT was founded in 2003 by Mr. Ohad Haber with a view of capitalizing on the opportunities presented by micro and smart irrigation, while also making a positive mark on society by making these technologies more widely available, especially in developing markets such as Africa and Latin America. IATs past projects include vineyards, water reservoirs, fish farms, fresh produce cooling rooms and more, in over 15 countries. For more information, please contact Ronnie Jaegermann Director +972-54-4202054 ronnie@irri-altal.com https://www.water-ways-technologies.com/ Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to Water Ways, including receipt of the Final Exchange Bulletin and the proposed listing date, are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect Water Ways' current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to Water Ways, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information, including: expected sales volumes, timing of and approval of the Acquisition by the TSX Venture Exchange; timing of establishing new operations. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. Should any factor affect Water Ways in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, Water Ways does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and Water Ways undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. Water Ways' results and forward-looking information and calculations may be affected by fluctuations in exchange rates. All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. 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. The tea was ready, the cake was cut and Day of the Dead napkins, plates and cups were on the counter. It's OK to feel comforted and to celebrate life when the topic of conversation is death. That's the idea behind Death Cafe, a group-directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. "When people face their mortality, they live life more intensely and value every moment they have," said Death Cafe co-facilitator Tina Boettcher. "That's why Death Cafe has cake. We eat cake because we celebrate life." "And we drink tea because it's comforting," added co-facilitator Naomi Wilansky. Death Cafe is a discussion group, not a grief support group or a counseling session. The first discussion was Feb. 18 at The Foundry Community Room, 915 E. Washington St., Bloomington; the second was in April and the third is set for 6:30 p.m. June 10 at the same location. "Each session is stand-alone, but everyone is invited to attend as often as they want to," Boettcher said. "It's open to anyone. It's for people of any (faith) tradition and for people of no (faith) tradition." Attendees have included 20-somethings to 80-somethings. Some are health care or human services professionals but most are not. Many have had experiences with death and dying and want to gain a greater understanding for the sake of an aging loved one, client or themselves. "Some people feel if they ignore it (death), it's not going to happen to them," Boettcher said. "Death is a taboo topic," Wilansky said. "I want it to not be a taboo topic. Death Cafe is an opportunity to be in community, talking about death." "Our objective is to increase awareness of death so people can live life more fully," Boettcher said. Boettcher is a spiritual director at St. Mary's Parish in Bloomington, where she guides people in their spiritual journey, and is director of religious education. Wilansky is a social worker/psychotherapist in private practice in Normal and is a lay song leader, a prayer specialist in the religious school and co-chair of the social action committee at Moses Montefiore Temple in Bloomington. Wilansky's mother had been ill for years and died when Wilansky was 9 years old but her anticipated death was not discussed with Wilansky until shortly before her mother died. "If I was given an opportunity to know she was going to die, I wouldn't have spent the next 25 years processing it," she said. Wilansky raised her daughter to realize that death is a part of life and Wilansky worked in hospice for a while. Boettcher grew up in an Irish-Catholic family, where a death meant a traditional Irish wake with sharing of food, drink, stories, grieving and laughter. But as she has sat with people as they have died and as she's talked with people about near-death experiences, she found that a lot of people didn't want to talk about death. The two women independently heard about Death Cafe, which began in England in 2011. Since then, according to the Death Cafe website, 8,210 Death Cafe gatherings have taken place in 65 countries. Boettcher and Wilansky attended Death Cafes elsewhere, were introduced to each other by a mutual acquaintance and organized the first Death Cafe in February, when 13 people attended. Nine people attended Monday night's gathering. While Death Cafes are confidential, the participants welcomed a reporter, although some asked that their names not be used. Some participants talked about end-of-life planning and were encouraged to do so for their aging parents and themselves. Some people talked about being reluctant to bring up a deceased loved one to a friend. "People don't want to upset the person," Wilansky observed. "But people who have lost a loved one are thinking about that loved one all the time. You bringing it up to them isn't going to upset them. It'll comfort them." Among participants were Ellen Anderson, 63, of Normal, hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator with Kindred Hospice in Bloomington; Mike Kokal, 53, of Springfield, an attorney; Cindy Termuende, 47, of Bloomington, a massage therapist; and Dan Liechty, 64, of Normal, a professor of social work at Illinois State University. "Death Cafe that intrigued me. I like to hear peoples' experiences and stories and thought it would help me in my profession," Anderson said after the gathering. "Everyone's experiences (with death) are so different but the commonality is it's a profound experience that shapes peoples' lives," Anderson said. "Groups like this are meaningful." "Life here is so short and we don't really appreciate it for what it is," Kokal said. "But when we talk about it (death), there is something that raises everyone's spirituality together. You form connections that are more than casual." "Don't be afraid to sit down with family members and talk about death," Anderson advised. "It's inevitable. Death is a part of life." Police are looking for a man in connection with a shooting that left two wounded, including a 15-year-old boy, in northwest suburban Palatine. Police identified 18-year-old Javier Ponce, of Palatine, as the alleged shooter and a warrant has been issued for his arrest on two counts of attempted murder, according to a statement from Palatine police. His whereabouts are unknown. About 11:45 p.m. Sunday, the 15-year-old and a 19-year-old man were standing near the entrance of an apartment building in the 1900 block of North Green Lane in Palatine to complete a drug transaction, police said. Ponce allegedly walked towards the pair and opened fire. The shooting is believed to be gang-related. The man was hit in the hand and foot and was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where his condition was stabilized, police said. The teen was struck in the torso and foot and remains in critical, but stable condition after surgery at the same hospital. Ponce is described as 5-foot-5, 105-pounds with shoulder length black hair, and a large tattoo across his throat that reads KINGS. Anyone with information should call Palatine police at 847-359-9000 or Palatine/Inverness Crime Stoppers at 847-590-7867. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen earlier this year that any conversations about Russian meddling in the upcoming midterm elections shouldn't be elevated to President Donald Trump because he still tied the subject to questions about the legitimacy of his own election, The New York Times reported. Nielsen became increasingly worried about Russia's sustained efforts in the U.S., but Mulvaney made clear that conversation shouldn't reach Trump, saying it "wasnt a great subject and should be kept below his level, a senior administration official told the Times. "I don't recall anything along those lines happening in a meeting," Mulvaney said in a statement. He added that the administration "will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections, and weve already taken many steps to prevent it in the future," NBC News reported. Special counsel Robert Mueller detailed in his report released last week that multiple advisers said that Trump was concerned that stories about Russian interference cast doubt over the legitimacy of his 2016 win, NBC News reported. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday also downplayed Russian interference. Wary Venezuelans braced for another day of upheaval Wednesday as both the opposition and Nicolas Maduro's loyalists vowed to take to the streets, hoping to tip the balance in an agonizing power struggle that appeared to grow even more desperate after a so far unsuccessful attempt to spark an uprising. Johanns Davila, 61, walked his dog through a street in Venezuela's capital littered with shotgun shells, tear gas canisters and a charred motorcycle where skirmishes between the opposition and state security broke out a day before. "This is a war zone," he said. Opposition leader Juan Guaido stunned the nation Tuesday when he appeared on a video at dawn surrounded by a few dozen national guardsmen urging troops to abandon Maduro and join those clamoring for the socialist leader's ouster. But while the call to action spurred protests around the nation, only a small group of soldiers left their commands. By the end of the day, it was clear that a quick end to the protracted standoff was still out of sight. A defiant Maduro, who had been absent throughout the tense day, emerged on state television late Tuesday night surrounded by his closest advisers, blasting the plot as a U.S.-backed coup attempt and vowing to take action. "This cannot go unpunished," he said. The bold and risky move by 35-year-old lawmaker Guaido, who is recognized by the U.S. and over 50 nations as Venezuela's rightful president, is likely to force Maduro to make a decision on whether to let his adversary remain a free man. Giancarlo Morelli, with the British analysis group Economist Intelligence Unit, said Maduro faces peril whatever path he takes. "Failing to arrest Mr. Guaido would be perceived as an important sign for weakness from Mr. Maduro," Morelli said. "But arresting Mr. Guaido risks a strong counter-reaction from the U.S.," which has been ratcheting up sanctions. With both sides looking to secure a grip on power, Wednesday's demonstrations could be a sign of what's to come. "We need to keep up the pressure," Guaido said in a video released to his followers on social media. "We will be in the streets." The upheaval marked the most serious threat yet to Maduro's contested rule. Tuesday's turmoil began with Guaido's 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. He had been detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, and Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces following an order from Guaido. As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base. 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. 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. Amid the unrest, Maduro's military commanders went on state television to proclaim their loyalty. Flanked by top generals, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Guaido's move as a "terrorist" act and "coup attempt" that was bound to fail like past uprisings. Notably, U.S. officials said they had expected Padrino Lopez to abandon Maduro. But in a possible sign that Maduro's inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuela's feared SEBIN intelligence agency wrote an open letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader. Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera said he had always been loyal to Maduro but now it is time to "rebuild the country." 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. Like past attempts to oust Maduro, by the end of the day the opposition seemed outmaneuvered. 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, Lopez had quietly sought refuge with his family in a foreign embassy. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Maduro had an airplane "on the tarmac" Tuesday morning and was ready to flee but was dissuaded by "Russians." Maduro ridiculed that idea in his TV speech, adding: "Mr. Pompeo, what lack of seriousness." Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore a constitutional order broken when Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following a presidential election boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries. Davila, who was out walking his dog Wednesday, said despite the turmoil, he was encouraged by the opposition's bold moves and would join them in protesting. "We need to get people out," he said, "and recover the country." Associated Press writers Christopher Torchia and Christine Armario contributed to this report. Actors from the HBO fantasy show "Game of Thrones" sent greetings and well wishes to an 88-year-old hospice patient in Rhode Island. The Providence Journal reports that Claire Walton's caretakers at HopeHealth in Providence reached out to the cast. HopeHealth says 10 actors sent messages, including Liam Cunningham, Miltos Yerolemou and Josef Altin. Walton, a lifelong Rhode Islander, wanted to watch the third episode of the show's final season before she died. It aired Sunday, with a long-awaited battle scene. HopeHealth says Walton died Monday afternoon. The hospice care provider posted a Facebook video of Walton watching the video messages. "Game of Thrones" is one of television's most popular shows. Its season premiere this month drew a series-high record of 17.4 million viewers, setting a streaming record for HBO. Its around 1:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning in East Haven and behind the wheel of a stolen SUV is a 15-year-old. While one officer chases after the teen, two others responding to the pursuit crash into each other. More and more juveniles are stealing cars and taking them on dangerous even deadly joyrides, often facing little if no penalties. Dash camera footage from East Haven police shows the pursuit of a teenager in a stolen vehicle. The stolen car crashed, and two police cruisers collided while responding to assist. The teen is given a dozen charges, a court date and then gets taken home to a guardian. Its dangerous for them, its dangerous for our officers, Madison Police Chief Jack Drumm said. They are similar scenes playing out in Connecticuts smaller suburban towns. More and more juveniles are stealing cars and taking them on dangerous even deadly joyrides, often facing small, if any, penalties. Those that are apprehended are out on the street within a short period of time and continuing to do that. Drumm said. In March a 17-year-old from Hartford was killed after he was ejected from a Mercedes SUV stolen in Madison. Drumm says the teens, repeat offenders, in three SUVs, made multiple loops around the Route 80/Route 79 traffic circle as if to taunt a nearby patrol officer. By our radio transmissions and our video the officer tried to close in on them and she could not, Drumm said. The teens topped speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before the pursuit was called off. The Mercedes later rolling several times off the roadway in Durham, killing the 17-year-old. The deadly crash now under investigation by Connecticut State Police. Its not unheard of that a community miles from any major city will have cars taken, Drumm said. Drumm says his department has seen about 50 car thefts within the last two years. Its a major increase, and Connecticut towns with fewer than 25,000 people are seeing more of the problem. Hot Spot Concentration Maps Changes in Rates of Stolen Motor Vehicles Source: Barao, Lisa. Preliminary Exploration of Statewide Occurrences of Stolen Motor Vehicle and Thefts from Motor Vehicles. Jan. 2019 It used to be predominately concentrated in our major urban cities, Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven, Ken Barone, a project manager with the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at Central Connecticut State University said. This legislative session, Barone has been tapped by Connecticut lawmakers considering harsher punishment for repeat juvenile offenders to share his research on motor vehicle theft trends. Weve got several more smaller suburban towns that used to see very few if any motor vehicle thefts that are now all of the sudden dealing with five, 10, 15, 20 motor vehicle thefts a year, Barone said. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}})}(); People are certainly demanding that something be done, people are frustrated, Rep. Craig Fishbein (R -Wallingford) said. State lawmakers like Fishbein are now left to decide on proposed legislation that would hold juveniles stealing cars accountable as adults. When we hear about these children, then a week later being arrested again obviously whatever happened didnt work, Fishbein said. While Fishbein supports diversionary programs for first time offenders, he says juveniles who choose to steal a car again should face consequences. Committing a crime at most levels is a choice and bad choices should end up with some sort of penalty, Fishbein said. Chief Drumm argues that many of the juvenile offenders he sees are already off track. You have some sort of educational component and some sort of therapy component and psychological work for that justice system to work, Drumm said. What both this police chief and lawmaker agree on, if improvements arent made soon, juvenile joyrides like these could continue at top speed. The former director of food services for a Connecticut school district has been charged in connection with nearly $500,000 in missing cafeteria receipts. Bruce Gluck, 61, of Middletown Springs, Vermont, has been charged with larceny in the first degree, conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree and tampering with evidence in connection with money missing from the New Canaan Public Schools. The investigation focused on the alleged thefts of money from New Canaan Middle School and Saxe Middle School. Police said the cash was misappropriated from 2012 until 2017. Gluck is the third person charged in the case. Money might have been taken prior to 2012, but police said they did not focus on an earlier time frame due to the direction of the states attorneys office because of the statute of limitations. Police said banking records showed that Gluck made large cash deposits during the time of the alleged thefts and most of the deposits were made during the school year and tapered off when school was not in session, police said. When Gluck retired, daily money intake totals increased, police said. One of the other people charged told investigators Gluck took $100 from each day's cash receipts. A phone message was left with Gluck's lawyer, the Associated Press reports. Gluck is free on $25,000 bond and due in court May 13. CEO to provide an update on companys growth-by-acquisition strategy and advancement of its SaaS business for eCommerce, education, and live streaming New York, NY and Toronto, ON, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- NexTech AR Solutions (the Company or NexTech) (OTC: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE:N29) announced today that CEO Evan Gappelberg will present an overview of the Companys business at the Think Equity Conference, today May 2, 2019 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. The Think Equity Conference is an exclusive event dedicated to connecting small and micro-cap companies with high-level institutional and retail investors. NexTech continues to execute on its growth-by-acquisition strategy with its January AR eCommerce acquisition, February Hootview acquisition, and its LOI for a third acquisition in 2019, announced March 19 . The third acquisition closed April 13, 2019, which puts NexTechs AR enabled e-commerce revenue at a $4.85 million USD trailing 12 month run rate with a projected $8.2 million USD revenue target and positive EBITDA for 2019, said Evan Gappelberg, CEO of NexTech. Since our October 31st, 2018 listing date we have been hyper-focused on getting to cash flow positive in 2019. Our strategy is to acquire cash flow generating eCommerce businesses, AR enable them with our AR technology, plus scale our SaaS business around our three verticals: AR e-commerce, AR education and training and AR live streaming. Gartner reports 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality online and in-store by 2020. The company is rapidly signing up customers and building out its AR and AI eCommerce offerings, which include using AI to create a guided and knowledgeable curator that can be programed to be used across all commerce. NexTechs full funnel end-to-end eCommerce solution for the AR industry includes offering 3D product capture, 3D ads for Facebook and Google, Try it On technology for online apparel, 3D and 360-degree product views, and one click buy. The platform is affordable, scalable, customizable, and most importantly, easy to integrate within an existing web interface, making NexTech one of the leaders in the rapidly growing AR industry, estimated to hit $120 billion by 2022, according to Statista. About NexTech AR Solutions Corp. NexTech has a two-pronged growth strategy which includes growth-by-acquisition with multiple deals closed in 2019 and bringing a next generation web-enabled augmented reality (AR) platform with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics to the Cannabis industry, eCommerce, education, training, healthcare and video conferencing. Having integrated with Shopify, Magento and Wordpress, its technology offers eCommerce sites a universal 3D shopping solution. With just a few lines of embed code, the companys patent-pending platform offers the most technologically advanced 3D AR/AI technology anywhere. Online retailers can subscribe to NexTechs state of the art, 3D AR/AI solution for $79/mo. The company has created the AR industrys first end-to-end affordable, intelligent, frictionless, scalable platform. To learn more, please follow us on Twitter , YouTube , Instagram , LinkedIn , and Facebook , or visit our website: https://www.nextechar.com . On behalf of the Board of NexTech AR Solutions Corp. Evan Gappelberg CEO and Director For further information, please contact: Evan Gappelberg Chief Executive Officer info@nextechar.com Media contact: Erin Hadden FischTank Marketing and PR ehadden@fischtankpr.com The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein may constitute forward-looking information under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, will be, looking forward or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results will occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the Company increasing investors awareness are based on the Companys estimates and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of NexTech to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including capital expenditures and other costs. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. NexTech will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. Chris Mattei, a former Assistant United States Attorney for Connecticut, told NBC Connecticut that not only is there a strong case for obstruction against President Donald Trump, but he added that the characterizations made of the Mueller report have been troubling. "It seemed as though he was trying to manipulate public opinion about what Bob Mueller had found and what Bob Mueller said that goes to the very nature of what the special counsel was for which is to create confidence in the public that the investigation was done properly, Mattei said of William Barr, the attorney general who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Mattei prosecuted public corruption while with the Department of Justice. He was lead counsel in the second trial against former Governor John Rowland, that saw Rowland get convicted and sent to federal prison for a second time. When asked about the evidence laid out in the more than 400 page report, Mattei said any prosecutor would be in a strong position. Let me put it this way, Mattei said. I've prosecuted obstruction cases on far less evidence than is contained in the Mueller report. Trump has taken the results of the Mueller report as a clear victory, regardless of the reports contents. Hes tweeted on multiple occasions declaring, no obstruction, and no collusion, referring to Russia. Attorney General William Barr is now refusing to testify before the House Judiciary Committee to discuss Muellers findings. The committees chairman has threatened to hold Barr in contempt. The assistant director of residence life at Southern Connecticut State University is under investigation, accused of sexually assaulting another staff member. A school spokesperson confirmed that 34-year-old Mark Parrott is currently on administrative leave while a Title IX investigation is underway. His accuser reported two incidents to campus police which were said to have happened in early April. The assistant director of residence life was arraigned this week on four misdemeanor chargestwo for fourth-degree sexual assault and two for second-degree unlawful sexual restrain SCSU community members received an email about the investigation Thursday. Its kind of scary because I dont know who else is going to do that, you know, said SCSU senior Ariana Taiani. According to arresting documents, Parrott is accused of locking his arms around the alleged victims waist in an elevator after an event in the student center, and then later in the res-life office - even pinning the person to the wall. The alleged victim told police it made them uncomfortable and they begged to be released, but he refused to let go. According to arresting documents, Parrott told police he had a joking relationship with the person who he admitted to hugging twice, but he also told police in those documents that he did feel like he was crossing the line. I think its something quite horrible. Its something that shouldnt happen, especially someone in that sort of power, said SCSU junior Richie Cairns. In a statement Parrotts lawyer said, Accusations are easily made but must be proven. Mr. Parrott is presumed innocent and will plead not guilty when we return to court. Parrott is expected to enter that not guilty plea in court later this month. A campus employee said over the phone that they wish the school was doing more. In the statement emailed to the campus community, university President Joe Bertolino speaks out against sexual harassment and violence and points to resources available. I also want to reinforce that sexual harassment and sexual violence are not acceptable behaviors in our community and are violations of the law, University policies and the Student Code of Conduct, the statement read in part. Firefighters with the West Shore Fire District tin West Haven have agreed to forgo a pay raise to ease the burden on taxpayers. The fire district members said they known the challenges faced in the city, and the state, so theyre making the move to do what they can to make a difference, with the hope that the financial climate will eventually improve. That's wonderful and I think if we all went without a small amount of money, we could do a lot of changes, said West Haven resident Chere Aiudi-Washenko Residents were pleased to hear about the unexpected move by one of their towns fire districts, which will save them money in the coming years. For the next two years, the more than 30 firefighters in the West Shore Fire District wont see any pay increases. As part of their contract extension, the union opted to forgo any raises to help lower the tax burden for all residents. We understand there's a lot of people in the city that are making sacrifices and we want them to know that we're sacrificing right there with them, explained Christopher Haley of Local 1198, West Shore Professional Firefighters. The union voted unanimously to approve the change, opting not to receive increases of 1.75 percent annually, which is projected to save taxpayers $270,000 over two years. It was a lot to ask of them. I was really good that we were able to come to terms, said Robert Bruneau, a West Shore fire commissioner. The fire district says its taken big cuts from the state around $225,000 a year in pilot money in addition to a bigger mandated retirement obligation, making the need to find savings even more essential. With that in mind, members said they thought this was the right move, and one they hope others around a cash-strapped Connecticut will follow. Not only first responders, I think hopefully the rest of the city and state follow suit. Everyone needs to come together and make cuts somewhere. We need to make sacrifices, clearly, or else it's just not going to work, said Evan Mink, a West Shore fire commissioner. The fire district members say while theyre glad to make this change for the greater good, they hope when the next contract negotiation rolls around in a few years, they wont need to make this concession. A Connecticut history collector and a Dallas auction house have withdrawn two macabre pieces of American history from auction blood-stained pieces of leather from the inside of the limo that President John F. Kennedy was riding in the day he was assassinated. The collector, John Reznikoff, said he bought a small swatch of the leather at an auction years ago. "This piece actually has John F. Kennedy's DNA on it," he said. He divided it into about a dozen smaller pieces of less than one inch by one inch. Most of the pieces were sold to "prominent collections" but he is now auctioning one more. Another piece that he sold to an unnamed buyer earlier has been put up for bid by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. Reznikoff is founder and president of University Archives in Westport, Connecticut. "I'm a history buff but I'm also a dealer," Reznikoff said. "When anybody asks what I do, it's very simple. I say, 'I'm a treasure hunter.'" He bought the next-to-last limo that President Kennedy was in before his assassination and sold it for nearly $400,000, he said. At Dealey Plaza, the auction of the blood-stained leather doesn't sit well with some tourists. "It's kind of sad someone is still trying to make a buck off it," said Keith Fowler of Ventura, California. "Donate it to the Smithsonian or something like that," added his wife Sharon Fowler. "It should likely be turned over to the government officials and be kept in their records," said Shawna McEwen, a tourist from Canada. Reznikoff defends the sale as an important part of history. "Any blood relic, by its nature, some people are a little squeamish about it," he said. "Unfortunately, part of our history isn't necessarily so rosy. There's a lot of violence in the history of America and every country for that matter." He said the leather was first collected by a liaison between Ford Motor Company and the White House when the limo was disassembled. "Of course nobody would want to ride in a limousine that had such a horrible thing occur and had blood stains but an astute person decided to preserve them and that's what we see today, is a little piece of the back seat from November 22, 1963," Reznikoff said. "It's representative of a very dark day in the history of our country." On Friday, Heritage Auctions' website said: "This lot has been withdrawn from this auction. Bids are no longer accepted and previous bids are cancelled." These days, many students show up to school already knowing how to read. For some, that skill is harder to get, and schools are looking for ways to help make it easier. "I see big words I can't say, and it makes me feel upset," said fourth grade student Georgia Bobo. She is dyslexic, and it's hard for her to even explain how words on a page look to her. Georgia and other dyslexic students at Nola Dunn Academy come to Donna Blackaby's class for help. Phonics, flashcards and one other trick that has students who normally aren't so fond reading coming back to the classroom at lunch even recess to sit and read. "It's a competition between all the schools in the United States," said student Holden Frantz. It's called the Great Reading Games. It's series of audio books which reads to the students, highlighting the words as it goes. It's a common tool people with dyslexia use. "All the books I was reading were super funny," said Frantz. The kids got hooked and started reading so much, their reading skills and star test scores were skyrocketing. "Many dyslexic students won't finish a book on their own, but they've finished hundreds of books now," said Teacher Dana Blackaby. It's a competition, and the students at Nola Dunn won first in the nation. "I was beating every single kid in the us except for one," said Frantz. Georgia Bobo is proud to say she was in the top ten in the nation too, but thats nothing compared to the fact she can now say she loves to read. This is just one example of the type of learning at the Academy at Nola Dunn, where students are often exposed to what the school calls brain-based leaning. It includes lots of hands-on work that uses technology and novel ideas to not only find academic success but develop a love for learning. The grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets likely means that fare increases this summer will be larger than already expected and airlines will struggle to handle disruptions such as storms that shut down hub airports. With Max jets grounded after two deadly accidents, U.S. airlines will operate about 200 fewer daily flights than planned through the heart of the peak summer season. That's around 35,000 seats lost every day. Travel-data firm Hopper said this week that it expects the average domestic round trip in May will cost $236, 7% more than a year ago, and keep rising in June. Most of that increase is due to the price of jet fuel and other economic causes, but some of it is due to the Max, according to Hayley Berg, the firm's economist. The grounding of Max jets will leave other planes more crowded. "We expect a certain level of chaos," said Henrik Zillmer, CEO of AirHelp, which helps travelers get compensation for travel disruptions. "With so many passengers being rebooked, flights may get more overbooked than usual, especially when weather or other factors cause cancellations." For some passengers, the grounding of the Max will mean a change in travel plans. Southwest, American and United are the three U.S. airlines that used the Max before regulators grounded the jet in mid-March. They are taking passengers whose original itinerary included a Max and rebooking them on flights using other planes. That could mean a nonstop flight turns into a connecting flight. Or it might arrive several hours later than the traveler expected. Travelers who don't like their new itinerary have limited options. Zillmer said under most international laws the grounding of the Max by governments is considered an extraordinary circumstance, and passengers aren't eligible for compensation for resulting disruptions. Travelers can seek a full refund, however, even if they bought a nonrefundable ticket. "If the new flight doesn't work for you, you might consider getting your money back and finding a flight that suits you on your own," said Tracy Stewart, content editor for travel site airfarewatchdog.com. But he warned that you might end up paying more that way, especially because prices tend to rise closer to summer. Southwest Airlines has more Max jets than anyone else -- 34 -- and was scheduled to receive another 41 later this year, although that schedule is now in doubt. Still, the Max accounts for only about 5% of the Southwest fleet and less than 1% of the passenger-carrying capacity of U.S. airlines overall. Berg, the Hopper economist, said heavily traveled routes will probably see little disruption, but routes with lower demand might see some cancellations or suspensions for a short time. One example is Pittsburgh, where Southwest plans to suspend service to Los Angeles and Cancun, Mexico, next month because of the Max situation. Until the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Max in March, Southwest was using them on many trans-continental flights. American Airlines, with 24 Max planes, flew them heavily in and out of Miami. Southwest and American both say have redistributed their fleets so that no routes suffer a disproportionate seat shortage due to the grounding of the Max. "The Max impact is not isolated to any region or route," said Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz. "On any given day, with 34 Max, we could have 146 flights on 115 routes touching 44 airports with a Max. And we don't schedule them the same every day. The impact truly is across our network." United hopes to have its Max jets flying again in July, while Southwest and American have dropped them from their schedules into August. Boeing is working on a software fix that it hopes will convince regulators to let the planes return to service. It remains to be seen how many travelers will be reluctant to board the plane after crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Preliminary reports found that software on the plane forced the noses down, and pilots were unable to regain control. If the planes are cleared to fly, passengers who cancel a reservation or refuse to board the plane because they are afraid won't be eligible for compensation, according to AirHelp's Zillmer. They can ask the airline for a refund, but that might not work either. "By the time fall rolls around and the software updates have been applied and Maxes are back in operation, it's pretty unlikely airlines would be as flexible with refunds and ticket changes," said airfarewatchdog's Stewart. It will be up to consumers, he said, to check what kind of plane the airline plans to use before they click "buy" on the ticket. The grandfather of 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell, the Arlington man accused of killing two people and wounding four others in a school shooting Tuesday, says he's "shocked" and has no idea what prompted his grandson to open fire on a classroom full of students at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Paul Rold talked to NBC 5 Wednesday morning at his Arlington home but, on the advice of a lawyer, didn't want to go on camera. He said he had no idea what sparked the shooting and added that the family is "shocked." Rold added he hasn't had a chance to talk with his grandson and only learned of the shooting after being contacted by a reporter with the Associated Press on Tuesday. He said Terrell is under observation in police custody and that the family has not been allowed to speak to him. "You're describing someone foreign to me," Rold told the AP in a telephone interview Tuesday night. "This is not in his DNA." Rold told NBC 5 Wednesday that his grandson, to his knowledge, didn't own a gun and wasn't interested in them. He said Terrell was critical of American gun culture in the past, saying it was too easy for people to get their hands on weapons. Rold said his grandson spoke of New Zealand and the crackdown there following a mass shooting earlier this year. Rold said his grandson graduated from Mansfield High School and moved away about two years ago and that he had an interest in foreign languages. He said he'd helped him learn French and that he'd become fluent and later taught himself Portuguese. When asked if his grandson had any history of mental illness, Rold declined to answer. He later told the AP that his grandson is on the autism spectrum but was "clever as can be." UNC-Charlotte spokeswoman Buffy Stephens said Terrell had been enrolled at the school but withdrew during the current semester. Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said he 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 in handcuffs into a law enforcement building. Terrell was later 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 motive for the shooting hasn't been made clear. In a news release, UNC-Charlotte said all the victims were students, five from North Carolina and one international. Riley C. Howell, 21, of Waynesville, and Ellis R. Parlier, 19 of Midland, were killed in the attack. Those injured were Sean Dehart, 20, and Drew Pescaro, 19, both of Apex; Emily Houpt, 23, of Charlotte; and Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudia Arabia. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney says one of the two people killed in the shooting saved lives by tackling the gunman. Putney said 21-year-old Riley Howell "took the fight to the assailant" after determining he had no place to run or hide in his classroom. Putney said that, without Howell's attack, capturing the shooter 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. University Chancellor Phillip Dubois said in radio interviews Wednesday that three of the four wounded, previously described as having critical or life-threatening injuries, had undergone surgery. NBC 5 's Scott Gordon and the Associated Press' Tom Foreman Jr and Sarah Blake Morgan contributed to this report. A U.S. Army reserve specialist returned home to North Texas to a heros welcome. U.S. Army Reserve Specialist Joseph Ramsey left North Texas in April 2018. He was deployed to Kuwait. That deployment, one of several he has already been called on, meant that he had to leave his pregnant wife Megan and two toddlers, Martha-Eden and Josie-Anna. Ramsey also left his job as a technician at Park Place Lexus Grapevine. His co-workers wanted to show him how much they appreciate his service and his family how much they appreciate their sacrifice. His co-workers threw the Ramseys a surprise party at the dealership. The party included Texas Rangers tickets, a Texas Rangers blanket, chips and salsa, dinner at a Texas steakhouse and toys for the kids. Do you have #SomethingGood to share? Email your story idea with pictures or video to iSee@nbcdfw.com. It's believed to be the first time a Minnesota police officer has been convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting. With no video of Mohamed Noor shooting Justine Rusczyk Damond and conflicting testimony about the moments leading up to her death, some activists and community leaders have said race was a factor in this case from the start. The victim was white; the officer is black. From the moment Minneapolis' top prosecutor charged Noor, he's been fighting the perception that race played a role in his decision. He's rejected that, but some say bias can be an underlying issue, even for those who believe they are acting in good faith. "We can't deny that there is implicit racial bias in our society at large," said Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. "Sometimes that enters into the decisions that prosecutors make. Sometimes that's going to enter into the decision that jurors make. The hard part is trying to figure out when that is true." Noor, 33, was convicted Tuesday of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who was unarmed when she approached Noor's squad car after calling 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. He was acquitted of second-degree intentional murder but still faces the prospect of years in prison. Noor 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 his partner's terrified reaction and a woman appear at his partner's window raising her arm. His partner testified that he hadn't yet assessed whether there was a threat himself. Prosecutors noted that Noor hadn't even determined whether Damond had a weapon before firing. When Noor testified, he spoke of his early years in Somalia and time in a refugee camp before immigrating to the U.S. He also spoke of not being accepted when he first came to Minnesota. At times, prosecutors referred to Damond as a blond woman in a pink T-shirt, something that Osler said called attention to her race. Minnesota's welcoming refugee programs have made the state a magnet for Somalis fleeing civil war, including families like Noor's, and Minnesota is home to the nation's largest population of Somali immigrants. Noor's hiring in 2015 was celebrated by Minneapolis leaders eager to diversify the police force in a city that is 64% white. Rep. Ilhan Omar a Somali American who is also from Minneapolis tweeted Wednesday that Noor's guilty verdict was "an important step towards justice and a victory for all who oppose police brutality." "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," Omar added. "We must have the same level of accountability and justice in all officer-involved killings and address violence-based training for police officers." The Minnesota-based Somali American Police Association issued a statement saying it believes institutional prejudice "heavily influenced" Noor's conviction and that Freeman had "other motives" when he charged Noor. "Unfortunately it's a system that seems to work for certain people and not for everybody. And it's something we need to live with," said Waheid Siraach, a spokesman for the association. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman rejected the idea that race played a role. "We look at each case based on the facts and the evidence and the law that's in front of us. And I will stand by what we have done," he told reporters immediately after Tuesday's verdict. When asked how Noor's case was different from fatal police shootings in which Freeman did not file charges, he said: "The evidence showed that the officer acted unreasonably." Police officers in the U.S. are rarely charged in on-duty shootings, much less convicted. A database published by the Washington Post shows that since the start of 2015, U.S. police officers have shot and killed between 900 to 1,000 people each year. Since 2005, only 101 nonfederal officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter in an on-duty shooting, according to data compiled by Philip Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. Some of those prosecutions are pending, but to date, only 36 officers have been convicted often for lesser offenses. In Minnesota, only one other officer has been charged in a fatal shooting in recent history. Jeronimo Yanez, a suburban Latino officer, was acquitted of manslaughter in the 2016 death of black motorist Philando Castile. Jurors in Noor's case were questioned about their views toward Somalis before being selected. Half of the 12 jurors were people of color, including immigrants. One juror who spoke to KARE-TV on the condition that his name not be published said he respects the Somali community and Noor seemed like a good guy and a good police officer. "But we determined he committed a crime. And in the end, no one is above the law," the juror said, adding: "It was two seconds time, he made a bad mistake, and even if you have a split-second decision, you're still responsible for the decisions you make." Noor, who was fired from the police force after being charged, is scheduled to be sentenced June 7. His attorneys have not commented on the verdict and have not said whether they will appeal. In announcing that he will withdraw the United States from the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that under the international agreement, the U.S. would surrender American sovereignty and allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom. As a matter of fact, the treatys preamble clearly states that it reaffirms the sovereign right of any State to regulate and control conventional arms exclusively within its territory, pursuant to its own legal or constitutional system. And the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said the treaty does not affect sales or trade in weapons among private citizens within a country. Rachel Stohl, an international arms trade expert who was a consultant during the Arms Trade Treaty process, said Trump was reinforcing a false narrative. Trump made his announcement during the National Rifle Associations annual meeting on April 26. His decision was applauded by the NRAs lobbying arm, which also said the treaty was a threat to our national sovereignty and Second Amendment. -- Trump, April 26: So, in the last administration, President Obama signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. And in his waning days in office, he sent the treaty to the Senate to begin the ratification process. This treaty threatened your subjugate and you know exactly whats going on here your rights and your constitutional and international rules and restrictions and regulations. Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone. We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom. And that is why my administration will never ratify the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. -- The president repeated a similar claim the next day at a rally in Wisconsin. -- Trump, April 27: Just yesterday, I announced that my administration is unsigning the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. Were unsigning it, were pulling it back out of the United Nations. Were pulling it back out of Congress. All of you Second Amendment people, you know you know what it is. Youll be very happy with it because we will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on Americas freedom. Were not going to allow it. That was a President Obama disaster. -- But Trump is making unsupported claims about the treaty that are similar to ones spread in a viral email we debunked years ago before the ATT was even finalized. The treaty, which went into force in December 2014, requires parties to establish standards for regulating the international trade of conventional weapons such as battle tanks, warships, missiles and small arms. It aims to prevent and eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms by prohibiting cross-border sales when U.N. arms embargoes would be violated, or when exporting nations suspect the weapons would be used by importers to commit war crimes, genocide, terrorism or other offenses against civilians. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. was one of the 100-plus nations that signed the treaty, but it did not ratify it. More than three years after then-Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty in September 2013, Obama sent it to the Senate, which never held a vote on a resolution of ratification. (In 2013, the Senate voted 53-46 in favor of a nonbinding amendment to prevent the U.S. from entering into the pact.) Still, when signing the treaty, Kerry said that it was about reducing the risk of international transfers of conventional arms that will be used to carry out the worlds worst crimes, and that it will not diminish anyones freedom because it actually recognizes the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legitimate purposes. Make no mistake, we would never think about supporting a treaty that is inconsistent with the rights of Americans, the rights of American citizens, to be able to exercise their guaranteed rights under our constitution, Kerry stated. The Congressional Research Service also said in a report updated in March that the treaty does not affect sales or trade in weapons among private citizens within a country. In addition, CRS, the independent research arm of Congress, said that [b]ecause the United States already has strong export control laws in place, the ATT would likely require no significant changes to policy, regulations, or law. Stohl, managing director of the nonpartisan Stimson Center, which promotes global security and prosperity, said Trumps claims were not true. Trump reinforced a false narrative about the treaty one that was generated and propagated by the NRA, politicians and other special-interest groups to prey on fears of full-scale gun confiscation and boost fundraising efforts, Stohl wrote in an April 29 op-ed published by the Washington Post. These groups want the American public to believe that the ATT infringes on U.S. sovereignty and Second Amendment rights. This is a lie. She added: The ATT purposefully excludes issues surrounding domestic gun laws or regulations. It does not restrict or hinder the Second Amendment, nor does it create a national gun registry. In fact, the preamble makes specific reference to the legitimate trade, lawful ownership and use of certain conventional arms for recreational, cultural, historical and sporting activities. Insinuating that the ATT undermines U.S. laws and puts American liberty under foreign control is dishonest and misleading. EASTPHARMA LTD. London, 02 May 2019 - EastPharma (EAST LI), today announces that the Annual General Meeting is to be held at 10.00 am on 29 May 2019 at Clarendon House, 2 Church Street, Hamilton HM11, Bermuda. The formal notice of the Meeting and agenda for the Meeting are provided below and audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2018 is available for viewing on the company's website www.eastpharma.com . EastPharma Ltd - a company active in the manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products in Turkey and in other regional markets; for further information please visit www.eastpharma.com . Attachment A North Carolina college student slain while confronting a gunman in his classroom was being given a hero's send-off Thursday as his body was returned to his hometown with a police escort. Police motorcycles and other vehicles with blue lights flashing quickly left a funeral home and started their 150 mile (240 kilometer) journey west from Riley Howell's college home in Charlotte to his mountain hometown of Waynesville. Traffic stopped along busy, four-lane Charlotte streets as the procession went by. Meanwhile, the suspect accused of killing Howell and another student at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte while wounding four others chose not to appear in court Thursday so a judge could read charges against him of two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree attempted murder. Howell died in his classroom Tuesday after charging and tackling the gunman who opened fire with a legally obtained pistol, authorities said. Howell's decision to fight for the lives of others fit his character, said friend David Belnap, who attended a candlelight vigil Wednesday with a homemade T-shirt with "Riley Howell is a hero" written on the back. "It seems very much like something he would do. I want that to be his legacy, that he lost his life to protect those he cared about," the sophomore said. Howell, 21, knocked the assailant down, buying enough time for the first officer into the classroom to capture Trystan Andrew Terrell, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said. The motive behind the shooting wasn't clear. Detectives aren't sure if the gunman, who had a lot of ammunition, was targeting anyone specifically Tuesday, but they know he picked out the Kennedy Building and gave no indication he was going to stop shooting before Howell charged, Putney said. "His sacrifice saved lives," the chief said. Riley's mother, Natalie Henry-Howell, told TODAY that his family is "beyond proud of what he was able to do." "If he was in the room when something like that was happening, and he had turned away, he wouldn't have been able to live with himself," she said in an interview that aired Thursday. 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. 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. Terrell will remain in jail at least until his bond hearing scheduled for May 15. 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 make the world better. "What happened yesterday cannot happen again," Crean said. 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 what happened in that room is what they say, I completely see Riley doing that," Kevin Westmoreland said. "He was just the kind of person, if someone tripped and fell, he would be the first one to try to help them." He was "a big, muscular guy with a huge heart," Howell's family said in a statement Wednesday. "He always was able to put others before himself and never hesitated to help anyone who needed it," the statement read. Howell was enrolled in a second semester of ROTC courses at UNC-Charlotte, though he wasn't among those pursuing a career as a military officer, said Lt. Col. Chunka Smith, who runs the school's Army ROTC program. Howell would have been taught in ROTC to seek cover if confronted by a gunman rather than fight, Smith said. "But I just believe it's inherent in those who take the class, based off of their backgrounds and their upbringing ... that someone would actually sacrifice themselves for others," Smith said. ___ Sarah Blake Morgan in Charlotte; Martha Waggoner and Emery Dalesio in Raleigh; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report. The Senate on Thursday failed to overturn President Donald Trump's veto of legislation that would have ended U.S. military assistance for the Saudi-led war in Yemen against Iran-backed rebels, but lawmakers promised to keep close watch on the administration's ties with the kingdom. While the 53-45 vote to override fell well short of the required two-thirds, passage of the resolution in April was an unprecedented rebuke of Trump's foreign policy and a milestone for Congress, which invoked never-before-used powers in an effort to halt foreign military activity. The United States is providing logistical support and intelligence-sharing for a war that has killed thousands of civilians and left millions more on the brink of famine. In explaining his veto last month , Trump said the Yemen resolution was a "dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens." To one of the resolution's sponsors, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the action on Capitol Hill showed that "after years of abdicating that responsibility, Congress stood up in the Senate and in the House and said: You know what, Mr. President, you do not have the power to get U.S. troops involved in a war that we did not vote upon. And that is a big deal." Sanders, I-Vt., is seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. The push to end American involvement in the war gained strength in Congress last year after Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a commentator who had lived in the U.S. and written critically about the kingdom. Lawmakers criticized Trump for not condemning Saudi Arabia's role strongly enough and they urged new penalties against the American ally. The administration has forged close ties with the Saudis as it seeks to further isolate Iran. Despite the veto remaining intact, some lawmakers pledged continued scrutiny of U.S.-Saudi ties. Sen. James Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was considering legislation to "put the relationship on the right trajectory." "Like many of us here today, I'm dissatisfied with the state of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Indeed, while Saudi Arabia has long been a bulwark of our Middle East policy, there is a growing gap in U.S.-Saudi relations," said Risch, R-Idaho. "Frankly, aspects of Saudi Arabia's behavior are cause for serious, serious concern." Risch said his committee is taking a "comprehensive look" at the alliance and trying to develop legislation that can "address concerns on both sides of the aisle and actually become law." Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the sponsors of the resolution, said opposition to the war in Yemen is "about sending a message to Saudi Arabia" and about "getting the blood off of our hands." "The United States should never willingly be a part of a bombing campaign that results in this kind of starvation," he said, gesturing to a photo of an emaciated Yemeni boy. The Pentagon said continued support of the coalition is in the U.S. interest because it helps American allies push back against Iranian aggression in the region. In a striking speech delivered from deep below the ocean's surface, the Seychelles president on Sunday made a global plea for stronger protection of the "beating blue heart of our planet." President Danny Faure's call for action, the first-ever live speech from an underwater submersible, came from one of the many island nations threatened by global warming. He spoke during a visit to an ambitious British-led science expedition exploring the Indian Ocean depths. Oceans cover over two-thirds of the world's surface but remain, for the most part, uncharted. We have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor, Faure said. "This issue is bigger than all of us, and we cannot wait for the next generation to solve it. We are running out of excuses to not take action, and running out of time," the president said from a manned submersible 400 feet (121 meters) below the waves, on the seabed off the outer islands of the African nation. Wearing a Seychelles T-shirt and shorts, the president told The Associated Press after his speech that the experience was "so, so cool. What biodiversity." It made him more determined than ever to speak out for marine protection, he said. "We just need to do what needs to be done. The scientists have spoken." The oceans' role in regulating climate and the threats they face are underestimated by many, even though as Faure pointed out they generate "half of the oxygen we breathe." Scientific missions are crucial in taking stock of underwater ecosystems' health. Small island nations are among the most vulnerable to sea level rise caused by climate change, and some have found creative ways to express their concerns. Faure's speech came a decade after members of the Maldives' Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals at an underwater meeting highlighting global warming's threat to the lowest-lying nation on earth. Land erosion, dying coral reefs and the increased frequency of extreme weather events threaten such countries' existence. During the expedition, marine scientists from the University of Oxford have surveyed underwater life, mapped large areas of the sea floor and gone deep with manned submersibles and underwater drones. Little is known about the watery world below depths of 30 meters, the limit to which a normal scuba diver can go. Operating down to 500 meters, the scientists were the first to explore areas of great diversity where sunlight weakens and the deep ocean begins. By the end of the mission, researchers expect to have conducted over 300 deployments, collected around 1,400 samples and 16 terabytes of data and surveyed about 30 square kilometers (11.5 sq. miles) of seabed using high-resolution multi-beam sonar equipment. The data will be used to help the Seychelles expand its policy of protecting almost a third of its national waters by 2020. The initiative is important for the country's "blue economy," an attempt to balance development needs with those of the environment. "From this depth, I can see the incredible wildlife that needs our protection, and the consequences of damaging this huge ecosystem that has existed for millennia," Faure said in his speech. "Over the years, we have created these problems. We can solve them." Currently, only about 5% of the world's oceans are protected. Countries have agreed to increase the area to 10% by 2020. But experts and environmental campaigners say between 30% and 50% of the oceans outside nations' territorial waters should get protected status to ensure marine biodiversity. Researchers hope their findings also will inform ongoing United Nations talks aimed at forging the first high seas conservation treaty, scheduled to conclude this year. Environmental groups argue an international treaty is urgently needed because climate change, overfishing and efforts to mine the seabed for precious minerals are putting unsustainable pressure on marine life that could have devastating consequences for creatures on land as well. Oceans will be one of the seven main themes of this year's U.N. climate summit in Chile in December. While scientists are nearing the end of their expedition, much of their work is just beginning. In the next few months, researchers at Oxford will analyze the samples and video surveys and put them together with environmental data. "When we pull them together we can understand not just what we see in the areas that we've visited but what we might expect in other regions in the Seychelles," said Lucy Woodall, the mission's chief scientist. This is the first of a half-dozen regions the mission plans to explore before the end of 2022, when scientists will present their research at a summit on the state of the Indian Ocean. Billions of people live along the ocean's shores in Africa and Asia. Associated Press writer Frank Jordans contributed. A 72-year-old Placentia man was critically injured Wednesday when the plane he was piloting crashed into a field near an airport in Upland, officials said. Officials had not officially identified the victim. But the plane is owned by Steven Lund and a friend identified him as a military veteran who flew dangerous helicopter missions in Vietnam. The single-engine Storch FL-156C crashed under unknown circumstances after taking off from Cable Airport around 10 a.m., said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. "I hope he's OK. He's a very good man," said Anna Boosalis, the victim's neighbor. "He helps veterans. He's just an amazing person all the way around." The plane is a replica of a German reconnaissance World War II plane. Another neighbor said that after the Vietnam War, Lund worked as a pilot for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "He would fly between San Diego and LA tracking drug smugglers," said John Morris. A witness said it sounded like there was engine trouble before the plane went down. "A couple people came and told us after the crash that they heard the plane," said Ernie Acuna, who works nearby. "The engine just stopped." Brenden Boosalis says he has flown with Lund twice in this plane. "His vintage plane is like one out of 12 in the world," Brenden Boosalis said. "He built it himself." Neighbors say the plane has swastikas because it is a replica. They also say this is the second time Lund has survived a crash. "He's a man of steel," Anna Boosalis. "He will be fine." The parents of Andrew "AJ" Freund, the 5-year-old boy missing from Crystal Lake, Illinois, were charged with murder Wednesday after police said they recovered what they believed to be the young boy's body. Joann Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. were both charged with the death and disappearance of AJ, authorities announced Wednesday, one week after the child was last seen and six days after he was reported missing. Authorities in Crystal Lake announced Wednesday that they had located the body of missing five-year-old AJ Freund, and have charged the boys parents with first-degree murder. Cunningham was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, four counts of aggravated battery, two counts of aggravated domestic battery and one count of failure to report a missing or child death. Freund Sr. was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery, one count of aggravated domestic battery, two counts of concealment of homicidal death and one count of failure to report a missing or child death. Authorities said a body wrapped in plastic was uncovered from a remote location in the northwestern suburb of Woodstock, just miles from the Crystal Lake home where the boy was reported missing. Crystal Lake police and the FBI announced Wednesday that they had located the body of 5-year-old Andrew AJ Freund, and that murder charges have been filed against the boys parents. Police said both parents were questioned overnight and into Wednesday morning after information was obtained during a "forensic analysis of cell phone data." "Once presented with the evidence obtained by investigators, both Joann and Andrew Sr. provided information that ultimately led to the recovery, what we believe is the recovery of deceased subject AJ," Crystal Lake Police Chief James Black. The cause of death was not immediately known and police said it would be determined "at a later date." "To AJs family, it is our hope that you may have some solace in knowing that AJ is no longer suffering and his killers have been brought to justice," Black said. "We would also like to thank the community for their support and assistance during this difficult time. To AJ, we know you are at peace playing in heavens playground and are happy you no longer have to suffer." Wednesday marked one week since AJ's parents said they last saw the child, putting him to bed at their home in northwest suburban Crystal Lake. The following morning, Freund Sr. called police to report that his son was not in the house and that they had canvassed the neighborhood, went to a local park, checked an area gas station and called his school - but AJ was nowhere to be found, according to the 911 call released Tuesday. Neighbors left stuffed animals and an Easter basket on the front lawn of a family whose five-year-old son has been missing for several days. NBC 5s Kate Chappell has the latest from Crystal Lake. Law enforcement and first responders descended on a large wooded area in Woodstock Wednesday morning. At the same time, police were seen searching the family's home on Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake. Moments later, evidence technicians brought items from an evidence van into the Crystal Lake police station. Those items included a mattress, a large bin, two large brown bags, and an item that appeared to be a shovel with a long wooden handle. Police scoured the area surrounding the family's home for days after the boy's disappearance, searching hundreds of acres of land and water before centering their investigation on the house, saying they found no evidence of an abduction. The boy's parents initially told authorities that they put him to bed at their home around 9:30 p.m. on April 17. "We have a missing child," the father told dispatchers at the beginning of the 911 call the next morning, later saying they had checked "closets, the basement, the garage, everywhere" in the house to no avail. LISTEN TO THE 911 AUDIO HERE Audio of the 911 call the father of a missing Crystal Lake boy made when his son went missing was released by authorities Tuesday. On Tuesday, McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally urged anyone who may know something to come forward. Kenneally said the worst thing someone could do in the case would be to conceal the truth. We will literally be working on this case every day until we find AJ or get justice for him," he said. Police also asked the public for any video surveillance from the area in the days leading up the time the boy went missing, specifically for video taken between 7 a.m. on April 15 and 9 a.m. on April 18. "This would include video from home surveillance devices like the Ring Home Security System," police said in a statement Tuesday, asking the public to email jmattson@crystallake.org. The missing boy's father continued to stay at the familys home throughout the search, meeting with investigators over the weekend. "I have no control over what people think," Freund Sr. said over the weekend. "I just want my son to come home, OK?" Cunningham retained an attorney early in the investigation and was not cooperating with police based on advice from her lawyer, who said she was being treated as a suspect and alleged authorities had stopped searching for the boy - a claim Crystal Lake police denied. Both parents appeared Tuesday in McHenry County Circuit Court for a custody hearing related to their other son, who was taken into custody by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services the day AJ was reported missing. The hearing was continued, with the next hearing set for Monday at 9 a.m. CST. What to Know Robinson said he plans to focus on ensuring equity for all students and recruiting more black and Hispanic men as teachers "The education system needs to look more like America," he said As a veteran teacher at a troubled high school in Richmond, Virginia, Rodney Robinson wanted to better understand why so many students go directly from school to prison. So he took a job teaching students at a juvenile detention center. Four years later, Robinson has been chosen as the 2019 National Teacher of the Year for his dedication to helping disadvantaged students move beyond their mistakes. "I give my kids empathy, not sympathy, and that's the key," Robinson told The Associated Press. "It's all about empathizing understanding their situation, but teaching them how to overcome." Robinson's selection from among 57 award-winning teachers around the country was announced Wednesday by the Council of Chief State School Officers. As Teacher of the Year, Robinson will spend the next year traveling the country to advocate for students and teachers. He said he plans to focus on ensuring equity for all students and recruiting more black and Hispanic men as teachers. Robinson is among just about 2% of teachers in U.S. public schools who are black men. Another 2% are Hispanic men. "The education system needs to look more like America," he said. Robinson, 40, became a teacher to honor his mother, who struggled to get her high school diploma amid poverty and segregation in rural Virginia. When Robinson was in high school, his mother went back to school to get her GED, an experience that made Robinson understand the joy of learning. "I saw a different side of my mother in those classes, and I really enjoyed that side. I was like, is this what learning does? It inspires this type of feeling?" he said. "That really inspired me to become a teacher." Robinson has spent most of his 19-year career teaching social studies at Armstrong High School, a struggling school in a section of Richmond plagued by crime and violence. But where most people saw obstacles, Robinson saw "love and the commitment to do better in life." After 12 years there, Robinson started to feel burned out and disillusioned. But when his principal asked him if he knew any teachers who would be willing to take on teaching students at the juvenile detention center, he said he would take the job himself. At the time, in 2015, the Center for Public Integrity had just issued a report analyzing U.S. Department of Education data that showed Virginia led the nation in referrals of students to law enforcement. Robinson wanted to know why. "What better way to learn about the school-to-prison pipeline than to go into an actual jail or prison and teach the children," he said. Robinson went to work at the Virgie Binford Education Center, immediately changing the look of the school inside the detention center, filling its blank, white walls with color: a historical timeline and images of President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and other heroes to the students. The crimes the youths are charged with range from robbery and breaking and entering all the way up to murder. "We hung college banners on all the walls, just to let the kids know that this is just a temporary spot. You can still achieve your goals in life," he said. Robinson said he tries to provide stability, boost self-esteem and to create an environment where the students ages 12 through 19 feel appreciated. "You have to make sure they're comfortable and meet their needs. Once you do that, then the sky is the limit," he said. Doron Battle, a former student at Armstrong High, said Robinson drew in students with his infectious smile and big personality. He held their attention in class by using interactive notebooks, movies and storytelling to make history come alive. "He kind of made it real. It was vivid," said Battle, who went on to become a teacher himself. "His class was one that you actually looked forward to," he said. During his four years at the detention center, he's seen some heartbreaking things that might have sent other teachers looking for another job. He tells the story of two students he assigned to work on a project together. Six months later, one of the students was dead and the other was charged with his murder. "Having to compartmentalize that and still give that kid a quality education, that's hard," he said. As Teacher of the Year, Robinson is looking forward to telling the story of his students. One former student now works for a group that advocates for alternatives to youth incarceration. Some students have arrived at the detention center two or three years behind in their school work, but have caught up and managed to graduate on time. Others have been able to improve their reading levels by multiple grades in a couple of months. "My kids have overcome some tremendous odds and been through some traumatic, horrific circumstances, yet they still triumph, they still have dreams, they will want to be doctors and lawyers and everything you can of," he said. "Helping kids channel all that energy and dreams into something positive to where they can see an outcome and a result, that is what I love most about teaching." Ottawa, Canada, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eureka 93 Inc. (CSE: LVWL), one of North Americas largest hemp extraction companies, is pleased to announce that Marielle Weintraub, PhD, a leading U.S. authority on hemp extracts, has joined the Company as Vice President of U.S. Regulatory and Government Affairs. Ms. Weintraub brings significant regulatory experience, industry leadership and product insight to Eureka93. She is a founding board member and the current President of the U.S. Hemp Authority, which is establishing quality standards and best practices in the hemp industry. She is also an active member of the American Herbal Products Association-Cannabis Committee and the United Natural Products Alliance-Hemp/CBD Extracts Committee. In her previous role, as Strategic Business Development Director for the Hemp Initiative at Eurofins Food Integrity and Innovation (formerly Covance Food Solutions), she developed and drove hemp-specific testing and standards. Ms. Weintraub earned her PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, focusing on Alzheimers disease pathology. Eureka93 welcomes Ms. Weintraubs passionate leadership and and is very pleased to have such a recognized industry authority join the Eureka93 team. Her role, effective immediately, will be to support product development and the creation of a Quality Assurance program. She will also help the Company become a leader in establishing and defining clear product standards something that will distinguish Eureka93's products in the broader multibillion-dollar industry for hemp-extract products. The Food and Drug Agency (FDA), which has regulatory oversight of hemp and cannabis-derived products in the United States, will hold public hearings on May 31, 2019, to determine the regulatory pathway forward. Ms. Weintraub has applied for standing at these hearings. From its first CBD extraction facility in Eureka, Montana, the vertically integrated Eureka93 is already executing on its strategy to be the largest, most reliable supplier of wholesale hemp CBD products, while it builds its family of consumer brands targeted at specific health, wellness and beauty markets in the United States and beyond. Marielle positions us with advanced insights and capabilities to understand key consumer and stakeholder needs, and the best practices and partnerships towards development of advanced product solutions. We are thrilled to have her knowledge and her passion on our team, said David Rendimonti, CEO of Eureka93. About Eureka93 Eureka 93 Inc. is one of the largest hemp cultivation and extraction operations in North America. The vertically integrated company is dedicated to producing the highest-quality CBD products for its customers. Eureka93 is a design-driven company for creative solutions in systems, products, packages and services. For more information visit www.eureka93.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include all disclosures regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that are based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action. Forward-looking statements may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words or phrases such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, believes and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved, and may be based on managements current assumptions and expectations related to all aspects of the Companys business, industry and the global economy. Further, the Company cautions that this foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive and additional information identifying risks are detailed from time to time in the Companys other continuous disclosure filings. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents expectations of the Company as of the date of this press release and accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Eureka 93 Inc. www.eureka93.com You cant attend the most exciting two minutes in sports without donning a hat. Its been a Kentucky Derby tradition for decades. Plus, wearing a hat to the Derby is believed to bring good luck. Some racegoers are even willing to spend up to $1,000 to land the perfect accessory to their outfit. The iconic horse race takes place the first weekend of May and, when I attended for the first time last year, I wanted to fit in. As a Derby and a headpiece rookie, I headed to a millinery in Downtown Manhattan, to consult an expert: Lisa Shaub. Shes been making hats for 30 years and has even worked with celebs like Taylor Swift and Britney Spears. The first thing Shaub asked me is what color Id be wearing. I had a white dress, so that left us with an array of options. Heres her shop on Orchard Street in NYC: When hat shopping, you want something that is working with you and not overwhelming you, she told me. That looks different for everyone: Some people are really tall or really dramatic. Some people are really small with a tiny little face. Different people have different needs, so I make different kinds of shapes for everybody. The traditional derby hat is a big, wide-brimmed hat with a big flower, but Shaub is known for her fascinators and thats what she recommended I wear. A fascinator, I learned, is a smaller, more lightweight headpiece that fits on the head with an elastic. Shaub starts working on Derby-specific hats starting in January. While most of her clients set up appointments for custom-made hats, she always has walk-ins the week leading up to the Derby and even on race day. Everybody is a procrastinator, she said, and while shell get calls for derby hats as early as February, most people are coming in after April 15. Each hat takes a couple of weeks to make but the extravagant ones are even more time consuming. One of the most complex ones Shaub has made for the Derby was for comedian Tracy Morgans wife, Megan Morgan, pictured below. Another memorable Derby hat, said Shaub, is the one she made last year for Maryellen Bonomo, owner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby winner, Always Dreaming. Shaub, who wasnt watching the race, remembered getting a call from her mom right after Always Dreaming clinched the race: She calls me and says, You have to turn on the TV! And there [Bonomo] is, in my hat, being interviewed! The Kentucky Derby is like Shaubs Super Bowl, or millinery Christmas, as she put it. For some hat shops, the annual event is the backbone of their business. Its fun to see everyone dressed up. I love to see people being really creative and expressing themselves, so its nice when people have a license to do that. And its inspiring to see how the super rich do the Derby, she said: People that are really going, theyve spent thousands of dollars on their outfit. Shaubs pieces range from $95 to $700, and she said the average Derby racegoer will drop $475 on one hat. And those who also attend The Kentucky Oaks, the sister race of the Kentucky Derby held at Churchill Downs on Friday, are often buying two different hats, one for each event. Theyre all out of my price range, but I couldnt resist and I needed something. I shelled out a couple hundred dollars on a piece that Shaub called modest and sweet. She added: Youre a new hat wearer, so you may feel more daring next time. Heres what I went with: I felt pretty daring in the bright pink fascinator, and a bit fiscally irresponsible, but I was also as ready as I ever would be for the Run of the Roses. And if I ever find myself at the Kentucky Derby again, you can bet Ill be wearing my Lisa Shaub fascinator. This story first appeared on CNBC.com. More from CNBC: A U.S. Army veteran was plotting a large-scale terror attack in Los Angeles as revenge for the mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. Mark Steven Domingo boasted about amassing an arsenal of weapons, including 80 pounds of nails for a bomb, to carry out an attack in retaliation for the killing of Muslims by a white supremacist in the city of Christchurch, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday. He also allegedly discussed killing Los Angeles police officers and setting off explosives at the Santa Monica Pier and on local freeways. "There were mosque shootings in New Zealand," Domingo posted to a private group online on March 14, according to federal prosecutors. "[T]here must be retribution." Domingo allegedly added: "I feel like I should make a christians life miserable tomorrow for our fallen bros n sis in [N]ew Zealand ... maybe a jews life ... they shed our blood ... no Muslim should have to experience this, a message needs to be sent." An FBI informant, who was already in the private message group along with an FBI "online covert employee," made contact with Domingo two days later, the indictment says. Over six weeks of plotting with the informant, Domingo fantasized about murdering a laundry list of perceived enemies, including Christians, Jews, white supremacists, police officers, even his next-door neighbor. But he struggled to pinpoint a target or develop a plan. Asked if he was intending to get caught, Domingo offered an oddly casual response. "Martyrdom, bro," Domingo said, according to the indictment. The former U.S. Army infantryman, who completed a four-month deployment to Afghanistan in January 2013, became obsessed with the idea of getting his hands on an improvised explosive device after the FBI informant said he knew someone who used to make them. "We'll both make it. I just don't know how," Domingo said in one conversation, according to the indictment. "I'll be honest. I'm smart in history but I failed chemistry. Science is not my forte ... If he doesn't want to make it, don't force him. But ask him how. Details ... F-----g to the letter details. Ask him." Domingo was arrested after he made preparations to attack a "white nationalist rally" in Huntington Beach on April 27. He was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. The indictment was unsealed roughly six weeks after a gunman opened fire at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, killing 50 people. The suspect, a 28-year-old Australian national and avowed white supremacist, livestreamed the attack on Facebook using a camera mounted to his helmet. The gunman, identified as Brenton Tarrant, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the mass murder "one of New Zealand's darkest days." Less than a week later, she announced plans to ban nearly all military-style semi-automatic and assault-style rifles. The family of a 15-year-old girl is suing a South Florida charter school, alleging that it failed to protect the teen after police say she was sexually abused by a substitute teacher. Roman Jose Fondon Jr., a sub at Ben Gamla Charter High School in Hollywood, was arrested in September 2018 and charged with multiple counts of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious acts on a minor. Police allege 28-year-old Fondon engaged in sex acts with the female student at the school and at the parking lot of the Hollywood YMCA between February and April of last year. The girl told detectives they also communicated through social media, where they exchanged sexual messages and pictures of themselves. The victim's mother exclusively told NBC 6 on Wednesday that she trusted the charter school to be a good place for her child. "Last place I was thinking of was in the school ... it was a shock," she said. The suit alleges "at no time did the (defendants) place Fondon on probation, provide training about appropriate communication with students, place him under supervision, or take any steps to protect students." The family's attorney, Peter Leighton, said the school was aware that Fondon was not a teacher and was not certified. "Yet they let him have unfettered access to these young girls, which he did here -- a 15-year-old he sexually abused," Leighton said. "He had contact with her at the school, he took her off school property." The victim's mother said her daughter is still working to recover. "I was in shock," she said. "I saw my daughter was bad, really bad, just crying. Depression. She say, 'I want to die.'" Academica, the service that runs the charter school, told NBC 6 it hasn't been served the lawsuit and can't comment. The charter school said it disagrees with the allegations and that it hasn't done anything wrong. Fondon has entered a not guilty plea to his charges and is out on bond. What to Know Pais was already dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the time agents began retracing her steps, according to the initial findings. A South 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 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 - who lived in Surfside - 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. 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 coroner's 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 Denver's suburbs before killing themselves. A 16-year-old unaccompanied migrant boy from Guatemala fell ill after he was transferred to a government shelter in Texas and later died, officials said Wednesday. The boy crossed the border near El Paso, Texas, on April 19, and was taken to a shelter in Brownsville a day later, according to Guatemala's Foreign Ministry. He did not appear ill when he was transferred to the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a statement from the Administration for Children and Families, the division within HHS that cares for migrant children who cross the border alone. But the next morning, he had fever, chills and a headache and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released that day. When the teen didn't recover, he was taken to a second hospital and transferred to a children's hospital. Guatemalan officials said he had a severe infection in his brain and had emergency surgery, but never stabilized and died Tuesday. The cause of death was under review, as was the incident. His name was not released. The boy's brother and Guatemalan consular officials visited him while he was hospitalized, and hospital staff frequently updated his family in Guatemala, according to Evelyn Stauffer, a spokeswoman for the Administration for Children and Families. It was the third death in government custody since December, as the U.S. deals with a surge of unaccompanied children and Central American families arriving at the southern border. Two other children died while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody shortly after they arrived at the border. Trump administration officials have said the surge has strained resources beyond the breaking point, but immigrant advocates and some Democrats say part of the crisis is due to President Donald Trump's own hardline rhetoric and failed border policies. The 16-year-old was from the municipality of Camotan in the eastern area of Chiquimula. The Guatemalan Consulate in McAllen tried to get humanitarian visas so the parents could be with their son, but they were too old to travel, the foreign ministry said. The boy's body will be repatriated, but it's not clear when. In December, 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo died on Christmas Eve from influenza and a rapid, progressive infection that led to organ failure shortly after crossing the border. His death was two weeks after that of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, who also had a bacterial infection that quickly led to sepsis and organ failure. Both of those children were also from Guatemala but arrived with a family member and were in Customs and Border Protection custody, not the care of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with dealing with the care of migrant children who arrive at the border alone. The agency also managed the children who were separated from their parents by the Trump administration last summer. The last time a child died in the custody of Health and Human services was 2015. The teen's death comes as the Trump administration asks for $4.5 billion in supplemental funding for the border mostly for humanitarian aid. The official request said Health and Human Services 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. There were 50,036 unaccompanied children encountered during the last budget year, and so far this budget year there have been 35,898 children. The highest number was in 2014: 57,496. 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. Associated Press writer Sonny Figueroa in Guatemala City contributed to this report. What to Know NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says he will announce this month whether he is joining the list of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination De Blasio said Thursday that he would make his decision "in the month of May" as soon as he has something De Blasio spoke hours after Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet announced he was joining race, raising the number of Democratic candidates to 21 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he will announce this month whether he is joining the growing list of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president. De Blasio said Thursday that he would make his decision "in the month of May." He said he'll let people know as soon as he has something. De Blasio has made several trips to early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire to promote his record on police reform, early childhood education and other issues. He said his political action committee, Fairness PAC, has been conducting polling in Iowa. De Blasio spoke hours after U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado announced that he was joining the race, raising the number of Democratic presidential candidates to 21. What to Know Queens babys death as a result of brain trauma has been ruled a homicide 9-month-old Veto Garcia was at his babysitter's home when he had a seizure and began foaming at the mouth The childs babysitter, 22-year-old Ronita Singh, was arrested and charged with assault The death of a 9-month-old Queens baby who was found foaming at the mouth last year has been ruled a homicide. Veto Garcia was at his babysitters South Ozone Park home on June 14, 2018, when he suffered a seizure. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital and later transferred to Cohen Childrens Medical Center, where he died on June 17. The childs babysitter, 22-year-old Ronita Singh, was arrested at the time and charged with assault for her alleged role in the childs death. It is unclear if the charges will be upgraded after the homicide ruling. The medical examiner's office has not yet released a cause of death for the child. Police are still looking into the case. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MK2 Ventures Ltd. (TSXV/NEX: MK.H; "MK2" or the Company) is pleased to announce that, after an extensive global search, including numerous comprehensive project reviews, it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement dated May 1, 2019 (the "Purchase Agreement") with Longford Capital Corp. (the "Vendor") to acquire a 100% ownership interest in the Bakar high grade copper property located on Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (the "Bakar Property"). The Bakar Property Based on the geological setting (i.e. within the sub-aerial Karmutsen volcanic and sedimentary sequence), and the copper-silver mineralogy assemblages and styles, the Bakar Property is classified as a redbed copper-silver prospect. Redbed copper projects include the Keweenaw and Porcupine districts of Michigan, the Kennecott deposit in Alaska and the 47zone deposit in the Northwest Territories. Highlights of the Bakar Property include the following: Seven chip samples from outcrop were recovered during a due diligence site visit in December 2018 with the highest assay returning 38.7% Cu and 221.0 g/t Ag (Table 1), associated with semi-massive copper sulphides and native copper. (Table 1), associated with semi-massive copper sulphides and native copper. During the same site visit mineralization was observed intermittently over at least 30 m of apparent thickness in a N-NE trending near vertical fault zones as well as in flat lying replacement bodies. The mineralized trend strikes NW-SE for more than 200 m , and is open on both ends. in a N-NE trending near vertical fault zones as well as in flat lying replacement bodies. The mineralized trend strikes , and is open on both ends. The property covers an area of 1,349 ha and is located 2 km west from the active logging village of Holberg and 40 km west from the full-service town of Port Hardy (Figure 1). and is located 2 km west from the active logging village of Holberg and 40 km west from the full-service town of Port Hardy (Figure 1). The property is located within a copper-rich geological domain that hosts the previously producing Island Copper Mine , the Hushamu Deposit , and the Red Dog Deposit . , the , and the . Prospective regional geological, geophysical and geochemical features include: a major structural suture that runs NW-SE through the property; magnetic high features adjacent to an extensive NW-SE magnetic low corridor that shows a significant flexure on the property; NW-SE trending copper in stream sediment anomalies ; and copper in till anomalies that also trend NW-SE. No modern exploration has been carried out on the property. The Company also believes the property and surrounding area has the potential to host polymetallic porphyry and skarn type deposits. Garrett Ainsworth, CEO of MK2, commented: Based on our geological, geochemical, and geophysical compilation work we believe that the Bakar Property has the potential to possess the grade and size required of a discovery of importance. An airborne VTEM survey, geological mapping, and stream sediment sampling will be conducted prior to a decision to drill test any priority one targets that are generated. No modern exploration work has been completed at Bakar, and we are keen to carry out this first phase of exploration on a budget that is well within the Companys current cash resources. Galen McNamara, VP Exploration & Development of MK2, commented: The Bakar Property represents an excellent new British Columbia high-grade prospect with the highest copper grades Ive ever seen outcropping at surface. Additionally, the mineralization and geologic setting share striking similarities to the famous copper districts of Michigans Upper Peninsula. Combined with the fact that much of the area is generally unexplored, we are excited to begin a fully-funded exploration program almost immediately. The Purchase Agreement Under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, MK2 will complete its purchase of a 100% interest in the Bakar Property in consideration of the following payments and share issuances to the Vendor: $10,000 cash deposit upon execution of the Purchase Agreement; $40,000 cash payment upon closing of the acquisition; 500,000 common shares of the Company upon closing with a statutory hold period expiring 4 months from the date of issue; 750,000 common shares of the Company upon closing with a statutory hold period expiring 6 months from the date of issue; In addition, the Company will grant the Vendor a 2% NSR at closing of the acquisition subject to the right of the Company to repurchase 1% of the royalty for a $1,500,000 cash payment, and the remaining 1% for a $5,000,000 cash payment. Finally, pursuant to the Purchase Agreement the Company must incur $200,000 in expenditures on the Bakar Property work commitments within six (6) months of closing of the acquisition, or the Bakar Property will be forfeited. However, the Company's immediate plans for the property will account for a material portion of this commitment. In addition, the Company has more than sufficient cash reserves to complete the balance of expenditure requirements, in due course. Completion of the acquisition is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") which in turn shall be conditional upon, among other things, preparation and filing of technical report on the Bakar Property in accordance with National Instrument 43-101-Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). No finder's fee is payable by the Company in connection with the proposed transaction and for the purposes of applicable Exchange policies, the Vendor is not a non-arms length party to the Company. The acquisition of the Bakar Property by the Company is considered a Fundamental Acquisition by the Exchange and therefore trading in the common shares of the Company has been halted in accordance with the policies of the Exchange and will remain halted until such time as required documentation has been filed with and accepted by the Exchange and permission to resume trading has been obtained from the Exchange. Technical Information All scientific and technical information in this news release has been prepared by or reviewed and approved by Garrett Ainsworth, PGeo, President and CEO of the Company, and Galen McNamara, PGeo, Vice President Exploration and Development of the Company Each of Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. McNamara is a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101. The chip samples from outcrop reported in this news release were recovered by Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. McNamara perpendicular to outcropping mineralization across widths of 0.5 to 1.0 m. A total of seven chip samples were then transported from the Bakar Property to Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories (BVML) in Vancouver, BC for preparation and analysis. Samples were analyzed for 45 elements with four acid digestion Inductivity Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Over limit sample values were re-assayed for copper values over 10.0% using copper assay by classical titration (GC820), and silver values over 200 g/t by four acid digestion Inductivity Coupled Plasma - Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-ES). Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. McNamara have not verified any of the information regarding any of the properties or projects referred to herein other than the Bakar Property and mineralization at those other properties or projects is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Bakar Property. Table 1: Bakar Outcrop Chip Sample Assay Results Sample Number Easting (m) NAD83 Northing (m) NAD83 Cu (wt%) Ag (g/t) Sample Description 3267001 566249 5611229 0.8 1.8 Quartz carbonate veining within an altered tuff with prevalent malachite staining. 3267002 565856 5611130 0.01 <0.10 Possible fault breccia of oxidized medium grained basalt with intensive limonite staining 3267003 566799 5612393 0.01 <0.10 Intense shearing and extensive limonite alteration present in a fine-grained basalt with highly oxidized sulphides. 3267004 566620 5612443 38.7 221.0 Strongly mineralized and oxidized sheared basalt with tarnished sulphides including bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite and native copper. 3267005 566623 5612447 7.7 6.4 Moderately mineralized and oxidized sheared basalt with tarnished sulphides including bornite, chalcocite and malachite 3267006 566627 5612451 34.3 37.7 Strongly mineralized and oxidized sheared basalt with tarnished sulphides including bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite and malachite 3267007 566620 5612443 10.3 65.7 Moderately mineralized and oxidized sheared basalt with tarnished sulphides including bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite and native copper. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d6274a8d-4ee8-45ae-825c-8277c7f74953 On Behalf of the Board of Directors ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Garrett Ainsworth President and Chief Executive Officer 604-628-5616 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information. This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including completion of the acquisition of the Bakar Property and planned exploration activities. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, or believes or the negative connotation thereof 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 or the negative connation thereof. Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, including among others, that regulatory approval to the Purchase Agreement will be obtained, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner and that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Companys planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others: that regulatory approval to the transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement will not be obtained such that the transaction will be completed in accordance with its terms or at all, that the Company will not complete the required expenditures and that, as a result, the Bakar Property will be forfeited without any repayment to the Company, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of additional financing, no known mineral reserves or resources, reliance on key management and other personnel, potential downturns in economic conditions, actual results of exploration activities being different than anticipated, changes in exploration programs based upon results, and risks generally associated with the mineral exploration industry, environmental risks, changes in laws and regulations, community relations and delays in obtaining governmental or other approvals. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by 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 forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws. What to Know Ex-NJ school superintendent charged with defecating on another high school's track sued local police department for releasing his mug shot Thomas Tramaglini claims Holmdel police violated his constitutional rights by taking the picture and then releasing it Tramaglini resigned as superintendent of the Kenilworth schools and his attorney says he is working outside the education field A former New Jersey school superintendent who pleaded guilty to defecating on another high school's track has sued the local police department for releasing his mug shot to the 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 Tramaglini's due process rights were violated and alleged New Jersey law prohibits the taking of mug shots for low-level offenses. 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." Reached Wednesday morning, an attorney representing the police department didn't immediately comment on the lawsuit. 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 department's "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 offenses, liked the one Tramaglini pleaded guilty to. In a letter he sent to the state attorney general's 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. What to Know The former dean of a university in New York City plans to file a lawsuit against United Airlines alleging racial discrimination Donna Cill, an African-American woman and ex-assistant academic dean for Columbia University, alleges the incident occurred last month In a statement, United Airlines said the company has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. A former dean for a university in New York City announced Thursday she was suing United Airlines for alleged racial discrimination, assault, and false imprisonment after a confrontation with a flight attendant last month. Donna Cill, a black woman who was previously the assistant academic dean for Columbia University, alleges that on April 22, as she was flying back home to New Jersey from India on a United Airlines flight with her 14-year-old daughter, she was verbally assaulted by a United Airlines employee, racially discriminated against and was falsely accused of committing a federal crime which led to her false imprisonment for allegedly interfering with a flight by federal authorities. According to Cill, who is represented by civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Jasmine Rand, the flight she and her daughter were on diverted enroute from a scheduled landing in New Jersey to Maine and United Airlines provided passengers little information about the sudden change. Cill claims that after 15 hours in the air, the airlines informed passengers that when the plane landed in Maine, they were not allowed to deplane, and had to remain on the tarmac for an indefinite period of time. After the announcement, Cill allegedly approached the supervising flight attendant to ask how long the plane would be on the tarmac in Maine. According to Cill, the flight attendant yelled at her, charged at her with clenched fists and said, Im going to get you. Cill said another flight attendant intervened in order to help her and she returned to her seat frightened. According to Cills attorneys, white customers asked questions of the flight attendants and were not accused of a crime. The only person verbally assaulted, treated with physical aggression and hostility, and falsely accused of committing a federal crime to federal authorities was our client, they say. When the plane landed approximately 45 minutes later, federal law enforcement boarded the plane stating that United Airlines accused her of interfering with the flight which is a federal offense, Cill said. The agents allegedly interrogated her in front of her daughter and asked: Are you even a US citizen? Cill claims another passenger filmed the incident because he feared for her safety. Every year I travel to different countries with my daughter to teach her to be a respectful global citizen, Cill, who founded an organization affiliated with the United Nations, said, adding United Airlines racist behavior, threats, and false accusations fly in the face of what I teach my daughter and my work as a girl child cross-cultural advocate. Cills attorneys, who are also representing African-American actress Cacilie Hughes in a separate case involving the airlines and alleged racial discrimination, are demanding United Airlines fire the employee involved in the alleged incident. United Airlines: How much evidence of your racist practices do you need? Do we need to lead a nationally concerted boycott before you understand that you should not expect Black dollars if you refuse to respect Black dignity? United Airlines we demand that you fire the employee whom committed a crime by falsely reporting that Dr. Cill violated a federal law immediately, Crump and Rand said in a joint statement. I want my daughter to know that her life as a Black girl is equal to all other life, and when any person or company threatens her innate human rights that she has the strength to advocate for herself, just as I am standing up for her, Cill said. In a statement, United Airlines said the company has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. United Airlines' statement goes on to say: On multiple occasions during the flight, our crew notified customers about the need for a refueling stop in Bangor before reaching our final destination in Newark. Per standard procedure, CBP dispatched officers to meet our international flight upon landing in Bangor to provide crew clearance for re-entry into the United States. They also approached Ms. Cill to understand her concerns regarding the need to stop for fuel. After reading about Dr. Cills concerns on social media, we reached out to explain what happened and extended her compensation as a goodwill gesture. What to Know Measles is a highly contagious disease; young children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are most vulnerable Measles is transmitted by airborne particles, droplets, and direct contact with the respiratory secretions of an infected person Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough and red, watery eyes; the rash usually starts on the face A traveler with measles who flew into Newark Liberty International Airport from Israel may have exposed other people to the highly contagious disease, health officials say. The traveler arrived in Terminal C at the airport on April 16, the New Jersey Department of Health said Thursday. Anyone who was in Terminal C on April 16 between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. may have been exposed to measles and could develop symptoms as late as May 7 if infected, according to the health department. "New Jersey residents identified as potentially exposed on the ill individual's flights will be notified by their local health department," the department noted. Anyone who suspects they've been exposed is urged to call a health care provider before going to a medical office to prevent additional spread of the disease, which is transmitted by airborne particles, droplets, and direct contact with the respiratory secretions of an infected person. Two doses of the measles vaccine are 97 percent effective in preventing measles, so health officials urge anyone who hasn't been vaccinated to do so. Young children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at highest risk for severe complications, which can include pneumonia and encephalitis. Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough and red, watery eyes. The rash usually starts on the face, proceeds down the body, and may include the palms and soles. The rash lasts several days. Infected individuals are contagious from four days before rash onset through the fourth day after rash appearance. What to Know Former NYPD cop used his dead mother's identity to steal nearly $100,000 in benefits. Edward St. Hill, along with his wife Maria Ramos, collected more than $38,000 in Social Security and $50,000 in from the SEIU Pension Fund. St. Hill will spend between two and six years in prison after pleading guilty to grand larceny and other charges. An NYPD officer was sentenced to at least two years in prison for using his dead mother's identity to steal nearly $100,000 in benefits. Edward St. Hill, 52, kept up his mother Germains finances as if she were alive for more than a year after her June 2016 death. St. Hill, along with his wife Maria Ramos, impersonated his mother in numerous phone calls as part of the vast scheme, according to investigators. St. Hill used his inside police knowledge to forge NYPD paperwork, helping the dastardly duo collect more than $38,000 in Social Security and $50,000 in from the SEIU Pension Fund, prosecutors said. The former Brooklyn cop was forced to resign from the department and pleaded guilty in March to grand larceny, possession of a controlled substance, and attempted criminal possession of a weapon. "This former police officer allowed greed to overtake his principles to the point where he was willing to use his dead mothers identity to steal tens of thousands of dollars, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said. He is now paying a steep price the loss of his job and the loss of his freedom. The couple also used false documents to fraudulently close on the sale of Germaines home, which got them another $260,000, and refilled her painkiller prescription more than a dozen times after she died. Ramos pleaded guilty in March, and will sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay back more than $128,000 to Social Security and the pension fund. St. Hill could be behind bars for up to six years. What to Know Authorities say a 10-week-old puppy was found dead in a submerged and weighted cage in a northern New Jersey pond The dog was found Tuesday in West Milford. But it's not clear how long the animal had been in the water before it was discovered An autopsy will be performed to determine how and when the dog died. Authorities say the animal's breed remains under investigation Authorities say a 10-week-old Golden Retriever puppy was found dead in a submerged and weighted cage in a northern New Jersey pond. The dog was found Tuesday in West Milford. But it's not clear how long the animal had been in the water before it was discovered. The New Jersey State Agricultural State Lab will perform a necropsy to determine how and when the dog died. Township police and the Passaic County prosecutor's Office are leading the investigation. But they say there currently are no leads or suspects. A nonprofit animal welfare group is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the dog's death. The Passaic County Prosecutors Office urges anyone with additional information about this incident to call 1-877-370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org or contact West Milford Det. Eric Darnsteadt at 973-728-2801. What to Know Marilyn Cotto Montanez, 18, died after she was shot in the head in Yonkers last week; police say she was an innocent bystander Police are now searching for Jamir Thompson, 15, of Yonkers, in connection with Cotto Montanez's death Cotto Montanez was laid to rest Thursday Family and friends of an 18-year-old high school junior who was caught in the crossfire of a shooting in Yonkers last week remembered her as a "courageous" and "kind" person outside her funeral on Thursday. Marilyn Cotto Montanez was laid to rest Thursday, a week after she died after she was shot in the head near Morningside and Lake avenues in Yonkers. Many of the mourners wore pink Cotto Montanez' favorite color to pay tribute to her. "To get this much love, you couldn't have been a bad person. Nobody comes out and shows this much love for no reason, her brother Eugenio Cotto said Thursday. Im hurting, but Im glad to have another angel to watch and protect over me. And all I can do is ask for strength." Cotto Montanez, who had dreams of becoming a surgeon, had been taking advanced placement classes at Lincoln High School, Principal Ian Sherman said. She was scheduled to take an advanced placement Spanish test next week. Im speechless on what happened," he said. The student was "so courageous and she was just so kind," her friend Odalys Cruz added. "Even if she was having a bad day, she would make sure that you were okay." Grief-stricken friends and family put together a memorial at the site where she was killed, not far from where her wake was held Wednesday. Police are still searching for Jamir Thompson, 15, of Yonkers, in connection with her death. Yonkers Police Department Police say two groups got into a dispute after Jamir stole a gold chain from another person shortly before the shooting. At some point during the ensuing chase, Thompson pulled out a gun and fired at least one shot, hitting Cotto Montanez in the head, according to police. Cotto Montanez was walking to the corner store near her home with her 9-year-old sister when she was hit, police said. Jamir may have fled the New York area after the shooting, according to police. The Yonkers Police Department is now offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to his arrest. What to Know In the 19th century when horse racing was Americas most popular sport former slaves populated the ranks of jockeys and trainers Black men won more than half of the first 25 runnings of the Kentucky Derby But in the 1890s as Jim Crow laws destroyed gains black people had made since emancipation - they ended up losing their jobs When the horses enter the gate for the 145th Kentucky Derby, their jockeys will hail from Venezuela, New Mexico, Panama and France. None will be African-American. Thats been the norm for quite a while. When Marlon St. Julien rode the Derby in 2000, he became the first black man to get a mount since 1921. It wasnt always this way. The Kentucky Derby, in fact, is closely intertwined with black Americans struggles for equality, a history I explore in my book on race and thoroughbred racing. In the 19th century when horse racing was Americas most popular sport former slaves populated the ranks of jockeys and trainers, and black men won more than half of the first 25 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. But in the 1890s as Jim Crow laws destroyed gains black people had made since emancipation they ended up losing their jobs. From slavery to the Kentucky Derby On May 17, 1875, a new track at Churchill Downs ran, for the first time, what it hoped would become its signature event: the Kentucky Derby. Prominent thoroughbred owner H. Price McGrath entered two horses: Aristides and Chesapeake. Aristides rider that afternoon was Oliver Lewis, who, like most of his Kentucky Derby foes, was African-American. The horses trainer was an elderly former slave named Ansel Williamson. Lewis was supposed to take Aristides to the lead, tire the field, and then let Chesapeake go on to win. But Aristides simply refused to let his stablemate pass him. He ended up scoring a thrilling victory, starting the Kentucky Derby on its path to international fame. Meanwhile, men like Lewis and Williamson had shown that free blacks could be accomplished, celebrated members of society. I ride to win To many black Americans, Isaac Murphy symbolized this ideal. Between 1884 and 1891, Murphy won three Kentucky Derbys, a mark unequaled until 1945. Born a slave in Kentucky, Murphy, along with black peers like Pike Barnes, Soup Perkins and Willie Simms, rode regularly in integrated competition and earned big paychecks. Black jockeys were even the subjects of celebrity gossip; when Murphy bought a new house, it made the front page of The New York Times. One white memoirist, looking back on his childhood, remembered that every little boy who took any interest in racinghad an admiration for Isaac Murphy. After the Civil War, the Constitution guaranteed black male suffrage and equal protection under the law, but Isaac Murphy embodied citizenship in a different way. He was both a black man and a popular hero. When Murphy rode one of his most famous races, piloting Salvator to victory over Tenny at Sheepshead Bay in 1890, the crusading black journalist T. Thomas Fortune interviewed him after the race. Murphy was friendly, but blunt: I ride to win. Fortune, who was waging a legal battle to desegregate New York hotels, loved that response. It was that kind of determination that would change the world, he told his readers: men like Isaac Murphy, leading by example in the fight to end racism after slavery. Destined to disappear? Only a few weeks after the interview with Fortune, Murphys career suffered a tremendous blow when he was accused of drinking on the job. He would go on to win another Kentucky Derby the next spring, riding Kingman, a thoroughbred owned by former slave Dudley Allen, the first and only black man to own a Kentucky Derby winner. But Murphy died of heart failure in 1896 at the age of 35 two months before the Supreme Court made segregation the law of the land in Plessy v. Ferguson. Black men continued to ride successfully through the 1890s, but their role in the sport was tenuous at best. A Chicago sportswriter grumbled that when he went to the track and saw black fans cheering black riders, he was uncomfortably reminded that black men could vote. The 15th Amendment and Isaac Murphy had opened the door for black Americans, but many whites were eager to slam it shut. After years of success, black men began getting fewer jobs on the racetrack, losing promotions and opportunities to ride top horses. White jockeys started to openly demand segregated competition. One told the New York Sun in 1908 that one of his black opponents was probably the best jockey he had ever seen, but that he and his colleagues did not like to have the negro riding in the same races with them. In a 1905 Washington Post article titled Negro Rider on Wane, the writer insisted that black men were inferior and thus destined to disappear from the track, as Native Americans had inevitably disappeared from their homelands. Black jockey Jimmy Winkfield shot to stardom with consecutive Kentucky Derby victories in 1901 and 1902, but he quickly found it difficult to get more mounts, a pattern that became all too common. He left the United States for a career in Europe, but his contemporaries often werent so fortunate. Bettmann Archive Their obituaries give us glimpses of the depression and desperation that came with taking pride in a vocation, only to have it wrenched away. Soup Perkins, who won the Kentucky Derby at 15, drank himself to death at 31. The jockey Tom Britton couldnt find a job and committed suicide by swallowing acid. Albert Isom bought a pistol at a pawnshop and shot himself in the head in front of the clerk. The history of the Kentucky Derby, then, is also the history of men who were at the forefront of black life in the decades after emancipation only to pay a terrible price for it. (Katherine Mooney is an assistant professor of history at Florida State University. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.) In 1958, Jose Ramon Lopez's father owned Cuba's main airport, its national airline and three small hotels. Conchita Beltran's family had about 2,160 acres of sugar and tobacco fields. And the families of Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia Bengochea had docks in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. All properties were taken in Cuba's socialist revolution. The dispossessed families later moved to the United States and abandoned hope of compensation as Cuba and the U.S. severed relations and fought during decades of the Cold War. But on Thursday, Behn and Garcia Bengochea filed what were believed to be the first lawsuits against European and American companies doing business on confiscated properties in Cuba thanks to the Trump administration's decision to activate a provision of the U.S. embargo on the island. Known as Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, the section allows Americans, and Cubans who later became Americans, to sue almost any company deemed to be "trafficking" in property confiscated by Cuba's government. Every president since the law's passage has suspended Title III because of objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba and because of the potential effect on future negotiated settlements between the U.S. and Cuba. The law contains exceptions for residential properties, properties worth less than $50,000 and properties linked to travel to Cuba deemed legal under U.S. law. Its activation, however, could generate dozens or even hundreds of lawsuits, along with trade fights between the U.S. on one side and countries including Spain, France and Britain on the other. Behn and Garcia Bengochea, who filed cases in federal court in Miami, are the heirs of families that owned ports which are now being used to dock cruise ships that began traveling to Cuba in 2016 under President Barack Obama's detente with the island. Behn's grandfather, American William C. Behn, was president of the company Havana Docks, which owned three docks in the capital that were confiscated in 1960. Mickael Behn, a television executive who lives between Miami and London, says he is suing Carnival Cruise Corporation for up to three times the current value of the docks, as permitted under the law. Bengochea, a neurosurgeon who lives in northeast Florida, owns 80 percent of the shares of the confiscated Cuban company La Maritima, which operated the port of Santiago de Cuba. He is suing for up to $20 million. Carnival said only that its cruises to Cuba were continuing and referred The Associated Press to a statement from the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group, saying that "Cruising to Cuba falls under the lawful travel exemption under Title 3 of the Helms Burton Act. Our cruise members have been and are now engaged in lawful travel to Cuba as expressly authorized by U.S. federal government." "We want to get justice," said Bob Martinez, the lawyer for both men. "This was a robbery and what we're trying to get is compensation for the illegal use of these properties." Other potential major targets include Spanish hotel chains Melia and Iberostar, Pernod Ricard of France, and other U.S. cruise lines that dock at ports confiscated from U.S. residents." Lawyers and potential plaintiffs say they expect only a trickle of lawsuits at first due to the expense and complexity of filing litigation under a law that is being put into effect for the first time and touches on issues of international trade and sovereignty. Suing is also expensive, with initial filing fees of more than $6,500 a case, and there is the difficulty and expense of proving ownership with old Cuban documents. For its part, Cuba fears it's already lagging levels of foreign investment could be permanently crippled as a result of the activation of the provision. At a Cuban government-organized May Day parade Wednesday in Havana, marchers carried signs and chanted slogans denouncing the Helms-Burton law. The law "was an effort to tie the hands of any president to improve relations with Cuba," Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba's director-general of U.S. affairs, told The Associated Press in Washington. "No doubt that there will be a threatening effect that will inhibit some investors of going to Cuba. We cannot ignore that that will occur," he said. "It will perhaps have an impact on the living standards, the living conditions, of common Cubans ... It will damage perhaps the relationship of the United States and Cuba more than it is today." On Thursday, the European Union also said it could file a World Trade Organization lawsuit or levy its own sanctions against U.S. entities that sue under Title III. "The EU sees the extraterritorial application of unilateral restrictive measures as violating international law, and will take all appropriate measures," the EU said in a statement. Others, however, celebrated the first lawsuits. Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, from the exile group Cuban Democratic Directorate, said that the lawsuits have a clear message. "Everyone who wants to invest in Cuba will have to go to federal court," he said after a press conference in front of the downtown court where the suits were filed. Beltran said her family had 860 acres (348 hectares) of sugar fields and 1,300 acres (526 hectares) of tobacco in western Pinar del Rio province. She has no idea if she will be able to sue a foreign corporation doing business related to her properties, but she is optimistic. "God willing, I want to see restitution or compensation before I die," said Beltran, 76, who fled to Miami in 1961. She said her husband died 35 years ago dreaming of some form of compensation for their loss. "For me, justice is being done," she said of the decision to activate the law. The Justice Department has certified some 6,000 claims worth approximately $8 billion at current values. There are an additional 200,000 uncertified claims, many by Cuban-Americans, whose value could reach into the tens of billions of dollars. One of the uncertified claims belongs to Lopez, whose family had owned the airport, airline Cubana de Aviacion and three hotels in Havana and the southern city of Cienfuegos since 1952. Along with the airlines Aeromexico, LATAM of Chile and Copa of Panama, Lopez said he is preparing documents to sue the Cuban government and Melia, which runs the Cienfuegos hotel. He said he isn't worried by the potential investment of time or money. "At the end of the day they're going to recognize that it's ours," said Lopez, a 65-year-old retiree who divides his time between Madrid and Miami. "The moment has finally come." Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon reported this story in Miami and AP writer Michael Weissenstein reported from Havana. What to Know Ten men were arrested in an undercover operation targeting child predators in the Philadelphia area and beyond, officials announced. The investigation, which involved multiple law enforcement agencies, targeted men who lurked the internet to have sex with minors. Two of the suspects are an airline pilot and flight attendant who were in Philadelphia on a layover, officials said. A month-long, undercover sting operation led to the arrests of ten child predators, including a pilot and a flight attendant who happened to be in Philadelphia on a layover on the same day, officials announced Thursday. The investigation, which involved multiple law enforcement agencies, targeted men who lurked the internet to have sex with children under the age of 15. Marvin Jennings, 53, of Philadelphia; Mohammed Merchant, 24, of North Brunswick, New Jersey; Gregory Sylvia, 32, of Peabody, Massachusetts; Santhosh Akinepalli, 27, of Exton, Pennsylvania; Anthony Quairoli, 22, of Essington, Pennsylvania; Michael Norman, 38, of Las Vegas, Nevada; Kenneth Ruzat, 54, of Trainer, Pennsylvania; Andrew Oatley, 23, of Galena, Maryland; Roberto Ascenion, 37, of Norristown, Pennsylvania; and Sachin Shetty, 28, of Hatfield, Pennsylvania; were all arrested in connection to the investigation. These defendants actively sought out and targeted juveniles, attempting to prey upon our youth, for their own warped sexual gratification, Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said. That is the very definition of predatory behavior. One of the suspects, Michael Norman, was a flight attendant and in Philadelphia on a layover in early April, investigators said. Norman allegedly prowled a social networking website and asked who he thought was a 15-year-old boy to meet up for sex. That boy" was actually an undercover corporal with the Pennsylvania State Police and Norman was arrested, according to officials. The same day of Normans arrest, Gregory Sylvia, an airline pilot, was also in Philadelphia on a layover. Sylvia allegedly sent nude photos on a social media website to a person he thought was a 15-year-old boy. The boy was the same undercover corporal who caught Norman, investigators said. Marvin Jennings had already been found guilty of rape years ago, according to court records. Yet that didnt stop him from driving to Ridley Township back on April 30 to have sex with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, investigators said. That girl ended up being an undercover Ridley Township police officer. Jennings, Merchant, Akinepalli, and Shetty are all charged with attempt to commit statutory sexual assault and related offenses. Sylvia, Norman, Ruzat, and Oatley are all charged with attempt to commit involuntary sexual intercourse and other related offenses. Finally, Quairoli and Ascenion are both charged with attempt to commit rape of a child and related offenses. This undercover operation is a reminder to parents and community members how important it is to talk with their children, monitor internet use, and report any suspicious activity to our ICAC (Internet Crime Against Children) Task Force, Copeland said. I would like to commend our ICAC Task Force members and its various law enforcement partners for their continued work in locating and apprehending these perpetrators. Don't Be a Victim: A weeklong series NBC10 is giving you tips on how to not be the victim of fraudsters every day, starting Monday, April 29 through Friday, May 3. Follow along on TV and online and test your knowledge with our quiz. Dan Bell wanted to sell his grandson's old bike online, but when a buyer offered more than the asking price, Bell knew something was up. Bell was being targeted as part of an overpayment scam that could leave you on the hook for payments to your bank while the scammers line their pockets with your cash. When he advertised the bike on Craigslist, Bell asked for $90, but the scammer actually offered to write a money order for $120 as long as Bell held on to the bike for him. Soon thereafter, the "buyer" texted Bell saying his assistant mixed up the payment and accidentally sent Bell a money order for $998. When the check arrived in the mail, the buyer asked Bell to deposit it into his account and wire back the over-payment. Thankfully for Bell, he reached out to NBC10 Responds instead. U.S. Postal Service inspector Reginald Wade said there are some ways you can avoid being a victim of such an overpayment scam: 1. An offer to pay more than you're asking for is a sign of a scam in and of itself. "If someone's asking if they can pay you more than your asking price, you don't wanna do that," Wade said. 2. If someone's trying to pressure you into finalizing the sale quickly, resist. "If their money's good now, it's gonna be good tomorrow and it's gonna be good the day after that. So just try to slow the whole process down," Wade said. 3. Never agree to return money. 4. Take a close look at the money order itself. Are there misspellings? 5. Watch for missing security features on the money order. A money order from the U.S. Postal Service, for example, will show a Benjamin Franklin watermark running from top to bottom on the left side when held to a light. A security thread showing "USPS" will also run from top to bottom when held to a light. 6. Check the addresses. Addresses, as well as names and phone numbers, should all be the same on the money order. In Bell's case, the money order named a Milford, Pennsylvania address, the envelope it arrived it had a return address to Philadelphia and the buyer asked for excess funds to be wired to Twin Lake, Michigan. It's also a federal offense to send a counterfeit check or money order through the U.S. mail, so if you receive one, report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service so they can investigate, Wade said. Dutch English PRESS RELEASE : REGULATED INFORMATION - INSIDE INFORMATION 2 May 2019, 15:40 CEST BIOCARTIS ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT OF EUR 150 MILLION SENIOR UNSECURED CONVERTIBLE BONDS DUE 9 MAY 2024 Key messages: Successful placement of the offering of EUR 150 million senior unsecured convertible bonds due 9 May 2024 following the exercise of EUR 25 million increase option The Bonds shall bear a coupon of 4.00% per annum The conversion price will be set at a 25.00% premium above the reference price, which will be equal to the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of the ordinary shares of Biocartis on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels on 2 May 2019 and will be announced by press release after the close of trading on Euronext Brussels on that day Mechelen, Belgium, 2 May 2019 - With reference to the press release issued on 2 May 2019 at 08:00 CEST, Biocartis Group NV ("Biocartis" or the "Company"), an innovative molecular diagnostics company (Euronext Brussels: BCART), announces that the offering (the "Offering") of EUR 150 million senior unsecured convertible bonds due 9 May 2024 (the "Bonds") has been successfully completed. Ewoud Welten, Chief Financial Officer van Biocartis, commented: "Biocartis today fundamentally improved its funding position to support the further global roll-out of Idylla(TM). This convertible bonds issue allows us to diversify our capital structure with a new financing instrument that enables us to lower our overall cost of capital and to attract interest from a new pool of investors. Driven by a strong momentum in the marketing of the transaction, we managed to attract interest from a renowned group of international and local institutional investors. Overall, this event was an important next step in the execution of our business plan that is focused on creating a new global community of easy and rapid molecular diagnostics." The Company currently envisages using the net proceeds to fund its growth, in particular to support and expand the development and commercialization of the Idylla(TM) test menu and applications, its sales and marketing activities, further investments in its cartridge manufacturing capacity, and for working capital. The Offering will enable the Company to diversify its sources of financing and pro-actively optimize its capital structure. The remainder of the net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. The Bonds will mature on 9 May 2024 (5 years), will be in dematerialised form in the denomination of EUR 100,000 each, will be issued at 100% of their principal amount, and will (to the extent not previously converted, redeemed or repurchased) be redeemed at par at maturity. The Bonds will bear a coupon of 4.00% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrear on 9 May and 9 November of each year, beginning on 9 November 2019. The Bonds were offered to institutional investors only, outside the United States of America - in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act - and outside Canada, Australia, South Africa and Japan. Closing and settlement of the Offering are expected to occur on 9 May 2019 (the "Closing Date"). An application will be made for the Bonds to be listed and admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels by no later than 1 December 2019. The listing prospectus will not be available at any time on or before the Closing Date and will only be available upon listing of the Bonds. In the context of the Offering, the Company has agreed to a lock-up undertaking in relation to its shares and equity-linked securities for a period ending 90 calendar days after the Closing Date, subject to customary exceptions. Belfius Bank SA/NV in cooperation with Kepler Cheuvreux SA and J.P. Morgan Securities plc acted as Joint Bookrunners, and Bryan, Garnier & Co. Limited (together with the Joint Bookrunners, the "Managers") acted as Co-Lead Manager in the Offering. ----- END ---- More information: Renate Degrave Manager Corporate Communications & Investor Relations email rdegrave@biocartis.com tel +32 15 631 729 | mobile +32 471 53 60 64 About Biocartis Biocartis (Euronext Brussels: BCART) is an innovative molecular diagnostics (MDx) company providing next generation diagnostic solutions aimed at improving clinical practice for the benefit of patients, clinicians, payers and industry. Biocartis' proprietary MDx Idylla(TM) platform is a fully automated sample-to-result, real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) system that offers accurate, highly reliable molecular information from virtually any biological sample in virtually any setting. Biocartis is developing and marketing a rapidly expanding test menu addressing key unmet clinical needs in oncology. This area represents the fastest growing segment of the MDx market worldwide. Today, Biocartis offers tests supporting melanoma, colorectal and lung cancer. More information: www.biocartis.com . Press Photo Library available here. Follow us on Twitter: @Biocartis_. Biocartis and Idylla(TM) are registered trademarks in Europe, the United States and other countries. The Biocartis and Idylla(TM) trademark and logo are used trademarks owned by Biocartis. This press release is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in any jurisdiction where to do so would be unlawful. Any persons reading this press release should inform themselves of and observe any such restrictions. Biocartis takes no responsibility for any violation of any such restrictions by any person. Please refer to the product labeling for applicable intended uses for each individual Biocartis product. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities in any jurisdiction. No securities of Biocartis may be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Forward-looking statements Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, the Company directors' or managements' current expectations and projections concerning future events such as the Company's results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, growth, strategies and the industry in which the Company operates. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities are not guarantees of future performance and should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. In addition, even if actual results or developments are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in future periods. No representations and warranties are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based, except if specifically required to do so by law or regulation. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person's officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Important information This communication is not a prospectus for the purposes of the Prospectus Directive (Directive 2003/71/EC and amendments thereto, including Directive 2010/73/EU, to the extent implemented in the relevant Member State of the EEA (as defined below)) and any implementing measure in each relevant Member State of the EEA (the "Prospectus Directive"). This communication cannot be used as basis for any investment agreement or decision. ANY DECISION TO PURCHASE ANY OF THE BONDS SHOULD ONLY BE MADE ON THE BASIS OF AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW BY A PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR OF THE COMPANY'S PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION. NEITHER THE MANAGERS NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES ACCEPT ANY LIABILITY ARISING FROM THE USE OF, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION AS TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF, THIS PRESS RELEASE OR THE COMPANY'S PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT NOTICE UP TO THE CLOSING DATE. EACH PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR SHOULD PROCEED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT IT MUST BEAR THE ECONOMIC RISK OF AN INVESTMENT IN THE BONDS OR THE ORDINARY SHARES TO BE ISSUED OR TRANSFERRED AND DELIVERED UPON CONVERSION OF THE BONDS AND NOTIONALLY UNDERLYING THE BONDS (TOGETHER WITH THE BONDS, THE "SECURITIES"). NONE OF THE COMPANY OR THE MANAGERS MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION AS TO (I) THE SUITABILITY OF THE SECURITIES FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR, (II) THE APPROPRIATE ACCOUNTING TREATMENT AND POTENTIAL TAX CONSEQUENCES OF INVESTING IN THE SECURITIES OR (III) THE FUTURE PERFORMANCE OF THE SECURITIES EITHER IN ABSOLUTE TERMS OR RELATIVE TO COMPETING INVESTMENTS. Acquiring investments to which this announcement relates may expose an investor to a significant risk of losing the entire amount invested. Persons considering making such investments should consult an authorised person specialising in advising on such investments. This announcement does not constitute a recommendation concerning the securities referred to herein. The information contained in this announcement is for general information only and does not purport to be full or complete. This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, an offer to sell or issue, or any solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for Bonds or shares, and any purchase of, subscription for or application for, Bonds or shares. NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN BY THE COMPANY, THE MANAGERS OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES THAT WOULD PERMIT AN OFFERING OF THE BONDS OR POSSESSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PRESS RELEASE OR ANY OFFERING OR PUBLICITY MATERIAL RELATING TO THE BONDS IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE ACTION FOR THAT PURPOSE IS REQUIRED. PERSONS INTO WHOSE POSSESSION THIS PRESS RELEASE COMES ARE REQUIRED BY THE COMPANY AND THE MANAGERS TO INFORM THEMSELVES ABOUT, AND TO OBSERVE, ANY SUCH RESTRICTIONS. THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES. THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL SECURITIES OR THE SOLICITATION OF ANY OFFER TO BUY SECURITIES, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER OF SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. An offer of securities to which this announcement relates is only addressed to and directed at persons in member states of the European Economic Area ("EEA") who are 'qualified investors' within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive ("Qualified Investors"), or such other investors as shall not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of Article 3.2 of the Prospectus Directive. THE BONDS ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE OFFERED, SOLD OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE TO AND SHOULD NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE TO ANY RETAIL INVESTOR IN THE EEA. FOR THESE PURPOSES, A RETAIL INVESTOR MEANS A PERSON WHO IS ONE (OR MORE) OF: (I) A RETAIL CLIENT AS DEFINED IN POINT (11) OF ARTICLE 4(1) OF MIFID II; OR (II) A CUSTOMER WITHIN THE MEANING OF DIRECTIVE 2002/92/EC (AS AMENDED OR SUPERSEDED), WHERE THAT CUSTOMER WOULD NOT QUALIFY AS A PROFESSIONAL CLIENT AS DEFINED IN POINT (10) OF ARTICLE 4(1) OF MIFID II. CONSEQUENTLY, NO KEY INFORMATION DOCUMENT REQUIRED BY REGULATION (EU) NO 1286/2014, AS AMENDED (THE "PRIIPS REGULATION") FOR OFFERING OR SELLING THE BONDS OR OTHERWISE MAKING THEM AVAILABLE TO RETAIL INVESTORS IN THE EEA HAS BEEN PREPARED AND THEREFORE OFFERING OR SELLING THE BONDS OR OTHERWISE MAKING THEM AVAILABLE TO ANY RETAIL INVESTOR IN THE EEA MAY BE UNLAWFUL UNDER THE PRIIPS REGULATION. In addition, any offer of securities to which this announcement relates is in the United Kingdom being distributed only to, and is directed only at, (i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order"), (ii) high net worth entities etc. falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order, and (iii) any other person to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as 'relevant persons'). The offering of securities to which this announcement relates will only be available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe for, purchase, or otherwise acquire securities will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents. THIS DOCUMENT AND THE OFFERING WHEN MADE IS NOT ADDRESSED TO, AND NOT DIRECTED AT, ANY CONSUMER (CONSUMENT / CONSOMMATEUR) WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE BELGIAN CODE OF ECONOMIC LAW (WETBOEK VAN ECONOMISCH RECHT / CODE DE DROIT ECONOMIQUE), AS AMENDED. No announcement or information regarding the offering, listing or securities of the Company referred to above may be disseminated to the public in jurisdictions where a prior registration or approval is required for such purpose. No steps have been taken, or will be taken, for the offering or listing of securities of the Company in any jurisdiction where such steps would be required, except for the admission of the BONDS and UNDERLYING shares on Euronext Brussels. The issue, exercise, or sale of, and the subscription for or purchase of, securities of the Company are subject to special legal or statutory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. The Company is not liable if the aforementioned restrictions are not complied with by any person. THE MANAGERS ARE ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY AND NO ONE ELSE IN CONNECTION WITH THE BONDS AND WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE TO ANY OTHER PERSON FOR PROVIDING THE PROTECTIONS AFFORDED TO CLIENTS OF THE MANAGERS OR FOR PROVIDING ADVICE IN RELATION TO THE SECURITIES. EACH OF THE COMPANY, THE MANAGERS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY OBLIGATION OR UNDERTAKING TO UPDATE, REVIEW OR REVISE ANY STATEMENT CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE WHETHER AS A RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OR OTHERWISE. Information to Distributors: SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE PRODUCT GOVERNANCE REQUIREMENTS CONTAINED WITHIN: (A) EU DIRECTIVE 2014/65/EU ON MARKETS IN FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS, AS AMENDED ("MIFID II"); (B) ARTICLES 9 AND 10 OF COMMISSION DELEGATED DIRECTIVE (EU) 2017/593 SUPPLEMENTING MIFID II; AND (C) LOCAL IMPLEMENTING MEASURES (TOGETHER, THE "MIFID II PRODUCT GOVERNANCE REQUIREMENTS"), AND DISCLAIMING ALL AND ANY LIABILITY, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, WHICH ANY "MANUFACTURER" (FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE MIFID II PRODUCT GOVERNANCE REQUIREMENTS) MAY OTHERWISE HAVE WITH RESPECT THERETO, THE BONDS HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO A PRODUCT APPROVAL PROCESS, WHICH HAS DETERMINED THAT: (I) THE TARGET MARKET FOR THE BONDS IS ELIGIBLE COUNTERPARTIES AND PROFESSIONAL CLIENTS ONLY, EACH AS DEFINED IN MIFID II; AND (II) ALL CHANNELS FOR DISTRIBUTION OF THE BONDS TO ELIGIBLE COUNTERPARTIES AND PROFESSIONAL CLIENTS ARE APPROPRIATE. ANY PERSON SUBSEQUENTLY OFFERING, SELLING OR RECOMMENDING THE BONDS (A "DISTRIBUTOR") SHOULD TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE MANUFACTURERS' TARGET MARKET ASSESSMENT; HOWEVER, A DISTRIBUTOR SUBJECT TO MIFID II IS RESPONSIBLE FOR UNDERTAKING ITS OWN TARGET MARKET ASSESSMENT IN RESPECT OF THE BONDS (BY EITHER ADOPTING OR REFINING THE MANUFACTURERS' TARGET MARKET ASSESSMENT) AND DETERMINING APPROPRIATE DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS. THE TARGET MARKET ASSESSMENT IS WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF ANY CONTRACTUAL OR LEGAL SELLING RESTRICTIONS IN RELATION TO ANY OFFERING OF THE BONDS. FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, THE TARGET MARKET ASSESSMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE: (A) AN ASSESSMENT OF SUITABILITY OR APPROPRIATENESS FOR THE PURPOSES OF MIFID II; OR (B) A RECOMMENDATION TO ANY INVESTOR OR GROUP OF INVESTORS TO INVEST IN, OR PURCHASE, OR TAKE ANY OTHER ACTION WHATSOEVER WITH RESPECT TO THE BONDS. What to Know Two off-duty Philadelphia police officers and a retired officer are accused of fighting a deputy at a restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach, FL. Paul Seeger, a retired officer, his wife Cindy Caine, an off-duty officer, and Frank Bonett, another off-duty officer, were all arrested. Investigators believe alcohol played a role in the incident. Two off-duty Philadelphia police officers as well as a retired officer were arrested following a fight with a deputy at a Florida restaurant, investigators said. The incident took place at the Crabby Bills Restaurant on 401 Gulf Boulevard in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, Tuesday around 11 p.m. Deputies responded to the business after receiving a report of a domestic battery. When deputies arrived they found Paul Seeger, a 51-year-old retired Philadelphia police officer, pushing his wife, Cindy Caine, a 44-year-old Philadelphia police officer, investigators said. The deputy approached the couple as they argued near an intersection. Seeger allegedly walked away as the deputy told him multiple times to stop. When the deputy grabbed Seegers arm, he resisted while Caine pushed the deputys arm away, police said. Frank Bonett, a 44-year-old Philadelphia police officer, then approached the deputy, threatened him, removed his shirt, clenched his fists and began cursing at him, according to investigators. Police say both Seeger and Bonett continued to approach the deputy in an angry and hostile manner despite more warnings. The deputy then used an electronic control weapon on Seeger but it was ineffective, according to investigators. Seeger then allegedly took a combative stance but the deputy managed to take him down to the ground, leading to a violent struggle between the two. Seeger was eventually handcuffed and taken into custody, police said. Responding deputies also arrested Bonett and Caine. Seeger is charged with domestic battery and resisting an officer with violence. Caine is charged with battery on a law enforcement officer while Bonett is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer. Police believe alcohol played a role in the incident. Caine and Seeger were also allegedly uncooperative during the investigation. After decades sitting on shelves in evidence rooms across Philadelphia, 1,574 rape kits that accumulated from investigations stretching back to the 1980s have been tested for the first time, city law enforcement officials said Thursday. DNA evidence and other information gleaned from those invaluable pieces of rape investigations are expected to lead to dozens of new charges in long-unsolved "stranger rapes," District Attorney Larry Krasner said. Clearing out the backlog also promises to increase the speed and success of new investigations, Krasner said, because the Philadelphia police department's lab has significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to analyze new kits for DNA evidence. "What we are talking about here are stranger rapes, previously unsolved," Krasner told reporters. "We're going back a long way and going back a long way talking to people who were terribly damaged a long time ago." An arrest in at least one previously unsolved rape case, from 1999, has already come from clearing out the backlog, he said. The goal of Philadelphia law enforcement agencies now is to analyze rape kits within 90 days of the crime, Krasner said. Currently, the police crime lab gets to every kit within 120 days, which the district attorney described as "real progress" from the last few decades when the backlog emerged. Dozens of new leads have been developed in previous rape investigations going back years because of the clearance of the backlog, officials said. "The rape kit backlog demonstrated to some that sexual violence was not an important issue in this city. And not we know that's not true," said Dr. Monique Howard, executive director of Women Organized Against Rape. "This is a pivotal moment in WOAR's mission of eliminating sexual violence as well as the reduction of rape culture." Assistant District Attorney Branwen McNabb, who supervises the office's Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, said tireless work by scientists, police, prosecutors and advocates will provide "closure and justice for victims of sexual violence." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival conceded defeat Wednesday, promising to wage a robust battle from the opposition after the ruling Likud party and its nationalist allies won a solid majority in parliamentary elections. Netanyahu appeared poised for a historic fifth term as prime minister with nearly all the ballots counted from Tuesday's vote. Official final results were expected Thursday. With 97.4% of the vote counted, Netanyahu's Likud and the rival Blue and White were deadlocked with a projected 35 seats apiece in the 120-seat parliament. But Likud and its traditional political allies were in command of a 65-55 majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. A couple of small parties were still teetering on the electoral threshold and fighting for survival, so the final makeup of the next parliament could still change slightly. Blue and White, led by former military chief of staff Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, a former Netanyahu Cabinet minister, got about 26% of the vote a shade less than Netanyahu's Likud. Lapid, the party's No. 2 leader, said Blue and White would "show the people of Israel what a real alternative looks like." "We did not win in this round. I respect the voters, and I respect their decision, but I look around and see the ultimate tool for victory in the next round," Lapid said at a news conference alongside Gantz and two other former military chiefs who led Blue and White. The outcome affirmed Israel's continued tilt to the right and further dimmed hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also will give Netanyahu an important boost as he braces for the possibility of criminal charges in a series of corruption scandals. President Donald Trump called Netanyahu to congratulate him, saying that with the victory, "I think we'll see some pretty good action in terms of peace." "Look, everyone said and I never made it a promise but everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians," Trump said. "And I think we have, now, a better chance with Bibi having won." Lapid vowed that Blue and White would "embitter the lives" of Netanyahu and his allies from the opposition, and push for investigations into other allegations of corruption by the long-reigning premier. "We are going to turn the Knesset into a battleground," Lapid said. Two of Netanyahu's potential allies, hawkish former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and economic-centric Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, have yet to formally confirm they would sit with Netanyahu and could emerge as wild cards. In any case, the country faces what could be weeks of political negotiations over the composition of a ruling coalition. But under nearly every scenario, Netanyahu was the big winner. He had fought a tight, ugly race against Gantz, whose new party emerged as a viable alternative to Netanyahu's decade in power. But most of its support seems to have come at the expense of the venerable Labor and leftist Meretz parties, which both earned historic lows in the election. Gantz, who had declared victory on election night, said Wednesday his party would "respect the decision of the people and we will respect the decision of the president." The spotlight now falls on President Reuven Rivlin, who will consult with party representatives next week before picking the candidate with the best chance of assembling a parliamentary majority. Together with his current Jewish ultra-Orthodox and nationalist partners, Netanyahu seemed to have a clear path toward building a coalition government that has a majority in parliament. Rivlin said that for the first time, his discussions with party leaders would be broadcast on live television "in the name of transparency." With a victory, Netanyahu would capture a fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, which this summer will make him Israel's longest-ever serving leader, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. "It's a night of tremendous victory," Netanyahu told supporters early Wednesday, adding that he had already begun talking to fellow right-wing and religious parties about forming a coalition. Netanyahu's message of unity contrasted with his campaign theme in which he accused Gantz of conspiring with Arab parties to topple him. Arab leaders accused Netanyahu of demonizing the country's Arab community, which is about 20% of the population. His attacks on the Arab sector fueled calls for a boycott and appeared to result in relatively low turnout by Arab voters. Though the Palestinian issue was rarely mentioned in the raucous campaign, Netanyahu in the final stretch pledged for the first time to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in a desperate bid to rally his right-wing base. Netanyahu has reneged on election eve promises before, but should he follow through on this one, it would mark a dramatic development and potentially wipe out the already diminishing hope for Palestinian statehood. Ahmed Majdalani, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians will seek the help of the international community to try to block any such plans. He said that the outcome of the election means a boost for what he called the "extreme right-wing camp" in Israeli politics. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, said Israel chose to entrench "the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession." The 69-year-old Netanyahu has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for the past two decades. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil. But his corruption scandals created some voter fatigue. Gantz was able to challenge Netanyahu on security issues, normally the prime minister's strong suit, while also taking aim at his alleged ethical lapses. Israel's attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with bribery, breach of trust and fraud in three cases, and a potential fourth case emerged during the campaign. He will only decide on indicting Netanyahu after a legally mandated hearing. Legal experts expect at least some charges to be filed, which could result in a short term in office for Netanyahu and another round of elections. "This is a clear beginning of Netanyahu's fifth term, but his fifth term might end up being his shortest one", says Reuven Hazan, a political scientist from Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "In another year, we might be in a battle for either leadership of the Likud or another election." For Paul Tran, co-founder and CEO of San Diego-based Manscaped, a company that focuses on what it calls below-the-waist grooming products for men, a little bit of humor goes a long way. Headquartered in Carmel Mountain and with a team of about 25, Tran said Manscaped has grown rapidly since launching in 2017. Tran credits that partially to the companys strategy of using comedy and wit to talk about the somewhat taboo topic. The biggest avenue for us has been through highly comedic commercials, he said. All our videos are really funny that is how we speak to guys. Its hard to talk about this stuff seriously. Keeping things lighthearted has fared well for the company thus far. In late 2018, after appearing on ABCs Shark Tank, Manscaped received an investment of $500,000 from billionaire Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner, in exchange for 25 percent of the company. Tran said, outside of Shark Tank, the company was funded solely by the founders. While Tran wouldnt disclose revenue figures, Inc.com reported Manscaped generated $1.5 million in 2017. According to Tran, the companys revenue grew by 800 percent in 2018. Miro Copic, marketing professor at San Diego State University, said the companys humorous approach and its supplemental products are what has propelled Manscapeds popularity. What they do and do well is they have fun with this, he said, adding that attitude and tone is probably what has gained them trust from the male consumer. It is all kind of funny, but then they sell you on this other stuff, like shampoos and shavers and body washes. They entered the market through manscaping, but, the company is not only about that, and that is what will make it even more successful in the male grooming and hygiene industry. Manscaped Manscaped got started when its co-founders Tran and Steve King decided they wanted to enter the hygiene market with a consumer packaged goods product. Tran said, after examining products for females and quickly coming to the realization that there is a brand that already focuses on most, if not all, of the female body parts, Tran and the team decided to shift focus and consider the male species. Today, Manscaped offers the lawnmower 2.0, an upgrade of the original lawnmower 1.0. It features a quiet stroke technology as well as a safeskin technology, to avoid nicking and also unnecessary loud buzzing sounds when trimming. Tran said Manscaped will next release the Lawnmower 3.0, which will have backward compatible blades and will feature replaceable blades, which customers can receive every three months through an optional membership program. Tran, who studied computer science at the University of Southern California, said Manscapeds internal group of R&D chemists is responsible for creating the products in their specifications. He said all of the companys wet products, like soaps and shampoos, are made in the United States built by the team in San Diego and compounded in Los Angeles while all other items are manufactured in China by a partner factory. Manscaped has sponsored two men who play for the New England Patriots and a racecar in the NASCAR Daytona 500. The company is set to make an appearance in an upcoming movie. All of these collaborations happened through no efforts of their own, Tran said. People like the brand, and they wanted to get involved and be a part of it, he said. Tran said the Manscaped goal is to provide millions of men worldwide who are currently grooming with the wrong product, the right tools to properly manscape. He added that, to better serve the male grooming population, Manscaped products will be available in brick-and-mortar stores throughout the country later this year. Fast Facts About Manscaped: Co-founder and CEO: Paul Tran Revenue: Company wouldnt disclose but according to Inc.com it generated $1.5 million in 2017. (Company said revenue grew by 800 percent in 2018.) No. of Local Employees: Approximately 25 Year founded: 2017 Company description: A company which designs, manufactures and sells grooming and hygiene products for men. Additional stories from the San Diego Business Journal are available here. Sign up for their free daily email newsletter. Two teenagers were arrested in connection with a deadly shooting near Alvarado Hospital in the College Area this month, police said Thursday. A 14- and 15-year-old were placed into juvenile detention in connection with the shooting death of Ishi Hampton, 39, the San Diego Police Department said. On the morning of May 2, officers were called to the 6600 block of Alvarado Road, just outside Alvarado Hospital and the Iconic on Alvarado apartment complex for a report of shots fired. Police found Hampton, with a gunshot wound to his upper body, SDPD said. Hampton was rushed to a hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead just before 7 a.m. Police could be seen searching the College Area for the suspects involved; police said they were looking for two or three people, in their teens to mid-30s, wearing hooded sweatshirts and ripped jeans, who were seen running from the scene on Reservoir Drive. A woman who did not want to be identified but told NBC 7 she was Hampton's loved one said he lived at the Iconic on Alvarado complex. She believed Hampton was going to his car when the shooting happend. SDPD said the victim may have interacted with the two suspects before gunshots were fired, but police did not specify what could have led to shots being fired. Commuters in the area were advised to expect delays as police investigate the shooting, SDPD said. Police tape blocked off a portion of Alvarado Road for several hours. The area is a busy transportation hub; The Metropolitan Transit System's Green Line stops outside the hospital. It is also common for people to be in the area in the morning hours for medical appointments at Alvarado Hospital. [[509374111,C]] Washington, D.C., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ICMA-RC is pleased to be a recipient of the 2019 CIO 100 Award recognizing organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. ICMA-RC won the recognition for its ground-breaking work in enhancing the digital experience for public sector retirement plan participants. "Across the business landscape, companies everywhere recognize the vital role that an innovative, value-driven approach to information technology plays in their success," said Maryfran Johnson, IDGs Executive Director of CIO Programs. This years CIO 100 winning companies are inspiring examples of how IT leadership, business collaboration and digital transformation will drive future growth." As we focus our technology enhancements on providing participants with the best possible end to end experience, ICMA-RC has transformed the way the corporation engages plan sponsors and participants. ICMA-RCs retirement readiness tools helps participants track their level of readiness (or lack thereof) through Am I On Track. This feature provides plan participants with a personalized retirement readiness score that incorporates not just defined contribution plan accounts, but also pension plans and Social Security benefits, allow users to customize their savings rate, optimal retirement age and ideal asset allocation, enabling them to perform what-if analyses on many retirement factors. This feature provides plan participants with a personalized retirement readiness score that incorporates not just defined contribution plan accounts, but also pension plans and Social Security benefits, allow users to customize their savings rate, optimal retirement age and ideal asset allocation, enabling them to perform what-if analyses on many retirement factors. Over the years, participants will accumulate multiple financial accounts. ICMA-RCs account aggregation tool allows them to connect all of their accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, etc.); including those with other financial institutions, to give them a more comprehensive financial picture as they plan for retirement. tool allows them to connect all of their accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, etc.); including those with other financial institutions, to give them a more comprehensive financial picture as they plan for retirement. ICMA-RC created text access to offer participants the ability to view plan information quickly and easily by texting a command to ICMA-RC and get account information delivered directly to their mobile phone. to offer participants the ability to view plan information quickly and easily by texting a command to ICMA-RC and get account information delivered directly to their mobile phone. ICMA-RC constantly strives to produce easy ways for participants to track their retirement planning progress. The company created a mobile responsive design , giving participants access to account information on the go and at their fingertips. Roughly two-thirds (65%) of public sector employees dont work at a desk, so ensuring access across any digital channel to retirement plans was a critical objective for ICMA-RC. All tools, including account aggregation and Am I On Track are now available via smart phone. Our total mobile logins exceed 4 million, as of January 20, 2019. giving participants access to account information on the go and at their fingertips. Roughly two-thirds (65%) of public sector employees dont work at a desk, so ensuring access across any digital channel to retirement plans was a critical objective for ICMA-RC. All tools, including account aggregation and Am I On Track are now available via smart phone. Our total mobile logins exceed 4 million, as of January 20, 2019. Everyday ICMA-RC focuses on ways to relieve the burden on local municipalities around the county. Through visual analytics, ICMA-RC plan sponsors can easily identify where the plan is excelling and where the plan may need attention. ICMA-RC is among the first public-sector retirement organizations to add visual analytics capabilities for its plan sponsor website, allowing employers to interact with plan data in real time and make strategic decisions based on a range of metrics and trends related to plan participation. "ICMA-RC was founded to provide public sector employees with high-quality retirement plans, investments and services to help them achieve financial security. ICMA-RC has always provided outstanding in-person service, but now we invest heavily to ensure that our technology delivers the same exceptional level of service. Our goal is to deliver a high touch, high tech standard of service thats unique in the public sector retirement plan space, said Bob Schultze, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICMA-RC. Congratulations to Karla Gill and her team for their great work and success on this initiative and for the honor that the CIO 100 Award brings to ICMA-RC." "Winning the CIO 100 Award is a testament to the hard work and outstanding success of ICMA-RCs technology team in developing digital solutions, said Karla Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Innovation Officer. "Our teams efforts had a clear impact on participant behavior and played a key role in helping ICMA-RC earn the CIO 100 Award. Its most gratifying, of course, that these new resources make it easier for participants to prepare successfully for their financial futures. Gill notes that, since introducing our new digital resources, the ICMA-RC participant savings rate has increased by 46%. For participants under the age of 40, the savings rate increased by 43%. About ICMA-RC Founded in 1972, ICMA-RC is a non-profit, independent financial services corporation with approximately $55 billion in assets under management and administration (as of March 31, 2019), focused on providing retirement plans and related services for over a million public sector participant accounts. ICMA-RCs mission is to help public sector employees build retirement security. The organizations mission is delivered through its RealizeRetirement approach in which ICMA-RC representatives actively engage participants in their retirement programs, help them build their asset base, and help them realize their retirement goals through a comprehensive retirement planning strategy. For more information, visit www.icmarc.org, download ICMA-RC's mobile app from the App StoreSM and Google PlayTM or follow ICMA-RC on Facebook, LinkedIn , and Twitter. 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 CIOs digital magazine. About CIO CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insight and expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with key insights on career development, including certifications, hiring practices and skills development. The award-winning CIO portfolio CIO.com, CIO Events, CIO Strategic Marketing Services, CIO Forum on LinkedIn, CIO Executive Council and CIO primary research provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of ITs role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at www.idg.com. The U.S. Navy petty officer convicted of driving a pickup truck off of the Coronado Bay Bridge into a crowded park apologized to the families of the four people killed in the tragic 2016 crash before learning his sentence. "I don't know why I survived," Richard Anthony Sepolio said of the crash. "I wish I could trade places with them." Jurors convicted Sepolio of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence causing injury. On Thursday, the judge denied probation and sentenced him to more than 9 years behind bars with credit for time served. Cruz Elias Contreras, 52; AnnaMarie Contreras, 50; Andre Christopher Banks, 49 and Francine Denise Jimenez, 46 died as a result of the collision. Family members and close friends of both the victims and the defendant addressed the courtroom over the course of four hours. After all of the victim impact statements were read, Sepolio stood and turned to those in the court. He was wearing his official U.S. Navy uniform which several victims' family members found offensive and disrespectful. He spoke quietly but looked directly at the families of the people he killed that day on Oct. 15, 2016. "I see them daily, staring at me from the autopsy table," he said. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." Earlier, Liz Gutierres, sister-in-law of Andre Christopher Banks, told the judge her 9-year-old daughter has lost a godfather who sent her text messages every day. My pain, my grief is not for me. Its for what he took from my child, she said through tears. NBC 7 Mia Contreras, 23, the youngest daughter of AnnaMarie and Cruz Contreras, feels like a shell of a person with nothing to look forward to in her life because she lost both parents. She asked for the maximum sentence behind bars for the defendant. Im just trying to do my best to make them proud, Contreras said. I have to parent myself because both of my parents were taken by someone so careless. Family members and friends addressed the court for four hours Thursday about the day in 2016 that their loved ones were killed when a pickup truck drove off the Coronado Bay Bridge and into Chicano Park. Mia's sister, Milinda Oberly, also spoke, describing how her oldest son continues to ask when his grandparents are coming. Her daughter and youngest son will never know them, she said. Speaking to the defendant she said, "You're a senseless kid who stole four innocent lives." To the judge, Oberly said, "Nine years is nothing." The daughter of Francine Denise Jimenez who was 15 when her mother was killed told the judge it was difficult to put into words how the tragedy has affected her family. The random trips to the beach are what I miss the most, she said. My mom was the light of my life and there are so many days that I wake up and I just want to tell her good morning or wish her a good day at work. The saddest thing is, I dont even remember my moms voice. Victims are addressing the Navy sailor that caused a deadly crash of the Coronado Bay Bridge in 2016. NBC 7's Liberty Zabala reports. The defendants mother Blanca Sepolio stood up in court and said she was proud of her son. This was an accident. An accident that couldve happened to anyone here in this courtroom, she said. Hes not a life taker, she told the court, "Hes a life saver. A church deacon travelled from Texas to stand in support of Sepolio. I know what he was and I know what he can be, the man said. One mistake but my God is a God of second chance. "I don't know why I survived," Richard Anthony Sepolio said of the October 2016 Chicano Park crash that killed four people. "I wish I could trade places with them." The defendant's U.S. Navy supervisor of four years told the judge that Sepolio took pride in his work, trained his co-workers and left a lasting impression on others. He has made me a better person by being a part of our work center and the job that we had, she said. Defense attorney Paul Pfingst asked the court to impose probation citing his clients service in the U.S. Navy, the jail time Sepolio has already served, and the absence of malice in the crime. Family members of Chicano Park crash victims react to today's sentencing of Navy petty officer. NBC 7's Danny Freeman has more. From the beginning everyone has understood the travesty of this event. No one at this table or in this court room is inhuman. The court is required to separate those who are aggravated in their past, who have high blood alcohol level, who do not cooperate with law enforcement, who do those things and separate those from the people who do. That is part of justice, Pfingst said. Judge Charles Rogers ordered Sepolio to serve 9 years, 9 months and rejected the request for probation. If the consequences in this case were not so devastating, there would not be a better candidate than this man, Rogers said. "I find this young man's expressions of remorse to be genuine," he said. Prosecutors allege Sepolio was driving 81 miles per hour four seconds before his car left the bridge and crashed 60 feet below into a crowded Chicano Park. [G] 4 Killed, Several Injured After Truck Flies Off Coronado Bridge Into Park When the verdict was read, prosecutors said the defendant faced a maximum of 18 years behind bars. At a later hearing, Judge Rogers dismissed great bodily injury allegations that the jury found true which lowered the maximum prison term to 9 years, 8 months. Also, Sepolio will earn half of credit for time served because the vehicular manslaughter with intoxication is not considered a violent felony, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. Afghan and international forces killed more civilians than the Taliban and other militants in the first three months of this year, a new U.N. report said Wednesday. This is the first time in recent years that civilian deaths attributed to government forces and their allies exceeded those caused by their enemies. The somber statistic reflects what many say is a growing problem in Afghanistan's brutal war, in which civilians die not only in massive suicide bombings and insurgent attacks but also in the cross-fire as Afghan and NATO forces pursue militants. A report by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan released in Kabul on Wednesday said 581 civilians were killed between Jan. 1 and March 31, with Afghan forces and NATO responsible for 305 of those deaths. The insurgents were responsible for wounding more civilians than the coalition forces. Nearly half of the deaths occurred in airstrikes while most of the rest of the fatalities took place during search operations to route militants from hideouts. Though the report does not mention any NATO country specifically, 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. "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 warned his ground forces to take greater care while conducting search operations to protect civilian lives. The resurgent Taliban, who now control nearly half the country, have also urged 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 NATO is 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 last year, 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," he said. "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. In that report, the commission said 11,212 civilians were killed or wounded between March 31, 2018, and March 31 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. Power utilities around the world are supersizing their solar farms, with a collection of more than 5 million photovoltaic panels in southern Egypt set to be globe's largest, NBC News reported. The $4 billion Benban solar park near Aswan will cover an area 10 times bigger than New Yorks Central Park when completed next year and generate the equivalent output of two nuclear power plants combined. There are huge savings for larger projects, said Benjamin Attia, a solar analyst with Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Logistics, transport, construction and installation all benefit from scale economies." A challenge with solar farms is that typically they are located in remote locations. The grid around new solar or wind farms will not be very strong," Daniel Kirschen, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, said. "So youre going to need to reinforce the grid, and that can get quite expensive. Large solar farms account for the vast majority of panels installed around the world, but in developed countries like the U.S. and Germany, household solar power has about an equal share, NBC News reported. Update: Two missing sisters in their 80s, Geraldine Costello and Dolores Kashewka, have been found safe and unharmed, Montgomery County Police announced Friday morning. Original Story: Police are asking for the public's help to find two sisters in their 80s who are missing in Montgomery County, Maryland. Geraldine Evelyn Costello, 85, and Delores Pauline Kashewka, 89, left their home in the 200 block of Booth Street in Gaithersburg Tuesday morning to go shopping. Costello suffers from a cognitive impairment. She was driving a 2007 ivory colored Lincoln MKX with Maryland tag 4AF7706 and Kashewka was a passenger in the car. Police described Costello as a white woman who is 5 feet 1 inch and weighs about 155 pounds. Kashewka is a white woman who is about 5 feet 4 inches and 120 pounds. Both women have short gray hair. It's not clear what they were wearing. Police are asking that anyone who may have seen the missing sisters or their car to call 301-279-8000 or dial 911. Parents are worried about school safety and school response after a gun discharged in a high school classroom in Prince William County, Virginia, Tuesday. The gun went off in an art classroom at C.D. Hylton High School, in Woodbridge when a 16-year-old boy took it out of a school bag to show other students, an incident rumored to be connected to a non-fatal shooting of a 17-year-old in Dale City last week, Prince William County police said. The shot discharged about noon but wasn't reported for about two hours. The teacher in the classroom heard the noise and sent the student to the office, but he denied any wrongdoing. Other students who witnessed the gunfire also refused to cooperate, police said. And students who had seen the gun earlier in the day didn't say anything until after the shot was fired. Meanwhile, Lisa Starr said, her son and other students were strolling the halls. They were literally walking around the school as if nothing had happened, Starr said. Authorities were notified when the teacher noticed damage and realized a shot had been fired, police said. A school resource officer took the boy into custody, but he refused to say where the gun was, police said, so the ordeal continued for hours. Hylton was placed in secure-the-building status and dismissal was delayed until police found the gun hidden in another room within the art room. Dismissal finally began about 5 p.m. My responsibility is to provide safety to him, said Marta Burgess, whose son is supposed to go into kindergarten in Prince William County next year. If the system, the school system, cant do that, I have to take responsibility. She's reconsidering the future of her son's education. Because if the system doesnt work for the security of my son, Im considering homeschooling, she said. Starr said she offered to let her son stay home from school Wednesday. And he said, You know, Mom, Im going to school today. "I love my school,'" she said. "He was like, 'The teachers, the principal, the staff, theyre awesome, and Im not going to let this deter me. The 16-year-old student was charged with possession of a firearm on school property. 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. 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. Two teenage girls are recovering after police say they were shot by a BB gun in Manchester, New Hampshire. Police said the 13 and 14-year-old victims were walking home from Hillside Middle School at about 2:45 p.m. Thursday in the area of Ashland and Bridge streets when they were struck. Authorities said one victim was struck in the face while the other victim was hit in the upper left thigh. Both were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. The 14-year-old, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10 Boston she's in shock after the incident. "It just felt like someone threw a rock at my face," she said. The girl was walking home with friends when she saw a gold car drive by -- police say it may have been a Toyota -- then felt an immediate pain in her face. "I just feel normal, with a BB in my face," she said. The projectile is still lodged in her cheek. The firl's mother says it hurts to see her daughter like this, but that it could have been worse. "Luckily, it was a BB Gun," she said. "If it wasn't, she wouldn't be here. It is literally lodged in her face." Anyone with information on the shooting is urged to contact Manchester Police at 603-668-8711. Attorney General William Barr faced questioning Wednesday from lawmakers for the first time since the release of the Mueller report. His appearance came hours after a letter surfaced raising more questions. Democrats want to know why the attorney general misled the public into thinking there was no wrongdoing on the part of President Donald Trump, when they say special counsel Robert Mueller's report contains substantial evidence of obstruction. "This whole thing is sort of mind-bendingly bizarre," Barr said of the hearings. It's becoming the norm at congressional hearings -- two sides seemingly speaking different languages. "Would you concede that you had an opportunity to make this letter public when Representative [Charlie] Crist asked you a very related question?" asked Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island. "I don't know what you mean by related question - it seems to me it was a very different question," Barr replied. "I can't even follow that down the road. Boy, that's some masterful hairsplitting," Whitehouse said. Where Democrats see courageous lawmakers trying to get to the truth, Republicans see an opposition party unwilling to move on. "What they're trying to do is to embarrass the administration, beat down the attorney general and say he's colluding with the president to twist the facts that exist," said Republican political analyst Gene Hartigan. But Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota sees no twisting of facts when asking the attorney general about the president's personal counsel telling former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort that he would be "taken care of," as written in the Mueller report. "That, you don't consider obstruction of justice?" she asked Barr. "No, not standing alone," Barr answered. "On both the same reasons." "And I think that is my point here," Klobuchar said. "You look at the totality of the evidence." Should Democrats worry about overreach? "Yes, but they also have to worry about their constitutional obligation," Democratic political analyst Steve Kerrigan said. "They have an obligation to pursue matters that are placed right before them, like this in the Mueller report." Republicans say Americans are ready to move on from the Mueller report. Democrats say the investigation has just begun. A drone stuck in a tree at a Manchester, New Hampshire park prompted firefighters to make an unusual rescue. Firefighters said a 30-year-old man could have fallen to his death from a 60-feet fall after he climbed a tree at Lafayette Park to retrieve his drone. Crews said that the man had little to no climbing experience but watched self-help videos online before he borrowed a friends climbing equipment to get his wayward item. "We arrived to find a gentleman that was about 60 feet up in a tree," Manchester Fire Department Chief Mike Gamache said. "He was hanging on a rope." After becoming fatigue once he reached the top of the tree, the unidentified man was hanging onto a rope and hanging on for his life. "He rescued his drone," Gamache said. "He was able to knock his drone down but when it was time to come down, he was too fatigued to unlock himself from his position." Fire crews came to his rescue and set up a 100-feet ladder to help untangle the man and lower him to the ground. The effort took 30 minutes and officials said he refused medical treatment once he was saved. Manchester firefighters highly discourage people with minimal climbing experience to refrain from trying to climb a tall surface. "He knew he almost died," Gamache said. "We don't encourage people climbing to heights that theyre uncomfortable with without the right training and equipment." United Kingdom, 2 May 2019 Reference is made to the stock exchange release of RAK Petroleum plc (the "Company") dated 26 April 2019 concerning the results of its offer to buy back Class A Shares in the Company (the "Buyback Offer"). The Buyback Offer expired on 26 April 2019 at 14:00 (CET). As a result of the Buyback Offer, the Company has purchased from Sparebank 1 Markets AS and cancelled 7,233,333 Class A Shares, representing 7,233,333 shareholder votes. As a result of: Mr. Bijan Mossavar-Rahmanis related request to release the restrictions on 2,406,615 of his Restricted Class A Shares and to transfer to the Company the equivalent number of Class B Shares for cancellation, and DNO ASAs related request to release the restrictions on 503,009 of its Restricted Class A Shares and to transfer to the Company the equivalent number of Class B Shares for cancellation, the Company has redesignated 2,909,624 Restricted Class A Shares as Class A Shares and cancelled 2,909,624 Class B Shares, representing 5,819,248 shareholder votes. Following these actions, the aggregate nominal value of the issued share capital of the Company is GBP 3,171,334.24, consisting of: 194,448,040 Class A Shares, each with a nominal value of GBP 0.01 117,683,332 Restricted Class A Shares, each with a nominal value of GBP 0.01 117,683,332 Class B Shares, each with a nominal value of GBP 0.0000001 87,488,693 Class C Shares, each with a nominal value of GBP 0.0000001 and 50,000 redeemable shares, each with a nominal value of GBP 1.00 resulting in 547,498,036 total shareholder votes. Also as a result of these actions, Mr. Mossavar-Rahmanis percentage voting interest in the Company remains at 36.88% and DNO ASAs percentage voting interest remains at 7.71%. Their holdings in the Company are: Restricted Class A Shares Class B Shares Class A Shares Total Votes Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani 63,030,824 63,030,824 12,801,236 201,893,708 DNO ASA 13,174,137 13,174,137 2,675,600 42,198,011 Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules The Company notes that when these transactions close, the loss of voting rights associated with cancellation of the Repurchased Shares and the B Shares will reduce the total voting rights in the Company. This will automatically increase the percentage of voting rights held by each other shareholder who has not otherwise altered its shareholdings. In accordance with the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Articles of Association of the Company, this diminution of the total voting rights in the Company may trigger an obligation on the part of a shareholder to notify the Company because its interest in the Company reaches, exceeds, or falls below the respective thresholds of 3 percent and each 1 percent threshold thereafter up to 100 percent. Shareholders holding significant interests in the Company should immediately monitor their compliance with these requirements. For further queries, please contact: Kevin Toner Managing Director RAK Petroleum plc Email: kevin.toner@rakpetroleum.uk This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Jurors heard more explosive testimony Thursday in the trial for a Massachusetts teenager accused of beheading his classmate. One friend of defendant Mathew Borges told jurors that Borges confessed to the Dec. 1, 2016 murder of 16-year-old Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino over the phone. The juvenile witness said after stealing items from the victim's home, another friend got a call from Borges. "I heard him say he's dead," said the juvenile witness during cross examination. The witness admitted he lied about his involvement when he was called before the grand jury, saying he was afraid of being charged for breaking and entering. Jurors also heard testimony from Lawrence Police Officer Angel Mejia and his investigation into an October 2016 group Facebook chat involving the defendant and friends. While jurors were shown screenshots of the Facebook chat, Mejia described how Borges and his friends talked at length about their plan to steal things from the victim's home. "We doing this today," one friend asked in the chat. "Yeah around 5:30 p.m. I'll get him out of the house whenever I can," wrote another. The October 2016 chat took place ahead of the discovery of Viloria-Paulino's body being found in the Merrimack River. "Guys, I'm gonna kill someone on Halloween," Borges wrote. "I'm not lying. So if ya hear someone dead on the news that we know, I just wanna say that y'all gonna look at me different." The defense argued Borges was joking about wanting to kill the victim. Borges, 18, is charged with the murder of his Lawrence High School classmate. In audio played for jurors on Wednesday, the suspect could be heard telling Officer John Heggarty that he and the victim went to the Merrimack River to smoke marijuana on the day he was missing. Borges said he left before the victim did and that this was the last time he saw him. Haggerty, however, said in the recording that Borges' account "doesn't make sense." Viloria-Paulino's headless body was discovered two weeks after his disappearance by a man walking his dog. 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. The man who made the grisly discovery testified earlier in the week. "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. Prosecutors said surveillance footage shows the suspect walking toward the river with the victim on the night of his death. A short time later, four people are seen breaking into Viloria-Paulino's home. Prosecutors said those people are friends of Borges, who later told investigators he had admitted to killing the 16-year-old. Angel Betancourt, one of the four who allegedly broke into the victim's home and stole items, said that "the plan was to go into Lee's house and take some stuff." 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." 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. 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. Testimony continues Friday, when jurors will visit the area where Viloria-Paulino's body was found. On Alicia Armes' front yard in Brockton, Massachusetts, she has drilled her frustration to the trees. Two signs call out the Brockton Public School department. "We put up the signs to let them know that we're not going to back down," said Armes. "We're not going away." Her complaint comes down to a car seat and her 3-year-old son Chase, who started pre-school last month. When Chase came home on the bus from his second day of pre-school on April 9, Armes found out he wasn't riding in a car seat. Chase has special needs, and before classes started, the school district and his mother signed an "Individualized Education Program," or IEP. They are mutually accepted guidelines for him to go to school. One agreement was for Chase to take special transportation with a car seat. According to a Brockton Police report, the day after the incident, the driver told police Chase was placed in a "regular seat." She said Chase unbuckled himself and "ran down the aisle." The driver pulled over and tried to "double buckle him, but was unsuccessful." The driver allegedly admitted to taking a different student out of their car seat and putting Chase in it. "The fact that he has special needs is neither here nor there," said Armes. "He was an individual student in Brockton Public Schools." The school district has responded to her complaint. "Brockton Public School administrators have met with the parent on several occasions and have taken actions to address the parent's concerns regarding transportation safety," said Superintendent Kathleen Smith in an emailed statement. "Brockton Public Schools also worked collaboratively with the Brockton Police Department, which conducted its own investigation of this matter and which also found no harm to the student." Armes said she is looking to go the legal route to get Chase out of the Brockton Public Schools. She said the process includes a petition to attend a different school district. 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. Police in Salisbury, Massachusetts, say a New Hampshire man was overdosing behind the wheel when he caused a horrific crash. An 82-year-old woman is in the hospital with serious injuries after the crash Tuesday afternoon. NBC10 Boston has learned that the driver from New Hampshire should not have been driving. At the age of 30, Patrick MacLaughlin of Raymond has more than 50 criminal charges. "It's certainly frustrating for law enforcement," said New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Keith Walker. He was alarmed when NBC10 Boston brought MacLaughlin's criminal record to his attention. "Forty-nine offenses is beyond excessive," Walker said. MacLaughlin's rap sheet, which dates back to 2007, includes drug, theft and robbery charges, along with several driving infractions, like speeding, operating without a license and operating under the influence. His most recent offense was around 5 p.m. Tuesday on Route 1 in Salisbury. Police say MacLaughlin was high on drugs and behind the wheel when he swerved and crashed head-on into a woman driving in the other direction. "The screech and then the bang," recalled Georgina Mason, who lives nearby and heard the crash. She ran out of her house, called 911 and watched as the Jaws of Life were used to get both MacLaughlin and the woman out of their vehicles. "That poor old woman, he easily could've killed her," Mason said. MacLaughlin's record shows he was on parole at the time for OUI back in 2017. "It's not OK," Mason said. Walker admits this is a case where the system failed. "We need to do a better job, the system as a whole to fix that," Walker said. "We need to balance enforcement with treatment and figure out what we can do to keep individuals like this off the streets." The woman suffered several broken bones and a head injury. She needed emergency surgery. Police say they found a used needle and a baggy of heroin in MacLaughlin's car. Officers used Narcan to revive MacLaughlin on the scene. MacLaughlin being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing next week in Newburyport District Court. Police are searching for the man they say robbed a liquor store at knifepoint Wednesday night in Quincy, Massachusetts. The robbery happened at 9:41 p.m. at the Discount Liquors on Granite Street. Surveillance video showed the suspect wearing a mask and brandishing a large knife at the counter while demanding money from a clerk and the store owner. Clerk Paul Shan said he had no choice but to give the intruder what he wanted. "It was very, very, very scary. Unbelievable. I cannot believe that," recalled Shan, who threw the money at the suspect. Shan said the suspect only uttered one thing to him during the ordeal. "He said, 'give me all the money. I need all the money,'" recalled Shan. "That's it." The suspect fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register. Police are now looking at video from 12 surveillance cameras. One clue they are zeroing in on is the suspect's jacket, which had a star with red and white stripes on the right sleeve. Anyone with information on the incident or the suspect's identity is urged to contact Quincy Police at 617-745-5762. 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. I recently had the opportunity to talk to Mark Wutzke, chief solution architect with Allied Telesis, to learn about the companys smart networking offerings. Perhaps you, like me, dont know much about this networking company, though its been in business since 1987. That might be because the global company, until recently, has focused its efforts outside the U.S. However, that focus is beginning to change, so I wanted to learn what the company brings to the table that enterprises would be interested in. First, a little background on the company. Allied Telesis is headquartered in both Japan and the U.S. The company has global R&D centers and manufactures its own products. Among the products are intelligent switches and stackable chassis, industrial switches, wireless solutions, firewalls and routers, optics, NICs and media convertersbasically end-to-end solutions from edge to core for LAN, WLAN and WAN. In addition, Allied Telesis writes its own operating system software for its equipment, as well as the network management software that provides many of the smart networking features the company is touting today. We arent very well known among enterprises in the U.S. market today, but we do work with a lot of federal and government agencies here, says Wutzke. To be considered for those tenders, we have to meet certain security and performance standards, which we validate through a number of industry certifications. Weve also garnered quite a few industry awards and are recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for WAN and wireless LAN products. We believe we have some real innovations that enterprises can benefit from. He says many of those innovations are based on the companys AlliedWare Plus operating system, a Linux-based next-generation network OS. Its the common OS that underlies Allied Telesis switching and routing platforms, and it supports some interesting features designed to improve usability and reduce the burden of network management. Giving the network autonomy One of those features is the Autonomous Management Framework, or AMF. Conventional network management requires skilled resources, particularly at the network edge, doing repetitive or time-consuming tasks, says Wutzke. AMF simplifies the management of a network by automating and assisting with everyday tasks like making configuration changes to multiple units, backing up configurations, adding new units, recovering a failed unit, or rolling out a firmware upgrade. For example, AMF automatically backs up the configuration on every single device every 24 hours and stores it away in a network repository. If a device in your network fails, you can pull out a spare unit, install the device and AMF will automatically push the correct configuration onto that device for you. You can have the new device operating like the previous one in that location within minutes, he says. AMF also can be used to configure multiple units at the same time. Instead of having to log into each device, the network engineer can tell AMF to talk to all the edge devices at once; for example, to add a VLAN to all the edge switches. Then commands can be issued as if talking to a single device, saving time and reducing the likelihood of mistakes. A self-defending network Another example of Allied Telesis innovation is the self-defending network with Secure Enterprise SDN (SES). Firewalls protect networks from a lot of threats by blocking traffic, but they cant protect against threats that originate at a users device, which dont go through the firewall initially, says Wutzke. Say that someone plugs in a USB stick with malware on it. The virus is trying to reach out to its C&C server, so the firewall sees that outbound traffic but at this stage it cant do anything to affect the now-infected device. The bad actor is still connected to the network and can spread his malware to other devices. The SES controller looks at log messages from the firewall, sees the C&C outreach and determines there is a security issue. It figures out which switch port to shut off to disable the offending device. It can either block it completely or move it to a quarantine network. The self-defending network can take action within a split second to switch off an offending endpoint. Mark Wutzke, Allied Telesis Wutzke says the SES controller can work with many firewalls to read log messages and look for security issues. This solution doesnt require any agent software on the user devices because SES controls the switch, not the endpoint itself. SES also can work with large data center or corporate-type traffic by mirroring the traffic going through the core switch. Again, SES detects issues on the mirror traffic and then influences the edge switches to block or quarantine the endpoint thats causing the problem. The self-defending network can take action within a split second to switch off an offending endpoint. The network or security administrator can be alerted to come in later to take control of the situation, but SES neutralizes the problem before damage can be done, explains Wutzke. Active Fiber Monitoring The idea for Active Fiber Monitoring came to Allied Telesis from a European military organization that was worried about adversaries eavesdropping on their network fiber, Wutzke says. If you bend fiber to a certain degree, a small but detectable amount of light escapes. Someone can pick up that light and read whats happening on the fiber, and the owner of the fiber would never know. This is a concern for anyone who sends sensitive information over long distances in remote locations using fiber, he says. The obvious solution would be to encrypt everything traveling on the fiber, Wutzke says, but thats expensive and it introduces latency. Another approach is to detect fluctuations in the light. Allied Telesis implemented a feature on switches using AlliedWare Plus that monitors the amount of light being received on a port, and depending on the sensitivity you choose, the switch can take actions such as logging the results, shutting the port down, sending an SNMP trap, and so on. By monitoring the fiber links, Allied Telesis can look for any instances of tampering or light fluctuations. The process also is useful for detecting that a fiber-optic module is beginning to fail as the light level begins to drop. Other features of AlliedWare Plus The AlliedWare Plus operating system has numerous other features that increase network intelligence, such as smart diagnostics, log-defined triggers, continuous Power Over Ethernet, and CPU control plane protection. We have a lot of individual features that are unique to Allied Telesis, and collectively this combination of smart tools reduces management effort and time, says Wutzke. No compromise Wi-Fi Allied Telesis also has a hybrid wireless solution that addresses many of the technical issues of Wi-Fi today, such as configuration complexities, interference of devices on the same frequency, dead spots, and the need for careful planning of placement of the access points. Zeus Kerravala did a great job describing the problems and the exact approach that Allied Telesis takes in solving them with his recent article, When Wi-Fi is mission-critical, a mixed-channel architecture is the best option. Kerravala covered all the details, so Ill just summarize by saying that Allied Telesis supports both multi-channel and single-channel wireless architectures to give customers the flexibility of choosing the model that best fits their needs. Use case: Naka City, Japan, deploys an Allied Telesis network Naka City in Japan recently updated its network based on solutions from Allied Telesis. The citys technology infrastructure team manages the public computer network for schools, local government offices, and public buildings, providing both wired and wireless access for the citys residents. Following a cyber attack on a different Japanese government network, Naka City wanted a more robust network that incorporated better security and easier administration. They chose an Allied Telesis solution in large part for the Autonomous Management Framework and the Secure Enterprise SDN technology. The system was rolled out in 39 locations over a two-week period and was successfully commissioned after a one-week trial period. With AMF, we can manage and operate all our devices remotely, enabling a swift maintenance response, according to Wataru Kobayashi, infrastructure engineering department manager with the VAR Osaki Computer Engineering. SES lets us implement internal security measures, including behavior detection and anti-proliferation of security threats, which is a major advantage. The citys future plans for SES include an automatic remediation process to fix a device and allow it to re-join the network. Not only will this remove threats, but it will also reduce disruption by making services available again as quickly as possible. LINCOLN, Neb., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. has donated 26,000 pounds of protein to Food Bank of Lincoln . Smithfields contribution was part of the companys 2019 Helping Hungry Homes donation tour. Helping Hungry Homes is Smithfields signature hunger-relief initiative focused on alleviating hunger and helping Americans become more food secure. The donation, equivalent to 104,000 servings of protein, will support continued recovery efforts in an area impacted by widespread flooding last month. Smithfields generous donations enable our staff and volunteers to bring food and hope to our fellow Nebraskans as our communities remain in recovery from record flood damage, said Scott Young, executive director of Food Bank of Lincoln. Serving 16 counties in Nebraska is a challenge and partners like Smithfield keep us going with quality protein products during this time of heightened need. This is the 21st large-scale protein donation made by Smithfield to food banks across the country during its 2019 Helping Hungry Homes tour. Since the programs inception in 2008, Smithfield has provided more than 130 million servings of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts, and community outreach programs nationwide. Smithfield is passionate about helping our neighbors in need, said Jonathan Toms, associate manager of charitable initiatives for Smithfield Foods. We employ more than 3,000 team members across the state of Nebraska, and recovery efforts are happening right in our backyard. Smithfield is grateful to be in a position to make such a large impact for those in need. Earlier this year, the company provided a 20,000-pound donation of protein to Omaha-based Food Bank of the Heartland to support disaster relief in the wake of historic flooding. The companys additional protein contribution will ensure more than 184,000 servings are provided to individuals and families still in recovery. For more information about Smithfield Foods Helping Hungry Homes initiative and a list of upcoming donation events, visit helpinghungryhomes.com . About Smithfield Foods Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathans Famous, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, John Morrell, Cooks, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curlys, Healthy Ones, Morliny, Krakus, and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental, and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com , and connect with us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , and Instagram . About Food Bank of Lincoln The Food Bank of Lincoln serves 16 counties with a mission to alleviate hunger in Southeast Nebraska. During FY 2018, the Food Bank of Lincoln served an average of 10,000 individuals per week, connecting neighbors to more than 10 million meals in collaboration with more than 140 partner school and community agencies. For more information, visit www.LincolnFoodBank.org . Media Contacts: Journey from beach bar in Cape Town to four successful fashion boutiques Returning to the area where she went to school was never in the plan for Caroline Dallas. But a chance glance at a cottage in Marlborough has seen the 40-year-old mother-of-two come full circle via London and South Africa. Making life-changing decisions is not something Caroline has ever been afraid to do, which is why she now finds herself living her dream at the helm of Luna Boutiques four shops. Growing up in Herefordshire, she went to Downe House school in Cold Ash and then studied politics at Newcastle University. After graduating, Caroline moved to London to start her first job, which was in recruitment. I got fired because I wouldnt toe the line, she admits. I found it very ageist and I dont think age is relevant. That was the beginning of knowing I would eventually have to do my own thing. While I was in that job I had booked a holiday to Cape Town, so I still went. I met people out there and they said stay here, you dont have a job to go back to. So I stayed and worked in a beach bar for six months. I had a great time; it was amazing. After her stint in the bar, Caroline got a job in the film industry, working in the art department and driving cars on set. It was at this time that she also discovered outdoor parties, dancing under the stars. One day she says she was thrown on the decks at an after-party and found it was something she was quite good at. She quickly started getting asked to DJ at parties and festivals. It was a great life and I had a blast, she remembers. But I knew it was something for when I was young and I would have to do something else eventually. I love my job so much. it is my life and we are nearly there now So after four years abroad, in 2004, Caroline returned to the UK and moved back to London. It was here that she met her husband. We soon realised we needed to move out of London and settle down, she says. One day we went for a drive around and ended up stopping for lunch in Marlborough. We saw a cottage and decided to move there that day. We went back to London, packed up and moved out. She describes the next year as a very carefree, idyllic, basic life, but says that within a year she felt a need to regroup and get some skills back. She began a bookkeeping course at Swindon College. Her next job was business development for a company that sent water testing kits to the Third World. Shortly after starting there the company told Caroline she was being signed up for a masters degree in water engineering. It wasnt what she was expecting of the job, but she describes the experience as great; something I could really get my teeth into. I am essentially a humanitarian though and the company was then taken over by a very sales-driven manager and I didnt see it as a sales-based industry, she explains. I found myself falling out of love with the job because of principles and so I was back wondering what I would do. It was a realisation that the feelings she used to get on the dancefloor had never really left her that took Caroline in the next direction, at the end of 2011. I wanted to find a way to get that feeling back without being out in a field at a festival at 4am, she adds. I was chatting to a friend who had had a clothes shop before and we decided to open a shop together. I took a little lease on a shop in Marlborough and I got a credit card and we went and bought stock. Luna Boutiques was born. Unfortunately the union with her friend didnt last long and, the day that they opened a second shop in Hungerford, in March 2012, Caroline found herself solely in charge of the business. It was sink or swim, she admits. I was still quite new to the area, but I managed to find friends to help out in the shops and whatever money I made that week I would take to London on the Sunday and buy new stock. We kept doing that until I found my way and we grew out of it. I fell pregnant at that time too. It was all insane when I look back now, but from that I found my thing. I found that magic of the dancefloor. Things havent been plain sailing since then but, chatting to Caroline, you can tell that any bump in the road is taken as a new challenge and has only made her stronger and more focussed. Having opened her third shop in Newburys Parkway in November 2014, Caroline then faced her biggest challenge. While pregnant with her second child, and just as her toddler son was about to undergo a cochlear implant, the Hungerford store flooded. This led to the panic opening of a pop-up store in Devizes in a bid to sell the full summer stock that had been waiting to go out. It was a huge success and Caroline decided to open a permanent shop there it is her most successful branch to this day. Four stores and 16 members of staff is now enough for the businesswoman, who lives in Newbury with her husband and two children, but not one to just sit back and relax, Caroline continues to find other ways to grow. She has recently undertaken a colours and styling course and is now offering the service from a new studio opposite the Newbury shop. She is also launching her own label belts and bags this year, having been out to India to find a manufacturer. She hopes to bring out a whole range of clothing next year. I love my job so much, adds Caroline. It is my passion; it is my life and we are nearly there now. We are always non-judgemental and everyone is welcome and I think that is why we have grown. We respond to the weather; any situation and that keeps things so alive. But we can never rest on our laurels. I dont have a background in fashion, but I have a background in listening to people. And it is that skill that will keep the customers coming and keep Caroline, and Luna Boutiques, such a welcoming breath of fresh air. Press release At the Global Regulatory Awards 2019, world leading iGaming affiliate, Better Collective, wins the Award for Commitment to Compliance by an Affiliate Company. The award recognises excellence in the field of regulatory compliance and responsible gambling. On May 1, 2019, GamblingCompliance, the leading provider of independent legal, regulatory and business intelligence to the global gambling industry hosted Global Regulatory Awards 2019 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Here, winners of 17 award categories were announced as the award show sets to promote best-practices within the field of regulatory compliance and responsible gambling. In the award category Commitment to Compliance by an Affiliate Company, Danish based affiliate Better Collective took home the prize for their industry-leading compliance initiatives. Better Collective was shortlisted in the category along with Little Star Media, Media Players LTD, Raketech, Traffic Lab AbS and US Bets. Jesper Sgaard, CEO of Better Collective, said: Compliance has always been a core focus area at Better Collective due to our commitment and vision to empower iGamers. I am therefore truly excited that we were handed this award as it is a stamp of approval that we keep being frontrunners and that our dedicated team continues to improve the compliance standards in the industry for the benefit of the users. 2019 has already been an award-winning year for Better Collective. Earlier this year, Better Collective topped the prestigious EGR Power Affiliate list 2019 and the company also took home the award for Best In-House Team at SEMrush Nordic Search Awards 2019. Contacts CEO: Jesper Sgaard PR & Outreach Specialist: Morten Kalum +45 2349 1009, mkalum@bettercollective.com About Better Collective Better Collectives vision is to empower iGamers through transparency and technology this is what has made them the worlds leading developer of digital platforms for betting tips, bookmaker information and iGaming communities. Better Collectives portfolio includes more than 2,000+ websites and products, among other bettingexpert.com, the trusted home of tips from expert tipsters and in depth betting theory. Attachment The Jewish Community Center in Sherman will present a program, Music of the Holocaust: Melodies of Solace, Hope and Spiritual Resistance with Dr. Tamara Freedman, May 4 at 7 p.m. Freeman will tell the stories of composers interned in Holocaust ghettos and concentration camps, and play their music on her 1935 Joseph Bausch viola that was rescued from the Shoah and secretly shipped to the U.S. The Rotary Club of New Milford will host its 13th annual spring cleanup community document shredding day May 4 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Lore's Plaza parking lot along Route 7. Residents are invited to bring documents for shredding in the FileShred, LLC mobile shredder. Staples and paper clips may be intact. INDIANAPOLIS, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oak Street Funding ( www.oakstreetfunding.com ), a First Financial Bank company, encourages employee participation in charitable events and activities as part of its company culture. Most recently, Oak Street employees have participated in three Indy Honor Flights which consist of one-day trips transporting WWII, Korea and Vietnam wartime veterans to Washington, D.C. to see their memorials, in-flight mail calls and elaborate homecoming celebrations upon their return. Indy Honor Flight is a non-profit organization created solely to honor Indianas veterans for their service and sacrifice. Oak Street Funding employees have played and continue to play a role in these special one-day events. Bill Nicholson, Executive Director of Sales & Marine Corp veteran, first introduced Indy Honor Flight to Oak Street after accompanying one of the veterans as a Guardian on the flight to and from Washington D.C. There is really no way to describe this trip of a lifetime for these veterans, explained Nicholson. From visiting their war memorials, to mail call on the flight home where each veteran receives a package of letters from friends, family & the community thanking them for their service, to the surprise homecoming celebration upon their return, I have never taken part in such an emotional and meaningful way to honor our troops. Other Oak Street employees also participate in the Indy Honor Flight. Some write letters or have their childrens school classes write letters for the surprise mail call portion of the trip. Others have donated their time as members of the ground crew who coordinate the spectacular homecoming the veterans experience upon their return to Indianapolis. Oak Street Funding is active in many community events, stated Rick Dennen, Founder and CEO of Oak Street Funding. Indy Honor Flight participants always come back touched and emotional from this every year. It is only one of the outstanding ways we are able to give back to our community and especially to those who have made sacrifices that allow us to enjoy our many freedoms." Oak Street Funding will be participating in two additional Indy Honor Flights in 2019. About Oak Street Funding Indianapolis-based Oak Street Funding ( www.oakstreetfunding.com ), a First Financial Bank company, provides commercial financing for financial service businesses, restaurant franchises through the First Franchise Capital ( firstfranchisecapital.com ) brand and third-party loan servicing for financial institutions. Oak Street Funding and First Franchise Capital utilize industry knowledge, proprietary technology and passion to deliver top-quality service and capital products to finance services professionals and franchise owners nationwide. Media Contact: Sharon Robbins, 317-428-3804 Sharon.robbins@oakstreetfunding.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c32d99ef-0999-4848-b2d9-b9c8b127e17c The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. However, new research led by George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services found high rates of mixed breastfeeding and early introduction of formula among their sample of low-income, predominately Hispanic immigrant women participating in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) federal food assistance program. Assistant Professor Dr. Sina Gallo led the study with colleagues from the Loudoun County Health Department and Georgetown University. Published in Public Health Nutrition, they found that 61% of infants in their sample received formula in the first few days of life. More than half of the mothers reported use of formula due to perceived insufficient milk supply. Going back to work was also commonly cited as a reason for introducing formula, and some cultural beliefs may have encouraged the use of a mix of both breast milk and formula. Mothers who set an exclusive breastfeeding goal were five times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at three months post-partum. Those who did not complete high school were four times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at three months and six times more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at six months than those who had completed a high school education or greater. The researchers suggested that most early breast-feeding problems can be addressed with education about when and how much to breastfeed and culturally appropriate support from clinicians. Gallo explains, "The main reason for introduction of formula was a perceived insufficient milk supply--which is likely a preventable reason--and education on sufficient breastmilk in the first few days as well as improved baby friendly hospital practices such as skin-to-skin and feeding in the first hour can help mitigate this practice." This study investigated the feeding patterns of 190 low-income, predominantly Hispanic immigrant women who attended two WIC clinics in Loudoun County, Virginia. 81 percent were living below the federal poverty line, and food insecurity was high. "The early rates of introduction of formula in the population surveyed is alarming - 17 percent reported giving formula at the first feed and 45 percent before they left the hospital. This is the time when support systems should be in place to help mothers exclusively breastfeed, yet many are choosing formula feeding at this time," explained Gallo. The researchers explained that in most cases it is possible for new mothers to adapt to exclusive breastfeeding, with education intervention from WIC counsellors, as well as changes in WIC policies to encourage and support breastfeeding. "Our study aims to inform policymakers of the best way to help minority mothers earning low incomes to adopt exclusive breastfeeding. WIC already provides an expanded food package for exclusively breastfeeding mothers as well as access to lactation counselors. However an increased focus on intense lactation support in the first weeks, including limiting formula as a part of the WIC package for the first month to special circumstances may further help support mothers to meet breastfeeding recommendations," Gallo noted. Organ-on-Chip specialist CN Bio has signed a distribution agreement with Sydney-based AXT Pty. Ltd., Australias leading supplier of high technology scientific equipment. The agreement will see AXT distribute CN Bios innovative bioengineering products to medical researchers in academia and industry throughout Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region. CN Bio is a leading lab-on-a-chip company, based in London. Its flagship PhysioMimix device is being used by pharmaceutical, consumer goods companies and regulators globally. The PhysioMimix Organ-on-Chip platform enables researchers to work with a wide range of cell types (iPSCs, primary cells, etc.) and commercial inserts to mimic human physiology in vitro. This improves the efficiency of preclinical studies or industrial screening that require reliable human-relevant data. CN Bio Commercial Director Paul Davies said: "PhysioMimix allows researchers to run single- and multi-organ human-tissue based studies, in parallel, on a compact lab-benchtop device". "For teams who need human-relevant data as part of their research, preclinical testing, and to assess the safety or toxicity of new compounds, Organ-on-Chip studies are becoming absolutely invaluable. They provide comprehensive, 3D tissue-culture-based data and enable real-time monitoring and analysis." "AXT provide equipment to many of these teams already. A lot of groups in Australia and New Zealand are looking forward to adding the latest Organ-on-Chip techniques to their labs, and we're delighted that they will have friendly faces to demonstrate and set up the CN Bio devices." Richard Trett, Managing Director of AXT said, "We are excited to bring CN Bio on board. Their addition to our existing portfolio continues our commitment to put the latest technologies in the hands of Australian researchers." AXT has a diverse range of solutions for life science researchers. They cover areas such as cell biology, proteomics, genomics pharmacology, translational research etc. For more details, please visit www.axt.com.au. Even before birth, an obstructed urethra can cause a variety of issues in the unborn child, ranging from mild urinary problems to kidney failure. This highly variable disease is called LUTO (lower urinary tract obstruction). Especially boys are affected. An international team of researchers led by the University of Bonn has now discovered a first gene involved in this rare disease. The results are now published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. "In the worst case, the urinary retention caused by an obstruction of the urethra can result in damage to the kidneys and lungs prenatally," says Dr. Alina Hilger of the Center for Pediatrics at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB). Urinary retention leads to a lack of amniotic fluid, but this fluid is necessary for the lungs to develop properly in the amniotic sac. Hilger: "It is possible to save the fetus with surgery in the womb." This complex and rare procedure is performed by Prof. Christoph Berg at the University Women's Hospital Bonn. LUTO occurs comparatively rarely, only in about three out of 10,000 pregnancies. The few cases, however, show an occasional family accumulation and therefore seem to be hereditary. Until now, no gene causally associated with the disease and its heredity has been known. An international team of researchers from Germany, the Netherlands, England, the USA and Poland, led by pediatricians, anatomists and human geneticists from the University Hospital Bonn, has now searched for the genetic origin of the disease. Different variants of the BNC2 gene The scientists compared the genetic material of four patients who had suffered from LUTO in varying degrees over three generations with that of healthy people. This revealed indications of mutations of the gene "BNC2". The researchers then extended the study to 697 LUTO patients and uncovered three further variants of the BNC2 gene in these patients. BNC2 encodes the protein "basonuclin 2", which is believed to be involved in the processing of certain RNAs in the cell nucleus. "However, it is still unknown how the discovered mutations interfere with a biological mechanism that ultimately leads to the congenital narrowing of the urethra," said lead author Caroline Kolvenbach from the UKB. The researchers tested their findings on zebrafish. "This is a well-established animal model," said Prof. Dr. Benjamin Odermatt from the Institute for Anatomy at the University Hospital Bonn. The fish reproduce and develop rapidly, which is why results are obtained fast. In addition, they are transparent during the larval stage and can therefore easily be screened for anatomical peculiarities. First, the scientists knocked down the BNC2 gene in zebrafish. As a result, the zebrafish larvae developed a narrowing of their urinary tract. The researchers then transferred an intact human BNC2 copy into the manipulated fish embryos. This considerably decreased the number of urinary tract malformations in these fish. However, the altered or mutated BNC2 copies found in the families were not able to rescue these malformations. "These experiments show that these variants or mutations found by us in BNC2 are actually responsible for LUTO," says second lead author Dr. Gabriel Dworschak from the UKB. New perspectives for genetic counseling The team of scientists has thus discovered the first gene associated with LUTO. "At the same time, we have proven that LUTO has a genetic origin," says Dr. Alina Hilger. "This also opens up new perspectives for genetic counseling of affected parents." Since many children with LUTO have impaired kidney function, the scientists assume that not only the urinary retention, but also the genetic defect itself impairs the function of the kidneys. By understanding the genetic causes, the scientists hope to eventually find an approach for a causal therapy for renal dysfunction in LUTO children. A former maintenance technician at Colonial Williamsburg was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for rigging a pipe bomb that exploded at the historic site. "What I did was completely irresponsible and dangerous," wrote Stephen Powers of the October 2017 incident in a letter to U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. "I wish I could go back in time and erase it all." Powers, 31, had built other bombs that were found in his home, according to records filed with the federal court in Newport News. "One possible and reasonable inference is that the defendant was testing a device that he would later use to murder his wife," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. The bomb that detonated was connected to an outlet set to turn on decorative lights at 5 every evening in a shopping area. That way Powers was able to leave the scene before the explosion, which sprayed large pieces of metal around a restaurant parking lot. "We should all feel extremely fortunate this individual's recklessness and brazen indifference for human life did not result in someone being killed or seriously injured," Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Ashan Benedict said in a statement. Prosecutors say Powers was quickly identified as a suspect due to his unusual behavior in the days before the explosion. After his arrest he lied about not just his actions but his military service and drug use. He pleaded guilty to possession of unregistered destructive devices and making false statements to the FBI. AUSTIN, Texas, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Sustainable Marketing movement will take a step forward at the SiriusDecisions Summit next week, thanks to a coalition of forward-thinking companies, Bombora announced today. Event attendees can explore the movement at booth #909 and win a stay at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay plus tickets to the Bombora Intent Event this fall. Just as consumers are beginning to favor ecologically aware companies, B2B sales and marketing executives, too, are increasingly wary of excess waste in their marketing efforts, from ecologically damaging physical swag to attention-wasting digital pollution in the form of excessive emails and ads. As Bombora CEO Erik Matlick described in a recent Adweek column, Bombora and the other members of its expanding coalition including DiscoverOrg , Enlyft , Everstring , Integrate , Lattice Engines , Leadspace , Terminus , Triblio , Rollworks , and Uberflip seek to reduce marketing waste in an effort to help the physical and digital environment. Our business environment has been polluted with needless ads, emails and sales calls, said Matlick. The cost in terms of human attention, trust and brand value is mounting. Using sustainable marketing techniques to minimize digital and physical waste, while still improving sales and marketing results, should be a priority for all businesses. At the SiriusDecisions Summit in Austin, May 5-8th, conference attendees can learn how different providers enable sustainable marketing by visiting the booths of DiscoverOrg, Enlyft, Everstring, Integrate, Lattice Engines, Leadspace, Terminus, Triblio, Rollworks, and Uberflip. After visiting these partners, #SDSummit attendees can become eligible for a drawing to win a 3-night stay at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay and complimentary tickets to Bombora Intent Event on September 24, 2019. About Bombora Bombora tells businesses which companies are researching their products and services. With this understanding, sales and marketing teams can be more relevant and consistent and improve performance across all activities. This intent-driven approach revolutionizes the way businesses market and sell to other businesses through transparent data built on an ecosystem of quality, collaboration and innovation. With direct integrations with dozens of leading data, marketing and media-buying platforms, Bombora is building a world in which business buyers value sales and marketing for its relevance, timeliness and accuracy. To learn more, visit bombora.com. WASHINGTON - Republicans in Virginia will nominate candidates for some state and local offices Saturday in contests fueled by a backlash over one state delegate's vote for Medicaid expansion and a battle to replace Corey Stewart as board chairman in Prince William County. The outcomes of the nomination battles will influence the GOP's direction in the fall as the party seeks to hold its slim majority in the General Assembly and fend off strong challenges from Democrats in local races. Anger over last year's vote to make Medicaid coverage available to up to 400,000 more low-income Virginians has become a central issue in a district northeast of Richmond where Del. Chris Peace, R-Hanover County, is facing a challenge from Hanover County Supervisor Scott Wyatt. Peace supporters this week sought to cancel plans for a nominating convention Saturday at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville, looking to instead hold a firehouse primary election in June, which they said would draw a larger pool of voters. Tom Miller, the chairman of the local GOP legislative district committee, said the convention will go forward as planned, though it appears likely that the results will be contested by either side. On Thursday, Wyatt continued his attacks over Medicaid, posting on his Facebook page a list of campaign contributions to Peace from groups that supported the measure. "Del. Peace would have you believe he hasn't benefited from the Medicaid expansion vote, but contributions to his campaign says otherwise," the post reads. Peace, who was among 19 Republicans to vote for the law, has defended it as a conservative version of "Medicaid reform" since it also called for work requirements. But conservative critics say the mandate is unenforceable. Del. Bob Thomas, R-Stafford County, and Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County, are also facing challenges over the Medicaid issue, in primary elections that will be held in June. Among local nomination contests, the hottest battleground will be in Prince William County, where Stewart plans to step down from the office he's held for 13 years. A firehouse primary election will be held in county polling stations between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for Stewart's office, three district seats on the Board of Supervisors and a nominee to replace retiring longtime Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert, a Democrat. Republicans believe that their 6-2 majority on the county board is in jeopardy after a blue wave in 2017 that brought 15 new Democrats to the House of Delegates was centered largely in Prince William County. In the Republican nominating contest for the chairman's race, John Gray, a certified public accountant, is following Stewart's hard-line conservative playbook, casting the election as a referendum on "criminal aliens" in the county and a "radical social agenda" in local schools. Gray says his more moderate opponent, Supervisor Martin Nohe. R-Coles, would cave to pressure by Democrats to end a federal cooperation agreement that makes it easier for immigration agents to take into custody suspected undocumented immigrants arrested for local crimes. "If he is elected chairman, he will effectively allow Prince William County to become a sanctuary county," Gray said in an interview. Nohe, a board member since 2003, called his opponent's charges "wild-haired." "I have no desire to change it," he said about the immigration enforcement agreement. "I'm not sure where this claim is coming from." Nohe, who is also chairman of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, said he wants to position Prince William County to take advantage of the pending arrival of Amazon in northern Virginia by luring more high-tech companies. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Nohe also supports a county bond referendum to fund roads and parks that Gray opposes and that is expected to be put before voters in the fall. "We're already on the right track," Nohe said. But "we need to do everything we can to take advantage of these opportunities." Stewart said he is not endorsing either candidate and doesn't plan to weigh in on any of the other GOP nominations for supervisor. The candidates in those contests are: Supervisor Pete Candland and challenger Ray Mizener, a civil engineer, in the Gainesville district; realtor Patrick Sowers and county sheriff's Deputy Yesli Vega in the Coles District; and, in the Potomac District, businessman Doug Taggart and Davon Gray, a senior political director for the American Institute of Architects. Former Occoquan District supervisor Mike May is running against ex-County Prosecutor Tim Olmstead for the GOP nomination for Ebert's soon-to-be-vacant office as commonwealth's attorney. Democrats are mounting campaigns for every one of those seats, with June primaries scheduled for commonwealth's attorney, county sheriff and the Coles, Neabsco, Occoquan and Woodbridge seats. Stewart said he worries that his party won't be able to overcome a massive influx of money and volunteers that he expects to flow to the Democratic candidates - reflecting the same anti-GOP enthusiasm that he believes was a major factor in his 16-point loss to Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, during last year's midterm elections. "If that happens again this year, all Republicans are doomed in Prince William County," Stewart said. The Washington Post's Laura Vozzella contributed to this report from Richmond, Virginia. Remember but don't memorialize War memorials. Memorials are intended to memorialize. Yes, we all know. In reference to the judge in Charlottesville who recently disapproved removing the Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee statues, do we really want to memorialize individuals who fought to break up the Union in order to continue the practice of slavery? Thank God for Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves and all the Americans who fought for preserving these great United States and to eradicate slavery. The Civil War, Lee and Jackson are part of our history and should be remembered for their roles and impacts. Not memorialized as heroes of this country but as part of the history of this country. THOMAS WILKERSON III Lynchburg The coup failed; move on Unlike Neil Sumerlin (The Forum, Far from exonerated, April 30), Im pleased Americas justice system doesnt require the accused to prove innocence. We require the accusers to prove guilt. After two years of investigating, thousands of interviews, hundreds of subpoenas and tens of millions spent on overturning a presidential election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded theres no evidence of collusion. No crimes were proven. In America, that means innocent. Exoneration is a seldom-used word because exoneration can seldom be proven. Even though President Trumps office produced every document required and allowed every witness to testify, there is somehow obstruction? What would President Trump obstruct? Another fine point of the law is no crime equals no obstruction. I feel sorry for those afflicted with Trump Derangement Disorder. But their coup failed. Its time to move on. GEORGE CAYLOR Lynchburg Rental regulations not needed As City Council prepares to discuss and vote on the planning departments proposal regulating short term rental properties (STRs) this month, I wish to respectfully remind readers that if passed as written, dozens of property owners will be forced to close down their host home or illegally operate on the black market. Owners purchased, and improved, these properties in neighborhoods that currently provide a fantastic experience for visiting guests. Im appalled that some Lynchburg city officials feel the need to tell property owners they cannot furnish their homes beautifully and lease them for a week unless the house is their primary residence! As a real estate agent with Mark A. Dalton & Co. and an STR owner of more than 10 years, I can speak from experience that generally short term guests are respectful, careful and appreciate the experience a locality provides. Lynchburg markets itself as A Great Place To Live, Work and Play. Embracing the sharing economy instead of squelching todays opportunity could benefit our entire city. I urge council members, to toss this over-reaching regulatory document into the trash can. If the future proves STR regulation is needed, please seek input from the stakeholders providing this service before blanketing them with a forced sale. KARL MILLER Lynchburg Miller for Bedford sheriff I have known Mike Miller for 20 years. I have had the pleasure of working with him on a number of occasions. He has more than 35 years of experience with the Bedford County Sheriffs Office. Over his tenure with the Sheriffs Office, he has held positions covering all aspects of the office. I believe his experience makes him uniquely qualified to be the next Bedford County sheriff. Miller knows the office, the residents and the law enforcement issues facing the county. He is a conservative, and he wont waste your tax dollars. He would continue to provide professional law enforcement service for the people of Bedford County. With his knowledge of the county and the department, he will hit the ground running his first day in office and wouldnt need a learning curve. He is honest and fair and has the integrity to be sheriff. That is why he has my endorsement. Please vote Mike Miller to be the Republican candidate for Bedford County sheriff in the Republican primary on June 11. STEVE HUTCHERSON Campbell County Sheriff 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 GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more English Lithuanian The general meeting of LITGRID AB shareholders (business ID 302564383, registered office address A. Juozapaviciaus g. 13, Vilnius) held on 23 April 2019 adopted a decision on the distribution of the company profit for 2018 and the payment of an EUR 0.0153 dividend per share. Dividends are paid out from 22 May 2018 in the following order: to the shareholders, whose LITGRID AB shares are accounted by a financial brokerage company or credit institutions, which provide securities accounting services, the dividend amount, after deduction of Personal or Corporate withholding income tax applicable by the laws of Lithuania, will be transferred to the shareholders accounts held with a respective financial brokerage company or credit institution; to the shareholders, whose LITGRID AB shares on behalf of the Company are accounted by the authorised custodian AB SEB bankas, the dividend amount, after deduction of Personal or Corporate withholding income tax applicable by the laws of Lithuania, will be transferred to the shareholders accounts with AB SEB bankas or the accounts (IBAN) with other bank or financial institution as indicated by the shareholders (requests with account indications should be submitted to any branch of SEB bankas). Dividends paid in 2019 will be taxed as follows: dividends paid to natural personsresidents of the Republic of Lithuania and natural personsresidents of foreign countries are subject to withholding Personal income tax of 15 per cent; dividends paid to legal entities of the Republic of Lithuania and legal entitiesresidents of foreign countries are subject to withholding Corporate income tax of 15 per cent, unless otherwise provided for by the laws. Residents of the foreign countries, which have concluded agreements on Avoidance of Double Taxation with the Republic of Lithuania, could take advantage of reduced tariffs provided by such agreements by submitting Claim for Reduction or Exemption from the Anticipatory Tax Withheld at Source, form FR0021 (DAS-1). The form should be completed following the law requirements and presented to SEB bankas together with the brokers confirmation by 17 May 2019. For additional information on pay out of the dividends please contact AB SEB bankas, phone number 1528. The individual authorized by Litgrid AB to provide additional information: Jurga Eivaite Head of Communication Division phone: +370 613 19977 e-mail: jurga.eivaite@litgrid.eu Deschutes Brewery is releasing their second collaboration with Humm Kombucha, with the release of Humm Zinger. Humm Kombucha and Deschutes are both Bend, Oregon-based companies. This cross-category collaboration is a take on a Shandy/Radler and will help lead into the summer. Humm Zinger combines Humms tangy grapefruit kombucha with the iconic Cascade hops and Pilsner malt for big citrus flavor with a profound dry hop character. This unique collab is a sessionable 4.3% ABV and 12 IBUs. Humm Zinger releases in early May in 12-ounce, 6-pack cans with limited distribution focused in the Pacific Northwest and Virginia. Humm Zingers bold flavor will be joined by Deschutes Brewerys sour series debut in cans this summer. About Deschutes Brewery: Deschutes Brewery, family and employee owned since 1988, is the quintessential beer of the Pacific Northwest. Founded on the guiding principles of true craftsmanship, ultimate quality and extraordinary consumer experience, Deschutes Brewery is recognized for defining beers such as Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Fresh Squeezed IPA and the non-stop release of pioneering small batch experimental and barrel-aged beers. Deschutes can be found at its brewpubs in Bend and Portland, Oregon, Tasting Rooms in Bend, and Roanoke, Virginia and at accounts across the country. Visit Deschutes Brewerys beer finder at https://www.deschutesbrewery.com/beer-finder/ to find a Deschutes beer near you. www.deschutesbrewery.com About Humm Kombucha: Humm is the worlds most drinkable kombucha and a fan favorite amongst families, athletes and wellness seekers. Founded in 2009 by kombucha enthusiasts Jamie Danek and Michelle Mitchell, the company is one the largest, fastest growing, and beloved kombucha brands. From the companys early days brewing in the founders kitchen through its movement to a full-scale brewery, Humm Kombucha has remained focused on taste, accessibility, and overall wellness because health and happiness go hand-in-hand. Humm can be found in grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants throughout North America, and now in many parts of Europe and Asia. Humm can be found at Target, Walmart, Safeway, Costco and Whole Foods locations in all 50 states. Headquartered in Bend, Oregon, Humm created the worlds first Kombucha tap room in 2013 and welcomes visitors to grab a glass seven days a week. Visit Humm online at www.hummkombucha.com (Newser) On the upside, no one got killed. The bad news: An Oregon metals manufacturer lied about test results and sold faulty aluminum parts to NASA and other customers for more than 19 years, according to the Justice Department and NASA. Seems workers at Sapa Profiles Incwhich is now called Hydro Extrusion Portlandaltered test results so materials appeared ready for sale from 1996 to 2015. NASA says the aluminum scam caused two satellite missions to fail and cost them $700 million, a far cry from the $46 million that Sapa parent company Norsk Hydro ASA has agreed to pay the federal government and other customers, Bloomberg reports. Not to mention the years of scientific investigation lost due to fraud. story continues below The space agency blames two failed launches on the faulty parts: the 2009 Orbiting Carbon Observatory and the 2011 Glory, which both sputtered when the Taurus XL rockets' protective nose cones didn't fully open, CNET reports. Sapa's apparent motive is no surprise: boosting corporate profits and hitting production-based bonuses. Now the manufacturer is excluded from federal contracting and has pleaded guilty to a count of mail fraud. Norsk Hydro says the case is settled, and the company has put in "significant time and resources to completely overhaul our quality and compliance organizations." But for NASA, hard truth prevails. "When testing results are altered and certifications are provided falsely, missions fail," says an agency official. (Read more fraud stories.) (Newser) A murder trial began Monday for a Massachusetts teen accused of cutting off a schoolmate's head in a jealous rage, the Boston Herald reports. In his opening statement, a prosecutor said Mathew Borges, then 15, decapitated 16-year-old Manuel Viloria-Paulino in November 2016 after accusing him of sleeping with Borges' girlfriend. "The defendant was tough on the outside but insecure on the inside," said Assistant District Attorney Jay Gubitose in Essex County Superior Court. "He was jealous" after seeing the girl with the popular Viloria-Paulino at school and "started screaming at her." Borges has admitted to smoking pot with Viloria-Paulino that day on the Lawrence riverfrontthe same area where the victim's body was later discoveredbut insists he didn't commit murder. story continues below Defense attorney Edward Hayden notes the lack of physical evidenceno tools, weapons, or DNA link Borges to the crimeand adds that "witnesses who are going to say he committed murder are not reliable." Yet prosecutors say Borges did send his ex a text 24 hours after the murder saying, "The next time you see me, look at my eyes because that's the last time they'll be like that. They'll be dead." And a Lawrence police detective testified that Borges was caught lying about cuts on his hands and changed his story, per CBS Boston. Seems there's also a Borges journal in which the last entry says he needs to "kill him." What's more, nearby surveillance video apparently shows four people robbing the victim's house soon after, and Borges doesn't deny stealing from the victim. (Read more murder trial stories.) (Newser) A former CIA agent suspected of being the mole who helped bring down the network's operations in China early this decade has pleaded guilty to spying for Beijing. Prosecutors say that after Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, left the US to live in Hong Kong in 2007, China paid him to provide the names of informants, the BBC reports. Former CIA officials say up to 20 covert agents were imprisoned or executed in the years after China turned Lee, who recruited clandestine sources during his years with the agency. Prosecutors say Lee's Chinese handlers promised him he would be financially set for life if he provided information. In a plea deal, the former agent, who was arrested at New York's JFK airport in January last year, pleaded guilty to conspiring with China to commit espionage; two lesser charges of retaining secret information after leaving the CIA were dropped. story continues below Lee, who worked for the CIA between 1994 and 2007, will be sentenced in August. The plea deal calls for a minimum sentence of 21 years in prison, though a life sentence is possible. Lee's attorney, Edward MacMahon, says the government's court filings do not blame Lee for the deaths of agents, NPR reports. "Those were stories leaked to the media," MacMahon says. US District Judge TS Ellis said Wednesday that whether Lee actually delivered secrets to China is "a matter that will come out to some extent in sentencing," the AP reports. Investigators found evidence including a notebook with the real names of covert CIA informants in China after luring him back to the US with a job offer and searching his hotel room. (China is believed to have shared information on covert CIA agents with Russia.) (Newser) A Texas grand jury indicted a suburban Dallas police officer Wednesday on a charge of criminally negligent homicide for fatally shooting a black man during a traffic stop last year. The Tarrant County grand jury indicted Arlington Officer Bau Tran eight months after he shot 24-year-old O'Shae Terry in the Dallas suburb. The indictment marks a rare criminal prosecution of a police officer in the historically conservative North Texas county, the AP reports. It could draw greater attention to a case that was largely overshadowed by another in the same month in which a white Dallas police officer fatally shot a black man in his own apartment. Tran shot Terry on Sept. 1 after another officer pulled the Forest Hill resident over on a registration violation. story continues below After talking for several minutes, body camera footage shows Tran grabbing the passenger-side window of the SUV Terry was driving as it begins to roll up. The officer stepped onto the vehicle's running board as it started to move, pointed his gun into the SUV, and fired multiple shots. Terry later died at a hospital. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Terry's estate, said the indictment was "a huge relief" for his family but also less than they had hoped for. "We are certainly happy that there will be a chance for some form of justice in this case," Merritt says. "But if anyone else had done this it would have been murder." Criminally negligent homicide is a felony and a conviction can lead to a sentence of 180 days to two years in state jail. (Read more Texas stories.) (Newser) 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 US 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 AP reports. story continues below 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. She told Williamson that there was "compelling evidence" suggesting his "responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure." Williamson insisted he was not the source of the leak. He said May had offered him the chance to resign rather than be fired, but "to resign would have been to accept that I ... or my staff were responsible." Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, was appointed to replace Williamson. She becomes the first woman to hold Britain's top defense post. (Huawei is fighting back against the US government's Huawei ban.) (Newser) On the Freewinds cruise ship, there's one person currently being kept in isolation with the measleswhile nearly 300 others are being kept on board at a port in St. Lucia. The 440-foot-long ship has been quarantined since Monday due to a female crew member's measles diagnosis, meaning no one can disembark onto the island, though the ship can leave port whenever it pleases, NBC News reports. And it appears to be not just any cruise ship, but a literal Cruise ship: Although local health officials are keeping mum on the vessel, Coast Guard officials are reporting the ship has the same name and appears to be the same Freewinds owned by the Church of Scientology; the ship is used for "spiritual counseling" and hosted Tom Cruise's 42nd birthday in 2004, per the Hollywood Reporter. story continues below Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, St. Lucia's head medical officer, tells NBC it's "likely that other persons on the boat may have been exposed," due to the contagiousness of the disease. The affected patient is said to be in stable condition. Right now, the Freewinds is scheduled to set sail and head to its next port at 11:59pm on Thursday. "We have no jurisdiction over their next destination," Fredericks-James says. Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reports that Avengers fans in Fullerton, Calif., may want to recall when they saw the latest Endgame flick: Health officials say a 20-something woman who caught the midnight showing on April 26 recently tested positive for measles, meaning anyone in the AMC Movie Theater between 11pm and 4am would be vulnerable and should get tested. (Read more measles stories.) (Newser) Maine has brought in the country's first statewide ban on a kind of plastic that has an especially pernicious effect on the environment. Gov. Janet Mills has signed a law that bans single-use containers of expanded polystyrene foam, better known as Styrofoam, CNN reports. When the law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2021, Maine businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores, will be banned from selling food and drink in Styrofoam containers. "Polystyrene cannot be recycled like a lot of other products, so while that cup of coffee may be finished, the Styrofoam cup it was in is not," Mills said in a statement to WMTW. "In fact, it will be around for decades to come and eventually it will break down into particles, polluting our environment, hurting our wildlife, and even detrimentally impacting our economy." story continues below Environmentalists say the biggest problem with polystyrene is that it is lightweight and crumbles, so it is often blown into the ocean and consumed by wildlife. "People think it breaks down, because you see it breaking in smaller and smaller pieces, but in some ways those are more harmful because they can more easily be consumed by animals and even humans," Jacqueline Savitz at the Oceana ocean conservancy group tells CBS. Maine's bill, which fines offenders $100, follows citywide bans, including one Washington, DC, introduced in 2016, the Hill reports. Maryland is expected to pass a similar ban soon, and lawmakers in Colorado, Oregon, and New Jersey are also considering Styrofoam bans. (Read more Styrofoam stories.) (Newser) While it always feels like a win to score a cheap plane ticket, price isn't the only factor that makes an airline desirable. WalletHub looked at the nine biggest domestic airlines, plus three regional carriers, examining four categories: safety; incidents involving animals; in-flight comfort and cost; and baggage, departures, and complaints. Coming in at the top of the list: Alaska Airlines, which also ranks as the safest airline. Here, how the rest of the rankings fell, with each airline's corresponding score out of 100: story continues below Alaska Airlines; 63.5 Delta Air Lines; 59.7 SkyWest Airlines; 56.7 Spirit Airlines; 52.9 ExpressJet Airlines; 51 Hawaiian Airlines; 48.7 United Airlines; 45.9 JetBlue Airlines; 45 Southwest Airlines; 39 American Airlines; 38.4 Envoy Air; 36.2 Frontier Airlines; 30.4 Click for the full rankings and breakdowns of individual categories. (Here are the best airlines globally .) KAMLOOPS, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Day Scholars addresses a remarkable court judgment recently released, in which a Federal Court Judge has criticized Canada for its approach to the Day Scholars Class Action. While the Day Scholars were unsuccessful in their attempt to get a rare and difficult to obtain advanced costs order, Justice Harrington was unsparing in his criticism of Canadas chosen litigation strategy noting that the Plaintiffs are dying1 and asking rhetorically: Is it [Canadas] intention to grind [the Plaintiffs] into poverty and bankruptcy before this matter ever proceeds to trial?2 Day Scholars are individuals who attended a federally owned and operated Indian Residential School during the day but returned home at night. Day Scholars suffered the same destruction of language and culture as other students at Residential Schools, but were unjustly and arbitrarily excluded from the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Justice Harrington noted that he was more than satisfied that the Day Scholars claim is of public importance and prima facie meritorious.3 Lawyers say that Day Scholars are one of the few remaining groups who suffered the evils of Canadas Residential School policy who have yet to receive proper compensation for harms suffered by them, despite the TRCs Call to Action urging Canada to do just that. As acknowledged by Justice Harrington, these Plaintiffs have been left behind.4 The Day Scholars remain committed to seeking fair and equal compensation on the same terms as other Residential School survivors. Day Scholars are disheartened that Canada continues to bring a scorched-earth approach to this litigation. Unlike Canadas approach to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and the Indian Day Schools (McLean) Settlement Agreement, Canada is relying on all manner of legal defences to deny responsibility for the harms suffered by Day Scholars, even continuing to deny that there was ever a uniform Indian Residential School Policy.5 As noted by Justice Harrington, Canada has repeated all of the defences set out in the original Statement of Defence, with the exception of time-bar. Significantly, the same potential defences did not stop Canada from settling with the students who resided at the schools.6 If Canada proceeds with all of its intended defences, Justice Harrington observed that the litigation would take years, and would cost the Plaintiffs millions of dollars.7 Justice Harrington ended his judgment with a stark message for Canada: [54] On the eve of my retirement, I leave with paragraph 4 of the Crowns Amended Statement of Defence ringing in my head: Canada also acknowledges that reconciliation will be furthered by resolving the legacy of such schools. Canada is committed to achieving such reconciliation, including any Day Scholars who may have suffered harm as a result of their attendance at Residential Schools, their descendants, and with any Indigenous communities that suffered losses as a further result of the impacts of Day Scholars [55] I hope Canada will not simply continue to talk the talk, but will now walk the walk. [56] I would also leave with one passing thought: I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day (Albert Camus, La Chute, Editions Gamillard, 1956). Day Scholars are tired of nice words from this government about reconciliation. We are tired of talk. Justice Harrington got it exactly right. If reconciliation means anything to this government, they need to walk the walk, said Tkemlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casmir. It is hard to see the governments litigation strategy as anything other than a cynical strategy to drive us into poverty and bankruptcy by spending vast amounts of taxpayers money on litigation, said Dr. Matthew Coon Come, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. What is Canada waiting for? Is it waiting for all survivors of residential schools to die? Is that Canadas strategy? It is beyond frustrating, said shishalh Nation Chief Warren Paull. Canada recognizes that a terrible wrong was committed. Canada says it to want to resolve the legacy of residential schools. So what is stopping it? Fair is fair. Day scholars ask only for the same deal that other survivors of the terror of residential schools received. Contact information: Jo-Anne Gottfriedson TteS-SFN-JBC Day Scholar Executive Chair Jo-anne.gottfriedson@kib.ca 1 Gottfriedson v. Canada, 219 FC 462 [Gottfriedson] at para 48. 2 Gottfriedson at para 49. 3 Gottfriedson at para 24. 4 Gottfriedson at para 6. 5 Gottfriedson at para 46. 6 Gottfriedson at para 45. 7 Gottfriedson at para 48. (Newser) A horrific case out of Georgia continues a recent pattern of men guilty of sex crimes walking away with little to no time in prison. The Washington Post reports on the April 25 sentencing of Michael Wysolovski, 33, who pleaded guilty to first-degree cruelty to children caused by "excessive physical pain during sexual intercourse" and interstate interference with custody, after keeping a teen captive for over a year. The girl first met Wysolovski when she was 15 in an online anorexia forum. In May 2016, when she turned 16, Georgia's age of consent, she ran away from home to meet up and live with him, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Even though they initially engaged in a "consensual non-consensual" BDSM (bondage, domination, submission, masochism) relationship, it soon veered into the abusive, with Wysolovski forcing her into sex, keeping her in a dog cage, and limiting what she ate. story continues below The girl was rescued at age 17 after contact with a woman online who then contacted authorities. When found, she was reportedly malnourished, suffering from ringworm, and plagued with back problems from the cage. At the hearing, the victim said she has attempted suicide three times since her rescue. WSOC reports that although he faced up to 25 years in prison, he instead received a 10-year sentence, with credit for eight months already served; the rest of his sentence will be spent on probation. Wysolovski also has to register as a sex offender. Gwinnett County Assistant DA Michael DeTardo told the court rape and aggravated sodomy charges had been mulled but were dropped as they would've been hard to prove. Wysolovski's attorney stipulated that any plea deal could not include prison time, and the victim and her family wanted to avoid a trial. (Read about a similar case out of upstate New York.) (Newser) How's this for an unwelcome surprise in a study of freshwater shrimp: Every one tested in a study of 15 different sites in Britain's rural Suffolk County had traces of cocaine, reports the Guardian. Oh, and traces of the drug ketamine were widespread. Also showing up: a long-banned pesticide called fenuron, reports CNN. In a release from King's College London, researchers emphasized that they're talking about "micropollutants" here, meaning that, no, the shrimp in Suffolk's rivers aren't stoned. In fact, they say the "potential for any effect is likely to be low" on the creatures, not to mention any humans that consume them. story continues below Still, the results speak to the larger problem of pollutants getting into waterways. "Such regular occurrence of illicit drugs in wildlife was surprising," says one of the researchers. "We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments." The next step is to widen the research to see if the same findings apply throughout the UK, to better assess the impact of what the scientists call "'invisible' chemical pollution." (Another concern for marine life: plastic waste.) (Newser) Nancy Pelosi just raised the stakes in Democrats' criticism of Attorney General William Barr: The House speaker accused him of breaking the law. "He lied to Congress," Pelosi said at a news conference, reports the Washington Post. The attorney general of the United States was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. Thats a crime. The reference is to Barr's appearance in April before a House panel, when he told Rep. Charlie Crist that he wasn't aware of concerns from Robert Mueller's team about the four-page summary Barr had released. By that time, however, NBC reports that Barr already had received a letter from Mueller complaining that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the full inquiry. story continues below The April exchange in question, per NBC: Crist: "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. Do you know what they are referencing with that?" "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. Do you know what they are referencing with that?" Barr: No, I don't. I think, I think, I suspect that they probably wanted, you know, more put out. Crist tells Politico that he now views Barr's response as "perjury." But the Justice Department says this "baseless attack on the Attorney General is reckless, irresponsible and false," per Axios . When a reporter asked Pelosi if Barr should go to jail, she said, "There's a process involved here, and as I said, I'll say it again, the committee will act upon how we will proceed." (Barr told a Senate panel Wednesday that Mueller's letter was "snitty," and he opted not to appear before a House panel on Thursday.) (Newser) After years of pressure to crack down on extremist content, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban against hate and violence, the AP reports. The company also banned right-wing leaders Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, and Laura Loomer, along with Jones' site, Infowars. The latest bans apply to both Facebook's main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. Facebook says the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organizations. The company says it has "always banned" people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology. story continues below CNN describes Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan as "notorious for using anti-Semitic language" and explains that Nehlen is "an anti-Semite who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2016 and 2018." Jones and Infowars, of course, infamously peddle conspiracy theories such as claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, and Watson is an editor at Infowars. Yiannopoulos is known for his racist, anti-women, and otherwise controversial comments, and Loomer's anti-Muslim comments once got her banned from Uber and Lyft. Asked to comment on the bans, Yiannopoulos emailed only "You're next." Jones reacted angrily Thursday during a live stream of his show on his Infowars website: "They didn't just ban me. They just defamed us. Why did Zuckerberg even do this?" Jones said, calling himself a victim of "racketeering" by "cartels." Watson, meanwhile, tweeted that he was not given a reason and that he "broke none of their rules." "Hopefully, other prominent conservatives will speak out about me being banned, knowing that they are next if we don't pressure the Trump administration to take action," he wrote. (Read more Facebook stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region Dublin, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "ADAS and Autonomous Driving Industry Chain Report, 2018-2019 - Automotive Radar" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. China's passenger car radar market gathered pace from 2017, with shipments approaching 2.32 million units in the year, an annualized spurt of 104.6%. The growth trend continued in the first half of 2018 but slowed markedly in the second half due to a decline in automobile sales, leading to a much lower full-year growth in shipments. In 2018, the shipments of passenger car radars reached 3.58 million units in China, up by 54% versus 2017. In February 2019 Hangzhou Andar Technology Co., Ltd. unveiled ADT2001, a phased array architecture-based 16T16R 77GHz radar chip with CMOS process and ADT1002, a 2T2R radar chip. Though there are radar chip start-ups in China, they commit themselves to the development of RF transceiver modules. Their transceiver units play a small role in the whole radar system and cost not much. China-made radar chips are still not provided with the core function of algorithms about processing radar signals. Foreign chip leaders are heading towards integration and high precision. In June 2018, Texas Instruments (TI) announced mass production of AWR1642, a highly integrated ultra-wideband radar sensor boasting remarkable technical superiorities as it integrates microcontroller (MCU) and digital signal processor (DSP). Many a start-up uses AWR1642 to develop "4D radar" (4D=3D position + 1D speed). High resolution imaging, 79Ghz and CMOS hold the new trends for radars. CMOS-based chip ecosystem has yet to be built even if a radar with CMOS process will be a typical one in the future. Chinese radar start-ups face challenges of immature technology and unverified products in spite of a large number. For automotive industry with a high demanding on mature and reliable technologies, the long-used silicon germanium process still prevails, so the giants like Bosch, Continental, Aptiv, Denso and Veoneer still rule the roost. In 2018, the top three players in China's passenger car 77G long-range radar (LRR) OEM market seized a combined 80% share. Companies Mentioned ADI ANNGIC Aptiv Autoroad Bosch Calterah Semiconductor Continental Denso Denso Ten (formerly Fujitsu Ten) Hangzhou Andar Technology Co., Ltd. HawkEye Technology Hella IMSEMI Intibeam Linpowave Morgina Muniu Tech Nanoradar Science & Technology Oculii Shenzhen Anngic Technology Co., Ltd Suzhou Millimeter-wave Technology Co., Ltd. TransMirowave Valeo Veoneer WHST (Wuhu Sensortech) ZF TRW For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/x6r6ei 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. English Norwegian Reference is made to the stock exchange release from Norwegian Finans Holding ASA ("NOFI") dated 7 December 2018. Today, NOFI has in agreement with Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA ("NAS") and HBK Holding AS agreed to purchase all the shares in the Irish company Lilienthal Finance Ltd ("Lilienthal" and the "Transaction Agreement"). Lilienthal was established in 2018 and has based on agreement with NAS dated 7 December 2018 (the "Lilienthal Agreement") exclusive right to operate bank activity in Europe except for the Nordic countries based on the same model as Bank Norwegian AS ("Bank Norwegian") has in the Nordic region. Closing of the purchase of the shares in Lilienthal is expected to take place without delay. Lilienthal, which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of NOFI, has simultaneously entered into an amendment agreement to the Lilienthal Agreement where the commercial conditions connected to Lilienthal's bank activity in Europa except the Nordic region have been finally determined (the "Amendment"). - The new agreements secure NOFI full control and management of the expansion in Europe. Today, more than 50 per cent of our business is in EU countries. The goal for the next years is that the larger part of our growth comes from new markets in Europe, while we simultaneously will continue to strengthen our position in the Nordic region, says CEO in NOFI, Tine Wollebekk. Lilienthal will apply for a banking license in Ireland. Establishment in an EU country will be positive with respect to giving NOFI and Bank Norwegian a more efficient access to the markets in Europe ex. the Nordic region. The new agreements will, thus, give NOFI and Bank Norwegian the possibility to expand their business concept with a fully digitalized and effective bank to the whole of Europe. - We will continue the good cooperation with NAS and the reward program Norwegian Reward on marketing and sale, while we will establish the Nordic banking business as an integral part of the expanded program in Europe. We believe that the cooperation with Norwegian Reward in Europe ex. the Nordic region will be as successful as it has been in the Nordic region, where the bank has close to 1.6 million customers, high profitability and low losses, says Wollebekk. According to the Transaction Agreement, NOFI shall pay a total cash consideration of NOK 40 million for 100 per cent of the shares in Lilienthal, of which NOK 28 million will be paid to NAS. The main elements in the consideration to NAS in the Lilienthal Agreement and the Amendment are an annual cash license fee of NOK 30 million for the right to use the name Norwegian and the airline's logo in Europe ex. the Nordic region. The license fee for the first five years, in total NOK 150 million in cash, shall be paid as a one-time fee by 1 June 2019. NOFI shall also transfer to NAS, as a one-time fee and within reasonable time, shares in NOFI at a market value of NOK 150 million. The license fee is subject to renegotiation after ten years, corresponding to what applies in the license for the Nordic countries. - The new agreements strengthen Norwegian's shareholders' opportunity to take part in NOFI's international expansion. The cooperation between the airline and the bank has been a great success in the Nordic region through Norwegian Reward, and I have great faith that the bank will also succeed well in new markets in Europe where the airline has already been established, says NAS' CFO Geir Karlsen. Questions regarding the new agreements may be presented connected to the company's presentation for Q1 2019, on Friday 3 May 2019, from 8:30. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act New Delhi: The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday launched three new premium bikes priced between Rs 94,000 and Rs 1.05 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), with an eye on leadership position in the segment. The 200-cc X Pulse 200T is priced at Rs 94,000, adventure bike X Pulse 200 is tagged at Rs 97,000 and Rs 1.05 lakh (with fuel injection), while the Xtreme 200S is priced at Rs 98,500 (all prices ex-showroom Delhi). The company said it will soon commence bookings for the premium bike range with retail sales expected to start in a few weeks. With the three new bikes, Hero MotoCorp now has four models in the X range. Last year, it launched Xtreme 200R during the festive season. "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," Hero MotoCorp head of sales and after sales Sanjay Bhan told reporters in the national capital. In order to become a leading player in the premium segment, the company plans to bring in models with bigger engines going ahead, he added. "The company will keep investing to build the brand and will look at introducing models for the segment (up to 400-450 cc)," Bhan said. The premium motorcycle segment of over 150 cc engine capacity is pegged at around 3 million units per annum. While Hero MotoCorp is the leading player in the entry level and commuter segments of below 150 cc, it does not have a strong presence in the premium segment. New Delhi: PepsiCo Inc said on Thursday it will withdraw its lawsuit against four Indian potato farmers accused of infringing its patent, a PepsiCo India spokesman said. "After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases against the farmers," said the spokesman. PepsiCo in April sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety -- FC5 -- grown exclusively for its popular Lay's potato chips. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a woman allegedly murdered her pregnant neighbour in Punjabs Gurdaspur. Advised by a local witchdoctor (tantrik), the accused cut open the womb, pulled out the foetus in hope to bring it up as her own child. The accused has been identified as one Ravinder Kaur from Gurdaspurs Kala Nangal village. According to an Indian Express report, the 40-year-old accused has four children from her first marriage. She had undergone tubectomy before getting a divorce and marrying for second time. Unable to conceive with her second husband, the accused consulted a local witchdoctor, who advised her to carry out the ghastly act. The Indian Express report said that the crime came to light only after the victims husband lodged a missing complaint on April 27. The victim identified as 32-year-old Jasbir Kaur. She was seven month pregnant. The accused invited Jasbir for a meeting and later strangulated her and cut open the womb. Based on the husbands complaint police lodged an FIR under sections 302, 313, 316, 201 and 120(B) of IPC against Ravinder Kaur, her husband Gurpreet Singh, latters parents Puran Singh and Joginder Kaur, and his sisters Nittu Kaur and Aman Kaur. Witchdoctors performing black magic or suspicion of black magic has been reason behind many crimes, especially in rural India. Recently, a 30-year-old man had murdered his mother because he suspected that she was 'doing black magic on him.' According to news agency ANI, the incident took place on December 23 in a village in Telangana. Boinpalle Police of Rajanna Sircilla District said that, "On December 23, a person by the name of Srinivas, killed his mother by strangulating her to death. He suspected that his mother practiced black magic on him, from which he was falling ill often. So the accused decided to murder his 52-year-old mother at her residence." The man has been booked under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. For all the Latest Crime News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Directorate of Higher Secondary Education, Kerala is likely to announce the DHSE Kerala Board +2 Result 2019 soon, as per the annual academic calendar. As per various reports, the results are likely to be announced by May 10, 2019. Soon after the formal declaration of the result, the scorecards will be available on the official website of the board i.e. dhsekerala.gov.in. Students can also check the results at keralaresults.nic.in and results.itschool.gov.in. Alternatively, the students can also visit this page to get all the latest updates related to Kerala Board Class 12 Results. Last year, the Kerala DHSE results were declared on 10 May, 2018. This year, the Directorate of Higher Secondary Education Kerala conducted the Class 12th (DHSE) Examination for academic year 2018-19 from 6th March 2019 to 27th March 2019. Steps to check Kerala Board Plus Two Result 2019: The Kerala Board 12th Result will be announced on the official website i.e. keralaresults.nic.in. Students will also find a direct link to download Kerala HSE Result 2019 here at the top of this page. To avoid any last-minute chaos and confusion, students must check their DHSE Result 2019 by following the simple steps listed below: Step 1: Visit english.newsnationtv.com/board-results Step 2: Click on the direct link for DHSE Result 2019 Step 3: Enter your Admit Card / Roll Number and other details Step 4: Click on Submit Button Step 5: Check Kerala Plus Two Result 2019 online Step 6: Take Printout / Download Kerala 12th Result 2019 scorecard Around 9 lakh students had appeared in the examinations. Last year, approximately 3.69 lakh candidates participated in the exam and the overall pass percentage was 83.75 percent. New Delhi: NBSE HSLC Results 2019: The Nagaland Board of School Education or NBSE will announce the NBSE HSLC (Class 10) results shortly. Soon after the formal declaration of the NBSE HSC Results, the scorecards will be available on the official website of the board i.e. nbsenagaland.com. Alternatively, the candidates can also check their results by clicking on the link given below. CLICK HERE FOR NAGALAND BOARD RESULTS 2019 For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which the candidates can check the results: Visit english.newsnationtv.com/board-results and click on the board page Enter all the required details Click on the submit button Check your results. The Nagaland HSLC 2019 exams commenced on February 13, 2019, and concluded on February 25, 2019. Nagaland HSSLC exam was held from February 12, 2019, till March 4, 2019. In the year 2018, the overall pass percentage of Class 10th was recorded at 61.86%. For Class 12th, 79.21% pass percentage was recorded last year. In 2018, total 9,750 students appeared for Class 12th exam and 18,872 students appeared for Class10th exam. The Candidates can also request for re-evaluation of answer sheets. Failed candidates can appear for the supplementary exams by submitting the application form which will be available on the official website of Nagaland Board. The supplementary exams are expected to be conducted in the month of July this year. About Nagaland Board of School Education: Popularly known as the NBSE, the Nagaland Board of School Education is the primary school education board in the state of Nagaland. The board operates under the Nagaland state government and looks after the development and propagation of school education in the state. The foundation stone of this education board was laid on November 15, 1973, but it commenced working from October 1, 1974. The Nagaland Education Board deals with all academic operations for the students enrolled in various schools and educational institutes. It conducts exams and declares NBSE result. The organisation also conducts and controls all examination proceedings of the HSLC and the HSSLC. New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday rejected Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhis claim to have fielded weak candidates to eat into BJPs vote share in Uttar Pradesh. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that no party does such things and people of the state is not supporting the Congress. "I don't believe that Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them," ANI news agency quoted Yadav as saying. Yadav also rebutted Congress president Rahul Gandhis allegations that Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were being controlled by the BJP and said that it was their alliance that will stop the saffron partys bad politics. No one controls us. We are political parties. It is the SP, BSP & RLD alliance in UP that is poised to give a setback to the ruling party. Our alliance will stop the bad policies of BJP, he said. He said that the BJP and the Congress were two parts of the same coin and there was no difference between the parties and it was the Congress which taught the BJP to misuse the central agencies. There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. Congress wants to benefit the BJP. Who taught the central agencies to intimidate Opposition leaders? BJP has learnt to misuse the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation & other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress, the SP chief said. Speaking about his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav being the prime ministerial candidate of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, he said that although it would be good if Netaji what supporters fondly call Mulayam Singh Yadav but he was not in the race for the top job. Our alliance wants to give India a new PM. Party will decide about the PM when final seat tally is out. It'll be good if Netaji gets the honour (to be PM) but I feel he is probably not in prime ministerial race, Yadav added. The Samajwadi Party has formed a grand alliance with Mayawatis BSP and Ajit Singhs RLD in Uttar Pradesh. As per their seat sharing pact, the Samajwadi Party is contesting on 37 seats while the BSP has fielded its candidates on 38 seats. Ajit Singhs RLD has been given 3 seats while two seats Amethi and Rae Bareli - were left vacant for the Congress. highlights APP accuses BJP of trying to buy its MLAs for Rs 10 crore. Kejriwal asks voters to vote for full statehood of Delhi. Delhi will go to polls in a single phase on May 19. New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has approached as many as seven AAP MLAs and offered Rs 10 crore each allegedly in its bid to buy those lawmakers, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday while campaigning for his party in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area. Addressing a massive roadshow in support of AAP candidate from the seat, Kejriwal said, "In the past three days, seven of our MLAs have told us that BJP has approached them and has offered Rs 10 crore each to buy them. They want to break our MLAs, this doesn't suit Prime Minister Narendra Modi". "A day before yesterday, Prime Minister had said that he will buy 40 MLAs of Mamata Banerjee and make her government fall," the Delhi chief minister said in a reference to PM Modi's statement in West Bengal's Srirampur rally. While addressing an election rally at Srirampur Modi had on Monday said 40 Trinamool Congress MLAs are in touch with him and there is nothing that can save Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Asking people to support the good work done by AAP, Kejriwal said his government has worked for welfare of the people and, therefore, they should vote for full statehood of the national capital, the party's plank for the Lok Sabha elections. "We have worked for providing electricity, water, roads, we have constructed schools, hospitals, sewer lines and much more. People will vote for the work AAP has done while Modi asks for vote only in his name," Kejriwal was quoted by media as saying. "If all the 7 MPs from Delhi will be from AAP we will get strengthen at the centre. We will get all the developmental work done for Delhi. The BJP government at the centre has always created hurdle s in our way," he went on to claim further. Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also accused the BJP of luring the party's MLAs. Taking to twitter, Sisodia wrote, "Afraid of facing defeat in Delhi, BJP has offered 10-10 million rupees to buy 7 MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party". "Modi ji this does not suit you that you want to buy MLAs and fight elections. Let's fight the elections on basis of work," Sisodia added. aaaaaa aaa aaa aa aa aa aaaaa aaaaaa aa aa aaaa aaaaaYa aa 7 aaaaaaaa aa aaaaaaa aa aaa 10-10 aaaaa aa aaaa aaaa aa. aaaa aa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aa aa aaaaaa aaaaaaa asaaaa aaaaa asaaaa aaa. aaa! aaa aa aa aa aaaaa aaa aaa aa. a Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) May 1, 2019 On Wednesday, 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, Kejriwal is scheduled take out a roadshow in West Delhi, on May 6 in North-West Delhi and on May 8 in New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. All the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi will go to poll in the sixth phase of the general elections on May 12. The counting of votes will be taken up on May 23. Director General for the Asian Development Banks (ADB) Pacific Department, Carmela Locsin (right), highlighting on the screen in the background a project that she visited in Vanuatu last year. She says such annual meeting held by ADB is also time to pause, reflect and celebrate great strides taken together to achieve such projects that bring change to the lives of the people. HOUSTON, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zahroof Valves, Inc. (ZVI) today announced a partnership with Burckhardt Compression Services. The new agreement will allow Burckhardt the ability to offer ZVI products in the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, covering Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. ZVI valves will now be available to extend their benefits of lower operating and maintenance costs, longer service intervals and shorter downtimes for reciprocating compressor operators in the GCC. Burckhardt will offer ZVI valves throughout the area, obtain all technical information required to optimize the valve for each customer application and will provide local services to install, monitor and maintain the valves including any required inventory. ZVI will be offering their wide portfolio of valves, unloaders and related products for all brands of compressors in all reciprocating compressor applications. ZVI will design and manufacture the valves at their world headquarters in Houston, Texas, while providing technical support to optimize valve and compressor performance. In addition, ZVI will include their industry-leading warranty of 10 years on valve housing, along with guarantees of at least 50% more run time than previously installed valves under the same operating conditions with superior efficiency. The partnership pairs a legend in the industry with an innovator. Burckhardt Compression was founded in 1844 in Basel, Switzerland and is celebrating its 175th anniversary as the worldwide market leader for reciprocating compressor systems and services. While founded only 8 years ago, ZVI has disrupted the market with its unique and groundbreaking reciprocating compressor valve known as the StraightFlo Valve (SFV). Since introducing the StraightFlo valve commercially in 2014, there are more than 400 compressors of various brands running in the field in various applications including Oil & Gas (Upstream onshore and offshore, Transmission & Storage, Refineries), Petrochemicals, Refrigeration, Industrial gases and Marine. About Zahroof Valves, Inc. Zahroof Valves, Inc. (ZVI) is an innovative company, headquartered in Houston, Texas, that develops and markets the revolutionary StraightFlo Valve for use in reciprocating gas compressors. Based on the Modular Reed Valve technology invented by its President and Founder, Zahroof Mohamed, the StraightFlo Valve is a drop-in replacement compressor valve that is unique in that the valve assembly is made up of standard replaceable reed valve modules that are designed so that the gas flows essentially in a straight line through the valve, with very little deviation resulting in very low losses in the valve, makes it highly tolerant to liquids and dirt in the gas stream greatly improving reliability in all applications, makes it simple to service eliminating all machining, and reduces valve related inventory significantly. The StraightFlo Valve delivers a step improvement in compressor valve performance, serviceability, and reliability and reduces valve related inventory by more than 80%. Thanks to these proven, measured improvements, ZVI is able to guarantee an improvement in valve losses and a 50% increase in service intervals, with a 10-year warranty on the valve housing. Since the release of the StraightFlo Valve, thirty-two related patents have been granted around the world in countries as diverse as the GCC, Australia, Great Britain, China, Mexico, Germany and Russia, besides the US. The company has 43 valve and reciprocating compressor related patents with a further 18 patents pending. ZVI has won multiple industry awards for its groundbreaking designs. ZVI won a 2016 Edison Award in the Carbon Reduction category, was named the second fastest growing private company in the Houston Business Journal's 2018 Fast 100 Awards, was considered a Rising Star as a finalist in Platts 2015 Global Energy Awards, was named an Energy Innovation Pioneer at IHS CERAWeek 2015 and was the 2013 recipient of the Land-based Pipeline Technology Award via the Pipeline Industries Guild. Zahroof Valves was a finalist in the Technology Company of the Year Category for the 2018 Petroleum Economist Awards. For more information, please visit www.zahroofvalves.com . About Burckhardt Compression Burckhardt Compression is the worldwide market leader for reciprocating compressor systems and the only manufacturer and service provider that covers a full range of reciprocating compressor technologies and services. Its customized compressor systems are used in the upstream oil & gas, gas transport and storage, refinery, chemical, petrochemical and industrial gas sectors. Burckhardt Compressions leading technology, broad portfolio of compressor components and the full range of services help customers around the world to find the optimized solution for their reciprocating compressor systems. Since 1844 its highly skilled workforce has crafted superior solutions and set the benchmark in the gas compression industry. Burckhardt Compression Services offers a full range of services for reciprocating compressors world-wide in every market segment Upstream Oil & Gas, Marine, Gas Transport & Storage, Refinery, Petrochemical/Chemical Industry, Industrial Gases. Services include component service, spare parts logistics, revamps and upgrades, field service and condition monitoring & diagnostics. SIX Swiss Exchange: BCHN For further information, please visit www.burckhardtcompression.com Media Contact: Jennifer Rodriguez Firecracker PR jennifer@firecrackerpr.com 1-888-317-4687 ext. 702 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bfa337f3-784d-48c6-aa78-edee2bd86141 New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday said there was no violation of Model Code of Conduct in 'nuclear button for Diwali' remark made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election rally. PM Modi made the remark at an election rally in Barmer in Rajasthan on April 21 while asserting that India is no more afraid of Pakistan's nuclear threats. "India has stopped getting scared of Pakistan's threats, I have done right, no? Else every other day they(Pakistan) used to say 'we have nuclear button'....What do we have then? Have we kept it (nuclear button) for Diwali?" the prime minister told the gathering. Barmer district poll authorities has on Monday submitted a factual report to the poll panel after the Congress alleged that he violated the Model Code of Conduct brazenly by talking about the armed forces. Congress had moved the Election Commission on April 22 alleging that the Prime Ministers speeches invoked the armed forces, demanding the officials to impose a campaign ban on him for some time. This is the third straight clean chit given to PM Modi on opposition's complaint of poll code violation. On Wednesday, the Election Commission had said that PM Modi's call to first-time voters to dedicate their votes to Pulwama martyrs was not violative of its advisory on invoking armed forces. 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. 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: Former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela on Thursday claimed that the February 14 Pulwama attack, in which over 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, was a conspiracy of the BJP to win the elections just like Godhra riots in 2002. In a bid to make a point, Vaghela said that the vehicle carrying RDX which was used in the Pulwama attack was bearing the registration number of Gujarat. "The vehicle with RDX which was used in Pulwama attack was bearing the registration initial of Gujarat GJ. Godhra was a conspiracy," ANI news agency quoted Vaghela as saying. The veteran leader from Gujarat, who was in the Congress for a long time but recently joined the NCP, questioned why the Narendra Modi government did not take any pre-emptive measures despite receiving intelligence inputs about the possibility of the attack. "Even after getting information from intelligence sources regarding Pulwama attack, no pre-emptive measures were taken. And if you had information about Balakot, then why didnt you take action against these camps. Why were you waiting for something like Pulwama to happen," Vaghela asked. The former Gujarat chief minister alleged that it wasnt something new and terrorism was being used by the BJP government to win elections. "No one was killed in Balakot air strike. Even none of the international agency was able to prove that 200 militants were killed. Balakot airstrike was a planned conspiracy. It was supposed to happen," the NCP leader claimed. "BJP is involved in the whole thing. It is going to bring the sectarian conflict to win the election," he added. On February 14, more than 40 CRPF soldiers were killed after a suicide attacker rammed a truck full of RDX into their convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama. Following the attack, India carried out an air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Pakistans Balakot and claimed to have inflicted heavy causalities. Even though no official figures were released, BJP president Amit Shah claimed over 250 terrorists were killed in the strike. The BJP made the air strike a key political issue and Prime Minister Narendra Modi even asked first time voters to cast their vote in honour of the air strike heroes. New Delhi: "Multiple surgical strikes" took place during the previous UPA government but unlike the BJP, we didnt use them for garnering votes, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday, terming the Bharatiya Janata Partys use of military operations to gain electoral mileage shameful and unacceptable. In an interview with The Hindustan Times, Singh said that during his government military operations were used only as strategic deterrence and not as a "vote garnering exercise". Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure, too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises. In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces. Such attempts to politicize our forces are shameful and unacceptable, said the former prime minister, who ruled the country from 2004 to 2014. Singh slammed the Narendra Modi government of turning a blind eye to the video warning of Jaish-e-Mohammed and solid intelligence inputs from Jammu and Kashmir police about an IED attack. "Compromise on Indias National Security is unacceptable. 40 of our brave CRPF soldiers were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack at the most secure National Highway in the country. This is a grave intelligence and national security failure. Since then, it has come out that CRPF and BSF were requesting for airlifting the soldiers but the Modi Government refused it. Government also ignored solid intelligence inputs from J&K police about an IED attack, besides turning a blind eye to a video warning of a terrorist organization," he said during the interview. Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modis allegations of soft approach against terrorists after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, Singh said that he disagreed with the insinuation that his government was not ready military actions. He said that different geopolitical conditions require different responses and at the time, India's response was to isolate and expose Pakistan as a terror hub. "Within 14 days of the Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN. Congress-UPA ensured that a $10m bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator and the founder of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed by America. Another mastermind, David Headley was convicted to 35 years of prison during UPA-Congress Govt in 2013. The UN Security Council also put top LeT members involved in Mumbai attack on sanctions lists as terrorists. This has virtually rendered LeT ineffective today," Singh said. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday gave clean chit to Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress chief did not violate the Model Code of Conduct by calling BJP chief Amit Shah a "murder-accused". Giving a clean chit to Gandhi, EC officials said the "complaint was examined in detail and after examination of the complete transcript of speech sent by the district electoral officer of Jabalpur, the Commission is of the considered view that no violation of the model code of conduct is made out." Addressing an election rally in Madhya Pradesh last month, Rahul had said: "Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah, wow, how majestic! Have you heard Jay Shah's name? He is a magician, he made Rs. 50,000 into Rs. 80 crore in 3 months." After Rahul's remarks, Shah had hit back at him, pointing out that he had been acquitted in the case, and questioned Congress president's "legal knowledge". "Let me tell you the gist of the order. I was slapped with a fake case and the court has already passed its order that it was a politically motivated allegation and was without any evidence. I don't want to make any comment on the legal knowledge of Rahul Gandhi," he said. Shah was named in a case involving the alleged fake encounter of a gangster named Sohrabuddin Shaikh in 2005. 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. A court in Ahmedabad had on Wednesday issued summons to Rahul in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a BJP worker for calling Shah a "murder-accused". New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhis citizenship controversy has reached the Supreme Court. The petition filed by two social-political activists of the United Hindu Front and Hindu Mahasabha seeks to disqualify Gandhi from contesting elections in India. It also wants his name to be removed from the electoral roll. The plea is likely to be heard by the top court next week. The petition comes after the home ministry sent a notice to Gandhi seeking clarification on his citizenship status acting on a complaint filed by BJP lawmaker Subramanian Swamy. The home ministry had asked the Congress chief to intimate factual position of his citizenship within a fortnight. The notice dated April 29, 2019 stated that Swamy had told the ministry that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in the year 2003, with address 51 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 9EH and that you (Rahul Gandhi) were one of the Directors and Secretary of the said Company. The notice also added that Swamy in his complaint had also claimed the two annual returns filed by the company had stated Gandhis date of birth as 19/6/1970 and these returns also stated Gandhi as British Citizen. This is not the first time that Gandhis citizenship issue has reached the top court. In 2015, ML Sharma had filed a PIL against Gandhis citizenship status. Then Chief Justice of India HL Dattu had dismissed the petition. The top court had said, a time may come when anybody who is a little sensitive starts filing PILs. Gandhis citizenship has been raked by his political opponents in this election season. On April 22, the District Magistrate Court found Gandhis Amethi nomination valid and rejected all Raul Vinci objections raised by other Independent candidates. Gandhis lawyer KC Kaushik was present in the court to argue on his clients behalf. On the objections raised over Gandhis nationality, Kaushik said that Gandhi was born in India and he holds an Indian passport, he never took citizenship of any other country. His passport, Voter-ID, and his income tax, everything is of India. I don't know who Raul Vinci is or where he came from. Rahul Gandhi had done his M Phil in 1995 from University of Cambridge, I have attached a copy of the certificate, he had added. On April 20, an independent candidate Saturday raised objections over the Congress president's nomination from Amethi, alleging discrepancies over citizenship and educational qualifications in his election affidavit. Citing the complaint, the BJP said in New Delhi asked Gandhi to come clean on the matter. Complainant Dhruv Lal's lawyer Ravi Prakash showed reporters purported copies of a certificate of incorporation of a UK-registered company in which the Congress leader is stated to be a British national. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission of India to decide on complaints of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah before the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 6. Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had deferred the hearing of a petition filed by Congress leader Sushmita Dev against Modi and Shah for violating the Model Code of Conduct till May 2. Today, the court asked the Election Commission to decide on all the nine poll code violation complaints against PM Modi and Amit Shah before the next phase of elections. The Election Commission told a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that it has already decided on two of the 11 complaints filed by the Congress party against the duo. The poll body had on Wednesday given clean chit to the prime minister, saying that his speech during a Maharashtra rally urging first time voters to cast their votes keeping the Balakot strike in mind, was not the violation of its directions. 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. "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. Senior advocate, A M Singhvi, appearing for Congress Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who has filed a petition in the apex court on the issue, said that they have given 11 representations to EC against the duo but it has taken decision on only two. "The remaining representations of the petitioners shall be decided by the Election Commission before we hear the matter again on Monday (May 6)," said the bench also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. New Delhi: Ananya Panday, daughter of actor Chunky Panday, will soon make her Bollywood debut with Karan Johars production Student of the Year 2 alongside Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria. However, before the films release, the debutant has been linked with Kartik Aryan. Due to this, the actress has been in a limelight for quite a few time. In a recent interview with Mumbai Mirror, Ananya Panday opened up about a lot of things including nepotism charges, working with Tiger Shroff in Student of the Year 2, her idol Alia Bhatt and crush on actor Kartik Aaryan. Shedding some light on her equation with Kartik, the beautiful actress said, Im 20 and its normal to have a crush on someone. Im open about my feelings. Yes, I find Kartik cute and Im lucky Ive got a chance to work with him. Speaking about the coincidence and Karans mention that Sara was already in line, Ananya told Karan, Yeah, so I want to go on that date where Sara and him are going. It is to be noted that Kartik and Ananya are working together in Pati Patni Aur Woh. Ananya also talked about Alia Bhatt and said, Alias my idol, shes so real and so am I. She has never claimed to be perfect, perfect is boring. People have seen her grow over the last seven years and I hope they will see me grow as an actress too with every film I do. The new-generation actress is acutely aware that she is a star kid, and with it come privileges but she refuses to feel guilty about being one. She also accepted the fact that being a star kid meant that it was half the battle won. The actress said, Thats half the battle won. However, she was quick to add that if one isnt talented, rejection too can follow suit. She said: If youre not talented, people wont invest in you. Period. But at the same time, I dont want to be silly and give up an opportunity like this because people are bashing me for being someones daughter. If they dont like me in the film, Ill will accept that, but at least watch the film. Recalling her first meeting with Tiger, she said: Many say Tiger is shy but around me he never was. I met him when I was 16, his first film Heropanti had just released. Mom sent me across to ask him for advice. As I walked in, I saw him execute the perfect full split. He then went on to tell me that if I wanted to be an actress, I couldnt eat ice cream anymore and Id have to wake up at 4 am to train. It was scary! After Student of the Year 2, Ananya will be seen next in Kartik and Bhumi Pednekar starrer Pati, Patni Aur Woh. In Student of the Year 2, she plays a college-going girl along with Tara Sutaria. Tiger will be seen as kabaddi player in the film. Incidentally, not just her, actor Sara Ali Khan too has a crush on the Pyar Ka Punchnama actor. On Koffee With Karan 6, Sara confessed to her crush on Kartik while Ananya too had said that she found him damn cute. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Good news for Varun Dhawan fans. The actor will get back to his comic mode on the first of May 2020 with the remake of Coolie No 1. The actor informed through a social media post that the movie will release the next year on the same day, e.i. May 01. The actor posted the picture of a porter's badge belonging to western railway.A A The movie also features Sara Ali Khan and will be helmed by Varun's father, David Dhawan, who also directed the original film starring Govinda and Karisma Kapoor.A This will be Varun Dhawan's third collaboration with his father David Dhawan after the success of Main Tera Hero and Judwaa 2.A The actor has earlier clarified that the new film is not a remake but the essence of the original film will be retained.A A "When we do something like this the idea is that the essence has to be the same. But at the same time, the film is completely different. It is not a remake, it is an adaptation. But the title is the same," Varun told PTI.A A And this will be the first collaboration of Varun Dhawan, one of the most bankable young star, and Sara Ali Khan, who has won everyone's heart with her first two films Kedarnath and Simmba.A Announcing the release date, Sara Ali Khan shared the poster with the caption, "Aaj Ka Din, Agle Saal - Aaega Coolie No. 1 - Hoga Kamaalai Talking about the film last month, Varun Dhawan had told the film is currently in the scripting stage. "Work is on for 'Coolie No 1'. The shoot will start in August-September." Farhad Samji has earlier revealed that he's penned the dialogue draft of the film and Varun has reportedly begun to prep for dialogues months ahead of the film. The writer-director revealed that the film will have aplenty of humour and colour, larger-than-life songsa and will be helmed on a alavish scalea.A For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Vicky Kaushal has recently earned much appreciation after the makers of Udham Singh biopic released his look from the movie. The actor who is being roped in for every other celeb chat show recently featured in one with Katrina Kaif. Their chemistry was unmissable and soon their were rumours that the actor has broken up with girlfriend Harleen Sethi. One of the reasons for the breakup was attributed to the growing friendship between Vicky and Katrina. Keeping everything aside, reports by Pinkvilla suggest Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal may soon team up together for an upcoming romantic movie by Ronnie Screwvala. Katrina had also revealed long time back in a particular talk show that she would love to work with Vicky Kaushal and that their pair will look amazong on the silver screen According to some of the reports, Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal will be collaborating for an upcoming romantic love story which will be based on a real - life incident. Katrina Kaif will be next seen in the Salman Khan starrer Bharat which is going to be released on June 5, 2019. She will also star in Rohot shetty's cop universe movie, Sooryavanshi opposite Salman Khan. Vicky Kaushal who is currently shooting for Udham Singh will next start work on Uri: the Surgical strike director Aditya Dhar's upcoming period drama. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: At a time when the national security tops the themes in BJPs manifesto and poll campaigning in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has come out with its claim of six surgical strikes being carried out during the erstwhile regimes of UPA-I and UPA-II. Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla elucidated the details of the surgical strikes. He said while six were carried out during the UPA regime, two more carried out during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "We never did chest thumping. The one who did only one surgical strike is patting his back. Neither Dr Manmohan Singh nor Vajpayee did a press conference on it," Shukla said. Shukla listed out the six surgical strikes carried out during the UPA regime: June 19, 2008 Bhattal Sector in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch August 30-September 1, 2011 Sharda Sector, across Neelam River Valley in Kel January 6, 2013 Sawan Patra Checkpost July 27-28, 2013 Nazapir Sector August 6, 2013 Neelam Valley January 14, 2014 Shukla further said that two surgical strikes were carried out during Vajpayee's regime: first on January 21, 2000 at Nadala Enclave across the Neelam River and second on September 18, 2003 at Baroh Sector in Poonch. The Congress has been accusing the Narendra Modi government of leveraging the September 2016 surgical strikes and the airstrikes in Balakot across the Line of Control as political fodder to garner votes. It listed similar multiple strikes carried out over last two decades to assert that such action was not the first of its kind though they were not "politicised" earlier. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing is pleased to announce that the 2019/2020 editions of the Sunwing and Signature Collection by Sunwing brochures are now available and can be found at travel agencies across Canada or downloaded at sunwing.ca . The largest and most comprehensive Sunwing brochure ever, this edition includes the widest selection of top-rated resorts and excursions in over 55 popular vacation hotspots across the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America; including two new destinations: Tobago and Grenada . The brochure also features a number of exciting new arrivals including Lopesan Costa Bavaro Resort, Spa & Casino and the Adults Only Club at Lopesan Costa Bavaro as well as Royalton Antigua Resort and Spa which will feature the first-ever overwater bungalows for Royalton Luxury Resorts. There are also several properties slated to open soon including Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Cancun and Royalton Grenada Resort and Spa . In addition, new for this year, the brochure also includes hundreds of tips from Sunwing travel experts. Whether its gaining the inside scoop on the latest resorts and best rooms for families or getting the lowdown on the most exciting Sunwing Experiences tours and excursions, travellers who book with Sunwing are sure to Vacation Better. Featuring exclusive collections with seven leading resort chains, the latest issue of the Signature Collection by Sunwing brochure offers customers exclusive perks and privileges when they book their vacation at RIU Hotels & Resorts , Karisma Hotels & Resorts , Excellence Group , Hard Rock Hotels , Jewel Resorts , Krystal Hotels & Resorts and new for this year - Palace Resorts . When travellers book their vacation packages to these leading resort chains with the Signature Collection by Sunwing, they can look forward to spa credits, 24-room service, free Wi-Fi, VIP check in and more depending on the resort they select. For example, at Canadian-favourite resort chain RIU Hotels & Resorts , travellers can look forward to a host of exclusive RIU-topia and RIU Palace inclusions such as in-room liquor dispensers, unlimited reservation-free dining and, at RIU Palace Resorts, 24-hour room service, daily champagne breakfasts, pool waiter service and more. All Sunwing vacation packages include return flights on Sunwing Airlines where passengers can sit back and relax while on board, with award-winning inflight service, complimentary non-alcoholic beverage service and buy on board selection of snacks and light meals including the brand-new, Tex Mex Grilled Chicken Wrap inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Passengers also benefit from a generous complimentary 23kg checked luggage allowance. For additional perks, including priority check-in and security line access*, customers can upgrade to Elite Plus from just $50 per sector. For more information or to book, visit www.sunwing.ca or contact your travel agent. *Available at select Canadian airports About Sunwing The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from over 33 airports across Canada to more than 45 popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing is consistently voted the top leisure airline by travel agents and is the perennial winner of the Consumer Choice Award. Customers can look forward to starting their vacation off with award-winning inflight service, which features a complimentary glass of sparkling wine**, non-alcoholic beverage service; together with a buy on board menu of light meals and snacks (including kids choices) inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Sunwing customers also benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. **Service may be unavailable on select flights For all media enquiries, please contact: Rachel Goldrick Senior Corporate Communications Manager Sunwing Vacations 1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca https://www.facebook.com/SunwingVacations https://twitter.com/SunwingVacay https://www.instagram.com/sunwingvacations https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzjZ-lcuaqBQH7Sq0u3ru7A A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/38dbd804-c753-4a6b-92e2-57e4ae59a1b6 New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come down heavily on the Congress for claiming that six surgical strikes were carried out during its 10-year tenure under former prime minister Manmohan Singh. BJP said that Congresss claim was "fraudulent and farcical", and alleged that the grand old party was "guilty" of not allowing the punitive action against terrorists. "It is a farcical and fraudulent claim. We have the greatest of respect for our armed forces. Our forces were capable of carrying out surgical strikes across the LoC, inside Pakistan, but they were not allowed to do so when the UPA was in power," BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said. Addressing a press conference at the party office in the national capital, Rao alleged that the Congress was guilty of not allowing the armed forces to take action against terrorists. Referring to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Rao said, "... the then Air Chief Marshal had asked then prime minister Manmohan Singh to give permission for conducting an airstrike across the LoC or inside Pakistan and it was denied. The Congress party is guilty of not allowing punitive attacks against terror." Meanwhile, Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Thursday said he was in the army and knows what happened and what did not. Earlier, the Congress came out with a list of six anti-terror surgical strikes carried out during UPA rule, asserting that it never tried to take political advantage from military operations. The Congress released the list at a press conference after BJP leader Arun Jaitley took a jibe at the opposition party, saying its surgical strikes were "invisible and unknown". The UPA government carried out six surgical strikes -- Bhattal sector in Poonch (June 19, 2008); Sharda sector, across Neelam River Valley, in Kel (August 30-September 1, 2011); Sawan Patra checkpost (January 6, 2013); Nazapir sector (July 27-28, 2013); Neelam Valley (August 6, 2013); and one on December 23, 2013, Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said. He also listed two surgical strikes carried out under the previous BJP-led NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. These were Nadala Enclave, across the Neelam River (January 21, 2000) and Baroh sector in Poonch (September 18, 2003), Shukla said. The war of words between the two parties came after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an interview to Hindustan Times, said multiple surgical strikes took place during UPA rule. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: With extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani likely to cross the coastal areas of Odisha on Friday, 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. According to a forecast by the MeT office, heavy-to-very heavy rainfall may occur in the coastal districts of Odisha and West Bengal on Friday. Cyclone Fani, which has turned into an "extreme severe cyclonic" storm, is about 450 km from the Odisha coast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in an early morning tweet. It said that the cyclonic storm is moving northwards with a speed of 5 km per hour in past six hours and is likely to make landfall at Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali anytime after Friday afternoon, with wind speed of up to 200 km per hour. In view of the impending landfall of Cyclone Fani, the weatherman has issued an 'Orange message' alert for Odisha, West Bengal and Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh coasts. A total of nineteen districts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal are expected to get hit by the cyclone, with the Met Department issuing a special bulletin on Wednesday warning about possible destruction in the areas. Here are the LIVE updates: 20:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 223 trains cancelled along Orissa coastline of Kolkata-Chennai route till May 4 in view of cyclone Fani: Railways 19:44 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No flight will depart or arrive at Kolkata airport between 9.30 pm of May 3 and 6 pm of May 4 due to cyclone Fani: DGCA 19:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Landfall which was expected to be at 5:30 pm tomorrow, is now expected between 12 pm-2 pm. All colleges & soft business establishments will be closed tomorrow: Sangram Mohapatra, Spokesperson, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority. 17:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In All GoAir flights in and out from Bhubaneswar Airport (BBI) stands cancelled for 03 May 2019. 17:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In All airlines are requested to offer all assistance for rescue & relief operations in view of Cyclonic Storm FANI. All relief material should be airlifted to be delivered to officially designated agencies. Control room being set up: Suresh Prabhu 14:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness for Cyclone Fani. The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the PM, the Additional Principal Secretary to the PM, the Home Secretary, and other senior officials from the IMD, NDRF, NDMA and PMO, etc. The Prime Minister was briefed on the likely path of the cyclone, and the ongoing precautionary and preparatory measures being undertaken. 13:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In ONGC evacuates nearly 500 employees before cyclone Fani makes landfall Indias biggest oil and gas producer ONGC has evacuated close to 500 of its employees from offshore installations in the Bay of Bengal and moved drilling rigs to safer locations ahead of an impending cyclone that is expected to make landfall on Friday. Sources privy to the development said while operations at Paradip port in Odisha and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh have been shut and ships have been ordered to move out to sea to avoid damage, the refineries are operating but with all precautions in place. 11:57 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tourists have been asked to leave Puri by Thursday evening, while Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar will remain closed from May 2 to 4. 11:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Over one lakh dry food packets have been kept ready for air dropping in the areas to be affected by 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. 11:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Emphasising that every life is precious, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the preparedness on Wednesday evening, said there was a need to give special attention to pregnant women, children, elderly people and differently-abled persons. 11:51 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In According to the SRC, the evacuation of eight lakh people is the largest-ever evacuation operation in the country. 11:50 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Arrangements have been made to start free kitchens to provide cooked food to the evacuees, the Special Relief Commissioner said. 11:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In At least 14 Odisha districts - Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Balasore, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Khurda, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Gajapati, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar - are likely to bear the brunt of the cyclone, which is also likely to impact Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. 11:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Airport Authority of India has issued an alert to all coastal airports to ensured that all precautions and SOPs are put in place immediately, reports ANI. 11:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A massive operation was launched in Odisha on Thursday to evacuate over eight lakh people from low-lying coastal areas as the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani moved closer to the eastern coast. 11:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In HR Biswas, Director, Met Dept, Bhubaneswar: Today mostly south coastal Odisha & adjoining interior Odisha will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall. Tomorrow all 11 coastal districts along with & adjoining interior districts will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall. 10:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Odisha government has planned to evacuate around 8 lakh people from seaside villages and low lying areas to safer places by Thursday evening, the Times of India reported. 10:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Odisha Fire Services in the city has kept 50 teams of six members each on alert in the city, news agency ANI reported. 10:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm FANI about 450 km south-southwest of Puri at 0530 hrs IST of 02nd May, 2019. To cross Odisha coast around Puri by afternoon of 3rd May, the IMD tweeted on Thursday. Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm FANI about 450 km south-southwest of Puri at 0530 hrs IST of 02nd May, 2019. To cross Odisha coast around Puri by afternoon of 3rd May. https://t.co/wRl94BRtm1 pic.twitter.com/nzGmV2Jr6O India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 2, 2019 10:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In In a statement on Thursday, the Defence Ministry said, "It is monitoring the developing situation in East Coast of India for Cyclone Fani and authorises the proactive deployment of resources from Indian Navy and Coast Guard for succour and assistance to those in need with minimum reaction time. Coast Guard has deployed 20 teams." 10:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The weatherman has also issued warning to fishermen not to venture into deep sea areas of Southwest adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal, Southwest and adjoining the westcentral Bay of Bengal, along and off Puducherry, north Tamilnadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts on May 2. 10:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In As over 100 trains were cancelled in Odisha owing to Fani Cyclone, the Indian Railways have reportedly arrainged for a special passenger train from Puri to Shalimar in Kolkata, which will commence operation at Thursday noon. The train will start from Puri in Odisha and make stops in Khurda, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajapur, Kendujhar, Bhadarak, Baleswar and Kharagpur en route Shalimar. The special train is expected to reach Bhubaneswar at around 1:30 pm. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Cyclone Fani is expected to hit the coast of Odisha on Friday. Defence forces have been kept on high alert, educational institutions ordered shut and over 8 lakh people are being evacuated from low-lying areas of the state as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired high-level meeting to review preparedness for the cyclone. He was briefed on the likely path of the cyclone, and the ongoing precautionary and preparatory measures being undertaken. These include provision of adequate resources; deployment of teams from NDRF and the armed forces; arrangements to provide drinking water; and standby systems to restore power and telecom services. After reviewing the emerging situation, the prime minister instructed senior officers to maintain close coordination with officers of affected states, to ensure preventive measures, and also to take effective steps for relief and rescue operations, as required. The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the PM, the Additional Principal Secretary to the PM, the Home Secretary, and other senior officials from the IMD, NDRF, NDMA and PMO. According to Sangram Mohapatra, Spokesperson, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority, the cyclone, which was expected to make landfall at around 5 pm, is now expected to hit the coastal areas between 12 noon and 2 pm on Friday. According to the latest forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC) releasd on Wednesday, 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 that lay centred about 610 KM south-south west of Puri was now ominously rolling towards the Odisha coast at a speed of 6 KM per hour, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a fresh bulletin. Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service have been deployed in vulnerable areas to assist the administration, an official said. Over 4,000 specialised personnel as part of 81 NDRF teams have been deployed to deal with the 'extremely severe' cyclone. Twenty-eight fully equipped teams have been deployed in and around Puri in Odisha as the cyclonic storm is expected to make a landfall there Friday noon, the NDRF Director General (DG) said. Similarly, 12 teams have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and six in West Bengal. The rest of the teams, that comprise about 50 personnel each, have been kept on standby in these states. The Railways on Thursday said around 89 trains have been cancelled in the last two days in view of the extremely severe cyclonic storm, which is likely to affect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, while three special trains have been put into service to ferry stranded passengers from affected areas. The trains which have been cancelled include Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express, Patna-Eranakulam Express, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express, Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express. The New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, New Delhi-Puri Nandan Kanan Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express and the New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express which had to begin their journeys Thursday have been cancelled. Meanwhile, all flights to and from Bhubaneswar Airport have been cancelled for May 3. Kolkata airport will remain closed from 9:30 pm tomorrow till 6 pm on May 4. 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. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Cyclone Fani, the most severe cyclonic storm over the east coast in nearly two decades, is due to make landfall in Odishaas Puri around 9:30 am on Friday, hours ahead of its expected time. Apart from Odisha, the storm is likely to affect other states on the east coast a West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 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 morning, packing winds up to 175 KMPH before the landfall. An estimated 10,000 villages and 52 towns in Odisha will be hit by the aextremely severea cyclonic storm. A total of 11.5 lakh people in Odisha were moved to safer areas. The storm is likely to impact Odishaas coastal districts Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore. In West Bengal, it will affect districts of East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly, Jhargram besides the Kolkata city. In Andhra Pradesh, the cyclone is likely to hit Srikakulam, Vijayanagram and Visakhapatnam districts. Moderate to heavy rainfall accompanied by squally wind already began on Thursday evening in several of districts of Odisha and the sea got increasingly rough. In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with top officials and reviewed the preparedness to tackle the situation that might arise once the cyclone makes the landfall. When will Cyclone Fani make landfall? Fani is likely to cross Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, south of the temple town of Puri, with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph, according to India Meteorological Department. Earlier, Sangram Mohapatra, Spokesperson, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority said Fani, which was earlier expected to hit Odisha at 5:30 pm Friday tomorrow, will hit the state earlier at 12 pm-2 pm. However, PTI quoted sources saying that Fani has gathered speed and is rolling menacingly towards Odisha coast clocking 16 km per hour and is likely to make a landfall close to Gopalpur near the holy town of Puri between 8-10 AM, much before the earlier forecast of 3 pm on Friday. Armed forces, 81 NDRF teams pre-positionedA Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service have been deployed in vulnerable areas to assist the administration, an official said. Over 900 cyclone shelters in coastal and southern districts have been kept ready to accomodate the evacuees. Districts like Gajapati and Rayagada, where such facilities do not exist, they will be housed in schools and anganwadi centres. Over 4,000 specialised personnel as part of 81 NDRF teams have been pre-positioned in the coastal areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal which are feared to be affected while another 31 teams have been kept on standby. The teams have been equipped with additional boats, satellite phones, medical equipment, medicines, tree cutters, pickup and common mobility vehicles, and other gadgets. NDRF teams have doctors, paramedics, engineers, deep divers and are equipped with boats, buoys, life jackets, scuba sets and latest communication equipment like quick deployable antenna (QDA), HF/VHF sets so that communication links function even if normal communication network fails. 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 been cancelled. Over 220 trains cancelled, no flights at Bhubaneswar, Kolkata airports Rail and flight services are likely to remain acutely disrupted over the next two days, railway and aviation ministry officials said. More than 220 trains on the Kolkata-Chennai route have been cancelled until Saturday. The trains which have been cancelled include 140 mail/express trains and 83 passenger trains. Railways has pressed into service three special trains to move people to safer places. Aviation regulator DGCA announced that flights in and out of Bhubaneswar airport stand cancelled on Friday. Consequently, the operations of various domestic airlines have been affected. In an advisory Thursday evening, the Director General of Civil Aviation said no flight will depart or arrive at the Kolkata airport between 9.30pm on Friday and 6pm on Saturday. It added that the "resumption of flights" at Bhubaneswar airport and Kolkata airport "will be with positive clearance from respective air-traffic control". "All airlines are requested to offer all assistance for rescue and relief operations in view of cyclone Fani. All relief material should be airlifted to be delivered to officially designated agencies," Prabhu tweeted, exhorting the aviation sector to rise to the occasion, an official said. Helpline numbers Here are the Railways and control room emergency helpline numbers: Find below the Railway Helpline Numbers and Control Room Numbers aZi Y#FaniUpdates#CycloneFanipic.twitter.com/MCjFPcKSNG a ALL INDIA RADIO (@AkashvaniAIR)A May 2, 2019 Schools to remain closed in Odisha, West Bengal The Odisha government has ordered closure of all educational institutions across the state from May 2. aAll educational establishments should declare holidays from May 2 till further orders. All the examinations should be rescheduled,a said the office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC). Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has also asked schools to stay closed and locals to move to safer places as the state braces for the extremely severe cyclonic storm. Also, an alert has been sounded in coastal East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas districts, asking tourists to leave seaside destinations and directing fishermen not to venture into the sea. A A For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In yet another untoward incident, two villagers were killed in a Maoist attack at Kistaram area of Chhattisgarh's Sukma district late Wednesday night. Four vehicles engaged in road construction work were also torched by rebels in Barachatti near Bihar's Gaya in early Thursday morning. The incidents comes hours after, six Maoists, four of them carrying rewards on their heads, were arrested from Sukma on Wednesday. They were held near Kindrelpad village under Konta police station limits when a team of district police force was out on a search operation. The team had launched the operation from Konta and was proceeding towards interior forests. Near Kindrelapad, 500 km from Raipur, they spotted a group of suspected Naxals. All of them were involved in attacks on security personnel, police teams an torching of vehicles in and around the district. Chhattisgarh: Two villagers were killed by Naxals in Kistaram area of Sukma district last night. a ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 Bihar: Naxals torch four vehicles engaged in road construction work in Barachatti, Gaya. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/jFnblAQgsA a ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 On Wednesday, in one of the deadliest IED blasts by Maoists, 16 persons, inclduing 15 security personnel, lost their lives in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. All the policemen killed were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli police, which was on way to inspect the 27 torched vehicles, which were set ablaze earlier in the day. The driver of the vehicle was among those killed in the blast which took place as the vehicle reached Lendhari nallah in Kurkheda area. In Mumbai, Maharashtra Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal told reporters that the 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 Maoists. In what was then termed as the biggest success in the anti-Maoist operations, 37 Maoists, including 19 women, were killed in Gadchiroli district in April last year. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kozhikode: Amid a raging debate on prohibiting burqa in the country on grounds of national security, a Muslim educational group in Kerala has banned its students from covering their faces with any attire on the campuses of its institutions. The Kozhikode-based Muslim Education Society (MES), a progressive group which runs several educational institutions, including professional colleges, issued a circular urging its students not to attend classes wearing any face-covering attire. While the dress code mentioned in a circular triggered opposition from orthodox Muslim organisations and scholars, the MES maintained that covering women's faces was a new trend and had not been in practice in the community in the state earlier. In the April 17 circular, MES Institutions president P K Fazal Gafoor said the directive should be implemented from the 2019-20 academic year without triggering any controversy. "Without creating any controversy, the institutions must make sure to implement from 2019-20 academic year that students do not come to the class wearing any attire covering their face," it said. Any 'inappropriate' trend in the campuses should be discouraged. "Any attire, which is unacceptable in the public society, cannot be allowed, even if it is in the name of modernity or religious ritual," Gafoor said. The circular, addressed to the secretaries and the principals of the MES institutions, also asked them to include the dress code directive as a new rule in the college calendar for the new academic year. Facing demands for withdrawing the move, Gafoor Thursday made it clear that the MES would go ahead with its decision to ban face-covering attire on its campuses. "Covering the face of women is a new trend..99 per cent women are not covering their face..There had been no such practice in the Kerala society or in the Muslim community here...," he told media persons. Gafoor said the MES was not ready to implement the dress codes being imposed in the name of "religious fundamentalism". "We have freedom to ban such attires on our campuses. There is no need to consult with religious outfits for that," the MES president said. Criticising the MES, Samashtha, an orthodox outfit of Muslim scholars, said the circular was "un-Isalamic" and it should be withdrawn. "As per the Islamic rules, the body parts of women should not be shown out. The MES has no right to issue a circular banning the attire covering the face of women. Islamic rules should be followed," Umar Faize, a Samastha scholar, said. The Shiv Sena had on Wednesday welcomed the Sri Lankan government's decision to ban burqa and masks on grounds of national security in the wake of the Easter Sunday terror attacks 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 Sirisena's footsteps and ban burqa and other face-covering garments in India, saying it posed a threat to the nation's security. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has attacked the Shiv Sena, alleging that the article was trying to create divisions and polarisation in the society. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The United Nations terror tag for Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is a huge victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and every single citizen of India, said the BJP in New Delhi on Thursday. Day after landmark decision, the ruling party held a press conference, which was addressed by Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman. After untiring efforts taken by PM Modi in isolating Pakistan and underlying the need to declare globally recognized but unannounced till last evening the terror mastermind Masood Azhar as a terrorist, Sitharaman said. Its necessary to clearly point out the need to recognise Pakistan as land where over 35 terror organisations have been operating. Masoods was one of them. PM Modis hard work has borne fruit with the decision, she added. Jaitley told reporters that the current dispensation succeeded in an attempt the country has been making for the last 10 years, "but then they (Opposition) says 'this is trivial, what is big in it'." Addressing a press conference at the party office, he said there was a tradition in the country to speak in one voice on issues such as external affairs and national security but there has been a departure from it in the last few years. Jaitley also took a sharp wipe at Opposition for the invisible surgical strikes. Though he didnt take the name, it is more than obvious that the jab was directed at the Congress. On various occasions, the Grand Old Party of India has spoken about steps taken against terrorism. In an interview to the HT, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that, "Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure, too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises. In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces. Such attempts to politicize our forces are shameful and unacceptable. 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. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bhopal: Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday said he was not averse to enacting a law banning the burqaif it was accompanied with a similar action against the 'ghunghat' system prevalent among women in Rajasthan. Akhtar's comment came in the wake of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Wednesday urging the Modi government to emulate Sri Lanka in banning the burqa on grounds of national security. "If you want to bring a law banning burqa here (in India) and if it is someones view I have no objection. But before the last phase of election in Rajasthan, this government should announce a ban on the practice of `ghunghat' (covering of the face by Hindu women) in that state," Akhtar told reporters here. "I feel that ghunghat' should go and the burqa should go. I will be happy," he added. Speaking further on the issue, the Bollywood veteran said, "Brother, I have little knowledge of the burqa as there were working women in my family and I haven't seen the practice at my home." "Iraq is a very orthodox Muslim country but the women there do not cover their faces. The law in Sri Lanka (now), too, forbids face cover," said the celebrated screenwriter, a Padma Bhushan awardee. In the editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's footsteps and ban the burqa and other face-covering garments in India considering the "threat" they pose to the nations security. Sri Lanka's decision came in the wake of the Easter Sunday terror attacks in the island nation that killed over 250 people. As the editorial created a flutter and drew sharp reaction from various quarters, a senior Sena leader said the editorial was not the official stand of the party, which is an ally of the BJP. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Nepal officials have rejected the Indian Armys Yeti claims saying that the locals as well as experts in and around Makalu-Barun Conservation Area have confirmed that the footprints are that of wild bear and not mythical Abominable Snowman. A report by The Hindustan Times on Thursday quoted a senior official of the Nepal Army saying that there is no truth in such claims of presence of the Himalayan bigfoot. We tried to ascertain the fact, but locals and porters claimed that it is the footprints of wild bear that frequently appear in that area, Nepal Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Bigyan Dev Pandey was quoted as saying by HT. The Indian Army had released a series of photos that reignited the Yeti lore. The army took to Twitter and posted a bunch of photographs from its official Twitter handle on April 29. 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, the army said in a tweet along with the photos. The Makalu-Barun National Park is in the heart of eastern Nepal and is located near worlds fifth highest peak Mt Mukalu. According to a BBC report, Yetis are an example of cryptozoology: the search for creatures that cannot be said to exist because of a lack of evidence. The report also states that there is no hard evidence of the existence of an unknown primate in the Himalayas, and plenty of reason to suspect that it can't possibly exist. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century. Given the lack of evidence of its existence, the scientific community has generally regarded the Yeti as a legend. In one genetic study, researchers matched DNA from hair samples found in the Himalaya with a prehistoric bear from the Pleistocene epoch. Though the hunt for the mythical beast stretches back centuries, tales of a wild hairy beast roaming the Himalayas captured the imagination of climbers in Nepal in the 1920s, prompting many, including Sir Edmund Hillary, to go looking for the creature. Sightings have been reported for centuries. Footprints have been spotted and stories have been passed down from generation to generation. In the first ever systematic genetic survey, the 2014 paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B studied mitochondrial RNA sequencing to see if the Yeti claims were right. Two Himalayan samples, one from Ladakh, the other from Bhutan, had their closest genetic affinity with a Palaeolithic polar bear, Ursus maritimus. Otherwise the hairs were from a range of known extant mammals. In simpler words, the samples were that of bear and not of Yeti as claimed. Another study in 2017 published by Proceedings of the Royal Society B had a smiling finding. Researchers analysed 24 mitochondrial DNA samples of hair, tissue, bone, and faeces of Himalayan brown bears and purported Yeti collected from the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences determined clade affinities of the purported yeti samples in this study, strongly supporting the biological basis of the yeti legend to be local, extant bears, the 2017 study said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Pakistan on Thursday initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by resorting to firing small arms along the Line of Control (LoC) in the in Shahpur and Kirni Sectors of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. The Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively to the heavy mortar shelling, initiated by Pakistan this morning. However, no casualty has been reported from either side in the cross-border firing till the time. The gunfight was still underway between Pakistani troops and the Indian Army when the last reports came in. "Jammu and Kashmir: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Poonch sector by firing heavy mortars on Indian positions, Indian Army retaliating," the news agency ANI reported. Jammu & Kashmir: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Poonch sector by firing heavy mortars on Indian positions, Indian Army retaliating. a ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 There has been a spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistan after India's preemptive air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot on February 26 following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 42 CRPF personnel were killed. A large number of civilians, including some members of a family, were killed and several others injured as Pakistan targeted over 80 villages in more than 100 incidents of ceasefire violations along the LoC in the state since then. The frequent ceasefire violations have caused panic among the border residents, forcing authorities to close down educational institutions within five km radius from the zero lines in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri as a precautionary measure. However, most schools reopened a few days back after the intensity of the cross-border firing decreased. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. HOLMDEL, N.J., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- iCIMS was named No. 20 among the 28 large companies in NJBIZs Best Places to Work in New Jersey, marking its eighth straight year on the list. This latest recognition of iCIMS strong culture comes on the heels of its sixth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth, as well as becoming the leading provider of recruitment technology solutions, according to the latest market share research. To support the business rapid growth, iCIMS plans to fill many more positions across every facet of the business through the end of 2019, with the most significant hiring planned in its sales and technology departments. Were a career destination for people looking to be a part of a fast-growing, innovative tech leader located in central New Jersey that supports global companies with their sophisticated talent needs, said Irene DeNigris, iCIMS vice president of talent. As iCIMS grows and evolves, our commitment to a thriving, collaborative and high-performing culture that inspires and rewards people is constant. We are all so proud to have made the list for eight straight years and counting. For more information about iCIMS culture, benefits, and job opportunities, visit its career site. About iCIMS: iCIMS is the leading recruitment software provider for employers to attract, engage and hire great people. iCIMS enables companies to manage and scale their recruiting process through a full product suite and an ecosystem of integrated partners delivered within a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) framework. Established in 2000, iCIMS supports 4,000 customers hiring 4 million people each year and is the largest software provider dedicated to talent acquisition. For more information, visit www.icims.com. Kolkata: One jawan on poll duty was killed and two others were injured in a gunfight at a central force base camp in West Bengals Howrah district on Thursday. Lakshmikant Barman, an Assam Rifles jawan, opened fire at his colleagues at the Bagnan base camp in Howrah. One jawan identified as Bholanath Das died in the shootout. Barman allegedly fired 18 rounds. Others injured have been identified as Anil Rajbanshi and Rantu Mani. The accused has been taken into custody. Central forces have been deployed in the region ahead of Lok Sabha polls for the Howrah constituency, which votes on May 6 in the sixth phase of elections. Results will be declared on May 23. The shootout comes day after 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. Though it is still not clear if the Thursdays incident has any political reason or not. 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 on Wednesday. In addition, 142 Quick Response Teams, manned by central forces, also will be ready to reach any place of incident, Dubey had added. 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. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday questioned the soundness of the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and disapproved the Narendra Modi governments claim of terming the UN action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as a big success. Owaisi further attacked the government, asking what it had compromised with China that it uplifted the technical hold on the proposal to ban Azhar. What did you (government) compromise with China? Hafiz Saeed was blacklisted in 2008, doesnt he hold public meetings? Didnt his party contest elections? Surely Masood Azhar has been blacklisted but if you are claiming it as a big success, its not, said Owaisi. Hailing UNs decision to declare Azhar as a global terrorist, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Wednesday called it a big success for Indias 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 as a global terrorist. Der aye, durust aye (Better late than never)," PM Modi said. "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. The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that the Pulwama terror attack played a role in designation of Azhar as a global terrorist. It further asserted that Pakistan was making claims over the listing to divert attention from the "huge diplomatic" setback it has suffered. The assertion came after Pakistan claimed that it agreed to Azhar's listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack, were removed from the proposal to designate him a global terrorist. "The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperon Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: aTill death do us parta. Husband with Down Syndrome believed to be in one of the longest marriages with a woman of the same condition has tragically passed away after 25 years of wedded bliss. Paul Scharoun-DeForge 56 married to wife Kris, 59 died of complications of early-onset Alzheimeras disease last month. The couple from Liverpool in upstate New York first met at a dance for people with disabilities during the 1980as and go on to get married despite facing multiple obstacles in their bid for happiness, with doctors even urging their respective parents to put them in an institution after they were born, Washington Post reports. Explaining her feelings for Paul, Kris said: aI looked into his eyes and saw my future, and thatas when I proposed to himaHe said yes.a She went on to tell her sister Susan Scharoun aI like a man who is like me.a When Kris Scharoun-DeForge spotted Paul DeForge she fell in love. While many doubted them, the couple with Down syndrome just celebrated 25 years of marriage. pic.twitter.com/WacxmSuEba a Dolan Fund (@DolanFund) August 29, 2018 According to Metro.co.uk, Paul and Kris dated for years until their engagement 1988 Kris proposed. The couple were allowed to marry in 1993 after proving to New York state officials that they were capable of consenting to the relationship. This included taking Planned Parenthood sponsored classes and sitting tests that measured their understanding of sexual knowledge, feelings and needs. aThey are role models for everybody who wants a good relationship,a said Susan Scharoun, Kris Scharoun-DeForgeas older sister. aThey were a team: They deferred to each other and looked out for each other.a After their marriage, Kris got a job at Pizza Hut, while Paul worked at the Arc of Onondagaas workshop(an organization to support people with disabilities) until about a year ago Paul began to show signs of dementia, a condition which affects more than half of people with Down syndrome over the age of 50. With Paulas death last month, Kris now plans to travel to their favourite holiday spot a the Adirondack Mountains a on their wedding anniversary this August to scatter Paulas ashes. New Delhi: In the year 2018, Motorola called-off two of its flagship smartphones Moto Z3 and Z3 Play. However, the time has now come to witness the launch of the next-generation Z series smartphone in the coming months. Recently, Motorola marketing material has shed light on the complete specifications of Moto Z4. As per the leaked marketing material, the Moto Z4 could offer a 6.4-inch display, a Snapdragon 675 processor and 3600mAh battery with support for TurboCharge. Moto Z4 is also rumoured to have 4GB/ 6GB of RAM and 64GB/ 128GB of on-board storage. However, it is unclear that whether there will be a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Other speculated features of the Moto Z4 include a 48MP rear camera and a 25MP front-facing snapper. In addition, the smartphone will also come with pogo pins on the rear for attaching Moto Mods. In other specifications, the phone will run on Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box with preloaded features such as Google's Digital Wellbeing and Google Lens. Additionally, it could have Motorola's proprietary Moto Display, Moto Actions, and Moto Experience. And now, the Twitter-based tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks) has shared an image of the upcoming smartphone revealing its design from all angles. In the shared image, Moto Z4 appears to sport a water-drop notch at the top of the display, a single rear camera at the centre enclosed with a circular ring and the 16-pin connector for the Moto Mods. It also confirms the presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom along with a microUSB charging port. It is to be noted that Lenovo-owned Motorola is expected to announce several new smartphones in the coming months. Its being said that the company plans to launch four new Motorola One models Motorola One, Motorola One Power, Motorola One Vision and Motorola One Action. Other than these phones, Motorola could also announce Moto E6 as well as a flagship smartphone with a quad-camera setup. Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unconditionally in a bid to restore diplomatic ties between the two historic foes, a daily said Thursday. Abe, seen as a foreign policy hawk, has recently softened his rhetoric towards Pyongyang, calling for a summit with Kim to resolve an emotional row over past kidnappings of Japanese nationals by Pyongyang agents. In an interview with the Sankei Shimbun on Wednesday, Abe said: I want to meet Chairman Kim Jong Un unconditionally and talk with him frankly with an open mind. It is more than important for our country to be proactive in tackling the issue, the premier said. We cant break the shell of mutual distrust between Japan and North Korea unless I directly face Mr. Kim, he said. I hope that he is a leader who can make a decision strategically and flexibly on what is best for his nation, he added. Tokyo has been one of the most hawkish of the major powers on reclusive state North Korea, and has been on the receiving end of some of Pyongyangs harshest rhetoricas well as missiles launched over its territory. Until late 2017, North Korea repeatedly tested missiles that flew towards or over Japan, sparking warnings blared out on loudspeakers and stoking calls for a tough stance against Pyongyang. However, Japan now finds itself battling to keep itself relevant in the fast-moving North Korea issue as Kim expands his diplomatic circle. Kim met Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week after multiple meetings with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in. Abe also told the Japanese newspaper that he had asked Trump to help resolve the abduction issue when they held talks at the White House on Friday. Trump will hold another meeting with Abe in late May when he visits Japan as the first foreign head of state to meet Japans new Emperor Naruhito, who was enthroned on Wednesday. Tokyo believes North Korean agents kidnapped Japanese nationals to train its spies in language and customs in the 1970s and 80s. After years of denial, North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had taken 13 Japanese civilians and released what it said were the five survivors, saying eight others had died. Campaigners, however, believe the disappearance of up to 470 Japanese may be linked to North Korea. North Korean authorities have given no public indication of any willingness to meet Abe. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on Thursday began his legal fight against being extradited to the US from the UK to face charges of allegedly leaking American government secrets. The 47-year-old, who appeared by video link at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London a day after he was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching bail conditions, told Judge Michael Snow he did not consent to being extradited to the US. "I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people," he said. The hearing marked the start of a long-drawn extradition process, with the next case management listing scheduled for May 30. The UK court 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. "The charges relates to one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the US," said Ben Brandon, representing the US authorities. Australian-born Assange faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted. "Today the US extradition case against our publisher Julian Assange formally begins in British courts, but this extradition case actually started in 2010," WikiLeaks said in a Twitter statement. In a separate legal case, Assange was 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 apologised ?unreservedly? to people who feel he had disrespected them by the way he pursued his case. "I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy," he said. Assange's legal troubles date back to February 2011, when London's Westminster Magistrates Court ordered his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual offending, including an allegation of rape. He was granted bail on conditions throughout the appeals process, 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 in time before the court. It was finally executed by Scotland Yard officers last month after Ecuador withdrew asylum and after an initial arrest on breach of bail conditions, Assange was further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities on an extradition warrant. The US authorities are seeking his extradition because the Department of Justice has charged him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system to reveal a large cache of top-secret files. Assange's supporters have gathered outside the courts in London at every hearing, waving "Free Assange" and "No extradition" placards. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lahore: Pakistan's Punjab province government has allocated 70 acres of land for setting up an international university named after Guru Nanak in Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of the first Sikh Guru. The funds for the construction of the Baba Guru Nanak International University (BGNIU) in Nankana Sahib, about some 80 kms from Lahore, will be allocated in the budget of financial year 2019-20, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said in a statement here on Thursday. The chief minister said this project will be part of the coming development budget in the province. He said the government would also establish a police lines, a prison and National Registration Database Authority (Nadra) in Nankana Sahib. There has been a demand from Sikhs living in Pakistan to construct a university named after the founder of their religion Guru Nanak at his birthplace in Nankana Sahib. Proposal of university was first surfaced during the Punjab government of Pervaiz Elahi in 2003. Two years ago in the government of PML-N, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) gave a final approval to the project. Then ETPB chairman Siddiqul Farooq said this varsity would help promote religious tourism in Pakistan and also portray the country's good image at the international level. Earlier this year, for the first time a Pakistani university had created the Baba Guru Nanak research chair to promote the message of peace that the Sikh spiritual leader preached. "The Punjab University Lahore has created the Baba Guru Nanak research chair. This is the first ever initiative of any university in the country. The students of the varsity will carry out research on the teachings of Baba Guru Nanak," Punjab University spokesperson Khurram Shahzad had said. "It was not only the demand of the Sikhs but the academia that feels the need to promote message of tolerance of Baba Guru Nanak in the society," Shahzad said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. 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. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. English French Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting of May 23, 2019 Availability of documentation for the Shareholders' Meeting The shareholders of the Company are invited to participate in the Shareholders' Meeting to be held on Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 4.30 pm (Paris time) at DOCKS DE PARIS, Parc des Portes de Paris - Batiment 139 - 87 avenue des Magasins Generaux, 93300 Aubervilliers. The preliminary notice of meeting containing the agenda and the proposed resolutions has been published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires (BALO) dated April 17, 2019 (number 46). The conditions for participation and vote at this Shareholders' Meeting are indicated in the same notice. The documents and information related to this Shareholders' Meeting will be made available to shareholders in accordance with the legal and regulatory provisions in force. Documents and information provided for by Article R.225-73-1 of the French Commercial Code will be made available on the website of Group (www.fnacdarty.com section Finance / Shareholders / Documents relating to the General Meetings / May, 23rd 2019 Combined General Meetings), no later than the twenty first day preceding the Meeting. In accordance with applicable regulatory provisions: - Registered shareholders can, from the date of convening to the fifth day (inclusive) before the Meeting, request from the Company to receive the documents referred to in Articles R.225-81 and R.225-83 of the French Commercial Code, including at their request, by way of an electronic mail. For holders of bearer shares, the exercise of this right is subject to the presentation of a certificate of attendance in the bearer share accounts kept by the empowered intermediary; - All shareholders can consult the documents referred to in Articles L.225-115 and R.225-83 of the French Commercial Code at the Company's headquarters from the date of convening. About Fnac Darty - www.fnacdarty.com Operating in 12 countries, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, Fnac Darty is a European leader in the retail of cultural and leisure goods, consumer electronics and household appliances. As of the end of December 2018, the Group, which counts 25,000 employees, has a multi-format network of 780 stores, 563 of which are in France, and is France's second-largest e-commerce retailer in terms of audience with its two commercial websites: fnac.com and darty.com. As a leading omnichannel player, Fnac Darty's revenues was 7.5 billion in 2018. Fnac Darty's shares are listed on Euronext Paris. Quitting a treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons is one of Irans numerous choices after the United States tightened sanctions on Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted saying by the state media yesterday. Washington has decided not to renew exemptions from US sanctions to buyers of Iranian oil, in an effort to cut Irans vital oil exports to zero. The Islamic Republics choices are numerous, and the countrys authorities are considering them... and leaving NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) is one of them, state broadcaster IRIBs website quoted Zarif as saying. Meanwhile, Zarif said he will visit North Korea as both countries struggle under US sanctions, Arab News reported. Irans official IRNA news agency quoted him saying that the visit is being planned and date will be announced soon. The United States has ramped up sanctions on Iran since President Donald Trump withdrew from its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers last year. The US has tightened sanctions on North Korea to try to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons. An Iranian parliamentary delegation visited North Korea in December, and North Koreas top diplomat, Ri Yong Ho, visited Iran in August. In another development, US Central Command Chief Gen Kenneth McKenzie said that the United States would deploy the necessary resources to counter any dangerous actions by Iran, Sky News Arabia reported. Were gonna continue to reach out to our partners and friends in the region to ensure that we make common cause against the threat of Iran, McKenzie, on an official visit to the Gulf region, was quoted as saying by Sky News Arabia. I believe well have the resources necessary to deter Iran from taking actions that will be dangerous, he said, adding, We will be able to respond effectively. The Daesh groups leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi made his first appearance in five years in a propaganda video released yesterday, acknowledging his groups defeat at Baghouz while threatening revenge attacks. The worlds most wanted man was last seen in Mosul in 2014, announcing the birth of Daeshs much-feared caliphate across swathes of Iraq and Syria. In the video released Monday by the extremist groups propaganda wing, the man said to be Al Baghdadi referred to the months-long fight for Daeshs final redoubt Baghouz, which ended in March. The battle for Baghouz is over, he said, sitting crosslegged on a cushion and addressing three men whose faces have been blurred. He referred to a string of Daesh defeats, including its onetime Iraqi capital Mosul and Sirte in Libya, but insisted the extremists had not surrendered territory. Amsterdam, 2 May 2019 - Heineken N.V. ('HEINEKEN') (EURONEXT: HEIA; OTCQX: HEINY) announces that it has acquired a majority stake in Biela y Bebidas del Ecuador S.A. BIELESA ('BIELA ECUADOR') from a group of mainly local investors. Over the past few years, BIELA ECUADOR has established its place in the Ecuadorian beer market by re-launching the Biela brand. The BIELA brewery is located in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, and is fully operational using high-quality brewing and packaging equipment. In addition to Biela, HEINEKEN intends to market its portfolio of premium and international brands, led by Heineken, in Ecuador in the future. HEINEKEN also plans to brew Heineken beer locally in due course. Marc Busain, President Americas at HEINEKEN, said: "We are pleased to announce our investment in Ecuador. With its favourable demographics, flourishing tourism industry and GDP growth, it offers a lot of potential to grow our premium offering, led by the Heineken brand. We are excited to grow our business in Ecuador in close collaboration with our new partners." Luis Enrique Landinez, CEO of BIELA ECUADOR, speaking on behalf of the group of investors said: "We are very pleased to have completed this alliance with HEINEKEN, which is good news for Ecuador and its consumers, who will have a wider and better choice of beer products. The successful re-launch of the Biela brand, its current recognition in the market, and the favourable investment environment generated by the Ecuadorian Government have successfully drawn HEINEKEN into Ecuador." Ecuador is a very attractive market, with GDP projected to grow at a 5.7% rate (CAGR) in the next 10 years and encouraging social-economic fundamentals. The Ecuadorian beer market presents a promising opportunity for HEINEKEN, with a current size of 6 million hectolitres per year and a relatively low consumption per capita of 39 litres when compared to other South American countries. In addition, the Ecuadorian government is supportive of foreign investment and of introducing competition in the beer market. Financial terms are not disclosed. ENDS Press enquiries John-Paul Schuirink / Michael Fuchs E-mail: pressoffice@heineken.com Tel: +31-20-5239-355 Investor and analyst enquiries Federico Castillo Martinez / Janine Ackermann / Aris Hernandez E-mail: investors@heineken.com Tel: +31-20-5239-590 Editorial information About HEINEKEN HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. HEINEKEN is committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution and focused cost management. Through "Brewing a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business. HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. It employs over 85,000 employees and operates breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares trade on the Euronext in Amsterdam. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on Reuters under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. HEINEKEN has two sponsored level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programmes: Heineken N.V. (OTCQX: HEINY) and Heineken Holding N.V. (OTCQX: HKHHY). Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website: www.theHEINEKENcompany.com and follow us on Twitter via @HEINEKENCorp. His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday visited religious cleric Abdullah Al Gherifi in his house. He was welcomed by religious clerics and citizens. HRH the Premier stressed the spirit of brotherhood, cohesion, and unity characterizing the Bahraini people, describing it as the bulwark of the community and the catalyst of growth and prosperity. He stressed that the Bahraini society will always remain immune against all plots to incite sedition and division. HRH the Prime Minister affirmed that Bahrain will remain under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa an all-inclusive country for all within the framework of equality, citizenship, and national unity. He stressed the royal efforts to boost those values, asserting that the government will spare no efforts to serve the nation and achieve citizens aspirations. HRH the Premier praised contributions of the religious scholars to promoting national work and fostering tolerance, coexistence and national unity. A proposal has been submitted by the Parliament Speaker to the Foreign Ministry to negotiate more convenient visa procedures for Bahrainis traveling to European countries. Fawzia Zainal has urged the Foreign Ministry to push for relaxed visa rules including visa on arrival for Bahrainis traveling to Europe. The proposal aims to add to the convenience of Bahraini travelers by saving time. Ms. Zainal pointed out that Bahrain has already provided European citizens with relaxed visa rules including a visa on arrival facility. Currently, the vast majority of countries across Europe require a prior visa for Bahrainis. Only a handful of European countries such as Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia and Georgia offer visa on arrival to Bahrainis. Meanwhile, Albania has announced that Bahrainis can travel to Albania without having to obtain a visa in advance this summer. Bahrain is one of the eight countries to which Albania has informed that they are lifting the visa regime. The announcement was made by the Albanian Foreign Ministry. In a statement, the ministry elaborated that the change will only be applied for a few months. The ministry stated that this is a decision taken by the Albanian Council of Ministers on February 27. This allows the citizens of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Qatar, Oman, Thailand, and Bahrain to enter Albania by using only their passport. The decision allowing citizens of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Qatar, Oman, Thailand, and Bahrain to enter Albania without needing a visa will be in force from April 1 to October 31 in 2019, whereas for the citizens of the Peoples Republic of China, it is valid from March 1 to October 31 of this year, said the statement. Friendlys is closing restaurants in Danbury, Southbury and Waterbury among 23 closures throughout the Northeast, with the company not stating how many jobs it is cutting. The ice cream parlor company is based in Wilbraham, Mass. and has 17 locations in Connecticut. Friendlys told franchisees on Monday it is closing locations where it leases coming up for renewal. BETHEL The Bethel CT Pride LGBTQ+ Parade returns to town this Saturday. Saturdays parade, which is free and open to the public, marks the third annual pride parade for the organization in Bethel. The parade is set to kick off at noon at the Bethel Municipal Center. The event runs until 5 p.m. The event, founded by middle school students in 2017, is meant to celebrate equality and support the LGBTQ+ community. There will be a family-friendly celebration after the parade, with live music, kids activities, vendors and more. The celebration goes on rain or shine, with events moving inside if weather is bad. There will be food trucks available throughout the festivities. Bethel CT Pride has gained support and sponsorship from 10 local businesses in the Bethel area. These businesses are running promotions parallel with the parade to raise money for Bethel CT Pride, the organization said. After the parade and events, there will be an after party for people over the age of 21 at Note Kitchen & Bar on Greenwood Avenue from 9 p.m. to close. Visit bethelctpride.com for more information. DANBURY Police are investigating the death of a New York man whose body was found Thursday morning near the Exit 4 ramp to Interstate 84 east on Lake Avenue. Danbury Police responded to the scene, but city police Lt. Mark Williams said State Police will handle the investigation because of the bodys location. Although a dispatcher for Troop A said there was no press release available Thursday night and no additional information, News 12 Connecticut reported that Troop A identified the man as 63-year-old Herbert Ruehle, of Carmel, N.Y. News 12 said police said there was no indication of foul play. Highway workers apparently led the police to an area in the grass near the on-ramp where the body was found. The area is heavily trafficked, with several shopping plazas and hotels within walking distance of where the body was discovered. Anytime anything like this happens, its very sad, said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton later Thursday. He said he didnt want to comment further since police are still investigating. Troop A is investigating the fact that a body was found. Were still waiting for more information, a State Police public information officer said. Typically, with an incident like this, our Major Crimes Unit is called in to assist, but right now Troop A is taking the lead. This story will be updated. HARTFORD Three bills aimed at encouraging more transparency and accountability after police shootings have failed to get out of committee. But a recent shooting during which officers from both Hamden and Yale University fired on an unarmed couple, wounding a woman, may lead to some version of the bills being resurrected before the end of the legislative session June 5. Based on a 911 call, the officers believed the man, Paul Witherspoon, had tried to rob a newspaper delivery man with a gun on April 16. A detailed search warrant released last week indicated that Witherspoon told police he was unarmed and was getting out of his car with his hands up as Hamden officer Devin Eaton and Yale University officer Terrance Pollock opened fire. Eaton fired 13 bullets, striking Witherspoons passenger, Stephanie Washington. Witherspoon has not been charged. Less than a week later, Wethersfield officer Layau Eulizier shot 18-year-old Anthony Jose Vega Cruz, known as Chulo, as the teen tried to avoid being pulled over for a license plate violation. Vega Cruz died a few days later. Both shootings have drawn loud protests calling for the release of dashboard camera or body camera video recordings a practice that State Police and the states attorneys who investigate police shootings rarely allow until an investigation is complete. In an unprecedented move, state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella released the body camera footage of the New Haven shooting to the public about a week after the incident occurred. Hartford States Attorney Gail Hardy, who is investigating the Wethersfield shooting, said she will release what she can as her investigation moves forward. Theres more and more demand from the public for the early release of the videos, Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane said. Weve given this issue a lot of thought in the past year. Kanes office submitted public testimony on all three bills, expressing reservations at the concepts as suggested. But his office officially took no stance on the bills since the specific language of the proposed legislation had yet to be written. Kane conceded last week that he and other law enforcement officials throughout the state are now considering releasing more information based on the public outcry. Were going to be making decisions about releasing information before the investigation is complete, Kane said. We want to explore this and see what happens and well do some other cases, too. The move may circumvent the calls for legislative changes that would make the investigations more transparent, he also conceded. House Bill 5757 was proposed by Rep. William Petit, R-Plainville, after New Britain officials struggled with angry protests for more than a year while a states attorney investigated the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Bloomfield carjacking suspect Zoe Dowdell, who tried to flee city officers by nearly running them down. Shocking dash camera videos of the shooting were released 13 months after Dowdell died and the States Attorney for the Judicial District of Fairfield concluded that the officers were justified in using deadly force. The bill had a public hearing before the Public Safety and Security Committee in February. But the proposal, which sought to expedite the often lengthy investigations into deadly police shootings, was never reported out of committee. Senate Bill 402, which would have created a state office to investigate complaints against police officers, suffered a similar fate, as did HB 5922, which would have required police departments to submit use-of-force reports for shootings and serious injuries. Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, said Thursday that hes looking to make police videos available sooner than they normally would be available under current law and is still looking at use-of-force reporting. I havent nailed down the language, but Im looking whether the use of force was appropriate for the given situation as well, Winfield said. He said the specific bills might be dead, but theres still plenty of opportunity to raise and vote on these concepts. Rovella said Thursday hes hoping to create a statewide standard for transparency and the release of information, which he added, may require legislation. New Haven States Attorney Patrick Griffin, who worked under Rovella at the Chief States Attorneys Office, agreed to the release of the Witherspoon shooting videos after some appropriate investigative steps were taken, Rovella said. We were in contact quite a bit that week, Rovella said. The protestors didnt influence us. There were some steps that had to be taken, but once we did that, we were prepared to talk about the case. During a press conference Rovella strung together some of the facts of the case including that the officers didnt turn on their body cameras until after the shooting occurred, which he indicated was a violation of policy. Pat allowed me to stitch together the case which works to reduce questions, not increase them, Rovella said. Rovella, a former Hartford police chief, also pointed out that during investigations that involve communities of color the issue of trust is at the forefront. The more information you put out in a timely manner the better, he said. The growth of the market is driven by the growing adoption of non-invasive procedures, increasing occurrence of skin damage and increasing usage of oral contraceptives among female. Market Size USD 798.4 Million in 2018, Market Growth - CAGR of 10.8%, Market Trends Aging baby boomers and middle-class surplus earnings to spend on cosmetic surgery. NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Aesthetic Lasers Market is forecast to grow from USD 798.4 Million in 2018 to USD 1.93 Billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 10.8% during the forecast period. The market is primarily driven by increased global warming resulting in severe skin damage and sunburn, increased use of oral contraceptives among women, and phototoxic drug use. Technology advancement has enabled needle-free procedures, thereby boosting the rate of laser treatment adoption. As a preventive measure, young people also opt for cosmetic procedures and slow down the aging process. Request free sample of this research report at: https://www.reportsanddata.com/sample-enquiry-form/1366 Strict regulations are projected for cosmetic laser products to ensure increased device efficiency while treating the skin without adverse effects. In addition to the radiation safety performance standards defined by the Federal Regulations, laser device manufacturers must comply with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The increasing adoption of energy-based devices and market players low focus on aesthetic devices restrict this market's growth. In 2018, total cosmetic surgery expenditure was USD 13.22 Billion. There has been an increase of 43% in male participation over 5 years. This presents key companies in the market with an attractive opportunity to target men for non-operative cosmetic surgery. Further key findings from the report suggest The Aesthetic Lasers Market is forecasted to grow from USD 798.4 Million in 2018 to USD 1.93 Billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 10.8% during the forecast period. The market is primarily driven by increased global warming resulting in severe skin damage and sunburn, increased use of oral contraceptives among women, and phototoxic drug use. The market for laser hair removal is expected to grow the largest at USD 502.3 Million in 2026, at a CAGR of 11.3% during the forecast period. Growing esthetic awareness and changing concepts of beauty are the main drivers of this segment's growth. Conventional hair removal techniques are time-consuming and in the current fast-moving lifestyle they are not feasible. Laser hair removal provides customers with a permanent solution, increasing their popularity. To identify the key trends in the industry, click on the link below: https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/aesthetic-lasers-market The market for private clinics is expected to grow the largest at USD 801.7 Million in 2026, at a CAGR of 11.3% during the forecast period. This is mainly attributed to increasing awareness of various esthetic procedures and their benefits, increasing patient preference for minimally invasive cosmetic surgery, increasing the number of private clinics and surgeons providing these treatments, and increasing number of aesthetic procedures globally. The market for North America is expected to grow the largest and reach USD 695.5 Million in 2026, at a CAGR of 11.2% during the forecast period. It is due to the early acceptance of laser technology and increased awareness of lasers and their effectiveness in the treatment of all skin types. The major players in the market are Lumibird (France), IPG Photonics (US), Coherent (US), Lumentum (US), Epilog Laser (US), Jenoptik (US), Novanta (US), Trumpf (Germany), LaserStar (US), MKS Instruments (US) and others. Order Now: https://www.reportsanddata.com/checkout-form/1366 Segments covered in the report: This report forecasts volume and revenue growth at a global, regional & country level, and provides an analysis on the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2016 to 2026. For the purpose of this study, Reports and Data have segmented the market on the basis of type, application, cooling mechanism, end user and regional analysis. Type (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) Multiplatform Laser Devices Standalone Laser Devices Alexandrite Lasers Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Laser Diode Lasers Er:YAG (Erbium YAG) Laser Neodymium:Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet (Nd:YAG) Laser Pulsed Dye Lasers (PDL) Others Application (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) IPL Laser Treatment Laser Skin Resurfacing Noninvasive Tightening Laser-Assisted Lipoplasty Laser Hair Removal End User (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) Hospitals Private Surgery Centers/Clinics Medical Spas & Centers Others Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Billion; 2018-2026) North America U.S. Europe UK France Asia Pacific China India Japan MEA Latin America Brazil Browse more reports of Pharmaceutical category at: https://www.reportsanddata.com/report/category/medical-devices About Reports and Data Reports and Data is a market research and consulting company that provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. Our solutions purely focus on your purpose to locate, target and analyze consumer behavior shifts across demographics, across industries and help clients make a smarter business decision. We offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a multiple industries including Healthcare, Technology, Chemicals, Power, and Energy. We consistently update our research offerings to ensure our clients are aware about the latest trends existent in the market. Reports and Data has a strong base of experienced analysts from varied areas of expertise. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Reports And Data | Web: www.reportsanddata.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 NEW MILFORD The state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the teachers union, saying the New Milford Board of Education violated the collective bargaining agreement by extending the workday for teachers on multiple occasions. The unanimous decision requires the town to compensate members of the New Milford Education Association for 20 hours of additional time they were required to work without pay, according to the Connecticut Education Association. The decision conflicts with an earlier arbitration about the case that was awarded in favor of the Board of Education in 2014 and ruled the school board didnt have to pay the teachers beyond their salaries for those additional hours, said David Lawson, the school board chairman. But the arbitrator said it couldnt rule on whether the board actually has the authority to add those extra hours, according to the 2014 decision. The school board is now going to the State Board of Labor Relations to resolve the two conflicting awards, Lawson said. Lawson said the Supreme Courts ruling determines this wasnt the right forum to hear it and instead referred it to the labor relations board for a final say. Its a situation where it wasnt the proper place to hear the case, Lawson said. The union is pleased with the Supreme Courts decision, New Milford Education Association President Kim Patella said in the release. This is a huge victory for us and for the teaching profession, and a testament to the incredible power of our union and expertise of CEAs legal team, Patella said. This case has proven that regardless of the number of times a board tries to get a ruling appealed, when we stand together as a unit, part of something we believe in, which is our union, we can prevail. The case started in 2015 when the school board eliminated 10 student early release days for the 2015/2016 calendar, Lawson said. The union filed a grievance accusing the school board of violating the collective bargaining agreement by scheduling a number of open houses and evening events, extending the workday, according to the release. Grievances were also filed the subsequent years for the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 calendars. One of those grievances is what the Supreme Court upheld this week, Lawson said. An arbitrator ruled in the unions favor, in 2015 but the board filed an application to vacate the grievance arbitration award in Litchfield Superior Court. The Superior Court ruled in favor of the union. The school board brought it to the Connecticut Supreme Court. If you have never read a court ruling that is 100 percent in favor of the union, read the Supreme Court ruling in this case, said CEA UniServ Representative Tom Kennedy, who filed the original grievance four years ago, and has continued to work and support the teachers in New Milford to ensure their rights are protected. Patella said the teachers couldnt be happier with the outcome. While it has been a long, arduous process, after more than four years, our teachers will be receiving the pay they deserve for the extra hours they were required to work, she said. This story has been updated with the 2014 arbitration decision. kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345 Connecticut State Police NEW FAIRFIELD A New Milford woman was arrested Monday for allegedly issuing a bad check at a local law firm back in December. Gorete Pereira, 40, turned herself in at the resident troopers office that day after learning there was an active warrant for her arrest. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has resigned, more than a month after taking a leave of absence for health reasons and amid scrutiny over her children's books. While she hasn't been charged with any crime, she resigned amid a flurry of investigations into whether she arranged bulk sales of her self-published childrens books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. A federal grand jury has been empaneled and state and local inquiries are also underway into the roughly $800,000 Pugh made over the years in exchange for her Healthy Holly paperbacks about health and nutrition. Silverman read a statement from Pugh as follows: Dear citizens of Baltimore, I would like to thank you for allowing me to serve as the 50th mayor. It has been an honor and a privilege. Today, I am submitting my written resignation to the Baltimore City Council. I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the Office of the Mayor. Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward. I want to thank all of our department heads and staff who work hard every day to improve the quality of life for all who live, work and visit our city. I also want to thank Jack Young, the president of the City Council, for his steadfast leadership in my absence. I wish you well in your new role as mayor of Baltimore City Sincerely, Catherine E. Pugh Her resignation took effect immediately. Pugh's resignation automatically makes Jack Young mayor. No formal swearing in is required, though one will likely be scheduled later. It also opens up the City Council president's slot. Currently, Young and Sharon Middleton, acting council president, are out of town at a conference. The mayor's resignation comes a week after agents from the FBI and IRS executed search warrants at her homes, offices at City Hall and other locations to which she has ties. Pugh has been on an indefinite leave of absence for more than a month as she recovers from pneumonia. The entire City Council, Gov. Larry Hogan, the state comptroller, the Baltimore City delegation in Annapolis, the Greater Baltimore Committee and others had called on Pugh to resign. Pugh's resignation comes amid the controversy over her no-bid book deal with the University of Maryland Medical System. The state prosecutor is investigating the book deals and possible ethics violations, Pugh's attorneys told the 11 News I-Team. Pugh resigned from UMMS as a board member, along with returning a $100,000 payment to the medical system, part of what she received for selling children's books to the system. Pugh, who is single, describes herself as married to the city. Hallmarks as mayor include her unique violence-reduction initiative, which got all city agencies involved in addressing the root causes of crime. She persevered in all the fits and starts of hiring a new police commissioner, finally getting Michael Harrison, her first choice, to come to Baltimore. She was proficient in leveraging city assets to promote growth and improve city neighborhoods. Pugh earned an MBA at Morgan State University. Before entering politics, she started a public relations firm in the late 1980s. She worked for The Baltimore Sun, became the director of Strayer Business College in Baltimore, co-owned WGTW-TV in the Delaware Valley and served as president and CEO of Pugh and Co. In 1999, Pugh won a seat on the City Council. She witnessed the power of the mayor's office early on. She asked then Mayor Martin O'Malley to back two projects, one of which led to the creation of the Baltimore Running Festival. In 2005, then-Gov. Bob Ehrlich appointed Pugh to an open delegate's seat. She won a seat in the state Senate in 2007. Pugh earned a solid reputation of a consensus builder, often successfully reaching across party lines for support. In 2015 Pugh ran for mayor in a contentious race. She beat former Mayor Sheila Dixon by only 2,400 votes. Pugh was instrumental in getting the U.S. Justice Department consent decree signed over the objections of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Readers may find some of the details in this story disturbing. A Pennsylvania woman who on multiple occasions shared a morbid knowledge of how to dispose of a body to her daughter and grandson has been charged with killing her third husband, who hasn't been seen since 2011. Virginia Hayden was arrested Monday and charged with criminal homicide in the death of Thomas Hayden Sr. The 67-year-old grandmother once offhandedly told her daughter, Carolyn Cooksey, that pigs would eat almost every part of the human body, Cooksey told police, according to The Washington Post. Other times, while watching television, she'd go into even more detail about how to get rid of a body with her grandson, Michael Harris, according to the report. At the time, Harris told authorities that the conversations with his grandmother didn't raise any suspicions. "It's unusual to have an investigation, for any reason, continue for this length of time," said Chief Mark Bentzel, of the Northern York County Regional Police Department. A vacuum-sealable freezer bag that contained someone's scalp and hair was found in January 2012 was determined to match Thomas Hayden's familial DNA in 2017, the York Dispatch reported. "We had DNA samples sent away and analyzed, and it turns out that it's a match," Bentzel said. Police questioned Virginia Hayden, who last lived with her husband at a home in Dover. According to court papers, investigators also visited the house with cadaver dogs because they suspected Hayden may have killed her husband there or buried him in the backyard. Bentzel said that Virginia Hayden began telling others that her husband had left town and told some people that he had fled to Mexico. And when Kim Via, his estranged daughter, spoke with Virginia Hayden in attempts to reach out to her father, her stepmother told her that he did not want to speak to her, PennLive reported. She allegedly collected more than $116,000 in his security benefits that were deposited into a joint bank account, according to news reports. There are also records of her purchasing a .357-caliber handgun around the time he was last seen, according to PennLive. Thomas Hayden's body hasn't been found. A parrot was taken into custody Monday after nearly spoiling a raid while playing lookout for two crack-dealing suspects by repeatedly yelling, "Mamae, policia!" according to Brazilian police in the state of Piaui. The phrase means, "Mama, police!" Police encountered the unnamed parrot at the home of the two alleged crack cocaine dealers, perched inside a small brick one-story home with a windowless facade, Brazil's R7 news channel reported. As police searched for the suspects, it seemed the lime-green bird knew exactly what to do. "He must have been trained for this," one officer involved in the operation said of the parrot's attempt to interfere with law enforcement, the Guardian reported. "As soon as the police got close he started shouting." The bird's efforts were not successful, however. Footage of the raid's aftermath aired by R7 shows police cataloguing small bags of crack while the parrot sits obediently on a countertop next to a racecar helmet and a glass bottle. Its apparent owners, a man and teenage girl, were arrested, local newspaper Meio Norte reported. WARNING: Blood sucking 'kissing bugs' are on the march through the U.S. An officer then carried the papagaio do trafico - or "trafficking parrot," as news outlets referred to the bird - out of the house on his hand before placing it in a cage and taking him into the Teresina Police Department. The parrot did not say a word, remaining in total silence even as law enforcement sought to loosen it up. This caused the couple's defense attorney, Salma Barros, to cast some doubt on police's version of events. She questioned in an interview with Meio Norte how a bird accused of loudly tipping off law enforcement for drug dealers could remain totally quiet in the police station. Others were concerned that the bird was in police custody at all. An environmentalist named Jaqueline Lustosa told Meio Norte that she had gone to the police department in attempt to free the bird. As of Wednesday, GloboNews, one of Brazil's largest cable news outlets, reported that the parrot had been taken to a local zoo, where zookeepers would train it how to fly. The pet's stubborn silence continued even there, a veterinarian said. "Lots of police officers have come by," veterinarian Alexandre Clark said Wednesday, according to the Guardian, "and he's said nothing." This is not the first time a parrot has been accused of aiding drug-trafficking suspects. In Colombia in 2010, a parrot named Lorenzo made international headlines after police recorded it warning his owners "Run! Run!" in Spanish at the sight of police officers approaching. It was found guarding a cache of guns and pot. "You could say he was some sort of lookout," a Colombian police officer said, according to the Associated Press. AT THE BORDER: They fear being deported, but they meet with ICE agents anyway Colombian officials claimed then that Lorenzo was one of 1,700 birds authorities had recently seized, believing they had all been trained to alert their owners if police approached, the AP reported. Exotic animals have long been used by drug cartels as symbols of power or as unwitting accomplices in drug trafficking. For example, Reuters reported in 2009 that traffickers have tucked drugs into hidden compartments in crates containing venomous snakes marked "Don't open!" so that customs workers would be too afraid to look inside. In 2011, Al Jazeera reported that Mexican authorities were seizing so many exotic animals from "narco zoos" belonging to Mexican drug cartel leaders that they did not know what to do with all of them. In some cases, the news outlet reported, the animals served as both symbols of power and as a warning to rival gangs: Members of the Zetas gang were rumored to have fed their enemies to the backyard tigers. In Brazil, police claimed such gang warfare was a reality. In 2008, authorities reported they had confiscated two alligators from drug traffickers who had allegedly fed the reptiles corpses of rival gang members, according to GloboNews. English French Paris, May 2, 2019 GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz), an engineering company specialised in the design of membrane containment systems for the transportation and storage of liquefied gas, hereby informs its shareholders that the combined shareholders meeting has been convened on Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 3:00 pm (Paris time), at Domaine de Saint-Paul, Batiment A3, 102 route de Limours, 78470 Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse, France. The preliminary notice of meeting including the agenda, the draft resolutions and the main formalities for attending and voting at this shareholders meeting was published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires BALO ( www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/balo ) on April 12, 2019, under the number 43. This notice may also be consulted on the GTTs website ( www.gtt.fr ). The convening notice will be published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires BALO ( www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/balo ) on May 3, 2019, under the number 53. Any person able to prove that they are a shareholder may attend this shareholders meeting in person, be represented by a proxy, or vote by correspondence. In accordance with the provisions of article R. 225-88 of the French Commercial Code, any shareholder holding shares under the registered form may request to be provided with the documents and information set forth in articles R. 225-81 and R. 225-83 of the French Commercial Code from the publication of the convening notice and until the fifth day (included) before the date of the shareholders meeting. This request must be made through the form attached to the notice of convocation and must be sent by post to BNP Paribas Securities Services CTO Assemblees Generales Grands Moulins de Pantin 9, rue du Debarcadere, 93761 Pantin Cedex, France. Shareholders holding shares under the bearer form may also request a copy of these documents and information by applying to BNP Paribas Securities Services, whose address is given above, giving proof of their capacity as shareholders by submitting a shareholding certificate provided by their usual financial intermediary. The explanatory documents related to the combined shareholders meeting to be held on May 23, 2019 required by current legal and regulatory provisions to be made available to the shareholders may be consulted (i) from May 2, 2019 on the GTT website ( www.gtt.fr ) and (ii) from May 2, 2019 at the GTT registered office, 1, route de Versailles 78470 Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse, France and at BNP Paribas Securities Services, whose address is given above. Investor Relations Contact information-financiere@gtt.fr +33 1 30 23 20 87 Media Contact: press@gtt.fr / + 33 1 30 23 42 26 / +33 1 30 23 47 31 For more information, visit the GTT website, www.gtt.fr. About GTT GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz) is an engineering company expert in containment systems with cryogenic membranes used to transport and store liquefied gas, in particular LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). For over 50 years, GTT has been maintaining reliable relationships with all stakeholders of the gas industry (shipyards, shipowners, gas companies, terminal operators, classification societies). The Company designs and provides technologies which combine operational efficiency and safety, to equip LNG carriers, floating terminals, and multi-gas carriers. GTT also develops solutions dedicated to land storage and to the use of LNG as fuel for the vessel propulsion, as well as a full range of services. GTT is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment A (ISIN FR0011726835 Euronext Paris: GTT) and is notably included in SBF 120 and MSCI Small Cap indices. Attachment Once again, our beloved and, actually, much used Candlewood Lake has been sold. Like a old used car, it keeps changing hands every few years but somehow keeps on going. For the required divestiture of power generation from distribution (CL&P to N.E. Generation Co.) in March 2000, N.E. Gen. sold the lake to those Jersey boys: Energy Capital Partners in 2006 for $1.34 billion, who named it FirstLight Power Resources. They, in turn, flipped it for a nice profit to GDF Suez in 2008 for $1.87 billion. But that French energy giant lost interest and sold it at a loss to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board for $1.2 billion in 2016. This Canadian pension fund, with $53 billion in assets, is a retirement fund for the Canadian military, mounted police and other Canadian public employees. They, then, turned the operations over to their experienced hydro power operations group, H2O. In March, however, PSPIB transferred, or otherwise given control of our lake from H2O to a Van Ness Feldman LLP, based out of Washington, D.C.: As part of a broader reorganization and refinancingwithin the same corporate family. But it is now re-named: FirstLight CT Housatonic. The new owners/transferees claim that they are ... well-financed, experienced owners and operators of numerous FERC-jurisdictional hydroelectric projects in the northeastern United States. And further: The transfer of the license is thus in the public interest. I guess we have to wait and see if it is in our interest. Hmmm. They also request expedited treatment of this [transfer] applicationto ensure timely transfer of the assets [Candlewood et al] subject to the restructuring They snuck this request into the FERC docket for public information with only one months time for comments. This is legally like selling your used car immediately by signing that bill of sale quick, done, and gone; no guarantees. Why all the hurry, and what is that ... assets restructuring all about? If you look up VanNess Feldman, LLP youll find that they are another Huge Washington Law Firm. So how many lawyers does it take to run a hydro project and why are they now running this show instead of H2O? Men in three-piece-suits, flipping switches, turning valves, watching computers monitoring thousands of gallons rushing through generators, counting kilowatts, etc. Exciting work for someone with years of law school under their belt? They must know what they are doing, otherwise why would they claim: navigating the complex intersection between business and governmentwe are renownedAs experienced strategists and client advocatesuniquely collaborative approach the anticipates trends, adapts to changes in political climateconnect resources, access power, and overcome challenges while striving to out-service clients expectations. Nice boilerplate but they forgot to mention litigation what every good law firm does while striving to out-serve expectations. So there we have it: a quicky transfer, name change, asset restructuring, anticipating trends, etc. all done basically under the cover of darkness. Does our lake really need a mega law firm to crank out mega watts of power? But I can understand the access power if you are counting those kilowatts. Coincidentally, we now have a new Shoreline Management Plan draft under review at the same time that is somewhat worse than the one now in effect, with the usual demands, threats, fees, required permits, etc. But what will the new FL CT Housatonic give us in return? Maybe more lawyers and that ol assets subject to the restructuring? (Lawyers Lake?) Keep a watch and hope that our lake asset, like that song, Ol man river he jes keeps rolling along, also keeps rolling along with, or without, that restructuring. If you live on the lake or in one of its many lake communities, be aware! For more information, Google: FirstLight Power resources, then scroll down to shoreline management and permitting; then CT, and you can view the current and proposed new plan for Candlewood Lake. If you are a member of any lake community, or just use our lake for recreation, you should view this plan, especially the appendix. Right now, you can comment to FERC with your comments and complaints. They are the 800-pound gorilla that can force changes to this plan if they get substantial reasonable complaints for change. Robert Stryker is a lake resident in New Fairfield. America has come a long way since Jim Folger started roasting coffee in 1850. According to the National Coffee Association, 64 percent of Americans age 18 or older drink coffee daily, making coffee the top caffeinated beverage in the U.S. today. For local coffee aficionados, getting a perfect cup is as easy as finding an area roaster to purchase beans from. Locally roasted coffee isn't necessarily a new phenomenon in the Capital Region. Mainstays like The Daily Grind (in Albany and Troy), Uncommon Grounds (in Albany and Saratoga) and Professor Java's (in Albany) have each been roasting green (or raw) beans for at least two decades. Chris' Coffee, which started 42 years ago in Albany, is now the largest espresso machine importer in the U.S. and one of the oldest continuously run, family-owned coffee roasters in the country, with 100,000 pounds of coffee roasted monthly, according to the company's website. Over the course of the last five years, however, local coffee roasting has blossomed with nearly a dozen new producers and roasteries in the Capital Region. "It's a natural progression. Three years ago we had a boom of specialty coffee," said Ron Greico of Stacks coffee in Albany and Troy, and now those specialty coffee shops are looking to advance their offerings to customers. "Roasting coffee has been on our radar since our second year [of business]. It is a logical extension of the brand," he said. Stacks began roasting its own coffee this year in a warehouse in Albany. Greico said the initial investment of roasting equipment is a major expense, but the long-term financial benefits are worth it. Roasting coffee in-house versus purchasing roasted coffee from producers or suppliers is less expensive in the long run, and the ability to control the final product is worth each cent spent. "Personally, I want to be in control of what's in my shop," said Stephen Pivonka, the owner and roaster of Brewtus Roasting in Delmar. Pivonka roasts coffee at least once a week in small batches, and will roast more often to keep up with demand for his beans. Being able to examine raw beans, understand the conditions they were grown and shipped in, and knowing what the point of origin was for each batch of coffee means Pivonka and other local roasters can home in on which roasting style and process will net the best results in the coffee. Roasting 101 What do the different roasts mean? Light: Under heat for less time; brighter, fruitier and more acidic Medium: Under heat for more time than the light blend; some acidity, but also nuttiness and depth Dark: Most of what mass-production coffees are roasted to; bitter, nutty What about blend? Some common types: Single-origin coffee: From only one growing region or country Espresso blend: A deeper roast used for making cappuccinos, lattes, macchiatos and mochas Decaffeinated roast: Self-explanatory: Coffee without caffeine House blend: Combines coffees of different origins and roasting styles See More Collapse "When you roast coffee, you only reveal the qualities that are already there. You can't make a bad coffee good through roasting," said Greico, adding, "Starting with the best raw product gives you the best end product." Most local roasters include single-origin beans (from only one growing region or country), an espresso blend (a deeper roast used for making cappuccinos, lattes, macchiatos and mochas), a decaffeinated roast ("decaf coffee drinkers are the true coffee lovers, because they have no ulterior motives [except for taste]," said Greico) and a house blend that combines coffees of different origins and roasting styles into one. Greico said Stacks' house blend can take cream and sugar and still "taste like coffee." "We've been in business five years and we've tasted over 1,000 samples of coffee. We know what flavors we are looking for," he said. At Wired Coffee Roasters in Malta, owner and roaster Marty Michele said that educating people about flavors in specialty roasted coffee is often the first step for independent coffee roasters. "People are starting to realize Snickerdoodle doesn't grow on trees," he said, referring to the Wired coffee flavor. Michele roasts lighter to medium-bodied coffee to coax out the subtleties of the bean. Light roast coffee, he said, are under heat for less time and have more brightness, fruitiness and acidity. Medium roast coffees maintain good acidic top notes, but offer more depth and nutty qualities. Dark roast coffees, which is what most mass-production coffees are, tend to become bitter, and Michele finds that average coffee drinkers are starting to move away from heavy roasts (except in colder months) now that they realize how flavorful lighter roasts are and how nuanced coffee flavor profiles are based on the provenance of the bean and the roasting process employed by each roaster. Locally roasted coffee is often compared to the craft beer movement, especially as people start to seek out independent roasters at farmers markets, in food coops and grocery stores and in their travels. Pivonka said that coffee drinkers are not quite as "ravenous" as craft beer lovers, and Greico said, "it is not as fun to be overly caffeinated as it is to be drunk," but still people seek out quality local coffee roasting companies to brew their daily cup. Whether it's Iron Coffee Company, Spektor Coffee Roasters, Kru Coffee or Lucy Joe's in the northern part of the region, Capital City Coffee Roasters, Storied Coffee, and Electric City Coffee Roasters to the west, Spill'n the Bean or Touchy Coffee in Troy or Skyline Coffee right in Albany, there is plenty of locally roasted coffee to be found. Coffee is a creature comfort, said Michele, one that is becoming more and more honed and focused as our collective expectations of what a good cup of coffee should be grown. "Coffee has a story," he said, "and roasting it adds to the story." Deanna Fox is a food and agriculture journalist. @DeannaNFox, foxonfood.com NEW HAVEN It was a happy Keith Mahler who addressed city and arts officials Wednesday with his news. An analysis by a Quinnipiac economics professor found that the New Haven Center for Performing Arts, the not-for-profit that operates the College Street Music Hall, attracted 70,649 patrons in 2018. Those patrons had a total economic impact of $16,060,581 on the New Haven region with 280 jobs created, according to Mark Paul Gius. That is a staggering number, Mahler said. We were absolutely astounded and elated by those results. Gius wrote that about half of the average amount spent was for tickets, with the rest going to area restaurants and other venues. Three-quarters of the patrons coming to the music venue traveled to the concerts from outside New Haven, with 7.7 percent coming from outside the state. It was the first time the music hall had tracked the impact. This is really fantastic news, Mahler said. Our team has been charged with ramping up the programming in this building which is what it is all about. ... We are on target to do 90-plus evenings and that is just concert performances, Mahler said. He said that does not count Vox Church booking the hall every Sunday, as well as other events. The impresario said based on the current growth, if they bring in 15,000 more patrons annually it will generate another $3 million; $6.5 million if 30,000 concert lovers come to the hall. If that continuing growth adds 60,000 patrons in a year, it will add $13.5 million. Mahler said the neighboring businesses, from the time they opened in 2015, just keep asking that they add more nights to their schedule. Mahler also said he was very happy Gius found that, along with the steady stream of new visitors, 98.5 percent of the concert-goers said they plan to come back. He said he wondered what they did wrong to lose that 1.5 percent. The music hall was one of two venues that responded to a request for proposals as to what to do with the empty club space across the street at the Crown Street Garage. The New Haven Center for Performing Arts won that contest over a consortium consisting of the Shubert Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre and Albertus Magnus College. Those voting on the decision liked that the music hall wasnt looking for a subsidy and it had projected a short startup. The decision took the city by surprise when the music hall dropped its plans, complaining the city was not moving fast enough. But it also said it had found a way to accommodate smaller concerts at its main space. Asked if he regretted giving up on a second site, Mahler said: I never look back. We have came up with an alternative model to it. The mayor (Toni Harp) and her ... staff have been nothing but supportive to this organization and were has been rock solid behind us. Sometime bureaucrats just get in the way of progress, which is exactly what happened here, Mahler said. He said its plans for the additional venue took 21/2 years of planning and a lot of money. Mahler said they have a lot of opportunity to add grow. We have 315 days to fill, he said, beyond the Vox Church schedule. From a concert perspective, he said the hall was filled 74 days last year. There is a lot of room to grow, he said. The report found that the patrons mirrored the median household income in the state, which was $71,346 in 2015, with a higher than average education level. The majority of patrons earned between $50,000 and $100,000. Harp said she remembers when she first went to the theater four years ago when it was a construction site. Only a few months later it was up and running and this venerable building has been warmed by performances that run the full range of musical preference. There is no question but that New Havens resurgent nightlife has been fueled to a great extent by the new life brought to this venue, she said. mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577 WEST HAVEN The state's Municipal Accountability Review Board rejected the City Council's approved 2020 budget and five-year plan Thursday, renewing its call for "structural" changes that will last into the future, while also suggesting millions in restructuring funds the city is counting on could be in jeopardy if West Haven doesn't live up to conditions of its agreement with MARB. The MARB also will consider a tax increase even though the proposed City Council budget did not include one and members agreed West Haven so far isn't holding up its end of the agreement with the state. "I don't think the city gets it," one MARB member said. MARB Chairwoman Melissa McCaw, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said the board has "continued to struggle" with West Haven's compliance. McCaw sternly told West Haven officials their budget has an insufficient contingency reserve, the insurance is underfunded, the savings was removed and more needs to be addressed, as well as considering a tax rate increase. MARB will consider a revised West Haven budget at a special meeting to be set for June. One MARB member said that when he saw a 55 percent increase in health care, given the restructuring money the city has received, "That's when I lost my cookies." MARB member Patrick Egan noted that the millions being earmarked to help West Haven is state taxpayer money from everyone's pocket and, many people in Connecticut pay high taxes. So that raises the question, he said, about whether Mayor Rossis pulling back on her proposed tax increase for the FY 20 budget that was part of her October 2018 MARB approved 5 year plan, and therefore not needing the additional $2.3 million in revenue, should more appropriately go to the state taxpayer and be deducted from state restructuring funds. Egan said West Haven's financial troubles have been "decades in the making," and long-term changes need to be made. Putting conditions on the restructuring money is fair, he said, and one board member suggested $2 million of the state funds go to insurance costs. Another MARB member who criticized the lack of structural changes said he was "disappointed" the five-year plan showed a reduction in the grand list. "You are taking a victory lap by not doing a mill rate increase," he said. Another MARB member said he, too, was troubled by a lack of savings in the budget. "I can't in good faith look at this budget and say its OK for now," he said. Rossi Thursday said the MARB's rejection of the budget appears to be a result of "communication issues." Rossi said the city must set up a trust fund for Other Post Employment Benefits, increase the budget contingency, and put aside funds to pay the final claims (runoff) from changing health plans. The runoff cost is estimated at $2.4 million. The city and Board of Education would save approximately $4 million annually moving to the state plan, Rossi said. Rossi said MARB "wanted the budget to align better with the approved 5-year spending plan that included cost-saving proposals such moving the city and Board of Education employees to the state healthcare plan. The City has been working diligently with OPM, Segal Group and Lockton to assess and analyze the CT State Partnership Plan and (its) implementation." "The City would like to thank Secretary McCaw and the MARB and OPM for their guidance and assistance to help the City of West Haven begin to emerge from their financial crisis," Rossi said. "The City of West Haven, with the aide of the MARB restructuring funds, posted a budgeted surplus of $3.1 million in fiscal year 2018 and project another significant surplus this fiscal year that closes June 30, 2019." The rejection of the budget means it's back to the drawing board for the City Council, which already has invested many hours to make changes, corrections and come to an agreement on Mayor Nancy Rossi's proposed budget. City Council member Aaron Charney said: "The budget, which I and three others voted 'no' on, was a lesson in fiscal irresponsibility. By rejecting it, MARB was clear: be fiscally responsible. MARB wants the city to run efficiently, stop waste, and make structural changes to save money long-term. They did not order the city to raise taxes. A few of us on the City Council were asking for important financial information from the city's Finance Department since the budget was released and were stonewalled. I don't know how anyone could approve a budget without supporting documentation. Hopefully now we get that information." In a meeting that went until midnight Tuesday and took all kinds of political twists, the council voted 9-4 to approve the $163.3 million budget with $73.6 million for city expenses and $89.6 million for education. One of those who voted against the plan was City Councilwoman Tracy Morrissey, who said she and the other three could see it wasn't balanced. "I hope the nine that voted for it will work together with us to come up with real solutions," Morrissey said. Longtime West Haven residents Carroll E. Brown and her husband, Ted Brown, a retired police officer, were among those who spoke at the outset of Thursday's MARB meeting. The Browns individually implored MARB to go to a Tier 4 control and take over city finances. The city currently is at a Tier 3, meaning it has some control, but needs many approvals from the MARB. "MARB take over, take over. ... Money is being mismanaged," said Brown, who is founder and president of the West Haven Black Coalition. Resident John Galvin, vice-president of the Village Improvement Association, which runs the library, asked MARB to reject West Haven's budget, which takes a major swipe at the library budget. Galvin said the library budget has been cut for the last four years and if the five-year plan approved by the City Council was to go through, the city's two branches would close and the main library would only be open part-time. Library Services Director Colleen Bailey also made a plea, saying the library plays many roles in the lives of children and adults, especially in a city like West Haven where the computers are used regularly. Bailey said expenses have increased across the board. For the 2019-20 budget year, MARB is slated to give the city at least $6 million in a restructuring grant; it provided a restructuring grant of $8 million for fiscal 2018-19. Members of a MARB committee did not react favorably to the mayor's proposed budget and five-year plan at a meeting last month. Rossi told residents in her budget address when she released the proposed spending plan that there would be no tax increase, but MARB committee members made it sound as though a tax hike is inevitable. Rossi told the MARB subcommittee last month: "I think West Haven is turning a corner," as they are doing everything they can by cutting overtime, giving furlough days and getting cooperation from unions. MARB committee members at that time emphasized the need for structural changes to avoid the city falling deep in the hole again after they are straightened out with the help of MARB. Rossi indicated in her budget address to the city weeks back that the financial picture in West Haven, while still troubled, is improving and she was proud to propose a balanced budget, with no ta increase and a surplus. But Egan didn't hold back, saying the perception of a positive trend in city finances, "delusional." Rossi took exception to the "delusional'' comment. "You haven't turned the corner you're still off the road as far as I'm concerned," Egan said. He said the only reason the mayor's proposed budget shows a surplus is "Because we gave you a ton of money," Some members of the City Council have criticized Rossi, a CPA, for counting state money promised, but not yet in the city's hands and for shuffling money around without supporting documentation. Selection based on high quality enterprise-level cloud-based solutions in the IBM i environment High margin, recurring contract to utilize Data Storages cloud-based infrastructure and high availability services MELVILLE, N.Y., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Data Storage Corporation (OTCQB:DTST), a provider of cloud and business continuity solutions, announced today it has signed an exclusive agreement with one of the largest European toy retailers to provide Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), data replication and monitoring solutions. The retailer selected Data Storage Corporation based on its expertise in data management, replication and protection in the IBM i environment. We are delighted to have gained the confidence of this major European retailer to supply our enterprise-level cloud solutions globally for the customers IBM i system requirements, stated Chuck Piluso, CEO of Data Storage Corporation. We look forward to a long and productive working relationship in helping this premier retailer to manage, replicate, store, monitor and protect its vital data for many years to come. We expect this high-margin, recurring revenue contract will expand over time, as we increase our footprint within the organization. As part of its partner program, Data Storage Corporation has supplied the new customer with IaaS for their production system in one of their U.S.-based data centers. The Company has also provided High Availability (HA) replication licensing from Vision/Syncsort, as well as HA replication, monitoring and management. The solution guarantees uptime of 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. In addition, Data Storage Corporation is guiding the customers communications, including new network access. About Data Storage Corporation The Company delivers and supports a broad range of premium technology solutions focusing on IaaS, data storage protection and IT management. Clients look to DSC to ensure disaster recovery, business continuity, enhance security, and to meet increasing industry, state and federal regulations. The Company markets to businesses, government, education and the healthcare industry by leveraging leading technologies. The Company provides IaaS, SaaS, DRaaS, VoIP, IBM Power systems and storage hardware with managed IT services. For more information, please visit http://www.DataStorageCorp.com . Investor Relations Contact: David Waldman 917-355-2239 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 7 Statistics Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Legal Cannabis and CBD How CBD Could Be Used to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved NEW HAVEN A little more than a month after 13 tenured Yale University professors withdrew their services from the Ethnicity, Race & Migration program, it has received new institutional status and permanence that will allow those faculty to recommit to the program, ER&M chairwoman Alicia Schmidt Camacho said. The faculty members had announced announced the withdrawal in a release in March, citing administrative disinterest in the program, and the pattern of unfulfilled promises by the University. The Yale Daily News first reported the return to the program. Our faculty withdrew their labor from the program earlier this term when we felt this work was unsustainable. As Chair, I am pleased to announce that ER&M has received new institutional status and permanence that will allow us to recommit to the Program, Schmidt Camacho said in a post on the ER&M website. On behalf of my colleagues, I thank the Yale administration for affirming ER&Ms importance as a program that requires resources and standing on par with other academic units. We appreciate the efforts of President Peter Salovey, Dean Tamar Gendler, Dean Marvin Chun, Dean Amy Hungerford, and Dean Alan Gerber to ensure that ER&M will receive support to fulfill its mandate, she said. In March concern was broached that the university has failed to adequately support the Ethnicity, Race & Migration program, and question arose on the use of $50 million pledged to faculty diversification in 2015. Schmidt Camacho said at the time that the decision to leave the program came after years of continued concern about the sustainability of the ER&M program and a lack of meaningful action on the part of the university administration. Though the university has acknowledged the problem and promised the program regular institutional status multiple times over the past 20 years, it never realized those assurances, Schmidt Camacho said. On Thursday, the chairwoman said in her statement: I take great joy in imagining the future of the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Program at Yale and our new capacity to partner with institutions and colleagues beyond this University. I am grateful that our faculty remains committed to teaching and mentoring students interested in what has become one of our universitys most dynamic and fastest growing undergraduate majors, she said. Schmidt Camacho said We are deeply grateful to members of the Yale community and the thousands of educators and others worldwide who have supported the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Program. We received remarkable affirmations of the importance of our collective work and have formed new relationships in the process, she said in her statement. We are especially indebted to the ER&M undergraduate and graduate students who have demonstrated their deep investment in the program and one another. The remarkable work and aspirations of our students and colleagues will enliven Ethnicity, Race, and Migration in the years to come. Schmidt Camacho noted in her statement that ER&M was founded in 1997 and has long educated students, supported postdoctoral fellows, and advanced research related to indigenous and ethnic studies, global migrations and displacement, and critical race, anti-colonial, and cultural analysis. We have proudly been a center of transformative scholarship and teaching, and we have pressed for the expansion of transdisciplinary programs, new graduate initiatives, and public partnerships, she said. Rise in technological advancements for manufacturing customized products is the major factor influencing market growth. Market Size USD 0.68 billion in 2018, Market Growth - CAGR of 26.2%, Market Trends Rise in focus for R&D investments NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 3D Bioprinting Market is expected to reach USD 4.40 Billion by 2026, according to a new report by Reports and Data. This can be mainly associated with factors such as the rise in geriatric population, technological improvements for manufacturing customized Material Types, and growth in focus on R&D investment. Also, the increase in usage of 3D printing in cosmetic surgeries is anticipated to increase the market growth during the forecast period further. Moreover, the massive gap between the demand and supply of organ transplants implies a large requirement among the patients, the emerging 3D bioprinting technologies and doctors has a substantial potential in filling this gap. Although these factors increase the growth of the market, the shortage of skilled professionals to operate the technologically advanced 3D bioprinters can pose a notable hindrance for the growth of the market. Conversely, an improvement in stem cell research and an increase in awareness related to 3D bioprinting are anticipated to offer lucrative opportunities for the market players. Request free sample of this research report at: https://www.reportsanddata.com/sample-enquiry-form/1363 The main application of 3D printers is for medical purposes. This technique includes 3D printing of biological tissues and organs through the layering of living cells. The method of this printing mainly constitutes of three stages, specifically, pre-bioprinting, bioprinting, and post-bioprinting. During the process, the cell purpose and viability of the output construct is preserved, which is used for R&D in several therapeutic areas. It is mainly used for developing tissue and organ constructs, which can be used for scaffolds, R&D of drugs, and development of medical implants. North America accounts for the largest share of 22.30% of the market in 2018, owing to rising government initiatives, increasing demand for organ transplants, and growing awareness due to conferences and trade shows. Further key findings from the report suggest The growing number of 3D bioprinting-related conferences, increasing application and a large number of research activities, in the cosmetic business are some of the key factors stimulating the growth of the European market. Organ transplantation is one of the critical factors that are profoundly influencing the market globally. With the method of using bio-ink composed of human cells and tissues, the market has developed over the years. The purpose of developing function organs like kidneys, ears, and livers is progressively becoming a reality. The living cells segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.2% during the forecast period. Growing R&D initiatives for the use of living cells in the process for 3D printing is one of the major factors encouraging the growth of the market. The hydrogels segment is estimated to reach USD 1.40 billion by 2026. To identify the key trends in the industry, click on the link below: https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/3d-bioprinting-market The research applications sector is estimated to reach USD 1.74 billion by 2026. Rising initiatives by market players and university scientists are the primary factor contributing to the increase of the research applications segment. The market is notably competitive and consists of various major players. In terms of market share, some of the major players dominate the market currently. These major players with a notable share in the market are centering on increasing their customer base across foreign countries. These companies are leveraging on imperative collaborative actions to improve their market share and expand their profitability. 3D Systems introduced NextDent 5100, in February 2018, it is a Figure 4-based 3D bioprinter created for dental labs. It is used for the generation of dental appliances. Moreover, in December 2018, Aspect Biosystems collaborated with the Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine (MERLN) at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Key participants include Allevi, Regenovo Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Nano3D Biosciences Inc., Poietis, Organovo Holdings Inc., FUJIFILM Wako Automation Corporation, Cellink AB, REGENHU Ltd., EnvisionTEC GmbH, Stratasys Ltd., Cyfuse Biomedical K.K., Aspect Biosystems Ltd. Order Now: https://www.reportsanddata.com/checkout-form/1363 Segments covered in the report: For the purpose of this study, Reports and Data have segmented the global 3D Bioprinting Market on the basis of Material Type, Technology, Application, End User, Component and region: Material Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) Living Cells Hydrogels Extracellular Matrices Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) Microextrusion Bioprinting Inkjet Bioprinting Magnetic Levitation Bioprinting Laser-Assisted Bioprinting Other Technologies Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) Research Drug Testing and Development Regenerative Medicine Food Testing Others End User Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies Research Organizations Academic Institutes Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) 3D Bioprinters Biomaterials Scaffolds Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Billion; 2018-2026) North America U.S. Europe UK France Asia Pacific China India Japan MEA Latin America Brazil Browse more reports of Pharmaceutical category at: https://www.reportsanddata.com/report/category/medical-instruments About Reports and Data Reports and Data is a market research and consulting company that provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. Our solutions purely focus on your purpose to locate, target and analyze consumer behavior shifts across demographics, across industries and help clients make a smarter business decision. We offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a multiple industries including Healthcare, Technology, Chemicals, Power, and Energy. We consistently update our research offerings to ensure our clients are aware about the latest trends existent in the market. Reports and Data has a strong base of experienced analysts from varied areas of expertise. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Reports And Data | Web: www.reportsanddata.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 Sad to read the frustrations and expressions of hatred for Yale. Even sadder was the New Haven Registers bold type headline at the top of its Opinion page. The forum was not a criticism of Yale but instead a series of insults even using alliterative playground of the privileged and estuary for the esteemed. Cute, but empty from one so unbalanced that he couldnt mention that he was attending Yale but instead used to admit to attending school in Connecticutor in New Haven. Doubtful at best. Does one wonder what Louie wrote on his Yale admission application in answer to the question Why do you want to come to Yale? Strange that a student, chosen over 40,000 others to attend Yale, could express anything but gratitude for the opportunity. He was chosen over thousands of richer, poorer, white, black, Asian, Native Americans, prep school attendees and public school attendees, even Hollywood types and those well connected. And he condemns Yale on your pages. Yale gives that opportunity to all 2,000 of its incoming class and with substantial financial assistance, too. The writer proves not to have been worthy of the good fortune. File photo Over the past few weeks, homes and businesses in the region received the Regional Water Authoritys most recent water quality report. During the past year, we completed over 100,000 tests on more than 10,000 samples of water collected throughout our distribution system. Our water quality report details the results of those tests, which found once again that the RWAs water meets or is better than all state and federal standards for water quality. We are proud to stand behind the results of our tests, because we believe that ensuring high-quality water is our duty to the communities we serve. That is why it is concerning to us that bottled water has become one of the most popular beverages in the United States, despite being less regulated, less transparent and far more expensive than tap water. Bottled water does not stand up against tap water, and we believe it is time for Connecticut to ditch the bottle and turn to tap water. A pair of key economic indicators in Connecticut show both that things are not as dire as they sometimes seem and that any progress the state has made remains precarious. To start, based on a new revenue report issued this week, the states budget reserve, otherwise known as its rainy day fund, could grow to $2.65 billion this year. Thats far higher than the current $1.2 billion in reserve and something that must look tempting to legislators at a time when new revenue is under discussion in the form of expanded sales tax, tolls and other measures. At the same time, the state economy grew at an estimated 1.8 percent in the last quarter of 2018, slightly below the national rate of 2.2 percent but good for 27th best in the nation. That may not sound like much, but for an economy rated in the doldrums for most of the recent past, middle-of-the-pack growth shows real progress. It hasnt all been good news, as the state has reverted to losing jobs after a period of growth, and other indicators show any progress to be modest at best. Still, Hartford will take good news wherever it can be found. All the more reason to keep away from the budget reserve. Gov. Ned Lamont has urged legislators to keep spending growth to a minimum, and as the CT Mirror has noted, even the increased rainy day fund doesnt come close to matching the states projected budget deficits in the coming two-year budget period. It also falls short of the amount Comptroller Kevin Lembo has recommended to keep in reserve. Maintaining a growing budget reserve while limiting growth will require discipline on the part of the Legislatures Democratic majorities. But if they want to build on whatever economic progress the state has shown in the past few months, its a necessary course. Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz appeared cognizant of that in remarks this week. I understand the desire to want to spend that money, but the reality is we could find ourselves right back in recession in the next few years, he said. What Connecticut needs is to get back to a place where economic growth ensures a budget cycle that is not fraught with tough choices every time around. The state has been through one session after another of tax increases, cuts and shifts in spending, and it takes a toll on the business climate. Unless growth becomes larger, and sustainable, the budget pain is going to continue year after year. Getting there means ensuring a healthy budget reserve. Its called a rainy day fund for a reason. Analysts have increased revenue expectations by about $400 million per year for each of the next two fiscal years, which is by any measure a good sign. Another revenue plunge, as occurred two years ago, could send the state into a tailspin. The biggest issues before the Legislature this session remain unsolved. While plans are finalized, the budget reserve needs to stay off limits. Two high school students were arrested Thursday after police discovered a social media post that appeared to threaten a South Jersey high school. Galloway Township Police received word of the post, which allegedly threatened Absegami High School, around 6:30 a.m. Officers identified the 16-year-old male student who made the post and arrested him before the school day started. A second 16-year-old boy was arrested later that day at the school, after investigators found reason to believe he was involved, too, police said. No weapons were found, and police said there was no physical threat to the school grounds, students or staff. Both teens have been charged with creating false public alarm and were released later Thursday. Their names have been withheld because they are juveniles. The schools principal did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon. Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. French English Paris, May 2nd, 2019, 6:00 pm Q1 2019 revenues amounts to 5.3 million The Group activities excluding the Swedish subsidiary generated 5.1 million in revenues, almost stable in comparison to 5.2 million ([1]) in Q1 2018 The Activity of the Swedish subsidiary dropped from 1.1 million to 0,2 million The goodwill related to this subsidiary was fully depreciated in 2018 Consolidated revenues are 5,3 million in Q1 2019 vs. 6,4 million(1) in Q1 2018 Paris, May 2nd, 2019, 6:00 pm The digital ad group AdUX (ISIN code FR0012821890 - ADUX) releases its turnover figures for the first quarter 2019. The consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2019 reached 5.3 million while the main activities (Adpulse for Social Marketing, Admoove for Geomarketing and Quantum for Native Advertising) remained almost globally stable at 5.1 million (vs. 5.2 million (1) in the first quarter 2018). In parallel the Swedish activity registered a sharp fall of its sales (-0.9 million in comparison to the first quarter 2018). This drop of the Swedish revenues was anticipated as a consequence of the loss of its main contract during the summer of 2018, which led to the total impairment of the goodwill attached to this activity in the financial statements 2018. Excluding the Swedish activity, the revenue groups core business (Adpulse, Admoove and Quantum) as a whole showed a satisfactory sales trend at the end of the quarter. This is confirmed in April which shows a clear increase in activity. However, this trend will need to be confirmed in May and June to validate the Groups refocusing strategy operated in recent years. Next financial Press Release First-half results 2019 on July 24, 2019 About AdUX A pioneer in the sector, AdUX is a European specialist in digital advertising and user experience. AdUX, which operates in 7 European countries, generated revenue of 26 million in 2018, is listed on compartment C of Euronext Paris and holds the "Innovative Company" label, thanks to which FCPI funds (i.e., French mutual funds specialized in innovation) are authorized to invest in AdUX, with fund subscribers entitled to the corresponding tax benefits. ISIN code: FR 0012821890 / LEI: 969500IIE66C3CFB1K57 / Mnemo: ADUX For more information, visit www.adux.com and infofin@adux.com Follow us on Twitter: @AdUX_France LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/adux_en Investor and analyst contact infofin@adux.com Press Contact Antidox Nicolas Ruscher nicolas.ruscher@antidox.fr This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements. Although AdUX Group believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions as of the date of this press release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements. AdUX Group operates in a highly evolving sector in which new risk factors may emerge. AdUX Group does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or other circumstances. ([1]) The figures have been prepared on the basis of the new scope of consolidation represents all the activities of the Group adjusted for the disposals of the traditional Spanish, Belgian and Portuguese activities performed in 2018. Attachment Annie Morrisey says her youngest son, Patrick Morrisey, was the perfect kid growing up. He was smart, had a positive attitude and good manners. Now 22, he serves in the Army National Guard as a mechanic. He was about to finish a chemistry degree, she said. He had everything going for him, she said. Thats why she couldnt understand why he disappeared March 16, leaving behind an ominous note at his Absecon home. He hasnt been seen since, and police investigations and calls for the public to keep an eye out for him havent turned up any clues. Annie Morrisey has kept up the drumbeat for her sons return, not letting herself consider the possibility that he might not come back. More than six weeks after he vanished, shes hoping someone will come forward with helpful information. God is good and miracles can happen, she said. She said her son did not have a history of depression or mental illness, but she has since learned from police and a relative that he started displaying some out of character behavior two weeks before he disappeared. Police said he was acting paranoid and delusional. He did have some tough events leading up to his disappearance, she said, including the death of his grandmother and troubles with a romantic relationship, Annie Morrisey said. Patrick Morrissey, missing since March 16, is pictured kneeling on the left in front of a military helicopter. (Provided by Annie Morrissey) After he was reported missing, police discovered a note at his home that referred to the prospect of his burial, which made them believe he was suicidal, his mother said. He left his car and all his belongings behind, she said. His bank account hasnt been touched, she added. Police eventually determined that he took a bus to New York City and then appeared to be heading toward New England, she said. His mother wonders if he was heading to Vermont, because he had visited before and once talked about moving there. She hopes his photo shared widely, especially in New England, in case someone saw him as he traveled. I want him home safe and sound, she said. Patrick Morrisey is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds, police said. He has blue eyes, brown hair and a tattoo on his left bicep with cursive writing. When he left his house March 16, he was wearing a black leather jacket and a camouflage backpack, police said. Anyone who has seen Morrisey or has information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the Absecon Police Department at 609-641-0667. Patrick Morrissey, 22, of Absecon, has been missing since March 16. (Provided by Annie Morrissey) Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Ray Mullen awoke on March 15 in a pure panic. He had fallen asleep on a couch at a friends house in Atlantic County, but suddenly found himself ablaze in what police have described as a prank that went terribly, terribly wrong. As Mullen raced outside the house in flames, two men he thought were friends gave chase. They were carrying lighter fluid and Mullen said heard one say Ill show you how its done, Dave." They doused him with more lighter fluid and he fought to stop the blaze consuming his body, Mullen said. Now, Mullen wakes to a nightmare every day. His body is disfigured. He has third-degree burns over 30% of his body. Hes lost 30 pounds and has had multiple skin grafts and blood transfusions. Hes lost feeling and movement in his fingers. Im hoping I start to get better," Mullen, 27, of Brigantine, told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday in a phone interview. "Im in so much pain. Mullen, with the help of friends, launched a GoFundMe this week to help cover the cost of his extensive medical treatment. The fundraiser includes jarring images of the burns he suffered to his back, arms and legs. Mullen said his mother has taken a leave of absence from her job to help with his care. And on doctors orders, Mullen wont be able to return to his job as an HVAC apprentice for at least a year. His passion for dirt-bike riding is on hold. And he still doesnt know why this happened. In the weeks following the bizarre incident, police charged Brandon Perez, 23, of Hammonton, and David Sult, 24, of Mays Landing, with aggravated arson, aggravated assault and conspiracy. Police said the duo sprayed the lighter fluid on Mullen as he slept on a couch at Sults house and ignited the fire. Those charges remain pending. David Sult, 24, and Brandon Perez, 23 In the narrative posted with his GoFundMe campaign, Mullen provided more details of the night that changed his life. He said that multiple people looked on as he struggled to put out the blaze and more lighter fluid was sprayed on him. He eventually dropped to the ground and rolled until the fire was out, he said Even as he tried to leave the house to seek help, he said his attackers took his car keys and ridiculed him while he begged to return them, according to his GoFundMe account. They eventually threw the keys at Mullen and he drove 40 minutes in severe agony, battling physical shock to his mothers house, he said. She rushed him to a local hospital, which transferred him to a burn center in Philadelphia. Mullen said hes already suffered one blood infection during his recovery that nearly took his life and he remains bed-ridden. The online fundraiser has generated more than $2,000 in the first two days. Mullen said he has been overwhelmed by the support. Im so grateful," he said. "Im really grateful to everybody...I thought nobody cared. Ray Mullen suffered extensive burns after being set ablaze while sleeping on a friend's couch in March. In a photo shared on his GoFundMe page, Mullen is shown on a motorcycle before his injuries. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. If May 4 means something to you other than Cinco de Cuatro, theres a good chance you may know something about Star Wars Day. May the Fourth Be With You, the rallying cry of this unofficial holiday, is the domain of Star Wars fans, including director Kevin Smith. To mark the occasion, Smith is returning home to Monmouth County, and hes inviting the people of New Jersey to come for a visit. On Wednesday night, Smith, who grew up in Highlands, announced he will be at his Red Bank comic book shop, Jay and Bobs Secret Stash, on Saturday, May 4, to sign merchandise, including his Hit Girl comics and Funko Pop dolls. May 4 is also Free Comic Book Day. Smith, 48, who recently wrapped production on Jay and Silent Bob Reboot in New Orleans and completed a first cut of the film, made the announcement about his upcoming appearance on Instagram. In a video, he called Red Bank the cradle of civilization where I was born. Smith directed those interested in attending to seek more details at the stores website. The writer-director is known for his New Jersey-set View Askewniverse films, including Clerks, Clerks II, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," Mallrats and Chasing Amy, in which he plays Silent Bob to Jay Mewes Jay. The facade of Leonardos Quick Stop convenience store, made famous in Smiths debut film Clerks" in 1994, was recreated for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which did not film in New Jersey. Just the sight of the familiar haunt brought Smith to tears, an emotional moment that he documented as part of his YouTube series of videos on the making of the film. Smith also became emotional in March when Mallrats was referenced in the movie Captain Marvel" by way of a cameo from the late Marvel icon Stan Lee. The cameo itself was a reference to Lees own cameo in Smiths movie back in 1995. Since suffering a near-fatal heart attack in February 2018, Smith has lost more than 50 pounds and become both a vegan and a Weight Watchers ambassador. Jay and Bobs Secret Stash is at 35 Broad St. in Red Bank. Call 732-758-0508 or visit jayandsilentbob.com Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Sebastian Lentini, 82, has been a McDonalds franchisee for 50 years. He operates six locations in northern New Jersey: Passaic, Paterson, Fair Lawn, Paramus, Jersey City and Bayonne. Three generations of the family are involved in the business, he said. But McDonalds wants him out, according to a lawsuit brought by Lentini in Hudson County Superior Court. The suit alleges a systematic pattern of discrimination targeting [Lentini] for no reason other than his age, and claims that McDonalds has a broader policy aimed at pushing out older, long-term franchisees. The suit also claims McDonalds overcharges franchisees by forcing them to purchase items related to rebuilds and renovations at inflated prices, worthy of RICO charges, the suit said. McDonalds said each allegation is false and unfounded, and it will continue to vigorously defend itself in this matter. The company filed a motion to dismiss, which is still pending. Inside the allegations The suit alleges multiple instances of age discrimination and that McDonalds arbitrarily decided Lentini was deemed ineligible to expand, which the suit said undermines his entire business. It cites a 2016 meeting in which one corporate employee told Lentinis son that his father is an old man, that he should step aside and pass along his P1 status, and that Lentini was no longer McDonalds operator of choice for the region because of his age. Another employee repeatedly stated Lentini `must be tired, an obvious reference to her, and McDonalds, improper and discriminatory belief that Lentinis age would cause him to be tired or otherwise unfit to run his franchises, the suit said. The suit also charges the company is squeezing out Lentini by intentionally opening and developing new restaurants in the immediate vicinity of Lentinis stores. McDonalds refused to provide Lentini with an opportunity to operate those locations in close vicinity to his location based solely on Lentinis age and not on his operational abilities or expertise, the suit said. The suit said McDonalds is trying to force out older franchisees by requiring expensive upgrades that wont translate into greater profit for the stores. It said younger, less experienced franchisees are more naive and unlikely to fight the corporation over costly remodels. The RICO allegations The two sides clashed about renovating and/or modernizing Lentinis existing restaurants, the suit said, alleging the upgrades would have cost millions of dollars that would take significant time to recoup, if the costs could be recouped at all. In one example, the suit said, McDonalds wanted Lentini to make changes to his Bayonne store. The renovations would have cost nearly $3.5 million while reducing dining room seating from 150 to 46 seats and parking stalls from 34 to 13. It also would have eliminated a play area for children. Lentini was not included in the plans for his own restaurant, the suit said. The suit also alleged the cost of construction was in excess of market prices, citing an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request that showed the cost of construction, as evidenced on permits, was $832,000, yet Lentini was being charged more than four times that amount. All that added up to several RICO charges in the lawsuit, claiming a Fraudulent Scheme to Sell Essential Goods at Inflated Prices. McDonalds motion to dismiss is still pending, and the case is expected to be heard in the spring of 2020. Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter. Bruce Springsteen will hit theaters in a movie due out this summer. Except the star of the film wont be Bruce Springsteen not exactly. The movie, called Blinded by the Light, features Springsteens music and follows Javed (Viveik Kalra), a Pakistani-British teenager growing up in Luton, England in 1987 who recognizes his own working-class life in the Boss music. Blinded by the Light," which includes 17 Springsteen songs, got a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where New Line picked the movie up for $15 million. A trailer debuted Thursday. The film is directed by Gurinder Chadha, who is known for another coming-of-age story, the Golden Globe-nominated 2002 film Bend it Like Beckham. Blinded by the Light is based on a true story, drawing from Greetings from Bury Park, the 2007 memoir from British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, a Springsteen superfan who the Boss himself has recognized at shows. For anyone who has ever wanted to dream, youre not alone. Inspired by the legendary music of #BruceSpringsteen, comes #BlindedByTheLightMovie in theaters August 14 https://t.co/JEu3G8yr5c Gurinder Chadha OBE (@GurinderC) May 2, 2019 Its like Bruce knows everything Ive ever felt, everything Ive ever wanted," Javed says in the trailer. The aspiring poet travels to New Jersey in the film. Im going to see Bruce Springsteens hometown, he tells an airport employee. I cant think of a better reason to visit the United States than to see the home of the Boss, the man tells him. Manzoor did, in fact, visit Springsteens childhood home in Freehold. In a January interview with Variety, Chadha talked about how she got Springsteen on board for the film. The director had been at the 2010 premiere of the Springsteen and E Street Band documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town in London and took Manzoor with her. They waited for Springsteen on the red carpet. As he walked down, he banana-ed and walked over to Sarfraz and said, Man, I read your book! Its really beautiful. Sarfraz started hyperventilating, she said. And then I ran over and sort of seized the moment and said, Hi Bruce! My name is Gurinda. Im a film director. We really want to make a film of the book. He looked at Sarfraz and me and said, Sounds good. Talk to Jon Landau (his manager). May 2 1972 Bruce Springsteen walks into Columbia Records in New York and sings in front of legendary talent scout John Hammond. It's the start of his career. Exactly forty seven years later: the official release of the US trailer for Blinded by the Light https://t.co/P8guFaQ53D Sarfraz Manzoor (@sarfrazmanzoor) May 2, 2019 After Manzoor and Chadha collaborated on a script, they sent it to Springsteen and he gave the go-ahead to use his music. Bruces words are as much part of the narrative as our own dialogue, Chadha said. Blinded by the Light will be screened on May 12 at the Montclair Film Festival. Chadha will be at the festival for a post-screening Q&A. The film is due out in theaters on August 14. The Montclair screening is at 6:30 p.m. on May 12 at the Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School. Tickets $20; montclairfilm.org/events/blinded-by-the-light Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. Juan Cuevas Sr. was tortured and beaten to death in his Gloucester County home 13 years ago after four men accosted his three teenage children and held them hostage while demanding money from the father. A jury will soon decide if John Blocker was one of his killers. Blocker, 46, of Philadelphia, is charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, burglary and three counts of kidnapping. Hes the only person who was ever charged in the case. While defense attorney Michael Schreiber argued that investigators blew the case by failing to pursue leads tying others to the crime and failed to prove Blocker was in the home on the night Cuevas was killed, Assistant Prosecutor Alec Gutierrez urged the jury to follow the fingerprint and DNA evidence. Cuevas, 36, the owner of G.I. Junes Auto Parts on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, was at work with his wife on Jan. 20, 2006, when the four masked men arrived at the familys Washington Township home. They grabbed the couples 18-year-old son, who had just arrived home from high school, and beat him. They questioned him about his father, asking, Wheres the money? When they didnt get what they wanted, they bound his hands and feet, covered his head and placed him in a bathtub. They began ransacking the house. When the other Cuevas children, a 19-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy, arrived home, they were also bound and had their heads covered. Cuevas, 36, arrived home around 6 p.m. and was dragged to an upstairs bedroom where he was beaten and tortured with an iron, prosecutors said. When the assailants eventually left, the kids freed themselves, tried to revive their father and called 911. The Investigation went cold until 2015, when a fingerprint from the crime scene that had been entered into a database came back with a possible match for Blocker. DNA evidence recovered from the home also matched the defendant. Two members of Juan Cuevas Sr.s family wore these pins in honor of the victim during John Blocker's murder trial on Thursday.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media In his closing argument, Schreiber hammered away at the prosecutions case. I suggest that the state has not met its burden. I suggest that the case makes no sense, he told the jury. He noted that descriptions of the intruders provided by the Cuevas children didnt match Blocker. They all had an opportunity to see the perpetrators when they had their masks off. They all said this on the witness stand. Their failure to identify the defendant is simply puzzling. It raises doubt, Schreiber said. The age, height, weight and skin color just do not match. On that point, Gutierrez asked the jury to consider what these victims were going through at the time and the fact that the descriptions were taken hours after they were tied up, had their heads covered and heard their father being tortured. Those arent circumstances that would support a reliable, accurate description, he said. Schrieber also challenged the fingerprint and DNA evidence, suggesting Blocker may have been at the home at another time. He also noted that Blockers prints werent found on any evidence directly linked to the crime, including the ropes and the iron. If my client left his mark, was he a perpetrator or did he leave his mark on a different date or time when he wasnt wearing a mask or glove? Was he an unfortunate and unlucky soul who was in the Cuevas residence prior to the murder and is now being blamed for these crimes? A fingerprint lifted from an orange juice container was the original link to Blockers arrest. His DNA was found on a cigarette butt on the kitchen floor and on an orange juice bottle in an upstairs bathroom trashcan, prosecutors said. Schrieber reminded the jury of testimony that Cuevas was associated with several drug dealers, that the autopsy determined he had used cocaine and that he was having financial problems. The children also mentioned that the assailants said, Your father owes people money, the attorney said. He also described investigation of a similar home invasion robbery that occurred in Gloucester Township just weeks before the Cuevas killing. Both sets of perpetrators were black, wore black, had guns, used Nextel phones, they tied up the children in both houses and they specifically targeted drug dealers, Schrieber said. He argued that evidence tied the ringleader in the Gloucester Township case to the Washington Township crime. Specifically, phone records placed his cellphone a few miles from the Cuevas home on the night of the killing. He faulted investigators for not tracking down those leads. The detectives did a very poor job, Schrieber said. They failed to find the persons that were responsible for the crime. They made significant errors in this case. Defense attorney Michael Schreiber speaks to the jury during opening arguments in John Blocker's murder trial on Thursday, April 4, 2019.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media Other suspects were investigated, Gutierrez acknowledged in his closing, but no evidence tied them to the crime. Nothing came back to them, he said. Those people are not on trial. Those peoples fingerprints and DNA are not in the Cuevas family residence. The entire house was fingerprinted and DNA evidence was collected. The prints and DNA collected were matches only for members of the Cuevas family and Blocker, Gutierrez said. He noted several times that the Cuevas family didnt know Blocker. Everything came back to the Cuevas family or this defendant, he said. And they had no idea who he was. While the assailants wore gloves, the children testified that one of the men removed his gloves at one point. For the most part, these four assailants, including the defendant, were pretty good at what they did, but this one slipped up, Gutierrez said, pointing to Blocker. We would submit to you that a rational conclusion would be that the defendant was present on Jan. 20, 2006, the prosecutor told the jury. He was one of the assailants. Cuevas family members in the courtroom sobbed as Gutierrez replayed a video taken of the crime scene and the 911 calls the children made as they desperately tried to revived their father. They are heard pleading for help as dispatchers assure them an ambulance and police are on the way. Id ask you in this case to follow the evidence, Gutierrez told the jurors. The forensic evidence, the DNA evidence, the physical evidence that places this defendant inside the residence No one knows him. He shouldnt be there. When you look at fingerprint evidence, the DNA evidence, who doesnt belong? John Blocker doesnt belong. Closing arguments wrapped up Thursday morning and the jury is expected to begin deliberating this afternoon. Gloucester County Assistant Prosecutor Alec Gutierrez addresses the jury during opening arguments in the trial of John Blocker on Thursday, April 4, 2019. Blocker is on trial for the 2006 murder of Juan Cuevas, of Washington Township.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Fourteen people were displaced and two cats were revived by Jersey City firefighters battling a blaze in a Stegman Parkway building Thursday morning, officials said. All I know is I looked out the window and saw firefighters and smoke coming from every floor of the building, a neighbor, who identified herself only as Shirley, said of the fire that started around 7:56 a.m. in a 2.5-story building at 332 Stegman. Five cats were removed from the building and two cats were revived by firefighters who treated them with oxygen and then turned them over to their owners for further care. The American Red Cross responded to assist the 12 adults and two children who were displaced, an official said. Shortly after 10 a.m., PSE&G responded and cut power to the damaged building. An arson inspector and fire inspector responded to the building to investigate the cause of the fire and whether there were any violations, including possible illegal apartments, Jersey City Fire Department Battalion Chief Paul Drennan said. Hoda Sabra, 30, clung to her 12-year-old cat Boo Boo on a stoop across the street from the charred building that had been her home. He is the first thing I grabbed, said Sabra. I grabbed him and ran out without my hijab and then I realized there were men all around, she said, a bit embarrassed. Sabra said a number of cats suffering from smoke inhalation were taken to the vet. The fire started in the basement of the building near College Street and extended into the first floor before it was ruled under control at about 8:30 a.m., according to first responder radio transmissions The cause of the fire remains under investigation. A 60-year-old man was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually assaulting a girl at a storefront place of worship in Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Josue Rodriguez of Jersey City faces charges of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, and endangering the welfare of a child for the abuse, which allegedly took place several years ago at Templo Refugio on Third Street. Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, members of the Hudson County Prosecutors Office Special Victims Unit arrested Rodriguez in the area of Communipaw Avenue and Bergen Avenue in Jersey City. The alleged crimes were first reported to the Jersey City Police Department by the victims mother earlier that day, Suarez said. Ray Worrall, a spokesman for the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, said the HCPO is currently investigating whether Rodriguez had any official role at Templo Refugio. The organizations website lists him as an auxiliary pastor. Templo Refugio could not be reached for comment. The place of worship is part of the Congregation of Yahweh, a religious movement that combines elements of the Judaism and Christianity. Rodriguez is scheduled to make his first appearance on the charges during a detention hearing Monday at the Hudson County Administration Building. The HCPOs Special Victims Unit is actively investigating this case. Anyone with information is asked to contact the HCPO at 201-915-1234 or to leave an anonymous tip on www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/ . All information will be kept confidential. The exact age of the victim and when the alleged abuse took place was not provided. An airline employee at Memphis International Airport called a customer from New Jersey a killer last month in front of the passengers wife and two young children after learning the man works in law enforcement during a contentious dispute over lost baggage. The workers comments later prompted an apology from American Airlines, which owns his employer, Envoy Airlines. The verbal confrontation on April 19 occurred when Theresia Ventrice Tirado and her husband Michael Tirado went to a customer service desk for help after their flight was re-routed to Memphis and one of their bags got lost, she told WREG.com, a local television station. Ventrice Triado explained that the employee - who she identified by his first name, Gabriel, was unhelpful, prompting her husband to call the man basically useless to us. The worker than went on a rant and countered that his own children were doctors and lawyers, Ventrice Tirado said. Michael Tirado then informed the worker he was a police officer, prompting the Envoy employee to respond, "'Youre a cop. That means youre a killer, according to Ventrice Tirado. Michael Tirado then began recording the employee, who moments later remarked, "He might kill me. Theresa Tirado responded, Seriously? That is the most offensive thing ever. He might kill me because hes a police officer who called me useless, the employee replies. The recording, which was posted to Twitter but has since been made private, cuts off a few seconds later. In a statement emailed to NJ Advance, American Airlines said it apologized to the New Jersey passengers and described the video as extremely concerning. "We apologize to the Tirados regarding the interaction they had with an Envoy team member at Memphis International Airport during their travels last month. What we see in the video is extremely concerning: In our culture, every interaction with a customer or team member should be grounded in respect. Thats not what we saw here. As soon as we became aware of the issue, we reached out to Mrs. Tirado directly to let her know that we take this very seriously. We have spoken to both Officer and Mrs. Tirado and have assured them that we are taking steps to make things right with them and ensure this doesnt happen again. American Airlines spokeswoman Leslie Scott declined to identify the employee or say if he had been disciplined or fired. We are investigating because this is not the conduct we expect from our team members, Leslie said. Ventrice Tirado, a Marlboro resident, didnt immediately return messages from NJ Advance Media seeking comment. Michael Tirado is a state corrections officer, according to public records. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Editors note: The story has been updated with a brief comment from Millvilles chief of police. Joseph Dixon, the Millville cop who has used more force than any other New Jersey officer, was sued Wednesday by a woman he arrested last year after he allegedly used excessive force. The 12-count federal civil rights lawsuit alleged that Dixon, 28, used force that was far out of proportion when he arrested Audra Capps in February of 2018. It also accused the city and the police chief of negligence in overseeing Dixon. The encounter was captured by a dashboard camera. In the video, Dixon slams Capps into the asphalt when she begins to pull away from him. The suit did not dispute the arrest itself -- Capps later pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and resisting arrest after she was pulled over while driving home. But the lawsuit argued that Dixons whirling headlock takedown maneuver ... could have broken her neck. A second officer on the scene, Bryan Orndof, was also accused of excessive force, and the suit alleged that the two were deliberately indifferent to Capps request to go to a hospital. Although the use-of-force report that Dixon filed on the incident did not note any injuries, medical documents reviewed by NJ Advance Media confirmed that Capps did have several broken ribs after Dixon restrained her. The lawsuit said that Capps has undergone two surgeries to try and repair the damage, and is still undergoing treatment. Police Chief Jody Farabella said they were taking the allegations very seriously and that Dixons entire record was being investigated. Michael Santiago, who is both Millvilles mayor and the director of public works, directed requests for comment to Director of Public Safety Joseph Pepitone. Pepitone did not immediately respond to an interview request, nor did Dixon. Capps and her attorney, Louis Shapiro, declined comment. The civil suit said that Capps has both lost wages and racked up medical bills over the past year. The suit also cited The Force Report, the most comprehensive statewide database of police force in the U.S. and the result of a 16-month-long investigation by NJ Advance Media. That reporting found that during his first several years, Dixon reported using his hands and fists, pepper spray and other types of force at more than 18 times the state average, far more than any other officer in the state. He also reported more injured subjects than all but one other cop. Farabella, the police chief, has previously defended Dixon as a fine officer" working in high-crime areas. Millville has one of the highest violent crime rates in the state, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Dixon is also under investigation by the county prosecutors office, stemming from a fatal shooting that happened just over a year ago. All police shootings are investigated, and Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said April 18 that the review is still pending. The full lawsuit can be reviewed online here: Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN. DOD awards pair of Mizzou researchers separate grants totaling nearly $14 million 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. ### This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. DALLAS, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Modern Systems , a leader in application modernization, today announced it has been named as a modernization specialist in Forresters Now Tech: Application Modernization and Migration Services Q1 2019 Report, which is designed for Infrastructure and operations professionals to understand the primary segments and capabilities of application modernization and migration services providers to inform their selection strategies. The report provides an overview of the business case, objectives and expectations for modernizing legacy systems, with an aim to assist customers with migrating their legacy systems as part of a larger digital transformation journey. In the report, Forrester details the realities of modernization and migration activities, which require a variety of skill sets, each of which can be difficult for an individual enterprise to recruit for, retain, and wield effectively in practice. For this reason, using services and software providers can help organizations to: Address skills shortages in legacy and cloud technologies by leveraging outside talent. Accelerate digital transformation with modernization and cloud migration expertise. Save money by eliminating reliance on outmoded solutions and technologies. The modernization landscape has evolved rapidly over the past several years, and at times can be fairly confusing for customers to navigate, said Brandon Edenfield, president and CEO of Modern Systems. Forresters report couldnt come at a more optimal time, as it offers valuable and relevant information about various types of offerings to help customers make more informed modernization decisions. Modern Systems has seen incredible momentum and customer adoption of our legacy modernization solutions over the past year, continued Edenfield. Were proud to be acknowledged by Forrester. Modern Systems Cited in Forresters Report Forresters report includes Modern Systems in the small application modernization and migration services vendor category. The report segmented vendors into three categories based on application modernization and migration services revenue: large established players (more than $1.2 billion in revenue); midsize players ($175 million to $1.2 billion in revenue), and smaller players (less than $175 million in revenue). Only sixteen companies appear in the small vendor category. In the description of modernization specialists, the report states, some specialist firms have been in the modernization business for a very long time... The report continues, Others, like Modern Systems, are led by veterans of other firms such as Clerity Solutions, acquired by Dell Technologies in 2012...these companies often have their roots in replatforming across multiple proprietary legacy architectures, such as mainframe to Unix or Unix to Linux, and may also offer automated language translation services, such as COBOL to Java. The report noted that modernization specialists (including Modern Systems) high segment capabilities were in the following: Application modernization strategy Application modernization execution Automated code analysis Automated code translation Legacy re-architecting Global organizations benefit from Modern Systems proven approach Modern Systems empowers efficiency, agility and competitive advantage through core application modernization, with a focus on facilitating the transition from legacy systems to modern environments that leverage data warehousing, agile development methods, and the cloud, including macro and microservices architectures. Modern Systems provides customers with a comprehensive assessment, which drives the blueprint for automated conversion execution. The leader in COBOL-centric application and data modernization, the company also has extensive experience assisting customers with various conversion paths including rehosting, conversion, refactoring, and re-engineering. Modern Systems ModPaaS solution provides access to Modern Systems-developed modernization solutions as a service in a secure cloud-based environment. ModPaaS is available via the industrys top cloud providers, including AWS , Azure , Oracle and Google Cloud Marketplaces. As a result of Modern Systems conversion project, we anticipate more efficient testing and support cycles, said Thanos Kaponeridis, CEO of AeroSoft Systems. COBOL mainframe resources are becoming increasingly hard to find, so this puts us in a position to work with a global community of young talented developers. At the start of this project, I thought I knew what my application did, but I was wrong, said Marc Rubel, executive director of Application Development of GE Capital. The Modern Systems approach showed me how much more there was then I assumed. My skepticism evolved into the realization that this assessment was one of the best things we did. In addition, the automation Modern Systems has for the code is really cool. Modern Systems recently announced its intent to be acquired by UK-based software and services leader Advanced. The move will double the size of Modern Systems application modernization practice. To learn more, download the full Forrester Now Tech Modernization & Migration Services Report . To read more about Modern Systems customer successes, visit our customer references page . About Modern Systems Modern Systems is a leading provider of application modernization services, with more than 200 modernization projects completed worldwide during the past 30 years, and 1.5 billion lines of code processed through our tools. Modern Systems is a global provider of modernization solutions for legacy application source code, data, and platform transformations. Our combined resources, technologies and global reach makes us one of the largest independent legacy application modernization companies in the world. Michelle Doss Modern Systems michelledoss@modernsystems.com + 1 512-365-9358 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 An Atlantic City laundromat owner who laundered money through his business to hide the proceeds of his large-scale drug trafficking ring was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison. Toye Tutis, 46, pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin as well as conspiring with his long-time partner, Jazmin Vega, 45, of Atlantic City to launder his drug trafficking proceeds, federal prosecutors said. Vega also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to launder Tutis drug proceeds and was scheduled to be sentenced on June 14. Titus ran the ring out of the TaJa Laundromat from 2010 through December 2014 and purchased and sold between 150 to 450 kilograms of cocaine and approximately 26 kilograms of heroin, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito. He laundered between $1.5 million and $3 million of his drug proceeds through several businesses he owned with Vega including TaJa Construction I LLC; TaJa Real Estate Investors LLC; and Integrity Heating and Cooling LLC and bought more than 30 properties with the tainted funds, Carpenito said. Defendant Tutis laundered more than just clothing at his Atlantic City laundromat he also laundered the proceeds of his significant heroin and cocaine drug trafficking ring, Carpenito said in the release. The sentence handed down today punctuates the end of both his drug trafficking and his money laundering activities, and is yet another example of our efforts to clean up the streets of Atlantic City and the towns surrounding it. As part of their plea agreements, the duo must forfeit 20 properties, cash and other assets, federal prosecutors said. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The right-wing commentator known as Kent State Gun Girl" tried filming at Rutgers University earlier this week. But she was soon met with a crowd of students who said she was only there to spread hate. Kaitlin Bennett, who went viral after she posted a photo wearing an AR-10 with her graduation cap on Kent States campus, said she was recording a segment about student loan debt for far-right media outlet InfoWars, a website known for posting hoaxes and conspiracy theories. She was trying to film in a space newly dedicated to Class of 1919 alumnus Paul Robeson, a black All-American athlete, entertainer and political activist for civil rights and social justice. This is the only space dedicated to the commemoration and celebration of Paul Robeson, and yall picked this spot? one woman repeats over and over on a video Bennett posted to InfoWars. Some of Bennetts previous antics have drawn serious ire on the Internet. She posted a video of herself drinking from a gallon milk jug in response to a Twitter post from PETA that said, Cows milk has long been a symbol used by white supremacists. And she taunted Parkland school shooting survivor and activist David Hogg, saying Lets arm wrestle. If I win, we get to keep the 2nd amendment. If you win, we turn in our guns. Deal? When reached by phone Wednesday, Bennett said someone called the police because they didnt want her on campus. In the video, several officers can be seen talking to both Bennett and the students gathered around her. A group of liberals at @RutgersU called 911 to try having me kicked off campus because they didn't like that a conservative was talking to students in front of a communist's memorial. 5 cops showed up because someone they disagreed with engaged in free speech. Very progressive! pic.twitter.com/PWOz8Yvzt4 Kaitlin Bennett (@KaitMarieox) April 30, 2019 Students asked her to leave the space and take her conversations to a space 10 feet away. She said she didnt back down without a fight. @KaitMarieox was asked repeatedly to move her interviews LITERALLY anywhere except for inside the newly created space dedicated to commemorating our notable Black alumnus, Paul Robeson. She later claims she respects the space, but stayed because she was being yelled at to move pic.twitter.com/lAUvQMcV47 Kaylin Nguyen (@kaylin_nguyen) April 30, 2019 While many said they disagree with Bennetts stance, students denied her claims about why she was asked to move. Fyi, she initially wasnt asked to leave the campus. Nor was she asked to leave the memorial for being white, conservative, or having opposing views. She was asked to take her conversations to the grass 10 feet away from the space dedicated to honoring a deceased alumnus. Kaylin Nguyen (@kaylin_nguyen) April 30, 2019 We see this on college campuses all the time. The left will throw a temper tantrum, get their way, and then conservatives will feel like they are disenfranchised or underrepresented on their college campuses, in their classrooms, in their dorms because we dont stand up for ourselves, Bennett said by phone. Junior political science major Mustafa Raza said Bennett is hated by both liberals and conservatives on campus, but he does not think Bennett should have been asked to leave. Its a double-edge sword because they are inherently problematic, but its automatically problematic to ask them to shut up," Raza said. But Rutgers officials said they didnt kick anyone off campus. The video speaks for itself. Rutgers is committed to free speech and encourages respectful and vigorous discourse. Rutgers Police did not order anyone gathered yesterday to leave campus, the university said in a statement. The incident comes at a time when the U.S. is grappling with the intricacies of freedom of speech, especially on college campuses. High-profile conservative commentators such as Ben Shapiro have been banned from speaking at certain college campuses in recent years. Bennett lives in Ohio and said she has already left New Jersey. Tennyson Donnie Coleman may be reached at tcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @TennysonTV. Find him on Facebook. Have a tip? Let us know at nj.com/tips. A Kentucky man had two loaded guns in his carry-on bag when agents stopped him at a Newark Liberty International Airport security checkpoint on Wednesday, authorities said. Johnclay Curtis 25, of Versailles, Kentucky was arrested and charged with multiple weapons offenses, the Transportation Security Administration and Port Authority police said Thursday. Agents found a a .38-caliber revolver loaded with six bullets and a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun loaded with 12 bullets at the Terminal C checkpoint. Both firearms had a bullet in the chamber, the TSA said. Seven guns have been seized at Newark Liberty International Airport so far this year. In 2018, 14 guns were confiscated at the airport, a record for a single year. It is a disturbing trend that TSA officials would prefer to see go in the opposite direction, a TSA spokeswoman said in a news release announcing the most recent arrest. In 2018, 4,239 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country - an average of about 11.6 firearms per day, the TSA said. Thats about a 7% increase nationally in firearm discoveries from the total of 3,957 detected in 2017. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The reports of measles in New Jersey continue to climb as an infected person at Newark Liberty International Airport may have exposed others to the highly contagious disease in mid-April. The traveler, whose name was not released, arrived at Terminal C after a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel on April 16 and was infectious that day, the New Jersey Department of Health announced Thursday. People who were at the terminal that day between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. may have been exposed to measles. Anyone who was infected at the airport could develop symptoms as late as May 7 and anybody who feared they were exposed was asked to call their doctor before doing anything else. New Jersey residents who were potentially exposed on the infected mans flights will be notified by their local health department, health officials said. People who have not been vaccinated or have not had measles were at risk of getting the disease, which usually starts with symptoms including fever, coughing and a rash that usually starts on the face. People can also get sick when they come in contact with mucus or saliva from an infected person and anyone who has not been vaccinated or has not had measles was at risk if they were exposed. This is the second time since March that a person infected with measles may have exposed travelers to the disease. There have been 704 cases of measles reported in the United States this year, according to the CDC. That is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. As of April 23, a total of 14 confirmed measles cases have been reported in New Jersey this year, the state health department said. On Wednesday, health officials warned of potential measles exposure at a Middlesex County indoor trampoline park and an Ocean County banquet hall. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. After Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in 1998, Cheryl Cwiklik was there as a medic with the New Jersey Army National Guard. When the twin towers fell in New York three years later, Cwiklik helped recover the remains of the dead. On April 13, on a walk with her husband late at night in Toms River, Cwiklik, 45, stepped into an intersection and in front of a Nissan Altima. The New Jersey native and mother of two was fatally struck while crossing Route 37 near Route 166. Her life was marked by moments of helping others. It ended surrounded by a small crowd of strangers trying to help her. She was the rock of the family, her sister Crystal Cwiklik said. The siblings grew up in Edison, nine years apart but close enough to later get matching tattoos on their legs: One had the yin symbol, the other the yang. As kids they slept in bunk beds, and Cheryl Cwiklik found ways to make Crystal laugh so that her younger sister wouldnt be afraid of the dark. Cwiklik earned a cosmetology degree from a technical school, but she decided to join the National Guard after she became pregnant with her first son. She loved it, members of her family said, especially the community of soldiers she became a part of. But Sept. 11 devastated her. After helping return body parts from ground zero, she told her sister that she would never forget the smell of burned flesh. Cwiklik was in a rough place last year, recovering from an injury in a nursing home, when she happened to sit next to a man named Ken Robinson. He was well-versed in tragedy. Robinsons first wife of almost 30 years had died of cancer. Now he had cancer, and was struggling in the same location. Then he met Cwiklik. We both came back to life, because we were both on the edge of, who cares? Robinson said. Eight months before the accident, they married. Even when they were tight on cash and living in a tent, he noticed that she kept giving. Once she gave away a bus ticket they needed to get to work after she saw a woman struggle to pay for groceries. In March, Cwiklik had another sleepover with her sister. The two watched siblings fight in the Will Ferrell movie Step Brothers." In early April, out of the tent and living in Bayville, she started working at a new restaurant in Barnegat called East Bay Italian Grille. She brought her new boss a lemon meringue pie to thank him for the job. On the Saturday of the accident, around 11 p.m., a New Jersey State Trooper named Joshua Kane had just dropped a stranded family off at a Wawa. The state police have tracked a rise in pedestrian deaths over the past two decades, and in just the first quarter of this year 44 people were hit and killed. Kane was driving back to the Parkway, he said, when he saw Cwiklik lying in the road. He stopped his Chevy Tahoe. Cwikliks husband was cradling her head, yelling at her to keep fighting, telling her that he loved her. Someone had parked a car in the middle of the street, to protect the couple from traffic. Kane rushed over, dropped to all fours and put his fingers on her neck: She still had a pulse. He began doing compressions. A young man came up to Kane. He said he was a passenger in the car that had hit her, and he pulled out a CPR mask from his wallet. The two took turns pushing on Cwikliks chest. Her breathing slowed. A woman approached and said she was a nurse. Kane handed her gloves he kept in his pocket. The three were still trying to revive Cwiklik when other flashing lights arrived. Paramedics loaded Cwiklik into an ambulance, and drove to a nearby hospital. She was pronounced dead at Community Medical Center. Local police reported that the 22-year-old man who hit her had a green light. Just over a week after the accident, Cwikliks family gathered at Sacred Heart Church in South Amboy for the funeral, including her mother Christine, 65, her 23-year-old son Fabian Ortiz and her 14-year-old son Vincenzo Sicoli. It was the same church where Cwiklik had been baptized and received her first communion, her sister said, the church her great-grandparents joined after they emigrated from Poland more than a century before. Ken Robinson, her husband, said he vividly remembers the night of accident. That includes seeing the driver of the car that killed his wife, seated on a curb and answering questions from officers. I would love to take the young man out to dinner and relieve him of his feeling of guilt, Robinson said. I do know one thing: If Cheryl would know what I know, she would have forgiven him as much as I just did. Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN. A 49-year-old police sergeant from Ocean County pleaded guilty Thursday to theft charges for keeping a donated vehicle for personal use for more than a year, prosecutors said. Sean Marti, 49, of Stafford Township, learned that a resident wanted to donate a Polaris ATV to the Harvey Cedars Police Department in the summer of 2017. Marti, a sergeant with Harvey Cedars at the time, accepted the ATV and stored it at his home for personal use until December 2018, when prosecutors learned of it. Marti pleaded guilty to theft of movable property Thursday, and is no longer on the Harvey Cedars Police force. As a condition of his plea agreement, Marti was barred from any future employment for the State of New Jersey. Recent employer data shows he had been with the department for 23 years at the time of his termination and he was making about $128,000. Martis scheduled to be sentenced in June. Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip?Tell us. nj.com/tips. A New Jersey native is now in charge of protecting President Donald Trump and his family. James Murray was sworn in as director of the U.S. Secret Service on Wednesday in Washington, the agency said in a news statement. Murray started at the agency in 1995 in New York, working with the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force. He later rose to the head of Secret Service operations in and around Atlantic City. Murray is a native of Point Pleasant and attended the University of Scranton and later Seton Hall University, where he received a masters degree. He is the Secret Services 26th director, succeeding Trumps first appointee, Randolph Alles. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Jersey City, one of the school districts that stands to lose the most state aid next year, is suing the state of New Jersey, calling its treatment unconstitutional. No one wants any district to be forced to lay off teachers and other staff. But Senate President Steve Sweeney is right: Jersey City has no ground to stand on in this case. Instead of filing a frivolous lawsuit to prove that its fighting for every dime, it should be making the kind of tough choices that actually help prevent school layoffs. For years, this city hasnt been contributing its fair share of local property taxes to its schools to the degree that it became a poster child for the problem. The answer now is not to demand more money from the state. Its to raise the revenue locally, as other districts have been forced to. When state aid was frozen under former Gov. Chris Christie, all districts suffered. Yet some, like Jersey City, were protected from the harshest effects due to political muscle. Even as their student enrollment dropped or their local tax revenue surged thanks to redevelopment, they didnt lose state aid. Meanwhile, the underfunded districts got no increase in state money when their enrollment exploded and they saw no gleaming new towers go up downtown. They were the political losers. Now Sweeney and Gov. Phil Murphys plan removes this Legislative tinkering and puts all districts on the path to full funding by about 2025. The minority that were overfunded will see cuts, like Jersey City. But the vast majority will get more money. Were returning to the reasonable formula approved by the state Supreme Court in 2008, which accounts for factors like the number of needy, more costly students and a municipalitys ability to pay. In the meantime, the state has a finite amount of money to hand out. And we need to distribute it more fairly. What this lawsuit essentially argues is that we should just forget all those years that Jersey City didnt contribute its fair share, and the state should make up the difference now. If so, why have a funding formula at all? Every district would go to court and argue that the state should simply pay for its shortfall. Newark, Paterson, Elizabeth, Atlantic City, Trenton, Bayonne and Plainfield also have among the poorest students, yet pay more than the state average on their property taxes, while Jersey City residents pay less. How is that fair? The head of Jersey Citys school board, Sudhan Thomas, argues the state long had control of Jersey City schools and did not push to raise local revenue: The key thing other districts should understand is, they had their destiny in their hands and were able to do things we couldnt. But now that Jersey City has regained local control, why not do what the state did not? Lawmakers just gave Jersey City the ability to raise money for its schools through a payroll tax on businesses that doesnt hit local residents. Merging the school employees health insurance plan into the state health benefits plan would save both teachers and taxpayers significant money. The other door to pound on is that of the mayors office. For years, even before the current administration, Jersey City handed out tax abatements to developers like candy, knowing that these in-lieu payments go almost entirely to the city budget, unlike conventional property taxes that must be shared with the school district. It hoarded that revenue and shifted the burden for funding its schools to the rest of the state. Now, instead of suing the state, demand that the city give back a share of that money to its schools. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. At the beginning of New Jerseys great income-tax experiment in 1976, I was covering the Toms River Board of Education. Those who backed the imposition of a state income tax argued that it would produce a lot of revenue that could be distributed to the school boards, thus reducing property taxes. That sounded logical to me as a young reporter. But then I got an education in education funding. It came when the state Department of Education released state-aid figures for the school districts. Toms River actually got a funding cut. Meanwhile neighboring Brick Township got a big hike in state aid. Toms River and the other losing districts complained. The state recalculated and released a new set of figures. This time Toms River made out great and Brick got slammed. The two towns were then, as they are now, roughly equal in demographics and economics. So why did they not receive roughly equal shares of state aid? Because bureaucracies are not particularly good at that sort of thing. The bureaucrats adopt a formula and then bring it down on the heads of the taxpayers without regard for common sense. I saw that again Tuesday when the state Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the budget of the Department of Education. In attendance were a couple hundred Toms River students who dropped off thousands of letters of protest at the Departments latest outrage. This time around the district took yet another massive cut in state aid, again because the state imposed an education aid formula that lacked common sense. It all traces back to the aid that comes from that income tax adopted in 1976. The politicians led the voters to expect that that the money they sent off to Trenton would return in the form of state aid that would reduce their property taxes in their towns. But then, as now, it all depends on the formula by which that aid is dispensed. And for the coming year, that formula delivers some lopsided results. The formula calls for Toms River to receive about $4,100 per pupil, about typical for a suburban town. Meanwhile the urban schools receive aid far in excess of the suburban ones. The Newark schools, for example, will receive $22,000 per pupil. It seems wildly out of whack, said state Sen. Declan OScanlon, a Monmouth County Republican who sits on that committee. A normal person looks at these numbers and says its insane. But Toms River has another way of replacing that state aid. During that hearing, committee chairman Paul Sarlo, who is a Democrat from Bergen, suggested the state permit the districts to exceed the statewide 2 percent property-tax cap imposed in the first year of Republican Chris Christies term. In fact, Toms River and similarly situated districts already have a means of getting out from under that cap, said OScanlon. You can raise taxes as much as you want, said OScanlon. You just gotta go to the voters. True enough. But that brings us back to Square One. When the legislators first adopted the income tax, they also adopted strict caps on spending to keep the local officials from squandering the new revenue. Then as now, the law permitted the locals to get around the caps by going to the voters. Instead the local officials went to Trenton to demand exemptions from the caps. Before long, the caps were uncapped. Are we going to see that again? Gov. Phil Murphy has been lukewarm about his predecessors caps. He let a similar cap on public-employee arbitration awards lapse. But state Senate President Steve Sweeney remains strong on the caps he got through his house in cooperation with Christie back in 2010. Sweeney told me he intends to keep the pressure on the municipalities and school districts so that they look to save money through sharing services rather than raising taxes. The Gloucester Democrat cited numerous examples from his own county in which towns have decided to merge police departments rather than raise taxes. Obviously our caps do have an effect because were seeing towns do more shared services because they get under the cap, Sweeney said. When people are willing to look at the big picture, when a smaller police force merges into a larger one theres more assets to be had. Thats good as far as police forces go. But OScanlon said we need a new school-funding formula, one that gives property-tax relief to everyone in the state. I dont expect to see that any time soon, given the Democratic control of both branches of government. But in the meantime, unless we want to repeat the mistakes of 1976, we should keep those property-tax caps fitting as tight as possible. (Not that the Republicans have done much better.) VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carmanah Technologies Corporation (TSX: CMH) (the Company or Carmanah) will release its first quarter 2019 financial results on Thursday May 9th, 2019 after market close. Carmanah has scheduled a conference call for analysts at 6:00 am PT (9:00 am ET) on Friday May 10th, 2019. To access, dial 1.866.229.4144 (Canada toll free) or +1.888.424.8151 (US toll free) approximately five to ten minutes prior to start time. When prompted for the participant PIN code, enter 9427 183#. For a current list of local and international telephone numbers, click the link below: http://www.yourconferencecenter.com/r.aspx?p=11&a=UfcVmwUUSgBOOP A recording of the conference call will also be available on Carmanahs corporate website within three business days of the call. For more information, visit www.carmanah.com or telephone 1.877.722.8877 (toll free in US and Canada). About Carmanah Technologies Corporation Carmanah designs, develops and distributes a portfolio of products focused on energy optimized LED solutions for infrastructure. Since 1996, we have earned a global reputation for delivering durable, dependable, efficient and cost-effective solutions for industrial applications that perform in some of the worlds harshest environments. We manage our business within three reportable segments: Signals, Illumination and Offshore. The Signals segment serves the Traffic and Telematics markets. The Illumination segment provides solar powered LED outdoor street lights for municipal and commercial customers, while the Offshore segment specializes in the provision of comprehensive safety and marking systems for offshore wind farms. Contacts Carmanah Technologies Corporation: Evan Brown, (250) 380-0052 Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Secretary investors@carmanah.com This release may contain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as expects, estimates, could, will, or variations of such words and phrases. Forward-looking statements herein include, but are not limited to, use of proceeds from the Transaction, and estimated revenues for the Residual Businesses in the trailing 12-months, and are based on managements current expectations and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties, and contingencies which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Carmanah to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations and beliefs but given the uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements or information. Carmanah disclaims any obligation to update, or to publicly announce, any such statements, events or developments except as required by law. Risk factors include, among others: risks related to certain conditions contemplated by the Agreement. For additional information on these risks and uncertainties, see Carmanahs most recently filed Annual Information Form (AIF) and Annual MD&A (MD&A), which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Companys website at www.carmanah.com. The risk factors identified in the AIF and MD&A are not intended to represent a complete list of factors that could affect Carmanah. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Carmanah does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release, unless required by law. By Michele Langa As New Jersey prudently shifts energy policy to focus on renewable sources like wind and solar, and away from less healthy fossil fuels, proposals still come forward to build pipelines to the past that serve no good purpose and take vital dollars away from infrastructure investments in todays emerging energy sources. One example is the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project being pushed by Williams-Transco, an Oklahoma-based gas pipeline company. The project would ultimately cross Raritan Bay on the way to providing New York City with twice as much natural gas as it could possibly use. In an unsurprising development, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Jan. 25 issued a final Environmental Impact Statement for the NESE project that repeats the unfounded conclusions of an earlier draft. FERC is known for rubber-stamping gas pipeline applications, so there was no reason to expect the agency would do anything other than take Williams-Transcos word that proposed mitigation activities would avoid the possibility of significant adverse environmental impacts. The reality is that these 26 miles of pipeline and a new compressor station in New Jersey threaten water, wildlife and the safety and health of communities concerns raised by elected officials, federal and state agencies, scientists and residents in comments to the federal agency. All this, for a pipeline that a new report by an independent New York energy expert states, "is completely unnecessary and would unwisely lock the State of New York into a pipeline gas market expansion plan that is not in the States best interest. Meanwhile, New Yorks and New Jerseys permitting agencies are scrutinizing the project. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his State of the State address, committed to a Green New Deal for New York 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2040. Gov. Phil Murphy has committed New Jersey to 100 percent clean energy by 2050. How the states permitting agencies decide on the NESE project will affect the ability to reach these clean energy goals. A decision by New York and New Jersey agencies to reject the NESE permit applications by holding Williams fully accountable to New York and New Jerseys strict environmental standards is an important step toward fulfilling both states commitments to a carbon-free future. The NESE project would establish natural gas infrastructure that would be in operation for 30 years or more, keeping the region dependent on dirty fossil fuels and delaying New York Citys transition to renewable energy sources. We simply cant meet both states goals of 100 percent clean energy if we continue to allow projects like NESE that will be operating through 2050 and beyond. In addition to the costly infrastructure involved in the NESE project, it brings harm to public health and the environment. Compressor stations pollute the air and carry the risk of fire and explosions to homes and entire neighborhoods by pushing gas hotter and faster through miles of aging New Jersey pipelines. The proposed compressor station in wetland areas of Franklin Township will lead to flooding downstream and destroy sensitive wildlife habitat. Construction of the section of NESE pipeline across Raritan Bay would dredge up toxic sediments and disturb 14,000 acres of habitat for shellfish, horseshoe crabs and marine mammals setting back decades of restoration the Baykeeper has helped accomplish. As with any pipe, there is also the risk of rupture and explosion. Even a small breach in the pipeline can cause widespread and catastrophic damage to wildlife and people. Ultimately, the projects significant environmental impacts and risks to public safety far outweigh the purpose and need asserted by Transco. The company seeks financial gain at the publics expense, and its New Yorks and New Jerseys duty to stop the pipeline and protect the public interest. It is time for New Jersey and New York to give the pipeline projects applications the stringent review FERC failed to provide in its final Environmental Impact Statement, and ultimately reject NESE. Michele Langa is staff attorney for NJ/NY Baykeeper, a Matawan-based environmental organization whose mission is to protect, preserve, and restore the ecological integrity of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. By Peter P. Mercer and Katherine McGee Just as previous generations learned the rules of the road in drivers education classes, students coming of age in the #MeToo era will receive instruction on how to navigate intimate relationships. Consent is now a mandatory component of New Jersey middle and high school education, thanks to a law recently signed by Gov. Phil Murphy. Strengthened by a subsequent announcement by Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal that his office will be engaging New Jerseys 21 county prosecutors to host forums across the state on campus sexual assault, the new curriculum will go into effect in 2019-2020 and require sex education classes to teach about consent. Students will learn about their rights under the law and the virtues of respecting the right of others to say no. As employees of New Jerseys system of higher education, we are responsible for overseeing investigations of sexual assault and, as educators, we understand the need to proactively address sexual assault. Waiting until college, however, to engage young people on this topic is too little, too late. In the absence of comprehensive consent education, our youth learn sexual scripts through the media or pornography, where permission for sex is a foregone conclusion. According to a study by the Association of American Universities, 23 percent of women and 5 percent of men on college campuses are raped or sexually assaulted. New sex education curriculum for middle and high school students will foster a culture where asking, not assuming, is the starting point for intimacy. Given what has emerged from the national dialogue about sexual assault, this is an important step for New Jersey. If we are to stop sexual assault, we must ensure that school districts and educators are familiar with best practices for teaching consent. Colleges and universities have been at the forefront of advancing consent-based curricula for many years, and it is working. For example, all incoming students at Ramapo College are required to attend an affirmative consent workshop. Affirmative consent, or a yes means yes standard, means clear, mutual agreement for intimacy, rather than inferring consent from the absence of a no. Whats the difference? One who feels pressured or fearful will find it difficult or impossible to say no. Under New Jersey law, a person who is incapacitated cannot give consent. Ramapo quote Ramapo College is committed to collaborating with middle and high school educators, policy makers, and community groups to advance New Jersey as a leader in sexual violence prevention. Ramapos commitment to prevention is demonstrated, in part, by the several testimonies our leadership has provided about sexual assault before the state Senate Higher Education Committee. In addition, when the federal government recently sought feedback about proposed changes to how colleges respond to reports of sexual assault under Title IX law, Vice President of Enrollment and Student Affairs Christopher Romano was selected for a meeting of college leaders with the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. Further, our Title IX Office continues to work closely with the YWCA Bergen County healingSPACE sexual violence resource center on an initiative to provide their services directly on campus. Ramapo College was recently awarded a significant grant by the NJ Attorney Generals office to expand campus-wide services for survivors and to develop violence prevention programs. One important lesson colleges have learned is that increased awareness and understanding of sexual assault lead to increased reporting. Schools and parents should anticipate that, as students learn more about the laws concerning consent and sexual assault, victims will be increasingly informed and empowered to report these issues. This is a critical step toward eliminating violence and schools must be prepared to provide trauma-informed responses. We encourage K-12 educators to collaborate with local colleges and agencies such as the NJ Coalition Against Sexual Assault to develop evidence-informed consent curriculum and sexual violence response protocols. Finally, as educators and parents, we believe that teaching our students and our children to respect the boundaries of others early builds an important foundation for future relationships. It matters deeply to us that our middle and high schools reinforce this message. Parents, schools, and communities have an important role to play to ensure that all young people learn the necessary skills to approach relationships from a place of consent and mutual respect. Together we can navigate this turning point in history and provide the next generation with the knowledge and resources to help them choose a better path. Dr. Peter P. Mercer is the president of Ramapo College of New Jersey. Katherine McGee is the director of Title IX at Ramapo College of New Jersey and a Ramapo College alumnae. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. WASHINGTON There are two ways that the presidential candidates can land an invitation from the Democratic National Committee to next months initial debate in Miami. First is to poll at least 1 percent in three different recognized surveys. Second is to get at least 65,000 individual donors, including at least 200 donors from each of at least 20 U.S. states. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., already has met the first qualification. Hes about to reach the second as well. In a fundraising email sent out Thursday, Booker said he was just 1,971 donors away from reaching the 65,000 goal. Thats the first time Booker publicly acknowledged how many people were contributing to his campaign. In a race like this, debates also offer some of the only opportunities for an underdog campaign like ours to break through -- to get a chance to compete on a level playing field with those other campaigns that are raising tens of millions of dollars, Booker wrote. Thats why the DNC set a minimum number of people needed in order to qualify for the debates, not a dollar amount in our campaigns bank account." Hitting both goals is crucial because the debate stage will be limited to 20 candidates, 10 each night, and if more than 20 meet at least one of the requirements, then preference will be given to those who meet both. There are now 21 candidates in the race, according to the New York Times. The Democrats will allocate the spots over two days randomly among the candidates who qualify. The first debate is scheduled for June 26-27 in Miami and will be broadcast on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo. The second one will take place July 30-31 in Detroit and be aired on CNN. When 17 Republicans ran in 2016, the candidates polling the highest debated in prime-time. The others, which at one point included Gov. Chris Christie, were relegated to a secondary debate of lower polling candidats in what was dubbed the kids table. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Lured by $16.8 million in tax credits, World Business Lenders celebrated its 2016 move to the Jersey City waterfront in a ribbon-cutting ceremony high atop a gleaming office tower near Exchange Place with panoramic views of the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline. We are delighted to call Jersey City our new home, declared CEO Doug Naidus. The lucrative relocation deal with the state through the state Economic Development Authority that brought the non-bank lender from New York came with the promise that hundreds of new jobs would be created, and Naidus spoke about those employment opportunities. By continuing to increase jobs, we are enthusiastic about growing our company while adding to the momentum of this tremendous city, he said. It was all a mirage, according to Kerrie-Ann Murray, a former payroll manager for the company. The more than 100 mostly minority employees hired under the terms of the grant were quickly let go. She claimed in a New York complaint she was soon fired as well after allegedly refusing to falsify employment data to the New Jersey EDA. Testifying Thursday at a public hearing as part of an ongoing investigation by a special governors task force into states troubled economic development agency, Murray said she had questioned the purpose of the new hires. It wasnt a role or position that the company previously used, she said at the hearing in Newark. The company does subprime lending. You would have to be very experienced in sales. In selling. At the highest percentage rate. The task force was formed by Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this year after a highly critical audit by the state comptroller in January, which faulted the EDAs management of a program that has given out tax credit incentives worth $11 billion since its inception. The comptroller concluded that the state agency, which is responsible for spearheading New Jerseys economic development efforts, may have improperly awarded, miscalculated, overstate and overpaid tax credits to a number of companies that it could not verify had created the jobs that were promised. It also said the EDA could not evaluate whether its inventive programs generated any economic benefits to the state, and had certified projects and released tax credits even when projects did not meet the requirements, in violation of the law. The major incentive programs the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant Program are set to expire in July unless renewed by the Legislature. At its first hearing in March, the panel heard from a whistleblower who testified that the company she had worked for had been awarded a $2.67 million EDA grant after falsely claiming it was considering a move out of the state. Attorneys for the task force also say they uncovered evidence of unregistered lobbying on behalf of special interests, in connection with the agency, and referred the matter to law enforcement. And a 2015 lawsuit that surfaced publicly only recently suggested that political pressure was put on the EDA by former Gov. Chris Christies administration to approve hundreds of millions in subsidies. In that lawsuit, a whistleblower who worked for the state agency claimed that he was ordered to change data to help companies obtain tax breaks. That lawsuit was also a focus of Thursdays hearing. But one of the key witnesses presented to the panel was Murray, who was asked about those hired by World Business Lenders. These employees had experience in fast foot and retail, she said. They were paid $10 an hour, some of that reimbursed under a different grant from the state Department of Labor, she said. As some left, others were hired, she said, to maintain the state money. To the best of my knowledge, we had to maintain 225 employees. we kept the ball rolling, Murray said. Murray added that those new workers had to maintain a minimum number of hours, and told the task force that company officials would backfill those hours with paid time off when some employees did not come to work so those minimums would be met. Soon, she testified, they were let go. The company strongly denied the allegations. "World Business Lenders remains delighted to call Jersey City its home. We currently employ more than 190 women and men at our Jersey City headquarters, of which almost 75 percent are New Jersey residents, it said in a statement. The company said it had told the governors task force earlier that there were numerous and serious reasons to believe Kerrie-Ann Murray would not testify truthfully, and said she was a disgruntled former employee who was terminated because she had a long-documented track record of continuous performance deficiencies and misconduct. In its statement, the company said Murray routinely committed errors due to her carelessness and her oversights, and displayed an inability to perform the basic functions of her position, including failing to properly pay employees. It added that the reasons for the companys decrease in payroll in 2017 is one that would be familiar to anyone who follows industry trends. In the second half of 2016, the fintech credit bubble began to deflate, which led to downsizing across the industry. Ronald Chen, the chairman of the governors task force, said it has already identified nine companies of concern. He said more than three dozen companies have agreed to participate in an accelerated program to re-certify their incentive awards. Attorneys for the task force said they have been going through all the EDA board approval memos, looking specifically at companies that made claims of jobs that were at risk of leaving the state. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Gov. Phil Murphy declared Wednesday night an earlier conversation with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on congestion pricing was crystal clear that New Jersey commuters wont get hit with a double tax for driving into lower Manhattan. The Garden State governor, speaking on WNYCs Ask Governor Murphy radio program, reiterated he Cuomo have an agreement or understanding on congestion pricing, though Cuomo has not come out and said they have a deal. We were crystal clear with each other, we cant have double taxation from the folks coming in from New Jersey, Murphy said on air referring to New Yorks plan to implement congestion pricing. His comment was in response to a clip the show aired in which Cuomo said in a separate radio interview last week that there will be some double tolling, otherwise you dont accomplish anything because you dont raise any revenue. Cuomo sidestepped two questions in that interview on whether he and Murphy struck a deal on after New Jerseys governor insisted earlier in the week the two reached a conceptual understanding. But Murphy on Wednesday insisted there was an understanding. They wont (get double taxed) from New Jersey. We were crystal clear." Murphy also said he and Cuomo agreed New Jersey will have a seat at the table as New Yorks MTA studies the issue and makes a determination on how to implement the measure. Then he took a shot at the head of the MTA, CEO Patrick Foye, who said last week he had no idea what deal with New York Murphy had worked out. I know the MTA said it was news to him and all I can say is he doesnt work for me and, by the way, I dont work for him either, Murphy said. Last week, Murphy said he and Cuomo reached an agreement that drivers will get credit for congestion pricing fees for tolls paid, including those charged at the George Washington Bridge. But two sources familiar with the talks between the governors told NJ Advance Media that Cuomo said he didnt strike a deal with Murphy. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak publicly. Cuomo, pressed multiple times last week, wouldnt directly answer whether he and Murphy, both Democrats, have a deal. New York recently approved a first-in-the-nation plan that will impose fees, still undetermined, on drivers entering Manhattan south of 61st Street, possibly starting in 2021. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. WASHINGTON A tourist in Seaside Heights was impaled last summer when a wind gust pulled her umbrella out of the beach sand and into her right ankle. U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez wants to know how prevalent the problem is, and what the Consumer Safety Product Commission was doing about it. As you know, beach umbrellas provide beachgoers the benefits of shade on hot and sunny days at the shore, Menendez, D-N.J., and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., wrote to the commission on Thursday. Yet, a burst of wind can make these summer accessories harmful to those around them. The two senators, whose states beaches are major tourist draws, raised the issue in advance of Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the beach season. Also signed by U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., the letter asked the commission for information on existing safety standards, whether new standards were needed in response to recent injuries, and what the commission doing to alert the public of the problem. Commission officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The Seaside Heights visitor, Margaret Reynolds of London, was hospitalized after the accident last July. It was a beautiful day and a gust of wind blew the umbrella, she told NJ Advance Media at the time. Besides the Seaside Heights injury, a flying umbrella pierced an Ocean City, Maryland, woman below her collarbone last summer. And a tourist in Virginia Beach, Va. was killed in 2016 when a wind-blown umbrella struck her in her torso. Overall, the commissions website reported more 31,000 people treated at hospitals for umbrella-related injuries from 2008 to 2017. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday night he plans to act soon on a bill that would give victims of sexual assault in New Jersey significantly more time to file lawsuits against their abusers. Speaking about the legislation, which stalled in the state Legislature for decades and was fiercely opposed by the Catholic Church, Murphy said its past due that we honor people who are victims of abuse. While I dont have a specific day for you, this is coming to a head literally over the next week or two, the Democratic governor said in response to a listeners question on WNYCs Ask Governor Murphy radio program. The victims deserve their day, Murphy said. This has been a long time coming. But the governor did not specifically say whether he would sign it into law as is or change some of the language in the legislation with a conditional veto, which would then send it back to the Legislature. Murphys response came as proponents of the measure have stepped up calls for the governor to act. Its been over a month since the state Legislature passed legislation to tackle child sex abuse in New Jersey. What is Governor Murphy waiting for to sign this bill into law? Bruce Novozinsky, who published a book on abuse by priests in the Diocese of Trenton, asked in a statement on Tuesday. For years, I was called a liar and targeted by supporters of the very institution that tried to cover up my abuse and so many others," Novozinsky said. "Countless survivors of child sex abuse who are restricted on taking legal action are depending on Governor Murphy to do the right thing and sign this life-changing bill immediately. The state Assembly voted 71-0 with five abstentions in March to approve the measure (S477), which would vastly expand the current two-year statute of limitations for such civil suits to seven years in most cases. It would also let adults who were sexually assaulted as children to bring a civil suit against an individual or institution, including non-profits, up until the age of 55 or seven years after they make the discovery" connecting their emotional and psychological injury to their abuse. Efforts to expand New Jerseys statute of limitations for rape lawsuits have been ongoing since the late 1990s, but advocates say the Catholic Churchs influence in Trenton kept the movement from picking up steam. Under the proposed changes, victims who were previously barred from bringing a lawsuit because they had run out of time under the existing law would get an additional two-year window in which to pursue their case. NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday again lashed out against a generous state tax incentive program expanded under former Gov. Chris Christie after he said hes deeply troubled by a pair of news reports that, among other things, showed more than $1.1 billion in incentives went to businesses or charities connected to Democratic powerbroker George Norcross or people in his orbit. Murphy, a Democrat, responded to one report by WNYC and ProPublica Wednesday that highlighted how Norcross, along with people, political allies and businesses tied to him, benefited from two-thirds of all tax breaks that went to Camden under Christies administration. Hours later, The New York Times reported a series of last-minute changes to that tax incentive legislation in 2013 were made by a lawyer with ties to top Democrats in the state and that they allowed his clients to reap further benefits from the bill that Christie, a Republican, ultimately signed into law. Murphy said the troubling reports offer fresh support for his campaign for a complete overhaul on how the state doles out tax incentives meant to lure and retain businesses. The move puts him at additional odds with the states top lawmaker in Trenton, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who has ties to Norcross and would rather see the current law tweaked. The governor, in a statement that also lauded the work of a special task force he created to investigate New Jerseys troubled Economic Development Authority, lashed out at the tax incentives under Christie. Until weve taken a good hard look at the entire process, I dont believe we can be sure that all taxpayer money has been properly spent and accounted for," Murphy said. If there was fraud in this program, I expect the task force will uncover it and those individuals will be held accountable, the governor said. "Given the breadth of these findings and those so far reported by the task force, I believe anything short of a total revamp of the tax incentive program is a disservice to the hard-working taxpayers of New Jersey. Last month, the task force announced it uncovered evidence of unregistered lobbying in connection with the states incentive program and referred the matter to law enforcement. The task force, however, didnt provide any additional details on its claim. The EDA has awarded $11 billion in tax incentives since its inception, though only a fraction of that has actually been paid out. An audit released in January by the state comptroller, however, found the EDA may have improperly awarded, miscalculated, overstated and overpaid tax credits, resulting in the loss of untold amounts of potential tax revenue. According to the WNYC and ProPublica report, Norcross has ties to nine of 13 projects in Camden in which t a 2018 Rutgers study found the tax incentives were more generous than the return. The New York Times, meanwhile, reported real estate lawyer Kevin Sheehan was allowed to edit the legislation that opened up sizable tax breaks to his firms clients. Sheehan is part of the law firm Parker McCay, whose CEO is Philip Norcross George Norcrosss brother. Sheehan declined to speak with The New York Times. Instead, his firm said it was asked by policymakers, including those in the Legislature, to review this legislation and offer input and suggestions on ways it could be strengthened. Sheehan, the newspaper notes, did not register to lobby on the 2013 Economic Opportunity Act. George Norcross, an insurance broker whos among the states wealthiest residents, according to the WNYC ProPublica report, said he and his business partners invested $300 million of their own money to build in Camden and wont get it back unless they continue to deliver on the programs commitment on jobs. Christie, for his part, recently defended the tax program under his tenure and offered harsh words for Murphy, who he accused of having latched on to something that he wants to kill and hes doing it in a patently dishonest way. If you listen to the governor, you would believe that billions of dollars, just in my administration, were going out the door in tax incentives. This is a complete falsehood, Christie said at a public event last month. NJ Advance Media staff writer Samantha Marcus contributed to this report. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A driver was killed and two other people injured in a two-vehicle crash early Thursday in Salem County, authorities said. A man driving one of the cars was pronounced dead after the two cars collided at 5:40 a.m. near the intersection of Route 540 and Sunset Drive in Mannington, State Police said. A passenger in the mans car and the driver of the other vehicle were brought to Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Delaware. There were no passengers in the second car. The identity of the man killed and the extent of the injuries to the others was not yet available from State Police. Mannington, a town of about 1,750, is patrolled by State Police because it does not have a municipal police force. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. This year wont likely be a summer of hell or even a summer of heck, if NJ Transits plans work out for handling Amtraks planned track work in Penn Station that starts next month. Amtrak officials said $30 million project will happen between Friday, June 28, and Monday, Sept. 2, includes renewing critical infrastructure such as track switches and turnouts at North Americas busiest train station. The track work will displace 10 rush hour trains from Penn Station New York to Hoboken starting on June 17 and service changes are scheduled to end on Sept. 6. Compared to the 70 Morris & Essex lines trains shifted to Hoboken in 2017, during what some called the summer of hell, this could be mild by comparison, if everything goes to plan. While there are inconveniences for some riders, NJ Transit officials said theyve worked to keep those at a minimum. The work needs to be done. We are cooperating with the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak to minimize the impact, said Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit executive director. Whats happening? Amtrak is rebuilding JO track interlocking in the east end of Penn Station and tracks 14 and 15. The interlockings are like the highway junction of Routes 80, 23 and 46 in Wayne for train tracks. The work will happen between June 17 and Sept. 6 on weekdays only, NJ Transit officials said. This affects NJ Transit in two ways, officials said. There will be two less tracks in Penn Station to use and the interlocking that leads to the Sunnyside train yard in Queens will be out of service. That is where NJ transit parks about 20 trains during the day and stages other trains that are in service. It will take tracks out on the LIRR, but it pushes everything down, Corbett said. Penn Station isnt like Hoboken Terminal, trains (unload) and go through to the Sunnyside Yard. Corbett said. What is NJ Transits plan? NJ Transit will displace a total of 10 rush hour trains from Penn Station New York to Hoboken Terminal, five during the morning peak and five in the evening, estimated to affect about 5,000 riders a day, Corbett said. Four of those are Montclair-Boonton Line trains and one is a North Jersey Coast Line train that will go to Hoboken during each rush hour. Also moved to Hoboken are five peak hour MidTown Direct trains for reverse commutes, three in the morning and two in the afternoon that normally depart from or end at Penn Station. MidTown Direct trains to and from New York will not stop at Newark Broad Street during rush hours. This is due to safety concerns about station platform overcrowding from people transferring to New York trains from Montclair Boonton line trains, officials said. So, how do I get to New York? Montclair-Boonton Line riders can transfer to a PATH train or a NY Waterway ferry at Hoboken Terminal to travel to New York. North Jersey Coast Line riders who use train 3216 in the morning can transfer to a Northeast Corridor line train in Newark Penn Station, before it goes to Hoboken, officials said. Will I get a fare discount? Montclair-Boonton Line riders will get several financial breaks, depending on how they decide to travel and where they travel from. Riders who buy Montclair Boonton line monthly passes and other tickets to New York will get a discount. They also can buy a discounted combination rail and ferry pass in stations, at Ticket Vending machines or through the My Tix app. Monthly passes go on sale at 5 p.m., May 19. Other reduced fare tickets go on sale on June 13. Riders who buy single one-way Montclair-Boonton line tickets can purchase $2.75 discounted round trip ferry tickets at a special window in Hoboken Station by showing their train ticket for that line. One-way tickets are only valid until Sept. 30. How else will riders be affected? Riders who would normally take a Morristown Line M&E train to New York will change trains at East Orange station to a train that stops in New York, officials said. This happens between 7 and 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 and 6:45 p.m. weekdays. Trains that were temporarily discontinued on other lines last year for positive train control work, including direct off-peak Raritan Valley Line service to and from New York, will remain suspended, officials said. Trains using Penn Station New York may have to use tracks with shorter platforms, which means some 10 car trains could be reduced to 9 car trains. How much extra time will it cost? Officials said passengers who use the affected trains will spend an extra 20 to 30 minutes traveling each way, primarily to make connections with other transportation modes. NJ Transit officials are talking to their counterparts at PATH about more frequent departure times from Hoboken. What other preparations has NJ Transit made? Officials said they decided on this plan because it affects the fewest number of people, roughly 5,000 riders whose trains would be moved to Hoboken. Unlike two years ago, when Amtrak hurriedly scheduled summer track work in the wake of three derailments blamed on track conditions, both railroads have had more time to plan and get the word to riders. NJ Transit officials said they plan to over communicate the service disruption and options to riders using 15 different ways the agency interacts with customers. Amtrak officials also have inspected its infrastructure, including overhead wire, signals and track to fix anything questionable. Can Hoboken Terminal handle it? Hoboken Terminal is currently undergoing final repair of damage from the Sept. 29, 2016 train crash. NJ Transit ambassadors will be present to help riders. The additional MOBO trains will have staggered arrival time every 40 minutes to avoid the rush of people seen two years ago, officials said. What can passengers do? Information about the summer service changes can be found on NJ Transits website at www.njtransit.com/inform and by following NJ Transit on Twitter and Facebook, officials said. Consider downloading the NJ Transit app ahead of time and setting up an account to buy tickets and get alerts. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters English Norwegian The Annual general meeting of shareholders was held on May 2, 2019 at the company's premises at Snaryveien 36, Fornebu, at 17.00. All proposed resolutions on the agenda were approved, cf. the notice sent March 10, 2019. The minutes from the Annual General Meeting are attached. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act Attachment PHOENIX The Yankees have been optimistic that theyll begin a long homestand this weekend with their 13-player injured list a little shorter. That still could happen if third baseman Miguel Andujar, as expected, is activated after being sidelined since April 1 with a small tear in his right shoulder labrum. As for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, his anticipated return is off. Playing a second rehab game in two days for the high-A Tampa Tarpons, Tulowitzki lined a first-inning single to left field, then immediately was removed for a pinch-runner due to tightness in his left calf. Tulowitzki has been on the IL since April 4 with a left calf strain. Tulowitzki and Andujar began rehab assignments on Tuesday with Tampa, and both were back in the starting lineup again Wednesday. Tulowitzki was 1-for-3 with a first-inning homer and hit by pitch in the left though on Tuesday, then started at shortstop on Wednesday. Buy Yankees tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek, PrimeSport, Ticketmaster This setback for Tulowitzki means Gleyber Torres, an All-Star second baseman as a rookie in 2018, will continue to play shortstop and utility infielder DJ LeMahieu will remain the everyday second baseman when he returns from right knee inflammation. LeMahieu fouled a pitch off his knee last Friday night in San Francisco and continued playing until leaving Sundays game there in the early innings. He sat out both of the Yankees games this week against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who completed a two-game sweep on Wednesday with a 3-2 win at Chase Field. Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook. One man was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at a home in Marrero Wednesday night (May 1), according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office. Deputies responded to reports of a shooting about 8:55 p.m. in the 6100 block of Ray Street, near Admiral Drive. There, officers found two of the victims, who were then taken by EMS to local hospitals, where one -- a 39-year-old man was pronounced dead. The other, a 33-year-old man, was in stable condition Wednesday night, said JPSO spokesman Capt. Jason Rivarde. The third victim, a 24-year-old man, arrived at a local hospital in a private vehicle. He was in critical condition, Rivarde said. Over 15 investigators, along with a slew of emergency vehicles, including two fire trucks, crowded the intersection of Ray Street and Admiral Drive. Detectives and crime-scene technicians were focused on the front yard and driveway of a brick, ranch-style home, while a handful of officers in bulletproof vests gathered in a lawn across Ray Street. Neighbors said at least one of the shooting victims lives with his relatives, an older couple, in the brick home. Several family members of the older couple stood at the police tape late Wednesday, trying to get more information from officers. One of the relatives, TC Hawkins, said his nephew, who is in his 30s, had been shot. Hawkins said his nephew works offshore but when on land, lives in the home and works on cars and motorcycles. Neighbors said they often saw the nephew working on vehicles outside of the home. Late Wednesday, detectives used flashlights to search the ground around the cars and motorcycles parked in and alongside the driveway. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A woman who lives in the area said she grew up with the family, including Hawkins and the older couple, whom she described as an integral part of the neighborhood. She said the older man attends a nearby church and is known for his holiday decorations. The woman said she doesnt know the circumstances surrounding Wednesday nights shooting but knows the victims have grown up amid caring relatives and neighbors. Were all family here, the woman said. Authorities have not identified the man who was killed or indicated the relationships among the victims. No information regarding a possible motive or suspect was available late Wednesday. Anyone with information is asked to call the JPSO Homicide Section at 504-364-5300 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111. Correction: An earlier version of this post included incorrect ages, provided by JPSO, of two of the victims. Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. It took a Jefferson Parish jury less than an hour to convict a man accused of taking advantage of an elderly Terrytown woman with Alzheimers disease and helping himself to more than $800,000 of her money, according to the Jefferson Parish district attorneys office. Paul Juarez, 72, of Harvey, was found guilty of exploitation of a person with infirmities Wednesday evening (May 1), the district attorneys office said. 1 dead, 2 wounded in Marrero shooting: JPSO Juarez faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Juarez met the victim, a woman who died at 85 in 2014, at the West Bank church they both attended, according to the district attorneys office. The woman was a retired nurse from North Carolina who was divorced and had no children. Juarez assumed power of attorney for the woman in 2010 after she was deemed unable to make decisions for herself, the district attorneys office said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Juarez transferred more than $300,000 from the womans account into his own in 2010 and made himself and his wife the exclusive beneficiaries of her insurance policy, according to prosecutors. He was also accused of using some of the womans money to pay a tax bill in a Florida county where his wife owned a business. The womans closest relative was a niece who lives in North Carolina. But Juarez barred the niece from visiting the woman, according to prosecutors. The womans niece, who was named in the will, reached out to an attorney in October 2014. Her attorney contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, prompting an investigation. Sheriffs Office detectives arrested Juarez at his Harvey home in January 2017, booking him with exploitation of the infirmed and the illegal transfer of monetary funds, court records said. During the trial, Juarezs attorney denied exploiting the woman, explaining that he was merely carrying out her wishes in accordance with an arrangement made between the two, the district attorneys office said. The woman wasnt close to her niece and did not want to go back to North Carolina. Juarezs sentencing date was not immediately available. Actor Rick Schroder, the former child star who first came to audiences' attention on the 1980s sitcom "Silver Spoons," has been arrested in connection with a domestic violence incident for the second time in a month, according to ABC News. The 49-year-old Schroder was reportedly taken into custody early Wednesday (May 1) after police were summoned to his home in Topanga, California, and found what was described as "signs of a physical altercation." Further details about the incident were not revealed, but after interviewing Schroder and an unnamed woman, police took the actor into custody and booked him on unspecified charges. He was reportedly being held on $50,000 bail. The arrest comes almost a month after Schroders April 2 arrest involving an altercation with the same woman, ABC quoted police as having said. Read the full story at ABCNews.go.com. TCM at the WWII Museum: The full programming schedule TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitbuy, one of Canadas leading cryptocurrency companies, released its Proof of Reserve and Security Audit today, along with announcements of new products and services. With a forward-looking approach to foreseeable regulatory oversight and the recent QuadrigaCX fallout, Bitbuy believes that additional efforts are needed to promote transparency to users of their platform. The Proof of Reserve and Security Audit was conducted to evaluate Bitbuys cryptocurrency storage methodologies, asset segregation, solvency, security, and included a team risk test on all management and staff. To conduct the Proof of Solvency and Reserves Audit, Bitbuy engaged CipherBlade; a US-based blockchain forensics, investigative, and cybersecurity company. Bitbuy and CipherBlade have made the report available in full on the Bitbuy homepage . Some of the key findings include: All fiat holdings (custodial or otherwise) reported by Bitbuy were verified by bank statements and accurately reflected in the Bitbuy administrative backend. The sum of digital assets held by Bitbuys cold and hot wallets matched the total amount of digital assets held across Bitbuy user accounts resulting in a 1:1 match of custodial assets. Bitbuy also passed evaluations of cold storage procedures, client information handling, company registration, licensing, and team background checks. Bitbuy was extremely forthcoming in the information they provided, and this information was provided in a timely and complete matter. This commitment to transparency is something that should be both a consumer expectation and self-regulatory best practice. A new dawn of higher expectations and accountability is something that will be great for both the Canadian space and blockchain industry in general, said Rich Sanders, from CipherBlade. In partnership with CipherBlade, Bitbuy has committed to conducting these audits regularly moving forward. Along with the completion of the audit, Bitbuy has rolled out their new state of the art Pro Trade platform which includes advanced features, crypto-to-crypto trading and a proprietary low latency order matching engine designed for high-frequency trading. Since launching the Pro Trade beta in early April, the platform has processed over 10,000 trades. To celebrate the release of Bitbuy Pro Trade, Bitbuy is offering 0% trading fees on its Pro Trade platform until May 31st. By building this product in house, we maintain complete control over every facet of the business, giving our customers confidence in the transparency of our operations. We are not only a cryptocurrency exchange with proprietary technology and full back-office services, but also a technology company. We are excited to start the next chapter of Bitbuy with our Pro Trade platform, said Adam Goldman, President at Bitbuy. Additionally, today Bitbuy officially announced the launch of their institutional grade OTC (over-the-counter) desk for larger size digital currency transactions. Bitbuys OTC desk soft-launched in late 2018 and since then has completed transactions valued at more than $10,000,000. For more information on Bitbuys OTC desk, please visit their site here or reach out to otc@bitbuy.ca Bitbuys position in the digital currency market in Canada is strong. They have sustained growth through dependable customer service, a trusted brand, and reliable products that are used by over 50,000 registered users. Through the ongoing steps Bitbuy is taking from a financial, security, technological and regulatory perspective, Bitbuy is poised to lead the industry not only here in Canada but in new markets internationally. Bitbuy Links Website: bitbuy.ca Twitter: twitter.com/bitbuy Facebook: facebook.com/bitbuyca LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/bitbuyca Telegram: https://bit.ly/2FI89p9 Instagram: instagram.com/bitbuyca About Bitbuy: Originally founded in 2013, Bitbuy is a platform for Canadians to buy and sell digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP. Bitbuy has three main business divisions: Bitbuy Express Trade, Bitbuy Pro Trade and Bitbuy OTC, which all cater to different segments of the market. Bitbuy is a division of First Ledger Corp; a Toronto-based fintech and blockchain company. About CipherBlade: CipherBlade is a US based blockchain investigation & security consulting agency. Offering a range of services, CipherBlade has partnered with dozens of top international blockchain firms as well as government agencies. CipherBlade has recovered millions of dollars of stolen funds, prevented dozens of ICO scams, and professionally handled PR disasters and other emergency situations. SOURCE: Bitbuy & CipherBlade For further information, please contact: jordan@bitbuy.ca or rich@cipherblade.com As fans recall, the Foo Fighters were scheduled to be the first act to play the new Fillmore New Orleans club in Harrahs Casino on Feb. 15 and 16. But the twin concerts were cancelled due to an unspecified injury to a band member. But the Foo Fighters are back at the Fillmore for a pair of shows on May 15 and 16, featuring Trombone Shorty on the first night and the Preservation Hall band on the second. At the time, the band management announced that all tickets for the original dates would be honored. Remaining tickets to the shows start at $249.50. The Foo Fighters were also forced to cancel the Krewe du Foo Broken Hearts Social Club Parade that they had planned for Feb. 14, which was meant to simultaneously mark three occasions: Valentines Day, the Mardi Gras season and the opening of the new Fillmore nightclub. Foo Fighters to lead Krewe du Foo Mardi Gras parade Feb. 14 (cancelled) Doug MacCash has the best job in the world, covering art, music and culture in New Orleans. Contact him via email at dmaccash@nola.com. Follow him on Instagram at dougmaccash, on Twitter at Doug MacCash and on Facebook at Douglas James MacCash. As always, please add your point of view to the comment stream. Sen. John Alario, the longest serving member of the Louisiana Legislature, has built a career around his ability to adroitly flex his political muscle. From getting budgets approved to blocking controversial proposals, the Westwego Republican has shaped key measures and state leaders spanning four decades at the Capitol. His latest maneuver, however, left some New Orleans-area lawmakers scratching their heads. On Monday (April 29), Alario pushed a floor amendment that would transfer jurisdiction of the former Avondale shipyard site from the Port of New Orleans to the Port of South Louisiana. It was attached to an unrelated bill from Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, dealing with Baton Rouge port expansion. This is simply to add some acreage to the Port of South Louisiana, Ward told his Senate colleagues in summarizing the amendment, not mentioning the Port of New Orleans or the Avondale site. This actually is a little bit more than adding acreage. This dramatically alters the Port of New Orleans, doesnt it? asked Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie. The nearly 260-acre shipyard site was dormant until last year when a joint venture, Avondale Marine, acquired the property for a planned intermodal global logistics hub. Partners T. Parker Host and Hilco Global estimate the facility will ultimately employ 2,000 workers. Bill to allow former felons on juries advances to Louisiana House Its apparently those jobs that led Alario to tack the amendment onto Wards bill. While Appel was asking Ward to explain the amendment, Alario inserted himself into the discussion, a rare occurrence for the usually hands-off Senate president. Avondale Shipyard, quite frankly, is having a difficult time with the Port of New Orleans cooperating (with) them in creating jobs in Jefferson Parish, Alario said. The Port of South Louisiana has a much more friendly attitude about helping in that regard, and we thought maybe this might catch their attention and try and cooperate a little bit more. Appel was poised to seek more details, but Alario added that Wards bill still had a long way to go in the process. The Senate president then moved quickly to add the amendment, but it would be removed the next day. In a phone call Tuesday afternoon, Alario said he had since met with Port of New Orleans officials, who alleviated his concerns about job creation at Avondale Marine. He had not spoken with anyone from the company since Mondays action in the Senate, he said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Its still not quite clear what concerns Avondale Marine had about job creation. Some ships have temporarily berthed at its docks, but much of its planned intermodal service is still in the works. A public relations firm relayed an interview request from NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune to Avondale Marine, but there was no response as of Wednesday morning. In a statement, Matt Gresham, director of external affairs for the Port of New Orleans, said they were not aware of Alarios amendment before it came up on the Senate floor Monday. After Avondale Marine secured its purchase of the shipyard in October, the Port of New Orleans, its subsidiary New Orleans Public Belt Railroad and Jefferson Parish struck a cooperative endeavor agreement (CEA) with the new owners. The pact establishes that Avondale Marine is within the jurisdiction of the Port of New Orleans, and it outlines details such as a joint effort to pursue container barge service for Avondale Marine. There is no mention of job creation involving the port in the agreement. Port leadership and staff have worked closely with Avondale Marine throughout their acquisition of the site, Gresham said. The CEA outlines opportunities for collaboration among the parties geared toward developing Avondale into a vibrant maritime and logistics hub. Ward and Paul Aucoin, executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, did not respond to interview requests. Alario said in the interview that the Port of South Louisiana did not contact him with interest in adding the Avondale property to its footprint, but the senator said he has always been impressed with its operations. While Alarios Senate district includes Avondale, the heart of the Port of New Orleans lies within the district of Sen. Karen Carter Peterson. Her sister, Tara C. Hernandez, is on the ports board of commissioners, and Peterson told the Senate Hernandez did not tell her a jurisdiction change for the shipyard site was in the works. After Alario hastily approved the amendment Monday, she pressed Ward for details he couldnt provide. Thats the stuff we get in trouble about, because we dont have a lot of facts, Peterson said. 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 OKOTOKS, Alberta, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX:MTL) Mullen Group Ltd. ("Mullen Group", "We", "Our" and/or the "Corporation") announced today that the nominees listed in the Corporation's Information Circular Proxy Statement dated March 14, 2019, were elected as directors of the Corporation at its annual general meeting held on May 1, 2019. By resolution passed via ballot, the following seven nominees were elected as directors of the Corporation to serve until 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: Nominee Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld Greg Bay 81,663,507 91.69% 7,405,171 8.31% Stephen H. Lockwood 70,691,193 79.37% 18,377,485 20.63% Christine McGinley 88,506,831 99.37% 561,847 0.63% David E. Mullen 80,114,861 89.95% 8,953,817 10.05% Murray K. Mullen 82,302,145 92.40% 6,766,533 7.60% Philip J. Scherman 88,510,711 99.37% 557,967 0.63% Sonia Tibbatts 88,510,031 99.37% 558,647 0.63% Independent Lead Director The Corporation also announced today that after the annual general meeting, Ms. Sonia Tibbatts replaced Mr. Greg Bay, as Chairman of its Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee and will act as Lead Director of its Board of Directors (the "Board"). Ms. Tibbatts is an independent director who has served on Mullen Group's Board since 2017. About Mullen Group Ltd. Mullen Group is a company that owns a network of independently operated businesses. The Corporation is recognized as one of the leading suppliers of trucking and logistics services in Canada and provides a wide range of specialized transportation and related services to the oil and natural gas industry in western Canada - two sectors of the economy in which Mullen Group has strong business relationships and industry leadership. The corporate office provides the capital and financial expertise, legal support, technology and systems support, shared services and strategic planning to its independent businesses. Mullen Group is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTL". Additional information is available on our website at www.mullen-group.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Contact Information Mr. Murray K. Mullen - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President Mr. P. Stephen Clark - Chief Financial Officer Mr. Richard J. Maloney - Senior Vice President 121A - 31 Southridge Drive Okotoks, Alberta, Canada T1S 2N3 Telephone: 403-995-5200 Fax: 403-995-5296 PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/23fae17c-662a-4335-977c-8f5cd168e2db The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska's new Prairie Flower Casino located in Carter Lake has survived the latest legal attempt to shut it down. The National Indian Gaming Commission ruled this week that the tribe was within its rights to build the casino on a 4.8-acre parcel of land in Carter Lake, just north of downtown Omaha. The Poncas purchased the land in 1999, and opened the casino last fall, following a decade-long legal battle with the City of Council Bluffs and the States of Iowa and Nebraska. Iowa and Council Bluffs have been concerned that the Ponca gaming parlor would poach customers from the three state-regulated Bluffs casinos, costing tax and charity money. Nebraska has fought to prevent casinos within the state's borders, as well as in the small Iowa municipality just north of downtown Omaha. The debate stems from how the parcel of land in Carter Lake is designated. The Poncas' historical lands were in northern Nebraska, near Niobrara, but the federal government withdrew its recognition of the tribe in 1962, then restored it in 1990. The three governments argued that the 1988 federal legislation that governs Indian gaming doesnt permit the tribe to build on the Carter Lake property. That legislation provided for tribes recognized after the passage of the Indian gaming law to build casinos on "restored lands" recognized by the federal government. The Poncas disagreed with Nebraska, Iowa and Council Bluffs over whether the Carter Lake property met the definition of restored lands. The commission ruled that the tribe could build in Carter Lake even though the tribe's attorney told Council Bluffs officials in 2002 that the Poncas intended to build a medical clinic, not a casino, on the property. The tribe contended that the attorney lacked authority to make the agreement. "And it is no matter that the Tribe did not contemplate a gaming use for the parcel when it applied to have it taken into trust," the commission said in its 14-page ruling this week. "Intended use of a parcel and representations are not proper considerations for a restored lands analysis." It's the third time the commission has sided with the tribe on the Carter Lake casino. The first decision, in 2007, was overturned by a federal court after a lawsuit by Council Bluffs and the two states against the Gaming Commission and the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the commission. After a lengthy review, the commission in November 2017 reaffirmed its original decision, prompting a second lawsuit a few weeks later by the same three governments. The Poncas went ahead with construction, and the casino opened Nov. 1. The Prairie Flower is named for the daughter of the renowned Ponca chief, Standing Bear. She died during the tribe's forced removal from Nebraska to Oklahoma. This week's decision follows a ruling in February by Judge Stephanie Rose of the Southern District Court of Iowa. That decision dismissed requests from both sides for a summary judgment in their favor but directed the Gaming Commission to reconsider its earlier decision, factoring in the purported 2002 agreement between the Ponca Tribe's attorney and Council Bluffs. The three governments have appealed the ruling and sought to close the casino while the Gaming Commission considered the ruling. In a statement issued Thursday, the Poncas described the Commission's decision as "a major blow for the plaintiffs." The National Indian Gaming Commission reaffirmed what we have known to be true for over a decade: The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has the right to operate Prairie Flower Casino on their tribal land in Carter Lake, Iowa, James Meggesto, an attorney representing the tribe, said in a statement. Traci Lamb is a RN unit supervisor at McDermott-Behavioral Health Department and has been with CHI Health Mercy for more than two years. Lamb had the opportunity to go back to school when the manufacturing patient she worked at for many years closed. She had always enjoyed helping with first aid at the plant and was tired of accounting, so decided to attend nursing school. She said the most rewarding part of being a nurse at Mercy is the opportunity to be part of a team who serves a population of patients who look to us for care, comfort and advocacy. The Sisters who founded our hospital understood the need for mental health care, and we are fortunate that the leadership of Mercy and CHI all continue to support their mission, she said Lambs favorite quote is from her best friend who gave her a mug that says Life is all about how you handle Plan B. I believe I ended up exactly where I was supposed to be it just took a winding path to get there, she said. I try to share that philosophy with patients and families who are facing a new diagnosis. Their lives might not be as they originally planned, but sometimes Plan B is even better? Lamb lives in a small Iowa town with her husband, Phillip. They have two wonderful grown daughters. She loves to read, travel and cook. Lamb said she is happiest when hosting a dinner party for a big group of family and friends. She started riding a bicycle about 10 years ago and looks forward to riding at least one or two days of RAGBRAI again this year. Iowa is a beautiful state when you see it from a bike seat, she said. Wonder Woman was found not guilty of breaking and entering and criminal mischief in a trial Wednesday at Rue Elementary School in Council Bluffs. She was accused of breaking into a warehouse to rescue Superman, who was being held hostage by kidnappers using kryptonite. Yes, this years mock trial, organized by Iowa Legal Aid through its Youth Link Project, had a superhero theme. It was part of the local observance of Law Day. Wonder Woman (Sarah Jennings, Audubon County Attorney) admitted that she had gone to the warehouse intending to break the wall down to rescue her fellow superhero (played by attorney Kyle McGinn) but said the wall fell down without her touching it. She said the building was not secure when she entered. The state, represented by Rich Arnold (Iowa Attorney Generals office, child support recovery), questioned her account of the incident and asked the jury not to favor her because of her popularity. We have to make sure that we dont treat anyone differently, Arnold said. If we do otherwise, were going to give Wonder Woman license to go around destroying peoples property. Defense Attorney Helen Broadway-Savage (family law attorney) said Wonder Woman couldnt be convicted because of her intention to break in. She intended to but she did not, Broadway-Savage said. She flew through an existing hole in the wall. What Im wondering is why those thugs who held Superman captive arent in this courtroom sitting at this bench, she said. A jury of 46 fifth-graders deliberated briefly and found Wonder Woman innocent of both charges, though not all agreed. Shelley Whitcher, managing attorney at Iowa Legal Aids Southwest Regional Office, asked if the students had any questions about the case or what any of the legal team assembled for the event did. One boy pointed out that Superman said he was held captive by two men, but Wonder Woman said he was held by five. Testimony from different witnesses doesnt always agree, Whitcher said. You never know what a witness is going to say, said Broadway-Savage, who practices family law in real life. Sometimes they blurt out something, and you have to try not to laugh. Another student remembered that Captain Marvel (played by Emily Peklo, an assistant county attorney) had said he saw Wonder Woman fly over, and she had said she was flying in her invisible plane. Whitcher asked the students what would happen if half the jury thought the defendant was guilty and half thought she was innocent. Normally, a jury cannot render a split decision, District Judge Craig Dreismeier said. Usually, the jury has to have a unanimous decision, he said. If they do not, the judge might send them back to deliberate further, Dreismeier said. If they still cant agree, it could be called a mistrial. Then, the case would have to be tried again with a new jury. People do not usually have a choice on whether to serve on a jury, he said. They just get a notice in the mail and are expected to serve. If you ignore it, you will get in trouble, he said. However, if you know the defendant, you might be excused from the jury, Whitcher said. If a witness is sick or injured, the trial might be postponed, although there is less leeway for that in a criminal case than there is in a civil case. One student asked if you have to have straight As to get into law school. Its good to try to get straight As, but you dont have to get straight As to get into law school, Whitcher said. It could help you get a scholarship, though, she said. Most law school graduates have student loans to pay off. To a question on what lawyers get paid, Arnold said the average starting salary for a lawyer in Iowa is about $55,000. Experienced lawyers make a lot more. Other players in the courtroom drama included paralegal Lisa Broadway-Savage as Officer Peters, witness for the state; and attorney Zach Winter, building owner and state witness. Third-year Creighton University law student Morgan Wilson, who will soon be working for Iowa Legal Aid, observed the proceedings. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the first Law Day in 1958, and Congress made it official in 1961. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. OMAHA Boys Town National Research Hospital has announced that it is expanding its surgical offerings for children to include pediatric general and thoracic surgery. The hospital also announced the addition, starting Tuesday, of four board-certified pediatric and general surgeons. All four are longtime providers within the community and previously were employed by a pediatric physician practice group jointly operated by Childrens Hospital & Medical Center and the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. Dr. Edward Kolb, director and chief medical officer at Boys Town, said pediatric general and thoracic surgery, as a specialty, complements the hospitals existing pediatric specialty and surgical offerings. Existing surgical programs include pediatric ear, nose and throat; orthopedics; ophthalmology; and dentistry. For us, this is change in a good way and change that will allow us to care for more kids and families, he said. The surgeons are Drs. Stephen Raynor, Robert Cusick, Shahab Abdessalam and Megan Fuller. All four will retain privileges at Childrens and continue to perform surgery there as well as at Boys Town, Kolb said. Many physicians in Omaha, including many at Boys Town, care for patients at different hospitals. Raynor and Cusick had been on staff at Boys Town since 2018 while employed by Childrens Specialty Physicians. 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. For now, Kolb said, the surgeons likely will practice at the hospitals west Omaha location on the Boys Town campus. The hospital is converting office space to 12 exam rooms, which will be ready this summer. The hospital also will be adding a critical care unit in June that will largely support the surgical service. Not only will the six beds open up what Boys Town can offer, Kolb said, it also will help ease the crunch for such beds the community generally faces in the winter when kids are battling influenza and RSV. We very much see this as contributing to the medical community of Omaha in a good way and adding to the resources of the community, he said. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources launched a new technology available for obtaining hunting and fishing licenses. The new system, Go Outdoors Iowa, launched in February and is designed to make it easier and more convenient for hunters and anglers to purchase licenses, manage profile information, apply for quota hunts, and report harvests, a statement from the DNR. We are excited to implement a modern technology solution that not only brings efficiencies to the agency, but also provides so many added values and benefits for our users, said Alex Cross, DNR customer service and licensing supervisor, said in the statement. Public users will be able to log-in to their customer profile from anywhere with a cellular/internet connection to edit customer details, purchase new licenses, reprint licenses, set up license auto-renew, report a harvest, and submit quota hunt applications. The Go Outdoors Iowa app, downloadable for free through the App Store or Google Play Store, allows users to purchase and access their hunting and fishing licenses from anywhere, anytime via mobile devices, as well as renew licenses, view hunting regulations, report harvests and view current sunrise/sunset times. A new collectible hard card is available for purchase in two different designs a largemouth bass or a pheasant created by native Iowa artist Bruce Gordon. The durable hard card costs $5 and will include purchased licenses printed on the back for the year. The cards are available to purchase online or in person and will be mailed out after purchase. New designs on the hard card will be unveiled each year. The new licensing system is accessible, as well as additional information, by visiting iowadnr.gov/GoOutdoorsIowa. Customer may continue to visit any license agent location to purchase their licenses and permits. CALGARY, Alberta, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The more books a child has at home, the better chance they will grow up to be a confident and enthusiastic reader. Yet research in 2017 found more than 50% of Canadian households dont spend any money on books and 25% of Canadian households contain no books at all. As a result, its estimated that the low literacy rate in Alberta is 45%. The annual Book Sale in support of Calgary Reads will help put more books into the hands and homes of struggling young readers and improve their literacy. Calgary Reads uses all the proceeds from the sale to increase book access and support the many early literacy programs. Often, we take our ability to read for granted but it is a talent that we possess, and its not something that we learned in isolation, says Steacy Collyer, the Founder and CEO of Calgary Reads. We all had someone, or some group of people, who helped us to read and the development of literacy skills from an early age is critical to future success in school and in life. The Calgary Reads Book Bank distributes books to clients of the Calgary Food Bank, to children through schools and to babies and parents through public health nurses. Schools, Little Free Library stewards and community agencies are invited to pick up the unsold books from our Big Book Sale and distribute them. Calgary Reads is making a difference one book at time and helping shift the book imbalance in Calgary. The 2019 CBC Calgary Reads Big Book Sale will be held May 10, 11, 12 at the Calgary Curling Club. We accept Fiction, Non-Fiction and Childrens books. Books can be donated at the Calgary Curling Club 720 3rd St. NW. until May 5. For all the sale details and go to: https://calgaryreads.com/cbc-calgary-reads-big-book-sale-2019/ Contact Info: Shannon King communications@calgaryreads.com 403.777.8254 x103 Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/999c5883-0cdc-41cf-8717-b130841b1845 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b527ae3e-6f84-493a-ac16-af9f502415fd http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f8894f50-10c7-481f-a717-d2cbeb30b2a9 Featured Individuals Charles "Chief" Anderson Known as "Chief" Anderson by the pilots he trained, Charles Alfred Anderson was a pioneer of African-American aviation. A commercial pilot, he and Dr. Albert E. Forsythe were the first African Americans to fly a transcontinental trip from Atlantic City to Los Angeles and back in 1933. The two later flew a goodwill flight to Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and six other Caribbean countries in their plane named The Spirit of Booker T. Washington. Anderson taught civilian pilot training courses at Howard University, Washington, D.C. In 1940, he joined the faculty at Tuskegee Institute as head of the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program. Chief Anderson gave Eleanor Roosevelt a plane ride when she visited Tuskegee in 1941. She was determined to counter the view that African Americans couldn't fly. Their photograph was seen all over the U.S. Mrs. Roosevelt's plane ride gave an enormous boost to black aviation. The success of the CPT under Anderson's leadership was a major factor in the Army Air Corps decision to establish a primary training program at Tuskegee. As chief flight instructor at Tuskegee, Chief Anderson supervised primary flight training for 1,000 African-American pilots at Moton Field. An Airman's Story: Robert M. Glass Robert Marshall GlassDecember 17, 1920 - January 24, 1955 Already a qualified pilot, Robert Marshall Glass was one of the highly skilled and committed young men to join the 332nd Fighter Group in Tuskegee, Alabama. Glass was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering. He signed up at Tuskegee Army Air Field on January 28, 1943, and attended cadet school at Tuskegee. Charles "Chief" Anderson was one of his flying instructors at Tuskegee. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., was his commanding officer. Glass served his country in World War II and during the Korean War. Highly decorated, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, EAME Campaign medal, American Campaign Medal, Distinguished Unit Citation and the National Defense Service medal. His last duty station was at Wright Air Development Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. At the time of his death, Captain Glass was at the Air Command Staff School, Maxwell Air Force Base. His name is inscribed on the Memorial Honor Roll of the Air Force, Air Force Aid Society, Washington, D.C. Everyone wants to live longer. Right? Now theres a computer program that will tell you how long you potentially will live based on your demographics and how you could prolong your life if you make healthier choices. Dejun Su, associate professor and director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, at UNMCs College of Public Health, led a team to develop the Life Expectancy Calculator and Mapping for Nebraskans program in the hopes that it will spur people to lead healthier lifestyles and prolong their lives. Its a longevity estimate, but more importantly, it tells you what you can do to live longer, Su said in a press release from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. For example, the calculator can estimate how many extra years a smoker can potentially live if he or she quits now. Ali S. Khan, dean of the College of Public Health, initiated the idea of developing the life expectancy calculator for Nebraskans. Since 1973, North Platte residents have felt the absence of their demolished 1918 Union Pacific Depot nearly as deeply as their pride in the World War II Canteen it once housed. Lincoln County Historical Museum leaders hope to soothe the first and stoke the second. They want to build a new wing fronting the 1976 museum that would include a scale replica of the 1941-46 Canteen room. It would greet North Buffalo Bill Avenue motorists with a false-front replica also to scale of the depots trainside entrance. Director/Curator Jim Griffin and Lincoln County Historical Society board members Bill McGahan and Ron Gaedke described their vision Wednesday in advance of the release of Canteen: As It Happened, a joint project of The Telegraph and the museum. Their concept will be developed with help from $12,000 in local and national donations sparked by last Junes Canteen revival for Arkansas National Guard troops. Reaction to that event, Griffin said, represented the latest of several nationwide spikes in Canteen interest since it served the last of its 6 million service visitors on April 1, 1946. "We can only take us where the facts lead us," Northern York County Regional Police Chief Mark Bentzel told WHP-TV. "And in this case, they lead us to Virginia." Seven years earlier, a man walking down a narrow country road that runs alongside a rushing creek in Dover Township, Pennsylvania, had made a nightmarish discovery. A human scalp, with hair that appeared to be tied in a ponytail, had been placed in a plastic, vacuum-sealed FoodSaver bag, the kind usually used for storing leftovers. Also tucked inside was a piece of a bloody bedsheet. Police sent the gory remains off to the state crime lab, but no DNA match popped up in the universal database, and the trail ran cold. For more than five years, no one had any idea who the scalp belonged to, or how they might have died. Then, in January 2017, authorities got a phone call. Kim Via, Thomas Hayden's daughter, had been unsuccessfully trying to regain contact with her father, whom she had been estranged from since 2005. Each time she tried calling him, the criminal complaint states, her stepmother answered the phone and told her that her father didn't want to talk to her. Eventually, Via became suspicious, and asked police to do a welfare check. TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integrated Asset Management Corp. (IAM) (TSX: IAM) announced today that it has scheduled a special meeting of its shareholders to consider and vote on the previously announced statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) pursuant to which Fiera Capital Corporation (Fiera Capital) (TSX: FSZ) will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of IAM (the Transaction). The special meeting will be held on June 14, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. (Toronto time), at the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Ridout Room, 3rd floor, First Canadian Place, 77 Adelaide Street West, Toronto, Ontario. IAM shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 14, 2019 will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the special meeting. In addition to IAM shareholder and court approvals, the Transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, IAMs adjusted cash balance as calculated under the arrangement agreement dated March 21, 2019 between IAM and Fiera Capital (the Agreement) being at least $10 million at the effective date and closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature, including approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange for the listing of Fiera Capital shares to be issued. The Transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of calendar year 2019. Further information regarding the Transaction is available in IAMs news release dated March 22, 2019 (and related material change report) and will be contained in a management information circular that IAM will prepare, file on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and mail to IAM shareholders in advance of the special meeting. Copies of the news release dated March 22, 2019 (and related material change report) and the Agreement are available on SEDAR. No Offer or Solicitation This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell IAM shares or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy Fiera Capital shares. Forward-Looking Information Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking information for the purposes of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information and statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan" 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. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things, statements regarding the timing of the special meeting and related record date, the preparation, filing and mailing of a management information circular in connection with the special meeting and the anticipated completion of the Transaction and the timing thereof. These forward-looking statements are not facts or guarantees of future performance, but only reflections of estimates and expectations of IAM's management and involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by IAM, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, economic, regulatory and other uncertainties and contingencies. Readers are further cautioned that forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release and IAM has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and information are the following: the ability to consummate the Transaction; the ability to obtain all required approvals and consents including regulatory, TSX, shareholder and court approvals or to otherwise fulfill all of the conditions precedent to the Transaction, in a timely manner, or at all; the ability to obtain an interim order with respect to the special meeting; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets, changes in applicable laws and other risk factors including those discussed in IAMs public filings available at www.sedar.com and in particular in its most recent annual information form under Risk Factors. The foregoing risks and uncertainties are not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, IAM assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events, information or circumstances. About Integrated Asset Management Corp. IAM is one of Canadas leading alternative asset management companies with approximately $3.1 billion in assets and committed capital under management in private debt, infrastructure debt and real estate as of March 31, 2019. For more information, please visit: www.iamgroup.ca . IAMs common shares trade on the TSX under the ticker symbol IAM. About Fiera Capital Corporation Fiera Capital is a leading independent asset management firm with approximately C$144.9 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2019. The Firm provides institutional, retail and private wealth clients with access to full-service integrated money management solutions across traditional and alternative asset classes. Clients and their portfolios derive benefit from Fiera Capitals depth of expertise, diversified offerings and outstanding service. Fiera Capital trades under the ticker FSZ on the Toronto Stock Exchange. www.fieracapital.com In the U.S., asset management services are provided by the Firms U.S. affiliates who are investment advisers that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Fiera Capital Corporation, including the Firm's annual information form, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. For further information, please contact: Integrated Asset Management Corp. John Robertson President and Chief Executive Officer 416-360-7667 The NASA administrator is here to say that this event was not unique, in fact, it is an event that we model, will occur about once every 60 years, said Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator, Space.com reported. Bridenstine raised the importance of using science to prevent future damage caused by asteroids at the International Acadamy of Astronautics 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in Maryland on April 29. NASA head: Expect a major asteroid impact in your lifetime https://t.co/6UYcJ0JgDV pic.twitter.com/zXJ3JBGh4h CNET (@CNET) April 30, 2019 We have to make sure that people understand that this is not about Hollywood, its not about movies, he said. This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know right now to host life, and that is the planet Earth. To establish the seriousness of the situation, he cited a meteor that entered the Earths atmosphere above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013. Bridenstine explained that the meteor quickly became a superbolide, a large meteor that travels at a high speed towards the Earth; encountering friction from the atmosphere, and causing it to become an extremely bright fireball. The meteor was 65-feet (20 meters) in diameter and traveling at 40,000 miles per hour (60,000 kilometers per hour). A typical Boeing 747 will cruise in the sky at about 650 mph. It was brighter in the sky than the sun, he explained. At that point when it entered the Earths atmosphere and people could feel the heat from this object 62 kilometers (38 miles) away. The closer you were, the more intense the heat, he added. And of course when it eventually exploded, 18 miles (28 km) above the surface of Chelyabinsk in Russia, it had the same energy aswhat well say 30 times the energy of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. The resulting shockwave from the meteor damaged buildings in six cities, over 1,500 people were injured badly enough that they needed medical attention. I wish I could tell you that these events are exceptionally unique, he continued. But they are not. Planetary Defense To prepare for future asteroids, NASA will run a realistic scenario through a simulation that plays out an asteroid with a trajectory heading towards the Earth, news.com.au reported. The virtual asteroid in the exercise will be between 100 to 300 meters in size (328 to 984 feet), according to a NASA web page. How NASA would keep an asteroid from hitting the Earth https://t.co/tFLt3Bw0Ce pic.twitter.com/2bCRay1aKV CBS News (@CBSNews) May 1, 2019 These exercises are designed to guide government agencies and emergency services on the steps they should take if an incident like this were to ever occur. These exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know, NASA planetary defense officer Lindley Johnson said. This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments, news.com.au reported. Why Cant We Just Blow Them Up? Johnson reminded people at a media conference that asteroids arent dealt with in the same way that movies do, Space.com reported. If youve seen those movies, theyre completely bogus, Johnson said. Thats not how we would use a nuclear explosive device to do this at all. Using a nuclear explosive device is only one of the means of dealing with a potential fireball, but there are methods that dont require direct contact. There are currently three methods for dealing with an asteroid: We hear repeatedly from Hoosier employers that having a talented workforce is the most critical issue they face," Brinegar said. "The 125 companies honored on the Best Places list have made their people the top priority through policies and practices that emphasize attracting, retaining and developing this most valuable resource. Lakeside Wealth Management, General Insurance Services and Peepers by PeeperSpecs were honored as small companies with between 15 and 74 employees. Centier was recognized as a large company with between 250 and 999 employees, and Horseshore won as a major company with more than 1,000 employees. This recognition means so much to our organization. We put a lot of resources in attracting, developing, and retaining top talent who fit well within our Servant Heart Culture. We are continually searching for new and innovative ways to put our associates needs first and this award is a great recognition of our efforts, said Chrisanne Christ, Centier's Senior Partner in Human Resource Development. All of our associates make Centier a "Best Place to Work" every day, so we thank them for all they do to care for each other and support our mission. English Italian The company's main economic and financial data is as follows: Revenues of 51 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 10 million Euro in 2018; EBITDA of 43 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 7 million Euro at 31 December 2017; EBIT of 40 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 6 million Euro at 31 December 2017; Net income of 33.5 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 5 million Euro at 31 December 2017; Negative net financial position (debt) of 20 million Euro compared to 25 million Euro (assets) in 2017 and shareholders equity of 82 million Euro compared to 48 million Euro at 31 December 2017. The main consolidated economic and financial data is as follows: Consolidated revenues of 51 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 11 million Euro at 31 December 2017; EBITDA of 42 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 7 million Euro at 31 December 2017; EBIT of 40 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 6 million Euro at 31 December 2017; Net income of 12 million Euro at 31 December 2018 compared to 5 million Euro at 31 December 2017; Negative net financial position (debt) of 23 million Euro compared to 24 million Euro (assets) in 2017 and shareholders equity of 59 million Euro compared to 47 million Euro at 31 December 2017. Bologna (Italy), 2 May 2019 Bio-on S.p.A., listed on the AIM Italia market, held its shareholders' meeting in ordinary session at 6pm on 30 April at the beautiful Santa Maria della Vita museum hub where National Geographic's first European exhibition, PLANET or PLASTIC, is currently running. The meeting approved the separate financial statement at 31 December 2018 and accepted the consolidated financial statement at 31 December 2018 (as approved by the board of directors on 30 March 2019). The meeting also ruled to invest the company's net profit at 31 December 2018, of Euro 33,580,023, in equity reserves. The meeting minutes will be made available to the public by 30 May at company headquarters, Borsa Italiana S.p.A. and the Investor Relations section of the www.bio-on.it website. "We are extremely proud," explains Marco Astorri, Chairman and CEO of Bio-on S.p.A., "of the progress made towards implementing our industrial plan. Our team is working to boost company growth by investing in four strategic areas: qualified personnel, research and development laboratories, development of international patents, and special productions. Throughout 2019, we will present interesting new applications using our high-performing biopolymers and will accelerate our international expansion." The company has announced the creation of the Scientific Advisory Board chaired by Professor Paolo Galli, one of the most influential scientists in the plastic industry, and one of two Italians in the Plastics Hall of Fame alongside Giulio Natta (winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). In his new role, Professor Paolo Galli will be part of Bio-on's international expansion plans and the new bioplastic era which, as he says in this documentary https://youtu.be/zkhzQ8lUPaA is a pressing need for the world. Finally, Chairman and CEO Marco Astorri announced at the meeting the launch of a new initiative to meet a new rising demand: from today, 2 May, Bio-on's first production plant in Castel San Pietro Terme will be open 24 hours a day to visits, subject to booking. The interest generated by our plant since its inauguration has been truly extraordinary," commented Astorri. "We have listened and are taking the opportunity to open up our plant in a completely transparent way. We are certain that allowing visits to the plant will allow people to learn about the technology we have developed and boost the numerous other activities we are carrying out to raise awareness of the revolution and extraordinary contribution Italy is making to the future of the world." BIO-ON S.p.A. Bio-on S.p.A. is an Italian Intellectual Property Company (IPC) operating on an international scale. Listed on the AIM segment of Borsa Italiana since 2014, Bio-on licenses and manufacturers the world's most innovative bioplastics, conducting applied research and developing advanced bio-fermentation technologies, and cutting-edge natural and sustainable chemicals for the future. Bio-on's biopolymers, PHAs or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are made from renewable plant sources with no competition with food supply chains, including molasses and sugar beet and sugar cane syrups, fruit and potato waste, carbohydrates, glycerol, waste frying oil and even carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Bio-on bioplastics, called Minerv PHAs, have the same thermo-mechanical properties as conventional oil-based plastics with the advantage of being completely eco-sustainable: 100% natural and 100% biodegradable, as certified by Vincotte and by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The great versatility of PHAs means Bio-on can produce Minerv PHAs bioplastic in microscopic dimensions to replace the invisible microbeads used in cosmetics products, in professional SLS 3D printers, fragrances, animal feed and many other applications. To promptly meet the exponentially rising and increasingly diversified demand, Bio-on, which is already working alongside big multinationals to develop alternatives to conventional plastics, operates through six Business Units: Bio-on Plants, RAF (Recovery And Fermentation), CNS (Cosmetic, Nanomedicine & Smart Materials), SMD (Structural Materials Developments), fdm (Fashion Development Material) and ENG (Engineering). www.bio-on.it Twitter @BioOnBioplastic Attachment Jeff Casey, director of Hammonds Towle Theater production of Mamas Boy, is impressed with the source material used to paint a picture of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and his family. A lot of the script is taken from written resources, he said. Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswalds brother, and Marina Oswald, his wife, and Marguerite, the mother, all wrote books about their experiences, and the writer used a lot of those as sources for details and specific information for quotes. He also relied heavily on the Warren Report. Opening May 3 and running through May 19, Mamas Boy chronicles the relationship between Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and his strong-willed mother, Marguerite, prior to and following the President's assassination and the murder days later of Oswald. Penned by American playwright and director Rob Urbinati, whose writing credits include The Queen Bees and Hazelwood Jr. High, the show made its debut in Portland in 2015. Towles staging of Mamas marks its Midwest debut. You can revel in the whiskey-soaked pageantry and flamboyant millinery of the Kentucky Derby without driving four hours down to Louisville this weekend. Tavern on Main, The Localites, and Local 219 are throwing a Kentucky Derby party at 136 S. Main St. in downtown Crown Point before the race, which will air on NBC at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Expect mint juleps, extravagant hats and southern flair at the "Region-centric Kentucky Derby party" that will take place at Tavern on Main from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, celebrating the "most exciting two minutes in sports," which gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson famously described as "decadent and depraved." "This is the most organized Kentucky Derby event in The Region that is open to the public," Local 219 said in a press release. "Tavern on Main, The Localites, and Local 219 have partnered together to bring a day of fun, fine cocktails and succulent appetizers all leading up to the most anticipated few minutes in sports: The Kentucky Derby." The tailgate party includes door prizes for best hat and best outfit, complimentary beer, wine and cocktail tasting, two free drink tickets and unlimited appetizers from noon until 2 p.m. It will be a dressy affair, more grandstand than infield. 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." CROWN POINT Contractors are eager to get going with improving the citys three water storage tanks, including the one near the Babe Ruth/Legacy Fields. But a red-tailed hawk has other plans for the project. During Wednesdays Board of Public Works meeting, Albert Stong, president of Commonwealth Engineers Inc., the city's consultants on the water system improvement project, said exterior work has been delayed on the north tank after workers discovered the nested bird protecting eggs. "We've been dealing with the bird for two weeks now," Stong said. The red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk of North America. The birds typically lay their first set of two to three eggs around mid-to-late March. Stong said he has been in contact with Indiana Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the protected bird. He was given two options by the organizations: get a permit to relocate the nest or come back to complete the work on the tower around mid-July once the eggs have hatched and the bird is gone. Tarver said he would improve accountability in city hall with a comment box and quarterly finance reports. The mayor said for the last eight years she is doing what other candidates can only talk about. She said the first day of her administration in 2012 she was faced with the reality of state-mandated caps on local property taxes that would deny Gary more than $30 million a year in former revenues $250 million over eight years. Freeman-Wilson said she and her administration put together a plan with the Strong Cities Network to do more with less. The new (IUN) building on Broadway was part of that plan. The work to improve infrastructure on Lake Street is part of that plan. The demolition of the Sheraton Hotel and the buildings in the (500 block of Broadway) were part of that plan, she said. She said she makes her administration accountable through regular city forums where residents can talk with her and work out solutions to their concerns. While Lake Station residents were contending with the floodwaters, officials were continuing to keep a close eye on Kankakee River, which is expected to crest Friday at 13 feet. As of 1:45 p.m. Thursday, the river was at roughly 12 feet. By 8 p.m., the water level was at 11.92 feet, according to the weather.gov water level tracking site. Scott Pelath, executive director of the Kankakee River Basin Commission, said the major flood stage level is 12.5 feet, and the river is "just below that already." "When it gets to 13 feet, thats when the channel has difficulty retaining itself. This is a matter that people need to prepare for and pay close attention to now," Pelath said. "We will continue to monitor it closely and will be in contact with the affected counties (Lake, Newton, Porter, Jasper, LaPorte, Starke, St. Joseph and Marshall). This could quickly turn into an emergency situation." Pelath said Shelby "will reach major flood stages." Thursday night, Pelath said there have been no evacuations in the Shelby area or otherwise, but officials are keeping a close eye on southern Lake County. "Performance targets for each of these categories were met," it continued, as it explained what areas were audited within the farms. "A strong culture of commitment to animal care and welfare was evident in the company's approach to training, their policy of zero tolerance for animal abuse and was also document in the outcome-based measures of the herd, which reflected superior management," reads the audit summary. "I was very pleased. We had expectations it would be in that realm," McCloskey said of the audit results. McCloskey said the undercover videos have not surfaced as yet, nor have they confirmed the identity of the group responsible for taping operations. McCloskey said he's unsure what they might depict. If, however, they captured an incident or action of an employee that would not meet his or the industry's standards, the issue will be addressed promptly, he said. Love 10 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 4 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. "I plan on giving it as much time as needed to make it successful. I will be in office as much as possible. I can reshape my practice so I can be in the office full-time," Gibson said. Gibson said her specialty is municipal representation which runs the gamut from labor laws to worker's compensation. "Will I be in court? No, I will not. The type of law I practice doesn't mean I have to be in court," Gibson said. Gibson said she is not a seasoned politician. "I just felt like it was time to use my skills and education to serve the community. I wouldn't have run unless Eugene Guernsey would have stepped down," Gibson said. Gibson said she doesn't see making any drastic changes in the clerk-treasurer's office. "My plan is to work with the ladies in the office and to find ways to make things more efficient and more advanced. We are now moving into a more technological society and we can add things to make the department more efficient," Gibson said. Barron, 53, serves as an administrative secretary for the Crown Point Fire Department. GARY A rental vehicle that was reported as stolen was seized by police Wednesday night, state troopers said. Around 9:15 p.m., a trooper pulled over a vehicle in a traffic stop near the intersection of I-65 and I-80/I-94, Indiana State Police said. The trooper found out the vehicle was reported as stolen by a rental company and the driver was taken into custody, ISP said. No one was reported as injured during the incident, police said. CALGARY, Alberta, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solo Growth Corp. (the Company or Solo Growth) (TSXV: SOLO) (WKN:A2PBMC), acknowledges that it has come to the attention of the Company that Solo Liquor Holdings Limited has recently been petitioned into bankruptcy by its creditors. In response to inquiries from investors, the Company wishes to address any market confusion by confirming that there is no corporate, financial or operational relationship or affiliation between Solo Growth and Solo Liquor Holdings Limited or any of its principals. Solo Growth, a cannabis retailer operating as YSSTM, is fully independent with the vision to become a premier retailer and the trusted destination for cannabis in Canada. To better align with the Companys YSSTM retail brand and mitigate potential future confusion, the Company will ask its shareholders to approve a special resolution to change the Companys name to YSS Corp. (the Name Change) at the Companys upcoming Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the Meeting), to be held on May 29, 2019 at 2:00pm MT. Assuming approval, the Company expects to also change its trading symbol on the TSX Venture Exchange to YSS. The Name Change and new trading symbol are subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Additional Information For additional information regarding Solo Growth please see the corporate website at www.sologrowth.ca and filings available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . About Solo Growth Corp.TM Operating as YSSTM, the Company is a cannabis retailer with the vision to become a premier retailer and the trusted destination for cannabis in Canada. Since its launch in June of 2018, the Company has built a strategic portfolio of locations while managing financial commitments. The Company has a licensing agreement on one operating store in Red Deer, Alberta; has built and received AGLC inspections on six additional Alberta stores, and has another Alberta location nearing completion of construction. An additional 15 AGLC applications are being reviewed for construction priority within the current regulatory environment. YSSTM management brings excellence across capital markets, financial management and a strong commitment to deliver shareholder value by leveraging high-quality opportunities within this exciting new industry. The YSSTM retail experience is built on our five fundamental pillars: convenience, value, selection, team, and above all else, trust. Investor or Media Contacts: Theo Zunich President, Chief Executive Officer and Director Phone: (403) 455-7656 Solo Growth Corp. Suite 1000, 350-7th Ave SW Calgary, AB T2P 3N9 investor@sologrowth.ca OR Cindy Gray 5 Quarters Investor Relations, Inc. (403) 231-4372 or info@5qir.com Stephanie Bunch, CA Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer Phone: (403) 455-7656 Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements This news release may include forward-looking statements including opinions, assumptions, estimates, the Companys assessment of future plans and operations, and, more particularly, statements concerning : Solo Growths retail cannabis business strategy, including organic growth and strategic activities; the operating location in Red Deer, Alberta, including the licensing agreement, market presence and customer base in respect of the location; the ability to build, own and operate retail cannabis stores; the receipt of necessary permits and licenses to open stores; the ability to capitalize on potential opportunities that may arise and the ability to exercise thereon; the annual meeting of shareholders and the mailing date of meeting materials; and enhancing value for shareholders. When used in this document, the words will, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, intent, may, project, should, and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties and, although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to: regulatory and third party approvals not being obtained in the manner or timing anticipated, including AGLC inspections and licenses; the ability to implement corporate strategies; the state of domestic capital markets; the ability to obtain financing; changes in general market conditions; industry conditions and events; the size of the recreational cannabis market; changing customer habits; the availability of cannabis-retail products from licensed producers; government regulations, including future legislative and regulatory developments involving recreational cannabis; competition from other industry participants; and other factors more fully described from time to time in the reports and filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities. Please refer to the AIF and MD&A for additional risk factors relating to the Company. The AIF and MD&A can be accessed under the Companys profile on www.sedar.com. Except as required by applicable laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. This news release contains future-oriented financial information and financial outlook information (collectively, FOFI) about the Companys, investments, balance sheet, expenses and profit and revenue and cash flow in respect of the Red Deer location, which are subject to the same assumptions, risk factors, limitations, and qualifications as set forth in the above paragraphs. FOFI contained in this document was made as of the date of this document and was provided for the purpose of providing further information about Solo Growths future business operations. Solo Growth disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any FOFI contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required pursuant to applicable law. Readers are cautioned that the FOFI contained in this document should not be used for purposes other than for which it is disclosed herein. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Columbine was both alarming and revealing for my dad, Bob. He grew up here in Indiana in a family that didnt own or promote guns. He jokes that, even before he was Quaker, his parents felt guns werent the way to solve problems. Now, as the leader of a local Quaker Meeting, he knows the responsibility of ensuring his members as well as the co-op day care center are protected against gun violence and harm. He and my mom often discuss very real fears of school shootings happening here. In the 20 years since Columbine, my mother, Sue, a kindergarten teacher, has had to deal with the internal school politics and disagreements with fellow teachers and parents over the best approach to keeping the school safe. Having to parent during rampant gun violence (and a lack of political will to change it) is a continual worry for her. The Trump administration formally declared its opposition to the entire Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, arguing in a federal appeals court filing that the signature Obama-era legislation was unconstitutional and should be struck down. Such a decision could end health insurance for some 21 million Americans and affect many millions more who benefit from the laws protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions and required coverage for pregnancy, prescription drugs and mental health. In filing the brief, the administration abandoned an earlier position that some portions of the law, including the provision allowing states to expand their Medicaid programs, should stand. The switch, which the administration disclosed in late March, has confounded many people in Washington, even within the Republican Party, who came to realize that health insurance and a commitment to protecting the A.C.A. were among the main issues that propelled Democrats to a majority in the House of Representatives last fall. The filing was made in a case challenging the law brought by Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, and 17 other Republican-led states. In December, a federal judge from the Northern District of Texas, Reed OConnor, ruled that the law was unconstitutional. They just dont want their kids vaccinated because they bought into the nonsense on the internet, Mr. Dinowitz said. And you cant convince them that theyre wrong. Orthodox Jewish leaders have said there is nothing in Jewish law that forbids vaccinations. Aron B. Wieder, a county legislator in Rockland County, one of the hot spots in the current outbreak, said that while some Orthodox Jews may be anti-vaxxers, their opinions are not in line with Judaic teaching. There have been many rulings by rabbis and rabbinical boards that have said the opposite, said Mr. Wieder, who is Orthodox, adding that some have even called getting vaccinated a religious obligation. With more than 700 cases in more than 20 states, the current outbreak is the worst since the disease which can be fatal in rare cases was declared eliminated in 2000. It has even crept into the nascent presidential race: President Trump, long a vaccine skeptic, reversed course last week, saying that citizens have to get their shots. In New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had initially expressed reservations about the bill, saying in an interview earlier last month that the proposal raised a serious First Amendment issue, and it is going to be a constitutional, legal question. But this week, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, seemed to shift his position. In a radio interview on Tuesday, he said that he respected the religious exemption, but did not think it applied in the face of the outbreak. You have a public health crisis, he said. Ellen Tauscher, a centrist Democrat from California who served in Congress for 13 years before becoming a diplomat in the Obama administration, where she helped negotiate a treaty with Russia that limited missiles and nuclear warheads, died on Monday in Palo Alto, Calif. She was 67. Her family, in a statement on Facebook, said the cause was pneumonia. The statement also said that Ms. Tauscher had survived esophageal cancer in 2010. Ms. Tauscher made her mark not only on national politics and diplomacy but also, before that, on Wall Street, where she was an investment banker and bond trader for 14 years, including at Bear Stearns and Drexel Burnham Lambert. At 25, she was one of the first women to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, where she served from 1977 to 1979, and the youngest woman there ever. She was also an officer on the American Stock Exchange. The 18-minute video clip had all the jihadist cliches the terrorist leader sitting cross-legged on a flowered mattress in an anonymous room, his full beard dyed with henna, a faux-military fishing vest over his black robe and a custom AK-47 at his side, with lieutenants nearby, faces obscured. Osama bin Laden had used the same props, as had Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the first leader of the Islamic State, or ISIS. The image was the message: the leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, wanted his far-flung followers to know that he was still alive and in command, and that the ISIS terror network was functioning despite the loss of the broad caliphate it once viciously controlled across Iraq and Syria and despite a $25-million bounty on his head. The terror war against the Crusaders was far from over: Our battle today is a battle of attrition, Mr. al-Baghdadi intoned in a low voice, and we will prolong it for the enemy, and they must know that the jihad will continue until Judgment Day. The tedious familiarity of the scene and the apocalyptic talk, however, made them no less menacing. Mr. al-Baghdadi apparently made the video sometime after ISIS was driven out of its last sliver of territory, the village of Baghuz in Syria, on March 23. But the organization had been declared dead before, only to come back with a vengeance. And indeed, a week before the video was made public, suicide bombers allied with ISIS struck in churches and high-end hotels across Sri Lanka, killing at least 253 . An audio message appended to the clip declared that this was vengeance for their brothers in Baghuz. Mr. al-Baghdadi had last appeared in a video five years earlier when he mounted the pulpit of the Al Nuri mosque in Mosul, Iraq, to proclaim a caliphate, an Islamic state, with himself as the caliph. His trademark was extraordinary cruelty even by the depraved standards of earlier jihadists, with prisoners publicly beheaded, captive women raped and suicide bombers dispatched on hundreds of missions. The underappreciated story right now is that w eve not only learned that it was Mr. Barr and pointedly not Mr. Mueller who decided to clear President Trump of the obstruction charges, but also discovered the reasoning behind Mr. Barrs decision. The American public and Congress now have the facts and evidence before them. The sunlight the regulations sought is shining. Mr. Barr tried to spin these facts. He hid Mr. Muellers complaints, which were delivered to him in writing more than a month ago, even when Congress asked in a previous hearing about complaints by members of the special counsel's team. And the four-page letter that Mr. Barr issued in March and supposedly described the Mueller report omitted the two key factors driving the special counsels decision (which were hard to miss, as they were on the first two pages of the reports volume about obstruction) : First, that he could not indict a sitting president, so it would be unfair to accuse Mr. Trump of crimes even if he were guilty as sin; and second, Mr. Mueller could and would clear a sitting president, but he did not believe the facts cleared the president. These two items came out because the special counsel regulations allowed for public release of this information (and not, as Mr. Barr testified on Wednesday, because he overrode the regulations to give the information to the public). The attorney general was misleading through and through, not just about the investigation, but about the special counsel regulations themselves. Whats more, we now know about Mr. Barrs reasoning to clear the president, which turns out to be painfully thin. When asked on Wednesday why he did so, Mr. Barr said the Department of Justice ordinarily issues binary decisions: indict or not indict. But Mr. Barrs own view is that this case is anything but ordinary, because the president cannot be indicted. If Mr. Trump were an ordinary individual, hed almost surely be looking down the barrel of a federal indictment right now. So how can Mr. Barr now use the ordinary rules playbook? This mishmash of legal arguments is absurd. No responsible scholar who thinks a sitting president cannot be indicted also thinks an attorney general can try to truncate a process of oversight by Congress, for example by pre-clearing the president in advance. The whole idea behind the notion that a sitting president cannot be indicted is that the responsibility lies in Congress. An attorney general shouldnt put his thumb on the scale one way or the other. Thats why Mr. Muellers predecessors, Kenneth Starr and Leon Jaworski, simply served the evidence up to Congress; they didnt try to exonerate the president in advance of it. WASHINGTON The Federal Trade Commission is negotiating a settlement with Facebook that would create new positions at the company focused on strengthening its privacy practices, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. Facebook has agreed to create a privacy committee to protect its users data, as well as an external assessor who would be appointed by the company and F.T.C., said the people, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The social network will also appoint a head compliance officer who could be its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg to oversee privacy efforts, one of the people said. The proposed commitments are part of negotiations between the agency and Facebook to settle privacy violations. Both have been talking for months over claims that Facebook violated a 2011 privacy consent decree. Last week, Facebook announced that it expected to be fined up to $5 billion by the agency, in what would be a record financial penalty by the United States against a technology company. [Get the Bits newsletter for the latest from Silicon Valley and the technology industry.] A Facebook spokeswoman and an F.T.C. spokesman declined to comment. The settlement details were earlier reported by Politico. For example, Mr. Barr quoted a fragment of one of Mr. Muellers sentences about how the evidence did not prove there had been any agreement between the campaign and Russia, but omitted a lead-in about how the Trump campaign had many contacts with Russians and had welcomed Russian intervention. And while Mr. Muellers investigators wrote about several actions by Mr. Trump that seemed to meet the criteria for obstruction, while stopping short of deciding whether to accuse Mr. Trump of that crime because the Justice Department has said sitting presidents cannot be indicted, Mr. Barr explained none of that. He simply declared that Mr. Mueller had made no call, leaving it to the attorney general to decide that the evidence did not support obstruction charges. Still, in other ways Mr. Barrs performance has not lived up to critics fears about him. During his confirmation hearing, Democrats expressed worries that he would invoke his broad view of executive power to tell Mr. Trump that the Constitution puts him, as president, above the law. Mr. Barr has written that obstruction laws cannot cover a president who abuses his official powers to impede an investigation, and argued for a sweeping view of a presidents authority as commander in chief. Against that backdrop, it was notable on Wednesday that he invoked no constitutional theories to justify clearing Mr. Trump of obstructing justice. Rather, he interpreted the evidence in a light favorable to Mr. Trump, arguing that it was ambiguous and fell short of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that any of his actions met the criteria for obstruction. But Mr. Barr at times seemed to channel the vantage point of a defense lawyer for Mr. Trump that was at odds with the image of an attorney general who enforces the law dispassionately. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota and a former prosecutor, pressed him to explain how it was not obstruction of justice for Mr. Trump to dangle a pardon before his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, while urging him not to flip and cooperate with investigators. WASHINGTON Senator Amy Klobuchar advertised her bipartisan legislative efforts, just as she does on the Democratic presidential campaign trail. Senator Kamala Harris was prosecutorial and pointed, evoking memories of her treatment of Brett M. Kavanaugh at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. And Senator Cory Booker flubbed his lines, saying obstruction instead of collusion. Later, both he and Ms. Harris put out fund-raising emails and posts on Twitter calling for Attorney General William P. Barr to resign. Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing offered Democrats on Capitol Hill their first chance to grill Mr. Barr about his handling of the special counsels report and decision not to pursue an obstruction of justice case against President Trump. And the three committee Democrats running for president Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Harris and Mr. Booker were not about to let a prime branding opportunity go to waste. Each sought to use the hearing to distinguish him- or herself from the others a necessary task in a field so crowded that voters can barely remember some Democratic contenders names, and in a week when former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. declared his candidacy and instantly catapulted to the front of the Democratic pack. The broad outlines of how the Bidens roles intersected in Ukraine have been known for some time. The former vice presidents campaign said that he had always acted to carry out United States policy without regard to any activities of his son, that he had never discussed the matter with Hunter Biden and that he learned of his sons role with the Ukrainian energy company from news reports. But new details about Hunter Bidens involvement, and a decision this year by the current Ukrainian prosecutor general to reverse himself and reopen an investigation into Burisma, have pushed the issue back into the spotlight just as the senior Mr. Biden is beginning his 2020 presidential campaign. They show how Hunter Biden and his American business partners were part of a broad effort by Burisma to bring in well-connected Democrats during a period when the company was facing investigations backed not just by domestic Ukrainian forces but by officials in the Obama administration. Hunter Bidens work for Burisma prompted concerns among State Department officials at the time that the connection could complicate Vice President Bidens diplomacy in Ukraine, former officials said. I have had no role whatsoever in relation to any investigation of Burisma, or any of its officers, Hunter Biden said Wednesday in a statement. I explicitly limited my role to focus on corporate governance best practices to facilitate Burismas desire to expand globally. SAN DIEGO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wilshire Quinn Capital, Inc. announced Thursday that its private lending fund, the Wilshire Quinn Income Fund, has provided an $810,000 cash-out refinance loan on a multi-family property in Jersey City, New Jersey. The duplex is comprised of 2,498 square-feet and is located in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City. The property recently appraised for $1,350,000, giving the Wilshire Quinn Income Fund a total loan-to-value ratio of 60 percent on the transaction. Wilshire Quinn typically funds loans in 5 to 7 business days and originates bridge loans ranging from $200,000-$10,000,000. Wilshire Quinn works directly with real estate owners and mortgage professionals nationwide. As for Wilshire Quinns typical borrowers, their customer base is fairly diverse; borrowers range from builders looking for rehab financing, to individuals who are looking to purchase or refinance an investment property. Wilshire Quinn, a California hard money lender , provides financing to borrowers who are unable to obtain credit from traditional lending institutions or need to close quickly on a property. ABOUT WILSHIRE QUINN Wilshire Quinn is a San Diego hard money lender , Los Angeles hard money lender , and San Francisco hard money lender , and provides financing to borrowers who are unable to obtain credit from traditional lending institutions or need to close quickly on a property. Wilshire Quinn will consider lending on properties located nationwide including Seattle , Portland , and New York. Loans are made or arranged by Wilshire Quinn Income Fund, LLC pursuant to California Finance Lenders Law license #603J060. Wilshire Quinn Capital, Inc. serves as manager of the Wilshire Quinn Income Fund, LLC. The information above is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. Portions of the loan described above may be sold to third party purchasers and does not necessarily reflect the amount held in the Fund's loan portfolio. Nothing contained in the information above is an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Any such offer to purchase securities will be made only through the Private Placement Memorandum of Wilshire Quinn Income Fund, LLC. Contact ALEXANDRIA, Va. A former C.I.A. officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of conspiring with Chinese intelligence agents in a case that highlighted the growing aggressiveness of Beijings spy services. The officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, entered the guilty plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors, who dropped two charges related to retaining classified information. Judge T. S. Ellis III of Federal District Court in Alexandria is scheduled to sentence Mr. Lee at the end of August. Mr. Lee could still face up to life in prison on the conspiracy charge, but as part of the plea deal prosecutors will seek a sentence of 17 to 27 years. At the hearing on Wednesday, Judge Ellis repeatedly said he did not have to be bound by that agreement. Mr. Lee, wearing a green jumpsuit labeled Alexandria Inmate, said he understood. A lawyer for Mr. Lee, Edward B. MacMahon Jr., said that while Mr. Lee pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide information, the government offered no evidence that classified information was given to Chinese operatives. There is no allegation that Mr. Lee delivered any information to the Chinese, he said. WASHINGTON Nobody said regime change was going to be easy. President Trumps top advisers woke up Tuesday believing that a rebellion in the Venezuelan military that day would galvanize a popular uprising and topple a leader they have described as a reviled despot who must be replaced. But at days end, President Nicolas Maduro was still in power and Mr. Trumps advisers were left to blame Cuba, Russia and three influential Venezuelan officials, who failed to switch sides, for frustrating their plans. The decision of the Venezuelans to stand with Mr. Maduro either because they were intimidated, got cold feet or never planned to defect raised questions about whether the United States had faulty intelligence about the ability of the opposition to peel away members of his government. It also raised questions about whether Mr. Trumps aides had fallen victim to a misreading of events on the ground, or whether Mr. Trump, who officials say has sometimes outrun his aides in an enthusiasm for forcing out Mr. Maduro, might lose faith in the effort as it wears on. Mr. Maduro has been weakened at home and discredited abroad, but he remains a stubborn rival unwilling to step aside for the opposition leader, Juan Guaido, recognized by the United States as the countrys de facto leader. While the administration got off to a sure-footed start on Venezuela, rallying dozens of countries against the Venezuelan president, critics said its response had become haphazard and chaotic as the crisis has dragged on. What Was Said Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont: My question was why did you say you were not aware of concerns, when weeks before your testimony Mr. Mueller had expressed concerns to you? I mean, thats a fairly simple Mr. Barr: I answered the question, and the question was relating to unidentified members who were expressing frustration over the accuracy relating to findings. I don't know what that refers to at all. I talked directly to Bob Mueller, not members of his team. And even though I did not know what was being referred to, and Mueller had never told me that the expression of the findings was inaccurate but I did then volunteer that I thought they were talking about the desire to have more information put out. But it wasn't my purpose to put out more information. This is misleading. In testimony before a House appropriations committee in April, Mr. Barr was asked about reporting by The New York Times and others about unhappiness on the special counsels team over the way the attorney general had characterized its report. On Wednesday, Mr. Barr repeatedly defended those comments to the House committee and maintained that he was denying knowledge of the specific reports. This was misleading by omission, as Mr. Mueller had written to him twice and spoken with him about the investigators concerns. Reports have emerged recently, General, 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, Representative Charlie Crist, Democrat of Florida, asked Mr. Barr in early April. Do you know what they are referencing with that? No, I dont, Mr. Barr replied. I think, I suspect, that they probably wanted, you know, 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 under-inclusive or over-inclusive, but also, you know, would trigger a lot of discussion and analysis that really should await everything coming out at once. Asked by lawmakers last month whether he had heard from any of the investigators, Mr. Barr evaded the question and said that the article was sourced through associates of some of the people who worked on the Mueller report. What Was Said Mr. Barr: Yeah, he fully cooperated. This is misleading. Mr. Barrs statement was in reference to a question about whether Mr. Trump had fully cooperated with the special counsels inquiry. Mr. Trump did not assert executive privilege during Mr. Muellers investigation, as Mr. Barr correctly noted. But Mr. Trump also declined to sit down for an interview with investigators. And in his written responses, the president stated on more than 30 occasions that he had no memory of what they were asking about, while other answers he provided were incomplete or imprecise, according to the special counsels report. The report also documented at least 10 potential episodes of obstruction, including attempts to end the inquiry or remove Mr. Mueller. What Was Said Mr. Leahy: Mr. Mueller found the written answers to be inadequate. Is that correct? Mr. Barr: I think he wanted additional, but he never sought it. Mr. Leahy: And the president never testified. Mr. Barr: Well, he never he never pushed it. This is false. Whether Mr. Mueller pushed hard enough for an in-person interview with Mr. Trump is subjective, but Mr. Mueller did seek it. Beginning in December 2017, this office sought for more than a year to interview the president on topics relevant to both Russian election interference and obstruction of justice, according to the report. It goes on to document the offices repeated efforts and to note that Mr. Trump declined. WASHINGTON Attorney General William P. Barr defended himself on Wednesday against withering criticism of his handling of the special counsel investigation as Democrats accused him of deceiving Congress and acting as a personal agent for President Trump rather than a steward of justice. At a contentious hearing marked by a deep partisan divide, Mr. Barr denied misrepresenting the investigations conclusions despite a newly revealed letter by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, protesting the initial summary of its findings. Mr. Barr dismissed the letter as a bit snitty and the controversy over it as mind-bendingly bizarre. But in a series of aggressive interrogations, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed indignation and asserted that the attorney general had been purposely misleading, engaged in masterful hairsplitting and even lied to Congress. Several Democrats on the committee, elsewhere in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail called for Mr. Barrs resignation or even impeachment. The conflict escalated afterward when Mr. Barr announced that he would not show up for a parallel hearing on Thursday before the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee. Mr. Barr objected to the format of questioning, which would have included questioning by staff lawyers, not just lawmakers. Democrats may now opt to subpoena him, setting up a possible showdown in court. The Frieze Art Fair on Randalls Island includes exhibits from nearly 200 galleries from around the world. Credit... Rebecca Smeyne for The New York Times Our guide to new art shows and some that will be closing soon. SIAH ARMAJANI: FOLLOW THIS LINE at the Met Breuer (through June 2). Born in Iran, Armajani has been living in the United States since 1960. This retrospective ranges from work he did as a teenage activist in Tehran to models of the many public sculptures he has produced across America over the past five decades. It introduces us to a sharp social thinker, a wry (and increasingly melancholic) metaphysician, a plain-style visual poet and, above all, an artist-ethicist. Bridge Over Tree, Armajanis wonderful large-scale sculpture presented by Public Art Fund at Brooklyn Bridge Park (on the Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn through Sept. 29) to coincide with the Met show, is well timed for our present era of sundering moral confusion and offers ways forward from it. (Holland Cotter) 212-731-1675, metmuseum.org ARTISTS RESPOND: AMERICAN ART AND THE VIETNAM WAR, 1965-1975 (through Aug. 18) and TIFFANY CHUNG: VIETNAM, PAST IS PROLOGUE (through Sept. 2) at Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. Everything in Artists Respond, a big, inspiriting blast of an historical survey, dates from a time when the United States was losing its soul, and its artists some, anyway were trying to save theirs by denouncing a racist war. Figures well known for their politically hard-hitting work Judith Bernstein, Leon Golub, Hans Haacke, Peter Saul, Nancy Spero are here in strength. But so are others, like Dan Flavin and Donald Judd and Barnett Newman, seldom associated with visual activism. Concurrent with the survey is a smaller, fine-tuned show by a contemporary Vietnamese-born artist, Tiffany Chung; it views the war through the eyes of people on the receiving end of aggression. (Cotter) 202-663-7970, americanart.si.edu MATTHEW BARNEY: REDOUBT at Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven (through June 16). The wildly innovative sculptor and filmmaker, Yale class of 1989, heads back to the halls of ivy to present his first major project since the six-hour excremental eruption of River of Fundament and shows Barney in a lighter, nimbler mode than he has displayed in years. The new film Redoubt, shot in his home state of Idaho, riffs on the myth of Diana and Actaeon; the goddess, here, is an NRA-approved sharpshooter, while the doomed voyeur is the artist himself, making plein-air etchings of Diana and her attendants. Related copper etchings appear in the exhibition, and Barney has electroplated them over varying times, encrusting them with weird metal nodules. Redoubt lacks the operatic grandeur some of Barneys fanboys prefer. But its the most emancipated work of his career, and it should make a star of Eleanor Bauer, the dancer and choreographer whom he has entrusted with the films most beautiful movement sequences. The film runs about two hours and screens on Saturday afternoons and on select weekdays; check the website for times. (Jason Farago) 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu GAME OF THRONES MUSEUM TOUR at the Rubin Museum (May 3, 7 p.m.; May 15, 6 p.m.). One of the main pillars of George R. R. Martins fantasy series is power. It is also this years theme at the Rubin. So as the HBO television series that Martins books inspired comes to a conclusion, the museum is conducting a tour on Friday and May 15 through its current Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism exhibition, linking a handful of its centerpieces with Thrones plot lines and characters from the parallels between the depiction of rebirth in Wheel of Life and the resurrection of Beric Dondarrion, Lady Stoneheart and Jon Snow to the copper statue of the Hindu goddess Durga slaying a demon and its similarities with female warriors such as Brienne of Tarth, Arya Stark and Lyanna Mormont. The two tours are free with museum admission; each will start promptly at the base of the spiral staircase on the first floor. (Danielle Dowling) 212-620-5000, rubinmuseum.org Art fairs used to be principally trade shows for specialist audiences, and few were more established and exclusive than the European Fine Art Fair which each March lures museum directors and deep-pocketed connoisseurs to Maastricht, in the southern tip of the Netherlands. Now, fairs constitute a year-round global festival of commerce, chitchat and champagne sponsorship, and Tefaf has established a pair of smaller New York spinoffs: a fall edition focused on older art, and a spring show with a more modern orientation. Three years in, Tefaf New York Spring has matured from an experiment into an appointment, with offerings of notably higher quality than most of its New York competitors. Though galleries of modern art dominate this spring jamboree, its also accented with furniture dealers, specialists in antiquities and a few lavish jewelers flogging all manner of drop earrings and diadems. Tefaf is also unique among art fairs for its rigorous vetting process, which involves dozens of experts combing the booths to authenticate the wares on offer . Many dealers here have turned their booths into solo shows (Pace has filled its booth with an array by Jean Dubuffet), regional showcases (Gladstone Gallerys all-Brazilian booth is a showstopper) or thematic mini-exhibitions. (At Spruth Magers, all the works are by women working in a political vein in the 1980s.) The fair runs through Tuesday; here are some highlights, whether youre buying or browsing. LONDON The writings on the wall, were told. Whether it was Johannes Gutenbergs printing press in the 15th century, the invention of the typewriter 300 years later, or the emoji of todays smartphones, the act of writing seems to be forever on the precipice of extinction, without quite falling off. Writing has never been static, said Adrian Edwards, a curator at the British Library who put together the exhibition Writing: Making Your Mark, which runs through Aug. 27. The marks we make on the page have always changed and developed in ways in tune with our needs, he added. I think writings going to be around for quite some time to come, Mr. Edwards said. Why this page? It was actually almost impossible to decide on one. Its like choosing a favorite child. But this highlights whats so special about this opera, which is not only the highly religious context, but also how religion is used as an expressive vehicle. The Ave Maria starts with the nuns humming under Mere Marie [the second in command at the convent]. Most of the opera is about the conflict and competition between her and the new prioress. She says before this: Lets agree to obey our new leader, not only with our mouths, but also from our hearts. This is where Poulenc is such a genius, and a bit like Verdi: with minimal effects, which are so direct. The brass have this chord that indicates something solemn, but then the cellos intervene with this beautiful C sharp, which creates a dissonance. This leads to the prayer, which is divided in the chorus. And its just so beautiful; every beat is more beautiful than the other. Poulenc is asking here for the music to be tres lie it has to be legato and intimate. People often assume that prayer is slightly distant, but its the opposite here. A comedy about the end of a romance is streaming on Netflix. And Aliens is on IFC. Whats Streaming SOMEONE GREAT (2019) Stream on Netflix. Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow, DeWanda Wise and Lakeith Stanfield star in this comedy. Rodriguez plays Jenny, who lands a job that calls for her to move from New York to the West Coast. Then her longtime partner, Nate (Stanfield), ends their relationship. A night out with friends (Snow and Wise) is called for, both from the characters perspectives (Jennys friends want to provide balm for her breakup) and from the films creators (in her review for The New York Times, Karen Han referred to this movie as Netflixs contribution to the girls night out genre.) BOSTON, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Micronotes , the leading provider of artificially intelligent marketing automation for digital banking , announced today that CEO Devon Kinkead will be a featured speaker at Fiserv Forum 2019, the annual conference for Fiserv clients. Fiserv is a Micronotes partner, bringing the many benefits of Micronotes AI platform to its large base of bank and credit union clients. Kinkeads presentation, in the session How Artificial Intelligence Will Make Your Business Smarter, takes place Tuesday, May 7 at 3:45 p.m. in the South Seas C room at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Using artificial intelligence, bankers can do things that were impossible only a few years ago, said Kinkead. Ill discuss how marketers use AI-enabled marketing to get to know digital banking users who seldom set foot in a branch. Using AI, bank and credit union marketers can engage in quick, targeted conversations with digital users during online and mobile banking sessions. This enables marketers to deepen relationships with existing and new customers and members. Also speaking at Forum is Parker Steed, Micronotes channel sales director, who will participate in a session titled Personalize Engagement with AI and Machine Learning. Joining him will be Fiserv executive Samuel Venhaus, and Denise Gendreau, senior vice president of retail operations for Pioneer Bank in New Mexico, a joint Fiserv and Micronotes client. That session takes place on Wednesday, May 8 at 10:30 a.m. in the Breakers D room at Mandalay Bay. About Micronotes Micronotes is the leader in AI-driven marketing automation for digital banking. The companys fast, automated and cloud-based digital marketing automation platform applies machine learning to customer data to improve engagement and effectively cross-sell financial services through digital channels. Privately held, Micronotes is based in Boston. For more information, visit https://www.micronotes.com or connect with Micronotes on LinkedIn and Twitter . Since then, the festival has convened hundreds of authors and intellectuals from dozens of countries to sit in conversation with American writers. Every year, the festival a weeks worth of public events across New York City is organized around a theme tied to issues dominating public discourse. After Hillary Clintons loss in the 2016 presidential election, the following years events revolved around the subject of gender and power. Last year, following Donald Trumps first year in office, the theme was resist and reimagine, and panelists discussed how other parts of the world had handled their own political unrest. Chip Rolley, the festivals director, said his goal was to draw a connection between what were reading and the stories in the news, the things were talking about to our friend over dinner, what were reading about on the subway station, the things were tweeting about. The theme of this years festival, which kicks off Monday, is open secrets, with events devoted to exploring the positive and negative effects of the increasingly blurred lines between public and private information. Some of the events highlight social movements that have emerged anchored by personal testimony. It Happened to Me for instance, will bring together seven writers, poets and essayists, including the French memoirist Edouard Louis and the Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, to share personal traumatic experiences. Siri, Wheres My Democracy? will focus on the decrease of privacy online, with several journalists and a privacy expert discussing foreign intervention in the 2016 presidential election and what it means that our lives can now be monitored online. Before April recedes too far into the rearview, lets pause a moment to appreciate a month that gave us cause as if we needed it to celebrate both earth and verse. Whether you wanted a book for Earth Day (April 22) or for National Poetry Month (the whole darn month), Brian Teares Doomstead Days might have served: A collection of poems composed while walking, it honors and mourns the changing landscapes it encounters throughout. If that whets your appetite for more poetry, you should definitely read Morgan Parkers Magical Negro, which cements her place as one of the smartest, liveliest, most accomplished young poets working today. Or if it fires you up to read more about the environment and what were doing to it, Nathaniel Richs Losing Earth: A Climate History (which started as an article for The Times Magazine) spins a bleak and gripping narrative about how weve reached this point. SMH, as the kids say online. Thats short for shaking my head, but in my house we thought for a long time it meant so much hate. In this case, both meanings apply. We also bring a couple of novels your way, along with a look at sciences changing views of mental illness, a history of American cult leaders and Henry Louis Gates Jr.s new book about the short-lived promise of Reconstruction. Then theres Mary Norriss love letter to Greek language and culture, and because April also brought us Shakespeares birthday a look back at the 1769 theater festival that renewed his reputation despite being so chaotic that our reviewer describes it, wonderfully, as an 18th-century version of the Fyre Festival. Gregory Cowles Senior Editor, Books Twitter: @GregoryCowles MACHINES LIKE ME, by Ian McEwan. (Nan A. Talese, $26.95.) McEwans latest novel concerns a menage a trois between a man, a woman and a sexy male robot. The story, set in an alternative 1980s England, is about what happens when Charlie, a London man in his early 30s, uses money left to him after his mothers death to buy a first-generation robot named Adam. There are some pokey moments in this novel, some dead nodes, our critic Dwight Garner writes. But McEwan has an interesting mind and he is nearly always good company on the page. In whichever direction he turns, he has worthwhile commentary to make. MIND FIXERS: Psychiatrys Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness, by Anne Harrington. (Norton, $27.95.) Harrington, a historian of science at Harvard, says that psychiatrys biological triumphalism began to unravel in the 1990s and the 2000s. Anticipated discoveries in the biology of mental illness, vigorously hyped before they even arrived, never panned out. Harrington doesnt romanticize the world of mental illness before drugs drugs that many patients credit with offering relief and even a chance at survival, our critic Jennifer Szalai writes. What psychiatry needs to do, she says, is narrow its focus to the most severe forms of mental illness and make a virtue of modesty rather than hubris. By the halfway point of The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez, Aida has suffered enough for several lifetimes. After being brought to the United States when she was in elementary school, she saw her mother, Luz, beaten by an American boyfriend who used Luzs immigration status against her. Though a bright, enthusiastic student, she got pregnant at 16 and married a man who repeated the cycle of abuse. She was deported without her son to Mexico, where, lacking the few dollars shed need to obtain the documents for a national ID, she couldnt work legally. For want of a life-changing $20, she took a bartending job. At the end of her first night, exhausted and afraid to walk home in the dark, she accepted a ride home from a man who first tried to kiss her and then, when she resisted, stabbed her nearly to death. In a terrifying, chaotic scene, she was allowed back in the United States for emergency medical treatment. By the time she is reunited with her adored son, readers whove come to care about Aida may feel a brief moment of relief. So its gutting when that chapter ends with the words: And then the darkest part of her story began. Bobrow-Strain intertwines Aidas story with several others. Theres her father, Raul, a peasant revolutionary who taught himself yoga to survive a stint in a Mexico City prison. We learn about the life of Rosie Mendoza, a social worker who overcame her own history of horrific abuse and deprivation to help women like Aida. And we follow Ema Ponce, a gay Ecuadorean college student who, entrusting her fate to human smugglers, embarks on a hellish journey to America, where her life intersects with Aidas in a way that briefly holds out the promise of a happy ending. Unspooling these intertwined narratives, Bobrow-Strain, a professor of politics at Whitman College, asks us to put an unusual amount of trust in him as an author. In an endnote, he writes that his book occupies a space between journalism and ethnography, with a dash of oral history and biography. I dont know much about the professional rules of ethnography, but some of Bobrow-Strains methods are outside of normal journalistic practice. Aida Hernandez is a pseudonym, as are the names he gives most of his other central figures. Further, Aida is more than just Bobrow-Strains subject. As he wrote the book, he gave her drafts to read, and he says that he plans to share a third of the books proceeds with her. It is a story told in collaboration with Aida about the brutal consequences of policies she was, in Audre Lordes poetic language, never meant to survive, he writes. In crafting the narrative, he didnt rely just on her account as he describes his process, he confirmed details through numerous other interviews, legal and medical records, photographs and contemporaneous news stories, among other sources. But Aidas memories, he writes, form the heart of the project. Theres something admirable in Bobrow-Strains approach. Janet Malcolm once wrote that the journalist is a kind of confidence man, preying on peoples vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse. Bobrow-Strain seems determined to avoid the ethical pitfalls inherent in making other peoples lives into literary material. In doing so, though, he requires readers to take a lot on faith. Its highly unusual for journalists to enter into profit-sharing arrangements with their subjects. And if ethnography generally insists on anonymity, journalism frowns on it. The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez strikes me as entirely believable, but I imagine some will approach it skeptically. Over the years, though, Mira finds plenty of people who do just that. In the wake of 9/11, the horror binds people in the city together, but then there are others, like a man at a bar Mira goes to, who suddenly feel emboldened to make comments like, How do we know you arent plotting to kill everyone in here if you wont even talk to us? I guess America got kind of weird for us for a while, Mira tells her son, while withholding all the micro- and macroaggressions shes endured on the subway, in a diner, on the street. Included within that us are mother and son. But where does that leave Jed? After the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, 6-year-old Z. starts to question his place in society. Is it bad to be brown? he wonders. Are white people afraid of brown people? Progressive to the gills, with a lifetime of P.O.C. wisdom, Mira-as-mom carefully deflects and reassures. Then comes the kicker: Is Daddy afraid of us? The biracial Z. is trying to parse the color line, circa now, and see which side hes on, as if there would be some comfort in knowing. Its a skill hell have to hone all his life, the way his mother has, and the way his father has never had to. Throughout Good Talk, Jacob reproduces the same black and white figures, like cutouts you can turn into finger puppets, often set against colorful photographs: a Chelsea street, her parents kitchen. Even her major characters have just a few avatars, with fixed poses and expressions. Jacob zooms in and out, juxtaposes, crops. The figures work well as delivery systems for her dialogue, at times generating a deadpan humor, like the clip-art ciphers in David Reess Get Your War On (2002). On occasion, the photocopied feel dilutes the text, as in a fight between Mira and Jed over his parents full-throated support for Trump. Their faces, adequate in prior situations, appear oddly dazed and distracted. But the medium is part of the magic of Good Talk. The old comic-book alchemy of words and pictures opens up new possibilities of feeling. During one searing argument, Mira asks Jed if his Jewish, MAGA-spouting folks who are doting grandparents to their mixed-race child would be O.K. if she voted for an anti-Semitic candidate. I dont know that its helpful to be so black and white about it, Jed retorts. In a flash, the graphic elements (monochrome cutouts, photos) of Good Talk seem to be a commentary on race. The people are black and white except, of course, theyre not. MARTIN BUBER A Life of Faith and Dissent By Paul Mendes-Flohr Martin Buber vaulted into prominence in German intellectual life in the first years of the 20th century, when he was still in his early 20s. His fame and influence spread across Western Europe in the decades that followed, as well as to Palestine, where he was compelled to flee at the late date of 1938. Although his presence in the United States has somewhat diminished, during the years after World War II he was repeatedly a center of attention here. In the early 1950s, when he was past 70, he toured the country, giving dozens of lectures, often to packed audiences. In a reflection of those times, Saul Bellow in Herzog (1964) impishly chose to make Valentine Gersbach, the lover of Herzogs wife, an apostle of Bubers teaching, urging Herzog to read I and Thou and related books in the midst of energetically cuckolding him. Paul Mendes-Flohr, a distinguished scholar of German-Jewish intellectual life, has written a scrupulously researched, perceptive biography of Buber that evinces an authoritative command of all the contexts through which Buber moved. Martin Buber: A Life of Faith and Dissent is perhaps less a biography than an intellectual history of Buber, although the essential facts of his life are duly reported. Mendes-Flohr indulges in little psychological speculation, apart from the effect that Bubers abandonment by his mother when he was 3 (she ran off with a Russian officer) may have had on his later emphasizing the maternal element in spiritual life. After his mothers abrupt departure, Buber was sent to live with his observant and scholarly grandparents, who home-schooled him. He stayed with them until the age of 14, when his father remarried. But by adolescence Buber had permanently broken with Orthodoxy, though he remained in a peculiar sense, to which I shall return, a religious Jew. One reflection of his freedom from the constraints of Jewish tradition is that while a student at the University of Zurich, he fell in love with Paula Winkler, a young woman born in a pious Catholic home, and had two children out of wedlock with her. She later converted to Judaism and became his lifelong emotional and intellectual soul mate. Mendes-Flohrs account shows the breadth and depth of Bubers engagement in German culture. He studied with the eminent philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey and the famous sociologist Georg Simmel, both of whom significantly influenced him. He frequented social circles that included Max Weber, Edmund Husserl, Rainer Maria Rilke and other leading writers and thinkers. From the beginning, he was an advocate of a renewal of Judaism, first in the Zionist movement, with which he maintained a heterodox relationship that persisted over the years, and an interlocutor with the broader European world, including some prominent Christians. The primacy of dialogue in his thought was manifested in most of his cultural activities from early on. This idea would be embraced not only by liberal Jews but also by Christian theologians and secular thinkers. OKSANA, BEHAVE! By Maria Kuznetsova LIGHTS ALL NIGHT LONG By Lydia Fitzpatrick If contemporary American literature were labeled like processed food, some novels would list Russian Mystique as an ingredient: a hint of ground-up Chekhov, a trace of Putin, some dirty snow from the Gulag, all marinated in the air of a communal apartment, and used to signify literary depth. Maria Kuznetsovas Oksana, Behave! and Lydia Fitzpatricks Lights All Night Long both contain more than a bullion cube of this special artificial flavor. In an immigrant coming-of-age story, Oksana narrates her own life through a series of vignettes, beginning when she is 7 and leaves Kiev for Gainesville, Fla., with her family, and ending when she is in early adulthood. Kuznetsovas writing can take on a breezy, frenetic energy she is good at sex scenes, drinking scenes and at describing impulsive action. Oksanas sexpot grandmother, Baba, is a remarkable character, and the depiction of Oksanas job as a content producer for a media startup is spot-on and hilarious. But the book is hampered by an awkward, self-conscious sprinkling of that Russian Mystique. Here is a very drunk Oksana, at a party in Manhattan: Though I know I should be moved by the raspy lyrics of the rebel Russian bard Vysotsky or the Soviet rock my parents listened to during their final years together, nothing makes me feel more pain than a perfect pop song after a few drinks, when I am open to the worlds ecstasy and horror, dancing like I have 10 arms and 10 legs and 10 different hearts for breaking. The awkward Russian references sound jerry-built in an otherwise fun, multi-limbed sentence. Plotwise, a novel about a woman in her 20s who, when seriously inebriated, contemplates her obligation to her parents music taste is actually quite interesting. But Kuznetsova never explores Oksanas motivations: For a story told in the first person, Oksana, Behave! is remarkably introspection-free. Oksana appears detached from her own feelings and actions, as if watching herself from a distance. This approach works well in childhood scenes, her sense of bewilderment and dislocation authentic to the early immigrant experience. And when teenage Oksana suffers a loss, this distant, nihilistic tone is an effective expression of grief. But as she ages, the protagonist never evolves, continuing to narrate her self-destructive life in the same curmudgeonly voice, devoid of insight. The novel as a result is both action-packed and tedious, its language slipping easily into rote cliches, as when Oksana tells her grandmother, Im in love with a married man. Hes leaving his wife for me. Baba tritely replies, Youre still young, why get involved in such a mess? If I were you, I would run in the other direction. Oksana: But youre not me. You dont feel what I feel. Powerful cyclone threatens India Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from parts of the countrys eastern coast ahead of the arrival today of Cyclone Fani. The India Meteorological Department said the storm would land with sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour and gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. More than 100 million people are potentially in the cyclones path. The details: As much as eight inches of rain is forecast to fall on the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The storm is expected to continue north, hitting Bangladesh and Bhutan, as well as parts of the Indian states of West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya. Check our live cyclone tracking map for the latest. 1. Thats a crime. Thats what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about Attorney General William Barrs testimony in April, when he said was unaware that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, had protested Mr. Barrs portrayal of his reports conclusions. She said that testimony was false. The statement came after House Democrats threatened to hold Mr. Barr in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear at a hearing of the Judiciary Committee. The attorney general also ignored a subpoena deadline to hand over Mr. Muellers unredacted report. Mr. Barr rebuffed accusations that he had misrepresented the conclusions reached by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and dismissed Mr. Muellers complaints about an initial summary of the report as a bit snitty. News analysis: Whether Mr. Barr used his powers neutrally or abused them to create a more favorable impression for the president was a focus of the hearing, our Washington correspondent writes. See for yourself: Read Mr. Muellers letter, and review crucial moments from the testimony. The Daily: In todays episode, our congressional reporter tells us about the day in the hearing room. Perspective: In an Op-Ed, the former F.B.I. director James Comey writes about Mr. Barr and his relationship with President Trump: Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them. The Federal Aviation Administration has been increasing its scrutiny of Boeings plant near Charleston, S.C., where manufacturing errors have at times threatened to undermine safety. Since September, the agency has investigated and confirmed three safety complaints made by employees who detailed problems with planes in the final stages of production, according to an F.A.A. official and an internal agency email. The regulator is also looking into a claim that an employee faced pressure to sign off on work related to the airworthiness of a jet during the last week of March. In recent years, the F.A.A. has subjected the North Charleston factory to a high level of oversight, a sign that the agency has had concerns. As part of that added oversight, the agency has forced employees to take extra steps to demonstrate that they are complying with federal regulations, according to an internal F.A.A. memo reviewed by The New York Times. From June 2013 to October 2014, the agency did not allow employees from the plant to certify aircraft, instead requiring that F.A.A. personnel directly sign off on all jets made there, the memo said. Typically, the agency relies on the manufacturers employees to help certify the aircraft. Even today, the agency is visiting the plant every other week to ensure that tools are not being lost, an extra level of vigilance by the regulator. French English CHALK RIVER, Ontario, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), Canadas premier nuclear science and technology organization, is pleased to announce that it has engaged hundreds of students across Ontario in the first year of its revitalized local school program, an initiative designed to enrich the curriculum for students in communities across the province. Through activities that include hosted day-long visits to the Chalk River Laboratories, guest speakers and presentations, virtual webinars, and support for community science fairs, CNL is working to bring science into the class room and encourage student interest in a range of career options in science and engineering. I can appreciate that science may not be everyones favourite subject, commented Mark Lesinski, President & CEO. But providing students with the opportunity to see science in action whether its tackling real-world challenges or making a meaningful discovery can change a students perception and get them excited about the possibilities of a career in engineering and sciences. In 2018, CNL made a concerted effort to provide students with more opportunities to connect with the scientists and engineers at the laboratories. The reaction to the enhanced program has exceeded expectations, with secondary schools, colleges and universities quickly booking dates to visit the Chalk River campus. As Canadas national nuclear laboratory, we recognize that we have a role to play in inspiring new scientists and enriching the learning opportunities already being provided in schools, explained Pat Quinn, Director of Corporate Communications. Over the past year, we hosted over 400 students at the Chalk River site from 23 schools between Ottawa and Sudbury. These visits provide students with a chance to learn more about the important work we do, about the work many of their parents and neighbours do, and how their education can prepare them to pursue a career in these scientific and technical fields. We encourage other schools to contact us to be a part of the program in 2019." In addition to site visits, CNL supports a number of other student science activities throughout the year. Annual events, such as Take Our Kids to Work Day, sees more than 75 students visit the Chalk River site for a full day. With the help of parent escorts, the students visit several laboratories and facilities, gaining insight into the various career paths available to them in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). These engagements are further supplemented by in class presentations on topics closely connected to the students curriculum or interests. Volunteers from CNL also serve as judges in local science fairs, and help conduct national programs such as Science Odyssey, a week-long event held each May. Science Odyssey is known as Canadas largest celebration of STEM. Last year, CNL was one of more than 500 science organizations who collectively delivered almost 1,100 events in over 300 cities and communities across Canada. A similar effort is underway for this year. For the 2019 Science Odyssey, CNL is planning a number of activities and presentations to get students thinking about applications for energy, clean energy, and energy accessibility challenges. As a nuclear laboratory, CNLs events will focus on small modular reactors (SMR), and the potential they hold as a clean energy option, particularly in Canadas remote northern communities or mining sites. There are still plenty of opportunities for schools to take part in CNLs school program in 2019. For more information on the initiative, or to request a site visit for your classroom, please visit www.cnl.ca/schools . About CNL Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is a world leader in nuclear science and technology offering unique capabilities and solutions across a wide range of industries. Actively involved with industry-driven research and development in nuclear, transportation, clean technology, energy, defence, security and life sciences, we provide solutions to keep these sectors competitive internationally. With ongoing investments in new facilities and a focused mandate, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is well positioned for the future. A new performance standard reinforced with a strong safety culture underscores every activity. For more information on the complete range of services Canadian Nuclear Laboratories please visit www.cnl.ca or contact communications@cnl.ca . Contact: Patrick Quinn Director, Corporate Communications CNL, 1-866-886-2325 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3c16151a-258b-4c2c-8f68-05241835239a Were your parents able to find work? My parents were both professionals in China. My mother taught English at a university and my father worked as an engineer. But in the U.S. they had trouble finding jobs that were appropriate for their skill sets. My mother initially cleaned hotel rooms, then did some translation and worked in a video store. And my father worked a lot of odd jobs, then worked in a cheese factory. He still cant look at cheese. And you picked up English pretty quickly? I had to. It wasnt an option not to. My parents sacrificed everything because they wanted a better life for me and my little sister. Thats why we came to the U.S. So it wasnt an option not to step up to those high expectations. So I didnt go to high school. There was an early entrance program at California State in Los Angeles, and I started college at 13. How did that happen? If my parents could work two, three jobs each and raise me, then it's the least that I could do to learn English and test into college. And I was really fortunate that early on in college, I met mentors who believed in me in a way that I didnt believe in myself. I had this childhood dream that I wanted to be a doctor, but I came from a neighborhood and an environment where nobody around me was a doctor. I literally didnt know how one goes from studying in college to becoming a doctor. Why did you want to be a doctor? I had severe asthma when I was a child and I saw doctors growing up. Seeing someone who could not only help me medically, but also assure me that I was going to be O.K. at this really terrifying time thats what I wanted to do. And when I was growing up in L.A., I saw all the people around us who didnt have access to health care. My family depended on Medicaid and food stamps and Planned Parenthood and other services for our care. When I was 16 and I wanted information about birth control, Planned Parenthood was the first and only place that I could think of going for my health care and education. Did medical school meet your expectations? I was learning the science, which was really interesting and the medical care, which was really important. But I had a patient who was 8 years old who kept on coming in for asthma. Asthma is something that is fairly easy to treat, but this boy came into the E.R. multiple times. And it wasnt that his medications were off. It was that he and his mother were without housing. They were experiencing homelessness. They were in and out of different shelters where people smoked. At some point they were living next to an incinerator, and at some point they got into a rowhouse. The rowhouse itself was fine, but the two houses on the side of them were vacant and who knows what kind of mold and allergens were growing there. And I thought, I need to not only be addressing the medications, which is what I was learning through medical school, but how do I address these other questions, too? These other factors that are actually resulting in him being ill. Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON The House passed a bill on Thursday that would block President Trump from abandoning the Paris Agreement on climate change and require his administration to devise a plan to cut Americas greenhouse gas emissions. The measure, which passed 231- 190, was the first big global warming legislation to win congressional approval in almost 10 years. It stands virtually no chance of approval in the Republican-controlled Senate. But with the vote, Democrats sought to tie Republicans to Mr. Trump, who has said that climate change is a hoax, and isolate them on an issue they believe is resonating strongly with voters. Three Republicans voted in favor. No Democrats opposed it. It is time to end denial about this and start listening to the facts. This is about science, science, science, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said before the vote. We have an imperative to have climate action no w. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, issued a statement calling the House bill a futile gesture to handcuff the U.S. economy. He said it would go nowhere in the Senate. There is a point at which a restaurant with an open kitchen becomes more kitchen than restaurant, and diners feel more like lucky house guests than paying customers. To conjure this effect, fine-dining establishments may send people home with a ribbon-tied Ball jar of quirkily flavored granola. Mamas Noodle House, a small Chinese restaurant in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, does it with five rice cookers of various models and an expandable dining table that moonlights as a dumpling-folding station. This table is where you may find Nan Yi Liang when she isnt doubling as the restaurants one-woman wait staff. She and her husband, Jai Kei Sung, a co-owner and co-chef, fold up to 1,000 dumplings (pork, for frying) and won tons (pork and shrimp, for boiling) every night, lining them up like tessellations on a baking sheet. If a party larger than two arrives, Ms. Liang will quickly transfer her setup to a counter seat along the wall, move the table into the center of the brightly lit room, pull out chairs and then warmly hurry her diners into them as she pours each a small cup of freshly brewed tea. Ms. Liang opened Mamas Noodle House about a year ago, in a space previously occupied by a combination Sichuan restaurant and electronics store run by a friend. She and Mr. Sung, chefs from Guangzhou, China, who immigrated to Amsterdam in the 1970s, had long wanted to open a restaurant together. They moved to Bensonhurst in 2001 after the birth of their daughter, Cindy, who is now 20 and helps out behind the scenes at Mamas. BOSTON A federal jury on Thursday found the top executives of Insys Therapeutics, a company that sold a fentanyl-based painkiller, guilty of racketeering charges in a rare criminal prosecution that blamed corporate officials for contributing to the nations opioid epidemic. The jury, after deliberating for 15 days, issued guilty verdicts against the companys founder, the onetime billionaire John Kapoor, and four former executives, finding they had conspired to fuel sales of its highly potent drug, Subsys, by not only bribing doctors to prescribe their product but also by misleading insurers about patients need for the drug. The verdict against Insys executives is a sign of the accelerating effort to hold pharmaceutical and drug distribution companies and their executives and owners accountable in ways commensurate with the devastation wrought by the prescription opioid crisis. More than 200,000 people have overdosed on such drugs in the past two decades. Federal authorities last month for the first time filed felony drug trafficking charges against a major pharmaceutical distributor, Rochester Drug Cooperative, and two former executives, accusing them of shipping tens of millions of oxycodone pills and fentanyl products to pharmacies that were distributing drugs illegally. For Further Exploration Research your own school district. Then write an essay, create an oral presentation or make an annotated map on segregation and educational inequity in your community, using data from the Miseducation database. _________ Activity #2: Explore a case study: schools in Charlottesville, Va. Image Railroad tracks divide Charlottesville into three predominantly white elementary school zones to the north, and three mostly black schools to the south. Credit... Source: School zone boundaries from the City of Charlottesville, Black population from the Census Bureau | The New York Times The New York Times and ProPublica investigated how segregation still plays a role in shaping students educational experiences in the small Virginia city of Charlottesville. The article begins: Zyahna Bryant and Trinity Hughes, high school seniors, have been friends since they were 6, raised by blue-collar families in this affluent college town. They played on the same T-ball and softball teams, and were in the same church group. But like many African-American children in Charlottesville, Trinity lived on the south side of town and went to a predominantly black neighborhood elementary school. Zyahna lived across the train tracks, on the north side, and was zoned to a mostly white school, near the University of Virginia campus, that boasts the citys highest reading scores. Before you read the rest of the article, and learn about the experiences of Zyahna and Trinity, answer the following questions based on your own knowledge, experience and opinions: What is the purpose of public education? Do all children in America receive the same quality of education? Is receiving a quality public education a right (for everyone) or a privilege (for some)? Is there a correlation between students race and the quality of education they receive? Now read the entire article about lingering segregation in Charlottesville and answer the following questions: 1. How is Charlottesvilles school district geographically and racially segregated? 2. How is Charlottesville a microcosm of education in America? 3. How do white and black students in Charlottesville compare in terms of participation in gifted and talented programs; being held back a grade; being suspended from school? 4. How do black and white students in Charlottesville compare in terms of reading at grade level? 5. How do Charlottesville school officials explain the disparities between white and black students? 6. Why are achievement disparities so common in college towns? 7. In what ways do socioeconomics not fully explain the gap between white and black students? After reading the article and answering the above questions, share your reactions using the following prompts: Did anything in the article surprise you? Shock you? Make you angry or sad? Why? On the other hand, did anything in the article strike you as unsurprising? Explain. How might education in Charlottesville be made more equitable? For Further Exploration Choose one or more of the following ideas to investigate school segregation in the United States and around the world. 1. Read and discuss In a Divided Bosnia, Segregated Schools Persist. Compare and contrast the situations in Bosnia and Charlottesville. How does this perspective confirm, challenge, or complicate your understanding of the topic? She was able to get up after a few terrifying minutes. There was no one in her room. When she told her mother what happened, they both assumed it was just a very vivid nightmare. But her lingering fear of this happening again left Ms. Roy too scared to fall asleep, which made it difficult for her to concentrate in school. When friends and relatives started doubting her, she felt compelled to photograph her experiences, using black and white photos, often of herself, to evoke the terror of sleep paralysis, a condition she learned about from a YouTube video. The photos recreate what I saw and felt, said Ms. Roy, who has a degree in biology and is studying for a graduate degree in environmental science. Im doing this work because I want people to understand it and when I tell people about it I dont want them to feel pity for me. Many people experience this but they dont want to share these things because they feel people can be very judgmental. The following report compiles all significant security incidents confirmed by New York Times reporters throughout Afghanistan from the past seven days. It is necessarily incomplete as many local officials refuse to confirm casualty information. The report includes government claims of insurgent casualty figures, but in most cases these cannot be independently verified by The Times. Similarly, the reports do not include Taliban claims for their attacks on the government unless they can be verified. Both sides routinely inflate casualty totals for their opponents. [Read the Afghan War Casualty Report from previous weeks.] At least 48 pro-government forces and 18 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week. The deadliest attack took place in Feroz Koh City, the provincial capital of Ghor Province, where the Taliban attacked a security outpost, killing nine security forces and wounding five others. In Faryab Province, the Taliban attacked the village of Kohi in Qaisar District, killing six civilians and wounding nine others. The village had no security presence, but was supportive of the Afghan government. This week, the American special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction released a new report confirming that the American military command in Afghanistan has halted regular assessments of how many people and districts the government and insurgents there control eliminating what has long been an important public measure of progress in the war. The title A Fortunate Man has a double edge, as the movie, whose characters rarely fail to explain their motives and circumstances, never tires of reminding you. The screenwriting, adapted from the Danish author Henrik Pontoppidans turn-of-the-20th-century novel Lucky Per, hoists subtext so high that it surpasses text. Walk through the room once an hour, and youll be good. (The film is now streaming on Netflix.) Directed at an efficient clip by Bille August (whose plodding Pelle the Conqueror won an Oscar for foreign-language film), the movie asks whether it is possible to rise above humble origins or whether birth and character are destiny. Peter Andreas (Esben Smed) spurns his father, a rigid vicar, and leaves his home on the peninsula of Jutland to study engineering in Copenhagen. Per, as he is increasingly called, believes that wind and water can be harnessed for energy and that whoever controls the energy supply will have money and power. But to bring his project to fruition, he needs wealth and connections. So he courts Jakobe (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal), the elder daughter of a well-connected family, in a romance initially rooted more in Pers ambition than his ardor. But their backgrounds clash: She has a high social standing and is Jewish. He is poor and, despite his desire to reject his father, inwardly conflicted about his strict Christian upbringing. He is also too headstrong to bootlick. The sprawling narrative sometimes gets the best of August. (Is the waitress Per rejects forgotten by him, or just by the movie?) And his habit of over-explaining each new development appears to have removed nuance from a much more textured story. A Fortunate Man is a great advertisement for the book. Clara cloaks its cliches in astronomy jargon and mood lighting, but in the final analysis this Canadian feature from Akash Sherman is yet another movie about a dying dream woman whose cosmic role is to teach a ruthless empiricist to go with the flow. Dr. Isaac Bruno (Patrick J. Adams) is such a stick in the mud that, in the opening scene, he proves mathematically to his students that searching for life beyond Earth is a safer bet than looking for love. His boss insists that he take a break. It is suggested that Isaac is getting over a tragedy in his past. NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Mueller Water Products, Inc. (Mueller Water Products or the Company) (NYSE: MWA). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Mueller Water Products and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. On April 27, 2017, in connection with its second quarter 2017 financial and operating results, Mueller Water Products disclosed that certain radio products produced by the Companys Technologies segment between 2011 and 2014 had been failing prematurely, resulting in a $9.8 million warranty charge. On this news, Mueller Water Products stock price fell $1.43 per share, or 11.28%, to close at $11.25 per share on April 28, 2017, on unusually heavy trading volume. Then, on August 6, 2018, in connection with its third quarter 2018 financial and operating results, Mueller Water Products reported a $14.1 million warranty charge. On this news, Mueller Water Products stock price fell $0.75 per share, or 6%, to close at $11.74 per share on August 7, 2018, on unusually heavy trading volume. 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 After the limp 2017 film The Great Wall, the director Zhang Yimou was clearly looking to enact a return to form. With Shadow, Zhang has done more than that: Hes created a martial-arts movie landmark, as strong in its performances as it is spectacularly novel in its violence. From the opening shots, the film announces itself as something special. A text preamble situates the story line during a peaceful era in the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. But the world of Shadow is neither placid nor realistic in appearance. Zhang, the cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding and the production designer Ma Kwong Wing have drained it of color. The characters have pale flesh tones, yes, but their surroundings are black and white and countless gradations of gray. Peis vainglorious king (Zheng Kai) seems to have achieved an admirable goal: His policies have kept his territory out of war. But he is a cruel leader. He was a high-school dropout from Queens who worked in a coffee cart in downtown Manhattan in 2006 when a friend handed him an audiotape of a radical Muslim cleric. That was the start of a personal odyssey that sent the young man, Najibullah Zazi, to fight in Afghanistan. There a senior Al Qaeda official trained him to build bombs and sent him back to the United States, where he and two friends planned a suicide attack in the New York City subway system. Mr. Zazi was arrested in 2009, and on Thursday his case came to an end when a federal judge, citing his cooperation with American authorities and his testimony at two trials, gave Mr. Zazi a 10-year sentence that his lawyers said could result in his release from prison within days. The plot, which authorities called one of most dangerous terrorist conspiracies since the Sept. 11 attacks, was abandoned by Mr. Zazi and two of his former classmates from Flushing High School after they became fearful they were under scrutiny. In the coming weeks, thousands of college students will walk across a stage and proudly accept their diplomas. Many of them will be hungry. A senior at Lehman College in the Bronx dreams of starting her day with breakfast. An undergraduate at New York University said he has been so delirious from hunger, hes caught himself walking down the street not realizing where hes going. A health sciences student at Stony Brook University on Long Island describes poverty naps, where she decides to go to sleep rather than deal with her hunger pangs. These are all examples of food insecurity, the state of having limited or uncertain access to food. Stories about college hunger have been largely anecdotal, cemented by ramen and macaroni and cheese jokes. But recent data indicate the problem is more serious and widespread, affecting almost half of the student population at community and public colleges. A survey released this week by Temple Universitys Hope Center for College, Community and Justice indicated that 45 percent of student respondents from over 100 institutions said they had been food insecure in the past 30 days. In New York, the nonprofit found that among City University of New York (CUNY) students, 48 percent had been food insecure in the past 30 days. Can Albany take action against measles? Most states allow for religious or personal exemptions to vaccinations, but Governor Cuomo has shifted his stance, saying that the seriousness of this public health crisis should override such exceptions. Still, state lawmakers have resisted passing a bill that would eliminate the exemptions. The lawmakers reluctance seems to stem from concern about angering ultra-Orthodox and other religious constituents who have often wielded political influence, wrote my colleague Jesse McKinley. [Why a bid to end religious exemptions for vaccines has stalled.] State health officials now recommend measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations for children as early as 6 months old in outbreak areas. (The timetable from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the first dose of M.M.R. vaccine at 12 months to 15 months of age.) I live near an outbreak. Do I need to get vaccinated? Mostly, those who contract measles are children in schools, religious groups or other organizations with low immunization rates. Children younger than 5 account for about half of the more than 700 measles cases in the country. Most adults in the United States are immune to measles. If you think you might be at risk for the disease, visit a doctor. For many people, there is no downside to getting a booster shot. Photo of the day A former president of the authority, Tim Lizura, also acknowledged that many last-minute changes to the law were made by Mr. Sheehan. The Times found that those alterations were done without any public disclosure. Companies had been awarded $4.9 billion under the 2013 legislation by moving to New Jersey or remaining in the state and creating and retaining jobs. The hearing was the second held in recent months by the task force, which in April referred evidence to federal prosecutors for possible criminal charges. It is not immediately known whether the evidence might lead to charges or what might result from Thursdays testimony. But a member of the task force said companies could be held criminally liable. There is real criminal exposure for companies that lie to the E.D.A., said Pablo Quinones, a special counsel on the task force. For several hours, another special counsel, Jim Walden, displayed some of the specific edits of the bill on a large screen. Some changes, he noted, were intended to allow specific companies, such as Subaru of America, to claim hundreds of millions of dollars in additional tax breaks. Several companies had business ties with Mr. Sheehans firm, Parker McCay, Mr. Walden said. Mr. Sheehan did not register with the state as a lobbyist for the Economic Opportunity Act, and his firm told The Times that its work on the legislation did not amount to lobbying. Parker McCay was asked by policymakers, including those in the Legislature, to review this legislation and offer input and suggestions on ways it could be strengthened to help Camden and other localities in South Jersey, which have historically lost out to North Jersey in receiving economic benefits from the state, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Sometimes key information doesnt get turned over because the prosecutor is breaking the rules, but sometimes its inadvertent, like when police dont give D.A.s the whole file, she said. Either way, earlier discovery will give everyone more time to get to the bottom of it. For decades, Republicans who controlled New Yorks Senate blocked more than a dozen efforts to change the states discovery statute. But in last falls election, the power shifted to Democrats, who quickly passed not only the discovery law, but measures to curtail the use of cash bail and speed up the pace of trials. Under the new rules, prosecutors will have 15 days to turn over evidence like police reports, photos, electronic recordings and grand jury testimony, including the names of witnesses. They may request an extension up to 30 days under exceptional circumstances. The law also requires the defense to disclose certain evidence 30 days after prosecutors open their files. The law empowers judges to hold prosecutors in contempt if they fail to meet the deadlines and to bar the government from using evidence that is not properly disclosed. The statute also permits prosecutors to request a protective order to shield witness names and information until trial, though judges are not required to grant it. Perhaps most importantly, the discovery law pegs disclosure deadlines to the arraignment at the beginning of a court case rather than the trial near the end. That shift underscores a reality in New York that holds true across the country: About nine out of 10 cases never make it to trial because most people accept guilty pleas. Supporters of the changes say people often plead guilty without knowing how strong the prosecutions evidence is, and each day in jail makes it more likely they will give up. How Will Satan & Adam Play in 2019? An interracial blues duo born in 1980s Harlem was a symbol of harmony in a tense time. But times have changed. May 2, 2019 I cant believe how many white people are in Harlem now, Adam Gussow said. He was strolling around the neighborhood, marveling at how much the place had changed since he was a Columbia University grad-school dropout in the 1980s. I was the only white guy in Harlem at the time. I just saw a white guy jogging. You never used to see that. But he was more than an interloper in Harlem all those years ago. He was the harmonica player in a blues duo called Satan & Adam that started off playing on the sidewalk of 125th Street and then went on to tour the country, make a record that charted, and even appear briefly on a U2 album. Back then, he said, everyone used to tell me, Dont go to Harlem. I would say, Why not? It was in Harlem that he met Sterling Magee, the guitarist he would play with for the next 12 years. Mr. Gussow was in town for the New York premiere of a documentary about the band. The movie, Satan & Adam, opened in theaters last month, and it starts streaming on Netflix early this summer. What could Mueller have done differently? He could have recognized that Barr wasnt trustworthy, given that Trump had nominated him for the attorney general job largely because Barr had expressed hostility to Muellers investigation. Mueller could then have acted accordingly. He could have insisted that Barr release a summary written by Mueller and his team. Mueller may not have had the statutory power to insist on such a release, but he did have the actual power. If Barr had refused, Mueller could have made clear that his own summary would leak to the press, in short order. Yes, thats how politics sometimes works. I understand why Mueller took the gentler route. He and Barr had been friends for years, and Mueller has a reputation as a tight-lipped rule follower. In this case, though, his boy scout nature allowed him to be manipulated. Its impossible to know whether it will ultimately matter. Maybe an accurate initial summary of Muellers investigation wouldnt have changed Americans view of Trumps behavior. Well never know. In that way, Barr has served Trump very well as his fixer, rather than as the nations top law-enforcement officer. Barrs rough day Barr went before the Senate to testify yesterday, and he didnt do well. How can Bill Barr possibly continue to lead the Department of Justice, the only federal agency with a moral value in its very name, after this shocking performance? asked Lawfares Susan Hennessey. In 1989, Barr, then assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, determined that the F.B.I could legally seize criminal suspects in foreign countries without consent from their governments. In doing so, Barr changed the departments position in a 1980 legal opinion, the government said that such kidnappings were unlawful. It was a controversial opinion, especially given its key implication at the time that the United States could abduct Gen. Manuel Noriega of Panama, who had seized power that spring. In response, Congress called Barr to testify. Kidnapping a suspect would make the U.S. into an international outlaw, Representative Don Edwards of California said during the hearing, as he outlined the consequences for Americas reputation if federal authorities had free rein to kidnap. Congress also asked Barr to release his memorandum to the public, but he refused. Instead, he wrote a 13-page summary that he claimed contained its principal arguments and conclusions, something that should sound familiar to contemporary observers. Except it didnt. In 1991, Congress obtained a copy of the full memo. It contained several points not present in the summary, including the contention that the president of the United States could ignore the United Nations prohibition of state-sponsored kidnapping. Barr misled Congress and the public through omission. But by then he was already on his way to confirmation as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, where he would recommend pardons for key figures in the Iran-contra scandal, which stymied a yearslong investigation into executive-branch lawbreaking that implicated the sitting president. Helping Republican presidents act with impunity is William Barrs stock-in-trade its what he does. Even before joining Trump, he wrote an unsolicited memo arguing outright that a president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice if the underlying actions fall under his lawful authority and the accusations are false the same argument he made at Wednesdays hearing. Most of the obstruction claims that are being made here, or episodes, do involve the exercise of the presidents constitutional authority, Barr said to Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont. And he asserted, We now know that he was being falsely accused. For Barr, there are no apparent limits to presidential authority, at least as long as that president is a Republican. His theory of presidential immunity did not extend to Bill Clinton, for example, whose impeachment Barr defended. The memo even shows the same lack of interest in the facts of the investigation that Barr demonstrated during his exchange with Senator Kamala Harris of California, during which he admitted that neither he nor his office examined the evidence behind the Mueller report before determining the president could not be charged with obstruction of justice. When Californians place an online order with Best Buy, they pay the company and they pay a state sales tax. What the receipt doesnt say is that Best Buy gets some of the sales tax, too. California distributes a portion of sales tax revenue to local governments, based on the location of sales. In 2015, Best Buy agreed to keep a distribution warehouse in the small city of Dinuba, and to credit its online sales to that location. In exchange, Dinuba agreed to give Best Buy 45 percent of its share of the resulting sales tax revenue. Companies including Apple, Macys and QVC have struck similar deals with other California municipalities, according to a recent investigation by Bloomberg Tax. A consultant to the League of California Cities estimates that corporations are now receiving more than $1 billion a year in such payouts more than 20 percent of the total local share of sales tax revenue. The tax deals are a facet of a much larger problem: the incredibly wasteful competition among state and local governments to lure and keep corporations. Everyone (well, everyone except corporations) would be better off if states prevented local governments from offering such incentives, and if the federal government deterred states from doing so, for example by taxing state and local incentives. So long as such incentives are legal, the result is an endless game of beggar-thy-neighbors-and-thyself. English French MONTREAL, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optimum Financial Group announced a senior management appointment during Optimum Group Inc.s annual shareholders meeting on April 30, 2019. In accordance with a longstanding succession plan, Jean-Claude Page, B.A., B.Sc., FCIA, FSA, retires from his functions as Chief Executive Officer. Actively involved since his arrival in 1976, he has dedicated the last 25 years successively as President and Chief Operating Officer (1995-2012), then Chief Executive Officer (since 2012) as well as Chair of the Board (since 2017). Mr. Page remains Chair of the Board. Anabelle Blondeau, CPA, CMA, FSA, MAAA, is designated President and Chief Executive Officer. She has accumulated achievements as President and Chief Operating Officer in the last six years and has held several strategic management positions in Canada, in the United States and in France over the past 30 years. Mrs. Blondeau remains Vice Chair of the Board. On behalf of the administrators and the shareholders, I thank Jean-Claude for his significant contributions to the quality and the profitability of operations throughout the years. His great competency, rigor and determination have truly been important assets for our Group, said Gilles Blondeau, Honorary Chair of the Board, Optimum Group Inc. We trust Anabelle will exceed our expectations, as she has consistently done until today, and wish her every success in her new role. This senior management appointment occurs 50 years after the foundation of the Group in April 1969 by Gilles Blondeau. His vision was to build in Quebec a diversified financial group that would shine internationally. This vision is now a reality. About Optimum Financial Group Optimum Financial Group celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Since 1969, the Group is dedicated to the financial security of its clients. Global and privately-owned, it is diversified in the sectors of life insurance, general insurance, life reinsurance, actuarial consulting, asset management, and real estate. The Group has over 585 employees in subsidiaries mainly across Canada, the United States and in France. Its revenues generate 850 million dollars and its total assets exceed 4.7 billion dollars. www.optimumgroup.com For further information, please contact: Stephanie Alison Berthiaume Director, Communications and Culture Optimum Group Inc. +1 514 288-2010 SBerthiaume@Groupe-Optimum.com Socialism, the idea that workers needs are best met by the collectivization of the means of production, didnt function for Werner. A system in which factories, banks and even housing were nationalized required a planned economy, as a substitute for capitalist competition. Central planning, however, proved unable to meet peoples individual demands, and so rule-breaking and black markets flourished. Werners petty theft paled in comparison to the corruption that undermined East Germany from its founding. Eventually, the entire system collapsed; as it did everywhere else, socialism in Germany failed. Which is why it is strange, in 2019, to see socialism coming back into German mainstream politics: Kevin Kuhnert, the leader of the Social Democrats youth organization and one of his partys most promising young talents, has made it his calling card. Forget the wannabe socialism of American Democrats like Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The 29-year-old Mr. Kuhnert is aiming for the real thing. Socialism, he says, means democratic control over the economy. He wants to replace capitalism as such , not just to recalibrate it. In the United States, policies frequently branded as socialist health care for all, a national minimum wage, and tuition-free universities have very little to do with actual socialism. Big government, yes but all of them fit comfortably in a traditional free-market economy. In contrast, German neo-socialism is profoundly different from capitalism. In an interview with my newspaper, Mr. Kuhnert took specific aim at the American dream as a model for individual achievement. He said he questioned a system in which millions start a race, very few make it over the finishing line and then shout back to the others, You could have made it, too! Its still very early, but Joe Biden has emerged as the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Bernie Sanders is in second place, although he appears to be fairly far behind, and one poll shows him in a statistical tie with Elizabeth Warren. So what should we think about the men currently leading the field? Well, I have concerns. Not about electability, a topic about which nobody knows anything. Never mind what todays general election polls say: What will polling look like after the inevitable Republican smear campaign? The answer to this question depends, in turn, on whether news organizations will cooperate with those smears as gleefully as they did in 2016. No, my concerns are about what will happen if either man wins. Are they ready for the political trench warfare that would inevitably follow a Democratic victory? The trouble with both Biden and Sanders is that each, in his own way, seems to believe that he has unique powers of persuasion that will let him defy the harsh reality of todays tribal politics. And this lack of realism could set either of them up for failure. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Two days after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, I met my greengrocer at the Colpetty market, a symbol of the cosmopolitan city that I call home. I have known Ashraff virtually all my life. He did not have his usual half-smile on his face, and when I went up to him to say goodbye, I could see he was troubled. Eventually, shaking his head in sorrow, with tears in his eyes, he told me that the day before, someone he had known for 35 years, a man from Sri Lankas Sinhala majority, had said he could no longer be his friend. I understood his sorrow. The attacks on Easter Sunday have left everyone in Sri Lanka confused and bewildered. Those of us who are Muslim are also trying to understand how this violence could have come from our own community. In the hours and days after the attacks, I sent text messages to my Christian friends, apologizing for what the attackers had done. Even though these terrorists were as far away from me in ideology as anyone could be, I felt shame. My friends responded, in true Christian spirit, that I had no need to apologize, and sent messages of concern for my safety. Part of my dismay comes from realizing how far removed parts of the Muslim community have become from the rest of our country. Sri Lankan Muslims trace our roots back to the Arab traders and Sufi mystics who brought Islam to Sri Lanka in the seventh century. The traders brought commerce and married local women; the Sufis came on pilgrimage to Adams Peak, which they believe is marked by Adams footprint. JOTUNHEIMEN NATIONAL PARK, Norway The Besseggen ridge juts from the earth as a curved spine of sharp, dark-gray stone and carves its way between two blue lakes in Jotunheimen, one of Norways many spectacular, wild national parks. Jotunheimen translates as home of the giants, and everything here is oversize, including the lakes. They are separated only by a narrow slice of the ridge yet have very distinct colors: Gjende is a long sweep of aquamarine; Bessvatnet is a dark royal blue. Besseggen, a worthy destination for its otherworldly beauty alone, is also immortalized in national lore. Norways tourism board claims that Thor, the ill-tempered Norse warrior king, forged it by slamming his hammer into the earth. Henrik Ibsen, the countrys most celebrated playwright, described the ridge at length in his fantastical Peer Gynt: Nigh on four miles long it stretches sharp before you like a scythe, exalts the main character riding a reindeer over it. Every summer, tens of thousands of tourists walk the length of Besseggen. My husband and I set out on the hike last year, with plans to start late and camp in the wild somewhere on the trail leading to the ridge. For all its popularity, the eight-hour walk is strenuous, even mildly dangerous: As we ascended, we passed at least two limping hikers with bloodied knees and twisted ankles, assisted by irritated-looking relatives. It was August, but this was Norway. Even summer can be cold here, and as the sun drained from the sky, so did the color from the frigid stragglers faces. By 8 p.m., exhausted by the climb, it occurred to us that we were overstretched. The official signboard into the park had offered few directives except a breezy instruction to camp where we wanted to and clean up after ourselves. But we had seen no reasonable place to pitch a tent; the terrain was all sharp boulder climbs and fields of jagged rocks. The sky turned dark gray as we crossed paths with two Norwegian Red Cross workers on a last sweep of the path, looking for injured tourists. Yet they appeared unconcerned that we were loitering on the trail. Great camping spots were to be found ahead, they assured us. I served as an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, and I have been frequently struck by the similarities between the investigations of Presidents Nixon and Trump. Both involved property theft from the Democratic National Committee and resulted in the criminal convictions of individuals close to the president. Presidents Nixon and Trump repeatedly lied to the American people to cover up their conduct, and the head prosecutor in each case chose not to indict a sitting president but rather to provide Congress with a road map for impeachment should Congress choose to pursue it. But there is a major difference between the two, and it is crucial to understanding how the Mueller report should be read: the distinction between physical and intangible property. In Watergate, the burglars were caught by the police during the break-in at the scene of the crime. They were arrested, photographed, fingerprinted and jailed. Police officers collected crime scene physical evidence, and investigators subsequently obtained additional corroborating evidence telephone records, bank statements, airline tickets and hotel invoices. The vast accumulation of physical evidence was vital to securing the criminal convictions of the burglars who, slapped with stiff prison sentences, revealed their connections with the Nixon campaign. Before their sentencing, President Nixon and his aides engineered a cover-up by dangling hush money. Some of the burglars appeared willing to clam up, but no matter how many lies or how steadfast their silence, they could never deny the evidence that was physically present. What the Venezuelan opposition boldly proclaimed on Tuesday as a final phase in the oppositions three-month campaign to oust the Venezuelan strongman, Nicolas Maduro, fizzled out by Wednesday, leaving behind murky claims of secret talks gone wrong, defectors who didnt defect and Russian and Cuban meddling. What comes next was even less clear than before. Announcing the final push on Tuesday morning, Juan Guaido, the opposition leader whose claim to the Venezuelan presidency is recognized by the United States and more than 50 other countries, seemed certain that this time enough of the military would cross over to assure Mr. Maduros ouster. Top members of the Trump administration Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the national security adviser, John Bolton promptly gave Operacion Libertad their enthusiastic support. Then on Wednesday, with only a handful of national guard troops on his side, Mr. Guaido acknowledged that it didnt happen. Only one top Maduro official, the head of the security services, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, appeared to have defected to him, and mass demonstrations on Wednesday were forcefully put down by security forces still loyal to Mr. Maduro. An opposition leader who had been freed from house arrest by Mr. Guaidos followers and initially appeared with him in public, Leopoldo Lopez, took refuge in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas with his wife and daughter. Then the finger-pointing broke out. Mr. Maduro blamed President Trump for what he called an attempted coup detat. Mr. Trump assailed Cuba, his usual whipping boy for Mr. Maduros survival, though the C.I.A. has concluded that Havanas support is far less consequential than the administration claims. Mr. Pompeo claimed that the Russians had talked Mr. Maduro at the last moment out of boarding a plane and fleeing the country, and hinted at military intervention. The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, warned Mr. Pompeo that the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences. Why The Times Is Taking Down Its Paywall for 3 Days As we mark World Press Freedom Day, our international editor asks each of us to imagine what would happen around the world if journalists, and the public, were not watching. May 2, 2019 Some years back , when I was a correspondent in the Middle East, I had occasion to witness a peaceful uprising in a Persian Gulf nation. It was an exhilarating moment. Tens of thousands of people poured into the street chanting for an end to corruption, their mood buoyant as they expressed the simple wish for a better future. Government forces responded with gunfire. I am now The New York Timess international editor, overseeing correspondents covering the world. When I was asked to write about World Press Freedom Day a United Nations invention that once seemed like a nice acknowledgment and now feels more important than ever my thoughts returned to that afternoon when the gunfire broke out. After the shooting was over, grieving families pulled me into a morgue. They wanted a witness. Three bodies riddled with buckshot were laid out on cold metal tables, and one young man, very much alive, was leaning over his dead brother, gently caressing his face, kissing his cheeks, crying. I will never forget the image of their hands intertwined, one yellow and cold, the other trembling. The government tried to do what governments always try to do: change the narrative. It said its forces had been fighting terrorists. But I was there. I saw the police shooting at peaceful protesters. And I worked for a news organization that had sent me there to report what I saw. What if no one were watching? We are living at a moment in history when democratic values are under threat by authoritarian leaders. The internet, which holds such promise as a democratizing force, has been co-opted by people peddling divisive, hateful ideologies. Citizens around the world who want to speak out are under siege from their own governments. Imagine if no one were watching. Imagine if The Times were not able to report from Venezuela. The government there has tried to keep us out and has attacked our correspondents for their reporting because there is something it doesnt want you to know: Infants in Venezuela are dying of malnutrition. Imagine if we were not in Yemen, where a Saudi-led military coalition has prompted the worlds worst humanitarian disaster. Imagine if we were not at the fence between Israel and Gaza as troops faced thousands of protesters hoping to crash through. Imagine if we were not in Mexico to reveal how the previous government used advanced spyware to attack and undermine civil society. Every day, journalists at The Times and other mission-driven, independent news organizations around the world work hard to hold the powerful to account. To celebrate their work and press freedom, The Times is taking down its paywall from May 3 to 5 so everyone who registers can browse as many articles as they like. As you read todays news, or some of the remarkable stories I mention here, consider: What if no one were watching? Ive been with my boyfriend for a year. Occasionally, he goes into deep panics about his work and cancels plans and not just with me. He cancels dinners with friends and important doctors appointments, holidays with his family and trips weve booked months in advance. I love him, and want to be compassionate about his panic and his work. But some plans are important to me. Were supposed to visit my family soon, and hes already threatening to cancel. He says: Everything will fall apart if he goes away. What can I do? ANONYMOUS I hate to break it to you, but there are some problems that even a loving girlfriend (and a well-meaning advice columnist) cant fix. I am concerned about your boyfriends deep panics and doubtful that our civilian assistance will be a big help. In my 300 years of working, I have encountered two main types of people who just cant step away from their desks. The first is the egotists who really believe that things will go to wrack and ruin if theyre not there to supervise. Theyre irreplaceable (in their own minds). This doesnt sound like your boyfriend, though. Superiority doesnt often lead to panic. The second group is larger in my experience (and, sadly, includes me): workers who lack confidence, and fear that all of their imagined errors and incompetence will come to light the second they clock out. Panic makes sense if you truly believe, however incorrectly, that youre about to be exposed as an impostor and possibly fired. PARIS Long-separated siblings looking to avenge their father, an ancient dynasty under threat, savage murders and even a penis chopped off. No, this isnt the final season of Game of Thrones but two plays written nearly 2,500 years ago: Euripides Electra and Orestes, newly staged at the Comedie-Francaise by the Belgian director Ivo van Hove. The production is a timely reminder that for a fraction of the cost of big-budget TV and movies, theater can still hold its own when it comes to larger-than-life sagas. Mr. van Hoves operatic, mud-soaked Electre/Oreste finds psychological truth in Euripides classical tragedies with the help of a little choreography in lieu of CGI. The tireless director has combined the two plays into one uninterrupted staging, a strategy he has used in the past: His Roman Tragedies (2007) and Kings of War (2015) each stitched together several Shakespeare plays. Euripides Orestes picks up five days after the conclusion of Electra, but its as if no time has passed. After Electra and Orestes conspire to kill their mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover in the first play, the siblings face justice and spiral into further violence in the second. None of the elements that make up Mr. van Hoves production are especially original on their own. A quartet of percussionists is in the background throughout and creates an ominous soundscape for the action, in a manner reminiscent of classical Japanese theater. (This is acknowledged in the playbill.) The thick layer of mud onstage, meanwhile, brings to mind Pina Bauschs earthy Rite of Spring, and the comparison doesnt stop there. The action is interspersed with ritualistic dance scenes led by Electra and the Chorus, who beat their chests and fall repeatedly into the mud. While the choreography was created by Wim Vandekeybus, it is indebted to the raw, primal spasms that drove Ms. Bauschs dancers to exhaustion. Our guide to plays and musicals coming to New York stages and a few last-chance picks of shows that are about to close. Our reviews of open shows are at nytimes.com/reviews/theater. Previews & Openings ANTIGONE IN FERGUSON at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church (performances start on May 8). Theater of Wars update of Sophocless tragedy, presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library, returns to New York. Featuring a rotating cast Paul Giamatti, Chris Noth and Amy Ryan among them and local gospel choirs, the play is presented free of charge. Reviewing it last fall, Ben Brantley noted that this modern version echoes and assumes new forms in the divided America of the 21st century. bklynlibrary.org/antigone-in-ferguson BLKS at the Newman Mills Theater at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (in previews; opens on May 9). Same city. Same sex. Opposite sex, too. Aziza Barness comedy looks at 24 hours in the sexual, professional and emotional lives of a group of black friends (Paige Gilbert, Alfie Fuller, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) in New York City. Robert OHara directs the play for MCC. 212-727-7722, mcctheater.org CONTINUITY at City Center Stage II (previews start on May 8; opens on May 21). Bess Wohls last play the delightful Small Mouth Sounds listened in on a silent retreat. In this new and talkier one, a film crew on location in New Mexicos desert hustles to finish a thriller about climate change. Rachel Chavkin, who has made a specialty of eco drama, directs. 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") (TSX/NYSE: FTS) announced the voting results from its Annual Meeting of Shareholders held today in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Shareholders voted in favour of all items of business before the meeting, including electing the nominated directors, appointing Deloitte LLP as the Corporation's auditors and voting on an advisory basis to accept the Corporation's approach to executive compensation. Election of Directors Fortis shareholders elected the following 12 individuals to the Fortis board of directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed: Nominees Votes For Votes Withheld Tracey C. Ball 235,524,929 99.40% 1,432,728 0.60% Pierre J. Blouin 235,335,421 99.31% 1,623,536 0.69% Paul J. Bonavia 236,092,048 99.63% 865,135 0.37% Lawrence T. Borgard 235,468,940 99.37% 1,488,817 0.63% Maura J. Clark 235,377,365 99.33% 1,581,592 0.67% Margarita K. Dilley 235,386,290 99.34% 1,572,667 0.66% Julie A. Dobson 235,505,579 99.39% 1,452,178 0.61% Ida J. Goodreau 234,886,715 99.13% 2,072,242 0.87% Douglas J. Haughey 234,756,296 99.07% 2,202,659 0.93% Barry V. Perry 235,440,177 99.36% 1,517,361 0.64% Joseph L. Welch 236,443,867 99.78% 515,090 0.22% Jo Mark Zurel 235,293,624 99.30% 1,665,333 0.70% Appointment of Auditors Shareholders of the Corporation approved the appointment of Deloitte LLP as the Corporation's auditors to hold office until the close of the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Votes For Votes Withheld 244,170,325 99.79% 513,294 0.21% Say on Pay Shareholders approved the non-binding advisory vote regarding the Corporation's approach to executive compensation ("Say on Pay") at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Fortis board of directors takes the results of the Say on Pay vote into account when considering future compensation policies, practices and decisions and in determining whether there is a need to increase engagement with shareholders on compensation and related matters. Votes For Votes Against 229,397,707 96.81% 7,560,244 3.19% About Fortis Fortis is a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry with 2018 revenue of C$8.4 billion and total assets of approximately C$53 billion as at March 31, 2019. The Corporation's 8,800 employees serve utility customers in five Canadian provinces, nine U.S. states and three Caribbean countries. Fortis shares are listed on the TSX and NYSE and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com , www.sedar.com , or www.sec.gov . For more information please contact Welcome to Crossing the Border, a limited-run weekly newsletter from The New York Times. Did you find it useful? Send this to a friend. If someone forwarded it to you, sign up here to have the next issue delivered to your inbox. Brownsville Station: A rare success story By Manny Fernandez in Brownsville, Tex. In the busiest Border Patrol sector on the southwest frontier the Rio Grande Valley, where a tent city was opening this week to ease overcrowding at packed migrant processing centers there is one 23-mile stretch where there is no border crisis. Brownsville Station. Some stations along the 1,900-mile border have recently been apprehending hundreds of migrants a day. Brownsville gets 35 to 45, on average. Some Border Patrol stations routinely nab mega-loads of drugs, like the 925 pounds of marijuana intercepted the other day near Rio Grande City, Tex. In Brownsville, 150-pound loads are the average. Whats the secret? The Border Patrol employs a three-pronged concept as a kind of operational mantra when it comes to securing the border: personnel, technology and infrastructure. In other words, boots on the ground, high-tech gadgets and fencing. After weeks of mounting pressure, Mayor Catherine Pugh of Baltimore resigned on Thursday amid a widening scandal involving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of childrens books that she wrote and that the University of Maryland Medical System paid for while she was serving on its board of directors. Her resignation comes days after the Baltimore City Council proposed amending the city charter to make it possible to remove her, and after the F.B.I. raided her two homes and her office at City Hall. Ms. Pugh stepped down from the hospital networks board, which she had served on since 2001, but she had resisted calls to step down as mayor. She has been home on medical leave for weeks. Her lawyer told reporters previously that she was too ill to make decisions. Bernard Young, president of the Baltimore City Council, has been serving as acting mayor and will complete the rest of her term. I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor, Ms. Pugh said in a statement read aloud by her lawyer, Steve Silverman, at a brief news conference that she did not attend. Baltimore deserves a mayor who can move our great city forward. The law is clear: If the trip was allowed, the Helms-Burton does not apply, Mr. Fowler, who worked on the 1996 legislation, told the paper. It was not the intention of the Helms-Burton law to go after American companies with legal business in Cuba. They can try it, but Ive been here for 40 years, and I tell them: Good luck. John S. Kavulich, head of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said the key to the lawsuits will be proving that when the Obama administration expanded the ways Americans would be allowed to travel to Cuba, it broke the law. He said a court could decide that sailing aboard a luxury cruise liner does not qualify for any of the categories permitted under the law, like educational travel. If its tourism, it wasnt legal, Mr. Kavulich said. If it was legal, then the cruise companies are off the hook. Both of the lawsuits against Carnival were filed by Roberto Martinez, a former United States attorney in Miami who has won enormous verdicts against the Cuban government in a variety of cases, including a $188 million wrongful death suit over the four people who were killed when the Brothers to the Rescue planes were downed. Frozen Cuban assets in the United States were used to pay some of those awards. Mr. Martinez said his clients had been preparing for years and were more than ready to file suit on the first day they could. Their family businesses were destroyed, stolen by the Castro government, and these American companies were put on notice for many years that they were using properties that were stolen, and they did nothing about it, he said. They miscalculated the decision that it was worth doing business and ignoring the pleas not to use stolen properties, and now they are basically going to court and having to deal with the consequences of that risk. He said the law stipulates that former property owners can seek triple the value of the property as compensation, and the property can be valued several different ways. The Havana Dock Company has a claim certified by a United States commission saying that its property was worth $9.1 million in 1960; under the law, it could be awarded three times that amount, plus interest, or three times the current fair market value. In the eight days that elapsed between the Senate vote and the House vote, a gunman killed a woman at a synagogue in San Diego and another killed two people at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. And as House lawmakers debated the legislation on Tuesday, news broke in Florida that a school resource officers holstered firearm went off at a Pasco County school cafeteria as the officer leaned against a wall. No one was hurt. Several Republicans pointed to the San Diego shooting, in which a man said he rushed the shooting suspect, as a reason Florida should allow local school districts to partner with sheriffs offices to train teachers who volunteer to do so to carry guns on campus. None of us want to be debating this, Representative Byron Donalds of Naples, the only African-American in the House Republican caucus, said on Wednesday. But the one thing that we have to acknowledge as unfortunate as it is is that when a psychotic person enters a facility, a school, where kids are at play or at study or at lunch and they pull a weapon, the first responders, the real first responders, are the school staff that love our children. Mr. Jones, 35, who suffered a serious nerve injury in 2016, was absent from Wednesdays vote. His office said he had been rushed to the hospital on Wednesday morning suffering from vertigo, and was prescribed bed rest. School districts in some of the states biggest cities, with large numbers of black and Hispanic students, have declined to participate in the guardian program, which was created last year after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 people dead and 17 wounded. The compromise worked out last year allowed certain school staff, but not classroom teachers, to be trained to carry guns. In December, a state commission investigating the shooting recommended expanding the program to include classroom teachers. Investigators concluded that an armed teacher might have stopped the confessed attacker in Parkland. The provision was written into legislation that incorporated a slew of other commission recommendations relating to school safety and students mental health. The concern is upending family routines, leaving some parents of infants steering clear of public transit, playgrounds, malls and more. For Ms. Traini, 41, who teaches biology at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, going out with Gretha at all felt like a risky move. They live in Oakland County, Mich., just outside Detroit, which in recent weeks has been the site of a major measles outbreak, mostly in Orthodox Jewish areas. At least 43 people have been reported ill in Michigan. The number of measles cases in the United States has surpassed 700, the highest figure recorded in any year since the disease was declared eliminated in this country in 2000, federal health officials said. [Get answers to your questions about measles.] Many people, vaccinated or not, seem unaware of the particular vulnerability of infants. But current parents of babies have suddenly grown acutely aware, sharing information on playgrounds, in pediatricians offices and on Facebook. For many, the days of watching new cases of measles pop up around the country a reflection of the rise of the anti-vaccination movement and of measles outbreaks in other countries where Americans travel have been agonizing. Its just maddening, because I shouldnt have to worry about measles, said Katherine Jones, 37, a grant manager at an environmental nonprofit group in San Francisco and the mother of an eight-week-old baby. For people who dont vaccinate their children, she said, Its a choice. But she added: Its not a choice for me, because my baby cannot be vaccinated. The folks who are choosing not to vaccinate their children or be vaccinated themselves are putting my child in danger. But in an uncharacteristically fiery speech on the Senate floor in January, during a government shutdown, he excoriated his Republican colleague Ted Cruz, shouting repeatedly as he accused him of shedding crocodile tears over unpaid government workers. He denounced President Trump for shutting down the government over his desired border wall, which Mr. Bennet termed a promise the president couldnt keep and America didnt want. [Democrats have 20 spots in the first debate. There are now 21 candidates.] The speech was viewed millions of times online, widely aired on cable news and led to calls for Mr. Bennet, 54, to consider a presidential run. He revealed that he is capable of anger and passion, said former Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, a longtime friend of Mr. Bennets, who said the senator had come to him recently to discuss a possible campaign. When it gets to be that blatant, the hypocrisy on the other side, you have no choice but to speak out. Mr. Bennet now faces the challenge of setting himself apart in the Democratic field and competing against better-known candidates, some of whom have been laying the groundwork for their campaigns for months or years. Two other passengers, another man and his 13-year-old son, were later found on the American side of the river. Border Patrol agents found the body of the 10-month-old baby on Thursday and pronounced the boy dead, according to a Customs and Border Protection official. Agents were still searching for the three migrants who had not been recovered. The chaotic episode highlights the rising death toll as migrants from Central America try to cross the border with Mexico to request asylum in the United States. Two detained migrant children from Guatemala died in December while in Border Patrol custody, and a 16-year-old boy from Guatemala died earlier this week in Texas after arriving at a shelter for unaccompanied children. Raft crossings into Texas are a common form of transit into the United States, with the Rio Grande Valley sector being consistently the Border Patrols busiest. With springtime water levels relatively high, the water is fast-moving in the area near Del Rio, said an official with Customs and Border Protection, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the raft accident. Rescues are common because many of those attempting to cross have little, if any, experience with swimming, the official said, and crossing the river at night, as this group had, is particular dangerous. [Asylum seekers travel thousands of miles and endure dangerous conditions. Here are four of their stories.] The river is patrolled regularly by Border Patrol agents, but migrants attempting to cross are often advised by smugglers to do so in areas that are difficult for the agents to see because they are obscured by trees or other natural barriers making an accident such as an overturned raft in those areas even more dangerous as it can go unobserved by the authorities. Sexual assault in the American military surged in the last two years, driven almost entirely by a 50 percent increase in assaults on women in uniform, according to a survey released on Thursday by the Defense Department. The departments annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military estimated that there were 20,500 instances of unwanted sexual contact in the 2018 fiscal year, based on a survey of men and women across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. That was an increase of 38 percent from the previous survey in 2016. The grim data provide considerable ammunition for critics in Congress and veterans groups who have pressed repeatedly to change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault crimes. They want authority over such cases shifted away from military commanders and into the hands of an independent prosecutors office. These arent just numbers, these are peoples lives, said Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat of California, who has pushed to remove the authority from commanders. This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba The military judge presiding in the trial of five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks announced in court on Wednesday that he intends to leave the case next month. The development could further delay the slowly moving case as a new judge reads the more than 23,000 pages of pretrial transcripts dating back to the May 2012 arraignment as well as hundreds of pretrial pleadings. The announcement came just days after the commander of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Rear Adm. John C. Ring, was fired after a monthlong investigation, for what his superior officer called a loss of confidence in his ability to lead. The current judge, Col. Keith A. Parrella of the Marines, took over the case a little more than eight months ago. He said he was leaving for a job supervising Marine security forces at United States embassies around the world, a possibility he had flagged when he held his first hearing in the case last September. No replacement was named for him. The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. Thats why we have scoured the internet for writing from across the political spectrum that you might not have seen. Attorney General William P. Barr testified for five hours on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, defending his handling of the special counsels report. (On Thursday, Democrats threatened Mr. Barr with contempt after he failed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. Read the latest here.) Heres a look at what writers of opinion articles and editorials are saying about his appearance on Wednesday, his absence on Thursday, and what comes next. From the Right From the editors of National Review: An incredibly dumb scandal Is it already August? Thats usually the Beltway silly season appropriate for such a ridiculous non-scandal as the Great Bill Barr Summary of Findings Outrage of 2019. The editors wrote that the criticism of Mr. Barrs letter summarizing the Mueller report was unfounded, saying it had become an obsession for Democrats and the press and the focus of endless conspiracy theories. RALEIGH, N.C., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SECU Foundation is teaming up with North Carolina State University College of Education and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education to fund the expansion of Pathway to Practice NC, an innovative program to address North Carolinas teaching shortage. The program is an online, competency-based program designed for lateral entry teachers and is a state-approved Educator Preparation Program offered jointly by the two universities. A $200,000 investment from the Foundation will assist with the development of content specific competencies and modules for individuals with a residency license to earn their dual teaching certifications in elementary and special education. The grant will also provide funding for ten $5,000 scholarships to help increase program enrollment. SECU Foundation Board Chair Bob Brinson announced the grant and presented a ceremonial check to university officials during a recent event and remarked, We are proud to be a supporting partner of this valuable program to address the issue of teacher attrition and retention. The Foundations grant will be used to strengthen and expand university offerings of the program and help fill the growing need for elementary and special education teachers throughout the state. Ultimately, this is an investment in the future of our states education system, our teachers, and students, and one that we hope will provide significant and long-term dividends for North Carolina. Pathway to Practice NC was launched in 2017 by the two universities as an online, self-paced program not restricted by semester structure or travel needs a huge convenience factor and an affordable option for educators interested in becoming licensed to teach in one or both of the fields. The program takes 12 to 18 months to complete and currently enrolls 76 residency license teachers from across the state. Mary Ann Danowitz, Dean of the NC State College of Education said, Thanks to the SECU Foundation, Pathway to Practice NC will be able to support more career changers and prepare them to become highly effective teachers. This is a critical investment because we know that teachers are the most influential school-based factor on student success. SECU Foundation is providing resources to attract and retain talented individuals who will improve the lives of K-12 students across the state, especially in high-needs school districts. This funding from the SECU Foundation helps our partnership to build capacity to address a growing need in North Carolina for teachers in critical content areas, and to do so by expanding a high-quality program that is designed to be responsive to the needs of working educators and schools, said Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Dean of the School of Education at UNC-Chapel Hill. About SECU and the SECU Foundation A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the state of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for over 81 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2.4 million members through 265 branch offices, nearly 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone and a website, www.ncsecu.org. The SECU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization funded by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services. Since 2004, SECU Foundation has made a collective financial commitment of more than $154 million for initiatives to benefit North Carolinians statewide. Contact: Jama Campbell, Executive Director Office: 919-839-5562 | secufoundation@ncsecu.org A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f60f7bce-6419-4be8-a549-1a0e6874df61 WASHINGTON Carl Kline, the former director of the White Houses Personnel Security Office, told the House Oversight and Reform Committee this week that he had overruled the recommendations of his staff and approved security clearances for White House officials on his own authority, and denied that President Trump or anyone else had directed him to do it. I have never been approached by anybody at the White House or outside the White House to adjudicate a case, one way or the other, in my tenure at the White House, Mr. Kline said on Wednesday, according to a congressional official with direct knowledge of his testimony. Mr. Kline was responding to testimony by a subordinate, Tricia Newbold, who told the committee in March how he frequently overruled the recommendations of security specialists and described how she had kept a running list of at least 25 officials whose clearance applications Mr. Kline had approved, despite a wide range of disqualifying information, including drug use, financial problems and criminal conduct. Two of those officials were Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, the presidents son-in-law and eldest daughter, both of whom serve as senior advisers in the White House. NBC News reported that Mr. Kline overruled recommendations against giving Mr. Kushner a clearance, despite concerns from F.B.I. officials. Ms. Turk went to London to help oversee the politically sensitive operation, working alongside a longtime informant, the Cambridge professor Stefan A. Halper. The move was a sign that the bureau wanted in place a trained investigator for a layer of oversight, as well as someone who could gather information for or serve as a credible witness in any potential prosecution that emerged from the case. A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment, as did a lawyer for Mr. Halper, Robert D. Luskin. Last year, Bill Priestap, then the bureaus top counterintelligence agent who was deeply involved in the Russia inquiry, told Congress during a closed-door hearing that there was no F.B.I. conspiracy against Mr. Trump or his campaign. The London operation yielded no fruitful information, but F.B.I. officials have called the bureaus activities in the months before the election both legal and carefully considered under extraordinary circumstances. They are now under scrutiny as part of an investigation by Michael E. Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general. He could make the results public in May or June, Attorney General William P. Barr has said. Some of the findings are likely to be classified. It is unclear whether Mr. Horowitz will find fault with the F.B.I.s decision to have Ms. Turk, whose real name is not publicly known, meet with Mr. Papadopoulos. Mr. Horowitz has focused among other things on the activities of Mr. Halper, who accompanied Ms. Turk in one of her meetings with Mr. Papadopoulos and also met with him and other campaign aides separately. The bureau might also have seen Ms. Turks role as essential for protecting Mr. Halpers identity as an informant if prosecutors ever needed court testimony about their activities. Mr. Barr reignited the controversy last month when he told Congress, I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. He backed off the charged declaration later in the same hearing, saying: I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated. And Im not suggesting that it wasnt adequately predicated. But I need to explore that. Hillary Clinton sharply criticized Attorney General William P. Barr, President Trump, members of the Republican Party and some findings of the Mueller report on Wednesday night in a wide-ranging interview in which she warned of continuing Russian efforts to interfere in United States elections. Mrs. Clinton appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC just hours after the contentious hearing in which Mr. Barr took questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Robert S. Mueller IIIs report. Among the things the 448-page report revealed was Mr. Trumps fixation on targeting Mrs. Clinton as a subject for further investigation. Im living rent free inside of Donald Trumps brain, and its not a very nice place to be, I can tell you that, said Mrs. Clinton, the former Secretary of State who was defeated by Mr. Trump in the 2016 election. When in doubt, go after me, she said of the Republican Partys strategy. This is part of their whole technique to divert attention from what the real story is. The real story is the Russians interfered in our election. And Trump committed obstruction of justice. Thats the real story. WASHINGTON House Democrats feud with Attorney General William P. Barr boiled over on Thursday, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of lying to Congress and the Judiciary Committee threatened to hold him in contempt if he did not promptly hand over a complete version of Robert S. Mueller IIIs report. The escalation between the legislative and executive branches of government, a day after Mr. Barr, the nations top law enforcement officer, mounted an aggressive self-defense in the Senate, was as abrupt and emotionally charged as any in decades. The Justice Department had ignored a Wednesday deadline to provide an unredacted version of the report by Mr. Mueller, the special counsel, and the investigative materials used to compile it. Then, on Thursday morning, Mr. Barr failed to appear at a House hearing on Mr. Muellers investigation of Russian election interference, and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, because of a dispute over who would be allowed to question the attorney general. But it was a newly revealed letter from Mr. Mueller to the attorney general that most provoked Ms. Pelosis ire. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, the 21st Democrat to declare his candidacy for president, is known as a moderate who seeks bipartisan compromise. Heres where he stands on a few key issues. Immigration Mr. Bennet may be best known for being part of the so-called Gang of Eight: four Democratic and four Republican senators who negotiated a comprehensive immigration proposal in 2013. The bill, which passed the Senate but not the House, included: A path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who passed a background check, paid a fine and back taxes, and learned English. An expanded visa program for agricultural workers and an expedited path to permanent residency for student visa holders who earned advanced STEM degrees. A 700-mile border fence, new border-monitoring technologies and about 20,000 more Border Patrol agents. Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. Im Lisa Lerer, your host. [Get On Politics delivered to your inbox.] When I joined the press horde covering Joe Bidens first campaign visit to Iowa this week, I was struck by how often I heard the same refrain. Heres how Greg Renaud, a retired teacher from Pleasant Hill, put it: I like Joe. We need someone in the first place whos electable in 2020. Look, my own personal beliefs are probably a little to the left of where he is, but independents are going to be crucial in 2020. In my conversations with voters even those who said they felt strong affection for Mr. Biden it was pretty clear that practicality, not passion, was the driving force in their support for the former vice president. It was a sentiment that seemed to transcend age, gender and ideological orientation. Now, Im generally a cynic. But when it comes to presidential politics, I believe in love. No one enjoys suffering through a bad date particularly when its a date that could keep going for four long years. That means pragmatic support is generally not the stuff of winning presidential bids. (See: Romney, Mitt; Clinton, Hillary; Kerry, John.) Could the House seek a court order on its own? Yes, and the House may soon ask Judge Howell to issue an order permitting its members access to grand-jury information from the special counsel investigation. It is not clear whether Mr. Barr would then direct the Justice Department to remain neutral, or instead to oppose the request and, if Judge Howell agrees to issue such an order, file an appeal of that ruling. Whether anyone is in a position to appeal such an order is important because the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently issued a ruling that put forward a narrow view of when courts may let outsiders to see grand jury information. Judge Howell, a former Senate Judiciary Committee staff lawyer, may be more inclined to find that Congress has a right to access such material. What about executive privilege? A valid assertion of executive privilege by the president can also provide a basis to lawfully defy a subpoena, so Mr. Trumps invocation of it gives Mr. Barr an argument and a shield as the matter moves toward a likely court fight. The Supreme Court has ruled that presidents have the authority to keep secret certain internal communications, including discussions with aides about how to carry out their constitutional duties. The lines are murky between where Congresss power stops and the presidents begins, in part because such disputes are usually resolved through compromises rather than definitive rulings. Notably, judges have said they want to see the two branches engage in good-faith negotiations to find a compromise that accommodates the constitutional needs of each, so Mr. Trumps overt stonewalling may undermine the executive branchs position when some of these disputes get into court. But in the exchange of letters between the Trump administration and the Judiciary Committee leading up to Wednesdays vote and invocation, the executive branch argued that it was trying to make accommodations in good faith about the Mueller report, so it was Congress that was being unreasonable. The Trump administration had offered to let a small number of congressional leaders read a less-redacted version of the report that would permit them to see information related to, for example, ongoing investigations and cases, although not the grand-jury material. WASHINGTON The American military killed 120 civilians in strikes, raids and firefights across two continents in 2018, the Pentagon said Thursday a far lower number than what watchdog groups have reported. The Defense Departments annual report to Congress said 42 civilians were killed in Iraq and Syria during military operations against the Islamic State, and 76 in Afghanistan as American troops fought extremist groups and resurgent Taliban militants. The Pentagon also acknowledged that two civilians were killed in Somalia; last month, officials first acknowledged the casualties after being confronted with evidence compiled by Amnesty International. Thursdays report concluded there were no civilians killed in Yemen during American airstrikes against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State affiliates there. Cheryl Closs, a mother of four from West Islip, N.Y., wanted to save her daughter Bellas two front teeth. They were badly decayed, and one dentist wanted to just pull them out. But Ms. Closs was having none of it. Bella, who is 15 and in 8th grade, has special needs and uses a wheelchair. They are quick to pull a childs teeth that is special needs, Ms. Closs said. So she began a search for a root-canal specialist. She would take Bella out of school for the day and her husband would drive them to whichever borough for a dental appointment. But they took Bella to at least eight dentists and root-canal specialists, all of whom declined to treat her. Some didnt even look at her teeth, Ms. Closs said. This has happened so many times. Bella favors pigtails and Wonder Woman T-shirts. She smiles a lot but doesnt say much and doesnt like being touched, let alone restrained. She has a genetic disease called fucosidosis, which is deteriorating her brain function. Getting an X-ray or having her teeth cleaned can be challenging, requiring more time or more hands on deck to hold her head or flailing arms. And many dentists cant or wont treat patients with disabilities. Some cannot physically accommodate a large wheelchair, or they dont feel comfortable treating the patients, said Dr. Rita Bilello, the dental director at Metro Community Health Centers in Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx. The Caribbean nation of St. Lucia quarantined a cruise ship on the island for several days after identifying a confirmed case of measles on board, a health official said. Passengers and crew members aboard the large ship were not permitted to leave, Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, the nations chief medical officer, said on Tuesday. The ship remained moored at St. Lucia until around midnight Thursday, when it departed to the west of the island. The highly infectious disease, which can be mostly prevented by a common vaccination, is in the midst of its largest outbreak in a quarter-century in the United States, with more than 700 cases reported. Because of the risk of potential infection, not just from the confirmed measles case but from other persons who may be on the boat at the time, we thought it prudent to make a decision not to allow anyone to disembark, she said in a statement. English French MONTREAL, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stella-Jones Inc. (TSX: SJ) (Stella-Jones or the Company) today announced its director election results following its Annual Meeting of Shareholders (Meeting), held this morning. All of the nominees proposed as directors in the Companys Management Information Circular dated March 14, 2019 were elected by a majority of the votes cast by shareholders present at the Meeting or represented by proxy. In total 51,967,099 shares were represented in person or by proxy, representing approximately 75.18% of the outstanding shares as of the record date of March 14, 2019. Detailed voting results for the election of directors were as follows: Nominee Votes for Votes Withheld # % # % George J. Bunze 48,832,244 98.02 987,010 1.98 Karen Laflamme 49,643,476 99.65 174,978 0.35 Katherine A. Lehman 49,478,424 99.32 341,030 0.68 James A. Manzi, Jr. 48,513,994 97.38 1,305,260 2.62 Brian McManus 49,692,608 99.75 126,846 0.25 Simon Pelletier 49,481,756 99.32 337,698 0.68 Mary L. Webster 49,546,924 99.45 272,530 0.55 Results on all matters voted at the Meeting are available on the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). ABOUT STELLA-JONES Stella-Jones Inc. (TSX: SJ) is a leading producer and marketer of pressure treated wood products. The Company supplies North Americas railroad operators with railway ties and timbers, and the continents electrical utilities and telecommunication companies with utility poles. Stella-Jones also manufactures and distributes residential lumber and accessories to retailers for outdoor applications, as well as industrial products for construction and marine applications. The Companys common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. He is one of the most powerful leaders of the Venezuelan government, a hard-liner who has put down protests, confronted rebels and been a constant presence at the side of Nicolas Maduro, the countrys authoritarian president. But for years, Tareck El Aissami, one of Mr. Maduros closest confidants, has also been the target of wide-ranging investigations by his own countrys intelligence agency into his ties to the criminal underworld. According to a secret dossier compiled by Venezuelan agents, Mr. El Aissami and his family have helped sneak Hezbollah militants into the country, gone into business with a drug lord and shielded 140 tons of chemicals believed to be used for cocaine production helping make him a rich man as his country has spiraled into disarray. With its economy in tatters and its people hungry, Venezuela is in the throes of a desperate fight for control of the country. Opposition leaders are calling for an uprising, while the countrys military and civilian authorities are refusing to surrender power, presenting a largely united show of force against the protests in the streets. BHUBANESWAR, India Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated parts of Indias eastern coast on Thursday as an extremely severe cyclone moved north through the Bay of Bengal, bringing fears of widespread destruction from heavy rain, powerful winds and storm surges in low-lying areas. Cyclone Fani, classified by meteorologists as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall along the coast at 8 a.m. Friday after churning through the bay, which has produced many of the worlds deadliest tropical cyclones. By late Thursday in India, Cyclone Fani had sustained winds of about 155 miles per hour, nearly in the range of a Category 5 hurricane, said Derrick Herndon, an associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madisons Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. The World Meteorological Organization said the storm was one of the most intense in 20 years in the region. WELLINGTON, New Zealand The death toll from the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March rose to 51 on Thursday, when a man wounded during the shooting died in a hospital. The man, a Turkish national, had been in intensive care in Christchurch Hospital since the shooting on March 15, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand said in a statement. His name was not released by Ms. Ardern or the police. Turkeys foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, identified him on Twitter, writing, Unfortunately we have lost our citizen Zekeriya Tuyan, who was injured seriously in the treacherous terrorist attack in New Zealand. The man, the last person still in intensive care following the attack seven weeks ago, was one of three Turkish citizens who were shot. Nine people remain in hospitals in stable condition, Ms. Ardern said. LISTVYANKA, Russia When Andrei Sukhanov saw that the Chinese-owned hotel rising next door was about to obstruct the sweeping view of Lake Baikal from his small, rustic motel, he steeled himself with a shot of vodka, grabbed his chain saw and chopped down eight wooden pillars buttressing the construction. Nothing fell down, and far from being condemned, Mr. Sukhanov was treated as a hero for standing up to the Chinese, whose expanding presence around Lake Baikal is the source of deep resentment. His actions have become a rallying cry amid a growing stream of petitions, protests and court cases aimed at blocking the Chinese around the lake and surrounding areas. If we let them, the Chinese will take over, said Mr. Sukhanov, 57, who fled St. Petersburg decades ago for a bucolic life by the Siberian lake, the worlds largest, deepest body of fresh water. They will just steal all the money and the local people will get nothing. At least seven foreign-born women or their young daughters many missing for months or years are believed to have been victims of a man suspected of serial killings in Cyprus, an army officer who the police say confessed this week. But his arrest, far from reassuring the public, has raised questions about the treatment of migrant workers on the Mediterranean island nation. It also has cast a harsh light on a police response that critics say was grossly insufficient. Most victims were domestic workers from Asia, including one who disappeared in 2016. With all these things that they are doing now searches, retrieving bodies, finding these things they should have done these things a year ago, said Lissa Jataas, a Filipina housemaid and the founder of Obreras Empowered, a group that supports domestic workers. The justice minister resigned on Thursday and the chief of police is facing calls to resign. President Nicos Anastasiades has ordered an investigation of the police response and, to quell international outcry, plans to meet with diplomats from the home countries of migrants who come to Cyprus for domestic work. LA ROCHELLE, France At dawn on a recent Saturday, the crew of the fishing trawler LArlequin II pulled their cone-shaped net up from the Bay of Biscay, and found the usual catch crammed into the bottom: hundreds of bass. And the bodies of two dead dolphins. Such scenes have become far too common: A record 1,200 dolphins have washed up on Frances Atlantic coast since January, most of them with wounds suggesting that the mammals had died after being trapped in fishing nets. For every carcass that ends up on a beach, several more decay at sea, wildlife biologists say, which suggests that as many as 6,000 of the 200,000 common dolphins living in the bay may have perished in less than four months because of fishing. So a disturbing question hangs over the port cities that dot the coastline from Brittany to the Basque Country, and their hundreds of fishing vessels, with no clear answer. LONDON Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, appeared in a British court on Thursday for an initial hearing on whether he will be extradited to the United States to face prosecution in connection with one of the most serious leaks of classified material in American history. Mr. Assange, 47, made a brief appearance by video link in Westminster Magistrates Court in London from Belmarsh Prison in another part of the city. A day earlier, he had been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for bail-jumping. The hearing on Thursday lasted just a few minutes, in which Mr. Assange told the judge that he did not wish to surrender himself to be prosecuted in the United States for what he called journalism that has won many awards, according to The Associated Press. His next hearing, in what promises to be a long extradition fight, is scheduled for May 30. The American indictment against him stems from a leak in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of classified documents, mostly related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that proved damaging and embarrassing for the United States and its allies. Mr. Assange faces a charge of conspiring with the former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer network, a crime punishable by up to five years in an American prison. LONDON After dismissing her defense secretary on accusations he leaked sensitive information, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain declared the matter closed, and on Thursday her government insisted that the police need not investigate one of the most serious security breaches in recent memory. But the former defense secretary, Gavin Williamson, is not going quietly. In interviews with Sky News and others, he was quoted as having sworn on his childrens life that he was not the source of the leak from the National Security Council reported in a Daily Telegraph article. He has demanded a police inquiry to vindicate him and accused one of the countrys top civil servants of having conducted a vendetta. His protestations of innocence have raised questions not only about Mrs. Mays notoriously leaky cabinet, but also about how information is traded between Britains top politicians and its leading journalists and the nature of a leak. Mr. Williamson has not denied reports that he spoke by phone to the author of the article, the Daily Telegraphs deputy political editor, Steven Swinford, for 11 minutes on the day of the leak apparently the main evidence against him. Instead, Mr. Williamson seems to be arguing that the conversation was not responsible for the leak that has cost his job. NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP announces that a federal securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Eventbrite, Inc. (NYSE: EB) (the Company or Eventbrite) from September 20, 2018 through March 7, 2019, inclusive (the Class Period), and/or traceable to Eventbrites September 20, 2018 initial public offering (the IPO) at $23.00 per share. Investors who purchased shares of are urged to contact the firm immediately at classmember@whafh.com or (800) 575-0735 or (212) 545-4774. You may obtain additional information concerning the action on our website www.whafh.com. If you have incurred losses in the shares of Eventbrite, Inc., you may, no later than June 14, 2019, request that the Court appoint you lead plaintiff of the proposed class. Please contact Wolf Haldenstein to learn more about your rights as an investor in Eventbrite, Inc. ## Follow the firm and learn about newly filed cases on Twitter and Facebook. ## According to the filed complaint, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: Eventbrites migration of customers from Ticketfly to Eventbrite was progressing slower than expected; than expected; the Ticketfly integration would take longer than expected; Eventbrites revenue and growth would be negatively impacted; and as a result of the foregoing, defendants positive statements about Eventbrites business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and lacked a reasonable basis. On March 7, 2019, the Company surprised the market by revealing that the integration of Ticketfly would negatively impact the Companys growth and revenue. On this news, EventBrites share price fell over 74% to close at $24.46 on March 8, 2019. Subsequently, on May 2, 2019, Eventbrite plunged an additional 30 percent after reporting a wider- than-expected first-quarter loss and revenue below expectations. The online-ticket platform company also issued second-quarter revenue guidance of $74 million to $78 million versus the average analyst estimate of $82.4 million. The shares traded as low as $15.30 per share intra-day on May 2, 2019. Shares of Eventbrite have dropped 26 percent since the September 20, 2018 IPO and are 55 percent below the closing high of $37.97 reached on September 28, 2018. Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP has extensive experience in the prosecution of securities class actions and derivative litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts across the country. The firm has attorneys in various practice areas; and offices in New York, Chicago and San Diego. The reputation and expertise of this firm in shareholder and other class litigation has been repeatedly recognized by the courts, which have appointed it to major positions in complex securities multi-district and consolidated litigation. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions regarding your rights and interests in this case, please immediately contact Wolf Haldenstein by telephone at (800) 575-0735, via e-mail at classmember@whafh.com , or visit our website at www.whafh.com. Contact: Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP Kevin Cooper, Esq. Gregory Stone, Director of Case and Financial Analysis Email: gstone@whafh.com , kcooper@whafh.com or classmember@whafh.com Tel: (800) 575-0735 or (212) 545-4774 Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. CALGARY, Alberta, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arkadia Capital Corp. (Arkadia) (TSX-V:AKC.H) and Oasis Technology Inc. (Oasis) jointly announce that they have executed a non-binding letter of intent dated May 1, 2019 (the LOI), summarizing the principal terms under which they would be prepared to combine their respective businesses and continue as one corporation that designs and implements custom enterprise-level hardware and software solutions for the internet of things (IoT) and smart city markets (the Business Combination). Arkadia intends the Business Combination to constitute its Qualifying Transaction (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSX-V)). Arkadia Arkadia is a CPC (as defined in the policies of the TSX-V) that was incorporated under the laws of the Province of Alberta in July 2011. It does not carry on any business other than the identification and evaluation of assets and businesses with a view to completing a Qualifying Transaction. Currently, the outstanding capital of Arkadia consists of 6,523,343 Arkadia Shares. Arkadia intends to disclose significant information about its historical financial performance in a subsequent press release. Oasis Oasis is a private-held company that was incorporated under the laws of the Province of Alberta in May 2017. Oasis was originally founded to develop cost effective, high performance, industrial IoT solutions in the oil and gas industry for remote well site locations. Subsequently, Oasis developed its own Smart Efficient Low Bandwidth (SELB) technologies to meet the needs of these remote platform installations. These SELB applications allowed Oasis to capitalize on a niche-market demand and acquire a strong customer base which includes several major oil and gas producers and government agencies. With the number of IoT devices expected to increase significantly during the next few years, Oasis developed SELB technologies are expected to be in high demand as automation and smart technologies force the world to connect an escalating number of devices under cost and bandwidth constraints. With an initial customer base that required low cost and low bandwidth IoT and surveillance technologies, Oasis believes it is uniquely positioned to continue expanding into the general commercial and industrial markets where IoT technologies have traditionally been too expensive to implement effectively. With experience in SELB technologies and expertise in the areas of artificial intelligence, data aggregation, and data analysis, Oasis believes it has a competitive advantage in this expanding market, and has recently expanded its client base into new industries including manufacturing, smart city, advanced surveillance, and end-to-end custom IoT platforms. In the near term, Oasis intends to focus on large-scale commercialization and the continued deployment of technology to meet current project requirements while preparing for disruptive market changes that Oasis believes is vitally important to consider. The concept of Human Elimination of Activity and Liability or HEAL is a core tenet of Oasis technology. Oasis recognizes that as artificial intelligence systems, robotics, and sensors become more prevalent, so too will their efficiencies and the inevitable consideration of how these technologies effect on the workplace, such as the expected reduction in liability associated with non-human labour solutions. Oasis believes that almost every job will be reinvented over the next decade and both companies and governments must reconsider how they design jobs, organize work, and plan for the future. Oasis sees strong opportunities associated with this trend and is committed to being on the forefront of solution development for HEAL. Oasis intends to disclose significant information about its historical financial performance in a subsequent press release. Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures The first step of the Business Combination would be a non-brokered private placement of a minimum of 200,000 convertible debentures of Oasis (the Oasis Debentures) and a maximum of 1,000,000 Oasis Debentures, at a price of $1.00 per Oasis Debenture, for minimum gross proceeds of $200,000 and maximum gross proceeds of $1,000,000 (the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures). Each 20 Oasis Debentures would automatically convert into one common share of Oasis (an Oasis Share) upon the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent to the completion of the Business Combination. Oasis would close the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures shortly prior to the Acquisition (as that term is defined below) and use the net proceeds of the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares to finance the capital reorganization of Oasis more particularly described below and pay expenses incurred in connection with the Business Combination. Capital Reorganization of Oasis The second step of the Business Combination would be a capital reorganization of Oasis pursuant to which: (a) Oasis would use the proceeds from the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures to acquire and then cancel the outstanding Oasis Shares; (b) Oasis would grant options to purchase a minimum of 6,825 Oasis Shares and a maximum of 14,000 Oasis Shares, at any time prior to the Acquisition (as described below) (the Oasis Options); (c) Oasis would convert all of the outstanding indebtedness it owes to Morand Farms Ltd. into 75,000 Oasis Shares, and all of the outstanding Oasis Debentures into Oasis Shares. Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares The third step of the Business Combination would be a non-brokered private placement of a minimum of 12,500 Oasis Shares and a maximum of 75,000 Oasis Shares, at a price of $40 per Oasis Share, for minimum gross proceeds of $500,000 and maximum gross proceeds of $3,000,000 (the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares). Oasis would close the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares shortly prior to the Acquisition (as that term is defined below) and use the net proceeds of the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares for general corporate purposes. Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares The fourth step of the Business Combination would be a non-brokered private placement of a minimum of 12,500 Oasis Shares and a maximum of 50,000 Oasis Shares, at a price of $40 per Oasis Share, for minimum gross proceeds of $500,000 and maximum gross proceeds of $2,000,000 (the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares). Oasis would close the Pre- Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares immediately prior to the Acquisition (as that term is defined below) and use the net proceeds of the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares for general corporate purposes. Acquisition The fifth step of the Business Combination would be the acquisition by Arkadia of all of the outstanding Oasis Shares, for a purchase price of $40 per Oasis Share, such purchase price to be satisfied by issuing to the Oasis shareholders Arkadia Shares, on the basis of 2,500 Arkadia Shares for each one Oasis Share held (the Acquisition). Assuming the issuance and conversion of a minimum of 200,000 Oasis Debentures pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures, 12,500 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares, 12,500 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares, and 6,825 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Oasis Options, Arkadia would issue a total of 292,062,500 Arkadia Shares to the Oasis shareholders in connection with the Acquisition, for total consideration of $4,673,000. Assuming the issuance and conversion of a maximum of 1,000,000 Oasis Debentures pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures, 75,000 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares, 50,000 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares, and 14,000 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Oasis Options, Arkadia would issue a total of 660,000,000 Arkadia Shares to the Oasis shareholders in connection with the Acquisition, for total consideration of $10,560,000. In each case, the Acquisition would result in the creation of a Control Person (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V). Amalgamation Pursuant to the final step of the Business Combination, Arkadia and Oasis would amalgamate under the laws of the Province of Alberta and continue as one corporation (the Resulting Issuer) that would carry on the current business of Oasis under the name Oasis Technology Inc. Conditions Precedent to the Business Combination Arkadia and Oasis anticipate that the completion of the Business Combination would be subject to the satisfaction of the following significant conditions precedent, among others: a condition in favour of Arkadia that it is satisfied with its due diligence review of Oasis; a condition in favour of Oasis that it is satisfied with its due diligence review of Arkadia; a condition in favour of Arkadia that the directors of Oasis have approved the Business Combination; a condition in favour of Oasis that the directors of Arkadia have approved the Business Combination; a condition in favour of Arkadia and Oasis that all of the relevant parties have executed definitive documentation pertaining to the Business Combination; a condition in favour of Arkadia that Oasis has advanced to Arkadia sufficient funds to prepare and file audited annual financial statements for the year ended August 31, 2018, and unaudited interim financial statements for the periods ended November 30, 2018, and February 28, 2019; a condition in favour of Arkadia that Oasis has advanced to Arkadia sufficient funds to satisfy all of its outstanding indebtedness to trade creditors; a condition in favour of Oasis that Arkadia has obtained a revocation of the cease trade order issued against Arkadia by the Alberta Securities Commission on January 4, 2019; a condition in favour of Arkadia and Oasis that the TSX-V has conditionally accepted the Business Combination; a condition in favour of Arkadia and Oasis that the shareholders of Arkadia have approved the creation of a new Control Person (as that term is defined by the policies of the TSX-V); a condition in favour of Arkadia and Oasis that the shareholders of Arkadia have approved the election of the directors of the Resulting Issuer; a condition in favour of Arkadia that Oasis has sold a minimum of 200,000 Oasis Debentures pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures, 12,500 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares, and 12,500 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares; a condition in favour of Arkadia that there has been no change in the business, capital, or operations of Oasis that would reasonably be expected to have an significant adverse effect on the value of the Oasis Shares; and a condition in favour of Oasis that there has been no change in the business, capital, or operations of Arkadia that would reasonably be expected to have an significant adverse effect on the value of the Arkadia Shares. Capitalization of Resulting Issuer Following the completion of the Business Combination, the authorized capital of the Resulting Issuer would consist of an unlimited number of common shares (the Resulting Issuer Shares), and an unlimited number of preferred shares, issuable in series. The outstanding capital of the Resulting Issuer would consist of: 298,585,843 Resulting Issuer Shares, assuming the issuance and conversion of 200,000 Oasis Debentures pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures, 12,500 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares, 12,500 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares, and 6,825 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Oasis Options; or 666,523,343 Resulting Issuer Shares, assuming the issuance and conversion of a maximum of 1,000,000 Oasis Debentures pursuant to the Pre-Closing Private Placement of Oasis Debentures, 75,000 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Pre- Closing Private Placement of Oasis Shares, 50,000 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Concurrent Private Placement of Oasis Shares, and 14,000 Oasis Shares pursuant to the Oasis Options. Insiders of Resulting Issuer Arkadia and Oasis intend to provide information about the proposed directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer in a subsequent press release. Arms Length Negotiations The Non-Arms Length Parties (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) to Arkadia (i) do not own any direct or indirect beneficial interest in Oasis, (ii) are not Insiders (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) of Oasis, and (iii) do not have any relationship with the Non- Arms Length Parties to Oasis. Furthermore, the Business Combination does not constitute a Non-Arms Length Qualifying Transaction (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V). Trading Halt Trading in the Arkadia Shares will remain halted until further notice. Sponsorship Pursuant to the policies of the TSX-V, a CPC is required, subject to certain exemptions, to obtain sponsorship of a Qualifying Transaction. Arkadia and Oasis are in discussions with several potential sponsors, and intend to announce the engagement of a sponsor for the Business Combination in a subsequent press release. TSX-V Advisory Completion of the Business Combination is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSX-V acceptance and if applicable pursuant to the requirements of the TSX-V, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Business Combination cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Business Combination will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the prospectus to be prepared in connection with the Business Combination, any information released or received with respect to the Business Combination 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-V has in no way passed upon the merits of the Business Combination and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX-V nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Forward-Looking Information Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. In general, forward-looking information refers to disclosure about future conditions, courses of action, and events, including information about ones prospective financial performance or financial position. The use of any of the words anticipates, expects, intends, will, would, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information. More particularly and without limitation, this press release contains forward looking information concerning the proposed terms, and the anticipated results, of the Business Combination, as well as the key business objectives of Oasis. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Arkadia and Oasis, including expectations and assumptions concerning the ability of Arkadia and Oasis to complete the Business Combination, as well as the ability of Oasis to achieve its business objectives. Although Arkadia and Oasis believe that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking information because neither Arkadia and Oasis can give any assurance that they will prove to be accurate. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this press release. These risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to, the inability of Arkadia and Oasis to satisfy the conditions precedent to the Business Combination identified in this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date of this press release, and to not use such forward-looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. Neither Arkadia nor Oasis undertakes any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. Further Information For further information about Arkadia, please contact: Adam Rock Chief Executive Officer (403) 299-9601 arock@nerlandlindsey.com For further information about Oasis, please contact: Dan Houston VP of Investor Relations (403) 998-7325 dhouston@oasistechnology.ca This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. The Task Force identifies a global justice gap with three dimensions: At least 253 million people live in extreme conditions of injustice they are modern slaves, are stateless, or their countries or communities are engulfed in conflict, violence, and lawlessness. 1.5 billion people cannot resolve their everyday justice problemsthey are victims of crimes they do not report or have a serious civil or administrative problem they cannot resolve. 4.5 billion people are excluded from the opportunities the law provides they lack legal identity or other documentation related to employment, family, or property, and are therefore unable to access economic opportunities and public services, or the protection of the law. Overall, 5.1 billion peopletwo-thirds of the worlds populationlack meaningful access to justice. While people in all countries are affected, the burden of this injustice is not randomly distributed. The justice gap is both a reflection of structural inequalities and disparities in power, and a contributor to these inequalities, says Hina Jilani, a pioneering lawyer and pro-democracy campaigner who is an Elder and a co-chair of the Task Force. The burden of injustice falls all too heavily on women, children, and other vulnerable groups who face the hardest struggle to access the justice system and exercise their rights. The failure to provide justice is costly, the reports authors note: People with unresolved justice problems face a deterioration of their health and financial situation. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that countries lose between 0.5 and 3 percent of their GDP due to the costs of seeking justice, lost income, and stress-related illnesses and other health problems. At a global level, conflict costs the world around $2,000 per person each year, while countries may lose up to a fifth of their GDP when levels of non-conflict violence are very high. Lack of justice is stopping countries from reaching their economic and social potential, says Priscilla Schwartz, LL.D, Task Force co-chair and Sierra Leones first female Attorney General and Minister of Justice. Injustice feeds further injustice. It creates conditions for populist and extremist movements to prosper. Formal legal institutions are important, but they are too slow and too expensive to slake the thirst for justice felt by countries such as my own that have young and growing populations. Access to justice is a responsibility of the state. And it needs many different players and actors to render justice truly effectively. People and justice need to go hand in hand, says Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and International Development Cooperation, the Netherlands and co-chair of the Task Force on Justice. Society benefits if its citizens have a better understanding of the law and know how justice is served. The Task Force makes recommendations on how to empower people to understand, use, and shape the law, and on how countries can meet peoples justice needs through informal and formal justice services. Its action plan emphasizes enhanced innovation, smarter financing, and more inclusive partnerships among governmental and non-governmental bodies. Many justice reformers around the world have made impressive strides in expanding and improving the quality of the justice people receive, including creative strategies that bring justice services directly to those who need it most, says co-chair German Garavano, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Argentina. Garavano has overseen the creation of a network of centers that target the communities in Argentina that most need justice, reaching nearly half a million people each year. In these centers, lawyers, social workers, and psychologists work together to help people solve their justice problems, assisting victims of domestic violence for example, or helping community members deal with eviction. Approaches of this kind are highly cost effective: Community advice officers working in historically marginalized communities in South Africa deliver a return of $6 for every dollar invested. Providing legal counsel for low-income individuals who risk losing their housing saves New York City $320 million annually. The United Kingdoms Citizen Advice Service generates two pounds in direct savings for every pound invested and more than 10 (approximately $13) in social and economic benefits. To understand what it would cost to provide universal access to basic justice around the world, the Task Force commissioned research from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). ODIs estimates were as follows: $20 per person annually in low-income countries, $64 in middle-income nations, and $190 in high-income countries. While this is within reach for most of the middle- and high-income countries, the research made clear that low-income countries are unable to make these investments on their own. The report also calls for prevention strategies that address the root causes of injustice. The justice gap is so big that we cannot wait for justice problems to occur, says David Steven, who leads the Pathfinders program at the Center on International Cooperation. Justice systems should analyze the root causes of injustice and act much earlier to avert violence and prevent disputes from happening. As the world prepares for the first SDG Summit in September of this year, the report calls for urgent action: To accelerate the progress made, the Task Force calls on governments, justice professionals, civil society, and international organizations to come together in a global and sustained effort to deliver justice for all by 2030. Editors Note: The Center on International Cooperation (CIC) is a non-profit research center housed at New York University. Its vision is to advance effective multilateral action to prevent crises and build peace, justice, and inclusion. CIC co-founded and hosts the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies, and serves as the secretariat for the Task Force on Justice. For more, please visit cic.nyu.edu. The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies are a group of member states, international organizations, global partnerships, civil society, and other partners working on accelerating the delivery of the SDG targets for peace, justice and inclusion (SDG16+). The Task Force on Justice is an initiative of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Justice, and Inclusive Societies. It is chaired by minister from Argentina, the Netherlands, and Sierra Leone and by the Elders. It brings together a distinguished group of justice leaders and experts from civil society, governments and the private sector, providing knowledge and experience that can increase justice around the globe. The Justice for All report benefitted from contributions from a wide range of justice partners, including UN agencies, other multilateral organizations, civil society, foundations, research institutes and campaigning groups. A full list is available in the Task Force report. The analysis on the size and scope of the justice gap was conducted by the World Justice Project, in collaboration with the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Argentina, the NYU Center on International Cooperation, the OECD, the Open Society Justice Initiative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), University College London, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence, White & Case LLP, and the World Bank. The Task Force on Justice commissioned the independent, global think tank Overseas Development Institute (ODI) to develop the first estimate of the costs to provide universal access to basic justice in countries around the world. What they are saying about Justice for All: The Justice for All report represents an extraordinary effort on the part of the worlds best legal minds and organizations to put real numbers behind the global justice gap. Understanding the problem is the first step to building and delivering truly people-centered justice. Hina Jilani, an Elder and co-chair of the Task Force on Justice The justice gap is huge, but we have the leadership and expertise to close it. There are people and organizations all around the world who have fought for justice in their countries for decades. Together, we can trigger a rapid acceleration in the provision of justice to the billions of people who currently live outside the protection of the law. German Carlos Garavano, Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Argentina and co-chair of the Task Force on Justice This report puts people-centered justice at its heart. We are not merely focusing on institutions that fail to serve peoples needs, were calling on the people themselves to play a central role in the creation of a just world. Priscilla Schwartz, LL.D, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Sierra Leone and co-chair of the Task Force on Justice We estimated the justice gap based on how peoplenot institutionsexperience justice. The World Justice Project worked with other justice organizations and data producers to base this estimate on the results of surveys and other sources of data from over 100 countries. The result is a truly people-centered framework for understanding legal needs and assessing the prevalence of peoples justice problems around the world. Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of the World Justice Project Our initial estimate is that it would cost a typical low-income country $20 per person to provide universal access to basic justice services. Based on our analysis, we conclude that two billion people live in countries that cannot afford even half of these costs. The justice sector needs urgently to catch up with other service delivery sectors such as health and education in terms of ambition, scale and financing. Marcus Manuel, Senior Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Mr. Smith vehemently denies the charges against him and will pursue all avenues available to him to demonstrate his innocence, he said. The comments previously made by a prosecutor to the press have already made it almost impossible for Mr. Smith to obtain a fair trial. "The way in which this case has been handled and the continued harassment by certain members of law enforcement in Lee County have forced Mr. Smith to sell his home to be able to provide for his family. He has appeared at every opportunity to defend himself and will continue to do so. Smith was initially arrested in April 2018 and was charged with one count of sex abuse of a child less than 12 years of age in relation to an incident that occurred about 15 years before the arrest date. The victim reported the incident in June 2017, according to previous reports. During a May 2018 preliminary hearing, Officer Mitchell Allen, an investigator with the Lee County Sheriffs Office, testified that alleged incident took place at the victims parents residence. Allen added during his testimony that four other potential victims were discovered during the course of the investigation, according to previous reports. SEATTLE, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dolly has raised $7.5 million in new capital to fund expansion of its same day retail delivery service. Unlock Venture Partners led the investment with support from original Dolly investors, Maveron and Jeff Wilke, CEO, Amazon Worldwide Consumer. Unlock Partner Andy Liu has joined Dollys Board of Directors. Dolly has now raised $20+ million overall. Dolly launched in 2014 with the promise of creating a more affordable, convenient and customer-oriented same day delivery service. Since then, Dolly has completed tens of thousands of deliveries for name brands including Big Lots!, Costco, The Container Store, Crate & Barrel and Lowes. Dollys service is currently available in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, and the company plans to expand into at least 15 new markets later this year. Taking additional capital now will expedite Dollys entrance into new markets and facilitate its plans to expand nationally and eventually international. The investment will also allow Dolly to grow its operational and technical teams. Dollys service is easy to use, and guarantees both the price and timing of deliveries. Customers tell Dolly when, where and what they need delivered, via the companys website or mobile app. They select one or two Helpers (Dollys term for the truck owners who provide the delivery services), and get an instant, guaranteed price. Within minutes, theyre connected to a Helper, who will schedule and complete the service request. All deliveries are backed by the companys damage protection program and commercial liability insurance. Dolly is completely focused on optimizing the customers delivery experience, says Mike Howell, CEO at Dolly. We provide a transparent quote upfront that can be scheduled within a 30-minute window as soon as 90 minutes out. Whether the item is big or small, Dolly is the best option. We make same day delivery easy. In performing our diligence, we heard from customers time and again how satisfied they are with Dollys service, customer support, price and time guarantees, says Liu. The company and its world class team has grown rapidly but also thoughtfully, carefully planning expansions around market demographics. Our support will allow Dolly to accelerate this approach. Industry data shows that people are tired of the same old unpredictable and expensive delivery services. So-called last-mile delivery is in desperate need of an upgrade, and Dolly is in a great position to lead this space. About Dolly Dolly is an on demand delivery company based in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded in 2014 and has established retail relationships with Costco, Crate & Barrel, Lowes and Big Lots!, among others. More information at www.dolly.com . Cote dIvoire has hired the Trump-connected Avenue Strategies Global for support ahead of the 2019 African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum slated in August. President Clinton signed AGOA into law in 2000 to enhance US market access to sub-Saharan countries that are in compliance with legal, labor and human rights standards. Cote dIvoire wants ASGs help in increasing American investment, especially in its textile and cashew nuts sectors, negotiating a free trade agreement the US and paving the way for the sale of more artisan handicrafts here. Corey Lewandowski, Trumps former campaign manager, and Barry Bennett, advisor to the Trump campaign and head of Ben Carsons presidential run, launched ASG. The firm will lobby the administration and Congress and pitch the media on behalf of Cote dIvoire, according to its six-month contract worth $120K. Zimbabwe in April hired ASG to a one-year to $1.1M contract to improve its relations with the US. Four top female political reporters were honored at the sixth annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards on April 26. The annual event, which kicked off the 2019 White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend, was hosted by Story Partners founder and chairman Gloria Story Dittus and Washingtonian CEO Cathy Merrill Williams. From left: Amanda Terkel, Abby Phillip, Ashley Parker, Andrea Mitchell, Gloria Dittus and Cathy Merrill Williams Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC and host of MSNBCs "Andrea Mitchell Reports," received the Lifetime Achievement Award. A great deal has changed since I began reporting in Washington for NBC News more than forty years ago, Mitchell told the crowd. The old boys network on the 1972 campaign that Timothy Crouse chronicled in The Boys on the Bus is no more. NBCs News campaign team in 2016 of Hallie Jackson, Katy Tur, Kristen Welker, Kasie Hunt and meyes, along with an occasional male colleaguewas a breakthrough for our gender. Ashley Parker, White House reporter for the Washington Post, was named Outstanding Journalist in Print. Covering the White House means working to report not just the administrations message of the day or spin, but also to unearth the story they might not want us to tell, Parker said. These are, after all, the stories that often affect the lives of everyday Americans. CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip, who was named Outstanding Journalist in Broadcasting, described the moment she faced president Trumps intimidation as she tried to ask him a question. Huffington Post Washington bureau chief Amanda Terkel, named Rising Star, recalled being the only woman in the newsroom. During the week of the White House Correspondents Dinner, Story Partners and Washingtonian host our annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards to honor women journalists in our nations capital, said Dittus. And this year we are truly honoring the A-team. Today's media landscape is one of the most challenging environments we have ever seen, but Andrea, Ashley, Abby, and Amanda rise above and beyond every day to report the news. Letitia James New York attorney general Letitia James wants people to stand up to politicos who diminish America's democracy by relentlessly attacking the freedom of the press and criticizing specific news outlets as dishonest. At the New York Bar Assn.s annual law day event on May 1, James made that view clear. We know that when democracy actually becomes instilled in a society and country, one of the benchmarks of democracy actually seeping into the soul of a nation is the freedom of the press, she said, according to a report in the New York Law Journal. 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. During her speech, the AG did not mention president Donald Trump by name, but later told reporters that the enemy of the people description of the media must be challenged. If we are to defend democracy in an open government and open society, it is really critically important that we draw that balance and push back and stand up against individuals who believe everything should be done behind closed doors, she said. The New York Law Journal also reported that Michael Miller, president of the New York Bar Assn., likened the current attacks on the media to the Senator Joe McCarthy era. McCarthy, though, didnt have the means of social media to spread his misinformation and groundless assaults on opponents. In todays digital age an avalanche of utterly baseless claims and insults are tweeted and then repeated in the social media echo-chamber over and over and over again," Miller said. Through social media campaigns, there have been serious attacks on the essential institutions. of our government, and real damage has been done to the publics confidence in these institutions. James and Miller spoke in Albany during a law day ceremony at the Court of Appeals. NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (Bridgepoint or the Company) (NYSE: BPI) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of California, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Bridgepoint securities between March 8, 2016 and March 7, 2019, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased Bridgepoint securities between March 8, 2016, and March 7, 2019, both dates inclusive, you have until May 10, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at 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] Bridgepoint, together with its subsidiaries, provides postsecondary education services in the United States. The Company was formerly known as TeleUniversity, Inc. and changed its name to Bridgepoint Education, Inc. in February 2004. Bridgepoints academic institutions, Ashford University and University of the Rockies, offer associates, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs in the disciplines of business, education, psychology, social sciences, and health sciences. Bridgepoint offers its programs primarily through online, and also at its campuses. As of December 31, 2017, its institutions offered approximately 1,200 courses and 80-degree programs, with 45,730 students enrolled. As a means of increasing enrollment, the Company formed various corporate partnerships with employers to offer their employees a way to pursue and complete a college degree without incurring any student debt, referred to as the Corporate Full Tuition Grant (FTG) program. In 2017, enrollments in the Companys FTG program accounted for approximately 10% of its total enrollment. The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Bridgepoints processes for recording revenue for its FTG program were inaccurate; (ii) Bridgepoint maintained deficient internal controls; (iii) due to the foregoing deficiencies, Bridgepoint was prone to and did commit material accounting errors related to revenue, provision for bad debts, accounts receivable and deferred revenue, which resulted in the overstatement of revenue and expenses; and (iv) as a result, Bridgepoints public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On March 7, 2019, Bridgepoint announced that it had determined to restate the Companys previously issued unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, and advised that those financial statements should not be relied upon, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018. Bridgepoint stated that the processes used for recording revenue for the FTG program portion of its student contracts were not designed with sufficient precision, leading to material accounting errors related to revenue, provision for bad debts, accounts receivable and deferred revenue, which resulted in the overstatement of revenue and expenses. Bridgepoint also identified weaknesses in internal controls. On this news, Bridgepoints stock price plummeted by $3.21 per share, or over 34%, to close at $6.22 per share on March 7, 2019, on unusually heavy trading volume. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has called on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, to intervene in order to immediately escalate plans for an inpatient Specialist Palliative Care Unit for Offaly and Laois. Deputy Nolan was speaking after the Minister of State for Older People, Jim Daly, confirmed that planning development for such a unit within the counties will only begin in what Minister Daly has termed, the coming years. This reply from the Minister underscores a tragic lack of ambition for our older and vulnerable communities here in Offaly and Laois," Deputy Nolan said. "Minister Daly has now put on record that while there are 11 specialist inpatient palliative care units or hospices, with four in Dublin and one each in Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick and Sligo; not a single Unit is planned for our counties for the foreseeable future." "This is despite the fact that as the Minister himself accepts, we have a definite trend toward a more ageing population where the level of care need is only set to increase." "More recently we have also seen the Offaly Hospice Foundation launch another amazing fundraising effort. They have been doing this for the last 20 years. Is the Minister seriously going to tell us that it will be another 10 or 20 years before Offaly or Laois gets the Specialist Palliative Care Unit it deserves?" If the Minister can commit to delivering three new inpatient palliative care units that are scheduled to open later this year, in Mayo, Waterford and Wicklow, then he must explain why he thinks it is appropriate to leave Laois-Offaly waiting for years before we even reach planning stage, concluded Deputy Nolan. The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) which represents organisations working with over 380,000 young people is encouraging young people in Offaly to make sure they are registered to vote before the deadline for inclusion on the electoral register on Tuesday next, May 7. James Doorley, NYCI deputy director explained: We are especially anxious to ensure that the 1,100 young people who have turned 18 since both the Referendum and Presidential Election in 2018 and now have the right to vote in Offaly are included in the electoral register and will be in a position to exercise their democratic right to vote in the upcoming local and European elections and Divorce referendum. Any young person who is 18 years of age on or before May 24 next is eligible for inclusion in this updated voters list. We are advising young people to check if they are on the electoral register on checktheregister.ie. Anyone not currently registered, needs to fill in the RFA2 form, have it signed and witnessed at a Garda Station, then return it by post or by hand to your local city or county council by the May 7 deadline, in order to make sure they will be able to cast their ballot on May 24th, added Mr Doorley. Excellent work is done each year to get young people on the electoral register, by organisations including the NYCI. However, with over 61,000* young people nationwide turning 18 since last year we need to work continually to ensure all are registered. While the deadline to get your completed RFA2 form to local Councils is Tuesday, May 7, with the Bank Holiday on this coming Monday, we would encourage applicants to put the completed form in the post by latest Friday, May 3. In effect that gives applicants a few days to register, since this form also needs to be signed and stamped at a Garda Station we would encourage people not to leave it to the last minute," stated Mr Doorley. For almost every election and referendum we get calls from young people who have missed the registration deadline and are disappointed that they cannot vote, we urge young people to make sure they are registered and not to leave it to the last minute, so that they can vote in any upcoming local and European elections and referendum, concluded Mr Doorley. Its been 30 years since Tim Burtons Batman was on the big screen, and now its back. Batman will have a one-night-only screening on Saturday at Aksarben, Majestic and Oakview. The screening is both a 30th-anniversary celebration of the film, starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker, as well as an 80th-anniversary celebration of Batman, who debuted in Detective Comics No. 27 in May 1939. Screenings will follow of Batman Returns on Monday, Batman Forever on May 12 and Batman & Robin on May 14. Godzilla screenings at Alamo Drafthouse Leading up to the release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters on May 31, Alamo Drafthouse is screening a bunch of old Godzilla movies. The 2016 Japanese Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla, will be screened at 7 p.m. at Alamo Midtown on Thursday. Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth will be screened at 7 p.m. at Alamo Midtown on Monday. Its hard to believe that the Star Wars franchise started 40 years ago. But it did, and the first film, Star Wars: A New Hope, now will be shown at the Holland Center with the Omaha Symphony playing the entire score as accompaniment. The concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (May the Fourth be with you). Theyre led by Principal Pops Conductor Ernest Richardson. Composer John Williams wrote the score for the first Star Wars film, and went on to score seven more. He won an Academy Award for the first film, one of five Oscars he has earned over his career. He also has five Emmys and 23 Grammys. The American Film Institute selected his compositions for Star Wars: A New Hope as the greatest American film score of all time. You may have been living on another planet if you dont know the story, but just in case: A civil war is rocking the galaxy, with Rebel forces struggling to defeat the evil Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi rescue Rebel leader Princess Leia and steal plans to the Empires home ship, the Death Star. That sets up a climactic battle with the wicked Darth Vader. Quality shareholders see themselves as part and permanent owners of a business. They work to understand the company, its managers and their philosophy. They focus on business results, not stock price. Back then, Berkshire attracted high-quality shareholders almost exclusively. Nearly all Berkshire shares outstanding at year-end were owned by those who owned at the beginning of the year. Over rolling five-year periods, at least 90% of Berkshire shareholders remained the same from year one to five. Almost all Berkshire shares were held by concentrated investors their Berkshire stake being twice as large as their next largest stake in any other company. Shareholders today Berkshires record of attracting quality shareholders remains extraordinary. But today all those figures are lower, largely due to the changed and fragmented shareholder universe. Nowadays, index funds rule, though they were novelties through the 1980s. Up to 40% of public equity is now owned by declared indexers, or closet indexers, those proclaiming stock picking prowess while maintaining sprawling portfolios that hug an index. Owning small stakes in hundreds or thousands of companies, indexers cannot understand the vast majority of them. The bill, passed 49-0, also would create a prostate cancer awareness plate, with proceeds going to prostate cancer research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nebraska currently has a breast cancer awareness license plate. LB 356 would set standard application fees for specialty plates, such as the cancer awareness and wildlife plates, which benefit designated causes. Specialty plates with messages would be $40, with $30 of the proceeds going to the cause, and number-letter specialty plates would be $5, with all of that money going to the beneficiary. Spoofing calls. Using fake telephone numbers to fool people into answering scam calls would become illegal in Nebraska under a bill passed 49-0 Thursday. LB 693, introduced by Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings and 17 co-sponsors, would make it against state law to use deceptive caller identification to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value. Under the bill, the Public Service Commission could punish violations with an administrative penalty of up to $2,000 each. The state attorney general also could pursue cases as violations of the states Consumer Protection Act. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES ( Note : All dollar amounts in this news release are expressed in U.S. dollars except as otherwise noted. The financial results are prepared using the recognition and measurement requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards except as otherwise noted, and are unaudited.) TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation (TSX: FAH.U) announces a net loss of $21.5 million in the first quarter of 2019 ($0.35 net loss per diluted share), compared to net earnings of $40.9 million in the first quarter of 2018 ($0.80 net earnings per diluted share), reflecting net unrealized losses on investments in the quarter. Highlights in the first quarter of 2019 included the following: Net loss of $21.5 million in the first quarter of 2019 included a net change in unrealized losses on investments of $18.3 million, principally from a decrease in the market prices of the company's investments in public companies Consolidated Infrastructure Group ($17.8 million) and Atlas Mara ($8.6 million), partially offset by an increase in the fair value of the company's private investment Nova Pioneer ($1.7 million). During the first quarter of 2019 the company purchased for cancellation 1,711,412 subordinate voting shares, under the terms of the normal course issuer bid, for a net cost of $15.0 million ($8.74 per subordinate voting share). At March 31, 2019 common shareholders' equity was $566.9 million, or book value per share of $9.28, compared to $603.1 million, or book value per share of $9.60, at December 31, 2018, a decrease of 3.3% primarily related to a net loss in the first quarter of 2019. Subsequent to March 31, 2019: On April 23, 2019 Fairfax Africa invested an additional $2.3 million (32.8 million South African rand) in GroCapital Holdings which was invested by GroCapital Holdings into Grobank to support the bank's capital adequacy requirements under South African regulations. Upon completion of this transaction, the company had invested aggregate cash consideration of $14.4 million (204.4 million South African rand) for a 35.0% equity interest in GroCapital Holdings. On April 1, 2019 the company completed $2.0 million of its previously disclosed additional $10.0 million investment in Nova Pioneer, comprised of secured debentures and 200,000 Nova Pioneer Warrants. The company has a remaining investment commitment to Nova Pioneer of $3,727. There were 62.0 million and 50.6 million weighted average shares outstanding during the first quarters of 2019 and 2018 respectively. At March 31, 2019 there were 31,100,553 subordinate voting shares and 30,000,000 multiple voting shares outstanding. Fairfax Africa's detailed first quarter report can be accessed at its website www.fairfaxafrica.ca. In presenting the companys results in this news release, management has included book value per basic share. Book value per basic share is calculated by the company as common shareholders' equity divided by the number of common shares outstanding. Fairfax Africa is an investment holding company whose investment objective is to achieve long term capital appreciation, while preserving capital, by investing in public and private equity securities and debt instruments in Africa and African businesses or other businesses with customers, suppliers or business primarily conducted in, or dependent on, Africa. For further information, contact: Keir Hunt, Corporate Secretary (416) 646-4180 This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements may relate to the company's or an African Investment's future outlook and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding the financial position, business strategy, growth strategy, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividends, plans and objectives of the company. Particularly, statements regarding future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities of the company, an African Investment, or the African market are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements 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", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are based on our opinions and estimates as of the date of this press release and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the following factors: geographic concentration of investments; financial market fluctuations; pace of completing investments; minority investments; reliance on key personnel and risks associated with the Investment Advisory Agreement; operating and financial risks of African investments; valuation methodologies involve subjective judgments; lawsuits; use of leverage; foreign currency fluctuation; investments may be made in foreign private businesses where information is unreliable or unavailable; significant ownership by Fairfax may adversely affect the market price of the subordinate voting shares; emerging markets; South African black economic empowerment; economic risk; weather risk; taxation risks; and trading price of common shares relative to book value per share. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in the companys annual information form dated March 8, 2019 which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the companys website at www.fairfaxafrica.ca. These factors and assumptions are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors and assumptions that could affect the company. These factors and assumptions, however, should be considered carefully. Although the company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. The Poncas historical lands were in northern Nebraska, near Niobrara, but the federal government withdrew its recognition of the tribe in 1962, then restored it in 1990. The three governments argued that the 1988 federal legislation that governs Indian gambling facilities doesnt permit the tribe to build on the Carter Lake property. That legislation provided for tribes recognized after the passage of the Indian gambling law to build casinos on restored lands recognized by the federal government. The Poncas disagreed with Nebraska, Iowa and Council Bluffs over whether the Carter Lake property met the definition of restored lands. The commission ruled that the tribe could build in Carter Lake even though the tribes attorney told Council Bluffs officials in 2002 that the Poncas intended to build a medical clinic, not a casino, on the property. The tribe said the attorney lacked authority to make such an agreement. And it is no matter that the Tribe did not contemplate a gaming use for the parcel when it applied to have it taken into trust, the commission said in its 14-page ruling this week. Intended use of a parcel and representations are not proper considerations for a restored lands analysis. I feel that your answer was purposely misleading, and I think others do, too, Leahy said. Barr said the question he had answered previously was about unidentified members of the Mueller team. At other times in the hearing Barr also said Mueller never claimed his summary letter was inaccurate. Rather, Mueller wanted more information released, and his beef was actually focused on how news outlets were portraying the situation, Barr said. He also suggested that the Mueller letter was written by an aide. The letter is a bit snitty, and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people, Barr said. But Democrats charged that Barrs whole approach to the investigation has been improper, and some were calling for him to resign after the hearing. Republican members of the committee on Wednesday tended to use their time to discuss that Mueller found a dearth of evidence that President Donald Trumps campaign actively conspired with the Russians. And they suggested that more needs to be done to investigate how the entire probe into the possibility of collusion got started, citing biased FBI agents. State Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward said the ImagiNE Nebraska Act is designed to be easier for businesses to navigate, more transparent and more financially predictable for the state than the Advantage Act, which has been criticized as too complicated and too expensive. It was initially projected to cost $60 million a year in foregone taxes but has ended up costing $120 million to $150 million a year. The following editorial appeared in Wednesdays Washington Post. Deep uncertainty surrounds the latest events in Venezuela. Tuesday began with a pre-dawn recorded address to the public by interim president Juan Guaido, who stood with members of the security forces at a Caracas air base and declared that a long-anticipated barracks uprising against the regime of Nicolas Maduro had begun. Accompanying Guaido was opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, apparently released from his four-year detention by defecting guards. Venezuelans responded to Guaidos call for street protests and were met by troops loyal to Maduro. By late afternoon, clashes were taking place, regime officials were promising a decisive counterattack, and there was no way to know whether Operation Liberty, as Guaido dubbed this high-risk move, would succeed or be crushed or devolve into civil war. 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. NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors in United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC or the Company) (NYSE: UMC) against certain of the Companys current and former officers and directors. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and indexed under 19-cv-02304, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded securities of UMC between October 28, 2015 and November 1, 2018, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its senior officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased UMC securities during the class period, you have until May 13, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at 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] UMC purports to engage in the research, development, and manufacture of products in the solar energy and light-emitting diode industries. On May 13, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) Technology Cooperation Agreement with Fujian Jianhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. (Fujian). Under the agreement, Fujian was to provide UMC with related equipment for its research and development, as well as service fees subject to the progress of the technology development. UMC was to develop DRAM related technologies for Fujian and deliver such development results to Fujian before May 12, 2021. The developed technologies were to be jointly owned by both parties. DRAM is a memory device product used in electronics to store information. DRAM is a technologically advanced commodity that is widely used in digital electronics, as well as leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, automotive, industrial, embedded, and mobile productions. At all relevant times, one of UMCs primary competitors has been Micron Technology, Inc. (Micron), a leading U.S. semiconductor company known for its development and production of DRAM products. Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding UMCs business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) UMC conspired with Fujian to steal trade secrets from Micron relating to its research and development of DRAM; (ii) UMC hired former Micron employees for the purpose of stealing such information from Micron; (iii) the foregoing conduct placed UMC and certain of its employees at an increased risk of criminal and regulatory investigation by the U.S. government; and (iv) as a result, UMCs public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On November 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted UMC, Fujian, and Chen Zhengkun a.k.a. Stephen Chen (Chen), a former Micron employee hired by UMC, for conspiracy to commit economic espionage, conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, and economic espionage (receiving and possessing stolen trade secrets). The indictment stated that the companies conspired to steal trade secrets from Micron relating to its research and development of memory storage devices. According to the indictment, the conspiracy to commit economic espionage began in or around January 2016, the conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets began in or about October 2015, and the economic espionage (receiving and possessing stolen trade secrets) began in or about February 2016. According to the DOJs indictment, Chen, a Taiwanese national, resigned as the President of Microns subsidiary, Micron Memory Taiwan Co., Ltd. (MMT), in July 2015. Thereafter, Chen began working for UMC as its Senior Vice President and Fabrication Director in Taiwan in September 2015. According to the indictment, Chen, as well as agents of UMC, later hired additional former employees of Micron who stole Micron trade secrets and, at the direction of UMC employees, used such trade secrets to enhance UMCs DRAM technologies. As news of UMCs indictment reached the market, UMCs ADS price fell by $0.19 per share, or nearly 10%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $1.71 per share on November 5, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com 888-476-6529 ext. 9980 Curfew in Ahmedabad extended till 6am on May 21; Night curfew to continue in 36 cities for another 3 days Into the deep: Ahmedabads Science City gets a boost! Nature Park, Aquatic, Robotic Galleries and more! Gujarat: Over 2,000 people get COVID-19 vaccine at home in Ahmedabad GSEB 12th science, GUJCET 2019 results 2019 date confirmed Ahmedabad oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Ahmedabad, May 02: The GSEB 12th science result and GUJCET 2019 results will be declared soon. The results once declared will be available on the official website. The board exams for the 12th science students were held from March 7 to March 16. Around 1.47 lakh students had taken part in the exam, which was held without the semester system for the first time. Around 10,000 students had re-appeared for the 12 science exam results. These results would be declared on May 9. The GUJCET 2019 mark sheets will be available at the distribution centres in the districts. In GUJCET, 1.34 lakh students had taken part. The results for both the GSEB 12th Science Result and GUCET will be declared on May 9. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 13:18 [IST] Curfew in Ahmedabad extended till 6am on May 21; Night curfew to continue in 36 cities for another 3 days Gujarat: Pak national nabbed near border in Kutch, questioning underway Ahmedabad oi-Vikas SV Ahmedabad, May 2: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday nabbed a Pakistani national from Kutch in Gujarat. He had reportedly crossed over to the Indian side of the International Border (IB). The Pakistani national, said to be around 35-40 years old, was apprehended by the BSF patrol party this morning. The security personnel are questioning him, and during his search, nothing suspicious recovered, reported ANI. He may have inadvertantly crossed over to the Indian side which is not uncommon in border areas. India suspends LoC trade with Pakistan Some four days ago, a Pakistani national was apprehended from Kutch for illegally entering India. The man was identified as Tajgi Meghwal, a Pakistani Hindu, said reports. During his initial questioning, it came to light that Meghwal was from Kasba village in Nagarparkar taluka of Tharparkar district in Sindh province of Pakistan. He was found carrying a comb, a forceps clip and clothes In March this year, there were two instances of the BSF nabbing a Pakistani national. On March 26, a Pakistani national was apprehended by the BSF along the Indo-Pak International Border (IB) in Gujarat. Muhammad Ali (35), who was speaking Sindhi, was apprehended by a Border Security Force (BSF) patrol from the 'Kumar' border post, at border pillar number 1015, in the frontier district of Banaskantha on March 26. On March 9, BSF sent back a Pakistan national who was apprehended earlier that week on the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 11:59 [IST] Azhar is not missing: India to call out Pakistan at FATF Why killing of Masood Azhars nephew Fauji Bhai is a major shot in the arm Should BJP avoid making Masood Azhars listing as a poll issue? Debates oi-Deepika S The UN listing of Azhar has come as a shot in the arm for BJP's "flagging" election campaign. Shortly the news of Azhar being finally designated as a terrorist on the UNSC's sanctions list, the BJP hailed the "historic decision" as an accomplishment of the Modi government, emphasising its poll slogan of 'Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai'. The decision of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)to finally designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is definitely a major diplomatic victory for India. But, the timing of the news, where Narendra Modi has tried to project himself as a Prime Minister who can decisively crack down on Pakistan's terror apparatus, cannot be ignored. The UNSC decision and the manner in which the BJP went on to capitalise saying it is not good news for the Opposition hints at the BJP's poll narrative in the coming days. With over 150 seats nearly 80 per cent of which are currently held by the BJP still left for polling, it is expected that Azhar will now prominently feature in PM Modi's poll speeches. Is it right on part of Modi government to take credit for Azhar's listing or should Should BJP avoid making this a poll issue? What's your take? Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF Did Pakistan ever act against Azhar? Intel reports show, he remained protected always Masood Azhars life in danger, ISI shifts him to a safe house in Rawalpindi After hearing an October 2018 Azhar speech, Dar offered himself as Pulwama bomber From plotting a hijack to creating the JeM, why Pakistan guards Masood Azhar so much 4 reasons why the ban on Masood Azhar matters India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 02: It was a major diplomatic win for India after Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar was designated by the United Nations. The decision came through after China lifted its hold on the ban. India was keen that Azhar be designated by the Security Council Sanctions Committee. The committee of the UN was established in 1999 under Resolution 1267. The Indian dossier that got China to lift its hold on Maulana Masood Azhar With Masood Azhar being designated as a terrorist, what does it mean. Let us take a look. Travel ban: All members states would now be required to prevent the entry or transit through their territories by the individual designated. Freeze on assets: The member states would be required to freeze the funds and financial assets of the designated entity or individual. Arms: The members states are required to prevent the direct and indirect supply and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories the sale of arms and ammunition. Pakistan will have to act: With the Sanctions Committee overseeing the implementation, Pakistan would be required to act against Azhar. His organisation will have to be shut down and Pakistan would have to ensure total immobilisation. NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES TORONTO, May 02, 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, announces that the Company plans to issue up to CAD$800,000 principal amount of secured debentures of the Company (the "Debentures"). The Debentures will be secured against the assets of the Company and will bear interest at the rate of 12% per annum. The Debentures will mature on the earlier of: (i) 12 months from the date of issuance; and (ii) the date upon which ARHT completes a private placement financing raising gross proceeds of no less than CAD$2 million. The Debentures may be prepaid by the Company at any time without penalty, provided that a minimum of four months' interest will be payable by the Company. The Company will also issue 1,400 warrants per $1,000 principal amount of Debenture. Each warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.21 for a period of 12 months. Completion of the Debenture financing is subject to receipt of the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions, the Debenture financing is expected to close on or about May 8, 2019. All securities issued pursuant to the Debenture financing will be subject to a four month and one day hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws. The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to assist the Company to put on events, acquire equipment and for general working capital purposes. 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 TSX 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 Debenture financing; 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. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. 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. Akhilesh critical of both BJP, Congress; Asks who started misuse of central agencies in first place India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, May 2: Like his ally Mayawati, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav came down heavily on both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, saying there is no difference between the two. Yadav, in fact, opined that Congress' actions and remarks would benefit the BJP. Yadav's remarks come a day after Bhaujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati trained gun at both the national parties and accused the BJP of misleading the people with 'jumlas', while slamming the Congress for insulting Dr B R Ambedkar. Akhilesh Yadav, in an interview to news agency ANI, hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for saying that SP and BSP were controlled by the BJP. He minced no words in saying that the way the BJP is allegedly misusing the central agencies was something started by the Congress during their rule. BJP banking on 'Jumlas', Congress insulted Ambedkar: Mayawati attacks both national parties "No one controls us. We are political parties. It is the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in UP that is poised to give a setback to the ruling party. Our alliance will stop the bad policies of BJP," he said. "There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. Congress wants to benefit the BJP. Who taught the central agencies to intimidate Opposition leaders?..BJP has learnt to misuse the ED, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress', he added. Akhilesh said his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SP patriach, is not in the prime ministership race, adding that SP-BSP alliance wants to be in a position where it would have a significant say in the next government. "Our alliance wants to give India a new Prime Minister. Party will decide about the Prime Minister when final seat tally is out. It will be good if Netaji gets the honour (to be PM) but I feel he is probably not in prime ministerial race," he told ANI. Asserting that the BJP had failed of the national security front, Akhilesh said, "Our soldiers are dying on the border and in the Naxal affected areas. BJP talks about soldiers. What type of national security is it when one soldier dies every day." Reacting to Priyanka Gandhi's remark that her party had fielded some candidates in UP with an aim to cut into BJP's vote share, Akhilesh said, "I do not believe that Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. People are not with them." 'BJP's endgame has begun': Akhilesh Yadav Exuding confidence that the alliance would bag the maximum number of seats in the state where 80 seats are at stake, Yadav said: "It is one of the reasons that the BJP leaders do not talk about development in their rallies and seek to divert the people's attention." 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. I hope to be back home soon: Akshay Kumar hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19 Did PM Modi, Priyanka Chopra, Akshay Kumar get vaccinated in Bihar? 2 comp operators suspended for data fraud Akshay Kumar did not vote and he will not tell you why India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Mumbai, May 02: After he was heavily criticised for not voting in the polls held for six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, actor Akshay Kumar dodged questions on his conspicuous absence. Kumar was in news only a few days ago for his "non-political" interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the hero of films like "Kesari", "Toilet Ek Prem Katha" and "Airlift" which had nationalistic overtones, gave voting a miss on Monday. 'Mamata didi still gifts me Kurtas every year', says Modi in interview with Akshay Kumar At a special screening of the film "Blank" on Tuesday, the actor interacted with the media, lauding the movie and the performances of debutantes. However, when the actor was asked why he skipped voting, Akshay simply walked off, saying "Chaliye chaliye (lets go, lets go)." The irony of Akshay skipping voting did not go unnoticed on Twitter, as just last month Modi had tagged the actor in a tweet, asking him to encourage voting. In response to the PM, the "Kesari" actor had written the power of a vote "is immense and we all need to improve awareness on its importance. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 17:19 [IST] Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF Behind the scenes: How Indias relentless push ensured Masood Azhar was banned India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 02: It began in 2009 and the closure came in 2019. India had first moved a proposal to designate Maulana Masood Azhar as a terrorist before the United Nations in 2009. The move was blocked by China. The next time India made such a move was in the year 2016. A year later the P3 nations made a similar proposal, but the Chinese block continued. It was in February 2019 that the US, UK and France moved a proposal in the UNSC. In March China put the proposal on hold. On March 28, the US supported by France and UK directly moved a draft resolution in the UNSC. A month later, China said that there has been some progress on the issue and on May 1 the hold was lifted and Azhar was declared a global terrorist. The Indian dossier that got China to lift its hold on Maulana Masood Azhar India was relentless in its efforts and getting China to lift its hold especially in the wake of it considering Pakistan an all weather friend was not easy. The talks were led on various levels and officials of the PMO, Home Ministry and the Ministry for External Affairs were all involved in it. India constantly engaged with the US, UK and France to get the ban imposed. On March 21, there was a clear ray of hope when the UNSC condemned the Pulwama attack. This was the first time that the UNSC had condemned a terror attack in Kashmir on security personnel. What furthered India's cause was the mention of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in its statement. This gave India and the rest of the nations the required impetus to push the case further. Further India also managed to get the US to exert immense pressure on China. While China had put the technical hold for a period of six months, Delhi continued to pursue the issue. It was confident that the nations it was speaking with too would pressurise China to lift the hold. This led to the US moving a fresh proposal, without deciding to wait for the six month period. Masood Azhar declared terrorist by UN: Big diplomatic victory for India One of the key player in this entire issue was foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale. He visited the US, Moscow and Beijing to discuss the issue. He was finally able to convince these nations including China that putting the issue on hold would not serve any purpose. Sources tell OneIndia that it was the relentless push which finally ended in this decision. Yogi Adityanath didn't take dip in Ganga as he knows rivers are not clean: Akhilesh 'Chaiwala' betrayed people by going back on promises: Akhilesh Yadav India pti-PTI Kaushambi (UP), May 2: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the "chaiwala" has betrayed people by going back on his promises. He also hit out at the "thoko (violent) policy" of the Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Addressing an election meeting for SP-BSP alliance candidates from Kaushambi and Pratapgarh here, the SP chief said, "The 'chaiwala' (tea seller) has gone back on the promises... they have been exposed... chaiwala has this time come as 'chowkidar' (watchman)." Modi has often referred to himself as a 'chaiwala' and 'chowkidar'. [ Onlookers awestruck as Priyanka Gandhi holds snake in her hand ] In a dig at the Yogi Adityanath government, Yadav said those pursuing 'thoko policy' were insulting the police force of the state. He had earlier alleged that police officers of the state were following the 'thoko neeti' (encounter policy) of the chief minister to avoid getting transferred. Talking about the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the former chief minister said there is a wave in favour of the alliance. "Public is the real king in a democracy. There is a wave in favour of the alliance," he said. "BJP supporters want to drag us down by hook or crook... we want that all castes get proper representation, only then social right and honour can be established," Yadav asserted. The SP leader urged the people to vote for the SP-BSP alliance as he said this single act can "teach a lesson" to the wrongdoers. "By pressing button for the alliance candidates, the 'chowkidar' and 'thokidars' will be removed," he said. Yadav added that the alliance was fighting for farmers, youths, Dalits, backwards and minorities. PTI Ramping up domestic vaccine production, not right to speak of outside supply now: MEA China's support in Azhar's ban will better ties between two countries: MEA India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, May 02: Asserting that India does not negotiate with any country on terrorism and on matters related to country's security, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that China's support to Masood Azhar's listing as a global terrorist will contribute to better Sino-India ties. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Pakistan and all the other states are required to take three steps in this situation: freeze the funds, imposing travel ban and arms embargo on Azhar. "The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism," Kumar said at a media briefing. With Azhar banned, Pak will use Mohammad Rauf, Athar Ibrahim to run JeM The MEA spokesperson said that Pulwama terror attack "played a role" in designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. However, the UN list is not a "biodata" of Azhar's terror acts, he added. Asked whether India offered something to China for Azhar's listing, he asserted that India doesn't negotiate on matters related to national security. "Our objective was to ensure designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist," he said. 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 February 14 Pulwama terror attack 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 a fourth time to designate Azhar a global terrorist.India had termed the Chinese move as "disappointing". On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal. Behind the scenes: How India's relentless push ensured Masood Azhar was banned A UN Security Council (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. In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar a global terrorist. 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 Pathankot airbase 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 UNSC, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 18:14 [IST] CJI Gogoi appears before panel probing sexual harassment charges against him India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, May 02: Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi appeared before the internal panel of the Supreme Court that is probing harassment charges levelled against him. No details of the proceedings were made known as the proceedings are being held in-camera. The panel comprising three judges of the Supreme Court decided to go ahead with the probe despite the complainant withdrawing from the inquiry. The CJI was issued a letter on Tuesday asking him to appear before the probe panel. This is incidentally for the first time that a CJI has appeared before any panel that is dealing with sexual harassment charges. CJI sexual harassment: Complainant withdraws from committee proceedings On Tuesday, the complainant walked out of the inquiry proceedings stating that she had serious concerns and reservations. In a statement issued to the media, she said, "I was compelled to walk out of the committee proceedings today because the committee seemed not to appreciate the fact that this was not an ordinary complaint but was a complaint of sexual harassment against a sitting CJI and therefore it was required to adopt procedure that would ensure fairness and equality in the highly unequal circumstances that I am placed. I had hoped that the approach of the committee towards me would be sensitive and not one that would cause me further fear, anxiety and trauma." Congress gives out details of 6 surgical strikes carried out during UPA regime India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, May 02: In a bid back former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's claim that multiple surgical strikes took place during his regime, Congress on Thursday gave details of six cross-border strikes during the previous UPA regime. The Congress's claim assumes significance as it comes amid the Lok Sabha elections with four of the seven phases completed so far. The opposition, including the Congress, has been criticising the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the armed forces for political gains. Congress leader Rajiv Shukla also listed the dates on which the strikes were carried out. According to Shukla, the first surgical strike during the UPA regime was conducted on June 19, 2008 in Bhattal Sector and the second was carried out on August 30-September 1, 2011 in Sharda Sector. "One surgical strike was carried out on January 6, 2013 at Sawan Patra Checkpost; one on July 27 and July 28, 2013 at Nazapir Sector; August 6, 2013 at Neelam Valley; and one on January 14, 2014," Shukla told the media. Modi in Aligarh: 'Surgical strike after first mistake, air strike after second, what after third...' Shukla also provided details of two surgical strikes that were carried out during PM Vajpayee's regime, saying first strike was conducted on January 21, 2000 at Nadala Enclave across the Neelam River and second on September 18, 2003 at Baroh Sector in Poonch. Congress' claims come amid bitter war of words between the two parties over the politicisation of actions taken by the armed forces. Earlier on Thursday, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in an interview to Hindustan Times, said that "multiple surgical strikes" were conducted during UPA's tenure but the Indian government at that time did not need to ride on the achievements of the army. Another Goa Congress MLA resigns; party's strength in House down to 2 Cong will have to adopt BJP's strategy of strengthening regional leaders: Harish Rawat Congress upset with Pulwama attack missing in Azhar ban order India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, May 02: 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. Masood Azhar declared terrorist by UN: Big diplomatic victory for India 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 $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 $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. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 6:06 [IST] Parts of Delhi-NCR witness moderate to heavy rainfall; IMD predicts more rain to continue in NCR today Cyclone Fani: A look at some of the deadliest cyclones in India Feature oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 02: Cyclonic storm Fani, which is lying about 450 km from the Odisha coast, is the first severe, cyclonic storm to have formed in April in India's oceanic neighbourhood since 1976, according to records from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). While severe cyclones (defined as generating maximum wind speeds of 89-117 kmph) can form any time, they tend to be concentrated in November - after the monsoon or around May. As cyclone Fani nears, let us take a look at the deadliest cyclones in India. Cyclone Fani: Close to 1 lakh evacuated; AAI issues alert to all coastal airports Bhola cyclone, 1970: The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan and India's West Bengal on November 3, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the deadliest natural disasters. At least 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. Odisha Supercyclone, 1999: Odisha's worst-ever cyclone, in 1999, killed over 10,000 people.The cyclone marked a turning point in disaster preparedness. Cyclone Phyan, 2009: Cyclone Phyan emerged into the Arabian Sea and caused heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Phyan was one of the wettest cyclone in India and brought extremely heavy rainfall of over the coasts of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.Some reports said about 20 lives were lost. Cyclone Nilam, 2012: Cyclonic Storm Nilam was the deadliest tropical cyclone to directly affect South India since Cyclone Jal in 2012. More than 3000 people were evacuated around Mahabalipuram in the wake of the storm. The cyclone has claimed at least 12 lives across southern India. Cyclone Helen, 2013: Cyclone Helen, which crossed Andhra Pradesh coast on Friday, has damaged crops on nearly 3.5 lakh hectares of land. The cyclone has claimed seven deaths. Two deaths each were reported from Krishna and East Godavari districts and one each from Srikakulam and West Godavari districts. Cyclone Phailin, 2013: Phailin was the second-strongest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall in India, behind only the 1999 Odisha cyclone. The system started off on October 4, 2013 within the Gulf of Thailand, to the west of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Over the next few days, it moved westwards and emerged into the Andaman Sea. Cyclone Ockhi, 2017: Cyclone Ockhi was the most intense and one of the strongest tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean. Ockhi from the Arabian Sea affected mainland India along with coastal areas of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Ockhi is the first severe cyclonic storm in almost 40 years to have travelled about 2,400 kilometres from the Bay of Bengal to as far as the Gujarat coast, a senior Met Department official had said. Odisha to start evacuating people as Cyclone Fani to make landfall; NDRF, Army on standby The cyclone killed 365 people, according to information shared by the ministry of home affairs in Parliament. Cyclone Titli, 2018: Very severe cyclonic storm Titli was part of the 2018 North Indian Ocean cyclone season and made landfall between Odisha's Gopalpur and Srikakulam of Andhra Pradesh. Over three lakh people were evacuated along the sea coast. Cyclone Gaja - 2018: Cyclone Gaja hit the Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and some parts of coastal Puducherry with heavy rainfall in Cuddalore and Pamban. At least 45 people were killed and about 2,50,000 people were evacuated to relief camps in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. 'Diplomatic victory for India': Govt on UN blacklisting of Masood Azhar India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 02: Union Minister Arun Jaitley today said that the government and the Prime Minister should be applauded for Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar being blacklisted by the United Nations. In a press conference, BJP leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley sought to firmly place the credit of the United Nations listing Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist on the Narendra Modi government. Behind the scenes: How India's relentless push ensured Masood Azhar was banned "Government and PM Narendra Modi should be applauded. When the country wins, every Indian wins. There should have been a moment of pride for every citizen but unfortunately, some friends in the Opposition believe that if they become a part of this diplomatic win, they might have to pay a political price for it," Jaitley said. Jaitley said that the current dispensation succeeded in an attempt the country has been making for the last 10 years, "but then they (opposition) says 'this is trivial, what is big in it'." "There was a tradition in the country to speak in one voice on issues such as external affairs and national security but there has been a departure from it in the last few years. Emphasising that the labelling of Azhar as a global terrorist is a "great diplomatic achievement for India", the finance minister said, "If India wins, Indians win, but there are friends in opposition who are not celebrating it as they may have to pay a political price for it." Responding to Congress' allegations against the ECI, Jaitley says, "the party blackmails institutions and tarnishes them. The MCC is administered by EC and Congress' complaint is friovolous." Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was accompanying Jaitley at the press conference, attributed the success of sanctioning of JeM chief to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Terrorism shall not be tolerated and this declaration from the UN is noteworthy. It is the result of persistent measures taken by the external affairs ministry, under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," she said. The UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Denver, Colo., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Indian College Fund, with generous support from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, is publishing an invaluable tool for Native American high school students seeking higher education. Native Pathways: A College-Going Guidebook provides content related to how to get into college, choose a school, pay for it, and what to expect the first year in a way that speaks to Native cultures and experiences as students consider attending college. In addition to content specific to student needs and culture, Native artists and designers contributed to the book. Jonathon Nelson, a member of the Navajo nation from Hogback, New Mexico who currently resides in Denver, designed the cover, titled, Kindred Mocs. Nelsons work is featured at www.badwinds.com. Photos by Matika Wilbur, from the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes of Washington, were included. Wilbur is the creator of Project 562, a project dedicated to photographing the more than 562 federally recognized tribes in the United States. Amanda Cheromiah, who is Pueblo from Laguna, also provided photos. The guidebook was created as part of the Native Pathways to College Program, also funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The College Fund launched the program to meet the needs of tribal communities and in response to the college-going and completion crisis amongst Native American and Alaska Native students. Research shows the national rate of all students going to college within six months of graduating from high school is 70%. For Native American and Alaska Native students, those numbers are closer to 20%. The College Fund knows that education improves the lives of individuals, their families, and entire communities, yet merely providing scholarships to help students pay for college is not enough for Native students to succeed. To create a college-going culture, the College Fund initiated the program, working with high school students, first-year, students, and two-year college students seeking to continue their education at a four-year school. With a $2.5 million grant renewal from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the College Fund will be able to continue efforts to increase college access and success. Students, school counselors, and others can download the book for free on the College Funds web site. Hard copies may be available for some high schools. Please send an email to nativepathways@collegefund.org for more information. About the American Indian College Fund Founded in 1989, the American Indian College Fund has been the nations largest charity supporting Native higher education for 30 years. The College Fund believes Education is the answer" and provided 5,896 scholarships last year totaling $7.65 million to American Indian students, with more than 131,000 scholarships and community support totaling over $200 million since its inception. The College Fund also supports a variety of academic and support programs at the nations 35 accredited tribal colleges and universities, which are located on or near Indian reservations, ensuring students have the tools to graduate and succeed in their careers. The College Fund consistently receives top ratings from independent charity evaluators and is one of the nations top 100 charities named to the Better Business Bureaus Wise Giving Alliance. For more information about the American Indian College Fund, please visit www.collegefund.org. Attachment Employees' consortium representatives discuss Jet Airways bid with SBI Cap officials India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 2: Representatives of an employees' consortium that plans to bid for Jet Airways met officials of SBI Capital Markets on Thursday and discussed various issues related to bidding process, according to a statement. The meeting comes two days after the consortium proposed to take over the ailing airline, with at least Rs 3,000 crore expected from outside investors for the bid. SBI Caps officials detailed the process of bidding which is already underway during a meeting held in Mumbai, a statement issued by two staff unions said. [Mallya laments downfall of Jet Airways] The statement was issued by the Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP) and the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association (JAMEVA). "The SBI Caps team stated lenders may review the status and consider any other options or proposals, including our employee ownership proposal after conclusion of the bidding, and if the said process does not provide a satisfactory solution," it said. SBI Caps is managing the bidding process for debt-laden Jet Airways on behalf of the State Bank of India (SBI)-led lenders' consortium. The deadline for submitting initial bids has already ended and the shortlisted bids are expected to be finalised next week. SWIP General Secretary Ashwani Tyagi, JAMEVA President Ashish Kumar Mohanty and Jet Lite Senior Vice President (Operations) and Accountable Manager P P Singh were among those who attended the meeting. While SWIP has around 800 members, there are about 500 employees with JAMEVA. Calls made to SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar to seek his comments on the meeting went unanswered. Cash-starved Jet Airways stopped operations temporarily on April 17 after lenders decided not to extend emergency funds. Since then, employees have held gatherings in various cities and have also met various ministers with pleas to save the airline. On April 29, the two associations wrote a letter to Rajnish Kumar proposing that they would take over the airline and can bring in up to Rs 7,000 crore. They also asked SBI to consider "employee consortium" as an intending bidder for the carrier. "The contribution from employees would be realised from their future earnings and increased productivity... As per our initial estimate, the contribution of employees group over a hypothetical 5-year Employee Stock Ownership Programme (ESOP) is likely to be upward of Rs 4,000 crore. "In addition, we are also confident of securing an investment commitment of up to Rs 3,000 crore from outside investors," the letter had said. The letter was signed by Tyagi, Mohanty, Singh and Jet Airways Manager (Human Resources) B B Singh. PTI Farmers will become lethargic says Manohar Khattar on loan waiver India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, May 02: The Bharatiya Janata Party (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' 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. 'Khayal acha hai': Manohar Lal Khattar's dig at Kejriwal over tweet on Haryana "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' Nyay scheme is another example of the kind of politics 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 citizens' 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 politics 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". Women cry rape to get back at ex-boyfriends: Haryana CM "We will comfortably win the 10 seats. According to them (Congress), they have fielded heavyweights but their candidates only have number of years in politics 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. The defeat at the Hindi heartland, road ahead to 2019: De-coding the polls with Dr. Shastri Modi could not deliver magic for Indians, Chinese media says after BJPs Assembly poll rout Rahul Gandhi may not be a force alone yet but he is no more a Pappu either Flashback 2018: For the first time since 2014, 'saffron' shrinks Once onion price rise saw govts tumble; this time fall in price is threatening the leaders Five state elections: Parties collected Rs 826 crore, spent only Rs 337 crore India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 02: The total funds collected by 12 political parties during Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram & Telangana Assembly Elections held in 2018 was Rs 826.76 cr and total expenditure incurred was Rs 337.84 cr. Political parties are required to submit a statement of election expenditure to the Election Commission within 75 days of completion of Assembly Elections. Accordingly, the last date of submission was 25 February, 2019. This report by the Association for Democratic Reforms analysed the funds received and expenditure incurred by recognised political parties, during the State Assembly elections to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram & Telangana held in the month of December 2018. Political parties should give details of donations through electoral bonds to EC: SC 10 Regional parties which have not submitted their election expenditure statements yet to the ECI are: JDU, SHS, RLSP, IUML, JDS, LJP, TRS, RJD, ZNP and NPP. The National and Regional Political Parties considered in this report are: BJP, INC, BSP, CPM, NCP, CPI, AAP, SP, AIFB, RLD, AIMIM, TDP and MNF. AIFB had not declared any funds collected at the Central Headquarters and State Units during Madhya Pradesh and Telangana Assembly Elections, 2018. Funds collected by the parties at the Central Headquarters was Rs 613.57 cr and expenditure was Rs 89.95 cr. Madhya Pradesh State Unit spent Rs 138.16 cr, Telangana State Unit spent Rs 54.56 cr, Rajasthan State Unit spent Rs 34.88 cr, Chhattisgarh State Unit spent Rs 19.06 cr. while Mizoram State Unit spent Rs 1.226 cr. Political parties declare their expenditure under the heads of Publicity, Travel Expenses, Other/ Miscellaneous expenses and Lumpsum amount paid to their contesting candidates. Political Parties that contested in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram & Telangana Assembly Elections, 2018, spent the highest, Rs 185.65 cr on Publicity, followed by Rs 147.56 cr on Lumpsum amount paid to candidates, Rs 108.08 cr on Travel expenses and Rs 37.75 cr on Other/Miscellaneous expenses. Expenditure on Publicity is 38.75% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads. Expenditure on Other/Miscellaneous is 7.88% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads. The election expenditure statements of JDU, SHS, RLSP, IUML, JDS, LJP, TRS, RJD, ZNP and NPP are not available in the public domain despite contesting elections, with a total delay of more than two months. How electoral bonds fund India's political parties The expenditure statements of BJP for Mizoram Assembly Elections and of AAP for Rajasthan Assembly Elections are not available on the website of ECI despite contesting elections in the respective states. The expenditure statement of AIFB declared receiving no funds and incurred no expenditure from its Central Headquarters and State Units despite contesting elections in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. The expenditure statement of MNF and AIMIM declared receiving no funds and incurred no expenditure from their State Units despite contesting elections in Mizoram and Telangana respectively. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 16:45 [IST] Will always be with you to fight injustice: Rahul Gandhi to media Lok Sabha Elections 2019 updates: Anti-BJP front gains momentum, Naidu meets Sonia Gandhi India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, May 19: Andhra Pradesh Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, continuing his efforts to put together a coalition to form the next government at the Centre. He reached Lucknow after meetings in New Delhi with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, CPI leaders G Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and LJD leader Sharad Yadav. The Telugu Desam Party chief has already held several rounds of discussions with various opposition leaders, including TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his two-day visit to Uttarakhand today with a visit to Kedarnath shrine. The prime minister is also expected to offer prayers at Badrinath tomorrow before returning to Delhi in the afternoon. The prime minister's visit to the holy shrine came a day before the last phase of the marathon Lok Sabha elections. Fifty nine parliamentary constituencies, including Varanasi, will go to polls in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections and the results will be announced four days later, on May 23. Stay tuned for the Lok Sabha elections 2019 UPDATES: Former PM Manmohan Singh to remain absent in Rajya Sabha for entire winter session on health grounds Many surgical strikes conducted under UPA: Manmohan Singh India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 02: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that multiple surgical strikes were carried out by the UPA regime but the government never publicised them or use them to garner votes. "In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces," Singh told Hindustan Times, adding that this was being done to divert attention from the 'failures of Modi government'. The comment comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s election narrative revolving around national security. Surgical strikes decision was a 'big risk', Was concerned about our soldiers: PM Modi Manmohan Singh said that the politicisation of armed forces was an attempt to divert attention from "unpardonable failures" of the Modi government -- economy, jobs and agrarian distress. He said that the Modi government was "riding on an empty rhetoric" of national security. Senior Congress leaders, including party president Rahul Gandhi, have talked about surgical strikes having been carried out by India's armed forces under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. However, Singh's comments assume significance as it is the first time the former prime minister has said it himself. It is to be noted that the BJP-led government had conducted its first surgical strike on September 29 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to avenge the terror attack at an Army camp in Uri. State vs national issues: Key lessons for the BJP to learn in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana Modi gets clean chit from EC on 'Nuclear Button' remark India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 02: Election Commission (EC) has given a third clean chit to PM Narendra Modi for his comment over 'nuclear button for Diwali' remark at Barmer in Rajasthan. Modi in the rally had said that India is no longer afraid of nuclear threats from Pakistan. "Otherwise, Pakistan used to give nuclear threats. What do we have? Have we kept it for 'Diwali'? (Warna aay din nuclear button hai, ye kehte the. Hamare paas kya hai? Ye diwali ke liye rakha hai kya)," he had asserted. His remarks were vehemently panned by the opposition, which said it was "boastful" and "irresponsible". The Congress's Anand Sharma said such statements "point to the growing desperation" of the BJP. "Prime Minister's boastful claims of being ready for a nuclear missile attack on Pakistan and US intervention are uncalled for and not in interest of national security," he tweeted. The EC was asked by the Supreme Court to expedite their decision on the pending complaints against PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. The court has given it time till Monday. Declare setting up Sharia courts as illegal says Muslim woman in SC On attaining puberty, Muslim girl can marry anyone by law: High Court Muslim education body in Kerala bars female students from wearing face veil India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Kochi, May 02: Amidst all the debate around the relevance of face coverings, a Muslim education body in Kerala has prohibited girl students from wearing face veils. A circular dated April 17 issued by the Muslim Education Society which runs several schools and professional institutions said that it was difficult to accept a clothing style be it in the name of modernity or religious traditions. From 2019-20 academic year, heads of institutions and local managements must ensure that female students do not come to classes with their faces covered, the circular said. Sri Lanka attacks: Shiv Sena wants PM Modi to ban burqa in India We must discourage all undesirable tendencies in campuses the circular signed by Dr P A Fazal Gafoor said. The circular comes in the wake of a recent order by the Sri Lankan government which banned women from wearing face coverings under an emergency law after the Easter bombings. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 16:59 [IST] How Lashkar operatives planned on burning down the Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express NIA raids 20 locations of PFI in connection with PMK leaders murder India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 02: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting raids at 20 locations in Tamil Nadu. The raids relate to the murder of PMK member Ramalingam in which the PFI is the accused. The NIA also searched offices of the PFI and the SDPI in Trichy, Kumbakonam and Karaikal. It may be recalled that a PMK activist Ramalingam was murdered by a gang at Thanjavur district on February 6. It was alleged that he was opposing a group of Muslims for religious conversions. It was alleged that the Popular Front of India was behind the murder. The NIA had registered a case on March 14 and had arrested 11 accused in connection with the murder. Will always be with you to fight injustice: Rahul Gandhi to media No code violation in Rahul Gandhis MP speech, says EC India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 02: The Election Commission (EC) has given a clean chit to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his remarks in which he had called Amit Shah a murder accused. The comments were made during a rally in Madhya Pradesh. The poll body on Wednesday had served a notice on Rahul Gandhi for a speech at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh on April 23. He has been asked to reply within 48 hours. Gandhi, who was addressing election rallies in Madhya Pradesh, also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale controversy, saying an inquiry into the defence deal will be instituted if the Congress comes to power. Then, mentioning Shah, he added: "Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah, wow, how majestic!" In 2014, a special court discharged Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter killing cases, ruling that there was "no case" against him and that he had been implicated for "political reasons". Sheikh, a wanted criminal, was killed in an alleged encounter in November 2005. His wife was allegedly raped and killed three days later, and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati was shot dead by the police in December 2006. Of the 38 people accused in the case, only 22 stood trial. The final arguments in the case ended on December 5. Out of the 210 witnesses examined, 92 were declared hostile. The special CBI court hearing the case, on December 21, acquitted all the accused. In its judgement, the court said the prosecution could not prove a conspiracy beyond reasonable doubt. Madhya Pradesh is voting in four phases starting on April 29. The other voting days are May 6, 12 and 19. 'It's ok to be mediocre': This is what Copter crash lone survivor wrote to school Must give him a smiling sendoff says wife of Brigadier Lidder Nope, it's not Yeti, it's 'wild bear': Nepal rejects Indian Army Yeti claim India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 02: Nepal officials have reportedly rejected the claim of the Indian that they had discovered the imprints of the mythological snowman Yeti. Nepal Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Bigyan Dev Pandey, told Hindustan Times that a Nepal Army liaison team was with the Indian Army team when the footprints were sighted. "A team of Indian Army had noticed the footprints and our liaison team was together with them... We tried to ascertain the fact, but locals and porters claimed that it is the footprints of wild bear that frequently appear in that area," Pandey said. Wild bears are known to frequent the region where an Indian Army team came across the giant-sized footprints. In one genetic study, researchers matched DNA from hair samples found in the Himalaya with a prehistoric bear from the Pleistocene epoch. Our findings strongly suggest that the biological underpinnings of the Yeti legend can be found in local bears, and our study demonstrates that genetics should be able to unravel other, similar mysteries, said lead scientist of that study, Charlotte Lindqvist, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. Yeti or snow monster? What science has to say on Himalayan 'footprint' mystery On Monday, the Army claimed its mountaineering expedition team in Nepal found mysterious large footprints in the snow that they believe belong to the Yeti, or the abominable snowman. In Nepali folklore, Yeti is a mythical ape-like creature taller than an average human that is said to inhabit the Himalayas, Siberia, Central and East Asia. "For the first time, an #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team has sited (sic) 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," the Army tweeted on Monday night. The Army also released photos showing large footprints in the snow which they claim belong to the creature. An Army team of 18 personnel led by Major Manoj Joshi embarked on an expedition to Mount Makalu in Nepal on April 2. On April 9, the team spotted "mysterious footprints" measuring 32 X 15 inches to close to the Makalu base camp, the sources said. They said the pictures were sent by the team using satellite communication. NEW YORK, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (Mobile TeleSystems or the Company) (NYSE: MBT). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Mobile TeleSystems and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here to join a class action] On November 20, 2018, Mobile TeleSystems disclosed that it had reserved approximately $840 million to cover potential liability concerning investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) into the Companys former operations in Uzbekistan. On this news, Mobile TeleSystems American depositary receipt (ADR) price fell $0.64 per share, or nearly 8%, to close at $7.45 per share on November 20, 2018. Then, on March 7, 2019, the DOJ announced that Mobile TeleSystems and its subsidiary had entered into an agreement with the DOJ and SEC to pay a combined $850 million in penalties to resolve charges arising from its role in a scheme to pay $420 million in bribes in Uzbekistan. Following this announcement, Mobile TeleSystems ADR price fell $0.24 per share, or 3.08%, to close at $7.54 per share on March 7, 2019, damaging investors. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com SC reserves order on CBI's plea seeking custodial interrogation of former Kolkata police chief India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, May 2: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s plea seeking Custodial interrogation of former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with the probe into the Saradha chit fund scam. The CBI had sought custodial interrogation on the ground that Rajeev Kumar had allegedly destroyed evidence in Saradha chit fund case. On Tuesday, the SC asked CBI to show convincing evidence that Custodial interrogation was needed. The apex court had sought direct evidence from the CBI on Kumar's involvement, especially the data on laptop, mobile phones, or diaries which allegedly contained information on payments made to influential people, in ensuring destruction of evidence. No arrest, but appear before CBI at neutral venue, SC to Kolkata top cop "Give us, show us from records that this person is involved.. On what basis? You can give us evidence tomorrow. We want you to satisfy us that he had a role to play in disappearance and suppression of evidence," Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi reportedly told the CBI on Tuesday. The CBI then told the top court that it will file evidence against Rajeev Kumar on Wednesday (May 1). The Supreme Court then fixed the next date of hearing for Wednesday. On April 7, the CBI had moved the Supreme Court seeking recall of the apex court's February 5 order staying the arrest of Kumar to let the agency put him to custodial interrogation in the Saradha and Rose Valley ponzi scam cases. The CBI also sought the court's directions to the West Bengal authorities to comply with the court's earlier orders "in letter and spirit" and not to create any hurdle in the CBI probe or try to "intimidate, harass and scare the agency officials" probing the cases. After 5 days of CBI questioning, Rajeev Kumar leaves for Kolkata The agency had then said it needs to examine Kumar and other police officials to recover the material evidence and to investigate into the acts of omission and commission on the part of Bidhan Nagar police commissionerate and SIT officials in causing concealment of the evidence collected by them during investigation. It had said that the erstwhile Bidhan Nagar Police Commissioner Kumar besides the then deputy commissioner of police (detective department) and other SIT officials did not cooperate with the CBI in investigation and did not help in making available to it all the material evidence in the Ponzi scam cases. Kejriwal to launch AAP's UP poll campaign from Lucknow on Jan 2 Setback for AAP after its candidates nomination papers are rejected in Punjab India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Chandigarh, May 02: In a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the nomination papers of its candidate Narinder Singh Shergill was rejected. The authorities rejected the nomination papers of the AAP candidate from Anandpur Sahib as he had not submitted details of his election expenditure for the 2017 Punjab assembly elections. He was a candidate of the AAP in the assembly polls from Mohali. Shergill had appealed the decision that was taken on April 30. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the Election Commission to provisionally scrutinise the nomination, but also made it clear that any decision would be subject to the outcome of the writ petition. BJP requests EC to censure AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and party candidate Atishi for berating it The returning officer had given Shergill five hours on Wednesday morning to get evidence to support his claim. However later in the afternoon the nomination was rejected. Thanks for barring her: Digvijaya on Sadhvi Pragya India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Bhopal, May 02: Congress candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat Digvijay Singh welcomed the Election Commission (EC)'s order barring his Bharatiya Janata Party (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 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. While Thakur herself could not be contacted for reaction, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said his party follows the EC'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. Digvijaya Singh ropes in 3,000 saints for campaigning However, she was given a go-ahead to talk about the alleged torture she suffered in the ATS custody, the source claimed. The EC On 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. The Indian dossier that got China to lift its hold on Maulana Masood Azhar India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 02: It was a major victory for India after the United Nations listed Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar and declared him a terrorist. For India it was a long battle to get China lift the hold on the ban. Apart from diplomatic moves, India also produced a dossier on Azhar, which was one of the major reasons, why the ban was imposed. He has been described as a Pakistan based international terrorist in the dossier. The dossier seen by OneIndia also states he has close ties with both the Islamic State and the Al-Qaeda. Further he has also been described as a financier, an inspiration figure for terrorists and a recruiter. Masood Azhar declared terrorist by UN: Big diplomatic victory for India India also listed the various attacks that the Azhar led JeM has staged in India. After his release post the IC-814 hijack, he went on to form his outfit. Although Pakistan had assured that he would be nipped in the bud, the country however did not keep its word and led Azhar grow in strength and stature. He then went on to stage the audacious Parliament attack, following which there was an eye ball to eye ball confrontation between India and Pakistan at the border. Azhar however grew more audacious when he tried to assassinate Pervez Musharraf. The JeM fell out of favour with the establishment for a few years, but were back in business following the hanging of Afzal Guru in connection with the Parliament attack. The JeM then went on to form the Afzal Guru squad and left pamphlets praising him after all attacks they staged. The first time such a pamphlet was found was following an attack in Afghanistan, which was carried out along with the Taliban. They followed it up with the Pathankot attack. Following this attack, the JeM carried out attacks at Uri, Nagrota and Pulwama. All the attacks targeted the Indian Army. India has a mention of all these details in its dossier. The dossier also speaks about Azhar's family members. Several of his nephews have been roped in for operations in Jammu and Kashmir, the dossier states. Congress upset with Pulwama attack missing in Azhar ban order While citing the Pulwama attack, India also attached an audio clip in which Azhar is heard telling the cadres to motivate themselves and continue with the fight. The dossier also speaks about a wing of the JeM known as the Samundari Jihad. The dossier states that this is the naval wing of the JeM which is personally overseen by Azhar. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 6:45 [IST] Security review in J&K is message to Pak not to use Taliban win in Kashmir 11 civilians gunned down by security forces in Nagaland; CM Neiphiu Rio orders SIT probe, appeals for peace Day after Category A terrorist was killed, 2 more gunned down today in J&K Top maoist commander involved in BJP MLAs killing eliminated in Chhattisgarh India oi-Deepika S Raipur, May 01: Security forces on Thursday gunned down a naxal, allegedly involved in the killing of a BJP MLA and four security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. The slain Naxal Madvi Muyya, carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head. One rifle with six rounds was recovered. He was one of the masterminds of the attack in which BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and five police personnel were killed on April 9. Justice done: 2 naxals who killed BJP MLA gunned down Two days before the first phase of polling on April 11 for the Lok Sabha elections, Maoists carried out a deadly attack on a BJP convoy. BJP's lone legislator from Chhattisgarh's Maoist-affected Bastar region, Bhima Mandavi, was killed along with five policemen in the attack that took place on April 9. Mandavi was in the convoy, travelling from Kuakonta to Syamgiri in Dantewada, when it came under Naxal attack using an IED. Last month, the state police killed two Naxals allegedly involved in the assassination of Mandavi. In the last three years, 336 Maoists and 151 security personnel have been killed in Chhattisgarh in violence linked to Left-wing insurgency. Union minister Shripad Naik taken off ventilator, shifted to high flow nasal oxygen Shripad Naik recovering well, doctor says; PM Modi also dials Shripad Naik to be discharged from Goa Medical College in four to five days Union Minister Naik summoned as witness in cheating case India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Panaji, May 02: A Goa court issued summons against Union minister and North Goa MP Shripad Naik directing him to depose as a witnesses in a cheating case registered against his former staffer last year. Panaji Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Vijayalaxmi Shivolkar directed Naik to appear in person by June 3. The JMFC also asked Naik to testify and bring material evidence, if any, on what he knows about the case. Manohar Parrikar's son among 2 shortlisted by BJP for Panaji bypoll The former staffer in question, Vinod Desai, was booked last year under section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly demanding Rs six lakh from one Mervin Fernandes under the pretext of providing him a job in the Goa government. Desai had allegedly taken an advance payment of Rs two lakh from Fernandes. As Desai failed to keep his promise, Fernandes demanded refund of his money. However, the cheque of Rs one lakh issued by Desai bounced, following which Fernandes approached Old Goa police on September 20, 2018. In the FIR, Naik is named as one of the five witnesses in the case. Why does Imran want Modi to continue as India's PM, asks P Chidambaram India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 2: The Congress is happy that the process of designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist has concluded successfully, senior party leader P Chidambaram said on Thursday, while also asking why Pakistani premier Imran Khan wants Narendra Modi to continue as India's prime minister. In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations (UN) Sanctions Committee designated Azhar as a global terrorist on Wednesday after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said Azhar was released in 1999 by a BJP government after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft. "After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009. "We are happy that the process has concluded successfully in 2019. But why does the Prime Minister of Pakistan want Mr Modi to continue as Prime Minister of India?," the former home minister said in a series of tweets. ['Breakthrough' in Masood Azhar case struck during Imran Khan's China trip: Report] Azhar's designation as a global terrorist by the UN came two days after the fourth round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. The polling will conclude on May 19 and the votes will be counted on May 23. Last month, during an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, the Pakistan prime minister had said he believed that there might be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP won the general election. Khan had also said other political parties would be afraid of a right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. The Congress seized on Khan's comments to allege that Pakistan had "officially allied" with Modi. The opposition party also said a vote for Modi would mean a vote for the neighbouring country. Chidambaram claimed that after the fourth round of voting in the parliamentary polls, the Congress and its allies were ahead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its NDA allies. The BJP alone had lost more than one-third of its 2014 tally at this stage and would lose more seats in the next three phases, he claimed. The Congress and the other non-BJP parties had to give a final push and the Modi regime would topple over, the veteran leader said. PTI Why Kerala must be on guard for the silent returnees of the Islamic State India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 02: Post the attacks in Sri Lanka, the government confirmed that several elite Muslims had in fact joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and subsequently returned. However they remained in the open with earning the wrath of the law as the country has no provision to act against such persons. When the Islamic State fell in his strongholds, a message was issued by the outfit chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He went on to say that now the fighters should return to their homeland and carry out attacks there. The ISIS has caused a major problem with its returnees. We witnessed that in Paris and now in Sri Lanka. Is the Islamic State being run at the behest of Pakistan's ISI in India? Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials say that the bigger problem is with those who are returning. The agencies are keeping a close watch on those persons returning from the UAE, Turkey and Syria. Most of these persons had left Kerala for Afghanistan and then landed in Syria or Turkey. This was the big plan says an IB official. He tells OneIndia that the intention of leaving the country was not continue fighting in Afghanistan or Syria. It was largely with an intent of undergoing training and then returning to India, with an intention of carrying out attacks, brainwashing locals and also setting up modules. The Indian agencies, apart from Syria are also focusing on those persons returning to Kerala from UAE and other West Asian countries. The task on hand is humongous. The problem is that they do not come in batches. They come in as individuals and then go about their business. The other problem is keeping a track on those who have left from other states. The focus so far has been extensively on those who have joined the ISIS from Kerala. The possibility of those who have left from other states coming to Kerala is also high. This poses a different level of threat all together as monitoring such persons is hard, says the officer. Officials also add that the ISIS modus operandi is in the procedure of completing a full cycle. It was at first thought that they were recruiting from Kerala so that they could be used in the fight at Afghanistan. However, the coordination with other agencies has suggested that many who had joined the ISIS in Afghanistan had gradually moved out of there for Syria or Turkey. Now these persons are gradually making their return to Kerala and this is worrisome, the official also explained. ISIS operative plotted Sri Lanka styled bombings in Kerala The IB terms such persons as silent returnees of the ISIS. This is a new challenge for us and the vigil is high, the IB officer says. There are various routes that these recruits have been using. Those coming into India from Afghanistan had often entered into Nepal before making their entry. In these cases, the recruits are most likely to use the land route to avoid scrutiny. Once in India, it becomes easier for them to travel by road and reach their destination in Kerala. IB officials say that with the latest video of Baghdadi emerging, it will only breath life into such persons. They will act for their leader and this would make them extremely lethal, officials also point out. 'Breakthrough' in Masood Azhar case struck during Imran Khan's China trip: Report International pti-PTI Islamabad, May 2: The "breakthrough" in designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist came during Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China where the two sides agreed to withdraw their opposition to the latest move to blacklist the JeM chief, a media report said on Thursday. The UN's sanctions committee announced Wednesday the designation of Pakistan-based Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda. 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 that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation world body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking four attempts since 2009 by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal. Hours after sanctions were imposed on Azhar, the Express Tribune newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, reported that Pakistan and China held extensive discussions before making a decision on the Azhar issue. "It is believed that the breakthrough came during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China where both sides agreed to withdraw opposition to the latest move after realising that Islamabad's concerns were addressed," the report said. Khan was in Beijing to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping from April 25 to 27. Apart from President Xi, the Pakistan prime minister met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang as well as Vice President Wang Qishan. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China lifted its hold on the US, the UK and French proposal after a "careful study of the revised materials" it had to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. The listing of Azhar means that he will now be facing a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. But the source told the paper that the listing does not mean the person should be detained. Another official claimed that authorities were "unaware" of Azhar's whereabouts. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during the peak of India-Pakistan tensions following the Pulwama terror attack had admitted that Azhar was in Pakistan. He also mentioned that the JeM chief was "very unwell" to the extent that he cannot leave his house. The report also claimed that Islamabad agreeing to the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was a "paradigm shift" in the country's approach. An official said prime minister Khan had made a public commitment that Pakistan's soil would not be used against any country. However, he made it clear that Pakistan would go after these groups in a manner that the peace and security of the country was not affected. The Washington Post reported that Azhar's sanctioning comes weeks after Washington said it was seeking to have him put on the UN blacklist. In Washington, a senior US 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 US in putting pressure on China after the February 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 Pakistan Prime Minister Khan's commitment to crack down on militants in the country "will translate into irreversible steps to end terrorist and militant safe havens inside Pakistan." Meanwhile, a leading Hong Kong based newspaper reported that China's decision to lift its hold was taken considering that Beijing would be isolated over issue. Analysts linked the climbdown to Beijing's increasing concerns about being isolated diplomatically at a time of heightened global concern about terrorism, but some also argued that the shift was made possible by a change of wording that avoided angering China's long-standing ally Pakistan, the South China Morning Post reported. Zhang Jiadong, a former Chinese diplomat in India and international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said: "This is a diplomatic concession from China for India, a signal of diplomatic support. "At the same time, it was also driven by the global anti-terrorism trend. Without the February terrorist attack in Kashmir, China may not have agreed to Indias request," Zhang was quoted as saying. China's shift was the result of pressure mainly from the broader international community, and not just unilateral pressure from the Indian government, he said. "In the past, we mainly took Pakistan's attitude into consideration, but now we need to balance Pakistan's relationship with India and the rest of the international community," Zhang added. PTI 'Found no objection after reviewing revised materials': China on Masood Azhars blacklisting International oi-Madhuri Adnal Beijing, May 01: China, which lifted its technical hold on listing JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, said on Wednesday, 1 May, 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 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. [Masood Azhar declared terrorist by UN: Big diplomatic victory for India] "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. In a huge diplomatic win for India, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations on Wednesday, 1 May, after the UN's Sanctions Committee held a meeting amid indications that China could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar. This comes a day after Beijing said that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved." Earlier in February, 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. It was the fourth time in 10 years that China had rejected the bid to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Graph Blockchain Inc. ("Graph" or "Company") (CSE: GBLC) announces that effective immediately, Andrew Ryu will be stepping down as Chairman of the board, and current CEO, Jeff Stevens, will take on Chairman position. Graph Blockchain was created from a joint venture between Datametrex AI Limited and Bitnine Global. Mr. Ryu as CEO and Chairman of Datametrex was instrumental in building out the infrastructure and team at Graph Blockchain. His contacts in Asia opened opportunities that the Company was able to capitalize on, securing contracts with multi-national companies such as Samsung, LG and LOTTE to name a few. Mr. Ryu took on the Chair of the board in February 2018 to ensure the company was on path as Jeffrey Stevens transitioned in the CEO role. Mr. Ryu will continue supporting as companys consultant. I always envisioned my role on the board as a short term position. I wanted to be there to support Jeff as he took on the role of CEO to ensure a smooth transition. Since taking on the role, Jeff has clearly demonstrated that he is capable and ready to hold both CEO and Chairman. As the CEO and Chairman of Datametrex, the largest shareholder of Graph Blockchain, I will continue to work closely with Jeff and assist him in anyway that I can. I am confident that the addition of Jeff to the board will be accretive to Graphs existing strong and diverse board, says Andrew Ryu, Chairman of Datametrex. I am honoured that Andrew and the board have entrusted me with this responsibility. As part of the founding group of Graph Blockchain, I am extremely motivated to continue to drive growth for our shareholders. Not many blockchain companies survived the down turn in 2018; I am proud of the accomplishments our team has made and I look forward to expanding on our past successes. Graph has a strong patent portfolio, contracts with some of the worlds largest companies and a global footprint; how could I not be excited to take on this role! says Jeff Stevens, CEO of the Company. About Graph Blockchain Inc. The Company develops leading-edge private blockchain business intelligence and data management solutions and is a pure play in the graph database technology space. Graph leverages its proprietary integration of the AgensGraph Database engine with IBMs Hyperledger Fabric to create a transparent and immutable ledger with near real-time transactional data processing and intuitive data visualization. The Company has secured multiple prototype development contracts with multi-national conglomerates and sells across client subsidiaries as a full enterprise product. Additional Information on the Company is available at: www.graphblockchain.com For further information, please contact: Jeffrey Stevens CEO Phone: (647) 400-8494 Email: jstevens@graphblockchain.com Forward Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Such statements 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 and reflect the Companys expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law. 'Leave my country alone', Sri Lankan President Sirisena to ISIS chief Baghdadi International pti-PTI Colombo, May 1: 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 on 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. [Sri Lanka attacks: Shiv Sena wants PM Modi to ban burqa in India] 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. PTI Nirav Modi set to make another bail plea next week International oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa London, May 02: 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 Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering charges amounting to up to USD 2 billion. 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. Nirav Modi's bail rejected for the third time "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. ED Mumbai chief Vineet Agarwal removed over Nirav Modi case controversy "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. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 9:41 [IST] WBJEE 2022 registrations to begin today: Here is how to apply MP Board 10th 12th Result 2019: Check date and time New Delhi oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 02: Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education is expected to announce Class 10th and Class 12th result in the second week of May. The result will be released on the official website. The board has not yet released any official notification regarding date and time of result declaration. Candidates who have appeared in the examination can check and download their MP Board 10th 12th Result 2019 on the official website of the board mpresults.nic.in. Madhya Pradesh Board conducted Class 10th and Class12th examination in more than seven thousand examination centres in the state. Class 10th examination started on March 1, 2019 and concluded on March 27, 2019. The board conducted Class 12th exams from March 2, 2019 which were concluded on April 2, 2019. MP Board 10th 12th Result 2019: How to check Visit the official website of Madhya Pradesh Board, mpresults.nic.in Click on MP Board Result 2019 link on the homepage Enter roll number Submit Take print out The result can also be checked on mobile Phone through SMS. Last year, the passing percentage of Class 10th was recorded at 52.63% and for Class12th the overall passing percentage was 68%. This year, more than 10 lakh students appeared for Class 10th examination and for class 12th exam more than 7.5 lakh students appeared. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, May 2, 2019, 6:37 [IST] Dublin, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Pipeline Review, H1 2019" drug pipelines has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This latest pipeline guide Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Pipeline Review, H1 2019, provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease), complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The guide covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases. The Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) pipeline guide also reviews of key players involved in therapeutic development for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) and features dormant and discontinued projects. The guide covers therapeutics under Development by Companies /Universities /Institutes, the molecules developed by Companies in Phase III, Phase II, Phase I, Preclinical, Discovery and Unknown stages are 8, 5, 10, 10, 2 and 1 respectively. Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) pipeline guide helps in identifying and tracking emerging players in the market and their portfolios, enhances decision making capabilities and helps to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. The guide is built using data and information sourced from the researcher's proprietary databases, company/university websites, clinical trial registries, conferences, SEC filings, investor presentations and featured press releases from company/university sites and industry-specific third party sources. Additionally, various dynamic tracking processes ensure that the most recent developments are captured on a real time basis. Scope The pipeline guide provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease). The pipeline guide reviews pipeline therapeutics for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources. The pipeline guide covers pipeline products based on several stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages. The pipeline guide features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which comprise, product description, descriptive licensing and collaboration details, R&D brief, MoA & other developmental activities. The pipeline guide reviews key companies involved in Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects. The pipeline guide evaluates Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) therapeutics based on mechanism of action (MoA), drug target, route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The pipeline guide encapsulates all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects. The pipeline guide reviews latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) Reasons to buy Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies. Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage. Find and recognize significant and varied types of therapeutics under development for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease). Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic. Develop tactical initiatives by understanding the focus areas of leading companies. Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and it's most promising pipeline therapeutics. Formulate corrective measures for pipeline projects by understanding Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) (Infectious Disease) pipeline depth and focus of Indication therapeutics. Develop and design in-licensing and out-licensing strategies by identifying prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope. Adjust the therapeutic portfolio by recognizing discontinued projects and understand from the know-how what drove them from pipeline. Key Topics Covered: Introduction Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Overview Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Therapeutics Development Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Therapeutics Assessment Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Companies Involved in Therapeutics Development Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Drug Profiles Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Dormant Projects Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Discontinued Products Hospital Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) - Product Development Milestones Companies Mentioned Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc AstraZeneca Plc Centauri Therapeutics Ltd Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc CytaCoat AB Destiny Pharma Plc Dong-A Socio Holdings Co Ltd Evaxion Biotech ApS MedImmune LLC Meiji Seika Pharma Co Ltd Merck & Co Inc Motif Bio Plc Nabriva Therapeutics Plc Polyphor AG Sealife PHARMA GMBH Shionogi & Co Ltd Spero Therapeutics Inc Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc Wockhardt Ltd For more information about this drug pipelines report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/3ns1nq 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. CALGARY, Alberta, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Diamond Group Limited ("Black Diamond", the "Company" or "we"), (TSX:BDI), a leading provider of space rental and workforce accommodation solutions, today announced its operating and financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2019 (the "Quarter") compared with the three months ended March 31, 2018 (the "Comparative Quarter"). All financial figures are expressed in Canadian dollars. Revenue for the Quarter was $45.4 million, up 11% or $4.5 million from the Comparative Quarter due to an increase in custom sales in Modular Space Solutions ("MSS"). MSS revenue increased to $22.5 million, a 60% increase from the Comparative Quarter, and represented 50% of consolidated revenue for the Quarter. Adjusted EBITDA (see "Non-GAAP Measures") for the Quarter was $8.1 million, a decrease of 6% or $0.5 million from the Comparative Quarter primarily due a change in revenue mix. Included in Adjusted EBITDA is a positive $1.0 million impact from the adoption of the IFRS 16 Leases accounting standard. The Company's leverage position remains substantially unchanged from December 31, 2018, as net debt increased slightly to $88.0 million from $86.9 million at year-end. The Company exited the Quarter with a Funded Debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.84 (December 31, 2018 - 2.95) and a Funded Debt to Tangible Book Value ratio of 0.44 (December 31, 2018 - 0.44). Subsequent to the Quarter, Black Diamond announced a $20 million rental contract for the Company's U.S. WFS business unit. "We believe our first Quarter results are indicative of Black Diamond's continued focus to diversify our business as the MSS segment continues to show growth in rental revenue supported by sequential quarter-over-quarter fleet growth and healthy markets throughout our North American footprint," said Trevor Haynes, CEO of Black Diamond Group. "Our MSS fleet is expected to show growth of 10% as we continue to invest in the fleet. The Workforce Solutions business remains well positioned to capitalize on an improvement in sector activity levels in Canada, with improving backlog and healthy bid logs being seen throughout the system. Outside of Canada, the Workforce Solutions business in Australia and the United States are strong and expect to see modest capital investment this year. We remain excited with respect to our LodgeLink platform and are expecting to roll out an upgrade to the digital marketplace in the coming months, which will support the ongoing growth of both supply, customers and room night bookings." Black Diamond's consolidated revenue in the Quarter increased 11% to $45.4 million from $40.9 million in the Comparative Quarter. Despite higher revenues, Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $8.1 million from $8.6 million in the Comparative Quarter, due primarily to lower margins. Lower margins for the quarter were driven by an increase in contribution from sales and non-rental revenue which generate lower margins compared to rental revenue. Operating margins were also lower year-over-year due to comparably strong sales margin performance in the Comparative Quarter. Revenue derived from outside of western Canadian energy sources increased to 63% in the Quarter, compared to 45% in the Comparative Quarter. In the MSS segment, revenue in the Quarter increased to $22.5 million, up 60% from $14.1 million in the Comparative Quarter. MSS utilization averaged 73% in the Quarter, up from 66% in the Comparative Quarter, while average rental rates remained consistent with the Comparative Quarter. MSS Adjusted EBITDA of $4.9 million was higher than Adjusted EBITDA in the Comparative Quarter of $3.8 million due to increased rental and non-rental revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was also positively impacted by IFRS 16 in the amount of approximately $0.6 million. The Company's Workforce Solutions ("WFS") segment generated revenue in the Quarter of $22.9 million, down 15% from $26.8 million in the Comparative Quarter. WFS Adjusted EBITDA in the Quarter declined to $6.0 million from $7.1 million in the Comparative Quarter due to lower used-fleet sales in the Quarter, offset by $0.4 million from the positive impact of adopting IFRS 16. Lodging occupancy in the Quarter was consistent at 33%. Outlook In our MSS business, we expect continued growth in regions such as British Columbia, southern Ontario and the United States ("U.S."); supported by a healthy economy and strong activity levels in construction and infrastructure. The Company continues to focus on MSS fleet growth of 10% this year, supported by $25 to $30 million of capital investment in this segment throughout 2019. We expect cash flow generation to out-pace fleet growth due to continued increase in scale and additional product offerings through Value Added Products and Services ("VAPS"). Longer term, over the next five years, the Company's goal is to double the MSS fleet. Within our WFS segment, we expect activity levels in the U.S. and Australian markets to remain robust, and the Canadian market has performed relatively in line with year-ago levels. However, we are optimistic that the Canadian market will show improved WFS performance into the second half of the year. This optimism is supported by previously announced contract wins related to a 908-bed turnkey project ("Sukunka") for the Coastal Gas Link project and a separate, smaller rental project in Kitimat, British Columbia. Install and transportation of the 908-bed Sukunka camp has begun in the second quarter with rent expected to begin in the third quarter. The smaller Kitimat rental project was installed in late March and is currently on rent. Our large WFS asset base continues to provide meaningful operating leverage to a recovery in activity levels. Our ability to move these WFS assets into diversified markets outside of the western Canadian energy sector is evidenced by our recently-announced $20 million rental contract to supply 1,584 beds to support the reconstruction of Paradise, California. Given our healthy bid log, we believe the market for private dormitory assets could tighten relatively quickly should a handful of infrastructure projects move forward over the next several quarters. Amongst this backdrop, we will remain disciplined with our pricing and capital allocation decisions while continuing to optimize our fleet by selling down underutilized assets. LodgeLink, the Company's digital marketplace for workforce accommodation, continued to gain traction with customers and suppliers during the Quarter. LodgeLink now has over 520 properties listed, representing over 61,000 rooms of capacity across North America. We've begun expanding into the U.S. in 2019, with an increase in customers and listed properties. Our first U.S. bookings were completed recently, and we continue to expect growth in both customer and supplier volumes throughout the year. Black Diamond exited the Quarter with net debt of $88.0 million, up slightly from $86.9 million at the end of 2018. Black Diamond's capital budget for 2019 remains unchanged. The Company expects to invest approximately $35 million of capital on a gross basis, which is expected to be funded with internally generated cash flow. Any excess cash flows is expected to be directed towards further debt repayment. First Quarter 2019 Financial Highlights Three months ended March 31, (in millions, except as noted) 2019 2018 Change $ $ Revenue Modular Space Solutions 22.5 14.1 60 % Workforce Solutions 22.9 26.8 (15 )% Total Revenue 45.4 40.9 11 % Total Adjusted EBITDA 8.1 8.6 (6 )% Funds from Operations 8.8 10.9 (19 )% Per share ($) 0.16 0.20 (20 )% Loss (2.7 ) (1.9 ) 42 % Loss per share - Basic and diluted (0.05 ) (0.03 ) 67 % Capital expenditures 8.3 1.3 538 % Property & equipment (NBV) 336.6 362.2 (7 )% Total assets 418.2 416.0 1 % Long-term debt 88.3 107.5 (18 )% Additional Information A copy of the Company's unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 and related management's discussion and analysis have been filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR website ( www.sedar.com ) and www.blackdiamondgroup.com . About Black Diamond Group Black Diamond Group rents and sells space rental solutions and modular workforce accommodations to business customers in Canada, the United States and Australia. The Company also provides specialized field rentals to the oil and gas industries of Canada and the United States. In addition, Black Diamond Group provides turnkey lodging services, as well as a host of related services that include transportation, installation, dismantling, repairs, maintenance and ancillary field equipment rentals. From twenty-two locations, the Company serves multiple sectors including oil and gas, mining, power, construction, engineering, military, government and education. Black Diamond Group has two core business units: Modular Space Solutions and Workforce Solutions. Learn more at www.blackdiamondgroup.com . For investor inquiries please contact Jason Zhang at 403-206-4739 or investor@blackdiamondgroup.com Reader Advisory Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, the amount of funds that will be expended on the 2019 capital plan, how such capital will be expended, expectations for asset sales, management's assessment of Black Diamond's future operations and what may have an impact on them, financial performance, business prospects and opportunities, changing operating environment including increased activity levels, amount of revenue anticipated to be derived from current contracts, anticipated debt levels, economic life of the Company's assets, future growth and profitability of the Company and realization of the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and sales. With respect to the forward-looking statements in the news release, Black Diamond has made assumptions regarding, among other things: future commodity prices, that Black Diamond will continue to conduct its operations in a manner consistent with past operations, that counter-parties to contracts will perform the contracts as written and that there will be no unforeseen material delays in contracted projects. Although Black Diamond believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurances that such expectations or assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such statements 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 Black Diamond. These risks include, but are not limited to: the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, fluctuation of commodity prices, the Company's ability to attract new customers, failure of counterparties to perform on contracts, industry competition, availability of qualified personnel and management, timely and cost effective access to sufficient capital from internal and external sources, political conditions, dependence on suppliers and stock market volatility. The risks outlined above should not be construed as exhaustive. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect Black Diamond's operations and financial results are included in Black Diamond's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2018 and other reports on file with the Canadian Securities Regulatory Authorities which can be accessed on SEDAR. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and Black Diamond does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Non-GAAP Measures In this news release, the following terms have been referenced: Adjusted EBITDA, Net Debt, Funded Debt, Tangible Book Value and Funds from Operations. Readers are cautioned that these measures are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Readers are cautioned that these non-GAAP measures are not alternatives to measures under IFRS and should not, on their own, be construed as an indicator of the Company's performance or cash flows, a measure of liquidity or as a measure of actual return on the common shares of the Company. These Non-GAAP measures should only be used in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of the Company. A reconciliation between these measures and measures defined under IFRS is included in management's discussion and analysis for the three month period ended March 31, 2019 filed on SEDAR. Where Will the Steam Turbine Market Be In 2024? Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Toshiba, General Electric, Doosan Skoda, Steam Turbine Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1269 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1269 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/steam-turbine-market https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/05/01/1813405/0/en/SLI-Battery-Market-in-America-to-hit-16-billion-by-2025-Global-Market-Insights-Inc.html www.gminsights.com Steam turbine market share from biomass in 2017, was over USD 1 billion. Growing adoption of combined heat & power and captive power generation systems will strengthen the product adoption. Furthermore, rising focus toward energy optimization and enhancement of generation efficiency will favor the expansion of biomass-based power generation capacity.Steam Turbine Market size is set to exceed USD 32 Billion by 2024.Rising focus toward expansion of generating capacity and resurgent economic growth across major countries will fuel the market growth.Request for a sample copy of this report @The ongoing expansion of thermal power generation along with a positive outlook toward the utilization of geothermal energy resources will boost the demand for large capacity steam turbines. Furthermore, efforts to reduce electricity supply demand gap will complement the business scenario.Growing inclination toward the adoption of energy efficient technologies along with regulatory norms to reduce carbon footprint will stimulate the market growth. Growing demand for reliable electricity along with positive outlook toward the adoption of combined cycle technology will further drive the industry growth. However, reduced investments across the coal fired systems and stringent government measures to reduce dependence on fossil fuel fired power generation may hamper the industry growth.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @3 MW steam turbine market size is anticipated to expand over 2% by 2024. Positive outlook toward co-generation and geothermal energy utilization will drive the industry growth. Rapid industrialization and efforts toward energy optimization have significantly enhanced the demand for on-site power generation, which will enhance the product adoption in coming years.Indonesia market is anticipated to witness growth of over 12% by 2024. Low coal prices, along with government efforts to boost the domestic industrial output will thrust the product deployment in coming years. Ongoing investment toward enhancing baseload power generation capacity along with positive outlook toward adoption of supercritical & ultra-supercritical systems will further stimulate the business growth.Notable players active in the global market include Siemens, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Harbin Turbine, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Toshiba, Eliott Group, TurboTech, General Electric, Mitsui, Man Diesel & Turbo, Ansaldo Energia, Fuji Electric, Doosan Skoda Power and Dongfang amongst others.Browse Complete Summary of this report @Related Report:SLI Battery Market in America to hit $16 billion by 2025About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Sodium Metabisulfite Market to Exhibit Phenomenal Growth Over 2019-2025 | Key Players are BASF, Solvay, Hydrite, INEOS, Santa Cruz Biotechnology (SCBT), Akkim Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. Sodium Metabisulfite Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3127 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3127 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/sodium-metabisulfite-market https://www.gminsights.com http://technologymagazine.org/ Endowed with an extensive end-user spectrum including food & beverages, pulp & paper, leather, and textile, sodium metabisulfite market is fast emerging as one of the most promising investment avenue in the recent years. The approval by government and regulatory authorities such as European Union and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has further strengthened the legality of sodium metabisulfite and has helped the product manufacturers in reaching out to new business verticals.Growth drivers Rapidly growing food & beverages industry in Asia Pacific Rising awareness for waste water treatment throughout the globeRequest for a sample of this research report @With the rise in digital media and increased usage of Internet, the worldwide pulp and paper sector has been focusing on reshaping manufacturing strategies and new business models to fulfill the changing demand patterns. Personalized packaging and cardboard products have now emerged as the most lucrative commodities of the overall pulp and paper sector owing to the overwhelming demand from the burgeoning e-commerce industry. Moreover, high levels of production uniformity and the automation of manual processes has transformed the economic landscape of the pulp and paper sector as lower energy and cost-efficient production has largely become attainable.With the presence of a large number of suppliers and manufacturers of the chemical, the sodium metabisulfite market has gained tremendous momentum in the APAC region. The swift expansion of numerous end-user sectors such as leather and textile industries in across the region has been a pivotal factor in propelling the product demand as it is utilized as an auxiliary in bleaching and decalcification processes.Analyzing the market scenario, around 45% of total market share is grabbed by Asia Pacific region in the year 2025 registering itself as the largest market. Such a tremendous share is solely attributed to the presence of large number of manufacturers and suppliers of the product in countries like India, China, Thailand, South Korea thereby making the region an import destination of various other countries.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The product market is quite consolidated but presence of local players in the sector mainly from Asian countries will fragment the market in upcoming years. The companies are more focused towards adopting innovative strategies to tap potential application of the products. Some of the major players in the market are BASF SE, Aditya Birla Chemicals, Esseco LLC, Ineos Calabrian corporation, Hydrite Chemical, Grillo-Werke and many others.By End-user Food & beverages Water treatment Chemical & pharma Textile industry Leather industry (tanneries) Pulp & paper Photographic & film Others (mining industry, fibre industry, rubber Etc.)Browse key industry insights spread across 241 pages with 275 market data tables & 23 figures & charts from the report, Sodium Metabisulfite Market in detail along with the table of contents:About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Pyrometer Market Price Complexity and Large Capital Investment | Ametek Land, Inc, Extech Instruments Corporation, Advanced Energy Industries, LumaSense Technologies, Omega Engineering Ltd https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=5291 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=5291 Pyrometer Market IntroductionManufacturing processes and industries are rapidly undergoing automation across the globe. Today, automation sensing technology has attained a high level of accuracy. A pyrometer is an equipment or a device widely adopted to measure high levels of temperature. They belong to a class of thermometers which are designed to measure the heat and type of heat emitted from an object. Modern pyrometers are also referred to as infrared pyrometers that can measure the energy radiated from a distant object without needing for direct contact between the object and the device. Pyrometers can also measure the temperature of cooler objects. The pyrometer market is mainly driven by the increasing demand for innovative non-contact temperature sensing devices. Extensive applications of pyrometers in heavy industrial processes are triggering growth in pyrometer market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Pyrometer Market Competitive LandscapeIn April 2019, AMETEK Land revealed its enhanced SPOT infrared pyrometer software packages, SPOTPro and SPOTViewer. The newly launched pyrometer packages are aimed at giving users a better understand of the performance of various processes and aid them in realizing industry 4.0 connectivity.In December 2018, Extech announced launch of a ruggedized, dual-laser infrared (IR) thermometer named IR320, which is designed to perform rough and tough jobs indoors as well as outdoors. Extechs new full-size infrared thermometer is also called a spot IR pyrometer and can withstand rough duty usage.In November 2018, Advanced Energy Industries announced Rockwell Automation AOP for its new fieldbus-enabled pyrometer which is designed for industrial applications. Advanced Energy Industries showcased plug-and-play Onyx-M Pyrometer Series at the Automation Fair 2018.Ametek Land, Inc.Established in the UK in 1947, Land Instruments International Limited was acquired by the Process & Analytical Instruments Division of AMETEK, Inc in 2006. Today, AMETEK Land is a leading supplier of product application solutions, and operates in diverse industries, including minerals processing, glass making, steelmaking, hydrocarbon processing & thermal power generation.Extech Instruments CorporationFounded in 1971, and based in Nashua, New Hamshire, the company manufactures a wide range of measurement instruments. The product offering of this company includes clamp, multi, light, moisture, pressure, air flow, humidity, and sound meters. The company also provides testers, power analyzers, stroboscopes, stopwatches, and repairing & technical support services.Request TOC of the Report @Advanced Energy IndustriesEstablished in 1981 & based in in Fort Collins, Colorado, the company through its subsidiaries manufactures, designs, sells, and supports measurement, power conversion, and control solutions that convert electrical power into various usable forms.LumaSense TechnologiesLumaSense Technologies, a subsidiary of Advanced Energy company was established in 2005. The company provides innovative temperature & gas sensing devices and solutions for various segments such as global energy, advanced technologies, & industrial materials. Markets.Omega Engineering LtdEstablished in 1962, Omega Engineering is an American instrumentation company with its primary factory in Bridgeport, New Jersey. The company designs and manufactures measuring instruments. It provides products for measurement & control of pressure, temperature, humidity, force, strain, level, force, flow, and conductivity.Pyrometer Market DynamicsImpressive Temperature Measuring Features of Pyrometer Optics Fueling their AdoptionPyrometer optics are increasingly gaining traction from several industries, as they can measure temperature without direct contact with the target object, can measure temperature of diverse wavelengths, and provide accurate results as compared to radiation pyrometer. Furthermore, as the measurement done by pyrometer doesnt depend on object and distance, they promise high flexibility in different cases. These factors are fueling growth in pyrometer market.Increasing Industrial Automation & Demand for Non-Contact Temperature Measuring Devices Driving Pyrometer SalesBurgeoning automation in the industrial sector coupled with the rising demand for robust temperaturemeasuring equipment in diverse industries, such as ceramics, glass, and forging, is driving growth in the pyrometer market. With these industries increasingly needing highly efficient, precision-driven devices that can operate in harsh environments, the demand for pyrometer is growing significantly. Furthermore, the rapid automation penetration in diverse processes and systems in the manufacturing sector is driving the adoption of accurate non-contact temperature measurement devices, such as pyrometer.Wide Applications in Metal Processing Industry Augmenting Growth in Pyrometer MarketPyrometers are witnessing growing adoption in the metal processing sector to measure temperatures at different stages of various processes including forging, extrusion, rolling, and die forming. Forging companies prefer precise, robust, and standalone temperature measuring equipment such as pyrometers & thermal imagers over thermocouples. This trend is providing considerable opportunities to stakeholders, and is anticipated to drive growth in pyrometer market in the forthcoming years.Pyrometer Market SegmentationBased on technology, the global pyrometer market is segmented into:InfraredOpticalBased on type, the global pyrometer market is segmented into:FixedHandheldBased on industry, the global pyrometer market is segmented into:GlassMelting ProcessFloatTin BathCoolingOthersCeramicsMetal ProcessingForgingOthersAbout TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050 Parenteral Feeding Devices Market Portrays High-End Demand across Major Geographies during 2018-2028 // Micrel Medical Devices SA, Fresenius Kabi, Grifols, S.A., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Baxter, Amanta Healthcare https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3408 https://www.factmr.com/report/3408/parenteral-feeding-devices-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=3408 https://www.factmr.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Parenteral feeding is direct delivery of different nutrients into the blood flow intravenously. The parenteral feeding devices are used in person who has non-functional gastro-intestinal tract or person having disorder and requires total bowel rest. Parenteral feeding devices can deliver calories and nutrients which are essential for the body functioning through mixture of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins. The parenteral feeding devices can be used in patient of any age, ranging from children to geriatrics. The parenteral feeding devices delivers required amount of the nutrition depending on the persons body requirement which is decided by the physicians.Request TOC of this Report-Increasing prevalence of the gastrointestinal tract diseases around the world in younger as well as older population is the major driver in the growth of the Parenteral Feeding Devices Market. The ability of the parenteral feeding devices to directly deliver the nutrients in the blood stream eases the condition of gastrointestinal tract significantly by providing total relief which in turn expected to fuel the growth of the parenteral feeding devices market. Increasing prevalence of the indications which affect gastrointestinal tract such as ulcerative colitis, bowel obstruction, certain pediatric GI disorders and Short bowel syndrome due to surgery, etc. expected to further boost the growth of the parenteral feeding devices market. The efficiency of the parenteral feeding devices in delivering the nutrients and if managed accordingly it shows very few side effects which in turn expected to drive the growth of the market. There are various support groups for emotional support for patients who are more concerned about how their body looks, especially in the teenagers which helps in improving the patient compliance. Although there are significant positives of the parenteral feeding but there are drawbacks as well. Since, parenteral feeding devices directly delivers nutrients into the blood stream, it do not help to maintain the structure and efficient function of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract which may result in severe complications such as glucose abnormalities, hepatic complications, etc. The parenteral feeding method by using parenteral feeding devices is comparatively expensive and requires frequent monitoring which may hamper the potential growth of the parenteral feeding devices market.To know more about the Parenteral Feeding Devices Market Visit the link-The global parenteral feeding devices market is expected to experience significant growth during the forecast period. By product type, stationary infusion pumps expected to dominate the global parenteral feeding devices market due to higher convenience. By application, global parenteral feeding devices market is expected to be dominated by bowel obstruction due to higher prevalence. By end, hospitals expected to highest revenue generating segment in global parenteral feeding devices market. The manufacturers in the global parenteral feeding devices market are trying to manufacture advance devices to minimize the parenteral feeding devices related complications such as infection at the site where catheter is inserted.Parenteral Feeding Devices Market: Regional OutlookThe global parenteral feeding devices market is expected to be dominated by the North America due to higher prevalence of the GI tract disorders. Europe is expected to be second most lucrative parenteral feeding devices market due to higher product penetration in the region. Latin America parenteral feeding devices market is expected to experience steady growth due to gradually increasing adoption of the parenteral feeding devices. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the emerging parenteral feeding devices market due to rising number of skilled professionals coupled with rapidly increasing product availability in the region. Middle East & Africa is the least lucrative market due to lack of proper healthcare infrastructure, lower adoption of the parenteral feeding devices for treatment.Parenteral Feeding Devices Market: Key PlayersThe key market players operating in the parenteral feeding devices market are: Micrel Medical Devices SA, Fresenius Kabi, Grifols, S.A., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Baxter, Amanta Healthcare and others.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application, and industry.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 - Dimeric fatty acid Market Displays Higher Growth Inclinations during 2018-2027|| Key Companies Croda International Plc., Kraton Corporation, Oleon NV, Shandong Huijin Chemical Co. Ltd. https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2470 https://www.factmr.com/report/2470/dimeric-fatty-acid-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2470 https://www.factmr.com/ Dimeric fatty acids, which are also known as di-carboxylic acids, are non-toxic, bifunctional acids obtained by dimerizing Tall Oil Fatty Acids (TOFA). Dimeric fatty acids are light yellow-transparent liquids, which can help in improving water repellency, hydrolytic stability and pigment wetting properties of polymers. Dimeric fatty acids are commonly used as a rheology modifier or polymer building block in the synthesis of polyamide hot melt adhesives and polyamide resins.Request for a Free Sample of this report @The Fact.MR study on dimeric fatty acid market includes minute details on the macro and microeconomic factors influencing the market growth. The report provides key insights on future prospects of the dimeric fatty acid market. Market drivers, restraints, trends, and growth opportunities for leading players, including manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and other stakeholders in the dimeric fatty acid market are featured in the report.The report also offers overview of the chemical industry, and analyzes the market value and volume to forecast growth parameters of the dimeric fatty acid market for the period 2018-2027. The report also highlights important regulations impacting the growth of the dimeric fatty acid market globally.Fluctuating Availability of Raw Materials Remains a Key ChallengeOver 80-85% of dimeric fatty acid is manufactured using tall oil fatty acids (TOFA), which is obtained as a by-product of the Kraft wood pulping process. However, the production of TOFA has declined steadily over the past few years owing to the palpable shift of manufacturers towards pulping younger pine trees with lower chemical content.Fluctuating supply of TOFA due to the recent transformations in wood pulping procedures is likely to make a significant impact on growth and salient dynamics of the dimeric fatty acid market in the upcoming years. Uncertainties about the availability of raw materials also suggest a potential rise in prices of dimeric fatty acids in the coming future.In addition, a majority of customers in the end-user industries, such as adhesives, coatings, and printing inks industry, are moving away from dimeric fatty acid-based polyamides due to inadequate supply and increased prices. Thereby, this can make a negative impact on growth of the dimeric fatty acid market.Get Access To TOC Covering 200+ Topics @China Continues to be the Frontrunner in Dimeric Fatty Acid Production and ConsumptionSome of the largest producers of dimeric fatty acid, including Jiangsu Yonglin Oleochemical Co., Ltd., Lifan Industry (Group) Co., Ltd, and Shandong Huijin Chemical Co. Ltd, are headquartered in China. Increasing production of adhesives, coatings, and sealants in the country is triggering dimeric fatty acid market players in China to increase the production. Furthermore, steady growth of the construction industry is boosting adoption of industrial adhesives, which is providing a fillip to the consumption of dimeric fatty acid in the country.Steadily increasing production and consumption of dimeric fatty acid in China has made it one of the leading markets for dimeric fatty acid. Chinese producers in dimeric fatty acid market are aiming to capitalize on the export markets for dimeric fatty acid to gain an edge in the upcoming years.Increasing Demand for Polymer-based Adhesives Drive Dimeric Fatty Acid MarketPolymer-based hot adhesives have been gaining burgeoning demand across various industrial sectors, outperforming solvent-based adhesives. Their solvent-free properties makes them environment-friendly and improves their shelf life. Dimeric fatty acid is among the primary ingredients in polymer-based hot adhesives, and an increasing number of industrial applications of polymer-based hot adhesives is complementing growth of the dimeric fatty acid market.With most customers in various industrial verticals becoming aware about the unique benefits of polymer-based hot adhesives over solvent-based adhesives, their demand is expected to surge in the upcoming years, in turn, boosting sales of dimeric fatty acid.The Fact.MR report covers all the recent developments in the dimeric fatty acid market. The report features a list of market leaders and new entrants in the dimeric fatty acid market, including Croda International Plc., Kraton Corporation, Oleon NV, Shandong Huijin Chemical Co. Ltd., Liancheng Baixin Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Jiangsu Jinma Oil Technology Development Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Yonglin Oleochemical Co. Ltd., Anqing Hongyu Chemical Co., Ltd., Aturex Group, Florachem Corp., Emery Oleochemicals GmbH, and Jarchem Industries Inc.Grow Your Business from Experts Advice @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: Soft Ferrite Market: Prominent Manufacturers Steering Growth during 2018-2027|| GKN plc, Rio Tinto PLC, Hoganas AB, Voestalpine Stahl GmbH, Hitachi Metals Ltd https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2449 https://www.factmr.com/report/2449/soft-ferrite-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2449 https://www.factmr.com/ The soft ferrite market space remains highly competitive, wherein the leading players account for a significant revenue share. The manufacturers of soft ferrite have been continually emphasizing on business expansion across potential markets such as Asia Pacific and many other emerging economies. For instance- GKN Driveline, a division of GKN plc, introduced new technology centers and production facilities in the Asia Pacific region in a bid to expand its operations. Hitachi Metals, another key player in the soft ferrite market, also focuses on implementation of global strategies for business expansion across India and China, two of the rapidly evolving automotive markets.Request for a Free Sample of this report @Key players of soft ferrite market are also focusing on organic growth and product development strategies aimed at improving the sales & distribution network and to reinvigorate their operational efficiencies. In addition to that, the key players are also reinforcing the production and marketing framework to reap sizeable gains via increased production.Use of Additives for Amelioration of Ferrites Magnetic Properties- An Evolving Manufacturing TrendPractice of incorporating additives with ferrites, both hard and soft, is being extensively exercised. Competency of additives to significantly enhance the magnetic properties of ferrites by influencing their grain growth and density is predominantly spurring their adoption. Favorable studies acknowledging role of additives in enhancing properties such as grain growth, power loss, electric resistance, and permeability, is intensifying its importance in case of ferrites, both hard and soft.Some of the commonly used additives include calcium oxide (CaO), silicon dioxide (SiO?), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and many more. Moreover, use of additives is also believed to have positive impacts on permeability, which remains one of the highly-valued characteristics in case of soft ferrite.Advent of Switched-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) Fosters Adoption of Soft FerriteWith the introduction of switched-mode power supplies, demand for soft ferrites in power applications has taken off by a significant margin. The clamor for higher frequencies in case of high-frequency power supplies is on a rise, which also results in reduction of the size of magnetic components. Ferrites, with the ability to address the aforementioned challenge, are being increasingly used in case of SMPS systems.The demand for soft ferrite in cores of RF transformers and inductors in switched-mode power supply (SMPS) is on the rise, driven by relatively lower losses at high frequencies. Moreover, properties of soft ferrites can be altered or tailored by compositional modifications, which is another key benefit prompting its adoption in SMPS systems.Get Access To TOC Covering 200+ Topics @Sintering to Tailor Microstructures of Ferrites- A Prominent TrendNanostructured ferrites are famed for their utilization in case of modern electronic devices, such as data transmission circuitry, EMI suppression, and many more. Nanostructured ferrites synthesized by methods, such as co-precipitation, hydrothermal, and sol-gel mechanical, often inherit the characteristic of being unstable. This instability can be attributed to a myriad of reasons, with small constituent sizes and high chemical activity being two of them.Sintering helps in recrystallizing the nanostructure and causes a shift from an excited metastable (activated) state into a low-energy crystalline state. Among the types of sintering, the multi-sample sintering remains a commonly adopted one as compared to single-stage sintering, which remains rarely adopted. However, both of the aforementioned types are set to witness considerable adoption, which is dependent on the requirements of the target application.Soft Ferrite Market- Competitive LandscapeThe Fact.MR report on soft ferrite market provides incisive insights on the competitive dynamics in the soft ferrite market. In this section of soft ferrite market report, details such as key financials, key product developments, and strategies of the leading players in the soft ferrite market have been discussed.Hitachi Metals Ltd., a leading player in the soft ferrite market, established a Global Research & Innovative Technology Center (GRIT) in the year 2017, as a part of its strategy to solidify its product portfolio with periodic technological advances. The establishment of this research center was a solid step toward R&D efforts of the company.Grow Your Business from Experts Advice @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: Cell Sorting Market 2025 | Union Biometrica, Inc., Sony Biotechnology, Inc., On-Chip Biotechnologies Co. https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=944 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=944 https://www.tmrresearch.com/cell-sorting-market Global Cell Sorting Market: SnapshotCell sorting implies the capacity of a technology to segregate cells in a sample based on specific parameters, usually on cell properties. The properties on which cell sorting takes place can be extracellular or intracellular, where the former refers to the size, surface protein expression, and morphology, while the latter refers to protein molecule interactions, RNA, and DNA. So far, the science and process of cell sorting has been an extremely valuable tool in the research efforts taken up in physiology and medicine.The general methods of cell sorting have changed over time. The more primitive methods, while still used and in some cases useful, are far too inaccurate and inefficient to meet with modern requirements. The overall methods can be segmented into single cell sorting, FACS, and magnetic cell sorting. Single cell sorting involves the separation of a heterogeneous cellular mix on the premise of multiple intracellular and extracellular properties. This process can involve IsoRaft arrays or DEPArrays. Fluorescent activated cell sorting makes use of flow cytometry in order to provide rapid results that are both objective as well as qualitative in terms of measuring cellular properties.Get Brochure of the Report @However, FACS does not make use of cell morphology as a parameter for sorting. Magnetic cell sorting can be used to enrich a mix of cells primarily heterogeneous, by differing between cells based on extracellular properties. This process commonly makes use of antigen composition on the cell and can be segmented into MACS or SEP.Global Cell Sorting Market: OverviewThe global market for cell sorting has witnessed significant traction in the past few years. Factors such as increasing and easy availability of advanced cell sorters in the global market, rapid technological advancements in product features, and increasing investment and funding are among the key factors to have driven the market in recent times. Over the period between 2017 and 2025, the market is expected to gain increased traction owing to the thriving biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors globally and the rising usage of cell sorters for research purposes.The market will also be driven due to the vast rise in prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, the pressing need for the development of targeted therapies, and increased healthcare expenditure across emerging economies. However, factors such as the lack of awareness regarding cell sorters, lack of trained resources, and the high cost of instruments will hamper the growth prospects of the market to a certain extent in the next few years.This report on the global market for cell sorting provides a detailed overview of the markets growth trajectory over the past few years and projections regarding the future scope of growth over the period between 2017 and 2025.Request TOC for Detailed Facts & Numbers @Global Cell Sorting Market: Scope of the ReportThe report combines vast primary and secondary information collected via a variety of industry-standard sources over the course of research. Primary research forms the bulk of the research efforts, with data sourced from e-mail interactions and telephonic interviews. Secondary research efforts involved the detailed analytical overview of data sources such as stock analysis presentations, company websites, annual reports, press releases, and data from national and international databases. Growth rates for all key segments included in the report within the global cell sorting market have been determined through a detailed analysis of technological developments, past and present trends, and regulatory aspects.The report also presents an analytical overview of the determining factors such as growth drivers, restraints, opportunities, and market trends. In addition, the report also contains a detailed market attractiveness analysis by country, applications, and end-user, along with a comprehensive account of the competitive landscape with the help of detailed profiles of key players operating in the global cell sorting market. The competitive scenario between leading vendors in the market has been examined with the help of a market share analysis.Global Cell Sorting Market: Geographical and Competitive DynamicsOn the basis of geography, the report analyzes the global cell sorting market across regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Middle East and Africa. Of these, North America is presently the leading contributor of revenue to the global cell sorting market, owing to the thriving pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the region. The large number of pharmaceutical companies operating in the region are also driving the increased demand for cell sorters. Moreover, the rising prevalence of a number of chronic and autoimmune diseases is also contributing to the increased demand for cell sorters in the region.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Over the reports forecast period, however, the cell sorting market is expected to observe a significant rise in promising growth opportunities across Asia Pacific. The region, with emerging economies such as China and India, is increasingly becoming a preferred destination for companies in the cell sorting market owing to the vast rise in prevalence of diseases such as cancer and funds being poured into research and development activities.Some of the key vendors operating in the global cell sorting market are Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Affymetrix Inc., Sysmex Partec GmbH, Union Biometrica, Inc., Sony Biotechnology, Inc., On-Chip Biotechnologies Co., Ltd., Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, Cytonome/ST, and Beckman Coulter, Inc.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050 UV Curable Resins Market Business Overview (2019-2027): ALLNEX NETHERLANDS B.V., Arkema Group, BASF SE, DIC CORPORATION, DSM-AGI Corporation, Eternal Materials Co.,Ltd. UV Curable Resins Market http://bit.ly/2WiD2Gv http://bit.ly/2WrLNOc http://bit.ly/2Wj01Bd https://www.theinsightpartners.com/ The global UV Curable Resins Market is growing at a significant pace owing to driving factors such as increasing use of environment-friendly industrial coatings and growing demand for UV curable inks in packaging applications. Moreover, rising use in 3D printing applications owing to its high performance properties further boost the UV curable resins market globally. However, the high installation cost of UV curable resin manufacturing plant and lack of awareness are the key factors hindering the curable resins market. Likewise. Propelling demand from the electronics industry is anticipated to provide a lucrative opportunity for market players over the projected period.Get Sample Copy of this Report atTop Key Players: ALLNEX NETHERLANDS B.V. Arkema Group BASF SE DIC CORPORATION DSM-AGI Corporation Eternal Materials Co.,Ltd. Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. IGM Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation Miwon Specialty Chemical Co., Ltd.UV curing resins are the materials polymerized and cured in a short time by the energy radiated from ultraviolet irradiation devices. These are used explicitly as industrial materials for sealing, bonding and coating. As the UV curable resin is single-component and non-solvent, it does not contaminate the work environment with any solvent. This adhesive is cured within seconds. Its excellence in mass production significantly helps reduce production processes. A large number of UV light curable resins have been developed to meet the stringent regulations in Europe and North America and to reduce air pollution as well as energy consumption.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase of this report atMARKET SEGMENTATIONThe global UV curable resins market is segmented on the basis of formulation, application and end user.On the basis of formulation, the UV curable resins market is segmented into Oligomers, Monomers Photoinitiators and OthersOn the basis of application, the market is bifurcated into, Coating, Inks, Adhesives and OthersBased on end user, the global UV curable resins market is segmented into, Industrial Coatings Graphic Arts Electronics and OthersThe report analyzes factors affecting the UV curable resins market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics affecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors affecting the UV curable resins market in these regions.Purchase This Report atThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Automotive and Defense.Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comWebsite: Huge Outlay of Internet of Vehicle Market Boosting in Worldwide to 2023 | Key Players - Ford Motor, Texas Instruments, Audi AG, Intel, SAP, NXP semiconductors, Apple, Google, IBM Internet of Vehicle Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/153567 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/153567 Global Internet of Vehicle Market 2019 - 2023, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the use of Internet of Vehicle across several end-user industries.Global Internet of Vehicle Market Synopsis:The Global Internet of Vehicle Market research 2019 highlights the major details and provides in-depth analysis of the market along with the future growth, prospects and Industry demands analysis explores with the help of complete report with 125 Pages, figures, graphs and table of contents to analyze the situations of global Internet of Vehicle Market and Assessment to 2023.Get Sample Study Papers of Global Internet of Vehicle Market @the Internet of Vehicle industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Internet of Vehicle market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 15 from XXX million $ in 2014 to 70.0 million $ in 2018, Market analysts believe that in the next few years, Internet of Vehicle market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023, The market size of the Internet of Vehicle will reach 150.0 million $.According to Internet of Vehicle Market Report, One of the primary concern driving the internet of vehicle market is traffic management and reduction in road accidents. The global internet of vehicle market will create ample opportunities for vehicles to connect with humans, sensors, and traffic management systems.In Internet of Vehicle Report, The increased demand for GID, which is a prominent part of internet of vehicle market, is on a significant rise due to the security of the vehicle and safety issues which drives the growth of the internet of vehicle market.Internet of Vehicle Market Covers the Table of Contents With Segments, Key Players And Region. On the Basis of Product Type, Internet of Vehicle Market is sub segmented into Video Service, Data Service, Voice Service. Based on Industry, Market is sub segmented into Land, Air, Maritime.Request a Discount on standard prices of this premium report @Big players profiled in the Internet of Vehicle Market report include: Ford Motor, Texas Instruments, Audi AG, Intel Corporation, SAP, NXP semiconductors, Apple, Google, IBM, Cisco Systems.Region segment: This report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Internet of Vehicle in these regions, from 2014 to 2023 (forecast), covering: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Significant points in table of contents: Market Definition, Market Overview, Business Introduction, Segmentation (Region Level), Segmentation (Type Level), Segmentation (Industry Level), Segmentation (Channel Level), Market Forecast Year, Segmentation Type, Segmentation Industry, Market Cost Analysis, and Conclusion.Report contents include1 Analysis of the Internet of Vehicle Market including revenues, future growth, market outlook2 Historical data and forecast3 Regional analysis including growth estimates4 Analyzes the end user markets including growth estimates.5 Profiles on Internet of Vehicle including products, sales/revenues, and market position6 Market structure, market drivers and restraints.About usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 TORONTO, May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aguia Resources Limited (Aguia or the Company) (TSXV:AGRL, ASX:AGR) announces that following the release of a maiden Mineral Resource Statement for the Andrade Copper Project on March 18, 2019, a NI 43-101 Technical Report has been prepared and filed with the Canadian regulatory authorities. The Technical Report was prepared using definition standards for mineral resources in accordance with both the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code) and with Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) definitions as incorporated in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators (NI 43-101). The JORC Code is the accepted reporting standard for the Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX). The Technical Report, entitled Technical Report on the Andrade Deposit, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, was authored by Mr. John Makin, MAIG, a Senior Geologist at Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. Mr. Makin qualifies as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Technical Report has been issued with a report date of May 2, 2019. The Technical Report is consistent with the disclosure made by Aguia in its news release of March 18, 2019. A copy of the updated Technical Report is available on Aguias website at www.aguiaresources.com.au and on www.sedar.com For fu r t h e r i nf o r m a t i o n , p l e a s e c o n t a c t : Justin Reid, Managing Director E: jreid@aguiaresources.com.au Spyros Karellas, Investor Relations North America E: spyros@pinnaclecapitalmarkets.ca T: +1 416-433-5696 Released through: Ben Jarvis, Six Degrees Investor Relations: +61 413 150 448 Follow Aguia on Twitter: @ Aguia_Resources About Aguia: Aguia Resources Limited, (Aguia) is an ASX and TSXV listed company whose primary focus is on the exploration and development of phosphate projects in Brazil. Aguia has an established and highly experienced in-country team based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil with corporate offices in Sydney, Australia. Aguias key projects are located in Rio Grande do Sul, a prime farming area which is 100% dependent on phosphate imports. The Rio Grande phosphate deposits exhibit high quality and low cost production characteristics, and are ideally located with proximity to road, rail, and port infrastructure. Aguias experienced management team has a proven track record of advancing high quality mining assets to production in Brazil. Cautionary Statement on Forward Looking Information This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and Australian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the filing of the Technical Report and the results being consistent with previously announced results. 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". The material factors and assumptions underlying the forwardlooking information of the Mineral Resource Statement results have been outlined above and will be detailed in the associated technical report. 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 risks inherent in the mining industry and risks described in the public disclosure of the Company which is available under the profile of the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, on the ASX website at www.asx.com.au and on the Company's website at www.aguiaresouces.com.au. These risks should be considered carefully. 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. Persons reading this news release are cautioned that such statements are only predictions and 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 disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements whether as a result of new information, estimates, options, future events, results or otherwise and does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NEITHER THE AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGE, TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR THEIR 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. Blowing Agents Market Business Outlook to 2021 - Arkema SA, Honeywell International Inc., Solvay SA, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Linde AG https://www.researchcosmos.com/reports/blowing-agents-market/27230071 https://www.researchcosmos.com/request/blowing-agents-market/27230071 https://www.researchcosmos.com/inquire/blowing-agents-market/27230071 www.researchcosmos.com https://acutemarketinsights.com https://marketreportsweb.com/ Blowing Agents Market Size and Growth Rate:The Blowing Agents Market Size was capitalized at USD XX Million in 2018. The Blowing Agents Market is expected to exceed USD XX million by 2023 and grow at a compound annual rate of XX% from 2018 to 2023.Browse details of 150 number of pages research report developed on Blowing Agents Market @Blowing Agents Market Overview:Blowing agents are mostly used as additives in the polymeric foam industry. They are used as a part of the production process mainly to lend certain desired properties to polymeric foam. The major factor of blowing agents is steadily raising for companies as the demand for low-cost foam products rises.The demand for the global blowing agents market growth is increasing, especially for the demand of polyurethane foams. It is due to the rapid up gradation in the end-user companies such as infrastructure and appliances. These agents are mainly used in the polymer industry as adhesives to inherit specific foam properties such as permeability and elasticity, acoustics and shock absorbency, weight reduction and heat and electric insulation. The blowing foam market holds the major share in the global blowing agents market due to the increase in applications such as chemicals, automobiles, and infrastructure. Hydrocarbon, butanes and pentanes, have mainly dominated the global market.The primary factor that is hampering the global market growth is the strict regulations in terms of the harmful chemicals used in the blowing agents. Moreover, there have been researching and developments in the production of environment-friendly bio-based products.Geographical Overview of Blowing Agents Market:The segmentation based on region that is driving the global market of blowing agents is the Asia Pacific region. Countries in this region such as India, Japan, China, and South Korea are witnessing significant growth in the use of blowing agents for building & construction, appliances, and packaging industries. It is one of the well-consumed regions in the global market. China is one of the top blowing agent's consumers in the Asia Pacific region.Additionally, the contribution to the global market by the ASEAN countries is mainly due to the increased industrial production levels. The developed counties such as North America and Europe are contributing their share towards the market growth of the blowing agents. These countries are also taking initiatives to utilize environment-friendly blowing agents.Ask For Free Sample of the report @Key Players of Blowing Agents Market:The major key players competing for world blowing agents market share are Arkema SA, Honeywell International Inc., Solvay SA, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Linde AG, and others. These companies are actively adopting different strategies such as collaborations, partnerships new product developments, merger & acquisitions, and expansion projects globally to increase their market share.Blowing Agents Market Segmentation:By Product Type: Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Hydrocarbons (HCs)By Foam Type: Polyurethane Foam Polystyrene Foam Phenolic Foam Polypropylene Foam Polyethylene FoamBy Application: Buildings & Construction Automotive Furniture Appliances Packaging ApparelBy Region: North America South America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East and AfricaFor any queries, inquire more @Research Cosmos is a provider of standard and customized market research, business intelligence and consulting services across more than 100 domains in different industries of the world. We host the trending market reports of the worlds top-notch publishing companies, offering services to a wide range of customers from students to fortune 500 companies and discloses the hidden opportunities in every leading industry of the world.Kevin StewartGlobal Sales ManagerResearch CosmosBlog:Blog: Corporate sector in Digital Banking Market to register a phenomenal CAGR of 6% over 2018-2024| By key players Kony, SAB, SAP, Oracle, Sopra, TCS, Technisys, Tagit, Worldline, Temenos https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2651 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2651 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/digital-banking-market https://www.gminsights.com The corporate sector in Digital Banking Market is predicted to see exponential gains over the forecast timeframe. The increasing competition among Fintech players is the primary factor driving the adoption of digital banking in the corporate banking sector. Moreover, the integration of advanced analytics technologies such as Big Data to manage the assets, will reduce the risks and extract consumer insights, encouraging the adoption of digital solutions.Request for a sample of this research report @The increasing adoption of mobile & online banking platforms is also propelling the market growth. As the adoption of smartphone and internet services across the countries is increasing, consumers prefer mobile applications and websites to access their banking accounts. Furthermore, the integration of the advanced technologies, such as AI and blockchain, into the banking is also fostering market growth.The supportive government initiatives and policies across the countries are also promoting the adoption of digital banking solutions. The governments are constantly working on delivering banking services via the internet to reach remote areas. The digitalization & demonetization policies launched by the government will also encourage the adoption of digital banking solutions.Transactional services account for more than 90% share in the digital banking market. The market growth is credited to the growing adoption of electronic & mobile payment solutions. As the younger population across the countries is increasing, the demand for faster, convenient, and safer payment solutions is also rising. This is encouraging banking institutes to develop their own mobile & online platforms and provide services on the digital channel to gain customer loyalty and reduce the churn rate.Retail banking holds over 75% share in the digital banking market. The market is driven by the rising adoption of the internet and smartphones across the countries. As the adoption of the internet services and smartphones is increasing, and the information is easily available to customers, the buying of consumers is increasing. This is forcing banking institutes to provide a better customer experience and reach customers on their choice of the channel. Moreover, the increasing adoption of mobile and electronic payment solutions and the attractive offers and incentives offered by the payment solution providers are also the major forces accelerating the adoption of digital banking.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Asia Pacific is dominating the digital banking market with over 60% stake in 2017. The growing penetration of internet services and the adoption of smartphones are supporting market growth. Moreover, the digitalization initiatives launched by the government of emerging economies including India and China will also foster the demand for digital banking.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Appway Backbase BNY Mellon CREALOGIX ebanklT ETRONIKA Fidor Solutions Finastra Fiserv Halcom D.D. ieDigital Intellect Design Arena Kony NETinfo NF Innova Oracle SAB SAP SE Sopra TCS Technisys Temenos WorldlineDigital Banking Market is anticipated to surpass USD 9 trillion mark by 2024 due to the rising investments in the Fintech market. Fintech has emerged as the most disruptive technology and venture capitalists and angel investors are investing billions to take advantage of the lucrative market. The banking institutes are also collaborating and investing in Fintech companies to develop their own digital solutions for customers to meet the consumer requirements.Browse Full Report:The key vendors operating in the digital banking market are Backbase, BNY Mellon, Appway Crealogix, EdgeVerve Systems, ebanklT ETRONIKA, Finastra, Fiserv, Fidor, IE Digital, Halcom Intellect Design Arena, NETinfo, NF Innova, Kony, SAB, SAP, Oracle, Sopra, TCS, Technisys, Tagit, Worldline, and Temenos.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Machine Safety Market Expected to Increase Highest Revenue by 2027 with Key Vendors: Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric SE, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Omron Corporation, ABB Ltd Machine Safety Market to 2027 http://bit.ly/2UTKINV http://bit.ly/2PGjIjL https://www.theinsightpartners.com The increase in accidents at the workplace is leading to be the major threats for the industry reputation of the firms. Industries are focusing on implementing machine safety measures, owing to life-threatening injuries to the personnel working near machines. Industries are concentrating on delivering security to the workers by the implementation of machine safety equipment, and also maintaining the safety of the machinery.Worldwide Machine Safety Market 2027 research report conveys industry business patterns and the undertaking information, tolerating one to grasp clients and the stock driving gainfulness and yield development. The report highlights information on improvements and Global Machine Safety market trends, drivers, revenue and furthermore available. The market report pulls in the most peculiar bits of knowledge of this business additionally makes Machine Safety forecast that is important out there. It accompanies estimations concerning the Machine Safety advancement, subordinate and draws in the distinguishing proof of their industry status.Get Sample Copy of This Report:Some of the key players influencing the machine safety market are Rockwell Automation, Inc., Schneider Electric SE, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Omron Corporation, ABB Ltd., Honeywell International Inc., Siemens AG, Keyence Corporation, IDEC Corporation, and Sick AG among others.Key Benefits: To provide detailed information regarding the major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, challenges, and trends) influencing the growth of the global Machine Safety Market To forecast the size of the market segments with respect to four major regional segments, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World (Latin America and the Middle East & Africa)This report provides in depth study of Machine Safety market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The Machine Safety Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.The growing emphasis on proactive safety and industrial safety measures, an increasing number of accidents in companies, growing demand for presence-sensing safety devices, and mandatory safety standards and government policies are propelling the growth of the market. Moreover, emerging industrial revolution 4.0 and the development of innovative and advanced safety light curtains with digital indicators are expected to provide significant opportunities for the machine safety market in the forecast period. However, the increasing complexity in safety-based hardware and software designs is anticipated to hamper the growth of the machine safety market.The "Global Machine safety Market Analysis to 2027" is a specialized and in-depth study of the machine safety market with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of the global machine safety market with detailed market segmentation by the component, application, industry, and geography. The global machine safety market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the machine safety market.The potential of this industry segment has been rigorously investigated in conjunction with primary market challenges. The present market condition and future prospects of the segment has also been examined. Moreover, key strategies in the market that includes product developments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, etc., are discussed. Besides, upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also conducted.Besides this, the report analyzes factors affecting market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors effecting the market in these regions.Answers that the report acknowledges: Market size and growth rate during forecast period. Key factors driving the Machine Safety market market. Key market trends cracking up the growth of the Machine Safety market market. Challenges to market growth. Key vendors of Machine Safety market market. Detailed SWOT analysis. Opportunities and threats faces by the existing vendors in Global Machine Safety market market. Trending factors influencing the market in the geographical regions. Strategic initiatives focusing the leading vendors. PEST analysis of the market in the five major regions.Inquiry for Discount:About UsThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services.We are committed to providing highest quality research and consulting services to our customers. We help our clients understand key market trends, identify opportunities, and make informed decisions by providing market research solutions at an affordable cost.Contact usThe Insight partners,Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comHome: What are the Drivers factors of Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market ; Eminent Players - Covidien, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Medline Industries, Domtar Corporation, and Polymer Group Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/805 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/805 http://news-researchers.com/ Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market size is set to exceed USD 12.5 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Rising incidences of hospital acquired infections has escalated demand for medical nonwoven disposables. The need for maintaining sterile environment during the surgical procedure to prevent bacterial infection at the surgical site will stimulate industry growth over the forecast timeframe.Increasing number of baby boomers highly susceptible to suffer from incontinence condition will serve as high impact rendering factor for the medical nonwoven disposables market growth.Growing number of surgical procedures along with rising number of people suffering from incontinence condition will act as driving factor for medical nonwoven disposables market. Increasing prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes, renal complications along with growing adoption of inter-related activities such as tobacco smoking will lead to increased occurrence of urinary incontinence.Request sample copy of this report @Technological advancements such as development of biodegradable adult diapers and gender specific diapers designed to deliver patient comfort will stimulate medical nonwoven disposables demand. Elderly people are prone to suffer from incontinence condition due to bladder and urethra muscle weakening will favor industry growth.Favorable government initiatives to encourage adoption of medical nonwovens to reduce occurrence of hospital acquired infections coupled with increasing healthcare expenditure by government as well as individual will positively impact medical nonwoven disposables market growth.Disposable nonwoven medical supplies held largest revenue share in 2016 and envisaged to grow over 6% CAGR throughout the forecast period. Rising number of people suffering from incontinence condition along with technological advancements will propel industry growth.Make Inquiry about this report @U.S. medical nonwoven disposables market was valued over USD 2 billion in 2016. High adoption of cutting edge technologies, favorable government initiatives and rise in incontinence conditions will stimulate business growth over the coming years.Germany medical nonwoven disposables market will witness significant growth owing to rising number of diabetic patients, growing healthcare spending and rapid technological advancements. Increased adoption of incontinence pads will fuel market growth.Japan medical nonwoven disposables market is estimated to witness significant growth over the coming years due to large geriatric population base highly susceptible to suffer from incontinence condition and high-quality healthcare standards. Soaring number of surgical procedures will positively impact industry growth.China should witness considerable growth in terms of revenue over the forecast period due to the growing incidence of incontinence, large unaddressed diabetic population and improved disposable income levels attributed to its rapid economic growth.Brazil medical nonwoven disposables market is estimated to grow over 8% CAGR over the forecast years. Growing elderly population base and rising awareness about incontinence will drive regional medical nonwoven disposables market growth.Some of the notable companies operating in medical nonwoven disposables market are Covidien, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Medline Industries, Domtar Corporation, and Polymer Group. Geographical expansion through partnership and strategic collaboration coupled with new product launches are some of the strategies adopted by industry players to sustain their market position.The medical nonwoven disposables market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:Medical nonwoven disposables market by producto Disposable nonwoven hygiene productso Disposable incontinence pads & ostomy linerso Disposable panty shieldo Disposable underwearo Disposable diaperso Ultra-absorbento Super-absorbento Gender-specifico Biodegradableo Regular Diaperso Disposable nonwoven medical supplieso Disposable surgical maskso Disposable surgical drapeso Disposable surgical capso Disposable surgical gownso Disposable surgical sterile nonwoven swabThe above information is provided for the following regions and countries: North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo Germanyo UK Asia Pacifico Chinao Indiao Indonesiao Vietnamo Thailando Malaysiao Indiao Pakistano Iran Latin Americao Brazilo Mexico Middle East and Africao Middle East Saudi Arabia UAE Qataro Africa Northern Africa Egypt Southern Africa Eastern AfricaGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comBlog : Future Growth of Tunnel and Metro Market 2019- 2023 | Zhonglian Wind, NanFeng, Yilida, WITT & SOHN Tunnel and Metro Platforms Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/150612 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/150612/single The Global Tunnel and Metro Platforms Market 2019 report gives the freshest business information and industry future patterns, enabling you to recognize the items and end clients driving Revenue development and benefit. The business report records the main rivals and gives the experiences key industry Analysis of the key components affecting the market.Global Tunnel and Metro Platforms Market Overview:The Tunnel and Metro industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Tunnel and Metro market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 15 from XXX million $ in 2014 to 440.0 million $ in 2018, Market analysts believe that in the next few years, Tunnel and Metro market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023, The market size of the Tunnel and Metro will reach 550.0 million $.Accessible Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @Top Industry News: The Specialty in Tunnel and Metro Platforms for Services Company, Yilida shut its monetary year with a solid outcome. Recently, Yilida reported Yilida,Fulihua and Maer will attend CRH in Shanghai New International Expo Centre in Apr 2019,which is one of three largest HVAC exhibitions.The Global Tunnel and Metro Platforms Market report additionally covers segment information, including Product Type segment, Application: Industry segment, End User, Channel segment.According to the Tunnel and Metro Market, The global market for Tunnel and Metro is expected to grow at a progressive rate in the forecast period with a high level of competition. The rising number of players interested in participating in the global Tunnel and Metro market is one of the major reasons encouraging stiff competition in the forecast period. With the rising focus on technological advancements and new product development, the leading players are anticipated to expand their product horizon and attain a leading position in the overall market.According to regions, North America is lately covering the largest share in the market and it is anticipated that the region will continue growing with the same pace in the near future, the reason being developing economies, rise in the investments, and growth in the research and development activities. Europe is likely to come up as the fastest growing region across the globe as many leading companies are emerging in a particular region.Top Leading Key Manufacturers are: Zhonglian Wind, NanFeng, Yilida, WITT & SOHN, Flakt Woods, Howden and more.This investigation answers to the underneath key inquiries:1 What will the market size be in 2023?2 What are the key factors driving the global Tunnel and Metro Platforms market?3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in the Tunnel and Metro Platforms market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?Global Tunnel and Metro Platforms market 2019-2023: The objective of the examination is to portray exhibit sizes of different segments and nations starting late and to check the characteristics to the coming few of years. The report is planned to join both emotional and quantitative parts of the business inside all of the areas and nations related with the examination.Snatch your report @Significant points in table of contents: Market Definition, Market Overview, Business Introduction, Segmentation (Region Level), Segmentation (Type Level), Segmentation (Industry Level), Segmentation (Channel Level), Market Forecast Year, Segmentation Type, Segmentation Industry, Market Cost Analysis, and Conclusion.About usBusinessindustryreports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media contactBusiness industry reportspune indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Social Media Security Market to Expand with Notable CAGR over 2018-2024 | Top Players are Trend Micro, SolarWinds, Digital Shadows, Proofpoint, KnowBe4, Hootsuite, Centrify, Social Hub, Brandle, DigitalStakeout Social Media Security Market www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/2886 www.gminsights.com/roc/2886 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/social-media-security-market www.gminsights.com www.industry-source.org Social Media Security Market in retail segment is expected to show the faster adoption rate over 2018 2024. With the growth of e-commerce business, retailers are leveraging more on online platforms, which increases the likelihood of customer scams. The increasing number of malware and phishing attacks try to invade the identity of customers and access their financials. Such challenges are expected to generate the demand for security solutions that can be used by the retail companies to protect the data and privacy of their customers.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @North America is estimated to dominate the global social media security market due to improvements in the internet infrastructure and the adoption of social media platforms by large organizations. This growing trend of social media among the organizations for business purposes increases the demand for advanced security solutions to secure the data and monitor malicious activities. Also, the presence of some of the key social media security solution providers in the region will trigger the market growth.The Asia Pacific social media security market is projected to show an unprecedented growth during the forecast timeline due to rapid upgradations in digital infrastructures in the Asian countries. The countries, particularly India and China are investing considerably in digital infrastructure to facilitate the businesses, creating new channels of commerce and economic growth. Furthermore, as smartphones are getting cheaper, the individuals in developing countries are getting more inclined toward social media platforms for recreational purposes.The penetration of internet and mobile-based platforms have enabled the individuals to communicate in an interactive manner and exchange vast amounts of user-generated content. This exchange of information between the parties increases the risk of malicious activities and vulnerabilities that lead to data threats and breaches. This is also augmenting the demand for the social media security market among the organizations.Request for customization of this report @The increasing trend of the e-commerce also fosters the social media security market growth. Online retailers leverage on the e-commerce platforms to connect with their customers and provide an enhanced personalized experience. They make it easier for retailers to enhance their businesses by getting leads for their products & services. However, these platforms also expose them to the potential risk of the cyber-attacks and data thefts. This gives rise to the requirement of content security solutions to secure the web content and confidential information of the e-commerce organizations.Social Media Security Market is driven by the growing number of internal security risks, including cyber terrorism, fraud, and money laundering that arise due to social media platforms. As the adoption of the social media solutions across the globe is increasing, the potential risk of the phishing attacks and the need to protect the confidential information also arises. This encourages organizations to take effective measures to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks.The major vendors in the social media security market include Trend Micro, SolarWinds, Digital Shadows, Proofpoint, KnowBe4, Hootsuite, Centrify, Social Hub, Brandle, DigitalStakeout, Bowline Security, Social Senital, SecureMySocial, Micro Focus, CA Technologies, ZeroFOX, Crisp Thinking,CSC, Sophos, Symantec, RiskIQ, CoNetrix, and CrowdControlHQ.Browse Full Reports:About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact UsArun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Global Architectural, Engineering Consultants And Related Services Market 2019 top player, Bechtel Corporation, AECOM, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc, Gensler, CH2M HILL Inc http://bit.ly/2J6J7lk http://bit.ly/2J6J7lk www.reportsandmarkets.com Architectural, Engineering Consultants And Related Services Global Market Report 2019Architectural, Engineering Consultants and Related Services Market Global Report 2019 from The Business Research Company provide the strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global architectural, engineering consultants and related services market.Reasons to Purchase Gain a truly global perspective with the most comprehensive report available on this market covering 50+ geographies. Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis. Identify growth segments for investment. Outperform competitors using forecast data and the drivers and trends shaping the market. Understand customers based on the latest market research findings. Benchmark performance against key competitors. Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing. Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysis Report will be updated with the latest data and delivered to you within 3-5 working days of order.Get free sample on this report title:Description:Where is the largest and fastest growing market for the architectural, engineering consultants and related services? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The Architectural, Engineering Consultants and Related Services market global report from the Business Research Company answers all these questions and many more.The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the markets historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider design, research, promotional and consulting services market, and compares it with other markets.The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market.The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market and forecasting the future. Drivers and restraints looks at the external factors supporting and controlling the growth of the market.Market segmentations break down market into sub markets.The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers all the regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets. It draws comparisons with country populations and economies to understand the importance of the market by country and how this is changing.Download this report title:Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified.The trends and strategies section highlights the likely future developments in the market and suggests approaches companies can take to exploit this.The architectural, engineering consultants and related services market section of the report gives context. It compares the architectural, engineering consultants and related services market with other segments of the design, research, promotional and consulting services market by size and growth, historic and forecast. It analyses GDP proportion, expenditure per capita, architectural, engineering consultants and related services indicators comparison.ScopeMarkets Covered: Engineering Services, Architectural Services, Laboratory Testing Services, Surveying & Mapping Services, Building Inspection Services, Geophysical Services, Drafting ServicesCompanies Mentioned: Bechtel Corporation, AECOM, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc, Gensler, CH2M HILL IncMetrics Covered: Number of Enterprises, Number of EmployeesCountries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, Venezuela, VietnamRegions: Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, AfricaTime series: Five years historic and forecast.Data: Ratios of market size and growth to related markets, GDP proportions, expenditure per capita, architectural, engineering consultants and related services indicators comparison.Data segmentations: country and regional historic and forecast data, market share of competitors, market segments.Sourcing and Referencing: Data and analysis throughout the report is sourced using end notes.About Us:ReportsAndMarkets is part of the Algoro Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. On ReportsAndMarkets.com you will find all the globally available market research and company reports from well-respected market research companies, all leaders in their field. Reports And Markets is totally independent and serves its customers by providing the most reliable market research available, as we understand how important this is for you.Contact Us:Sanjay JainManager Partner Relations & International Marketinginfo@reportsandmarkets.comPh: +4402032869338 (UK)Ph: +12147367666 (US) Medical Implants Sterile Packaging Market Channel Future Trend, Distributors Like Beacon, SteriPack, Wipak, Oliver- Tolas, Rexam, Oracle Packaging, Riverside Medical Packaging, West Pharmaceutical Services Medical Implants Sterile Packaging https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/995 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/995 Medical Implants are devices that are sited inside or on the surface of the body and are being used in every organ of the human body. According to Food and Drug Administration (FDA), medical implants are classified into three different classes, such as class I, class II, and Class III depending on the risk the medical device may impose on the user. However, risk associated with implants is complications during placement or removal of the implant. Once a medical device has been designed, tested, and approved it needs to be delivered in sterile conditions. Sterile packaging plays an essential role in packaging the devices, which protect the device from the physical damage and contamination. Packaging for these devices must serve two purposes, such as creating the sterile barrier for the device and protecting the functionality of device. Sterile packaging market has shown tremendous growth in recent years due to its several advantages. It allows penetration of the chosen sterilant, maintains the sterility of the package contents until it is open, and it can be opened aseptically without contaminating the contents.Furthermore, micro packaging is the current trend that is influencing the market, such as nanotechnology, which has altered the drug delivery systems and it is expected to have the same influence on medical devices packaging. Micro packaging includes addition of certain nanoparticles into films and shaped objects to condense the light for fire-resistant and it enhances thermal and mechanical performance as well as reduce permeability to gases. Micro packaging, established on the platform of nano technology is poised to have a strong impact on packaging, owing to its ability to enhance stability of the medical devices. Micro packaging with amalgamation of nano-engineered materials such as nano composite-based packaging films and nano coatings controls microbial growth and delays oxidation ensuring the safety of medical devices for longer period.The global medical implants sterile packaging market is estimated to be valued at US$ 1,719.5 Million in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period (2017 2025).Request For Sample Copy:Medical implants sterile packaging market is the rapidly growing segment of the healthcare sector. However, these implants encounter challenges while ensuring safety during transportation and storage. Protection of medical implants from contamination and physical damage is increasing the requirement for reliable and sterile packaging solutions in healthcare industry. On the basis of regions, North America accounts for the largest share in the global medical implants sterile packaging market, followed by Europe. This is mainly attributed to the forming and sealing process, which ensures the safety of the sterile packaging medical devices.For instance, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA), packaging of medical implants needs to follow the quality regulations and requirement. Many innovative packaging solutions have been introduced, which have boosted the growth of the medical implants sterile packaging market in these regions. For instance, Flexshield launched by UFP Technologies, a pouch packaging solution for implants, screws, rods, and other instruments. FlexShield is known for protecting the medical device from abrasion and puncture. Moreover, QTS has also introduced the durable nylon pouches for packaging of orthopedic implants, surgical instruments, and surgical procedure kits. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit the high growth rate over the forecast period due to diversification of markets, expansion, and stringent regulations of medical product packaging industries.The innovative Fortis packaging launched by Amcor is expected to propel the market growth.The major players in medical implants sterile packaging market are Beacon, SteriPack, Wipak, Oliver- Tolas, Rexam, Oracle Packaging, Riverside Medical Packaging, West Pharmaceutical Services, Amcor, Rollprint Packaging Products, and Sealed Air Corporation. The key players are focusing on strategic mergers and acquisition and development of innovative packaging systems. For instance, Amcor has launched an innovative packaging technology in 2016, known as Fortis sterile breather bag (an uncoated Tyvek header bag), which delivers strength, sustainability, and tear resistance to hold sharp, heavy, and bulky packs in contrast to conventional header bags. Fortis header bags opening allows aseptic removal of contents easier thereby, reduces the risk of contamination to the sterile field.Download the PDF brochure:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market (2019-2026) Growth Analysis With GlaxoSmithKline, SteadyMed, Bayer AG, Pfizer Market Expertz https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/38488 https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/38488 https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/plasminogen-activator-inhibitor-market www.marketexpertz.com The latest report Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor market for the forecast period, 2019 to 2026. The document offers an insight into what the target customers needs and wants. Industry experts have extracted data from various sources on size, share, growth rate, production volume, production capacity, import and export status, distribution channels and more and have analysed it thoroughly. By properly assessing the competitors and their offerings the study aims at empowering business owners to step ahead.Request for FREE Sample Copy of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market Report @Scope of the Report:The research methodologies used for evaluating the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor market are: Bayer AG SteadyMed GlaxoSmithKline PfizerMarket split by Type, can be divided into: PAI-1 TIMP-1Market split by Application, can be divided into: Medical Care OthersIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor are as follows: History Year: 2014-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2026Buy Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market Research Report @Estimating the potential size of the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor industry:Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 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 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor market. 1 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market Overview 2 Global Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market Competition by Manufacturers 3 Global Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2017) 4 Global Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2017) 5 Global Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type 6 Global Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Market Analysis by Application ContinueRead More @About Us:Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web. Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.Contact Us:John WatsonHead of Business Development40 Wall St. 28th floor New York CityNY 10005 United StatesMarket Expertz | Web:Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com Nasogastric Tubes Market 2019 | Global Industry Overview 2025 | Top Companies Andersen Products, Bard Medical, Bicakcilar, Degania Silicone, Etc. Nasogastric Tubes Market 2019 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/121823 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/121823 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/121823 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/121823 www.upmarketresearch.com Nasogastric Tubes 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 Nasogastric Tubes Market Analysis and Forecast 2019 - 2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 111 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 Nasogastric Tubes 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 Nasogastric Tubes 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: Andersen Products Bard Medical Bicakcilar Degania Silicone Guangdong Baihe Medical Technology Pacific Hospital Supply Rontis MedicalProduct Segment Analysis: Levin Tube Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube OthersApplication Segment Analysis: Children Use Adult UseMajor 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 @Nasogastric Tubes 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 Nasogastric Tubes 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 Nasogastric Tubes 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. 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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 Nasogastric Tubes 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. On Wednesday, in the morning, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC received Vice-Chancellor and President, Queensland University of Technology, Professor Margaret Sheil AO. Following, at Government House, His Excellency and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted Morning Tea in support of Cystic Fibrosis Queensland to celebrate 65 Roses Month of May, and the Governor addressed guests. In the evening, at Government House, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey hosted Dinner in honour of the Queensland Police Commissioned Officers Mess, and the Governor addressed guests. Technological Advancement & Growth Analysis with Forecast| Key Players: Innovative Biosensors, Inc., Molecular Devices, Pinnacle Technology Group, Inc Biosensors Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/747 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/747 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/biosensors-market Global Biosensors Market is set to exceed USD 29 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights. Technological upgradations in the biosensing devices has positively influenced adoption rate of biosensors that are being used in medical field. Increasing applications in diagnosis of various diseases will stimulate growth of biosensors industry significantly. The newly developed biosensors are applicable in detection of blood sugar levels, pulse rate and body temperature that show highest accuracy. The industry growth is also driven by increasing prevalence of chronic diseases in the geriatric population, increasing preference for point of care testing provided by the biosensors.High preference for portable miniature biosensor devices will escalate the industry growth. These portable biosensor devices are highly preferred by the geriatric population which is susceptible to suffer from chronic diseases and require continuous critical monitoring. Moreover, rising prevalence of diabetes due to sedentary lifestyle in urban and metropolitan areas have increased the demand for portable biosensors that help in sustaining the health of individuals. However, high costs associated with the biosensors may restrict the industry growth.Request for a sample of this research report @Wearable biosensors accounted for over 55% of the industry revenue in 2017 due to growing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and other hormonal diseases that are related to obesity. Increasing awareness in the adult population for maintaining health have increased the adoption rates of wearable biosensors that has stimulated the overall biosensors market growth. Thermal biosensors market size was more than USD 1.4 billion in 2017 and expected to witness steady growth owing to their high accuracy and efficiency. Thermal biosensors have many clinical applications that enhance the demand and stimulate the business growth. Increasing use of thermal biosensors in drug discovery process will boost the segment growth significantly.Blood glucose testing segment accounted for over 70% of the industry share and anticipated to witness more than 8% growth till 2024. Increasing prevalence of diabetes will drive the segment growth. According to WHO, around 422 million in the world suffer from diabetes. Increasing incidences of the disease has increased the demand for portable glucose testing biosensors. Major key players are trying to implement technological innovations in these glucometers to help in improving patients health by maintaining optimal blood glucose levels.The use of biosensors in laboratories will increase due to rising prevalence of chronic diseases that requires accurate diagnosis; thus, growing demand for biosensors in such research laboratories will accelerate the segment growth considerably over the forecast timeframe. Nearly 45% of Americans suffer at least from one chronic diseases that enhances the business growth.U.S. biosensors market will witness over 6.5% growth owing to increasing geriatric population suffering from chronic disorders such as diabetes and hypertension. Also, high preference for portable biosensors that provide easy and quick detection to patients suffering from such chronic diseases will influence industry growth. Germany biosensors market was valued over USD 1.3 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to witness significant growth over the coming years due to continuous integration of advanced technology in the biosensors devices. Moreover, growing preference for biosensors that are utilized in point of care services, especially in the hospitals for rapid detection have escalated biosensors industry growth.Some of the key industry players operating biosensors market are Abbott Laboratories, Bio-Rad International, Biosensors International, DuPont Biosensors Materials, Ercon, Gwent Group, Innovative Biosensors, Johnson & Johnson, Molecular Devices Corp, Pinnacle Technology, QTL Biosystems, Roche Diagnostics, SDIX, LLC, Siemens Healthcare, TE Connectivity Corporation, Thermo-Fisher Scientific.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Major industry players have been undertaking strategic decisions such as collaborations and acquisitions that have enabled them to maintain their brand value. In January 2018, Abbott laboratories developed new hematology testing system that enables examining blood on various parameters. Such new product development strategies enhance companys product portfolio thereby generating revenue for the company.Chapter 1. Methodology1.1. Methodology1.2. Market definitions1.3. Forecast parameters1.4. Data sources1.4.1. Secondary1.4.1.1. Paid sources1.4.1.2. Unpaid sources1.4.2. PrimaryChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. Biosensors industry 3600 synopsis, 2013 - 20242.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Types trends2.1.3. Technology trends2.1.4. Medical application trends2.1.5. End-use trends2.1.6. Regional trendsBrowse Full Report Details @Chapter 3. Biosensors Industry Insights3.1. Industry segmentation3.2. Industry landscape, 2013 - 20243.3. Industry impact forces3.3.1. Growth drivers3.3.1.1. Extended applications in field of medical in U.S.3.3.1.2. Rising prevalence of diabetes globally3.3.1.3. High demand for portable biosensors in Europe and Asia Pacific3.3.1.4. Rapid technological changes in U.S.3.3.2. Industry pitfalls and challenges3.3.2.1. Regulations on technology3.3.2.2. High cost of product development3.3.2.3. Availability of product substitutes3.3.2.4. Low physician-to-patient ratioGlobal Market Insights Inc. is a global market research and management consulting company catering to leading corporations, non-profit organizations, universities and government institutions. Our main goal is to assist and partner organizations to make lasting strategic improvements and realize growth targets. Our industry research reports are designed to provide granular quantitative information, combined with key industry insights, aimed at assisting sustainable organizational development.Global Market Insights, Inc.4 North Main StreetSelbyville, Delaware 19975 USAPhone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email:sales@gminsights.com Global Biofortification Market Research Report 2019 Analysis with Top Key Players: Monsanto Company, Charles River, LemnaTec GmbH, Intertek Group plc, Church & Dwight Co. Inc, Nestle, Intrexon, Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. https://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-biofortification-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-biofortification-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-biofortification-market In a rapidly changing marketplace, companies must opt for a broad range to have an effectual business growth and Global Biofortification Market report is right there to serve this purpose at the best. This market report includes historic data, present market trends, environment, technological innovation, upcoming technologies and the technical progress in the related industry. The report is generated with a nice blend of industry insight, practical solutions, talent solutions and use of technology to improve customer experience. Global Biofortification Market research report covers major manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and major types, and major applications.Global Biofortification Market research report provides you with the most up-to-date market insight and analysis. The key players of the market are making moves like product launches, joint ventures, developments, mergers and acquisitions which is affecting the market and Food & Beverage industry as a whole and also affecting the sales, import, export, revenue and CAGR values. Furthermore, this report attempts to determine the impact of buyers, substitutes, new entrants, competitors, and suppliers on the market. This Global Biofortification Market report utilizes expertise solutions and potential capabilities that help to grow your business and thrive in the market.Market Analysis: Global Biofortification MarketGlobal Biofortification market is expected to rise from its initial estimated value of USD 77.00 million in 2018 to an estimated value of USD 151.19 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 8.80% during the forecast period of 2019-2026.Get a FREE Copy of Sample Report Now! @Key Market Competitors:Few of the major competitors currently working in the global biofortification market are-HarvestPlus, Syngenta AG, Bayer AG, BASF SE, DowDuPont, Monsanto Company, Charles River, LemnaTec GmbH, Intertek Group plc, Church & Dwight Co. Inc, Nestle, Intrexon, Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc, ArborGen Inc, Arcadia Biosciences, The Mauro Seed Company, Metahelix, Mahyco, Protalix Biotherapeutics and Evogene Ltd.Market Definition:Biofortification is a process which helps in improving the nutritional quality of food crops through conventional plant breeding, modern biotechnology or agronomic practices. It differs from conventional fortification which aims to increase the nutritional levels in crops during the growth of plants rather than using manual means during crop processing.Table of Contents:1. Introduction2. Market Segmentation3. Market Overview4. Executive Summary5. Premium Insights6. Global, By Component7. Product Type8. Delivery9. Industry Type10. Geography10.1. Overview10.2. North America10.3. Europe10.4. Asia-Pacific10.5. South America10.6. Middle East & Africa11. Company Landscape12. Company Profiles13. Related ReportsFREE | Request Here for Detailed TOC at @Segmentation:By Crop (Sweet Potato, Cassava, Rice, Corn, Wheat, Beans, Pearl Millet, Others),By Target Nutrient (Zinc, Iron, Vitamins, Others),By Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa)Key points mentioned in the report:1. The report offers market share appraisals for regional and global levels2. To gain detailed overview of parent market Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth3. The study provides an in-depth analysis of the global order management software market and current & future trends to elucidate imminent investment pockets.4. Changing market dynamics of the industry5. Strategies of key players and product offeringsKey Developments in the Market:In October 2018, Distributed Bio and Charles River entered into an exclusive partnership. This strategy allowed Charles Rivers clients to access the Distributed Bios integrated antibody optimization technologies and antibody libraries.In February 2018, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded HarvestPlus-India with a USD 6 million grant for expanding its biofortification work in two new states including Odisha and Bihar. This strategy would help in the expansion of the company and to enhance its customer base.Competitive Analysis:Global biofortification market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of biofortification market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa.FREE | Speak to Analyst and Get Free Customized Information about Report @Features of the Report:1. Detailed overview of parent market2. Changing market dynamics of the industry3. Strategies of key players and product offerings4. Drivers and restrains of the market5. Key developments in the marketAbout Us:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with an unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact Us-Data Bridge Market ResearchUS: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com The tangled heritage of Cura Cannabis now includes a bar complaint against a Portland lawyer who represented the marijuana company from its earliest days and became one of its first shareholders. In 2014, Nick Slinde took a 15 percent ownership stake in Curas predecessor in exchange for doing legal work for Iris Capital, the real estate scam that spawned Cura. When Shayne Kniss, who founded both companies, was sentenced for wire fraud in March, Kniss defense attorney alleged that Slinde made an astonishing agreement to settle a dispute between Iris and its former real estate manager who allegedly owed money to the investment firm. Instead of sending the money to Iris and potentially, its investors -- the deal put $500,000 into the marijuana business in which Slinde was now part owner, the defense attorneys memo said. Kniss lawyer said Slinde asserted that the investment in a profitable marijuana business could be used to generate funds to repay Iris investors. Last month, shortly before Kniss began serving his three-year sentence at a federal prison in Georgia, he filed a complaint against Slinde with the Oregon State Bar. Kniss alleged Slinde was engaged in a significant conflict of interest by negotiating the agreement on behalf of Iris and then putting the $500,000 repayment in the marijuana business. In a response to the bar, an attorney for Slinde said that Kniss had signed a waiver acknowledging the potential conflict of interest. Slindes response also said that Kniss arranged the deal with his real estate manager long before Slinde got involved. Court records, though, show Slinde suggesting to Kniss that the two of them can make the real estate manager find the solution for the (real estate) and (marijuana) businesses. Another Slinde email shows the repayment of the $500k hes putting into MJ, a reference to marijuana. State marijuana registration documents show Slinde and his legal partner Phil Nelson owned 15 percent of Cura as late as the fall of 2017. -- Mike Rogoway Oregons most reluctant city is back -- despite years of desperately trying to disband. The Oregon Court of Appeals released an opinion Wednesday three years after Damascus disincorporated to say that no, it actually hasnt. The court found that a state law crafted specifically to let the Clackamas County city put itself out of its misery didnt do that at all. While Damascas apparently never legally ceased to exist, practically speaking, it did, jettisoning its city employees, turning over its assets to the county and letting City Council terms expire. Now the tiny patch of rolling farmland will have to build itself back into a city from the ground up at the order of the court likely the first time in the states history this has happened. Which leaves the once-again-a-city, the county and the state with more questions than answers. This isnt only unprecedented -- this is Damascus. The complicated matter of restarting a city is nearly impossible to imagine because of the history of the city. Here goes. *** Damascus incorporated in 2004 to take control of its borders and protect the rural towns character from encroachment by Sandy and Gresham. Damascus, with about 10,500 people, prides itself on its open spaces and small-town feel. The area was settled around a post office and once-prominent Oregon Route 212, growing steadily and quietly until residents chose to become only the second city in Oregon in the past 34 years to form. The idea quickly went off the rails. A surge of early-days Tea Party money boosted a slate of local politicians who pushed for general elections any time the City Council wanted to increase spending or taxes. So, each budget cycle was fraught with questions of how to use the taxes the city was collecting -- eventually meaning the city largely didnt spend money. At one point, officials genuinely discussed whether city employees could use the copy machine without a public vote. Every Oregon city must pass a comprehensive plan before it can take on zoning, economic development and capital projects to become a true city. The plan usually is adopted by a city governing body after public hearings. But in 2012, Damascus officials and voters became the first city in the state to require a public vote to approve its comprehensive plan -- and rejected six in four years. The last attempt failed by 75 percent of the vote. Without a plan, the city was essentially a taxing district with no way to spend the money. Residents became increasingly frustrated by deteriorating roads and poor city services. They couldnt develop their land or businesses. These problems were only heightened by the tenor of debate. Government and community meetings were ugly with name-calling, hot tempers and threats. City managers and attorneys were hired and fired -- sometimes within months of each other. *** State lawmakers tried to allow Damascus residents to leave the city and join Happy Valley or Gresham without the approval of the City Council, only to be struck down by the Court of Appeals. Finally, a slate of pro-disincorporation officials were elected to the City Council and began to approve the departures. They also continued to eye a final end to Damascus. Shemia Fagan, a Democrat who was then in the Oregon House but is now a senator, crafted House Bill 3085 that she thought circumvented Oregons statutory rules that dictate disincorporation. Damascus voters had tried in 2013 to disincorporate using Oregons standard method. The state requires that a majority of all voters approve disincorporation -- a high bar for a state that typically tops out at 80 percent of people registered to vote actually casting ballots. This vote came within spitting distance of passing, though. The city needed 3,441 votes to pass and 2,947 voted in favor of disincorporation. But residents couldnt vote on disincorporation again for two more years, according to state law. So Fagan created what was considered an alternative path that said a simple majority of people who voted in an election could disincorporate the city. A Damascus city councilor, James DeYoung, tried to stop the vote but a Circuit Court judge said that the vote could go on. When the measure showed up in 2016, Damascus voters approved it. The same judge said the new state law was valid. *** Three years passed. The city gave up the lease on its City Hall, located in a strip mall in the middle of town. The mayor at the time of disincorporation annexed his property into Happy Valley, as did many other residents. Happy Valley laid out a plan for annexing thousands of acres of west Damascus. Clackamas County took over road maintenance and any other remaining duties, of which there were few. It returned the leftover tax money to Damascus taxpayers and started to collect county taxes, as it does for all unincorporated land in the county. But DeYoungs case still sat before the appellate court. The Oregon Department of Justice argued that the case should be considered moot since it seemed impossible to undo the disincorporation at this point. But the judges disagreed and sided with DeYoung. The three judges said that the poorly written law did not actually provide the path out of cityhood that it was thought to so the results of the election were null and void. DeYoung was elated. He has continued to try to rally his neighbors around the idea that a city of Damascus could succeed. He said he held a meeting just last week with about 20 people in the community to discuss a future for Damascus and how to approach increased Happy Valley annexations. But now hes ready to shift the conversation to how to restart the city. He expects to gather the city council members who were in office at the time of disincorporation, even though the former mayors home is now part of Happy Valley. A new day is dawning and Damascus can get back down the road to becoming a real city with a comprehensive plan, DeYoung said. He acknowledged there are a lot of issues to work out but said he thinks most residents are up for the challenge. A majority, I think, still think the city is worth saving and going forward, DeYoung said. Especially if we make significant changes. DeYoung said he had already consulted with the citys former attorney to figure out how to do so. But no one is paying that attorney and theres no City Council to give him direction. And theres no money to pay DeYoung. Whats more, it might be difficult to figure out how to pay anyone. *** Thats because the disincorporation happened just a few days shy of when the citys new fiscal year started. So the City Council in one of its last acts in office lowered the citys tax rate to 0. If a reconstituted council comes back into office, the members will likely be faced with that same no-tax tax rate. If they want to raise it and are still subject to all the old rules of the city, it will require a vote of the people. Peter Watts, the former city attorney, said Damascus faces other questions no one else in the state has ever had to answer. Those include: Could a resident of another city be in office in Damascus? Will all the annexations to the other cities still be in effect? Does the city charter just go back into effect? Does Clackamas County have to pay back the city for the tax money it was told by the city and state to refund to Damascus taxpayers? Where would that money come from? Happy Valley also likely faces unusual questions about its ambitions to take over land in west Damascus and its new residents that jumped ship without the approval of Damascus not-in-session City Council. Happy Valleys city manager didnt return an immediate request for comment. Clackamas County Chairman Jim Bernard said he isnt too worried yet about all the ramifications. He expects the state to either take the case to the Oregon Supreme Court or find a legislative fix to the debacle. If theyre forced to become a city, there will be a big problem, Bernard said. But I dont know that anyone can tell you what it is because its never happened before. Fagans office, which crafted the law, didnt return a request for comment. And the Oregon Attorney Generals Office, which argued the case, also appears to be confused. We are still reviewing the decision, and do not know if we will appeal, or not, said spokeswoman Kristina Edmundson. The city would probably be (the) ones to ask about what happens next. But how? Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler supports spending city money to study a passenger ferry system on the Willamette River, and to boost public outreach to help officials understand how Portlanders envision the Rose Quarter. Those were two nuggets nestled in Wheelers proposed budget released Wednesday. Portland has an estimated $18.4 million in additional one-time cash to spend in the upcoming 2019-20 fiscal year, thanks to a boom in business license fees and tourism dollars. In November, Wheeler publicly threw his support behind the nascent effort known as the Frog Ferry, which seeks to bring passenger ferries to the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. His budget plan puts that support in writing, setting aside $200,000 for a study examining a ferry systems long-term viability. The passenger ferry would provide an alternative transportation option to ease the traffic burden on freeways and roads, and could be enjoyed by commuters, visitors, elders, and people with disabilities, the mayor wrote. Frog Ferry backers had previously stated a feasibility study would cost an estimated $625,000. Organizers were also seeking the state and TriMets financial support. The Frog Ferry leaders said the first ferries would be available for service, if all goes according to plan, by 2022. Wheelers spending plan also included $75,000 to pay for community engagement in the Rose Quarter. The line-item spending plan appears under the descriptor Albina Vision in Wheelers budget note, a nod to the coalition led by Meyer Memorial Trust executive Rukaiyah Adams and others which seeks to jumpstart development in and around the Rose Quarter with the goal of addressing historic displacement there. The Albina Vision has increasingly gained public support from Wheeler and other elected officials like Metro Council President Lynn Peterson in recent weeks. The Albina Vision seeks to bring housing, development and public spaces to the area currently carved apart by Interstate 5. A proposed $500 million Oregon Department of Transportation-led project in the Rose Quarter that would widen the freeway by adding merging lanes and shoulders has prompted criticism from transit advocates and Albina Vision leaders. The freeway proposal calls for capping sections of I-5, but Albina Vision representatives say that plan isnt bold enough. Wheeler, Peterson and others have publicly sided with Albina Vision in recent weeks while simultaneously saying the interstate remains a critical artery that needs improvements. "Any cap on Interstate 5 must be engineered so the urban streetscape can continue seamlessly over the freeway and accommodate built structures that support community continuity," Wheeler and Peterson wrote in an April letter to the Oregon Transportation Commission. If done right, this project presents a rare opportunity to repair past wrongs while simultaneously improving the ability of the facility to effectively serve our region." Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees the transportation bureau, has called for a more extensive environmental study of the potential impacts of that freeway project. Wheelers note indicates the city wants to talk to more people about the issue. The intent of the community engagement is to help the City better understand how Portlanders envision the Rose Quarter, as well as how that development will interact with other redevelopment plans for the Broadway Corridor and the North/Northeast Initiative in the Interstate Urban Renewal Area, the budget reads. Wheeler also included $5.3 million in one-time dollars for other transportation projects. The biggest item is $2.3 million to replace the lining on Cornell Tunnel in Northwest Portland. Another $1.5 million would go toward accessible sidewalk corners, part of the citys settlement agreement from a previous lawsuit. Another $500,000 in spending is dedicated to additional lighting on a 0.7-mile stretch of Southeast Stark Street, one of the citys most dangerous roads. All of Wheelers budget proposals are still preliminary. The full City Council will vote to approve the budget in June. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Jeffery Michael Larison, 27, threatened to kill a black man, calling him the n-word just before stabbing him once in the back as the man turned to run away on a street in Portlands Old Town, a witness told police, according to court records. Larison is accused of a hate crime in the Tuesday attack, reported just before 9 p.m. in the 200 block of Northwest Couch Street. Larison was arraigned Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court on allegations of second-degree intimidation, unlawful use of a weapon and second-degree assault. He was arrested when witnesses flagged down an officer in the area of Southwest Park Avenue and Ankeny Street. The victim, identified as Josef Boring, was treated at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center for the single stab wound to his back, which was closed with two staples, according to a probable cause affidavit by Brian S. Davidson, a deputy district attorney. Second-degree intimidation alleges that Larison intentionally subjected Boring to "offensive physical contact' because of his perception of Borings race or color of skin. Larison has nine felony convictions, 17 misdemeanor convictions and 18 probation violations in Oregon and Washington, according to court records. He has convictions in Oregon from 2017 for assault, reckless endangerment and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. In Washington, hes been convicted of robbery, burglary, theft of a firearm, assault, obstructing law enforcement and other charges. Larison, who was on probation at the time in a Clackamas County case, is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center. The case is expected to go to a grand jury for review, and Larison is due back in court on May 9, court records show. -- 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. Gray whales are dying up and down the west coast at an alarming rate. Over the last five months, 23 dead whales have washed up along Californias coast. Washington has seen 11 of the massive cetaceans wash ashore. Last weekend, a whale washed up in a remote cove north of Lincoln City. Witnesses said the whale was still alive when it beached, but by the time experts arrived it was no longer breathing, the third gray whale to show up dead or dying on Oregons coast this year. In 2018, the entire west coast saw 25 gray whale strandings. Since January, at least 37 dead whales have been discovered along the west coast. One appeared to have been attacked by orcas. Another showed health problems that could have come from an entanglement in fishing gear. Many of the whales that have washed up have been dangerously malnourished. A few have been completely emaciated. Bruce Mate, director of Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State Universitys Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, said the deaths of so many underweight whales meant there wasnt enough food in their Arctic feeding grounds. Nutritional stress is going to cause an adjustment to the carrying capacity, said Mate, who has been studying gray whales for nearly 45 years. He believes that gray whales, which now exist is near-record numbers, may have reached the maximum number of animals the ecosystem can support. Warming in the Arctic and a dramatic reduction in sea ice are only exacerbating the problem. And its likely to get worse before it gets better, Mate said, noting that we havent yet reached the peak of stranding season, which usually runs from March until May. It wont surprise me if we see a lot more dead animals, Mate said. A 30-foot gray whale washed ashore in a remote cove near Lincoln City earlier this month. Experts say the animal was emaciated. Courtesy/Jim Rice/Oregon State University To understand the peril facing the west coast gray whale population, you have to understand their yearly 10,000-mile migration pattern, the longest of any whale on Earth. In the early summer, the whales arrive in the Arctic where they feed on small, bottom-dwelling shrimp-like creatures called amphipods. They usually stay in the north for months, bulking up for the long journey ahead of them. Once they leave the waters of the Arctic, they wont eat again until they return. In December, the whales begin swimming south toward the coast of Mexico, where they breed and give birth. Usually arriving in mid-February, the warm lagoons of Baja California provide protected areas for the whales to give birth. By March, the creatures start heading back up the coast, mothers with nursing calves in tow, toward the food-rich waters of the north. The northward spring migration is when gray whales are at their most vulnerable. The animals have gone months since their last meal and new mothers expend a lot of energy tending to and nursing their young, who can consume up to 50 gallons a day of their mothers milk. But their precarious predicament is larger than their annual migration. In the early 20th century, gray whales were nearly hunted to extinction with between 1,000 and 2,000 of the animals remaining in the wild. In the mid-1930s, the League of Nations instituted a commercial whaling ban and other similar regulations followed suit. In the mid-90s, despite the fact that other gray whale populations had been driven to extinction or were dangerously low, whales along the west coast were taken off the endangered species list because their numbers had rebounded so resoundingly. And therein lies the problem, according to Alisa Schulman-Janiger, director of the Gray Whale Census and Behavior project in Southern California. She said observers looked for four signs of trouble in the gray whale population: animals arriving late to their breeding grounds, a low number of calves, skinny whales and whales washing up dead in high numbers. So far this year, all the boxes have been checked. Steven Swartz, a researcher who observes the animals at Laguna San Ignacio, a popular destination in Mexico for breeding among gray whales, saw the southern migration arrive two weeks later than usual. When the whales did show up, more than half of them were skinny, Swartz wrote in a summary of his observations. In previous years, only 10 to 12 percent of the animals appeared underweight. The last survey of the whales in Mexico, performed in late March, found only 21 mother-calf pairs. The five-year average is three times that number. We biologists are hoping this winter's increase in skinny whales and low calf counts is not the beginning of another range-wide mortality event, Swartz wrote. He was referring to the last time there was a mass die-off, known in the scientific community as an unusual mortality event. After they were taken off the endangered species list in 1994, the population of gray whales jumped to roughly 25,00o animals. Then, between 1999 and 2000, they started to die. Over the two-year period, the population was trimmed by a third to just 17,000 whales. The cause, experts think, was that there were just too many whales for the ecosystem to support. But, again, the whales rebounded, with their numbers surging to their present population of 27,000, the largest population since the cetaceans were nearly hunted to extinction. A species on the threshold of carrying capacity is more vulnerable to environmental changes. The well-documented warming in the Arctic and the steady retreat of sea ice in the northern ocean has opened up more of the northern ocean for feeding, but its also changed the ecosystem in ways that will affect animals up and down the food chain, from the amphipods that thrive on the muddy sea floor to the gray whales that depend on them. Whales face many threats in the ocean, from disease to ship strikes to entanglements in fishing gear. One of the whales discovered in Oregon showed obvious signs of a recent attack with what appeared to be killer whale bite marks on its fins, torso and throat. Emaciated whales dont just die of starvation, said John Calambokidis, co-founder of the Cascadia Research Collective, which has been researching gray whale behavior since 1979. Malnourished whales are less likely to be able to fend off an attack. Hungry animals will venture into unknown areas looking for food. If whales are trying to feed in areas where crab gear is because they are desperate, that's going to bring them into more contact with fishing gear, Calambokidis said, noting that in 2018 his organization saw a record number of entanglements. The gray whale population is at or near historic levels so even if the number of dead animals continues to rise, which it likely will, the species isnt under any kind of threat, Schulman-Janiger said. But that doesnt mean there isnt cause for concern. Gray whales are environmental sentinels, she said. If gray whales look healthy, it means the Arctic ecosystem is doing well. When they dont appear healthy, Calambokidis said, we need to understand why. We know ice conditions are changing dramatically, he said. How that's going to affect even the bottom level of the food chain let alone the top, we don't have answers to. But they are very important questions. -- Kale Williams kwilliams@oregonian.com 503-294-4048 @sfkale Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Architects are like magicians. If you dont understand whats in their bag of tricks, you look at what theyve done and wonder, how did they do that? Heres your chance to be close enough to learn the techniques talented architects call upon to executive a design, either for a new home or remodel. On Saturday, June 1, youll be able to explore eight residences, from a modernized Victorian house by coNstruct design to a new modern dwelling by Urban Housing Development, during the 8th Annual Portland Modern Home Tour organized by the Modern Architecture+ Design Society (MA+DS). Two of the stops have rentable, separate dwellings: Waechter Architectures Origami townhomes with a separate entrance for a studio apartment in the Piedmont neighborhood as well as a detached, accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in the Foster-Powell neighborhood that Propel Studio Architecture designed as a modern Airbnb. Before photo: 1926 bungalow in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood. Tour goers will walk through a 1926 bungalow in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood that M.o.daby design transformed into a light-filled modern house. Daby deftly kept the original small footprint and the towering fir trees that had grown up around the bungalow. As if the little bungalow slipped behind a translucent screen, it recalls its past and begins a new story," he explains. The modern house, wrapped in black metal with a cedar-box entry, is now two levels; the basement is a living space; its concrete floor stained ink color. On the ground level, interiors walls came down and the floor plan was reconfigured with open spaces and glass. M.o.daby design stated: Through efficient planning and considered spaces, the final plan arrived at a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house" with two living spaces in just 1,484 square feet. The tour extends beyond Portland with a stop at a former 1930s shack on Lake Oswego remade into a three-story modern home by TempletonBUILT, as well as two atrium-centric Robert Rummer-built homes, a 1967 home in the Oak Hills area of Beaverton updated by Oregon Homeworks and a 1971 house renovated by Garrison Hullinger Design. Tickets are $40 in advance at mads.media/2019-portland-modern-home-tour/ or $50 on the day of the tour (children under 12 are free). Admission includes a post-tour party with light food, drinks and discussions. People on the self-guided, self-paced tour, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will explore the properties and have a chance to talk to architects, builders, designers and homeowners. Members of the Architecture and Interior Design Club at Portland Community College will help out in exchange for scholarships donations. --Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072 jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. By Kate Cohen Special To The Washington Post OPINION Cohen is an Albany, New York, writer. "I'm not necessarily going to vote for him," I told my husband a week ago, when he found me furtively watching yet another interview with presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. "I just like listening to him." It was like any YouTube obsession: One video naturally led to the next. I kept clicking, and Buttigieg kept calmly answering questions exactly the way I would if I were a more hopeful, smarter person, which suddenly I wanted to be. There was just one thing that bothered me: the religion. I'm an atheist. I have bemoaned the fact that my country's motto is "In God We Trust," that elected officials are sworn in on holy books, legislative sessions begin in prayer, and big political speeches seem predestined to end with the phrase "God Bless America." I think religion and government should be kept far apart. But if I ruled out all the self-proclaimed Christians in the race, I would lose a lot of great candidates. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told a CNN town hall that "Christ is the center of my life"; Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced her candidacy "with faith in God"; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., taught Sunday school and quotes the Gospel of Matthew. That Buttigieg is a Christian doesn't concern me. But he's not just a Christian; he also publicly advocates a reemergence of a "religious left." He argues that Democrats should not be afraid to use religious traditions "as a way of calling us to higher values." As he told Bill Maher, "When I go to church, what I hear a lot about is protecting the downtrodden, and standing up for the immigrant and being skeptical of authority sometimes and making sure you look after the poor and the prisoner." He told The Washington Post that he wants to "remind people of faith why the same things that are being preached on Sunday apply to the policies that we're making on Monday morning." In other words, use religion as a tool for political persuasion. I can appreciate the power of that tool. In June, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to justify separating refugee families at the border with a quotation from Romans 13:1 ("Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established"), I was thrilled when people shot back with their Bible quotations. Stephen Colbert quoted Romans 13:10, "Love thy neighbor as thyself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law." When right-wingers weaponize the Bible, it's hard not to cheer when that weapon is turned back on them. It's just like they say: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a god is a good guy with a god. But let's not kid ourselves. We're still picking and choosing among Bible verses. I just happen to believe one is wrong and the other is right. You can read the Bible and fixate on the rules dividing the sexes, submitting to authorities, elevating the male and policing sexual ethics. Or you can read the very same book, accept the same personal savior and focus on verses concerned with "teachings about inclusion and love" (as Buttigieg told The Post). Obviously much better values! And yet -- You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination is in there, too. Buttigieg may dismiss objectionable verses as no more than reflections of the moral expectations of the era in which they were recorded, but thats because it suits his value system to do so. Here's the thing: People bring their morality to their religious texts; they don't get their morality from them. After all, how does Buttigieg decide what's important in the Bible and what should be ignored, underplayed or dismissed as vestiges from another era? What does he measure each message against? His own innate sense of morality. When Buttigieg argues that Democrats should be able to use religious traditions "as a way of calling us to higher values," he means "higher" as in lofty. He's not saying those values - compassion, justice, humility - are higher than the traditions themselves. But they are. Because those religious traditions also include the "values" of exclusion, patriarchy and tribalism. And, yes, even the "value" of homophobia. The higher values that Buttigieg embraces - values I, an atheist, share - exist not because of religion but independent of it. Can he find Christian tenets to express those values? Sure. Could that help him urge "people of faith" to move their politics "in a certain direction"? Maybe. Does he risk equating religion with morality in the process? Definitely. Buttigieg told Ellen DeGeneres, "I have a problem with religion being used as a justification to harm people." Me too. I also have a problem with using religion as a justification to help people, though. It's better, of course, but it still validates the idea that religion can be used to justify government action. So far, Buttigieg hasnt done that - at least not in the interviews Ive heard. As long as he continues to make it clear that morality and religion arent one and the same, Ill keep listening. By Patti Davis Dear Republican Party, I have never been part of you, but you have been part of my family for decades. I was 10 years old when my father decided to stop being a Democrat and instead become a Republican. From that point on, you were a frequent guest at our dinner table - and an unwelcome one to me. I wanted to talk about my science project on the human heart, or the mean girls at school who teased me for being too tall and for wearing glasses. Instead, much of the conversation was about how the government was taking too much out of people's paychecks for taxes and how it was up to the Republicans to keep government from getting too big. You went from an annoying presence at the dinner table to a powerful tornado, lifting up my family and depositing us in the world of politics, which no one ever escapes. I know it's not completely your fault. My father's passion for America, his commitment to try to make a difference in the country and the world, and his gentle yet powerful command over crowds that gathered to hear him speak made his ascent to the presidency all but inevitable. He would have gotten there one way or another; it just happened to be as a Republican. You have claimed his legacy, exalted him as an icon of conservatism and used the quotes of his that serve your purpose at any given moment. Yet at this moment in America's history when the democracy to which my father pledged himself and the Constitution that he swore to uphold, and did faithfully uphold, are being degraded and chipped away at by a sneering, irreverent man who traffics in bullying and dishonesty, you stay silent. You stay silent when President Donald Trump speaks of immigrants as if they are trash, rips children from the arms of their parents and puts them in cages. Perhaps you've forgotten that my father said America was home "for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness." You stayed silent when this president fawned over Kim Jong Un and took Vladimir Putin's word over America's security experts. You stood mutely by when one of his spokesmen, Rudolph Giuliani, said there is nothing wrong with getting information from Russians. And now you do not act when Trump openly defies legitimate requests from Congress, showing his utter contempt for one of the branches of our government. Most egregiously, you remained silent when Trump said there were "very fine people" among the neo-Nazis who marched through an American city with tiki torches, chanting, "Jews will not replace us." Those of us who are not Republicans still have a right to expect you to act in a principled, moral and, yes, even noble way. Our democracy is in trouble, and everyone who has been elected to office has an obligation to save it. Maybe you're frightened of Trump - that idea has been floated. I don't quite understand what's frightening about an overgrown child who resorts to name-calling, but if that is the case, then my response is: You are grown men and women. Get over it. My father called America "the shining city on a hill." Trump sees America as another of his possessions that he can slap his name on. A president is not supposed to own America. He or she is supposed to serve the American people. In their book "How Democracies Die," Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt warned: "How do elected authoritarians shatter the democratic institutions that are supposed to constrain them? Some do it in one fell swoop. But more often the assault on democracy begins slowly." Trump has been wounding our democracy for the past two years. If he is reelected for another term, it's almost a given that America will not survive - at least not as the country the Founding Fathers envisioned, and not as the idealistic experiment they built using a Constitution designed to protect democracy and withstand tyranny. My father knew we were fragile. He said: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same." So, to the Republican Party that holds tightly to my father's legacy - if you are going to stand silent as America is dismantled and dismembered, as democracy is thrown onto the ash heap of yesterday, shame on you. But don't use my father's name on the way down. - - - Davis is the author, most recently, of the novel The Wrong Side of Night and the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Description GIS - 02 May, 2019: The University of Mauritius (UOM) and the Open University of Mauritius (OU) will offer Commonwealth Youth Work degree as from August 2019. The youth should enroll for the programme as it will enable them to meet challenges, to serve the society, to add value to organisations, as well as ensure the socio-economic progress of the country. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Stephan Toussaint, made this statement, today, at the OU in Reduit, at the opening ceremony of a three-day technical workshop for the delivery of the Youth Work Degree. The workshop aims to provide guidance and strengthen the capacity of participants and their respective institutions in the effective delivery of the Commonwealth Youth Work certificate, diploma and/or degree. The Chairperson of OU, Mr R. Duva Pentiah, and other personalities were also present at the event. Minister Toussaint stated that the programme will indeed help, motivate and guide the youth in their personal and professional development as well as turn them into responsible citizens. One of Governments priorities, he said, is to contribute to a supportive enabling environment for young people so as to create a pool of youth talent. He also spoke of the need for greater investment in the education sector by promoting their professional recognition, education and training. For his part, Mr R. Duva Pentiah recalled that in the 9th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting, ministers agreed to promote youth work as a profession through education and training for sectors where youth engagement is important. He added that at the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting, held in April 2018 in London, Heads affirmed youth empowerment as critical in realising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) and the aspirations of the Commonwealth Charter. Speaking on the Commonwealth Higher Education Consortium for Youth Work, he said that it aims to support the education and training of youth workers, and contribute to strengthen youth work policy and practice given that youth empowerment is critical in realising the 2030 Agenda. The Commonwealth Diploma in Youth Development Work, he pointed out, has therefore been upgraded to a bachelors degree, and is made available as an Open Education Resource through the Commonwealth of Learning, he added. The Workshop The event is an initiative of the Commonwealth Higher Education Consortium for Youth Work (CHEC4YW), in collaboration with the UOM and the OU. It will comprise plenary discussions, presentations and interactive discussions, and break-out working groups that will take into considerations the following: learning-by-doing and responding to demand and needs of the end-users and institutions; as well as creating a network of trainers to ensure that the impacts of the training session are maintained. The expected outcomes of the workshop include: improved knowledge about the processes and structures (including online technology) to deliver the course; development of a pool of trained lecturers in Youth Work that could be tapped to facilitate and deliver Youth Work courses across the Commonwealth; strengthened partnerships and collaboration between academic institutions that deliver youth work education and training course, and programmes. The resource persons are mainly from United Kingdom and Malta and around 35 participants including experienced lecturers/tutors from higher education institutions, civil society and Government representatives are participating in the workshop. HILLSBORO The state official who oversees Oregons public psychiatric hospital said Wednesday the facility has become the worlds most expensive homeless shelter. His remarks came in the context of a court hearing raising hard questions about ways the state manages resources to help those suffering from mental illness. About 60 percent of defendants admitted to the state mental hospital in Salem were homeless prior to their arrest, Patrick Allen, the Oregon Health Authority director, said in court testimony Wednesday. Those defendants were sent to the Oregon State Hospital to get treatment for the illnesses that prevent them from aiding in their defense at trial. That figure, apparently disclosed publicly for the first time during Allens testimony, underscores the ties between Oregons homelessness, drug addiction and mental health crises and the increasing number of mentally ill defendants winding through the states courts, jails and psychiatric hospital. Homelessness is the big defining piece of this, Allen told The Oregonian/OregonLive following his testimony. Thats whats driving this crisis. Treatment at the state hospital costs $1,324 per day for each patient. Were paying for the worlds most expensive homeless shelter, Allen said. He gave testimony in an unprecedented Washington County Circuit Court hearing on whether the Oregon Health Authority should be held in contempt for violating court orders to treat or assess four defendants, three of whom are still held in the Washington County Jail. The orders, issued by Judge D. Charles Bailey, were not followed within the judges seven-day deadline. Those deadlines are based on a 16-year-old federal court ruling requiring the hospital quickly admit defendants to avoid unnecessarily long stays in jail. An investigation published in February by The Oregonian/OregonLive found the state frequently violates the deadlines, leaving defendants to languish in jail in violation of their constitutional rights. In a hearing earlier this month, attorneys for the state said officials have no solution for the violations. [Read our investigation: Mentally ill languish in Oregon jails, in breach of federal court order] Allen and Derek Wehr, the state hospitals deputy superintendent, testified Wednesday that hospital managers want to admit all defendants quickly, but cannot because the facility is at capacity. It currently is treating 516 patients, 264 of them there to be readied for trial; 53 defendants are on an entry waitlist. Two assistant attorneys general argued on behalf of the state that although Baileys orders had not been followed, the violations were not willful, so a contempt finding was inappropriate. Attorneys for the four defendants, led by Amanda Thibeault, argued that the states lack of funding for bed space was no excuse to violate defendants rights. The state has known for many years that it must provide beds for all defendants ordered to the state hospital, Thibeault argued, and had in fact chosen not to prioritize its funds to make those beds available. Bailey did not make a ruling Wednesday and said it may take him several weeks to issue one. After the hearing, Allen told The Oregonian/OregonLive that his agency has scrambled to address the high number of mentally ill defendants but has limited powers. Allen said the Oregon Health Authority has no say over law enforcement decisions to make arrests or file charges, a part of what he characterized as a system that at times criminalizes mental illness. He said, however, that the Health Authority spends about $15 million annually on community-based treatment programs for defendants in need of trial fitness treatment. That frees up space at the in-patient state hospital, he said. State spending on stepped-down community-based treatment has increased in recent years, though spending on institutionalized care is much higher. In 2018, the state spent about $110 million on in-patient trial fitness treatment, according to figures provided by the Oregon State Hospital. -- Gordon R. Friedman GFriedman@Oregonian.com SALEM Oregon Democrats sweeping plan to raise billions of dollars in new business taxes to spend on education is headed to the state Senate for a vote, after House lawmakers passed the plan on a party line vote Wednesday afternoon. With 38 of the 60 seats in the House, Democrats had more than enough votes to meet the three-fifths supermajority requirement to pass a tax increase. The bill ultimately passed 37-21 with one Democrat, Rep. Jeff Barker, D-Aloha, and one Republican, Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, excused from the vote. It could come up for a floor vote in the Senate as soon as Tuesday. Thats one day before teachers around Oregon plan a walkout to call for stepped up school funding. Education spending under the plan has the potential to right decades of wrongs and change the trajectory of our state, Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, an architect of the plan, said in a floor speech. Inaction while we have the benefit of a strong economy is not a responsible choice, said Rep. Nancy Nathanson, D-Eugene, another lawmaker who helped craft the plan. It will address an education funding problem that impacts Oregonians in every corner of the state and is the product of negotiation and compromise, Nathanson said. The plan, crafted by Democrats in consultation with business groups and the education establishment, would impose more than $1 billion a year of taxes on an estimated 40,000 businesses gross receipts over $1 million. The money would go mainly to enhance school offerings, with 20 percent set aside for programs serving toddlers and preschoolers. During more than three hours of floor debate, Democrats repeatedly described the business tax as a historic response to disinvestment in public education dating back to Measure 5s property tax limitations, which voters approved in 1990. Republicans countered that they were left out of negotiations over the weekend with the states largest business group, that the tax is too expensive for Oregon families and businesses and that Democrats are pushing it through the Legislature too quickly. And they pointed out that House Bill 3427 will do nothing to contain public pension costs that increasingly eat into school budgets. Thats not only the elephant in the room, its the herd, said Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale. Separately, Gov. Kate Brown has outlined a plan to protect the new education funding from rising pension contribution rates that districts must pay. Shes called for drawing money from an anticipated bump in estate and capital gains taxes and from the states workers compensation program. Brown also wants public employees to contribute to their own pensions. However legislative leaders are considering their own pension changes and its unclear if they would do as much as the governors plan to address the long-term unfunded liability. House Speaker Tina Kotek has also said she wants any fixes to help all governments, not just schools, which would mean less protection for the new schools money. Republicans, some of whom were included in the committee that developed the plan, repeatedly stressed on Wednesday that they want to spend more on education. Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, described the education portion of the bill as an investment that will yield returns in the future. There are parts of this legislation that I absolutely love, Bonham said. But said its paid for with a sales tax on essentials, making life less affordable. Sales of groceries, gasoline, hospitals and long-term care would be exempt from the tax. House Bill 3427A was the first item scheduled for a vote when the House convened at 11 a.m. Wednesday but thanks to Republican delay tactics, lawmakers spent a majority of the day on the bill as it was read aloud in its entirety and thoroughly debated on the House floor. They refused to waive a requirement to read bills in their entirety, requested a roll call so Democrats could not wander away, tried to refer the bill back to committee, closely questioned Democratic colleagues and delivered lengthy speeches. Democrats countered with lengthy speeches of their own. 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. The plan would also cut personal income tax rates by 0.25 percentage points for the lowest three of Oregons four tax brackets. Democrats included the tax cut to offset some of the impact to consumers from the new business tax, since economists expect companies would pass along some of the cost. On the spending side, the bill would set aside about half the money for grants to local districts. The remainder would be split among programs for toddlers and preschoolers, full funding for a 2016 voter-approved measure to expand career-technical offerings and anti-dropout programs and initiatives to improve schools performance statewide. The money wouldnt begin flowing to schools and early childhood programs until 2020-21. School districts would have wide latitude to choose how to spend the money but would be held accountable to deliver improvements in third-grade reading rates, school attendance, freshman success and graduation rates. 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 to secure its agreement 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. Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, was among the lawmakers who shared their personal connections to the bill on Wednesday, which in Hernandez case included both his own experience in Oregon public schools and his hopes for his nephew who is a second-grader in the Reynolds School District. After years of cuts, Hernandez said, Were going to invest in a public education system that creates ... a pathway for students like my nephew to have an equal opportunity to succeed in our education system. Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Frank Ivancie, a conservative Democrat who was mayor of Portland during the 1980s, died on Thursday at 94. Ivancie was a politician from a bygone era, when being mayor carried a different sort of gravitas, and when political deal-making was still sometimes done behind closed doors with the aid of liquor and cigars. Frank was a strong-willed person," said J. Clayton Hering, a retired real estate developer and friend of Ivancies. If you didnt know him he might scare you. He was forceful. And Ivancies brand of politics is undoubtedly foreign to todays Portland. It was such a different era in so many regards, said Mike Lindberg, who served on the Portland City Council when Ivancie was mayor. For example, Ivancie opposed the construction of Pioneer Courthouse Square, saying it would attract homeless people (he wanted to charge a fee for entry to the square). He vehemently supported construction of the Mount Hood Freeway through Southeast Portland; the City Council killed the idea with Ivancie the lone dissenter. He didnt take kindly to the citys pro-bicycle and ecocentric sensibilities. He tried to slash neighborhood association budgets in half. He opposed a citizen-run police oversight committee, even after Portland officers were found planting narcotics on suspects and caught dumping a dead possum in the doorway of an African American-owned business. In 1970, as the city commissioner in charge of parks, Ivancie had police officers clear out Vietnam War demonstrators from the South Park Blocks, which left more than 20 bloody and hospitalized. There were some heads banged in that incident, Lindberg said of the park sweeps. The episode helped earn Ivancie the nickname Fearless Frank. Frank Ivancie, pictured as a member of the Portland City Council. Ivancie, who also served as mayor, died Thursday at 94. The Oregonian/file. The son of a Yugoslavian immigrant, Ivancie was born in Minnesota and served as an air corpsman in World War II. He became a teacher and principal in Burns and Portland and had 10 children with his wife, Eileen. Ivancie told The Oregonian in 1976 that although he enjoyed a strong, supportive family with his wife and many children, he was a serious man who did not believe in having palsy-walsy business with his kids. A father is not a pal, he told the paper. I dont have the time or inclination to be a pal. He entered politics by becoming an assistant to then-Mayor Terry Schrunk and rose to serve many terms on the City Council. Ivancie was a devout Catholic and old-style politician who governed through the Robert Moses approach, Lindberg said, in reference to the New York power broker who flexed his political might to pave vast swaths of the Big Apple to the detriment of the citys poor. Lindberg said his own story of ascension to the City Council offers a good sketch of Ivancies politics. The Council appointed Lindberg, a liberal, to a vacant seat, with Ivancie the lone vote opposed. Once Lindberg was in office, Ivancie met with him and explained his vote against him was just business. Ivancie became mayor in 1980 after defeating then-Mayor Connie McCready, who was serving a partial term after an appointment. His tenure was defined mostly by the vast construction he oversaw or gave his blessing to: of the first MAX light rail line, to Gresham; of the Portland Building; of wells that serve as a backup to the city water supply; of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall; the Greyhound bus depot; the PacWest Center, U.S. Bancorp Tower and One Pacific Square. Frank Ivancie pictured as mayor of Portland. The Oregonian/file. Contemporaneous coverage of Ivancies term in The Oregonian described him as leaving the city vastly different than when he took office, owing to his many construction projects. Francis James Ivancie had one thing always on his mind, according to the newspaper: results, results, results. Ivancie also pushed a back-to-basics approach, focusing on police, fire, streets and water services over all else. The police and firefighters had all the comfort that he had their backs, Hering said. But Ivancies law-and-order tendencies he launched a downtown-focused War on Crime, for example earned him public criticism and legal troubles. There was a public backlash in 1968, for example, when then-Commissioner Ivancie tried to ban hippies from Lair Hill Park. Later, a Multnomah County judge struck down his 11 p.m. parks curfew as unlawful. Ivancie miscalculated when it came time for re-election as mayor. His opponent, Bud Clark, ran for mayor in part because of how Ivancies police force treated the Vietnam protesters at Portland State. He was an authoritarian and believed things ought to go on the way they always had, Clark said. That was the old boys way. That we know whats best for the city and just take our word for it. Many Portlanders had another view of Ivancie, Clark said: as a bully. Clark started the mayors race 35 percentage points behind Ivancie in the polls. But Clark, a tavern owner with little political experience, rode a populist wave toward City Hall, which Ivancie only amplified by placing radio ads that criticized Clarks personal finances and practice as a Pagan. Those things really backfired, Lindberg said. Clark bested Ivancie by a 13 percentage point margin. Ivancie then set his sights on national politics, heading an Oregon chapter of Democrats for Reagan, which earned him an appointment to Reagans Federal Maritime Commission. Ivancie moved to California when he retired and stayed out of Portland politics, except to join with Clark in 2007, in an unexpected partnership opposing a city charter amendment that would expand the mayors powers. -- Gordon R. Friedman GFriedman@Oregonian.com Hundreds of people rallied in Southwest and Northeast Portland on Wednesday during May Day demonstrations advocating for the rights of immigrants, workers and other marginalized groups. More than 100 protesters gathered at Elizabeth Caruthers Park on the southwest waterfront around 1 p.m., and at least 200 people were in Holladay Park near Lloyd Center by 4 p.m. Counter-protesters made appearances at both events, but the rallies remained peaceful. 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. Marco Mejia, a member of the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition and Portland Mayday Coalition that organized the Northeast Portland rally, said he remembers past demonstrations where thousands marched the streets of downtown Portland. Though numbers were smaller this year, he said he was still glad to see the annual event continue and provide people with opportunities to get involved in social issues. This event is more now to get people together and get back the sense of community and solidarity so we can continue working and fighting for our rights and people did that today, he said. Angelica Lim, another member of Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition and the Portland Mayday Coalition, said the Northeast Portland gathering was one of the first May Day events shed seen without the presence of police officers wearing riot gear. The days protests began in Southwest Portland where dozens of students mixed in with older folks as speakers rallied the crowd against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the federal governments child separation policy and Trumps border wall proposal. After the speeches wrapped up, the protest marched a few blocks to a federal detention facility used by ICE to detain people held on unlawful immigration charges. The building, on Southwest Macadam Avenue and Bancroft Street, was the scene of a weeks-long occupation last year. On Wednesday, protesters set up a makeshift jail cell with a giant baby doll housed inside as federal police officers in riot gear looked on. A few counter-protesters showed up, including Patriot Prayers Joey Gibson, but aside from a few minor verbal altercations, the rally remained peaceful and the demonstration wrapped up by about 3:30 p.m. People and dogs later gathered in Holladay Park, where tamales were served, a child care tent stood and about a dozen community labor and human rights activist groups set up tables. Several people gave speeches advocating support for workers, immigrants, people of color and the LGBT communities. Some speakers asked people to support a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get a drivers license. A few dozen people from a Seattle-area group waved American flags and held a counter-protest on a nearby Interstate 84 overpass, but they didnt go into the park. -- The Oregonian/OregonLive A man who stabbed four people early Monday in Southeast Portland and was shot dead by police had been released from jail twice in April, including once because of a mistrial in a Washington County criminal case. Jeb Colin Brock was in Washington County custody for over five months ending in mid-April, when a judge released him following a mistrial on charges of felony robbery, a Measure 11 crime, and unlawful use of a weapon. He was back in a Washington County jail last week on a parole violation but was released Friday. Nadya Martin, the prosecuting attorney in the robbery case, raised concerns in December about Brocks criminal history, which includes attempted first-degree rape and attempted first-degree kidnapping convictions, court records show. Future efforts to rehabilitate (him) will not be successful and there is a need to ensure the security of the public, Martin wrote. Brock was accused of pulling a knife on a pair of Walmart employees in Tigard after authorities say he shoplifted a $7.94 reusable water bottle, Martin told The Oregonian/OregonLive. If convicted, he faced up to 90 months in prison. Judge Janelle Factora Wipper declared the case a mistrial April 17 after some of the surveillance video provided by Walmart appeared damaged or incomplete, Martin said. The judge ordered Brocks release, pending a retrial in May, despite objections from the prosecutors, she said. The judge was out of the office Thursday and unavailable for comment. Brock, 42, was fatally shot after officers responded to the 13100 block of Southeast Center Street and found him holding one of his victims, a woman, at knifepoint, according to Portland police. Officers removed a baby from the room and then addressed Brock, police said. They deployed less-than-lethal and lethal rounds at some point in the encounter, according to police. Neither the three involved officers Sgt. James Mooney, Officer Michael Gonzalez and Officer Aaron Rizzo nor the baby were hurt. The officers are on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol after police shootings. Mooney and Gonzalez used lethal force, while Rizzo deployed non-lethal force. The woman and another victim had been released from hospitals by late Tuesday afternoon, police said. Two other victims were stable at hospitals. Police said the victims knew Brock but didnt elaborate on their relationships. None of the victims has been publicly identified. A woman contacted at the Southeast Center Street home where the shooting occurred said she did not wish to comment. Brocks family declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday. Brocks death marked the second fatal Portland Police Bureau shooting this year. A Portland police officer fatally shot 36-year-old Andre Gladen, a legally blind man, in a strangers home in early January. A grand jury in February found the officer who shot him was innocent of criminal wrongdoing. The officer was not indicted. A Portland officer also fired his weapon after responding to a reported domestic disturbance early that month. No one was hurt in that case. -- Jim Ryan and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh jryan@oregonian.com; skavanaugh@oregonian.com Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Portland police responded to a Northeast Portland bar Wednesday after scores of apparent members of antifa and far-right protesters clashed outside the business. Cider Riot near Northeast Couch Street and Eighth Avenue was hosting a post-May Day rally gathering with live music when the far-right groups arrived. According to patrons of the business, about 60 people were at Cider Riot when about 20 far-right protesters showed up. Several patrons said Joey Gibson, founder of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was at the scene. Patriot Prayer and their affiliates showed up, and started pepper-spraying people on our property, said Cider Riot owner Abram Goldman-Armstrong. Quintin Robinson, who lives across the street from Cider Riot, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he saw both groups throwing things at each other and people being doused in bear spray. I was sleeping, and I heard the noise and woke up, he said. I see bottles being shattered, people screaming obscenities. A news release from Portland police said some 60 people were involved in the clash. Videos posted on Twitter by freelance reporter Mike Bivins show the fights starting after someone throws what appears to be a drink at the far-right protestors. One of them responds by deploying a chemical spray, leading to some of the group being doused in bear spray. Warning: Video contains graphic language. breaking: far-right protesters and Proud Boys have arrived at Cider Riot. Cider Riot has done benefits for antifa and has also been vandalized in the past. RIOOOT. huge fight! pic.twitter.com/PKeRdYCF6d Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) May 2, 2019 Both sides continue to spray and throw items at each other. At some point after, two people fought in the street while members of both sides circled around them watching and cheered them on. Two women outside the bar appeared to be suffering from being sprayed in the face. Goldman-Armstrong said he was busy during the incident trying to keep the far-right protesters out of his business, but he heard that a woman was punched and knocked unconscious. In a news release, Portland police said they did not find an unconscious person and that no one wanted to file a police report. No arrests have been announced by police. The bureaus news release said that police would review video footage and photographs of the incident and try to identify people involved in criminal activity. Two men who were at the bar for the May Day event said members of their group defended themselves physically and verbally. Goldman-Armstrong said this is not the first time his business has been targeted by far-right groups. He said members of the same groups that were at Wednesdays fight stole a flag that was displayed outside his business. Goldman-Armstrong said employees called Portland police, but officers did not arrive until about 20 minutes after the fight had ended. He chastised them for not showing up to defuse the fight, and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler for his handling of far-right groups. They didnt respond when it happened, and they left us hung out to dry, and to be assaulted by these thugs who dont even live here," he said. Members of a known hate group are allowed to assault people. Im very upset with Ted Wheeler for not doing anything. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Description GIS 02 May, 2019: An Agreement on Support Mauritius development and youth employability through post-secondary education and innovation initiatives, a Funding Support programme of the European Union (EU) to the tune of Rs 300 M, was signed this morning at the New Treasury Building in Port-Louis. Signatories were the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, and the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Mr Neven Mimica. The Minister of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Nandcoomar Bodha, and the Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Mauritius, Mrs Marjaana Sall, were also present. In a statement, Prime Minister Jugnauth underlined that the official visit of EU Commissioner Mimica bears testimony to the strength of the excellent relations that Mauritius and EU share. The signing of the Agreement, he said, embodies our multidimensional partnership that is anchored in fundamental values of democracy and good governance, human rights and the rule of law. The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the EU for its positive contribution which will considerably help to achieve the vision of transforming Mauritius into an innovative knowledge hub. Along with the reforms that have already been engaged in the education sector, the Agreement will also contribute in enhancing post-secondary education in particular at the technical level, he emphasised. On that score, Prime Minister Jugnauth reiterated Governments recognition of the critical importance of human capital as well as its aim of providing the young generation with the means to enhance their employability and unlock their full innovative potential and creative energy. The Mauritius-EU partnership, the Prime Minister recalled, covers a wide range of areas including trade, climate change, capacity building, gender equality, agriculture, fisheries and ICT. In view of further strengthening this long-standing partnership, Mauritius is actively engaged in two sets of important negotiations with the EU, he pointed out. Mauritius, Prime Minister Jugnauth indicated, has taken the lead in the negotiations between the Eastern and Southern African region and the EU for deepening the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) into a comprehensive one, and is also actively involved with the negotiations between the ACP Group and the EU for the Post-Cotonou Agreement which will lapse in 2020. In addition, the Prime Minister said that Mauritius is keen to build a strong synergy with EU in Africa and recalled that the Africa-Europe Alliance for sustainable Investment and Jobs, launched in 2018, contains complementarities with Mauritius own Africa strategy, which can be leveraged for joint investment actions on the Continent. As for EU Commissioner Mimica, he underscored both parties longstanding and solid partnership that is essentially based on shared values and is forward-looking. The EU, he remarked, has for long supported Mauritius in its socio-economic development. The signing of the present Agreement, he further observed, which is aimed at supporting youth development and employment in Mauritius, forms part of the vibrant partnership covering a large number of areas including maritime security, trade and investment, human rights and gender equality. Todays generation, stated Mr Mimica, needs to be provided with the necessary education, training and skills to reach the labour market since it will be tomorrows workforce. According to him, investing in education is crucial as it will enable the young generation to take control of their life and to be equipped to contribute to a more prosperous and inclusive society. Fundamentally, Mr Mimica pointed out, the EU Funding Support programme is another important step in putting our alliance into action by addressing the skill mismatch in Mauritius. It will also help Mauritius enhance its education and training sector while promoting research and innovation which will unlock future growth and create sustainable jobs, he added. EU Commissioner Mimica also commended the Mauritian Government on the impressive growth and progress made in the country over the past few years and lauded its firm commitment to the EU for the implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. On that note, he reiterated the support of EU as a reliable and responsible partner to Mauritius. The EU will continue to be an ally to the country on its journey to a more modern, prosperous and innovative society, he emphasised. It is recalled that the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Mr Neven Mimica, is on an official visit to Mauritius to discuss about the future relations between the EU and 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Mr Mimica is the EU Chief Negotiator for the negotiations of the Post-Cotonou framework (the Cotonou Agreement currently governing EU-ACP relations is due to expire in 2020). Under all its programmes, EUs support to Mauritius totals 50 million euros. The EU also has a longstanding partnership with the Indian Ocean Commission, and funds more than 80% of the organisation's portfolio of programmes. Catholic Federal Credit Union is changing its name and brand identity as part of a strategic initiative to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone in the community as well as reflecting the entire membership. CFCU will change its name to Jolt Credit Union and begin the transformation in June 2019. "Our new name reflects our energy and dedication to making a difference in the lives of everyone we help and serve," said Alan Watson, president/CEO at CFCU. "Jolt captures the essence and commitment to giving our members and community all we've got, every day and everywhere. 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." As a large chemical corporation, The Dow Chemical Co. is endorsing new proposed legislation that would promote research and investments in sustainable chemistry at the national level. In early April, Congressmen John Moolenaar of Midland and Dan Lipinski of Illinois introduced the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019 in the House of Representatives. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. The act aims to promote research and investments in sustainable chemistry by creating a multi-agency taskforce that would consult with key stakeholders in the business and scientific communities to coordinate federal sustainable chemistry research, development, education and training activities. According to the bill's background, there are barriers to the continued design, development, and commercialization of sustainable chemical products and processes, due in part by the lack of widely recognized definitions for sustainable chemistry or methods for measuring the sustainability of a chemical product or process. In addition, there is no comprehensive approach to research and training in the sustainable chemistry field, meaning most chemists and chemical engineers graduate without exposure to sustainable chemistry training, the background states. So, the new legislation aims to remedy these problems, among others. A Dow spokesperson said the legislation aligns with its "2025 Sustainability Goal" to deliver breakthrough sustainable chemistry innovations that advance the wellbeing of humanity. "As the bill states in its background, sustainable chemistry can inspire new products and processes, create jobs, and enhance benefits to human health and the environment," Dow stated. Sustainable chemistry encompasses the design, manufacture and use of efficient, effective, safe and more environmentally benign chemical products and processes, according to Dow. As explained by a Dow spokesperson, the bill would create a coordinating entity within the White House to assess the various existing federal research and development programs that touch on sustainable chemistry and identify gaps and overlaps. With this information, a roadmap can be developed to better coordinate those programs, fill gaps and reduce redundancies without changing any of the underlying Congressional authorizations or appropriations; ultimately leading to better resources, Dow stated. "This legislation strengthens cooperation between the federal government, the private sector, and the scientific community to further research and development in chemistry," Moolenaar said in a public announcement. "It will keep our country at the forefront of innovation and help create new products that will benefit all Americans." According to Dow, sustainability is all about optimism that the future will be better. It's about being judicious in the use of resources and taking steps to protect the planet. "It is critically important that the products and processes we create put the planet on a trajectory toward a future where the generations that follow have a quality of life equal or superior to today," Dow stated. In favor of sustainable chemistry, Dow said has already introduced products that deliver life-cycle benefits such as the award winning "Ecofast Pure technology," which reduces environmental impact and water use in cotton dying operations while also enabling brighter colors. Other examples Dow provided include "Retain Compatibilizer" that helps make flexible food packaging recyclable and "Voraguard," which enables fire-safe, ultra-low emission polyurethane foam bedding and furniture articles without halogenated flame retardants. For more information about the Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019, visit http://bit.ly/2J3f7aa The legislation has also been endorsed by DuPont, GC3 Sustainable Chemistry Alliance, the American Chemical Society Council, the American Sustainable Business Council, Ashland, BASF, Beautycounter, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance, Environmental Working Group, The LEGO Group, Procter and Gamble, and the University of Delaware. Midland residents and visitors will once again be able to get their weekly fill of some of the best fresh produce, baked goods, soaps and proteins the community has to offer as the Midland Area Farmers Market begins its 2019 season this Saturday. The Market is located in a structure in downtown Midland at the end of Ashman Street, near the Tridge. The regular season takes place between May 4 and Oct. 30. A total of 90 vendors have been accepted to participate this year, a small decrease from last year's season, said Farmers Market manager Emily Lyons. New vendors include Enjoy! Craft Bakery, C&W Farms, Waters Fruit Farm, Shepard Organic Produce & Poultry and Tex-Mex Grille food truck. Popular vendors returning this season will include Bright Farm, Cook's Choice Produce, Creation Coffee, Eastman's Forgotten Ciders & Antique Apples, Jar Head Salsa and DMS Fish Supply. In the 50 to 60 years the Farmers Market has been around, this will be the first year the Midland Business Alliance will run the event. The market has previously been hosted by the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce, Lyons said. "The Chamber (of Commerce) became the Midland Business Alliance, along with some other community partners and businesses," Lyons said. "In name (this is the MBA's first years hosting), but in terms of the people involved and the way that everything is going, it's not really." As a program under the jurisdiction of the Midland Business Alliance, Lyons said the Farmers Market is a great way to support entrepreneurs and community wellness. "Our Market offers the perfect environment for the food-preneur to start small, either selling products under the Cottage Food Law or as a food truck before expanding into a brick-and-mortar location," Lyons said. "We have had numerous success stories with vendors using this route." The schedule for the weekly event will differ slightly from last year, with the Market being open from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. on both Wednesdays and Saturdays. Previously, the Market was open in the afternoon on Wednesday. The Market season will also be extended into November this year, remaining open from 9 a.m. until noon on Nov. 2, 9 and 16. "In Midland? Things like that don't happen here." Since moving here as a child in 1962, this has been a common refrain in my hometown. It echoes to this day. With blinders and naivete firmly in place, sleepy little towns can look very innocent. Recently, a student posted a racist video on social media that has shed light on the fact that racial incidents are not particularly unusual in Midland. It has sparked conversations about racism in several forums, including social media, school board meetings, in homes, and corner drugstores. More than a few remarks in the comment section of this newspaper served to prove the point of last month's column: We have a lot to learn. Educating oneself on such topics as race and racism requires a willingness to adopt an "I don't know what I don't know" attitude. Debby Irving, author of "Waking Up White" (an excellent book to start with on the topic) calls this "becoming comfortable with seeking what you don't know, as opposed to proving what you do. ..." On social media and in comment sections, posters become steadfast in proving what they "know" with their opinions, outrage, and indignation. The conversations there do not encourage divergent thinking. As a result, the opposite often happens. Convergent thinking devolves into willful ignorance. For those who are comfortable with seeking what they don't know, there are many other outstanding books on the topic of racism and its effects in our culture. Here are some notable examples: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo The Hate U Give (young adult novel) by Angie Thomas Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Tatum White Fragility by Robin Diangelo Small Great Things (novel) by Jodi Picoult Becoming informed is a courageous start in any endeavor. And there is more we can do. A group of concerned parents and community members have listed the following ideas for creating a more inclusive school district here: We advocate that the disciplinary policies should be uniform and consistent among the schools and applied equally, regardless of race or background. This policy should clearly state that bullying of all types, but particularly based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexuality, will not be tolerated. Further, we advocate that discipline guidelines and dress code policies align and follow the example set forth in the Dow High School handbook. We advocate for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to seek out and respond to the needs of minority students and their families. The makeup of the committee should reflect the diversity of the student population. We advocate for more professional development for teachers and administrators, specifically to address implicit bias. Further, we advocate for training in restorative justice techniques. We advocate that curriculum should be re-evaluated through an anti-racist and inclusion-minded lens so that we are teaching the positive contributions of all peoples regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic status. We advocate that the school district hire a Diversity and Inclusion officer to provide vision and leadership in promoting an institutional culture that values and supports diversity, equity, and inclusion. The D&I officer should be responsible for working with relevant stakeholders to develop/implement effective diversity policies/practices. The D&I officer should also develop and implement programming that cultivates a welcoming and inclusive school community. These are excellent suggestions, thoughtful and deliberate. They need to be be strongly considered by our school district. For Midland, shedding its often "exclusive" reputation should be a top priority. Becoming inclusive is a process. The time to begin that process is now. It begins with a willingness to educate ourselves. Next there must be action. Perhaps that step in the process will take some noise. A little "good noise" can be a wake up call. And sometimes a wake up call is just what is needed in a sleepy llittle town. Paducah, KY (42003) Today Cloudy. High around 65F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Mainly cloudy. Low 64F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible. Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) have launched an appeal to save migrants and refugees stranded in Libya following the intensification of fighting between Marshal Khalifa Haftar's army and forces of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord based in Tripoli Ebene, Mauritius (PANA) - The European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, Thursday signed a new programme on Port security and safety in sea with the visiting Secretary-General of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), Hamada Madi, official sources told PANA here Douala, Cameroon (PANA) - A human rights watchdog has slammed the Cameroonian government for denying one of its researchers entry to the country on 12 April saying it is an attempt to cover ongoing abuses Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - A Rumour of an attempted arrest of former Benin President Boni Yayi triggered a riot on Wednesday afternoon in the economic capital, Cotonou, with extensive damage to property 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. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BLOOMINGTON Former forensic scientist Greg Jenkins is pursuing a new career that he will be able to talk about with his wife, Ragini. "My last job in forensics was with the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office," said Greg Jenkins. "I did lots of tests on samples up there. Most people don't like hearing about that so I won't go too graphic about the tests I did as a toxicologist there. "Ragini never wanted to hear about any of that stuff either," he added. "Now I can talk about my job with my wife. It's definitely a 180." The Jenkinses hope to have the store open in July after renovations are completed. The store will specialize in a variety of cakes baked in distinctive, ring-shaped Bundt molds. They plan on employing about 20 people at the store, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The cakes run from bite-sized Bundtinis at $20 for a dozen, to individual Bundtlets at $4 apiece, an 8-inch cake at $22, a 10-inch cake at $32 and a tiered cake for $56. A selection of handcrafted decorations are available at an additional charge. The cakes are offered in nine flavors, and the most popular nationwide are chocolate chocolate chip, red velvet chocolate chip, white chocolate raspberry, and lemon, said Ragini Jenkins. The couple and their son are frequent customers at a Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise near their home in Naperville. "We have a love for the cakes. Honestly, those cakes are so delicious," said Ragini Jenkins. "When I found out you could individually own and operate (a store), I said: 'This is it. This is what we're doing,'" said Greg Jenkins, adding his family will be moving to Bloomington. "I do love to bake and I knew the kids were really looking for something," added Sunni Jenkins, a Decatur resident. "It's a product that we all really are excited to represent and be a part of." Nothing Bundt Cakes, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, describes itself online as a niche bakery concept with more than 260 bakeries across the U.S. The Jenkins said they also like the company's practice of giving back to the communities where its franchises are located. "We fell in love with everything about their stores," said Ragini Jenkins. "When you walk into the store it feels like a little mom-and-pop shop. It feels like you're in grandma's kitchen." The Bloomington Bundt cake bakery will carry other retail items, including greeting cards, balloons, serving packages, and gifts for all occasions. "It is pretty much like a one-stop store," said Ragini Jenkins. Contact Maria Nagle at (309) 820-3244. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Nagle Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Jushi Holdings Inc. has released a video they say shows Jelani Day leaving the Bloomington Beyond/Hello cannabis dispensary. A company official said social media are "exploiting the confusion and anxiety of people related to Day's death. BLOOMINGTON The jury in the Kirk Zimmerman murder trial deliberated about two hours Thursday before going home, ending a day that included more than four hours of closing arguments from lawyers for the state and defense. Zimmerman is accused of killing his ex-wife, Pam Zimmerman, who was found with four gunshot wounds in her east-side Bloomington office on Nov. 4, 2014. First Assistant States Attorney Brad Rigdon told jurors Zimmerman shot her four times as a means to finally end his child support obligations and avoid another trip to court over unpaid debts to her. The Zimmermans were married 20 years before a bitter divorce in 2012. "The only thing she was to him was a debt. The easiest way to take a debt off the ledger is four bullets," said Rigdon. Rigdon reviewed a timeline the state laid out in the monthlong trial. Zimmerman's three children and several of their supporters shielded their faces as autopsy photos of the victim on the floor behind her desk were displayed on a screen in the courtroom. The fourth shot fired from behind the victim into her back after she collapsed on the floor showed a level of hatred that only her ex-husband felt, Rigdon told jurors. Zimmerman's plot to kill his former wife started Oct. 24, 2014, after he received a letter from Pam Zimmerman demanding $4,000 in past-due child support, said Rigdon. Analysis of cell tower data by an FBI agent showed Kirk Zimmerman's car traveled to Indiana where police claim he bought a gun the day after his wifes letter arrived. The same cell tower data was used to trace Kirk Zimmermans car near the victims office at 3:55 p.m., 4:19 p.m. and 6:12 p.m. on Nov. 3, said Rigdon. Testimony from the federal agent indicated the defendants car also was traveling on the citys southeast side between 10 and 11 p.m. in an area where some of the victims possessions were found. Police believe Pam Zimmerman was killed sometime after her last meeting of the day ended around 5:30 p.m. The cell tower data also contradicts Zimmermans statement to police that he did not leave his home the night of the shooting. Defense lawyer John Rogers challenged the states evidence and the Bloomington police investigation leading to Zimmermans arrest in July 2015. Kirk Zimmerman did not kill Pam Zimmerman over $3,999, said Rogers. Calling the states theory of the case a fabricated motive, Rogers said the homicide should continue to be in the unsolved mystery category. Police ignored suspicious circumstances surrounding two other men who knew the victim, Rogers argued. Eldon Whitlow, the last client to visit Pam Zimmerman at her financial services office, owned a gun similar to the one used to shoot the victim, he said. Rogers was critical of the delay by police in securing that gun. Whitlow and his gun were cleared of any involvement in the case. The victims fiance, Scott Baldwin, escaped the same immediate scrutiny Kirk Zimmerman faced from police, said Rogers, despite evidence that he was unfaithful to the victim. Authorities found no physical evidence to tie Kirk Zimmerman to the crime scene, Rogers argued. Rogers closed his remarks asking jurors to acquit Zimmerman and spare his children another loss. The only thing worse for the Zimmerman kids would be to lose two parents, he said. Rigdon used his final time with the jury after Rogers remarks to remind jurors of the states theory that Kirk Zimmerman was hemorrhaging money two years after the divorce. After deductions for child support, loans and a car payment, Zimmerman lacked enough money to cover his mortgage payment, said Rigdon. Jurors will return Friday to continue their deliberations. Photos: Closing arguments in the Kirk Zimmerman murder trial BLOOMINGTON Bloomington police have released suspect descriptions and is asking for the public's help in identifying two men involved in an armed robbery Monday afternoon. At 1:50 p.m., officers were called to the robbery at Six Points Food and Liquor at Morris Avenue and Six Points Road. The two suspects are described as black men between 30 and 35 years of age. Both wore black clothing with their faces partially covered. One suspect was wearing glasses or goggles and had facial hair. One of the suspects was armed with a gun when they demanded money from a store employee. The suspects left on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. The employee was not injured. It was the second armed robbery reported in April, following one at the Subway restaurant at 2310 E. Oakland Ave. on April 18. In that incident around 8:30 p.m., employees told police two men entered a restricted employee-only area; one of them displayed a knife and demanded money and the employees phone. The employee handed over his cellphone and an undisclosed amount of money, police said. No arrests have been made. Since two suspects were involved in both armed robberies, Public Affairs Officer John Fermon said BPD is looking into the possibility they are linked, but officers have not made a determination yet. We want to look at all possibilities as we go forward in the investigation, he said. The Six Points robbery is at least the seventh armed robbery reported in the Twin Cities since the start of the year, following a string of business robberies that began in December. Several of the robberies may be linked to a suspect Bloomington police nicknamed the Business Bandit. Normal and Bloomington police departments have not indicated whether the most recent robberies are linked to that suspect, but the Business Bandit has not been ruled out as a possibility for armed robberies committed earlier in the year. Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. BLOOMINGTON Charges against the former assistant manager of finance at the city-owned downtown arena were dismissed Wednesday in McLean County Circuit Court. Kelly W. Klein, of Bloomington, appeared with her lawyer, Joel E. Brown, who had filed a motion to have all 12 charges dismissed. Klein was one of five officials charged with mishandling finances during a 10-year span that Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM) supervised operations at what was then known as U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The charges included money laundering and theft. Klein was not available for comment, but Brown said his client deserved to have the charges dismissed by Judge Michael Stroh. Stroh dismissed the charges without comment. I have thoroughly investigated these charges and there was no criminality on the part of Kelly Klein, Brown said. The merits of the case do not warrant these charges being filed. In court, Assistant States Attorney David Rossi said the charges could be refiled, but he declined to discuss the matter further following the 10-minute hearing. States Attorney Don Knapp was in another court hearing Wednesday, but said he was aware the charges were dismissed. We are going to review this case and act appropriately, he said. Charges have been dismissed and then later refiled against two other defendants in the case. In court, both Rossi and Brown discussed how bond would be determined for Klein if charges are refiled. Brown argued that Klein posted 10 percent of a $20,000 bond after her arrest in September 2017 and it would be unfair to ask her to post bond again for what would amount to similar charges. Previously, Brown argued the dates of the alleged misconduct go beyond the three-year statue of limitations for filing charges in Illinois. Rossi had argued against the motion to dismiss, saying the final dates of the alleged misconduct fell within the statute of limitations. In all, there were 111 indictments filed against the five defendants, including 21 against former CIAM general manager Bart Rogers, who also appeared in court Wednesday. Rogers was with his attorney, Steve Skelton, who was filling in for Stephanie Wong. The court is expected to set a hearing in June for a status update in Rogers' case and to hear a defense motion to dismiss those charges. Charges are still pending against CIAM owner John Y. Butler and former food and beverage director Paul Grazar. Jay C. Laesch, the ex-finance director of BMI Concessions, was placed on probation in April after pleading guilty to money laundering and filing a fraudulent sales tax return. Photos: CIAM managers plead not guilty to charges Contact Kevin Barlow at (309) 820-3238. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_barlow Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 3 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NORMAL The Illinois State University board of trustees will have a special meeting Saturday to discuss various financial issues and elect a new board chair while waiting for Gov. J.B. Pritzker to fill three vacancies on the board. The meeting will take place at 10 a.m. at Petco Petroleum in Hinsdale. The terms of board chair Rocky Donahue and members Bob Churney and Mary Ann Louderback expired in late January. They could continue to serve on the board for only 60 days. ISU spokesman Eric Jome said that even with the three vacancies, we've got a quorum to conduct business, so we're not worried about that. He said the governor's office is working on it but appointments may not be made until after the board's next regularly scheduled meeting on May 10. The May meeting is usually when the board sets tuition, fees and housing rates for the upcoming academic year. It would be nice to have a full board, said Jome, but the delay is not a problem. The new board members would have to get oriented to board procedures and practices, Jome said. Getting up to speed right before a board meeting is kind of tough. The only action items on Saturday's agenda is election of a board chair and board secretary. Louderback held the secretary position. The agenda also calls for updates on costs for 2019-20, plans for campus construction projects and plans for purchase of property, but no action will be taken on those matters. Jome said the discussion items will help trustees prepare for the May 10 meeting and let ISU administrators know the board's direction. The student trustee, Sarah Aguilar, counts toward the quorum for the eight-member board. The remaining four board members, who were appointed or reappointed to six-year terms by Gov. Bruce Rauner two years ago, were never confirmed by the Senate. They can continue to serve unless the current governor withdraws their names. Contact Lenore Sobota at (309) 820-3240. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Sobota Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NORMAL From the use of technology to testing practices, a delegation of educators from Bloomington-Normal's sister city of Vladimir, Russia, has been exchanging ideas with counterparts at Illinois State University this week. They are here as part of the Open World program on the topic of best practices in education, explained Karen Dennis, a professor in ISU's School of Kinesiology and Recreation who is part of the Vladimir-Canterbury Sister City Association of Bloomington-Normal. Open World Leadership Center is an agency under Congress that facilitates international exchanges. Previous Open World trips hosted by the sister city group have included local government leaders, agriculture educators and special education experts. Dennis and members of the delegation said they want to continue to coordinate and share ideas even after the trip ends. There is great learning to be had, said Dennis, who was recently granted a Fulbright Scholar award to teach at Vladimir State University. The five Russian educators visiting from Vladimir State University and Vladimir Basic Medical College gave a presentation Wednesday afternoon on the best practices in their institutions. Vladimir Gorbatov talked about the importance of providing motivation for students to learn a foreign language. We must use an individual approach to each student, such as tying language lessons to their personal interests, hobbies and leisure activities, he said. Ilya Zhirnov, who teaches at the medical college, showed a short video as an example of how some things are taught by showing what not to do. Students who watch the video of the person washing their hands in a medical setting are expected to point out all the things the person did wrong, he explained, from not taking off their ring to touching the faucet handle with their hand after washing. Tatiana Krasilschikova, who teaches history, said, At the end of every lecture, I always end it with a discussion of modern events or modern situations. Oksana Seliverstova, who teaches professional communication in the department of foreign languages, said all students in her department take a course in philosophy because it helps with their analytical skills. Ekaterina Ionova said people in both countries have a lot of stereotypes about each other based on the leadership of the countries and that can influence public opinion and feed anxieties. But that changes when you get to meet people first hand, she said. Seliverstova said, The main thing I'll bring back to Russia is memories of the good-hearted people who helped us here. During the visit, the delegation toured parts of Chicago and also the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library in Springfield. They also got to experience a variety of weather, noted Krasilschikova, including snow while in Chicago and heavy rain and strong wind in Central Illinois. But she was most impressed by the blossoming trees. Pink. White. Light violet. We don't have that in our part of Russia, she said. Gorbatov said one of the memories he will bring back to Russia is that everyone smiles here. Contact Lenore Sobota at (309) 820-3240. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Sobota Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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 Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 4 Sad 0 Angry 4 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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 Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Cintas For the third time in his political life, Old Joe Biden has started down the road to the White House. He used a misleading and Trump-bashing video to announce he's running because he wants to save the country from four more years of Donald Trump. The 76-year-old immediately became the front-runner in the Democrat Party's over-crowded presidential primary, thanks to his name ID and his long, gaffe-filled career as a liberal senator from Delaware and loyal Obama VP. Biden is the Democrat's strongest candidate for many political reasons, but my big question is whether he still has that feeling in his gut that all presidential candidates must have to succeed. His first and probably hardest feat will be to win the nomination of his own crazy party. It's not that he is too old, too male, too white, too establishment or too creepy-feely for the new Democrat Party, which has suddenly lurched hard left, splintered into factions and become leaderless. It's not that he supposedly treated Anita Hill unfairly as a senator three decades ago at the Clarence Thomas hearings. Or that he held some embarrassing, now very politically incorrect, not-very progressive positions on race, crime, civil rights and forced school busing in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It's that Old Joe is too darn moderate for the Democrats. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg and the other increasingly radical presidential wannabes he has to defeat in the primary have spent the last several months promising they'll give everyone in America free healthcare, free college tuition and free whatever else they want or need from government. They all are trying to be more radical than Sanders, the lifelong socialist who's even older than Biden and not the least bit ashamed to admit he's a millionaire with three homes. Meanwhile, Biden's campaign pitch to voters apparently is going to be a plate of boring liberal leftovers from the last century. It's likely to include raising taxes on the rich, rewriting tax laws to help the middle class, jacking up the federal minimum wage and spending a trillion or so on fixing the infrastructure. Biden's candidacy is not going to please or energize the young radicals in the noisy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wing of his party. Yet, he's probably the only Democrat presidential wannabe with a realistic chance to defeat President Trump in 2020, mainly because his moderate platform could win back the voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that Hillary lost in 2016. Still, it's hard to deny that Old Joe is four years past his elect-by date. His best chance to be president - his only real chance - was to run in 2016, before everything in national politics was turned upside down by Trump's victory. Going into that election lots of Republican voters hated Trump so much that they were looking for an exit ramp. But they wouldn't take the Hillary off-ramp and vote for her because they despised her even more. If Biden had been running in 2016 instead of Hillary, many Republicans might have seen him as the lesser of two evils, and he might have defeated Trump. That's old history, though. In the last 2 1/2 years, President Trump has made most Republicans extremely happy, so very few GOP and independent voters in those key Rust Belt states will be looking for someone else to vote for in 2020. Now that he's in, Biden will be running up a steep hill from now until next fall. He'll be beaten black and blue by his own party and Republicans. He thinks he can raise hundreds of millions of dollars, withstand the leftward pull of his party, figure out how to win the Democrat primary without having to become a member of the Communist Party and then rush back to the political center to capture enough Rust Belt voters to defeat Trump in the general election. Good luck with that plan, Old Joe. You're going to need a lot of it if you aim to save the soul of America. Contact Reagan at reagan@caglecartoons.com. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 The Pantagraph ran a piece (April 23, 2019) detailing the gun sanctuary county movement here in downstate Illinois facilitated by several state prosecutors and county board members. Some of those states attorneys (the chief county law enforcer) pledged not to prosecute gun laws they personally decide are not worth enforcing. A few years ago, the McLean County states attorney decided on his own to not enforce gun crime laws. Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx exercised proper and legal prosecutorial discretion to drop the Jussie Smollett charges of lying to police. There were several problems with the evidence. Namely, it was weak. The entire case was based on the self-serving statements of two men who were suspects themselves. The Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association, in an unprecedented move, publicly excoriated Foxx for her handling of the Smollett matter. How rich and hypocritical. The prosecutors' bar is silent on its downstate members unlawful, selective, arbitrary actions to not enforce gun crimes and statues. Foxx didnt refuse to enforce the law; she simply stated the evidence was weak and could not prosecute. A vast difference. Ironically, it is the Cook County states attorney who knows the value of her case and chooses to focus on gun crimes and violence. I guess downstate prosecutors dont mind guns and are OK with being viewed as soft on guns and gun crimes. Lawrence Necheles, Pontiac Love 0 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 After our usual Easter family potluck, Grandpa held court. He told of his fathers birth in Germany, but the birth certificate showed New York City. Grandma told us later that he had made this claim on previous occasions. Grandpa went on to the windmills being built in the countryside. He proclaimed that the noise from them causes cancer. Grandpa followed up by saying that he wanted to know more about the oranges of the decision to build these cancer-causing windmills." He repeated his deep desire to get at the oranges two more times. We all re-gathered around the fire, where Grandpa fell asleep in his easy chair. Everyone else then fled to the kitchen with a common purpose how could we get Grandpa to the doctor for a comprehensive mental health examination? The need was obvious and urgent. OK I made up my Grandpa story, but it was built, of course, on three claims made by Donald J. Trump over a day or two. Yes, that his father was born in Germany, when he was born in New York City; that the noise from windmills causes cancer; and that he wanted to get to the oranges (three times) of the Mueller investigation. But statements that would raise deep concern about the mental health of a grandpa are largely ignored when they are uttered by President Trump, the person we should most expect to display high mental health. I am frightened by his mental ill health. Herman Brockman, Congerville Love 3 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 I should disclose up front that I am not a fan of Joe Biden. He has been a conservative Senator who has passed some of the most destructive bills in Congress over the last 40 years, and before he stood next to the most popular politician in America for a near-decade, he was simply known as an unserious gaffemaster who didnt poll above 5% the last time he ran for president in 2008. That said, I smell a ratmultiple, actuallyand while there are some legitimate concerns arising from this recent report, the fact that Rudy Giuliani is pushing this revelation hard should give everyone pause (not to mention the fact that its the NYT reporting itan outlet that has never seen a bad faith conservative argument unfit for print). Per the New York Times: It was a foreign policy role Joseph R. Biden Jr. enthusiastically embraced during his vice presidency: browbeating Ukraines notoriously corrupt government to clean up its act. And one of his most memorable performances came on a trip to Kiev in March 2016, when he threatened to withhold $1 billion in United States loan guarantees if Ukraines leaders did not dismiss the countrys top prosecutor, who had been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the political elite. The pressure campaign worked. The prosecutor general, long a target of criticism from other Western nations and international lenders, was soon voted out by the Ukrainian Parliament. Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Hunter Biden, Mr. Bidens younger son, who at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had been in the sights of the fired prosecutor general. This report reveals that Hunter Biden is one of those lobbyist/swamp creatures/corporate mercenaries that populate capital cities across the globe. The NYT found previously unreported documents proving that a law firm which Hunter Biden worked for (Boies Schiller) took $283,000 in 2014 from Ukrainian energy company, Burisma. In 2014, Hunter Biden joined Burismas board of directors. This same financial data also revealed that Hunter Biden joined the board of Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC in mid-2014, when Burisma paid $3.4 million to the firm over the course of the next year. Additional data reveals that payments continued into the future. To understand why this looks really, really bad for Hunter Biden, you must understand the wildly corrupt Ukrainian politics, where Kremlin influence is everywhere. Ukraine came on to the American newsmap most recently in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. The peninsula holding one of the most strategically important ports in the world on the northern coast of the Black Sea has long been disputed going back to ancient times, and history is repeating itself yet again. In 2014, Russia began its slow invasion of Ukraine by declaring Crimea to be property of Russia. As detailed in All the KremlinsMen, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov suspended negotiations for the Ukraine-EU Union Agreement, which triggered civil unrest, and he resigned and found political asylum in Russia in 2014. Dmitry Firtash, a former key figure in the gas trade between Russia and Ukraine, was arrested in Austria in 2014 at the request of the United States on bribery and other charges. Rinat Akhmetov is a Ukrainian steel and iron ore magnate who was the main funder of Viktor Yanukovychs 2004 and 2010 presidential campaigns. President Yanukovych fled Ukraine in 2014 for Russia, as he joined Azarov in pushing relations closer to the Kremlin. I'm torn between how brutally history is repeating and how legit bad it was for Biden's son to take a $50,000/month gig with a Ukrainian oligarch in 2014 https://t.co/iGoODxzPDy Tom Gara (@tomgara) May 2, 2019 To work for a Ukrainian oligarch in power at that time meant that you were working on behalf of Kremlin interests whether you were aware of it or not. Russia effectively controls the southeastern part of Ukraine in an (ongoing) war that has killed at least 8,000 people. This all began in 2014when Hunter Biden started working in Ukraine while his father sat in the White House. Paul Manafort worked for Ukrainian oligarchs connected to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska for years. Deripaska sued Manafort for $19 million in the Cayman Islands in 2014. Immediately after assuming power atop Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, Manafort texted a man whom Mueller said Manafort told him that he believed to be a Russian spy, Manaforts top Ukrainian deputy Konstantin Kilimnik about reports of his promotion to campaign manager: has OVD operation seen and how do we use to get whole. A leaked 2006 U.S. State Department cable described Deripaska as among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis and a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putins trips abroad. The way that Russian influence works is through the convergence of finance, intelligence, business and organized crime. Everything is a gray area, and energy is the Kremlins lifeblood. The most correct thing John McCain ever said is that Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. Its kleptocracy. Its corruption. Its a nation thats really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy. Now, there is a reason why you have only read the name Hunter in front of Biden and not Joe. The only time that Joe Bidens name appears in the story is in the lede letting us know that it is his son who is the focus of the report, and that Joe Biden fought against Ukraines corrupt government and helped push the countrys top prosecutor out of office. The NYT provides no evidence that Hunter Bidens gastacular adventures in Ukraine at the same moment it was being invaded by a gas station directly affected any policy coming out of his fathers White Housethere are just some convenient coincidencesbut sometimes thats all that conflicts of interests are. As of right now, this is a story about the nature of power in this worldnot Trump-grade deviancy out of Joe Biden. We have royalty here in America. Clinton. Bush. McCain. Biden. Kennedy. Etc. Having one of these last names guarantees you at least cultural relevancy, and in many instances, provides you with a divine right to hold public office. This is our public aristocracy. They are funded by a private aristocracy that has driven us to the worst wealth inequality seen in a century. This network of financiers may be American citizens, but their money isnt. Capital is global, and its basically a proven fact at this point that the wealthiest people in America value their money above all else. In the service of their most beloved asset, Americas oligarchs have no problem working against the interests of their fellow countrymen. So they hire the Hunter Bidens of the world, because they know it gets them one step closer to the true power center in the family: Joe. Whether moves like this by American oligarchs and their fiduciary allies across the globe have any demonstrable impact is difficult to criminally proveas The Mueller Report painstakingly demonstratedbut look at the dystopian reality surrounding us. Wealth concentration is a global pandemic. None of this happened by accident. People with power exercised that power in myriad wayswith the aid of the political systemand gained more power as a result of it. In a way, the Russian model is the same for global capital. Organized crime (or in this case, fraud and tax evasion), business, government and high finance all work together in an overwhelmingly byzantine network to funnel 50% of global wealth towards eight men. A 2011 study found that less than 150 businesses control 40% of all wealth in this worldand less than 750 businesses control 80% of it. The army of Hunter Bidens at their disposal is one way that this happens. Given the timing of his Ukrainian arrival and the nature of his relationships with Ukrainian gas companies, it seems highly probable that Hunter Biden is wrapped up in something shady because thats just how global capital worksespecially in that region in this present moment. Perhaps Bidens brow-beating of Ukraine had something to do with his sons jobs in Ukraine (that Biden denied knowing about until he read press reports, whichcome on, man), but as the NYT notes, this is about a foreign government bringing in well-connected Democrats during a period when the company was facing investigations backed not just by domestic Ukrainian forces but by officials in the Obama administration. This is bigger than just one vice president. This is how things really work. To push back against some Democratic operatives characterizing this as another conservative hit piece sneaked past the goalie at the Times, they do note that Rudy Giuliani is pushing this story, and that it is gaining traction in conservative media. They even gave this report a weirdly sheepish title of Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions that Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies, and have seemingly turned it into a political question for 2020. Thats not the main takeaway from this reportthe point is that conflicts of interest are simply how power perpetuates itself in this world. Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. Its easy to mislead someone without lying. You just withhold information. Take, for instance, just about any sentence Attorney General William Barr said in his Wednesday testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Or take the much, much bigger issue of how he misrepresented Special Counsel Robert Muellers report, up to the point where he has managed to cover up a profound disagreement with Mueller: Mueller believes his evidence establishes that Trump committed obstruction of justice, and Barr said the opposite. Thats shocking and obviously (and intentionally) complicated, so Ill cover it in the second part of this article. First, we need to understand what Barrs game is. And to do that, we turn to none other than former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsefeld. This has been Barrs schtick throughout this process: Hell say truthful things, but he wont say everything. This is a big problem, and its part ofand preying ona larger trend about truth in America: You cant prove something doesnt exist, and you cant critique something that doesnt exist. This is why conspiracy theories wont go away, and why so many people still insisting Trump committed crimes are seen more and more like conspiracy theorists. This, of course, is what former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant when he famously warned of unknown unknowns: ...there are also unknown unknownsthe ones we dont know we dont know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones. At the timeRumsfeld was justifying our military presence in Iraqhe sounded ridiculous, but today he sounds prophetic. And this is the unsolvable philosophical problem Bill Barr willfully presents, repeatedly, without any apparent shame or compunction. Barrs summarywhich not only omitted Muellers full summaries and conclusions, but took out of context every sentence quoted from the report; literally none of them were completemade the Mueller report unsolvable for the public. And here is Bill Barrs greatest sin yesterday: Misleading the public and Congress about whether Mueller thought Trump committed a crime. But to get a feel for Barr, lets look at a few much simpler things he told the Senate on Wednesday. Heres the first, a statement about the letter Special Counsel Robert Mueller sent Barr criticizing his four-page summary of the Mueller report a few days after Barr submitted that summary to Congress: I talked directly to [Special Counsel] Bob Mueller about his letter to me and specifically asked him, What exactly are your concerns? Are you saying that the March 24 letter was misleading or inaccurate, or what? He indicated that it was not. He was not saying that. So: Barr asked whether Mueller thought Barrs initial summary was misleading or inaccurate. According to Barr, Mueller indicated (not said) it wasnt. Here Barr withholds information: We dont know what Mueller actually said. He might not have responded directly to Barrs question, or he might have refused to answer it outright. Barr also pointedly doesnt address what Muellers letter itself saidonly their phone call about the letter. Heres what Mueller said in the letter, emphasis mine. 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. Muellers letter stops short of accusing Barr of intentionally misleadingMueller never uses that wordthough its clear he believed Barrs summary misled the public. Barr also said in testimony, remarkably, he didnt know if Mueller supported his conclusions. This seems to contradict what Mueller says in his letter, but Barr slips around this by inverting it: Mueller was saying Barrs summary didnt reflect Muellers conclusions; he never mentions what he thinks of Barrs own conclusions. In fact, Mueller wrote the letter specifically because he was concerned about public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigationin other words, Barrs summary had led people to misinterpret key aspects of Muellers report. But this leads to the second part: whether Mueller told Barr the summary was inaccurate. Barrs testimony misled the Senate the same way his summary misled the public: He withheld critical information. But that doesnt mean the information he did give was inaccurate. In fact, Barr had the gall not only to split hairs about accuracy, but to turn the tables on the press. Barr told Senator Richard Blumenthal that in that phone call Mueller had said press reporting had been inaccurate and that the press was reading too much into it. Barrs saying See? It wasnt me who was inaccurate! It was the damn PRESS! And dont we just hate the damn PRESS? Except Muellers letter said nothing about the press. From the letter: 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. 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 (the Attorney General may determine that public release of congressional notifications would be in the public interest). And here Barrs testimony misleads us twofold. First, his displacement of blame from himself onto the press preys on the conditioned responses from right-wing Trump apologists (and the Glenn Greenwald left), who take every chance they can to blame the press for the publics beliefs about the Russia investigation. Thus Barr, by withholding information, gives them the opportunity to mislead us again: Haha! Even Mueller thinks its the presss fault! And lo, they did. Worst of all: Trump did. Second, Barr focuses only on what Mueller said about the press in the call. He doesnt say Mueller didnt name other possible sources of public confusion, such as Trumps own misleading statements that the Mueller report was a complete exoneration, which it literally said it was not. (Oh, so it wasnt just the press who read it wrong.) FURTHER, Barr didnt volunteer that Mueller did not bring up anything else in that call. Barr knows that unless youre wise to the withholding game, the question of whether Mueller said other things might not even cross your mindespecially when he distracts you with the shiny object of your preconceived enemy. This means Barr is willing to accept an unconscionable level of collateral damage. Hes willing to mischaracterize Robert Mueller as someone who hates the pressthe same line of attack Trump has used for years nowwhen he knows for a fact thats not the story. Hes willing to contribute to the erosion of public trust the press in order to dam up the real problem: The erosion of public trust in himself. Again, unknown unknowns: Until we had the full Mueller report, Muellers full conclusions didnt exist for the public. And until we hear from Mueller himself about a phone call he had with Barr, or see Barrs notes about the phone conversationwhich he testified he does indeed have, but for some weeeeiiiiird reason didnt submit to the Senatewe dont know what doesnt exist in that call. But about that report The Mueller report is a playground for a master dissembler like Barr. The report is long, sprawling, complex, and premised on theories of law that not even legal experts at the highest level agree on or even fully understand yet. Thats why Mueller wanted Barr to release the Special Counsels summaries and conclusions in full and immediately. A few incomplete sentences in no way give the publicand Congress, as Mueller pointedly said in both the report and in his letter of complaint to Barra complete understanding of not just what the investigation concluded, but more importantly how and why it reached those conclusions. This brings us to the huge overriding question here: What does Muellers report even mean? Did he think Trump did it or what? And this is where things get not only really wonky and weird, but really dangerous, because in explaining what Mueller meant you have to get into details. This again is the consequence of withholdingor in colloquial terms, what wed call lying by omission. Barr intentionally withheld the full text and details of the Mueller report as long as he could, because in withholding them he could let his clear declarations rule the day (in this case, the weeks). Once you dig into the complicated report weeks later, you seem either like youre desperately moving the goalposts, or outright wrong. So this is the nut of our confusion. But heres what Mueller wanted: He presented his evidence so Congress could take up the question of impeachment. First, Mueller didnt and wouldnt say in his report that his evidence established Trump committed a crime. The report also pointed out that if Muellers team could clear Trump of a crime, they would so statea strange phrase for a prosecutor, because its their job to decide whether to prosecute someone for a crime, not to clear them of it. Barr, however, took the extra step Mueller wouldnt: He said he (and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; another fall guy for Barr) concluded the evidence gathered over the course of the investigation didnt establish that Trump committed an obstruction of justice offense. But Mueller didnt just duck the question of reaching a conclusion about whether he thought there was a crime here. He ducked his responsibility for making that decision. Was this cowardly? Well, probably not. If Muellerafter saying he was abiding by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) guidelines that a sitting President cant be indictedwere to say Yes, we think Trump committed a crime, he wouldnt be able to indict Trump for that crime. Oddly, this is compassion for Trump: If he can be accused of a crime but cant be indicted for it, that takes away his right to exonerate himself in court. The public would believe Trump is a criminal, and he wouldnt have his constitutional right to try to convince them otherwise. Mueller also notes the OLCwhich speaks only to indictabilitydoesnt prevent him from clearing Trump, which is why he makes clear that in this case he cant do that, either. Notably, Mueller also withholds: The report doesnt say not only is the President clear, it nowhere says the evidence doesnt establish a crime. It doesnt even weigh in on that question. Enter Bill Barr, who weighs in on the evidence question. And its here, after breaking it down, that we can finally see the real conflict between Mueller and Barr, and the real reason for Muellers letter. In short, Mueller doesnt agree with Barr that the evidence did not establish a crime. But heres what Barr told the Senate about that: Special Counsel Mueller stated three times to us in that meeting in response to our questioning that he emphatically was not saying that but for the OLC opinion, he would have found obstruction. He said that in the future, the facts of the case against a president might be such that a special counsel would recommend abandoning the OLC opinion but this is not such a case. Barr wants us to believe that if there were no OLC guidance, Mueller still would not have found obstruction. But to find obstruction, you have to evaluate your evidence, and the OLC does not prevent Mueller from evaluating his own evidence. In other words, Mueller could have and obviously did find obstruction. In other words, Mueller wasnt prevented from finding obstruction, he was prevented from SAYING he found it, because that would automatically trigger him recommending indictment and the guidelines he operates under prohibit him from doing so. And thats exactly the reasoning Mueller laid out in his report. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse asked Barr about this, too. If the DOJ did incriminate Trump, what would prevent the President from waiving the OLC guidance and getting his day in court? Here Barr and Mueller face different questions. As Special Counsel, its not Muellers job to interpret the OLC guidelines. He just has to abide by the letter of what they say. Barr, however, would be in a position as Attorney General to interpret the guidelines. This is why in response to Whitehouses question Barr simply said, I dont think there was anything to have a day in court on, I didnt think the government had a prosecutable case. In other words, Barr just said he would have overruled Mueller no matter whether Mueller concluded there was a crime. Barr would have protected Donald Trump no matter what. And note how weirdly Barr phrases that response: the facts of the case, not the evidence the investigation developed. Mueller, in other words, concluded this particular crimeobstruction of justicewould not merit challenging the OLC. Its imaginable that another crime, such as treason, would merit a challenge, but a procedural crime such as obstruction of justice would not. In any case, none of what Barr said should be taken to mean that Mueller doesnt think the evidence could establish the crime of obstruction. And indeed, Barr figured out this puzzle: A prosecutor would make the (overwhelming) case against Trump based on whatas Senator Amy Klobuchar pointed out to Barris called totality of the evidence. That is, taking all of Trumps instances of possible obstruction into account, and arguing the pattern (again, overwhelmingly) evidences Trumps intent to obstruct the investigation. Mueller alludes to the applicability of this theory several times in his report. Barrs summary, notably, disagreed with what he characterized as some of the legal theories underpinning Muellers reasoning. He also in his testimony Wednesday disputed the value in this case of applying this widely used legal theorywhich has been upheld as valid in federal courtand that, of all things, is where he really hangs his tattered hat. The U.S. legal code regarding perjury says that in order to find someone guilty of lying to Congress, that person must willfully say or submit as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true. CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin put it this way: For testimony to be legally actionable as a lie, it has tomeet a pretty precise standard. Regarding Barrs testimonies, he says, I still think you would have a very difficult time trying to build a criminal case. There doesnt seem to be a criminal case you can make against Barr for his disastrous testimony and dangerous behavior. Democrats in Congress who might want to act on itincluding a private conversation with Nancy Pelosi where she doesnt take imprisonment off the tablerisk embarrassment. Bill Barr hasnt technically told a lie, at least not yet, and not on a criminal level. He has lied by omission though, and hes done so repeatedly, and with palpable spite, disdain, arrogance, and recklessness. The damage, it seems, has been done, unless Democrats wise up and let Mueller state his case. Its time for us to get over the Barr. The Resurrection is a work of God the Blessed Trinity. All three Persons of the Godhead are involved and, as in all things, all three Persons operate in perfect harmony to accomplish it. The Father raised up Christ his Son (Acts 2:24, 32). The Son declares, I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father. (John 10:17-18). And that miracle of Resurrection is how Jesus is conclusively revealed as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness (Romans 1:4). Because the Resurrection is the work of exactly the same God of Israel who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets in the Old Testament, the early Church understands Jesus as standing in continuity with, not contradiction of all that God has revealed in the Old Testament. Jesus himself had insisted on this, teaching his disciples, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17). And so one of the curious details of the Resurrection story is the insistence of the eyewitnesses that Jesus was not merely raised from the dead, but raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Jesus, after all, could have been raised at any time after death was ascertained. One hour, six hours, one day later would have been just as much a miracle. But all the witnesses insist that Jesus was buried and remained in the tomb for three days (recalling that a day was reckoned to begin, not end, at sunset in his culture). He was buried on Friday afternoon, but not raised till Sunday. And they insist that this Resurrection on the third day means that Jesus is therefore in continuity with and fulfillment of everything God has done in the history of Israel and the revelation he has given to and through the Jewish people. So it is worth asking, Why the third day? However, to get at the answer to that, we must first ask what a biblical author means when he says something fulfils or is in accordance with the Scriptures. Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did It is easy for the modern reader to adopt a kind of prediction view of Old Testament prophecy, as though every first century Jew had an agreed-upon set of Old Testament Messianic Verses against which all messianic claimants were measured. Indeed, many Christian apologetics books today lay out precisely this sort of checklist: Prophecy: Source: Fulfillment: Messiah must be: OT NT born in Bethlehem Micah 5:1-2 Matthew 2:1 adored by the great Psalm 72:10-11 Matthew 2:1-11 sold for 30 silver pieces Zechariah 11:12 Matthew 26:15 One could easily get the impression that all a first century Jew had to do was follow Jesus around and tick off prophecy fulfillments on his Old Testament Messianic Prediction Checklist and he ought to have known everything Jesus was going to do before he ever did it. But, in fact, as Augustine once observed, the Bibles messianic prophecies were not so much revealed by the Old Testament as they were hidden there.[1] This isnt a notion cooked up in the Dark Ages to justify reading into the Old Testament whatever Christians wanted to see there. Its a truth taught to the apostles themselves by the risen Christ: Then he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:4447) It is from Jesus, then, that the apostles get the idea that the whole life and ministry of Christ fulfilled the Scriptures. But Jesus fulfills them not by ticking off items on a Messianic Prediction Checklist but by revealing the gospel that was hidden in the law and the prophets. This is why Paul says the New Covenant was veiled until the gospel took away the veil (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14). It is also why he declares that the gospel was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Ephesians 3:5; emphasis added). Paul insists the deepest meaning of the Old Testament was seen only in light of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. Because the New Covenant is hidden, not revealed, in the Old Testament, nobody before the time of Jesus says, Why, its plain from Scripture the Messiah will be born of a virgin, raised in Nazareth, rejected by the chief priests, handed over to Gentiles, crucified with thieves, rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and abrogate the circumcision demand for Gentiles converts to the covenant people as he breaks down the barriers between man and woman, slave and free, Jew and Gentile. Even the disciples themselves, close as they were to Jesus, didnt anticipate the Crucifixion, much less the Resurrectioneven when Jesus rubbed their noses in messianic prophecy and spelled out what was coming (cf. Mark 9:9-10). As John says, they did not understand from Scripture that the Messiah had to rise from the dead, even while they were standing in the very mouth of Jesus empty tomb, gawking at his grave clothes (cf. John 20:1-10). And yet, these same apostles later speak of the Resurrection as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. What do they mean if the Old Testament prophecies arent predictions upon which everybody based their understanding of Messiah? What Fulfilment Means They mean Christ brought to fruition, and was the ultimate expression of the same revelation toward which all the Old Testament was straining and pointing. They mean Jesus was the One to whom the law and the prophets were directed by the Holy Spirit, even when the sacred writers themselves did not know the fullness toward which their words pointed (cf. 1 Pet. 1:10-11). This is why the early Church was never troubled by an issue that often vexes modern minds: namely, why the New Testament often appears to take Old Testament texts out of their immediate context and read them as commentaries on Christ. For the early Church doesnt see the Old Testament as talking about something different from Christ, but rather sees it in relationship to him. What appear to the modern mind as separate themes and events in the Old Testament appear to the New Testament writers as so many spokes on a wheel, all connected to the Hub who is Christ. They believe that just as we write with words, so God writes with people, things, historic events, and occurrences, both natural and supernatural. For instance, Hebrews 2:13 applies Isaiah 8:18 to Christ: Here I am, and the children God has given me. In its original context, Isaiah is speaking about himself and his disciples. Hes not offering a prediction that the coming Messiah would say this. Yet the author of Hebrews sees Christ, far more than Isaiah, fulfilling the text. Why? Because Christ and his Church are, most fully, what Isaiah and his disciples were in a kind of foreshadow. Isaiahs words, like all words, are signs signifying something: in this case Isaiah and his own disciples. But Isaiah and his disciples are, in their turn, also signs signifying something even greater: Christ and his disciples. For Christ and his Church are the same thing Isaiah and his disciples were: signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion (Is. 8:18). Isaiah and his disciples fulfill the passage in an immediate sense. But the early Church saw no particular reason why the God Isaiah worshipped couldnt fulfill it even more profoundly when he became incarnate and established his Church. So the author of Hebrews, reading the Isaian passage with hindsight illumined by Jesus entire life and ministry, hears the Composer of the Symphony of Divine Revelation play a theme through Isaiah and his disciples in a minor key which he will ultimately play in a major key in Christ. The Virgin Birth as a Case Study in Fulfilment of Scripture The same thing applies to Isaiah 7:14, the passage Matthew quotes with regard to Jesus Virgin Birth. Matthew knew his Bible extremely well and was perfectly aware that this passage had an immediate fulfillment in Isaiahs day. Isaiahs Emmanuel Prophecy comes in an hour of national crisis during the reign of Ahaz, one of the lousier kings of Judah descended from David. In Isaiahs day, the people of Israel had actually been split into two realms: a northern kingdom called Israel which had broken away from the House of David, and a southern kingdom called Judah which remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty and its successor, Ahaz. At the time of the Emmanuel Prophecy (roughly seven centuries before Christ), Israel has formed an alliance with pagan Aram against Ahaz kingdom of Judah. As a result the people of Judah are in a muck sweat about the future of their country. So Isaiah goes to Ahaz and tells him not to worry about the alliance because God will take care of Judah, for the sake of his promises to David. To back up his assurances, Isaiah offers Ahaz the chance to ask a sign of the Lord your God (Is. 7:11). Ahaz refuses. He pretends hes too pious to put God to the test, but actually he does not want to obey Isaiah because hed rather put his faith in practical politics and not in Isaiahs mystical hocus-pocus. It is then that the Emmanuel Prophecy is given: Behold, an almah [a word that can be rendered either as young woman or as virgin] shall conceive and bear [or is with child and shall bear] a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el [which, as Matthew will later note, means God with us]. What does Isaiah mean? Most immediately, Isaiah means Ahaz will have a sonHezekiahwho will carry on the line of David so that, as Nathan had long ago prophesied to David, your throne shall be established forever (2 Sam. 7:16).[2] In other words, Isaiah is telling Ahaz that God is with the Davidic throne of Judah still and his kingdom will therefore not be defeated by the menacing alliance to the north. And thats exactly what happened. The alliance against Judah fails and Hezekiah is born. The prophecys most immediate sense is indeed fulfilled, not by a virgin birth, but by the almah or wife of Ahaz and the birth of a new son of David to carry on the Davidic line. But there remains in pre-Christian Jewish tradition a persistent belief in larger and second meanings in its Bible. For the question remains, Why was the son of David called Hezekiah born if not for a still greater Son of David who is yet to come? For, of course, Hezekiah will eventually die too. So as the centuries roll on there is a growing sense among the Jews that Nathans prophecy to David of an everlasting throne recorded in 2 Samuel 7 (despite these immediate fulfillments) speaks not so much of an everlasting political rule, but of some higher and greater Throne yet to come. And so, when the political power of Davids house actually does fail during the Babylonian Captivity in the fifth century B.C.E, Israel reflects on Nathans words and wonders what deeper meaning might be in them. Indeed, Isaiah himself tells Israel that from the stump of Jesse (that is, the fallen Davidic dynasty) a shoot shall grow. Of this coming king, this Son of David, this Anointed One or Messiah Isaiah prophesies: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:23). In other words, Isaiah is aware the story does not end with the birth of Hezekiah. The Lord saves Ahaz throne, not for Ahaz sake, nor for Hezekiahs, but for the sake of the promise given long ago to David that will only be finally fulfilled when the ultimate Son of David is born, the Son of whom Isaiah also spoke: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore (Isaiah 9:67). So the birth of a son of David named Hezekiah both fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 and foreshadows an even greater fulfillment in the birth of the ultimate Son of David, Jesus, who is born, not merely of a young woman, as Hezekiah was, but of a virgin. Some people imagine that Matthew is responsible for translating almah as virgin instead of young woman in order to make Isaiah predict the Virgin Birth. But, in fact, it was the Septuagints Jewish translators who rendered it into Greek as parthenos or virgin two centuries before Matthew was born. Recall that the translation was made quite a bit before the sexual revolution in the 1960s. Hence, it was commonly assumed in the culture of the translators that a newly married young woman would naturally be a virgin. Faced with a choice between the Greek word for young woman and the Greek word for virgin they opted, in the Providence of God, to use the latter. Other people assume that Matthew, reading a bad translation mistakenly assumed Jesus was born of a virgin because the Greek version of Isaiah told him so. But, of course, Matthew knows Hebrew as well as Greek and is perfectly well aware of what the original text of Isaiah said. He did not derive his belief in Marys virginity from Isaiah 7:14. He didnt sit down one day, read the Septuagint version of Isaiah, and say to himself, Lets see. Isaiah says something about a virgin here. So if Im going to cook up a Christ figure, Id better make him the son of a virgin so it will fit with this text. On the contrary, the only reason the apostles are telling stories about Jesus at all is not because they saw Jesus birth, but because they saw the risen Jesus. It was this that got their attention and prompted them to inquire about his origins. And they inquired about Jesus origins, not from Isaiah, but from the only person who could possibly have told them the story: Mary. It is only after they have heard Jesus tell them the Law and the prophets are, ultimately, about him, and only after theyve heard the story of Jesus birth from Mary that they look at their Septuagint Bibles, find Isaiahs prophecy and see Jesus reflected in it. Because the point of the Emmanuel Prophecy is, they now realize with a jolt, completely fulfilled. God has, in the utmost and ultimate sense, revealed that he is with us not merely by ensuring the birth of one more mortal Davidic king named Hezekiah, but by taking flesh from the Davidic line himself, sharing our humanity even unto death and rising to eternal life. Hezekiahs birth showed that God was still with the House of David. The birth of Jesus shows why he was with the House of David: to prepare the way for the Messiah who will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:32-33) Immediate and Long-Term Fulfilment This idea of immediate and long-term fulfilment of prophecy is found throughout Scripture and the New Testament writers simply assume that we know this. For instance, Moses tells Israel to await a prophet like him (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15) and indeed many prophets like Moses appear. Thats why we have the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the rest. Yet instead of seeing them as the final fulfillment of Moses promise, Israel instead believes some ultimate prophet is also coming; an Anointed One, Servant, Prophet, Son of David, or Son of Man (these titles are all used in the Old Testament), a man who will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world (Matt. 13:35), a man of whom all the Old Testament prophetsincluding Mosesare dim foreshadows. This is why the Jews asked John the Baptist if he was the Prophet (John 1:21; emphasis added). Messianic Prophecy: Hidden and Clear Understanding of the Old Testaments messianic message was characterized by clarity and obscurity in the time of Christ. Certain texts (like Nathans prophecy of an everlasting Davidic throne) were clearly understood by most first century Jews to be messianic. But other passages were overlooked entirely until Jesus astounding life put them into proper context. Nobody knew beforehand that Psalms 69 and 109[3] prophesied the election of Matthias to the apostolic office forfeited by Judas. Nobody anticipated the Passover lambs unbroken bones as a prophetic image of Christs unbroken bones (cf. John 19:3136, Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12). Nobody saw in advance that Isaiah 53 bears witness to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. If they had, says Paul, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). All these things are only seen after the fact to be eerily prophetic of Christ and his Church. They fill out the rough picture sketched by the more widely-acknowledged messianic prophecies, but only after Jesus life has provided the key to understand them. The early Christians were very well aware of this immediate/remote, hidden/clear character of the Hebrew Bible. So they never mistook the Old Testament for a handy-dandy Rolodex filled with prediction proof texts and neatly organized by category to form the basis of Jesus ministry. The early Christians saw the Old Testament bearing inspired witness to the extraordinary man who had dwelt among them only after the fact. So they did not, for instance, read Zeal for thy house will consume me in Psalm 69 and then decide Lets make up a story about Jesus cleansing the Temple based on this verse. On the contrary, to their great surprise, Jesus cleanses the temple (John 2:1316) and then his disciples remember the psalm and are struck by how it fits the event (cf. John 2:17). This happens again and again in the New Testament. The disciples are as surprised as anybody else when Jesus heals the sick or raises the dead. They dont foresee Christs miracles by reading the Old Testament. Rather, the ministry of Christ happens to them like a bolt from the blue and they then see an uncanny connection between what Jesus does and the weird way that it fits the Old Testament. When Jesus is sold for thirty pieces of silver or his hands and feet are pierced on the cross, the apostles do not foresee this by sticking their noses into Zechariah 11:1213[4] or Psalm 22:16.[5] Rather, after Jesus is raised, they remember these things were written and, blinking their eyes in amazement, exclaim, It was staring us in the face all along and we didnt see it! The Old Testament is not the basis of their belief in these things; its the witness to the truth of what theyve already seen. The Spiritual Sense of Scripture There are even more interesting things to note about this profoundly biblical way of reading Scripture. The first is that Matthew, like all the New Testament authors and even Jesus himself, sees more than one sense at work in Scripture. That is, they take seriously the literal sense of the Old Testament, but they also take that literal sense for granted and see behind it a deeper meaning. They believe the stories reported there as fact are true, but they also believe these things were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:11). So they read (and teach their disciples to read) the Old Testament as packed with all sorts of secondary meanings pointing to Jesus and his Church. Thats why Jesus, taking for granted the literal sense of Exodus 16s story of the manna in the wilderness, also tells us the manna is an image of himself, the Bread of Life (John 6:3135). Its why Paul, likewise taking for granted Israels passage through the Red Sea as historical, also sees it as an image of Baptism (1 Corinthians 10:12). Its why John the Baptist sees the Passover lamb as a foreshadow of Jesus (John 1:29). Again and again, the New Testament reads the Old Testament this way. Given this, let us then return to the mysterious apostolic insistence that Resurrection on the Third Day is in accordance with the Scriptures. [1] Cf. St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept. 2, 73: PL 34,623; Cf. DV 16 [2] For a good argument that Isaiahs prophecy is immediately fulfilled by the birth of Hezekiah, see Rev. William G. Most, The Problem of Isaiah 7:14, Faith and Reason, Summer 1992. Link available as of August 5, 2015. [3] The Septuagint renderings of Psalm 69:25 (Let his habitation become desolate,/and let there be no one to live in it.) and Psalm 109:8 (His office let another take.) are cited by St. Peter in Acts 1:20. [4] Then I said to them, If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them. And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver. Then the Lord said to me, Cast it into the treasurythe lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the Lord. [5] Yes, dogs are round about me;/a company of evildoers encircle me;/they have pierced my hands and feet. A Zen Priests Argument With the Argument from Design A Bit of a Meander on Why I Dont Believe What I Dont, and Why I Do Believe What I Do, Concluding with a Call to Something. James Myoun Ford A Facebook friend who I really like is currently on a family trip to Scotland. Today he posted a picture of that statue of David Hume with his toes rubbed shiny from generations of students hoping for some of his brilliance rubbing off on them. My friends comments held up an exaggerated version of Humes resistance to assuming causation simply from correlation. He then pointedly claimed that Humes putative resistance to causation from correlation led him to not infer a Creator from the creation. And with that in one fell swoop collapsing issues of causation with that traditional argument from design regarding whether there is a creator. Okay, my friend is an Episcopal bishop. And so maybe mushing a lot of things together for rhetorical purposes is understandable. Still Actually over the many years that argument from design has been and continues to be the most revisited justification for a deity who is a creator of the cosmos. Simply put it goes how can something so beautiful, so integrated, so complex not be the product of a conscious creator? It has captured any number of hearts as well as been the pole to which many others have tied themselves in the face of a boatload of arguments against any divine. And, me? Thanks for asking. Frankly, I look at all this great mess, in all its complexity, beauty and horror, and I stand in awe. But I see no necessary next step. My experience of awe doesnt lead me to infer some human-like consciousness at the center of it. I stop with awe. That said. An old friend was asked if he believed in God? He replied no. He was then asked if he were an atheist? He replied, no. Frustrated, the questioner asked, what do you believe? He replied, as little as possible. Thats my position. My North Star. The pole to which I lash myself in the storm. I consider this the great method of spiritual inquiry: Look. Listen. Touch. Feel. Smell. Consider. And dont draw conclusions too quickly. All along the way believe, hold some view as axiomatic only when you must, when the evidence of your experience and the cautions of those elders who have gone the way before are all taken into account. And even then always be prepared to revise your belief in the face of new information. This is hard. I know. I constantly find in myself beliefs that I have not subjected to this, how shall we say, hermeneutic of suspicion as someone said, deep not knowing as I find more accurate. This doesnt mean there is nothing to find. Far from it. Rather, I believe those of us on a quest for meaning within this world are often looking in the wrong direction and using the wrong tools. And different folk use different wrong tools. You know, just to keep it interesting. Unlike my hard atheist friends I do not find belief in a deity the source of the ills of humanity. Not that people havent done very bad things in the name of various gods. The truth is people do bad things. And they seem always able to find a good excuse for doing those bad things. Now a god telling them to do what they want to do has been pretty standard operating since from just about forever. However the rise of the modern atheist states have shown how easy it is to substitute another outsized justification to do the ills to others if we really want. One need go no further than the Khmer Rouges reign of horror for a concrete example. Frankly, as far as the propensity to violence goes, no big religion is off the hook from Hinduism to Buddhism to Judaism. As a Buddhist the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar comes immediately to mind. Of course as to whether there is a god or not, this is a bit of a digression. Gods existence does not depend upon the deity turning out to be good or evil for we humans. That said, I do not believe there is a god in the sense of that entity with a human-like consciousness that exists outside of the causal world, pointed to at the beginning of this reflection by my Episcopal friend. For the most part I find the belief in a creator and occasional interferer in the play of history patently human projection. The evidences of intervention offered up tend to be kind of shabby and often sad. Like the saving of one child from some horror while tens of thousands of others are not rescued. The arguments Ive seen in favor of such a god existing simply do not convince me of anything beyond human beings need. Many different needs attached to that idea of a god. And out of that bundle of desires perhaps directly connected to a human need for some kind of order to things, we come up with arguments to prove there is a deity. The most compelling of them is probably that argument from design. Of course for my Christian and other theist friends, this requires setting aside that it supports none of the major religions. Only a creator of some sort or another. And, one that has no evidence of subsequent involvement. It ultimately is a deistic argument. Me, I simply see no necessity in leaping from seeing everything exists in patterns to thinking a human-like consciousness is at the source of it. I think theres a vastly more useful conclusion to draw from the observation of pattern in the universe and our human lives. And it is that we human beings can discern them, and discern them in ways with practical application. This suggests to me, not a deity at the heart of it but that we can know things, not all things, but many things with relative accuracy. And there is magic in that. Something wonderful. But, to finish with the deity and the closely related (although not necessarily connected) idea of a soul, before moving on to things that I believe are true. I do not think believing in a god or gods a kind of mental illness as some of my friends opine. Nor do I think theres no strong evidence one way or the other and intellectually honest people can go either way. I think the belief in a god and the idea of a soul an unfortunate consequence of the way our brains work. Some animals are fast, some are strong, some can fly. We are smart. We observe, and can slice and dice what we observe, and project from that and make decisions. This has made us the most successful creature on the planet. But, like with any animal gifted with an edge through the workings of evolution, that thing isnt a perfect thing. And it turns out the shadow of our ability to observe and plan is an inclination to reifying the things we see. That is we see ourselves as nouns when in fact we are verbs. What has been useful for us in many ways, when it comes to how we understand ourselves, this skillset betrays us. We think we are permanent when we are not, and we project our image into the sky and worship it, when the universe is vastly more complex and mysterious and wonderful than our imaginings. I am deeply taken with the Buddhist analysis that points out the dis-ease of our human condition, the anxiety, anguish, longing we find as universal human experience comes right out of this misunderstanding of who we are and our place in the universe. I think there are some internal contradictions within the Buddhist analysis that need to be questioned, but the general thrust that we find ourselves wounded in some real way, and that it comes out of our misunderstanding of who we are a critical insight. Based on what Ive said to this point it should be obvious Im a big fan of human reason, and its most lovely child, scientific method. Big fan. These have proven to be the most reliable tools we have among the many tools we use. But, of course, they are tools. What reason and scientific method lets us do is know the world around us, and the ways we ourselves are made up with ever increasing accuracy. They allow us to approach the how of things, and with enormous consequence. What they do not do is explain the why of things. No great revelation in this observation. People have noticed this for a long time. Now, for ages religions were the repository of our collective wisdom about both how and why. Over the years science in its various disciplines have all separated from religions, and in my opinion to the good of both. We still see religions attempting to describe the how of the world by reference to ancient texts, and how persisting in that brings disrepute to the whole religious project. The sooner they get over it, the better for everyone. But, what about that why? I find as I disentangle the sacred texts of the world that Ive read, not a whole lot, but the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, some of the Vedas, a bit more of the Upanishads, a variety of the Chinese texts including the Dao De Ching, the Analects of Confucius, the Chuantzu, a handful of other writers, a fistful of Buddhist Sutras, and most deeply the koan anthologies, and of course commentators on much of the above. They are all subject to critical analysis. The older the texts the more likely they are patched together and represent a variety of opinions only loosely congruent. So, as best I can tell from my reading the scriptures for instance, seeing coherence in the Bible taken together is more an act of will than of anything else. I believe the official sacred texts are neither collections of adages and prejudices that simply exist to order society, nor am I precisely a perennialist, that interesting assertion that all the worlds religions are at core teaching the same thing, and that these texts all teach some same message. Rather I think they represent the best efforts of human beings to get a handle on the great why. I have a deep and abiding sympathy for the religious project, the great investigation of why. Of course, there is another question bubbling within that why. Why a why? I find it some deeply human thing. It is about the hurt of our lives. It is about uncertainty. Pursuing the why of things is about human love. And it is here while I find the scientific enterprises have been helpful, they hint at some of the hows of the quest for why, but they cannot carry me across the river. And I believe there is a farther shore. The story of Job speaks to that place, where in the end Jobs prayer is answered, not by words but by presence. A terrible and beautiful presence. Which we tend to experience as love. And it is that thing upon which I hang all my hopes. And it is here I find myself mining the spiritual traditions. Ive come to cherish a handful of writings considered primary sacred texts. The book of Job, Ecclesiastes, the Gospel of Mark, the Dao De Ching, the Heart Sutra, the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor, and the Gateless Gate. A few others. A few more that would considered commentarial or secondary. Mostly these are Zen Buddhists, but also mystics from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. Some Hindus. Several Taoists. But nothing has proven as useful for me as the two great disciplines of the Zen way. The first the practice of presence distilled into an active sitting, engaged with the moment. The second a path of inquiry into the realities of our lives through ancient questions, guided by people who have found them pointers of the heart and who have lived with them for many years. In my youth I prayed to know God. I prayed with complete earnestness, with the fullness perhaps only a youth can muster with a deal. Show me your face and after that you can kill me. I meant it. And I was met with silence. Many years have passed. Today, by most conventions Im an atheist. That is I do not believe in a human-like consciousness that directs things. In a universe of uncertainty I come as close as a human mind can to certainty that there is no deity that acts within history. And, within my experience there is something. Sometimes I call it presence. Sometimes I call it love. I suspect I know the grubby roots of that love, how it arises within my mammalian consciousness. But, it seems to have a larger existence, as well. Ive found how the Unitarian Universalist two truths that the individual is precious and that the individual is created out of a world of mutuality results in an experience of love. Ive found how the (Zen) Buddhist two truths that everything and everybody in the universe is mutually created through a dance of causality, and that everything and everybody in the universe has no substance, but rather is wildly open, boundless results in an experience of love. Of course this love is completely a-moral. It is desire and it can extend beyond desire. And it is here I think we find our work as human beings. The Hindu sage Sri Nisargadatta gives a further wrinkle on it all, when he says wisdom is knowing I am nothing. Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves. I find a pointer in this. How my life is directed out of this experience, and how a range of behaviors as ideals and as pointers, and as warnings emerge. The five Buddhist precepts perhaps the clearest of the many intuitions of this path of intimacy, this path of love. What I find in this world of hurt and loss is something precious and powerful, terrible and beautiful. Out of the silence I have indeed found something. As a word love falls so short. It has to do too much work, standing for sentimentality and the burning away of self and other, and so much in between. And presence, well, it doesnt quite work, either. But. Language is like that. Falls short. And, and, points If we want a meaning in a world that exists beyond meaning and meaninglessness, I suspect this encounter with, if youll excuse the image: the face of the divine, is it. Not the god who created heaven and earth, but the god beyond all ideas of a god. The silence on the other side of our chattering about a god. Another name: Presence. Another name: Love. This place this presence is a path to walk. It is a sea in which to swim. Our source and our sustenance and our destiny. A terrible and beautiful presence. What to call that God? I have no argument Yesterday in Texas, an avowed white supremacist, John William King, was executed for his part in the gruesome killing of James Byrd Jr. in 1998. King and his friends Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer beat James Byrd then chained him to the back of their pickup and dragged him for miles along a country road. Still alive during his ordeal, Byrd was finally killed when he hit a culvert and his right arm and head were torn off. If you have the stomach for it, you can read the whole sickening story here. Berry was sentenced to life in prison. Brewer was executed in 2011 and King yesterday. Brewer and King never expressed remorse for their crimes saying they would do it again if they had the chance. King had several racist tattoos: a black man hanging from a tree, Nazi symbols, the words Aryan Pride, and the patch for a gang of white supremacist inmates known as the Confederate Knights of America.[19] In a jailhouse letter to Brewer that was intercepted by jail officials, King expressed pride in the crime and said that he realized while committing the murder that he might have to die. Regardless of the outcome of this, we have made history. Death before dishonor. Sieg Heil! King wrote.[2] An officer investigating the case also testified that witnesses said that King had referenced The Turner Diaries after beating Byrd. So here we have three guys who are just about as despicable and disgusting specimens of humanity that you can imagine. What is your reaction? Should Brewer and King have been executed? Im a Catholic and my church teaches that the death penalty is wrong. Until recently the wording in our teaching on the matter has been that the death penalty should not be used, but it still left an opening for its use in extreme circumstances, but more recently Pope Francis has changed this article in the Catechism to read: 2267. Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,[1] and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide. Was he right to do so? Some Catholics disagree. Two eminent philosophers, Edward Fesser and Joseph Bessette in their book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed make the case the capital punishment should be retained. They reason that capital punishment not only deters violent crime, but that it also punishes the crime justly and objectively. The popes reasoning in changing the catechism is that if the criminal is not executed he will still have time to repent. Those in favor of the death penalty observe that the imminence of their execution will help them to focus on the need for that repentance. The person who knows exactly the day and hour of his death will therefore have the motivation to repent according to that deadline. When confronted with the unmitigated evil of people like Berry, Brewer and King, it is difficult for ordinary people not to rise up in furious rage to demand justice. Those in favor of the death penalty will challenge their opposite numbers in the debate with the horrific crime, look them in the eye and say, Do you really, honestly believe this human cockroach deserves to live on the taxpayers dime for the next thirty years with three square and a roof over his head? The film Dead Man Walkingthe story of anti-death penalty campaigner Sister Helen Prejeanfaces these tough questions. When working with the convicted rapist and murderer she comes to realize just how deep the darkness in him runs. At a crucial point after she has got him to read the gospel he says he identifies with Jesus and sees himself as a victim. At that point she too wonders whether he is beyond redemption. Finally, there is the question of eternal justice. I wonder what those who believe God is too good and merciful to send anyone to hell think when confronted with John William King and Lawrence Brewer. Do they really believe such men should go to heaven for all eternity or do they think they should go to hell? If Brewer and King did not repent during the extra twenty years of life they had here on earth would they ever repent? Me? I doubt it. But then, who am I to judge? A Pennsylvania State trooper is facing DUI and child endangerment charges after a traffic stop Monday night. But this isnt his first DUI. As FOX56 reports, the trooper, identified as Corporal Eric Porpiglia, 34, of Drums, Pa., was arrested after allegedly driving under the influence with two children in his car Monday night in Luzerne County. FOX56 cites court documents saying Porpiglia was pulled over after two people called 911 about his vehicle driving all over the road throughout Hazle Township. Upon stopping him, responding troopers smelled alcohol on his breath and saw a 2- and 8-year-old in the back of the car. In addition, Porpiglia's eyes were glassy and bloodshot and he spoke low and very slurred, the complaint in the case states. Upon being taken into custody, his blood alcohol level was determined to be .208, FOX56 states. Finally, this isnt Porpiglias first brush with drinking and driving. (Story continues below) TROOPER ARRESTED: A PSP trooper was arrested after allegedly driving under the influence with 2 children in his car Monday. Officials say Corporal Eric Porpiglia is suspended without pay pending the resolution of his charges and an internal investigation. https://t.co/F7BkVBSR6b FOX56 NEWS WOLF-TV (@FOX56WOLF) May 1, 2019 FOX56, citing court records, reports the trooper was charged with DUI back in February. There were no further details immediately available on that case. Still, Porpiglia was released on $25,000 unsecured bail after his most recent arrest. Theres a story in every bite. The menu at Elwood draws inspiration from tales of the past, some personal and others strictly historical. But above all its a celebration of Pennsylvania and the food that made the state what it is today -- and that includes a healthy portion of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. Adam Diltz, 39, is the mastermind behind the Philadelphia restaurant, which opened its doors at 1007 Frankford Ave. on May 1. The tiny 26-seat BYOB restaurant is both modern with its grey walls and Victorian with ornately framed floral paintings. Its a restaurant that calls to mind a very chic grandparents house where you know youre about to be served Sunday dinner done right. Elwood is named after Diltzs grandfather, who he fondly remembers going fishing in the Susquehanna and hunting for rabbits with during his childhood in Hetlerville in Columbia County. Diltz had been thinking of this restaurant every day for the past 15 years, he said. It was always the same too, always with Pennsylvania Dutch food on the menu and other historical dishes. And now that dream is a reality. Hopefully I can pull it off, he said. Well see! Diltz is an acolyte of food historian William Woys Weaver, citing the author repeatedly in conversation (always with the respectful doctor preface). He grew up reading Weavers books on Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. He mixes the knowledge he gained reading those books with his own personal history to craft Elwoods menu. Simpson Lettuce ($11) is served with hot bacon dressing, pickled quail eggs and beets. Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com Simpson Lettuce ($11), for instance, uses the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch hot bacon dressing, but serves it up over black Simpson Lettuce like his great-grandmother used to do. The egg in the salad is made with quail egg rather than the usual chicken. Ham Pot Pie ($12) is as old school as it gets though, with Diltz making the noodles in-house. Using his great-grandmothers recipe, he is proud to serve it in fine china and on a white table cloth. Pennsylvanians should know, no matter where youre from, about ham pot pie, Diltz said. Its specific to this state and this region." Somebody who didnt grow up in New Orleans still knows what gumbo is, but the same type of person in Philly doesnt know ham pot pie, he said. I think its odd that its not celebrated as much. That lack of awareness over the food that represents Pennsylvania is part of the reason Diltz made Elwood. I didnt understand why theres no restaurant that focuses on Pennsylvania and the region, he said. From the very beginning Elwood was always going to remedy that. It is, at its core, a celebration of the states cuisine. The frog dish ($14) at Elwood is bullfrog legs fricasseed and rolled in cattail pollen served in a green garlic broth. Julia Hatmaker | jhatmaker@pennlive.com Kensington Snapper Soup ($12), Catfish and Waffles ($13) and Frog ($14) all call to mind Philadelphias past signature dishes. In the pre-Revolutionary War days, turtle soup was the dish to order in the Quaker City. In fact, restaurants used to advertise that they had turtle meat because they knew it would draw a crowd. Events with turtle soup on the menu would often sell out well in advance too, according to an article in Penn Museums Expedition journal. Philadelphias unique twist on the dish was serving it alongside pepper sherry -- essentially Madeira infused with habaneros. Its a method Diltz replicates at Elwood. The catfish and waffles dish harkens to the heyday of fishing in the Schuylkill River in the 1800s, when catfish were plentiful. Like the Pennsylvania Dutch version of chicken and waffles, catfish and waffles would be waffles smothered with a catfish and cream sauce. The version at Elwood uses a cornmeal Pizzelle-like waffle, smoked catfish and a smoke cream sauce. Bullfrog fricassee was another Philadelphia specialty in the 1800s. In his frog dish, Diltz rolls the frog legs in cattail pollen he personally foraged, then serves them in a green garlic broth that looks a little like a frog pond. It has a historical element to it and a foraged element -- thats my favorite kind of dish, he said. One of the future dishes coming to Elwood, eel. Photo by Rachel Wisniewski, provided by Elwood. Those are just appetizers -- we didnt even touch on the celery dish that serves as a commentary on food fads (youll have to ask Diltz about it yourself). Entrees include Striped Bass ($27), Earl Keisers Guinea Hen ($28) and Forks Farm Beef ($29). Elwood also evokes the meals Diltz ate at his great-grandparents farm with family-style entrees designed to serve two people that come with mashed potatoes, pickles and sauerkraut (a favorite of Diltzs). These include Earl Keisers Hay Roasted Chicken ($70), Brooke-Lee Farm Whole Rabbit ($65) and Stryker Farm Pork ($70). Its basic farm-to-table, Diltz says, but it still has the story element to it, whether it be drawing from Diltzs own memories of rabbit hunting or the addition of spelt (an ancient grain) and buckwheat porridge to the hen. The menu isnt strictly Pennsylvanian, although the majority of items have a Keystone state inspiration. Diltz isnt ruling out drawing from the Mid-Atlantic region in the future with dishes like Maryland crab soup. With a menu that changes throughout the year, guests can expect to find more Pennsylvania Dutch dishes being added over time. Among those that are definitely happening? Hog maw, or pigs stomach. You can be on the lookout for his take on the dish this fall. Elwood is a BYOB restaurant. Diltz recommends bringing a riesling to pair with your meal. Elwood is located at 1007 Frankford Ave. in Philadelphia. Its open starting at 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Reservations can be made via Resy or by calling 215-279-7427. Learn more at elwoodrestaurant.com. Julia Hatmaker may be reached at jhatmaker@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter @JuliaHatmaker. Start your day in the know by signing up for our newsletter, Good Morning, Pennsylvania. Trail mix the convenient, lightweight, high-energy, finger-food blend of dried fruits, grains, nuts, chocolates and more found in backpacks along trails everywhere is widely claimed to have been invented by a pair of California surfer dudes in 1968. While those unnamed guys may have come up with some special blend of ingredients, trail mix has been a staple with hikers, backpackers and long-distance trekkers much longer than the past 50 years. The blog from Mountain House, one of the leading makers of freeze-dried meals for backpackers, on National Trail Mix Day August 31 last year traced the origins all the way back to 1919, and beyond. Mountain House noted that Jack Kerouac, in his 1958 book The Dharma Bums, included a mix of peanuts, raisins, dried apricots and prunes in the energy food Japhy Ryder packed for his climb up the Matterhorn. A more distant reference appeared in the 1919 book Camping & Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers & for Travelers in the Wilderness, Horace Kephart pointed out that a handful each of shelled nuts and raisins, with a cake of sweet chocolate, will carry a man far on the trail, or when he has lost it. Kephart was instrumental in the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And, much older cultures from Native Americans to the Mongols had their own versions of easy-to-carry, high-energy foods for travel, such as pemmican or stews of meat, wild onions, flour and grain heated under the saddle on horseback. An early commercial reference to trail mix came from Nik Amartseff, whose Erewhon Trading Company was selling a prepackaged version as early as 1974. Today, of course, trail mix in almost unlimited variation, is available in every convenience and grocery store. Gorp is another name commonly applied to trail mix. It is commonly translated as an acronym for good old raisins and peanuts, but a dictionary from the early 1900s had already defined it as to eat greedily. We asked members of the Hiking & Backpacking Pennsylvania group on Facebook, If you mix your own trail mix, what do you put in it? What, if anything, do you avoid? The ingredients they mentioned most often were M&Ms, raisins, mixed nuts, peanuts, chocolate chips, pretzels and dried cranberries. Here are some of the trail-mix recipes and observations they shared. Dried apricots, raisins, peanuts, M&Ms and mini-pretzels; sometimes, goldfish. Mixed nuts, honey-roasted peanuts, sesame sticks, dried cranberries and/or dried mixed berries, banana chips, M&Ms, and Skittles; sometimes, something spicy like wasabi peas; sometimes, little pretzel nuggets. Have to mix it up to keep life interesting. No raisins. Raisins go in oatmeal, never trail mix. Honey-roasted peanuts, Chex cereal, M&Ms, Reeses Pieces and pretzels. Peanuts, almonds, cashews, cranberries, blueberries and Reeses Pieces. Peanuts, raisins, M&Ms and rainbow Swedish fish. Sunflower seed kernels. I have to buy it, because my trail mix would be all M&Ms. Favorite nuts, seeds, dried fruit, granola clusters and bits of chocolate. And I always throw some bits of chocolate with it. Spicy peanuts, walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, chocolate, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds. Plain M&Ms, pretzel sticks, peanuts, Chex cereal, and dried apricots or dried pineapple. Include cashew, exclude pistachio. Dates. Nuts, raisins, dry fruit and Honey Nut Cheerios. Nuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, some granola and chocolate-covered coffee beans. Had corn nuts that I threw in: Epic! Roasted unsalted almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans and dried cranberries. Mixed nuts, raisins and M&Ms. Seeds, nuts, chocolate (especially M&Ms) and dried fruits. Nuts, chocolate chips and raisins. The holy trinity of my hiking life. Whats your personal mix? Please share it in the comments section. On May 2, 2011, Americans celebrated the news that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of al-Qaida, responsible for the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, was dead. President Barack Obama announced that United States Navy SEALs had located and killed bin Laden in Pakistan. President Barack Obama reads his statement to photographers after making a televised statement on the death of Osama bin Laden from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP On May 2, 2011, U.S. Special Forces raided an [al-Qaida] compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the worlds most wanted terrorist: Osama bin Laden. The entire operation, which lasted only 40 minutes from start to finish, was the culmination of years of calculated planning and training. Ultimately, bin Laden was found and killed within nine minutes, and SEAL Team Six was credited with carrying out a nearly flawless mission, according to history.com. In this Sept. 11, 2001, file photo, the twin towers of the World Trade Center burn after hijacked planes crashed into them in New York as part of a plot by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff, File)AP The mission was called Operation Neptune Spear that started on the afternoon of May 2, 2011 Pakistan time, according to history.com. (In Eastern Daylight Time it was the afternoon of May 1. Pakistan is nine hours ahead of Washington, D.C.). The 25 Navy SEALs landed at bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at 3:30 p.m. Within 10 minutes, bin Laden was located and shot in the head. During the operation three other men and a woman also were killed, according to history.com. Bin Laden was placed in a body bag. The SEALs then retrieved some things from his compound to be used for intelligence. The team exited at 4:05 p.m. In New York's Times Square, Monday, May 2, 2011, after President Barack Obama announced the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)AP Obama, according to history.com, monitored the raid via footage shot by a drone flying over the compound. Justice has been done, Obama said in a televised address at 11:35 p.m. Large crowds assembled outside the White House, in Times Square in New York City and at ground zero. Visitors to the temporary memorial to United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., visit on the morning of Monday, May 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)AP DNA was used to confirm that the man killed was Osama bin Laden. The assassination of Osama bin Laden was a significant victory for the U.S. government and the American people at large. For many families of 9/11 victims, bin Ladens death symbolized justice and retribution, according to history.com. On Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, the extremist group al-Qaida attacked the United States by hijacking four airliners and crashing them. Newspapers announcing the death of accused 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden are seen at a newsstand outside the World Trade Center site May 2, 2011, in New York City. Bin Laden was killed in an operation by U.S. Navy SEALs in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)Getty Images The first airplane, American Airlines Flight 11, hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:46 a.m. At 9:03 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 hit the south tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:37 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the west side of the Pentagon. At ground zero in New York, Monday, May 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)AP At 9:59 a.m. the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. At 10:03 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into the ground in Somerset County, Pa. At 10:28 a.m. the north tower collapsed. Crowds gathers outside the White House in Washington late Sunday, May 1 2011, to celebrate after President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)AP At 10:50 a.m. five stories of part of the Pentagon collapsed. In the end, 2,996 people were dead. On Sept. 11, 2011, the national September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City was dedicated and opened to the public the next day. The museum opened May 21, 2014. Herman Maisonave, of the Queens borough of New York, holds up a sign as he joins those gathered by ground zero in New York as they react to the news of Osama Bin Laden's death early Monday morning May 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)AP CARLISLE - Democratic candidates for Cumberland County commissioner pledged to work hard for the team in this falls general election, to see if they can turn the courthouse blue for the first time since 1987. But on Wednesday, it was mostly every candidate for themselves as three of the four hopefuls made their best case to become part of the falls two-person ticket at a forum sponsored by a number of local party organizations. The competition was friendly, and featured no hard disagreements among candidates Michael Fedor, Jean Foschi and Donald Travis. Democratic candidate Kate McGraw was absent. Heres a look at some of the ways that the candidates, presented in alphabetic order, distinguished themselves. Michael Fedor The Hampden Township resident and former county Democratic chairman (2011-14) said one of his first priorities as commissioner would be working to ensure that every resident is present and counted for in the 2020 Census. Its imperative, Fedor said, as a first step to helping Cumberland to close a negative balance between the tax dollars it sends to Harrisburg and Washington, and what comes back. At present, he said, Cumberland only receives 57 cents back for every dollar that county residents send to Harrisburg, a ratio thats lower than all but three counties statewide. Theres a lot less money to go around when theres 63 counties ahead of us, Fedor said. As one prime example of how that could change, Fedor pledged to enlist his fellow commissioners and state lawmakers in a focused effort to try to get the long-proposed widening of Interstate 81 through southern Pennsylvania pushed up the priority list, and launched in the Cumberland County. Citing the Wolf Administrations recent commitment of $660 million to widen Route 322 on the southern approach to State College, he said Cumberlands stretch of I-81 probably has a greater need for widening, and should be a priority for elected officials so work gets started in the next decade. Fedor said he is concerned about encouraging smart growth that both applies the necessary controls in the fastest-growing areas so quality of life indicators like open space and traffic conditions dont slide, and that teases new development in those communities that could use a lift. Fedor also said he would use the leverage of commissioners office to address income inequality by asking county contractors, for example, to submit wage summaries to ensure, for example, they are paying male and female employees equally. In closing, Fedor, a former union and state treasury employee who now runs his own consulting business, said he is prepared to serve all Cumberland residents with Democratic Party values. Donald Travis A former director of elections in Clermont County, Ohio and a retired Army officer, Travis said he has the breadth of experience and knowledge - including spending most of his adult life in other states - to help ensure the county makes smart and efficient choices in complying with new state mandates like having a new elections systems in place for the 2020 cycle. At present, the Wolf Administration is requiring all counties to move to one of several state-certified systems that include a paper trail for possible recounts. The threat is not from Russia, Travis, who lives in Carlisle, said. The threat is from corporate greed, huge profits from certain companies that want to bilk counties far too many hundreds of thousands of dollars for systems that should actually no more than $2,000 to $3,000 a precinct. Travis noted that the voting modernization effort will also be about more than machines. Equal effort, he said, will have to be put into recruiting and properly training poll workers so the new system actually works as it is intended. A one-time registered Republican, Travis said if elected he would on the income gap by prioritizing keeping Cumberland County business-friendly both to recruit new firms and to spark organic development from entrepreneurs who are already here. Like Fedor, Travis called for increased county involvement in the long-range plans for the widening of I-81 that would include development of high-occupancy vehicle lanes as seen in some of the nations major metro areas, and a renewed emphasis on car pooling. He also called for renewed study of a commuter rail between Carlisle and Harrisburg. Describing himself as a lifelong student of government, Travis said his range of experiences as a military officer and in county government makes him well-qualified for the broad range of issues facing county government. Jean Foschi. A para-legal who is currently working as a stay-at-home Mom in Upper Allen Township, 20-year-resident Foschi said she would try to promote public-private partnerships to help leverage the reach of county government. Emphasizing the strength of relationships, Foschi said she would reach up, to Harrisburg; out, to potential private sector partners that could help the county with human service and other projects; and down, to make sure the countys 1,200 employees are treated fairly. New partnerships could be particularly helpful, Foschi said, in issues like development of new affordable housing stock in the county, which has been identified as one of Cumberlands biggest needs as higher-end development has boomed. Foschi said the county must do its part to invest in affordable housing, which she said took a 2 percent cut in 2019. But she said she thinks commissioners do even more for residents by encouraging more partnerships with realtors, developers and builders. Foschi presented the most intriguing ideas on the opioid crisis. While all three candidates spoke of supporting existing county substance abuse efforts, she proposed a new twist on diversion programming that would enable certain arrestees with drug habits to avoid pre-trial detention if they immediately commit to drug testing and work or training requirements. Keeping people out of prison that are addicted is critical to our societys success, Foschi said. It gives them the chance to work and to not be a drain on our society, and to not be a drain on our prison system. Foschi said she would couple such diversion and treatment efforts with an intensified, long-term public education campaign intended to break the demand cycle. Foschi pledged to be a full-time commissioner who will put the peoples interests first. This will be my only job. And because I am not dependent on reelection; Im not dependent on the money you would pay me every year, I can use my political courage for your benefit.... Im not talking about rocking the boat. But Im talking about standing up for the things that are right." Wednesdays forum can be screened in its entirety on the Carlisle PA Democrats facebook page. The top two vote-getters in the May 21 primary are expected to vie for two of the three county commissioner seats against Republican incumbents Vince DeFilippo and Gary Eichelberger, both of whom are unopposed on this springs Republican ballot. Melissa Lambert initially wasnt crazy about the idea of getting a dog. She and her husband already had their hands full in Waynesboro, Pa., with three young children, ages 3 to 8. A dog would bring even more work. But then Lambert met Edgar, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, who turned up at the local humane society shelter where Lambert regularly brought her girls to play with the animals. Lambert was irresistibly drawn to him, and the family adopted the 4-year-old, who had previously spent his life on the streets and was once labeled by a shelter in West Virginia as unadoptable. Months later, the Lamberts are hailing Edgar as a hero for scaring off a a man who police say was looking for a child to abduct when he broke into the Lamberts home in Franklin County through a first-floor window in the early hours of April 28. Police arrested a suspect the next day who reportedly told investigators he had been trolling the neighborhood for weeks prior, looking for young unsupervised children. Police charged the suspect, Thomas Dewald, 20, in connection with the abduction of a 4-year-old girl from her bed in the same area April 25. He locked that girl into a wooden box, but she escaped the next morning after he went to work, according to court documents. Since that girl had gotten away, Dewald was back on the prowl, police said. But Edgar wasnt about to let anything happen to the three little girls in his newfound home. The Lambert family had arrived home about 1:20 a.m. Sunday April 28 after attending an out-of-town funeral. The Lambert parents carried their three girls to bed and then quickly fell asleep themselves, with Edgar in their room, where he normally slept. About two hours later, Edgar, normally a pretty laid-back dog, started losing his mind, Thom Lambert said. It was pure rage. And Edgar wouldnt stop, even when Thom Lambert tried to calm him down. Thats when Thom Lambert heard footsteps scurrying across his kitchen floor downstairs. Thom Lambert bolted downstairs to see a window and his kitchen door open. They were both locked when the Lamberts went to bed. They had made sure of it because they were aware of the abduction of 4-year-old Gemma Moats from their small township just a few nights prior. When Thom Lambert saw the door open, just like the door was left open at Gemmas house after she was abducted, his heart sank. He grabbed two kitchen knives and darted back upstairs to check his girls bedrooms. They were still safely tucked in bed. He shepherded the girls into his room with his wife. He handed his wife a knife and went back downstairs. Thom went downstairs and cleared each room alone with his knife as he called 911. The police soon arrived and helped him clear the house a second time, just to make sure no intruders were hiding inside the home. When Thom explained to police how Edgar had gone nuts, barking and growling, the police had a hard time believing him, he said. Edgar was just there on the floor sleeping while the cops were clearing the house with their guns drawn, Thom Lambert said. And the cops are like, so this is the dog that youre saying went nuts? Thom Lambert believes Edgar fell back asleep because he knew his work was done. Thom Lambert said he had heard Edgar bark aggressively like that one time before: the night Emma Moats was abducted. Thom Lambert believes the suspect was skulking across the Lamberts property before he decided to go to Gemmas house. The police confirmed his suspicions, Thom Lambert said. And thats what makes his blood run cold. The fact that the suspect may have been at his property and saw that they had an 80-pound dog in the yard, but he still came back three nights later to take his chances. He was really drawn to take one of our kids, Thom Lambert said. Just saying it out loud makes me feel like I got punched in the [groin] and the stomach at the same time. Police told the Lamberts that the suspect said he paused initially inside the Lamberts home after he heard the dog barking. He weighed whether he should just wait for the dog quiet down or flee. Police told the Lamberts that the suspect decided to scram after hearing the anger in Edgars barking. He told the police he knows how dogs bark, and the difference between hey, and Im going to hurt you, Thom Lambert said, and the burglar quickly deduced that Edgar fell into the latter category. Edgars behavior that night was in stark contrast to how he typically acts with his family, which is loving, if a bit lazy. The Lamberts used to joke about how the dog would see a mouse running across the floor of the 200-year-old farmhouse where they live and barely blink an eye. He certainly wouldnt get up and chase it. He doesnt seem like a guard dog, Thom Lambert said. Thats just not in his wheelhouse. But Edgar knew when it was time to flex his muscle. Its so damn impossible right now to think we got this dog for any other reason than it was meant to be, Thom Lambert said. Everything had to happen in just the right way for him to be there at that moment. In the days after the crime, the Lamberts tried to say strong in front of their girls, who werent aware at the time that an intruder was inside their home. But the reality of what could have happened, what might have happened, if Edgar hadnt woken up and scared the intruder off, makes the Lamberts see stars and feel like theyre going to throw up, Thom Lambert said. When you hear more details about what happened, its horrifying to consider, Thom Lambert said. But the intruders mission failed and he was quickly apprehended. So I consider that a win. One of the most damaging comments about the ordeal was how the suspect tried to portray himself to police as if he was saving children from deplorable conditions, Thom Lambert said. Dewald told investigators he took Gemma because of the poor condition of her home, but left the Lamberts children because their home was acceptable, according to court records. But we all know thats complete B.S., Thom Lambert said. Bounding a little girl with tape and locking her in a wooden box? Those are supposed to be good living conditions? He can say what he wants but we know he came to our house to take one of our kids and he got run off by our dog. Thats what Id like the focus to be on right now, the fact that our really awesome dog saved our girls. A Harrisburg man who already is in state prison for embezzling nearly $131,000 from a central Pennsylvania Lowes Home Improvement store was hit with an additional 15-month federal prison sentence Thursday for stealing more than $75,000 from two banks. Yet even the prosecutor told U.S. Middle District Senior Judge Sylvia H. Rambo that he is willing to take a chance that 27-year-old Keynan Kinards days of committing crimes are over. The governments going to take a leap of faith here, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Terz said. Kinard got into trouble with the law for a three-county crime spree. In Lebanon County, he pleaded guilty to embezzling from a North Londonderry Township Lowes store while serving as its human resources director. This past November, county Judge Samuel A. Kline sentenced Kinard to 3 to 15 years in prison on that case. In the federal case, Kinard was charged with defrauding Fulton Bank and Woodcrest Bank in the other counties while working as an insurance agent. This guys a mystery to me. He seemed to have so much going for him, Terz told the judge. These crimes were crimes of greed. But they were also silly, stupid crimes. He must have known he would get caught. He just wanted shortcuts, the prosecutor added. And this is where the shortcuts led him. Defense attorney R. Davis Younts insisted the thefts were anomalies for a hard-working father who strives to provide for his family. He asked Rambo to impose a 15-month federal jail term and to run it concurrently the sentence Kline issued. Rambo granted the first request, but not the second. She ordered Kinard to begin serving his federal sentence only after completing his state prison stay for the Lowes embezzlement. The judge said she opted for the 15-month sentence because Kinards crimes seemed to be conduct which is out of character for him. She added 4 years of probation, ordered restitution to the banks, and told Kinard he cant hold any jobs that require him to handle money or manage finances. Stephanie Moats can clearly remember the moment she realized that something had happened to her 4-year-old daughter, Gemma. It was 3:30 a.m. last Thursday, and the homes front door was open. Gemma was nowhere to be found. Moats said she remembers her panic so vividly that she can barely sleep. She searched frantically for her missing daughter, then called police. A search lasted more than six hours before the child was found safe on the side of a local road about 2.5 miles from her home. Thomas A. Dewald Police have since charged 20-year-old Thomas A. Dewald with sneaking into the Moats Franklin County home while they slept and abducting their daughter. Dewald, a stranger to the Moats, later bound the child with duct tape and locked her in a wooden box, according to police. Now, in addition to struggling with the stress of having a child abducted, Moats said she is wondering why police treated her like a suspect and why she hasnt yet been able to speak with her daughter, who she said is in the custody of Children & Youth Services. Ive been a mess the past few days, she said. I feel like Im never going to sleep again. Parents panic On the night of the abduction, Stephanie Moats was up late until nearly 2 a.m. cleaning in preparation for a visiting friend who was scheduled to arrive the following morning. When she finally closed her eyes, she didnt imagine that shed awaken only an hour and a half later to find her husband in a panic, searching for their daughter who was not in her bedroom. She had never once left her room before, Stephanie Moats said, explaining that Gemma typically would sleep through the night behind a closed door. Thats why she said her husband panicked when he woke, walked past Gemmas bedroom to find the door cracked open and then saw the front door was standing open, as well. When he realized the door was open, it really set off a red flag, she said. At that time, we knew something wasnt right. Gemma Moats The parents began to search, Stephanie Moats said. They overturned furniture, emptied cupboards and checked every possible hiding place big enough for Gemma to fit. When they didnt find her, they turned their attention to the outdoors, searching the neighborhood, yelling Gemmas name and knocking on neighbors doors. Still, they didnt find her. Stephanie Moats said she panicked, screamed and prayed. She said she spent what seemed like hours pacing her floor. Im surprised there werent holes in it, she said. LIVE from the state police barracks in Franklin County, Pa. where we will be getting an update on the recent abduction of 4-year-old Gemma Moats. Moats was taken from her Washington Township home last week, but was found 2.5 miles from home several hours later. Police say charges are pending. Posted by PennLive.com on Monday, April 29, 2019 Police investigation begins The parents decided it was time to call police. Stephanie Moats said troopers arrived in about half an hour. A search party grew to include dozens of emergency responders, including police and firefighters, she said. But Stephanie Moats said she was shocked when police began their search in her home. They trashed our house," she said, adding that she didnt get an apology or help cleaning up. On Wednesday, state police Trooper Megan Frazer said she could not share specific information about the investigation into this case, but said it is protocol to begin the search for a missing child at their home. We always start with the house and people who live in the house and work our way out, she said. Thats also why the Moats were subject to lengthy police interviews shortly after Gemma was reported missing, Frazer said. Missing child found In this case, Gemmas disappearance wasnt solved at home. She was found safe about 10 a.m. Thursday by a passerby on the side of a road about 2.5 miles from her Washington Township home. Later that night, police announced that she had been abducted. Stephanie Moats said she was still waiting Wednesday to be reunited with her daughter. And making matters more difficult, Stephanie Moats said she had to relinquish custody of her other two children Abigail Coshun, 10, and Remington Moats, 9 who are staying with family members. Stephanie Moats said a safety plan set up by officials with Franklin County Children & Youth Services after the abduction was keeping her from Gemma and her other children. She said she is hoping for a positive outcome at a scheduled Monday hearing, where custody of her children will be discussed. Children & Youth Services could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon. Suspect arrested In charging documents filed Tuesday by state police, troopers claim that Dewald, who had been staying with relatives in the area for a few weeks, had admitted to searching his neighborhood for children playing in their yards and for houses with no video surveillance nearby. Dewald eventually targeted the Moats home, entering through the front door, which he said was unlocked, before snatching Gemma from her bedroom, according to police. Stephanie Moats said she always makes sure to lock that door. Dewald took Gemma back to his home where he later bound her with tape and put her in a wooden chest in his bedroom, police said. When he later returned, he found that Gemma had somehow escaped, police said. Police have not revealed how she escaped, and Stephanie Moats speculated that the 4-year-old might have gotten help, possibly from one of Dewalds family members. Dewald was arrested earlier this week. In addition to the the abduction of Gemma, Dewald is accused of burglarizing another home in the same area, police said. They maintain that he also intended to take children from that home. Stephanie Moats, choked up with tears, struggled to speak about Dewald on Wednesday. She said she remembered seeing him in the neighborhood before the abduction, but shed never spoken with him. "I just dont know how he could leave her in a chest and tape her mouth, she said. "Hes not a man. Hes a monster. Now, Stephanie Moats said she is hoping that the justice system will deliver the most severe penalty available. In the meantime, she hopes to share the story of what happened to her daughter, she said. I want to make it so that if he gets out of jail, everyone knows what he did, she said. Dewald faces felony charges of kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, burglary, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint, criminal trespass and corruption of minors, as well as misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and recklessly endangering another person. He was arraigned on the charges Tuesday, and online court documents show he was denied bail. Harassment continues As Stephanie Moats spoke about the incident Wednesday, she was interrupted by a neighbor who visited her to offer a hug and to ask how she was doing. Stephanie Moats said similar visits have been few and far between. More frequently, she and her family members have been met with harassment, both online through social media comments and at their home, where passersby have yelled obscenities at them and scattered garbage in their yard, she said. Stephanie Moats said she believes that harassment is the result of a claim that Dewald made to police and that police later made public in a criminal complaint. Dewald told police that he abducted Gemma, at least in part, because he wanted to take her from her home, which he described as in deplorable conditions," according to the complaint. Its just upsetting. It hurts," she said. Stephanie Moats admitted that the exterior of her home isnt in the best condition, but she said the interior is clean and well-maintained. Stephanie Moats said she also is left wondering if Dewald had entered her home prior to the reported abduction, and if so, how many times. That is part of the reason she has rarely been able to sleep at night, she said. I dont want to live like this for the rest of my life, she said. A Southeastern Pennsylvania lawmaker who opposes the Mariner East 2 pipeline is being criticized by unions that represent pipeline workers, and others, for a tweet one fellow House member called a poor choice of words. At the center of the discord was a freshmen Democratic representative and a tweet about Nazis. On Saturday, Chester County Democrat Danielle Friel Otten got in a Twitter exchange with a pro-pipeline group. Chester County Democrat Danielle Friel Otten Shed been supporting protesters who were using cars to block pipeline work a reaction to Sunoco, the pipeline developer, buying nearby homes that have been affected by construction-induced sinkholes over the last few years. Friel Otten lives near those homes and was elected, in large part, based on a pledge to oppose the Mariner East 2. She said she didnt organize the protest, but that once she found out it was happening near her house, it was really important to me to have the backs of my constituents and my neighbors, and to welcome them to sit on my patio. During the protest, the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance tweeted that protesters were preventing workers from doing their jobs. In a now-deleted tweet, Friel Otten responded that The Nazis were just doing their jobs too, and linked a PBS article on coercion by people in power. What I meant by that, is that this excuse of people just doing their jobs to validate harming people is not an acceptable argument, she said. Backlash was quick. Fellow Southeastern Democrat David Delloso, who was elected last year alongside Friel Otten and has an office down the hall from hers, heads the regions Teamsters Union. He said he has received a lot of calls from members upset with his colleague. Its a poor choice of words, the Delaware County Representative said. Its not a fair comparison. I mean these are working folk, these are salt-of-the-earth people. He wasnt the only dismayed union leader. Jim Snell, the business manager for Steamfitters Local 420, said he at least wanted Friel Otten to walk back the statement. The word that was used is a highly offensive word, and the fact that she is a state legislator, a Democrat no less, to use that kind of language so flippantly and to not even issue some type of an apology just blows my mind. Friel Otten maintains her tweet was misconstrued. Maybe it was perceived that way, but it was not a comparison, she said. I was not comparing the Mariner East Project to the Holocaust. Who would ever do that? Her beef, she said, is with gas companies like Sunoco, not with workers. Condemnation also came from the state GOP, which called for Friel Ottens resignation. The Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia urged her to apologize, and a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said that as general rule, no one should use this type of language in political or policy debate. Frank Dermody, who helms the House Democratic caucus, was more measured. In a statement, he declared his support for pipeline workers and said he believes the commonwealth needs to capitalize on the employment opportunities that big projects like Mariner East 2 bring. He didnt mention Friel Ottens tweet, but he noted that Mariner East construction has met unexpected difficulty and said he joins Friel Otten in calling attention to the dislocation of at least five Chester County families as a result of catastrophic sinkhole damage caused by pipeline construction through a residential neighborhood. Pennsylvania State Police held a public memorial ceremony Thursday morning at the State Police Academy in Hershey to honor the 98 troopers who lost their lives in the line of duty since the department was created on May 2, 1905. The program also marked the 114th anniversary of the establishment of the agency. Troopers from across the state attended the event, and visitors were able to visit the academy's memorial wall and searchable computer kiosk to learn more about each of the members who died in service of the people of Pennsylvania. Memorials for each of the fallen troopers can be found on the Pennsylvania State Polices website. Pennsylvania State Police History: A protection from abuse order was filed against Dauphin County Magisterial District Judge Hanif L. Johnson, according to multiple media reports. WPMT Fox43 reported that the temporary protection from abuse order was granted last week, citing a notice of hearing from the Centre County Court of Common pleas. WHTM abc27 reported that a 21-year-old woman reported Johnson sexually assaulted her three times in State College and made multiple harassing phone calls to her. The station also said that the woman has not reported Johnson and the abuse allegations to police. Police in State College and the Centre County District Attorneys Office told WHTM they were not aware of the allegations. A Harrisburg High School SciTech Campus and Penn State graduate, Johnson was elected to his seat in November 2017 at the age of 27. An attempt to reach Johnson at his office Wednesday was unsuccessful. A PFA hearing is scheduled for May 6. WILLIAMSPORT Spy cameras in a State College area apartment have resulted in a criminal charge and a federal lawsuit against a Massachusetts man accusing him of invasion of privacy. The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. Middle District Court contains allegations against Nils D. Knutrud, 28, of Westborough, similar to those in a Jan. 17 Ferguson Twp. police criminal complaint in Centre County court. Knutrud is accused of secretly recording Matthew Crust and Tina Edelstein, with whom he shared the apartment on West Aaron Drive. Crust and Edelstein filed the civil suit seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for egregious invasions of privacy. Knutrud waived his preliminary hearing on a criminal charge of invasion of privacy and is free on personal recognizance awaiting county court action. The following are the allegations against him taken from the arrest affidavit in the criminal case and the civil complaint: Crust and Edelstein knew Knutrud for about two years before August 2017 when they moved into the apartment with him. The three are former Penn State students but only Edelstein graduated, university records show. Knutrud as a Christmas gift in 2017 gave the other two a DVD player that he installed at the foot of their bed. Edelstein became suspicious over the way the player was given them and that Knutrud would take it to his upstairs bedroom at times. The morning of May 25, 2018, Edelstein and Crust removed the casing and saw components that appeared to be glued in place. They took the player to a Best Buy, where staff confirmed the presence of the camera, microphone and storage device. A USB card reader viewed during the police investigation contained 43 motion-activated videos including those of Knutrud installing the player and focusing it on the bed. Multiple hard drives, storage devices and computer-related equipment were found in the apartment as were two cameras hidden in a bathroom attached to the bedroom Crust and Edelstein shared. The down loads were dated Dec. 6, 2017, about the time Edelstein said Knutrud was coming up with excuses to borrow her computer. Claims against Knutrud in the civil suit besides invasion of privacy cite violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Stored Communications Act and the right of informational privacy guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution. Editors note: This story was updated to remove some extraneous details. A PennDOT employee in Harrisburg now faces criminal charges after police said she stole a handicap parking placard from her employers and used it to park in spaces reserved for people with disabilities. Ryan Robinson, 24, of Harrisburg is the only employee named in the state police news release, but troopers said seven other employees also used placards to park illegally. Seven other PennDOT employees were using handicap parking placards, issued to their friends or family members, to park in the employee handicap parking lots while not disabled, police said. The other seven people also are charged, but police have not released their names because they face only summary citations, state police Trooper Megan Frazer said. Robinson stole her placard from the PennDOT building at 1101 South Front Street, police said. She then used that placard in her personal vehicle to park in handicap-designated spots outside of the building, police said. Charges related to the theft and misuse of the placard have been filed with a local magisterial district judge, police said. PennDOT officials issued a statement about the reported unlawful use of the placards: PennDOT discovered the improper use of persons with disability parking placards by PennDOT employees, and turned the information over to PA State Police for investigation. For those who legitimately need them, these placards are critical tools in their mobility, and PennDOT takes the oversight of their issuance very seriously. A PennDOT spokeswoman did not comment on whether those accused of wrongdoing are still employed by the department. A woman who worked as a school cafeteria worker is accused of firing a bb gun at children playing at a Northumberland County playground, according to multiple media reports. Marie McWilliams, 30, of Coal Township, began firing pellets at several children Tuesday evening at the Ranshaw Playground from an upstairs window in her home, the Daily Item reported. One parent who spoke with McWilliams told police that McWilliams said if she didnt shoot the kids at the playground, shed get them at lunch because of her cafeteria job working with the Shamokin Area School District, the Daily Item reported. McWilliams told police that she shot at the children because she became angry when they started to curse at her, WNEP reported. A school district official told WNEP that the cafeteria workings including McWilliams, are employed by an outside company that handles the districts food services. McWilliams is charged with two counts of misdemeanor simple assault and one count of misdemeanor reckless endangerment, plus summary citations for harassment and carrying/discharging an air rifle in a public place, according to online court dockets. McWilliams was arraigned Wednesday and is being held at Northumberland County Jail on $10,000 bail. Since the emergence of the Mueller report, President Trump has been proclaiming that it proves him innocent of collusion with Russian intelligence agencies to subvert the American electoral system. The bar for proof in an impeachment hearing is slightly lower than in a court of law. But even in a court of law, the burden on the prosecution is not proof beyond the shadow of a doubt, but beyond reasonable doubt. Plenty of convictions are based on massive circumstantial evidence without the proverbial "smoking gun". According to the Mueller report, some 18 members of the Trump family, campaign organization, friends and lawyers, met with 13 Russians with known ties to Putin himself or Russian intelligence organizations. (http://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf) According to the U.S. press, more than 150 of these meetings occurred before, during, and after the campaign. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_between_Trump_associates_and_Russian_officials) All these meetings were surreptitious. Everyone involved tried to hide them from law enforcement and the public, lying time and again to the FBI and other investigative organs in the attempt to cover them up. The very first visitors to the Oval Office were the Russian foreign minister and ambassador along with members of the Russian press. No Americans were allowed in the room, certainly not members of the U.S. press. This was a meeting between Trump himself and Russians who had direct contact with Vladimir Putin and Russian intelligence. The Russian oligarchs are close friends of Putin and his cabinet members. Many of these oligarchs are prevented from traveling to North America and Western Europe by a sanction called the Magnitsky Act. The funds they hold in these countries are frozen, so they are deprived of access to the billions they stole from the Russian people. One of the sanctions on Russia prevented some American investments in Russia. ExxonMobil had arranged to purchase drilling rights to 63.6 million acres of Russian territory. They had sunk one well which proved to hold more oil than expected, but then the sanctions prevented any further drilling. ExxonMobil estimated the cost of its loss on this collapsed deal to be $1 billion. (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/exxon-mobil-could-tap-huge-arctic-assets-if-us-russian-relations-thaw.html) On his first day in office, Trump tried to remove the sanctions on Russia and the Russian oligarchs. He made Rex Tillerson, president of ExxonMobil, our secretary of state. Congress responded swiftly by passing a hugely by-partisan bill that made Obama's sanctions firmly a matter of law, out of the reach Trump's executive orders. In all the meetings between Trump associates and agents of Russian intelligence, we are supposed to believe that not one word was spoken about the release of documents stolen by the Russians from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, about Clintons stolen e-mails or the sanctions. Not one single time did the topic of the enormous misinformation campaign the Russians were carrying on against Secretary Clinton arise. Of course, we now know from the Mueller report, that the assistant of Paul Manafort, then Trump's campaign manager, gave Trump polling data on four key states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, to Konstantin Kilimnik, a known agent of Russian intelligence. Trump then surprisingly carried three of those four states which should have gone to Clinton. All these facts are explained only by a quid pro quo between Trump and Putin however communicated: if Putin helped Trump get elected, Trump would lift the sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs. A massive amount of evidence points to Trumps collusion with Russian intelligence agencies to subvert US elections beyond any reasonable doubt, even without evidence of Trump talking directly with Putin. And that is a high crime. Robert Beard is Professor Emeritus of Bucknell University. April 19 marked the 244th anniversary of the shot heard round the world when colonial American militia clashed with British troops around sunrise on Lexington Green in Massachusetts. For years, tensions between Britain and her American colonies had been growing over taxes on stamps, lead, paint, paper, glass, and tea. The 1775 morning skirmishes in Lexington and later Concord sparked the American Revolution. Americans disapproved of taxes without representation. As Paul Revere wrote, if Parliament had the ability to take one shilling from us without our consent, they have a right to all we possess . . . In May 1765, Virginian Patrick Henry roared against taxation without representation: I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! The Stamp Act Congress would later add its dissent in petitioning the King on behalf of the colonists: that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives. However, George III and Parliament rejected the American colonies ability or right to determine taxation. They insisted Parliaments authority was absolute, declaring their colonies were subordinate to, and dependent upon the imperial crown of Great Britain. In 1773, Bostonians showed their displeasure over taxes on tea by dumping 10,000 pounds of it into Boston Harbor. Similar tea parties were held in other colonies. Outraged by the Boston Tea Party, Parliament removed political power from the people by closing Boston Harbor, abolishing Massachusetts government, banning town hall meetings, and requiring colonists to house British troops. These Intolerable Acts led to a Continental Congress of the colonies (except Georgia) in Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia. With one of the 13 colonies no longer able to govern itself, the Continental Congress took actions to protest the loss of self-government. However, the very day Congress sent its list of rights and grievances to London, the King banned the sale of guns and ammunition. By the time the 2nd Continental Congress convened in 1775, 49 Americans and 73 British troops were dead and Boston was surrounded by armed colonists. Residents who wanted to leave were required to surrender their weapons: 1,800 muskets, 600 pistols, nearly 1,000 bayonets, and 40 blunderbusses. A year later, Congress would declare American independence, noting the history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations including: for imposing taxes on us without our consent. As we note these milestones today, we should also take note of sometimes forgotten founders who joined to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to the independence and creation of our great nation. More importantly, let us never forget the rights they fought for: freedom of religion, speech, and the press; the right to bear arms; protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; protections of rights to life, liberty, and property; rights of accused persons in both criminal and civil cases; protections against excessive bail, fines, and punishments; and rights retained by both the people and the individual states. In the predawn hours of a chilly and hazy April 19, 1775, fewer than 70 Americans stood before one of the strongest armies in the world at that time. They were outnumbered nearly ten to one. Eight of these militiamen would die that morning. Another ten were injured. While no one knows who fired the first shot, the colonists stood before the Kings soldiers to protect their homes, their families, and their ways of life. Would any of us have done the same on that chilly morning? Please, lets not take our rights for granted. State Sen. Mike Folmer represents the 48th Senatorial District Superior Court Judge William Carey ordered the release of $100,099.46 to Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in trust for Alaska Airlines and Dan Kane on Wednesday, April 24. The court held the funds in escrow while Petersburg Attorney Fred Triem filed an appeal of the case Estate of Helen Lingley vs. Alaska Airlines, Inc. and Dan Kane. The court issued final judgment in the matter in March 2018 and ordered Triem to pay costs, attorney fees and a $10,000 fine to Alaska Airlines counsel for the costs incurred by them since the death of the plaintiff in the case. Triem continued to negotiate settlement... One year later, more than 129,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in region The area of the massive Schuylkill Yards development, west of 30th Street Station. Two enormous and very old Quaker cemeteries underlie a large portion of the land. Read more The massive $3.5 billion Schuylkill Yards development that begins at 30th Street Station and extends west along Market Street and JFK Boulevard to 31st Street is taking shape in part on land that was once occupied and may still be by two of the citys oldest and largest abandoned historic cemeteries. Both burial grounds known as the Upper Burial Ground and the Lower Burial Ground were started by the Quakers in the 17th century, and were in use from the 1680s until the middle of the 19th century. Here lay the Quaker dead and a huge proportion of the non-Quaker poor, African Americans, laboring classes, immigrants, transients, and others relegated to what became burial fields for the indigent. No records of wholesale removals or reinterments of skeletal remains from either cemetery have been found in public records. And skulls and bones have been repeatedly unearthed during construction in the neighborhood over the last century or so, according to newspaper accounts. In one instance, as 30th Street Station was being built in 1929, a worker using a pick under a bridge at 30th and Race Street pulled up a human skull. Several others were turned up in the next few minutes, as well as several other human bones," according to an account in The Inquirer. In another, in 1967, the operator of a front-end loader in the rail yard uncovered and smashed a coffin-like box, exposing two skulls and a number of bones. According to the Daily News, police said that other bones have been found there from time to time. How many skeletons might remain buried? Possibly thousands, according to archaeologists, but no one knows. Historical maps are unclear on the cemeteries boundaries, but numerous histories portray the grounds as used first by Quakers and then by the poor, whose numbers increased along with the size of the city. Douglas Mooney, president of the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, said that the burial grounds served as unregulated potters fields for many decades and that people were buried out there willy-nilly. The Archaeological Forum has included rough maps of the cemeteries on its website of the citys abandoned graveyards, but their presence has remained under the radar. Oh, my God! Wow, wow, wow! said David Brownlee, professor of art history at the University of Pennsylvania, when informed of the existence of the graveyards and their possible persistence to the present day. Now, the interesting and important thing is to begin a discussion about how to treat this kind of thing, because it occurs all over the place. Drexel University, which owns most of the land for the Schuylkill Yards project a mix of labs, offices, shops, and housing declined to comment and referred all questions to its partner, Brandywine Realty Trust, the Radnor-based developer. Brandywine officials said they were aware that the land was once occupied by the two cemeteries. But they said that extensive studies and historical research by George Thomas, a well-known architectural historian, indicate that it is unlikely that any human remains are still there. In a statement, the company said: Brandywine was notified by Philadelphia City Planning Commission that the premises proposed for development may have formerly been a Friends burial ground. We immediately sought advice from subject-matter experts and directed resources to complete a Phase I study [of the historical and documentary record] The study initially concluded that there are no funereal objects or other evidence of a cemetery at the site." Brandywine said it had also conducted "invasive geotechnical studies on its own before hearing from the Planning Commission. The company is continuing to investigate and hopes to confirm its initial conclusion in the very near future, its statement said. Thomas cast doubt on the existence of the Lower Burial Ground and noted that the Upper Burial Ground would have been outside of the Schuylkill Yards development area. Moreover, there was such extensive ground disruption by railroad-related construction in the 19th and 20th century, he said, it is incredibly unlikely that anything survived" of the cemeteries. The Archaeological Forum originally notified the Planning Commission of the presence of the cemeteries, in March, and Mooney said there is no way to determine the presence or absence of human remains without physical field tests digging into the ground and looking. There is so much that is not known about these burial grounds [that] were saying proceed with caution. Brandywine acknowledged that it has not performed such archaeological testing or employed a professional archaeologist to conduct analysis, although the company has not ruled that out. If the evidence we receive warrants a Phase II archaeological study, we will perform one, the company said in an email. A Phase II study would involve archaeological testing on the ground. As of this week, Brandywine had not contacted any Quaker group. Such legacy organizations are commonly drawn into discussions by developers or public officials when pertinent historical resources are uncovered. Federal law requires such engagement if federal funds or partnerships are involved in a project. That is not the case with Schuylkill Yards, Brandywine officials said. Reached a few days ago, Christie Duncan-Tessmer, general secretary of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, said that no one at the meeting was aware of the burial grounds and their possible disruption by development. It is of interest to us now, and were looking into it, she said in an email. Echoes of Arch Street? The Archaeological Forums online map of historic Philadelphia graveyards was posted for public reference two years ago after an abandoned burial ground on the 200 block of Arch Street was uprooted. In that case, PMC Property Group, beginning construction on an apartment complex, encountered a field of coffins from the old First Baptist Church Burial Ground, which once occupied the block. The skeletal remains had supposedly been removed in the 19th century. But PMC discovered that was not the case and eventually allowed volunteer archaeologists onto the site to remove hundreds of ancient coffins. Public officials from the state Historical and Museum Commission, the Department of Licenses and Inspections, and the Philadelphia Historical Commission all said at the time there was nothing they could do about the digging and the bones because they lacked jurisdiction to intervene. PMC eventually took the matter to Orphans Court, which has explicit jurisdiction over abandoned graveyards. Remains removed from the site will eventually be reinterred under court auspices. The case of the Upper and Lower Burial Grounds presents a similar, although potentially much larger, difficulty. The size of the two cemeteries (collectively three or four acres and possibly much more or much less), their lengthy period of usage, the lack of regulation of interments there, and the absence of documentation and accurate mapping of the boundaries present major problems. Echoing their position in the case of the Arch Street burial ground, city officials maintain that they have no jurisdiction over human remains uncovered in private development projects, such as Schuylkill Yards. The Orphans Court may have jurisdiction to approve removal of such remains if the developer seeks its approval, said a spokesperson for the citys Department of Planning and Development in an email. We will raise the issue with the developer and encourage them to file a petition in Orphans Court if it appears or is likely that remains are being or will be disturbed during construction. Here you will find Philadelphia Whats the public interest in digging and commemorating a potters field? said Aaron Wunsch, associate professor in landscape architecture and historic preservation at Penn. Id say its considerable. Here you will find Philadelphia the poor, workers, African Americans. This is the real face of the city. The Lower Burial Ground was begun about 1684 by Quaker settlers at or next to the farm of Thomas Duckett on the west bank of the Schuylkill, according to the 1862 book History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by George Smith. Over the next half-century, however, the Quakers abandoned the burial ground and it became widely used as a potters field. The Upper Burial Ground has a murkier history and had already been abandoned at the time of the citys founding in 1682, according to a report in the Friends Intelligencer in the 1880s. It too quickly became a resting place for the indigent dead. By 1813, the Upper Burial Ground was turned over to the Guardians of the Poor for use as a cemetery. The Lower Burial Ground was acquired about the same time by the city Board of Health after a legal fight with the Society of Friends, according to History of Philadelphia 1609-1884, written in 1884. Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said he would like to see the Historical Commission join discussions about the cemeteries and the Schuylkill Yards development. Schuylkill Yards needs a professional archaeologist, he said. Since we are well ahead of any [construction] activity, there is time to proceed in an appropriate fashion," Steinke said. Why not find ways to avoid another Arch Street situation? Why not make an effort to get it right this time? Hahnemann Hospital at Broad and Vine Streets in April. DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer Read more Benefit funds for union employees at Hahnemann University Hospital asked a federal judge to enter judgments totaling $1.86 million against Hahnemanns owner, American Academic Health System LLC, for unpaid contributions for pensions, health benefits, and training. The lawsuit by funds affiliated with District 1199C for Hospital and Health Care Employees, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, did not say how many Hahnemann workers are covered by the funds. American Academics chief executive Joel Freedman warned last month that Hahnemann was on a financial precipice and could close if monthly losses of $3 million to $5 million continued. A spokesman for American Academic, which also owns St. Christophers Hospital for Children, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the union lawsuit. Sungard AS has filed for bankruptcy reorganization. Its hedge-fund creditors are expected to take over from the private-equity companies who controlled the company since 2005 Read more As planned, the private-equity companies that owned Wayne-based Sungard Availability Services on Wednesday night asked the federal bankruptcy court in New York for a rapid reorganization of the company, and its takeover by the hedge funds to which it owed most of its $1.3 billion debt. The P.E. guys sold the assets of value, paid themselves handsomely, stripped down what was left, and then left nothing for anyone except the next round of bottom dwellers, said David Gathman, the companys first chief financial officer, in an email. Typical vultures, he added. It was more fun building something. The new owners, under a proposal made public in early April, are expected to include Carlyle Group, Angelo Gordon & Co., GSO Capital Partners, and FS KKR Capital Corp., which agreed to take over Sungard in exchange for canceling two-thirds of the debt the company was saddled with by owners led by Bain Capital Integral Investors, KKR Milennium Fund, and Silver Lake Partners II, and also including Providence Equity Partners V, TPG Partners IV, and two Blackstone investment funds. Some of the creditors acquiring Sungard are well known in Philadelphia. Carlyle Group extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from troubled state-subsidized refinery operator Philadelphia Energy Solutions and from nursing-home operator Manor Care, which operates more than 70 facilities within 50 miles of Philadelphia, before plunging both into debt-laden bankruptcy reorganization earlier this year. Angelo Gordon has owned a string of Philadelphia-area newspapers (it briefly controlled The Inquirer in the early 2010s), which it has subjected to an aggressive cost-cutting regimen. FS KKR, an affiliate of Franklin Square Holdings LP, is based at the former Navy Base in South Philadelphia. Sungard Availability revenues fell to $977 million last year from $1.2 billion in 2016, and profits totaled $203 million last year, not counting financial costs, according to the companys chief restructuring officer, Eric Koza. Negative net cash flow from 2016 to 2018 was $80 million, Koza said in a report to the bankruptcy court. Sungard hired investment bankers at Centerview Partners to sell the company two years ago amid the latest in a series of cost-cutting efforts, which included job cuts and data center sales and closures. The company now employs 2,500 at 80 centers in the United States, Europe, and India, including 160 in Philadelphia and 260 in Wayne. Centerview signed nondisclosure agreements with 100 would-be buyers, but only two made offers by last Novembers deadline, and neither was enough to cover the companys debts, according to Kozas report. In February the company brought in Koza to get owners and creditors on board with the bankruptcy and ownership-transfer plan. The new owners will decide on top management and how to keep the company relevant in fast-changing corporate-data markets. Founded in 1978 under Sun Oil Co. executive John Ryan as a backup data center for the citys banks, and spun off as an independent company in 1983 as SunGard Data Systems, the company was soon worth more than its oil-company namesake, using profits from its data-reliability services to buy financial, educational, and government software firms. By the late 1990s it had eclipsed Unisys Corp., which traced its roots to the people who built the first modern computer at the University of Pennsylvania during World War II, as the regions most-promising digital company. But under its private-equity owners, who paid a record $11.4 billion in mostly borrowed money to take the company private in 2005, SunGard lost ground to Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and other cheap, reliable cloud-based backup providers. With its owners mostly concerned with pulling cash out of the company, it suffered what its leaders admitted was a tsunami of corporate customer cancellations as the disaster-recovery market changed and the company didnt keep up. In 2011, SunGard Data sold its main college business to Virginia-based Ellucian for $1.8 billion. In 2014, SunGard Data split in two. The next year the larger piece, Wayne-based SunGard Data Systems Inc., with sales of $2.8 billion and offices in South Jersey as well as the western Main Line, was sold for $5.1 billion (plus $4 billion in debts the buyer assumed) to Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity Information Services (FIS). Pennsylvania's attorney general, Josh Shapiro, speaks at a news conference in his office headquarters, Wednesday, May 1, 2019 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy) Read more A Philadelphia-based home warranty company scammed at least 160 consumers across the country, cheating them by falsely advertising services, wrongfully denying claims, and charging credit cards without consent, the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office claimed in a new lawsuit. The suit takes aim at Secure Home Warranty, which went out of business in 2017, and its former officers, Elliot Ashkenazie and Alan Maleh, both of Brooklyn. The complaint also names First Choice Home Warranty, another Philadelphia company that Maleh set up in 2017, according to the Attorney Generals Office. The state claims Secure Home Warranty charged consumers hundreds of dollars for service contracts but didnt pay for repairs using a host of deceptive tactics, and avoided detection using aliases and operating out of virtual offices. The lawsuit, filed in April in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, asks a judge to permanently ban Ashkenazie, Maleh, and the companies from operating a warranty business in Pennsylvania. The state also seeks damages and restitution, and requests fines of $1,000 per violation of the states consumer fraud law and $3,000 for violations against seniors. "These scammers left consumers out to dry by refusing to provide the services they promised, namely, 24/7 access to a claim center that would assist in the repair or replacement of systems and appliances, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement. Ashkenazie, identified in the suit as a former owner of Secure Home Warranty, denied that he owned the company when reached by phone Thursday. He said he worked there for a brief period, but knew nothing of the alleged business practices outlined in the lawsuit. I dont what know the heck youre talking about," Ashkenazie said, and despite being named as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by an attorney general, he wasnt interested in reading the complaint. I dont need a copy, he said. Let it work itself out. Maleh could not be reached. According to the lawsuit, consumers spent weeks or months trying to file a claim, as the companys phone lines either went straight to a full mailbox or were out of service altogether. Some consumers who managed to place claims never heard back from the company, and ultimately paid for the repairs themselves, the complaint says. At other times, Secure Home Warranty said it couldnt find a technician and asked customers to pay for repairs out-of-pocket and submit an invoice for reimbursement. The company failed to pay back some consumers, according to the attorney general. Despite advertising that home inspections were not required, the company routinely denied claims or reduced the payout for failure to provide inspection records, citing fine print, the complaint says. In one case, however, a consumer did submit inspection records but was still denied for failing to provide comprehensive service records, even though the contract makes no reference to that language. Secure Home Warranty eventually closed in November 2017 without addressing hundreds of complaints, the suit says. Maleh formed First Choice Home Warranty a month earlier and charged the credit cards of former Secure Home Warranty customers under the name Home Warranty, even though those customers never entered a contract with the new business, according to the lawsuit. The Attorney Generals Office has received 160 complaints from consumers in Pennsylvania and 31 other states. The firm has been the subject of 437 complaints in the last three years through the Better Business Bureau. Ashvinder Mehta, of Chester County, paid $975 for a service contract in 2017 and never heard back from Secure Home Warranty after she placed a claim for her washer machine, the attorney general said. Secure Home Warranty seemed like a reputable company online that offered a better contract than my existing one, so I switched my home warranty services, Mehta said in a statement provided by the attorney general. Everything seemed legitimate with the company until I needed to use them for a broken appliance in my home. I called Secure Home Warranty to get help and never heard from them again." Consumers who believe they are victims of Secure Home Warranty can contact the Attorney Generals Bureau of Consumer Protection at 800-441-2555 or email scams@attorneygeneral.gov. Former dean of the Fox School of Business and Management Moshe Porat. Read more When Temple University asked for his resignation, Moshe Porat refused to give it. Now, the ousted business school dean is fighting back. Porat, 72, alleges that the university has unfairly blamed him for a rankings scandal that rocked the Fox School of Business last summer, and ruined his reputation and legacy. He claims that for years, he sent written directives to other Fox staff, warning them to make sure all the data for the rankings were honest and accurate and was assured that they were and that, in the end, Temple made him a scapegoat to protect its own image. He asserts that he did not know about or authorize the false reporting of data or falsify any data provided to U.S. News & World Report and other rankings organizations. Nor, he maintained, did he dismantle a committee charged with oversight of the data, as the school contended. Out of loyalty to the university, I have been publicly silent for 10 long months, Porat said in a nearly 1,400 word statement provided to The Inquirer. That ends today. Porat plans to file a $25 million defamation suit against the university and its president, Richard M. Englert, on Thursday, said Porats Virginia-based lawyer, Thomas A. Clare. If the suit proceeds, it could begin to lay bare more details on how the misreporting occurred and those responsible. Temple said in a statement that it stands by its decision to remove Porat, which was bolstered by the findings of a university-commissioned investigation by an independent law firm. We said then that integrity is and must be at the heart of Temples educational mission, the school said. The public must be able to trust what we say and do, and Temple must be counted upon to take the steps necessary to guarantee that trust. We absolutely deny that Temples actions were in any way improper or unjustified, and we look forward to rigorously defending our actions in court. The university removed the longtime dean in July after an investigation by the Jones Day law firm blamed him for falsified data about the schools online MBA program, resulting in inflated national rankings. Before the misrepresentations were discovered, the Fox program had topped the U.S. News list for four straight years. The disclosure resulted in multiple national and state investigations, more than $5 million in payments to students who claimed they were hoodwinked, and further revelations that other business school programs also had supplied false data to school-ranking organizations. Temple took steps to tighten procedures for reporting rankings data throughout the university, including the hiring of an external auditor. A review of the matter by the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office is ongoing. We have received thousands of pages of material from Temple, and our attorneys are examining them, page by page, said spokesperson Joe Grace. In the suit, the content of which was shared with The Inquirer, Porat will assert that for years he sent emails to employees warning against misrepresentations in rankings data. I was repeatedly assured that the data submissions were unassailable, he wrote. It also will contend that Temple failed to levy blame or at least question the role that its own Institutional Research and Assessment office had in the scandal. The office was responsible for auditing and validating ranking data submitted to outside organizations, the dean said. Instead, the university in its July statement announcing the false data reporting and again in a later publication about the new business dean laid the blame on Porat, he and his lawyer allege. I have been made a scapegoat, Porat wrote. The university, he alleges, did so for its expediency in public relations and to deflect attention from the universitys own role in all this. Since the scandal broke, Porat had been quietly trying to negotiate a settlement with the university. An Israeli immigrant, Porat came to Temple in 1976 as a graduate student, joined the faculty in 1981, and ultimately became chair of the business school, a position he held for 22 years. During his tenure, he raised more than $100 million for the school, and it experienced a dramatic enrollment increase. He remains a tenured member of the faculty but has not taught a class since he was removed from the dean post. He was the first to report the data problem to both U.S. News and Temple, his lawyer said. He did so after someone within the school brought an online article to his attention that raised questions about the accuracy of the data. U.S. News subsequently dropped Temples online MBA program from its rankings. The online MBA degree program, which charges roughly $60,000 a student, had enrolled about 300 students and generated about $18 million in revenue for Temple. With the Jones Day report in hand, on July 9, Englert and Temple provost JoAnne A. Epps presented Porat with two letters and a choice: Resign or be fired. The dean said he refused to resign and was removed. Porat disputed the universitys assertion that he had an undue focus on rankings, saying it certainly no more so than others', and added that it was the university not the Fox School that held a rankings retreat in 2016. He said Temples actions have damaged his health and effectively ended his career. Students deserved better than they got, Porat said. They made decisions to attend our university based in part on ranking data they thought to be accurate, he wrote. Data that should have been accurate." Students, he wrote, deserve a university that audits and reports accurate data. Our students are the real victims here. They deserved the truth, and the university let them down." If the suit is successful, Porat said, he intends to give a portion of the money to Foxs Center for Student Professional Development, which he envisioned and established. The Fox School of Business has maintained a relatively low profile since the scandal, with last months Fox 100 centennial a quiet affair, according to one trustee who attended but asked not to be named. All the old guard were there, including longtime Temple supporters who predated Porats appointment as dean of the business school, the former trustee said. But they had trouble attracting a big crowd. Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner share a dressing room at NBCs Saturday Night Live and as of last week, a wall in Philadelphia with Steven Spielberg and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. The two featured players were at the new Comcast Technology Center on April 26 doing interviews when they were asked to become the third and fourth people to sign their names to the still wide-open wall of a green room near the buildings Ralph J. Roberts Forum. (Spielberg, who collaborated in the creation of the Universal Sphere in the buildings lobby, had been in town earlier in the month for a question-and-answer session with Roberts.) Gardner and Nwodim took different paths to SNLs Studio 8H. Gardner, a Kansas City native and veteran of the Groundlings whos in her second season, once quit college to become a hairdresser in Los Angeles. Nwodim, a Baltimore native in her first season who previously performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade, has a degree in biology from the University of Southern California. They both named Kenan Thompson as the SNL cast member most likely to crack them up. Here, edited and condensed, is what else they had to say: Can you tell me about your auditions? Was Lorne Michaels there? Gardner: I auditioned twice, within a month. So the first, I came out and I did 12 characters total it was like nine original characters and three impressions. And then they flew me back about two weeks later and said, She can keep one or two of those, but we want to see that she can come up with completely new stuff in a week. So I did a couple of things that Ive done on the show before, like the boxers girlfriend, or a Kristen Schaal impression. Its just a mishmash of whatever I thought might get me the job. I saw the outline of [creator/executive producer Michaels] and his hair, but I never tried to really like look over there and psych myself out. Nwodim: I actually was flown to New York in 2016 to audition. And then last year, 2018, came back to audition again. I did it on the 8H stage last summer. It was basically all new characters, with the exception of this Maya Angelou [impression] that I just love doing so much. I know for a fact that Lorne was there, but I didnt look over there at all. I was just like, Im going to put on this little baby show for you guys five minutes to put on a show. Do you have a favorite sketch you were in? Gardner: I had one [from] when Will Ferrell hosted last year, and it was just a classic, Will Ferrell-type sketch, where he was calling his other office coworkers, calling us awful people, and yelling at us. And to get to share the stage with him and have him yell at me the sketch was great. Nwodim: I particularly enjoyed being in the Discover Card Us sketch, getting to do a take of Lupitas [Nyongo] performance, because I was so intrigued by her the entire film, and how captivating she was being both those characters. So getting to do the comedic version was so rewarding. How did you come to comedy? Nwodim: I knew I wanted to be a performer. I did ballet for 10 years, and I always wanted to skip rehearsals and just do the show. But you cant do that. So I started to act. I took an improv class begrudgingly. A lot of people tell actors who are coming up to do lots of things, like get a hundred pictures of yourself taken and its all nonsense. I was like, Im not doing an improv class. And then I took one and I fell in love. Gardner: I was brought up on just a lot of what [my parents] liked, which was Saturday Night Live, Christopher Guest movies. I remember I had a babysitter once when I was 6 who was like, What do you want to do? and I was like, Can we watch Spinal Tap? I think they introduced me to things maybe a little too young, but I just grew up loving comedy. I was from Kansas City. You just dont know theres a path at all to SNL. Luckily, becoming a hairdresser took me to L.A. And I saw a show at the Groundlings, and had really supportive friends who were like, We really think youre funny. You should take an improv class. Were your families supportive? Nwodim: Im first-generation [American, of Nigerian parents], and I think my family was nervous. School is very much a part of the plan and having a stable career is very much part of the plan, as a child of immigrants. They initially were shocked, but I do think my family always saw something in me Well, if theres any one of us who is going to do it, its her. I also didnt even know that comedy was a career. I was raised like [the options were], lawyer and doctor. And really just doctor. Gardner: I wish I had a little bit more structure from my parents. Because they were a little too much like, We believe in you. Which I get sounds really nice, but I think rules are good. When I was like, Im going to drop out of school, Im going to move to L.A., Im going to be a hairdresser, they never questioned. I wish someone was just like, "Are you sure? Saturday Night Live. SNL alum Adam Sandler will be this weeks guest host and Shawn Mendes the musical guest. 11:29 p.m. Saturday, NBC. Laura Carmichael as Margaret Pole in Starz's "The Spanish Princess," a miniseries about Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife, that premieres on Sunday, May 5. Read more When Downton Abbey ended its PBS run in 2016, Laura Carmichaels Lady Edith was as pleased as wed ever seen her, having achieved what her father considered a brilliant marriage to a man with whom she also happened to be deeply in love. For the character whod long been locked in battle with her older sister, the imperious Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), and whod endured repeated heartaches and humiliations, it was an unexpectedly happy ending, one we can only hope this falls Downton Abbey movie wont completely unravel. But on-screen heartache continues to call to Carmichael, who returns to television Sunday in Starzs eight-episode mini-series The Spanish Princess. In the latest installment in the adaptations of Philippa Gregorys historical novels, shes playing Lady Margaret Maggie Pole, one of the last Plantagenets left standing after Britains War of the Roses, the bloody conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster that inspired Game of Thrones. Maggies feelings about the title character, Catherine of Aragon (Charlotte Hope), are inevitably colored by the events of The White Princess, in which the execution of Maggies younger brother was depicted as part of the deal that brought Catherine to England for a strategic royal marriage. It doesnt help that Catherine is marrying Prince Arthur (Angus Imrie), who was raised in the Pole household and who is closer to Maggie than he is to his own mother. Or that after Arthurs death (spoiler alert), Maggie could be an obstacle to the princess ambition to become the wife of his brother, the future Henry VIII. As I told Carmichael during an interview in February, I used to consider Edith one of the more put-upon characters on television. And now, the actress said, laughing. I know, I know. What is it about my face? They just want to torture me. Wrestling with bitterness Not exactly, said the producers. We had Rebecca Benson play Margaret Pole in The White Princess. We wanted someone who had that same sort of quiet strength, that same sort of ability to be, not exactly long-suffering," but to project humility, executive producer Emma Frost told me. "But shes also wrestling with bitterness, executive producer Matthew Graham said. It sounds like a familiar mix for Carmichael, Edith having exhibited her share of bitterness, though with less reason, perhaps, than her Spanish Princess character, who, in both history and this somewhat fictionalized retelling, seems to have led a challenging life. She has possibly the most interesting character trajectory" through the several Gregory series, Frost said, including another eight episodes she and Graham have written that they hope will be produced. Maggie really goes through it, and, I think, really does represent the difficult lives these people had in their high-powered political world, Carmichael said. Because thats what it is, really, the proximity to the royal family and what it meant to be a York, even a York whos married to a loyal Tudor. It still seems a threat to the Tudors as Henry VII (Elliot Cowan, Da Vincis Demons) tries to shore up his dynasty. "For Maggie, whats important to her is keeping her family close, her children safe, her husband safe. Trying to keep out of politics, trying to not get involved in whatever is going on and hold on to her family. No stranger to period costumes after Downton, she appeared in the 1940s-set A United Kingdom Carmichael was still struck by the sheer weight of the outfits worn in the 16th-century court depicted in The Spanish Princess. They were heavy. And the thing that astounded me is that you were wearing this gigantically long dress thats made of what feels like a carpet and then youre wearing a cloak and then youre wearing a travel cloak, and then you get on a horse! she said. Extraordinary. But in that way, you would [travel] warm. Which wouldve been great if we hadnt been having a heat wave at the time. The thing that she loved about Maggie and Edith is that viewers get to know why someone behaves as they do, Carmichael said. And the gift with this writing and what Emma and Matthew do, and Julian [Fellowes, Downtons creator] does, is that you know from the first scene the sense of a person and what theyve endured, and how they have to live their life. And I think that comes from a lot of the hardship theyve experienced. Return to Downton Carmichael was predictably mum about any hardships Edith might experience in the Downton Abbey film, scheduled to open Sept. 20. They havent even prepped us on what to say, she said. As for the official, not very informative trailer released in December, "I was excited about it, because its the driveway that you know, and the castle that you know, and the music. But done from a helicopter, Carmichael said. She went almost directly from filming The Spanish Princess to the set of Downton Abbey. Completely different costumes, completely different world. Its really interesting. You know, in Downton, I feel so surrounded by people who had this wealth of experience. It was like a schooling [experience] for me. And so it was really exciting to be [on] Spanish Princess with people who it was their first jobs. I was like, Oh, that was me, on the last thing I did. Returning to Downton Abbey, though, was dreamy, she said. It was absolutely lovely. Were so close. And for loads of reasons, like having this runaway success like that. Such a surprise, and one that brought the cast closer. "There are only a handful of people who know what that felt like, she said. "Michelle [Dockery] and I talked about it a lot, the difference of going away and then coming back. Were looking at it coming out again, and that will be fun. Filming on the movie took from September to just before Christmas, less time than it took to make a season of the show, but its lavish, luxurious, Carmichael said, and includes the things that I feel you love about Downton, but on a grander scale. And weve got really exciting new cast members, which was heavenly. And for us, I think, the thing that was major was like seeing Jim [Carter, who plays Carson] put his costume on again and all of our friends stepping into that world and feeling nostalgic, she said. It feels like the show that we know, but done in a larger scale. Im excited to see how it is received. Were hoping that if, you know, youve never seen an episode, youre going to know who these people are through watching this movie. But I know that its [also about] that feeling that I have, Thats Jim! Hes Carson again!" The Spanish Princess. 8 p.m. Sunday, May 5, Starz. The dragon roars: In March, Drexel University biological sciences junior Zaarah Abdul-Aziz, 21, crushed fellow contestants on the College Spring Break episode of Wheel of Fortune, winning a trip to Belize and $16,900, which can help fund medical school, post-Drexel. The Levittown resident has been planning a medical career since age 2, she says, when she started watching episodes of Babies: Special Delivery on the Discovery Health Channel. Shes leaning toward going into orthopedic surgery. Ahead of the curve: On April 13, Bridget Llull, 17, hosted her third consecutive fashion show at King of Prussia Mall to benefit young women with scoliosis. The models who strutted their stuff for Embracing the Curve all wear back braces, as Llull herself did before undergoing surgery to straighten her spine. Llull, a senior at Archbishop Carroll High School, is founder of the Philadelphia chapter of the Curvy Girls Scoliosis support group. For the show, she sought out sponsorship, partnered with King of Prussia Mall, and worked with retailers to provide brace-friendly clothing for the girls to comfortably and proudly model. More info: https://www.curvygirlsscoliosis.com/ A stitch in time: Seamstresses Helen Cunningham and Suzanne Becker manage The Menders, whose 30-plus volunteers repair clothing, backpacks, and other personal items for guests at Broad Street Ministry (315 S. Broad St., Philadelphia), which provides daily meals and other assistance to the hungry and poor. The Menders, who started their mission eight years ago, have just expanded their weekly services to respite center Hub of Hope (Two Penn Center, Suburban Station). Its a wonderful, no-bureaucracy, quick-fix exchange, says Cunningham. Bring your problem item to us, go have lunch, come back and pick it up. The Menders, who hope to replicate the program elsewhere, could always use more volunteers. For more information, email sbecker212@gmail.com. The teachers ticker: Central High grad and Temple University engineering professor David Brookstein often visits his high school alma mater to discuss with students the myriad ways that engineering miraculously impacts the lives of ordinary people. These days, hes making his case with a new Exhibit A: his own heart. He recently underwent heart surgery, during which he was kept alive by a heart-and-lung machine while surgeons replaced his damaged aortic valve with a new, bio-prosthetic one. Its a prime example of how modern engineering and design thinking literally helped to save and extend my life, Brookstein tells students. If I had this issue, say, in 1967, I wouldnt be alive. Still, he adds, the field of engineering is ever-evolving. The solutions that were cutting-edge when I sat where you are, theyre a thing of the past. Its up to your generation to create the new ones. The storage closet at an East Brandywine Township home where a 72-year-old woman was locked up and left to die by Khemmathat Fariss (then 17), who escaped from a Devereux behavioral-health facility in Wallace Township, Chester County, on Feb. 22, 2017. Read more A judge on Thursday sentenced a Delaware County teenager to 20 to 80 years in state prison for attacking, choking, and locking up a woman in a storage closet of her East Brandywine home after he fled a mental-health treatment center two years ago. The crime was a brutal attack on a 72-year-old woman in her own home, Chester County Court President Judge Jacqueline C. Cody told 19-year-old Khemmathat Fariss. It was a well-planned-out crime. The woman, who had been locked in the closet for four days without food or water until her daughter-in-law found her, told the judge that by the time she was found, I had asked God to take me. He is a sociopath," said the victim, whose name the The Inquirer is withholding at the request of the Chester County District Attorneys Office over concern for her safety. "Given the opportunity, he will kill someone, I have no doubt about that. Fariss committed the attack after running away from the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Brandywine campus in Wallace Township. He told the judge he realizes he needs mental-health treatment and apologized to the victim for all the pain and the suffering I have caused her, and to her family, too, and my family. Fariss pleaded guilty but mentally ill to attempted murder and related offenses in January, but the Chester County District Attorneys Office challenged the plea. After a February hearing and reviewing the lawyers arguments, the judge last month issued a one-page ruling accepting Fariss plea and finding that he was mentally ill at the time of the crime. In sentencing him, Cody said she would recommend that he receive mental-health treatment in prison. Fariss had been abandoned by his mother in his native Thailand at age 3, then was placed in an orphanage, where he was severely abused. When he was 7, he was adopted by Nancy Fariss, who brought him back to the United States to live with her and her two older children in Media. Although family members loved and supported him, Fariss was traumatized by moving to a new place, was bullied in school, and engaged in self-harming behaviors, according to testimony at the February hearing. In October 2016, Fariss burglarized two homes, for which he was arrested as a juvenile and placed in a detention center. His adoptive mother told the judge Thursday that her son was sent in January 2017 to the Devereux campus but ran away the next month, walking nearly two miles to the victims Creek Road home. When the woman returned from work that evening, Fariss covered her head with a cloth shopping bag, secured it with duct tape around her neck, bound her legs and hands, then threw her into the small, ground-level storage closet beneath stairs in her home, locking the door. Leaving the woman in the closet without food or water, Fariss told her, Youll be with Jesus soon, authorities have said. He stole her credit cards, money, cell phone, laptop, and jewelry, and drove off in her car. Assistant District Attorney Christine Abatemarco asked the judge Thursday to sentence Fariss to a minimum of 35 years behind bars. Defense attorney Robert Keller told the judge that Fariss was a child" when he committed the crimes, is remorseful, and can be rehabilitated. Fariss family members also asked the judge for mercy. Devereux facilities differ from secure residential treatment programs, where juveniles are sent by judges after committing crimes. By state regulation, Devereuxs campuses are prohibited from having a prison-like environment with surrounding gates or fences, Devereux spokesperson Leah Yaw explained in an interview. Yaw could not discuss Fariss case, but noted the upgraded security measures that Devereux implemented after the 2017 escape. Since then, doors have been upgraded with more audible alarms that require a staffer to turn them off by key. Sensors with alarms have been installed in windows. And staffers who check on the boys during bedtime and overnight now have facial-recognition software to ensure that a resident is in his bed. Devereux also partnered with the West Brandywine Police Department to set up a voluntary alert system to notify nearby residents if a boy runs away from the campus. Pennsylvania state House Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester County) is under fire for comparing Sunoco pipeline workers to nazis in a Tweet. She won election in November, partly, as a resident whose home is near the controversial gas pipeline under construction. Read more That old saying, sleep on it? It might have saved Rep. Danielle Friel Otten a whole lot of hurt if shed followed it a few days ago instead of turning to Twitter. Friel Otten, a political newcomer who became one of the Pennsylvania legislatures many new Democratic members after running last fall on an anti-Sunoco-pipeline platform, got into hot water from a war of words over a protest of sorts in her neighborhood on Saturday. Friel Otten compared the unionized workers installing Sunocos pipes to nazis." Not a great idea. On Monday, she was hearing from Democratic Party leaders. On Wednesday, the head of Steamfitters Local 420 was calling for an apology at minimum, if not her resignation. The Anti-Defamation League in Philadelphia called for an apology, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia expressed outrage. And just like that, a little-known freshman lawmaker who defeated a Chester County Republican last fall found herself asking her party to stay by her side. I cried, Friel Otten told me Wednesday, and I asked them to have my back. Friel Otten did not apologize when we talked, but did try to explain that she meant no harm to Jews. Later, she issued a defiant statement from her legislative office that blamed the oil and gas industry" for trying "to silence our voices. Our fight is not with the workers, and it never has been. Her own backyard, and those of many others, abuts the pipeline construction zone. Friel Otten despises the Mariner East II 350-mile project, which has polluted wells, caused sinkholes, and hurt property values along its swath through densely populated Southeastern Pennsylvania in the hope of moving gas from the Marcellus Shale region to the waterfront south of Philadelphia. Ive always been a fighter, Friel Otten said. Its who I am. Sometimes when you fight, you get a little dirty, and you have to clean some things up and work things out. Its part of life. But if were not fighting, we cant win. The mess began on Saturday. Constituents showed up near Friel Ottens home and parked their cars nearby in such a way that they legally blocked entrances to the pipeline construction site. Friel Otten said she had known nothing about the apparent action but nonetheless invited the group onto her patio for hours as work on the pipeline ground to a halt. There were no arrests. Photos from the neighborhood dispute later circulated on social media. A group on Twitter calling itself @PAAllies4Energy criticized demonstrators and Friel Otten for preventing workers from doing their jobs. Then came this Tweet from @Danielle_4PA that Friel Otten would later delete: The nazis were just doing their jobs too. Friel Ottens rage over the pipeline had been fuel behind her newcomer win over 155th District incumbent Republican Becky Corbin in November. Anger, however, is an unconvincing excuse for her inadvisable tweet. Elected leaders, more than others, should be sensitive that violence against Jews is on the rise across America: a synagogue shooting in San Diego just a few days ago, the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh last year. Friel Otten said she did not mean to diminish the horror of the Holocaust. She told me she intended only to compare the moral choices of the pipeline workers to anyone who justifies a harmful act by saying, Its just my job. (Friel Otten said she tweeted her nazis statement alongside a PBS article about scientific research that referenced Nazis as a case in point.) The Jewish Federation, when I called Wednesday, was having none of that. In no way is building a pipeline no matter what the consequences are comparable to the atrocious and heinous crimes committed by the Nazi regime, said federation spokesperson Laura Frank. And its not appropriate for a legislator to throw that language around and use it so carelessly. Frank said her group was working to request a meeting with Friel Otten. The language she used is the language she used, and she needs to own up to that," Frank said. "We have no reason to believe that she has any kind of anti-Semitic intentions, or she intended this to be insulting. But the language she used is inappropriate. We want her and all legislators to be educated. Its just not OK to throw that language around. Also outraged, not surprisingly given the politics and economics of the pipeline, was the head of Steamfitters Local 420, business manager Jim Snell. (His union backed Friel Ottens Republican opponent in last years general election.) The Energy Transfer Partners project to ferry gas to Marcus Hook along the Delaware River in Delaware County has meant good work for the locals 4,600 members in 11 counties east of Harrisburg. Horrible, disgusting comments that the state rep out there made, he told me Wednesday. To actually, you know, refer to hardworking men and women as Nazis and even if she didnt mean it or whatever, theres just words that you dont use in life. And that is absolutely one of them. Crabby Bill's restaurant and bar in Florida. Read more Two off-duty Philadelphia police officers and one retired department cop were arrested after a violent altercation with sheriffs deputies outside Crabby Bills restaurant and bar in Florida, the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office announced Wednesday night. Paul Seeger, 55, identified by the sheriffs office as the retired Philadelphia officer, was charged with domestic battery and resisting an officer with violence. Frank Bonett, 44, was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, and Cindy Caine, 44, was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer. The sheriffs office posted their mug shots on Facebook and Twitter. Deputies believe alcohol was a factor in this case, the sheriffs office said. In an emailed statement late Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Police Department said: We are aware of the arrests of two off-duty Philadelphia Police Officers in Pinellas County, FL. We are continuing to gather information about the incident from the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office, and will release a statement in the near future. The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office said its deputies responded around 11 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a domestic battery at Crabby Bills at 401 Gulf Blvd. in Indian Rocks Beach, just south of Clearwater. The sheriffs office gave the following account: The deputies saw Seeger and Caine arguing outside and approached them and called out to them, but the couple began walking away. One deputy grabbed Seegers arm to stop Seeger from leaving the scene. Seeger resisted and Caine forcefully pushed the deputys arm away helping Seeger to break free. Bonett then approached the deputy and started making verbal threats. Bonett removed his shirt, clinched his fists, and shouted profanities at the deputy. Bonett continued to advance and aggressively postured the deputy after being told numerous times to stay away. Then Seeger turned and approached the deputy in an angry and hostile manner. The deputy warned both Bonett and Seeger to stop, but Seeger refused. The deputy deployed an electronic control weapon striking Seeger but it was ineffective. A violent struggle ensued between the deputy and Seeger, but Seeger was eventually handcuffed and taken into custody. Responding deputies took Bonett and Caine into custody. The sheriffs office said Caine and Seeger, who are married, were both uncooperative with the investigation." All three were transported to the Pinellas County Jail. This combination of file photos shows minister Louis Farrakhan, left, the leader of the Nation of Islam, in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 8, 2018, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in Washington on Sept. 5, 2018, right. Read more SAN FRANCISCO (AP) After years of pressure to crack down on extremist content, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, and other extremists, saying they violated its ban against hate and violence. The company also banned right-wing leaders Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones' site, Infowars. The latest bans apply to both Facebook's main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. Decried as censorship by several of those who got the ax, the move signals a renewed effort by the social media giant to remove objectionable material and individuals promoting hate, racism, and anti-Semitism. Removing some of the best-known figures of the U.S. political extreme takes away an important virtual megaphone that Facebook has provided the likes of Jones, Yiannopoulos, and others over the years. Critics praised the move but said there is more to be done on both Facebook and Instagram. "We know that there are still white supremacists and other extremist figures who are actively using both platforms to spread their hatred and bigotry," said Keegan Hankes, senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S. Facebook has previously suspended Jones from its flagship service temporarily; this suspension is permanent and includes Instagram. Facebook says the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organizations. The company says it has "always banned" people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology. For years, social media companies have been under pressure from civil rights groups and other activists to clamp down on hate speech on their services. Following the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, Google, Facebook, and PayPal began banishing extremist groups and individuals who identified as or supported white supremacists. A year later, widespread bans of Jones and Infowars reflected a more aggressive enforcement of policies against hate speech. But Facebook instituted only a 30-day suspension (though Twitter banned him permanently). It is not clear what events led to Thursday's announcement. In a statement, Facebook merely said, "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today." Facebook has been under heavy pressure to rid its service of hate and extremist content. Last month, it extended its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. It had previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists. Asked to comment on the bans, Yiannopoulos emailed only: Youre next. Jones reacted angrily Thursday during a live stream of his show on his Infowars website. "They didn't just ban me. They just defamed us. Why did Zuckerberg even do this?" Jones said, referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Jones called himself a victim of "racketeering" by "cartels." "There's a new world now, man, where they're banning everybody and then they tell Congress nobody is getting banned," he said. Watson, meanwhile, tweeted that he was not given a reason and that he "broke none of their rules." "Hopefully, other prominent conservatives will speak out about me being banned, knowing that they are next if we don't pressure the Trump administration to take action," he wrote. Farrakhan, Nehlen, and Loomer did not immediately return messages for comment. Associated Press writers Tali Arbel and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this article. FILE - In this April 9, 2019. file photo, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador answers questions from journalists at his daily 7 a.m. press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador said Thursday that the killings of journalists in Mexico will not go unpunished and he told the son of a slain reporter that he has arranged for him to meet with federal Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) Read more MEXICO CITY (AP) President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that the killings of journalists in Mexico will not go unpunished and he told the son of a slain reporter that he has arranged for him to meet with federal Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero. Carlos Dominguez asked for Lopez Obrador's help at the president's daily press briefing. His father, a longtime journalist with the same name, was stabbed to death in broad daylight in downtown Nuevo Laredo in January 2018. Dominguez says the alleged mastermind behind the killing is a former mayor of the northern border city, Carlos Canturosas, who the elder Dominguez had been investigating for alleged malfeasance. Canturosas has denied any involvement. "I'm desperate, I'm afraid," the younger Dominguez said. "Help me find justice for my dad." Six men were arrested last year in the case, including Canturosas' uncle. One of the accused died of an apparent heart attack in jail last month. Lopez Obrador said his administration would ask the federal Attorney General's Office to take over the case from state prosecutors. The agency's prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression, which includes the killing of journalists, had already been involved in the case, but the Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office had the lead. "We have to do away with impunity," Lopez Obrador said. The younger Dominguez also asked the president to intervene because Canturosas sister was running for a state legislative position as a candidate for Lopez Obradors Morena party. Lopez Obrador demurred on that point, saying he would not get involved in local politics. This undated photo shows Riley Howell. Authorities say Howell, 21, was killed after he tackled a gunman who opened fire in a classroom at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Read more CHARLOTTE, N.C. Facing a gunman in his classroom, Riley Howell chose to fight. Authorities said Wednesday that the 21-year-old student at the University of North Carolina's campus here knocked the assailant off his feet at a pivotal moment in Tuesday's shooting, saving the lives of others even as Howell himself received a mortal wound. Kerr Putney, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, described Howell as "the first and foremost hero" in an attack that left two dead and four injured but could have turned out far worse. "But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed," Putney said of Howell in a televised news conference. "Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives." Putney said Howell, of Waynesville, North Carolina, was probably the second UNC-Charlotte student to die in the shooting that occurred in the Kennedy Building shortly after a class began at 5:30 p.m. The other fatality, officials said, was Reed Parlier, 19, of Midland, North Carolina. The shooting rocked the 29,000-student public university on the final day of spring semester classes. Exams were postponed through Sunday, but the university said commencement will proceed as planned on May 10 and 11. "This is still very raw for us," UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois said at the news conference. Dubois said he had visited with three injured students who remained in the hospital. "They're all doing OK," he said. A fourth had been hospitalized and released. The gunman targeted an anthropology class for reasons that remain unknown. "Yes, there was a shooting in my class," Adam Johnson, an anthropology instructor, tweeted. Johnson was teaching LBST2213, a course on science, technology and society, in Kennedy's room 236. "My students are so special to me and I am devastated," Johnson wrote. Police identified the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22. Local media described Terrell as a former UNC-Charlotte student, but efforts to confirm that with the university were unsuccessful. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said he was charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of a firearm on educational property and discharging a firearm on educational property. Terrell is due in court Thursday. Relatives of Terrell could not be reached for comment. Putney said the gunman's motive was unclear. "We can't really discern the why just yet," the chief said. He said the gunman had used a legally purchased handgun. The chief said he was concerned about the shooting's apparent "randomness." "Everyone in this community stands in shock and grief," Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said. She said the city has joined others stricken by mass gun violence, including in Las Vegas and cities in Florida. "Now, it's Charlotte," she said. "We have to support each other in the days and weeks to come." Dubois called it the "saddest day in UNC-Charlotte's history." UNC-Charlotte's police force, like its counterparts across the country, has trained to respond to campus shootings in recent years. Jeffrey Baker, chief of the university's Police & Public Safety agency, said his officers responded swiftly and were able to stop the suspect. Authorities praised the actions of campus police Sgt. Richard Gundacker, who was first on the scene, and others who secured the building and helped subdue the gunman. Baker said officers followed their training. "We don't sit," Baker said. "We don't wait. We go. And we're going to go to the assailant. And that's exactly what they did." Gundacker told reporters: "I've been preparing for this over 20 years The training pays off, and that's why we do it." Baker said officers were able to go quickly to the building where the shooting happened because they already were converging for a Waka Flocka Flame concert on campus. The rapper's performance was canceled. After shots were fired at 5:40 p.m., the campus quickly locked down. Officials sent warnings via text messages, email and other channels. The message "Run, Hide, Fight" urged people to run to safety, hide from potential assailants or, as a last resort, fight. Howell, authorities said, chose confrontation. "Having no place to run and hide, he did the last," Putney said. Howell's major was environmental studies. He enrolled at UNC-Charlotte in fall 2018 as a community college transfer. Howell's family told WSOC-TV in a statement that he "loved all things outdoors, adventure, and especially family. He loved to work outside, and when he worked, he did it with his hands and his heart. He always was able to put others before himself and never hesitated to help anyone who needed it." Parlier, who planned to major in computer science, had graduated in 2017 from Union County Public Schools in North Carolina. The university said he loved video games and aspired to become a game developer. Professors described him, the university said, as independent and motivated. "Our community is still in shock in dealing with this loss," Tahira Stalberte, a spokeswoman for Union County schools, told the Greenville News. The school has approved "degrees in memoriam" for Howell and Parlier. On Wednesday afternoon, the UNC-Charlotte campus settled into a mournful quiet as students planned an evening vigil to honor the victims. There was a noticeable police presence, with officers on motorcycles stationed outside the Barnhardt Student Activity Center. Uniformed officers also took posts at the front and back doors of the Kennedy Building. Nearby, Mike Le, 21, a senior from Trinity, North Carolina, stopped at a campus library to retrieve a bag he had abandoned after the shooting occurred. Le recalled that he was outside the library late Tuesday afternoon when he suddenly saw people running. "Then, I see someone bust open a door and I think, 'Something's got to be happening,' " Le said. "Someone said, 'School shooter! School shooter!' So I turned around and left, leaving my bag and everything." In the tumult, Le said he hopped into the car of someone he didn't know who was parked nearby, joining three others who were in tears. He told the driver: "Take me anywhere. Somewhere else that's not here." Just before the candlelight vigil scheduled for Wednesday at Halton Arena, floral bouquets were seen outside the Kennedy Building and at the base of a statue portraying the school's gold-miner mascot, known as the Niner. The university's home page declared in a large headline: "Niner Nation Unites." Beth McGuire, 19, a first-year student from Concord, North Carolina, said it had been a painful and awkward day. "Complete strangers have been coming up to me to ask if I'm OK," she said. "It's a good sense of community, I guess. It's all about trying to see how everyone is doing. I'm OK, but I want to make sure everyone else is." Svrluga and Anderson reported from Washington. The Washington Posts Debbie Truong contributed to this article. Jim McMillan shows how to make mozzarella at a Haddon Heights wine competition. His store, Philly Homebrew Outlet in Philly and South Jersey, teaches customers how to make their own consumables. Read more Some days, Jimmy McMillan and Nick Less are in their Oaklyn store warming milk to make mozzarella. Other days theyre crushing grapes for wine, bottling bubblegum beer, tending bees for honey, or making soap. Their business, Philly Homebrew Outlet (PHO), is all about doing it yourself. McMillan jokes that the company, with stores in South Jersey and Philadelphia, is the anti-grocery store. I really like trying to get people out of their consumerism and teach them how to make something, and use what they make, he said. Beyond that, McMillan said, he wants to bring people together as a community to share diverse cultural backgrounds and teach others how previous generations made their own goods. He swears he can make wine that rivals French vintners'; whip up delicious coquito, a rum drink from Puerto Rico similar to egg nog, and make formaggio that would please a sophisticated Italian palate. McMillan, who has a culinary background, said he and his business partner are masters of their trade. At first they offered free classes, but they now charge $15 to $75 a change they made at their accountants suggestion. They also sell kits that customers can use at home. And they hope to expand their line of merchandise, and eventually franchise. They are good at what they do, said Eli Facchinei, an owner at Tonewood Brewing, a few shops down from PHO in Oaklyn. Facchinei collaborated last year with McMillan and Less to craft a light English ale that was popular with customers. It was a good, mild beer that was a traditional style with modern interpretations heavier on hops, Facchinei said. McMillans customers can be more whimsical. When Happy Birthday Baby Jesus Beer with cake flavoring and edible glitter was a hit, the store sold kits at Christmastime. Facchinei is quick to say he wont brew that or the bubblegum beer that McMillans customers also favor, but Ill taste anything. McMillan and Less had a love for baking and brewing at a young age. Less, at 10, watched his sister and dad make beer in their kitchen for a fermentation science project. Years later, he started making his own beer from supplies bought at Barrys Homebrew Outlet in South Philly. He attended monthly gatherings with other home brewers, and there, he met McMillan. McMillan grew up in North Carolina eating peanut butter crackers and collard greens. Then an aunt from Brooklyn moved south and introduced him to pasta and meatballs. He also learned how to make bread and bagels. It blew my mind how good it tasted, McMillan said. At 13, he took his first job at a restaurant as a busboy. Years later, he came to Philadelphia to see a show with a friend and he fell in love with the city. He met his wife, Beth, while mulching cherry trees in Fairmount Park. McMillan worked as a sous chef, but tired of the long hours and low pay. So he took a tech job and made beer, wine, and bread for fun. In 2011, shortly after McMillan and Less bought Barrys, they changed the name of the business to Philly Homebrew Outlet and moved it to Fishtown. In 2015, they opened a store in West Philly and came to Oaklyn in 2017. The retail business eventually morphed into educational classes. And were getting traffic back, McMillan said. Customers return to replenish supplies, and get advice whether they are making yogurt, hot sauce, beer, or cheese. One day, Nidia Sinclair and Marilyn Gonzalez came to the Oaklyn store to buy bottles for the coquito they make as gifts for the holidays. They looked at McMillans coquito recipe, and told him it was good, but could be better. Teach the class, McMillan suggested. They did. They loved it, Gonzalez said of their students. We like to cook, we like to drink, and whatever we can share with others is a plus, Sinclair said. McMillan said his business attracts diverse customers and he learns from them. John Ahern, a house painter who also owns a furniture restoration business in Pennsauken, came into the store one day because he wanted to use beer as a wood stain after reading that monks and early craftsmen had done so. He turned to McMillan for a lager recipe. I was most interested in color, Ahern said. Im constantly looking for matches and ways of customizing. McMillan taught him to make dunkel, a German lager that Ahern likes to use on oak and cedar. Im really happy with the way it turned out, Ahern said, adding McMillan gave him brewing instructions and made himself available to answer questions throughout the process. Its a fine stain and, as a bonus, It tastes good, too. Philadelphias new payroll computer system has been miscalculating paychecks for a month, inconveniencing and frustrating employees across all city government departments. Officials on Thursday acknowledged that the city has had to issue at least 5,121 supplemental paychecks in the last month to correct mistakes that left workers getting less than they had earned. One prison worker got a $0 check for 80 hours work. Some Police Department employees havent received a paycheck at all. The shortages in pay have mostly centered on overtime calculations. One union that represents 3,000 workers said employees were improperly shorted in their overtime rate by 33 percent. But an untold number have also received more money than they were entitled to some twice their normal pay. City officials have been slow to publicly identify and quantify the problem, let alone fix it. After four weeks of continuous problems, employees and labor unions are saying, Enough. Labor representatives for about 10,000 city employees more than a third of the workforce, including sanitation workers, corrections officers, parking enforcement officers, court employees, and supervisors in various departments confirmed Thursday they are planning a joint lawsuit against the city over the egregious payroll discrepancies. One Philly is a $40 million IT project in the works since the Nutter administration to link timekeeping, payroll, pensions, and benefits under one system. Its been delayed for years and gone over budget. The roll-out of the payroll part in late March drew criticism from the unions and workers confused about a change in the number of work hours used to calculate pay and an increase in overtime rates. When the first One Philly paychecks came out in early April, the disarray escalated as employees started seeing lower wages. We have people who have been missing pay since the beginning of April, said one employee within the Prison Department, who asked not be identified because he was not authorized to speak with the media. Its unclear what is causing the inaccurate paychecks. City officials are mostly staying mum. And the executive vice president of HTC/Ciber Global, the vendor charged with implementing One Philly, declined to comment. City spokesperson Mike Dunn initially said a total of 2,192 paychecks citywide 3 percent of all issued had been short in varying degrees and had been adjusted with supplemental checks. Nearly 80 percent of those shortages were in the prisons department, he said. But at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dunn clarified that the total was more than 5,100 and that the previous count didnt include overtime mistakes. That total accounts for about 9 percent of all checks issued so far through One Philly. Dunn wouldnt say how many employees received double paychecks or too much pay and how the city is remedying those issues, among other issues. The One Philly team is focused on both this weeks payroll cycle, fixing remaining issues, and instituting some systemic tweaks to ensure the integrity of future payroll cycles, Dunn said in an email Wednesday. So we wont be able to provide answers this week. Employees complain that they arent getting answers either. This new payroll system is nothing but chaos, and all [supervisors] are acting like they dont know how to fix the issues or even explain the problems, said one Water Department employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with the media. There was no training on it supposedly for them, and they are getting mad at you when you ask questions. One source familiar with the One Philly project said that training was rushed and that the system wasnt thoroughly tested before it was rolled out. So now, the source said, issues are coming up among the various modules, such as benefits and time entry, that are affecting payroll. On Monday, AFSCME District Council 33 Local 159, which represents 3,000 employees in prisons, the Juvenile Justice Center, municipal guards, the Office of Supportive Housing, the Office of Homeless Services, and some employees of the Sheriffs Office, sent a three-page complaint to the Office of Labor Relations demanding compensation for workers whom the city has financially harmed through implementation of the new system. The citys promise of compensatory checks to affected represented employees to complement the undelivered earned wages did not transpire, Eric Hill, business agent for Local 159, said in the letter. On Tuesday, the local asked to join a lawsuit already in the works by other locals within D.C. 33 and District Council 47. But D.C. 33 president Pete Matthew is not on board with the plans to file suit against the city. I was highly upset about the inaccurate paychecks, Matthews said Thursday. The city admitted 100 percent this is their fault, any losses will be recovered, and our members are receiving supplemental checks. Matthews said he has contract negotiations coming up and doesnt want to file a lawsuit. Hills and some other locals within D.C. 33 are nevertheless moving forward with court action. A suit is being submitted to the courts, Hill said, adding that he was not sure in which court the lawsuit will be filed. We are waiting on our attorney to advise us. Bob Coyle, president of D.C. 47 Local 2187, which represents administrative and technical staff across all departments, said union leaders are being careful with how they respond to the One Philly issue. Its politics, he said, adding that he also had to weigh whether to sign onto the lawsuit (he is as of now). I dont want to piss off the mayor, but my obligation is to my members. Its nothing personal. John McGrody, vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said police and firefighters have also been having issues with pay. He said he thinks the number is much higher than the city is releasing publicly. Our phones have been lighting up all week, he said, with officers complaining about missed paychecks or inaccurate wages. Its a mess. Thats for sure. Police Department workers are still using the legacy timekeeping system and not yet entering time into One Philly. But because the paychecks are issued by OnePhilly, some information did not transfer, and some police employees who are not signed up for direct deposit and get paper checks in the mail have not been receiving their pay, McGrody said. Overtime pay has also been problematic. For prisons, overtime has been paid at straight time instead of time and a half, according to the Local 159 complaint letter. In other cases, overtime pay which for employees working at the citys 24/7 facilities is mandatory has been delayed as city officials try to fix the system. Some did not receive their holiday pay for working Good Friday. One prison employee shared with The Inquirer a copy of a paycheck showing the employee worked 80 hours during the two-week period ending April 26. And the deposit amount was $0. The city is supposed to send supplemental paychecks to any employee who was shorted pay. Dunn would not provide the number of supplemental checks that have been issued. City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart said through a spokesperson that her office will audit the new One Philly system in July. Specifics about the number of short paychecks or overpayments will happen as part of the audit process, Rhynhart said. Hill, the business agent for Local 159, said that many of his members have suffered consequences of inaccurate pay, such as having trouble paying rent and mortgages. Others have been hit with insufficient-funds fees at their bank. Some members have also received additional paychecks in one pay period. Weve been advising them to put that extra money in an escrow account, until the city asks for the money back, Hill said. For employees who have received inaccurate paychecks or no paycheck at all, Dunn said employees should contact their departments human resources office in person or via email for adjustments. Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said D.C. 47 Local 2187 represents supervisors. Philadelphia defense attorney Joe Kelly receives praise from a fellow attorney this week for a state Supreme Court ruling last week which cleared his client of DUI charges. Read more A little-noticed ruling last week from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could upend hundreds of criminal convictions that grew out of traffic stops, and force the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office to change how it prosecutes some defendants, lawyers say. The appeal was brought by Marc Perfetto, 34, an ironworker from Northeast Philadelphia who was stopped in July 2014 for driving without headlights in the citys Kensington section. An officer charged him with that offense as well as with driving on a suspended license and DUI. He was tried and convicted in Municipal Courts Traffic Division for the summary offense of driving without headlights, and jailed because he had been on parole for a second DUI when he was arrested. But before he could be tried for the July 2014 DUI, his attorney, Joe Kelly, filed a motion in Common Pleas Court claiming the trial would be illegal because Perfetto had already been tried on the summary offense in traffic court. Kelly argued that trying Perfetto for another offense from the same arrest would violate a state law that requires a prosecutor to bring at the same time all known charges against a defendant arising from a single criminal episode. Ultimately, the high court agreed. In its 5-2 opinion, the justices affirmed a decades-old state law known as the compulsory joinder statute, and acknowledged their rulings potential impact. We certainly recognize that our holding today may present the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office with an administrative challenge; however, this courts decision, as always, is guided by the law, read the high courts ruling, written by Justice Max Baer and signed by Debra Todd, Christine Donohue, David Wecht, and Sallie Updyke Mundy. The ruling means the District Attorneys Office cannot try Perfetto for the DUI. But lawyers say the ruling could ripple to affect dozens, if not hundreds, of other cases because traffic stops for moving violations often lead to other more serious charges, like DUIs or gun or drug possessions. Some have already started filing motions seeking to have their clients pending charges and convictions reviewed. Its not about letting everyone run around with guns. Its about fairness and doing whats right and whats legal and just following the law, said defense attorney Bert Elmore, who said he will file challenges in six cases. Ben Waxman, a spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, said the office is still evaluating the decision to gauge its impact and how we want to respond. The issue is as much about process as it is justice. Prior to 2013, it was permissible for a Philadelphia defendants summary offense to be heard in Traffic Court and misdemeanor and felonies offenses to be heard in Municipal and Common Pleas Courts. But since folding Traffic Court into Municipal Court, lawyers contend, Philadelphia prosecutors should be trying all of a defendants summary and more serious offenses together. Going forward, if they want to prosecute the DUI and the speeding ticket, theyll have to put them together Theres nothing stopping them from doing it, and from here on out, they will have to do that, said Victor Rauch, assistant defender in the Appeals Unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. His office filed a 19-page brief with the Supreme Court in support of Perfetto. Perfetto already had two DUIs on his record when he was pulled over July 3, 2014. Months later, he was tried and convicted in absentia in Municipal Court for the motor vehicle offense. But when the time came for his DUI trial in Common Pleas Court, his lawyer filed a motion claiming it was illegal under the joinder statute. Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Ehrlich in July 2015 granted Kellys motion and dismissed the DUI charges. A Superior Court judge reversed that ruling and reinstated the DUI charges in August 2017. Kelly then turned to the state Supreme Court. At issue was the state law which precludes a prosecution due to a previous prosecution for a different offense if four elements are present: the previous prosecution resulted in an acquittal or conviction; the pending prosecution arose from the same criminal episode; the prosecutor was aware of the charges in the pending case before the initial trial took place; and the crimes in both cases occurred within the same judicial district. That last prong had once been limited to crimes adjudicated in a single court but the legislature broadened it to district in 2002, a change the Supreme Court suggested had created the confusion and factored into its decision. The Traffic Division is not a court unto itself; rather, it is a division of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, the majority wrote. In a dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Thomas Saylor and Justice Kevin Dougherty argued that the joinder law enacted by the legislature was more likely intended to prevent someone from being prosecuted in two different court divisions for the same charge, not from different offenses that happened to be discovered or charged at the same time. The dissenters also argued that Perfettos case should have been exempt from the joinder statute because the hearing officer who found him guilty in traffic court lacked jurisdiction to hear the DUI case. Defense attorney James Berardinelli, a former city prosecutor who is running for judge, said the Supreme Courts opinion may lead to police issuing fewer traffic violations when motorists are also charged with more serious crimes. I think the ruling is in accordance to what the rule says, so I agree with it, he said. Perfetto hasnt stayed trouble-free in the years since. Court records show he was charged with driving violations and drug possession in Montgomery County in June 2016, and later sentenced to probation. Still, the court ruling in his 2014 arrest may have spared him years in prison. On the night he was arrested, police said his blood-alcohol level was twice the limit to legally drive. Because it was his third DUI, he could have been sentenced to as much as five years in state prison if convicted, according to his lawyer. Said Kelly: He got a break. An Amish buggy enters the long driveway into the Oregon Dairy supermarket and adjoining farm property in Manheim. Read more For centuries, hundreds of Amish and Mennonite farmers in Manheim Township, one of Lancaster Countys prime agricultural heartlands, have tilled the soil, tended to livestock, and carted goods across rural roads by horse and buggy. Home for them is lush green farmland, uninterrupted for acres and acres save for silos, grazing animals, and narrow roads. Now comes a plan for a sprawling development, complete with a hotel, restaurant, banquet hall, supermarket, convenience store, and 550 homes slated to rise on 75 acres not far from the fields the farmers have tended for generations. Oregon Village, as the development would be called, would dramatically reshape this rural corner of Lancaster County, bringing new housing and fresh commerce and creating a modern complex that supporters say would revitalize the town. It would create jobs, bring in $3 million in annual tax revenue, and reimagine the site of a former hotel, closed decades ago and razed in 2008. We believe that this plan will save the village as we know it today, said Victor Hurst, a partner in the project whose family owns the land on which the development would be built. The Hurst family runs Oregon Dairy market, restaurant, and bakery, businesses that would expand with the new development. At a recent town meeting, Hurst said he envisioned a place where young people can enjoy their first taste of living independently from their parents, young families can raise their children, the middle-aged enjoy the vibrancy of life, and older folks realize a place where they can age gracefully. Critics say the sprawling development would upend the locals deeply-rooted lifestyle and signal the start of a construction boom in an area long known for its agriculture. The project, they say, would fundamentally change the character of a farming village that dates to the 17th century. This is like plopping a small city in the middle of farmland," said Mary Haverstick, cofounder of the local citizens group Respect Farmland. "Thats the problem with this design. The group said the development would increase housing in the small Manheim Township village of Oregon by more than tenfold, from about 50 houses to more than 550, a move it says would forever alter" the rural enclave. And it predicted massive traffic congestion, which it said would pose particular hazard for the Amish and Old Order Mennonite who travel by horse and buggy to and from nearby farms. The land on which Hurst plans to build Oregon Village is zoned for commercial and residential use and set in an area county planners envisioned for growth, but the project needs a conditional-use variance to allow mixed-use development. The developer also needs the townships permission to widen State Route 272, also known as Oregon Pike, from two lanes to six lanes, building to its widest point at two eight-lane intersections. Supporters of the project say that would redirect traffic away from smaller roads in the village. Detractors say traffic would be a nightmare and pose peril for those traveling by horse and buggy. "I just cant imagine being in a horse and buggy on a six-lane highway, said Amish farmer Amos Beiler as he stood in a field in Manheim on a recent sunny morning. I just dont know how its going to work. Beilers cousin, Pamela Haver, was more blunt. Its a disaster waiting to happen, she said. The proposed development has divided the town and pitted longtime residents against one another at packed township hearings that have gone on for months. The townships five-member board of commissioners has heard ardent testimony from both sides as it weighs one of the most contentious issues to come before the board in years. To be sure, the decision that lies ahead will be critical to the future of the town. I can say this without any exaggeration at all, said Dan Sweigart, a member of Respect Farmland. This is probably the most controversial development project in Lancaster County at least in the last 15 to 20 years. Its generated a huge amount of community interest. Two years ago, the board unanimously rejected an earlier version of the Oregon Village plan because it proposed building on a stretch of preserved land. The new plan avoids that. But for the variance needed to build a mixed-use development, it falls squarely within the zoning code, officials said. A whole lot of people want us to say no to the project, said Albert B. Kling, president of the board of commissioners. Many people particularly people who live in the neighborhood are opposed to that [development]. It changes things." Amish and Mennonite farmers whose properties date back generations and directly abut the Hursts land strongly oppose the development and say it would disrupt their way of life. "I feel very much disrespected, said Old Order Mennonite farmer Lester Oberholtzer as he drove his horse and buggy along local roads on a recent day. The Hurst family knows that this is going to make it more difficult to farm, and I just feel like they have no respect for their neighbors by doing something like this. Outside the Plain Sect, others have concerns, too. Jim Garland, owner of Reflections Restaurant on East Oregon Road, says the plans proposal to reroute the road so it would run through Oregon Village would significantly disrupt traffic flow to his eatery and hurt his business. He and Oberholtzer, along with Mennonite farmer Martin Wenrich, have hired lawyer Julie Miller to try to defeat the project. Miller said the developments effect on the town would be massive. The impact would be enormous, she said. The potential of changing everything in that area cant be overlooked. The Hurst family, too, has hired lawyers as it works to persuade the township to approve the project. Those lawyers, Caroline M. Hoffer and Michael W. Davis, did not respond to requests for comment. Efforts to reach Victor Hurst were similarly unsuccessful. Preservationists, meanwhile, fear what Oregon Village could mean for the countys farmland. You live here and you see the changes," said Haverstick, of Respect Farmland. "Ive lived here 50-some years. The traffic is one of the biggest complaints, and the loss of farmland the sprawl, farm after farm being gobbled up. Kling, the township commissioner, said residents were reacting reflexively to change. People arent real fond of change, he said. "They yell about increased traffic. Well, traffic increases here anyway, whether you build it or not. District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks during a press conference announcing the clearance of the city's rape kit backlog at the DA's office in Center City, Philadelphia on Thursday, May 02, 2019. Read more Investigators discovered new leads in dozens of Philadelphia rape cases previously considered unsolved after the Police Department belatedly completed testing on a long-standing backlog of untested rape kits, city officials said Thursday. District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a news conference that about 65 cases that had been unsolved since 2007 may be impacted by the DNA evidence discovered in more than 1,500 untested rape kits some of which were collected in the 1980s and 1990s. The Police Department recently eliminated the backlog, which three years ago had been the biggest in the state. Although developing enough information to arrest a suspect is more complicated than finding a DNA match, Krasners office said one man was arrested this year for a rape committed in 2000, and another man was arrested for a 2001 rape. Krasner did not specify how many other arrests may have come from the pool of kits that for years sat untested, but said that besides potentially providing justice in old cases, now that the backlog is gone, we will be able to significantly decrease the amount of time it will take the lab to process new cases." Krasner said DNA can be useful to solve cold cases and instances of stranger rape where a victim does not know his or her attacker but also said he hopes to continue employing DNA evidence in cases moving forward. "It points a giant arrow in the direction of where we all need to go in law enforcement, which is in the direction of being able to use the most scientific methods, and being able to use them wherever possible, Krasner said. Nationwide, an overwhelming backlog For years, cities and states, including Philadelphia, have struggled to develop protocols for how to handle the kits that contain physical evidence collected during sexual-assault investigations. After a sexual assault, a victim can choose to participate in a thorough forensic exam, during which a medical practitioner will collect evidence including DNA swabs from the victims body or clothes that can help identify potential attackers. End the Backlog, an advocacy group, blamed the backlog of untested kits on factors including disparities among law enforcement agencies about whether and when to test kits; a lack of knowledge and training about how useful the kits can be; and underfunded crime labs, or police departments that couldnt afford the tests or devoted funding to other priorities. In 2015, USA Today surveyed more than 1,000 police agencies across the country and reported that at least 70,000 rape kits had been neglected. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network called the backlog overwhelming. In recent years, as scrutiny on law enforcement agencies over the backlog has increased, officials have sought to highlight how proper testing can lead to results, including arrests, even years after the kits were initially collected. Last month, for example, the New York Times reported that grants to test rape kits, distributed to agencies across the country by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office, had led to 165 prosecutions and 64 convictions. What about here? In Pennsylvania, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale in 2016 issued a report saying that at least 3,044 kits statewide were awaiting testing. The report also said that more than 1,800 of those had been awaiting testing for at least 12 months. About 85 percent of the oldest untested kits resided in the Philadelphia Police Departments Office of Forensic Science, DePasquales report said some that dated to the 1990s. It blamed the problem in Philadelphia on long-term underfunding of the departments crime lab. Last month, DePasquale said the number of kits awaiting testing statewide had decreased to 339, about a third of which were from the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner. Philadelphia eliminated its backlog in December 2018, DePasquale said. Krasner credited the Police Department, which worked for about three years to eliminate the backlog while testing new rape kits as they came in. He said the work to uncover enough information for an arrest is lengthy and can involve finding and speaking with victims who may have been attacked years ago, locating suspects, or identifying other evidence to build a case prosecutors can take to court. Monique Howard, executive director of the Philadelphia group Women Organized Against Rape, said Thursdays announcement was encouraging for sexual assault survivors. It affirms the victim, she said. It discredits the suspects. Benjamin Slater of East Mount Airy is shown Friday, June 29, 2018. He had filed a lawsuit against Dorney Park & Whitewater Kingdom alleging he was a victim of racial profiling on Father' Day 2018 by an armed security officer. Read more A Pennsylvania amusement park has settled a lawsuit filed by a black Philadelphia man who said security officers racially profiled him, saying he matched the description of a pickpocket, then escorted him out even after it was determined he wasnt the suspect. Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdoms parent company settled the suit for an undisclosed amount, the Allentown Morning Call reported. The lawsuit was filed in June on behalf of Benjamin Slater, a special-education teacher from the citys East Mount Airy section. A letter from Slater's attorney to U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Perkin in February indicated Slater had sought $1 million but was willing to settle for $500,000. A spokeswoman for Dorney Park said the company wouldn't comment on the settlement. Slater told The Inquirer last year that he was approached by a security officer after getting off a roller-coaster and was asked to empty his pockets. After he did so, Slater said, the officer told him he resembled someone who had been going through purses and bags, and he was later escorted out and banned from the park for six months. Dorney Park, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia, is owned by Cedar Fair, based in Sandusky, Ohio. A label for the Philadelphia Badlands on Google Maps drew ire online this week, adding another layer to the long-standing conversation over neighborhood names and boundaries, and their uses in technology. A Twitter account, @RITTSQU, shared an image Tuesday that showed the name labeled near the Fairhill neighborhood in North Philadelphia, calling it a racist new twist. The post quickly garnered attention, and by Thursday, the name did not appear to be on the map, though a search for Philadelphia Badlands still brought results. Using Philadelphia Badlands in Google Maps directions feature will take users to Sixth Street and Allegheny Avenue, while also suggesting Fairhill, North Philadelphia, and Kensington. Its unclear how long the name had existed on Google Maps, when or why it was removed, or how it was added. Google did not respond to requests for comment. Reached by phone, @RITTSQU, who did not provide his full name, said he submitted feedback to the company after spotting the name Tuesday. The user said he spotted the name while poking around the feature and called it problematic. To see Google kind of endorse that really did not strike me the right way, he said. Another Twitter user, whose personal website identifies Google as his employer, responded to the tweet to say there was an escalation in progress. Reached via email, the user referred questions to Googles press team. Though, not all users found issue. The Philadelphia Badlands is, for the most part, an actual neighborhood though, said one. Like, thats what weve been calling that Fairhill/K&A Area since the 80s. A history Google didnt pull the name Philadelphia Badlands out of thin air. There are many references to the badlands, which has its own Wikipedia page, on YouTube and social media, and in books and news accounts. The Inquirer used the term in the past as well a place narcs call the Badlands, reads the opening paragraph of a 1991 story, headlined, In the Badlands of the city, drugs still riding high. The story defined the area as a narrow strip stretching roughly between Cambria [Street] and Indiana [Avenue] from American Street to Germantown Avenue. Later, the newspapers stylebook was changed to read, Although the word has become media shorthand for the Fairhill and West Kensington neighborhoods of North Philadelphia, it is seen as pejorative and condemnatory by many people who live in those areas and work toward their rebirth. It may be used in quotations but is to be avoided otherwise. Other controversies Google created its maps with help from third-party data, public sources, satellites, and users, the New York Times reported last year, noting that how Google comes up with names is a mysterious process. Googles site has a guide on how to report problems. In 2014, Google Maps stopped using Temple Town to describe the area surrounding Temple University in North Philadelphia following complaints from community leaders and residents. At the time, Google couldnt say how the name came to be used, while a university spokesperson said Temple played no role in the labels appearance on Google Maps. TempleTown is also the name of a realty company that helps students find off-campus housing. In 2015, Philadelphia Magazine dug into the mystery of EM Stanton Catchment calling it Google Maps most ridiculous Philadelphia neighborhood. Google Maps isnt the only company thats faced controversy over location labels. Late last summer, Time reported that a mapping company used by popular apps like Snapchat and the Weather Channel labeled New York City as Jewtropolis in what was later described as anti-Semitic tampering. Whats in a name The city does not officially outline neighborhoods or draw its boundaries, as The Inquirer reported last year in response to requests submitted through Curious Philly, a platform to submit questions for our journalists to answer. There are police and Council districts. The Inquirer uses boundaries and neighborhoods agreed upon in the late 1980s, with some minor changes, after gathering feedback from police, civic groups, and others. Neighborhood names arent always colloquial, but Google Maps carries weight. Readers who shared what they call neighborhoods said they relied on a number of factors, including Google Maps, to determine what names to use. The conversation surrounding Philadelphia Badlands is a different one, though, from where Kensington ends and Port Richmond begins. Its always important for people who live in a neighborhood or people who want to belong to a community to have some sort of geographic focus, one reader told The Inquirer in October. Its something that unites them all. The PAC Philadelphia 3.0 has been investing heavily in materials to promote the campaign of Jamie Gauthier, right, who is challenging incumbent city Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, left. A new law may require 3.0 to reveal more of its donors. Read more Philadelphia 3.0 an independent political action committee has focused most of its efforts this election cycle on getting Jamie Gauthier elected to City Council. The group has circulated thousands of fliers in West Philly supporting Gauthier and accusing longtime incumbent Jannie L. Blackwell of being too cozy with developers and holding the seat for too long. But the groups support has proved somewhat polarizing in the 3rd District race. This week, a rebuttal flier landed in mailboxes across the district, accusing 3.0 of being a billionaire-backed secret-money group with ties to President Donald Trump, and encouraging residents to Re-Elect Jannie Blackwell. Three Point Zero (3.0) is a hidden Republican/Donald Trump plan," the fliers read. It wouldnt surprise me, Blackwell said of the alleged but unexplained Trump connection. The councilwoman said she had no idea who circulated the fliers, but had seen them in the neighborhood. There was no attribution, which is a violation of campaign finance laws. Ali Perelman, the executive director of 3.0, called the claims absurd." There is no Trump connection. Its absolutely preposterous. Its ridiculous. We spent basically a year recruiting and training mostly Democrats almost entirely, exclusively Democrats to run for low-level Democratic office in Philadelphia." But the more lasting backlash against 3.0 has been that it doesnt legally have to publicly identify many of its donors. In 2015 it spent more than $500,000 on Council races but kept secret the origin of seven out of every 10 dollars transferred from its nonprofit. A change to the citys campaign-finance law taking effect this week aims to make sure anyone who pays for political communications is named. More transparency coming? Under Philadelphias existing law, Philadelphia 3.0 already has had to disclose the source of money used for political activity through its political action committee. Legislation that Mayor Jim Kenney signed into law Wednesday adds language making it explicit that the law requires disclosure of money spent whether directly or through another person on electioneering think mailers, fliers, public advertisements on behalf of candidates. The new law requires PACs like 3.0 to disclose all donors who contribute to political activity that costs more than $5,000, whether the funding originated from a nonprofit or a political action committee. Philly 3.0 has both a nonprofit and a PAC. In 2015, the nonprofit arm gave the PAC $375,000 in two donations but kept the identities of the donors to its nonprofit secret. The effect of this amendment is to ensure that when people spend large amounts of money to influence city elections, there will be disclosure of the actual funders of that activity, regardless of whether it is done through a nonprofit or a PAC or whatever kind of entity," said Michael Cooke, acting General Counsel for the Board of Ethics. The law, which takes effect immediately, could also mean more transparency in the critical days before the May 21 primary. In the past, one way to get around disclosing last-minute purchases was to pay for some ads after theyve aired and then file reports later, sometimes after an election. The bill requires disclosure based on when the communication is distributed, rather than paid for. Councilman Derek Green, who is endorsed by 3.0 in his reelection bid this year, sponsored the bill, which also clarified several other sections of the citys campaign-finance law. This bill provides more transparency so that we as voters and others, as were going into the political season, who want to influence the outcome of elections, should have information," Green said. "Thats to me something that was needed as a result of federal case law that had impacted us. Perelman said her group has made all required disclosures and would continue to do so. She said that since a first round of changes to the law in 2015, the PAC has exclusively funded the groups electioneering activities and disclosed its donors. The not-for-profit is free to do issue advocacy and fund administrative costs without disclosures. Perelman said some of the backlash against 3.0 in the 3rd District race shows a misconception about what the group is about. Philadelphia 3.0 was started in 2014 in the boardroom of Parkway Corp., a parking-facility operator and real estate developer, and has since accepted big-dollar donations from developers. Despite those close ties to the industry, 3.0 mailers have consistently targeted Blackwell for building strong relationships with developers. Philadelphia 3.0s most recent campaign finance report showed just one contribution of $50,000 from Richard Vague, a venture capitalist who was considering a run for president. About $68,000 was transferred from the nonprofit to the PAC in September. City law allows transfers without donor disclosure that far in advance. In addition to Gauthier, Philadelphia 3.0 is backing Judy Moore, who is challenging Brian ONeill in the 10th District; Eryn Santamoor, running as a Democrat at large; and incumbents Green, Allan Domb and Maria Quinones-Sanchez. Our core mission is to support smart and qualified city candidates, mostly challengers," Perelman said. Backfiring on Gauthier? In an already uphill battle for Gauthier, backlash over the PACs endorsement has been an unforeseen and problematic issue. Its eroded support for her among some young, vocal progressives in the city. Reclaim, a progressive grassroots organization that has protested against Blackwell in Council, opted not to endorse a candidate in the 3rd District, partly because Gauthier was endorsed by 3.0. Gauthier was also initially chosen for endorsement by the Liberty City Democrats political committee until 3.0s backing was raised as an issue and club members present for the meeting voted to not endorse anyone. Gauthiers campaign manager, Trevor Maloney, said being competitive as a challenger means seeking a broad base of support. We wish that it were easier and cheaper to run against an incumbent, but its not, Maloney said. He said Gauthiers support for reining in so-called councilmanic prerogative, term limits, and ending the 10-year tax abatement amount to a pretty progressive platform. "If 3.0 or any other group that supports us are supporting us, they support us with the full understanding that Jamies going to do what she says shes going to do. There are several interests, Im sure, that Philly 3.0 would like Jamie to support that Jamie doesnt support and isnt going to support. Theres a high that hits, when youre running on the pedestrian pathway of the Ben Franklin Bridge and crest the spans midpoint on the way into Philadelphia: The skyline peeks through the bridges steel arches, as if to greet you. That sunset ..., runner Mary Anna Rodabaugh says with a sigh. "Youre cheesin [smiling] the whole way down into Philly. Its like your gift, and youre like, I live here! Rodabaugh, 31, had never run the bridge when she showed up on its Philly side for the first time four years ago. Now shes a regular with the Philly Bridge Runners, whose springtime mission is as simple as it is sweet: Run the 3.75 miles from Philly to Camden and back every Tuesday evening for six weeks, raising money each time for a different charitable running club. Philadelphia is a runners town. If its a nice spring weekend, chances are theres a road closed for a race near Kelly Drive, a sea of joggers on the Schuylkill River Trail, and someone wearing a tinfoil blanket and a medal at the local brunch spot. Philly even hosts an annual Mayors Cup race in which runners of every ability compete in five cross-country, trail, or road races around the city in a single day. The event swells bigger every year nearly 40 groups were represented last year. Still, if youre new to the area, how do you access one of those groups? Or if you want to run for a charity, how do you find a club whose cause youd happily sweat for? Six years ago, those questions were on the mind of Carl Ewald, who had long organized large races in Center City and wanted to use his network of running contacts for good. Im not famous and Im not powerful, but Ive got a big list of runners because I plan races thats my gig," says Ewald, a local attorney. Thus was born the Bridge Running and Happy Hour Training Program. For a $30 registration fee, which is split among selected running charities, participants meet every Tuesday in the six weeks prior to the Broad Street Run. (Tackling the Ben was a unique way to trick people into doing hills, says Ewald: Running over a bridge sounds a lot sexier than running hills.) READ MORE: Broad Street Run weather forecast: What to expect, hour by hour READ MORE: On Broad Street, running for hope and life After traversing the Ben together, they gather for free beer at a bar to hear get-to-know-us pitches from two different running clubs one social, one charitable. A hat is passed, connections are made, and boom the citys running infrastructure gets a little stronger. Since the groups inception, says Ewald, the Bridge Runners have raised more than $20,000 for running nonprofits. On this particular Tuesday evening, the South Philly Striders club is featured along with the Monster Milers, whose members run with foster dogs to both give them exercise and tucker them out (which helps calm the pups, hopefully rendering them more adoptable). Most of the dogs spend most of their day inside a kennel or a small room," explains Monster Milers Rebecca Baranowski, to audible awwws from listeners. "They get a little crazy, especially the pit mixes a 15-minute walk just isnt enough. We get them out, then return them happy and pooped. The Bridge Runners have also raised money for Students Run Philly Style, which connects students to running; Back on My Feet, a partnership of runners and those struggling with homelessness; and Achilles, which pairs blind runners with guide runners. Running is free, says Rebecca Kreck, of Wenonah, Gloucester County, shortly before starting her bridge ascent. You dont need to pay to run, so doing it for a good cause, its something that feels good. Theres also some connection, most participants agree, with the runners mentality of pushing past a wall or toward a personal best time and a desire to support people trying to get over the humps of life obstacles. This nights run brings out about 50 people. A father and son race up the bridge. Ladies from the Mullica Hill triathlon club chat about upcoming races. A trio of couples talk about architecture and their young kids. Some are pushing hard and sprinting uphill, chasing personal records. Others are just after a peaceful evening to themselves, an opportunity to think about that day at work, the weekend ahead, or nothing at all. Still others are here for the friendship, the exercise and the free beer. Whatever the pace or purpose, the groups members cheer each other on. The night always ends at Dave & Busters where, brews in hand, the Bridge Runners catch up on life and discuss their fitness goals. Im training for old age, says Bill Simila, who is 54. Me," says Kelly Gibb Piasecki of Center City, "Im just trying to get to the bar without dying. READ MORE: From start to finish, top strategies for the Broad Street Run READ MORE: Am I ready for the Broad Street Run? READ MORE: 10 sports psychology tips for the Broad Street Run READ MORE: No offense, runners, but the endurance this company is recognizing isnt yours Sasha Mannino (center) and Iris Peron-Ames (right), both 15, look on as Kathryn Gay speaks with them Greenfield Elementary School on Tuesday. Graduates of Greenfield, Mannino and Peron-Ames now attend Science Leadership Academy and are running their second campaign to collect tampons and other toiletries for young people in need. Read more You cant outgrow kindness. In late 2017, three eighth-grade girls from Albert M. Greenfield Elementary School decided to collect tampons for low-income students at the University of Pennsylvania. Theyd heard about an undergraduate who had to choose between eating breakfast or buying tampons. Tragically, as the girls were planning, one of them, Kalina Brook Kozlowski, took her own life at age 14. This week, Kozlowskis friends Sasha Mannino and Iris Peron-Ames, both 15 now and living in Fairmount started a second collection of tampons and other toiletries, this time at their high school, Science Leadership Academy in Center City. We want to make it a tradition, Peron-Ames said. And we want to honor Kalina, Mannino added. On Tuesday, the girls revisited their alma mater, returning heroes padding into the school lobby in unassuming, shy-girl triumph, greeted warmly by their mentor, John Neary. National philanthropy professionals who learned about the tampon drive had lauded the girls, saying theyd never heard of teenagers working to help college students in such a way. Neary told Peron-Ames and Mannino that he helped start another drive for toiletries at Greenfield this year, the teacher following his students into a world of high-minded giving, drawing on the memory of a remarkable child who had burned to make things better for people. These girls inspired other students, said Neary, a language arts teacher. They set the example. It tells students, You can help, too. That idea was echoed by Kozlowskis mother, Kathryn Gay, 56, who joined the girls at Greenfield on Tuesday in an impromptu reunion. Kalina brought out the good in people, Gay said. Hers is a legacy to help others. Not everything worked out according to the girls original plan. As often happens, Peron-Ames and Mannino have learned early in life that good intentions can be thwarted. Even though a staffer in a Penn office had said last year that the university would happily accept the tampons, the school ultimately balked. A Penn official said the university had no process in place to take the donation, which the girls never tallied or weighed. When we found out the tampons werent going to Penn, it was like, Oh, my God, theyre not taking it,'" Peron-Ames said. "It was hard to scramble, and it caused me a lot of stress. But I learned to persevere through things. Through an intermediary, the girls engaged Cradles to Crayons, a nonprofit in East Falls, as well as in Boston and Chicago, that provides everyday essentials to low-income children from birth to age 12. Cradles took the first load of tampons, dubbed Kalinas Cabinet, Gay said. The girls expanded this years drive to include diapers, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, and toilet paper. Instead of toting toiletries to Science Leadership Academy for collection, donors can simply send the supplies directly to Cradles, Gay said. Cradles has been a wonderful partner, she said. Suzanne Allen-Weise, senior manager of family philanthropy with Cradles in East Falls, said personal hygiene items such as tampons and diapers are not covered by government assistance programs for people in poverty. So, a donation effort such as Kalinas Cabinet provides items that are desperately needed and under-supplied to the families we serve. Its helping us make a difference. The girls agree that it was Kozlowski who came up with the drive to donate tampons to Penn. They described her as the most socially aware of the trio. Kozlowski marched against President Donald Trump, advocated for mental-health awareness, and raised funds for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. As a young child, she traveled to Trinidad with Gay, then working as a public health official on food-borne illnesses for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I tried to instill the idea of helping others into Kalina, said Gay, clearly buoyed by seeing her daughters pals again. She embraced that. Philadelphia Media Network is one of 21 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the citys push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org. Moshe Porat, former dean of Temple University's Fox School of Business, speaks during a news conference announcing a $25 million defamation lawsuit against the university at the Hilton hotel on City Avenue in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 2, 2019. Porat is suing Temple and university president Richard M. Englert over their statements on Porat's firing in the aftermath of a school ranking scandal last year. Read more Just as Temple Universitys Fox School of Business was trying to push the embarrassing 2018 rankings scandal into the past, ousted dean Moshe Porat put it at center stage again Thursday, alleging that he shouldnt have been made a scapegoat for it. On Thursday, Porat filed a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court against the university and its president, Richard M. Englert, and held a news conference at a hotel off City Avenue to address what he said were false accusations by Temple that he personally ordered and directed the manipulation of Foxs rankings data. The phony numbers incorrectly earned Fox a No. 1 ranking nationally by U.S. News & World Report for several years running. It genuinely pains me to take this step, said Porat, 72, flanked by more than a dozen family members, friends, and supporters, including several former Fox employees. Porat wore a Temple and Fox pin on his suit coat. I love Temple and the Fox School, and I truly believe, deeply believe, in their mission," he said. Until now, I have tried to negotiate in good faith. Temple on Thursday issued a statement saying it stands by its decision to remove Porat, which was bolstered by the findings of a university-commissioned investigation by an independent law firm. The universitys decision to remove former dean Porat was based on the comprehensive findings of the independent review conducted by the Jones Day law firm, a summary of which remains publicly available, according to Temples statement. The Jones Day findings are compelling, and the university continues to stand by its decision. Dr. Porats allegations are meritless. Going forward, we will carefully review his statements made public today to determine any legal remedies the university may pursue. In his lawsuit, Porat pointed at other Temple coworkers and the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, a university-wide group that he said oversaw every departments rankings submissions. Porats suit also named a former lower-level Fox employee, Marjorie ONeill, as the person responsible for submitting the data, as well as a worker who directly reported to her, retired senior vice dean Diana Breslin Knudsen, and other employees. ONeills phone number in Malvern is unlisted, and no one answered Breslin-Knudsens phone number in Downingtown. Porat declined to take questions, but his lawyer did. Asked who specifically was responsible for the breach and the motivation, the lawyer, Thomas A. Clare, said he and his client hope to get some of those questions answered with the lawsuit. Porat claims reputational, emotional, and health damages, and is seeking $25 million. He was previously in settlement talks with Temple. He remains a tenured professor, currently on sabbatical, and collects a salary, Clare said. Clare declined to release the amount. Outside observers say Porats strategy is risky. He was captain of the ship. Thats called leadership. My view is, sure he can do that [file a lawsuit], but hes undermining his claim to be a leader, said Eliot Ingram, CEO of Philadelphia-based Clear Admit, which advises MBA applicants on admissions At Temples MBA program, like at most business schools nationally, rankings were important so much so that billboards around Philadelphia advertised Temples No. 1 U.S. News ranking heavily. They have been replaced. Its hard to gauge the reputational effect of Porats lawsuit on Fox. Temples MBA program, which charged $60,000 to $70,000 a year, was a money-maker for the university, according to Temples student newspaper, the Temple News. Porat is also mounting an aggressive public relations and rehabilitation campaign. On his lawyers website, Porats supporters were quoted with notes calling his ouster an ambush. Arvind V. Phatak, a retired management professor at Fox, attended the news conference in support of Porat. He also wrote on the website of Clares firm, Clare Locke in Alexandria, Va.: Moshe is known as one of the best business school deans in the globally dispersed business school community. I have some understanding of the process that culminated in the termination of the Fox School Dean. This event, as it unfolded, fits perfectly the dictionary definition of ambush. It is truly regrettable that a person who was 'our very respected colleague, one who has made significant and valued improvements to the Fox School, and to Temple University, was treated so shabbily. Still, Temples business school program is healthy, said Ingram. Temple is a solid regional MBA. Its still a high-quality program, and they will move past this." As for Porat, part of being an honorable leader is taking responsibility for what happens on his watch, whether he directly knew about or participated in the rankings fraud. Either way, his leadership brand is damaged, which is why leaders are expected to resign in these situations, he said. Temple has been successfully re-accredited, and aimed to turn the page by settling a class-action lawsuit late last year with Fox students for roughly $5 million. Joe Biden did Donald Trump a huge favor when he announced his presidential run with a campaign ad that featured the tragedy of Charlottesville as a central theme. I dont think he meant to, because the obvious intention was to paint the current occupant of the White House as a racist who thinks some neo-Nazis are good people. While stirring music plays in the background, the former vice president looks somberly into the camera and says: It was there in August of 2017 that you saw Klansmen and white supremacists and neo-Nazis come out in the open. And they were met by a courageous group of Americans, and a violent clash ensued. And a brave young woman lost her life. And thats when we heard the words of the president of the United States that stunned the world and shocked the conscience of this nation. He said there were, quote, some very fine people on both sides. With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. Its a powerful message. What a shame that its based on a lie. Thats why Joe did Donald a real solid in focusing our attention on the notorious quote fine people on both sides, because we can finally shatter a toxic political myth. As Ive noted in the past, language matters. So does context. When Ilhan Omar said that some people did something, some of her allies were quick to point out that the words were taken out of context. They said we needed to listen to the entire speech she gave to the Council on American Islamic Relations to understand that she was talking about bad things being done to Muslims in the wake of 9/11, not the bad things the jihadists did to 3,000 innocent people. Of course, it is still legitimate to believe, as some people (including this writer) do, that her language could still be interpreted as referring to the bad things some terrorists did. Thats why precision in language is so very important. Still, Im willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one since, unlike her its all about the Benjamins, baby comment, there is a not-bigoted explanation for her words. But unlike Ilhan Omar, who has a fierce group of supporters who seem to think shes always misunderstood, there are few people in the media willing to push back against the conventional wisdom that Donald Trump is a racist. When Charlottesville happened, the media ran with the story that Trump had created a moral equivalence between the KKK and skinheads on one side, and liberals who opposed them on the other. Aside from the fact that members of both sides (so including those people Joe Biden called a courageous group of Americans") were throwing canisters of tear gas, no one mentions the fact that President Trump had specifically condemned the racists by name. Motivated by Bidens campaign ad, Politifact took a close look at exactly what the president said about Charlottesville, and reproduced the transcript of the news conference where the infamous fine people on both sides phrase was first uttered. At one point a reporter says: The neo-Nazis started this. They showed up in Charlottesville to protest Trump interrupts with: Excuse me, excuse me. You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sidesYou had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. Later in the transcript Trump says: Im not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally. He says it more than once. But somehow, this was barely reported at the time. I have to admit that for the longest time, I bought the story that Trump had made excuses for racists in Charlottesville. I never bothered to read the transcript, and believed the media reports that hed made excuses for white supremacy. I was lazy. Good thing for me and the president that Joe Biden was there to remind us that words matter and that, sometimes, words taken out of context are nothing more than lies. If Shakespeare had titled Attorney General William Barrs appearance on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he would have called it Much Ado About Nothing. Democrats seized on the supposed bombshell that special counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Barr expressing dissatisfaction with the attorney generals four-page memo to Congress from March 24, declaring it did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of his report. Barr told senators upon receiving the special counsels letter that he immediately called Mueller and said: Bob, whats with the letter? Why dont you just pick up the phone and call me if theres an issue? Here's a better question he should have asked: "Bob, why didn't you accept my offer to review the memo before it was released to the public?" The fact is, Barr gave Mueller the chance to go over the document, and offer comments or suggested edits, before the attorney general made it public. Mueller declined to do so. Sorry, you don't get to turn down an opportunity to review a document before release, and then complain about it later if you don't like how it is being covered by the media. And putting his complaints in a letter going to paper, in Justice Department parlance the details of which (surprise, surprise) were then leaked to the media on the eve of Barrs testimony, was dishonorable. The entire episode hurts Muellers reputation more than it does Barrs. Moreover, officials told the Washington Post, when Barr pressed [Mueller] whether he thought Barrs letter was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not, but felt that the media coverage of the letter was misinterpreting the investigation. So, there was nothing wrong with Barrs letter per se. What Mueller really wanted was for Barr to release more information specifically the introduction and executive summaries of each volume of the report, which he had 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. But, as Barr testified on Wednesday, even if he had agreed that releasing the introductions and executive summaries was a good idea (which he did not), he could not have done so because they required additional redactions from the intelligence community. Barr did not want to release the report piecemeal. "I thought what we should do is focus on getting the full report out as quickly as possible," he said. The attorney general did just that. Regardless, the whole issue was moot by the time Barr testified, because the entire 448-page report including the introduction and executive summaries has been released to the public. That did not stop Democrats from using it to attack Barrs credibility. Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono told Barr you lied to Congress and had chosen to be the presidents lawyer rather than Americas lawyer. She announced that she had asked the Justice Department inspector general to investigate his conduct. She called on Barr to resign. Being attorney general of the United States is a sacred trust. You have betrayed that trust. America deserves better. It was a disgusting partisan display. Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) rightly chastised Hirono, declaring, You slandered this man from top to bottom. Far from lying, Barr has bent over backward to be open with Congress and the American people. He overrode Justice Department regulations, and released the full Mueller report with only minor redactions. Thats virtually unprecedented. And he has made an almost completely unredacted version of the report available to members of Congress, who now have access to all but one-tenth of 1 percent of the document. And while the Justice Department worked overtime to speed the redaction process, he released a memo that accurately informed the American people about Muellers bottom-line conclusions. It is a fact that Mueller declared that his investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. And it is a fact that while the report does not exonerate him of obstruction it also does not conclude that the President committed a crime. For two years, Trump was falsely accused of being a Russian agent and colluding with Russian President Vladimir Putin including by many of those on Capitol Hill now attacking Barrs credibility. If members of Congress want examples of dishonesty and efforts to mislead the American people, they can start by looking in the mirror. 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 Elections are somewhat like traffic. Many people complain about the problems in their own communities. Few people think, The drivers here are great! Similarly, few seem satisfied with how their own elections are run. But there is actually a lot of good news out there on voting rights and election reform. Some communities are expanding the electorate by enfranchising more people. Voter registration has become effortless and Election Day is now more convenient in certain places. Structural changes to how we cast ballots have reduced voter apathy. Innovative public financing options have made it easier for more people to run for office and actually have a chance to win. Yes, we can be positive about whats possible for our elections. Thats the underlying message of the entries in this story: Each idea below offers pro-voter solutions to our election woes. Some of the ideas are already seeing success in certain places. Others are perhaps more novel. But what might seem radical at first glance might not be all that far-fetched after all. Take the example of lowering the voting age to 16, which theories of democratic engagement and cognitive brain science both support. When I first heard that Takoma Park, Md., lowered the voting age for its local elections in 2013, I thought the idea seemed radical. But then I learned that other countries allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote and that turnout among these age groups is usually higher than even slightly older teens, which can help to create a whole new generation of engaged voters. I learned about the improved civics education that usually accompanies this reform. I also learned that brains are fully developed for slower, reasoned decision-making what psychologists call cold cognitionby age 16, as opposed to later brain development for hot cognition, or heat-of-the-moment processes. Only a few years later, the reform has spread to about half a dozen cities, with more debating the issue to the point that over 100 members of Congress recently endorsed the idea. Maybe its not so radical after all. Universal vote-by-mail, also known as Vote at Home where all voters automatically receive a ballot in the mail a few weeks before Election Day without having to request one may seem radical for a place like Philadelphia, but it works extremely well in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, all counties in Utah (besides the one that has yet to adopt it), and several other jurisdictions. Notably, turnout is higher in Vote at Home states as compared with the rest of the country, with lower costs and hardly any fraud concerns. Ranked Choice Voting, a different way to designate ones preferences on the ballot, has spread from San Francisco to the Twin Cities to Memphis to recent statewide adoption in Maine. I might not agree with every proposed idea in this story, but I fully endorse innovative thinking about ways to improve our democratic process. As I write in a new book that tells the stories of many of these reforms and profiles the Democracy Champions behind their adoption, Pro-voter enhancements can provide all of us with hope for a brighter democratic future. Philadelphias streets may be congested, but it can learn from positive practices in other cities to ease the congestion. Philadelphias elections process may seem outdated to some, but it can gain insight from positive, pro-voter policies, many of which work well already in some places and others that are worthy of debate. Joshua A. Douglas is a law professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law who specializes in election law, voting rights, and constitutional law. He is the author of Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting." @JoshuaADouglas Express line for early morning voters We make restaurant reservations and we schedule everything from visits to the doctor to visits from the cable guy, and in some states (California and New York among them) you can even make an appointment with the Department of Motor Vehicles. How about ensuring that you can vote at a time on election day thats convenient for you? There are more than a million registered voters in Philadelphia, so the City Commissioners Office would have to be on the top of its game to pull it off, but the digital technology for it exists. Its likely that the morning and evening time slots best suited for most people with jobs would fill up quickly, but an express line for those voters could speed things up. As Business Insider put it in a 2016 survey of ideas for increasing turnout: An appointment-scheduling feature would allow people to pencil voting into a specific slot in their calendar long before election day comes around, lending a stronger sense of commitment to the act. Paul Droesch, volunteer, Committee of Seventy A new gig for Rosie the Riveter Voting has a branding problem. Voting reminds too many people of standing in line at the DMV. But voting is power. Many of your fellow citizens struggled and even died for you to have the right to vote, especially if youre a woman, a racial minority, young, or poor. Your vote has value. As I note in my book Political Brands, voters will be bombarded with disinformation about candidates and even the election itself. Pro-voting messages need better branding since voter suppression used clever branding including hash tagging the wrong date as Election Day. As later research revealed, during 2016, American voters, and particularly minority voters, were barraged with communications urging them to skip the election. We need PSAs from election administrators educating voters that memes encouraging them to boycott elections could be from people who do not have their interests at heart, including foreign governments. Perhaps the message should be value your vote or voting is power. But to be effectively branded, the positive messages about voting need to be repeated. Voters need to be bombarded with positive messages like the Uncle Sam posters that said I WANT YOU or the Rosie the Riveter, who repeated We can do it! Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, professor of law, Stetson University College of Law and Fellow, Brennan Center Old enough to drive? Old enough to vote Voting is among our most fundamental democratic rights, but U.S. citizens have to wait until they turn 18 before they can cast their ballot. Lowering the voting age to 16 could increase the likelihood of voting for both young voters and their parents. Voting is habitual, and young adults living with voting parents are more likely to vote than those living on their own. A study of four Danish provinces also found that parents were 2.8 percent more likely to vote if their child was eligible to vote, particularly if the child was still living at home. Lowering the voting age also would encourage K-12 schools to incorporate greater civics education into their curricula, leading to more informed voters later in life. Most important, political decisions impact the education, livelihoods, and safety of 16- and 17-year-olds, but those under 18 have no way of ensuring that decision-makers are looking out for their best interests. Lowering the voting age would encourage politicians and citizens to listen to young voices. Raisa Rubin-Stankiewicz, Princeton High School junior, advocate for student voices Weigh each ballot by voters life expectancy We should weight every vote by the voters remaining life expectancy. Such a move would align power over decisions with the deciders expected number of years living with the consequences of those decisions. How would it work? National average life expectancy would be calculated for every birth year. The longer the remaining life expectancy, the more weight voters would have. Every voter in the same birth year would have an equally weighted vote. And birth years with longer remaining life expectancy would have more weighted votes than birth years with shorter remaining life expectancy. Because everyone with the same remaining life expectancy would have the same weight to their vote, the principle here could be called one future, one vote. On average women live longer than men, as do whites than blacks. And yes, if the weighted voting was based solely on birth year, with no adjustments for sex or race or anything else, then voters from groups with lower than average life expectancies (men, blacks, the poor) would get a higher weighting relative to voters of the same age from groups with higher than average life expectancies (women, whites, the rich). Since the former groups currently vote at lower rates, the rule might actually help overcome existing inequalities by incentivizing these groups to vote. Note that a voters first vote would always be their most impactful, which might create positive incentives for both learning and voting. The diminishing impact of a voters vote over time would create a sense of scarcity and an expected boost in the voters participation in the present. Because this would be as true for a 20-year-old voter as it would for a 40-year-old voter, the rule might lead to universal increase in voting over time with a resulting increase in the impact of wisdom from experience. It is well understood that all humans, no matter their age, have a strong tendency to over-value the present compared with the future. This bias, probably more than any other single reason, is why we are doomed on climate change. Sure, greed and power and distraction and complexity make climate policy difficult. But perhaps the single biggest obstacle on our path to averting extinction is that the future has too weak a constituency. We humans are not likely to overcome our biases, but we can design a democratic process that privileges the votes of those expected to spend the most time in the future. Mark Alan Hughes, professor, University of Pennsylvania, was founding director of sustainability, City of Philadelphia. JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Do you have a radical idea to change voting? Email it to the Inquirer at opinion@philly.com. Vouchers for democracy At $5.7 billion spent, the 2018 election was the most expensive midterm in history. While small donors played an unprecedented role, the majority of election spending was furnished by big donors, demonstrating once again that our democracy is defined by the wealthiest Americans. Luckily, elections fund-raising can be democratized through public financing of elections. Take Seattles public financing program: Each resident receives four $25 democracy vouchers that can be given to any eligible municipal candidate. When pooled together, these people-powered vouchers augment the voices of everyday Americans, allowing them to rival big money interests. Candidates can forgo expensive fund-raisers and sustain their campaigns with community support. Seattles program went into effect for the 2017 elections and the results were extremely encouraging. Compared with previous elections, under public financing the number of donors skyrocketed and more candidates were able to run, and compared with cash donors, democracy voucher users were, on the whole, more representative of the electorate. Vouchers also increased the fund-raising power of constituents and generated countless first-time local election donors. The program is still nascent, but early data from the 2019 municipal elections suggest its second round will likely be even more transformative. Adam Eichen, author, Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want Take a cue from July 4th The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November became Election Day in 1845. Lawmakers thought it would be an easier time of year for farmers to take the time necessary to travel to a polling place. It was, in part, an attempt to increase participation. Its time to recapture that spirit by making Election Day a national holiday. In a U.S. Census Bureau survey of millions of voters after the November 2016 elections, 14.3 percent of voters polled said scheduling issues prevented them from voting in that election, a condition that was worst among nonwhite and younger voters. If we want a democracy thats more representative of more Americans, we need make voting easier and less economically risky. If Election Day was a holiday (or a weekend, as in other countries) it could boost voter turnout. Plus, a public celebration of voting might make it feel more valuable and fun. A 2018 Pew Research Center poll found 65 percent of Americans support making Election Day a national holiday, an idea favored by 71 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans polled. Such a holiday has been proposed in Congress but never advanced. If our electeds fear a more people-powered democracy, that should tell us just how much they respect us. Ashley Hahn, journalist and Election Day celebrator Bitcoin for voting Think of it like Bitcoin for voting. Youd vote using a secure online platform that provides transparency into elections results and you could do it all on your phone. You wouldnt have to go to the polls or mail in an absentee ballot, and election boards wouldnt have to hire and train nearly as many poll workers. And youd be able to follow your vote until its counted, but no one else could. Its possible thanks to blockchain technology. Of course, youd have to prove who you are, and election officials would have to know that its actually you whos voting on your phone. Those are among the questions that scare many security experts, but the technology that currently exists is good enough for Estonians, and blockchain-voting technology is being tested in Switzerland, South Korea, Kenya, and Colombia, not to mention West Virginia, where overseas voters (military and civilians) used it in 2018. Paul Droesch, volunteer, Committee of Seventy Make registration automatic Section One of Article Seven of the Pennsylvania State Constitution guarantees the right to vote for most Pennsylvanians 18 and older. However, 2.3 million Pennsylvanians are not registered to vote, and therefore cannot exercise their constitutionally protected right. Although state lawmakers and bureaucrats have made it much easier to vote, via online registration, it still remains a problem for many eligible voters. To ensure equal access to the ballot, Pennsylvania should adopt an automatic voter registration system. This would automatically register every citizen 18 and older to vote, so that every eligible Pennsylvanian would have the opportunity to vote. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have already adopted forms of automatic voter registration system, and because of it, they have all seen voter participation increase substantially. As it is done in other states, this would require the Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation, Revenue, and State to work together. These government agencies would send voter cards to all the eligible unregistered citizens, who will have the option to register with a party or opt out. Josh Portney, Upper Dublin High School senior, aspiring politician Mail it in Currently, Pennsylvania is one of just 18 remaining states requiring an excuse to receive a mailed-out ballot for an election. And that number is shrinking. Most other states have recognized the ability to get a ballot in the mail, and then vote on your schedule, is good for a wide cross section of voters: older or disabled voters with trouble getting to the polls; rural voters far from a polling place; parents working two jobs; families with sick kids; first responders; students. For all of them and others, mailed-out ballots put voters first. The model gives everyone equal access and allows substantial time for voters to research the candidates before they vote. The results are impressive: In the 2018 election, the top seven states for turnout were either 100 percent mailed-out ballot states (Colorado, Oregon, Washington) or no excuse absentee or permanent absentee states (Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin). And those states have demonstrated how proper implementation makes for highly secure elections, including detailed ballot tracking and signature verification. And mailed out doesnt necessarily mean mailed back. In fact, in the 100 percent states, more than 50 percent of voters actually vote in-person, either into secure 24/7 drop boxes, or staffed vote centers that look like traditional polling places, but without the lines. Mailed-out ballot voting is proven, secure, saves money, and engages more voters. Its time for Pennsylvania to adopt this reform. Amber McReynolds, executive director, National Vote at Home Institute Ranked voting Despite an increasingly polarized political narrative, I think that most Philadelphians (and Americans) are more united than our election results would lead us to believe. Our voting system exacerbates this problem by allowing us to elect candidates who achieve less than 50 percent of the vote. When more than two candidates run, votes are split, and a candidate without majority support ends up victorious. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) solves this problem by revealing the candidate with true majority support. A voter can rank their choices, and when the total first-choice votes are tallied, if no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the vote -- the candidate with the lowest total votes is eliminated. If a voters first choice is eliminated, their second choice vote is automatically counted. This process continues until a candidate achieves a majority. Additionally, in crowded primaries with multiple candidates (see Philadelphia City Council-at-Large), RCV is an important tool to make sure that the candidates with the broadest support are elected. The way we vote changes the way we relate. If City Council at large candidates were incentivized to build broad coalition support, the dialogue would be elevated. If third-party candidates could run without being demonized as spoilers, our democracy would benefit. Ranked Choice Voting is a structural change, but a change that allows voters to find common ground and improve our democracy. Liz Roggio, political and government relations attorney, Kleinbard LLC JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Do you have a radical idea to change voting? Email it to the Inquirer at opinion@philly.com. More than 800 people in Philadelphia are awaiting trial in jail because they can't afford bail. Read more More than 800 people who have been arrested but not convicted are being held in jail in Philadelphia only because they dont have enough money to post bail. Four years ago, that number was over 2,000. Criticism of cash bail has been one of the cornerstones of criminal justice reform. Last year, City Council passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the District Attorneys Office, the courts, and the state legislature to abolish cash bail. District Attorney Larry Krasner stopped seeking bail for 25 low-level offenses. In March, , the American Civil Liberties Union sued Pennsylvanias First Judicial District for its bail practices, which include not taking into account a defendants ability to pay. And while the progress is impressive, research suggests that there are still deep inequities in Philadelphias cash bail system. Last week, Inquirer staff writer Samantha Melamed interviewed Megan Stevenson from George Mason University about her review of cash bail in Philadelphia. Stevenson is an economist and a professor of law who has found a large racial disparity in who stays in jail while awaiting trial white defendants post bail at a rate 25 percent greater than black defendants. Stevenson explains that because of the close relationship of wealth and race in America, many black defendants are just unable to come up with bail of $500 or even $100. The result is that white defendants are able to buy their freedom while awaiting trial when black defendants are not. According to a previous Stevenson study, pretrial detention leads to longer sentences, increased probability of pleading guilty, and higher court fees imposed on defendants. In other words, not being able to post bail doesnt only take away a persons freedom in the present, it deprives them of their freedom personal and financial in the future. The goal of cash bail is to create an incentive for people to appear in court and to not harm anyone while they await trial. Another Stevenson study has shown that removing the incentive doesnt matter much. She evaluated the impact of Krasners bail policy and found that it reduced by 22 percent the number of people who were held in jail for at least one night without reducing court appearance rate. In fact, in 2018 the First Judicial District saw the highest court appearance rates in a decade. Fewer innocent defendants held, no reduction in court appearances, and fewer opportunities for class and racial disparities thats the outcome of not seeking bail. A defendant who is a flight risk or a risk to the community shouldnt be free on bail. If someone is neither, how much money they have in the bank should be completely irrelevant. The path to abolish cash bail goes through the First Judicial District a body that is governed by judges who are elected representatives just like the Mayor and City Council. Philadelphia voters should make a statement in the upcoming judicial primary by vetting candidates on their positions, and voting. That might send a message that if Philadelphia still has cash bail in two years, judges should be worried about their retention elections. The Kate Smith statue, which was once outside the Spectrum, and later the Wells Fargo Center. Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer File Photo Read more Now that the mob has pretty much moved on from its attacks on Kate Smith, allow me to commend several people for their actions during the assault and give you a guide to prepare for similar attacks on traditional Philadelphia and national figures and institutions. First, I had the first interview with Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano that set off a media firestorm because of his insistence that this summer, the town would continue to play Smiths God Bless America each morning. Kudos also to The Inquirers John Timpane for his work in highlighting a 1945 radio recording in which Smith unequivocally condemned racial hatred and prejudice. Among other things, she said, Racial hatreds social prejudices religious bigotry they are the diseases that eat away the fibers of peace. This article is an important piece in bringing context and balance to Smith. Also, this whole embarrassing episode encouraged me to rediscover Paul Robeson, the African American performer who also sang one of the racist songs attributed to Smith. Even though several things in the area are named after Robeson, I dont think he gets the credit he deserves as one of the greatest Philadelphians of all time. Meanwhile, I think another great Philadelphians statue and mural will be the next point of attack for the mob. Frank Rizzos statue is a mortal lock to be taken away by Mayor Jim Kenney and his merry band of progressives either after the Democratic mayoral primary in May or the general election in November. The mob will bathe itself in words such as inclusivity and tolerance as it gleefully bashes Rizzo supporters. Rizzo will seem like a small battle alongside the mounting attacks on Christopher Columbus. Philadelphia still has a big Columbus Day Parade and a significant Italian American population. However, last Columbus Day weekend, we saw mounting attacks on anything Columbus-related. Id make this a loser in a close call for the politically correct mobs. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has just started a new battle, with his order to remove the Mississippi state flag from Liberty State Park near the Statue of Liberty because a Confederate emblem is part of the flag. New Jerseys strength is rooted in our diverse communities," Murphy said, "and the Confederate symbol displayed on the Mississippi state flag is reprehensible and does not reflect our values of inclusivity and equality. I think ultimately the pressure will ratchet up on Mississippi and they will change the state flag. In the past week, there were rumblings about people wanting to remove the statue of Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners fame at the Port Authority terminal in New York because the TV character created and portrayed by Jackie Gleason frequently threatened to resort to domestic violence to settle things with his wife Alice. There is also talk again of going after The Star-Spangled Banner, because of racist content in the third stanza. There clearly is a never-ending supply of statues, songs, and people under intense review, as well as a mob of self-appointed virtue signalers who want to purify our society by destroying much of our history. They have almost made a hobby out of never-ending outrage. Sports commentator Bob Costas, appearing on Bill Mahers show last week, attributed much of this to a spreading perception that weve reached a golden era of sensitivity and that the feelings and trends of our time are the templates to be used to judge every other time. He cautioned that things may change, and that todays judges might be harshly judged themselves in the future. The wiser standard is to try to judge the public person by the standards of their time and to look at the overall contributions of their life. Those will be my standards this summer when I stand for the Pledge of Allegiance on Wildwoods Boardwalk, then wait for the booming voice of Kate Smith belting out God Bless America. Teacher-turned-talk show host Dom Giordano is heard 9 a.m. to noon weekdays on WPHT (1210-AM). Contact him at www.domgiordano.com On Twitter at @DomShow1210 Myisha McGahee-Wooten is shown here near 8th and Filbert streets. McGahee-Wooten has a license to carry a firearm and an Instagram-based business called Muslimah Concealed Carry that encourages Muslim women to own guns to protect themselves. Read more Myisha McGahee-Wooten is a devout Muslim who dresses in full hijab, along with an opaque face veil covering everything but her eyes. But strapped to her tiny waist is something decidedly less holy a Glock 19. Islamophobia is real. That, though, is only part of the reason McGahee-Wooten carries. After being robbed at gunpoint back in 2015, she finds that carrying a firearm makes her feel safer. A 27-year-old divorced mother of two, she has been licensed to carry for three years. McGahee-Wooten, who moved as a child to Philadelphia and now lives in Germantown, also operates an Instagram business called Muslimah Concealed Carry that not only encourages Muslim women to arm themselves but teaches firearm safety. Shes responsible in the way that she does it, said Aliya Khabir, a communications consultant who is also Muslim, female, black, and licensed to carry. She gives out information about the law in each state and what you should know about a firearm prior to purchasing one. Khabir added: She educates. Its not just This Glock is really cool. McGahee-Wooten, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, toyed with the idea for years before actually applying for a gun permit and purchasing a firearm. She sometimes thinks of her ex-husband, Bobby Jenkins, who was killed in an armed robbery in February while making a pizza delivery, and wonders how things might have gone down had he been armed. McGahee-Wooten has never had to fire her weapon in self-defense. But shes ready should the situation arise. Im standing up against somebody hurting me or somebody else, McGahee-Wooten told me this week. Im standing up against somebody taking my life. Im being brave and protecting myself. I learned about McGahee-Wooten one day when casually scrolling through Instagram. At first, I was taken aback at the sight of her dressed all in black and holding a gun. There are way too many illegal guns on the street, and Im not for glamorizing gun culture. But I could see that many of McGahee-Wootens posts promote the accessories she sells to female Muslim gun owners, particularly those who are covered as she is. One is a full-length vest that slips easily over an outfit to conceal a gun holster. Another is pearl trimmed. And theres a striking one with bell-shaped sleeves. She also sells ankle holsters and a waist-band gun holder that McGahee-Wooten wears under her two-piece garments. When I decided that I wanted to start carrying my firearm, I didnt really know or have a lot of options that would still allow me to dress modestly, you know, with my over garment and such, McGahee-Wooten explained. So I really did my research and started trying to find products that would work best with me covering [my body] and at the same time being able to carry my gun with me. So, after I found some, I wanted to share the things that I had found with other people, she added. So, thats kind of what made me get into selling them to other people, making them more easily accessible for others. I like that shes trying to teach women to do things the right way. Too many people obtain guns illegally, never obtain permits, and dont bother to learn about proper storage or gun safety. At the top of her page is a link to an application for a Pennsylvania gun permit. McGahee-Wooten hopes to soon start offering her own firearm safety classes. Shes not doing anything other communities arent doing," Khabir pointed out. All of this information is out there already. She is specifically focused on her community. At this point, we are active targets for peoples hate and their hate crimes. First, though, theres Ramadan, an annual month of fasting and reflection that starts next week. Then, McGahee-Wooten will be back full force going to gun ranges and teaching female Muslims about guns. Rep. Rohit "Ro" Khanna, D-Calif. who grew up in Bucks County was lead House sponsor of the recent bill to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen. Read more Ro Khanna was your typical Bucks County teen of the early 90s die-hard fan of Buddy Ryans Eagles, watching Mike Schmidt close out his career from the 700 Level of the Vet, playing Little League ball in Holland when an assignment from a 9th-grade teacher at then-Holland Junior High changed his trajectory. Asked to write a newspaper op-ed about 1991s brewing war with Iraq over Kuwait, the self-described Philly Bicentennial baby (born Sept. 13, 1976) recalls that he dug deeper, beyond even the story of his parents emigrating from Indias Punjab region to America. He went back to the idealism of his maternal grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar, a leader of Indias independence movement and ally of Mahatma Gandhi who was jailed by the British in the 1940s. But the 14-year-old Khannas position was also nuanced. Iraqs 1990 invasion of next-door neighbor Kuwait should be undone, he wrote, but he worried that then-President George H.W. Bush would shun economic sanctions in favor of a speedy war mainly to lower the price of oil. This is a war that will be brought on because of a materialistic society that evaluates only the economic aspect, Khanna wrote, adding later: Every soldiers life has a priceless monetary value...We must have no doubts before engaging in war. Hed aced the assignment. Then-Bucks County Courier-Times columnist Joe Halberstein ran excerpts under the headline Read this 14-year-olds lips, George, and the Inquirer ran snippets a couple of weeks later. The 41st president probably didnt actually read Khannas op-ed although the teen fantasized about that but from that moment the future Council Rock High School grad was in a new orbit. It took him to University of Chicago, Yale Law School, and finally Californias Silicon Valley (with a detour to a mid-level post in the Obama administration), where in 2016 on his fourth try the political progressive ousted a Democratic incumbent to become a U.S. congressman. In his two-plus years on Capitol Hill, Khanna has emerged as the leader in a battle to re-invent U.S. military and foreign policy. Hes essentially trying to make the idealistic prose of his junior high op-ed come true by trying to end Americas tangle of overseas wars and to spark a future of better moral decisions about where to fight and when to risk human lives. Khanna was chief sponsor of the bill to end U.S. support for the war thats causing a humanitarian crisis in Yemen the first time has Congress ever passed a War Powers Act resolution to end a conflict, although President Trump vetoed it. And Khanna wants to end U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Syria and finally put the kibosh on the so-called Forever War that grew out of 2001s terror attacks and has American troops and drones all over the globe. He wants Congress to take back the authority for war its yielded to the White House. My hope on foreign policy is that we live up to the promise of our Founders, Khanna told me this week by phone in the middle of a busy week in the Capitol. He credits growing up in the shadows of historic Philadelphia and his frequent school field trips to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall with his later passion for reading the Founding Fathers like John Adams and his wariness of foreign military entanglements. Representative Khanna, now 42, often seems at the center of a swirl of contradictions. His 17th Congressional District in Northern California is home to the headquarters of Apple and Google and some of the worlds richest people, including those like Facebooks Sheryl Sandberg who supported his earlier campaigns. But Khanna fights for progressive causes like curbing income inequality (and for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, which he co-chairs), has sponsored an internet privacy bill, and is pressuring the tech giants in his district to add jobs not at home but in depressed areas of the Rust Belt or Appalachia. Khanna learned a lot about bridging different worlds from his immigrant parents his dad a retired Rohm & Haas chemical engineer, his mom a former substitute teacher. When the family moved from Bensalem to Amsterdam Avenue in Holland, their new neighbors worried the Hindu family wouldnt honor the blocks tradition of festive Christmas lights. Khanna recalls his dad saying, Thats silly of course well have Christmas lights and participate. That doesnt diminish our faith. The California congressman told me that he also thinks about his Bucks County childhood and the polyglot crowds at his Little League games when he ponders the inequality and economic segregation thats so common today in areas like Silicon Valley. When we were kids, there was a plumber down the street and an air conditioning maintenance guy and a nurse and a teacher and a more senior executive...There was all economic backgrounds, and they interacted. Nearly 30 years later, he still stays in touch with the 9th-grade English teacher, Gretchen Raab, who saw a kid who was something of a math whiz and helped him discover a hidden passion for writing and the world of ideas. He was a rare bird, Raab, who retired from Council Rock in 2002 and moved to Arizona, said by phone. He has very progressive ideas but he expresses them in ways that people who are not as progressive can hear them. Indeed, Khanna loves to talk about growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs watching the Phils Von Hayes with the free tickets they gave away for good grades, or running into the late Czech leader Vaclav Havel on a Philadelphia street after he was awarded the Liberty Medal. The Philly years rarely come up, after all, on his newer turf in Silicon Valley, or in his increasingly high-profile mission of trying to turn around the battleship of American militarism. He insists that despite the lack of votes to overturn Trumps veto on Americas Yemen involvement the effort that he and his ally Sanders have led on Capitol Hill has yielded positive results, such as the end of U.S. refueling of Saudi Arabian bombing runs. The conflict on the Arabian Peninsula with the U.S. offering weapons, intelligence and other aid to Saudis waging war on Yemeni rebels has killed tens of thousands, and the United Nations warns that Yemens on the brink of the worlds worst famine in a century if the war does not end soon. Even this administration cant turn a blind eye as famine continues to mount, Khanna insisted, although so far the Trump administration has seemed in complete thrall to the Saudis and their young authoritarian ruler, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. With Yemen in limbo, Khanna has turned a focus to his work with the campaign of Sanders, who is placing a much greater emphasis on foreign affairs now than during his 2016 White House bid. Khanna said a Sanders administration would cut back U.S. fighting abroad and spend the proceeds at home rebuilding the middle class. Khanna noted his new friend, the ex-president Jimmy Carter, recently observed that China hasnt fought a war since 1979 and has instead spent countless billions building up its infrastructure while the U.S. has been enmeshed in multiple conflicts. What, Khanna asked, if we had put these these trillions into making college tuition free, into high speed trains from Philadelphia to New York or D,C., or into broadband so the rural parts of Pennsylvania could have high-speed access like my parents do in Northampton Township? Indeed, when Trump announced last year he was pulling American troops from Syria, with an inclination to do the same in Afghanistan, the progressive Sanders-ite Khanna took the unusual step of supporting the move, although he had some issues with the way the president was handling the withdrawal. Trump later backed down at the urging of his generals, but that hasnt stopped Khanna from hoping that Congress will regain some of the control over when the nation does or doesnt go to war what the Founders had envisioned. I believe the opportunity for our generation is to see a fulfillment of Americas founding promise, which is can you have a nation which is conceived on a philosophic idea of equality and liberty, not a nation thats tied together by blood, Khanna said, And the American scriptures are the Constitution, and the American places of worship are Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, he added, channeling his high-school field trip. Khannas been mentioned as a possible Cabinet member in a Sanders administration maybe even Defense Secretary but he didnt want to talk about any other office beyond Congress. His ex-teacher Raab isnt so shy. I always said to him in 9th grade, she told me, that he was going to be the first Indian-American president. Philadelphia Police spokesperson Capt. Sekou Kinebrew explains that 911 calls following a car crash don't get very high priority. Read more Im trying to find out why cops can be slow to reach some car crashes after 911 is called. One reason: Such calls dont get high priority. That surprised me. Heres another surprise: You can leave the scene of an accident. When its a simple fender bender with no injuries and no disabled vehicle, says a Philadelphia police spokesperson, Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, its a civil matter, not criminal. Drivers can exchange information and leave. The captain and I are having a conversation after a February column concerning Sheri Minkoff, who says her 2017 black Subaru Legacy was hit on Roosevelt Boulevard by another driver who then took off. Minkoffs car was disabled, she was rattled and called 911 a half-dozen times in two hours, she says. No one ever came no cops, no ambulance. Another case I reported involved DJ Jerry Blavat, who says he was struck by a motorist and slightly injured while riding his bicycle near Independence Mall. A park ranger called 911. The motorist and Blavat waited for almost an hour before they left. I requested an interview with Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who made the captain available. Cops respond according to priority, Kinebrew explains. There are seven levels of urgency for 911 calls, assist officer being the highest and car crashes being in the middle of the pack. A summary of the rest: Felony in progress Disturbance in public place Auto accident, burglar alarm Auto operating recklessly, report of stolen auto Accident information request, pranks Abandoned auto, barking dog In the eyes of the state, there are two types of auto crashes: reportable and nonreportable. Reportable involves injury or death, and also a call for a tow truck. When there is no death, no injury, and no towing, that does not get reported to the state. What should you do if no one arrives after 911 is called? You can go to a police district to file a report in person, says Kinebrew, or call a district and make a report over the phone. After I wrote about Minkoffs situation, I heard from other motorists with similar complaints. Last September, Miriam Stamm says she was hit by a pickup truck that ran a red light at Roosevelt Boulevard and Lott Street. The driver did stop. Stamm hit her chest and head and an ambulance transported her to Nazareth Hospital. She had no serious injuries. What gets my ire is that the officer shows up at the hospital an hour later and states, Whats your version? without a word of greeting or sympathy, she says. Last August, Joseph Romano says he was struck near 22nd and Walnut by a driver who took off. Romano reported it to police, saying there were cameras covering the intersection. Police would not give video to his insurance company, he says. Kinebrew says cops cant always access privately owned cameras. But these were city cameras on light poles, Romano says. In December, Kristin Mullaney says her husband, David Ertz, was struck in Center City by a truck that didnt stop and the police seemed to have no interest in pursuing this crime. I am left feeling like no one can and will help, says Minkoff, who filed a complaint with Internal Affairs. I dont have answers. While police must respond to crimes in progress, they mustnt leave motorists stranded by the roadside feeling abandoned. Are police understaffed? Are they improperly deployed? Can desk officers be sent out in a pinch? These are command questions for the commissioner. I would have liked to ask him. Temple University's interim business school dean apologized for this year's rankings scandal and said the school is aiming for a "thorough scrubbing" of its human resource and data oversight in hopes of rejoining outside rankings in the next six to eight months. Following the shocking rankings scandal, dean Ronald C. Anderson said Temple's business school is juggling a twofold mission: to de-emphasize the importance of rankings in its own culture, and at the same time, to clean up the internal process by which the school compiles data for the highly competitive outside rankings, which are collected by outlets such as U.S. News and World Report, the Financial Times, and the Economist. "Are rankings important? Yes. Oftentimes students make decisions based on rankings. In some point in the next six to eight months, I hope we have our processes in place to get back into the rankings," Anderson said. But he stressed that the "rankings will be an outcome of our education, rather than an input. One thing we see in the business-school environment, it's incredibly competitive. Everyone's trying to get the edge. But what's more important to students is outcomes. Are they getting good jobs? Are they getting into good grad schools? At Temple, they are. The rankings, as a consequence, should be a reflection of that," he said. Internally, Temple is restructuring various departments to ensure the rankings scandal "can't happen again. Anyplace there may have been incentive conflicts, we've separated those. The restructuring is also getting better delineation of duties. We're bringing in new human resource managers, new finance people, and better oversight. Just as important, we're setting up internal control systems to ensure multiple levels of oversight and review for any issues like this," he added. The interim dean, who is expected to stay in the position for one to two years, met with Temple faculty last week to reiterate that "we went off track administratively. Our programs are still incredible values, we have very high-quality faculty." The reaccreditation process is still expected to be completed by January 2019, he said. Anderson replaces Moshe Porat, who was forced out after a university investigation found the school knowingly submitted false rankings data about its online MBA program to U.S. News. Porat had led the school since 1996. Temple's Fox School of Business is celebrating its centennial this year, enrolls more than 9,000 students and employs more than 225 full-time faculty across nine departments. Temple self-reported its data errors, and U.S. News earlier this year stripped the school of the No. 1 ranking for its online MBA program. Jones Day law firm, subsequently hired by the university, found that over multiple years, Fox reported inaccurate data concerning the number of entrants who provided GMAT scores, the mean undergraduate GPA of entrants, the offers of admission, and student debt. "During the period Jones Day was doing the review we had a long, quiet period. The faculty were a bit anxious. We spent a lot of time talking about the changes we need to make culturally and in governance," Anderson said. Apart from Jones Day, Temple is negotiating to bring in other outside consultants as part of its overall business-school review. "We're continuing to conduct reviews. We will be bringing in some more outside firms to review data and data processes. We'll also be relying on Temple internal audit. We're going to do a thorough scrubbing of the data," Anderson said. He declined to say which outside consultants would be retained, saying "we're still in negotiations." As for students' reaction, he said, "I've learned a lot. The students in our existing masters programs, the ones where we misreported data, are a bit angry at us. We knowingly misreported, so we own this problem now. We tell them, we'll fix it. They feel they were misled somewhat." Are students sticking by Temple? Yes, he said, but many remain angry. Anderson declined to comment on pending litigation, in particular a lawsuit filed by some current and former MBA students. "I've been really emphasizing this is not an academic-program problem, but an administrative problem. We went off track administratively. Our programs are still incredible values, we have very high-quality faculty." His message: "The biggest thing we want to get out there is we're being incredibly proactive in ensuring this doesn't happen again." Under the prior dean, business-school faculty complained that they were forced to do fund-raising for the school in addition to teaching. Asked whether that would change under his leadership, Anderson said, "I see fund-raising as more of a dean's-office position. As a department chair of finance, I engaged in fund-raising, but it's not a faculty responsibility. First and foremost, they should be creating and disseminating knowledge." Anderson said the one message he wanted to get out to the public was the following: "To our students and our stakeholders, I want to sincerely apologize. It shouldn't have happened at Fox, and we own this problem. I want them to know my colleagues and I apologize for what happened." More change announced at Temple's Fox Business School in connection to the rankings scandal. Read more The man who had led Temple's now-beleaguered online M.B.A. program since it was launched in 2009 is out as its academic director. Darin Kapanjie will be replaced by Bora Ozkan, an assistant professor of instruction in the department of finance, Fox School of Business' interim dean, Ronald Anderson, announced Thursday in an email to faculty. The move is the latest step in the upheaval at Fox since Temple announced this summer that the school provided false information to U.S. News and World Report in some cases knowingly for the magazine's online M.B.A. rankings. Since then, the university has forced out Moshe Porat as Fox dean and revealed that misreporting also occurred in other Fox programs. In addition, the university found errors at Temple's education and medical schools, but no indication that those errors were intentional. The Pennsylvania attorney general and the U.S. Department of Education are among outside agencies investigating, and some students have filed a lawsuit, claiming that they were defrauded and that the reputation of their degree had been harmed. Anderson did not say in the email whether Kapanjie chose to step down, but thanked him for his service and "for building the Fox online and digital learning team. In his role, Dr. Kapanjie was instrumental to student success, academic excellence, and innovative curricular design." Temple declined to elaborate on the terms of Kapanjie's departure from the position, but confirmed that he will remain a member of the faculty. Kapanjie said it was a joint decision for him to leave the leadership position. "Given recent events, we felt it was best," he said. He emphasized that his decision to leave does not implicate him in the reporting missteps at the school. "I did not have anything to do with the misreporting of data," he said. Ozkan, who previously taught at Tulane and Southeastern Louisiana Universities, came to Fox in 2014. He previously had worked as director of international marketing at Alexander & Hamilton, a debt collection and credit company in New Orleans. He got his bachelor's degree from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, and two master's degrees and a doctorate from the University of New Orleans. "Dr. Ozkan's background and approach to education, as well as his experience teaching in the online M.B.A. program, make him well-suited for this role," Anderson wrote. Kapanjie joined Temple in 2003 as a faculty member in statistics and later led the online M.B.A. program. Problems started in January when U.S. News dropped Temple's online M.B.A. from its rankings after the school reported that it had provided inaccurate data. The program had been ranked No. 1 for the previous four years, and the school had been touting that ranking. The university hired a law firm to investigate how the misreporting occurred. In July, Temple released the firm's findings, including that the business school supplied false data sometimes knowingly and over a period of years to the magazine, and that the false reporting was not limited to the online M.B.A. program. A "rankings-focused" strategy led to some of the misreporting, the firm found. Temple has rolled out a series of steps to ensure that such misreporting does not reoccur, including hiring an external auditor. The historic burial ground at 4125 Chestnut St. that lies beneath a site proposed for an apartment building has been identified by archaeologists as West Phillys oldest African American graveyard. Read more What is believed to be the oldest African American burial ground in West Philadelphia lies beneath construction machinery poised to excavate a foundation for an apartment complex at 4125 Chestnut St., according to archaeologists researching the site. The graveyard, which has associations with what is now Monumental Baptist Church, was first acquired in 1826 as open land and was used regularly for most of the rest of the 19th century as a resting place for African Americans, the archaeologists said. It is unknown how many people were buried on the site, which until this week was home to Chestnut Wash 'n' Lube. According to some historic maps of the area, the graveyard extends east beneath the former car wash and under land now owned by the University of Pennsylvania. Archaeologists are concerned about the possibility that excavation will begin to disturb and expose human remains in much the way construction disturbed hundreds of grave sites in the 200 block of Arch Street last year. "We know that four historic maps between 1872 and 1901 identify this as a graveyard," said Douglas Mooney, president of the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum, which raised concerns about the construction in a letter last week to the Department of Licenses and Inspections. "A [newspaper] article in 1885 states unequivocally that there are burials. There's no question. This is an African American cemetery." Karen Guss, director of communications for L&I, said that agency Commissioner David Perri had spoken with the apartment project's Philadelphia general contractor, Vaughan Buckley, and a representative of the developer, New York-based 4125 Chestnut St. CRCP LLC. Perri conveyed "the city's expectation that human remains, if any, will be treated with respect and dignity," Guss said. "The response was that they understood and that their intention was to proceed accordingly." Permits for demolition and construction had already been issued by L&I. Whether an archaeologist will be allowed on site to determine if graves are present could not be determined Thursday. Buckley could not be reached for comment. The Rev. J. Wendell Mapson Jr., current pastor of Monumental Baptist, now at 50th and Locust Streets, said he was unaware that a cemetery associated with his church lay underneath the Chestnut Street car wash. But Mapson found the information alarming, he said, and planned to contact city officials. The land occupied by the graveyard was purchased by three men in 1826 from Peter Rose and his wife, Esther, for $105. At least two of the three purchasers were founding members of the African Baptist Church of Blockley, the precursor of Monumental Baptist. The earlier church was located 41st and Ludlow Streets until the mid-20th century. The men who bought the land at 4125 Chestnut made the purchase as trustees of the African Friends to Harmony, which apparently was a benevolent or mutual-aid association. They acquired the property just a few days after the land for the church at 41st and Ludlow was acquired in July 1826. Archaeologists point out that African Americans in Philadelphia often formed benevolent associations specifically for assistance with burials, which were rigidly segregated. For instance, Richard Allen, founder of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church at Sixth and Lombard Streets, acquired land on Queen Street to provide African Americans of any denomination with decent cemetery plots. The Bethel Burial Ground, between Lawrence and Leithgow Streets, fell into disuse and then down the memory hole by the end of the 1860s. But it re-emerged when renovations to the playground above it were about to commence a few years ago. Construction stopped, archaeologists were called in, the burial ground was mapped, and the graveyard is now on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. "Burial was such a problem for African Americans that the first thing their benevolent societies did was provide for burial," said Jed Levin, a member of the archaeological forum. In 1885, nearly 60 years after buying the land at 4125 Chestnut from the Rose family, the three original purchasers conveyed it formally to the African Friends to Harmony. They had been holding the ground as trustees of the African Friends. A newspaper article characterized the site, in noting the conveyance, as "an old burying ground." The conveyance, for some reason, was not completed until 1910. "The property was owned by African Americans for an extended period," said Levin. "Make of it what you will. To me, overwhelmingly, the most logical and most likely explanation is that this was a burial ground for use by the [benevolent] association." U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are discussing holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena and threatening to skip a scheduled, according to several lawmakers and officials familiar with the plan. (Ken Cedeno/Sipa USA/TNS) Read more WASHINGTON - Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are discussing holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena and threatening to skip a scheduled hearing, according to several lawmakers and officials familiar with the plan. During a pair of closed-door meetings Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the committee decided that it would probably make a push for a Barr contempt citation if he refuses to testify Thursday or ignores their subpoena for the full, unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller III. Lawmakers and officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss private deliberations, cautioned that no final decision has been made. Barr was supposed to hand over the full Mueller report by 10 a.m. Wednesday. Additionally, Barr on Friday threatened to skipa Judiciary Committee hearing over objections to the format in which a counsel would question him alongside lawmakers. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the committee has yet to receive an answer about whether he is coming, panel officials said. "We are now seeing the attorney general engage in obstruction of a congressional subpoena," said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., a member of the committee. "Congress has a number of tools at its disposal, obviously beginning with holding him in contempt." Discussions about contempt for Barr follow the disclosure that Mueller challenged the attorney general's handling of the report on Russia interference in the 2016 election. The news that Mueller felt Barr misconstrued his findings reverberated in the House, with Democrats accusing Barr of perjuring himself in testimony to Congress. In back-to-back congressional hearings in early April, Barr claimed to have no knowledge of Mueller's concerns with his four-page summary of the report's findings. But Mueller's March 27 letter of discontent calls Barr's testimony into question, Democrats say. "It seems to me he offered misleading information," said panel member Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. "This is a really grave situation that an attorney general would mislead the public, No. 1, and then mislead members of Congress, No. 2. That's a very grave situation." Another panel member Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., agreed: "My reaction [to the March Mueller letter] was: Why does the attorney general of the United States continue to apparently view his job as the personal attorney of the president rather than the top law enforcement officer in America?" The issue came up during a House Democratic leadership meeting with chairmen on Wednesday. But leaders have not said how they intend to respond, deferring instead to the Judiciary panel. Asked whether Barr should resign, as some congressional Democrats and presidential candidates have suggested, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, "I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow at the Judicary Committee, but I do think that his comments don't even live up to the standard that he must have for an attorney general." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Wednesday that Barr's handling of the Mueller report is a "very serious matter" and that it appeared he made untrue statements to Congress. "That was not a truthful response," Hoyer said of Barr's suggestion that he didn't know how Mueller felt about his summary. "I think the first effort ought to be to have Barr explain the discrepancy." Barr defended his handling of the Mueller report at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. He downplayed Mueller's letter complaining about the characterization of his work as "a bit snitty" and suggested it was most likely written by a member of Mueller's staff. During the often tense hearing, Barr frequently clashed with Senate Democrats, foreshadowing just how contentious his testimony before the Democratic-led House panel will be Thursday, if it actually happens. In one testy exchange, Barr even suggested that Mueller's opinion on how he handled the report didn't matter anyway. "It was my baby," Barr said. In light of Mueller's concerns about Barr's summary and his refusal to turn over the full report to Congress, the Judiciary panel might push for contempt of Barr even if he shows up Thursday. "I think it's going to depend on how he handles the questions," said a panel member, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif. Cicilline added that "we cannot tolerate as a country to have the chief law enforcement officer of the Unites States either boldly misrepresent or provide untruthful testimony to congressional committees." Several Democrats have called on Barr to resign or even be impeached. In fact, Judiciary Democrats were discussing impeaching Barr even before the news broke about his disagreement with Mueller. At the closed-door meeting Tuesday evening, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., suggested the committee impeach Barr if it subpoenas him for testimony and he refuses to show. Barr is not technically under subpoena to testify on Thursday. Democrats have considered issuing a subpoena if he refuses to come in. But after a back-and-forth, the panel agreed impeaching Barr would probably distract from their investigations of President Donald Trump and that if they were to begin impeachment proceedings against an individual, it would probably be Trump. That's when the group settled on the tentative contempt plan, officials said. The debate over how to handle Barr highlights the predicament House Democrats will find themselves in as they consider ways to reprimand him: Do they try to oust Barr for actions they believe are impeachable? Or do they stay focused on Trump, whom they view as the ultimate prize? As they await an answer, the crescendo of Democratic voices telling him to leave immediately is growing. "It appears that the attorney general may have perjured himself and given false testimony to Congress and he may be well advised to resign and seek legal counsel," said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., another Judiciary member. --- Video Embed Code Video: Attorney General William P. Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1, and faced heated questions about his depictions of the special counsels findings.(The Washington Post) FILE - This April 10, 2019, file photo shows a view of the site of an airstrike by Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen. Read more WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate on Thursday failed to overturn President Donald Trump's veto of legislation that would have ended U.S. military assistance for the Saudi-led war in Yemen against Iran-backed rebels, but lawmakers promised to keep close watch on the administration's ties with the kingdom. While the 53-45 vote to override fell well short of the required two-thirds, passage of the resolution in April was an unprecedented rebuke of Trump's foreign policy and a milestone for Congress, which invoked never-before-used powers in an effort to halt foreign military activity. The United States is providing logistical support and intelligence-sharing for a war that has killed thousands of civilians and left millions more on the brink of famine. In explaining his veto last month, Trump said the Yemen resolution was a dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens. To one of the resolutions sponsors, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the action on Capitol Hill showed that after years of abdicating that responsibility, Congress stood up in the Senate and in the House and said: You know what, Mr. President, you do not have the power to get U.S. troops involved in a war that we did not vote upon. And that is a big deal. Sanders (I., Vt.) is seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. The push to end American involvement in the war gained strength in Congress last year after Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a commentator who had lived in the U.S. and written critically about the kingdom. Lawmakers criticized Trump for not condemning Saudi Arabia's role strongly enough and they urged new penalties against the American ally. The administration has forged close ties with the Saudis as it seeks to further isolate Iran. Despite the veto remaining intact, some lawmakers pledged continued scrutiny of U.S.-Saudi ties. Sen. James Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was considering legislation to "put the relationship on the right trajectory." Like many of us here today, Im dissatisfied with the state of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Indeed, while Saudi Arabia has long been a bulwark of our Middle East policy, there is a growing gap in U.S.-Saudi relations, said Risch (R., Idaho). Frankly, aspects of Saudi Arabias behavior are cause for serious, serious concern. Risch said his committee is taking a "comprehensive look" at the alliance and trying to develop legislation that can "address concerns on both sides of the aisle and actually become law." Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), one of the sponsors of the resolution, said opposition to the war in Yemen is about sending a message to Saudi Arabia and about getting the blood off of our hands. "The United States should never willingly be a part of a bombing campaign that results in this kind of starvation," he said, gesturing to a photo of an emaciated Yemeni boy. The Pentagon said continued support of the coalition is in the U.S. interest because it helps American allies push back against Iranian aggression in the region. In this April 5, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump visits a new section of the border wall with Mexico in Calexico, Calif. Read more WASHINGTON - The White House sent Congress a $4.5 billion emergency spending request on Wednesday, citing an unfolding "humanitarian and security crisis" at the United States-Mexico border as record numbers of Central American families and children seek entrance to the U.S. The request includes $3.3 billion for humanitarian assistance and $1.1 billion for border operations, and it represents a dramatic escalation of the administration's efforts to address the situation at the border. The money would be added to the more than $8 billion that President Donald Trump asked for in his 2020 budget request to build border barriers, as well as some $6 billion in funding he sought as he declared a national emergency at the border earlier this year. "The situation becomes more dire each day," White House acting Budget Director Russell Vought wrote in the request to congressional leaders. "The migration flow and the resulting humanitarian crisis is rapidly overwhelming the ability of the Federal Government to respond." An accompanying fact sheet described the situation at the border in even more dire terms. "This crisis is threatening lives on both sides of the border and is unlike anything we've ever seen," it says. Democrats responded with skepticism to the request, which comes as Trump prepares to run for reelection on a hard-line immigration agenda. It also arrives as Congress is in the midst of a fight over a different emergency spending bill, for disaster aid. House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said she would review the request, but she criticized it as an attempt to expand detention of immigrants by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. "The Trump administration appears to want much of this $4.5 billion emergency supplemental request to double down on cruel and ill-conceived policies, including bailing out ICE for overspending on detention beds and expanding family detention," Lowey said in a statement. "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." 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. "In the worst-case scenario, thousands of children might remain for lengthy periods of time in facilities that were never intended to be long-term shelters," Vought wrote. The request also includes $377 million for the Pentagon and National Guard for their operations along the border. The administration request describes what many lawmakers of both major political parties have come to agree is a true crisis at the border, where arrivals of unaccompanied children and families from Central America have spiked dramatically. From October through March, the DHS has apprehended more than 360,000 migrants illegally crossing the border - 187,000 more than the same period in the previous fiscal year, the administration says. At the current rate, DHS apprehensions will approach 1 million in fiscal year 2019, which ends in September. And the demographics of people arriving at the border have shifted strikingly, from individual men to children and families. U.S. facilities are not prepared to accommodate that change. The number of unaccompanied children referred to the HHS this year is 50% higher than the same period last year. The emergency spending request is the latest move by the administration as it attempts, thus far unsuccessfully, to address the grim situation. Earlier this week, Trump ordered major changes to U.S. asylum policies, banning those who cross the border illegally from getting work permits and giving courts a 180-day limit to process asylum claims that can take years under current backlogs. Political disputes in Congress make a legislative solution appear impossible, forcing the administration to look for other avenues. Trump routinely blames Democrats for this gridlock, although the GOP has blocked past attempts at overhauling immigration laws. Now, the human drama at the southern border threatens to undermine Trump's efforts to claim success at his signature issue of clamping down on illegal immigration. The supplemental request would expand the Trump administration's ability to detain migrants in provisional border facilities and longer-term immigration detention centers. Trump has been clamoring for funding to detain immigrants, and officials have been exploring possibilities in California, Illinois and other states. Congress rebuffed the administration's previous efforts to dramatically increase detainees, which have hovered at an all-time-high of more than 45,000 migrants a day. The current budget provides for 42,774 adult beds. The emergency supplemental request would add more than $300 million to fund an average of 51,300 beds this fiscal year, and it would allow ICE to ratchet that up to 54,000 by the end of the fiscal year. The money would also fund an additional 960 beds at the Dilley Family Residential Center in South Texas, a sprawling detention camp for mothers and children. The current budget provides for 2,500 beds at that facility. The Health and Human Services Department's Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees care of unaccompanied minors, is housing nearly 13,000 until they can be placed with a parent or guardian in the United States. The supplemental request would nearly double its capacity to 23,600 beds. The administration is exploring sites in San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth and last year reopened a massive facility in Homestead, Florida, that can house thousands of children. House Democrats have called for increased humanitarian funding on the border, but they are certain to fight any expansion to immigration detention that could target undocumented families with deep roots in the country. During the government shutdown this past winter, Democrats attempted to cap the number of detention beds and said their goal was to reduce the numbers over time. The bulk of the $3.3 billion for humanitarian assistance in the spending request - $2.8 billion - would be used to shore up the budget of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the network of shelters where minors are sent after they are processed by the DHS. Caring for migrant children and holding them until they can be released to a sponsor is among the most costly and complicated elements of the U.S. immigration system. The Trump administration temporarily operated a tent camp for older teens in Tornillo, Texas, but it closed the controversial facility earlier this year and continues to struggle to find shelter operators capable of taking in large numbers of migrant children. Costs of care are extremely high. Adult migrants can be detained in immigration jails at relatively inexpensive rates, but the facilities where minors are sheltered have trained staffs, recreational and educational programming, and significant liabilities. At some facilities, the cost of sheltering a child exceeds $750 per day. Minors typically remain in the shelters until the government can identify an adult sponsor who can take custody, often one of the child's parents already present in the country. The average time that it takes to complete the sponsorship process is 66 days, according to the latest HHS figures. The emergency funding request echoed a similar ask from the Obama administration in 2014 after a surge of families and unaccompanied children from Central America overwhelmed Border Patrol stations. The Obama White House requested $3.7 billion, including $1.8 billion for HHS, and $1.5 billion for DHS, but congressional Republicans blocked efforts to approve additional funding. "They're not even trying to actually solve the problem," President Barack Obama said at the time. The number of Central American families seeking to enter the United States this year already has soared well past the totals from the 2014 border crisis. - - - The Washington Posts Seung Min Kim and David Nakamura contributed to this report. 10 Flagstaff Place in Philadelphia was built in 1910. It's about 4,600 square feet and has five bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms. Read more Beth Pesa Villante wanted her mother to have a beautiful house. The pair were house hunting in 2012 when they discovered a sprawling five-bedroom home in Pine Valley. She fell in love with this beautiful home, Villante said. I wanted her to live out her final years in the type of home she deserved. She worked very hard her whole life, and this home was her retirement resort. Villante also found a lot to love about the property, which is in Bustleton. First was its charm. They dont build homes like this anymore, she said. As a kid, I watched This Old House and fell in love with the charm of old houses. Next was its history. George Horace Lorimer, then editor of the Saturday Evening Post, bought the home in 1910. Villante has the deed. He was best friends with Norman Rockwell and other people of influence of his day, she said. This makes me curious as to what kinds of conversations happened around his dining room table. When Lorimer died, he left the original 400-acre property to the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer for Holy Redeemer hospital. (The house is now on a 30,000-square-foot lot.) I cant help but think that left a legacy of good karma and good energy in this home, Villante said. The 4,600-square-foot property required a considerable amount of work after Villante, her family and her mother moved in, she said. Updates included new heating and air conditioning systems, two new bathrooms, refinished hardwood floors, and new fittings for the pool out back. Its listed as having five bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. The master bedroom remains Villantes favorite part. The room is romantic, and the sunrise wakes me up because we sit up on a little hill, she said. The view down the street is spectacular. Villante also said the home is ideal for gathering friends and family. This is a house for people who like to entertain, she said. There is no better place to host a party. Villantes mother enjoyed several years in her retirement resort before she died 2 years ago. Today, Villante is spending more time in Huntingdon Valley, where she is starting her own business. That helped her make the decision to sell the house. Our lifestyle is different now, so were downsizing, Villante said. The home is listed with Dominic Fuscia at Coldwell Banker for $795,000. This home has had magical healing properties in minds eye, and it was very good to us, Villante said. Now it is time for a new family to grow and thrive within its walls. During a walk through the city in 2015, Mayor Kenney promised to take action against contractors who blocked sidewalks during construction without providing pedestrians with a safe area to walk. Read more Mayoral candidates always talk about quality-of-life issues. But when Jim Kenney ran for mayor four years ago, he had extra reason to focus on those bread-and-butter neighborhood issues. Philadelphia was in the throes of an unprecedented building boom, and the city was reeling from the stress. Regaining control of the citys streets became one of Candidate Kenneys signature crusades during the 2015 campaign. He railed against contractors who monopolized the sidewalks with their building equipment, forcing pedestrians to wade into oncoming traffic. He pledged to reverse years of underfunding at the Streets Department and tackle the citys Kabul-size collection of potholes. And once those streets were properly paved, he promised to install 30 miles of protected bike lanes and implement Vision Zero protocols to make the streets safer for everyone. His concerns went beyond basic safety. He also reprimanded developers who were destroying Philadelphias precious historic fabric. And he vowed to crack down on midnight dumpers who were defiling neighborhoods like Germantown and Kensington with heaps of construction debris. So how well has Mayor Kenney lived up to the promises made by Candidate Kenney? I checked in with community leaders in a variety of Philadelphia neighborhoods and combed through city statistics to assess Kenneys accomplishments and failings on five issues that are all the outgrowth of the construction boom: providing safe passage at construction sites, street paving, protected bike lanes, historic preservation, and illegal dumping. These arent the big, intractable, structural challenges we hear so much about, like poverty, crime, and schools. But they are issues that color our daily experience of city life and impact the viability of struggling middle neighborhoods. And unlike some other problems the city faces, they are actually solvable with enough money and commitment. While no mayor can be expected to eradicate poverty in just four years, an effective manager should be able to fix potholes and keep the city clean. Safe passage for pedestrians Nothing made Kenney more animated as a councilman than seeing the sidewalks blocked by construction projects. In 2008, he even sponsored City Council legislation that would have required dedicated pedestrian walkways cattle chutes at every building site. Although the final bill was watered down before it was passed, Kenney continued to push for better enforcement. As mayor, Kenney scored a big victory when the Gallery ringed its three-block-long building with pedestrian walkways during its long renovation. The city now requires contractors to apply and pay a fee for sidewalk closures. It routinely fines those who fail to comply, although the amount is a mere $75 a day. Thanks to help from the Bicycle Coalitions work, the city now has an online system for reporting blocked sidewalks. But neighborhood activists say sidewalk closures remain a big safety issue. Fishtown has endured months of blocked sidewalks on Frankford Avenue, including a period when dueling apartment projects closed sidewalks on both sides of the street. Venise Whitaker, a community activist who started a Facebook group called the Riverwards L&I Coalition, complains the $75 fines are meaningless. As soon as L&I inspectors leave, she says, contractors block the sidewalks again. On this issue, Councilman Kenney would be appalled with Mayor Kenney, says Andrew Stober, a former Streets Department official who now works for the University City District. The real cure, argues Bicycle Coalition director Sarah Clark Stuart, is getting more inspectors in the right-of-way unit. Paving and potholes Because the city drastically cut back on street paving during the Street and Nutter administrations, Kenney inherited a huge maintenance backlog nearly a thousand miles, according to a Bicycle Coalition estimate. The deferred maintenance occurred at a time when construction and utility work was wreaking fresh havoc on Philadelphia streets. Kenney has dramatically increased the Streets Department paving budget, enabling it to add two more paving crews. This year the city met its goal of paving 95 miles of streets, up more than 200 percent from the last years of Nutters term. Philadelphia still needs to pave 131 miles annually to stay even, but the number of potholes being reported to 311 has fallen by half, according to the Streets Departments Pat ODonnell. Kenney is also creating a Vision Zero maintenance crew to refresh bike lanes, crosswalks, and other safety features. With all that, Philadelphias streets still look like theyve been through a couple of wars. The 2000 block of Spruce has more potholes and patches at this point than actual street surface. The city hasnt paved Pine or Spruce Streets two of Center Citys most important crosstown streets since 2009, and the celebrated bike lanes there have virtually disappeared as a result. Torresdale Avenue, which connects a string of neighborhoods in the Northeast, requires urgent repairs, according to the citys maintenance ranking system. The Streets Department says this is the year that the worst of Center Citys streets will finally be paved. Its hard to imagine going through another winter without repairs. The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Thursday that would prevent President Donald Trump from pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accord and keep a pledge to reduce greenhouse gases. The action came a day after a Pennsylvania Senate committee held a research workshop with testimony from climate denialists. The House bill gained support from local members of Congress, including Brian Fitzpatrick, who was one of only three Republicans to vote yes. Although the bill is not close to the scale of the Green New Deal being pushed by many Democrats, it marks the first real climate legislation approved by the House in a decade. Climate change must be addressed proactively with leaders from both sides of the aisle working to protect our planet. Every nation will be affected by climate change, which is why nearly every country agreed to work to reduce carbon emissions in the Paris climate accords," Fitzpatrick said. "The people in my district remain committed to pursuing bipartisan solutions to address climate change and protect our environment, which is why I voted yes on H.R. 9. Other Pennsylvania representatives voting yes include Democrats Dwight Evans, Brendan Boyle, Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, and Chrissy Houlahan. The bill was approved by 231-190 and now goes to the Republican-run Senate, where it is likely to die. Trump has said he will veto the legislation if it reaches his desk. The president pledged shortly after taking office in 2017 to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement as soon as 2020. The White House calls the new bill inconsistent with the presidents commitment to put American workers and families first, promote access to affordable, reliable energy sources and technologies, and improve the quality of life for all Americans. The 2015 Paris Agreement, signed in 190 countries, sought to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Most climate scientists consider climate change to be undeniable. The U.S. Department of Commerces National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states on its website: Impacts from climate change are happening now. These impacts extend well beyond an increase in temperature, affecting ecosystems and communities in the United States and around the world. Thursdays bill was backed by environmental groups, including PennEnvironment. We applaud the members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation who are taking the existential risks of climate change seriously by voting yes on this bill," Flora Cardoni of PennEnvironment said in a statement. Americans have been waiting a decade for congressional action on the climate crisis, and we have no more time to waste. The bill was dismissed by Republicans as political theater. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the House Republican whip, said the bill would wreck the economy and cost as many as 2.7 million American jobs that would go to China, India, and other countries that do not have to meet goals under the Paris Agreement until 2030. On Wednesday, Republicans kept up their attack on the scientific evidence that human activity is causing the planets decades-long warming trend. In Pennsylvania, the states Senate Majority Policy Committee held a workshop in Harrisburg at the request of Sen. Scott Martin, a Republican from Lancaster County. Majority Policy Committee Chairman Sen. David G. Argall of Schuylkill County said the goal was to "have a civil conversation where we can all sit down, discuss the real facts on this issue and have a meaningful conversation as to where Pennsylvania stands in controlling its emissions as compared to other states while also discussing the larger picture of how the United States compares in controlling its emissions compared to other countries. The committee invited PennEnvironment, but the group balked, saying the agenda for the day appeared to stack the deck with climate-change skeptics. The three scientists who ultimately testified were David Legates, Joseph Bastardi, and Gregory Wrightstone. Legates, a professor of climatology at the University of Delaware, is affiliated with the Heartland Institute, a conservative public policy think tank that counts the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and General Motors as supporters. Wrightstone, a geologist, is listed as with the Heartland Institute. Bastardi, a television meteorologist, is a well-known climate-change skeptic. David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, said in an email prior to the event: The science on climate change is clear, and holding an event of this nature is the equivalent of holding a hearing on the health effects of smoking that has three doctors who would argue that smoking isnt bad for your health and three others speaking to the well-researched science and data on smoking. But Sen. Scott Martin disputed the committee was trying to stack the deck. He noted that David Titley, of the Penn State Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, and John Wallister, of the PA Environmental Council, were also invited. Like PennEnvironment, Titley and Wallister both dropped out at the eleventh hour dropped out at the eleventh hour, instead of coming to share their beliefs and data, no different than the other three, Martin said in a email. You can watch the full workshop here. Farm adminstrator Mandy Fellouzis demonstrates how to shear a sheep on Henry the sheep, at Fox Chase Farm, in Philadelphia, April 23, 2019. Read more When it comes to shearing sheep, Mandy Fellouzis is a pro. First, she lures the sheep with food a process that can take a few minutes. Then, Fellouzis wrangles the sheep into a seated position, with its back against her knees and belly exposed. And finally, she picks up her lubricated shears, turns them on, and begins to peel layer after layer of wool away from the sheeps body. First the belly and the neck, followed by the animals sides, and finally the top. One thing you have to keep in mind when shearing sheep is that you have to do it while its still a little bit cool outside, says Fellouzis, who is the administrator at Fox Chase Farm between Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties. She affectionately rubbed Henry, the sheep she had been shearing. Otherwise they can get sunburned if you do it in July. Fox Chase Farm, which acts as a teaching farm for the Philadelphia School District, has been holding festivals in the spring since the 1980s to show the public the process of removing wool from sheep. This year, their festival, which took place on April 27, featured a live band, hayrides, and craft tables for children. Visitors also toured the farms chicken coop, which is home to dozens of newly hatched chicks, as well as the barn, currently filled with calves, pigs, and goats. The farm is one of many in the area that turns this centuries-old farm tradition into a celebration the Amish Farm and House in Lancaster holds two sheepshearing days that are open to the public in May, including one this week. This weekend there are three opportunities to see sheep sheared: at Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, at Friends of Boileau in Hatboro, and at Howell Living History Farm outside Lambertville, N.J., featuring weaving and rug-hooking demonstrations. Other sheepshearing events follow later this month. Being able to see a live animal is really, really huge for children, says Jamie Burkhart, the social media and events coordinator at the Amish Farm and House. You realize where some of your clothing comes from and what it feels like. Youre not just watching a video. Youre actually down on the farm learning about it. The Amish Farm and House started holding sheepshearing events in the 1970s. The property, which has existed since 1715, has always had sheep on its premises. When the farm transformed into an educational museum about the Amish experience, staff members picked up on interest from the public about the process of sheepshearing. A lot of kids are just in awe because theyve never witnessed anything like it, Burkhart says. When a sheep gets sheared, theres feet sticking out everywhere, bellies sticking out, wool flying. Occasionally people are taken aback by how much manhandling there is in sheepshearing, but its not painful or uncomfortable for the animals when the shearers use proper technique, according to local sheep shearers. You can see very easily if the shearer isnt doing things properly, says Steve Branning, who owns Necessity Farms & Dairy in Telford with his wife, Carol. How you hold the sheep while shearing it is really important. Most shearers use pressure points on the animal to keep them from moving. Branning used to shear all the sheep on his farm but switched to using a professional shearer a few years ago as the size of his flock grew. He began posting the events on Facebook after he noticed interest from guests who just happened to be visiting the farm on shearing days. This year, Branning plans on having 70 sheep sheared. Baaack to work After Fellouzis finished shearing Henrys left side, she picked up a handful of the wool that had fallen on the ground and began picking pieces of hay out of it. The fibers of the fleece were at least two inches long a whole years worth. Fox Chases sheep were not specifically bred to be wool sheep they were adopted by the farm after their previous owner died a few years ago but their wool can still be spun into yarn. Sheep dont get sick from not being sheared, but a number of problems can occur, according to the American Society of Animal Science. Excess wool can keep sheep from regulating their body temperatures properly. When their wool mats, it can trap urine, feces, and other substances, attracting pests that can jeopardize their health. A professional shearer can shear a sheep in four and a half minutes, said Fellouzis, who grew up on a farm south of Gettysburg. But because we explain to people whats going on while were doing it, it usually takes me around 15 minutes. She then puts the fleece through a centrifuge to remove the lanolin a naturally occurring wax that sheep secrete to help them shed water from their coats. One sheep can yield between three and five pounds of wool. People today are so far removed from natural processes, so its amazing for them to see this, Fellouzis said. Being able to come out to the farm and learn about these things, its an escape. Sheepshearing festivals FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo, Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor leaves federal court in Boston. On Thursday, May 2, 2019, Kapoor was found guilty in a scheme to bribe doctors to boost sales of a highly addictive fentanyl spray meant for cancer patients with severe pain. Read more BOSTON (AP) A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of jury deliberations. Four ex-employees of the Chandler, Ariz.-based company, including the former exotic dancer, were also convicted. Some of the most sensational evidence in the months-long federal trial included a video of employees dancing and rapping around an executive dressed as a giant bottle of the powerful spray Subsys, and testimony about how the company made a habit of hiring attractive women as sales representatives. Federal prosecutors portrayed the case as part of the government's effort to go after those it views as responsible for fueling the nation's deadly opioid crisis. Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 400,000 lives in the U.S. between 1999 and 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 2 million people are addicted to the drugs, which include both prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and illegal drugs such as heroin. Kapoor and the others were accused of bribing doctors across the U.S. to boost sales of Subsys and misleading insurers to get payment approved for the drug, which is meant for cancer patients in severe pain and can cost as much as $19,000 a month, according to prosecutors. The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking engagements that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors. The charges carry up to 20 years in prison. "We will continue the fight to clear Dr. Kapoor's name," defense attorney Beth Wilkinson said in a statement. She said the long deliberations prove it was "far from an open-and-shut case." A former sales representative testified that regional sales manager Sunrise Lee once gave a lap dance at a Chicago nightclub to a doctor whom Insys was pushing to write more prescriptions. Lee's lawyer said she will challenge the verdict. Jurors also watched the rap video, which was shown at a national meeting in 2015 to motivate sales reps to push doctors to prescribe higher doses of the drug. At the end of the video, the person dressed up as the bottle takes off his costume and is revealed to be then-vice president of sales Alec Burlakoff. Burlakoff pleaded guilty and testified against Kapoor. Burlakoff told the jury that he met Lee at the strip club where she worked and recruited her to join the company despite her lack of pharmaceutical industry experience because he believed he believed she would be willing to help carry out the plan to pay off doctors. A former CEO of the company, Michael Babich, also pleaded guilty and testified against his colleagues. He said Insys recruited sales reps who were "easy on the eyes" because doctors didn't want an "unattractive person to walk in their door." Kapoor's attorney sought to shift the blame onto Burlakoff, who she said was cutting side deals with doctors. Wilkinson argued that Burlakoff and Babich were lying about Kapoor in an attempt to save themselves. 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. Terry L. Romig was born on March 5, 1956 in Independence, Kansas to parents Delbert Romig and Bonnie Paniagua. He was one of nine children, and one of five boys. While he spent much time between Kansas, and Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, with a small amount of time prior to school in Colorado, Terry attended school in both Kansas and Pine Bluffs. He graduated from Fredonia High School in Fredonia, Kansas. During his high school years, he focused mainly on auto mechanics and farming. "My dad and my grandfathers were all farmers and it just was kind of natural for me to work on the farm." stated Terry. In his early years, military was not a draw to him. However, Terry's two older brothers, Thomas and Glen both enlisted in the United States Navy and the desire to follow in their footsteps hit Terry after graduation in 1975. "I first checked out the United States Army and when I found out I would be stuck in a tank, I decided to go in the United States Navy." Terry said. "Funny thing is I ended up staying in a submarine vs. a tank!" he added. After completing school, Terry asked to be assigned to the submarine his brothers Tom and Glen were stationed on - the USS Nathan Hale, a Lafayette class nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine. Under the "Brother duty" Terry was assigned to the same submarine as his brothers. "Brother, Tom was a missile tech (MT); brother, Glen was a torpedoman; and I was assigned as a Machinist Mate (MM)." Terry clarified. "My younger brother Bill, enlisted in the United States Navy and was a Quarter Master on the USS City Of Corpus Christi (SSN-705), a Los Angeles-class submarine. Afterwords, he went into the Merchant Marines." said Terry. After serving six years, Terry was discharged from the United States Navy. Taking with him, his experience, he landed a job working for Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant, near Burlington, Kansas. During this time, Terry would marry. He would have one boy and five girls. Terry and his wife, Sandra K. have two children left in school. His son, Travis Romig would follow in dad's footsteps and enlist in the United States Navy, where he was assigned to Kingsbay, Georgia as a military police. Reflecting back on his decision to join the United States Navy, a tour of the USS Nathan Hale, solidified his desire to enter into the world of submarines. "I entered the sub with my brother, and we went down one hatch, went down a hall, up a ladder to another hatch that was about ten feet from where we started and I was lost!" he said. "After submarine school, that was never a problem again!" he said with a smile. "It was a great experience, and there were some great moments, and some chilling experiences on board the sub." Terry said. "I remember one time we had surfaced and the 'Helo'(helicopter) was there to lift off a submariner. The captain, went up to assist with a slight problem, and he didn't have his gear on and was swept overboard. The Helo rescued the captain, lowered him, then lifted the submariner off and went on his way! Our captain was a great guy, one of the crew!" he added. This was a great lesson, and seeing the captain be part of our crew and not just the captain was a lesson that would stay with Terry all his life. "Being in the military, the Navy especially, taught me discipline, and respect. This is something added to the repect I was taught as a kid at home." Terry said. "I would recommend the military to all high school students. Not only with it give you discipline, but you get an education and experience you can not get anywhere else." he added. Terry's sister, Rose Ritz, is also in the military. She is with the Wyoming National Guard with the Joint Operations Staff. Courtesy of Terry Romig Brothers: Tom, Glen and Terry Romig, today. After working at the power plant from 1987, Terry retired March of this year. He spends time at home in Kansas and at home with his mom, Bonnie several times a year. "My dad, Delbert, has passed, and it is good to be here with mom, and see my brothers and sister. Terry said. "It was a good time in my life, the military, and I am proud I served right along with my brothers." he added. With no history of serving, one generation changed all that and five of the nine Romig children have served, and a couple of the next generation have followed in uniform as well. Next April, 2020 the four Romig brothers are going on a Honor Flight to see the War Memorials in Washington D.C. To all the Romigs who have served, we thank you for your service, and Terry for sharing his service with us. The Wyoming State Art Educators Association recently held its 51st Annual Wyoming State Art Symposium. There are thousands of pieces of art from students ranging from 9th to 12th grade from all across the state of Wyoming. The symposium offers the students attending the chance at scholarships pertaining to art and art education, workshops highlighting different art media and techniques and most of all a chance for art students in Wyoming public schooling system to get their work seen, view and appreciate other works of art from around the great state of Wyoming. The students were also privy to workshops held by the community colleges around the state as well as the University of Wyoming. One workshop of which our Pine Bluffs students enrolled in was a wet plating old time photography process and their work is seen below in the top left corner. This year Pine Bluffs High School was honored to have Tucker Norman, Brian Arzola and Jourdaine Cerenil have artwork present at the symposium. Brian Arzola was awarded a Blue Ribbon for his painting and multimedia piece Amor. All in all it was a good year for Pine Bluffs at the State Art Symposium, however the students are eager to get back to work in anticipation of returning next year with more art and determined to improve on their skills! This years Wyoming School Nurse Association (WSNA) School Nurse of the Year is our own Kay Dersham. A 1981 graduate of the University of Wyoming, Kay was the first school nurse in the Laramie County School District #2. She also developed the school nursing program from scratch. In 2014 Kay returned to the school district, and has been here ever since. A hearty congratulations to Kay for consistently striving for excellence! Krzysztof Magott Wins EPT Monte Carlo 5,200 PLO Single-Day High Roller for 113,370 May 02, 2019 Will Shillibier After 13 hours on Day 1, it took just 12 hands on an impromptu Day 2 for Krzysztof Magott to secure victory in the PokerStars and Monte-CarloCasino European Poker Tour 5,200 PLO Single-Day High Roller. This is Magott's third PLO cash of the festival, after cashing both the 550 and 1,100 side events. EPT Monte Carlo 5,200 PLO Single-Day High Roller Final Table Results Place Name Country Prize in Prize in $ 1 Krzysztof Magott Poland 113,370 $126,861 2 Alexandre Amiel France 80,570 $90,158 3 Ivan Leow Malaysia 52,770 $59,050 4 Wai Leong Chan Malaysia 40,610 $45,443 5 Anson Tsang Hong Kong 32,160 $35,987 6 Sergey Verkhoturov Belarus 25,150 $28,143 7 Helmut Schott Austria 19,790 $22,145 8 Basil Yaiche France 15,460 $17,300 "My main game is cash PLO," Magott told PokerNews after his victory. "Lately I've been working on my game, especially on PLO ICM stuff, so I was probably aware of the concepts which very few people at the final table, maybe none, were aware of. "by the time there were sixteen left, I was pretty sure that I'm the best player" "Actually when there were twenty-four players left, I saw there were some players that were better than me, but they busted, so I was lucky. So by the time there were sixteen left, I was pretty sure that I'm the best player and then I was just pushing a little bit of an edge." Most of Magott's Hendon Mob cashes are in PLO, but this is his first recorded win. "I checked, and this is my thirteenth final table and my first win! I think now I'm going to go work a little bit on my game and then play SCOOP. I mean, first I'm going to chill. Then work on my game and SCOOP!" EPT Monte Carlo 5,200 PLO Single-Day High Roller Recap After a 25-minute delay, the Single-Day High Roller got underway and throughout ten levels of late registration, several big names jumped in the field. They included Luc Greenwood, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Ole Schemion, Max Silver, Jean-Noel Thorel and PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari, along with French players Guillaume Diaz and Sylvain Loosli. As play progressed, Ivan Leow built up a robust early chip lead and held it for much of the tournament. Fellow Malaysian Wai Leong Chan also had a strong stack midway through the day. There had been a steady stream of eliminations throughout the day, but these seemed to dry up as the bubble approached. Eventually, Olivier Rousse's kings were cracked by Anson Tsang and the remaining 11 players each locked up 10,310. Paul Leckey and Konstantinos Bouloutsos were both eliminated, before the players combined around a single table. By now, Chan's stack was into the seven figures as the smaller stacks tried to ladder. Andreas Freund had his aces cracked by Leow, who joined his compatriot in over a million in chips, taking over the chip lead in the process. It was back and forth between the pair, as Chan quickly regained the chip lead with the elimination of Basil Yaiche in eighth place, cracking the latter's aces. It was a final table of doubles, with Leow doubling through Tsang before Helmut Schott got his chips in drawing dead against Krzysztof Magott. Sergey Verkhoturov was next to go, with Tsang and Alexandre Amiel both doubling twice before Tsang was eliminated. Four-handed was a tight affair. Amiel doubled once more, then Leow and Amiel both doubled through Chan in quick succession. Chan then doubled through Amiel, and Amiel then doubled through Magott. Are you keeping up? A big Magott double finally saw Chan succumb in fourth place. He was soon followed out the door by Leow. The remaining two players couldn't fit a single hand in before gaming regulations dictated a hard stop, with no poker playing allowed past 6 am local time. Krzysztof Magott bagged 3,130,000 in chips while Alexandre Amiel wrote down 1,120,000 in chips on his bag. Play was forced to stop shortly before 6am, so an extra day was added to the schedule. On the extra day, play lasted all but 12 hands. Alexandre Amiel closed the gap with a full house on the very first hand, but after calling a three-bet, he was forced to fold on a king-high board. Later, Amiel would tell Magott that he folded double-suited queens, with Magott responding that he had aces. Regardless, on the very next hand, it was over. The two got it in before the flop with Amiel holding off tens while Magott had a double suited hand. Maggott flopped two pair and rivered a wheel to claim the victory. The Stars Group owns a majority shareholding in iBus Media. Texas Poker in the Crosshairs as Authorities Raid Pair of Houston Clubs May 02, 2019 Chad Holloway On Wednesday, the law came down hard on a pair of Texas poker rooms. Around 11 a.m., Houston's Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club were raided by authorities and nine people arrested. Prime Social owner Dean Maddox and General Manager Brent Pollack were both led out in handcuffs just before a five-day, $150K GTD tournament was about to take place at their establishment. Also arrested were assistant GM Steven Farshid and comptroller Mary Switzer. Over at the Post Oak Poker club, co-owners Daniel Kebort, Alan Chodrow, Kevin Chodrow, Sergio Cabrera, and William Heuer were all arrested. Charges levied against them include money laundering, gambling promotion, and engaging in organized criminal activity. "We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down." "Poker rooms are illegal in Texas," District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a written statement. "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." According to reports, the raids were the results of a two-year investigation that included undercover police officers posing as players. The Houston Chronicle reports that documents state undercover officers "were asked to pay a membership fee, a door fee and a fee to play at a poker table." Texas poker rooms have operated in a gray area where they function in a similar fashion to a country club on a membership model. Players simply play a fee and play. The club doesn't take a rake, instead driving revenue throughout memberships and hourly fees. According to Texas law, poker is only allowed if it meets the following requirements: No person received economic benefits other than personal winnings. Gambling must be in a private place. Except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning were the same for all participants. That said, the rapid rise of the rooms, and the problems that came along with it including a lawsuit between Austin and San Antonio clubs, as well as a high-profile shooting, were sure to catch the attention of authorities. "We cannot allow illegal gambling to go on," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a written statement. "It drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity." He continued: "We're not going to tolerate it. We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it, otherwise we're going to do our job and shut them down." Since 2017, authorities claim $10 million in bank deposits have been made by the clubs. Those funds are now frozen and face seizure. Poker Players Left Hanging The raids came at an inopportune time for Prime Social players, many of whom had registered for that day's tournament. Their buy-ins, as well as all chips in play, became worthless when authorities entered and froze all assets. "Nobody seems to know anything right now, so that's kind of why I came over here to try to find out," said poker player Sean Maggio. "I feel shocked like they took something away from me." One thing authorities did make clear was that players were not being targeted, rather they were after the owner and operators. Wayne Dolcefino, a consultant for Prime Social, believes the raid was unnecessary given the club operates above the board and has done charity work for the community. "They don't take a penny out of that money," he said according to Click2Houston. "I just don't believe the guys that I know have done anything wrong. And I believe they've been very, very meticulous about the way they keep records." Several other clubs operate around the state, and while it's business as usual for them as of now, the recent crackdown at Post Oak and Prime Social are sure to have consequences for the entire Texas poker-playing community. Lead image: Post Oak Poker Club Facebook. Win Chips, Win a Seat: Max Silver on the New EPT Satellite Format May 02, 2019 Martin Harris There is a new satellite tournament format that has started to gain some momentum of late, one that was featured at the European Poker Tour Prague series last December and is being used again at the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-CarloCasino EPT. Satellite tournaments provide players a chance to enter another tournament for less than the event's buy-in. For example, many of those currently playing in the EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event were able to win their entries for less than the 5,300 buy-in, including some who won their way in via these new satellites. To give an example, one type of these new satellites is described as a "Win your seat at 100,000 chips" event. In this one, players buy in for 600 and begin with a starting stack of 10,000. Once a player accumulates 100,000 chips, that player wins a seat into the Main Event and his or her 100,000 chips are taken out of play. If the player has more than 100,000 chips after winning the hand that put the player over the threshold (a likely occurrence), the remaining chips are shared equally among the players at the table who were dealt into the hand the player won. Looking at some of the results of these "Win your seat at..." satellites shows they proved popular in Monaco earlier this week. One offered last Sunday drew 250 entries from which 25 players won seats, then another on Monday drew 286 entries from which 29 players won seats. (These events also allow a single re-entry.) There were a couple of "Win your seat at 50,000 chips" satellites into the Main with 1,200 buy-ins that attracted decent turnouts as well. Strategy for satellite tournaments in which multiple seats are up for grabs obviously differs greatly from regular tournament strategy, creating some interesting decisions. Indeed, sometimes when near the bubble of such a satellite, you might find it needful to fold a hand as strong as pocket kings (or even pocket aces) something Carlos Welch talked about with David Lappin and Dara O'Kearney not long ago for a strategy segment on The Chip Race. See "Satellite Strategy: A Time to Fold Pocket Kings?" In this new satellite format being used at EPT stops, however, the "bubble" works a bit differently, only bursting when the last player needed to hit the desired chip target reaches the goal. While in Monaco, PokerNews' Sasha Salinger spoke with poker pro Max Silver about the new format and the strategies involved. Silver makes a few good points when discussing the format, including noting how by eliminating the big stacks from play, you don't encounter the circumstance that happens in regular satellites where chip leaders continue to be involved to affect the fortunes of others. Silver talks as well about how cautious players need to be with medium-size stacks in this format, and how short stacks can't simply try to "fold into the money" because of the imperative to accumulate enough chips to earn a seat. Take a look: The Stars Group owns a majority shareholding in iBus Media. Wed bet there arent many poker players at this European Poker Tour stop in Monte Carlo with a story as interesting as Maria Konnikovas. The psychology PhD, New York Times best-selling author and PokerStars Ambassador is back in Monte Carlo for her third time, marking the two-year anniversary since she started playing poker from scratch. We caught up with Konnikova in Monaco to talk about her study regime, the powerful poker minds she mines, and how the writing of her highly anticipated new book, The Biggest Bluff, has been balanced with her poker grind. Read the full interview by Jack Stanton at the PokerStars Blog. After 13 hours yesterday, it took just 12 hands today for Krzysztof Magott to secure victory in the PokerStars and Monte-CarloCasino European Poker Tour 5,200 PLO Single-Day High Roller. Heads-up opponent Alexandre Amiel closed the gap with a full house on the very first hand, but after calling a three-bet he was forced to fold on a king-high boar. Later, Amiel would tell Magott that he folded double-suited queens, with Magott responding that he had aces. Regardless, on the very next hand, it was over. This is Magott's third PLO cash of the festival, after cashing the 550 and 1,100 side events. Here is a reminder of the final table payouts: Place Name Country Payout (EUR) Payout (USD) 1 Krzysztof Magott Poland 113,370 $126,861 2 Alexandre Amiel France 80,570 $90,158 3 Ivan Leow Malaysia 52,770 $59,050 4 Wai Leong Chan Malaysia 40,610 $45,443 5 Anson Tsang Hong Kong 32,160 $35,987 6 Sergey Verkhoturov Belarus 25,150 $28,143 7 Helmut Schott Austria 19,790 $22,145 8 Basil Yaiche France 15,460 $17,300 Krzysztof Magott Erupts With Delight "My main game is cash PLO," Magott told PokerNews after his victory. "Lately I've been working on my game, especially on PLO ICM stuff, so I was probably aware of the concepts which very few people at the final table, maybe none, were aware of. "Actually when there were 24 players left I saw there were some players that were better than me, but they busted so I was lucky. So by the time there were 16 left I was pretty sure that I'm the best player and then I was just pushing a little bit of an edge. Most of Magott's Hendon Mob cashes are in PLO, but this is his first recorded win. "I checked and this is my 13th final table and my first win! I think now I'm going to go work a little bit on my game and then play SCOOP. I mean, first I'm going to chill. Then work on my game and SCOOP!" Stay tuned to PokerNews for more live coverage from EPT Monte Carlo! 643 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) 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 Trumps daughter and son-in-law. After days of conflict over whether he would appear or not, Carl Kline talked with investigators from the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, chaired by Democrat Elijah Cummings. 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. Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, said two congressional sources familiar with the matter, were among the two-dozen or so staffers who got those clearances. Kline was in charge of White House clearances at the time. Kline has since left the White House and is now a Defense Department employee. The committee voted on April 2 to issue a subpoena to Kline compelling him to appear to testify on the matter. The Trump administration initially told Kline to ignore the subpoena. Last week, Trump told reporters Were fighting all the subpoenas. After Republican committee member Jim Jordan intervened, Cummings three days ago said he was putting off https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-clearances/house-panel-to-interview-ex-white-house-security-clearance-chief-idUSKCN1S40JN 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 whistleblower. It is one of multiple probes https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-congress-committees-factbox/factbox-crowd-of-u-s-congress-committees-investigating-trump-idUSKCN1S21X4 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, a White House lawyer said that Kline would talk with the committee, but was not authorized to discuss individual clearances. 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 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 couples clearances. 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 Houses stance, saying Cipollones 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 whistleblowers. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and David Gregorio) 1.8k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Andy Sullivan and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) Under pressure from Democrats, Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday defended his decision to clear President Donald Trump of criminal obstruction of justice by attempting to impede Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia inquiry and criticized Mueller for not reaching a conclusion of his own on the issue. In his first congressional testimony since releasing a redacted version of the report on April 18, Barr also dismissed Muellers complaints that the attorney general had disclosed the special counsels conclusions in an incomplete way. Illustrating tensions between the two men, Barr called a March 27 letter from Mueller a bit snitty. During the sometimes testy hearing, Barr faced sharp questions from Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats on why he decided after receiving the 448-page document from Mueller in March to conclude that the president had not unlawfully sought to obstruct the 22-month investigation. I dont think the government had a prosecutable case, Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official and a Trump appointee, said during roughly four hours of testimony. Democrats have accused Barr of trying to protect the Republican president. Barr defended the way he dealt with the reports release, redactions made by the Justice Department removing parts of the document to protect sensitive information, and his ultimate conclusion that Trump did not obstruct justice. At times, Barr appeared to excuse or rationalize Trumps conduct regarding Muellers investigation, asserting that the presidents motives fell short of trying to derail the probe. Youve chosen to be the presidents lawyer and side with him over the interests of the American people, Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono told Barr, calling him a person who has sacrificed a once-decent reputation for the grifter and liar that sits in the Oval Office. Hirono called on Barr to resign. Senator Lindsey Graham, the committees Republican chairman, rushed to Barrs defense, telling Hirono, Youve slandered this man. It marked the first time a member of the Trump administration testified about the contents of Muellers report, which detailed extensive contacts between Trumps campaign and Moscow and the campaigns expectation that it would benefit from Russias actions. The report also detailed a series of actions Trump took to try to impede the investigation. Muellers report concluded there was insufficient evidence to show a criminal conspiracy. Mueller 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 Departments No. 2 official, then determined based on Muellers findings there was insufficient evidence to establish that Trump committed criminal obstruction. Trump has 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 asked about the reports finding that in June 2017 Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn 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, named as attorney general 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. We did not think in this case that the government could show corrupt intent, Barr said. Barr told Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, There is a distinction between saying to someone, Go fire him, go fire Mueller, and saying, Have him removed based on conflict. The difference between them is if you remove someone for a conflict of interest, then there would be presumably another person appointed. Feinstein, sounding unconvinced, responded, Wouldnt you have to have in this situation an identifiable conflict that makes sense, or else doesnt it just become a fabrication? INTENTION WAS VERY CLEAR Democratic Senator Dick Durbin was more blunt. I think the presidents intention was very clear. He wanted this to end, Durbin said, referring to Muellers investigation. It will be Trumps decision, Barr said, whether McGahn will be allowed to testify before Congress on the matter. Barr was also critical of Mueller for not reaching a conclusion himself on whether Trump obstructed the probe. I think that if he felt that he shouldnt go down the path of making a traditional prosecutorial decision, then he shouldnt have investigated, Barr said. Democrats asked Barr about the letter sent by Mueller to him in which the special counsel complained that Barrs March 24 letter to lawmakers stating the inquirys main conclusions did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Offices work. He testified Mueller was unhappy with the way the conclusions were being characterized in the media, not his account of the conclusions, though the letter does not mention media coverage. Barr also said Mueller had asked him to make public summaries of the reports findings prepared by the special counsels team to give the public a fuller idea of the reports contents, but the attorney general refused. The letter is a bit snitty and I think it was probably written by a member of his staff, Barr said. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said Barr misled Congress when he testified in April he did not know whether Mueller was happy with his initial characterization of his findings. Democrats are debating whether the report serves as a suitable basis to begin impeachment proceedings in Congress to try to remove Trump from office. Democrats control the House of Representatives, which would start any such effort, while Trumps fellow Republicans control the Senate, which would have to vote to remove the president. Barr told the panel he believed Russia and other countries were still a threat to interfere in future U.S. elections. Committee Republicans did not focus on Trumps conduct but rather on what they saw as the FBIs improper surveillance during the election of Trump aides they suspected of being Russian agents, as well as on the Kremlins election meddling. To that end, Barr defended his accusation in a previous congressional hearing this month that American intelligence agencies engaged in spying on Trump campaign figures amid worries over their contacts with Russia. He said spying is a good English word without a pejorative meaning and that he would not back off his language, which echoed Trumps complaints that the Justice Department had engaged in wrongdoing toward his campaign. Trump, ahead of the hearing, wrote a series of tweets. 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 president wrote. [nL1N21B02H] Barr indicated that to him, the matter was closed. The report is now in the hands of the American people, he said. Were out of it. We have to stop using the criminal justice system as a political weapon. The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee voted to adopt an aggressive questioning format for a hearing set for Thursday with Barr. A resolution allows committee lawyers to question Barr during an extra hour of proceedings, on top of a traditional hearing format that provides each lawmaker on the panel with five minutes for questions and remarks. A congressional subpoena deadline for Barrs department to hand over an unredacted copy of Muellers report expired on Wednesday. The House Judiciary Committee sought the full report and underlying evidence. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan, Sarah N. Lynch and David Morgan; Writing by Andy Sullivan and James Oliphant; Editing by Will Dunham) 3.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Hillary Clinton warned that William Barrs attitude on executive power puts the country down the road to tyranny. Maddow said, In terms of Barrs argument about that today, he went I believe even further than he went in his 19-page memo when he suggested under questioning from Senator Leahy that the president could without obstructing justice, by virtue of the fact he is president fire any prosecutor who was investigating him if the president believed himself to be innocent of the accusations that the prosecutor was investigating. Now that is not just the president can obstruct justice that is the president cant be investigated if the president doesnt want to be investigated. Clinton added, And that is the road to tyranny. That is what authoritarians believe and those who service them argue. And as a young lawyer on the Watergate investigation back in 1974, that would have been unthinkable for either a Democrat or a Republican to argue that. And the Saturday Night Massacre occurred because the attorney general and other high-ranking officials in the Justice Department would not do what President Nixon wanted them to do, which was basically stop investigating me. So when you hear something like that, and I know Pat Leahy well, he is a former prosecutor, obviously now very veteran Senator. When I looked at his face as he was asking that question, you could just see the incredulity. Like where does this end? Video: Hillary Clinton says Barr's attitude on executive power is the road to tyranny. #Maddow pic.twitter.com/PFrq78yQbK Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 2, 2019 Trump has finally found a willing tool who will carry out his extremist vision of executive power in the Department of Justice. William Barr believes as he has written in the past that a president cant be charged with a crime, because it is impossible for a sitting president to commit a crime. Trump is dangerous, but Barrs views weaponize him in a war against democracy. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 2.8k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard House Judiciary Committee Democrats are warning that they will hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress if he does not appear at a Thursday hearing. House Democrats May Hold Barr In Contempt The Washington Post reported: Attorney General William P. Barr told a House panel on Wednesday that he will not testify about special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs report, raising the prospect that Democrats will hold the nations top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress. . When push comes to shove, the administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the committee, told reporters. He said the panel would meet as planned and added I hope and expect that the attorney general will think overnight and will be there as well. What is contempt of Congress The House could hold Barr in contempt of Congress, which means that the Attorney General would be found to be obstructing the work of the House. The House could arrest and detain Barr, but that is not going to happen because it hasnt been done since 1935, and Barr is protected by armed FBI agents. They could pursue criminal contempt, but the DOJ run by Barr would have to prosecute the attorney general. They could also pursue a civil contempt charge. The House could sue Barr in civil court which is what Nancy Pelosi did when she successfully defeated the Bush administration. If Barr doesnt show up on Thursday, things will get very real very fast for the attorney general. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 18.2k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) took Attorney General Barr apart in less than a minute as the evasive AG was no match for the Democratic presidential candidate. Kamala Harris took out William Barr Here was how it went down: Sen. Harris: Attorney general Barr has the president or anyone at the white house suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Barr: I wouldnt, uh Harris: Yes or no? Barr: Could you repeat that question? Harris: I will repeat. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no, please, sir. Harris: The president or anybody else? Seems you would remember something like that and be able to tell us. Barr: Yeah, but Im trying to grapple with the word Suggest. I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there that theyve not asked me to open an investigation. Harris: Perhaps theyve suggested? Barr: I dont know. I wouldnt say suggested. Harris: Hinted. Barr: I dont know. Video: Kamala Harris Owns Barr Sen. Harris showed why so many Democrats support her presidential campaign. She blocked all of Barrs exit ramps and had him stumbling and grappling with the word suggested. One of the reasons why House Democrats want a lawyer to question Barr at their scheduled hearing on Thursday was in evidence during the Senate hearing. The Senators who were prosecutors, for example, but not limited to, Blumenthal and Harris had a much easier time cutting through Barrs evasions and diversions. Harris is a formidable presidential candidate, and even Trumps Roy Cohn didnt stand a chance against her in front of the Judiciary Committee. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 11.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Sen. Maize Hirono (D-HI) called AG Barr a liar to his face and told him to resign during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Sen. Hirono said: You told senator Chris van Hollen that you didnt know if Bob Mueller supported your conclusions, but you knew. You lied. And now we know. A lot of respected nonpartisan legal experts and elected officials were surprised by your efforts to protect the president. But I wasnt surprised. You did exactly what I thought you would do. Thats why I voted against your confirmation. I suspected you would try to protect the president and, indeed, you did. In 1989, this isnt something you hadnt done before. In 1989 when you refused to show Congress an OLC opinion that led to the arrest of Manuel Noriega. In 1992 when you recommended pardons for the subjects of the Iran Contra scandal. And last year when you wrote the 19-page memo telling Donald Trump as president cant be guilty of obstruction of justice and then didnt recuse yourself from the matter. Video: From the beginning, you are addressing an audience of one. That person being Donald Trump. Thats why before the bombshell news of yesterday evening, 11 of my Senate colleagues and I called on the Department of Justice inspector general, and Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the way you have handled the Mueller report. I wanted them to determine whether your actions then complied with the departments policies and practices and whether you have demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue to oversee the 14 other criminal matters that the special counsel referred to in other parts to other parts of the Department of Justice. Now we know more about your deep involvement in trying to cover up for Donald Trump. Being attorney general is a sacred trust. You have betrayed that trust. America deserves better. You should resign. Sen. Hirono is leading the effort to get Barrs handling of the Mueller report investigated. Barr has lied to Congress. He is a liar, and his resignation would be letting him off easy. There is going to be an investigation into Barrs conduct surrounding the Mueller report. Sen. Hirono was right. Barr should resign, but it more likely that he will need to be impeached. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 2.2k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Sen. Maize Hirono (D-HI) said that the investigation is not over, even if Lindsey Graham wants it to be over, as she called for Mueller to testify. Sen. Hirono said on MSNBCs All In With Chris Hayes, Obviously its not over. Lindsey wants it to be over, but its not. For example, during his testimony, Barr kept characterizing the discussions he had with Mueller. Thats called hearsay. I like to hear from Mueller himself as to the conversation and what concerns he had about the four-pager that Barr put out. Mueller was so concern, and he asked Barr to put out the summaries that his team had put together. Barr refused to do that. Video: Sen. Hirono told Attorney General Barr to his face that he is a liar, and that he needs to resign. Hirono was correct. Graham has buddied up to Trump, and he is trying to kill the investigation for the president. Lindsey Graham wants this to be over in the worst way, but its not over, and it is never going to be over until the American people know the facts about the Trump/Russia relationship and how it impacted the 2016 election. Democrats are not going to allow a potentially criminal president to walk. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 122 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) 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. 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. For instance, David Lee Denton, an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in a deposition that border officers could look through emails, social media posts and text messages to help in a range of investigations. So perhaps in a fraud investigation, one business might want to report their competitors for engaging in fraudulent business practices, Denton said in his deposition. And that would be a factor that might give an agent reasonable suspicion for a border search. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy group, are suing the U.S. government and challenging that authority, which they say could lead to unconstitutional warrantless searches of devices at borders and airports. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The civil liberties organizations represent 11 plaintiffs who sued in 2017 alleging searches of their electronic devices at ports of entry violated the U.S. Constitutions protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Generally in the United States, law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant before it can search an Americans electronic devices. But a so-called border search exception, which dates to the early days of the United States, allows authorities to conduct searches at a port of entry without a warrant. That exemption has been repeatedly upheld by the courts. The rights organizations said customs and immigration officials also act on requests from other agencies as well as state and local police and foreign law enforcement agencies, according to the court papers. The groups asked U.S. District Judge Denise Capser in Boston to order a halt to such practices without going to trial. Customs and Border Patrol searched 33,295 electronic devices in fiscal year 2018, up from 5,085 in fiscal 2012, according to the court documents. (Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; editing by Jonathan Oatis) 1.7k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Facebook banned several high profile alt right supporters of Trump from Facebook and Instagram for hate speech violations. Trump supporters and Louis Farrakhan banned from Facebook and Instagram Time reported: Facebook Inc. said its banning a number of controversial far-right figures, including Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, for violating the social-media companys policies on hate speech and promoting violence. The company is also blocking religious leader Louis Farrakhan, who is known for sharing anti-Semitic views; Paul Nehlen, a white nationalist who ran for Congress in 2018; and conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson. Weve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology, a Facebook representative said Thursday in a statement. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today. Farrakhan is not a supporter of Trump but has spread his own extremist and hateful views. The Trumps have appeared on Alex Joness platforms for years. The alt-right figures that were banned have all supported Donald Trump. It is difficult for the Republican Party to maintain the unbelievable position that they are not the party of hate speech when their candidates and media figures are getting banned from social media platforms. Expect Trump to go on a Twitter rant about censorship, while ignoring the fact that there should be room in every discussion for liberal and conservative views, but conspiracy theories and hate speech should have no home in our national discourse. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 1.6k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) said that Robert Mueller should testify before the House even if Trump tries to block him. Members of Congress urge Mueller to testify even if Trump says no Bass said on MSNBCs MTP Daily, Barr said he was okay with him testifying, but there is also McGahn. And you know what? At some point, I am wondering will they step up and essentially say, you know what, were going to tell the truth to the American public. Period. I was impressed to read Muellers letter to Barr basically saying what are you doing, youre creating confusion, release the report. I would love to see if he was told that he couldnt testify that he would come and testify anyway. Im also thinking that all of those people that put all of those hours and days and months, two years developing the Mueller report that they might break rank and come forward as well. At some point in time, this is about our democracy, this is about our country and Im hoping that peoples jobs are less important than fighting on behalf of our democracy and our country. Video: Mueller will testify One way or another, Congress is going to get the testimony of Robert Mueller. House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff was confident that Mueller will testify. Trump and Barr can try to delay Muellers testimony but doing so would carry the risk of having Mueller testify closer to the 2020 election. As Rep. Bass said, Mueller is going to testify. The Special Counsel has said that he would testify, and if he has to do so over the objections of the White House, there is little that Trump can do to stop him. Robert Mueller owes it to his country to deliver the facts that he found in person. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 3.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard During her weekly press conference, Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said AG Barr committed a crime when he lied to Congress. Nancy Pelosi Isnt Done With William Barr Speaker Pelosi said, Sitting there once again, his Justice Department intensifying its assault on the Affordable Care Act. And that they did their filing, further filing to get rid of the entire Affordable Care Act. So thats what it means to people with preexisting conditions. Hes sitting there in that arrogance. I dont care about your preexisting condition. I care about the special interests in our country. That was the message of Barr. So connecting of the dots between Mitch Mcconnell, the Republican agenda, and Congress such as it is, the special interests agenda fueled by dark special interest money, thats what that hearing was about. It wasnt about technicalities. It wasnt about who wrote the letter and how he characterized the letter. Thats interesting. But what is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. Thats a crime. Video: As House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on Thursday night, Barr is not the most important witness. Congress needs to hear from Robert Mueller, and then they will be able to double back to Attorney General William Barr. The House majority is not finished with Barr, but they are also not going to get sucked into the White Houses stall and delay tactics. The Speaker of the House accused the Attorney General of the United States of a crime. William Barr has never been close to impeachment than when those words left Speaker Pelosis mouth. The House is going to fight tooth an nail to make sure that Donald Trump never becomes the king that he so badly wants to be. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 526 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard As a part of Holocaust Remembrance Day, on which we remember the systematic extermination of six million Jews and millions more who were killed because of who they were, PoliticusUSAs Adalia Woodbury talks about living in Trumps America as the direct descendant of a Holocaust survivor. In the years immediately after finishing my formal education, the work I did wasnt relevant to my life. It was easy to separate my emotions from the writing I did. I wasnt part of the issue at hand, it didnt touch anyone I loved or knew. A while ago, I was advised to put more of myself into my writing. It went against my training, but the biggest reason is because it hurts too much. For the past 3 years Ive felt as if Im relieving my mothers nightmare but at a different stage in life and in a different part of the world. This was supposed to be part of the world that valued and accepted everyone; that recognized knowledge as a virtue. It was supposed to be beyond the petty tribalism has denied some people peace for centuries. It was like the lights went on everything good the moment the clock struck 12 noon January 20, 2017. This whole business of objectifying people who look, sound, pray or love differently than the cookie cutter image of Mr. and Mrs. Stepford is so juvenile and such a pathetic waste of energy. The destruction and the suffering are so unnecessary and again a waste of energy. The worst thing is that Trump made all of us the walking wounded for the rest of our lives. Sure, there are some freaks of nature out there salivating as Trump calls human beings scum, dogs, animals, and other equally dehumanizing labels. But were all walking wounded. Some of us just dont know it. Others know it too well. I know about the walking wounded, because that was my mother. She was a brilliant scientist who was nominated for the Nobel Prize. It was one of those times when yeah, its a big deal just to be nominated. Thats because my mother was an immigrant, a Holocaust survivor and a woman. In those days, on this side of the Atlantic who you were still determined what you could accomplish in life. Unless you were born here, were white and Christian, you had to be truly extraordinary to be considered adequate. She did it. She was truly extraordinary in her work, which by logic meant she wasnt at home doting over me. No milk and cookies after school. But, I always knew she loved me. If I called and needed help she was there. If it meant talking about a crises at midnight because thats when she got home from work, we did. Its why I thought nothing of bringing her corgi over here from Europe to fulfill her last wish. Nothing was too hard if it was to have my mothers back or she mine. And for all the amazing things my mother was she, like many Holocaust survivors, had her dark moments. Maybe hers was like other peoples, or maybe it was different. That I dont know. I can only know that she relieved nightmares from the Nazi era until the last days of her life. She had nightmares and there were times she had symptoms a lot like ptdsd. I had to learn how to look after her talk her down from the ledges in her nightmares when I was a young girl. Not that I had a clue what to do. But, I figured loving her, listening to her would be better than nothing. My mom told me bits and pieces about what life was like during her childhood. She told me about the early years when her dad was a diplomat, later when her mother ghost wrote resistance like articles. Later still when her mother died at the young age of 32. A year later, the grandmother who volunteered to help raise my mother and her siblings, died too. That led them to the woman I knew as my grandmother. Then came the war, and a lifetime of nightmares that would last a lifetime. My mother saw a friend of hers blown up on a bridge minutes after their last conversation. She saw people shot in the town square because thats what Nazis did to keep people in line. The main challenge in life was staying alive and keeping your moral compass. As my grandfather would tell my mom, you cant fight if youre dead. It means a constant resistance to the propaganda that promoted the evils of Nazism as if they were okay, normal even justifiable. My mother figured the best way to street proof me as a child was to teach me about logic, rational analysis and how to recognize fallacies. My mothers family had to move to a different country, with fake IDs and identities because, crazy as this sounds, it wasnt like they could ask the Nazis for help as they sought asylum in another country. My mother and her siblings lives depended on an ability to look, sound and act like people native to that country. The thing I got from that is that nationalism is merely membership in a club and its possible to join any club provided that you conform. But if exposed as a fake, bang, bang youre dead in the town square so that others see what Nazis do to real or perceived traitors. Resisting the Nazis still happened, but not quite the same way as some people here think should have happened. I can say with absolute certainty that second amendment remedies wouldnt have achieved a thing when put up against tanks and bomber planes. But I digress. Children would organize to get the Nazi propagandist kicked out of their school. Small things like that because saving your soul still mattered. Holding on to who you are and what you believe in matters even if gift wrapped in an ethnic or religious disguise. And while some would point to the fakeness of pretending to fit in, the fact is people who could be trusted were eventually told the truth. They got it and continued to accept my mom, her father and her siblings. That was the other big lesson. Ultimately, it is possible to live in diversity if youre willing to do so. And no, the minorities in your neighborhood arent there to steal from you. They just want to live just like you. My mother told me about some of the good times which were few but they did happen. After all, she would explain, no one knew if the war would end or how it would end so they had to keep living and making the best of a truly horrible situation. With that as the backdrop to my life, I find it truly ridiculous for people like Donald Trump to complain because the press was mean to them. Im beyond angry with the people who voted for Trumps reign of terror because they felt ignored. Sorry, but feeling ignored doesnt justify placing millions of people under the siege of Trump and his hate filled band of nationalistic thugs. In fact, any interest I had in wanting to make life better for people who got screwed in the Republican built economy for decades was lost as I was consumed with fear, anger, depression over the latest mass shooting at a Synagogue, or the most recent horrible thing Trump said about brown people, or images of babies in cages. But after a bit of time, I came to the realization that any kind of division strengthens Trump. So yes, a time must come to forgive people who voted for him without understanding what they were voting for. However, I remain angry and frustrated with those who remain tied to the MAGA illusion. Fortunately, I continue to live well, love well while they continue to consume snake oil. Like my mom was during the war, Im forever walking wounded. All of us are. Well feel it differently and it will affect us differently. Well have moments of determination and others where we just feel defeated yet ultimately we refuse to give in to succumb to the evil. The most frustrating and heartbreaking thing about all of this is it was so unnecessary and its unlikely we can ever just reach back in time to forget this ever happened. And so, the cycle of trauma and that determination to survive with morals intact continues. 1.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard House Intel and Judiciary Committee member, and Democratic presidential candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) called for the impeachment of Attorney General William Barr. Eric Swalwell calls for Barr to be impeached Rep. Swalwell said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA: Attorney General William Barr has proved himself unworthy of the mantle of Americas top law enforcement officer, choosing to act as the Presidents lawyer instead of ours, and he cannot be allowed to continue in this role. His public prejudgment of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation should have precluded his confirmation; once confirmed, he should have recused himself. Since taking office, he has parroted the President in accusing our Intelligence Community of illicit spying on the Trump campaign, repeatedly and purposefully mischaracterized the content of Muellers report, lied to Congress, refused to turn over subpoenaed documents, and refused to testify to the House Judiciary Committee without dictating the terms of the hearing. He is a real-time obstructer who is working overtime to make sure Congress cant conduct its constitutionally mandated oversight of the Executive Branch; he must be held accountable. Ive already said Attorney General Barr should resign; if he refuses, Congress must begin the process of removing him. Impeachment is becoming a real possibility for Barr Speaker Pelosi said that Barr committed a crime when he lied to Congress. The chorus within Congress and the country at large are getting louder in their calls for Barrs impeachment. William Barr will not resign. The only way to get rid of him as attorney general is through the impeachment process. The impeachment process may bring about enough public pressure, or it looks like Barr will be removed from his position, then maybe, he would consider resigning, but this attorney general has shown that he will never do the right thing and step down on his own. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Swalwells words carry more weight than a regular member of Congress. After Mueller testifies, the House Judiciary Committee is going to have a decision to make on the impeachment of Barr. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 1.9k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) When Attorney General William Barr refused to appear at a hearing in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, one Democrat decided it was thigh time to act against what he saw as fowl behavior. Congressman Steve Cohen arrived at a hearing of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee carrying a bucket of fried chicken and a poultry figurine. He said the props represented the nations top law enforcement official, who canceled his planned testimony amid a dispute over the hearing format. The chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions, the Tennessee Democrat told reporters, after he handed out pieces of fried chicken to other committee members. After the hearing concluded, committee staffers wiped up chicken grease from the area around Cohens seat. Democrats accuse Barr and other administration officials of stonewalling their investigations into Trumps taxes, his businesses and other topics. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Thursday that he may hold Barr in contempt of Congress if the attorney general does not turn over an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Additional reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jonathan Oatis) 879 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Stephen Moore withdrew his name from consideration for a seat on Federal Reserve Board, and the letter that he sent Trump was full of delusions. Moores letter fed Trumps Delusions Here is the letter: Republicans are collectively living under the delusion that the economy is booming and that there is prosperity as far as the eye can see. The reality is that Trumps booming economy is great for the stock market, rich people, and corporations, but it not so wonderful if you are anyone else. Having a job is not the same as being prosperous, and most Americans arent invested in the stock market. There is a reason why Trumps approval ratings are so low, and that is that Trump hasnt helped the vast majority of working people. Trump lives in a bubble of lies and delusion that according to James Comey eats the souls of the people who are around him. The 3% to 4% growth that Moore predicted is never going to happen. The Trump economy is slowing, and the presidents effort to pack the Fed with people who keep the illusion of prosperity going by continuing to fuel the economic bubble is now zero for two. The Trump cult believes that everything is fine and they are serving as an echo chamber that reinforces this presidents delusions every single day. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. Kalyn Oyer is a Charleston native who covers arts & entertainment and food & bev for The Post and Courier. She's a music festival & concert photographer and used to write about music for the Charleston City Paper, among other publications. Gregory Yee covers the city of Charleston. He's a native Angeleno and previously covered crime and courts for the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, CA. He studied journalism and Spanish literature at the University of California, Irvine. Michael Majchrowicz is a reporter covering crime and public safety. He previously wrote about courts for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts. A Hoosier native, he graduated from Indiana University with a degree in journalism. The National Hurricane Center has issued an advisory on a low-pressure system moving toward Florida out of the Bahamas. The system could bring rain to South Carolina on Friday. Provided 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. A Juul device, center, sits among other e-cigarettes. Juul is reportedly looking to locate a plant in Lexington County. AP Photo/Steven Senne DES MOINES, Iowa Animal rights groups filed a federal lawsuit last week challenging a new Iowa law that makes it a trespass crime to conduct undercover investigations at livestock farms, a measure the Legislature approved just weeks after a federal judge struck down a similar law. The latest bill was approved by the Senate and House on March 12 and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds two days later. It creates a trespass charge for those who use deception to gain access to a farm to cause physical or economic harm, with a penalty of up to a year in jail. It also allows for a conspiracy charge that carries a similar penalty. Iowa lawmakers passed the new law just two months after a federal judge struck down a law they passed in 2012 that the court concluded violated free-speech rights. That law made it a fraud crime to lie to get a job at a farm to do undercover investigations. The ruling is on appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The latest lawsuit filed April 22 in U.S. District Court in Des Moines claims the new law, which became effective the day Reynolds signed it, violates constitutional free speech and due process rights and is unconstitutionally vague and overly broad. The Animal Legal Defense Fund, Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement, Bailing Out Benji, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Center for Food Safety ask a judge to prevent the state from enforcing the law and to strike it down as unconstitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is providing legal assistance in the case. ADVERTISEMENT The lawsuit names Reynolds, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and the county prosecutor in Montgomery County, the site of an egg farm where PETA would conduct an undercover investigation in response to a 2017 whistleblower complaint. "Its important for Iowans because these are core and fundamental free speech rights," said ACLU Iowa attorney Rita Bettis Austen. "Its also important for Iowans because the actual violations that are documented through these undercover efforts, whether conditions inside puppy mills or abusive violations of labor rights for the least powerful Iowa workers who are in these Iowa ag facilities, simply wouldnt get covered. They wouldnt even be known except for these undercover investigative methods." Sen. Ken Rozenboom, the Republican who managed the new law on the Senate floor, has said it is more narrowly focused than the 2012 law. Rozenboom, a hog farmer, argued during Senate debate that "agriculture in Iowa deserves protection from those who would intentionally use deceptive practices to distort public perception of best practices to safely and responsibly produce food." "I wish theyd find something better to do than defend liars and people that misrepresent the truth," he said when told the new challenge had been filed. Reynolds said in a statement that shes committed to protecting Iowa farmers. "We are working with the attorney generals office to ensure this legislation that supports farmers is upheld," she said. The groups say their inability to conduct undercover investigations in Iowa allows agricultural enterprises in Iowa to keep hidden from public scrutiny food safety, labor and animal welfare issues. The animal rights groups also say the new law applies to the states estimated 250 puppy mills, facilities that breed large numbers of dogs for the pet trade, some of which have been found to allow dogs to suffer in abusive conditions. NEW ULM, Minn. Steve and Kerry Hoffman of New Ulm were like many farmers in 2016. They supported then-candidate Donald Trumps presidential campaign in part because he promised to ease regulations and improve trade conditions for the countrys agricultural industry. But now theyre hoping the president will pull back on some of his tariff decisions and move forward with a new trade agreement. "We know hes going to do it," Kerry Hoffman said. "We might have to suffer through a few things to help him do that, and weve done our part. I hope he will do his part because its been tough." Area farmers say Congress needs to act fast to approve the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada before the U.S. agricultural industry suffers irreparable harm. Ag representatives gathered April 25 at the Hoffmans home to deliver that message to 1st District Rep. Jim Hagedorn as part of a large-scale lobbying effort to pass the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement. ADVERTISEMENT "Its been a battle," said Steve Schlangen, chairman of Associated Milk Producers Inc. in New Ulm. "Its been a battle for our dairy farmers, its been a battle for our dairy co-op." President Donald Trump made NAFTA a key issue during his 2016 campaign. After he was elected, Trump promised to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA and issued steel and aluminum tariffs against China, Mexico and several other countries. Those countries have responded with tariffs of their own, which has hurt ag exports across the board. Experts say the average farm income in Minnesota dropped by 8% last year, which marked the fifth year of declining revenue for farmers. "They are now at levels that are comparable to the farm crisis of the 80s," Steve Hoffman said. Hoffman, whose family has farmed in the area for more than 100 years, told Hagedorn an average of four Minnesota dairy farms a week went out of business in 2018. Dairy farmers have been hit especially hard in recent years, first in part due to ongoing struggles over imports from Canada at low prices. Mexicos tariffs on cheeses and other dairy products from the U.S. increased the financial stress on Minnesotas dairy industry, which has spurred more farmers to give up. "There are people out there who are just waiting for the cow prices to come up so they can leave the business because theyre just sick and tired of it," Schlangen said. "Theyre not going to work seven days a week and not get paid a decent living." A new agreement ADVERTISEMENT Trump, along with then-Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian President Justin Trudeau, signed the USMCA in November 2018. Each countrys legislative body, including Congress, must ratify the agreement before it can take effect. The Trump administration has yet to present the agreement before Congress. While the pact improves environmental and labor regulations among the countries, Democrats say more must be done to increase labor rights and hold prices down on goods such as pharmaceuticals. Ag representatives are urging Congress and Trump to collaborate and pass the USMCA as soon as possible, in part to ensure other countries also agree and in part to get the U.S. ag economy back on track after years of declining commodity prices. "These exports are so important for us," said Kevin Paap, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau. Paap pointed out almost half of Minnesotas exports go to Mexico and Canada. He and other ag representatives support the USMCA as it helps open up Canadas dairy market by prohibiting Canada to sell off excess skim milk powder from its butter production at below-market prices. The agreement also does away with restrictive pricing for various agricultural goods, including a wheat grading system that automatically lowered prices on U.S. grain simply because it was a foreign product. Canada is one of the U.S.s top soybean buyers it ranks fourth in soybean meal and seventh in overall soybean oil exports while Mexico accounts for more than 30 percent of the United States cheese exports. Hagedorn, who sits on the House agricultural committee, said he plans to vote for the USMCA once Trump proposes legislation to Congress. He told farmers he met with Trump during the presidents recent visit to Minnesota and urged Trump to move quickly to end tariffs and move forward on trade. ADVERTISEMENT "(Federal officials) do understand that its been tough for agriculture," said Hagedorn, who grew up in rural Blue Earth. "This is a tough time, and they need to make some progress. So were just trying to be as encouraging as heck to let them know, keep pushing, get something done, lets move the ball." Farmers said ending tariffs needs to be part of the USMCA discussion, and more may need to be done to undo the economic damage the tariffs have caused. Several people mentioned more funding is necessary for rural mental health so farmers can cope with their losses. Others said the worst is yet to come if nothing is done soon. Losing a generation Perry Meyer, a New Ulm area farmer, told Hagedorn hes concerned younger farmers dont understand how much the ag industry losses could affect their business. Meyer, who serves on the board of CHS, the nations largest farming cooperative, said U.S. agriculture could be crippled financially if farmers have another down year like 2018. "Were at a point where were going to lose for that next generation the opportunity to come back, make a decent living and support their young families if something doesnt get done within the next few months," Meyer said. That notion wasnt theoretical for some. Hoffman told the crowd he was confident when he told a reporter more than two years ago that dairy farmers could weather the agricultural market downturn. "I honestly cannot say that anymore," Hoffman said, tearing up. "Its been too long a spell. Weve been beaten down too many times. My son and I, we have conversations about getting out of the business rather than growing the business." CANNON FALLS, Minn. Dairy farmers leaving the business at the rate of one a day. Young, would-be farmers who cant afford to buy the land they need. A help line that is no help to suicidal farmers. Those are some of the issues farmers and rural residents brought up Friday at a discussion meeting with state leaders in Cannon Falls. The issues were similar to whats been brought up at other Minnesota Farmers Unions Rural Voices Discussions in St. Peter, Winthrop and Alexandria. The discussions are meant for top state leaders to hear the concerns of farmers and rural residents. On the panel listening were Rep. Angie Craig, Whitney Place, assistant to the commissioner of Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and MFU President Gary Wertish. Chuck Ackman, Sen. Amy Klobuchars southern Minnesota outreach director was also in attendance, as well as Bree Maki, Sen. Tina Smiths southern Minnesota outreach director. ADVERTISEMENT Craig, who represents Minnesotas 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House, opened the meeting by explaining her grounding with rural Minnesota, and how her grandpa lost his job at a farm during the 1980s farm crisis. "Ive seen what happens to a family when someone not only loses their job, but their way of life," said Craig. "So all these issues are incredibly personal to me." The declining dairy industry was brought up by several attendees. Place said the MDAs inspection numbers show the state has been losing about one dairy farm a day since November. Lake City dairy farmer Deborah Mills, whos recently become somewhat of a spokesperson for rural mental health counseling, was the first to speak at the discussion. Mills spoke about the consolidation happening in farming. She said its become clear that the public wants to know where their food is coming from, but food production is not going in that direction. "The public wants family farmers producing their food," said Mills. "But we have conflicting regulations, trade agreements and other things that are putting our food production into the hands of corporations." She said the contraction of small family farm production has already happened in the pork, poultry and beef industries, and now its happening to the dairy industry. Josephine Trople of Northfield said dairy farmers are also struggling to find employees. She said farmers are having to take on every task, which leads to stress and sleep deprivation. ADVERTISEMENT "Folks Ive worked for in the dairy industry do not have enough help, and they are barely hanging on," said Trople. "And theres an intersection between immigration and farm labor." She said its difficult for farmers to find legal, hard-working farm hands, and that realistic immigration reform is needed to fix this. John Larsen, president of the Olmsted County Farmers Union, said the new Dairy Margin Coverage program is an improvement from the previous price support program, but hes skeptical of the guaranteed profits it is said to bring. Larsen also is fed up with the "feed the world" statement about farmers. "As farmers, we need to make a profit, or we dont feed anyone," he said. Making it easier for beginning farmers to access farmland was also a topic heavily discussed on Friday. Millennial farmer Arlo Hark of Dakota County said it could be easier for young people to start farming in Minnesota. He said when hes gone to look at land to purchase, hes up against huge developers who drive up the price. "Theres a lot that can be done to improve access for people like myself that are trying to get into farming," said Hark. "I dont really know what the solution is in terms of keeping prices down for young farmers, but I think maybe there could be incentives for landowners to sell to young farmers, or more programs for young farmers." ADVERTISEMENT Mike Peterson of Rice County said he and his wife became "bridge buyers" in order for their son to buy their farm, because the loan program in place wasnt kicking in soon enough. "You can probably run through a dark room full of mirrors faster than you can get through that loan program," said Peterson. Brett Olson, creative director for the non-profit Renewing the Countryside, said he works on accessing land for young farmers. "Charging interest, and making money off people who dont make any money doesnt seem right to me," said Olson of young farmers. Fixing the problems in farming is a matter of life and death for some. Kirsten VanDerPol of Chippewa County said people choosing their career are told to do what they love rather than what makes them the most money. That love is what got VanDerPols family into farming. "So telling us to call a 1-800 number when were feeling suicidal, or to go get a different job because we cant afford to pay our bills anymore its not going to make us happier," she said, fighting back tears. "We have to fix agriculture. Nobody I know thats contemplated suicide is going to call the 1-800 number theyre going to leave a note, and theyre going to do it." CARLSBAD, N.M. New Mexico became the national leader in pecan production last year after Hurricane Michael struck down large swaths of Georgias crop, new U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers show. New Mexico produced about 90 million pounds of pecans in 2018 compared to Georgias 56 million. Georgia, traditionally the largest pecan-producing state, saw its crop crippled by the storm, cutting production by almost half from 107 million pounds. BURKESVILLE, Ky. Just off a bend in the Cumberland River stands a weathered tobacco barn whose split and slivered planks have gone missing piece by piece. Lois "Nan" Coffey, 95, points in exasperation with her tobacco pole cane at the gaping holes and absent barn doors that have left the structure stripped bare in places, like a skeleton with bones missing. The barn is where her late husband, J.D. Coffey, a mechanic and reluctant farmer, once helped the family cure tobacco four-tiers high, and the breeze still carries remnants of the burleys dry, earthy scent. Nan cant be sure how long those missing planks and doors have been gone the doors had been stored inside the barn for years but she knows what happened to them: thieves stole them. In fact, her family called the county sheriff, placed a notice in the weekly Cumberland County News and put up cameras and floodlights in case the thieves decide to return. And if they get bold, Nan says she still has a pistol hidden in the house. ADVERTISEMENT "Well, sure, Id fire at em," she said. "Id love to get it out." Barnwood thieves have been stealing Kentucky memories across the commonwealth not for whats in them but to feed a growing desire for the farmhouse chic popularized by famous HGTV hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines that is, taking ancient, weathered barnwood and using it to make a new house look old. Kentucky is not alone Sheriffs across the state have seen some barns stripped down to their frames and aluminum roofs. Law enforcement officials say theres not much they can do to stop the thieves or to track down the wood. Farmers in other states have also seen their timeworn wood stripped: Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, South Carolina and Montana have had a few cases, though reports are rare. But in Kentucky, with more old barns per square mile than any other state, barnwood thieving has been a problem for years. Call a sheriff to ask about a barn theft case, and hes just as likely to ask which one. Cumberland County Sheriff Scot Daniels can tick off a handful of thefts so far this year. In the community of about 6,700, seeing 20 or more barns pillaged in a given year isnt uncommon, he said. Some years, theres more. "Someone will go back to their barns in tobacco time and the side will be gone," Daniels said. "The thing is trying to prove it, because you dont know when it was taken." ADVERTISEMENT Barren County Deputy Mike Houchens said it was about Christmas time when his office worked an investigation in which five barns were hit along an isolated road. Local lumber buyers are on "high alert" for stolen boards. When police ask, Houchens said theyll keep an eye out for anyone peddling wood that matches the quantity, color and age of what was taken. "They tell us its like a fingerprint on this wood," he said. Todd County Sheriff Tracy White thinks his office has worked 10 to 15 cases in the last couple of years. "We havent had as much of it lately because theyve about stripped every barn that weve got," White said. When White says the barns are stripped, hes not exaggerating. "Weve got barns that are standin that are nothing but the frame and the roof left," he said. Yes, its a crime ADVERTISEMENT Arrests are few and far between. Hundred-year-old barn boards dont have serial numbers, and thieves usually work at night and away from main roads. Police say the best bet for busting a thief is to catch them in the act. Cumberland County deputies arrested a duo at a barn with hammers and crowbars in their truck. Some people are surprised that taking old barnwood is a crime. "Ive had a few people that said, Theyll try to put them in the penitentiary for stealing some lumber?" Cumberland Countys Daniels said. "Yeah. You know, bud? Its still not yours to take. Youre still on someone elses property that youre not supposed to be on. You could be messing up their livelihood if that barn is used for farming." A look many want The undeniable truth is that reclaimed wood is having a moment. A search of Pinterest will give DIYers an endless stream of ideas for projects. Etsy returns more than 98,000 results for "reclaimed wood." Chic restaurants are working the wood into their designs, and people want it in their homes, too. Leslie Lewis Sheets, owner of LL&A Interior Design in downtown Jeffersonville, Ind., said her firm recently completed projects that used the raw timber on ceilings, floors and the backs of bookcases. "If its weathered, it takes on the brown tones, the grays, some washed paint that may have been applied," Lewis Sheets said. "The texture. Its welcoming. Its warm." Justin Nagler, owner of Kentucky WiseWood in Louisville, said maybe five years ago, no one knew how big the barnwood trend would become. "At first, folks just wanted the barn down, and they werent even trying to sell it," he said. "Ive seen it change from Come grab it, to How much will you pay me to take this barn?" A barns wood can net its owner anywhere between a couple of hundred and a couple of thousand dollars, depending on its size and condition. Wholesalers buy the wood for 80 cents to $2 per board foot and sell it for $4.35 and up, depending on what its made of and its thickness. Shes ready Nan reckons the pieces stolen from her barn are probably somewhere in a nice house by now, part of a picture frame or furniture. Having the boards stolen is an invasion of her space and property, she said, but it doesnt make her angry. "I guess that Im older and material things dont mean as much to me, Id say." But in case those "greedy and no-good" thieves come back, Nan says her pistol in a place ready for when she needs it. The newest silver screen is about to bring gold to the Rochester film scene. Charlie Chaplins 1925 silent film The Gold Rushwill be at the end of the red carpet celebrating the opening weekend at the Gray Duck Theater & Coffeehouse, a microcinema with a focus on creating community. Andy Smith, the owner and director of programming at Gray Duck, first dreamed of a community-based microcinema as a college student when he was walking around Chicago, but he launched his dream in earnest in December 2017. Thats when he wrote a serious business plan out. Rochester became the site for Smiths dream after he connected with Bucky Beeman of Realty Growth. Though the property ad that initially brought Smith and his wife Anna, a Twin Cities native, to Rochester didnt end up being the present location for the Gray Duck, Smith says that Beemans introduction to the citys business owners and arts scene created a "love-at-first-sight" scenario. The Gray Ducks launch wouldnt have been possible without support from the community. "The money raised from our Indiegogo campaign allowed us to do more work on our space than we initially thought we could," says Smith. Smiths passion for movie theaters is clear. He says they "are the purest way to enjoy the most complex art form." He hopes that the Gray Duck can be a gathering place that brings people together. ADVERTISEMENT "We want people to feel that they belong, that they feel heard, and can engage in honest conversation with the cultivated films we show," he says. "This is why we are so excited to also be a full-time coffeehouse, so the film experience can naturally lead to pre- or post-show conversation." On opening night Friday, the Gray Duck will begin to reveal its unique way of sharing films by presenting Chaplins "Gold Rush" with a live music accompaniment created by pianist Christopher Alexander, a Rochesterite who studied music at St. Olaf. The nights festivities will include a tour of the lobby, coffeehouse, and projection room. There will also be Gray Duck merchandise giveaways throughout the night with a prize for the best 1920s-inspired formal wear, a Q&A with Gray Duck team members, and an after-party. Post-opening, the theater plans to feature films at roughly 7 and 9 p.m. on weekend nights, but will be open as a coffeehouse from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m.-11:30 p.m. on Fridays, 8:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon-11:30 p.m. on Sundays. The Gray Duck will serve locally roasted coffee and bakery items from Fiddlehead Coffee. Films will be offered for $8 with a $12 option for the double-header, and "Flying V" members can pay $20 a month to see any regular showing. In the coming weeks, the Gray Duck is planning to show Time for Ilhan(a documentary about Representative Ilhan Omar by a Minnesota-based filmmaker), The Brink(a film focused on Stephen Bannons attempts to unite the far-right), and Shoplifters(a movie by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda that won last years Palm dOr). They plan to launch a classic series this summer exploring the films of Audrey Hepburn and will also feature an improv event with local troupe The Squirrel Association on June 13. When Smith grew up in L.A., he played a game called "Duck, Duck, Goose," but now that hes made Rochester home, he named his theatre the Minnesotan way. "It simply communicates to Minnesotans our commitment to being a uniquely local establishment," he says. "We arent just another cineplex or place to see a movie, but a space dedicated to building an inclusive and loving community around film and coffee here in Rochester, here in Minnesota." What ADVERTISEMENT The Gold Rush (1925) opening weekend When Red carpet event at 6 and film at 7 p.m. Friday, May 3, with another event at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 4. Where Gray Duck Theater & Coffeehouse, 619 6th Ave. NW, Rochester Tickets $75 Friday with live music accompaniment, $20 Saturday with recorded music. Tickets available at grayducktheater.com/showtimes. ADVERTISEMENT Rochesters excited for the Gathering in the Woods beer festival. But are we excited enough? Theres a good chance fest attendees dont know just how good the Gathering in the Woods beer festival is, and just how difficult it was to bring so many great breweries together. For starters, Horus Aged Ales and Other Half, based in California and New York respectively, are two nationally known giants. Their beer graces many an Instagram page, with Horus well-known for its raptor-themed imperial stouts (writers note: theyre excellent, especially Proper Dose, a highly sought-after beer on the secondary market that will be at the fest). It may seem unreal for Rochester to attract such breweries, but this industry is all about meeting fellow brewers at beer events and discovering each others beers. "I love Forager beer," Horus owner and brewer Kyle Harrop said. "Nillerzzzzz got me hooked. We got linked up through our mutual friend Levi (Funk) at Funk Factory (in Madison). Forager attended my festival in California in January. I have a huge respect for the beers they put out. I didnt hesitate in committing to their fest as a result." ADVERTISEMENT Both Little Thistle and Forager are co-hosting the fest, but Thistle has had to deal with the busywork and the process to legally have the beers in Minnesota. "(There are ) lots of hoops to jump through," Little Thistle co-owner Dawn Finnie said. "Eleven of the breweries present at the festival dont distribute in Minnesota, which means we had to apply for a special license to be able to bring them in. Our friends at Fair State Brewing Cooperative have done this before and they were great about passing on their experience, and Schotts Distributing was generous enough to help as well." As stated earlier, the beer at the fest isnt your normal fare. "Weve got 30 breweries each bringing at least one barrel-aged beer or a beer that has spent time in wood," Finnie said. "These are some rare, top-notch beers that you wont get anywhere else in Minnesota." Little Thistle hasnt had a lot of time to set beer aside in barrels, but it will have a Belgian Dubbel it made with Thesis Brewing at the event. The beer was aged on sour cherries and put into two different barrels and stainless steels, to be blended together later. Forager co-owner and head brewer Austin Jevne said he is excited to share the work of so many world-class breweries in Rochester. The brewerys popular Maple Nillerzzzzz will make an appearance at the fest, along with four others, including Coffee Baby Barrel Sherpa. Jevne hopes the fest becomes a Rochester staple. "The festivals future depends on the commitment of the people going and their response," Jevne said. "The festival is a ton of work and not something intended to make money. We pay the brewers a lot of money to get their best products and we want the money to go to them. If we can break even, it is a success in our mind to have shared some of the best beers we can get our hands on (in) Rochester. I hope to do it for years to come. I have a number of out-of-state breweries willing to participate next year which would bring in even more rare and desirable brands from all over." ADVERTISEMENT Only 500 total tickets were sold to the event, making it more intimate than most. But intimacy is only one way to make a fest more enjoyable. Harrop said its the ability to try something new and exciting. "I think the most important thing in order to have a good beer fest (is to) bring brewers from all over the country or even the world and give people in that region a chance to try beers they would not be able to otherwise," he said. Billboards in the Rochester region and beyond will soon have a new name on them. Family-owned Reagan Outdoor, based in Salt Lake City, announced this week it has reached a deal to purchase three of Fairway Outdoors advertising markets. Those markets include Indianapolis and Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as a northern hub managed by Fairways Rochester office. No financial terms on the multi-million deal were released. The sale, which includes almost 5,300 advertising displays in the three areas, is expected to officially close by May 31. Reagan Outdoor purchased the chunks of Fairways operation from private equity firm GTCRand Adams Outdoor Advertising, which acquired the billboard company in 2015. The region managed by the Rochester satellite office includes 1,700 advertising "faces" in southern Minnesota, parts of Iowa, South Dakota and other areas. ADVERTISEMENT Bill Reagan, Reagan Outdoor founder and CEO, said in a phone interview on Wednesday that of the three new regions, his family is most familiar with Rochester. "Ive been coming to Mayo Clinic and Rochester for annual check-ups for 16 years We really enjoy the community," Reagan said. He added that his friend, Harold Milner, the former CEO of Kahler Corp., originally recommended coming to Rochester. While his family likes the feel of Rochester and nearby communities, such as Red Wing, the value of the market is what made the deal attractive. "Of all of the Fairway markets, Rochester is the only market that didnt go down during the Great Recession," Reagan said. Details are still being worked out as the acquisition wraps up. However, he doesnt anticipate any major changes to the Rochester office at 3185 41st St. NW, other than to fill some management positions that are currently open. This deal doubles the number of regional offices for Reagan and expands its footprint into new parts of the U.S. Reagans major markets are in Texas, Utah and Nevada. GTCR and Adams Outdoor Advertising in December sold five other Fairway markets in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin to Lamar Advertising Co.for $418.5 million. Fairways remaining assets in Georgia, Texas and Kentucky are also up for sale. A thief or thieves broke into an unoccupied rural home between Rochester and Oronoco and stole seven antique record players. The caretaker for the house, in the 2900 block of 100th Street Northwest, contacted authorities on Wednesday morning to report the break-in and theft, said Olmsted County Sheriffs Capt. Scott Behrns. A cable blocking the entrance to the house was cut and the break-in happened between April 28 and May 1, reported the caretaker. While they are still trying to take an inventory of items in the house, the caretaker said seven antique record players, or gramophones, with hand-painted speaker horns were missing along with several sets of china and several Hurricane oil lamps, said Behrns this morning. The record players are valued at at least $200 each. The estimated total value of the missing items is about $2,000, according to the report. Mayo Clinic will soon go head-to-head against the United States of America with "cross-motions" in an ongoing $11 million tax lawsuit that started in 2016. On July 1, Judge Eric Tostrud and Judge Kate Menendez of the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis will consider both sides motions requesting summary judgment to conclude the case in their favor. If it is not resolved before, the case is scheduled for a bench trial on Aug. 28. Mayo Clinic originally filed this lawsuit in September 2016 to resolve a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over whether the nonprofit operation is primarily a school or a medical center. Mayo Clinics position is that its an "educational organization," which "makes patient care available as a necessary and integral part of its educational activities." The Internal Revenue Service disagrees and considers Mayo Clinic to be "a parent company of a health-care system as its primary purpose and function." ADVERTISEMENT That means more of the Mayo Clinics investment income is taxable, if its not a school. Ground rules In a recent filing in the case, Judge Tostrud and Judge Menendez laid down the ground rules for the July 1 hearing. The IRS must "file an opening memorandum in support of its summary-judgment motion" with a separate "statement of facts" by May 3. The IRS also intends to file a Daubert motion, which questions the admissibility of expert witness testimony. That also needs to be filed by May 3. Mayo Clinic needs file a memorandum supporting its summary-judgment motion and responding the IRS motion by May 24. A statement of facts and a response to the IRS statement of facts must also be filed by that deadline. By June 5, the IRS needs to file a response to Mayo Clinics summary-judgment motion plus a reply to Mayo Clinics response to the IRS summary-judgment motion. Mayo Clinic then has until June 19 to reply to the IRS response to its motion. The path to now ADVERTISEMENT This convoluted case started in 2009, when the IRS audited Mayo Clinic and issued a notice of "adjustment" for the years 2005 and 2006. Those recalculations later expanded to include a total of seven years of Mayo Clinic tax returns 2003, 2005 to 2007 and 2010 to 2012. The years of 2004, 2008 and 2009 were not included, because no income of that type was reported. The IRS concluded in 2014 that Mayo Clinic does not qualify for tax exemption on revenue generated by "debt-financed real-estate investment." That type of revenue is not taxed for nonprofit educational institutions or schools. For other tax-exempt institutions, that type of revenue is considered "Unrelated Business Income," which is taxable. The additional payments totaled $11,501,621. The bulk of that came from 2006, when the IRS said Mayo Clinic owed $9.3 million. Mayo Clinic explained that one of the investments at issue terminated in 2006, resulting in the $9.3 million gain that was "above and beyond normal annual returns." The clinic dutifully paid the money and then asked for a refund of the $11.5 million. In August of 2016, the IRS rejected that claim. Suit filed On Sept. 16, 2016, Mayo Clinic filed suit against the United States in an attempt to recover the disputed $11.5 million plus "statutory interest as provided by law." "We dont take the decision to sue the federal government lightly. But we strongly believe that education is a primary function of Mayo Clinic as that concept is defined in our federal tax laws," wrote spokeswoman Susan Barber Lindquist in an email statement. "To continue to offer medical education, Mayo Clinic must not be disadvantaged by tax laws compared with other similar educational institutions." ADVERTISEMENT It says that the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine enrolls more than 3,800 students for graduate, post-graduate, and other medical education. While the Mayo School of Continuing Medical Education does not enroll students in a degree-granting program, it does provide ongoing continuing medical education to more than 100,000 health-care professionals. This is not Mayo Clinics first time in court facing the IRS on issues related to education. The two tangled previously over whether medical residents are students or employees. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which eventually sided with Mayo Clinic and ruled that residents are students. The IRS refunded $1.7 million to make up for Social Security taxes collected in 2005. Mayo Clinic is citing that case, among others, as evidence that education is its primary function. "From the time of its creation in the early 1900s, the Mayo organizations primary objective has been to service humanity through integrated clinical, medical education and academic-scientific research," stated Mayo Clinic in the court filings. Mayo Clinic is also disputing the IRS use of the word "primary" in identifying Mayo Clinic not as an educational institution. "Primary is not solely a quantitative test, though quantitative measures show that Mayo Clinic has no greater priority than education. Primary is also a qualitative test, education is clearly of first importance based on qualitative factors, including the distinguished history of Mayo Clinics educational programs and its integration of patient care into educational activities," stated Mayo Clinic in the complaint against the IRS. Four police officers, a medical examiner and two witnesses testified Wednesday in the second day of the murder trial for a Rochester man who shot and killed a 17-year-old January 2018 following a traffic crash. Alexander Weiss, 26, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 14, 2018, confrontation between Weiss and Muhammed Rahim that ensued after a minor automobile crash. Weiss claims that he acted in self-defense. Opening statements in the trial were delivered by Chief Deputy Olmsted County Attorney Eric Woodford and defense attorney James McGeeney on Tuesday afternoon after a jury of 10 women and four men was selected. The trial is expected to take more than a week but less than two weeks. First to take the stand Wednesday in Olmsted County District Court was Rochester Police officer Brian Roussell, who had started his testimony the day before. Roussell was the first officer on the scene that January day. He was questioned by the prosecution Tuesday afternoon. McGeeney questioned Roussell on his service weapon and the training he received including the Tueller Drill, which demonstrates to officers how long it takes to comprehend, draw a service weapon and respond to the danger of an attack. ADVERTISEMENT "We teach action beats reaction," Roussell said. McGeeney also asked Roussell about his experience drawing his service weapon in the line of duty and the intent of displaying the weapon is to gain compliance. Roussell said that while that was the intent, some people do not comply and gave an example of someone running away. Next on the stand was a Rochester woman who witnessed the shooting. The woman, Balchaynsh Balcha, testified that she went to pick up a friend that morning to go to church but was unable to pull into the apartment buildings parking lot because a car, later determined to be the one driven by Rahim, was in the way. She stopped and waited for the vehicle to move and saw three men standing on her left side. Balcha said she didnt know what the men were doing but took off once the gun was fired and flagged down an officer. Balcha said she saw Weiss with his phone and did not see him cock his gun. Upon cross-examination, Balcha testified that she saw the incident take place in a residential lawn near the corner but police found no evidence that the incident occurred anywhere other than the street. Rochester police officers Craig Jacobsen and Tracy Nepper also testified. Both helped in the initial moments of the call Jacobsen assisted in rendering medical aid and also conducted a brief search of Weiss car while Nepper took about a dozen photographs before locating the three teenage passengers who were in the car with Rahim just before the shooting. Both testified they saw no civilian cars on the portion of the road near the intersection of 31st Street Northeast and East River Road Northeast except for Weiss. ADVERTISEMENT Rahims older sister, Celine Raheem, briefly took the stand Wednesday and told jurors that her family moved to the United States from Iraq in June 2012. "He was my best friend," Raheem said of her brother. McGeeney did not ask any questions of Raheem. Dr. Peter Lin, a medical examiner with the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiners Office, testified that Rahims cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso and that the manner of death was homicide. The bullet went through Rahims chest wall, heart, esophagus, aorta and spinal cord before it stopped in his backbone. Using images taken with the Rochester Police Departments 3D scanner, Sgt. Eric Strop told the jury that the distance between the bumper of Weiss Subaru and where a fired cartridge was found measured about 23 feet. Strop said the distance between the fired cartridge and a blood spot was a little less than 8.5 feet. Last to testify Wednesday was Riley Bongiorno, a friend of Rahims and a passenger in the car that day. Bongiorno said that after a crash, Rahim was the first to get out of the car because he was worried about everyone and then she later got out to try and de-escalate the situation. When questioned by McGeeney, Bongiorno said she did not know two crashes occurred before the shooting the car into the curb and then the car into Weiss. The trial continues Thursday with testimony from more of the prosecutions witnesses. Joe Bidens decision to kick off his presidential campaign in Western Pennsylvania on Monday shows that he is not just in a battle for the soul of the country; he is in a battle for the soul of his party. That battle begins and ends with long primary contests that many Democratic experts and officials believe will be on Pennsylvanias April 29 primary voting day. "This nominating process certainly has all of the ingredients to go long, and the Democratic voters in this state hold the key to help defining our party as being the party of the working class," said Harold Schaitberger, the general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, in an interview with The New York Post. The IAFF, which represents more than 316,000 full-time firefighters and paramedics, announced its endorsement of Biden in Pittsburgh, something Schaitberger said is one of the earliest endorsements its ever done, and one it did not give Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 election. "That marked the first time weve ever not endorsed in a presidential election," he said. ADVERTISEMENT Schaitberger bluntly admits Clinton just did not connect with labor, but Biden does. "Were also responsible to make sure that, quite frankly, the nominee isnt a nominee that is gonna take the party off the left cliff," he said. "It seems that too many candidates have high-minded, aspirational ideals, but its not a recipe for winning and succeeding. And it doesnt really reflect in many ways the heart and soul of workers, middle-class workers." If you think the IAFFs influence in the Democratic primary process is not of significance, a moment in the 2004 election cycle is often overlooked, when former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had captured the imagination and speculation among the press and pundits. "As you know, Howard Dean was gonna be the nominee. It was that simple at least, that is what everyone said, until all of a sudden, we snuck up and literally carried John through Iowa and through New Hampshire," Schaitberger said of John Kerry. "And then he was off and running in the rest of the world." The decision to back Biden has already annoyed President Trump, who tweeted Monday, "The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!" Often, where the firefighters go, so do other union workers. Harold McDonald, a Democratic committee man from Penn Hills, Pa., and retired council representative for the Carpenters Union, is convinced this race is going long: "This is truly the battle for the soul of our party. You have pundits and reporters on the national news saying our party is one thing, and then you have the rank and file voters here saying thats not what we are voting on at all." McDonald, who is African American, said voters here worry about health care and education. "That is what is important to me as well," he said. "That is why I am supporting Biden already." ADVERTISEMENT The same goes for 22-year-old Hannah OToole, who sang the national anthem at the Workers Memorial Day celebration in Pittsburgh ahead of Bidens visit along with her father, 60-year-old Marty OToole, who is the business manager for Plumbers Local 27. "Joe Bidens been a big part of the way we think and want to go and he has always been a front runner for us here in Pennsylvania," said Marty OToole, who is personally supporting the former vice president. Hannah OToole is also leaning toward Biden. "Ive liked him since Obama," she said. Darrin Kelly, president of the powerful local labor council here in Western Pennsylvania and a city firefighter, said the party has drifted too far left. And this is the state where, not just in the general but mostly in the primary, that will be decided. "Today is an important reminder of what is important to voters in Pennsylvania in a Democratic primary and we expect the Democratic Party to truly start listening to what our message is, stop polarizing us and start welcoming us back, we want FDR style politics," Kelly said. "If our strength is truly our diversity then the party has to start listening to the working class, they have to welcome us back and our voice will be heard in the primary in this state and that the message we want about job creation, health care and pension security is what will bring us out in a general." Did you get a flu shot last winter? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chances are less than 50-50 that you did. People have a variety of excuses for not getting flu shots. They get busy and simply forget. Theyve never had the flu, are young and healthy and arent worried about it. Theyre scared of needles. They cant afford the co-pay. But the excuse youll hear most often goes something like this: "I got a flu shot a few years ago and Ive never been so sick. The shot gave me the flu." No, it did not. Every year, doctors and scientists tell us the same truth, that the flu shot CANNOT give you the flu. Reactions to the vaccine can include mild symptoms such as a low-grade fever or muscle aches, but it cant give you the flu. Period. If you get sick after getting a flu shot, its because that years vaccine wasnt a good match for the virus you contracted. ADVERTISEMENT But lots of people reject science. They think they know better. They find articles online that agree with their position, then share those articles on social media. As a result, each year thousands of people contract influenza and put those around them at risk of a week or two of misery. With measles, the stakes are much higher. Nineteen years ago, the United States declared victory over one of the most contagious illnesses on the planet. Due to an extremely effective vaccine and efficient vaccination processes, measles was essentially eradicated in the U.S. How, then, do we find ourselves in the midst of an outbreak that has infected more than 700 people? The cause is threefold international travelers who bring the virus here; population clusters of people in the U.S. who reject vaccinations on religious grounds; and people who dont vaccinate their kids because they think vaccines cause autism or other health problems. America cant vaccinate the whole world, and religious beliefs can be legally complex when they conflict with accepted medical practice, but its time to finally and officially nix the notion that childhood vaccinations cause autism. The "scientific" link between autism and vaccines is essentially the work of one researcher, Andrew Wakefield, who led one study in 1998 and another in 2002. The 1998 study was so deeply flawed that Wakefield was forced to retract it, and his 2002 study (while not retracted) contained multiple, significant methodological flaws, and its conclusions have been disproved by multiple more-rigorous studies. Yet Wakefields misinformation continues to cause problems. As recently as 2015, then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump linked childhood vaccines to autism. Earlier, in 2014, he tweeted: "Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesnt feel good and changes AUTISM. Many such cases!" ADVERTISEMENT We dont blame President Trump for the measles outbreak. He was late to the anti-vaccine party. Now, when presented with the scientific evidence and the advice of experts, he has changed course and is now firmly on the side of science. "They have to get the shot," he said last week. "The vaccinations are so important." By "they," the president means kids. The terrible reality of the current measles outbreak is that more than half of those infected are below the age of 5. They didnt choose to skip the vaccine their parents did. This decision almost certainly was well-intended, but it was also misinformed. Whats most puzzling about the anti-vaccine stance is that the vast majority of parents in that camp were themselves fully vaccinated as children. They are immune to measles, and they didnt develop autism. But due to rumors and bad science, the anti-vaxxer movement has been declared by the World Health Organization to be one of the ten biggest threats to global health in 2019. Enough already. Parents, if your kids vaccines are incomplete for any reason, take action now. When a friend or relative uses social media to promote anti-vaxxer propaganda, call them on it. Dont aid the spread of conspiracy theories that put childrens health at risk. And next fall, get a flu shot. It wont offer the nearly 100 percent effectiveness of the measles vaccine, but its a lot better than nothing and it wont give you the flu. Chief Master Sgt. Philip Taijeron Jr. will assume responsibility as command chief of the Guam Air National Guard. He will take over from Chief Master Sgt. John Quinata, who retires after 37 years of military service. Quinata has been command chief since October 2016. Quinata has been tapped to serve as deputy executive manager at the Guam International Airport Authority. A Change of Responsibility ceremony is scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday at the Guard Readiness Center in Barrigada. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. In his civilian career, Taijeron is employed by the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency as an assistant chief of customs. Maj. Josephine Blas said Taijeron's position will be a drill status guardsman, or part-time position, which means he will continue his civilian career. As the command chief master sergeant of the Guam Air National Guard, Taijeron will be the highest enlisted airman, charged with managing the efforts and mentorship of more than 300 enlisted airmen. He also will serve as principal adviser to the adjutant general of the Guam National Guard on all enlisted matters, including issues affecting the command's mission and operations, and the readiness, training, utilization, morale, technical and professional development, and quality of life of all enlisted members in the organization. Taijeron began his military career in 1985, serving three years in the United States Army. He enlisted in the Guam Air National Guard in 2000 and attended Electrical Systems Apprentice Technical School at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, in 2001. He was recognized as top graduate at the completion of the course. Taijeron deployed in support of Operation Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to locations in South Carolina, Korea, Washington, Texas, Okinawa, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. He was the 254 Red Horse Squadron's facility systems superintendent. He managed civil engineers trained in the fields of electrical and mechanical systems maintenance; electrical systems power production; water and fuel systems maintenance; heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems maintenance; and pest management systems. He also has served as the first sergeant for the 254th Red Horse Squadron. In this role, he served as adviser to the squadron commander on matters concerning 172 Air National Guard civil engineers on issues related to morale, health, discipline, mentoring, well-being, recognition, and professional and leadership development of enlisted airmen. 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 POTTSTOWN The fact that Pottstown Schools are underfunded by $13 million every year makes it difficult to offer programs wealthier districts take for granted. Thats where the Foundation for Pottstown Education comes in. It attempts to fill what gaps it can in the funding picture hobbled by the Pennsylvania General Assemblys failure to apply its own funding formula. Recently, Executive Director Joe Rusiweicz outlined the many ways the foundation is working to make a difference in the lives of Pottstown students. Early College This program pays for high school students to take classes at Montgomery County Community Colleges Pottstown campus and graduate from high school with their first year of college already completed. Now with its seventh group entering the program, the Early College program is now helping 23 students by fully covering their tuition, while another six are reimbursed 50 percent, said Rusiewicz. The foundation provided funds in excess of $66,800 during the 2017/2018 academic year. So far, the program helped 71 students, 100 percent of whom have either graduated or are still in college. The program has saved each of those students between $26,000 to $68,000 for a years tuition. AP Test Fees Another way the foundation is making college more affordable for Pottstown students is by paying the fees for Advanced Placement exams, which can earn credits for college-bound students. That works out to 346 AP tests since 2017, saving students $14,817. Those tests represent 162 credit hours which, if paid credits at college, would have cost $96,270. Environmental Education Thanks to $19,000 provided by the foundation, 125 Pottstown Middle School students attended the Pocono Environmental Education Center and all four elementary schools have an environmental education club. Another $4,000 paid for more than 150 Pottstown fourth graders to participate in team building exercises on the ropes course at the Althouse Arboretum in Upper Pottsgrove. Foundation funding also paid for 168 Pottstown Middle School sixth-graders to visit the the NorthBay Adventure Camp on the Chesapeake Bay for a week last year, a cooperative effort to expand environmental education in partnership with Natural Lands and PECO. Leadership for Girls Thirty six girls have participated in a leadership program for the past two years thanks to $36,000 in funding from the Foundation for Pottstown Education, said Rusiewicz. The program is called Girls Today, Leaders Tomorrow and is operated by the YWCA Tri-County Area. Scholarships The Foundation for Pottstown Education also provides straight-up scholarships and more than $31,400 was awarded in 2018. That totals 86 scholarships to children in grades kindergarten through 12. More Teachers in Town And now six different Pottstown Schools teachers have purchased homes in the borough thanks to the forgivable loan program offered through the foundation. The loans totaled more than $57,000 and the total of the six homes was $692,000 generating $23,674 in school property taxes in 2018. For five years, 20 percent of the $10,000 loan will be forgiven so long as the teacher continues to live in the home. Afterward, it is completely forgiven. If the teachers sells the home before the five years it up, the remainder of the loan must be repaid. Foundation Fundraising On March 7, the foundations board kicked off the fundraising season with a goal of raising more than $75,000, said Rusiewicz. The strategic plan called for the foundation to solidify its financial health by raising $300,000 by the end of this fiscal year and it is currently on track to raise $310,000. On Wednesday, the foundation held a kick-off event for the Amazing Raise, a 24-hour giving campaign scheduled for Tuesday Oct. 15 to keep the momentum going. Saturday, June 1 is wine and cheese social to kick off community part of the fundraising campaign. Rusiewicz also said a donor has issued a $10,000 offer if 100 percent of school board and foundation board donate. The foundation board is diverse and representative of the make-up of Pottstown, Rusiewicz said. The latest FBI/intelligence leak to the friendly reporters at the New York Times suggests that the rats are scurrying about in the hope that they might keep the ship afloat. The Times has placed this straightforward headline over the story by Adam Goldman, Michael Schmidt and Mark Mazzetti: F.B.I. Sent Investigator Posing as Assistant to Meet With Trump Aide in 2016. Here is how it opens: The conversation at a London bar in September 2016 took a strange turn when the woman sitting across from George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser, asked a direct question: Was the Trump campaign working with Russia? The woman had set up the meeting to discuss foreign policy issues. But she was actually a government investigator posing as a research assistant, according to people familiar with the operation. The F.B.I. sent her to London as part of the counterintelligence inquiry opened that summer to better understand the Trump campaigns links to Russia. The American governments affiliation with the woman, who said her name was Azra Turk, is one previously unreported detail of an operation that has become a political flash point in the face of accusations by President Trump and his allies that American law enforcement and intelligence officials spied on his campaign to undermine his electoral chances. Last year, he called it Spygate. The decision to use Ms. Turk in the operation aimed at a presidential campaign official shows the level of alarm inside the F.B.I. during a frantic period when the bureau was trying to determine the scope of Russias attempts to disrupt the 2016 election, but could also give ammunition to Mr. Trump and his allies for their spying claims. You really have to read the whole thing. These Times reporters cant possibly be as credulous and stupid as they appear to be in this story. They must feel some of the heat that their friends in the FBI/intelligence community are feeling and are just trying to lend a hand. Molly Hemingway comments in the tweet below. For not spying on the Trump campaign, there sure was a lot of spying on the Trump campaign. Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 2, 2019 Kim Strassel thinks we have a mind-bending preview of coming attractions. Unbelievable. Just how many spies did the FBI run at the Trump campaign? (BTW, no coincidence things like this are leaking now. Everyone trying to get out ahead of Barr's investigation.) https://t.co/rJPWp3EHT1 Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 2, 2019 Azra Turk as the officer says in Dr. Strangelove, if that really is your name. UPDATE: Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has just issued this statement: There is a word for this in the English language: Spying. Democrats and their media friends have expressed horror at the term, but there is no other way to describe it: The FBI spied on the Trump campaign in 2016. For two years, Democrats and their allies in the media have lied to the American people about the Russia collusion hoax, when all along the real scandal was the Obama Administration using the Justice Department to spy on a political adversarys campaign. As President Trump has said, it is high time to investigate the investigators. This seems to me substantially understated. PAUL ADDS: According to the Times, Ms. Turk posed as Stephan Halpers research assistant. Halper is the professor who kept tabs on the Trump campaign by staying in touch with campaign aides George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and Sam Clovis. In reality, it seems, Turk was sent by the Obama FBI to help Halper keep tabs on Trumps campaign. Halper was known to associates as The Walrus. So it looks like the CIA used the team of Turk and The Walrus to spy on Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Imagine the fun the media would be having with that collaboration if the target of the spying had been a Democrat. Attorney General William Barr is sticking to his guns. Earlier this week, as I noted here, Barr rejected the demand of the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee that, when he testifies about the Mueller report, he do so under extraordinary conditions. One of the conditions was that Barr be questioned by non-members of the Committee namely, staff lawyers. According to the Washington Post, the last time committee lawyers questioned a Cabinet official during open hearings was in the mid-1980s when Attorney General Meese testified about Iran-Contra. And Ed Meese was testifying about substantive matters, not about a memo regarding findings made by someone else in a publicly-available document. Committee Democrats nonetheless have insisted that Barr agree to be questioned by non-members, as well as to their other demands. Barr has refused. Thus, unless something dramatic happens very soon, Barr wont testify tomorrow. Jerry Nadler, House Judiciary Committee Chairman, called Barrs decision part of the administrations complete stonewalling of Congress, period. That statement is so wide of the mark as to be a lie. Its not complete stonewalling when Barr agrees to be questioned for hours by Senate Judiciary Committee members on Wednesday and by House Judiciary Committee members for hours the following day, as Barr was willing to do. Its not stonewalling at all. Nor is it stonewalling to insist on procedures that have been used, apparently without exception, for more than 30 years when Cabinet members testify publicly before Congress. Democratic Senators were able to grill Barr without relying on staff lawyers to ask the questions. If Nadler doesnt have enough competent questioners among his committee members to grill Barr, thats his fault. Its not grounds for special procedures for which there is no precedent in the past 30 years. Nadler claimed that questioning by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed Barrs lack of candor in describing the work of the special counsel. If so, Democrats on the Nadlers committee should be able to do the same thing without the help of their mouthpieces, especially since (at least according to Nadler) the spade work has been done on the Senate side. Whats going on here, I think, is that Democrats are trying to generate as much controversy on as many fronts as possible. A House Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr wouldnt serve that purpose. Senate Democrats have already made as much hay as is possible on the phony issue of discrepancies between Muellers report and Barrs memo. Thus, the best play for House Democrats is to generate a new controversy a dispute about Barr not agreeing to testify. This they have now done by insisting on extraordinary and unnecessary procedures. A new front has been opened. Whether anyone cares is another question. Here are a few notes on the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor that ended in his conviction for murder and manslaughter on Tuesday: Judge Kathryn Quaintance Judge Quaintance is a former prosecutor; her rulings at trial tended to favor the prosecution. The defense sought to introduce evidence of the effects of trauma on the perception of Officers Harrity and Noor. She demanded that such testimony be based on psychological expertise, for example, and kept excluding it as the defense tried to work around her ruling. She is an excellent trial judge. The jury I think it was a Minneapolis jury. It was racially and ethnically diverse. It included four immigrants. One of the jurors sported a man-bun. I think Noors race and immigrant status benefited him with the jury. One could see the Pakistani woman perk up and lean forward whenever the defense introduced crucial evidence. The defense nevertheless had a fundamental problem with the facts of the case. The case The facts of the case presented an almost unbelievable nightmare. A concerned citizen calls the police when she hears the sounds of a woman in distress in the alley behind her house in Minneapoliss safest neighborhood. When she goes out in barefoot in her pajamas near midnight on a summer night to flag down the police, one of the officers shoots her dead. What did she do wrong? The bodycam evidence The prosecution played relevant bodycam evidence to make certain points over and over. The bodycam video of Justine dying is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is horrifying. Officer Matthew Harrity Harrity was Noors partner. He drove the squad car down the alley behind Justines house. He testified to hearing a thump and seeing a silhouette over his left shoulder when he turned to look. He bluntly stated that that his own safety is his foremost concern. This officer is still on the force in Minneapoliss Fifth Precinct. Mohamed Noor Noors testimony during the defense case was a turning point. For the first time we learned that he looked directly at her, saw the blonde woman in the pink t-shirt, and shot to kill. The Minneapolis Police Internal tensions on the prosecution side permeated the case. These tensions frequently manifested themselves in court as the prosecution called police witnesses. The Star Tribune devoted a good article to the subject here, but it doesnt get to the bottom of it. Now the County Attorney has to return to a close working relationship with the police. How does that work? The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Under the protocol for police-involved shootings, the BCA took over the investigation in the early morning hours of July 16. For two months it did a pitiful job. Why? What now? The investigation Sweasy took over the investigation, hired Crystal Police Chief Derrick Hacker as an adviser and expert, and turned the investigation right side up. The defense The facts of the case made out the elements of each of the two charges of murder and one count of manslaughter. The most difficult question was whether Minnesotas authorized use of force statute Minn. Stat. section 609.066 applies in this case. As one can see in Lou Raguses juror interview, this is the issue the jury homed in on in its deliberations. After agreeing that it didnt apply, the jury sorted through each of the charges, starting with the manslaughter charge and moving up. The prosecution The prosecution introduced just about all the evidence in the case at trial. In her closing, prosecutor Amy Sweasy rightly said that they had placed before the jury everything that was knowable about the case. She said if she hadnt the defense would have particularly evidence that displayed the investigation in a poor light. Instead, Sweasy introduced it. At one point, she elicited a list of criticisms of the investigation from prosecution expert Timothy Longo. Amy Sweasy Amy Sweasy is the Assistant Hennepin County Attorney behind the convictions. She was excellent conducting direct examinations and a monster on cross-examination. Occasionally, however, she didnt know when to quit on cross. Her closing argument was very good. Overall, I could not believe how good she is. She is a great lawyer. She deserves to be singled out for recognition. The expert witnesses I cant think of a better expert witness I have ever seen than prosecution expert Timothy Longo. His experience, his resume, his demeanor, his response to the cross-examination all were outstanding. He was the voice of sanity in the case. On the other hand, prosecutor Amy Sweasys cross-examination of defense expert Emanuel Kapelsohn all but turned him into a mass of quivering jelly. Although she carried on with it for too long, she crushed him. The families Don Damond (Justines fiancee) was in court every day and testified as the first prosecution witness. After I expressed my sympathy for his loss, he smiled at me and said hello each morning. Justines family her father, her stepmother, her brother and sister-in-law were also in court every day, as were Noors father and mother. Mr. Noor appeared be be a dignified gentleman. My heart went out to all of them. This case represents both a crime and a tragedy. The media The Star Tribunes Chao Xiong was the outstanding print reporter on the case. He is, to boot, a modest guy. KARE 11s Lou Raguse was the outstanding television reporter on the case. He is friendly, knowledgeable, and observant, although he had to leave some of his best stuff for his Twitter feed. Point of interest: the New York Times snagged a reserved media seat and then disappeared early in the case. I think it was during jury selection. If not, it was during the first day or two of evidence. The aftermath First the Minneapolis mayor sacked the police chief and then the voters sacked the mayor, at least in part because of this case. This case opens a window onto issues that deeply trouble Minneapolis. The issues persist and the window remains open. The civil case Minneapolis attorney Bob Bennett represents Justines family in the civil case against Noor, the city and others. Last year I interviewed Bob about the case for Power Line and posted a copy of the complaint in the civil case here. If you are interested in that case, please check out the post. A personal note I applied for a reserved media seat two weeks before the trial began. I was excluded under a process that was not disclosed under the terms of the courts own order addressing it. That made me mad. When Power Line obtained a reserved seat that had been forfeited by another media outlet during jury selection, I felt honor bound to cover the case. I am grateful to the many Power Line readers who found something of interest in my daily series on the trial and to Loree Hinderaker, who encouraged me to stick with it. Thank you! The big news story today, if you believe the press, is Attorney General William Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Much could be said both about the hearing and the press reaction to it; here are a few observations. First, the story began yesterday with Robert Mueller leaking his March 27 letter to Barr to the Washington Post. This leak was a purely political act. It was intended to provide fodder for todays hearing, and it did. Mueller is a political player in D.C., and his investigation was a political investigation. His report was a political document. Muellers nakedly political act in leaking his letter to the Post was clarifying. Second, Muellers letter complained about the short summary of the Mueller reports conclusions that Attorney General Barr released in advance of the report itself. But Mueller did not claim that anything in Barrs summary of findings was incorrect or untrue. On the contrary, Muellers letter of March 27 merely asserted that Barrs short account did not fully capture the flavor of Muellers 400-plus page 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. Of course it didnt. It didnt purport to. But that sentence is the only criticism of Barrs statement that Mueller has made. Barr says that he talked with Mueller on the telephone after receiving the letter, and in that conversation Mueller admitted that nothing in Barrs statement was incorrect. Third, todays faux controversy represents a ridiculous moving of the goalposts. Mueller was charged with investigating whether anyone in Trumps campaign colluded with the Russians. No one did, and Mueller so reported. That is pretty much the end of the matter, as far as nearly all voters are concerned. Now, instead of talking about collusion, the Democrats want to talk about whether Attorney General Barrs statement accurately summarized the findings of Muellers report. Who cares? Read the report for yourself, it has been made public. One thing Barr got right for sure: the Mueller report finds no collusion. Fourth, Muellers real grievance is that his report hasnt hurt President Trump as much as Mueller had hoped. Knowing that collusion was a dud, Mueller and his team of Democratic Party loyalists worked as many anti-Trump nuggets into the report as they could. Yet for the most part, these have been ignored or have fallen flat. Most people thought Mueller was investigating collusion, and when it became clear there was no collusion, they moved on. Mueller is trying to serve his party by focusing attention on the random smears of Donald Trump and his administration that are contained in the report. Fifth, despite all of the above, the Democratic Party press has gone off the deep end, promoting the idea that Muellers March 27 letter is somehow important. Thus, we see headlines like these: CNN Politics: More CNN: Bloomberg: Then there is my old law professor Larry Tribe. Larry was sane when I knew him, but that was a long time ago: 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. Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) April 30, 2019 Barr has lied? About what? The contents of Muellers report, which is now public, and whose conclusions are exactly as Barr described them? These people are nuts. Finally, why do the Democrats continue beating this dead-as-a-Norwegian-blue-pining-for-the-fjords horse? Because they had an enormous emotional investment in Muellers investigation. They viewed the whole thing as a set-upa consummate Washington insider, close friend and ally of the people on the anti-Trump side, turned loose with an unconstrained mandate to find somethinganythingon Donald Trump, with an unlimited budget. How could he fail? He could fail because there was no collusion. The idea that Trump colluded with Russians was ridiculous from the start. And the public didnt care about much else associated with the faux investigation. I am not up on the stages of grief, but the Democrats are in one of them, grieving through their loss of the belief that Robert Mueller would deliver them from the illegitimate Trump presidency. They cant quite give it up. Thus, when they view the slightly-redacted Mueller reportfar less than one percent is blacked out, and Congressmen can view the unreacted version at their leisurethey are like the boy in the old joke. They are convinced there must be a pony in there somewhere. Happily, as it turns out, there is no pony. Hence the wailing and gnashing of teeth that we see in the press today. President Trump is upset that the leadership of a national firefighters union endorsed Joe Biden. Trump sent out dozens of tweets and retweets on the subject. In one, he referred to the organization in question as this dues sucking union. Its okay for Trump to be upset and to make his displeasure known, but I hope he isnt counting on union leaders to back his reelection bid. The American labor movement, like so many American institutions these days, leans hard left. As union membership has declined sharply, leaderships leftism has, if anything, become more pronounced. Trump is right to think that union members have good reason to consider voting for him. However, I think hes being unrealistic if he expects more than a few isolated union leaders to endorse him, or even to remain neutral. Ive heard speculation that Trumps desire to woe union leaders may help explain his continued support for his embattled Secretary of Labor, Alex Acosta. Why else, it might be asked, would Trump, having shed so many Cabinet members, still retain a Labor Secretary who gave a sweetheart deal to a serial sexual predator and whose do-nothing approach to the job perpetuates the Barack Obama-Tom Perez DOL? Actually, I can think of two reasons. First, Acostas ability to flatter Trump; second, Trumps lack of interest in the Department of Labor. But maybe a third reason for retaining Acosta is that union leaders like his laissez-faire approach, and Trump doesnt want to alienate union leaders because he hopes they will endorse him. Again, I think such a hope is overly optimistic and, perhaps, even delusional. Moreover, Trumps success in key states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin doesnt depend on endorsements from union leaders. Trump carried these states without such endorsements in 2016 because union members are not slaves to union leaders. He can do so again in 2020 for the same reason. Its true that Biden will play better with union members than Hillary Clinton did. However, Biden will be saddled with the positions of the contemporary Democratic Party pro-abortion, anti-gun rights, anti-cop, slavish adherence to political correctness, and so forth. He cant disavow them and still retain the strong support of the Democratic base. Plus, Trump now has an economic record on which to run. At the present time, that record is largely favorable to the interests of union members. The New York Times acknowledges Trumps potential strength with rank-and-file union members, especially younger ones: Chad Martin, a 36-year-old steelworker, heading from the parking lot to clock in for the swing shift, dismissed Mr. Bidens message that he was labors best friend. Thats old-school thought, he said. Thats what my dad thinks. Hes a Democrat. Mr. Martin said he became a Republican in his 20s when I started thinking for myself. It was clear that many other rank-and-file workers also support the president. A worker named Mark, who declined to provide his full name, used an expletive to describe Mr. Trump, but said he was doing a good job. He cant keep his mouth shut, he said. But look at the economy. I just started working here three months ago, Im making the best money of my life. This sentiment, not the fantasy of endorsements by union leaders, represents the path to success for Trump in 2020. Trends Market Research (TMR) has launched the report titled, Automatic Gate Opening Systems Market - Global Research Analysis, Trends, Competitive Share and Forecasts 2018 - 2026 : Trends Market Research. Automatic Gate Opening Systems Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 14:58:11 Press Information Trends Market Research One Vincent Square Westminster, London SW1P 2PN United Kingdom. Phone: +44-203-322-1521 Email: sales@trendsmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com Oliver fergusson Team Lead +44-203-322-1521 email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com # 653 Words One Vincent SquareWestminster, London SW1P 2PNUnited Kingdom.Phone: +44-203-322-1521Email: sales@trendsmarketresearch.comWebsite: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.comTeam Lead+44-203-322-1521 The automatic barriers help to a great level in keeping up congested traffic rapidly by limiting access to the authorized workforce as it were. In addition, these automatic barriers are combined with different kinds of access control systems, for example, keypads, contactless smart cards, hands-free access systems, intercom call routing, amid others, to make the access simpler. Expanding requirement, as well as utilization of automatic barriers all over residential areas as well as transportation hubs to improve security in addition to safety all over the region, is assessed to fuel the expansion of the automatic barriers and along these lines, automatic gate opening systems over the years to come.All over each industry, the launch of cutting-edge technology and equipment has prompted industrial upgrading, prompting towards various benefits, for example, superior product consistency, higher door surface smoothness along with more exact size. In addition, the gate sector is believed to move in the direction of intelligent improvement course as a result of the integrated access control system with multi-button design, battery backup option, and mechanical locks, amid others.Request For Report Sample@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3265 Rising industrialization in developing nations, for example, South Africa, Brazil, and China are reckoned to fuel requirement for automatic gates all around the world for security and safety associated concerns over the years to come. The support from the government combined with expanding outsourcing of production endeavours from emerged countries has pushed industrialization in these developing economies.In the present situation, the worldwide market is foreseeing expansion in construction exercises as well as rising infrastructure investments which is also the main indicator driving the market. Upgradation of manufacturing innovation for these gates, set up of automatic bollards and simplicity of handle, rising requirement for automatic barriers all over residential and transportation applications are different indicators anticipated that would help the market development.Request For Report Table of Contents@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/3265 The market is likewise anticipated that would confront a few challenges. The establishment of these gates isnt especially simple also owners decide on various styles of gates automation type gates, gates built of various materials with various manners for the opening. The automatic gates, when contrasted with basic gates, have complex designs so as to work productively and efficiently in each way. Then again, automatic gates necessitate noteworthy investments when contrasted with basic ones, inferable from the different electronic, electrical and mechanical components coordinated with earlier gates. The best possible investigation of the site where the gates should be set up alongside the need for competent labors are the foremost evaluating indicators that prompt the staggering expense of gates.Manufacturing more intelligent linked devices, it requires a level of software and hardware technology adoption and innovation never been observed, and a lot of it has its underlying foundations in different businesses. That is why a majority of the companies are seen embracing organic business methodologies whereas level I and II organizations are highlighting on the inorganic business methodologies to accomplish their objectives and to reduce the competition and extend their regional footprint. Technological progressions have been boosting the sector that is going towards new prospects and pulls in new contestants or new companies. Recently in August 2018, Accenture (US) set in motion defense innovation hub together with the co-design office characteristics the blockchain, artificial intelligence, IoT demo space, and robotics, in Canberra (Australia), to provide a co-design functioning space for the Department of Defence and security organizations.Among the other major market players active in the market globally are Nice S.p.A., The Chamberlain Group Inc., TiSO Company, CAME BPT UK, PILOMAT s.r.l., Macs Automated Bollard Systems Ltd, RIB srl, Gandhi Automations Pvt Ltd, CASIT s.n.c. di C.C.Ramella & C., FAAC Group, PROTECO Srl, Ditec Entrematic, S M Dooromatics, Zhejiang Xianfeng Machinery Co., Ltd. along with Others.Report Analysis@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/automatic-gate-opening-systems-market PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 16:42:49 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 522 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 BALTIMORE, MD / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce (The Chamber) today announced the appointment of William Honablew, Jr. to the position of Executive Director.After an extensive search, The Chamber selected Honablew based on his experience and extensive track record.Honablew is a tenured Maryland business consultant and attorney who, over the course of his 20-year career, has worked with hundreds of organizations on data-informed planning, leadership and economic development, and marketing. He has trained thousands of professionals across the country with financial management, strategic planning, business development, marketing, advocacy, and legislative affairs."We are elated to have a business leader of William's caliber who brings the energy and qualifications to ensure The Chamber's continued growth," said the Richard Craft, chairman of the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors. "It was critical for us to find the right person for this job with the skills and background to enhance member benefits and operational infrastructure, and who possesses the acumen to not only keep us moving in the right direction, but to expand our ongoing support of Baltimore's."Honablew earned his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and his Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Baltimore (UB).Prior to joining the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce, Honablew, for two legislative session, served as a budget analyst for the Maryland General Assembly. In this post, he was responsible for the analysis and recommendations of more than $1 billion in annual expenditures and agencies' strategic decisions. Also of note is Honablew's tenure as Director of the Raymond V. Haysbert Center for Entrepreneurship at the Greater Baltimore Urban League."I've known Mr. Honablew for over 25 years and in a number of capacities," said Will Holmes, the Chamber's Chair-elect. "I know that the Chamber is in great hands." "I am honored to join the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce and am excited to work with an organization dedicated to empowering our City's business community," said William Honablew. "To be an engine for business and economic development that promotes both members' and the City's core value propositions, the Chamber will provide education, thought leadership and professional skills development to capitalize on opportunities for growth." Through events, education, networking, thought leadership, mentor programs, and other initiatives, the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce fosters growth through collaboration, and empowers organizations of all sizes to realize their full potential.ABOUT THE BALTIMORE CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCEAs the voice of Baltimore businesses, the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce's focus is to serve as a forum through which members are able to grow their respective businesses. Programs and initiatives foster collaboration long-term growth, and development, and each campaign is designed to promote both members and the City's core value propositions. The Chamber is committed to advocating for the continuing adoption of a pro-business agenda by the City of Baltimore and the region on behalf of its members.For additional Information on membership please visit www.baltimorecitychamber.org SOURCE: The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 17:38:04 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 443 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York, Educates 300 Guests on PyrotechnicsSARATOGA SPRINGS, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / COBRA Firing Systems, along with president and founder Scott Smith, were proud to host the first inaugural COBRA-CON event at the Saratoga Springs City Center. The event ran from Monday, April 22 through Wednesday, April 24, 2019, and had roughly 300 attendees.In addition to educating backyard enthusiasts, display operators, and display companies on COBRA products specifically, the event focused on everything related to pyrotechnics and featured 40+ seminars, panels, and hands-on learning experiences.Attendees learned show design, fusing, racking, and managing the setup of shows. Attendees were also able to sit in on seminars on topics including flame projectors, handling music royalties, articles of pyrotechnics, importing fireworks, purchasing wholesale equipment, and more.Guests were also able to bring modules that needed updating or repairing, as COBRA Firing Systems employees were able to help.On April 24, the convention ended with a literal "BANG" with a concluding event with firework demos and shows.One attendee, George, says that as a "backyard" man with limited experience around professional shows, he was a bit intimidated at first, but found there was always something available for all levels of experience and everyone was welcome and helpful.Another attendee, Jesse, says, "It was by far one of the best organized pyro events I have been to. Attendance was great, the seminars were packed, it drew a new demographic of people, and there was an aura of enthusiasm and energy everywhere. I can't wait for next year!"Of the event, Founder Scott Smith says, "We were very pleased at the outcome of the event and look forward to next year, COBRA-CON 2020!"For more information, visit http://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/ About COBRA Firing SystemsFrom "backyard Joes" to professional shows, COBRA Firing Systems serves the pyrotechnics market with high quality, affordable, and expandable wireless systems. The company builds fireworks systems that support small, backyard barbeque firework shows and local theater shows to large scale pyromusicals, pyrotechnics for arena-sized concerts, weddings, sporting events, military exercise, etc. COBRA Firing Systems has served over 10,000 customers in over 100 countries.About Scott SmithScott A Smith of Saratoga Springs, New York, is an electrical/computer systems engineer and pyro enthusiast. He founded COBRA Firing Systems in August 2009. Mr. Smith graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2001 with a dual degree in computer systems engineering and computer science. Prior to founding COBRA, Scott A Smith co-founded CORESense in 2001, where he continues to act as a Director of Support.For more information, please contact Scott Smith:ssmith@ cobrafiringsystems.com (518) 222-7410SOURCE: COBRA Firing Systems PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 15:20:56 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1082 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / Findit, Inc., a Nevada Corporation that trades under the stock symbol (OTC PINK: FDIT), owner of Findit.com , a Social Networking Content Management Platform that empowers members to get more out of their current social networking accounts by reaching more than only friends and followers while getting your posts indexed in search engines that include Google (GOOG), Yahoo and Bing (MSFT) offers online marketing services to Roofers and Roofing related business owners.Roofers typically target local areas where they provide roofing services. 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Findit URLs do get indexed in Findit at the top of the Findit search engines.Findit Vanity URLs that are specific to the services a roofer offers, and the specific locations provides outside search engines the content they require to return relevant search results. These search engines include Google (GOOG), Yahoo and Bing (MSFT). Findit URLs can be anything you choose, such as your name, the name of your business, a product or service, or a phrase that describes what you want others to find you under. By having several Findit URLs you are providing search results within Findit that can match up to specific roofing products and services.Findit online marketing campaigns include content creation, where our team of dedicated writers create customized content on your behalf that is geared toward what people will search for when looking for a roofer. This content is created on Findit and syndicated to other social sites that include Google My Business (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and bookmarking sites, so that your brand name and the specific names of services can be seen by people scrolling their social feeds and seeing your name.Findit offers video production, like the one featured in this release. Videos and pictures are typically what are shared most throughout social media. Your marketing campaign can include videos that we produce for you, which are white labeled, and can highlight yourself, business, products, or services, or whatever else you wish to inform people about through the video.Clark St. Amant of Findit stated, ''Working with Titan Roofing has been very rewarding we love to see the tangible results from the content we create when working with a client. Over the years we have been able to create a tremendous amount of fresh relevant content that has resulted in a massive increase in the amount of search results Titan Roofing now indexed for in Findit as well as Google which is still the number one site in the world. So having your local search results at the top of the page can change a businesses bottom line." To set up your own customized marketing campaign with Findit today call us at 404-443-3224. We can help to get you started on your online marketing campaign.Join today at https://www.findit.com . Follow us on Findit at https://www.findit.com/findit/rightnow About Findit, Inc.Findit, Inc., owns Findit.com a Social Media Content Management Platform that provides an interactive search engine for all content posted in Findit to appear in Findit search. The site is an open platform that provides access to Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines crawl content posted in Findit so it can be indexed in these search engines as well. Findit provides Members the ability to post, share and manage their content. Once they have posted in Findit, we ensure the content gets indexed in Findit Search results. Findit provides an option for anyone to submit URLs that they want indexed in Findit search result, along with posting status updates through Findit Right Now. Status Updates posted in Findit can be crawled by outside search engines which can result in additional organic indexing. All posts on Findit can be shared to other social and bookmarking sites that include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Pinterest by members and non-members. Findit provides Real Estate Agents the ability to create their own Findit Site where they can pull in their listing and others through their IDX account and post listings manually. Findit, Inc., is focused on the development of monetized Internet-based web products that can provide an increased brand awareness of our members. Findit, Inc., trades under the stock symbol FDIT on the OTC Pinksheets.Safe Harbor:This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the 'Exchange Act'), including statements regarding potential sales, the success of the com 'Avengers: Endgame': What the World Needs Now Y'know how I'm always looking for metaphors and clues in movies that might lead the way to saving our republic from the current rash of misanthropic evildoers? Y'know, those who would replace our democracy with autocracy for their own profit and narcissistic obsession. Well, someday I'm going to just review a movie. But this isn't that someday. Nah, "Avengers: Endgame," a surprisingly entertaining, jaunty ride to vicarious liberty is simply too rich with the stuff of the Four Freedoms to be treated as just another superhero movie. It celebrates and brims with the very idea of righteousness, replete with an utterly contemptible villain too hateful and too real to discount as mere comic book fiction. Whether it's because I've laboriously waded through and consumed way too much Marvel lore in the films leading up to "Avengers: Endgame," or because the directors Russo wanted to reach the greatest number of viewers this go round, it seems the minutiae is kept to a minimum. While there are surely enough series details to satisfy those devotees who've practically eschewed all the conventional aspects of life in favor of total devotion to the alternate fantasy world Stan Lee created, I'd say this is the one you could recommend to your old Aunt Millie. Granted, it might be a bit of a lab experiment. I mean gosh, she hasn't seen a movie since "Forrest Gump" (1994). Still, attired for the occasion in wig hat and high-heeled sneakers, it may be an epiphany for her. Truth be told, I approached the newest "Avengers" with no small smidgen of trepidation. Weighing in at 181 minutes, that's three hours and 60 seconds in human film critic's time meaning there'd be forces to distract me from my evaluative duties. Helpful pundits on the internet offered all sorts of advice to potential viewers, including special guidance for moviegoers of a certain age understandably concerned with how nature might intervene. But the recommendation here is just go. You'll catch up, or your sidekick will be happy to give you his or her subjective and probably erroneous take. No matter. As a parking attendant recently related on a totally different matter, "It's all good." Fact is, though the seriocomic adventure tale, a panoply of the very latest computer magic to suffuse the silver screen, is rapid-fire action most of the way, it is ultimately an exuberant kaleidoscope of technology, friendship and the separating of truth from the deceit of those who would bamboozle us. In a splash of inspiration so needed in our current state of affairs, wherein we agonize just who could smite the dragon (should it be a man, a woman, and what color of either?), the Avengers are an embarrassment of heroes. Heck, there's nothing much more fun than saving the world for democracy with some of your best pals, and our gallant, larger-than-life surrogates are especially adept at exampling that. Oh sure, they have their tiffs, and just enough soap-opera-like complications to prove they are indeed human and/or otherworldly. However, as is demonstrated time and time again when a group dedicated to a noble cause gets its head screwed on right, where there's a will there's a way. Gee, you have to get a load of this bad guy. He is worthy of every effort our champions are able to summon in his defeat. But the depravity of Thanos (Josh Brolin) sways curiously from the usual. This baddy goes beyond the traditional antihero you love to hate. Grotesquely conjured, he is strikingly familiar in his zeal to destroy the world and remake it in his image. And of course he has the endorsement of the bootlicking grovelers and fawners who make the villain possible. Filmic heirs to the flying monkeys who backed the Wicked Witch of The West in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), they are the mob, ready to do the master's bidding at any cost. But what's their game? Are they so bereft of hope so as to support a monster that they know is at a minimum full of bunk, barely able to hide his disdain for their blind fealty, and at maximum just short of being the Devil incarnate? Those metaphors were giving me the willies. But the group of teenagers behind me who nostalgically reminded of my nights at the Park Theatre with that old gang of mine, apparently feared not. Animated like a Greek chorus in their rousing, enthusiastic certainty that the title characters would prevail so long as they didn't lose sight of the common goal that binds them, their optimism prodded me to indulge in yet one more metaphor. That they were young and cheering for morality to be victorious over corruption offered me hope that they might very well turn out to be the real-life Avengers we'll need for a virtuous future. "Avengers: Endgame," rated PG-13, is a Walt Disney Studios release directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson. Running time: 181 minutes As per a recent report Launched by TRENDS MARKET RESEARCH the Global Hand Tools Market to Incur Steady Growth During 2018-2025'' PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 09:03:58 Press Information trends market research One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UK Ethan Analytics +442033221521 email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com # 900 Words One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UKAnalytics+442033221521 Trends Market Research (TMR) delivers key insights on the global hand tools market in its latest report titled Hand Tools Market by 2025. The long-term outlook on the global hand tools market remains positive, with market value expected to increase at a CAGR of 3.9% by 2027. Among application, the household & DIY segment is expected to expand at a significant CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Among product type, the metal cutting tools segment is anticipated to witness higher CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Global sales offhand tools is estimated to be valued at US$ 15,642.8 Mn by the end of 2018, witnessing a Y-o-Y growth of XX% over the year 2018. North America is estimated to account for a value share of XX% in the global hand tools market by 2017 end and it is anticipated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period.Hand Tools has been identified as one of the most profitable and consistently performing industry despite being low profile. Use of hand tools is largely affected by the demographic conditions with majority of consumers utilizing hand tools for several DIY (do it yourself) and remodeling activities. On the other hand, in industries use of hand tools has been largely characterized by companies looking for state of art technology to produce high quality products. To respond to the needs of industries, producers are aggressively focusing towards product innovation to satisfy the needs of different customers.Get More Information About Hand Tools Market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3496 One of the several areas of product innovation where companies are primarily focusing is ergonomic design of hand tools to make it more precise and comfortable to operate. Industrial expansion worldwide is primarily driving the demand for hand tools since adoption of hand tools for several maintenance purpose is continuously increasing. Further, emerging demand of hand tools from automotive repair and maintenance industry has also witnessed the growth of high precision hand tools.However, the global hand tools market is expected to face certain challenges. Consumer shifting preference towards power tools mainly due to fast and easy operating feature is primarily restricting the growth of the market. Moreover, raw material price rise is also identified as the challenge for the companies to maintain price quality ratio of hand tools primarily during shifting trend toward adoption of power tools. The segment is anticipated to account for a market value of more than US$ XX Mn in 2018 and is anticipated to be valued in excess of US$ XX Bn by 2025 end, expanding at a CAGR of XX% during the projected period.Request For Table of Contents: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/3496 Vendor insightsThe report highlights and presents the market value share of some of the top companies operating in the global hand tools market such as Stanley Black Decker, Apex Tools Group, Snap-On, Klein Tools, Akbar Tools Ltd., Wera Tools, Channellock, Inc., JK Files (India) Limited and Kennametal Inc.Segmentation analysisOn the basis of product type, the general purpose tools segment is anticipated to continue to dominate the market in terms of value over the forecast periodOn the basis of application, the industrial segment is anticipated to dominate the market in terms of value. This segment accounted for 59.9% value share in 2015On the basis of sales channel, the online sales segment is expected to be the most attractive in terms of CAGR index. The growth of this segment is due to rising penetration of e-commerce and increasing demand for cross border products among consumers.In terms of sales channel, retail segment is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period. Mass merchant retailers selling product at price below industry average in order to drive their sales is primarily fuelling the growth of this segment.Regional analysisNorth America and Western Europe are estimated to collectively account for XX% value share in the global hand tools market by the end of 2017. The North America hand tools market is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period. Although power tools are continuously replacing hand tools in North America and Western Europe, increasing product innovations and companies aggressive expenditure in R & D is expected to propel the growth of the market. Mexico is expected to hold dominant revenue share in the Latin America hand tools market over the forecast period. This is primarily due to higher per capita consumption of hand tools. Sales of hand tools in APEJ is expected to increase to US$ XX Mn by 2025 end from US$ XX in 2018.Report Discription: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/hand-tools-market viwe more: INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATIONAbout Us:Trends Market Research is one of the leading digital services provider and a result-oriented company based in U.K.. We are a team of enthusiastic-driven individuals with top notch skills in SEO , Market research. Trends Market Research is a one stop shop to all your business needs. We help you thrive and succeed. We provide research solution.Our digital and enterprise research assurance solutions are ideal for Automotive & Transportation, Electronics & Semiconductor, Chemicals & Materials, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices, Food & Beverage and Industrial Automation as well as all type of other leading industries verticals . We offer a vast line of in-depth study of industry trends including customized & client oriented specific requirement.Contact Us:One Vincent SquareWestminster, London SW1P 2PNUnited KingdomPhone: +442033221521Email: sales@ trendsmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com This report provides prediction and investigation of the halloumi cheese market. It offers antique statistics along with global forecast data by the end of 2028. Fact.MR PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 11:59:21 Press Information Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Basant Manager 353-1-6111-593 email https://www.factmr.com/ # 816 Words 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400Manager353-1-6111-593 FactMR has actively published a new research study titled Halloumi Cheese Market Projected to Discern Stable Expansion During 2018 to 2028 | Key Players are Zita Dairies Ltd, Pittas Dairy Industries Ltd, and Uhrenholt A/S to its broad online database. This assessment works to discourse the major trends, opportunities and drivers motivating the halloumi cheese market during the period from 2018-2028. The insights structured for presenting the target market are procured from both primary research and secondary research, and are utilized for validation that is valuable to investors, manufacturers and new entrants. As per research findings, the global halloumi cheese market is expected to showcase impressive growth in CAGR during the period until 2028.Appeal/Demand for Sample Report - https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1753 Halloumi cheese production remains concentrated in northern and southern Cyprus. The producers in Cyprus export halloumi cheese to rest of Europe and other regions where consumption is significant. Considering the nature of the market, the top 4 companies, account for over 50% of revenue share of the market. These top 4 players include Petrou Bros Dairy Products, Zita Dairies Ltd, Pittas Dairy Industries Ltd, and Uhrenholt A/S. The Tier 3 category in the halloumi cheese market is penetrated by a large number of unorganized players. These unorganized players cater to the domestic demand for Halloumi, with the Tier 1 companies accounting for the bulk of exports.Halloumi cheese products have gained considerable popularity owing to positive perception about their authenticity and health benefits. However, frequent reports about proliferation of counterfeit Halloumi cheese that uses cow milk as an ingredient has dented some of the consumer confidence. These developments have led producers, distributors, and other stakeholders in the supply chain to clamor for tougher regulations. The clamor for granting PDO Status to halloumi cheese has reached a crescendo, and it is highly likely that such a step will change the demand-supply status quo. Considering the nature of the product, it is expected that the halloumi cheese marketplace will continue to be massively influenced by ever-evolving government regulations. The regulations may pose challenges to supply in the short-term, but experts are bullish on the long term impact of these developments.The demand for halloumi cheese is on the rise and the popularity is not foreseen to decline anytime soon. Producers in Cyprus are focusing on increasing the total production, whereas key players are investing in R&D to keep up with this overwhelming demand. For Additional Insights Click to Access Complete Report - https://www.factmr.com/report/1753/halloumi-cheese-market Demand for conventional halloumi cheese continues to remain significantly higher than organic variants. This popularity of conventional halloumi cheese can be attributed to multiple factors including easy availability and cost convenience. However, the prospects of organic variants remain bullish, with double-digit growth projected for the period 2018-2028. The growing popularity of organic halloumi cheese can be attributed to the broader trends pertaining to organic and natural. Additionally, growing awareness among consumers about the health benefits of organic halloumi, especially the rich concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids (FA), is also believed to boost its widespread adoption. The production of organic halloumi cheese using organic milk complements its nutritional affluence, thereby elevating its demand among the health-savvy consumers.In addition to ingredient origin, animal-related claims have also evolved as a sought-after information amid consumers purchasing halloumi cheese. Sensing this trend, key stakeholders of the halloumi cheese market are voluntarily overseeing welfare of livestock involved in the production framework. Prominent stakeholders in the halloumi cheese market have started voluntarily identifying high standards of animal welfare that are achievable for their supply bases. Moreover, the industry stakeholders are also joining various animal welfare programs such as Red Tractor, Global G.A.P Aquaculture, and Responsible use of Medicines in Agriculture to positively drive animal welfare.The higher-than-normal melting point of halloumi cheese makes it a great option for grilling and frying, and it has emerged as one of the favorite snacking options. The demand for halloumi cheese is escalating at a rapid pace, by virtue of the fact that it is extremely unique from all other types. Food enthusiasts are getting to explore enticing variants like halloumi chips, thereby boosting the demand for halloumi cheese by a notable margin. This trend is projected to stand out as a prime opportunity for manufacturers of halloumi cheese to bank on.For Any Query or Concern, Access this Link - https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=1753 About FactMRFactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400, Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@ factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 15:01:11 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1030 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / International Cannabrands Inc. (CSE: JUJU) (the 'Company') is pleased to announce the appointment of Corey Kite as Vice President of Sales (Northern California), Bethany Stiles as Vice President of Sales (Southern California), and Alison Bryce as Chief Operating Officer.Steve Gormley, CEO of the Company commented: 'It is with great pleasure that we make this announcement today. We have assembled an unmatched team of industry leaders, and the appointment of these three individuals to our management team positions us for rapid growth. We look forward to reporting our progress in Q2.'Mr. Corey Kite is a cannabis industry veteran with over 15 years of sales management experience. After beginning his professional career building and running sales teams in the telecom industry, he went on to own and operate six cannabis farms, and has vast knowledge of indoor, greenhouse, and outdoor cultivation. As an established cultivator, Kite has built an unparalleled network throughout Northern California. By combining these unique skillsets, Corey helped establish 10+ large-scale cannabis cultivators, consulting on all aspects of the business from buildout to sales strategy. His industry-specific knowledge and sales background make him uniquely qualified to lead our NorCal sales team.Ms. Bethany Stiles has a decade of sales management experience having successfully launched major brands in California, such as dosist, Foria, and Rebel Coast. She is also founder of Fengari Solutions, a consulting firm, which focuses on sales strategy, brand development, and investor relations for cannabis companies. Ms. Stiles joins International Cannabrands eager to build and expand the Company's sales force. Bethany Stiles commented: 'I've seen firsthand what it takes for brands to be successful within this industry, and I believe that it's the team behind the brand that ensures its success. I am honored to be a part of this team and have the opportunity to work alongside the founders and visionaries who have created these brands, and the powerhouse women and men who can take them to the next level of success. With Steve's leadership as CEO, and his dedication to assembling a diverse team of operators, I believe we have the trajectory to be one of the greatest success stories in cannabis.'Ms. Alison Bryce is a cannabis industry veteran, and has consulted on content strategy, marketing and events with some of the leading cannabis and health and wellness start-ups in California. She most recently served as VP of Client Services at Composite Agency and as a Project Manager at Beboe, a luxury cannabis brand. Previously, she led Northside Media Group's events and content strategy in Brooklyn, New York. Alison also worked as a producer on the National Desk at National Public Radio in Washington, DC.Alison Bryce commented: 'I am so excited to join International Cannabrands and help take this company and the entire cannabis industry to the next level by building high-quality and unique products. This is an amazing opportunity to launch and expand the reach of new brands with deep roots in the origin story of love and freedom. Working with Julian Marley and capturing his unique spirit is a fantastic opportunity.'The Company filed its annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2018, on April 30, 2019. Steve Gormley commented: "We are really just getting started. Having joined the team as CEO in July 2018, we have been setting the ground work for what we believe will be a sensational company. The acquisition of our 51% state in La Vida Verde, Inc. did not close until January 2019, so it is not reflected in our results for the year ended December 31, 2018. We are in the final stages of completing the Audit of LVV. We ask our shareholders for patience as we build our story and roll-out our strategy." About International Cannabrands (ICI)ICI's strategy centers on acquiring micro brands, distribution and specific manufacturing/cultivation companies in the cannabis space. The Company's business model is to generate revenue from cannabis cultivation, brands ranging from flower to edibles and from THC to CBD, oil extraction, ancillary products and apparel in the United States. ICI markets products with THC content where that practice has been legalized at the state level through either medicinal or full recreational use. ICI also markets products containing CBD in the US and internationally. ICI owns 51% of La Vide Verde, Inc. and has the exclusive rights to Julian Marley's JuJu Royal brand. The Company believes as the legal cannabis market evolves, high-quality, unique products will increasingly capture market share and provide a valuable platform for growth.About La Vida Verde, Inc. (LVV)In addition to LVV's wholesale flower, packaged flower, pre-rolls and blunts, its differentiating products include gummies, upscale protein bars, new chocolate forms and super cookies. LVV Brands currently include Skunk Feather Cannabis and Blank Brand. LVV has been operating in California since 2015, and currently has extraction, manufacturing and distribution capability. LVV is a leader in the extraction field, being one of the first to incorporate full spectrum testing in every product, testing for potency, terpenes, pesticides and residual solvents. Its concentrates are pharmaceutical grade and free of any pesticides, microbial contaminants, heavy metals or additives. LVV has recently doubled its manufacturing capability and has installed state-of-the-art technology. LVV believes that the best medicine starts with the food you eat and it takes pride in producing products for people who are search for a natural and healthy alternative for nurturing their bodies. All its products use only healthy fats, are vegan, organic, gluten-free, paleo friendly and low glycemic.About JuJu RoyalJulian Marley conveys his message of legalization, freedom, and love through the JuJu Royal brand, a line of naturally produced medicinal herbs. Our vision is to realize the opportunity to become one of the largest brands in the Marijuana industry. The synergy between the Rastafarian culture, music, natural products and an 'Irie' experience is a powerful foundation for our usiness. JuJu's strategy is to develop and grow a complete cannabis line based on an international appeal to a millennial lifestyle seeking a luxurious and premium experience. JuJu will capitalize on the unparalleled opportunity to position itself with unique, innovative, high quality brands that meet and exceed our customer's expect PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 13:03:01 Terveystalo Plc will publish its Interim report for Q1 2019 on 9 May at 9:00 EEST. (Finnish time). Materials are available after publication at: https://www.terveystalo.com/en/investors/Financial-information/ Result briefing and live webcast in English is held on 9 May 2019, starting at 11:00 a.m. EEST, at Terveystalo Piazza, Jaakonkatu 3 B, (3rd floor), 00100 Helsinki, Finland. You can watch the webcast online at: https://terveystalo.videosync.fi/2019-q1 To ask questions, please join the telephone conference 510 minutes prior to the start time using your local number (Finland: +358 (0)9 8171 0310, Sweden: +46 (0)8 5664 2651, UK: +44 (0)33 3300 0804, US: +1 63 1913 1422). If you are calling from another location, please use any of the numbers above. The Participant Passcode is 90882048#. Presentations will be held by Yrjo Narhinen, CEO and Ilkka Laurila, CFO. Further enquiries: Kati Kaksonen, Director, Investor Relations and Financial Communications Tel. +358 10 345 2034 Kati.kaksonen@terveystalo.com Terveystalo in brief Terveystalo is a listed company on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Terveystalo is the largest health care service company in Finland with net sales and network. The company offers versatile primary and secondary health care services for corporate and private customers and the public sector. The nationwide network covers 260 locations across Finland. The clinic network is complemented by 24/7 digital services. In 2018, Terveystalo had approximately 1.2 million individual customers and approximately 3.5 million visits to a physician. Around half of Terveystalos 10,000 health care professionals are employees of Terveystalo, while the other half are independent practitioners. www.terveystalo.com PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 21:16:14 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 920 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2019 / May 2, 2019 marks Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. As antisemitism from both jihadi and white supremacist sources spikes across the West, MEMRI continues to research it. For over two decades, MEMRI has been monitoring and documenting antisemitism and Holocaust denial from the Arab and Muslim world, maintaining the largest archives in the world of this content as part of the MEMRI Tom Lantos Archives on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. This past year, we have published dozens of reports and videos of Holocaust denial, which are included below.With the rising tide of antisemitism in the West - not only in sermons by extremist imams across the U.S. but also on online platforms by neo-Nazis, white supremacists, fascists, and racists - MEMRI, together with the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, has launched a new project for monitoring online incitement against Jews, people of color, Muslims, and the LGBTQ+ community. The project aims to examine where white-supremacist incitement coincides and intersects with jihadi incitement, hatred, and extremism on social media. MEMRI research also includes a focus on the brave reformists in the Middle East who speak out against antisemitism and Holocaust denial.The MEMRI-Lantos project documents antisemitic themes in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, and Turkish newspaper reports, editorials, and other media sources, distributing all its research - reports, analysis, and videos - through a blog and all its videos through the Lantos MEMRI TV page. The project informs governments, policy-makers, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as well as media, academia, and the general public, so that they may gain a greater understanding of these issues. Its projects researching antisemitism are supporting legislation on Capitol Hill and throughout the West. The Lantos Project YouTube page includes videos from annual events held in the Speaker's Dining Room of the U.S. Capitol marking the establishment of the Lantos Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial Archives.MEMRI Research On Holocaust Denial 2018-2019Egyptian Hebrew Professor Abou Al-Azayem Farjallah: Zionists Collaborated With Nazis; Gas Chambers Could Not Have Killed Millions; New Literature Says Holocaust Not Directed Toward Jews (April 24, 2019)Jordanian Columnist: Leaders Of Democracies Have Never Been Held To Account For Their War Crimes, While Nazis Were ConvictedBased On Exaggerated Claims Of The Jews (April 9, 2019)'Al-Ahram' Columnist: The Holocaust Is A Deception Used By The Zionists To Take Over The World (February 22, 2019)Article On Egyptian Website: There Is No Evidence TheHolocaust Happened (January 31, 2019)YouTube Censors MEMRI TV Clip For 'Hate Speech' - TheClip Exposes Commentator On Lebanon TV Calling Holocaust 'The Greatest Lie In Modern History' (December 12, 2018)At Antisemitic Conference In Tehran, Iranian Presidency Official Denies Holocaust: 'In Fact, We Do Show Antisemitic Behavior, And If We Are Not Doing Something Against The Jews, We Feel Bad - It Is Part Of Our Culture' (November 12, 2018)Jordanian Writer: The Spanish Inquisition Murdered Hundreds Of Thousands Of Muslims, While The Holocaust Involved The Death Of No More Than Several Thousand Jews (October 11, 2018)Palestinian Authority TV Lauds President Abbas' Holocaust Denial PhD Thesis, Terror Attacks Launched From Lebanon (July 26, 2018)Turkish Twitter Posts Praise Adolf Hitler: 'I Wish He Had Killed All Of Them' (June 4, 2018)Writer In Hamas Mouthpiece: The Holocaust Exists Only In Israeli Tales - AndIn The Minds Of Supporters Of Normalization With Israel (April 11, 2018)MEMRI TV Clips On Holocaust Denial 2018-2019Gaza Activist Maryam Abu Moussa: We Will Throw Jews into Ditches Like Hitler; Trump's End Will Come At the Hand of a Palestinian Boy (April 24, 2019)Egyptian Hebrew Professor Abou Al-Azayem Farjallah:Zionists Collaborated with Nazis; Gas Chambers Could Not Have Killed Millions (April 4, 2019)Lebanese Academic Hassan Jouni: U.S. and ZionistMovement Funded Hitler; Today, U.S.Funds Fascism through Gulf States (March 19, 2019)Jordanian Professor Ahmad Nofal: Holocaust Was an Illusion; Figure of 6Million Is a Big Lie (March 22, 2019)Egyptian Researcher Mohamed Gad El-Zoghby: We ShouldErect a Statue of Hitler Because ofWhat He Did to the Jews (February 9, 2019)Iraqi MP Khalaf Abdelsamad Khalaf: Hitler Was No Worse than Saddam (January 19, 2019)French-Jewish HolocaustDenier Jacob Cohen: Holocaust Wasn'tMentioned Until Convenient Time in Israel's History; MEMRI Makes People ThinkIran Wants to Commit a Second Holocaust;The Holocaust Has Become a Religion (January 5, 2019)Kuwaiti Cleric Jihad Al-'Ayesh: The Jews Shatter theSpirit Of Every Country They Settle In; Hitler Warned His People of theProstitution They Spread (November 21, 2018)Jordanian PoliticalCommentator Sufyan Tal: The Holocaust - The Greatest Lie In Modern History(November 11, 2018)Iranian Researcher ShamsAl-Din Rahmani Denies The Holocaust, Says The Jews Control The Oil Industry(October 6, 2018)Palestinian Author AdhamSharkawi: Europeans Supported Jewish State To Get Rid Of Jews, Hitler Was Influenced By The Jews' Attempt To Enslave Germany (July 19, 2018)Palestinian Authority TV Lauds President Abbas' Holocaust Denial Ph.D. Thesis, Terror Attacks Launched from Lebanon (July 20, 2018)Egyptian TV Host Tawfiq Okasha: The Jews Control the World Economy, Started World War II, Sacrificing a bunch of Jews in the Holocaust (June 12, 2018)Iraqi Journalist Mahmoud Al-Hashemi: Hitler Slaughtered The Jews Because They Were Using The Black Market Against Him; Shakespeare Shone A Spotlight On The Cruel Jewish Mentality (June 9, 2018)Kuwaiti Cleric Sheikh Jihad Al-'Ayesh Denies The Holocaust And The Existence Of Gas Chambers: How Big A Bakery Would You Need To Make 50,000 Loaves Of Bread? (May 26, 2018)Egyptian Professor Amr Allam: Israeli Violence Is in the Jewish Genes; TV Host: Jews Have Exploited the Holocaust (May 5, 2018)PA President Mahmoud Abbas: Holocaust, Massacres of European Jews Due toTheir Function in Society as Usurers; Hitler Struck a Deal with the Jews (April 30, 2018)Holocaust Denial On PA TV a% As per a recent report launches by TRENDS MARKET RESEARCH the global market for Mineral Salt Ingredients Market is set to surface a valuation of US$ xx MN by 2025 PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 04:31:53 Press Information Trends Market Research One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UK Phone: +442033221521 Ethan Analytics 442033221521 email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/ # 738 Words One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UKPhone: +442033221521Analytics442033221521 Normally, minerals salt ingredients occur as chemical compounds which are abiogenic and crystalline in origin. In day-to-day life, everyone uses mineral products. Although meat, plants, flowers, dairy products, oil, fruits, and grains are considered key sources for mineral salt ingredients of organic type but the essential sources of mineral salt ingredients are the mines and sea water. Also, most widely in certain industries including food & beverages, pharmaceuticals and agriculture, these mineral salt ingredients are used.The factors driving the market demand for mineral salt ingredients globally include mineral salt ingredients deficiency that leads to various health problems, expanding incidences of chronic diseases, escalating demand in personal care, food & beverages and cosmetic industry for mineral salts, and rising awareness associated with nutrient as well as mineral salt ingredients rich food. These type of ingredients have several medical properties and also acts as an anti-aging formula which in turn boosts the revenue growth for market of mineral salt ingredients globally. The market demand for the macro type mineral salt ingredients is high as they are needed in huge quantities for performing metabolic activities and in various personal care and cosmetics which are impeding the market growth too. the global mineral salt ingredients market is expected to expand at a steady rate and is estimated to reach a market valuation of more than US$ XX Bn by the end of the year of assessment (2025).Get More Information About-Mineral Salt Ingredients Market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3487 Growing urbanization, changing lifestyle and fast product offerings advancements are certain factors which are also globally fueling the market growth for mineral salt ingredients in the coming years. Some prominent players in the market includeK + S, DSM, Dupont, Albion Laboratories, JUNGBUNZLAUER SUUISSE, Arla Foods Ingredients Group, Gadot Biochemical Industries, Lohmann GmbH KG, Corbion and SEPPIC, among others. These key players are aiming on the expansion of new market by strategic M&A and joint ventures that will help them in building new ways for improving their technology through R&D activities for launching newer products as well as they can retain their market competitiveness.The significance on nutrition and health has absorbed consideration on various mineral supplements. Since the mineral supplements market remains to expand and turns more refined, the necessity of better chemistry during the production process turns out to be more apparent. The mineral salts usage contains unreacted compounds leading to the formation of stability problems and imprecise ingredient declarations on the particular product. The manufacturing process for pure salts which are fully reacted involves the acid-base reaction with an aqueous solution and the salt compound precipitation. Also, depending on the mineral salt, the acid addition in the sample, demonstrates the presence of mineral base which are unreacted.Request For Table of Contents-Mineral Salt Ingredients Market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/3487 Moreover, the Asia Pacific region is the leading market in terms of volume and revenue in the market for mineral salt ingredients globally due to huge population as well as escalating demand in personal care, food & beverages and cosmetic industry for mineral salts. Spreading out into new markets proffers more opportunities, as well as obstacles for proper nutrient delivery. While the mineral salt ingredient industry is retorting to customer requests for different delivery systems which is represented by expanding supplements of liquid minerals and exceptional hurdles arise in the selection of best minerals used for performing these kind of applications. So. In order to overcome that gritty, several microencapsulation techniques are considered by the formulators which can blend with different types of mineral salt ingredients.Report Description: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/mineral-salt-ingredients-market View More: FOOD & BEVERAGEAbout Us:Trends Market Research is one of the leading digital services provider and a result-oriented company based in U.K.. We are a team of enthusiastic-driven individuals with top notch skills in SEO , Market research. Trends Market Research is a one stop shop to all your business needs. We help you thrive and succeed. We provide research solution.Our digital and enterprise research assurance solutions are ideal for Automotive & Transportation, Electronics & Semiconductor, Chemicals & Materials, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices, Food & Beverage and Industrial Automation as well as all type of other leading industries verticals . We offer a vast line of in-depth study of industry trends including customized & client oriented specific requirement.Contact Us:One Vincent SquareWestminster, London SW1P 2PNUnited KingdomEmail: sales@ trendsmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 11:02:03 Moodys Analytics and QED Announce Partnership to Deliver IFRS 17 Solutions to Insurers in Africa TRACEY SCOTT Moodys Analytics Communications +44.207.772.5207 Moodys Analytics Media Relations moodysanalytics.com twitter.com/moodysanalytics linkedin.com/company/moodysanalytics Moodys Analytics, a global provider of financial intelligence, has announced a new collaboration with QED to provide insurers in Africa with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 17 advisory services and software solutions to address the new accounting standard. QED, a leading actuarial consulting firm with headquarters in South Africa, is joining the Moodys Analytics PartnerAlliance program. Its IFRS 17 team has developed expertise around the Moodys Analytics RiskIntegrity IFRS 17 solution, and will offer insurers advisory services and implementation support across the continent. QED will work with insurers to implement the Moodys Analytics IFRS 17 solution as software-as-a-service (SaaS), an operating model that offers insurers a faster, more cost-effective way of implementing their IFRS 17 technology. Last month, Moodys Analytics was recognized as a Category Leader in a Chartis Research report evaluating top vendors of IFRS 17 solutions. As insurers across Africa prepare for IFRS 17, there is an ever-growing demand for advisory services, software, and implementation support to help insurers meet the new standard with confidence, said Tracy Lister, Associate Director and Head of IFRS17 solutions at QED. We look forward to working with Moodys Analytics to bring increased value to the African market by pairing their market-leading IFRS 17 solution with our advisory expertise. Moodys Analytics will work with QED to support insurers in Africa with the implementation of their IFRS 17 projects by offering an out-of-the box solution that insurers can implement and use immediately, said Massimiliano Neri, IFRS 17 Lead at Moodys Analytics at Moodys Analytics. QED joins the PartnerAlliance program at the Member level. This alliance is non-exclusive, and both companies remain independent to collaborate with other parties in the best interest of their respective clients. Interested insurers are encouraged to join experts from Moodys Analytics, QED, and others at the Moodys Analytics IFRS 17 roadshow on June 11 at the Sandton Sun Hotel in Johannesburg. Attendees will learn about the requirements for and opportunities presented by implementation of the new accounting standard. Click here to learn more about the Moodys Analytics RiskIntegrity IFRS 17 solution. About Moodys Analytics Moodys Analytics provides financial intelligence and analytical tools to help business leaders make better, faster decisions. Our deep risk expertise, expansive information resources, and innovative application of technology help our clients confidently navigate an evolving marketplace. We are known for our industry-leading and award-winning solutions, made up of research, data, software, and professional services, assembled to deliver a seamless customer experience. We create confidence in thousands of organizations worldwide, with our commitment to excellence, open mindset approach, and focus on meeting customer needs. For more information about Moodys Analytics, visit our website or connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn. Moody's Analytics, Inc. is a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO). Moodys Corporation reported revenue of $4.4 billion in 2018, employs approximately 13,200 people worldwide and maintains a presence in 42 countries. About QED QED is headquartered in Johannesburg with regional offices in Mauritius, Kenya and Nigeria. The business provides actuarial services to over 140 companies across 17 countries in Africa, as well as in the UK and the Caribbean. The specialist advisory teams offer actuarial and risk management solutions to life and non-life insurers, healthcare providers, pension funds, banks, regulatory and industry bodies, insurance associations, retailers and developmental organisations. For more information about QED visit www.qedact.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005 As per a recent report launches by TRENDS MARKET RESEARCH the global market for pallet market is set to surface a valuation of US$ xx MN by 2025 PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 04:18:57 Press Information Trends Market Research One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UK Phone: +442033221521 Ethan Analytics 442033221521 email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/ # 743 Words One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UKPhone: +442033221521Analytics442033221521 The pallet industry in India is soaring at a brisk pace. A pallet is designed to endure heavy load, serving as a rigid base for goods during their transportation and are usually handled by pallet jacks and forklifts. Indias rising economy coupled with higher production volumes of goods is potentially generating business opportunities for pallet manufacturers in the country. In order to manage large scale imports and shipments of consumer goods, industries avail smart logistic services. Hence, the demand for pallets from shipping and logistic industry has significantly increased in the country. Due to the lumpy transport infrastructure in Indian sub-continent, usage of pallet during goods delivery and storage becomes more important.Boom in manufacturing sector of the country is fuelling the demand for pallets in the Indian market. Relentless support from the government and a blossoming business environment in the country is unveiling further market opportunities for the manufacturing sector. In addition, implementation of government policies such as Make in India is expected to ensure sustainability of the economic growth in the long run.Get More Information About-pallet market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3483 These economic reforms are expected to bring some good news to the industrial sectors of the country, especially the manufacturing sector. Thus, the thrust to the manufacturing sector has also led to progression of the allied sectors such as hardware, logistics and transport. Off late, the country has witnessed establishment of large warehouses spreading in acres of land, these warehouses need several operational tools, pallets being a primary one. As production volumes in the country rise higher, it will have a direct impact on the demand for pallets. Moreover, stakeholders and manufacturers are strongly emphasizing on safer modules of transportation of materials and consumer goods, which is translating into the growth of the pallets market in India. The aforementioned factors are likely to drive the pallets market in India in the following years to come.Emergence of Logistics and Warehouse Business in India Responsible for the Bulk of Demand for PalletsNoticeably, several new startups are going into logistics, transportation and delivery service. Though the competition in the market is moderate, companies look forward to improve service offerings. Companies are focusing on developing advanced warehouse facilities with features such as auto temperature control and robotics. For instance, Gati Ltd a supply chain solution provider recently developed its first temperature controlled warehouse infrastructure in New Delhi. The warehouse facility is designed to meet the industry standards and will cater to various industry sectors such as pharmaceutical and food and beverage including dairy.Request For Table of Contents-pallet market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/3483 The latest warehouse infrastructures have extended capabilities and robust network ensuring enhanced supply chain solutions. This, in turn, is essentially helping businesses to expand significant levels and likewise supporting the growth of logistics industry in India.Warehouses provide storage services to a wide range of industries, operational tools such as pallet are important in managing goods and create sections and division between them. In additional, use of pallets allows stress-free movement of goods in bulk amount.TrendsProliferation of large retail or departmental stores in the country has led to a healthy demand for pallet from such outlets. Changing culture of retail business and an evolving market structure is expected to influence the market for pallets in IndiaConclusionThe pallet market in India is anticipated to register a healthy growth rate in the coming years. By 2016 end, the pallet market in the country is expected to surpass INR 6,223 Cr, which is close to (US$ XX Million) by 2025.Report Description: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/pallet-market View More: RETAIL & CONSUMER GOODSAbout Us:Trends Market Research is one of the leading digital services provider and a result-oriented company based in U.K.. We are a team of enthusiastic-driven individuals with top notch skills in SEO , Market research. Trends Market Research is a one stop shop to all your business needs. We help you thrive and succeed. We provide research solution.Our digital and enterprise research assurance solutions are ideal for Automotive & Transportation, Electronics & Semiconductor, Chemicals & Materials, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices, Food & Beverage and Industrial Automation as well as all type of other leading industries verticals . We offer a vast line of in-depth study of industry trends including customized & client oriented specific requirement.Contact Us:One Vincent SquareWestminster, London SW1P 2PNUnited KingdomEmail: sales@ trendsmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com As per a recent report Launched by TRENDS MARKET RESEARCH the global market for Portable Evaporative Air Cooler Market is set to surpass a valuation of US$ XX Mn by 2026. PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 11:31:04 Press Information Trends Market Research One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UK Phone: +44-161-850-8625 Ethan Analytics +442033221521 email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com # 495 Words One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UKPhone: +44-161-850-8625Analytics+442033221521 Evaporative air coolers incorporate evaporative cooling and are used to lower temperatures in the areas where these are installed, thereby finding widespread adoption in both indoor and outdoor applications across the global residential and commercial sector. Over the years, the demand for evaporative air coolers has witnessed a surge owing to several factors. Global warming is one of the main factors fueling growth in demand for evaporative air coolers.This industry is constantly evolving with the advent of new players along with existing established companies foraying into this space. A few years ago, the air cooler market was largely dominated by the unorganised players as spending too much on air coolers wasn't considered necessary.Get More Information About: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3195 The portable evaporative air cooler market is segmented based on product type, end users, and geography. Based on product type, the market is bifurcated into automatic and semi-automatic. Based on end users, the market is divided into industry, commercial and home. Based on geography, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Asia and the Middle East have witnessed substantial climate change in the last few years, thereby impacting the lives of people living in these regions. This has increased the demand for air cooling systems in both the commercial as well as the residential sector. There is also a strong awareness of the use of sustainable products in these regions. Evaporative air coolers offer natural and energy saving solutions that are also cost effective.This has resulted in an increased demand especially from the rising middle class in these regions. Several domestic manufacturers operating in the Asian and Middle Eastern markets are slowly expanding their brands in the international market as well, thereby broadening the scope for exports of evaporative air coolers.Air coolers have proved to be one of the superior alternatives to air conditioners (lower life-cycle cost and enhanced flexibility). Rising prosperity and increasing environmental consciousness is likely to generate attractive air cooler market growth over the foreseeable future. The Government of India launched an initiative of 'Make in India' in 2018 that paved the way for air cooler manufacturers to produce their products locally.Request For Table of Contents : https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/3195 While this development no doubt gives a major incentive to global as well as in-house air cooler manufacturers, there are many benefits associated with Make in India that can add greater value to the entire business chain. One of the most important factors that have traditionally influenced the countrys evaporative air coolers market has been the value-for-money mindset of the Indian consumer.Key players:operating in the market includeSPX Cooling Technologies, Inc., Kelvion Holding GmbH, Baltimore Aircoil Company, Inc., Evapco, Inc., Ebara Refrigeration Equipment & Systems Co. Ltd., Luoyang Longhua Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation Co., Ltd., Xiamen MingguangMachinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Lanpec Technologies Ltd-A, Condair Group AG, and Honeywell International Inc.Report Description: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/portable-evaporative-air-cooler-market PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 14:11:02 SATO Corporation, Press release 2nd May 2019 at 3:10 pm SATO Corporation and OP Corporate Bank plc have agreed upon a bilateral loan of 150 million without asset based securities. The agreement of the seven-year loan was signed in Helsinki on 2 May 2019, and the cash proceeds will be used for refinancing of maturing loans as well as for the Groups general financing purposes. The new financing agreement supports SATOs target to further increase the share of loans without asset based securities in the financing structure. At the end of 2018, interest-bearing debt without asset based securities accounted for approximately 66% of SATO's debt portfolio, and the share of unencumbered assets out of the whole balance sheet was around 74%. For more information, please contact: SATO Corporation Markku Honkasalo, CFO, phone +358 201 34 4226 or +358 50 598 8728 Janne Runsamo, Group Treasurer, phone +358 201 34 4009 or +358 45 671 3567 www.sato.fi/en SATO is one of Finland's leading rental housing providers. SATO aims to offer a comprehensive choice of rental housing and an excellent customer experience. At year-end 2018 SATO owned around 25,900 apartments in Finland's largest growth centres and in St. Petersburg. We promote sustainable development and initiative through our operations and work in open interaction with our stakeholders to generate added value. We operate profitably and with a long-term view. We increase the value of our housing stock through investments, divestments and repairs. The SATO Group's net sales in 2018 were EUR 290 million, operating profit EUR 273 million and profit before taxes EUR 231 million. The value of SATO's investment assets was roughly EUR 3.9 billion. Discovery Channel and PBS to Air Holocaust Documentaries The Fellowship | May 2, 2019 Two new documentaries one on U.S. soldiers who liberated concentration camps, and the other on survivors from Britain will air for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). During this day, Israel and those who stand with her remember the six million Jewish lives that were taken during one of the darkest chapters in history: Alan Moskin served in Pattons 3rd Army as it liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp. The experience, he said in an unintentional wordplay, was tattooed right here on my heart, on my soul. He didnt share what he saw not with his parents or siblings, not his wife and children until 50 years after he came home. But when he finally spoke up, it was a catharsis that lifted a weight from him. Moskin is at the center of one of two similarly named documentaries airing next week to commemorate Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Liberation Heroes: The Last Eyewitness will air on May 1 at 9:00 p.m. EST on the Discovery Channel, and PBS will broadcast The Last Survivors at 10:00 p.m. EST on April 30. PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 12:35:42 Press Information Shaina Sheikh Zayed Road Shaina Dsouza PR Consultant 502531818 email http://www.oakconsulting.biz/ Published by Nimi D'souza +971507343840 e-mail http://www.oakconsulting.biz # 755 Words Sheikh Zayed RoadPR Consultant502531818Nimi D'souza+971507343840 Participating for the third time at the Arabian Travel Market 2019, the St. Petersburg, Russia pavilion will highlight all aspects of leisure, MICE, luxury, recreational and health and wellness tourism. As a special focus this year, St. Petersburg will also showcase their foray into its new Luxury Russia offerings that will centre around the symbolic, historical and cultural aspects of Russia. The stand is located at Hall 7 booth EU 5950.Luxury Russia will have a range of specially curated tours and activities. These include a bespoke museum premium hour tours with a personalized guide and experience. Gala receptions at the legendary Cruise Aurora shipyard; now converted into a museum and the Catharine Palace. Under normal circumstances this facility is not provided for the general tourists.Also included are the exciting experience to set off a cannon while touring the historic Peter and Paul Fortress and getting a helicopter tour of the presidential palace also known as the Konstastinosky Palace. And for art connoisseurs, special showing of museum auction pieces, and the opportunity to buy auction masterpieces from world renowned museum collections. Hunters can look forward to a special hunting experience which Russia is famous for and ranges from deer, birds, sheep and bears. All this is further heightened by being pampered with Limousine service and personal tour guides, living in luxurious suites and flying high in helicopters as a mode of transportation.The Middle East is soon becoming an important part of our tourism business and we understand the need to be present at Arabian Travel Market. As a leading event in the travel and tourism market, it helps us build our network of partners and associates. More so, this year as we are targeting high profile travelers from the luxury segment as our research indicates that they contribute quite heavily to the frequency as well as the spending habits while visiting St. Petersburg, said, Olga Redino, Deputy General Director & Vice Head of Saint Petersburg Convention Bureau.Our Luxury Tourism Association is a unique project in Russia which creates the platform for premium and luxury customers to can avail of exclusive experiences and truly customized service of an exceptional quality while travelling in Russia. Saint Petersburg is a real gem in Russian Luxury travel collection where our guests can get genuinely unique experience of amazing art, culture, white nights, open bridges, said, Marina Morozova - Head of National Tourism of Russian Federation in the Middle East Dubai UAE / CEO Luxury Travel Association.As a representative office for Visit St. Petersburg Dubai we have the responsibility to market Saint Petersburg and Russia as whole in the Middle East and are extremely excited about their participation at Arabian Travel Market. ATM provides a perfect platform to reach out to B2B and B2C sector at the same time with regional access points. We also see a lot of positives after visa relaxation for Emiratis from Russia, said, Harmeek Singh, Chairman, Visit St. Petersburg for Middle East Region.St. Petersburg has been actively developing tourism over the last few years. As an award-winning destination, St. Petersburg is one of the worlds most beautiful cities. It has been awarded the Worlds Leading Cultural City Destination 2018 as well as Europes Leading Cruise Destination and Europes Leading Heritage Destination 2018 by World Travel Awards. Added to this, the city also boasts of the Historic Centre and other related monuments which are in the World Heritage List of UNESCO.Additionally, the city is rightfully called the cultural capital of Russia. It has several theaters and museums spread across and are a visitors delight. Today St. Petersburg has over 100 theatres with over 60 new productions and about 5000 performances shown in the city. Tourists can also savour a unique gastronomic phenomenon that rises from a mingling of traditional Russian cuisine and elegant French nuances.St. Petersburg is home to a natural phenomenon; the White Nights, although not unique to the city, it lasts from approximately June 11 to July 2nd. With continuous light throughout the whole day, the setting is perfect to walk along the banks of the citys rivers and canals. And with it, tourists can also enjoy beautiful summer months that are filled with a lively, friendly and active atmosphere through the night and day, something that no other European city offers.Visit St. Petersburg office Dubai is tapping into data and generating a community by providing an experiential platform to get a feel of the city. This is a culmination of the new visa relaxation for Emiratis in Russia. PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 10:09:54 Press Information Trends Market Research One Vincent Square Westminster, London SW1P 2PN United Kingdom T: +44 2033221521 Email: sales@trendsmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com Published by Ethan Taylor +44-631-787-4201 e-mail https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com # 671 Words One Vincent SquareWestminster, London SW1P 2PNUnited KingdomT: +44 2033221521Email: sales@trendsmarketresearch.comWebsite: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.comEthan Taylor+44-631-787-4201 Technical textiles are class of specialized textiles, application of which is governed primarily by their functionality criteria as against aesthetics. Technical textiles differ from conventional textiles in terms of performance and functionality. For instance, technical textiles tend to exhibit relatively higher tensile strength and modulus, high resistance to heat, flame and to chemical agents. This versatility has been increasing adoption of technical textiles by various end-user industries such as construction, automobile and chemical. The global technical textiles market was pegged at around US$ XX Bn in 2018 and is expected to witness a steady growth, registering a CAGR of XX% over the forecast period 2018-2025.Report For Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3472 Factors influencing the global technical textiles marketThe large number of infrastructure projects being implemented in the Asia Pacific region along with the rising demand from the automotive, healthcare and aerospace industries has been driving the growth of the technical textiles market. Technical textiles manufacturers have recently has been receiving significant support from the various governments across geographical regions to manufacture high end, high value-added products in the technical textiles segment. This has been driving the growth of the technical textile industry.For instance, the Chinese government has been keen to start programs which are intended to enable the growth of the technical textiles industry. The Indian government has recently been endorsing the growth of its technical textiles industry. For instance, the government has been channelizing efforts towards implementation of tax benefits, special economic packages and permitting 100% foreign direct investment, among other things. However, relatively higher prices and manufacturing costs therein are expected to restrain the growth of global technical textiles market, especially in developing regions. Moreover, it has also been observed that there is a lack of awareness about the use of technical textiles among potential consumers, especially in the agriculture sector, in developing countries such as India and China.Key players dominating the global technical textiles marketSome of the players reported in this study on global technical textiles market include Low and Bonar PLC, Ahlstrom Corporation, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, 3M Company, Avintiv, Milliken and Company, Arville, Dickson-Constant, Baltex and Freudenberg & Co. KG. Globally, manufacturers have been focusing on offering customized product offerings in order to meet the customers specific requirements in order to sustain and grow in ever-increasing competition in technical textiles market space.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/3472 Global technical textiles market segmentation and forecastThe global technical textiles market is segmented on the basis of application, process type and region. On the basis of application, the global technical textiles market is segmented into Agrotech, Buildtech, Hometech, Indutech, Sportech, Packtech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Clothtech, Geotech, Protech and Oekotech. Based on process type, the global technical textiles is segmented into: nonwoven, composites and others. Key regions covered in the report include: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Global technical textiles market analysis, by applicationOn the basis of application, Mobiltech segment of the technical textiles market is expected to account for a share of over XX% in the global technical textiles market value by 2025 end, thus expanding at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period. This growth is attributed, primarily to the growth in demand from the automotive sector. The global automotive production is expected to witness a steady growth, registering a CAGR of around XX% in terms of volume during the forecast period.Increasing adoption in automotive light-weighting applications in order to adhere to stringent regulatory standards is expected to further drive growth of this segment during the forecast period. Oekotech segment is expected to register relatively faster growth owing to increasing efforts towards tackling environmental concerns. It is expected to register CAGR of XX% in terms of value during the forecast period. Besides the aforementioned segments, sportech, and Buildtech, among other segments are expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period.Report Analysis@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/technical-textiles-market As per a recent report launches by TRENDS MARKET RESEARCH the global market for Wearable Digital Walkie-Talkie Market is set to surface a valuation of US$ xx MN by 2025 PR-Inside.com: 2019-05-02 04:15:50 Press Information Trends Market Research One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UK Phone: +442033221521 Ethan Analytics 442033221521 email https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/ # 704 Words One Vincent Square, Westminster, London SW1P 2PN, UKPhone: +442033221521Analytics442033221521 Walkie-talkies have ruled the communication interface in several public and private business domains over the years. Having said that, the modern era of communication is highly sensitive to imperative advancement in technology. Coming-up of smartphones and other digital communication devices have surely hindered the market width of walkie-talkies. However, digitalization of most electronic products in the recent years have proven to be a boom for the overall electronic industry. Accordingly, the introduction of digital versions of walkie-talkies has certainly revived its plunging market. These new versions of walkie-talkies are available in various modules including wearable, hand-held and single piece head gears.Walkie-talkies are undergoing a similar phase of establishing all-around connectivity like other electronic commodities such as televisions, phones and electronic home appliances. These new digital versions are well capable of supporting various businesses in their day-to-day operations and prove to be far more efficient in working compared to their analogue cousins. Further, the latest wearable versions of walkie-talkies are considered as necessary electronic devices and are unlikely to phase out anytime soon. Various businesses that require frequent workplace communication are heavily dependent on frequency based communication devices such as walkie-talkies. For instance, manufacturing plants, fire engines, mining holes and military and law enforcement need walkie-talkie for their daily operations. In addition, professionals who need to move constantly at their workplaces such as managers and supervisors in the construction and mining industry are ideal users of such wearable devices.Get More Information About-Wearable Digital Walkie-Talkie Market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3482 TrendsRecently it has been observed that manufacturers are taking wearable walkie-talkie technology to the next level by offering higher-end models that meet the users requirement. They are modified and specified accordingly to suit the working environment. Moreover, businesses across the globe are switching to digital walkie-talkie from analogue walkie-talkie systems. For example, The Container Store Group, Inc. provided Theatro wearables up to 3,000 of its employees in order to improve in-store communication.Key players in the global wearable digital walkie-talkie market that have been covered in the report are STARNEX Co., Ltd., OrionLabs, Inc., Theatro and AWIRE Technology Corp.Why Walkie-Talkies are Preferred over Smart Phones in Most IndustriesWalkie-talkies are also called as Push-to-talk devices (PTT), situations arrive when we need instant and long lasting connective. Walkie-talkie serves the best at these situations when connecting to the other person is a press of buttons away, smartphones may prove to be difficult during the occurrence of such situations mostly signaling an emergency. Moreover, these devices are compact, durable and can withstand extreme working environments. The global wearable digital walkie-talkie market is expected to be valued at US$ XX million by the end of 2025, registering a CAGR ofXX% between 2018 and 2025.Request For Table of Contents-Wearable Digital Walkie-Talkie Market: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/3482 Novelty in ProductIn the recent past, manufacturers have strongly focused on further product development and innovation more so to maintain a competitive edge in the market. Some of the latest technology introduced in these wearable walkie-talkies include touch screen interface, Wifi & Bluetooth connectivity, GPS tracking, and software and app upgrades. The aforementioned features significantly increase the utility base of the product allowing the user to have group communications, internet connectivity, data download and track and monitor other users. Further, manufacturers offer specifically designed applications for the device as per the requirement a business.Report Description: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/wearable-digital-walkie-talkie-market View More: ELECTRONICS & SEMICONDUCTORAbout Us:Trends Market Research is one of the leading digital services provider and a result-oriented company based in U.K.. We are a team of enthusiastic-driven individuals with top notch skills in SEO , Market research. Trends Market Research is a one stop shop to all your business needs. We help you thrive and succeed. We provide research solution.Our digital and enterprise research assurance solutions are ideal for Automotive & Transportation, Electronics & Semiconductor, Chemicals & Materials, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices, Food & Beverage and Industrial Automation as well as all type of other leading industries verticals . We offer a vast line of in-depth study of industry trends including customized & client oriented specific requirement.Contact Us:One Vincent SquareWestminster, London SW1P 2PNUnited KingdomEmail: sales@ trendsmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com Nigerias Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, and his UK counterpart and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt Nigeria and the UK have agreed to fast-track key regulations to deepen the insurance market and expand the digital economy. Also, both governments agreed to explore Naira-denominated financial instruments to facilitate British brands positioning and investments in Nigeria. These are some of the resolutions by Nigerias Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah and his UK counterpart and Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, at the First joint Economic Development Forum (EDF) held in Abuja on Tuesday. The EDF was launched in August 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari and Prime Minister Theresa May to foster economic and development ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. A communique at the end of the meeting said both countries noted the progress so far against their commitments as well as the successes achieved. Modalities Both countries agreed to sustain improvements in the efficiency of Nigerias international airports and the UK governments commitment to boost the capacity of its national carriers. The communique said the joint efforts will support Nigerias export diversification drive and help non-oil exporters reach third market destinations through London, pending improvements in trade facilitation in the ports. Other resolutions include consultations with the Nigerian and British business communities on joint work-streams and actions required to boost bilateral trade and investment. Also, the meeting agreed on the UK governments commitment to providing more technical assistance to Nigerias exports diversification efforts, attracting investment and creation of jobs. The two countries also resolved to showcase the quality of Nigerian and British goods and services in their respective markets. Mr Enelamah said this will enable more Nigerian exports to comply with global standards for better bilateral trade and investment. 2020 Summit An Africa Investment Summit is planned for the United Kingdom in 2020 to present a strong pipeline of projects Nigeria is seeking partnerships with British investors. Before the summit, the second meeting of the EDF scheduled for London before the end of 2019 will be attended by senior ministers of both countries. The summit is expected to discuss ways to create conditions for more British investments in Nigeria, particularly in manufacturing and services. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who noted the progress so far in implementing the EDF, lamented the low level of trade and investments between Nigeria and the UK despite their long-standing relationship. He said Africa represents only two per cent of the UKs trade relationships, while Nigeria represents only a tenth of that. To remove the barriers to business and investment in Nigeria, Mr Osinbajo said the present administration has undertaken modern infrastructure development across the country. In the last three years, the government has allocated and disbursed over N3.5 trillion from the National budgets to infrastructure. We are committed to improving Nigerias competitiveness and making our country one of the easiest places to do business globally, he said. He said the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has made significant progress in removing the barriers to investment and increasing transparency in government ministries, department and agencies. There is undeniable evidence that this administration is repositioning the Nigerian economy for true growth and shared prosperity. We have seen increased investor interest in Nigeria by the investment announcements that we track, with $90.9 billion of investment announcements in 2018, a 37 per cent increase over the $66.4 billion tracked in 2017, he said. Advertisements Mr Enelamah described the economic relationship between Nigeria and the United Kingdom as special and mutually beneficial. He said the EDF is a practical mechanism to build on the strength of the two countrys economic relationship, address hindrances to trade and investment and expand new growth areas. The minister said the work-streams for the two countries in the next six to 24 months include issues of standards, business-to-business linkages, and services trade on the digital economy. Others include business, transport, insurance, deepening investor-friendly business environment reform, mentoring and strategic relationship management, manufacturing and technology transfer. Earlier, Mr Hunt acknowledged the importance of the Nigeria-UK EDF. He said Nigerias current demographics required urgent intervention by the government and other interest groups to tackle unemployment and other challenges through improved investment climate. The capital market has continued to record high incidence of unclaimed dividends due to the provision of inadequate proof of ownership of shares by investors, the acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Uduk, has said. Ms Uduk, who spoke in Ibadan at a one-day seminar on reducing incidence of unclaimed dividends, said investors find it difficult to regularise their accounts and harmonise them due to inadequate proof of ownership of such accounts. Represented by the Director, Lagos Zonal Office of SEC, Stephen Falomo, the acting DG highlighted the benefits of regularising multiple accounts and e-dividends registration for investors. She said the capital market has opened a forbearance window to allow investors with multiple subscriptions/applications to public offers to regularise them under a single account name. Investors who provide sufficient proof of ownership will be permitted to regularise their accounts into one. The forbearance window closes on December 31, 2019. Effects of unclaimed dividends She lamented the continuous retention of dividends by companies. She said this has the potential to distort the true financial position of companies and mislead investors and other members of the investing public. The huge amount of unclaimed dividends could discourage foreign investment as well as discourage members of the public from staking their funds in the market. Non-receipt of dividends discourages investors in stock market and encourages them to search for alternative investment outlets such as the real sector and money market. Consequently, Public Companies are denied the opportunity of cheaper source of finance, she said. e-Dividend Ms Uduk disclosed that e-Dividend (otherwise known as Electronic Dividend) is a secure on-line means of paying dividends directly to the shareholders account instead of printing and mailing dividend warrants, as was the case before now. It entails a shareholder who has a bank account (Savings or Current Account) with any bank, to give his/her accurate account details, including Biometric Verification Number (BVN), to the Registrar of the Company and his/her dividend would be paid directly into that account. Each investor is required to enrol for the e-dividend regime by completing an e-Dividend Mandate Form and submitting same at the nearest branch of his/her bank or registrars office, for identity validation leveraging the BVN platform of the NIBSS. Successfully BVN validated mandates are approved and passed to Registrars for dividend payment, she added. In his remarks, the chairman of Ibadan Zone of Shareholders Association, Eric Akinduro, urged the SEC to intensify efforts at enticing investors to embrace the e-dividends registration. SEC must intensify activities to entice investors to embrace the e-dividends registration for the volume of unclaimed dividends to reduce within the shortest time frame. Standardisation of registrars operations should be introduced, across board, Mr Akinduro added. The Group Managing Director, Odua Investment Company Limited and chairman at the event, Adewale Raji, charged the association to take the lead in ensuring its members were duly registered. In order for us to reap maximum benefits from the e-dividends mandate, I want to urge the association to take on board this unique opportunity. As a matter of responsibility, we need to encourage members to take advantage of this opportunity. At the zonal or state level meeting, we need to put in place a proper process whereby we enlist people who respond and see them through the process of e-dividends registration and also address other issues relating to accessing dividends, Mr Raji said. Cypruss Justice Minister, Ionas Nicolaou, resigned on Thursday amid uproar over police handling of disappearances of foreign women in the country. The women are believed to be victims of a suspected serial killer whose actions went undetected for almost three years. Four women have been found murdered in the past three weeks, their bodies dumped in three locations west of the capital, Nicosia. Investigations are underway into three other disappearances, including two girls aged six and eight. A 35-year-old career army officer is in custody and police say he has confessed to seven killings in total after having connected with the women on an online dating site. I informed the president of the republic that I am resigning for reasons of political sensitivity, Nicolaou told reporters after meeting President of Cyrus, Nicos Anastasiades. Mr Nicolaou said Mr Anastasiades accepted his resignation. Authorities have come under fierce criticism for not thoroughly investigating reports of the women disappearing in the first place. A mother and daughter from Romania, thought to be the first victims, disappeared in September 2016, and the last of the victims, from the Philippines, around August 2018. Police say they will conduct an investigation into any perceived shortcomings. (Reuters/NAN) 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Manufacturing the machines 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. 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% or 2% 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. Poorvi Vora, Professor of Computer Science, George Washington University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The conversation The Nigerian Medical Association has said that about 2000 medical workers leave the country annually to developed countries. The National President of the Association, Francis Faduyile, said this in Abakaliki during the opening ceremony of the Annual General Conference/Delegates meeting of the association in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. He said the exodus necessitated the theme of the meeting which is Skill Repatriation in the Health Sector: Turning Nigerias brain drain to brain gain. The theme is apt at this point in time when brain drain in the health sector is at its peak, with about 2,000 health practitioners leaving the shores of Nigeria annually, Mr Faduyile said We believe that this ugly situation can be turned to an advantage hence the need to bring this to the front burner for discussion and proffer a way out to the countrys advantage. Mr Faduyile also said politicians in the country do not seem to be worried about the trend because they do not have the necessary statistics and facts on the matter. Without intent at generating further controversy on the matters arising from the unfortunate remark by a senior cabinet member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who incidentally or coincidentally doubles as a senior member of the medical profession, it is our firm belief that this gathering would generate further affirmatory statistics and facts that possibly would be enough in convincing those policymakers at critical MDAs of government at all levels, including the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity who perhaps are yet to come to reality with the scientifically unambiguous deleterious aftermath of the worsening disparity between the health workforce in general and the population they are serving vis-a-vis the alarming rate of the emigration of these health/medical professionals on health outcomes as reflected by the various morbidity and mortality data. Then, they can join us in the clarion call for action and be committed to instituting necessary actions, Mr Faduyile said. Francis Adedayo Faduyile The doctor was making reference to the labour minister, Chris Ngige, who recently made a controversial statement that appeared to support the emigration of Nigerian doctors. At Thursdays event, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, also expressed worry about the increasing rate of brain drain in the countrys medical sector. Represented by the Chief Medical Director of Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Emeka Onwe, the minister said the federal government was working hard to end the exodus of medical workers from the country. I am not particularly happy with the latest trend of doctors leaving the country to other lands for greener pastures. We shall continue to ensure the welfare of the health workforce is improved. Our effort at centralising the internship posting of newly graduated doctors had received the support of FEC and would be rolled out within the year. Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole Mr Adewole said the federal government has instituted a diaspora programme geared towards engaging doctors who have acquired the latest skills and knowledge that will help transform the health sector. The ministry will continue to improve on these activities to encourage the diasporans to make an increased contribution to our healthcare delivery. The minister also expressed concern at the inability of several state governments to recruit and keep medical doctors, including specialists in their secondary and tertiary hospitals. In many cases, most local governments health facilities do not have a doctor. These are unrelated to poor welfare and remuneration package at various levels amongst other factors. Declaring the conference open, the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, promised to continue supporting the doctors and other health care practitioners in the state. He said his administration will commence the construction of a new teaching hospital in June for the state universitys medical school in Uburu. Residents of Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of Zamfara State, on Wednesday, cordoned their emirs palace and killed seven suspected bandits. The armed bandits were said to be in the emirs palace for a peace talk after their cows were confiscated following an airstrike on their base in Birnin Magaji forest. The Nigerian Air Force has been conducting air strikes in Zamfara against the bandits whose activities have caused the deaths of hundreds of people in the past few years. Many of the bandits have been displaced by the air strikes. Some of them reportedly returned to neighbouring communities still bearing their arms causing fear among residents. Some residents told PREMIUM TIMES that after an airstrike on Birnin Magaji forest on April 4, many residents of nearby communities accompanied the soldiers into the forest where they found over 200 rustled cows. The cows were impounded and kept at the emirs palace in Birnin Magaji. However, early last week, the cattle were taken to Gusau, the state capital. On Wednesday, about seven suspected bandits and a person suspected to be an official of the State Security Service (SSS) came to the emirs palace. They were there to reportedly plead for the release of their cattle, residents said, asking not to be named for security reasons. The Emir of Birnin Magaji, Husseini Dan-Ali, was, however, said to be in Kaduna on Wednesday when they came. His secretary, Muhammadu Mai-inji, hosted the suspected bandits and SSS official inside the palace. After residents learnt about the meeting, they hurriedly cordoned the palace and attempted to set it ablaze. Soldiers guarding the palace, however, pleaded with them. The residents waited outside until the bandits came out. They lynched them. They also vandalised an SSS vehicle. The suspected SSS official was, however, rescued by soldiers, although he sustained severe injuries. The police in Zamfara are yet to speak on the incident. The police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, did not pick or return calls to his phone on Wednesday evening. Hundreds of people have been killed by the armed bandits in Zamfara. The bandits raid villages at will and also engage in kidnap for ransom. The federal government has deployed thousands of soldiers, police officers and other security personnel to check the activities of the bandits. Fresh details have emerged showing a British executive was a recipient of millions of pounds from the notorious multi-billion dollar Malabu oil deal. Peter Bosworth and the trading firm he ran, Arcadia Petroleum, have been named in multiple court documents as among the recipients of funds from the deal, documents obtained by this newspapers London partner, Finance Uncovered, and The Times have shown. The Malabu deal is the subject of criminal proceedings in Milan. Two middlemen have been convicted in one case, while Shell and Eni, two multinationals at the centre of the controversial deal, as well as some of their officials are also being prosecuted. The deal is also the subject of civil action in the United Kingdom, where Nigeria has filed a High Court claim against the oil multinationals and JP Morgan, the bank through which the funds went. Shell, Eni, some of their ex-officials and two former Nigerian ministers are also being prosecuted in Nigeria for their roles in the scandal. Finance Uncovered found that 55-year-old Mr Bosworth and Arcadia Petroleum have been named as having together received $16 million originating from the deal. Background The Malabu scandal involved the transfer of about $1.1 billion by oil multinationals, Shell and ENI, through the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete. From accounts controlled by Mr Etete, about half the money ($520 million) went to the accounts of companies jointly controlled by Abubakar Aliyu, popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA oil, and Mr Etete. Anti-corruption investigators and activists suspect Mr Aliyu fronted for top officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration as well of officials of Shell and ENI. The transaction was authorised in 2011 by Mr Jonathan through some of his cabinet ministers, and the money was payment for OPL 245, one of Nigerias richest oil blocks. Although Shell and ENI initially claimed they did not know the money would end up with Mr Etete and his cronies, evidence has shown that claim to be false. Shell and Eni photo used to illustrate the story. [Photo credit: THISDAYLIVE] Shell later admitted it did know the money would go to Mr Etete. Shell, Eni, Mr Etete, Mr Aliyu and several officials of the oil firms are being prosecuted in Italy for their roles in the scandal. Last June, PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Etete acquired luxury properties in Dubai with funds believed to have been sourced from the controversial deal. In April, the EFCC was urged to seize a private jet bought by Mr Etete from money he allegedly made from the Malabu deal. Sketchy Details Details of Mr Bosworths personality remain quite sketchy. There is little publicly available information about him and he has no accessible photographs. He joined Arcadia Petroleum in 1992 and rose to become chief executive in 2000. The commodities trading group is owned by John Fredriksen, a Norwegian billionaire. Meanwhile, Mr Bosworth left Arcadia Petroleum in 2013 and has since been sued by the company over separate allegations that he and another senior executive jointly perpetrated a $335 million fraud against it. Although both men deny the allegations, the case continues. Nigeria has said that it is investigating the reasons for the payments and is understood to be considering legal action to try to recoup the money. In Italy, Arcadia Petroleum and Mr Bosworth are not parties in any of the litigation and both deny any wrongdoing. A lawyer for Mr Bosworth told Finance Uncovered and The Times that no proceedings had been brought against him in relation to OPL 245. Advertisements But, a huge cache of leaked emails and payment records compiled by Italian prosecutors reveals links between Mr Bosworth, Arcadia Petroleum and Mr Etete, who had been convicted of money laundering in the past. The documents suggest that Mr Bosworth advised Mr Etete on matters relating to OPL 245 and that Arcadia paid for flights and hotels for Mr Etete for several years spanning the 2011 deal. This newspaper understands that the documents also appear to show that some of the money Arcadia received from the deal was set against Mr Bosworths debts to the company after it purchased a sumptuous Swiss chateau on his behalf. In his reaction, Mr Bosworth said he had no reason to believe anything was either unlawful or corrupt in his dealings with Mr Etete. He admitted giving Mr Etete some informal advice but he argued that he was not involved in the OPL 245 transaction. New Claim The Nigerian government has a new claim in London, which seeks to recover money paid in bribes and seeks damages over the fraudulent and corrupt scheme. Also, last month, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Jabi, Abuja, granted the prayers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a warrant of arrest against Nigerian officials implicated in the controversial deal. The officials include Mr Etete and Mohammed Adoke, a former justice minister. Also declared wanted were foreigners including Raph Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefano, and Burrato Sebastiano. Three Auschwitz Survivors Say They Wont Ever Stop Testifying The Fellowship | May 2, 2019 Auschwitz, Poland - July 2, 2009: The Auschwitz concentration camp is located about 50 km from Krakow. This photo is from Auschwitz II- Birkenau. The wooden barracks are simple compared to the brick houses in Auschwitz I. To the left are brick chimneys from barracks burned down by the nazis when the Red Army was getting close. Now approaching age 90, these survivors tell the Times of Israel that speaking out is more important than ever. The tattoos on three womens wrists A-5272, A-5792, 73305 may be fading, but their memories of the Holocaust have not. As the trio of Auschwitz survivors turn 90 this year, they continue to share their stories of tragedy, trauma and hope When The Times of Israel recently caught up with Auschwitz survivor Schloss, she has just returned to her home in London after a six-week tour of America. Now approaching her 90th birthday, which falls next week on May 11, Schloss is best known as the posthumous stepsister of Anne Frank her mother Fritzi married Annes father Otto Frank after World War II. Schloss was asked to go to the students private school and speak to the 16 year olds in question along with their parents. Schloss, who is the author of three books about her wartime experience, discovered the teens hadnt studied the Holocaust in school. She admonished their parents, saying, You cant rely on the school only, you have to tell children what is going on in the world and about prejudice. An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday granted bail to the Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Modibbo Kawu. Mr Kawu and three others including Dipo Onifade, Lucky Omoluwa, who is the Chairman of Pinnacle Communications Limited, as well as the company, are facing charges of corruption. The NBC boss was indicted for allegedly misappropriating N2.5 billion, a scandal that could slow down the nationwide rollout of the digital transmission of home television signals. They are being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on 12-count charges. Pleading not guilty to all the charges, Mr Kawu and his co-defendants through their counsel applied for bail. Count one of the charges reads: That you, ISHAQ MODIBBO KAWU (m), SIR LUCKY OMOlUWA and DIPO ONIFADE (m) sometime between December 2016 and May 2017, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, conspired with each other to use the position of ISHAQ MODIBBO KAWU, as Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission to confer corrupt advantage on SIR LUCKY OMOLUWA, your friend and associate by recommending to the Hon Minister of Information to approve payment of the sum of N25 Billion to PINNACLE COMMUNICATIONS ND, 0 private company owned bySlR lUCKY OMOLUWA as Seed Grant under the Digital Switch-Over Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria when you knew that the sand company was not entitled to receive such grant and you thereby committed on offence contrary to Section 26 ( l )(c) and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. RULING Ruling on the bail application on Thursday, the judge, Folashade Giwa, said the crime for which the defendants were charged is bailable. As part of the bail conditions, the judge ordered that the defendants pay N100 million each with two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties must be a landed property owner in Abuja, FCT. The other sureties shall be on grade 17 and above in the services of the Federal Government of Nigeria in FCT, Abuja. They should drop in court evidence of tax payment in the last three years. Mrs Giwa added that the prosecution shall file the addresses of the defendants, applicant and their sureties within five working days. The defendants are to deposit their passport photographs in court and inform the court of their contact telephone numbers. They are to deposit their International passport with the Deputy Chief Registrar of litigation of the court. The defendants are not to travel out of Nigeria without the order of the court. The defendants are given ten working days from the date of this ruling within which to comply to the bail conditions. The defendants are to remain with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences until their bail terms and conditions are met. In event that any of the defendants did not meet this conditions within the window of 10 working days from today, they shall be taken into the custody of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences and be remanded in prison pending when their bail conditions are met, she ruled. Mrs Giwa adjourned to May 3 for the commencement of trial. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board may cancel as much as half of the results of its 2019 university admissions exams in some states of the federation, a senior official has told PREMIUM TIMES. The official, who requested anonymity to be able to discuss JAMBs delay in releasing results, expressed disgust at the massive malpractice recorded during the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that held between April 11 and 18. The source said while all parts of the country took part in cheating, the situation was worse in some. He said the fearless display of fraudulent tactics by some individuals including parents and centre owners, would leave many people dumbfounded. While giving reasons for the delay in the release of this years UTME results by JAMB, the source said Nigerians would be shocked if they were privy to the recordings from the Closed Circuit Television cameras installed across the about 700 centres used during the examination. He said at least 50 per cent of centres in some states would likely have their results cancelled. Those people, I trembled when I saw the magnitude of malpractice they perpetrated, in spite of the technological measures JAMB took. I dont know what we can do again, the source said. If you look at the CCTV camera recordings, you would now wonder whether these people thought we were just joking when we insisted on installation of CCTV cameras. I am sure they didnt believe us because anybody that had believed us would not have tried what they tried in those places. The spokesperson for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, confirmed the large scale exams fraud, but said the board would not stereotype any particular region. Cancelled results Shortly after the conduct of the examination on April 18, JAMB had announced the cancellation of all results in two of its centres in Abia State. The two affected centres, Heritage and Infinity CBT Centre and Okwyzil Computer Institute Comprehensive School, Ugwunabo, Aba, were summarily suspended and all candidates who sat for the examinations at the centres were reallocated to other nearby centres. All the results of all the examination sessions starting from April 11 to 18, 2019, conducted by the Board at those centres were cancelled, JAMB stated in one of its bulletins. The JAMB spokesman, Mr Benjamin, said while widespread cheating as confirmed by CCTVs are not new, the impatience of many Nigerians had pushed JAMB to release results before thorough reviews of the recordings in the past. What we have found out is that those who indulge in malpractice are usually encouraged by the impatient attitude of Nigerians who dont always like matters being followed to a logical conclusion. That way, they always get away with their corrupt practices. But this time, we are patient to ensure that every single infraction is punished. We are crossing the ts and dotting the is. We are almost done with the CCTV reviews, we have considered the reports submitted by supervisors, and we have ensured that centres where widespread cheating is recorded we are able to fish out the few innocent candidates so that they dont suffer unjustly. So, very soon, we will release results. Declining cheating The official said he believed the problem of widespread malpractice was actually declining. It was worse before now but because we used to release results so soon after the examination, culprits are usually not punished. Our target is to have zero malpractice and we will get there, he said. Meanwhile, according to the source, many JAMB workers who took part in the conduct of the examination in the affected centres would face stiff punishment. I only pity our staff who went to conduct the exam in those places because clearly they were culpable. You know it is CBT exam, there is no way the massive fraud could have taken place without their connivance, the source said. For anyone to have done something, our staff must have compromised by agreeing with them. And you know the registrar? He will get to the roots of the matter, the source said, adding; And since those ones are our workers, we can take any action we deem necessary without any bureaucracy. On when the examination results would be released, the source said that should happen on Friday. We were thinking we would finish on Wednesday but we couldnt. When people post comments on the delay in the release of results, we only keep quiet because they dont know what we know. If you see the level of malpractice, you would be shocked. But am sure by Friday, the board should be able to release the results, he said. As solution to the examination malpractices observed during the examination, the source said JAMB may have to prune down the number of CBT centres taking part in its examination. This is as the official accused the private centres, owned by individuals as the major culprits. Less centres Another thing is that we will prune down centres drastically. All those private centres owned by individuals are significantly corrupt, and we may have to throw away not less than 400 centres. They dont have credibility, capacity and competence. In fact, they dont have anything. They just see these things as business and jump into it. We must have been deceived during their accreditations by borrowing facilities and human resources. Advertisements The JAMB Registrar, Isiaq Oloyede, had said a year ago that subsequent UTME results would not be released in less than 24 hours as done in the past, saying CCTV recordings have always shown that many candidates whose results were released did not deserve to have results. At least, we have displayed our capacity and competence that we can conduct the examination and release results immediately. But I can assure you that subsequently, JAMB under our watch would not release any result until each centre is properly screened through the CCTV footages, Mr Oloyede said at a forum with the media in 2018. This year, more than 100 persons were arrested nationwide by security operatives for engaging in one form of examination malpractice or the other, while more than 50 CBT centres were summarily suspended for allegedly aiding malpractice or over logistics challenges. Serving governors, newly-elected governors, and members of the House of Representative of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have endorsed the Majority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the next speaker of the ninth assembly. The endorsement was done on Tuesday night, ThisDay newspaper has reported. The Ogun State governor-elect, Dapo Abiodun, confirmed this on his Facebook page on Wednesday. He said Mr Gbajabiamila is believed to have the required experience and leadership skills to (lead) the House of Representatives. Last night (Tuesday), all the newly-elected and serving governors of the All Progressives Congress from South-west, along with members of the House of Representatives from the same region had a meeting where we unanimously endorsed the candidature of Femi Gbajabiamila as the next Speaker for the 9th Assembly, Mr Abiodun said. We are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that Gbajabiamila has garnered the prerequisite experience, leadership skills and wherewithal to successfully lead the green chamber and ensure that we have a smooth working relationship with the executive arm of government at the national level. The state governors and governors-elect have been participating in the induction programme organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum in Abuja. They decided to seize the opportunity of their presence in Abuja to hold consultations leading to a rancour-free election of presiding officers for the 9th National Assembly, he wrote. Efforts to get confirmation from Mr Gbajabiamilas media aide, Smart Olarenwaju, were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls and text message. The national leadership of the party had adopted Mr Gbajabiamila as its choice for the office for the position. The party explained that he was the preferred candidate because he is the highest-ranking member in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. The House is expected to be inaugurated in June. However, despite the partys decision, others have indicated interest in contesting for the position. APC lawmaker, Umar Bago, while joining the contest for the speakership position, said only those in the party who are working to impose the APC majority leader on the House are insisting on Mr Gbajabiamila. Another APC lawmaker, Nkiru Onyejeocha, who had also indicated interest in the position, appealed to Mr Gbajabiamila and the party to step down for her for Nigeria to move forward. The APC enjoys a clear majority in the incoming House of Representatives, winning over 200 of the 360 seats. Hence, it is expected to produce the Speaker, but as it happened in 2015, a different candidate other than the person endorsed by the party leadership may contest the election. While Mr Gbajabiamila and Ahmed Lawan were endorsed by the party for the speakership and Senate president positions in 2015, Yakubu Dogara and Bukola Saraki emerged as the Speaker of the House and Senate President respectively. The two winners later defected from the APC to the PDP. So far, there are at least seven members that have indicated interest in the position of Speaker. However, Mr Gbajabiamila is considered the leading candidate. The Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, has endorsed the Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila to lead the 9th Senate and House of Assembly. This was made known in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES by Kingsley Fanwo, the spokesperson to governor, Thursday morning. Governor Yahaya Bello has declared his unalloyed support for the endorsement of Sen. Ahmad Lawan and Hon Femi Gbajabiamila as the heads of the 9th Senate and House of Representatives respectively. The party had again endorsed Mr Gbajabiamila, the majority Leader of the House of Representatives and Mr Lawan, Senate leader, who were the partys choice in 2015 before they lost. This choice of the party did not, however, go down smoothly for some members of the party in the South-East and North Central who have been clamouring that this position be zoned to their region. Senator Ahmed Lawan According to the statement the governor who made his stand known while on a courtesy visit to a national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu in Lagos. He said the decision of the party remains his position on the next National Assembly leadership as they are both experienced and qualified to lead the Upper and the Lower Chambers. You are our National Leader and we are your children. You have set the agenda and we shall ensure we make it a reality. I supported Hon Gbajabiamila in 2015 but it was unfortunate that we lost out. This time around, we shall make sure the decision of the party prevails by electing the two of them to work with Mr President to move the nation forward he said. He also promised to mobilise senators-elect from his state in support of his choice. We have two Senators-elect from my State and seven House of Representatives members-elect. They will listen to us. Even the two others who are in ADC and PDP will be lobbied to support us he said. Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila. [Photo credit: Concise News] Governor Bello said his loyalty to the party and the National Leader of the party is not in doubt and he will continue to build the party to remain unbeatable in Kogi State. A reliable source who is an aide to the Governor said the meeting between the National Leader of the party and the Governor was successful. It was a successful meeting. I am aware the Governor has told the two Senators-elect and the seven Reps-elect to support both Lawan and Gbajabiamila and they have pledged to do so. Asiwaju thanked the Governor for being a true party man and assured him of the partys determination to retain Kogi in November. Asiwaju said the performance of the Governor in 2019 general elections was excellent and urged him to continue to pull everyone together for the greatness of the State. Speaking on the possibility of the governor getting his partys ticket and if the party Leader will support the Governors re-election, the source said APC is known for rewarding excellent performance. The Governor has done well politically and administratively. He will enjoy the support of all party leaders he said. President Muhammadu Buhari has saluted Nigerian journalists as they join their professional colleagues across the world to mark World Press Freedom Day. President Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Thursday, urged the journalists to use the day to appraise and recommit themselves to the ethics that guide their noble profession. He said: Without adherence to ethics, professions turn awry, and become part of national malaise, rather than solutions. That is why journalists must constantly recommit to the canons of fairness, accuracy, objectivity, balance, and other ideals that guide their profession. While celebrating the World Press Freedom Day, Mr Buhari urged the journalists to rededicate themselves to the role of being watchdogs of society. He, however, enjoined them to be mindful of the cohesion and equilibrium of that same society. There are always those who want to use the media to emphasise our fault lines as a people, dwell on primordial sentiments, and keep the country perpetually on the same spot. Be wary of such. The president noted that the theme of this years celebration, Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation, was quite germane for Nigeria, having recently concluded its general elections. He urged the media to reflect on the deleterious effect of fake news, misinformation and disinformation before, during and after the polls. Mr Buhari said the government would continue to ensure that the media was not muzzled in any way, since democracy and freedom of expression are kindred spirits. Our administration is committed to the highest levels of transparency, and we will guarantee press freedom at all times. We only require that the freedom be used responsibly, and for lofty ideals of national unity and development, the President asserted. The World Press Freedom Day is observed every May 3 to celebrate fundamental principles of press freedom, evaluate press freedom around the world, defend media from attacks on their independence, and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the practice of their profession. (NAN) The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Abayomi Fasina, has debunked allegation of salary fraud levelled against him by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the university. He said that he never received double salaries from two universities during his sabbatical as being alleged. In an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, Mr Fasina explained that he had his two sabbatical leaves at different times at FUOYE while he was a lecturer at Ekiti State University (EKSU). The union had alleged that Mr Fasina received two salaries from FUOYE and EKSU in the State of FUOYE Report. ASUU, in the report, frowned at the appointment of Mr Fasina, who it said joined the university from EKSU. It alleged the former lecturer at the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences at EKSU was recruited fraudulently into FUOYE. Professor Fasina came to the university in the year 2015 as a sabbatical staff from Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, and became a tenured staff without returning to his previous university before he became a tenured staff of FUOYE in the year 2017. He ought to apply from Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, where he is a confirmed professor, the union said in the report. It alleged that Mr Fasina received salaries as a lecturer at EKSU and FUOYE between October 2016 and February 2017, after the expiration of his sabbatical leave at FUOYE. He had applied for a 189-day leave to complete his students project supervision and other duties he was saddled with on sabbatical appointment at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti. The leave was scheduled to commence on January 2, 2016, and end on September 22, 2016. Fasina was acknowledged by the management of Ekiti State University on December 21, 2016, to have completed his sabbatical at FUOYE and had resumed work on Sept. 23, 2016. This came about five months after Mr Fasina had written to the Vice Chancellor of EKSU applying for Transfer of Service from Ekiti State University to Federal University, Oye-Ekiti. His letter to the VC was dated August 21, 2017. In the letter, Mr Fasina noted that the transfer of service to the Federal University would take effect from Sept. 1, 2017. The union alleged that while he had returned to EKSU at the end of his sabbatical leave, payment of his salary by FUOYE management as a professor on sabbatical leave continued from October 2016 to February 2017 on CONUASS 7/10. Mr Fasina, however, told NAN that he also started another engagement as a visiting lecturer at the end of his sabbatical and was only paid half of his salary because visiting was like a part-time appointment. The sabbatical leave was granted me in 2015. I started in January and ended in December which is normal with Sabbatical leave. I also wrote to my institution, EKSU to use my deferred leave and I was given an approval letter to use my deferred leave from January to September 2016. I finished that and after which I started a visiting appointment which is not a tenure appointment. I have the letter to that effect. It was dated 10th October 2016. Visiting appointment is not a salaried appointment. Its like a part-time job which is allowed; its not a tenured or a permanent job, he added. He insisted that there was never a time he worked on two permanent appointments. There was no time I worked on two permanent appointments and I have all my letters; the letter for transfer of service, the letter for accumulated leave approval by EKSU and the letter when I resumed, he said. Asked to clarify differences between being on sabbatical and on visiting, he said: when you are on sabbatical, you get your full salary with all the allowances and your salary will also be running at your former university. A professor is entitled to a sabbatical every six or seven years. When you are doing that, your university gives you approval and the other one gives you a letter. So I got those letters, he added. (NAN) Advertisements The absence of the defence counsel has stalled the trial of five students accused of gang-raping and blackmailing a fellow student. An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court is hearing the case. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Moboluwaji Omowole, 19, Chuka Chukwu, 19, Peace Nwakanma, 19, James Aguedu, 20 and Josephine Osemeka, 20, all students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), were arraigned over defilement of a child, permitting the defilement of a child in a premises, and pro-curation. Proceedings on Thursday, scheduled for the cross-examination of the complainant, could not hold due to the absence of Bisi Ademulegun, the new defence counsel to Mr Omowole, the first defendant. Mr Ademulegun had written to the court seeking for a short adjournment because he was Mr Omowoles new defence counsel and had just been briefed on the case. He noted that on the day scheduled for the continuation of the trial of the students, he had a case before the Court of Appeal in Ibadan. Reacting to the letter, which was read in court by Justice Abiola Soladoye, Jide Martins, a Deputy Director of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and lead prosecutor in the case, requested that the trial should go ahead. Mr Martins noted that the DPP intended to re-arraign the students on fresh charges. I am of the view that the matter is due for hearing and the delay occasioned by the learned gentleman is unfortunate, as this case has been on since February 26. There is also an amended charge before the court, he said. The defence counsel, however, did not oppose Mr Ademuleguns request for an adjournment. Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN), the defence counsel to Mr Chukwu (second defendant), in supporting the request for an adjournment said an accused is entitled to representation by counsel. If a counsel is absent for cogent reasons, I do not know what the hurry is. We were just served with the amended charge on April 29, which was on Monday. We will not be opposing the adjournment. Ben Aigbangbee, counsel to Mr Nwakanma (third defendant) noted in his submission, that he was yet to be served with the amended charge by the prosecution. Lawal Pedro (SAN), counsel to Mr Aguedo (fourth defendant), said that the new charge filed by the prosecution had brought a new twist to the case. My brief was to represent the fourth defendant on pro-curation, which is a misdemeanour. The new charge has changed the context of my brief. In this new charge, if the young man is found guilty, he is liable to life imprisonment. I will have to consult my clients again, an adjournment will not be prejudicial in the circumstances, Mr Pedro said. N. J Edechime, counsel to Miss Osemeka (fifth defendant), noted that in the new charge, his client had an additional charge filed against her. I was served with the amended charge in court. Though it has a two-count charge instead of the one-count given to the fifth defendant, I will not be opposing the request for an adjournment, Edechime said. Reacting to their submissions, Mr Martins said that contrary to what Mr Aigbangbee said, the second defendant had been served with the amended charge by the prosecution. One Isaac Osuntuyi was served on behalf of the second defendant, Mr Martins said. NAN reports that the complainant had on February 26 testified in court that she was lured by Nwankama, who was her roommate, to High Rise, a staff quarters hostel at UNILAG. The complainant said she was gang-raped at High Rise by eight students and the sexual assault was videotaped. Advertisements She also claimed to have been blackmailed with the video and further gang-raped on other occasions by the defendants and their accomplices, who are now at large. The five students have been remanded at the Kirikiri Prison since February 26, the day they were arraigned for the alleged offences. Mr Soladoye adjourned the case until June 27, for the continuation of trial. (NAN) The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on Thursday, decorated two of its personnel serving in Abia State, who were promoted to their next ranks for their bravery and high level of commitment. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the two officers Anya Nnachi and Chukwuemeka Ogbuja were shot by security men attached to the Abia Speakers wife, while trying to ensure discipline along Abia-Port Harcourt road. The incident happened in July 2017. Osadeba Osadebanwen, Enugu Zonal Commanding Officer of the FRSC, who decorated the officers with their new ranks in Enugu, said the promotion was in recognition of their bravery in insisting on what was right in spite of the attack on them. Mr Osadebanwen also commended the Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, for paying the medical bills incurred by duo. He described Mr Oyeyemis gesture as encouraging. The Abia State FRSC Sector Commander, Menshak Jatau, in his remark, appreciated God for preserving the lives of the officers, and thanked the Corps Marshal for accepting the apology of the Abia government over the matter. Also speaking, Kalu Ogbonnaya, FRSC Sector Commander for Enugu State, lauded the two personnel for being steadfast and committed in spite of the incident. One of the promoted personnel, Mr Ogbuja, thanked the FRSC management, especially the Corps Marshal, for finding them worthy to be promoted, saying that the gesture was indeed encouraging. NAN reports that Mr Ogbuja was promoted from Road Marshal Inspector to Senior Road Marshal Assistant, while Anya Nnachi was promoted from Road Marshal Assistant 2 to Road Marshal 1. (NAN) Clara, the estranged wife of a former Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, on Thursday, asked the FCT High Court, Apo, to grant her custody of their 10-year-old son, NAN reports. Clara said this in her response at the hearing of the petition filed by Mr Chime, seeking the dissolution of their marriage of 11 years. She said she is ready for the divorce and asked that the court grant her custody of their son as well as a child monthly maintenance fee of N500, 000 monthly. Clara told the court that her son was not properly cared for and she was only allowed to see him five hours a month under heavy security. She also informed the court that she was depressed during her marriage because her husband only had marital relations with her only on their wedding night and never touched her again. She further denied any allegation of schizophrenia but said she only saw the CMD of a neural psychiatric facility because her husband brought him home. The case was adjourned till June 10 for the continuation of hearing. In November 2014, Mr Chime denied imprisoning his wife, following a petition in which she made the allegation. He said she had some medical challenges, and it would be very unkind of me to talk about her condition on the pages of newspapers. Weve been battling her health challenges prior to my inauguration in 2011. It was so bad at a time that she had to be taken out of the Governors Lodge for treatment. He accused some people of exploiting his wifes situation to drag him into a needless war of words. The petition, also written to a lawyer, Femi Falana, prompted the senior advocate to urge the Inspector-General of Police to ensure the immediate release of the governors wife from unlawful detention by her husband. No fewer than 3,235 people died, 252 buildings collapsed and resources worth N3.5 billion lost between 2007 and 2018 as a results of building collapse in the country. Paul Oke, the Head of Construction Management Unit, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Abuja disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Thursday. He said building collapse were both natural and manmade disasters due to poor supervision and lack of using certified materials among other things. Mr Oke called on the professional bodies to always check their members to ensure that they delivered quality work that was up to standard. A contractor/developer needs to concentrate his time and resources in these sectors in order to accomplish set goals for the client/organisation against collapse of building, he said. According to him, it is important to always abide by the building codes and national standard to eliminate the building collapse in the country. He further advised the public to engage the services of professionals and use of standard materials for the construction of their projects. Incidents of collapsed buildings can however be reduced if not completely eliminated if relevant bodies in charge of giving approvals engage the services of experienced civil or structural engineers, he said. SON conducted general sensitisation workshop for the northeast on building collapse in Gombe State. (NAN) Rockets Fired into Israel on Yom HaShoah Stand for Israel | May 2, 2019 Embed from Getty Images Tensions between Israel and Gaza-based terrorists have again heightened, this time as the Jewish state observes Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Terrorists launched incendiary balloons, causing fires to rage in southern Israel. And then, The Times of Israels Jacob Magid and Judah Ari Gross report, when the IDF responded with strikes on Hamas, rockets were launched into Israeli territory: Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched at least two rockets into southern Israel early Thursday, the military said. The projectiles fell in an open area, and no injuries were reported. The rocket fire came after Israeli aircraft bombed a Hamas base in the northern Gaza Strip around 3:30 a.m. Thursday in retaliation for a wave of balloon-borne incendiary devices that were launched into Israel from the Strip the day before, which sparked at least two fires. Earlier today, explosive and arson balloons were launched from the Gaza Strip, the army said. In response, overnight, an IDF fighter jet and an IDF aircraft struck a number of terror targets in a Hamas military compound in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces said it held Hamas, the de facto ruler of Gaza, responsible for all violence emanating from the Strip As we remember the six million Jewish lives lost because of anti-Semitism more than seven decades ago, let us also pray to God for protection over His people as they still face hatred and violence to this day. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday said four of its staff who were abducted on April 23 had been released unhurt. Vincent Owan, the Director, Disaster Risk Reduction of NEMA, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Four staff of the agency who were commissioned to carry out National Food Security Intervention in Rivers were abducted by unknown gunmen at Ahoada, along East-West Road. Mr Owan said Our staff that were abducted last week have been released unhurt. Normally when people are being incarcerated for that period of time, they need to be taken to hospital for treatment. Presently they are receiving treatment at various hospitals where they are referred to for treatment. Though its a security issue, the NEMA as a responsive agency of government did all it could to make sure that they were released unhurt. On whether any amount was paid to secure the release of the staff, Mr Owan said There was no ransom paid by NEMA to the best of my knowledge. Though they have been released unhurt, but as human beings, it will take some time for them to get over the trauma because some of them are not stabilised and in their right mind to narrate the incident, but we are grateful to God for their release. Some of the staff who were seen taking treatment in a hospital on Thursday were unable to speak with NAN correspondent, due to their traumatic state. (NAN) In commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day, journalism experts, including lecturers and media practitioners, have enjoined journalists to check their facts from independent sources and balance copies before publication. This position was taken during a global interactive web chat and panel discussion organised by the United States Embassy in Abuja on Thursday. World Press Freedom Day is observed annually on May 3. It aims at informing the global community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. The World Press Freedom Day was created by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993. Discussion While discussing the role of a free press in an election, a journalism expert from the USA, Lucinda Fleeson, in a web chat, said journalists should reach beyond candidates statements. In an election, journalists should talk to other people especially independent people. A journalist should always have a balanced perspective too, she said. She urged journalists to be accurate in their reportage and avoid making up information. Ms Fleeson encouraged journalists to scrutinise the code of ethics of the Washington Post for proper guidance. She charged news organisations to sanction journalists engaged in plagiarism. Write in your own words, let your editors correct you, she said. Similarly, the moderator of the chat, Peter Clottey, said journalists should endeavour to fact check the sources of information. I usually fact check my information from three independent sources and experts. The results can challenge your credibility if you dont confirm. Also, journalists should also build their capacity by developing themselves to help improve their journalistic skills, he said. Also speaking, the Editor-in-Chief, PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed, said accuracy, fairness and balance are the core elements of good journalism. Mr Mojeed also urged journalists to explore the Freedom of Information Act in carrying out their duties. He said the Act has given journalists or individuals the right to sue any government official or organisation that refuses to grant information requested. UNESCO Event At another event, the Director-General of United Nations Scientific Cultural Organisations (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, said it is essential for journalists to enjoy the freedom of expression. According to her, about 99 journalists were killed in 2018. Press freedom requires a society where everyone has access to information, she said. The UNESCO event took place at Rockview Hotel (Royale) in Abuja. Also, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Christopher Isiguzo, said journalists must be given utmost safety and freedom. He said the theme of this years celebration is based on the negative impact of fake news in the world. Meanwhile, the publisher of PREMIUM TIMES, Dapo Olorunyomi, lamented the delay in the payment of journalists salaries, as well as the poor welfare conditions of personnel in the industry. He also said technology has been structured in such a way to check unverified information. He advised newsrooms to educate their reporters appropriately. Also, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force, Frank Mba, reassured journalists of a warm relationship between the media and the police. Advertisements He, however, asked media operators to help eliminate conditions that will lead to conflict. He said journalists should help deal with fake news. About 178 members-elect on Thursday reportedly declared their support for Femi Gbajabiamila (APC-Lagos) to emerge Speaker of the incoming 9th House of Representatives. Speaking to journalists on behalf of the newly-elected-members, Luke Onofiok (PDP-Akwa-Ibom), said the decision was reached after a critical look at the manifestoes of all the aspirants. Mr Onofiok said the 178 newly-elected members from across political parties met and examined the aspirants and realised that Mr Gbajabiamila was the man for the office. He said the problems of Nigeria needed a bi-partisan approach and that Mr Gbajabiamila had what it takes to do the job. Mr Onofiok, who is currently the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, said Mr Gbajabiamila would ensure the independence of the legislature while maintaining a good relationship with the Executive and the Judiciary. Two Nigerian senators on Wednesday engaged in a war of words over a court order. Isah Misau (PDP, Bauchi Central) and Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central) disagreed on the order barring the Senate from considering a report. Mr Misau accused Mr Omo-Agege of abusing the judicial process and the generosity of the leadership of the Senate with some of his actions, which, he said, seek to bring down the institution. His statement was a reaction to a court order restraining the leadership of the National Assembly and eight other parties from considering the report of the Senates ad-hoc committee. The committee was set up to probe the April 18, 2018, invasion of the Senate by some yet-to-be identified hoodlums. Mr Misau said Mr Omo-Ageges objective was to prevent the report of the committee from being considered. He said Mr Omo-Ageges action has shown the reason why the Senate should actually go ahead and consider the report and act on it, no matter the odds. Mace Theft In April 2018, some hoodlums invaded the Senate chamber during plenary, carting away the mace which serves as a symbol of authority in the legislature. Mr Omo-Agege is believed to have led the hoodlums into the chamber. One of the hoodlums went straight for the mace, grabbed it and made for the exit. The Delta lawmaker has however, denied any wrongdoing. Investigation/Recommendation A joint ad-hoc committee was constituted to investigate the invasion of the Senate chamber. The committee recommended the immediate suspension of Ovie Omo-Agege, the Delta Central senator, for 180 legislative days. It also called for the immediate prosecution of Mr Omo-Agege and six other suspects on charges of treasonable felony, assault occasioning harm, conspiracy to steal and actual theft of the mace. The committee also resolved that Mr Omo-Agege should be prosecuted for incitement and breach of peace inside the Senate chamber. Mr Omo-Agege, however, challenged the legitimacy of the ad-hoc committee in court. Court order An Abuja high court on Tuesday restrained the national assembly leadership and eight others from considering the report of the ad-hoc committee, Daily Trust newspaper reported. The court said the restraining order shall remain pending the determination of a suit filed by Mr Omo-Agege. Mr Misau, in his statement, said the court cannot stop the legislature from the performance of its constitutional duties. Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Delta-APC. [Photo credit: THISDAYLIVE] Omo-Agege has dared the Senate. Now, he should face the music. I blame the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki for delaying on the consideration of the report. The Eighth Senate is winding down and the general view of members is that before we leave, all outstanding reports should be considered and acted upon. If Omo-Agege does not have any hidden agenda, why is he seeking to stop the consideration of the report. After all, he was given fair hearing to state his own case before the panel? He is probably running helter-skelter now because he wants to become Deputy Senate President and he knows that if we adopt the recommendation of the committee, the outcome will affect his ambition. This is the reason why people should always consider the future implications of their actions, he said. He urged the Senate leadership to move swiftly to vacate the injunction granted to Omo-Agege by the Bwari court and ensure nothing stops the Senate from getting to the roots of that invasion by hoodlums. Hand of Esau In his reaction, Mr Omo-Agege described the allegations as the handiwork of Mr Saraki. He said Mr Misaus statement is not actually his intellectual property but that of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki. It is cowardly for Saraki to have Sen Misau sign his (Sarakis) press release. Saraki needs to brush up on his knowledge of the constitution and the law. Advertisements No where in the Constitution is he granted the right to investigate crimes. He should be counseled that the ancillary powers derivable from section 88 of the 1999 constitution must be excercised in furtherance of law making and not witch-hunting. Only the Nigeria police has the powers to investigate crimes. Omo-Agege has not dared the Senate and would never do so. He has instead dared Saraki to continue with his impunity and bigotry at his own peril, Mr Omo-Agege said. The Delta lawmaker mocked Mr Saraki for being voted out of office by the electorate in Kwara. The visiting President of the Swiss Federal Commission on Migration to Nigeria, Walter Leimgruber, on Thursday, enjoined Nigerian governments and the private sector to develop more possibilities for young Nigerians at home. Mr Leimgruber told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the development of prospective projects and job opportunities for them would discourage them from embarking on illegal migration to Switzerland. The view of many young Nigerians of Switzerland is that it is a rich country with a lot of prospectives where they can work, have a decent life and everything. But sometimes, they do not see that it is not so easy to get access to all of these. Nigerian governments and the private sector need to really begin to develop prospectives, projects, and jobs for the young people at home. The more these young people know that there is development in a good direction, the more probably they would stay in their country. They will then be willing to travel on the regular legal way, he said. Mr Leimgruber, who is leading a delegation of top executives of the commission to Nigeria, said that they were on a fact-finding mission to deepen Nigeria and Switzerlands migration partnership. The Professor of Cultural Anthropology said that the commission and the Swiss government had realised that it would take a partnership between both countries to effectively address issues of migration. Mr Leimgruber, who said that there would always be migration, however, added that it was important for people to embark on regular legal migration than risk their lives through illegal migration. We are in Nigeria because we think that this migration partnership between Nigeria and Switzerland is one very interesting project and programme on how international relations in the field of migration can best be handled. As a migration commission, we have for many years dealt with internal questions bothering on how to deal with migrants coming to Switzerland. We have also been looking to integrate migrants and put up the asylum system. We have realised more and more that we cannot deal with issues of migration alone. We have to work with organisations like the International organization for Migration (IOM), UNHCR, and other partners in countries where these migrants come from, he said. (NAN) The arraignment of the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, before an Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court was stalled Thursday due to the absence of the defendants. Joined in the suit are Cast Oil & Gas Ltd as the first defendant; Seyi Sanni, second defendant; Adekunle Adebayo, third defendant; Access Bank, fourth defendant; and Mr Wigwe, as the fifth defendant. The others are Titi Oshontoki, sixth defendant; Chinyere Bishop-Adigwe, seventh defendant; Sunny Amos Offiong, eighth defendant; Augusta Energy Nigeria Ltd, ninth defendant; and one Tunji Abraham who is at large. The defendants were accused of a $6.3million fraud. According to the judge, Hakeem Oshodi, proceedings cannot continue and neither can preliminary objections be heard when the defendants to be arraigned are not all present in court. The judge was responding to counsel to the fourth defendant, Paul Usoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who sought to raise a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter. When the matter was called, only two of the defendants were in court. Consequently, Mr Oshodi, adjourned the matter till June 3, for the hearing of the preliminary objection. The defendants are facing a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretences, fraud, and stealing, preferred against them by the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU). The prosecutor, Emmanuel Jackson, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said the defendants committed the offences between January and December 2015. He said they conspired with one another and with Augusta Energy of Geneva, Switzerland, to defraud Top Oil &Gas Development Ltd to the tune of over $6.3million. Mr Jackson said the defendants obtained the said money from Top Oil & Gas Development Ltd by falsely telling the chairman of the company, Don Etiebet, and other officers of the company, that Cast Oil and Gas Ltd had a contract with Augusta energy of Geneva Switzerland. They said the contract was for the supply of 10,000 metric tones of automatic Gas Oil (AGO) by Augusta Energy of Geneva to Cast Oil & Gas, and that the price of the products was $6,382,665.71. They allegedly claimed Top Oil & Gas was the consignee of the products. Mr Jackson also said the defendants had also informed the complainant that after financing, purchasing, supply and importation of the said products into Nigeria from Switzerland, it would take delivery of same in its capacity as a consignee of the product and authorised Cast Oil &Gas to sell the said products on its behalf. He further said the defendants also ensured that Top Oil & Gas Development recovered the monument invested for the purchase, supply, and importation of the said products, which they knew was false but induced the complainant to invest the said sum in the purported business, and fraudulently converted it to their own use and benefit. According to the prosecutor, the defendants stole $6.3million, the property of Top Oil &Gas Development Ltd, which they deceived company to pay to Augusta Energy of Geneva Switzerland on behalf of Case Oil &Gas as the cost price of 10,000 metric tonnes of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO). Meanwhile, the product which Top Oil &Gas Development Ltd, was deceived to pay for, was not supplied or imported into Nigeria, but they instead converted the money into their own use and benefit. Mr Jackson said the alleged offences are contrary to Sections 422 of the criminal code, Cap C38, Laws of the Federation 2004, 8 (a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other related offences Act, No 14 of 2006. He said the offences are punishable under Section 1(1)(a) of the same Act, 383 (2)(f) and 390 (9) of the criminal code, Cap C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) has announced the arrival in South Africa of its election observation mission (EOM) led by former President Goodluck Jonathan to observe the countrys national and provincial elections. A statement issued by the South African-based EISA ahead of the May 8 elections quoted former President Jonathan of stating that the polls would provide another opportunity for South Africans to exercise their voting right and deepen the roots of the nations democracy. In the arrival statement, Mr Jonathan said: It is a great pleasure for me to lead the EISA election observation mission to the 2019 national and provincial elections in South Africa. These elections which come in the 25th year of South Africas democratic journey are of great importance as they provide another opportunity for South Africans to exercise their right to vote and thus support the countrys democratic consolidation. The EISA EOM seeks to contribute to the integrity of the electoral process through its findings and recommendations. The statement added that the Jonathan-led observer mission which has Mr. Denis Kadima, EISAs Executive Director, as the deputy mission leader is comprised of 37 international observers drawn from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Election Management Bodies (EMBs), and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) from 16 African countries. It is the fifth EOM to be deployed by EISA in South Africa since the 1999 elections. It said further: EISA observers will be deployed in 18 teams to all the nine provinces of South Africa to observe the last days of the electoral campaigns, pre-polling activities, special voting, and Election Day and post-polling activities. On 10 May 2019, the EISA EOM will issue a statement on its preliminary findings and recommendations on the electoral process. The EISA EOM is in South Africa at the invitation of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa, to conduct an independent assessment of the electoral process and contribute to its integrity through its findings and recommendations. These elections are the sixth to be conducted since the end of Apartheid and the adoption of the 1996 Constitution. They coincide with the 25th anniversary since the country held its first elections by direct universal suffrage, marking a critical milestone in the countrys democratic journey. A peaceful and successful election will therefore further cement the democratic gains made by the country over the past generation. EISA is pleased to be part of this historic moment in South Africa. Jonathan leads observer mission to South African elections This is the second time that former President Jonathan would be leading EISA EOM, having led a similar mission to Sierra Leones Presidential election last year. He had previously led other international election observer missions to many countries including Tanzania, Zambia and Liberia. Since leaving office in 2015, Mr Jonathan has been lending his support to the efforts to consolidate democracy in Africa. Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara are among the speakers that will discuss press freedom in Nigeria in the next two days. The event is organised by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) and holds in Abuja. The event is to commemorate World Press Freedom Day on the 3rd of May, and help explore workable solutions to problems plaguing the Nigerian media space the organisers said. Others expected at the event include senior lawyer, Femi Falana, and journalism professor, Lai Oso. Read the details of the event as provided by the organisers below. Senator Bukola Saraki, President of the Nigerian Senate, and the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, are billed to speak at a two-day conference on Press Freedom in Nigeria hosted by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism [PTCIJ] on the 3rd and 4th of May 2019 in Abuja. The event is to commemorate World Press Freedom Day on the 3rd of May, and help explore workable solutions to problems plaguing the Nigerian media space with regards to constraining laws and policies. Honourable Justice Dupe Atoki, Justice of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice will deliver the keynote address. PTCIJs Deputy Programmes Manager, Oluwatosin Alagbe, said Friday in a release in Abuja that the centre is organising the events in partnership with the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption (RoLAC) Programme of the British Council, and will bring key stakeholders together to analyse existing laws that hold the media back from holding government accountable. Ms Alagbe said key stakeholders in government, security agencies and the media have already arrived Abuja for the events. They are Femi Falana (SAN); Prof Lai Oso (LASU); Abdulmumuni Tokunbo (SERAP); Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) Representative; Secretary, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Dr Tayo Popoola, Mr Adegoke Adeboye (Paradigm Initiative) and Jiti Ogunye, legal adviser to Premium Times, among other distinguished Nigerians. There will be four panel discussions on The Nigerian Media, Constraining Laws, and Justiciability of Statute, Media Practice and the Shrinking Space of Journalistic Freedom, Conflict and the Press: Challenges and Limits in Coverage Pattern, National Security, The Press and Treaty Obligation and a workshop on Formulating a Legislative Agenda for the 9th Assembly to enhance protection of Press Freedom. Historically, the Nigerian press is famed for being one of the key drivers in ensuring Nigerias independence from colonialism, especially when the Lagos Press helped articulate the case for Nigerias independence. In the Second Republic, the Nigerian media became the vehicle for pushing and defending democratic norms. Unfortunately, the darker years of military rule in the country eroded the media and encouraged attacks against journalists and other members of the press. These practices survived the end of military dictators and have passed into todays democratic sphere. Scholars of Nigerias pre-independence and post-independence period agree on the central role of our media as an accountability mechanism, and Ms Alagbe, in her statement, remarked that constant allusions to the role of the media as a pivotal institution in Nigerias democratisation reminds us all how the future of democracy unquestionably rests on the promotion of the rule of law and accountability in the body polity of the nation adding that the role of the press in the realisation of this important goal is front and centre and does not need any constraining laws or policies. The event is holding at the New Chelsea Hotel, Central Business District, Abuja, and begins at 9 a.m. daily. The House of Representatives on Thursday invited President Muhammadu Buhari, to address the nation on measures taken to tackle rising cases of killings, banditry, armed robbery and kidnappings. This followed a motion on the urgent Need for Federal Governments Intervention on the Ongoing Wanton Killing of Innocent Persons, Destruction of Property, Armed Robbery and Kidnappings by Heavily Armed Bandits Operating Within Safana/Batsari/Dansamu Federal Constituency. The motion was moved by Ahmed Dayyabu-Safana (APC-Katsina) at plenary. Mr Dayyabu-Safana said some villages within his constituency had been serially attacked with many people killed by armed bandits. He said as an immediate step in containing the evil activities of the heavily armed bandits, the president should urgently declare a state of emergency in the federal constituency. The recent spate of the said attacks on members of my constituency has reached an alarming stage as the perpetrators of this act continuously kill innocent persons in my constituency. They set their homes ablaze while defenceless men and women are abducted to an unknown destination. Up to four villages within my constituency are currently under attack in the last 48 hours. The villages are Massa in Batasari Local Government Area, where no fewer than five persons have been killed, Alhazawa in Safana LGA has been totally displaced. Guzurawa village in Safana LGA also has several persons murdered in cold blood. And just yesterday, Gobirawa Village came under attack with no fewer than 12 dead bodies littered in the bush while many are still missing. These killings have continued unabated and these bandits seem to be unstoppable with a specific instance at Gobirawa Village in Safana LGA. The bereaved villagers there are forced to abandon the corpses during the burial and scamper for safety when they sighted the bandits coming back to launch another offensive, he said. He expressed worry that the bandits, who operated both at night and in broad day light on motorbikes, paraded sophisticated weapons including AK 47 assault rifles. He added that they paraded other dangerous weapons which they used in committing heinous crimes against his constituents. The lawmaker said in spite of persistent cries from the affected communities, the security operatives appeared not be proactive, especially on security tips off and most times failed to respond promptly. The fundamental duty of any government is the protection and preservation of lives and property by being responsive in the face of this type of cruelty and atrocity committed against its citizen. It is the constitutional duty and responsibility of this hallowed chamber to take action whenever these levels of inhuman and brutal attacks are being inflicted on any community or group of people, he said. Bashir Babale (APC-Kano), who said Infrastructure has collapsed where banditry takes place, compared the former administration with the present one. He said that it was wrong to have accused the erstwhile government of being docile. Gabriel Onyenweife (APGA-Anambra) said Nigeria is not a safe country. The executive should take the lead and lead Nigeria from a failed security state. Similarly, Chika Adamu (APC-Niger), who spoke with tears, said the government must urgently find solution to the problem. We must do something, Mr Speaker, I cant go to my village and spend a night since the last one year, he said. Useni Moriki (APC- Zamfara) said his own local government was not safe. Advertisements What happened in Yobe, in Borno in the northeast is now happening in northwest, in Zamfara, in my own local government, he said. Also Abiante Awaji-Inombek (PDP-Rivers) said it was different strokes for different people. Here we are, convinced that we have a problem on our hand but outside of this place, some will tell you that Nigeria is more secured than before. That tells you that we are not on the same page, he said. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House, said it was necessary to invite the President for an address since the issue of banditry had become national. The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker. The House, therefore, urged the federal government to deploy the military to the areas under attack to assist the police and other security agencies in flushing out the criminal elements operating in the constituency. It also called for the declaration of state of emergency in the area while urging the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide relief materials to the victims of the attacks. (NAN) The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said Nigeria should ask for support in the fight against Boko Haram and that Britain would be ready to give. Mr Hunt said a perceived rift between the Nigerian Army and the local populace in the North-east is fueling violence in the region. He said intelligence information reaching him reveals that lack of trust between the authorities and indigenes is one of the reasons that fuels attacks in the region. He also said the British government would be willing to support the military fight insurgency, only if the authorities ask for help. The British government, in August 2017, announced 200million as aid to assist Nigeria in fighting insurgency and training its military personnel for four years: from 2018 to 2022. Mr Hunt gave the latest assurance while on a visit to Maiduguri as part of his Africa tour seeking new UK partnerships across Africa, The Guardian, (UK) reports. He is expected to visit Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya from April May 2019. I am here in Maiduguri North-east Nigeria, where the conflict which has involved both Boko Haram and Islamic state West Africa has meant that two million people have been displaced living in, effectively, refugee camps, Mr Hunt reportedly said. And the U.K is supporting the World Food Programme (WFP) which is doing an extraordinary job. We have given 150 million since the start of the conflict and they have been able to feed 1.5 million people as a result of their activities here. I think the crucial deciding factor is the willingness and enthusiasm of the Nigerian government and the Nigerian army to work closely with us we would like to support and help them, but they are a sovereign nation and they have got to want our help, he said. The British envoy also accused the military of moving the locals into towns and assuming the ones that are not in a secure area are members of Boko Haram. He said while the approach is understandable, the effect means depriving the indigenes of their livelihood and homes. The feedback I got from NGOs on the ground is that lack of trust between the authorities and local people is one of the things that is fuelling the problem at the moment. The Nigerian army strategy is largely about herding people into towns and saying if you are not in a secure area, we are going to assume you are Boko Haram and/or Islamic State west Africa, he added. The official said his government is considering providing both military and non-military support to Nigeria. I think our approach is potentially a very significant one because we could bring not just the British army (support) but also DfID (the Department for International Development) and our experience in holistic solutions to these kinds of situations, Mr Hunt explained. What Starts with Words Ends Up with Horrible Things Stand for Israel | May 2, 2019 Embed from Getty Images At 90 years old, Max Eisen is still working to keep the promise he made to his father, who was murdered during the Holocaust. While Max survived the Holocaust and went on to do great things in the world, The Jerusalem Posts Sheri Oz writes about how he is shocked that the same anti-Semitism that led to the deaths of his father and six million other Jews is on the rise today: When he landed in Canada at the age of 20, a short few years after the Holocaust had wiped out his family, he did not expect he would ever see antisemitism take on the shape of the Jew-hatred he had experienced in Nazi Germany. Yet that is exactly what he sees happening in North America now, especially in the United States. Talking with Holocaust survivor Max Eisen on the phone, you can easily mistake his voice for that of a young man. At 90 years of age, he still speaks at venues across Canada, keeping his promise to his father to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. This year marks the 20th time he will be at March for the Living, a march that goes from Auschwitz to Birkenau to commemorate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Through his lectures and the March, Canadian National Director of the March Eli Rubenstein says, Eisen has probably educated over 100,000 students and adults. Those who learn from him are filled with gratitude for the experience. BDS is a big problem for me because what starts with words ends up with horrible things. What about BDS is so troublesome? Some of the extremist statements against Israel emanating from the BDS movement remind me of the propaganda used by the Nazis against the Jews in the Holocaust era. To single out for extreme criticism the only Jewish state in the world the way the BDS movement does with Israel, in many cases has roots in anti-Semitic feelings and will inevitably lead to more antisemitism. Workers of Kwara State Printing and Publishing Corporation, publisher of The Herald Newspapers, on Thursday staged a peaceful protest over what they described as poor working conditions. The aggrieved staff also decried the poor condition of their offices, the entire vicinity in which the media outfit is located as well as non-payment of accumulated allowances. The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as: Salary Discrepancies, Epileptic Production, Backlog of Promotions, Bad Working Environment and Non-payment of salaries, among others. The staff, under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW), shut down the gate leading to the premises of the newspaper house in Ilorin, the state capital. Speaking with Journalists, the NUPPPPROW Chairman, Abdulrasaq Ahmed, said the workers were protesting bad working environment and dilapidated state of infrastructure in the outfit. He said that staff have had to contend with the poor working condition for almost nine years without any hope in sight. The NUPPPPROW chairman stated that the staff used to take refuge under the tree because of the unbearable nature of their offices. Mr Ahmed decried the epileptic production of the newspaper, which used to be on the newsstand four times in a week, but now struggling to come out once in a week. He said the situation had rendered several able staff redundant. The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mohammed Sabi, while addressing the aggrieved workers, called for calm, promising to table the grievances before Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. He lauded the workers for being civil and law-abiding in their agitation. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that The Herald is one of the oldest state newspapers in Nigeria. (NAN) A High Court sitting in Koton-Karfe, Kogi State on Thursday nullified the April 2 resolution of the House of Assembly recommending the removal of the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajanah, for gross misconduct. The court also set aside the resolution of the assembly recommending the Chief Registrar of the state High Court, Yahaya Adamu, to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for disciplinary action over alleged gross misconduct. Justice Alaba Omolaye-Aiileye, the presiding Judge, quashed the resolution on Thursday in Koton-Karfe while ruling on Motion NO. HC/KK02M/201 in the SUIT NO. HC/KK/11CV/2018 brought by the Chief Judge and the Chief Registrar. The motion had as respondents, Kogi State House of Assembly; Speaker of the House; Bello Hassan Abdullahi, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee; the Governor of Kogi State and the Attorney-General of Kogi State. In his ruling, Mr Omolaye-Aiileye said he had come to an irresistible conclusion that the resolution of the assembly arising from its sitting of April 2, recommending the removal or stepping aside of the Chief Judge for gross misconduct, must not be allowed to stand. He said the resolution having been reached in clear violation of the orders of this court, is, accordingly hereby set aside and declared a nullity. With the positive orders of this court made on December 13, 2018 and reinforced on December 18, 2018, Kogi State House of Assembly ought not to have done anything to give the impression that it was trying to pre-empt the decision of this court. It is tragic that the respondents whose primary responsibility is to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Kogi state will be the same institution to be associated with violation of court orders, he said. The jurist said it was his considered view that the action of the Assembly was a blatant and an impudent act which ought not to be tolerated or encouraged in a democratic setting. It is an audacious and arbitrary display of naked power, an act that is contrary to all constitutional and democratic tenets, he said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the applicants approached the court by way of an interlocutory application. They prayed for an order nullifying and setting aside the resolution passed by the Assembly at its sitting of April 2. It was alleged in the motion paper that the Assembly acted upon a report submitted to it by its Public Accounts Committee and resolved, amongst others, that the Chief Judge be removed for alleged gross misconduct. The application was predicated on the sole ground that the resolution of the Assembly, which bordered on the substantive matter, was passed in violation of subsisting orders of the court. The court had on December 12, 2018, in its ruling on application brought by the claimants/applicants, granted an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents from taking any step in respect of the substantive matter, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice. NAN recalls that the court had on April 12, adjourned sine die, ruling on the motion as the court abruptly shut down during a two-hour stand down, following sudden withdrawal of police personnel from the court on Order from above. (NAN) The police in Zamfara said on Thursday that an all-female secondary school was attacked by armed bandits on Wednesday night. But no students were abducted, the state police commissioner, Celestine Okoye, told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Thursday morning; contrary to a viral rumour on social media. We have confirmed reports of an attack on the school in Moriki, but no students were abducted, Mr Okoye said. Unfortunately, four cooks were abducted from the school. Moriki is in Zurmi Local Government Area, which has been one of the most terrorised areas by bandits in the northwest. A spokesperson for the state government did not immediately return requests for comments. Some social media posts cited the BBC Hausa as reporting that at least two teachers were abducted alongside the cooks. The bandits had reportedly blocked the road leading to the school before breaking into its premises. Mr Okoye said details of how the girls were prevented from being abducted would be made public shortly. The police chief said efforts were underway to rescue the victims, urging parents and members of the community not to be apprehensive about unconfirmed social media claims. Suspected armed bandits are reportedly planning a retaliatory attack on Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of Zamfara State, residents and a military official have said. Residents said the suspected bandits numbering thousands are moving closer to Birnin Magaji town, as at Thursday morning, to avenge the killing of seven of their members on Wednesday. PREMIUM TIMES reported Thursday morning how residents of the town cordoned off their emirs palace and killed seven suspected bandits on a peace mission. The bandits were reportedly in the palace for a peace talk after their cows were confiscated following an airstrike on their base in Birnin Magaji forest. Imminent Attack One of the residents said the armed bandits were seen visibly approaching the community in an attempt to attack. He said they (bandits) retreated because the residents are also prepared for any eventuality. He requested not to be named for security reasons. He added that youth from other communities have converged at Birnin Magaji town in solidarity for the potential attack. He said the chances of a reprisal attack from the armed bandits is high. He said there are a few security personnel manning only the emirs palace and the home of Nigerias Defence Minister, Mansur Dan-Ali. Mr Dan-Ali hails from Birnin Magaji, and the Emir, Husseini Dan-Ali is his younger brother. The government need to be proactive to avoid more bloodshed, security reinforcement in the area is paramount, the source said. Military Aware When contacted, Clement Abiade, the acting spokesperson, Operation Sharan Daji, said the military are aware about the planned attack. Thats why more troops are on (the) ground in the area because mostly, we suspect a reprisal attack, the soldiers are on alert, he said. Zamfara, like other states in the region, has been rocked by the activities of armed bandits that have led to the loss of hundreds of lives in recent months. The police in Rivers say they have secured the unconditional release of four abducted staffers of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Nnamdi Omoni, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Command in the state, made this known in a statement on Wednesday. Mr Omoni said the four staffers, who were abducted on April 24 on the East/West Road, were debriefed and released to their families after they were rescued. He said that operatives of the Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit rescued the victims in a sting operation on Monday at about 0015hrs. The PPRO said that in another development, operatives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit in Aluu Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, on Tuesday raided a kidnapping camp at Ozuoba. The hoodlums, on sighting the police, engaged them in a gun battle and in a return fire, fatally wounded one Stephen Matthew m aka Wenekanma a notorious armed robber/cultist and the gang leader of Dey-gbam group. He has been terrorising Alakahia and Choba Communities Obio/Akpor LGA and killed one Ibe Chima, m in Alakahia, in a recent attack. Manhunt has been declared for his fleeing members, he said. According to Mr Omoni, the IGP Monitoring Unit, in a similar operation at Eleme LGA on Monday, stormed a camp at Agboncha sand field forest belonging to a notorious kidnapping kingpin, Amebe. On arrival, Amebe was greeted with severe gunfire, resulting in his death, while two others were arrested. Exhibit recovered included, one Pump Action Gun and five live cartridges and some expended ones, he added. Mr Omoni stated that the war against banditry in Rivers is still on and the police command would stop at nothing until the practice was stopped. He urged the public to remain calm and to continue their normal businesses as the command remained committed ensuring the safety of lives. He urged the people to help the police make the state safe and secure. In keeping with our avowed determination to rid the state of all criminal elements and make it habitable for all and sundry, we need the support of everyone, the PPRO said. (NAN) A driver, Ayeyi Adegboye, who drove a wine Audi car, with registration number KTP-668 RG, allegedly crushed two motorcyclists to death. The incident happened on the night of April 27, along Erinje-Okitipupa road, Okitipupa, Ondo State. A witness who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Okitipupa gave the names of the deceased as Olaniyan Akinmoye and Sola Akinlose. Bode Akinmoye, a family member of one the deceased, also told NAN that although the driver was apprehended by the Okitipupa Police Division, the case was not being treated according to the law of the land. He said that some powers that be want to hijack the case so that the offender would not be brought to book. The driver oversped on the highway on that Saturday night and crushed two motorcyclists, Olaniyan Akinmoye and Sola Akinlose, to death. The driver has been arrested by the Okitipupa Police but since then, we did not hear anything about the case again. I think some powers that be want to hijack the case so that the offender will not face the law. This is injustice, he said. He explained that the deceased were returning from Ode-Erinje when the driver allegedly ran over them. All efforts by NAN to speak with the Okitipupa Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Olubukola Abe, on the matter was unsuccessful as he did not pick his calls and did not respond to the text message sent to his phone. NAN also confirmed that the case has not been charged to court. Meanwhile, Femi Joseph, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the incident to NAN on the telephone. He, however, said the alleged driver was not the one who killed the motorcyclists, saying that he had an accident at a scene different from where the motorcyclists were killed. Mr Joseph said investigation was ongoing to ensure that the culprit was apprehended by the police. The alleged driver was not culprit, his car is in our custody but he has been released partially on bail but investigation is still on to apprehend the original culprit, he said. The remains of the deceased were however taken to the Okitipupa General hospital. (NAN) Dozens of community leaders, landlords, and residents of the Agidingbi area of Lagos Thursday staged a peaceful protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly against a court ruling giving them seven days to vacate their properties. The protesters, which included youth, women, and elderly people, chanted songs in Yoruba as they marched towards the Assembly complex. Their placards bore inscriptions such as There is no ancestral connection between Akinole-Oshiun and Agidingbi, LASG save our community, Red card to land grabbers, O to ge fun Awon omo onile (Enough is enough for land grabbers), among others. The protesters had woken up last week to see a court notice on their buildings, dated April 26, giving them seven days to evacuate the premises. The notice indicated that the first judgment, which affirmed the ownership of the land to the Akinole-Oshiun family, was first delivered in 1983. According to the notice, a Supreme Court ruling had also awarded ownership of the 398 acres of land and about 2,000 buildings to the Akinole-Oshiun family. The possession order covered a large part of Lateef Jakande Road (housing Coca-Cola, Daily Times newspaper and Cadbury Plc), Acme Road (where Daily Trust and Telegraph newspapers, as well as the APC secretariat, are located), Fagba Close among others. Anger Dorcas Faworaja, the 83-year-old Iyalode (woman leader) of Agidingbi, said she never heard of the Akinole-Oshiun family until 2003, adding that they do not have a family house in the community. For people crying for justice, I was told they brought back-up policemen arresting people, said Mrs Faworaja, who, aided by her walking stick, joined the protesters. We can just wake up and see bulldozers demolishing houses and you know what that means. At 83, I should be resting but because of the trouble they have caused, I am here. Our grandparents never told us about Akinole, they only surfaced in 2003 to claim they are the owner of the land, how possible is that? Ganiyu Aruna, the Baale (head) of the community, said the Akinole-Oshiun family had been in a 42-year tussle over the land with the Lagos State government. We havent heard anything about Akinole, my grandparents were born there and nothing like that was ever mentioned. We werent invited for any court process at all, we are not aware of the case, he said. We dont want any problem in our community and we are law-abiding citizens, we pay our taxes and the land use charge. Wasiu Seidu, a legislator in the Ojodu local council, begged the state government to save the community from the alleged land grabbers. They just brought a (court) judgment and placed on the wall, he said. Agidingbis name was not mentioned in the judgment and it states that they have just won a case against Lagos government and they are seizing the land by court order and everyone is expected to move out in seven days. We are pleading with Lagos State government to save us against land grabbers. Rattled Official Ajao Mutair, the director of public affairs in the office of civic engagement, appealed to the protesters to maintain law and order in the community and promised that prompt action would be taken by the state government. There is property protection law, there is land grabbers committee in place by the government to ensure that there is peace in the acquisition of property in Lagos State, Mr Mutair said. When this issue arises now, we will collect your papers and before tomorrow we will get back to you. The court order issued to the residents is reproduced below: This is to inform the general public and in particular, all illegal occupants of that piece of land measuring 398 acres, situated, lying and being at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos State that the said land has been variously confirmed up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria as legally belonging to the Akinole-Oshiun Family, a land area which is more delineated in the Judgement Survey Plan No. CK/LS/272 dated 22/12/17 drawn by Abolade Coker, Licenced Surveyor; that the family has by the above court judgments taken possession of its legitimate land immediately. The title of the said parcel of land has been variously re-affirmed in favour of the Akinole-Oshiun Family in the following cases namely: 1. By the judgments of High Court of Lagos State in Suit No ID/216/77L delivered by Hon. Justice B.O. Martins on 19th August 1983 and re-affirmed on 26th March 1993; 36 years and 26 years ago respectively. Advertisements 2. Appeals/Applications at the Court of Appeal to set aside the above-referenced judgments by the Attorney- General of Lagos State in Appeal No. CA/L/517/99, were struck out on 23rd September, 2003; 4th July 2005 and 14th April 2008 respectively, and in Appeal No. CA/L/649M/2006, another Application was struck out on the 26th of April 2007. 3. Further Appeals to the Supreme Court in Suit No. SC/173/2009 dated 24th May 2010, was dismissed thereby reaffirming the judgments of the High Court and the Court of Appeal respectively. 4. That pursuant to the various Certificates and Warrants of Execution for Possession issued by Particular Lagos State High Courts to the Akinole-Oshiun Family, dated 28th July, 2000 and 3rd October 2006, the latest being that which was issued on 3rd November 2016 after the favourable judgment secured by our family in Suit No. ID/923M/99, the family was again frustrated through a curious appeal filed by a non-party to the cases, which sought to relitigate the case already decided by Supreme Court in our favour since 24th May 2010. The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on 29th March, 2019 has finally dismissed the Appeal No. CA/L/776/14. Therefore, by the above, Lagos State High Court and Court of Appeal favourable judgments, the Akinole-Oshiun Family takes effective possession of our land, the 398 acres of land at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos State. EGG HARBOR CITY Tackle Direct, a business that bills itself as the Worlds Premier Fishing Outfitter, has taken the first step to develop a property in Egg Harbor City. Mayor Lisa Jiampetti made the announcement at the Thursday, April 25, City Council meeting. I met with our City Planner Tim Michel and redevelopment attorney Fred Scerni, and they suggested that we pass a resolution requesting that the Land Use Board begin an investigation to deem the property an area in need of redevelopment, Jiampetti said. The area that would be developed is adjacent to Egg Harbor City Lake on Philadelphia Avenue. It is an area set aside for passive recreation, city engineer Ryan McGowan said. It was originally planned to be developed as a recreation complex but that was nixed due to the millions of dollars it would have cost. I was included in a meeting with the Pinelands Commission where this was discussed. The commissions staff was impressed by what is planned. McGowan said that the proposed development would include a 70,000-square-foot warehouse and retail building. It would also include an artificial lake where customers could try out the equipment the store has to offer. TRENTON Students attending all 19 of the states community colleges are now eligible for free tuition for the spring semester, the state said Wednesday. After initially naming only 13 of the community colleges including Atlantic Cape Community, Ocean County and Cumberland County colleges to participate in the Community College Opportunity Grant (CCOG) pilot program for spring 2019, the state found more students than originally expected were receiving tuition funding from other sources, such as the federal Pell grant. +2 Atlantic Cape, Cumberland and Ocean to participate in free college pilot Three local community colleges will be part of a pilot program to offer free two-year post-s This freed up additional money in the spring 2019 allocation for the remaining six community colleges, said David Socolow, executive director of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority. We are delighted that students at New Jerseys county colleges are hearing about this initiative to make college more affordable, Socolow said. The CCOG provides what is called last-dollar funding for students enrolled in a two-year college who are taking at least six credits and whose families earn less than $45,000 a year. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. TRENTON The former Pleasantville English teacher who pleaded guilty last year to his role in the multi-million dollar federal health benefits fraud case can no longer teach in New Jersey. Richard "Erick" McAllister became the first of the four individuals in the case who hold state certifications to have his license revoked. In an opinion issued by the state Board of Examiners on March 8, the board ordered that McAllister return to the state his Teacher of English Certificate of Eligibility and his Teacher of English certificate. "Because the Legislature and the Commissioner consider McAllisters offense so significant, the Board believes that the only appropriate sanction in this case is the revocation of his certificates," the opinion reads. Health benefits fraud conspirators keep licenses while sentencings delayed Four of the 21 defendants in a multimillion-dollar state health benefits fraud case still ha McAllister's attorney Edward F. Borden of Cherry Hill could not be reached for comment. McAllister, 43, of Ocean City was terminated from his position in Pleasantville after pleading guilty in March 2018 to acting as a recruiter in the scheme that targeted both the state and school employee health benefits plans. Thirty-one people have been charged and 24 have pleaded guilty, so far. TOMS RIVER A former officer with the Harvey Cedars Police Department pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of movable property, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Thursday. Sean Marti, 49, was a sergeant with the police department. As a condition of his plea agreement, he will be required to permanently forfeit any future public employment in the state of New Jersey. Martis employment was terminated by the Harvey Cedars Police Department, Billhimer said in a statement. An investigation by the prosecutors Professional Standards Unit determined that in summer 2017 Marti became aware of a local resident who wanted to donate a Polaris all-terrain vehicle to the police or beach patrol. According to the investigation, Marti accepted the ATV, stored it at his home and used it for personal use until December 2018, when the prosecutors office recovered it. Marti is scheduled to be sentenced June 20. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The summer is when we see our highest electricity use, and we plan and prepare for summer operations throughout the year, said Andrew L. Ott, PJM president and CEO. With proper forecasting, experienced operators and healthy reserves, we are confident we will meet the level of demand. Last summers peak demand was 150,830 MW, which occurred on August 28. PJMs all-time highest power use was 165,563 MW in the summer of 2006. PJM coordinates and directs delivery of electricity over 84,042 miles of transmission lines; runs a competitive wholesale electricity market; and plans regional improvements for grid reliability and efficiency. R.C. Cape May Holdings, the owners of B.L. England, had planned to convert it to a natural gas plant, but were stymied by opposition to South Jersey Gas building a new gas transmission pipeline to it. Environmentalists objected to plans to build it along roadsides through about 10 miles of protected Pinelands forest, and had sued to stop its construction. R.C. Cape May announced earlier this year it decided not to repower it with natural gas and would close it instead. It may become a base for the offshore wind company Orsted, which is interested in hooking into the grid at the site, if it wins taxpayer subsidies to build its wind farm. The Board of Public Utilities is expected to decide which firm will win those subsidies by July. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The produce packaging company secured $24 million in tax breaks over a 10-year period from the state Economic Development Authority after promising to keep 280 jobs and create at least an additional 60 positions. After the deal was announced, Mayor Anthony Fanucci said the new business was welcome in Vineland, a city with a population of 60,000 and an economy that relies on manufacturing jobs. It was very important to me, and to the members of City Council, that we fill this location as quickly as possible, Fanucci said. We are proud to welcome the company and the new jobs they will provide to the community. Operations at part of the plant began five months ago. There, workers package vegetables into sandwiches and salads, in addition to making dressings and other ingredients. Those pre-made salads and sandwiches you buy at supermarkets like Acme, ShopRite and Trader Joes likely come from F&S Produces plants. The change in the plant is indicative of the rise in people wanting fresher foods, said Colin Turner, Chief Strategy Officer for F&S Produce. 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. 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. Under the initiative's five cooperation priorities of policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond, there are a batch of projects, such as transportation construction and industrial infrastructure, in full swing or already having yielded fruitful results. Here are some of the amazing projects achieved worldwide under the initiative. Infrastructure projects Railway Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail, Indonesia The 142-km Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, connecting the Indonesian capital Jakarta with Bandung, is now under construction, after China and Indonesia signed an agreement in October 2015 to establish a joint venture to build and operate it. As a part of the Belt and Road Initiative projects in Indonesia, the high speed railway is the first to use China's high-speed railway standards, technologies and equipment on a foreign line. It being constructed and operated by a China-Indonesia consortium of firms led by China Railway Corp and Indonesian state-owned PT Wijaya Karya Tbk, and is to be funded mainly by loans from China Development Bank. The high-speed rail, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, will have a maximum design speed of 350 km/h and is capable of transport passengers and goods within 45 minutes between Jakarta and Bandung. AbujaKaduna Railway, Nigeria The AbujaKaduna Railway, as the first segment of the LagosKano standard gauge project, the first standard gauge railway in Nigeria and West Africa, was officially inaugurated and started commercial operation on July 26, 2016. The railway, constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, is the first overseas railway fully adopting the Chinese railway standard. Spanning 186.5 kilometers, it alleviates traffic tension, improves the investment environment and promotes the coordinated development of regional economy and society. By Jan 11, the train service had delivered 1.23 million passengers and had safely operated for 900 days without any major accident recorded since its inception. Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway The Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway, the first electrified railway in East Africa with built on Chinese standards and with Chinese equipment, officially commenced commercial operations in January 2018. With a length of 751.7 kilometers, a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour, 45 stations and total investment of about $4 billion, the railway was jointly constructed by China Railway Group Ltd and China Railway Construction Corp Ltd and is the first with a full industrial chain Chinese enterprises have built overseas. The railway reduces travel time from the Djibouti port to Addis Ababa to less than 12 hours from the previous three days. China-Laos Railway The 414-km China-Laos Railway runs from Boten, the northern Lao town bordering Southwest China's Yunnan province, to Vientiane, capital of Laos, with an operating speed of 160 km per hour. The electrified passenger and cargo railway, which started construction in December 2016 with the full application of Chinese management standards and technical standards, is scheduled to be completed and open to traffic in December 2021. It is a strategic project aligning the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. Port: Colombo Port City, Sri Lanka The China-funded Colombo Port City, the largest project between China and Sri Lanka under the Belt and Road Initiative, completed land reclamation of 269 hectares in January. In addition, hydro-structure construction will be completed by the middle of this year. The port city's municipal facilities construction is expected to be completed in July 2020. At the same time, investment promotion of the city is also being carried out. The $1.4 billion project, co-developed by Sri Lanka's government and China Communication Construction Co Ltd, is expected to bring 83,000 jobs to locals in 20 years. Piraeus Port, Greece Piraeus Port is the largest port in Greece. On Aug 10, 2016, COSCO Shipping (Hong Kong) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping Group, became a controlling shareholder of the port and started operating the facility. Around 290 million euros are expected to be invested by the company for the expansion of a cruise terminal, improvement of a ship repair wharf and a new multi-storey garage of roll-on roll-off ship wharf. The port, as an important meeting point of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, has become one of the fastest-growing container ports in the world in recent years. Under the joint operation of Chinese and Greek enterprises, the port's infrastructure conditions and operational capabilities have been greatly improved. The freight hub has become increasingly prominent, not only providing more jobs, but also promoting local economic development and becoming a model of win-win cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port, Djibouti The Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port in Djibouti, constructed by China State Construction Engineering Corp and partially owned and operated by DP World and China Merchants Holdings, opened on May 24, 2017. The port, with a contract amount of $421.7 million and a designed handling capacity of 7.08 million tons a year, is CSCEC's first hydraulic project in Africa. All of the port's terminals have direct access to the Addis AbabaDjibouti Railway, which provides landlocked Ethiopia with railroad access to the sea. Zeebrugge Terminal, Belgium China's COSCO Shipping signed an agreement with the Port of Zeebrugge on Jan 22, 2018, for a 50-year concession on the CSP Zeebrugge Terminal. As the second-largest port in Belgium, the Port of Zeebrugge is a natural deepwater harbor and has a good network of road and rail connections across Europe. It is expected to be the main northern European hub for China's Belt and Road Initiative, with Piraeus Port in Greece the southern hub. Muara Port, Brunei Muara Port has the largest container terminal and is also the main international trade passage for Brunei. In February 2017, the container terminal of the port was handed over to the Muara Port Company Sdn Bhd, a joint venture established by China's Beibu Gulf Port Group and Brunei's Darussalam Asset. Muara Port is the only public dock in Brunei and is an important part of the construction of the Guangxi-Brunei Economic Corridor. In the first 10 months of 2018, Muara Port handled 93,257 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), a year-on-year increase of 7 percent. Gwadar Port, Pakistan From a small, remote and underdeveloped fishing village located in the Arabian Sea, Pakistan's Gwadar Port now has a fully functional port terminal, a business center and a free zone. The port, which opened on Nov 13, 2016, has been operated by China Overseas Port Holding Company since 2013. The Gwadar Port is a flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project under the Belt and Road Initiative. According to the COPHC, dozens of companies in different businesses such as hotels, banking, logistics, food, steel, fish processing and renewable resources have entered the free zone. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/878537/Belt_and_Road_projects.jpg SOURCE China Daily VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CROP Infrastructure Corp. (CSE: CROP) (CSE: CROP.CN) (OTC: CRXPF) (Frankfurt: 2FR) announced today that its first Oklahoma farm's tenant, Hempire Oklahoma has been issued Medical Cannabis Cultivation and processing licenses at its 1 acre location in Purcell, Oklahoma where the company will focus on high grade flower and extraction. This is a separate location to the company's 20-acre property that is currently being readied for tenant planting for the 2019 season. CROP continues to review several existing retail locations to acquire, as well identifying new locations that would be suitable for retail that the company would prepare applications for potential licensed tenants. The company believes with its experience and organic CROP SAFE methodology that it could disrupt the Oklahoma market by providing tenants with the means to produce lower cost high, yet higher quality products. CROP has agreed to fund up to $500,000 USD for the initial start-up of capital for the multiple cultivation and retail locations. CROP CEO, Michael Yorke, stated: "Oklahoma is a key part of our overall strategy of siting operations on prime land in different, but suitable geographic locations within the US to introduce our tenants, brand portfolio and brand partners to new markets." About CROP CROP is publicly listed company trading under symbol CROP.CSE. The company is focused on cannabis branding and real estate assets. CROP's portfolio of projects includes cultivation properties in California, two in Washington State, a 1,000-acre Nevada cannabis farm, 2,115 acres of Hemp CBD farms, and a growing portfolio of common share equity in upcoming listings within the cannabis space. CROP has developed a portfolio of assets including Canna Drink, a cannabis infused functional beverage line and 16 Cannabis brands. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as 'may', 'should', 'could', 'intend', 'estimate', 'plan', 'anticipate', 'expect', 'believe' or 'continue', or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the expected returns from the Oklahoma Project; the technological effects of Oklahoma Project; the intention to expand its portfolio; and execute on its business plan. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding the regulatory and legal framework regarding the cannabis industry in general among all levels of government and zoning; risks associated with applicable securities laws and stock exchange rules relating to the cannabis industry; risks associated with maintaining its interests in its various assets; the ability of the Company to finance operations and execute its business plan and other factors beyond the control of the Company. Such forward-looking statements should therefore be construed in light of such factors, and the Company is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. Company Contact Michael Yorke CEO and Director E-mail: info@cropcorp.com Website: www.cropcorp.com Phone: (604) 484-4206 SOURCE Crop Infrastructure Corp. 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 NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) strongly supports calls for establishing an inclusive civilian government in Sudan that supports human rights, the rule of law and democratic freedoms for all. Following months of nation-wide protests, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was ousted from power in a military coup on April 11, ending more than 30 years of harsh rule. Protesters and activists, in negotiations with Sudan's Transitional Military Council, agreed on April 27 to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee a peaceful transition. However, mounting tensions over the composition of that council triggered a mass rally today in Khartoum. "With developing changes in Sudan, accountability for atrocity crimes committed by President al-Bashir and other members of his regime is an absolute necessity," said Felice Gaer, Director of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. "The people of Sudan are seeking a peaceful and democratic government that embraces human rights and the rule of law. Justice for victims of the genocide in Darfur and full civilian participation in the creation of their new government are essential components to this transition." Al-Bashir faces International Criminal Court arrest warrants, the first issued in 2009, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region. AJC has strongly spoken out about the genocide in Darfur and stood behind efforts to ensure accountability for the perpetrators. Between 2003 and 2008, an estimated 400,000 Darfuris were murdered and more than 3 million were displaced as government forces and government-backed militias, known as the Janjaweed, fought rebel groups in a scorched-earth offensive that included killings of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, sexual violence, and forced displacement. The African Union has given the military council three months to transition to a civilian government, stressing that this process should not be delayed. Meanwhile, protesters have said they will continue to mobilize in the streets until the military fully responds to their demands. In a UN Security Council briefing following the coup, the Joint Special Representative for the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur and the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs raised concerns about the impact of the current turmoil on civilians and ongoing humanitarian needs, particularly in Darfur. AJC joins the African Union Peace and Security Council in affirming the "legitimate aspirations of the Sudanese people" to "democratically design and choose institutions that are representative and respectful of freedoms and human rights," as declared in a Council statement of April 19. AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights and AJC's Africa Institute have long followed developments in Sudan, including in Darfur. SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.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 GATINEAU, QC, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - The Canadian Museum of History is proud to showcase Canada's critically acclaimed entry in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. UNCEDED Voices of the Land is an innovative, immersive audiovisual installation by an Indigenous design team, led by internationally renowned architect Douglas J. Cardinal. The unprecedented exhibition will run from May 3, 2019 to March 22, 2020. "We are delighted to be the first venue in Canada to host UNCEDED Voices of the Land, following its successful debut in Venice. We are especially proud to partner with Douglas Cardinal Architect Inc. to present this celebration of Indigenous architecture," said Mark O'Neill, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History. "This groundbreaking exhibition highlights the important contributions that Indigenous cultures have made to the world. It also underlines our commitment to promoting a greater understanding of Canadian and Indigenous history." Cardinal designed the stunning curvilinear form of the Canadian Museum of History and its new signature exhibition, the Canadian History Hall a space driven by human stories and historical treasures. He also designed the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. UNCEDED, curated by David Fortin and Gerald McMaster, is a breathtaking multimedia installation that brings together the past, present and future of the Indigenous experience, as seen through the eyes and minds of 18 Indigenous architects and designers from across Turtle Island (North America). "We wanted to show the international community how important the Indigenous world view is to the rest of the world, for the future of our human family," said Douglas J. Cardinal. "But of course, that education should start at home in our own country. So, I'm extremely happy that Mark O'Neill at the Museum of History feels that it is important to showcase this international exhibit in our own country, with the opportunity of touring North America." In UNCEDED, architects and designers representing Anishinaabe, Blackfoot, Cree, Dene, Lakota, Metis, Mohawk, Navajo, Nisga'a and other Indigenous nations have created an awe-inspiring journey through four thematic "territories": Sovereignty, Resilience, Colonization and Indigeneity. Their work speaks to and from diverse landscapes, overcoming unforgiving limitations, and serving as a beacon of hope and pride throughout Turtle Island. Instead of artifacts, the exhibition is using motion graphics, eye-to-eye life-size video projections and original soundscapes to convey the concept of Indigenous architecture as a storytelling process integrating spirituality, respect for people and the land, resistance, resilience and indigenous teachings. UNCEDED Voices of the Land was selected by the Canada Council for the Arts to represent Canada at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, the most prestigious showcase of contemporary architecture in the world. UNCEDED is presented with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, and will be on display at the Canadian Museum of History until March 22, 2020. Located on the shores of the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec, the Canadian Museum of History welcomes over 1.2 million visitors each year. The Museum's principal role is to enhance Canadians' knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the events, experiences, people and objects that have shaped Canada's history and identity, as well as to enhance Canadians' awareness of world history and culture. Work of the Canadian Museum of History is made possible in part through financial support of the Government of Canada. For more information, visit historymuseum.ca and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. If you would like to have your name removed from our distribution list or if this information should be directed to someone else, please send an email to [email protected]. SOURCE Canadian Museum of History Related Links www.civilization.ca 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 DES MOINES, Iowa, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolfe Eye Clinic announces a merger of operations with Children's Eye Clinic of West Des Moines. United by a common patient-centered culture, the consolidation combines the strengths of exceptional medical and surgical eye care in Des Moines for pediatric patients. Jean Spencer, MD & Sara Olson, OD of Children's Eye Clinic and their staff will join Wolfe Eye Clinic physicians Derek Bitner, MD, Sara Khan, OD and Myra Mendoza, OD to serve the eye care needs of children in central Iowa. "Wolfe Eye Clinic is very happy to welcome the Children Eye Clinic team to our organization. The combining of these pediatric eye specialists' clinics will allow better access for children and their families to receive care for ophthalmic disorders," said Kevin Swartz, CEO of Wolfe Eye Clinic. Dr. Jean Spencer has been providing care in the Des Moines area for medical and surgical pediatric ophthalmology since she founded Children's Eye Clinic in 1990. Dr. Spencer was raised in Des Moines and completed her undergraduate at Iowa State University and her Medical Degree at the University of Iowa. In addition, she completed pediatric ophthalmology fellowships at both the University of Chicago and Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago before returning to Des Moines to open her own practice. Children's Eye Clinic is located at 6000 University Avenue in the Lakeview Medical Park building near Wolfe Eye Clinic's West Des Moines office on Westown Parkway and Dr. Spencer will continue seeing patients out of this office for the remainder of 2019. Dr. Spencer also brings Dr. Sara Olson, OD, a therapeutically certified optometrist who has been seeing patients with Children's Eye Clinic since 2010 and a group of staff members to Wolfe Eye Clinic. ABOUT WOLFE EYE CLINIC In 2019, Wolfe Eye Clinic celebrates its 100-year anniversary as a recognized regional eye care leader offering surgeons with specialized fellowship training in the areas of cataract and refractive surgery, cornea and external disease, glaucoma, pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus, oculoplastics, and medical and surgical retina. Wolfe Eye Clinic was established 100 years ago in Marshalltown when in 1919 Otis R. Wolfe M.D. moved his specialty ophthalmology practice to Marshalltown, reportedly because it was located along a busy railroad line in a central location in the state. Wolfe Eye Clinic first established a clinic in Des Moines metro area in 1984, reducing the travel area patients were incurring to attain ophthalmologic care in Marshalltown. The Des Moines metro Wolfe Eye Clinic facilities have since grown to include nearly 150 employees assisting 20 specialized physicians. Wolfe Eye Clinic has 47 doctors bringing patient care to over 40 communities throughout Iowa including 11 main clinics in Ames, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Fort Dodge, Iowa City, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Pleasant Hill, Spencer, Waterloo and West Des Moines as well as several Wolfe Family Vision Centers across the state. For Press Inquiries: Kassandra Trenary 641.754.6200 [email protected] SOURCE Wolfe Eye Clinic Related Links http://www.wolfeeyeclinic.com PORTLAND, Maine, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their efforts to expand access to study abroad to underrepresented groups, CIEE has awarded full scholarships for summer study abroad programs in Moscow or St. Petersburg, Russia, to 17 students who attend either an Asian American Serving Institution, a Hispanic Serving Institution, or an HBCU. The scholarship winners, selected on the basis of academic achievement, Russian language study, and essays describing how a summer in Russia would advance their career goals, are: Antonio Rernandes, Lehman College Augustine Egan , University of Houston , Ayesha Alam , Lehman College , Catherine Louise Ruev , University of New Mexico , Glenn Elvendahl , University of New Mexico , Hoai Depp , University of Massachusetts Boston , Kyra Miller , University of New Mexico , Liam Philip , Queens College , Margaret Vatter , University of Massachusetts, Boston , Paul Vaughan , University of Houston , Peter Monegro , Hunter College , Rebecca Hentges , University of Houston , Riley Connolly , University of Illinois Chicago , Sonya Gupta , University of Illinois Chicago , Sophia Williams , Howard University , Tyler Gentry , Howard University , Witold Peebles , Queens College "At this critical juncture in U.S. and Russian relations, we're excited to help increase global harmony by sending a group of young ambassadors to Russia who reflect the diversity of our country," said James P. Pellow, President and CEO of CIEE. Recipients of the scholarship will continue their study of the Russian language, and can take courses in Russian history, film, literature, and US-Russian relations. They will live with local Russian families, and take part in co-curricular activities designed to increase intercultural understanding. There are also opportunities to engage with the community through volunteer work with local organizations. "There are so many reasons why it's important for students of color to study Russian. One of those is to diversify the pipeline for national security jobs and other positions in the global marketplace," said Dr. Brunilda Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz, Master Instructor of Russian at Howard University, who studied abroad with CIEE in Russia when she was an undergraduate. "I applaud CIEE for this innovative initiative, and the support it offers to language departments at Minority Serving Institutions, which historically lack funding and resources," said Dr. Lugo de Fabritz. "It shouldn't just be the student at Harvard who gets to study Russian." About CIEE CIEE, the country's oldest and largest nonprofit study abroad and intercultural exchange organization, helps people develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world. CIEE sponsors a wide variety of opportunities for cultural exchange, including work exchange programs, teach abroad programs, and a worldwide portfolio of study abroad and internship programs for college and high school students. The St. Petersburg program, established in 1967, is the oldest and most comprehensive educational exchange program in Russia. Please visit www.ciee.org for more details about our work. Contact: Leslie Taylor, [email protected], 207-553-4274 SOURCE Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) Related Links www.ciee.org SUZHOU, China and ZURICH, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CStone Pharmaceuticals ("CStone"; HKEX: 2616) and Numab Therapeutics AG ("Numab") today announce that they have entered into an exclusive regional licensing agreement for the development and commercialization of ND021, a potential best-in-class monovalent, tri-specific antibody-based molecule targeting PD-L1, 4-1BB, and human serum albumin (HSA). Pursuant to the terms of the licensing agreement, CStone will fund the research and development of ND021 up to completion of an initial Phase Ib clinical trial. In exchange, CStone obtains exclusive rights from Numab to develop and commercialize ND021 in Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), South Korea and Singapore. Numab retains all ND021 rights for the rest of the world. Upon completion of CStone's funding period, no further financial obligations will be owed by either party. This collaboration provides CStone with its first access to Numab's novel multi-specific technology platform and Numab the opportunity to bring this innovative drug candidate into this region. Discovered and engineered using Numab's proprietary cap technology and MATCH platform, ND021 is a late-preclinical-stage, monovalent, tri-specific antibody-based molecule (scMATCH3) that simultaneously targets PD-L1, 4-1BB, and HSA. ND021 is designed to bind to 4-1BB and activate T cells only when engaging with PD-L1 on the surface of tumor cells, potentially preventing liver toxicities observed in patients treated with conventional 4-1BB-agonistic antibodies. Compared to other PD-L1/4-1BB bispecific antibody candidates, ND021's unique monovalent structure and ultra-high-affinity PD-L1-binding is expected to lead to a significantly broader safety window and higher efficacy. Furthermore, half-life extension via the HSA-binding motif in ND021 enables convenient dosing schedules for patients. ND021 is anticipated to be effective against tumors with a wide range of PD-L1 expression-levels and may overcome primary and/or acquired resistance to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies. Therefore, ND021 represents a leading class of next-generation cancer immunotherapies and a new backbone molecule for combinations. CStone Chairman and CEO, Dr. Frank Jiang, commented: "This collaboration with Numab further strengthens our position as a leading immuno-oncology player in China and commitment to our IO combination strategy. We look forward to joining global simultaneous development to bring this novel therapy to patients in China and beyond as soon as possible." Dr. David Urech, CEO of Numab, said: "We are very happy to join forces with CStone to accelerate the progress of ND021 in the clinic. In addition to blocking PD-L1-mediated immune-suppression, ND021 has a novel design that tethers potent T cell co-stimulation to the engagement of PD-L1-positive cancer cells, in order to generate focused anti-cancer immune-responses and a favorable risk/benefit profile. We believe this drug candidate has the potential to become an important treatment option for cancer patients around the world." About ND021 ND021 is a next-generation PD-L1/4-1BB/HSA monovalent, tri-specific scMATCH3 that potently blocks PD-L1/PD-1 signaling while eliciting tumor-restricted co-stimulation of 4-1BB+ cells. In preclinical models, ND021 was well tolerated and induced exquisite antitumoral effects. Its unique, rationally designed molecular architecture and binding properties endow ND021 with several advantageous features that may translate into significant clinical benefit in a broad population of cancer patients. About CStone CStone Pharmaceuticals (HKEX:2616) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative immuno-oncology and precision medicine to address the unmet medical needs of cancer patients in China and worldwide. Established in 2015, CStone has assembled a world-class management team with extensive experience in innovative drug development, clinical research, and commercialization. The company has built an oncology-focused pipeline with a strategic emphasis on immune-oncology combination therapies. Currently, 4 late-stage candidates are at or near pivotal trials. With an experienced team, a rich pipeline, a robust clinical development-driven business model, and substantial funding, CStone's vision is to become globally recognized as a leading Chinese biopharmaceutical company by bringing innovative oncology therapies to cancer patients worldwide. For more information about CStone Pharmaceuticals, please visit: www.cstonepharma.com. About Numab Numab Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing next-generation therapies for cancer and auto-immune disease. Numab applies its proprietary antibody discovery engine, Fv-stabilizing cap technology and MATCH platform to generate highly versatile multi-specific antibodies with best-in-class properties. Multi-specific MATCH molecules comprise antibody Fvs with fully human frameworks, are highly stable and readily accommodate plug-and-play engineering of novel mechanisms of action (e.g., tumor-targeting T cell-engagers), with superior efficacy and favorable safety profiles. For more information about Numab Therapeutics, please visit: www.numab.com. Forward-looking Statement The forward-looking statements made in this article relate only to the events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this article. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this article completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or performance may be materially different from what we expect. In this article, statements of, or references to, our intentions or those of any of our Directors or our Company are made as of the date of this article. Any of these intentions may alter in light of future development. SOURCE CStone Pharmaceuticals Related Links http://www.cstonepharma.com Digital Turbine's SingleTap solution streamlines the app install process by enabling app delivery from any mobile ad in just one tap. SingleTap is currently enabled on more than 150M Android devices globally, including nearly 50% of all Android smartphones in the U.S. SingleTap to date is delivering up to 200% lift in click-to-install conversion rates for advertisers and application providers. "As the largest and most robust mobile measurement platform on the globe we are excited to integrate the AppsFlyer platform with Digital Turbine's SingleTap Installs solution," said Ben Roodman, Director of Partnerships at AppsFlyer. "We have already seen early success with a number of our application partners and are excited to expand SingleTap across many more apps." "Improving the customer experience and more accurate attribution have always been the key values of Branch's platform," said Eric Stein, EVP and GM of Partnerships at Branch. "Our app partners can now receive even more value through frictionless app installs powered by Digital Turbine's SingleTap solution, driving their users from an ad directly to the right page of their app without going through the standard download process. Simply put, the power of SingleTap combined with the power of Branch is driving the world's best app experiences." "We are extremely excited to work with AppsFlyer, Branch, Kochava, and Singular to deliver a better and simplified end-user experience. SingleTap delivers improved conversions for advertisers and creates new revenue streams for our Operator and OEM partners," said Bill Stone, CEO of Digital Turbine. "Our vision to expand Single-Tap capabilities for any application a consumer wants to download, on any Android device, anywhere on the planet, is being accelerated through these strategic partnerships." For additional information on SingleTap Installs click here. About Digital Turbine Digital Turbine works at the convergence of media and mobile communications, connecting top mobile operators, OEMs and publishers with app developers and advertisers worldwide. Its comprehensive Mobile Delivery Platform powers frictionless user acquisition and engagement, operational efficiency and monetization opportunities. Digital Turbine's technology platform has been adopted by more than 30 mobile operators and OEMs worldwide and has delivered more than one billion app preloads for tens of thousands advertising campaigns. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with global offices in Durham, Mumbai, San Francisco, Singapore and Tel Aviv. About AppsFlyer AppsFlyer's technology is found on 98 percent of the world's smartphones, making it the global leader in mobile attribution and marketing analytics. Data-driven marketers trust AppsFlyer for independent measurement solutions and innovative tools to grow and protect their mobile business. AppsFlyer's platform processes billions of mobile actions every day, empowering app marketers and developers to maximize the return on their marketing investments. With Facebook, Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Snap Inc., Tencent and 4,000+ other integrated partners, and clients including HBO, Waze, Alibaba, Skyscanner, Activision and 12,000+ leading brands worldwide, AppsFlyer has 15 global offices to support marketers everywhere. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com. About Branch Branch provides the leading cross-platform linking and attribution platform, offering solutions that unify user experience and measurement across devices and channels. Branch powers mobile links and cross-platform measurement to more than 3 billion monthly users across the globe, and is a trusted cross-platform marketing, engagement and measurement solution for over 50,000 apps including Reddit, Buzzfeed, Twitch, Groupon, and many more. Follow Digital Turbine: Twitter: https://twitter.com/DigitalTurbine Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DigitalTurbineInc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-turbine?trk=tyah&trkInfo=tas:digital+tur Digital Turbine Investor Relations Contact: Brian Bartholomew [email protected] SOURCE Digital Turbine, Inc. Related Links www.mandalaydigital.com HABO, Sweden, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Prospectus relating to Aktiebolaget Fagerhult's ("Fagerhult") rights issue of approximately MSEK 2,213 has today been approved and registered by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, and is available on Fagerhult's website, www.fagerhultgroup.com, as well as on Handelsbanken's website for prospectuses, www.handelsbanken.se/prospekt. Application forms for subscription without subscription rights can be obtained from Fagerhult's website and Handelsbanken's website www.handelsbanken.se/prospekt as from the first day of the subscription period 8 May 2019. Financial and legal advisor Handelsbanken Capital Markets is financial advisor in connection with the rights issue. Wesslau Soderqvist Advokatbyra and Vinge are legal advisors. For further information, please contact: Bodil Sonesson CEO, mobile: +46-72223-7602 e-mail: [email protected] Michael Wood CFO, mobile: +46-73-087-46-47 e-mail: [email protected] IMPORTANT INFORMATION This press release is not an offer to subscribe for shares in Fagerhult and investors should not subscribe for or purchase any securities, except on the basis of information provided in the coming prospectus. This press release may not be made public, released or distributed, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Australia, Japan or Canada or in any other jurisdiction in which the distribution of this press release would be unlawful. Further, this press release does not constitute an offer to sell new shares, paid subscribed for shares ("BTA") or subscription rights to any person in any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful to make such offer to such person or where such action would require additional prospectuses, registration or other measures other than those pursuant to Swedish law. The prospectus, application form and other documents associated with the rights issue may not be distributed in or to any country where such distribution or the rights issue would require such measures set forth in the preceding sentence or be in violation of the regulations of such country. The new shares, BTAs and subscription rights have not been recommended or approved by any United States federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. No new shares, BTAs, subscription rights or other securities issued by Fagerhult have been or will be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or under the securities legislation in any state of the United States, and may not be offered, exercised or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. There is no intention to register any portion of the offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. The Company has not authorised any offer of the securities referred to herein to the public in any country in the European Economic Area ("EEA") other than Sweden. In other member states in the EEA, the securities may only be offered to (a) any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Directive 2003/71/EC (the "Prospectus Directive"); or (b) any person falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive. In the United Kingdom, this communication is only being distributed to, and is only directed at "qualified investors" (as defined in section 86(7) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) who are (i) investment professionals falling within the meaning of Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order"); or (ii) persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.") of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not take any action on the basis of this communication and should not act or rely on it or any of its contents. This press release may contain forward-looking statements which reflect Fagerhult's current view on future events and financial and operational development. Words such as "intend", "will", "expect", "estimate" and other expressions that imply indications or predictions of future development or trends, constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements inherently involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties as they depend on future events and circumstances. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future results or development and the actual outcome could differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements included in this press release speak only as of its date and are subject to change without notice. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/1781/2801610/1035865.pdf Fagerhult publishes prospectus relating to the rights issue SOURCE Fagerhult TSX Symbol: HNL CALGARY, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Horizon North Logistics Inc. ("Horizon North" or the "Corporation") reported its financial and operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. First Quarter Highlights Horizon North achieved Q1 2019 revenue of $128.7 million and EBITDAS of $17.4 million , an increase of $46.2 million and $13.0 million , respectively, when compared to Q1 2018. Total profit also increased $9.8 million , to $3.7 million , when compared with the $6.1 million loss in Q1 2018. and EBITDAS of , an increase of and , respectively, when compared to Q1 2018. Total profit also increased , to , when compared with the loss in Q1 2018. The Modular Solutions business delivered positive EBITDAS for the fourth consecutive quarter and increased by $4.7 million compared to Q1 2018. Backlog exiting the quarter was $125.3 million , including $32.0 million acquired from NRB, compared to $88.8 million at December 31, 2018 . The funnel of high-quality, high probability opportunities also increased, exiting the quarter at $306.0 million compared to $290.0 million at December 31, 2018 ; compared to Q1 2018. Backlog exiting the quarter was , including acquired from NRB, compared to at . The funnel of high-quality, high probability opportunities also increased, exiting the quarter at compared to at ; The Industrial Services business achieved significant improvement in all financial measures with several camp rental and catering projects starting in the quarter, strong matting sales and increased mat rental pricing; April 1, 2019 marked the successful completion of the acquisition of NRB Inc. ("NRB"), a significant step in the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. NRB is a full-service modular manufacturing company based in Grimsby, Ontario , providing Horizon North with manufacturing capacity in the southern Ontario region. Expertise in wood-frame modular structures will expand east, providing solutions for affordable social, student, and senior housing, in addition to Indigenous infrastructure projects, hotels, commercial space and single and multi-family homes. NRB's expertise in steel-frame, non-combustible modular structures will expand west, including facilities for health care, recreation, and education purposes, as well as retail, hospitality and utilities; marked the successful completion of the acquisition of NRB Inc. ("NRB"), a significant step in the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. NRB is a full-service modular manufacturing company based in , providing Horizon North with manufacturing capacity in the southern region. Expertise in wood-frame modular structures will expand east, providing solutions for affordable social, student, and senior housing, in addition to Indigenous infrastructure projects, hotels, commercial space and single and multi-family homes. NRB's expertise in steel-frame, non-combustible modular structures will expand west, including facilities for health care, recreation, and education purposes, as well as retail, hospitality and utilities; The Corporation has committed to the design and construction of a 120room, fivestory modular Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites located on the Corporation's Crossroads land parcel in Kitimat, British Columbia , with anticipated completion in late 2019; , with anticipated completion in late 2019; Mobilization and installation of the first phase of the Crossroads open lodge facility in Kitimat, British Columbia continues to move forward. The first 260 beds will be ready for occupancy in mid-Q2 2019, with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds. The lodge will provide workforce accommodations to support development in the area, including the LNG Canada project; and continues to move forward. The first 260 beds will be ready for occupancy in mid-Q2 2019, with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds. The lodge will provide workforce accommodations to support development in the area, including the LNG Canada project; and In April 2019 , Horizon North entered into a strategic alliance with Prefab Logic to build the volumetric modular industry, with Prefab Logic providing product design and management services for projects to Horizon North. This agreement will provide Horizon North with opportunities to supply modules for select projects in the United States market strengthening plant utilization and providing initial exposure to significant modular construction demand using wood-frame and steel-frame modular manufacturing in concert with the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. First Quarter Financial Summary Three months ended March 31 (000's except per share amounts) 2019 2018 % Change Revenue $ 128,745 $ 82,575 56 EBITDAS(1) 17,405 4,433 293 EBITDAS as a % of revenue 14% 5% Operating earnings (loss) 6,328 (7,044) 190 Operating earnings (loss) as a % of revenue 5% (9%) Total income (loss) 3,737 (6,062) 162 Total comprehensive income (loss) 3,737 (6,062) 162 Earnings (loss) per share Basic $ 0.02 $ (0.04) Diluted $ 0.02 $ (0.04) Total assets $ 512,820 $ 482,753 6 Total loans and borrowings 35,081 85,550 (59) Fund Flow 17,551 4,672 276 Net Capital spending (proceeds) 14,769 16,339 (10) Total debt to EBITDAS(1) 0.71:1.00 3.26:1.00 Debt to total capitalization ratio(1) 0.22:1.00 0.22:1.00 Dividends declared $ 3,285 $ 2,907 Dividends declared per share $ 0.02 $ 0.02 (1) See Non-GAAP measures definitions within the press release for details. Quarterly Operational Overview Results for the three months ended March 31, 2019 showed increases across all measures compared to Q1 2018. The increase in revenue for Q1 2019 was across all segments and was driven by project execution and increased manufacturing capacity in the Modular Solutions segment, along with increased camp rental and catering activity in the Camp & Catering segment. Rentals & Logistics segment revenues also increased compared to Q1 2018 due to the large volume of matting sales in Q1 2019. Industrial Services Revenues from Industrial Services for Q1 2019 increased compared to Q1 2018 due to higher camp rental and catering activity in the northeast region of British Columbia and the significant increase in mat sales. Camp rental and catering activity levels increased, driven by utilization of 64%, up 18%, and revenue per bed rental day at $103, an increase of 5%, due to several new camps opening in the northeastern British Columbia region. Catering only activity increased 22% in Q1 2019 compared to Q1 2018, with softening revenue per catering only day, lower by 4%, as a result of different contract mix. Rentals & Logistics revenues increased in Q1 2019 compared to Q1 2018 primarily due to an increase in matting sales and strong soil stabilization work. Modular Solutions Modular Solutions revenues for Q1 2019 were 103% higher than Q1 2018 as a result of increased capacity to execute the large backlog of projects. The manufacturing capacity available in Q1 2019 increased significantly from Q1 2018 as a result of ramping up direct headcount at the Kamloops, British Columbia facility and the full integration of the Aldergrove, British Columbia facility. In addition, the acquisition of the Rocky View County, Alberta facility in November 2018 allowed for a further ramp up of production into Q1 2019. The increase of throughput capacity facilitated the execution of higher volumes and generated much stronger revenues. Other Financial Measures Horizon North's Q1 2019 EBITDAS increased by $13.0 million, or 293%, compared to Q1 2018. As a percentage of revenue, EBITDAS were 14% compared to 5% in Q1 2018. The increase in EBITDAS, compared to Q1 2018, was primarily driven by significantly improved operating results in the Modular Solutions segment, new camp rental and catering projects in the Camp & Catering segment, and significant matting sales in the Rentals & Logistics segment. Horizon North continued to maintain a strong focus on managing its Statement of Financial Position through monitoring working capital and the capital program. Total Loans and Borrowings, including equipment related finance leases, were $35.1 million at March 31, 2019 compared to $31.7 million at December 31, 2018. As a result of the increased debt and stronger EBITDAS, the total Debt to EBITDAS ratio was 0.71:1.00 at March 31, 2019 compared to 0.86:1.00 at December 31, 2018. Impact of IFRS 16 - Leases on EBITDAS Effective January 1, 2019, the Corporation adopted IFRS 16 in its financial statements. IFRS 16 introduces a single lessee accounting model and requires a lessee to recognize assets and liabilities for all leases with a term of more than 12 months, unless the underlying asset is of low value. A lessee is required to recognize a right-of-use asset representing its right to use the underlying asset and a lease liability representing its obligation to make lease payments. This standard substantially carries forward the lessor accounting requirements of IAS 17, while requiring enhanced disclosures to be provided by lessors. The Corporation has applied IFRS 16 using the modified retrospective method and therefore the comparative information has not been restated and continues to be reported under IAS 17. Under IFRS 16, lease costs are reflected on the statement of comprehensive income (loss) through depreciation and interest expense, resulting in an increase to EBITDAS. The modified retrospective method resulted in a one-time adjustment of a $26.6 million addition of right-of-use assets, offset by an existing $2.0 million prepaid land lease and $24.6 million in lease liabilities with no changes in retained earnings on January 1, 2019. During Q1 2019, the Corporation made payments of $1.4 million related to its lease obligations and recorded right of use asset depreciation and lease interest charges of $1.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively. As a result of the new lease standard, EBITDAS was positively impacted by $1.4 million. Outlook In 2019, Horizon North will continue to diversify both its portfolio of offerings and customer base through its two operating divisions: Industrial Services and Modular Solutions. Industrial Services Horizon North will continue to leverage its reputation as a leading provider of turn-key camp, hospitality, access and maintenance solutions with focus on the following four key areas: West Coast/Liquified Natural Gas Horizon North continues the setup of the first phase of development on its 57-acre parcel of land located at the entrance to Kitimat , British Columbia. Horizon North expects to open the first 260 beds of its world-class Crossroads open lodge in Q2 2019 with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds to service increasing activity in the region. , British Columbia. Horizon North expects to open the first 260 beds of its world-class Crossroads open lodge in Q2 2019 with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds to service increasing activity in the region. Pursuant to a Teaming Agreement with Falcon Camp Services Inc., Horizon North has entered into contracts to provide equipment, catering, hospitality and operations services for camps supporting construction work on the Coastal GasLink Project in northern British Columbia . These contracts provide additional exposure to significant construction activity over a 30-month period beginning in June 2019 . . These contracts provide additional exposure to significant construction activity over a 30-month period beginning in . Montney / Duvernay Activity in this region continued to be strong in Q1 2019 but is expected to face market headwinds for the balance of 2019. Horizon North is the largest provider of open camp services in this area and is a market leader in providing catering and hospitality services in customer-owned facilities. Horizon North will continue to leverage existing assets, strategic locations and relationships while looking to develop additional opportunities to support activity in this region. / Activity in this region continued to be strong in Q1 2019 but is expected to face market headwinds for the balance of 2019. Horizon North is the largest provider of open camp services in this area and is a market leader in providing catering and hospitality services in customer-owned facilities. Horizon North will continue to leverage existing assets, strategic locations and relationships while looking to develop additional opportunities to support activity in this region. Oil Sands Horizon North expects to leverage its operational footprint and experience, along with two prominent relationships with Aboriginal communities north and south of Fort McMurray , to pursue both full turn-key opportunities and catering and hospitality opportunities in customer-owned facilities. , to pursue both full turn-key opportunities and catering and hospitality opportunities in customer-owned facilities. Northern Canada Horizon North has a long history and expertise in providing hospitality, management and maintenance services across Canada's northern regions. Horizon North will continue to focus on developing and expanding its capabilities and footprint across Canada's highly variable and remote northern regions. Modular Solutions Horizon North's focus is to continue to maximize the growth of its backlog and executing on throughput of modular construction projects to drive economies of scale in our facilities. Horizon North will continue to strengthen its product offerings as the mix of product balances between government and commercial projects throughout 2019. April 1, 2019 marked the successful completion of the acquisition of NRB, a significant step in the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. NRB is a full-service modular manufacturing company based in Grimsby, Ontario, providing Horizon North with manufacturing capacity in the southern Ontario region. Expertise in wood-frame modular structures will expand east, providing solutions for affordable social, student, and senior housing, in addition to Indigenous infrastructure projects, hotels, commercial space and single and multi-family homes. NRB's expertise in steel-frame, non-combustible modular structures will expand west, including facilities for health care, recreation, and education purposes, as well as retail, hospitality and utilities. Increased capacity in western Canada from two modular manufacturing facility acquisitions in 2018 and the newly acquired southern Ontario facility, via NRB, have expanded Horizon North's geographic footprint and product mix. These two factors will allow Horizon North to provide our products and services across the country and serve additional regions that have a strong appetite for our unique modular construction and delivery model. In April 2019, Horizon North entered into a strategic alliance with Prefab Logic to build the volumetric modular industry, with Prefab Logic providing product design and management services for projects to Horizon North. This agreement will provide Horizon North with opportunities to supply modules for select projects in the United States market strengthening plant utilization and providing initial exposure to significant modular construction demand using wood-frame and steel-frame modular manufacturing in concert with the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. Dividend Payment Horizon North announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a dividend for the second quarter of 2019 at $0.02 per share. The dividend is payable to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2019 to be paid on July 15, 2019. The Board of Directors regularly monitors the strength of the Statement of Financial Position, cash from operations and capital requirements to ensure the overall sustainability of Horizon North is not compromised. The dividends will be eligible dividends for Canadian tax purposes. Additional Information A copy of the Corporation's Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 and related Management's Discussion and Analysis have been filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and www.horizonnorth.ca. Unless otherwise indicated, the consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and the reporting currency is in Canadian dollars. Non-GAAP measures Certain measures in this MD&A do not have any standardized meaning as prescribed by generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and, therefore, are considered non-GAAP measures. These measures are regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker and provide investors with an alternative method for assessing the Corporation's operating results in a manner that is focused on the performance of the Corporation's ongoing operations and to provide a more consistent basis for comparison between periods. These measures should not be construed as alternatives to total profit and total comprehensive income determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of the Corporation's performance. The method of calculating these measures may differ from other entities and accordingly, may not be comparable to measures used by other entities. The following non-GAAP measures are used to monitor the Corporation's performance: EBITDAS: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, share based compensation, earnings from equity investments, and gain/loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment ("EBITDAS"). Management believes that in addition to total profit (loss) and total comprehensive income (loss), EBITDAS is a useful supplemental earnings measure as it provides an indication of the Corporation's operating performance and it is regularly provided to and reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker. Debt to total capitalization: Calculated as the ratio of debt to total capitalization. Debt is defined as the sum of current and long-term portions of loans and borrowings. Total capitalization is calculated as the sum of debt and shareholders' equity. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements or information ("forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or future performance of Horizon North. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, such forward-looking statements include: Under the heading "Highlights" the statements that: "The Modular Solutions business delivered positive EBITDAS for the fourth consecutive quarter and increased by $4.7 million compared to Q1 2018. Backlog exiting the quarter was $125.3 million , including $32.0 million acquired from NRB, compared to $88.8 million at December 31, 2018 . The funnel of high-quality, high probability opportunities also increased, exiting the quarter at $306.0 million compared to $290.0 million at December 31, 2018 ; compared to Q1 2018. Backlog exiting the quarter was , including acquired from NRB, compared to at . The funnel of high-quality, high probability opportunities also increased, exiting the quarter at compared to at ; The Industrial Services business achieved significant improvement in all financial measures with several camp rental and catering projects starting in the quarter, strong matting sales and increased mat rental pricing; April 1, 2019 marked the successful completion of the acquisition of NRB Inc. ("NRB"), a significant step in the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. NRB is a full-service modular manufacturing company based in Grimsby, Ontario , providing Horizon North with manufacturing capacity in the southern Ontario region. Expertise in wood-frame modular structures will expand east, providing solutions for affordable social, student, and senior housing, in addition to Indigenous infrastructure projects, hotels, commercial space and single and multi-family homes. NRB's expertise in steel-frame, non-combustible modular structures will expand west, including facilities for health care, recreation, and education purposes, as well as retail, hospitality and utilities; marked the successful completion of the acquisition of NRB Inc. ("NRB"), a significant step in the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. NRB is a full-service modular manufacturing company based in , providing Horizon North with manufacturing capacity in the southern region. Expertise in wood-frame modular structures will expand east, providing solutions for affordable social, student, and senior housing, in addition to Indigenous infrastructure projects, hotels, commercial space and single and multi-family homes. NRB's expertise in steel-frame, non-combustible modular structures will expand west, including facilities for health care, recreation, and education purposes, as well as retail, hospitality and utilities; The Corporation has committed to the design and construction of a 120room, fivestory modular Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites located on the Corporation's Crossroads land parcel in Kitimat, British Columbia , with anticipated completion in late 2019; , with anticipated completion in late 2019; Mobilization and installation of the first phase of the Crossroads open lodge facility in Kitimat, British Columbia continues to move forward. The first 260 beds will be ready for occupancy in mid-Q2 2019, with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds. The lodge will provide workforce accommodations to support development in the area, including the LNG Canada project; and continues to move forward. The first 260 beds will be ready for occupancy in mid-Q2 2019, with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds. The lodge will provide workforce accommodations to support development in the area, including the LNG Canada project; and In April 2019 , Horizon North entered into a strategic alliance with Prefab Logic to build the volumetric modular industry, with Prefab Logic providing product design and management services for projects to Horizon North. This agreement will provide Horizon North with opportunities to supply modules for select projects in the United States market strengthening plant utilization and providing initial exposure to significant modular construction demand using wood-frame and steel-frame modular manufacturing in concert with the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy." Under the heading "Outlook" the statement that: "In 2019, Horizon North will continue to diversify both its portfolio of offerings and customer base through its two operating divisions: Industrial Services and Modular Solutions. Industrial Services Horizon North will continue to leverage its reputation as a leading provider of turn-key camp, hospitality, access and maintenance solutions with focus on the following four key areas: West Coast/Liquified Natural Gas Horizon North continues the setup of the first phase of development on its 57-acre parcel of land located at the entrance to Kitimat , British Columbia. Horizon North expects to open the first 260 beds of its world-class Crossroads open lodge in Q2 2019 with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds to service increasing activity in the region. , British Columbia. Horizon North expects to open the first 260 beds of its world-class Crossroads open lodge in Q2 2019 with the facility permitted for up to 1,000 beds to service increasing activity in the region. Pursuant to a Teaming Agreement with Falcon Camp Services Inc., Horizon North has entered into contracts to provide equipment, catering, hospitality and operations services for camps supporting construction work on the Coastal GasLink Project in northern British Columbia . These contracts provide additional exposure to significant construction activity over a 30-month period beginning in June 2019 . . These contracts provide additional exposure to significant construction activity over a 30-month period beginning in . Montney / Duvernay Activity in this region continued to be strong in Q1 2019 but is expected to face market headwinds for the balance of 2019. Horizon North is the largest provider of open camp services in this area and is a market leader in providing catering and hospitality services in customer-owned facilities. Horizon North will continue to leverage existing assets, strategic locations and relationships while looking to develop additional opportunities to support activity in this region. / Activity in this region continued to be strong in Q1 2019 but is expected to face market headwinds for the balance of 2019. Horizon North is the largest provider of open camp services in this area and is a market leader in providing catering and hospitality services in customer-owned facilities. Horizon North will continue to leverage existing assets, strategic locations and relationships while looking to develop additional opportunities to support activity in this region. Oil Sands Horizon North expects to leverage its operational footprint and experience, along with two prominent relationships with Aboriginal communities north and south of Fort McMurray , to pursue both full turn-key opportunities and catering and hospitality opportunities in customer-owned facilities. , to pursue both full turn-key opportunities and catering and hospitality opportunities in customer-owned facilities. Northern Canada Horizon North has a long history and expertise in providing hospitality, management and maintenance services across Canada's northern regions. Horizon North will continue to focus on developing and expanding its capabilities and footprint across Canada's highly variable and remote northern regions. Modular Solutions Horizon North's focus is to continue to maximize the growth of its backlog and executing on throughput of modular construction projects to drive economies of scale in our facilities. Horizon North will continue to strengthen its product offerings as the mix of product balances between government and commercial projects throughout 2019. April 1, 2019 marked the successful completion of the acquisition of NRB, a significant step in the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy. NRB is a full-service modular manufacturing company based in Grimsby, Ontario, providing Horizon North with manufacturing capacity in the southern Ontario region. Expertise in wood-frame modular structures will expand east, providing solutions for affordable social, student, and senior housing, in addition to Indigenous infrastructure projects, hotels, commercial space and single and multi-family homes. NRB's expertise in steel-frame, non-combustible modular structures will expand west, including facilities for health care, recreation, and education purposes, as well as retail, hospitality and utilities. Increased capacity in western Canada from two modular manufacturing facility acquisitions in 2018 and the newly acquired southern Ontario facility, via NRB, have expanded Horizon North's geographic footprint and product mix. These two factors will allow Horizon North to provide our products and services across the country and serve additional regions that have a strong appetite for our unique modular construction and delivery model. In April 2019, Horizon North entered into a strategic alliance with Prefab Logic to build the volumetric modular industry, with Prefab Logic providing product design and management services for projects to Horizon North. This agreement will provide Horizon North with opportunities to supply modules for select projects in the United States market strengthening plant utilization and providing initial exposure to significant modular construction demand using wood-frame and steel-frame modular manufacturing in concert with the Corporation's pan-Canadian growth strategy." Under the heading "Dividend Payment" regarding the payment of a dividend to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2019 to be paid on July 15, 2019. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain assumptions made by Horizon North which include, but are not limited to, assumptions relating to: industry activity for oil, natural gas and mineral exploration and development in the western Canadian provinces and northern territories; commodity prices; the impacts of a positive FID from LNG Canada with respect to the Kitimat LNG project; capital investment in the Canadian oil and gas sector; dividend payments; anticipated activity levels for 2019; operational results and capital spending; anticipated backlog in the Modular Solutions business; trade and other receivables; the impacts of the NRB acquisition; future operating costs and Corporation's access to capital; the effects of regulation by governmental agencies; the competitive environment in which the Corporation operates; the ability of the Corporation to attract and retain personnel; the development of LNG and commodity transportation infrastructure; the relationships between the Corporation and its customers; and general economic and financial conditions. Although Horizon North believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Horizon North cannot give any assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: volatility in the price and demand for oil, natural gas and minerals; fluctuations in the demand for the Corporation's services; availability of qualified personnel; changes in regulation by governmental agencies, including environmental regulation; and other factors listed under "Risks and Uncertainties" in this press release and other risk factors identified in the Corporation's annual information form. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive. Additional information on these and other risk factors that could affect Horizon North's operations and financial results are included in Horizon North's annual information form which may be accessed through the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. In addition, the reader is cautioned that historical results are not indicative of future performance. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Horizon North does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Certain information set out herein may be considered as "financial outlook" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The purpose of this financial outlook is to provide readers with disclosure regarding Horizon North's reasonable expectations as to the anticipated results of its proposed business activities for the periods indicated. Readers are cautioned that the financial outlook may not be appropriate for other purposes. About Horizon North Horizon North is a publicly listed corporation (TSX: HNL.TO) providing a full range of industrial, commercial, and residential products and services. Our Industrial Services division supplies workforce accommodations, camp management services, access solutions, maintenance and utilities. Our Modular Solutions division integrates modern design concepts and technology with state of the art, off-site manufacturing processes; producing high quality building solutions for commercial and residential offerings including offices, hotels, and retail buildings, as well as distinctive single detached dwellings and multi-family residential structures. As a result of our diverse product and service offerings, Horizon North is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of our customers in numerous sectors, anywhere in Canada. SOURCE Horizon North Logistics Inc. Related Links www.horizonnorth.ca PLANO, Texas and VIENNA, Austria, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotshot Technologies announced today that i.s.c. (information security consulting) Group has selected Hotshot as their messaging platform of choice to accelerate team collaboration while protecting their organization from inadvertent violations of industry and global data privacy regulations. Hotshot i.s.c. Group is based in Vienna, Austria with 15 offices across the EU, Asia, and the United States. Michael Krausz, Founder and Owner says, "we have been experts in ISO 27001/ISMS and GDPR for decades and have extensive experience fighting Cybercrime and white-collar crime when combined with Cybercrime. As a result, we have sought-out the solution with the most robust functionality, ease-of-use and most fail-safe security, privacy and regulatory protection. HotShot has exceeded expectations, and every day it allows us to be more successful." Hotshot is a mobile-first messaging solution that enables businesses to easily and affordably address a combination of complex security, compliance and labor laws in North America and the European Union with an easy-to-deploy app and patent-pending location-and-time-based encryption technology. Hotshot founder and CEO Aaron Turner is a cybersecurity veteran with decades of experience in solving the most challenging compliance and security issues for organizations ranging from Microsoft to the US Department of Defense. In recent years, as he watched the security, compliance and labor law landscapes converge at a stunning pace, Mr. Turner recognized the need for a solution built on a zero-trust platform to address all three critical areas. Hotshot utilizes easy-to-manage location-based and time-based controls that businesses can use to control data access and communication, along with the ability to claw-back data as needed from employees or former team members. Additionally, in the age of the "gig economy" and open collaboration, Hotshot provides a valuable platform for global businesses to comply with GDPR, meet regulatory requirements within their industries, and adhere to labor laws in Europe and North America without stifling communication. Aaron Turner said, "It has been rewarding to collaborate with i.s.c. Group and help them to streamline their operational processes, reduce complexity and save money, while enhancing privacy, security and regulatory compliance. Through adopting Hotshot, i.s.c. was able to streamline communications, going from multiple platforms in favor of one easy platform that works just like texting, with zero-trust security built-in." Hotshot has EU headquarters within the Technoport ltd. business incubation program, in partnership with the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade, and North American headquarters in Plano, TX. The company aims to partner with international telecommunications organizations, and to serve any organization that conducts business across borders in the EU or North America, or needs to adhere to industry or other regulatory and privacy rules pertaining to security or privacy. About Hotshot Hotshot is a fast, easy-to-use platform for team messaging that is secure and compliant with labor laws and regulatory requirements. It empowers employees to harness speed, convenience and efficiency of texting while reducing employer liability concerning both privacy and security. Designed by an international team of regulatory compliance and security technology experts, Hotshot uses state-of-the-art encryption to protect data wherever it may be and whenever it is needed. About i.s.c Group i.s.c. group operates to advance their vision that companies and people can live in a world free from information security threats and cybercrime. The i.s.c mission is to assist customers in achieving their desired or required level of information security and to assist them in handling a severe information security breach or economic crime/cybercrime, and the company is committed to being best in class for the services it provides. Media Contact: Jackie Lucas Vera Voce Communication [email protected] 978-255-1159 SOURCE Hotshot "Scott has had an impressive career spanning 20+ years, and brings broad expertise in financial services consulting," said Jay Norman, CEO, Liberty Advisor Group. "Scott and I worked together for six years at PwC, where we successfully built out new practice areas in retail banking and payments. I look forward to working with him again to expand the Financial Services focused consulting business at Liberty." "I look forward to joining Liberty's talented and results-driven team," said Gregory. "I am greatly impressed by Liberty's achievements to date, and believe we can work together to create significant value for the clients, especially in technology-led strategy development and implementation." After receiving an MBA from Vanderbilt University, Scott joined PwC, where he progressed from consultant to Partner. When IBM acquired PwC's consulting arm in 2002, Scott took on various leadership roles within IBM. In 2008, he moved from leadership of the North American Banking Operations Practice to Relationship Partner for Bank of America. As Vice President and Senior Client Partner, he was responsible for leading worldwide IBM Global Business Services activity at Bank of America. ABOUT LIBERTY ADVISOR GROUP Liberty Advisor Group is a goal-oriented, client-focused and results-driven consulting firm. We are a lean, hand-picked team of strategists, technologists and entrepreneurs battle-tested experts with a steadfast, start-up attitude. A team with an average experience of 15+ years, that has delivered over $1 billion in operating income improvement and over 300 M&A deals for our clients. Liberty has a proven track record in Business and Technology Strategy, Transformation and Assurance, Data Analytics, Business Threat Intelligence, and Mergers and Acquisitions. We collaborate, integrate and ideate in real-time with our clients to deliver situation-specific solutions that work. Liberty has been awarded Best Place to Work by Crain's Chicago Business, Consulting Magazine, Great Place to Work, and Fortune; Fastest Growing Consulting Firm by Consulting Magazine; and Top BI and Analytics Company by CIO Applications. libertyadvisorgroup.com SOURCE Liberty Advisor Group Related Links http://www.libertyadvisorgroup.com DENVER, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Citing a gender gap in outcomes and a call to action from Colorado's State Innovation Model (SIM), a coalition of mental health experts and advocates is addressing the unique challenges men face with mental health. "We are changing the mental health dialogue in Colorado to bring more men into the conversation," said John M. Douglas Jr., MD. "Men don't seek care at the rate women do, even though numbers show they suffer from depression, anxiety and other obstacles to their well-being the same as everyone else." Douglas is executive director of Tri-County Health Department, the central organization in the Let's Talk Colorado campaign. Comprising more than 20 public and private health organizations, the campaign works to reduce mental health stigma by encouraging Coloradans to talk openly about their mental health when they or someone they know is struggling. Statistics illustrate disproportionate impacts for men dealing with mental health challenges: Across the Unites States, 6 million men report experiencing depression (Mental Health America). Of the 1,175 Coloradans who died from suicide in 2017, almost 900 were men, according to a report from the Colorado Health Institute. In the United States , men account for 78 percent of completed suicides, making men almost four times as likely to die from suicide as women, according to the CDC. Individuals who want to support a man they know who seems like he's depressed, grieving, stressed or just not himself are encouraged to try the following steps: Spend time with him doing a favorite activity. Check in regularly and ask how he's doing. Don't accept dismissive statements like "I'm fine" for an answer. Listen, patiently and actively, when he does tell you how he's feeling. Don't try to "fix" the problem or change the subject. Many men report feeling that they weren't listened to or believed when they have tried to talk to someone about their mental health. Let's Talk Colorado is a community-driven coalition of organizations including: AllHealth Network, Aurora Mental Health Center, Centura, Children's Hospital Colorado, Community Reach Center, Denver Public Health, Doctors Care, Douglas County Government, Jefferson Center, Jefferson County Public Health, Kaiser Permanente, Mental Health Center of Denver, SCL Health, Stride Community Health Center, Tri-County Health Department and UC Health. Contact: Tom Skelley Evolution Communications Agency 303.356.6926 [email protected] SOURCE Lets Talk Colorado Related Links https://letstalkco.org/ Offered through the Department of Kinesiology Sport & Recreation Office at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukees College of Health Sciences, Harley-Davidson Riding Academy begins May 2. The elective course includes required reading and classroom lessons on the parts and functions of the motorcycle, suggested riding behaviors to promote confidence, and of course riding practice. "Harley-Davidson is committed to building the next generation of riders, and meeting them where they are in this case on campus is a natural extension of that strategy," said Claudia Garber, Harley-Davidson Marketing Programs Manager. "While many may consider college itself to be the ride of a lifetime, we're looking forward to broadening horizons even further with a real-life skill and access to a mode of transportation that they may not have considered before." Students who complete the course will receive one general credit toward their degree and an MSF completion card, which in many states exempts them from the riding portion of the state motorcycle license test and may qualify riders for discounted motorcycle insurance. The course includes use of a training motorcycle, course materials, and insurance. Interested students must have a valid automobile drivers license or learners permit and the ability to ride a bicycle. Harley-Davidson will use the learnings from this pilot with the goal of equipping dealers to offer Riding Academy as a course option at other colleges and universities. ADDITIONAL "CONTINUING EDUCATION" OPTIONS Students beyond UW-Milwaukee can raise their hands to show they want Harley-Davidson Riding Academy added to their course catalogs by posting in social media using #IWantRiding101. For those a bit further off campus, H-D Riding Academy is offered at select Harley-Davidson dealers and provides expert guidance on basic motorcycle functions, rider safety skills and confidence boosting practice rides. Search for classes at www.h-d.com or visit H-D.com/explore. About Harley-Davidson Motor Company Harley-Davidson, Inc. is the parent company of Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Since 1903, Harley-Davidson Motor Company has fulfilled dreams of personal freedom with custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles, riding experiences and events and a complete line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts, accessories, general merchandise, riding gear and apparel. Harley-Davidson Financial Services provides wholesale and retail financing, insurance, extended service and other protection plans and credit card programs to Harley-Davidson dealers and riders in the U.S., Canada and other select international markets. For more information, visit Harley-Davidson's Web site at www.harley-davidson.com . SOURCE Harley-Davidson Motor Company Related Links http://www.harley-davidson.com DUBLIN, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Netherlands Animation, VFX & Games Industry: Strategies, Trends & Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The current animation industry in The Netherlands is vibrant with several active smaller production companies and independent filmmakers. Dutch animation industry has adopted new digital animation technologies and the industry's output is diverse with productions targeted at television, cinema, games, mobile phones, and the internet. Dutch animation has many talented young artists with several animation students graduating from the art academies every year and key international professionals take part in the artist in residence programme at the Netherlands Institute for Animation Film. There are numerous active smaller production companies and independent filmmakers, who combine producing independent films and commissioned work. Several animators are actively working on collaborations with international co-productions. The total value of the Dutch games industry was US$ 655 million in 2018 and is projected to reach US$ 793 million by 2020. Key Topics Covered: European Animation Industry DEMAND FOR TV CONTENT Feature Film Industry in Europe MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING Trends in Europe COLLABORATION AMONG EUROPEAN STUDIOS DRIVERS FOR SUCCESS ANIMATION COST STRUCTURES IN EUROPE Animation Movie Budgets in Europe Strategies and Models for Animation financing in Europe ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES CENTRALISED ANIMATION FUNDING AGENCIES IN EUROPE Television Series Development in Europe PITCHING TELEVISION SERIES TO BROADCASTERS Copyright Chain in Europe Co-Production Strategies in Europe CONTRACTUAL ISSUES KEY RIGHTS IN CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENTS CO-PRODUCTIONS AND OUTSOURCING Distribution Strategies in Europe PRODUCER-DISTRIBUTOR CO-FINANCING PATTERNS 3D Market in Europe ADVANTAGES OF 3D DISADVANTAGES OF 3D Industry Constraints and Challenges Market size of European Animation, VFX & Games industry Animation Content demand by TV Channels in Europe European Animation & VFX industry Market Size European Games industry Market Size Animation, VFX & Games industry in Netherlands Recent Movie Trends in Netherlands Successful Dutch Animations Key Animation Production Companies in Netherlands Animation Funding in Netherands Industry Drivers, Challenges and Opportunities Strategies for Animation Studios in Netherlands Value of Animation Industry in the Netherlands Size of Animation Industry in Netherlands Key statistics about Animation industry in Netherlands Games Industry in the Netherlands KEY TRENDS IN THE DUTCH VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY VIDEO GAME BUSINESS MODELS IN NETHERLANDS ONLINE VIDEO GAMING BUSINESS MODELS IN NETHERLANDS Key Opportunities & Strategies for Dutch Video Games Industry Video Games Market Segments MOBILE VIDEO GAMES SEGMENTS & GENRES Dutch Video Games Market Size & Opportunity For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/tlvcev 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 MCLEAN, Va., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Designs, Inc. (NDi) announced today that it has opened the NDi Cyber Operations Office in the Georgia Cyber Center in Augusta, Georgia. The Augusta-based Georgia Cyber Center, located within the Nathan Deal Campus for Innovation, is the result of a unique public/private partnership among academia, state and federal government, law enforcement, the U.S. Army, and the private sector. It supports innovative organizations focused on developing new technologies to strengthen cyber defenses, while also training the next generation of cyber professionals through education and real-world experience. "We are thrilled to open the NDi Cyber Operations Office in the Georgia Cyber Center, a facility like none other in the world," said NDi President and CEO Anthony Zeruto. "With our new location in Augusta's cyber corridor, NDi benefits from the proximity to U.S. Army Cyber Command and the Cyber School of Excellence at Fort Gordon, along with dozens of innovative cyber organizations. Neighboring Augusta University, Augusta Technical College, and the University System of Georgia's research institutions provide a tremendous pipeline of qualified cybersecurity professionals from which we will grow our NDi team." The Georgia Cyber Center offers NDi access to specialized facility features including secure meeting areas and a cutting-edge cyber range space within which NDi will continue its work developing resilient network solutions for its clients. NDi continues to expand its service offerings in Cybersecurity Operations and Resiliency following the arrival of Zeruto in January 2019. Most recently, NDi unveiled the Axiom Intelligence Platform (AxiomIP), a turnkey platform for aggregation of commercially available information that delivers full-spectrum information and insights in real time to support global, multifaceted missions. In addition, NDi was named the premier reseller of the Unisys Stealth software suite, which protects any TCP/IP-based asset from external or internal cyber threats via identity-driven, software-defined cryptographic zones, based on the Zero Trust security model. NDi's team of cybersecurity experts, led by Zeruto and Senior Vice President of Cyberspace Operations Bill Turmel, brings decades of relevant experience. Prior to joining NDi, Mr. Zeruto was a Senior Intelligence Officer within the U.S. Army serving as Director of Operations for U.S. Army Cyber Command, and Commander of NSA-Georgia. Prior to joining NDi, Mr. Turmel was Director of Current Operations for U.S. Army Cyber Command, and a Senior Military Staff Officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense-DoD CIO. About Network Designs, Inc. (NDi) NDi is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that specializes in designing, developing, and delivering resilient network solutions for the modern enterprise. NDi's services include cyberspace operations & resiliency; IT infrastructure, cloud migration & operations center support; digital communications & strategic marketing; business intelligence & information management; enterprise & mobile application development; and program management. In business for more than 22 years, NDi is proud to deliver outstanding results for its global clients. For more information, visit www.netdes.com. For more information on Network Designs, Inc.: Netdes.com [email protected] 888-NDi-5665 SOURCE Network Designs, Inc. (NDi) Related Links http://www.netdes.com Novel program provides reimbursement for TLD therapy in France MINNEAPOLIS, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuvaira, developer of novel therapeutic strategies to treat obstructive lung diseases, has received acceptance from the Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS, the French health technology assessment agency) into its Forfait Innovation program. The program is designed to fast-track novel medical devices with significant potential to improve clinical outcomes, with the objective of expediting access to important new therapies. The Forfait Innovation is a unique program which finances national access to breakthrough innovative therapies during continued collection of clinical and/or health economic data to allow the HAS to fully evaluate the therapy's performance and clinical value. Strict program requirements include novelty, pre-commercial status, demonstrated safety, and clinical potential to satisfy an unmet medical need. The program also requires a robust, prospective clinical trial designed to confirm safety and efficacy in a well-characterized patient population. Nuvaira's AIRFLOW-3 randomized, sham-controlled double-blinded pivotal trial (NCT03639051) is the first interventional COPD study to target a reduction in COPD exacerbations as a primary endpoint. In February, Nuvaira, working with reimbursement consultancy MediTech Access and key opinion leaders from University Medical Centers in Grenoble and Reims, submitted a dossier of pre-clinical and clinical data, including one-year outcomes from its randomized sham-controlled AIRFLOW-2 trial. HAS considers that AIRFLOW-3 can provide adequate confirmatory evidence of TLD safety and efficacy. Under the Forfait Innovation program, costs for the French patients enrolled in AIRFLOW-3 at eight university medical centers across France, including costs of the TLD catheters, will be reimbursed. Centers may continue treating patients with TLD therapy after the completion of trial enrollment, with continued reimbursement, until results of the AIRFLOW-3 trial are available. "We are thrilled that our AIRFLOW-2 trial outcomes have resulted in reimbursement under this novel program," said Dennis Wahr, M.D., chief executive officer at Nuvaira. "We anticipate that results from our AIRFLOW-3 trial will allow us to transition into permanent, national reimbursement." "Vagal nerve input to the lung is a significant contributor to symptoms and exacerbations in COPD patients," said Bruno Degano, MD, Ph.D., director of pulmonary medicine at CHU Grenoble. "University Hospital Grenoble is pleased to lead our country's education and recruitment efforts in AIRFLOW-3." About Nuvaira Nuvaira is a privately held company headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. The company's proprietary dNerva Lung Denervation System addresses airway hyper-responsiveness, a pathophysiologic underpinning of both COPD and asthma, in a procedure called Targeted Lung Denervation (TLD). Nuvaira has three completed clinical studies: IPS-I/II, AIRFLOW-1, and most recently, the AIRFLOW-2 randomized, sham-controlled double-blind clinical trial. The dNerva lung denervation system is CE Mark approved. The dNerva lung denervation system is under clinical investigation and is not commercially available in the USA . Nuvaira and dNerva are registered trademarks of Nuvaira, Inc. Please visit www.Nuvaira.com. SOURCE Nuvaira Related Links http://www.nuvaira.com/ THE HAGUE, Netherlands, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) (the 'company') today announces the commencement of trading in the next tranche of its share buyback programme previously announced on July 26, 2018. In the next tranche, the company has entered into an irrevocable, non-discretionary arrangement with a broker to enable the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares for a period up to and including July 29, 2019. The aggregate maximum consideration for the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares under the next tranche is $2.75 billion. The company's intention is to buy back at least $25 billion of its shares by the end of 2020, subject to further progress with debt reduction and oil price conditions. On April 29, 2019 the company completed the previous tranche of its share buyback programme. In aggregate between July 26, 2018 and April 29, 2019, the company repurchased 215,743,543 A ordinary shares for an aggregate consideration of $6.75 billion (the 'aggregate previous tranches'). The maximum number of ordinary shares which may be purchased by the company under the next tranche of its share buyback programme (the 'next tranche') is 618,256,457, which is the maximum pursuant to the authority granted by shareholders at the company's 2018 Annual General Meeting[1] minus the number of ordinary shares purchased in the aggregate previous tranches. The shares bought back under the next tranche will be whichever of the A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares is economically the least expensive on a given trading day. The broker will make its trading decisions in relation to the company's securities independently of the company. The next tranche will be carried out on the London Stock Exchange and/or on BATS and/or on Chi-X and will be effected within certain pre-set parameters. It will be conducted in accordance with the company's general authority to repurchase shares granted by its shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting held on May 22, 20181, and in line with Chapter 12 of the Listing Rules, Article 5 of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014/EU dealing with buyback programmes and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052. The purpose of the next tranche is to reduce the issued share capital of the company to offset the number of shares issued under the Scrip Dividend Programme and, in combination with the other tranches of the share buyback programme, to significantly reduce the equity issued in connection with the company's combination with BG Group. All shares repurchased as part of the next tranche will be cancelled. Any further tranches of the buyback programme, which may be conducted after completion of the tranche announced today, will be announced in due course. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT [1] The existing shareholder authority to buy back shares granted at the company's 2018 Annual General Meeting expires at the earlier of the close of business on August 22, 2019, and the end of the date of the company's 2019 Annual General Meeting. The company expects to seek renewal of shareholder authority to buy back shares at subsequent Annual General Meetings. The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations", respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest. This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "aim", "ambition", ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, May 2, 2019. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. US investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. Contacts: - Investor Relations: International + 31(0)70-377-4540; North America +1-832-337-2034 - Media: International +44(0)207-934-5550; USA +1-832-337-4355 LEI number of Royal Dutch Shell plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70 Classification: Acquisition or disposal of the issuer's own shares SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SQream , developer of SQream DB, the software-defined GPU-accelerated data warehouse designed for rapidly analyzing massive data stores at a fraction of the cost, announced today the launch of the IoT Edge Partner Innovation Lab in its Tel Aviv R&D office. The lab provides a venue to collaborate with the SQream Nano initiative to bring high performance computing, data management, analytics and AI at the edge. For innovation partners, the lab will provide an optimal environment for proof of concepts to test SQream Nano with existing and emerging software and test data. SQream Nano enables the management of terabytes of data at the edge, enabling immediate action on data to improve operational efficiency, quality and security. For areas such as automotive, industrial machines, mobility, smart manufacturing, maritime, aviation and drones, smart cities and more, business and system critical insights can be garnered allowing for rapid response to events and faults, with significantly reduced latency. Key design elements that make SQream Nano appealing for IoT edge computing: Millions of data points per second Output machine data directly to SQream DB SQL access Columnar engine tuned for time-series data Fast ad-hoc querying, aggregations, joins, custom functions (UDFs) Near real-time SQL performance Insights and BI integration with popular tools via ODBC, JDBC, Python Anaconda SQream Nano combines the power of SQream DB, in a low-profile, highly energy-efficient NVIDIA Jetson system, with ultra-fast analytics capabilities. "When we started developing SQream DB, one of the original ideas was to enable streaming IoT data for rapid analytics at the edge," said Ami Gal, co-founder and CEO at SQream. "The SQream Nano Partner Innovation Lab will build on the successful results we have with enterprises around the world, and provide an infrastructure for IoT partners who want to leverage our ability to store very large amounts of data locally for near real-time monitoring and analysis." SQream Nano can monitor billions of daily events, correlate them, and power predictive analytics. When combined with a C2 (command and control) system, SQream Nano can facilitate proactive measures like changing schedules, calling for proactive maintenance, or toggling modes of elements such as valves and actuators. Providing increased durability, security and privacy, SQream scales easily with lower overall compute and storage requirements. Contact SQream today for more information regarding collaboration with the Innovation Lab, or read our Peek into SQream Nano blog post to learn more about the SQream Nano IoT solution. About SQream Technologies SQream develops and markets SQream DB, a software-defined GPU data warehouse designed to enable unparalleled business intelligence from massive data stores. Global enterprises use SQream DB to analyze more data than ever before, while achieving improved performance, reduced footprint, significant cost savings and the ability to scale the amount of data they analyze to hundreds of terabytes and more. SQream DB is available both on premise and in the cloud. To learn more, visit sqream.com or follow us on twitter @sqreamtech . Media Contact David Leichner SQream +972-54-779-9888 SOURCE SQream Technologies Related Links http://www.sqream.com 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. Related Links https://engieservices.us In Illinois, the life sciences industry employs over 85,000 people and generates over $98 billion in annual economic output statewide, which amounts to 12% of the State's GDP, an Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization report noted. Yet in Chicago, industry employment has fallen 13.6% and R&D has been cut in half as many area pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies moved much of their R&D operations out-of-state, CBRE's Life Science Report said. Illinois Medical District's report, Restoring Chicago's Life Science Leadership | A State and City Partnership , explains why it's critical to address this issue now. By highlighting life science and technology trends that spur greater economic and community success, the report makes a salient case for establishing an innovation district in Chicago. It also offers strategic execution guidelines that call for support from all levels of government and private- and public-sector companies. "When we talk about biotech startups or expanding the life science industry, we almost always speak in economic terms, as if these two sectors are interchangeable. But life sciences are about serving real peoplesaving lives and making them better," Suzet McKinney, Illinois Medical District CEO, said. "This is poignant in Chicago because its most underserved communities are home to some of the nation's top research universities and hospitals." Chicago's South Side is home to the University of Chicago and its highly ranked medical center, and the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side anchors two top medical universities and four renowned teaching hospitals. This begs the obvious: why are these communities unable to access the healthcare they clearly need, and how to we better serve them? "We can't discuss expanding the life science industry in Chicago without putting people and their health first," McKinney said. "It's time for the state and city to get involved and insist on a responsible expansion that strengthens Chicago's national position as a life sciences leader before it loses more ground and serves underserved communities at the same time." Public-private partnerships are a solution. Venture capital to life sciences has surged 86% over the past year, which has helped New York achieve significant momentum through public-private partnerships that include 1.5million sq. ft. of lab space under development, CBRE's 2019 Life Sciences Clusters report noted. The Bay Area and Boston MSA are home to the nation's leading life science clusters, but Chicago is currently in 10th place, per CBRE. With focus and commitment, Chicago can become the "Third Coast" of life science centers. But it will require the City, State and private and public partners to unite on a grand scale. About the IMD Situated in the heart of one of the world's most admired cities, the Illinois Medical District (IMD) offers partners a unique ecosystem of knowledge, collaboration and resources, plus something more: the opportunity to impact the world's next great district for healthcare innovation. Together, IMD partners accelerate discovery and commercialization that is reshaping the practice of medicine, generating prosperity for everyone. For More Information Contact: Ryan Gage 312.738.5829 (Office) 312.497.7633 (Cell) [email protected] Denise Spencer 312.373.3777 (Office) 312.371.6239 (Cell) [email protected] SOURCE Illinois Medical District Related Links https://www.medicaldistrict.org SAN DIEGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Winning Pitch Challenge will feature contestants with innovative ophthalmic ideas presenting to a panel of industry leaders on Sunday, May 5 at the annual American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Conference in San Diego. The ASCRS conference was created to "facilitate meaningful interactions and business partnerships between physicians, entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives who are driving ophthalmic innovation." "The Winning Pitch Challenge is an exciting program designed to assist innovative ophthalmologists with cutting-edge ideas. The mentors behind the Winning Pitch Challenge provide advice and expertise to participants on the commercial viability of concepts and the necessary steps to maximize the opportunity for success," says Vance Thompson, MD, collaborator on the Winning Pitch Challenge and founder of Vance Thompson Vision. Through accelerating the pace of innovation, the Winning Pitch Challenge hopes to ultimately improve patient care. The Winning Pitch Challenge provides access to key educational resources, highly experienced business and innovation mentors, networking opportunities, and key exposure to financial resources. Additionally, mentors can help participants overcome critical early-stage obstacles, such as securing intellectual property, developing a working version of the product, identifying a team and designing early stage studies. "Many times, the people with the best ideas are the ones closest to the work. We are proud of our colleagues who have ideas and need a little help getting their idea off the ground. That's what the Winning Pitch is all about," stated John Pollack, MD. This year's Winning Pitch Challenge event will take place Sunday, May 5 from 3 to 4:30p.m. PDT in Room 6A, Upper Level, San Diego Convention Center. It will be a great session to attend for those interested in the innovation process. The ASCRS organization shares knowledge and skills with ophthalmic surgeons by providing clinical and practice management education and by working with patients, government and the medical community to promote the delivery and advancement of high-quality eye care. For more information on the Winning Pitch Challenge, visit winningpitchchallenge.net. SOURCE Winning Pitch Challenge Related Links http://www.winningpitchchallenge.net MAYWOOD, Ill., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vivian Gahtan, MD, a nationally known vascular surgeon, has been named professor and chair of the Department of Surgery of Loyola Medicine and Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, effective Aug. 1. Dr. Gahtan is coming to Loyola from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y, where she is professor and vice chair for academic development, Department of Surgery. Dr. Gahtan also is medical director, vascular surgery, of University Hospital in Syracuse. Previously, Dr. Gahtan was an associate professor of surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. "We are extremely pleased that Dr. Gahtan is joining Loyola," said David Hecht, MD, MS, MBA, executive vice president, clinical affairs and regional chief medical officer of Loyola Medicine. "She has the clinical expertise, leadership skills and strategic vision to grow and advance our surgical services." Sam Marzo, MD, interim dean of Stritch School of Medicine and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, said Dr. Gahtan also will strengthen Stritch School of Medicine as it educates the next generation of physicians. "In addition to being a superb surgeon, Dr. Gahtan excels as a researcher, educator and mentor," Dr. Marzo said. Dr. Gahtan is an author on more than 200 medical journal studies, review articles, book chapters, abstracts and poster presentations. She has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Surgery and Annals of Vascular Surgery. Dr. Gahtan has held many leadership roles on regional and national levels, including president of the Association of Women Surgeons; director of the American Board of Surgery; chair of the Vascular Surgery Board of the American Board of Surgery; and president of the Eastern Vascular Society. Dr. Gahtan is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a distinguished fellow of the Society for Vascular Surgery and a fellow of the American Heart Association Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. She is board certified in surgery and vascular surgery. Dr. Gahtan earned her medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine. She completed a residency in general surgery and general vascular surgery at the University of South Florida and an endovascular fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell and Columbia. Loyola's Department of Surgery includes 10 divisions: colon and rectal surgery; general surgery; gastrointestinal/minimally invasive surgery; intra-abdominal transplant surgery; oral and maxillofacial surgery; plastic and reconstructive surgery; surgical oncology; surgical research; trauma, surgical critical care and burns; and vascular surgery and endovascular therapy. Loyola's expert surgeons are recognized for their clinical excellence, innovative therapeutic methods and skilled use of the latest technology. Surgeons are part of a clinically integrated team that incudes anesthesiologists, nurses, rehabilitation specialists and physical and occupational therapists. As an academic medical center, Loyola is able to offer patients access to the newest and most advanced surgical treatments. Media Contacts: Jim Ritter Sr. Manager, Media Relations [email protected] Phone: 708-216-2445 Provided by Newswise, online resource for knowledge-based news at www.newswise.com SOURCE Loyola University Health System Related Links http://loyolamedicine.org ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, organizers of the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) issued a final call for conference registrations and released additional details of the event's programming. Dixon Doll, co-founder and partner emeritus of DCM Ventures, will open this year's symposium with a keynote address. Panel discussions will host top industry experts to address managing startups when times are tough, corporate venture investment and the rapidly growing robotics industry in healthcare. Pitch presentations feature 33 high-growth Midwest startups spanning the life sciences and tech industries as well as more than 50 university spin-outs in the tech transfer pitch session. More than 400 entrepreneurs, investors and related vendors will convene for the two-day conference on May 14-15 at the Marriott Resort in Ypsilanti, Mich. As the region's premier venture fair and first university-backed investment forum of its kind, MGCS will host investors from across the United States for two days of networking, company presentations and panel discussions. On May 15, Scott Kupor, managing partner of Andreessen Horowitz, and Jan Garfinkle, founder and managing partner of Arboretum Ventures, will deliver a fireside chat which kicks off the inaugural VC University LIVE Midwest, hosted by the National Venture Capital Association, University of California Berkeley and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and serves as the closing keynote of MGCS. A new addition to the MGCS agenda, the three-day seminar will feature panels and workshops for entrepreneurs, angel investors, VCs, fund managers and attorneys looking to learn more about the financial, legal and operational aspects of venture capital. The tech transfer pitch track highlights more than 50 innovative companies coming out of the Midwest's top-tier universities. Confirmed participants include: Russ Straate , University of Minnesota , Scott Henderson , Purdue Research Foundation , Purdue Research Foundation Frank Urban , Michigan State University , Teri Willey , Indiana University Ventures , Ventures Cheryl Turnbull , Ohio State University , Ken Massey , Wayne State University , Michael Psarouthakis , University of Michigan Investment firms in attendance will include: 30Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, Allos Ventures, Amherst Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Arboretum Ventures, Arsenal Growth, Baird Capital, Beringea, BioStar Ventures, Capital Community Angels, Catalyst Investors, Charter Capital Partners, CoreNetwork Fund, Cultivation Capital, DCM Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Draper Triangle Ventures, EMA Partners, Forest Harbor Ventures, GM Ventures, Grand Angels, Hatteras Venture Partners, HealthQuest Capital, Hopen Life Sciences, LLR Partners, Mercury Fund, Monroe Brown Biomedical Seed Fund, Mutual Capital Partners, OCA Ventures, Plymouth Growth Partners, Red Cedar Ventures, Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, RPM Ventures, Sandalphon Capital, Spectrum Health Ventures, Venture Investors, Vistara Capital Partners, and more to come. MGCS online registration is available until 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday, May 10 for $425, and on-site registration opens at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 14 for $450 at the door at the Marriot Resort. To attend VC University LIVE Midwest, apply here. All VC University LIVE Midwest attendees receive free passes to MGCS. The Midwest Growth Capital Symposium, hosted by the University of Michigan Ross School of Business' Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance, is the longest running university-based venture fair of its kind. For more information on the event, visit www.Michigan-GCS.com. About the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium The Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) is the original university-based venture investment fair. First held in 1981 as the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium, this decades-old nationally attended event is the largest Midwest venture fair of its kind that brings together venture capital investors, angel investors, high-growth companies, university tech transfer officers and research faculty. MGCS is presented by the Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance and the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, with support from the Michigan Venture Capital Association. About Michigan Ross The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan is a vibrant and distinctive learning community grounded in the principle that business can be an extraordinary vehicle for positive change in today's dynamic global economy. The Ross mission is to develop leaders who make a positive difference in the world. Through thought and action, members of the Ross community drive change and innovation that improves business and society. Ross is consistently ranked among the world's leading business schools. Academic degree programs include the BBA, MBA, Part-time MBA (Evening and Weekend formats), Executive MBA, Global MBA, Master of Accounting, Master of Supply Chain Management, Master of Management, and PhD. In addition, the school delivers open-enrollment and custom executive education programs targeting general management, leadership development, and strategic human resource management. SOURCE Midwest Growth Capital Symposium Related Links http://www.Michigan-GCS.com ABBOTT PARK, Ill., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today that m-PIMA HIV-1/2 VL, the world's first point-of-care viral load diagnostic test, has received the World Health Organization's Prequalification approval (WHO PQ). The test received CE Mark in December 2018. "m-PIMA HIV-1/2 VL is the only truly portable molecular point-of-care test designed specifically for use in resource-limited settings such as in sub-Saharan Africa," said Damian Halloran, vice president, Infectious Disease Emerging Markets, Rapid Diagnostics, Abbott. "With WHO PQ, global funders and ministries of health can now confidently expand access to viral load testing, reaching more people who need the test, with the most compact and efficient point-of-care HIV diagnostic platform available anywhere in the world today." To provide the most effective HIV treatment and care, the WHO recommends that everyone receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) undergoes a viral load test at 6 months and 12 months, and annually thereafter, if the individual is stable on ART. Viral load testing is the gold standard for monitoring ART treatment failure.1 Unfortunately, very few people2 in resource-limited settings, such as select countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, have access to the necessary level of care. Abbott's m-PIMA HIV-1/2 VL is a quantitative nucleic acid amplification test for viral load measurement of HIV type 1 groups M/N and O, and HIV-2 in plasma samples. The platform is portable so it can be brought into the most remote locations. It's easy to use, deployable at the point of care and designed to measure viral load in under 70 minutes, while the patient is still present. This allows people to receive results during the same visit and enables immediate treatment decisions, thereby reducing the number of people lost to follow-up. The test's quick turnaround time is particularly valuable for monitoring the viral load of HIV-positive pregnant women and in cases of suspected HIV treatment failure. The m-PIMA HIV-1/2 VL is part of Abbott's comprehensive portfolio of diagnostic solutions for HIV screening, monitoring and viral load management. From the core lab to the point of care, Abbott provides critical tools to help healthcare providers make informed treatment decisions for people living with HIV. About WHO Prequalification (PQ) WHO Prequalification (PQ) aims to ensure that diagnostics, medicines, vaccines and immunization-related equipment and devices for high burden diseases meet global standards of quality, safety and efficacy, to optimize use of health resources and improve health outcomes. The prequalification process consists of a transparent, scientifically sound assessment, which includes dossier review, consistency testing or performance evaluation and site visits to manufacturers. This information, in conjunction with other procurement criteria, is used by UN and other procurement agencies to make purchasing decisions regarding diagnostics, medicines and/or vaccines. For more information, go to https://www.who.int/topics/prequalification/en/. About Abbott Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 103,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews and @AbbottGlobal. 1 Roberts, T., Cohn, J., Bonner, K., & Hargreaves, S. (2016). Scale-up of Routine Viral Load Testing in Resource-Poor Settings: Current and Future Implementation Challenges. Clinical Infectious Diseases: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 62(8), 1043-1048. http://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciw001 2 UNAIDS (2014) 90-90-90 An ambitious target to help end the AIDS epidemic. Available on http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/90-90-90_en_0.pdf SOURCE Abbott Related Links http://www.abbott.com LAKE ZURICH, Ill., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE: ACCO), one of the world's largest designers, marketers and manufacturers of branded academic, consumer and business products, today reported its first quarter results for the period ended March 31, 2019. "Our first quarter results demonstrate our continued effective response to industry changes, aided by our strong brands, good execution and more diversified global business," said Boris Elisman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACCO Brands. "While the first quarter is seasonally our smallest quarter, I am very pleased with our improved operating results driven by price recovery and cost reductions." First Quarter Results Net sales of $393.9 million decreased 2.9% from the prior-year period as adverse currency reduced sales by 5.3% and acquisitions added 2.9%. Comparable sales decreased 0.5% as lower volume offset pricing which added 2.9%. Net loss was $0.6 million, or $(0.01) per share, including a $5.6 million adjustment to tax expense related to our Brazilian tax reserve, and pre-tax charges of $3.2 million for restructuring, integration and transaction expenses. Net income in the prior-year quarter was $10.4 million, or $0.09 per share, which included $6.3 million of charges. The decline in net income was primarily due to higher income tax expense. Adjusted net income was $8.8 million, or $0.08 per share, compared to $8.9 million, or $0.08 per share, in the prior-year quarter, as improved operating performance was offset by adverse foreign currency and higher interest and income tax expenses. Strategic Overview "We continue to progress our strategy of growing our global portfolio of consumer brands, while increasing our presence in faster growing geographies, channels and product categories and diversifying our customer base, as demonstrated by the continued growth in EMEA following the Esselte acquisition," said Elisman. "We also continue to improve our cost structure through synergies and productivity savings to drive long-term profit growth and continued strong free cash flow generation. We continue to expect to realize $10 million of acquisition synergy savings in 2019, in addition to $30-$35 million in cost savings," he added. Business Segment Highlights ACCO Brands North America - Sales of $160.4 million decreased 3.1% from the prior-year period and excluding currency decreased 2.5%. Pricing added 3.5%. The sales decline was primarily due to the timing of orders and some lost placements. Operating income of $6.8 million increased 134.5% from the prior-year quarter and adjusted operating income of $8.2 million increased 74.5% from the prior-year quarter. Both year-over-year increases were primarily due to cost-reduction initiatives and pricing actions. ACCO Brands EMEA - Sales of $146.5 million decreased 5.2% due to adverse foreign currency which reduced sales by 8.7%. Comparable sales increased 3.5% driven by broad-based growth in most product categories. Operating income of $15.9 million increased 12.8% from the prior-year period due to lower restructuring charges. Adjusted operating income of $16.1 million decreased 7.5% from the prior-year period due to adverse foreign currency. ACCO Brands International - Sales of $87.0 million increased 1.5% as growth from the GOBA acquisition was offset by adverse foreign currency. Comparable sales decreased 4.0% as strong sales growth in Brazil was offset by declines, primarily in Australia. Operating income of $5.6 million decreased 3.4% due to adverse foreign currency. Adjusted operating income of $6.8 million was slightly higher than the prior year driven by acquisition benefits and cost savings, which were partly offset by adverse foreign currency. Capital Allocation In the quarter, the company used $61.3 million of net cash from operating activities and, including capital expenditures, used $68.4 million of free cash flow. The company repurchased 1.3 million shares of stock for a total of $10.5 million, and paid $6.2 million in dividends. The company expects to continue to generate strong annual cash flow, and its capital allocation priorities remain funding strategic acquisitions, debt reduction, dividends and share repurchases. The company continues to target a long-term net leverage ratio in the range of 2.0x-2.5x. Guidance The company is reiterating its 2019 guidance for net sales growth, adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow. 2019 Guidance Net sales growth (3)% to 0% Adjusted EPS $1.10 to $1.20 Free Cash Flow $165 million to $175 million Webcast At 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today, ACCO Brands Corporation will host a conference call to discuss the company's results. The call will be broadcast live via webcast. The webcast can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of www.accobrands.com . The webcast will be in listen-only mode and will be available for replay for one month following the event. About ACCO Brands Corporation ACCO Brands Corporation is one of the world's largest designers, marketers and manufacturers of branded academic, consumer and business products. Our widely recognized brands include AT-A-GLANCE, Barrilito, Derwent, Esselte, Five Star, GBC, Hilroy, Kensington, Leitz, Mead, Quartet, Rapid, Rexel, Swingline, Tilibra, Wilson Jones, and many others. Our products are sold in more than 100 countries around the world. More information about ACCO Brands, the Home of Great Brands Built by Great People, can be found at www.accobrands.com. Non-GAAP Financial Measures This press release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, including comparable net sales, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"), net leverage ratio, free cash flow, adjusted tax rate and normalized tax rate. We have included a description of each of these measures and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure in the tables attached to this press release. We sometimes refer to comparable net sales as comparable sales and adjusted net income per share as adjusted earnings per share. We use the non-GAAP financial measures both in the internal evaluation and management of our business and to explain our results to stockholders and the investment community. Senior management's incentive compensation is derived, in part, using certain of these measures. We believe these measures provide management and investors with a more complete understanding of our underlying operational results and trends, facilitate meaningful comparisons and enhance an overall understanding of our past financial performance and our future prospects. The non-GAAP results are an indication of our baseline performance before gains, losses or other charges that we considered to be outside our core operating results. The non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain items that may have a material impact upon our reported financial results such as unusual income tax items, restructuring, and integration charges, acquisition-related expenses, the impact of foreign currency fluctuation and acquisitions, and other one-time or non-recurring items. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the directly comparable GAAP financial measures and should be read in connection with the company's financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP. This press release also provides forward-looking non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share, free cash flow and net leverage ratio. We do not provide a reconciliation of forward-looking adjusted earnings per share, adjusted tax rate, net leverage ratio or free cash flow to GAAP because the GAAP financial measure is not accessible on a forward-looking basis and reconciling information is not available without unreasonable effort due to the inherent difficulty of forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary for such a reconciliation, including adjustments that could be made for restructuring, integration and acquisition-related expenses, the variability of our tax rate and the impact of foreign currency fluctuation and acquisitions, and other charges reflected in our historical numbers. The probable significance of each of these items is high and, based on historical experience, could be material. Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, particularly those anticipating future financial performance, business prospects, growth, operating strategies and similar matters are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which are generally identifiable by the use of the words "will," "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," and similar expressions, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, are made as of the date hereof, and we undertake no duty or obligation to update them. Because actual results may differ materially from those suggested or implied by such forward-looking statements, you should not place undue reliance on them when deciding whether to buy, sell or hold the company's securities. Our 2019 guidance is based on certain assumptions, which we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These include, without limitation, assumptions regarding the timing, cost and synergies expected from integration of acquisitions; impact of the recent changes in U.S. tax laws and trade policies; changes in the macro environment; fluctuations in foreign currency rates and share count; changes in the competitive landscape, including ongoing uncertainties driven by the consolidation in the traditional office products channels; as well as other factors described below. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements are: a relatively limited number of large customers account for a significant percentage of our sales; risks associated with shifts in the channels of distribution for our products; risks associated with foreign currency fluctuations; challenges related to the highly competitive business environments in which we operate, including ongoing uncertainties driven by consolidation in the traditional office products channels; our ability to develop and market innovative products that meet consumer demands; our ability to grow profitably through acquisitions and expand our product assortment into new and adjacent categories; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions and achieve the financial and other results anticipated at the time of acquisition, including synergies; risks associated with the changes to U.S. trade policies and regulations, including increased import tariffs and overall uncertainty surrounding international trade relations; the failure, inadequacy or interruption of our information technology systems or supporting infrastructure; risks associated with a cybersecurity incident or information security breach; our ability to successfully expand our business in emerging markets which generally expose us to greater financial, operational, regulatory and compliance and other risks; the effects of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; the impact of litigation or other legal proceedings; risks associated with changes in the cost or availability of raw materials, labor, transportation and other necessary supplies and services and the cost of finished goods; issues that affect consumer spending decisions during periods of economic uncertainty or weakness; the risks associated with outsourcing production of certain of our products, information systems and other administrative functions; the continued decline in the use of certain of our products; risks associated with seasonality; our failure to comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations and self-regulatory requirements and the costs of compliance; the sufficiency of investment returns on pension assets and risks related to actuarial assumptions; any impairment of our intangible assets; risks associated with our indebtedness, including our debt service obligations, limitations imposed by restrictive covenants and our ability to comply with financial ratios and tests; the bankruptcy or financial instability of our customers and suppliers; our failure to comply with customer contracts; our ability to secure, protect and maintain our intellectual property rights; product liability claims or regulatory actions; our ability to attract and retain key employees; the volatility of our stock price; material disruptions of our or our suppliers' operations resulting from circumstances outside our control; and other risks and uncertainties described in "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and in other reports we file with the SEC. ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (In millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 % Change Net sales $ 393.9 $ 405.8 (2.9)% Cost of products sold 268.1 278.3 (3.7)% Gross profit 125.8 127.5 (1.3)% Operating costs and expenses: Selling, general and administrative expenses 95.9 101.8 (5.8)% Amortization of intangibles 9.3 9.3 % Restructuring charges 2.7 4.7 (42.6)% Total operating costs and expenses 107.9 115.8 (6.8)% Operating income 17.9 11.7 53.0% Non-operating expense (income): Interest expense 10.4 9.4 10.6% Interest income (0.9) (1.0) (10.0)% Non-operating pension income (1.4) (2.2) (36.4)% Other income, net (0.2) (0.6) (66.7)% Income before income tax 10.0 6.1 63.9% Income tax expense (benefit) 10.6 (4.3) NM Net (loss) income $ (0.6) $ 10.4 NM Per share: Basic (loss) income per share $ (0.01) $ 0.10 NM Diluted (loss) income per share $ (0.01) $ 0.09 NM Weighted average number of shares outstanding: Basic 102.3 106.8 Diluted 102.3 110.0 Dividends per common share $ 0.06 $ 0.06 Statistics (as a % of Net sales, except Income tax rate) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Gross profit (Net sales, less Cost of products sold) 31.9 % 31.4 % Selling, general and administrative expenses 24.3 % 25.1 % Operating income 4.5 % 2.9 % Income before income tax 2.5 % 1.5 % Net (loss) income (0.2) % 2.6 % Income tax rate 106.0 % (70.5) % ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Reconciliation of GAAP to Adjusted Non-GAAP Information (Unaudited) (In millions, except per share data) The following table sets forth a reconciliation of certain Statement of Operations information reported in accordance with GAAP to adjusted Non-GAAP Information. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Reported % of Adjusted Adjusted % of Reported % of Adjusted Adjusted % of % Change GAAP Sales Items Non-GAAP Sales GAAP Sales Items Non-GAAP Sales Adjusted Gross profit $ 125.8 31.9 % $ 0.1 (A.1) $ 125.9 32.0 % $ 127.5 31.4 % $ $ 127.5 31.4 % (1) % Selling, general and administrative expenses 95.9 24.3 % (0.4) (A.2) 95.5 24.2 % 101.8 25.1 % (1.6) (A.2) 100.2 24.7 % (5) % Restructuring charges 2.7 (2.7) (A.3) 4.7 (4.7) (A.3) NM Operating income 17.9 4.5 % 3.2 21.1 5.4 % 11.7 2.9 % 6.3 18.0 4.4 % 17 % Income before income tax 10.0 2.5 % 3.2 13.2 3.4 % 6.1 1.5 % 6.3 12.4 3.1 % 6 % Income tax expense (benefit) 10.6 (6.2) (A.4) 4.4 (4.3) 7.8 (A.4) 3.5 26 % Income tax rate 106.0 % 33.3 % (70.5) % 28.0 % Net (loss) income $ (0.6) (0.2) % $ 9.4 $ 8.8 2.2 % $ 10.4 2.6 % $ (1.5) $ 8.9 2.2 % (1) % Diluted (loss) income per share $ (0.01) $ 0.09 $ 0.08 $ 0.09 $ (0.01) $ 0.08 % Weighted average number of shares outstanding: 102.3 104.5 110.0 110.0 Notes for Reconciliation of GAAP to Adjusted Non-GAAP Information (Unaudited) A. "Adjusted" results exclude restructuring charges, transaction and integration expenses associated with the acquisitions of Esselte Group Holdings AB ("Esselte"), GOBA Internacional, S.A. de C.V ("GOBA") and the Cumberland asset acquisition ("Cumberland"). In addition, "Adjusted" results exclude other one-time or non-recurring items and all unusual income tax items. Unusual income tax items include any tax return versus provision adjustments, tax exam impacts, impacts of law changes, significant reserves for cash repatriation, excess tax benefits/losses and other discrete items. These discrete items are excluded due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting these items absent unreasonable effort. 1. Represents the adjustment related to the amortization of step-up in the value of finished goods inventory associated with the Cumberland asset acquisition in 2019. 2. Represents the elimination of transaction and integration expenses associated with the acquisitions of Esselte (in 2018), GOBA and Cumberland (in 2019 only). 3. Represents the elimination of restructuring charges. 4. The adjustments to tax expense include the effects of the adjustments outlined in items A.1 - 3 above in the amount of $0.9 million and discrete tax adjustments of $(7.1) million for a total of $(6.2) million resulting in an adjusted tax rate of 33.3% for the first quarter of 2019. Income taxes in 2018 were recalculated at a normalized tax rate of 28% based on the then anticipated earnings mix for the full year, which was subsequently increased to 30%. ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income to Adjusted EBITDA (Unaudited) (In millions) "Adjusted EBITDA" represents net (loss) income after adding back depreciation; stock-based compensation expense; amortization of intangibles; interest expense, net; other income, net; and income tax expense (benefit). Adjusted EBITDA also excludes the amortization of the step-up in value of finished goods inventory, transaction, integration, and restructuring charges. The following table sets forth a reconciliation of net (loss) income reported in accordance with GAAP to Adjusted EBITDA. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 % Change Net (loss) income $ (0.6) $ 10.4 NM Inventory step-up amortization 0.1 NM Transaction and integration expenses 0.4 1.6 (75)% Restructuring charges 2.7 4.7 (43)% Depreciation 8.8 9.0 (2)% Stock-based compensation 2.0 3.2 (38)% Amortization of intangibles 9.3 9.3 % Interest expense, net 9.5 8.4 13% Other income, net (0.2) (0.6) (67)% Income tax expense (benefit) 10.6 (4.3) NM Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) $ 42.6 $ 41.7 2% Adjusted EBITDA as a % of Net Sales 10.8 % 10.3 % Reconciliation of Net Cash (Used) Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow (Unaudited) (In millions) "Free Cash Flow" represents cash flow from operating activities less cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment, plus cash proceeds from the disposition of assets. The following table sets forth a reconciliation of net cash (used) provided by operating activities reported in accordance with GAAP to Free Cash Flow. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Net cash (used) provided by operating activities $ (61.3) $ 60.4 Net cash (used) provided by: Additions to property, plant and equipment (7.2) (8.0) Proceeds from the disposition of assets 0.1 Free cash flow (non-GAAP) $ (68.4) $ 52.4 ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited) (in millions) March 31, 2019 December 31, 2018 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 100.5 $ 67.0 Accounts receivable, net 318.1 428.4 Inventories 399.7 340.6 Other current assets 49.1 44.2 Total current assets 867.4 880.2 Total property, plant and equipment 622.5 618.7 Less: accumulated depreciation (362.2) (355.0) Property, plant and equipment, net 260.3 263.7 Right of use asset, leases 83.6 Deferred income taxes 106.3 115.1 Goodwill 706.9 708.9 Identifiable intangibles, net 776.2 787.0 Other non-current assets 26.7 31.5 Total assets $ 2,827.4 $ 2,786.4 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Current liabilities: Notes payable $ 9.5 $ Current portion of long-term debt 47.1 39.5 Accounts payable 193.4 274.6 Accrued compensation 38.2 41.6 Accrued customer program liabilities 92.9 114.5 Lease liabilities 22.8 Other current liabilities 111.6 129.0 Total current liabilities 515.5 599.2 Long-term debt, net 949.4 843.0 Long-term lease liabilities 69.7 11.0 Deferred income taxes 173.4 176.2 Pension and post-retirement benefit obligations 245.9 257.2 Other non-current liabilities 108.7 110.1 Total liabilities 2,062.6 1,996.7 Stockholders' equity: Common stock 1.1 1.1 Treasury stock (38.2) (33.9) Paid-in capital 1,931.9 1,941.0 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (467.0) (461.7) Accumulated deficit (663.0) (656.8) Total stockholders' equity 764.8 789.7 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 2,827.4 $ 2,786.4 ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions) 2019 2018 Operating activities Net (loss) income $ (0.6) $ 10.4 Amortization of inventory step-up 0.1 Loss on disposal of assets 0.1 0.1 Depreciation 8.8 9.0 Amortization of debt issuance costs 0.5 0.5 Amortization of intangibles 9.3 9.3 Stock-based compensation 2.0 3.2 Changes in balance sheet items: Accounts receivable 108.1 162.0 Inventories (57.3) (43.5) Other assets (10.1) (8.0) Accounts payable (79.9) 8.8 Accrued expenses and other liabilities (41.1) (78.7) Accrued income taxes (1.2) (12.7) Net cash (used) provided by operating activities (61.3) 60.4 Investing activities Additions to property, plant and equipment (7.2) (8.0) Proceeds from the disposition of assets 0.1 Other assets acquired (5.4) Net cash used by investing activities (12.5) (8.0) Financing activities Proceeds from long-term borrowings 123.7 21.5 Repayments of long-term debt (11.6) Borrowings of notes payable, net 4.8 0.7 Dividends paid (6.2) (6.4) Repurchases of common stock (10.5) (9.1) Payments related to tax withholding for stock-based compensation (4.2) (7.4) Proceeds from the exercise of stock options 5.3 Net cash provided (used) by financing activities 107.6 (7.0) Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (0.3) 0.4 Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 33.5 45.8 Cash and cash equivalents Beginning of the period 67.0 76.9 End of the period $ 100.5 $ 122.7 ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Supplemental Business Segment Information and Reconciliation (Unaudited) (In millions) 2019 2018 Changes Adjusted Adjusted Reported Adjusted Operating Reported Adjusted Operating Adjusted Adjusted Operating Operating Income Operating Operating Income Operating Operating Reported Income Adjusted Income (Loss) Reported Income Adjusted Income (Loss) Net Sales Net Sales Income Income Margin Net Sales (Loss) Items (Loss) (A) Margin (A) Net Sales (Loss) Items (Loss) (A) Margin (A) $ % (Loss) $ (Loss) % Points Q1: ACCO Brands North America $ 160.4 $ 6.8 $ 1.4 $ 8.2 5.1% $ 165.6 $ 2.9 $ 1.8 $ 4.7 2.8% $ (5.2) (3.1)% $ 3.5 74.5% 230 ACCO Brands EMEA 146.5 15.9 0.2 16.1 11.0% 154.5 14.1 3.3 17.4 11.3% (8.0) (5.2)% (1.3) (7.5)% (30) ACCO Brands International 87.0 5.6 1.2 6.8 7.8% 85.7 5.8 0.8 6.6 7.7% 1.3 1.5% 0.2 3.0% 10 Corporate (10.4) 0.4 (10.0) (11.1) 0.4 (10.7) 0.7 Total $ 393.9 $ 17.9 $ 3.2 $ 21.1 5.4% $ 405.8 $ 11.7 $ 6.3 $ 18.0 4.4% $ (11.9) (2.9)% $ 3.1 17.2% 100 Q2: ACCO Brands North America $ 282.8 $ 51.5 $ 1.6 $ 53.1 18.8% ACCO Brands EMEA 140.5 8.4 1.8 10.2 7.3% ACCO Brands International 75.5 3.3 0.3 3.6 4.8% Corporate (11.4) 0.3 (11.1) Total $ 498.8 $ 51.8 $ 4.0 $ 55.8 11.2% Q3: ACCO Brands North America $ 263.4 $ 33.7 $ (0.3) $ 33.4 12.7% ACCO Brands EMEA 143.1 14.6 2.2 16.8 11.7% ACCO Brands International 100.8 16.1 0.1 16.2 16.1% Corporate (6.9) (6.9) Total $ 507.3 $ 57.5 $ 2.0 $ 59.5 11.7% Q4: ACCO Brands North America $ 228.9 $ 28.5 $ 3.1 $ 31.6 13.8% ACCO Brands EMEA 167.1 22.3 0.7 23.0 13.8% ACCO Brands International 133.3 24.0 0.3 24.3 18.2% Corporate (8.8) (8.8) Total $ 529.3 $ 66.0 $ 4.1 $ 70.1 13.2% YTD: ACCO Brands North America $ 160.4 $ 6.8 $ 1.4 $ 8.2 5.1% $ 940.7 $ 116.6 $ 6.2 $ 122.8 13.1% ACCO Brands EMEA 146.5 15.9 0.2 16.1 11.0% 605.2 59.4 8.0 67.4 11.1% ACCO Brands International 87.0 5.6 1.2 6.8 7.8% 395.3 49.2 1.5 50.7 12.8% Corporate (10.4) 0.4 (10.0) (38.2) 0.7 (37.5) Total $ 393.9 $ 17.9 $ 3.2 $ 21.1 5.4% $ 1,941.2 $ 187.0 $ 16.4 $ 203.4 10.5% (A) See "Notes for Reconciliation of GAAP to Adjusted Non-GAAP Information (Unaudited)" for a description of adjusted items on page 7. ACCO Brands Corporation and Subsidiaries Supplemental Net Sales Change Analysis (Unaudited) % Change - Net Sales $ Change - Net Sales (in millions) GAAP Non-GAAP GAAP Non-GAAP Comparable Comparable Net Sales Currency Net Sales Net Sales Currency Net Sales Change Translation Acquisition Change (A) Change Translation Acquisition Change (A) Q1 2019: ACCO Brands North America (3.1)% (0.6)% % (2.5)% $(5.2) $(1.0) $ $(4.2) ACCO Brands EMEA (5.2)% (8.7)% % 3.5% (8.0) (13.5) 5.5 ACCO Brands International 1.5% (8.3)% 13.8% (4.0)% 1.3 (7.1) 11.8 (3.4) Total (2.9)% (5.3)% 2.9% (0.5)% $(11.9) $(21.6) $11.8 $(2.1) (A) Comparable net sales represents net sales excluding acquisitions and with current-period foreign operation sales translated at prior-year currency rates. SOURCE ACCO Brands Corporation Related Links http://www.accobrands.com MONTERREY, Mexico, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V., announced today that its subsidiary Axtel, S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company, signed a definitive agreement to sell its fiber, Mass Market Business (FTTx) located in Leon, Puebla, Toluca, Guadalajara and Queretaro, to Megacable Holdings, S.A.B. de C.V. and subsidiaries ("Megacable") for Ps. 1,150 Million. Net proceeds from this transaction will be used to improve Axtel's capital structure. Effective May 1st, 2019, Axtel transferred 55 thousand residential and micro-business customers, 1,370 km of FTTx fiber optic network and other assets related to the operation of the mass market segment in these cities to Megacable. This agreement has been notified to Mexico's industry regulator, Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. "With this transaction, we are concluding the divestment of the FTTx Mass Market business as part of our strategy to focus on the Enterprise and Government markets. The successful monetization of this business, together with the initiatives to engage with a strategic partner for our Data Centers business and the separation of our operations in two strategic units, reflect our commitment of maximizing value for our shareholders. Net proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce debt and other liabilities, thus, improving our capital structure and reducing interest expense", said Rolando Zubiran Shetler, Axtel's President. About Axtel Axtel is a Mexican Information and Communication Technology Company that serves the enterprise and government segments with a robust portfolio of IT and Telecommunications solutions through its brand Alestra. With a network infrastructure of over 40 thousand kilometers of fiber and more than 6,700 square meters of data center, Axtel enables organizations to be more productive through innovation. As of February 15, 2016, Axtel is a subsidiary of ALFA, which owns 52.8% of its equity. Axtel shares, represented by Ordinary Participation Certificates, or CPOs, trade on the Mexican Stock Market under the symbol "AXTELCPO" since 2005. About ALFA ALFA is a holding company that manages a portfolio of diversified subsidiaries with global operations: Alpek, one of the world's largest producers of polyester (PTA, PET and fibers), and the leader in the Mexican market for polypropylene, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and caprolactam. Sigma, a leading multinational food company, focused on the production, marketing and distribution of quality foods through recognized brands in Mexico, Europe, United States and Latin America. Nemak, a leading provider of innovative lightweighting solutions for the global automotive industry, specializing in the development and manufacturing of aluminum components for powertrain, structural components and for electric vehicles. Axtel, a provider of Information Technology and Communication services for the enterprise and government segments in Mexico. Newpek, an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in Mexico and the United States. In 2018, ALFA reported revenues of Ps. 366,432 million (US $19.1 billion), and EBITDA of Ps. 55,178 million (US $2.9 billion). ALFA's shares are quoted on the Mexican Stock Exchange and on Latibex, the market for Latin American shares of the Madrid Stock Exchange. SOURCE ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V. The International Space Design Award - Idea-Tops, is the most internationalized space design award in China. It aims to discover innovative designers and design works in the form of space, technology, artistic expression and cultural identity. Idea-Tops Award praises the designers' inexhaustible wisdom, forward-looking innovations and goodwill towards humanity and the environment. As an important award for outstanding talents, the approval of the Idea-Tops Award is a top honor to the winners in the field of architecture and interior design. The Idea-Tops Award is not only a stage for the gathering of multicultural exhibitions in global design, but also a pioneer platform for sharing and exchanging ideas on the forefront of global design trends. The Award featured a series of events and academic activities, including the Press Conference of the 9th Idea-Tops Award, the Designers Evening Banquet, the G10 Design Summit, the 9th Idea-Tops International Design Masters Forum with the topic of "Design Trends in the Age of Artificial Intelligence", the Designers Red Carpet Show, the 9th Awarding Ceremony, and the 9th Idea-Tops Winners Sharing Forum. The 9th Idea-Tops Award received 7,113 entries, a new high, from 45 countries and regions around the world, including Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Portugal, Bulgaria, Mexico, Japan. Many works were submitted by top names in the global industry, including Gensler, Atkins, B.E Architecture, MVRDV, UNStudio, BENOY, Woods Bagot, Mitsubishi JishoSekkei, etc. On the evening of April 27th, at the 9th Awarding Ceremony, the Best Design Award in 18 professional categories were announced, including Public Architecture, Residential Architecture, Green Architecture, Digital Architecture, Interior Design, Display Art and Lighting Environment. The winners were from 9 countries. Bulgarian Ambassador to China Porozhanov Grigor Kalinov and Consul General of Mexico in Guangzhou Carlos Giralt Cabrales attended the ceremony and congratulated the winners. In the same evening, the Idea-Tops Award awarded the highest honor award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the first in its nine-year history, to Professor Wu Liangyong. He is the founder of human settlement environment science in China, an academic leader in the field of architecture and urban planning, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and a winner of the National Top Science and Technology Award. Professor Wu Liangyong encouraged all designers to work together to create a beautiful human settlement with high-level planning and design. The 9th Idea-Tops Awarding Ceremony was hosted by the Idea-Tops Organizing Committee, Shenzhen Design Week and Shenzhen Global Design Award Organizing Committee, Shenzhen Longgang District People's Government and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cultural and Creative Industries Promotion Association. It was co-organized by Shenzhen Association of Interior Designers, HongKong Council for Technology & Creation, as well as Macau Cultural & Creative Industry. Sponsors of the event included well-known companies such as Feeling Deco. Media contact: Feng Wang [email protected] +86-755-8386-9028 SOURCE Idea-Tops TORONTO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - West Face Capital Inc. issued the following statement regarding today's decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit by The Catalyst Capital Group Inc.: "The Court of Appeal upheld today the dismissal by Mr. Justice Hainey in April 2018 of a second lawsuit filed by Catalyst against West Face in May 2016. The appeal court confirmed that the lawsuit was an abuse of process and an attempt to re-litigate the same issues that were dismissed in their entirety in the earlier Brandon Moyse litigation," said Greg Boland, Chief Executive Officer. "This decision is yet another independent confirmation of lack of merit to the serial litigation being pursued by Catalyst against West Face for almost five years." Over the past five years, Catalyst has launched a total of four vexatious and meritless lawsuits against West Face. West Face believes that each of the cases is unfounded and, with today's decision, two of the cases have been dismissed in court and upheld on appeal. This past March, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear Catalyst's application for leave to appeal the trial decision in the Brandon Moyse litigation. The trial judge dismissed Catalyst's claims, summarizing the lawsuit as follows: "This law suit was driven by Mr. Glassman. He was not able to accept that he lost his chance to acquire Wind by being outsmarted by someone else. He set out to prove his belief that the West Face witnesses were lying and that West Face had obtained confidential Catalyst information from Mr. Moyse that they used to defeat Catalyst's bid to acquire Wind. He was certainly playing hardball attacking the reputation and honesty of West Face. However, in spite of the best efforts of Catalyst's very able and skilled lawyers, he utterly failed." In the May 2016 lawsuit that was dismissed today by the Court of Appeal, West Face and the other defendants had moved to dismiss the lawsuit as an abusive attempt to re-litigate issues decided in the Moyse Action. The motions judge found in April 2018 that the findings against Catalyst in the Moyse litigation were "equally essential and fundamental" to Catalyst's claims in its May 2016 litigation about the WIND Mobile transaction, and meant that Catalyst's allegations could not succeed at trial. In upholding the motions judge today, the Court of Appeal noted that "Catalyst's behaviour exhibits the classic signs of re-litigation". Moreover, in the course of these two lawsuits, the Ontario courts have made several important findings against both Catalyst and its principals, including: In his 2016 decision on the Moyse litigation, the trial judge provided the following summary of the evidence of Mr. Newton Glassman , the CEO of Catalyst: "I must say that I had considerable difficulty accepting as reliable much of the evidence of Mr. Newton Glassman . He was aggressive, argumentative, refused to make concessions that should have been made and contradicted his own statements made contemporaneously in emails. I viewed him more as a salesman than an objective witness." , the CEO of Catalyst: "I must say that I had considerable difficulty accepting as reliable much of the evidence of Mr. . He was aggressive, argumentative, refused to make concessions that should have been made and contradicted his own statements made contemporaneously in emails. I viewed him more as a salesman than an objective witness." In an earlier 2016 proceeding related to the Moyse lawsuit, the same trial judge found that Mr. James Riley , the COO of Catalyst, made an untrue statement in affidavit evidence, in which he denied knowing an important event, which in fact he knew a year earlier. , the COO of Catalyst, made an untrue statement in affidavit evidence, in which he denied knowing an important event, which in fact he knew a year earlier. In that same 2016 proceeding, the judge found that Catalyst had not acted in good faith in the proceedings, by lying in the weeds for strategic reasons and then springing a new theory at the last moment. The Court of Appeal identified this conduct as a "classic sign" of Catalyst engaging in re-litigation. The trial judge in the Moyse litigation found that Catalyst had no chance of concluding its acquisition of Wind Mobile. The March 2018 decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in the Moyse litigation was rendered from the bench, without even the need for submissions on the merits of the case by West Face's or Brandon Moyse's counsel. Catalyst's remaining litigation against West Face involves two claims. The first claim was filed in June 2015 and alleges that West Face defamed Callidus Capital, a public company controlled by investment funds managed by Catalyst, by making defamatory statements between November 2014 and March 2015 regarding the financial prospects of Callidus. Neither Catalyst nor Callidus has engaged in meaningful steps to advance that litigation since at least February 2017. The second claim relates to allegations of an entirely fictitious conspiracy involving West Face to manipulate the share price of Callidus. Contrary to Catalyst's allegations, West Face did not have a short position during the relevant period, has not met with many of the co-defendants, and did not participate in any conspiracy. "Catalyst has been pursuing, and losing, a series of vexatious lawsuits against West Face for almost five years. But no amount of litigation can distract from the evaporation of Callidus's shareholders equity as a result of Callidus's own loan underwriting decisions," said Mr. Boland. "West Face is certainly not responsible for the dire situation that Callidus finds itself in." West Face is no more responsible for Callidus' financial performance than it was for Catalyst's failure to acquire Wind Mobile: The Callidus share price has fallen from a high of over $22 per share to its current level below $0.70 per share. per share to its current level below per share. Callidus has lost over $500 million of shareholders equity from June 2016 to December 2018 , according to Callidus' own financial statements, largely due to poor performance in Callidus loans. In the most recent financial statements at the end of 2018, Callidus had negative shareholders' equity. of shareholders equity from to , according to Callidus' own financial statements, largely due to poor performance in Callidus loans. In the most recent financial statements at the end of 2018, Callidus had negative shareholders' equity. The loan losses were experienced by Callidus despite public disclosure by Callidus repeatedly claiming full collateralization of its loan book. Investment funds managed by Catalyst have recently had to provide additional financing to Callidus to ensure adequate liquidity. Catalyst has admitted in its own court filings in yet another litigation proceeding (not involving West Face) that Callidus was victim of fraud in its loan book, causing damage to Callidus of at least $150m . . Callidus has been forced by securities regulators to change its approach to financial disclosure. West Face continues to be confident that in any further legal proceedings with Catalyst, where Catalyst's allegations will be fully explored through production of internal Catalyst and Callidus documents and through cross-examination, those allegations will continue to be found lacking and that the full scope of conduct by Catalyst and its agents will be publicly revealed. Finally, in December 2017, West Face commenced a counterclaim against Catalyst, its principals and its agents. During the Fall of 2017, West Face discovered that an Israeli private investigative firm called Black Cube had approached current and former West Face employees on false pretenses and sought unlawfully to extract confidential information about West Face's business. Even more shockingly, Black Cube was uncovered to have approached the trial judge in the Moyse lawsuit on false pretenses in an unprecedented and ultimately failed attempt to attack the judge's integrity. In their defence to the counterclaim, Catalyst has admitted that an intermediary that it engaged in August 2017 subsequently engaged Black Cube. West Face intends to pursue its counterclaim vigorously and to shed light on Catalyst's conduct in these matters. Additional information on these litigation matters, including the court decisions and court filings of the parties, is available at catalystlitigation.com. About West Face Capital Inc. West Face Capital Inc. is one of Canada's leading alternative investment managers combining control-through-distressed, high-yield, negotiated finance, proactive equity, and private equity activities. West Face's capabilities are underpinned by a seasoned multi-disciplinary investment team, proprietary origination channels, deep sector expertise, and the ability to address investment targets in domestic and international markets. SOURCE West Face Capital Inc. Related Links www.westfacecapital.com DUBLIN, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Aptiv PLC (NYSE: APTV), a global technology company enabling the future of mobility, today reported first quarter 2019 U.S. GAAP earnings of $0.92 per diluted share. Excluding special items, first quarter earnings totaled $1.05 per diluted share. First Quarter Highlights Include : Revenue of $3.6 billion , up 4% adjusted for currency exchange, commodity movements and divestitures U.S. GAAP net income of $240 million , diluted earnings per share of $0.92 Excluding special items, earnings of $1.05 per diluted share U.S. GAAP operating income margin of 8.3% Adjusted Operating Income margin of 9.7%; Adjusted Operating Income of $345 million Generated $84 million of cash from operations Returned $283 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends "Our stronger than expected first quarter performance reflects our portfolio of leading technologies aligned to the safe, green and connected mega trends, driving sustained above-market growth," said Kevin Clark, president and chief executive officer. "While our revised outlook for the year reflects softer global vehicle production and further headwinds from foreign exchange and commodities compared to our prior guidance, we continue to see the benefits of our flexible operating model and technology portfolio position us well for outperformance as these headwinds mitigate in the back half of the year and into 2020. Our mission to be our customers' partner of choice, uniquely providing the brain and nervous system of the vehicle, has created a sustainable business advantage for Aptiv, which in turn allows us to deliver long-term value to our shareholders through innovation, effective execution, profitable growth, strong cash flow generation and disciplined capital deployment." First Quarter 2019 Results The Company reported first quarter 2019 revenue of $3.6 billion, a decrease of 2% from the prior year period. Adjusted for currency exchange, commodity movements and divestitures, revenue increased by 4% in the first quarter. This reflects growth of 7% in North America and 6% in Europe, partially offset by a decline of 12% in South America and 1% in Asia, which includes a decline of 12% in China. The Company reported first quarter 2019 U.S. GAAP net income of $240 million and earnings of $0.92 per diluted share, compared to $307 million and $1.15 per diluted share in the prior year period. First quarter Adjusted Net Income, a non-GAAP financial measure defined below, totaled $273 million, or $1.05 per diluted share, compared to $343 million, or $1.29 per diluted share, in the prior year period. First quarter Adjusted Operating Income, a non-GAAP financial measure defined below, was $345 million, compared to $427 million in the prior year period. Adjusted Operating Income margin was 9.7%, compared to 11.8% in the prior year period, reflecting the unfavorable impacts of foreign currency exchange, vehicle production declines in China and continued incremental investments for growth, partially offset by above-market sales growth. Depreciation and amortization expense totaled $173 million, an increase from $155 million in the prior year period, reflecting increases related to our acquisitions and capital investments. Interest expense for the first quarter totaled $38 million, as compared to $34 million in the prior year period, which reflects the impacts of our debt refinancing transactions in the first quarter of 2019. Tax expense in the first quarter of 2019 was $33 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of approximately 12%, compared to $59 million, or an effective rate of approximately 16%, in the prior year period. The decrease in the effective tax rate reflects the geographic mix of pretax earnings and the impact of favorable discrete items. The Company generated net cash flow from operating activities of $84 million in the first quarter. As of March 31, 2019, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $321 million and total available liquidity of $2.1 billion. Reconciliations of Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income Per Share, Adjusted Operating Income and Cash Flow Before Financing, which are non-GAAP measures, to the most directly comparable financial measures, respectively, calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP") are provided in the attached supplemental schedules. Share Repurchase Programs During the first quarter of 2019, the Company repurchased 2.84 million shares for approximately $226 million, leaving approximately $2.26 billion available for future share repurchases. All repurchased shares were retired, and are reflected as a reduction of ordinary share capital for the par value of the shares, with the excess applied as reductions to additional paid-in-capital and retained earnings. Q2 and Full Year 2019 Outlook The Company's second quarter and full year 2019 financial guidance is as follows: (in millions, except per share amounts) Q2 2019 (1) Full Year 2019 (1) Net sales $3,600 - $3,700 $14,425 - $14,825 Adjusted operating income $375 - $395 $1,630 - $1,710 Adjusted operating income margin 10.4% - 10.7% 11.3% - 11.5% Adjusted net income per share $1.11 - $1.17 $4.90 - $5.10 Cash flow from operations $1,650 Capital expenditures $800 Adjusted effective tax rate 15% - 16% 14% - 15% (1) The Company's second quarter and full year 2019 financial guidance includes $12 million and $50 million, respectively, for the anticipated impacts of tariffs. Conference Call and Webcast The Company will host a conference call to discuss these results at 8:00 a.m. (ET) today, which is accessible by dialing 877.790.5109 (US domestic) or 647.689.5633 (international) or through a webcast at ir.aptiv.com. The conference ID number is 5593386. A slide presentation will accompany the prepared remarks and has been posted on the investor relations section of the Company's website. A replay will be available two hours following the conference call. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information This press release contains information about Aptiv's financial results which are not presented in accordance with GAAP. Specifically, Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income Per Share and Cash Flow Before Financing are non-GAAP financial measures. Adjusted Operating Income represents net income before interest expense, other income (expense), net, income tax expense, equity income (loss), net of tax, restructuring, other acquisition and portfolio project costs, asset impairments, gains (losses) on business divestitures and deferred compensation related to acquisitions. Other acquisition and portfolio project costs include costs incurred to integrate acquired businesses and to plan and execute product portfolio transformation actions, including business and product acquisitions and divestitures. Adjusted Operating Income margin is defined as Adjusted Operating Income as a percentage of net sales. Adjusted Net Income represents net income attributable to Aptiv before restructuring and other special items, including the tax impact thereon. Adjusted Net Income Per Share represents Adjusted Net Income divided by the weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding for the period. Cash Flow Before Financing represents cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations plus cash provided by (used in) investing activities, adjusted for the purchase price of business acquisitions and net proceeds from the divestiture of discontinued operations and other significant businesses. Management believes the non-GAAP financial measures used in this press release are useful to both management and investors in their analysis of the Company's financial position, results of operations and liquidity. In particular, management believes Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income Per Share and Cash Flow Before Financing are useful measures in assessing the Company's ongoing financial performance that, when reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measure, provide improved comparability between periods through the exclusion of certain items that management believes are not indicative of the Company's core operating performance and that may obscure underlying business results and trends. Management also uses these non-GAAP financial measures for internal planning and forecasting purposes. Such non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in the attached supplemental schedules at the end of this press release. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP and, as calculated, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. About Aptiv Aptiv is a global technology company that develops safer, greener and more connected solutions enabling the future of mobility. Visit aptiv.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release, as well as other statements made by Aptiv PLC (the "Company"), contain forward-looking statements that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment, which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results. All statements that address future operating, financial or business performance or the Company's strategies or expectations are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are discussed under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. It should be remembered that the price of the ordinary shares and any income from them can go down as well as up. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events and/or otherwise, except as may be required by law. APTIV PLC CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in millions, except per share amounts) Net sales $ 3,575 $ 3,630 Operating expenses: Cost of sales 2,962 2,947 Selling, general and administrative 256 259 Amortization 34 30 Restructuring 26 20 Total operating expenses 3,278 3,256 Operating income 297 374 Interest expense (38) (34) Other income, net 16 30 Income before income taxes and equity income 275 370 Income tax expense (33) (59) Income before equity income 242 311 Equity income, net of tax 3 5 Net income 245 316 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 5 9 Net income attributable to Aptiv $ 240 $ 307 Diluted net income per share: Diluted net income per share attributable to Aptiv $ 0.92 $ 1.15 Weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding 259.55 266.44 APTIV PLC CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS March 31, 2019 December 31, 2018 (Unaudited) (in millions) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 321 $ 567 Restricted cash 1 1 Accounts receivable, net 2,736 2,487 Inventories 1,326 1,277 Other current assets 435 445 Total current assets 4,819 4,777 Long-term assets: Property, net 3,218 3,179 Operating lease right-of-use assets 434 Investments in affiliates 102 99 Intangible assets, net 1,334 1,380 Goodwill 2,503 2,524 Other long-term assets 609 521 Total long-term assets 8,200 7,703 Total assets $ 13,019 $ 12,480 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Short-term debt $ 542 $ 306 Accounts payable 2,340 2,334 Accrued liabilities 1,132 1,054 Total current liabilities 4,014 3,694 Long-term liabilities: Long-term debt 3,995 4,038 Pension benefit obligations 440 445 Long-term operating lease liabilities 350 Other long-term liabilities 585 633 Total long-term liabilities 5,370 5,116 Total liabilities 9,384 8,810 Commitments and contingencies Total Aptiv shareholders' equity 3,418 3,459 Noncontrolling interest 217 211 Total shareholders' equity 3,635 3,670 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 13,019 $ 12,480 APTIV PLC CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in millions) Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 245 $ 316 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 173 155 Restructuring expense, net of cash paid (5) (16) Deferred income taxes 4 (7) Income from equity method investments, net of dividends received (3) (5) Loss on extinguishment of debt 6 Other, net 27 26 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable, net (249) (206) Inventories (49) (119) Accounts payable 53 140 Other, net (110) (87) Pension contributions (8) (11) Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations 84 186 Net cash used in operating activities from discontinued operations (31) Net cash provided by operating activities 84 155 Cash flows from investing activities: Capital expenditures (235) (243) Proceeds from sale of property / investments 3 3 Cost of business acquisitions, net of cash acquired 2 Deposit for acquisition of KUM (5) Cost of technology investments (3) Settlement of derivatives (2) Net cash used in investing activities (235) (245) Cash flows from financing activities: Increase in other short and long-term debt, net 229 35 Repayment of senior notes (654) Proceeds from issuance of senior notes, net of issuance costs 643 Repurchase of ordinary shares (226) (149) Distribution of cash dividends (57) (59) Taxes withheld and paid on employees' restricted share awards (34) (32) Net cash used in financing activities (99) (205) Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 4 44 Decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (246) (251) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 568 1,597 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 322 $ 1,346 APTIV PLC FOOTNOTES (Unaudited) 1. Segment Summary Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 % (in millions) Net Sales Signal and Power Solutions $ 2,562 $ 2,617 (2)% Advanced Safety and User Experience 1,023 1,032 (1)% Eliminations and Other (a) (10) (19) Net Sales $ 3,575 $ 3,630 Adjusted Operating Income Signal and Power Solutions $ 283 $ 351 (19)% Advanced Safety and User Experience 62 76 (18)% Eliminations and Other (a) Adjusted Operating Income $ 345 $ 427 (a) Eliminations and Other includes the elimination of inter-segment transactions. 2. Weighted Average Number of Diluted Shares Outstanding The following table illustrates the weighted average shares outstanding used in calculating basic and diluted net income per share attributable to Aptiv for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018: Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in millions, except per share amounts) Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding, basic 259.08 265.69 Dilutive shares related to RSUs 0.47 0.75 Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding, including dilutive shares 259.55 266.44 Net income per share attributable to Aptiv Basic $ 0.93 $ 1.16 Diluted $ 0.92 $ 1.15 APTIV PLC RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES (Unaudited) In this press release the Company has provided information regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures, including "Adjusted Operating Income," "Adjusted Net Income," "Adjusted Net Income Per Share" and "Cash Flow Before Financing." Such non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their closest GAAP financial measure in the following schedules. Adjusted Operating Income : Adjusted Operating Income is presented as a supplemental measure of the Company's financial performance which management believes is useful to investors in assessing the Company's ongoing financial performance that, when reconciled to the corresponding U.S. GAAP measure, provides improved comparability between periods through the exclusion of certain items that management believes are not indicative of the Company's core operating performance and which may obscure underlying business results and trends. Our management utilizes Adjusted Operating Income in its financial decision making process, to evaluate performance of the Company and for internal reporting, planning and forecasting purposes. Management also utilizes Adjusted Operating Income as the key performance measure of segment income or loss and for planning and forecasting purposes to allocate resources to our segments, as management also believes this measure is most reflective of the operational profitability or loss of our operating segments. Adjusted Operating Income is defined as net income before interest expense, other income (expense), net, income tax expense, equity income (loss), net of tax, restructuring and other special items. Not all companies use identical calculations of Adjusted Operating Income, therefore this presentation may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Operating income margin represents Operating income as a percentage of net sales, and Adjusted Operating Income margin represents Adjusted Operating Income as a percentage of net sales. Consolidated Adjusted Operating Income Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 ($ in millions) $ Margin $ Margin Net income attributable to Aptiv $ 240 $ 307 Interest expense 38 34 Other income, net (16) (30) Income tax expense 33 59 Equity income, net of tax (3) (5) Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 5 9 Operating income $ 297 8.3 % $ 374 10.3 % Restructuring 26 20 Other acquisition and portfolio project costs 11 19 Deferred compensation related to nuTonomy acquisition 11 14 Adjusted operating income $ 345 9.7 % $ 427 11.8 % Segment Adjusted Operating Income (in millions) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Signal and Power Solutions Advanced Safety and User Experience Eliminations and Other Total Operating income $ 257 $ 40 $ $ 297 Restructuring 19 7 26 Other acquisition and portfolio project costs 7 4 11 Deferred compensation related to nuTonomy acquisition 11 11 Adjusted operating income $ 283 $ 62 $ $ 345 Depreciation and amortization (a) $ 131 $ 42 $ $ 173 Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Signal and Power Solutions Advanced Safety and User Experience Eliminations and Other Total Operating income $ 322 $ 52 $ $ 374 Restructuring 18 2 20 Other acquisition and portfolio project costs 11 8 19 Deferred compensation related to nuTonomy acquisition 14 14 Adjusted operating income $ 351 $ 76 $ $ 427 Depreciation and amortization (a) $ 119 $ 36 $ $ 155 (a) Includes asset impairments. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income Per Share : Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income Per Share, which are non-GAAP measures, are presented as supplemental measures of the Company's financial performance which management believes are useful to investors in assessing the Company's ongoing financial performance that, when reconciled to the corresponding U.S. GAAP measure, provide improved comparability between periods through the exclusion of certain items that management believes are not indicative of the Company's core operating performance and which may obscure underlying business results and trends. Management utilizes Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income Per Share in its financial decision making process, to evaluate performance of the Company and for internal reporting, planning and forecasting purposes. Adjusted Net Income is defined as net income attributable to Aptiv before restructuring and other special items, including the tax impact thereon. Adjusted Net Income Per Share is defined as Adjusted Net Income divided by the weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding for the period. Not all companies use identical calculations of Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income Per Share, therefore this presentation may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in millions, except per share amounts) Net income attributable to Aptiv $ 240 $ 307 Adjusting items: Restructuring 26 20 Other acquisition and portfolio project costs 11 19 Deferred compensation related to nuTonomy acquisition 11 14 Debt extinguishment costs 6 Transaction and related (benefits) costs associated with acquisitions (11) Gain on changes in fair value of equity investments (19) Tax impact of adjusting items (a) (2) (6) Adjusted net income attributable to Aptiv $ 273 $ 343 Weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding 259.55 266.44 Diluted net income per share attributable to Aptiv $ 0.92 $ 1.15 Adjusted net income per share $ 1.05 $ 1.29 (a) Represents the income tax impacts of the adjustments made for restructuring and other special items by calculating the income tax impact of these items using the appropriate tax rate for the jurisdiction where the charges were incurred. Cash Flow Before Financing : Cash Flow Before Financing is presented as a supplemental measure of the Company's liquidity which is consistent with the basis and manner in which management presents financial information for the purpose of making internal operating decisions, evaluating its liquidity and determining appropriate capital allocation strategies. Management believes this measure is useful to investors to understand how the Company's core operating activities generate and use cash. Cash Flow Before Financing is defined as cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations plus cash provided by (used in) investing activities, adjusted for the purchase price of business acquisitions and net proceeds from the divestiture of discontinued operations and other significant businesses. Not all companies use identical calculations of Cash Flow Before Financing, therefore this presentation may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The calculation of Cash Flow Before Financing does not reflect cash used to service debt, pay dividends or repurchase shares and, therefore, does not necessarily reflect funds available for investment or other discretionary uses. Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (in millions) Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 245 $ 316 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 173 155 Restructuring expense, net of cash paid (5) (16) Working capital (245) (185) Pension contributions (8) (11) Other, net (76) (73) Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations 84 186 Cash flows from investing activities: Capital expenditures (235) (243) Cost of business acquisitions, net of cash acquired 2 Deposit for acquisition of KUM (5) Cost of technology investments (3) Settlement of derivatives (2) Other, net 3 3 Net cash used in investing activities (235) (245) Adjusting items: Adjustment for amount deposited for acquisition of KUM 5 Adjustment for the cost of business acquisitions, net of cash acquired (2) Cash flow before financing $ (153) $ (54) Financial Guidance : The reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures provided in the Company's financial guidance to the most comparable forward-looking GAAP measure is as follows: Estimated Q2 Estimated Full Year 2019 (1) 2019 (1) ($ and shares in millions, except per share amounts) Adjusted Operating Income $ Margin (2) $ Margin (2) Net income attributable to Aptiv $ 237 $ 1,128 Interest expense 39 156 Other income, net (8) (32) Income tax expense 50 195 Equity income, net of tax (4) (21) Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 9 40 Operating income 323 8.8 % 1,466 10.0 % Restructuring 40 126 Other acquisition and portfolio project costs 10 35 Deferred compensation related to nuTonomy acquisition 12 43 Adjusted operating income $ 385 10.5 % $ 1,670 11.4 % Adjusted Net Income Per Share Net income attributable to Aptiv $ 237 $ 1,128 Restructuring 40 126 Other acquisition and portfolio project costs 10 35 Deferred compensation related to nuTonomy acquisition 12 43 Debt extinguishment costs 6 Gain on changes in fair value of equity investments (19) Tax impact of adjusting items (5) (29) Adjusted net income attributable to Aptiv $ 294 $ 1,290 Weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding 258.59 258.06 Diluted net income per share attributable to Aptiv $ 0.92 $ 4.37 Adjusted net income per share $ 1.14 $ 5.00 (1) Prepared at the estimated mid-point of the Company's financial guidance range. (2) Represents operating income and Adjusted Operating Income, respectively, as a percentage of estimated net sales. SOURCE Aptiv PLC Related Links http://www.aptiv.com LONDON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The editor-in-chief of global news and commodity price reporting company Argus, Diane Munro, has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award for the advancement of international energy journalism. The award was presented by the prestigious Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development at a ceremony in Doha, Qatar, yesterday. Diane is responsible for Argus' news and analysis services, with a particular focus on oil markets. Prior to Argus, she worked at the International Energy Agency, where her work centred on developing global oil market forecasts and analysing pricing dynamics. Diane has written on energy issues for more than three decades, with her work published by Foreign Reports, Bloomberg, Middle East Economic Survey, Energy Compass, Nefte Compass, Reuters and Al-Hayat. Diane also serves as a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "We are proud that Diane has won this much deserved lifetime achievement award," Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said. "Argus is known for its independent and objective journalism, which provides real insight into commodity markets. We are pleased that Diane's contribution has been recognised." The International Energy Awards recognise individuals with an outstanding record of accomplishment and who have made an exceptional impact on the industry through innovation, long-term vision and leadership. The other winners this year included Oman's oil and gas minister, Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhy, in the category of advancement of producer-consumer dialogue, and Abdulaziz bin Ahmed al-Malki, in the category of the advancement of Qatar's energy industry. The Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation is a non-profit organisation established to preserve and build upon Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah's 40 years of service in the energy industry. His legacy includes serving as Qatar's energy minister from 1999-2011, during which time he was the key architect in establishing Qatar's leading role in the global LNG market. About Argus Media Argus is an independent media organisation with almost 1,000 staff. It is headquartered in London and has 23 offices in the world's principal commodity trading and production centres. Argus produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets, and offers bespoke consulting services and industry-leading conferences. Companies in 140 countries around the world use Argus data to index physical trade and as benchmarks in financial derivative markets as well as for analysis and planning purposes. Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic. ARGUS, the ARGUS logo, ARGUS MEDIA, ARGUS DIRECT, ARGUS OPEN MARKETS, AOM, FMB, DEWITT, JIM JORDAN & ASSOCIATES, JJ&A, FUNDALYTICS, METAL-PAGES, METALPRICES.COM, Argus publication titles and Argus index names are trademarks of Argus Media Limited. Contact Information London Seana Lanigan +44 20 7780 4272 [email protected] Houston Melanie Cruthirds +1 713 968 0000 [email protected] Singapore Pierre Lever +65 6496 9960 [email protected] Moscow Alexey Komarov +7 495 933 75 71 [email protected] SOURCE Argus Media Related Links https://www.argusmedia.com OAKLAND, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With over 150 million subscribers, AT&T is one of America's largest companies. And in the first three months of 2019, exactly 111 of those customers resolved service disputes using the official legal venue outlined in the fine print of AT&T's contract. Newly-released data on volume of consumer arbitration from the American Arbitration Association (AAA) demonstrates how rare it is for consumers to take legal action under contract terms. Consumer advocacy service Radvocate provided additional analysis of the data. Since the Supreme Court's 2011 ruling in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, large American companies can include mandatory arbitration clauses in standard contract language, eliminating access to state and federal courts as well as the possibility of class action lawsuits. In an arbitration proceeding, a neutral legal professional is empowered to resolve disputes between consumers and corporations. Contracts typically require disputes over aggressive sales tactics, overbilling, and improper credit reporting to be handled via the arbitration process. This clause remains in effect even in cases of systematic wrongdoing like the Wells Fargo fake account scandal. Radvocate's analysis noted that AT&T's 111 resolved cases in Q1 were the most among the over 450 companies registered with the AAA . (AT&T's figure includes cases brought against their subsidiary DirecTV). Following AT&T, the companies with the most resolved cases in the quarter included fellow telecom conglomerate Comcast (CMCSA), as well as financial companies Citibank (C), Credit One, and Santander Consumer USA (SAN). Overall, 895 consumer cases were resolved through the AAA in the first quarter, a 20 percent increase over resolved in the same span last year. Of this year's resolutions, 59 percent concluded through a private settlement between the consumer and the company. According to Radvocate co-founder and CEO Teel Lidow, arbitration can be a powerful option for consumers. "We hear from so many individuals who are worried about the cost or hassle of pursuing justice. With consumer arbitration, companies often commit in their contracts to pay all hearing fees. And the whole process is typically done by conference call, with no trip to a courthouse." Radvocate's consumer advocacy platform enables consumers to easily and efficiently file arbitration claims with the AAA. "Courts have told Americans that arbitration is a fair and efficient way to resolve their consumer disputes, and in many cases it's the only available option," said Lidow. "Clearly not enough people know about it." About Radvocate Radvocate , is building the consumer empowerment platform of the future. Our mission is to give consumers superpowers to take on big companies and win. Founded in 2018, Radvocate has helped thousands of consumers through the company's online platform that makes it easy to file and track complaints, and to escalate them to the consumer arbitration system if negotiation fails. Charts & Analysis ( link ) SOURCE Radvocate Related Links http://www.myradvocate.com "We're a small, but growing and dedicated team in West Palm Beach," said BBVA Compass Palm Beach and Broward Counties Market President Carlos Alvarez. "Our newest office is a testament to our future's longevity here. We're solidifying our roots and showing the region that we're here to help our commercial clients take control of their financial lives and reach their business goals. We're excited to show the area what we're capable of achieving for our corner of Florida." The new office space, located inside of the CityPlace Tower, has approximately 3,150 square feet for client interaction, meeting space and employee collaboration. The bank's West Palm Beach team has been operating out of the office since February 1. The grand opening also comes exactly a week after BBVA's global rebrand that was introduced on April 24. The bank unveiled another critical step on its path to operating as a truly global digital company with the launch of a unified brand and new logo. The change underscored BBVA's aim to deploy a unique value proposition and consistent experience for customers and clients in all its markets, similar to what customers have come to expect from digital companies across the world. Contact Details: Al Ortiz External Communications Tel. 281-433-5640 [email protected] To learn more about BBVA Compass, visit: www.bbvacompass.com For more news visit: www.bbva.com and newsroom.bbvacompass.com About BBVA Group BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group has a strong leadership position in the Spanish market, is the largest financial institution in Mexico, it has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States; and it is also the leading shareholder in Garanti, Turkey's biggest bank for market capitalization. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion, and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies the best practices. More information about BBVA Group can be found at bbva.com. About BBVA Compass BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that operates 644 branches, including 331 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 63 in Arizona, 61 in California, 45 in Florida, 37 in Colorado and 18 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top 25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (6th). BBVA Compass has been recognized as one of the leading small business lenders by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and ranked 8th nationally in terms of dollar volume of SBA loans originated in fiscal year 2018. Additional information about BBVA Compass can be found under the Investor Relations tab at bbvacompass.com. For more BBVA Compass news, follow @BBVACompassNews on Twitter, visit newsroom.bbvacompass.com, or visit bbva.com. About CityPlace Tower CityPlace Tower is located at 525 Okeechobee Blvd and is the Newest Trophy Class A Office Building in Downtown West Palm Beach with 300,000 Rentable Square Feet and Features LEED Silver Certification, Luxurious Finishes, Advanced Technology, Executive Parking, Valet Service, Full-Service Concierge, and a State of the Art Security System. SOURCE BBVA Related Links https://www.bbva.com MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Editorial Advisory and Securities Review Committee of BetterInvesting Magazine today announced Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) as its July 2019 "Stock to Study" and 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) as its July 2019 "Undervalued Stock" for investors' informational and educational use. "The committee selected Nucor for its historical operational excellence, reasonable valuation and potential benefits of capital expansion in the United States," said Adam Ritt, editor of BetterInvesting Magazine. "For the Undervalued selection, the committee cited 3M's current reasonable valuation, dividend and opportunities for a recovery in the stock price over the next 18 months." Check BetterInvesting's August issue for more details about these selections. Go to the trial version of BetterInvesting's online tools to study the investment potential of Nucor and 3M by viewing their fundamental data and applying judgments. Committee members are Robert M. Bilkie, Jr., CFA; Daniel J. Boyle, CFA; Marisa Bradbury, CFA; Philip S. Dano, CFA; Walter J. Kirchberger, CFA; and Adam Ritt. As stated, the BetterInvesting committee's Stock to Study and Undervalued Stock choices are for the informational and educational uses of investors and are not intended as investment recommendations. BetterInvesting urges investors to educate themselves about the stock market so they can make informed decisions about stock purchases. About BetterInvesting BetterInvesting is a national nonprofit organization that has been empowering individual investors since 1951. Founded in Detroit, the association (formerly known as National Association of Investors Corporation) was borne of the conviction that anyone can become a successful long-term investor by following common-sense investing practices. BetterInvesting has helped more than 5 million people become better, more informed investors by providing webinars, in-person events, easy-to-use online tools for analyzing stocks, a monthly magazine and a community of volunteers and like-minded investors. For more information about BetterInvesting, visit its website at www.betterinvesting.org or call toll free (877) 275-6242. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. SOURCE BetterInvesting Related Links http://www.betterinvesting.org WASHINGTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A broad range of groups, including the Recirculating Farms Coalition and Friends of the Earth, applaud a new bill, the Keep Fin Fish Free Act (H.R. 2467), introduced by U.S. Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska). It places a moratorium on commercial permitting of marine fin fish aquaculture facilities in federally controlled areas of the ocean. These facilities routinely cause massive farmed fish spills like in August 2017 of an estimated 260,000 non-native Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound which threaten wild fish by spreading pests and disease, and increasing competition for food, habitat, and reproduction. Facilities can also directly discharge a slew of pollutants like untreated fish waste and chemicals; attract and entangle marine mammals and seabirds; and harm wild-capture fisheries and coastal economies. The much-needed legislation comes at a time in which the Trump Administration is prioritizing expansion of this unnecessary and destructive industry in U.S. waters. H.R. 2467 would specifically prohibit federal agencies from permitting marine fin fish aquaculture facilities in federal ocean waters, unless and until Congress passes a future law authorizing such permits. "This legislation will help protect our oceans and communities from industrial ocean fish farming," said Hallie Templeton, Senior Oceans Campaigner with Friends of the Earth. "NOAA is pushing to permit this disastrous industry at the expense of the environment and coastal communities, and has no authority to do so. We applaud Congressman Young for fighting against floating factory farms and protecting our waterways and wild fish stocks." "The United States is simply not prepared to manage offshore net pen fin fish aquaculture in the Exclusive Economic Zone," said Noah Oppenheim, Executive Director of Institute for Fisheries Resources. "Without the relevant legal mandates and adequate environmental and economic scoping, Interior and Commerce are managing offshore fish farms in a legal gray area, enabling significant harm to wild capture fisheries and West Coast fishing communities. Thank you Congressman Young for introducing this sensible bill." "Factory farms have no place in the ocean or on land," said Shannon Eldredge, Board President for the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance. "NAMA supports the Keep Fin Fish Free Act because raising fish in massive cages in federal waters is completely against the public interest and will not solve our food system crisis. These large-scale operations are toxic and harmful to human health, the environment and our fishing industry." "We cannot allow massive factory fish farms into federal waters, but we know that agribusiness giants are working hard to do just that," said Wenonah Haunter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. "This bill would protect our federal waters from factory fish farms and make sure that our public ocean resources are not given away to another polluting industry." "Factory fish farms threaten our food security and the health of our oceans. The environmental risks are almost too numerous to mention: disease transfer to wild fish, more antibiotics in our waterways, the depletion of important forage fish species, increased nutrient pollution in areas already prone to algae blooms, and more," said Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director of Healthy Gulf. "Industrial fish farming is also an inefficient practice that produces expensive and poor-quality fish. It replaces fisherman-owned small businesses with capital-intensive corporations. If we instead focus on taking care of our oceans, we can continue to enjoy one of nature's last renewable and abundant sources of food: wild fish." "I've been growing soybeans in Iowa for 42 years. Agribusinesses claim that aquaculture will increase demand for soybeans which will boost prices and, thus, be good for family farmers," says George Naylor, Former President of the National Family Farm Coalition. "The truth is family farmers are stuck in a system where global supply will always outstrip demand. Soybeans from around the world are already used to feed hogs, cattle, and chickens in unsustainable factory farms. It would be a shame to add fish to this unhappy picture." "Globally, marine water fin fish aquaculture is associated with too many problems. That is why more than ten years ago, Congress rejected multiple bills to permit this industry in U.S. waters," said Marianne Cufone, Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition. "Responsible fin fish farming has moved out of the ocean, to better protect wildlife, habitat, and coastal communities. It makes no sense that our current administration keeps trying to develop the industry under laws not meant to regulate aquaculture. More sustainable alternatives, like land-based recirculating fish farms, are the smart path forward, if the U.S. wants to supplement wild caught seafood. This bill sends an important message." Communications contact: Erin Jensen, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0722, [email protected] SOURCE Recirculating Farms Coalition Related Links http://www.recirculatingfarms.org BALTIMORE, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BTX Global Logistics gathered its executive team, branch owners and managers for a systems-wide conference focused on strategic planning, training and comradeship from April 7-10. This year's Systems Meeting, which took place in Baltimore's Inner Harbor in Maryland, brought together 80 participants representing 32 BTX regional branches across the United States and Canada. "It's really great to see the continued growth and expansion of the BTX family, we continue to foster the same sense of community, transparency and support that brought our branch owners to BTX in the first place," said Ross Bacarella, President and CEO of BTX Global Logistics. "This year's Systems Meeting was especially successful because it united an even bigger and more diverse BTX. We are dedicated to being best in class for our branches and for our customers." The 2019 BTX Systems Meeting included general session meetings; a cocktail reception at the National Aquarium in Baltimore; a ballgame at Orioles Park at Camden yards; a cocktail/dinner at the Rusty Scupper Restaurant and a team-building scavenger hunt around the Inner Harbor. During an interview at the National Aquarium, Mark Woolley, a BTX Salt Lake City (BTX-SLC) branch owner with BTX for over 18 years, told the story of how they met Ross: "I can remember when Ross came to our office, it was about six, six-thirty on a Wednesday night and he talked to us about his vision. One of the things we were really impressed with is that he talked about a family that we were not just a number, we were a part of his family and we've grown into that ever since then." Woolley said he's seen Ross' visions from 18 years ago "come into fruition" over the years. "We are excited about the growth, the direction we're going in, and the technology [Ross] has instilled with Jeff and the rest of the team," he added. Those with the company for less time echoed similar feelings. "What attracted me to BTX was the family environment and the comradery among all the offices," said Stuart Stockelberg, Director of Trade Show Sales for BTX's Trade Show division (BTX-TEB), who has been with BTX for 18 months and in the industry for 24 years. While at the ballgame, Kevin Woods, Director of International Operations for BTX Corporate, was asked 'What makes BTX a winning team?' His answer was simple, "The people." "It's a family-run company," said Woods. "In a company like this, customers get more of a personal feel, the technology is great and it's a family-base feel for employees. The passion within the leaders of the company is evident from the top to the bottom." The 2019 BTX Systems Meeting culminated in an Awards Ceremony at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court where BTX branches and team members were recognized for various milestones, including top performance in sales, technology, operations and growth. The event's most prestigious award, the Tony Bacarella Award, was awarded to BTX Connecticut (BDR/BDL) for top performance across the board in 2018. The Tony Bacarella award is named after Anthony Vito Bacarella, the founding father of the organization and the reason for the Bacarella family entering the shipping and logistics industry in 1980. BTX Global Logistics is a full-service shipping and logistics organization specializing in flexible transportation solutions for heavy-weight freight by land, air and sea for customers around the world. For career and station ownership opportunities, please visit www.btxglobal.com/join-the-team. SOURCE BTX Global Logistics SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, parents from GO Public Schools in Fresno and West Contra Costa traveled to Sacramento in support of Assembly Bill 1617, a piece of legislation authored by Assemblywoman Eloise G. Reyes (D-San Bernardino) and sponsored by The Education Trust-West. If passed, AB 1617 would make completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) a high school graduation requirement for California's public school students. This bill ensures all students submit a financial aid form so that they can access critical financial resources needed to attend college. Research has shown that FAFSA completion is linked to college enrollment: 90 percent of high school seniors who complete FAFSA matriculate to college, compared to the 55 percent who do not complete FAFSA. AB 1617 includes opt-out provisions for students who face a hardship, do not wish to pursue a post-secondary education, and/or instead go onto the military or enter the workforce. In addition to showing their support for AB 1617, the parents also spoke with legislators asking them to maintain Governor Gavin Newsom's planned $10 million investment in a Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) in next year's budget. They explained that the state of California needs the SLDS to better understand - and improve - student performance from kindergarten to college. Parents also expressed hope that a centralized system would ensure that all students are seen, and receive the unique supports they need to be successful in life. Parents reminded policymakers that all data systems must be publicly available, user-friendly, and accessible in multiple languages. About GO Public Schools GO Public Schools (501c3) supports a network of families, educators, and community allies working together to expand opportunity and access to quality education for California's most historically underserved students and families. Currently, GO's work impacts 150,000 students in three California communities -- Fresno, Oakland, and West Contra Costa. With local community networks, GO envisions and advocates for a new paradigm of learner-centered, equity-focused schools that address the evolving needs of young people and our world. SOURCE GO Public Schools Related Links https://www.gopublicschools.org CENTER CITY, Minn. and SANTA BARBARA, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cottage Health, a leading health system in California's Central Coast region, is the newest member of the Hazelden Betty Ford Patient Care Network, a growing group of health care providers working together to address the public health problem of addiction. Minnesota-headquartered Hazelden Betty Ford, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2019, launched the Patient Care Network just 20 months ago. The first of its kind in the addiction treatment industry, the network now has 13 membersall vetted to ensure they share a commitment to effective, evidence-based practices; working together; and improving patient outcomes. The network facilitates shared learnings and collaboration among members while also extending the continuum of care for each organization and providing access to evidence-based clinical tools, educational resources and best practices. "The Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine team at Cottage Health has been providing comprehensive addiction treatment for more than four decades. We look forward to collaborating with Hazelden Betty Ford to address the growing needs of our community," said Ron Werft, Cottage Health president and CEO. "The power of strategic collaboration to improve patient access and outcomes offers great hope for our field and for the millions of individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol, opioids and other drugs," added Bob Poznanovich, vice president of business development for the nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, a national addiction treatment leader with 17 sites across the country, including three in California. "We are excited to welcome Cottage Health as a member of our Patient Care Network and look forward to changing lives in The Golden State together." "One of the many valuable things that Cottage Health brings to our national network is experience operating an innovative Bridge Clinic with Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, which provides walk-in urgent care and treatment consultation services for people with addiction problems," said Poznanovich. "The Bridge Clinic makes it easier for people to access addiction treatment quicklya crucial priority for everyone amid the tragic opioid crisis that continues to claim tens of thousands of American lives every year." Cottage Health has three acute-care hospitals and more than 700 physicians who serve approximately 100,000 patients annually. Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital provides inpatient detoxification services; longer-term, 24-hour residential treatment is offered at Cottage Residential Center; and intensive outpatient treatment is available at Cottage Health's COPE programs in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. "Our goal is to use our evidence-based approaches to helping people overcome addiction, which aligns nicely with Hazelden Betty Ford's quality programs, services and research, so we're thrilled to join the network and collaborate more closely with other leading-edge providers," said Dr. Paul Erickson, medical director for psychiatry and addiction medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. More information on the exciting new relationship will be available at Cottage Health's Mental Health Fair in Santa Barbara on Saturday, May 4. 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. About Cottage Health The not-for-profit Cottage Health is the leader in providing advanced medical care to the Central Coast region. Specialties include the Cottage Children's Medical Center, Level 1 Trauma Center, Neuroscience Institute, Heart & Vascular Center, Center for Orthopedics, and Rehabilitation Hospital. The Cottage Health medical staff is comprised of more than 700 physicians, many with subspecialties typically found only at university medical centers. Last year, the Cottage Health hospitals in Goleta, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley provided inpatient care for 20,000 people, treated 79,000 patients through their 24-hour emergency departments and helped deliver 2,100 newborns. SOURCE Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Related Links http://www.hazeldenbettyford.org As a member of the Oklahoma music scene, Thomas sees firsthand the impact smoke-filled bars and clubs have on performers. "I have friends playing shows across Oklahoma and they definitely prioritize smokefree venues," says Thomas. "We love playing shows and don't want to risk cancelling because we inhaled a bunch of smoke the night before. Encouraging venues to be smokefree with Free The Night is one way we can support local musicians and keep the scene thriving." This Friday, May 3rd, Thomas is performing at the renowned Calf Fry music festival in Stillwater. Calf Fry is hosted by Tumbleweed Dance Hall and Concert Venue, a Free the Night partner which has prohibited smoking indoors since August 2018. "Performing at Calf Fry is a huge deal for me," says Thomas. "I feel especially proud to be a part of the first festival since Tumbleweed went smokefree." When employees of smoke-filled bars and clubs are 20-30% more likely to develop lung cancer, having an ally like Thomas is invaluable. Today, he is far from alone in his commitment to smokefree bars and clubs in Oklahoma 43 venues and 47 musicians have partnered with Free The Night to date. "I've got a big career ahead of me. 30 years from now, I still want to be able to sing to an audience all night," Thomas shared. "I'm not going to be able to do that if my voice, my lungs, and my heart are all damaged from second-hand smoke in our bars." About Free The Night Launched in 2014, Free The Night is a statewide campaign encouraging bars and clubs to voluntarily adopt smokefree policies to protect the health of bar and club patrons and workers. The Free The Night campaign is funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET). For more information, visit FreeTheNightOK.org. CONTACT: Maria Grundy, 505-340-1925, [email protected] SOURCE Free The Night Related Links http://www.FreeTheNightOK.org PARAMUS, N.J., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Crillon Importers LTD., deeply mourns the loss of Michel P. Roux, influential Chairman and CEO who passed suddenly in his Florida residence Tuesday evening. "The entire Crillon family has suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of Michel Roux. The entire industry has lost an icon. Michel can be credited to many of the world's leading brands, shaping the spirits industry into what it is today. The company will continue in his footsteps, paving the way into the future with his eternal guidance," said Jerry Ciraulo, President and CFO. Michel P. Roux For nearly half a century, Mr. Roux has distinguished himself as not only an exceptional marketer but also a visionary beyond his time and an avid supporter of the arts. Carrying his personal credo of "doing well by doing good," he touched the lives of many through his decorated career trailblazing the spirits industry as well as his personal philanthropic passions. Mr. Roux was instrumental to the development, distribution and success of many products including Absolut Vodka, Stolichnaya Russian Vodkas, Grand Marnier, Bombay Gin and Bombay Sapphire Gin. He was involved in and supported many charitable organizations including Citymeals-on-Wheels, in addition to establishing the Grand Marnier Foundation. Throughout his lifetime he received distinctions and accolades such as being named both a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and a Chevalier des Artes et Lettres by the French government in 1988 and the Commander of the Order of the North Polar Star, which is Sweden's highest honor, bestowed upon him by the King in 1991. A titan within his industry, Mr. Roux was absolutely larger than life and always one to leave a tremendous impression upon anyone he came to meet. Though his list of accomplishments is long, his charismatic devotion to those he loved was truly endless. Mr. Roux died on April 30th and is survived by his wife, Kathleen Roux and son Maximilien. Media Contact: Jenna Dillon (386) 246-2320 [email protected] SOURCE Crillon Importers Related Links http://crillonimporters.com SAN DIEGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced its financial results for the second quarter, ended March 31, 2019. Cubic also announced that it will include in the presentation of its financials and full-year guidance, an adjusted (non-GAAP) view of earnings per share (EPS) that excludes items that it believes are not part of Cubic's core operating performance. This additional guidance, while not a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, allows for improved transparency for the investment community in the review of the company's financial and operational performance. Additional information regarding non-GAAP measures and reconciliations of historical GAAP amounts to adjusted non-GAAP amounts are provided within this release. Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Highlights Second quarter sales of $337.3 million , up 21% year-over-year , up 21% year-over-year Second quarter operating loss of $6.5 million , compared to a loss of $1.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018; impacted by acquisition-related expenses and amortization of purchased intangibles , compared to a loss of in the second quarter of fiscal 2018; impacted by acquisition-related expenses and amortization of purchased intangibles Second quarter net loss from continuing operations attributable to Cubic of $8.0 million , or $0.26 per share; second quarter Adjusted EPS of $0.24 , up 9% year-over-year , or per share; second quarter Adjusted EPS of , up 9% year-over-year Second quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $19.4 million , up 23% year-over-year , up 23% year-over-year Secure Communications contracts expected to create value and position Cubic for new opportunities: Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) award to provide Full Motion Video system for the MH-60S Multi-Mission Helicopter program and a subcontract award to provide wideband SATCOM and Common Data Link for Boeing's MQ-25 Unmanned Aircraft System Confirmed fiscal 2019 sales and Adjusted EBITDA guidance; introduced new Adjusted EPS guidance "We are pleased with our second quarter performance and strong growth in the first half of fiscal year 2019, driven by transportation project execution and demand for our mission solutions products that we expect to continue to drive robust growth," said Bradley H. Feldmann, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cubic Corporation. "In addition, we are thrilled to be working with Apple to bring Apple Pay to U.S. transit systems. Cubic prides itself in developing enhanced technologies, features and applications for our customers to make journeys easier and more efficient." Financial Results Summary Three Months Ended Six Months Ended March 31, March 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 (in millions, except per share data) Sales $ 337.3 $ 278.6 $ 642.6 $ 527.0 Operating loss (6.5) (1.7) (7.1) (13.6) Adjusted EBITDA (1) 19.4 15.8 39.4 27.3 Adjusted net income (1) 7.6 6.1 16.7 8.6 Loss from continuing operations attributable to Cubic before income taxes $ (11.8) $ (1.9) $ (16.0) $ (16.1) Income tax provision (benefit) from continuing operations attributable to Cubic (3.7) 1.4 (1.3) (1.3) Net loss from continuing operations attributable to Cubic $ (8.0) $ (3.3) $ (14.6) $ (14.8) Loss per share from continuing operations attributable to Cubic $ (0.26) $ (0.12) $ (0.49) $ (0.54) Adjusted earnings per share (1) $ 0.24 $ 0.22 $ 0.56 $ 0.32 Acquisition-related expenses, excluding amortization (1) $ 6.1 $ 0.5 $ 8.6 $ 1.9 Strategic and IT system resource planning expenses (1) 2.3 5.7 3.9 13.7 Depreciation and amortization 17.6 11.1 33.6 23.5 Research and development expense 13.8 14.2 25.8 26.2 (1) See the section below titled "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information" for additional information regarding Non-GAAP financial measures. Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements Effective October 1, 2018, Cubic adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, as amended (commonly referred to as ASC 606), using the modified retrospective transition method. The adoption of ASC 606 resulted in a change in the Company's significant accounting policy regarding revenue recognition and resulted in changes to Cubic's accounting policies regarding contract estimates, backlog, inventory, contract assets, long-term capitalized contract costs and contract liabilities. See "New Accounting Standards Implemented" in Cubic's Form 10-Q for disclosure of the impact of ASC 606. Consolidated Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Results Sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 21% to $337.3 million, compared to $278.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, reflecting growth from Cubic Transportation Systems and Cubic Mission Solutions. The adoption of the new revenue recognition standard, described above, increased sales by $27.7 million, with more than half of that increase driven by organic growth from Cubic's next-generation fare payment system contract in Boston. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $7.2 million. Operating loss in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was $6.5 million, compared to a loss of $1.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Operating results were impacted by the accounting for businesses acquired during fiscal 2019, including acquisition-related expenses and amortization of purchased intangibles. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $1.3 million. Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 23% to $19.4 million, compared to $15.8 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $1.4 million. Net loss from continuing operations attributable to Cubic in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was $8.0 million, compared to a net loss of $3.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Adjusted net income was $7.6 million or $0.24 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to $6.1 million or $0.22 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, reflecting higher Adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by an increase in shares outstanding and higher depreciation and interest expense. Net cash used in continuing operations was $22.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to net cash provided by continuing operations of $12.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Reportable Segment Results Three Months Ended Six Months Ended March 31, March 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 Sales: (in millions) Cubic Transportation Systems $ 200.7 $ 167.0 $ 382.5 $ 313.5 Cubic Mission Solutions 61.9 36.1 108.3 69.2 Cubic Global Defense 74.7 75.5 151.8 144.3 Total sales $ 337.3 $ 278.6 $ 642.6 $ 527.0 Operating income (loss): Cubic Transportation Systems $ 8.8 $ 14.2 $ 19.8 $ 24.1 Cubic Mission Solutions (8.5) (7.8) (13.4) (16.7) Cubic Global Defense 5.2 5.3 8.1 6.7 Unallocated corporate expenses (12.0) (13.4) (21.6) (27.7) Total operating income (loss) $ (6.5) $ (1.7) $ (7.1) $ (13.6) Adjusted EBITDA: Cubic Transportation Systems $ 20.4 $ 17.2 $ 39.8 $ 30.6 Cubic Mission Solutions (0.1) (2.0) 0.6 (3.7) Cubic Global Defense 6.5 7.4 12.2 11.6 Unallocated corporate expenses (7.4) (6.8) (13.2) (11.2) Total Adjusted EBITDA $ 19.4 $ 15.8 $ 39.4 $ 27.3 Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) CTS sales increased 20% to $200.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to $167.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, including the impact of the adoption of the new revenue recognition standard. Sales were higher in the U.S. primarily due to revenue from system development on the New York and Boston next-generation fare payment systems contracts, as well as sales from the acquisitions of Trafficware and GRIDSMART. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $6.3 million. CTS Adjusted EBITDA increased 19% to $20.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to $17.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. The increase in Adjusted EBITDA reflects higher sales, partially offset by foreign currency translation, which had an unfavorable impact of $1.3 million. Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) CMS sales increased 71% to $61.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to $36.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, reflecting increased sales of expeditionary satellite communications products, secure network products, and command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C2ISR) products. CMS Adjusted EBITDA improved to a loss of $0.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 from a loss of $2.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Adjusted EBITDA was impacted by an increase in research and development expenditures of $2.3 million. Cubic Global Defense (CGD) CGD sales were $74.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to $75.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $0.9 million. CGD Adjusted EBITDA decreased 12% to $6.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, compared to $7.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, reflecting program mix. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $0.1 million. Backlog Total backlog decreased by $268.9 million from September 30, 2018 to March 31, 2019. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $10.2 million. March 31, September 30, 2019 2018 (in millions) Total backlog Cubic Transportation Systems $ 3,276.3 $ 3,544.9 Cubic Mission Solutions 186.6 77.0 Cubic Global Defense 332.7 442.6 Total $ 3,795.6 $ 4,064.5 Fiscal 2019 Full Year Guidance(1) Sales: $1,400 million to $1,475 million (unchanged from prior guidance) to (unchanged from prior guidance) Adjusted EBITDA: $140 million to $160 million (unchanged from prior guidance) to (unchanged from prior guidance) Adjusted EPS: $2.85 to $3.50 (new guidance) (1) Constant foreign currency exchange. Includes impact of adoption of ASC 606. Conference Call and Webcast Cubic will host a conference call today, Thursday, May 2 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to present second quarter results. Access the live audio webcast via: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1240778&tp_key=efadb6f6ee An archive of the webcast and presentation materials will be made available on the Investor Relations section of Cubic's website at https://www.cubic.com/investor-relations/financials. Financial analysts and institutional investors are invited to dial: 877-407-9708 201-689-8259 (international) To avoid delay in the start time, please dial in beginning 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time. About Cubic Corporation Cubic is a technology-driven, market-leading provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Our teams innovate to make a positive difference in people's lives. We simplify their daily journeys. We promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. For more information about Cubic, please visit www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to the safe harbor created by such Act. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements about our expectations regarding future events or our future financial and/or operating performance, including achieving our fiscal 2019 full year guidance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "may," "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "project," "continuing," "ongoing," "expect," "believe," "intend," "predict," "potential," "opportunity" and similar words or phrases or the negatives of these words or phrases. These statements involve risks, estimates, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements, including, among others: our dependence on U.S. and foreign government contracts; delays in approving U.S. and foreign government budgets and cuts in U.S. and foreign government defense expenditures; the ability of certain government agencies to unilaterally terminate or modify our contracts with them; the effects of potential sequestration on our contracts; our assumptions covering behavior by public transit authorities; our ability to successfully integrate new companies, including Trafficware, GRIDSMART and Nuvotronics, into our business and to properly assess the effects of such integration on our financial condition; the U.S. government's increased emphasis on awarding contracts to small businesses, and our ability to retain existing contracts or win new contracts under competitive bidding processes; negative audits by the U.S. government; the effects of politics and economic conditions on negotiations and business dealings in the various countries in which we do business or intend to do business; competition and technology changes in the defense and transportation industries; the change in the way transit agencies pay for transit systems; our ability to accurately estimate the time and resources necessary to satisfy obligations under our contracts; the effect of adverse regulatory changes on our ability to sell products and services; our ability to identify, attract and retain qualified employees; unforeseen problems with the implementation and maintenance of our information systems, including our new ERP system; business disruptions due to cyber security threats, physical threats, terrorist acts, acts of nature and public health crises; our involvement in litigation, including litigation related to patents, proprietary rights and employee misconduct; our reliance on subcontractors and on a limited number of third parties to manufacture and supply our products; our ability to comply with our development contracts and to successfully develop, introduce and sell new products, systems and services in current and future markets; defects in, or a lack of adequate coverage by insurance or indemnity for, our products and systems; and changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws, exchange rates or our economic assumptions regarding our pension plans. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in our SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including our most recent Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Because the risks, estimates, assumptions and uncertainties referred to above could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information In addition to results reported under GAAP, we provide certain non-GAAP measures. These non-GAAP measures consist of Adjusted net income, Adjusted earnings per share (Adjusted EPS), and Adjusted EBITDA. We believe that these non-GAAP measures provide additional insight into our ongoing operations and underlying business trends, facilitate a comparison of our results between current and prior periods, and facilitate the comparison of our operating results with the results of other public companies that provide non-GAAP measures. We use Adjusted EBITDA internally to evaluate the operating performance of our business, for strategic planning purposes, and as a factor in determining incentive compensation for certain employees. These non-GAAP measures facilitate company-to-company operating comparisons by excluding items that we believe are not part of our core operating performance. Adjusted net income is defined as GAAP net income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Cubic excluding amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring costs, acquisition related expenses, strategic and IT system resource planning expenses, gains or losses on the disposal of fixed assets, other non-operating expense (income), tax impacts related to acquisitions, and the impact of U.S. Tax Reform. Adjusted EPS is defined as Adjusted net income on a per share basis using the weighted average diluted shares outstanding. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as GAAP net income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to Cubic before interest expense (income), income taxes, depreciation and amortization, other non-operating expense (income), acquisition related expenses, strategic and IT system resource planning expenses, restructuring costs, and gains or losses on the disposal of fixed assets. Strategic and IT system resource planning expenses consists of expenses incurred in the development of our ERP system and the redesign of our supply chain which include internal labor costs and external costs of materials and services that do not qualify for capitalization. Acquisition related expenses include business acquisition expenses including retention bonus expenses, due diligence and consulting costs incurred in connection with the acquisitions, and expenses recognized related to the change in the fair value of contingent consideration for acquisitions. These non-GAAP measures are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to the company or as alternatives to net income as a measure of performance. In addition, other companies may define these non-GAAP measures differently and, as a result, our non-GAAP measures may not be directly comparable to the non-GAAP measures of other companies. Furthermore, non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as an analytical tool and you should not consider these measures in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Investors are advised to carefully review our GAAP financial results that are disclosed in our SEC filings. With respect to our fiscal year 2019 Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS guidance, certain items that affect GAAP net income cannot be reasonably predicted as we are unable to quantify certain amounts that would be required to be included in the comparable forecasted GAAP measures without unreasonable effort. As such, we are unable to provide a reasonable estimate of GAAP net income or GAAP EPS, or a corresponding reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS guidance to GAAP net income or GAAP EPS for the full year. In addition, we believe such reconciliations would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors. We reconcile Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted net income to GAAP net income, which we consider to be the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. We reconcile Adjusted EPS to GAAP EPS, which we consider to be the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. The following tables reconcile these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. On May 31, 2018 Cubic sold the CGD Services business. The operating results of this business and loss on sale have been excluded from the figures for all periods presented. GAAP NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAXES, DEPRECIATION AND AMORTIZATION (EBITDA) RECONCILIATION ($ In Millions) Three Months Ended March 31, Six Months Ended March 31, Cubic Transportation Systems 2019 2018 2019 2018 Sales $ 200.7 $ 167.0 $ 382.5 $ 313.5 Operating income $ 8.8 $ 14.2 $ 19.8 $ 24.1 Depreciation and amortization 9.5 3.0 17.2 6.3 Noncontrolling interest in income of VIE (1.8) - (3.3) - Acquisition related expenses, excluding amortization 3.6 - 5.4 - Restructuring costs 0.3 - 0.7 0.2 Adjusted EBITDA $ 20.4 $ 17.2 $ 39.8 $ 30.6 Adjusted EBITDA margin 10.2% 10.3% 10.4% 9.8% Three Months Ended March 31, Six Months Ended March 31, Cubic Mission Solutions 2019 2018 2019 2018 Sales $ 61.9 $ 36.1 $ 108.3 $ 69.2 Operating loss $ (8.5) $ (7.8) $ (13.4) $ (16.7) Depreciation and amortization 5.8 5.2 11.2 11.1 Acquisition related expenses, excluding amortization 2.6 0.6 2.8 1.9 Adjusted EBITDA $ (0.1) $ (2.0) $ 0.6 $ (3.7) Adjusted EBITDA margin -0.2% -5.6% 0.6% -5.3% Three Months Ended March 31, Six Months Ended March 31, Cubic Global Defense 2019 2018 2019 2018 Sales $ 74.7 $ 75.5 $ 151.8 $ 144.3 Operating income $ 5.2 $ 5.3 $ 8.1 $ 6.7 Depreciation and amortization 1.5 2.0 3.7 4.1 Acquisition related expenses, excluding amortization (0.2) - 0.3 - Restructuring costs - 0.1 0.1 0.8 Adjusted EBITDA $ 6.5 $ 7.4 $ 12.2 $ 11.6 Adjusted EBITDA margin 8.7% 9.8% 8.0% 8.0% ($ In Millions) Three Months Ended March 31, Six Months Ended March 31, Cubic Consolidated 2019 2018 2019 2018 Sales $ 337.3 $ 278.6 $ 642.6 $ 527.0 Net loss from continuing operations attributable to Cubic $ (8.0) $ (3.3) $ (14.6) $ (14.8) Noncontrolling interest in loss of VIE (1.4) - (5.4) - (Benefit) provision for income taxes (3.7) 1.4 (1.3) (1.3) Interest expense, net 3.1 2.2 5.9 4.5 Other non-operating expense (income), net 3.6 (2.0) 8.4 (2.0) Operating loss $ (6.5) $ (1.7) $ (7.1) $ (13.6) Depreciation and amortization 17.6 11.1 33.6 23.5 Noncontrolling interest in EBITDA of VIE (1.8) - (3.3) - Acquisition related expenses, excluding amortization 6.1 0.5 8.6 1.9 Strategic and IT system resource planning expenses 2.3 5.7 3.9 13.7 Restructuring costs 1.7 0.2 3.7 1.8 Adjusted EBITDA $ 19.4 $ 15.8 $ 39.4 $ 27.3 Adjusted EBITDA margin 5.8% 5.7% 6.1% 5.2% Amounts may not sum due to rounding GAAP NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED NET INCOME AND GAAP EPS TO ADJUSTED EPS RECONCILIATION Three Months Ended Six Months Ended March 31, March 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 (in millions, except per share data) GAAP EPS $ (0.26) $ (0.12) $ (0.49) $ (0.54) GAAP Net loss from continuing operations attributable to Cubic $ (8.0) $ (3.3) $ (14.6) $ (14.8) Noncontrolling interest in the loss of the VIE (1.4) (5.4) Amortization of purchased intangibles 12.4 6.5 23.0 13.8 Restructuring costs 1.7 0.2 3.7 1.8 Acquisition related expenses, excluding amortization 6.1 0.5 8.6 1.9 Strategic and IT system resource planning expenses 2.3 5.7 3.9 13.7 Other non-operating expense (income), net 3.6 (2.0) 8.4 (2.0) Noncontrolling interest in Adjusted net income of VIE (2.0) (3.5) Tax impact related to acquisitions1 (7.2) (1.2) (7.5) (1.2) Impact of U.S. Tax Reform (4.0) Tax impact related to non-GAAP adjustments2 0.1 (0.3) 0.1 (0.6) Adjusted net income $ 7.6 $ 6.1 $ 16.7 $ 8.6 Adjusted EPS $ 0.24 $ 0.22 $ 0.56 $ 0.32 Weighted Average Diluted Shares Outstanding (in thousands) 31,150 27,223 29,821 27,215 Amounts may not sum due to rounding 1 Represents the tax accounting impact of significant discrete items recorded at the time of acquisition. 2 The tax rate applied to the non-GAAP adjustments is based upon the statutory tax rate of the jurisdiction of the event. CUBIC CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (amounts in thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended March 31, March 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 Net sales: Products $ 222,744 $ 157,445 $ 404,997 $ 289,188 Services 114,595 121,141 237,601 237,789 337,339 278,586 642,598 526,977 Costs and expenses: Products 167,567 117,093 293,052 208,666 Services 82,212 78,457 174,997 164,674 Selling, general and administrative expenses 66,195 63,773 129,181 125,453 Research and development 13,754 14,202 25,766 26,179 Amortization of purchased intangibles 12,395 6,484 22,960 13,835 Restructuring costs 1,757 256 3,749 1,751 343,880 280,265 649,705 540,558 Operating loss (6,541) (1,679) (7,107) (13,581) Other income (expenses): Interest and dividend income 1,413 625 2,647 1,107 Interest expense (4,531) (2,911) (8,563) (5,585) Other income (expense), net (3,602) 2,028 (8,355) 1,950 Loss from continuing operations before income taxes (13,261) (1,937) (21,378) (16,109) Income tax (benefit) provision (3,831) 1,409 (1,334) (1,328) Loss from continuing operations (9,430) (3,346) (20,044) (14,781) Net income (loss) from discontinued operations (1,339) 1,335 (1,339) 2,984 Net loss (10,769) (2,011) (21,383) (11,797) Less noncontrolling interest in loss of VIE (1,377) (5,404) Net loss attributable to Cubic $ (9,392) $ (2,011) $ (15,979) $ (11,797) Amounts attributable to Cubic: Net loss from continuing operations $ (8,053) $ (3,346) $ (14,640) $ (14,781) Net income (loss) from discontinued operations (1,339) 1,335 (1,339) 2,984 Net loss attributable to Cubic $ (9,392) $ (2,011) $ (15,979) $ (11,797) Net income (loss) per share: Basic Continuing operations attributable to Cubic $ (0.26) $ (0.12) $ (0.49) $ (0.54) Discontinued operations $ (0.04) $ 0.05 $ (0.04) $ 0.11 Basic earnings per share attributable to Cubic $ (0.30) $ (0.07) $ (0.54) $ (0.43) Diluted Continuing operations attributable to Cubic $ (0.26) $ (0.12) $ (0.49) $ (0.54) Discontinued operations $ (0.04) $ 0.05 $ (0.04) $ 0.11 Diluted earnings per share attributable to Cubic $ (0.30) $ (0.07) $ (0.54) $ (0.43) Dividends per common share $ 0.14 $ 0.14 $ 0.14 $ 0.14 Weighted average shares used in per share calculations: Basic 31,150 27,223 29,821 27,215 Diluted 31,150 27,223 29,821 27,215 CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (in thousands) March 31, September 30, 2019 2018 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 42,483 $ 111,834 Cash in consolidated VIE 362 374 Restricted cash 19,064 17,400 Restricted cash in consolidated VIE 9,967 10,000 Accounts receivable: Long-term contracts 159,246 393,691 Allowance for doubtful accounts (1,714) (1,324) 157,532 392,367 Contract assets 296,920 Recoverable income taxes 5,910 91 Inventories 119,870 84,199 Assets held for sale 12,620 8,177 Other current assets 44,471 43,705 Other current assets in consolidated VIE 43 Total current assets 709,242 668,147 Long-term contracts receivables 6,134 Long-term contracts financing receivables 41,758 Long-term contracts financing receivables in consolidated VIE 68,779 Long-term capitalized contract costs 84,924 Long-term capitalized contract costs in consolidated VIE 1,258 Property, plant and equipment, net 129,367 117,546 Deferred income taxes 4,798 4,713 Goodwill 579,648 333,626 Purchased intangibles, net 184,104 73,533 Other assets 14,290 14,192 Other assets in consolidated VIE 1,114 810 Total assets $ 1,733,100 $ 1,304,883 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Short-term borrowings $ 209,000 $ Trade accounts payable 129,686 125,414 Trade accounts payable in consolidated VIE 156 165 Contract liabilities 78,352 Customer advances 75,941 Accrued compensation and other current liabilities 93,256 118,233 Accrued compensation and other current liabilities in consolidated VIE 204 Income taxes payable 2,690 8,586 Current portion of long-term debt 10,714 Total current liabilities 524,058 328,339 Long-term debt 189,095 199,793 Long-term debt in consolidated VIE 25,602 9,056 Other long-term liabilities 41,290 43,486 Other long-term liabilities in consolidated VIE 9,866 13 Shareholders' equity: Common stock 264,612 45,008 Retained earnings 801,486 801,834 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (110,156) (110,643) Treasury stock at cost (36,078) (36,078) Shareholders' equity related to Cubic 919,864 700,121 Noncontrolling interest in consolidated VIE 23,325 24,075 Total shareholders' equity 943,189 724,196 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 1,733,100 $ 1,304,883 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (in thousands) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended March 31, March 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 Operating Activities: Net loss $ (10,769) $ (2,011) $ (21,383) $ (11,797) Net (income) loss from discontinued operations 1,339 (1,335) 1,339 (2,984) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 17,587 11,058 33,598 23,491 Share-based compensation expense 3,638 870 6,358 2,497 Change in fair value of contingent consideration 241 154 670 452 Loss on disposal of assets (1,474) (1,474) Deferred income taxes (5,825) (185) (5,825) (185) Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects from acquisitions: (28,754) 5,417 (98,467) (9,021) NET CASH PROVIDED BY (USED IN) CONTINUING OPERATING ACTIVITIES (22,543) 12,494 (83,710) 979 NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS 21,556 6,133 NET CASH PROVIDED BY (USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES (22,543) 34,050 (83,710) 7,112 Investing Activities: Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired (148,704) (4,884) (395,854) (9,534) Purchases of property, plant and equipment (10,132) (5,468) (22,177) (11,786) Proceeds from sale of assets 2,400 2,400 Purchase of non-marketable debt and equity securities (579) (1,250) NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES (158,836) (8,531) (418,031) (20,170) Financing Activities: Proceeds from short-term borrowings 242,500 37,120 614,500 119,120 Principal payments on short-term borrowings (98,000) (48,120) (405,500) (97,120) Proceeds from long-term borrowings in consolidated VIE 9,700 15,498 Proceeds from stock issued under employee stock purchase plan 783 798 783 798 Purchase of common stock (68) (3,419) (2,324) Dividends paid (4,205) (3,676) (4,205) (3,676) Contingent consideration payments related to acquisitions of businesses (385) (820) (656) Proceeds from equity offering, net 215,832 NET CASH PROVIDED BY (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES 150,393 (13,946) 432,669 16,142 Effect of exchange rates on cash (622) (1,209) 1,340 (532) NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (31,608) 10,364 (67,732) 2,552 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 103,484 60,765 139,608 68,577 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE END OF THE PERIOD $ 71,876 $ 71,129 $ 71,876 $ 71,129 Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities: Receivable recognized in connection with the acquisition of Trafficware, net $ $ $ 1,588 $ Receivable recognized in connection with the acquisition of GRIDSMART, net $ 442 $ $ 442 $ Receivable recognized in connection with the acquisition of Nuvotronics, net $ 166 $ $ 166 $ Liability incurred to acquire Nuvotronics, net $ 4,900 $ $ 4,900 $ SOURCE Cubic Corporation Related Links http://www.cubic.com SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a continuing commitment to building healthier communities, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) celebrated today the expansion of its annual Project Health free health screening campaign to Sacramento with a fun-filled community event at CVS Pharmacy, 1587 W El Camino Avenue, in Sacramento. Today's event is one of 32 free health screenings that will take place in the Sacramento area between now and June 30. The event also included the presentation of a $75,000 grant from the CVS Health Foundation to the Sacramento Native American Health Center to help expand opioid treatment options locally. The funds will be used to help engage more patients with internal treatment options like medication-assisted treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-focused CBT and integrative or holistic therapies, which have shown to provide greater success in abstinence from substances. "CVS Health is committed to expanding access to quality and affordable care, both through our retail footprint and with national and local non-profits and organizations who share our belief that better health starts at the community level," said Garth Graham, vice president of Community Health and Impact, CVS Health. "We are thrilled to be here today in Sacramento celebrating the expansion of Project Health, and look forward to providing local residents with free health screenings over the next two months, as part of our commitment to building healthier communities." Project Health events, which will be held on Thursday Sunday in rotating stores across Sacramento through June, are open to everyone and do not require an appointment. Project Health offers an array of free comprehensive health assessment screenings, including blood pressure, Body Mass Index (BMI), glucose and total cholesterol screenings, which can help detect risk for chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. The expansion of Project Health will also do more to screen for social determinants of health that affect personal health and communities. About 60 percent of life expectancy is driven by behavioral, social and environmental factors including family, education, housing, and access to fresh food. Project Health events have a proven track record of improving patient engagement and ultimately, healthier outcomes. Once screened, patients have access to on-site consultations with bilingual nurse practitioners or physician assistants who will analyze results and refer patients who require additional medical care and follow up to no-cost or low-cost medical facilities nearby or to their primary care physician. Sacramento is one of five cities in California where a total of 256 Project Health screenings will take place this year through December. Events are occurring year-round in Los Angeles, and took place earlier this year in Fresno and San Francisco. Project Health will begin in the San Diego area in July. Since it was established in 2006, Project Health has delivered more than $127 million in free health care services to nearly 1.7 million people in multicultural communities with a large number of uninsured or underinsured Americans. For a full calendar of Project Health events in Sacramento, visit www.cvs.com/projecthealth (in Spanish: www.cvs.com/proyectosalud). About CVS Health CVS Health is the nation's premier health innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Whether in one of its pharmacies or through its health services and plans, CVS Health is pioneering a bold new approach to total health by making quality care more affordable, accessible, simple and seamless. CVS Health is community-based and locally focused, engaging consumers with the care they need when and where they need it. The Company has more than 9,900 retail locations, approximately 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 92 million plan members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. CVS Health also serves an estimated 38 million people through traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including a rapidly expanding Medicare Advantage offering. This innovative health care model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com. MEDIA CONTACT Mary Gattuso [email protected] 401-290-8078 SOURCE CVS Health Related Links https://www.cvshealth.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Delivering value to customers is key to Duke Energy's success, Chairman, President and CEO Lynn Good told investors during the company's annual shareholders meeting today. Duke Energy's 2018 performance "gives us confidence as we grow the company and execute our long-term strategy, which is our road map to bring value to our shareholders and our customers," Good said. "That strategy starts with the customer because for us to win, we must put them at the center of everything we do." For example, Duke Energy in 2018 responded to federal tax reform, ensuring the law's benefits flowed to the company's customers while also maintaining the company's balance sheet and credit quality, she said. Duke Energy also "focused on turning data into results, helping provide more value to customers," Good said. "Already, we've used data to improve how customers pay their bills, report outages and start service. In addition, we've recently launched several mobile apps, giving customers more control and access to information right on their smartphone." In addition, "more than 62 percent of our customers have smart meters, giving them access to enhanced usage information and alerts. We remain on track to have smart meters fully deployed in all our jurisdictions by year-end 2021," she said. Modern electric grid Duke Energy in 2018 also continued to build "a more modern, intelligent" electric grid "that is more resilient, secure and reliable," Good said. "Across our footprint, self-healing technologies prevented more than 700,000 extended power outages in 2018. And our technology prevented 80,000 extended outages during Hurricane Florence, and gave us better information to expedite restoration following this storm," she said. Duke Energy restored 3 million power outages, handled over 3 million phone calls and sent over 27 million emails and text messages to customers in the aftermath of hurricanes Florence and Michael, Good said. "I cannot thank our employees enough for their incredible work to support our customers." Cleaner energy Duke Energy in 2018 also continued its ongoing transition to renewable energy and natural gas, and away from coal, to generate electricity while also efficiently operating its zero-carbon fleet of nuclear power plants, Good said. Combined, these efforts kept the company on track to reduce its carbon emissions 40 percent by 2030, from 2005 levels. "We brought two combined-cycle, natural gas-fired plants online, and will bring a third online by the end of 2019. We also remained one of the nation's largest renewable energy providers. By year-end, we owned or purchased a total of 7,100 megawatts of wind, solar and biomass energy enough to power 2 million homes," she said. "We have connected more than 2,500 megawatts of solar in the Carolinas over the past four years, helping keep North Carolina second in the nation for overall solar power capacity. And in Florida, we are adding 700 megawatts of solar in the state," Good said. The company in 2018 also expanded its commercial renewables footprint to 14 states, and is pursuing new opportunities in this growing segment, she said. "In addition, we outlined plans for $500 million in battery storage projects in the Carolinas over the next 15 years." But even as Duke Energy invests in new energy sources, the company's existing zero-carbon nuclear power plant fleet "remains fundamental to our success," Good said. "That's why we continue evaluating subsequent license renewals for our nuclear fleet for an additional 20 years of operation." The company in 2018 also continued its commitment to environmental stewardship in the management of coal ash at its operating and retired coal-fired power plants, she said. "I'm very proud of our progress as we permanently close every ash basin to protect people and the environment, while keeping costs affordable." Natural gas infrastructure In addition in 2018, Duke Energy continued to expand its natural gas infrastructure. "We retrofitted two coal units to run on natural gas. We also announced plans to build a liquefied natural gas facility, helping Piedmont Natural Gas meet demand during peak usage days," Good said. "Importantly, we worked diligently to complete the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Unfortunately, legal and permitting challenges have stopped major construction activity. But let there be no doubt that we remain committed to this project. It will bring much-needed natural gas supplies to the Southeast, as well as economic growth in rural areas of this region," she said. Economic growth, community support Economic development, job creation and community support also remained top priorities for Duke Energy in 2018, Good said. Duke Energy's economic development specialists helped attract $5.3 billion in capital investment and 14,000 new jobs to communities served by the company. Meanwhile, the Duke Energy Foundation donated more than $31 million to schools, colleges and a variety of nonprofit organizations, and company employees and retirees volunteered over 126,000 hours of their time. Other shareholder business Also at today's meeting: Good fielded shareholder questions on a range of topics. The company will post responses to all questions on its website. Shareholders rejected all four shareholder proposals. Shareholders elected all 14 board of director nominees. Duke Energy Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 125 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit. Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers in five states North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects. Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2019 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Contact: Dave Scanzoni 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy Related Links http://www.duke-energy.com "Diamonds are a valuable natural resource, but unusable by institutional investors. Unlike gold and platinum, each diamond is different, so price is negotiable," explains Cormac Kinney, founder and CEO of Diamond Standard Co. "We created a diamond commodity by grouping sets of diamonds in a fair and transparent way. The sets are fungible, and the diamonds are independently certified, and the key is that they are sourced through a regulated exchange, with market-driven price discovery." Diamond Standard Co. is founding member of the Diamond Standard Exchange, now applying to be regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. The company will bid on every permutation of natural diamonds across the range of gemological grades and purchase a statistically valid sample. The bids are transparent and adjust to fill all commodity orders. The purchased diamonds are then parceled out by an optimization system, so that each set contains an identical geological scarcity. The sets are designed to be fungible and consistent over time, with no human subjectivity in the process. "Diamond qualities are non-linear, so it was a challenging computer science problem. But in the end, the commodity is based 100% on math, and 0% on trust," notes Kinney. "Like manufacturers of gold bars, we don't set the market price. Our role is to make an absolutely consistent unit." The fungible sets of diamonds are sealed in transparent resina Diamond Standard Coin or Diamond Standard Barcontaining a military grade wireless encryption chip. The commodity is always delivered to the buyer or their custodian and can be easily verified. The diamonds also can be removed and used, just not as a commodity. The integrated chip stores a Bitcarbon, a blockchain token which can be instantly authenticated and remotely audited. "Every aspect of the Diamond Standard commodity is public and can be verified by anyonein person or on the blockchain," says Kinney. Owners can hold the commodity themselves, but most will likely use a custodian, like International Depository Services of Delaware, which charges $2 per month to custody and insure a Diamond Standard Coin. The initial sale of Diamond Standard Coins is calibrated to a value of $10,000, permanently fixing the geological content for all subsequent Coins. Custodians store the commodity in smart cabinets, which audit them constantly, and enable owners to transact them remotely using the Bitcarbon token. The owner alone has the digital key. For every transaction, the encryption chip is challenged by the blockchain in a process called "proof-of-asset." When the commodity is held by the owner it can be authenticated and sold using a smartphone, anywhere in the world. This new asset is like a gold bar, but with digital properties. The Diamond Standard Coin is intended to have a daily market price and trade on global exchanges by transacting the Bitcarbon token on the blockchain. The token also can be used as collateral to borrow money or asset-back smart contractswith a blockchain-recorded lien. Any developer can create applications that use the diamond commodity as a store of value or asset backing, providing a decentralized, deliverable, proof-of-asset feature. The company charges no fees for transactions after initial purchase and delivery. "Out of $9 trillion in gold, 28% is held for investment purposes. With $1.5 trillion worth of diamonds above ground, less than 2% are used for investments. This product solves fungibility and price discovery, making diamonds an ideal store of wealth, especially when used to secure digital assetsthey are much more easily transported, custodied and authenticated than gold," Kinney concludes. About Diamond Standard Co. Diamond Standard Co. is creator of the first fungible diamond commoditya, transparent and liquid asset that can be held by any investor or ETF. A wireless encryption chip inside each Diamond Standard Coin or Bar holds a digital token for instant trading, a Bitcarbon, which enables the commodity to asset-back any digital contract. The company was founded by Cormac Kinney, a quant finance pioneer who previously invented heatmaps, designed more than 100 institutional trading systems, and perfected sentiment analysis for statistical arbitrage, using it to manage over $500 million in assets. His innovations have been cited in nearly 4,000 US Patents, and four of his previous startups have been acquired by public companies or funds. For more information go to: https://diamondstandard.co, and for the latest updates, follow Diamond Standard Co. on LinkedIn and Twitter: @DiamondStdCo. CONTACT: Kyle Kappmeier JConnelly 973.850.7366 [email protected] SOURCE Diamond Standard Company NORTH CANTON, Ohio, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD), a global leader in driving connected commerce across the financial and retail industries, announced today that Gerrard Schmid, president and chief executive officer, will participate in the 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference at The Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston, Mass. Schmid will discuss the company's strategy, banking and retail market trends and DN Now initiatives. He will also be available to meet with institutional investors. His presentation will begin at 11:20 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. A live audio webcast of the event can be accessed on Diebold Nixdorf's investor relations website, http://investors.dieboldnixdorf.com/ . A replay of the broadcast will also be available on this site. About Diebold Nixdorf Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) is a world leader in enabling connected commerce. We automate, digitize and transform the way people bank and shop. As a partner to the majority of the world's top 100 financial institutions and top 25 global retailers, our integrated solutions connect digital and physical channels conveniently, securely and efficiently for millions of consumers each day. The company has a presence in more than 100 countries with approximately 23,000 employees worldwide. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/diebold Twitter: twitter.com/dieboldnixdorf Facebook: www.facebook.com/DieboldNixdorf YouTube: www.youtube.com/dieboldnixdorf SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf Related Links http://www.dieboldnixdorf.com SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE: DEI), a real estate investment trust (REIT), has released its first quarter 2019 financial results by posting its First Quarter 2019 Earnings Results and Operating Information package to the investor relations section of its website at www.douglasemmett.com/investors. As previously announced, Jordan Kaplan, CEO, Peter Seymour, CFO, Kevin Crummy, CIO, and Stuart McElhinney, Vice President Investor Relations will host a live conference call to discuss Douglas Emmett's financial results at 2:00 pm Eastern Time (11:00 am Pacific Time) on Friday, May 3, 2019. Interested parties can access the live call via the internet by going to the investor relations section of www.douglasemmett.com at least fifteen minutes prior to the start time of the call in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. Those without internet access can listen to the call by phone at (888) 349-0488 (U.S.) or (412) 542-4156 (International) ask to join the Douglas Emmett, Inc. (DEI) call. For those unable to participate on the live call, a rebroadcast will be available for 90 days on Douglas Emmett's website at www.douglasemmett.com/investors. About Douglas Emmett, Inc. Douglas Emmett, Inc. (DEI) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), and one of the largest owners and operators of high-quality office and multifamily properties located in the premier coastal submarkets of Los Angeles and Honolulu. Douglas Emmett focuses on owning and acquiring a substantial share of top-tier office properties and premier multifamily communities in neighborhoods that possess significant supply constraints, high-end executive housing and key lifestyle amenities. For more information about Douglas Emmett, please visit our website at www.douglasemmett.com. Safe Harbor Statement Except for the historical facts, the statements in this press release regarding Douglas Emmett's business activities are forward-looking statements based on the beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to us about known and unknown risks, trends, uncertainties and factors that are beyond our control or ability to predict. Although we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, they are not guarantees of future performance and some will inevitably prove to be incorrect. As a result, our actual future results can be expected to differ from our expectations, and those differences may be material. Accordingly, investors should use caution in relying on forward-looking statements to anticipate future results or trends. For a discussion of some of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Stuart McElhinney, Vice President Investor Relations 310.255.7751 [email protected] SOURCE Douglas Emmett, Inc. Related Links https://www.douglasemmett.com JUV Wall was designed to rejuvenate new or existing spaces in commercial environments. With height-adjustability and a flip-down worksurface, this flexible desk integrates easily into offices, allowing businesses to fully realize the potential of their space. "Our product innovation team researched how the workspace is used in modern offices and found that many spaces remain unused and stationary," said Charles Christ, chief technology officer and senior vice president of product development at Ergotron. "We saw that height-adjustable furniture integrated into building architecture would support more active, flexible and collaborative work environments." JUV Wall augments corporate wellness initiatives by encouraging healthy workstyles and movement throughout the day. With patented Constant Force Technology, the worksurface can be adjusted quickly and quietly from sit to stand. In fact, users can change positions eight to 10 times faster than with a traditional height-adjustable table. An infinite braking system allows the desk to be positioned at any height which provides a comfortable, personalized fit. In addition, the desk was designed without floor supports, which provides ample legroom and storage space. "JUV Wall has a feature set that is unique in the marketplaceit's an industry first," explained John Blomstrom, lead designer of furniture at Ergotron. "Using Constant Force Technology, this non-electric adjustable worksurface provides full BIFMA ergonomic height range of 26", accommodating the 5th percentile seated female to the 95th percentile standing male. Combined with integrated power and data accessible at the users' fingertips and customizable accent panels, JUV Wall is an exceptional solution that adapts to a wide variety of people and commercial settings." JUV Wall is now available exclusively to contract furniture dealers. To learn more about the JUV product family, visit www.ergotron.com/contract or call (855) 365-6747. ABOUT ERGOTRON Ergotron, Inc. is a global movement company focused on designing and manufacturing kinetic work environments so people can thrive as they work, learn, game and care for others. The way we interact with technology, collaborate with others and pursue our individual potential is changing. Ergotron supports this evolution with innovative solutions that eliminate constraint through movement in healthcare, education, contract furniture and general office environments. Through the custom solutions group, Ergotron provides unique product offerings to companies like Amazon, Herman Miller, GE Healthcare and Cisco Systems. The company has a 35-year history of innovation with more than 200 patents and a growing portfolio of award-winning brands including WorkFit, CareFit, LearnFit, JUV and OmniMount. Ergotron is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with a global sales and marketing presence in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. All products are designed in the United States and produced in Ergotron's facilities in Saint Paul and China. Learn more at www.ergotron.com. SOURCE Ergotron, Inc. Related Links http://www.ergotron.com PITTSBURGH, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedient, a cloud computing and data center infrastructure as a service provider, today announced that, in the course of restructuring with an eye towards expansion, it has promoted two corporate executives and made a key hire to lead its new national sales team. Jonathan Rosenson, former Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, assuming COO responsibilities from Shawn McGorry, who remains Expedient's President. Rosenson's career with Expedientand its predecessor companieshas spanned nearly 25 years, during which time he has been a key contributor in transformation efforts across the organization. Rosenson continues to be responsible for the marketing, partner alliances, technical support, IT compliance, information systems, and other operational functions of the organization. John White, former Vice President of Product Strategy, has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer. White began his career with Expedient in 2004 and has been instrumental in leading the company's evolution from data center colocation provider to a renowned cloud services provider. In his new role, White will continue to serve as the organization's most senior technologist, sitting on the technical advisory boards of some of the world's leading software and hardware companies, while also driving forward Expedient's solutions roadmap and vision. In an effort to support aggressive expansion goals, the company has also announced the formation of a national sales team, led by John McKenna, the company's new Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. McKenna brings to Expedient nearly 25 years of experience in technology and cloud computing leadership roles. In this newly created position, McKenna is responsible for expanding Expedient's footprint into several new key markets. The promotions and new hire continue Expedient's 2019 momentum, which thus far has seen the company be named VMware's Americas Cloud Partner of the Year, as well as receive recognition on numerous CRN lists, including the Managed Services Provider 500 and the Tech Elite 250. "More so than any time I've seen previously in my 20-plus year career with the company, Expedient is positioned for explosive growth," said Shawn McGorry, President. "We're riding an incredible wave of momentum, with accolades from leading vendor partners like VMware and Zerto and validation of our solutions from analysts and industry pundits alike. I'm thrilled to be promoting Jon Rosenson and John White, who have devoted so much of their careers to this organization's growth and success, and I'm excited to see what they will accomplish in their roles." About Expedient Expedient helps companies transform their IT operations through award-winning cloud solutions and managed services including disaster recovery, security and compliance, and more. Named VMware's Americas Cloud Partner of the Year and acknowledged in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service, Expedient's solutions and services ease clients' transition to the cloud, enabling them to focus on strategic business innovation while the Expedient team handles operation of the information technology needed to support it. In addition to its headquarters and data centers in Pittsburgh, PA, Expedient operates data center facilities in six additional cities, including Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH; Indianapolis, IN and Memphis, TN. The company's hybrid cloud infrastructure is deployed wherever clients need it worldwide. Expedient data centers are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Service Organization Control (SOC) reports are published annually for all locations. Learn more at expedient.com. SOURCE Expedient Related Links http://www.expedient.com LONDON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) is pleased to announce its subsidiary, Fineqia Investments Limited, ("Fineqia Investments") has taken an equity stake in Wave Financial Group, LLC ("Wave"). Based in Los Angeles, Wave undertakes early-stage investment, asset management, treasury management and strategy consulting to enhance the adoption of blockchain technologies worldwide. The investment gives Fineqia a stake in a team with significant knowledge, expertise and a worldwide network. Wave draws on the experience and discipline of early-stage investing of its CEO and founder David Siemer, who previously co-founded Wavemaker Partners ("Wavemaker") that has nearly 15 years of investment and operating history. Wavemaker includes seven funds with Assets Under Management of $300 million and investments in more than 300 companies in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. David also founded Siemer & Associates LLC., a technology focused investment bank, which he sold to CEC Capital in 2016. "We look forward to working with Fineqia to gain access to non-correlated, high-quality debt opportunities and continue growing our partnership as they continue to push the envelope around issuing Digital Asset backed bonds," shared David Siemer, CEO. The transaction follows Fineqia Investments' earlier financings in blockchain insurance company, Black Insurance; blockchain-based asset registration and clearing solution, Nivaura Ltd; and premium finance Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider, PremFina Limited. Additionally, Fineqia has equity holding in Phunware Inc., a fully integrated enterprise cloud platform for mobile that provides products and services for brands worldwide. "Wave's network and knowledge of both start-ups and corporates pursuing blockchain and crypto strategies is a huge asset for Fineqia," said Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO of Fineqia. "It fits in with our core business of placing debt and equity securities including those backed by crypto assets, soon to be tested within the UK regulator's sandbox program." Fineqia's investment in Wave is in line with its strategy to invest in blockchain related companies that support its business model. Fineqia's investment sum represents less than 5% of its market capitalisation. ABOUT FINEQIA INTERNATIONAL INC. Fineqia International Inc. is a listed entity in Canada (CSE: FNQ), the US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia International outlines the Company's corporate governance, culture, processes and relations by which the Company and its subsidiaries are controlled, directed and governed. It oversees and ensures the overall success, planning and growth of the Company and all of its subsidiaries and investments, including those propagating blockchain technologies. For more information visit: https://investors.fineqia.com/news. ABOUT FINEQIA INVESTMENTS LTD Fineqia Investments Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fineqia International set up to hold the Company's growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide. About Wave Financial Group Wave Financial is a leading diversified digital asset management company, offering early-stage investment, treasury management and asset management strategies & indices to further the growth of the digital asset ecosystem. Led by CEO, David Siemer and President & Managing Partner, Benjamin Tsai, the Wave Financial team is pioneering the bridge between traditional asset management within a new paradigm of digital assets. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (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 failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Contact: Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO, [email protected], Tel: +1 778 654 2324 SOURCE Fineqia International Inc. Related Links https://www.fineqia.com JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In commemoration of the 20th annual International Firefighters' Day on May 4, the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation announced more than $1.4 million donated to firefighters across the country during second quarter grant allocations. Since its inception in 2005, the Foundation has awarded 3,831 grants to public safety organizations from coast-to-coast, Canada and Puerto Rico. Total giving now surpasses $42 million, and with each quarter the nonprofit exponentially broadens its footprint, impacting the lifesaving capabilities and the lives of local heroes and the communities they serve. "The job of a firefighter is one of dedication, commitment and sacrifice," said Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation Executive Director Robin Peters. "These brave men and women put their lives on the line to protect communities every day. The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation is committed to doing our part in honoring the critical service provided by first responders, ensuring they are equipped with the best tools possible to safely and effectively perform their job." Each of the grants awarded to fire departments, rescues, districts, and companies is the answer to a specific need faced by each organization. Some address the growing need for natural disaster preparedness, like the grant awarded to Paradise Emergency Services in Kingsley, Michigan to fund the purchase of wildfire bunker gear, and the grant awarded to the City of Port Richey Fire Department in Port Richey, Florida to fund the purchase of a rescue boat and accessories. The boat will be the only one of its kind in the county, enabling firefighters to provide proper fire suppression and flooding response to the city. Other grant awards replace basic protection and tools that are in use past recommended guidelines due to lack of available funding, such as extrication equipment and fire hoses. The Foundation awarded more than $2.2 million worth of lifesaving equipment grants in the second quarter and many of them, including grants awarded to police departments, schools and emergency medical services will be celebrated at local events across the country, where members of the community can witness firsthand how their donations come full circle. While the Foundation works to serve first responders every day, International Firefighters' Day provides a particularly impactful moment of recognition. Firehouse Subs and Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation Founders Chris Sorensen and Robin Sorensen are former firefighters themselves, and public safety is one of the pillars upon which the Firehouse Subs brand was built. For this reason, with every sub served at Firehouse Subs, a portion of the purchase is donated to the Foundation through the Firehouse of America (FOA) Charitable Sales Promotion. The Foundation is also able to continue its mission of supporting local heroes through generous donors; in-restaurant fundraising; $2 pickle bucket donations; spare change canisters; and the Round Up Program, which allows guests to "round up" their bill to the nearest dollar. To donate online and support Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, visit FirehouseSubsFoundation.org. ABOUT FIREHOUSE SUBS PUBLIC SAFETY FOUNDATION Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation was founded in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Firehouse Subs Founders Chris Sorensen and Robin Sorensen traveled to Mississippi where they provided food to first responders and survivors. As they returned home, they knew they could do more and Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation was born, with the mission of providing funding, lifesaving equipment and educational opportunities to first responders and public safety organizations. Since its inception, the non-profit organization has granted more than $42 million to hometown heroes in 49 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. Connect: Facebook: Facebook.com/FirehouseSubsFoundation Twitter: @savinglives Website: www.firehousesubsfoundation.org FOR MORE MEDIA INFORMATION GREER HACKETT / TORI ANDREWS THE ZIMMERMAN AGENCY (850) 668-2222 [email protected] SOURCE Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation Related Links http://www.firehousesubsfoundation.org "Bringing Quick Fuel on the CFN network is part of our eastward expansion. We are building ground-up cardlocks as well as looking for opportunities to purchase existing sites east of the Rockies to fill out coverage across the country," said Kris Kanak, Director of Automated Fueling for Flyers Energy. Flyers Energy purchased Quick Fuel Automated Fueling from Jacobus Energy in 2018. "The Quick Fuel site network is a tremendous strategic fit for CFN," said Al Norris, CFN Vice President. "The addition of the Quick Fuel sites to the CFN network strengthens our presence in the Mid-Continent and Midwest regions of the U.S. and sets us up for future growth opportunities. Our cardholders will gain access to 49 premier facilities, with state-of-the-art fueling equipment all located along major commercial corridors." In conjunction with the site conversion, Quick Fuel Advantage cardholders will be upgraded to the new Quick Fuel Advantage CFN card which offers a full array of purchase controls and security features, helping fleets control their total fuel expense. About Quick Fuel Quick Fuel is a standalone cardlock network in 15 states with fueling locations in major transit markets including Atlanta, Dallas, Indianapolis, Detroit, Charlotte, Kansas City, Tampa, and Milwaukee. In addition to the CFN card, the sites currently accept all major fuel network cards and credit cards. About Flyers Energy Flyers Energy, LLC operations include transportation, commercial fueling, distribution of Mobil lubricants, supply of wholesale and branded fuel, and generation of renewable fuels and power in the United States. Flyers is the largest participant on the CFN network. About the Commercial Fueling Network (CFN) The Commercial Fueling Network (CFN), a FLEETCOR company, is a preeminent leader in commercial cardlock fueling with over 2,500 branded locations in the U.S. and Canada. Through a CFN affiliation, petroleum marketers can offer commercial fleets an integrated fuel card that provides industry leading purchase controls and access to CFN cardlock facilities, in addition to truck stop and retail locations via FLEETCOR's Fuelman network. To learn more about CFN, visit www.cfnfleetwide.com. SOURCE Flyers Energy, LLC Related Links http://www.4flyers.com FOURMIDABLE was awarded the management contracts for Collingwood Green Phases I, II and III in Toledo, Ohio. Collingwood Green Phase I is a senior community consisting of 65 one and two bedroom apartments of which 33 units will be public housing. Collingwood Green Phase II is a 68-unit family community consisting of two and three bedroom townhomes, of which 34 units will be public housing. The newly constructed housing developments are mixed-finance and mixed-income communities which are being developed using Capital Funds received by the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority. Phase III, a 55-unit townhouse family development that is a continuation of Phase II, began construction in November 2018 and is expected to be completed in December 2019. "FOURMIDABLE is proud to have been selected as the Management Agent for Collingwood Green. We are especially excited to be working with the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Commission to fulfill our mutual goal of providing quality housing to the residents of Collingwood Green," said Michael Schocker, President of FOURMIDABLE. FOURMIDABLE was also awarded the management contract for Ashland Manor in Toledo, Ohio, a Section 8 community consisting of 189 units. Ashland Manor offers many amenities to their residents, including an on-site Service Coordinator, security service and ample common areas and amenities. The new owner plans to enhance the community's curb-appeal through landscape improvements and will also concentrate on hallway improvements and enhancements. Ashland Manor was purchased by Lucas Urban Holdings, LLC, a new client of FOURMIDABLE. "We could not be more pleased to add the Ashland Manor property to our portfolio, along with our newest partner in Lucas Urban Holdings," added Mr. Schocker. FOURMIDABLE currently manages nine apartment communities in Ohio consisting of over 960 units. About FOURMIDABLE FOURMIDABLE is a national real estate management and brokerage company that specializes in managing, marketing and leasing market rate, tax credit, senior and family government assisted, public housing and rural development apartment communities. Founded in 1975, FOURMIDABLE currently manages 90 communities in 14 states, with approximately 8,800 units under management. FOURMIDABLE is a member of the elite AMO (Accredited Management Organization) and is an approved management firm for HUD, MSHDA and other State Agencies. Additionally, FOURMIDABLE affiliated companies offer support for property management companies and owners, including agility-pm, a provider of back office accounting, HR, IT and compliance support; eCrosstown, a provider of free Wi-Fi amenity services to apartment residents; and ePhonz, a specialized telephone product for apartment management companies. For more information, please call 248-593-4603 or visit www.fourmidable.com CONTACT: Michael Schocker, President 248-593-4634 Sue Voyles, Logos Communications 734-667-2005 SOURCE FOURMIDABLE Related Links http://www.fourmidable.com REHOVOT, Israel, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GetSAT, a leading manufacturer of portable extremely efficient terminals that offer high data-rate communications for ground, air and maritime applications, and Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, have today announced that Inmarsat has type approved GetSAT's MilliSAT-H-GX and MilliSAT-W-GX for use on its Global Xpress service. GetSAT Global Xpress Terminals (PRNewsfoto/Inmarsat,GetSAT) These new terminals are the lightest and most compact all-in-one, on-the-move solutions serving the Global Xpress network, the world's first and only globally available, high-throughput wideband network. Leveraging GetSAT's highly efficient, patented InterFLAT miniaturized flat panel antenna technologies, MilliSAT-H-GX and MilliSAT-W-GX are the first communications-on-the-move terminals for ground vehicles using the worldwide Global Xpress network. These ruggedized terminals have been proven to operate in some of the toughest environmental conditions. Their combination of size, weight, and fast-tracking technology allows for operation on land-mobile and maritime platforms with aggressive vehicle dynamics. Size and weight limitations have traditionally been a challenging requirement for land-mobile SATCOM applications. The size and weight of the MiliSAT-H-GX and MilliSAT-W-GX make them well suited for widespread adoption in the land mobile market. MilliSAT-H-GX's 25x27cm flat panel antenna fits inside a 40cm radome allowing easy installation. Additionally, the terminals' low power consumption allows for battery operation, adding greatly to their flexibility. With industry leading SWaP (Size, Weight and Power), the units set a new standard for small, Inmarsat type-approved for SATCOM terminals used with Global Xpress. "GetSAT is pushing the innovation envelope in creating and constantly delivering the industry's most miniaturized terminals for airborne, ground and maritime on-the-move applications," said GetSAT CEO, Kfir Benjamin. "Our mission to craft micronized technologies to support a small flat panel enables our team to consistently find new ways to successfully reduce terminal size while maintaining strength and power. Our MilliSAT-H-GX and MilliSAT-W-GX terminals were developed to meet Inmarsat's exacting standards and provide users with ease of use." "Designed for worldwide mobility, Global Xpress has drawn a significant number of commercial and government customers due to its unique reliability, ease of use, and seamless interoperability with military satellite resources. With the Inmarsat type approval of GetSAT's terminals, ground and maritime on the move users have access to a very compact terminal to support their critical connectivity requirements," said Steve Gizinski, Chief Technology Officer, Inmarsat Government. About GetSAT A privately held company located in Rehovot, Israel, GetSAT Communications provides portable and extremely efficient antenna and terminals that offer high-data-rate communications for ground, air, and maritime applications. GetSAT provides services for government and military use, enterprises, first responders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian groups. For more information, visit www.getsat.com. About Inmarsat Inmarsat is the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications. It owns and operates the world's best global portfolio of satellite networks, specifically designed for customer mobility, and holds a multi-layered, global spectrum portfolio, covering L-band, Ka-band and S-band, enabling unparalleled breadth and diversity in the solutions it provides. Inmarsat's long-established global distribution network includes not only the world's leading channel partners but also its own strong direct retail capabilities, enabling end to end customer service assurance. The company has an unrivalled track record of operating the world's most reliable global mobile satellite networks, sustaining business and mission critical safety & operational applications for almost 40 years. It is also a major driving force behind technological innovation in mobile satellite communications, sustaining its leadership through a substantial investment and a powerful network of technology and manufacturing partners. Inmarsat operates across a diversified portfolio of sectors with the financial resources to fund its business strategy and holds leading positions in the Maritime, Government and Aviation satcoms markets, operating consistently as a trusted, responsive and high-quality partner to its customers across the globe. For further information, visit Inmarsat.com or follow us on LinkedIn or on Twitter @InmarsatGlobal. Press Contacts: GetSAT Josh Shuman, S&A Communications +972-54-498-5833 [email protected] Ayala Pinhasi +972-76-5300-700 #122 +1-571-501-5150 [email protected] Inmarsat Jonathan Sinnatt, Director of Corporate Communications +44(0)20-7728-1935 [email protected] SOURCE GetSAT; Inmarsat Related Links http://www.getsat.com DUBLIN, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global and China Automotive Night Vision System Industry Report, 2019-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. For the automotive sector, the night vision system is of little value and seems like chicken ribs - tasteless when eaten but a pity to throw away. In function, the night vision system is a special solution for automobiles now that it enables a vehicle to see an object more than 300m ahead at night (compared with a mere 80m offered by headlamps) and gives driver more time to react, ensuring safer driving. ADAS and other technologies (like LiDAR and ordinary optical camera), however, play a part in night driving safety as well. And the stubbornly high price justifies the sluggish demand for night vision systems such as infrared night vision system. According to the statistics, night vision system was a standard configuration for 58 of vehicle models available on the Chinese market in March 2019, just less than in 2015, of which 18 were Savana (caravans). Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are less enthusiastic about the technology, and just equip it to their luxury models each priced above RMB1 million (a combined 67% of models carrying the system). In the meantime, the insiders hold such different views on night vision system as follows: Negative It's not something that's really necessary because optical cameras actually do pretty well at night and you have a radar system as a backup that is not affected by light, said Dan Galves , a senior vice president at Intel Corporation's Mobileye. , a senior vice president at Intel Corporation's Mobileye. Bosch argues that technical advances bring about the decreasing demand for the night vision system. One reason is that ordinary camera alone can work outstandingly at night with the maturity of image sensing technology. Also, the progress in technologies for automotive lighting, like an LED headlamp, offers a horizon as long as 100- 200m . So Bosch has shifted its attention away from night vision solution. Positive: Tim LeBeau , the vice president of Seek Thermal, thinks that the current optical radar for autonomous cars cannot detect the heat of an object to ensure whether it is a creature or not, and that the cost of thermal sensors is slashed by about 20 percent a year as they get widely used. People who detest high beam agree that headlamps delivering 200m beam will interfere with other drivers' sight, and the solution combining low beam and passive night vision (infrared thermal image) system is the best choice. Still, some vendors are sparing no efforts in making the technology more feasible for automotive application. Examples include Veoneer whose third-generation night vision system capable of detecting both pedestrians and animals is integrated with rotary LED headlamps which will automatically turn to the front object detected by the system; and Adasky's Viper system that can classify the obstacles through convolutional neural network-based unique algorithms and display them on the cockpit screen to remind the driver. Vendors will also work on laser-based night vision, low-light-level night vision, bionic night vision and head-up display (HUD) as well as headlamp fusion. In brief, as long as the price comes down to an affordable level, the chicken ribs will become a delicious homely dish. Global and China Automotive Night Vision System Industry Report, 2019-2025 highlights the following: Automotive night vision system (definition and classification, technical features, development trends, etc.); Global night vision system industry (market size and competitive pattern); China night vision system industry (market size and competitive pattern); night vision system industry (market size and competitive pattern); Night vision system installation of some global and Chinese OEMs (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, etc.); 10 global automotive night vision system suppliers (operation, turbocharger business, etc.); 11 key Chinese automotive night vision system suppliers (operation, turbocharger business, research and development, development strategy, etc.). Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction to Automotive Night Vision System 1.1 Product Definition 1.2 Product Structure 1.3 Technical Solution and Cost 1.4 Development Trend 2 Global Automotive Night Vision System Market 2.1 Market Size 2.2 Competitive Landscape 3. China Automotive Night Vision System Market 3.1 Market Size 3.2 Product Price 3.3 Company Layout 4. Assembling Conditions of OEMs 4.1 Overall 4.2 Product Features of Major Enterprises 4.2.1 BMW 4.2.2 Mercedes-Benz 4.2.3 Audi 4.2.4 GM 4.2.5 Rolls-Royce 4.2.6 VW 4.3 Assembling Conditions in China 4.3.1 Characteristics of Brand 4.3.2 Characteristics of Price 5 Industry Chain 5.1 Downstream - ADAS 5.1.1 Definition & Classification 5.1.2 Market Size 5.1.3 In-vehicle Camera 5.1.4 Sensor 5.2 Upstream - Thermal Infrared Imager 5.2.1 Product Structure 5.2.2 Cost Structure 5.2.3 Market Size 5.2.4 Competition Pattern 6 Global Enterprises 6.1 Veoneer 6.1.1 Profile 6.1.2 Operation 6.1.3 Revenue Structure 6.1.4 Customers 6.1.5 Night Vision Systems 6.2 Aptiv 6.2.1 Profile 6.2.2 Operation 6.2.3 Revenue Structure 6.2.4 Night Vision Systems 6.3 Bosch 6.3.1 Profile 6.3.2 Operation 6.3.3 Revenue Structure 6.3.4 Night Vision Systems 6.4 Continental 6.4.1 Profile 6.4.2 Operation 6.4.3 Revenue Structure 6.4.4 Night Vision Systems 6.5 Valeo 6.5.1 Profile 6.5.2 Operation 6.5.3 Revenue Structure 6.5.4 Night Vision Systems 6.5.5 Partners 6.6 FLIR 6.6.1 Profile 6.6.2 Operation 6.6.3 Revenue Structure 6.6.4 Night Vision Systems 6.6.5 Future Strategy 6.7 AdaSky 6.7.1 Profile 6.7.2 Night Vision Systems 6.8 OmniVision 6.8.1 Profile 6.8.2 Operation 6.8.3 R&D 6.8.4 Customers 6.8.5 Night Vision Systems 6.9 Ophir 6.9.1 Profile 6.9.2 Night Vision Systems 6.10 Orlaco 6.10.1 Profile 6.10.2 Night Vision Systems 7 Chinese Enterprises 7.1 Wuhan Guide Infrared Co., Ltd 7.1.1 Profile 7.1.2 Operation 7.1.3 Revenue Structure 7.1.4 Production & Sales 7.1.5 R&D 7.1.6 Night Vision Systems 7.2 Jiangsu Kinzo Opto-electronic Instrument Co., Ltd. 7.2.1 Profile 7.2.2 Operation 7.2.3 Night Vision Systems 7.3 Jiangsu Protruly Vision Technology Group Co., Ltd. 7.3.1 Profile 7.3.2 Operation 7.3.3 Automotive Night Vision Products 7.4 Guangzhou SAT Infrared Technology Co., Ltd. 7.4.1 Profile 7.4.2 Automotive Night Vision Products 7.5 North Night-Vision Science & Technology Group Co., Ltd. 7.5.1 Profile 7.5.2 Automotive Infrared Camera Products 7.5.3 North GuangWei Technology 7.6 Hubei Jiuzhiyang Infrared System Co., Ltd 7.6.1 Profile 7.6.2 Revenue & Profit 7.6.3 Automotive Infrared Camera Products 7.7 Yuxunion 7.7.1 Profile 7.7.2 Automotive Night Vision Products 7.8 Xinxing Guangdian (XXGD) 7.8.1 Profile 7.8.2 Automotive Night Vision Products 7.9 IRay Technology 7.9.1 Profile 7.9.2 Automotive Night Vision Products 7.10 Suzhou INVO Automotive Electronics 7.10.1 Profile 7.10.2 Operation 7.10.3 Automotive Night Vision Products 7.11 Maxieye 7.11.1 Profile 7.11.2 Major Products For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/n7nwuk 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 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com DUBLIN, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Wood Coatings: Technologies and Application Markets" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Global markets for wood coating technologies and applications analyses market trends with data from 2017 and 2018, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023. It takes a look at the increased demand for wood coatings driven by customers' expectations in diverse areas such as performance, ease of application, sustainability, quality, functionality and environmental properties. Characterization and quantification of market potential for wood coating technologies by product type, application area, end-use industry, and major geographical regions. Hardwoods are used to manufacture furniture, and softwoods are used to manufacture stud partitions, external fences, doors and roof traces. Both hardwoods and softwoods can be used for wooden floorings. Hardwoods are more expensive than softwoods. Both wood types have differentiated features and beauty. Wood grains also differ by wood type. Every wooden structure is coated with transparent or stain coatings to enhance the color and grains of the timber. Coatings are therefore essential and are used according to the applications of those structures by their manufacturers. The coating also enhances a product's life. Ultraviolet (UV)-retardant and moisture-resistant coatings are the most demanding features of wood coating solutions. Varnishes, shellacs, preservatives, dyes, repellents and lacquers are the most common types of products used for coating wooden surfaces. Distinguishing features and durability are driving the demand for such products. Various coating techniques, such as conventional spray, high-volume low-pressure (HVLP) spray, airless spray and electrostatic spray, are the prevailing spraying solutions used by wood product manufacturers. The demand for other wood surface coating techniques (e.g., rollers, brush, vacuum, curtain) is further expected to rise with the increase in demand for wood products. Differentiated coating techniques are applied based on the size, shape and complexity of the product surface. The types of coating products to be applied depends on the exposure of the surface. Interior or exterior applications of wood products determine the types of the coat to be applied. The demand for wood coating solutions is directly related to the demand for wood products, as those coating solutions have been developed for application solely on wooden surfaces. The rise in demand for household and commercial buildings is expected to create a demand for wood products, including furniture, cabinets, flooring and decking, which in turn is expected to drive the global wood coating technology market during the forecast period. The demand for cargo ships is expected to rise due to the reduction of trade barriers and the latest global trade policies. The demand for passenger and cruise ships is further expected to rise due to the increasing amount of disposable income among the global population, which is expected to drive tourists to pursue royal travelling experiences. The increased demand for cargo and passenger ships will lead to the increased demand for wood for manufacturing and decorating ship interiors, which will surge wood coating applications among ship manufacturers. Moisture-resistant and UV-retardant wood coats are expected to be in great demand among the ship manufacturers due to ships' exposure to water and sunlight. The demand for wood coats for exterior fencing is also expected to increase during the forecast period, as wood fencing adds a superior appearance to a building or premises. Maintenance of antique wood structures and the process of coating several newly designed handcrafts are factors expected to drive the wood coating technology market during the forecast period. Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications is also provided with details covering new developments taking place in the industry with respect to continuous improvements in environmental performance and patent review and new developments for wood coating technologies. Company profiles of key market players are provided, including Arkema S.A., Asian Paints Ltd., BASF SE, Kansai Paint Co., Ltd., PPG Industries Inc., and Sherwin-Williams Company Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Summary and Highlights Chapter 3 Market and Technology Background Market Definition and the Evolution of Wood Coating Value Chain Future Outlook and Expectations Market Dynamics Drivers Restraints Quotes by Key Opinion Leaders Chapter 4 Market Breakdown by Type Introduction Varnishes Varnishes by Types Shellacs Preservatives or Dyes Repellent Lacquers Stains Others Chapter 5 Market Breakdown by Technology Introduction Spraying Conventional Spray High-Volume Low-Pressure Electrostatic Airless Spraying Non-Spray Coatings Rollers Brushes Vacuums Curtaining Chapter 6 Market Breakdown by Application Introduction Flooring and Decking Sports Equipment Automotive Interior Ship Interiors Exterior Fencing Handcrafts Furniture Cabinets Other Products Chapter 7 Market Breakdown by Region Introduction North America Europe Asia-Pacific Rest of the World Chapter 8 Analysis of Market Opportunities Large Untapped Opportunity in the Developing Countries Growing Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific Region Technological Advancements Market Share Analysis Chapter 9 Patent Review and New Developments Patent Review by Country Chapter 10 Company Profiles and Potential Buyers Akzonobel N.V. Arkema S.A. Ashland Inc. Asian Paints Ltd. Axalta Coating System Llc BASF SE Carpoly Chemical Group Co. Ltd. Diamond Vogel Eco Chemical Frimpeks Hempel A/S ICA Group Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. Koninklijke Dsm N.V. Liquiguard Milesi Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. Pidilite PPG Industries Inc. Premium Coatings And Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. RPM International Inc. Sanan Sansin Corp. Sherwin-Williams Company Sikkens Teknos Valspar Corp. Van Technologies Willamette Valley For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1z562i 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 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As the 2019 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo approaches, extra virgin olive oil the "liquid gold" of the industry is once again at the forefront of many conversations. Dr. Francesco Paolo Fanizzi, of the University of Salento, Italy, will be discussing his ground-breaking method for preserving the integrity of extra virgin olive oil through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analysis, a methodology that involves the use of specialized technology to observe materials at the molecular level in order to gain insight into their composition. Fanizzi has worked diligently on the development of this technique for several years. His team has focused their efforts on the use of NMR technology to review and catalogue samples of extra virgin olive oil provided by Certified Origins, the industry leader in the provision of traceable EVOO. The results of this extensive olive oil research and analysis have been compiled into the world's largest database of control samples, which can be leveraged by future researchers to verify the authenticity (or lack thereof) of extra virgin olive oil. Because NMR technology allows researchers to examine EVOO on the molecular level, it reveals detailed information regarding both environmental and genetic factors. This makes it valuable to those hoping to verify the authenticity and quality of their EVOO, as well as indicating potential for verification and certification of geographical origin. As quoted in a recent article by the Olive Oil Times, Dr. Fanizzi summarized the result of his efforts by saying, "at the moment, we can easily put a fence around a specific EVOO to buttress with a database the label-declared geographical area of production. We have several ongoing collaborations with companies, such as Certified Origins, aimed at this goal." Dr. Fanizzi's presentation, titled "Putting a Gate Around High Quality EVOO by 1 H NMR Profiling Databases," will be held at the 2019 AOCS Annual Meeting on Saturday May 4th, at 10am. The applications of this technology for supply chain security and authentication are promising, and significant attendance is expected. Known for its extensive technical program, the AOCS Annual Meeting provides ample opportunity for attendees to connect with colleagues, clients, and exhibitors and hear a wide array of informative presentations such as Dr. Fanizzi's. For more than 100 years, AOCS has promoted the science and technology of lipids in the fats and oils industry through analytical methods, proficiency testing, peer-reviewed technical publishing, and in providing venues for technical discussions and educational opportunities. Over 1500 professionals from more than 40 countries, including representatives of the industry's most prestigious government, corporate, and academic institutions, are expected to attend the three-day conference from May 4th-8th at America's Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, Missouri. For more details on this event, please visit the AOCS site or review Dr. Fanizzi's published works here. Contact: Susan Testa, Director Corporate Branding & Culinary Innovation, Certified Origins, Inc. [email protected] SOURCE Certified Origins, Inc. CHESTER, N.J., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering has opened a new location, offering Texas-style smoked BBQ catering for corporate and private events, weddings and all-occasion parties. The company has packages available for full-service catering, a la carte, and customized orders. They feature brisket, pork, chicken and ribs with homemade cornbread, as well as a wide selection of sides like three cheese mac and cheese and BBQ baked beans. They also have desserts like brown butter cake with bourbon pecan sauce. Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering "We are pleased to announce the launch of Hickory Sticks BBQ in New Jersey," says Ken Torchia, CEO of Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering. Hickory Sticks BBQ is smoked over hickory wood. Originating in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the company developed the Hickory Sticks brand over many years in the restaurant and catering business. They won first place in the Seminole Casino Blues, Brews & BBQ and Best BBQ winner at the Broward & Palm Beach New Times. President of Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering Frank Maschio says, "We are excited to bring Texas-style BBQ to the tri-state area. We are also looking forward to serving Pennsylvania. As our slogan says, 'We Bring the 'Cue to You.'" Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering will also offer the option to have the Hickory Sticks Smoker at big events for an added charge. For those looking to check out the company, they will be at the Beer BBQ Bacon Showdown on May 18 in Morristown, New Jersey. Attendance at additional festivals this spring and summer is also planned. For more information and to see the full menu and catering packages, visit HickorySticksBBQ.com. About Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering is based in Chester, New Jersey, and is a premier catering company for corporate events, weddings and all occasion parties. The company's BBQ is smoked over hickory wood. For more information, visit HickorySticksBBQ.com. Media Contact: Sharon Tepper, Marketing Director Phone: (973) 657-8425 Email: [email protected] Related Images smoke-meat-assortment-with-sides.jpg Smoke Meat Assortment with Sides smoked-brisket-and-sausage-sliders.jpg Smoked Brisket and Sausage Sliders smoker-with-ribs.jpg Smoker with Ribs smoked-brisket.jpg Smoked Brisket SOURCE Hickory Sticks BBQ & Catering ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent Supreme Court ruling clarifies that a party bringing a class action claim cannot compel arbitration if an arbitration agreement lacks specific language, according to Leslie Machado, an Alexandria-based partner in national law firm LeClairRyan. If the agreement is ambiguous on whether the parties agreed that claims could proceed on a class-wide basis, no such arbitration can be ordered, he added. Leslie Machado "In Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela. (No. 17-988) employee Frank Varela filed a putative class action after his tax information, and the tax information of other employees, was compromised," Machado writes in a recent blog, Trend of Pro-Employer Arbitration SCOTUS Decisions on Class-Actions Continues with Lamps Plus. "Lamps Plus moved to compel arbitration on an individual rather than class-wide basis, and to dismiss the lawsuit. Both the California District Court and the Ninth Circuit held that arbitration could proceed on a class-wide basis." But at the Supreme Court, Lamps Plus continued to argue that because it had not clearly and affirmatively agreed to class-wide arbitration in its arbitration agreements such arbitration could not be compelled. Plaintiff Varela countered that the lower courts were correct because the agreement was ambiguous on whether class-wide arbitration was allowed. Building upon its decision in Stolt-Nielsen S. A. v. AnimalFeeds Int'l Corp., 559 U. S. 662 (2010) where the Court held that a court may not compel arbitration on a class-wide basis when an agreement is "silent" on the availability of such arbitration the majority concluded that "Like silence, ambiguity does not provide a sufficient basis to conclude that parties to an arbitration agreement agreed to sacrifice the principal advantage of arbitration." The decision continues a trend of pro-employer class-action arbitration decisions issues, including American Exp. Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, where the Court held the Federal Arbitration Act does not permit courts to invalidate a contractual waiver of class arbitration on the ground that the plaintiff's cost of individually arbitrating a federal statutory claim exceeds the potential recovery; AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, where the Court held the FAA prohibits states from conditioning the enforceability of certain arbitration agreements on the availability of class-wide arbitration procedures; and Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, where the Court held that arbitration agreements providing for individualized proceedings must be enforced. The latest decision "is a win for employers, who will not be forced into class-wide arbitration unless they have clearly and explicitly agreed to proceed in that manner," Machado concludes. But he cautions that it is also "a good reminder of the need to make sure arbitration agreements and clauses are drafted as clearly as possible." The full column is available at: https://lrworkplacedefender.com/trend-of-pro-employer-arbitration-scotus-decisions-on-class-actions-continues-with-lamps-plus/#more-3035 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. Note to media: Leslie Machado is available as a resource for your coverage of this arbitration issue and a variety of other labor and employment law topics. Press Contacts: At Parness & Associates Public Relations, Bill Parness, (732) 290-0121, [email protected] or Lisa Kreda, [email protected] SOURCE LeClairRyan Related Links https://www.leclairryan.com WAKEFIELD, Mass., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vestmark announces that Nick Thurlow has joined the company as Chief People Officer. He is responsible for human resources strategy and services, and will lead all talent management, employee engagement, total rewards, and organizational development programs. "Nick will serve a key role in nurturing and strengthening our culture in support of our business objectives," said John Lunny, Chief Executive Officer of Vestmark. "His expertise will be invaluable for helping ensure our team and organization remain well-positioned to meet our goals as we continue to grow." Prior to joining Vestmark, Mr. Thurlow worked for five years as Vice President of Human Resources and Public Affairs at InterGen Services, Inc., a global energy company, where he oversaw leadership and organizational development, talent management, employee engagement, workforce planning, HR information systems, total rewards, and internal and external communications. Earlier in his career, he spent 15 years at Comverse, Inc. in roles of increasing responsibility, ultimately as Vice President of Human Resources. He also held various roles managing human resources for Boston Technology and Cabletron Systems. "Vestmark has a well-earned reputation as a 'best place to work,' and I look forward to working alongside the executive team to maintain and enhance the people-focused culture at the heart of the organization," said Nick Thurlow, Chief People Officer at Vestmark. "Individual and team growth are prerequisites for organizational growth, and it is vital for Vestmark's driven and passionate professionals to have a dynamic, collaborative, and creative environment where they can advance along with the company as a whole." In July 2018, Vestmark received the No. 1 ranking in the large business category in the Boston Business Journal's "Best Places to Work" awards program. This was the third time Vestmark was included as an honoree in the publication's "Best Places to Work" awards program, and the first time it was recognized in the large business category. Mr. Thurlow received his MBA from Boston College's Wallace E. Carroll Graduate School of Management and graduated from Hartwick College with a BA in Management, Economics, and Sociology. About Vestmark: Vestmark enables financial institutions and advisors to efficiently manage and trade their clients' portfolios through an innovative software as a service (SaaS) platform, VestmarkONE. Registered investment advisors (RIAs) and financial institutions can pick and choose from Vestmark's dynamic suite of portfolio and practice management tools and services to build customized solutions for meeting their business needs and improving investment outcomes for clients. Founded in 2001 and headquartered outside of Boston, Vestmark is a trusted partner to some of the largest and most respected players across the wealth management industry. More than $1.3 trillion in assets and 4 million accounts are currently managed on the VestmarkOne platform. For more information about Vestmark's solutions, call (781) 224-3640, email [email protected], or visit www.vestmark.com. Media Inquiries: JConnelly for Vestmark Laura Simpson (973) 850-7319 [email protected] SOURCE Vestmark Related Links http://www.vestmark.com NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE: HCFT) ("HCFT" or the "Company") announced today that it will host a conference call on Monday, May 13, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. EST to provide a business update and discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2019. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-877-870-4263 (US) or 1-412-317-0790 (International). Note: there is no passcode; please ask the operator to be joined into the Hunt Companies Finance Trust call. A live webcast, on a listen-only basis, is also available and can be accessed through the URL: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2022/30493 For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a recorded replay will be available for on-demand viewing approximately one hour after the end of the event through the Company's website https://huntcompaniesfinancetrust.com/ and by telephone dial-in. The replay call-in number is 1-877-344-7529 (US) or 1-412-317-0088 (International) or 855-669-9658 (Canada) with passcode 10131403. About Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. is a Maryland corporation focused on investing in, financing and managing transitional multifamily and other commercial real estate loans securitizations. Investors, security holders and other interested persons may find additional information regarding the Company at the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov/ or the Company website https://huntcompaniesfinancetrust.com/ or by directing requests to: Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc., 230 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10169, Attention: Investor Relations. Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. is externally managed and advised by Hunt Investment Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. For additional information regarding Hunt Investment Management, LLC, please see its form ADV and brochure (Part 2A of Form ADV) available at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements included in this press release, any related webcast / conference call and oral statements made by our representatives from time to time may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. You can identify forward-looking statements by use of words such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "project," "could," "plan," "goal," "potential," 'estimate," "pro forma," "seek," "continue," "intend" or "anticipate" or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: the return on equity; yield on investments; the ability to borrow to finance assets; and risks associated with investing in real estate assets, including changes in business conditions and the general economy. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into account all information currently available to us on the date of this press release or the date on which such statements are first made. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates and projections. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this press release, any related webcast / conference call and/or any oral statements made by our representatives and should consider carefully the factors described in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors" in our annual reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and other current and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), when evaluating these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond our control. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors are contained in our 2018 Form 10-K which is available on the SEC's Website at www.sec.gov. Except as required by applicable law, we disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The sunscreen industry is on the verge of an overhaul after the FDA's recent announcement calling for more research on chemical ingredients commonly-used in sunscreen formulas. With increasingly stricter regulations making a major impact and forcing brands and consumers alike to examine their products and the ingredients they contain, indie brand Love Sun Body continues to move forward in its mission to provide a safer sunscreen option. The first and only Ecocert-certified COSMOS Natural sunscreens available in the United States, Love Sun Body is 100% natural and exceeds the strictest ingredient, safety and manufacturing standards in the global market. It's formulated with completely plant-based ingredients as well as mineral filters Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide. Love Sun Body 100% Natural Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 and SPF 50 Before its proposal in February 2019, the FDA had not updated its stance on sunscreen safety in over 40 years. The details of the proposal note that of the 16 currently marketed active ingredients, only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are generally recognized as safe and effective. In addition, the state of Hawaii and Key West, Florida have passed bills banning the chemical ingredients oxybenzone and octinoxate, which contribute to the bleaching and death of coral reefs. Miami Beach has also proposed the ban, and other states are sure to follow. As awareness and demand for natural, mineral sunscreens grow, Love Sun Body announces retail expansion of its sunscreens at clean beauty retailers Beauty Habit, C.O. Bigelow, Follain, Pharmaca and The Detox Market. This comes less than one year after its launch at Birchbox, Credo, Neiman Marcus, Beauty Collection, Amazon and Dermstore. "We founded Love Sun Body with the mission to create truly effective, healthy and environmentally-friendly, natural mineral sunscreens as a safer alternative to chemical sunscreens. We've received incredible support from our retailers over the past year because they share this same vision," states founder and CEO, Dr. Terry Zickerman. "Consumers are becoming more aware of ingredients going into their bodies and the impact those ingredients are having on the environment. This has fueled our growth and opened up these new retail opportunities." Love Sun Body's formulas meet the significantly stricter European Commission's regulatory requirements regarding UVA protection, which require one-third of a sunscreen's SPF factor to protect against UVA rays. The US FDA does not have such requirements. The Environmental Working Group has also rated Love Sun Body sunscreens the best score of 1 for safety and efficacy. Love Sun Body just launched at Pharmaca, Follain, C.O. Bigelow, Beauty Habit and The Detox Market, and is available at Amazon, Beauty Collection, Birchbox, Credo, Dermstore and Neiman Marcus. About Love Sun Body Love Sun Body 100% Natural Origin Mineral Sunscreens are the first and only sunscreens in the U.S. certified by Ecocert Cosmos Natural and have been clinically tested hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic and are reef safe. Love Sun Body meets the regulatory requirements of the FDA OTC Monograph System and the European Commission's recommendation on UVA protection, and are made with the safest UVA and UVB filters -- non-nano zinc oxide, titanium dioxide (in the SPF 50) and plant-based moisturizers. They blend evenly, have a moisturizing matte finish, and are water resistant (80 minutes). Formulas are gentle enough for the face, without eye stinging ingredients. Available in 4 formulations: SPF 30 or 50, fragrance-free or lightly scented with tiare flower and vanilla. Price: $21.00 for 3.38 oz / 100 ml (TSA carry-on approved) | $32.00 for 6.76 oz / 200 ml SOURCE Love Sun Body VANCOUVER, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. (TSX: GQM,OTCQX: GQMNF) ("Golden Queen" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS"), a leading independent proxy advisory firm, has recommended that shareholders vote FOR the Transaction Resolution. The proxy circular mailed to shareholders in connection with the shareholder meeting includes a proposal to approve a special resolution for the sale of 100% of the shares of Golden Queen Mining Holdings Inc., which currently holds a 50% ownership interest in the Soledad Mountain Project, pursuant to the terms of an agreement dated February 7, 2019 between the Company and certain purchasers as described in the proxy circular (the "Transaction"). ISS an independent, third party, proxy advisory firm who, among other services, provides proxy voting recommendations to pension funds, investment managers, mutual funds and other institutional shareholders. ISS stated "A vote FOR the proposal is warranted, given the substantial doubt as to whether the company can continue as a going concern, the reported losses and negative cash flow from operations, and that the cash consideration from the transaction will provide immediate liquidity in the form of debt forgiveness, ownership cancellation, and cash worth approximately $37.2 million". We remind shareholders that the cut-off for voting is 10:00 a.m. (Pacific time) on May 9, 2019. HOW TO VOTE Registered shareholders (those who hold shares in their name and represented by a physical certificate or through the Direct Registration System) may vote by mail, internet, telephone or in person at the Annual General and Special Meeting. In the interest of time, shareholders are encouraged to vote via the internet or by telephone as follows: Internet: vote online at www.investorvote.com, using the control number located on your proxy (which you received in the mail) Telephone : Call 1-866-732-VOTE (8683) toll free Beneficial shareholders (those who hold shares through a bank, broker or other intermediary) will have different voting instructions provided to them and should follow the instructions found on their voting instruction form. Internet: vote online at www.proxyvote.com, using the control number located on your voting instruction form (which you received in the mail) Telephone : Call the number provided on your voting instruction form. Shareholders who have questions or have not received their proxy or voting instruction form may contact the Company's Proxy Solicitation Agent: Laurel Hill Advisory Group Toll free: 1-877-452-7184 or 416-304-0211 (Collect Outside North America) Email: [email protected] Shareholders are encouraged to review the Company's management information circular dated April 10, 2019 which provides details of the Meeting to be held at 2300- 1066 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC on May 13, 2019 at 10 a.m. (Pacific Time) A copy of the Circular and related documents have been mailed to the Company's shareholders. Copies of the Circular and relted documents can be obtained via SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or by contacting Laurel Hill Advisory Group toll-free at 1-877-452-7184 or at 416-304-0211 or by email at [email protected] Shareholder participation at this Meeting is very important and the Board encourages all shareholders to vote their proxy forms. About Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd.: Golden Queen is a gold and silver producer holding a 50% interest in an open pit, heap leach mining operation on the Soledad Mountain property, located just outside the town of Mojave in Kern County in southern California. The mine also produces aggregate rock. Caution with Respect to Forward-Looking Statements: Caution with Respect to Forward-Looking Statements: Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this press release includes certain "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "will", "will continue to", or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements include but are not limited to, statements related to expected production rates, ore output and grade results, plans and intentions with respect to activities on the Project, and the results of ongoing drilling supporting past resource estimates, the ability of the Company to consummate the Transaction on the terms of the Transaction agreement, the receipt of necessary approvals including shareholder, Toronto Stock Exchange, regulatory and other third party approvals. 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. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company as at the date of such information and 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 differ materially from statements in this press release regarding our intentions including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties disclosed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" contained in our proxy circular as well as in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, investors should not put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in the press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information that is contained or incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. SOURCE Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. Related Links www.goldenqueen.com DALLAS, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas-based education technology leader Istation has been approved as a K-3 early reading diagnostic assessment vendor for the Ohio Department of Education for the 2019-2020 academic year. Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Early Reading assessment is an online formative assessment designed to 1) identify children at risk of reading difficulties; 2) provide automatic continuous progress monitoring of skills that are predictors of later reading success; and 3) provide immediate and automatic linkage of data to student learning needs, which facilitate differentiated instruction. Ohio school districts will be able to use Istation's ISIP assessment, which addresses state standards in reading foundations, reading comprehension, language, and listening to ensure all students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade. The assessment tool supports Ohio's Third Grade Reading Guarantee, the state's program to identify students from kindergarten through grade three who are behind in reading. "We are proud to be named as a vendor to provide computerized reading assessments which are efficient and easy to administer for elementary school students in the state of Ohio," said Istation Chairman and CEO Richard H. Collins. "Istation's individualized assessment may be used as both a universal screening and a progress-monitoring tool, as it is predictive of future academic success." The ISIP assessment measures student growth with engaging, computer-adaptive diagnostic and screening programs, providing data so that teachers and students both know which specific skills need to improve and giving them a map of how to improve those skills. Because the program is computer-adaptive, it can measure skills across grade levels. With ISIP, an entire class can be assessed in 30 to 40 minutes. Following the assessment, the program immediately generates reports that educators can use to guide instruction and intervention. A pair of recent studies has shown that Istation's reading assessments accurately predict how students will perform on end-of-instruction tests. For more information, including the list of Ohio's approved assessments, visit http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/List-of-Approved-Assessments. About Istation Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation's leading providers of richly animated, game-like educational technology. Istation was named one of 2019's "EdTech 1000: Companies Transforming Education" by EdTech Digest and has received numerous national educational technology awards. The Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation's innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves more than 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries. The company celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018. Contact: Molly Bryan, [email protected], 214-292-4904 SOURCE Istation Related Links http://www.istation.com DALLAS, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs (NYSE:JEC) supported the first-ever successful salvo test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, involving two Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) against an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), conducted by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). This was the first test to implement the salvo doctrine of launching two interceptors against one target, proving the effectiveness of the overall system. This was a monumental milestone for the United States' critical homeland defense system designed to defend against intermediate and long-range ballistic missile threats. Working through the Integrated Research and Development for Enterprise Solutions (IRES) contract, Jacobs provided integrated solutions to support the test in all phases. From ICBM launch, to ground, sea and space-based sensors providing real-time target acquisition and tracking data, to operation of the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system, and finally target discrimination, GBI launch and intercept. "Jacobs provides leading-edge, solutions-driven innovation for our nation's defense," said Jacobs Aerospace, Technology and Nuclear Senior Vice President Steve Arnette. "We are proud to support this first-of-its-kind test and the MDA national defense mission with research and development; system level test and evaluation; operational testing; and other mission support services." Jacobs provides 24/7 support to the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center a key component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). The Jacobs team supports flight systems and ground systems testing; hardware-in-the-loop tests, execution and control; and classified and unclassified military simulations for the development of the BMDS. Jacobs also provides IT, cybersecurity and telecommunication solutions for the MDA's enterprise communications and information technology environment to help secure and protect our nation's most coveted assets. 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 fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein. For press/media inquiries: Kerrie Sparks 214.583.8433 Brian Morandi 720.286.0719 SOURCE Jacobs Related Links http://www.jacobs.com OAKLAND, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente has joined the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. This public-private partnership includes more than 100 health care, government, community, academic and other network organizations committed to working together to uncover and advance solutions to the opioid crisis. Kaiser Permanente has been actively addressing the opioid crisis using a comprehensive approach that encompasses clinician education and support, community protection, patient education and safety, and innovative tools. From 2011 to 2017, Kaiser Permanente has seen a 40% reduction in overall morphine milligram equivalents prescribed across its eight regions nationwide. "Kaiser Permanente's integrated model enables us to implement a broad range of best practices to address the opioid crisis," said Patrick Courneya, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals Quality at Kaiser Permanente. "Physicians, pharmacists, nurses, mental health and addiction medicine specialists all work together to deliver a coordinated and comprehensive approach to pain management, addiction and recovery." "It is incumbent on physicians to address the opioid crisis both in the rescue phase and in the prevention phase," said Imelda Dacones, MD, president and CEO of Northwest Permanente. The Permanente Medical Groups provide care for Kaiser Permanente members exclusively. "Permanente physicians and clinicians are committed to safe opioid prescribing and using non-opioid therapies, when appropriate, to serve and protect our patients and communities." Connected teams, supported by technology, coordinate across specialties and care sites to deliver on Kaiser Permanente's four-pronged approach to opioid safety. That approach includes physician education, community protection, patient safety and patient education. As part of its person-centered approach to care, Kaiser Permanente leverages telehealth, pain communication, physician leadership and innovation to support patients holistically. In its commitment statement, Kaiser Permanente has put forward several recommendations to help solve the opioid epidemic responsibly. Kaiser Permanente suggests clinicians: Avoid new patient dependence on opioids through safe and appropriate prescribing. Discuss risk versus benefits of opioids and the expectation of opioid therapy. Avoid polypharmacy with opioids. Help people on high doses of opioids to taper safely while offering support and a personalized care plan. Screen for the presence of risk factors, such as alcohol dependence or presence of children. "We are acutely aware of problematic prescribing patterns, such as dangerous drug combinations and escalating opioid doses," said Stephen Tarnoff, MD, president and executive medical director, Washington Permanente Medical Group. "Our researchers are addressing pain management and opioid use disorder with care that's proven to help people living with pain." Kaiser Permanente looks forward to participating in this Collaborative and joining its partners in developing, sharing and spreading best practices to help solve the national opioid crisis. To learn more about Kaiser Permanente, visit https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/. About Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 12.2 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/. For more information, contact: Marc Brown, [email protected], 510-271-6328 SOURCE Kaiser Permanente Related Links http://www.kaiserpermanente.org HOUSTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR) announced today it has been awarded a Maintenance Alliance Program (MAP) contract to provide long-term maintenance services for the Sadara Chemical Company, a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical Company. The Sadara project is the largest chemical complex ever built in a single phase, with 26 world-scale manufacturing plants, at a total investment of approximately $20billion. Under the terms of the MAP contract, KBR, through its local joint venture subsidiary KBR Al Yusr , will provide preventative and predictive maintenance services (PPM) for an initial period of 3 years, extendable up to 5 years. In addition to PPM KBR Al Yusr will support Sadara with management and execution of corrective maintenance, shutdowns and turnarounds. "We are delighted to be selected for the Sadara Maintenance Alliance Program for two out of the three envelopes which were tendered," said Jay Ibrahim, KBR President, Energy Solutions Services. "This award confirms Sadara's continued confidence in KBR as a full-service partner throughout the lifecycle of this project, and KBR's position as the preeminent market leader in Industrial Services." KBR was originally awarded the feasibility and pre-FEED for the entire Sadara complex, and later awarded the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for several major assets. In addition, KBR provided project management oversight during the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) phase of the project which peaked at about 660 specialized KBR personnel at the Jubail site. "We are incredibly proud of the safety record already achieved on the Sadara project during the EPC phase under KBR's management, working over 80 million construction hours without a single lost time incident," Ibrahim continued. "The safety of our people remains a cornerstone of our culture and we intend to roll-out our Zero Harm safety program in MAP immediately." About KBR, Inc. KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program lifecycle within the Government Solutions and Energy sectors. KBR employs approximately 37,500 people worldwide (including our joint ventures), with customers in more than 80 countries, and operations in 40 countries, across three synergistic global businesses: Government Solutions, serving government customers globally, including capabilities that cover the full lifecycle of defense, space, aviation and other government programs and missions from research and development, through systems engineering, test and evaluation, program management, to operations, maintenance, and field logistics Technology Solutions, including proprietary technology focused on the monetization of hydrocarbons (especially natural gas and natural gas liquids) in ethylene and petrochemicals; ammonia, nitric acid and fertilizers; oil refining and gasification Energy Solutions, including onshore oil and gas; LNG (liquefaction and regasification)/GTL; oil refining; petrochemicals; chemicals; fertilizers; differentiated EPC; maintenance services (Brown & Root Industrial Services); offshore oil and gas (shallow-water, deep-water, subsea); floating solutions (FPU, FPSO, FLNG & FSRU); program management and consulting services KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, integrated EPC delivery and long term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver. Visit www.kbr.com Forward Looking Statement The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the outcome of and the publicity surrounding audits and investigations by domestic and foreign government agencies and legislative bodies; potential adverse proceedings by such agencies and potential adverse results and consequences from such proceedings; the scope and enforceability of the company's indemnities from its former parent; changes in capital spending by the company's customers; the company's ability to obtain contracts from existing and new customers and perform under those contracts; structural changes in the industries in which the company operates; escalating costs associated with and the performance of fixed-fee projects and the company's ability to control its cost under its contracts; claims negotiations and contract disputes with the company's customers; changes in the demand for or price of oil and/or natural gas; protection of intellectual property rights; compliance with environmental laws; changes in government regulations and regulatory requirements; compliance with laws related to income taxes; unsettled political conditions, war and the effects of terrorism; foreign operations and foreign exchange rates and controls; the development and installation of financial systems; increased competition for employees; the ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; and operations of joint ventures, including joint ventures that are not controlled by the company. KBR's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Form 10-Qs and 8-Ks, and other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that KBR has identified that may affect the business, results of operations and financial condition. Except as required by law, KBR undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. SOURCE KBR, Inc. Related Links http://www.kbr.com ANNAPOLIS, Md., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- New Energy Equity, Region Five Development Commission (R5DC) and Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) have successfully partnered to develop six solar arrays, totaling 1.5 MW, for Pine River-Backus and Pequot Lakes school districts and Central Lakes College. These three projects in central Minnesota will reduce each school's carbon footprint by 1,420 metric tons of C0 2 , while providing discounted and predictable electricity costs over the next 25 years. $2MM in funding was secured by R5DC through a Renewable Development Fund grant made available by Xcel Energy. "This is an excellent example of a public-private partnership that makes a real difference to local institutions," said Cheryal Hills, R5DC's Executive Director and the Project Lead. "This project helps Xcel Energy to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations and bring Minnesota closer to its renewable energy goals, the schools save money and offer new STEAM educational opportunities and R5DC assists in meeting the region's economic development goals." Construction of the largest site, Pine River-Backus, began in October 2018 and was completed in December 2018. This 800kW solar array will offset more than 80% of the entire district's electricity load. The second array located at Pequot Lakes is currently under construction. This 354 kW rooftop installation required significant roof upgrades and despite extraordinary weather conditions including sub-zero temperatures impacting RREAL's construction crew, is slated for on-time completion in early Spring. The remaining four ground-mount systems totaling 333 kW will be built on multiple Central Lakes College campuses by May 2019. This multi-year project has come to fruition as a result of dedicated school superintendents and a resourceful and committed project team. "We are happy to be part of this project. Saving money while helping to get more renewable energy built for Minnesota is great for us and our students," said Dave Endicott, Superintendent for Pine River-Backus Schools. "We are very grateful for the work that R5DC, RREAL and the rest of the project team put into making this happen." Beyond reducing each school's CO2 emissions, these solar arrays will become a learning tool for each educational institution. As part of the project, curriculum is developed and provided to the schools so students will understand the environmental and economic impacts of their school's investment in solar. Chris Lindholm, Superintendent for Pequot Lakes Schools said, "We plan to bring students out to the array, to watch its performance from web-based tracking services and other activities to bring this project to life for our students." Matthew Hankey, President of New Energy Equity said that this is one of the most rewarding aspects of doing projects for schools. "Close to half of our projects at New Energy Equity have been with schools throughout Minnesota and the rest of the country. There is great curriculum readily available now for students of all ages, from elementary school to college." He added, "This is their project in many ways. They should definitely be encouraged to learn about it." Project partners: Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund, Minnesota Public Utilities, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Region Five Development Commission, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, REAL Solar Design-Build, Sourcewell, New Energy Equity LLC, Minnesota Power, Brainerd Public Utilities, Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative,Widseth Smith Nolting, Kandiyo Consulting, and numerous valued local contractors. Project school sites: Pine River-Backus and Pequot Lakes School Districts, Central Lakes College at Brainerd & Staples campus. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and presentations to celebrate this achievement are scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2019 from 2:00 4:30 p.m. at Pine River-Backus High School. The public is cordially invited to attend. About New Energy Equity New Energy Equity is a national end-to-end solar development and finance company, having successfully completed more than 150 projects totaling more than 145 megawatts across the United States. Our team includes experts in all aspects of solar projects development, engineering, land acquisition, program management, legal diligence, construction, and financing. We are dedicated to clean energy and the nation's energy transformation. For more information please visit New Energy Equity's website at www.newenergyequity.com. To stay up-to-date on current news, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. For additional media inquiries, contact: Carrie Hankey T: 443-267-5012 E: [email protected] SOURCE New Energy Equity Related Links http://www.newenergyequity.com WASHINGTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yes, medicine can be made more affordable. Despite drug manufacturers' best efforts, the tides are beginning to turn on rising drug prices. The May issue of AARP Bulletin features an in-depth report that includes a five-point plan that policymakers can use to help drive down medicine costs for all Americans. May AARP Bulletin: The Fight to Lower Prescription Drug Prices The plan details how to use Medicare's negotiating power, careful importation, new approaches to generic drugs and other measures to lower prescription drug prices. In addition, the report puts a spotlight on how drugmakers use coupons and other marketing tools to keep list prices high, and details the surprising barriers that block access to lower-cost generic medicines. Learn how this battle can be won, and how AARP alongside hospitals, patients, regulators and politicians is fighting high drug prices. Other stories in the May issue: Your Health Unhappy Feet: Foot pain is not a normal part of aging, podiatrists say, and yet about 24 percent of people over age 45 suffer from it. Weight gain, sedentary lifestyles or poor blood flow are often the culprits for foot pain. If you are among the 1 in 4 Americans age 45+ with foot pain, discover the causes, as well as potential remedies you can start on today. Your Money 3 Steps to Digging Out of Debt: Debt might make sense for young adults looking forward to long careers and rising incomes, but older Americans have less time and earnings power to pay off loans. Yet older Americans not only are taking on more debt than ever, but also increasingly have several forms of debt at the same time. To get yourself out of the hole, you'll need this detailed plan. Debt might make sense for young adults looking forward to long careers and rising incomes, but older Americans have less time and earnings power to pay off loans. Yet older Americans not only are taking on more debt than ever, but also increasingly have several forms of debt at the same time. To get yourself out of the hole, you'll need this detailed plan. 7 Behaviors That Can Make You Vulnerable to Fraud: Do you respect authority? Are you a people-pleaser? Enjoy chatting with people? AARP Fraud Watch Network's Amy Nofziger and Mark Fetterhoff show that the characteristics that make you a good person also can make you highly vulnerable to fraud. Do you respect authority? Are you a people-pleaser? Enjoy chatting with people? AARP Fraud Watch Network's and show that the characteristics that make you a good person also can make you highly vulnerable to fraud. Haggling for Shy People: Love bargains but hate to bargain? Trying haggling online rather than in-person. Online shoppers who haggle stand to save even more than walk-in hagglers. Check out our tips and techniques on how to negotiate the best deals online. Love bargains but hate to bargain? Trying haggling online rather than in-person. Online shoppers who haggle stand to save even more than walk-in hagglers. Check out our tips and techniques on how to negotiate the best deals online. Chipping in for College: There are many types of investments and strategies to help pay for a grandchild's education. Some even come with special tax breaks. But sometimes, the best approach is just good old-fashioned cash, says personal finance expert Jane Bryant Quinn . Learn how you and your family can get the most out of your college fund contribution. Your Life A Q&A with Dear Abby's Jeanne Phillips : There have been two people who have dubbed the "Abby" moniker for the popular column Dear Abby: Pauline Phillips and, since 2000, her daughter Jeanne Phillips . Our Q&A with Phillips reveals how she has gained a unique view of what bugs America. Your AARP From an Internment Camp to Washington's Halls of Power: An AARP-sponsored documentary, " Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story," will air on PBS beginning May 20 . The film documents his remarkable life, from being a prisoner in the internment camps after Pearl Harbor to being a cabinet member for two presidents to being mayor of San Jose. The documentary also features tributes from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush . More information can be found at: http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/ About AARP AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @AARP and @AARPadvocates on social media. SOURCE AARP Related Links https://www.aarp.org HOUSTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE: MDR) announced today the results of its Annual Meeting of Stockholders held Thursday, May 2, 2019 in London, England. Based on the voting results from the meeting, stockholders elected Forbes I.J. Alexander, Philippe C. Barril, John F. Bookout, III, David Dickson, L. Richard Flury, W. Craig Kissel, Gary P. Luquette, James H. Miller, William H. Schumann, III, Mary L. Shafer-Malicki and Marsha C. Williams to McDermott's Board of Directors, each for a term extending until McDermott's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. In addition, stockholders approved, on an advisory basis, McDermott's named executive officer compensation, approved the 2019 McDermott International, Inc. Long-Term Incentive Plan and ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2019. About McDermott McDermott is a premier, fully integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. For more than a century, customers have trusted McDermott to design and build end-to-end infrastructure and technology solutions to transport and transform oil and gas into the products the world needs today. Our proprietary technologies, integrated expertise and comprehensive solutions deliver certainty, innovation and added value to energy projects around the world. Customers rely on McDermott to deliver certainty to the most complex projects, from concept to commissioning. It is called the "One McDermott Way." Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally focused and globally integrated resources include approximately 32,000 employees and engineers, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels and fabrication facilities around the world. To learn more, visit www.mcdermott.com. Contacts: Investor Relations Scott Lamb Vice President, Investor Relations +1 832 513 1068 [email protected] Global Media Relations Gentry Brann Senior Vice President, Communications, Marketing and Administration +1 281 870 5269 [email protected] SOURCE McDermott International, Inc. Related Links https://www.mcdermott.com/ SEATTLE, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Northwest braces for an "above normal" risk of wildfire this year, PEMCO Insurance is out with a new poll that shows Washington residents are five times more likely to believe that they'll be directly impacted by wildfires, than they were four years ago. PEMCO first asked Washington and Oregon residents about the threat of wildfire in 2015 and back then, just 5 percent of Washington respondents thought it was extremely likely that a blaze would directly affect them. Today, that number has increased fivefold to 25 percent. Similarly in Oregon, residents are three times more likely to think there's an extreme chance wildfire will directly impact them (7 percent in 2015 vs. 22 percent in 2019). Across the Northwest, just 14 percent of residents say they won't be affected by wildfire at all. Residents here have good reason to be concerned a number of independent studies, including one by the Climate Impacts Group of University of Washington, have confirmed that the risk of wildfires will only increase over time. "The Northwest is facing a new reality, and our poll confirms that people are increasingly concerned about the real threat of wildfire whether it's because they live in an area where wildfire can cause property damage or injury, or even simply because of the smoky haze that now descends on western areas of our region during wildfire season," said PEMCO Spokesperson Derek Wing. "While there are some aspects of wildfire that are out of our control, by being cautious and by planning ahead, we can work together to reduce the risk and impact of wildfires." For some, this could mean performing simple home maintenance by creating a defensible space around your property. Keeping grass mowed and watered within 30 feet of your home, pruning back trees and clearing wood debris around your property, and mulching with pumice or gravel are all important parts of prevention. Residents should also invest time in creating a family emergency plan and disaster preparedness kit in case of a worst-case scenario like an ordered evacuation. Remembering, too, that 84 percent of wildfires are sparked by humans, being cautious when using fire starters and knowing how to react during an emergency situation can reduce panic and improve wildfire prevention. The best part protecting your home can create a domino effect throughout the region. When you're prepared, your neighbors are better equipped, too. The fires can't spread from one property to the next if there's nothing to burn, and by working together neighbors can minimize common wildfire fuels. "Already we have seen Northwest neighbors coming together to fight the threat of wildfires," Wing said. "As people become more aware of the risk, they aren't walking away from the fight." For a complete summary of PEMCO's poll results, visit www.pemco.com/blog/nw-polls where you'll find the responses collected by FBK Research of Seattle in January 2019. About the PEMCO Insurance Northwest Poll PEMCO Insurance commissioned this independent survey, conducted by FBK Research of Seattle, that asked Washington and Oregon residents questions about driving habits and attitudes toward current Northwest issues. The sample size, 600 respondents in Washington and 600 in Oregon, yields an accuracy of +/- 4.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. In other words, if this study were conducted 100 times, in 95 instances the data will not vary by more than the associated error range. About PEMCO Insurance PEMCO Insurance is a true Northwest company providing auto, home, and boat insurance to our neighbors since 1949. Consistently ranked highest in customer satisfaction, people are the heart of our business. They can depend on us to anticipate and support their changing needs. PEMCO is committed to serving organizations that positively impact our local communities. We were started by a Seattle schoolteacher and stay true to our roots by focusing on nonprofits and organizations that support youth, education, and public safety. To learn more, visit www.pemco.com . CONTACTS: Derek Wing PEMCO Insurance 206.628.4622 [email protected] Kristi Herriott Firmani + Associates Inc. 206.443.9357 [email protected] SOURCE PEMCO Insurance Related Links http://www.pemco.com NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. has been selected to receive the 2019 Corporate Innovator Award from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) at the 2019 Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston. In April 2018, Otsuka's JYNARQUETM (tolvaptan) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first treatment to slow kidney function decline in adults at risk of rapidly progressing Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). "ADPKD is the most commonly inherited kidney disorder, and it affects all races and ethnic groups equally," said Kevin Longino, CEO, National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant patient. "The Corporate Innovator Award recognizes Otsuka's significant contribution to improving the lives of people with ADPKD and we congratulate them on this achievement." ADPKD is diagnosed in about 140,000 people in the U.S., and impacts families across multiple generations, since a parent with ADPKD has a 50 percent chance of passing the disease to their children. ADPKD is a genetic disease with consequences that can lead to dialysis or kidney transplantation. It is a progressively debilitating and often painful disorder in which fluid-filled cysts develop in the kidneys over time. These cysts enlarge the kidneys and impair their ability to function normally, leading to kidney failure in most patients. "Otsuka is honored to be recognized by the National Kidney Foundation as a recipient of the Corporate Innovator Award," said Louis Allesandrine, VP Oncology and Nephrology Sales and Marketing. "Since the FDA approval of JYNARQUE one year ago, many people living with ADPKD in the U.S. have received this treatment. Otsuka continues to make significant investments in our nephrology research and development and is committed to meeting the long-term unmet needs of people living with chronic kidney disease." The Corporate Innovator Award was established to recognize industry companies that advance the field of nephrology by addressing an unmet medical need, or improving upon an existing practice, therapeutic or technology. The award will be presented to Otsuka during the NKF Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston, which will be held from May 8-12. NKF Spring Clinical Meetings For the past 27 years, nephrology healthcare professionals from across the country have come to NKF's Spring Clinical Meetings to learn about the newest developments related to all aspects of nephrology practice; network with colleagues; and present their research findings. The NKF Spring Clinical Meetings are designed for meaningful change in the multidisciplinary healthcare teams' skills, performance, and patient health outcomes. It is the only conference of its kind that focuses on translating science into practice for the entire healthcare team. Kidney Disease Facts In the United States 30 million adults are estimated to have chronic kidney diseaseand most aren't aware of it. 1 in 3 American adults are at risk for chronic kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and family history. People of African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. African Americans are 3 times more likely than Whites, and Hispanics are nearly 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanics to develop end stage renal disease (kidney failure). The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive and longstanding organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention and treatment of kidney disease. For more information about NKF visit www.kidney.org. Facebook.com Twitter:@NKF www.kidney.org SOURCE National Kidney Foundation Related Links http://www.kidney.org NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Natural Cycles today presented results from a real-world observational study of its mobile app in 10,700 women, at the 2019 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.1 The aim of the study was to investigate how sleep patterns impacted the real-world contraceptive effectiveness of Natural Cycles. Results demonstrated that typical-use effectiveness of Natural Cycles was between 93.4% and 96.3% for all cohorts analysed by self-reported sleeping habit.1 This data was conducted in collaboration with leading experts in women's health and is in line with the reported typical-use Pearl Index of 6.8, which is based on a published study of over 22,000 women.2 "This data supports a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating the real world effectiveness of Natural Cycles," said Dr Simon Rowland, MD, Head of Medical Affairs at Natural Cycles. "Despite some variation between cohorts, there was no significant difference in typical-use effectiveness between women with different sleep habits. This suggests that more research is needed to understand how user behavior influences the effectiveness rate of Natural Cycles, an area in which we remain heavily committed." With a Theatre Session focusing on how new technologies are revolutionizing fertility awareness, specifically highlighting how a personalized approach can help identify the fertile window, Natural Cycles is proud to be involved in this year's ACOG Clinical and Scientific Meeting, following the US Food and Drug Administration's clearance of Natural Cycles for use as a method of contraception in August 2018. The Theatre Session presentation was based on the evolving contraceptive needs of women. Cited in the presentation, one study reported that 38% of US women said that a method of contraception that is natural or does not contain hormones is important to them3 a clear driver of Natural Cycles' commitment to increasing contraceptive choice for women. "The Natural Cycles team is delighted to be at the 2019 ACOG meeting among healthcare professionals who strive to improve women's health through education and innovation, mirroring our mission at Natural Cycles to pioneer women's health with research and passion," continued Dr Rowland. "We are one of the leading innovators in the fem-tech space, which is one of the fastest growing health sectors, and we remain dedicated to improving women's health and wellbeing through our ongoing program of robust research." *Typical use effectiveness takes into account several reasons for becoming pregnant while using the app: from having unprotected sex on a red day, to the app wrongly attributing a green day or the chosen method of contraception on a red day having failed. NOTES TO EDITORS Natural Cycles was founded in June 2013 by former CERN physicist, Dr Elina Berglund and her husband Dr Raoul Scherwitzl, who also has a background in physics. Natural Cycles is the effective2, hormone-free method of contraception that puts women in control of their fertility by understanding their body. Natural Cycles uses science to analyze each woman's unique data so that they can prevent pregnancy until they are ready for the next stage. Delivered in the form of an app, Natural Cycles uses an intelligent algorithm that is sensitive to subtle patterns in a woman's cycle to determine daily fertility, based on basal body temperature and period data. Natural Cycles is proven to be 93% effective with typical use2 - which means that 7 women out of 100 get pregnant during 1 year of use - and 98% effective with perfect use4. Natural Cycles is the first and only app of its kind to be available in Europe and the US for use as a contraceptive. The app can also be used to help plan a pregnancy when the time is right. Natural Cycles' mission is to pioneer women's health with research and passion, by empowering every woman with the knowledge she needs to be in charge of her health. Natural Cycles is headquartered in Sweden and has operations in the United States, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Read more at: www.naturalcycles.com References Rowland S., Kopp Kallner H ., Gemzell Danielsson K., Trussell J., Berglund Scherwitzel E., Scherwitzel R. Impact of sleep habit on the contraceptive effectiveness of a fertility awareness based app. Presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting, 3-5 May 2019 , ePoster Session O. Berglund E, Scherwitzl R, et al. Contraception. 2017;96(6):420425. Natural Cycles Survey via Research Now. Understanding attitudes towards contraception in a cohort of women and healthcare professionals. August 2018 . (data on file). US Food and Drug Administration. De Novo classification request for Natural Cycles (DEN170052) 2017. SOURCE Natural Cycles Related Links https://www.naturalcycles.com This year, the names of 21 journalists will be etched onto the memorial's glass panels to represent all those who died or were killed in pursuit of the news in 2018. The selected journalists will be added to the 2,323 professionals currently recognized on the memorial, which includes journalists dating back to 1837. The memorial is rededicated annually to illustrate the ongoing dangers faced by journalists around the world. Capital Gazette Editor Rick Hutzell and Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor of The Washington Post, will deliver remarks during the ceremony . According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in 2018, 11 journalists died in combat while 34 journalists were murdered. A total of 54 journalists across the globe were killed on the job last year. Of those 54 journalists, four were from the United States Capital Gazette staffers Gerald Fischman, John McNamara, Rob Hiaasen and Wendi Winters, who died on June 28, 2018, during a tragic shooting. In addition, two reporters for WYFF 4, based in Greenville, S.C., were killed when a tree hit their SUV while they were covering tropical storm Alberto. The 21 journalists honored next month were killed in 9 separate incidents. "The memorial and this annual rededication event remind us all every day that the world is an increasingly dangerous place for those who gather and report the news whether that is from the inherent dangers of reporting from the battlefield or the storm front, or from being targeted by criminals, terrorists or repressive governments," said Gene Policinski, president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute. Also on June 3, no newspapers will be displayed in the Today's Front Pages exhibit outside the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, inside the Newseum or online. In their place will be blacked-out pages featuring the hashtag #WithoutNews. This annual #WithoutNews campaign encourages the public to consider what a world without journalists to report the news would look like. Join the campaign by updating your profile picture. The journalists who will be memorialized at this year's rededication include: Hamoud al-Jnaid Radio Fresh In Syria Mike McCormick WYFF 4 In the United States Maharram Durrani Radio Azadi, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty In Afghanistan John McNamara Capital Gazette In the United States Raed Fares Radio Fresh In Syria Juan Javier Ortega Reyes El Comercio In Colombia Gerald Fischman Capital Gazette In the United States Nowruz Ali Rajabi 1TV In Afghanistan Abadullah Hananzai Radio Azadi, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty In Afghanistan Ghazi Rasooli 1TV In Afghanistan Rob Hiaasen Capital Gazette In the United States Paul Rivas Bravo El Comercio In Colombia Sabawoon Kakar Radio Azadi, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty In Afghanistan Ali Saleemi Mashal TV In Afghanistan Jamal Khashoggi The Washington Post In the Saudi Consulate, Turkey Philip Aaron Smeltzer WYFF 4 In the United States Jan Kuciak Aktuality.sk In Slovakia Saleem Talash Mashal TV In Afghanistan Shah Marai Agence France-Presse In Afghanistan Yar Mohammad Tokhi Tolo News In Afghanistan Wendi Winters Capital Gazette In the United States ABOUT THE NEWSEUM The mission of the Newseum, located in Washington, D.C., is to increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment. Visitors experience the story of news, the role of a free press in major events in history, and how the core freedoms of the First Amendment religion, speech, press, assembly and petition apply to their lives. Considered one of the most interactive museums in the world, the Newseum has seven levels with 15 galleries and 15 theaters. The Newseum also reaches millions of students through its robust offering of on-site classes and workshops. The Newseum is a 501(c)(3) public charity funded by generous individuals, corporations and foundations, including its principal funder, the Freedom Forum. For more information, visit newseum.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ABOUT THE FREEDOM FORUM INSTITUTE The Freedom Forum Institute is the education and outreach partner of the Freedom Forum and the Newseum. The Institute includes the First Amendment Center, the Religious Freedom Center, the Newseum's education department and diversity and inclusion programs. The Freedom Forum Institute's affiliate organizations include the Al Neuharth Media Center at the University of South Dakota,; the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi; and the John Seigenthaler Center at Vanderbilt University. The Freedom Forum Institute is a 501(c)(3) public charity funded by generous individuals, corporations and foundations, including its principal funder, the Freedom Forum. SOURCE Newseum Related Links https://www.newseum.org NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The North America Warehouse Management System market accounted for US$ 1,150.6 Mn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.9% over the forecast period 2019-2027, to account for US$ 3,954.0 Mn in 2027. Factors including increasing developments in the e-commerce sector and rising acceptance of enhanced cloud based systems owing to various benefits offered are significantly driving the warehouse management system market. However, strong presence of ERP vendors are impeding the warehouse management system market growth. Mounting demand of smarter warehouses is opportunistic for the growth of the warehouse management system market. Connected devices and sensors can help manage the right quantity of products, at the right price, time and place. Across Warehouse Management Systems, there is a need to allocate every square meter effectively to ensure easy retrieval of specific goods followed by processing, and speedy delivery. Integration of IoT with Warehouse Management System (WMS) leads to the true development of pull-based supply chains (rather than push-based). Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764220/?utm_source=PRN The warehouse management system market is fragmented with the presence of several industries and the competitive dynamics in the market is expected to change during the upcoming years.In addition to this, various initiatives are undertaken by the governmental bodies to accelerate the warehouse management system market further. For instance, Advanced technologies such as self-adapting machine learning, deep learning or Natural language processing is expected to transform the way businesses are conducted.However, many controversies are revolving around the development of these technologies. White House and other North American government are expected to come up with the robust and comprehensive set of regulations and policies in order to handle the development of these technologies.This is further expected to provide the warehouse management system players to cope up with the rapidly transforming warehousing industry. This initiative provides multiple benefits to the companies present in this region and thus increasing the growth of warehouse management system market in the region. On the basis of implementation, the on-premises segment is leading the warehouse management system market.However, the cloud segment are anticipated to grow at a highest CAGR. On-premise based warehouse management system technology is a software where the entire setup, data, and software related to warehouse management system resides at the customer's premises.The organizations that like to keep the software in-house as a part of security concerns rather than turning over the confidential data to an external provider. Though the cloud services have more benefits over the on-premise mode of deployment, there are enterprises who due to the stringent security concerns prefer to deploy over premises. Currently, the market players are looking ahead to support warehouse management system industry by innovating advanced and smart warehouse systems. The overall warehouse management system market size has been derived using both primary and secondary source.The research process begins with an exhaustive secondary research using internal and external sources to obtain qualitative and quantitative information related to the warehouse management system market. It also provides the overview and forecast for the warehouse management system market based on all the segmentation provided with respect to North America region.Also, primary interviews were conducted with industry participants and commentators in order to validate data and analysis. The participants who typically take part in such a process include industry expert such as VPs, business development managers, market intelligence managers and national sales managers, and external consultant such as valuation experts, research analysts and key opinion leaders specializing in the warehouse management system industry. Some of the players present in warehouse management system market are IBM Corporation, PSI Software AG, SAP SE, Epicor Software Corporation, Oracle Corporation, JDA Software Group, Inc., Infor Inc., Manhattan Associates, PTC Inc., and TECSYS among others. Reasons to Buy Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the North America warehouse management system market Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the North America warehouse management system market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long-term strategies Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets Scrutinize in-depth North America market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764220/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com WASHINGTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Although 53% of small businesses actively manage online reviews by publicly responding to them, less than half of small businesses proactively promote their own brand online, according to a new survey from The Manifest, a business news and how-to website. Only 40% of small businesses encourage happy customers to leave positive online reviews. Graph - How Small Businesses Manage Negative Reviews Graph - How Small Businesses Manage Negative Social Media Comments Businesses that don't encourage customers to leave positive reviews put themselves at a disadvantage because people are more likely to complain than compliment good service. "It's not hard to get a happy client to write a review, but it does take some nudging," said Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of SEO Image , an SEO and reputation management company. While responding to negative reviews is critical to any online reputation management plan, small businesses should also advocate for their brand. Most Small Businesses Respond to Negative Online Reviews Small businesses recognize the impact of online reviews and respond to them. More than half of small businesses (53%) respond to online reviews publicly and (48%) respond privately. It's especially important for small businesses to respond publicly to negative reviews to demonstrate they care about the feedback they receive from customers, said online reputation management experts. "If a potential customer sees a company's response to a negative review, they're more likely to buy from them because it shows they care about their customers' feedback," said Anthony Will, CEO of Reputation Resolutions , an online reputation management company. Social Media Is Underused as an Online Reputation Management Tool Most small businesses that monitor their online reputation (94%) have a social media presence, but only 44% use social media to promote and share positive content about their brand. By using social media to share news about their brand, small businesses can build rapport with customers and claim more control over their brand's reputation. Businesses should be careful, however, not to come across as overly self-promotional. "You want to help your target audience make the best decision for them not just say how great you are," said Lauren Elliott, marketing communications manager at Thee Digital, a web design and marketing agency. Proactive Management of Online Reviews Can Help Businesses Strengthen Their Digital Reputation The report concludes that small businesses should respond publicly and professionally to online reviews, encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews, and use social media to promote positive information about their brand. Public relations firms and experts recommended that small businesses combine proactive and reactive strategies to exercise greater control over their brand's digital reputation in 2019 and beyond. The Manifest surveyed 529 small business owners and managers in the U.S. Read the full survey report: How Small Businesses Can Manage Reviews to Strengthen Their Online Reputation. For questions about the survey or a comment on the findings, contact Toby Cox at [email protected]. About The Manifest The Manifest is a business news and how-to site that compiles and analyzes practical business wisdom for innovators, entrepreneurs, and small and mid-market businesses. Use The Manifest as an approachable tour guide through every stage of the buyer journey. With three main offerings data-driven benchmarks, step-by-step guides, and agency shortlists The Manifest strives to make your business goals a reality. Media Contact Toby Cox [email protected] 202-905-0610 SOURCE The Manifest Related Links https://themanifest.com UPPSALA, Sweden, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Q1 2019 highlights Total net revenues of SEK 174.3 million (139.7), up 24.8 percent Zubsolv US net revenues of SEK 161.7 million (131.1), up 23.3 percent in SEK and 9.3 percent in local currency EBITDA of SEK 12.0 million (-16.6), EBITDA excluding IP litigation costs of SEK 60.8 million (-8.5) US EBIT of SEK 71.9 million (25.3) Cash flow from operating activities of SEK 50.9 million (106.3), building a cash balance of SEK 647.4 million (437.5) Net earnings of SEK 14.1 million (-25.9) Positive results from human PK study assessing Orexo's new intranasal naloxone formulations (OX124) for opioid overdose reversal The US District Court of Delaware issued a final, non-appealable judgement that Actavis's generic Zubsolv products infringe the US patent 330, preventing Actavis from launching their infringing generics in the US until 2032 The US District Court of Delaware ruled that Actavis does not infringe in Orexos patent 996 with their Suboxone and Subutex generics Updated full year outlook with accelerated COGS reduction, reaching 35 percent reduction on full year basis SEK m, unless otherwise stated 2019 Jan-Mar 2018 Jan-Mar 2018 Jan-Dec 12 mth Apr 2018- Mar 2019 12 mth Apr 2017- Mar 2018 Net revenues 174.3 139.7 783.1 817.7 656.0 whereof Zubsolv US net revenue 161.7 131.1 621.5 652.1 502.8 Cost of goods sold -25.3 -48.4 -171.8 -148.7 -166.6 Operating expenses -147.9 -113.1 -515.6 -550.4 -430.6 EBIT 1.1 -21.8 95.8 118.7 58.8 EBIT margin, % 0.6 -15.6 12.2 14.5 9.0 US EBIT 71.9 25.3 198.3 244.8 98.6 US EBIT margin, % 44.5 19.3 31.9 37.5 19.6 EBITDA 12.0 -16.6 116.6 145.2 79.7 Earnings per share, before dilution, SEK 0.41 -0.75 3.99 5.15 0.92 Earnings per share, after dilution, SEK 0.40 -0.75 3.93 5.05 0.92 Cash flow from operating activities 50.9 106.3 242.0 186.9 224.4 Cash and cash equivalents 647.4 437.5 589.8 647.4 437.5 CEO Comments Demonstrating resilience and growth in a dynamic market The first quarter of 2019 has been eventful from a market perspective, most notably with the entry of generic competition to Suboxone Film. In this dynamic landscape I am pleased to see Zubsolv maintaining strong sales growth and greater profit contribution, supporting further enhancement of our pipeline development. Strong financial performance US operations reach 44.5 percent EBIT margin (19.3) I am pleased to report the business has achieved a profitable first quarter the first for the company. This was achieved despite expected high legal costs during the period. Excluding the litigation costs, EBITDA reached SEK 60.8 million (SEK 12.0 million including). Profitability reflects the strong growth in Zubsolv sales in combination with improved gross margins due to accelerated reduction in cost of goods sold. The EBIT margin in our US operation has now reached 44.5 percent and contributed to our overall profitability with SEK 71.9 million. Market dynamics Zubsolv sales resilient to increased generic competition During the quarter generic versions of Suboxone Film were launched. We are encouraged to see limited impact on Zubsolv sales, which have remained resilient and stayed at similar levels reported in Q418 and demand increased by 6 percent versus Q118. The main challenge is that some insurers, e.g. Humana and WellCare, who previously didn't cover Suboxone Film, will now reimburse the generic versions of the drug. Although increased competition can have negative impact on market share, the total profit contribution from these insurers often increase, since the rebates are substantially reduced. When the current turmoil has settled we are confident the market will offer opportunities for Zubsolv. Operational increasing the pace of pipeline developments As previously announced, we received encouraging data on our OX124 project for the treatment of opioid overdose with a nasal naloxone formulation. We are now in a position to progress both OX124 and OX125 (nasal nalmefene formulation), into further clinical studies which will be initiated in 2020. We also received positive in-vivo data for OX338, a sublingual formulation with ketorolac for treatment of pain, and plan to initiate the first clinical study in humans later in 2019. Legal no impact on Zubsolv from the negative decision in the Actavis litigation Orexo is an innovative company and our main product Zubsolv is patent protected until 2032 following a multiyear patent dispute with Actavis. Being an innovative company also requires a fierce protection of our innovations and we are disappointed with the recent outcome to the litigation process against Actavis for their generics of Subutex and Suboxone tablets. We will now initiate the first step in an appeal process. This will be associated with significantly lower costs than the legal expenses recorded in Q119. Summary and outlook We have had a strong start to 2019. Three of our four internal pipeline projects are ready to progress into the next development phase, our financial position continues to strengthen due to sales growth and our manufacturing efficiency program has had significant positive impact on the gross profit contribution from Zubsolv. With a continuous improving profit contribution from Zubsolv, we are able to invest more into R&D and business development. The success in these areas will define our future and on all these areas we have made good progress during the period. Uppsala, Sweden, May 2, 2019 Nikolaj Srensen President and CEO For further information, please contact Nikolaj Srensen CEO and President Joseph DeFeo EVP and CFO or Lena Wange IR & Communications Manager Tel: +46-18-780-88-00 +1-855-982-7658 Email: [email protected] Presentation At 2.00 pm CET, the same day as the announcement of the report, Orexo invites analysts, investors and media to attend an audiocast with a web presentation where Nikolaj Srensen, CEO, and Joseph DeFeo, CFO, will present the report. After the presentation a Q&A will be held. Questions can also be sent in advance to [email protected], no later than 11.00 am CET. Please view the instructions below on how to participate. Internet: https://tv.streamfabriken.com/orexo-q1-2019 Telephone: SE: +46-8-505-583-50 UK: +44-333-300-9274 US: +1-833-526-8381 The presentation material will be available on Orexos website prior to the audiocast. This information is information that Orexo AB (publ.) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 8.00 am CET on May 2, 2019. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/orexo/r/interim-report-q1-2019,c2801296 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/694/2801296/1035526.pdf Orexo Interim Report Q1 2019 published May 2 2019 SOURCE Orexo STOCKHOLM, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ortoma and the Board of Directors have engaged MedWorld Advisors ( www.medworldadvisors.com ) as M&A advisor to assist the company and the Board with management, evaluations, and negotiations in connection with any M&A transaction. During the past year, the company have had discussions with potential industrial partners as a part of taking its product Ortoma Treatment Solution to the market. MedWorld Advisors will take over the contacts that have been generated by the company, broaden and intensify the evaluation, and negotiate with potential acquirers and industrial partners. Linus Bystrom, CEO, comments, "In the past months, we have evaluated various M&A advisors to assist the company with an M&A transaction. MedWorld Advisors specializes in assisting small and medium-sized medtech companies, and has been engaged since they are represented in Europe, the US and Asia, in combination with having years of experience with M&A transactions, both on the buy side and the sell side." Ortoma Treatment Solution - careful planning and precise surgery. This information is information that Ortoma Ab (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above on 2 of May 2019. For more information, please contact: Ortoma CEO Linus Bystrom, or chairman of the board Gunnar Nemeth Email: [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/ortoma/r/ortoma-engages-m-a-advisor,c2800858 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/11612/2800858/1035315.pdf Press release in PDF SOURCE Ortoma SAN DIEGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry today signed the Department of Energy's authorization allowing Sempra Energy's (NYSE: SRE) Port Arthur LNG to export approximately 13.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the U.S. during the first U.S.-EU Energy Council High-Level Energy Forum in Brussels, Belgium. "I am pleased to announce the order signed today authorizing Port Arthur LNG to export up to 1.91 billion cubic feet per day of LNG, to any country that does not have an FTA with the United States," said Perry. "The United States is in its third consecutive year as a net exporter of natural gas, now exporting domestic LNG to 35 countries. I applaud the American private sector for continuing to reach new milestones and look forward to continued growth in this sector." The Port Arthur LNG export project in development in Jefferson County, Texas is expected to include two liquefaction trains, up to three LNG storage tanks and associated facilities. "Today's approval marks a major regulatory step for the development of Port Arthur LNG that would allow LNG to be exported from Port Arthur to all European, Asian and other markets around the world," said Carlos Ruiz Sacristan, chairman and CEO of Sempra North American Infrastructure. "Port Arthur LNG is one of Sempra Energy's five LNG-export projects under development that we believe will help to further establish the U.S. as a global leader in LNG exports." Port Arthur LNG is expected to create approximately 3,500 on-site engineering and construction jobs, as well as several hundred jobs in Texas in support of the project, including fabrication and operational jobs. Nearly 200 full-time jobs will be created to operate and maintain Port Arthur LNG facility. Last month, Port Arthur LNG received authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to site, construct and operate the liquefaction project. In December 2018, Port Arthur LNG and the Polish Oil & Gas Company signed a definitive 20-year sale-and-purchase agreement for 2 Mtpa of LNG from the Port Arthur LNG project, subject to certain conditions. Bechtel has been selected as the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contractor for the project, subject to reaching a definitive agreement. Development of the Port Arthur LNG project is contingent upon obtaining additional customer commitments, completing the required commercial agreements, obtaining financing, incentives and other factors, as well as reaching a final investment decision. Sempra LNG develops, builds and invests in natural gas liquefaction facilities and is pursuing the development of five strategically located LNG projects in North America with a goal of delivering 45 Mtpa of clean natural gas to the largest world markets, making Sempra Energy one of North America's largest developers of LNG-export facilities. This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or when we discuss our guidance, strategy, plans, goals, vision, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors, among others, that could cause our actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new regulations and issuances of authorizations by the U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the U.S. and other countries in which we operate; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) obtaining or maintaining authorizations; (ii) completing construction projects on schedule and budget; (iii) obtaining the consent of partners; (iv) counterparties' ability to fulfill contractual commitments; and (v) the ability to realize anticipated benefits from any of these efforts once completed; the availability of natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity; equipment failures; changes in energy markets; volatility in commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas; risks posed by actions of third parties who control the operations of our investments; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of harmful materials, and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits) or may be disputed by insurers; cybersecurity threats to storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses; the impact of recent federal tax reform and our ability to mitigate adverse impacts; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs, revisions to or the replacement of international trade agreements, and changes that make our exports less competitive or otherwise restrict our ability to export; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Sempra LNG and Port Arthur LNG, LLC are not the same as the California Utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), or Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. SOURCE Sempra Energy NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- At RAM Law, we are honored to invite you to our annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. Our celebration began several years ago as an employee event with just a few guests. The event was so special that we decided to expand the festivities to the entire neighborhood. Our May 3, 2019 porch party for Cinco de Mayo is family-friendly and open to all. RAM Law Cinco de Mayo Celebration Rocco at RAM Law This year's event includes authentic Mexican cuisine prepared by Las Marias. Their original Pueblo style of cooking delights the taste buds. After having a bite to eat, step out and wow us with your dance moves with our own Rocco the RAM (our furry and friendly mascot). Bring the kids and enjoy face painting, take photos with our cool mascot and have a relaxing afternoon with friends, family and neighbors. The party takes place from 2:30 to 6:30 pm at our law office in New Brunswick, New Jersey. To learn more about this year's festivities, contact us at (732) 247-3600, or visit us online. About Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, L.L.P. (RAM Law): We are experienced personal injury attorneys offering representation if you have been injured as a result of medical malpractice, a trip and fall accident, car crash, workplace accident or other injury. Learn more about us and our attorneys by visiting our website. Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, L.L.P. 111 Livingston Avenue New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901 USA Phone: (732) 247-3600 Fax: (732) 247-3630 Email: [email protected] Media Contact Greg Sutphin SOURCE Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, L.L.P. Related Links https://www.ramlawnj.com "As more and more people get outside and enjoy public lands, this investment in National Forests will bring improvements to trails and campgrounds that see a lot of use," says Kristen Ragain, REI philanthropy and community partnerships manager. "This year, many projects our members are supporting are also helping connect youth to National Forests, as we know inspiring the next generation of outdoor advocates is critical to the future of our public lands." National Forests and Grasslands are a key way for people to enjoy the outdoors, providing more than 158,000 miles of trails and 5,000 campgrounds, and attracting 170 million visitors per year. As an organization dedicated to awakening a lifelong love of the outdoors for all, REI invests deeply in efforts to create access to outdoor places and assure wild places stay wild for future generations to enjoy. Since 2017, REI's investment in the NFF helped engage more than 1,700 volunteers in stewardship projects that touched over 160 miles of trail and nearly 65 campgrounds in 16 National Forests across the country. "We are proud and excited to be partnering with REI for a third year on projects to make recreational opportunities in our National Forests more ecologically sustainable, and more accessible and enjoyable for the people who seek them out," says Mary Mitsos, NFF president. "This extraordinary and unique partnership demonstrates the deep commitment that REI and its members have to restoring and protecting our public lands." This year's investment will support 15 projects in National Forests across the country including: The Crawford Path in the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire : In celebration of The Crawford Path's 200 th anniversary, REI funds will support sustainable trail repairs along the country's oldest continuously-used mountain trail in New Hampshire . REI helped begin this work in 2018, and this year will assist in completing the project. In addition, REI funds will support a Friend of the Forest Day, where youth and the public can engage in stewardship on this historic trail. 2019 marks the co-op's second year in providing funding for this work. In celebration of The Crawford Path's 200 anniversary, REI funds will support sustainable trail repairs along the country's oldest continuously-used mountain trail in . REI helped begin this work in 2018, and this year will assist in completing the project. In addition, REI funds will support a Friend of the Forest Day, where youth and the public can engage in stewardship on this historic trail. the co-op's second year in providing funding for this work. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois : REI funds will support restoration efforts in the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie near Chicago . The NFF will partner with the Midewin Youth Corps to offer a six-week long summer work program for students from urban areas. Students earn an hourly wage, learn valuable work skills and are exposed to nature and conservation. REI funds will support restoration efforts in the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie near . The NFF will partner with the Midewin Youth Corps to offer a six-week long summer work program for students from urban areas. Students earn an hourly wage, learn valuable work skills and are exposed to nature and conservation. Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon : REI funds will help improve 10 miles of trails used by hikers, runners and mountain bikers. The project will engage the Northwest Youth Corps to employ 20 young adults for 17 weeks in trail stewardship, allowing them to gain experience for possible jobs in the natural resource field in the future. Other projects supported by the REI investment include work in California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington. For a full list of projects, click here. Editor's note: To download an REI stewardship b-roll package, click here. About the REI Co-op REI is a specialty outdoor retailer, headquartered near Seattle. The nation's largest consumer co-op, REI is a growing community of more than 18 million members who expect and love the best quality gear, inspiring expert classes and trips, and outstanding customer service. REI has 154 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia. If you can't visit a store, you can shop at REI.com, REI Outlet or the free REI shopping app. REI isn't just about gear. You can take the trip of a lifetime with REI Adventures, a global leader in active adventure travel that runs more than 170 custom-designed itineraries worldwide. The REI Outdoor School is run by professionally-trained, expert-instructors who teach beginner-to advanced-level courses about a wide range of activities. To build on the infrastructure that makes life outside possible, REI invests millions annually in hundreds of local and national nonprofits that create access toand stewardthe outdoor places that inspire us all. About the National Forest Foundation The National Forest Foundation promotes the enhancement and public enjoyment of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. By directly engaging Americans and leveraging private and public funding, the NFF improves forest health and Americans' outdoor experiences. The NFF's programs inform millions of Americans about the importance of these treasured landscapes. Each year, the NFF restores fish and wildlife habitat, plants trees in areas affected by fires, insects and disease, improves recreational opportunities, and enables communities to steward their National Forests and Grasslands. On Earth Day (2018) the NFF announced a five-year goal of planting 50 million trees on National Forests. Learn more at www.nationalforests.org. *This year, REI will donate $0.10 per REI Co-op Mastercard purchase transaction made to the National Forest Foundation, up to $1 million. Non-Purchase transactions, including cash advances, convenience checks, balance transfers, and other advance transactions as defined in the Cardmember Agreement, as well as interest charges and fees, do not qualify. Transactions posted in late December of the current year may be applied in the following year. REI may change the benefit or named charity in future years. REI is solely responsible for making the donation. The creditor and issuer of the REI Co-op Mastercard is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated. 2019 U.S. Bank 2019 Recreational Equipment Incorporated. All rights reserved. SOURCE REI Co-op Related Links http://www.rei.com BROOKLYN, N.Y., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The action of a gene called ATDC is required for the development of pancreatic cancer, a new study finds. The work builds on the theory that many cancers arise when adult cells to resupply cells lost to injury and inflammation switch back into more "primitive," high-growth cell types, like those that drive fetal development. When this reversion happens in the presence of other genetic mistakes, a repair process meant to start and stop quickly continues unchecked. New details of this cancer-causing switch to primitive cells, and of the role of ATDC in pancreatic cancer formation, are revealed in a study of mice and human patient samples published online May 2 in the journal Genes & Development. Led by researchers from NYU School of Medicine and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the study found that ATDC must be active if pancreatic cells, when injured, are to re-acquire primitive stem-cell qualities and undergo the early steps that lead to the development of pancreatic cancer. "We found that deleting the ATDC gene in pancreatic cells resulted in one of the most profound blocks of tumor formation ever observed in a well-known mice model engineered to develop pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, or PDA, which faithfully mimics the human disease," says corresponding author Diane Simeone, MD, director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center. "We thought the deletion would slow cancer growth, not completely prevent it." The search for better treatment in these cases is especially urgent, says Simeone, given that PDA has the worst prognosis of any major malignancy and is on track to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death by 2030. Healing Gone Awry The study focused on acinar cells in the pancreas that secrete digestive enzymes through a network of partnering ducts into the small intestine. These same digestive enzymes can subject this tissue to low levels of damage. In response, acinar cells have evolved to readily switch back into stem cell types resembling their high-growth ancestors, a feature that they share with pancreatic duct cells. This ability to regenerate comes at a price, researchers say, because such cells are prone to become cancerous when they also acquire random DNA changes, including those in the gene KRAS that are known to drive aggressive growth in more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancers. Specifically, stressed acinar cells are known to temporarily undergo acinar-to-ductal metaplasia or ADM, a step toward a primitive cell type to resupply cells. This sets the stage for a second shift into pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN), in which cells no longer multiply under normal controls. In the current study, the researchers found that mutant KRAS and other genetic abnormalities induced aggressive pancreatic cancer in 100 percent of study mice when the ATDC gene was present, but in none of the same cancer-prone mice lacking the gene. Neither did acinar cells in the ATDC "knock-out" mice undergo ADM or transformation to PanIN. To get a better look at the early steps in pancreatic cancer formation, the research team artificially caused pancreatitis in mice by treating them with cerulein, a signaling protein fragment that damages pancreatic tissue. ATDC gene expression did not go up right after the damage, but increased a few days later and in line with the timeframe required for acinar cells to reprogram genetically into their ductal cell forebears. Further experiments confirmed that the expression of ATDC triggers beta-catenin, a cell-signaling protein that, upon receiving the right trigger, activates genes that include SOX9. Earlier studies linked SOX9 to the development of ductal stem cells and to the aggressive growth seen in PDA. Consistent with this work, the current study found that the inability of cells lacking ATDC to become cancerous was due to their inability to induce SOX9 expression. The authors also examined ATDC expression in ADM lesions from 12 samples of human pancreatic tissue. The team found it to be more active in human ADM lesions along with beta-catenin and SOX9, and its activation increased further during the transition of ADM into human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The findings, says Simeone, identify ATDC, beta catenin, SOX9, and their signaling partners as potential targets in the design of new treatment approaches and prevention strategies for pancreatic cancer. Along with Simeone, study authors from NYU School of Medicine were first author Lidong Wang, Andrea Zamperone, Daniel Diolaiti, and Vinee Purohit from the Department of Surgery and Perlmutter Cancer Center; Christina Hadju in the Department of Pathology, Dafna Bar-Sagi in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; and Igor Dolgalev of the Bioinformatics Core of the Perlmutter Cancer Center. Study authors from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, were Mats Ljungman and Huibin Yang of the Department of Radiation Oncology; Howard Crawford and Phillip Palmbos in the Department of Internal Medicine; Christopher Halbrook and Ethan Abel in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology; and Marina Pasca di Magliano in the Department of Surgery. Also a study author was Andrew Rhim in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The work was supported by funding from National Cancer Institute grants 2R01CA131045 and 1R01CA174836, and by the Sky Foundation. CONTACT: Gregory Williams 212-404-3500 [email protected] SOURCE NYU Langone Health Related Links http://www.med.nyu.edu THE HAGUE, Netherlands, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) ("RDS" or the "Company") today announced an interim dividend in respect of the first quarter of 2019 of US$0.47 per A ordinary share ("A Share") and B ordinary share ("B Share"), equal to the US dollar dividend for the same quarter last year. Details relating to the first quarter 2019 interim dividend It is expected that cash dividends on the B Shares will be paid via the Dividend Access Mechanism from UK-sourced income of the Shell group. Per ordinary share Q1 2019 RDS A Shares (US$) 0.47 RDS B Shares (US$) 0.47 Cash dividends on A Shares will be paid, by default, in euro, although holders of A Shares will be able to elect to receive dividends in pounds sterling. Cash dividends on B Shares will be paid, by default, in pounds sterling, although holders of B Shares will be able to elect to receive dividends in euro. The pounds sterling and euro equivalent dividend payments will be announced on June 11, 2019. Per ADS Q1 2019 RDS A ADSs (US$) 0.94 RDS B ADSs (US$) 0.94 Cash dividends on American Depository Shares ("ADSs") will be paid in US dollars. ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols RDS.A and RDS.B. Each ADS represents two ordinary shares, two A Shares in the case of RDS.A or two B Shares in the case of RDS.B. ADSs are evidenced by an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) certificate. In many cases the terms ADR and ADS are used interchangeably. Dividend timetable for the first quarter 2019 interim dividend Announcement date May 2, 2019 Ex-dividend date May 16, 2019 Record date May 17, 2019 Closing date for currency election (see Note below) June 3, 2019 Pounds sterling and euro equivalents announcement date June 11, 2019 Payment date June 24, 2019 Note A different currency election date may apply to shareholders holding shares in a securities account with a bank or financial institution ultimately holding through Euroclear Nederland. This may also apply to other shareholders who do not hold their shares either directly on the Register of Members or in the corporate sponsored nominee arrangement. Shareholders can contact their broker, financial intermediary, bank or financial institution for the election deadline that applies. Taxation - cash dividends Cash dividends on A Shares will be subject to the deduction of Dutch dividend withholding tax at the rate of 15%, which may be reduced in certain circumstances. Non-Dutch resident shareholders, depending on their particular circumstances, may be entitled to a full or partial refund of Dutch dividend withholding tax. If you are uncertain as to the tax treatment of any dividends you should consult your tax advisor. Dividend Reinvestment Plans Equiniti Financial Services Limited, part of the same group of companies as the Company's Registrar, Equiniti Limited, operates a Dividend Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") which enables RDS shareholders to elect to have their dividend payments used to purchase RDS shares of the same class as those already held by them. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. also operate dividend reinvestment options and shareholders interested in these options should contact the relevant provider. More information can be found at http://www.shell.com/drip. To be eligible for the next dividend, shareholders must make a valid dividend reinvestment election before the published date for the close of elections. Royal Dutch Shell plc The Hague, May 2, 2019 Contacts: - Investor Relations: Europe + 31(0)70-377-4540; North America +1-832-337-2034 - Media: International +44(0)207-934-5550; Americas +1-832-337-355 CAUTIONARY NOTE The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations", respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest. This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "aim", "ambition', ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, May 2, 2019. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. This announcement may contain references to Shell's website. These references are for the readers' convenience only. Shell is not incorporating by reference any information posted on www.shell.com. We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. LEI number of Royal Dutch Shell plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70 Classification: Additional regulated information required to be disclosed under the laws of a Member State SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc Related Links http://www.shell.com The episode also takes aim on an issue that has Rieckhoff and countless other Americans angry nationwide: electric scooters--which have now invaded over 125 American cities. Finally, Angry Americans explores the urgent story of Austin Tice, an American journalist and Marine veteran who has been held captive in Syria for over 6 years. This episode is a defining installment of the new podcast that was featured in Variety Magazine and is making waves nationwide. It's about much more than just being angry. It's an innovative show that matters. It's examining the great American experiment, and takes listeners behind the scenes of American politics and empowers them with information for their next conversation at work, on Twitter, or at the dinner table. Angry Americans is a show that delivers hope and leaves listeners inspired. Behind-the-scenes videos from the show and past episodes featuring Peter Berg, Willie Geist, Ron Perlman are available at the show website: www. AngryAmericans.us Angry Americans is connecting, uniting and empowering Americans nationwide and powered by Righteous Media . SOURCE Righteous Media Related Links https://www.righteous.us NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Small Business Week, Screenvision Media, a national leader in cinema advertising, announced today that it will host its nationwide "Corner Stories" promotion for the second year in a row. "Corner Stories," a feature in Screenvision's Front + Center cinema preshow, was created by Screenvision Media's in-house creative team, and is part of Screenvision Media's ongoing efforts to champion small businesses and highlight their compelling stories on the big screen. Tomorrow, May 3 through May 27, small businesses across the nation are invited to enter for the chance to be featured in the next edition of "Corner Stories." To be considered, entrants must submit their company story, showcasing how their small business is as unique, captivating and enthralling as the feature films that moviegoers have come to enjoy at their local theatres. Based largely on the company story, five finalists will be chosen to appear in a "Corner Stories" promotional campaign that will air across Screenvision Media's network in July and encourage consumer feedback on social media. A Grand Prize Winner will then be selected to star in the "Corner Stories" feature airing across Screenvision Media theatres in September. The winner will also be featured on Screenvision Media's Corner Stories podcast, hosted by Greg Grunberg, actor, podcast host and entrepreneur. Grunberg will once again be heading up the judging panel. "I was very impressed by all of the small businesses we reviewed during last year's 'Corner Stories' contest," said Grunberg. "I am looking forward to working with Screenvision once again to identify even more outstanding local businesses, and cannot wait to showcase them on the national stage. I don't know if I'm more excited about being in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker or discovering the new group of small businesses competing in this year's Corner Stories." This second installment of the "Corner Stories" program continues to build on the success of last year's contest and on Screenvision Media's ongoing commitment to supporting small businesses. In April, a new preshow segment, "Mini Corner Stories," began running across the network, further showcasing small business stories like that of Michigan's Pop! Designs & Creations, the balloon artist behind the viral sensation Conrad the Unicorn. As a new addition to this year's initiative, moviegoers will now be a part of the action, and will help select the ultimate winner. As part of Screenvision Media's Front + Center preshow, a new promo will air inviting audience members to vote for their favorite of the five finalist businesses on Twitter and Instagram. The audience vote accounts for 10 percent of the final scoring. "After the success of our first 'Corner Stories' program last year, we are thrilled to bring the platform back to showcase and support even more small businesses on the big screen," said Gerald Griffin, EVP, Local and Regional Sales, Screenvision Media. "We know the effect small businesses have on their communities, and are proud to expand that impact by sharing these riveting, cinematic stories with the entire country in our preshow. We are especially excited to bring the audience into the action this year, giving them the chance to help choose which business deserves to be spotlighted nationwide." Last year's "Corner Stories" winner, Anthony's Cheesecake from Bloomfield, N.J., is a testament to the impact of local businesses and the power of cinema advertising. "We're incredibly proud of our commitment to our local New Jersey community, and it was an amazing feeling to be able to share our story with audiences all over the country," said Anthony Lauro, co-owner of Anthony's Cheesecake. "We already had strong support from the members of our community, but the response from people all over the country has been overwhelming. We love what we do, and we are so grateful that we were able to share that." The submission period begins tomorrow, May 3, and closes May 27. Small business owners can nominate their business by submitting their information and unique story at https://SVCornerStories.com. Media Contact: Shannon Barry ICF Next for Screenvision Media 212.656.9163 [email protected] ABOUT SCREENVISION MEDIA Headquartered in New York, N.Y., Screenvision Media is a national leader in cinema advertising, offering on-screen advertising, in-lobby promotions and integrated marketing programs to national, regional and local advertisers, and providing comprehensive cinema advertising representation services to top-tier theatrical exhibitors presenting the highest-quality movie-going experiences. The Screenvision Media cinema advertising network comprises over 15,000 screens in 2,300+ theatre locations across all 50 states and 94% of DMAs nationwide; delivering through more than 150 theatrical circuits, including 8 of the top 10 exhibitor companies. For more information: https://screenvisionmedia.com/ SOURCE Screenvision Media Related Links http://www.screenvision.com CHICAGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Segall Bryant & Hamill (SBH) announced today that it is now offering the Workplace Equality Fund (WEQRX) within its mutual fund lineup. The Fund provides investors with the opportunity to own publicly traded shares of corporations doing business in the U.S. with progressive workplace policies that treat all employees equally-regardless of sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, religion and other preferences. "The Workplace Equality Fund is a timely new offering that allows all investors to access companies that embrace equality principles as a foundation of their human talent strategy," said John Roberts, a portfolio manager for the Fund. Companies included in the Workplace Equality Fund exhibit strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices and are included in SBH's Workplace Equality Screen. The Fund's portfolio management team considers a candidate company's ESG and workplace equality practices, in addition to its inclusionary hiring and promotion policies, because it believes these traits can enhance a company's growth trajectory, long-term financial success and ability to pay a dividend. "We are excited to offer this Fund to investors, as it reflects the values of equality, diversity and inclusion that we espouse here at SBH," said Phil Hildebrandt, the firm's CEO. "Based on SBH's experience managing these types of portfolios over the past several decades, we know this approach is desired by many of our clients and advisor relationships." The Fund is available in both retail (WEQRX) and institutional (WEQIX) share classes. For more information, visit sbhfunds.com. About Segall Bryant & Hamill Segall Bryant & Hamill (SBH) is an independent investment firm headquartered in Chicago, with offices in Denver, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Naples, Florida. The firm was established in 1994 and had over $19 billion in assets under management as of 3/31/19. SBH offers a range of investment strategies and customized solutions for institutional and wealth management clients through investment vehicles including mutual funds and separate accounts. These strategies include domestic, international, and global equity, fixed income, and alternatives. For more information, please visit www.sbhic.com and www.sbhfunds.com. An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other important information about the Fund, please call (800) 392-2673 or visit www.sbhfunds.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. The Segall Bryant & Hamill Workplace Equality Fund seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Segall Bryant & Hamill Workplace Equality Fund is distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service by Segall Bryant & Hamill. SOURCE Segall Bryant & Hamill Related Links www.sbhic.com MECHANICSBURG, Pa., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Select Medical Holdings Corporation ("Select Medical") (NYSE: SEM) today announced results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2019. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, net operating revenues increased 5.7% to $1,324.6 million, compared to $1,253.0 million for the same quarter, prior year. Income from operations increased 2.9% to $111.7 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $108.6 million for the same quarter, prior year. Net income increased 21.3% to $53.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $44.0 million for the same quarter, prior year. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, net income included a pre-tax non-operating gain of $6.5 million. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, net income included pre-tax losses on early retirement of debt of $10.3 million, a pre-tax non-operating gain of $0.4 million, and pre-tax U.S. HealthWorks acquisition costs of $2.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA increased 4.2% to $170.1 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $163.2 million for the same quarter, prior year. Earnings per common share increased to $0.30 on a fully diluted basis for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $0.25 for the same quarter, prior year. Adjusted earnings per common share was $0.27 on a fully diluted basis for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $0.29 for the same quarter, prior year. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, adjusted earnings per common share excluded the non-operating gain and its related tax effects. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, adjusted earnings per common share excluded the losses on early retirement of debt, non-operating gain, U.S. HealthWorks acquisition costs, and their related tax effects. The definition of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBITDA are presented in table VI of this release. A reconciliation of earnings per common share to adjusted earnings per common share is presented in table VII of this release. Company Overview Select Medical is one of the largest operators of critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and occupational health centers in the United States based on the number of facilities. Our reportable segments include the critical illness recovery hospital segment, the rehabilitation hospital segment, the outpatient rehabilitation segment, and the Concentra segment. As of March 31, 2019, Select Medical operated 97 critical illness recovery hospitals in 28 states, 27 rehabilitation hospitals in 11 states, and 1,684 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Select Medical's joint venture subsidiary Concentra operated 525 occupational health centers in 41 states. Concentra also provides contract services at employer worksites and Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinics. At March 31, 2019, Select Medical had operations in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Information about Select Medical is available at www.selectmedical.com . Critical Illness Recovery Hospital Segment For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, net operating revenues for the critical illness recovery hospital segment were $462.2 million, compared to $464.7 million for the same quarter, prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the critical illness recovery hospital segment was $73.0 million for both the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 and the same quarter, prior year. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the critical illness recovery hospital segment was 15.8% for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to 15.7% for the same quarter, prior year. Certain critical illness recovery hospital key statistics are presented in table V of this release for both the first quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. Rehabilitation Hospital Segment For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, net operating revenues for the rehabilitation hospital segment increased 8.1% to $189.0 million, compared to $174.8 million for the same quarter, prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the rehabilitation hospital segment was $25.8 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $26.8 million for the same quarter, prior year. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the rehabilitation hospital segment was 13.7% for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to 15.3% for the same quarter, prior year. The Adjusted EBITDA results for the rehabilitation hospital segment include start-up losses of approximately $2.8 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to approximately $0.8 million of start-up losses for the same quarter, prior year. Certain rehabilitation hospital key statistics are presented in table V of this release for both the first quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. Outpatient Rehabilitation Segment For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, net operating revenues for the outpatient rehabilitation segment increased 7.7% to $277.2 million, compared to $257.4 million for the same quarter, prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the outpatient rehabilitation segment was $29.0 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $30.5 million for the same quarter, prior year. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the outpatient rehabilitation segment was 10.5% for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to 11.9% for the same quarter, prior year. Certain outpatient rehabilitation key statistics are presented in table V of this release for both the first quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. Concentra Segment The financial results for the Concentra segment include U.S. HealthWorks beginning February 1, 2018. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, net operating revenues for the Concentra segment increased 11.3% to $396.3 million, compared to $356.1 million for the same quarter, prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the Concentra segment increased 14.6% to $66.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to $57.8 million for the same quarter, prior year. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the Concentra segment was 16.7% for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, compared to 16.2% for the same quarter, prior year. Certain Concentra key statistics are presented in table V of this release for both the first quarters ended March 31, 2019 and 2018. Stock Repurchase Program Select Medical did not repurchase shares under its authorized $500.0 million stock repurchase program during the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. The program has been extended until December 31, 2019, and will remain in effect until then, unless further extended or earlier terminated by the board of directors. Since the inception of the program through March 31, 2019, Select Medical has repurchased 35,924,128 shares at a cost of approximately $314.7 million, or $8.76 per share, which includes transaction costs. Business Outlook Select Medical reaffirms its 2019 business outlook, provided most recently in its February 21, 2019 press release, for net operating revenues and Adjusted EBITDA. Select Medical continues to expect consolidated net operating revenues for the full year 2019 to be in the range of $5.2 billion to $5.4 billion. Select Medical continues to expect Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2019 to be in the range of $660.0 million to $700.0 million. Select Medical is adjusting its 2019 business outlook for fully diluted earnings per common share to include the first quarter 2019 non-operating gain and its related tax effects. Select Medical now expects fully diluted earnings per common share for the full year 2019 to be in the range of $1.00 to $1.16. Select Medical expects adjusted earnings per common share to be in the range of $0.97 to $1.13. Adjusted earnings per common share excludes the non-operating gain and its related tax effects. Conference Call Select Medical will host a conference call regarding its first quarter results, as well as its business outlook, on Friday, May 3, 2019, at 9:00am ET. The domestic dial in number for the call is 1-866-440-2669. The international dial in number is 1-409-220-9844. The conference ID for the call is 6581679. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously and can be accessed at Select Medical Holdings Corporation's website www.selectmedicalholdings.com . For those unable to participate in the conference call, a replay will be available until 11:59pm ET, May 11, 2019. The replay number is 1-855-859-2056 (domestic) or 1-404-537-3406 (international). The conference ID for the replay will be 6581679. The replay can also be accessed at Select Medical Holdings Corporation's website, www.selectmedicalholdings.com . * * * * * Certain statements contained herein that are not descriptions of historical facts are "forward-looking" statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Because such statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to factors including the following: changes in government reimbursement for our services and/or new payment policies may result in a reduction in net operating revenues, an increase in costs, and a reduction in profitability; the failure of our Medicare-certified long term care hospitals or inpatient rehabilitation facilities to maintain their Medicare certifications may cause our net operating revenues and profitability to decline; the failure of our Medicare-certified long term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities operated as "hospitals within hospitals" to qualify as hospitals separate from their host hospitals may cause our net operating revenues and profitability to decline; a government investigation or assertion that we have violated applicable regulations may result in sanctions or reputational harm and increased costs; acquisitions or joint ventures may prove difficult or unsuccessful, use significant resources or expose us to unforeseen liabilities; our plans and expectations related to our acquisitions, including the acquisition of U.S. HealthWorks by Concentra, and our ability to realize anticipated synergies; private third-party payors for our services may adopt payment policies that could limit our future net operating revenues and profitability; the failure to maintain established relationships with the physicians in the areas we serve could reduce our net operating revenues and profitability; shortages in qualified nurses, therapists, physicians, or other licensed providers could increase our operating costs significantly or limit our ability to staff our facilities; competition may limit our ability to grow and result in a decrease in our net operating revenues and profitability; the loss of key members of our management team could significantly disrupt our operations; the effect of claims asserted against us could subject us to substantial uninsured liabilities; a security breach of our or our third-party vendors' information technology systems may subject us to potential legal and reputational harm and may result in a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act; and other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" of the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and of the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 . Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the SEC, we are under no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of any new information, future events, or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results or performance. Investor inquiries: Joel T. Veit Senior Vice President and Treasurer 717-972-1100 [email protected] I. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 (In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited) 2018 2019 % Change Net operating revenues $ 1,252,964 $ 1,324,631 5.7 % Costs and expenses: Cost of services 1,065,813 1,132,092 6.2 General and administrative 31,782 28,677 (9.8) Depreciation and amortization 46,771 52,138 11.5 Income from operations 108,598 111,724 2.9 Loss on early retirement of debt (10,255) N/M Equity in earnings of unconsolidated subsidiaries 4,697 4,366 (7.0) Non-operating gain 399 6,532 N/M Interest expense (47,163) (50,811) 7.7 Income before income taxes 56,276 71,811 27.6 Income tax expense 12,294 18,467 50.2 Net income 43,982 53,344 21.3 Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests 10,243 12,510 22.1 Net income attributable to Select Medical $ 33,739 $ 40,834 21.0 % Diluted earnings per common share:(1) $ 0.25 $ 0.30 (1) Refer to table II for calculation of earnings per common share. N/M Not Meaningful II. Earnings per Share For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 (In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited) The Company's capital structure includes common stock and unvested restricted stock awards. To compute earnings per share ("EPS"), the Company applies the two-class method because the Company's unvested restricted stock awards are participating securities which are entitled to participate equally with the Company's common stock in undistributed earnings. The following table sets forth the net income attributable to the Company, its common shares outstanding, and its participating securities outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2019: Diluted EPS Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2019 Net income $ 43,982 $ 53,344 Less: net income attributable to non-controlling interests 10,243 12,510 Net income attributable to the Company 33,739 40,834 Less: net income attributable to participating securities 1,110 1,343 Net income attributable to common shares $ 32,629 $ 39,491 The following tables set forth the computation of EPS under the two-class method for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2019: Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2019 Net Income Allocation Shares(1) Diluted EPS Net Income Allocation Shares(1) Diluted EPS Common shares $ 32,629 129,816 $ 0.25 39,491 130,861 $ 0.30 Participating securities 1,110 4,416 $ 0.25 1,343 4,449 $ 0.30 Total Company $ 33,739 $ 40,834 (1) Represents the weighted average share count outstanding during the period. III. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (In thousands, unaudited) December 31, 2018 March 31, 2019 Assets Current Assets: Cash $ 175,178 $ 147,815 Accounts receivable 706,676 779,861 Other current assets 110,670 125,209 Total Current Assets 992,524 1,052,885 Operating lease right-of-use assets 982,616 Property and equipment, net 979,810 972,807 Goodwill 3,320,726 3,323,749 Identifiable intangible assets, net 437,693 426,428 Other assets 233,512 263,007 Total Assets $ 5,964,265 $ 7,021,492 Liabilities and Equity Current Liabilities: Payables and accruals $ 661,321 $ 667,463 Current operating lease liabilities 205,145 Current portion of long-term debt and notes payable 43,865 12,329 Total Current Liabilities 705,186 884,937 Non-current operating lease liabilities 820,007 Long-term debt, net of current portion 3,249,516 3,299,103 Non-current deferred tax liability 153,895 153,863 Other non-current liabilities 158,940 105,791 Total Liabilities 4,267,537 5,263,701 Redeemable non-controlling interests 780,488 833,241 Total equity 916,240 924,550 Total Liabilities and Equity $ 5,964,265 $ 7,021,492 IV. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 (In thousands, unaudited) 2018 2019 Operating activities Net income $ 43,982 $ 53,344 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Distributions from unconsolidated subsidiaries 1,364 7,872 Depreciation and amortization 46,771 52,138 Provision for bad debts 85 1,567 Equity in earnings of unconsolidated subsidiaries (4,697) (4,366) Loss on extinguishment of debt 412 Gain on sale of assets and businesses (513) (6,233) Stock compensation expense 4,927 6,255 Amortization of debt discount, premium and issuance costs 3,136 3,231 Deferred income taxes 78 (81) Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects of business combinations: Accounts receivable (45,811) (74,752) Other current assets (8,945) (7,523) Other assets 16,633 57,319 Accounts payable and accrued expenses (18,533) (64,839) Income taxes 11,838 17,830 Net cash provided by operating activities 50,727 41,762 Investing activities Business combinations, net of cash acquired (515,359) (6,120) Purchases of property and equipment (39,617) (49,073) Investment in businesses (1,754) (27,608) Proceeds from sale of assets and businesses 691 2 Net cash used in investing activities (556,039) (82,799) Financing activities Borrowings on revolving facilities 165,000 360,000 Payments on revolving facilities (150,000) (220,000) Proceeds from term loans 779,904 Payments on term loans (2,875) (132,685) Revolving facility debt issuance costs (1,333) Borrowings of other debt 11,600 8,290 Principal payments on other debt (5,909) (6,155) Repurchase of common stock (122) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 738 Increase (decrease) in overdrafts (7,916) 6,050 Proceeds from issuance of non-controlling interests 3,425 Distributions to and purchases of non-controlling interests (286,641) (5,251) Net cash provided by financing activities 502,446 13,674 Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (2,866) (27,363) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 122,549 175,178 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 119,683 $ 147,815 Supplemental information Cash paid for interest $ 35,233 $ 37,199 Cash paid for taxes 376 718 Non-cash equity exchange for acquisition of U.S. HealthWorks 238,000 V. Key Statistics For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 (unaudited) 2018 2019 % Change Critical Illness Recovery Hospital Number of hospitals end of period(a) 99 97 Net operating revenues (,000) $ 464,676 $ 462,159 (0.5) % Number of patient days(b) 265,840 258,129 (2.9) % Number of admissions(b) 9,833 9,456 (3.8) % Net revenue per patient day(b)(c) $ 1,730 $ 1,759 1.7 % Adjusted EBITDA (,000) $ 72,972 $ 72,998 0.0 % Adjusted EBITDA margin 15.7 % 15.8 % Rehabilitation Hospital Number of hospitals end of period(a) 24 27 Net operating revenues (,000) $ 174,774 $ 188,954 8.1 % Number of patient days(b) 76,890 82,816 7.7 % Number of admissions(b) 5,394 5,836 8.2 % Net revenue per patient day(b)(c) $ 1,623 $ 1,633 0.6 % Adjusted EBITDA (,000) $ 26,776 $ 25,797 (3.7) % Adjusted EBITDA margin 15.3 % 13.7 % Outpatient Rehabilitation Number of clinics end of period(a) 1,617 1,684 Net operating revenues (,000) $ 257,381 $ 277,197 7.7 % Number of visits(b) 2,067,465 2,054,483 (0.6) % Revenue per visit(b)(d) $ 103 $ 103 0.0 % Adjusted EBITDA (,000) $ 30,525 $ 28,991 (5.0) % Adjusted EBITDA margin 11.9 % 10.5 % Concentra Number of centers end of period(b) 531 525 Net operating revenues (,000) $ 356,116 $ 396,321 11.3 % Number of visits(b) 2,596,059 2,911,607 12.2 % Revenue per visit(b)(d) $ 124 $ 124 0.0 % Adjusted EBITDA (,000) $ 57,797 $ 66,258 14.6 % Adjusted EBITDA margin 16.2 % 16.7 % (a) Includes managed locations. (b) Excludes managed locations. For purposes of our Concentra segment, onsite clinics and community-based outpatient clinics are excluded. (c) Net revenue per patient day is calculated by dividing direct patient service revenues by the total number of patient days. (d) Net revenue per visit is calculated by dividing direct patient service revenue by the total number of visits. For purposes of this computation for our outpatient rehabilitation segment, direct patient service revenue does not include managed clinics. For purposes of this computation for our Concentra segment, direct patient service revenue does not include onsite clinics and community-based outpatient clinics. VI. Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 (In thousands, unaudited) The presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is important to investors because Adjusted EBITDA is commonly used as an analytical indicator of performance by investors within the healthcare industry. Adjusted EBITDA is used to evaluate financial performance and determine resource allocation for each of Select Medical's operating segments. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to, or substitute for, net income, income from operations, cash flows generated by operations, investing or financing activities, or other financial statement data presented in the consolidated financial statements as indicators of financial performance or liquidity. Because Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement determined in accordance with GAAP and is thus susceptible to varying definitions, Adjusted EBITDA as presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table reconciles net income to Adjusted EBITDA for Select Medical. Adjusted EBITDA is used by Select Medical to report its segment performance. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings excluding interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, gain (loss) on early retirement of debt, stock compensation expense, acquisition costs associated with U.S. HealthWorks, non-operating gain (loss), and equity in earnings (losses) of unconsolidated subsidiaries. Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2019 Net income $ 43,982 $ 53,344 Income tax expense 12,294 18,467 Interest expense 47,163 50,811 Non-operating gain (399) (6,532) Equity in earnings of unconsolidated subsidiaries (4,697) (4,366) Loss on early retirement of debt 10,255 Income from operations 108,598 111,724 Stock compensation expense: Included in general and administrative 3,990 4,748 Included in cost of services 937 1,507 Depreciation and amortization 46,771 52,138 U.S. HealthWorks acquisition costs 2,936 Adjusted EBITDA $ 163,232 $ 170,117 Critical illness recovery hospital $ 72,972 $ 72,998 Rehabilitation hospital 26,776 25,797 Outpatient rehabilitation 30,525 28,991 Concentra 57,797 66,258 Other(a) (24,838) (23,927) Adjusted EBITDA $ 163,232 $ 170,117 (a) Other primarily includes general and administrative costs. VII. Reconciliation of Earnings per Common Share to Adjusted Earnings per Common Share For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 (In thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited) Adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share are not measures of financial performance under GAAP. Items excluded from adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Select Medical believes that the presentation of adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share are important to investors because they are reflective of the financial performance of our ongoing operations and provide better comparability of our results of operations between periods. Adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to, or substitutes for, net income, cash flows generated by operations, investing or financing activities, or other financial statement data presented in the consolidated financial statements as indicators of financial performance or liquidity. Because adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share are not measurements determined in accordance with GAAP and are thus susceptible to varying calculations, adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share as presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The following tables reconcile net income attributable to common shares and earnings per common share on a fully diluted basis to adjusted net income attributable to common shares and adjusted earnings per common share on a fully diluted basis. Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Per Share(a) 2019 Per Share(a) Net income attributable to common shares(a) $ 32,629 $ 0.25 $ 39,491 $ 0.30 Adjustments:(b) Loss on early retirement of debt 4,390 0.03 Non-operating gain (284) (0.00) (4,545) (0.03) U.S. HealthWorks acquisition costs 1,017 0.01 Adjusted net income attributable to common shares $ 37,752 $ 0.29 $ 34,946 $ 0.27 (a) Net income attributable to common shares and earnings per common share are calculated based on the diluted weighted average common shares outstanding, as presented in table II. (b) Adjustments to net income attributable to common shares include estimated income tax and non-controlling interest impacts and are calculated based on the diluted weighted average common shares outstanding. VIII. Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA and Earnings per Common Share to Adjusted Earnings per Common Share Reconciliations Business Outlook for the Year Ending December 31, 2019 (In millions, unaudited) The following are reconciliations of full year 2019 Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per common share expectations as computed at the low and high points of the range to the closest comparable GAAP financial measure. Refer to table VI and table VII for a discussion of Select Medical's use of Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per common share in evaluating financial performance. Refer to table VI for the definition of Adjusted EBITDA. Each item presented in the below tables are estimations of full year 2019 expectations. Range Non-GAAP Measure Reconciliation Low High Net income attributable to Select Medical $ 137 $ 158 Net income attributable to non-controlling interests 56 65 Net income 193 223 Income tax expense 66 76 Interest expense 200 200 Equity in earnings of unconsolidated subsidiaries (25) (25) Non-operating gain (7) (7) Income from operations 427 467 Stock compensation expense 27 27 Depreciation and amortization 206 206 Adjusted EBITDA $ 660 $ 700 Range Non-GAAP Measure Reconciliation Low High Diluted earnings per common share $ 1.00 $ 1.16 Adjustments: Non-operating gain (0.03) (0.03) Adjusted earnings per common share $ 0.97 $ 1.13 SOURCE Select Medical Holdings Corporation Related Links http://www.selectmedical.com WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Simply Spiked is excited to announce the launch of Simply Spiked Food & Floral Art Forms at The International Home and Housewares show March 2019 in Chicago. Simply Spiked will now offer an easy and fun, food and floral centerpiece solution to those inspired to create unique party and event decor. Fruit Centerpieces With the goal to inspire people of all ages and skill levels, Simply Spiked offers the opportunity to easily design jaw-dropping food and floral creations. Simply Spiked panels and forms provide a foundation for the creator to place foods or florals onto its spiked surface with ease. These inter-locking reusable panels are made of food- and dishwasher-safe durable plastics and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and forms such as pyramids, cubes, spheres and more. Simply Spiked Forms allow the user to place and design floral and food items, such as fruits, vegetables, candies, doughnut holes, macaroons, etc., on 3D structures to make show-stopping party sculptures. After years of creating food and floral sculptures for weddings, baby showers, birthdays, etc., using foam, toothpicks, glue and other common craft supplies, Simply Spiked founder and creator Carina Wood decided there had to be an easier and less time-consuming way to make these non-reusable centerpieces. After searching YouTube, Pinterest and the internet for a solution, Carina discovered that millions of people were using the same, old-fashioned technique and that a better option did not exist. This was her A-Ha moment Simply Spiked was born. "I have always had a passion for event planning and table decor and I'm so excited to help others create their own vision through Simply Spiked products," said Wood. Simply Spiked Food & Floral Forms are a modern decorating solution with great scalability and a variety of support products, created by Carina Wood in 2018. It is our mission to provide creators of all ages and skill levels the ability to simply and quickly design incredible and edible table decor, sure to impress guests. Simply Spiked is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is the manufacturer and distributor of Simply Spiked Food & Floral Art Forms. For more product information, please refer to www.SimplySpiked.com or contact Jessica Rodgers, Director of Sales & Marketing, at 800.513.9082 or [email protected]. Related Images simply-spiked-food-floral-art-forms.jpg Simply Spiked Food & Floral Art Forms Fruit Centerpieces Related Links Simply Spiked 'How It Works' Simply Spiked Food & Floral Art Forms Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmhpAIhseMQ SOURCE Simply Spiked Related Links http://www.SimplySpiked.com NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Smart Home Security Market: Overview This comprehensive reportanalyzes and forecasts the smart home security market at the global and regional levels.The report provides analysis of the market for the period from 2017 to 2027, wherein 20192027 is the forecast period and 2018 is the base year. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5767800/?utm_source=PRN An in-depth and unbiased market assessment has been made to provide readers with comprehensive and accurate analysis.The report emphasizes all major trends anticipated to be witnessed in the global smart home security market from 2019 to 2027. It also focuses on market drivers, restraining factors, and opportunities for the global market. The study provides a complete perspective about growth of the smart home security market, in terms of value (in US$ Mn), across various geographies including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America. The report includes detailed value chain analysis, which provides an extensive view of the global smart home security market.The Porter's five forces analysis provided in the report helps understand the competition scenario in the market. The study incorporates market attractiveness analysis, wherein type and application segments have been benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and attractiveness. In order to offer complete analysis of the competition scenario in the global smart home security market, attractiveness analysis of the market in every region has been provided in the report. The market overview chapter explains market trends and dynamics that include drivers, restraining factors, and the current and future opportunities for the smart home security market.Market outlook analysis has also been provided in the report. Additionally, the report provides analysis of different business strategies being adopted by leading players operating in the global smart home security market. The market introduction chapter helps in getting an idea of different trends prevalent in the global smart home security market. Global Smart Home Security Market: Scope of Report The study provides a decisive view of the global smart home security market, by segmenting the market in terms of type and application. The report provides a detailed, region-wise segmentation of the smart home security market and sub-categorizes it into various countries, thereby providing valuable insights at micro and macro levels. The report further highlights the competition scenario in the smart home security market, thereby ranking all major players according to their geographical presence and key recent developments.Insights for the smart home security market is a result of extensive primary interviews, secondary research, and in-house expert panel reviews. Market estimates have been analyzed by considering the impact of different economic, political, social, legal, and technological factors. The smart home security market in North America has been segmented into Canada, the U.S., and Rest of North America. Furthermore, the Europe market has been divided into France, Germany, the U.K., and Rest of Europe. The smart home security market in Asia Pacific has been classified into China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia Pacific. Middle East & Africa comprises GCC, South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa. Similarly, South America includes Brazil and Rest of South America. The report provides all strategic information required to understand the global smart home security market. The report also offers insights into different segments of the market in various geographical regions mentioned above. Global Smart Home Security Market: Research Methodology The research methodology is a perfect combination of primary research, secondary research, and expert panel reviews. Secondary research sources include annual reports, company websites, SEC filings, investor presentations, national government documents, internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases, relevant patent and regulatory databases, market reports, government publications, and statistical databases. Primary research involves telephonic interviews, e-mail interactions, and face-to-face interviews for detailed and unbiased review of the smart home security market across geographies.Primary interviews are usually conducted on an ongoing basis with market experts and participants in order to obtain the latest market insights and validate the existing data and analysis. Primary interviews offer new information on important factors such as market trends, market size, competition landscape, and growth trends.These factors help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. Moreover, the data collected from secondary and primary research is discussed and examined by our expert panel. Global Smart Home Security Market: Competition Dynamics The research study includes profiles of leading companies operating in the global smart home security market.Market players have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments. Some of the key players operating in the smart home security market are ADT, Amazon, Honeywell, Ingersoll Rand, and Legrand.Various business strategies are being adopted by leading market players. Companies are focusing on expanding their business by developing strategic partnerships and by offering innovative solutions. The global smart home security market has been segmented as follows: Global Smart Home Security Market, by Type Alarm System Safety & Security System Video Surveillance Access Control Biometric Access Control Non-biometric Access Control Global Smart Home Security Market, by Application Big Villa Apartment Global Smart Home Security Market, by Geography North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America Europe Germany U.K. France Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa South America Brazil Rest of South America Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5767800/?utm_source=PRN About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +1 (718) 213 4904 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com AUSTIN, Texas, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SoftServe, a leading digital authority and consulting company, announces it joined the Confluent Partner Program. Confluent, the enterprise event streaming platform pioneer, designed the program to enable a rapidly growing ecosystem around Apache Kafka and Confluent. It is the largest ecosystem of technology vendors, consulting and system integrators, and authorized training partners offering Kafka-based solutions and services. As a member of the Confluent Partner Program, SoftServe helps its clients leverage the full capabilities of the Confluent Platform real time event streaming, continuous data delivery, moving data efficiently and securely for real-time analyticsto ensure our joint customers can experience a seamless experience with cloud, on-premises, and hybrid systems. SoftServe also has partnerships with leading cloud platforms including Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft Azure. "SoftServe is committed to providing our clients with cutting-edge technologies that will support their data needs," said Todd Lenox, VP, global alliances and partnerships at SoftServe. "As an early adopter of Kafka and now a trusted advisor, we have the in-house expertise to implement event streaming platforms that help businesses respond in real time to every customer event, transaction, and user experiencewhether on-premise or in the cloud." Confluent provides a complete event streaming platform based on Apache Kafka and extends its capabilities with development, connectivity, and stream processing capabilities, as well as management and operations. Members of the Confluent Partner Program have the opportunity to develop robust data connectivity, easily build stream processing applications, and promote solutions to customers worldwide. About SoftServe SoftServe is a digital authority that advises and provides at the cutting-edge of technology. We reveal, transform, accelerate, and optimize the way enterprises and software companies do business. With expertise across healthcare, retail, media, financial services, software, and more, we implement end-to-end solutions to deliver the innovation, quality, and speed that our clients' users expect. SoftServe delivers open innovationfrom generating compelling new ideas, to developing and implementing transformational products and services. Our work and client experience is built on a foundation of empathetic, human-focused experience design that ensures continuity from concept to release. We empower enterprises and software companies to (re)identify differentiation, accelerate solution development, and vigorously compete in today's digital economy. No matter where you are in your journey. Visit our website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter pages. SoftServe Media Contact Paul Jones Senior Manager, Analyst and Public Relations [email protected] 512-796-7358 SOURCE SoftServe Related Links http://www.softserveinc.com JACKSON, Wyo., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With a major win in a multimillion-dollar breach of contract dispute, attorney Jason A. Neville has extraordinary momentum as the newest partner at The Spence Law Firm. A Wyoming state district court recently awarded Mr. Neville's client, APMTG Helium, LLC, more than $35.19 million following a two-week breach of contract trial related to non-delivery of helium. APMTG prevailed against defendants Denbury Onshore, LLC and Denbury Resources, Inc. after alleging non-delivery of helium volumes under a helium supply contract. APMTG was represented at trial by Mr. Neville and co-counsel Amy M. Iberlin of Williams Porter, Day & Neville, P.C. Mr. Neville, of The Spence Law Firm's Casper office, said, "I am very pleased with the trial result. My client was being pushed around by big oil. But they wouldn't stand for it and fought back." About joining The Spence Law Firm, Jason said, "I am so happy and proud to be a part of this firm with its storied legacy of fighting for people against the powerful." The case is APMTG Helium, LLC vs. Denbury Onshore, LLC, and Denbury Resources Inc., Civil No. 8272 in the District Court of the Ninth Judicial District, Sublette County, Wyoming. Spence Partner Mel Orchard said, "Jason and his co-counsel worked hard and we're very proud of their win. This result in such a complicated big damages case is one of the many reasons we are excited about Jason joining our team of trial lawyers. We are proud he is with us and look forward fighting alongside him on behalf of our clients." Mr. Neville's varied trial experience spans complex medical negligence, carbon monoxide injuries, insurance bad faith, oil field accidents, traumatic brain injuries, and high-stakes corporate disputes. He continues to accept select corporate cases on behalf of small companies unfairly stifled and bullied by big business. CONTACT: Tyson E. Logan, The Spence Law Firm, Casper, Wyo., (844) 447-5497, www.spencelawyers.com. SOURCE The Spence Law Firm, LLC Related Links http://www.spencelawyers.com FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Transworld Business Advisors has announced that Spraymation, Inc. Fort Lauderdale, Florida has been acquired by Spraymation Development Corporation, a newly formed entity headed by Grant Fitzwilliam, CEO, Michael Moran, Vice President, and Jim McMillen, Vice President. Spraymation creates the world's leading industrial fluid dispensing equipment. The end consumer products range from the glue applied to cereal boxes, to the perfume sprayed inside diapers, to the silicone used to lubricate the inside of syringes, to the paint coatings applied to cars, among many others. Spraymation was founded in New Jersey in 1958, by Eric H. Cocks, later moving its headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1978, ranking it among Broward County's oldest continuously owned and operated family businesses. Over the course of its history, the company sold over $250 MM of products across 66 countries and 6 continents. The founder continued to operate the company until his death in 2018, at the age of 98. The company transition to new ownership was led by his grandson, James S. Cocks. The Honorable Jack Seiler, retired Mayor of Fort Lauderdale and board member of Spraymation, said: "Eric Cocks successfully established, built, and sustained an incredible family business that provided prosperity, support and pride to generations of employees and executives. Eric always put the employees and their families first, and I know that he would be extremely proud of his grandson's management, transition, and eventual sale that will provide continued employment for the workforce. James Cocks followed in his grandfather's footsteps and maintained his vision." The sale was arranged by Tom Jones, Sr. Vice President of Transworld Business Advisors, Fort Lauderdale. Transworld specializes in the sale of small to mid-sized, privately held businesses throughout the United States. About Transworld Business Advisors Transworld Business Advisors is the premier business brokerage firm and now a worldwide franchisor. Established in 1979, the has over 200 offices throughout the USA. The company specializes in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, distribution, service, technology, and retail businesses. Currently, the company boasts a staff of 500 agents and more than 5000 business listings, making it the largest brokerage firms in the country. For more information, visit the web site at www.tworld.com . SOURCE Transworld Business Advisors Related Links http://www.tworld.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SPX FLOW, Inc. (NYSE: FLOW) a leading provider of process solutions and flow control technologies, today reported results for the quarter ended March 30, 2019 and reaffirmed its previously announced 2019 full year adjusted guidance. "Over the past few years we have made great progress on our journey to transform SPX FLOW into a high performing operating enterprise and I'm proud of our teams across the enterprise for their efforts on this front. Our global team is committed to establishing a winning culture and aligned to the key initiatives we are emphasizing to drive a higher quality of revenue and a world class customer experience. Our first quarter results exceeded our guidance on strong operating performance and reflect continued progress on our journey as we delivered 25% growth in EBITDA, 70 points of operating margin expansion and 5% organic revenue growth," said Marc Michael, President and CEO. "On the order front, we experienced a slow start to the year, particularly for orders tied to customer capital spending decisions. Encouragingly, we saw a pick-up in orders across the majority of our business during March and quoting activity is healthy to start the second quarter. Importantly, we continue to execute our product line strategy to drive a higher quality of revenue, expand gross margins and remain disciplined and selective on large orders. As a result, the quality of our backlog continues to improve. The underlying composition of our Q1 2019 orders reflects this dynamic as 50% of total orders were in our aggressive growth product lines, in-line with our expectations. Sequentially, orders in our aggressive growth category grew 3% with good momentum exiting the quarter," said Michael. Michael concluded, "For the full year, we reaffirmed our guidance for adjusted EPS in the range of $2.40 to $2.75, adjusted EBITDA between $245 and $265 million and free cash flow between $105 and $125 million. I am pleased with our operational performance in the first quarter and I would like to thank all of our employees around the globe who contributed to the positive results. We remain committed to delivering an enhanced customer experience, improved financial performance and an increased shareholder value." First Quarter 2019 Consolidated Results $ millions; except per share data Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Variance Organic Variance Backlog $ 917.4 $ 1,050.8 (12.7) % (6.7) % Orders 459.4 509.0 (9.7) % (5.5) % Revenues(1) 491.1 490.3 0.2 % 4.6 % Operating income 36.8 33.2 10.8 % Margin % 7.5 % 6.8 % 70bps Net income 19.5 15.5 25.8 % EPS $ 0.46 $ 0.36 27.8 % EBITDA* $ 54.7 $ 43.9 24.6 % Operating Cash Flow 21.8 15.6 Free Cash Flow* 14.9 10.4 Note: The commentary below is compared to the prior year period. Backlog decreased (6.7)% organically, with the decrease primarily due to a reduction in dry dairy systems projects in the Food and Beverage segment, consistent with the company's focus to reduce its exposure to large projects in that market. To a lesser extent, backlog declined organically in the Power and Energy segment due to timing of OE orders for pumps. Partially offsetting these declines was an organic increase in Industrial backlog. Orders declined (5.5)% organically, primarily due to a reduction in OE and aftermarket orders for valves and pumps in the Power and Energy segment and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in components, aftermarket and systems orders in the Food and Beverage segment. Partially offsetting these declines was an organic increase in orders in the Industrial segment for mixers, heat exchangers and hydraulic tools. Revenues grew 4.6% organically, primarily driven by an increase in systems and component revenue in the Food and Beverage segment and, to a slightly lesser extent, increased shipments of mixers, dehydration equipment and hydraulic tools in the Industrial segment. Aftermarket revenues grew modestly on a consolidated basis. Operating income was $36.8 million , or 7.5% of revenues, an increase of $3.6 million , or 70 points. The increase in income and margin was primarily driven by the organic revenue growth described above. Additionally, the company recorded $5.0 million of restructuring charges, as compared to $2.6 million in the prior-year period. , or 7.5% of revenues, an increase of , or 70 points. The increase in income and margin was primarily driven by the organic revenue growth described above. Additionally, the company recorded of restructuring charges, as compared to in the prior-year period. Other income (expense) was $4.7 million as compared to $(4.6) million in the prior year period driven by a gain recorded for the mark-to-market adjustment of an equity security and a decrease in foreign currency losses. as compared to in the prior year period driven by a gain recorded for the mark-to-market adjustment of an equity security and a decrease in foreign currency losses. Diluted earnings per share were $0.46 , up 28% from the prior year and included: , up 28% from the prior year and included: A net charge of ($0.07) per share related to strategic restructuring actions within the Food and Beverage segment. per share related to strategic restructuring actions within the Food and Beverage segment. A charge of ($0.01) per share related to professional fees associated with the strategic portfolio action to divest its Power and Energy business. per share related to professional fees associated with the strategic portfolio action to divest its Power and Energy business. A benefit of $0.10 per share related to a mark-to-market adjustment of an equity investment. per share related to a mark-to-market adjustment of an equity investment. Excluding the items mentioned above, adjusted earnings per share* were $0.44 per share. per share. EBITDA* increased by $10.8 million , or 24.6%, to $54.7 million primarily driven by the increases in other income and operating income noted above. , or 24.6%, to primarily driven by the increases in other income and operating income noted above. Free cash flow* generation was $14.9 million and included $6.9 million of capital expenditures and $0.4 million of restructuring payments. First Quarter 2019 Results by Segment Food and Beverage $ millions Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Variance Organic Variance Backlog $ 290.0 $ 390.6 (25.8) % (18.5) % Orders 153.1 171.2 (10.6) % (5.9) % Revenues(1) 172.5 166.5 3.6 % 8.5 % Income 18.5 17.9 3.4 % As a percent of revenues 10.7 % 10.8 % -10bps Note: The commentary below is compared to the prior year period. Backlog decreased (18.5)% organically, driven primarily by a decrease in orders for dry dairy systems projects, consistent with the company's strategy to limit its exposure to large projects in that market and, to a lesser extent, a reduction of component backlog. Orders declined (5.9)% organically, primarily due to a reduction of component orders in the North American market and, to a lesser extent, a reduction of aftermarket and systems orders. Revenues grew 8.5% organically, primarily driven by execution of a few larger dry dairy systems projects that were booked in 2017 and, to a lesser extent, growth in component revenue. The increase in segment income and modest decline in margin was primarily driven by the mix of the revenue growth noted above. Power and Energy $ millions Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Variance Organic Variance Backlog $ 395.0 $ 428.4 (7.8) % (2.7) % Orders 116.7 144.4 (19.2) % (15.6) % Revenues(1) 136.3 144.7 (5.8) % (2.1) % Income 9.8 12.2 (19.7) % As a percent of revenues 7.2 % 8.4 % -120bps Note: The commentary below is compared to the prior year period. Backlog decreased (2.7)% organically, due primarily to a reduction of backlog for pumps, and partially offset by an increased backlog for pipeline valves. Orders decreased (15.6)% organically, due primarily to the timing of OE pump and valve orders and, to a lesser extent, a reduction of aftermarket orders. Revenues decreased (2.1)% organically, due primarily to a reduction of OE shipments and, to a lesser extent, a reduced amount of aftermarket revenue. The decrease in segment income and margin was due primarily to the reduction of revenue mentioned above. Industrial $ millions Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Variance Organic Variance Backlog $ 232.4 $ 231.8 0.3 % 5.7 % Orders 189.6 193.4 (2.0) % 2.4 % Revenues(1) 182.3 179.1 1.8 % 6.4 % Income 27.1 20.5 32.2 % As a percent of revenues 14.9 % 11.4 % 350bps Note: The commentary below is compared to the prior year period. Backlog increased 5.7% organically, with the growth concentrated in the mixer, hydraulic tools and heat exchanger product lines. Partially offsetting this growth was a reduction in backlog for dehydration equipment. Orders grew 2.4% organically, led by double-digit growth in the mixer and heat exchanger product lines and mid single-digit growth in hydraulic tools. Partially offsetting this growth was a decline in orders for pumps. Revenues grew 6.4% organically, driven by increased shipments of mixers, dehydration equipment and hydraulic tools. Partially offsetting this growth was a decline in revenue for pumps. The segment income growth and margin expansion was driven primarily by the organic growth described above, as well as, non-repeating repair costs. OTHER ITEMS Form 10-Q : The company expects to file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 30, 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 2, 2019. This news release should be read in conjunction with that filing, which will be available on the company's website at www.spxflow.com , in the Investor Relations section. Strategic Announcement : The company announced on May 2, 2019 that its Board of Directors has initiated the process to divest a substantial portion of its Power and Energy segment. The company's Board has not set a timetable for the conclusion of this process nor has it made any decision related to any transaction at this time. More details can be found within a separate press release on the company's website at www.spxflow.com . About SPX FLOW, Inc. : Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPX FLOW, Inc. (NYSE: FLOW) innovates with customers to help feed and enhance the world by designing, delivering and servicing high value solutions at the heart of growing and sustaining our diverse communities. The company's product offering is concentrated in rotating, actuating and hydraulic technologies, as well as automated process systems, into food and beverage, industrial and power and energy markets. SPX FLOW has approximately $2 billion in annual revenues with operations in more than 30 countries and sales in more than 150 countries. To learn more about SPX FLOW, please visit www.spxflow.com. *Non-GAAP measure. See attached schedules for reconciliation from most comparable GAAP measure. Management believes these Non-GAAP metrics are commonly used financial measures for investors to evaluate our operating performance for the periods presented, and when read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements, present a useful tool to evaluate our ongoing operations and provide investors with metrics they can use to evaluate our management of the business from period to period. In addition, these are some of the factors we use in internal evaluations of the overall performance of our business. Management acknowledges that there are many items that impact a company's reported results and the adjustments reflected in these Non-GAAP measures are not intended to present all items that may have impacted these results. In addition, these Non-GAAP measures are not necessarily comparable to similarly-titled measures used by other companies. (1) Organic revenue growth (decline) is calculated on a constant currency basis. Note: Net leverage is as defined by the company's credit facility. Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. Please read these results in conjunction with the company's documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. These filings identify important risk factors and other uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these statements. The words "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "target," "project," "believe" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially because of market conditions or other factors, and forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a prediction of actual results. All the forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the 2018 Form 10-K and in any other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission that describe risks and factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These risk factors may not be exhaustive. Further, the company operates in a continually changing business environment and cannot predict new risk factors that may arise as a result of these changes. In addition, estimates of future operating results are based on the company's current complement of businesses, which is subject to change. Statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release, and SPX FLOW disclaims any responsibility to update or revise such statements. Investor Contact: Stewart Honeycutt, Investor Relations Manager 704-752-4472 [email protected] Media Contact: Barrett Brown, Communications Manager 704-752-4462 [email protected] SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited; in millions, except per share amounts) Three months ended March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Revenues $ 491.1 $ 490.3 Cost of products sold 336.6 334.6 Gross profit 154.5 155.7 Selling, general and administrative 108.9 115.5 Intangible amortization 3.8 4.4 Restructuring and other related charges 5.0 2.6 Operating income 36.8 33.2 Other income (expense), net 4.7 (4.6) Interest expense, net (10.7) (12.5) Income before income taxes 30.8 16.1 Income tax provision (10.7) (0.8) Net income 20.1 15.3 Less: Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests 0.6 (0.2) Net income attributable to SPX FLOW, Inc. $ 19.5 $ 15.5 Basic income per share of common stock $ 0.46 $ 0.37 Diluted income per share of common stock $ 0.46 $ 0.36 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - basic 42.452 41.978 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - diluted 42.577 42.530 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited; in millions) March 30, 2019 December 31, 2018 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and equivalents $ 202.2 $ 213.3 Accounts receivable, net 377.3 375.7 Contract assets 69.2 69.3 Inventories, net 314.6 304.8 Other current assets 39.1 44.3 Total current assets 1,002.4 1,007.4 Property, plant and equipment: Land 34.4 34.2 Buildings and leasehold improvements 226.5 232.1 Machinery and equipment 471.5 463.3 732.4 729.6 Accumulated depreciation (404.1) (394.1) Property, plant and equipment, net 328.3 335.5 Goodwill 744.1 744.3 Intangibles, net 311.1 312.3 Other assets 221.9 152.3 TOTAL ASSETS $ 2,607.8 $ 2,551.8 LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 208.3 $ 203.7 Contract liabilities 169.5 174.9 Accrued expenses 202.7 195.3 Income taxes payable 31.7 28.2 Short-term debt 24.0 26.0 Current maturities of long-term debt 20.6 21.2 Total current liabilities 656.8 649.3 Long-term debt 711.7 722.1 Deferred and other income taxes 88.3 83.6 Other long-term liabilities 165.7 112.2 Total long-term liabilities 965.7 917.9 Mezzanine equity 21.2 21.5 Equity: SPX FLOW, Inc. shareholders' equity: Common stock 0.4 0.4 Paid-in capital 1,665.8 1,662.6 Accumulated deficit (254.6) (265.6) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (439.4) (430.7) Common stock in treasury (19.0) (13.9) Total SPX FLOW, Inc. shareholders' equity 953.2 952.8 Noncontrolling interests 10.9 10.3 Total equity 964.1 963.1 TOTAL LIABILITIES, MEZZANINE EQUITY AND EQUITY $ 2,607.8 $ 2,551.8 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES RESULTS OF REPORTABLE SEGMENTS (Unaudited; in millions) As of and for the three months ended March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 %/bps Food and Beverage Backlog $ 290.0 $ 390.6 $ (100.6) (25.8)% Orders $ 153.1 $ 171.2 $ (18.1) (10.6)% Revenues $ 172.5 $ 166.5 $ 6.0 3.6 % Gross profit 51.6 54.9 (3.3) as a percent of revenues 29.9 % 33.0 % (310)bps Selling, general and administrative expense 31.6 35.1 (3.5) as a percent of revenues 18.3 % 21.1 % (280)bps Intangible amortization expense 1.5 1.9 (0.4) Income $ 18.5 $ 17.9 $ 0.6 3.4 % as a percent of revenues 10.7 % 10.8 % (10)bps Power and Energy Backlog $ 395.0 $ 428.4 $ (33.4) (7.8)% Orders $ 116.7 $ 144.4 $ (27.7) (19.2)% Revenues $ 136.3 $ 144.7 $ (8.4) (5.8)% Gross profit 39.3 44.0 (4.7) as a percent of revenues 28.8 % 30.4 % (160)bps Selling, general and administrative expense 28.4 30.6 (2.2) as a percent of revenues 20.8 % 21.1 % (30)bps Intangible amortization expense 1.1 1.2 (0.1) Income $ 9.8 $ 12.2 $ (2.4) (19.7)% as a percent of revenues 7.2 % 8.4 % (120)bps Industrial Backlog $ 232.4 $ 231.8 $ 0.6 0.3 % Orders $ 189.6 $ 193.4 $ (3.8) (2.0)% Revenues $ 182.3 $ 179.1 $ 3.2 1.8 % Gross profit 63.6 56.8 6.8 as a percent of revenues 34.9 % 31.7 % 320 bps Selling, general and administrative expense 35.3 35.0 0.3 as a percent of revenue 19.4 % 19.5 % (10)bps Intangible amortization expense 1.2 1.3 (0.1) Income $ 27.1 $ 20.5 $ 6.6 32.2 % as a percent of revenues 14.9 % 11.4 % 350 bps Consolidated Backlog $ 917.4 $ 1,050.8 $ (133.4) (12.7)% Consolidated Orders 459.4 509.0 (49.6) (9.7)% Consolidated Revenues 491.1 490.3 $ 0.8 0.2 % Consolidated Segment Income 55.4 50.6 4.8 9.5 % as a percent of revenues 11.3 % 10.3 % 100 bps Total income for reportable segments $ 55.4 $ 50.6 $ 4.8 Corporate expense 13.3 14.4 (1.1) Pension and postretirement service costs 0.3 0.4 (0.1) Restructuring and other related charges 5.0 2.6 2.4 Consolidated Operating Income $ 36.8 $ 33.2 $ 3.6 10.8 % as a percent of revenues 7.5 % 6.8 % 70 bps SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited; in millions) Three months ended March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 20.1 $ 15.3 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash from operating activities: Restructuring and other related charges 5.0 2.6 Deferred income taxes 4.4 3.5 Depreciation and amortization 13.8 15.1 Stock-based compensation 3.2 5.1 Pension and employee benefits provided in stock 0.5 3.1 Loss on asset sales and other, net 0.1 - Gain from investment in equity security (6.2) - Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable and other assets 10.5 14.1 Contract assets and liabilities, net (5.6) 10.6 Inventories (9.4) (21.9) Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other (14.2) (28.1) Cash spending on restructuring actions (0.4) (3.8) Net cash from operating activities 21.8 15.6 Cash flows used in investing activities: Net cash used in investing activities - Capital expenditures (6.9) (5.2) Cash flows used in financing activities: Borrowings under senior credit facilities 22.0 19.5 Repayments of senior credit facilities (27.0) (54.5) Borrowings under trade receivables financing arrangement 42.0 28.0 Repayments of trade receivables financing arrangement (42.0) (23.0) Repayments of other financing arrangements (2.1) (3.1) Minimum withholdings paid on behalf of employees for net share settlements, net (5.1) (4.0) Dividends paid to noncontrolling interests in subsidiary - (1.0) Net cash used in financing activities (12.2) (38.1) Change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates (13.8) 7.9 Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (11.1) (19.8) Consolidated cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period 214.3 264.9 Consolidated cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 203.2 $ 245.1 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES ORGANIC REVENUE RECONCILIATION (Unaudited) Three months ended March 30, 2019 Net Revenue Growth (Decline) Foreign Currency Organic Revenue Growth (Decline) Food and Beverage 3.6 % (4.9)% 8.5 % Power and Energy (5.8)% (3.7)% (2.1)% Industrial 1.8 % (4.6)% 6.4 % Consolidated 0.2 % (4.4)% 4.6 % SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CASH, DEBT AND NET DEBT RECONCILIATION (Unaudited; in millions) Three months ended March 30, 2019 Beginning cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 214.3 Net cash from operating activities 21.8 Capital expenditures (6.9) Borrowings under senior credit facilities 22.0 Repayments of senior credit facilities (27.0) Borrowings under trade receivables financing arrangement 42.0 Repayments of trade receivables financing arrangement (42.0) Borrowings under other financing arrangements Repayments of other financing arrangements (2.1) Minimum withholdings paid on behalf of employees for net share settlements, net (5.1) Dividends paid to noncontrolling interests in subsidiary Change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates (13.8) Ending cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 203.2 Debt and Net Debt at March 30, 2019 December 31, 2018 Term loan $ 135.0 $ 140.0 5.625% senior notes, due in August 2024 300.0 300.0 5.875% senior notes, due in August 2026 300.0 300.0 Other indebtedness 29.0 37.3 Less: deferred financing fees (7.7) (8.0) Total debt $ 756.3 $ 769.3 Total debt 756.3 769.3 Less: cash and equivalents (202.2) (213.3) Net debt $ 554.1 $ 556.0 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES FREE CASH FLOW RECONCILIATION (Unaudited; in millions) Three months ended 2019 March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Mid-Point Guidance Net cash from operating activities $ 21.8 $ 15.6 $ 145 Capital expenditures (6.9) (5.2) (30) Free cash flow from operations $ 14.9 $ 10.4 $ 115 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES ADJUSTED OPERATING INCOME RECONCILIATION (Unaudited; in millions) Three months ended March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Operating income $ 36.8 $ 33.2 Charges and fees associated with strategic actions 1.1 - Certain restructuring and other related charges 4.1 Adjusted operating income $ 42.0 $ 33.2 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES ADJUSTED NET INCOME RECONCILIATION (Unaudited; in millions) Three months ended 2019 March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Mid-Point Guidance Net income attributable to SPX FLOW, Inc. $ 19.5 $ 15.5 $ 106 Fair value adjustment related to an equity security, net of tax (4.5) - (5) Certain restructuring and other related charges, net of tax 3.2 - 9 Charges and fees associated with strategic actions, net of tax 0.8 - Adjusted net income attributable to SPX FLOW, Inc. $ 19.0 $ 15.5 $ 111 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA RECONCILIATION (Unaudited; in millions) Three months ended 2019 March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Mid-Point Guidance Net income attributable to SPX FLOW, Inc. $ 19.5 $ 15.5 $ 106 Income tax provision 10.7 0.8 43 Interest expense, net 10.7 12.5 42 Depreciation and amortization 13.8 15.1 58 EBITDA 54.7 43.9 249 Certain restructuring and other related charges 4.1 13 Charges and fees associated with strategic actions 1.1 - Fair value adjustment related to an equity security (6.2) (6) Adjusted EBITDA 53.7 43.9 255 Non-cash compensation expense 3.2 7.5 16 Non-service pension and postretirement related costs 0.2 0.3 1 Interest income 2.0 2.0 8 Loss on asset sales and other, net 0.1 - Other restructuring and impairment charges 0.9 2.6 5 Other 0.2 0.2 1 Bank consolidated EBITDA $ 60.3 $ 56.5 $ 286 SPX FLOW, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES ADJUSTED DILUTED EARNINGS PER SHARE RECONCILIATION (Unaudited) Three months ended 2019 March 30, 2019 March 31, 2018 Mid-Point Guidance Diluted earnings per share $ 0.46 $ 0.36 $ 2.47 Fair value adjustment related to an equity security, net of tax (0.10) (0.10) Certain restructuring and other related charges, net of tax 0.07 - 0.20 Charges and fees associated with strategic actions, net of tax 0.01 Adjusted diluted earnings per share $ 0.44 $ 0.36 $ 2.57 SOURCE SPX FLOW, Inc. Related Links http://www.spxflow.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Focusing Strategy on Process Solutions A $1.6 billion in annual revenue business comprising current Food and Beverage and Industrial reportable segments and Bran+Luebbe metering pump product line in annual revenue business comprising current Food and Beverage and Industrial reportable segments and Bran+Luebbe metering pump product line Leverage deep application knowledge, technical engineering and process expertise to expand customer base Concentrate sales in high quality process applications with recurring revenue streams Increase focus on serving attractive growth markets driven by mega trends Reduce cyclicality and de-risk portfolio by decreasing exposure to energy markets Create a more attractive organic growth, gross margin and ROIC profile Tailoring Organizational Design to Deliver World-Class Customer Experience Dwight Gibson to lead one combined commercial team to lead one combined commercial team Leveraging "Pathway to Excellence" lean approach to increase speed, efficiency of customer fulfillment Increasing focus on innovative customer and market analytics to drive growth and new product development Positioning for High Quality Revenue Growth and ROIC Expansion Targeting mid-teens EBITDA margin and double-digit ROIC after elimination of stranded costs, lower corporate overhead and streamlined functional support Increasing focus on talent development, organic growth investments and disciplined acquisition growth Creating ample liquidity and flexibility to execute disciplined, ROIC-centered capital allocation Divestiture proceeds to target organic investments, further deleveraging and returns to shareholders Initiating Divestiture of Power and Energy Business ~$500 million in annual revenue in annual revenue Leading supplier of highly engineered, mission critical flow control pumps, valves and filtration technology Jose Larios to lead experienced management team with an average of 20+ years in the energy sector SPX FLOW, Inc. (NYSE: FLOW), a leading provider of process solutions and flow control technologies, today announced plans to unlock shareholder value by focusing its growth strategy on building a premier process solutions enterprise on the foundation of its current Food and Beverage segment, Industrial segment and Bran+Luebbe metering pumps product line and divesting its Power and Energy business. "Over the past few years we have made great progress on our journey to transform SPX FLOW into a high performing operating enterprise and I'm proud of our teams across the enterprise for their efforts on this front. We believe all our product lines offer great value to customers and have strong brand heritage recognized for quality engineering in mission critical applications. After a thorough strategic review of our product lines, core competencies and customer segments, we have determined that there are nuances in the value proposition to customers in highly specific process applications as compared to flow control applications. To best serve customers in both these areas, we have chosen to narrow our strategic focus on differentiated process technologies and to pursue a divestiture of our Power and Energy business," said Marc Michael, President and Chief Executive Officer. Michael continued, "Our Power and Energy business has more than 100 years of experience serving customers in energy and power markets and is well-recognized as a leading supplier of mission critical pumps, valves and filtration technology. However, we believe the business profile and end market exposure does not fit with our process solutions strategy. We are confident that pursuing a sale of Power and Energy is the best path to maximizing value for SPX FLOW's shareholders and will provide a better opportunity for that business and its talented employees to achieve their full potential under a new owner. "By divesting Power and Energy, we will reduce our exposure to cyclical energy markets and devote our full attention on building a premier process solutions enterprise with high quality, recurring revenue streams, mid-teens EBITDA margins and double-digit return on invested capital. This includes 2%-3% of margin expansion we expect to deliver by addressing stranded costs, reducing corporate overhead and streamlining functional support. We also intend to strengthen our balance sheet and provide ample financial flexibility to invest for growth and create value through disciplined, ROIC-centered capital allocation going forward." "As we execute this strategic transformation, we remain committed to fully supporting all customers and delivering on our operational improvement objectives. We thank our employees for their contributions and dedication as we work hard to position our enterprise for sustainable, long-term success," concluded Michael. Creating a Premier Process Solutions Enterprise Process Solutions has annual revenue of approximately $1.6 billion and is comprised of the current Food and Beverage and Industrial reportable segments and the Bran+Luebbe metering pump product line. Notable brands include APV, Waukesha-Cherry Burrell, Lightnin, Gerstenberg Schroeder, Seital, Bran+Luebbe, Hankinson, Power Team and Johnson Pump, among others. These brands are well recognized for technical expertise in process engineering and high-quality products and can be applied across applications in attractive growth industries driven by mega trends such as population growth, urbanization, healthy eating, sustainability of resources and digitization. Today, these brands primarily serve the sanitary and industrial markets, with a concentration in food and beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical and general industrial markets. Dwight Gibson, currently President of Food and Beverage, will take on a broader role in leading one combined commercial team with increased focus on utilizing innovative customer and market analytics to drive growth and new product development. He will work closely with Ty Jeffers, Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain, to optimize and leverage the Company's lean approach, "Pathway to Excellence", and to modernize factories and create capacity for growth. Gibson said, "Process expertise and technical engineering capability is at the core of our value proposition for customers in complex, highly regulated applications. In these applications, our process technology and components are integral to the specific product being created through our customers' processes. This provides us great customer intimacy and positions us to be a lifecycle service partner to customers, working with them to maximize operating efficiency and up-time, while also meeting regulatory, sustainability and cost of ownership objectives." Gibson continued, "To further develop these differentiating skill sets, we will focus on talent development, deeper customer intimacy and speed of delivery to customers. We will focus growth investments on strengthening our core process solutions offerings and expanding into attractive adjacencies." Divesting the Power and Energy Business The Power and Energy business is a global leader in mission critical severe duty pumps, valves, filtration products and aftermarket parts and services for energy and power customers. Jose Larios, President of the business, leads a strong management team with an average of more than 20 years of experience in the flow control and energy sector. The products included in the divesture process are well recognized by the brand names: M&J Valve, ClydeUnion Pumps, S&N Pumps, Copes-Vulcan, Dollinger, Plenty, Airpel, and GD Engineering. The SPX FLOW Board, with the assistance of independent financial and legal advisors, has initiated a process to divest the Company's Power and Energy business, which has annual revenue of approximately $500 million. The Board has not set a timetable for the conclusion of this process nor has it made any decision related to any transaction at this time and there can be no assurance that the process will result in a transaction. The Company intends to provide comments and updates regarding the divestiture only when it determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required by law. BNP Paribas is serving as financial advisor to SPX FLOW and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP is serving as legal counsel. Webcast and Conference Call Separately today, SPX FLOW released its earnings results for the first quarter 2019. The Company's earnings release can be found on the Company's website at www.spxflow.com. SPX FLOW will hold a conference call today, May 2, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the first quarter 2019 results as well as the strategic plan announced this morning. The conference call will be available live and archived on the Company's website at www.spxflow.com. A slide presentation including first quarter 2019 earnings results and further details of the strategic plan is available on the Company's website. Conference Call: Dial in: 877-346-3961 From outside the United States: +1 262-558-6099 Conference ID: 4929619 A replay of the call will be available by telephone through Sunday, May 12. To Listen to A Replay of the Call: Dial in: 855-859-2056 From outside the United States: +1 404-537-3406 Conference ID: 4929619. About SPX FLOW, Inc.: Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPX FLOW, Inc. (NYSE:FLOW) innovates with customers to help feed and enhance the world by designing, delivering and servicing high value solutions at the heart of growing and sustaining our diverse communities. The Company's product offering is concentrated in rotating, actuating and hydraulic technologies, as well as turn-key systems, into the food and beverage, industrial and power and energy end markets. SPX FLOW has approximately $2 billion in annual revenues with operations in more than 30 countries and sales in more than 150 countries. To learn more about SPX FLOW, please visit www.spxflow.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release are 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 are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. The words "expect," "plan," "will," "believe" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially because of market conditions or other factors, and forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a prediction of actual results. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including with respect to the timing and terms of any disposition and the identification, and successful completion and integration, of attractive growth investments. All the forward-looking statements in this press release are further qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in SPX FLOW's most recent Form 10-K and in any other documents filed by SPX FLOW with the Securities and Exchange Commission that describe risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These risk factors may not be exhaustive. Statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release, and SPX FLOW disclaims any responsibility to update or revise such statements. Investor Contact: Stewart Honeycutt, Investor Relations Manager 704-752-4472 [email protected] Media Contacts: Barrett Brown, Communications Manager 704-752-4462 [email protected] Nick Lamplough / Aaron Palash Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449 SOURCE SPX FLOW, Inc. Related Links http://www.spxflow.com HELENA, Mont., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- During the late 1850s, the gold rush was booming in Montana. As the gold disappeared, so did the people, leaving behind deserted towns. Exploring Montana's ghost towns is an amazing way to get a glimpse into the past. Throughout the state, you'll find 12 ghost towns to explore, with the majority of them located on the western side of the state. The southwest corner of Montana is home to the largest number of ghost towns, including three of Montana's most impressive and historical communitiesBannack, Virginia City and Nevada City. Uncover the history behind Montanas ghost towns. (Photo Courtesy: Visit Montana) Discover the deserted streets of Bannack and explore the site of Montana's first major gold discovery. Once a wild and roaring town, as well as the first territorial capital of Montana, Bannack is a well-preserved ghost town that offers an unforgettable look at what the old west once was. The town became a state park in 1954 and has more than 60 preserved structures, with guided tours and opportunities to pan for gold, as well as a Living History Weekend, which offers an experience to know what life was like back in the Gold Rush era. A scenic 90-minute drive east of Bannack will take you to the living ghost towns of Virginia City and Nevada City. Sitting just over one mile apart, they are home to 150 National Historic Landmarks. Both towns offer overnight accommodations, dining options, historical reenactments and local watering holes. Virginia City was also home to the first theater company in the state. Today, travelers can attend a performance from the Virginia City Players, with live shows that run from late May through early September. Round out your ghost town tour in this corner of Montana with a visit to nearby Laurin and Karst's Camp outside of Big Sky. After perusing these living ghost towns, plan to travel north toward Helena and Missoula. On your way, stop and spend a day in Butte. While it's not a ghost town, Butte provides an incredible glimpse into Montana's mining past. Thanks to its rich mineral deposits, the town has more than earned its nickname, "The Richest Hill on Earth." Take a tour of Butte's famous underground and see the Roaring 20s Rookwood Speakeasy, a deserted barber shop and the Old City Jail. For an overview of the city and its past, book a two-hour Butte Trolley Tour. Along the way, you'll learn about the National Historic District and see lavish mansions that were once home to Butte's Copper Kings. After learning about Butte, continue to Helena and its nearby ghost towns, Elkhorn and Marysville. To access Elkhorn State Park, you'll travel on backcountry roads before being greeted by two frontier-era structures Fraternity Hall and Gillian Hall. Meanwhile, nearby Marysville is a 30-minute scenic drive northwest of Helena. Once a booming gold camp, travelers today will find a handful of locals who call the town home, as well as the Marysville House Historic Restaurant. The restaurant is located in a historic railroad station from the late 1800s and is a favorite among Montanans. Montana's Little Rocky Mountains, situated in the northeast area of the state, are home to the lone ghost town of Zortman. At its peak, Zortman was a community of about 2,000 people in a town made up of nine bars, a few general stores, two hotels, a small hospital, livery stables and other local establishments. A visit today will take you to a town of approximately 60 residents, historic cabins and miners' shacks that sit between modern-day structures. Additional Montana ghost towns that are worth exploring include Coloma, Garnet Ghost Town, Rimini and Granite Ghost Town State Park. If your travels have you visiting Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, Montana's Ghost Town Route takes you on an impressive road trip that includes many ghost town stops, as well as other family-friendly destinations along the way. Learn more about Montana's history and ghost towns at WWW.VISITMT.COM. About The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development (MOTBD) MOTBD markets Montana's spectacular unspoiled nature, vibrant and charming small towns, breathtaking experiences, relaxing hospitality and competitive business climate to promote the state as a place to visit and do business. For more information, go to VISITMT.COM. SOURCE Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development Related Links http://www.visitmt.com BOSTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Stretchable conductive inks have been in the commercialization mode for multiple years now. Arguably, it all started as a technology push. The big trend at the time was wearable technology and e-textiles. And, naturally, ink and paste suppliers did not want to be left behind. In this article we look at why conductive inks could have a compelling proposition to this market, at some of the reasons which have hindered market progress, and at the current state of progress. To learn more please consult Conductive Ink Markets 2019-2029: Forecasts, Technologies, Players. This report provides the most comprehensive and authoritative view of the conductive inks and paste market. It provides insights based on primary intelligence obtained through interviews, visits, conference exhibition interactions, personal communications, and so on. It also offers detailed ten-year market forecasts segmented by application and material type, as well as coverage of some 130 companies. Compelling proposition Conductive ink technology can offer a compelling proposition to this market. It is intrinsically an adaptable technology. This is an important capability because the requirements are varied and, in most cases, unknown even by the users. In fact, many variables exist including the substrate of choice, the degree of stretchability, the washability, the conductivity level, the cost, and so on. An important advantage of ink technology is that it can be customized to cater to a broad spectrum of needs. This is a technological advantage that outperforms alternative choices with rigid and fixed performance characteristics. To exploit this, the suppliers should develop the organization capability and mindset to offer customized solutions. The ink solutions can also be applied after the textile product has been manufactured following normal processes. In other words, the integration of the paste-based electronics need not interfere with the production of the textile part itself. This is possible because inks could be laminated, and heat transferred much as graphics are today. There is also ongoing innovation on the use of sacrificial layers. Market and technology challenges An ink or paste however is not a final product. To commercialize these solutions, the value chain therefore had to be first established. This has been (almost inevitably) a slow process. The product ideas have often been vague with uncertain prospects. This increases the risk of ink suppliers to go all-in into the development process. The paste amount per item is also small and likely to remain so. Inevitably, this necessitates a business model in which the ink is used across millions of items developed and sold by many. The market exploration and segmentation phase was, and is not, straightforward. The paste-based solution is not a replacement of an existing component. New products need to be designed, created, and commercialized. This demand creation process requires patience as well as the organizational capability to conduct detailed strategic market segmentations. The process is further complicated by the fact that a single product will not win the day. It might act as a catalyst and a useful market reference, but more wins will be needed. In fact, a robust sustained and diverse pipeline of successful products will be needed. This is inevitable because paste content per item is low and products themselves can be short-lived. Furthermore, the textile market itself is diverse. Indeed, many at first have focused on wearable consumer textiles, neglecting other opportunities that might lie in the rear view including protective clothing, automotive textiles, and many other areas. Despite these challenges, the ultimate prize remains attractive because the textile market is enormous and fast paced with rapid product development cycles and a highly responsive value chain. The ink technology itself was and is not a finished or perfect product. At first, the inks' conductivity changed too much with elongation. This change was also non-linear showing significant hysteresis. The inks were not really washable or that washability was very limited. In addition, the solutions were not elegant. The inks were applied on a planarizing plastic like TPU and then encapsulated after curing. As such, there was no, and there is still largely no, direct on-textile printing. The price is also an issue limiting the user to cases where the value can be justified. The state of progress thus far Despite these challenges, progress has been steady. The supplier base is now global and broad. This helps with the market exploration phase as it accelerates the market seeding phase and the suppliers collectively are likely to conduct a more effective strategic market segmentation. The value chain is also better established, and the users are somewhat more familiar with the reality vs the hype of e-textiles and are now better able to assess different enabling solutions. Indeed, our forecasts suggest that the e-textile market itself will grow in the medium and long term, thus lifting the market for all supply components too. Furthermore, the progress is evident in the number of prototypes and products being launched. The image below shows a few examples. The applications are diverse but seem to coalesce around a few specific functionalities. The most prominent is using stretchable Ag pastes as high-conductivity stretchable dry sensor electrodes. The first use cases were for measuring ECG and other signals in fitness clothing or in animals and now further use cases, e.g., monitoring pregnancy, are emerging. Given the diversity of the textile market, it may be that the first major success stories emerge in sectors outside consumer e-textiles, e.g., automotive. In general, the market is still growing only in trickles. The wait for the major success story that will catalyse growth still goes on. Given the state of the technology and the experience of the industry, however, it is reasonable to think that such a win will arrive in the near future and that 2021/2022 can reasonably be considered as inflection years. To learn more about stretchable conductive pastes please consult Conductive Ink Markets 2019-2029: Forecasts, Technologies, Players. This report provides the most comprehensive and authoritative view of the conductive inks and paste market, giving detailed ten-year market forecasts segmented by application and material type. The market forecasts are given in tonnage and value at the ink level. It provides a detailed assessment of more than 25 application sectors. It analyses the market needs/requirements, discuss the business dynamics, market leadership and technology change trends, competing solutions, latest product/prototype launches, key players and market forecasts in tonnes and value. For more information contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com/inks. IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Consultancy and Events services, helping you profit from emerging technologies. Find out more at www.IDTechEx.com. Media Contact: Charlotte Martin Marketing & Research Co-ordinator [email protected] +44(0)1223 812300 SOURCE IDTechEx TORONTO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leveraging its rich history of providing surgeons and their patients dynamic visualization experiences in the clinic and throughout the treatment continuum, Surgical Theater is proud to debut its first ever 360 Augmented Reality patient engagement solution, which combines Precision VR patient-specific models with the Magic Leap One spatial computing headset at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) annual meeting in Toronto, Canada. Thoracic Surgeons who attend the AATS Annual Meeting can now view patient-specific virtual reconstructions in Augmented Reality. "Magic Leap is thrilled to see our health ecosystem expand with solution providers like Surgical Theater who have already demonstrated great success in VR for patient engagement. They continue to push the boundaries of Magic Leap One's capabilities and drive the adoption of the leading spatial computing platform into the hands of revolutionary physicians and enthusiastic patients," said Jennifer Esposito, Vice President of Health at Magic Leap. "Our vision at Magic Leap is to enable this technology for a wide range of health applications, and we're really looking forward to seeing the novel approaches our developer community is taking to increase patient engagement and satisfaction." For the first time in Thoracic Surgery practices, patients and their surgeons can walk together inside the patient's specific anatomy augmented into their shared physical space. The shared 360 AR approach to Thoracic Surgery consultations creates an experiential environment, encouraging shared decision-making and collaboration with the patient and loved ones. Augmented Reality allows surgeons and all participants to maintain physical awareness and eye contact while walking through the 360 virtual model. Ultimately, the combination of Surgical Theater's Precision VR reconstructions and other data from the patient's chart viewed in Augmented Reality with the Magic Leap is limitlessseamless workflows, charting transparency, increased efficiency, and improved patient satisfaction may all become reality. "The evolution of Surgical Theater's Precision VR technology has provided our hospital partners with tremendous value in the ability for surgeons and patients to walk inside the 360 model," said Moty Avisar, CEO and Co-founder of Surgical Theater. "It has been proven to achieve superior patient understanding, which has resulted in improved patient satisfaction and reductions in patient out-migration." Keith Mortman, MD, Chief of Thoracic Surgery at George Washington University Hospital will guide attendees through an interactive 360 Virtual Reality demonstration for Thoracic Surgery with the use of Precision VR. Dr. Mortman will host two experiential demonstrations on May 5th at 9:30am and at 3:30pm. Attendees interested in how 360 virtual reality can be applied to thoracic surgery from the clinic to the operating room are encouraged to take advantage of these sessions. Surgical Theater's Precision VR is a novel visualization platform that allows patients and their surgeons to step into the patient's complex diagnosis and to walk together in a 360-degree, Virtual Reality reconstruction of the patient's anatomy. This shared walk-through inside the pathology is proven to increase patient satisfaction, improve patient engagement and improve a hospital's financial performance. Medical Institutions across the country, including George Washington University Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, Stanford Medical Center, Houston Methodist, NYU, University Hospitals, Mt. Sinai and Hoag Hospital are utilizing Surgical Theater's Precision VR in the clinic as well as in the operating room. Stop by booth #1021 at AATS to experience 360 virtual reality for the Thoracic Surgeon. About Surgical Theater Surgical Theater, the market leader in virtual and augmented reality healthcare services, is the first to combine cutting-edge fighter jet flight simulation technology with a patient's own anatomy scans. Rendered from comprehensive combined modalities of CT, MRI as well as advanced post processing images such as DTI and BOLD, the 360 virtual reality fly-through is designed to allows patients and their surgeons to step into the patient's complex diagnosis and to walk together in a 360-degree, Virtual Reality reconstruction of the patient's anatomy. Precision VR is proven to increase patient satisfaction, improve patient engagement and improve a hospital's financial performance. Find out more at www.SurgicalTheater.net and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SurgicalTheater Instagram https://www.instagram.com/surgicaltheater/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/surgical-theater/ SOURCE Surgical Theater Related Links http://www.surgicaltheater.net IRVINE, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Synoptek, known for its IT business consulting, technology leadership and management, announces its strategic acquisition of Dynamics Resources, a business and IT consulting firm. The move strengthens Synoptek's competencies in Microsoft's growing business and cloud platforms and increases Synoptek's presence in Chicago and the Midwest, making it a premier IT Consulting, IT Business Leadership and Managed Services player. It also reinforces their position for the midmarket to Fortune 100 as one of the leading digital consulting, implementation, and IT management partners, enabling improved business results with Microsoft's key technologies. Tim Britt, CEO at Synoptek, explains, "Very simply, this deal will help Synoptek achieve greater business results for our customers. Microsoft has one of the most comprehensive business and cloud solutions in the market. Dynamics Resources has the most experienced Microsoft business solutions teams in the industry. What doesn't make sense about this? This is a perfect match. We expect our Microsoft business solutions and cloud platform business to grow 20-40% a year as a result of our combined resources for the foreseeable future." Ed Tarnovsky, Dynamics Resources Chief Executive Officer comments, "This move provides a major growth opportunity for both of our businesses as well as extended services for our clients. With the stability and backing of Synoptek, both of our companies' customers will benefit from a wide spectrum of improved products, services and innovation and likewise the services we bring to Synoptek enable us to deliver one of the broadest business-system software solutions within the IT industry." Lana Vernovsky, Dynamics Resources Chief Operating Officer agrees, "We are excited to join forces with Synoptek. This move will result in tremendous growth for our Dynamics ERP and CRM sectors as well as enable us to add Synoptek's service offerings and be a one-stop destination for our clients." Yury Zabella, Dynamics Resources Chief Finance Officer also states, "Being a group of ERP and CRM enthusiasts providing expertise across all industries, we are thrilled to offer a wide range of services and look forward to being a part of a global organization." Along with their current IT Leadership, Consulting and Managed Services, Synoptek will provide further capabilities, including: Business systems implementation Business systems planning and implementation expertise in the areas of ERP, CRM, application Skilled personnel across: Microsoft Dynamics (365, AX, CRM), Power BI for Office 365, Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, and Azure Analysis Service, and Tableau Britt says, "Business leaders are making decisions about which computing strategies will push their organization to the next level. IT departments are no longer about buying and building infrastructure and instead are focused on things like adopting and evolving cloud-based services. Today when customers engage a partner to transform and evolve their systems, they want one partner of accountability to advise, deploy and manage all of their technology, not five or six. As we continue to build up our resources to support our customers, this acquisition is the perfect fit it allows us to expand a stronger, deeper global Dynamics implementation and support business and, most importantly, Dynamics Resources' high-bar focus on quality is wholly aligned with ours." For over a decade, Dynamics Resources has grown its business and deepened its expertise. They continue to help improve business processes of numerous companies in variety of industries with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Dynamics AX, and Dynamics CRM space by providing superior expertise and guidance as a Microsoft Gold Partner. Britt concludes, "As the focus changes and our customers transition from a buy and build to a cloud services model that enables them to accelerate their business, we've furthered evolved our value as a company. IT has taken a natural shift from buying and building complex technologies to building a service to subscribing to a cloud service that enables them to build tailored applications and leverage rapidly evolving business applications. This change empowers companies to continuously transform and evolve and Synoptek delivers the consultants and subject matter experts to enable this evolution. Technology is now seamlessly integrated into the overall business strategy, empowering us to influence the efficiency of organizations, its customers and even beyond. This is where the growing demand lies today's IT department has a seat at the table when new business results are envisioned. Our customers depend on trusted, pervasive IT leadership and flawless IT management of their systems. As an agile organization with increased capabilities, we're helping them evolve the use of technology 24/7." More information about Synoptek can be found at the company website: synoptek.com. Follow us on our social media pages for additional content and media coverage about the acquisition: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. About Synoptek For nearly 20 years, Synoptek has provided consulting and technology management services to innovate and help organizations from mid-market to Fortune 100 achieve their vision for growth. They embrace the dynamic world of technology with exceptional foresight, leadership and agility to succeed. Backed by a proven track record of success, Synoptek has over 700 employees serving more than 1,100 clients around the world with headquarters in Irvine, California and offices across North America, Europe and India. They're repeatedly recognized as one of the Top 100 Cloud Services Providers by Talkin' Cloud and one of the Top Managed Services Providers by MSPMentor, among other honors from Inc. Magazine, Deloitte and more. About Dynamics Resources Dynamics Resources is a Microsoft Gold Partner and a VAR specializing exclusively in Dynamics 365/AX/CRM. They provide a wide array of Dynamics related services from new implementations, upgrades and training to customizations, support and solution audits. Their senior Dynamics 365/AX experts work full-time in-house and are based in the United States. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Dynamics Resources facilitates the delivery of Microsoft products, services, and licenses to companies of varying sizes and industries, supporting their evolving needs, including team-to-team financial management, customer relationship, and supply chain management support. Media Contacts: Synoptek Michael Liwski V.P. of Marketing & Communications 949.522.6099 [email protected] Dynamics Resources Irena Itskova Creative Director 847.361.1978 [email protected] SOURCE Synoptek Related Links https://synoptek.com The Mars 2020 mission will be one of the most challenging entry, descent and landings ever attempted on the Red Planet. The heat shield aerodynamics serve as a "brake" to slow the spacecraft from about 12,000 mph (19,300 kph) so the structure needs to be flawless. As the tenth aeroshell system that Lockheed Martin has produced for NASA, this is one of the largest at 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. "Our experience building aeroshells for NASA Mars missions does not mean that it is 'easy'," said Neil Tice, Lockheed Martin Mars 2020 Aeroshell program manager. "Tests like this structural test are absolutely essential to ensuring mission success in the long-run." The static test was conducted on April 25 and was designed to mimic the load that the heat shield will experience during the most extreme part of its journey; the entry phase. To do that, engineers used vacuum pumps to simulate the pressure of approximately 140,000 pounds on the structure. The structure was tested to 120% of the expected flight load to push it to the limit. For this particular test, the team also integrated a new form of instrumentation. Historically, this test utilizes conventional strain gauges and extensometers to monitor structural response at distinct points during loading. Partnering with NASA Langley Research Center, the team also applied a new tool called Photogrammetry or Digital Image Correlation. This allowed the team to monitor full-field strains and displacements over the entire visible area of the structure in real time. To use this technique, a vinyl wrap, similar to a decal, that has different visual cues (dark random speckles over a white background) was applied to the heat shield. During the test, a set of digital cameras optically monitor any changes in the pattern and generate a three-dimensional map of displacements and surface strains as the applied load increases. "While we have used this full-field photogrammetry technique on test articles in the past, this is the first successful implementation on official flight hardware," said Dr. Sotiris Kellas, NASA Langley aerospace engineer and lead for the technical demonstration. "This technology will allow us to safeguard hardware during testing but more importantly provide data for test analysis correlation and improvement of our design and analysis tools." Following this test, the Lockheed Martin team will apply Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) thermal protection system tiles to the structure. Once complete and through all environmental testing, the full heat shield will be mated to the backshell in early fall. The Mars 2020 Project at NASA JPL manages rover development for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Engineering and Safety Center at NASA Langley Research Center provided the photogrammetry support for this test. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com SOURCE Lockheed Martin Related Links http://www.lockheedmartin.com CHICAGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --According to the new market research report "Target Acquisition Systems Market by Subsystem (Cameras, Scopes & Sights, Detecting & Locating Systems, Modules), Platform (Land, Airborne, Naval), End Use (Military, Homeland Security), Range, and Region - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Target Acquisition Systems Market is projected to grow from USD 11.9 billion in 2019 to USD 15.5 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 5.46% from 2019 to 2024. This growth can be attributed to the advancements in automatic weapons, increasing defense expenditure of countries, rise in demand for artillery systems by military forces, and ongoing military modernization programs worldwide. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=89317342 Based on platform, the land segment is expected to lead the target acquisition systems market during the forecast period. Based on platform, the target acquisition systems market is projected to be led by the land segment from 2019 to 2024. Target acquisition systems bolster the defense capabilities of land platforms and provide greater safety to soldiers during war and anti-terrorist operations. Countries such as the US, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and India have increased their defense expenditure, and the expansion of military capabilities by emerging nations have accelerated the demand for target acquisition systems for different classes of armored vehicles. The military segment is expected to lead the target acquisition systems market during the forecast period. Based on end use, the military segment of the target acquisition systems market is projected to lead from 2019 to 2024. This growth can be attributed to the ongoing military modernization programs worldwide, adoption of target acquisition systems by military forces, and increasing defense expenditure of countries globally. The detecting & locating systems segment is expected to lead the target acquisition systems market during the forecast period. Based on sub-system, the detecting & locating systems segment is projected to lead the target acquisition systems market from 2019 to 2024. This growth of this segment can be attributed to the increase in demand for advanced laser rangefinders, laser target designators, and target acquisition radars/tracking radars, among others for various platforms, such as land, airborne, and naval. North America is expected to lead the market for target acquisition systems during the forecast period. The target acquisition systems market in North America is expected to witness substantial growth during the forecast period due to the high demand for target acquisition systems from the US Department of Defense. Target acquisition systems are integrated into larger advanced platforms for enhanced target acquisition and firing. Advanced target acquisition systems are manufactured mainly by the US defense companies, such as Lockheed Martin Corporation (US) and Raytheon Company (US). Browse in-depth TOC on "Target Acquisition Systems Market" 93 Tables 43 Figures 147 Pages Request Sample pages of the Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=89317342 Major players operating in the target acquisition systems market include companies, such as Hensoldt (Germany), Elbit Systems (Israel), Israel Aerospace Industries (Israel), Aselsan A.S. (Turkey), Rheinmetall (Germany), BAE Systems (UK), and Leonardo (Italy), and Raytheon Company (US). Please Explore Relevant Reports: Fire Control System Market by System (Target Acquisition & Guidance Systems, Ballistic Computers, Navigation Systems, Power Systems), Platform (Land, Airborne, Naval), Weapon Class (Automatic Guns, Launchers), Range, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023 Automatic Weapons Market by Product (Automatic Rifle, Machine Gun, Automatic launchers, Automatic Cannon, Gatling Gun), End Use (Land, Airborne, Naval, Handheld & Stationary), Caliber (Small, Medium, Large), Type, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Shelly Singh MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/target-acquisition-system-market.asp Visit Our Web Site: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com SOURCE MarketsandMarkets ALBANY, New York, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global technical ceramics market was valued at US$ 84.33 Bn in 2018 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 6.68% from 2019 to 2027, according to a new research report titled 'Technical Ceramics Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20192027,' published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) The global technical ceramics market is driven by the rise in demand for technical ceramics in medical and electronics sectors across the globe. In terms of demand, Asia Pacific accounts for dominant share of the global technical ceramics market. Request a Sample of Global Technical Ceramics Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=13514 Rise in Demand for Technical Ceramics in Electrical & Electronics Industry Boosting Market Consumer electronics is a leading and rapidly expanding industry. The global electrical & electronics equipment industry was valued at more than US$ 2.8 Trn in 2017. Demand for electrical & electronics equipment is expected to increase at a significant pace due to the rise in need for smartphones, laptops, tablets, and portable electrical appliances. The usage of technical ceramics has been increasing in the electronics industry due to their excellent electrical insulation properties that allow them to be used in microchips, circuit boards and circuit breaker technology, ceramic substrates, circuit carriers, and core materials. Demand for technical ceramics in the consumer electronics industry is expected to rise steadily during the forecast period. China has become the hub of electronics production in Asia Pacific since the last few years. The electronics industry is strongly dependent on macroeconomic developments and government activities. The Government of China plans to invest US$ 150.0 Bn in the electronics industry over the next few years to strengthen its position in the market. Thus, strong government initiatives and need for high-quality electronic devices have boosted the demand for technical ceramics that are used in consumer electronics. Japan is estimated to record positive growth in sales of consumer electronics due to the high demand for products such as capacitors and resistors. The recent 'Make in India' government campaign has encouraged companies in India to lower imports and develop quality products. This is projected to fuel the demand for technical ceramics in the country. Furthermore, emphasis on digitization and strong foreign direct investments (FDI) are likely to propel the electronic sectors as well as the technical ceramics market in India. Request for Multiple Chapters: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=MC&rep_id=13514 High Cost of Machining of Technical Ceramics Hampering Market Technical ceramics require machining to obtain a specific shape and size of a component before its usage in end-use industries. This entails high capital cost, which is hampering the technical ceramics market. Technical ceramics are generally used in major applications including chemical, mechanical, and consumer products. Currently, diamond wheel grinding is the only method available for machining technical ceramics. However, this production process is not suitable for small scale plants, as it requires high capital cost and highly qualified workforce. Therefore, technological development needs to take place in machining methods in order to minimize the cost of machining technical ceramics. Another factor that influences the cost of technical ceramics is the unavailability of any data on the machinability of technical ceramics. Machining costs of technical ceramics should decline with the increase in volume. Innovation allows costs to decrease further. Thus, high machining cost is hampering the global technical ceramics market. Request for Discount on This Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=13514 Oxide Ceramics Segment to Dominate Global Technical Ceramics Market In terms of material, the technical ceramics market has been bifurcated into oxide ceramics and non-oxide ceramics. The oxide ceramics segment comprises alumina ceramics, titanium ceramics, zirconium ceramics, and others (including magnesium oxide and sintered fused silica), while the non-oxide ceramics segment consists of alumina nitride, silica nitride, silica carbide, and others (including boron carbide and silicon aluminum oxynitride). Among oxide ceramics, zirconium oxide was a rapidly growing sub-segment of the technical ceramics market in 2018, as zirconium oxide provides oxygen ion conductivity, high fracture toughness, and good tribological properties. Ceramic Matrix Composites Segment is Rapidly Growing Segment of Global Technical Ceramics Market Based on product, the global technical ceramics market has been divided into monolithic ceramics, ceramic matrix composites, ceramic coatings, and others (including multilayer ceramics and advanced coatings). The ceramic matrix composites segment expanded at a rapid pace in 2018. The segment is likely to remain highly lucrative during the forecast period, due to the rise in demand in the automotive industry, as ceramic matrix composites overcome the major demerits of monolithic ceramics such as brittle failure, low fracture toughness, and thermal shock resistance. Browse Press Release: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/technical-ceramics-market.htm High Degree of Competition among Players The degree of competition among players operating in the technical ceramics market in China is high, due to the presence of a large numbers of companies producing technical ceramics in the country. Key players operating in the global technical ceramics market are 3M, Morgan Advanced Materials, CeramTec, Kyocera Corporation, Saint-Gobain Ceramic Materials, NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd., Imerys Ceramics, Superior Technical Ceramics, Rauschert GmbH, McDanel Advanced Ceramic Technologies, Dyson Technical Ceramics, and CoorsTek Inc. The global technical ceramics market is segmented based on: Global Technical Ceramics Market, by Material Oxide Ceramics Alumina Ceramics Titanium Ceramics Zirconia Ceramics Others (including Magnesium Oxide and Sintered Fused Silica) Non-oxide Ceramics Alumina Nitride Silicon Nitride Silicon Carbide Others (including Boron Carbide and Silicon Aluminum Oxynitride) Global Technical ceramics Market, by Product Monolithic Ceramics Ceramic Matrix Composites Ceramic Coatings Others (including Advanced Coatings and Multilayer Ceramics) Global Technical ceramics Market, by Application Electrical & Electronics Electrical Insulators Passive Components Piezoelectric Ceramics Others (including Medical Pumps and Tissue Engineering Scaffolds) Medical Medical Implants Dental Ceramics Implantable Electronic Devices Others (including Ceramic Electronic Substrates and Temperature Co-fired Ceramics) Automotive Energy & Power Others (including Chemical Products and Consumer Goods) Global Technical ceramics Market, by Region North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany France U.K. Italy Spain Russia & CIS & CIS Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Browse Chemicals and Materials Market Research Reports Popular Research Reports by TMR: Ceramic Foam Market : https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ceramic-foam-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ceramic-foam-market.html Silicon Nitride Balls Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/silicon-nitride-balls-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/silicon-nitride-balls-market.html Coating Resins Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/asia-pacific-coating-resins-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals. Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories. TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision. Contact Mr. Rohit Bhisey Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Research Blog: http://www.europlat.org/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Science Festival has unveiled its 2019 program lineup, which presents many of the world's leading scientists, pioneers, artists, and influential thinkers bringing science to life in imaginative ways throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The Festival, beginning Wednesday, May 22nd, celebrates science with original programming that includes discourse, debate, theatre, film, workshops, and interactive installations as well as events for young innovators, scientists-in-the-making, and families. The Festival transforms the city and brings the world's leading scientists to advance our understanding and appreciation of everything from quarks to the cosmos. Tracy Day, Co-Founder and CEO of the World Science Festival, has long been an advocate of bringing significant scientific discussions to wider audiences. "We are thrilled to offer an exciting line-up of programming, with leaders in their fields engaging the public in conversations that encourage all to be champions of scientific truth and human curiosity." "This year we are celebrating the anniversaries of both the confirmation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and also the Apollo moon landing, two gratifying moments of insight and exploration," said Columbia University physicist Brian Greene, Co-Founder of the World Science Festival. "These astonishing milestones are an opportunity for us all to recognize the enormous capacity of humankind to achieve the seemingly impossible." Kicking off this year's festivities, The World Science Festival Gala will be held on May 22nd, 2019, featuring an original production of Light Falls: Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein, which tells the dramatic story of Einstein's electrifying discovery of the General Theory of Relativity. The production, narrated by Brian Greene, features an all-Broadway cast, innovative 3D visuals designed by the Tony Award-winning 59 Productions ("An American in Paris"), and an original score by Jeff Beal ("House of Cards"). In partnership with WNET, on May 29th the 100th anniversary to the day of Einstein's Theory being confirmed through astronomical observationsPBS will air Light Falls nationwide. Please check local listings for times. Now in its 12th year, the World Science Festival continues to bring the power of science to new audiences. This year's programming will feature some of the most brilliant scientists, seasoned explorers, and influential performers, including Apollo astronaut Michael Collins, inventor of CRISPR Jennifer Doudna, chess icon Garry Kasparov, Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre, commander of the International Space Station Scott Kelly, actress and activist Marlee Matlin, renowned AI researcher Yann LeCun, and more. A few highlights from the Main Stage will include: Rethinking Thinking: How Intelligent Are Other Animals? : Intelligence was once thought to be uniquely human, but what is intelligence? Why do some species get an extra dose? And just how special are humans, really? Participants include: biologist Simon Garnier, neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel, and marine mammalogist Denise Herzing. Author, journalist, and comedian Faith Salie will moderate. Physics in the Dark: Searching for the Universe's Missing Matter : For nearly a century, evidence has mounted that the gravitational pull necessary to keep clusters of galaxies intact, as well as stars within galaxies from flying apart, requires far more matter than we can see. Problem is, such "dark matter" has also eluded one specially designed detector after another. Which raises the big question: What if we have failed to find dark matter because it isn't there? Participants include: physicist Mariangela Lisanti, astrophysicist Joseph Silk, physicist Erik Verlinde, and astrophysicist Risa Wechsler. Physicist and author Brian Greene will moderate. The Richness of Time : Time on Earth elapses at a uniform rate, so why does the human experience of time seem so varied? How do various neurological afflictions change the perception of time? And underneath it all, how does human language impact our ability to think about time and fully experience its rich and mysterious contours? Participants include: cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky and neuroscientist Dean Buonomano. Physicist and author Brian Greene will moderate. Loose Ends: String Theory and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory : Thirty-five years ago string theory took physics by storm, promising the coveted unified theory of nature's forces that Einstein valiantly sought but never found. In the intervening decades, string theory has brought a collection of mind-boggling possibilities into the lexicon of mainstream thinkingextra dimensions of space, holographic worlds, and multiple universes. Some researchers view these developments as symptoms of string theory having lost its way. Others argue that string theory, although very much still a work in progress, is revealing stunning new qualities of reality. Participants include: physicists Lara Anderson, Michael Dine, Marcelo Gleiser, and Andrew Strominger. Physicist and author Brian Greene will moderate. Revealing the Mind: The Promise of Psychedelics : Nearly every culture throughout history has used chemicals that alter consciousness for spiritual exploration. In the 20th century these drugs caught the attention of scientists. Join scientists and "psychonauts" who are now picking up where research left off 50 years ago, experimenting with LSD and other psychedelics to healand revealthe mind. Participants include: psychologist Alison Gopnik, addiction psychiatrist Stephen Ross, and neuroscientist Anil Seth. Making Room for Machines: Getting Ready for AGI : The "thinking machines" that Alan Turing postulated in 1950 have already vaulted beyond us in specific arenas like chess and Jeopardy. But if we achieve artificial general intelligence, it may take only seconds for our creation to surpass us in every other arena as well. Will humans fight to restrain such super intelligence, or join forces, perhaps bringing about a new utopia? Or, will we simply and quietly become irrelevant? Participants include: writer, activist, and chess champion Garry Kasparov, computer scientist Yann LeCun, roboticist Hod Lipson, and AI ethicist Shannon Vallor. The Right Stuff: What It Takes to Boldly Go : Fifty years ago, as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bounced on the moon's surface below, Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins briefly disappeared behind the lunar disk, becoming the first person to experience space entirely alone. As we set our sights on the stars, space travelers will need to cope with ever longer stretches in the lonely environs of the cosmos. What will that take? How will it affect who we are? Participants include: astronaut Michael Collins, astronaut Scott Kelly, and astronaut Leland Melvin. Journalist and producer Miles O'Brien will moderate. Fun, fascinating, and FREE activities for all ages will include: Saturday Night Lights: Stargazing in Brooklyn Bridge Park: Immerse yourself in stargazing and storytelling. First, step up to a professional telescope for an intimate look at the Moon, Jupiter, and beyond. Then, sit on the grass for "Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe," created by Grammy Award-winning composer Eric Whitacre. This short film experience reveals the galaxy from the perspective of the Hubble Space Telescope as 100 members of the LaGuardia High School Senior Chorus provide a celestial soundscape. Stay for an engaging discussion with astrophysicists and the film's creators. City of Science: A larger-than-life touring event where the magic of science, technology, engineering, and math collide! Filled with interactive demonstrations, hands-on activities, and engaging exhibitions, this free program unleashes everyone's inner scientist. Great Fish Count: From Lemon Creek in Staten Island to the shores of the Bronx River, New York's waterways are teeming with lifeand it's up to you to find it! Led by top marine scientists and biologists in 16 sites across New York's five boroughs, Yonkers, and New Jersey, the Great Fish Count gives attendees of all ages the chance to strap on a pair of waders, cast a net, and discover the underwater world in their own backyard. The full program lineup for the 2019 World Science Festival can be found at https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/festival/world-science-festival-2019/ , where tickets for Festival events can also be purchased. To apply for media credentials to the Festival, please fill out the request form here . Light Falls: Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein is sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation with additional support from the John Templeton Foundation. The Big Ideas Series is supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation. City of Science is presented by Con Edison. The Great Fish Count is produced in partnership with the LamontDoherty Earth Observatory and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and supported by the Bezos Family Foundation. About World Science Festival Hailed a "new cultural institution" by the New York Times, the World Science Festival produces innovative live, digital, and broadcast content that brings the latest discoveries and the greatest minds in science and the arts to audiences around the world. Through discussions and debates, intimate salons and major outdoor extravaganzas, theatrical works and musical productions, the Festival's diverse, highly produced programming inspires and educates the public of all ages. The World Science Festival's original musical and theatrical works tour nationally and internationally, and this production marks the Festival's first foray into nationwide live-theatrical television broadcasting. WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL THANKS ITS GENEROUS SUPPORTERS: FOUNDING BENEFACTORS Simons Foundation Alfred P. Sloan John Templeton Foundation MAJOR SUPPORTERS Con Edison Ann Ziff Bezos Family Foundation Della Pietra Family Foundation The Kavli Prize New York University Website: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldscifest Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldsciencefestiva Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldscifest/ CONTACT: Sunshine Sachs, [email protected] SOURCE World Science Festival Related Links https://www.worldsciencefestival.com BOSTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Colony Group, an independent, national wealth management firm with approximately $9 billion in assets under management is pleased to announce the promotion of eight new principals; Edward A. Ciancarelli, MBA, MSF, CFA; Dawn Doebler, MBA, CPA, CFP, CDFA; Zinovy Iosovich, MBA; Chris Johnson, MBA; Jonathan E. Lee; Shellie Kurek Peters, CFP, ChFC; Lisa Poff; and Matthew R. Rapoport, MBA, CFP, MST. "It is my pleasure to congratulate these exemplary people on their promotion and officially welcome them as Principals of The Colony Group. Their substantial contributions to our firm and our clients are invaluable, and I look forward to working together with them in the years to come," said Michael Nathanson, Chairman and CEO of The Colony Group. The Colony Group is proud of its rich tradition of offering a clear path to meaningful equity sharing in The Colony Group management company, not just for a small group of senior advisors, but for all employees who excel at what they do, make invaluable contributions to the clients and firm, and perpetuate Colony's mission and vision. With the induction of these eight new principals, The Colony Group now has 56 principals. Edward A. Ciancarelli, MBA, MSF, CFA is a Senior Research Analyst responsible for equity research and analysis with a focus on the technology sector of The Colony Group's mid-and large-cap strategies. Dawn Doebler, MBA, CPA, CFP, CDFA is a Senior Wealth Advisor providing wealth management, financial planning and corporate finance solutions for executives, entrepreneurs and women in transition for over 25 years. She is a frequent contributor to WTOP radio in the Washington, DC area, as well as the firm's Her Wealth initiative. Zinovy Iosovich, MBA is a Managing Director and part of the leadership team that develops and executes strategic growth initiatives for the firm. Zinovy has over 15 years of M&A experience and is also responsible for Colony's merger efforts including sourcing, execution and integration. Chris Johnson, MBA is a Senior Wealth Advisor who brings deep expertise in financial markets and investment strategy to the clients he serves. He contributes to the investment research and portfolio analysis for clients of the firm. Jonathan E. Lee is the Director of Private Strategies responsible for manager selection, due diligence and oversight of hedge fund, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and other non-public strategies. Shellie Kurek Peters, CFP, ChFC is a Senior Wealth Advisor with over 20 years' experience serving successful families and business owners. She enjoys working with multiple generations of families to secure their values and legacies for generations to come. Lisa Poff is the Chief Marketing Office responsible for creating and implementing the firm's strategic marketing and communications efforts including branding, digital and content marketing, social media and public relations. Matthew R. Rapoport, MBA, CFP, MST is a Senior Wealth Advisor with over 15 years' experience advising high-net worth clients in income tax, investments, estate planning, corporate benefits and retirement planning. About The Colony Group, LLC The Colony Group is an independent, fee-only financial advisory firm with locations in, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. Founded in 1986, they provide high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives and entrepreneurs, professionals, athletes, institutions, businesses and non-profit organizations with deep expertise that goes beyond investment management and can encompass tax, estate, retirement, and philanthropic planning, asset allocation, and cash and risk management. Media Contact: Lisa Poff Email Address: [email protected] SOURCE The Colony Group Related Links http://www.thecolonygroup.com DENVER, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Discoverer, will celebrate the 100th Edition of its renowned travel publication on May 20, 2019, with its centesimal edition spotlighting Seville, Spain. The Discoverer's community of more than 4.5 million subscribers selected the city by popular vote as the featured destination. The Discoverer produces weekly editions that bring together the voices of travel writers with in-the-know locals, all of whom are deeply passionate about experiencing the world. Subscribers enjoy a 3-5 minute read, traveling to destinations from Cartagena to Copenhagen. The award-winning travel publication is powered by its parent company Inboxlab, an expansive network of brands, known for cutting-edge educational, entertaining and inspiring content. "We are immensely proud of our authentic storytelling, which shines light on some of the most extraordinary destinations, cultures and perspectives," says Inboxlab CEO Nicholas Pardon. "We've remained true to our mission to inspire discovery in our audience, whether that be in their own backyard or the far reaches of the globe." The Discoverer has grown to over 4.5M subscribers in under two years, covering 70 countries across every continent from the sunniest shores to the highest mountain peaks. Underscoring the ever-growing popularity of the publication, 1.7M+ people read The Discoverer's weekly editions and The Discoverer Blog engages more than 1.4M monthly readers. In celebration of the 100th edition milestone, one lucky subscriber will win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Seville curated by G Adventures. The eight-day trip will feature stops in 5 cities in Spain. Known for its responsible approach to tourism, G Adventures has built a bevy of social enterprise projects into its itineraries with the aim of supporting local people and economies. "We have been very intentional with our partnership alignments," says Victoria Hurd, Director of Marketing for The Discoverer. "There is much work to be done in creating a healthy and sustainable future for generations to come, which is why we work with passionate changemakers, whose efforts in the arenas of socially responsible travel and sustainability reflect the embodiment of our core values at The Discoverer." ABOUT: The Discoverer is a modern travel publication that transports a community of 4.5M+ travelers to far-off and familiar destinations. It produces weekly editions that spotlight cities around the world and a blog that highlights personal stories, insider tips and unique discoveries. The audience is a group of highly-engaged travelers, who trust in our community-generated content. The Discoverer can also be found on Instagram . The Discoverer is powered by its parent company Inboxlab, an expansive network of brands that deliver educational and inspiring content via the inbox. Media Contact: Inboxlab Director of Communications Beth Brett / [email protected] SOURCE Inboxlab Related Links https://www.inboxlab.com NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The North America vaccines market is expected to reach US$ 24,510.0 Mn in 2027 from US$ 14,566.0 Mn in 2018. The market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 6.0% from 2019-2027. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764218/?utm_source=PRN The growth of the vaccines market is primarily attributed due to the compulsion or mandate vaccination and dropping vaccination rates.However, low awareness about the benefits of vaccines are likely to hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period. Additionally the growth of the North America vaccines market is contributed due to the factors such as investments made by the key players for various research and development activities as well as launch of new products in the US.In addition, extensive research in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies further expected stimulate the growth of vaccines market in North America. The countries in the regions have face mandatory vaccinations legislation, the legislation was imposed to eradicate the deadly diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella vaccine from the country.For instance, US has the highest prevalence of the measles, it is among the most contagious diseases approximately one out of nine is expected to get measles if he or she is not immune. As per the recent data shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it is stated that in 2018 US experienced approximately 17 cases. In US, cities such as New York State, New Jersey, and New York City has registered three major outbreak of the measles. Therefore, getting vaccinated or immunized is the best preventive measure thus, approximately in 50 states and the District of Columbia require students to be vaccinate before attending school. Owing to these factors the market is likely to grow significantly during the forecast period. In 2018, the conjugate vaccines segment held a largest market share of 27.5% of the vaccines market, by technology. This segment is also expected to dominate the market in 2027 owing to advantages of the conjugate vaccines are their ability to elicit immunological memory and to reduce asymptomatic carriage of the bacteria, resulting in marked herd immunity. Moreover, the conjugate vaccines segment is anticipated to witness the significant growth rate of 6.7% during the forecast period, 2019 to 2027. North America vaccines market by the disease indication was led by the others segments which has included diseases such as poliomyelitis (polio), measles, mumps, rubella, pneumococcal infections, and others. The segment has largest market share in 2018, which accounted 59.8% and is expected to dominate the market in 2027. Similarly, the vaccines market by the route of administration was led by the injectable segment. Whereas, the market of the vaccines in the North America by the patient type was led by the pediatric segment. Some of the major primary and secondary sources for vaccines included in the report are Centers of Disease Control & Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization and Others. Reasons to Buy Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the north america vaccines market. Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies. The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the global north america vaccines market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long-term strategies. Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets. Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it. Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin security interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05764218/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a stated mission of helping partners achieve their potential, TKXS has rolled out a new, enhanced website. The new site, detailing the company's extensive line of technology and data-driven platforms and solutions, details TKXS' innovative approach and leadership team and reinforces its industry expertise in the agriculture, B2B, healthcare and industrial verticals. "One of our biggest challenges was how to communicate the sheer depth and breadth of TKXS' services," says Winn Maddrey, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Navigation was key. Our UX team put considerable effort into creating an elegant look and flow that's easy for readers to navigate by industry and by solution." With offices in Raleigh and Charlotte, as well as a Canadian office in Guelph, Ontario, TKXS applies innovative solutions and services to bridge the gaps between people, data and sales, maximizing client productivity and profitability. "No other provider offers such an expansive range of proven, data-driven services," says Maddrey. "Although data-driven solutions are by nature complex, the new site does a great job of detailing each offering and informing readers about the potential solutions TKXS can provide." Historically, the company's "careers" section was one of the most-visited web pages, so TKXS also took this opportunity to bolster the section with core values, corporate structure, as well as sharing examples of how TKXS supports its local community. "While we also build client websites, this presented the opportunity to reflect on our business and tell our evolved company story," Maddrey recaps. "Updating tkxs.com has been a great opportunity to treat ourselves to the same thoughtful approach, process and results." For more details, visit tkxs.com. About TKXS: A B2B technology and data-driven solutions company, TKXS provides data collection, data science, technology and data-enabled marketing and incentive management capabilities to the agriculture, healthcare, construction and industrial supply industries. Contact: Winn Maddrey (704) 905-2912 [email protected] SOURCE TKXS Related Links https://www.tkxs.com/ NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Trade My Bag is coming to the SOHO neighborhood of New York City from May 3-5. The company is setting up its very first pop-up store at 13 Crosby Street. The pop-up location will be offering free, in-store authentication and appraisal service of handbags, which takes about an hour. Shoppers can also take advantage of "Sell Your Bag Now," which will allow them to sell their used luxury bags in the store. "Trade My Bag not only helps shoppers save money, but we are reducing environmental impact," said E. Rodriguez, chief operating officer of Trade My Bag. "Shoppers have an opportunity to support sustainability by reducing their carbon footprint by selling old handbags and buying vintage ones." According to the company's website, every item available on Trade My Bag is inspected by company professionals, as well as by Entrupy, an authentication company separate from Trade My Bag. All luxury designer bags sold by Trade My Bag are guaranteed to be 100 percent authentic and come with an authenticity guarantee and a hassle-free refund policy that's second to none. Trade My Bag also offers their Bagateer program, which is ideal for shoppers and fashion aficionados who have luxury bags of their own or want to encourage their network of friends, family, colleagues and more to sell or trade in theirs. With the Bagateer program, Trade My Bag is facilitating and promoting sustainability by giving shoppers a place to reinvest hard-earned money, while allowing access to an endless luxury bag collection at their fingertips and guaranteeing satisfaction. Sustainable bags are timeless and superior-quality products. These bags are made of the highest-quality material and last longer than non-sustainable bags. When fashion trends return after some years, these bags will look as though they were just purchased. Shoppers can trade as many times as needed and can apply trade-in values towards a new bag or multiple bags. One or more bags may be traded in at once and all the trade-in values will be applied to new purchases. Bagateer loyalty points are also awarded for additional cash discounts on purchases. Trade My Bag's Bagateer program also guarantees an 80 percent trade-in value for any bag that is purchased directly from the Trade My Bag website. To take advantage of this offer, the merchandise must be in the same or very similar condition as when it was originally purchased, and the trade must be completed within 240 days of purchase. In addition to the pop-up shop, customers can access the Bagateer program 365 days a year via the company's website and mobile app. For more information about the company and to see available designer bags on the website, visit TradeMyBag.com. About Trade My Bag Trade My Bag is an e-commerce site and app that allows shoppers to buy and sell their designer bags. The app is available at the Apple Store and on Google Play. For more information, visit TradeMyBag.com. Press Contact: Trade My Bag PR [email protected] (212) 320-9521 Related Images image1.jpg Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwdPntRdD7M SOURCE Trade My Bag Related Links https://www.trademybag.com HEALDSBURG, Calif., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Truett-Hurst, Inc. (the "Company") today announced the resignation, effective April 26, 2019, of Gerry Hansen from the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"). Ms. Hansen decided to leave the Board to focus on other pursuits, and the Company expects to review and consider potential replacement directors in the coming weeks. Paul E. Dolan, III, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We appreciate Gerry's service and wish her well for the future." About Truett-Hurst, Inc. Truett-Hurst, Inc. (OTC Pink: THST) is a holding company and its sole asset is the controlling equity interest in H.D.D. LLC., an innovative super-premium, ultra-premium and luxury wine sales, marketing and production company based in the acclaimed Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County, California. Truett-Hurst, Inc. is headquartered in Healdsburg, California. Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Truett-Hurst, Inc. NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DataTracks, a global leader in disclosure management and regulatory reporting, announced today that it has updated its products as per the new 2019 version of US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy, SEC Reporting Taxonomy (SRT), Currencies Taxonomy (Currency) and Exchanges Taxonomy (EXCH), which, in particular, were recently approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new sets of taxonomies are developed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), a governing body that oversees the maintenance and development of taxonomies for public companies to file their compliance reports with the SEC in XBRL or Inline XBRL formats. DataTracks The 2019 GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy contains updates for accounting standards and other recommended improvements, whereas the 2019 SEC Reporting Taxonomy consists of elements that are necessary to meet SEC requirements for financial schedules, such as the condensed consolidation of financial information for guarantors, as well as oil and gas disclosures. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strongly encourages filers to exercise the latest version of taxonomy for their XBRL exhibits so that they can take maximum advantage of the most recent tags pertaining to the new accounting standards and other improvements. SEC also recommends filers to consider transitioning to the 2019 taxonomies for the earliest reporting period, which closes post-March 11, 2019 not before that. Following the updates, DataTracks has successfully implemented and test-filed both XBRL and Inline XBRL instance documents with SEC using the latest US GAAP 2019 taxonomy. "We are committed to making document management effortless. To that end, our solution constantly evolves, incorporating the latest frameworks adopted by regulators, so that our customers are always abreast of developments, no matter how recent," says Balaji Muthukrishnan, Senior Vice President of Service Delivery at DataTracks. "Thanks to our strong technical team and a robust change management process, our application is built modularly, allowing new taxonomy sets to be plugged in without extensive re-development," he adds. About DataTracks DataTracks is a leading global regulatory reporting software and services company, providing a broad range of compliance services and solutions to seven of the top 10 accounting firms, global financial printers and over 15,000 enterprises worldwide. With presence across 24 countries, DataTracks helps companies to prepare compliance reports for multiple regulators, such as the SEC USA, HMRC UK, Revenue Ireland, ACRA Singapore, MCA India, CIPC South Africa and various EU regulatory authorities. DataTracks drives innovation and technology to improve the way compliance reporting is done. For Business Inquiries: 1800 937 9280, [email protected] Media Contact: Balaji Muthukrishnan, DataTracks, +91 95000 94283, [email protected] Website: www.datatracks.com Related Images us-gaap-taxonomy-2019.jpg US GAAP Taxonomy 2019 Related Links DataTracks Blog DataTracks News SOURCE DataTracks DENVER, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vista Gold Corp. (the "Company," "we" or "our") (NYSE American and TSX: VGZ) today announced the voting results from its annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on Thursday, May 2, 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia (the "Meeting"). A total of 70,930,518 common shares in the capital of the Company ("Common Shares") were represented at the meeting, being 70.72% of the Common Shares. Detailed results for the ballot votes for the election of directors are as follows: Proposal Votes For % Votes Withheld % Election of John M. Clark as Director 98.16 1.84 Election of Frederick H. Earnest as Director 98.18 1.82 Election of W. Durand Eppler as Director 98.09 1.91 Election of Deborah J. Friedman as Director 98.06 1.94 Election of C. Thomas Ogryzlo as Director 98.04 1.96 Election of Michael B. Richings as Director 97.45 2.55 Election of Tracy A. Stevenson as Director 98.14 1.86 In addition, at the Meeting, shareholders appointed Plante & Moran PLLC as auditors of the Company and passed ordinary resolutions to approve: on an advisory basis, the compensation of the Company's Named Executive Officers; the amendments to the Company's Long Term Equity Incentive Plan and all unallocated awards granted thereunder; and the Company's Deferred Share Unit Plan. About Vista Gold Corp. The Company is a well-funded gold project developer. Our principal asset is our flagship Mt Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia. Mt Todd is the largest undeveloped gold project in Australia. For more information about our projects, including technical studies and resource estimates, please visit our website at www.vistagold.com. For further information, please contact Pamela A. Solly, Vice President of Investor Relations at (720) 981-1185 or [email protected]. SOURCE Vista Gold Corp. Related Links http://vistagold.com CHICAGO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vivid Seats, the leading independent ticket marketplace in North America, today announced a partnership with iconic music brand Rolling Stone. The multifaceted deal, which includes live events as well as digital content, makes Vivid Seats the official ticketing partner of Rolling Stone. Since launching in 2001, Chicago-based Vivid Seats has been committed to providing fans across live sports, concerts, theater and more with the best ticketing options, all backed by a 100% Buyer Guarantee as well as authoritative industry-leading technology. A partnership with Rolling Stone, wherein Vivid Seats becomes Rolling Stone's first-ever exclusive ticketing company, furthers this goal through digital ticketing integration and unique tour content on www.rollingstone.com, as well as exclusive live events including Rolling Stone Live: Palm Springs and Rolling Stone Live: Chicago, both held during major music festival weekends. "Granting fans unprecedented access to exclusive RS Live parties surrounding two of North America's largest music and arts festivals is just one of the reasons why the entire Vivid Seats team is excited about partnering with Rolling Stone," said Stan Chia, CEO of Vivid Seats. "As a lifelong guitar player, avid music fan, and believer in the power of experiences, I'm looking forward to working alongside music's most celebrated brand to continue to establish Vivid Seats as the premier destination for live music fans." Founded in 1967 by Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone has defined pop culture for generations of readers as one of the most revered brands in publishing and music. Today, five decades later, Rolling Stone has evolved into a multi-platform content brand with unrivalled access and authority, reaching over 60 million people per month. "We're excited to launch this strategic partnership with Vivid Seats," says Gus Wenner, President and COO of Rolling Stone. "By leveraging the strengths of our two brands, we'll be providing music fans with highly engaging digital content and deeper access to the live music experiences they crave." The partnership with Rolling Stone comes less than a month after Vivid Seats' first acquisition, an enterprise and distribution platform, adding a number of major loyalty programs, financial institutions, travel and hotel providers, concierge services, e-commerce marketplaces and other distribution partners to Vivid Seats' best-in-class ticketing ecosystem. About Vivid Seats Vivid Seats is the leading independent marketplace for tickets to live sports, concerts and theater events, and the industry's leading provider of technology platforms and service solutions. Founded in 2001, the Chicago-based tech company offers exceptional affordability across one of the widest selections of premium tickets and event packages. Selected by organizations like ESPN, the LA Clippers, Notre Dame and the Duke Blue Devils to serve as official ticketing partners, Vivid Seats supports all confirmed orders with a 100% Buyer Guarantee and a dedicated customer service team to ensure the safest and most convenient purchase experience. Fans who want to sit closer and see more of their favorite live events can order directly on vividseats.com, by downloading the Vivid Seats mobile app or by phone at 866-848-8499. About Rolling Stone Rolling Stone, the number one brand in music publishing, has been the leading voice of music and popular culture for 50 years. The multi-media brand features the latest in music reviews, in-depth interviews, hard-hitting political commentary and award-winning journalism across several platforms including magazine, digital, mobile, social and experiential marketing. Headquartered in New York, Rolling Stone provides "all the news that fits" to a global audience of approximately 60 million people every month and publishes over 100 pieces of content every day. For more information, please visit www.rollingstone.com Contact: Michael O'Neil [email protected] (312) 291-9966 SOURCE Vivid Seats Related Links http://www.vividseats.com TORONTO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Webware.io, a Toronto-based company focused on helping small businesses achieve online success, today announced that it has received $2 million in strategic financing from an elite group of investors led by renowned industry veteran Moss Kadey. As Founder and CEO of Mossco Capital Inc., Kadey is a strategic investor specializing in consumer goods, real estate and technology companies. Among the brands he has been involved with from start-up to exit are Bumble and bumble and BECCA Inc. (each sold to Estee Lauder Companies), Oribe Hair Care (sold to Kao USA Inc.), and the North/South American Brita business (sold to The Clorox Company). Also providing funding are Ira Gluskin and Gerald Sheff, founders of Gluskin Sheff + Associates, one of Canada's top wealth management firms. The investment will allow Webware.io to build upon recent momentum, including the launch of a strategic, bricks-and-mortar partnership with Staples Canada. It will also help grow the company's rapidly expanding presence with small businesses across North America searching for a powerful, easy-to-use website platform. "An investment of this size from some of the industry's pre-eminent financiers underscores their confidence in our vision. It also gives us the ability to further strengthen our platform and provide small businesses with a solution that will take their operations to the next level," says Cory York, Co-Founder and CEO of Webware.io. "We're excited by what we have achieved so far, and this brings us even closer to realizing our strategic goals." "To succeed, small business owners must harness the power of online technology to build deeper connections with their customers and establish a robust e-commerce channel," says Kadey. "The Webware.io digital toolkit is uniquely suited to help them do this, and we look forward to helping the company enter the next stage of growth." About Webware Webware.io is a complete digital toolkit designed to help small businesses easily navigate the online world. Webware's technology and services are used by IBM, Kernels Popcorn, Staples Canada, and over 10,000 businesses across 400 cities in North America. With Webware.io, a business has access to the technology and support required to get online and become successful. The toolkit includes a website and e-commerce platform, social media management, email marketing, blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), reputation management, and more. Visit webware.io for more information. SOURCE Webware.io NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blending boldness and simplicity, France's Alsace wine region has revealed its new global identity with a striking "VA" logo, an abbreviation of Vins Alsace. Known as Wines of Alsace in the USA, the region's new identity was commissioned by the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace (CIVA), the trade body responsible for the regulation, protection and promotion of the region's vineyards, growers, producers and wines. The peaks and valleys and angular nature of these initials can be found throughout the region, whether in the geography of the vineyards, the architecture of half-timbered houses or wingspans of the symbolic storks. The new identity defined three key messages for the region: Alsace offers one of the most diverse terroirs in the world, with a patchwork of 13 distinct soil types Alsace is a leading white wine region, expertly expressing the nuances of this style across several varieties for centuries Alsace has the utmost care for its history and land, with domaines passed down from parents to children for typically 12 generations, and a connectedness to the vineyards that makes the region one of the most certifiably organic on earth The new identity is rolling out across all markets and will be used in all communications in the USA. A Representation of Alsace's Terroir, Wines and People With a black, white, gold and brown palette, Alsace's new identity aims to combine tradition with modernity, nature with progress and character with sophistication. The neutral hues take inspiration from the 38,600 acres of vines in Alsace, while the gold reflects the range of rich colors found in Alsace's predominantly white wines (90%), which are produced from 7 main white grapes. Alsace is located in northeastern France, nestled between the Vosges Mountains to the west and the Rhine River to the east. On the foothills of the mountains, AOC Alsace (which includes lieux-dit and communales wines) and 51 distinctive Alsace Grand Cru vineyards are planted on 13 soil types from 8 mother rocks. Soil types from granite to limestone and volcanic to sandstone form a complex mosaic, allowing producers to get their hands dirty and match the a range of varieties to the best terroir. This creates expressive wines that are truly unique and specific to an individual vineyard plot. Due to its location, Alsace benefits from a semi-continental climate and low rainfall, making it one of the driest regions in France. The dry, sunny and warm conditions contribute to the slow, extended ripening of the grapesresulting in elegant, complex aromas and flavorsas well as the ability to produce a wide range of varieties and styles. Alsace grows seven main varieties: dry Riesling, earthy Pinot Gris, refreshing Pinot Blanc, spicy Gewurztraminer, aromatic Muscat, delicate Sylvaner and a lone red variety, Pinot Noir. From traditional method sparklers and rich, late harvest wines to easy-drinking AOC Alsace and concentrated and complex Grand Cru bottlings, Alsace makes it. But such breadth of terroirs, varieties and styles does not come without experience. The region is home to passionate winemakers, many of whom belong to families that have been tending vines and making wine in the region for centuries. Each has his or her own style, speciality and personality, but all share a single commonality: producing high quality wines that are pure expressions of the fruit and the terroir, showcasing the distinct nature of Alsace with each sip while being respectful of the land. Over 15% of Alsace's vineyards are certified organic or biodynamic, making it the greenest region in France and one of the most sustainable in the world. To learn more about Wines of Alsace, connect with the region on social media at @DrinkAlsace on Twitter and Instagram as well as Wines of Alsace USA on Facebook. For more information on Wines of Alsace USA, please contact: Cassidy Havens, DipWSET, [email protected] | Stephanie Teuwen, [email protected] Amanda Torres, [email protected] SOURCE Wines of Alsace MANKATO, Minn., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A woman who was injured after receiving a flu vaccine has been compensated by U.S. Vaccine Court for her injuries, totaling $2.49 million. 39 year-old Cheron Golding received the flu vaccination in October of 2013 and was subsequently diagnosed with transverse myelitis as a result of the vaccination. She suffered from paralysis, loss of vision, and other complex injuries. She was hospitalized for several months. The Vaccine Court reviewed the matter, along with the U.S. Justice Department who defends the cases, and a settlement was reached for her injuries that included future payments for needed care. Golding's attorney Randy Knutson of the Knutson + Casey law office, explained that when U.S. citizens are injured by a vaccine, they can apply to the U.S. Vaccine Court which reviews cases and provides compensation when appropriate. "This is a great program for those injured by vaccines. While injuries from vaccines are rare, when they do occur the Vaccine Court can step in and compensate folks for their injuries, and their future care." Attorneys who practice in vaccine court do not receive any part of the settlements. Instead the attorneys are paid a reasonable amount decided by the vaccine court, after the case has settled and the injured person receives their compensation. Knutson says, "We consider doing these cases as partly public service. The vaccine court only pays attorneys what they think is reasonable for their time on the case. When the check arrives for the settlement, the client gets the entire amount, its tax free, and the attorney receives no part of the settlement. In this case, our client truly needed this settlement to take care of her needs, both medically and at home." Plaintiff Golding was represented by Randy Knutson of Knutson + Casey Law Firm, which has offices in Mankato and Edina, Minnesota. The case is entitled Golding v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 16-1132V. SOURCE Knutson + Casey Law Firm Related Links http://www.knutsoncasey.com In a major diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) finally designated Jaish-e-Mohammed [JeM] chief and notorious terrorist Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China finally lifted its technical hold to blacklist him under the Security Councils Sanctions Committee. Here is a lowdown of the big development. Who is Masood Azhar? The blue-eyed boy of Pakistans spy agency ISI, who formed the JeM in 2000, had masterminded several terror/suicide attacks on India that includes the 2001 Parliament Attack and the recent Pulwama bombing in February which led to the death of over 40 Indian soldiers; both incidents had pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-blown war. His Jaish-e-Mohammed was also behind the Pathankot attack in Jan 2016, killing seven Indian soldiers. Interestingly, Azhar's dreaded Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was formed in March 2000 to target India by exporting terrorism to Kashmir just a few months after he was freed from an Indian prison in exchange of the hostages of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 hijacked on Dec 24, 1999 by the Pakistani terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen from Nepal and flown to several locations before landing in Kandahar in Afghanistan. The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, The UK, and the US on February 27. What does the latest move mean for India battling Pak-sponsored terrorism? The listing is a victory for India in a decade-old diplomatic battle waged primarily by it and supported by its friends at the UNSC, as it would mean a travel ban, arms embargo, and asset freeze on Azhar. This diplomatic victory also translates into a diplomatic surrender for China which has for years blocked his entry into the UN sanctions list for global terrorists. As recently as in March, China had blocked Azhars entry into the UN sanctions list despite global outrage and pressure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack which led to an escalating diplomatic pressure by India and members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). A few days ago the US, The UK, and France had launched another fresh resolution to proscribe the JeM chief as a global terrorist which also included a scathing attack against China for assuming double standards on terrorism by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The pressure on China to revoke its technical hold on the sanction intensified after diplomats of the aforementioned nations threatened to place the issue for a vote in front of the entire UNSC. This relentless diplomatic pressure was enough for China to buckle and it incidentally comes on the day Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan returned back from a visit to the nation. The development also came as a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy in the ongoing election season. 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. Chowkidar Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) May 1, 2019 Union 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." Syed Akbaruddin, India's permanent envoy to the UN, immediately tweeted: "Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list Grateful to all for their support." It is a privilege & honour to serve India @UN . Am humbled. Thank U for all the good wishes. Will strive to do my best. Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) November 16, 2015 In a nutshell, India stands vindicated on its unending diplomatic tirade to corner Pakistan over the issue of terrorism and the action by China also is an indication of India's moral victory over its giant and more powerful neighbour which is a close ally of Pakistan. In the wake of the Sri Lankan terror attacks, the move also perhaps salvaged China to a great extent as it was getting increasingly isolated on its silence over Pakistan sponsored terrorism while at the same time harbouring the ambition to control the entire world economically. Past diplomatic hurdles China had put a hold in March on a fresh proposal by the P-3 or group of three permanent UNSC members, the U.S., the U.K., 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 to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist". In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the Pathankot air base that year. 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. Reasons for listing The reasons for designating Azhar as a terrorist as per Wednesdays listing included his support for the JeM since its founding, being associated with the al-Qaeda by recruiting for them and participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities or supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material. It also pointed to his role in recruiting fighters in Afghanistan, while the JeM itself was sanctioned by the 1267 Committee in 2001. What it means for Masood Azhar? A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. It freezes all his assets 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. Improved international ties and Modi's foreign policy It is another feather in Prime Minister Narendra Modis cap as the aggressive foreign policy he has pursued against terror during his term has yielded fruitful result. The listing was a result of diplomacy by many partners and took concerns from all countries on board. France had been extremely supportive of India and the US under Donald Trump has been conducive to Indian interests as well as he tries to corner China with Indias help. France, the UK and USA had pushed the UN Security Council to declare Azhar as a global terrorist while Indonesia played an important role as the Chairperson of the UN Security Council. U.N. decision in line with our position: MEA Welcoming the decision, which India called it a step in the right direction, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it had demonstrated the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers. 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 JeM. 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 said Raveesh Kumar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson. Pakistans dilemma Pakistan is now in a state of dilemma on what to do about with anti-India militants on its soil after China - a long-time ally of Pakistan - finally enabled the global action against Masood Azhar. Pakistan, which had strongly prevented a ban against Masood Azhar, has been accused of shielding terror mastermind on several occasions. However, the fresh UN listing changes the picture altogether as Pakistan will have to immediately enforce the UN sanctions on Azhar. The Pakistani said it would immediately enforce the sanctions, but also took aim at India. "Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world, including the Indian state-sponsored terrorism against innocent Kashmiris," foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said. The activities of these militant groups seem to be an obstacle to Prime Minister Imran Khan's stated aim of improving the country's relationship with India, and perhaps more crucially they have also contributed to Pakistan being placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) "grey list" for not doing enough to tackle the financing of militant organisations. A "grey list" designation can make international businesses think twice before conducting business in a country, and Pakistan's economy is in need of foreign investment. Pakistani officials, however, have expressed concern that directly confronting JeM could provoke another spike in violence. Last year, analysts and Pakistani military figures floated the idea of "mainstreaming" some of those linked to militant group The India-China-Pakistan triangle The India-China-Pakistan triangle is one of the most volatile and dangerous strategic formations. The three powers account for nearly half the worlds population. They are respectively the second, first, and sixth largest countries in population terms. In the general view, Islamic Pakistans all-weather-friend Communist China had always allied against India. The deterioration of India-China relations since 2014 and the strengthening of China-Pakistan relations have put India in a difficult strategic spot. But with the recent international developments, south-east Asia might witness a new wave of international politics. Based out of Boston's Charlestown Navy Yard, Home Base operates one of the largest private-sector clinics in the nation dedicated to treating and supporting veterans, service members and military families impacted by the invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, and co-occurring substance use disorder. Zurich's donation will help pay for flights for veterans and family members receiving care through Home Base's two-week Intensive Clinical Program serving veterans from across the country. Paul Horgan, head of U.S. Commercial Insurance for Zurich North America, announced the donation at a special dinner for Zurich customers on April 30 during the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Conference this week in Boston April 28-May 1. Zurich made the donation to Home Base on behalf of its RIMS attendees and guests attending Zurich-hosted events. "May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is an appropriate time to highlight the struggles many of our service members, veterans and their families are facing," said Horgan. "Home Base's services are literally lifesaving, and this donation will support transportation services that help break down barriers for veterans seeking vital mental health services." "Our motto at Home Base is 'Their Mission is Complete. Ours has just begun.' As someone who has witnessed firsthand the toll of war on our military service members and their families, it is now more important than ever to stand as a community as they transition from military service," says retired Brig. Gen. Jack Hammond, executive director of Home Base. "Home Base will continue to provide life-saving care and are grateful for partners like Zurich who help support our mission and raise awareness to the critical needs of our nation's military community." "We are grateful to those who have bravely served and protected our country," Horgan added. "We are proud to support our veterans by making sure those most in need of Home Base services won't have to worry about how they get there, or the costs associated with travel." The relationship between Zurich and Home Base isn't new. Zurich's Boston community investment team became involved with Home Base through their "Run to Home Base," signature fundraising event. What initially started with the Zurich Boston team's involvement as race day volunteers, has now in 2019 - evolved into Zurich sponsoring its first fundraising team for the race. "Home Base is a cause that resonates deeply with Zurich office members who have friends and family serving our country," said Dan Kleiman, area executive for Zurich North America. Zurich makes it easy for veterans to pursue careers at Zurich. Veterans visit ZurichHiresHeroes.com and align their transferable military skills to available Zurich jobs across the nation. Veterans simply enter their military title or code to see positions that reflect their service experience. Zurich's focus on veterans has been recognized as best employer for veterans by Military Times. In 2018 Zurich demonstrated its commitment to the communities where we live and work through more than $281,000 derived from 11,382 volunteer hours donated by 1,346 employees through more than 362 service projects. About Zurich North America For more information about Zurich, go to https://www.zurichna.com/zna/services/about-zurich About Home Base: Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program, is dedicated to healing the invisible wounds for veterans, service members and their families through world-class clinical care, wellness, education and research. As a National Center of Excellence, Home Base operates the largest private-sector clinic in the nation devoted to healing invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, co-occurring substance use disorder, military sexual trauma and family relationship challenges. Since inception, Home Base has served more than 21,000 veterans and family members with care and support, provided over 74,000 on-line and in-person training sessions to clinicians, educators, first responders and community members nationally, and remains at the forefront of discovering new treatments -- ensuring a brighter future for the 21st century warrior and military family. SOURCE Zurich North America Related Links https://www.zurichna.com Moscow, May 2 : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has 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 US 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 US, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. "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," Xinhua reported citing the statement. 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 "destabilising" for the nation and urged Moscow to "cease support for Nicolas Maduro", according to the US 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 demoralise the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war," she was quoted by Tass news agency as saying. United Nations, May 2 : The Security Council's terrorism sanctions committee has preserved its credibility by finally declaring Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar an international terrorist, according to Dian Triansyah Djani, the Indonesian diplomat who chairs the panel. "I think it is really time for us to work together, all countries regardless of whether it is in the Security Council or in other fora" against terrorism, he told reporters here on Wednesday. "We have been able to preserve the sanctity and credibility of the committee" by listing Azhar as terrorist subject to sanctions, he said. After a decade of resistance and four vetoes by China against attempts in the committee to declare Pakistan-based Azhar an international terrorist, it finally reached a consensus on Wednesday on adding him to the terrorists list and imposing sanctions that freeze his assets and ban travel. Earlier, India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin thanked Djani in a statement for seeing the decision through. He "was instrumental in ensuring that the process went smoothly and in accordance with our agreed understandings", Akbaruddin said. Djani said, "a consensus decision has been attempted where everybody has participated and once again as chair we have done our job in trying to facilitate consensus". "I am just doing my function as the chair, trying to facilitate, to bring all parties together", he added, "I think it is not only the function of the chair but all members of the committee that has been working very hard" to reach a consensus. Djani, who is the Permanent of Representative of Indonesia, took over the rotating presidency of the Security Council for this month on Wednesday. After Indonesia joined the Security Council in January following its election last year, he was made the chair of three important committees dealing with terrorism. Named for the numbers of the Council resolutions setting them up, they are the 1267 Committee on sanctions against Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliated groups and individuals, which listed Azhar as a terrorist; the 1373 committee on counter terrorism, and the 1540 Committee that oversees domestic controls on prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Djani said: "We are the only one now holding three chairmanships. I think that is a lot of work for me." He said that his country has been a victim of terrorism and that was the reason Indonesia took responsibility to leading the Council efforts against terrorism. He added that Indonesia took the initiatives for five press statements by the Council on terrorist attacks, the latest in the New Zealand and Sri Lanka. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) Hyderabad, May 2 : Charminar, the symbol of Hyderabad, has suffered damage as a piece of lime stucco work on one of its minarets fell down following unseasonal rains, officials said on Thursday. A portion of the stucco work detached from the granite slab on the minaret facing Mecca Masjid side and fell off late on Wednesday, sending panic among the people around the monument. Police cordoned off the area where the debris fell. A large number of onlookers gathered near the monument. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had undertaken restoration work on the monument sometime back. While the incidents of lime plasters peeling off are not new, the latest damage raised new concerns about the safety of the iconic structure. Charminar was built in 1591 by Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth king of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. The 428-year-old edifice, stands at a staggering 160 feet from ground level. It has four minarets after which it is named. Hyderabad, May 2 : Gearing up for the post-poll scenario, where it may need support from non-NDA parties, BJP has begun backchannel talks with YSR Congress Party, which may emerge as a kingmaker in the event of a hung Parliament. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah is said to have begun backchannel talks with Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) is likely to bag majority of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh. According to sources, the talks are on over Jagan's charter of demands with Special Category Status (SCS) to the state topping the list. Other demands could include number of ministries for YSRCP and the financial and other assistance the state would get from Delhi. However, there was no confirmation from YSRCP leadership about the backchannel talks. Party leaders said they were not aware of any talks between Jagan and Shah. The final four phases of the poll, started on April 29, is described as the real election for BJP. Out of 240 seats that are at stake in these phases, BJP had bagged more than 160 in 2014 polls. If things do not move its way in these crucial phases, the BJP may have to look for support from others, especially someone like Jagan, given the number of seats his party is predicted to win. The BJP leaders, however, feel that some of the demands put forth by Jagan as a precondition for support were outlandish. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on YSRCP leader and industrialist K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju in an alleged Rs 947 crore bank loan default case on Tuesday assumed significance in this backdrop. The BJP apparently wanted to send a message to Jagan. It is an open secret that BJP and YSRCP have had good relations, especially after Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over its refusal to accord SCS to Andhra Pradesh. In fact, one of the reasons Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu cited for severing ties with BJP was the latter cosying up to his rival Jagan Mohan Reddy. Frequent appointments given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jagan and his other party leaders had angered Naidu. In the run-up to the elections and during the campaign, Naidu repeatedly targeted Jagan for what he called his secret understanding with the BJP and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao. The TDP chief claimed that the YSRCP leader bartered the state's interests to save himself in the corruption cases he was facing. Jagan defended the friendship with KCR's Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). "What is wrong if I am with TRS as they are supporting our demand for special category status," the young leader said at one of the election rallies. There was no such defence for friendship with BJP for fear of losing the votes of minorities. The YSRCP chief, however, praised Modi even while complaining that NDA has not done justice to the state by denying SCS. Realising that their party is already on a weak turf in Andhra, both Modi and Shah during the couple of rallies they addressed trained guns on Naidu but avoided criticizing Jagan. The YSRCP leader also kept everyone guessing with often repeated stand that he wants to see a hung Parliament so that the state can get a better deal from the Centre. He stated on many occasions that his party will extend support to whoever agrees to accord special status to the state. In 2014, YSRCP had bagged eight Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh while TDP had won 15 and its then ally BJP two. This time, Jagan's party is confident of winning 20-22 seats and this could be a big number in the event of polls throwing up a hung House. Srinagar, May 2 : Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir has a unique distinction -- it is geographically the largest Parliamentary constituency in the country but smallest in terms of population. The cold desert has some other special features too, like a polling station at Anlay Pho in Chanthang area established at an altitude of 15,000 feet above the sea-level. There are places in the Ladakh where polling stations have been set up for just 7 voters -- Gaik polling station in Leh and Washi in Nubra segments. The constituency has two districts -- Leh and Kargil. While Leh predominately has Buddhist population, Kargil has mostly Muslim population. The region, where the demand for Union Territory status has been predominant for years, will see a four-cornered contest when polling takes place on May 6. The four candidates in the fray are Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of the BJP and two independents, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sujjad Hussain. The seat was last time won by BJP's Thupstan Chhewang who defeated independent candidate Gulam Raza by just 36 votes. Chhewang, however, resigned from both the party and Parliament last year, accusing the BJP of not fulfilling the promises made to the people of Ladakh. This time, the BJP has fielded Jamgang Tsering Namgyal, the Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the powerful Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC). Ladakh was granted the divisional status by Governor Satya Pal Malik, who is governing the state where President's rule was imposed in December last year. The grant of the divisional status, setting up of a separate campus of the Kashmir University and huge central findings for exploiting the solar power potential of the region are likely to help the BJP in the constituency. Spalbar, on his part, promises to bring the region closer to New Delhi, more than has been done by the BJP during its five years in power at the centre. Karbalai is a Congress rebel who belongs to Kargil district and is supported by the religious and social organisation, the Imam Khomeini memorial trust Kargil. Sajjad Hussain, the other independent belonging to Kargil is supported by the Islamia school, another powerful social and religious organisation of the district. Sajjad is also supported by the regional National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), both of which have not fielded any candidate from this constituency. "Our Ladakh-specific election agenda is Union Territory status for Ladakh which means freedom from Kashmiri dominance," BJP candidate Namgyal told IANS, "We want inclusion of our Bhoti language in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution. We want opening of Kalash Mansarovar Yatra route from Ladakh to Denjok. We demand Zojila tunnel and also opening of Pahalgam-Sanjoy route," he added. Spalbar said, "Whenever Parliament elections are held in Ladakh, the region gets divided between Leh and Kargil, between the Buddhists and the Muslims. My first and foremost commitment is to end this divide which is traditionally created by vested interests." Underlining that faith should not be a dividing factor, he said, "We have the same cultural, social, ethnic and geographical background. An MP elected by both Leh and Kargil would be the best person to bridge this divide. Unfortunately, in the past nobody tried to bridge this gap and I have decided to bridge this gap once and forever." Hussain told IANS, "I am the unity candidate of Kargil. My priorities are connectivity, education, health sector and others." He underscored the need for a medical college, a University, tunnels across the Zojila and Khardung La Passes "and, of course I stand for the protection of state's special status and I am against the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A." The total number of voters in this constituency is 1,74,618 for whom 559 polling stations have been set up. In addition to 86,752 male and 85,064 female electors, there are 2,799 service voters and three transgender voters. The constituency has four Assembly segments of Leh, Kargil, Zanskar and Nubra. The Kargil segment has 65,294, Leh 72,689, Nubra 14,148 and Zanskar 22,487 voters. New Delhi, May 2 : Exactly two years back, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, keeping Alibaba model in mind, took a plunge into the burgeoning e-commerce space where Amazon and Flipkart (now owned by Walmart) were two dominant forces. Nurturing a little grudge that he never had a chance to study at the Harvard University, Sharma de-merged the e-commerce business into a separate entity by the name of Paytm Mall to address India's large online retail opportunity with cashbacks. Confident that the growing number of smartphone users would help it sail through, the new entity started off with the same shareholding as the parent company of Paytm - One97 Communications Limited -- and raised $200 million from SAIF Partners and Jack Ma-run Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Paytm Mall managed to raise over $650 million from Alibaba, SoftBank and SAIF Partners. Alibaba -- a pioneer in the online-to-offline (O2O) marketplace -- soon realised that giving cashback to attract customers was a short-term strategy which won't help Sharma make Paytm Mall a third big player in the fast -- growing Indian ecommerce market -- poised to touch $84 billion in 2021 from $24 billion in 2017. Paytm Mall's losses mounted and in the financial year 2018, the company posted a loss of nearly Rs 1,800 crore on revenue of Rs 774 crore. According to Forrester Research, the market share of Paytm Mall almost halved in 2018 -- to 3 per cent from 5.6 per cent in 2017. Sharma, however, is still optimistic and wants to run Paytm Mall in the face of massive competition which, the analysts feel, is the end-game as his focus should be on the digital payments market which Alibaba always wanted his to excel in. Several attempts to reach out to Paytm, including emails, calls and even a personal visit to One97 Communications Limited's Noida Sector 5 office for their version did not elicit any response till the press time. According to Thomas George, Senior Vice President and Head CyberMedia Research (CMR), Paytm is currently facing several challenges. "Paytm is far behind the top two e-commerce players in terms of market share. They have a single-digit share against the top leaders which are commanding over 30 per cent. Plus, the service standard set by these market leaders is quite remarkable," George told IANS. On the other hand, Paytm is not making investments in stocking and delivering products. "Paytm Mall's primary catchment segment was its payment wallet customers base. This base is not growing as anticipated," George added. Paytm's Payment Bank vision is also under scrutiny. "The Paytm payment bank could have helped the company to create a buzzing marketplace and attract more consumers onboard. While billionaire investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc has invested in Paytm, we had seen Alibaba diluting its stake too," George noted. Over the past few years, Paytm has been bleeding massively in online retail business and there is no respite in sight. In a mega deal in India's e-commerce space, the world's retail giant Walmart in May last year announced it was buying 77 per cent equity stake in the country's largest e-tailor Flipkart for $16 billion. After the two US retails giants, Reliance Industries last year announced to enter the e-commerce space with an aim to transform the lives of around three crore merchants across the country, enabling them to do all that large enterprises and e-commerce giants are able to do with the help of technology. For Paytm Mall, the news of Reliance entering the e-commerce ring was like a nightmare. (Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in) New Delhi, May 2 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted more time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a reply on Robert Vadra's plea challenging a money laundering case against him. A division bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Vinod Goel asked the ED to reply within a week on the plea filed by Vadra and his close associate Manoj Arora challenging certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and Arora have been asked to file a rejoinder to the ED response thereafter within two weeks. The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 18. The case relates to the ownership of 1.9 million pounds overseas assets by Vadra. It also pertains to undisclosed foreign assets and entities to evade tax. Both Vadra and Arora were granted anticipatory bail by a trial court on April 1. Pune : , May 2 (IANS) Three MBA students, including a girl, drowned while taking a swim at the Mulshi Dam here on Thursday morning, police said. A group of 10 MBA students from Bharatiya Vidyapeeth had gone for a picnic to Valne village near the dam. After a night out, some students stepped into the dam waters for a swim around 7 a.m., an official of Pune Police Control told IANS. However, they apparently failed to guage the depth of the water and at least three were reported missing. The others called for help, after which rescue teams rushed to the spot. So far, the bodies of two - Sangeeta Negi and Shubham Raj Sinha - have been recovered, and efforts are on by divers to trace the body of their classmate Shiv Kumar. All the victims are residents of Pune and aged 22. Their families have been informed of the tragedy, said the official. Bengaluru, May 2 : Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 11,413 vehicles in April, registering 12.5 per cent annual decline from 13,037 units sold in the same month a year ago, said the Japanese car maker on Thursday. "Of the 11,413 units sold in April, 10,112 were in the domestic (Indian) market and 1,301 units of Etios were exported," said the city-based company in a statement here. Jammu, May 2 (UNI): Pakistan on Thursday violated the ceasefire and shelled forward posts and villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. "Pakistani Army this morning at around 0939 hours violated the ceasefire in Shahpur and Kerni Sectors of Poonch," a defence spokesman here said. He added that Pakistan had initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation starting with firing small arms followed by shelling with mortars along the LoC. "Indian Army is retaliating befittingly while no injury or damage has been reported so far on our side," he said. However, the district magistrate has ordered all schools in Kerni sector to remain closed on Thursday. Image: UNI Bengaluru, May 2 : Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 10,112 vehicles in April, registering a 22 per cent annual decline from 13,037 units sold in the same month a year ago, the Japanese car maker said on Thursday. "Of the 11,413 units sold in April, 10,112 were in the domestic (Indian) market and 1,301 of the Etios model were exported," said the city-based company in a statement here. In the same month last year, the company had sold 13,871 units, including 834 Etios exported, resulting in a 17.7 per cent overall decline, the statement added. Chennai, May 2 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out searches in Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirapalli and Kumbakonam in connection with the murder of PMK functionary Ramalingam, officials said. The NIA officials searched the office of Popular Front of India (PFI) in Tiruchirapalli and also the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) at Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district. Ramalingam had questioned conversion attempts made by some Muslims in Thirubhuvanam locality in Thanjavur in February. He was later murdered by a gang. The Tamil Nadu Police had registered a case, carried out a probe and arrested 11 persons. The probe was later transferred to the NIA. Washington/United Nations, May 2 : The designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council is a "victory for American diplomacy", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday. "Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist. This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism and an important step towards peace in South Asia," the top US official tweeted. In a huge diplomatic victory for India and a blow to Pakistan, the UNSC declared Azhar a global terrorist on Wednesday, a move that was blocked by China for nearly 10 years. China finally dropped its objections after India shared fresh evidence to brand Masood an international terrorist. "The US welcomes the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and Al Qaeda Sanctions list," a statement by a spokesperson for the US Mission in the UN said on Wednesday. "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. "Jaish-e-Mohammed is a UN-designated terrorist group and Azhar, as the founder and leader of the JeM, clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN," it said. "The JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace. We appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Imran 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," the statement read. "We recognize initial steps taken by the Government of Pakistan in this regard. We look forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan and consistent with its international obligations," it added. Soon after the sanctions committee that deals with Al Qaeda 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. Ahmedabad, May 2 : A special CBI court here on Thursday absolved controversial Gujarat police officers D.G. Vanzara and N.K. Amin of all charges in the sensational Ishrat Jahan encounter, after the Gujarat Government refused permission to prosecute them in the case. Allowing a discharge petition of the officers, who are now retired, the court stated that it was not in a position to frame charges against them after the government's refusal to sanction their prosecution. The officers had filed an application in the court on March 26 submitting that all proceedings against them should be dropped since the Gujarat Government had declined their prosecution stating that they were doing their duty. According to Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a sanction of the government was mandatory to prosecute a public official. Besides this, the key argument of the police officers was that there was no abduction of the people killed and that it was a genuine encounter and part of their official duty. Earlier in August 2018, the court had rejected the discharge petitions of Vanzara and Amin after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenged it arguing that it had sufficient evidence to establish that Vanzara was the mastermind of the entire operation and Amin was present at the encounter site. Thursday's court order stated: "Discharge applications of D.G. Vanzara and N.K. Amin are hereby allowed and they're discharged from offences punishable under IPC section 120B read with sections 341, 342, 343, 365, 368, 302 and 201, and sections 25(1)(e) and 27 of Indian Arms Act. Bail bond stands canceled and security bonds, if any deposited by the applicants accused are ordered to be refunded to them." Meanwhile, CBI's lawyer R.C. Kodekar said a copy of the order of would be sent to the CBI headquarters to decide whether to move a higher court against the court ruling. Senior counsel Vrinda Grower for Ishrat Jahan's mother Shamima Kauser had opposed the discharge petition arguing that it was "untenable in law and unsustainable on facts" while the State Government had no authority to refuse the prosecution of the officials. Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan and Pranesh Pillai alias Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, who were said to be Pakistani nationals, were killed near Kotarpur waterworks on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, by the Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch, then led by Vanzara. DCB had then claimed that the four were operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba out to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Rome, May 2 : Former world no.1 Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the Italian Open as she continues to recover from a right shoulder injury she has been complaining of through 2018. The three-time champion will be replaced by the 45th-ranked Viktoria Kuzmova, Rome organisers announced on Wednesday. Sharapova has been sidelined since pulling out of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia in January after winning the first-round match. The three-time Grand Slam winner later said she had gone through a "small procedure" on her right shoulder that would need a few weeks to heal. Sharapova added that she has struggled since midway through 2018 with shoulder pain caused by a fraying tendon and small labrum tear. This now puts the 28th-ranked player in doubt for the French Open, which begins at the end of the month. Since the withdrawal from St. Petersburg, Sharapova has had to further withdraw from the Stuttgart Open and the Madrid Open prior to Rome. The injury has put a halt on her comeback from a 15-month doping suspension between October 2016 and April 2017. Her best finish in a Grand Slam in the period since came in the 2018 French Open where she lost in the quarter final to Garbine Muguruza. New Delhi, May 2 : A day after 15 C-60 commandos were killed in a Maoist attack in Maharastra's Gadchiroli district, the Congress sought the resignation of state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said the incident reflected failure of the Union Home Ministry. "We demand the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the attack. The Home Ministry's failure was also evident," Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said. Congress leader Ragini Nayak also slammed the Centre over the alleged intelligence failure, saying the area had been declared Maoist-free but there were recent reports that the extremists were regrouping there. "Why did the government not launch massive surveillance in the area when there were reports of the Naxals regrouping there," Nayak asked. She cast a doubt over the origin of the explosive material in the attack and compared it to the Pulwama terror attack where the attacker was reportedly carrying 300 kg of explosives in the car he rammed into a convoy of CRPF troops. "The government has no reply as it had nothing to say after the Pulwama blast," said Nayak. Citing data, the Congress leader said there had been 1,086 Maoist attacks over the past five years in which 351 jawans were martyred and 582 civilians injured. Thiruvananthapuram, May 2 : The Muslim Educational Society (MES) in Kerala has banned all face covering attires, a circular issued said. The Kozhikode headquartered MES that runs over 150 educational institutions in the state banned all face covering attires from their campus from the upcoming academic year 2019-20. MES President Fazal Gafoor, a medical professional, issued the circular in April and directed that this should be strictly adhered to by both students and teachers in all their educational institutions. "There is no need for any controversy as the circular states that the dress code should be decent and the face should not be covered. This is our view and it will be implemented," said Gafoor to the media. Set up in 1964, MES runs more than 150 institutions including more than 50 schools, a number of postgraduate colleges, women's colleges, professional institutions like engineering colleges, medical college, nursing college and dental college. However, Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal, president of the popular Muslim organisation Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, said that these are all religious issues. "MES, cannot decide on religious issues and it's not right in what they have done," said Thangal. Jamshedpur, May 2 : Indian Super League outfit Jamshedpur FC on Thursday announced the contract extension of Indian defender Robin Gurung in a one-year deal. Right-back Robin has been an integral part of the squad over the last two seasons. He featured in 13 league matches and came on as a substitute during the second half of the quarter final clash in the Super Cup against FC Goa. On signing with Jamshedpur FC, Robin said, "I am extremely happy to continue my journey with Jamshedpur FC. Jamshedpur has been my second home and I am fond of the city and its people. It's been an absolute honour to wear the badge of JFC for the last two seasons and I am looking forward to bringing a lot of joy to our fans." Jamshedpur FC finished fifth last season, just missing out on a knockout berth. Lucknow, May 2 : A new facet of her personality came to fore on Thursday when Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited a village of snake charmers in Rae Bareli to campaign for her mother Sonia Gandhi. She went to the Hansa ka Purwa village and met the snake charmers. While talking to them about their problems, she picked up a black cobra and played with it. The Congress workers and security personnel accompanying her were taken aback to see this but none had the courage to intervene. "This is the first time that any 'neta' has visited our village and even shown the courage to touch a snake. "In fact, whenever we have shown them snakes, they think we are doing it for money. But Priyanka is so fearless and she treated the snake like one treats a puppy," said Kishori Lal, a snake charmer. Later, Priyanka addressed a number of street corner meetings where she criticised the BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh who had claimed to be a loyal Congress leader till he was given a BJP ticket. Hyderabad, May 2 : Tech Mahindra Ltd on Thursday announced that its Blockchain solution is safeguarding over 300 million mobile subscribers from unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) or spam calls. Tech Mahindra last year designed the Blockchain solution in compliance with the regulations and guidelines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to enable telecom providers prevent unauthorised access of subscribers' data. Blockchain is expected to be a trillion-dollar market globally by 2030. "With the concerted and coordinated efforts by the Indian government and the industry backed by appropriate regulation, India can continue to sustain and enhance its leadership position in Blockchain technology," Rajesh Dhuddu, Global Practice Leader, Blockchain, Tech Mahindra said in a statement. The company is betting big on Blockchain as part of its "TechMNxt" charter, progressively investing in next-generation technologies to cater to the customer's evolving needs. "Tech Mahindra also demonstrates Blockchain capabilities in diverse sectors including telecom, manufacturing, hi-tech industries and financial services," said the company. Tech Mahindra last month partnered Samsung SDS, the systems integration arm of South Korean giant, to enter the global blockchain market. As part of the deal, the two companies would offer "Nexledger" -- a Blockchain platform developed by Samsung SDS -- in the global market. New Delhi, May 2 (UNI): A day after United Nations Security Council (UNSC) put Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar on sanction list, India on Thursday said that the onus is now on Pakistan to ensure effective implementation of the decision of the powerful world body organ against the individual. "Pakistan and other countries are now basically required to take three steps - first - freeze the funds and other financial assets of Masood Azhar, second - travel ban and third the arms embargo to prevent direct or indirect supply of arms to the individual," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters here. "Now, Pakistan is responsible to the international community to take such actions as demanded by the UN Sanction Committee," he said. The MEA spokesman maintained that India has always been insisting that Pakistan should fulfill its international commitment by "taking credible and verifiable actions" against terrorists and terror groups operating from areas in Pakistan control. To a question on whether New Delhi has struck any deal with Beijing to force China to reverse its earlier stand and withdraw the veto or technical hold, Mr Kumar said, "Let me make it very very clear that we do not negotiate with any country on terrorism and on matters related to security of the country". He made it crystal clear that since 2009 itself when India first took up the issue of getting UN ban on Masood Azhar, India's stand has been for designating Masood Azhar as a terrorist. "The designation is not based on a specific incident (read terror strike)," he said to a question that the Pulwama reference was dropped. However, he said the Indian government has shared related details and evidence with the members of the UNSC "linking Masood Azhar to several acts of terrorism". "The notification by UNSC actually broadly covers all terror activities which Masood Azhar has been involved," he remarked. On Pakistani response after the UNSC decision was announced, he said, "There are elements being introduced to divert the attention from a huge diplomatic setback they have suffered". In a virtual tongue-in-cheek fashion, the spokesman said: "Frankly they have no choice. They cannot welcome the decision, they cannot criticise the decision. In both cases there will be criticism at home". "So only options left for them is to pick up holes, which they think exist. But as far as we are concerned these are all irrelevant details," he said. The MEA spokesman said the UN notification is not supposed to be the bio data of Masood Azhar. Answering questions, he said: "For us what is important is that he has been listed as a terrorist. And I can tell you that the terror attack in Pulwama did play a role in coming to this decision". Earlier in the day, BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also spoke on similar line and said: "The reason for which China has changed its stand; and countries like the US, France, Britain and Russia took aggressive stand - it is natural that Pulwama had a big role in all these". Kolkata, May 2 : An Assam Rifles trooper, said to be suffering from "mental issues", opened fire in his camp in West Bengal's Howrah on Thursday, killing an officer and injuring two others, police said. "Lakshmikant Barman, who was on poll duty, fired 13 rounds at the camp in Bagnan. It was recently found that he was not keeping well, and had certain mental issues. So he was kept off duty but he grabbed a gun and opened fire," Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Siddhi Nath Gupta said. The killed trooper was identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Bholanath Das, and the injured as troopers Anil Rajbanshi and Rantu Mani, he said, adding Barman has been taken into custody. Hong Kong, May 2 : Chinese authorities are using a mobile phone app to collect vast amount of data for illegal mass surveillance and arbitrary detention of Muslims in the western Xinjiang region, said a Human Rights Watch report on Thursday. The report, "China's Algorithms of Repression: Reverse Engineering a Xinjiang Police Mass Surveillance App", says the app allows state security officials to link a person's national identity card number with biometric data, such as blood type and height, their "religious atmosphere", political affiliation and even "unusual" utility metre readings. The New York-based rights watchdog said its report "presents new evidence about the surveillance state in Xinjiang where the government has subjected 13 million Turkic Muslims to heightened repression". Several international organizations have highlighted and denounced China for detaining Muslims in internment camps. The Chinese government justifies these camps as part of its counter-extremism and counter-terrorism efforts and only releases an individual who "has been transformed". The app also records "suspicious" behaviour, which can include legal activities such as using the back door of a home, not socializing with neighbours or buying too much gasoline, CNN reported. It is linked to the all-encompassing Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), which monitors personal relationships and detects irregularities such as people using a phone that is not registered to them. "Our research shows, for the first time, that Xinjiang police are using illegally gathered information about people's completely lawful behaviour -- and using it against them," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Chinese government is monitoring... (and) picking out those it mistrusts and subjecting them to extra scrutiny." The non-profit said between January 2018 and February 2019, it was able to reverse engineer the mobile app used to connect to the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, the Xinjiang policing programme that aggregates data about people and flags those deemed potentially threatening. The examination of the app's design, which at the time was publicly available, "revealed specifically the kinds of behaviours and people this mass surveillance system targets". "The police platform targets 36 types of people for data collection. Those include people who have stopped using smart phones, those who fail to 'socialize with neighbours', and those who 'collected money or materials for mosques with enthusiasm'," said the report. The authorities, according to the report, have programmed the app in such a way that many legal and lawful activities are seen as an indicator of a "suspicious behaviour". The HRW has asked the Chinese government to close down the surveillance programme and delete all the details it has collected. But, the Chinese authorities had previously called the watchdog an "organization (that) kept making "false allegations on China-related issues all along". The rights group also stressed that the "concerned foreign governments should impose targeted sanctions". In March, China confirmed arresting 12,995 alleged terrorists since 2014 in the region, disbanded 1,588 "violent and terrorist gangs" and seized 2,052 explosive devices". Lucknow, May 2 : In a bizarre incident, a monkey looted Rs 5,000 cash from a toll plaza in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Rural district, an official said. The incident took place recently at Bara toll plaza in Akbarpur police circle and was recorded in the CCTV camera installed at the toll plaza. The footage shows a white car stopping at the toll booth and a monkey coming out of its window, jumping inside the booth, picking up bundle of notes, amounting to Rs 5,000 from the cash register, before scampering off. Manoj Sharma, the AGM of the toll plaza, told reporters that two similar incidents had taken place in the past six months. "We have got the car number and we have lodged a complaint with the police," he said. The number of car has been blacklisted and investigation in the case is currently underway. Wildlife experts say that it appears that the monkey has been trained to pick up cash. New Delhi, May 2 : The second edition of Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Pen to Publish contest announced on Thursday six self-published e-book authors as winners across genres in English, Hindi and Tamil languages. The six winners, in long-form (more than 10,000 words) and short-form (between 2,000 to 10,000 words) categories, received Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50,000, respectively. The winners were shortlisted from over 4,000 entries over three months. The prize in English long-form went to Hyderabad-based writer Aparna Das Sadhukan for her collection of short stories "Escape Routes". The book is about the inherent human desire to escape troubled situations. For English short-form, the award went to Bengaluru-based Deepika Priya for her work "Being A Mother: It's A Different Hormone Altogether". The book, which falls under the healthy, body and mind genre of Amazon, expresses her thoughts during and after her pregnancy. The award for Tamil long-form was given to orthopaedic surgeon Senthilbalan Manickam, working in Oman. His book "Detective Karthick Aldo Series Book 2" is based on a suburban railway station in Chennai, infamous for frequent train accidents. In the same language, short-form award went to young journalist Vignesh Selvaraj for his "Article about Isai's Poetry". In Hindi, the long-form award was conferred upon Nandini Kumar for an introspective book on a woman whose relationship with his fiance comes to an abrupt end. The short-form award went to Anurakti Dev Singla for her book "Aatman", a compilation of thoughts and perceptions as poetry. Singla, a full-time paediatric cardiologist in Gurugram, told IANS she had been writing since 27 years but finally published on Kindle Direct Publishing, citing the ease to do it. "It's an easy platform and help writers who want something hassle-free," she said. The winning titles were chosen on the basis of several criteria, including creativity, originality, quality of writing and commercial viability by a jury comprising best-selling authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Rashmi Bansal, Sundari Venkatraman, Divya Prakash Dubey and Era Murugan. Amazon Kindle claims authors can self-publish content cutting across genres in five steps. Announcing the 2018 winners, Kindle Content India's official Sanjeev Jha said their vision for the platform was "getting you any book in any language within 60 seconds". "It allows a person, sitting anywhere, to reach out to a global audience," he said, and added, 70 per cent of revenue from the book sales went to authors. On the credibility and factual accuracy of self-published material being flagged globally, Jha said, "We follow laws of the land, and for India we are conservative. Although there is no editorial oversight, we have software that flag any obscene content. It's further sent to a review team. If it's not found suitable, the author is informed," he said. In case of any other errors apart from obscene content, one only has to hope that "readers point it out within hours of publishing" and it can then be changed. The award ceremony also saw reading sessions by bestselling authors Ashwin Sanghi and Divya Prakash Dubey. Agartala, May 2 : The Election Commission on Thursday removed the returning officer of the Tripura West seat, where polling was held on the first phase on the Lok Sabha elections on April 11, an official said. "The Election Commission removed the returning officer of the Tripura West seat Sandeep Mahatme. Tripura East's returning officer, Vikas Singh, has been appointed in his place," an Election Commission official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS. Alleging large-scale rigging, booth capturing, intimidation and attacks on voters and polling agents by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members and their goons, the opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress had been demanding re-polling in the constituency. They had also been demanding Mahatme's removal. The EC order issued by Secretary Arvind Anand, and available with IANS, relieved Mahatme, the District Magistrate of West Tripura, from election-related duties. It also asked Vikas Singh, the District Magistrate of Dhalai, to join his new posting by Thursday. According to the official, Tripura's Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti has been asked to send a panel of names by Thursday to be appointed the new District Magistrate of Dhalai. While polling was held in Tripura West on April 11, voting in the Tripura East seat, slated for the second phase of April 18, was deferred to the third (April 23) by the poll panel, citing the "non-conducive security situation". New Delhi, May : The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) this week reviewed the 59-minute loan scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with the Finance Ministry officials and asked them to increase disbursals. Sources said since November last year, when the scheme was launched, Rs 37,870-crore loans were disbursed till March 31. The Finance Ministry is mulling to raise Rs 1-crore cap on 59-minute loans to Rs 3-5 crore in a gradual manner, they said. During the current month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Finance Ministry as well as the banks will be discussing the risks and the benefits of the scheme which has already drawn a healthy response from the borrowers, and some public sector banks (PSBs) are now keen on raising the credit limit. The 59-minute loan scheme was launched late last year for the benefit of MSMEs. It formed part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 12-point action plan for the MSMEs announced in November 2018. Extending hassle-free loans to such units which are without any collateral has been a hit on www.psbloansin59minutes.com, as it has reduced the turnaround time for sanctioning loans from 20-25 days to 59 minutes. It is a strategic initiative of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIBDI)-led PSBs' consortium incubated under the aegis of the Department of Financial Services (DFS). The majority stake is held by the SIDBI and five large PSBs -- State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Vijaya Bank and Indian Bank. New Delhi, May 2 : Responding to the deletion of 'Pulwama' from United Nations Security Council's resolution recounting Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar's role in terror activities, the Ministry of External Affairs, here on Thursday, said the objective was to get JeM chief Masood Azhar classified as a terrorist. "Our objective all along had been designation of Masood Azhar as terrorist. The process started way back in 2009. Designation is not based on specific incident but on the basis of evidences, which we have shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee," MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a press conference here. The UNSC on Wednesday listed 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 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama killing 40 CRPF personnel. However, the tragedy did not find a mention in the resolution adopted. "Given the number of terrorist acts committed by Masood Azhar, it is not supposed to be a bio-data of all his terrorist acts. For us, what is important is that he has been designated as a terrorist. (But) The terror attack Pulwama did play a role in coming to this decision." Now, Pakistan was required to take three steps as sought by the Sanctions Committee, Kumar said. "First, it will have to freeze funds and financial assets of Azhar. Second, there will be a ban on his travel. And third, there will also be an embargo to prevent direct or indirect supply of arms to him," he said. "We and the international community have been demanding Pakistan to fulfil its international obligation by taking credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorists and terror groups from areas under its control," he said. New Delhi, May 2 : The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it would not allow any body to "browbeat" it as it rejected a plea for recusal of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi from hearing a matter on the detention centre housing illegal immigrants in Assam. It also removed the former bureaucrat Harsh Mander, who had moved the plea, as the petitioner in the case. "We will not remotely think of recusal as it is destructive of the institution. We will not allow anybody to browbeat the institution (the top court)," said the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna as Mander alleged bias by the CJI. Dismissing the plea, the court said it has the potential of causing damage to the institution. "You take news from social media and throw at the CJI asking him to recuse himself. What will happen if institutions collapse, where will we be?" CJI Gogoi said as Mander said that he got the news of the court's observations from news portals. "The day you don't trust your judges, you do great damage to the institutions," the CJI told Mander, adding that "We make mistakes and of course we do and correct then later." In an apparent suggestion that petitioners can't act on the contents of social media, he asked Mander: "What if I say that you have been set up by the Assam government to save the Chief Secretary from disciplinary action." "I would say that it is simply say not true," Mander said. The court directed its registry to strike off Mander's name as the petitioner and substitute it with the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee. It also appointed counsel Prashant Bhushan as amicus curiae in the matter confined to the detention centres where illegal immigrants are lodged. The court said that it was appointing Bhushan as amicus as he was appearing for Mander in the matter. Describing "scandalous" the plea for the recusal of CJI Gogoi from hearing the matter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that it was contemptuous as Mander is alleging that the court is using his petition for other purposes. He also termed the petition - "well drafted with judgments quoted" as "nothing but forum hunting". Questioning Mander for "lecturing judges as to what they should do", he said: "You can't get up as public spirited person and spit venom on anyone." Also defending the Assam Chief Secretary, Mehta told the court that he was not behind the plea for the recusal of the CJI. "The Chief Secretary did not know of the application (seeking the recusal of the CJI) till it was filed and asked me to oppose it," Mehta told the court. Chennai, May 2 : The Tamil Nadu Police on Thursday shot dead Kathirvel, a rowdy in Salem district, when he attacked the police while resisting his arrest. According to the police, Kathirvel had several criminal cases against him and he was on the run. On a tip-off about Kathirvel's hideout, the police went to arrest him. Resisting his arrest, Kathirvel attacked the police party with a sickle and hurt a policeman. The police in self defence shot Kathirvel who died on the spot. The injured policeman has been admitted to a hospital. Shimla, May 2 : Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh Kuldeep Chand Agnihotri has been caught in a row over his book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 128-page book in Hindi named "Bharat Bodh ka Sangharsh: 2019 ka Mahasamar", available at a book fair in Dharamsala, reportedly describes Modi's achievements and allegedly has many comments against the Congress. Taking a suo motu cognizance, the District Electoral Officer of Kangra had issued a notice to the Vice-Chancellor asking him to explain the timing of the book's release when the model code of conduct was in force. In his reply to the notice on Thursday, Agnihotri said, "The book is not biopic of any political personality or individual." Stating that the book is not completely political in nature, Agnihotri said, "It just narrates and describes the political scenario and makes an in-depth analysis of problems or political happenings confronting India. It's also an anthology of write-ups of the last 15 years," he said. The Vice-Chancellor clarified the cover page of the book, designed by the publisher, "is his prerogative". The book, published by the Prabhat Prakashan, was launched at the National Book Fair organised by the National Book Trust on April 29. Agnihotri's reply has been forwarded to the Election Commission, a spokesperson for the state Chief Electoral Officer told IANS on Thursday. The Central University of Himachal Pradesh is situated in Kangra district. By Peter Koenig May 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Sri Lanka, Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019: More than half a dozen bomb blasts shook the country killing from 250 to more than 350 people. Depending on who counts, the death toll varies. The devastation took place in in several catholic churches and luxury hotels. Other explosions, including from what they say are suicide bombers, have since killed another several dozens of people. Many are children, women christen worshippers. Why the luxury hotels? Western (Christian) tourists? Today, another explosion ripped through a suspicious building, killing 18, including children and women. Again, they, the authorities, say suicide bombers, who didnt want their cache to be discovered. Conveniently they are all dead the suicide bombers. Nobody can ask them any questions. There was a lot of confusion, and still is, all through Sri Lanka. Nobody claimed credit for the massacres. There were rumors that Sri Lankas President received warnings ahead of the attacks from foreign intelligence, but ignored them. The President denies these allegations. And the explosions continue. Finally, the verdict is in. The culprits are an Islamic terrorist group, associated with ISIS. What else is new. Sri Lankas population is composed of about 70% Buddhists, 13% Hindus, almost 10% Muslims, mainly Sunni, the Salafi version, and about 7% Christians. The New York times reports that the accused mastermind of the terror attacks was strongly influenced by Wahhabism, the same extreme hardliners that control most of Saudi Arabia. Hatred between religions seems on the rise. In New Zealand a few weeks ago a white supremacist assaulted a mosque, killing 50. This past weekend, a shooting in a Synagogue near San Diego, California killed a woman. The murderer said he was inspired by the New Zealand massacre. Are these spontaneous, interreligious mini-wars part of a foreign directed divide to conquer effort, a strategy that has been used by empires for centuries, but seems to be alive and well with the current Washington based empire? Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter MintPress News reports that Sri Lanka Easter attacks are the handiwork of terrorists returning from fighting in Syria, practicing the Saudi-backed Wahhabi Salafist ideology, adding, though not confirmed yet, they, [the attacks], are in keeping with the modus operandi of Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi terrorism worldwide. [The] Saudi sponsorship of Salafi Wahhabi dogma [is found] across the globe. From Boko Haram to ISIS, and from the Taliban to Al Qaeda, a common ideological thread runs through these terror groups. This is the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi Salafi ideology whose South Asian counterpart is Deobandi. For abbreviation purposes, it is becoming increasingly common to term this interconnected ideology as WSD (Wahhabi Salafi Deobandi). May we expect a wave of Saudi-sponsored WSD terrorism in the east too? Is the horror Saudi government protected by the US, because it does its bidding? And this bidding leads to making gradually Islam extremism the justification for NATO bases around the globe? Perhaps in Sri Lanka, tomorrow? So far Sri Lanka is clean from NATO. Sri Lanka has not even an association agreement with NATO. Just look at the world-geostrategic location of Sri Lanka, linking the Arabian Sea with the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka may also have a direct, open-sea connection with the small British island of Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago, north-east of Madagascar. Diego Garcia hosts the USs largest Navy base outside the American Continent. Many of the drone killings in Yemen, Syria and other places in the Middle East originate from Diego Garcia. The civil war in Syria was (and still is) largely directed from Diego Garcia, as well as from Djibouti. Wouldnt it be logical for NATO to set up base in Sri Lanka to control South East Asia? Saudi guided WSD attacks would create the necessary chaos justifying all the AngloZionist secret services plus NATO to descend on Colombo, to create further protests and anarchy a never-ending internal strife, giving the war industry a new never-ending flow of profit, hence, further justifying the never-ending war on terror and, thereby, moving yet an inch closer to Full Spectrum Dominance over Mother Earth and her hapless spectators, what western humanity has become a bunch of complacent consumers, drenched in turbo-capitalist market ideology, too comfortable to go on the barricades. The key and engine to all of this is NATO, whose modus operandi is killing for a living, for dominance and for profit. If there is ever to be Peace and thats what the vast majority of the inhabitants of this globe wants Im not exaggerating pretending that 99.99% of world population wants to live in peace then NATO must go, NATO must be dismantled. So, Europe which has the largest membership in NATO (27 out of 29 nations) has to put the money where her mouth is: Europe calls for Peace, Europe claims to be Peace-loving really? Then put your money into creating Peace pulling out of NATO, refusing at once to fund this killing machine under the pretext of protecting Europe. Protecting Europe from what? From whom? Not from Russia despite all the highly propagandized and highly corporate-funded Russiagate / Russia phobia, exacerbated by a new artificially implanted fear China. These countries have no history of expansion, like the west. They only seek friendly relations of trade, of transport, cultural and research interconnectivity within the supercontinent, Eurasia, and ultimately, they promote a multi-polar world. The best example is the Chinese President Xis ingenuity the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that just finished its highly successful forum in Beijing where more than 120 nations signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) and cooperation agreements with China for tens of billions of dollars equivalent. What a way of cooperating, instead of sowing western-style belligerence. Europe and the rest of the world is not in danger, except in danger of itself for being a vassal of the US and for hosting 30-plus NATO bases which would be first in the line of fire, if the east is forced to defend itself from that permanent Pentagon-NATO driven aggression. Europe withhold your funding for NATO, get out of NATO, dismantle NATO, NOW, before NATO sets up yet another base in Asia, before NATO spreads more death around the globe. Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. 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 Mumbai, May 2 : The upcoming Bollywood film 'India's Most Wanted' is inspired by a "true story" related to a terrorist, its director Raj Kumar Gupta said on Thursday about the movie which has triggered speculation that it is about Indian Mujahideen militant group's founder Yasin Bhatkal. Gupta maintained secrecy of the character on whom the film is based even as the trailer of the movie was released on Thursday. The film is scheduled to be released on May 24. "I want to say it is inspired by a true event. Who is the terrorist, who have we based the story on...you can decide when you go and watch the film in the theatre," the director said. "All I want to say is that it is based on a true event and it was a watershed moment of Indian intelligence department where a terrorist was captured without using a single bullet. But you have to watch the film to know the details," he added. He was responding to whether the film's story was based on Bhatkal, a key conspirator in various terror cases across India. Bhatkal, who once topped Delhi Police's list of 15 most wanted terrorists, was arrested from the India-Nepal border after a joint operation by Bihar Police and intelligence agencies in August 2013. The teaser, released last month, highlighted: "52 blasts, 810 injured, 433 killed. Hyderabad. Jaipur. Ahmedabad. Bangalore. Pune. Delhi. Mumbai", before the sound of gun shots and bomb blasts take over. The trailer of the film, starring actor Arjun Kapoor, gives a glimpse into the mission of five people to nab India's most wanted terrorist -- described here as India's Osama -- without any weapon or support in just four days. It is filled with intense moments, car chase sequences, strong opposition from bureaucrats and runs high on patriotism, with some strong dialogues. The terrorist just makes an appearance at the starting of the trailer, and says, "Yeh jung hai iss jung mein kuch bhi ho... chaahe marenge ya maarenge, milegi toh jannat hi (This is war, whether we die or we kill, we will go to heaven)". Even the identity of the actor who plays the terrorist in the film has been kept under wraps as he emerges behind a flame. What follows is a close-up to his eyes with reflection of the flame. Jammu, May 2 : Former Jammu and Kashmir legislator Gagan Bhagat was arrested on Thursday for allegedly assaulting a woman sarpanch, police said. He was taken into custody from the court premises in Janipur area here when he was going to present himself before the court to seek bail. Woman sarpanch, Seema Devi of Miran Sahib block of Jammu district, had lodged a complaint with the police that Bhagat had assaulted her during the installation of an electric transformer in Jindher village of the block last month. Earlier on Thursday, over two dozen panches and sarpanches held a protest against him. Elected as a BJP MLA from R.S. Pura assembly constituency in the 2014 Assembly elections, Bhagat was expelled from the party in December last year for anti-party activities and had joined the National Conference. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee addresses a public rally ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, at Bhatpara in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, on May 2, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Rajarhat : , May 2 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "syndicate" jibe for her government, saying he himself is the leader of the "biggest syndicates" like the RSS and cow vigilantes. Modi, as well as senior BJP leaders like party President Amit Shah, had previously taken pot shots at Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government, accusing it of introducing a "syndicate culture" in Bengal and extorting from people. "You are the leader of the biggest syndicates in the country. Your RSS is a syndicate, you have syndicates for 'gaurakshaks' (cow vigilantes), you have syndicates for lynching, rioting, mass murder, making people jobless," Banerjee said at an election rally in North 24 Parganas's Rajarhat for Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar who again contesting from the Barasat constituency. Taking a swipe at Modi for frequently coming to Bengal during the ongoing 2019 polls, she said "he is coming here often as people in other states are not inviting him." The Trinamool supremo claimed Modi and his party will perform poorly in states like Uttar Pradesh where they had won a majority of seats in the last general elections and draw a blank in south India. "Go to UP and see what (Samajwadi Party President) Akhilesh Yadav and (Bahujan Samaj Party chief) Mayawati are doing. Go and see how they are working togather to defeat you. Last time you got 73 out of 80 seats in UP but if you get close to 13 seats this time, consider yourself to be lucky. You will not get a single seat from South India," Banerjee said. In a bid to consolidate the Hindu votes, Modi and Shah have repeatedly accused Banerjee's government of not letting Hindu religious festivals like Durga Puja and Saraswati Pujas in Bengal. Both the leaders have often referred to Bengal government's decision to put a restriction on the immersion of the Durga idol on the scheduled date as it clashed with the Muslim festival of Muharrum a couple of years ago and claimed that if voted to power in Bengal, the BJP will make sure that Hindu festivals are celebrated everywhere without any hindrance. Refuting the allegations of minority appeasement against her, Banerjee said Modi should know the facts before making such comments. "You are saying that Durga Puja does not happen in Bengal. It is not true. There are one lakh Durga Pujas in Bengal every year. More than eight crore Saraswati Pujas are held here. Narendra Modi should go and do the home work before making such allegations," she added. Mumbai, May 2 : A special court in Mumbai has sentenced to life imprisonment six persons including a banker and slapped a three-year jail term on a lawyer in a 20-year-old fraud involving Rs 2.91 crore in the Bank of India, an official said here on Thursday. Following a complaint by the bank, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case in April 2004 on the fraud perpetrated in the BoI's Mandvi Branch. The case was registered against then BoI Assistant General Manager Bhagwanji D. Joshi, five borrower businessmen -- Manoharlal Ahuja, his son Amit Ahuja, Mahesh Bohra, Sandesh Ramchandra Nage, G. K. Sharma, Shantilal Chauhan -- and lawyer Yunus H. Memon under various sections. According to the CBI, in 2000, the Ahujas who were partners in Swift Service Linings, Sewri, entered into a criminal conspiracy with some unknown BoI branch officials to defraud the bank by using forged documents. Accordingly, the company fraudulently got sanctioned credit facilities of Rs 2.50 crore, which were secured by equitable mortgaging of properties worth nearly the same amount at Rs 2.43 crore. Later, the company defaulted on the repayments and it was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in early 2004. The documents deposited with the bank turned out to be fake, causing a loss of Rs 2.91 crore to the bank. After a detailed year-long investigations, the CBI filed a chargesheet in the case in November 2005 and the trial continued before the Special CBI Court in Mumbai during which 37 witnesses were examined. In what a CBI official termed as an "landmark and extremely rare" verdict, the Special Court has sentenced the Ahuja father-son, Bohra, Nage, Chauhan and BoI former AGM Joshi to life imprisonment, and the lawyer Memon has been sentenced to three years' jail term. Besides the jail terms, all the accused have also been fined varying amounts -- the Ahujas Rs 50 lakh each, Bohra Rs 300,000, Nage Rs 60,000, Chauhan Rs 50,000, Joshi Rs 100,000 and Memon Rs 3,000. One of the prime accused Sharma passed away in August 2008 during the pendency of the trial and hence the case against him was dropped, said the CBI. Gurugram, May 2 : A student of the Heritage Xperiential Learning School here topped the CBSE's Class 12 exams in the children of special need category as per the results announced on Thursday. Lavanya Balakrishnan, who had English, Sociology, Political Science, Painting and Home Science, scored 489 marks out of 500 in class 12 board exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Having a hearing disability since her childhood, Lavanya said that she was not expecting it. "I was astonished after hearing about my result. This has really boosted my confidence," she said. Sharing her experience, Lavanaya, who says she studied six hours a day, credited her parents for always supporting her and her sister. Her mother, who also teaches in the same school, also took care of her education. "They have motivated us throughout our educational journey. My teachers also played a crucial role in my preparation for the examination and were always with me step by step to achieve the goal. "The teachers have given their valuable times not only during school hours but also on weekends. I am thankful to all of them who supported me," she added. Lavanya now wants establish a career in graphics and animation. New Delhi, May 2 : The Hindu Mahasabha on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, raising questions on his citizenship and sought debarring him from contesting the Lok Sabha election from Wayanad and Amethi seats. The case is likely to be taken up by the court in the coming week. The petition is filed by Jai Bhagwan Goel, executive president of the United Hindu Front and Chandra Prasad Kaushik, national president of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha. The petitioner's counsel, Barun Sinha speaking to media said that Rahul is not a citizen of Indian origin; therefore, his candidature for polls should be immediately struck down. The petition claimed that Gandhi acquired British citizenship, and that the Election Commission should intervene urgently to decide his eligibility to contest the ongoing elections. The petition was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, but it declined it. Sinha said Rahul in the official documents of a company in the UK, mentioned that he is a British citizen and that "he has given up his Indian citizenship." The petition said that Rahul is incompetent to contest elections as per the provisions of Constitution of India read with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a notice to Gandhi on April 29 to clarify his nationality within a fortnight after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy alleged that he is a British national. The BJP had raised the issue earlier in April, citing the British company's document to allege that Gandhi is a British national. BJP MP Swamy cited the same British company document. Swamy in his representation before the Home Ministry alleged that Gandhi served as one of the Directors and Secretary of the British firm Backops Ltd, which is registered in the UK since 2003, with address 51 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire. New Delhi, May 2 : The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission to pass "necessary orders" on a petition seeking to change the voting schedule time from 7 a.m to 5a.m. in the view of Ramzan and meteorological department forecast on heat wave for the remaining phases of the election. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said: "The Election Commission is directed to pass necessary orders. The writ petition is disposed of in the above terms." Advocates Mohammad Nizamuddin Pasha and Asad Hayat filed the petition in the court. It contended that the court should issue a direction to the poll body to extend the polling hours during the fifth, sixth and seventh phases of the ongoing general election on May 6, May 12 and May 19, respectively, by 2-2.5 hours so as to commence at 4:30/5 a.m.(instead of the notified time of 7 a.m.)". The heat wave is likely to increase the temperature by up to five degree Celsius than normal. The petitioners claimed to have submitted their petition to the poll body earlier this week, but they are yet to receive a response. Ramzan is likely to begin on May 6 and it coincides with the fifth phase of the election. Muslims will find it difficult to go and vote in these harsh weather conditions. "In the intense heat, it will be very difficult for Muslim voters to queue up at the polling booths during the day in the intense heat to exercise their franchise," said the plea. The petitioner also contended that under these weather conditions, people who are fasting are likely to suffer dehydration and heatstroke. The petition cited that Indian Meteorological Department has issued warnings indicating severe heat wave conditions in poll-bound areas of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. New Delhi/Chennai, May 2 : High interest and fuel cost along with liquidity constraints continued to subdue sales of Indian automobile companies in April. Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India's 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 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. Similarly, Hyundai Motor India's overall sales including exports declined marginally by 1.6 per cent. 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. On its part, Tata Motors reported a drop of 20 per cent in April commercial and passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market which declined to 42,577 units from 53,511 units sold in the same period last year. The company said weak consumer sentiment continued to hamper sales. Segment-wise, domestic sales of the company's passenger vehicles witnessed a decline of 26 per cent at 12,694 units, as compared to 17,235 units sold in the like period of last year. "The on-going general elections also impacted demand generation in the market," the company said in a statement. In the commercial vehicles segment, its domestic sales declined by 18 per cent in April to 29,883 units from 36,276 units sold during the corresponding period of 2018. Another automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported a 9 per cent fall in its overall sales to 43,721 vehicles in April as against 48,097 units sold in the year-ago month. Commenting on the month's performance, Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M said: "The ongoing elections has subdued the purchase sentiment during April. This, according to us, is a temporary phenomenon. "We believe, following the elections the auto industry will see a revival in consumer demand. Supported by a normal monsoon, we are confident of seeing higher sales in FY20." Exports for April 2019 declined by 26 per cent to 2,118 units from 2,880 units shipped abroad during the corresponding period of last year. In the two-wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India's total sales in April 2019 stood at 467,910 units which includes domestic sale of 432,756 units and exports of 35,154 units. Suzuki Motorcycle India reported a growth of 12.57 per cent in its overall sales to 65,942 units over 58,577 units sold in April 2018. Hero MotoCorp, however, reported sales of 574,366 units down from 694,022 units sold during a year-ago period. In terms of passenger cars and commercial vehicles segment, Sridhar V., Partner, Grant Thornton India, said: "Beginning of FY20 for the auto sector has been on a negative note across passenger cars and commercial vehicles. "Passenger cars sales have de-grown in FY20 both on YoY and sequential basis -- a clear indication of sentiments continuing to be down since last two quarters of the previous FY along with high interest cost, fuel price and price hike by OEMs." Rahul Mishra, Principal, A.T. Kearney, felt: "The overall sales trend is an indicator of broader industry sentiment and weak demand. "The outlook for the rest of this year does not signal a very drastic turnaround -- weak demand, rising fuel prices, shift towards shared mobility, along with inventory controls and price escalations due to BS-VI transition are all challenges." Mumbai, May 2 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed charge-sheet against fugitive Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, accusing him of delivering "incriminating" speeches during the peace conferences organised by his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) in Mumbai during 2007 and 2011, and charged him for money laundering of Rs 193.06 crore. While filing the charge-sheet, the ED requested the special court for punishment and confiscation of Naik's attached properties worth Rs 50.46 crore for involvement in money laundering. This is second charge-sheet against Naik, who fled India on July 1, 2016, and is currently living in Malaysia. The attached properties belonging to Naik include investment in mutual funds, Islamic International School in Chennai, 10 residential flats, three godowns, two buildings and land in Pune and Mumbai, and 10 bank accounts worth Rs 50.46 crore. "Proceeds of crime totalling Rs 193.06 crore have been quantified in the case. Other than these attachments, investigation in respect of investments of Zakir Naik in Dubai to ascertain and identify the properties outside the country is under progress," the ED said. The ED had initiated investigation based on the FIR registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Naik and his associates for his involvement in unlawful activities through his provocative utterances, thus promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups in India. The NIA had filed a final charge-sheet in the Special NIA Court in Mumbai on October 26, 2017. "Investigations revealed that most of the incriminating speeches of Naik were delivered during the peace conferences organised by IRF in Mumbai during 2007-2011. The conferences were planned, organised, funded and promoted by the IRF and people of other religions were openly converted to Islam by Naik," the ED said. The agency said that Naik's inflammatory speeches and lectures have inspired and incited a number of Muslim youths in India to commit unlawful activities and terrorist acts. "His thoughts created disharmony amongst various faiths and created hatred amongst people. The speeches and lectures were recorded in audio-visual format by Harmony Media Pvt Ltd, Mumbai and thereafter the recordings were edited by it for public viewing." Harmony Media forwarded the edited version to Global Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Dubai and IRF International, UK for further broadcast on Peace TV across the globe, according to the Directorate. "Further, master DVD of Naik's speeches were made for further replication and distributed to general public for maximum circulation." During the investigation, the ED said, it learnt that IRF received Rs 64.86 crore during 2003-04 to 2016-17, mostly from various dubious and unknown sources. "Majority of the funds were utilised for organising peace conferences. Provocative speeches were made and religious conversion to Islam were propagated during these peace conferences." The IRF received donations in response to the appeals made by Naik during the course of his controversial speeches and thus these donations were proceeds of crime emanating from criminal activity, said the ED, adding that the money trail led to identification of one school building in Chennai valued at Rs 6.2 crore, mutual funds of Rs 9.41 crore and ground floor of a building in Mumbai, and these were provisionally attached. It also revealed that Rs 49.20 crore was received during 2012-2016 from Naik's accounts maintained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to his personal accounts in India. "Source of his income in UAE is not known. Naik transferred these funds to India and purchased properties in Mumbai and Pune by layering of funds in the name of his close relatives. He used the funds to the tune of Rs 17.65 crore for purchase of properties. "In order to disguise the origin of funds and real ownership of properties, the initial payments made from Naik's accounts were diverted to the accounts of his wife, son and niece and re-routed again for the purpose of making bookings in the name of his family members." It further said that several companies were established by Naik in the UK and India by placing his close confidants and relatives as directors to camouflage the diversion of funds received by him and his trust through his "illegal activities" of provocative speeches, and also for propagating hate speeches. Two persons -- Amir Gazdar and Najamuddin Sathak -- have also been arrested in connection with this case by the ED. "Investigation has also revealed that Zakir Naik was also involved in suspicious unaccounted cash transactions. Further investigation is under progress." Nay Pyi Taw, May 2 : Italy has signed a 30 million euro soft loan agreement with Myanmar as part of a World Bank-funded national electrification programme that will bring power to half a million people, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Some 100,000 households will get electricity under the accord focused mainly on Chin State and surrounding areas, which are among Myanmar's poorest and most remote regions, the statement said. "In this way, Italy will be able to contribute to improving education levels and the quality and continuity of healthcare and hospital care services," said Ambassador Alessandra Schiavo. "The agreement will also boost the productivity of micro and small-sized local businesses and the living conditions of people in conflict-hit areas," he saidm, adding that support will focus especially on the development of mini-grids and "home solar systems, he said. Schiavo signed the accord in Nay Pyi Taw in the presence of Myanmar's Agriculture and Irrigation Minister U Aung Thu and World Bank Country Director for Myanmar, Ellen Goldstein, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry. By The Saker May 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The Empire has suffered painful defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq, but one has to admit that these are tough countries to crack. The Empire also appears to have lost control of Libya, but that is another complex country which is very hard to control. We also saw all the pathetic huffing and puffing with the DPRK. But, lets be honest, the USA never stood a chance to bully the DPRK into submission, nevermind invading or regime-changing it. Syria was much weaker, but here Russia, Iran and Hezbollah did a world class job of repelling all the AngloZionist attacks, political and military. Besides, I for one will never blame Trump for not listening to Bolton and not triggering WWIII over Syria (yet?) But Venezuela?! No Hezbollah or Iran backing Maduro there. And Venezuela is way too far away from Russia to allow her to do what she did in Syria. In fact, Venezuela is in the proverbial backyard of the USA and is surrounded by hostile puppet regimes. And yet, tonight, it appears that the US puppet Guaido has failed in his coup attempt. Moon of Alabama did a great job covering the events of the day, so I will refer you to the excellent article Venezuela Random Guyaidos New Coup Attempt Turns Out to Be A Dangerous Joke. I fully concur that todays coup was both a joke and very dangerous. Russian readers can also check out this article by Vzgliad which also gives a lot of interesting details, including the fact that Guaido launched his coup from the Colombian Embassy in Caracas (see here for a machine translation). But the thing which amazes me most tonight is the truly breathtakingly pathetic weakness of the clowns who launched this latest failed operation: Pompeo and Mr MAGA. Check them out: Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Lets begin with Pompeo. According to him, the coup failed because of Russia (what else is new?)! Not only that, but Maduro had already decided to run to Cuba, but then the Russians stopped him. Really? So are we to believe that the coup was a stunning success, yet another feather to the CIAs hat of failed successful covert operations? Apparently so. After all, why would Maduro want to run unless he realized that the situation was hopeless? But then Russia called him and told him to stay put. The conversation must gone something like this: Putin: Mr Maduro you dont need to worry about a thing. Just do what we tell you and stay put. Maduro: but my people hate me! They all turned against me! The military is behind the coup! Putin: no, no, its all under control, just stay put. Maduro: but the mob will lynch me if I stay!!!! Putin: no worries, nobody will touch you. Does that dialog look credible to you? I sure hope not! I think that anybody with a modicum of intelligence ought to realize that Maduros decision to stay in place could only have been based on one of two possible considerations: The coup has failed and Maduro is safe or The coup is successful and Maduro will stay and fight till his last breath (like Allende did) But tonight Maduro is safe in Caracas and the coup plotters are on the run. The truth is that only a loser and imbecile like Pompeo could come up with such a lame excuse in a desperate attempt to cover his ass and blame his failure on the Neocons favorite scapegoat: Russia. Now lets check what his boss had to say: Trump does not blame Russia. Instead, he blames Cuba! I dont know what kind of silly scenarios Mr MAGA ran in his head to come up with the Cubans did it but that is even more ridiculous than the Russians did it. Reading this tweets (how appropriate for this bird-brain!) one could get the impression that the Cubans launched a full-scale military attack (involving both the Cuban military and militias) and that they orchestrated a brutal crack-down on the Venezuelan people. In the real world, however, Cuba did nothing of the sort. But, really, who cares?! In the Empire of Illusions fact dont matter. At least to the leaders of the AngloZionist Empire who continue to believe that only spin matters. In the case of Venezuela, spin alone failed. So whats next? According to the typical scenario revealed to us by John Perkins, the next step should be a full-scale US invasion. And yes, he is right, that would be what the Empire would have done in its heyday. But nowadays? Check out this interesting news snippet: Eric Prince wants Blackwater to send 5,000 mercenaries to Venezuela (does anybody know why and how these clowns came up with the 5,000 figure? First Bolton, now Prince. Do they *really* think that this is enough?!). The point is not whether Prince will ever get to send mercenaries to Venezuela or whether the Trump administration is inclined to accept this offer. The point is that Prince would have never made this offer in the first place if the US military was up to the task. It is not, and Prince knows that very well. As for Maduro, he seems to have the support not only of a majority of his people, but of the Venezuelan armed forces. As for the armed forces, they are clearly enjoying the support of the people. This is a very bad combination for the Empire. Here is why: Yes, Venezuela has immense problems. And yes, both Chavez and Maduro have made mistakes. But this is not about Chavez or Maduro, this is about the rule of law inside and outside Venezuela. This is about the people of Venezuela, even the suffering ones, not willing to renounce the sovereignty of their country. Yes, Chavez did not solve all of Venezuelas problems, but to deliver the country to the Empire would mean crushing any hope of true, real, people power. The Venezuelan people apparently have no illusions about their Yankee neighbors and they dont want the Empire-style democracy to turn Venezuela into the next Libya. I should never say never, and God only knows what tomorrow (May 1st) will bring (Guaido has called for a mass protests) but my gut feeling is that the Empire injected itself into Venezuela just enough to trigger an immune reaction, like a vaccine, but not enough to infect Venezuela with a toxin powerful enough to kill it. In the meantime, US aircraft carriers are in the Mediterranean trying to scare Russia, Syria and Iran all at the same time. I can just imagine the disgusted contempt with which this latest sabre-rattling with outdated hardware is received in Moscow, Damascus or Tehran. Even Hezbollah remains utterly unimpressed. The truth is that the only people who have not come to the realization that the Empire is broken and defeated are the rulers of the Neocon deep state and those who still watch the legacy Ziomedia. By now everybody else has realized who utterly impotent the Empire has become. Conclusion: The Empire only *appears* to be strong. In reality it is weak, confused, clueless and, most importantly, run by a sad gang of incompetent thugs who think that they can scare everybody into submission in spite of not having won a single significant war since 1945. The inability to break the will of the people of Venezuela is only the latest symptom of this mind-boggling weakness. I will leave the last word to this charming lady who really said it all: This article was originally published by " The Saker " - Bengaluru, May 3 : A total of 25 candidates, including four women, are in the fray for the two assembly by-elections in Karnataka on May 19, an official said on Thursday. "After the last day of withdrawals today (Thursday), 17 candidates are in the fray for the Chincholi (SC) seat in Kalaburagi district and 8 for the Kundagol seat in Dharwad," the official said. Prominent among the candidates for Chincholi are Avinash Umesh Jadhav of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Subhash V Rathod of the Congress and Gautam Bomnalli of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Avinash is the son of Umesh Jadhav, whose resignation from the seat necessitated the by-election. Jadhav senior quit the Congress and joined the BJP in early March. He had contested the Gulbarga (SC) constituency against Congress leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Besides the three main contestants, 11 Independents, including two women, are in the race along with three others. In the Kundagol contest, Kusumavati Channabasappa is contesting from the Congress against S.I. Chikkanagoudar of the BJP. The remaining 6, including a woman, are Independents. The seat was held by state Minister C.S. Shivalli, whose death on March 22 necessitated the bypoll. The Congress has fielded his widow. A three-time legislator, Chikkanagoudar lost to Shivalli by a margin of 633 votes in the May 2018 Assembly elections. He is also related to BJP's state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa, who will campaign for him. Congress Legislative Party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state unit President Dinesh Gundu Rao will campaign for Kusumavati. Vote count is on May 23 along with that of 28 Lok Sabha seats for which polling was held in two phase on April 18 and April 23. The Melbourne suburb of Reservoir is host to the highest volume of auctions this weekend, with 16 homes set to go under the hammer, according to CoreLogic. Next busiest are Coburg and Epping, also in Melbourne, with 12 scheduled auctions each. This week, the number of auctions scheduled to take place across the combined capital cities is expected to rise, with 1,384 currently being tracked by CoreLogic, increasing from the 1,026 auctions held last week at final results. Over the same week, last year a much higher 2,311 auctions took place across the capital cities. Both Melbourne and Sydney are expected to see an increase in activity this week, with 632 homes scheduled for auction across Melbourne, while Sydney is set to host 503 auctions, increasing on the 498 and 332 auctions held last week respectively. The smaller auction markets will also see a higher volume of homes auctioned week on week with the exception of Brisbane where fewer auctions are scheduled. The busy auction weekend in Reservoir sees 22 Knox Street (pictured in title) offered. The property going under the hammer is a three bedroom one bathroom house. It comes with a price guide of $780,000 - $850,000. Another example of the breadth of auctions taking place in Reservoir is 3/8 Duffy Street (pictured above). The property going under the hammer is a two bedroom one bathroom villa. It comes with a price guide of $510,000 - $550,000. A third property going to auction in Reservoir this week is 85 Barry Street (pictured above). The property going under the hammer is a three bedroom one bathroom house. It comes with a price guide of $550,000 - $600,000. Bondi Rescue star Harrison Reid has spent $1 million on his upgrade in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The Christchurch born lifeguard has bought in Rose Bay, having sold for $745,000 in Bellevue Hill where he moved to Sydney four years ago from New Zealand. Reid had paid $725,000 for what was then a two bedroom Victoria Road apartment in a 1950s tightly held block of 12 on the dress circle Victoria Road. Reid reconfigured and renovated the apartment himself, turning into a large one bedroom apartment with fresh interiors. Raine & Horne Double Bay agent Paula Simoes was marketing the apartment with a $780,000 guide. His purchase is an 80 square metre two bedroom apartment in the aptly named 1960s Harbour View complex. This article was first published in the Saturday Telegraph. Ray White's former leading agent Gavin Rubinstein is airborn today. He has posted a selfie to his near 20,000 Instagram followers from his pointy end plane seat, which came after a short video via his camera team as he headed through the international terminal. No glamorous holiday or work destination this time, but a charity fundraising commitment, RISE 2019 in Christchurch following its recent mosque shootings. After Tuesday night's sudden departure from Ray White Double Bay, Rubinstein had posted an image of himself and three associates, Oliver Lavers, Cae Thomas and newest recruit Bradley Plos, jumping in the air with the caption 'Dreamchasers'. Sydney socialite Barbara Coombes, executive assistant at Coombes Property, commented on the post, writing that the image was "cool & perfectly styled might I add." Lavers also posted after the big announcement to Instagram a picture of the extended team including Remi Quinlivan. The decision that ended Rubinstein's time at Ray White came after the newly installed Double Bay chief Elliott Placks returned from a holiday in Mauritius celebrating his 10th anniversary with wife Lauren Smorgon. The Rubinstein Group website is down. But team member Jerome Srot was taking his mobile calls. There is no indication yet as to Rubinstein's plans. Leading investment bank UBS has predicted that shares in Purplebricks, the international low commission estate agency, will soon hit 1 each, the price at which it floated in December 2015. In May last year its shares were trading at 3.54p but are now exchanging hands at 1.33p. It suggested the company will have to borrow another 100m soon to fund its mounting group losses. UBS has based its prediction largely on the worsening position for Purplebricks in Australia, which the investment bank claims will not break even until 2022, three years later than expected, while its US operation is not likely to break even until 2025. The investment bank says it expects Purplebricks Australian operation to generate revenues of 26 million next year on which it will make a loss of 12 million, while the companys US operation could lose 53 million. Operations in Australia and the US are characterised by having very limited visibility on the businesses development and break-even horizon Australia keeps being postponed and losses in the US are expected to worsen. Referring to Purplebricks recent decision in Australia to alter its up-front model to a more traditional post-sale fee one, UBS say the move raised concerns about the future of online agents and the upfront fee model. UBS is also concerned that parts of both Australias and the UKs housing market are experiencing tough conditions at the moment, claiming that Purplebricks operation has lost momentum. Purplebricks share price has been falling for the past 12 months. Purplebricks, which launched in Australia in 2016, recently opened operations in the NSW Central West by appointing an agent in Bathurst, David Chapman. Based in Cardiff, the ARC provides industry certification body, ADISA, with technical support to ensure that ADISA certified members are at the forefront of data sanitisation techniques. This will further reassure their customers that they are processing their data in the most effective and secure manner. Dr Andrew Blyth comments: I have been involved in testing products for data overwriting for many years both for ADISA and UK Government and having worked with most of the worlds leading vendors, Im aware of the many challenges they face. These include variations in the manufacturing of different media, the proliferation of storage locations within technology (IOT being a prime example) and a general misconception of the applicability of standards to solve all problems. The ARC is a fantastic opportunity to address this specialist area and to add value to the growing international market. The ARC will enhance ADISAs global reputation and will build upon the work already carried out with companies in Hong Kong, the US, India and throughout Europe. This will reinforce the ADISA as the go-to brand when seeking assurance regarding your ITAD partner or in choosing a tool set for sanitising your media. ADISA CEO, Steve Mellings, adds Ive worked with Andrew for nearly a decade now and the ARC reflects a genuine market requirement for specialism and thought leadership in this field. Our first tasks over these coming months is the launch of additional schemes for Data Sanitisation including the worlds first Certified Software Vendor for data sanitisation software. The ARC will also release much needed research into issues, such as number of overwriting passes required and implications of shred size when destroying media. The ARC is already working with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) as part of the Predictive Cyber Analytics programme and the first vendors for the ADISA Product Assurance scheme are preparing their applications with three products already in the lab for evaluation. Join ADISA at the ARC launch webinar on Tuesday 7th May. Register your interest by emailing Adisarc@adisa.global or do find out more information about the ARC please visit https://www.adisarc.com/ The African Well Fund (AWF) is excited to announce its 17th annual Build a Well for Bonos Birthday campaign. Beginning May 1, AWF invites U2 fans from around the world to donate funds in honor of the musicians 59th birthday. Following last years success, AWF is once again partnering with The Outer Loop Theater Experience and their project in Mloka, Tanzania. Last years campaign helped fund a well at a maternity clinic in Mloka. Our partnership with AWF in 2018, for the Bono Birthday Well campaign, remains one of our most successful projects in Tanzania to date. In under 5 months, enough money was raised to plan, design, build and complete the deepest, cleanest well in Mlokas region, says Michael Herman, Founder of The Outer Loop. It is now fully functioning and provides reliable, drinkable water to the health center and the entire village. The need for clean water in the area persists. Once the health center is complete, the wells capacity will be fully utilized by health center operations. Additional water sources to meet Mloka and the surrounding communities daily needs are scarce. Since 2003, AWF has joined together with the U2 fan community to celebrate and honor Bonos birthday by raising funds for clean water and sanitation projects. This years theme is Love Is Bigger. From May 1 to May 31, fans may donate through the AWF website https://africanwellfund.org/build-a-well-for-bonos-birthday-2019/. As always, all donors are invited to add their name and a message to a birthday card that will be sent to Bono upon completion of the fundraiser. On May 10, we will be kicking off a 10-day auction event featuring some rare and exciting memorabilia. Stay tuned for further details. AWF Treasurer, Diane Yoder says, Even after 17 years, maybe especially after 17 years, I am still humbled by this project. She continues, I think it is truly remarkable that U2 fans have turned their love of the band and its music into a tangible project providing clean water and sanitation for thousands. Since 2003, U2 fans from across the globe have raised over $270,000 in Bono's honor to fund the construction of clean water and sanitation projects that are benefiting more than 86,000 people in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The African Well Fund is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of funding clean water and sanitation projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its founding in 2002, the organization has raised more than $1 million to fund over 30 projects in 15 countries, benefiting more than 350,000 people. The acquisition of Greenbranch Publishing represents a powerful opportunity to significantly expand our educational content for physicians and health care leaders, said Peter Angood, MD, President and CEO of the AAPL. The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL), the premier organization for lifelong professional growth and support of physicians in health care leadership and management, announced today the acquisition of Greenbranch Publishing, based in Baltimore County, Md. Among the Greenbranch assets that AAPL will acquire as part of the acquisition include the publishers flagship publication, The Journal of Medical Practice Management, eBooks, audio books, podcasts and 30 authors. The acquisition of Greenbranch Publishing represents a powerful opportunity to significantly expand our educational content for physicians and health care leaders, said Peter Angood, MD, President and CEO of the AAPL. Building on the success of our own PLJ-Physician Leadership Journal, and Greenbranch Publishings The Journal of Medical Practice Management, todays announcement is another solid step in our journey to bolster the Associations content. Greenbranch Publishing is the perfect partner to help us in our goal to empower physicians as leaders, to revolutionize medical practice and better serve the public health. Nancy Collins, who founded Greenbranch Publishing in 1999, will join the associations leadership team as vice president of content procurement and distribution. Collins first entered publishing as an educational sales representative for Appleton-Century-Crofts, a division of Prentice-Hall, in 1980. Five years later, Collins joined the Williams & Wilkins (W&W) editorial team, acquiring books in psychiatry and the sub-specialties of internal medicine. In 1987 Collins was recruited to the journal division of W&W as director of marketing. Eventually she became a vice president and publisher, heading up the proprietary unit which included oversight over periodicals, newsletters and continuing medical education products. Following a merger that resulted in the newly formed company of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Collins left the organization in 1998 to launch Greenbranch Publishing. In 1999 she acquired the company's flagship publication, The Journal of Medical Practice Management, that served as the foundation for the media company that specialized in the business of medical practice, compliance, patient safety and physician career issues. We are thrilled to join forces with the American Association for Physician Leadership, said Collins. We are impressed with the societys commitment to the life-long education of physicians, and they understand that original content is a crucial complement to any educational environment. The AAPLs focus on quality and serving the information needs of their physician-members is compatible with the tradition of Greenbranch Publishings editorial excellence, Collins continued. Leveraging the Associations technology to add content to their well-rounded platform of member benefits will enormously increase the opportunity for growth in 2019. Nancy is a career medical publisher and an industry leader in developing well-loved brands, both in print and online, said Angood. Were excited to work with Nancy and Greenbranch as we combine our energies to serve a broad range of physicians and health care leaders, at all points of their careers, with industry-leading educational content. About the American Association for Physician Leadership The American Association for Physician Leadership is the only professional organization dedicated to providing education, career support and advocacy to advance physician leaders as they create transformative solutions within the rapidly evolving field of health care. Founded in 1975 as the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), the nonprofit association has educated thousands of physicians worldwide and has members in 46 countries at varying stages of their careers. The association is known for its award-winning magazine, the Physician Leadership Journal, its continuing medical education (CME) courses, and its Certified Physician Executive (CPE) certification program. Based in Tampa, Fla., the association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing education credits, and by the Certifying Commission in Medical Management to award CPE certification. Learn more at physicianleaders.org. About Greenbranch Publishing Greenbranch Publishing, with headquarters in Phoenix, Md., is a privately held firm founded in 1998. The company is a leading media company and publisher of medical practice management, compliance and patient safety titles, in print and eBook, periodicals and webinars for physicians and healthcare practice leaders. Visit greenbranch.com for more information. We are celebrating this week-long event by inviting business owners to share their stories and compete for up to $1,000 Balboa Capital, a leading direct lender that specializes in small business loans, equipment leasing, and equipment vendor financing, is celebrating National Small Business Week by inviting small business owners to participate in the companys Whats the Big Idea? contest, and by providing them with access to helpful tips and resources. National Small Business Week is a time to recognize the millions of business owners whose vision, ideas and entrepreneurial spirit are creating jobs and powering our nations economy, said Kevin Umeda, Manager of Sales Planning and Coordination at Balboa Capital. We are celebrating this week-long event by inviting business owners to share their stories and compete for up to $1,000. Additionally, our digital marketing team created relevant content for business owners, including blog posts, whitepapers, and a small business success kit. Available for free on our website, these resources are filled with tips and strategies to help business owners in all industries get ahead in todays increasingly competitive marketplace. Balboa Capitals Whats the Big Idea? contest runs from May 1st through May 26th, and eligible small businesses can compete for a $1,000 grand prize, a $500 runner-up prize, and one of ten $50 honorable mention prizes. For more information about the contest, please visit this Balboa Capital web page. Beginning with President John F. Kennedy in 1963, every President has declared National Small Business Week to recognize and commend the myriad achievements of our nations small businesses, which today account for 99.7% of all businesses. May 2019 will mark the 56th straight year that National Small Business Week is celebrated in the United States. From May 5th through May 11th, a number of events will take place across the country, including mentoring sessions, virtual conferences, educational webinars, and award shows. Balboa Capital created an infographic that features an overview of National Small Business Week, along with facts and figures relating to small businesses. About Balboa Capital Balboa Capital is a technology-driven financing company that provides business owners with fast, hassle-free solutions to fuel their growth and success. The company specializes in small business loans, equipment financing, commercial financing, equipment vendor financing, and franchise financing. Balboa Capital developed an intuitive online platform that simplifies the entire financing process. Calculators provide instant estimates, applications can be completed and submitted in a matter of minutes, and sophisticated credit scoring technology provides instant decisions. To learn more, visit http://www.balboacapital.com. Passing a small claims bill is our number one priority on the Hill and would transform the copyright landscape for every professional photographer across America. It was a big day for copyright advocacy in Washington D.C. as proposed reform long sought by PPA was addressed in the introduction of the Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act). The legislationintroduced today by Congressmen Jeffries, Collins, Nadler, Johnson, Roby, Chu, Cline, Lieu, and Fitzpatrick as well as Senators Kennedy, Tillis, Durbin and Hirono, creates a small-claims process for creators whose work is infringed. The CASE Act represents a rare bipartisan, bicameral effort on Capitol Hill. Known for years by activists and supporters as the "small claims bill", the CASE Act is backed by Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and a coalition of visual arts groups including the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the Digital Media and Licensing Association (DMLA), American Photographic Artists (APA), The American Society for Collective Rights Licensing (ASCRL), the Graphic Artists Guild (GAG), the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and the North American Nature Photography Association. The CASE Act would make it possible for small-business image creators (i.e. professional photographers) to take advantage of the U.S. copyright system for the first time since its inception. This small claims bill would provide creators with a remedy to protect their works, and make sure that they are paid for what they produce. The bill establishes a tribunal operating under the U.S. Copyright Office, who would oversee the new small-claims process for infringement remedies. In the U.S., copyright claims have traditionally only been allowed to be filed in person in federal court, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring to fruition. Small creators report that most infringements are valued at $3,000 or less, hardly worth filing in federal court. Surveys that show many, or most, small creators earn just $35,000 a year on average. PPA has fought for over a decade to address how our current one-size-fits-all registration system simply doesn't work for professional photographers, says PPA President Audrey Wancket. Its our job as the nations leading nonprofit dedicated to professional photographers to know and understand the issues important to our members. The money they lose from infringements each year is a real concern. Photographers and other visual artists have always been treated inequitably under the current copyright system. Passing a small claims bill is our number one priority on The Hill and would transform the copyright landscape for every professional photographer across America." For more than ten years, Professional Photographers of America (PPA) has been working on Capitol Hill, explaining the critical need for a small-claims enforcement option for mom-and-pop creators. The CASE Act is largely consistent with the legislative recommendations in the Copyright Small Claims report released in late 2013 by the U.S. Copyright Office, which deserves much credit for its groundbreaking effort in this area. PPA and the visual arts coalition is grateful for the significant work already undertaken by Congress and the Copyright Office in drafting this bill and looks forward to continuing to work with all parties to properly and substantively help shield works from copyright infringement and allow for the earning of a fair living. PPA will continue to work with Congress and actively engage and mobilize its 30,000+ photographer-members via their Copyright Grassroots Action Team. Tens of thousands of concerned constituents have sent letters, called their senators and representatives, and made their voices heard on Capitol Hill to make The CASE Act a reality. PPA and its members and partners will continue to lend their support to this legislation throughout 2019. About PPA: Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the worlds largest and oldest association representing professional photographers. Founded in 1868, PPA exists to help its members prosper artistically and financially by providing artistic and entrepreneurial skills through its industry-leading education system, unmatched benefits, and award-winning magazine. PPA was founded over a predatory patent application and continues its work on Capitol Hill to defend photographers rights today. Home Search ICH Why Are Clapper and Brennan Not in Jail? By Angelo Codevilla May 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The clearest of all the laws concerning US intelligence is Section 798, 18 US Codewidely known in the Intelligence Community as the Comint Statute, or the 10 and 10. Unlike other laws, this is a simple liability law. Motivation, context, identity, matter not at all. You violate it, you are guilty and are punished accordingly. Here it is: a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, . . . any classified information (1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or (2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or (3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or (4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence . . . Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. On December 9 and 10, 2016, the New York Times and the Washington Post independently reported that anonymous senior intelligence officials had told them that, based on intercepted communications, the intelligence agencies agreed that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee to help Donald Trump win the election. Their evidence was the fact of their access to U.S communications intelligence. A flood of subsequent stories also cited allegations by senior intelligence officials that intercepted communications and intercepted calls showed that members of Donald J. Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Incontrovertibly, the officials who gave these stories to the Times and Post violated the Comint Statute, and are subject to the 10 and 10 for each count. There is no clearer instance of what the governing law is, of how it was violated, and of the punishment that this incurs. Consequently, there is no clearer indictment of our legal system than the fact that no one has been prosecuted for these violations, much less punished. Nor is there any doubt as to who at least two of these senior intelligence officials are: Former CIA director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Beginning in January 2017, Brennan and Clapper made essentially the same statements on national television. The only possible excusethat their allegations were liesis irrelevant because the essence of the violation is the revelation that U.S intelligence was monitoring the communications of the Russians in America, and those of the Trump campaign as well. This is true, and that revelation is a textbook violation of the Comint Statute. The reasons no prosecutions have followed should be plain enough. The offenders are big people, in the permanent government and in the Democratic Party. They have a great many friends in the U.S Justice Department. From the top down, the Trump Administration has been filled by much smaller people. Loud words aside, the president has kowtowed to the intelligence agencies in every way imaginable. No prominent Republican has chosen to challenge the de facto privileged relationship between Democrats in the intelligence agencies and the media. And so, Brennan and Clapper continue as living proof that the United States has a dual system of justice. The example of their impunity speaks louder than any speech, and reassures their leftist successors in the intelligence agencies that their channel to the Times and Post is as safe as ever. Politics is not responsible for the non-application of Section 798 to Brendan and Clapper. It is difficult to imagine that the public would not approve massively the straightforward application to prominent men of a law that is so unambiguous, which is the foundation of arguably the main part of U.S intelligence, and which has been applied countless times to ordinary people. Rather, the absence of real politicsof real competition between opposing sides in American lifeis the culprit. What we see is that those in the upper echelons of American life, whether they call themselves Republicans or Democrats, have greater loyalty to the ruling class to which they belong than to any law or institution. The refusal to apply Section 798 to Brennan and Clapper the fact that they are free men is simply the most obvious manifestation of the fact that we have a ruling class, that it is coherent, and that it has yet to be challenged in any serious way. This article was originally published by " AmericanGreatness " - 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. Wed like to thank our great companies and individuals nationwide for this designation. Their trust in LINKED, especially now in a hot employment market, is a testament to our unique approach and ability to deliver results," said Kurt VandeMotter, LINKED Principal. Linked Executive Search has recently been named by Forbes as the Best Executive Recruiting Firm headquartered in Texas and one of the top 20 firms in the country. LINKED specializes in filling hard-to-fill positions in a wide range of industries, from family-owned businesses to consumer-packaged goods, and healthcare to manufacturing. The business model offers companies the engagement benefits of a retained search, along with the dedicated attention to every hiring details. The Forbes recognition reflects comments that are echoed by LINKEDs clients and candidates. Quotes include: "Hands-on extensive knowledge and experience" "Continually cognizant of the 'right fit' for a position" "Ability to produce immediate, sustaining results" "Committed, long-term relationships" Wed like to thank our great companies and individuals nationwide for this designation. Their trust in LINKED, especially now in a hot employment market, is a testament to our unique approach and ability to deliver results," said Kurt VandeMotter, LINKED Principal. Over the past few years, the firm has consistently climbed in the Forbes rankings to reach this current achievement and is excited to continue this trajectory. Paula Calise, Principal at LINKED, stated, "We're a boutique search firm and that enables us to grow client relationships and get to know their businesses. Over 70% of our firm's management searches are from repeat clients." The magazines annual rankings are based on a survey of 25,000 recruiters and 5,000 job candidates and human resource managers. They were asked to nominate up to 10 recruiting firms, and firms could not nominate themselves. The firms with the most recommendations ranked highest. About LINKED Executive Search LINKED Executive Search is a Dallas-based executive and mid-management search firm, specializing in finding highly qualified candidates to quickly fill critical positions that have been vacant for long periods. Founders Paula Calise and Kurt VandeMotter bring 50 years of combined experience as hiring managers to each search, along with a client-centric approach that delivers a smarter, more efficient process for clients and candidates alike. For more information, visit http://www.LinkedExec.com. Buona, The Original Italian Beef, today announced its National Beef Month 2019 celebrations in Chicago. Italian beef lovers are encouraged to join festivities happening at Montrose Harbor and at Buona restaurants across Chicagoland. On Saturday, May 18, Buona and Als Beef invite beef fans to work up an appetite during the Italian Beef 5K and Kids Dash at Montrose Harbor. The walk/run starts and ends on the paths at Montrose Harbor, 601 W Montrose Avenue, at 9 a.m. Participants will receive a Dri-FIT shirt and medal, along with fun swag they can sink their teeth into, including a sample Italian sausage on the course and their choice of an Italian beef sandwich from Als Beef or Buona at the finish line. Following the race, awards will be given to the top three overall male and female finishers, as well as the top three runners in each age group, by gender, for participants in the 5K run. Additionally, kids aged 12 and younger can participate in a half-mile walk/run called Kids Dash. Participants in Kids Dash will receive a race bib, medal and an Italian beef sandwich at the finish line. Proceeds from the Italian Beef 5K will go to JDRF, an organization that funds type 1 diabetes research and advocates for regulation favorable to medical research and that makes it easier to market new medical devices. For more information and to register for the Italian Beef 5K, visit chicagobeef5k.com. The National Beef Month celebration continues Saturday, May 25, in honor of the 5th Annual National Italian Beef Day. All day, beef fans can enjoy half-priced Buona Beef 7 sandwiches at any Buona location throughout the Chicagoland area. Italian beef is a quintessential Chicago food, and we couldnt think of a better time to celebrate it than during National Beef Month, said second-generation owner, Joe Buonavolanto, Jr. With the Italian Beef 5K and National Italian Beef Day, were able to bring the celebration to Italian beef fans in the city and the suburbs in unique and entertaining ways. May wont be the only time Italian Beef is celebrated in Chicago this year. Buona and several other local Italian beef providers plan to host the 2nd Annual Italian Beef Fest later this summer. Further details about the fest will be made available in the coming weeks. About Buona Restaurants The first Buona restaurant began serving Chicagos original Italian beef in Berwyn, Ill. in 1981. The Official Italian Beef of the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, Buona has direct ties to the origination of Chicagos iconic Italian beef sandwich, which they helped bring into the national spotlight by spearheading the creation of National Italian Beef Day. Founded by Buonavolanto patriarch Joe Buonavolanto, Sr., the group is the last standing 100 percent family-owned Italian beef chain. Buona restaurants feature a perfect blend of old-school indulgence and next-generation menu choices made with a focus on fresh, scratch-made food. While the menu has expanded, the original Italian beef recipe has not been compromised for the three generations of Buonavolantos who are active in the company, compromise and quality are never uttered in the same breath. Buonas Italian beef sandwich has won several awards and accolades since its inception, including USA TODAYs 10Best, The Chicago Tribunes Best Italian Beef in Chicago, Steve Dolinskys Essential Italian Beef Joints in Chicago(land), Eaters 11 Essential Chicago Italian Beef Restaurants, Berwyns Best, West Suburban Livings Best of the West, The Daily Heralds Readers Choice Award. Buona retail products are now sold at Target, Jewel, Marianos, Aldi and Peapod. For more information, visit Buona online at http://www.buona.com, like on Facebook or follow on Twitter or Instagram. Idaho Capital Connect Conference - May 8, 2019 The most rewarding trend that weve seen over the last five years is the reinvestment into the local economy by the entrepreneurs who have successfully built and sold their business, then used a portion of the funds to reinvest into the next generation of entrepreneurs and businesses, From job growth to business climate, Idaho continues to be recognized as one of the best places in the country to do business. To highlight the companies that power those positive rankings and to foster the growth of others, the Idaho Technology Council is hosting the 5th annual Capital Connect Conference and releasing the Idaho Deal Flow Report on May 8. Capital Connect brings together entrepreneurs, capital providers and business leaders to celebrate and support Idahos growing capital ecosystem. The accompanying Idaho Deal Flow Report details more than $1 billion in activity, including mergers and acquisitions, private placement and public market transactions. Conference keynote speakers will share lessons and milestones reached by some of Idahos dynamic, growing companies. Paris Cole of Truckstop.com will discuss one of the biggest business deals in Idaho history, outlining Silicon Valley growth equity firm ICONIQ Capitals majority investment in Truckstop.com earlier this year. Cole will be joined by Kinzie Farmer of Coeur dAlene, Idaho-based Rohinni and Kyle Mowitz of The Imperium Companies, the new owners of Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho. These are just some of the companies across Idaho proving the depth and breadth of our robust capital ecosystem and showcasing the opportunities that exist for companies founded and grown here, said Blake Hansen, Managing Partner of Alturas Capital, sponsor of the Deal Flow Report. We are seeing companies at all stages of the continuum attracting capital. This day is about connecting to celebrate that success, being inspired by the stories of what is happening and building productive relationships that spark the next opportunity for Idaho companies. The 2018 Idaho Deal Flow Report highlights investments in every region of the state last year. The most rewarding trend that weve seen over the last five years is the reinvestment into the local economy by the entrepreneurs who have successfully built and sold their business, then used a portion of the funds to reinvest into the next generation of entrepreneurs and businesses, said Alison Johnson, Holland & Hart Partner and Capital Connect Conference Deal Flow Co-Chair. This trend is propelling Idahos growth even further and we believe it is key to Idahos future success. Idahos next generation of companies will be in the spotlight at the conference as eight emerging Idaho companies take the stage for a speed presentation, including: AHG, Inc, Engage Media & Technology, Gather, HausMart, InquireOf, Joule, Kaitech Automation and PlexTrac. Speakers from Capital Connecting will be providing an update on the momentum of their business growth since the conference in January: Amber Fawson and Cherie Hoeger, Co-Founders, Saalt, Liza Roeser Atwood, CEO & Co-Owner, Fiftyflowers.com, Jesse Reese McKinney, CEO, Red Aspen. Continuing the conversation on the importance of growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Idaho will be Alecia Hoobing of the Women Innovators (W.IN) and Tiam Rastegar with the coworking space and startup hub Trailhead Boise. For more information and to get tickets to this years Capital Connect Conference, please visit: http://idahotechcouncil.memberzone.com/events/details/2019-capital-connect-1825 SMP-2200 Series: Compact 4K UHD Digital Signage Player CAYIN puts great efforts into maintaining information security and building a more flexible platform for projects with scalability. - Ravel Chi, GM of Global Sales Division Follow the debut of CAYINs compact 4K digital signage player SMP-2200/2210 at ISE 2019, the inquiries rose continuously among the market. In addition to ultra-high-definition support, this high-valued yet affordable digital signage player comes with dual LAN Ports and built-in firewall, which helps users in organizing high-quality, safe, and efficient digital signage networks. SMP-2200 series supports 4K ultra-high definition, which makes graphics and media performance more immersive when broadcasting contents. Under the compact design of the model, SMP-2200 is equipped with two HDMI outputs for two displays. SMP-2210, on the other hand, is furnished with two HDMI and a VGA for three concurrent displays, with three unique video outputs generating triple the eye-popping visual feast. Moreover, with four different signal output modes: single, clone, extended, and distinct, users can broaden customized applications. In recent years, there have been countless cases where digital signage players were breached. SMP-2200 series players are equipped with dual LAN ports and a built-in firewall that offer extra protection against open network hazards, resolving one of the main digital media concerns today. The players are also embedded with the upgraded software, SMP-NEO2 V3.0, which supports intuitive multi-touch gestures and integration with HID-compliant touch panels. Users may create custom gestures to suit specific needs and drive customer engagement. SMP-NEO2 V3.0 now supports the High Efficiency Video Coding, H.265. It not only accelerates media processing capability, but reduces video file size by up to 50%, providing a superior playback performance. The upgraded version also allows administrators to preview multimedia content and edit text/HTML files right from the web portal. Ravel Chi, GM of Global Sales Division of CAYIN Technology, stressed that the debut of the SMP-NEO2 version 3.0 and SMP-2200 series came with plenty of innovative designs. CAYIN puts great efforts into maintaining information security and building a more flexible platform for projects with scalability. In the case of central management, administrators can opt for CAYINs CMS digital signage server. With the CMS V11.0 upgrade, servers can be designated as main servers, site servers, or backup servers to easily create a multi-server environment. Each CMS server manages up to 4000 SMP players simultaneously, along with an unlimited number of players in the full deployment. For more products details, please visit CAYIN at https://bit.ly/2ZGJSrl Cicero Group Cicero Group, a premier management consulting firm focused on implementing data-driven strategies, is pleased to welcome its newest partner, Morgan Chung. Chung will play a vital role in fulfilling Ciceros mission to help transform the performance of client organizations through state-of-the-art, data-driven strategies. She will draw on the differentiated ideas, methodologies, and tools she has developed at Eton Bray Group and her repertoire of deep and relevant skills to devise ground-breaking solutions for Ciceros clients. Morgan is a fantastic leader, with deep domain of expertise in sales and marketing strategy and a long, successful career in management consulting serving clients across the corporate spectrum, said Dr. Trent Kaufman, CEO of Cicero Group. We are focused on building a team of difference makers, with deep expertise that differentiates us. We are extremely excited to welcome Morgan to the team. She adds immediate value to our capabilities and to our growth strategy. Prior to joining Cicero Group, Chung was founder and managing partner of Eton Bray Group, a specialty marketing and strategy consulting firm. Chungs consulting career spans serving as a strategic advisor to the C-suite of Fortune 1000 corporations, providing the vision and leadership for the development and execution of enterprise-wide go-to-market strategy, organic and ambition-driven growth mapping, and profitable customer engagement. Previously, Chung was partner at Arthur D. Little where she built the firms Sales and Marketing Strategy practice. She began her consulting career at Oliver Wyman, where she advised leading North American companies on creating results-driven market solutions that optimize marketing, sales, and multi-channel activities and investments. I am enthusiastic to be joining Cicero Group at a moment of extraordinary growth for the firm, Chung said. What is reshaping todays markets and creating new ones is driven by data. As enterprises face technology-driven disruptions in their respective markets, the challenge is how to skillfully respond to and exploit the opportunities being unleashed by advanced data analytics. The value equation in consulting is shifting with greater weight placed on data sophistication and analytics. Cicero Group is a premier data-driven strategy firm that is at the heart of helping enterprises leverage the power of data analytics to transform their organizations for sustained value creation. Chung will based out of New York City and will focus on strengthening Cicero Groups East Coast presence. Chung holds an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a BA from Amherst College. ABOUT CICERO GROUP: Cicero Group is a premier management consulting firm focused on implementing data-driven strategies for a broad mix of private, public, and social sector organizations across the globe. Cicero Group is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with additional offices in Dallas, Texas, and Washington D.C. Cicero Group uses data and experience to generate insights, create actionable strategies, and drive transformation with an overarching purpose of helping people create and continuously deliver extraordinary results. Construct-A-Lead is an online construction lead service that helps contractors, service providers, manufacturers and suppliers gain information on all large scale construction projects. The service features apartment construction, hotel construction, retail construction, medical construction, school renovations & more, including those hard-to-find private project leads, to help bid on construction, from planning stage- completion. Construct-A-Lead, the industrys most comprehensive construction lead service, announces the following Texas projects will go forward. Construct-A-Leads advanced search feature allows the user to find their leads or key contacts by project type, location, bid stage, dollar value, company, or keyword. Users are able to track projects status, save searches, put personalized notes on projects, email a project to a colleague or customer, reach out directly to the decision maker and download construction leads with a one-touch feature. Interested parties are invited to visit Construct-A-Lead.com and sign up for a no obligation test drive, where they will be able to experience these newly integrated features. Users will be able to receive regular alerts on new and updated construction projects, in accordance with the individuals preference. An example of the Texas construction leads available within the database is listed below. Reference the Project ID to utilize the new site features and to obtain direct contact information for each construction lead: Midland TX Home2 Suites - Plans call for a new Home2 Suites hotel. 111 rooms. 59,764 square feet. 4 story. Construction start: June, 2019. $10,000,000. Project ID: 1434085 Tyler, TX Hollytree - Plans call for the development of 525 apartment units and retail space on a roughly 300-acre site. Construction start: Q1, Q2, 2020. $115,000,000. Project ID: 1434028 Prosper, TX Cook Children's Hospital - Plans call for a new inpatient pediatric hospital consisting of a neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit, emergency department, operating rooms and medical/surgical unit. Project is a part of a larger, pediatric health campus that includes primary and urgent care services, an outpatient surgery center and a comprehensive outpatient specialty center. Construction start: Q2, Q3, 2020. $100,000,000 Project ID: 1433927 Kerrville, TX Starkey Elementary School - Plans call for the renovation of the elementary school. Construction start: Q1, 2020. $10,000,000. Project ID: 1434031 Austin, TX Darden Hill Storage Plans call for a new self-storage facility in phases. Phase one will have 125,000 square feet and 491 units, and Phase two will have 100,000 square feet and 368 units. Construction start: Q4, 2019, Q1, 2020. $20,000,000 Project ID: 1433466 Houston, TX - Broadstone Vintage Park - Plans call for the development of a new 368-unit apartment complex. Construction start: Q3, Q4, 2019. $60,000,000 Project ID: 1431637 Construct-A-Lead is an online database that connects users to large-scale commercial construction projects, including those hidden, private project leads. The service features hotel construction, office buildings, retail construction, medical facilities, school renovations and much more, to help bid on construction including those hard-to-find private project leads, from planning stage through completion. Construct-A-Leads daily updates of commercial construction project leads are an ideal solution for those who want to put their product or service into commercial, government and religious structures. For more information, visit Construct-A-Lead.com online or call 855-874-1491. "Our hardworking, dedicated and exceptional employees are our greatest asset. This successful inspection exemplifies Daltons commitment to being a compliant cGMP API manufacturer for all our client`s drug candidates., said Peter Pekos, CEO. Dalton Pharma Services announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed a PAI inspection of its Health-Canada licensed manufacturing facility in Canada, in January 2019. This inspection paves way for Dalton to manufacture commercial API products for US distribution. The entire facility and the quality systems used for the manufacture and release of APIs were subject to a detailed compliance inspection by US FDA. No FDA 483 inspectional observations were issued. This inspection means that the company has successfully demonstrated these activities are in compliance with the high standards of the Food and Drugs Act and its associated regulations. Natalie Lazarowych, Director of Quality, stated, This successful inspection is a critical breakthrough for Dalton as it is the first ever PAI at our facility. The successful FDA inspection with no 483s demonstrates our commitment to meeting all applicable regulatory standards for commercial manufacture, packaging and testing. I am proud of my team and their efforts in accomplishing this organizational milestone. Our hardworking, dedicated and exceptional employees are our greatest asset. This successful inspection exemplifies Daltons commitment to being a compliant cGMP API manufacturer for all our client`s drug candidates., said Peter Pekos, CEO. About Dalton Pharma Services: Dalton Pharma Services is a leading North American cGMP pharmaceutical organization providing integrated drug discovery, development and manufacturing services. Our strong regulatory history, Health Canada establishment license, successful FDA PAI and 30+ years of experience allow us to effectively deliver fully integrated solutions with an emphasis on speed, flexibility and quality. Our integrated services (drug discovery, formulation and process development, custom synthesis, cGMP sterile fill/finish of liquids and powders, cGMP API manufacturing and/or dosage form manufacturing and Accelerated Stability Testing) all at one location helps us to be adaptable, flexible and cost-effective. To learn more about our history and capabilities, please visit https://www.dalton.com. Peter Pekos CEO Dalton Pharma Services 349 Wildcat Road Toronto, Ontario Tel: 416-661-2102 Dealer eProcess Used Cars Network This platform was created to answer the question of how to rank higher organically for search terms such as used cars. Dealer eProcess announces its Used Cars Network, a new platform designed to aid dealers in competing with inventory giants for organic local search results. With the vast amount of competition in the used car market, dealers need a more advanced strategy to win local used car shoppers. As many already know, while used cars is a top search term in the automotive industry, it is also the most difficult to rank for organically. Unlike searching for a new vehicle, customers interested in pre-owned vehicles often times do not type in a specific year, make, or model. Short-tailed (less than four words) searches such as used cars Chicago are nearly impossible to rank well for, especially when up against major online marketplaces or are located in or near a major city. This platform was created to answer the question of how to rank higher organically for search terms such as used cars. As part of this collective network, dealers get to use the power of many, banded together to gain local visibility for those searches they cant win on their own. By displaying used car inventory on a larger platform built to target the local market, dealers are not only gaining exposure and expanding the reach of their brand, but also creating a strong backlink strategy for their website which is a key factor for ranking. The Used Cars Network is a collaboration of several dealers used inventory to create local used vehicle portal websites. Each network site targets a specific major city and showcases used car inventory on the search results page (SRP) for all dealers in close proximity. For example, the newly launched http://www.UsedCarsOfChicago.com displays thousands of vehicles currently in stock from various local dealers within a 200-mile radius of Chicago, IL. Consumers can navigate through a vast selection of used cars for sale near them, filtering by zip code. Once they find a vehicle of interest and click on the listing, they are taken directly to the vehicle details page (VDP) on the respective dealers site to view more information and take the next step. This way, the dealer truly gets the best of both worlds. Not only will they be dramatically enhancing their pre-owned inventory presence, all lead forms and traffic will be sent to their dealership website. Both franchise and independent dealers can look forward to increased visibility with DEPs Used Cars Network. Promoting used vehicles with this platform provides a unique strategy to maximize lead and sales opportunities for a segment of their business that many dealers are wanting to enhance. To join or learn more about the Used Cars Network is expanding local reach for the used car shopper, contact Dealer eProcess by visiting their website at https://dealereprocess.com or by scheduling a demo. About Dealer eProcess Dealer eProcess is the industry leader in automotive websites and digital marketing. Dealer eProcess has won dozens of awards and is recognized by the experts as the most technologically-superior website and digital marketing solution for automotive dealers. Along with being a recognized leader in and award-winner, Dealer eProcess has also partnered with the best in the business to offer their dealers the most complete digital solution available. Dealer eProcess is a Google Premier Partner, Yahoo/Bing Select Partner, a Reynolds & Reynolds certified provider, and has partnered with numerous other industry-leading solutions. Dealer eProcess is headquartered just outside of Chicago, IL, and has offices in Washington and Arizona. You can learn more about Dealer eProcess on their website: http://www.dealereprocess.com. More than 8,000 of the most creative students from 15-plus countries are advancing to the 20th annual Global Finals competition in Kansas City, Missouri from May 22-25, 2019, hosted by Destination Imagination (DI). Over the next few weeks, student finalists will be working hard to raise funds for a chance to showcase their top-scoring innovative solutions in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as fine arts, service learning and improvisation, at the worlds largest celebration of creativity. With more than 1,300 teams now competing annually at Global Finals, Destination Imagination made the decision to move its event from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to Kansas City, Missouri to better accommodate its attendees, to provide a more centralized location for its many U.S. teams, and to give attendees the opportunity to customize their accommodations. Destination Imagination is absolutely thrilled that this years Global Finals event is in Kansas City, said Michele Tuck-Ponder, Executive Director of Destination Imagination, Inc. From an eclectic arts scene to world-class attractions, its an incredible city that offers something for all of our nearly 17,000 attendees, and we look forward to watching the next generation of creative problem solvers, leaders and innovators present their award-winning solutions there this May. Since the beginning of the school year, new and returning DI teams have enthusiastically presented their novel solutions at regional and affiliate (state or country) competition events in hopes of qualifying and competing at Global Finals. Team solutions were assessed by a panel of trained appraisers, ranging from educators to artists and engineers, and were scored on a variety of elements, including originality, workmanship, presentation and teamwork. "We're excited to host so many bright, creative young people who will gather here in Kansas City to not only challenge themselves as individuals but work together and learn from each other while solving complex problems, said Sly James, Kansas City Mayor. Kansas City is pleased to host this year's Global Finals, and we can't wait for the students and families to enjoy our city." This years Global Finals Welcome Ceremony will include a special appearance by Golden Globe-winning, Emmy and SAG Award nominated actor, #1 "New York Times" bestselling author, screenwriter and producer Chris Colfer, who participated in Destination Imagination as a teen. Colfer will be the recipient of Destination Imaginations first-ever Icon Award, which will be given annually to a Destination Imagination alumnus or alumna who has made a game-changing contribution to their industry and who inspires current DI participants to achieve anything they can do in life. The award will be presented by DIs Alumni Council. In addition to the tournament, Global Finals 2019 will feature daily and evening events designed to foster collaboration among teams around the world, including skills workshops, interactive exhibits from companies such as Space Camp, a duct tape fashion show, an ice cream social, and a special Graduation Ceremony for all high school and college students graduating this year. For more information about Global Finals and to view the full agenda, visit http://globalfinals.org. About Destination Imagination Destination Imagination, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) volunteer-led non-profit organization whose purpose is to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders. The organization is a leader in project-based learning experiences, where students work together in teams to solve open-ended STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) and service learning Challenges and then present their solutions at tournaments. Destination Imagination has impacted more than one million students. To learn more, please visit http://destinationimagination.org. The Digital Defense advanced cyber risk assessment and VMaaS solutions suite is a critical component of our overall Cyber Risk Management portfolio strategy. Digital Defense, Inc., a leading SaaS security technology provider, today announced over 200% growth of their partner channel from the prior year by focusing on trends and challenges faced by MSSPs (managed security service providers). Digital Defense leverages AWS (Amazon Web Services) to provide its solution globally with many MSSPs leveraging the companys SaaS platform to effectively and seamlessly deliver vulnerability and threat management services to their customers. Perhaps the biggest challenge of all for MSSPs lies in finding the right technology infrastructure partners, says Cybersecurity Ventures Steve Morgan. Its not just about the technology though. Its as much about the people. We asked Larry Hurtado to join us, in part, because hes been with Digital Defense since 2002, and CEO there for the past thirteen years. Hes steadily grown the company, which now has more than a hundred employees with a focus on ensuring success for clients and partners. Digital Defense has identified the trends as platform scalability, true multi-tenancy, solution accuracy, single pane of glass enablement, and service gap-fill. Challenges MSSPs will face in the years to come include, but are not limited, to threat volume and diversity, skilled labor shortage, brand awareness growth and protection, and complexity introduced with the security management of multiple technologies. Emtec, an IT consultancy and solutions provider and Digital Defense partner, responds to MSSP challenges by helping clients drive transformation and growth by employing the latest technologies and processes to empower their employees, accelerate innovation and deliver amazing client experiences. Enterprise security is not something that is bolted on to business processes and applications it MUST be woven into the fabric of the enterprise operations and business growth strategies, says Doug Goodall, managing director for Emtec, an IT consultancy headquartered in Radnor, Pa., with offices throughout North America and India. The Digital Defense advanced cyber risk assessment and VMaaS solutions suite is a critical component of our overall Cyber Risk Management portfolio strategy. The breadth of the Digital Defense platform capabilities coupled with the incredible ease of management from their consolidated analyst reporting and multi-tenant architecture creates a powerful offering for our clients and the ability for us to tightly integrate the Digital Defense platform into our complementary monitoring and IDR solution platforms as a comprehensive client solution results in a market leading enterprise IT/IOT cyber risk solution suite. Emtec is proud to be a partner with Digital Defense. Organizations interested in learning more about the Digital Defense Channel Partner program can learn more here. About Digital Defense Serving clients across numerous industries, Digital Defenses innovative and leading-edge technology helps organizations safeguard sensitive data and eases the burdens associated with information security. Frontline.Cloud, the original Security SaaS platform, delivers unparalleled accuracy and efficiencies through multiple systems including Frontline Vulnerability Manager (Frontline VM), Frontline Web Application Scanning (Frontline WAS), Frontline Active Threat Sweep (Frontline ATS) and Frontline Pen Test, while SecurED, the companys security awareness training, promotes employees security-minded behavior. The Digital Defense Frontline suite of products, underpinned by patented technology and complemented with superior service and support, are highly-regarded by industry experts, as illustrated by the companys designation as #10 in The Saas Reports Top 25 CyberSecurity Companies of 2018, 2018 Global Vulnerability Management Customer Value Leadership Award, #10 ranking in Black Book Market Research's list of Compliance & Risk Management Solutions, five-star review in SC Magazine, and inclusion in CRNs MSP 500. Contact Digital Defense at 888-273-1412; visit http://www.digitaldefense.com, our blog, LinkedIn, or follow @Digital_Defense on Twitter. War with Venezuela Is Unnecessary, Illegal, and Wrong By Daniel Larison May 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The Trump administration is once again floating the possibility of attacking Venezuela: !!!: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Military action is possible. If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do in #Venezuela. Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 1, 2019 There are absolutely no vital U.S. interests at stake in Venezuela, and the Venezuelan government poses no threat to the United States. There is no way under these circumstances that military action could be required, so when Pompeo suggests that it could happen we are clearly talking about a war of choice divorced from any U.S. security interests. It would be a war fought solely for the purpose of achieving regime change, and the only reason why the U.S. would do that is to vindicate the Trump administrations reckless blunder of taking sides in an internal political dispute. No Americans should die for the sake of Trumps ego or for the ambitions of hawkish senators. Attacking the Venezuelan government would be a terrible error and a violation of international law. It would be a calamity for the people of Venezuela, who would bear many of the costs of turning their internal crisis into an international war, and it would likely cause more displacement and increase the number of people fleeing the country in the short term. I suspect it would also be a more difficult and costly war than most of us expect, and it would be a massive waste of U.S. resources and American lives in an unjustified and unnecessary war. If all that isnt enough, an unauthorized Venezuelan war would also be completely illegal under U.S. law. The American people have no appetite for a new war for regime change anywhere in the world, and there is not much support for it even in Congress. If Trump tries to take the U.S. to war in Venezuela, he will be in clear violation of the Constitution and should be impeached for it. This article was originally published by " American Conservative " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter ==See Also== Criminal turned coup plotter, who is Leopoldo Lopez? #HandsOffVenezuela pic.twitter.com/YUind1K3cp teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) May 1, 2019 Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. The ELO ECM Suite is a robust cross-industry solution that fuels successful digital transformations. ELO Digital Office USA, enabling businesses to improve collaboration and digitize information management, announced ADOC Solutions as its newest ELO Business Partner at the ChannelPro SMB Forum. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, ADOC Solutions further expands the ELO Business Partner network in the southeastern area of the United States. ADOC Solutions joins a global network of more than 1000 ELO Business Partners that resell the ELO ECM Suite comprised of ELOprofessional for small- to mid-sized companies and ELOenterprise for large corporations. ELO USA will demonstrate the solutions at the ChannelPro SMB Forum Chicago (Hyatt Regency/Schaumburg). ADOC Solutions is digitizing businesses across a wide range of industries from financial services to government agencies to education, said Jean Sebastien Wagner, president and director general of ADOC Solutions. Therefore, we looked for an industry-independent ECM solution that can address the content and document management needs of our diverse customer portfolio. With the ELO ECM Suite we have a robust, cross-industry solution, which strengthens our ECM offerings and fuels successful digital transformations. ELOprofessional - All the Must-Have ECM Capabilities ELOprofessional, part of the ELO ECM Suite, enables IT resellers, and MSPs to give their customers a single and comprehensive platform for managing a range of business information throughout its life cycle. Handling both structured and unstructured data, ELOprofessional delivers all the must-have ECM capabilities such as: Email Management Document Management Records Management Contract Management Image Recognition Workflow Integration with Enterprise Applications Data Security and GDPR Compliance Creating the digital workplace is a priority for businesses throughout the US and ELO USA Business Partners are helping companies to realize effective digital transformations, noted Szilvia Horvath, president and CEO of ELO Digital Office USA. ADOC Solutions is committed to enabling those transformations and we are delighted that they will be doing so with the ELO ECM Suite. About ELO Digital Office USA ELO Digital Office USA provides innovative digital content management solutions for organizations of all sizes and industries throughout the United States. ELOoffice, ELOprofessional, and ELOenterprise give businesses an electronic and secure way to easily capture, archive, and manage business documents and information both paper-based and digital. A subsidiary of ELO Digital Office GmbH (founded in 1998), ELO USA is headquartered in Boston, MA and is part of a network of global ELO offices throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Visit ELO USA. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. About ADOC Solutions ADOC Solutions is an innovative multinational IT company originally established in 1996 with offices in Europe (FR) and the USA (Miami, FL). We specialize in digital business transformation and offer a broad range of services including document, image, microfilm and microfiche scanning services, document indexing, data entry, printing, enveloping, and routing incoming and outgoing calls. Some of our clients presently include law firms, realty companies, healthcare/medical organizations, and financial services. Visit ADOC Solutions. Follow us on LinkedIn. All product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. In order to build user engagement and drive conversions, you must first bring users to your site. A NYC area digital marketing agency and IT consultant reveals 3 tips to increase website traffic in a new article on the eMazzanti Technologies website. Bringing users to a business website, engaging them while there and converting those visits to sales are all critical components to a solid business strategy in the digital age, the article asserts. The informative article encourages website designers to improve SEO with high quality, relevant and unique content. In addition, the article states that they should develop a mobile-friendly layout and effective pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns. In order to build user engagement and drive conversions, you must first bring users to your site, stated Jennifer Mazzanti, CEO, eMazzanti Technologies. Partnering with digital marketing experts pays rich dividends. Below are a few excerpts from the article, 3 Proven Tips to Increase Website Traffic. Consider the list of retail giants failing in the digital age. Toys R Us, Bon-Ton and Claires all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018. In 2019, the list of at-risk giants includes the likes of PetSmart, Neiman Marcus and J. Crew. To stay competitive, businesses need a robust online presence. Content is King As search engines grow in sophistication, quality website content becomes an even more indispensable part of your strategy to increase website traffic. In order to build user engagement with your site and drive conversions, you must first bring users to your site. A critical key to increasing SEO involves building content that is high quality, relevant and unique. Develop for Mobile Users According to Google statistics, mobile phones account for over half of all search queries. In response to that trend, Google has begun to employ a mobile-first strategy for indexing. That means that the search engine will determine which version of your website is your mobile version and give that ranking preference. More tips to increase website traffic >> Expert Partners Ensure Exceptional Results Business leaders investing in their online presence is a winning business strategy. They can partner with digital experts to develop powerful content, reach mobile users and build a solid digital marketing strategy. The award-winning creative team at eMazzanti can help them design or update their website, increase SEO and unravel the intricacies of PPC advertising. Related resource information: eMazzanti Named a 2019 Tech Elite 250 IT Solution Provider by CRN Increase Website User Engagement with These 4 Design Tips About eMazzanti Technologies eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver increased revenue growth, data security and productivity for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers, expertly providing advanced retail and payment technology, digital marketing services, cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring and support. eMazzanti has made the Inc. 5000 list eight consecutive years, is a 3X Microsoft Partner of the Year, the #1 ranked NYC area MSP, NJ Business of the Year, 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year and one of the TOP 200 U.S. Microsoft Partners! Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info@emazzanti.net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies. Because Ordermark was born in a restaurant, the company understands that data integrity and system reliability are job number one. Ordermark, the nation's fastest growing online ordering enablement platform for restaurants today announced it has hired Arpan Desai as its new Chief Technology Officer. With over 20 years experience in software, engineering, and technology for companies including Microsoft, Nokia, and Razorgator, Desai will lead Ordermarks engineering team. The solutions we provide are mission-critical and require expertise in scaling complex process automation solutions for tens of thousands of restaurants nationwide, said Alex Canter, CEO of Ordermark. Arpan has architected similar mission-critical solutions for businesses including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and PepsiCo, and his expertise is hard to find. Were thrilled to have him leading our engineering team. Most recently, Desai was CTO of Razorgator where he led the engineering teams responsible for the e-commerce site and their enterprise SaaS solution which serviced Fortune 50 clients. Prior to that, Desai worked for Microsoft on technologies ranging from cell phones to enterprise solutions. Im pleased to be joining a company thats so committed to high-quality solutions, said Desai. Oftentimes, fast-growing companies shortchange their customers by sacrificing reliability for speed. Because Ordermark was born in a restaurant, the company understands that data integrity and system reliability are job number one. As part of this change, Ordermarks former CTO, data engineering authority Gary Abrams, will assume the role of CIO, with responsibility for bringing innovative marketing solutions that leverage data to restaurant customers. About Ordermark Ordermark helps restaurants maximize profits and lower costs by sending orders from multiple online ordering services to a single tablet and printer. Created in the kitchen of world-famous Canters Deli in Los Angeles by a fourth generation restaurateur, Ordermark helps thousands of brands nationwide, including many of the world's top restaurant chains such as Which Wich, Buffalo Wild Wings, Little Caesars, Papa Johns, Dickeys Barbecue Pit, Yogurtland, and Sonic. The company is based in Los Angeles, California, with an office in Denver, Colorado. For more information visit ordermark.com We look forward to collaborating with Bill and Diana to support the litigation and other needs of our clients, and to leveraging Bills extensive tax controversy and litigation experience and connections to continue to grow our tax practice nationally. Holland & Hart announces the addition of tax partner William Colgin and tax associate Diana Myers. Colgin and Myers further strengthen Holland & Harts growing tax practice. They represent taxpayers ranging from multinational corporations to high-net worth individuals in complex, high-stakes federal tax controversies and litigations, and advise clients through all stages of the tax planning process. Colgin and Myers are the latest addition to the firms expanding Tax and Benefits Practice, which also recently added one partner and three new associates. I am thrilled to join the Holland & Hart family, said Colgin. I am honored to share the Tax teams longstanding dedication to excellent client service. I am impressed by the firms commitment to innovative technology solutions that enhance client partnerships. I look forward to working with the firms Office of Innovation and exploring new ways to continue to optimize client outcomes and drive efficiencies. The Office of Innovation harnesses experts in artificial intelligence, process improvement, and software development to tailor apps, dashboards, web services and other custom technology solutions for clients. Colgin is nationally renowned for advising clients in IRS examinations, representing clients before the IRS Office of Appeals, and litigating tax cases. He focuses primarily on large-dollar, complicated, and contentious disputes, and will work closely with the Government Investigations and White Collar Defense team on criminal tax matters. Bill litigates in the U.S. Tax Court, federal district courts, state courts, and appellate courts throughout the country on a wide variety of tax issues including international transfer pricing, foreign asset and bank account compliance, intellectual property, economic substance, partnership tax, employment and benefits, and other high-profile areas of tax dispute. We are delighted Bill and Diana chose Holland & Hart for the next stage of their careers, said Brenda Berg, the firms Tax and Benefits Practice Group Leader. We look forward to collaborating with Bill and Diana to support the litigation and other needs of our clients, and to leveraging Bills extensive tax controversy and litigation experience and connections to continue to grow our tax practice nationally. Prior to joining Holland & Hart, Colgin was a partner at Morgan Lewis in Silicon Valley, where he was local practice group leader for the firms West Coast tax practice. Colgin began his career as a Civil Trial Attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice with primary case dockets in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. Colgin is admitted to practice in California and Virginia, and he is temporarily authorized to practice in Colorado pending admission under C.R.C.P. 205.6. Myers brings extensive international tax experience from her practice at Baker McKenzie in Chicago. Prior to joining Holland & Hart, she worked for the Chief Tax Strategist at Northern Trust Corporation, covering tax reform legislation for the company and its clients. Myers is admitted to practice in Wyoming, Illinois, and Massachusetts. About Holland & Hart Founded in 1947, Holland & Hart is a full-service Am Law 200 firm with offices in eight states and in Washington, D.C. We deliver integrated legal solutions to regional, national, and international clients of all sizes in a diverse range of industries. For more information, visit http://www.hollandhart.com or on Twitter: @HollandHart. In-Flight Crew Connections. Making missions possible. Corporate Aviation Staffing. All attendees and flight departments are invited to come by booth number 1017 to meet with IFCC executives and learn more about customized staffing solutions. In-Flight Crew Connections (IFCC), a leading staffing agency in the corporate aviation industry, announced today that they will exhibit at the upcoming 2019 NBAA Flight Attendants and Maintenance Conference being held at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, TX. All attendees and flight departments are invited to come by booth number 1017 to meet with IFCC executives and learn more about customized staffing solutions. Attendees may also enter for a chance to win a $250 Visa gift card. About In-Flight Crew Connections In-Flight Crew Connections, a global leader since 2002 provides aviation industry staffing solutions for owners and operators of business class jets. Focused on developing customized solutions that meet the unique needs of corporate aviation clients. The company is a privately held, WBENC certified women-owned staffing firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. IFCC services include: ONe-Call Temporary Crew Services, on demand supplemental staffing for pilots, flight attendants, schedulers/dispatchers, armed security officers, drone operators, aircraft maintenance technicians, engineers etc. IFCC also provides Payroll Services, Management Services, Recruiting & Placement, International Staffing and Concierge Services. As the Employer of Record, In-Flight Crew Connections will assume all the employer services: State and Federal Regulatory Taxation Compliance, Unemployment Insurance, Workmans Compensation, Liability Insurance, Background, E-Verify & Drug Testing, Training Verification, FAA Records Check, Human Resources and other Administrative Support tasks To schedule staffing services with In-Flight Crew Connections, call (704) 236-3647. Visit In-Flight Crew Connections online at http://www.inflightcrewconnections.com or follow In-Flight Crew Connections on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. About National Business Aviation Association Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The association represents more than 11,000 companies and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, the worlds largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at http://www.nbaa.org. Research, such as the 2019 In-House Creative Management Report, shows us that when marketing and creative departments are aligned, the business can shout above its marketing budget. inMotionNow aims to Ignite Creativity at the HOW Design Live conference, which is being held from May 6-10, 2019 in Chicago. A leading provider of workflow management solutions for marketing and creative teams, the company will be setting up in booth number 602 to demo inMotion ignite, engage with creative peers, hand out cool Cinema Lightbox SWAG, and generally advocate for ways creatives can collaborate with their marketing partners for mutual benefit. Our theme, the giveaways, and the events the inMotionNow team will be involved in at HOW are fun and creative ways to carry an educational message around solving a critical industry challenge, says Alex Withers, chief marketing officer (CMO) for inMotionNow. Research, such as the 2019 In-House Creative Management Report, shows us that when marketing and creative departments are aligned, the business can shout above its marketing budget. The 2019 In-House Creative Management Report, a survey of more than 550 creatives and marketers fielded by inMotionNow and InSource, revealed several challenges around leadership, team morale, and collaboration as in-house teams have grown. These challenges are the result of several contributing factors including misperceptions, marketing culture, and process flaws. However, the research also demonstrated that organizations that overcome those challenges and align marketing and creative teams are more likely to outperform peer organizations. The company has long advocated for proven ideas to this end and thats the underlying message it is bringing to the HOW conference. To help spread the word, the inMotionNow team will be contributing to the following activities: 1) Panel session: Ignite Creativity Together: Bridging the Gap Between Marketing and Creative Creative leaders from the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Timberwolves will present some of the highlights from the aforementioned report, and provide examples of how their creative teams have solved some of the challenges that emerged in the studys findings. The session will be held on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, from 10:00-10:45 a.m. in Room E351. Both panelists contributed commentary to the research report, which is available for download. 2) How Design Live daily video recaps The inMotionNow team is partnering with the HOW conference to develop daily videos to recap key trends and themes emerging from the conference and interview guests, speakers and conference presenters. These videos will act as quick hit updates for attendees and enable the creative community unable to attend the conference, to feel connected to the event. Keep an eye on inMotionNow social channels for more details (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook). 3) Booth #602: showcase and SWAG The inMotionNow team will be staffing booth 602 to show off its all-new creative workflow management platform called inMotion ignite. The product was completely re-imagined, built for the way creative teams work today, and was rolled out late last year. The company hasnt slowed on development either. Just last month it added campaign management to the new platform a feature that was highly requested by customers because it facilitates better collaboration between creative and marketing. If you are ready to see the product in action now, you can schedule an online demonstration here. In keeping with the theme at the conference, company representatives will be handing out Love Your Workflow lightboxes to booth visitors. A fun display for every creatives desk! About inMotionNow, Inc. inMotionNow is a leading provider of workflow management solutions for marketing and creative teams, facilitating efficiency and productivity from project kickoff to final approval. The companys flagship product, inMotion ignite, simplifies every phase of the creative process, delivering measurable value to enterprise clients. The application allows project stakeholders to collaboratively initiate, manage, track, and review important creative projects including print, video, and multimedia designs in a centralized and interactive cloud-based environment that connects directly with Adobe through the inMotion Extension for Adobe Creative Cloud. With a user-friendly interface and dedicated customer success team, inMotionNow helps creative and marketing teams automate their workflow and do the work they love. For more information please visit http://www.inmotionnow.com. Media Contact: Frank Strong for inMotionNow 202-352-5920 frank@swordandthescript.com Insight Behavioral Health Centers, a leading provider for mood, anxiety and trauma-related disorders, announces today its expansion into the Dallas market. Insight Dallas answers the growing need for comprehensive, specialized mental health services in the state of Texas by providing expert, best-in-class care focused on mood, anxiety and trauma-related conditions for adults and adolescents 16 years of age and older. It will also screen and assess for substance abuse symptomology and address both disorders at the same time. Insight Behavioral Health Centers was founded in 2004 by mental health pioneer Susan McClanahan, PhD, CEDS, Founder of Insight Behavioral Health Centers. Its leadership includes the industrys top thought leaders who have developed a widespread reputation for excellence in comprehensive and specialized treatment and outcomes. Since its inception, Insight Behavioral Health Centers has grown to 11 locations throughout the country and treated nearly 1600 patients in 2018.Other Insight locations in Texas include Austin, Houston, Round Rock, San Antonio and The Woodlands. In addition to Texas, Insight Behavioral Health Centers also operates in Illinois, Ohio and Washington. Mental health has become a critical issue in the state of Texas. Recent statistics show that in 2018, more than 60% of the states adults who suffer from a mental illness did not receive treatment1, increasing their chances of chronic medical conditions and fatal consequences, including suicide. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, between 2000-2015, Texas experienced a 23% increase in the suicide rate2. Insight Behavioral Health Centers is pleased to offer the residents of North Texas another option in the fight against mental illness, providing them with services that will solely address debilitating mental health conditions, with care that is customized to each patients individual needs, says Stephanie Setliff, MD, CEDS-S, Insight Behavioral Health Centers. Those suffering from a mental health condition are often left feeling exhausted and isolated, but at Insight, patients can expect to find a proven, guided experience that gives them the best possible chance at long-lasting recovery. The patient experience at Insight Dallas is a four-part journey that provides patients with the skills and tools they need to lead a full and balanced life. This includes guiding a patient into treatment, designing personal recovery plans, empowering their support system and supporting them throughout their ongoing recovery journey. Each patients expert care team includes a therapist, psychiatrist and primary care physician, who work collaboratively to develop a customized treatment plan. That plan addresses the patients unique therapeutic and psychiatric needs, no matter how complex or how many diagnoses he or she may have. The patient learns and practices coping skills within a nurturing community setting so they return home equipped to continue their journey to emotional wellness. Services at Insight Dallas will include partial hospitalization (PHP) and intensive outpatient programs (IOP). PHP offers comprehensive services eight hours per day during the week and six hours per day on weekends. Patients receive a robust curriculum of evidence-based treatment modalities, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Exposure and Response Prevention and Informed Trauma Protocol, with a goal to provide patients with long-lasting recovery and end the cycle of hospital admissions. Apartments are available for out-of-town PHP patients. The Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) includes three hours of programming per day, three to six days a week depending on the patients needs. The centers expert care team uses select therapeutic approaches to address a patients specific needs. IOP is also offered through telebehavioral health programming via the Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program to residents residing in California, Ohio and Texas. The Insight Dallas center is located at 4716 Alliance Blvd., Ste 400, Plano, TX 75093. For more information about Insight Behavioral Health Center, please visit https://www.InsightBHC.com/. To schedule a free expert consultation by a masters-level clinician, please call 972-476-0800. # # # 1 Mental Health America 2 https://www.dshs.texas.gov/injury/data/Suicide-Data-Brief.doc About Insight Behavioral Health Centers Founded in 2004, Insight Behavioral Health Centers offers best-in-class treatment for mood, anxiety and trauma-related disorders for adults, children, adolescents and their families facing serious emotional and behavioral health concerns. It offers multiple levels of care, including Residential, Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). Insight Behavioral Health Centers approach is rooted in evidence-based treatment that helps patients learn to manage their symptoms while also seeking to understand the underlying issues impacting their behavior and emotions. Its goal is to equip patients with the tools necessary to create the healthy, rewarding life that supports their personal values. Its no small task to serve in the military. There is a great amount of respect given to veterans for doing what a lot of people cant. People dont sign up for service for rewards, but it is nice to be recognized for service. It can be especially nice to get some help during the car buying process. This is why Phil Meador Toyota offers a military rebate. A rebate is a great way to get a little bit of assistance when it comes to buying a new car. The military rebate at Phil Meador Toyota is available US military personnel, household members of eligible US military personnel, retirees, and veterans within two years of discharge. The rebate can be used towards any new Toyota lease or purchase. People will just need to provide the dealership with proof of military status with a leave and earning statement, military ID card, or a DD form 214 certificate of release or discharge from active duty. They will also need to provide proof of a qualifying salary and be approved for credit. More information can be found on Phil Meador Toyotas website or by contacting the dealership directly. They can be reached over the phone by calling 208-237-5300. Phil Meador Toyota also has a physical location at 1855 Flandro Dr, Pocatello, ID 83202 that customers can visit directly. Keynote Speaker, Tom Feltenstein, at the Our Town America 2019 Convention With decades of marketing and advertising success under his belt, Feltenstein has a respect for this niche new mover market knowing just how loyal these new customers can be to searching businesses. Our Town America, the nations premier New Mover Marketing franchise, recently hosted Keynote Speaker, Author and Marketing Visionary, Tom Feltenstein, at their annual franchise convention. Feltenstein has been a Marketing mogul for over 30 years and, much like Our Town America, is known to be an expert in the industry. Our Town America, which was founded in 1972, has been holding annual conventions since 2005 when they first began franchising. The company hosts a variety of sessions ranging from sales &marketing tips to how to make the most of the tools provided to the franchisees, such as their constantly-improving technology including mobile applications, the CRM, USPS Every Door Direct Mail, and more. However, the company knows that, for many, the most motivating session can be one that focuses on internal drive. At this years convention, Feltensteins session focus was how to be remarkable and what that can do for your bottom line. At the core of being remarkable is taking customer engagement to a whole new level by going above and beyond expectations to deliver extraordinary value to your customers. This lines up perfectly with Our Town Americas core beliefs. The companys convention theme this year was Mission Possible: The Code to Success. The convention was centered on all that is possible for the franchisees if they are relentless in their work ethic & pursuit of excellence. This duo, Tom Feltenstein and Our Town America, as many of the 60+ franchisees noted, is one for the books. And whats more: Feltenstein is already a firm believer in marketing to new movers. With decades of marketing and advertising success under his belt, he has a respect for this niche market knowing just how loyal these new customers can be to searching businesses. The company and their many franchisees look forward to another year of prosperity, fueled by innovation, commitment to excellence & Feltensteins powerful and impactful presentation during this years Convention: That success will always be based on understanding what the customer wants & needs. About Our Town America For 47 years, Our Town America has been connecting new movers with local businesses by helping turn them into long-term, loyal customers. As the leaders in New Mover Marketing, they use a mix of proven and perfected methods of direct mail and new technologies to focus exactly on the businesses ideal type of customer. Through their mobile app, they are 100% trackable and also offer demographically targeted full-color postcard mailings, EDDM, and more. Since the company started franchising in 2005, Our Town America has consistently been placed in the Franchise Top 50, ranking top in their category for franchisee satisfaction. Our Town America's dedication to the sponsor exclusivity concept, meaning Our Town America will only recommend one of each business type in any specific zip code within its welcome packages, has been one of the key catalysts for the companys long-term success. In addition, sponsors consistently rave about other unique aspects of the New Mover Marketing program such as their ability to reach a brand-new audience of impressionable new movers each month and the insightful data/metrics delivered by Our Town Americas innovative pinpoint tracking system. Due in large part to Our Town Americas devotion to those concepts, thousands of satisfied business owners throughout the United States attest to the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, dozens of locally owned franchisees validate Our Town America's concept as a viable business opportunity. It is Our Town Americas mission to assist new movers adjusting to their community, help businesses gain new and loyal customers and provide franchisees with an excellent opportunity. The eight million households who receive Our Town America's welcome packages each year prove that Our Town America is committed to following through on that mission statement. For more information, visit the Our Town America website at https://www.ourtownamerica.com/. Personally, [singing bowls] have allowed me to get the most out of my practice throughout the past decade, and they might be just what people need to take that next step forward. Visit Depression to Expressions official website, and youre immediately introduced to the organizations core message: An Honest Dialogue About Mental Health. The initiative was founded by Scott Ste Marie, who uses frank discussion surrounding his own struggle with depression and anxiety to inspire others. It has, thus far, proved to be a successful mission. Ste Marie worked with Canadian Mental Health Association, as well as many schools and other organizations, to help others start getting real about their mental health challenges. In the process, he assists others in not just overcoming these challenges, but finding real value within them. Recently, Ste Marie was invited to speak at a TEDx event in Toronto. His talk, titled, Why You Should Question Everything, guides listeners through his own bubbling curiosity about life. He shares how he applied the same approach to an unexpected bout of depression. New experiences forced me to ask new questions, he explains. By formulating logical questions concerning his mental health, he was inviting answers which helped him understand how he was feeling. And more importantly, the questions can help you feel more connected to others. These days, Scott doesnt just book speaking engagements. He regularly uploads valuable content on his YouTube channel, including guided meditations. In these videos, we are introduced to one of his most effective tools for the mindfulness that helps us find the answers - Tibetan singing bowls. The bowl is a tool to enhance our ability to get the most out of our meditation practice, he shares. Each person is different in what they need to experience relaxation, peace, and perhaps a moment of transcendence. Personally, [singing bowls] have allowed me to get the most out of my practice throughout the past decade, and they might be just what people need to take that next step forward. For those interested in using a singing bowl to enhance their meditation and mindfulness practices, Ste Marie recommends a particular brand. Silent Mind is one of Amazons top sellers of authentic Tibetan singing bowls, and is known to be suitable for beginners and experienced players alike. At the beginning of my meditation and mindfulness practice nearly 10 years ago, I wanted to find ways to sink deeper into the moment and focus on each and every sense, he recalls. After the first guided meditation I heard with a sound bowl, I simply went on Amazon and found Silent Mind - the greatest investment I made towards my meditation practice. While Scott is helping to popularize the connection between singing bowls and mental wellbeing, it is a topic that has already gained some scientific footing. Studies have demonstrated that sound-facilitated meditation sessions which include singing bowls may help reduce tension associated with mood disorders and chronic conditions. To learn more about Depression to Expression and Scott Ste Marie, visit their official website. You can also visit http://www.silentmindsingingbowls.com to peruse a selection of authentic Tibetan singing bowls and learn more about their benefits. Home Search ICH Israeli rabbis at military prep school are caught on video praising Hitler By Jonathan Ofir May 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Yesterday, Israeli Channel 13 aired video recordings by rabbi educators at the state-sponsored military prep-academy Bnei David in the West Bank settlement of Eli. The rabbis hail Hitlers Nazi racist ideology as 100% correct, only criticizing it for not being applied to the right people that is, the Jews should be the master-race, and non-Jews the untermenschen. The statements are jaw-droppers. The full coverage with subtitles can be seen in a video prepared by journalist David Sheen. MUST WATCH David Sheen has subtitled the Israeli Channel 13 coverage concerning the rabbis at the Eli military-preper atory college, who endorse Hitler and the Nazi ideology (only they think it should be applied in Jewish favor against non-Jews). It is important to emphasize, as is also noted in the coverage: this is not a fringe, these things have been repeated for years, these people are now connected to the future government, to the education ministry no less. These educators send young men to the army, and have been advocating these ideas for years. They have close ties to lawmakers, specifically to Rabbi Rafi Peretz, now head of the Union of Right Wing Parties, the notorious merger with the Kahanist party Jewish Power, who is now the leading candidate for Minister of Education. The academy is also tied to a Yeshiva, to which many students come after their military service. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Slavery should return It starts out with Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel, who bemoans that slavery has been abolished: Abolishing legal slavery has created deficiencies. No one is responsible for that property. With Gods help it will return. The goyim (non-Jews) will want to be our slaves. Being a slave of the Jews is the best. They must be slaves, they want to be slaves. Instead of just wandering the streets, being foolish and harming each other, now hes a slave, now his life is beginning to come into order. The goyim in this context is to be understood as Palestinians. He says its because they have genetic problems, and posits that they want to be under occupation: There are around us people with genetic problems. Ask any average Arab where he wants to be. He wants to be under occupation. Why? Because they have genetic problems, they dont know how to run a country, they dont know how to do anything look at the state of them. Yes, we are racists Of course there is racism, Kashtiel continues. Are we unaware that there are different races? Is it a secret? Is it untrue? What can you do? Its true. Yes, we are racists, we believe in racism. Kashtiel suggests that because Jews are a superior race, they can help the inferior ones: Correct, there are races in the world, nations have genetic characteristics, so we [the Jews] must consider how to help them. Racial differences are real, and thats precisely a reason to offer help. A student asks the rabbi: Who put you to decide who is who? Kashtiel: I can see that my accomplishments are much more impressive than his. The Holocaust is humanism and pluralism Another rabbi, Giora Radler, says that the Holocaust is not what you think, its not about killing Jews. It is humanism and pluralism that is killing us for real: The Holocaust for real is not about the killing of Jews thats not the Holocaust. All of these excuses claiming that it was based on ideology or that it was systematic, this is ridiculous. Because it was based on ideology, to a certain extent, makes it more moral than if people murdered people for no reason. Humanism, all the secular culture about us believing in the human, thats the Holocaust. The Holocaust, for real, is being pluralist, believing in I believe in the human. Thats whats called a Holocaust. The Lord (blessed be his name) is already shouting for many years that the [Jewish] exile is over, but people dont listen to him, and that is their disease, a disease which needs to be cured by the Holocaust. In other words, the Holocaust was there to teach Jews a lesson drop pluralism, isolate yourself in the Jewish State and let go of the diaspora illness. These remarks were made in a lesson titled relating to the Holocaust. The Nazi logic was right Radler: The Nazi logic was right unto themselves. Hitler says that a certain group in society is the seed of all calamity for all humanity, that because of it all of mankind will go to oblivion, that they harm humanity, and therefore must be exterminated. Radler asks a student: Does this ideology sound illogical to you? Very bad? Student answers: It doesnt sound moral. Radler: Was Moses as bad as Hitler? Student: No. Radler: Why not? There is one thing in the world that is truly evil and that is to be a hypocrite. Does it make a difference to you if they killed you now with a knife the way they did to Agag [the Amalekite king whom the prophet Samuel hacked in pieces] or if they kill you in a gas chamber? Hitler was right, 100% correct Radler goes on to speak about Hitler, and now adds that the disease is not just pluralism and humanism, but also feminism, and that Hitler was absolutely right: Lets start with the question whether Hitler was right or not. Student: Not. Radler: [Hitler] is the most righteous person. Of course he is right in every word he utters. In his ideology he is right. There is a male world which fights, which deals with honor and the brotherhood of soldiers. And there is the soft, ethical feminine world [which speaks of] turning the other cheek. And we [Nazis] believe that the Jews carry on this heritage, trying, in our words, to spoil the whole of humanity, and thats why they are the real enemy. Now, he [Hitler] is 100% correct, aside from the fact that he was on the wrong side. So here, Radler was emulating Hitler, mouthing Nazi arguments approvingly. The only fault of the Nazis, per Radler, was that they didnt know who the real master race was, and who the real untermenschen were. The Nazis couldnt be right, because only Jews could be the superior ones. But if Jews now apply this race theory and ideology currently that is, essentially upon Palestinians, then they would really be 100% correct maybe even 101%, because they got it even more right than Hitler. Responses This is a big mouthful. Real Judeo-Nazism. The rabbis were contacted for response and tried to whitewash the whole thing as a misunderstanding. Rabbi Kashtiel said that he was sorry and at pain that a class on human rights got the opposite exposure to what it means, a modern-socialist understanding of slavery. Rabbi Radler said that his words were taken out of context and that the lesson about the Holocaust seeks to explain the sick logic of Hitler as well as the reasons and motives for the Holocaust. Israeli-Palestinian lawmaker Ahmad Tibi responded to the airing: In German it would have sounded more authentic. Of course, Zionist Israeli politicians were also alarmed. Centrist lawmaker Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter: This is not Judaism. These are not values. People who speak like this are not worthy of educating youths. Lapid called for halting the state financing of the Yeshiva until the racist rabbis are expelled. But theres a problem here, because Lapids own ideology is about maximum Jews on maximum land with maximum security and with minimum Palestinians, and although Lapid points out now that secular people established Israel, really, his religion is the ultra-nationalist Zionism, and he is just a slightly prettier face of that Judeo-Nazism we see emanating from Bnei David. Leftist Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg: The Eli academy should have been closed long ago, and whoever let the chauvinism, homophobia and all the rest of the hate which comes out of there to continue the madness, should not be surprised by the horrible expressions which came out of there today. Zandberg said she applied to the education ministry to stop funding the academy. But the Eli Yeshiva and academy are now closely tied with the government. It was the Yeshiva head rabbi Eli Sadan, who campaigned for Rafi Peretz to become head of the Union of Right Wing Parties, now the top candidate for Minister of Education. Peretz was allowed to speak to the students there before the elections, even as Naftali Bennett (who until now has been Minister of Education) and Prime Minister Netanyahu were refused. In other words, there is a whole political reality that is even more radical than both Netanyahu and even Bennett, who was considered extreme-right, one that really does speak of Jewish power, in an overtly fascist, literally Nazi, vein. And this ideology is poised to gain a central place in the Israeli government. Not a slip of the tongue As the Channel 13 coverage also notes, what we have heard here is no slip of the tongue: These statements have been repeated again for years at Bnei David. Not a slip of the tongue, but a set agenda. And Bnei David is not an isolated island. A similar story of a genocidal educator of security forces is rabbi Dov Lior from the settlement Kiryat Arba, who endorsed the book Torat Hamelech (Kings Torah) of 2009, which advocates the killing of non-Jewish babies since it is clear they will grow to harm us. Lior has been teaching police forces in a special program for religious recruits called Believers in the Police. The authors of the book, by the way, are from the Od Yosef Chai Yesiva in the settlement of Yitzhar, a Yeshiva that received funds from Jared Kushners familys foundation until 2011. Views of the Holocaust as a divine punishment for sinners have been expressed by the former chief Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who also believed that the purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, and he likened non-Jews to donkeys. It is possible that the above mentioned airing of shocking views may cause a certain temporary and local stir, but this ideology is deeply embedded, and now an integral part of a central Israeli political reality. It is clear that the rabbis treat this attention as a nuisance by liberals who have no understanding, and it is likely that they will regard this as an unfortunate Azarya like the soldier medic who was filmed murdering an incapacitated Palestinian at point blank range three years ago and had to spend some months in prison. The problem for Azaryas supporters wasnt the murder but the video. And so these people may find ways to crawl out of this debacle, but they will continue believing in the righteousness of their Jewish supremacy. Jonathan Ofir: Israeli musician, conductor and blogger / writer based in Denmark. H/t Ofer Neiman, Richard Silverstein, David Sheen Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Saudi Arabia offered Abbas $10 billion to sell out for Trumps "peace" plan - report Israeli Occupation Force Soldiers Have to Shoot at Palestinians. It's Israel's Way to Keep Them in Check: Israel admits it: The military is in the West Bank to protect settlements. The notion that we want peace is old fake news Reduction of Gaza fishing zone an 'illegal collective punishment' Israeli High Court orders demolition of Palestinian homes: Israeli high court ruled 60 homes in occupied East Jerusalem should be knocked down. Bernie Sanders: Israel now run by a right wing dare I say racist government Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy A VIP Preview Party and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony will be held for Hellenic Senior Living of Elkhart, a new affordable assisted living community for older adults that is opening next month. The event will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 2 at the community, which is located at 2528 Bypass Road in Elkhart. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. This $26.7 million development was designed for seniors who have a financial need and need some help to maintain their independence. We will be providing older adults with the opportunity to remain in a home-like setting with 24-hour care rather than struggling alone at home or going to a nursing home, said Hellenic Administrator Chris Chalman. The community will combine residential apartment-home living with the availability of personal assistance, medication administration, and a variety of convenience and support services, such as meals, housekeeping, laundry and on-site physical therapy. Residents will live in private apartments that they will furnish and decorate to their tastes. Each of the apartments will feature a kitchenette, spacious bathroom with shower and grab bars, individually controlled heating and air conditioning and an emergency alert system. In addition, Hellenic Senior Living offers several areas for residents to enjoy, including an activity room, beauty salon/barber shop, convenience store, fitness room, library, billiards room and a theater room. Certified nursing assistants, working under the direction of a licensed nurse, will be on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "Residents also will benefit from all of the opportunities that will be available to socialize with friends and neighbors and to participate in activities and special programs," says Chalman. When fully occupied, the community will provide 45 full-time and part-time jobs. Annual payroll with benefits is projected to be $2.3 million. Hellenic will be certified to operate through the Division of Aging and regulated by the Indiana State Department of Health. "Our focus," says Rod Burkett, CEO of Gardant Management Solutions, the company that will manage the community, "is to provide Hellenic residents with the love, compassion and dignity they deserve and the help and assistance they need. Our emphasis is on helping each resident achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible." Two other Hellenic assisted living communities recently opened in Indianapolis and New Albany. Indiana properties managed by Gardant are Belvedere Senior Housing in Merrillville, Evergreen Village at Bloomington, Heritage Woods of Noblesville, Oasis at 30th in Indianapolis, Glasswater Creek of Lafayette, The Lodge at Summers Pointe in Winchester and White Oaks at Noblesville. Other Gardant-managed projects under development in Indiana include Glasswater Creek of Plainfield and Oasis at 56th in Indianapolis. Individuals interested in reserving apartments at Hellenic Senior Living of Elkhart should call 574-389-1776 . For more information about Gardant Management Solutions or the assisted living, senior living and memory care communities the company operates, visit https://www.gardant.com or call 1-877-882-1495 toll-free. GNC's continued commitment demonstrates our collective appreciation for all our military families do for us and highlights how we can help this very special and deserving group of our fellow Americans have the opportunity to thrive in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. General Nutrition Corporation (GNC), a leading global specialty, health, wellness, and performance brand announced its support of national nonprofit Operation Homefront. GNC will host the Live Well and Serve Americas Military Families national in-store campaign, at all of its corporate and franchise stores, from May 2, 2019 through June 12, 2019. Customers will be asked to donate to Operation Homefront in increments of $1, $5, or $10 at checkout in support of the nonprofits mission to build strong, stable, and secure military families so they can thrive not simply struggle to get by in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. This is the second year GNC is partnering with Operation Homefront. Last year, GNC and its customers raised $300,000 to support military families through Operation Homefront. GNC is a proud, national sponsor of Operation Homefront, said Nate Frazier, SVP Operations. Our stores are honored to join Operation Homefront for a second-year to help Americas military families. Last year our customers showed their generosity and support for this program, and we are excited to make a difference together again this year. The GNC Live Well and Serve Americas Military Families campaign will help Operation Homefront provide its programs for relief and recurring family support, which among other things, provides school supplies for families. Funds raised throughout the program will also go toward the nonprofits Critical Financial Assistance program to prevent short-term challenges from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. 92 percent of Operation Homefronts expenditures go toward delivering these programs and services. Over the last eight years, Operation Homefront has fulfilled more than 40,000 requests from military families, providing over $25 million in assistance. Financial assistance has included disaster recovery, food and living expenses, rent and mortgage payments, as well as other critical needs. We are absolutely thrilled to have the support of GNC and their caring customers for our second annual Live Well & Serve America's Military Families campaign, said Brig. Gen. (ret.) John I. Pray Jr., President & CEO of Operation Homefront. Their continued commitment demonstrates our collective appreciation for all our military families do for us and highlights how we can help this very special and deserving group of our fellow Americans have the opportunity to thrive in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. About GNC: GNC Holdings, Inc. is a global health and wellness brand that helps people live well. The company is known and trusted for quality performance and nutritional supplements, and its broad assortment features innovative private-label products as well as national recognized third-party brands, many of which are exclusive to GNC. GNCs diversified, omni-channel business model has global reach and a well-recognized, trusted brand, and provides customers with excellent service, product knowledge and solutions. The company reaches consumers worldwide through company-owned retail locations, and domestic and international franchise activities, and e-commerce. GNC also has exceptional innovation and product development capabilities, manufactures products for third parties and generates revenue through corporate partnerships. As of December 31, 2018, GNC had approximately 8,400 locations, of which approximately 6,200 retail locations are in the United States (including approximately 2,200 Rite Aid licensed store-within-a-store locations) and franchise operations in approximately 50 countries. About Operation Homefront: Founded in 2002, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive not simply struggle to get by in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 92 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year. Operation Homefront provides critical financial assistance, transitional and permanent housing and family support services to prevent short-term needs from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support from thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront proudly serves Americas military families. For more information, visit http://www.OperationHomefront.org. Online PKI Training Courses Give Students Flexibility Its no secret that a well-designed and deployed PKI will help your organization protect and manage data today and for years to come. PKI Solutions, a company focused on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) consulting and training, today announced that its in-demand, technical Microsoft PKI In-Depth course is now available online: https://pkisolutions.com/training/. Learning how to correctly implement a PKI is crucial, especially since PKIs are the backbone of enterprise IT security and will become critical for Internet of Things (IoT) security, the forthcoming 5G cellular standard, and the SHAKEN/STIR technology standard to help prevent robocalls and spoofed calls. Students can get a deep dive into PKI and Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS) in a self-paced environment and learn how to successfully design, implement, and manage highly-secure PKIs. The Microsoft PKI In-Depth online course focuses on building knowledge and skills, with a strong emphasis on security, best practices, and hands-on skills labs with other courses to follow later this year. The online courses will cover all of the same topics and lessons as the highly popular, in-person courses that the company has provided for many years, including more than 20 hours of content and labs. Students will receive access to download the student materials, lab manuals, and supporting materials. The courses will feature video, audio, and slide-based content, taught by Mark B. Cooper, president and founder of PKI Solutions and known as The PKI Guy. He has been working with PKIs for two decades and has led hundreds of PKI trainings around the world. At enterprises, PKIs support network authentication, data encryption, code signing, and secure email. In addition, 42 percent of IoT devices such as temperature sensors, televisions, and smart vehicles will soon rely primarily on digital certificates for identification and authentication for security, according to the 2018 Global PKI Trends Study. SHAKEN/STIR uses digital certificates, based on common public key cryptography techniques, to ensure the calling number of a telephone call is secure. Register at https://pkisolutions.com/training/. The cost for the online course is $5,000, but PKI Solutions is offering an introductory rate of $4,250. Corporate training pricing is also available, with subscription-based options and bulk discounts for multiple students. Its no secret that a well-designed and deployed PKI will help your organization protect and manage data today and for years to come, said Cooper, one of the courses primary trainers. Maybe you need a deep dive into PKI and ADCS to take your PKI skills to the next level or maybe you need to brush up on existing skills. Either way, we will empower you to improve your PKI skills with the latest in PKI training to stay ahead of the latest threats. In-Person PKI Training Courses Available For students who prefer in-person courses, there are several training workshops held throughout the year, instructed by Cooper: Microsoft PKI In-Depth May 6-10, 2019, Washington, D.C. Advanced Microsoft PKI, June 10-14, 2019, Portland, Oregon Advanced Microsoft PKI, August 12-16, 2019, Washington, D.C. These courses are also available for onsite delivery at organizations. Onsite deliveries offer the ability to customize the agenda, as well as define specific areas where additional emphasis is desired. For more information, visit https://pkisolutions.com/training/. The class was very informative and the labs especially useful. I have strongly recommended the class to others, said Manish Patel, principal professional services consultant with Gemalto. PKI Solutions offers PKI consulting, training, professional services, and assessments to help ensure the security of organizations now and in the future. With deep knowledge and experience in all things public key infrastructure (PKI)Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS), PKI design and implementation, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile securityPKI Solutions has the best expertise for organizations of all sizes. PKI Solutions has implemented PKI solutions at enterprises, many of them Fortune 500 companies. PKI Solutions has led hundreds of PKI trainings, including private trainings, across the country and around the world. PKI courses, taught by the companys founder and president, Mark B. Cooper, known as The PKI Guy, are now available online. More information about PKI Solutions is available by visiting https://pkisolutions.com/. PossibleNOW Logo The CCPA extension for OnePoint gives companies greater flexibility and customization in how they address the complexities of CCPA compliance, said Ron Patrick, VP of Product Architecture, PossibleNOW. We are excited to have the platform ready for production release early this summer. PossibleNOW, the leading provider of Do Not Contact compliance, enterprise consent and preference management solutions, today announced the launch of a new module for CCPA compliance within their OnePoint platform at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit show in Washington, D.C. OnePoint is a workflow tool that manages activities associated with maintaining compliance with critical privacy, security and compliance tasks. The CCPA module provides companies the ability to define workflows in support of Consumer Privacy Requests customized around their existing data inventory. This application can be deployed quickly and can scale for large organizations. PossibleNOW will be showing demonstrations of the CCPA module and OnePoint product at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit show at booth #318. A production release for the new module will be available in July 2019. The CCPA extension for OnePoint gives companies greater flexibility and customization in how they address the complexities of CCPA compliance, particularly how they respond quickly and compliantly to consumer requests related to the selling or sharing of their personal information, said Ron Patrick, VP of Product Architecture, PossibleNOW. We are excited to have the platform ready for production release early this summer. With the upcoming CCPA regulation going into effect at the beginning of next year, and the imminent wave of new compliance requirements thereafter, we wanted to provide a quality product to assist companies in staying ahead of the compliance curve, said Scott Frey, CEO of PossibleNOW. Ensuring regulatory compliance in advance of the new regulations allows organizations to focus on their business with peace of mind. OnePoint is a technology solution that provides effective, ongoing management of critical privacy, security and compliance tasks. OnePoint automates critical activities and provides a centralized location for visibility and monitoring of regulatory standards and requirements on an ongoing basis to help organizations leverage a proactive compliance model. About PossibleNOW: PossibleNOW leverages powerful technology and industry-leading expertise to enable companies to listen to customers, remember what they like and dislike and respond in useful, personalized ways. Its enterprise consent and preference management platform, MyPreferences, collects customer and prospect preferences, stores them safely and makes them available to any other system or application in the enterprise. PossibleNOW strategic services experts identify opportunities, plan technology deployments, design preference collection interfaces and position clients for a win. PossibleNOW is purpose-built to help large, complex organizations gain control over communications, mitigate compliance risk and reduce marketing expenses while improving customer experience and loyalty. For more information about PossibleNOWs CCPA compliance software and tools, visit https://www.possiblenow.com/ccpa-compliance-software. Providing local businesses owners with a strategy for transferring ownership to long-term, dedicated employees is good economic development Project Equity, a national nonprofit organization advancing economic resiliency in communities across the country, today announced the release of new data that reveals where Long Beach businesses that have been in operation for 20 years or more could close or transfer hands when their baby boomer owners retire within 5-15 years. The data was researched and compiled by Project Equity in an innovative partnership with the Los Angeles Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LA LISC), the City of Long Beach, and in collaboration with Citi Community Development. It is the first economic inclusion effort of its kind within the Los Angeles region, focused on analyzing and retaining the communitys small businesses. Providing local businesses owners with a strategy for transferring ownership to long-term, dedicated employees is good economic development, said Director of Economic Development John Keisler. This creative public-private-partnership with Project Equity will allow the City of Long Beach to try new and creative solutions that sustain local businesses and retain jobs in the community. The research released by Project Equity helps identify businesses likely to need succession planning and suggests opportunities for transitioning them into employee-owned companies, which keeps these businesses rooted in the community, driving economic activity and providing front line workers a path to shared entrepreneurship. Too often very few of these businesses will be passed on to family members, which leave many of them risk for closing, said Evan Edwards of Project Equity. In some instances, these businesses will be sold to someone with no connection at all to the community such as larger, out-of-area company or investor. This research aligns with the city of Long Beachs Economic Development Blueprint and Everyone In initiative, which was championed by former Vice-Mayor and current City Councilman Rex Richardson to ensure that economic inclusion is one of the key focal points of the citys economic development strategy. The research is the first phase of Project Equitys RETAIN initiative. Subsequent phases include awareness raising to help business owners see the importance of succession planning, outreach to identify and engage businesses that may be converted to employee ownership and feasibility assessments and transition services. Many of the business transitions we are exploring could provide low-and moderate-income workers an opportunity to become business owners, as well as offer a pathway to economic resiliency and financial security, shared Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, Executive Director of Los Angeles LISC. Project Equitys data also reveals that small businesses that are 20 years or older provide an estimated 36% of jobs at private sector, locally-owned businesses with employees in Long Beach. This means Long Beach stands to risk up to 47,000 jobs. With so many small business owners set to retire in the near future, we have a unique opportunity to help them transfer ownership to the employees who have worked hard to build those businesses. By identifying opportunities for employee ownership, we aim to help build local wealth and preserve the economic and social vibrancy of Long Beach neighborhoods, said James Alva, Southern California Market Manager for Citi Community Development, which supports research and initiatives in several markets across the U.S. to inform the field of employee ownership and promote the preservation of legacy businesses. In Long Beach, and other coastal cities where rising housing costs outpace the rise in wages, its small businesses that provide significant wage-earning potential. Businesses 20 years and older in Long Beach generate more than 50% of City small business revenue, and wages to more than 40,000 workers making it clear that keeping small businesses locally owned and operated is extremely important. Long Beach is blazing the trail of a new way to support its small business owners and keep their businesses rooted in communities into the next generation. Retaining Long Beachs legacy businesses is central to this partnership. Long Beachs small business history, and much of its present-day economy, has roots with its portthe second busiest container port in the U.S. Beyond businesses connected with the port, Long Beach has a rich, diverse legacy business community that provides thousands of jobs and robust economic activity, both in the city and the surrounding region. About Project Equity Project Equity is an Oakland-based nonprofit that is a national leader in supporting businesses to transition to employee ownership, and has partnered with communities as diverse as Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Michigan, rural Western North Carolina and the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Visit http://www.project-equity.org. The Consortium is aware of the big potential of the American market, therefore we are extremely glad to launch this initiative after last years success, says Stefano Zanette, President of Prosecco DOC Consortium. We have not only exported the wine, but a brand new consumption model as well. The Prosecco DOC Consortium, the entity that oversees the production of the worlds most popular sparkling wine, is pleased to announce that National Prosecco Week will return for its second year from June 3-9, 2019 and will include exclusive events, restaurant and retail promotions and masterclasses for media and trade in New York, Miami, Nashville, Los Angeles and Seattle. Activities throughout the week will seek to educate the public about Prosecco and showcase its ability to be enjoyed in a variety of occasions and with a wide range of cuisines. As part of the festivities, Prosecco DOC will partner with wine media company VinePair to host an exclusive Prosecco Loves Pizza event for VinePair readers at Chef Jean Georgess Public Kitchen in New York City on Thursday, June 6. The event will feature Prosecco and pizza pairings, a combination truly expressive of Italian culture. The event will also feature experiential opportunities for attendees to learn more about the Prosecco DOC. Prosecco lovers in New York City can also participate in the celebrations by attending a Prosecco and cheese pairing class hosted by Murrays Cheese on Saturday, June 8th. During the class, attendees will pair six types of cheese with six different Proseccos, exploring the various styles of Prosecco and the ability to pair the popular Italian sparkler with a variety of flavors. Tickets can be purchased at this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/prosecco-doc-cheese-murrays-cheese-tickets-60877040868. For those outside of New York City, Prosecco DOC will also launch a nationwide restaurant and retail promotion, which will include Prosecco by the glass specials, limited-edition Prosecco and food pairings and more. Through these promotions, the public will have the opportunity to enjoy Prosecco from participating producers, including Biancavigna, Cavit, Genagricola, La Marca, Le Contesse, Masottina, Mionetto, Piera Martellozzo, Tenuta Setten, Torresella, Valdo, Villa Degli Olmi, Villa Sandi and Zonin. For a full list of restaurants and retailers offering National Prosecco Week promotions, please check the website https://www.casaprosecco.com/national-prosecco-week/. In its second year, National Prosecco Week seeks to not only celebrate Prosecco but serve an important educational purpose, teaching the public, press and trade how to pair the fragrant, bubbly beverage with many different cuisines and occasions, from backyard barbecues to poolside sipping. The Consortium is aware of the big potential of the American market, therefore we are extremely glad to launch this initiative after last years success, says Stefano Zanette, President of Prosecco DOC Consortium. The publics appreciation of Prosecco DOC has considerably increased in the last few years, both globally and in the USA. We have not only exported the wine, but a brand new consumption model as well. Stay tuned for more details about the week-long celebration of Prosecco. For more information on National Prosecco Week and how to participate, please contact Riccardo Frontini (rfrontini(at)colangelopr(dot)com) or Natalie Perkins (nperkins(at)colangelopr(dot)com) of Colangelo & Partners (http://www.colangelopr.com), the agency of record in the U.S. for the Prosecco Consortium. To stay updated for upcoming events and promotions, follow Prosecco DOC on Facebook (@proseccodocusa), Instagram (@proseccodoc_usa), and the Consortiums official US website, http://www.casaprosecco.com. About The Prosecco DOC Consortium: Prosecco was granted the Controlled Designation of Origin status on July 17th, 2009, and the Prosecco DOC Consortium (Consorzio di Tutela della Denominazione di Origine Controllata Prosecco) was created on November 19th of the same year to coordinate and manage the Prosecco DOC. The organization unites the different groups of manufacturerswineries, individual and associated vine-growers, still wine and sparkling wine producersto ensure the designation continues to grow and that the production regulations are complied with. About Prosecco DOC: Prosecco DOC wines come in Spumante (sparkling), Frizzante (semi-sparkling) and Tranquillo (still) varieties. The wines are made from mainly the Glera grape, native to North East Italy for thousands of years, and can be combined with a maximum of 15% of the following grapes: Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera, Glera lunga, Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Nero. Prosecco Frizzante and Spumante varieties get their famous bubbles using the Secondary Fermentation production method, bottled under high pressure after fermentation in bulk tanks called autoclaves, as opposed to the traditional method, which bypasses the autoclaves and is used for other sparkling wine varieties. The end result is a brilliant straw yellow wine with fine, persistent perlage and aromas of white flowers, apple and pear. It is fresh and elegant on the palate with moderate alcoholic strength. For more information regarding Prosecco DOC, visit http://www.casaprosecco.com. Radiology coding education is a cornerstone of RBMAs educational offerings, and we are proud to pre-sent these expanded opportunities through our Coding Academy. Coding radiology services is among the most complex forms of medical coding. Radiology coders must be familiar with more than just coding regulations. They also need to memorize the acronyms used in the field and have a working knowledge of imaging tests and procedures, as well as the conditions that make various radiology services medically necessary. To address the need for in-depth radiology-specific coding education and networking, the Radiology Business Management Association has ramped up coding education through the RBMA Coding Academy. In 2019, there are five in-person workshops and webinarsmore than double the offering in 2018as well as three online courses for compliance training, business knowledge and radiology certified coder exam preparation. In addition, for the second year in a row, the RBMAs national conference, PaRADigm, included a special pre-conference coding seminarthis year expanded from a half day to a full day of educationand coding-specific education within the regular conference offerings. One of the many things that sets RBMA education apart is that it is peer based, said Sarah Mountford, RBMA president and vice president of Client Services at Zotec Partners, LLC. The programs are developed by RBMA members who are coding experts, based on their direct experience with current coding issues. The classes are taught by instructors actively working in the radiology coding field. Radiology coding education is a cornerstone of RBMAs educational offerings, and we are proud to present these expanded opportunities through our Coding Academy. Response has been very positive with many attendees attracted by the networking and mentoring opportunities as well as the education, explained Karna Morrow, CPC, RCC, CCS-P, director of education and training at Coding Strategies Inc. and chair of the RBMA Coding Committee. The level of interest is very high, she said. Radiology truly has nuances to the code set and expectations for coding and compliance that are not required of any other specialty. We are the only specialty that is dependent on information from the referring physician for correct coding, so we have to have better investigative skills and communication skills to obtain that information. For radiology coders, RBMA also includes coding-specific news, a closed members-only online community forum for sharing advice, and discounts on products like the coding books and Radiology Coding Certification Board (RCCB) exam preparation materials. Upcoming RBMA Coding Academy events include: May 8, 2019, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT Online Learning Webinar: They did WHAT??? Coding Tips for those NEW to Radiology, presented by Lori M. Shore, BS, CPC, RCC June 2, 2019, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. In-person conference education: Dos and Donts of Coding, presented by Karna W. Morrow, CPC, RCC, CCS-P, AHIMA Approved ICD-10 CM Trainer and Cindy Pittmon, FRBMA, at Eden Roc Miami Beach hotel in Miami Beach, Florida Aug. 14, 2019, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT Online Learning Webinar: Stepping into the World of Interventional Radiology, presented by Bethany Geiger, MBA, and Mary Horkey, RCC, RCCIR Sept. 2019 In-person conference education: Diagnostic Bootcamp: From Knowledge to Certification - RCC, presented in Washington, DC Sept. 2019 In-person conference education: Interventional Radiology Bootcamp: From Knowledge to Certification RCCIR, presented in Washington, DC Oct. 9, 2019, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT Online Learning Webinar: Anticipating Changes for 2020, presented by Donna Richmond, BA, RCC, CIRCC, CPC Recorded 2019 webinars available on demand include Endovascular Coding: New Codes New Challenges presented by Stephanie Albright, RHIA, CPC, and Did I Hire the Right Person? presented by Karna Morrow, CPC, RCC, CCS-P. To learn more about the RBMA Coding Academy and other RBMA resources for coders, visit https://www.rbma.org/RBMAMembers/Education/2019_Coding_Academy/RBMAMembers/Education/Coding_Academy_-_MASTER.aspx. About RBMA Founded in 1968, the Radiology Business Management Association is a national not-for-profit association providing members with applied business information and intelligence applicable in any radiology setting. RBMA represents more than 2,300 radiology practice managers and other radiology business professionals. Its aggregate influence extends to more than 24,000 radiologic technologists and 26,000 administrative staff and physicians. RBMA is the leading professional organization for radiology business management and is recognized for its radiology-specific educational programs, products and services, publications and data. The resources and solutions RBMA offer its members and the broader health care community are helping to shape the professions future. Search Solution Executive seeks Vice President of Human Resources to join a leading global retailer based in New York CIty This is a fantastic opportunity at a major Fortune 500 brand, and the right candidate will make an incredible impact for the next 10 to 20 years at this company. My team is eager to get started and locate the leader our client is looking for Search Solution Executive has been retained to locate a Vice President of Human Resources for a leading global retailer based in New York, NY. The company is a longstanding leader in the retail industry that delivers top-quality products and operates as a dependable resource to the consumers it serves worldwide. The retail company is seeking an experienced leader to step into the role of VP, Human Resources and cultivate an environment of success among its workforce. Search Solution Executive will initiate national headhunting efforts to identify a shortlist of candidates who possess the desired qualifications and fit the companys culture and leadership style. The search firm employs a specialized team of headhunters who are dedicated solely to executive search for Human Resources and work under the leadership of Jeremy Gnozzo. This is a fantastic opportunity at a major Fortune 500 brand, and the right candidate will make an incredible impact for the next 10 to 20 years at this company. My team is eager to get started and locate the leader our client is looking for. -Jeremy Gnozzo, President - Search Solution Executive Retained search for Human Resources is a core area of expertise for Search Solution Executive. Gnozzo and his team have saturated the HR talent market and built a national reputation as trusted partners in executive search for Human Resources. The New York-headquartered retailer seeks a driven, experienced HR leader to oversee the organizations HR strategy and align the department initiatives with the organizations short and long-term goals. The new VP, HR will report to the CHRO and leverage existing policies and strengthen processes to drive the department to improved success and increased employee retention and engagement. The chosen leader will also ensure the consistency of the corporations HR practices among its employees across multiple corporate offices and storefronts, and strategize at a high level with other HR, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, and Talent Management executives to deliver a consistent, cohesive Human Resources strategy. The retailer desires a hands-on leader who will be a visible representative of the organization within the local community. The chosen executive will be a distinguished professional who is a passionate advocate for the well-being of the entirety of the organizations workforce. About Search Solution Executive Search Solution Executive, a division of Search Solution Group, is the retained search arm of the large Charlotte-based recruitment firm. Since 2002, Jeremy Gnozzo has led the firm to partner with the worlds largest brands to locate top talent. The firms headhunting methodology is predicated on the belief that finding top executive talent is both a science and an art. Using modern day technology to make headhunting processes more efficient, the executive search firm understands that there is no substitute for hard work, thoroughness, and a keen assessment of character. By consistently delivering top talent to business partners, Search Solution Executive developed a reputation for delivering top executive talent when other firms fell short. For 17 years, Gnozzo has been recognized as the nations leading authority on executive search for the fields of Human Resources, Compensation, Benefits, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, HRIS, Accounting, Finance, and Supply Chain. Nicolas De Kouchkovsky The next frontier of customer engagement requires bringing together technologies from different domains and removing functional silos. Servion is positioning to become a trusted adviser to enterprises looking at delivering transformational experiences to their customers Servion Global Solutions (Servion), a leading specialist in Customer Experience Management (CEM) - backed by Everstone Capital and Solmark - announced today the appointment of Nicolas De Kouchkovsky as its Group CMO. Based out of San Francisco, Nicolas will support the companys expansion in the customer experience and engagement markets and the growth of its software business under the Acqueon brand. Nicolas spent the last six years as a fractional CMO - helping B2B SaaS software companies accelerate their growth. Prior to it, he held several executive positions at Genesys - including CMO - and played a key role in establishing it as a premier thought leader of the contact center space. Nicolas is a recognized expert in customer engagement and customer-facing technology markets including communications, marketing, sales, and service. He has authored several market landscapes. Nicolas is ideally suited to support the next phase of Servion's growth. His domain expertise and track record in growing businesses make him a great addition to our leadership team, said Laurent Philonenko, Chief Executive Officer. The next frontier of customer engagement requires bringing together technologies from different domains and removing functional silos, said Nicolas. Servions deep domain expertise and broad talent roster are ideally positioning the company to become a trusted adviser to enterprises looking at delivering transformational experiences to their customers, he added. Nicolas has engineering degrees from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Superieure de Techniques Avancees in France. About Servion: Servion enables business transformation for enterprises in the area of Customer Experience Management (CEM). Over the past two decades, Servion has evolved from being a single channel (voice) interaction expert to an industry pioneer in omni-channel customer experience. Servion manages over 10 billion customer interactions annually across 60 countries in 5 continents. 3 out of the top 5 banks, 2 out of the top 5 insurance firms and 5 out of the top 10 telcos work with Servion to improve their customer experience. For more information, visit https://www.servion.com Shift Labs, Inc., a Seattle-based company that designs and manufactures innovative, high-quality infusion technologies, announces that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the United States Air Force (USAF) and AFWERX, the Air Forces tech accelerator and innovation hub. With this Phase I contract, Shift Labs will engage with USAF to validate their DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor as a way to improve IV medication administration in settings where Air Force medical personnel provide critical care, including forward surgical teams, aerovac, and prolonged field care. IV medication administration is one of those unknown unknowns that really affects patient care, especially in austere settings or surge events. Weve already seen the difference DripAssist makes in military field hospital settings, says Beth Kolko, CEO of Shift Labs. We applied for the AFWERX program because we got repeated requests from military and civilians for a DripAssist-style solution that would be optimized for the whole patient care continuum. Were excited to explore how the affordable, robust kind of solutions that Shift Labs is known for can make it easier for military personnel deployed around the world to deliver quality medical care. Recent publications by Major John E. Buonora, a PhD CRNA in the US Army, have illustrated the field utility of DripAssist, in particular with forward surgical teams providing prolonged field care when under enemy attack. The Phase I SBIR gives Shift Labs an opportunity to explore how additional branches of the military can benefit from the DripAssist product line. Shift Labs award-winning DripAssist device is a lightweight tool that provides precision real-time monitoring for intravenous (IV) treatments in any setting. The handheld device delivers unprecedented portability, durability, and efficiency to meet the unique challenges of providing and coordinating care in austere settings, and it allows clinicians to easily manage infusions without a traditional infusion pump. DripAssist is currently used throughout the US for outpatient and home infusion, and it is also used to provide essential care in military field hospitals and developing world hospitals. As Shift Labs completes this 3-month Phase I, they are looking to next steps that may include a Phase II project with Air Force partners, or direct transition to a sole-source procurement agreement under a Phase III contract. This SBIR also makes it possible for DripAssist to be procured directly from any Federal agency, and Shift Labs has been working with USAID and disaster preparedness groups to spread the word regarding new technologies that enable safer medication management in austere conditions. Molly Blank, Director of Research at Shift Labs, says, The AFWERX program really showcases the best of the military being innovative and exploring new models to get emerging technologies quickly into the hands of personnel. Its been a pleasure to work with their team and see their dedication in working with the private sector to accelerate problem solving. About Shift Labs Shift Labs, Inc. is a Seattle-based company that creates well-designed medical devices for fast-growing healthcare sectors, everywhere from alternate site care in the US to clinical care in emerging markets. The DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor is their first product and has previously been recognized as one of Popular Science Magazines 12 Best Healthcare Innovations of 2016, as well as receiving the MedTech Conferences 2017 Global Health Innovation Award, a Silver medal from the Industrial Designers Society of America IDEA awards and funding from USAID as part of the Ebola Grand Challenge and Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development. Learn more at http://www.shiftlabs.com About the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and AFWERX SBIR Grant AFRL and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research process in an attempt to speed up the experience, broaden the pool of potential applicants and decrease bureaucratic overhead. Beginning in SBIR 18.2, the Air Force has begun offering 'Special' SBIR topics that are faster, leaner and open to a broader range of solutions. Inquiries: Contact CEO Beth Kolko, beth(at)shiftlabs(dot)com, or CTO Koji Intlekofer, koji(at)shiftlabs(dot)com at +1 206.369.1216. MEMORANDUM FOR: The governments and people of the United Kingdom and the United States FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) SUBJECT: Extradition of Julian Assange Threatens Us All May 01, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - On April 11, London police forcibly removed WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange from the embassy of Ecuador after that countrys president, Lenin Moreno, abruptly revoked his predecessors grant of asylum . The United States government immediately requested Assanges extradition for prosecution under a of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Former U.S. Government officials promptly appeared in popular media offering soothing assurances that Assanges arrest threatens neither nor the practice of , and major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post fell into line. Not So Fast Others found reason for concern in the details of the indictment. Carie DeCel, a staff attorney for the Knight First Amendment Institute , noted that the indictment goes beyond simply stating the computer intrusion charge and includes that reach more broadly into typical journalistic practices, including communication with a source, encouraging a source to share information, and protecting a source. In an analysis of the indictments implications, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) observed that it includes an allegation that Assange and Manning took measures to conceal Manning as the source of the disclosureincluding by removing usernames from the disclosed information and deleting chat logs between Assange and Manning, and that they used a special folder on a cloud drop box of WikiLeaks to transmit classified records. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter These are not only legitimate but professionally advised journalistic practices for source protection, notes POGO. It is worth noting that Manning had Top Secret clearance and did not need Assanges assistance to gain access to databases, but only to hide her identity. The indictments implied threat thus reaches beyond Assange and even beyond journalists. The threat to journalists and others does not vanish if they subsequently avoid practices identified in the governments indictment. The NSAs big bag of past communications offers abundant material from which to spin an indictment years later, and even circumstantial evidence can produce a conviction. Moreover, the secret landscape a recent and arbitrary development continually expands, making ever more of government off limits to public view. When politician and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo labeled WikiLeaks a non-state hostile intelligence service, he was describing the oft-stated , to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable. The Devil in the Big Picture One can look so closely at the indictment details that one misses the big picture and with it vital truths. Standing back for a broader view, a long-running campaign of harassment by U.S. authorities and former officials focused on WikiLeaks publication of embarrassing secrets becomes visible. The Project on Government Oversight observes: Even if the motives for Assanges indictment are entirely legitimate, the litany of high-ranking government officials who called for Assange to be prosecuted for publishing classified documents have likely already irreparably harmed the freedom of the press. It will be virtually impossible to fully disentangle the governments desire to prosecute Assange for his publishing activities from the governments current prosecution of him, and as a result there will to some degree be an unavoidable chilling effect stemming from his prosecution. Standing back still further, a crowd of similar cases comes into view: other truth tellers subjected to similar persecution. These are not journalists but another species of truth teller national security whistleblowers who have warned for years that this day would come. A Pattern of Reprisal Opinions of Julian Assanges character and methods vary wildly but what is relevant to First Amendment freedoms is how the U.S. government perceives him. The big picture reveals that Assange, a publisher of whistleblower disclosures, is viewed the same way as whistleblowers: unwelcome lights shining on official wrongdoing who must be dimmed, deflected and shut off. What government bodies are doing to Assange they routinely have done to whistleblowers Thomas Drake, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou, Thomas Tamm, William Binney, , Chelsea Manning and otherswho disclosed for public benefit information the government finds politically troublesome. Once the government develops animus toward a truth teller, it fishes indefinitely until it finds some means to retaliatesome pretext to punish that individual. A pattern of retaliation against high-profile national security whistleblowers includes the following tactics: relentless campaigns of character assassination and about facts of the case; hostile, lengthy government , often for never prove n or terrorization of the whistleblower and associates with threats (see here and pre-trial declarations of guilt from influential officials, such as Barack Obamas declaration (as the militarys Commander-in-Chief) that Army Private Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning broke the law potentially influencing the Army court that heard her case. a Balkanized judicial process that restricts most such cases to one judicial venue cherry-picked by prosecutors for speedy deference to government, a venue sealed off from public scrutiny and, some say, justice; prosecution under the Espionage Act , a vague and draconian law, similar in those respects to the ; continuing persecutionisolation, marginalization, blacklisting, and moreafter time has been served (see here and here ) or after Reportedly, British and U.S. intelligence are interrogating Assange, possibly employing torture tactics, without access to legal counsel at a prison reserved for terrorists. U.S. officials apparently charged Assange as a terrorist in order to dodge the problem of the statute of limitations for conspiracy or computer intrusion by extending (via the Patriot Act and/or other terrorism laws) the normal statute of limitations from 5 to 8 years. Not for Insiders Even if charges against a whistleblower are later dropped, governments still win because the tactics used damage the truth teller professionally , financially, socially and , and foreseeably other whistleblowers. Importantly, virtually all of the retaliatory actions described above are carried out or instigated by the elite political establishmentcurrent and former political appointees and elected officials. Equally important is the fact that tactics used against whistleblowers are rarely if ever applied to political insiders who fail to protect classified information. Even actual spies who give or sell secrets directly to foreign governments have fared better than some well-meaning whistleblowers. In contrast to whistleblowers, political insiders who mistreat government secrets are publicly praised by the establishment, face The Takeaway Retaliation against Julian Assange over the past decade plus replicates a pattern of ruthless political retaliationagainst whistleblowers, in particular those who reveal truths hidden by prohibits classifying information in order to conceal inefficiency, violations of law, or administrative error; to prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency. Whether U.S. authorities successfully prosecute Assange, accept a desperate plea deal or keep him tied up with endless litigation, they will succeed in sending the same chilling message to all journalists that they send to potential whistleblowers: Do not embarrass us or well punish yousomehow, someday, however long it takes. In that respect, one could say damage to journalism already has been done but the battle is not over. This extension of a whistleblower reprisal regime onto a publisher of disclosures poses an existential threat to all journalists and to the right of all people to speak and hear important truths. The U.S. indictment of Julian Assange tests our ability to perceive a direct threat to free speech, and tests our will to oppose that threat.Without freedom of press and the right and willingness to publish, whistleblowers even disclosing issues of grave, life and death public safety, will be like a tree falling in the forest with no one to hear. The great American writer Henry David Thoreau wrote, It takes two to speak the truthone to speak and one to hear. Today, it takes three to speak the truthone to speak, one to hear, and one to defend the first two in court. If the U.S. Government has its way, there will be no defense, no truth. For the Steering Groups of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence: William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.) Richard H. Black, Senator of Virginia, 13th District; Colonel US Army (ret.); Former Chief, Criminal Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, the Pentagon (associate VIPS) Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer & former Division Director in the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (ret.) Thomas Drake, former Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service and NSA whistleblower Bogdan Dzakovic, former Team Leader of Federal Air Marshals and Red Team, FAA Security (ret.) (associate VIPS) Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.) Mike Gravel, former Adjutant, top secret control officer, Communications Intelligence Service; special agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps and former United States Senator Katherine Gun, former linguist and Iraq War whistleblower in UKs GCHQ (affiliate VIPS) Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq; former Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS) James George Jatras, former U.S. diplomat and former foreign policy adviser to Senate leadership (Associate VIPS) Michael S. Kearns, Captain, USAF (ret.); ex-Master SERE Instructor for Strategic Reconnaissance Operations (NSA/DIA) and Special Mission Units (JSOC) John Kiriakou, former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former Senior Investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Karen Kwiatkowski, former Lt. Col., US Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003 Clement J. Laniewski, LTC, U.S. Army (ret.) (associate VIPS) Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret.) (associate VIPS) Edward Loomis, NSA Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.) Annie Machon, former intelligence officer in the UKs MI5 domestic security service (affiliate VIPS) Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA presidential briefer (ret.) Craig Murray, former British diplomat and Ambassador to Uzbekistan, human rights activist and historian (affiliate VIPS) Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East & CIA political analyst (ret.) Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.) Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.) Peter Van Buren, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS) J. Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA (ret.) Larry Wilkerson, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.), former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State; Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary Sarah Wilton, Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve (ret.) and Defense Intelligence Agency (ret.) Robert Wing, former U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer (Associate VIPS) Ann Wright, U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (ret) and former U.S. Diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War This article was originally published by " Consortium News " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Prison For Bail Breach Julian Assanges 50-week sentence an outrage: WikiLeaks editor U.S. extradition request for Julian Assange to be heard on Thursday 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 SST 8301 Automated Vacuum Pressure Soldering System The electric vehicle market is exploding and one key to the successful rollout is mass availability of affordable and reliable power modules. Our new automated vacuum pressure soldering system succeeds in providing both high volume and high reliability for the assembly of power modules. Palomar Technologies, a global leader in total process solutions for advanced photonics and microelectronic device packaging, announced that SST Vacuum Reflow Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Palomar Technologies, has launched the SST 8300 Series Automated Vacuum Pressure Soldering System. The series, consisting of single and triple chamber systems provides a highly reliable solder connection with a better than industry standard void rate a key to delivering high-reliability power modules for automotive and commercial applications. A.J. Wilson, President of SST Vacuum Reflow Systems and CMO for Palomar Technologies commented, The electric vehicle market is exploding and one key to the successful rollout is mass availability of affordable and reliable power modules. In addition to higher volumes, power modules are expected to be more efficient and to be able to operate under more stressful conditions, such as higher temperatures and more power cycles. Our new automated vacuum pressure soldering system succeeds in providing both high volume and high reliability for the assembly of power modules. The SST 8300 Series Automated Vacuum Pressure Soldering System differs from current systems on the market by utilizing SSTs unique system of applying both vacuum and gas pressure to achieve an extremely low void ratio for the soldering interface of key components inside a power module, especially for DBC-to-baseplate soldering. The power module market is actively seeking a flux-free solder process that achieves low void rates, which provide for higher reliability and longer life. Other industry segments with a demand for highly reliable power modules include power converters for wind turbines, photovoltaic solar energy systems, and other renewable energy applications, as well as industrial motor controls and large scale medical devices. Specific applications include: IGBT/SiC/GaAs/GaN die attach, CPV solar cell assembly, die attach for pressure sensors, hermetic sealing of high-reliability packages, high intensity LED attach, hermetic sealing of IR image sensors, copper clip soldering, high power laser module assembly, and multilayer ceramic capacitors. Other key benefits of the 8300 Series include: 1. Automated high-volume production vacuum pressure soldering system 2. Enables low-void solder connections with preforms or with solder paste 3. Offers maximum flexibility for processing a wide range of solder alloys and other alternative interconnect materials 4. Each chamber of the SST 8303 runs a complete process allowing multiple processes to be run in parallel 5. Flexible configuration for any production line: single (8301) or triple (8303) chamber 6. Oxide removal technology using formic acid or forming gas - More information on the SST 8300 Series Automated Vacuum Pressure Soldering System can be found at: SST 8300. The new system can be seen at the SMTconnect exhibition in Nuremburg, Germany from May 7 9, 2019. Palomar Technologies and SST Vacuum Reflow Systems are located in booth #4A-347. About Palomar Technologies Palomar Technologies makes the connected world possible by delivering a Total Process Solution for advanced photonic and microelectronic device assembly processes utilized in todays smart, connected devices. With a focus on flexibility, speed and accuracy, Palomars Total Process Solution includes Palomar die bonders, Palomar wire and wedge bonders, SST vacuum reflow systems, along with Innovation Centers for outsourced manufacturing and assembly, and Customer Support services, that together deliver improved production quality and yield, reduced assembly times, and rapid ROI. With its deep industry expertise, Palomar equips customers to become leaders in the development of complex, digital technologies that are the foundation of the connected world and the transmission of data generated by billions of connected devices. Palomar solutions are utilized by the worlds leading companies providing solutions for datacom, 5G, electric vehicle power modules, autonomous vehicles/LiDAR, enhanced mobile broadband, Internet of Things, SMART technology, and mission-critical services. Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Palomar offers global sales, service and application support from its offices in the USA, Germany, Singapore and China. For more information, visit: http://www.palomartechnologies.com Media Contact: Rebecca Janzon, Director of Marketing Communications Palomar Technologies Email: rjanzon(at)bonders(dot)com Mobile: 760-409-7453 2019 Stevie winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala event on Tuesday, June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. More than 3,800 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 200 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners. The Stevie Awards, organizers of the worlds premier business awards programs, today announced the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners in The 17th Annual American Business Awards. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development. More than 3,800 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 200 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners. 2019 Stevie winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala event on Tuesday, June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. Tickets are now on sale. The presentations will be broadcast via Livestream. Publicis Sapient (Miami, FL) with eight Gold and four Bronze Stevies, and The XD Agency (Atlanta, GA) with seven Gold and one Silver, are leaders among the Gold Stevie Winners with wins in a wide range of categories. They are sure to be among the winners of the Grand Stevie Award trophies, the top overall winners in this years ABAs, who will be announced next week. Among the organizations with the most Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award wins are ADP (Roseland, NJ), ARIIX (Bountiful, UT), Comcast Business (Philadelphia, PA), Cvent (McLean, VA), Darktrace (San Francisco, CA), Jeunesse Global (Orlando, FL), LABOV Marketing Communications and Training (Fort Wayne, IN), Lycored (Orange, NJ), Merkle (Columbia, MD), PAN Communications (Boston, MA), Reltio (Redwood Shores, CA), Rimini Street (Las Vegas, NV), and SoftPro (Raleigh, NC). For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced today, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. Every new product or service nominated in The 2019 American Business Awards is included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a worldwide public vote. Voting is now open at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com and will conclude on May 31. Peoples Choice Stevie winners will be announced the week of June 3 and will be honored during the June 11 presentations. The nominations submitted for The 2019 American Business Awards were outstanding. The judges found the competition to be intense, and those recognized as Stevie Award winners should be immensely proud of this accomplishment, said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. About the Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com. One of the biggest challenges of SAP cloud migration is optimizing SAP systems in the dynamic cloud environment. Syslink Xandria is leveraging the power of AWS to help SAP-centric businesses expedite their cloud migration and ensure cost savings and operational efficiency. Syslink Xandria, a global provider of SAP and cloud management monitoring and automation solutions, announces today that it has achieved Advanced Technology Partner status in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN). The company will also grant AWS customers access to an exclusive Solution Trial Offer that includes a health assessment report of their SAP landscape. Syslink Xandria is a simple-to-use-and-install yet powerful SAP and cloud management solution. It offers performance-based AWS auto-scaling and hybrid, cloud, and on-premises SAP landscape management designed to simplify the operations of large-scale SAP landscapes. The solution automates SAP system cloud scaling based on an in-depth understanding of SAP performance metrics, business processes, and rules. According to a Synergy Research Group report, companies spent $70 billion on cloud computing infrastructure services in 2018, with AWS taking up a large share of the market. However, as the technology develops and the popularity of cloud computing continues to soar, SAP landscapes are becoming ever more complex. Managing this complexity at scale, with high availability and reliability, is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. "Syslink Xandria provides us with the visibility we need to proactively manage SAP workloads across multiple clients, said Aasif Karachi, Cloud Managed Service Practice Leader at Deloitte Africa. Using Xandria on hundreds of SAP systems both on-premises and in the cloud, we've significantly increased productivity. This has led to increased client satisfaction and by leveraging automation and enhanced reporting we are able to visualize the entire system landscape in real time. Now, with Syslink Xandrias new offering for AWS customers, companies can experience the benefits Xandria offers through an easy-to-install cloud deployment. In less than three hours, customers can install Syslink Xandria on any three servers running SAP for three weeks. The solution is designed to automatically detect the customers SAP and AWS systems and apply best practice monitors and thresholds, including operating system, database, SAP-specific processes, and more. The customer can get real-time visibility to their health and performance dashboard and access to other capabilities such as predictive resource planning and SLA reporting. The three weeks of Syslink Xandrias monitoring, managing, and automating of the customers SAP systems will culminate in a written health assessment. One of the biggest challenges of SAP cloud migration is optimizing SAP systems in the dynamic cloud environment, said Simon Wilson, COO at Syslink Xandria. Syslink Xandria is leveraging the power of AWS to help SAP-centric businesses expedite their cloud migration and ensure cost savings and operational efficiency. About Syslink Xandria With nearly 20 years of experience helping Enterprises and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) globally to better manage their SAP and cloud landscapes, Syslink Xandria knows what it takes to deliver better service, productivity, innovation and compliance to businesses who rely on SAP. Whether on-premises or cloud, the company pairs in-depth SAP monitoring automation with robust yet simple to use and install management solutions. Founded in Switzerland with a global presence, it is well placed to support businesses growth. Learn more at http://www.syslink-xandria.com Techniche Limited. (ASX:TCN), a global technology company, today confirmed the appointment of Tom Caldwell to the position of Chief Technology Officer, effective April 1st, 2019. He will also lead the Techniche global engineering team which support the Statseeker and Urgent platforms. Statseeker is a leading provider of highly scalable network management solutions and Urgent delivers a SaaS cloud asset management solution. Both technologies have a proven track record in delivering solutions to some of the largest global Fortune 100 enterprise companies in the world. Caldwell is a seasoned networking and software industry executive with a track record of innovation and building software businesses at Cisco, Microsoft, Rockwell and other leading technology companies. Tom has also founded and led a number of successful startups that focused on bringing new innovation to market including technology areas such as distributed cloud computing architectures, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and large scale SaaS software services. Prior to joining Techniche, his startup named CyberFlow Analytics, was acquired by Webroot where in the transition he served as senior director of engineering. Previous to that Tom served in a of executive engineering roles at Cisco from January 2000 until March 2011. Tom brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that will be instrumental in ensuring the successful delivery of our future software technology platforms and solutions to create new market opportunities, said Karl Jacoby, Techniche Chairman and CEO. His leadership in AI and scalable Cloud Software Architectures will help us drive a new vision that is transformational in how our customers manage and monitor their critical assets, including IoT. A native of California, Caldwell has a masters degree in computer science from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). This is an incredibly important time in the evolution of how IoT assets, especially those attached to physical infrastructure are being managed by global enterprises, with many changes on the horizon being driven by cognitive AI technology, said Caldwell. Im excited to join Techniche, including Statseeker and Urgent Technologies because the portfolio of software companies has a well-earned reputation among its customers for scale and quality, a reputation that makes it possible for Techniche to expand in new technology directions. About Techniche: Techniche Limited (ASX: TCN) is a listed software company headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. We are building a new platform utilising our asset management and network management applications that addresses the need to manage the increasing amount of IP enable operational assets (OT) on a network, particularly in light industry, where asset reliability and availability is critical. Techniche has offices in San Diego, USA, Milton Keynes, UK and Brisbane, Australia as well as support teams across the globe. http://www.tcnglobal.net About Statseeker: Statseeker is a productive, scalable, fast and flexible network monitoring solution that delivers real time results while using minimal hardware. We believe a network monitoring tool should stand alone, requiring little to no management. Why should you have to monitor your network monitor? Statseeker was developed by network engineers who understood the importance of proactive monitoring. Pioneering the first network monitoring solution available, we have continued to grow and support businesses big and small. With active deployments in over 22 countries, many Fortune 100 firms consider Statseeker an integral part of their day to day operations. http://www.statseeker.com About Urgent: Urgent grown rapidly since its foundation in 1997, and today our software is used in over 30,000 locations, in 27 countries across Europe, North America, Africa and Australasia. We work with companies in a variety of sectors, including retail, healthcare and hospitality. There are currently more than 40,000 contractors utilising our software. http://www.urgtech.com The FLC anticipates continued innovative success with these new officers as the organization continues its mission of promoting, educating, and facilitating technology transfer. The results are in! FLC members voted for elected officials at the national and regional levels during the 2019 FLC national meeting held April 23-25 in Orlando, Florida. Consortium Representatives who were unable to attend the national meeting were able to vote via absentee ballot from March 22 through April 16. Each year, Consortium Representatives whose memberships are registered with the Consortium Recording Secretary have the opportunity to select elected officials at the national and regional levels. This year, FLC members voted for the Chair and Vice-Chair positions in addition to three Members-at-Large. Elections also took place for the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Continent regions. The FLC Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the newly elected FLC national and regional officers, listed below. These officers will serve 2-year terms at the start of the new fiscal year beginning October 1, 2019. The FLC anticipates continued innovative success with these new officers as the organization continues its mission of promoting, educating, and facilitating technology transfer. FLC Chair John Dement, NSWC Crane Vice-Chair Jackie Kerby Moore, Sandia National Laboratories Members-at-Large Pallaoor Venkatesh (PV) Sundareshwar, U.S. Agency for International Development John Kaplan, Department of Veterans Affairs Ami Gadhia, National Center for Advanced Translational Sciences (NCATS) Northeast Regional Co-Coordinators Laurie Bagley, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory David Lee, U.S. Army CCDC Armaments Center Northeast Deputy Regional Coordinator David Pronchick, MIT Lincoln Laboratory Southeast Regional Coordinator Paige George, NSWC Panama Division Southeast Deputy Regional Coordinator Benjamin Henry, Department of Veterans Affairs Mid-Continent Regional Coordinator John Eisemann, National Wildlife Research Center, USDA-ARS Mid-Continent Deputy Regional Coordinator David Kistin, Sandia National Laboratories To learn more about each of these newly elected FLC officers, visit https://meeting.federallabs.org/2019-officers/. About the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) Organized in 1974 and formally chartered by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, the FLC is a nationwide network of approximately 300 federal laboratories, centers, parent departments, and agencies that establishes strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace. To accomplish its mission of assisting the movement of innovative federal research and development into the U.S. economy, the FLC provides various resources from training to regional and national meetings so its members can obtain the resources they need to achieve successful technology transfer. To learn more about the FLC and its mission, visit http://www.federallabs.org. Ridge Family Dentistry NJ Top Dentists is proud to present Dr. Joyce Kurdian and Dr. R. Cameron Witt of Ridge Family Dentistry for 2019. Dr. Witt and Dr. Kurdian can redesign your smile using the latest technology available. From the newest digital x-ray equipment to a single-visit crown, Ridge Family Dentistry provides the very best dental experience to members of their community. However, these NJ Top Dentists also enjoy giving back to members outside of their community. Dr. Joyce Kurdian has been going on consecutive dental missions to Armenia for the past 7 years. On the past four missions, she was the leader of a group of physicians, nurses, dentists and healthcare professionals who embarked to rural areas in Armenia where members of society would otherwise not receive proper care due to lack of access. Dr Kurdian will be leaving for Armenia again in a few weeks to help lead another medical/dental mission. Dr. R. Cameron Witt has been traveling to Honduras over the past 21 years to provide dentistry to the students grades K-9 of Hearts for Honduras School. The school was built by a combined team of local Hondurans and volunteers from the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church. The school provides an education to approximately 200 children each year who are too poor to attend the public schools in Honduras. For students wishing to continue beyond 9th grade, scholarships are available for them to complete high school, college, and even graduate school. This years dental team included 2 Honduran dentists who completed their early education at the Hearts for Honduras School and were helped by the school to complete their dental degrees. They have now returned to Hearts for Honduras to pay it forward. The most recent trip to serve at the Hearts for Honduras School was in April 2019. To learn more about these outstanding NJ Top Dentists, please click here: https://njtopdocs.com/nj-dentists/ridgefamilydentistry/. About Us NJ Top Dentists is a division of NJ Top Docs. NJ Top Docs is a comprehensive, trusted and exclusive healthcare resource featuring reviewed and approved Top Doctors and Dentists in New Jersey online in an easy to use format. NJ Top Docs only reviews and approves providers based on merit after they have been extensively vetted. NJ Top Docs is a division of USA Top Docs which allows patients to meet providers online before making their appointment. For more information, please click here to contact us or visit http://www.NJTopDocs.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. The prescription we all need is broader but also much simpler than any one pill. Its about prescribing a better approach to care for our health system. That approach is powered by collaboration, driven by how health changes with age, and focused on prioritizing what health means individually Sunny Linnebur, PharmD, BCGP, BCPS, the new president and second pharmacist to lead the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) since its founding, is no stranger to questions about a magic pill for aging. The prescription we all need is broader but also much simpler than any one pill, Dr. Linnebur explains. Its about prescribing a better approach to care for our health system. That approach is powered by collaboration, driven by how health changes with age, and focused on prioritizing what health means to us individually. That prescription takes a village, Dr. Linnebur is quick to note. It also takes cutting-edge research, innovative public and professional education, and better public policy. The latest updates across all these frontiers will be on display at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19; May 2-4 in Portland, Ore.), where Dr. Linnebur and more than 2,500 of her colleagues will cast their widest net yet for social and scientific breakthroughs shaping better care for us all. Among this years highlights are marquee presentations by: Laura Mosqueda, MD, AGSF, Dean of the Keck School of Medicine at USC, on ending physical, emotional, and financial mistreatment of older people; Amy Kind, MD, PhD, one of few physicians in the country with doctoral training in population health, on social determinants of well-being for older individuals; and Members of the AGS Public Policy Committee and Women in Geriatrics Section, who are developing an AGS position paper to address gender inequity and discrimination impacting health professions. The pursuit of high-quality, person-centered care marks the impetus for these updates but linking them all is an even broader thread of inter-professional leadership typified by experts like Dr. Linnebur. A professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Colorado (CU) Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. Linnebur represents an early trend that has set geriatrics apart: a willingness to breakdown professional silos to foster collaboration. Dr. Linneburs work with the CU Hospital Seniors Clinic, which specializes in care for people 75-years-old and older, offers a compelling case in point. In a state where the shortage of geriatrics health professionals is still pronounced, the CU Hospital Seniors Clinic offers older adults in metropolitan Denver the unique opportunity to receive all primary care services from a diverse team of professionals attuned to how care differs for older individuals. With more than 90 percent of older people using at least one prescription and more than 66 percent using three or more in any given month, pharmacy services have played an increasingly prominent role in the clinics successes. We support everything, from day-to-day medication management to balancing treatment options to help older patients transition out of the hospital as quickly and safely as possible, Dr. Linnebur explains. Thats possible because of what makes our work so unique: collaboration. Were partnering in real-time with peer professionals and our older patients to approach care as more than the total of someones health conditions. That willingness to work collaboratively reflects not only Dr. Linneburs education but also her work to study promising approaches to care and train future colleagues across all professions. After earning her doctoral degree from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy in 1999, for example, Dr. Linnebur became a certified geriatric pharmacist. Today, she focuses much of her research on resolving drug-related problems for common concerns like dementia and high blood pressure, and also serves as a faculty member and mentor for students in pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry. What Dr. Linnebur brings to the AGS as a leader is whats long set her apart for students, patients, and colleagues: A commitment to health, safety, and independence that cant be bound by a particular profession, said Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, outgoing President of the AGS. Geriatrics is a team sportand were tremendously fortunate to have such a team-player at the helm. As outgoing AGS president, Dr. Jacobs becomes Chair of the AGS Board of Directors when Dr. Linnebur assumes her new post. In addition to a year-long tenure as AGS Presidentduring which the Society celebrated renewed federal support for geriatrics training and the release of the latest AGS Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older AdultsDr. Jacobs brings to the AGS Board decades of experience as a clinician, educator, and advocate. The slate of Board Officers who will join Dr. Jacobs on the AGS Executive Committee include Peter Hollmann, MD, AGSF, as Board Treasurer; G. Michael Harper, MD, AGSF, as Board Secretary; and Annie M. Medina-Walpole, MD, AGSF, as AGS President-Elect. These leadership transitions take place at the convocation of #AGS19, a premier event on geriatrics clinical practice, public policy, education, and research. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. About the American Geriatrics Society Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that hasfor more than 75 yearsworked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. More than 2,500 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene May 2-4, 2019 (pre-conference program on May 1), at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. Clients have the opportunity to have their Form 2290 filled out completely by a trained Form 2290 tax filer Truck Services of North America (TSNAmerica) is officially offering Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) Form 2290 filing for the 2019-2020 tax year. Owner-operators, leasing companies, or other businesses owning heavy vehicles will be required to File IRS Form 2290 for all vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight of at least 55,000 pounds. The IRS requires E-filing of Form 2290 for all businesses with 25 or more heavy vehicles in their fleet. TSNAmerica is a trusted phone E-filer. By choosing to file earlier, clients will have the opportunity to have their Form 2290 filled out completely by a trained Form 2290 tax filer. The official filing season for Form 2290 begins on July 1st, 2019. Clients can begin having paperwork handled, as early as today, giving them the advantage of being ahead of the rush. Clients and potential clients are encouraged to call (803) 386-0320 to speak to a support team member and experience the easiest Form 2290 filing method. TSNAmericas ideal customer is anyone who values their time. It is a service provider that truly understands the trucking industry and strives to provide all customers with the most up to date information and industry news. The US-Based customer support separates TSNAmerica from all other industry competitors, says SPAN Enterprises, Director of Transportation, Amber Tabb. For busy drivers living an on-the-go lifestyle, filing has never been easier and access to the required Stamped Schedule 1 is now only a phone call away. TSNAmerica is proud to offer 100% US-based support, live chat and 24/7 email support, so that clients can rest assured that their taxes are a top priority. Truck Services of North America works to ensure all truckers receive proper assistance for a first-rate filing experience. About SPAN Enterprises: Founded in 2009, SPAN Enterprises leads the market in producing software solutions and mobile applications for truck taxes and trucking business management. The companys mission is to create innovative software solutions for small businesses and the trucking industry. SPAN Enterprises serves thousands of clients all across the nation from their office in Rock Hill, SC. SPAN Enterprises has been named on the Inc 5000, Charlotte Fast 50, and SmartCEO Future 50. For more information about SPAN Enterprises, visit its website at http://www.spanenterprises.com/ GreatSchools College Success Award These 25 states are true leaders and recognize that postsecondary school-level data is critical for identifying successful schools..." Jon Deane GreatSchools Chief Executive Officer GreatSchools.org is proud to announce the winners of the 2019 College Success Award, which recognizes and celebrates 1,722 high schools in 25 states around the country that excel in ensuring students are prepared for college and ultimately careers. [1] These schools successfully graduate students who are prepared for college-level courses, enroll in two- or four-year colleges and persist into their second year, according to available data from each state. Last year, the inaugural College Success Award recognized schools in only nine states based on the availability of post-secondary data. Were gratified that an additional 16 states have made available the school-level post-secondary data that makes the College Success Award possible, said Jon Deane, CEO of GreatSchools.org. These 25 states are true leaders and recognize that post-secondary school-level data is critical for identifying successful schoolsand enabling educators and other schools to learn from their promising practices. We encourage every state to join this movement to give schools, parents, educators, and policymakers the information they need and deserve to help students succeed in college and beyond. With the 2019 College Success Award, GreatSchools.org offers a view of whether a high school provides opportunities for all students to prepare for, enroll in and succeed in college. The Award helps us understand whether a high school achieves favorable results for studentsregardless of their background and circumstanceswhen they leave high school and head to college. The 1,722 schools represent only 12 percent of all public high schools in the 25 statesin an economy where a majority of all jobs are projected to require a post-secondary degree by 2020. [2] Our nations high schools play a critical role in setting students up for future success, said Kevin Greer, Partner, Learn to Earn Fund at New Profit, which is part of a consortium of funders providing support for the College Success Award. Thats why we must understand which schools are excelling on this front, learn from them and celebrate them especially those schools that do a great job of preparing students from low-income families to succeed in college. We are honored to be named a winner of the 2019 GreatSchools.org College Success Award, said Dr. Linda Gallegos, principal at Veterans Memorial Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas. Many of our students come from difficult circumstances, and we know how important it is to expose them to the experiences and opportunities that will equip them to excel in college, careers and beyond. Were thrilled that GreatSchools.org has recognized our focus on preparing our youth for success, and we look forward to continuing to guide our students on pathways to rewarding futures. To learn more about the Award methodology, download lists of winning schools by state, and to see videos stories from College Success Award National Spotlight Schools, visit https://tinyurl.com/y2yfrmpl. 1. The College Success Award-winning schools are in these 25 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. 2. The 12 percent figure is based on a total of 13,844 public high schools active in the GreatSchools.org database. The 65 percent figure is from Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020 from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. About GreatSchools.org: GreatSchools.org is the leading national nonprofit empowering parents with essential information to improve educational opportunities for their child. Using GreatSchools.orgs trusted ratings and school quality information, parents can find the right school for their family and take action to improve schools in their communities. Thousands of articles, tips and interactive tools offer parents easy-to-use resources to support their childs learning and well-being every day. Families, community leaders and policymakers turn to GreatSchools.org for the school information they need to guide children to great futures. March 2017, Guatemala. Gabriel, 18, signed up for Mercy Corps' youth agriculture program because he was excited to learn how to save money to invest in agriculture. Credit: Corinna Robbins/Mercy Corps New research by the global organization Mercy Corps finds that U.S. aid to Central America is helping to build safer and more prosperous communities. The new report released today, Subsist or Persist, examines factors causing people to flee Central America and the links between U.S. development programs in the region and migration. At the end of an agricultural development program in Guatemala, there was a 30% reduction in youth thinking frequently about migrating among those surveyed. In recent interviews, participants in an urban violence prevention program in Guatemala said they were more hopeful in their economic and education prospects. Evidence from our programs and from evaluations of other United States Government-funded programs shows that U.S.-funded initiatives in Central America are improving lives by increasing opportunities and improving peoples sense of security, says Beza Tesfaye, Senior Researcher at Mercy Corps and co-author of the report. When people feel safer and have more opportunities at home, they are less likely to take a dangerous journey to find a better life elsewhere. The report draws on existing research as well as new surveys and in-depth interviews conducted in Guatemala in 2018-2019. The surveys closely examine two Mercy Corps programs focused on rural agricultural development and urban violence prevention. During a recent two-year USAID-funded program in Guatemalas Western Highlands, Mercy Corps provided agricultural training and worked with 1,000 youth to create savings and loans groups to finance agricultural investments. Savings topped $110,000 and after participating in the program, 76% of youth interviewed said they were confident that their lives in Guatemala would improve. Based on a 2019 sample survey, participants in Mercy Corps USAID-funded urban violence prevention program in Guatemala City said they have a greater desire to remain in Guatemala, compared to non-participants. Although limited data makes it difficult to establish a direct link between U.S. foreign assistance and migration, the research that exists makes a strong case for continued investment in the Northern Triangle, rather than reducing or cutting funding for these programs, says Tesfaye. Measures to deter migration by making it more costly and difficult to access the U.S. asylum process without improving underlying conditions in Central America are unlikely to dissuade people from migrating. Many aspiring and actual migrants we spoke with indicated that they would still take the risk, no matter the harrowing journey or barriers upon arrival. How healthcare is delivered is changing by the minute, and Utica College is addressing these changes by adding three new nursing masters degrees to its suite of nursing programs, including family nurse practitioner, nursing education and nursing leadership. Beginning this summer, students can earn their nursing masters online at UC in just 16 to 20 months in the hours and days that work best for them, said nursing chair Annette Becker, DNS. The flexible nature of this program allows students to structure coursework according to their work/life commitments. Credit hour and practicum requirements differ for each program. Requirements for admission include an unencumbered RN license in the state in which the student resides, a bachelors degree in nursing from an accredited nursing program, a minimum GPA of 3.0, and 2000 hours of work experience. The family nurse practitioner (FNP) program is for nurses who seek more autonomy in caring for their patients. A FNP provides a higher level of patient care, can test, diagnose, treat, and create preventive healthcare plans for patients. Given the shortage of healthcare professionals, FNPs are relied on more often as the first provider of care for common, family health problems. On average, FNPs earn more than $100,000 a year and there is an expected 31 percent job growth through 2026. The FNP program mandates a three-day immersion/residency experience and 720 practicum hours. Nurse educators have become increasingly important and in great demand as new education requirements for entry-level clinical care emerge. Nurse educators earn approximately $74,000 a year. Employment is expected to grow by 24 percent through 2026. The education curriculum requires 180 practicum hours, divided between two classes, dedicated to working with qualified nurse educators. As a nurse leader, either a senior manager or executive leader, one needs management expertise including the planning, direction, and coordination of medical and health services for an entire facility, a specific clinical area or department, or a medical practice of physicians. With these roles, a person is responsible for implementing necessary actions to adhere to changes in healthcare laws, technologies, and regulations. Salaries range from $120,000 to $250,000. The leadership curriculum requires 180 hours of practicum working with nursing leaders. The new programs will be added to a number of options already available including a traditional campus-based four-year undergraduate nursing program, an online RN to BSN program for licensed nurses who have completed an associates degree program and are seeking a higher credential. The ABSN is an accelerated (16-month) program for people who have already earned a bachelor's degree and wish to embark on a rewarding career in nursing. The program blends online courses with hands-on lab simulations and clinical rotations, and is offered through UCs learning sites in Syracuse, NY, St. Petersburg, Florida, and South Florida. For more information, visit https://programs.online.utica.edu/programs/masters-nursing. Washington Memorial Chapels Iconic Justice Bell To Take Center Stage Women and men of all races and religions enabled the passage of the 19th Amendment so it is suitable that the Justice Bells inscription 'Establish Justice', which was used as a key message, remains as important today, said Alexandra Tatnall. The Washington Memorial Heritage, a non-profit secular arm of Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, has revealed plans for what is slated to be a historic Womens Suffrage Centennial commemoration. Centered around the Chapels Justice Bell, which signifies the passing of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, the unprecedented commemoration is slated to kick off in August 2020 and will include a public champagne reception and sendoff of the bell from Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge to Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia where a large scale event will occur in conjunction with Women 100: A Celebration of American Women presented by Drexel Universitys Vision 2020. According to Maria Bomersbach, President of Washington Memorial Heritage Board of Directors and Chair, Justice Bell 2020, the Justice Bell, also known as the Womens Liberty Bell, is prominently displayed in the atrium of the National Patriots Bell Tower of the Chapel and was the brainchild and gift of Katharine Wentworth Ruschenberger of Strafford, Chester County, PA. In 1915 she commissioned the casting of a duplicate of the Liberty Bell, adding the inscription Establish Justice to call attention to the fight for womens suffrage. Planning for the 2020 commemoration is in the initial stages and additional events and sponsors will be communicated as plans are finalized. The Justice Bell has been located at the Chapel since the 1920s. The National Patriots Bell Tower and Carillon were finished in 1953 and built with the financial support of members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Women and men of all races and religions enabled the passage of the 19th Amendment so it is suitable that the Justice Bells inscription 'Establish Justice', which was used as a key message, remains as important today as it was when great Aunt Katharine communicated it, said Alexandra Tatnall, Katharine Wentworth Ruschenbergers great niece and Honorary Chair of the event. Justice Bell 2020 is partnering with such esteemed organizations as Drexel Universitys Vision 2020, Pennsylvania Society Daughters of American Revolution, Valley Forge Park Alliance, Chester County League of Women Voters, Independence National Historical Park, Chester County Historical Society, Cedar Crest College History Department, Breakthrough Philadelphia, Delta Sigma Theta and many other local and national organizations and individuals to ensure that their mission of education, historical preservation and unity is achieved on every level of the commemoration. Katharine Wentworth Ruschenberger developed an innovative plan to focus attention on the quest for passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that would provide women with Justice. The bell that she commissioned, its travels, the chaining of its clapper and its celebratory ringing when the Amendment finally passed has created a history that will be commemorated during the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. We are proud and honored to be a sponsor of this journey, said Cynthia Sweeney, State Regent PSSDAR. For more information about Justice Bell 2020 contact maria9at)wmheritage.org For more information about the Washington Memorial Chapel, please visit http://wmchapel.org/ # # # About The Justice Bell The Justice Bell began touring Pennsylvania in June 1915, covering more than 5,000 miles by November 2 of that year. While touring, the clapper was chained to the side of the Bell symbolizing the fact that women had no voice in choosing their government; it would not ring until 1920 when women won the right to vote. The tour was timed to support the passage of Amendment #1 to the then-current Pennsylvania State Constitution. When Amendment #1 did not pass, and it became evident to suffragists that state legislatures were not going to pass voting rights, the Justice Bell was used to support the movement for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It traveled to Chicago and Washington, DC, as well as other localities. The 19th Amendment was proposed on June 5, 1919. Ratification took place on August 18 and was certified on Womens Equality Day, August 26, 1920. On September 25, 1920, the clapper of the Bell was unchained at a celebration held in Independence Square in Philadelphia. A figure dressed as Lady Justice approached and rang the Bell to celebrate the passage of the amendment and Justice for women through the right to vote. The Justice Bell makes its home at Washington Memorial Chapel Rt. 23, Valley Forge National Park, Valley Forge, PA. Rev. Mark Nestlehutt, Rector. About Vision 2020 Vision 2020 is a national, non-partisan womens equality coalition headquartered at Drexel Universitys Institute for Womens Health and Leadership. The coalition is comprised of individuals and organizations in all 50 states working together for womens economic, political and social equality in the United States. Vision 2020s Women 100 is a celebration of American women during the year 2020, when we mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution: womens right to vote. Throughout 2020, Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, will be to home to programs and events while members of the Vision 2020 national coalition will host sister programs across the country in support of the centennial commemoration. Our mission is to help over 70 million individuals living with autism. By providing opportunities for professionals to simultaneously access the highest quality content & meet their continuing education requirements, we continue to bridge the knowledge gap that hinders access to quality services Today, Special Learning, Inc., a global training and education provider specializing in behavior analysis and related evidence-based autism interventions for behavior analysts, parents, educators and professionals who help individuals with autism and other special needs achieve independence, announced that it has received approval from the American Psychological Association (APA) to offer continuing education credits for Psychologists. Since its inception, our mission has been to help the over 70 million people in the world living with autism. By providing opportunities for professionals and educators to simultaneously access the highest quality content and meet their continuing education requirements, we continue to bridge the knowledge gap that hinders access to quality services, said Karen Chung, Founder and CEO of Special Learning, Inc. Chung founded the company nearly a decade ago to help parents of children with autism around the globe gain access to a quality autism intervention called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Over the past 9 years, Special Learning, has served over 10,000 clients living in over 100 different countries. With a portfolio of over 500 training and educational resources, and more being developed monthly, Special Learning offers the most extensive array of solutions available in the global market. The Companys commitment to serving the needs of the global community is demonstrated by its solutions being offered in multiple languages. In addition to its popular Spanish products, Special Learning has plans to release its trainings and educational materials in Russian and French this year, along with Arabic, Mandarin and Italian projects in the development pipeline for release in 2020. With less than 38,000 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) in the world- only 10% of whom practice outside the U.S.- over 95% of the world are unable to access quality ABA services. By training over 120,000 licensed psychologists in the U.S. how to develop and implement quality ABA programs, Special Learning is offering solutions to solve the acute shortage of quality ABA practitioners in the world. By offering BCBA candidate supervision training programs to Psychologists, the Company aims to remove the bottleneck that is constricting the number of new BCBAs being added to the field annually. In partnership with thought leaders across multi-disciplinary health and behavioral fields, Special Learning is able to offer access to best in-class learning opportunities available to professionals, educators and parents who support individuals with autism and other special needs. Their current LIVE webinar series include highly relevant topics such as ADHD, Multi-disciplinary Collaboration and Professional and Organizational Ethics. Special Learning plans to launch LIVE Webinar series on thought provoking and often considered taboo subjects including Severe Problem Behavior, Sexual Education, Transition, and Behavior Analysis in the Education. About Special Learning: http://www.special-learning.com Founded in 2009, Special Learning advances the fields of behavior analysis, psychology, and special education by researching, developing, and enabling access to the most extensive array of ethical, world-class professional development solutions for behavior analysts, educators, healthcare providers and parents around the globe. About American Psychology Association: http://www.apa.org The American Psychological Association 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. APA works to promote the advancement, communication and application of psychological science and knowledge to benefit society and improve lives. Xperiential Laboratories (xperiential.com) has received two certifications from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for drinking water testing. This certification places Xperiential in small category of laboratories in Michigan that are certified to test the chemistry and microbiology of water samples. Xperiential also differentiates itself by having all degree-holding chemists and microbiologists, the newest instrumentation technology and a critical overnight return on the collected sample. We have positioned our laboratory to deliver the most competent results in drinking water testing in Michigan, explains Steven Angersbach, Director of Laboratories. Residents and businesses are turning to Xperiential because we provide not only premier services and instrumentation, but also access to our degreed staff throughout the testing and analytical process. Xperientials newly-certified drinking water testing starts at $29 to $149 for a comprehensive analysis for residential and business customers. Testing can focus on metals, inorganic chemicals, microbiology, and many general characteristics, such as the hardness and alkalinity of water depending on the testing package purchased. Testing water is vitally important to our safety, explains Angersbach. Many of the most harmful contaminants are invisible to us they cannot be tasted or seen, and they do not smell. For lead, as little as one drop in something as large as your backyard swimming pool is enough to hit the US Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Level. Penguin Classics will publish four canonical novels by Asian-American authors on May 21. The publication lands during Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, which takes place each May, and follows last year's publication of six books by African-American authors into the Penguin Classics line during Black History Month. The four books are: The Hanging on Union Square by H.T. Tsiang East Goes West by Younghill Kang No-No Boy by John Okada America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan Tsiang, Kang, and Bulosan all immigrated to the U.S,. from China, the part of Korea now known as North Korea, and the Pangasinan province of the Philippines, respectively, while Okada was born in Seattle, sent to an internment camp during World War II, and is often considered the first Japanese-American novelist. Each book will be introduced by an influential contemporary Asian-American author, including Alexander Chee for East Goes West and Elaine Castillo for America Is in the Heart. "The authors of these classics have all endured comparisons to better-known white authors in order to describe their own genius; Younghill Kang has been compared to Whitman and Nabokov, Carlos Bulosan to Steinbeck," the press noted in its announcement of the line. "Yet each authors work is a uniquely powerful touchstone for the immigrant experience in America." John Siciliano, executive editor of Penguin Classics, told PW. that he had "made it his mandate to diversify the Penguin Classics internationally" when he came on board at the publisher in 2006. "It was important to us to have a diversity within Asian America, which is why we have books by Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Filipino writers represented," he said, adding: "Our eyes are open to opportunities to publish writers from South Asia and Central Asia." Although the press is only publishing these four books concurrently, Siciliano noted that he hoped to bring more diverse voices to the imprint, including more works by Asian-Americans as well as Latino Americans and Native Americans. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association announced 12 winners of its 2019 Christian Book Awards during its annual Leadership Summit in Chicago, Ill., recognizing excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact, according to a press release. Lysa TerKeurst received the night's top award, Christian Book of the Year, for Embraced: 100 Devotions to Know God is Holding You Close (Thomas Nelson). The devotional, which has made PWs Religion Nonfiction bestsellers list, features daily quotes from Scripture as well as prayer prompts. TerKeurst is the bestselling author of books such as The Best Yes, Uninvited, and most recently Its Not Supposed to Be This Way. She is also president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, which hosts online Bible studies for women. Embraced is the second consecutive devotional to win the ECPAs top awardlast years prize went to Sarah Youngs 365-day devotional Jesus Always (Thomas Nelson). Additional winners included David Moberg, senior v-p & group publisher of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, who won the ECPA Chair Award. For a complete list of the winners, click here. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. HySonic Technologies LLC, which specializes in the development of computational models for the simulation of flow problems of interest to the defense industry, has received a federal grant worth $140,000. The startup, founded by Carlo Scalo, a Purdue University assistant professor of mechanical, and aeronautical and astronautical engineering, courtesy appointment, received a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Navy. Scalo said the funding will be used to provide computational modeling support toward designing long-lasting and sustainable hypersonic vehicles. Hypersonic vehicles are capable of flying at least six times the speed of sound. At those extreme speeds, structural integrity of the vehicle is the primary concern. We are leveraging years of fundamental research carried out in my research group at Purdue sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Scalo said. HySonic Technologies last year won a $20,000 Black Award investment through the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund, a joint venture between Elevate Ventures , a private venture development organization, and the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator. Scalo said that funding helped HySonic Technologies be competitive for this SBIR award. Purdue and the Purdue Research Foundation provided valuable support needed to help get HySonic Technologies started. We will work feverishly to compete for Phase 2 funding, which could provide up to $1 million in funding to advance our company, Scalo said. The technology aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, acknowledging the universitys global advancements in space as part of Purdues 150th anniversary. It is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebrations Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues. About Purdue Research Foundation The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Established in 1930, the foundation accepts gifts; administers trusts; funds scholarships and grants; acquires property; protects Purdue's intellectual property; and promotes entrepreneurial activities on behalf of Purdue. The foundation manages the Purdue Foundry, Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization, Purdue Research Park and Purdue Technology Centers. The foundation 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. Writer: Tom Coyne, 765-588-1044, tjcoyne@prf.org Sources: Carlo Scalo, scalo@purdue.edu Greater Anglia is to suspend seat reservations on its Norwich London inter-city services for around six months from July 13, 'to prevent confusion or misunderstandings' during the transition to its new fleet. Advance fares will still be offered for specific services. 'The new trains are much longer than our ... China may declare its first stealth fighter operational this year as it also develops long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, part of a regional buildup by Beijing that the U.S. is closely monitoring, according to the U.S. Air Force's Pacific commander. General Charles Brown, the head of Pacific Air Forces, said the stealthy J-20 fighter could possibly be operational this year, a move he said would signal greater threat, greater capability for China in the Pacific. He went on to emphasize that U.S. efforts to counter those developments include rising deployments of next-generation F-35 jets and continuing overflights of strategic areas such as the South China Sea. Iran replaced the commander of its powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) less than two weeks after the United States designated it a "foreign terrorist organization." Given the wider global agenda advanced by the new IRGC commander, the replacement is a clear signal from Tehran that bowing to Washington's pressure is not an option. On April 22, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Hossein Salami as the IRGC's new chief, ending Mohammad Ali Jafari's tenure of over a decade. In his recent record, Khamenei has not kept senior officials in key positions past an extended second five-year term, which he is constitutionally authorized to decide. As such, the CEO of the state broadcaster, the head of the judiciary and the chief of staff for the armed forces had to bid farewell after serving their formal tenures. Jafari's expected departure, therefore, had been a matter of broad debate and speculation over the last two years. Still, he held the post beyond the 10-year period, only to be replaced by Salami, who was serving as the IRGC's deputy commander. Salami steadily moved up the ranks in the military after starting duty during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), a background that normally facilitates upward mobility in the Islamic Republic. In Europe, NATO once again faces a threat from Russian ground forces, postured to the East. Operations in Ukraine have conclusively demonstrated the willingness and ability of the Russian government to use force in pursuit of its foreign policy goals, echoing earlier operations in Georgia, Syria, Moldova, and Chechnya. Russian operations have also been characterized by a willingness to exploit gray zone operations in an attempt to remain below an escalation threshold that might result in a Western military response, or any significant nonmilitary response. Both NATO and Russian strategists realize that any European conflict can be tilted by airpower, and Russian efforts to neutralize a (presumed) NATO airpower advantage should be expected even before any overt breakout of hostilities. It is well past time for the country to wake up to the reality that winning the global race to 5G is more than a U.S. economic necessity; it constitutes a full-fledged national security and geostrategic imperative. Marshaling the countrys policies and resources to meet the challenge must become an urgent bipartisan national mission if America is to sustain its prosperity and international leadership. While 4G wireless networks were evolutionary, 5G is revolutionary. Offering up to 100 times faster speeds and one-tenth the latency (delay) of its predecessor - 5G will become the common operating backbone for technologies that will fundamentally change the way we live, work, play, and defend the nation. A 2018 CTIA study estimated that nationwide 5G would create three million new jobs and grow the U.S. economy by $500 billion by 2024. Alone, such economic impact qualifies 5G as a bonafide national security initiative. A robust, innovative economy is essential for supporting strong national defense and the capability to effectively project power in a dangerous and uncertain world. After trailing Europe in 3G, the U.S. led the world in deployment of 4G and became the worlds epicenter of innovative mobile applications. This has paid dividends that we continue to experience in economic growth and job creation. 5G can provide a new and even more powerful economic boost - if the U.S. once again leads the world. However, U.S. economic competitiveness is just the beginning of the story. 5G will bring essential new capacities to our military services and the Department of Defense, enabling the nation to maintain its technological edge against potential adversaries an edge essential for helping prevail in conflict and for maintaining peace. As noted by a group of prominent former senior military officials in an open letter, 5G has the ability to enhance DoD decision-making and strategic capabilities from the enterprise network to the tactical edge of the battlefield. Moreover, the global race to 5G is a future-defining geostrategic contest, and its well underway. Leadership confers not only the pole position on innovation but the ability to set the international norms and standards that will determine what the global future looks like. China knows that this is a Sputnik moment and is refining its strategy and accelerating its investments to seize it. According to the latest report from Forrester Research, China is best positioned to win the emerging global race to roll out 5G mobile infrastructure. A recent Deloitte study shows that China is outpacing the U.S. wireless infrastructure spend by $8-10 billion since 2015. The net effect was summed up by the Defense Innovation Board, China is on a track to repeat in 5G what happened with the United States in 4G. At stake is whether the world will adopt the Chinese model that harnesses 5G as a tool for espionage, economic pilferage, coercion, and authoritarian rule; or the U.S. and western model of using 5G as a platform for prosperity, human development and privacy protection. Its well known, but not sufficiently appreciated, that global market penetration of made-in-China 5G equipment is part of the countrys Belt and Road Initiative. At the same time, Chinese law obligates the countrys makers of this equipment to cooperate with national intelligence efforts. Given the enormous stakes, the White House established a special spectrum strategy task force. 5G reports are being developed by a host of Defense Department advisory boards. The FCC is moving to reduce obstacles to 5G infrastructure deployment. These are positive steps, but in a time-critical race, panels, studies and bureaucracy cannot supplant expeditious action. Whats clear is that winning the race to secure 5G is a function of several key lines of effort. One, is making 5G network deployment a national public-private sector objective. With early deployments, the carriers are fighting to be first to deploy 5G. Thats good, but these efforts lack sufficient resources and momentum. Unleashing competition is the key to Americas unmatched economic prowess. The U.S. government and the public need to keep the competitive heat on the industry to achieve the swiftest possible nationwide buildout. To that end, the proposed T-Mobile and Sprint merger has helped galvanize national attention on 5G and intensified the competition. Indeed, the merger is predicated on the parties' commitment to rapidly build out a nationwide 5G network. Although T-Mobile and Sprint each have standalone plans to deploy 5G, as pointed out in recent Congressional hearings the combined company would have unique assets required to get it done while supercharging U.S. competition to win the race. This is an opportunity we dare not pass up. Two, is fostering a trusted supply chain. Legislation prohibits Huawei and ZTE components in networks used by the Department of Defense. As top former military and intelligence thought leaders called for in an open letter, the ban should expand to all government and commercial networks. We are headed in the right direction. During Congressional hearings, T-Mobiles CEO testified that Chinese vendors would be barred from the new company's network. Other key industry players have made similar pledges. Now its the public sectors turn. Government must set clear definitions and standards for what constitutes trusted vendors and trusted supply chain for the industry at large, consistent with the National Security Agreement accompanying the proposed merger which CFIUS and the Team Telecom agencies recently approved. Public-private partnership of this kind can ensure that the nations transition isnt just to 5G; but to secure 5G that protects critical infrastructure, national-security related operations, and privacy. Finally, American leadership must prioritize marshaling our friends around the world particularly our NATO allies to follow suit on secure 5G, to assure the secure interoperability of our platforms. Moreover, we have a shared interest in ensuring that Chinas state-owned entities are unable to continue growing their market share, seeding the world with state-subsidized 5G equipment as a tool for espionage, theft, and coercion, while economically strangling competitors. This is no time for complacency or gridlock. Time is of the essence. It will be a 5G world. Our global competitors understand the stakes and are doing everything in their power to establish 5G preeminence. We can seize the 5G opportunity by harnessing the free market competition to win the same formula that made the U.S. a leader in 4G. Winning the competition will ensure a prosperous 5G future that advances Americas principles, values, and interests for decades to come. Michael Chertoff is the executive chairman and co-founder of the Chertoff Group. He was the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. Keith B. Alexander, General USA (Ret.), former director of the National Security Agency, chief of the Central Security Service and commander of the United States Cyber Command. Timothy J. Keating, Admiral USN (Ret.), former Commander, U. S. Pacific Command and Commander, U. S. Northern Command/NORAD. The decline in Russia's defense output raises concerns about the competitive strength of Russia's defense industry in general, whose health is critical if the country is to project itself as a military power in the longer term. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov attributed the reduction in output to a slowdown of orders for military systems, but projections suggest the slowdown is not just a short-term fluctuation; in fact, it's expected to become even worse in the future. The downturn in oil prices has taken a bite out of Russia's bottom line, squeezing spending for the military all at a time when the country's arms manufacturers have lost their competitive edge in the global arms market. Together, these factors ensure that Russia's defense industry will struggle to get out of its funk. Suffering From a Dearth of Funds This dire picture stands in stark contrast to Russia's frequent presentation of sensational new platforms. In reality, however, just a few of the big-ticket weapon systems such as the T-14 main battle tank or the Su-57 fighter aircraft find buyers, as the rest remain mere prototypes. Russia has prioritized some hardware, such as the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, due to their strategic relevance to the country's overall military posture, but Moscow has failed to fully develop other programs or only introduced them on a limited scale. Russian T-14 Armata tanks make their way during the Victory Parade marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis in World War II, in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. Russia's first new tank in decades was released to great fanfare, but production targets for the expensive platform have not been met. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Under pressure from a limited government budget, the Kremlin even started reducing its military spending in 2017 a strong indicator that, despite the modernization push, Russia's financial challenges are taking a toll on the country ambitions. Economically, the plunge in oil prices at the end of 2014 hurt Russia's bottom line, depriving the country of essential revenue and forcing it to dip into its reserves to bridge the gap. Today, more than four years on, Russian oil revenues are rising, yet the country is continuing to deal with the consequences of the lean years. Beyond that, low revenues from taxes, which have forced Russia to raise taxes and the retirement age, and Western sanctions over Moscow's activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, have shrunk the financial pool available to military planners. Low oil prices, declining revenues from taxes and Western sanctions have taken a chunk out of the financial pool available to Russia's military and the broader defense industry. But the Kremlin's problems don't end there. In the past, Russia has benefited from its position as a major global arms exporter to fuel further military development. During the 1990s, for example, such sales were critical to the country as it faced severe economic hardship. While Russia remains the world's second-largest arms exporter (only the United States sells more), the actual value of those exports has been decreasing significantly. Between 2014 and 2018, their total value dropped by as much as 17 percent. Again, budgetary limits are somewhat to blame: In the past, Russia frequently used arms exports as a political tool, offering weapons at a heavy discount, if not entirely free. But with Russia no longer able to offer customers a good deal on its fighter jets and other defense products, the country is losing business. And Russia's arms industry faces an even greater problem in the years to come: reduced competitiveness. Russia has long dominated some of the market by offering affordable military equipment without attaching any conditions regarding human rights, but the rise of China's military industry, as well as several smaller producers around the world, has made it much more difficult to compete for contracts. Ultimately, the loss of export opportunities not only complicates Russia's efforts to finance its defense industry, it also reduces the scale at which the defense industry produces, which, in turn, decreases scale-dependent savings that accompany higher levels of production. In effect, this means that the more Russia fails to find foreign customers for specific weapon systems, the more it will become burdened with a higher relative cost per unit as it seeks to meet its own needs. The conundrum, in turn, will further limit Russia's ability to competitively price weapons systems for export, thereby perpetuating the effect. This is why, for example, India's withdrawal from the joint development and production of the Su-57 fighter aircraft last year has cast doubt on Russia's ability to sustain the program in a meaningful way or at an acceptable cost. As a result, Russia has sought albeit unsuccessfully so far to export the Su-57 more widely in an effort to find a partnership that would make the aircraft viable. The Search for Solutions Russia, accordingly, has been considering other solutions to safeguard its defense sector and improve its overall industrial performance. One possible remedy centers on what amounts to burden sharing across sectors. In this, the country is looking to harness the defense industry's strengths for civilian production, similar to the way Western enterprises such as Boeing or Airbus operate. By producing non-military products for domestic and foreign civilian markets, Russian defense manufacturers could sustain themselves even if their military goods are earning less revenue. Russia's arms industry faces an even greater problem in the years to come: reduced competitiveness. Unfortunately for Russia, the chances that such a gambit will succeed are low even for domestic consumption. Although Moscow has been pushing an import substitution program amid the West's sanctions, Russian firms continue to privilege foreign, instead of domestic, components. In 2018, 38 percent of Russian industrial enterprises purchased equipment from abroad; two years before, the figure was just 6 percent. Ultimately, if Russian arms producers are failing to find sales for defense customers at home, they're unlikely to find any more of a domestic civilian market for their wares. As a great power, Russia has lofty ambitions for the modernization of its military. Budget constraints, more competition from elsewhere and other issues, however, mean many of the army's most ostentatious projects never make it past the showroom. And moving forward, the Russian defense industry's plight is unlikely to improve as it faces a vicious circle that is leaving it worse for wear. This article appeared originally at Stratfor Worldview. With global politics in turmoil, Russia and China have found each other. In 2018, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met one another five times. In the same year, Russia and China held their biggest shared military exercises for decades.Trade between the two nations increased by over 30% in 2018, and is expected to increase even more. The Suez War of 1956 is rarely included in the pantheon of crises featured in the study of statecraft. Seminal works on strategy, such as Yale historian Donald Kagan's On the Origins of War, typically examine more famous episodes, like the outbreak of World War I or the Cuban Missile Crisis. Perhaps that is because Suez seems like a blip compared to other conflagrations of the era, such as the Soviet invasion of Hungary or the battle for Berlin. Seen as a Middle East war, Suez is sandwiched between the more decisive conflicts of 1948 and 1967. Suez also scrambled the traditional Cold War divisions that make for compelling study in other cases: At one point in the conflict, Washington aligned itself more closely with Moscow and Cairo than with London and Paris. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate , We're sorry, this article is not currently available By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/01/2019 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/01/2019 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. is returning to TLC with new episodes later this month!TLC has announced Season 2 of will premiere Tuesday, May 28 at 10PM ET/PT.The second season of will catch viewers up with the Waldrop family and their "divine nine," including Courtney Waldrop and Eric Waldrop's sextuplets, who will be shown turning one.The sextuplets -- Blu, Layke, Rawlings, Rayne, Rivers and Tag -- are developing distinct personalities and were documented taking first steps and speaking first words."The babies have come a long way from the NICU. Now that they are bigger and more mobile, they get to play with their older brothers Saylor, Wales and Bridge and are keeping their parents... on their toes," TLC says.As a full-time mom to nine children, Courtney attempts to manage a household full of chaos. And ' new season will see her be tested with a family flu outbreak, concerns about the babies' development, and whether Layke will need to undergo surgery for his heart condition."Desperate to keep everything in line, will Courtney be able to juggle everything without breaking down?" the network teases.Courtney will also consider moving her family into a bigger house in Alabama, which may be a solution to some of her stress at home.Her husband of over 2o years, however, prefers to stay put and remodel their house, which could result in too much on their plates.On the bright side, viewers will watch Courtney, Eric and their kids celebrating their first Christmas at home and vacationing for the first time as a family of 11.Season 1 of premiered in September 2018.is being produced by Discovery Studios Productions. By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/02/2019 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. team of Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle survived a non-elimination leg during Wednesday night's Season 31 broadcast on CBS.Although former Survivor castaways Chris, 40, and Bret, 44 -- who raced as friends from Moore, OK, and Dedham, MA, respectively -- arrived at the third Pit Stop in Vietnam in last place, host Phil Keoghan announced it was a non-elimination leg and they could keep racing."We have to make better decisions, but we are here," Chris said after learning the great news."Anything is possible. We're going to do a Speed Bump -- big deal. We'll get back on track!"The episode began with former racers Leo Temory and friend Jamal Zadran being the first team to depart the second Pit Stop in Luang Prabang, Laos in first place.The team ripped open its first set of clues and learned they must travel to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and book their seats on a flight via the Travelocity app.After former Big Brother houseguests Nicole Franzel and fiance Victor Arroyo were shown using the app, former racers Colin Guinn and life partner Christie Woods mentioned taking a flight that left at 2:40PM and arrived at 7:30PM.Upon landing, the teams were told they must pick up a packet of herbal remedies from a local doctor at The House of Vietnamese Medicine. The packet would obtain the teams' next clue.Former racers Tyler Oakley and friend Korey Kuhl were then shown saying they had left the Pit Stop in seventh place but were shooting for first this leg.Meanwhile, former racers Becca Droz and friend Floyd Pierce felt bad about U-Turning Tyler and Korey in the previous leg because they had actually hoped to form an alliance with them at some point."That put a little bit of a wrench in things," Floyd said.Becca and Floyd gave Tyler and Korey "a peace offering" by giving them some homemade trail mix.As for Chris and Bret, they were ready to try a different strategy and run with the pack.At the airport, former Big Brother houseguests Rachel Reilly and sister Elissa Slater also apologized to Becca and Floyd for U-Turning them.Bret could sense some "serious bad blood" between teams and figured the teams who had been targeted in the prior leg would seek revenge at the first opportunity although things seemed all fine and dandy.The Big Brother teams -- which included Janelle Pierzina and friend Britney Haynes -- then made a pact not to U-Turn each other.All of the teams got on the same flight into Vietnam and then fought for taxis upon landing, but Colin and Christie found the doctor in first place and received their next set of clues before anyone else.Tyler and Korey got there next and learned it was time to choose one of two possible Detour tasks: "Reel It In" or "Light It Up.""Reel It In" required teams to catch eight prawns in order to receive their next clue."Light It Up" required the teams to light up the dance floor with a famous dance crew. Teams had to stay in step with the group and deliver an "electrifying performance" to receive their next clue.Becca and Floyd grabbed their clue for the Detour in third place, and they were then followed by Rachel and Elissa, Janelle and Britney, and Nicole and Victor.Leo and Jamal guided former Survivor castaways Eliza Orlins and friend Corinne Kaplan in the wrong direction, so the guys jumped ahead in seventh place. Eliza and Corinne called Leo and Jamal the "biggest liars" ever and were running to the Detour in eighth place.Meanwhile, Bret and Chris were trailing in last place.However, multiple teams got lost trying to find the location of the Detour. Leo and Jamal got lost, as well as Janelle and Britney.Leo and Jamal managed to get to the Detour before Janelle and Britney, who revealed they had gotten lost "for an hour."All of the teams opted to try "Light It Up" except for Tyler and Korey and Corinne and Eliza.Bret and Chris hoped dancing would be a quick and easy routine because catching fish is all about luck and would be very unpredictable.Elissa thought her yoga background would serve her well in dancing, while Becca had a history of doing musical theater and thought she'd pick up on the choreography quickly. Floyd is also musical given he used to be in a marching band.Christie noted, however, learning the routine was not going to be her strength.Becca and Floyd appeared to do the steps right but they failed on their first attempt because the instructor wanted them to bring more power and energy to their performance.The pair nailed the dance on their second try, and then it quickly became time for one of the team members to complete a Roadblock task.Bret didn't think he was going to struggle with the dance as much as he did, and the moves didn't come to Elissa as easily as she thought they would either.Colin and Christie completed the Detour task in second place, and then they were followed by Nicole and Victor on their eighth attempt.After Chris and Bret tried the dance just one time, they decided to walk off the stage and go fishing instead. Bret blamed himself for not fishing to begin with.Meanwhile, Corinne and Eliza completed the fishing Detour task in fourth place, and on their heels were Tyler and Korey in fifth place.Rachel and Elissa finally completed their dance on their 18th attempt, and then Janelle and Britney raced off in seventh place after eight attempts at the dance.Bret and Chris were then thrilled to complete the fishing task in eighth place, putting Leo and Jamal in last. Leo and Jamal were absolutely exhausted and didn't receive their next clue until their 27th attempt at the dance.The Roadblock task required one person from each team to successfully learn and sing a few lines of a song in Vietnamese for a karaoke performance.Floyd gave the Roadblock task a shot, as well as Colin, Victor, Eliza, Tyler, Rachel, Janelle, Bret, and Leo.Floyd crushed the song on his first attempt and received his next clue, which instructed the teams to head to Ho Thi Ky, a flower market that would serve as the Race's third Pit Stop.Victor also sang the song well on his first try, so he and Nicole took off to the Pit Stop in second place. Behind them were Colin and Christie in third, Tyler and Korey in fourth, Corinne and Eliza in fifth, Janelle and Britney in sixth, and Rachel and Elissa in seventh place.In a shocking turn of events, Leo received his clue after not much practice or rehearsal -- ahead of Bret.Leo and Jamal therefore took off to the Pit Stop in eighth place, leaving Bret and Chris in last.Becca and Floyd eventually arrived at the Pit Stop mat in first place. For winning the leg, they received a trip for two to the Bahamas.Nicole and Victor arrived at the Pit Stop in second place, followed by Colin and Christie in third place and then Tyler and Korey in fourth place.Corinne and Eliza met Phil Keoghan at the Pit Stop in fifth place.Janelle and Britney placed sixth in this leg, and then right behind them were Rachel and Elissa in seventh place.Leo and Jamal then stepped on the mat in eighth place, followed by Chris and Bret."Chris and Bret, all good things have to come to an end," Phil said when the guys arrived."Unfortunately," Bret noted, looking down and discouraged.After the guys agreed they were glad they had signed on for the Race and had no regrets, Phil revealed this was a non-elimination leg.Chris and Bret yelled and cheered, but they will have to complete an additional Speed Bump task in the next leg of the Race, airing next Wednesday night on CBS. 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. 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. 'Our government has created 10 million jobs when the Indian unemployment rate is at a 45-year high.' "During Mamata's regime, capital expenditure grew 11 times. The state's own tax revenue collection grew three times from Rs 21,000 crore to Rs 63,000 crore. This is the chief minister's achievement. The prime minister must apologise for his statement on speedbreaker," West Bengal's Finance, Commerce and Industries Minister Dr Amit Mitra, tells Ishita Ayan Dutt. Prime Minister Modi has branded Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee 'Speedbreaker Didi'. How would you respond to it? Narendra Modi has called Mamata Banerjee 'Speedbreaker Didi' and is going on repeating it. I would like to call him 'derailment master'. The GDP growth in 2015-2016 was 8.15% for India and then came the derailment due to demonetisation. In 2017-2018, GDP growth fell from 8.15% to 6.7%. Every per cent loss is a loss of Rs 1.5 trillion of GDP on an estimated basis for India. So, due to the derailment of the economy, Rs 2 trillion is gone forever. There are other elements to derailment. In 2015-2016, industry was chugging along at 9.58% growth. In 2017-2018, it sharply dropped to 5.95%. Manufacturing was growing in 2015-2016, at 13.06%, but in 2017-2018, it fell to a growth of 5.93%. When Mr Modi came to office, NPA was at Rs 2 trillion. By 2017-2018, the NPA rose to Rs 10 trillion. Unemployment rate is the highest in 45 years. This is derailment of the first order. The estimate is that 20 million jobs were lost. According to the CMIE, in 2018 only, 11 million jobs was lost. This is a direct hit on the common people. Has West Bengal done better? With regard to West Bengal, either he (Modi) is totally ignorant or it is purposeful political distortion. In 2017-2018, when the GDP growth of India was 6.7%, according to CSO and our own bureau together, the comparative figure for West Bengal was 9.15%. This is what Mr Modi calls a speedbreaker. In 2018-2019, India's GDP growth 6.98% and West Bengal's GDP growth 10.71%. In manufacturing, in 2017-2018 India grew by 5.93% when West Bengal grew by 10.2%. In construction, India grew by 5.6% in 2017-2018 and West Bengal 27.63%. In industry 2017-2018, India grew by 5.95% and West Bengal by 16.29%. The story is very similar for 2018-2019. India grew at 7.66% in industry, and West Bengal by 11.35%. During Mamata's regime, the state plan expenditure grew six times. The capital expenditure grew 11 times and the state's own tax revenue collection grew three times from Rs 21,000 crore to Rs 63,000 crore. This is the achievement of the chief minister of the state. If he cannot respond to this data, the prime minister must withdraw and apologise for his statement on speedbreaker. You said unemployment rate is at a 45-year high. What about Bengal? Data from the central government shows that the unemployment rate (in Bengal) decreased 40%. We created 10 million jobs (since coming to power in 2011). The Centre has introduced many reform measures... The approach of the prime minister and his government is to do things by chest-beating and not by consultation and analysis. Practically, no one knew about demonetisation. There are three major plans that the government is tom-tomming about. Let's take the case of gas connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. Crisil was given a project to find out the pros and cons. Three months before Crisil submitted the report, the Cabinet met and decided to launch it. Three months later when the report came, it said the refill would have to be subsidised or people would go back to burning wood and cow dung. Around 83% said the price of refill was too high. Gas connections went up by 16.26%, but gas cylinders went up by only 9.83%. Moral of the story is the nature of failed governance. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for All (Urban) also failed. Only 1.2 million houses have been constructed, whereas 6.3 million were sanctioned in June 2015. Even in the budgetary resources there was not enough budget for the scheme. This is a make-believe government. Again, the Swachh Bharat portal suggests that 27 of India's 36 states and UTs are open defecation free with 98.6% Indian households having access to toilets. But the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics survey shows 44% of rural population in Bihar, MP, UP and Rajasthan still defecate in the open. And which is the first district in India to become ODF? It was Nadia (in West Bengal), which received a UNICEF award. This state doesn't lie. What about GST? GST falls under the same category. I had repeatedly said GST should be deferred, but they didn't listen. What kind of jobs has your government created? Our government has created 10 million jobs and as a result the unemployment rate has come down by 40% when the Indian unemployment rate is at a 45-year high. For MSME lending, in 2017-2018 I had given banks a target of Rs 38,000 crore, they ended up doing Rs 44,000 crore. This is another measure of employment. Your critics would say that the focus is on MSMEs and not big-ticket investment. That is not the case. Matix, which is an investment of Rs 7,700 crore is going onstream. Flipkart had indicated 10,000 jobs in their DPR, but a recent study says it may go up to 18,000. BASF of Germany has come. Tata Hitachi is shifting from Tatanagar, JSW is expanding its cement unit and now work has started on a paints plant. Reliance Jio has taken 40 acres in Silicon Valley. TCS employs 41,000 people here and have taken an additional 20 acres, which will have a headcount of 15,000. The development comes at a time when Eveready is on the lookout for strategic investors, including a possible stake sale in its battery business. Williamson Magor Group patriarch Brij Mohan Khaitan has resigned as chairman of the groups flagship company, Eveready Industries India, citing his old age. He is 92. In a filing with the BSE, Eveready said, As a mark of respect and in recognition of his significant contributions for over two decades, B M Khaitan has been designated as the chairman emeritus. Khaitan, back in 1993, outran the Wadias of Bombay Dyeing to buy Union Carbide India in a $96.5-million deal. Back then, it was the biggest corporate takeover of that time. Union Carbide eventually shaped up as Eveready Industries India. The development comes at a time when Eveready is on the lookout for strategic investors, including a possible stake sale in its battery business. Another group company, McNally Bharat Engineering is also reeling under a debt cycle. Previously, the senior Khaitan had also resigned from the board of McLeod Russel - the groups tea plantations arm, which is currently on a spree of selling its tea plantations to pare debt. At the group level, the total debt from its batteries, engineering and plantations business, is around Rs 4,500 crore. His rise in the corporate stage to build one of the larger business houses in the country, started with tea, however, rather than batteries. Initially, Khaitan used to supply tea chests and fertilisers to Williamson Magor & Co - then a tea plantations firm. In 1961, at a time when B Bajoria, an investor, had acquired nearly 25 per cent stake in Bishnauth Tea Company, the flagship in the Williamson Magor Tea Estates, Khaitan and his family came in as the white horse and provided the requisite money to buy out Bajoria's stake. Subsequently, he joined the board and later went on to become the managing director of the group. In 1987, when McLeod Russel decided to sell their tea plantations in India, Khaitan negotiated a deal and bought out their estates. Photograph: Courtesy, Business Standard Domestic tyre demand is seen to grow by 7-9 per cent over the next five years. Infrastructure push and expected easing of liquidity will be growth drivers for replacement demand. Tyre makers will invest around Rs 20,000 crore over the next three years as the industry is optimistic that demand would grow by 7-9 per cent during FY19-23. Despite subdued vehicle production levels in the past six months due to a dip in consumer sentiment, the domestic tyre demand is estimated to have grown by 9-11 per cent in FY19. A major chunk of it came from the replacement market. In April-December FY19, the tyre industry increased production by 11 per cent to 146.351 million tonnes from 132.314 million tonnes during the same period the previous year, according to Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), which represents 11 large tyre companies in India accounting for over 90per cent of tyre production. While the association predicts the industry is expected to report 7-8 per cent growth in FY20 in tandem with the GDP growth, K Srikumar, vice-president and co-head of corporate ratings Icra, said the domestic tyre demand would grow by 7-9 per cent over five years. Rajiv Budhraja, director general of ATMA, said post elections, and especially in the second half, the industry is expecting a resurgence in demand for tyres. Infrastructure push and expected easing of liquidity will be growth drivers for replacement demand. The pre-buying of BSVI vehicles, especially in the commercial segment in FY19-20 before BSVI emission norms come into effect, will provide a push to the segment. However, any eventuality of political uncertainty and a below-normal monsoon will pose a challenge for the industry. For FY19, tyre industry revenue growth is pegged at 14-15 per cent and for FY20-22, revenue growth is projected at 9-10 per cent, according to Icra. Industry turnover in FY17-18 is likely to be Rs 57,000 crore and exports will be worth $ 1.7 billion (around Rs 11,180 crore), says ATMA. With stable demand outlook and strong credit profile, domestic tyre makers will continue to invest in capacities. Tyre major Apollo Tyres is planning to invest Rs 2,500-3,000 crore next year, primarily on the Andhra Pradesh Greenfield. In FY18-19, capex was Rs 1,000-1,500 crore. The firm also guided for a double-digit growth for FY20. MRF signed a pact with the Tamil Nadu government to invest Rs 3,100 crore, besides a greenfield in Gujarat. CEAT, an RPG-controlled firm, is lining up investments of Rs 3,500-4,000 crore towards new capacity addition over the next three to five years. Demand grows Following a 13.3 per cent growth in FY18, OE tyre demand in FY19 saw growth of 10-12% despite subdued vehicle production levels. Replacement demand for tyres is estimated to have grown by 7-9 per cent (unit volume) following a muted growth in FY18, supported by a pick-up in infrastructure activities and rising consumption. While the replacement demand for tyres has softened since November 2018 due to tight liquidity conditions, a strong first half has neutralised the impact. The top seven players in India account for around 80 per cent of industry revenues in FY19. Demand comes from OEMs and replacement segment, with share of replacements high at around 65 per cent (in tonnes) and 55 per cent (in unit terms). Specifically, in segments such as truck and bus, replacement share is higher at 80 per cent. This apart, over 20 per cent of industry revenues are derived from exports, although Indias share in the global tyre trade is less than 2 per cent. Exports see a rise Tyre exports have grown at a healthy compound annual growth rate of 12 per cent during FY16-18 aided by favourable demand in overseas markets and increased acceptance of Indian tyres (especially radials). Tyre exports are estimated to have crossed Rs 12,000 crore during FY19, with the US and Germany, the top two markets, accounting for over 20 per cnet of total exports (FY19). While tyre imports have historically affected the domestic market, especially in the truck and bus segment, imports have steadily declined in the past two years post the re-imposition of anti-dumping duty and customs duty on Truck & Bus Radial tyres and rise in import duty on passenger car radial tyres. Pressure The raw material price basket rose by 3 per cent and 11 per cnet during Q2 and Q3FY19, respectively, with a spike in crude-linked input prices. However, with oil prices crashing in November 2018, prices of these inputs have declined in recent months. Price of natural rubber (over 30 per cent of input costs) has continued to be low over the past two years, with prices falling by 4 per cent during FY19. Operating and net margins stood at 13.3 per cent (up 60 bps YoY) and 6.2 per cent (up 15 bps YoY), respectively, during nine months of FY19; elevated prices of crude-linked inputs had restricted margin expansion amidst strong revenue growth. However, with oil prices cooling off in recent months, profit margins in Q4FY19 and Q1FY20 are expected to be strong although some rollbacks on earlier price hikes have taken place in Q4FY19. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters Delta said the airline will operate a Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft with a three-class configuration on the route and will offer passengers wi-fi connectivity and free mobile messaging. US carrier Delta has announced a non-stop flight between New York and Mumbai from December 22. Air India too, is considering a second service between Delhi and New York in the winter schedule. Currently, Air India and United operate non-stop flights between India and the US and the route is dominated by carriers from West Asia and Europe, which control over 70 per cent of the market share. Over 5 million passengers flew between the two countries in FY19. Air India operates 33 weekly flights to the US and is planning to expand its service. Our US routes are doing well and we are considering a second service between Delhi and New York from October, Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani said. Delta said the airline will operate a Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft with a three-class configuration on the route and will offer passengers wi-fi connectivity and free mobile messaging. Delta, which has been targeting Gulf carriers for unfair government subsidies, said the new service would not have been possible without US government efforts to ensure free competition. Airlines from West Asia control around 40 per cent of India-US traffic. Delta had stopped flying to India in 2009 three years after launching its service. Delta has a strong commercial partnership with Jet Airways, which suspended operations last month. The grounding has created capacity reduction on westbound routes from India. The decision to start non-stop service to India appears to have been further strengthened post Jet shutdown, said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO of aviation consultancy CAPA. Jet flew to London, Paris, and Amsterdam, offering onward connections to US on Delta and Air France-KLM. On the Mumbai-London route alone, Jet had over 50 per cent of the capacity. Airlines are also cashing on rise in demand. United has already announced a winter seasonal service between San Francisco and Delhi from December 5. We are excited about the prospects of growth opportunities in the India-US market. "This market has grown nearly 60 per cent in the past 10 years and is one of USs largest international travel markets with over 7,000 passengers each day travelling between two countries, Delta said. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters It had been pointed out to the banking regulator that one-day default was difficult to monitor in large companies, especially where cash flows are dependent on government payments. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to replace the controversial one-day default norm and give a grace period of 30 days to identify the early stress of borrowers. This will form part of the revised February 12 circular, which is in the works, and would come as a breather for India Inc. Under the February 12 circular, even a one-day default on the principal or interest payment, or any other amount, wholly or partly, would lead to banks classifying the account as a special mention account (SMA). The Supreme Court had struck down the RBIs February 12 circular last month and termed it ultra vires. The other big change will be in the treatment accorded to term loans vis-a-vis revolving facilities such as cash credit. Under the now defunct February 12 circular, the one-day default norm applied to term loans and not to cash credit limits. In the case of the latter, default kicked in only when the outstanding balance remained continuously in excess of the sanctioned limit or drawing power, whichever is lower, for more than 30 days or SMA-1. The revised circular will incorporate the continuous 30-day period even in the case of term loans. The SMA-0 category of default, which is between zero and 30 days, and was the bone of contention for corporates, will not apply under the new norms. The new changes are also warranted by the fact that from April 1, a minimum of 40 per cent of the fund-based limits of a borrower are required to be structured in the form of a loan component with a fixed maturity; it is to be hiked to 60 per cent from July 1. This will have an impact on borrowers who will now have to adjust to the new regime whereby a large share of working capital borrowings would have a defined repayment schedule. A well-placed source said it had been pointed out to the banking regulator that one-day default was difficult to monitor in large companies, especially where cash flows are dependent on government payments. It is more so in the case of infrastructure companies which puts them under undue stress. There have been cases where banks reported even triple-A rated firms as defaulters to the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) only to have this reversed after some of them having paid up. The other change on the cards is on the reference date for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (2016) - it is to be from the date an account is classified as SMA-1. The reference date under the February 12 circular was on or after March 1, 2018. It further said if in default as on the reference date, then it is to be 180 days from the said date for referral to the IBC; and if in default after the reference date, then 180 days from the date of the first such default. A new order One-day default norm to give way to a variant of SMA-1 Term-loan and cash-credit limits to be treated on a par The change takes on board the shift in fund-based limits, effective April 1, wherein 40% is to be in the form of a loan component with a fixed maturity Reference date for resolution under IBC to be from the date an account is classified SMA-1 Photograph: Reuters More asset sales may be only way out, though most of the group companies ratings have been downgraded and their combined market value is now a fraction of their combined debt. The Anil Ambani group is facing its biggest challenge with calls from lenders asking promoter entities to top up shares amid the groups falling market capitalisation. As promoters stake in listed entities falls, analysts say its important that the group sells assets expeditiously to revive fortunes. Most of the group companies ratings have been downgraded and their combined market value is now a fraction of their combined debt. The groups seven listed firms had a combined m-cap of Rs 22,283 crore against a total debt of Rs 1.36 trillion at the end of September 2018. More than half of the m-cap is accounted for by Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Company (RN Asset) - an equal JV between Reliance Capital (RCap) and Nippon Life Insurance, a debt-free firm. Both own 42.9 per cent stake each in RN Asset. Excluding RN Asset, the group has a m-cap of just Rs 10,196 crore, down 76 per cent in the past 12 months. Sunil Dhall, CIO of a Dubai-based family office, said that from a peak m-cap of $100 billion in the 2008 bull market to less than $4 billion m-cap now, the group had been a wealth destroyer. As we say in the stock markets, sell when you can and not when you have to because in that case you will get pennies, Dhall said. In spite of a generous standstill deal signed by lenders to Reliance Communications (RCom) in June 2017 and Sasan Power, a unit of Reliance Power (RPower), getting its loan extended under the 5:25 scheme in 2015, things did not improve for the group. Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) also took steps to reduce debt by selling its Mumbai utility to the Adani group. RCap plans to sell its entire stake in the MF arm to Nippon Life and monetise its stakes in Reliance General Insurance via an offer for sale to the extent of 49 per cent, list the UK subsidiary of Prime Focus (held by Reliance Mediaworks), divest from radio business, and monetise the remaining stake in Codemasters. However, despite the decrease in non-core investments in RCaps portfolio, the increase in large-ticket loans in the books of Reliance Commercial Finance and Reliance Home Finance to group firms is key, Icra has said. The standstill deals signed with lenders did not increase the creditworthiness of the firm. "On the contrary, things turned worse for RCom as stakeholders wealth was destroyed. "The Securities and Exchange Board of India, meanwhile, has not said anything about the exposure of MFs even in the case of the Essel group, said Shriram Subramanian, founder-CEO of proxy advisory firm Ingovern. A spokesperson for the Anil Ambanis Reliance group said the lenders had invoked shares of RPower mainly due to the top-up issue, as the shares were falling continuously. Data collated by Business Standard shows nearly 60 per cent of the groups debt is accounted for by non-financial firms - RCom, RPower, RInfra, and Reliance Naval and Engineering. Their combined m-cap of Rs 5,611 crore is, however, just 7 per cent of their outstanding debt at the end of September 2018. This, analysts said, draws a curtain on the groups ability to pull their firms out of forceful liquidation by creditors. A drastic fall in m-cap means that they cannot raise equity to repay loans and deleverage their balance sheet. "And its increasingly tough to service debt through internal accruals due to poor profitability, an analyst said. In the first nine months of FY19, the group firms reported combined operating profit (excluding other income) of Rs 7,361 crore against their combined interest obligation of Rs 11,051 crore, making it impossible for the group to service debt from internal accruals. For RCap, RNaval, and RCom interest obligations exceeded operating profits (excluding other income), while Reliance Home Finance was just on the edge with operating profits exceeding interest payment by Rs 2 crore. The group managed to keep its head above water, thanks to exceptional gains (or other income) of Rs 9,900 crore largely by way of asset sales during the period by RInfra and RCap. Fundraising through asset monetisation has slowed down due to a sharp fall in group firms m-cap and a general weakness in the broader equity market. RCap has been able to achieve only about a third of the total exits planned by September 2018 with timelines for other exits being extended. "The divestment plans of the group continue to remain critical to the overall credit profile of the group, wrote CARE Ratings Ravi Kumar in a recent rating update on Reliance Home Finance. Early this week, debt instruments of Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance were downgraded by CARE Ratings. They join RCom and RNaval, which are already in default category. Late last year, Icra dropped coverage on RPower due to the companys inability to furnish a no-default certificate. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters Jet has been operating on international routes since 2004, being the first private airline to do so in decades, after it launched a Chennai-Colombo service in March that year. Jet Airways has asked the Union aviation ministry to not release its international traffic rights to rival carriers. Doing so, says the insolvent and now-grounded airline, would affect investor bids for it and harm investor interest. Jet had the largest share of Indias foreign air traffic even in 2017-18, at 13.8 per cent. Recently, after lender-banks rejected a request for emergency funding, it announced a suspension of all flight operations. Traffic rights or seat entitlements on air routes abroad, are exchanged between governments through formal Air Service Agreements. These entitlements are held by the government. Airlines are granted designated carrier status and traffic rights on a particular route by the ministry, on fulfilling its norms. Jet has been operating on international routes since 2004, being the first private airline to do so in decades, after it launched a Chennai-Colombo service in March that year. Jets slots at various airports have already been distributed to other domestic airlines for three months. This was done to allow new flights, after the suspension of Jet's operations led to a surge in airfares. Jet, however, wants its foreign flying rights to be protected. The airline derived over half its revenue from international flights, with daily plying to Europe, Southeast Asia and the Gulf countries. We understand there was a possible informal proposal in the ministry to consider a temporary allocation of Jets traffic rights to other Indian carriers for two-three 3 months. "We earnestly request the ministry not to allow even a temporary allocation of our traffic rights, Jets chief executive officer, Vinay Dube, wrote in a letter to the ministry on Tuesday. Even a temporary allocation of traffic rights may give rise to the apprehension of traffic rights being taken away from Jet. "This apprehension will be enough to break investors' confidence and dampen their interest in bidding. SBI Capital Markets is managing a process to find an investor for Jet, in a bank-led resolution plan. The lenders hope to conclude the bidding process by May 10. Aviation ministry officials did not respond to text messages for a comment on the issue. The issue of allocation of Jets foreign traffic rights came up earlier this month. Executives of rival airlines demanded the permission granted for Jet's foreign flights be reviewed, as the airline was operating fewer than 20 planes on domestic routes. The current National Civil Aviation Policy allows an airline to commence flights on routes abroad only if it deploys at least 20 aircraft or 20 per cent of its seat capacity on domestic operations. The policy does not specify criteria for withdrawal of such approval. In its letter, Jet says the rules allow an airline to hold the traffic right up to six months upon discontinuation of the service. And, that an airline has to first intimate the ministry regarding discontinuation of flights on foreign routes and share a plan regarding resumption. If resumption is not planned within six months or it is planned but not effected within six months, (only then will) the unutilised rights be treated as surrendered and the ministry be free to allocate these to other airlines, Dube said. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters Investors need to evaluate the offerings of a broker in totality before selecting one. Sanjay Kumar Singh and Tinesh Bhasin report. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com While banks-cum-brokers tend to have higher brokerage charges, Axis Securities recently rolled out 'India, Trade@20', a low-cost plan that charges a flat Rs 20 per trade, so as not to lose out on price-sensitive customers. Paytm Money has just received a broking licence from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Since it is backed by deep-pocketed investors, analysts expect it to launch an aggressive pricing model to garner market share. And a few months ago, Zerodha, riding on its low-cost proposition, emerged as the country's top broker by number of active unique client codes. Even as broking in India moves inexorably towards lower costs, investors, especially the more seasoned ones, need to evaluate the offerings of a broker in totality before selecting one. Consider volume of transactions: A novice entering the equity markets for the first time may perhaps opt for a bank-cum-broker. They offer the benefit of a gamut of services at one place. "We offer research and the entire bouquet of banking products. Currently, we also provide our own non-discretionary PMS and are looking at offering some more options on stock advisory in collaboration with other players," says Arun Thukral, MD and CEO, Axis Securities. A bank-cum-broker has an established brand name that inspires confidence in a new entrant. At this point of time, he may need advice on what to buy and sell, which only a full-service broker can provide. Full-service brokers, however, have higher broking charges. They charge a percentage of the total cost of securities bought or sold. Discount brokers, on the other hand, today charge a flat fee of Rs 15-20 per trade (please see table), irrespective of the value of the transaction. Some like Zerodha, Upstox and Fyers also charge zero brokerage for delivery-based equity transactions. "A new entrant usually has a lower volume of transaction. Hence brokerage cost is not of the utmost importance to him," says Vikas Singhania, executive director, Trade Smart Online. But as the investor becomes more seasoned and her/his trading volume rises, s/he is likely to find a percentage-based fee burdensome. S/he should then shift to a discount broker with a flat fee. S/he should also take a host of other factors into consideration. Take the example of 28-year-old Tanay Baldua as an example. He started with a full-fledged broker initially when he was new to direct equity investing. As he started trading regularly, he opted for a discount broker after seeing his friends use the platform. "While I opted for a discount brokerage, cost was not the key criterion. I liked the platform, the user interface was intuitive, and the pricing was also attractive," says Baluda. Transparency in charges: Go preferably with a broker whose cost structure is simple, with every charge stated upfront. Visit her/his web site and examine his cost structure. There should be no asterisk mark that says: Conditions apply. "Low cost should not come with conditions attached that enhance the customer's cost in any way," says Nithin Kamath, founder and CEO, Zerodha. Watch out for hidden charges, like higher DP (depository participant) and clearing charges. Look for a stable platform: A trading platform should have a high level of uptime. It should stay up, and not crash, even on days when the market sees high turnover or volatility," says Tejas Khoday, co-founder and chief executive officer, Fyers Securities. "If a trading platform goes down, or there is a loss of connectivity, it can have significant impact on traders' gains and losses," adds Khoday. Execution must be speedy: Prices of stocks and derivatives fluctuate every second, even intra-second. The trader may hit a sell order, but it may not go through that very instant. The trader could then get a worse price. Suppose that you buy a stock at Rs 100 for intra-day trading. When it goes up to Rs 105, you sell it. If the platform is slow, the price may come down to Rs 103 by the time your order hits the exchange, causing you a loss of Rs 2. Tools and utilities: Many brokers nowadays offer a variety of tools and utilities to enhance user experience. Zerodha runs an educational portal on stock markets, where everyone's (customer or non-customer) queries are answered. Fyers offers stock screeners and analytics. Above, we have mentioned some of the criteria that are important for selecting a broker. But how does a prospective customer get to know who fulfils these criteria? "Get feedback from fellow traders. Participate in online forums where traders interact and share their views on brokers," says Khoday. Singhania suggests going through broker reviews on established third-party review Web sites like Mouthshut.com. Some brokers even offer a free trial period for, say, three days. Opt for it. Most of them also offer free demos that will provide you a feel of their platform. Also ensure that the broker you sign up with has an educated customer support team that understands the nuances of the markets and trading. In insolvency proceedings, Ericsson will be treated as only an operational creditor and may end up losing the Rs 550 crore IMAGE: Anil Ambani is chairman of the Reliance Group; including, Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure, and Reliance Power. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday allowed insolvency proceedings against Reliance Communication (RCom) after the Anil Ambani-led firm withdrew a challenge to such a move. RCom will be admitted back to insolvency proceedings after the NCLAT allowed the debt-laden firm to withdraw its petition challenging a decision of the Mumbai-bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to initiate such proceedings. RCom had moved the application to withdraw its challenge to the insolvency order after its board felt insolvency was the best course after failed attempts to revive the firm. An NCLAT bench headed by chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya ruled that moratorium on liabilities would start. Moratorium over "sale, transfer or alienate any moveable or immovable property" or "invoke any guarantee or mortgage or any other instrument" of RCom would continue as per the norms of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016, it said. Originally, Ericsson India had in September 2017 moved insolvency petitions against RCom and its subsidiaries Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom before the Mumbai bench of NCLT after failing to recover about Rs 1,500 crore dues from the company. The petition was admitted on May 15, 2018. The NCLAT had on May 30, 2018, stayed insolvency proceedings after RCom challenged it. In subsequent proceedings before NCLAT, RCom had reached an agreement with Ericsson India to pay Rs 550 crore by September 30, 2018. This deadline was extended till December 15, 2018, after RCom petitioned the Supreme Court. After it failed to make the payments within the stipulated deadline, a contempt petition was moved before the Supreme Court which threatened to jail top executives of RCom if the firm did not pay up within four weeks. RCom made the payments in March and later moved an application to withdraw the challenge to the insolvency, a move that Ericsson India termed as "dishonest" intended to frustrate court orders. In insolvency proceedings, Ericsson will be treated as only an operational creditor and may end up losing the Rs 550 crore it had got as financial creditors have first say on proceeds from such proceedings. Following the withdrawal, May 15, 2018 order admitting insolvency petition would become operational now. During the proceedings, RCom was represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, which asked the appellate tribunal to allow the company to withdraw its appeal, a move which was contested by Ericsson. Last year, when on May 30 NCLAT had stayed the insolvency proceedings, RCom was hopeful of selling its telecom towers, spectrum and fibre assets to Reliance Jio to clear some of the Rs 45,733 crore debt it owes to banks. However, the sale did not materialise after Jio declined to take the liabilities of its past dues. The full service carrier has more than 20,000 employees, including pilots and engineers. 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. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters Two associations representing pilots and engineers have written to SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar proposing that they would take over the airline and can bring in up to Rs 7,000 crore. As uncertainty continues over the fate of Jet Airways, an employees' consortium has proposed to take over the airline with at least Rs 3,000 crore expected from outside investors for the bid, according to two staff unions. This is the first time that employees have come together with a proposal to run the more than 25-year-old Jet Airways, which temporarily suspended operations on April 17. Two associations representing pilots and engineers -- SWIP and JAMEVA -- have written to State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar proposing that they would take over the airline and can bring in up to Rs 7,000 crore. The Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP) and the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association (JAMEVA) have written a letter to the SBI chief asking the lead lender to consider "employee consortium" as an intending bidder for the carrier. While SWIP has around 800 members, there are about 500 employees with JAMEVA. "The contribution from employees would be realised from their future earnings and increased productivity... As per our initial estimate, the contribution of employees group over a hypothetical 5-year Employee Stock Ownership Programme (ESOP) is likely to be upward of Rs 4,000 crore. "In addition, we are also confident of securing an investment commitment of up to Rs 3,000 crore from outside investors," the letter, dated April 29, said. The letter has been signed by four people -- SWIP general secretary Ashwani Tyagi, JAMEVA president Ashish Kumar Mohanty, Jet Airways manager (human resources) B B Singh and Jet Lite senior vice president (operations) and accountable manager P P Singh. The deadline for submitting initial bids have already ended and the list of shortlisted entities is expected to be finalised on May 10. SBI Capital Markets, on behalf of the lenders' consortium led by the SBI, is managing the bidding process. "We confirm that a proposal for employee takeover of Jet Airways has been submitted by us... We are optimistic that the banks and Government of India will give our plan a serious consideration," the two unions said in a joint statement. Tyagi said the letter has also been signed by two officials of the airline. Cash-starved Jet Airways stopped operations on April 17 after lenders decided not to extend emergency funds. Since then, employees have held gatherings in various cities and have also met various ministers with pleas to save the airline. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters The deal with @Leisure Group will give Oyo access to a total inventory of 300,000 rooms across Europe In one of the biggest acquisition of a foreign firm done by an Indian unicorn, Oyo is set to acquire Amsterdam-based vacation rental company @Leisure Group from Axel Springer at a little over Euro 369.5 million, or over Rs 2,880 crore. SoftBank-backed Oyo, which is trying to establish a base in Europe, UK and US, had been in talks with @Leisure for over the past six months. This acquisition would make its move into these regions smoother. @Leisure, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe. Its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries. This represents a total inventory of 300,000 rooms. Ritesh Agarwal, who founded Oyo as a 19-year-old in 2013, said: We see vacation homes as a unique opportunity with 115,000 units of homes now getting added to our already growing count of beautiful homes and we are excited to continue maintaining our global industry leadership. "@Leisure has proven capabilities in helping develop Europe into a vacation rentals hotspot. It is a business decision closely aligned with our overall mission that has incredible potential. In March, diversifying from the hotel and long-term lodging business to co-working spaces, Oyo acquired Innov8. Sources said Oyo, which has more than $1.1 billion in its balance sheet, spent between Rs 150 crore and Rs 200 crore for the acquisition. Oyo aims to open more than 35 new co-working spaces in major metropolitans over the next one year. It has also started two new co-working brands - PowerStation and WorkFlo - that will cater to a variety of start-ups and companies. Oyo also has plans to provide affordable office and workstation spaces to companies. The company has already made an expansion plan for the whole year. Globally, Oyo is present in 10 countries, over 500 cities and hosts millions of guests in over 18,000 hotels and homes in over 515,000 rooms. The companys sales run-rate in December ended at $1.8 billion, growing roughly at 4.3X year-on-year. The company aims to be the worlds sixth-biggest hotel brand by room numbers. Agarwal has earlier said the company aims to become the largest hotel brand by rooms by 2023. 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". Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com 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 Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering charges amounting to up to $ 2 billion. 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 $ 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. Tata Starbucks had hiked the base price of one its coffee variant after the GST Council cut tax rates on restaurants from 18 per cent to 5 per cent with effect from November 15, 2017. The GST investigative arm has found Tata Starbucks guilty of profiteering to the tune of Rs 4.51 crore by not reducing prices of coffee despite a cut in the rate. Investigation by the Directorate General of Anti Profiteering (DGAP) has revealed that Tata Starbucks, the equal joint venture between the Tata and global coffee chain Starbucks, had hiked the base price of one its coffee variant after the GST Council cut tax rates on restaurants from 18 per cent to 5 per cent with effect from November 15, 2017. This kept the retail sale price of the product pre and post GST rate reduction intact. Sources said the DGAP has concluded its investigation in March and found that Starbucks profiteered Rs 4.51 crore. This case will be now heard by the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), which will pass the final order about the quantum of profiteering. When contacted, Tata Starbucks spokesperson said: "As a responsible organization, Tata Starbucks conducts its business ethically and complies with all the local laws and regulations. The company, since its entry in October 2012, operates around 140 outlets across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Pune and Kolkata. GST rate on restaurants was slashed to 5 per cent without benefit of credit on inputs with effect from November 15, 2017. Before that the tax rate was 18 per cent with input tax credit (ITC). Following that, restaurants were supposed to adjust their base price after taking into account the unavailability of credit on input. However, there have been complaints from customers that restaurants have hiked their base price of the products in such a way that the final sale price remained the same both pre and post GST rate cut. "According to estimates the unavailability of ITC benefits can push up the cost of product by 10-12 per cent. However, in some cases we have seen that the base price has been increased by as much as 85 per cent," one of the source told PTI. After studying the books of accounts of a company, the DGAP gives its report to the NAA for further action. If the NAA finds a firm guilty of profiteering then the amount profiteered has to be refunded to consumers by the company. In case where the consumers cannot be identified, the amount has to be deposited into the consumer welfare fund of the Centre and states. In February, the NAA had found another restaurant chain Jubilant FoodWorks, the operator of Dominos Pizza in India, guilty of not passing on GST-cut benefit of Rs 41.42 crore on sale of some pizza products. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Earlier, budget carrier SpiceJet said it would hire 500 from Jet, including 100 pilots. Air India Express has also inducted around 25 commanders from the grounded airline. In one of its largest hiring exercise since it began operations over three years back, the premium carrier Vistara is hiring around 500 --100 pilots and 400 cabin crew -- mostly from the grounded Jet Airways, say industry and airline sources. The grounding of Jet has come as an opportunity for the market to hire readily-available skilled workforce from the licenced categories -- pilots, engineers and cabin crew and deploy them directly into specifics roles, thereby saving time and money on training them, they said. After unsuccessfully looking for an investor or fresh bank loans for months, Jet Airways had finally on April 17 stopped operations, leaving over 22,000 employees in the lurch. Of these around 1,300 are pilots and over 2,000 are cabin crew. Tuesday was the last day of the two-day recruitment drive for the cabin crew at the Tatas-Singapore Airline-run Vistara, which took place simultaneously in Mumbai and Gurugram, they said. "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," said a source. A Vistara spokesperson was not available to comment. Earlier, budget carrier SpiceJet said it would hire 500 from Jet, including 100 pilots. Air India Express has also inducted around 25 commanders from the grounded airline 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. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters Or else customers will face capacity shortages and high fares. Surajeet Das Gupta reports. It promises to be a Herculean task. With the number of domestic air passengers projected to go up by 14% to 16% in FY20 (and by 12% in the international market), and with the possibility of Jet Airways not taking off immediately, Indian carriers have to add more than 210 planes in a year to get back to normal capacity in the air. Or else customers will face capacity shortages and high fares. With the grounding of Jet Airways (with a fleet of 120), the number of planes in the country plummeted to around 544 (this does not include the grounding of Boeing MAX), which means the airlines will have to increase their fleet capacity by almost 40 per cent in FY20, which, most analysts say, is improbable, if not impossible. According to Centre for Aviation (CAPA) data, before Jet's grounding, the agency had projected 90 planes would be added in FY20, resulting in a growth rate of 20 per cent. Jet has provided an opportunity for other airlines to fill the breach. Even assuming from the existing announcements that 40 to 50 additional planes (over and above the earlier planned inductions of 90 planes) are added, the number of additional planes would touch 130 to 140 in FY20. That is far short of the 210 required now. "It is inconceivable if the Jet closure becomes permanent all of us put together will be able to add a similar seat capacity as Jet within a year and also have an additional capacity to take care of the growth," a leading LCC (low-cost carrier) senior executive points out. "That would be wishful thinking. A more prudent way would be to divert capacity where the load factor is moderate or low to routes where it is high and demand outstrips supply." SpiceJet has been the most ambitious and said it is planning to add 27 aircraft to the fleet. However, currently 12 of its Boeing MAX planes have been grounded for international investigation. Based on the CAPA data, IndiGo will add an additional capacity of 40 planes, increasing the fleet size to 270 by the end of FY20. Both Air India and Air Asia India have modest expansion plans and Go Air is looking at adding around 13 planes to their fleet. From disbursing Rs 25.11 crore to political parties in 2014-2015, the Tata group is learnt to have contributed about Rs 600 crore towards the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Archis Mohan and Nivedita Mookerji report. Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/ Rediff.com IMAGE: Ratan N Tata, emeritus chairman, Tata group, is greeted by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata group, at Bombay House, the Tata headquarters in Mumbai, July 29, 2018. The Tata group, through its electoral trust, is learnt to have contributed Rs between Rs 500 crore to Rs 600 crore (Rs 5 billion to Rs 6 billion) towards the 2019 Lok Sabha election, pushing up its poll expenditure by more than 20 times since 2014. In the financial year 2014-2015, it disbursed Rs 25.11 crore (Rs 251.1 million) to political parties, according to official filings made by Progressive Electoral Trust, the Tata group's election funding vehicle. For the ongoing election, it has made contributions to all national parties, with the biggest chunk going to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The electoral trust distributes the contribution proportionately to the registered national political parties on the basis of the seats held by them in Parliament. The Tata group did not respond to queries on the matter. Estimates available from various political parties suggest that the BJP got between Rs 300 crore and Rs 350 crore (Rs 3 billion and Rs 3.5 billion) out of the total funding by the Tatas in 2019. The Congress possibly received in the region of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million). The remaining sum was divided between the Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI-M, and Nationalist Congress Party. Of the total contributions made by the group for this election, around Rs 220 crore (Rs 2.2 billion) came from Tata Consultancy Services, the software major said in its post-result analyst call recently. In the financial year 2014-2015, TCS had contributed only Rs 1.48 crore (Rs 14.8 million) to Progressive Electoral Trust. Tata Steel had paid a much higher amount at Rs 14.13 crore (Rs 141.3 million), while parent company Tata Sons's contribution was Rs 4.74 crore (Rs 47.4 million), Tata Motors's Rs 1.84 crore (Rs 18.4 million), Tata Chemicals's Rs 1.49 crore (Rs 14.9 million), Tata Global Beverages's Rs 1.23 crore (Rs 12.3 million), and Tata Power's Rs 14.47 lakh (Rs 1.447 million), among others, five years ago. Sources pointed out that the Tata group's election funding has risen significantly quite in sync with the increase in the country's election expenditure. Another major change this election is the way the salt-to-software conglomerate is funding political parties. So far, half of the contributions from Progressive Electoral Trust were being distributed to political parties prior to the elections and the other half after the elections, according to the Articles of Association available with the Registrar of Companies. This was altered end of 2018, as sought by political parties. 'Depending on the timing of the relevant election, distribution of the distributable contribution in two phases as currently set out in Article 10 may not be possible,' the Trust said in a notice to an extraordinary general meeting, according to a filing with the RoC in December 2018. 'Also, Tata Sons, a member of the company (the electoral trust), has received requests from political parties to provide the entire contribution prior to the election, so as to enable them to utilise the money for the purpose of elections.' 'Accordingly, Tata Sons, vide its letter dated November 16, 2018, to the company (the electoral trust) has proposed to amend the Articles of Association of the company, pursuant to the requests from political parties and in order to eliminate the possibility of any conflict with the income-tax rules,' it added in its notice for a special resolution. In the case of the earlier arrangement of the electoral trust contributing half the fund before elections and another half later, the winning party stood to benefit if there was a change in government after the polls. With the changed rules, the entire funding has to be given before the election, thereby benefiting the ruling political party the most. In the current Lok Sabha, the BJP has 268 seats, the Congress 45, the TMC 33, the CPI-M 9, the NCP 7, and the CPI 1. While electoral trusts were introduced before the previous Lok Sabha election for ensuring transparency in funding, electoral bonds have turned out to be more attractive for the corporate world in 2019. The identity of the donor is kept confidential while contributing through electoral bonds unlike electoral trusts. In fact, from 2014 to 2019, the number of electoral trusts has grown from 20 to just about 30, according to an official in the ministry of corporate affairs. "My sense is that the growth in trusts is relatively limited because corporates would, by and large, prefer to give anonymously," says Milan Vaishnav, director and Senior Fellow, South Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. While Vaishnav pointed out that it is nearly impossible to gauge how much corporates are spending in 2019, he said, "The conventional wisdom is that the overall election spending this year will probably hit $7 billion to $8 billion, which is up from an estimated $5 billion in 2014." 'As casualties go, Maoism has been exacting a heavy price, and with a sickening regularity.' 'Yet, it is the other threat that hog all the limelight, the headlines and the TV studio debates,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy. IMAGE: Mangled remains of a police vehicle, carrying 16 security personnel that was blasted by Maoists, in Gadchiroli, May 1, 2019. Photograph: PTI Photo Prime Time news, or news that airs at 9 pm every night, can actually be reduced to a battle of hashtags. So between Times Now's #ModiCornersMasood and Republic TV's #ModiCrushesPak, the entire coverage of the Chinese acquiescence to the UN ban on the Jaish e Mohammed terrorist can be told. So where does it leave those like NDTV 24x7 that try and eschew taking a stand in the highest standards of journalism? In a different boat from the two other TV stations mentioned above. But what do you when the pool of invitees one can have on a show is not that large? You have two spokespersons of the two major political parties, then a neutral academic, plus a couple of domain experts and the show is set. So most often, you will find the same faces on different shows when you flip the channels, making you wonder at the scheduling wizardry, and the logistical nightmare, that must go into TV debates. And Wednesday night was no different, either, with India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin the most sought after studio voice. So Times Now did one better, cutting immediately over to Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's first comments on the Masood Azhar ban, something his government had been working on assiduously with China with multiple engagements over time. Naturally, Modi had the first dibs. 'Der aayi durast aayi,' he told a rally somewhere, better late than never. 'Yeh hai nayi Bharat.' For a government caught on the wrong foot over many issues bang in the middle of electioneering -- from the single-minded pursuit of Rahul Gandhi on flimsy charges, to violations of the model code of conduct -- the Chinese action has come as a shot in the arm. National security, which has been highlighted by the government as one of its achievements in the election campaign, is now sure to get a shriller focus in the days to come, but is it a bread-and-butter issue that can swing the vote decisively in the three remaining phases of polling? After all, the Congress's own record in pursuing international terrorists ensconced in Pakistan had not been all that bad. In the wake of the 26/11 terror strikes, the Manmohan Singh government did get Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Muhammed Saeed blacklisted promptly, a fact that Gaurav Vallabh kept highlighting on CNN-News18. And we all know that despite the all-round condemnation of allowing such a terror strike to happen, the government of the day did get the voters's thumbs up in the elections that followed, despite the BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, in league with his chief campaign manager Narendra Damodardas Modi, harping on national security as the administration's Achilles heel. India Today TV laid down the guidelines clearly, that there would be no politics over the ban which was in the national interest, and the Congress spokesperson agreed, but couldn't help ask if we are all going to sit there and gloat when there has been a Naxalite attack in Maharashtra claiming 15 security personnel, at which point the BJP's Shazia Ilmi broke the self-imposed bar, asking if this was what the no-politics-over-Masood-Azhar meant. If anything, the politicisation of the UN ban should get a boost now, as the BJP and Congress assess the likely impact of the move on the elections and fashion a response. Wednesday night TV also showed up how the smartphone can show up the smartness or otherwise of arguments. Journalist Praveen Swami, who has made a career focusing on counter-terrorism, made a valid point on Bhupendra Chaubey's show on CNN-News18, when he pointed out that the ban on Azhar actually made no mention of Kashmir, or Pulwama terror attack, but had more to do with international terror, being affiliates of Al Qaeda, because that was how the UN resolution was worded, when the Congress's Gaurav Vallabh intervened to say the Manmohan Singh government had managed to name the Mumbai terror attacks in the UN resolution banning Saeed. Now Swami knows his facts, even if you argue over his interpretations. And promptly fished out his phone, and told Vallabh that here's the Google link to the UN resolution on Saeed, there is no mention of Mumbai terror attacks in it. To which Vallabh feebly responded that he too had the page open on his phone, Swami was right, but tell us, why did it take so long for the Modi government to get Azhar banned when the Singh government could get Saeed banned within weeks of 26/11? At which point Chaubey intervened to move the discussion back on track. The interesting part -- if that is the term, actually -- was that during prime time the TV channels were all focused on the Masood Azhar ban, barring Mirror Now where Faye D'Souza was discussing the rights and wrongs of banning the face veil in the wake of the Shiv Sena's demand. The Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, in which 16 personnel were killed, was more of a footnote, and compensated with special bulletins at 10 pm. Which, in a sense, reflects the official thinking on the twin threats facing India. While Maoism is the clear and present danger, with roots and causes both lying within the country and hence capable of being solved through a combination of tactics, the jihadi danger is one that looms over the country's borders, notably localised to one State. As casualties go, Maoism has been exacting a heavy price, and with a sickening regularity. Yet, it is the other threat and its ramifications that hog all the limelight, the headlines and the TV studio debates. And now, even the election campaign, it seems. 'It must be rendering Modi, Amit Shah and Adityanath speechless that the Indian diplomat who lifted the Azhar trophy at the UN in New York is also a Muslim. 'Yes, this is the wonder that was India,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar. IMAGE: Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, India's permanent representative to the United Nations. As patriotic Indians, we savour this moment as we hear the good news that the United Nations is blacklisting Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. The country applauds India's diplomats who have finally clinched the issue through quiet, patient, dedicated work. On a personal note, it makes me feel proud of my erstwhile colleagues in the Indian Foreign Service. However, before we move on later today, inevitably, to the fateful final lap of the general election that would decide the destiny of India, we must realise that there is life beyond Azhar. Three things come to mind. First, it is easy to exaggerate the significance of what happened at the UN in New York on May 1. The issue has been played up in the recent year or two in a way that it became an emotive issue. But emotions cloud judgment. Plainly put, Azhar's designation (or non-designation) does not really add up much. This may sound blasphemy. Yet, the fact remains that in the pantheon of UN's global terrorists, we can spot at least two other equally infamous figures -- Muhammed Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim -- for perpetrating crimes even more horrific than Azhar's hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft. And that made hardly any difference to the quality of their lives. We don't even know whether their UN designation -- Saeed's shortly after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and Ibrahim's as far back as 2003 -- dispatched them to retirement. In Saeed's case, most certainly not. So, Azhar's designation must be put in perspective. Admittedly, it draws attention to Pakistan as a land of terrorist groups, but then, isn't that fairly well-known? Forever Pakistan seems to dabble in terrorism directed against its neighbours -- Iran, Afghanistan and India -- but forever will the international community have dealings with it. Being a nuclear power, Pakistan cannot be 'isolated'. Does Azhar's designation end the terrorist threat to India's national security? No, it may not even significantly reduce the threat. The unresolved Kashmir dispute will spawn terror groups -- especially, if the government adopts State repression as the only means to tackle the profound alienation in the valley. Old groups mutate while new ones struggle to take habitation and a name. Even if Pakistan locks up Azhar and throws away the key, it won't substitute for the ineptness of the Indian security establishment. Under the Modi government, terrorism had a field day. The danger lies in deflecting attention from this colossal failure of leadership and create an illusion that Azhar's designation is going to make all the difference. No, it won't. In the final analysis, the government's security apparatus needs to deliver -- for which, of course, it must be held accountable. Most certainly, it helps by engaging with Pakistan to reduce the scope of its territory being used by anti-India terror groups. Such an approach may or may not work, but it is worth trying. Iran's recent experience has been that no matter its conciliatory attitude toward Pakistan, terror groups indulge in cross-border attacks. Nonetheless, Tehran continues to be persuasive and keep channels open to Islamabad. Second, the denouement to the Azhar file in New York throws underscores the efficacy of quiet, patient diplomacy to resolve even seemingly intractable differences and disputes. The Modi government wasted much time by indulging in megaphone diplomacy in a campaign primarily focused on embarrassing Beijing publicly and put it to shame to force it to lift the block on Azhar's listing. The pressure tactic failed to work. Quite obviously, China had its compulsions, too, and it was only possible to address them through quiet diplomacy. The fact of the matter is that China and India are on the same page in regard of the fight against terrorism and it is far too simplistic to imagine that Beijing is a captive of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Looking back, Delhi's decision to abandon the megaphone diplomacy was the right thing to do. Third, the Azhar experience throws light on the zen of dealing with China. The Modi government wasted three full years in 'muscular diplomacy'. A rethink was possible only with the shock and awe of a potential confrontation with the People's Liberation Army that loomed in front of us in Doklam. Through protracted negotiations, the standoff was ended. (The two sides met 18 times, but all in Beijing and not even once in Delhi -- the symbolism was stunning.) The message went home. Fortunately, there was also a rotation of foreign secretaries around that time -- and an able, astute, self-effacing, authentic 'China hand' took over in South Block in February last year. The shift was not only in content, but in style too -- from impetuous, vacuous, abrasive, macho style of oneupmanship and grandstanding passing for diplomacy to a mature, interactive, consultative approach toward Beijing geared to build mutual trust and confidence. Unsurprisingly, this critical shift has taken India-China relations to a more predictable level. The Azhar episode bears testimony to it. The timing of the Chinese decision could not have been more fortuitous. It clears the deck, so to speak, to launch a new trajectory of relationship under the next government that could be productive, mutually beneficial and far-sighted. Hopefully, this new climate of relations will help India to approach the key issues ahead with new thinking -- especially, issues such as 5G technology, Belt and Road, etc. Finally, what matters most at the moment is that these are extraordinary times and every breath we take, every move we make today is related primarily to the general election in our country. There can be no two opinions that the destiny of India as a secular democracy hangs in the balance. What a splendid sight, therefore, that India's flag carrier at the UN headquarters in New York in this moment of glory over Azhar's designation is Syed Akbaruddin -- 'Akbar' as his friends and colleagues affectionately call this thoroughbred professional. In the idea of India, this was not meant to be exceptional. Remember that India still cherishes the memory of another Akbar -- the Mughal emperor whose wife also happened to be a Hindu, Mariam-uz-Zamani, mother of Emperor Jehangir, who was born a Rajput princess. But today, sadly, such things need to be reiterated. Especially, for the benefit of all those rabble-rousing politicians of our country's ruling elite who brand Indias Muslim citizens as suspects with divided loyalty. The Indian Express newspaper today carried a riveting report by Vandita Mishra from the remote plains of Bihar heaving with untold sorrows, where the electoral battle is being joined. It concludes this way: 'The Modi message fumbles visibly among the scheduled castes still fighting basic fights for land and water who also bear the brunt of the economic distress. The Muslims are backing the Mahagathbandhan with added determination -- and helplessness.' 'In Manjhi Mianpatti on the edge of Saran, Mohammad Hashim speaks for many: "This is our country, we will die here. We are party of the Indian army too. And you say to us, go to Pakistan! Why do you come to our doorstep and chant 'Jai Shri Ram'? Why do you call us unpatriotic? Why does the PM call himself chowkidar, who is he guarding, from whom? We don't want jobs, we'll make our own living, but at least let us live in peace." It must be rendering Modi, Amit Shah and Adityanath speechless that the Indian diplomat who lifted the Azhar trophy at the UN in New York is also a Muslim. Yes, this is the wonder that was India. No, Sir, Kerala's Malappuram and Wayanad are not parts of Pakistan. Nor is green synonymous with sedition or Pakistan. Humankind visualises green as the colour of life, renewal and energy, associated with meanings of growth, harmony, freshness, safety and fertility. It has healing power. 'As the Aisi Taisi Democracy folk so aptly put it, time to choose who will s**** us most', says Geetanjali Krishna. IMAGE: Aisi Taisi Democracy performers Sanjay Rajoura, Varun Grover and Rahul Ram. Photograph: Kind courtesy, AisiTaisiDemocracy/facebook.com As we approach phase five of the Lok Sabha election, politicians and their campaigns are trending on social media. Political spoofs and parodies are also hitting new highs. The one I laughed at the most was a parody of a Bollywood song video by Aisi Taisi Democracy. I'm no good at translating, but the gist of it is that in this election season, it is time for us to choose who will s**** us more. I found it funny then, but days later, when I had a chance encounter with Rajendra Kumar, a plumber, I realised that the parody packed quite a vicious little bite. Kumar has been a plumber for the last 25 years. A little help from his father enabled him to buy a small house in Delhi a few years ago. He earns about Rs 30,000 a month, drives a motorcycle and is sending his eldest son to Delhi University and daughter to an expensive private school. All in all, not an uncomfortable situation, one would think. However, it has taken a mere one month-long illness to turn his life upside down. For a couple of months, the 45 year old had been experiencing pain in his right hip. "As a plumber, much of my work involves crouching and bending, but I was able to manage," he said. One morning, however, he woke up to an excruciating pain and couldn't stand up. His alarmed family members rushed him to the nearest hospital. "Three days there, I was Rs 46,000 down, but still had no idea what was wrong with me," he said. When his brother inquired if the hospital had any schemes for the needy, he was told that their household income was "too high" for them to qualify for the scheme. Finally, an expensive MRI indicated some degree of spinal spondylosis. The doctor advised physiotherapy and a month's rest. While Kumar's income allows his family to live comfortably, he has meagre savings. For he supports not only his own family -- wife, 20-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter on his income, he also sends money to his aged mother who lives in a village near Mathura. "My bank balance was wiped out by the initial hospital fees and medicine expenses," he says. His younger brother loaned Rs 25,000 but could little afford to part with more. The forced bedrest gave Kumar time to think. "I have realised how vulnerable people like me are," he said. "We depend on daily work for our livelihood, which means that every day off that we take entails the loss of a day's income." Private medical hospitals are prohibitively expensive. Yet, people like Kumar cannot access the government's health and social security schemes as their income is, if there can be any such thing, "too high". Consequently, Kumar has started accepting work whenever his son can take time off from studying for his college exams. "He's learning fast, but I'd never want him to become a plumber like me." he said. No party, he says, has done anything to improve the vulnerabilities of India's vast unorganised sector. "Why should I even vote?" he asks. "People like me will continue to get shortchanged regardless of who's in power..." he says. It really is, as the Aisi Taisi Democracy folk so aptly put it, time to choose who will s**** us most. 'We have done nothing wrong and I dont understand why they are sending a notice' IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Photograph: PTI Photo The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, which has a wafer-thin majority in the house and needs to win at least 8 of the just-concluded 18 bye-elections to keep its majority intact, has decided to go after three more legislators from its ranks. Not satisfied with dismissing 18 MLAs for siding with rebel leader TTV Dhinakaran, which caused the bye-elections in the first place, the AIADMK has now set its sights on three MLAs for the same reason. Bye-elections for 18 seats have concluded and on May 19 there are bye-elections scheduled for four more seats. Perhaps not sure about winning these seats, the ruling party has gone on a defensive mode and is trying to reduce the number of members in the assembly as it will bring down the numbers required for a majority. On April 30 the Tamil Nadu assembly speaker P Dhanapal issued notices to three AIADMK legislators on charges of siding with rebel leader and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran. The Speaker issued notices to A Prabhu (Kallakurichi), VT Kalaiselvan (Vriddhachalam) and E Rathinasabapathy (Aranthangi) based on a petition filed by chief government whip S Rajendran seeking action against them. The three MLAs have been given a week's time to respond. Kallakurichi MLA A Prabhu told Rediff.com, We have until May 7 to respond and we will reply before that. "We have done nothing wrong and I dont understand why they are sending a notice. TTV Dinakaran was part of the AIADMK and now he has parted ways. He has started his own party, the AMMK, and recently also registered it. 'We won the elections on the AIADMK symbol and we are members of the party. We are not members of the AMMK that they are accusing us of joining hands with them. Its a false allegation. We remain members of the AIADMK and that is what we will say in our reply. VT Kalaiselvan declined to state his future plans while E Ratnasabapathy refused to answer the phone. Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat Sunny Deol on Thursday launched his poll campaign for the general election with his first roadshow in Gurdaspur. The BJP has fielded the 59-year-old, a Jat Sikh, against sitting Congress MP Sunil Jakhar, Aam Aadmi Party's Peter Masih and Punjab Democratic Alliance's Lal Chand. Before hitting the campaign trail, Sunny Deol offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and also had a glimpse of historic Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan through binoculars installed at the 'darshan sthal'. Kartarpur Sahib is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. He also went to Prachin Shiv Temple in Kalanaur and performed 'pooja'. It was a tough time for security personnel to tackle the crowd keen to meet the Bollywood actor and get photos clicked with him. Talking to reporters, Sunny Deol said creating employment opportunities for the youth will be his main priority. "The most important issue is our youth. Youth is our foundation. I want to create job opportunities for them," he said in his first media interaction after being named as the BJP candidate for the Gurdaspur seat. Sunny Deol, the national award winner for his movies "Ghayal" and "Damini", said he wanted to work for the welfare of the farmers. "We belong to Punjab and farming is in our blood. I want to understand all their issues and do whatever is possible for their welfare," the actor said. The actor-turned-politician took out a roadshow from Gurdaspur to Pathankot. His fans and supporters jostled to have a glimpse of him. People showered flower petals and garlands to welcome Sunny Deol, who raised slogans of 'Jo bole so nihal' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. He was accompanied by his younger brother and actor Bobby Deol. Several BJP leaders, including former Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma and Akali leader Gurbachan Singh Babehali, were also part of the roadshow. However, there was no senior leader from Akali Dal present. "We are happy to be here and we are very happy for getting such a response. We are getting a lot of love and we will continue to get the same," Bobby told reporters. Sunny Deol had returned to Gurdaspur from Mumbai on Wednesday and met families of martyrs at Shadipur village in Dinanagar here. "I have already said that you stay in my heart. I want to work towards meeting all your needs and requirements. I am not saying just for the sake of making statement. I want everyone to be happy and have a smile on their face," he had said on Wednesday night. "Hindustan Zindabad hai, Zindabad rahega," he said before ending his speech. The Gurdaspur constituency is represented by Congress MP Sunil Jakhar who had won the seat in the 2017 bypoll, which was necessitated after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year. All the 13 seats of Punjab will go to polls on May 19. Photographs: PTI Photos The designation of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations demonstrates the international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, the White House has said. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al Qaeda on Wednesday announced the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, over its ties to Al Qaeda. The JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 41 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers and led to a spike in military tensions between India and Pakistan. Reacting to the development, Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House said: "Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia". The US commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Azhar, the leader of JeM, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian security personnel, Marquis said in a statement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also welcomed the move and said that it is a victory for the American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism. Pompeo also congratulated the US mission in the UN which took the lead in America's diplomatic effort to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, after China finally lifted its nearly 10-year technical hold on such an effort by India, the United States and other permanent members of the Security Council including Britain and France. 'Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist,' Pompeo tweeted. "This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia," Pompeo said. Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said that the JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace in South Asia. "The JeM was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 and has been listed by the UN since 2001," she said. The US also designated Azhar as an SDGT in 2010. "As JEM's founder and leader, Azhar clearly met the criteria for designation by the UN. This listing requires all the UN member states to implement an asset freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," Ortagus said. Today's designation is an important step in promoting a peaceful and stable South Asia, she said. "In line with this vision, we appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khan's stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow militant and terrorist groups to operate from its territory," Ortagus said. The spokesperson said that the US looks forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan consistent with its international obligations. The US, France along with the United Kingdom 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 core BSP campaign continues to be 'cadre-based' and personal connect, such as knocking each door or through nukkad sabhas. Virendra Singh Rawat reports from Lucknow. IMAGE: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati. Photograph: Nand Kumar/PTI Photo Hari Krishna Gautam, Lucknow district president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, has been working almost 16 hours a day over the past few months for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He leaves home early and spends the day amidst the heat and dust of electioneering with the teeming BSP cadres, supporters and office bearers, besides holding/attending meetings and interacting with people. The BSP, a cadre-based organisation, has managed to keep its distinct and conventional form of door-to-door electioneering, helping forge a deeper connection with people, especially during elections. Although the BSP's personal-touch approach looks simpler, it is quite elaborate nonetheless. For example, the party constitutes a sector comprising 10 to 12 booths at the local level. While each booth is served by a dedicated team of 23 office bearers, every sector additionally has another brass of 18 office bearers. "This way, every sector of the party, which caters for a population of nearly 15,000, comprises almost 250 office bearers tasked with meeting people under their respective jurisdiction on a daily basis during the election time," says Gautam. The BSP's booth unit generally consists of around 1,500 voters or 200 to 300 families. "We are reaching out to each voter at the booth level with the appeal of vote and support for our candidate from the Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha constituency in Lucknow district," he adds. The party's personal reach-out mechanism is a far cry from other major political parties, which are largely dependent upon big public meetings, apart from employing media and modern tools to communicate with their vote bank. Traditionally, the BSP has shunned the idea of a publicity blitz, although party supremo Mayawati marked her Twitter debut earlier this year. The core method of communication with its constituency continues to be 'cadre-based' and personal connect, such as knocking each door or through nukkad sabhas (neighbourhood meetings). The Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha seat, which is currently represented by Kaushal Kishore of the Bharatiya Janata Party, comprises 196 sectors of the BSP. Under the pre-poll pact with the Samajwadi Party, the Mohanlalganj seat falls under the quota of the BSP, which fielded C L Verma to take on Kishore, one of the leading Dalit faces of the BJP's state unit after he won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls during the 'Modi wave'. The BSP failed to win even a single seat while the SP won just five seats. Therefore, this election is crucial for the two parties to stay relevant in state politics. Each booth-level team of the BSP is equipped with the voters' list and they have been visiting households to verify addresses and to collect mobile phone numbers. "Lucknow district has more than 1.9 million voters and it is a humongous task of collecting the phone numbers of such a large population, yet we have, so far, collected details of nearly 50 per cent of voters and the task is still underway," says Gautam as he heads for canvassing in the Malihabad pocket of Lucknow district. Soon, BSP party workers would call each phone number, soliciting votes and support. Political commentator Sharat Pradhan observes that while BSP founder Kanshi Ram always personally led such door-to-door programmes, Mayawati is never seen on the campaign trail beyond major rallies. "I think she is paranoid about security and avoids going among the masses. This is then compensated by the door-to-door canvassing by her regional and state coordinators," Pradhan says, adding that the BSP is fortunate to have a strong grassroots cadre and a "captive vote bank." The BSP is also being supported by BAMCEF (the All India Backward And Minority Communities Employees Federation, which was founded by the late Kanshi Ram) workers in mobilising voters. The BSP has even asked supporters to shun television for two months during the entire election period due to the alleged biased coverage on news channels. With the disclaimer of holding the fourth pillar of democracy in high esteem, Gautam nonchalantly says there was no point in watching news channels when they present a "distorted" picture of the election season and "unreliable" surveys. Addressing the maiden Mahagathbandhan rally in Saharanpur on April 7, Mayawati cautioned BSP workers against the media, opinion polls and surveys, which could present a distorted picture and thus sway voting pattern. "What Behenji said at the rally, we have already been following over the past two months," says Gautam, adding that the media downplayed the high turnout at the Saharanpur rally. Meanwhile, its leaders negate any impact of Dalit leader and Bhim Sena founder Chandrashekhar Azad on BSP supporters, including Dalit youth. Azad has already been dubbed by Mayawati as a BJP agent, while he, in turn, blamed her for weakening the Bahujan movement by inducting non-committed leaders in the BSP. Contributed photo TORRINGTON Spring vacation this April had an Irish and English flavor for a group of 29 Torrington High School students. A school-sponsored trip took students from the west coast of Ireland, through the countryside, over the Irish Sea, and down to London on a nine-day cultural whirlwind. The students, joined by two parents and five chaperones, began planning and raising funds for the trip in November 2017. An itinerary planned around literary and cultural exposure was designed in conjunction with EF Educational Tours. UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia Rhona Smith meets with Cambodia's Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana May 2, 2019. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia Rhona Smith, as part of her 11-day visit to the country, met Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana to discuss the ongoing de-facto detention of opposition leader Kem Sokha and other justice system-related topics, she said on Thursday. After the meeting with the justice minister, Smith was quizzed by reporters on whether she had specifically discussed Kem Sokha. The leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party is being held under house arrest in Phnom Penh after being released from prison on Sept. 10, 2018, a year after he was arrested on treason charges widely seen as politically motivated. The release of the former CNRP president from pre-trial detention carries the conditions that he must stay within a block radius of his home, cannot meet with former CNRP officials or foreigners, and cannot speak at or host any rallies or political activities. The government banned the CNRP two months after Kem Sokhas arrest, sending many party members into exile. He still faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of treason. Smith confirmed that she had discussed the opposition leader but said she was in no position to ask the Ministry of Justice for his immediate release because that is the domain of the courts. She underscored her view that his house arrest goes against human rights norms. Although he is in a technical legal sense according to the Ministry of Justice under judicial supervision, in my view he is still under de facto detention because of the limitations placed on him by the judicial supervision, she said. In my view, and I believe also in the view of my colleagues, in the working group [on arbitrary] detention, hes still being detained, so therefore it is problematic from a human rights perspective, she added. Ministry of Justice spokesman Chin Malin contradicted Smiths account, denying that Kem Sokhas situation was discussed. We discussed on how to conduct judicial reforms. We did not discuss on political issues or NGOs requests. She didnt raise [any issue] about the opposition party, he said. Following the meeting, she wrote in a Facebook post that the discussion focused mainly on the rights of prisoners and those facing trial in the country. As a follow-up to our previous discussion in November 2018, I was updated on the progress made by the Ministry including in providing legal aid, raising awareness of alternatives to custodial sentences, and reducing prison overcrowding. We also discussed matters related to pretrial detention, Cambodian Sustainable Development Goals, and SDG16 on access to justice, wrote Smith. Smith also met with Phnom Penh mayor Khoung Sreng to discuss freedom of expression. Also on Thursday, Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced CNRP Acting President Sam Rainsy to eight years in jail and a fine for charges of incitement the military not to obey orders and for insulting Cambodias King. Former CNRP lawmaker Ou Chanrith condemned the verdict saying it was entirely political. The verdict is useless because the people have stopped believing in the court because it is not independent, he said. To date, at least eight cases have been filed against Sam Rainsy, who has lived in exile since October 2015. The acting president is charged with defaming Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen and insulting the King. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Taiwan's president reiterated on that the democratic island will never agree to be ruled by Beijing, as a key political opponent denied supporting the idea in an interview with China's Xinhua news agency. President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan's 23 million population would never accept President Xi Jinping's insistence in January that the island--which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party--be "unified" with China under the "one country, two systems" framework applied to the former colonial cities of Hong Kong and Macau. "One country, two systems is unacceptable to the people of Taiwan," Tsai told reporters. "We will continue to uphold freedom and democracy." In a Jan. 2 speech titled "Letter to our Taiwan compatriots," Chinese President Xi Jinping said that Taiwan must be "unified" with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island. Tsai on echoed her comments at the time that Taiwan's people had no wish to give up their sovereignty. "The people of Taiwan have the right to determine their own future," Tsai said. "That is our bottom line." Her remarks came as the island's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the body tasked with managing relations with Beijing, called on People First Party (PFP) chairman James Soong to clarify a Xinhua report alleging that he expressed his support for the idea. In the article, Xinhua said Soong wholly agrees with a two systems arrangement, and supported democratic negotiations between Beijing and political parties and social groups from all walks of life in Taiwan. Chinese misinformation being spread on Taiwan Soong moved quickly on to deny the report, saying that the words "one country, two systems" have never passed his lips. "That visit [to China] was to discuss economics, not politics," he told reporters. "I never spoke those four words, still less did I talk about the Hong Kong model of one country, two systems as a framework for cross-straits relations." Instead, Soong said he favored "democratic discussions on an equal footing," similar to Tsai's own demands in the wake of Xi Jinping's Jan. 2 speech on Taiwan. Earlier this week, Taiwan's MAC warned that media outlets controlled by the Chinese Communist Party media often "disseminate misinformation." The interview took place during a trip Soong made to China starting on, which included visits to Beijing's Central Liaison Offices in Hong Kong and Macau. The MAC warned that Xi's ultimate goal is to destroy the 1911 Republic of China, which retreated to the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu after the then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT) lost a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949. Sovereignty is not a gambling chip, democracy cannot be traded away, the MAC said in a statement. Micro-targeting voters with fake news MAC spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng warned that China is likely stepping up its influence operations in Taiwan ahead of presidential elections in. "Taiwan is on the front line of the Chinese Communist Party's divide-and-rule tactics," Chiu told reporters. "It is likely that they will seek to make use of a free and democratic society to step up their interference, to sway public opinion in Taiwan and to undermine the stability of our government." The deputy head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB), Chen Wen-fan, said there are already news outlets operating in Taiwan that are covertly backed by Beijing, whose job it is to micro-target the island's population with fake news on social media. He cited some reports as saying that on Feb. 11 this year, President Tsai had snubbed high-ranking attendees at a friendship event for the mainland and Taiwanese business communities. "This was intended to provoke discord between the government and Taiwanese businessmen, and to create an atmosphere for the Taiwan business community to distrust the government," Chen said. Chen said official Chinese social media accounts had also been trolling Taiwan, in an attempt at intimidation. "For example, the official WeChat public account of the [People's Liberation Army] paratroopers released a new song titled 'My Warhawk flies around the island'," he said. "This song talked about 'unification', which deliberately gave the impression that they are monitoring, and will invade, Taiwan." Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony in the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was handed back to the 1911 Republic of China under the Kuomintang (KMT) government as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal. It has never been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China. The island began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang Kai-shek's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in , 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. 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. He Fangmei, the mother of a baby made sick by a faulty vaccine, was initially detained by police from her home province of Henan on Feb. 25 during a protest by parents of children affected by tainted and out-of-date vaccines outside the National Health Commission in Beijing, rights groups said. He, who is also known by her online nickname Shisanmei, was initially handed a 15-day administrative sentence after being sent back to her home city of Xinxiang on March 5 under escort. However, her husband Li Xin told RFA that she has now been formally arrested, and is being held in the Xinxiang Detention Center on charges of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." "Village officials told me on Monday that she had been formally arrested, on the same charge of picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," Li said. "They didn't give me a notification of formal arrest, which would have been easy for them to do ... I think it's just another way for them to delay things," Li said. "They're afraid I would post it online." Li said police are likely delaying He's case in a bid to put pressure on her to "confess" to the charges against her. "They are trying to force her to confess, after which she will sign their so-called agreement, which would probably result in her release," he said. "But Shishanmei refuses to confess. She won't back down." Li said he didn't think his wife had done anything wrong. "What we were asking for was normal; I wouldn't be kicking up a fuss if there was nothing wrong," he said. "But the authorities just see it as trouble-making, and they bring in stability maintenance." But he said he had been warned off any further protests or petitioning activities. "The higher-ups said that I wasn't to persist in illegal petitioning. No more shouting slogans outside the health ministry," he said, adding that the authorities had asked him to sign a guarantee that they would stop campaigning, in order to get his wife out of jail. Li said he had signed it in the hoping of see He released, but that she had been formally arrested instead. Prison sentence likely He's defense attorney Gao Chengcai said he had recently visited his client in the detention center, where she seemed in good spirits. But he said her case would now likely result in a prison sentence. "She will definitely be found guilty of picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," Gao said. "There is no difference between legal or illegal, reasonable or unreasonable nowadays." "Once she has been formally arrested, that's what she will be sentenced for in 99 percent of cases," he said. A fellow vaccine parent surnamed Xu said that local governments in many areas of China have begun turning their attention to the needs of victims in recent days, and offering them support and assistance. "The government seems to think that we're extremists, to a certain extent," Xu said. "Maybe it led to breaking the law; a small number of parents have been detained, but ... the government is doing something to help these families now." A duty officer who answered the phone at the state prosecutor's office in Huixian city, which falls under the administration of Xinxiang, declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Wednesday, saying it was a public holiday. Parents protest in Beijing Around 30 parents of children made sick by substandard and expired vaccines gathered outside the National Health Commission headquarters on Feb. 22, ahead of the annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing, calling on the government to deliver on earlier promises of assistance. He Fangmei told RFA at the time that the parents-turned-activists were hoping to use heightened media attention around the National People's Congress (NPC) meeting in early March to publicize their families' grievances. "We want the government to finish work on a Vaccine Law, taking into account suggestions from parents like us," she said. "That includes early intervention and treatment and guarantees in the longer term." "We also want to see the health checks we were promised for our children implemented, and proper diagnoses made," she said. President Xi Jinping demanded a thorough investigation into last year's tainted vaccine scandal at Changchun Changsheng Biotech, and promised severe punishment for those responsible. But the authorities repeatedly detain, beat, and even "disappear" parent campaigners, who want the government to face up to its responsibilities and give the families hit by faulty vaccines compensation to help with mounting medical bills. The Changchun incident was only the latest in a string of public health scandals surrounding fake, substandard, and expired vaccines that have had a devastating impact on the health of young children and on their immediate family. Many parents say they were initially promised compensation and help with medical expenses, but that the assistance never materialized. Many are still seeking redress from similar scandals that occurred years ago. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Gao Feng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. A doctor speaks on a phone at the reception area of a breast cancer research facility at Pyongyang Maternity Hospital in Pyongyang in a file photo. A medical facility specifically catering North Koreas privileged elites has been forced to open its doors to common citizens in exchange for bribes, in an effort to stem financial difficulties, sources say. Pyongyangs Bonghwa Medical Center offers top-notch medical care, but has officially only been available to Kim Jong Un and Workers Party officials of the highest ranks. Now strapped for cash, the hospital will admit anyone who greases the palms of the right people. While health care is officially free for all citizens, hospitals for elites, like Bongwha are a step above what citizens typically have access to. My nephew is a doctor and he has been suffering from stomach problems for more than 10 years. He was [recently] treated at Bonghwa Medical Center and has been healed completely, said a source from North Pyongan province in an interview with RFAs Korean Service. It cost him a lot of money to get treated [there], but now I have come to realize that money can do anything, said the source. The source said Bonghwa is known as the best hospital in the Republic, and that it is reserved for politically important people, expressing disgust that it could now be bought into. It is surprising that ordinary people can [get] medical treatment [there] if they bribe them. I feel bitter because theres nothing money cant do in this society, said the source. The source noted that bribery is not unique to Bonghwa other well-regarded hospitals are doing the same. Well-known hospitals in Pyongyang, including Kim Man-yu Hospital, Namsan Hospital, and the Red Cross Hospital are treating a number of ordinary patients from other regions. They are getting medical treatment because they have bribed high-rank officials, said the source. The source said that patients of Bonghwa and the other hospitals have access to medicines that arent available to the general public, but these too come with a hefty price tag for the patients who have bribed their way in. Since they are not high-ranking officials, ordinary patients have to pay a lot for these prescription drugs. Its like the hospitals are earning foreign cash off patients, the source said. Even if a patient has the means to get into the good hospitals, the level of care can still differ depending on how much was paid in bribe. If you give a large amount, they will even treat you better than a high-ranking official from the Central Committee [of the Workers Party.] A North Korean defector surnamed Lee who settled in South Korea confirmed the North Korean medical industrys state of affairs. In the past, hospitals that have been designated only for high-ranking officials in Pyongyang have ignored their mandate and provided care to ordinary patients, said Lee, adding, Without taking bribes from these people, it would be difficult for hospitals to stay open, and for doctors to make an actual living. Thats just how things are in the North Korean medical industry, said Lee. Medical equipment and hospital supplies provided by the outside world, supposedly as humanitarian aid, all go to these elite hospitals, said Lee. The hospitals are for privileged people, but since state support is so small, they would be difficult to run properly without extra money from ordinary patients, Lee said. In 2010, the World Health Organization controversially described North Koreas universal health care system as the envy of the developing world, contradicting a report from Amnesty International that same year that said the countrys hospitals were barely functioning and unable to deal with epidemics and rampant malnutrition. In February, The New Humanitarian published a report describing North Koreas silent health crisis, which acknowledged a recent improvement in public health within the country, but described its health system as inadequate. The Geneva-based news outlet founded by the United Nations said that a formal peace agreement with the United States and South Korea would not in and of itself improve North Koreas health care situation. Reported by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Three U.S. citizens held in Laos last month for handing out religious tracts were treated well during questioning by police, but Lao Christians still face persecution at the hands of state authorities, the missionary group to which the three belong said this week. Yes, they were treated well, and we appreciate that, Eric Blievernicht, operations manager for the Wyoming-based group Vision Beyond Borders, told RFAs Lao Service on Thursday in a brief telephone interview. Theyre home safe now, and theyre looking forward to continuing their ministry, Blievernicht said. The three volunteersidentified by their given names, Wayne, Autumn, and Josephwere picked up by police in a scenic corner of northern Laos Luang Namtha province on April 8 after handing out religious materials to villagers, a policeman and a witness told RFA in an earlier report. Authorities then seized their passports and took them to a guesthouse in the provincial capital, about 60 kms (36 miles) from where they had been arrested, but allowed them free movement of their quarters and the surrounding village, and the three were deported to Thailand 10 days later. Throughout their period of detention, the team was treated relatively well, Vision Beyond Borders said in a recent statement. They were never hollered at, the officials never laid a hand on them, and they even provided bottled water when the team was at the [police] station, the missionary group, which distributes bibles and recordings of religious messages around the world, said. Speaking to RFA, Blievernight said however that Lao Christians themselves face greater difficulties every day, with Lao authorities harassing Christians and breaking up meetings and making it difficult for them to gather. So were continuing to pray for Laos and want to do whatever we can to support the churches there, he said. 'Continuing serious abuses' In a report released April 29, the bipartisan U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed Laos on its Tier 2 Watch List for what it called continuing serious abuses of religious freedoms. Though the one-party communist states constitution ostensibly protects its peoples inherent right to religious freedom, regulations controlling religious observance in Laos are vaguely worded and open to interpretation by local authorities, USCIRF said. Some Lao authorities remained deeply suspicious of Christians, sometimes resulting in social exclusion, harassment, and arbitrary detention by law enforcement officials, the rights group said, adding that it had received reports throughout 2018 of persecution of Christians in Savannakhet, a province known for its religious intolerance. Reported by Sidney Khotpanya for RFAs Lao Service. Written in English by Richard Finney. Thai authorities collect identification information from suspected sex workers who were detained during a raid on karaoke bars in Muang Narathiwat, a district in southern Thailands Narathiwat province, Nov. 9, 2018. A 25-year-old Lao woman from near the capital Vientiane was trafficked to central Chinas Hunan Province in late 2018 and sold to a Chinese man for $20,000. She issued an appeal through social media for help getting home and gave an interview to RFAs Lao Service on April 30, describing how she was misled by traffickers, including a relative, to expect a relatively high-paying job in China, taken across the Lao-China border illegally, married off to a Chinese man who bought her, and then left to fend for herself without proper travel documents. On the same day that RFA spoke to the woman, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her and her family from traffickers, twelve young Lao women, including two that authorities believe were under the age of 18, were rescued from a karaoke bar in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat. The woman stranded in Hunan is among 3,000 Laotians known to have been trafficked to China in recent years according to the Lao National Anti-Human Trafficking Commission, which said last October that only 600 of those women have returned home. RFA: How did you end up in China? A: They, the traffickers, lied to me. I came here without any documents. I dont have ID and I dont have a passport. They drove me to somewhere near the Boten border gate, then took me across a mountain border. RFA: So, you crossed the border illegally? A: Yes, they illegally took me across a mountain, not through the border check point. RFA: Why did you go with them? What did they say to you? A: They said theyll take me here to work. Its easy; I can go home anytime. If I want to go home, theyll take me home. I believed them. But once they sold me to a Chinese man who later became my husband, I couldnt contact them anymore. I didnt receive any money. I cant go home because I have nothing in the way of documents. RFA: Did you report this to Lao police? A: My family is too afraid to contact police because they (the traffickers) are now in Laos. RFA: Who are the traffickers? A: One of them is a Lao woman who told me that she had relatives in China, and said that work in China was not heavy. I thought Id make a lot of money, then send it to my mother. RFA: Did they the traffickers talk to your family first? A: Yes, they talked to my mother. Actually, one of the traffickers is my relative. RFA: Is your relative a middle-man or -woman? A: Yes, she is actually the small wife (misstress) of a Chinese man who brought me here to China. RFA: What happened to you in China? A: They sold me to a Chinese man who wanted to have a Lao wife. RFA: How does your husband treat you? A: We lived together as a normal couple, and sometimes Id go to work. But later, when I wanted to go back home, I couldnt and I could not contact those front men at all. RFA: Why cant you go home? A: Because I dont have any documents. Thats why Im asking for help from an organization called Sisters for Laotians. RFA: Are there any other victims like you in China? A: Three of us came together. One of us, who is my cousin, was able to escape last month, and now she is already in Laos. The other woman is also trying to escape as well. There are many other Laotians around here. Most of them are illegal. Some have passports, but the passports are expired, so they became illegal now. RFA: How do you communicate with your husband? A: I dont speak Chinese, so, we use a telephone (app) to translate. RFA: Do you personally know the traffickers? A: Yes, I know them, but I cant contact them now. RFA: What are you going to do once you get home? A: Im going to report to the police that the traffickers promised me that Ill get a salary of more than 1,000 Yuan ($150) a month. I now get nothing. RFA: How much were you sold for? A: For 130,000 yuan ($20,000), but some others may fetch 150,000 Yuan. I received no money, and I dont have any money to send to my mother. My relative at home has asked for money from the traffickers many times; but they keep saying next month; next month. RFA: Why didnt you report this to Chinese police? A: The police would send me back to my husband. Thats why Im requesting help from Lao authorities and hoping they can get me home safely. Reported by RFA's Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Myanmar soldiers killed six detained civilians and wounded eight others early Thursday inside a school in a village in western Myanmars violence-wracked Rakhine state, as villagers tried to grab their guns in a coordinated attack, the government military said. Government forces have been holding 275 civilians in Rathedaung townships Kyauktan village since Tuesday to interrogate them about possible links to an alleged Arakan Army (AA) training camp. Bridger General Zaw Min Tun, a military spokesman, said villagers attacked police and security forces who were conducting the investigations to determine if those held had ties to the AA, an ethnic Rakhine armed group that is battling Myanmar forces for greater autonomy in the state. Around 2 a.m. this morning, the villagers cheered and attacked police and military forces conducting the interrogations, he said. They attempted to take guns from the security forces, so the security forces acted according to Section 131 of the Penal Code, he said. They first verbally warned the crowd to disperse, then fired warning shots in the air. When they didnt disperse and kept moving forward, the security forces fired shots as the last resort. At the time, Zaw Min Tun told RFAs Myanmar Service that he did not have detailed information on the deaths and injuries from the incident, but an announcement by the military indicated that six villagers died, eight were wounded, and four were missing. Following the shootings, the military surrounded the area with more than 300 troops, the announcement said. Unconfirmed news reports said that as many as 10 villagers had been killed because some of those injured had died. Responding to Zaw Min Tuns comments, AA spokesman Khine Thukha dismissed the brigadier generals version of events. His comments are senseless, he said. The security forces have kept the villagers in detention since April 30. Their detention site was heavily guarded by the security forces, so how could they be cheering and attacking them? We think this is a plot made up by the Myanmar military to cover up their atrocities against the villagers, he said. A woman from Kyauktan village, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, told RFA that she heard about 20 shots coming from the school. I heard the shooting at the school around 2 a.m., she said. It was around 20 shots. No one dared to go out to look. The soldiers had completely surrounded the village. When residents later went to the school, soldiers prevented them from removing the bodies of the dead and taking the injured for treatment, she said. After a while, they gave the list of dead villagers to the village head and asked him to inform the families, the woman said. An impossible scenario The eight injured civilians were taken to Sittwe General Hospital in Rakhines capital Sittwe in the afternoon, but the bodies of the deceased remained inside the school until evening, when soldiers told villagers they could collect them, villagers said. The Myanmar military announced Wednesday that its troops had captured a temporary AA training camp in the mountains on April 28 and had started interrogating Kyauktan village residents two days later. The soldiers detained the villagers in the local schoolhouse when they received information that AA forces were retreating from the captured training camp and taking shelter in Kyauktan village. The announcement said army officials checked the family registration records of the 477 families living in the village, and decided to detain and question 275 males between 15 and 50 years old. AA spokesman Khine Thukha denied that the Myanmar Army had seized the training camp and that AA soldiers had taken refuge in Kyauktan village. The Arakan National Party (ANP), the states predominant political party representing the interests of Buddhist Rakhines, sent a written appeal on Thursday to President Win Myint, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, and the Myanmar Human Rights Commission, to take action against the shooters and to end attacks by government soldiers in Rakhine state. We sent this letter to inform, complain, and appeal to the government to take action to protect the lives of civilians by preventing further tragedies involving them, especially children, the elderly, and women, said Tun Aung Kyaw, general secretary of the ANP. The letter also alleged that Myanmar forces questioning the detained boys and men had concocted the story about a coordinated attack by villagers as a pretext for shooting some of them, he said. We have some of our party members in this village, Tun Aung Kyaw said. According to their account, the accusation that villagers tried to take the guns is impossible because they have been heavily guarded while being detained and denied food and water. Our allegation in the letter is based on the villagers' claim that it was not possible for them to attack the security forces. Offering a different, unconfirmed account of what led to the shooting, Rakhine state lawmaker Than Naing of Rathedaung township said the shootings occurred when a mentally ill detainee started yelling. When reached by RFA later, Zaw Min Tun repeated his earlier statement that soldiers had fired on the villagers as a last resort and denied that the detainees were being deprived of food and water. With regard to accusations that the detainees were denied food and water, I have confirmed with officials from the police force and security forces on the ground that they are wrong, he said. Because they [the detainees] are only suspects, we have provided food and water accordingly. Injured people from Kyauktan village in Rathedaung township are carried on stretchers as they arrive in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, May 2, 2019. Credit: AFP Preventing 'unwanted confusion' U Than Naing, Kyauktan village elders, members of civil society organizations, and staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross went to the schoolhouse earlier to collect the bodies of the dead villagers, but were turned away, he said. We had just arrived at the entrance of the village, he said. We were not allowed to remove the bodies of the deceased villagers. Zaw Min Tun told RFA that Myanmar forces had stopped them for security reasons, but said they would be allowed to enter the village once the interrogations ended. They are trying to maintain stability to avoid confusion while they are issuing warnings and trying to disperse the crowd, he said of the security personnel. When they finish the announcements and interrogations, they will allow the aid groups to come in. The military troops usually have a paramedic with them, he added. [The] paramedic from the unit is treating those who were injured. The aid groups have not been allowed to visit the scene for now to prevent unwanted confusion. The shooting incident comes on the heels of the deaths in custody of three other detainees who were taken away for questioning by Myanmar soldiers along with two dozen others from Letka village in Mrauk-U township, center of much of the fighting that has raged since January between the government army and the AA. The men were suspected of supporting the Arakan fighters. Their deaths have raised suspicions of torture, bereaved relatives and local lawmakers told RFA a week ago. The Myanmar Army is not the only one rounding up villagers, however. The AA abducted more than 50 ethnic Chin villagers from Paletwa township in western Myanmars Chin state during a February clash with government soldiers that spilled over from the armed conflict in adjacent Rakhine state. The AA has said that it took the civilians to a safe place after an attack by Myanmar forces prompted them to hide in a forest. Fighting between the Myanmar Army and the AA has displaced nearly 33,000 civilians in central and northern Rakhine state and northern Chin state since hostilities escalated in November 2018, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Others have been injured or killed. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the latest detentions and shootings of civilians in the Rakhine conflict are nothing new. The Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] is well known for targeting civilians when it conducts war against insurgents, and this looks like a continuation of that horrific rights-violating practice. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have repeatedly documented Myanmar troops using torture and even committing extrajudicial executions while interrogating persons they suspect to be members of insurgent groups, so there is every reason to suspect these incidents fall into the same pattern of behavior, he said. Letka villagers transferred In a related development, Myanmar forces transferred the detained Letka villagers to Mrauk-U where they are being held in a police station in Sittwe, but did not clear them of any charges, their relatives and a military spokesman said Thursday. The police havent called us to go and see the detainees, said Khine Hla Sein, wife of one of the men being held. We can only go and see them after they call us. All villagers, including my husband, have no connection to the AA, she added. The detainees' family members, who are staying at a monastery in Mrauk-Us Pyipinyin village, said they are afraid to return home because two military units are now deployed there. It is not clear, however, if all 24 have been handed over to Mrauk-U police. We knew they would be transferred to police today, but we dont know the details, said Colonel Win Zaw Oo, spokesman for the militarys Western Command responsible for Rakhine state. We dont know if all 24 people will be transferred or not. It is also unclear which offenses the villagers will being charged with. Twenty-four detained people are at No. 1 Police Station in Sittwe now, but we still dont know what they will be charged with, said Agga Wuntha, head monk of the monastery where the families are staying. Rakhine state police chief Kyi Lin told RFA that the villagers have been transferred, but would not go into details. It is correct they have been transferred, he said. If you want to know the details, please come to see me, because I wont give them over the phone. I will explain to you about it if you ask me in person because I am concerned about [you] getting the wrong information. RFA was unable to reach Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun for comment, and Police Colonel Lin Htut from the Rakhine State Police Force said he did not know about the matter. Yu Lwin Aung from the Myanmar Human Rights Commission said it is a human rights violation for the military to arrest villagers and shoot them. Even if the military arrests and questions AA members who are pretending to be villagers, it is a violation of human rights if those people are shot, he said. It is also a violation of human rights to shoot prisoners of war. "But it is difficult to blame the military for shooting those people without knowing the actual situation on the ground, he said. Maung Maung Lay, a member of the group Human Rights Defenders and Promoters, agreed. From a human rights point of view, their human rights have been violated, he said. All related parties and organizations that are detaining these villagers, and the government, are responsible for this situation. This is a terrible human rights violation. Reported by Khin Khin Ei and Wai Mar Tun for RFAs Myanmar Service Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Human rights activist Bach Hong Quyen left Thailand for Canada on Thursday, ending fears he could be extradited to Vietnam for his role in helping a dissident Vietnamese blogger apply for asylum in Bangkok before he was abducted by Vietnamese agents. Truong Duy Nhat, an RFA contributor, disappeared in Bangkok in late January, and two months later was revealed to be in a Hanoi jail, in what legal experts said was a violation by Vietnam's police of the country's criminal procedure laws. Quyen and his six-month-old son Joseph boarded an airplane leaving Bangkok at 10:40 p.m. local time, with arrival in Canada expected early on Friday, Do Ky Anha representative of the Voice Canada advocacy grouptold RFAs Vietnamese Service on May 2. Quyen left Thailand at night on May 2 and will arrive in Mississauga city of Canada at around 9:30 in the morning of May 3, Anh said. He added that Quyen had spent about a week in an immigration detention center in accordance with Thai regulations that immigrants be held in detention before leaving for a third country. Quyen had been approved for travel to Canada in a refugee program funded by the Canadian government, Voice Canada said in a press release, adding that Quyens wife Bui Huong Giang and the couples two daughters had already traveled to Canada under the same program on April 16. Anh said he had no information regarding Quyens possible extradition to Vietnam for having helped Nhat before the bloggers abduction, but said We did have concerns about that. We heard that when Quyen was in the IDC [immigration detention center], a delegation from Vietnam visited the facility. I dont know why they were there, but we monitored Quyens situation in the IDC very closely. Thai immigration authorities have denied any knowledge of efforts to deport Quyen, who fled to Thailand in May 2017 after Vietnamese police issued a warrant for his arrest for organizing a march on the anniversary of a 2016 waste spill that that polluted the coast of central Vietnam. The environmental disaster sparked major protests. In a May 2 press release, Voicea California-based organization supporting human rights and civil society in Vietnamand its branch Voice Canada thanked the United Nations refugee agency, the Thai government, Human Rights Watch, and other groups for their help to Quyen and his family. After two years of efforts, and with the utmost help from individuals and organizations, we have succeeded in helping Quyen and his family reunite and settle down in Canada, the advocacy group said. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney. Belarus's state-run oil-transport firm Belneftekhim says "clean" Russian oil shipments have begun to arrive in Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline after a weeklong shutdown caused by the contamination of Russian supplies. A statement by Belneftekhim on May 2 said Russian oil was being transported via the pipeline to the Mozyr oil refinery in southeastern Belarus. On April 25, Belarusian pipeline operator Gomeltransneft Druzhba announced an "indefinite" cut to Russia oil deliveries through Belarus using the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline. The move was prompted by complaints from oil purchasers in Poland, Germany, and Slovakia who refused to accept or process Russian crude because it was contaminated with chloride. Ukraine's Ukrtansnafta on April 26 also announced that it was stopping the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine and warned of the threat of a "complete shutdown" of the Druzhba pipeline the main export route for sending oil to Europe from Russia and Kazakhstan. Slovakia's Slovnaft oil company says that, under an agreement reached with Russias Energy Ministry, it expects clean Russian oil deliveries by the middle of May. Belarus has said deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline could reach 60 to 70 percent of capacity by May 10, but it could take months to completely restore clean Russian oil deliveries. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the contamination of Russian oil supplies had caused "very serious" damage to his country's reputation as an oil exporter, and to Russias oil infrastructure. The Russian oil giant Transneft has accused a small private company of being responsible for the contamination that caused the shutdown. Based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and AP ST. PETERSBURG, Russia A Russian administrative court has issued 10-day jail sentences against two opposition figures in St. Petersburg for organizing what the court ruled was an unauthorized May Day protest. The jail sentences were issued in the early morning hours of May 2 against Aleksandr Shurshev, the coordinator of opposition leader Aleksei Navalnys St. Petersburg office, and against Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the opposition organization Open Russia. Pivovarovs lawyer Anastasia Burakova accused the St. Petersburg court of violating the European Convention on Human Rights by conducting the hearing for Shurshev and Pivovarov at 1 a.m. on May 2. Open Russia insists it obtained permission from city authorities in St. Petersburg to stage the May 1 march under the slogan Free Election to Free St. Petersburg. City police began arresting demonstrators as soon as they began to march with posters and banners that criticized President Vladimir Putin and St. Petersburgs Acting Governor Aleksandr Beglov. The OVD-Info, an independent group that monitors police crackdowns in Russia against demonstrations, says authorities detained a total of 68 demonstrators. Demonstrators complained to RFE/RL that the police crackdown was violent, saying they broke the arm of one woman they arrested and beat freelance photojournalist Georgy Markov. Municipal authorities said police "had to detain several instigators of disorder" in order "to stabilize" the situation after "provocateurs disrupted the May Day march. But St. Petersburg's ombudsman, Aleksandr Shishlov, criticized the police action to disperse the march, calling it "a gross violation of the constitution." Russia's Presidential Council for Human Rights issued a statement on May 2 saying that it agreed with Shishlovs assessment. Scores of people were detained in several Russian towns and cities on May 1 as opposition activists, communists, and members of trade unions marked the May Day with holiday rallies and anti-government protests. Nik, a Jehovah's Witness who fled Russia and is seeking asylum in Germany, sits in a Bamberg cafe and shakes his head. The muscularly-built former boxer, who declined to give his real name out of fears that his family back home could face persecution -- left Russia in March with his family and is now living in a former U.S. military installation waiting for his case to be heard. After years of what he claims was persecution by Russian authorities -- including months in an isolation jail cell and hints that the authorities were building a case to seize his child -- Nik decided it was time to leave his home in the Volga region of Russia. And apparently, he is not alone. Nik says there are hundreds of other Russian Jehovah's Witnesses at the facility located on the outskirts of the western German city. Facing an arrest warrant at home, Nik still can't fathom why the Russian government has targeted the estimated 175,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. "I don't understand what the Russian government is doing. It seems like the Russian government is hurting itself, chopping off the branch that it's sitting on. Because all 175,000 of these people are law-abiding citizens. Obeying the law is one of the main tenets of our faith," Nik tells the Volga Desk of RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been under intense pressure since the Russian Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that it was an "extremist" organization. With about 8 million followers worldwide, Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian denomination known for door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, and rejection of military service and blood transfusions. In February, a Russian court sentenced a Danish follower to six years in prison, a sentence the top UN human rights official said created a dangerous precedent and violated international law guaranteeing freedom of religion. A recent report by a U.S. federal commission recommended the State Department include Russia as a "country of particular concern," in part for the Russian government's repeated labeling of religious and ethnic minorities as extremist. First Brush With The Law Nik says he was an upstanding citizen back in the central Volga region of Russia, pulling in a relatively high wage casting keys for a locksmith. "And my employer -- I worked in the private sector -- paid me by the book. All my taxes were paid. That was my demand," he states proudly. His police record was spotless, he boasts, saying it amazed the local chief traffic cop. "When the traffic inspector learned that I didn't have one ticket over all those years, he was surprised. It's my outlook on life: do everything according to the law, so that my conscience won't torment me." However, he found himself in the crosshairs of the law in 2012 when he was investigated under Criminal Code Article 282, which outlaws acts or statements that incite ethnic, religious, or other forms of hatred or public discord. For two years he was under a court order not to leave the area. Asked what sparked the authorities' interest, Nik says it was the local gatherings -- congresses, as he calls them -- of Jehovah's Witnesses. "Fifteen hundred to 2,000 delegates usually took part in these events. I was often one of the speakers," he says. "And it appears that everything was filmed. Then this material was turned over to experts for analysis. The experts concluded my speeches contain suggestions of my religion's superiority. The charge was based on that," Nik explains, adding that after a two-year probe all charges against him were quietly dropped. Law Enforcement Comes Calling Again However, his relative peace lasted only a few years. At the crack of dawn on May 16, 2018, agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB), Investigative Committee, and a police antiextremism department raided his home, Nik recounts. "Our home was searched. They seized all our phones, tablets, computer, flash sticks. They took lots of personal items as well, including post cards, personal notes, etc. And at the end of the search, toward evening, they told me that I was going to be taken to the Investigative Committee. And not only me, but my wife, too." It didn't take long for the authorities to file charges against him. "Right away at the Investigative Committee I was arrested. The charges were read to me and, in the evening, I was in the IVS -- temporary detention center. In two days the court ruled to send me to jail for one month. This was extended two times. In total, I spent 78 days in jail," Nik says. He says some of that time was spent in a dank isolation cell where his jailors did what they could to break his will and get him to "confess" and agree to cooperate with them on outing other Jehovah's Witnesses. "Bed, sink, and open toilet. Two video cameras film you round the clock. The light is never dimmed round the clock. There's a small window, but you can't see whether it's night or day outside. I was brought in at night. In the morning I realized what the first type of torture would be. At six in the morning, music was blared. It came from this speaker that was placed near a vent. And in this little chamber of mine there was such noise and rattling from the speaker that I felt a splitting sensation in my head. They didn't turn off the music until 10 at night. And that continued for 10 or 12 days, I don't remember exactly how long I was in there," Nik explains. Based on his observations in prison, Nik predicts a bleak future for the authorities in Russia. "I saw the faces of the people in prison. I heard their stories and can say with confidence: this system is embittering people, turning them against the system. It's grooming even more sophisticated criminals." Move To Exile Amid Fears Over Child A court ruled on August 3, 2018, to transfer him to house arrest, and he was fitted with an ankle bracelet to monitor his movements. But it was a fear that authorities were maneuvering to take away his daughter that pushed him to leave Russia. His wife, a former police investigator and Jehovah's Witness, got word the Investigative Committee was considering arresting her as well. Alarm bells were also triggered when a social worker and a psychologist talked to his daughter at school. "If they decide that the child is threatened, then they can decide to have the child removed from the family," explains Nik, adding that having parents branded as "extremists" would make it all the easier. He says the conviction in February of Dennis Christensen, the Danish Jehovah's Witness, to six years in prison for "organizing the activity of an extremist organization" also weighed on his decision. "It proved to us that there is no hope," he says. The ruling against Christensen by a district court in the western city of Oryol was roundly condemned internationally, including by the UN. "The harsh sentence imposed on Christensen creates a dangerous precedent, and effectively criminalizes the right to freedom of religion or belief for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia -- in contravention of the state's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. In its recent report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom noted that in 2018 "Russia accelerated the repressive behavior" that led to that recommendation. "The Jehovah's Witnesses, whom the government banned outright in 2017, faced severe persecution by the state," according to the report. Now safe in Germany, Nik says he is focused on starting his new life in a country where he can freely practice his faith. As for returning to Russia someday, Nik is not optimistic. "If they stop persecuting me and it's possible to follow my religion, then that would be a totally different situation. But, honestly, I don't believe it will happen. I believed from 2012 to 2018. For seven years I believed that common sense would return. But I saw that the situation only worsened. And the rights of the individual in Russia are denied more and more. I don't see a future for myself or family under such conditions." Fire has seriously damaged a historic Russian school in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia -- the century-old Aleksandr Pushkin School in the regional capital of Sukhumi. Mizan Lomia, who heads the Emergency Situations Ministry in Abkhazia's separatist-controlled de facto government, said the fire broke out during the early morning hours of May 2. Lomia said the blaze destroyed the roof of the secondary school, which teaches all of its courses in the Russian language. He said the cause of the fire remains unknown. Authorities in Sukhumi say the fire was brought under control after several hours by 12 fire-engine teams deployed to fight the blaze -- a total of about 130 firefighters. No casualties were reported. Abkhazia's de facto President Raul Khajimba and Culture Minister Adgur Kakoba visited the site early on May 2. The Russia-backed separatist region of Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s amid a conflict between separatists and Georgian government forces. After the five-day Georgia-Russia war in August 2008, Moscow recognized the independence of Abkhazia and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia. Georgia and the overwhelming majority of the international community consider both regions as territories that are occupied by Russia. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax NUR-SULTAN A court in Kazakhstans capital, Nur-Sultan, has begun to issue jail sentences against detained participants in a May Day protest against the countrys longtime leader, Nursultan Nazarbaev, and his family. Dozens of people who took part in the protest rally and march were detained by city police on May 1. Bauyrzhan Azanov, a lawyer for detained demonstrators Alimzhan Izbasarov and Altynbek Oryntaiuly, told RFE/RL on May 2 that his clients were convicted during a hearing overnight on charges of disobeying police orders. He says they were each sentenced to five days in jail. Activists say on social media that a third detained protester, Serik Asqarov, also has been sentenced to five days in jail. But those reports have not been independently confirmed by Kazakh authorities. RFE/RL has learned that the court in Nur-Sultan also was conducting a hearing on May 2 against at least one other detained protester. She was identified at the court hearing as Bibigul Tuyaqova. Kazakhstans Interior Ministry said on May 1 that a total of 80 protesters were detained during May Day rallies in Nur-Sultan and in Kazakhstans largest city, Almaty. But RFE/RL correspondents who covered the Almaty demonstration reported that about 100 people were detained in that city alone. The May Day protests in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, and several other cities were the largest in Kazakhstan since at least 2016. They are an indication of growing public discontent with Kazakhstans political system, which has been dominated by Nazarbaev since before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many of the protesters on May 1 were criticizing the scheduling of a snap presidential election on June 9 to confirm Nazarbaev's successor as president following his sudden resignation from the post on March 19. The 78-year-old Nazarbaev, who tolerated little dissent, continues to head Kazakhstans ruling Nur Otan party. He also retains the formal title "Leader of the Nation." On April 23, Nur Otan nominated interim President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev as its candidate in the June presidential election. Toqaev is expected to easily win the vote in the tightly controlled country. Kazakhstans Nationwide Social Democratic Party, the only registered political party in the country that casts itself as in opposition to the government, has said that it will boycott the vote. It has suggested that participating in the election would make it appear to be a puppet of the state. Opponents, critics, and rights groups say Nazarbaev has denied many citizens their basic rights and has prolonged his hold on power by manipulating the democratic process. International observers have never deemed an election in Kazakhstan as "free and fair" or as meeting international democratic standards. No media source currently available The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Conservationists have captured images of a striped hyena in Tajikistan. It's a rare sighting of a species at risk of extinction. Saudi Arabia says its coast guard has rescued a distressed Iranian oil tanker off the Red Sea port of Jeddah, raising concerns that the ship's cargo could be leaking. Officials said early on May 2 that it had received an emergency call from the Happiness I vessel regarding "engine failure and the loss of control." The location was described as 70 kilometers south of Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia. Iranian officials said the incident occurred on April 30 while the Happiness I was on its way to the Suez Canal and that water had leaked into the tankers engine room, according to Irans official IRNA news agency. Saudi state media reported that all 26 crew members, including 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, were safe and that all necessary precautions were being taken to avoid any environmental damage. The reports did not specify the crew members current location and did not elaborate on whether oil had spilled from the tanker. But the state-run National Iranian Tanker Co. said there had been no leak of the ship's contents into the Red Sea, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry's news agency SHANA. The TankerTrackers monitoring group estimated the vessel is carrying up to 1.22 million barrels of crude oil. It said the ship had been traveling with a sister ship, the Sabiti, and that the Happiness I crew may have been transferred to that vessel. Late on the morning of May 2, the website MarineTraffic.com, which tracks vessels at sea, located the Happiness I about 40 kilometers off the port of Jeddah. Saudi Arabia, a mainly Sunni Muslim nation, and Shiite-led Iran are bitter rivals in the region. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off in 2016. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and The Arab News A Brazilian citizen has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for fighting for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Rafael Lusvarghi, 34, came to Ukraine in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists began battling Ukrainian government forces in the east of the country. Lusvarghi fought on the separatist side and appeared frequently in Russian and separatist propaganda videos, before returning to Brazil in 2015. Lusvarghi traveled back to Ukraine in 2016 and was arrested upon arrival. He was accused of terrorism and sentenced to 13 years in prison in January 2017 but released in December the same year. He was discovered by an RFE/RL reporter while living in an Orthodox monastery in Kyiv and was interviewed in May 2018. Activists from an ultranationalist group captured Lusvarghi shortly afterward and brought him to the SBU headquarters by force. He was then rearrested. On May 2, Lusvarghi was once again sentenced to prison by a court in Pavlograd, a city in the Dnipropetrovsk region, to 13 years in prison -- the same sentence he received in 2017. He was found guilty of fighting for an illegal militant formation and participating in terrorism. Lusvarghi pleaded guilty on the charges of fighting for an illegal formation, but denied the terrorism charges. Lusvarghi will also have to pay $560-worth of court expenses. According to Ukrainian law, the year Lusvarghi spent in pretrial detention will reduce his sentence by two years, bringing his prison term down to 11 years. With reporting by Kyivpost.com Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy's wife purchased a luxury apartment on favorable terms from business tycoon Oleksandr Buryak, Reuters reports, citing official income and property records. In a report issued on May 1, the news agency said documents showed Zelenskiy's wife, Olena Zelenska, bought a three-room penthouse apartment on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula for $163,893 in April 2013. That would put the price per square meter at about $1,263, compared with listings at the time that were priced at between $3,500 and $4,000 per square meter. Reuters said in the report it was unable to establish why the apartment was sold at below-market prices. Neither Zelenskiy nor his wife responded to requests for comment submitted via his campaign team and via companies he co-owns, the news agency said. Zelenska has put the property up for sale at a price of $790,668, more than four times what she paid in 2013. The 41-year-old actor Zelenskiy won an April 21 presidential election runoff, campaigning largely on his status as a newcomer to Ukraine's political scene who was not beholden to the business and political elite. He beat incumbent Petro Poroshenko, a wealthy businessman, who had been plagued by accusations of turning a blind eye to rampant corruption that favored the countrys wealthiest citizens. In a statement issued after the Reuters report, Zelenskiy's campaign office said all Ukrainian taxes and fees had been paid and that the property had been declared in line with the law. The statement added that the price had been consistent with market levels at the time. A follow-up statement said the apartment's price had been professionally assessed and compared to others in the area as part of the sale process. The step was mandatory for the sale to be recognized by a notary, it said. According to Reuters, public property-register documents show Buryak to be the seller of the apartment. The news agency said he declined to comment. With reporting by Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump has appealed for a swift end to the "brutal repression" of the Venezuelan people, after U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido's call for a military uprising appeared to fall short. "The brutal repression of the Venezuelan people must end, and it must end soon," Trump said as he hosted a national day of prayer service at the White House on May 2. "People are starving. They have no food they have no water, and this was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world," Trump said. Trump's call came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed to meet next week to discuss the situation in Venezuela after the two sides clashed over how to deal with unrest in the South American country. U.S. officials said on May 2 that the two diplomats would discuss "a broad range of issues" when they attend an Arctic Council meeting starting on May 6 in the northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi. The announcement came hours after Lavrov rejected statements by U.S. officials that Moscow had convinced Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to remain in the country amid protests against his rule. "Weve agreed to continue our contacts, including those on Venezuela, but I can't see how you can align, on the one side, our position based on the UN Charter and principles and norms of international law, and on the other, that of the U.S., which has appointed an acting president of another country from Washington," Lavrov told journalists in Tashkent on May 2. "These positions are incompatible, but we stand ready to talk," he added. Venezuelan 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 opposition leader Juan Guaido had called for a military uprising against Maduro. In an April 30 interview with CNN, 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 immediately by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said Pompeo's statement was part of an "information war." 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, sent planes to Venezuela in March, carrying nearly 100 military personnel who the U.S. government believes included special forces and cybersecurity experts to Venezuela. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, TASS, and CNN Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Thursday EVENT 17th Street Farmers Market: Returns for the new season in the newly revamped market with vendors such as The Byrd Farm, Agriberry CSA and Farm, Tupelo Flower Farm and others. 4-7 p.m. at 100 N. 17th St. (804) 646-0954 or enrichmond.org. Friday COMEDY Wanda Sykes: The Portsmouth native, whos been called one of the funniest stand-up comics, returned to HBOs Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David last year. 8 p.m. at Dominion Energy Center, 600 E. Grace St. $41.50-$127. (800) 514-3849 or etix.com. EVENT A 25-year-old Richmond man died Thursday after he was found shot on an East End sidewalk Wednesday night, according to Richmond police. Trequan R. Hardy, 25, of the first block of North 4th Street, was found unresponsive on a sidewalk in the 2100 block of Fairfield Avenue around 8:17 p.m. Wednesday. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died Thursday morning. "Detectives believe several people were in the area of 21st Street and Fairfield Avenue at the time of this shooting and may have information about this incident," Major Crimes Captain James Laino said. "We urge witnesses or anyone with information about this shooting to contact us." Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to call Major Crimes Detective N. Reese at (804) 646-0712 or contact Crime Stoppers at 780-1000 or at www.7801000.com. The P3 Tips Crime Stoppers app for smartphones may also be used. All Crime Stoppers methods are anonymous. Its powerful to have them want to one, be heard, two, to mend that relationship, and three, to make this into something positive where it could have just been a negative situation that stayed that way and hurt our community, said Hill Principal Cherita Sears. The three students, alongside four parents and a grandparent, the police officer, interim Police Chief William Smith, Bhagat and Sears all met in the schools library on Tuesday. The group talked about what happened, how it affected them and what they thought needed to happen in order to move forward, Sears said. Part of that, she added, is the public apology. It was a step forward, and it was a step toward healing for our students, Sears said. The students felt like he should apologize publicly. Said Bhagat: Everyone in the circle left feeling like we made progress. Richmond police, asked Wednesday about the meeting, did not provide comment by Thursday afternoon. It remains unclear how and when the public apology will be made and whether the officers name will be revealed. Nate Benforado, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, called the budget provision a backhand attempt to take away the states statutory authority to regulate air pollution. Benforado said that joining the regional initiative is a very proactive, a very positive step that Virginia can take to address threats to climate. He is among a group of environmentalists who have been meeting with administration officials since the assembly veto session on April 3 to convince the governor that he would be on safe legal ground to veto the language. This is a significant piece of general legislation inserted into the budget, said Benforado, who noted that Northam had vetoed separate legislation that would have done the same thing. Environmentalists are not asking the governor to veto a separate budget provision that would require any revenues from the regional compact or a similar transportation climate initiative to be deposited in the budgets general fund and not be used for any other purposes without appropriation by the General Assembly. That provision is more directly related to the budget, Benforado said. He had no idea who he would be meeting. We really had no expectation of what was going on, Hedrick said. We were just asked to be there. Mayor Alonzo Jones and City Manager Ken Larking said they did not know Spielberg had visited Danville until after he left, and had no idea that he was coming. Larking said some officials met with Spielberg but would not say who. Danville Economic Development Director Telly Tucker said his office did not arrange to have Spielberg visit the city, and that he did not meet with him. I was not aware he was coming, Tucker said. We didnt have anything to do with that. Mike Rembold, who runs the airport with his wife, said he spoke with Spielberg for about 10 or 15 minutes about aviation. I didnt know what to say at first, Rembold said. Spielberg was flown in on a Gulfstream 650. It was pretty new, Rembold said. Epes said it was only luck that kept Porterfield from being wounded or killed. If the bolt had been a few inches to the right, it likely would have shattered the rear window of the truck. Even if the bolt itself missed Porterfield, the shock of it coming through the window could have caused him to crash, Epes said. Waller said that Grubb thought his loved ones were in danger. "I'll always believe he was protecting his family," Waller told jurors. The evidence that was tossed out was a recording of a jail phone call in which Grubbs, soon after his January 2018 arrest, boasted to his fiancee of his accuracy with the crossbow, Epes said. In the recording, Grubbs said that if he had used a bolt equipped with a hunting broadhead, instead of a practice tip, he probably would have killed that motherf---er, the prosecutor said. Should you fall and injure yourself in a post office or be struck by a government vehicle driven by a federal employee, you are entitled to sue the federal government for damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) except if you happen to be a member of the U.S. armed forces. Because of a decades-old Supreme Court ruling known as the Feres Doctrine, active-duty military personnel cannot sue the U.S. government for injuries or damages caused by events incurred specifically during military service. The 1950 ruling stems from three separate court cases. The doctrine is named after the 1947 lawsuit brought by the widow of Lt. Rudolph Feres. She sued the Army for negligence after her husband perished during a barracks fire. The lawsuit charged that the Army knew the heating system was faulty. The other two cases involved incidents of medical malpractice, including one in which a soldier tried to sue the Army after finding out that a hand towel had been left in his abdomen during surgery. Another legal battle could be brewing with the Mountain Valley Pipeline, this one over whether endangered species of fish and bats might be jeopardized by building the massive project through the waters and mountains they inhabit. In a letter this week to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sierra Club said that ample new information has come to light since the agency determined in 2017 that endangered species would not be significantly harmed. The environmental organization asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to reexamine its earlier opinion a move that could stop work on the beleaguered pipeline. If that does not happen, the Sierra Club will evaluate next steps a spokesman said, with one option being a lawsuit. Joining in the May 1 letter were Appalachian Voices and Wild Virginia, two other conservation groups that in the past have been part of coalitions that filed legal actions that have hampered the pipeline with cost overruns and construction delays. More sediment than expected from building the pipeline has been washed into streams and rivers along its route, causing problems for fish including the Roanoke logperch, which is listed as a federally endangered species, Sierra Club staff attorney Elly Benson wrote in the letter. To me, the Roanoke logperch is like the canary in the coalmine, Bill Bestpitch, a member of the Roanoke City Council, said at a recent rally of pipeline opponents. Bestpitch made his remarks after the issue was first addressed publicly in an April 12 letter from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the lead agency overseeing construction of the 303-mile long pipeline. Other endangered or threatened species along the pipelines route include the candy darter, a colorful fish found in Giles Countys Stony Creek; the Indiana and the northern long-eared bats; and the small whorled pogonia, an orchid that grows mostly in stands of hardwoods, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote in its letter to FERC. Neither federal agency has decided to reinitiate consultation, the official step to rethink the 2017 biological opinion that found that endangered species would not be jeopardized by burrowing a 42-inch diameter steel pipe along steep slopes and through streams and rivers. We do not have sufficient information to comment at this time on whether the opinion should be revised, Meagan Racey, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said last week. However, Racey said the agency supports FERCs efforts to protect endangered species. FERC raised the issue by asking the Fish and Wildlife Service for a list of questions and information to help both agencies in determining how best to proceed with Mountain Valley construction under the Endangered Species Act. The service responded with a three-page, singled-spaced list of concerns or questions. FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said the agency was simply working through the process. It is FERC policy not to speculate or comment on any potential future actions or decisions, she wrote in an email when asked what might happen next. The agencies could reinitiate consultation if there is information on a projects impact to an endangered species or critical habitat that was not previously considered, Racey said. In the case of Mountain Valley, the Sierra Club contends, one piece of new information is the large amount of sedimentation released from the construction project, which began last year. Grave doubts regarding the efficacy of [erosion and sediment] control measures, and MVPs compliance with them, have proven to be well-founded, the letter states, referring to a lawsuit filed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that accuses the company of violating regulations more than 300 times. A Mountain Valley spokeswoman said the groups letter does not raise any new issues. The MVP project team is already engaged and has been actively working with the agencies to address the relevant issues noted in the letter, Natalie Cox wrote in email. It was not clear what sparked the federal governments review of the pipelines impact on endangered species. The Fish and Wildlife Services letter called, in part, for answers to questions raised by Paul Angermeier, a professor in Virginia Techs Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. In an email last October to agency officials, Angermeier wrote that the biological opinion included several important shortcomings that led to significant underestimates of the pipelines impact on the Roanoke logperch. My analysis seems to provide new (more scientific) fuel for the arguments that MVP impacts may have been underestimated and some of those underestimates have legal implications for agencies charged with managing and regulating public resources, Angermeier said in an email Thursday. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Carilion Clinics Jefferson College of Health Sciences on Friday will graduate its last class slightly more than a century after the first six women entered its nursing program. By fall, Jefferson will be part of Radford University. Plans to merge Jefferson into Radford were announced last year, but the evolution began about a decade earlier, when the university looked to Roanoke and Carilion Clinic to build its physical therapy doctoral program. What has been good will continue to be good in this new iteration as part of Radford University, Jefferson President Nathaniel Bishop said this week. Organically, it started happening in smooth ways that werent being forced. It was just a natural step to take it to the next level, leading to the ultimate good. Carilion and Radford intend for the merger to encourage more students to pursue careers in health care and to help overcome the shortage of nurses. The same goal was in mind when Dr. Hugh Trout Sr. in 1914 founded the Jefferson Hospital School of Nursing to train nurses for his new 40-bed Jefferson Hospital. It has always been growth opportunities and looking at ways to better meet employment needs of this growing health care environment here in Roanoke, Bishop said of the way the school has evolved. The first class graduated from the 33-month training program in 1917. Over the next decades, the nursing school went through several name and location changes and a merger with LewisGales nursing school. While it continued to grow, with about 600 students by 2004, it remained primarily a nursing school. About three-quarters of the students were pursuing entry-level degrees, with the balance studying for bachelors degrees. That would rapidly change. In 2005, Jefferson gained accreditation status to offer graduate programs, starting with a master of science in nursing, followed quickly by masters programs for physician assistants and occupational therapy. During Bishops nine-year tenure, doctoral programs in health sciences and occupational therapy were created, as were three more masters programs for health science, health care administration and family nurse practitioners. By the fall of 2017, students from 35 states and 93 Virginia localities were enrolled. Today, the student body numbers more than 1,200, with nearly a third pursuing graduate degrees. About 10 percent of the students remain in associate-level programs, which eventually will move to Virginia Western Community College. Jefferson had already dropped its two-year licensed practical nursing program and had entered into agreements with the community college to make it easy for students who get their LPN there to move to Jefferson for a bachelors degree, and then continue into graduate programs. And that speaks to collaboration. One of the things we have is a strong and good partnership with Virginia Western Community College, Bishop said. Some of the programs we were doing at the associate level, the community colleges were doing and doing well so it doesnt make sense to compete. From criminal investigator to VP Jefferson followed the trend in health care of stackable credentials. Bishop, who turned 65 in April, is an example of this. He grew up in Christiansburg, where he still lives, and attended New River Valley Community College and then Radford, to study criminal justice. The first time he entered Community Hospital was as a young investigator for the Christiansburg Police Department. The hospitals morgue doubled as the place where autopsies were performed for all of Southwest Virginia, he said. Many years and a few credentials later a masters in education from Virginia Tech, a doctor of ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary, a year of study to be licensed as a health care administrator Bishop would return to Community Hospital, where Jefferson now occupies all or part of most of its 10 floors. Someone saw potential in me and offered me an opportunity to transition from law enforcement to health care administration by way of long-term care administration, he said. Bishop worked at Virginia United Methodist Homes, now Pinnacle Living, before joining Carilion in 1997 as executive director of Burrell Nursing Center. He oversaw that buildings transition to Blue Ridge Behavioral Health Care and in 2002 became administrator of Community Hospital. He was then promoted to Carilions vice president of facility and guest services and worked with senior vice president Curtis Mills on the $115 million project that added five floors to Roanoke Memorials 10-story tower so that much of Communitys inpatient medical and surgical services could move there. When it was completed in 2007, we had a big celebration, a parade from here to Roanoke Memorial, he said. Bishop mothballed some of the floors at Community Hospital before leaving for Roanoke Memorial. The task of moving Jefferson to Community initially was left to others. Making connections Bishop had something else to do. We were bringing on the [Carilion] Virginia Tech School of Medicine, and I was working on that project as it was being constructed and working with Cynda Johnson, the dean, he said. There were conversations about how to connect this college that was wholly owned by Carilion with this new entity coming into being as a public-private partner. While that was being forged, my predecessor decided to retire. Bishop was asked to help move Jefferson into Community and partner with the new medical school. Collaboration just kind of comes naturally to me, and I have enjoyed the opportunities I have had to do those kinds of things. So it seemed to others to be a natural fit, he said. I wasnt sure about it, but have always accepted the opportunities that have been afforded me. This was one more. Once I got into it, in just a few months I decided I was at home. Bishop was intrigued by the complexity and the connections. And he especially liked that one of the medical schools core tenets would be interprofessionalism, a concept he would embrace. When introduced in Roanoke a decade ago, the idea was fairly new. It acknowledges that every health care worker brings something different and of value to patient care, and promotes teams that work together rather than rely on a top-down hierarchy. That spoke to Bishop. As a long-term health care administrator, one of the most consistent complaints I would deal with had to do with persons who felt like there had not been appropriate communication between a department and another in the care of a loved one, he said. At the root of that is communication. The heart of it is valuing and respecting all of the other professions that are involved in patient care. That goes for staff not directly tied to patient care, too, he said. For Bishop, its all about making connections. And Carilion CEO Nancy Agee asked the new Jefferson president right off to make one more connection: find a space for Radford to build out its physical therapy doctoral program in Roanoke. Building partnerships Bishop found space on the eighth floor, but first he had to find a place to move students who were using that area as a dormitory. He said he connected with developer Ed Walker, who was renovating the former Patrick Henry Hotel not far from the school, and made plans for part of it to serve as student housing. Once Radford moved in, Bishop said one of the benefits became apparent immediately, as Jeffersons lower-level physical and occupational therapy students could work alongside the Radford students. All of the students could do clinical rotations inside the building, as Carilion kept its inpatient rehab at Community and also has childrens therapy, same-day surgeries and an urgent care clinic in the building. Much of Community Hospital has been taken over by Jefferson for classrooms and labs, such as a former operating suite that serves as the training ground for surgery techs. In short order, the building was nearly full, with just part of the eighth floor unused. I knew we had to be very creative in using the space because it was the last space and we wanted to make sure it was used in the most wise way, he said. Johnson told him the medical school needed additional anatomy space. Dr. Lisa Allison-Jones, the dean of the college, had been saying the same. Radfords students, too, needed an anatomy lab. It would be very expensive for any of us to go out and do our own, Bishop said. The three schools partnered on the $2.5 million, 15-table lab, with windows that open onto a sweeping view toward Roanoke Memorial with Roanoke Mountain as the backdrop. In between, the area along the Jefferson Street corridor has begun to fill in with more clinics and related businesses and housing Whats next? During the summer, once accreditors grant final approval, Jefferson students will become Radford students and will continue to attend classes at Community Hospital, on what will be known as the Radford University Carilion campus. Jeffersons faculty and staff will become Radford employees. All who wanted to remain were given offers. Bishop will return to Carilion as a senior vice president but isnt saying yet what his role will be. There will be time for those announcements, he said, once the merger is completed. This week he was polishing the remarks he planned to give to his last 285 graduates. It will be the 19th ceremony in nine years as hes watched 3,000 students earn their degrees. Its just still hard to take in and think about that, he said. I am very thankful for all the wonderful ways this team has worked together and accomplished all the milestones. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The star angel will shine inside the Oliver W. Hill Justice Center. A team of 11 Roanoke Catholic School students spent the past year completing a painting called Angelus Stella. The students unveiled the mural Monday during a ceremony at the school. Roanoke Circuit Court Judge David Carson commissioned the artwork. The project began last summer as an extension of the schools mission to instill and build a sense of community through service to others, according to Roanoke Catholic. The student artists, all in grades eight through 12, are Eloise Chandler, Megan Keeley, Seaira Siv, Aubrey Adkins, Carolyn Angelillo, Nicole Finnegan, Clara McDaniel, Bauer Adkins, Megan Finnegan , Zach Llavore and Maggie Meyers. Angelus Stella is Latin for star angel. The mural pops with vibrant depictions of staple Roanoke structures and a mountain range. A woman with angel wings wearing a dress made of leaves clutches the moon and sun in her hands. Birds perch on a tree while a squirrel rests on a bough above a young deer. Students collaborated to create the piece. A total of 700 combined community service hours were devoted by the students, according to the school. Carson, along with General District Court Judge Tom Roe and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge John Weber, saw the mural for the first time at the ceremony and praised the artists. Roanoke Catholic marketing director Michael Hemphill said the judges are coordinating on where the mural will be located in the courthouse. The mural is headed to the courthouse amid another major change for the nearly 40-year-old building. On Wednesday, it was formally renamed in honor of Oliver Hill, a renowned civil rights attorney who grew up in Roanoke. Melissa Wilfong wants the dealer who sold the drugs that killed her son to be held accountable. First responders found James Curtis dead inside a camper in Alleghany County. He died Oct. 20 at the age of 27 of a fentanyl overdose, his mother said. I know my kid made a bad choice to use drugs, but deep inside of me, it feels like someone killed him, Wilfong said. It just doesnt feel like he died accidentally. For years, state lawmakers have tried to pass legislation that would make it easier for state prosecutors to go after drug dealers with a felony homicide charge when users die of an overdose. This year, the General Assembly got a bill onto the governors desk. But Gov. Ralph Northam on Thursday vetoed HB 2528 out of concern that those struggling with addiction, and not just street dealers, could face harsh prison time. The disease of addiction has long devastated our communities, Northam said in his veto message. While I share the goal of addressing the opioid crisis and ensuring drug dealers are punished for supplying dangerous drugs, this bill goes beyond drug dealers and would punish individuals who are themselves struggling with addiction. The way to help individuals struggling with addiction is to ensure they receive proper treatment. The bills sponsor, Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax, said in a statement a drug dealer who sells heroin laced with fentanyl is no less a killer than if he had pointed a gun and pulled the trigger. New standard Prosecutors said they needed this legislation because of a 2013 Virginia Court of Appeals opinion. Kayla Beame purchased ecstasy pills from Timothy Woodward outside a store parking lot in Danville on Nov. 16, 2010. A few hours later, Beame took some of the pills and went to sleep. The next day, someone else in the apartment saw Beame wasnt breathing right, so he called 911. She was taken to the hospital. She died Nov. 18, 2010. A trial court convicted Woodard of felony homicide, which is applied when someone kills a person by accident, but the death happens when the person also committed another felony. The sentence is five to 40 years in prison. On appeal, Woodards lawyer argued the killing must occur close in time, place and have a causal connection to the felony, which is this case was selling the illegal drug in the parking lot hours before Beame ingested the pills. The court agreed with Woodards argument and reversed the conviction. We have no way of getting the commercial dealer with this charge, said Mike Doucette, executive director for the Virginia Association of Commonwealths Attorneys, which supported the legislation. Building a consensus For years, lawmakers hit snags regarding how to treat cases such as a boyfriend who purchased heroin and shared it with his girlfriend, who then died of an overdose. The boyfriend was not the street dealer reaping profits from selling drugs, and they didnt think the boyfriend should face the same charge or even go to prison at all. They also worried the boyfriend wouldnt call for help for an overdose in progress. This year the bill that passed with bipartisan support said a person would be guilty of felony homicide for selling or giving a Schedule I or II drug that killed someone, regardless of the time or place of the death. It also stated that if someone gave a drug only as an accommodation meaning with no intention of making a profit or getting the other person addicted and the person died of an overdose, then the drug supplier would be charged with a lesser felony and face one to 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine. Northams proposed amendments took that a step further. If the dealer or the person providing drugs as an accommodation could prove in court they called for medical help and stayed on scene to meet with police, that person could be found not guilty or convicted of a lesser offense. The idea was to encourage people to call for help in the event of an overdose. Doucette said Northams proposed changes weakened the bill too much. Legislators rejected them. Sending a message In recent years, as part of a get-tough campaign, 20 states have passed laws against people who supply drugs that lead to fatal overdoses, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit drug policy organization. Prosecutors can still charge drug dealers with distribution, but Doucette says the felony homicide charge could lead to a stiffer sentence as a more appropriate consequence for someone dying. Statistics on prosecutions involving overdoses in Virginias judicial system are not tracked by the state. The Roanoke Times reviewed five years of felony homicide charges, online court records and news accounts of courtroom proceedings in fatal overdose cases. The review didnt include other charges used in overdose cases. There were at least six cases in which partners or friends who shared drugs were charged. An additional case involved someone convicted of selling drugs at a motel in Winchester, where a man died. In all of the cases, charges were reduced. Many still involved a prison sentence. In many cases, the partner or the friend was charged, convicted and sentenced to serve prison time because the prosecutor or judge said they wanted to send a message. In Floyd County last year, a man pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for his girlfriends death. He bought heroin and they both injected it. The judge said someone needed to pay for her death and sentenced the boyfriend to serve 25 years in prison. Wise County Commonwealths Attorney Chuck Slemp supported the legislation, and he said it would likely have been used in rare cases. Youve got to go after the big fish, Slemp said. Youve got to go after those who are truly profiting by selling poison and destroying our community. You want to take the truly culpable person off the streets. Slemp said his experience as a defense attorney and now prosecutor in handling cases involving drugs and addiction has changed his perspective. He said hes trying to figure out ways the justice system can help people, when to a certain degree, its not equipped for making people better, although maybe it should be. He said in Wise County theres a robust drug court, a specialized diversion program that lets eligible nonviolent offenders avoid jail time if they undergo treatment. And a new program puts those convicted of low level crimes, such as drug offenses, to work in public service rather than behind bars. Beyond prosecution Melissa Wilfong realizes someone being charged in her sons death isnt going to stop the opioid epidemic. Shes not a stranger to the damage done from addiction, and has seen it across generations in her family. Wilfong said she was shocked when her son died last year. She said he was a drinker, and she wasnt aware he was abusing drugs. I still get hit really hard with grief, Wilfong said. She wants more awareness spread in the community to reduce the stigma. She wants more outreach about resources available to help people suffering from addiction and easier access to treatment. I dont want my kid to die in vain, Wilfong said. If I can save one more persons life, one kid out there, that would be great. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. By Jess Calvert Calvert is a sophomore double majoring in Professional and Technical Writing and English at Virginia Tech. Her passions lie in social justice, and she hopes to eventually work at a magazine that focuses on womens issues A white girl is sexually assaulted. Theres more press coverage, more societal anger, more backlash toward the attacker. A young black girl is sexually assaulted. It goes under the radar even more than the usual rape cases, theres little investigation, its because she came from a bad area. Not only is this widely accepted societal view damaging to girls self-esteems, but it also gets in the way of social justice for these survivors, and thats where our judicial system needs to change. According to EndRapeOnCampus.org, 60% of black females experience sexual violence before the age of 18. A societal phenomenon known as adultification plays a part in how white society views black lives and black experiences. According to a study done by the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, adultification is the phenomenon that effectively reduces or removes the consideration of childhood as a mediating factor in black youths behavior. Essentially, the tendency of white people is to view black children as older than they are because of our preconceived notions about them. The stereotype of the black child whos been exposed to more violence, more tragedy, and more abuse has prevailed since the Civil War, and it impacts how we view young black girls today. According to that Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality study, childhood is a social-construct, one that is informed by race, among other factors. When African American children are perceived as less innocent and more adult than their white peers, they are shown less sympathy and are treated more like adults. In cases where young black girls are the primary victims (Im looking at you, R. Kelly), there is less drive for a jury to show them justice. Kelly was charged with counts of child pornography and kidnapping there was a sex tape released that pictured him having graphic, disturbing sex with both a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl. If you havent seen Surviving R. Kelly, which I highly recommend doing, Kelly was first acquitted in part because the primarily white jury didnt trust the girls on the stand based on how they dressed and the way they act. Because of this, R. Kelly walked free over a decade ago. How different would that initial trial have been if it were two young white girls on the sex tape with R. Kelly? How quickly would he have been locked up then and there if his 30+ victims were white girls under the age of 18? My guess? Probably a week of trial with a 30 minute jury deliberation. Another display of this societal injustice is the 2015 trial of an Oklahoma City police officer, Daniel Holtzclaw. According to BuzzfeedNews.com, Holtzclaw was accused of sexually assaulting 13 women in the community he patrolled from December 2013 to June 2014. Of the 36 [charges], he was found guilty of 18...Prosecutors say that Holtzclaw deliberately chose women he thought were unlikely to be believed black women with criminal records from an impoverished neighborhood. Because of the white push-back of the Black Lives Matter movement (i.e. the development of All Lives Matter), and the criminal histories and racial identities of these women, Holtzclaw intentionally sought out those who were discriminated against because he knew society would not believe them. As a society, we are less appalled by the continuous abuse and assault of black girls than we are of white girls. The sexualization of black girls is more acceptable purely based on societys deeply-rooted, and often unconscious, belief that black girls are less deserving of innocence because theyre more independent, more knowledgeable about sex, and less deserving of protection. This systematic injustice must end to create a more accepting and loving world. Juries in sexual assault and murder cases MUST be diverse a mandatory level of representation should be discussed. Specific centers for girls of color who are or who have been victims of sexual violence should be constructed and heavily funded to protect them from further abuse. We must make girls of color feel equally as safe, if not more so, to create a safer world for our children and grandchildren. Victims are victims and survivors are survivors, no matter their skin color. Our justice system desperately needs to get it together and protect all sexual assault survivors, regardless of their race, if we are to put an end to rape culture in America. A NATIONAL inquiry into institutionalised child sexual abuse will now investigate grooming gangs a move welcomed by Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, who has been announced as a core participant in the research. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up in 2014 to examine how the countrys institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. The 17 million six-year inquiry headed up by Prof Alexis Jay, who revealed 1,400 children had been abused in Rotherham was set up in the wake of high profile instances of non-recent child sexual abuse and because the government had grave concerns that some organisations had failed and were continuing to fail to protect children from sexual abuse. The inquirys remit did not originally include taking into account the Rotherham abuse scandal in its 13 strands of investigations. But it has now been announced that it will carry out research into child sexual exploitation by organised networks (CSEN). Ms Champion welcomed the much-needed research and said the Home Office had failed to take it on despite her lobbying. She said: Alexis Jay is the third head of this inquiry and has been doing a great job. Because of her knowledge and understanding of Rotherham, shes been keen to look at grooming gangs involvement in child abuse. Ms Champion said she had been pushing since 2015 for the Home Office to carry out this research after she, Rotherham survivor Sammy Woodhouse and whistleblower Jayne Senior met then-Prime Minister David Cameron. Ive been pushing the Home Office and Home Secretary for this type of investigation and all they have given me is warm words and no action, said Ms Champion. All this was uncovered by Alexis Jay and now she is continuing that work. Explaining its new strand of investigation, the IICSA said: The systematic grooming and sexual abuse of children by groups of offenders in cities and towns of England and Wales is widespread. Building upon the body of work on child sexual exploitation following specific instances in places such as Devon and Cornwall, Oxford, Rochdale, Rotherham, and Telford, this investigation will assess the extent to which a wide range of relevant authorities have learned lessons, implemented recommendations, and put in place effective strategies to prevent child sexual exploitation in future. We will consider whether the police and other agencies are using civil prevention orders effectively, whether the current regulation of the night-time economy and taxi licensing is effective in protecting children from abuse, and whether the criminal justice system is treating victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation appropriately. The IICSA said it will hear evidence at its public hearings, scheduled for 2020, on CSE problem profiling (including gender/ethnicity) and disruption of offenders. It will also look into whether police have comprehensive and up-to-date information about local patterns of CSEN in their area and how they use information. As a core participant, Ms Champion will have special rights in her voluntary role and be able to suggest lines of questioning to be pursued. The Rotherham MP said she was keen for research to look into grooming gangs motivations. She said: Is it for sexual gratification, money, an ego and power thing I dont know. Im also interested to know whether the various gangs we are seeing across the country are operating in complete isolation or broader network. Ms Champion said she also hoped the inquiry hearings would look into race and culture and examine why British Pakistani men or gangs of teenage schoolboys were operating like this. She said she believed the IICSA was now on track with Prof Jay at the helm, after two previous heads quit the role, adding: I think shes got the trust and confidence of victims and survivors and I think thats the main key and why the first two were not acceptable. POLICE stopped and searched 12 people in Mexborough on Tuesday as efforts to stamp out organised crime in the town continued. Officers also carried out a warrant under the misuse of drugs act as they continued their work on Operation Fortify. Det Ins Steve Smith, who heads up the Fortify team, said: Tuesday was another busy day for my team. They are out there, on the ground listening to the local community and acting on information that is passed to them. My appeal to you the residents and business owners who care about Mexborough is this: you know who the people committing the crimes are, you know where the drugs, weapons and cash are. You need to share this information with us. We can help make your neighbourhood a safer place to be. You can have absolute confidence that any information you give via Crimestoppers is anonymous. Nobody will know that youve been in touch. Crimestoppers can be called on 0800 555 111. Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday called upon the people to thrown out communally divisive Kartarpur, May 2: Even as he expressing total disgust over Narendra Modis shameful attempts to take political mileage from the martyrdom of soldiers and armed personnel, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday called upon the people to thrown out communally divisive BJP and Akali forces to usher in an era of peace and prosperity under the Congress. Anyone who wants to divide people on communal lines has no place in our civilised nation, said the Chief Minister, addressing a Congress gathering, where he also took frank and direct questions from many of the common people who had come to hear him. Congress candidates Santokh Chaudhary from Jalandhar and Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur welcomed him to the event ground near Gurdwara Sri Gangsar Sahib. Advertisement Asserting that his blood boils when he hears Modi shamelessly ask for votes in the name of the Pulwama martyrs or the Balakot air strikes, Captain Amarinder Singh said the prime ministers behaviour was repulsive. It is the fauj (soldiers) of India and its people who are getting killed everyday in the line of duty; it is not Modis fauj. He is using their sacrifice for political gains, said the Chief Minister. The media, which he controls, is also speaking the voice of the prime minister, but the people can see which way the winds are blowing, these winds will sweep Modi and his BJP away, declared the Chief Minister, expressing the confidence that the people will teach them a lesson and the Congress will sweep to power in these elections. Captain Amarinder warned that their attempts to scuttle the SIT probe would not succeed Lashing out at the Akalis over the spate of sacrilege cases, and the Behbal Kalan and Bargari incidents of police firing, in the last 18 months of their rule, Captain Amarinder warned that their attempts to scuttle the SIT probe would not succeed. The very officer the Badals had got transferred out would be back with the SIT the day polling ends and ensure that those responsible for the desecrations and the killings are punished. Pointing out that not a single major case of sacrilege had been reported since his government came to power, the Chief Minister said clearly indicated who was behind those cases. Advertisement They have defied justice so far by not accepting their own Zora Commission report and the Ranjit Singh Commission findings but they will not succeed in their mission to create tension to divide the people and garner the support of the Sikh community through such actions, he warned, adding that the cases being investigated by SIT were of murder and anyone found guilty would face the consequences, as per law. People want peace for themselves and their kids to ensure a better future, said Captain Amarinder, pointing out that peace can only sustain in an environment of communal harmony. Peace was essential to attract industry and ensure development, which alone can bring jobs for the children and progress for the state, he added. Promising all-out efforts by his government to secure the future of Punjabs children, the Chief Minister said, as per the daily progress reports he receives, the Ghar Ghar Rozgar scheme had already touched the milestone of 1000 jobs a day. His government would ensure jobs for youth to prevent them from going abroad in search of lucrative opportunities, he added. Pointing to the significance of Kartarpur in the context of the 550th Parkash Purb celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji, the Chief Minister hoped the Kartarpur Corridor would become functional in time for the momentous occasion to enable all devotees to pay their respects at the historic gurdwara across the border. Advertisement Chief Minister hoped the Kartarpur Corridor would become functional in time Taking a dig at Modi for failing to take the Sultanpur Lodhi development scheme forward personally, Captain Amarinder said the union home minister had held some meetings but had only invited the Badals to discuss the plans. Captain Amarinder also squarely blamed the Modi government for aggravating the problems of industry and farmers with its wrong policies, including demonetisation, GST, non-implementation of MS Swaminathan Commission recommendations etc. They will pay for their sins, he warned, adding that their days were numbered and the Congress would soon take over the reins of the countrys future. In response to questions from the public later, the Chief Minister reiterated that those guilty of involvement in the sacrilege or policing firing cases would not be spared. Ruling out any nexus with the Badals to save them from punishment, he asserted that nobody would be allowed to go scot free but maintained that he would not reduce himself to the level of the Akalis by indulging in political vendetta. Advertisement Whether its the economic mess in the state or attempts to divide people, anybody would responsible would pay for their misdeeds, he declared. To another question, Captain Amarinder said financial constraints, including the Rs 31000 crore credit loan, had prevented his government from implementing all promises at the outset but there were still three years to fulfill all. The smart phones promised to youngsters would also begin to be distributed soon after the polls as his government had already ordered the first instalment of 3.5 lakh of the 10.5 lakh phones required under the scheme. Rejecting the charges of waiving off farm loans of only Akalis, the Chief Minister said criteria such as loan amount, size of land holding etc was being applied to waive off the debts in instalments to cover 10.25 lakh small and marginal farmers as well as the debt-ridden landless labourers. Only the poor farmers were being reached out, irrespective of their political affiliation, he added. On a question of corn MSP, he said the only solution was in toto implementation of MS Swaminathan recommendations, which the Congress president Rahul Gandhi had already promised along with other farmer-friendly measures once the party comes to power. The recurrence of illegal mining in some places was the result of restrictions by the high court, which had also resulted in sand prices spiralling out of control, said the Chief Minister, adding that fresh auctions would soon be announced to stabilise the situation once again. HC issues notices to State of Punjab Chandigarh May 2nd, 2019: HC receives a report from District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana on a complaint received from Supdt., Central Jail, Ludhiana, against havoc created by 200 Dyeing Mills operating near the said Jail, releasing toxic gases- HC issues notices to State of Punjab. Advocate H.C. Arora is appointed Amicus to assist the HC in this case: Acting upon a report received from District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana on a complaint submitted by a large number of inmates of Central Jail, Ludhiana received from Supdt., Central Jail, Ludhiana, against havoc created by 200 Dyeing Mills operating near the said Jail, releasing toxic gases, the HC Bench comprising Chief Justice and Justice Arun Palli today issued notice to State of Punjab, by treating the report as a PIL namely, Court of Its Own Motion v. State of Punjab. Advertisement Advocate General, Punjab, was also present in the Court at the time of preliminary hearing of the PIL. While issuing notice to State of Punjab for 14.5.2019, the HC Bench appointed Advocate H.C. Arora as Amicus (Friend of the Court) to assist the Court. In their complaint, a number of prisoners of Central Jail, Ludhiana had stated that approximately 200 Dyeing Mills are operating near the Central Jail, Ludhiana, and the toxic gases released by these Mills are playing havoc with their health. These gases have harmful effects on the surroundings as well as on drinking water. They have requested that their lives be saved from the harmful effects of the toxic gases released by Dyeing Mills, operating near the Jail. They have alleged that many of them have been inflicted with serious diseases, like Kala Pilia,lung diseases, eye ailments etc. Hong Kong: CE meets Japanese minister Chief Executive Carrie Lam met Japans Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism Keiichi Ishii at Government House today. Mrs Lam welcomed Mr Ishii's visit to Hong Kong and said that the city and Japan enjoy close ties. She pointed out that 2019 is Hong Kong-Japan Tourism Year, and said she had participated in tourism promotion activities during her visit to Japan last year. The Chief Executive expressed hope that more Japanese tourists will visit Hong Kong and other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Mrs Lam added Hong Kong has always invested heavily in infrastructure to improve the livelihood of the general public and maintain its long-term competitiveness. Given the high quality of their work, their advanced technology and their concern for industrial safety, she encouraged Japan's construction companies to actively participate in Hong Kong's works projects. This story has been published on: 2019-05-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. A rising tide of fake news and disinformation is dominating World Press Freedom Day discussions taking place this week in Ethiopia, which is hosting the event after freeing jailed journalists as part of sweeping reforms. As the world prepares to mark the day on Friday, media practitioners and experts have raised the alarm and deliberated on ways to combat disinformation that they say is becoming a threat to democracy. The relationship between the press and democracy is the main theme this year, with more than 100 events taking place around the world. In my country, Somalia, disinformation is so rampant to the extent that some candidates were falsely alleged to have died or withdrawn right before elections so that their competitors were given more chances of winning, said Hussein Abdi Adam with Somalias electoral commission. Advertisement Everybody is using phones these days. And its becoming more difficult to deal with it as many of those engaged in this disinformation are based in various parts of the world. Ethiopia is drafting a law to deal with hate speech and disinformation, said Billene Seyoum, the press secretary for the East African countrys reformist prime minister. This law really wont curb citizens freedom of expression but it rather will safeguard their right to access accurate information and ensure their safety, she said. Disinformation is lethal. It also creates fear and divides societies and communities. This years World Press Freedom Day is being held for the first time in Ethiopia, a country that had been infamous for jailing journalists until new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed power in April 2018. His government set several dozen reporters free. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Ethiopia currently has no journalists behind bars and new publications are flourishing on various platforms. Since Abiy came to power the country has unblocked over 260 websites and journalists who had been banned returned home. But the media organization noted that challenges still remain for journalists in Ethiopia, including the risk of attack and arrest, especially in restive regions. Perhaps most fundamentally, journalists told CPJ they are anxious for the freedoms they are enjoying to be rooted in law rather than guaranteed only by the goodwill of the Abiy government, Muthoki Mumo, CPJs sub-Saharan Africa representative, noted this week. Visiting British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the audience that media freedom is not a Western value or a luxury for developing countries. In a world where 99 journalists were killed last year - and another 348 locked up by governments - some of the brightest spots are perhaps where some would least expect: right here in Africa, he said. On Thursday, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was being awarded to jailed Myanmar journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone by Ethiopian and African Union officials. The Reuters journalists are serving seven-year prison sentences for their reporting on the militarys brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. This month the One Free Press Coalition is highlighting the Reuters journalists on its 10 Most Urgent cases along with missing Tanzanian journalist Azory Gwanda, detained Nicaraguan journalists Miguel Mora and Lucia Pineda, imprisoned Indian journalist Aasif Sultan and others. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. There were already roughly 20 Democrats seeking the partys presidential nomination, of whom all but a handful barely register in early polls. On Thursday, Sen. Michael Bennet joined the fray. Hes at least the 19th candidate, depending on whos counted, and the seventh U.S. senator in the race. Hes not even the first Coloradan. An understated moderate who had been virtually unknown after a decade in Washington until an impassioned denunciation of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during the 35-day government shutdown went viral in January, Bennet announced his candidacy during an appearance on CBS This Morning. My plan is to run for president, Bennet said, acknowledging that he has a tough road ahead. I dont think anybody has as broad a set of experiences in the field, and I think that will distinguish me. Advertisement The announcement, which comes just a couple of weeks after the senator underwent what he says was successful surgery for prostate cancer, follows Joe Bidens splashy entry into the race last week. As support appears to be coalescing around the former vice president and a few others at the top of the field, Bennet has roughly a month to qualify for the first Democratic debate in June. The donor network hes put together, largely from a stint in 2014 as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, may only go so far toward helping him meet the 65,000-donor threshold needed to earn a spot on the stage (he could also qualify if he gets to 1% in three polls). Yet Bennet professes to be undaunted, saying he was impelled into the race, despite the long odds, by a long-simmering agitation with the toxicity of partisan politics. We have been tyrannized for the last 10 years by the Freedom Caucus, said Bennet, referencing the small but powerful group of GOP lawmakers that has often stood in the way of broader bipartisan compromises. He also criticized his own party, which he said doesnt stand for very much at the national level. He continued: Our politics in Washington lack all imagination and I think to keep going down the rathole with the people who keep dragging us down the rathole just is a fulfilling prophecy of failing as a republic. A fiscal hawk in a flock of audacious progressives, Bennet flunks most of the policy litmus tests defining the early campaign: He opposes expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court or scrapping Obamacare in favor of Medicare for all and is an unapologetic evangelist for legislative compromise. He made those positions explicit in a launch video also released Thursday, offering himself as a pragmatic idealist frustrated with Congress inaction on pressing issues. Im not gonna say theres a simple solution to a problem if I dont believe there is one, he said. You cant fix a broken Washington if you dont level with the American people. He expanded on his vision and beliefs in a lengthy Medium post, urging citizens to move beyond a politics defined by partisanship and narrow interests. A member of the bipartisan Gang of Eight that wrote comprehensive immigration reform legislation in 2013, Bennet is eager to go toe-to-toe with President Trump on his signature issue. The 2013 immigration bill passed the Senate by a wide margin only to die in the GOP-controlled House after the leadership refused to bring it up. It would have created a 13-year path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally and would have devoted $40 billion to border security. Americans are really tired of the intransigence in Congress, the inability to do much of substance because partisanship seems like such a barrier thats what Michael is a response to, said Bill Ritter, the former Colorado governor who appointed Bennet to a vacant Senate seat in 2009. Bennet subsequently won a narrow full-term victory in 2010 and a more comfortable reelection in 2016. Michaels role as a thoughtful, persistent senator who has a real anchor in the substance of governing provides a narrative for him to run for president, Ritter said. Translating his frustration with Congress into a platform for a presidential campaign is just one of the challenges facing the senator, who will compete for support in a crowded lane of moderates that includes Biden, former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and his fellow Coloradan and Bennets former boss John Hickenlooper. Whos running for president and whos not Bennet is certain to be one of the more literary contenders vying to take on a president who does not read. His mother was a librarian. His father ran National Public Radio. And his brother, James, is a former editor in chief of the Atlantic and now the editorial page editor for the New York Times. Inside his wood-paneled Senate office, Bennet holds most meetings around a coffee table piled up with stacks of hardcover releases. He begins conversations by asking what others are reading. After meeting with donors and friends, he often follows up by sending copies of books he has found inspiring. If youre looking for the complete opposite of Donald Trump, Michael Bennet is that guy, said Frank Luntz, the longtime pollster and political consultant. In visiting voters in Iowa and New Hampshire in recent months, Bennet carried two books that he gave as thank you gifts: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond, and Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, by Yale historian David Blight. Starting in June, he potentially could pass out his own book, The Land of Flickering Lights: Restoring America in an Age of Broken Politics. A husband and father of three daughters, Bennet is the descendant of Holocaust survivors on his mothers side and Mayflower voyagers on his fathers. He grew up in Washington, where his father was an aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and attended the elite private prep school, St. Albans, before attending Wesleyan University and Yale Law School. After moving to Denver, Bennet went to work for Phil Anschutz, the conservative billionaire, overseeing the reorganization and consolidation of a number of struggling corporations. He jumped into politics in 2003, serving as chief of staff to Hickenlooper, then the newly elected mayor of Denver. The latest from Washington His decade in the Senate has given him a reputation as a a straight-talking pragmatist that he hopes can now be parlayed into advancement. Theres room for maneuvering, especially in these early states, said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. Sen. Bennet is obviously a thoughtful, authentic individual with clear views, and I think he has the potential to attract a following. For various reasons, a lot of these candidates do. I dont think anybody can predict whos going to attract a significant following and whos not. More stories from Eli Stokols Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. Educator Eric Connolly is running against incumbent Town of Ballston Town Supervisor Tim Szczepaniak. Both are Republicans. Connolly has taught school for 20 years, 17 of which have been spent at Schenectady High School teaching Government, Economics, Psychology, Video Production, and News Casting. Connolly and his wife are the parents of two boys and reside in the Stonebridge development in Ballston Lake. The following conversation with Connolly discusses what led to his decision to run, the issues he believes to be of greatest priority to the residents of the Town of Ballston, and what he believes he could contribute as Town Supervisor if elected. * * * Lets offer some background about who you are and what motivated you to run for the Town Supervisor seat for the Town of Ballston. I had no intentions of running for any political office much less Town Supervisor. I had to do some research when I was first asked to run about what the responsibilities actually entail, and the time commitments. I was asked to run by a grass roots group called Ballston Neighbors United (BNU). I didnt have many days to decide if I wanted to be a candidate. It was kind of a shot in the dark on their part because Id never been involved in politics directly. The Town at one point labeled this whole area of Eastline Road by my development as as residential, so they were able to put water and sewer in a nice development. I thought long and hard about it, reached out to others on the Town Board about what its like. * * * Are you referring to the dynamics? Dynamics, duties and responsibilities, a little about each Board member from one gentlemans perspective and it was interesting. Then I contacted elders in my church that Ive known and respected for many years and slept on it for a couple of nights. I came to a conclusion that people felt I could represent the residents well, being from the Village of Ballston Spa originally and spending significant time growing up in the Town of Ballston specifically. I just felt the calling. One of the biggest reasons I decided to do it is because I wont have to do and teach myself everything. The election and petition process is so involved. The intricacies of campaigning the strategies and who the players are in the Town of Ballston. Quite frankly, I just moved here in June and didnt follow local politics when I didnt live in the Town. The input of my running mates and the regular meetings of Ballston Neighbors United, which are both Republican and Democratic, and non-partisan, was very helpful. They knew so much about what was going on in Town. But I dont just take peoples word for it. You have to remain open and evaluate people through your own lens. Ive reached out to Tim Szczepaniak, weve sat and talked several times, and he seems like a nice guy. I have no issues with him personally. I just dont agree with his policies and the overdevelopment of certain areas by violating farm and agriculture (AG) laws. I will get into more detail about their leadership as the campaign goes on. The public is not aware; they dont have time to go to all the meetings, they are not familiar with the local laws. * * * What are your sources? State documents, local laws. * * * Youre not just going by what the group says? Correct. BNU were instrumental in getting the 500 petitions signed. I went out with my wife and kids to meet some local folks and experience what that was like. I got 80 or 90 myself. It doesnt feel like an accident. I obviously spoke with my wife and my sons and asked What do you think? They asked questions, processed it and everyone is on board. Here we go. I kept my distance from the GOP right away. Im a Republican. I was just an independent voter. Even though I leaned Conservative on many issues, I was Liberal on issues such as the environment. I didnt want to be tied to a party, but because New York has the closed primary I was tired of not getting to vote in the Presidential elections. I thought Ohio Governor John Kasich was a top-notch candidate to be president of the United States. I still know some people in Town. I ran into someone who said There are entry positions in local government; Im surprised that youre and I said What? Running for the top position in the Town? He said Yeah. Quite frankly, I wasnt looking to run for anything but this is something that landed on my doorstep. I felt I needed to consider it and here I am. To the people who say Youve never run for office, I say It took me 48 years to prepare myself to run for office and a breadth of life experience living in multiple states. Leaders who are not humble fail badly. I think power and position can go to peoples heads. Thats not whats needed in government at all. There are primaries coming up. I feel positive about the three of us: a full time farmer, an IT guy and a teacher who does construction and has a multitude of life experiences makes a nice, well rounded trio to come in and actually make a change for good. * * * There has been a generation change; some issues are the same with new packaging. I walked my old street, East High Street where I grew up. I ran into people who are still there when I was out getting petition signatures. It was awesome, and a surreal feeling to be running for office and talking to people in my old neighborhood about things that matter in the town. * * * They were arguing about water and sewers in the 1970s and still are. Its about the cost of doing it. Some of the opposition says Ouch; this is going to hurt tax-wise. I can relate to that. You have to think about what is best for the community and Ballston Lake. If I have to pay extra taxes to benefit both, then maybe I need to keep an open mind and bring in all the facts. * * * I understand that they want to do it all at once, once and for all. Thats not the direction they are currently in. Under Mr. Goslins direction, they are six million dollars short on the lowest quote for the Lake sewer system. Now they want to proceed in stages, doing one at a time to accomplish the same thing. Its still a money issue. Whether its him or us, the Town has to find creative ways to come up with the money. * * * There are residents who cant pay to connect to a sewer system and your opponents say there are ways to pay for it for those who cant. If you live on the Lake and choose not to hook up, its my understanding that you still have to pay a sewer tax bill. Its less and on an annual basis. If you take the proposed Spinney Housing Group PUDD project running along Route 50 and Wakeman and Middleline Roads on Rt. 50, with $1,500 a month for retirement cottages. Thats the rural district. Five hundred feet back from Rt. 50 can be commercial; beyond that you cant run sewer and water. Its illegal, and part of the agricultural community. Goslin and Szczepaniak say theyre farm friendly. If the water is extended from Rt.50 and the south end of the village, Spinney will extend it to his project. This is south on Rt. 50 past Outlet Road. Its 60 acres.You cant You cant extend lateral hook ups beyond the 500 foot marker in an AG district. The Town has to approve that. You can only hook if your home was pre-existing before the sewer line was run or for AG use. The Town Comprehensive Plan was the stated voice of the people wanting to preserve these farmland and open spaces. It was a long process with many surveys and stages to it. My running mates and I are positioning ourselves as the party of the people versus the party of the party, which is what we believe Goslin, Kelly Stewart and Szczepaniak are. * * * Kelly Stewart is a Town Board member, for residents who are not aware. These votes to approve the Spinney PUDD, to even consider hooking up water into the AG district when attorneys stood up and people from the Farm Preservation Committee and said this is in violation of State Farm and AG law. With water and sewer comes all kinds of development. The Town, in a three to two vote, Goslin, Kelly Stewart and Szczepaniak ignored the laws and there is a lawsuit and a cease and desist on two PUDDs until the case is settled on the State level. This is the Katz PUDD, on Route 50 where the sewer lines end, and the one on Goode Street called the Benuscak PUDD. Ag and Markets told the farmers in our town that they dont go to court unless they plan on winning. They were cautioned not to underestimate the far reaching political influence of James Walsh, who is married to Mary Beth Walsh, the Assembly member for the 112th District of the New York State Assembly. They underestimated him. We pushed for the case to be heard outside of Saratoga County. The town got it moved to Schenectady County, but not to a Democrat. Thomas Buchanan heard the case. He was up for reelection and needed the support of the GOP. He did not rule in favor of Ag & Markets (same judge just overruled the throwing out of the Conservative petitions that Ruth from BNU challenged). Ag & Markets appealed the decision and oral arguments began last week. We believe Justice Buchanans decision will be overturned. Farmland will be jeopardized if AG loses this round. * * * Are you saying that these cases serve as a precedent for future cases? Yes. All in the name of increasing our sales tax base. The Majority of the Board is willing to sacrifice our greatest resource-our fertile farmland! Cinco de Mayo, which falls on a Sunday this year, is a Mexican celebration that recognizes Mexicos win over France during the Battle of Puebla, which happened on May 5, 1862. While the holiday primarily takes off in Puebla in Mexico, it has gained a significant amount of traction in the United States as well. As a result, many restaurants offer deals and freebies to attract more patrons, and some even host parties and giveaways. Here is a look at some of the most exciting Cinco de Mayo restaurant specials for 2019. Applebees If you cant get enough of Applebees Dollarita promotion, youll be happy to know that the chain extended the deal to cover Cinco de Mayo. Plus, you can get $2 Dos Equis from May 1 through May 5. Abuelos On May 5, take advantage of the margarita and beer specials at Abuelos. For $5, you can get a Grande Mexican draft beer. Plus, some locations are offering a special Flag Margarita which is green, white, and red for just $6.95 as part of the fiesta. Bahama Breeze During the weeklong Fiesta Like Theres No Manana celebration, which also includes Cinco de Mayo, you can get a classic margarita for just $5. If you would rather take advantage of the create-your-own rum and tequila flights, that will cost you $10. Just be aware that, if you head to an Ohio or Virginia location, the specials are only available until 9:00 pm. Everywhere else, you can usually score these deals until close. Bar Louie Many Bar Louie locations are hosting Cabo de Mayo parties filled with food and drink specials. In some locations, you can get a $5 Cinco Rita or two tacos for just five bucks. You may also find drink deals on Sammy Hagars Santo Mequila, a mix of tequila and mezcal. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. If you want to keep things simple on Cinco de Mayo and dont mind dining in the bar or lounge area, make a trip your nearest Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Most locations are offering $4 Corona Extras and $1 tacos on May 5. California Pizza Kitchen Throughout all of May 5, California Pizza Kitchens that serve the Fresh Agave Lime margaritas are making the drink available for only $5. Chevys Fresh Mex On Cinco de Mayo, you can enjoy brunch at Chevys Fresh Mex from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm, including bottomless mimosas. If you would rather eat later, many locations will have deals on beer, margaritas, and shots. Chilis On May 5, Chilis is offering $5 draft beets, Tequila Trifecta Ritas, and Presidente Margaritas to patrons who decide to dine at the chain. El Torito Head on over to El Torito between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm on May 5 and you can order the brunch special, which does come with bottomless champagne. There will also be $5 margaritas, micheladas, and bloody marys. After 2:00 pm, there will be other drink specials too. Plus, you can score tacos for just $2.50. Hungry Howies If you want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a pizza, you can get a large one-topping pizza at Hungry Howies for just $5.55. The deal actually runs from May 1 to May 5, so you dont have to wait for Cinco de Mayo to take advantage of the special. Joes Crab Shack Joes Crab Shack is selling buckets of Modelo Especial for just $20 on May 5. Plus, there will be tacos on the menu. Margaritas Mexican Restaurant While the deals will vary from one location to the next, you can head over to the chain on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday for music, ten parties, raffles, drink specials, and all-you-can-eat specials. If you want additional details, look up your nearest Margaritas Mexican Restaurant to read more about its event. Moes Southwest Grill Select Moes Southwest Grill locations will be serving up $5 burritos all day on May 5. Plus, if youre one of the first customers of the day on Cinco de Mayo, you might score a free t-shirt too. Montereys Little Mexico From May 1 through May 7, participating locations are selling all-you-can-eat enchiladas for $9.99. On The Border On The Border locations will have drink specials on Cinco de Mayo, and many will have live music. You can get a $5 Cinco Rita or tequila shots for as little as $3. Taco Cabana From May 4 through May 6, you can get $3 margaritas, $9.99 dozen flauta boxes, and $4 frozen vodka raspberry lemonades at Taco Cabana. Other specials may be available too, though they could vary by location. TGI Fridays On Cinco de Mayo, you can get a Fridays Rita, shot of Patron, or 23-ounce draft Dos Equis for $5 each. Tijuana Flats Starting on Friday, May 3, and running through Sunday, May 5, Tijuana Flats has a $5 deal. You can get two tacos, two beers, or one taco and one beer for just $5. Plus, many locations will have music, prizes, and games for patrons decide to dine in. Uberrito If you dont mind dining in, you can get $5 bowls, burritos, and salads on May 5 at Uberrito. Yard House In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, Yard House is selling house margaritas, pomegranate margaritas, and salted watermelon margaritas for just $5 each. Are you heading to a restaurant to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year? Share your plans in the comments below. Read More: If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started. Why Isn't GDPR Being Enforced? Politico has a long article making the case that the lead GDPR regulator, Ireland, has too cozy a relationship with Silicon Valley tech companies to effectively regulate their privacy practices. Despite its vows to beef up its threadbare regulatory apparatus, Ireland has a long history of catering to the very companies it is supposed to oversee, having wooed top Silicon Valley firms to the Emerald Isle with promises of low taxes, open access to top officials, and help securing funds to build glittering new headquarters. Now, data-privacy experts and regulators in other countries alike are questioning Irelands commitment to policing imminent privacy concerns like Facebooks reintroduction of facial recognition software and data sharing with its recently purchased subsidiary WhatsApp, and Googles sharing of information across its burgeoning number of platforms. EDITED TO ADD (5/13): Daragh O Brien, a regular critic of the DPC and who was quoted in the story, believes that he was misquoted, and that the article wasnt entirely fair. Posted on May 2, 2019 at 5:17 AM 20 Comments Each year on the first Saturday in May, Thoroughbred horses reach speeds of over 40 miles per hour as they compete to win the Kentucky Derby. But the domestic horse wasn't always bred for speed. In fact, an international team now has evidence to suggest that the modern horse is genetically quite different from the horses of even just a few hundred years ago. Their work, appearing May 2 in the journal Cell, constructs the genetic history of the domestic horse across the world over the last 5,000 years by using the largest genome collection ever generated for a non-human organism. The findings identify two new horse lineages that are now extinct and suggest that familiar traits such as speed were only selected for more recently in their history. "The horse has impacted human history like no other animal," says Ludovic Orlando, a research director with CNRS and the University of Toulouse and a Professor of Molecular Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen. "If you look at the historical record from the Bronze Age onward, horses are always part of the equation up until very recent times, connecting civilizations and impacting transportation, warfare, and agriculture. Our goal was to understand how humans and their activities transformed the horse throughout history to fit their purposes -- and how these changes in biology influenced human history." The team responsible for this project consisted of 121 collaborators, including geneticists, archaeologists, and evolutionary biologists from 85 institutions around the world, and examined genome-scale data from 278 horse specimens from across Eurasia over the last 42,000 years. "Such a large collection of data means that we can build a much more precise understanding of horse domestication and management through space and time," Orlando says. "But it was truly an interdisciplinary effort because of course it takes a lot more than just DNA to understand such a story. We had to integrate all these social, historical, and geographical aspects." Overall, the team's findings suggest that equine history was much more complex than was previously realized. Today, there are only two known lineages of horses, the domestic horse and the Przewalski's horse. But the researchers here identified two additional now-extinct lineages of horses, one from the Iberian Peninsula and one from Siberia, both of which still existed 4,000-4,500 years ago. "We found two lineages of horses at the far ends of Eurasia that are not related to what we call the domestic horse today, nor to the Przewalski's horse. They are a sort of horse equivalent of what Neanderthals are to modern humans," Orlando says. advertisement The researchers also found a major shift in the genetic makeup of horses in Europe and Central Asia in the 7th to 9th centuries and say this shift probably corresponds to Islamic expansions. The horses common in Europe before that time are now only found in regions such as Iceland; the new European horses after that time were much more similar to horses found in Persia during the Sassanid Empire. When the team performed a scan to identify genes that had been selected for in these Persian horses, they found evidence of selection in genes associated with body shape. "It was a moment in history that reshaped the landscape of horses in Europe. If you look at what we today call Arabian horses, you know that they have a different shape -- and we know how popular this anatomy has been throughout history, including in racing horses. Based on the genomic evidence, we propose that this horse was so successful and influential because it brought a new anatomy and perhaps other favorable traits," he says. The researchers found that there have been additional significant and recent changes in the domestic horse. Similar selection scans indicate that only in the last 1,500 years did traits such as ambling and speed over short distances become more actively sought. And when they looked at the overall genetic diversity of the domestic horse, the researchers found a sharp decline in the last 200 to 300 years. They believe this decline corresponds with new breeding practices that were introduced with the rise of the concept of "pure" breeds. "What we picture as a horse today and what we picture as a horse from a thousand years ago or two thousand years ago was likely actually very different. Some of those traits that we are most familiar with are only a modern invention, and in the last few hundred years, we have actually impacted the horse genome a lot more than in the previous 4,000 years of domestication," says Orlando. He believes that this research can tell us a lot about both the past and the present. "Our findings show that the past is a lot more diverse than we thought it was and that it cannot be imagined or inferred through modern-day variation. But ancient DNA tells us a lot about today as well, because it teaches us about the consequences of some shifts in breeding practices," he says. And that, he believes, can also affect the way we think about conservation and modern agricultural practices. Of course, our understanding of the domestic horse's history is far from complete. Orlando acknowledges that there are geographic and temporal gaps in his story. Perhaps mostly glaringly, we still don't know when and or where the horse was domesticated. "Horse domestication is central to human history, and in 2019, we still don't understand where it started. That's mind-blowing," he says. He looks forward to filling in those blanks. "Whenever I'm asked about what finding I'm most excited about, I always say, the next one. Because this research opens the door for so many possibilities to be studied now." HARTSVILLE, S.C. Starbucks is coming to Hartsville. The Hartsville Planning Commission on Monday approved a site plan to subdivide the Big Lots property at 139 Westfield St. and create an outparcel on the northeast corner of the existing parking lot on the corner of South Fourth Street and Westfield as the site for a new Starbucks coffee shop and restaurant. The Shops at Hartsville LLC, a privately held company in Hartsville that owns the Big Lots property, plans to build the new coffee shop and restaurant. The Shops at Hartsville will own the property and Starbucks will be the tenant, said Brenda Kelley, business development manager for the city of Hartsville. The site will accommodate a building, ample parking space, a drive-through and an outdoor dining area. As planned, the site meets all city development standards, according to Kelley. The building will front Westfield with parking in front. The plan will leave enough parking spaces for Big Lots to continue to meet all required standards for the Big Lots parcel as well, Kelley said. Access to the Starbucks site will be through existing access points on Westfield and South Fourth streets, Kelley said. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. The Noble campaign finished third out of three Democratic primary campaigns behind the campaigns of Rep. James Smith and Mandy Powers Norrell, the nominees for governor and lieutenant governor, and Florence resident Marguerite Willis and Sen. John Scott. Tinubu said she had learned from the campaign to really communicate with people and talk about the issues that are important to them. Politicians might have an issue that they really care about, but those issues might not be what the voters want to hear about. Prior to that campaign, Tinubu was an early endorser of the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016. On the Congressional District 7 race where she lost to Rice in 2012 and 2014, Tinubu said she had learned that the congressional district lines are designed in a way that makes certain results very difficult to come by. She added that she was totally committed to a politically independent commission to redraw the district lines. Tinubu is a former professor who was the first African-American woman to graduate from Clemson with a masters degree in agricultural studies and the first African-American woman to graduate from Clemson with a Ph.D. in applied economics. FLORENCE, S.C. -- Florence Police Department Thursday announced the Sgt. Terrence Carraway Memorial Scholarship to honor the veteran law enforcement officer was killed in an ambush attack in Vintage Place Subdivision Oct. 3. Carraway and three other city officers were responding to back up a group of Florence County Sheriff's deputies who were attempting to serve a search warrant at a residence when they came under fire from that residence. Florence County Sheriff's investigator Farrah Turner was wounded in the attack and died of her injuries Oct. 22. "The scholarship was established in January of 2019 to honor the life of Sergeant Carraway and continue his passion for the advancement of youth in the Florence and Darlington communities," Lt. Mike Brandt wrote in a release on the scholarship. The needs-based scholarship will be awarded annually to one recipient from either Florence or Darlington County public schools. The recipient must be either a citizen or a legal resident of the United States, according to the release. . , . Days after a gunman terrorized a California synagogue, San Francisco Jews and other community members gathered Wednesday to remember relatives and friends who were among the millions killed in the Holocaust. The Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, event at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco featured a talk by the Rev. Patrick Desbois, a French Catholic priest whose organization locates the sites of Nazi-era mass graves in Eastern Europe and interviews eyewitnesses to the executions primarily villagers who were spectators or those who took clothes and possessions from the dead. Everybody wanted to watch, said Desbois, whose team has talked to more than 6,000 witnesses to the slaughter. It was like a carnival. Desbois described the killings in graphic detail to the audience that included survivors who dodged a similar fate, and their descendants. Jews in the village, confined to ghettos, were often told they were being deported to Palestine and then walked toward a train station. Instead, they were redirected to what would become their burial place a grave dug to the exact specifications for how many Jews were living in the town, Desbois said. Nazis did not always use bullets, he said: Babies and the elderly were often buried alive. Witnesses told Desbois they saw the dirt over the bodies move for hours and sometimes days afterward. When the women in line realized they were about to be shot, they would toss their jewelry away so the Germans couldnt take it. Desbois and his team have excavated the Stars of David and wedding rings that victims cast aside, located not far from the remains. The somber San Francisco memorial came after a 19-year-old San Diego resident opened fire inside a Poway synagogue during services Saturday, killing a 60-year-old woman and injuring three others, including a rabbi and an 8-year-old girl, before his gun apparently jammed. Officials said the shooter yelled anti-Semitic slurs, and they were investigating whether he was the author of a manifesto posted online that was filled with white nationalist conspiracy theories, claimed responsibility for a mosque arson attempt and praised the terrorist attack on Muslims in New Zealand in March. Hate crimes in general, and violence against Jews in particular, are on the rise. According to the FBI, hate crimes increased 17% from 2016 to 2017, the most recent year for which data are available. Hate crimes against Jews accounted for nearly 60% of all religious-based incidents and increased 37% between the two years. Physical assaults on Jews more than doubled in 2018, driven in part by the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh by a white supremacist in October, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League. The same disease is coming back, and its progressing, said Desbois, who does similar work in Iraq, locating the victims of ISIS. 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. Rivka Spiegel, 89, who survived the Birkenau concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, is among those called to speak at Bay Area schools after an anti-Semitic incident happens on campus. At one San Francisco school last year, the principal invited Spiegel to share her story with students after a series of such cases, including a fourth-grader defacing an art project with a swastika. Morgan Blum Schneider, director of the Holocaust Center of the Jewish Family and Childrens Services, said its not just the misdeeds of children but the lack of sensitivity and thoughtful education that troubles her. Spiegel said the Poway shooting hardened her resolve to keep telling her story. Its getting to be very bad. Every day it gets worse, she said. I know Im 89, and my life is short. Im going to go fight the bad guys, or whoever they are. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov 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 An anonymous letter sent to a Vacaville family urged them to find someplace else to live because the condition of their front yard was supposedly dragging down the higher standards of the older neighborhood with established residents. This is not the ghetto, the letter said. We may sound harsh, but your interracial family is not welcome here. We will contact your landlord and tell them to evict you if you dont vacate in the next 60 days. Marc Yu found the letter sticking out of his mailbox on his way to work Wednesday morning. The 43-year-old San Francisco native said he was surprised at first, then upset and eventually eager to see the letter-writer contact the familys landlord: Yu owns the home. Its a stupid letter, he said. Yu posted a picture of the letter on Facebook shortly after finding it. Its 2019, he wrote. I cant believe this ... still happens. Almost immediately, he received an outpouring of support online and in person, although a few commenters accused him of making up the whole thing. Neighbors knocked on the familys door and told Yu, who is of Chinese and Filipino descent, and his wife, Sandy, whos from Mexico, that they are welcome in the neighborhood. Vacaville police Lt. Mark Donaldson said the letter was disturbing and disappointing and not representative of the community, but its probably not a criminal violation. It wasnt the first time the couple, who have five children, ages 2 to 12, got a message in the mail about the state of their lawn. About two months ago, Yu said, he got another letter one that wasnt so condescending telling the family to clear their front yard or else they would be reported to city officials. At some point, a code inspector showed up and the family cleaned up the items: a shelf, a small plastic shed and a new baby stroller. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The Yus moved into the house in November. The prior owners hadnt maintained the lawn and it was mostly weeds, Yu said. Hes been trying to improve the yard, but between his job running a mortgage company branch and Sandys work taking care of the kids, the process has been slow. After all the attention on social media and elsewhere, Yu said, he thinks the anonymous pen pal got the message to not harass us anymore and just leave us alone. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov The United States needs a qualified president who understands the urgency of Earths changing climate, Democratic presidential candidate Jay Inslee told a town hall gathering in Mountain View on Wednesday. The Washington governor told about 40 people who showed up at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation that he is the only candidate capable of taking substantive action to slow the effects of climate change. I love being governor, but I made a decision, Inslee said to applause. On my deathbed, I want to be able to look at my three grandkids and say, I did everything humanly possible to help save you from climate change, and that includes running for president of the United States. The town hall was the first of a series titled Road to the White House, cosponsored by KQED and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and designed to introduce presidential candidates to the region. Inslee is one of roughly 20 Democrats hoping to garner support from voters for the 2020 election. Inslee largely focused on his signature climate-change campaign issue during the hour, but he said he should not be viewed as a single-issue candidate. He spoke of the post-apocalyptic ruins of Paradise, the Butte County town that saw the brunt of Californias deadliest and most damaging wildfire in state history, the Camp Fire. He pointed to unprecedented flooding that turned a fair portion of downtown Davenport, Iowa, into a lake. And he predicted that the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. decision in January to file for bankruptcy protection will be followed by fires that may be twice as grievous in the decades to come. Ive seen the damage that is already being inflicted upon our people, Inslee said. This is a nationwide assault to what we hold dear. It is an economic disaster movie. In addition to talking about how climate change disproportionately affects communities of color and underserved communities, he touted the slew of progressive policies hes passed in Washington, such as a robust family medical leave law, minimum wage increase, a net neutrality protection law, and his pardons for thousands of people who had marijuana convictions because of the racial disparity of our drug laws. He took jabs at President Trumps ban on people traveling into the country from some Muslim-majority countries, and Trumps threats to close the southern border to asylum seekers. I believe in the power of diversity and the strength of tolerance, the ability to love who you want to love, and the ability to accept people who might look a little bit different than you, Inslee 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. Paula and Karl Danz, a Bay Area couple who work with Citizens Climate Lobby, a volunteer organization that lobbies for climate legislation, said they were happy about Inslees passion on climate change, although Paula Danz said she wished he had focused more on bipartisanship for legislation. I was curious to see how much he was emphasizing the need for bipartisan support to get carbon pricing legislation to pass, Paula Danz said. My concern is that if we dont have strong bipartisan support for climate legislation, it wont be able to withstand changes over time. Her husband said Inslees leadership in pursuing comprehensive climate change legislation shows he could be the leader to get the nation through this really dark period that were in right now. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor Dynamex, the groundbreaking California Supreme Court decision that makes it harder for companies to claim workers are not employees, can be applied retroactively, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a closely watched case. The decision, which extends Dynamexs reach, has implications for the many gig-economy companies that categorize workers, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, as independent contractors rather than employees. Doing so relieves the companies of costly requirements to provide benefits, minimum wage, overtime and other expenses; the companies say they and many workers prefer the flexibility of independent contractor relationships. The decade-old case, Vazquez v. Jan-Pro, was brought by people who clean office buildings under the auspices of Jan-Pro, which described itself as a franchise, rather than a cleaning company. The appeals court rejected that assertion with arguments that could easily apply to other types of companies. First, Jan-Pros business ultimately depends on someone performing the cleaning, District Judge Frederic Block wrote. That work is performed solely by the unit franchisees. ... Second, Jan-Pro earns a percentage of the payment that customers pay for cleaning services. Thus ... Jan-Pro is not indifferent to how much work unit franchisees do or how well they perform that work. Blocks decision said the cleaners met the ABC test outlined by Dynamex: they were controlled by Jan-Pro; they did work central to Jan-Pros business; and they did not have independent businesses of the same nature as the work performed. Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston attorney who represented the plaintiffs in the Jan-Pro case, said the ruling could help her other plaintiffs. Im litigating with many companies in the gig economy and beyond who have built an entire workforce off workers who they claim are running their own businesses and are independent contractors so they dont have to provide any of the protections that employees have, she said. This strong decision will help workers who are challenging those business models. It reinforces that under California law, workers who provide services in a companys usual course of business are that companys employees for wage law purposes. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Liss-Riordan has cases pending against Lyft, Grubhub, Postmates, Amazon, Doordash and Handy, among others. In March, she settled a case on behalf of some California and Massachusetts Uber drivers for $20 million. Shes also handling individual arbitration claims for the thousands of drivers who agreed to forgo their right to class actions when they signed up to work. In her nationwide case regarding Amazon delivery drivers, Rittmann v. Amazon, the U.S. District Court for the western district of Washington last week ruled that Amazons arbitration clause was not enforceable, allowing that case to proceed as a class action. Jan-Pro, which has three locations in the Bay Area, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. California legislators are weighing a bill that would codify and expand Dynamexs applicability. If passed, Assembly Bill 5 potentially could force Uber, Lyft and other companies to reclassify their workers as employees. Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid When Christina Hale ducked into a CVS on San Franciscos Market Street on Thursday to pick up a prescription shed accidentally left at home in Indianapolis, the price tag came as a surprise. Hale, who was in town on business, usually pays $10 for a monthlong supply of the medication. But at the San Francisco pharmacy, she was charged $11.99 for just a five-day supply. Hale isnt sure why her medication cost as much as it did in San Francisco she surmised it couldve been because her insurance had already helped cover the previous supply but said the lack of transparency was troubling. Its frustrating that as a patient away from home who needs medicine theres a lack of transparency and consistency, said Hale, a former state lawmaker who now works at the nonprofit Kiwanis International. She added that customers are essentially held hostage to pharmacies prices. Prescription drugs cost 14% more in San Francisco compared with the national average, making it the second most expensive U.S. city for prescription medications, according to an analysis released Thursday by GoodRx, a website that tracks prescription drug prices. Incidentally, in Indianapolis, prescription drugs cost 11% less than the national average, the report found. GoodRx ranked the 30 most populous U.S. cities, identifying the 10 most and 10 least expensive places for prescription drugs. New York topped the former group, with costs 17% higher than the national average; Atlanta topped the latter, with costs 20% lower than the national average. The report does not include a dollar figure for the national average. The findings reflect the cash price for drugs how much a patient would have to pay if they bought it at a pharmacy without insurance or discounts. GoodRx, a Santa Monica company, analyzed insurance claims for the 500 most commonly prescribed prescription drugs, including brand names and generics, in the 30 cities from April 2018 to March. Those drugs include atorvastatin (for high cholesterol), levothyroxine (for hypothyroidism) and lisinopril (for high blood pressure). Tori Marsh, part of the GoodRx research team, which conducted the analysis, said it has not been determined why exactly prescription drugs cost more in some cities than others, but there appears to be some correlation between a citys overall cost of living and the cost of drugs there. Researchers also theorize that cities such as San Francisco that dont have as many big-box retailers like Walmart, which often offer cheaper generic drugs, may see higher prices. Pharmacy markups are also a likely factor. San Francisco was also the second most expensive city for prescription drugs last year, when GoodRx did a similar analysis, with costs nearly 13% higher than the national average. This data highlights the nonsensical and variable nature of drug pricing, Marsh wrote in a blog post on the 2018 findings, citing vast differences in costs even when comparing cities relatively close to one another, like Cleveland (2.5% higher than the national average) and Columbus (22% lower than the national average). How is it that cities in the same state could have such wildly different pricing for prescription drugs? Few other consumer goods vary so much in pricing for the exact some product an inconsistency arising from the lack of transparency and regulation in the drug pricing system, experts said. Drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies negotiate among themselves to determine how much each will pay and receive for certain drugs, and those arrangements are considered proprietary. This leads to major price differences not just city by city, but pharmacy by pharmacy within the same few blocks, for the same drug. A recent study found that between 2011 and 2016, the prices set by 13 major drug manufacturers went up 15% each year, but the amount the manufacturers got back only went up 2.7% each year because much of the money went to intermediaries, the pharmacy benefit managers, said Dr. Kevin Schulman, a Stanford health economist and lead author of the study. The consumer is often paying the inflated price. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Theres not a lot of transparency at all in the market, Schulman said. Some of the times, the cash prices can be pretty outrageous. They may not at all be related to how much the product actually cost the pharmacy. You might go to your local pharmacy and see the cash price is $100 more than it was at Walmart in the same area. Lisa Kroon, a professor and chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the UCSF School of Pharmacy, said its important that consumers compare prices at multiple drugstores. Many pharmacy chains offer discounts or inexpensive generics for common medicines treating diabetes and blood pressure for patients who dont have insurance or whose insurance plan covers very little. Definitely shop around because you may call one pharmacy and another pharmacy might give you a different number, she said. If prescriptions are so costly that they are out of reach, patients can ask their doctor and pharmacist if there are any similar lower cost alternatives, such as a different pill strength, she said. Really talk to the pharmacist and dont be afraid to say, This cost is too prohibitive; is there anything else? Kroon said. Ask questions. We believe the role of the pharmacist, in addition to making sure people are on the right medication, is to help them be on the medicine they can actually afford and take because if they cant afford it, theyre not going to take it. Chronicle staff writer Sophia Kunthara contributed to this report. Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho Jesse Vieira either callously smashed a security guard in the head with his skateboard and fists, leaving the man with a fractured skull and severe brain injury, or he was defending himself when the guard charged at him in a clash last year in San Franciscos Financial District. Attorneys in the case sparred over what the multiple videos of the encounter showed in the two-week trial that came to a close on Wednesday, leaving the San Francisco Superior Court jury to deliberate the fate of the 24-year-old defendant. Vieira a star skateboarder originally from Stockton is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury in the Nov. 25 run-in that left Dan Jansen, 57, with a crater in his head that will forever impede his basic functioning. The altercation happened as Jansen set up barricades around 555 California Street, a plaza at the foot of the 52-story skyscraper that once housed Bank of Americas headquarters. The place is known to skaters as Black Rock. Vieira and six other men were skateboarding at the plaza that day, some moving the metal barriers, before things escalated and ended with Jansen striking the back of his head on the hard granite paving. Assistant District Attorney Blair Pickus compared the skateboarders to a swarm of bees or a pack of wolves who, he said, instigated things. Jansen was shoved to the ground by another skater moments before Vieira hurled Jansens radio at him, prosecutors said. The security guard then got up and moved toward Vieira, who landed the devastating blows and left Jansen unconscious, prosecutors said. The seven men then took off. Entitled, self-important, disrespectful, Pickus said in his closing argument. Putting his own personal gain above the safety and well-being of Dan Jansen. That was the defendant Jesse Vieira. When literally push came to shove, it was the defendant who turned to his old trusty skateboard to get out of the situation. Vieiras attorney, Doug Rappaport, argued that his client hit Jansen only after the security guard charged him. Rappaport played a video recorded by one of the young men in the group that he said shows Jansen striking Vieira first. Dan Jansen lost his cool that day, Rappaport said in his closing. He saw red and he went after the smallest guy in the group. He was pissed, adrenaline was flowing through his body. He clocked him good, and we have it on video. Whats more, Vieira was simply spiking Jansens radio on the ground, not throwing it at him, Rappaport said. And before Jansen got up, Vieira was walking away, he said. Hes not an angel, but that doesnt mean hes committed a crime, Rappaport said, adding that his client had no criminal record. Police arrested Vieira after executing a search warrant at his home on Dec. 10. He sat quietly in court Wednesday, wearing a dark blue sweater and collared shirt. The case has drawn wide attention in the skateboarding community in the Bay Area and beyond. Vieira is a member of the well-known GX1000 crew that gained fame for its daring hill bombs and breathtaking tricks on the streets of San Francisco. Hes listed as a team member for Pizza skateboard company and was featured on the August cover of Thrasher magazine, grinding down a staircase railing at the Powell BART Station. Around 30 fellow skateboarders and friends have packed the courtroom gallery every day of the trial and each previous court hearing, while Vieira remains in custody in San Francisco Jail. Vieiras supporters declined to speak with The Chronicle after court. 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. Last week, fellow GX1000 crew member Pablo Ramirez, known as Pspliff to his friends and on social media, was struck and killed while hanging onto a dump truck skitching as its called after leaving the trial for the afternoon recess on April 23. His death devastated the group, who cried and embraced each other as they learned of the tragedy and gathered at the scene four blocks from the courthouse. Vieiras friends this week watched intently as attorneys laid out their arguments in the case. Most of the evidence came in the form of four videos that showed different angles of the run-in including the key video shot by the skateboarder. The attorneys also played police body-camera footage and 911 calls, and called various witnesses before questioning Vieira himself on the witness stand. As the case has progressed in court, Jansen has been going through a slow and agonizing recovery. Doctors put him into a medically induced coma after he suffered a spiderweb-type fracture in the back of his skull and bleeding in the brain. Surgeons removed part of his skull and frontal lobe in order to cauterize a wound in his brain and save his life. Hes since undergone two more brain surgeries and after recovering slightly, hes begun to regress, his niece, Amanda Jansen, said. Dan Jansen still cant walk and is just starting to recognize some family members who visit him at an assisted living facility where he has live-in care. A former soldier in the Army and avid fisherman, Jansen faces a long road ahead. Its not clear if he will be able to care for himself ever again, his family said. The impact of this is devastating, Amanda Jansen said. Its really hard. My uncles life as he knew it is over. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky A San Joaquin Valley superintendent who threatened to fire a high school journalism adviser for refusing to let her preview a story about a student in the porn industry has reluctantly backed off. But the superintendent asked for a disclaimer to run with the article noting the districts disapproval and asserted her right to censor future articles. The story about the 18-year-old senior who sells nude videos, models for a porn agency and aspires to be a stripper runs Friday in the Bruin Voice and will not include the disclaimer, said Kathi Duffel, an English teacher and award-winning newspaper adviser at Bear Creek High for more three decades. She and her students had planned to publish it this week no matter what the district demanded. Now, though, it will no doubt be read by far more people than would have without the censorship controversy that made headlines across the country, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the Columbia Journalism Review in New York. Based on the totality of the circumstances in this matter (the district) will not prevent the publication of this article, lawyer Paul Gant of the Lodi Unified School District wrote Wednesday to lawyer Matthew Cate, who represents Duffel and the student who wrote the article. However, in his five-page letter, Gant called the teacher insubordinate for refusing to submit the article for review, and said, there is no question that the article could be lawfully reviewed or censored. Cate called those assertions a misunderstanding of the California law that gives free-speech protections to students. The law, Education Code Section 48907, also says it is up to journalism advisers to be the arbiters of professional standards, and prohibits prior restraint of school newspaper stories unless they are obscene, libelous or slanderous or incite students to break rules. Therefore, Cate said, any retaliation against the adviser breaks the law and will expose the district to liability. The dustup at the Stockton high school began on April 11, when Superintendent Cathy Nichols-Washer learned that the Bruin Voice planned to run a story about Caitlin Fink, whose activities in the porn industry had become the subject of scuttlebutt at school. Nichols-Washer sent a letter to Duffel ordering her to refrain from publishing the article prior to the districts review and approval. If she disobeyed, the superintendent wrote, she could be disciplined or fired. In that letter and another on April 18, Nichols-Washer outlined concerns that the story might feature obscene material; fail to verify that Fink actually works in the porn industry or has been of legal age when she has; and that it might defame her parents, from whom she is estranged. Duffel had fended off similar censorship attempts over the years but said this was the first time her job was in jeopardy. She contacted the Student Press Law Center in Washington D.C., which connected her with Cate, a San Francisco lawyer who does First Amendment work on the side. Cate agreed to review the story and identify any conflicts with state law. On Tuesday, Cate provided an 11-page analysis of the storys legality and wrote, There can be no question that the school lacks any basis to prohibit the articles publication or censor any part of it. It is neither defamatory nor obscene, he wrote. Ms. Duffel approved it for publication. That ought to have been the end of the matter. COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California. He added that the article was written as responsibly as possible by Bruin Voice news editor Bailey Kirkeby. Cate explained that California law prohibits prior review by district administrators to avoid the chilling effect, in which people who fear being censored will censor themselves. Teenagers are especially vulnerable because they are still developing self confidence and are more likely to be intimidated by authority, he said, quoting a federal court decision from 2005, Bennett v. Hendrix. Gant wrote back that the district disagreed but will not enforce its right, in this singular instance, to prohibit the publication without prior review. The district also asserted its right to review of any and all material to be published in the school paper, he wrote. In a public statement, the district said that because it has been denied an opportunity to preview the article, the district does not endorse it. 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. Kirkeby, the news editor, said, I am very proud of the story and how it turned out. Duffel said she still fears for her job. And yet, she said, her students are getting a front-row seat to our government in action. What better way to teach the value of the First Amendment than by teaching them firsthand not to have their voices silenced? Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov After test driving Mamahuhu as a playful, delivery-only pop-up in 2018, San Francisco chef Brandon Jew wants to give the venture permanent roots in the city. The restaurant is slated to be a full-service concept that will highlight a creative Chinese-American menu along the likes of the pop-ups set of tofu flatbread sandwiches, cabbage chips, salads and duck preparations. Jew told The Chronicle the project is still in the early planning stages but hes looking to open Mamahuhu in the Inner Richmond at 517 Clement St., a location that was once home to a spacious Asian grocery store. People are wanting to explore Chinese American food now more than ever, he said. We want to make sure we plan this out and do it the right way. Construction has yet to begin and an opening date is still in the works, he said. Shanghai restaurateurs Anmao Sun and Ben Moore, who helped him launch the pop-up, will remain involved in the new venture. Flavors from Mister Jius found their way into the Mamahuhu menu during the pop-ups run, including Mister Jius popular black sesame cake. We see Mamahuhu as a statement of just how delicious and classic American Chinese food is and we want this place to kind of be that weekly meal for the neighborhood, he said. As an idea, its still coming together. Were still figuring out what it can be here. The news about Mamahuhu named for a Chinese word meaning so-so is yet another moment in what has been an active 2019 for Jew. He also opened Moongate Lounge, a dazzling cocktail bar above Mister Jius, in early March. Both projects began taking shape long ago, Jew said. They just so happened to come to fruition around the same time. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. From the outside, it looks like a lot lately, but we started working on the idea for Mamahuhu like two years ago, he said. (Mamahuhu) will be the culmination of all of those ideas. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JustMrPhillips The shelves of Bianchinis Market feature rows of leafy greens and herbs grown by human farmers. And robots. Iron Ox became the countrys first robotic farm last fall, with large mechanical arms handling heavy lifting, planting and harvesting. Several months later, the San Carlos companys produce hit the marketplace. Iron Ox began supplying Bianchinis San Carlos grocery store in February, with Genovese basil, red-veined sorrel and baby head lettuce a selection of greens that Bianchinis owner Kevin Bianchini believed would be popular with his customers. He was right. Iron Oxs produce has consistently sold out, even as the company increased deliveries and volume. It now provides Bianchinis with five to 10 cases per week. Bianchini said he has always been open to experimenting with technology at his market, so as soon as he read about Iron Ox, he contacted the company for a tour. It didnt hurt that Iron Oxs indoor farm was less than a mile from the store. Were really passionate about locally owned products, so to have Iron Ox literally in our backyard is so exciting, Bianchini said. Bianchini is helping Iron Ox with ideas for packaging and messaging as well as providing it with detailed insights into what consumers want a constant feedback loop, according to Iron Ox CEO and co-founder Brandon Alexander. We have technology, robotics and (artificial intelligence) helping grow the produce, but whats really resonating is the product itself, Alexander said. Its the fragrance of the basil, the color profile, the freshness. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Bianchini said that Iron Oxs proximity to the market is also a big selling point with consumers. Were making it more and more prominent that were grown here in San Carlos, Alexander said. I think that allows us to get a specificity that a lot of others just cant do its not just somewhere in California. Prices fall in line with competitors. The basil, for example, goes for $2.99, the same as the other conventional and organic options at Bianchinis. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Given the consistent sellouts, Iron Ox is already looking at moving into a bigger greenhouse to boost production within the next year or so. That way, the company can also grow more hard-to-find produce, as recommended by Bianchini. Eventually, Iron Ox expects to supply Bianchinis second location, in Portola Valley, as well as other grocery stores. But consistency and promotional messages are more immediate concerns, said Alexander. Robots are mentioned on Iron Oxs packaging, but the tech aspect isnt emphasized with consumers. Were proud of it, Alexander said, but were more proud of what actually comes out of the farm. Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker Driving east on Mission Street, from the Civic Center to downtown, youve probably noticed that the Zio Ziegler mural black and white, squiggly lines, as is his style on the side of a building just west of Seventh Street is gone. Its been replaced with a rainbow-colored rectangle placed on a blue field, emblazoned with the words: It will be more beautiful than you could ever imagine. Artist Susan OMalleys mural, painted by Robert Minervini and to be unveiled formally on May 11, is on a building occupied by Root Division, a nonprofit devoted to teaching art in the public schools, teaching teachers of art, teaching careers in art and encouraging artists. Minervini is an alumnus of the program. The Mission Street building contains 22 artists studios, occupied by 28 artists (some of them share), each of whom pays much less than the going rate for rental space. A few of the artists, having applied for support, dont pay at all. In exchange, however, each artist devotes time to teaching, either at the Mission Street headquarters or in a school. In one typical studio, which rents for $250 a month, the artist spends 12 hours a week volunteering to teach. The artists, some of whom use their tenancies to learn career-related skills like marketing and preparation, dont stay longer than two years. As to the old mural, it had to go, said Root Division executive director Michelle Mansour, because the wall wasnt waterproof, and heavy rains two or so winters ago had started to seep through. Ziegler gave permission for its removal. The replacement, painted by Minervini, is by the late artist Susan OMalley, whose work, based on surveys she took, was turned into the book, Advice From My 80 Year-Old Self: Real Words of Wisdom From People Ages 7 to 88. The more beautiful than you could ever imagine promise of the mural is all the more poignant because of the circumstances of the artists death, in 2015. OMalley was days away from giving birth to twins when she collapsed; she died, along with her babies. I make art that connects us to each other, OMalley had said. The unveiling of the mural coincides with the opening of a show of the works of young Root Division students. The Mission districts Brava Theater was rocking with the thumps of congas and the moan of a slide trombone when artist/storyteller Vero Majanos Remember Los Siete had its premiere performance last week. Majano is narrator, journalist, investigator and film curator for the production, which includes live testimony, vintage film footage and journalistic accounts of seven young men the oldest was 20 who were accused of murdering a policeman in San Francisco in 1969. In the two years before their trial, they were supported by their girlfriends and mothers women get much of the credit for their survival, said Majano and lawyers who eventually got them acquitted. The Los Siete Defense Committee was the seed that grew into many neighborhood activist programs. In front of a visual backdrop of photos and films, and a musical backdrop created by the Comrades under the direction of Greg Landau, Majano explores the follow-up to the incident for six of the seven (one disappeared) men. One wound up a professor, living in Mexico City. Five have died, two in prison of health related issues. As to their crimes, There is no future without forgiveness, is the Santana quote Majano shares near the end of her performance. I wished these individual portraits had been deeper, but Majano revealed that the women she honors refused to speak with her, as did the professor, and that this taught her much about the issues and responsibilities of the tale-spinner. Who tells the story? she asked. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Its a huge subject, and because of the anniversary there have been many commemorative rites in the Mission. Shaping San Francisco and the California Historical Society are sponsoring a public talk, The Women of Los Siete de la Raza, on Wednesday, May 8. Beto ORourke received an enthusiastic reception at the Irish Cultural Center on Sunday, April 28, but John Trasvina observed: Now that Biden, Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg are running ahead of him, though, perhaps his campaign theme song should be Betos in Fifth Symphony. Its OK to groan. PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING So he died. Should we be worried? Man who perhaps had served up some botulism at his last dinner party on cell phone at Touchless Car Wash, overheard by Shirley Davalos Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, 415-777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik I first chatted with Ellen Tauscher over lunch at the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She was impressive: thoughtful, substantive, determined. She was taking on a two-term Republican congressman, Bill Baker, in her first race for elective office. She was a decided underdog, but her center-left politics proved in sync with the changing dynamics of a suburban district that covered central Contra Costa County and stretched south into the Livermore Valley. We endorsed her, she won and thus began a succession of interviews with her over the years. They were always enlightening, always civil and always laced with good humor even when the subject was uncomfortable, such as her support of Steny Hoyer over Nancy Pelosi for the No. 2 position in the House Democratic leadership in 2001. At the end of that interview which led to an editorial critical of her position she thanked me again for the 1996 endorsement. I keep it framed on my office wall, she said. We both laughed at her timely tension breaker. That interview was classic Tauscher: impassioned in her viewpoint, eager to defend it against challenge and ever aware that there will always be another day when combatants of the moment will be allies. She visited our editorial board in 2010 to talk about her new job as an arms-control negotiator for the Obama administration. My last exchange with her was two years ago at the City Club of San Francisco, when I moderated a discussion with Tauscher and Democratic strategist Katie Merrill on how their party could take back the House of Representatives in the midterms. Her analysis was detailed, upbeat and spot-on. Sadly, Tauscher died Tuesday at 67, the nations loss. American politics and policy would be so much better off if more folks of Tauschers uncommon intellect and determination to find common ground were willing to apply their skills and values to public service. She will be missed. What were saying Bye, bye, Barr: Attorney General William Barr did quite a disingenuous dance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was getting grilled for good reason about his Trump-friendly and utterly deceptive rollout of the Mueller report. The controversy intensified with the revelation of Special Counsel Robert Muellers letter stating that Barrs four-page summary of the 448-page report failed to fully capture the context, nature and substance of this offices work and conclusions. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., once again showing her prosecutorial chops, pointedly questioned Barr about whether the White House ever asked or suggested he open an investigation into anyone. Big pause. Im trying to grapple with the word suggest. ... They have not asked me to open an investigation, he said. Can Americans trust him after his provable lies and distortions to date? Our editorial verdict: He should resign. Tom Toles / Washington Post What Mueller really said: The case against President Trumps obstruction of justice is well laid out in the report and the White House misbehavior continues, as our editorial notes. Its no wonder the special counsel was so upset by the attorney generals spin on the evidence. Not easy staying green: The California Legislature passed and Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last year a landmark bill to put the state on course to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2045. Now lawmakers are considering a bill (SB386) to undermine that effort by allowing existing hydroelectric power to count against that standard. Our editorial urges legislators to defeat that bill and stay the course toward a greener future. Toughest job in San Francisco: Perhaps it was inevitable that Municipal Transportation Agency chief Ed Reiskin would resign under pressure after a series of Muni foul-ups that culminated with a snapped overhead wire last week that staggered citywide service for hours. The good news for Mayor London Breed is that she looks decisive in pushing for his ouster. The bad news? You now own the issue, Mayor Breed. Sign up for the newsletter Want to get the latest San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board opinions in your inbox? Subscribe to Opinion Central. See More Collapse Letter of the Week Let Willie do it: Its always appreciated when a reader offers a solution. So thank you, Joe Crowley of San Francisco, for this suggestion to address the Muni mess. Hey, I have a great idea: Lets allow Willie Brown a second crack at fixing Muni. Wouldnt he be a fine pick to replace Ed Reiskin? It doesnt matter that Willie failed to do so in 1996, when first elected mayor, especially in light of his declaration to fix Muni in 100 days. Up to today, there still seems to be no pragmatic approach or timetable at all to accomplish this nagging task. Couple this with Mr. Browns strong subsequent years of public service and problem solving; this suggested appointment appears precisely to be on track with, right down the line and absolutely in good old Willies wheelhouse! All puns intended. And please check out our other letters of the day responding to this and other matters. You can send us a letter via this form. See you at the Bay Area Book Festival Ill be interviewing Shane Bauer, author of American Prison, on the Chronicle Stage at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. Bauers book has helped push the movement to ban for-profit prisons in America, as I wrote in my Sunday column. There are plenty of other booths, activities and talks to enjoy at this annual celebration of the written word in downtown Berkeley. Check it out. Where to follow us We have a new Twitter channel, Opinion Central (@sfc_opinions). Please add it to your stream. Youll catch our editorials and opinion pieces, as well as our drive-by comments on assorted subjects in the news. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnDiazChron Just a reminder The Chronicles editorials represent the collective judgment of our Editorial Board, which includes the publisher as well as the writers and editors from the opinion team. Our editors and reporters on the news side are not involved in those decisions (including election endorsements). They are charged with reporting fairly and objectively without regard to our editorial positions. It is one of the core values here at Fifth and Mission streets. Opinion Central is a thrice-weekly newsletter from John Diaz, The Chronicles editorial page editor, and the rest of the Editorial Board. Follow along on Twitter: @sfc_opinions Regarding Bold move fails to oust president (May 1): It is difficult to reconcile our outrage over Russias interference in our elections with our present interference in Venezuelas affairs. Im sure everyone would agree that Venezuelans deserve a better government. But lets face it, the late Hugo Chavezs vision of a modern-day Bolivarian revolution, a Latin American political bloc with a socialist bent as an alternative to U.S. hegemony, has descended into repression and economic decline. That said, the U.S. shouldnt be the ones to determine what Venezuela should look like. Our interference in Venezuela follows a long and sordid history of U.S. intervention in Latin America. As the past should have demonstrated, our present interference in Venezuela, I fear, will do more harm than good. Finally, it is not a coincidence that Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Ralph Stone, San Francisco Thanks, Mr. Benioff I want to commend the generosity of Marc Benioff. San Francisco is so fortunate to have him. His enormous donations to many areas such as education, health care and homelessness are a reflection of his heart truly being in San Francisco. Thank you, Benioff. Pat Mandel, San Francisco Transit First defined San Francisco has long had a Transit First policy. The city government has done a great job of eliminating parking spaces and lanes of traffic to make it increasingly impossible to drive and park in the city. But they have failed to create a viable transit alternative. Dont they have it backward? Transit First means first you create an effective, reliable and attractive transit system (by planning and funding it adequately), then you take away driving and parking alternatives. One side of the equation does not work without the other. Robert Tat, San Francisco Invest in portable toilets Regarding Spending skyrockets on public enemy No. 2 (May 1): In addition to spending over $70 million on street cleaning, which includes washing away increasing amounts of human excrement, why isnt the city spending more on Porta Potties? There are hardly enough to encourage the homeless population to do their business indoors instead of outdoors. And while were on the subject of No. 2, Mayor London Breed might as well invite someone whos full of it, President Trump, for a visit. Im sure that hed love to toss out hundreds of rolls of toilet paper at San Franciscans, much like the paper towels he cast to Puerto Ricans after their island was devastated by Hurricane Maria. Elliot Branca, San Francisco Trumps employment boost Regarding Trumps sue over banking records (May 1): Amazing, how our narcissist in chief has yet to take credit for vigorously boosting employment in one key sector. After all, the president most proudly has boasted how his coal industry incentives have sent coal-mining jobs skyrocketing by a couple hundred nationwide, per most estimates. So why hasnt he, well, trumpeted how many thousands of legal profession jobs have been created by his innovative (some would say illegal or unconstitutional) schemes? However one might characterize President Trumps political imperatives and personal enterprises, what other president has come close to generating so much work for judges and lawyers for years on end? Im surprised that the American Bar Association hasnt publicly commended Trump for so reliably (if not selflessly) favoring the nations legal profession. Edward Alston, Santa Maria Put the money into housing Regarding Big gift to UCSF to study homelessness (May 1): Rather than donating $30 million to start a new research institute at UC San Francisco for research on homelessness, why doesnt tech billionaire Marc Benioff use these funds since $300 million in annual homelessness funding generated by 2018s Proposition C is facing legal challenges to actually build housing (or navigation centers) for those without shelter? Hortensia Delarosa , San Francisco Sentence for Americans Although WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has just been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail in Britain seven years ago and seeking refuge in Ecuadors embassy, his decision to publish Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign has sentenced Americans to four years of a catastrophic Donald Trump presidency. Nigel Llewlyn, South San Francisco Dixies name change Regarding Dixie no more (Editorial, April 18): Thank you for your excellent editorial. When I first heard about the proposed name change, I thought it was all a storm in a teacup, being completely ignorant of what the name Dixie means to African Americans. I only got to know when I asked some of them fairly recently; it was a real eye opener. Ruby Wilson said how the name Dixie represented her childhood growing up in the segregated South, having to sit at the back of buses and attend the colored school. Kerry Peirson described how he was called a gorilla when he tried to change the name in 1997. An African American mother told me that she pulled her three children out of the Dixie school district when one was called n by another child. I was shocked. That wasnt even closet racism, it was overt. Where did he learn that from? I would like to think that the support for keeping the name Dixie came mostly from people who were, like me, ignorant of how African Americans feel. Perhaps they could ask some and find out, too. Jane Jewell, San Rafael WASHINGTON With the release of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, the question is before lawmakers: What will they do next? Democrats are split over whether to move to impeachment proceedings against President Trump in the House, the only chamber of Congress they control. With Republicans opposed to impeachment and in control of the Senate, such an effort would largely be for the purpose of uncovering information that could be damaging to Trump, either politically or in the congressional proceedings. Heres where members of the Bay Area delegation many of whom sit on committees where articles of impeachment would be considered or where investigations would be conducted stand on whether to try to remove Trump from office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco: The speaker is the member with perhaps the most important vote on the matter, as she will likely decide whether the House will proceed to impeachment. She has largely steered her members away from it, saying before the Mueller reports release that Trump was just not worth the consequences of impeachment and telling fellow Democrats after the special counsels redacted findings were made public that congressional investigations would come first. I hate to disappoint some of you, but Im not struggling with this decision, she told her caucus. That approach hasnt changed. Were hyper-focused on transparency and continuing our investigations, an aide said in a statement, because the special counsels report raises more serious questions about Trumps relationship with the Russians and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, the administrations efforts to protect our elections, especially given the purging of key staffers at the Department of Homeland Security, and the effect of Trumps abuses of power on other areas we think people care about, like the administrations efforts to sabotage Americans health care. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord: As a matter of principle, I support impeachment and I also believe we need to proceed with the congressional investigations currently under way to get to the truth for the American people, DeSaulnier said in a statement. During Watergate, it was congressional hearings that led to the resignation of an unethical president. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto: As a member of Congress, I must be provided an unredacted copy of the special counsels report and all underlying documents in order to make a decision as to whether the House moves to impeach the president, or whether its done the old-fashioned American way impeachment at the ballot box next year, Eshoo said in a statement. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael: We should follow the facts, Huffman told MSNBC. We should do this full-throated investigation. We should read the Constitution and remember that our founders anticipated a moment like this and they put the constitutional remedy of impeachment in the Congress for a reason. We cant just punt that. There is a real downside to that. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont: This is not a moment to rush to judgment, Khanna said in a statement. Rather, this is a time to be deliberate and methodical in our approach, and gather all the facts before making a determination on articles of impeachment. We need further investigations, public hearings, and potentially contempt proceedings to promote political accountability. Yet again, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has shown outstanding judgment and wisdom in her approach for our caucus. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland: Congresswoman Lee believes Trump must be held accountable, strongly supports congressional investigations into the president and his administrations actions, and believes that impeachment must not be taken off the table, Lees office said in a statement. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose: Impeachment is not just a legal issue, its also a political issue, Lofgren said in an interview on KCBS-AM. She noted that the public largely supported the impeachment of President Richard Nixon by the time he resigned in 1974, in contrast to widespread opposition to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998. I dont know what the Congress and the public will think when we finish the entire review of this, Lofgren continued. I think its a mistake to try and jump to a conclusion. Weve got to go in a boring, orderly, thorough fashion and see where we are. When youre doing impeachment, youre undoing an election, which is a pretty serious matter, and you dont do that unless theres really no choice. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo: Clearly, the Mueller report was meant to inform Congress drafting of articles of impeachment, Speier said in a statement. That is why the House must conduct its oversight duty and investigate the damning evidence uncovered by the report and any other evidence of crimes and corruption. Because its not just the Senate that wields the power of impeachment, its the American public. And the public needs and deserves unvarnished access to the Mueller report, and any other evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors, so that they can impeach the president in 2020 should the Senate fail to act. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin: Were certainly having a conversation about how we hold this president accountable, Swalwell said on ABC News The Investigation podcast. I wouldnt say impeachment is off the table. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena: The findings presented in Special Counsel Muellers report are serious, Thompson said in a statement. Congress will continue with our investigations to ensure our constituents get the truth. Nothing is off the table. At the same time, Congress will continue with our responsibility to pass legislation that helps our constituents and our country we can do both at the same time. If the House did vote to impeach Trump, he would be tried in the Senate. Heres what Californias senators have to say about the possibility of impeachment: Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein: The Mueller report certainly raises serious issues that Congress needs to investigate, Feinstein said in a statement. Whether impeachment proceedings should occur can be decided once that process is under way and weve learned more. And of course any decision on whether to bring impeachment charges would be made by the House. Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris: I think we have very good reason to believe that there is an investigation that has been conducted which has produced evidence that tells us that this president and his administration engaged in obstruction of justice, Harris said on a CNN town hall last month. I believe Congress should take the steps towards impeachment. Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan When the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between officials of Donald Trumps presidential campaign and a Russian attorney burst into public view 13 months later, it was big news one of the first documented episodes of political contact between the campaign and the Kremlin, fueling investigations into apparent foreign interference in the presidential election. But for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the meeting was pretty much a nonevent legally, anyway. In the political world, however, the repercussions continue to this day. Mullers redacted 448-page report, released April 18, detailed actions by President Trump that may have amounted to obstruction of justice, including his firing of FBI Director James Comey and his attempts to remove Mueller and shut down his investigation. Mueller also delved into the Trump Tower meeting, whose attendees included Donald Trump Jr. as well as Jared Kushner, the candidates son-in-law and senior adviser, and his then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort all attracted by a promise of information unearthed by Russians to tarnish Hillary Clinton. Its a federal crime to seek campaign assistance from a foreign person or government. But Muellers report said it would be hard to prove the men violated the law willfully or that the assistance they were hoping for was a thing of value, both of which are requirements for conviction. Mueller categorized one aspect of the event as a potential obstruction of justice: the presidents efforts in 2017 to conceal the purpose of the meeting, including preparing a statement for his son falsely claiming that the get-together was about issues related to Russian adoptions. But the report said such actions would be illegal only if the president was trying to withhold information from Muellers office or Congress, and that doesnt seem to be provable the only people Trump was apparently trying to mislead, Mueller said, were the press and the public. Its not surprising if you see the whole report as an exercise of caution, said Hadar Aviram, a law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco. Throughout the investigation, she said, Mueller has pursued charges only when they seemed certain to produce convictions. The episode began June 3, 2016, when Donald Trump Jr. got an email from Rob Goldstone, a British publicist, saying a Russian billionaire and Trump business partner had been told by the crown prosecutor of Russia that he could provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia. This was part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump, Goldstone said. Trump Jr.s response, within minutes: If its what you say I love it especially later in the summer. The meeting took place six days later. The Russian delegation was led by attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. According to Mueller, she began by alleging that Clinton and other Democrats had received funds from illegal activities in Russia, but soon switched to criticizing the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 U.S. law imposing sanctions on Russian officials. Russia responded to the law by banning U.S. adoptions of Russian children. Veselnitskaya has denied any connection to the Russian government, although she described herself as a government informant to a U.S. interviewer last year. A U.S. indictment of her in January in an unrelated obstruction of justice case described her as working closely with the Kremlin. Regardless of the subjects actually discussed, it appears that Trump Jr. and his colleagues attended the meeting because they expected campaign assistance from the Russian government enough for a serious case ... of solicitation of illegal foreign aid, said Richard Hasen, a professor of election law at UC Irvine. But not for Mueller. To prove a willful violation of the law, he said, prosecutors would have to show that the campaign officials knew they were acting illegally. And the investigation, Mueller said, has not developed evidence that the participants in the meeting were familiar with the foreign-contribution ban even Manafort, a veteran of political campaigns. Prosecutors would also have to prove the information the campaign sought was a thing of value. That can include information, Mueller said, noting that political campaigns often pay for opposition research. But he said it would be hard to prove the alleged dirt on Clinton was worth at least $2,000, as required for a criminal conviction, or the $25,000 minimum for a felony. The offers of incriminating information were quite general, he said, and Trump Jr.s response If its what you say I love it reflected uncertainty over what would be delivered. Mueller is bending over backwards here to avoid finding willfulness, said Marjorie Cohn, a former professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. There is rarely direct evidence of mental state. Congressional Democrats arent satisfied either. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware brought up the issue at a Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, asking Attorney General William Barr what officials of a campaign should do if a foreign adversary offers a presidential candidate dirt on a competitor in 2020. Do you agree with me the campaign should immediately contact the FBI? Barr hesitated, obviously aware that Coons was referring to the last campaign, not the next one. If a foreign government? If a foreign intelligence service? he asked. If a foreign intelligence service does, yes. As for the president, Mueller said, he apparently learned about the meeting in June 2017 and tried to keep it under wraps. But after the first press reports in early July, Mueller said, Trump dictated a statement for Donald Jr. that said the meeting primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children. Trumps son added the word primarily to the statement to keep him from looking like a liar, Mueller said, but the president was trying to minimize public disclosures ... about his campaigns connections to Russia. Still, Mueller said, the misleading account wasdirected at the press, and the evidence does not show that Trump tried to conceal information about the meeting from Congress or Muellers office thus, the concealment was not an obstructive act that amounted to a crime. If youre charitable to Trump, said Aviram of UC Hastings, he doesnt conspire but understands the optics (of the Trump Tower meeting) dont look good. Hes concerned about the legitimacy of his presidency. The conclusion that no provable crimes were committed during the meeting and its aftermath doesnt get the attendees entirely off the hook. Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort could still be accused by federal election officials of violating campaign contribution laws, noncriminal charges that can carry hefty fines. The presidents son could face charges for telling the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that he had never sought foreign assistance for his fathers campaign. Manafort, meanwhile, has been sentenced to 7 years in prison after being convicted of tax fraud and bank fraud and pleading guilty to money-laundering, failing to disclose a lucrative lobbying contract with the Ukrainian government, and obstructing justice. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Verjus is a new San Francisco star Verjus is a shiny red Cadillac fresh off the factory floor, with a pedigree thats just as lustrous. And, after a bit of a sputter at first, its got an engine that really purrs with a tightly focused French menu and hundreds of natural wines. Verjus is a new San Francisco star Verjus is a shiny red Cadillac fresh off the factory floor, with a pedigree thats just as lustrous. And, after a bit of a sputter at first, its got an engine that really purrs with a tightly focused French menu and hundreds of natural wines. If Cotogna was Lindsay and Michael Tusks casual answer to their Michelin-starred Quince, then Verjus applies the couples talents to a wine bar. Weve got quite a few here already, but nothing as dialed-in or as grand as this: Verjus comes off like Celine Dion making a surprise appearance at a community talent show. With loads of personality, Verjus has all of the easy sophistication of a Vespa scooter zipping through a European metropolis. And, after a bit of a sputter at first, its got an engine that really purrs: a tightly focused French and Spanish menu, hundreds of bottles of natural (or at least natural-ish) wine and an ability to show you a good time, whether youre just looking to chase down a couple of tinned sardines with a glass of orange wine, or have a full-fledged sit-down dinner. Gratin coquillette truffe photographed at Verjus in San Francisco, Calif. on Monday, April 1, 2019. Gratin coquillette truffe photographed at Verjus in San Francisco, Calif. on Monday, April 1, 2019. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Verjus, San Franciscos new French-inspired wine bar and restaurant is, naturally, a hit 1 / 7 Back to Gallery Conceived as a San Franciscan take on the Parisian wine bar, Verjus, which is pointedly walk-in only, is all about dynamic points of entry. The extensive wine list curated by the bars managing partner and beverage director, Matt Cirne, fits all sizes, with plenty of bottles in the $40-$60 range. Its the sheer casualness of fine food and wine at Verjus that feels the most Parisian to me, exhibiting the same energy as the numerous no-name yet spectacular baguette shops that accumulate in medieval alleys like barnacles. I wish I could discover it for the first time all over again to see the room become more cavernous with each step inward. To aid in that cave a manger feel, the space itself is divided in half: The wine shop has just a few communal tables and stools, perfect for small plates and tins from the bars conserva menu, while the main dining room has more private seating arrangements and access to the heavier, French-leaning menu, which is displayed on a black-and-white marquee above the open kitchen. When I first visited Verjus about a month after it opened, the rooms were strictly segregated the servers told my party that our location dictated the menu we were able to order from, and if we wanted to check out the other menu, wed have to physically cross over. That division, and the service, felt awkward. Initially, dining-room guests had to order dinner at the bar. So on a busy weekday night, I had to elbow through the throng of fellow customers and shout to be heard: The red lacquered ceiling, while beautiful and shiny, seemed to amplify the reverb of the crowds voices. Verjus 528 Washington St., San Francisco 415-944-4600 or www.verjuscave.com/ Hours: Lunch Tuesday-Saturday; dinner Monday-Saturday Accessibility: The wine shop can get congested with folks waiting for tables and can be difficult for a wheelchair user to navigate. No steps. Gender-neutral restrooms. Noise level: Boisterous, with conversation difficult at peak dinner hours. Meal for two, sans drinks: $50-$100. Includes 5% S.F. health mandate. What to order: Gildas, whatever seasonal vegetables are in, pain perdu. Plant-based options: Generally one pasta entree and a good selection of smaller, vegetable-focused plates and cheese. Conserva bar options are scarce. Drinks: Wine, bien sur! Small selection of craft beers and nonalcoholic soft drinks. Transportation: Street parking is very difficult. On 2-Clement, 27-Bryant and 41-Union Muni lines. A brisk walk from the Montgomery Street BART Station. Best practices: Your servers and bartenders are fonts of wine knowledge, so do ask them to help you pair drinks with your food. They are happy to offer tastes of anything. During lunch, the space is quieter and much more relaxed. This wasnt the languorous bacchanal that Id imagined, and I wasnt alone. The chill, meandering style that the Tusks wanted to emulate was a tough fit for Americans unpracticed in the ways of Parisian night life, as we all acted like we were jockeying for bus seats during rush hour. When I revisited a few weeks later, the experience in the dining room had shifted toward more conventional table service, apparently due to customer feedback. (Its still loud, though.) The generosity of the wine bars team, and the adaptability of its service model to guests concerns, makes this concept feel more like a thoroughly considered localization than a literal translation. Another major plus? You can now order from the conserva menu while sitting in the dining room. Its what makes the most sense to me, anyway. Elements from both menus complement each other well, filling in flavor gaps like lovers finishing each others sentences. The gildas ($2.50 per piece), Spanish-style skewers of pickled pepper, anchovy and green olive, are the perfect start to your meal, rousing the taste buds with one-two punches of salt and acid. Theyll prime your senses for whatever comes next and though the menu changes daily, its a sure bet that youll encounter butter and animal fat on days that end with the letter y. (I was surprised to not find a burger in a good way. Verjus trusts its audience.) A selection of house-made charcuterie is listed on a third, smaller menu tucked away in-between your salt shaker and the napkin holder on your table. Overall, the food craves brightness, whether from the gildas or a sip of an intense orange wine. Consider the pate en croute ($18), a pate of meat and liver encased in pastry and accompanied by onion and fruit jams. Two slender slices are served in a rustic, rectangular presentation, and the heterogeneous filling is left looking like a section of a pink cobblestone path. It honestly looks like food from the future spat out by a replicator in the most efficient form possible. Yet to smash pieces of it onto bread (your meal comes with replenishable baguette slices) and watch the proteins and fats collapse into a beautiful mess is such a pleasure. The clean flavor will make you wish you were eating this in the sunshine, on a hillside full of flowers. Youd do well to settle that feeling with another sip of wine. Read the marquee menu from left to right to get a sense of light to heavy: salad and vegetable courses are on the left, and heavyweights like the pork boudin noir sausage ($16) and skate wing Bordelaise ($26) closer to the right. A server confided in me that the pride of the kitchen is the pithivier ($38), a glazed puff pastry filled with shredded meat, the type of which varies. If your only exposure to the domed French pie is from watching Great British Bake-off contestants suffer through making the classic dish, youll be happy to know that there are no soggy bottoms here: The pastry is tender and recalls a babys knitted hat, and the filling is as moist as tuna salad without dripping through any seams in the crust. Paul Hollywood would certainly give Tusk a manly handshake after tasting it. For a well-rounded meal, Id suggest one of the heavier dishes plus an assortment of seasonal vegetables, like juicy asparagus with gribiche sauce ($14) or roasted sunchokes ($12) served atop their puree and garnished with slivers of their pickled counterparts. Many of the star vegetables on the menu are from Fresh Run Farm, which grows produce exclusively for the Tusks restaurants. Michael Tusk clearly knows his way around his CSA box: from technical flexes like the sunchokes served three ways to simple preparations like the fingerprint-size pieces of blanched turnips and carrots that gleam, jewel-like, in a circle around the pithivier. Meanwhile, the conserva bar offers sandwiches like the estepan ($5), mortadella served on focaccia, and a croissant with ham and cheese ($5). The sandwiches are very splittable, making them an affordable and light option for lunch. Everything at the conserva bar is served at room temperature, and I am truly impressed that the Tusks were able to convince the health inspector of the wisdom of European food storage habits. (Verjus health score? A perfect 100.) Room temp makes perfect sense for the selection, whether its a Spanish-style tortilla ($6) with olive oil oozing out of its pores or cows milk tomini cheese ($7) marinated in a neutral oil and aromatics for days until it firms up to a farmer cheese consistency. The cheese, by the way, had a great texture at that temperature but lacked a strong flavor, so pair it with salty charcuterie or olives for best results. Definitely ask your server for pairing help. The selection of wines by the glass changes often, but in my experience, every server knows the list forwards and backwards and is eager to walk you through it. Ask for something exciting, and you may receive a glass of 2016 Holden Sauvignon Blanc, which tastes like a Popsicle of Welchs white grape juice that has an actual twig for the stick. Other suggestions lean toward the conventional, but who can say no to Champagne with doughnuts or fries? Whenever I asked a pairing question, the servers were game, and their answers often felt like a secret that they were telling only me. In this way, Verjus feels like a very of-the-moment Bay Area establishment, appealing especially to folks who want to know whats hot but dont know where to start. More people are excited to learn about natural wines these days, and the huge selection of options here, along with a food menu geared toward good pairings, makes eating and drinking here a perfect first lesson. Youll certainly walk away with some new favorites, especially because of how thrilling and distinctive so many of the by-the-glass options tend to be. Plus, grabbing a bottle on the way to the BART station after work is also easy enough to do. Yet in other ways, Verjus carries so much of the cosmopolitan aesthetic that defined New York City at the turn of this last century. Its sleekness and maturity recall similarly chic restaurants in SoHo, where Id peek through the windows to see models nibbling on steak frites and holding court around Champagne buckets. When I was a kid, it all felt so adult, sophisticated and out of reach. Now, SoHo is getting a T.J. Maxx and Jackson Square has Verjus. From my end, the timing worked out pretty well and now Ill keep coming back, even if its just to grab an anchovy or two to nosh on with a glass of whatever they pour me. Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic. Email: soleil.ho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hooleil A blueprint outlining how San Francisco Bay communities should combat sea-level rise was released early Thursday by ecosystem scientists and urban planners who envision a ring of man-made reefs, rocky beaches and graded marshlands around the largest estuary on the Pacific coast. The carefully designed features, outlined in the 255-page San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas, would in many cases replace or bury seawalls, rip rap, culverts and other crude fortifications that experts say wont hold up as the climate warms and water rises. The idea, developed over the past two years by the San Francisco Estuary Institute and SPUR, a San Francisco urban planning research center, is to build eco-friendly features that support wildlife and absorb, rather than repel, the rising tides. The report comes at a critical time: The U.S. Geological Survey recently calculated that property damage from sea level rise in the Bay Area could exceed $100 billion by the end of the century if nothing is done to stop carbon dioxide emissions. The Union of Concerned Scientists said 4,100 homes in San Mateo County and nearly 4,400 in Marin County could be underwater by 2045. The causes of climate change need to be addressed, but at the same time, scientists and planners need to brace for the fallout, experts say. Climate scientists say the sea level at the mouth of San Francisco Bay has risen almost 8 inches over the past century. The Bay Area is ground zero for sea-level rise, said Warner Chabot, executive director of the Estuary Institute, who predicted the atlas would become a national model. We have a trifecta threat of sea level rise, groundwater rising and lowland flooding from extreme weather patterns, and that guarantees a soupy shoreline future for the Bay Area. The plan, funded by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, is the first attempt in the Bay Area to develop a collaborative regional plan to both enhance the ecosystem and protect cities around the bay from the potential ravages of climate change. The report was put together over the past two years in collaboration with scientists, planners and policymakers across the region. It provides graphics, explanations of ecological science and a framework for all nine Bay Area counties to build nature-like shorelines that would protect their communities. San Francisco Bay has 400 miles of shoreline, including airports, landfills, marinas, wetlands, beaches, ports and residential neighborhoods. The researchers divided the shoreline into 30 separate operational landscape units based on shoreline geology, terrain and infrastructure. They developed strategies for each section, including projects to re-route creeks into wetland areas, place shell structures offshore, use sediment to bolster shoreline elevations and create beaches to replace rip rap, the concrete or stone rubble placed along banks to prevent erosion. The study incorporates in its recommendations restoration projects that are under way, like one at Giant Marsh in North Richmond. The California State Coastal Conservancy is installing 350 reef structures there, planting eel grass and connecting the wetlands to upland habitat. The goal is to create a sloping tidal system that starts in the water with oyster shell mounds that reduce wave action, then shifts into eel grass in the sub-tidal area and eventually marshland that slows down storm surges. Wetlands restoration has been going on for years in the former salt ponds in the South Bay and along Highway 37 in the North Bay, buffer zones that the atlas recommends expanding. The report recommends building a Highway 37 bridge or causeway so that tidewater can better migrate into the restored wetlands. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle At least 18,000 acres of potential wetlands in the Bay Area have been acquired and are slated for restoration. The goal is to eventually restore 100,000 acres of bay marsh, much of it in the Napa and Suisun areas, along the Petaluma River and in the South Bay. Another idea in the report is to reroute Santa Clara Countys Calabazas Creek, which was diverted long ago, so that it flows into restored wetlands that need the sediment from the creek to grow. The wetlands near Calabazas are among 16,000 acres of former salt ponds in the South Bay that were cut off from the bay by earthen berms and dikes. Alameda Creek, Novato Creek and many other waterways in the Bay Area should also be realigned to help build up the marshes, said Julie Beagle, deputy director of the institutes resilient landscape program and lead author of the study. We can use the sediment that comes out of our hills, Beagle said. We have to think of our sediment as a resource. The authors collaborated with the California Department of Transportation, the Sonoma Land Trust and several cities in Marin and Sonoma counties to identify places along Highway 37 and near Petaluma, Napa and Sonoma creeks where new wetlands could be created. The East Bay also is a critical area, according to the reports authors. One example of a successful strategy, they said, is the horizontal levee built near a wastewater facility by the Oro Loma Sanitary District in Hayward. The levee uses vegetation planted on a slope that covers a vertical wall previously used to break waves. This setup allows the district to protect the facility and filter-treated wastewater through the ground instead of dumping it in the bay. 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. Beagle said she would like to see the beaches that once existed from Point Richmond to the Bay Bridge restored. Instead, the Highway 80 corridor is now protected mostly by rip rap, which she said speeds up erosion by essentially increasing the power of the waves that smack into the rock. Theres no reason in my mind that it cant be a beach, she said. There is a huge amount of mudflats and shallow water, pocket beaches and small marshes. This is a place where different types of beaches would fit. You could even cover the rip rap with sand or a coarser, more porous material that would soften the wave action. Other strategies would have to be used for areas with less room for restoration, like Foster City, which is protected by seawalls. One solution would be to engineer shell beaches or jetties that would knock down the waves and create green infrastructure to work in coordination with the wall. And, Beagle said, there is no way around the decrepit seawall in San Francisco, which is all that keeps the bay from reclaiming inland blocks built on landfill, including portions of the Financial District. Still, she said, it can be rebuilt as a green seawall, with pockets and textures that promote the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation, invertebrates, small mammals and fish. The report does not address how much money would be needed or where it would come from to complete the projects outlined in the report. Up to $100 billion will be needed over the next 20 years just to rebuild the Bay Areas aging shoreline infrastructure, according to recent estimates. We only have a few years to get a lot of these projects going because natural solutions take time to evolve, Beagle said. We need to get moving. Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite Rams Gate Winery is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Sonoma County. Designed by Howard Backen the architect who brought you Cliff Lede, Promontory, Larkmead and all those other farmhouse-luxe Napa wineries it feels at once grand and rustic, with several different tasting areas that blend the indoors with the outdoors. With its views of Carneros rolling hills and the San Pablo Bay, not to mention a talented in-house chef, Rams Gate is the winery I always want to recommend to friends who are visiting the area. Want to recommend is the key term. Because until recently, I never really loved the Rams Gate wines. Despite sourcing grapes from an impressive roster of name-brand vineyards like Hyde, Gaps Crown and Sangiacomo, the winery never seemed to reach its full potential. So you can imagine how excited I was when I visited Rams Gate recently to taste the early efforts of its new winemaker, Joe Nielsen, who joined last June. When I arrived, he poured me a glass of Pinot Blanc and was chagrined to realize hed poured me a 2017 by accident, a vintage he hadnt made. The wine was downright sweet, like a cloying, inexpensive Moscato. The accident turned out to be instructive: When Nielsen located a 2018 Pinot Blanc, I could tell how differently hed made it picking it earlier, fermenting it bone-dry, letting the wines beautiful floral and stone-fruit flavors shine. We have a soapbox here, Nielsen said of the Rams Gate tasting room. On a drive to Sonoma from San Francisco, you have to pass by it. It gets a lot of visitors. And with excellent fruit sources from pedigreed sites, including their estate that they farm themselves, they have every reason to make superlative wines. And, Nielsen figured, every reason to start farming the estate organically. Given how low the frost and disease pressures are at the estate vineyard, it seemed like a no-brainer. This year he began introducing organic farming practices in some of the blocks, and is on track to expand it throughout the property. Initially, when Nielsen approached the 2018 vintage, he planned to make relatively small changes to the winemaking protocol; he didnt want to rock the boat too much. But then the changes kept snowballing, he said. He ended up picking fruit much earlier, introducing large percentages of whole-cluster fermentation in Pinot Noir and Syrah, and barrel-fermenting many of the white wines. It was a vintage of running on adrenaline and my gut, he said. The 2018 Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, Nielsens first releases, will be released this spring, and the rest are still in barrel. Even at these early stages, though, Im deeply impressed. The wines taste fresh, alive, with tension and structure. I especially loved a barrel of Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay, which tasted intensely of ginger and apricot, and a bold, feral Syrah from the Durrell Vineyard. I cant wait to see how Nielsens wines develop over time and cant wait to recommend Rams Gate to all of my visiting friends. Where Im drinking Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle I was thrilled when I heard that Rebecca Fineman and Chris Gaither would be opening their own wine bar. Both sommeliers are veterans of our local fine-dining scene, and Id seen each of them in action in their previous gigs: Fineman at High Treason, Gaither at Octavia. Ungrafted, the Dogpatch wine bar they opened in December, is a haven for wine geeks like them people who want to drink really, really good wine even when youre hanging out at a casual bar, eating unfussy food like fries and arepas. Its a model that has a lot in common with a certain wave of fine-casual restaurants that have opened in San Francisco over the last few years, in my opinion. I get into all of it in this weeks Drink Up column. (P.S. Im still a little bit obsessed with this photograph of the group that passed the master sommelier exam in 2017. Of the eight new admittees that year, Fineman is the only woman, and shes holding her baby daughter. Theres only one word for that. Badass.) What Im reading Speaking of things Im obsessed with, the Onion has finally decided that wine is worth satirizing. An apparent casualty of Gallos recent buyout of Constellations lower-priced wine brands: the Ravenswood tasting room, a longtime staple of Sonoma, will close this month. (If you missed it, heres my take on what that buyout means.) Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. The Chronicles Janelle Bitker reports on the pending opening of a new Burlingame wine bar, Velvet 48, where there will be no (gasp!) natural wine. None at all. So long, Lucca Ravioli. I loved you (though I somehow always managed to forget to get a ticket when I walked in). I threw several pizza parties that were indebted to you, and they were great. Bitker reports on the sad scene on the final day of the 94-year-old Mission District specialty shop, and Omar Mamoon gives a personal testimonial about why hes going to miss it so much. Finally: Want to come taste some older vintages of amazing Cabernet with me? Im leading a retrospective tasting at Laurel Glen Vineyard on May 18 where well taste distinctive wines from this Sonoma Mountain property back to 1981. Chronicle subscribers can enter into a raffle to win free tickets. The deadline is Sunday at midnight. Hope to see you there! Drinking with Esther is a weekly newsletter from The Chronicles wine critic. Follow along on Twitter: @Esther_Mobley and Instagram: @esthermob By Park Hyong-ki Chung Chung-hoon, a cinematographer best known for his work on "Oldboy," has been hired to shoot "Zombieland: Double Tap," according to IMDB. The movie, whose plot has not yet been revealed, is a sequel to 2009 sleeper-hit dark comedy "Zombieland," starring Oscar winner Emma Stone and Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson. The two will be reprising their roles in "Double Tap." Chung made his Hollywood debut with director Park Chan-wook's 2013 thriller "Stoker," which starred Nicole Kidman and was produced by Ridley Scott and his brother Tony. The 49-year-old cinematographer has been known for his long-time collaboration with Park. Besides "Oldboy' and "Stoker," the duo teamed up for the production of "Lady Vengeance" and "The Handmaiden." Chung's most recent work was on the Hollywood production of Stephen King's "It," based on the best-selling novel of the same title. The book about a vengeful monster in the shape of a clown is considered one of King's best novels. In an interview after making the 2017 movie, Chung called "It" a "coming of age movie set in the 1980s." Currently, a sequel to the movie titled "It: Chapter 2" is in production. Cinematographer Checco Varese, who worked on "Pacific Rim," is shooting the movie instead of Chung. But the Korean cinematographer will soon shoot director Edgar Wright's "Last Night in Soho," a horror film set in London. Chung, who graduated from Dongkuk University's film school, has mostly worked on films featuring dark and gritty characters as best represented in movies such as "Sinsegye" in 2013 and "Hotel Artemis" in 2018. The former is a Korean movie about an undercover cop infiltrating a powerful organized crime group. It is loosely based on Hong Kong film noir "Infernal Affairs." "Hotel Artemis" is set in the dystopian Los Angeles about a hotel that runs a secret emergency room for criminals. At the point where the Embarcadero meets SoMa, a newcomer has emerged in San Francisco's growing skyline. The 400-foot-tall high-rise with fanning windows looks like a Jenga tower that was carefully twisted. Located at 280 Spear St., the condo high-rise called MIRA is still under construction, but the building topped out last week and its white facade appears mostly complete. The architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang says MIRA's spiraling shape comes from a reinterpretation of the classic San Francisco bay window, with the windows' orientation changing on every floor. The design "amplifies the dynamic quality of the neighborhood," Gang says. The varied positioning of the windows also makes the floor plan in each unit unique. The 40-story building will feature 392 luxury condominiums and townhouses of various sizes. Onsite amenities include a rooftop deck, a fitness center, a children's playroom, dog washing station, valet parking for 340 cars with electric vehicle charging stations, parking for 150 bicycles, and over 10,000 square feet of retail at street level. One bedrooms start at just over $1 million and 2,300-square-foot three bedrooms with bay views are listed for as much as $5 million. Most anywhere else in the U.S. except for coastal cities, these numbers are shockingly high, but in San Francisco, where the median price paid for a new or existing home or condo in March 2019 was $1.38 million, the prices aren't surprising for luxury housing. "There's a range of price points in the project," said Carl Shannon, a senior managing director at Tishman Speyer, the company developing the building. "One of the things we're trying hard to do is to meet different buyers at a number of different income levels." Construction began in mid-2017 and occupancy is slated for late 2019. ALSO: The Manhattanization of SF: How the city's skyline has changed in the last two decades San Francisco's skyline has gone increasingly vertical in the past two decades. Since 2000, more than 15 structures with more than 30 stories have been built. The city now has 160 buildings taller than 240 feet and more are planned or under construction. The most visible newcomer is the Salesforce Tower, a colossal column of glass at 415 Mission that became the city's tallest building at 1,070 feet when it opened in 2018. It surpassed the 853-foot-tall Transamerica Pyramid that had long been the city's tallest since being completed in 1972. Another big addition was 181 Fremont; the mixed-use building at 802 feet is the city's second-tallest building. Perhaps the most talked-about skyscraper built in the last decade is the Millennium Tower, the city's sixth-tallest building that's sinking and tilting, resulting in multiple lawsuits over repair costs. In the gallery above, you'll find images of MIRA and a selection of photos that show how just how much the skyline has changed. 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 Emeryville Police Department A woman wanted for "several felonies" after she allegedly assumed another person's identity and interviewed for a shared nanny position in San Francisco has been arrested, authorities said. Police identified Darlene Mariana Monticalvo, 60, as the woman whom two families say was being considered for a nanny job, according to Emeryville police. The Associated Press reports she was arrested in the hours after police asked the community for help. They all tell a similar story: They ran apps that helped people limit the time they and their children spent on iPhones. Then Apple created its own screen-time tracker. And then Apple made staying in business very, very difficult. Over the past year, Apple has removed or restricted at least 11 of the 17 most downloaded screen-time and parental-control apps, according to an analysis by the New York Times and Sensor Tower, an app-data firm. Apple has also clamped down on a number of lesser-known apps. In some cases, Apple forced companies to remove features that allowed parents to control their childrens devices or that blocked childrens access to certain apps and adult content. In other cases, it simply pulled the apps from its App Store. Some app makers with thousands of paying customers have shut down. Most others say their futures are in jeopardy. They yanked us out of the blue with no warning, said Amir Moussavian, CEO of OurPact, the top parental-control iPhone app, with more than 3 million downloads. In February, Apple pulled the app, which accounted for 80% of OurPacts revenue, from its App Store. They are systematically killing the industry, Moussavian said. The screen-time app makers are the latest companies to suddenly find themselves both competing against Apple and at the mercy of the tech titan. By controlling the iPhone App Store, where companies find some of their most lucrative customers, Apple has unusual power over the fortunes of other corporations. Tammy Levine, an Apple spokeswoman, said Apple removed or required changes to the apps because they could gain too much information from users devices. She said the timing of Apples moves was not related to its introduction of similar tools. In response to this article, Philip Schiller, Apples senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said in emails to some customers that Apple acted extremely responsibly in this matter, helping to protect our children from technologies that could be used to violate their privacy and security. Executives at the app makers believe they are being targeted because their apps could hurt Apples business. Apples tools, they add, arent as aggressive about limiting screen time and dont provide as many options. Their incentives arent really aligned for helping people solve their problem, said Fred Stutzman, chief executive of Freedom, a screen-time app with more than 770,000 downloads before Apple removed it in August. Can you really trust that Apple wants people to spend less time on their phones? Apple CEO Tim Cook said at a conference last month that Apple had added tools to help people manage their phone use. We dont want people using their phones all the time, he said. This has never been an objective for us. Last week, two of the most popular parental-control apps, Kidslox and Qustodio, filed a complaint with the European Unions competition office. Kidslox said business had plummeted since Apple forced changes to its app that made it less useful than Apples tool. Apple also faces an antitrust complaint in Russia from Kaspersky Lab a Russian cybersecurity firm that American security officials claim has ties to the Russian government that said Apple had forced it to remove key features from its parental-control app. The company is exploring a similar complaint in Europe, a Kaspersky spokeswoman said. We treat all apps the same, including those that compete with our own services, said Levine, the Apple spokeswoman. Our incentive is to have a vibrant app ecosystem that provides consumers access to as many quality apps as possible. Apple is facing other accusations that it is abusing its dominant position to lift itself and bury rivals an issue that has become more important as the iPhone maker expands into new markets like television, news and gaming. Spotify complained to European regulators last month that Apple used the App Store to give its Apple Music service an unfair advantage over Spotifys app. Dutch regulators announced this month that they would investigate whether Apple abused its control of the App Store. In the United States, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democratic candidate for president, recently suggested separating the App Store from Apple as part of her proposal to rein in the American tech giants. In early 2018, two prominent Wall Street investors urged Apple to address concerns that people were becoming addicted to their smartphones. In June, the company announced plans for tools to help iPhone owners track and limit their and their childrens phone use. It began offering the tools in September, tucked into the phones settings menu. Shortly after announcing its new tools, Apple began purging apps that offered similar services. Apple told the companies that their apps violated App Store rules, like enabling one iPhone to control another, although it had allowed such practices for years and had approved hundreds of versions of their apps. Apple allows corporations to use such software to control employees phones. But last year, the company stopped apps from using the software to enable parents to control their childrens devices. The Apple spokeswoman said Apple had blocked the practice because app makers could gain access to too much information on the childrens devices. Apple cited other rule violations when removing some apps, but the spokeswoman didnt explain the reasoning behind those moves Unlike apps such as OurPact, Apples tools dont allow parents to schedule different times throughout a day when an app is blocked. And Apples tool blocks adult content only on its Safari web browser and some apps, not on other browsers or many popular apps, like Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Bruce Chantry, a 47-year-old father of two outside Cleveland, said he had used OurPact and Mobicip for years until Apple forced them to gut key features. He has found Apples tool more complicated and less restrictive. His children have already found workarounds to Apples web-filtering tool and, unlike the apps he had used, it has no kill switch to quickly disable certain apps on their phones, Chantry said. It didnt make managing these new digital threats any easier, he said. It actually made it more difficult. Apples tool has another shortcoming: It requires the whole family to own iPhones. Many apps removed by Apple allowed parents with iPhones to control their childrens Android devices. Apple has also limited the options for adults who want to fight their own phone addiction. In August, it abruptly pulled down the Freedom app, which allowed users to temporarily disable certain apps and websites. Stutzman, Freedoms chief executive, said that to return to iPhones, he was forced to stop blocking apps and to block sites only on Apples Safari browser. Apples tool now appears to be one of the few ways to disable apps, if not the only one. Yet when a user hits an apps time limit on Apples tool, it provides a single option: Ignore Limit. The app makers said they were most frustrated by the process of meeting Apples sudden demands. In many cases, Apple alerted them that their apps would be removed and their businesses crippled in a short note, according to correspondence viewed by The Times. When app makers asked for more information, responses were often perfunctory and slow in coming. As a developer whos been on the App Store for 10 years, I would expect some courtesy from Apple of at least a phone call to explain what were doing wrong, said Suren Ramasubbu, head of Mobicip, a parental-control app that had about 2.5 million downloads this year, about 70% of them on iPhones. On Jan. 19, Ramasubbu received a message from Apple that said he had 30 days to change the Mobicip app or it would be removed from the App Store. If you have any questions about this information, please reply to this message to let us know, the note said. Best regards, App Store Review. Over the next 27 days, Ramasubbu responded four times seeking more information. He eventually resubmitted the app with changes he hoped would satisfy Apples demands. Then, with Mobicips deadline just a few days away, Apple responded three times to his earlier detailed questions with virtually the same message: Your app uses public APIs in an unapproved manner, which does not comply with guideline 2.5.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines. We hear you loud and clear, Ramasubbu responded on the morning of Feb. 19, Apples deadline. He begged for answers: Could Apple tell him what he needed to do to keep Mobicip on iPhones? Any general direction, clue or specific guidance will be deeply appreciated. We have been one of the pioneers among parental control apps on the App Store over 10 long years and have always been playing by the rules, he wrote. Please point us in the right direction and we can take it from there. Five hours later, Apple responded with a 14-word message: Your app has an unresolved issue and has been removed from the App Store. No reason, no detail, Ramasubbu said. Suddenly we dont have a business anymore. Jack Nicas is a New York Times writer. WASHINGTON The Federal Trade Commission is negotiating a settlement with Facebook that would create positions at the company focused on strengthening its privacy practices, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. Facebook has agreed to create a privacy committee to protect its users data, as well as create the position of an external assessor who would be appointed by the company and the FTC, said the people, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The social network will also appoint a head compliance officer who could be CEO Mark Zuckerberg to oversee privacy efforts, one of the people said. The proposed commitments are part of negotiations between the agency and Facebook to settle privacy violations. Both have been talking for months over claims that Facebook violated a 2011 privacy consent decree. Last week, Facebook announced that it expected to be fined up to $5 billion by the agency in what would be a record financial penalty by the United States against a technology company. A Facebook spokeswoman and an FTC spokesman declined to comment. The settlement details were earlier reported by Politico. The settlement talks are being watched as a potential blueprint for privacy in the United States at a time of fierce criticism over the competition, labor and privacy policies of big tech companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter. The FTC has been widely criticized in the past for limited oversight of the companies. Officials elsewhere, particularly in Europe, have been more aggressive. The case against Facebook is also being watched as a measure of the Trump administrations willingness to regulate U.S. companies. The White House has rolled back rules for many industries, but President Trump has been critical of tech companies, arguing that they have too much power. No company has been more under the glare of regulators than Facebook, which the FTC began investigating 13 months ago after revelations the company allowed user data to be turned into political profiles by Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firmed used by Trump. Privacy advocates and Democratic lawmakers have pushed for more aggressive changes at Facebook, including higher fines and holding Zuckerberg personally liable for the companys privacy violations related to the investigation. Any settlement with Facebook must hold Zuckerberg individually accountable or his flagrant, repeated violations of Americans privacy will continue, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in a letter to FTC commissioners last week. The company has strongly resisted naming Zuckerberg in the FTCs settlement as personally liable for privacy violations, according to the two people with knowledge of the talks. The company has offered what it has described to the FTC as a new corporate governance structure built around privacy, the people said. The promises include the creation of an independent privacy committee, which could include the Facebook board of directors, to oversee privacy policy. The committee would meet quarterly. Facebook also agreed to the creation of a position for an independent assessor, the people said. The assessor would be appointed by the FTC and the privacy committee. That person would determine whether the company was complying with a new FTC privacy order as well as the companys own privacy policy for users. The assessor would give biannual reports to the company and FTC. The company would also designate a compliance officer internally at the executive ranks. There was discussion at one time that Zuckerberg could be given that role, but it is unclear if he would ultimately do so, according to one of the people familiar with the talks. When the company announced putting aside the $5 billion to pay for potential penalties, it said that the matter remains unresolved, and there can be no assurance as to the timing or the terms of any final outcome. A $5 billion penalty would be far higher than the FTCs current record against a tech company. The agency fined Google $22.5 million in 2012 for misleading users about how some of its tools were tracking users. But that amount would still be a small percentage of the companys $56 billion in annual revenue. Despite all of the public scrutiny the company has faced in the past year, Facebook said last week that its revenue increased 26% in the first quarter, to $15 billion, from a year earlier. Some privacy advocates have said that more meaningful action from the agency would require curbing Facebooks ability to share data with business partners, requiring it to take more measures to inform consumers when and how it collected data, or taking other steps to change its operations. Those sort of requirements are not expected to be in the settlement, according to the people familiar with the talks. Since the FTCs investigation, Zuckerberg has announced a focus toward privacy. On Wednesday, the company announced redesigns of Facebooks apps to focus more on groups and private communications, a shift from its long push for more public posts. The features will end up creating a more trustworthy platform, Zuckerberg said. Cecilia Kang is a New York Times writer. RuPauls Drag Race and its behind-the-scenes spinoff, Untucked, are cultural touchstones that have launched catchphrases and minted stars. But neither series has ever lit up the ratings. Recent episodes of each series garnered only a few hundred thousand viewers and were the 285th and 359th most-viewed shows in the cable ratings for the week of April 15. But both series performed extremely well in another ranking. The Drag Race and Untucked episodes were the No. 3 and No. 9 most watched among same-sex households that same week. This is according to Nielsens same-sex spouse or partner household rating, a new statistic that, for the first time, provides a snapshot into the viewing habits of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. For some show creators, the inclusion of LGBT households as a viewing demographic is a long overdue step, and could provide an additional data point to help keep a show on the air. It could also open up a wellspring of information for advertisers that can use it to tailor pitches to viewers most likely to be watching a particular show. From our clients perspective, this is incredibly valuable, said Rachel Lowenstein, an associate director of Invention Plus, a unit of the media agency Mindshare. Look at how much LGBTQ couples make in terms of their household income. From a disposable-income and consumer-spending standpoint, they are a lucrative audience. Some shows have little or no difference between how they rank among general viewers and same-sex households. Game of Thrones, for instance, was the No. 1 cable show for both. But for others, the disparity is stark. An episode of the Food Networks Worst Cooks in America ranked 22nd in same-sex households versus its overall rank of 82nd. HBOs Veep was the 21st most-viewed cable series in same-sex households versus 134th overall. ABCs The Conners sans Roseanne Barr is the No. 1 watched network show this season in same-sex households, versus an overall rank of 31st. All editions of Sean Hannitys Fox News program were among the 12 most-watched shows in cable the week of April 15. Among same-sex households, Hannity had an average finish of 247th place, according to Nielsen. Another news commentary show, MSNBCs The Rachel Maddow Show, had a higher ranking among gay households than it did among general viewers. The same-sex rating which, for now, includes only same-sex couples came about partly because of criticism from producers involved in making original programming centered on gay, lesbian and transgender themes who feared that the ratings for their series did not reflect their impact. When ABC aired a four-part miniseries on the history of gay rights called When We Rise in 2017, the shows creator noticed that the low Nielsen ratings were in marked contrast to the enthusiastic response on social media. It just didnt feel right, said Dustin Lance Black, creator of the series and the Oscar-winning writer of Milk. Im not saying it would have translated to a smash success, but something just felt off in the ratings versus the experience we were having. It led Black and another producer of the series, Bruce Cohen, to ask GLAAD, the organization that tracks representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, if Nielsen surveyed same-sex households. The answer was no. At the time, several series with gay and transgender characters were in danger of cancellation, including ABCs The Real ONeals and CBS Doubt. The year before, Eyewitness, a USA Network show centered on two gay teenagers, was canceled after one season. It was a thriller, it was a remake of a Norwegian show, but it had a strong LGBT component, said Adi Hasak, the Eyewitness creator. To realize that that demo wasnt part of the Nielsens was devastating. This is where Nielsen disagrees. Executives at the 96-year-old research firm, which has become a punching bag for frustrated producers and executives amid declining ratings and the rise of streaming, said that its total viewership figures were accurate and left no one out. The one thing it did not do until recently, however, was break out a separate measurement for same-sex households. Nielsen already measures ratings for African American, Hispanic and Asian American households, giving networks, studios and advertisers more data on who is watching what. After GLAAD reached out to Nielsen, the company got to work on finding a solution. There are things that are good for the business, and there are things that are just the right thing to do, said Brian Fuhrer, Nielsens senior vice president for product leadership. This is an unusual situation where both came into alignment. Some television executives have cautioned that the numbers could be subject to the whims of a small sample size. Nielsen has based the new rating on a survey of 500 same-sex households; the company tracks 47,000 households to project its full viewership figures. And Nielsen does not currently track single gay, lesbian or transgender people, but the company said it would do so in the future. Still, the new statistic could be a boon to advertisers. Same-sex couples earn significantly more money than their straight counterparts, according to the Treasury Department, making them appealing to advertisers. Our brands will be interested in this not just in terms of being more inclusive, but also to reach a more affluent audience, said Lowenstein, who works at the media agency. This is something thatll be extremely valuable once its tradable in the marketplace. Who could some of those advertisers be? Top advertisers for RuPauls Drag Race include MillerCoors and Foster City pharmaceutical company Gilead, according to a VH1 spokeswoman. Leading advertisers for gay-themed cable channel Logo include Subaru and Hershey. One could question the utility of a new Nielsen rating at a time when people are cutting their cable subscriptions and people watch shows on their own schedules and on streaming services, which Nielsen has made efforts to track. But GLAAD has emphasized that Nielsens examining viewership data from the group is an important step. I would not discount being counted, said Sarah Kate Ellis, chief executive of GLAAD. I think its more important than ever that, as part of LGBTQ community, we are being counted and in whatever way that is. Black, the When We Rise creator, underscored the point. The more visible we can make ourselves in film and television, the greater ability we have to introduce ourselves, he said. That erases misconceptions. Let our numbers and eyes be counted. I believe when they are, youll see even greater numbers for LGBT-themed shows. That means a better chance of a renewal for a new season and being canceled a little bit less. John Koblin is a New York Times writer. Growing trend opens up for better corporate governance By Jhoo Dong-chan Shareholder activism has been emerging as a catalyst bringing changes to the local business world by forcing large Korean companies, particularly chaebol, to renew their business focus and strategies. This comes as a growing number of activist shareholders are flexing their muscles to drive positive change at companies, which many expect will end up improving corporate governance of conglomerates and maximizing shareholder value. "A series of activist shareholders' moves will pressure firms not only to raise dividends and oust scandalous management but also to ultimately improve their governance," NH Investment & Securities researcher Kim Dong-yang said. "Not to mention their recent tug of war with PEFs, institutional investors are also seeking to engage more actively in corporate management following the lead of the NPS. Now, firms need to voluntarily strengthen their governance unless they want to provide fodder for their challengers." Shareholder activism has gained momentum after creating a stirs at a number of general shareholders' meetings in March. During Korean Air's meeting, March 26, the National Pension Service (NPS) played an important role in ousting the late Chairman Cho Yang-ho from his board seat. The nation's largest institutional investor also voted against appointment of outside and inside directors at Samsung BioLogics and Hyosung. In a bid to exercise its shareholder rights more actively, the NPS introduced a new stewardship code in July 2018. As a campaign pledge of President Moon Jae-in, the code is a set of guidelines that encourage shareholders to push for better corporate governance and higher dividends from firms in which they invest. The pension fund is likely to expand its influence on various corporate matters, including unfair business practices, management misbehavior and excessive payments to executives. Following the NPS' lead, other investors have also started to raise their voices in firms' decision-making processes and governance. In September, Platform Partners Asset Management (PPAM), a domestic shareholder activist fund, sought to remove Macquarie Korea Asset Management (MKAM) from managing the Macquarie Korea Infrastructure Fund, the nation's only infrastructure fund, citing reckless management and excessive fees. The fund suggested changing the fund's asset manager to KORAMCO REITS Management & Trust, replacing MKAM, but its efforts ended in failure as only 31.1 percent of shareholders participating in a shareholders' meeting were in favor of the proposal. In February, the Korea Corporate Governance Improvement (KCGI) exercised its influence on Hanjin KAL to improve its governance structure and suggested ousting Hanjin KAL's executives, including Cho, if they violate the law or hurt the firm's reputation. The KCGI is Hanjin KAL's second-largest shareholder with a 10.8 percent stake after Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho and his family with a 28.95 percent stake. Reflecting the growing influence of activist shareholders, firms started raising their payouts in 2018. Of the nation's top 30 firms by market capitalization, eight major companies, including Samsung Electronics and POSCO, paid combined interim dividends of 8.34 trillion won ($7.38 billion) between January and September last year, more than double that of the same period the previous year of 3.97 trillion won. Korea's big four financial groups, which had been stingy in paying dividends, also gave out record payouts of 2.52 trillion won. "The movement will eventually be able to disrupt Korean conglomerates' longstanding circular-shareholding practices, which have often been subject to public criticism as they make them vulnerable to foreign capital," NH Investment & Securities researcher Park Joo-sun said. "There have been similar movements in Japan where shareholders exercised their rights to improve corporate governance. It was helpful for business." In January, Japanese optics maker Olympus announced it would comply with U.S.-based activist fund ValueAct's demands. After acquiring a stake of more than 5 percent, the fund requested a rise in dividends and the replacement of the firm's outside directors. Olympus promised to improve the firm's profitability while appointing three new outside directors as the fund demanded. Since its January announcement, the share price of Olympus has jumped nearly 30 percent. "Japan introduced a stewardship code about three years before we did. So far, operators of the code are finding their proper place in the market," Park said. "Compared to Japan, Korea's corporate culture has been very closed. Firms still consider such activist funds' moves as a direct challenge to their ownership." Sungkyunkwan University law professor Choi June-sun said the trend could impact a firm's management rights in the future. "The stewardship code itself is a self-regulating norm. It will be okay if it operates as it was intended," he said. "However, it is highly likely a stewardship code could be used as a tool of the government and ruling party to change a firm's governance structures." Businesses also raised their concerns on the rise of shareholder activism. "There is some foreign capital with malicious intent," said a conglomerate official, asking not to be named. "It investors are allowed to do whatever they want, it could become a threat to Korean businesses in the near future. I hope the government understands what is really going on under the surface." BEIJING 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. Wednesdays atmosphere appeared amicable. Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, along with Chinas 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. 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 Wednesdays meeting and talks next week in Washington would help American officials decide whether to recommend that President Trump agree to a deal with Beijing. 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 Chinas 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. Employees enter KB Financial Group's building on Yeouido, Seoul, in this file photo. / Korea Times file By Kim Bo-eun The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is expected to inspect KB Financial Group and its subsidiaries, following the reintroduction its annual comprehensive audit. It is also set to inspect some local insurance companies, including Hanwha Life. The regulator revived the audit system this year, despite the Financial Services Commission's initial opposition. The former Park Geun-hye administration abolished the system as part of efforts to relax rules governing local financial companies. The last overall inspection was in 2015. The audit was revived under the Moon Jae-in administration to better protect consumers after a series of incidents in recent years. The FSS decided to inspect the finance companies it determined had the most problems, based on a survey that looked into consumer protection, financial health, internal control, corporate governance structure and the market influence of the firms. The companies include KB Financial Group, KB Kookmin Bank, KB Securities, Hanwha Life and Meritz Fire and Marine Insurance. "We are conducting the inspection on a bank, brokerage, life and general insurer," an FSS official said. The FSS is set to focus on Kookmin Bank's corporate governance and KB Securities' internal control system. Last year, KB Securities was punished after an employee embezzled funds from a customer's dormant account. In the case of Hanwha, the regulator is set to look into unpaid claims and mis-selling. All finance companies were previously subject to a regular comprehensive inspection. The FSS said it changed the way the inspections are conducted to make them more efficient and alleviate the burden on firms by eliminating unnecessary inspections for those that are complying with regulations. The FSS notified the subjects of the audit last month and has requested the necessary data before sending officials to the companies for on-site inspections. Dozens of FSS officials will be sent to the companies for four weeks. Inspections can be extended if companies do not cooperate in providing data. "The inspection will be carried out for each quarter," the FSS official said. "The subjects of the next inspections have more or less been decided on, based on the results of the prior survey." The next audit subjects are expected to be Shinhan Financial Group and Samsung Life. The FSS is expected to look into Shinhan's corporate governance. Samsung Life, meanwhile, is embroiled in a conflict over about 1 trillion won ($858.44 million) in unpaid immediate annuity payouts involving life insurers here. Samsung Life was expected to be the first target of the FSS's comprehensive audit, but the regulator has delayed the inspection. WASHINGTON A 16-year-old unaccompanied migrant boy from Guatemala fell ill after he was transferred to a government shelter in Texas and later died, officials said Wednesday. The boy crossed the border near El Paso, Texas, on April 19, and was taken to a shelter in Brownsville a day later, according to Guatemalas Foreign Ministry. He did not appear ill when he was transferred to the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a statement from the Administration for Children and Families, the division within HHS that cares for migrant children who cross the border alone. But the next morning, he had fever, chills and a headache and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released that day. When the teen didnt recover, he was taken to a second hospital and transferred to a childrens hospital. Guatemalan officials said he had a severe infection in his brain and had emergency surgery, but never stabilized and died Tuesday. The cause of death was under review, as was the incident. His name was not released. The boys brother and Guatemalan consular officials visited him while he was hospitalized, and hospital staff frequently updated his family in Guatemala, according to Evelyn Stauffer, a spokeswoman for the Administration for Children and Families. It was the third death in government custody since December, as the U.S. deals with a surge of unaccompanied children and Central American families arriving at the southern border. Two other children died while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody shortly after they arrived at the border. Trump administration officials have said the surge has strained resources beyond the breaking point, but immigrant advocates and some Democrats say part of the crisis is due to President Trumps own hard-line rhetoric and failed border policies. The 16-year-old was from the municipality of Camotan in the eastern area of Chiquimula. The Guatemalan Consulate in McAllen tried to get humanitarian visas so the parents could be with their son, but they were too old to travel, the foreign ministry said. The boys body will be repatriated, but its not clear when. In December, 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo died on Christmas Eve from influenza and a rapid, progressive infection that led to organ failure shortly after crossing the border. His death was two weeks after that of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, who also had a bacterial infection that quickly led to sepsis and organ failure. Both of those children were also from Guatemala but arrived with a family member and were in Customs and Border Protection custody, not the care of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with dealing with the care of migrant children who arrive at the border alone. The agency also managed the children who were separated from their parents by the Trump administration last summer. The last time a child died in the custody of Health and Human services was 2015. There were 50,036 unaccompanied children encountered during the last budget year, and so far this budget year there have been 35,898 children. Colleen Long is an Associated Press writer. By Jin Yu-young On Jeju Island, the "haenyeo" (sea women) make their livelihood as the free divers of Korea. Currently numbering at 4,500, the haenyeo have a rich history and unbreakable bond as mothers, daughters and sisters of the sea. To capture their work and livelihood, photographer Y. Zin has compiled her first photo book in which she illustrates their unique stories both in and out of the water. Y. Zin is Korea's first National Geographic underwater photographer and went to Jeju Island on multiple occasions to observe the haenyeo. It took her five years to complete this project. The haenyeo dive to the ocean floor for a variety of sea harvests such as abalone and shellfish. They spend approximately five hours a day diving and can gather up to 60 kilograms each session. This is an impressive feat for the haenyeo, whose ages mostly range from 60 to 80. Even the eldest among them, who are over 90 years old, are still agile as ever. "Haenyeo: Women Divers of Korea" by Y. Zin Nick Abbott, 31, wanted to find a forever companion who could go through life with him and thats exactly what he found in Emerson. At just 6 weeks old, the black Labrador mix was brought to the shelter and eventually ended up in Maine. The shelter group soon discovered that the pup had hearing difficulties. The puppy had experienced seizures and an infection called canine parvovirus but, once he pulled through, he was put up for adoption. Lindsey Powers, of NFR Maine, posted on Facebook searching for someone who could adopt Emerson. In the post, she pretended to write as though she was the pup, expressing concern that potential parents were worried the dogs hearing issues would become a concern. Hi! My name is Emerson, I'm a 12-week-old black lab mix looking for my forever home! My brothers and sisters have found homes already but I'm still looking. My Foster mom thinks that's because people see that I'm deaf, and that makes people nervous but she wants everyone to know that being deaf is the LEAST of my worries! Thats where Nick Abbott came in. Abbott was born deaf, and when he noticed the post, he could immediately tell that Emerson was meant for him. "Right off the bat, he said, 'I'm deaf also and I feel like we'd have a good connection,'" Powers said. Within a day, the application Abbott turned in was processed. Abbots mother said the two were meant to be from the start. But after their initial meeting, the twos bond grew even more when Abbott started to teach Emerson sign language. Now, Emerson knows how to respond to the signs for sit, lay down and come. "It's amazing," Richelle Abbott, Nick Abbotts mother, told ABC News. "Whenever they're together, Emerson is always finding a way to lean on Nick." Family members in an unnamed village of Uganda pose in this 2018 photo. Photographer Cho Jang-sok has taken photos of African people since 2015. Under a partnership with Korea Foundation, Cho will embark on a family photo project to Ethiopia, Uganda and Madagascar starting May 9. / Courtesy of Cho Jang-sok By Kang Hyun-kyung Photographer Cho Jang-sok said he was disturbed by some nonprofit groups' TV campaigns soliciting donations for Africa-based charities because of the way they present the poor people there. In the footage, malnourished children with flies in their eyes, children with swollen bellies and poor moms looking hopelessly at their dying children are presented to encourage viewers to call their toll-free numbers to underwrite to "save" the African children. Images like these are known as "poverty porn" among experts. Cho said he was annoyed by NGOs' self-serving TV campaigns. He said such footage is not only misleading but also responsible for negative perceptions about Africa and people of the continent. "When you go to Africa, you'll see that those images are misleading," Cho said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. "It's true Africa is still poor and there are people who live in extreme poverty. But Africa is not all about poverty. People there are warm, hopeful and confident. African people smile a lot at strangers like me. But such positive images are missing in the campaigns." Cho, who became famous for his supermodel wife Park Dool-sun, has taken photos of families in Uganda, Senegal and Rwanda since 2015 when he joined local and international NGOs as a photographer. For African people, he said the family photos are much more than a snapshot of family members. "When I visited Senegal years ago, I met a local guide named Arizuma. His mom passed away when he was very young, and his father married another woman after his first wife died," Cho said. "Arizuma went to neighboring countries for work. He once worked as a seaman. Life as a guest worker in a foreign country was tough. Whenever tough times hit, he said he missed his mom so much but there were no photos of her through which he could remember her." Quoting Arizuma, Cho said hunger is a relatively minor issue because it can be resolved once the economy is growing. "But the memories of the missing family member are not something you can overcome," he said. His photo trips to Africa helped Cho build a better understanding of the continent. In Rwanda, he said he saw in person that a generation is lost because of the 1994 genocide that ravaged the African country. As many as 1 million people were slaughtered during the massacre masterminded by the core members of the Hutu political elite. Cho said the trauma is still there. "When I visited Rwanda, unlike other Africans, the local people were suspicious of me. It took time for them to open their hearts to me." Cho has taken photos of over 1,000 African families. Once he returned to Korea, he selected the best shots for each family, framed them and sent them to the families. Soon he realized financing the photo project became unfeasible as the number of families he captured in his photos increased. With a firm belief the project needs to go on, Cho tried to find an organization that could fund his project. He submitted a proposal to Korea Foundation to finance the project and his request got the nod. Under the partnership, starting May 9 Cho will visit three countries Ethiopia, Uganda and Madagascar for the photo project. Ethiopia is his first stop. Cho will visit a village in which Korean War veterans live and capture the heroes and their families. Then he will head to Uganda in June which will be followed by another trip to Madagascar in July. "African people love photos. Their reactions to photos go beyond what you can imagine. Photos overjoy them," he said. Cho began his career as a fashion designer after graduating university. After years of work as a designer, he entered university again to study photography. After completing his studies, he explored a new career as a commercial photographer. He has worked with various local and international magazines, including Vogue Magazine. As time went by, he said he grew tired of his profession. "I was sick and tired of taking commercial photos. My photos became increasingly provocative because I was asked to take photos like that in order to encourage consumers to purchase certain products I was working on," he said. Cho Jang-sok poses with his supermodel wife Park Dool-sun during TV Chosun's talk show in this recent photo. / Courtesy of Cho Jang-sok In this file photo taken on March 26, 2019, Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, DC. AFP-Yonhap The U.S. military has not changed its position as it continues to support diplomatic efforts to achieve North Korea's denuclearization, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Wednesday. At a congressional hearing, Shanahan was asked whether he knows of any negotiations between U.S. and North Korean officials since February's second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without a deal. "Denuclearization of North Korea remains the primary objective. Diplomacy is the primary track," he told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. "What I can tell you militarily is we have not changed our position, our operations or our strength and are continuing to conduct readiness exercises in the event diplomacy fails," he added. Shanahan said he was not aware that the North has resumed enrichment activities at its nuclear facilities or conducted missile tests since the summit collapsed. The two countries have been at an impasse, with the U.S. demanding the North's total surrender of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and the North demanding sanctions relief in return. Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, right, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford wait to testify before a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on the Department of Defense - FY2020 Budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 1, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap In this photo taken on July 27, 2018, women push a cart laden with North Korean soda drinks across a road in Pyongyang. North Korea on Aug. 2 warned its people of "unprecedented" heatwaves that hit the peninsula and urged efforts to save crops against drought that may hamper food production at the impoverished country. AFP-Yonhap South Korea has no immediate plan to provide food assistance to North Korea, a unification ministry official said Thursday, amid growing concerns about aggravating food shortages in the communist state. "The government's stance remains unchanged that humanitarian assistance to improve the humanitarian situation for North Korean citizens should continue, which is also shared by the United States," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "At this point, however, we are not considering a provision of food on a government level." North Korea's food situation appears to be worsening, apparently affected by years of droughts and floods. Global sanctions on its regime have also been cited as a major factor putting strain on the country's already fragile food supply system. In this March 13, 2019, photo, a guide shows samples of food produced at Kumkhop Trading displayed in its show room Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean factories are filling city store shelves with ever better and fancier snack foods and sugary drinks, while government officials and international aid organizations warn the nation could be on the verge of a major food crisis. AP-Yonhap In February, North Korea's top envoy to the United Nations, Kim Song, requested emergency food assistance, saying that his country will suffer a food shortage estimated at around 1.5 million tons this year. In what appears to reflect the sense of urgency, North Korea's media recently emphasized the importance of rice production ahead of the full-swing farming season, saying, "Rice is more precious than gold." A South Korean think tank projected that the North's output of grains, including rice, reached 4.55 million tons last year, down 160,000 tons from a year earlier. According to a recent report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, about 10.9 million people in North Korea 43 percent of the total population are deemed "food insecure." In particular, one out five children in the North faces "chronic malnutrition." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects Kwail County in South Hwanghae Province, the county whose economy is based on fruit production, in this September 2017 file photo. KCNA-Yonhap Ruth Jordan imagined walking away from the business would be easy. Most of her adult life had been spent operating San Franciscos oldest black-owned bar, Sam Jordans in the Bayview. But lately, with sales seeming to slow down, the work felt like it was coming to an end. I felt like I had taken the bar as far as I could, Jordan said. I did the best I could with it, but it had just had become an uphill battle for me. She thought: Who could blame me for wanting to sell and just get out? So last week she told her family and a few close friends about her tentative retirement plan, which started with putting the two-story property on the market with hopes it would fetch above the $999,998 asking price. Within hours, the listing exploded across the internet. I just started hearing from all of these people who noticed it was for sale. They were saying they didnt want this to happen, Jordan said. The response was so great, in fact, Jordan said shes now changing course. Instead of selling the bar, Jordan said shes planning to take it off the market, though as of Friday morning, the listing was still active on the real estate site Redfin. (Jordan said it would take a few days for the post to be removed.) Sam Jordans, named after Texas-born founder Sam Jordan, has been a watering hole for the working class since it opened in the late 1950s. It remains a home for the hungry and resting place for the weary. In 2013, the bar was named a historic landmark in San Francisco. It gained widespread recognition in 2016 after appearing on an episode of Bar Rescue. By 2018, the 1600 block of Galvez Avenue between Third Street and Phelps Avenue was named Sam Jordans Way. As is the case for many fans of older establishments in the city, there is a sense of ownership for the business that caused the Bayview community to speak out, Jordan said. In her tight-knit circle, the response was difficult to ignore. The saga from the almost-sale to the decision to keep the property in the family unfolded over the course of a week in the Bayview, only perking up ears outside of the historically black neighborhood once the listing was made public. The situation serves as a microcosm of the plight African American businesses face in the city: Vocal support often exceeds much-needed financial support. Were at this critical point where we have to be more proactive in helping these black-owned businesses by actually going to them, said Marcus Tartt of the Bayviews Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. He has worked with the Jordan family in the past and was surprised to see the property for sale. He added: It shouldnt be where a business has to come close to closing for people to take notice of it. The dilemma Tartt describes has played out several times over the last three years through a handful of well-known black-owned businesses in the city, places with stellar online reputations that are praised for their food and drink options, only to close due to languishing patronage, among other things. Chef David Lawrence had to close the doors to his fine-dining flagship restaurant 1300 on Fillmore and his barbecue restaurant Black Bark between 2017 and 2018 as business at both places waned. Farmerbrown, a nationally known soul food restaurant, closed in the Tenderloin around the same time. Weve been sounding the alarm about minority-owned businesses needing support for a while now, Tartt said. Hopefully people start paying attention. Jordan said there are still decisions to be made concerning the bars future and how to keep it alive moving forward, but for now, shes content with taking it off the market. I now see all of these people who support me, support the bar, she said. I thought I was finished, I really did. I guess Im not. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, right, holds talks with U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Thursday. They discussed how to strengthen alliances, bilateral defense issues and the denuclearization efforts on the Korean Peninsula, the ministry said. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha speaks during a press conference at the ministry's headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Thursday highlighted South Korea's "clear will" to improve relations with Japan in a future-oriented manner, pledging to continue diplomatic dialogue to create momentum to that end. During a press conference, Kang also said that diplomatic efforts for peace on the peninsula are in progress "under the surface" despite a lull after the collapse of the Hanoi summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February. "With regard to Japan that ushered in a new era with the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito yesterday, (South Korea) will continue to push for the development of a future-oriented relationship while squarely facing history," Kang said. "Our government's will is clear regarding the development of the South Korea-Japan relationship in a future-oriented manner," she added. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha speaks during a seminar about "journey for peace on the Korean Peninsula" at Hansung University in Seoul's Seongbuk-gu, Wednesday. Yonhap BERKELEY (BCN) There were two armed robberies on Berkeley city property near the University of California at Berkeley campus early Thursday morning, police said. The robberies occurred in the wake of a string of four robberies, three of which involved armed suspects, on or near the campus in a four-hour period late on the night of April 24 and early on the morning of April 25. Police said a group of four male UC Berkeley students between the ages of 18 and 19 were walking in front of the Delta Chi fraternity house at 2721 Channing Way shortly before 12:40 a.m. Thursday when a car pulled up next to them. Police said three male suspects who were armed with handguns got out of the car, approached the four students and took their backpacks and cellphones. The suspects fled in a red Dodge and were last seen driving west on Channing Way, according to police. Witnesses described one suspect as a black man in his 20s with a medium or chubby build and his hair in dreads who was wearing a black beanie cap. The second suspect was described as a black man in his 20s with a thin build. At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, three male UC Berkeley students were walking in the 2900 block of Dwight Way when a car pulled up next to them, police said. Two male suspects armed with handguns got out of the car, and surrounded the students, demanded their property and took their bags and cellphones, according to police. The suspects then drove away and were last seen driving west on Dwight Way, police said. Witnesses described one suspect as a black male who is about 5 feet 9 inches tall with a hefty build and short dreadlocks who was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and the other suspect as a black man in his 20s who is about 5 feet 11 inches tall with a skinny build who was wearing a black mask on his face. Berkeley police spokesman Byron White said it's too early to tell if the robberies early Thursday are connected with the ones last week. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. BERKELEY (BCN) Apropos of its host city, Berkeley's Bay Area Book Festival is deeply invested in social justice, this year tackling some of America's most pressing causes with the wisdom of words -- from mass incarceration and immigration to women's issues and the environment. There will even be socially conscious comic books. Now in its fifth year, the two-day bibliophile's paradise will be held Saturday and Sunday at various indoor and outdoor locations in downtown Berkeley and is expected to draw about 25,000 people. Book fans will have a chance to hear from more than 250 powerful voices in the literary world -- authors like Ishmael Reed, Tommy Pico, R.O. Kwon and Charlie Jane Anders -- who will participate in panels and literary sessions. There will be discussion groups, keynote speakers, musical performances, an outdoor fair with four stages, 200 literary exhibitors in a wide array of genres -- mysteries, sci-fi, food writing, kids' books and everything in between -- plus a children's and family area to "grow a reader." "This year more than ever, the festival presents a diverse array of authors, exploring some of today's most urgent, complex issues," said the festival's executive director, Cherilyn Parsons, who launched the event in 2015 and has since seen it grow to one of the nation's premier literary celebrations. "Magic happens when people come together around books," Parsons said. For 2019, the overall theme is "creating a better world through the power of literature." With this in mind, the keynote talk at 7:30 p.m. Saturday is titled, "Enough is Enough: Fighting Economic Injustice." Author Anand Giridharadas ("Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World") will be in conversation with former Secretary of Labor and author Robert Reich ("The Common Good"), and financial justice advocate Kat Taylor. The session will include a musical overture by Indian fusion artist Isheeta Ganguly. The Sunday closing discussion will focus on incarceration. In the talk, "The Unbreakable Human Spirit: Albert Woodfox on Survival in Solitary," Woodfox will discuss his recently published memoir, "Solitary," and share his story about four decades in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit. He'll be interviewed by Shane Bauer, Mother Jones reporter and author of "American Prison." Bauer is also a survivor of solitary confinement, arrested while hiking on the Iran-Iraq border in 2009 and imprisoned for two years. Other notable festival sessions include a tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti for his 100th birthday, a celebration of The Paris Review, a screening of the documentary "Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin" followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra performing original compositions inspired by the work of Bay Area poets. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. More information can be found at www.baybookfest.org. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. MOUNTAIN VIEW (BCN) The family of a 38-year-old Foster City man who was killed in a fiery Tesla crash in Mountain View last March is suing the car company, alleging its autopilot technology malfunctioned and led to his death. Wei "Walter" Huang had dropped off his children at school and was driving to work in a 2017 Tesla Model X on March 23 when his autopilot steered him into a concrete highway median on U.S. Highway 101, the lawsuit alleges. He died as a result of his injuries. Attorneys for Sevonne Huang, Walter's wife, announced the lawsuit Wednesday after filing it in Santa Clara County court on Friday. The lawsuit also names Caltrans as a defendant, saying it failed to repair a damaged median that could have lessened the impact of the crash. According to the lawsuit, Tesla's autopilot feature misread lane lines on the highway, failed to detect the concrete median and accelerated into the barrier instead of automatically breaking. "If the autopilot had not been on, Walter would be alive today," said Attorney Mark Fong of Minami Tamaki LLP. "Their autopilot system killed Mr. Huang." The lawsuit further alleges that the company was conducting beta-testing of its autopilot feature on live subjects before the feature was ready for distribution, and that the vehicle did not have an emergency automatic braking system. A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit. The complaint doesn't specify the damages sought, but Fong said the objective of the lawsuit is to ensure no other individuals are harmed due to Tesla technology. Walter Huang was a big fan of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and considered him to be one of his heroes, Fong said, explaining the lawsuit is not directed at the company with any ill will. "Walter was a real geek, a software engineer himself," Fong said. "He saved up his money and bought what he thought was state of the art. He had a right to rely on the brilliant engineers who Tesla employs." His family is still coping with their loss, and Fong said Sevonne has a lot of inner strength and determination, but it's difficult for her to speak about the loss of her husband. The lawsuit will be an opportunity for attorneys to gather proprietary encrypted vehicle data from Tesla and determine how the crash occurred. The company has touted its safety record compared to other motor vehicles in the past, and attorneys are requesting statistics as part of their discovery process. The National Transportation Safety Board is currently conducting an independent investigation into the crash. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. OAKLAND (BCN) A former baggage handler at Oakland International Airport was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison for his part in a plot to smuggle marijuana grown in Northern California to at least 10 other states. Keith Mayfield, 38, of Oakland, a former Southwest Airlines baggage handler, is the 11th person to plead guilty and be sentenced in the scheme, which operated at the airport between 2012 and 2015. The 10 others who pleaded guilty included two other baggage handlers, five couriers who transported the marijuana on planes and three people who packaged and sold it. Mayfield was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland. He pleaded guilty last year to three counts of conspiring to distribute marijuana, conspiring to launder money and violating airport security. Mayfield admitted in his plea that on at least 40 occasions between 2013 and 2015, he smuggled luggage containing at least 551 pounds of marijuana to passengers who had already cleared the security screening. He also admitted smuggling another 220 pounds of marijuana via Southwest Cargo to various cities for distribution. Mayfield, described by prosecutors in a sentencing brief as a manager and supervisor in the scheme, received the longest prison term meted out thus far. The 10 co-defendants were given sentences ranging from three months to 2 years, 3 months in prison. A 12th defendant, Francisco Carrasco, 34, of Hayward, who is accused of being a courier, is scheduled to go on trial in Hamilton's court in July. Prosecutors dismissed charges against one other defendant, Laticia Morris, 45, of Little Rock, Ark., after she completed a pretrial diversion program. She was accused of aiding in the marijuana conspiracy by depositing sales proceeds in a Little Rock bank. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Historic photos of San Francisco properties dating as far back as the late 1940s are accessible to the public at the city's main library thanks to an initiative launched by city Assessor Carmen Chu. The collection of more than 94,000 photos shows both commercial and residential properties throughout San Francisco over the decades. The collection was made by possible due to recent efforts by Chu to digitize hundreds of thousands of real estate documents in the office. "San Francisco history is so rich and worth preserving. Our view into how our city once looked and felt is an important reminder of where we came from. I'm proud to be the catalyst for making these historic photos available for generations to come," Chu said in a statement. "Our history shouldn't be boxed away and forgotten." The photos can be seen in the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection at the main library at 100 Larkin St. "The photos are an invaluable resource for people trying to find pictures of their own house or neighborhood," City Librarian Michael Lambert said. "They also contain abundant documentation of back alleys, street and building signs, automobiles and other details of daily life -- essentially Google street view for the past sixty years," he said. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. South Korea and Saudi Arabia have agreed to strengthen their military ties and boost cooperation in the defense industry, the defense ministry here said Thursday. During the inaugural meeting of a joint defense cooperation committee held on Wednesday in Riyadh, South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk and Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Ayash, Saudi Arabia's assistant minister for defense, discussed ways to promote exchanges in military and defense industry fields, according to the ministry. "To continue such efforts for cooperation, the two sides agreed to hold the second round of meetings next year in Seoul," the ministry said in a release. The Seoul-Riyadh committee was formed last December after Saudi Arabia suggested the establishment of a vice-ministerial-level consultative entity to boost defense and military ties between the two sides. Suh then met with Saudi Arabia's military chief of staff, Gen. Fayyad bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, and explained the significance of the inter-Koran comprehensive military agreement signed in September last year and progress under the pact, the ministry said. He also expressed gratitude for Saudi Arabia's support and cooperation for Seoul's peace drive. "The general called for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issues, as well as the expansion of military ties between Seoul and Riyadh," the ministry noted. Suh also had talks with key defense ministry officials in the Arab nation, including Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister, during his three-day visit to the Arab country from Monday. He is now in Turkey to attend the 14th International Defense Industry Fair and to meet officials there. Suh is scheduled to return home Saturday. (Yonhap) Steven G. de Polo / Getty Image A man has died following a shooting Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco's Mission District, and police say the suspect is currently at large. The ShotSpotter system was activated at 4:12 p.m. in the area of 22nd and Bartlett streets, police spokesman Officer Robert Rueca said. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced Wednesday she has nominated Steve Heminger, the former head of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, to serve on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's board of directors. Although Heminger's nomination still needs to be approved by the city's board of supervisors, Breed is hoping he can help the transit agency find a new leader after its Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin announced on Monday he'll step down from the position in August. "Steve Heminger's expertise in regional transportation will make him an incredible addition to the Board of Directors, especially at this critical moment as the board embarks on its search to find SFMTA's next leader," Breed said in a statement. "Moving forward, his insight and experience working with transportation agencies across the Bay Area, including SFMTA, will support the city's work to strengthen our public transportation system, make our streets safer for all users, and deliver transportation improvement projects," she said. Heminger brings decades of experience working with the SFMTA and other Bay Area transportation partners as he led the MTC over 18 years before retiring earlier this year. "San Francisco has no shortage of transportation challenges, but I am confident we can improve," Heminger said. "I thank Mayor Breed for the opportunity to bring my regional experience to bear on making it easier for my fellow residents to move around town." In addition to his work with the MTC, Heminger was also appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. He also served as chairman of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, overseeing the construction of the new east span of the Bay Bridge. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SANTA ROSA (BCN) The Santa Rosa City Schools District and the California School Employees Association have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, the school district said Wednesday. The agreement through June 2020 provides a 7.5 percent salary increase starting July 1 and a 7.5 percent increase in the employees' health and welfare cap, raising the medical benefits cap to $907. The tentative agreement also includes a $200 increase in dental benefits. The association represents non-teaching classified employees such as secretaries, food service staff and custodians. The CSEA must still ratify the tentative agreement and it must be approved by the district's board. The Santa Rosa City Schools District faces declining enrollment, increased special education costs, pension costs and inadequate state funding, district spokeswoman Beth Berk said. The district is the largest in the county with 1,600 staff members including more than 900 teachers that serve 16,000 students in 24 schools. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. A tribute to San Francisco police officers who died in the line of duty will be held Thursday evening at police headquarters, police said. The event begins at 6 p.m. at 1245 Third St. in San Francisco. The event comes during Law Enforcement Appreciation Month and before the California Peace Memorial Ceremony May 5 and 6 in Sacramento. San Francisco Police Chief William Scott, members of the police commission and family members of officers who have died in the line of duty will speak. The ceremony will include a candlelight moment of silence. A man has died after being shot late Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco's Mission District, police said. The ShotSpotter system was activated at 4:12 p.m. in the area of 22nd and Bartlett streets, police spokesman Officer Robert Rueca said. Officers responded and found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. Rueca said the man was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died. Police are investigating the death as a homicide. Rueca said officers are still confirming the descriptions of suspects. The motive for the shooting is under investigation. At least one person was seriously injured following a solo-vehicle crash that affected both directions of Interstate Highway 580 in Oakland late Wednesday night, according to the California Highway Patrol. The CHP said the crash was first reported at 10:55 p.m. on the eastbound side of the freeway at Lakeshore Avenue. All eastbound lanes were then closed and all but one westbound lane was blocked as officers investigated. The CHP didn't immediately provide information on why the crash impacted both directions of the freeway. As of 12:50 a.m., there is no update on the victim's condition and all lanes of the freeway have reopened. A former baggage handler at Oakland International Airport was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison for his part in a plot to smuggle marijuana grown in Northern California to at least 10 other states. Keith Mayfield, 38, of Oakland, a former Southwest Airlines baggage handler, is the 11th person to plead guilty and be sentenced in the scheme, which operated at the airport between 2012 and 2015. The 10 others who pleaded guilty included two other baggage handlers, five couriers who transported the marijuana on planes and three people who packaged and sold it. Mayfield was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland. He pleaded guilty last year to three counts of conspiring to distribute marijuana, conspiring to launder money and violating airport security. Mayfield admitted in his plea that on at least 40 occasions between 2013 and 2015, he smuggled luggage containing at least 551 pounds of marijuana to passengers who had already cleared the security screening. He also admitted smuggling another 220 pounds of marijuana via Southwest Cargo to various cities for distribution. A man died at the scene of a shooting in Oakland on Wednesday afternoon, according to police. Officers responding to the 1900 block of 17th Avenue, near San Antonio Park, around 3:30 p.m. found him suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Firefighters and paramedics tried to save the man's life but he did not survive. Police have not yet revealed additional details about the killing, such as a suspect description or motive, and the victim's name has not yet been disclosed. The family of a 38-year-old Foster City man who was killed in a fiery Tesla crash in Mountain View last March is suing the car company, alleging its autopilot technology malfunctioned and led to his death. Wei "Walter" Huang had dropped off his children at school and was driving to work in a 2017 Tesla Model X on March 23 when his autopilot steered him into a concrete highway median on U.S. Highway 101, the lawsuit alleges. He died as a result of his injuries. Attorneys for Sevonne Huang, Walter's wife, announced the lawsuit Wednesday after filing it in Santa Clara County court on Friday. The lawsuit also names Caltrans as a defendant, saying it failed to repair a damaged median that could have lessened the impact of the crash. According to the lawsuit, Tesla's autopilot feature misread lane lines on the highway, failed to detect the concrete median and accelerated into the barrier instead of automatically breaking. "If the autopilot had not been on, Walter would be alive today," said Attorney Mark Fong of Minami Tamaki LLP. "Their autopilot system killed Mr. Huang." A former California Highway Patrol sergeant was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for aggravated possession of child pornography, according to the Solano County District Attorney's Office. Eric Lund downloaded thousands of child pornography files and shared images with more than 10,000 other computer users between June and October 2014, prosecutors said. Lund was a sergeant at the California Highway Patrol office in Solano County at the time, and the downloads and sharing occurred during his graveyard shifts, according to prosecutors. Vacaville police located electronic devices in Lund's car and his desk and found child pornography in his locker at the CHP office, prosecutors said. Vacaville police said in 2014 that Lund, 49, who lived in Chico at the time, downloaded child pornography on a laptop while on- and off-duty near WiFi locations in Suisun City, Fairfield and Vacaville. BART riders faced two significant service delays Wednesday evening as they tried to get home. As of 7:28 p.m., the BART system was recovering from the latest delay in San Francisco where a door problem on a train forced crews to take a train out of service. That caused a major delay that is now just 20 minutes on the Antioch, Dublin and Warm Springs lines. The door problem was made worse when police held another train in San Francisco. Early Wednesday evening a person on the track at MacArthur station in Oakland caused a 20-minute delay in the Antioch and Richmond directions. Thursday will be partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny. 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. Thursday night will be partly cloudy in the evening, then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows will be around 50. West winds will be 10 to 20 mph. Friday will be mostly cloudy in the morning, then becoming partly cloudy. Highs will be in the mid 50s to upper 60s. Southwest winds will be 5 to 10 mph, before becoming west winds at 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Apropos of its host city, Berkeley's Bay Area Book Festival is deeply invested in social justice, this year tackling some of America's most pressing causes with the wisdom of words -- from mass incarceration and immigration to women's issues and the environment. There will even be socially conscious comic books. Now in its fifth year, the two-day bibliophile's paradise will be held Saturday and Sunday at various indoor and outdoor locations in downtown Berkeley and is expected to draw about 25,000 people. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. More information can be found at www.baybookfest.org. California assemblymembers on Thursday approved a pilot program that would charge drivers to go down San Francisco's crooked Lombard Street. Lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 1605 51-18, according to the office of Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, who introduced the bill. It now moves to the Senate for consideration. In addition to the toll, the bill would also make drivers reserve a spot before heading down the iconic Russian Hill street. With the site attracting more than 2 million visitors annually, traffic congestions in the area has created a safety issue, Ting's office said. The bill is also necessary because existing law forbids a local agency from imposing a tax, permit fee, or other charge for using its streets or highways. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced Thursday he's filing suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over a new federal rule that would allow health workers to refuse care for patients based on their own religious beliefs. The rule, being pushed by the administration of President Donald Trump, could put vulnerable populations at risk of facing discrimination, Herrera said. According to Herrera, the rule is vague and could apply not just to doctors and nurses but anyone related to the health care system like receptionists. Herrera's lawsuit seeks to have the rule declared unconstitutional and also seeks a court order to prevent it from taking effect. A San Anselmo man was charged with murder Wednesday in Marin County Superior Court after his vehicle struck and killed a woman in a San Anselmo crosswalk Saturday night. James Boswell, 30, was arraigned on charges of DUI causing injury, DUI with a blood-alcohol level more than 0.08 percent causing injury, gross vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, and murder. He is scheduled to enter pleas to the charges May 15. Boswell faces a mandatory prison sentence on the murder charge because he was convicted of DUI in Los Angeles in October 2014, according to the complaint. Boswell was driving in the 300 block of Butterfield Road near Caletta Avenue around 10:10 p.m. Wednesday when he struck Carolyn Marie Allen, 72, of San Anselmo, and her two dogs, according to the Central Marin Police Authority. A 78-year-old woman suffered life-threatening injuries when a vehicle struck her in San Francisco's Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood Wednesday morning, police said. The collision was reported at about 8:45 a.m. at Sutter and Divisadero streets, near the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center at Mount Zion. A 32-year-old man driving the vehicle made a turn at the intersection and struck the woman as she crossed the street, according to police. She was taken to a hospital and an update on her condition was not immediately available Thursday morning. The driver stopped at the scene and was not arrested, police said. Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety officers arrested an operator of an in-home care facility Monday on suspicion of child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography. Keith Marcum, 68, who operated an in-home care facility for disabled adults and children in Rohnert Park for approximately 30 years, was booked into Sonoma County Jail under $765,000 bail, Deputy Chief Aaron Johnson said. Marcum is a board-certified clinical pathologist. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning in Sonoma County Superior Court. A disabled, past resident of the in-home care facility on Brenda Way in Rohnert Park revealed years of sexual and physical abuse, and another victim came forward after Marcum's arrest and described being sexually abused between 6 and 14 years old, Johnson said. Emeryville police are warning the public about a scam involving a woman who allegedly assumes the identity of legitimate nannies in order to rob or defraud unsuspecting parents. The woman, 60-year-old Darlene Mariana Monticalvo, is alleged to have reached out to a real nanny while pretending to be a mother in need of childcare services, according to Emeryville police Officer John Corcoran. Monticalvo is currently wanted by Oakland police for "several felonies" and has a history of running similar nanny scams, according to Corcoran. Police are asking anyone with information to call Emeryville police at (510) 596-3700. Officials at California High School in San Ramon notified parents Wednesday of a written threat of violence found on campus and said police will have an increased presence in the area over the coming days. Around 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, graffiti was discovered in a boys bathroom on the school grounds at 9870 Broadmoor Drive, saying "Cal will be shot up (May 9). Final warning." Principal Christopher George in a statement sent to parents later that day said police were immediately notified. George said the increased police presence at and around school grounds will continue until at least next Thursday. A Norteno gang member from Salinas was sentenced in federal court in San Jose Wednesday to 36 and a half years in prison for a racketeering conspiracy that included participation in three murders. Antonio Cruz, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, who also ordered him to pay $325,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty last year to racketeering conspiracy and six other charges. In his plea agreement, he admitted that as part of the conspiracy, he committed one murder and provided guns used in two other murders of victims believed to be rival Sureno gang members in Salinas in 2009 and 2010. Cruz was one of nine people indicted in 2015 on charges of racketeering conspiracy and other crimes in Norteno gang activity. Contra Costa County prosecutors have declined to file criminal charges against a man for a fatal shooting in Pittsburg last week, saying that the death may have been a result of self-defense. Samijela Vehikite, 36, was shot and killed at a tire shop in the 1500 block of Willow Pass Road around 10 a.m. on April 22. Police said Bay Point resident Jason Posey was arrested on suspicion of shooting Vehikite. Posey was taken into custody while allegedly trying to flee the scene. The two men knew each other, and Vehikite had been at the scene to confront Posey about some sort of prior dispute. The men argued for several minutes before the shooting, according to investigators. Deputy District Attorney Kabu Adodoadji, who reviewed the case, said in an email Thursday morning that evidence suggested Posey acted in self-defense. Bishop Patrick McGrath is retiring after 20 years in the position with the Diocese of San Jose. Pope Francis accepted the request of McGrath to retire, the diocese announced Wednesday. All bishops must submit a request for retirement to the Vatican as they approach their 75th birthday and McGrath turns 74 in June. McGrath became just the second bishop of San Jose in 1999 upon the retirement of founding Bishop Pierre DuMaine. Oscar Cantu, bishop of Las Cruces in New Mexico, was appointed last year as coadjutor bishop of San Jose and has spent the past 10 months becoming familiar with the San Jose diocese. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. OAKLAND (BCN) A woman testified this week that she was present in Hayward two years ago when two reputed gang members allegedly fatally shot a former gang member who had testified against several of their colleagues. Valeria Boden said on Tuesday when she was on the witness stand in the trial of Pablo Mendoza, 27, of Hayward, and Brandon Follings, 28, that she was driving the two men in the 200 block of Willow Avenue in Hayward's Cherryland neighborhood at about 2:45 p.m. on July 19, 2017, when they spotted a man that authorities later identified as Daniel Deltoro, 29, of Hayward. Boden said Mendoza said he recognized Deltoro "as somebody who used to be in his 'hood and that he had snitched." When Alameda County prosecutor Jimmie Wilson asked Boden to describe the tone of Mendoza's voice she said it was "irritated." Boden said Follings told Mendoza he understood his anger at Deltoro because he has a friend who is serving a 50-year state prison term because someone snitched on him. Boden said Mendoza then said "he wanted to fire on him," referring to Deltoro. Boden claimed that she hadn't been aware of any plan to kill Deltoro. Wilson told jurors in his opening statement in the trial last week that Mendoza got out of the car to shoot Deltoro, who was pushing his 3-month-old infant son in a stroller, but his gun jammed. The two men struggled on the ground and Deltoro was able to get on top of Mendoza, Wilson said. But Follings then got out of the car and shot and killed Deltoro in front of his infant son, Wilson said. Follings belongs to the Ice City gang in Oakland but Mendoza recruited him to help him kill Deltoro, Wilson told jurors. Boden is also charged with murder for allegedly driving Mendoza and Follings to and from the murder scene but Wilson said she decided to testify for the prosecution after Follings told her in open court during pretrial hearings that he would harm her daughter if she "snitched" on him. Wilson and Boden's lawyer have discussed a possible plea deal for Boden but no agreement has been reached so far. Wilson said Deltoro formerly belonged to the Decoto gang and "was put on a bad news list and was red-lighted and targeted" because he had testified in 2015 in the trial of Joel Perry Jr., who he said was a member of the Decoto gang. Perry was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder for a shooting at a Union City park in 2008 that left a 28-year-old man dead and another man seriously injured. Three other reputed gang members pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in that case. Senior District Attorney Elgin Lowe, who used to head his office's southern Alameda County gang unit, testified on Wednesday that Deltoro provided important testimony that led to the conviction of Perry and the pleas by the three other reputed gang members. Lowe said he spoke to Deltoro about the danger he was putting himself in by testifying against his former associates but said Deltoro "knew that already." Lowe said Deltoro's testimony was crucial because "most of the witnesses we have (in gang cases) are fearful and gang members usually don't talk." Lowe said he became concerned when he learned that Mendoza had recorded a song in which he said that when one of Perry's associates is released from prison, "We're going to get that guy," which he said was a reference to Deltoro. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. By Kim Hyun-bin Prosecutors searched the home and broadcasting studio of a conservative YouTuber, surnamed Kim, Thursday, as the online broadcaster has repeatedly threatened key judiciary officials and liberal politicians demanding the release of former President Park Geun-hye. They secured computer hard drives and broadcasting materials at his home in southern Seoul and studio in central Seoul. After examining the seized materials, the prosecution will decide whether to indict or even arrest him. Since January, the 49-year-old filmed himself over 16 times visiting the residences of judiciary officials, liberal politicians and journalists, whilst expressing his hateful sentiments to viewers on YouTube. He visited Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's home three times and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker Woo Won-shik's home and office four times. Late last month ahead of a decision by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on whether to temporarily suspend the prison term of former President Park Geun-hye for treatment of back pain, Kim visited the home of the office chief Yoon Seok-youl and threatened to kill him. The whole scene was recorded and aired. "I know your car license plate number. I need to show that I can kill you," Kim said outside of Yoon's home. "If I see you eating out in Seocho-dong area, you are done. If you want to live, free President Park." After the broadcast, Yoon requested police protection. On April 24, Kim also conducted a three-hour live broadcast in front of the home of Sohn Suk-hee, the president of local cable network JTBC who is considered a liberal journalist critical of the former Park government. Prosecutors say the YouTuber had made six livestreams threatening Sohn. The prosecution believes Kim's broadcasts could constitute intimidation as they stoked fear and caused harm to those people. Kim, who has more than 50,000 subscribers, is also an active member of a conservative website and has been a strong supporter of former President Park, according to the prosecution. Top prosecutor virtually disobeys President, likely to quit By Kang Seung-woo Prosecutor-General Moon Moo-il has openly criticized a fast-tracked bill on expanding the independent investigative authority of the police, describing it as "running counter to the democratic principles of checks and balances." Prosecutor-General Moon Moo-il The prosecutor general's opposition to this is seen as representing the view of his subordinates, and indicates the prosecution's resistance to judiciary reform, one of President Moon Jae-in's election promises. "As prosecutor-general, I am concerned about the ongoing discussions about our criminal justice system at the National Assembly," Moon Moo-il, who is on a four-country trip, said in a press statement released Wednesday. His opposition was mainly aimed at the content of a specific reform measure, rather than the fast-tracking of this and two other bills. "I cannot agree to giving a specific organization [the police] exclusive powers of unhampered preliminary investigative rights and intelligence gathering," Moon said. He urged the National Assembly to hold discussions based on democratic principles to better protect the people's basic rights, implying the current discussion and fast-tracking was not based on democratic procedure. Moon's remarks came after two National Assembly committees placed key reform bills on a fast track, early Tuesday, including one on expanding the police's authority to conduct investigations. If a bill is put on the fast track, it can be voted on within 330 days without the need for bipartisan support. Under the current law, police can open investigations, but cannot close them without approval from the prosecution, which can also intervene and take over an investigation at any time. Police also cannot independently request court warrants, and only the prosecution can file indictments. However, if the reform bill is passed, the police will have the right to investigate and terminate all cases independently of the prosecution. The reform plan came amid criticism that prosecutors' investigative rights are too powerful, often leading to their abuse of power and corruption scandals. By Kim Jae-heun Seoul City will present free circus shows at Oil Tank Culture Park in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, throughout May starting from Saturday. This is the second time for the city government to offer the event and it is the country's only circus festival. The first session of the month-long event, "Seoul Circus Festival: Circus Cabaret," will run for three days from this Saturday to Monday. Twenty-five local and foreign teams will perform various types of circus acts in a 9-meter-high tent set up there. The tent can hold an audience of up to 300, with a stage 8 meters in diameter. Two teams from France and one each from Belgium and Taiwan are making their Korea debuts while local teams will provide performances showing the history of Korean circus, including shows by the 94-year-old circus troupe Dongchun Circus. After Circus Cabaret, performances will continue on Saturdays and Sundays until the end of May. Four of the shows have an age limit, and eight shows to be held at indoor facilities at the park require booking due to limited space. Reservations for the eight shows should be made before 6 p.m. on Friday at booking.naver.com/booking/12/bizes/185985. Other shows do not need reservations and people can take seats on a first-come-first-served basis. All shows are free of charge. Lawmakers from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party have taken their protest to Cheong Wa Dae Thursday as they failed to block a "fast-track" package of reform bills by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and three other parties. The bills include items on President Moon Jae-in's key legislative agenda such as establishment of a new anti-corruption investigative authority. The LKP, led by Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn and floor leader Rep. Na Kyung-won, gathered at a fountain square in front of the presidential office Thursday morning and held placards reading, "Punish dictatorship, protect constitution" and "Moon Jae-in stop." Five lawmakers of the party had their heads shaved to highlight the party's voice. A petition posted to the Cheong Wa Dae website on April 22 calling for the party's disbandment has drawn the online petition portal's record number of over 1.6 million endorsers as of Thursday. People wait in line in front of a food stand in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang early morning Oct. 11, 2010. Reuters-Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun plans to visit South Korea for three days later next week for talks on how to advance nuclear disarmament negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Thursday. In his meeting with senior officials Biegun will also discuss resuming a program for humanitarian assistance to the impoverished North. "The presidential office can only confirm that Biegun will visit Seoul soon," the official said. He added that the special representative will possibly meet with presidential National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong. Biegun's visit comes as President Moon Jae-in is seeking to keep the nuclear disarmament talks on track by asking the U.S. to allow limited sanctions relief on products that affect the everyday lives of North Koreans. "It's highly likely either the foreign ministry or unification ministry will be involved in the process as sanctions still remain in place. If they are given a chance, humanitarian relief organizations will handle the delivery of assistance. Details will be fixed soon," a government official told The Korea Times. Two teens, including one already behind bars at the Harris County Jail for bail jumping, have been charged with capital murder in the March shooting death of a man, according to police and court records. Darrell Ellsworth, 18, and an unidentified 16-year-old were charged with capital murder on Thursday, records show. The two are accused of killing 30-year-old Jeremy Washington on March 14 at an apartment complex in the 12600 block of South Green Drive, Houston police said. MORNING UPDATES: Get all the news you need to know to start your day, delivered to your inbox A witness heard a gunshot and found Washington mortally wounded in the grass outside the apartment building, according to authorities. The fatal shooting happened after Ellsworth was freed on a $10,000 bond in December. He was charged with robbery in May 2018. A warrant was issued for his arrest on April 17 of this year after he failed to appear in court for the robbery case. He was taken into custody the following day and additionally charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle and in connection with possessing meth. The charge for unauthorized use of a vehicle was filed less than a week before Ellsworth missed his court date, records show. HPD INVESTIGATONS: HPD: Grandfather killed after confronting repo tow truck driver in southwest Houston During the robbery case, Ellsworth penned a letter in October pleading with Judge Randy Roll to release him, either on a personal recognizance bond or probation, according to court documents. The teen maintained he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Please find the kindness in (your) heart to do the right thing for this case," Ellsworth said. "I need to be released. I'm 17. I attend for G.E.D. in the free world and help my mother because she has medical issues." Ellsworth is expected on Monday to return to court. The younger teen apprehended in the capital murder case will be referred to Harris County Juvenile Probation, police said. nicole.hensley@chron.com A 12-year-old boy was rushed to an area hospital after being found unresponsive and floating in the pool of a North Side hotel late Friday evening, according to police. Officer Carlos Ortiz, spokesman for the San Antonio Police Department, said a group of children, possibly part of a retreat to San Antonio from a North Texas town, noticed one their group was underwater in the pool of the San Antonio Marriott Northwest at 3233 N.W. Loop 410 about 9:51 p.m. President Moon Jae-in makes his opening remarks at the start of a luncheon with 13 invited senior opinion leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul President Moon Jae-in expressed concerns about the deepening political turmoil over fast-tracked reform bills, Cheong Wa Dae said, Thursday. "I have to say I have lots of concerns and worries about society. My biggest concern is that we are seeing increased hostility among citizens and politicians. I will try my best to endorse different political views according to political parties," Moon said during a meeting with senior opinion leaders at Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office said in a press release. "As the President, I'm not in a position to step in on ongoing investigations over the alleged misconduct of former governments. But my personal thoughts are that if anything unconstitutional happened in former governments, then that's an action against the Constitution. It's not an easy thing to make compromises," Moon told participants. Four lawmakers and a branch chief of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) shave their heads in protest of the other four parties' decision to fast-track reform bills at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap By Park Ji-won The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) stepped up its protest against the ruling camp, Thursday, after failing to block the National Assembly from fast-tracking reform bills. The party rejected calls from other parties to join efforts to fine-tune details of the reform bills, and launched a special committee to "fight against leftist rule." Four LKP lawmakers including Rep. Kim Tae-heum, head of the committee, had their heads shaved at the National Assembly, Thursday, to protest the reform bills, accusing President Moon Jae-in and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) of attempting to extend their "dictatorship" and thus destroying democracy. Earlier on Tuesday, LKP lawmaker Park Dae-chul shaved his own head to protest the fast-tracking. "Today, we are going to shave our heads to protest the DPK and its followers who violated the principles of parliamentary democracy by having illegally fast-tracked bills on electoral reform and the establishment of a body that can investigate high-ranking officials," Kim said, Thursday. The LKP also began nationwide rallies against the Moon Jae-in administration. "It only took two years for the administration to ruin our economy and endanger people's lives," LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn said in a rally near Seoul Station, Thursday. "The LKP is starting a long journey from Seoul Station to protest the dictatorship and save people's lives." The moves came after the conservative party failed to stop the other parties the DPK, the Bareunmirae Party (BMP), the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) and the Justice Party from fast-tracking the reform bills Monday and Tuesday. The political parties all agreed to fast-track the bills in principle last year, but the LKP reversed its stance after Rep. Na Kyung-won was elected as floor leader of the party in December. The four parties pushed ahead with putting the bills on the fast track without the participation of the LKP. The bills will be put to a vote during an Assembly session within 330 days regardless of any bipartisan agreement. The proposals, however, can be revised before being put to a vote. Criticizing the four parties' cooperation, the leadership of the LKP pledged to start political demonstrations in Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul, Tuesday, but this was prevented by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon. Mayor Park said on Facebook Wednesday that the LKP's move to hold a street protest after declining to have discussions with the other four parties was "groundless and unlawful." Park also implied that he will not approve the LKP's street protests in Seoul, saying "It is illegal to hold a street protest without permission from the Seoul Metropolitan Government." Stressing the fast-track move was lawful, Rep. Hong Young-pyo, floor leader of the DPK, urged the LKP to talk with the other parties. "It is not the main opposition's job to give up joining negotiations between the parties," he said. "I desperately ask the LKP to stop ignoring the people's wishes and join the normalization of the Assembly." Hong also pointed out the LKP's intention to take to the streets is to rally more supporters before the 2020 general elections. On Wednesday, floor leaders of the four parties released a statement apologizing for making noise about fast-tracking bills at the Assembly and urging the LKP to resume their parliamentary activities. There's no typical day as governor of California, probably. This fact was underscored recently when State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, and his father, Daniel Stern of "Home Alone" fame, paid a recent visit to the governor's office. MORE: Gavin Newsom is selling his $5.9 million Marin County home "A lively and wide ranging conversation with @HenrySternCA and family in the Governor's office followed by Henry's dad, Home Alone's Daniel Stern, presenting a sculpture he made for @GavinNewsom!" the Office of the Governor announced on Twitter Wednesday, in a missive that, along with the accompanying photos, raised more questions than it answered. In the first photo, Newsom holds a copy of the book "Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst" and is making a gesture somewhere between a thumbs-up and a shaka sign. In the background behind him, there is an object covered by a cloth; it is an angular, vaguely foreboding shape. In subsequent photos, the form beneath the shape is revealed. It is, frankly, a cursed-looking sculpture. A spritely figure leaps toward the flag of California, or perhaps clings to it for dear life, legs and arm akimbo. ALSO: Gavin Newsom's adorable son steals the show at inauguration Like any good work of art, it is provocative. Some questions it raised in our office include: Is the man being blown by the wind and if so, why is the flag unaffected? Perhaps he is being blown one way and the flag the other? More importantly, who is he? When is he? Is it James Stewart? Is he blindly running toward the pole? Or just doing some stretches? Why is he wearing a child's hat? Comments included: "He's very flexible" and "It's a deep lunge." As it turns out, Marv er, Daniel Stern does not just have the voice of Dilbert, he also has the hands of an accomplished sculptor. "Stern's pieces take many shapes, but he is especially fond of the human form," wrote the Malibu Times in 2010. "His figurative bronze sculptures capture expression, movement and moments in time." There are a few takeaways from this: One, it is very impressive that Henry Stern became a state senator despite being raised by slapdash burglar Marv from Home Alone! Two, no one in this office knows how to talk about art! And three, even if people try to pigeonhole you as "just the guy from 'City Slickers'" it is never too late to start making some art and then give some of it to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. A cruise ship in the Caribbean has been quarantined after a case of measles was confirmed on board, health officials said Wednesday. MORE: 'Avengers' audience possibly exposed to measles at SoCal screening The ship was quarantined off the island of St. Lucia, the nation's chief medical officer, Dr. Merlene Fredericks James, announced Tuesday. Authorities learned of the case of the measles aboard the ship from "two reputable sources" early Tuesday, and passengers and crew have since been asked to remain on the ship so as not to risk infecting others. The infected person is reportedly a crew member, but the ship is apparently carrying nearly 300 people altogether. "We thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship," said Fredericks James. ALSO: At these 7 Bay Area schools, more than half of students are unvaccinated She added that residents of St. Lucia should be mindful and aware of the measles threat because of the number of visitors the island receives from the United States. The quarantined ship is scheduled to leave Thursday. While health officials did not identify the ship, Coast Guard Sgt. Victor Theodore told NBC News it's called the "Freewinds," which is the name of the Church of Scientology-owned cruise ship that operates in the Caribbean. The Scientology-owned Freewinds houses "a religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion." "The Freewinds is a very special place," the church explains. "It is the one place a Scientologist may go and be certain he will be able to devote himself entirely to his religious practice and in the company of people who share his religious commitment and outlook on life in general." Paying highway tolls in your rental car used to be easy you said hello and handed your money to the human toll collector. Just like you did in your own car. But these days, an ever-increasing number of tollways around the country no longer offer toll booths manned by humans -- all toll collection happens electronically via a transponder mounted in the car's windshield (or in some cases a video recording of the car's plate number). That's not a big problem when driving your own car...but if you are in a rental car, it gets messy and expensive very quickly. Rental companies have different policies and fees for the use of their electronic toll collection technology, and they might not always advise the renter before he or she drives off, so researching this yourself can save you money. We were reminded of this by a recent article in the trade journal Travel Weekly in which the author recounted his own experience with a Florida rental. A few weeks after he turned in the car to Dollar, he got an unexpected bill for $98.93, of which only $9.02 was to cover the tolls he incurred. The rest covered Dollar's "administrative fees" of $9.99 every time a renter drives through an electronic toll booth in Florida (Dollar charges $15 in other states), up to a maximum of $90. The author admitted he didn't read the rental agreement (does anyone?), which mentioned the fees. But he also claimed that the rental agent never mentioned the fees to him when he picked up the car and didn't tell him he could avoid them by buying his own SunPass at a convenience store for $19.99. Generally, when renting a car and using an automated toll road, the rental car company will charge you for the tolls you incur plus an administrative fee of around $3-$5 per day. What is irritating is that once you pass through a single toll, the rental car companies will likely charge the administrative fee for the length of your rental. So, for example, if you drive through a unmanned toll booth once on a five day rental with a $4 administrative fee and a $5 toll, you'll pay the toll, plus a $20 administrative fee, for a total of $25. Rip-off! Earlier this year, Florida's attorney general entered into an agreement with Dollar/Thrifty (which is owned by Hertz) following an investigation into complaints about add-on fees for cashless tolls in the state. "The agreement requires Dollar and Thrifty to clearly and conspicuously disclose its toll fees and PlatePass fees to consumers renting a Dollar Thrifty car," the attorney general's office said. "Clear disclosures of the fees and charges must be provided on the company websites, online reservation paths, confirmation emails and at the rental counters. Dollar and Thrifty must also explain how consumers can avoid these charges." Related: Murky toll fees are as irritating as hotel "resort" fees- read more about that outrageous practice here. The Florida attorney general also gave consumers until July 7 of this year to claim refunds from Dollar Thrifty for toll and PlatePass fees that were improperly assessed. It covers billing errors and instances when the consumer was misled or lied to, or did not know about the fees, for rentals from January 2001 through January 7, 2019 but only for the first rental transaction when this occurred. In February of this year, Hertz entered into a similar settlement with San Francisco's city attorney. Hertz agreed to pay $3.65 million to settle a lawsuit the city attorney filed against the company for assessing excessive and hidden PlatePass fees on rental customers who drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, which now has an all-electronic toll collection system. "Many Hertz customers were unwittingly paying more than quadruple the actual toll just to cross the Golden Gate Bridge once," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera. "The Golden Gate Bridge is an international icon but charging someone $32 to cross it is simply wrong." Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our FREE bi-weekly email alerts International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Assn. He added that under the terms of his settlement agreement, Hertz and its toll collection partner American Traffic Solutions also promised to stop their nationwide practice of charging a toll service fee for every day of a rental, even on days when no tolls were collected. Hertz also agreed to give a brochure to all rental customers at Bay Area airports explaining their options to avoid rental car toll service fees on the Golden Gate Bridge. You can read about rental car options for crossing the Golden Gate Bridge here. In any case, the lesson is clear: Don't drive off in a rental car without investigating its policies and fees for electronic toll collections, and researching the toll roads you might be using, if any. Policies can vary not only by rental car company, but also by the state where you'll be driving. You can also ask Waze, Google or Apple Maps to route you around tolls if you'd like to avoid the headache altogether. Here are links to the relevant electronic toll collection information pages on major rental companies' websites: Hertz Avis Budget National Enterprise Alamo Dollar Thrifty Silvercar Sunpass information for Florida renters Have you been tripped up by outrageous tolls when renting a car? Let us know how you feel about this practice in the comments. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. IBO ISLAND, Mozambique Cyclone Kenneth in northern Mozambique ripped the island of Ibo apart. Nearly a week after the storm roared in, widespread devastation it caused is becoming more evident. Roofs were peeled away from the overwhelming majority of homes. Wells are contaminated, leaving drinking water and the possibility of cholera a growing concern. The aerial approach to the island showed communities flattened. Thousands of residents who were shocked by the regions first cyclone recorded in the modern age are now trying to piece together shattered lives. It took days for significant aid to reach Ibo as rains have lashed the region since Cyclone Kenneth hit on April 25 with the force of a Category 4 hurricane, killing at least 41 people. Fragile signs of recovery have emerged, but the tasks of finding shelter, food and medicine and rebuilding are immense. People are hungry. Tourist guides had described the islands scenery as stunning and beautiful. Ruins from centuries ago used to draw tourists to Ibo, which has a rich history dating to the slavery trade. Now, even those ruins are gone. Already beset by poverty, most residents have lost everything. The desperation among the roughly 6,000 residents is palpable after days of incessant rains and nights of sleeping in the open or under makeshift shelters. At the tiny, bumpy airstrip, children and adults waited eagerly to welcome the aircraft that have begun to bring supplies. Trucks soon made their way a few kilometers over a dusty road to the heart of the Island. Between Cyclone Kenneth and Cyclone Idai, which tore into central Mozambique last month and killed more than 600 people, international aid contributions havent come close to meeting the urgent needs, and time is fast running out, Nick Finney of the aid group Save the Children said. The world needs to act now. Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi is an Associated Press writer. MIAMI In 1958, Jose Ramon Lopezs father owned Cubas main airport, its national airline and three small hotels. Conchita Beltrans family had about 2,160 acres of sugar and tobacco fields. And the families of Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia Bengochea had docks in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. All properties were taken in Cubas socialist revolution. The dispossessed families later moved to the United States and abandoned hope of compensation as Cuba and the U.S. severed relations and fought during decades of the Cold War. But on Thursday, Behn and Garcia Bengochea filed what were believed to be the first lawsuits against European and American companies doing business on confiscated properties in Cuba thanks to the Trump administrations decision to activate a provision of the U.S. embargo on the island. Known as Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, the section allows Americans, and Cubans who later became Americans, to sue almost any company deemed to be trafficking in property confiscated by Cubas government. Every president since the laws passage has suspended Title III because of objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba and because of the potential effect on future negotiated settlements between the U.S. and Cuba. The law contains exceptions for residential properties, properties worth less than $50,000 and properties linked to travel to Cuba deemed legal under U.S. law. Its activation, however, could generate dozens or even hundreds of lawsuits, along with trade fights between the U.S. on one side and countries including Spain, France and Britain on the other. Gisela Salomon and Michael Weissenstein are Associated Press writers. CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaidos call to fill streets around the nation Wednesday, but security forces showed no sign of backing 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 by forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro failed to tilt the balance of power. Its totally clear now the usurper has lost, he proclaimed, a declaration belied by events on the ground. Across town at the Carlota air base near where Guaido made his plea Tuesday for a revolt, intense clashes between protesters and troops loyal to Maduro made 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 dont want to say it was a disaster, Marilina Carillo, 54, said, standing in a crowd of people blowing horns and whistles. But it wasnt a success. Opposition leaders hoped that Guaidos risky move would stir a string of high-ranking defections and shake Maduros grip on power. Instead, some analysts expect the embattled socialist leader to emerge even more emboldened. While the chief of Venezuelas feared intelligence agency broke ranks, most others stood steadfast. The dramatic events could spell even more uncertainty for Venezuela, which has been rocked by three months of political upheaval after Guaido re-energized a flagging opposition movement by declaring himself interim president, saying Maduro had usurped power. Now the struggle has heightened geopolitical dimensions, with the United States and more than 50 other nations backing Guaido as Venezuelas legitimate president and powerful Maduro allies like Russia lending the beleaguered president military and economic support. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that Maduro is surrounded by scorpions in a bottle and that key figures among his inner circle had been outed as dealing with the opposition. The United States also purports that Maduro had been ready to flee, an airplane already on the tarmac, but was talked out of it by Russian advisers. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russias Foreign Ministry, said such assertions were part of a global information and psychological war against Venezuela and Caracas. There is no proof there was a Russian plane there, she said. The U.S. is big on Venezuela and wants to bring this to an end but that cannot do that. Scott Smith and Christopher Torchia are Associated Press writers. Former CEO of Lynch, Jones & Ryan brokerage now works to improve the business district of Fifth Avenue in New York City. This infographic shows the results of a poll of 503 adults conducted by Realmeter on April 29, where 51.9 percent said they support the fast tracking of reform bills regarding electoral reform and establishing a new investigative body against corruption. Courtesy of Realmeter By Jung Da-min More than half of voters support the fast-tracking of reform bills, a poll showed Thursday. In the poll of 503 adults over 19 conducted by Realmeter on Tuesday, 51.9 percent said they support fast-tracking the reform bills while 37.2 percent said it was the wrong decision. The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level, was conducted after the reform bills were put on the fast track to a National Assembly vote by two special parliamentary committees late Monday and early Tuesday. The decision came amid strong protests from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) teamed up with the progressive Justice Party (JP), the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BMP), and the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) to push forward the reform bills, while the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) staged an all-out protest to prevent them from doing so. Support for the fast-tracking was high among people in their 30s and 40s but low in for those in their 60s and older, according to the poll. Venezuelan police fire tear gas and rubber bullets into protesters as the filmer stands among paramedics ready to respond during the ongoing civil unrest on May 1 in Caracas, Venezuela. As the firing suddenly increases screams and shouts from protesters can be heard beyond the fence in front of the filmer. Tear gas fills the street forcing the paramedics and other journalists present to wear gas masks or cover their faces. This footage shot in the daytime starts off with a loud shot followed by a stream of smoke from where the shot takes place. This is thought to be a tear gas canister fired into a crowd of people. A man in a high visibility vest runs past the filmer just as this shot is heard making him bend over and cover his head in a panic. Paramedics in their red vests can be seen also filming the events near the filmer. The street is covered in tear gas canisters with the poisonous gas snaking out into the atmosphere around the filmer. A barrage of shots can then be heard beyond a fence in front of the filmer which forces the protesters to retreat back towards the fence while screaming and shouting. Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon received special recognition during an event that celebrated New York Citys Immigrant Heritage Week by honoring Staten Island immigrant leaders and supporters. Before a crowd with roots across the globe, McMahon was awarded the John Lavelle Memorial Award for Immigrant Advocacy by the Staten Island Immigrants Council at El Centro del Inmigrante, Port Richmond. The DA was among several exceptional Staten Islanders recognized for their commitment to immigrants rights. Favio Ramirez-Caminatti, president of the Immigrant Council, received the Staten Island Immigrant of the Year Award presented by Ahmed Kargbo of the Mayors Office on Immigrant Affairs, with a certificate from Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-North Shore). David Mendez received the Immigrant Youth Leaders Award. Favio Ramirez received the Staten Island Immigrant of the Year Award presented here by Ahmed Kargbo of the Mayors Office on Immigrant Affairs.(Courtesy/Staten Island Immigrants Council)Staten Island Immigrants Council Recognized for their support of the immigrant community and outstanding service were attorney John Zaremba, founder and managing partner at Zaremba Brown PLLC, and Anselma Rodriguez, of Brooklyn College, CUNY. Our vibrant immigrant communities deserve equal protection under the law and unfortunately we have seen many incidents where these families are targeted by would-be criminals, from financial scams to wage theft to other more heinous crimes, said McMahon, whose office created an Immigrant Affairs Unit to meet the unique challenges that come with these cases and vigorously prosecute those who do harm to immigrants. I would like to thank the Staten Island Immigrants Council for this honor and I vow to continue our mission of building trust between law enforcement and all people of this borough. David Mendez received the Immigrant Youth Leaders Award for 2019. The ceremony was part of NYC Immigrant Heritage Week. (Courtesy/Staten Island Immigrants Council)(Courtesy/Staten Island Immigrants Council) Events across the city were planned as part of the 15th annual Immigrant Heritage Week, that went from April 15 to April 21. The Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs organizes the week that pays homage to the legacy of April 17, 1907, the day in NYC history that the largest number of immigrants 11,000, entered the U.S. through Ellis Island. The week-long celebration highlights the histories, unique cultures and contributions of New York Citys diverse immigrant communities. I couldn't be more grateful for having the opportunity to serve my community, and for having an amazing team that shares the passion to help others, said Favio Ramirez-Caminatti. The heterogeneous and hardworking immigrant community on Staten Island reflects all the values that make America great. Therefore, to serve them is my privilege. The Staten Island Immigrants Council is a coalition of immigrant communities on Staten Island which aims to develop the leadership, provide economic advancement, increase the well-being, and civically engage the immigrant community. El Centro del Immigrante, a storefront immigrant day worker center in Port Richmond, was developed in 1997 by a collaborative effort of Project Hospitality, the Latino Civic Association, and St. Marys of the Assumption Church to address the needs of the newly arrived immigrant day laborers and their families. Since 1990, thousands of immigrants -- mainly from Mexico and Latin America -- have immigrated to Staten Island. El Centro has created a space where recently arrived immigrants can form friendships, receive information and training and make their own contribution to the Staten Island community. Through immigrant and labor advocacy, educational workshops, labor leadership training, and emergency intervention for hunger, homelessness and health/safety needs, El Centro provides opportunities for economic empowerment, community-building and organizing. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha speaks at a press conference at the ministry's headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap Multilateral dialogue is premature By Lee Min-hyung North Korea needs to take a more "comprehensive approach" to advance the stalled denuclearization talks with the United States, South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday. "My view is that the North should expand the scope (of thinking) and look into the issue in a more comprehensive manner," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said at a press conference. "The U.S. wants to hold a comprehensive dialogue with the North in such a manner." Her remark came amid the months-long stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang over the talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Following the breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February between leaders from both sides, the countries have failed to narrow their differences in approaches and measures for the peninsula's nuclear disarmament. Despite the ongoing deadlock, the South Korean foreign minister argued that Washington and Pyongyang should do their utmost to sign a "good deal" that can satisfy both sides. "It is crucial for the U.S. and the North to sign a good deal," she said. "To do so, the North will be carrying out analysis on a variety of signals from the U.S." As a mediator for the nuclear talks between the two, South Korea continues to mull over a package of measures to seek a breakthrough over the stalled dialogue, she said. "We are considering a variety of options to make a breakthrough in the Washington-Pyongyang nuclear talks, and one of them includes sending a South Korean special envoy to the North," Kang said. She said the South would continue to closely discuss such possible options with the U.S. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- Rick Schroder, best known for his TV roles on Silver Spoons and NYPD Blue, had a couple of run-ins with the law over the past 30 days. The actor was arrested and charged with domestic violence this week and is currently in police custody in Los Angeles. TMZ reports the actor punched his girlfriend in the face as she tried to leave their home" in Topanga, California. A similar incident occurred in the beginning of the month at Schroders house, the report said. This time, the Staten Island natives girlfriend denied medical treatment and the actors bail is set at $50,000, it said. Before his Lonesome Dove television fame, Schroder became an instant star for his tear-jerking childhood role opposite Jon Voight in the 1979 film, The Champ. Born on Staten Island, he spent his childhood and early career he was Ricky then living on Leverett Avenue in Great Kills. Some of his recent work includes a cameo in Get Him to the Greek in 2010 and the TV movie, Dolly Partons Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, in 2016. MCKEESPORT, Pa. -- A 33-year-old man living in his mothers house was booted from the residence due to drinking and marijuana smoking, police say, so he retaliated by flushing his grandparents ashes. McKeesport (Pennsylvania) police said Thomas Porter Wells had a dispute with his mother last September after she complained about his vices and asked him to leave her home, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Several months later, Wells mother, Denise Porter, learned that her son discarded her parents ashes by flushing them before he left, authorities allege. The ashes had been kept in a box set up with a memorial in Porters bedroom, the complaint said, according to the Tribune-Review. Wells was hit with charges, including two counts of abuse of a corpse and one count of criminal mischief. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- At least six times over the past century, a succession of unlucky pilots have crashed, force landed or left pieces of their airplanes in Staten Island neighborhoods. The latest scare came Wednesday with an emergency landing at Miller Field in New Dorp, a former U.S. Army facility turned park that, from high above, offers a large, flat green surface for aviators in trouble. Heres a look at other mysterious and horrific incidents over the years: Staten Island Advance NEW DORP LANE CRASH In 1928, two former Austrian flying aces who were decorated for valor during WWI crashed a stolen plane into New Dorp Lane when they missed the landing strip at Miller Field. The aviators had moved to the New York City area following what is simply referred to in the archived news article as The War. Staten Island Advance HORROR OF 1960 History was made for all the wrong reasons in December of 1960, when two commercial airplanes collided above Staten Island, dropping dead bodies, chunks of metal and Christmas presents near Miller Field. More than 130 passengers and crew members died in what, at the time, was deemed the deadliest commercial accident in U.S. aviation history. Staten Island Advance Bystanders on the ground in Staten Island and Brooklyn also sustained injuries after being hit by falling debris. Among the chunks of metal that fell from the sky was an engine in a playground at the Berry Houses in Dongan Hills. Staten Island Advance ANOTHER MILLER FIELD LANDING Fast forward about 40 years, to 1995, when a rented passenger plane dropped in on Miller Field, where a cluster of homes had since been constructed nearby. Police told the Advance the pilot was lucky that a hot July afternoon had kept weekend athletes away from the field that day. Staten Island Advance Witnesses of the single-engine planes emergency descent included a man who lived 400 feet away. A large emergency response included members of NYPDs Emergency Services and Aviation units and the FDNY, though luckily no one was injured. Staten Island Advance GREAT KILLS BEACH Two years later, two Pennsylvania residents crashed a Cessna 150 along the coastline of Great Kills. No injuries were reported, although the plane sustained some damage. Staten Island Advance Police officers inspected the plane for damage, while it was determined the planes engine unexpectedly quit shortly after takeoff. Witnesses reported the plane nosedived into the water. Staten Island Advance The aircraft sustained damage including the nose of the plane. myFoxny FRESH KILLS LANDING There were no injuries reported when a Piper Cub single-engine plane made an emergency landing at the former Fresh Kills landfill in 2010. The male pilot was not injured. The two-seater had no other passengers aboard. The landing was the result of a mechanical failure. An MV-22 Osprey, a Marine Corps aircraft prepares to land in Clove Lakes Park in 2010 for Fleet Week festivities. (Photo courtesy of Mark Harris) FLEET WEEK MISHAP It wasnt a crash or emergency landing, but a helicopter mishap in 2010 caused several injuries. A Marine Corps helicopter touching down for a Memorial Day demonstration on Staten Island sent tree branches flying into the stunned crowd, injuring at least 10 people. As the Osprey dipped toward the ground at Cloves Lakes Park Preserve, wind whipped up by the helicopters rotor broke up two mid-sized trees and sent some 30 branches flying, Deputy Fire Chief Roger Sakowich said. Yolanda Maiurrno, 80, of Staten Island, was thwacked in the ankle by a piece of wood. It was a really scary and horrific scene. Im all shook up right now and I cant stop shaking, she said, gripping an ice pack given to her by medics. Staten Island Advance IT FELL FROM THE SKY In 2002, a New Dorp resident told the Advance she heard two large crashes, but when she rushed outside saw nothing. The next morning, she discovered what appeared to be a piece of an airplane in her driveway. Staten Island Advance The piece of an American Airlines plane was inspected by FAA aviation inspectors. Experts determined the part likely fell from the plane as the landing gear opened on the approach to John F. Kennedy Airport. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Fake dog breeders are scamming online puppy shoppers into paying for pets that dont exist, watchdog groups and victims warn. "Scam artists have bilked animal lovers by posting ads with pictures of puppies and other pets,'' warns the Federal Trade Commission. The ads often include a compelling story about why the puppy is available, and details about his or her lovable personality. The ads may request a reasonable payment for the pet, say $300, or they may claim the pet is available to a good home for free if you pay for shipping. Wayne Werner and Pamela Lanuza were victims of such a scam when they sent $800 to a breeder they found on the internet, only to find out later that the blue-eyed Great Dane puppy and the breeder were non-existent. I Google searched it and up popped a whole list, Werner told CBS News. I thought I found a dog, a Great Dane named Madison. Madison was $800. Got in contact through email. Got a response right away. Then it moved to text. The Chicago couple sent the money through Western Union to a company called Walsch Great Danes, reported CBS News. They were told Madison would be shipped by air carrier from South Florida. Then, according to Werner, they got a phone call saying the dog was stuck in Savannah, Georgia, and they would have to pay another $1500 to get it to Chicago. Thats kind of when I was starting to, my heart just started to sink,'' Lanuza told CBS. "We were all excited. We had gotten supplies. The advertised address in Fort Lauderdale is actually a thrift shop. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the international scam affects as many as 37,000 people a year, paying an average $100 to $1,000 for dogs they wont ever receive. The Better Business Bureau also says at least 80 percent of websites advertising pets for sale, the vast majority believed to be puppies, are frauds and mostly based in West Africa, CBS News reported. Consumer watchdog groups like IPATA.org and PetScams.com post databases of scam websites and update them frequently. Another fake site is Sam Aussies, which is still online as of Thursday morning, according to CBS. The site claims to sell adorable and affordable Australian shepherds for $750. A discounted dog should be a warning to consumers said breeder Jordan Mills. Mills, who has bred French bulldogs for a decade, sells them for an average of $3,200 through her website, which scammers duplicated two years ago to defraud potential buyers. The Federal Trade Commission warns shoppers to do their research. "Ask for detailed information about the person selling the pet,'' it says on its Consumer Information website. "What is the persons full name, phone number and mailing address? What turns up if you search online for the sellers name or phone number with the word scam or complaint? Mills told CBS that people who are looking to get a puppy should go to the breeders home. I welcome people into my home, Mills said. If you cant visit the person, another great resource is to FaceTime them You want to be able to talk to this breeder. Ask them how they got into breeding. Get a real history from them. Youre getting one of your new family members. You can also look locally, which is what Wayne Werner and Pamela Lanuza finally did, finding their Great Dane, Atticus. Werner and Lanuza did not lose their $800 because they insured their purchase through Western Union, CBS News said. But the Better Business Bureau recommends using a credit card for any online deposit. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Chinas policy scheduling all forms of the synthetic opioid fentanyl as illicit substances went into effect Wednesday. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, including Rep. Max Rose, are now touting legislation they claim would ensure the Chinese government keeps its word. Fentanyl and fentanyl-laced heroin has wreaked havoc in my district, and Im sick and tired of parents on Staten Island and South Brooklyn having to bury their child as a result of this epidemic, Rose said in a statement issued Thursday. We know the majority of Fentanyl laced heroin is coming from China, and they need to be punished. A version of the legislation, introduced by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) is making its way through their chamber. In addition to the sanctions, the bill, referred to as the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, would require the president to annually identify foreign opioid traffickers, authorize new funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and establish the Commission on Synthetic Opioid Trafficking. A media release from Roses office said the bill was introduced Thursday, and that it was the first of its kind. However, a bill introduced in the House April 10 bears the same name. A spokesperson for Rose said that collaboration with sponsors of the bills Senate version led to minor changes around funding amounts, and that the sponsors of Thursdays version of the house bill are confident that it will be the one moving forward. According to the text of that April 10 bill, sanctions would be placed on any foreign person determined by the United States to be acting as or working for an opioid trafficker The sanctions would mostly limit the foreign person" from conducting business with the United States, including prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from making loans. The bill defines foreign person as foreign nationals and entities, but specifies that it does not include the government of a foreign country. Criminal organizations, like drug cartels in Mexico, would also be targeted by the bill, according to a media release from Roses office. Liu Yuejin of Chinas National Narcotics Control Commission announced his countrys new policy April 1 after receiving pressure from President Donald Trumps administration. That announcement came after a December meeting in which Chinese President Xi Jinping promised Trump that China would classify fentanyl as a controlled substance. I commend the President for getting them to crack down on fentanyl production, but I dont trust a damn thing China says, Rose said in a statement. We need to force them to keep their word. Its time we act. Liu denied accusations, some coming directly from the president, that China has a role in the deadly synthetic opioids flooding the American market. It is outrageous that Poisonous Synthetic Heroin Fentanyl comes pouring into the U.S. Postal System from China. We can, and must, END THIS NOW! The Senate should pass the STOP ACT and firmly STOP this poison from killing our children and destroying our country. No more delay! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2018 A pamphlet published in March 2018 by the Drug Enforcement Administration said China supplies lower volumes of high-purity fentanyl, whereas fentanyl seizures from Mexico are higher in volume but lower in purity. Synthetic opioids originated in the the 1960s, and had the intended use of treating the severe pain of cancer patients through time-release patches worn on the skin. Fentanyl is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. A 2.5 milligram dose is all thats needed to kill the average person, according to the DEA. According to the bill, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that from June 2017 through June 2018 synthetic opioids contributed to 31,500 overdose deaths. For far too long, fentanyl has poured into the United States, killing tens of thousands and devastating our communities, Sen. Schumer said in a statement. As we fight for American lives, we must actively combat the flow of illicit fentanyl and hold China accountable for its role in the fentanyl trade. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Following recent reports of excessive overtime abuse within the MTA, agency chairman Patrick Foye has released a statement condemning the practice and launching an investigation into the issue. A recent report from the New York Post showed that Marco Pazmino, an LIRR worker since 1985, logged 4,157 hours of overtime in 2018, in addition to 1,688 regular-work hours, totaling 5,845 hours, according to the New York Post. The 5,845 hours worked represents 66.7 percent of the total 8,760 hours in 2018. The overwhelming amount of hours resulted in $256,177 in overtime pay, in addition to $54,985 in base pay, totaling $311,162 overall. The recent reports on excessive overtime payments throughout our system are extremely concerning. Some overtime is to be expected at any public transit agency, in order to keep up with critical repairs and maintenance, especially at a time of extraordinary work being done around the system. But the accumulation of so many hours of overtime raises serious questions, including potential safety issues such as exhaustion, Foye said. Foye has asked the presidents of the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and New York City Transit to do a full review of the overtime procedures currently in place. We have strict procedures and regulations in place regarding scheduling and payment of overtime. Those procedures either must be followed or we need to implement stronger rules on day to day procedures, said Foye. Agency presidents were asked to specifically review the past 12 months of overtime payments in order to determine that they were accurately earned and documented. Presidents have been given 60 days to complete this review, at which point they will be required to present their findings to the MTA Board and the public. I am also requesting the Inspector Generals office complete their own full review of excessive overtime payouts to ensure that they were appropriately planned for, scheduled, signed off upon, and that the claimed hours were in fact worked, Foye added. Additionally, over the next 30 days, the MTA will review all time and attendance verification systems at their work facilities to ensure they are functioning properly. These findings will also be presented to the MTA Board and the public. The MTA is funded by taxpayers and is responsible for the safe transport of millions of people each day. It is critical that we earn and maintain the public trust, every day. Ensuring that every dollar spent on overtime is in fact being spent properly is part of that mission, Foye concluded. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Islands District Attorney, religious leaders, political representatives and officials took a stand against hate at a press conference Thursday in front of the Young Israel of Staten Island synagogue in Willowbrook. The press conference came five days after the shooting at a Southern California synagogue that killed a woman and left an 8-year-old girl and two men wounded. There is no room for hate in New York City,'' said Chief Kenneth Corey, the borough commanding officer. If you commit a hate crime in Staten Island we will investigate. We will find you, we will arrest you. You will be prosecuted to the full extent that the law allows. The way the four Staten Island precincts approach hate crimes effectively decreased hate crimes by 12.5% from 2017 to 2018, while New York City as a whole saw a 8% increase. In 2019, the number of hate crimes keep skyrocketing in the city. New data released on Thursday by the NYPD indicates a 67% increase in hate crimes just in the first four months of 2019. "We are saying clearly with one voice: Not on Staten Island. We will not tolerate hate crimes of any type, said Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon. The message sent on Thursday was strong and clear as religious leaders from different religious affiliations stood together. This is the beautiful part of this country, said Rabbi Yaakov Lehrfield. Mendy Mirocznik, president of the Staten Island Council of Jewish Organizations (COJO), said standing united is what makes today different than 76 years ago, a reference to the Holocaust that killed six million Jews. Unlike 76 years ago, we are not going to tolerate it, said Mirocznik. Mirocznik said more and more people are reaching out to COJO sharing fear, concern and uncertainty. Representatives from the mayors office, the Staten Island Pride Center, the JCC, the United Federation of Teachers and the city comptrollers office also attended the press conference. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With the 42nd annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour set for Sunday, May 5, the Staten Island-bound lower level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will be closed for much of the day as cyclists cross the nations longest bridge span en route to the Finish Festival at Fort Wadsworth. The Staten Island-bound lower level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will be closed from 12:01 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sunday. The bridges upper level will remain open in both directions throughout the day. The following Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge closures will also be in place Sunday: One Brooklyn-bound lane on the lower level from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Bay Street exit from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. BQE approach (I-278 West) to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The 92nd Street entrance ramp to the Staten Island-bound lower level from approximately 12:01 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Belt Parkway entrance ramp to the Staten Island-bound lower level from approximately 12:01 a.m. to 6 p.m. Staten Island street closures The city Department of Transportation has announced that the following Staten Island streets will be closed Sunday 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 About the Five Boro Bike Tour 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. 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. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Buses that usually operate in the Sokcho and Goseong areas of Gangwon Province are parked in a garage in Gangneung, Monday, after drivers of the company went on a strike to protest a possible salary cut due to the implementation of the 52-hour workweek in By Kang Seung-woo Bus drivers have warned they will stage a nationwide strike starting May 15 in protest of a possible salary cut. Unless their companies come up with countermeasures, they will face a cut in their incomes in July when the 52-hour workweek system is applied to them. While the drivers and their companies say the central government should provide them with financial support, the government is against the demand. So concerns are rising over potential public transport chaos if compromises are not made soon. According to the Korean Automobile and Transport Workers' Federation, Thursday, trade unions from 234 of the nation's 479 companies, which have 41,280 bus drivers and 20,138 buses, have asked 11 regional employment and labor administrations for labor dispute mediation, after negotiations failed to reach agreements. The 11 regions are Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan, Changwon and Cheongju, and Gyeonggi, South Jeolla and South Chungcheong provinces. The dispute has come ahead of implementation of the 52-hour workweek system to bus companies with more than 300 employees in July after a one-year grace period. In the bus industry, almost all drivers work overtime, for up to nearly 70 hours a week, because their base pay is small. Given that, if the drivers can't work more than 52 hours a week, it will drastically reduce their total paycheck, the federation says. According to the Korea Research Institute of Transportation Industries, an average monthly paycheck for a bus driver is 3.54 million won ($3,000), but the base pay is only 49 percent of the total and the rest consists of overtime allowance. The federation claims that for example bus drivers in Gyeonggi Province are projected to work three or four fewer days due to the mandatory workweek system, resulting in a loss of 800,000 won to 1.1 million won from their usual income. "After the 52-hour workweek takes effect in July, the number of working days will be reduced by two or three days per month on average. To make up for the loss of wages, the employers need to raise the base pay," a federation official said. Along with the wage issue, the driver unions are calling on the operators to hire more new drivers. They estimate the companies need an additional 15,000 drivers, but only 1,250 have been added so far. However, the employers are opposed to the federation's demands, citing the snowballing burden of personnel expenses. "The drivers and the companies have held multiple rounds of negotiations but little progress was made," the official said. "Failure in mediation will lead to a walkout." Drivers in some cities in Gangwon Province have already started a walkout, and the city governments are providing charter buses as a temporary measure. Amid the labor dispute, there are growing whispers that the disagreement may end in a fare hike. The central and local governments are discussing practical measures to prevent bus drivers from going on strike. "For bus companies hiring new bus drivers to reduce the weekly working hours to 52, we advise them to take advantage of a government project that supports a part of personnel expenses for small companies," a labor ministry official said. Artist's impression of 80 Collins Street. The country's biggest office landlord, Dexus, has cemented its dominance of the market, snapping up a commercial and hotel development on Collins Street at the so-called Paris end of Melbourne's CBD for $1.5 billion. Dexus beat three potential overseas contenders for the project. The move means Dexus will increase its exposure to the desirable area after buying nearby towers at 52 and 60 Collins Street last year. The huge site, covering 105,000 square metres, will comprise a new 255-room boutique hotel, leased to NEXT Story Group for 10 years as well as a new 35 level office tower and retail precinct with 21 tenancies. The site also has an existing 47-level office tower. Asian-based NEXT has the Country Comfort and Chifley brands in Australia. Phil Chronican and his board have made a statement with their decision to slash the National Australia Bank dividend, one that relates to its own circumstance but is shaped by the broader industry context. There was an expectation that NAB would reduce its interim dividend, given that its payout ratio had been nudging 100 per cent in an environment where earnings growth for the major banks is being severely challenged. The 16-a-share, cut, however, was materially larger than anticipated. NAB's acting chief executive and chairman-elect, Philip Chronican, is juggling the bank's responses to the royal commission, an ambitious transformation program and a deteriorating external environment. Credit:Louie Douvis NABs cash earnings are essentially flat-lining (it reported a 7 per cent increase in cash earnings but that exaggerates the growth, given that earnings a year ago were deflated by $755 million of restructuring costs) even though it has been growing its lending in its core business bank at multiples of the systems growth rate. Another $525 million of post-tax provisions for customer remediation taking the amount provided, so far, to $1.1 billion weighed on the results but the larger picture is one of flat-to-declining income, margin compression and deteriorating credit quality. First-time author Trent Dalton has continued his sweep of book prizes, claiming a record four Australian Book Industry Awards and the overall Book of the Year crown with his smash hit coming-of-age novel Boy Swallows Universe. The feature writer's autobiographically-inspired story has experienced unprecedented success for an Australian literary debut, amassing 140,000 sales across print, audio and ebooks nationally and securing publication in 34 territories. And lovable Eli Bell, the narrator of Dalton's novel set on the working class fringes of Brisbane in the 1980s, has more chapters to come. Australian filmmaker brothers, Joel and Nash Edgerton, are rumoured to be on board with a screen adaptation that involves local and international talent, and a stage version next year is expected to be announced soon. On Thursday night, Dalton triumphed over four-time Miles Franklin-winner Tim Winton who traverses similar themes of masculinity, class and family dynamic in his fiction as well as established writers Markus Zusak, Melissa Lucashenko and Kristina Olsson to claim the ABIA Literary Book of the Year. South Korea reopened the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the truce village of Panmunjom to the public on Wednesday (May 1), a year after a historic summit was held there between the two Korean leaders, Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un. The JSA, in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, has long been a popular tourist site, with its bright blue buildings and soldiers from both sides standing face to face, but tours have been suspended since October due to security issues, according to Seoul's Defence Ministry. Dozens of visitors armed with cameras and smartphones were seen gathered on both sides of Panmunjon on Wednesday. On April 27 last year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met there, shook hands and stepped over the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) into both territories. According to Lieutenant Colonel Sean Marrow of the United Nations Command Security Battalion, the guards there no longer carry weapons, and the area has been cleared of mines. The DMZ tourism plan was part of a military pact, sealed during a September summit in Pyongyang, which called for a set of tension-defusing measures. Both Koreas implemented some steps last year, halting major military drills, setting a no-fly zone around the border and removing landmines and guard posts in DMZ, including the mountaintop watchtower above the "peace trail." (Reuters) North Korean soldiers look at the South side, seen during a press tour at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Joint Press Corps South Korean visitors take their souvenir photos at the southern side of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Joint Press Corps Could a homophobic online rant that resulted in a Liberal candidate resigning help get a gay Greens candidate elected to Federal Parliament? It's a question members of Labor and the Greens are pondering after Peter Killin was forced to quit the contest for Wills this week. He stood down hours after it was revealed he had attacked sitting Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson, who is gay, in December. Adam Pulford, Greens candidate for Wills, at Victoria Street mall in Coburg. Credit:Scott McNaughton Greens candidate Adam Pulford is also gay. He said 70 per cent of Wills voters supported the same-sex marriage plebiscite, proving most in the community, including Liberal voters, rejected Mr Killin's beliefs. A new outbreak of factional warfare among Victorian Liberals is looming after Wednesdays sacking of two candidates over their extreme beliefs brought the deep divisions in the party into the election spotlight. One senior party figure warned of a bloodbath at next months state council, the Victorian partys big annual event where office holders are elected, predicting an "all out fight for control" between moderates and right-wingers. The troubles in Victoria have been a distraction for the Prime Minister Credit:AAP There is a plan well underway to roll state president Robert Clark from his position after just six months in the job with other high profile party figures, including Christian-right activist Karina Okotel, also set to face a fight to keep their positions. The candidates for the seats of Wills and Isaacs, Peter Killin and Jeremy Hearn, were sacked on Wednesday after comments attacking Muslims and high-profile Liberal Goldstein MP Tim Wilson over his sexuality. It's not unusual when having lunch with a stranger to feel a certain distance, even awkwardness. You've never met them, they've never met you. You're both on your best behaviour, at least until the fourth glass of wine. With the Kurdish-Iranian refugee, Behrouz Boochani, that distance is a very real thing, since rather than sitting across a table from me, separated by the pepper grinder and a dish of tapenade, he is 1500km away in Papua New Guinea and I am in a windowless conference room on the ground floor of the Sydney Morning Herald offices, in Sydney. I have in front of me a ham and cheese toastie from the canteen; he has a leg of deep fried chicken and some soggy potato chips, served in a tres chic styrofoam clamshell container. To drink, I have tap water; Boochani has a yellow tetra pack containing a super-sweet, lukewarm liquid of indeterminate origin. "It says it's pineapple," he tells me, holding it up for me to see. "But I'm not sure." Journalist Tim Elliott and translator Omid Tofighian talk to Behrouz Boochani over lunch. Credit:Kate Geraghty We have agreed to talk via Skype, with Boochani using his phone. The connection is so echoey we may as well be underwater using tin cans, but the screen affords me a decent view of his shoulder- length hair, which he tucks behind his ears, his beard, with a single patch of grey like a dab of silver paint, and his skin, tanned to a rich auburn. He looks like a castaway, which in a sense he is. It's 1.30pm, but he has only just woken up. "This is the nature of prison," he tells me. "Most of the people here are still sleeping. If you wake up at 6am, what are you going to do? Nothing. Just sit and look at the wall." Most of the people in Manus sleep during the day and stay awake at night. "It's a psychological matter," he says. "Places like Manus feel better at night. It's cooler and calmer." Boochani has spent the past six years in detention on Manus Island but is now in Port Moresby, waiting, along with several other asylum seekers, for an interview with US immigration officials, who may or may not offer him asylum. "It's very slow," he says. "The last interview I had with them was six months ago. The next one could be today, or tomorrow." In the meantime, authorities have put him up in a box-like room in a budget hotel. "There is a guard on the door, all the time," he says. "The guard has the key. If you want to go anywhere, you have to ask him. They don't give us the key because people might lock themselves in their room when it comes time to go back to Manus. Here is heaven compared to Manus." A Labor MP broke down in Queensland Parliament on Thursday during an emotional debate on preventive health and chronic disease. Australias only Torres Strait Islander MP, Cynthia Lui, shared her heartbreak of losing many loved ones to chronic disease. The Member for Cook, Cynthia Lui, giving her maiden speech at Parliament House in 2018. Credit:AAP/Darren England The former health worker, who was raised on the small and remote Yam Island, choked up while emphasising the importance of health promotion in remote and Indigenous communities. I held the responsibility of my community on my shoulders but I always felt like everything was beyond me, she said. Victoria Police has been told to make drug lord Tony Mokbel a priority as it searches through thousands of documents relating to tips they received from his barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo. The Court of Appeal is considering Mokbel's application for leave to challenge his drug trafficking conviction on the basis of her informer role, as well as applications by two of Ms Gobbo's other former clients, Rob Karam and Zlate Cvetanovski. Tony Mokbel and Nicola Gobbo outside court in May 2004. Credit:John Woudstra Court president Chris Maxwell said on Thursday that police must focus their investigations on Mokbel, Karam and Cvetanovski, whose appeal cases bear directly on public confidence in the criminal justice system. Delays by Victoria Police providing documents has been an ongoing issue both for the appeal court and for a royal commission into police use of informers, which is first focusing on Ms Gobbo, also known as "Lawyer X" and "Informer 3838". Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel hopes some of the 59 paintings by late Australian artist Noel Wood that were withdrawn from sale after his relatives questioned their authenticity will go back on the market. Police visited the South Yarra auction house about 9am on Thursday after Wood's 80-year-old daughter, Ann Grocott, alerted Leonard Joel that 16 of the paintings for sale under her late father's name may be copies of those hanging in her home. Some of the "Noel Wood" works withdrawn from sale by the auction house Leonard Joel. "I was shocked to see that at least 16 of the works are owned by me. I have had them on my wall at home for 40 years," Ms Grocott wrote to the auction house. Police confirmed they attended the auction house on Thursday morning, but said they were treating the matter as a property dispute and a civil, not a criminal, matter. An 88-year-old man charged with murdering his elderly wife at a retirement home in Melbourne's outer-east has faced court, but told a magistrate he didn't understand the proceedings. Ronald George Sparkes was arrested at Martin Luther Homes in The Basin on Wednesday after his 87-year-old wife, Margaret Elison Sparkes, was found dead about 12.40pm. Mr Sparkes, dressed in a dark windcheater and pants, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon. A woman in her 80s was found dead in a unit at Martin Luther Homes in The Basin. Credit:Nine News Towards the end of a short hearing, magistrate Angela Bolger asked the accused man if he understood what was happening and he replied: "No, I'm sorry, I don't". Shops and homes have been flooded in Victoria's north-east in a final burst of wild weather that delivered more than 100 millimetres of rain and, earlier, a freak tornado-like event and record downpours in the west. State Emergency Service crews were called to 166 jobs in the 24 hours from 8am Thursday - 57 of those in Wodonga alone. Umbrellas were the accessory of choice across the state on Thursday. Credit:Justin McManus Many of the call-outs were to shops and homes that had flooded. A Baranduda resident told 3AW a river of mud had swept through his home while he was out. Residents living along a tributary of the Yarra are being warned heavy rains are likely to stir up a stink, eight months after a cocktail of chemicals spilled into its waters following a factory fire. The Environment Protection Authority issued the warning to residents of West Footscray, Kingsville and Yarraville living near Stony Creek this week in anticipation of the storms that hit Melbourne early on Thursday morning. Clean-up crews pumped chemicals and fire retardant out of Stony Creek. The clean up is continuing, but it's far from finished. Credit:Jason South Tests of the creek water last month showed high levels of acetone, disinfectants, herbicides, fire-retardant chemicals and heavy oils following a blaze at West Footscray in August last year. Water scientist Leon Metzeling said in April the creek's health was improving, but that a full recovery was a long way off, describing the case as the worst he had seen in almost 30 years at the EPA. By Trudy Rubin "Our country is full." That claim by President Trump as he visited the southern border was directed at migrants seeking asylum. It was both false and foolish. False because America is not full (although Trump capitalizes FULL in his tweets). False because Trump's message was clearly a trial balloon for his 2020 election campaign that had nothing to do with solving immigration problems. And foolish because Trump's demonization of legal, as well as illegal, immigration sets the country for big economic problems in the future. It also undermines the values on which America was built. Let's start with some facts. First, America is not full, nor can it thrive without new immigrants, as demographer William H. Frey points out. Population growth has hit its lowest level since 1937, and would be declining even more quickly were it not for immigration. "By 2035, there will be more seniors than children for the first time in the nation's history," writes Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. What gives America an advantage over graying nations in Europe, Japan, and even China, is the population boost from immigrants. That youthful infusion is essential to provide workers whose taxes will support the aging U.S. citizenry. Even now, the U.S. economy is experiencing a serious shortage of both skilled and unskilled workers. As for where the immigrants should go, a sane immigration policy could direct some of them to where they were most needed, including the revival of smaller cities that are suffering from depopulation. Instead, Trump has reportedly handed the reins on immigration policy over to aide Stephen Miller, the godfather of the Muslim ban who wants to revive the family separation policy at the border. Miller has made no secret of his desire to slash legal immigration. "This viewpoint is anti-American, without focusing on the central role immigration has played in the creation of this country," says Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) whose father immigrated to America at 19 and worked as a janitor to support his family. "When Trump and Miller talk about immigration in such a hateful way, it shows a tremendous ignorance of American history." Moreover, the White House attack on legal immigration displays a shameful level of immorality. Nothing illustrates this better than my recent conversation with former Army Reserve Sgt. Peter Farley about an immigration injustice I've followed for some time. Farley has been trying for eight years to help obtain visas for the family of two Iraqi brothers, both translators he worked with in Iraq. The Al-Baidhani brothers risked their lives to work with the U.S. Army (one was later shot by an anti-American militia) and entered the U.S. on special visas for translators; they are now working, paying taxes, and well settled. Their immediate family members, under death threat in Baghdad, are also entitled by U.S. law to visas. But the family is stuck due to the administration's attack on legal immigration, including visas for Iraqis and Afghans who helped Americans, as well as refugees, asylum seekers, and others. The Iraqi program has a backlog of more than 100,000 people, and, according to the State Department, only 48 were admitted in a ten-month period in fiscal year 2018. The Baidhani case illustrates the bizarre, bureaucratic maze that the Trump administration has established to block legal immigration. After five years of security vetting, under the Obama administration, the family were granted visas nearly three years ago, only to be told the day before they left for America that they needed to undergo another security check. By then, they had sold all their possessions. The family appealed, and in an almost unheard of reversal, immigration officials granted them conditional entry in June 2017. But by then, the Trump administration had tried to ban all Muslim immigrants, and made slashing immigration its signature issue. Despite backing by multiple congressional members and 135,000 signatures on a change.org petition, the Baidhanis have still heard nothing. Meantime, constant rule changes and the massive turnover at the Department of Homeland Security, whose top officials Trump has just forced out, plus the decimation of State Department staff dealing with refugees, makes obtaining visas nearly impossible. Just as a supportive congressman was set to send yet another letter to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, she was fired. "We didn't even know who to send it to," Farley told me. "This is not what our country was supposed to be like. Where are we living?" We are living in a country where Trump's constant labeling of immigrants as rapists and murderers makes it impossible to craft a rational immigration policy. Where Miller's slashing the number of refugees (who get legal visas) puts America to shame. The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill in 2013 but that will never be repeated so long as Trump plays the immigration card for political reasons. Nor will Peter Farley succeed in helping the Baidhanis get their visas so long as this obscene game goes on. Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia. Her commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. And we leave you with some sad news.. Peter Mayhew, the actor who portrayed Chewbacca in Star Wars, has died aged 74. The British-born Mayhew, who later became a US citizen, achieved screen icon status with his role as the fan-favourite Wookiee in the original Star Wars trilogy. Thanks for reading along today. Have a lovely weekend and we will see you bright and early next Monday morning! A 50-year-old man has indicated he will plead guilty to attacking and threatening to kill a teenage girl near an alleyway in Perth. Police say the 15-year-old girl was attacked while jogging in Mount Lawley on August 18, 2017, but she broke free and ran away. The girl was attacked in Mount Lawley, Credit:Andrew Quilty Sean Wood appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday via video link from prison, charged with offences including assault with intent to commit a crime. He will be back in court on May 13, when he is expected to formally plead guilty to all charges, including one amended offence. In his closing statements, the Warringah MP of a quarter of a century stresses the importance of being a member of the government - and the importance of not letting Labor take the reins. He puts it in the simplest of terms: "We are going to have a good government which is Liberal or a bad government which is Labor... anything other than a vote for Liberal brings a Labor government closer." Aaaand we get a handshake. Let's have a cheer for democracy and civil debate. International issues have been all but invisible in the federal election campaign. The world did not intrude, for example, on this weeks leaders debate. This is too bad. There are meaningful differences between the foreign policies of the two sides, and the rapid changes to Australias external circumstances deserve serious discussion. It is useful to look at the parties, the personalities and the policies. Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten ... a world of difference, but the world hardly rates a mention in this campaign. Credit:Nic Ellis Historically, Coalition governments tend to be more focused on bilateral relationships; Labor governments tend to be more multilateral in disposition. Coalition governments often look at the world through the prism of the US alliance; Labor governments often have more reservations about American leadership reservations that are unlikely to diminish in the Trump era. The Coalition has a stronger record on defence spending; Labor has a stronger record on aid spending. Pressure on Victoria's criminal justice system has grown so great that prisoners have been unable to be brought to court for hearings, and some criminals have served their entire sentence in police cells unable to access a prison bed. The Magistrates Court of Victoria tabled its 2016-17 annual report to state parliament on Thursday. Melbourne Magistrates Court has faced huge pressures. Credit:Penny Stephens But the report's belated release coming more than 18 months after it was signed off by Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen in September 2017 highlights how much the court has struggled to keep pace with an increased workload. The report shows magistrates courts dealt with, for example, 131,301 family violence matters in the 2016-17 financial year, a 34 per cent increase over the previous five years. Beijing: A feared smartphone app being used by Chinese police to surveil the Uighur ethnic minority has been reverse-engineered by a human rights group, revealing that even turning your own phone off can trigger suspicion. When The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age travelled to China's western region of Xinjiang in late 2018, residents there said Muslim Uighurs regularly had their phones inspected by police. If "suspicious" content was found, they were sent to re-education centres, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims are believed to be detained. A police officer is seen through a train window in Turpan, Xinjiang, last year. Credit:Bloomberg Human Rights Watch contracted a German security company to assess the app that police are using on their phones when they question Uighurs on the street, at home, or apply to travel abroad. The information gathered is then pulled into a central system used to profile residents. Vatican City: 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 recognised theologians in the English-speaking world. The others are less well known. Letter blames Pope for "one of worst crises" of the Church. Credit:Andrew Medichini "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. Washington: US Congressional Democrats stepped up pressure on President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday as US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney-General William Barr of committing a crime and an influential committee chairman threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. In a defiant letter released on Thursday, the White House said Trump has the right to instruct advisers not to testify before congressional oversight probes related to the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry and called Mueller's report on the matter defective. The statements mark a sharp escalation in the conflict between Trump's administration and Democrats in Congress, who are weighing whether they should try to remove Trump from office using the impeachment process as they demand information on his taxes, his businesses and other topics. Democrats accused the Republican President and his administration of a launching a growing attack on American democracy. St Lucia: Health officials for the Caribbean island of St Lucia furnished 100 free doses of measles vaccine to a Church of Scientology cruise ship placed under quarantine in port after the highly contagious disease was diagnosed on board, the island's chief medical officer said on Thursday. The Freewinds cruise ship is docked in the port of Castries, the capital of St Lucia. Credit:AP St Lucia health officials have confirmed one case of measles aboard the ship that has been docked in a port near the island nation's capital Castries since Tuesday, Dr Merlene Frederick-James said in a video statement. "The confirmed case as well as other crew members are presently stable but remain under surveillance by the ship's doctor," Frederick-James said, noting the incubation period of measles is 10 to 12 days before symptoms appear. The St Lucia Ministry of Health ordered the ship to be quarantined on Tuesday. Caracas: In the aftermath of a chaotic, and ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in Venezuela, few details about what exactly happened are clear. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, centre left, and his wife Cilia Flores, centre right, wave at supporters during a rally in Caracas on May 1. Credit:AP But one key question at least has been answered: Nicolas Maduro, the autocrat clinging to power, has opted not to arrest his rival, Juan Guaido, allowing him for now to lead the opposition and keep trying to rally the people and the military to topple the regime. Loading And so Venezuela settles back into its strange status quo, with the armed forces sticking by Maduro, who won a rigged re-election last year, and the US government standing by Guaido, the lawmaker more than 50 nations recognise as Venezuela's legitimate leader. By Jan Peter Balkenende AMSTERDAM The European Union has spent much of the past decade managing crises, and has even faced a possible threat to its continued existence. Popular attitudes toward the EU have soured, too. Whereas citizens were generally positive about the first two waves of European integration in the 1950s and 1980s, they have been increasingly critical of the EU since at least 2008-2009, if not earlier. The key question in Europe nowadays is this: Are we better off with or without each other? In his book "Economics for the Common Good," the French Nobel laureate economist Jean Tirole argues that the hope that characterized the European project for decades has given way to uncertainty. "Today, we once again need a long-term vision," Tirole writes, and "we must rehabilitate the European ideal and remain united around it." He is right. The EU cannot afford another decade of crisis management and indecision. Instead, it must build a sustainable future on four pillars: an ambitious policy agenda, a focus on results, reform of EU institutions, and a renewed emphasis on European values. Realizing such a program would improve the quality of life throughout Europe, give citizens greater certainty, promote the common good, stimulate innovation, and make Europe more resilient. Fortunately, the EU is well placed to develop a bold yet realistic vision that will help to counter criticism from its citizens. The EU's policy agenda for the next decade should include global challenges such as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, and the circular economy. Europe must also focus in a technological, social, and moral sense on the digital economy, including its implications for job creation and inequality. And the EU should address the complex issue of migration, particularly in view of the turbulence in Africa and the Middle East. With its social-market economic traditions and commitment to solidarity and engagement, Europe could and should excel in these areas. But to realize this potential, the EU and its individual member states need clear policy targets. European businesses will need to pool their resources, as will knowledge-based institutions such as universities and research centers. Changes in education policies and greater cooperation with civil society organizations will also be required. In pursuing this agenda, the EU must place much more emphasis on achieving specific objectives and visible results, and on greater measurability and accountability. This is crucial to the credibility of the European project. Much of the rest of the world operates this way, and Europe cannot afford to fall behind. Every member state should therefore enforce existing EU rules strictly and with integrity at all times, with credible sanctions for non-compliance. Moreover, all policy choices must have a solid financial basis, which will require appropriate, effective, and verifiable use of resources and a reconsideration of spending priorities. And the subsidiarity principle (according to which policy decisions are taken at the most appropriate level of government) should be upheld throughout. As for the third pillar, Europe will need to make tough decisions about its institutions. The role and importance of the European Council should be self-evident, given the need to engage member states, enforce compliance with agreements, and strengthen the capacity to act. At the same time, the EU needs a framework to channel dissenting views. This is where the European Parliament and the European Commission should step up. Furthermore, all EU institutions will sooner or later need to be based in a single administrative center. And all institutional reforms must aim to make the EU more responsive. Finally, Europe's citizens must remember that the EU is not merely a decision-making machine. Ultimately, it is a community sustained by values that have provided the impetus for integration and cooperation, and their power remains undiminished in the 21st century. Peace, democracy, liberty, solidarity, equality, justice, and respect for human rights and the rule of law are as relevant today as they were in the EU's early years. At the same time, Europe needs to recalibrate these values for an era of rapid change, disruption, and transition, and encourage citizens' greater awareness of them. This calls for further education, public debate, and media engagement, as well as more profound reflection on these values among European politicians. Businesses, universities, civil-society organizations, and other institutions should also emphasize the normative underpinnings of Europe's future. Europe has had a difficult decade. But with an inspiring, forward-looking agenda, the EU could finally start to move away from crisis management and back toward realizing long-term goals. And citizens would have a reason to feel good about Europe again. Jan Peter Balkenende is a former prime minister of the Netherlands. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org). ~ Great way to overlook Great Bay and experience the zip line. ~ PHILIPSBURG: --- If you are planning to visit St. Maarten or if you are living on the island and wants to enjoy the panoramic view of Great Bay then it is recommended that you visit the newly opened Zipline, Pelican Peak. Meet their friendly and knowledgeable staff that are willing to help you as you go on your adventure. Its one of the many tours day visitors can do while getting the opportunity to take an island tour before or after. Pelican Peak is located close to Dock Martins on the way to Pointe Blanche. Visitors are then shuttled to the trail that is in the hills of Pointe Blanche. Located on the way to Pointe Blanche the new entrepreneurs have affordable prices for both residents and tourists. A mere $49.00 would allow you to enjoy the view as you walk through the various trails while you could video your experience as you make it down the zip line. Islanders do not need to make reservations or be afraid as they are welcome to visit Pelican Peak any day of the week, ask for the special prices that are available for local residents and for schools. Packages are also available for schools and groups. Meet the local team, friendly workers that will assist you so that you could enjoy the once in a lifetime experience. While hiking the trail you are able to relax at various locations that allow you to snap the best photos from above as you look down at Great Bay and the harbor in Pointe Blanche, while there you could grab a drink and also enjoy the cool breeze in a quiet surrounding. The Manager Jonathan Duncan, and Natasha and the local team that works both on the trail and in office will give you as much information you need on the islands history. Pelican Peak is the latest Zipline that is outside of cultural sites, one that does not interfere with the islands historic parks, but instead gives you and your family a sneak peek of what St. Maarten has to offer besides booze and food. Preserving nature while showcasing the island giving visitors and students an opportunity to document the untouchable areas on St. Maarten. A 360-degree view of Great Bay and neighboring islands, such as Saba and St. Barthelemy. Enjoy your visit to St. Maarten by exploring with Pelican Peak. Click here to view more photos of our tour at Pelican Peak. By Gwynne Dyer Back in early March, it seemed that both sides in Venezuela had decided a long-drawn-out crisis was better than a civil war. It appears the leader of one side has now changed his mind. Almost four months ago Juan Guaido challenged President Nicolas Maduro on the grounds that his re-election last year had been fraudulent. Guaido claimed to be the legitimate president himself, and Maduro did not arrest him, presumably because he feared it would cause a civil war he might lose. Since Guaido wasn't sure he would win it either, he also held his fire. The political operation to remove Maduro was clearly coordinated with Washington. Guaido was doubtless told that if he declared himself president, the United States and 50 of its friends and allies would recognize him which they promptly did. But he still avoided a showdown with Maduro, and restricted himself to making speeches (which Maduro did not interfere with). Both men knew they were on shaky ground legally. Maduro won a rigged election, but Guaido didn't even run in it. As president of the National Assembly, Guaido is in the line of succession if the president dies or goes crazy, but whether or not he has the right to replace a sitting president just because he believes the president cheated in the election is the sort of question that makes lawyers rich. Most non-lawyers would say he doesn't have that right. That's beside the point. This is a power struggle, in which Maduro still controls the army, but Guaido has powerful foreigners and a large but unknown portion of the Venezuelan population on his side. Both men decided to play a waiting game, in the hope that the tide would turn in their direction. It was the right choice. However, for reasons best known to himself, Guaido has now changed his mind. Maybe he thinks the tide is now running in his direction, or maybe he fears Maduro will win by default if he doesn't act now, but he has clearly decided the showdown should happen now. On Monday he released a three-minute video showing him together with men in Venezuelan military uniforms and claiming the armed forces have come over to his side. "The moment is now," he says. Some of the ordinary soldiers may be on his side, but there is little evidence for it except Guaido's video. The officers, and especially the generals, are not ready to change sides, partly because they are dedicated Chavistas, but also because few of the generals have managed to hide their loot somewhere safe abroad. They only get to keep it if Maduro stays in power. By going onto a military base and trying to turn the military against the government Guaido has committed high treason, and Maduro has to respond. Yet it is not at all certain that Guaido's supporters, numerous though they may be, will win the battle in the streets. He summoned them to come out on the streets of Caracas on Tuesday, and called on the army to support them. They did come, but so did Maduro's supporters (or more precisely, people who still support Hugo Chavez's original revolution, though not many of them have the same deep affection for Maduro). Over 100 people were injured during the day. And yes, some dozens of National Guardsmen did switch sides on Tuesday, but thousands did not. More importantly, the regular army has remained loyal to Maduro. Guaido called his supporters out again on Wednesday, but at the time of writing (Wednesday morning), there is no sign that Maduro is about to flee the country, or that his army is going to defect. It's too early to be sure, but it looks like Guaido moved too soon. He will probably soon be in jail if he does not flee the country. His political mentor and party leader, Leopoldo Lopez, has already sought refuge with his family in the Spanish Embassy. And Maduro has already claimed on television that he has defeated the "attempted military coup." What persuaded Guaido to abandon the slow and cautious strategy he has pursued for the past four months and go for broke instead? The suspicion must be that he did it under pressure from Washington, where President Trump is impatient, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is compliant, and nobody understands Venezuela very well. Nobody except the U.S. armed forces, which have made it quietly clear from the start that they do not want to end up giving military support to Venezuelan rebels. But nobody in Trump's Washington listens to the army. Gwynne Dyer (gwynne763121476@aol.com) has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He is the author of "Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)." By Donald Kirk PHILADELPHIA The testimony of two grandmothers from the island province of Jeju about their brief encounters with American soldiers more than 70 years ago offers a glimmer of the U.S. role there before the outbreak of the Jeju revolt on April 3, 1948 (often called "4.3" by Koreans). One of the women, in a taped interview screened at the 19th World Peace Island Forum, moderated by Ko Chang-hoon, professor emeritus at Jeju University, goes beyond vague references to the U.S. military government. Her memories on tape, and her response to questions at the forum, captured the fears of people on Jeju about the American soldiers whom they occasionally encountered. This video is significant since it describes a scene in the ill-fated village of Bukchon on Jeju's northern coast. Bukchon is memorialized for a massacre in which more than 300 villagers were hacked and shot to death by rampaging South Korean police and soldiers on Jan. 17, 1949, at the height of the revolt that cost the lives of nearly 30,000 people. It was long before the massacre, months before April 3, 1948, as the woman recalls, that U.S. soldiers visited Bukchon in search of her uncle in order to use his services as a translator. The village people were afraid of these "ko-koon nom," big-nosed people. The woman's mother shouted, "You can't take my child." The Americans, not finding the woman's uncle, unloaded laundry detergent and C-ration cans from their helicopter as gifts. The woman remembers the pork in some of the cans was quite delicious. More to the point, the encounter left her with the impression that these Americans, low ranking with little influence, were rather puzzled. They had no understanding of deeper issues and did not comprehend widespread fears of police and soldiers. Beside her, another woman about the same age recalled seeing Americans on the streets outside a small base near the island's southwestern coast. They sometimes handed out chocolate, much to her delight, she said, but that's about all she could remember about them. Above and beyond the village level, it would help to find answers to much broader questions about relations between Americans and Koreans. We know only that the U.S. military government was still in charge when the revolt broke out and that Major General William Dean, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, visited Jeju after 4.3. In the absence of any records of what he said, it's reasonable to suspect he encouraged the police and armed forces, under Korean command, to suppress signs of unrest. In the quest for more on what the Americans were doing or saying, we should be looking for other aging residents with long memories of ancient encounters, however incidental or isolated. The old women's stories, as told at the peace forum, may seem trivial but may also be emblematic of how the few American soldiers on the island saw their mission. High-ranking officers, however, may have had a different view. We need to learn about their interaction with people and to see archival evidence of whatever they were saying to their superiors as well as Korean authorities. We do know South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee, after taking over the newly independent government on Aug. 15, three years to the day after the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, was eager to show off his resolve as a new leader. In that spirit, he ordered his forces to crack down much more severely than they'd been doing during the American occupation. The result was the chain of events that led to the Bukchon massacre and many others. One regrettable aspect about historiography on Jeju is the revolt received virtually no coverage abroad or, for that matter, in the censored Korean media. We have heard that a correspondent for a Chicago newspaper may have written about the ongoing tragedy, but no one has seen his work. We have no idea if he was actually on the island. One well-known journalist, Keyes Beech, then based in Tokyo, covered both the Korean and Vietnam wars for the Chicago Daily News. That once-distinguished newspaper has long since gone out of business but should survive in libraries in Chicago. It would be useful for an enterprising researcher to go through these files, in microfilm or print, in search of whatever Beech may have written. (His daughter, Hannah Beech, based in Bangkok for The New York Times, might also have suggestions.) For that matter, the Chicago Tribune, for which I worked for five years as Far East and then U.N. correspondent, may have had a man in Japan at the time. That paper still publishes and may let a researcher check its files. As we pursue the history of 4.3, it is not enough to assume the Americans were complicit simply because the U.S. military government was in control until Aug. 15, 1948. The memories of two grandmothers are not only emotionally moving but also historically useful an intimation of much more to be gleaned from archival research and testimony. Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, author of "Okinawa and Jeju: Bases of Discontent," has visited Jeju many times. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Sunny, along with a few afternoon clouds. High 66F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Clear. Low near 50F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. A recovery ship hauls SpaceX's first Crew Dragon capsule out of the Atlantic Ocean after the spacecraft's splashdown on March 8, 2019. The capsule was destroyed April 20 during an abort system engine test. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule was indeed destroyed during engine tests that went awry last month, a company representative said today (May 2). On April 20, SpaceX conducted a series of tests on the vehicle which last month flew a successful uncrewed demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on a stand at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Firings of the capsule's small maneuvering Draco thrusters went according to plan, but things went south when the SpaceX team got ready to engage the SuperDraco abort engines, which are designed to rocket Crew Dragon away from danger in the event of a launch emergency. Related: SpaceX Dragon Accident a Bump in the Road for Commercial Crew "We fired them [the Dracos] in two sets each for 5 seconds, and that went very well," Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, told reporters today (May 2) during a press conference previewing the company's planned cargo launch to the ISS early tomorrow morning (May 3). "And then, just prior, before we wanted to fire the SuperDracos, there was an anomaly and the vehicle was destroyed." Acknowledgement of the capsule's loss confirms rampant speculation based on a leaked video that circulated via social media shortly after the accident. Koenigsmann declined to comment on the accuracy or origin of the video. It's too early to identify the cause of the mishap, which remains under investigation, Koenigsmann stressed. "But the initial data indicates that the anomaly occurred during the activation of the SuperDraco system," he said. Activation involves pressurizing the system, he explained: "You make sure everything's primed in you open valves, you close valves." The SpaceX team doesn't think the problem lies with the SuperDracos themselves, Koenigsmann said. The engines have endured more than 600 tests at the company's Texas facility, he noted, and performed well during a 2015 "pad abort" test. Before the April 20 anomaly, SpaceX had aimed to perform a "launch abort" test with this same Crew Dragon vehicle soon perhaps as early as June. That uncrewed jaunt will put the SuperDracos through their paces during an actual launch. Related: The Emergency Launch Abort Systems of SpaceX and Boeing Explained The next test after that will involve a different Crew Dragon capsule, which SpaceX will launch to the ISS with two NASA astronauts aboard. This mission, known as Demo-2, was targeted to occur as early as July. (Last month's uncrewed ISS mission was Demo-1.) Operational flights to the orbiting lab, which SpaceX will conduct under a $2.6 billion contract it signed with NASA in 2014, will follow. Both SpaceX and NASA had stated that they hoped this would happen by the end of the year. (Boeing has a similar commercial-crew deal, which it will fulfill using its CST-100 Starliner capsule and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets.) The accident puts all of these target dates in serious doubt, of course. But the investigation is still going on, so it's too soon to know just what the impact will be on Crew Dragon's flight schedule, Koenigsmann said. "I hope this a relatively swift investigation at the end of the day, and I don't want to completely preclude the current schedule," he said. "It's certainly not great news overall, but I hope we can recover [quickly]." A quick recovery is possible, Koenigsmann added, given that SpaceX does not have to start building a new Crew Dragon vehicle from scratch. The company already has multiple capsules in various stages of production, he said. Crew Dragon and its cargo cousin are very different vehicles; the robotic resupply vehicle does not have SuperDraco abort engines, for example (or seats, or windows, or a life-support system, and so on). But the April 20 accident has affected the upcoming cargo flight to the ISS. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch cargo Dragon tomorrow morning had been scheduled to come back to Earth at Landing Zone-1 (LZ-1), a SpaceX facility at Cape Canaveral. But it will now land at sea , on one of SpaceX's robotic "drone ships." That's because LZ-1 is close to the test stand where the explosion occurred, and the investigation teams want to maintain the integrity of the accident scene. In addition, certain areas of the test site remain off-limits. "We can get back to the site right now overall," Koenigsmann said. "But we can't get close to some of the to the test stand, basically, on Dragon itself. So, there are still some safety precautions right now for certain areas that we can't get to." A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the company's robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station on Aug. 14, 2017. This same Dragon is scheduled to launch on another resupply run early Friday (May 3). Update for 3:11 a.m. EDT: SpaceX postponed the Friday launch Dragon cargo launch to the International Space Station for NASA due to an issue with the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, where the first stage of the mission's Falcon 9 rocket was to land after this morning's liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The next launch attempt will be Saturday, May 4, at 2:48 a.m. EDT (0648 GMT). Original story: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. SpaceX is preparing to launch its next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). At 3:11 a.m. EDT (0711 GMT) on Friday (May 3), a shiny new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take to the skies here from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, lofting a robotic Dragon cargo capsule carrying more than 5,500 lbs. (2,495 kilograms) of fresh supplies, experiment hardware and other gear for the astronauts aboard the orbiting lab. You can watch the launch live here at Space.com , courtesy of NASA. You can also watch directly via NASA TV or SpaceX . NASA's webcast will begin Friday at 2:45 a.m. EDT 0645 GMT). SpaceX's webcast will begin about 20 minutes before liftoff. Related: How SpaceX's Dragon Space Capsule Works (Infographic) The launch was originally slated to happen on April 26 and has been delayed several times. The latest delay, which saw the launch slip from May 1 to May 3, resulted from a power issue on the space station. NASA officials explained today (March 2) during a prelaunch news conference that, thanks to some diligent robotic work, the power issues on the ISS have been remedied. "Station is in good shape now to support the CRS-17 launch," said Kenny Todd, NASA's manager of space station operations and integration. The mission is SpaceX's 17th of 20 commissioned by NASA under the agency's first Commercial Resupply Services contract. The California-based aerospace company also has a commercial-crew deal with NASA, in which the company will transport astronauts to and from the ISS aboard a crewed version of the Dragon spacecraft. Crew Dragon already has one mission under its belt, acing a test flight to the ISS last month. The mission, dubbed Demo-1 , lasted for just six days and demonstrated the capsule's ability to dock to (and undock from) the space station. The next flight of a Crew Dragon capsule, Demo-2, will carry two NASA astronauts to the space station and back. That mission was originally expected to lift off sometime this summer; however, those plans are on indefinite hold as SpaceX and NASA investigate an April 20 engine-test mishap that destroyed a Crew Dragon capsule . Twelve days ago, orange smoke was spotted wafting over SpaceX's test facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. An unofficial video posted to Twitter soon after appeared to show the capsule exploding. Both SpaceX and NASA have remained quiet in the intervening days, but Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of flight reliability for SpaceX, divulged new information during today's prelaunch briefing at Kennedy Space Center. Koenigsmann explained that it's still very early in the investigation and that there's an abundance of data to review. He said that the smaller Draco thrusters the vehicle relies on powered up just fine. (These are the same thrusters used by Cargo Dragon.) But just before the SuperDracos special engines embedded in the craft's hull that pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency were fired, something went wrong and the vehicle exploded. Despite both being called "Dragon spacecraft," the Crew and Cargo variants are entirely different vehicles. One major difference is that the cargo spacecraft lacks the SuperDraco abort engines. This aligns with NASA's resupply plans and helps explain why the space agency greenlighted the capsule to fly despite the ongoing investigation with the crewed counterpart. In addition, the capsule scheduled to fly tomorrow morning has already been to space and back before, previously flying on CRS-12 in August 2017. But the accident has affected where SpaceX plans to land its first-stage Falcon 9 booster. That first stage was originally supposed to touch down on solid ground at SpaceX's Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral. However, due to that spot's close proximity to the testing facilities that hosted the Crew Dragon two short weeks ago, SpaceX has had to make other arrangements. The company announced via email on May 2 that it intended to land the booster on one of two SpaceX drone ships, something it has done 24 times before. Only this time, the drone ship will be positioned just 12 miles (20 kilometers) offshore from SpaceX's Cape Canaveral facilities. This means there's a good chance that watchers on Florida's Space Coast will not only see the landing, but may hear it as well; sonic booms could crackle across the sky when the booster reenters the atmosphere. The launch could face more delays; the weather forecast for tomorrow's launch attempt does not look favorable. Officials from the Air Force's 45th Space Wing said that an area of disturbed weather over the Bahamas is threatening the Space Coast with rain. If the launch does get delayed, a backup attempt should happen Saturday (May 4) at 2:48 a.m. EDT (0648 GMT). However, if the launch delays past that, the next attempt will be no earlier than May 12 or May 13, Todd said today. If Dragon launches as planned, it will arrive at the space station on May 5, where it will be captured by the station's robotic arm at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) and installed 2 hours later. Dragon will remain attached to the station until about May 31. At that time, the craft will journey back to Earth, carrying 2,269 lbs. (1,029 kg) of experiments. Editor's note: Visit Space.com early Friday, May 3, for complete coverage of the SpaceX CRS-17 Dragon cargo mission. Giving Birth in India 'The Women Here Are Afraid' Every year, 32,000 women in India die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth. To reduce that number, the government plans to begin training midwives. A visit to a maternity ward in Hyderabad shows the difference they can make. New York, April 30, 2019 (SPS) - The Security Council extended by six months, until 31 October 2019, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), reiterating the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. With 13 votes in favor (and two abstentions Russia and South Africa), the Security Council adopted a draft resolution calling on the parties to the conflict, namely the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, to resume negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations without pre-conditions and in good faith. As it was expected, South Africa and Russia refrained from voting the draft resolution presented by the United States, dubbing unbalanced the text. Speaking following the adoption of the resolution, Russias representative said that it is not wise to create an artificial controversy concerning the renewal of this mission or to judge what direction to give to the political process initiated by the United Nations. South Africa, which reaffirmed its clear and firm support to the MINURSO, underlined that this mission was mainly created to facilitate the holding of a referendum in Western Sahara. Speaking following the adoption, the South African representative pointed out that several elements contained in this resolution worry its delegation. SPS 125/090/700 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." Suh Jung-sik, left, who heads Hyundai Motor's ICT department, shakes hands with SAP Korea CEO Lee Seong-yeol after signing a partnership on cloud-based innovation on March 27. / Courtesy of SAP By Jun Ji-hye Hyundai Motor has decided to wrap up its contract with Oracle over database management and software maintenance, the latest move to reduce its dependence on the U.S. computer technology firm, company officials said, Thursday. The move is apparently aimed at reducing expenses in digital transformation, according to the officials. Korea's largest automaker plans to change their contractor for the software maintenance of its database management, selecting Rimini Street as a preferred bidder. Oracle Korea has so far provided Hyundai Motor with software maintenance, which refers to services providing upgrades and security patches. The company has received about 20 percent of software prices as maintenance costs from its clients, according to sources. Rimini Street has reportedly told Hyundai Motor it is capable of offering the same services at lower rates. In March, Hyundai Motor also decided to change their database management system provider for the firm's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Oracle to SAP. The decision was part of the automaker's efforts to adopt a cloud-based ERP system for the first time among car makers here. The firm plans to complete the establishment of the next-generation ERP system in 2026. "We have changed database and software maintenance service providers to respond better to the changing environment," a Hyundai Motor official said. "What we need is constantly changing." Besides Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics also decided to change from Oracle to SAP, pushing to carry out the next-generation ERP project. The two conglomerates' move will likely affect other companies, sources said. "A variety of products and services have begun to appear, meaning companies now have large variety of choice," a source said. Following the decisions of Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics, concerns have grown that sales of Oracle Korea could take a hit as the computer technology company makes profits from selling products and offering software maintenance services. An Oracle Korea official rebuffed concerns, saying the firm has been actively operating a variety of businesses. "Currently, we focus our efforts on cloud business and plan to open a data center at the earliest possible date," he said. "More clients are expected to use Oracle's cloud services." But Oracle Korea faces the hard task of resolving deteriorating labor-management relations and improving its performance amid leadership vacuum. Kim Hyung-rae, who was a CEO of Oracle Korea since 2014, abruptly quit the company in March, allegedly due to his failure to manage labor-related issues and boost business performance. Sources said the fate of the company would depend on how well a new CEO can play their role. 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 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 News 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. This story originally ran May 1, 2019. It has since been awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Americans dislike abstraction in their daily lives. are slow workers and have fat fingers. live in a culture where children are showered with encouragement, leading to overconfidence. These are just some of the beliefs about Americans that Chinese supervisors hilariously and alarmingly feed to their Chinese workers. The odd thing is that those briefings arent taking place in China but in the American heartland: Dayton, Ohio. Related: Alibaba's Billionaire Founder Jack Ma Says Companies Forcing Staff to Work Overtime Are 'Foolish' So begins American Factory, the intriguing new Tribeca Film Festival documentary (and upcoming Netflix offering) which had its New York premiere on April 26 and was one of five festival films curated by four New York-based film critics. The story: In 2015, Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Glass America, arrived in Dayton to check out the construction and hiring progress for the U.S. branch of his world-leading automobile-glass company, on the site of a shuttered GM plant. He was attempting to do the seemingly impossible: put Chinese workers to work alongside American workers and meld their two dramatically different cultures. As filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert show, even well-meaning Chairman Cao seemed a tad gob-smacked two years into his bold experiment. Here, after all, were American workers insisting on limiting themselves to an eight-hour workday; holding an election to consider inviting in the UAW union; and pressuring the company for a rigorously safe factory environment (1,200-degree glass furnaces and the very breakable product they produce being dangerous to human health.) Are the struggles revealed in the film cause for alarm for American entrepreneurs working with or considering partnering with the Chinese companies? Were not making a promotional film to promote working with China or not working with China, Steven Bognar told Entrepreneur following last weeks screening and Q&A. Were not trying to make a scary movie," Bognar continued. "Were trying to make a movie about how hard it is. It wasnt easy when the Japanese set up factories here, either, but there are ways you can build bridges or decide not to build bridges." In the film, executive-produced by Jeff Skoll, Participant Media's founder (and eBay's first president), we view an initially hopeful scene: Hundreds of workers are being promised new jobs, having been laid off by GM in 2008 ( a devastating event which Bognar and Reichert chronicled in their Oscar-nominated film The Last Truck). In 2015, this sudden new influx of jobs, designed to revive that Rust Belt city from its long economic nightmare, are far better than those at the Payless distribution center or at McDonald's. That's why new energy and optimism abound at first in this Ohio city, which once had more automobile manufacturing than any metropolis outside Detroit. No wonder Chairman Cao wants to document his great project: "The important thing is how this will change the American view of China," Cao says in the film. Bognar-Reichert were natural choices to be the filmmakers, but they insisted on and got editorial control. "He's kind of a maverick," Reichert said of the chairman during the Q&A. "It wasn't as though many American CEOs would allow filmmakers to be in their plant for three years." GM, she commented dryly, had allowed the filmmakers into its former Dayton plant for a grand total of 20 minutes. Bognar echoed this upbeat view of Cao, saying "He believes in transparency." That is apropos for a glass manufacturer but it also allowed for amazing insights into the lives of the workers the filmmakers profiled during the factory's first three years. Among them were: Wong He, a 20-year veteran furnace engineer at Fuyao China who has been brought to Dayton for a difficult two years away from his young family. In Dayton, he lives with four other Chinese men. During the day he's so attuned to working that his "lunch" consists of a packet of Twinkies. Rob Haerr, a furnace supervisor who invites his Chinese co-workers to his country home for an American Thanksgiving, where the men dine on turkey, try out Haerr's Harley and practice target-shooting using his twin revolvers. Jill Lamantia, a forklift operator, who was economically felled by the 2008 layoff and recession, but is able, thanks to her new Fuyao job, to move out of her sister's basement. Delight turns to disenchantment, however; and Lamantia becomes a union supporter and is fired for it. John Crane, a safety manager at Fuyao who grows frustrated at the safety issues at Fuyao and at being forced to lie to Fuyao's automotive company clients. He eventually resigns. Image Credit: Fuyao Glass America | Facebook Culture clash among workers Things quickly went south at the Dayton plant. "All the Chinese workers were so loyal to the company," Lulu Men, a Chinese field producer for the film, said during the Q&A. "They had this culture of having been trained to dedicate their lives to the company. The difference is, Chinese culture is all about unity, and the American [culture] is about individuality. So I think that made a huge difference, and a culture clash." Serious injuries proliferated. OSHA fines were levied. American supervisors were replaced by Chinese. The American workers complained about being forced to train off the clock and about their wages -- pre-treatment inspector Shawnea Rosser tells the filmmakers she used to make $29-plus an hour at GM; at Fuyao, she says, her wage is $12.84. The Chinese workers also complain; their American workers are heading home after eight hours while they work 10 and 12 hours and come in weekends, they say. "I think they are hostile to the Chinese," Chairman Cao tells his board members, noting a $40 million loss in the plant's first months of operation. Another overall difference: "Workers in China are given orders, and they tackle them," Reichert says in the film's production notes. "Here in the U.S., workers want to know why they're being asked to do something; they also expect there will be some praise." More happily, the film chronicles a big Chinese New Year's party at Fuyao's Chinese headquarters in Fujian Province, to which about a dozen U.S. supervisors are invited. These scenes in the film are somewhat comic to Western eyes: big-bellied Midwestern white men towering over their Chinese bosses. Chinese workers lining up for their morning check-in, in military formation, and singing out motivational company slogans ("To stand still is to fall back.") Meanwhile, the party itself is an over-the-top three hours of garish costumes, fervent songs about the company's "blessings" and even a wedding of five employee-couples. "We're one big planet. A world somewhat divided but one," a teary-eyed U.S. supervisor says to the camera late in the alcohol-fueled evening. But back in Dayton, there is no partying. Workers are unhappy ("Everybody is upset in their own language and everybody just walks away," Lamantia, the forklift operator, says.) The workers set an election to try to bring the union in. The company, for its part, is not amused, spending $1.25 million to hire the Labor Relations Institute (its motto: "Winning NLRB elections for almost four decades") to dissuade a "yes" vote. Ultimately, the union is rejected, 868-444, but its supporters are fired -- an illegal action in the United States, Reichert says, but hardly an uncommon one. The film ends with flows of workers, Americans and Chinese alike, entering and leaving their shifts. Added in are voiceovers by workers -- with comments like, "We're never going to make that kind of [GM] money again," versus, "I believe in the American Dream; we can't give up on that." Back in China, Chairman Cao is also filmed, making the extraordinary statement that when he looks back on his life's journey from intense poverty and the Cultural Revolution to today's capitalism, he asks himself, "Am I a criminal or a contributor?" Related: China Blocks Microsoft's Bing, Despite Offering Censored Search "One thing we tried to do is not root this film in Midwestern unease about China," Bognar said at the Q&A. "I think China is a miracle in many ways: Millions of people are no longer in poverty because of this amazing last 30 years. So we hope this movie sparks conversations and gets people talking about these issues, with the hope that they'll focus on people, whether they're Chinese or American. "Is this global hypercapitalism sustainable?" Bognar continued, repeating the question he asked himself throughout production. "And what is the impact on the environment and working people?" Related: Academy Award-Winning Documentary Examines a Chinese Factory in the Heart of America Five Facts Every Businessman Should Know About China How Indian Startups Are Grabbing A Larger Slice of Chinese Investments Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved DECATUR, Ga. - In a quiet suite of offices above a bank in this eastern Atlanta suburb, Democrat Stacey Abrams's newest venture is quickly taking shape. With her decision this week not to run for U.S. Senate, Abrams is directing her political energy squarely into promoting voting rights, the cause that helped propel her unsuccessful bid in Georgia last year to be the nation's first African American female governor and made her a star in national Democratic circles. Abrams's command center is now Fair Fight Action, a nonprofit she formed in December to increase access to elections and combat what she describes as Republicans' systemic efforts to suppress voters of color. The organization, where at least four former campaign aides work, has already filed a federal lawsuit over the election, lobbied for legislative reform and released videos featuring Abrams. If the group is successful, it could help further boost the ranks of voters of color in Georgia, a state that saw a record turnout of 1.9 million Democrats last year, when Abrams narrowly lost the governor's race to Republican Brian Kemp. That could also bolster Democratic fortunes in 2020 - as well as Abrams personally if she decides to challenge Kemp to a rematch two years after that. Abrams's emergence as the champion of one of the left's central issues heading into a presidential election year reflects a rapid political climb during which she has deeply intertwined her voting advocacy with her own political career, a coupling that has drawn criticism at times. Abrams, 45, likes to say that she won in November even though Kemp assumed office, and although the statement has earned jeers from conservative critics, it is true that her national profile has surged since then. Since her loss, Abrams has delivered the Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union address, traveled the country and the liberal talk-show circuit promoting her book, "Lead from the Outside," and met with dozens of influential Democrats about her future, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who urged her to run for the Senate. Others have asked her to throw her name into the crowded field of Democrats seeking to challenge President Donald Trump, a notion she has so far not ruled out. At every stop, the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives has pressed the issue that helped ignite her rise in her home state. "Our democracy is under attack," Abrams told Stephen Colbert on his late-night program in April, one of a series of national appearances she has made this year promoting Fair Fight Action as well as her book. "We have to stop voter suppression. It is real. It is pervasive. And it will destroy America if we don't stop it." Last fall, the governor's race in Georgia was roiled by reports that thousands of voter registration applications had been rejected under a strict policy, championed by Kemp, then secretary of state, that required every detail of the application, down to the middle initial, to exactly match other government records. Most rejected applications came from voters of color. Abrams decried the policy as a form of voter suppression. Concerns about voter access intensified when local election officials began rejecting absentee ballots for signature discrepancies, missing addresses or incorrect birth years. And on Election Day, widespread reports of long lines, inadequate equipment and reduced numbers of polling locations sparked additional charges of voter suppression. After Abrams lost by less than two percentage points, Fair Fight and other plaintiffs sued the Georgia secretary of state. They argued that Georgia has restricted access to voting with voter-roll purges, voter ID requirements, proof of citizenship requirements and curtailment of polling locations and hours. All these actions, the suit argues, erect barriers to voting, particularly among people of color. If Fair Fight prevails, Georgia could be limited in the kinds of voting restrictions it can enact - and similar lawsuits could be launched in other states. A spokesman for Kemp did not respond to requests for comment. But other Republicans have accused Abrams of lobbing racially polarizing accusations without evidence of intentional voter suppression. "There is zero evidence to back up those claims in Georgia," said GOP strategist Brian Robinson, who worked for one of Kemp's primary opponents last year, Casey Cagle. "We had record turnout. How in the world can we have presidential-level turnout in a midterm and the story line coming out of it that is swallowed hook, line and sinker by the media is that we had voter suppression?" Others say the higher turnout doesn't diminish the number of irregularities - meaning there is plenty of room for further reforms to allow for higher registration. A bigger question, they said, is how Abrams can maintain her public profile if she's not running for office. "You've got to have your name out, and in a positive way," said Buddy Darden, a former Democratic congressman who supported Abrams's primary opponent last year but went on to vote for Abrams. For its part, Fair Fight is showcasing Abrams as she contemplates her next political move. The nonprofit coordinated State of the Union watch parties and published videos and Facebook ads about Abrams with the feel of campaign spots. One such video on the organization's homepage is called "Stacey Abrams Highlight Reel." It is unclear who is funding the group, which is not required under tax law to publicly disclose its contributors. Fair Fight officials declined to identify its donors. Abrams declined a request for an interview. The conservative watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, or FACT, filed an IRS complaint in March accusing the group of abusing tax laws to advance Abrams's political career. Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight Action's chief executive - and Abrams's campaign manager last year - dismissed the accusation, noting that the charge was coming from a group once led by Matthew G. Whitaker, President Trump's onetime acting attorney general. Groh-Wargo said Fair Fight Action's voting advocacy is its primary activity. Abrams's public debut as an activist came with a speech on the Mall in 1993, on the 30th anniversary of the March on Washington led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "I come to you as a young person, as a young woman, as a young, black woman, to ask you to pave a road that will last forever," Abrams, then 19 and a junior at Spelman College in Atlanta, said with the same fierce speaking style she uses now. The second of six siblings, Abrams was also informed by her parents' experience coming of age in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. Both were involved in the civil rights movement from early ages; her father was arrested when he was 16 while helping register people to vote. As Abrams told Elle magazine last September: "My mom would take us with her to vote. She wanted us to see the act of casting a ballot and understand it was a sacred right." Abrams has zigzagged her way from Mississippi to the national stage, earning a law degree from Yale, practicing tax law and serving as a deputy city attorney in Atlanta before filling a state House seat in 2007. She has launched private businesses - including a smartphone app that helps families stay connected and a line of bottled water for babies - and has written African American-focused romance novels under the nom de plume Selena Montgomery, with titles including "Deception" and "Reckless." She launched her first nonprofit, Third Sector Development, in 1998, to provide technical assistance to community organizations in southern states. She was 25 at the time. From many of her experiences, Abrams has drawn lessons on race and equality. In her new book, "Lead from the Outside," she recalls her sense of not belonging while at a summer program for gifted high schoolers in Ithaca, N.Y., and describes with frustration that bookstores tend to shelve her novels with black literature rather than with other romance writers. Allies say they saw Abrams more as a consensus builder - and tax policy wonk - than a partisan combatant during her years in the legislature. That profile changed somewhat in 2014, when Abrams launched a voter-registration drive while she was minority leader of the Georgia House - the first African American woman to serve in that position. Called New Georgia Project, the organization set out to register tens of thousands of Georgians who are part of what Abrams and others call the New American Majority - primarily young people and people of color who vote in lower numbers than older and white voters. It drew funding from billionaire George Soros and his son Alexander, Abrams has said. It was a venture steeped in Abrams's stated vision for equality and racial justice, a vehicle for her own political ambitions - and a shot across the bow of Republicans whose hold on power in red Georgia was growing less firm. Like Fair Fight, the group also drew attacks from partisan critics. The secretary of state at the time, Kemp, opened an investigation into New Georgia Project regarding alleged registration fraud - launching a battle of bitter, public accusations between Kemp and Abrams that would endure through their matchup in the governor's race last year. Kemp's investigation found no wrongdoing by the group but referred about 50 registration applications to the state attorney general for possible forgery. No charges have resulted so far. Nse Ufot, the current head of New Georgia Project, said that because the group was required to turn in all applications it collected to the secretary of state, those that had missing information or questionable signatures ended up being submitted. Separately, New Georgia Project has been dogged by questions about its impact. Although Abrams had pledged to register 120,000 new voters that first year, ultimately the group claimed to have registered 86,000, with only 49,000 showing up on the rolls, according to officials with the group. The organization has declined to show evidence of its registration work. Overall voter participation actually declined in Georgia between 2010 and 2014, but Groh-Wargo, who worked at New Georgia Project with Abrams in 2014, said that their work coincided with a purge of the voter rolls that masked their impact. Groh-Wargo said one of New Georgia Project's biggest successes was its discovery of the state's "exact match" policy, which had led to the tossing of voter registration applications. After a federal court threw out the policy, GOP lawmakers passed a law reinstating the practice. "It was transformational, in that we learned how flawed the registration system was in Georgia," Groh-Wargo said. In addition to Fair Fight, Abrams also leads a nonprofit called Fair Count, which she established this year to advocate for a thorough count of all Georgia residents in next year's census. Former campaign aides hold key positions in both organizations. Groh-Wargo started with Abrams at New Georgia Project, became her campaign manager last year and is now the CEO of Fair Fight Action. In addition, Abrams's spokeswoman from last year's campaign, Caitlin Highland, works for Fair Fight. So does Seth Bringman, who served last year as a spokesman for the Georgia Democratic Party. Rebecca DeHart, the past executive director of the Georgia Democratic Party, is Fair Count's CEO. Abrams's sister, Jeanine Abrams McLean, a longtime population researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the group's program director. Fair Count began in 1998 under another name: Third Sector Development, the group Abrams formed to provide technical assistance to community organizations in Southern states. Fair Fight Action also got its start as a different organization that Abrams founded years ago, called Voter Access Institute. When Abrams changed the name in December, she also adjusted the group's articles of incorporation to allow it to participate in political activity. Abrams's closest aides say they don't know what she will do next. But the pressure to run for office - and the rumors about what she might run for - have been ever-present in recent weeks, including Schumer's plea that she run for the Senate and a report that former Vice President Joe Biden was eyeing Abrams as a possible running mate should he win the Democratic presidential nomination. Abrams seemed to suggest something other than an immediate run for office in the video she posted this week announcing her decision not to run for the Senate. "Over the coming weeks, you'll be hearing more from me and my team about groundbreaking initiatives to protect the right to vote and to increase the participation of Americans in setting the course for Georgia and the future of our country." - - - The Washington Post's Alice Crites and Julie Tate contributed to this report Health officials on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia have quarantined a cruise ship after discovering a case of measles on board, the country's top doctor said Tuesday. Authorities confirmed the case on Tuesday morning, said Dr. Merlene Fredericks James, St. Lucia's chief medical officer. The vessel was locked down later that day, an attempt to stymie any potential spread of the highly contagious disease that's sickening people in the United States at a record pace, fueled by anti-vaccination misinformation. "No one was allowed to leave the ship," Fredericks James said in a statement. "Because of the risk of potential infection, not just from the confirmed measles case but from other persons who may be on the boat at the time, we thought it prudent to make a decision not to allow anyone to disembark." The island has avoided an outbreak of the disease locally since 1990, the acting national epidemiologist, Dr. Michelle Francois, said in another statement. But as measles cases continue to surge in the United States and other areas with tourism ties to St. Lucia, residents have been bracing themselves, fearing the virus could find its way there aboard plane or boat. Nearly 300 passengers are currently on the quarantined ship, and the confirmed case was found in a female crew member, NBC News reported. Health officials did not identify the cruise ship, but a sergeant with the St. Lucia Coast Guard told NBC that the vessel is "Freewinds," the 440-foot boat owned by the Church of Scientology. Representatives of the Church of Scientology did not respond to requests for comment. The ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com shows a Freewinds - the only passenger ship it has on record by that name - docked at a St. Lucia port. Photographs of the craft there appear to match those on Scientology's website. The controversial religious organization calls the Freewinds "a very special place." For a Scientologist, boarding the ship is "the most significant spiritual accomplishment of his lifetime and brings with it the full realization of his immortality." A video tour of the glitzy ship, posted to Scientology's YouTube page in 2013, promises a "distraction-free environment for ministering the highest level of spiritual counseling available in the Scientology religion" - so-called "auditing," which involves a crude lie detector device and the revealing of one's deepest, most intimate secrets and fears. In an interview with the website Beliefnet, Scientology Rev. John Carmichael said the organization has no official rules about vaccinations. "Scientologists are pretty independent people, though I will say this: they tend to do a little more research, perhaps, on the effect of various medical procedures or whatever," Carmichael said. "They make their own decisions, but those aren't decisions that the church tries to influence in any way." However, the Hollywood Reporter has written that "a notable number of the highest-profile immunization dissenters are Scientologists" who have helped "inflame the vaccine wars." As measles - and the fear of it - has spread, quarantines and scares have become increasingly common. Last week, hundreds of students, staff and faculty at two California universities were quarantined after officials learned they may have been exposed to the disease on campus. The orders in St. Lucia and California, as well as other urgent public health measures in New York and across the United States, come as the number of cases in the country has hit a 25-year high. This year, more than 700 people have been infected - the highest number of cases since measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Our nation was fortunate to have Richard Lugar, who died Sunday at 87, as a public servant. I was fortunate that he was my trusted friend. Dick began his Senate career representing Indiana in 1977, at a time when our politics and our nation could have come apart. Over the previous four years, we'd had three presidents and four vice presidents, a presidential resignation, the installation of two vice presidents via the never-before-used 25th Amendment, and a close 1976 presidential election. Despite this turmoil, Dick set a new example of civility, working across party lines and helping to heal our divisions, while underscoring the essential role of Congress in advancing our nation's interests around the world. After 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 didn't 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. The "Nunn-Lugar" program deactivated more than 7,600 nuclear warheads and destroyed more than 2,600 nuclear missiles and their launchers. It also eliminated more than 4,100 metric tons of chemical weapons and secured dozens of Soviet-era weapons facilities, as well as weapons-usable nuclear materials. Three nations - Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan - gave up their nuclear arsenals, voluntarily removing their fingers from the nuclear trigger. None of this would have happened without Dick Lugar. Dick brought the same energy and focus to other critical issues, and his accomplishments were equally impressive. During the Reagan era, he played a pivotal role in ending apartheid and advancing peace and democracy in South Africa and the Philippines, preserving and ultimately improving relationships that remain crucial to our security in Africa and the Pacific. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, he worked across the aisle to sustain school lunches for America's children and food for Americans most in need, while strengthening the ability of U.S. farmers to compete overseas. Less known but equally important was his work to create opportunities for women and minorities. The secret to Dick's success was his rare ability to combine strong conviction with a practical eye toward achieving results. Dick knew that a representative in Congress was elected not simply to preach his principles but also to apply them toward improving the general welfare of both his constituents and the nation, consistent with the oath of office to preserve and protect our Constitution. In our democracy, getting important things done inevitably requires a coalition built by working with a diverse group of colleagues, most of whom arrive in Congress with passionate convictions. Dick worked in good faith with Republicans and Democrats, earning respect and trust for his grasp of detail and ability to find common ground. There are some who believe Dick Lugar's defeat in 2012 marked the end of an era; I don't agree, and I know Dick wouldn't, either. Yes, our politics have grown darker since 2012, but it is becoming more apparent to more people how costly this has become in terms of hindering the United States' ability to effectively meet our challenges, both at home and abroad. The only way to successfully address critical issues in our country - reducing both security and climate threats, closing the income gap, expanding access to health care while reducing runaway costs, coming to grips with the dark side of new technologies - is by building political coalitions across party lines and treating our colleagues with dignity, civility and respect. This was the "Lugar Way." If we are to bind our nation more closely at home and make our nation more secure abroad, we must learn from his example. - - - Nunn, a Democrat, represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 1972 to 1997. The following editorial appears on Bloomberg Opinion: If there's one thing the huge (and growing) field of Democratic presidential aspirants largely agrees on, it's that the U.S. ought to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. This week, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke became the latest to join the chorus. Unfortunately, going down this path would be a big mistake - and a missed opportunity. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal was negotiated by President Barack Obama's administration and agreed to by Iran and six world powers in 2015. In essence, it sought to impose a 25-year quarantine on the Islamic Republic's ability to develop nuclear weapons. Last year, President Donald Trump unilaterally terminated the agreement. Although Trump's decision was rash, it wasn't wrong. The deal was fatally flawed. Even as it was being negotiated, critics in the Middle East and beyond complained that the Obama administration was ignoring Iran's destabilizing activities in the region. They feared the regime would use the political cover provided by the JCPOA to step up its threatening behavior. They were right. Since the deal, Iran has only grown more belligerent. In Syria, it has helped President Bashar Assad slaughter his own citizens. In Lebanon and Palestine, Iraq and Yemen, it has continued to arm brutal proxy fighters. It has only intensified its pursuit of ballistic-missile technology and its cyberattacks against the U.S. If an agreement limited to nuclear weapons was too narrow in 2015, Iran's actions since have made such a deal entirely insufficient. With Trump's policies doing little to curtail this behavior, Democratic candidates should seize the opportunity to push for a new deal. Rather than merely bringing the U.S. back into the JCPOA, they should insist on a broader, genuinely comprehensive bargain that fixes the defects in the original and takes into account Iran's recent aggression. A new deal should require Iran to forswear not only nuclear weapons, but also missiles capable of carrying them. It should demand that the regime cease its other threatening activities in the region and allow for more intrusive and aggressive monitoring than that stipulated in the original agreement. It should also spell out tough sanctions that Iran would incur if it strays from the terms. Iran's incentives to reopen talks, meanwhile, would be the same as those that informed its decision to come to the table in 2015: to end decades of near-isolation, escape the shackles of economic sanctions, and finally build a nation that can live up to the potential of its people. The regime might reasonably argue that Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA makes such agreements moot. That objection can best be overcome by fixing another of the old deal's weaknesses: It was an executive agreement, rather than a formal treaty. The presidential candidates should commit to submitting any new bargain to Congress for ratification, thereby forestalling Iran's skepticism about its durability. Since Trump's policies have shown no signs of working, it surely makes sense for presidential candidates to signal a renewed openness to talks with Iran. But they should also recognize that the Islamic Republic's actions have changed the facts on the ground, making a simple return to the terms of 2015 impossible. MAN Truck & Bus CEO Joachim Drees speaks during a press conference at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotel, Thursday. Courtesy of Man Truck & Bus Korea By Nam Hyun-woo MAN Truck & Bus CEO Joachim Drees apologized Thursday for "quality problems" raised by Korean customers over the past year, and introduced a 1 million kilometer warranty program for its trucks with engines meeting Euro 6 standards. "Korea is a growing market, despite the current market challenges we see, and I can promise we have a long-term focus on Korea and will continue investment in the country," Drees said during a press conference at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotel. "I want to apologize truly for the inconvenience some customers have been facing. I want to say our engineering and production teams will work harder to implement all improvements to keep our customers satisfied." Drees' visit and apology came after a slew of MAN truck owners in Korea have staged protests over the company's trucks, claiming critical defects in its engines and initial design throughout last year. They claimed the engines of their trucks rust, brakes get "softened" and the gears "automatically" shift into neutral while driving. Citing these issues, the owners pursued multiple class-action suits against the company demanding compensation. Upon their protests, MAN Truck & Bus Korea (MTBK) launched a voluntary recall last December on 1,195 dump trucks containing defects in their gearing system, but did not acknowledge that its trucks have defects. Such a stance continued in the press conference. Drees gave an apology on behalf of the company for the quality issues but said "MAN brand has the best service and industry-leading reliability." MTBK CEO Max Burger also said the gearbox issue has been fixed after software updates and no customers have raised the issue since. An MTBK official said "no product can be perfect unless both manufacturers and consumers provide proper care, and we are providing the 1 million kilometer warranty because we are so sure about the quality of our product." During the press conference, Drees said the German headquarters brought in the warranty program to reassure customers of the company's commitment to the Korean market. The program will offer "free" services for customers of its trucks with Euro 6-qualified engines until they drive for seven years or 1 million kilometers. To benefit from the program, however, customers had to purchase a "Profit Check" membership which offers "various maintenance services at attractive prices." MTBK has been providing warranties for power train issues for three years or 450,000 kilometers. Drees added the company is looking forward to introducing electric buses and trucks in Korea, but it has yet to determine the timeframe because of domestic regulations and road conditions. U S activist investor Edward Bramson on Thursday admitted defeat in his bid to get a seat on the board of Barclays before his showdown with the bank at its annual meeting had even begun. Early signs were that he had spectacularly failed in his bid to shake up Barclays and slash back the historic British lenders investment bank. We know we havent won the majority of the vote, Bramson said outside the banks meeting at the QEII centre in Westminster. He said it was premature to discuss his next move. The secretive Bramson had built a stake in Barclays of 5.5% via his Sherborne investment vehicle. Though the exact numbers had not been released by the time the Standard went to press, early soundings from investors suggest he fell a long way short of the 50% target he needed for investors to back him. Some said he got as little as 10% backing from investors, including his own 5.5%. The defeat marks humiliation for Bramson, who had sought to overturn a strategy put in place by chief executive Jes Staley. Bramson thought Barclays investment banking operations were a drain on capital and sought a place on the board to push his case. But Barclays argues that the investment bank was beating Wall Street rivals and remains a vital part of the banks future success. Investors had already been openly sceptical of Bramson, while offering some support for his basic idea. David Cumming at Aviva Investors earlier said: We have some sympathy with the concerns hes raised mainly around the performance of the investment bank and cost control. The issue we have is that hes been pretty successful in terms of critiquing aspects of Barclays performance, but hasnt really offered a credible alternative strategy. The board had strongly opposed Bramsons appointment and his own investors may question the 7 million he has been paid in management fees to orchestrate the shake-up of Barclays. The shares rose 2p today to 166p, still well below his 190p buy-in price. One observer said: He worked at this for months and he just lost by miles. B rexit is threatening Londons title as Europes tech capital as confidence and investment dries up, a poll has shown. According to trade body Tech London Advocates whose luminaries include Martha Lane Fox, Saul Klein and Nicola Mendelsohn 87% of tech firms believe Brexit has tarnished Londons global reputation for doing business and 39% say it has become harder to access capital in the City since the vote. Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, said: I went to China in March and investors are confused about what is going on. They asked me should we be focusing more on Europe and not just the UK. I get the same response in the US. To make matters worse 1 in 4 firms polled reported that they had lost out on investment as a direct result of Brexit. Rosario DiDio, chief executive at start-up EcoSync, said it had recently pitched to a large German venture capital firm, but just as the process was about to reach the due diligence stage for a 300,000 investment the Germans pulled the plug. DiDio added: They said they did not want to pursue the opportunity as they did not know what trade barriers would exist come October. The indecision caused by Brexit left us in a ridiculous position. The damning poll shows the damage Brexit has had on the Capitals tech scene, with many in the sector believing the problems will only become worse as the process is delayed. Figures from London and Partners show venture capital funding in London slowed in 2018 to 1.8 billion from 2.53 billion 2017. Stats also reveal that 48,000 tech jobs in the Capital are currently unfulfilled, up from 30,000 two years ago, as foreign workers have decided to return home, while highly skilled Europeans are choosing Berlin and Paris as their favoured destinations to take employment. W hen the pensioners and other savers who bought 237 million of bonds from London Capital & Finance made their decision to invest, they were told their money would be put to work lending to large numbers of small and medium-sized companies. Few can have guessed significant sums would be used on loans to buy horses for the artistocratic sport of eventing. But that is what happened. A total of 12 million went in loans to stables in the moneyed Sussex countryside. Sadly for investors, now LCF has collapsed, administrators say they are unlikely to salvage much of the cash. Many of the horses appear to have been sold off in the past six months or so, with some uncertainty as to where the proceeds have gone. Among the buyers is the daughter of biotech billionaire Dr Geoffrey Guy, the founder of medical cannabis giant GW Pharmaceuticals. Lately, he has attracted lurid headlines over a dispute with a tenant on his estate. But before that, Guys daughter Ellie bought four horses for nearly 400,000 for her eventing career from stables connected with LCF, three of them this March, according to eventing databases. She is having a fifth vetted with a view to buying that, too. A further three were bought by Hayley Mather and Mark Hogans stables in Cheshire last year. Hogan used to work for the LCF-funded stables but said he no longer did. The pair are not accused of any impropriety, and neither are the Guys, but their purchases are indicative of a flurry of equine sales. The Evening Standard has traced at least five other connected eventing horses on sale since last autumn through specialist sales agents. Administrator Smith & Williamson said it had serious concerns about the equine operation. In a recent report, it said LCF lent 10.4 million in 2015 to the disqualified director and multi-millionaire Spencer Golding, a sole trader using the business name of Home Farm Equestrian. Administrators believe the loan was transferred to a firm called River Lodge Equestrian Centre in 2017. That would be fine if all the horses used as collateral moved too. Administrators are attempting to ascertain if that happened. Sources close to Guy said she paid River Lodge for three horses and Home Farm for one. Valuations in the unregulated equine world are rarely transparent, but even by the industrys standards, the stock lists River Lodge provided to LCF appear to have dramatically overstated the true value of the horses being used to secure the loan. River Lodge was run and owned by an Irishman called Rafael Sanctuary, whose partner is the champion rider Michelle Kenny. Asked about the mysteries surrounding the horses, Kenny said: We ceased working for Spencer on August 6 and he took all of the horses and equipment with him. Golding has strenuously denied taking any management role at the stables, describing himself as a patron. Companies House documents say ownership and directorship of River Lodge transferred from Sanctuary to another man, Sean Cubitt, in January of this year. The company name was subsequently changed to FS Equestrian. LCF joint administrator Colin Hardman said the horses FS management claims belong to it are worth very substantially below the value of the LCF loan and significantly below the number and value of horses FS told LCF were there before the lender went into administration. Also, management of FS Equestrian is not currently assisting us adequately with our enquiries in this respect and we will have to escalate our issues with Cubitt if he does not co-operate immediately. Cubitt also lists himself as the director of another firm, HF Sport Horses, in the name of John Lyle Cubitt. He and Golding did not respond to requests for comment. The administrators most recent report said it was seeking legal advice on any personal liability Golding may have with regard to the debt. For bondholders, repayment cant come soon enough. A perfumes retailer is taking its landlord to court after accusing it of trying to evict it from stores in favour of a rival business. The 193-stores chain, The Fragrance Shop, claims it is facing eviction from six branches, each of which generate annual sales of around 1 million, that landlord McArthurGlen plans to let to competitor The Perfume Shop. In a High Court case that could inspire other retailers locked in battles with landlords, the firm, led by Sanjay Vadera, alleges McArthurGlen has breached the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. This typically gives businesses rights to renew their tenancy at the end of a lease. McArthurGlen believes the claims are without merit, and is countersuing. The Fragrance Shop alleges it long had an agreement with McArthurGlen that it would be the sole perfumes retailer within some malls, but the landlord wanted to change this clause. The landlord allegedly terminated the tenants leases without consultation and decided to offer the shops to The Perfume Shop instead. A McArthurGlen spokesman said it made repeated attempts to resolve the issue with The Fragrance Shop. We are disappointed that the matter now needs to be resolved in the High Court. The legal case is due to be heard on May 13. If McArthurGlen wins the case, The Fragrance Shops six shops will close this summer. The leases at five are already understood to have expired, but the firm has not vacated them yet. W atches of Switzerland, the UKs biggest Rolex seller, on Thursday unveiled plans for a potential float that could value it at as much as 800 million. In a bid to expand in the UK and US and grow annual sales to 1 billion, the luxury retailers US private equity parent Apollo will sell down its stake and offer new shares. The firm, which has expanded heavily, is also looking to pay down part of its debt pile. Apollo will remain the biggest shareholder in the company. The business comprises the Watches of Switzerland brand, founded in Ludgate Hill in 1924, as well as other chains like Goldsmiths. The firm, which also sells brands such as Patek Philippe, Cartier and Breitling, was first linked to a float nearly a year ago. There was no guidance on what valuation the company might achieve, but it is understood to be in the range of 600 million to 800 million. Chief executive Brian Duffy said he has been meeting with investors over several months to get feedback on appetite for the listing. The Scotsman told the Standard: We did look at listing in other markets, but we are a UK business and have had years of success. It felt like the right time for us to float. The global luxury watch market has seen solid long-term growth with Swiss watch exports worth SwF21.1 billion (15.6 billion) last year. The UK is the fifth biggest market, and the firm has a 35% share. Duffy added: The luxury market is in good health at the moment. London looks to be a long term place for tourists to visit [regardless of Brexit], and that includes a trip to our shops. The boss also pointed out that the firm is less exposed to Brexit than other retail businesses. It imports from non-EU Switzerland. Watches of Switzerland has been under the control of Apollo since 2013. It was bought for around 180 million from Icelandic lender Landsbanki and previously owned by Icelandic investor Baugur, which collapsed during the financial crisis. Apollo plans to float at least 25% of Watches of Switzerland, which has 125 UK shops and 21 in the US. The firm saw sales rise 22.5% to 773 million in the year to April. N ot even Theresa May a Prime Minister with a doctorate in Applied Shambology could have choreographed a less auspicious backdrop for todays local elections. The spectacular sacking yesterday of Gavin Williamson as defence secretary forced by his refusal to resign dominated this mornings media even as voters headed towards polling stations to choose their representatives in 248 English and 11 Northern Irish councils, as well as six directly elected mayors. Already facing serious losses, Tory strategists clutched at straws such as the absence of Nigel Farages new Brexit Party from ballot papers, the embarrassment of Jeremy Corbyn over the preface to a reissued text containing horribly anti-Semitic passages, and the removal yesterday of Fiona Onasanya, the former Labour MP, jailed for perverting the course of justice and now sacked from the Commons by a constituency recall petition. No matter: all this has been completely eclipsed by Williamsons dramatic exit, after an official inquiry pointed the finger at him over the leak of secret discussions at the National Security Council concerning Huawei s involvement in the UKs 5G network . For perspective, it is 33 years since a Cabinet minister was driven from government by his alleged involvement in a leak (Leon Brittan resigned as Margaret Thatchers trade and industry secretary in 1986 during the Westland crisis). It is also vanishingly rare for a senior minister to be dismissed, rather than, more decorously, choosing the pearl-handled revolver of resignation (Eric Heffer, for instance, was dismissed by Harold Wilson in 1975 for opposing EEC membership in the Commons). Matthew d'Ancona The latter breach in precedent matters especially because it signals Williamsons determination not to go quietly. Conspicuously absent from his resignation letter was the traditional expression of admiration for the Prime Minister or a pledge to continue supporting her from the back benches. Last night, Williamson insisted that he had been the victim of a stitch-up, a witch-hunt, a kangaroo court and a vendetta allegedly pursued by Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, with whom he had been fighting an ugly Whitehall turf war. In this case, Sedwill played George Smiley with a small group of potential moles, deciding with relative speed that Williamson, already known for gaffes and indiscretions, must be the guilty man: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Twit. All the same: if the PM imagines that the case is now closed and that the verdict of the inquiry is final, she might cast her mind back to the resignation of Andrew Mitchell as chief whip in 2012 over allegedly abusive remarks made to police at the Downing Street gates. In December it was discovered that the initial investigation by the then Cabinet Secretary, the late Sir Jeremy Heywood, had ignored video evidence strongly supporting Mitchells version of events. The story reignited. So May should not assume for a moment that a convenient line has been drawn under the Williamson affair: in fact, given his notorious love of Westminsters dark arts, she should assume precisely the opposite. As a former chief whip, closely involved in all aspects of this Governments work, he knows where the fudges are buried. Taking a step back, it is worth considering what a wretched moment this is for the Conservative Party, its dignity and its self-definition. Traditionally, defence policy has been a weakness for Labour: an area in which the Left was not trusted to provide focus, commitment or a reliable sense of the national interest. "Williamson will be a mere footnote in the history of what must be the worst premiership of modern times" Corbyns long-standing hostility to Nato, fixation with socialist Venezuela and long association with the Stop the War Coalition ought to have entrenched this perception. But the leaking of material from the National Security Council a body established by David Cameron in 2010 is a grave embarrassment for the governing party. It is true that the issue in question whether a Chinese telecoms giant should be involved in the UKs mobile network deserves full public debate. But that is irrelevant in this case. The NSC the successor to Gordon Browns ministerial committee on National Security, International Relations and Development (NSID) was founded to provide an airtight, strictly confidential setting in which the most senior government figures could co-ordinate the strategic and operational aspects of the defence of the realm. A leak from the NSC is a matter of the greatest seriousness, woefully symbolic of the collapse of discipline within this zombie government. May has lost control of her Cabinet, party, the Commons and now of the body that, more than any other, is meant to supervise the security of the nation in conditions of absolute secrecy. This was not an everyday insider briefing to the press about a Cabinet meeting who cried, and who didnt or a rebellious newspaper article by senior ministers about Brexit. Instead, the Huawei leak signals a new and reckless porousness that is quite incompatible with sound government. Though it is true that Brexit has traumatised and pulverised this administration, shredding its nerves and esprit de corps, its ongoing structural disintegration cannot be explained away entirely as a side-effect of the EU referendum and its consequences. This particular debacle marks, above all, a failure of leadership and the pitiful disaggregation that inevitably follows the drainage of authority from the person who is meant to be in charge. E verything I know about hedge-fund managers (or hedgies, as they like to be called), I learned from the Sky Atlantic show Billions. It stars Damian Lewis as Robert Bobby Axelrod, the alpha male who heads up NYC hedge fund Axe Capital with copious wiles, less charm and a cringe-making cool dad take on smart casual. But now I know something else too: hedge-fund managers are willing to pay big bucks to secure the ideal working environment. Like, really big bucks. This week London set a new UK record for office-space rent, when Ravi Mehta of Steadview Capital Management agreed to pay 250 a square foot for around 3,000sq ft, at 30 Berkeley Square in Mayfair. Thats a total rent bill of about 750,000 a month, and it would have broken world records too were the property market in Hong Kong not even more bananas. There, the best floorspace goes for the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of 262 a square foot, while in New York, real-life Axelrods can expect a comparative snip at 230 per square foot. Office space seems an odd undertaking for investment experts, when conventional thinking suggests that the where of work is increasingly irrelevant. The robots are coming for our jobs and, in the meantime, mobile technology has made it possible for more of us to work remotely. Why pay top dollar for an all-mod-cons office when half your workforce will be teleconferencing in from the poolside anyway? Well, thats something else Ive learned about hedgies: spotting the flaws in conventional thinking is kind of their thing. The specific locations of our work activities are changing, but that doesnt make the choice of location any less crucial. Take my own 100-a-month desk space in the corner of a draughty, community-run artists studio. Theres no coffee machine, the toilet sometimes floods and the closest thing it has to a snooty receptionist is a dog who sometimes wanders over to sniff my packed lunch. But I love it. I love it because any sort of commute be it an hour by private jet or 10 minutes on foot draws a clear psychological boundary between work and home, without which its impossible either to concentrate fully or relax completely. So when I read about Steadview Capitals new Mayfair offices, I recognised a kindred spirit in billionaire boss Ravi Mehta. For the likes of us, the question is not Can we afford to rent it?, its Can we afford not to? "Any sort of commute draws a clear psychological boundary, without which it is impossible to relax" Of course, there are other factors that make an office worth its asking price: the proximity to Michelin-starred restaurants, or the tastefully selected art on the walls. Steven A Cohen, the hedgie who inspired Damian Lewiss Billions character, has reportedly installed Marc Quinns frozen-blood head sculpture in his office lobby. Nice! All that I can do without, however, because the most important aspect of a healthy work environment is the one that every office has in common: it just has to be separate from where you live. Bundy judgment makes your jaw drop Teen dream Zac Efron gives a convincing performance as serial killer Ted Bundy in Sky Cinemas new true-crime film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The most shocking aspect, though, is John Malkovichs turn as Edward D Cowart, the judge who eventually and somewhat reluctantly sentenced Bundy to death. Cowboy wannabe Cowart addressed Bundy as partner throughout the 1979 trial and in his closing remarks (repeated verbatim in the film) told this killer of at least 30 women and children: Youre a bright young man. Youd have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practise in front of me, but you went another way, partner I dont feel any animosity toward you. I want you to know that. Take care of yourself. Whats truly chilling is the possibility that Cowart exemplified a Seventies judiciary so institutionally sexist it could empathise more with a male serial killer than his female victims. Things have changed, in the UK at least. Britains most senior judge is now a woman, but several recent incidents of lenient sentencing in domestic violence and rape cases suggest they havent yet changed enough. Amy Poehler / Getty Images General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong sent a letter of congratulations to Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc sent a congratulatory message to Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, while National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan sent a congratulatory message to President of the House of Councillors Chuichi Date and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tadamori Oshima. In his letter, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong expressed his belief that the Japanese people would record even greater achievements in national development in the Reiwa Era and that, with the consensus and efforts of the two countries Governments and people, the extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia between Vietnam and Japan will develop in a more effective and substantive manner. On the occasion, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh sent a congratulatory message to Crown Prince Akishino, while Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh sent his congratulations to Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono. By Jung Min-ho Major Korean builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction has admitted bribing an Indonesian politician for a coal-fired power plant construction project in West Java. Following repeated Korea Times inquiries, a spokesman at Hyundai's headquarters in Seoul said it gave a large sum of money to Cirebon Regent Sunjaya Purwadisastra through a broker to calm protesting residents in the area over the construction. "The regent approached us through the broker and offered to resolve the issue," the official said. "For us, it is critical to finish the construction on time; otherwise, we could face a heavy fine. So we gave him money." According to , Sunjaya demanded bribes from Hyundai, which gave him 6.5 billion rupiah ($460,000) out of a requested 9.5 billion rupiah. "For a project as big as that, I thought that the district chief should have a share (of the pie)," Sunjaya was quoted in Indonesian as saying. "Rudiyanto's (a subcontractor) trucks could not enter the area because they were blocked by people who were staging protests. Thanks to our intervention, they were allowed access and he paid us." Hyundai, one of three main contractors, is building the 1,000 MW Cirebon 2 coal-fired power plant there. Construction began in 2016 with finance from investors including KOMIPO, a subsidiary of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation, and is expected to be finished next year. Sunjaya is standing trial on various corruption allegations, including this case. Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission arrested him and three other regional heads in West Java in its sweeping investigation over the past seven months. A senior official at international watchdog Global Witness (GW) told The Korea Times that the Korean government and companies are risking their reputations by making wrong investments for the Indonesian coal industry, which often makes headlines in corruption cases. "Not only is coal increasingly risky, climate-destroying and bad for air pollution, there is now a huge and underestimated corruption risk," GW campaigner Adam McGibbon said. L uxury members club Soho House has announced it will dramatically reduce its plastic use at locations including Mayfair and Soho. It will be one of the worlds first adopters of A Plastic Planets Commitment Mark Working Towards Plastic Free. This commitment includes undertaking a plastic audit across each of the companys 23 Houses around the world and introducing a board-level Plastic Free Ambassador who will update staff and members on progress. Little Beach House Barcelona will act as a testbed for plastic-free solutions for the Houses across the world and campaigners hope the move will herald a seismic shift away from unnecessary plastic in the luxury and hospitality sectors. A Plastic Planet co-founders Sian Sutherland (left) and Frederikke Magnussen (right) A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: For more than two decades Soho House has consistently raised the bar across the world. They give a truly elevated experience and are never afraid to push the boundaries in pursuit of progress, always evolving and reinventing to give their members the best possible experience. We have been so impressed at the personal drive to reduce plastic from CEO level to every member of the team. Having already visited Mumbai and both Houses in Barcelona, we know a whole new plastic-free experience is soon going to await their members. None of us are plastic saints and those words plastic and free must never be devalued, hence this is a Commitment Mark showing real intention to pursue change. Of course, it isnt easy, we have all become blind to the omnipresence of plastic everywhere; but every head chef, every House manager and every bar manager at Soho House is committed to make this happen. Pictured, Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland Soho House Chief Communications and Strategy Officer Peter Chipchase added: Were delighted to adopt A Plastic Planets Plastic Free Commitment Mark. In creating a home from home for our members, we want to ensure our business does right by our planet. Over the coming months we will be working hard with A Plastic Planet to radically reduce our plastic consumption in our 23 locations worldwide. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have just unfollowed Prince William and Kate Middleton on Instagram, but it's for a positive reason. Rumors have been floating around about a feud between the royal couples for several months, allegedly due to a fall-out between the two princes after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. In March it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would have their own separate royal household, independent from Kensington Palace. At the time it was also reported that Harry and Meghan had asked the Queen if they could have total independence from Buckingham Palace too, a request the Queen allegedly denied. In 2019, the reasons for unfollowing someone on Instagram usually involve one of the following scenarios. One, your boyfriend cheated on you with your best friend, and subsequently, you cant stand the sight of either of them anymore. Two, your high school acquaintance is trying very hard to become a social media influencer, and if you see one more unsolicited makeup tutorial, you are going to be forced to annihilate your currently uncracked screen to the point of no return. Or three, you're in a fight with your brother and want nothing to do with him. After Prince Harry and Meghan Markles most recent Instagram post on their Sussex Royal account, the latter is clearly not the case for the brothers. 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 connectionto not just hear each other, but to listen, the caption reads. Getty Images 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. Each month we will honor this same concept and change the accounts we solely follow based on a different theme or cause. Please go to our homepage and click following to see each of the select accounts and find out more about their work. Mental health is a particular area of interest for Prince Harry. He previously teamed up with his brother and sister-in-law to spearhead Heads Together, a campaign to help banish stigmas attached to mental health issues. The campaign was driven in part by Harry's own struggles following the death of his mother, Princess Diana. My way of dealing with [my mother's death] was sticking my head in the sand, refusing to ever think about my mum, because why would that help? Prince Harry told The Telegraph in 2017, [I was] very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions. Two decades before the #MeToo movement brought symbolic black gowns and #TimesUp pins to the red carpet, actress and activist Rose McGowan wore a black thong and beaded dress to the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. One of the earliest examples of a red carpet naked dress dress, the look created a media storm and set the stage for Rihannas Swarovski crystal CFDA outfit in 2014. But McGowan has now revealed that the dress had a deeper significance, as it was the first dress she wore after she was attacked by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Speaking with The Good Place star Jameela Jamil on her interview series I Weigh, McGowan explained she wore the dress for a reason, explaining, It was my first public appearance after being raped. 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? Rose McGowan with then-boyfriend Marilyn Manson in 1998 / Getty Images Clarifying that it was a political statement and that she had never worn something like that before or since, she said, Of course, there was no Twitter at the time or Instagram, no way to speak for yourself. McGowan also writes about the dress in her memoir Brave, saying that it was a reclamation of my own body after my assault. Getty Images In 1999, McGowan was interviewed about the dress on the Roseanne Show and revealed that at the time she actually had a 103 degree fever (39.4 degrees in Celsius), so she was slightly delirious. She explained she wanted to cause an entrance, cause a scene but the dress was only sent to her the night before, which was when she realised the dress was more revealing than she thought. She explained, I didnt realise the front was quite that bare. McGowan also explained that she had to sit on her knees in the limo on the way there, explaining, I had to kneel so I wouldnt get griddle butt. Girls know what is, like in the summer if you have shorts on and you sit on a chair and you get up and you have like a waffle print. Peter Brooker/Shutterstock She also explained to Jay Leno in the same year that the dress was made entirely out of mesh and beads, but that she actually changed out of the outfit once she went inside the venue. McGowan revealed that she was seated next to Marilyn Mansons parents (her boyfriend at the time) and she said, I couldnt sit next to Barb and Hugh [Mansons parents]. Granted, their son does a lot worse. According to The New York Times, McGowan reached a 76,000 settlement with Harvey Weinstein in 1997, following an incident in a hotel room during Sundance Film Festival. Over the course of the New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinsteins alleged history of sexual misconduct (which he has denied), McGowan claimed that she had been offered 760,000 for her silence on the matter. While she initially asked for a higher settlement, she later rejected the offer altogether. I was like - ew, gross, you're disgusting, I don't want your money, that would make me feel disgusting she told The New York Times. Getty Images McGowan initially referred to a studio head on Twitter who had sexually assaulted her, before naming him in 2017 as HW (later clarifying that HW stood for Harvey Weinstein to The Hollywood Reporter). The mention of Weinsteins name came when she attacked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for reportedly dismissing her claims that Weinstein had raped her. She tweeted at Jeff Bezos in 2017, I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadnt been proven. I said I was the proof...I forcefully begged studio head to do the right thing. I was ignored. She appealed to Bezos, Be the change you want to see in the world. Stand with truth. McGowan was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and detailed the alleged encounter in her memoir Brave. In her memoir McGowan claimed that following a business meeting at his hotel suite, Weinstein later held her down on the edge of a jacuzzi and raped her. A spokesperson for Weinstein said, Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault by more than 80 women including Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino. Following a wave of allegations, other Hollywood names came forward with their own stories in the #MeToo movement, which was originally coined by the activist Tarana Burke. Rose McGowan and Tarana Burke / Getty Images Weinstein will face five felony charges which include two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree, and one count each of first-degree rape and third-degree rape according to CNN. He has pled not guilty to all charges. Golden Globes 2019: Time's Up X2 1 /17 Golden Globes 2019: Time's Up X2 Time's Up X2 Scroll through to see who supported the movement... Time's Up X2 D'Arcy Carden AFP/Getty Images Time's Up X2 Laura Dern Getty Images Time's Up X2 Olivia Colman Getty Images Time's Up X2 Charlize Theron Getty Images Time's Up X2 Gina Rodriguez Getty Images Time's Up X2 Claire Foy Getty Images Time's Up X2 D'Arcy Carden AFP/Getty Images Time's Up X2 Isan Elba Getty Images Time's Up X2 Idris Elba AFP/Getty Images Time's Up X2 Rachel Brosnahan AFP/Getty Images Time's Up X2 Amber Heard AFP/Getty Images Time's Up X2 Caitriona Balfe Getty Images B eing widowed in ones teens is unusual; being three times widowed before ones 30th birthday, all of them on a foreign shore and mostly in sanguinary circumstances, must be almost unheard of. Such, though, was the lot of young Katherine Gyfford, nee Cooke. Described in 1709 as a most beautiful lady not exceeding 13 or 14 years of age, Miss Cooke had sailed for India aboard the Loyal Bliss with her father, a gunner in the East India Companys army. Landfall was made at Karwar, a company settlement south of Bombay. Fresh provisions were brought aboard and passengers allowed ashore. Twelve days later, when the Loyal Bliss sailed, it left without Katherine. To oblige her family, it was said, the teenager had acquired a husband and become Mrs Katherine Harvey. John Harvey sounds a poor match. He is said to have been in years so probably old enough to be his child-brides grandfather and deformed. But he was chief of the Karwar establishment and thus a man of means. Such sudden and suspicious pairings were not uncommon. In fact, Gunner Cooke had almost certainly brought his daughter east in the hopes of just such a liaison, so anticipating the official consignment of English brides for company batchelors later known as the fishing fleet. Happily, Katherines reservations about Harvey were soon forgotten, as indeed was Harvey. He died within a couple of years, leaving her still only 16 but now well provided for and free to marry a man of her choice. She opted for another Karwar merchant, the more youthful Thomas Chown. But sailing north to Bombay to claim Harveys estate, the newlyweds were attacked by pirates. Chown took a cannonball in the shoulder and bled to death in his wifes arms. She, already heavy with child, was then carried off into captivity as the first female European prisoner of a corsair chief. This Kanhoji Angrey, who would contest the sea-lanes with the company for the next 20 years, belied his ill-repute by respecting his captives privacy and offering to ransom her. For 30,000 rupees Katherine was handed over to an emissary from Bombay and there, in due course, gave birth. By 1719 Katherine, now in her early twenties, had married again, this time to William Gyfford, the just appointed supervisor of the companys establishment at Anjengo. Little more than an estuary on the Kerala coast, Anjengo had been leased from the local queen as a godown for the companys pepper purchases. Gyfford sought a more secure tenure and, to that end, paddled upriver at the head of an escort and straight into a well-laid ambush. Disarmed and hopelessly outnumbered, he somehow found time to dash off a note to Anjengo Take care and dont frighten the women; we are in no great danger before the massacre began. Of his companions, only 20 survived. He himself, with his severed tongue pinned to his chest, was lashed to a log and sent floating downstream never to be seen again. A long siege of Anjengo ensued, but without the now thrice-widowed Katherine. She and two other Englishwomen had been hastily packed off down the coast in a native longboat. Four weeks later they reached Madras, dishevelled but not entirely destitute. Katherine had by now learned how to deal with bereavement. She had come away with a tidy sum said to be owed to her late husband, plus the ledgers to prove it. Defending her action and enjoying the proceeds, she would live for another 20 years. Why no one has made a film about such an extraordinary life is a mystery. But then one could say that about most of the fearless females featured in Katie Hickmans book. There have been other studies of the British memsahibs but none so focused on the adventurous and unconventional, and none more conscientiously researched, historically sound and compellingly written. An excellent book, then, despite its unmanageable title. I n the Standard's new Simply Spiced series, each fortnight food writer Mallika Basu will create a recipe centring around a specific spice. In the third instalment, Mallika uses black peppercorns to elevate a salmon fillet. The most widely traded spice in the world, black pepper gave Indian food its heat before chillies arrived via Portuguese explorers. They have a wonderful smoky and floral heat, which is best enjoyed for full impact with a sprinkling towards the end of cooking or at the dinner table. Black pepper combines brilliantly with thick yoghurt, which mutes its heat without affecting its robust flavour. Just remember to grind it fresh and in small quantities, and keep it out of the way of your face. Black pepper, dill and yoghurt salmon Rob Le Mare Serves 4 This fragrant marinade will sing in your mouth and is just as good for scooping up with crisps as it is slathered generously over salmon fillets for a fancy weeknight dinner. Greek-style yoghurt is high in fat so adheres well to the fish, without allowing the marinade to slip off. Keep salad handy, although I love serving the juicy salmon, complete with its marinade, piled on top of brown rice. Ingredients 4 tsp whole black peppercorns 20gm fresh dill, chopped (4 tbsp) 8 tbsp Greek-style natural yoghurt 4 tsp olive oil Salt to taste 4 salmon fillets, boneless Method Roughly crack the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar. In a bowl, mix together three teaspoons of the pepper with the dill, yoghurt and olive oil. Add salt to your taste. Place the salmon on a lined baking tray and slather it with the marinade, topping with the remaining pepper. Pre-heat the grill to 190oC. When its hot, place the tray under the grill and cook for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. T oday, May 17, marks the first day of fasting during Ramadan. For Muslims taking part in Ramadan there are a very specific set of prayer times to remember. Luckily, the East London Mosque has drawn up a timetable to help with the timings throughout the month of Ramadan. You can view these timings below: Yet, these times are accurate for London only. You can view prayer times for other UK cities here. What is Ramadan? Ramadan is held during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a time for spiritual reflection, acts of charity and spending time with loved ones. It is also a month when Muslims fast. This means no eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset, which is important during Ramadan as it allows Muslims to devote themselves further to their faith, ultimately becoming closer to Allah, or God. The reason why Muslims fast is because it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the other pillars being faith, prayer, charity and making the pilgrimage to Mecca the Holy City. Before sunrise, Muslims eat a meal (suhoor) and then another meal (iftar) after sunset. The only people that do not have to fast during Ramadan are children, the elderly, pregnant women and those who are travelling or who are ill. When does Ramadan start this year? This year Ramadan began on the evening of Wednsday May 15 and ends on Thursday June 14. A man has been left fighting for his life in hospital after being stabbed outside Camden Town station in north London. Police and paramedics were scrambled to the scene of the knife attack in the early hours of Thursday. The victim, whose age was not immediately clear, was rushed to hospital. His condition was described as life-threatening. Police vehicles were seen lining the street outside the busy Tube station, which serves the Northern line, following the stabbing. Camden Road was taped off and police remained at the scene into the night. No arrests have been made. The attack came just hours after a teenager, believed to be 15, was stabbed to death in a separate incident in Hackney. 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 teenager was stabbed to death in the latest killing on Londons streets as new figures reveal that five young people are knifed in the capital every day. The 15-year-old, named locally as Tashaun Jones, was found critically injured in Hackney shortly before 9pm last night. He was the eighth teenager to have been stabbed to death in the capital this year. Minutes later, a second boy, aged 16, was found with knife wounds a few hundred yards away. He was taken to hospital with injuries that were not said to be life-threatening. Detectives believe the two stabbings yards from Stoke Newingtons high street were linked and are investigating possible gang involvement. Forensics officers scour the tarmac for evidence / NIGEL HOWARD Tashaun also known as Eird was an Arsenal fan. His grandfather said: This is a difficult time... we are suffering. Victim: Tashaun Jones was stabbed to death in Stoke Newington His friends said he loved music and dreamed of being a professional producer. The family laid flowers at the scene today and sobbed and hugged each other. A 26-year-old man was also stabbed in a clash near Camden Underground station early today. He was treated at the scene in Camden Road shortly after midnight before being taken to hospital in a critical condition. The victim, 15, was found critically injured in the street after being stabbed / NIGEL HOWARD The bloodshed came as Scotland Yard revealed that 1,768 young people aged under 25 were stabbed in the past 12 months in London. It means that, on average, nearly five young people suffer knife injuries every day in the capital, although police point out the number has fallen on the previous 12 months when it topped 2,000. The Met said this meant there were 311 fewer victims in the past 12 months, and described the figures as extremely encouraging. Today a huge cordon extended around the murder scene in Somerford Grove and a police tent covered the spot where Tashaun fell. A large cordon was set up at the scene on Somerford Grove in Stoke Newington / NIGEL HOWARD A Met Commissioner Cressida Dick today described the murder as just a terrible, terrible incident. She said the two victims were with a group of other boys and possibly a girl and that there had been some sort of confrontation with another group during which the 15-year-old was fatally stabbed and the other boy injured. A mother of two said: I heard the poor boys sister screaming. The police were keeping her back and she was shouting, thats my brother, my brother. It was heartbreaking to hear. Teenager stabbed to death in east London A shop worker today said he had tried to help one of the victims who staggered into his store. Abdullah Maruf was working at the Elif Food Centre when the boy ran in with blood pouring from a wound in his back. He said: He was screaming and crying, help me, help me. There was a wound in his back, there was a lot of blood. He looked very scared and was obviously badly wounded. I tried to calm him down. He was so young, like a child. I called the ambulance and was waiting with him. We were all in shock, I have never seen anything like it. Police imposed Section 60 powers across Hackney last night to allow officers to search people without suspicion amid fears of gang retaliation attacks. Schoolboy knifed to death and another injured in Hackney Mayor 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. T hree Met police officers lied to wrongly blame a teenage motorist for a crash, a court heard. Pc Max Michel, 28, was driving a marked police car when he ran through a red light and crashed into the side of 19-year-old Raj Mehras VW Polo. Michel and Pc Shaun Charnock, 34, are accused of wrongly blaming Mr Mehra for the incident, claiming that the teenager had been the one ignoring the red signal. Allegedly, the officers false account, suggesting they had the backing of independent witnesses, was supported by the first crash investigator, Pc Ryan Francis, 27. All three officers are on trial over the incident on December 4, 2016, accused of perverting the course of justice by lying about the truth of the crash in official statements. Prosecutor Daniel Higgins told Southwark crown court that Michel and Charnock were responding to an emergency call and had just put their sirens on when the crash happened in Uxbridge Road, Feltham, at around midday. Whether it was through panic as to what the consequences might be if Mr Michel was responsible, Michel and Charnock decided to blame Mr Mehra for the collision, he said. Mr Higgins said the officers put their heads together to blame Mr Mehra, an MOT tester, who was reported for suspected criminal offences including driving without due care and attention. Sergeant Paul Harvey, who was called out to investigate the crash, said he was told there was no CCTV of the junction but was later shown footage of the crash which contradicted the officers account. He said he was told three independent witnesses had offered to support the police officers story and a Sainsbury delivery driver had returned to the scene and said the police officers car didnt go through a red light. The teenager also claimed Michel had shouted at him while he was receiving medical treatment, telling him: You are going to pay for all of this and I am going to make sure you get the maximum punishment. Customers stand in line to buy cheap fried chicken at Lotte Mart's store in Seoul in this December 2010 file photo. When it began offering its first 5,000 won fried chicken deal. Starting Wednesday, the discount chain operator began holding a similar sales event that will last until May 8 to commemorate its 21st anniversary. Korea Times file E xtinction Rebellions recent mass protests across the capital cost Scotland Yard an extra 7million to police, putting a "huge strain" on the force, it was revealed today. It comes after climate change activists staged two weeks of action throughout central London resulting in more than 1,000 arrests and major disruption in the city. Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick told a briefing today: It put a huge strain on my officers and I cannot speak highly enough of what they gave. The guys and girls on the street, many of them were working 12-hour shifts. Cressida Dick thanked officers who policed the protest / PA The activists shut Waterloo Bridge and occupied Oxford Circus as they put forward demands for climate change action last month. Ms Dick said many officers literally did not see their children for days and days and said she was grateful to them all. Extinction Rebellion stages lay-down protest in the Natural History Museum Dramatic scenes saw officers carrying protesters off bridges after they were ordered to leave. Extinction Rebellion said they did not take the decision to take action lightly. Extinction Rebellion closing ceremony: In Pictures 1 /11 Extinction Rebellion closing ceremony: In Pictures Getty Images AP REUTERS Getty Images AP AFP/Getty Images PA REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS Getty Images A statement, released at the end of their major action, said: We would like to thank Londoners for opening their hearts and demonstrating their willingness to act on that truth. "We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency." Police made more than 1,000 arrests / EPA Members of the group have since met with political figureheads to discuss changes after ceasing their actions, which appear to have prompted motion in Parliament. On Wednesday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion which urged the Government to aim for net zero emissions before 2050 and deliver a "zero waste economy" within the next six months. Extinction Rebellion ends London protests with 'closing ceremony' Opening an Opposition Day Debate in the Commons, he said: This House must declare an environment and climate emergency. 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. "This is no longer about a distant future. We are talking about nothing less than the irreversible destruction of the environment within our lifetimes." Mr Gove said the Government intended to bring the Environment Bill before the Commons shortly". He said this would mark a step change in how this country tackles the twin challenges of climate change and our broader ecological degradation". A burglar who was stabbed to death by a pensioner during a raid at his home was lawfully killed, a coroner has ruled. Homeowner Richard Osborn-Brooks stabbed burglar Henry Vincent to death when he entered his house in Hither Green with an accomplice in the early hours of April 4 last year. The 79-year-old had warned the screwdriver-wielding intruder that his weapon was "bigger than yours and if you don't leave my house you will be sorry". But Vincent, who had cocaine and heroin in his system, ignored his warning and instead "ran into" the blade, Mr Osborn-Brooks told Southwark Coroner's Court. Coroner Andrew Harris ruled that Vincent was lawfully killed. Police at the scene in Hither Green / Alex Lentati He said: "The interaction that led to the stabbing was the simultaneous approach of the deceased with a small screwdriver and the forward movement of the householder with a kitchen knife, leading to moderate force being applied by the knife to Mr Vincent's chest, and its penetration. "The householder was terrified and asserted he acted in self-defence after an assault by the other intruder. "He was close to, but not obstructing, the exit by the intruder. "In considering the force it would seem that given there is two intruders at night, one with a weapon, the use of moderate force would seem to me to reasonably be proportionate. "It seems to me the combination of unpredictability and fear were factors that have to be taken into account." Mr Osborn-Brooks, who gave evidence via an audio link, said two men had knocked on his door, grabbed him and pushed him inside, with one shoving him towards the kitchen and the other running upstairs. He said after he picked up the largest kitchen knife from a six-knife holder, Vincent's accomplice fled through the front door shouting "get out quick he's got a knife". He told the hearing Vincent then came down the stairs brandishing a screwdriver and said: "Get out of my way or I'll stick you with this." Mr Harris, reading Mr Osborn-Brooks's police statement to him, said: "You said 'I think you're wrong because mine's bigger than yours and if you don't leave my house you will be sorry'." Mr Osborn-Brooks said: "I was just showing him that the knife I had was actually bigger than the screwdriver. So if he was to lunge at me he would hit my knife rather than hit me first. "I thought he would look at my knife and see it is bigger than his implement and he would take the opportunity to run out the front door, which was open. "My intention was to get him out of the house and away from my wife. "I still think that Mr Vincent rushes forward intending to do me harm and he ran into the knife that I was holding between us. "He definitely didn't try to get out of the front door, he came towards me." Vincent fled the property at around 12.45am, before collapsing nearby. He died in University Hospital Lewisham around three hours later. His mother, Rose Lee, told the hearing: "Why couldn't that gentleman have just stepped back like a normal person would have? "How could the young man that was killed lunge forward to this gentleman when he's squashed between the door, the wall and the stairs?" Mr Osborn-Brooks was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, but was told by police he would face no further action. His arrest sparked a public outcry and an online fundraising campaign in support of him raised thousands of pounds. Vincent's sister Rosie told the hearing: "My brother was not a violent person. He was a father, he was a son, he was a brother. "No-one deserves to die." Mr Osborn-Brooks, who used to fence when he was in the army, said: "It was not an experience I ever had before nor wish to have again. It terrified me." The usually quiet south London neighbourhood became a flashpoint when friends and family of Vincent laid flowers and cards opposite the home of Mr Osborn-Brooks. The tributes were repeatedly torn down by neighbours and well-wishers angry at the shrine to career criminal Vincent, only to reappear again within hours or days. Vincent, from Swanley, Kent, was jobless and single at the time. T he British Film Institute has come under fire for its forthcoming season, Playing the Bitch, following accusations that it has effectively ignored film critics who argue that it is sexist and features no women directors. The BFI is hosting the summer programme of what it calls films and events dedicated to tough, difficult women who use everything at their disposal to get their way. The idea of having this season when zero feminist groundwork has been laid is shocking, Daniella Shreir, editor of feminist film journal Another Gaze, said. They didnt listen to 300 people of all genders from all areas of the film world, she added to The Londoner. Even the description of the programme which will feature Robin Wright in her role as Claire Underwood in House of Cards has been beset by controversy. When announced last year, it was given the working title Bitches. An open letter sent in December to the BFI, which is run by Amanda Nevill, was signed by hundreds of academics and film critics arguing that as framed, the series uncritically parrots rather than questions the misogynist logics that inform so much Hollywood cinema. After months of discussion, the BFI changed the name and agreed to host a special event: The Hot Take: The B Word discussion, which promises to feature proponents on both sides of the argument. Yesterday, Anna Bogutskaya, the events organiser, defended herself in an article on the BFI website. I realise the word bitch is offensive to many people, she wrote, but it is perhaps the most powerful gendered word for a powerful gendered character. Critics deride this view. Its made my blood boil, wrote one. Shreir said the lack of female directors was a problem: How can it be expansive given the current climate if there are no other voices than male or Anglo-male? The BFI said in a statement: This is not about who or how the performances are directed but how the female actors themselves have specifically taken control of their relationship with the audience. Taking the Mickey A different sort of rebate: Liz Truss / Getty Images Westminsters rodent problem is out of control. After Cabinet minister Liz Truss found a note on her office saying it had been re-baited for mice infestation, Robert Halfon MP reports that mice have eaten through a box of tea in his (I walked into my office and my team were standing on tables screaming). Thangam Debbonaire MP adds that hers are scampering around and having discos and The Londoner found one dead under our own lobby desk. Spending on pest control in Parliament in the past five years has reached 500,000. When will these rodents flee the sinking ships? -- Jess Phillips MP gives short shrift to Gavin Williamsons declarations of innocence. She tweeted: Just so we are clear, swearing on your kids lives means absolutely naff all, adding it was like swearing on the power of Greyskull or saying cross my heart and hope to die. -- Musician Moby is enchanted with notable primatologist Jane Goodall. Describing her as the most perfect woman: beautiful, erudite, vegan, and fluent in gorilla, he was quickly rendered almost catatonic with starstruckedness during brunch at Leonardo DiCaprios LA home. I like to think I spoke in complete, possibly even coherent, sentences, he writes in The Spectator. But I might have just drooled and mumbled. Freud gathers Moss for a poetic soiree Poetry pals: Kate Moss and Bella Freud / Dave Benett/Getty Images Bella Freud opened her Chiltern Street shop last night for an evening of poetry, DJ sets and rosemary cocktails. Actor-turned-producer Gala Gordon turned up in silver and Lady Mary Charteris shimmered in a blue silk suit. Kate Moss sipped (rosemary) water while she chatted to socialite Dan Macmillan. Stylist Sophia Hesketh was also in attendance, as was Bake Off host and comedian Noel Fielding. Meanwhile, at the Groucho, Jo Wood launched her new podcast, Alien Nation with Jo Wood, with friends including Sadie Frost. Wood explained that her fascination with aliens started at the age of 12, when she spotted her dad reading a magazine article called Is God an astronaut? Im fascinated by the universe and by space, she said. SW1A What news of Cronus, sacked Defence Secretary Gavin Williamsons tarantula? [Hes] enjoying a rest in south Staffordshire, says Barry Bond, Williamsons constituency chairman. He was a bit under the weather I think hed been given some locusts to eat, and he didnt seem too happy. -- The Conservatives message for the local elections can be reduced to one slogan as Tobias Ellwood points out Its not about BREXIT! He repeats this three times in a 90-second video posted today. But perhaps Antoinette Sandbach puts it most succintly: Its bins, she says. Not Brexit. -- The ERGs Steve Baker MP doesnt refer to himself as the Brexit hardman for nothing. Yesterday the MP for Wycombe re-released his 2017 Five top tips to get and stay fit: Have a reason, choose a goal, eat less, exercise more and dont stop. A clunking political metaphor? Politicians? Theyre muppets, says Hirst "Brexit's a joke": Damien Hirst / David Becker/WireImage Artist Damien Hirst, who campaigned for Remain in the run-up to the 2016 referendum, hasnt changed his mind. Brexits a joke, everythings a joke, people in power are a joke, he tells The Art Newspaper. Weve got muppets in the government falling over each other, theres no logic whatsoever. Ive never thought the people in power are idiots to the level they are now. Hirst, whos valued at 215 million, also declares he is bewildered by arts spiralling value. If someone wanted to pay the same for a single painting of mine as they would for a Picasso, Id be worried. Quote of the Day I do like it when women are in senior positions L abour today fired the starting gun for a by-election on June 6 to replace disgraced former MP Fiona Onasanya. One-time Labour and Respect MP George Galloway announced he will run on a pro-Brexit ticket. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said his party would also give it our best shot. He ruled himself out of standing, telling The Sun: No, impossible, I have a national campaign to run. Labour chief whip Nick Brown moved the writ for the election in the Commons a day after Ms Onasanya, a 35-year-old solicitor, became the first MP to be thrown out of Parliament through a recall petition. More than a quarter of Peterboroughs registered voters some 19,261 people backed a petition to remove her after she was jailed for perverting the course of justice by lying about a speeding offence. She could stand for re-election. Divisive figure: George Galloway / Getty Images Mr Galloway tweeted: If elected as the MP for Peterborough my first priority will be to help secure the full implementation of the Brexit decision made overwhelmingly by the people there in 2016. He sensationally won a previous by-election when he took Bradford West from Labour in 2012. Ms Onasanya had a thin majority of 607 in 2017 when she ousted Tory arch Brexiteer Stewart Jackson in the Cambridgeshire city, which is a classic Conservative/Labour marginal. But with 61 per cent of the constituency voting Leave in 2016, the contest could cut across normal party boundaries. Labour chairman Ian Lavery said: Labour campaigned hard for a victory in this recall petition. Conservative parliamentary candidate for Peterborough Paul Bristow said: The people of Peterborough deserve a better MP who will vote in Parliament to deliver Brexit. T heresa Mays decision to sack defence secretary Gavin Williamson without a police probe came under fire today. The Government said it was a matter for Scotland Yard whether or not they mounted a criminal investigation into the leak of top-secret talks about Chinese tech giant Huawei. But Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick indicated her force would not step in without a referral from the Cabinet Office. In the Commons, Downing Street was accused of allowing the guilt or innocence of Mr Williamson, who denies the leak, to remain unresolved. Amid growing criticism, senior Tory MPs called for detectives to be asked to get to the bottom of the matter a demand also made by Mr Williamson. The furore erupted after last nights bombshell sacking of the defence secretary, a week after an internal inquiry was launched by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill into the unauthorised disclosure of a highly confidential National Security Council discussion. In the Commons, Mrs Mays de facto deputy David Lidington suggested the police were at liberty to investigate and that the Government would give full co-operation if they did. Responding to an urgent question from Labour, he told MPs: The Prime Minister has said she now considers that this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police. Gavin Williamson announced he would be sending HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific region / Getty Images But we would of course co-operate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary. Under sustained questioning from MPs, Mr Lidington declined to give a view on whether or not there had been a breach of the Official Secrets Act. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the police, not politicians, should decide whether to launch a criminal investigation. Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he said: Theres a very, very important principle of our system that those decisions are not made by politicians, they are made independently by police. But the argument was undermined when Ms Dick said the Cabinet Office would need to make a referral before her force would launch an investigation. She said: If the Cabinet Office were to send us a referral at any point that relates to apparent official secrets or leaks, we would assess that. The situation was hypothetical because we have not had any referral from the Cabinet Office, she added. We will look at any complaint we may get and if there is relevant evidence we will always look at it. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson told the Commons that Mr Lidingtons claims that the police were at liberty to investigate now seemed misleading. He argued that only a referral to the police could settle the matter. This matter cannot be, as the Prime Minister says, closed, he said. She believes there is compelling evidence that he has committed a crime. But despite that, she does not believe he should face a criminal investigation where is the justice in that? In what world is it acceptable that the Prime Minister should be the arbiter of whether a politician she believes is guilty of criminal conduct in office should face a criminal investigation? Several senior Tory MPs stood up in the House to urge a police probe. Bob Blackman, an executive member of the backbench 1922 Committee, said that in view of Mr Williamsons denial there should be an independent police investigation to demonstrate whether he is guilty or not Tory MP Peter Bone branded the internal Whitehall inquiry a kangaroo court reaching decisions in secret and questioned whether the right verdict had been reached. Mr Lidington told him: There was a thorough investigation. Former minister Greg Hands said the Government was giving the impression that a leak from the Cabinet is OK but a leak from the NSC [National Security Council] is not. Mr Williamsons sacking sent shockwaves around Westminster last night. Mrs May said she took action after compelling evidence he was the leaker. Mr Williamson swore on his childrens lives he was innocent and claimed he had been completely screwed. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson wrote to Ms Dick calling for a criminal investigation. There were conflicting views among experts about whether the leak which revealed Huawei would be allowed to help build parts of Britains 5G data infrastructure was a criminal breach of the Official Secrets Act or not. G avin Williamson has launched an extraordinary counter attack on Theresa May after she fired him over the Huawei leak The ex-minister said he would be "absolutely exonerated" by a police investigation into the leak after MPs called for Scotland Yard to launch a criminal probe. Labour has led calls for detectives to investigate if a breach of the Official Secrets Act was committed when details of a highly sensitive discussion on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei were leaked to a newspaper. Scotland Yard said it was not carrying out an inquiry but would look into any information "that would suggest criminal offences have been committed". Meanwhile Downing Street said the Prime Minister "considers the matter to be closed". But Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee Dominic Grieve said he believes there is an argument for the alleged leak by Gavin Williamson to be referred to police. Former Attorney General Mr Grieve said this morning: "Meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) 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. Gavin Williamson: I would have been absolutely exonerated / REUTERS "The fact there has been a leak has precipitated this crisis." Mr Williamson's abrupt firing as Defence Secretary sent shockwaves around Westminster on Wednesday after Theresa May said the inquiry had found "compelling evidence" suggesting he was to blame. The Prime Minister also said she was "concerned" at the manner in which he had engaged with the inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. But Mr Williamson strenuously denied either he or anyone on his team was behind the leak and insisted he had fully complied with the probe. "I volunteered everything up. I couldn't have volunteered more information on the whole thing," he told The Times. "Frankly I'd rather have had a police inquiry, because the beauty of a police inquiry is I'd have been absolutely exonerated and would have been in the clear." The former minister has launched a counter-attack after he was sacked over the leak / AFP/Getty Images In a letter, Mr Williamson also revealed that he rejected an offer from Mrs May to resign rather than be sacked, saying that this would have sent a signal that he accepted either he or his team was guilty. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the paper which first reported the leak, the former minister said he had been "completely screwed". "She has got the wrong person and the person who did leak this is still out there," he said. Mrs May's dramatic firing of her one-time close ally came on the eve of local elections across England and Northern Ireland on Thursday. Opposition parties demanded a police probe into the affair, with Labour branding the ex-Cabinet minister "treacherous". Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith told BBC2's Newsnight: "Clearly, there's a real breakdown in discipline and Theresa May now needs to take absolutely firm action, and, quite frankly, I think she needs to call in the police and have a full investigation, because we are talking, actually, breaking the Official Secrets Act and, actually, there may well be a case to answer here." "I think it was absolutely treacherous - both to the country, but also to the Prime Minister. "If you are going to run a government, you need loyalty from your ministers, you need loyalty from your Cabinet. "We have here a case of yet another Tory minister putting leadership ambition before the good of the country." Former national security adviser Lord Ricketts told the BBC: "On the face of it, this is a breach of the Official Secrets Act. All the ministers and officials around the table will have signed that. "So, it seems to me the police ought to be considering, is there a case to be considered there? "It would be for the Director of Public Prosecutions to make the decisions, not ministers." Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation. The letter states: "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." 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 that it was a matter for the National Security Council and the Cabinet Office and it was not carrying out an investigation at this time. "Clearly, if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that," it added. The Prime Minister fired Mr Williamson in a 30-minute showdown in her Commons office which triggered a Cabinet reshuffle making Penny Mordaunt Defence Secretary, the first female to occupy the role, and prisons minister Rory Stewart replacing Ms Mordaunt as International Development Secretary. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, commenting on Mr Williamson's departure as he arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said: "On a personal level, I'm very sorry about what happened for Gavin's sake, but given the gravity of the situation, there was no other alternative outcome." 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 May's closest allies after she made him chief whip on entering Downing Street in 2016. J eremy Corbyn has called for a green industrial revolution to tackle climate change and warned that more than simply declaring an emergency must be done to tackle the crisis. The Labour leader told a rally of environmental activists gathered on Parliament Square that he was pleased MPs had agreed to take action, but that thats not the end of it. Mr Corbyn said a green industrial revolution and a green new deal should follow as he urged the Government to submit proposals within six months aimed at developing a sustainable economy. Addressing the rally on Wednesday evening, he said: Merely declaring an emergency indicates we understand what the emergency is. It's what we do next; it's about a green industrial revolution, it's about a green new deal. Jeremy Corbyn addresses climate protesters at Parliament Square / PA He added: But instead of the benefits of previous industrial revolutions going towards the agglomeration of capital amongst a few, instead the benefits go to everybody." Mr Corbyn said the next steps should include holding the UN climate change conference, Cop20, in London, and the Government must come back "within six months" with proposals to develop a sustainable economy. He added: "Protecting our natural world... is not a threat to the living standards of people - it is an opportunity to develop good quality, well-paid, high-skilled jobs in renewable energy for example... "Today is a very, very important milestone, it's a huge step forward, but a step forward of itself won't achieve change. Mr Corbyn called for a 'green industrial revolution' / PA "What will achieve change is a concentration of energy and effort in making sure the change we want actually happens and the mind-set of preservation of our natural world and our environment, and the equality that must go with it, is centre to what we do in our politics from now on." Environment Secretary Michael Gove earlier acknowledged that MPs face a climate "emergency" during an Opposition Day Debate, although he stopped short of meeting Labour demands to officially declare one. Earlier in Parliament, Labour leader Mr Corbyn tabled a motion which urged the Government to aim for net zero emissions before 2050 and deliver a "zero waste economy" within the next six months. Opening an Opposition Day Debate in the Commons, he said: "This House must declare an environment and climate emergency. 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. "This is no longer about a distant future. We are talking about nothing less than the irreversible destruction of the environment within our lifetimes." T heresa May faced the hefty blow today of losing hundreds of council seats amid the Brexit turmoil which has plunged her Government into crisis. Voters were going to the polls from early this morning for 248 town halls across England, and 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland. Results will start coming in overnight amid predictions the Tories could lose between 500 and 1,000 seats. The Liberal Democrats could gain some 500 seats and Labour around 300. Labour could gain overall control in Dudley, Trafford and Derby, while in Swindon, Great Yarmouth, Redditch and St Albans, control could slip out of Tory hands. The Lib Dems are hoping to seize Winchester. There are no borough elections in London. The scale of the Conservative setback is expected to be mitigated by the fact that Nigel Farages Brexit Party is not standing in the local elections, as it was just set up recently, and Ukip is contesting far fewer seats than when they were last contested in 2015. Council elections are also often decided on local issues rather than national ones. Nearly 60 per cent of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England are currently Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour. Given the Governments failure to ensure the UK quit the EU on the long-planned March 29 date, the Tories may struggle to get out some of their traditional supporters. But Labour risks losing votes from Remain backers, who make up a majority of its supporters, having failed to decisively back a second referendum. J ulian Assange will begin his fight against extradition to the US over allegations he conspired to break into a classified Pentagon computer. The WikiLeaks founder will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday for his first extradition hearing since being hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he hid for nearly seven years. The case comes a day after the 47-year-old was sentenced to 50 weeks' imprisonment for breaching bail when he failed to surrender to police in 2012. Shortly after Assange was removed from the Embassy on April 11 this year, US prosecutors announced that he had been charged with conspiring alongside intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate a Pentagon computer. People held signs of Julian Assange at May Day rallies in Paris as Assange faced court in the UK. / AP They said the charge carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment and relates to Assange's "alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information" in US history. Prosecutors claim he assisted Manning in cracking a password to help her leak classified records to the whistleblowing website. Assange was convicted of breaching his bail conditions after entering the Ecuadorian embassy while wanted over allegations of sexual offences in Sweden, which he denies. After Assange was jailed, lawyer Jennifer Robinson vowed that the "focus of our energies will now be on fighting" the US extradition request. T ommy Robinson had a milkshake thrown over him for the second time in two days as he continued his campaign to become an MEP. The English Defence League founder was drenched during a walkabout in Warrington, Cheshire, where he is standing as an independent candidate for the European elections. Footage posted to social media showed Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, arguing with an Asian man who then hit the milkshake against his head. Robinson appeared to respond by throwing punches at the man before they were separated. Robinson has hosted a series of rallies across the North West / PA The Mirror quoted a man named Danny who claimed to have been responsible for throwing the milkshake. He told the newspaper: "The police took me away but they told me they weren't going to do anything, they just wanted me out of that situation. Robinson is running as an MEP for the North West in the elections on May 23. In another video, filmed in Bury on Wednesday, a drink is hurled at Robinsons head from a distance before he attempts to chase after the culprit. Around 300 supporters turned up to the rally and barbecue to hear Robinson speak / PA Cheshire Police said: "We are aware of an allegation of assault made following an incident in Bridge Street in Warrington this afternoon (May 2). We are looking into the circumstances." A spokeswoman said the force had given Robinson advice but denied claims on social media that he had been given a police escort. Meanwhile, another viral video posted on Tuesday showed a woman in Salford accusing the prospective MEP of "just spouting a load of s***e" to get publicity. Robinson was told by police to stop handing out free burgers at a rally he hosted last week after they claimed he was violating electoral law by bribing voters. The far-right activist had restrictions placed on his YouTube channel / REUTERS He had restrictions placed on his YouTube channel last month, banning him from livestreaming and removing him from search results. YouTube said that although the 36-year-old's videos are not illegal, it decided to apply tougher treatment in response to users flagging his content as potentially violating its rules against hate speech and violent extremism. B rits should brace themselves for a chilly bank holiday weekend as Arctic air threatens to bring temperatures below freezing. The mercury could fall as low as -5C in northern Scotland on Saturday night and -3C in the south of England, the Met Office has warned. Air from the North Pole will spread down across the country, bringing showers and the risk of sleet and snow in north-eastern England and the Scottish highlands. The weekend will feel unseasonably cool, Met forecaster Becky Mitchell told the Standard. Eastern parts will bear the brunt of the cold, with Saturday seeing the lowest temperatures and heavy scattered showers. Despite the largely bleak outlook, western areas are expected to enjoy sunny spells on Saturday, with top temperatures reaching around 14C. The weather will be chilly and mostly dry on Sunday, with cloudier skies and the chance of light showers arriving on Monday. The news marks a notable shift from the April bank holiday which saw the hottest Easter Sunday on record, with temperatures hitting a chocolate-melting 23C. Easter Bank Holiday heatwave 1 /14 Easter Bank Holiday heatwave People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach PA People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach PA Sunbathers on Scarborough beach PA Sunbathers on Scarborough beach PA People canoe along the River Bure in Wroxham on the Norfolk Broads PA People enjoy the hot weather on Scarborough beach PA Brits bask in the sunshine on Scarborough beach PA People take boat rides on the river Avon in Stratford-Upon-Avon PA People sunbathe by the river Avon in Stratford-Upon-Avon PA Sunbathers on Scarborough beach PA Sunbathers on Scarborough beach PA It also comes after forecasters dismissed suggestions a so-called 'Spanish Plume' heatwave would bring scorching temperatures to the UK for the long weekend. However, longer-range weather forecasts offer more optimism for the weeks ahead. "28C would not be a surprise later in May, with warm air expected to arrive from southern Europe, Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Glaze told the Sun. Which parties have the most to gain? Nearly 60 per cent of the 8,425 seats up for grabs in England are currently Conservative, with a quarter held by Labour. A majority of seats involved were last contested in 2015, at a point when the Conservatives were on an electoral high, securing their first House of Commons majority for 18 years on the same day. Under David Cameron, the Tories comfortably topped the poll, gaining 32 councils and 541 councillors as Labour and the Liberal Democrats both slumped. In terms of council seats, the Conservatives are currently at a historic high for a governing party after nine years in power, making losses all but inevitable even if the Tories were not riven by disputes over Brexit. Conservative peer and elections expert Lord Hayward has predicted the loss of 800 or more councillors for Mrs May's party - around a sixth of the seats they are defending. He predicts that Liberal Democrats will be the principal beneficiaries, gaining 500 or more seats to Labour's 300. Any gains higher than this would be regarded as a big success for the two opposition parties. Most of the electoral battles are in the Tory shires or Labour strongholds in northern cities, limiting the prospects for large-scale gains by Jeremy Corbyn's party. The Conservatives are fielding candidates in 96 per cent of the available seats, while Labour are contesting 77 per cent. A massive asteroid will be visible to the naked eye when it passes close to Earth within the same distance as spacecraft that orbit the planet, according to NASA. The 1,100ft-wide rock named 99942 Apophis will shoot across the sky like a "moving star-like point of light", getting brighter and faster on Friday April 13 2029. At 19,000 miles above the earth's surface, it will first become visible to the naked eye in the night sky over the Southern Hemisphere from the east coast to the west coast of Australia. The asteroid will then pass across the Indian ocean, moving west above Africa, then travelling above the Atlantic Ocean in just an hour, reaching the US by the evening. It is rare for an asteroid of this size to pass Earth so closely, according to NASA, which says that smaller asteroids from 10-20 metres have been spotted at similar distances but those the size of Apophis are much fewer. NASA scientists discussed the observation and science opportunities for the celestial event at the 2019 Planetary Defence Conference in Maryland on Tuesday. According to researchers, Apophis will travel more than the width of the full moon within a minute and will shine as bright as the stars in the Little Dipper constellation. "The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science," said Marina Brozovic, a radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "We'll 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." The asteroid will pass by earth 19,000 miles from the surface / Shutterstock When a team of astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory discovered Apophis in 2004, initial orbital calculations revealed that the asteroid had a 2.7% chance of impacting Earth in 2029. However, additional observations completely ruled out that possibility, showing that Apophis still has a small chance of impacting Earth - less than 1 in 100,000 - many decades from now. Davide Farnocchia, an astronomer at JLPs Center for Near Earth Objects Studies said: "We already know that the close encounter with Earth will change Apophis' orbit, but our models also show the close approach could change the way this asteroid spins, and it is possible that there will be some surface changes, like small avalanches. Calls for police probe over leak Huawei leak MPs have called for Gavin Williamson to be prosecuted after he allegedly leaked information about Chinese mobile giant Huawei. Demands were made for a police probe after the former Defence Secretary was fired over the leak from a confidential meeting. Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson wrote to Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation. Man charged after bodies found in freezer A man has been charged with preventing lawful burial after the bodies of two women were found in a freezer at a flat. He was arrested after the bodies were discovered at an address in Canning Town, east London, last Friday. A 50-year-old who was arrested on suspicion of murder has been released under investigation. Corbyn urges for green industrial revolution Jeremy Corbyn has said a green industrial revolution is needed to tackle climate change. Addressing a rally of activists he warned that more than simply declaring an emergency must be done to end the crisis. Speaking at Parliament Square, the Labour leader urged the Government to submit plans for a sustainable economy. Drake scoops top prize at Billboard Awards Drake has scooped the top male artist gong at the star-studded Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. Mariah Carey was honoured with the icon award, while K-pop superstars BTS took home the prize for top social artists. Taylor Swift raised the curtain on the annual awards show with an energetic performance of her latest hit single. And in sport Lionel Messi scored twice to help give Barcelona a commanding Champions League semi-final lead over Liverpool last night. The goals took the striker to 600 career goals for the Catalan club, and earned a 3-0 first leg win over Jurgen Klopps side. Luis Suarez had opened the scoring against his former team. On this day 1670: King Charles II granted a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America. 1942: HMS Edinburgh was sunk in the Barents Sea off Norway. Its cargo of gold bars lay in 803 feet of water until salvaged in 1981. 1952: The first jet passenger service began between London and Johannesburg. 1969: The Queen Elizabeth II sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage. 1982: The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by British submarine HMS Conqueror off the Falklands. T heres a lot of anxiety around how young people, particularly teenagers, use the internet but new research by TalkTalk suggests some of these fears may be overblown. In a recent study, 2,000 young people aged 13-16 year olds and the parents of the same teenagers, were interviewed about their attitudes to technology and loneliness. The teens were mainly optimistic about technology and its uses. Over half (51 per cent) said that during times when they felt lonely, tech provided a solution to their loneliness such as enabled them to make new friends, receive support and advice, as well as read positive comments online. However, social media was citied as a cause for feeling lonely by 12 per cent of teens, who said they felt lonely because they didnt have many friends on social media. When it comes to the parents, on the other hand, it demonstrated that there is an education gap between worrying about the internet, and knowing what to do about it. For instance, 70 per cent of parents worry about their teens using the internet, but 65 per cent said they did not limit the hours their teen spends using social media and tech, and 70 per cent reported they dont use parent protection controls and software. Around 37 per cent said they feel ill-equipped or unsure about how to manage their teens online. It seems like when it comes to teens on the internet, the main issue is with the parents not understanding what theyre doing. Research by Oxford University academics found there was little evidence between screen time and mental health in teenagers. The study used a mixture of self-reporting techniques as well as time-use diaries. The research reflected another study earlier this year by the same academics that found technology use explains at most 40 per cent of adolescent wellbeing. Were still learning about how things like social media impact our health and wellbeing, but at least in this instance, it demonstrates that the Generation Zs digital savvy nature means they may have more of a hold on tech and its effects than their parents do. 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On Tuesday, the sheriffs office assisted the North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole in searching the home of Michael Brian Sherrod, a press release stated. Bowman said the residence can be searched at any time because Sherrod, 41, is on parole for felony larceny. Both Sherrod and Jason Ray Williams, 41, were found at the home on McCurdy Farm Lane, the press release stated. Williams is charged with felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Williams received a $7,500 secured bond from a magistrate. Sherrod was charged with felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a felon and misdemeanor possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance. He received a $17,500 secured bond. Both are scheduled to be in court May 6. 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The event will take place under the slogan "It's all about live quality music!"The festival was the first event in Romania to receive in 2005 the High Patronage of the Romanian Royal House and in 2015 it was awarded a prize by the European Commission.The Opening Gala will take place at the Odeon Theatre House in Bucharest, on May 9, where a jazz concert by Dan Papirany Trio will be staged with musicians from Australia, Israel and New Zealand, and Gabriele Agosta from Italy.May 11-18, Bucharest will play host to an eponymous international jazz competition.The Dalles Hall will be the venue of a jazz concert each day from May 13 to May 17, 19:00hrs, local, that will display the latest trends from the world stages in the US, Canada, Europe, South America and Asia. Spectators will be able to listen to 16 bands from 13 countries. Admission is 49 lei per person, with the tickets available for purchase on iabilet.ro.Concomitantly, the 25th edition of the Dinu Lipatti Jeunesses International Music Competition takes place. More than 60 violinists from 24 countries will compete before a jury of international specialists for prizes of 10,000 euros. Admission is free for pupils and students, subject to availability.After-hours concerts are scheduled for May 10 -17. Every evening, from 20:00hrs, the Ibis Hotel Gara de Nord's cafe will host new wave jazz musicians. Admission is 49 lei per person, with the tickets available for purchase on iabilet.ro.Symphonic concerts will be stages in Sibiu at the Thalia Hall, May 9-18. The top event is Best World Violinists where the best violinists of the competition will perform alongside the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu.May 14-18, violin and jazz workshops will be held, the most anticipated of which being one given by Doroteya Lyutskanova of Bulgaria.The festival ends on May 18 with EUROPAfest Gala. Performing will be the prize-winning bands and violinists, and the winners of the contests will be presented the awards. An Excellency Diploma from the Romanian Royal House will also be awarded on the same occasion. Deputy Prime Minister for implementing Romania's strategic partnerships Ana Birchall met on Thursday in Brussels with US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, with whom she discussed about the "firm" commitment of Romania's Government to ensure a transparent investment climate. "We discussed about the cooperation in the energy area, capitalising on the energy resources in the Black Sea, aspects regarding the regional energy security and the development of some transport and connectivity projects, with an emphasis on the BRUA [the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria corridor] project. Moreover, I reiterated the firm commitment of Romania's Government to ensure a transparent and attractive investment climate for the companies investing in the energy area, through projects diversifying energy transport sources and routes," Birchall wrote on her Facebook page.Ana Birchall attends the first edition of the EU-US High-Level Business to Business Energy Forum, which takes place in Brussels. Within the meeting, the prospects for developing and strengthening the EU and the US relations will be discussed, especially in the sphere of energy and security in the area. Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Liviu Voinea was appointed Romania's representative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and will take over as Senior Advisor to the IMF Executive Director beginning August 26, BNR said in a release. "The National Bank of Romania informs that Mr. Deputy Governor Liviu Voinea has been appointed Romania's representative to the International Monetary Fund and will take over as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the IMF as of August 26. In order to take over his office at the IMF, Mr. Voinea will relinquish on the same date the position of BNR Deputy Governor. The term of Mr. Mugur Tolici at the IMF will end at his request, on August 23," the release states. Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Wednesday that a joint meeting of the national governments of Romania and Israel will take place "in the near future," adding that she had a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the subject, and that a date for the meeting will be set. "I have had a phone conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu; I have congratulated him and talked about the joint government meeting. This government meeting will be held; the ambassador will support us, it is an important meeting to us, a meeting that further links our countries and that helps us improve our bilateral economic and trade relationships, and I could say it is a meeting where friends meet. So the meeting will be held, we will soon set the date," Dancila told Antena 3 private broadcaster on a programme shot in Poland.The prime minister said the meeting will take place "in the near future.""We have to wait for the formation of the [Israeli] Government. After the formation of the government, the prime minister said that this will be the first event we will jointly held," added Dancila.On Wednesday and Thursday, Dancila was on a visit to Poland to attend a conference of heads of government of the Central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union after 2004, but also to attend a Birkenau memorial ceremony.She was scheduled to join the March of the Living 2019, an annual educational event involving walking the distance from Auschwitz to Birkenau.She will also attend a Birkenau memorial ceremony, alongside world leaders, government officials, faith leaders, and representatives of student and children's organisations.Also attending the even in addition to the official Romanian retinue at Auschwitz-Birkenau will be David Saranga, ambassador of Israel to Romania, and Tova Ben Nun-Cherbis, president and founder of the Lauder-Reut Educational Complex, together with a group of children from Romania. President Klaus Iohannis posted on Facebook on Thursday a photo with a message urging Romanians to vote in the referendum of 26 May. The image, which depicts the head of state introducing a ballot paper in the ballot box, is accompanied by the following text: "#Referendum26May. Decide for your future!Vote!."President Klaus Iohannis signed on 25 April the decree regarding the organisation of the referendum on 26 May.According to this document, the citizens are called to express their will, through Yes or No in respect to the following questions:1. Do you agree with banning amnesty and pardon for corruption offenses?2. Do you agree with preventing the Government from adopting emergency ordinances in the area of criminal offenses, punishments and judicial organization, and to extend the right to directly challenge the ordinances with the Constitutional Court?. Romania attaches particular importance to the strengthening of the transatlantic relationship, an increasingly relevant partnership in the context of the current political, economic and security challenges, Premier Viorica Dancila said in the message conveyed on Thursday by Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall during the first high-level EU-US energy business forum held in Brussels, agerpres.ro informs. Ana Birchall had an intervention during a session on the development of natural gas infrastructure, where she presented the message of Premier Viorica Dancila, informs a government release. The Deputy Prime Minister reiterated the fundamental role of connectivity and the importance of large-scale investment in energy infrastructure, including as regards liquefied natural gas infrastructure. "Romania is in a privileged position at the Black Sea and must capitalize on its strengths. Maximizing the economic potential of the Black Sea for the benefit of the enlarged region is an assumed goal and energy investment opens strategic opportunities," said the Romanian Deputy Prime Minister, as cited in the release. "The BRUA project is a good example of successful cooperation among the states in our region. This new gas corridor will improve interconnectivity with neighboring countries, will create a new regional gas transport route from various supply sources, liquefied natural gas included, and will create the necessary infrastructure for taking up and transporting significant volumes of gas from the Black Sea, while at the same time carrying an important potential to create a valuable link between the Southern Gas Corridor and Central Europe, with Romania as a regional energy hub," said the Romanian official. Attending the meeting were European and American political leaders such as US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, US Ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Change Miguel Arias Canete, the European Commission's Director-General for Energy Dominique Ristori, and ministerial representatives from EU Member States. There were also numerous representatives of European and US energy companies. Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall also attended a roundtable meeting on "Critical Infrastructure and European Energy Security", where she stated that "the energy sector is a crucial priority, and Romania, through its geostrategic position, has proved to be one of the most important regional partners, being a supporter of strengthening the energy infrastructure in the wider Black Sea region." On the sidelines of the event, Ana Birchall had a bilateral meeting with US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, with the officials discussing the main dimensions of energy cooperation, aspects of regional energy security and the development of transport and interconnectivity projects. The sides voiced appreciation for Romania's geostrategic position and role in strengthening the regional and European energy security. They also reiterated the importance of the Three Nations Initiative and of the continued substantive US support. Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall reiterated the firm commitment of the PSD-ALDE government to ensuring a transparent and attractive investment climate for the companies that invest in the energy sector through energy and transport routes diversification projects The informal meeting of Europe for Citizens contact points, an action carried out in the context of Romania's holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, will take place on 7 and 8 May at the Media Hall of the National Theatre in Bucharest. According to a press release posted on Thursday on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Identity (MCIN), attending the meeting will be representatives of the contact points dedicated to the Europe for Citizens 2014-2020 program, the European Commission, the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture, as well as several Romanian organizations that have benefited from funding from the Europe for Citizens program in recent years, through various funding lines.The meeting is structured in two distinct parts."On the first day, the representatives of the contact points will receive information from the EC and EACEA representatives the latest news of the current Program and about the status of the negotiations on the next program within the European financial framework 2021 - 2027. On the second day there will be discussions on the working manner of the European network of contact points Europe for Citizens, ways to improve offices' activity, exchange of views and experiences, etc.," the MCIN informs. Shelley Seifert, former chief operating officer of First Bank, became chairman and CEO of First Bank Wednesday. Seifert also will serve as CEO and president of FB Corporation, the banks holding company. First Banks former CEO Tim Lathe is retiring in July. Tim and Shelley have been working together for years to strengthen our company by building a diverse team of experts and recruiting top talent to ensure we are well-positioned for growth, Michael Dierberg, chairman of the board, said in a statement. Seifert joined First Bank in October 2014 as executive vice president and chief administrative officer and was promoted to COO in August 2015. As COO, she oversaw retail banking, technology, operations, human resources and marketing. She previously served as executive vice president of integrations and operations at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh. Creve Coeur-based First Bank has $6.1 billion in assets and 94 locations in California, Missouri and Illinois. Abu Hamdan, who was born in Jordan, is an artist and "audio investigator" now based in Beirut. He's interested in sound and how it intersects with politics. The New York Times writes that "Mr. Hamdan was nominated for works that recreated a prison run by the Syrian government from the memories of prisoners held in complete darkness." CAM Chief Curator Wassan Al-Khudhairi, who organized Earwitness Theatre for the museum, said in a news release: We're very proud to be a co-commissioner and involved in the production of Lawrences acclaimed exhibition. He's an artist that I think audiences will be fascinated with as his work brings up many issues with regards to human rights, the politics of listening and of witness. Tate Britain, which organizes the Turner Prize, said in its announcement that "Abu Hamdans work investigates crimes that have been heard and not seen; exploring the processes of reconstruction, the complexity of memory and language as well as the urgency of human rights and advocacy. The jury was struck by Abu Hamdans exploration of sound as an architectural element and the way he recreates particular situations through sound and performance. A glass partition separates the kitchen from the dining room inside Elmwood, which arrived in downtown Maplewoods crowded restaurant scene in late January. When you are sitting in the spacious, dimly lighted dining room especially once the sun has set, plunging the room deeper into the gloaming it is difficult not to imagine the partition as a screen and the work of chef Adam Altnether and his team in the bright kitchen as your latest Netflix food-TV binge. By the end of your meal, you might think of the illuminated kitchen as a showroom for the restaurants engine, a charcoal-fired grill and oven built by the Spanish company Josper. The char from live fire, the smoky whisper of its embers: These, more than any dish or the impressive resumes of Altnether and co-owner Chris Kelling, define Elmwood. Altnether arrived on the St. Louis dining scene last decade as an incandescent young talent. The Culinary Institute of America graduate was 20 when he started working at Gerard Crafts acclaimed Niche; by 22, he was the restaurants chef de cuisine. Now 32, Altnether exited the restaurant spotlight when he left the Niche Food Group in 2015, but he didnt leave the kitchen. He was a sous chef for the Cardinals. Kelling is a fellow Niche Food Group alum. As the general manager of Niche and its successor, Sardella, he rose to the top rank of St. Louis hospitality professionals, his skills honed by two years as the dining-room manager of the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, Calif. With the emphatic caveat that Kelling spotted me in under a minute on each of my visits (two walk-ins, one pseudonymous reservation), the service at Elmwood is already polished, smooth but not bloodlessly efficient, warm but not ingratiating. That service is essential in reconciling the upscale but unpretentious neighborhood restaurant Altnether and Kelling intend Elmwood to be a place where it feels as natural to order a $4 bowl of peanuts seasoned with lemon grass and dusky, mild marash chile as a $77 dry-aged rib-eye for two and the sleek, even cold vibe it can evoke. The design by Altnether, Kelling and architect Kyle Nottmeier isnt colorless, but the spaces size (booths, freestanding tables, a communal table and a banquette as well as seating at the bar and at a counter along the kitchens glass partition) overwhelms the details. The printed menu runs from smallest dish to largest, but here, too, you might look to your server for guidance. The spice-roasted half poussin ($19) is a main course, and the tender, smoky bird flecked with cumin, coriander and Aleppo pepper is certainly appealing on its bed of muhammara, the Middle Eastern spread of roasted red pepper, walnut and pomegranate molasses. It doesnt scan as a complete dish, though. Pair it with the grilled broccoli ($6), its natural flavor intensified by char and cooled with a tahni dressing. The broccoli, in turn, isnt complex enough to stand alone as a dish but works well as a side. The broccoli is a rare case where the char character is dominant. More often the coal-fired cooking is nuanced. Roasted oysters (each $3), dressed with a nam jim redolent of garlic, lime and jalapeno, taste nearly as ocean-fresh as if they were raw. Kale tossed on the grill for a few minutes focuses its sharp flavor for a Caesar-like salad ($12). Altnether purees sweet potatoes that have been roasted in embers and seasons them as a riff on baba ghanoush ($12). When I think of this as baba ghanoush, the dish doesnt make sense. When I think of it as, say, a savory Nutella, I want more. The coal-fired grill and oven are Elmwoods heart. As you study the menu, you can see its spine. Altnether isnt trying to push modern cuisine forward as he did at Niche. He is invigorating beloved dishes in his own fashion. It works. Instead of beef tartare, he serves a brilliant lamb cruda ($15) with the bright aromatics and warming spices of the Indian street-food classic kheema pav. Sesame oil, Aleppo pepper and the distinct numbing tickle of Sichuan peppercorns electrify Bangs Island mussels from Maine ($17). The mussels incredible texture, almost creamy, doesnt need much else. The shells dont bob in broth but sit on a lattice of shoestring potatoes that soaks up the dishs flavors. Some kind of punch of heat or unexpected spice could have helped the gnocchetti Sardi ($14), a rare misfire. Tomato, eggplant and zaatar dont add much to the little semolina-flour curls. Altnether gives a distinctly St. Louis touch to Korean ssam. The meat you wrap in butter-lettuce cups is a grilled pork steak ($24) glazed with honey and hot sauce. On the side, to add to taste, is a warm salad of grilled leeks, a grill sauce made from coal-roasted tomato, kitchen trimmings and pork broth, and a salsa fresca with tomato, cucumber and mint. The burger ($15) is a knife-and-fork beast with American cheese, thick bacon, fried shallots, pickles and Korean barbecue sauce. Combine Altnethers menu and Elmwoods beverage program, and the equation is perfectly balanced for the 2019 restaurant scene. Bar manager David Greteman oversees a compact list of balanced in alcohol level as well as flavor cocktails, and he did an excellent job guiding me through the restaurants selection of amaro and other digestifs. The wine list from Kelling and assistant general manager and sommelier Juliette Dottle focuses on Kellings native California, with a side trip to France and some sparkling-wine flair. Unusually for a St. Louis restaurant these days, it is Elmwoods dessert menu that has lingered with me. Here, too, coal appears. Altnether roasts lemons till nearly black for the ash that dusts a refreshing lemon tart ($10). He serves a whole charcoal-roasted apple ($10) with ember caramel (a glowing ember is tossed into the pot of cream before it is added to the caramel) and vanilla ice cream. The effect is mesmerizing, like an apple pie that has soaked up the essence of a backyard summer barbecue. It made me wonder what other intriguing, boundary-pushing ideas Altnether and his team might be discussing behind the glass partition in the kitchen, where we can see what they are making but cant hear what they might be imagining. Where Elmwood, 2704 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood Three stars out of four More info 314-261-4708; elmwoodstl.com Menu Contemporary American fare from a coal-fired kitchen Hours Dinner Tuesday-Saturday Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have an elevated PSA and have had several biopsies that have not shown cancer. Do I need to continue with biopsies every year? ANSWER: It may not be necessary for you to continue with annual prostate biopsies. But that depends in part on the overall level and rate of change of your prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, over time. Along with information about your PSA, your health care provider can use several other tools to determine if you need additional biopsies or if you can be safely monitored without further biopsies. The PSA test measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen in your blood. PSA is a protein produced by both cancerous and noncancerous tissue in the prostate -- a small gland that sits below a man's bladder. When PSA is found to be above normal levels, a prostate biopsy may be recommended to check for cancer. Biopsies involve using a needle to collect several tissue samples from the prostate gland. The samples are then examined in a lab to see if they contain cancer. 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. Perry made public the letters of support from Belmar, Stenger and the Rev. Michael Campbell, a Roman Catholic priest, but did not discuss them with the newspaper. You know, every day I send people to jail who had terrible upbringings, who had no support," she said. "Its a lot easier to understand how people with that kind of background commit these kind of crimes. And I have read these letters. It sounds like, you know, you have many good qualities and you have a lot of support, but ... you committed a real crime that deserves real punishment. Four different facial expressions of American choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones against a stark yellow background make up the most recent panorama in the public Murals of La Jolla program. Created by artist Alex Katz, Bill 2 is located at 7540 Fay Ave., and replaces the controversial Sexy Cash mural. Of the artist, Murals of La Jolla curator Lynda Forsha said: Alex Katz is a luminary in the art world, renowned for his signature use of bold color and simplified compositions. His work, which is so graphic in nature, brings a striking and new dimension to our project. This is the fourth mural on this particular site, so Katzs portrait of Bill T. Jones commands our attention, but also reminds us that there is a collective memory surrounding the project after 10 years, and that artworks by Mark Bradford, Gajin Fujita and Anya Gallaccio also once graced this same wall. New York City-based artist Alex Katz Courtesy Vivien Bittencourt Of the process behind this particular image, Katz told La Jolla Light: I was doing a series of paintings with big faces on yellow grounds and they were getting more and more complicated, and these are the most complicated with the single and the double and the single. These images were done from life as original images and just repeated. The subject Jones, whom Katz described as very beautiful and very unusual-looking, is an American ballet and modern dance choreographer known for his on- and off-Broadway works. Jones is the winner of the Human Rights Campaigns 2016 Visibility Award, 2013 National Medal of Arts to a 1994 MacArthur Genius Award and Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. The artist statement reads: Executed in Katzs bold and simplified signature style, Bill 2 depicts Jones visage, through a series of distinct expressions. The repetition of his face has a cinematic and lyrical quality, reinforcing his place in the world of dance, music and film. Portions of the face are dramatically cropped, giving the viewer only quick and gestural glimpses of Jones. Given the murals proximity to the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, which houses dance performances and concerts, the mural also gives a nod to the interconnected worlds of art, music, and dance, the statement continues. About the artist No stranger to public art, Katz has participated in several New York-based projects, including Art Adds, through which he created works to place atop taxi cabs rather than advertisements; a 28-by-53-foot mural over the Bowery Bar; and a mural produced for the Arts in Transit program in Chicago, which now sits in the interior of a Harlem transit station. According to his biography, Katz was born in Brooklyn in 1927 and moved to Queens the next year. Known for figurative paintings, sculptures and prints, Katz began making large-scale paintings with cropped faces in the early 1960s. His subjects are often his wife, Ada, and other artists, poets, art critics and dancers. Over the span of his career, Katz has had more than 200 solo and 500 group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally. His work can be found in the permanent collections of major museums throughout the world. Katz continues to live and work in New York City. About Murals of La Jolla Founded by the La Jolla Community Foundation, the Murals of La Jolla program is now under the auspices of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. Its goal is to enhance the civic character of the community by commissioning public art projects on private property throughout La Jolla. The Murals Art Advisory Committee is composed of chiefs from San Diegos major visual arts organizations who commission artists to propose murals. Each work is on view for a minimum of two years and has been funded by private donations. CLAYTON A jury found a former University of Missouri-St. Louis graduate student guilty of charges he sexually abused two students in their campus apartments in 2017 and 2018. The jury on Thursday found Devonta Bagley, 24, guilty of six counts including sodomy, burglary and armed criminal action. He faces a possible life term when he is sentenced June 14 by Circuit Judge Mary Elizabeth Ott. Prosecutors said Bagley sneaked into the University Meadows apartments of two male students as they slept and sexually assaulted them in 2017 and 2018. Bagley did not know the victims. Joslyn Anthony, an attorney for Bagley, said Bagley maintains his innocence and is disappointed with the verdict. A 2017 graduate of Kansas State University, Bagley has a pending case in Kansas for allegedly sexually abusing a student at a campus fraternity house in the fall of 2017. Officials have said Bagley was an UMSL graduate student before he was expelled in the fall of 2017. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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' ST. LOUIS A 27-year-old woman was shot while driving on Interstate 70 Tuesday afternoon, police said. Police responded to a call at I-70 and West Florissant Avenue at about 4:15 p.m. and found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds to her back and arm. The woman told police she was driving west on the highway when a man she didn't know in a silver Mercedes-Benz began shooting at her car, hitting her. The woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition, though she was listed as stable. Police are investigating and released an image Thursday of a man with a gun hanging out the window of a car on the interstate. Authorities asked anyone with information to contact CrimeStoppers online or at 1-866-371-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward. Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Clay spokesman did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the congressman had asked Stenger to hire Aboussie. Payback Rallos dealings with the Partnership, which staffed the Port Authority, and his campaign contributions to Stenger feature prominently in the federal indictment, particularly the sham marketing contract awarded to Rallos Cardinal Creative at Stengers direction. Port Authority board members and former Partnership CEO Sheila Sweeney declined last year to explain to the Post-Dispatch why Rallos firm was paid $130,000 despite the boards approval of his $100,000 bid. The indictment, however, spells out the reason: Sweeney had added the additional $30,000 to the consulting contract because Stenger had directed her to give a job or a contract to an individual, JC. JC was a close associate of a public official who had helped Stenger get out the vote in the November, 2014 County Executive election, and Stengers direction to hire JC or give JC a contract was payback for that. Eigel said he didn't know whether he and others would give up the push for ESAs and allow Fast Track or other incentives to pass. "I don't know that this has to be a zero-sum game where I have to make those commitments in order to do something and take advantage of something that's this unique," he said. "When you have something like this on the table, you have to try to make it happen. So I don't know what that means in terms of giving up stuff." Onder also sounded a potentially positive note. Overall, the impact is going to be huge and very favorable to our state and to our region, Onder said. Were all committed to doing what we can to really build on the very productive partnership that weve had with General Motors. The Wentzville plant, which opened in 1983, covers more than 3.4 million square feet. Workers build the mid-size Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups and GMs full-size vans. The automaker added a third shift on the van production line in October to meet strong demand for the vehicles. The scramble to piece together an incentive package to bring jobs to the state is not new. Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, starts on Sunday and will coincide with the school year for the first time in nearly a decade. The Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released "An Educators Guide to Ramadan and Accommodating Muslim Students" Thursday with tips on working with students observing the holiday. "Ramadan is a month of fasting where Muslim students abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. This presents unique challenges to Muslim students especially in a educational environment," said Faizan Syed, executive director of the council, in a statement. "Whether it's finding accommodations for Muslim students during lunch, advice on whether students should participate in physical education, or how to deal with medication for fasting students, this short guide dives into these various topics." Ramadan will last from Sunday through June 4, which the religious celebration of Eid-Al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan. Fasting during Ramadan is an act of worship. Muslims abstain from food, water and medication for about 15 hours a day. During the month, Muslims are encouraged to increase their prayers and good works while also participating in their typical daily activities including school. "I don't think anyone in our office believes for one second there is an issue with institutionalized anti-semitism at the NYT," one staffer in an international bureau said. "But as with all newsrooms that have gone through radical restructuring in recent years, that so many checks and balances have been removed and that this could go up without being seen by a second pair of eyes makes reporters and editors alike concerned." Like most of the others interviewed for this story, the staffer insisted on anonymity to speak candidly about their employer. James Bennet, the editor in charge of the Opinion section, declined to be interviewed. But on Wednesday he published an editorial criticizing, in effect, his own department. "Apologies are important," the editorial board said, "but the deeper obligation of The Times is to focus on leading through unblinking journalism and the clear editorial expression of its values." Later in the day, Sulzberger spoke out about the cartoon for the first time. He wrote in an internal memo that "we are taking disciplinary steps" with the editor involved, and making a series of procedural changes to "ensure adequate oversight." For one thing, there will be no more syndicated cartoons. Teens from the La Jolla chapter of the National League of Young Men (NLYM) went to Mexico on April 13 to build a house for a family living in Tijuana. Established in 2007, NLYM is a mother-son organization dedicated to educating youth as leaders and showing them the importance of community, philanthropy and charity. For this project, NLYM teamed with the non-profit Project Mercy, which is dedicated to building up the impoverished places in the world, one community at a time. NLYM received a grant for $5,300 from the Kiwanis Club of La Jolla to cover the cost of the construction materials needed to build the house. Ten young men and their parents arrived in Tijuana early in the morning, along with a few members of Project Mercy, and went straight to work building the framework for the walls. After the walls were built, the team painted them and nailed them into place on the concrete foundation. Next they began building the loft area for children to sleep in. After the loft flooring was complete, the team proceeded to put up the framework for the roof, nailing the roofing to the framework after it was done. For the young men of NLYM, this was a very moving experience to see such poverty and so many people in need, so close to home. Not only did the teens learn many skills in carpentry and construction, they learned that need is universal, as is gratitude, respect and community. Learn more about the La Jolla chapter of the National League of Young Men at nlymlajolla.org Installing the loft floor ( Courtesy Photos ) The State Board of Education has voted unanimously to return control of the St. Louis Public Schools to an elected school board. The state board expressed confidence in the members of the newly empowered, elected school board and, since they ran knowing they had no power to hire or award contracts, I would like to assume each ran only to serve the students of the district. However, aware of the past performance of elected boards, the Post-Dispatch editorialized, If past is prologue, St. Louisans should expect a return to back-room wheeling and dealing by contractors and lobbyists, and suggested the new board be placed under the microscope. Since the state will continue to fund St. Louis Public Schools with no additional oversight, state taxpayers need to understand why local control was taken away in the first place and why we need a microscope. The current asylum system isnt perfect; there are many migrants whose true basis for leaving their home countries is to escape desperate poverty not, say, religious or political persecution. Threatened U.S. aid cuts to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala only promise to make those poverty conditions worse and prompt more outward migration. But in general, the system works. Asylum-seekers appear before immigration judges to state their case. Only about 20 percent of applicants actually are granted asylum. However, as always on immigration issues, this administration seems determined to circumvent workable solutions and to use whatever scare tactics necessary to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria among Trumps base. Instead of weeding out false claims of persecution, Trumps new policy will make it more difficult for even those genuinely in need of asylum to get it. Tightening restrictions on work permits while asylum-seekers cases proceed, for example, will make it harder for those who follow the rules to successfully navigate the asylum system. At a later reception for the Vietnamese diplomat, President Heine highly evaluated bilateral relations between Marshall and Vietnam in recent years, expressing her gratitude to Vietnam for successfully organizing the 6thGlobal Environment Facility Assembly (GEF 6) in the central city of Da Nang in 2018. She also applauded the outcomes of her meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines of GEF 6, saying that this was an important milestone in the relations between the two countries. The President suggested the two nations work closely with the international community in protecting the environment, preventing global warming and sea level rise, expressing her hope that the two countries will further enhance cooperation in tourism and air transport, and promote goods exchanges. President Heine also called on Vietnamese firms to invest in Marshall, especially in the fields that Vietnam has strength, while asking Vietnam to help the country ensure food security. For his part, Ambassador Nam affirmed Vietnam always attaches importance to relations with and thanked Marshall for its support to Vietnam in recent years. He also spoke highly Marshalls stance and policy on issues related to protecting international law and respecting the UN 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), affirming that Vietnam has actively joined in protecting the global environment and preventing global warming. The Vietnamese Government always supports and encourages enterprises of the two countries to expand cooperation. The same day, Marshall Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade John Silk received the Vietnamese diplomat, during which the two officials discussed the bilateral cooperation in the international arena, and asserted mutual support in issues concerning the protection of international law and UNCLOS 1982. They also debated ways to foster trade ties between the two nations, especially in agriculture and fishery. Silk hoped that the two sides will consider and sign important agreements soon to create a foundation for expanding the bilateral trade cooperation, including those on air transport and shipping, and facilitation of the granting of visas to citizens of both nations. Ambassador Nam also met Minister of Natural Resources and Business of Marshall Dennis Momotaro. They discussed how to prevent the disposal of waste into sea, especially plastic waste, which threatens the fishing and tourism industries of many countries worldwide. During his stay in Marshall, Ambassador Nam visited economic and tourism agencies, and schools in the country. An inventory created to document the conditions of beach accesses and coastal overlooks is causing some heartburn among residents who live nearby. Discussed at the April 22 La Jolla Parks & Beaches (LJP&B) advisory group meeting at the Rec Center, the inventory was created by volunteers Melinda Merryweather and Mary Lynn Hyde over the last few months. The two have been visiting overlooks from Tourmaline Beach to La Jolla Farms, documenting their condition, suggesting needs and inventorying their findings. But not everyone who lives adjacent these overlooks was notified about the inventory or the process used to create it. At the meeting, Coast Walk resident Brenda Fake said: This board had two people go out, take pictures and create this list. How were the residents that would be highly impacted by this assessment informed? Were they engaged in the process? My fear is, should this be adopted, there is now a list to move things forward made without the community in any say-so. She argued that some of the issues identified in the inventory might be resolved by talking to the neighbors and allowing them to make needed repairs or carry out the maintenance themselves. Engaging the community is an opportunity and a chance to open this up and make changes, Fake added. Just knock on peoples doors and let them know what youre doing so people are in the know. Because people dont find out about these things until later on, they go on the defensive. LJP&B trustee Jane Reldan supported the idea of contacting the neighbors of these areas and getting their input rather than surprising them. Fellow trustee Judy Adams Halter suggested that it might be wise to draft a letter to leave for those that are not home. A further issue of concern was using the word dedicated when the inventory was presented to the board last month for its blessing. In the inventory, some of the accesses are labeled as dedicated, which, if true, would carry certain responsibilities and regulations. The La Jolla Community Plan and Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan (often referred to as the Community Plan) does not have a clear definition of what that means, but one reference states: Dedicated access easements are not required to be opened for public use unless the City or some other entity agrees to accept responsibility for maintenance and liability of that access way. Another reference states dedicated open space lands are protected in perpetuity from development. According to La Jolla Parks & Beaches chair Ann Dynes information from the Department of Park & Rec, a dedicated park cannot cease to be a park without a two-thirds vote of all of San Diego voters. Its a loaded word, she said. I got a lot of questions about what the word dedicated means. I went to the Municipal Code and then spent several hours with the 2014 La Jolla Community Plan to see where the wording is used. Dynes said she found that while the word is used in the Community Plan, the uses are inconsistent. In a few ways, the community plan is wrong, she said. For example, it indicates that Whale View Point is dedicated park, which it is not, it is a shoreline park, which is a completely different animal in the parlance of the City. Noting another example, Dynes said the Community Plan and inventory labels Bandera Street as unimproved portion of dedicated street off of Calumet Avenue, but according to San Diego records, it is a dedicated path. She added: Some of these expressions vary from document to document. In the inventory, Dynes concluded, the wording has been faithfully taken from the La Jolla Community Plan. Merryweather said she worked on the most recent revision of the community plan. A six-hour meeting was nothing in the Community Plan process. Every word and every dot was argued on every issue. We went over it again and again. So if the Community Plan says it is dedicated, it is dedicated. The Community Plan is our bible for doing everything we do and we took the words right out of our Community Plan. Dynes said she wanted to spend more time reviewing the documents before voting to adopt the inventory or post it on their website, so it will continue to be discussed at future meetings. The inventory itself is not considered final, Merryweather noted to La Jolla Light, and would undergo additional review before any formal vote is taken. The inventory includes eight sub-areas: La Jolla Farms, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla Shores, Coast Walk, Coast Boulevard (including Childrens Pool), Windansea, La Jolla Hermosa (including several overlooks off Camino de la Costa) and Bird Rock. The latter contains most of the overlooks to be improved. For areas such as La Jolla Farms, the inventory suggests removing red curbs on certain streets to create more beach-access parking. Other suggestions are more extensive. For Moss Lane, for example these include replacing the rusted railing, removing all existing vegetation on the south side of concrete walkway (only the tall palm trees should remain), removing the bougainvillea on north side of the walkway, removing illegal drip irrigation in the right-of-way, removing tall sprinkler heads that are activated when property owner wishes to discourage use, addressing water intrusion issue from adjacent property owner on south side as runoff creates a soggy mess and contributes to bluff erosion, and adding a trash can and regular trash pick-up service. A look at La Jollas Fire Station 13, circa 2006, would not necessarily be a pleasant sight. Male and female sleeping quarters contained uncomfortable beds and were separated only by a curtain, there were out-of-date television sets, and the building itself was in need of repairs. Enter the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club, whose members stepped up and began fundraising for a major renovation. Completed in 2007, the Sunrise Rotary Club celebrated its achievement on April 23 with the dedication of an on-site donor wall. Bird Rock mural artist Jane Wheeler designed the wall with handmade tiles naming the benefactors. The mosaic wall faces the adjacent Fay Avenue Bike Path on the east side of the building. Strategically placed near the center of the wall is the tile recognizing donors Lynn Gorguze and her husband Congress member Scott Peters, both of whom were in attendance at the wall dedication. These firefighters, who take such good care of us and put their lives on the line for us, have to live here, basically, Peters said. (When this project was being discussed) I came down to look at the station and saw it was kind of a miserable situation. So this has been great for the department. Thank you to the community for your generosity if we had the federal government functioning at 100 percent we are slightly short of that we still could not replace the community leadership that happens in places like this. San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell added his first-hand impressions of the renovation: It was pretty bad here, and I worked many shifts before the remodel was done. It has made a huge difference! I just cannot believe the changes and the new environment. When these folks live here 24 hours a day, to be able to offer them such conveniences and a nice place to work, is tremendous. We truly appreciate the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary for their significant contributions to Fire Station 13. San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell speaks to the conditions before the renovation and how the changes will benefit the department. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon) Stowell added that when the project started, money was not easy to come by in the City budget. We were going through tough times in the fire department. Remodels, frankly, were not high on the priority list. We were looking at closing down fire houses at that time. We would not be able to complete projects like this without private groups like La Jolla Sunrise Rotary. Brendan Ruff was president of La Jolla Sunrise Rotary when the project began (and former publisher of La Jolla Light). He provided the historical perspective. He told those gathered that in March 2006, the Club did its first outreach to the community, announcing the goal was $80,000 to renovate the dorms into three separate bedrooms. In April that year, we received our first donations, including $50,000 from Paula and Oliver Jones, and a $100,000 matching grant from an anonymous donor who still wishes to remain anonymous, Ruff said. The Anonymous and Jones Family tiles are in the center of the donor wall, under a glistening golden fire helmet mosaic. In June 2006, the Club and Fire Station hosted a community open house so people could see the needs. By July, with excess funds in hand, the goal was increased to $450,000 to include new bathrooms, kitchens and added space for an office. By November, the club had raised $250,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of goods and services, including: a large screen TV for the lounge; new beds; wardrobe cabinets; new TVs; heating, ventilation, air-conditioning; electrical wiring; a concrete foundation and framing; new doors and windows; painting interior and exterior; dry-walling and counter-top installation. Some contractors provided services below cost. In July 2007, the new Fire Station 13 was dedicated. Fire Station 13 is located at 809 Nautilus St. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon) In the end, $309,417 cash was raised and estimated $400,000 in goods and services donated, Ruff said. Of all the donations, my favorite came from Luke Furtek, who, in lieu of gifts for his fifth birthday, asked for donations to Fire Station 13 and raised several hundred dollars. With the project complete, Wheeler was tasked with making the tiles for the donor wall to honor major contributors. At the celebratory unveiling, Rotarian Trip Bennett, whom many credited with shepherding the project, made this toast: To the firefighters; you all are heroes 365 days a year, but today, these are your heroes, and we toast them. Thank you all for what you did. Fire Station 13 is located at 809 Nautilus St. To learn more about the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club, visit rotary5340.org/clubinfo/la-jolla-sunrise People wanting to know more about the recent changes on the Maungatapu Underpass are being invited to an information session later this month. Tauranga City Council will be holding an information session on May 18. The council says the session will be held at the Maungatapu School from 11am to 2pm, to address and improve safety and traffic flow in this area. We would like to update you on recent changes we have made and the projects we are working on. Everyone is welcome to join staff and engineers to talk about transport related issues that are particular to their own circumstances. Some topics that will be discussed are, Taurangas rapid growth and its impact on the transport network, the complexity of the Maungatapu underpass and its road network, Hairini Street vehicle access and bus lane, the Welcome Bay Road intersections and the challenges with Turret Road and Hairini Bridge. The underpass was opened on June 22 2018 and was built by the NZTA to help improve traffic flow through the Maungatapu and Hairini roundabouts. For more information about the information sessions, click here: Tauranga Police have released a CCTV image of a man they want to speak with in relation to an armed robbery. Officers are continuing to investigate the robbery of the Cherrywood Tavern on April 12. At the time of the crime, police said a man entered the premises around 8.15pm, armed a knife, a demanded money. This was handed over and the man left the scene. Police were unable to locate any suspects at the time. In a statement released today, a police spokesperson says they are wanting to speak with the man pictured above in relation to the robbery. If you are able to help us identify the man pictured, please call Tauranga Police on 07 577 4300. Information can also be provided anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Police at Cherrywood Tavern in April. Photo: Cameron Avery. The Western Bay of Plenty Council and Tauranga City Council have been mapping and planning for natural hazards since the 1990s. On Monday, the Tauranga City Council updated the data held on inner harbour erosion on residential files. Letters were sent to the owners of 1180 properties that lie within the zones identified as susceptible to erosion around the Tauranga Harbour. This latest study on inner harbour erosion considers a range of potential sea level rise scenarios out to 2130. It improves our understanding of the risks that sea level rise could create, and how our inner harbour shoreline may respond over the coming 100 years, a timeframe set by the Ministry for the Environment. Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout says that Tauranga City Council has a well-established history of research into natural hazards, including harbour erosion. This research is the latest in a long list of studies for the Tauranga area, including flooding, tsunami, earthquakes, liquefaction, volcanic ash fall and groundwater levels. It considers a range of sea level rise scenarios and timelines to try and plan for the possibilities that may lie ahead for our city, says Kelvin. This study allows us to consider these scenarios and plan for the future. It is our duty to enable our residents to do that same, which is why we release this information to landowners. The Western Bay of Plenty District Council has also sent out letters to 300 affected landowners and has included the new information on the natural hazards web page. This new information improves the understanding of the risks that sea level rise could create and how Western Bay of Plentys harbour margins may respond to those potential changes over the coming 100 years. Western Bay of Plenty District Councils group manager policy, planning and regulatory services Rachael Davies says improving the accuracy of hazard maps is more critical than ever due to the increasing legislative requirements around climate change, reducing natural hazard risk, and ensuring preparedness and response to natural disasters. The mapping information will help people make informed decisions about undertaking building works, buying property or preparing for a natural disaster. As we complete the mapping of each hazard, we will notify landowners and put the information on councils website, on property files and in any land information memoranda requested for properties, says Rachael. Western Bay Council will also use the maps when processing resource consents, project information memoranda and building consents to ensure that the risk from natural hazards to people and buildings is assessed. The councils natural hazards webpage has an updated list of Mapping Projects and Timeframes to keep people informed of whats happening. For more information visit the councils natural hazards webpage at www.westernbay.govt.nz/naturalhazards Updated information from the Tauranga City Council is also available on their website at www.tauranga.govt.nz/harbourerosion, and is included in property files. On the website, it has a mapping tool which allows people to see modelled erosion impacts for different locations, timeframes and sea level rise scenarios. Our primary goal is to ensure everyone understands the potential risks and can access the information we hold, for inner harbour erosion as well as other hazards, says Kelvin. This gives landowners, prospective buyers and developers the ability to see how erosion may affect any property on the inner harbour. Research on coastal erosion and other hazards is run in partnership with the three councils. A further study is in progress modelling inner harbour flooding, the results of which are expected to be released in the next few months. A man has been arrested and charged after an elderly man was assaulted at a Tauranga property. Police received reports of a 48-year-old man yelling at an address in Hungahungatoraoa Road at around 3.20pm on Wednesday. A police spokesperson says he appeared to be under the influence of drugs. He was holding what was thought to be a chair leg. An elderly man was assaulted in the stomach by the male, who then hit the elderly mans car, damaging it. He then left the scene. Fortunately, the elderly man did not require an ambulance. The 48-year-old man was arrested last night in relation to this incident and appeared before the Tauranga District Court today, charged with aggravated burglary. Reports are coming in of a car that has rolled on State Highway 2, near Pukehina. A caller to the 0800 SUNLIVE news hotline says it is a small vehicle on the wrong side of the road. "One police car is already at the scene. I have also past two fire engines and two ambulances heading to the scene." The road is reported to be blocked in both directions near Rodgers Road. SunLive is working on getting more details from police and will update this story as soon as we have something more. At the scene? Call 0800 SUNLIVE or email photos to newsroom@thesun.co.nz The Tauranga Home Show is taking place at the Trustpower Arena this weekend. In its 20th year, the event is bigger and better than ever, says Bay Events Managing Director Dana McCurdy. Weve grown into the second court in the arena, the show is over 50 per cent bigger. All of the leading brands in the country are coming down to the expo. The Home Show, which begins today, is set to attract thousands of residents. A new edition to this years event is the Lounge Expo, where some of New Zealands top selling lounge suites will be showcased on sale for three days only. The Home Show has stalls ranging from blinds and beds to spas, white ware, kitchenware, and so much more; there is something at the Home Show for everyone. Dana says a key highlight not to be missed at the Home Show is well renowned New Zealand cook Jo Seager working her magic in the BespOak live cooking theatre. At 11am and 3pm daily, Jo will be cooking her focaccia bread and apple shortcake. Seating is limited, so event goers will have to get in quick. Other special features at this years event include live music, an outdoor bar, food trucks and over $25,000 worth of prizes up for grabs. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the doors open at 10am and the event will close at 5pm. Tickets are $10 per person and they can be purchased at the door. Children aged 13 and under are free. The entry today is two for one, so pay a visit to the Tauranga Home Show and make the most of this ticket special. Doing his job wasn't enough. He wanted to invest in his community socially and intellectually. He wanted to be a judge who would offer certain offenders a second chance. The Honorable Judge Thomas Henry Dorwart died Sunday, April 28 in Sidney at the age of 89. He is known as a judge and attorney, but he is also known for his willingness to help others, to view life outside of the box. He started the first Drug Court in the state of Nebraska, according to his wife Pat. It is a legacy that is still seen in Cheyenne County. He moved to Cheyenne County from Lincoln at the encouragement of his uncle, Dr. C.B. Dorwart. She says he wasn't satisfied being an attorney, which led him to become a judge. She says he always wanted more education, to learn more, and that is what led him to a judgeship. He is also known for his interest and care for children and youth. "He always believed in giving them a chance," his wife Pat Dorwart said. She recalled times when a teen came before him in the Drug Court he would offer the teen an alternative, but the teen was cautioned if he or she returned before him again, he would not be so lenient. "He cared so much about kids," she said. Prior to becoming an attorney, Dorwart was a telephone lineman. He also had careers with the Nebraska Department of Roads, Nebraska Department of Insurance, and in private law practice. He served as a Cheyenne County judge for 29 years, during which time he founded the Cheyenne County Drug Court. He was also a member of the Nebraska Commission for the Protection of Children and Nebraska Coalition for Juvenile Justice. Outside of his professional life, he was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, an avid reader, enjoyed telling stories, cooking, antique cars, vintage-tractor pulls, playing cribbage, horseback riding and was a Master Gardner and Master Beekeeper. He was also a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Cheyenne County Sweet Corn Club, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, FMC, American Mensa International, Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, Knights of Columbus, the Maiwand Jezails ( a Scion Society of the Baker Street irregulars), commissioner of the Nebraska Boy Scouts and a breakfast club regular. He is survived by is wife of 57 years, Patricia; son Thomas Yule and Colleen Dorwart; daughter Virginia Ellen Splichal; daughter Katherine Ann and Mark Lewallen; sister Suzanne Dr. Anthony) Wolfe, grandchildren Ashley Ann, J.D., and Elizabeth Dorwart, Sarah-Kate, Burke, and Audrey Splichal, Thomas, Amelia, and James Lewallen, and numerous nieces, nephews, and extended family members. He was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. Thomas and Virginia Dorwart, and Ellen and Lon Howell, and his brother Robert Yule and wife Mary (Lewelling) Dorwart. Recitation of Rosary is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at St. Patrick Catholic Church. LINCOLN Governor Pete Ricketts was joined at the State Capitol by representatives from Nebraska's beef industry Wednesday to proclaim May as Beef Month. Nebraskans celebrate Beef Month every May to highlight the importance of the cattle industry to the state. The Governor hosted a press conference to sign an official proclamation and to provide an update on Nebraska's growing beef industry. "Nebraska's beef producers are the best in the business. Thanks to their excellent work, Nebraska tops all states in commercial red meat production and cattle on feed," said Governor Ricketts. "Nebraska beef has earned a worldwide reputation for its premium quality, and we're now exporting more of it than ever before." Governor Ricketts has been an active proponent of Nebraska's beef industry. He has led trade missions to Japan, China, and Mexico to encourage the growth of Nebraska's beef exports. He has also promoted Nebraska beef domestically in places such as New York City. In 2018, Nebraska led the nation in beef exports with a total export value of $1.44 billion. Nebraska's beef exports increased by 14 percent from 2017 to 2018. Total beef exports have exceeded $1 billion each year since 2014. In 2018, Nebraska's top beef export markets were: Japan - $412.1 million South Korea - $309.3 million Hong Kong - $139.5 million Mexico - $138 million European Union - $124.3 million Nebraska is first in the nation in rankings for beef exports, commercial cattle slaughter, and cattle on feed. Governor Ricketts was joined at the press conference by Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) Director Steve Wellman, Nebraska Cattlemen President Mike Drinnin, and Nebraska Beef Council Chairman Buck Wehrbein. "Nebraska is a national leader in all aspects of the beef industry including production, exports, and cattle on feed, so we're pleased that Governor Ricketts proclaimed May as Beef Month," said NDA Director Steve Wellman. "The continued growth of the beef industry in Nebraska and the top rankings we've achieved show our support of agriculture as a whole and confirms what we already know: that delicious Nebraska beef is being enjoyed by consumers here at home and around the world." "There are a lot of unsung heroes who put their heart and soul into producing the best beef in the world raised right here in Nebraska," said Mike Drinnin, President of the Nebraska Cattlemen. "Whether you're fixing fence on a ranch, delivering feed to the cattle, or hauling the beef to restaurants, everyone's important to showcasing Nebraska beef!" "Exports are a tremendous value to beef producers and we are proud to work with NDA to promote beef from Nebraska in places like Hong Kong, the European Union, and other parts of the globe," said Buck Wehrbein, Chairman of the Nebraska Beef Council. "International trade missions are a strategic way of investing the beef checkoff to support our beef community." Last week was a busy one for La Jolla Elementary School interim principal Stephanie Hasselbrink. On April 24, she was selected as the schools new permanent principal, and on April 26 she presided over Crazy Everything Day, as decreed by Principals-for-the-Day, students Chase and Lauren Ostrom. I am so excited to be named principal, Hasselbrink told La Jolla Light. I was a teacher here for four years and it was never my plan to leave. Im a big believer in, if an opportunity comes your way and feels right, take it. I was at Marshall Elementary for three years as a resource teacher, and there I had the opportunity to be a vice-principal. My former principal said I was his right hand, left hand, everything! I got the chance to focus on instruction and operational needs. When I asked to take the interim principal position here, I had to really weigh my options because we all know how beloved (former principal) Donna Tripi was and all the good she did. At the end of the day, I thought the interim position was a perfect way to try this position on and see if it is something I could really do. After pledge assemblies, lunch duties, afterschool duties, Individualized Education Program meetings and crazy dress up days, not only did I realize I could do it, but that I was having fun! The community has been so welcoming, warm and supportive. It is a perfect match. Carefully keeping an eye on her students leaving the Crazy Everything Day morning assembly, and listening to her Principals-for-the-Day speak into bullhorns and giggle, she explained that the program is a longtime tradition at La Jolla Elementary. Principal-for-a-Day is a fundraiser for the school, she said. On Crazy Everything Day, the co-principals led the morning assembly, visited classrooms, gave out popsicles during lunch, helped Hasselbrink talk to a student who intentionally made a mess in the bathroom and, as Chase put it, we make sure everyone is on task and being good. For Crazy Everything Day, the students donned unicorn horns, tutus, wore shirts backwards and inside out, pulled up colorful un-matched socks, put their shoes on the wrong feet, and spray-painted their hair to show their crazy spirits. Its really exciting and really fun to be Principal-for-the-Day, Chase said. Lauren added: I like it because you get to see what its like to be a principal. As to how they decided on the theme Crazy Everything Day, Lauren added: Theres already Crazy Sock Day, Crazy Hair Day and Crazy Shirt Day, so we thought we could mash them all together and make Crazy Everything Day. Once the dust settles from Crazy Everything Day, Hasselbrink said she will focus on her new role. The teachers are on a great path with the history thats been laid here in academics and curriculum, so my job is to help them continue that journey, she said. Our kids are happy and achieving, so I will continue to guide them ... and as far as instruction goes, nudge everyone to take that next step. A Georgia resident is facing three misdemeanor charges after a trooper said he dumped a jar of marijuana and smashed the jar after an interstate traffic stop. Terrence S. Beale, 41, of Forest Park was arrested on April 23 and charged with marijuana distribution, marijuana possession and obstruction of justice. In a criminal complaint, Virginia State Police Trooper J.P. Crigger said Beale was lying in the back seat of a vehicle he stopped on Interstate 77 at the 53.5 mile marker. Crigger said the female driver asked to retrieve her registration from the truck, which is when the trooper saw a large glass jar containing several bags and plant material. I asked what was in the jar and she stated, health food, the trooper wrote. Crigger said the jar contained suspected marijuana and that he asked Beale, who was acting strangely, to get out of the vehicle. After jerking away from the officer, Beale ran toward Criggers patrol car before running back toward his vehicle. Sarah Merfeld, Community Life Coordinator at Springhouse, met Finn through a friend while visiting Floyd for the weekend. She was intrigued about Springhouse and came back a year later and heard about The Well program. When her job ended, she participated in The Well in January 2017. She started working at Springhouse, where she said she felt a real alignment with the schools culture and values. She was also invited to co-lead The Well. Merfeld said she hasnt looked back. Its been a magical alignment. She and partner Ian (also a Well participant) now own land here and are building a home. What draws me is the multi-generational community at Springhouse, deep connections and a sense of belonging. Haley Leopold, lead teacher at Springhouse, has also worked with The Well since its beginnings in 2016 and is now co-leading it. Originally from Pennsylvania, she met Finn while studying education at James Madison University. She was curious about doing different things in education. During her last semester at JMU, she was driving 2 hours one way three days a week, teaching math and getting involved with the curriculum at Springhouse. In the spring of 2016, she participated in the first Well. Her parents helped her move here the day after she graduated from JMU. Marion Police Department vehicles may become even more visible as the department implements a new policy that will allow some officers to take them home. Gaining the town councils approval last week, the MPD is kicking off a part-time Take Home Vehicle Program with an eye toward expanding it in the future. MPD Chief John Clair told the council that the program will heighten officers visibility, present little fiscal impact and serve as a morale boost. He also emphasized that the program will be merit based the opportunity to participate will be earned. It can also be lost. Clair noted that policy violations or preventable accidents would make an officer ineligible. Syracuse, NY -- An Armory Square chef stabbed an adversary with a $260 Japanese slicing knife, then fled to the Creekwalk for a beer. Meanwhile, victim Jeremy Hudson was fighting for his life after the 2-inch gash in his gut that left his intestine hanging down to his knee, prosecutor Anthony Mangovski told a jury this afternoon. Liam Ealahan, 33, is accused of first-degree assault -- punishable by up to 25 years in prison -- if found guilty at trial this week of intentionally stabbing Hudson. A jury heard closing arguments in his trial this afternoon. Ealahan says Hudson attacked him first in the 2:45 a.m. confrontation in Armory Square, and that Ealahan pulled the 11-inch chefs knife for safety but tried to cradle it away from Hudson. Mangovski contends that the wound itself shows that Ealahan thrust the blade -- however slightly -- into Hudson. The two men had begun their confrontation minutes earlier, when Hudson had kicked a box of leftovers on the street in front of a South Clinton Street restaurant and Ealahan confronted him about it. The two men exchanged vulgar language and then departed. But they happened to run into each other again on West Fayette Street, near the Atrium Garage, and the confrontation continued. Ealahans lawyer acknowledged that his client pulled the knife. But lawyer Ed Klein argued that was only after Hudson came at Ealahan, swinging his hands. At most, Klein argued, that showed a reckless -- not intentional -- stabbing. But Mangovski pointed out that Hudsons hands were visible, meaning the defendant knew he wasnt armed. The prosecutor maintained that Ealahan was the aggressor the entire time. After the stabbing, Ealahan admitted fleeing the scene with his knife and backpack, eventually heading to the Onondaga Creekwalk to clear his head. There, Ealahan said he put the knife on the ground and his backpack on top of it. He popped open a beer to calm his nerves, Mangovski told the jury today, citing Ealahans account. Ealahan said he left the knife behind on the Creekwalk. Mangovski accused him of actually trying to find somewhere to dispose of the knife. More than an hour later -- around 4 a.m -- Ealahan was spotted by police walking near his Tipperary Hill apartment. Instead of surrendering, Ealahan jumped on an officer who ordered him to stop, Mangovski said. It took a second officer to subdue him. Ealahan was a cook at The York at the time. He was fired within hours, the restaurants owner said. The jury is expected to begin deliberations this afternoon. Syracuse, NY -- The Onondaga County District Attorneys Office is warning local businesses of a scam that targets local payroll processing. Scammers hack into an employees account -- or set up an account with a similar email -- and send in a request to change bank accounts for direct deposit. But the account and routing numbers instead belong to the scammer. A couple of Central New York businesses have contacted the DAs office, prompting the warning to everyone, said prosecutor Melanie Carden, chief of the financial crimes unit. Its a subset of a larger problem of scammers targeting other aspects of business operations, she added. The companies, their insurance companies and employees are all victimized. These requests may look valid since they often come from the employees actual email account which has been compromised, or a spoof email that is designed to appear similar to the users email handle (for example, using the number 1 in place of a lowercase L), a DAs office news release said. Alternatively, the request may use the appropriate internal organizational forms to change banking information lending the appearance of credibility. The DAs office warned businesses to be wary of requests to change deposit accounts for any reason, including direct deposit, real estate transactions or wire transfers. It urged internal verification of any requested changes. The DAs office asked anyone who feels victimized by such scams to contact Carden at 315-435-2470. MUNNSVILLE, NY - A 12-year-old child and a 21-year-old man drowned Wednesday night when a floating dock capsized, sending them overboard, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood said today. Feldy Miller, 12, and Rudy Miller, 21, who both lived at of 3603 Barr Road, Stockbridge, were pronounced dead the scene, Hood said. The accident occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, when deputies responded to 3511 Graves Road in the town of Stockbridge for a missing persons complaint. Deputies were told children were playing at a pond about a quarter-mile from the residence and two people were missing. Police learned two adults and two children were on the dock when it capsized. One child surfaced and was rescued, but the other child and the other adult never came out of the water, the sheriff said. Dive teams searched the pond, and found the two victims at 10:15 p.m. , Hood said. Feldy Miller and Rudy Miller were pronounced dead at the scene and then transported to the Onondaga County Medical Examiners Office for autopsies to determine the cause of death. The other child was transported to the hospital for treatment. This morning, families could be seen riding up in horse-drawn buggies traveling through the fog and drizzling rain to gather at the Barr Road farm where the victims are believed to have lived. The victims were Amish, authorities said. By 11:30 a.m., at least five buggies had stopped in the yard outside the white farmhouse. R-View Greenhouse, the familys farm stand at the corner of Barr and Graves roads, was closed. Hood said the investigation is ongoing and neighbors and witnesses are being interviewed. He said the case is being treated as an accidental death, and more information will be released later. The New York State Police and fire departments from Canastota, Wampsville, Munnsville, Cazenovia and Eaton assisted at the scene. Samantha House contributed to this story. Syracuse, NY -- A recently appointed Syracuse fire investigator admitted to a murder jury this morning a misrepresentation on his resume. Lt. Allen Williams, who led the arson investigation at 253 Fitch St., made himself out to be a Certified Fire Investigator under the rigorous standards of the International Association of Arson Investigators. Hes a crucial witness for prosecutors attempting to prove that Charles DuBois, 21, intentionally set two fires in his residence early April 5, 2018, killing four family members. DuBois is facing up to life in prison without parole, if convicted. Charles DuBois is accused of intentionally killing 4 family members in a Fitch Street fire. He stands in court next to his lawyers, David Zukher and Ken Moynihan. To the far right is prosecutor Robert Moran. But defense lawyer Ken Moynihan immediately jumped on Williams resume. After all, Williams main contribution to the trial was as an expert witness: one who could credibly testify to the jury a hypothesis of what happened. Moynihan noted that Williams added credentials to the end of his name: IAAI-CFI." That indicated that Williams had passed standards by the international group. But thats not the case, Williams admitted on the witness stand. First, Williams asserted that he was, in fact, certified as fire investigator by IAAI. But after Moynihan pressed him, Williams admitted he wasnt. Yes, he was a certified fire investigator allowed to work in New York State. And yes, he was a regular member of IAAI. But he had not gotten their certification. Moynihan noted that rules prohibit fraud or misrepresentation of IAAI credentials. I wasnt intending fraud, Williams responded. But its clearly a misrepresentation on your resume? Moynihan pressed. Yes, Williams replied, after a pause. That opened the door to a cringe-worthy cross-examination in which Moynihan grilled Williams on basics of fire investigation. What is fire science? Moynihan asked. When Williams responded correctly, the lawyer pressed on. What is radiant heat flux? Why does it matter? Williams was stumped by the last question. Im not sure at this time, he responded, as the jury looked on. Moynihan continued with a dozen questions in all. Some, he suggested, were like what one would find on a high school chemistry test. Whats a change of state? Williams answered correctly: when, for example, water freezes to ice. Do you know the difference between a vapor and a gas? Not at this time, Williams responded again. Meanwhile, looking on in the courtroom were Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick -- whod stopped by to observe -- and one of Williams instructors, now-retired fire investigator Lt. Joe Galloway. The pop quiz continued until prosecutor Robert Moran objected. County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller then cut Moynihans quiz short. What is your definition of thermodynamics? Moynihan tried one last time. Miller called the lawyers up to the bench. Afterward, he told the lawyer: Next question. Williams testimony had begun smoothly, with the investigator walking the jury through the crime scene using images in a PowerPoint presentation. Williams said he concluded, based on the shape, direction and extent of fire, that two fires started nearly simultaneously: one on the living room couch and another under the basement stairs. Those fires eventually joined and engulfed the first floor in flames. Williams ruled out electronics, appliances and heating systems as the source, noting that fire damage either avoided those areas or appeared to spread from outside the devices inward. Perhaps most crucially, he opined that the fire had been going for awhile before the upstairs residents called desperately for help at 3:15 a.m. DuBuois, the accused murderer, had left to walk his dog roughly around 3:08 a.m. Williams told the jury that the fire would have been clearly apparent before DuBois left the house. But Moynihan immediately attacked Williams credentials. The experienced firefighter had only been an investigator a short while and had never testified before in a jury trial. Williams had 120 hours of training to be an investigator, but had never attended college. (Williams had military experience unrelated to fire investigation.) After exposing the resume misrepresentation, Moynihan also questioned Williams techniques. The investigator acknowledged collecting no physical evidence from the scene and taking no precise measurements. Moynihan was continuing to cross-examine Williams when Miller called a lunch recess. DuBoiss trial resumes at 2 p.m. Earlier Thursday, a Syracuse police detective testified about his interrogation of the suspect the morning of the fire. Detective Kevin Birardi told the jury that he came to believe that DuBois started the fire, but that the defendant disagreed. At one point, DuBois said that if he had wanted to kill his family members, I would have done it with my bare hands so I could look into the windows of their souls and know the torture that they put me through. I am going to make sure that they see me and know Im not playing no more. But he didnt do any of that, DuBois insisted. There is no why, because there is no, I did it, he said at one point. Laura Bush leaned into the microphone and smirked. Im happy to be here, she said. As you notice, Im wearing orange. With a witty tone, the former First Lady spoke Wednesday night for the DAniello Family Speaker Series held at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Bush, 72, discussed her experiences advocating for literacy, education and womens rights in full room of more than 200 people. Afterward, she traveled to the Onondaga County War Memorial to be the featured speaker at the 2019 Boypower Dinner, a major fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of America. At Syracuse University for about 25 minutes, Bush reflected on her time in the White House, where she lived from 2001 to 2009 with her husband, the former President George W. Bush, also 72 years old. As one of the most visible and important women in the world, her primary cause centered on education. She recalled growing close with her second-grade teacher in Midland, Texas, then knowing from the moment she walked onto campus at Southern Methodist University as a college freshman that she wanted to be a teacher. A traditional office job, she quipped, would be boring. Bushs first job after college was as a second-grade teacher. She also spoke Wednesday of advocating for equal education in Afghanistan, especially among women. She has helped enrollment increase in primary schools there, and shes proud that the number of women-owned businesses has also ticked upward. She has said its important for the U.S. to remain engaged with Afghanistan. Syracuse University welcomed Former First Lady of the United States Laura Bush for their D'Aniello Family Speaker Series, Syracuse, NY, May 1, 2019. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com Reflecting on her time in the White House, she said she misses most of the people, the staff members with whom she associated every day. Living there, where former presidents such as Abraham Lincoln once lived, inspired her to forge ahead through conflicts. Theres a sort of reassurance in living in that same house they lived in, Bush said. The audience laughed several times, including when she said what she missed most about life in Washington: the chef. Then, she joked about a night after one of her husbands speeches, when he asked her how she thought he did as they were driving home. Tell me the truth, George said to her as they pulled into the garage. Well, Laura told him, it wasnt that good. We drove the car into the wall, she said later, and the audience burst into laughter. Switching between a tone of light-heartedness and seriousness, Bush explained her love for literacy and the environment. In 2011, she founded Texan by Nature, a nonprofit aimed at natural resource conservation in Texas. Foremost, she encourages corporate campuses to use native plants. Her mother was a bird watcher, which in part inspired her to develop an appreciation for nature. On literature, she authored a 2010 memoir, Spoken From the Heart, in which she wrote about her upbringing and years in the White House, including defenses of her husbands decision to invade Iraq and his decision not to visit New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Since serving as the First Lady, shes had plenty of free time. She enjoys walking in nearby neighborhoods her husband calls her an urban hiker and hiking in the countrys national parks. In 2016, she published a bestselling childrens book with daughter Jenna Bush Hager, Our Great Big Backyard, which is about limiting screen time and spending more time outdoors. Jenna Bush Hager and I found Barnsie the Barnes & Noble Bear reading #OurGreatBigBackyard at our Barnes & Noble Dallas - Lincoln Park book signing this morning! Posted by Laura W. Bush on Saturday, May 14, 2016 When asked about her husband, Bush said hes doing great. Now 10 years after his presidency, George Bush enjoys painting, a hobby he adopted three years after leaving the White House. Inspired by Winston Churchill, an avid painter, George needed a pastime, Laura said. In 2017, He published Portraits of Courage, a coffee-table book of oil paintings that functions as a tribute to veterans in the U.S. As for her own pastime, the former teacher said she enjoys reading. Shes currently enjoying Mamas Last Hug, a book about how animal emotions relate to those of humans. She said its about maintaining an open heart and understanding the connected world in which we live. Its a very interesting book, she said. I recommend it. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuses ambitious plan to emerge as one of Americas first 5G cities has hit a series of obstacles as lawmakers raise concerns about the health risks of the burgeoning technology. At a Common Council meeting Wednesday, city officials and Verizon representatives tried to assure councilors that a 5G network is as safe as any other wireless technology. But councilors voiced skepticism, asking for evidence and questioning the motives of scientists and federal agencies that have said 5G is safe. Verizon hammered out a deal with Mayor Ben Walshs administration that would give the company blanket approval to install small cell towers needed to build a 5G data network citywide. That deal needs council approval before work can begin. If the deal is approved, Syracuse would be one of the first major cities in America to roll out a 5G network. Verizon has made 5G available in Chicago and Minneapolis. Last week, the company unveiled plans to begin building 5G networks in 20 more major U.S. cities. The network allows for increased connectivity across wireless devices and could pave the way for new advances in Syracuse like self-driving cars or improved public transit. Walsh has said 5G will bolster the high-tech economy he is trying to support and make Syracuse more attractive to businesses. But the new technology has stoked fear among residents who are wary of the unknown risks associated with more wireless signals criss-crossing the city. Councilors said theyve been flooded with calls from constituents asking them to vote no on 5G. Were getting calls also and were getting letters from people telling us to vote no, because theyre concerned about the cancer, the frequencies and all that good stuff," said Council President Helen Hudson. She asked city officials to provide documentation demonstrating 5G is safe. Mark Coon, a representative for Verizon, said the consensus of the scientific community is that 5G is not dangerous. He referred to the American Cancer Society, which has said there is very little evidence to support claims that 5G antennae - called small cells - cause cancer. However, there has been little research done on the topic with humans. On the scientific community, it depends who theyre getting paid by, Councilor Khalid Bey responded. Coon said the small cell emissions are within standards determined by the Federal Communication Commission and the Food and Drug Administration. The towers give off the same type of signal as any other wireless device. All wireless technology for wireless communications transmits radio frequency signals over the airwaves no different than your garage door opener or a baby monitor or the wireless router in your home, Coon said. President Hudson responded by citing a recent article from Newsweek about a California child diagnosed with cancer. The childs parents told the publication they believe the cancer was caused by a cell phone tower on the roof of the school and that a doctor said the cause of the cancer was environmental. The proposed agreement allows Syracuse to ask Verizon for a health and safety audit at any time. That would require Verizon to test for emissions at small cell sites to ensure signals are within federal standards. If any concerns were discovered, Verizon would shut down its towers, Coon said. Weve never had that happen before, he said. Councilor Bryn Lovejoy-Grinnell pointed out that other cities have banned 5G small cell towers, including Portland, Oregon. The city council there called on the FCC to update its research on the health risks associated with wireless technology. She also challenged Coons claim that there was consensus among the scientific community. Is what you mean is there hasnt been a consensus yet on whether there are health and safety risks? she asked. My guess is theyre going to say there hasnt been testing done, not that theres a consensus among scientists that there isnt a risk. No councilors spoke in support of the plan. In addition to the health and safety concerns, a local union wants the council to add contract provisions forcing Verizon to use organized labor and meet certain hiring requirements as it builds the network. Chris Ryan, president of Communication Workers of America Local 1123, said when Verizon built its Fios network it used low-paid workers from out of state and undocumented workers. We are ready willing and able to be partners in emerging technology," he said. However, there isnt much reciprocity with Verizon Wirelesss willingness to include anybody from the union in any way shape or form. Ryan also suggested establishing benchmarks to include people from low-income neighborhoods and minorities in the work. The new push for 5G comes shortly after the FCC eased its small cell regulations and stripped local governments of most of their authority on deployment. The new rules are intended to ensure America wins the global race to 5G." The FCC ruling limited the amount of time a municipality has to review applications from telecom companies to install small cells. It also established a maximum fee a city can charge a company to install small cells. That fee was much lower than what many cities, including Syracuse, planned to charge. A group of more than 100 cities is suing the FCC, demanding autonomy when negotiating with telecom companies. Meanwhile, in Europe, more than 230 scientists and doctors from 40 countries have filed an appeal with the European Union asking it to halt the roll out of 5G due to serious potential health effects." The council will likely vote on the 5G proposal Monday. If the deal is rejected, Verizon could still install the network, but would have to seek council approval for towers individually. Company officials have said Syracuse would need at least 600 towers. Fortifying the Lake Ontario shoreline from floodwaters is hard work, but one crew of workers is just glad to get outside: state prisoners. County and state prisoner work crews are among those feverishly working this week to help fill sandbags for residents and businesses. Nine state crews, ranging in size from 5 to 12 inmates, are working in the eight counties on the south shore of Lake Ontario. In at least Cayuga and Wayne counties, prisoners from county jails are also working. Wednesday morning in Fair Haven, a four-man, volunteer work crew from the Cayuga County Jail, all dressed in orange clothes, filled sand bags at the park adjacent to the village offices. Inmates from the Cayuga County Jail fill sandbags at the Village of Fair Haven's park. Meanwhile, a state prisoner work crew, all dressed in green shirts and pants,was a couple miles away at a state Department of Transportation facility in North Victory. The state and local officials wouldnt allow interviews with the prisoners. An officer said the county crew, which works other cleanup jobs across the county, was supposed to spruce up a cemetery. Instead, they were reassigned at the last moment to work in Fair Haven. At the DOT facility in Victory five inmates from the Cayuga Correctional Facility in Moravia worked alongside several DOT workers and under the supervision of one corrections officer. In the first couple of days, they had filled more than 4,200 bags. The state prisoners arent working for free. A Department of Corrections and Community Services spokesman, Thomas Mailey, wouldnt say what their pay was, saying that information was not readily available. The inmates also get credit that can reduce their sentences, the spokesman said. Prisoners get between 10 cents and $1.14 an hour for work, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported earlier this year. State lawmakers are considering raising and standardizing the amount. Prisoners helped out in 2017-18 when extensive damage was caused by Lake Ontario flooding. Inmates have helped in other emergencies. In picking workers, the state considers good behavior and health, being within two or three years of his or her release date and no escape attempts, Mailey said. A DOT worker stacks sandbags filled by Cayuga Correctional Facility inmates at the DOT facility in North Victory. ACROSS THE STATE Last weekend, the states Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, in anticipation of possible Lake Ontario flooding, sent more than 216,000 sandbags and sandbagging machines to eight counties that border the lake. More will be provided at the request of the communities. Nine state prison work crews were sent to the following locations. *Cayuga Correctional Facility -- working in Cayuga County *Wyoming Correctional Facility -- working in Monroe County *Gowanda Correctional Facility working in Niagara County *Orleans Correctional Facility working in Orleans County *Watertown Correctional Facility working in Oswego County *Riverview Correctional Facility working in Lawrence County *Livingston Correctional Facility and Williard Drug Treatment Campus working in Wayne County Former vice president Joe Biden on Wednesday dismissed the notion that the United States should be worried about China as a geopolitical competitor, prompting criticism from some congressional Republicans who argued that Biden is underestimating the worlds second-largest economy. The argument is one Biden has frequently made in speeches throughout the years, but it is drawing increased attention due to his status as the presumed front-runner among Democrats running for prisident. At a campaign stop in Iowa City, Iowa, Biden pointed to his years serving as vice president and as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, telling the crowd that there's not a "single solitary" world leader who would trade the problems the United States faces for those confronting China. "China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," said Biden, who last week announced his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He argued that Beijing has its hands full dealing with its own domestic and regional problems, such as tensions in the South China Sea - which Biden called the "China Sea" - and the "mountains ... in the west." It was not clear to what mountains or issue Biden was referring. "They can't figure out how they're going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system," Biden said of China. "I mean, you know, they're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not competition for us." His comments drew a swift rebuke from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee. "This will not age well," Romney said in a tweet Wednesday night. During the 2012 campaign, Romney had famously described Russia as America's "number-one geopolitical foe," but he has also argued that China is among the countries that typically "stand up with the world's worst actors." Also pushing back against Biden's remarks was Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., who is running for Senate. "I was just at a manufacturing plant that is being threatened by China's corrupt trade practices," Byrne said in a tweet. "Not to mention the national security threats they pose. Joe is plain wrong. China is absolutely a threat." Biden's campaign responded on Wednesday by noting that the former vice president "underscored that, whatever challenges we face as a nation, including those posed by a rising China, they pale in comparison to the structural and social challenges that confront China itself." Joe Biden believes its never a good bet to bet against America and the fundamental strength, resilience, and ingenuity of its people, Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said. If Republicans are so scared of Joe Biden that they want to take the other side of that bet to try and score political points, then theyre welcome to it. 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 arent subject to contribution limits. But Gillibrand and other top Democratic 2020 presidential candidates have vowed not to take donations from such groups. Onondaga County has selected six locations where voters will be allowed to cast ballots up to 10 days before Novembers election as part of the states new early-voting law. Registered voters will be allowed to vote at any of the six polling stations beginning Saturday, Oct. 26 and continuing daily (including weekends) through Nov. 3, according to the Board of Elections. Election Day this year is Tuesday, Nov. 5. No voting will be allowed on Monday, Nov. 4. The early-voting sites include two in the city of Syracuse, and four others spread strategically across the county at public buildings in the towns of Clay, DeWitt, LaFayette and Van Buren. The New York Legislature passed a bill earlier this year allowing nine days of in-person early voting across the state. The measure was included in the state budget as part of a package of voting reforms aimed to bring New York in line with other states and encourage greater voter participation. At least 37 other states allow some form of early voting. In New York, the November election will be the first with early voting. The change will be included in primary elections starting in 2020. Dustin Czarny, an Onondaga County elections commissioner, said public comments or questions about the early voting plan should be directed to the county board by email at elections@ongov.net or by calling 315-435-8683. A final plan must be submitted to the state Board of Elections by May 29. What follows is a list of the early-voting polling locations that will open in October and the hours that the sites will be open: Polling locations Clay Town Hall courtroom, 4401 Route 31, Clay DeWitt Town Hall courtroom, 5400 Butternut Drive, East Syracuse LaFayette Fire Station 1, 2444 Route 11 South, LaFayette Van Buren Town Hall, 7575 Van Buren Road, Baldwinsville Armond Magnarelli Community Center, 2300 Grant Blvd., Syracuse Southwest Community Center, 401-425 South Ave., Syracuse Hours Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, 2019: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019: Noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019: Noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, 2019: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Polling hours on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5 are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Onondaga County Republican Chairman Tom Dadey is helping to lead a revolt against New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox in a new battle for control of the state party leadership. Dadey this week was among the first county GOP chairs to throw his support behind Erie County Republican Chair Nick Langworthy to take over from Cox when the state party holds leadership elections in July. By Thursday morning, Langworthy, 38, of Amherst, had picked up the support of GOP chairs in 16 other counties who want to see him oust Cox as state party chairman. Seven other Republican leaders from some of the states biggest GOP strongholds said they will stay loyal to Cox, 72, a Manhattan lawyer and son-in-law of former president Richard M. Nixon. Cox has faced challenges to his chairmanship in the past. Four years ago, Dadey made his own hostile bid to take over leadership of the state party committee. Dadey, then first vice chairman of the party, couldnt gather enough votes in 2015 to oust Cox. But Dadey said in an interview that he believes the state party has reached a tipping point after 10 years with Cox at the helm and a crushing defeat for the GOP in the 2018 elections. Theres an appetite for change given the fact we havent won a statewide race since 2002 when George Pataki was elected to a third term as governor, Dadey told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. Cox has failed over the last decade to grow and energize the party, Dadey said. Instead, the GOP has lost ground to Democrats. Now the party is in a position where were in a minority in the state Senate, were in the minority in the Assembly, and we dont control any statewide offices, Dadey said. Langworthy said hes the right person to succeed Cox and rebuild the party by attracting a new generation of Republican voters and recruiting more women to run as GOP candidates. Langworthy points to his record in Erie County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by two-to-one. Since he became the Erie Countys GOP chairman at age 29, Republicans have won eight of the last 10 countywide elections. Dadey said Langworthy could use his recipe for success to energize the state partys base and attract new, younger Republican voters after years of enrollment declines. Hes young, hes aggressive and hes articulate, Dadey said of Langworthy. Were trying to attract younger voters in this day and age where the Democratic Party seems to be the one attracting younger voters. Langworthy and Dadey were among President Donald Trumps earliest supporters in New York. Dadey was rewarded after the 2016 election with a seat on the executive committee of Trumps transition team. Cox stayed neutral in the presidential race until after Trump won the New York primary election. But party leaders say the effort to oust Cox has nothing to do with Trump. Republican leaders in Long Island, Westchester County and some Upstate counties said this week they will stick with Cox as the partys leader. The July leadership vote is weighted to favor state committee leaders from counties with the largest GOP voter enrollment, such as those in Long Island. Coxs team said he has already locked up almost 30 percent of the weighted vote. Bijoy Datta, the Broome County GOP chair, said its unfair to blame the partys statewide losses on Cox. Through ups and downs, Ed has led with dignity, honor and respect, Datta said. Of course, we would've liked to have taken a statewide race in recent years, but it's disingenuous for anyone to hang those losses on one person while ignoring the many local level victories that he's helped us to achieve." Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Weekend brunch at Otro Cinco takes its cue from the trademark New York City boozy brunch, where the bar menu is as lengthy as the food and lingering is encouraged. The dimly-lit dining room was brightened only by the ample dose of sunlight pouring through the front windows on our Saturday morning visit, as if breakfast foods and cocktails were a curative for a Friday evening spent reveling in Syracuses nightlife; a lightless hair of the dog served with a side of French toast. The six-year-old South Warren Street restaurant and sister outpost of the longtime citizen of Westcott Nation, Alto Cinco, has gained renown on the Syracuse dining scene with its hybrid Spanish-Mexican menu, where tapas and paellas fit in comfortably with tacos and burritos. That it excels at breakfast was no surprise. The aforementioned cocktail menu is exclusive to brunch, but not the only items available. We were able to order an agave margarita ($9), made with tequila, triple sec, fresh squeezed citrus and agave, as a follow up to the Mexican Tea Party ($9), a featured brunch drink made with Earl Grey tea-infused honey, mezcal, lemon, lime and bitters that was more floral and spicy and not nearly as sweet as the ingredients would suggest. Mimosas are a brunch fixture and Otro Cinco offers five different variations on the Champagne and orange juice cocktail. We were indecisive and opted for a flight of three ($17). The Otro Classic was the traditional blend of juice and brut Champagne. Cava, a sparkling white wine from Spain, and peach nectar were combined for a sweet Bellini. In the Pink Lady, strawberry nectar was mixed with rose sec, a pink sparkling wine, for a bright, berry-flavored drink. Tostadas, tacos and burritos from Otro Cincos lunch and dinner menu are available at brunch, as are a lineup of Benedicts, scrambles and breakfast plates reflective of the restaurants mixture of Spanish- and Mexican-inspired foods. 16 Brunch at Otro Cinco, Syracuse, N.Y. Chilaquiles ($11) are a traditional Mexican dish with numerous regional variations. At its heart, a fried corn tortilla is topped with fried eggs, avocado and queso fresco. What goes in between is up to interpretation and regional flavors. Otro Cinco adds salsa verde, pulled chicken and pickled onions. It sounds like breakfast nachos, but was akin to a layered hash without potatoes. The characteristics of each elementsalty cheese, sharp salsa, spicy chicken, buttery eggs, tangy onions and nutty avocadoblended perfectly. On special was a fried eggplant Benedict ($17). Breaded and fried slices of eggplant were stacked upon toasted English muffins with leeks, wilted spinach, poached eggs and a tangy Hollandaise sauce. The latter offset the spice of a gentle dusting of cayenne pepper, which added heat to the dish. The earthy leeks and spinach paired nicely with the eggplant, which takes on a different flavor when fried, as if the hot oil activates the flavor differently than braising in sauce or over the heat of a grill. The poached egg and Hollandaise leaked into every possible opening without saturating. It was a deeply complex dish and a delightful alternative to one of our favorite breakfast dishes. It was one of three Benedicts available, including one with lobster meat ($18) and an interpretation of the classic where turkey bacon stands in for Canadian bacon ($10). Four thick slices of bread with fried, crispy edges comprised the French toast ($9). The kitchen executed this perfectly, creating crunchy, browned edges with a soft, eggy center. The bread was fluffy and decadent, fully saturated with eggs and butter but not so soggy that the accompanying vanilla bean butter could not soak in. A sprinkling of powdered sugar over the top added a hint of sweetness. Portions were generous without being overwhelming. We picked off the three plates to get a taste of everything and were full, but not uncomfortable, when we left. Service at brunch is no different than any other time of day at Otro Cinco: efficient, responsive and informative. Our waitress was able to answer questions about preparation and the regional differences of dishes like chilaquiles. Childrens activities and other commitments often prevent us from enjoying an extended brunch. Otro Cinco infuses personality into a brunch that is less about turning over a table for the next guest and all about savoring the moment and the flavors of each dish. Editors note: For the month of May, our reviewers will be reviewing weekend brunches at restaurants across Central New York. Check back each Thursday to see where were brunching next. Details The Restaurant: Otro Cinco, 206 S. Warren St., Syracuse, NY 13202; 315-422-6876. Reservations? No. Access to Disabled? The restaurant is at street level and dining area has plenty of space for those with mobility issues. Parking: There are parking garages and surface lots within a block or two, but on-street metered parking is your best bet. Credit Cards? Yes Childrens Menu? No. Vegetarian Options and Allergy Information? Otro Cinco has plenty of vegetarian and allergen-free options. Alert your server prior to ordering so that accommodations are made by the kitchen and alterations can be explained. Hours: Brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday. Cost: We attempted to sample as much of the menu as possible, and reasonable, for the review. Our total for two, including breakfast, cocktails, tax and 20 percent tip, was $93.76. 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 program's full start. 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. That's 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 RPI's 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. "It's 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. There are plenty of ways to maximize the use of their dormitories. Dartmouth College, for example, has a February admission program in which 100 students can start school during the second semester. That can help ensure the dorms remain full during that semester, in which more students tend to leave campus for study abroad or have graduated early. And 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 aren't 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. It's 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 city's 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 school's 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. - By Rick Karlin, Times Union, Albany, N.Y. Vid6639 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,080 Thanked: 36,645 Times View My Garage Hyundai Venue : Official Preview. EDIT: Launched @ 6.5 lakhs Mod Note: Our Venue Report has been taken live at this link. Please continue the discussion over on the new thread. Thanks! There's a popular saying that if you're going to arrive late to the party, at least make a grand entrance! This is exactly what Hyundai did when pulling the wraps off its latest compact SUV in the sub-4 metre space. The Hyundai Venue was unveiled out in the Arabian Sea onboard a cruise ship, the Angriya, from Mumbai to Goa. The unveil for the Indian media was a few hours before the international launch event of the Venue at the New York Auto show. Hyundai will be launching the Venue and announcing the prices on the 21st of May in India. What Hyundai did with this exercise is show just how serious and committed they are to India. Not only was the car unveiled to the Indian media before the International unveil, but the car itself is an international product (not one meant for India alone). The Venue is an important car for Hyundai and has its work really cut out. The Creta relatively had it easier with just the S-Cross and ageing Duster to contend with. The Creta is the bestselling crossover in the midsize SUV space, but the segment below is crowded. Almost all manufacturers have a presence in this segment. Ford started it with the EcoSport in 2013 and ever since, the segment has been the most popular, attracting buyers who are either looking at sedans from C1 / C2 categories or those looking at hatchbacks from the B2 segment. Maruti's Vitara Brezza has been selling 12,000+ copies every month with no real competition anywhere near. Tata's Nexon and Ford's EcoSport sell between 3-5K units every month which in itself is very decent for a Tata, and commendable for a 6-year old Ford. Even Mahindra's foray into the segment with the XUV3OO has gotten off to a good start. Honda's WR-V outsells the Jazz, the hatchback it is based on. Other than Toyota, Hyundai was the only manufacturer missing from this soiree. Hyundai had announced at the 2016 Auto Expo about entering the segment with a concept, the Carlino. After that, it was fairly quiet with no mention or display of it at the 2018 Auto Expo. The Venue has been a long time coming and at first impressions, it does not disappoint. Hyundai has ensured it covers all bases and has learnt from others in the segment. As a result, you have a Compact SUV that looks the part, and not like a raised hatchback, has all the features expected in this segment as well as a few more, and gets 3 powertrain options (including an Automatic). Those engine options include a new 1.0L Turbo petrol mated to a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. As is the norm, Hyundai has peppered the Venue with features. You get a sunroof, LED DRLs, projector headlights as well as foglamps, cruise control, wireless charging, auto headlights & more. In terms of safety, you get 6 airbags, ESP, Hill hold, auto crash notification and a few other smart features via the infotainment. The highlight / USP of the Venue is the infotainment system. Hyundai says the Venue is the first "connected SUV" in India with a host of features through the ICE & mobile app. In fact, most of its marketing towards the Venue is focused on the connected features. Dubbed the Bluelink system, it has a 4G eSIM from Vodafone-Idea connected to its cloud server & used for a multitude of functions, without the need for your phone to be connected to it. More on this later. For the US market, Hyundai has positioned the Venue as an alternative to buying a used car. Their launch event focused on the young crowd who goes out to buy their first car, which is usually a used car or new budget sedan. Why not get a new compact car with the latest connectivity options instead? There's a popular saying that if you're going to arrive late to the party, at least make a grand entrance! This is exactly what Hyundai did when pulling the wraps off its latest compact SUV in the sub-4 metre space. The Hyundai Venue was unveiled out in the Arabian Sea onboard a cruise ship, the Angriya, from Mumbai to Goa. The unveil for the Indian media was a few hours before the international launch event of the Venue at the New York Auto show. Hyundai will be launching the Venue and announcing the prices on the 21st of May in India.What Hyundai did with this exercise is show just how serious and committed they are to India. Not only was the car unveiled to the Indian media before the International unveil, but the car itself is an international product (not one meant for India alone).The Venue is an important car for Hyundai and has its work really cut out. The Creta relatively had it easier with just the S-Cross and ageing Duster to contend with. The Creta is the bestselling crossover in the midsize SUV space, but the segment below is crowded. Almost all manufacturers have a presence in this segment. Ford started it with the EcoSport in 2013 and ever since, the segment has been the most popular, attracting buyers who are either looking at sedans from C1 / C2 categories or those looking at hatchbacks from the B2 segment. Maruti's Vitara Brezza has been selling 12,000+ copies every month with no real competition anywhere near. Tata's Nexon and Ford's EcoSport sell between 3-5K units every month which in itself is very decent for a Tata, and commendable for a 6-year old Ford.Even Mahindra's foray into the segment with the XUV3OO has gotten off to a good start. Honda's WR-V outsells the Jazz, the hatchback it is based on. Other than Toyota, Hyundai was the only manufacturer missing from this soiree. Hyundai had announced at the 2016 Auto Expo about entering the segment with a concept, the Carlino. After that, it was fairly quiet with no mention or display of it at the 2018 Auto Expo. The Venue has been a long time coming and at first impressions, it does not disappoint.Hyundai has ensured it covers all bases and has learnt from others in the segment. As a result, you have a Compact SUV that looks the part, and not like a raised hatchback, has all the features expected in this segment as well as a few more, and gets 3 powertrain options (including an Automatic). Those engine options include a new 1.0L Turbo petrol mated to a 7-speed dual clutch transmission.As is the norm, Hyundai has peppered the Venue with features. You get a sunroof, LED DRLs, projector headlights as well as foglamps, cruise control, wireless charging, auto headlights & more. In terms of safety, you get 6 airbags, ESP, Hill hold, auto crash notification and a few other smart features via the infotainment.The highlight / USP of the Venue is the infotainment system. Hyundai says the Venue is the first "connected SUV" in India with a host of features through the ICE & mobile app. In fact, most of its marketing towards the Venue is focused on the connected features. Dubbed the Bluelink system, it has a 4G eSIM from Vodafone-Idea connected to its cloud server & used for a multitude of functions, without the need for your phone to be connected to it. More on this later.For the US market, Hyundai has positioned the Venue as an alternative to buying a used car. Their launch event focused on the young crowd who goes out to buy their first car, which is usually a used car or new budget sedan. Why not get a new compact car with the latest connectivity options instead? Last edited by GTO : 19th September 2019 at 11:33 . What just happened? Because of the long-running allegations over its ties to the Chinese government, news about Huawei is often as political as it is technological. Thats certainly the case in this instance: the UK's defense secretary, Gavin Williamson, has been fired over the leaking of a decision related to the countrys use of Huawei tech in its 5G networks. Last week, the UKs National Security Council, which is chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, agreed to give Huawei limited access to help build parts of its noncore 5G infrastructure. The decision was revealed to the Daily Telegraph, prompting a government inquiry into who was behind the leak. During a meeting with Williamson this week, May told the defense secretary that she had compelling evidence he was the person who fed the information to the publication. In a letter confirming his dismissal, the PM wrote: No other, credible versions of events to explain this leak has been identified. Williamson is adamant he was not the person behind the leak. According to a Sky News reporter, he swore on his childrens lives that he was innocent. Williamson had been offered the chance to resign but refused as he believed doing so would make him look guilty. Spoken to Gavin Williamson. He swore on his childrens life to me that he didnt leak the Huawei news and neither did his staff. Said he believes this is the settling of a vendetta between him and Mark Sedwill Alistair Bunkall (@AliBunkallSKY) May 1, 2019 "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," Williamson wrote in a letter to May. Things could get even worse for Williamson, with some politicians, including the foreign secretary, calling for police to launch a criminal investigation into whether he broke the official secrets act. While no formal confirmation of Huaweis involvement in the UKs 5G networks has been announced, news of the meetings decision has had far-reaching repercussions. The US government has strongly hinted that if its ally does give Huawei the green light, America will cut intelligence ties with the countrythe same warning it issued to Germany last year. All the negative publicity doesn't seem to be damaging Huawei's sales. The Chinese firm has once again surpassed Apple as the world's second-largest smartphone seller. In brief: Remember the Mad Box, the machine being planned by Project Cars developer Slightly Mad Studios that was supposedly the most powerful console ever made? It looks as if its future is now in doubt, all because of Google. At the beginning of the year, Slightly Mad CEO Ian Bell said the Mad Box would launch in three-plus years, and cost a standard plus next-gen price. He added that the specs would match a very fast PC two years from now, and it would also provide a high-fidelity VR experience. Snazzy concept images of the Mad Box and its screen-sporting controllers arrived a few weeks later, but we havent heard too much since then. Now, however, it appears there may never be a final product. Nathan Bell, Slightly Mad Studio's online marketing director, told PCGamesInsider that following Googles announcement of its Stadia game streaming platform, two investors have pulled out of the project. "We had some solid investment lined up but Google saying 'the future of gaming isn't in a box' hasn't done us any favours." All I can say at this stage is the future of the project is questionable." Stadia, of course, promises 4K HDR streaming at 60 frames per second, and all you need is a device with Chrome and a fast internet connection. Google even promises 8K resolutions at 120 frames per second when the technology evolves. Stadia isnt the only thorn in the Mad Boxs side. Slightly Mad filed the Mad Box name with a European IP organization in January, but a French games company called Madbox objected, leaving the firm no choice but to withdraw its application for the trademark. So, it seems that in the unlikely scenario Slightly Mad ever does make the worlds most powerful console, it will have a different name. The big picture: LGs mobile arm is essentially on life support but they aren't waving the white flag just yet. A new 5G phone and the relocation of its smartphone manufacturing center could create some positive momentum heading into the remainder of 2019 but will it be enough to turn the tide? The division brought in KRW 1.51 trillion ($1.34 billion) in the first quarter of 2019, a 30 percent drop compared to the same period a year ago and the lowest level of revenue for LG Mobile in roughly eight years. The South Korean technology company said it narrowed its quarterly operating loss to KRW 203.5 billion ($181.05 million) as it continues to rebuild its smartphone business. LG last November put TV boss Brian Kwon in charge of its mobile division in hopes that he could right the ship. The company said operating results improved from the previous quarter as a result of a stronger business structure, so theres that. The tech giant expects the LG V50 ThinQ 5G smartphone to create positive momentum in the second quarter. Additionally, moving smartphone manufacturing operations from Pyeongtaek, Korea, to Haiphong, Vietnam, should help boost global competitiveness while improving profitability, were told. LG Electronics as a whole generated sales of KRW 14.92 trillion ($13.27 billion) and an operating profit of KRW 900.6 billion ($801.25 million). Revenue and operating income was down compared to 2018 but on a positive note, the companys home appliance business reported record first-quarter sales and profits. Lead image courtesy Grzegorz Czapski via Shutterstock With the emergence of innovative gene editing tools such as CRISPR, scientists worldwide have been able to produce different breeds of plants and animals at a faster rate than ever before. Now, in Australia, the use of the CRISPR gene editing tool on plants and animals has been allowed without the oversight of a governmental body, officials said. Deregulating The Use Of CRISPR Gene Editing Tool In Australia The CRISPR gene editing tool works by targeting DNA at a specific target site and snipping away whatever part is intended to be removed. Biotechnology law expert Karinne Ludlow from Monash University explained that most plants and animals that have undergone gene editing have no new DNA inserted into them. "The argument is: should we treat this type of gene editing more as a type of mutation and therefore not regulate, or treat it as a deliberate modification and therefore regulate?" Ludlow said. The result is that the Australian government has decided not to regulate the CRISPR gene editing tool, which is classified under the site-directed or SDN-1 techniques. In fact, on April 10, the Australian government announced that it has approved the use of the CRISPR gene editing tool on plants, animals, and human cell lines under the condition that new genetic material is not created. This decision is the result of a massive review of the country's regulation regarding gene editing technology. The use of CRISPR was previously restricted because these techniques were still governed by regulations applied on conventional genetic modifications, which required the approval of a biosafety committee accredited by Australia's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. The new regulations have removed this past requirement as long as the CRISPR gene editing tool allows the host cell to repair the break naturally instead of using a template that contains genetic material to direct the repairing process. Meanwhile, more complex forms of gene editing such as those that use a template to direct the repair or those that insert foreign DNA into the genome would still be regulated in Australia under the regulation laws. Australia's Decision Is A 'Middle-ground' But Others Remain Unconvinced Experts believe Australia's deregulation of CRISPR is considered a middle ground compared to the stricter and tighter regulations of New Zealand and the European Union, as well as the more relaxed approach of countries such as Brazil and the United States. Ludlow explained that Australia's decision made sense because scientists have already accepted that humans mutate DNA, although it is done in several different ways. She said that with 80 years of scientific research regarding mutation breeding in plants, there has not been anything dangerous involved with it. Still, other scientists are unconvinced and unimpressed with Australia's decision to deregulate the use of CRISPR on plants and animals. Jack Heinemann, a geneticist from Canterbury University in New Zealand, argued that the deregulation of CRISPR could inspire more do-it-yourself gene editing experiments with dubious consequences. For instance, in 2017, a biohacker attempted to inject himself with CRISPR to make himself more muscular. This was likely triggered by research that aimed to created more muscly pigs. Heinemann said faster gene editing techniques could introduce cumulative unintended changes that may not be picked up by scientists before the plant or animal gets commercialized. Furthermore, the nature of gene editing may cause changes in genomes that are unlikely to occur in nature, he added. Photo: Nick Saltmarsh | Flickr 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Amazon is creating a better Spanish experience for Americans in 2019 with updates on the company's voice assistant Alexa. Not only will the company be launching a Spanish-speaking Alexa in the United States, but developers can also start to build Spanish-language skills using the Alexa Skills Set. Soon, Spanish-speaking Americans will get the luxury of talking to Alexa in their native tongue. Support For Spanish-Speaking Americans Amazon has begun a preview program that will help them create an effective Spanish-language experience for Alexa users in the United States, according to Tech Crunch. The program will help the company build an experience for users that incorporates local humor, correct word choice, and slang. While the preview program is by invite only, Americans can expect Alexa to launch with support for the Spanish language within 2019. In an announcement on Amazon's official blog, the company also revealed that a new voice model supporting Spanish is now available in the United States. This will allow developers to craft skills that specifically target Spanish-speaking citizens. Any skill built by developers will be available in the preview program for clients on the platform. It is also expected to be launched along with Alexa's Spanish language support later in the year. Furthermore, it's not just Echo devices that are expected to carry the capabilities targeting Spanish clients. Other big companies such as Bose, Facebook, and Sony are already expected to roll out Alexa built-in devices with Spanish language support, while Honeywell Home, Philips, and TP-Link will offer connected devices that support the Spanish-language features in the United States. Spanish-Speaking Individuals In The US With 48.6 million people in the country speaking Spanish, it is the second most dominant language in the United States after English by far. It is also the second most spoken language in the world, following Chinese with about 400 million native speakers. While Amazon's Alexa has supported Spanish language skills in Mexico and Spain, these capabilities have not been available in the United States until now. Other companies have been ahead of Amazon in this respect, with the year 2018 seeing both Google Home and Apple's HomePod adding Spanish language support for their clients. Alexa already speaks a couple of other languages. Aside from English, developers have already had access to support for German, Japanese, French, and Portuguese. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Pennsylvania legislators are pushing for a bill that will make it illegal for doctors to refuse to provide medical care for unvaccinated children. Pennsylvania Bill Receives Support From Anti-Vaxers House Bill 286, also known as Informed Consent Protection Act, was first introduced in January by Republican Representative Daryl D. Metcalfe of Cranberry Township. It is rapidly gaining popularity among the anti-vaccine crowd. The bill states that health care providers cannot "harass, coerce, scold, or threaten" the patient or the parent of the patient for choosing not to get immunization for preventable diseases. It will also ban health insurers from penalizing doctors for low immunization rates. Doctors, meanwhile, will be barred from accepting incentives from insurance companies or drug manufacturers for vaccinating their patients. At a press conference, Metcalfe maintained that parents should make the choice of whether to vaccinate their children or not. "Whether they are choosing to vaccinate on a different schedule or limit the number of vaccines, or refuse some of the vaccines, it's a parent's right to make that decision for their child," he argued. "Our children don't belong to the state. This is not communist Russia." U.S. Measles Outbreak Growing Worse The proposed legislation comes amid a measle outbreak, the highest that the country has seen in the past 25 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 704 individual cases of measles have been recorded across the United States since Jan. 1, 2019. Majority of the people who got measles did not receive an immunization. The highly contagious disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Outbreaks of mumps have also been reported across the country. Both diseases can be prevented by getting the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Pennsylvania is among the 17 states that currently allow parents to opt their children out of getting a vaccine due to personal or philosophical belief. Almost all states, however, allow exemptions for people whose religious beliefs prohibit immunization. The World Health Organization, earlier this year, declared anti-vaccination sentiments as one of the top 10 threats to global health. While public health experts, including the CDC, assure parents that vaccines have been tested and proven to be safe, many still hold the belief that it causes autism and increase the risk of diabetes, cancer, infertility, and other conditions. "Science has disproved many of the theories about what vaccinations might do and has proven what they can do. ... I find it hard to grasp those who are choosing not to take advantage of what is readily available to them," stated Caryl Stern, president of UNICEF USA. Unvaccinated children also become a threat to the community, especially among people who have compromised immune systems. In addition, they are also placing pregnant women at risk of infection, even those who have been vaccinated. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Marijuana is gaining popularity as a workout enhancer among runners in states where the substance is legal, a new survey has found. A team of researchers from the University of Colorado investigated the surprising link between cannabis and exercise. Out of 605 respondents, they revealed that 81.7 percent smoke marijuana before and after their workout. The study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, is one of the first to explore the link between cannabis use and physical activities. Cannabis Use In Sports Marijuana use is often associated with slow movement and inactivity. A few experts have raised concerns that the legalization of the drug could contribute to the obesity epidemic in the United States. However, the respondents claim 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," stated Angela Bryan, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the senior author of the study. Respondents from Colorado, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, where recreational use of marijuana is legal, reported that they experience benefits from smoking the substance. Majority revealed that they smoke marijuana an hour before or within four hours after they exercised. Some said that they were more likely to use the drug after the workout. The others, however, admitted that they did both. When asked what benefits they reaped from cannabis consumption, 70 percent shared that the drug enhanced their enjoyment of the grueling exercise. Meanwhile, 78 percent said it boosted their after-workout recovery. Around 52 percent claimed that smoking marijuana made them more motivated to move. About 38 percent of respondents said that it improved their performance. Benefits Of Cannabis Use The researchers said that there is evidence that can back some of the respondents' claims about the benefits of marijuana. Previous studies have suggested that cannabinoids dull pain perception of the body. "[W]e 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," explained Arielle Gillman, co-author of the study. "Theoretically, you could imagine that if it could dampen pain and induce an artificial 'runner's high,' it could keep people motivated." The anti-inflammatory properties of cannabis can also speed up recovery after an exhausting physical activity. The researchers admitted that their study has its limitations. They only spoke to people who regularly use the drug and focused in states where the substance is legal. The evidence is also currently not enough for them to recommend marijuana use as a workout enhancer. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A decade from now, on April 13, 2029, a giant asteroid known as Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of chaos, will streak past Earth as close as some orbiting spacecraft. Its approach will fall on what's known to be an unlucky day for humans: Friday the 13th. However, experts assure that there's no need to worry about an impending doom from the god of chaos. Instead, astronomers are excited at the prospect of getting up close and personal with a space rock of this caliber. A Rare Near-Earth Asteroid NASA reveals that the near-Earth asteroid called 99942 Apophis is massive, extending as wide as 1,115 feet (340 meters). It will cruise by the planet at a distance of about 19,000 miles (31,000 kilometers) above the surface. At one point of its flyby past Earth, the asteroid will travel more than the width of the full moon in the span of a minute, shining as bright as the stars in the Little Dipper. It's not the first time asteroids have flown this close to Earth, but the ones that have been previously observed are smaller at 16 to 32 feet (5 to 10 meters) wide. Since there are fewer asteroids as massive as Apophis in existence, it's also much rarer to see one get so near the planet. "The excitement is that an object this large comes this close about once per thousand years, so it's all about, 'What's the opportunity?'" said Richard Binzel, a planetary scientist at MIT, during the conference. With Apophis' size and proximity to Earth, about 2 billion people should be able to see it with their naked eye in 2029. Planning For Planetary Defense During a session of the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in Maryland on Tuesday, April 30, scientists discussed the ways Apophid's flyby could help prepare Earth for potential collisions further down the line. Paul Chodas, the director of JPL's Center for Near Earth Objects Studies, pointed out to NASA that Apophis is only one of roughly 2,000 known potentially hazardous asteroids in space. "By observing Apophis during its 2029 flyby, we will gain important scientific knowledge that could one day be used for planetary defense," he added. For instance, data on the asteroid's composition and structure could provide valuable knowledge to engineers if it becomes imperative to blow apart or push away an asteroid on a potential collision path to Earth. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The official unveiling of Google's upcoming Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL is just a few days away, but a new leak may have already outed their specs partially, at least and key features. Put differently, everything there is to know about the new midrange Pixels has been practically revealed already. Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL Leak Droid Life got a hold of promo images of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL that confirm their features. For starters, they're going to have an "extraordinary camera" and the same Night Sight photography tech as seen in the top-of-the-line Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Speaking of mobile photography, they're also coming with Motion Auto Focus and a portrait mode, providing unlimited storage on Google Photos as well. To no one's surprise, the smarts of Google Assistant are in the mix, including Call Screen, a tool to combat spam calls. In addition, since they are Pixel phones, Google promises three years of timely security and OS updates. There's also fast-charging support that provides seven hours' worth of juice in just 15 minutes. The leak confirms their color options as well: white, black, and purple. The Pixel 3a in purple has been leaked before (as pictured above), which has been described as "purple-ish," "iris purple," or "slightly purple." As for the specs, the Pixel 3a will sport a 5.6-inch display and a 3,000 mAh battery, while the Pixel 3a XL will have a 6-inch screen and a 3,700 mAh battery. Under the hood, there'll be 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of native storage to work with. They're also equipped with 12.2-megapixel Dual Pixel cameras and eight-megapixel front snappers, as well as squeeze-sensitive sensors called Active Edge and fingerprint readers on the back. They'll run on Android 9 Pie from the get-go too. Now these corroborate past leaks and rumors. In other words, they pretty much said the same thing. However, the new leak didn't mention anything about the rumored Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 for the Pixel 3a or the Snapdragon 710 for its larger sibling. It also didn't include the phones' screen resolutions, but if a previous leak from Google turns out to be the real deal, the Pixel 3a will have a 2,220 x 1,080 display, while the Pixel 3a XL will have 2,160 x 1,080. Rumored Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL Price Another leak that recently came out may have revealed the pricing options of the phones. The YouTube channel This is Tech Today got its hands on pictures of what seems to be an authentic Pixel 3a box. According to it, the Pixel 3a will have a starting price of $399 in the United States, and the Pixel 3a XL will start at $479. Of course, it's hard to say if this is legitimate or not, so as always, it's recommended to take this with a grain of salt. Google is expected to take the wraps off the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL on May 7 at its 2019 I/O developer conference, so it won't be long until the official details are out. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A fossilized jawbone found in a cave in Tibet may offer scientists clues as to what the mysterious ancient human species called Denisovans looked like, a new study revealed. In 1980, a monk meditating inside the Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China discovered the fossil of a human jawbone with giant molars and passed it on to scientists at Lanzhou University. Since 2010, researchers have been studying the Tibetan cave site where the mandible originated in the hopes of finding out more information about the Denisovans. The caveat: after examining the fossilized Denisovan mandible, scientists discovered that its DNA was not preserved. Therefore, there has been no surefire way of identifying the fossil, except perhaps through the analysis of its proteins. This marks the first time that this technique is used to identify ancient specimens. Using Protein Analysis To Examine The Denisovan Jawbone Found In Tibet Everything that archaeologists know about the Denisovans has come from studying a handful of teeth and bone fragments from the Denisova cave in the Altai Mountains in Russia. Now, the discovery of the mandible in the Baishiya Karst Cave may help scientists picture out what these ancient human species looked like before. The Denisovan specimen found in the cave consists of half a lower jaw plus two complete teeth. Scientists Fahu Chen and Dongju Zhang from Lanzhou University studied the specimen, but without any DNA, they had no way of comparing its genetic sequences with that from other ancient humans. Instead, Zhang and her colleagues studied ancient proteins from the mandible, which they explained tended to last more than DNA. The research team found traces of collagen proteins in the dentine from the teeth and then compared the collagen protein with equivalent proteins from Denisovans and Neanderthals. Researchers found that the protein analysis lined up more with sequences from Denisovans. More information was pierced together about the Denisovan fossil found in the cave. For instance, researchers said that one of the teeth was still erupting, which meant that the fossil likely belonged to an adolescent. "The Xiahe mandible likely represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau," Chen said. The success of the new study, which has been released in the journal Nature, could lead to greater emphasis on extracting ancient proteins out of fossils that have not yielded DNA. Paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum in London, who was not involved in the new study, explained that the method could prove useful for older samples found in southeast Asia where DNA degrades quickly. Still, Stringer said DNA analysis remains the "gold standard" in identifying ancient fossils. He added that although there is no genetic material in the mandible, scientists could perhaps find DNA in the sediments inside the Tibetan cave. Ancient Human Species Denisovans Are Related To Modern Tibetans Archaeologists have been searching for more Denisovans ever since paleogeneticists extracted DNA from the pinkie of a new kind of human who lived more than 50,000 years ago in the Denisova cave. Ever since, scientists have identified that Denisovans are an extinct sister group of Neanderthals. The fossil of the Denisovan mandible found in Tibet is likely at least 160,000 years old, researchers said. It was discovered at least 3,280 meters above sea level, and researchers believe that Denisovans had adapted to living in this high-altitude low-oxygen environment long before Homo sapiens even arrived at the region. Furthermore, previous genetic studies revealed that modern Tibetans and other Himalayan populations carry the EPAS1 allele in their genes, which must have been passed on to them by Denisovans and helped them adapt to the environment. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Asteroid samples collected by Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa showed new clues indicating the abundant presence of water on ancient asteroid Itokawa. The results of the study are crucial in understanding the origin of water in terrestrial planets, especially Earth. Water On Asteroid "We found the samples we examined were enriched in water compared to the average for inner solar system objects," said Ziliang Jin, a postdoctoral scholar from Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration and lead author of the study Jin and fellow cosmochemist Maitrayee Bose suggested the probe of water on Itokawa samples. The five asteroid particles they studied came from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Each sample measures only about half the thickness of a human hair, so the scientists used a Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer or NanoSIMS, which can measure tiny mineral grains with great sensitivity. In two of the five particles analyzed, the team identified the mineral pyroxene. They also found water in the crystal structure of pyroxene in the terrestrial samples. The findings suggest that even nominally dry asteroids such as the Itokawa could have harbored more water than previously thought. "The minerals have hydrogen isotopic compositions that are indistinguishable from Earth," according to Jin, who also said that the minerals from the asteroid still show evidence of water that has not been lost to space when Itokawa's parent body met a catastrophic collision. Water On Earth Came From Asteroids? Based on the study, Earth is characterized by high water abundances in its crust and mantle. However, the origin of water in the inner solar system bodies is constantly debated. Other scenarios possibly explaining Earth's water sources include the gradual accumulation of ice in pebble-sized bodies as the snow line migrated and the ingassing of molecular hydrogen by growing planets. Bose said the Hayabusa mission to Itokawa has expanded existing knowledge of the volatile contents of the bodies that helped form Earth. Probing Itokawa Itokawa 25143 also known as Itokawa, is an S-type asteroid. This asteroid type is generally small and among the most common objects in the inner part of the asteroid belt. These space rocks are believed to have recorded and possibly retained information about primordial nebular water. According to NASA, Itokawa was discovered on Sept. 26, 1998, by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research Team at Socorro, New Mexico. JAXA's Hayabusa mission touched down twice on Itokawa in 2005. In June 2010, the probe brought back for analysis more than 1,500 particles from Itokawa's Muses Sea, a smooth and dusty area on the asteroid. Scientists believe that Itokawa is a remnant of a much larger space object that was shattered by a collision some 8 million years ago. This asteroid has two main lobes resembling a pair of rubble pile loosely held together by mutual gravity. The ASU study is published in the journal Science Advances. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Toward the end of World War II, when the Allies began the invasion of Germany, Nazi scientists scrambled to create a nuclear reactor. The project, which was headed by physicist Werner Heisenberg, is made up of 664 uranium cubes, with each weighing about 5 pounds or 2.3 kilograms. As Germany collapsed, the scientists buried the uranium cubes and fled. More than 70 years after the war, one of those uranium cubes mysteriously appeared in Maryland. Adolf Hitler's Uranium Cubes Tim Koeth, an associate research professor at the University of Maryland, in 2013 received the artifact. It was accompanied by a cryptic note. "Taken from the reactor that Hitler tried to build. Gift for Ninninger," the note reads. The mysterious appearance of the uranium cube sent Koeth, who collects radiological oddities, and Miriam Hiebert, a doctoral candidate, into an investigation to uncover its history, how it got to Maryland, and where the remaining uranium cubes are hiding. An article published in the May 2019 issue of Physics Today recounts the desperate attempt of Nazi Germany to build a nuclear reactor that spurred the Manhattan Project, leading to the bombing of Japan. "To me, this cube represents a relic of the program that catalyzed the Manhattan Project and subsequently, both good and bad weapons, nuclear energy, nuclear medicine," stated Koeth. "It's the dawning of a new era in human existence, when for the first time, we either had the capacity to save ourselves, or completely destroy ourselves." Nazi Germany's Nuclear Plans The Manhattan Project was formed in 1939 by former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the direct response to intelligence reports that Nazi Germany is creating a nuclear weapon. However, in the war's final days, authorities actually got their first look at Germany's nuclear efforts and found that instead of a weapons program, Heisenberg's team was building a reactor in a cave under a castle in southwestern Germany. Aware that they are going to lose the war, the Germans thought that they could salvage their reputation by being the first to create a nuclear reactor. However, the effort failed and Germany fell. In April 1945, U.S. troops unearthed the uranium cubes and shipped them to Paris. What happened next was unclear, but the investigation of Koeth and Hiebert led them to the late Robert D. Nininger who served in the group tasked to procure uranium for the Manhattan Project. They discovered that the Nazi's uranium cubes were eventually shipped to the United States, but they were no longer needed. One of those uranium cubes is at the Smithsonian Institute and another is used in science classes at Harvard University. One ended up in Koeth's desk. Koeth and Hiebert will continue searching for the whereabouts of Hitler's uranium cubes. German Uranium Documents The investigation also led the researchers to recently declassified CIA documents labeled "Germany Uranium." It revealed that a competing project had another 400 uranium cubes in use at the time of the war. Moreover, according to Koeth, if Nazi Germany forced two scientist groups to work on a nuclear reactor, they would have likely succeeded. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Sprunger, Andrews, Ramsey, Trachte Download Image: Web Lycoming College recognized two faculty members with teaching awards at this years Honors Convocation, held at Williamsports Community Arts Center. The winner of the 2019 Plankenhorn Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence was Jeremy Ramsey, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and chair of the department. Ramseys teaching focuses on general and analytical chemistry, with his most recent course addition being a first year seminar studying the science of chemical demonstrations. He is also deeply involved in Lycoming Colleges Warrior Coffee Project, an international, interdisciplinary program where faculty and students apply what they've learned in their Lycoming College classrooms to assist communities in need. Every spring, Lycoming chemistry students travel to the Dominican Republics village of El Naranjito to help improve villagers' access to clean water and to use chemical analysis of green coffee to encourage the production of a more valuable crop by small family-run coffee farms. The 2019 Junior Faculty Teaching Award recipient was Meghan Andrews, Ph.D., assistant professor of English. Andrews is an early modernist whose research focuses on the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. At Lycoming, Andrews teaches not only Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature but the full sweep of literary history, all the way from Classical Literature to a special topics course ending with The Handmaids Tale. She greatly enjoys teaching both inside and outside her period, and constantly finds herself energized by the thoughtfulness and enthusiasm of students encountering much of the literature she teaches for the first time, most especially in their ability to see very contemporary concerns in what can on the surface seem alien or outdated texts. Andrews is also an active researcher; her book project, Shakespeares Networks, argues that Shakespeare's social networks and institutional affiliations were key influences on his plays and poems, and has received grant support from the American Council of Learned Societies among other institutions. Her published work can be found in Shakespeare Quarterly, Renaissance Drama, SEL, and Marlowe Studies. Lycoming College faculty continues to provide an education rooted in the liberal arts, but modernized with 21-st-century experiential learning opportunities. GONZALES One of the major unanswered questions about the morning a huge crane barge crashed into the Sunshine Bridge has been the identity of the pilot operating the Marquette Transportation tugboat pushing the barge up the Mississippi River in the pre-dawn darkness last fall. In the months since the Oct. 12 crash, the U.S. Coast Guard has refused to provide any new details while it, along with the National Transportation Safety Board, investigated what happened. A newly released schedule of witnesses expected to testify next week in a weeklong public investigative hearing sheds some light on the people working on or with that tugboat, the Kristin Alexis, and the crane barge. But the schedule leaves unclear who was operating the tugboat at the time the barge smashed major support beams on the bridge. Lt. Rachel Ault, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman in New Orleans, couldn't say Wednesday who was operating the Kristin Alexis but the topic will be an important point of interest for investigators. "That will definitely be a question that is asked to all those witnesses," Ault said. The Coast Guard and the NTSB have opened what's known as a marine casualty investigation into the crash. Their hearing schedule, which begins Monday and lasts until Saturday, May 11, lists a series of Marquette, Cooper Consolidated and other maritime workers, including two people identified as captains with the Kristin Alexis. According to the schedule, Desmond Smith was the Kristin Alexis' master captain, the person who had overall oversight of the vessel. He is scheduled to be the lead witness Monday morning. Eugene Picquet III, expected to speak Tuesday, is identified as the "pilot captain" of the Kristin Alexis. A pilot captain is someone who may have more localized knowledge of a waterway and may operate a vessel in that area or when the master captain is asleep or otherwise occupied. Ault said both men worked for Marquette, the owner of the tugboat. Cooper Consolidated owns the crane barge, the D/B Mr. Erwin. Cooper Consolidated officials have said previously the barge's crane was down and in its storage cradle and none of their employees were operating it at the time of the crash. Immediate attempts to reach Smith and Picquet were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon by telephone and social media messaging. The men are among more than 20 witnesses expected to testify. Other witnesses include two deckhands on the Kristin Alexis, several employees of Cooper Consolidated; Coast Guard and other federal and state officials; and representatives of maritime industry interests. +5 Amid probe into Sunshine Bridge debacle, Coast Guard plans hearings for public input The U.S. Coast Guard will hold a weeklong hearing in early May in Ascension Parish over the Sunshine Bridge crash last year that shut or limit The barge crash caused millions of dollars in damage to the bridge, shut it for more than a month and left it with partial lane closures into the spring, months later. The four-lane bridge is in St. James Parish but also links the two sides of populous Ascension Parish and serves as critical conduit for people and businesses along the Mississippi south of Baton Rouge. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The crane barge hit the bridge's western span, which is lower than the main span in the center of the river. The barge became stuck under the bridge near Donaldsonville for several hours and caused serious structural damage to steel support beams, state officials have said. All lanes on the bridge were subsequently closed until Dec. 1 and caused major disruptions in traffic flow for the river region, with over hour-long detours for commuters living on one side of the river and working on the other. Coast Guard Commander Matthew J. Meskun, a senior investigating officer and a section chief of the Coast Guard's inspections and investigations program, and Capt. Michael J. Kucharski, a senior marine accident investigator with the NTSB, will lead the investigation. A biography provided by the Coast Guard says Kucharski has 23 years of seagoing experience on freighters and tankers and previously worked as a maritime consultant before joining NTSB in 2014. +6 Investigation, answers in Sunshine Bridge crash will be revealed at public hearing in May GONZALES A public hearing into what happened during an Oct. 12 bridge crash that shut the Sunshine Bridge for more than a month is scheduled According to information shared by the Coast Guard on Wednesday, the Kristin Alexis was within a legal "phase-in" period for new federal inspection rules for tugboats and so had not yet had its first full inspection. But the 62-foot-long vessel, which was built in 1978, was still current for its last inspection under the old regulatory regime, in which the Coast Guard conducted less-intensive safety checks on tugboats. Ault, the Coast Guard spokeswoman, said the tug was in compliance at the time of the crash. Marquette Transportation, like other operators around the nation, must have 25 percent of its fleet go through the new, more-intensive inspections in 2019 and the remainder by 2020. Ault said the company can choose which vessels get inspected first. According to the Federal Register listing for those new rules, the changes are more fully bringing towing vessels under a Coast Guard safety and inspection regime amid concerns from Congress in the early 2000s about tugboat crashes with bridges. Two of those crashes led the bridges to collapse and sent vehicles into the water, killing nearly 20 people, the Federal Register says. In October 2013, the Kristin Alexis capsized on the lower Mississippi near the New Orleans Container Terminal, sending five crew members into the river. The tugboat, which Marquette didn't own at the time, and another vessel were involved in a heavy lift operation, according to a Coast Guard incident database. All the crew were rescued without injury, but the towboat sustained an estimated $900,000 in damage, the database says. The database does not indicate that the capsizing ever led to sanctions for any of the companies involved. Meskun, the Coast Guard commander, said in January that the hearings will bring together key parties for public testimony and constitute the final stage of the Coast Guard's fact-finding before investigators analyze what they have found. Meskun, who is from the Coast Guard's Atlantic Area Command in Portsmouth, Virginia, has said a report will follow that factual analysis and make findings, including referrals for enforcement action. Those actions can range from civil penalties for companies or people to the suspension and revocation of mariners' licenses. The hearing will be at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, beginning 8 a.m. Monday. DENHAM SPRINGS The Kiwanis Club here wants Nick Tullier to know he has not been forgotten. Though back in a Houston hospital this week with a lung infection, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's deputy wounded in an assault on law enforcement officers nearly three years ago was acknowledged by the Denham Springs Kiwanis Club with its first Service Before Self award. "He represents the heart of the law enforcement community, especially here in Livingston Parish" said Kiwanis Club Past President Mike Juneau, who presented the award. Tullier was critically injured July 17, 2016, when a lone gunman shot six law enforcement officers, killing three of them, outside an Airline Highway convenience store. Doctors initially feared Tullier wouldn't survive his injuries, which included multiple gunshot wounds to his stomach, head and shoulder. He has been continuing his recovery in Texas, where his family reports he continues to defy doctors' initial predictions for his progress. However, challenges remain for the wounded deputy, who still needs intensive care. His family posted to Facebook that he was taken to the emergency room April 26 with a lung infection and remained there as of Thursday morning. Can't see video below? Click here. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Tullier's older son Trenton accepted the award on behalf of his father at the Peace Officer of the Year banquet at the Forrest Grove Plantation. "Thank you for remembering my dad and his sacrifice," Trenton Tullier, 20, told the attendees. "I want to say, please don't forget him, and follow his progress on Facebook." +2 Nick Tullier family on two-year anniversary of BR officer shooting: 'We must never forget' The family of Nick Tullier on Tuesday said that its hard to reflect on the two-year anniversary of the officer ambush that left the East Bato Nick Tullier's father, James, also spoke via video to the attendees at the banquet, thanking them for giving an award to his son and offering some insight to what Nick Tullier would have said if he were able. "Nick would be the first to tell you that any cop would be deserving of this award when they rush to incident scenes every day," James Tullier said. "He'd be bashful in accepting this award, in feeling that he's just doing what's expected of him and his fellow officers." Also recognized Thursday as the Denham Springs Kiwanis Club Peace Officers of the Year were Denham Springs Deputy Marshal Leesha Robert, Denham Springs Police Officer Jonathan Pizzolato, Livingston Parish Sheriff's Detective Jeff Beatty and Louisiana State Police Trooper William Brady Cook. The family of Nick Tullier on Tuesday said that its hard to reflect on the two-year anniversary of the officer ambush that left the East Baton Rouge deputy critically injured, but that we must never forget what happened on that day. In a Facebook post on the Nick Tullier Strong page, James Tullier, Nicks father, said that the family cant celebrate the anniversary of the July 17, 2016 shooting. I know it seems like we ought to be happy, and we are for Nick is still with us fighting each and every day trying to regain his life, James Tullier wrote. But at the same time, this date doesnt have fond memories. Heroes were lost that day in 2016, Tullier wrote. Other heroes rose to the occasion to help save Nick. Blue families were shaken. I can attest to that firsthand. In his post, Tullier summarized all that Nick has been through in the past two years including the initial days after the shooting when doctors repeatedly said that his sons chance of survival was slim. He said that his son's story is not much different from other officers who the Tullier family has met since the 2016 ambush. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up All struggle every day, due to having put their lives on the line for you and me, Tullier wrote. +9 In Houston hospital, wounded deputy Nick Tullier's family gathers to celebrate recovery's daily battles Doctors didn't expect Nick Tullier to survive after a gunman shot him in the head, stomach and shoulder during the July 17, 2016 ambush that killed three other law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge. A year later, the 42-year-old sheriff's deputy is still defying the odds and the grim prognosis issued after the July 17 attack... On the anniversary of the day that changed everything for his family, Tullier said that he was not asking for sympathy. But if you must cry a tear, do it for all law enforcement officers, he wrote. They continually risk their lives to serve and protect. Nick Tullier was shot multiple times in the targeted ambush on law enforcement. He has been undergoing extensive treatment in Houston, where he has made remarkable progress but still struggles with basic tasks such as forming words and moving his limbs. For the fourth time since January, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board will try to settle on which one of its members will serve as board vice president. Looming over Thursday's proceedings, though, is the possibility of having to return to court if Jill Dyason, who has held the position since Jan. 17, remains in the post. +4 East Baton Rouge Parish School Board will re-vote on board VP after settling lawsuit The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has settled its dispute with Baton Rouge attorney Donald Hodge, agreeing to pay his court costs and t Baton Rouge attorney Donald Hodge sued the School Board after the Jan. 17 vote, saying the board violated the states open meetings law when it limited and then cut short his public comments protesting Dyasons candidacy. Hodge opposed Dyason because of her decision to sign the petition to put on a ballot the proposition to create a city of St. George. The board and Hodges reached a settlement to the lawsuit on April 16, agreeing to pay Hodge $2,435 in court costs as well as to vote again on who should be the second-in-charge of the nine-member board. That revote finally occurred April 25, and Hodge was allowed to speak freely. The board, however, deadlocked eight times. It was unable to muster five votes needed for the win for either Mark Bellue or Dadrius Lanus. As long as the deadlock continues, Dyason remains vice president. Now Hodge is saying hes ready to go back to court. If a new vice president isn't elected tomorrow (Thursday), we will return to ask the court to have the office declared vacant and a recall petition will be started against Jill, Hodge said Wednesday. The settlement, from my point of view, invalidated the vice president election, he added. However, after we reached that agreement, that's not how the School Board saw it. Its unclear how the board will break the deadlock. Thursdays meeting is set to start at 5 p.m. at the School Board Office, 1050 S. Foster Drive. +2 Jill Dyason elected as East Baton Rouge school board VP despite signing St. George petition Breaking a week-long deadlock, Jill Dyason was elected Thursday as vice president of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board Thursday the f On Jan. 10, the first time the board took up the issue, Dyason, who is white, deadlocked repeatedly with Lanus, who is black. Supporters of Dyason, who represents much of southeast Baton Rouge, touted her experience: She was first elected in 2001, making her by far the longest serving board member. Even so, in all that time, shed never served in a leadership position on the board. Lanus, by contrast, is one of two newly elected board members, along with Tramelle Howard. Both of their districts are centered in north Baton Rouge. Lanus supporters downplayed the importance of experience and pressed hard on the importance of having someone black, particularly a black man, in leadership, in a school district where about three-quarters of the schoolchildren are black. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up For years, the board had an unofficial rule that at least one of its black members should serve in a leadership position, but since 2015, the board has repeatedly picked two white board members as president and vice president. On a second try, on Jan. 17, Dyason won 5-3. Mike Gaudet, whod been elected board president a week earlier, switched his vote from Lanus to Dyason. Between those two meetings, however, it came out that Dyason had signed the St. George petition. At the time, Dyason said she signed the petition only to let the people vote on this contentious issue. She said that in her view, the latest St. George petition has more to do with creating a city than any changes in schooling, and it has no bearing on her School Board service or whether she would make a good board vice president. Layoffs OK'd for East Baton Rouge schools, but Warren Drake 'confident' cuts can be avoided After a lengthy debate, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday agreed to give Superintendent Warren Drake authority to lay off e When the board voted again April 25, another board member, Mark Bellue, was nominated. Bellue, who is also white, often votes with Dyason. Four of Dyasons votes, including Gaudets, shifted to Bellue. Dyason, however, decided to abstain repeatedly, leaving Bellue one vote short of victory. Meanwhile, Lanus was stuck at three votes for seven successive ballots. Another black board member, Dawn Collins, abstained. Several local black leaders leaned on her hard to change her mind. Collins said she had concerns about Lanus because he, as well as Howard, benefited last fall from hundreds of thousands of dollars in independent spending by pro-charter school groups on behalf of their respective campaigns. I cant pretend that six figures was not spent on my colleague, Collins said. On the eighth vote, Collins, however, shifted her vote to Lanus. But that still left him with only four votes and still one vote short. On Thursday night, Collins is not planning to attend, so Lanus will have to attract two more votes to win the vice presidency. He expresses optimism that will happen. This board has been pressed to make the right decision, and they will make the right decision, even if they dont want to, Lanus said. Board member Evelyn Ware-Jackson, who is black and has served as both board president and vice president, said she is fine with Lanus or Howard serving as board vice president. She said she is not interested in returning to board leadership herself. Bellue said Wednesday night he's not interested in the job anymore either and will support Howard instead: "The board has more important issues to address and it's in our best interest to identify someone who can get a majority vote and move on." WASHINGTON Thousands of Louisiana homeowners who have been stuck in the duplication-of-benefits trap following the historic floods of 2016 will soon be eligible to seek federally-funded grants, after intense lobbying from the state's congressional delegation. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development notified Louisiana leaders this week that it will soon release guidelines for distributing Restore Louisiana funds to people who were previously blocked because they applied for Small Business Administration loans. "Rules will be released in days, but I have received assurances from Secretary (Ben) Carson that if you took out an SBA loan you will be eligible to receive a Restore Louisiana grant and have the resources you need to recover, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, said Thursday. We had thousands of people in Louisiana after the great flood of 2016 who were punished for being responsible and doing the right thing thats wrong. Its been nearly seven months since the delegation, spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican whose Baton Rouge district was heavily impacted by the August 2016 flooding, successfully ushered legislation allowing HUD to grant waivers that would remove the SBA loan barrier. But its taken countless meetings with Carson, the HUD secretary, and other Trump administration officials, letters and public statements from Louisiana congressmen and senators to clear the logjam that has prevented people from being able to tap into those funds, despite the legislation President Donald Trump signed into law. Graves said hes grateful for this weeks update but frustrated it has taken so long for HUD to move forward. This is a perfect example of why people really hate the bureaucracy of the federal government, he said. There is no good excuse for these sorts of delays. Louisiana received more than $1.7 billion from Congress for 2016 flood relief. About $1.3 billion was designated for homeowner rebuilding assistance. But the law that prevented people from receiving grant money that duplicated their SBA loan awards has kept an estimated 6,000 families from tapping into those funds. In recent months, Cassidy and U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, resorted to a procedural move to try to raise awareness by holding up the Trump administrations HUD nominees. They promised to lift the hold once HUD acted on the duplication-of-benefits issue. Kennedy even brought the issue directly to Trump in early April during a private lunch meeting on an unrelated topic. Kennedy wouldn't say at the time where Trump stood on the issue, but strongly hinted the president could be willing to intervene on Louisiana's behalf. On Thursday, Kennedy credited the president's intervention for ultimately succeeding in addressing the problem. "(Trump) told me that he would resolve this, and he did, Kennedy said. Duplication of benefits was a huge hurdle for many families as they struggled to rebuild. Louisianans are resilient, but theyll be made even stronger by getting the disaster relief they were promised. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Its unclear when homeowners will be able to access the funds. According to Cassidys office, more details will appear in guidelines that HUD will issue. Sens. Cassidy, Kennedy keep pushing on 'duplication of benefits' issue affecting flood victims Thousands of Louisiana residents who were affected by severe floods in 2016 and remain in a "duplication of benefits" trap likely wont see a Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said his administration, through the Restore Louisiana program, will immediately begin updating grant awards, contacting homeowners and distributing funds as soon as official guidance is received from HUD. "This is a momentous announcement for thousands of Restore Louisiana applicants who have been waiting since the aftermath of the 2016 floods for a fix to the previous federal policy," Edwards said. "I want to sincerely thank President Trump, his administration, and our congressional delegation for their partnership and hard-fought efforts to enable the release of these funds and bring about real, positive results for homeowners working to recover from the 2016 floods. What's the latest on the 'duplication of benefits' trap that's still affecting Louisiana flood victims? Louisiana officials are hoping that a meeting next week will be the final push needed to break through the federal government logjam that has Like with other HUD programs meant to benefit low- to middle-income households, priority will go to homeowners whose household income is less than 120 percent of the federally-defined area median income, which varies by parish. Those who make more than that will be able to apply for exemptions or partial awards. Cassidy said Carson confirmed that grants can be used to pay off SBA loans people acquired. As in previous disasters, affected homeowners who sought SBA loans were blocked from receiving grant dollars that duplicated whatever loan amount they were deemed eligible to receive, even if they never accepted the loan money. For example, a homeowner with an estimated $25,000 in damage who qualified for a $20,000 SBA loan would be eligible for only $5,000 in grant money that wouldn't have to be repaid. Meanwhile, a homeowner who took on the same value of damage $25,000 but didnt apply for an SBA loan could potentially receive the full $25,000 grant if all other qualifications were met. In many cases, SBA loan awards were larger than the value of total damage, leaving homeowners without an opportunity for any grant assistance. The opportunity to waive that duplication rule will extend to other states and territories that have experienced disasters, including Texas, which saw hundreds of homes damaged in Hurricane Harvey, and Puerto Rico, where housing was decimated in Hurricane Maria. Graves said the effort to pass the legislation included bringing in lawmakers from those other affected areas as allies. This isnt just a Louisiana issue, Graves said. Its become a national issue that has affected a lot of people. Graves said flood recovery, and more specifically the duplication-of-benefits matter, has consistently been at the top of issues his constituents voice to him. Congress returned this week from a two-week recess that allowed members to return to their home districts and meet with their constituents. Graves held several of those meetings during the break. "The number of people who just have these devastating personal stories: This is really personal to a lot of people and meaning awful consequences for them," he said. The Senate Education Committee approved Gov. John Bel Edwards' public schools funding plan Thursday, including a controversial $39 million hike for classrooms that puts the Louisiana Senate on a collision course with the House. The vote was 6-1, and the governor thanked committee members a few hours later. The measure, Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, heads to the Senate floor but may first face a review by the powerful Senate Finance Committee. The election-year legislation includes $1,000 teacher pay raises and $500 annual boosts for support workers. The raises, which enjoy bipartisan support, are the governor's key priority for the 2019 session. "Teachers have the important job every day of preparing our students to become tomorrow's leaders," Edwards said in a statement. "They should be compensated accordingly, but for far too long that has not been the case," he said. "Today committee members took the necessary step to help change that." Backers said both parts of the pay package are long overdue. "This is for the working people of this state," said Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette and a member of the committee. However, the issue is shaping up as another battle over school aid between senators and the governor on one side and the House on the other. House Republican leaders insist the state cannot afford the $39 million increase for schools, which would be just the second of its kind in the past decade amid state budget problems. The House Education Committee last month returned the same plan to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which approved its proposal in March. That panel asked BESE to revamp its proposal and take out the $39 million increase. BESE is set to hold a special meeting on the issue on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. The lone "no" vote in committee was cast by state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie. Appel, like key House leaders, said he is concerned that the funding plan would exceed available state dollars, and could threaten teacher pay raises that enjoy bipartisan support. "The whole thing could blow up," Appel said. Barry Dusse, director of the governor's Office of Budget Planning, said recent amendments to the governor's budget proposal would allow the state to pay for the $39 million boost. No 'battle' expected for Louisiana teacher pay hikes, but one is brewing over public school aid Gov. John Bel Edwards' bid to boost teacher pay by $1,000 per year is winning wide support both inside and outside the Louisiana Legislature. Dusse told the Senate committee that savings in the state Department of Health, and $15 million in cuts to other state agencies, would make the package affordable. The House Appropriations Committee on Monday is set to begin its final markup of the $30 billion state spending plan, including education dollars. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A debate in the full House may also take place next week. Aside from Appel's questions no one spoke against the funding outline. "Our teachers deserve a raise," said Belinda Davis, the mother of three public school children in Baton Rouge and president of One Community One School District. "And our children deserve that more money be spent in the classroom." The BESE funding request, which goes through a formula called the Minimum Foundation Program, is sponsored by Senate Education Committee Chairman Dan "Blade" Morrish, R-Jennings. Senate education leader, unlike House counterpart, backs $39M hike for public schools A state Senate leader said Monday he thinks Louisiana's top school board will stick by its earlier request for a $39 million hike in state aid BESE on Tuesday may opt to stick by the same funding levels that it approved in March, which totals $3.85 billion for the 2019-20 school year. "There is going to be a discussion," Gary Jones, president of BESE, told the Senate Education Committee. "At this point the issue is still pretty cloudy to us." "We put together a really good MFP," Jones told senators. State Superintendent of Education John White told the panel BESE's request was made before the all-important Revenue Estimating Conference settled on how much new money $119 million the state has to spend starting July 1. That figure is about $20 million below what Edwards was hoping would be recognized. "We know we are going to be $20 million short," Appel said. "Clearly something would not get funded." He said if the school financing blueprint is over budget "it will get killed and there will be no teacher pay raise." Dusse's comments were aimed at easing GOP concerns, and came just moments before the resolution won lopsided approval from the Republican-controlled committee. The Legislature can approve or reject BESE's request but cannot change it. The session ends on June 6. A wide range of education groups urged the committee to approve the resolution, including the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, Louisiana Association of Educators, Louisiana School Boards Association, Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana and the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents. LFT President Larry Carter said that, without the $39 million increase, teachers would be forced to keep spending for school supplies and other costs, cutting into raises that officials say will be well under $1,000 by the time they reach paychecks. Teachers are paid an average of $50,000 per year, which is below the regional average. Edwards, a Democrat who is seeking a second term this year, has said this year's plan is the first of three aimed at reaching the regional benchmark. We write in response to Dan Fagan's recent column, "Oil companies not the real culprits in Louisianas wetland Loss: It may be Mother Nature." +2 Dan Fagan: Oil companies not the real culprits in Louisiana's wetlands loss; it may be Mother Nature A little more than a year ago, The Wall Street Journal called out Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards for talking up lawsuits against oil companie Is Mother Nature to blame for Louisianas Wetland Loss Crisis? River deltas naturally deposit sediment and build land in the form of delta lobes comprised mostly of wetlands. Rivers erode their channels and eventually abandon their course for a shorter route to the sea. The abandoned delta lobe erodes and subsides over time, allowing salt-water intrusion and excessive inundation to accelerate wetland loss. In exchange, a new delta lobe, nourished by sediments, nutrients and freshwater, is born and initiates the development of a new wetland complex. Within this geologic framework, hurricanes, faulting, drought-induced dieback, and other processes cause additional wetland loss. So, yes, some of Louisianas wetland loss is natural. But certainly not all of it. We, as a society, have made drastic changes to the natural deltaic process by leveeing the Mississippi River. Although levees and other flood-control measures help protect coastal communities, they prevent the delivery of sediment that leads to new deltaic wetland formation and maintenance of existing wetlands. As a result, Louisiana is currently experiencing a net loss of wetlands rather than no loss or a net gain. Humans also have a role to play in sea-level rise. Greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for the rapid warming trend that cannot be explained by natural processes alone. Sea-level, which is rising around the world at a rate of just over an inch per decade, is caused by increased melting of glaciers and ice-sheets and thermal expansion as ocean water warms. This sea-level rise is contributing to the loss of Louisianas wetlands. And while the canals dug by the oil and gas companies may not be the only culprit of wetland loss, they occupy an estimated length of 20,943 miles and directly replace wetlands. Also, spoil banks, created by the deposition of dredged material from canals, including those for navigation, smother adjacent marshes and can impede the natural exchange of water and sediment necessary for wetlands to avoid submergence. Fluid extraction can also contribute to land loss by increasing soil compaction and subsidence. Many of us from the scientific community, including John Day, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, and Sean Graham, assistant professor at Nicholls State University, agree with these conclusions. Blaming Mother Nature and absolving the oil and gas companies and the role that society at large has played in Louisianas wetland loss crisis will only slow a successful remediation-response that necessitates assistance from all entities, private and governmental, that have contributed to the degradation and loss of one of the worlds preeminent ecosystems the Mississippi River Delta. Letters: Fagan column overlooks the reality of La. coastal loss Dan Fagans column seeking to free the oil industry of its complicity in the destruction of the coast stands in outrageous opposition to most Tracy Quirk assistant professor Irving A. Mendelssohn professor emeritus LSU Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Baton Rouge As toddlers, many of us loathed going to the doctor for vaccinations a phobia that, in most cases, disappears as youngsters grow up. But a few unlucky souls remain at the bottom of the learning curve. Perhaps not surprisingly, one of them has ended up in the Louisiana Legislature. State Sen. John Milkovich, a Shreveport Democrat, took to the floor of the state Senate this week to spout all sorts of nonsense alleging the dangers of vaccinations. He mentioned the old canard about vaccines causing autism, a crackpot theory long discredited. He even claimed that when he was growing up, autism did not exist, an assertion so patently absurd that it makes the Flat Earth Society seem like a bastion of reason. 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 Reason, of course, is in short supply at the Legislature, which might explain why none of Milkovichs Senate colleagues came to the podium to publicly rebut him. Apparently, tomfoolery is such a staple at the Capitol that politicos are no longer surprised by it. We werent exactly surprised by Milkovichs embrace of junk science, either. Hes said equally nutty things before, and arrested intellectual development is not, after all, unknown among the states lawmakers. Were tempted to file away Milkovichs ridiculous rant as just another episode of political farce, but his remarks have real-world consequences. Thanks to other anti-vaxxers across the country, the United States has logged more than 700 cases of measles in 22 states the highest tally reported in nearly two decades. Although Louisiana hasnt had a confirmed measles case yet this year, the threat to public health here and across the nation is clear. Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Baton Rouge physician, dismissed Milkovichs claims about vaccinations as fake news and emphasized that vaccinations are not only safe but necessary. Cassidy mentioned dealing with patients in Louisianas public health system who faced grave illness after failing to get required vaccines. I know of patients who have almost had a liver transplant because they didnt know to get vaccinated for hepatitis B, said Cassidy. Even President Donald Trump, who indulged anti-vaxxer bunk as a candidate, is now urging Americans to get vaccinated. Its time for Milkovich to grow up, too. The goings-on at the State Capitol might often look like childs play, but public health should never be. Ever since Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni was caught sexting with a 17-year-old boy in 2016, hes been a pretty radioactive figure. The entire parish council, as well as other local politicians, called on him to step down. Voters tried to recall him, although they fell short of the considerable support required by law to trigger a vote. The school board barred him from the campuses it oversees. A candidate for sheriff, John Fortunato, had to rescind his public support not just for Yennis continued service but for his reelection later this year (Yenni has yet to say whether hell be a candidate in the fall parish president election). Fortunatos initial support may well have figured into his loss to Joe Lopinto. After Mike Yenni chats briefly with juror, judge declares mistrial; see video of interaction A Jefferson Parish judge declared a mistrial in a sexual battery case Tuesday after Parish President Mike Yenni chatted with a juror on her lu Still, what happened this week in a government building is ridiculous. According to videotape, Yenni briefly greeted a passing juror in the hallway, shaking hands and chitchatting for mere moments, not even long enough for either to come to full stop. Yet the exchange was enough for 24th Judicial District Judge Adrian Adams to call a mistrial in the case of Rafael Chinchilla, who is accused of sexual battery of a juvenile under the age of 13. All the jurors who put in their time are now dismissed, and a new group will need to be empaneled. Its hard to imagine what effect Yennis conversation could have had on the jurys deliberations. Yenni said afterwards that he knew the woman, who works in tourism in Kenner, from his time as mayor. He recalled saying something like this: "Whos running tourism in Kenner if youre on a jury? I hope it's not a hung jury. "I was just being congenial," he said. Grace Notes: In backing Mike Yenni, John Fortunato makes wrong kind of headline in sheriff's race Who would have guessed that the most dramatic endorsement in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's race wouldnt be of a candidate, but by a candidate? Jurors arent supposed to be congenial with anyone, of course, and officials such as Yenni who work in the same building know that. But everyone involved is human, and its hard to argue that a brief greeting rises to the level of endangering justice. Even if the guy offering that greeting is someone as divisive as Yenni. Three crew members were rescued from a sinking towing vessel in the Intracoastal Waterway near Lafitte on Thursday morning, according to the Coast Guard. The Cindy R towing vessel was pushing six barges when it began to sink around 6:45 a.m. near mile marker 8, which is west of the Harvey Lock on the Intracoastal Waterway. It's not immediately clear what caused the vessel to sink. Three people were on board the Cindy R, but they climbed aboard the towing vessel Elin Gertrude before the Cindy R sank. There were no reported injuries. The Elin Gertrude then picked up the Cindy R's tow. There were approximately 3,000 gallons of diesel aboard the Cindy R. OMI deployed absorbent boom around the vessel to stop the spread of the oil. A crane and barge is on the way to being the salvage process. The waterway remains open. +2 Coast Guard calls off search for Marrero man missing from sunken towboat in Mississippi River One man was missing and two other people were rescued after a towing vessel sank Monday night in the Mississippi River south of Myrtle Grove i This is at least the third report of a towing vessel sinking in Louisiana in recent months. The Seattle Slew capsized in the Mississippi River south of Myrtle Grove in mid-March. Two people were rescued, but one man went missing. Officials ultimately called off the search for him. A few days earlier, the Michelle Anne sank in the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge. All crew members were safely rescued. Why is Labor proposing to target small family businesses by introducing a standard minimum 30 per cent tax rate from 1 July 2019 for discretionary/family trust distributions? The reason given is that trusts are used by high-wealth individuals to minimise their tax obligations" and that a disproportionate amount of discretionary trust distributions are allocated to people in the lowest marginal tax bracket with little or no work income. Labor's family trusts tax plan could "punish the majority for the sins of a few", writes Peter Strong. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Labor appear to be using this for political purposes to paint family business as exploiters and tax evaders. When in fact these families have structured their arrangements within tax rules and sensibly minimised tax to help build the business and provide reward for investment and effort. We are supportive of legislation that addresses tax practices used by high wealth individuals to blatantly avoid their fair share. The problem with the Labor proposal is that it will punish the majority for the sins of the few. Family businesses are important not just to the economy but also to local communities and charities. They provide jobs and are the income source for many other non-business families. Some are incredibly wealthy but most are not; they are just people who are putting all their efforts, support or capital into a business activity they are passionate about. They protect their assets and distribute income through family trusts, also known as discretionary trusts. The need to compare childcare workers to a male-dominated profession involving work of equivalent value to prove they are underpaid has contributed to the gender pay gap and should be abolished, according to the union movement and academics. Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus on Thursday said laws on equal pay have failed because the Fair Work Commission has relied on a male comparator to set rates for the female-dominated childcare workforce. ACTU secretary Sally McManus. Credit:Julian Smith As the state secretary of the Australian Services Union in NSW, Ms McManus successfully led an equal pay case for workers in the feminised sector. The case demonstrated the work was undervalued because it was seen as womens work and did not require any comparison with an equivalent male profession to prove the point. In a speech on Thursday, Ms McManus says that victory was a "huge step, but also a rare one" as the only successful equal pay case in 30 years. Footage of endangered sharks entangled in nets along Sydney's Palm Beach has renewed calls for the state government to end its controversial mesh net program. Scalloped hammerhead sharks, which are listed as endangered by the NSW Department of Primary and Industries, were photographed caught and wrapped up in the nets this year. A scalloped hammerhead caught in a shark net on Palm Beach and photographed on March 28. Credit:HSI/AMCS/N McLachlan. The video and photos were released by conservation groups Humane Society International and the Australian Marine Conservation Society at the end of the 2018/2019 NSW shark netting season on Tuesday. AMCS shark campaigner Leonardo Guida claims the nets are ineffective at keeping swimmers safe and instead drown iconic and harmless animals, such as turtles, dolphins and hammerheads. A former Coalition education minister has applauded Labor's $10 billion plan to boost wages for childcare workers, saying the investment is "well overdue" and essential to tackle the staff turnover crisis in the sector. Adrian Piccoli, the NSW education minister between 2011 and 2017, said the "really positive" cash injection should be accompanied by strengthened oversight of the sector to prevent fee gouging and ensure children's needs are being met. Adrian Piccoli, now a director of the Gonski Institute for Education. Credit:Steven Siewert The development comes after Coalition ministers described the plan as a "highly irregular" socialist experiment, and Labor sparked confusion by stumbling over its details. A Labor spokesman confirmed Opposition Leader Bill Shorten misspoke on Thursday when he increased the number workers eligible for the $11,300 a year wage boost from 100,000 to 140,000, a move that would have cost an extra $640 million a year. "We won't accept that. [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison has taken a strong stance in this regard," he said. The Liberal Party later released a statement saying Ms Whelan had resigned. "Clearly these posts are inappropriate, and the Liberal Party was not aware of their existence until they were reported. Therefore, she has offered her resignation as a candidate and the Liberal Party has accepted it," it said. "Jess Whelan vehemently maintains that she did not make the vulgar post reported in yesterday's media," this morning's statement said, referring to the post about American feminists and genital mutilation which prompted the questions at Ms Whelan's press conference with Mr Morrison. "However, she accepts that she has made some of the other posts in question." Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday morning, "There was no explanation from that was satisfactory and, as a result, Jessica has resigned as the Liberal candidate, as is appropriate". Mr Morrison said he had been lied to and suggested Ms Whelan could face further action for not declaring the comments as part of the nomination process. "These matters were not disclosed to the Liberal Party at the time she nominated and was endorsed as a candidate. Under our rules, if you don't do that and if you're not straight up with the party about these things, the party reserves its right," he said. With just two weeks to go until election day, the Tasmanian Liberal Party has urged people to instead vote for the Nationals' candidate, Deanna Hutchinson. Ms Whelan's resignation is the latest in a string of candidate controversies, many of which have been prompted by historical comments on social media sites. Victorian Liberal candidate Peter Killin resigned from the party on Wednesday after secretly attacking Tim Wilson, a gay Victorian Liberal MP, online, calling for party members to do more to prevent gays from being elected. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan campaigning near Launceston, Tasmania, on Thursday. Credit:AAP Labor's candidate for Melbourne, Luke Creasey, also faced questions about his past social media comments as a Facebook post emerged where he appeared to suggest a lesbian couple end up sharing a single vagina. Loading Labor is refusing to disendorse Mr Creasey who has already been forced to apologise for sharing a rape joke and pornographic material on his Facebook page in 2012. Senator Birmingham said the Labor Party had "double standards" and called for Mr Creasey to be disendorsed. Labor leader Bill Shorten and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews both stood by Mr Creasey on Friday morning. Im a big apologiser. I say sorry to strangers when they run into me, to baristas when I ask for something different in my coffee, to doctors, for not taking better care of myself, to Uber drivers, for asking them to go the route thats faster, and of course, to my family including my kids. I tell them Im sorry when they hurt themselves, and of course, Im always sorry when I have to tell them no. Ive lost track of the number of times Ive begun an email to co-workers with the words, so sorry because, of course, a singular sorry has been made redundant through over-use. We know that an apologetic tone lubricates awkward situations, and soothes offended parties. It can take the bite out of an argument quicker than a stun gun. Credit:Shutterstock I knew I had a problem when my three year-old daughter started saying sorry for sniffing. I felt like a bad mother, and a bad feminist. I know the statistics: women apologise more because they perceive they cause offense more often than men do. Women also know they have to watch their tone especially at work or be regarded as difficult. So women, generally speaking, are either being socialised to apologise from a young age, (like my daughter), or learning the hard way to sound more contrite. Social media users with as few as 100 followers are becoming paid influencers, as brands continue to steer towards more authentic online endorsements. Known in the market as "nano influencers", brands are contracting people with Instagram followings of just family and friends to promote their products, with the view that consumers are more likely to trust an endorsement by someone they know than one from a big celebrity. Nano-influencers Isabella Elcham (left) and Astrid Montague have signed on as ambassadors for nutsnseeds. Credit:Janie Barrett New Sydney-based health food brand "nutsnseeds" are seeking Instagram users with even just one follower to become "ambassadors" for their products. In return, the influencers will receive free product, promotion of their own Instagram page on the company's website, as well as a commission on every product they sell. The function was attended by Russian military experts from the 1965-1974 period in addition to Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh, staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and military officers. Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Ngo Duc Manh wished Vietnamese veterans and Russian military experts good health and success while affirming the active role of the AVVR in promoting friendship between the two countries veterans. For his part, Nikolai Kolesnik, Chairman of the Association of Russian Veterans that served in Vietnam, congratulated the Vietnamese people and army on the historic April 30 victory. He also expressed his pride in being one of the Soviet Unions military experts helping Vietnam in the struggle for national defence and reunification. On the occasion, Nikolai Kolesnik awarded a medal of the Russian Veterans Association to Ngo Quoc Thai, former political commissar of the 250th Rocket Regiment of the Hanoi Air Defence Division. As part of the ceremony, an art programme was held with songs praising Uncle Hos soldiers performed by the veterans, creating a joyful atmosphere on the anniversary of national reunification. Three years ago, facing a major shortfall after the then prime minister Tony Abbott cut funding, academic publisher The Conversation went cap in hand to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and succeeded in getting an annual $1 million cheque. Since some internal unpleasantness led to the departure of former Age editor-in-chief Andrew Jaspan, things at the website have quietened down. Now its chaired by former Commonwealth Bank director Harrison Young - last in the news after the financial services royal commission heard he let a rogue manager resign without alerting customers whose money was misappropriated and their documents backdated. (Young, who writes and publishes erotic fiction, did not renominate for the board, where he led the risk committee, after the bank faced a series of headline-grabbing scandals including an AUSTRAC probe into potential money-laundering.) But the million-dollar lifeline is being rescinded in this years Victorian budget, were told. Thousands of taxi and hire-car drivers will launch what is expected to be one of Australias biggest class actions when it takes on Uber in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday. Maurice Blackburn is representing more than 6000 taxi, hire-car, charter-vehicle and limousine drivers and licence owners from Victoria, NSW, Queensland and Western Australia in the class action. The law firm is expected to lodge a statement of claim in the court on Friday, and has signalled that the global ride-sharing company could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars if the taxi drivers are successful. Maurice Blackburn's class action specialist Andrew Watson is leading the taxi drivers' suit against Uber. Make no mistake, this will be a landmark case regarding the alleged illegal operations of Uber in Australia and the devastating impact that has had on the lives of hard-working and law-abiding citizens here, Maurice Blackburns national head of class actions Andrew Watson said. A former army officer has had his conviction overturned for violating a colleague with a beer bottle during drunken celebrations after his lawyer argued it was a simulated act. Rhiley Boyson won his case in the Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal in Brisbane on Thursday after last year being convicted of assaulting a man by putting the top of a beer bottle up his backside. Boyson had admitted putting the bottle between his male college's thighs, below his backside, after he had pulled his pants down. Credit:George Doyle Barrister Edward Muston, for Boyson, told the hearing the case against him was circumstantial and could not be supported by the evidence provided. The night of the incident featured an "enormous consumption of alcohol", the court heard. Two men alleged to have used the funds of a fake tradie scam to buy Rolex watches and designer clothes have been busted in Melbourne's east. Police allege Irish nationals Toby Harris, 29, and Martin McDonagh, 28, are "travelling conmen" who were operating a so-called Irish roof scam to trick vulnerable Melburnians out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Two men have been arrested after an investigation into travelling conmen operating a roof scam in Melbourne's east. Credit:Victoria Police One victim in Melbourne's eastern suburbs lost $260,000, police say. Acting Inspector Scott Dwyer said travelling conmen mostly door-knocked or letter-dropped homes and businesses to offer fake maintenance and repair work such as asphalting, roof cleaning, tiling, painting or tree lopping. A bouncy castle business owner accused of arranging for his competitors to be torched has skipped court. James Balcombe failed to appear at court on Thursday on 10 counts of arson and police, who have issued a warrant for his arrest, want the public's help to find him. James Balcombe, 52, outside the County Court in 2017. Credit:Jason South Mr Balcombe, 54, used to run Awesome Party Hire in Kangaroo Ground. He is accused of having an employee target rival businesses in arson attacks. An elderly Melbourne couple has received an unforgettable surprise package in the mail $10 million worth of methamphetamine. Police said the couple, from Hoppers Crossing in the city's south-west, signed for the mysterious, and heavy, parcel about 1pm on Wednesday. Understandably curious, they opened it to find 20 kilograms of the potentially deadly recreational drug, also known as ice. "[They] had a look inside, observed a white substance in bags and called police straight away," said Senior Sergeant Matthew Kershaw. Australia has taken a lead role in opposing the killing of whales by Japan, Iceland and Norway. We find abhorrent the annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji Cove, Japan. We decry the killing of harp seal pups in Canada. We do not accept the arguments about jobs or tradition or competition with human commercial activities to justify the killing of whales, dolphins and seals. The killing of kangaroos for pet food and the brutal destruction of their young elicits the same repulsion in many people as the killing of whales, dolphins and seals. Credit:Andrea Izzotti At the same time, here in Victoria, there is a government-sanctioned program to slaughter kangaroos for the pet food industry. Farmers have long been able to apply for a permit to kill kangaroos on their land. By all accounts, it is quite easy to get such a permit. The Pet Food Trial was supposedly designed to ensure that the corpses of the killed animals could be utilised commercially. It is no surprise that once there was money to be made, the number of permits issued and the number of animals killed went up substantially. Loading There was an increase of 260% in the number of kangaroos approved for control. This is bureaucratic speak for approved for death. This was a jump from an annual 40,000 to more than 100,000 animals killed each year. The governments own review of the trial reported major offences under the Wildlife Act. They found exaggeration of the scale of the kangaroo problem by landholders, shooters providing landholders with incentives to apply for permits, and false reporting to hide offences. Because shooting takes place at night there was virtually no possibility of wildlife officers being able to detect non-compliance and criminal activity. So instead of declaring the trial a failure, there is now a plan for a program of a sustainable level of killing of kangaroos for the pet food industry. We know where there is a free resource, and a profit motive, that dishonest people will game the system. A high-tech electric fence will be built to separate female prisoners from male inmates at a West Australian regional jail where violent rioters broke into the women's compound during a breakout last year. The 12-hour riot at Greenough Regional Prison in July caused millions of dollars worth of damage and saw detainees start fires and use weapons against guards, who feared for their lives. The entrance to the prison after the riot. Ten prisoners escaped after climbing the roof, using equipment stolen from the maintenance workshop, and male inmates went inside the women's unit within half an hour of the chaos erupting. Some women joined in the riot but many remained in their cells, distressed and scared. Most Popular 1. 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Sheffield UK Christmas 2021 - 9th Dec 21 Financial Tips To Help You Out While You're Travelling - 9th Dec 21 New Mining Tech Could Be A Gamechanger For Lithium - 9th Dec 21 Penny Wong promised to develop a policy that would transcend the dilemma that China is both our biggest market and a strategic rival. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen She argued that Prime Minister Scott Morrison was harming Australias image in the region by playing the race card and supporting political figures whose views harked back to the White Australia Policy. Yet shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong in a speech to the Lowy Institute has again raised the question of Australias position in Asia. In many ways, Australia has answered that criticism and is a model of a multicultural country that is open for trade and investment. Almost four decades ago Singapores prime minister, Lee Kwan Yew, warned that Australia was at risk of becoming the poor white trash of Asia if it failed to open up to the region. By contrast, she said that if the ALP won and she became the first Asian-Australian foreign affairs minister it would send a signal about who we are. Her words might be partly addressed not to Australias Asian partners but to ethnic Asian voters in the federal election. They are unusual because they break a tradition of bipartisan foreign policy. On the other hand, Senator Wong is within her rights to use the campaign to debate issues that matter. The Liberals have dragged foreign policy into the election by claiming the Greens would destroy the US alliance. It is worth asking whether Asia has noticed the growth of extreme right-wing sentiment in Australia and whether that requires a change in domestic politics. Senator Wong may well be exaggerating how closely Asia is following the details of the preference deals between the Liberals and right-wing parties. But, equally, Asia has noticed the resurgence of Pauline Hansons One Nation Party. It gives ammunition to Australias critics and to local Asian politicians looking to win the nationalist vote. The world was shocked that an Australian was charged for the attacks on the Christchurch mosques. Seeing an Australian foreign minister of Asian background might allay such concerns. Not that this would be a case of tokenism; Ms Wong would have earned her position. That said, a person of non-Asian background might perform the role just as effectively. Ultimately, Australias ties to Asia go beyond personalities. Senator Wong has pointed out a few areas where the ALP could make a significant difference. The Coalitions failure to develop a policy on climate change has hurt Australias reputation, especially in the South Pacific, which Senator Wong rightly identified as a strategically vital area too often neglected. The new Bali governor supports turning the Sari Club bombing site where scores of Australians were killed in 2002 into a Peace Park, a survivor says. Governor I Wayan Koster has told victims that he will help negotiations with the land owner, who plans to redevelop it into a five-storey restaurant. Thiolina Marpaung walks through the Sari Club site, now a makeshift carpark. Credit:Alan Putra Survivors want to broker a deal to turn the Sari Club site, which is used as a dirt car park, into a memorial instead. The 2002 terror attacks at the Sari Club and Paddy's Pub across the road killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. World Vision's Bangladesh national director Fred Witteeven said the organisation had emergency supplies ready to go in the camps. "Nevertheless people are living in homes made of bamboo and on steep hillsides, which puts them at even greater risk," Witteeven says. By late Thursday in India, Fani had sustained winds of about 250 km/h, nearly in the range of a Category 5 hurricane, said Derrick Herndon, an associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. The World Meteorological Organisation said the storm was "one of the most intense" in 20 years in the region. "It's remarkable in terms of its wind speed," Herndon said. "The sustained winds are really near the top range of the winds we see in this part of the world." It was likely to hit 15 districts in Odisha, which has deployed hundreds of disaster management personnel, closed schools and colleges and asked doctors and other health officials not to go on leave until May 15. Cyclone Fani. Credit:SSEC RealEarth The airport at Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, is shut on Friday. Neighbouring West Bengal state also decided to close an airport at Kolkata, its capital. India's cyclone season can last from April to December, when severe storms batter coastal cities and cause widespread deaths and damage to crops and property in both India and neighbouring Bangladesh. Technological advancements have helped meteorologists to predict weather patterns well in advance, giving authorities more time to prepare. Fani is forecast to be the worst storm since 2014. The navy and the coast guard have deployed ships and helicopters for relief operations, according to a government statement. Tens of millions of people are potentially in the path of what the India Meteorological Department called an "extremely severe cyclonic storm". More than 850 storm shelters have been opened along Odisha's coast, said Bishnupada Sethi, the state's special relief commissioner. Each can hold about 1000 people, along with livestock. A satellite image of Cyclone Fani in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday. Credit:National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Odisha is battered by cyclonic storms every year with some intense enough to damage crops, plantations, trees, mud houses and communication and electric poles, as well as disrupt road traffic and transportation of essential goods. Severe storms also affect operations at oil and gas fields in the region and threaten lives of people and animals. Cyclone Fani in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday. Credit:Indian Metrological Dept/AP Sea levels may rise about 1.5 metres above astronomical tide, said Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, secretary at India's Ministry of Earth Sciences. A super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours in 1999, killing 10,000 people. A mass evacuation of nearly a million people likely saved thousands of lives in 2013. "We are on the job and have sufficient time to evacuate people from the coastal areas," said Bishnupada Sethi, special relief commissioner with the Odisha government. About 150,000 people have already been relocated and contingency plans are in place to deal with heavy flooding, he said. The administration has stocked up medicines and food supplies in preparation, said N.C. Marwah, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority. As many as 48 National Disaster Response teams are ready to be deployed, he said. In the beach village of Chandrabhaga, police helped residents move from thatched-roof homes to a nearby storm shelter on Thursday afternoon. They sat on the floor of the shelter or in plastic chairs awaiting the arrival of the storm. By evening, the sea had turned rough and strong winds were lashing buildings along the coast. The cyclonic storm Fani over the south-east Bay of Bengal to the east of Sri Lanka. Credit:AP The meteorological department warned of the "total destruction" of thatched huts in some districts, major damage to roads, the uprooting of power poles and potential danger from flying objects. Fishermen have been asked not to venture into deep seas and those who are already there have been advised to return to the coast. Indian Railways has cancelled more than 100 trains in the region and diverted several others to avoid damage to passengers and goods, a spokesman for the ministry said. Neighbouring Bangladesh also issued a weather warning. Mongla and Payra ports have been asked to hoist danger signal number seven on a scale of 10, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. The country has suspended river transport on all routes, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said in Dhaka. This could mean that heavy rains lash the worlds largest refugee camp in Coxs Bazar, home to over 900,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Burma. Indian fishermen attempt to bring their boat ashore amid strong winds at Chandrabhaga beach in the Puri district of eastern Odisha state, India. Credit:AP The cyclone forecast has prompted several companies with operations in the region to take precautionary measures. State-run power producer NTPC may temporarily shut one to two units at its 3000-megawatt Talcher Kaniha plant in Odisha if the cyclone disrupts grid lines, said operations director Prakash Tiwari. Indian Oil, which operates a 15-million-tonnes-a-year refinery at Paradip in coastal Odisha, will take necessary steps to control the impact, said B.V. Rama Gopal, refineries director. Villagers of Chandrabhaga fishing village take shelter at a government run school building after they were evacuated by the authorities in the Puri district of eastern Odisha state, India. Credit:AP Berlin: An alleged Russian spy whale is refusing to leave a Norwegian port city, in what appears to be a high-profile defection after a week of global attention on the unnamed beluga. Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries official Joergen Ree Wiig said that the beluga "was the first thing I saw outside of the window" of his patrolling ship in the morning. Speaking from the city of Hammerfest, he said the whale had only moved about 40 kilometres within the last week and appeared to enjoy the proximity to humans, which he noted was rather "strange" for a beluga. The beluga whale, who was found with a tight harness on its body, has refused to leave Norwegian waters. Credit:AP Contrary to the species' normal behaviour, the beluga had allowed residents to pat the animal's nose over the last few days. The whale was first spotted by Norwegian fishermen last week, when they noticed that the whale defied normal behaviour by persistently harassing their boats. The fishermen subsequently spotted a strange harness wrapped around the whale's body. Aden: The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has launched 13 air strikes targeting an air base adjoining the country's primary airport in Sanaa, local witnesses said. The raids targeted drone maintenance sites, a communications system and locations of drone experts and operators, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said according to Saudi's official news agency. The site of an air strike last month by Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen. Credit:AP "The terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militias have transformed Sanaa airport into a military barracks and a place to launch drones to carry out terrorist attacks that threaten regional and international security", Maliki said. Maliki added that the targets were legitimate and that the operation is consistent with international humanitarian law. Download Full Size Small Preview Thumbnail ABB Robotics painting solutions (Photo: Business Wire) ABB Robotics painting solutions (Photo: Business Wire) Full Size Small Preview Thumbnail Small Preview Thumbnail ZURICH, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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. 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 Chinas rapidly growing electric vehicle industry and to extend our partnership with Volkswagen as the company expands its electric vehicle manufacturing capabilities. This award recognizes ABBs 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 ABBs 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 Volkswagens 2010v environmental standards, the worlds 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 ABBs 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 worlds 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. ABBs 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 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 Download Full Size Small Preview Thumbnail FPT joins Automotive Grade Linux at the Linux Foundation to support shared technology development for in-car technology (Photo: Business Wire) FPT joins Automotive Grade Linux at the Linux Foundation to support shared technology development for in-car technology (Photo: Business Wire) Full Size Small Preview Thumbnail Full Size Small Preview Thumbnail HANOI, Vietnam--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FPT, the Southeast Asias leading IT company, has joined the Automotive Grade Linux project at the Linux Foundation, marking an important stage in FPTs automotive technology development. 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). 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. FPTs mission is to offer comprehensive automotive services and solutions that facilitates the use 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 worlds largest open collaboration communities to jointly develop the next-gen technologies of Connected Car." The membership will not only further advance FPTs automotive capabilities but also strengthen the companys 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 worlds 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 worlds leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundations projects are critical to the worlds infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundations 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/. Contacts FPT Corporation - Hue LE +84866867745, hueltm@fsoft.com.vn Leverages Black Books Most Precise Valuation Resources BLACK BOOK VIN DECODE VALUATION DATA NOW INCLUDES BUILD DATA FROM GENERAL MOTORS LAWRENCEVILLE, GA (May 2, 2019) Black Book, known in the automotive industry for providing timely, independent and precise vehicle pricing information, announced today it has integrated General Motors Build Data into the companys VIN Decode and valuations data, resulting in even higher precision of valuations of General Motors vehicles. Build Data is as built content in a vehicle, including optional equipment specific to a unique 17-digit VIN. With the integration of General Motors Build Data, a 17-digit VIN now provides an additional level of precision, as any valuation is now automatically adjusted for the right adds and deducts. The automated process saves time for the users without having to manually select adds or deducts. Black Book has been working to leverage innovative solutions to provide an even higher level of precision in the valuations used by industry professionals, said Anil Goyal, Executive Vice President, Operations at Black Book. With General Motors Build Data, users gain access to precise value of a vehicle by automatically accounting for optional equipment installed in the vehicle. The new offering helps vehicle lenders, auctions, fleet management companies, consumer trade-in websites, inventory appraisal applications, dealers, rental companies and others to automatically include Build Data in General Motors vehicle valuations. Through continued Black Book innovations such as History-Adjusted Valuations and Enhanced Vehicle Matching leveraging machine learning and big data, Black Books data science team has improved precision by incorporating vehicle history report data and matching 17-digit VINs to a single trim and any applicable add/deducts. About Black Book Black Book is best known in the automotive industry for providing timely, independent and precise vehicle pricing information, and is available to industry-qualified users through online subscription products, mobile applications and licensing agreements. Since 1955 Black Book has continuously evolved to ensure that it achieves its goal of delivering mission-critical information to its customers, along with the insight necessary to successfully buy, sell, and lend. Black Book data is published daily by National Auto Research, a Hearst company, and maintains offices in Georgia as well as the Canadian Black Book in Toronto. For more information, please visit BlackBook.com or call 800.554.1026. Stop Feeding the Chinese Empire - Belt and Road Trojan Horse Whoever has an army has power. - Mao Zedong In March Italy broke ranks with its EU partners in joining Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, known also as One Belt, One Road or the New Silk Road. Students of history know the original Silk Road refers to the ancient network of trading routes between China and Europe, which served as both a conduit for the movement of goods, and an exchange of ideas, for centuries. The New Silk Road is the term for an ambitious trade corridor first proposed by the Chinese regime under its current president, Xi Jinping, in 2013. The grand design also known, confusingly, as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is a belt of overland corridors and a road of shipping lanes. It consists of a vast network of railways, pipelines, highways and ports that would extend west through the mountainous former Soviet republics and south to Pakistan, India and southeast Asia. So far over 60 countries, containing two-thirds of the worlds population, have either signed onto BRI or say they intend to do so. According to the Center for Foreign Relations, the Chinese government has already spent about $200 billion on the growing list of mega-projects projects including the $68 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Morgan Stanley predicts Chinas expenditures on BRI could climb as high as $1.3 trillion by 2027. The Belt and Road Initiative is seen by proponents as an economic driver of proportions never seen before in human history. It would not only allow Asia to relieve its infrastructure bottleneck ie. an $800 billion annual shortfall on infrastructure spending, but bring less-developed neighboring nations into the modern world by providing a growing market of 1.38 billion Chinese consumers. Opponents argue that is naive and the real intent of BRI is to carve new Chinese spheres of influence in Asia that will replace the United States, in-debt poor nations to China for decades, and restore China to its former imperial glory. This article leans heavily towards the latter interpretation of BRI, particularly its linkages between Chinas industrial and military build-up. It explains why Belt and Road is really a dangerous trojan horse hiding behind Chinas territorial ambitions, that should be resisted, especially by vulnerable countries that are risking long-term debt servitude. The New Silk Road The silk routes connected China, India, Tibet, the Persian Empire, the Mediterranean countries and parts of North and East Africa. The 7,000-mile Silk Road begins at the Chinese city of Xan(formerly Changan). When it reaches Dunhuang the Silk Road splits into three routes - the Southern Route, Central Route and and Northern Route. These trade routes spread throughout the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and extended as far as Pakistan, India and even Rome. The Silk Road routes were established during the Han Dynasty, which opened trade to the West in 130 BC, and they lasted until 1453 AD, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them. The Han extended the Great Wall of China to protect the movement of Chinese goods along the Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road was a network of shipping lines from the Red Sea to East Africa, India, China, and Southeast Asia. The network consisted of ship routes in two general directions: the East China Sea routes and the South China Sea routes. The East China Sea routes connected the Chinese mainland to the northeast Asian regions of the Liaodong peninsula, the Korean peninsula, and the Japanese islands. The South China Sea route heads down, then up, through the Malacca Straits into the Bay of Bengal, opening up China to the coasts of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the African continent. These shipping lanes are still in use. As mentioned the Belt part of the Belt and Road Initiative, introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, refers to a network of overland road and rail routes and oil/ natural gas pipelines planned to run along the major Eurasian land bridges: China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central and West Asia, China-Indochina peninsula, China-Pakistan, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar. Theyll stretch from Xian in Central China through Central Asia, reaching as far as Moscow, Rotterdam and Venice. The Road is a network of ports and other coastal infrastructure projects from South and Southeast Asia to East Africa and the northern Mediterranean Sea. China is already the worlds largest consumer of commodities. Why does it need to build a belt and road? There are a few reasons. The first as mentioned is to construct physical infrastructure such as railways, roads and bridges that will help the region to meet its $800 billion annual infrastructure shortfall estimated by the Asian Development Bank. China would also build 50 special economic zones modeled after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, first launched in 1980 under economic reformer, President Deng Xiaoping. Less benevolently, BRI would allow China to expand the use of the Chinese currency, the yuan, something we have written about, as the global influence of the US dollar as the worlds reserve currency wanes. According to the Centre for Foreign Relations, BRI is also a central tenet of Xi Jinpings pushback against Obamas pivot to Asia (contain China by extending US ties to southeast Asia), and distancing himself from his predecessors who followed Dengs philosophy bide your strength, bide your time. For Xi, the waiting is over: the time for imperialist expansion is now. Political aspirations An Asia geopolitical expert says that, while the New Silk Road satisfies a number of economic goals for China - including expanding its supply chains, accessing overseas labor, and preventing massive layoffs when companies run out of domestic infrastructure to build - the over-riding goal is regional influence. Richard Javad Heydarian, author of Asia's New Battlefield: The USA, China, and the Struggle for the Western Pacific, writes: Above all, however, it allows China to lock in precious mineral resources and transform nations across the Eurasian land mass and Indian Ocean into long-term debtors. A leading credit rating agency recently warned that the OBOR is "driven primarily by China's efforts to extend its global influence", where "genuine infrastructure needs and commercial logic might be secondary to political motivations". The result is what one observer aptly described as "debt-trap diplomacy", since some nations end up piling up unsustainable debts to China Meanwhile, larger nations such as India have raised concerns over China's geopolitical intensions, since the project runs through the disputed Kashmir region. Other countries, from Indonesia to the Philippines and Nigeria, have raised concerns over the quality of Chinese infrastructure investments, their compliance with good governance and environmental regulations, and Beijing's tendency to employ not only Chinese technology and engineers, but also Chinese labourers for overseas projects. Debt trap So far we have learned the 5Ws of the Belt and Road Initiative. Its easy to see how the trillion-dollar infrastructure network benefits China, but what about the 60-odd nations who have said they want in? Whats in it for them? The huge projects need to be paid for somehow. Chinas idea is for Chinese state-owned firms to build the infrastructure, paid for by participating countries. Those who cant afford it, and that is most of them, would be offered inexpensive loans and credit. Its no different from banks offering rock-bottom interest rates to homeowners whose incomes are below that needed to support a mortgage. Chinese state-owned banks and China-led international financial institutions, like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), would shoulder the debt burden. China has set up an initial $40 billion Silk Road Fund, while the AIIB is allocating an additional $50 billion. But the loans come with huge risks. In 2017, when Sri Lanka couldnt pay off its Chinese creditors, Beijing took control of Colombo, a strategic port, through a 99-year lease. By the end of 2018, nearly a quarter of Sri Lankas foreign debt was owed to China - the money accepted for around $8 billion worth of ports and highways planned through BRI. Some countries have scaled back or canceled BRI projects due to the specter of unsustainable debt burdens, states Al Jazeera. Hopefully Italy is aware of the risks. The southern European country is heavily in debt and went into recession last year; it reportedly wants to re-balance Sino-Italian trade by exporting more to China. It is the 13th EU member country that has signed an MOU with China regarding BRI, but the first G7 nation to do so, sparking condemnation from the United States which is engaged in a trade war with China; and the EU, which earlier this year branded China a systemic rival and wants to restrict Chinese investment in Europe, Al Jazeera said. Military buildup Is it a coincidence that the Chinese president, Xi Jingping, is racing around trying to sign countries onto BRI while at the same time posing for photos in full military uniform saluting Chinese soldiers? We dont think so. Tuesday was the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese navy did not squander the opportunity to show its latest show of power - a stealth destroyer. According to a Reuters story the combat-ready 10,000-ton Nanchang (101) is armed with 113 vertical-launch sales able to fire HHQ-0 surface-to-air missiles, YJ-18 anti-cruise missiles and CJ-10 land-attack cruise missiles. We have written extensively on the escalating tensions between the US and China in the South China Sea , where China holds historical claims despite international treaties to the contrary (ie. the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea). China has been dredging seabed and building islands, on which it has constructed outposts including missile batteries, despite claims of ownership by Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei. Ongoing maneuvers demonstrate that Beijing is willing to flex its muscles in a region it sees as strategically and economically important. China is increasing its military drills around Japan, with Japanese interceptors scrambled 638 times within a year, against Chinese aircraft, according to Japans annual military White Paper. There are also frequent tensions in the Taiwan Strait, the body of water separating China and Taiwan, a US ally. The United States supplies weapons to Taiwan despite not having diplomatic relations with the island and its government. China sees Taiwan as a breakaway territory that must be re-united with the Chinese mainland; its independence is not recognized by Beijing. A forced reunification between China and Taiwan would almost certainly cause a war between China and the US. Meanwhile China continues to expand its military. A year ago it was reported that China planned to boost military spending by 8.1% in 2018, compared to a 7% increase in 2017. A Reuters in-depth report on how China is displacing America as the worlds predominant military power in Asia, is required reading for anyone interested in how the geopolitical balance of power in the North Pacific is shifting. It details how Xi Jinping is overhauling the PLA (which includes the navy), by pouring more resources into the navy and ridding the PLAs ranks of corruption: In just over two decades, China has built a force of conventional missiles that rival or outperform those in the U.S. armory. Chinas shipyards have spawned the worlds biggest navy, which now rules the waves in East Asia. Beijing can now launch nuclear-armed missiles from an operational fleet of ballistic missile submarines, giving it a powerful second-strike capability. And the PLA is fortifying posts across vast expanses of the South China Sea, while stepping up preparations to recover Taiwan, by force if necessary. For the first time since Portuguese traders reached the Chinese coast five centuries ago, China has the military power to dominate the seas off its coast. Conflict between China and the United States in these waters would be destructive and bloody, particularly a clash over Taiwan, according to serving and retired senior American officers. And despite decades of unrivaled power since the end of the Cold War, there would be no guarantee America would prevail. The U.S. could lose, said Gary Roughead, co-chair of a bipartisan review of the Trump administration's defense strategy published in November. We really are at a significant inflection point in history. Industry-military connection We know that China is planning a huge infrastructure buildout in its trillion-dollar BRI involving some 60-odd countries. And we know that Beijing is at the same time bulking up its military. What we dont know is if the two are related. Is China covertly funneling money from BRI into its military? In December 2018 the New York Times reported on a secret proposal to expand a program by the Pakistani Air Force, by building Chinese military jets, weaponry and other hardware. There would also be increased cooperation between China and Pakistan in space, where rocket-propelled technology often overlaps with the military. According to the article, the military projects were designated as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. In response to that claim, CNBC quoted Michael Fuchs, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2013 to 2016: That doesnt necessarily mean the Chinese military will use the entire BRI to its advantage, but it will certainly tap into a number of projects, he added. BRI infrastructure schemes in member countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Djibouti are all about giving access to Chinas military, he said. A 2018 report by C4ADS, a US-based research group, sought to tease out whether Chinas portrayal of BRI as strictly economic is true. As explained by South China Morning Post, the report looked at 15 Chinese-funded port projects in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Australia, Oman, Malaysia, Indonesia, Djibouti and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region. It found that the projects were not win-win for China and the host countries, as China claimed. Rather, the investments appear to generate political influence, stealthily expand Chinas military presence and create an advantageous strategic environment in the region, the report stated. Resource raids Of course none of this should come as a shock, if we look at how China has repeatedly sought raw materials necessary to feed its resource-ravenous economy. Weve covered How China is locking up critical resources in the USs own backyard. We also know that BRI, whatever Chinas motivations, is going to require a hell of a lot more mined commodities it doesnt have an abundance of, like copper, zinc, iron ore, etc. MINING.com reported in under 10 years, the number of China-headquartered mining companies with assets in Africa went from just a handful in 2006, to 120 in 2015. Two high-profile examples are the acquisition, by China General Nuclear Power Corporation, of the Husab uranium project in Namibia, and Zijin Minings involvement (39.6%) in the massive Kamoa-Kakula copper deposit in the DRC. While iron ore and copper have been the hot targets of overseas acquisitions by Chinese firms, the Chinese have also gone after gold, nickel, tin and coking coal. More recently the most desired metals are those that feed into the tectonic global shift from fossil fuels to the electrification of vehicles. China Molybdenum bought the Tenke copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo for $2.65 billion in an effort to secure a supply of cobalt for EV batteries. Last summer Chinas Ganfeng Lithium paid Chilean state lithium miner $87.5 million for SQMs 50% stake in the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina. The purchase means China now effectively controls half of the worlds lithium production necessary for lithium-ion batteries. Conclusion Chinas ascent from an economic backwater to a 21st century superpower is nothing short of incredible. Within 30 years the country whose citizenry was oppressed, impoverished, and riding around on bicycles, is now the worlds biggest consumer of mined commodities, influences real estate markets worldwide (just look at Vancouver), and has obscenely rich people driving $100,000 luxury cars. Except for its horrible air quality, China is now the envy of many poorer countries. But that doesnt mean they should roll over and let China take advantage of its weaker brethren. The Belt and Road Initiative is not some modern-day, Asian version of The Marshall Plan. The United States had obvious economic motivations in giving $12 billion to help rebuild Western Europe, but there was also the strategic imperative of helping Europe to get back on its feet, in order to contain a rising USSR. No such threat exists with BRI. China has no reason to come to its neighbors aid with multi-billion-dollar infrastructure loans other than to gain economic and political influence over them. Sure, there may be some programs where its a win-win, but it appears the deck is way stacked against BRI host nations where the outcome will almost certainly leave China the clear winner. As Uncle Ben in Spider-Man said, With great power comes great responsibility. That assumes that the one wielding the power doesnt have an ulterior motive. With China, though, we can be pretty much certain it does. By Richard (Rick) Mills www.aheadoftheherd.com rick@aheadoftheherd.com If you're interested in learning more about the junior resource and bio-med sectors please come and visit us at www.aheadoftheherd.com Site membership is free. No credit card or personal information is asked for. Richard is host of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector. His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including: Wall Street Journal, Market Oracle, USAToday, National Post, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Pinnacledigest, Uranium Miner, Beforeitsnews, SeekingAlpha, MontrealGazette, Casey Research, 24hgold, Vancouver Sun, CBSnews, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, Huffington Post, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco, Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Calgary Herald, Resource Investor, Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek, Financial Sense, Goldseek, Dallasnews, Vantagewire, Resourceclips and the Association of Mining Analysts. Copyright 2019 Richard (Rick) Mills - All Rights Reserved Legal Notice / Disclaimer: This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified; Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. A detention center in Texas. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images A 16-year-old boy being held in custody by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) died on April 30, according to BuzzFeed News. The boy, who was reportedly unaccompanied, was identified by on May 7. According to CNN, his name was Juan de Leon Gutierrez, and he left Guatemala to earn money for his family. Leon Gutierrez was transferred to the custody of the ORR on April 20, after first being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to The Monitor, he was being held at a shelter managed by Southwest Key Programs in Brownsville, Texas. The company was investigated by the Justice Department in December for a possible misuse of federal money. According to BuzzFeed News, when he was first transferred to the facility, Leon Gutierrez showed no sign of illness. But on April 21, Evelyn Stauffer, ORR Administration for Children and Families spokesperson, told BuzzFeed News, he became noticeably ill, with a fever, chills, and a headache. He was taken to the hospital, then sent back to the shelter. The minors health did not improve after being transferred back to the shelter, so on the morning of April 22, 2019, the minor was taken to another hospital emergency department via ambulance, Stauffer said. Later that day, the minor was transferred to a childrens hospital in Texas and was treated for several days in the hospitals intensive-care unit. NEW: I've reached out to Southwest Key for comment. Here's what they've sent. pic.twitter.com/7LCvbgr1IV Aura Bogado (@aurabogado) May 1, 2019 According to CNN, after a drought in Guatemala left his family without food, Leon Gutierrez set out to earn $13 so that he could buy his family salt and corn. Juan was good, Juan was humble, he was a good son, his mother, Transito Gutierrez, told CNN. The family regularly skipped meals sometimes only drinking coffee for the day. Even though we sow the plants, nothing grows because of the drought. Even the water is drying up. There are days when water comes through the tap, and days when it doesnt. Our pitchers and mugs are empty. Leon Gutierrezs father, Tanerjo de Leon, said he warned his son not to make the trip. But his son went ahead, traveling with a coyote through Mexico. He died two weeks after crossing the U.S. border. I told him to stay because it was very dangerous, but he decided to leave, Leon said. He left anticipating a harsh summer. Leon Gutierrez is the third migrant child who has died in U.S. government custody in the last six months. Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal and 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez both died in December after falling ill while they were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. According to Stauffer, Leon Gutierrez cause of death is still under investigation by the ORR. The group has spent the past couple of months planning, Macias said. Its also been working with St. Anthonys Catholic Church in Bryan as part of the project, with Macias describing the fundraiser as church-to-church. Its amazing to be able to be a part of this, because I feel like Im directly helping someone, rather than donating money to somebody, she said. Im holding the event; its going from church to church, so I feel safe knowing that this moneys going to actually go to them. I think that its amazing to be able to help other human beings, not just in America. Everyones struggling, all around the world. In addition to raising money to help the people of Guatemala, Macias said, event organizers also hope to raise awareness of water conservation in Texas. BHS IB junior Deion Johnson said people sometimes take for granted what they have living in Bryan, such as the assuredness that there will is clean water to use for drinking and bathing. Vasilakis agreed, noting how important access to clean water is for people to survive. A person was arrested Thursday morning following an investigation into shots fired on the Blinn College campus in Brenham overnight. The person arrested had not been identified Thursday, and information about charges weren't immediately released. The shots were fired around 12:55 a.m. Thursday, officials said. No injuries have been reported, according to school officials. An alert sent out just after 2 a.m. said police were looking for a tall, slender black man wearing a gray hoodie and black pants. An all-clear message was sent just before 5 a.m. Richard Bray, a spokesman for the Blinn College District, said there is no ongoing threat to the public and campus activities were unaffected by the investigation on Thursday. No other details were immediately available. Leonardo da Vinci died 500 years ago today in 1519. Da Vinci was an absolute giant in the history of human thought and culture. Alan Woods pays tribute to the great artist, scientist and philosopher, whose life and ideas were revolutionary in so many fields. Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. (Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519) The Renaissance There are periods in human history that represent fundamental turning points. Such periods are characterised by great social, political and cultural transformations. Ideas, habits and traditions that have been accepted unquestionably for centuries or even millennia are suddenly challenged. Society finds itself in a state of ferment, a ferment that also affects the minds of men and women. A way of life that has become old and decrepit begins to totter. Though people do not understand what is happening, everyone feels the approach of a fundamental change. Such a period of social upheaval is necessarily reflected in profound changes in religion, philosophy and art. The sixteenth century saw the culmination of the expansion of the power of the bourgeoisie in one of the most remarkable periods in human history. Known in Germany as the Reformation, in Italy as the Rinascimento and in France as the Renaissance, it gave rise to an extraordinary flowering of culture, art and science. Never before or since has the world witnessed such a gallery of heroes and geniuses. To this day the artistic productions of this unique period in history remain unequalled. It set a standard by which the artistic achievements of all subsequent history are measured. Engels describes the Renaissance thus: It was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind had so far experienced, a time which called for giants and produced giants giants in power of thought, passion and character, in universality and learning. The men who founded the modern rule of the bourgeoisie had anything but bourgeois limitations. On the contrary, the adventurous character of the time inspired them to a greater or lesser degree. There was hardly any man of importance then living who had not travelled extensively, who did not speak four or five languages, who did not shine in a number of fields. Leonardo da Vinci was not only a great painter but also a great mathematician, mechanician, and engineer, to whom the most diverse branches of physics are indebted for important discoveries. Albrecht Durer was painter, engraver, sculptor, and architect, and in addition invented a system of fortification embodying many of the ideas that much later were again taken up by Montalembert and the modern German science of fortification. Machiavelli was statesman, historian, poet, and at the same time the first notable military author of modern times. Luther not only cleaned the Augean stable of the Church but also that of the German language; he created modern German prose and composed the text and melody of that triumphal hymn imbued with confidence in victory which became the Marseillaise of the sixteenth century. (Engels, Dialectics of Nature, Moscow, 1974, pp. 20-2.) The roots of this extraordinary period are to be found in the last half of the fifteenth century, when the long decline of feudalism in Western Europe gave rise to the great absolute monarchies, which anticipated the modern European nation states. By leaning on the burgers in the towns, the absolute monarchies succeeded in breaking the power of the old feudal nobility. The bourgeoisie utilised its leverage to force concessions from the central power in the form of charters and royal privileges. Here, in outline, we already see the thrusting ambition and rising power of the bourgeoisie, which finally resulted in the overthrow of the monarchies in England and France. Art and rise of the bourgeoisie The youthful bourgeoisie was in a hurry to cast off the stinking rags of feudalism. It eagerly embraced new ideas, new philosophies, new science and new art forms. Nowadays, the relationship between the rise of the bourgeoisie and the struggle against the dominant ideology of the Roman Catholic Church is clear to all. The struggle between hostile classes was reflected in the struggle between rival religions that found its expression in what we call the Reformation, the Dutch and English revolution and the religious wars that raged in Europe throughout the 17th century. But long before this, the bourgeoisie and the masses were involved in a life-and-death struggle against the Church. With the decay of feudalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie, new artistic and literary forms begin to make their appearance. It arose in the wealthy Flemish city states, with their new class of wealthy merchants. The new methods of capitalist production found their expression in art. Jan van Eyck, one of the outstanding figures of this school, ran workshops with many apprentices just like the early factories that revolutionised the productive process. They were, in effect, art factories. Van Eyck himself was not only an artist but an alchemist, credited with the invention of oil painting. Ghent Altarpiece: close-up of Adam / Image: public domain From about 1420 portraits become much more realistic. The faces are recognisable individuals. This was a genuine revolution in art. The new art arose first in Italy and Flanders especially in Ghent and Bruges (the so-called Flemish primitives). In reality, there is nothing primitive about these paintings. They are extremely sophisticated, complex works, inspired by a keen sense of observation and vivid realism. Particularly striking is the effect of light and shade, which are strongly contrasted. The new style of art involved revolutionary techniques of great sophistication, which enabled the artist to depict details never seen before the gold thread in a dress, the folds of a cloak, the gleaming of sunbeams on armour, the reflection on a polished mirror, which pose special technical difficulties. The modern British painter David Hockney believes that these artists used techniques evolved thanks to recent scientific discoveries in optics: the camera obscura and the lens in order to achieve the almost photographic quality of their realism. A case in point is the celebrated wedding portrait of van Eyck, with its mirror and chandelier. The new realism was also connected with a new spirit of invention, the study of proportion and anatomy, the invention of new colours and above all the discovery of perspective. Mathematical perspective of the Renaissance type was unknown in the Middle Ages. Before the Renaissance, God the Father is shown as much bigger than human figures, thus emphasising human insignificance in relation to the Almighty. Once again, it was the Renaissance, that wonderful dawn of the human spirit that broke the mould. By this time the towns everywhere had acquired a considerable degree of independence, although formally they remained under the rule of the absolute monarchy. Long before the bourgeoisie demanded "cheap government", they demanded cheap religion. The conflict between the nascent bourgeoisie and the Roman Catholic Church the central conflict in the entire period of the birth of capitalism was partly determined by the fact that the Church provided the main moral and religious buttress for the existing feudal order. This was the period when the bourgeoisie was playing a progressive role, struggling to free itself from the shackles of feudalism that were impeding its development. The idea of freedom began to take shape in the imagination of men: in the first place, freedom from the dead hand of religion and the Roman Catholic Church, which led eventually to Luther and the Reformation. Italy By the early 1400s, the new spirit was stirring in Europe. Even before then, it was anticipated in Italy, the true cradle of European civilization. The great wealth of cities like Florence, Genoa, Milan and Venice, with their powerful ruling families of merchant princes, created the objective conditions for a flourishing of art that was unparalleled since ancient times. In this seething crucible of intellectual life, new schools of art were springing up, associated with men like Giotto di Bondone. Botticelli, Fra Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca, the Bellinis, Giorgione, Della Robbia. Then comes a galaxy of giants: Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael and, towering over all of them, Leonardo da Vinci. These developments in Italy were paralleled elsewhere in Europe: Durer and Holbein in Germany and Rubens and the Brueghels in the Netherlands. Dante Alighieri / Image: public domain The new spirit appears, not only in the visual arts but also in literature. The breakthrough is personified in the colossal figure of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who can be seen as the last writer of the Middle Ages and the first writer of the new age. Petrarch and Boccaccio were, together with Dante, the greatest literary figures of this period. In Boccaccios Decameron we have the germs of the modern novel. Machiavelli (1469-1527) was one of the greatest intellects of this age of great thinkers. His modern reputation as an unprincipled intriguer is completely underserved. Actually, he was a great Renaissance scholar and thinker. His Florentine History (which Marx greatly admired) is an early masterpiece of the writing of history. It accurately describes the violent class struggles that raged in the Italian city-states at that time. Machiavelli was the first writer to provide a scientific analysis of the state, shorn of all moralistic and idealistic adornment and to reveal its essence as armed bodies of men. The new art is intimately connected with the rise of the bourgeoisie. And with the rise of the bourgeoisie we see the rise of individualism in art. This is the age of individualism, the bold assertion of the rights of man. It is also, and for this very reason, the age of the individual portrait. In the Middle Ages, such a thing would have been out of place, if not downright blasphemous. Man's gaze was supposed to be directed upwards, to the heavens and the life beyond the grave, and not to the vanity of this world. Until now the proper subject of art was God, not Man. But just as Copernicus and Galileo made the world revolve around the sun, so the humanistic Renaissance world outlook made art revolve around real human beings. Such a thing would have been unthinkable in the medieval period. For the first time we have the faces of real, identifiable men and women. Here is a new and revolutionary element: realism and human intimacy. The spirit of a new age was born: the age of the individual. It is no accident that Italy played such an outstanding role in the formative period of the Renaissance. Italy (together with the Netherlands) was the birthplace of capitalism. In the cities of northern and central Italy, the nascent bourgeoisie was already flexing its muscles and acquiring its own voice, becoming more and more assertive. Powerful merchant families dominated the life of Florence, as Machiavelli graphically describes in his Florentine History. Niccolo Machiavelli / Image: public domain As the country where the bourgeoisie first set its stamp on society, laying the basis for a new kind of civilisation, Italy has bequeathed to humanity a glittering galaxy of artists and writers. The first stirrings of capitalism can be seen in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries, and were accompanied by the most tremendous outburst of artistic creativity. The rise of the Italian bourgeoisie expressed itself as a series of independent city-states. In the absence of a strong central monarchy, the burgers of Florence, Milan, Genoa and other prosperous towns had established city-states, which balanced between Emperor and Pope to maintain their autonomy. These towns were republics in all but name, although they were formally under the protection of monarchs. However, there was a problem that ultimately stunted the development of capitalism in Italy. The lack of national unity, and the sharp divisions between the city states, encouraged the continual interference of foreign powers. Already during the Middle AgesItalian politics were characterised by the struggle between two opposing factions, the Guelfs and Ghibellines, the former supporting the papacy, the latter supporting the German (Holy Roman) emperors. This contributed to chronic strife within the cities of northern Italy throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. As a result, for centuries Italy was a battleground in which French, German and Spanish armies fought murderous wars to gain control over the countrys riches. The resulting divisions made it impossible for Italy to develop as a unified nation state. Thus, all the potential of early capitalist development was wasted by internecine conflict, wars and factional strife. Leonardo da Vinci Giotto's 'Madonna and Child' / Image: public domain Leonardo was the Renaissance man par excellence. More than anybody else, Leonardo was responsible for dragging painting out of the Middle Ages and effecting a genuine artistic revolution. We can already discern the dim outline of this revolution in the paintings of Giotto a hundred years before. Here the faces are more human. Like Leonardo, Giotto did not confine himself to painting but also designed fortifications for 14th century Florence. But the future is present here only in an undeveloped form as a potential or an embryo. With Leonardo it assumes its fullest development. As we have seen in the quote above, Engels paid a warm tribute to the man who, most of all, embodied the restless spirit of the age in which he lived. And it may well be Leonardo of whom Engels was thinking when he wrote the following lines: [...] The heroes of that time had not yet come under the servitude of the division of labour, the restricting effects of which, with its production of one-sidedness, we so often notice in their successors. But what is especially characteristic of them is that they almost all pursue their lives and activities in the midst of the contemporary movements, in the practical struggle; they take sides and join in the fight, one by speaking and writing, another with the sword, many with both. Hence the fullness and force of character that makes them complete men. Men of the study are the exception either persons of second or third rank or cautious philistines who do not want to burn their fingers. (Introduction to The Dialectics of Nature) His fiercely inquisitive mind turned in one direction and another seeking problems to solve, and in this he mirrored the entire spirit of his age. But at the very moment he had solved one problem he seemed to lose interest in it and go in search of others. For this reason he often left projects unfinished and took a long time to finish those he did complete. He took four years to finish the Mona Lisa. In other cases, he just left paintings for his apprentices to finish for him. It was as if there were not enough worlds for him to conquer, and not enough lives for him to live. He was an architect and an engineer who planned the tunnelling of mountains and the connecting of rivers through canals. He anticipated Copernicus theory of the movement of the earth and Lamarcks classification of animals into vertebrates and invertebrates. He discovered laws of optics, gravitation, heat and light. He was obsessed with the flight of birds and spent much time studying the possibility of building a flying machine. Proto-helicopter design / Image: public domain Among his numerous drawings we find one that anticipates a helicopter. He also designed a tank and a parachute, several centuries before these things found a central use on the battlefields of the Second World War. He also developed a dialectical philosophy, in which will was said to be the energy of life, and this adequately sums up the inner meaning of his own life, which achieved much more than several normal lifetimes could accomplish. The true genius of Leonardo has only really begun to be understood in our own times. Yet surprisingly little is known about his life and person. But in the beginning he was severely disadvantaged. The known facts about his life are simply stated. Born in 1452 in the little Tuscan town of Vinci in the hills above the Arno, Leonardo was the illegitimate son of a lawyer. He never knew who his mother was, though she nursed him as a baby. The early years: in Florence This may partly explain why so many scenes in his paintings contain mother figures and tender childhood scenes. Freud wrote a book attempting to explain Leonardos art from this fact. But from personal and psychological facts one can only explain a small part of Leonardos creativity. The greater part can only be understood as part of the great historical mosaic in which it developed. Leonardo was forced to adapt himself to the conditions of the turbulent age into which he had been born. This explains why he devoted so much time and effort to designing weapons and siege engines to sell to the rival gangs of wealthy hoodlums that rose to power in the city states of Italy at this time. This was a period of tremendous upheavals in society an age of wars and revolutions. In the 15th century Italy was an especially violent place, and nowhere was this violence more ferocious than in Florence, where rival merchant dynasties fought each other for power. It was one of the biggest cities in Europe, and it was right at the heart of the Renaissance a noisy, bustling city of 40,000 inhabitants, with a boisterous and sometimes dangerous night life. Da Vinci in his youth / Image: public domain Leonardo had no formal education. He knew only a little Latin the prior condition for a good education in those days. But this lack of formal book learning, far from an impediment, was a factor that encouraged the development of those faculties that made him great. He was totally unconcerned about book learning, and instead learned from the greatest book of all the book of life and nature. He began his artistic life, as was common at the time, as a humble apprentice in Florence, in the workshop of the sculptor-painter Verrocchio, where he worked alongside Botticelli and Perugino. The artist of those times occupied quite a lowly status in the social hierarchy. We must remember that the artist of that time was not a member of a special caste but only an artisan, on a similar level to craftsmen like tailors or saddle makers. As a young apprentice, an artistic proletarian, Leonardo produced practical things in a workshop that was really a factory. The master would paint the main figures in a picture and the humble apprentices would fill in the details and secondary figures. The apprentices painted with egg tempera, a fast-drying painting medium consisting of coloured pigment mixed with a water-soluble medium such as egg yolk. But Leonardo used the new technique that had been developed in the Low Countries oil paints. This gave a far greater range of colours. Later oil paint was used throughout southern Europe, but at this time it was a great novelty. According to the well-known anecdote in Vasaris Lives of the Great Artists, when Verrocchio saw the figure that Leonardo had painted in his picture of Christ being baptised by John, he exclaimed that he would never paint again. Whether this anecdote is genuine or not is unclear, but certainly Leonardos part of the painting was remarkable. It was not his only innovation. In paintings like The Adoration of the Magi, there is a kind of raw power and energy that is new and shocking. But despite his obvious talent, or maybe because of it, he soon got into serious trouble with the authorities. He was twice charged with sodomy (homosexuality) in 1476. This was a serious offence, punishable by death by burning. And he was actually imprisoned for two months. Alone in his prison cell, it sounds as if he was in a desperate state when he wrote on a piece of paper: I am without friends and if there is no love, what then? He was fortunate enough to have important friends who got him released. Among numerous other inaccuracies in that preposterous film The Da Vinci Code, Leonardo is described as a "flamboyant homosexual." However, there is absolutely no historical basis for this assertion. Although Leonardo was rumoured to have been homosexual by his contemporaries, in actual fact we know almost nothing of his sex life. The charges against him (which were dropped for lack of witnesses) may well have been invented. It was the custom of the inhabitants to leave anonymous denunciations in the notorious Bocca della Verita, and Leonardo was accused in this way. Accusing someone of sodomy was a tactic frequently used to cause someone else trouble in 15th century Florence, and it is quite conceivable that the accuser may have been a jealous artist. Whatever the truth may have been, he must have been profoundly shocked by the experience. He soon drew the conclusion that Florence was too dangerous a place in which to reside. The second stage: in Milan After these events, Leonardo left Florence in 1481 and went to live in Milan. This was a prosperous trading city, even more bourgeois and considerably more pragmatic than Florence. But the artist had other reasons to travel to Milan, a thriving city in Northern Italy a boomtown run by a dynasty of wealthy gangsters with artistic pretensions and plenty of money to back them up. He was young and ambitious, and tried to advance himself by entering the service of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. The Sforzas were absolutely typical of the ruling dynasties that rose to the top in Italy at this time. They ruled the roost with an iron hand. The head of the ruling Sforza clan, Ludovico Sforza was a wealthy parvenu with the typical obsession of all nouveaux riches for rank and breeding. He paid experts to draw up a family tree that would trace his ancestry back, not to an aristocrat but to a god. Vain and ambitious, Ludovicos obsession with rank and genealogy had a sound material basis. The hold of such men on power was always somewhat tenuous. Ludovicos immediate predecessor had been stabbed 37 times by his own courtiers. He himself was insecure on his ducal throne, his family being seen as little more than a bunch of jumped up shoemakers. For this reason Ludovico attempted to increase his social status, among other things by surrounding himself with artists and other prestigious intellectuals. It was all about power and prestige. Leonardo tried to ingratiate himself with his new patron by promising to build new types of fortifications and military machines. It is interesting that when making his request for employment, he did not appeal to the Dukes artistic taste but rather to his more practical interest in the mechanical arts particularly those linked to the most important one the art of war. He inquired into the composition of explosives. He invented all kinds of things: watermills, engines of war including a tank, a paddlewheel for boats, a breech loading cannon and the conical rifle bullet. Engineering designs / Image: public domain Despite his lack of a formal education, from his youth Leonardo showed a profound grasp of mathematics. He used his knowledge of optics for both art and engineering. He designed aqueducts and bridges. He even built a bathroom for the Duchess and stage-managed the feasts, balls and lavish spectacles of the Duke. It was as if he was intoxicated with knowledge of all sorts. He investigated steam as a locomotive power in navigation, magnetic attraction, and the circulation of the blood. He even developed a prototype for a motorcar. However, he was paid less than the court dwarf. Leonardo knew that it was necessary to have a patron, but he resented the situation of dependence, and in his heart he rebelled against it. One way of asserting his artistic independence was his refusal to be rushed. He planned a huge equestrian statue of Ludovico. This was supposed to be the biggest statue of a horse ever constructed. In this way he was shrewdly playing on Ludovicos longing for all things grandiose. Despite continual pressure and a barrage of complaints, Leonardo kept the Duke waiting for 17 years and even then only managed to produce a terra cotta model of the horse. The statue was destined never to see the light of day. In 1498 disaster struck. Italy had attracted the attention of foreign powers. The French and Hapsburg monarchs entered into deadly intrigues with the Popes to interfere in Italian affairs. In the midst of wars and intrigues, a French army under Louis XII fell upon Milan. When the French troops entered the city they used the huge terra cotta model of Leonardos equestrian statue for target practice, while the 60 tons of bronze that was intended for making the statue was melted down for cannon. Once again Leonardo was forced to flee, this time to Mantua, and then to Rome. The third stage: in Rome At Rome Leonardo worked for yet another wealthy bandit whose cruelty made him a terror to all Italy the notorious Cesare Borgia. Cesare had become master of Rome through a combination of iron determination, audacity, complete lack of scruple, and that element of good luck that often accompanies gamblers and adventurers. The favourite son of Pope Alexander, Cesare had led a profligate life at the Vatican in the company of whores, drunkards and courtesans. Tiring of the rigors of religious life, Cesare asked for the permission of the cardinals and the pope to renounce the priesthood. The latter granted it "for the good of his soul." He immediately took steps that may not have done much for his soul, but did wonders for the advancement of his worldly state. Beginning his political career by murdering his brother and brother-in-law, he seized power in Rome. A successful general, his military style was characterised by extreme ruthlessness. Anatomical studies / Image: public domain As a result of his warlike exploits, he gained possession of extensive territories, and the pope created him duke of Romagna. But he was threatened by a series of conspiracies mainly organised by the powerful Orsini family. By a combination of devious cunning and utter ruthlessness, he maintained himself in power. But, as Macchiavelli pointed out, ultimately, his success depended upon the support of the Papacy, and that proved a fatal weakness. When his father died in 1503 his good fortune abandoned him. The new pope, Pius III, had him arrested and the accession of the Borgias' deadly enemy Julius II caused his final ruin. When Leonardo emigrated to Rome, all this lay in the future. Then Cesare Borgia was still one of the most formidable rulers in all Italy. Cesare was not an easy man to work with. His greed was insatiable and he could brook no opposition. Personally he was morose, silent and unsympathetic. Yet somehow Leonardo managed to win his favour. In Rome his art rose to new heights. He was pushing artistic technique to the limits of its possibilities. His use of sunlight and shadow was highly original and the effects stunning. Here we see a perfect mastery of the dialectic of the unity of opposites as expressed in light and shade. He gave a depth of atmosphere to Florentine painting that it had never possessed before. In these remarkable paintings objects and persons depicted seem to loom out of the darkness. They do not seem to stand on their own but are an integral part of their surroundings part of an organic whole. This sense of wholeness is a very dialectical view of the world and imparts a special sense of power and emotion to his paintings. The introduction of perspective represented a real revolution in representational art. It was grounded in the scientific spirit of the times. With characteristic rigour, Leonardo Da Vinci identified not one but three different sorts of perspective. By such techniques, Leonardo transformed European art forever. Leonardo drew his models from real life from the market place and the brothel. While working on his massive fresco of The Last Supper he went around the city making sketches of people for use as models. The result when it was finally finished in 1498 is said to have astonished the Duke. His genius made him many rivals in the world of art where ferocious competition for patronage gave rise to wars and intrigues that closely resembled those that characterised the political life of the times. He clashed with rising younger artists like Raphael, and especially Michelangelo, who hated him with a passion. Leonardo had problems on another, far more dangerous, front. The seat of the Papacy, Rome was a priest-ridden city and his freethinking ways soon got him into endless trouble with his patrons and the Pope. In the person of Leonardo, art and science meet and combine to produce work of great genius. Leonardo was a compulsive observer of natural phenomena. This combination of art and science seems to fly in the face of our modern obsession with the division of labour. But in the world of the Renaissance it was fairly normal. Art and science frequently went hand in hand. They were united in technology and certain types of engineering. Leonardo is the perfect example of this unity. Nature will be my mistress, he is said to have exclaimed. And this is what is essential about his art it is rooted in keen observation and tireless experimentation. It is entirely free from the dead hand of routine and the slavish worship of tradition. In Leonardos figures we see the result of painstaking observation of the human anatomy. His writings are impregnated with the spirit of philosophical materialism. For him, the most important book was not the Bible or Aristotle. It was that great and beautiful book of Nature, a book that is open for all those with eyes to see. He wrote: Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, simpler or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous. And again: Those men who are inventors and interpreters between Nature and Man, as compared with boasters and declaimers of the works of others, must be regarded and not otherwise esteemed than as the object in front of a mirror, when compared with its image seen in the mirror. For the first is something in itself, and the other nothingness. Folks little indebted to Nature, since it is only by chance that they wear the human form and without it I might class them with the herds of beasts. The story goes that he entered a deep cave (called the Mouth of the Devil) and discovered marine fossils, which, he realised, must have formed over a long time. That led him to question the biblical version of Creation. He certainly held very advanced and subversive views on religion in general and stood close to the materialist standpoint. He engaged in the dissecting of corpses. He did this partly for the purpose of studying human anatomy out of purely scientific interest, but also in order to perfect his artistic technique. He poured scorn on those who resorted to the authority of Aristotle and the philosophers of old rather than base themselves on observation and experiment: Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience, who is the one true mistress. These rules are sufficient to enable you to know the true from the false and this aids men to look only for things that are possible and with due moderation and not to wrap yourself in ignorance, a thing which can have no good result, so that in despair you would give yourself up to melancholy. All this caused a growing rift with the Vatican, which attempted to call him to order. But Leonardos unquenchable thirst for scientific knowledge was not to be extinguished by anything as trivial as religion. He continued to walk a dangerous road the road that consigned Giordano to the flames of the Inquisition and stopped the mouth of Galileo. In the end he was forced to go into exile in France. The artists task is not merely to mirror reality in an unthinking way but to impart a special meaning and feeling to what is being depicted: The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, wrote Leonardo, is like a mirror which copies everything placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence. The Mona Lisa Leonardo developed a technique known as sfumato (smoky) that produces a blurred effect. He understood that in real life there are no fixed lines the profound idea first expounded philosophically be Heraclitus, that everything is and is not, because everything is in flux. The idea behind this is permanent mutability, where everything is constantly changing, shifting, so that it is and is not. The sfumato effect, which blurs the outline, paradoxically renders the face more realistic, not less, while at the same time introducing an air of mystery. Around the cheeks and under the chin we see areas of shade (chiaroscuro) the dramatic effect is the result of the unity of opposing elements of tenderly glowing light and pitch darkness. The best example of this is his most celebrated work, The Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is instantly recognisable that it has acquired the status of an icon. For many people the Mona Lisa is Leonardo da Vinci. And, as we shall see, this popular perception is not altogether wrong. However, the paining we see today is not the same as the original. The bright colours have faded into a murky brown. In the original the sky, lakes and river were painted in a vivid ultramarine blue, made from the precious laps lazuli imported at great cost from as far as Afghanistan. Mona Lisa / Image: public domain The dialectical conception of the unity of is and is not permeates the whole picture and is especially noticeable in the famous smile. Here the contradiction is explicit. Once again, the sfumato effect means that there are no clear lines around the lips, or any of the contours of the face. The smile is captured, not as something fixed, but as something in motion. The smile is either coming into being, or else it is fading away. What is depicted here is the transition between two states either from joy to sorrow or from sorrow to joy. And all human life consists of a constant tension between these two opposed poles, fluctuating between them. This was a painting so special for him that he refused to hand it over to the person who had commissioned it, a painting he kept with him until his death and which is considered by many to be his greatest masterpiece. This painting La Gioconda more famously known as the Mona Lisa has fascinated generations of art lovers with its mysterious and indefinable qualities, that are also in the final analysis the result of his masterly use of light and shade. This painting has been the subject of much speculation and puzzlement. What is the meaning of this enigmatic female and her mysterious smile? In this painting things are not what they seem to be. At first sight, this painting appears to breathe a sense of calm and tranquillity. It depicts a young woman in what appears to be a state of utter repose against a peaceful background of nature. Yet this static impression is entirely deceptive. Leonardo believed that the eyes are the windows of the soul. The gaze of the Mona Lisa is one of the most striking features of the picture. Like everything else about the painting, it has an ambiguous and contradictory character. That mysterious gaze is highly ambivalent. Is she looking at us, or beyond us, to something that we cannot see? Freud thought that this gaze contained sexual undertones. Maybe so, but it could also contain a different message one that says: I know things that you do not know, and will never know. It is a knowing look. At first sight it appears that this painting is a picture of absolute repose. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is anything but tranquil. It is steeped in the spirit of dialectical contradiction at every level. This is an edge of chaos painting, and it is this that gives it its extraordinary power. The first contradiction is the smile itself. If we divide the face into two equal halves, it immediately becomes evident that the smile itself contains a contradiction one half is smiling, but the other is serious. This contradiction expresses the complexity of human feelings, in which conflicting emotions frequently coexist. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)a lifelong friend of Leonardo, closely observed the calamities of the society in which he lived,. He wrote the following lines, which express the tragedy of his own times, with which Leonardo was only too well acquainted: "Io rido, e rider non passa dentero; Io ardo, e l'arsion mia non par di fore." "I laugh, and my laughter is not within me; I burn, and the burning is not seen outside." Human feelings are rarely simple. We can laugh and cry at the same time. This is a profound expression of the human condition in all its complexity. Here we have the bittersweet combination of feelings that gives life its peculiar beauty and which stirs within us a very deep emotional reaction. In this painting human emotions are intimately connected with tensions and contradictory tendencies in the world outside us. There is an implied parallel between this and the human figure. Within us are light and darkness, laughter and tears, joy and sadness. And these contradictory elements and emotions coexist and struggle within us, as do light and darkness in the world of nature. The connection between humans and nature, between organic and inorganic life is suggested by her hair, which falls in curls that suggest swirling water. The drapery of her dress is not in a Renaissance but in a timeless classical style. It swirls like water, suggesting an affinity of the central figure with the natural background. This underlines the same idea of constant change. Even the sitters pose suggests change and movement. She is sitting on a chair with her body facing one way, and her face towards us. This twist is a well-known trick (used by photographers today) to suggest movement. The placidity of the face conceals the existence of invisible subterranean forces passions that lurk between the surface and which are as dangerous and uncontrollable as the forces of untamed nature. The figure in the Mona Lisa painting rises out of an equally strange and ambiguous landscape. Just as the smile is lop-sided, so the landscape is lop-sided, and indeed vaguely threatening. The ambiguity in her smile is echoed by nature. There is a deeply subversive message in all this. In a very perceptive article entitled the Story Behind the Smile (Radio Times, 3-9 May, 2003) Nicholas Rossiter writes: Leonardo is illustrating the constant process by which the natural world evolves over millennia, and challenging the biblical theory that it was created by God in just six days. (Radio Times, 3-9 May, 2003.) The particular and the universal The painting also suggests another contradiction the unity of the particular and the universal. The background is nature the timeless universal but the figure in the foreground is intensely personal and belongs to the here and now. We have before us a single, fleeting moment in time, that elusive moment when a smile begins to form on the lips, or else begins to vanish a moment of becoming that is the very opposite of the timelessness and eternity of nature. The two opposing elements are here seen in their unity. The background, which seems to occupy a subordinate position, in fact plays a very important part in the painting. In the background we see strange rock formations, resembling those at a place in the Arno Valley known to locals as The Valley of Hell. These alluvial deposits were formed by the erosion of the Appenine mountains. Leonardo was fascinated by geology and filled many pages of his notebooks with his observations on this area. We also see something resembling the Buriano Bridge, which crosses the river Arno some 40 miles from Florence. Leonardo was well acquainted with this bridge because of its economic and military importance for the city of Arezzo, where he was employed by the notorious Cesare Borgia as a military engineer. In his boyhood, Leonardo had seen the catastrophic effects of the flooding of the Arno. Here the river is depicted flowing down from the mountains, cutting a path through the valley on its way to the sea. Beneath the surface placidity of nature, terrifying and uncontrollable forces lurk unseen, though their presence can be intuitively sensed. In this vision, nature is never still, but constantly changing and changing into its opposite. The mountain that towers in the background is too high it threatens to collapse. The river is too full it threatens to overflow. The two lakes on either side of the face have been deliberately set at impossible levels, where one seems to tip into the other. Here we have the unending, restless cycle of birth and death of the rise and fall of mountains, the birth and death of rivers. This sense of change in nature was an idea that was deeply ingrained with Leonardo. The figure in the foreground emerges from a background of nature, and is intimately linked with it. The predominant element in the painting is water, both in the two lakes and in the river (presumably the Arno). This has a deep philosophical significance. What element is more changeable and therefore intangible than moving water? Heraclitus said: We step and do not step into the stream; we are and are not. This is the philosophical idea that permeates the painting. Life and death In this painting, the universal is united with the particular and is indistinguishable from it. Although the Mona Lisa is so highly individualised as to be unforgettable, she is also a generalisation the eternal female, above all time and space which emerges out of nature and represents its eternal generative principle. And here another mystery of the Mona Lisa becomes clear: she is clearly pregnant. This is obvious from the position of her hand, which is resting gently on her belly. The subject of the portrait is assumed to have been Lisa del Giocondo (hence the popular title of La Gioconda). This theory seems to be supported by the fact that the Mona Lisa is wearing a black veil. It is known that Lisa del Giocondos daughter died in 1499, four years before Leonardo started the painting. So it is about death and also about new life. On the one hand, on the other hand, she appears to be pregnant. There is no life without death and vice versa. At the time when he was working on the Mona Lisa, Leonardo dissected the cadavers of dead women and examined foetuses a completely illegal activity in order to gain a better understanding of the female anatomy and the mystery of birth. So amazingly accurate were his drawings that they were later used by students of anatomy. In this painting we have a sense of concealed (or repressed) passion the kind of passion that is generally regarded as dangerous because it threatens to break up the established order, and because it is uncontrollable. It reminds us that beneath the surface appearance of calm, terrible forces are accumulating that can destroy us. This is true both of inanimate nature (floods, avalanches, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, storms) and of human nature (uncontrollable passions like anger, fear, rage, jealousy and anything related to the sexual drive). All these lurk beneath the surface all the time. In his study on Leonardo, Freud speculates that paintings like the Mona Lisa express unconscious sexual strivings related to Leonardos childhood experiences. He lost his mother, although she had apparently acted as a wet nurse for his first three years. So he would have some recollections of a mothers natural love and affection. Later he had a stepmother, who also treated the young child with great tenderness. Is this maternal tenderness what is reflected in these female faces, linked to unconscious sexual drives? Possibly, although it must be said that there is many of Freuds assumptions in this essay are forced and arbitrary. But in any case the matter does not end there. If all that Leonardos painting expressed was a purely personal message referring to the artists psychological state it could never have had the universal effect that it has had. These paintings have a wonderful sense of the passing of time and at the same time a sense of the eternal. There is also the idea of generation, of the element of sexual reproduction as the regenerative principle of nature. There may, however, be another message in the way Leonardo depicts Giocondas hair. In 16th century Italy, it was considered immodest for a woman to wear her hair draped over her shoulders as we see here: loose, flowing hair was synonymous with loose morals. It seems that Lisa del Giocondo and her husband did not accept the painting, and this may be part of the reason for their dissatisfaction. Here nothing is what it seems at first sight. Even what appears to be the quintessence of womanhood turns out to be something else. The unity of opposites is equally conveyed by the fact that the Mona Lisa and many of Leonardos other women are really androgynous, that is, they contain elements of male and female. This can be seen in the pronounced jaw line a male characteristic. The ideal of beauty is half male, half female a conception well known in classical Geek art. It has often been remarked that the faces of Leonardos women have a strangely androgynous character. There is an explanation for this. It has been established that the proportions of these faces correspond exactly to those of Leonardos own face in his self-portrait. Here we have the unity of opposites carried to an extreme: here we have the unity of man and woman, completely mingled and undifferentiated. Man and Woman are one. The face of the Mona Lisa, apparently a unique and unrepeatable portrait of an individual, is, in fact, not unique. The same face and the same mysterious expression can be seen in the wonderful painting of the Virgin with St. Anne. It is not even the face of a woman, though it appears to be. From measuring and comparing the faces, it has been concluded that they all have basically the same face: it is the face of Leonardo himself. The last years: in France It is said that a prophet has no honour in his homeland. Now showing signs of age, and with the threat of Papal anger always hanging over his head, finally he decided to leave priest-ridden Italy altogether. He spent the last years of his life in France, where he was received with full honours at the court of the king. We have a marvellous self portrait of Leonardo as an old man painted at this time. He never saw Italy again. The failure of Italy to achieve national unite meant that this wonderful potential could not be realised. Italy was reduced to an economic and cultural backwater. The centre of gravity of world history was moving away from Italy towards the new nation states of France and England. Their star was rising, while that of Italy was about to enter into a cruel eclipse that would last centuries, until Italy was finally united by revolutionary means. A self portrait of the artist as an older man / Image: public domain We may even see the fact that Leonardo spent his last years in France as an expression of this fact, or at least an anticipation of it. Neglected in his native Italy where his star was eclipsed by the rise of Michelangelo and Rafael, the old man received a heros welcome in France, where he was venerated as the greatest artist of his age. The French king was one of those Renaissance monarchs who, when not engaged in wars and hunting, took a lively interest in ideas and art. Francis I aspired to give his court the air of an Italian Renaissance court by importing artists and men of letters, including not only Leonardo but also Cellini. He had Leonardo installed in a palatial residence near to the royal apartments where he could have easy access to him. It seems that Francis revered the old man and engaged him in long conversations in which Leonardo astonished him by the wide range of subjects he knew in depth. But it is clear that Francis saw Leonardo more as a great philosopher than as a great artist (one must remember that at that time philosophy was synonymous with science). The painting of Lisa del Gioconda clearly had a profound meaning for Leonardo, so much so that it was never delivered to those who had commissioned it. He carried it with him for the last 16 years of his life, taking it with him into his final French exile. Clearly its significance for him was far greater than its artistic worth. The Mona Lisa therefore ended up in France, where Leonardo sold it to King Francois I, who hung it in a bathroom! This was probably the cause of the myriad little cracks in the painting. Other works by Leonardo also suffered from neglect or ill treatment: the ignorant Milanese monks cut a door through his frieze of The Last Supper. Like Aristotle and Hegel, Leonardo had a truly encyclopaedic mind. Leonardo the man of the Renaissance was a scientist and a philosopher. It seems that at the end of his life he tried to put together his numerous notebooks on different questions. Had he succeeded, he would have produced a philosophical encyclopaedia long before Diderot and D Alembert in 18th century France. This was the side of Leonardo that most struck the benefactor of his old age. After his death at 67 years of age the French king said that he was a very great philosopher. In the end he saw him more as a philosopher than an artist. In reality, he was both. This most typical of Renaissance men combined in his person the roles of artist, sculptor, scientists, philologer, diplomat and inventor. Leonardos reputation as an artist rests on just a handful of paintings. The quantity of Leonardos artistic output was limited because he was a perfectionist. He said: I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have. That is why he often started a work and never finished it. All the pleadings and threats of his exasperated employers left him indifferent. The only Master he recognized was art his self. It is as if for him the act of creation itself was the point. The end result was relatively unimportant. This is clearly what he meant when he wrote: art is never finished, only abandoned. With Michelangelo the art of the Italian Renaissance reaches new levels of sublime perfection. But Michelangelo was driven by religious inspiration, whereas Leonardo, the true man of the Renaissance, was not religious at all. Ultimately Michelangelo did what his masters in the Church wished, whereas Leonardo was a free and independent spirit a natural rebel. With Leonardo, however, we see the perfect marriage of science, technique, philosophy and art. He made a thorough study of optics in order to understand the nature of light and shade and then applied this scientific knowledge to his painting. He did the same with anatomy, and even studied human embryos in order to have a better insight into the female body before depicting the pregnant woman in the Mona Lisa. There has probably never been a greater artist than Leonardo in the history of the world. It is not only a question of his technique, which was so advanced that even today the experts do not know how he achieved certain effects, or even how he made his colours. This art is not only aesthetically beautiful, not only technically perfect. It also contains a profound philosophical idea. All his life Leonardo was driven by an insatiable curiosity about the world. He was curious about all things under the sun, and this curiosity led him in many different directions. It was for that reason that so many of his projects remained unfinished. His restless, inquiring spirit which was the spirit of his age did not allow him to remain still for a moment, and several lifetimes would have been insufficient for him to complete all the tasks he set himself. Above all, Leonardo was a keen observer of the natural world. The dead hand of religion had condemned material reality as the work of the devil and taught men and women to be ashamed of their bodies and to direct their gaze to Heaven or inwards to the salvation of their eternal soul. This was the antithesis of the new scientific outlook. Leonardos world outlook was essentially materialist and scientific. He said: Only observation is the key to understanding and All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions. He also wrote: Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is, to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason. These sentences contain the essence of all modern science. This tireless investigator was not afraid to question the accepted vies of the Church and to tread dangerous paths. Despite his insistence on observation, Leonardo was no vulgar empiricist. He also wrote: Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whether he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory, and to this Perspective is the guide and the gateway; and without this nothing can be done well in the matter of drawing. He saw that order arises from chaos and it is this profound and dialectical idea that is at the heart of the Mona Lisa. But the reverse is also true: beneath the apparently calm and settled reality, there are forces that can burst through at any time. This idea perfectly expresses the turbulent times of the Italy into which he had been born and the trials and tribulations of which he shared. The deep lines carved on the face of his self-portrait as an old man tell the whole story. Here is a picture of suffering that has been overcome by the quiet resignation of sublime old age. The contradictions have at last found a resolution. In the end he said that just as a day well spent leads to contented rest, so a life well brings a contented death. We will leave the final word to Leonardo: I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death. London 23 April, 2012 May 4, 1932 - April 27, 2019 Mom was born May 4, 1932 in Iredell, Texas and baptized in the Bosque River. She was the last living of eight children. Her father, Winston Davis Perkins and her mother Minnie Lee Kincannon, made their living off the land with the help of their children. Her brother Jack was the oldest, he contracted polio and wasn't able to help much. The next four were girls; Willie May "Sue", Elna Faye, Reba Nell and Ruth Ellen. They all worked like men on the farm. Then came mom, Ruby Tressie. Being the youngest girl, she had her papa, and everyone else wrapped around her little finger. An instigator of mischief, she tells of putting rocks in her tow sack when she picked cotton, so it would weigh more! Next born was Frank, a little tyke who could cuss and handle a team of horses as good as the men. Lastly Charles, shy and introverted. This is important because not much has been done to prevent future meddling. Last week The New York Times reported that Kirstjen Nielsen, recently fired Homeland security secretary, was thwarted in her attempts to raise the issue of Russian meddling in future elections. Trump just doesnt want to hear about it. Thus, were still vulnerable. Muellers portrayal of Russias deep involvement in the election helps make sense of other aspects of this episode, including Trumps desperate attempts to obstruct the investigation, painstakingly described in Volume II. The report helps us understand other events, as well, for example the infamous press conference at the Helsinki summit in 2018. The two men on the stage, Putin and Trump, shared more or less the same knowledge about Russian interference in the 2016 election and more or less the same goal, to keep it a secret. Putin, smug and self-satisfied, has no compunction about lying; in fact, hes probably not particularly worried about being found out. Trump, on the other hand, is desperate to keep secret the contacts between his campaign officials and high-ranking Russians; he had already tried to fire the special counsel investigating the links. 28-Year-Old Oklahoma Man Gives Himself a Stroke by Popping Neck A young Oklahoma father suffered a major stroke after tearing an artery when he popped his neck, reported KOCO 5 news. Josh Hader of Gutherie was left with double vision and had to wear an eye patch for several days after tearing his vertebral arterya crucial vessel that supplies the brain with blood. According to doctors he could have died, reported KOCO. Hader, 28, was rushed to the emergency room by his father-in-law after he popped his neck, and realized something was wrong. The moment I heard the pop, everything on my left side started to go numb, Hader said. I got up and tried to get an ice pack from the fridge, and I remember I couldnt walk straight. Dr. Vance McCollom at Mercy Hospital, where Hader was treated, told KOCO that he could have died. If you have a stroke in that area, you can end up with a patient whos locked in, McCollom said. They completely understand whats going on, but they cant communicate. They cant move anything. They cant speak. They cant breathe. McCollom said that some ways of popping your neck are safer. "He could have died." A 28-year-old Guthrie man who is a young father suffered a major stroke. Josh Hader tore an artery Posted by KOCO 5 News on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 If you want to pop your neck, just kind of pop it side to side. Dont twist it, McCollom said. Whenever you twist it, theres a risk of tearing that vessel. According to McCollum, Hader said that his wife had been telling him: Dont pop your neck. Youre going to cause a stroke. "HE COULD HAVE DIED": A man is recovering after suffering a stroke caused by cracking his neck. wfla.com/1972740224 Posted by WFLA News Channel 8 on Thursday, May 2, 2019 A stroke is caused by a blood clot blocking vessels to the brain, causing the function of that part to be impaired as they are starved of oxygen. The longer the vessel is blocked, the worse the long-term damage to the brain tissue. So quick response is vital. The medical community has therefore long sought to educate the public on how to spot symptoms of a stroke. London Paramedic Partially Paralyzed by Neck Pop But even medical experts can get it wrong, and diagnosing a stroke yourself is hard, precisely because it can cause disorientation and confusion. A paramedic working for the London Ambulance service gave herself a stroke when she popped her neck lying in bed watching movies after she had been out drinking. I wasnt even trying to crack my neck. I just moved and it happened. I stretched my neck and I could just hear this crack, crack, crack. she said, according to the Daily Mail. My friend asked was that your neck? but all my joints crack quite a bit so I didnt think anything of it. I just laughed. The stroke in March left Natalie Kunicki, 23, partially paralyzed. She is expected to recover over the next year or so. When Kunicki began to feel strange after popping her neck, she initially dismissed the symptoms as as result of being drunk. I got up and tried to walk to the bathroom and I was swaying everywhere. I looked down and realized I wasnt moving my left leg at all. Then I fell to the floor, she said. She was still too embarrassed to phone emergency services, worried that colleagues would come and find her drunk. Then she began to wonder if someone had spiked her drink with a date rape drug. Finally, she called for an ambulance. She has a long road of recovery ahead. I expected to wake up from this miracle surgery and everything would be fixed but my mobility was worse and they couldnt clear the clot, Kunicki said. At the start, I couldnt move my thumb and forefinger. I could kind of move my wrist up and down. I couldnt lift my arm. I could bend my left leg, but I couldnt wiggle my toes. She hopes to be in good enough shape for light duty at work in 6 to 12 months time. Ive recovered movement in my left side. I can walk but not for more than five minutes, she said. Im really clumsy. I cant do up buttons, I find it too difficult. I can feel hot and cold now but I still feel a bit numb. According to the CDC, the majority of stroke victims in the United States are 65 years of age and older. But 10 percent of stroke victims are under 45 years old, according to Stanford Health Care. In older people, atherosclerosis, or the build up of fats, is most often the cause of a stroke, although atherosclerosis can also occur in young people due to diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or cigarette smoking. Other causes in young people include heart or blood conditions, drugs, infections, and inflammatory conditions. Genetics can also contribute, but in 25 to 35 percent of cases, medical professionals cannot pinpoint the cause of a stroke in young people, according to Stanford Health Care. 3 Children Were Inside a Home When the Father Killed the Mother Before Shooting Himself In an attempted murder-suicide case, a mother was killed and a father seriously injured while their three children and friends were inside their home in Detroits East Side on May 1. The police said at the time of the incident early on Wednesday morning that there were eight people inside the homea mother, father, their three children, two other women, and a child, reported ClickonDetroit.com. Police believe that the man in his late 20s shot dead the 30-year-old woman before shooting himself at about 3:30 a.m., reported the Detroit News. A 30-year-old woman was killed early Wednesday morning and a man believed to be in his late 20s was shot, in what police suspect is a murder-attempted suicide on Detroits east side. https://t.co/wVBKAXXvn6 The Detroit News (@detroitnews) May 1, 2019 Their three children, all below 11 years of age were inside the home when their mother was killed. The couples two female friends went to bed and woke up to the loud sounds of an argument and eventually gunshots. When police arrived, they found the mother dead on the scene and the father critically injured. He was taken to the hospital and a weapon was recovered from the home. Police said there were no signs of drug or alcohol abuse by the couple. Facts About Crime in the United States Violent crime in the United States has fallen sharply over the past 25 years, according to both the FBIs Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The rate of violent crimes fell by 49 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the FBIs UCR, which only reflects crimes reported to the police. The violent crime rate dropped by 74 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the BJSs NCVS, which takes into account both crimes that have been reported to the police and those that have not. From 1993 to 2017, the rate of violent victimization declined 74 percent, from 79.8 to 20.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, the U.S. Department of Justice stated in a 2018 report (pdf). Both studies were based on data up to and including 2017, the most recent year for which complete figures are available. The FBI recently released preliminary data for 2018. According to the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, during the period of January to June 2018, the violent crime rate in the United States dropped by 4.3 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2017. While the overall rate of violent crime has seen a steady downward drop since its peak in the 1990s, there have been several upticks that bucked the trend. Between 2014 and 2016, the murder rate increased by more than 20 percent to 5.4 per 100,000 residents, up from from 4.4, according to data collected by the FBI. The last two-year period that the rate of crime had soared so quickly was between 1966 and 1968. Property Crime The property crime rate fell by 50 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the FBI, and by 69 percent, according to the BJS. According to the FBIs preliminary figures for the first half of 2018, property crime rates in the United States dropped by 7.2 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2017. As with the figures for violent crime, the FBI survey only took into account crime reported to the police, while the BJS figures include both reported and nonreported crimes. Public Perception About Crime Despite falling long-term trends in both violent crime and property crime, opinion surveys have repeatedly revealed that Americans believe that crime is up. The vast majority of Gallup polls taken since 1993 show that over 60 percent of Americans believe there is more crime in the United States on a national scale compared to the previous year. Pew Research surveys show similar findings. A survey in late 2016 revealed that 57 percent of registered voters said crime in the nation as a whole had increased since 2008, despite both FBI and BJS data showing double-digit drops in violent and property crimes. Perceptions differed on a national versus local level. Surveys of perceptions of crime levels on a local scale showed that fewer than 50 percent of respondents in every single Gallup survey done since 1996 believed that crime in their area had risen compared to the previous year. 4-Year-Old Girl Escapes After Being Bound and Stuffed in Locked Trunk by Stranger A 4-year-old girl was abducted from her bed at night, and bound and stuffed into a trunk by a 20-year-old man in Pennsylvania on April 25. Thomas Dewald picked up the child from her home in Washington Township, Franklin County, and first brought her to his home before driving her to his grandparents home where he bound her with tape and stuffed her inside a trunk, reported Fox News. He lived a mile away from where the girl was staying and had been searching neighborhoods for unsupervised children who he told police lived in deplorable conditions. Pennsylvania man took girl, 4, bound and stuffed her in trunk at grandparents home, police say https://t.co/TFMX7wr103 pic.twitter.com/DT77Wl2HIC MagaFirstRadio (@Maga1Radio) May 1, 2019 The child was reported missing at about 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 25, according to the Houston Chronicle. Investigators said Dewald locked the child inside a wooden chest and told her he would be back from work by noon, but the girl escaped by 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. She was found by a passerby 2.5 miles away from where she was being held. She was taken to Waynesboro Hospital and found to be in good health, reported ABC27. Dewald was arrested on Monday, April 29, and faces multiple charges. The community affected by his cowardice actions can rest easy knowing this animal is in custody, State police Lt. Mark Magyar said late Monday, according to Fox43. This is 20yo Thomas Dewald who was arrested earlier this evening for abducting 4yo Gemma Moats last week. Along with all the other charges.. Dewald is charged with attempted burglary after he entered a different home yesterday. @fox43 pic.twitter.com/V6d3BkNc7S Lyndsay Barna (@lyndsay_barna) April 30, 2019 Stunned Grandfather Dewalds grandfather, Larry McFadden, told Fox43 that he was never aware that his grandson would be capable of such actions. Its terrible, obviously I had no idea, he said. McFadden said he knows Dewald as a very religious boy and he finds it hard to deal with what he has done. Its pretty hard to deal with, obviously. I dont know the grandson youre describing, obviously, he said. The grandson I knew was expecting to be starting his career, and hes a very religious boy. At least, I thought he was, and hes very intelligent. Thats the hard thing to accept cause this certainly isnt intelligent. Hes going to put away in jail for the rest of his life thatd be my guess. TONIGHT AT 11: I spoke with the mother of the 4-year-old Franklin County girl that was abducted, bound and put in a wood chest by 20-year-old Thomas Dewald. Hear what she has to say about the case on @abc27News pic.twitter.com/PXiwt7qn8K Taylor Tosheff (@TaylorABC27) May 1, 2019 Other Families Targeted Authorities said that Deward had previously searched for children playing in their yards and in homes that had no surveillance cameras. Deward had been known to target another family. He got inside Thom Lamberts home through a window and watched the mans three children sleeping. But in that incident, he left the home after the family dog started barking. This is the house police say Thomas Dewald was living in when he allegedly kidnapped the four-year-old victim last week in Waynesboro, bound her, and placed her inside a wooden chest. No one answered the door when we knocked. @CBS21NEWS pic.twitter.com/O8ASPU3Pk2 Brian Sheehan (@BSheehanTV) April 30, 2019 My worldview is shattered, and not any political worldview or sociological worldview ideologically, my perception of the world is changed now. I have to be still the encourager. I have to be still the field without fences to some degree to my kids, but to the same regard, now, I also have to be vigilant in that arena, and thats very depressing, Lambert had said about the incident. He said he feels sorry for whatever made Deward the way he is, and said he wanted Lambert to stay away from his family and community. Attorney General William Barr testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "the Justice Department's investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election" on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 1, 2019. (Aaron Bernstein/Reuters) AG Barr Says He Will Reconstruct Origins of Russia Probe During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on May 1, Attorney General William Barr reiterated that he will look into the origins of the Russia interference probe and the extent of the FBI surveillance on President Donald Trumps campaign during the 2016 presidential election. Barr testified at another Senate hearing on April 10 that he believes that Trumps campaign was being spied on and announced that he intends on reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016 to learn whether the surveillance was adequately predicated. At the Senate hearing on May 1, Barr was asked by multiple senators about the origins of Russia investigation and the FBI surveillance on Trump campaign figures. Rep. @Jim_Jordan on President Trumps tax returns: Theres no law that says they have to be public. Watch full #Newsmakers interview tonight at 10pm ET on C-SPAN https://t.co/RVEwl0ICJF pic.twitter.com/0UMZGGm8qP CSPAN (@cspan) April 5, 2019 Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked Barr whether or not the spying the attorney general mentioned only referred to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, or whether there was any other improper conduct that took place. Barr replied, Many people seem to assume that the only intelligence collection that occurred was a single confidential informant and a FISA warrant. Id like to find out whether that is in fact true. It strikes me as a fairly anemic effort if that was the counterintelligence effort designed to stop a threat as its being represented, he added. Lee then asked whether any other members of the Trump campaign were under surveillance. These are things that I need to look at, Barr replied. And I have to say that, as Ive said before, the extent that there was any overreach, I believe it was a few people in the upper echelons of the bureau and perhaps the Department, but those people are no longer there. He added that he is currently working closely with FBI Director Christopher Wray on trying to reconstruct exactly what went down. One thing that people should know, the Bureau itself has been handicapped in looking back because of the pending Mueller investigation and the pending OIG [Office of Inspector General] investigation, he added. Similarly, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) asked whether Barr was concerned about the FISA warrant process and the origins of the FBIs counter-intelligence investigation, to which Barr said yes. The attorney general also confirmed that he was worried about the lack of professionalism in the Hillary Clinton email investigation, which involved some of the same officials. When asked about what steps the department would take regarding the unauthorized media contacts by department and FBI officials during the Russia investigation, Barr revealed to former Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that the Justice Department has multiple criminal leak investigations underway. The attorney general also indicated to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that he was reviewing whether the now-infamous Steele dossier at the center of the Mueller probe was itself a product of Russian disinformation. Can we state with confidence that the Steele dossier was not part of the Russian disinformation campaign? Cornyn asked. No, I cant state that with confidence, and that is one of the areas that Im reviewing, Barr replied. Im concerned about it, and I dont think its entirely speculative. I Think Spying Did Occur On April 10, during the hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the attorney general was asked about his intent to establish a team to look into potential surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign. In response, he said, As I said in my confirmation hearing, I am going to be reviewing both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016. A lot of this has already been investigated, a substantial portion of it has been investigated and is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General at the department. But one of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on, including on the [Capitol] Hill and in the [Justice] Department, and see if there are any remaining questions to be addressed, Barr added. And can you share with us why you feel a need to do that? Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) asked. I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal, its a big deal, Barr said. The generation I grew up in, which is the Vietnam War period, people were all concerned about spying on anti-war people and so forth by the government and there were a lot of rules put in place to make sure that theres an adequate basis before our law enforcement agencies get involved in political surveillance, he added. Im not suggesting that those rules were violated, but I think its important to look at that. And Im not talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly. So, youre not suggesting, though, that spying occurred? Shaheen asked. I think spying did occur Yes, I think spying did occur, Barr said, followed by silence in the room. The question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated, he continued. And Im not suggesting it wasnt adequately predicated, but I need to explore that. I think its my obligation. Later in the hearing, Barr elaborated: I believe there is a basis for my concern, but Im not going to discuss the basis. Barr didnt appear at the scheduled House Judiciary Committee hearing on May 2 as he did not agree with the additional rounds of questioning proposed by the committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). In particular, Barr was strongly opposed to allowing staff lawyers to participate in the questioning. Barr said questioning witnesses before congressional committees is the responsibility of elected senators and representatives. Epoch Times staff member Petr Svab contributed to this report. A Canadian amputee who says he was forced to crawl on his belly because United Airlines confiscated batteries for his electric mobility scooter, is speaking out about what he calls a most humiliating experience. Stearn Hodge, 68, lost his left arm and right leg in a workplace accident in 1984, CBC reported. Thanks to his electric scooter, Hodge has retained much of his independence. Hodge and his wife of 43 years, Jan, were about to embark on a holiday to celebrate their wedding anniversary when airline and flight safety officials told him the batteries were not allowed on the plane due to fire risk. The alarming news came as the couple were at Calgary Airport in Canada on Feb. 26, 2017, trying to board a flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the CBC report. Having written permission to take on board the lithium-ion batteries didnt help, Hodge told reporters. He said neither agents with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) nor United Airlines officials would listen to his arguments nor read the approval he says he secured from the airline beforehand. Technical guidance issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) (pdf) says batteries that power wheelchairs and mobility aids are considered dangerous goods when carried by air, but adds that these and some other dangerous goods that are permitted for carriage by passengers can be transported safely by air provided certain safety requirements are met. The guidance document adds that passengers may only travel with a battery-powered mobility aid with the airlines approval. It also calls for appropriate training for all relevant staff so that they provide quality service to persons with reduced mobility in a consistent and respectful manner and in a manner that respects their dignity, and as a professional service to which the person is entitled, rather than as a favor or compassionate gesture. Hodges told the CBC that the CATSA agents follow-up suggestion that he simply use a wheelchair instead of his mobility scooter was incompetent and disrespectful. Hows a one-armed guy going to run a wheelchair? How am I going to go down a ramp and brake with one hand? But that shouldnt even have to come up, Hodge told the CBC. He also said his wife had recently undergone cancer treatment that affected her spine, and so she was unable to push a wheelchair for him. "Having to crawl across the floor in front of my wife is the most humiliating thing that I can think of," said Hodge. A Posted by CBC on Monday, April 29, 2019 When Hodge and his wife got to their hotel, he says he was forced to crawl on the floor to use the bathroom. He said he spent much of the holiday in bedsomething he described as the most humiliating experience I can think of. Now he wants his case heard by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and told CBC, It unmasks how real my disability is I havent been the same since. Hodges lawyer, John Burns, will ask a Federal Court judge on May 9 to order the commission to hear his case, the CBC reported. Meanwhile, United Airlines sent Hodge an email, which said, It appears we were in violation of federal disability requirements, and offered him an $800 travel certificate as compensation. The air carrier also apologized for the inconvenience. Inconvenience is when it rains on your holiday, said Hodge, CBC reported. This was a life-changing moment for me and my wife. Doctor Dragged Off Plane Speaks Out The incident recalls the case of a Kentucky doctor who was violently removed from a United Airlines flight two years ago and has since spoken out about his traumatic ordeal. Dr. David Dao, 69, was dragged bruised and bloodied off an overbooked flight at Chicagos OHare International Airport on April 9, 2017, according to multiple reports. Footage captured on cellphone video by fellow passengers showed the bleeding grandfather being dragged down the aisle by agents after he refused to give up his seat to make way for airline staff. Dao broke his silence about the incident on ABCs Good Morning America on April 9. I dont know, I just cried, he told Amy Roback after he viewed the video clips taken by fellow passengers that sparked the online outrage. Dr. David Dao, who was dragged off a United Airlines flight at OHare International Airport two years ago, is speaking out for the first time ever. https://t.co/TGhZzVVX3U ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) April 9, 2019 Dont Know What Happened Dao, a doctor of internal medicine, and his wife, a pediatrician, were on their way to Louisville on April 9, 2017, when airline staff asked them and two other passengers to disembark in order to make room for United Airlines staff who needed to fly, the Courier-Journal reported. He refused to give up his seat and was hauled off the plane by Chicago Department of Aviation officers. Cellphone recordings showed blood coming out of Daos nose and his glasses askew as he was dragged down the aisle. He said he suffered a concussion, lost teeth, and had his nose broken. Footage of the incident went viral, sparking outrage and scrutiny over how United handled the situation. David Dao, the Kentucky doctor who was unceremoniously and very literally dragged off a United Airlines flight on April 9, 2017, is speaking out about the viral incident for the first time in two years.https://t.co/DfLbRYAbGK TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 9, 2019 Disruptive and Belligerent United CEO Oscar Munoz initially said in an internal email to staff in the days that followed the incident that Dao had been disruptive and belligerent, the Daily Mail reported. Munoz was cited in the report as saying that Dao raised his voice and refused to comply with staff requests to leave the aircraft. The CEO later issued a public apology saying he apologized for having to re-accommodate these customers, Daily Mail reported. Flight 3411 was a defining moment for United Airlines and it is our responsibility to make sure we as a company and all of our 90,000 employees continue to learn from that experience, the airline said in a statement to NBC News. The changes we have implemented since that incident better serve our customers and further empower our employees, United stated, according to NBC. Dao was offered an undisclosed settlement weeks after the incident. While Dao said the traumatic ordeal left him with chronic problems like difficulties with balance and concentration, he said he has no regrets because it forced United to review its policies. Everything happens with a reason, he told ABC. Ancient Tree Topples in Ireland, Researchers Make Startling Find When an old tree toppled during the storm, it revealed an interesting find. Tangled in the massive tree roots was the skeletal remains of a teenager. The young man of Collooney, Co Sligo in Ireland had several wounds. But the teen didnt die recently. According to archaeologists, the teen passed away about 1,000 years ago. Archaeologists say the tree stood for more than 200 years before toppling in a recent storm to reveal the skeleton. The teenager had two stab wounds to the chest and one to his left hand, presumably from trying to ward off his attacker The Irish Times As excavations go, this was certainly an unusual situation, Dr. Marion Dowd of Sligo-Leitrim Archaeological Services told the Irish Times. The upper part of the skeleton was raised into the air trapped within the root system. The lower leg bones, however, remained intact in the ground. Effectively as the tree collapsed, it snapped the skeleton in two, Dowd explained. This tree in Ireland blew over and revealed a nearly 1,000-year-old skeleton tangled in its roots: http://cnn.it/1Lw7EH9 CNN Preliminary analysis has indicated that the remains consist of young man who was between 17 and 25 years old when he died. His bones contained several injuries which had been inflicted by a sharp blade, possibly a sword or knife. He had obviously suffered a violent death, but whether these wounds were related to an ancient battle or a personal dispute remains unknown. The body was subsequently buried in a shallow east-west oriented grave and radiocarbon analysis indicates that this occurred sometime between 1030 and 1200 AD, says Irish Archaeology of the finding. Radiocarbon dating indicates he died between 1030 and 1200 AD, and he was given a Christian burial. The identity was not revealed, but researchers have estimated that he was between 17 and 20 years old when he died. Read More Video: Man Gets Surprised When Trying to Remove a Fallen Tree This burial gives us an insight into the life and tragic death of a young man in medieval Sligo, Dowd said. Elaborating on the man, We can assume that the young man came from a local Gaelic family (because the Anglo-Norman invasion didnt occur until 1169 and our radiocarbon date suggests the burial pre-dates this), Dowd told CNN. The researcher continued: So it could be a local conflict/battle, or personal dispute, that resulted in his death. Dowd said that a church and a graveyard may have been in the general area, Dowd said, citing records. However, those dont remain. King Edward IV Jewel Found? An English woman unearthed a rare hat pin from 1485 which might have belonged to King Edward IV, who reigned during the 15th century. Lisa Grace spotted the jewel, which is reportedly in pristine condition, while she searched a field in Lincolnshire, reported the Daily Mail. She used a metal detector to locate it. Experts told the publication that the jewel was made sometime in the 1400s and was designed as a sun, which was the personal emblem of King Edward IV. They think it might have been lost in battle, and there were many in Lincolnshire around that time. The jewel does bear a striking resemblance to the one in a well-known portrait of Edward IV from the Musee Calvet, an official with Dukes told the news outlet. He said it may have belonged to a courtier. Edward IV was famed for both his good looks and his dramatic victories in the Wars of the Roses. The Vintage News The fact is we shall never know but it clearly belonged to someone of high status in the upper echelons of medieval society, the official, named only as Mr. Schwinge, added. According to the publication, museums and collectors may pay between $13,000 to $20,000 for the hat pin. Canadians Michael Spavor (L) and Michael Kovrig have been detained in China since shortly after Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in December 2018. (AP Photo) As China Raises the Stakes in Spat With Canada, Ottawa Needs to Reassess Approach News Analysis As Beijing continues its pressure tactics against Canada that began after the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver last year, a second Canadian is now facing the death penalty in China and more Canadian exports are facing obstacles entering the Chinese market. While the federal government says it is using diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation, two former ambassadors to China and other officials believe that maintaining the current course isnt working and that a hard-hitting approach would be much more effective. On April 30, a Chinese court sentenced Canadian citizen Fan Wei to death for drug-trafficking charges. Another Canadian citizen, Robert Schellenberg, received a similar sentence earlier this year after a one-day retrial of his drug-smuggling case. He was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison but when he appealed he was told his sentence was in fact too lenient. Two other Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have been held in detention since Dec. 10, shortly after Mengs arrest on Dec. 1. The Chinese regime charged the Canadians with stealing state secrets in early March, just days after Canada allowed extradition hearings against Meng to proceed. Over the past few months, Beijing has also suspended the licences of two of Canadas biggest canola producers and blocked Canadian canola shipments. Reports emerged this week that the regime has suspended the permits of two Canadian pork exporters, and more Canadian products, including soybeans and peas, are facing obstacles entering China as well. Former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques reports that Beijing has asked regional authorities to create a list of Canadian businesses that deal with China, the aim being to widen the choice of tactics that can be used to pressure Canada. We know its the usual playbook of China. When they are angry at a country they will take all kinds of measures to penalize this country, and of course, its very easy for them to request such information from companies, Saint-Jacques told CBC News. I think we are at the stage where we have to be firm because this is the only language that China understands. Canada has sought the support of allies to request the release of Spavor and Kovrig and called the death sentences of Fan Wei and Schellenberg cruel and inhumane. As for the export bans, Ottawa asked China to allow Canadian inspectors to examine the productsa request that was denied. The government has also said it is trying to find other markets for Canadian canola and this week promised financial help to farmers affected by the bans. Former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroney says now that lives are at stake, Canada should change course on how it deals with China. The natural inclination of every bureaucracy in times of crisis is to restore the status quo ante, Mulroney said in an op-ed in The Globe and Mail. But were also still in the grips of a misguided vision of China, one especially dear to the Canadian governing and business classes, that naively embraces almost everything that Beijing has on offer. According to Mulroney, flaws in Canadas China policy can be proven by the enduring gullibility on two important counts. The first one is the belief that Canadas Chinese community is a shared bilateral resource with China and therefore responsible for helping Canada better understand China. This fits hand-in-glove with the Canadian penchant for diaspora politics and opens the door to Chinese interference, Mulroney said. The second myth, he said, is that China is so sensitive that any reaction besides silence could be counterproductive. This has contributed to persistent Canadian passivity in the face of outrageous behaviour. When it comes to Canadas relation with China, smarter is better than comprehensiveand less is almost certainly better than more, Mulroney said. Canada Needs Stronger Measures Paul H. Chapin, a former Canadian diplomat whose past postings included Moscow and Washington, says simply expressing that China should respect the rule of law doesnt carry much weight with that countrys one-party regime. In fact, it is taken as a sign of weakness that typically leads to submission, Chapin said in a Globe and Mail op-ed. Chapin said Canada should take lessons from past dealings with another totalitarian state, the Soviet Union. He suggests Canada reciprocate by arresting Chinese diplomats on espionage charges, and if prisoners arent exchanged, then escalate the situation by expelling Chinese officials known or suspected to be engaged in espionage. Canada can also close down consulates in China and ban Huawei from doing business in Canada. These measures would kick-start a process to free the two Canadians. Canada would no longer be seen as helpless but rather as an equal with China in resolving the issue, he said. Earlier this week, Conservative Party of Canada Leader Andrew Scheer said Canada should pull a promised $256 million to Chinas Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is a World Bank-type organization that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, he called on the federal government to launch a complaint about the canola ban with the World Trade Organization and to assign a new ambassador to China. Former ambassador John McCallum was fired in January for speaking out of line on the Meng file. That is $256 million of taxpayers money to curry favour with a government that has jailed Canadians for political reasons and is in violation of international trade rules, Scheer said during the April 30 question period in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was defiant in his response, saying the bank is supporting lean, clean, green infrastructure investments throughout Asia. In a paper published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), lawyers Gary Caroline and Chris MacLeod and MLI senior fellow Marcus Kolga said its time for Canada to use targeted sanctions against specific individuals responsible for the unjust plight of Canadians in China and other places in the world now that the Magnitsky Act has been passed into law. Still, after four months of what we can only presume have been Canadas best efforts through traditional diplomatic means, it seems little progress has been made in securing the Canadians [Kovrig and Spavor] release, they wrote. If Ottawa hasnt already done so, it may be time to consider digging a bit deeper into the diplomatic tool kit. In a past interview with The Epoch Times, Jacob Kovalio, an associate professor at Carleton Universitys Department of History, said Canada should expel Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye, who suggested in an op-ed about Mengs arrest that Canada and its allies are white supremacists. The kind of neo-fascist regime that Beijing is today is never going to change its attitude and give us the respect that we amply deserve, until the moment we react to them in a way that should be unequivocal, Kovalio said. Nik Nanos, chair of Nanos Research, said all Canadian parties need to come up with policies on how to deal with China on trade, Huawei, and 5G development in Canada as Canada heads into an election later this year. 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 told the Toronto Star. Its put more of a real face on how China operates and what they think of Canada. A spokesperson at Global Affairs Canada said the government is very concerned about the arbitrary detentions of Canadians in China. We will continue to defend our values and interests while pursuing a comprehensive relationship built on trust and mutual benefit, Guillaume Berube wrote in an email. The Prague Philharmonia performs in Prague's Rudolfinum, under the leadership of French chief conductor, Emmanuel Villauma. Special guest American soprano Ailyn Perez performs during the opening concert on Jan. 2019. (Milan Mosna/Prague Philharmonia) Chinese Authorities Attempt to Cancel Czech Orchestras China Tour in Retaliation for Supporting Taiwan Despite political pressure from China, the Mayor of Prague met with Taiwan officials to strengthen future ties with the country PRAGUEThe Czech Republics orchestra Prague Philharmonia has planned an autumn tour in China this year, during which it will perform 14 concerts. However, the event may not happen at all. The Chinese regime is trying to cancel the tour in response to a diplomatic meeting between the Mayor of Prague and Taiwan officialsPragues support of Taiwan is seen as a threat to Chinas sovereignty over the country. The chief organizer of the Prague Philharmonia said that they will only be granted permission to perform in China if the members of the orchestra oppose the capital leaderships favorable stance towards Taiwan. The organizer has indicated that we should declare our position as being against the Prague leaderships attitudes towards the Peoples Republic of China in relation to Taiwan, said Martin Klimpl, head of the Prague Philharmonia, in an interview for Czech Radio on April 29. But Klimpl refuses to give into Chinas demands. We have responded to this by saying that if any conditions are imposed on us, we will refuse them, Kimpl said, adding: We will not make any statements that may be underestimated or even dictated to us. China has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan, which it considers a wayward province of one China and sacred Chinese territory, despite the fact that the latter is a de facto independent country with its own elected officials, constitution, military, and currency. The Chinese regime has not renounced the use of force to reunite Taiwan with the mainland. The Prague Philharmonia has already done several successful tours in China. The event is organized by a Chinese agency based in Vienna. The intentions of the Chinese regime to cancel the Prague Philharmonia tour were confirmed on April 28 by Czech Minister of Culture Antonin Stanek, who recently met with the Chinese Minister of Culture, Luo Shugang. According to Minister Stanek, the Chinese authorities have recorded some statements made by the mayor of the City of Prague during a meeting with Taiwan officials in March. Mayor Zdenek Hrib had raised issues that the Chinese regime deems sensitivehuman rights abuses, Taiwan and the one-China policy. Since then, the Chinese regime has stopped cooperating with cultural institutions that have Prague in their name, which is the case of the Prague Philharmonia. Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said on March 29 that he would first confirm the information about the planned cancellation of the Philharmonic Tour, and then plan a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador in Prague to discuss the matter. It is an unfortunate decision if the cultural community should be subjected to restrictions because of some discrepancies in politics, said Minister Petricek. Culture is for bringing people closer together. If artists have certain opinions, they should not be punished for them, he added. The Prague Philharmonic violinist described the orchestras experience from the last tour in China in 2017 on his blog: Each one of us has come to their own point of view about the country that we have heard so often in our country lately. On the one hand, great riches; on the other, abject poverty and misery . Mayor of Prague Defies China, Supports Taiwan During a visit in Taiwan on March 29, Mayor Hrib told the local media that he was being pressured by the Chinese regime. The Chinese embassy wanted him to cancel a meeting with the Taiwan envoy in Prague, which it considered unacceptable. Hrib also stated to Czech Radio that Czech officials are definitely under no obligation to give way to such pressure from the Chinese regime: I did not do this earlier in the year when the Chinese ambassador tried to raise the same issue at my New Years meeting with the diplomatic corps, and I will not do it next time either. The politicians of the Czech Republic do not need to obsequiously nod to the wishes of the Chinese ambassador, we are a sovereign state. Hrib wrote on his Facebook account on March 29: Taiwan is one of our biggest foreign investors. Since 1993 it has created 23,000 jobs in our country, while Beijing has bought a television station, a stadium and a couple of politicians .We want to establish more intensive cooperation with Taipei. This would also be helped by a direct airline with Prague, for which I asked for support from the Foreign Minister of Taiwan, Joseph Wu. There were many promises about investment in the Czech Republic in mainland China. However, these promises did not materialize. And it turned out that the promised investments are not really investments, Hrib said in an interview with NTD on March 29 in Taiwan. Condemning Organ Harvesting in China Mayor Hrib also made a few statements objecting to the human rights situation in mainland China and cases of the abuse of modern advances in transplant surgery: At the same time, the issue of human rights is more important to Prague than panda diplomacy. Personally, I totally reject trafficking in human organs. In an interview with NTD on March 29, Hrib spoke about the issue of the abuse of transplant surgery in China, recently discussed by the Czech Senate. He said: The role of the Senate in this field is much more important than the city of Prague, but I have to say that for me as a doctor, this practice is absolutely unacceptable. The violent harvesting of organs is a totally unacceptable topic and the international communitys response should be very severe in this respect. Organ transplant abuse cases were also discussed by the European Parliament in 2013 and 2016, as well as by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016both confirmed the authenticity of the reports on violent organ removal from Falun Gong adherents. These are cases of involuntary donationthe violent removal of vital organs, causing the death of the involuntary donor. Since 2006, the number of experts who have begun to look into these practices in Chinese hospitals has risen and established several non-governmental investigative groups. After 2014, many of them joined and formed the coalition ETAC to fight for ethical standards in the Chinese organ transplant industry and to end violent organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience. Hrib also rejects the One-China policy and made a remark during his Taiwan trip: We also want to omit the One-China policy from a partnership agreement with Beijing, because such proclamations do not belong in such agreements. Meeting With the Taiwanese President Mayor Hrib was honored to meet Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen on March 30. Today I met the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen. It was one of the most important meetings of our whole trip and also one of the most pleasant meetings, Hrib wrote on his Facebook account on March 30. I am pleased that the President and I share the same values such as sustainable development and liberal democracy. We definitely want to continue our cooperation, he added. Hrib also received an honorary citizenship from the Mayor of Taipei, Dr. Ko Wen-je. According to Czech media Prazsky denik, Mayor Hrib has become a relatively famous person in Taiwan. Ben Shapiro speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on Oct. 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for Politicon ) Conservative Commentator Ben Shapiro Gets Death Threats, FBI Arrests Suspect: Reports The FBI arrested a man in Washington State for allegedly making death threats against Ben Shapiro, an American conservative political commentator and social media personality, according to TMZ. TMZ was told that the suspect had allegedly made extremely serious threats against Shapiro and his family. Shapiro later confirmed the general situation by tweeting a link to the story. Thanks to local and federal law enforcement for their quick and hard work here, Shapiro wrote in a Twitter post. Stay safe out there, everyone! Thanks to local and federal law enforcement for their quick and hard work here. Stay safe out there, everyone! https://t.co/XHR4wpDo5c Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 1, 2019 The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Media Relations Officer Jeff Lee told CBSLA that Shapiro had filed a report with them, and the LAPD transferred the case to the FBI. The FBI later arrested the suspect. Ben Shapiro, 35, is the editor-in-chief for the conservative news site The Daily Wire, which he founded. He also hosts The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and radio program. Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. Between 2012 and 2016, he was an editor-at-large of Breitbart News. Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew. He has written at least 10 books, the latest being No. 1 New York Times best-seller The Right Side Of History. A video clip of Shapiros comments on The Ben Shapiro Show on April 29 recently went viral on Twitter when he said that Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has a lot of the same opinions about Jews that the white supremacist had in that manifesto. Ben Shapiro says @IlhanMN has "a lot of the same opinions about Jews that the white supremacist had in that manifesto" pic.twitter.com/XkN5OyyOAs Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) April 30, 2019 By white supremacist, Shapiro was referring to the shooter who killed a woman and injured several others in an attack at the San Diego-area synagogue on April 27, in what President Donald Trump said looked like a hate crime. Shapiro was referencing a 2012 tweet from Omar where she had accused Israel of hypnotizing the world. Omar has since apologized for the tweet. The shooter's entire thesis was that Jews control world politics. You might say that his thesis was that they hypnotize the world. https://t.co/4fI83ZBRXG Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 30, 2019 Economist Apology to Shapiro In March, The Economist magazine apologized to Shapiro for smearing him in a headline. Shapiro spoke with the magazine and it published the interview under the headline: Inside the mind of Ben Shapiro, the alt-right sage without the rage. Shapiro, who is Jewish, quickly hit back, noting that the alt-right descriptor didnt apply to him. This is a vile lie. Not only am I not alt-right, I am probably their leading critic on the right. I was the number one target of their hate in 2016 online according to ADL data. I demand a retraction, Shapiro said on Twitter. You should be ashamed of yourselves for that garbage headline and description. To call yourselves a journalistic outlet and then botch this one so badly is astonishing, he added. Technically alt-right refers to people who are outside the conservative mainstream, such as neo-Nazis, but its increasingly wielded by leftist publications and commentators as a smear against any conservative or conservative idea they dont like. Shapiro then shared links that document his criticisms of the alt-right, including criticism he issued after the Charlottesville clashes between some alt-right groups and radical leftist groups, including Antifa. He also noted that in his recently published New York Times bestseller, The Right Side of History, he criticized alt-right groups. The Economist later deleted the tweet that it used to promote the article and changed the headline, adding an editors note to the top of the article. The headline now reads: Inside the mind of Ben Shapiro, a radical conservative. Shapiro also criticized the new characterization but said that it was at least defensible. The Economist said that the description of Shapiro was a mistak[e]. NTD reporter Zack Stieber contributed to this report Nick Sandmann from Covington Catholic High School stands in front of Native American activist Nathan Phillips while the latter bangs a drum in his face in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. (Kaya Taitano via Reuters) Covington Catholic High Student Nick Sandmann Sues NBC for $275 Million Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann is filing a defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal for $275 million, one of his lawyers, Todd V. McMurty, announced on May 1. The facts of the suit show the anti-Trump narrative NBC pushed so hard, McMurty wrote in a Twitter post. Today, @LLinWood and I filed a $275,000,000 lawsuit against NBCUniversal on behalf of Nicholas Sandmann. The facts of the suit show the anti-Trump narrative NBC pushed so hard. Here is a link if you wish to read it: https://t.co/X6v4HBqxXk pic.twitter.com/jcRTnWh5hl Todd V. McMurtry (@ToddMcMurtry) May 1, 2019 NBCUniversal created a false narrative by portraying the confrontation as a hate crime committed by Nicholas, the lawsuit read. According to the suit, Sandmann was an easy target for NBCUniversal to advance its anti-Trump agenda because he was a 16-year-old white, Catholic student who had attended the Right to Life March that day and was wearing a MAGA cap at the time of the incident which he had purchased earlier in the day as a souvenir. The suit added: In addition to its substantial broadcast television and online audience, NBCUniversal republished many of its false and defamatory broadcasts and articles to NBC News approximately 6.45 million Twitter followers; to MSNBCs approximately 2.37 million Twitter followers; to the TODAY Shows approximately 4.28 million Twitter followers; to NBC Nightly News approximately 971,000 Twitter followers; and to the over 2.5 million Twitter followers of the 11 NBC Owned and Operated Stations. This is the third major lawsuit Sandmanns legal team has launched. The team, L. Lin Wood and Todd McMurtry, has already filed similar defamation suits against The Washington Post for $250 million and CNN for $275 million. McMurtry said The Washington Post was targeted first because it was first out of the gateone of the first major media to perpetuate the inaccurate portrayal of the events. CNN was targeted next, he said, because of the significant reach of the network, which aired at least four broadcasts and ran nine online articles defaming Sandmann, according to the complaint. McMurty previously said that HBO and The Associated Press may be next in line to be sued. Incorrect Reports The 16-year-old Sandmann was at the center of a slew of stories that claimed he and other students harassed Native American and anti-President Donald Trump activist Nathan Phillips during a Jan. 18 incident. The stories triggered a number of threats against the students. At the time, short videos of Sandmann, who was wearing a MAGA hat, standing face-to-face with Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial, had gone viral. Due to its short length, the video made it appear that Sandmann and his classmates had confronted Phillips who was chanting and beating a drum. Phillips told media outlets that the students had confronted and harassed him. Sandmann was then trashed by prominent figures like actor Jim Carey, actress Alyssa Milano, Senator Elizabeth Warren; media organizations like the New York Times and the Washington Post; and many others. But a longer version of the video showed that it was actually Phillips who had approached the 16-year-old, who had then responded by standing still and smiling. After the longer, 15-minute video emerged, many that were initially against Sandmann issued apologies, retractions, or simply deleted tweets. The longer video paints a picture with more context than the short viral video clip that led to the initial outrage. It shows how an Indigenous Peoples March took place at the same time as an anti-abortion March for Life that Sandmann was attending. The video shows Black Hebrew Israelites spewing racial slurs at Native Americans seemingly there to attend the march. They were also seen directing racial slurs and using abusive language towards other black people who were passing by. Then, as a few more Covington high schoolers wander over, and are also met with racial abuse from the Hebrew Israelite men. Bring yall cracker [expletive] up here and make a statement. Tell em come over here in the lions den. You little dirty [expletive] crackers, your day comin. Epoch Times reporters Colin Fredericson, Tom Ozimek and Petr Svab contributed to this report From NTD.com Democrats in Massachusetts Want to Remove God From Oath of Office A state representative in Massachusetts proposed to amend the Massachusetts Constitutionthe oldest in the country, and in the worldto remove so help me, God from the oath of office for nearly every elected official. Proposed by Mindy Domb (D-Amherst), the bill was approved by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on April 25. If it is passed, so help me, God would be replaced by the longer secular oath: This I do under the pains and penalties of perjury. The proposal was backed by 14 Democratic lawmakers. One secular group said the so help me, God phrase should be removed from official proceedings, and that in their view, it violates the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The history of the United States is about pluralism and an insistence that all of the countrys legal structures and forms of authority are representative of persons of every belief or a lack of belief, Zachary Bos, Massachusetts state director for American Atheists told CNHI. We support any move that helps to increase the governments commitment to secularism. But one conservative group, the Massachusetts Family Institute, said that removing God from the official proceedings reflects the latest efforts by some to erode peoples faith. Its yet another cynical attempt to erase the rich legacy of faith that has been part of our Commonwealth from the Pilgrims to today, the groups president Andrew Beckwith said, according to CNHI. Gender Neutral Constitution? Earlier in the month, Domb presented another proposal to make the same constitution gender neutral, such that all pronouns he would be replaced with they. The bill was backed by 9 other co-signers8 of whom are Democrats. We need to make sure the Constitution includes everybody, regardless of their race, gender or identity, and that the language in it reflects that, Domb told CNHI. We are in a much different world now than when the Constitution was originally written. Lengthy Amendment Process The Massachusetts Constitution was mainly authored by John Adams, the second president of the United States, and became effective in late 1780. It is the oldest functioning written constitution in continuous effect in the world. It has since been amended 121 timesmost recently in 2006 when they approved the states health care law, which served as a model for the national Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. The process to amend the constitution could take up to several years and gain the approval of two consecutive legislatures before being cleared for a statewide ballot for voters to decide. In 2017, a French woman who was seeking citizenship filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts to remove the phrase so help me, God from the oath of citizenship. A federal judge rejected the case, saying in his ruling that her arguments were not convincing. By its very nature, an oath that concludes so help me, God is asserting that God exists, her lawsuit read. Accordingly, the current oath violates the first ten words of the Bill of Rights [the Establishment Clause], and to participate in a ceremony which violates that key portion of the United States Constitution is not supporting or defending the Constitution as the oath demands. But U.S. District Judge William Young said in his ruling that the phrase so help me, God was not a violation of the Establishment Clause because it was ceremonial, and is a well-established tradition that can be traced back to the nations founding. House Committee Vote to Keep God in Oath In late January, House Democrats failed to remove so help you, God from the House committee oath, after it sparked objections with some Republicans. The Democrat-controlled House Committee on Natural Resources proposed to remove the reference to God from the committees oath. The draft of the proposed committee rules (pdf) showed the words so help you God in red brackets, meaning that the words would have been eliminated. The Democrats also planned to add the words under penalty of law to the oath instead. If the rules had passed, the oath would have read as follows: Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? JUST IN: The House Natural Resources Committee votes to keep "so help you God" in oath before testifying to committee, after a draft would have eliminated it. Chairman @RepRaulGrijalva says draft was a "mistake." pic.twitter.com/4TeemMuqP0 Jason Calvi (@JasonCalvi) January 30, 2019 After the news of the plan to remove the phrase came out, a top Republican congresswoman characterized the edits to the oath as indicative of a hard left shift for the Democratic Party. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) told Fox News: It is incredible, but not surprising, that the Democrats would try to remove God from committee proceedings in one of their first acts in the majority They really have become the party of Karl Marx. Epoch Times reporter Janita Kan contributed to this report From NTD.com A U.S. Border Patrol agent apprehends illegal aliens who have just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Penitas, Tex., on March 21, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) DHS to Test DNA of Migrant Families for Fraud in New Pilot Project The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under a new pilot project is set to begin administering DNA tests to migrant families as early as next week as an additional investigative tool to combat the increase in fraudulent families trying to enter the United States. Consenting migrant individuals, under the new program, will swab his or her own cheek while being observed by DHS agents and a qualified technician, as will the claimed migrant child, in a test that will take an average of two hours. The Rapid DNA kits will be provided by contractor ANDE. Migrant adults frequently pose as parents to children in order to take advantage of loopholes in immigration laws and avoid being detained. Special agents have seen perpetrators of this fraud using forged birth certificates or other fraudulent documents to establish parentage. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said 101 family units were interviewed since April 18, and of those, 29 fraudulent families were identified. This pilot will help us determine whether this technology can strengthen our existing investigative processes and potentially rescue more children from dangerous situations, DHS officials told reporters in a May 1 conference call. Since the beginning of this fiscal year until March, border officials have identified over 1,000 of these fraudulent claims and taken action. The new project comes as the United States faces a surge of illegal immigrants, especially family units. Its definitely an escalating trend that were seeing and, obviously, this type of investigative initiative is in order to be able to confront that trend, a DHS official said. U.S. officials said previously that they arrested or denied entry to more than 103,000 people along the border with Mexico in Marchmore than twice as many as the same period in 2018. Migrant adults found guilty under the plan will be sent for federal prosecution by ICE for family fraud related to crimes including immigration crime, identity and benefit fraud, alien smuggling, human trafficking and/or child exploitation. In cases where the migrant is the true parent, but doesnt have a DNA relation to them such as an older relative or adopted child, DHS said they will be looking for legal documentation as well that proves some sort of guardian status. Officials said they wouldnt be revealing the locations of the coming DNA tests so as to not disrupt the flow of migrants currently being encountered. This is a pilot. It is going to be limited in scope, limited in time to test whether or not the issue of claims of fake family units, an official said. The plan was described by DHS officials as an unprecedented move forward and a new avenue that could be utilized as a part of their investigative techniques. Mexican officials say the majority of migrants moving through their country are from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, with Cubans joining in large numbers. Our overarching goal here remains the same, its to disrupt and dismantle the transnational criminal smuggling organizations that are operating in and around the border and, in this case, endangering the lives of innocent children, a DHS official noted. President Donald Trump, who has advocated for a stronger border wall to stop the influx of illegal immigrants, has said he is considering a plan to transport aliens who are apprehended exclusively to sanctuary cities. Congress must change the Immigration Laws now, Dems wont act. Wall is being built 400 miles by end of next year, Trump said in a May 1 Twitter post. Mexico must stop the march to Border! On April 24, Trump reiterated that he would close part of the southern border if Mexico doesnt block what he described as a new caravan of migrants headed north. A very big Caravan of over 20,000 people started up through Mexico, Trump wrote on Twitter. It has been reduced in size by Mexico but is still coming. Mexico must apprehend the remainder or we will be forced to close that section of the Border & call up the Military. A woman on the phone in front of a high-rise residential building. (Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images) Elderly Woman With Alzheimers Climbs Down Residential Building An elderly woman with Alzheimers was rescued, uninjured, after climbing out the window of her 14th story residence, all the way down to the fifth floor. The 84-year-old woman, who was not named, descended the building by holding on to ladder-like structures that support air condition units, according to multiple media outlets. The incident occurred at a residential building in Chengdu City, China on April 25. The Descent The property manager of the building said the elderly woman stayed at home because she has Alzheimers disease. Since the weather was hot that day, the woman wanted to get out of the house. But she was unable to open the door because her family members locked it when they left for work, according to Chinese news outlet ThePaper.cn. She then crawled out of a window in the bathroom, and began her descent. Employees and residents at the building gathered on the ground floor below her with a bed sheet pulled taut, in case she fell. Other residents shot cellphone footage of the woman climbing down the building as she held on to ladder-like structures. One man said that she took her time, according to ThePaper.cn. The firefighters came to rescue her, and she had already gone down to the fifth floor, the property manager, surnamed Zhou, told Red Star News. The resident on the fifth floor quickly opened the window, and she was pulled inside. After rescuing the elderly woman, the employees gave her food and water. The family members then came and took her home. Bonsai is distinct from other visual arts in that its creative mediuma treeis alive. Unlike a painting or sculpture, which rarely changes after the artist applies the last brushstroke or chisels the last facet, a bonsai continues to grow and develop over its lifetime. Bonsai is a Japanese word, but the art of growing these trees originates in China, where it is called penjing. A bonsai responds to the artist, and to the environment, and the artist responds in turn in an ever-changing dance. The work of art is never finished, always becoming. With proper care, bonsai can live in their containers for hundreds of years and therefore routinely far outlive their original artists. Bonsai often get passed down over generations, becoming imbued with layers of collaborative, artistic expression. The Pacific Bonsai Museum is one of only a handful of public museums in the world solely dedicated to bonsai. Its bonsai collection includes more than 150 trees from China, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the United Statesamong the finest and most geographically diverse bonsai collections anywhere. When trees are accessioned into the collection of the Pacific Bonsai Museum, they often come with a deep history of artistic interventionsome having been touched by the most revered pioneers in the field. Bonsai created by Xueming Lu, Amy Liang Chang, John Naka (known as the father of American bonsai), Ben Oki, Harry Hirao, Vaughn Banting, Nick Lenz, and Melba Tucker are among the most noteworthy in the collection. Aarin Packard, the museums curator, who oversees the collections artistic and botanical direction, is constantly reminded of what an honor it is to care for these living beings: Bonsai are a touchstone for me; I not only feel connected to each tree, but to each person who has cared for it in the past and even to those who will care for them in the future after Im gone. The oldest tree in the Pacific Bonsai Museums permanent collectiona Korean Yew (Taxus cuspidata)has an estimated birthday in the year 1500 and has been a bonsai since Su Hyung Yoo began training it in 1986. The museums largest bonsai is its signature Domoto Maple, named after the Japanese-American nurseryman Kanetaro Domoto, who cared for the tree after it was imported to America from Japan as a bonsai in 1915. It has endured trauma and war, standing as a testament to the will to live and the power of perseverance. Bonsai is an art with ancient roots in China from at least the third century. For the past 100 years, the art has been embraced by North Americans who have evolved it in unique and open-minded ways. In America, bonsai is finding new ground, with fewer rules and a range of new bonsai-able tree species. The Pacific Bonsai Museum attracts a worldwide audience by presenting fresh exhibits, the likes of which the world has never seen before. The 2017 exhibit, Natives, was the first exhibit to exclusively present bonsai trees that are botanically endemic to the United States. Natives not only helped make bonsai relatable to American audiences but also celebrated the beauty and diversity of American native trees. The museums 2016 exhibit, Decked Out: From Scroll to Skateboard, also provided points of connection to American cultural references. In place of hanging scrollstraditionally hung beside bonsai in Japanese bonsai displaysDecked Out displayed custom skate decks painted by some of the Pacific Northwests most talented urban muralists with modern street-art styles. The mash-up helped visitors see both disciplines differently and attracted new audiences to bonsai. In the open air, against the backdrop of towering conifers in a wooded area at the heart of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan region, the exquisite collection at the Pacific Bonsai Museum is rendered sublime. Upon arrival, visitors walk a wooded trail that transports them from the everyday to the threshold of the magical. As visitors stroll the grounds, they find harmony, grace, and delight. Each bonsai sits on its own table, set within display niches organized as an outdoor art museum with no roof. Visitors come from around the world to admire the bonsai and reap the compounding benefits of time spent outdoors, time spent experiencing beauty, and time spent soothing the soul. Our hope is that you will feel closer to nature and inspired as you experience the museum, says Kathy McCabe, the museums executive director, adding, Theres always more to see, in every tree and in every season. The Pacific Bonsai Museum is open six days a week (Tuesday through Sunday), from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, although donations are always appreciated. Dont miss the museums 2019 special exhibits, Living Art of Bonsai: Principles of Design, and Gnarly: The Dan Robinson Retrospective, which are on view May 11 through September 29. This article was written by Katherine Wimble Fox and is published, with permission, from Elite Lifestyle Magazine. Katherine Wimble Fox is a Seattle-based writer and designer who currently works as the communications manager at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. Photo of former Queanbeyan Age journalist, James Michael Waugh, taken from his Twitter page. (JamesWaugh90/Twitter) Ex-Journalist Aimed to Kill Christians in Reaction to Christchurch Massacre, Court Hears A former reporter in Australia bought a scimitar-like sword before trying to lure Christians to his home and threatening to kill them in reprisal for the Christchurch massacre, a court has heard. James Michael Waugh, 28, faced the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Magistrates Court on April 30, where he applied for bail for the second time and was refused. During Waughs application, one prosecutor, Rae-ann Khazma, told the court that Waugh had, since his arrest on April 2, spoken to a doctor while in custody and said that he had intentions of luring in potential victims to his house in reprisal for the Christchurch massacre that took place on March 15. He made it clear he would either engage in battle making him a martyr or to make them look bad, she said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He also indicated his use of a scimitar [Middle-Eastern curved sword] depending on how many Christians turned up and whether they were armed. A former journalist bought a scimitar from Pakistan before trying to lure Christians to his Canberra home and threatening to kill them in reprisal for the Christchurch massacre, a court has heard.https://t.co/ylgCRe9HXt Canberra Times (@canberratimes) April 30, 2019 Alleged Death Threats on Facebook Waugh was arrested at his home in Griffith, Canberra, on April 2, after he allegedly posted online threats to kill members of a church in Canberra. He was charged with multiple crimes including possessing an object with the intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm, using a carriage service in a menacing manner, and making threats to kill. A tip to the National Security Hotline by one of Waughs friends had alerted police to the online posts. Im going to kill every single one of you dog polytheist [expletive], said one post that Waugh had allegedly written on March 23, local time, on the Facebook page of the Canberra House of Prayer. The threatening message was captured in a screenshot and posted in an article by the ABC. Ive bought a scimitar and intend to cut their heads off in my front yard as a reprisal, Waugh allegedly said in another message sent to numerous people in a Facebook Messenger group chat, court documents in early April showed, according to the ABC. I have issued threats, along with my name and address, to every coward dog church in Canberra, the message also said. In early April, the court also heard that Waugh had undergone a mental health assessment, which showed that he had no mental illness to explain his conduct. At the time, Prosecutor Danielle Perks said the assessment suggested that Waugh would be a danger if he was released. [He showed] the ideation of a clear intention to harm others based on the defendants extreme religious beliefs, she said, according to the ABC. Not Trusted to Be Granted Bail On April 30, Khazma told the court that Waugh had expressed intentions to leave the ACT with his brother. She added that his computer had shown searches for areas in Queensland and central Australia. Khazma added that Waugh had told a doctor that he did not acknowledge the Australian Government, nor Australian laws. She said that based on all the information presented, Waugh could not be trusted to be given bail and meet his conditions to stay within the ACT. Waughs lawyer, Helen Hayunga, said that he should be granted bail because there was no evidence that he would act on his threats. She said there was no evidence to show he was in contact with criminals, nor that he had lured someone to his house. She also said that police had seized his phone and computer. It is one thing to espouse bizarre or intemperate views and another to act upon them, she said, according to the ABC. The difficulty for the prosecution is that there is no evidence he was going to act [on his threats]. Beyond the acquisition of the weapon, Magistrate Peter Morrison interjected. Waugh formerly worked for the Queanbeyan Age, a regional newspaper in New South Wales, now owned by Nine. He left the paper in the last six months for another job but has since been unemployed for at least a month, according to Nine. Waugh is remanded in custody until his next court date. From NTD.com Facebook Overhauls Design as It Moves Focus to Private Messaging SAN JOSE, Calif.Facebook debuted an overhaul of its core social network on April 30, 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. The company also rolled out features aimed at encouraging users to interact with their close social circle as well as with businesses, such as a tool for appointment booking. 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. Investors greeted the announcements, mostly launching lower-margin businesses, with a lukewarm response. Facebook shares ended down 0.7 percent on April 30. Promised Changes 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, Microsoft, and eBay 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. 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. By Katie Paul House Democrats Threaten Trump Officials With Contempt, Jail WASHINGTONDemocratic leaders are threatening Attorney General William Barr and other Trump administration officials with subpoenas, contempt citations, and possible jail time for refusing to testify before House committees. The threats mark a complete reversal from their stance in 2012, when Eric Holder, then-President Barack Obamas self-described wingman, was the nations chief law enforcement officer. Hours after the House Judiciary Committee voted on May 1 to allow the panels majority and minority counsels to question Barr for an hour, the attorney general canceled his scheduled May 2 testimony. Barr contends that only senators and representatives should question congressional witnesses, a view he repeatedly stated during negotiations with panel Democrats. Barr previously had offered voluntarily to testify before the House panel concerning his role in making available to Congress and the public special counsel Robert Muellers report on allegations that President Donald Trump and campaign aides colluded with Russians in 2016 and then obstructed justice in seeking to conceal their actions. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Judiciary panel, has threatened to issue a subpoena directing Barr to appear, after the attorney general was a no-show on May 2. Barrs decision not to appear sparked a fiery reaction from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), telling reporters at her weekly news conference on May 2: He lied to Congress, he lied to Congress. If anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general. Asked by a reporter if she believes Barr should be imprisoned, Pelosi replied, There is a process for that, and as I said, Ill say it again, the committee will act upon how we will proceed. Pelosi was referring to Barr telling a House committee in April that he wasnt aware of Muellers criticism of the attorney generals description of the report to Congress, when, in fact, he had previously received a letter with objections from the special counsel. Kerri Kupec, Barrs chief spokesperson, called Pelosis comments baseless reckless, irresponsible, and false. Late on May 1, after learning Barr wouldnt be testifying, Nadler claimed the attorney general is trying to blackmail the committee into not following the most effective means of eliciting the information we need. He is terrified of having to face a skilled attorney. Barr is serving his second term as attorney general, having been nominated by then-President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate unanimously for the post in 1991, when Democrats controlled the chamber. Unprecedented and Unnecessary In response to Nadler, Kupec released a statement saying: [The] Attorney General testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for over five hours. The Attorney General also voluntarily released the Special Counsels confidential report with minimal redactions to Congress and the public, made an even-less redacted report available to Chairman Nadler and congressional leadership (which they have refused to review), and made himself available to the committee by volunteering to testify this week. Unfortunately, even after the Attorney General volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary. Kupec also noted that most of the judicial panels members, including Nadler, are attorneys who are capable of cross-examining witnesses such as Barr. The Attorney General remains happy to engage directly with members on their questions regarding the report and looks forward to continue working with the committee on their oversight requests, said Kupec. The attorney general spent most of May 1 answering questions about the report before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a hearing marked in part by the open contempt for Barr displayed by Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). At another point during the tense hearing, Barr told Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who had questioned the attorney generals credibility, that we have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon. Inherent Contempt The Democrats threats reportedly came in closed meetings April 30 and May 1, during which Nadler, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), and House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) cited inherent contempt, an obscure, seldom-used constitutional power of Congress. Under inherent contempt, both the Senate and the House of Representatives have the authority as an implied legislative prerogative under the Constitution and independent of the executive branch to impose fines, as well as to arrest and jail individuals who defy subpoenas to testify or produce evidence. The process requires a majority vote of either chamber directing the sergeant-at-arms to order the U.S. Capitol Police to locate, arrest, and detain the individual, who can then be held in confinement until he or she complies with the subpoena. The confinement must end, however, with the expiration of the Congress during which the subpoena was issued, thus limiting such jail time to less than two years at the maximum. For many years, the U.S. Capitol building included a jail cell, but nobody has been imprisoned under inherent contempt by Congress since the 1930s, according to the Congressional Research Service. It isnt clear where a detained individual would be held in the present Capitol complex. The individual would also be able to file a writ of habeas corpus with a federal court seeking release. There is no tool in our toolbox that we should not explore, Cummings said, concerning the use of inherent contempt, according to Roll Call. Precedents But Cummings had a very different view in 2012, when the then-Republican majority in the House voted to hold Holder in contempt for refusing to allow documents requested in a congressional investigation to be given to Congress. Holding someone in contempt of Congress is one of the most serious and formal actions our Committee can take, and it should not be used as a political tool to generate press as part of an election-year witch hunt against the Obama administration, Cummings said in an April 27, 2012, letter to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), then-Oversight Committee chairman, protesting the leaking to the news media of a 48-page draft contempt citation. Two months later, the House voted 25567 to hold Holder in contempt for refusing to turn over Justice Department documents to Congress, including internal emails, concerning the Operation Fast and Furious scandal in which federal officials allowed guns to be sold to known Mexican drug cartel associates. The idea was that the guns would show up later at crime scenes, thus making it easier to identify suspects. But the program became controversial after a U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot and killed with one of the weapons. Cummings and Schiff were among 108 Democrats who left the House chamber in protest and refused to vote on the contempt motion. Nadler remained in the chamber and voted against the motion. The last occasion when the exercise of the inherent contempt powers became a subject of public debate was in 2014, when the House voted to hold former Internal Revenue Service senior executive Lois Lerner in contempt after she refused to answer questions before Issas committee. That debate ended abruptly, however, when then-Speaker of the House John Boehner decided to forgo the inherent contempt powers. Im not sure we want to go down that path, Boehner said during a Fox Business interview, addingincorrectly according to the Congressional Research Servicethat its never been used and admitting that he was not sure that its an appropriate way to go about this. Lerner was at the center of the federal tax agencys targeting of conservative, evangelical, and Tea Party applicants seeking tax-exemption. These groups faced inordinate delays in processing their requests during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns. In 2008, when the Democrats previously held the majority in the House, two officials working for then-President George W. Bush were voted to be in contempt of Congress. India Election: Will Voters Choose Modi or Gandhi? MATHURA/DELHI, IndiaAs India moves toward the culmination of its six-week election process, the big question is whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will win a second term, or will the scion of the Gandhi dynasty be the next to govern the worlds largest democratic country. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept into power in 2014 with a huge majority win. His main contender this time around is Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Party and a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family that has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India since independence in 1947. There are seven phases of voting in the lead-up to the election on May 19, and so far, the turnout at the polls has been robust with people voting in sufficiently large numbers. In Mathura, a temple town connected to Delhi via a swanky expressway, many who voted in the second phase expressed their preference for Modi. But their praise was not unconditional; most people who spoke to The Epoch Times had some grievance or other, or they accepted criticism of the government, but still favored Modi and his right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP. The BJP is in a good position here, said Shamsher Singh, 73, a retired schoolteacher who had just cast his vote. Mathura is in the constituency of Hema Malini, a former movie star who is a member of Parliament with the BJP. Before the polling in Mathura, videos of Malini on a tractor in a field while draped in an expensive sari began doing the rounds on social media, where she was mocked for pretending to do farm work. Our vote is not for Hema Malini but for Modi, said retired policeman Digambar Singh when asked about Malinis performance as an MP over the last five years. Although Shamsher Singh is unhappy about his pension getting reduced under the Modi government, he said he has no confidence in Gandhis ability to lead the country. Also, he believes Modi has burnished Indias credentials on the world stage with his decisive leadership. Four phases of voting have taken place so far and 373 out of a total 543 seats have gone to the polls in 24 states. On May 12, itll be New Delhis turn. Kasim Raza, 48, a resident of the capital city who works for an NGO, said Gandhi is his choice for the countrys next prime minister. He is able to treat everyone the same. Even if youre unkind to him, he will treat you with love. He is an inherently democratic person. This is his heritage that he has received being a scion of the Gandhi-Nehru family, he said. As for Modi, Raza said he talks a lot and doesnt achieve much. All he did in his five-year term was to abuse [former prime ministers] Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Now he is using the army for votes, he said. Divided Opposition One thing that currently benefits the BJP is that the Official Opposition is divided. Instead of rallying behind the Congress Party and Gandhi, other regional parties that command a substantial number of seats in their respective areas have chosen to contest on their own. But Gandhi told NDTV on May 2 that his party has done well in the voting so far and that people are losing faith in Modi, who he said refuses to discuss pressing issues like unemployment, the economy, and distress among farmers. There is massive unemployment in the country, massive farmer disenchantment, farmer suicides in the country, he said. The primary issue in Indian elections is jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs, and the economy. Its a pity the Prime Minister cant talk about these issues. We have boxed him in and he cant talk. Having lost three important state elections in December 2018, the BJP seemed to be heading for troubled waters when its prospects received a boost after the attack in February on a security convoy in Pulwama, the India-administered part of Kashmir. The attack, which killed 44 Indian soldiers, brought nationalism into the national discourse once againa topic that well suits Modi and the BJP. Since then, the BJP has tried to keep up the momentum, bolstered by another surgical strike within Pakistani territory to avenge the Pulwama attackalthough the opposition has decried the lack of credible information regarding that operation. The BJP has tried to put the opposition on the defensive by accusing it of lacking patriotism in questioning the competence of the armed forces. In a few weeks time, it will be known whether BJPs hardline nationalism worked in its favor. Until then, the heat and dust of the worlds largest democratic elections will overshadow all else. Lawnmower Accident Kills Former Delta Force Commander Eldon Bargewell A former military officer in charge of an elite special mission unit of the United States Army died after a terrible accident in Alabama on April 29. Former Delta Force Commander and Major General Eldon Bargewell died at the age of 72 after his lawnmower rolled over an embankment behind his home in Eufaula, 175 miles southeast of Birmingham. Former Delta Force Commander and retired Major General Eldon A. Bargewell has died in accident. https://t.co/aSLbSZRqty SITREP NEWS (@armyupdate1) May 1, 2019 The Special Operations Association (SOA) in Texas paid a tribute to Bargewell, who was arguably one of most highly decorated soldiers still on active duty back in 2006 when he retired. In a social media post, SOA described his death as another heartbreaking loss of a dear friend and special man. This was absolutely one of Americas finest patriots and gentlemen. Those of us blessed to know him have a hole in our hearts that will never be filled, SOA said in a Facebook post dated April 30. Bargewells final post was serving as deputy chief of staff for operations in Iraq. [He was] director of operations for operations [like] Restore Hope (Haiti), Enduring Freedom-NATO (Afghanistan) and Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) when Delta was organized, Eldon was an original member and served at every level of Delta from operator to commander, SOA said. He [also] commanded special operations units from recon teams to special operations command level in Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam, the Middle East, El Salvador, Operation Just Cause (Panama), Desert Storm (Iraq), Restore Democracy, and Allied Force (Bosnia/Kosovo). Bargewell began his 39-year career back in 1967, just a couple of years after graduating from high school in Hoquiam, Washington. According to SOA, he had finished a special forces qualification course one year later and served his country in the Vietnam War at a top-secret unit called Command and Control North, MACV-SOG, as team leader for Reconnaissance Team Viper. During his service in Vietnam, Eldon earned the distinguished service cross, second only to the medal of honor in 1971 for extraordinary heroism by breaking an assault by enemy forces despite suffering from multiple fragmentation wounds from an exploding B-40 rocket, continued to fight and insured the safe extraction of his team, SOA said. Al.com reported that the cross award citation commended Bargewell for releasing a deadly volume of machine gun fire on the enemy despite being wounded himself. He refused medical treatment in order to defend the area and allow the safe extraction of his team. Staff Sergeant Bargewells 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. A former Delta Force commander dies in a lawnmower accident at his Alabama home. https://t.co/hcWEIBvzGE pic.twitter.com/U3ZnGLaBWn AL.com (@aldotcom) May 1, 2019 After returning from Vietnam in 1972, Eldon attended Infantry Officers Candidate School and graduated as the leadership honor graduate of his class. From Mike Taylor:Another heartbreaking loss of a dear friend and special man. Former Delta Force Commander and retired Posted by Special Operations Association on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 Arizona friend Don Wayne Curry paid a tribute to Bargewell on social media after learning of his accident. Ranger friend Major General Eldon Bargewell passed away, Curry said in a Facebook post dated May 1. Near the time of his retirement [he] was reportedly the most decorated active member of the Army, died at his home in Eufaula, Alabama, Monday from a lawn mower flipped over a[n] embankment. Ranger friend Major General Eldon Bargewell passed away. Commanded special operations units from team to Special Posted by Don Wayne Curry on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 Bargewell also received three bronze stars with combat V for valor under fire, four purple hearts, an army commendation medal with combat V, and a presidential unit citation. You may have never heard of MG Eldon Bargewell before but he was a legendary U.S. Army leader and former Delta Force Commander. While his death was a tragic accident, his service to our country should not be forgotten. RIP Major General. https://t.co/zLoz9KtNRf Michael W. Trott (@AuthorMWTrott) May 1, 2019 Democratic Governor nominee Roy Cooper campaigns during an event for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the campus of the University of Chapel Hill on November 2, 2016 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Sara D. Davis/Getty Images North Carolina Governor Goes Against Wishes of Constituents, Vetoes Born-Alive Bill Commentary Recently, North Carolinas Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the state legislatures born-alive billdespite the fact that the state House and the Senate are Republican-controlled. Coopers veto comes at a time when abortions are declining, yet the debate about life continues to create controversy at the state and federal level alike. Coopers unwillingness to honor the wishes of North Carolinas constituents shows just how obsessed Democrats are with abortion, an issue that remains paramount to their platform, under the guise of reproductive rights. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act, originally sponsored by Republican lawmakers, would have required doctors to try to preserve the life of any baby born alive following an abortion attempt. The bill proposed that any health care practitioner who aided in an abortion attempt would be required to exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonable diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. If health care professionals didnt do that, they would be guilty of a class D felony. The bill was widely supported by Republicans and a few stray Democrats. The state Senate passed the bill in a 2819 vote; the House backed it by a vote of 6546. Still, Cooper vetoed it. In a letter announcing his veto, Cooper wrote that laws already protect newborn babies, and this bill is an unnecessary interference between doctors and their parents. To override the veto, North Carolinas Republican lawmakers need a three-fifths majority. One Democrat who originally voted for the measure, Sen. Ben Clark, announced he would now vote with the governor to sustain the veto, but with all 50 senators present on April 30, only one Democrat vote was needed to override the veto. Thanks to Sen. Don Davis, the veto was overridden in the Senate 3020. Now, the House needs to vote. Revealing Two of the born-alive bills primary sponsors, Republican Sen. Joyce Krawiec and Rep. Pat McElraft, said in a joint statement, according to CNN affiliate WRAL, that caring for a living, breathing newborn infant is too restrictive for Governor Coopers radical abortion agenda. Indeed, this veto demonstrates several things about political points, the abortion debate, and the importance of valuing life in a societal makeup. Coopers claim that the bill is simply redundant and therefore unnecessary is a straw man claim. This law specifically stated how to handle babies post-abortion; thats why Cooper didnt touch it. Not to mention, every state in the Union has passed redundant, even silly, measuresthat doesnt keep them from being signed. Coopers personal opinions about abortion aside, by vetoing the bill, he turns a blind eye to his constituents, the very people who voted for the legislators who passed the bill in both chambers. Politicians arent in office to be lone dictators but to represent the will of the peoplethis bill to protect babies was clearly the will of the people of North Carolina, by a majority. Despite the fact that abortion rates have been declining for years and more and more abortion clinics are shutting downat least 40 abortion clinics closed or stopped offering abortions in 2018abortion remains ever an exclusive political gem, however ghoulish. For Democrats, abortion at once provides fundraising, political platforms, fuel against Republicans, and a sense of fighting for a womans reproductive rights. Has there ever been one issue that accomplishes so many things while also maintaining an ability to be utterly devastating to the societal fabric of this country? Abortion, or passing a provision protecting babies who survive an abortion, is not simply about the procedure itself but is a way to deflect from encouraging Americans to adopt a culture that values life. By vetoing the born-alive bill, Cooper doesnt just hurt babies who have survived abortions, he also promulgates the idea that abortion is no longer safe, legal, and rare, but normal, preferred, and common. Nothing should be further from the truth and in fact, abortion is becoming increasingly rare, as more and more states pass heartbeat laws. Coopers decision to veto is a sure demonstration of the power of abortion to Democrats, as an issue, a strategy, a fundraising tool, and a signal of their strength as a progressive party, willing to subvert the will of the people to coerce society into accepting a culture of death. Nicole Russell is a freelance writer and mother of four. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Politico, The Daily Beast, and the Federalist. Follow her on Twitter @russell_nm Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Rep. Ilhan Omar Slammed for Blaming America for the Collapse of Socialist Venezuela Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is once again under fire, this time for arguing that U.S. sanctions are to blame for the collapse of Venezuela under illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduro. A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela, Omar said during an interview with the left-leaning Democracy Now! program. And weve sort of set the stage for where were arriving today. She continued, 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. Rep. Ilhan Omar says there is a direct correlation between U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and its history of Posted by Democracy Now! on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 The socialist South American country has spiraled into humanitarian, economic, and political chaos after Maduro refused to step down under mounting international pressure. In mid-January, Venezuelas duly elected National Assembly declared Maduros presidency illegitimate due to a fraudulent election and instead swore in Juan Guaido as the interim president. But Maduro has refused to give up control. Guaido, who is internationally recognized as the legitimate president with the backing of more than 50 nations, had launched a final phase plan to oust the socialist dictator and bring freedom to the country. The interim president recently gathered a small contingent of heavily armed troops and called for Venezuelans and the military to rise upa move that is supported by the United States. Maduro was ready to leave Venezuela but didnt follow through after Russia coaxed him into staying, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Omar received heavy backlash for her comments, with many taking to social media to condemn the freshman congresswoman. Vice President Mike Pence expressed his disbelief that Omar had chosen socialism over freedom. As Venezuelans take to the streets to stand for their freedom against an oppressive dictator, Democrat Congresswoman @ IlhanMN chooses socialism over freedom. The Trump Administration stands with the freedom-loving people of Venezuela, Pence wrote on Twitter. As Venezuelans take to the streets to stand for their freedom against an oppressive dictator, Democrat Congresswoman @IlhanMN chooses socialism over freedom. The Trump Administration stands with the freedom-loving people of Venezuela. https://t.co/UYiPLPvKl5 Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) May 2, 2019 Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said @ IlhanMN the avg Venezuelan adult has lost 24 lbs. Babies have no medicine. Families have to walk miles in the heat to get the only meal they may have that day. All bc of the corrupt Maduro regime. Your comments are so far from the truth. Cuba and Russia appreciate your support. .@IlhanMN the avg Venezuelan adult has lost 24 lbs. Babies have no medicine. Families have to walk miles in the heat to get the only meal they may have that day. All bc of the corrupt Maduro regime. Your comments are so far from the truth. Cuba and Russia appreciate your support. https://t.co/o1ADtlwrtN Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) May 1, 2019 Similarly, the former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Herman Cain said, Here we have a currently-serving Democrat, a woman they champion and place on the covers of their lapdog magazines, and shes actually trying to deflect blame from a murderous dictator and place it on her own country. Here we have a currently-serving Democrat, a woman they champion and place on the covers of their lapdog magazines, and shes actually trying to deflect blame from a murderous dictator and place it on her own country. https://t.co/l1m0tA45Yw Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) May 2, 2019 John Cooper, the senior communications manager of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation, also shared similar views. Wow: @ IlhanMN says the U.S. has helped lead the devastation in # Venezuela, and accuses the U.S. on bullying the Maduro regime. Apparently Maduros starvation of his people and armored trucks running them over in the streets is not worthy of criticism in her eyes, Cooper wrote. WOW: @IlhanMN says the U.S. has helped lead the devastation in #Venezuela, and accuses the U.S. on bullying the Maduro regime. Apparently Maduros starvation of his people and armored trucks running them over in the streets is not worthy of criticism in her eyes. pic.twitter.com/leTcRHWDVd John Cooper (@thejcoop) May 1, 2019 Omar previously denounced President Donald Trumps support for Guaido, calling the interim presidents party far-right and their fight against Maduro, a coup, even though Maduro is considered illegitimate by many nations. A US backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face. Trumps efforts to install a far right opposition will only incite violence and further destabilize the region, Omar said on Twitter, on Jan. 24. Exchange between Rep. @IlhanMN and Elliott Abrams: I fail to understand why members of this committee of the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful. pic.twitter.com/n8aMbH1g3G CSPAN (@cspan) February 13, 2019 Moreover, Omar attacked the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams in February during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, saying that she didnt trust him and then wouldnt permit him to reply. The Epoch Times Bowen Xiao contributed to this report. Rep. Meadows Refers Ex-CIA Contractor Nellie Ohr for Prosecution Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) referred former CIA contractor Nellie Ohr for prosecution on the basis of several statements she made during her congressional testimony that Meadows called demonstrably false. Documents and information reviewed by our committees raise concerns Ms. Ohr knowingly provided false testimony in violation of 18 U.S.C. [Section] 1001, the May 1 referral reads. The Ohrs Ohr was a major player in efforts to formulate the TrumpRussia collusion narrative in 2016, when she worked for Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that was paid by the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to deliver information that would be damaging to rival candidate Donald Trump. In addition to Ohr, Fusion GPS hired former British spy Christopher Steele, who produced the infamous Steele Dossier, a collection of unsubstantiated claims about Trump and Russia that was spread through the media and among high levels in the Obama administration to seed the TrumpRussia narrative. Her husband, Bruce Ohr, was the highest-ranking career official at the Justice Department (DOJ), and acted as a back channel through which Steele funneled his claims to the FBI after the bureau terminated Steele as a source for spilling his relationship with the FBI to the media. Nellie Ohr previously worked as a Russia expert for the CIAs Open Works project, which used outside contractors to create intelligence products from open source information. Her job for Fusion GPS was to probe some Trump family members and several associates of his campaign. Testimony During her Oct. 19, 2018, testimony to the House judiciary and oversight committees, Ohr appeared to try to distance herself from the DOJ, saying she would not have any knowledge of what [was] going on in an ongoing investigation at the department and would not have any knowledge of the Department of Justices investigations on Russia. She also denied that she shared her research on Russian organized crime and Trump with anybody outside of Fusion GPS, her husband, and Steele. But hundreds of pages of emails between Ohr and her husband appear to contradict her testimony. In March 2016, DOJ official Lisa Holtyn sent Bruce Ohr an email asking if Nellie Ohr would be able to speak with DOJ officials Ivana Nizich and Joe Wheatley to discuss her research as part of an ongoing investigation. Sure! Ohr replied to her husband when he checked with her. In a July 26, 2016, email to Bruce Ohr, Holtyn, Nizich, and Wheatley, she shared her analysis on a Russian mafia boss and also the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Taking these communications into account, in addition to other information we have reviewed, Ms. Ohr misled the committees, Meadowss referral states, and later concludes the following: Truthful witness testimony is crucial to the integrity of investigations conducted by the House of Representatives. Ms. Ohr violated her oath to tell the truth by making demonstrably false statements during her testimony before the Committee. Accordingly, I am referring Nellie Ohr to the Department of Justice for investigation of potential violation(s) of 18 U.S.C. [Section] 1001. Emails Bruce Ohrs emails were obtained in December 2018 by the right-leaning watchdog Judicial Watch, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit (pdf). The emails reveal that Nellie Ohr played an active part in her husbands career, helping to host two high-profile delegations between April and June 2016. One was a delegation of European analysts specializing in Russian organized crime meeting with the DOJs Wheatley and Nizich and possibly others. The other was a dinner with Alison Saunders, then-director of public prosecutions in charge of the UKs Crown Prosecution Service. She also regularly sent open-source materials on Russia to her husband and at times to Holtyn, Wheatley, and Nizich as well. Hi Honey, if you ever get a moment you might find the penultimate article interestingespecially the summary in the final paragraph, she wrote to her husband on July 6, 2016. The paragraph, bolded in the email, read in part, If Putin wanted to concoct the ideal candidate to service his purposes, his laboratory creation would look like Donald Trump. Investigating the Investigators The FBI officially opened a counterintelligence investigation into four associates of the Trump campaign on July 31, 2016, but after more than two years of investigation, which was taken over in 2017 by special counsel Robert Mueller, the investigator found that the Russians indeed tried to meddle with the 2016 elections, but didnt find any collusion nor coordination with the Trump campaign. Attorney General William Barr testified to the Senate in April that he believes that Trumps campaign was being spied on and said he plans to review both the genesis and the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign during 2016 to learn whether the surveillance was adequately predicated. A freshwater shrimp (Gammarus pulex) studied by UK scientists, who found cocaine in all shrimp samples collected in Suffolk county in eastern England. The study, authored by researchers at King's College London and the University of Suffolk, was published on May 1, 2019. (King's College London) Scientists Find Cocaine in Shrimps in UK Rivers Scientists have found a wide range of chemicals, including pesticides and illicit drugs such as cocaine, in freshwater shrimp across the county of Suffolk, a rural area in eastern England. They were surprised to find cocaine in all the samples they tested. They said the party drug ketamine was also widespread. Their study was published May 1 in the journal Environment International. Scientists said they had collected shrimp (Gammarus pulex) samples from five catchment areas and 15 different sites across Suffolk. Researchers at Kings College London, in collaboration with the University of Suffolk, found cocaine in all the samples. 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, the study said. The study authors said that the findings of cocaine were not the shrimps faultconsumer products, medicines, and drugs, made up of thousands of different chemicals, can end up in rivers after use and can cause environmental damage. 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, lead author Thomas Miller from Kings College London said in a press release. 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, Miller added. Leon Barron from Kings College London said in the press release that he was surprised at such regular occurrence of illicit drugs. We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments, he said. He also didnt know where the cocaine and the pesticides came from. The presence of pesticides which have long been banned in the UK also poses a particular challenge as the sources of these remains unclear, Barron said. Nic Bury from the University of Suffolk said the question of whether cocaine in aquatic wildlife is a more widespread issue would warrant further research. Environmental health has attracted much attention from the public due to challenges associated with climate change and microplastic pollution, he said in the press release. 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. Gel-Injected Shrimp From China The case recalls a recent case of gel found in commercial shrimp harvested in China. The allegations by investigative journalists are that unscrupulous seafood dealers inject shrimp with gel to make them heavier and so able to generate a greater profit. 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. 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. 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. Wu Wenhui, a professor at Shanghai Ocean University, said in an interview in 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. Besides the questionable composition of the gel itself, 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 Beijing News. Commentary articles in the Beijing Youth Daily point out that this scandal exposes the ineffectiveness of Chinas food regulation system. U.S. Options Patty Lovera, assistant director of the United States-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, she said. Epoch Times reporters Juliet Song and Tom Ozimek contributed to this article. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh addresses a gathering during the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Boston, on May 2, 2019 .(Charles Krupa/AP Photo) Secluded Baltimore Mayor Resigns Amid Scandal BALTIMOREBaltimores mayor resigned under pressure Thursday amid a flurry of investigations into whether she arranged bulk sales of her self-published childrens books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. Mayor Catherine Pughs resignation came exactly a week after her City Hall offices, homes and multiple other locations were raided by FBI and IRS agents. She is the second mayor in less than a decade to step down because of scandal . She came to office contrasting her clean image with her main opponent, ex-mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families. I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the image of the city of Baltimore and the credibility of the office of the mayor, Pugh said in a written statement read by her lawyer, Steven Silverman. I am sorry for the harm that I have caused to the city of Baltimore. Mayor Catherine Pugh has resigned from office amid scandal and investigations into the sales of her childrens books. https://t.co/SOewBxh9MN Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) May 2, 2019 A federal grand jury has been empaneled and state and local inquiries are also underway into the roughly $800,000 Pugh made over the years in exchange for her Healthy Holly paperbacks about health and nutrition. Since the book scandal erupted in late March, Pughs fractured administration has lurched from one crisis to another and various aides have been fired or left City Hall. Her resignation provides a measure of resolution after weeks of uncertainty and mounting pressure for her to step down. Marylands Republican governor and numerous Democrats had pressed for her resignation, saying she was no longer fit to lead Baltimore. This was the right decision, as it was clear the mayor could no longer lead effectively, Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement Thursday afternoon. Baltimore City can now begin to move forward. Now that Pugh has resigned, acting Mayor Bernard Jack Young automatically becomes the permanent mayor and will not need to be sworn in. Hes currently in Detroit for a conference about economic development and will return to Baltimore over the weekend. I am confident that I have left the City in capable hands for the duration of the term to which I was elected, Pugh wrote in a letter. #BreakingNews @Fox5DC The Attorney for Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh says she has resigned. pic.twitter.com/z0y77h6SP6 Tom Fitzgerald (@FitzFox5DC) May 2, 2019 Citing deteriorating health following a bout of pneumonia, Pugh took a paid leave on April 1 and hasnt been seen in public since. The 69-year-old abruptly retreated to her home the same day that Hogan asked the state prosecutor to investigate public corruption accusations against her. In recent days, Silverman had repeatedly gone in and out of Pughs city home to discuss options with her while also asserting that she was so fragile physically and mentally that she was unable to make major decisions. Last week, Silverman had told reporters that she might be lucid enough to make a decision this week. At issue for multiple investigators are questionable financial arrangements she negotiated over years selling her hard-to-find Healthy Holly books. The books were meant to be provided to schools and day care centers, but its unclear where tens of thousands of copies ended up. Hogan has called the accusations against Pugh deeply disturbing, and the states accountant described the book-selling arrangements as brazen, cartoonish corruption. The City Council called for Pughs immediate resignation, as did numerous state lawmakers and an influential business group, among others. The scandal erupted when it came to light that the University of Maryland Medical System, one of the states largest private employers, paid Pugh $500,000 for 100,000 copies of her childrens books. There was no contract behind the deal and the hospital network described some of the purchases as grants in federal filings. Before she became mayor, Pugh once sat on a state Senate committee that funded the major health network. She started serving on the systems board in 2001. Pugh was not the only one who benefited: Roughly one-third of the systems board members received compensation through the medical systems arrangements with their businesses. As she became the public face of the scandal, however, she stepped down from the board and returned her most recent $100,000 payment. Pressure on Pugh to resign ratcheted up dramatically after Kaiser Permanente disclosed that it paid her limited liability company about $114,000 between 2015 and 2018 for roughly 20,000 copies of her illustrated books. Pugh became Baltimores mayor in 2016. The next year, Baltimores spending board, which is controlled by the mayor, awarded a $48 million contract to the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc. When asked who Kaiser bought the books from, company spokesman Scott Lusk said: We purchased the books from Healthy Holly, LLC. That is Pughs company. Others then came forward, including Maryland financier J.P. Grant who acknowledged writing a roughly $100,000 check to buy Pughs Healthy Holly books but insisted he expected nothing in return. At a rambling news conference days before retreating from public view, Pugh described her book deal worth $500,000 with the university-based health care system as a regrettable mistake. She has not publicly addressed the other lucrative arrangements that have come to light. By David Mcfadden Senator Hirono Owes William Barr an Apology Commentary Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) is no stranger to controversy. That was on full display on May 1 when she shamelessly attacked and slandered Attorney General William Barr. The questioning was meant to be about Barrs handling of special counsel Robert Muellers recently released report. However, Hirono didnt necessarily see it that way. Rather than questioning Barr, she went on a personal tirade against the attorney general. In doing so, she appeared partisan and angry, placed her credibility in serious doubt, and came across as a bully who was less interested in answers and more interested in hearing her own voice or making some Top 10 list on one or more of the liberal news outlets. Regardless of why she acted in such a condescending manner, she owes Barr an apology. Hironos behavior in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1 was disrespectful and disgraceful. When Hirono had the opportunity to question Barr, she immediately attacked him, stating: Mr. Barr, now the American people know that you are no different from Rudy Giuliani or Kellyanne Conway or any of the other people who sacrificed their once decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office. You lied to Congress. But now we know more about your deep involvement and 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. Hironos disrespectful soliloquy didnt elicit any testimony and was merely an effort to slander a respectful and defenseless witness. Barr was not there to pick a fight or to criticize anyone. Rather, he had volunteered to answer the senators questions. While most of the senators played by the rules (no matter how silly some of the questions were), Hirono chose to personally attack Barr while he was on the witness stand. Rather than respond to Hironos unprovoked attack, Barr remained respectful and answered her questions, which were very limited in number and substance. This isnt the first time that Hirono has made controversial remarks. During Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation process, Hirono was very critical of how Christine Blasey Fords allegations against Kavanaugh had been handled. At the time, Hirono expected the men on the Senate Judiciary Committee to join the call for an FBI investigation. According to USA Today, Hirono blasted all men, stating: Guess whos perpetuating all of these kind of actions? Its the men in this country. And I just want to say to the men in this country: Just shut up and step up.' There is a major difference between being a zealous and tough advocate for a particular person or cause and being disrespectful and condescending. The former is respected, while the latter is normally frowned upon and viewed with a great deal of skepticism and distrust. As a lawyer, Hirono should have known better than to engage in an improper smear campaign against Barr, by way of a seemingly pre-written opening statement of sorts. Fortunately, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) came to Barrs defense, saying, You have slandered this man from top to bottom. So if you want more of this, youre not going to get it. If you want to ask him questions, you can. Graham was entirely right. Hironos remarks to and about Barr were grossly partisan, disrespectful, bully-like, and served no substantive purpose other than to publicly smear Barr. As such, Hirono owes Barr an apology, just like she owed the men of this country (including those on the committee) a sincere apology when she lumped them into one big pile and directed them all to shut up, without any reason or justification. Rather than demanding Barrs resignation, which is extremely unlikely, perhaps Hirono should start working on her apology to Barr, the entire Senate Judiciary Committee, and the American people. Elad Hakim is a writer, commentator, and practicing attorney. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, American Thinker, and other online publications. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Stephen Paneyko enjoyed Shen Yun at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on May 1, 2019. (NTD Television) NEWARKAs Shen Yun Performing Arts swept its way across dozens of U.S. cities on its 2019 world tour, a common refrain from the audience has been that the performance went beyond expectations. Stephen Paneyko, retired banking executive, was one of those audience members. It really is remarkably wonderful, way beyond what I expected, he said after watching the performance at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on May 1. The beauty, the talent, the colors, the scenery, makes me want to go to China. Shen Yun is the premier classical Chinese dance company, created with a mission to revive authentic Chinese culture, something that was destroyed by the communist regime over its almost seven decades in power. New York-based Shen Yuns two-hour-long program includes classical Chinese dance vignettes, musical soloists, and stories told through dance. Paneyko, a former executive of several banks in New York and New Jersey, said he appreciated the work of the two emcees who introduced each program, which allowed him to understand what was being presented on stage. [The performance] taught me a lot about [Chinese] culture and it was beautifully choreographed, beautifully told, he said. Paneyko also praised the skill of the performers. The talent of the dancers is just remarkable, he said. I havent seen anything like it before. Shen Yuns dancers are world-class performers of classical Chinese dance. The dance style was developed over thousands of years to become one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world, comprised of a unique set of movements, expressions, and difficult tumbling techniques. The retired banker was so dazzled by the performance that he wished it could be enjoyed by more people, including people in China. I wish the Chinese people themselves could see it. I hope you can somehow get the government to allow [it], Paneyko said. Shen Yun is not allowed to perform in China, one reason being its depiction the communist regimes suppression of adherents of spiritual discipline Falun Gong. This ongoing, brutal persecution that has last almost two decades. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, consists of meditation exercises and a set of teaching centered around the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It exploded in popularity in China during the 1990s with around 70 to 100 million people practicing the discipline by the end of the decade. Threatened by its popularity, the communist regime banned the practice in 1999, resulting in hundreds and thousands of practitioners being detained for their faith. In prisons, labor camps, and brainwashing centers, many practitioners have been tortured and have even died from their injuries. But though some parts of the program bring up the persecution, the production is ultimately one of hope. Paneyko left the theater feeling a great sense of joy from the experience. Im going to see it again because you cant take it all in on one performance, he said. With reporting by NTD Television. The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006. Stranded Swimmers Who Turned to Prayer 2 Miles Offshore Rescued by Boat Named The Amen Two miles from shore, exhausted from hours of fighting the waves and starting to cramp up, two teenage swimmers turned to prayer after becoming stranded off the Florida coast. Moments later they were rescued by a passing boat. But for Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, both students of Christs Church Academy in Jacksonville, it wasnt just the rescue that strengthened their faith in the divine, but the name of the vesselThe Amen. The two friends, both 17, had decided to head for Vilano Beach together, for a senior skip day on April 18, reported Fox news. But when they went for an offshore swim, they got into trouble, swept out to sea by the current. After two hours in the water, their body temperatures started to drop and they began to pray. I cried out: If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something, Smith told FOX 30. According to the news station, moments later, as he was starting to cramp up, they spotted a passing boat. I started swimming toward it, Brown told Fox. I was like, Im going to get this boat. Just stay here. Im going to get this boat. We are going to live.' The boat, heading to New Jersey, was captained by Eric Wagner. Stranded in the middle of the ocean, two #Florida teens began to pray. A God send, in the form of a boat, the Amen. Their incredible story of survival on @ActionNewsJax tune in at 6:00 pic.twitter.com/RsdS61VMcZ Bridgette Matter (@bridgetteANjax) 30 April 2019 Over all the wind, waves, and engines, we thought we heard a desperate scream, Wagner said, according to a statement on the school Facebook page. Exhausted and near the end the boy told me he called out for Gods help. Then we showed up. I told them the name of the vessel, thats when they started to cry. According to the Daily Mail, the teens might not have been rescued at all if the crew of The Amen hadnt decided to head out into the rougher waters for fun. The captain radioed the Coast Guard and the two teens were transferred to another boat. The first words that came out of my mouth were, God is real,' Smith told WBDO. Theres no other reason, no other explanation in the world other than God. According to the Daily Mail, both plan to attend military school after graduating from the private school. Brown aims to become a naval ROTC marine officer, and Smith wants to get his pilots license and join the Air Force. The school released a statement following the students rescue, according to the Daily Mail: The staff, students, and families of Christs Church Academy are incredibly grateful for Gods protection over Heather and Tyler, Jeanie Collins, director of marketing and development at Christs Church Academy said. Thank you to Mr. Eric Wagner, captain of the Amen vessel that rescued our students, for your action and compassion! Paramilitary policemen stand in front of the skyline of the Lujiazui Financial District in Pudong in smog in Shanghai. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images) The CCP Uses Lies to Conceal Its Trade Wars Commentary The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used intellectual property theft, currency manipulation, state subsidies, tariffs, and manipulations of the legal system for decades to give Chinese companies an unfair edge over foreign companies. Behind this is its publicly stated goal to catch up fast and surpass the United States. Now that the Trump administration is meeting the challenge head-on to stop the CCPs unfair trade practices, legacy news outlets have portrayed the idea of the trade war with China like its a new phenomenon. In reality, its a war that has been taking place for decades, but the United States has only now begun doing something about it. This historical amnesia has strategic value. For the CCP, it can use the publics forgetfulness or lack of a clear understanding of its past to frame itself as the victim of a Trump trade war. And some of the legacy news outlets, which have a policy of absolute opposition to anything done by Trump, have been willing to play along with Chinas charade to eliminate historical context. On April 28, the CCP pulled out a tactic to capitalize on the lack of clarity on its history of trade war: It simply denied it ever happened. Shen Changyu, head of Chinas National Intellectual Property Administration, said that critics of the CCPs intellectual property policies lack evidence. Some countries criticisms of Chinas IP protection lack evidence and are nonspecific, he said, according to South China Morning Post. Of course, there is plenty of evidence. Estimates of the cost of Chinas intellectual property theft against the United States range from $13 billion to $400 billion a year. Some estimates place the loss of economic value in the trillions. The CCP has used a massive systemincluding military hackers, spies, researchers, students, and businessesto steal intellectual property from U.S. companies. This includes the infamous CCP military hackers in Unit 61398, who were indicted during the Obama administration for stealing U.S. intellectual property. While the CCP has since reorganized the military operations under its new Strategic Support Force, at the time, Unit 61398 was just one of 22 known operational bureaus dedicated to similar operations. It was under the Third Department under the CCPs warfighting department, the General Staff Department. The Third Department, which focused on cyber operations, worked with the Second Department that ran human spy networks. Since 1986, the CCPs Project 863 has directed its policies for economic theft. Additional programs, such as its Torch Program, its 211 Program, and its 973 Program, directed similar operations. According to the book Chinas Industrial Espionage by William C. Hannas et al., Each of these programs looks to foreign collaboration and technologies to cover key gaps. The CCP has since added to the mix its China 2025 policy, which builds on Project 863. The program outlines 10 tech-related sectors for the CCP to dominateby hook or by crook. After intellectual property is stolen, the CCP reverse engineers it through its National Demonstration Organizations, also known as Chinas National Technology Transfer Centers. According to Hannas et al., the CCP launched these operations in 2001 and directed them more heavily in 2007 through its National Technology Transfer Promotion Implementation Plan. The CCP runs 202 of these transfer centers as models for emulation by other transfer facilities. These include the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs under the State Council, the Science and Technology Office under the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and the National Technology Transfer Center under the East China University of Science and Technology. Their charters explicitly name domestic and foreign technology as targets for commercialization,' the authors state in Chinas Industrial Espionage. In addition to these operations, the CCP also runs large-scale networks for overt espionage under its United Front Department, which includes tapping networks for economic theft. It runs student groups, such as the Chinese Student and Scholar Associations, to strategically place Chinese students in targeted positions and industries. And the CCP has used state subsidies, legal punishments of foreign firms, and industrial espionage to undercut and disable foreign competition. An example of this is the CCPs Operation Night Dragon cyberattacks, uncovered in 2013, which the CCP was using to spy on competitors in the energy industry, enabling it to under-bid them on contracts. The CCPs strategy to alter perceptions of the scope and impact of its aggressive intellectual property theft is simple yet effective. Its operations for economic theft use a death by 1,000 cuts approach and have a massive state system behind it. Its a crime that has been perpetrated against the United States for decades. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A Louisiana Chevrolet dealership is offering $25,000 to anyone who can help police find thieves who stole tires and wheels from 31 vehicles in its lot. (Facebook / Slidell Police) Thieves Steal Wheels and Tires From Dozens of Vehicles on Louisiana Dealer Lot Police enter Chevy dealership and immediately notice something wrong with the cars wheels. A Louisiana Chevrolet dealership is offering $25,000 to anyone who can help police find thieves who stole tires and wheels from 31 vehicles in its lot. Matt Bowers Chevrolet in Slidell was the target of a wheel and tire heist early on April 27 after the suspects disabled one of its surveillance cameras and dimmed the lights, said the Slidell Police Department in a Facebook post. **Slidell PD Investigating $100,000+ Tire and Wheel Theft from Local Car Dealership Owner Matt Bowers Offering $25,000 Posted by Slidell Police Department on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 According to KNOE, Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal said the thieves werent amateurs and knew what they were doing. The gates locks were also cut, he said. Fandal said the suspects were likely from another state, as similar crimes have taken place in Texas and Oklahoma. Video footage captured two suspects walking across the lot to cut the locks, the report said. A U-Haul truck then pulls up and enters the back, it was reported. Some 40 minutes later, the truck leaves and heads out on a service road. However, it is believed the thieves worked on the tires for several hours before departing with the U-Haul truck. The thieves left behind a car jack and wooden blocks. From what we can make out from the surveillance video, it appears that two of the individuals are black males. One subject was wearing a red shirt with black pants, and the other was wearing all black clothing with white shoes. The U-Haul used by the individuals appeared to be an EL-17 foot truck, said the police department. In all, the thieves made away with about $100,000 worth of rims and tires, according to the police Facebook post. It added that 124 tires and rims were taken. Fandal urged the public to come forward with any information that might lead to an arrest in the case, saying that it wont be tolerated in Slidell. Anyone with information can contact the Slidell Police Department at 985-646-4347 or e-mail pio@slidellpd.com. Anonymous tipsters are welcome, the department said. Some people tried to make light of the situation. One user joked on Facebook: How much for the truck with no wheels or tries? Another added, I can really use a set of wheels/ tires for my truck if someone knows someone The dealership made it super easy for them By Parking the Vechiles So Far away from each other. Usually theyre Parked So close that one can barely get inside them to open the Door (sic), added another person. Isabel Diaz Tinoco (L) and Jose Luis Tinoco speak with Otto Hernandez, an insurance agent from Sunshine Life and Health Advisors, as they shop for insurance under the Affordable Care Act at a store setup in the Mall of Americas on Nov. 1, 2017, in Miami, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Trump Administration Files Court Brief to Abolish Obamacare The Trump administration filed a formal request on May 1 to abolish the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. A Texas district court judge ruled late last year that Obamacare became unconstitutional after Congress repealed the individual mandate provision of the law. The Trump administration didnt initially support the ruling, but changed course on March 25, telling the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the district courts ruling should be affirmed. In a 75-page court brief (pdf), the Justice Department offers an extensive defense for the district courts decision. The department argues that Congress wouldnt have approved Obamacare without the individual mandate, with significant portions of the legislation depending on that provision. The individual mandate portion of Obamacare required all taxpayers who arent enrolled in a health insurance plan to pay a fine to the Internal Revenue Service. The Supreme Courts decision upholding Obamacare rested entirely on an interpretation of the individual mandate as a tax. Republicans severed the monetary penalty portion of the mandate as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017. The gutting of the mandate paved the way for the case in Texas, with District Judge Reed OConnor from Fort Worth ruling on Dec. 14, 2018, that all of Obamacare is unconstitutional, in absence of the mandates power to raise revenue. With the penalty gone, the mandate no longer could be used to prop up Obamacare using Congresss taxation powers. The district court ruled correctly that, in the absence of any revenue-raising provision, the individual mandate can no longer properly be upheld as a tax and is therefore unconstitutional, the Justice Department wrote in the May 1 brief to the appellate court. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appealsone of the most conservative in the nationis expected to hear oral arguments in the case in July. The party that loses the case will then appeal to the Supreme Court. On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to get rid of Obamacare. In December 2018, he celebrated when the Texas court ruled that the law is unconstitutional. As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done! Trump wrote on Twitter on Dec. 14, 2018. A Republican effort to repeal Obamacare in Congress failed in 2017 when the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who campaigned on a promise to repeal the law, voted against the repeal measure. While Obamacare allowed the government to take over a swath of the health care industry, a large number of prominent Democrats now embrace the socialist Medicare for All legislation, which would grant the government a monopoly over the health insurance industry. With the exception of former Vice President Joe Biden, every leading Democratic presidential candidate has embraced Medicare for All. Two-thirds of House Democrats and one-third of Senate Democrats support the legislation. Republicans are working on a health care proposal of their own, which Trump promised to put on display before the 2020 election. US President Donald Trump walks to speak with supporters after arriving on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, FL, on April 18, 2019. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Trump Seeks $4.5 Billion to Help With Surge in Migration at Southern Border The Trump administration on May 1 asked Congress for $4.5 billion in immediate emergency funding to help address a surge in migration at the southern border, saying the situation has overwhelmed government resources. 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 toward building a wall on the border, a central pledge of his 2016 presidential campaign. The new request for another $4.5 billion 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. Asked why the administration did not use wall funding to help pay for the humanitarian needs of migrants, an official told reporters that would not be allowed under budget authorities. Democrats claim the Trump administration has exacerbated the situation with its hard-line immigration policies, while Trump has accused Democrats of failing to staunch the migrant flow, in part by not funding his long-sought border wall. Trump also has called on the military to support the efforts of Border Patrol officials, and said recently that he would need to increase troops at the border. The Pentagon said last week that its expected to send about 300 additional troops to the border with Mexico, including roughly 100 cooks who would hand out meals, in a break with its past policy to avoid troops coming into contact with migrants. Reporting by Roberta Rampton A flooded home next to the Ottawa River near Saratoga, Gatineau in Quebec on April 30, 2019. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times) Updating Canadas Flood Maps Would Help Mitigate Risk, Prof Says Over the past few weeks, severe flooding in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick due to melting snow and heavy rains has forced thousands of people to abandon their homes. Communities in the Prairies and British Columbia often have to deal with the travails of the spring flood season as well. According to federal government figures, floods are the most common natural hazard in Canada, with flooding costing taxpayers $20 billion in damages between 2003 and 2012. But one expert says that updating Canadas flood risk maps and making those maps more easily accessible to the public is an important part of helping homeowners determine if theyre at risk from flooding. A study of Canadas flood maps co-authored by Jason Thistlethwaite, a professor of environment and economics at the University of Waterloo, found that most flood maps across the country are out of date, which means homes end up getting built in flood-prone areas. Titled Flood Risk Mapping in Canada, the policy brief also found that Canadians in most parts of the country lack access to high-quality flood risk maps, and that the availability of flood maps is grossly uneven across the 10 provinces. In Canada right now, were ignorant of this risk, so were not even able to defend our property, Thistlethwaite said on the CBC radio program Day 6. Its absurd as an industrialized country, we actually dont have high-quality flood maps to let people know about their exposure to flood risk. Thistlethwaite told Globe and Mail that as many as a third of Canadians live in flood-prone areas but dont have flood maps they can consult, either because they are out of date or dont exist. Flood maps typically show elevations and flood extents, with flood lines showing the boundaries of actual or potential floods. The maps can serve as a decision-making tool in flood mitigation, land use planning, emergency management, as well as public awareness. They can also help identify specific impacts of floods on things such as structures, people, and assets. The federal governments Flood Damage Reduction Program ended its active mapping phase in 1997, after which provinces and other levels of government had to use their own resources to continue updating or mapping areas. In recent years, however, Ottawa has taken steps to update existing maps or create new ones to mitigate flood risk by establishing the Federal Flood Mapping Framework. It provides the background and context on flood mapping in Canada, which is intended to be adapted as technology and science develops. Some other countries grappling with flooding have made efforts to make their flood maps more easily accessible to the public. In Australia, after major flooding in 2011, the government launched an online database of flood maps and studies the following year. The United Kingdom has made detailed flood maps publicly available through the National Flood Information Service that include explanations and advice. In a separate brief, Thistlewaite and co-author Daniel Henstra found that low public awareness of flooding risk is a common problem in many areas of Canada, and up-to-date, publicly available flood maps would help change that. This lack of awareness often underpins a broader perception that governments are responsible for managing flood risk while property owners have no role to play, the brief says. The brief identified three core objectives of flood risk managementresilience, efficiency, and legitimacybut acknowledged that the objectives need to be balanced with local contexts, including regulations, resources, proximity to water, and risk perceptions. For example, for communities with high exposure to flood risk, policies that prioritize resilience are likely to be more suitable. One policy example would be property buyouts, although the property owner would bear the burden of moving. Quebec Premier Francois Legault has taken this approach, offering $200,000 to Quebecers with homes built on flood plains to move to an area less prone to flooding. Many homeowners are reluctant to move, however, as they believe the value of their homes to be much greater than that. As of May 1, over 10,000 people have been evacuated across the province due to the severe flooding taking place, according to the latest numbers from Urgence Quebec. US Gas Exports to EU Up 270 Percent Since Trump Struck Deal With Juncker The flow of U.S. natural gas to the European Union has nearly quadrupled since President Donald Trump reached an agreement on energy cooperation with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in 2018. Since the two issued a joint statement on strengthening U.S.EU trade cooperation on July 25, 2018, the United States has exported liquefied gas (LNG) equivalent of nearly 50 billion cubic feet of natural gasup 272 percent compared to the relative period beforehand, according to a May 2 EU press release. In March alone, the United States sold about five billion cubic feet to the EU, the highest volume ever. The release came as top energy business executives from both sides of the Atlantic met in Brussels to discuss the future development of LNG trade. The forum was opened by EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete and U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. We share a history of transatlantic cooperation, through good times and bad, and together, we promote our heritage of freedom, Perry said in the release. The strength of this relationship can particularly be seen in energy. When it comes to natural gas, we each have what the other needs to derive tremendous mutual benefit from advancing our energy relationship. Canete affirmed the mutual interest in LNG trade and the objective to strengthen it. Natural gas will remain an important component of the EUs energy mix in the near future as we move towards cleaner sources of energy, he said. Given our heavy dependence on imports, U.S. liquefied natural gas, if priced competitively, could play an increasing and strategic role in EU gas supply. Demand Up The EU guzzled nearly 17,000 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2017roughly a quarter in energy generation, a quarter in industry, and the rest by households. More than half was imported, with Russia supplying nearly two-fifths of the imports. European gas imports are projected to increase in the years to come as its domestic production is decreasing, while demand is projected to remain at a comparable level as gas has been identified as an important transition fuel in the EUs efforts to decarbonize its economy, the release stated. While U.S. LNG is still a drop in the bucket of EU demand, it makes a difference on the U.S. side. In the 2018 calendar year, some 11 percent of U.S. LNG exports went to the EU. But in the nine-month period of August 2018April 2019, that share rose to nearly 30 percent. Canete told a May 2 news conference that European capacity to import LNG was increasing, with expansion planned in Poland, a Turkish plant to be operational soon, and a planned German site, in addition to the blocs commitment to invest in pipelines to allow LNG to flow to more parts of the continent. Regarding the competitiveness of U.S. gas, Perry said that Moscows cut of supply to Ukraine during the winters of 2006 and 2009 showed that price shouldnt be the only consideration. You get what you pay for, Perry said. The point is the same with Russian gas. If you ask our friends from Ukraine, they might tell you that the availability, the reliability might not be there. Reuters contributed to this report. A staff member hooks up a charging cable to an electric vehicle (EV) at a charging station in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China on July 31, 2017. (Reuters) US Seeks to Tamp Down Chinas Electric-Vehicle Supply Chain Dominance WASHINGTONA U.S. senator plans to introduce legislation on May 2 to streamline regulation and permitting requirements for the development of mines for lithium, graphite and other electric-vehicle supply chain minerals, part of a plan to offset Chinas dominance in the space. While Tesla Inc, Volkswagen AG and other electric-focused automakers and battery manufacturers are expanding in the United States, they are reliant on mineral imports without a major push to develop more domestic mines and processing facilities. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who is chair of the Senates Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told Reuters she will introduce the Minerals Security Act alongside Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. Our challenge is still a failure to understand the vulnerability we are in as a nation when it comes to reliance on others for our minerals, Murkowski said. China already dominates the electric-vehicle supply chain. It produces nearly two-thirds of the worlds lithium-ion batteriescompared with 5 percent for the United Statesand controls most of the worlds lithium processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks prices for lithium and other commodities and held a Washington event on Thursday designed to bring together miners, regulators and lawmakers. The meeting, attended by more than 100 people, featured speakers from Tesla, the U.S. Department of State and Department of Energy, as well as Standard Lithium Ltd, ioneer Ltd and other companies working to develop U.S. lithium mines. The United States is not the only country playing catch-up with China. France and Germany asked the European Commission earlier this week to support a 1.7 billion-euro ($1.9 billion) battery cell consortium to thwart Asian rivals growth in the space. From a national security perspective, when you are vulnerable, as the United States is and many of our friends and allies are, on a resource that you need, that is a weakness, Murkowski said. We dont want that weakness to be exposed. Murkowksi said Chinas lead in the EV supply-chain sector gives the country an edge in the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. My greatest challenge right now is to educate other members of Congress as to why this needs to be a national priority, she said. The Trump administration sent a State Department official to speak at Thursdays event. We think its important for us to talk about these new technologies and how minerals play into this, said Kent Logsdon, principal deputy assistant secretary at State. By Ernest Scheyder Political satirist Bassem Youssef has a fascinating background an Egyptian doctor who took up satire and comedy during the so-called Arab spring who was forced to flee the country when things got real, as they say. Youssef, now in America and performing standup comedy, will headline at Bridgeports Stress Factory Thursday-Saturday, May 2-4. 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. A Pennsylvania cafeteria worker is accused of firing at children on a playground. WNEP reports Marie McWilliams, 30, a cafeteria worker in the Shamokin Area School District, is charged with simple assault and reckless endangerment. McWilliams reportedly admitted to shooting at children while they were at Ranshaw playground. A child called 911 around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to say someone was shooting at him and his friends. When a parent confronted McWilliams, she allegedly said, "If I don't get them now, I will get them tomorrow at lunch." She told police she was shooting at the kids because they had been cursing at her. "Who would do that? What kind of person would shoot BBs at little kids playing?" asked Christina Iovanna. "My granddaughter goes up there. What happens if she was up there? You just don't know. You have to be afraid," said Tammy Rose. "She should be fired. She shouldn't be around kids for doing something like that." The company that handles the district's food service would not comment on the status of her employment. NORWALK The Common Council committee on Wednesday scrapped a plan to tear down and replace the old Columbus School. The plans for the original Columbus School, tentatively to be called the Norwalk Global Academy, are back to renovating the current building as new instead of tearing it down. The Common Councils Land Use and Building Management Committee voted unanimously to allow preparations of schematic drawings and specifications for the Norwalk Global Academy School and to allow the Board of Education to apply to the state for grants for the project. The full council has to still approve the items. The decision to renovate the existing building as new versus tearing it down and building a new one was bounced back and forth by committee members who ultimately said it was both fiscally responsible to renovate as new and preserve the historic Columbus building, which was constructed in 1938. One of the concerns that I have is this is probably our only historic building that we use as a school, Councilwoman Barbara Smyth said. Multiple committee members expressed frustration with the school construction plan and particularly its costs. Everythings been over budget. Im not attributing fault to anybody, but everythings been over budget, said Tom Livingston, council president and committee chair said. In March, it was revealed that the school construction projects for multiple schools, including Jefferson, the new Columbus school at Ely, the current Columbus School, the Cranbury School and Ponus Ridge Middle School were about $20 million over what was originally budgeted. Jim Giuliano, president of Construction Solutions Group, said that the city would save $1.5 million in construction costs and that they would be eligible for an additional $1.5 million in state reimbursement by choosing renovate as new. Its $3 million plus and when we look like at all these projects holistically, its $3 million here, $4 million, its a lot of money thats not just sitting around, Councilman Greg Burnett said. It has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is the backs of taxpayers. David Westmoreland, chair of the citys Historical Commission, supported the choice of the committee to go with the renovate as new option, for both the historic and financial reasons. I think that the existing building built in 1938, which has been around for 80 something years, really contributes to the historic character of the rapidly changing neighborhood and theres lots of development and gentrification going on, building a new modern building will accelerate that change, he said. It is at least an additional $1.5 million in cost and thats before the inevitable cost increases come along as a new building is designed and constructed. While $1.5 million seems like a drop in the bucket to the whole school rebuilding program, its real money. Councilman Nicholas Sacchinelli raised some questions about potential costs down the road such as unforeseen abatements for environmental materials, but construction officials werent able to provide specifics. Livingston and others expressed some frustration at the inability to address some of their concerns. We just dont have the information, he said, emphasizing that one of the only certainties the committee had was building a new school on the site would cost about an additional $3 million right now. Councilman Doug Hempstead also raised questions about if there were any items in the plans for the school that were not strictly necessary. As you went through the old building, is there a list of we have to do this and wed like to do this? he asked. Giuliano said that everything had to be done to fully renovate the building. When you renovate as new, you have to do everything, he said. You have to bring everything up to a 20-year standard. The committees decision comes after the Board of Education approved an updated facilities plan that called for building a new school at the site. The committee also moved forward plans for the Rowayton Elementary School Asbestos Abatement project, upgrades to Kendall Elementary Schools dishwashing room and school store, the renovate as new Jefferson Elementary School project, the new school construction for New Columbus at the Ely site and miscellaneous renovations at Norwalk High School including its media center, learning commons and security upgrades. kelly.kultys@hearstmediact.com With spring here and the days getting warmer, it will soon be time to dust off your kayak and take it to the waters of Long Island Sound (LIS). But, please pay attention to the following outfitting and safety suggestions before heading out to make your boating trip safe and fun. Check the marine forecast and water temperature before heading out at this link: https://www.wunderground.com/MAR/AN/335.html It may appear to be good weather on-shore, but that may not be the case off-shore and the weather can change quickly. Dress for immersion and not the air temperature in case of a capsize; a common mistake on warm, beautiful spring days is not dressing properly. Consult staff at a specialty boat shop on proper outfitting suggestions for cold water, such as a wet-suit, and never wear cotton, which will absorb water and not dry out. When the body is immersed in cold water without proper protection hypothermia will occur. The first signs of hypothermia is the loss of the ability to use your arms and legs as the blood rushes to the torso to protect vital organs. The ability to swim or tread water is lost and drowning will occur if not wearing a life jacket (personal flotation device or PFD). The current water temp of coastal LIS is about 47. Wear a tightly fit, zipped-up and snapped life jacket all year long. If a capsize occurs, you will need to hold onto your boat and paddle and putting a life jacket on while treading water is nearly impossible. In early 2018, there were a few boating fatalities on Connecticut interior bodies of water and on LIS. The combination of high winds with rough surf (wave height) causing a capsize; improper dress, such as wearing cotton shorts and tee-shirt; and not wearing a life jacket were the contributing factors. Lets try to avoid these tragedies in 2019. Additional suggestions include purchasing a hand-held, waterproof marine radio in case of the need to call for help. The radio will fit into a life jacket pocket and other boaters in the area are required to offer help as well as the local marine police and the US Coast Guard will hear the call. A cell phone kept in a waterproof bag and pocket flares are other options, but not as effective in an emergency. Also, paddle-boats in Connecticut are required to carry a warning device, a USCG approved whistle, similar to other types of boaters that may use an air horn. File a Float Plan with someone on shore, which should include where you plan to launch from, your destinations, and when you plan to return. If you dont return as planned, a responsible person on shore can contact authorities. It is also recommended to not paddle alone. The USCG and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Boating Division urge paddlers to place a Vessel Identification Sticker / If Found Contact on your boat. If your kayak becomes loose and is found floating on LIS, the contact info will allow would-be rescuers to contact you and determine if a search of a person in the water is needed and will save valuable resources. The waterproof stickers are available by contacting the CT DEEP Boating Division in Old Lyme. Kayakers should also be aware that they do not have the right-of-way in boat navigation channels, such as in the Saugatuck and Norwalk harbors, and the Five Mile River. Self-propelled boats are required by rule to move out of the way of all boats under power navigating in a channel. A nautical chart will indicate channel locations marked by buoys, and it is recommended that self-propelled boats cross channels at right angles only and not paddle directly in them. Kayakers are urged to further their education on kayaking and kayak safety and become familiar with their boat before heading out onto the water. Whether paddling a sit-on-top type kayak or cock-pit type sea-kayak, kayakers should learn how to re-enter their boat in case of a capsize, which may include taking lessons on the various types of self and assisted rescues. After citing all this scary safety stuff, kayaking the greater Norwalk area and around the Norwalk Islands is an awesome recreational sport. The Norwalk Islands are considered the jewel of Norwalk and Westport, and Shea, Grassy and Cockenoe islands are open to the public for day trips and overnight camping. For more useful information on local kayaking throughout the year, go to my Facebook page, Kayaking in and around the Norwalk Islands https://www.facebook.com/KayakingNorwalkIslands/ Stay safe and have fun! David Park, a Norwalk resident, is the author of Kayaking in and around the Norwalk Islands. As members of Congress, we swear an oath to defend the Constitution, a pledge that includes protecting the First Amendment and its guarantee that the freedom of the press not be infringed. The prominence of this guarantee reflects the framers' understanding that a press that could hold power to account was key to the success of the young American democracy. History has proved them prescient, and the United States' model of protecting the press has served as a beacon for other free countries. It also reinforces our responsibility to stand up for press freedom in nations where the simple act of reporting the truth can lead to imprisonment, assault and even murder. On May 3, we mark World Press Freedom Day, an occasion to consider the indispensable role journalists play in a democratic society and to call attention to the hundreds of journalists around the world who are in prison cells, or have been attacked, injured or killed, for the "crime" of reporting. The Congressional Freedom of the Press Caucus was founded in 2006 to serve as a voice for the safety and rights of journalists around the world, to make clear that Congress stands with them and to hold the powerful to account. Regrettably, recent years have been some of the most dangerous and deadly in memory for journalists. Far too many have been taken prisoner or lost their lives in attempts to report news from such places as Syria and Afghanistan. And in a world where authoritarianism is on the rise, journalists are often caught in the crosshairs of regimes intent on restricting access to information to better control their populace. We see it in the brutal assassination of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by agents of the Saudi government for his criticism of the crown prince and the kingdom. We see it in Myanmar, where two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for their reporting on the genocide perpetrated against the Rohingya people. We see it in Venezuela, where the regime of Nicolas Maduro has employed violence, arrests and intimidation against independent media organizations. We see it in Russia, where the Kremlin has mastered the art of spreading disinformation as a geopolitical weapon, while simultaneously implementing draconian laws to stifle dissent and free expression within its borders. Violence and intimidation of journalists has also struck close to home. In June, five staff members of the Capital Gazette were gunned down in their Annapolis, Maryland, newsroom. In its latest report on press freedom around the world, the group Reporters Without Borders downgraded the United States to a "problematic" country. Just as we decry violence against journalists in other countries, we must speak out against attempts to stifle and intimidate the free press within our borders. Threats to independent journalism are the canary in the coal mine - they signal a toxic environment for democracy writ large. As the leader of the free world, the United States has a duty to speak out on behalf of journalists who risk their lives to report the news. The truth must not, and cannot, be silenced by a censor, a prison cell or a bullet. In what would be his final column for The Post, Khashoggi made an impassioned plea for a reawakening of democracy and free expression in the Arab world. His words are applicable the world over, and we believe his death must serve as a call to arms for freedom-loving people. Those who seek absolute power, who seek to enrich themselves through corruption, and who use fear and violence as means to these ends fear a free press - and well they should. On World Press Freedom Day, we commit to redoubling our advocacy for journalists who do their jobs and promote democracy. They will always have a friend in America. - - - U.S. Reps. Chabot, R-Ohio, and Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., are co-chairmen of the Congressional Freedom of the Press Caucus. BURWELL Loup Basin Resource Conservation and Development Council will receive $46,862 from the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the Cedar River Corridor Project III. The project is one of the 117 projects receiving $19.5 million in grant awards from the Nebraska Environmental Trust this year. Of these, 85 were new applications and 32 are carry-over projects. The Cedar River Corridor Project III is a regional project covering more than 100 miles along Cedar River that runs through five counties and six communities. This project addresses the Environmental Trusts priorities: habitat and surface and groundwater. According to the council, this is a follow-up to the Cedar River Corridor Projects I and II that stabilized 32 stream banks from 2002-2005. The stream banks were stabilized to reduce surface water degradation and sedimentation loading of the river system, improve the aquatic habitat through riparian buffers and increased vegetation, decrease the amount of sediment and chemicals entering the river and reverse the loss of prime cropland and rangeland. The first, Seeing with Sound, profiles 13-year-old Russian immigrant Dmitri Dima Shaposhnikov, who is thriving in Omaha and excels at the piano despite being completely blind. Sullivans second film, Secret Ingredient: A Pinch of Love, is about the closing of a restaurant and gallery after owner Rob Gilmer lost his husband, Rene Orduna, to cancer. Holdrege talent Darcy Lueking Bahenskys film Now or Forever tells the story of a young, expectant bride who wrestles with her own expectations on the day of her wedding. Hannah Stephens of Bennington is director/visual artist for the film To Kill a Stoat, an animated feature about dark Irish folklore. Stephens explained the film was a way to exercise her skills as an animator and share her familys culture. The fifth film in Final Cut: Filmmakers Showcase is Kap, written, directed and produced by David Weiss of Omaha. The film offers a childs perspective on modern day slavery in Haiti. I want to raise awareness and compel others to help these children, who have so few advocates, said Weiss. Martinez has had work accepted into juried competitions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Wesleyan University. Over a three-year period, he has earned recognition ln the Scholastic Art Awards competition, the premiere national competition for visual arts. Each year more than 300,000 pieces are entered nationally. On the state level, his art has been awarded best of show, 18 gold key awards, 11 silver key awards, and five honorable mentions. Any work being designated with a gold key award is automatically entered into the National Scholastics Competition. Three hundred of the 300,000 pieces of the art entered are awarded national gold key awards. His pieces have received three of these. His work will be honored at Carnegie Hall in New York City this summer. He plans to study art at UNL next year, and his work is already in many private collections. The Grand Island Area Coalition on Trafficking, known as GI ACT, will hold its inaugural annual meeting May 14 at the community room of Home Federal Bank, 3311 W. Stolley Park Rd. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Individuals and organizations will gather to sign a declaration of membership and elect coalition officials. GI ACT is a newly formed organization consisting of individuals, organizations, government agencies, schools, law enforcement officers and religious entities. The coalitions mission is to coordinate efforts, educate and raise awareness about human trafficking. The coalition began with an invitation to an educational presentation in October 2015 by Linda Burkle of the Salvation Army on the topic of human trafficking in Nebraska. The departure of at least one employee from the Central Nebraska Humane Society this week had to do with Gizmo, a dog whose ownership drew much internet attention in March. On Tuesday night, board president Jill Hornady confirmed that executive director Angela Williams and another employee, Samantha Rudolf, no longer work at the shelter. Hornady would not confirm Wednesday that either departure had to do with Gizmo. We dont discuss personnel issues, she said. But Hornady would discuss a Small Claims Court case brought against the Humane Society by Gizmos former owner. The dog was found running at large on two occasions in January. The owner tried, but was unable to get the dog back. Gizmo wound up being adopted by Rudolf while she was an employee of the Humane Society. We were at Small Claims Court this morning, and we resolved it, Hornady said Wednesday. The dog will be returned to its proper owner. The court proceedings included mediation. In a series of good moves, the Nebraska Department of Corrections has taken steps to improve retention and recruitment of staff. In past years, retention of staff in the state prison system was horrendous. Turnover among the security staff reached a high of 34 percent in 2017. Last year it declined to 31 percent, according to state corrections officials. And new programs should help lower the rate some more. Last month the department announced it will pay $3,000 bonuses to employees at four state prisons who stay at least a year. This is limited to the first 100 new employees. The state should consider lifting that limit. In addition, the department has started to offer pay hikes for longevity. In the past, these werent offered, which was a terrible policy for the state and the union. Experienced staff, especially among security staff, should be rewarded for that experience. The experience pay hikes will be 2.5 percent after a year on the job and then a 2.5 percent increase after each of these milestones are reached: three, five, seven and 10 years on the job. The departure of at least one employee from the Central Nebraska Humane Society this week had to do with Gizmo, a dog whose ownership drew much internet attention in March. On Tuesday night, board president Jill Hornady confirmed that executive director Angela Williams and another employee, Samantha Rudolf, no longer work at the shelter. Hornady would not confirm Wednesday that either departure had to do with Gizmo. We dont discuss personnel issues, she said. But Hornady would discuss a small claims court case brought against the Humane Society by Gizmos former owners. The dog was found running at large on two occasions in January. The family tried to get the dog back, but was unable to, at least partly because of communication issues. Gizmo wound up being adopted by Rudolf while she was an employee of the Humane Society. We were at small claims court this morning, and we resolved it, Hornady said Wednesday. The dog will be returned to its proper owner. The court proceedings included mediation. 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. US 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. EDWARDSVILLE Steve Horrell is no stranger to the Madison County Bar Associations Law Day Luncheon and its annual Liberty Bell Award, but this time, he got to experience it from a different perspective. Horrell, who spent 18 years as a reporter for The Intelligencer before retiring last September, was honored as this years recipient of the Liberty Bell Award during Wednesdays MCBA Law Day Luncheon at the Wildey Theatre. Horrell, 63, was recently informed of the award by a phone call from David Weder, president of the Madison County Bar Association. I was driving and I didnt recognize the phone number, so I almost didnt pick it up, Horrell said. It was Dave Weder calling and he said they were presenting me with the Liberty Bell Award and he wanted to chat with me a little bit about my background. He was really nice and very gracious about it, but of course I had no idea I was going to get the award. After covering the Law Day Luncheon for about 10 years and talking with previous winners of the Liberty Bell Award, Horrell said it felt strange but satisfying to receive the award instead. I never really considered that I had any standout moments during the 18 years I was at The Intelligencer, but Im grateful that they appreciated the time I put in at the courthouse, Horrell said. The Liberty Bell Award has been presented annually by the MCBA since 1995. Its given to a non-lawyer citizen who through their volunteer efforts or their work, has exhibited a dedication to furthering the values that are embodied in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Every year on May 1 has been designated as Law Day and its a day to celebrate the role of law, Weder said. This years theme as selected by the American Bar Association is Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society. The officers of the Madison County Bar Association decided that there was nobody better to honor with this theme than Steve Horrell, who served for decades as a local journalist, especially given his coverage of the local justice system and local government. Recent recipients of the Liberty Bell Award include Terianne Edwards from the Madison County Circuit Clerks Office in 2018, law librarian Angela Warta in 2017 and Rev. Danny Holliday, pastor of Victory Baptist Church, in 2016. Steve epitomizes the qualities of the Liberty Bell Award through his work and his service to the community, Weder said. Weve had law enforcement officials, teachers and other educators, librarians and people from every walk of life. Its nice to add a journalist to those ranks. Horrell spent most of his career at The Intelligencer covering local government, which led to countless hours spent at the Madison County Courthouse. I told Dave that I felt like I was a courthouse rat, like some people are gym rats, Horrell said. I hung out a lot and tried to meet people and find out what was going on. Even if I didnt get a story, I liked to talk to the judges, the attorneys and the clerks. I really liked that part of the job a lot. When Horrell walked up to receive the Liberty Bell Award on Monday, he saw dozens of familiar faces from his years on the courthouse beat with the newspaper. I covered the criminal courts and the civil courts, but I also covered Madison County government and went to the county board meetings, the committee meetings, the press conferences and all that, Horrell said. I covered Edwardsville Township government for three or four years and I covered the sheriffs department whenever they had a murder or something like that. I didnt cover the Edwardsville Library for very long, but I always enjoyed it. I wrote a lot of features that I thought were a lot of fun. Prior to his time with The Intelligencer, Horrell spent several years with the Suburban Journals, writing for the Cahokia-Dupo Journal and the Collinsville Herald. He also did freelance work for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Belleville News-Democrat. In all, he was a journalist for about 25 years. This award is a good way to wrap it up, Horrell said. Since retiring from The Intelligencer, Horrell is finding plenty of ways to stay busy. Im helping drive an autistic young man to Lewis and Clark in the morning from Monday through Thursday, Horrell said. Im helping my wife with the care of another autistic young man. I learned how to play pickleball and Im playing a lot at the Meyer YMCA. I do a lot of biking and Im glad that I have time for it. Its been a pretty smooth transition to retirement. Horrell and his wife Nancy have two children. Their son Dan, 30, lives in Highland. Their daughter, Katie, 26, currently lives in Charleston but is planning to move to Colorado. Reach reporter Scott Marion at smarion@edwpubnet SPRINGFIELD A graduated income tax amendment is on the move at the Illinois State Capitol. On a busy Wednesday afternoon, Senate Democrats advanced the proposal, House Republicans held a news conference bashing it, and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker addressed two organizations composed of members who are vocally opposed to it. Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 1, which would allow the placement of a graduated tax question on the November 2020 general election ballot, passed with support from all 40 Senate Democrats and no Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican, said his caucus opposed the graduated tax because the current mandated flat tax structure protects the middle class. I believe the crafters of our current Constitution, which included a flat tax and was embraced by the people of Illinois, designed it specifically to protect middle-income families from politicians, Brady said. Oak Park Democratic Sen. Don Harmon, SJRCA 1s sponsor, said the flat tax, which is currently 4.95 percent on all Illinoisans, does the opposite. You are protecting the uber rich, not the middle class, Harmon said. A graduated tax would allow the state to impose higher rates on greater margins of income. Senate Bill 687, carried by Olympia Fields Democrat Toi Hutchinson, contains the rate structure which would go into effect should the constitutional amendment become law. It passed with votes from 36 Democrats. The people who have been hit the most and the hardest with lack of opportunity and the loss of the services we all rely on, are the folks that everyone keeps saying we need to stand up and we need to protect, Hutchinson said. So far this is the only plan that does that. There is no other plan on the table to deal with $3.4 billion of a structural deficit that we all know we have. Per the bill, single filers would pay the maximum rate of 7.99 percent on all income once their taxable income tops $750,000. For joint filers, that rate takes effect once income tops $1 million. For joint filers outside of the top brackets, the rates in the Senate plan are 4.75 percent on taxable income 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 filers, tax rates are the same as joint filers up to $250,000; but the 7.75 percent rate applies from $250,001 only to $350,000, while the 7.85 percent rate applies from $350,001 to $750,000. The bill also includes an increase in the property tax credit from 5 percent to 6 percent, and a $100 per-child tax credit for couples earning less than $100,000 and single persons earning less than $80,000. But Republicans, including Jason Barickman of Bloomington and Dale Righter of Mattoon, said there is no guarantee the rates provided in this plan will stay as advertised for any period of time. Righter said other states with graduated tax structures have raised the top rate 24 times over the past 20 years and on several occasions the income threshold necessary to meet the top rate has dipped below $100,000. We should not make it easier to raise taxes, Righter said. The national experience comparing flat tax rates and graduated tax rates teaches us this will make it easier to do just that. But Hutchinson said the threshold to raise taxes will remain the same as it was before the amendment, and a state-by-state comparison does not adequately sum up Illinois situation. She said the hollowing out of state government has affected lower-income earners while the flat tax worked just fine for the wealthiest Illinoisans, who are trying to protect it. Her bill also increases by $100 million the states investment in local governments and raises the corporate tax rate from 7 percent to 7.99 percent, with an existing corporate replacement tax up to 2.5 percent applying to businesses, making the top corporate rate 10.49 percent. Senate Bill 690, carried by Democrat Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, and Senate Bill 689, carried by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) passed as part of the package as well. SB 690 would provide for a property tax freeze on school districts if the state meets approximately $650 million in annual K-12 education spending starting in 2021. The freeze would exclude levies for debt and pensions. SB 689 would eliminate Illinois estate tax which currently applies to estates exceeding $4 million. No Republicans voted for either bill, as opponents said the property tax freeze would apply only in unlikely circumstances, while the estate tax repeal could be reversed at any time. Pritzkers pitch to business Prior to the Senates vote, Pritzker addressed members of the Illinois Manufacturers Association and Illinois Retail Merchants Association two organizations opposed to his signature revenue proposal at a business day event at a Springfield hotel. Pritzker was warmly received despite the two groups opposition to the graduated tax, and he said the measure was needed to prevent a hike in the flat income tax. The fair tax would stabilize our states finances, eliminate the budget deficit, help balance future budgets and reduce the net pension liability, he said. Pritzker drew applause when he touted funding increases for workforce development programs, vocational training, community colleges and apprenticeship programs. He also urged those in attendance to lobby legislators for an infrastructure bill and the revenue streams which would make it possible. After Pritzkers pitch, IRMA Chairman Jim Havey signified those in attendance were unmoved by the arguments as he assailed the graduated tax and said there was no limit to the restrictions elected officials were willing to impose on Illinois businesses. House Republican opposition The constitutional amendment and package of tax bills now move to the Illinois House, where Republicans plan to keep up their unanimous opposition. Speaking at a Statehouse news conference before the Senate vote, four House Republicans said the Senate version of the proposed rate structure, which is slightly different than the one Pritzker first proposed, proves how easy it would be for lawmakers to raise taxes on certain income classes in the future. We told you so, said Rep. Margo McDermed, a Mokena Republican. We told you that the Democrat-controlled General Assembly would not be content once they had a right to have graduated tax rates. Yesterday, state senators released new rates that would put in place income tax rates even higher than what the governor proposed just two months ago. They could not maintain discipline for even two months before they raised rates. Rep. Grant Wehrli, a Naperville Republican, offered a glimpse of the kinds of political attacks Republicans will use to challenge the validity of Pritzkers fair tax slogan. Just last week we learned that the governor and his family are under federal investigation for what the Cook County Inspector Generals report calls a scheme to defraud, Wehrli said. And yet hes looking for fairness. The scheme to defraud resulted in $331,000 being due to the famous ripping out of toilets on an Astor Street mansion. So let me ask you this: If you rob a bank and then return the money, are you still not a criminal? In a separate statement, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, called the Senate vote a slap in the face to thousands of Illinois families and businesses; just another step towards handing a blank check over to the Democrats and their reckless spending habits. There are 74 Democrats in the House, which needs 71 votes to pass the amendment. Democratic House leaders have not yet announced when they plan to take up the package. EDWARDSVILLE Local authors will sell and sign their books at the annual St. Andrews Author Fair on Saturday, May 4, while the Relay Cafe offers hot dogs, chili and baked goods to raise money for the American Cancer Society. This years participants include authors Sela Carsen, Jim Gillentine, Ticia Rani, Adrienne Ruvalcaba, Diane Anderson, Charles Schwend and author/journalists Elizabeth Donald and Ruth Thaler-Carter. St. Andrews is well-known for its quarterly used-book sale, offering more than 20,000 books, movies, CDs/LPs and more priced to sell for local book lovers. The book sale begins at 6 p.m., Friday, May 3, and again at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 4. The authors and Relay Cafe will operate only on Saturday. Coffee and doughnuts will be available for sale on Saturday morning, with chili and hot dogs starting about 11 a.m. This event has helped the St. Andrews Relay for Life team raise nearly $40,000 for the American Cancer Society since its inception in 2005. Participating authors include: Diane L. Andersen is the author of two novellas (Papas Portrait; Bens Christmas Treasury) and an upcoming novel series based on the historic 1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House in Edwardsville. The first book in the series titled, Across Unstill Waters, is soon to be released by Amika Press of Chicago. Diane is currently working on the next book in the series. She lives in Southern Illinois, where she is an avid supporter of living history and historical preservation. Sela Carsen is an award-winning author of paranormal and sci-fi romance with or without sex and dead bodies your pick. She maintains a permanent nerd-on for fairytales and mythology and openly hoards reference books about obscure folklore. Born a wanderer, she and her family have finally settled in the Midwest. Until they move again, at least. Elizabeth Donald is a dark fiction writer fond of things that go chomp in the night. She is a three-time winner of the Darrell Award for speculative fiction, finalist for the Prism Award and has been a frequent speaker and contributing essayist on fiction writing and journalism ethics for more than a decade. She is the author of the Nocturnal Urges and Blackfire novel series, founder of the Literary Underworld author cooperative and chairman of the Eville Writers, as well as president of the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists and a member of the SPJ Ethics Commission. She is currently pursuing a masters degree in media studies at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where she is a teaching assistant. She is also a freelance journalist, editor and photographer. In her spare time, she has no spare time. Jimmy Gillentine is a horror-romance author born and raised in Memphis, lending a southern flavor to his creatures of the night. His debut novel, Of Blood and the Moon, was first runner-up for the Darrell Award in 2009. His most recent release is Heart of the Beast, published in 2018 by Pro Se Press. He is currently completing a bachelors degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in English Literature and philosophy with a minor in creative writing. Ticia Rani is the proud mother of two amazing daughters, the blessed wife of a man she still cant resist, a veteran of the USAF and a lover of words. She finds peace in the stories she tells and looks forward to sharing more with you. Adrienne Dnelle Ruvalcaba is from southeast Texas. After high school, she joined the U.S. Army and served four years at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Following her Army days, and one failed attempt at marriage, she and her two children relocated so she could enroll in the engineering program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. While there, she completed her bachelors degree in civil engineering with a concentration in structural analysis. Also while at SIU, she was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. This diagnosis significantly changed her life. Since the onset of SLE, she has learned a lot about those close to her and even more about herself. After a few years of struggling to accept lupus as part of her life, she has come to a more peaceful place and no longer lets her disease define who she is. Adrienne has a love of writing that dates back to grade school and she often takes solace in the many worlds she creates in her imagination. She writes womens fiction and romance, and her books are meant purely for emotional fulfillment, enjoyment and sweet escapism. Real life is difficult enough and she believes we all need a little break from it sometimes. Charles Schwend is the author of Home Made Cordials, Better Than Bought, The Keys and Other Short Stories, The Palace of Virtual Reality, Dragon Dreams, The Magical Switch, Words to Read, and Gulag #7: The Authorized Biography of Karl Heinz Lawrenz. His work is available from the author, Amazon, Quill to Book Publishing and major bookstores. Ruth E. I can write about anything! Thaler-Carter is a successful, award-winning writer/editor/proofreader who also owns a company that hosts an annual conference for freelancers and one that helps aspiring authors get published. She is the author/publisher of Get Paid to Write! Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, author of Freelancing 101: Launching Your Editorial Business for the Editorial Freelancers Association and author of the short story Sometimes You Save the Cat for the Cat Tales 4 anthology. Thaler-Carter provides articles, editing, proofreading, website critiques and updates and more to publications, associations, businesses, not-for-profit organizations and individuals. She has received awards for her writing and editing skills, contributions to the Rochester, New York-area literary community and support of fellow freelancers. She is a popular presenter at organization conferences and in webinars about freelancing, websites, editing and proofreading, grammar and other topics related to the world of writing, editing/proofreading and publishing. St. Andrews Episcopal Church is located at 406 Hillsboro Ave. in downtown Edwardsville. The book sale will take place in the lower level of the church, accessible from Hillsboro. The author fair will be in the parish hall, located on the main level of the church. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 08:36 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b535c 1 Editorial China,infrastructure-development,Marshall-Plan,Belt-and-Road-Forum,Belt-and-Road-Initiative,Xi-Jinping,green-projects,#Editorial Free It was a curious scene in Beijing last week. It could not have been more jarring to see, over 70 years after the establishment of the neoliberal economic order, the United States retreating, threatening trade war with China, Europe and other major economic powers and demanding concessions from everyone it accused of cheating. China on the other hand proclaimed its intention to promote free trade, pledging structural reform to open up its economy and committing billions of dollars to build infrastructure that will connect the world through a new version of the millennia-old Silk Road. In what many described as a diplomatic success, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed a gathering attended by more than 1,500 delegates including 40 heads of state, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Egyptian President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi, pledging not only that he would spend US$440 billion on building infrastructure but also promising that the money would be spent with accountability in mind and that it would be invested in a sustainable way. Xis pledge matters because given its status as a rising superpower, China is willing to listen to its critics and change its behavior. From the outset, the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum held last week was designed to prove the critics wrong. Responding to accusations that BRI projects could become a debt trap, Xi insisted that good governance and transparency would be the key principles by which to judge the performance of countries receiving the projects. And to allay fears that money from the BRI would be spent to build more coal-fired power plants, Xi promised that more would be invested in green projects. With this assurance from President Xi, there are now more reasons for countries to join the initiative, which in scale and size could rival the US-initiated Marshall Plan project for Europe. Even before these fresh pledges, countries have rushed to join the BRI. Some 126 have officially endorsed the initiative with Italy becoming the first G7 country to sign up. A number of countries, which were earlier skeptical about the BRI, have had second thoughts. After considering canceling the construction of a high-speed railway network, Malaysia has decided to continue with the project. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad showed up at last weeks BRI forum and gave a keynote address to endorse the initiative. President Joko Jokowi Widodo skipped the event for an obvious reason. The optics would not be good only one week after winning reelection to jet off to China seeking funding for his infrastructure projects. But the presence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla and a high-level delegation led by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan was a strong indication that Indonesia continues to express strong interest in tagging along with the BRI. The feeling is mutual. During a meeting with Kalla, Xi said that he was eager to see the completion of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway network so that it could be billed as a BRI success story. Everybody loves a success story. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 As the daughter of a diplomat who traveled with my parents to their various postings abroad, I both won and lost when it came to my education. I won when we went to Italy in 1968. According to my results on the entrance exams to an American international school in Rome, I was enrolled in the ninth grade. This meant that I could skip two grades, as I was in the school level equivalent to the seventh grade when I left Jakarta. Ironically, I lost when I returned to Indonesia three years later in 1971. Without putting me through any tests, the headmaster of the high school I enrolled in told me that I was only allowed to start in the first year of senior high school) or equivalent to the 10th grade if I wanted to enter the science stream. If I entered the humanities stream, then I could start in the second year of senior high, or 11th grade. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) London, United Kingdom Thu, May 2, 2019 07:01 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b340f 2 Entertainment Long-Shot,Charlize-Theron,Seth-Rogen,Movie,film,united-states Free Oscar winner Charlize Theron and comedy actor Seth Rogen join forces in rom-com Long Shot, playing an unlikely love pairing between a powerful politician and an unemployed dishevelled journalist. The 43-year-old actress takes on the role of US Secretary of State Charlotte Field in the movie, an ambitious and respected politician looking to run for president. In a chance encounter she bumps into Fred Flarsky, played by Rogen, a liberal and at times clumsy reporter she babysat as a child and he begins working for her as a speech writer. "I read a couple of biographies on female secretary of states. We had some speechwriters on the set who were really helpful and just kind of explaining logistics of the job," Theron told Reuters about preparing for the role. "I never really wanted her to be based on somebody, I just wanted it to be believable." Rogen said his character, who stumbles down stairs and stands out for his casual wear, was "stylistically based on some of the journalists that have interviewed me in the past. Read also: Disney's 'Lion King' remake roars to life with new trailer "I notice that a lot of them dress like 12-year-olds," he added in a joint interview with Theron. The romantic comedy, with plenty of laugh out loud moments, follows the pair as Field travels the world working on an environmental campaign and their romance blossoms. Director Jonathan Levine said the actors did a lot of improvisation on set and that the movie sought to touch on some real life matters in a funny way. "Once we figured out we needed to make it close enough to real life that we could comment on real life but far enough that we wouldn't inspire people's anger about everyday things, that's when we really felt like we had found our lane ," he said. "We were able to use comedy as a tool to comment and maybe even make people think about stuff." "Long Shot" hits cinemas worldwide from Wednesday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) Tel Aviv, Israel Fri, May 3, 2019 03:04 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735d9e8e 2 Art & Culture music,poetry,Holocaust,nazi,Jews,history Free 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. Read also: Scottish 'Holocaust heroine' who saved Jewish girls lauded in book 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. Topics : music poetry Holocaust nazi Jews history Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Tokyo, Japan Thu, May 2, 2019 12:34 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735c1e48 2 World #Japan,#NorthKorea,Prime-Minister,Shinzo-Abe,kim-jong-un,meeting Free Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "unconditionally" in a bid to restore diplomatic ties between the two historic foes, a daily said Thursday. Abe, seen as a foreign policy hawk, has recently softened his rhetoric towards Pyongyang, calling for a summit with Kim to resolve an emotional row over past kidnappings of Japanese nationals by Pyongyang agents. In an interview with the Sankei Shimbun on Wednesday, Abe said: "I want to meet Chairman Kim Jong Un unconditionally and talk with him frankly with an open mind." "It is more than important for our country to be proactive in tackling the issue," the premier said. "We can't break the shell of mutual distrust between Japan and North Korea unless I directly face Mr. Kim," he said. "I hope that he is a leader who can make a decision strategically and flexibly on what is best for his nation," he added. Tokyo has been one of the most hawkish of the major powers on reclusive state North Korea, and has been on the receiving end of some of Pyongyang's harshest rhetoric -- as well as missiles launched over its territory. Until late 2017, North Korea repeatedly tested missiles that flew towards or over Japan, sparking warnings blared out on loudspeakers and stoking calls for a tough stance against Pyongyang. However, Japan now finds itself battling to keep itself relevant in the fast-moving North Korea issue as Kim expands his diplomatic circle. Kim met Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week after multiple meetings with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in. Abe also told the Japanese newspaper that he had asked Trump to help resolve the abduction issue when they held talks at the White House on Friday. Trump will hold another meeting with Abe in late May when he visits Japan as the first foreign head of state to meet Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, who was enthroned on Wednesday. Tokyo believes North Korean agents kidnapped Japanese nationals to train its spies in language and customs in the 1970s and 80s. After years of denial, North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had taken 13 Japanese civilians and released what it said were the five survivors, saying eight others had died. Campaigners, however, believe the disappearance of up to 470 Japanese may be linked to North Korea. North Korean authorities have given no public indication of any willingness to meet Abe. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya and Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 While preparing to relocate the countrys capital, the government has considered moving the center of governance to islands located in the middle of the archipelago. The head of research on population studies at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Herry Yogaswara, who has been involved in the discussion about the new capital with the government over the past four years, said the options currently available were provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, as well as on Sulawesi. Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi were top of the list, while the experts have yet to discuss exactly which city or regency it would be. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Philip Pullella (Reuters) Vatican City, Holy See Thu, May 2, 2019 09:09 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b9099 2 World #Vatican,#religion,Catholic,bishop,academics,Pope-Francis,Hereditary Free 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 recognised 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 criticised 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. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2 2019 As the daughter of a diplomat who traveled with my parents to their various postings abroad, I both won and lost when it came to my education. I won when we went to Italy in 1968. According to my results on the entrance exams to an American international school in Rome, I was enrolled in the ninth grade. This meant that I could skip two grades, as I was in the school level equivalent to the seventh grade when I left Jakarta. Ironically, I lost when I returned to Indonesia three years later in 1971. Without putting me through any tests, the headmaster of the high school I enrolled in told me that I was only allowed to start in the first year of senior high school) or equivalent to the 10th grade if I wanted to enter the science stream. If I entered the humanities stream, then I could start in the second year of senior high, or 11th grade. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar Thu, May 2, 2019 22:01 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735d7a6e 1 National crime,sexual-abuse,rape-case,Indonesia,Sulawesi,Kendari,#military,#MilitaryCommand,#Kendari,#rape,#SexAssault,#sexualabuse,#kidnapping Free The Kendari Police are investigating a deserter of the Indonesian Military (TNI) for allegedly kidnapping and sexually abusing six young girls in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, police said on Thursday. The suspect is identified as Adrianus Pattyan, 25, a former TNI soldier who was removed from the Military for desertion on April 9. On Monday, the police received a report regarding a child kidnapping in the area. After conducting a search, the police found the suspect with one of the victims. Unfortunately, Adrianus managed to escape from the police that time. Kendari Police chief Sr. Com. Jemy Junaedi said the victims had been held captive for four days. During this time, Adrianus sexually abused them. The first kidnapping allegedly took place on April 20 to one victim. The second case occurred on April 26, with two victims. The kidnapper also took two victims the next day, and the last one happened on April 29 to one victim, Jemy said. He added that the police were unable to ask for a statement from the victims, as they were still traumatized from the abuse. According to Jemy, Adrianus kidnapped the young girls at their schools by claiming to be one of the victims relatives. After that, he brought the girls to a hidden place and raped them. Unfortunately, we are unable to reveal the motive behind the kidnapping since we already handed over the case to the military police, he said. According to the spokesperson of the Hasanuddin Military Command (Kodam) XIV Col. Maskun Nafik, Adrianus has been detained in the military command detainment center since Wednesday. The suspect is currently undergoing investigation to reveal his desertion motive. The Kendari military police will handle his rape and kidnapping allegation. (dpk) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Wamena, Papua Thu, May 2, 2019 23:11 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735d8af2 2 National #Indonesia,#rebel,Polish,jailed,OPM Free A Polish man was sentenced to five years in prison for treason on Thursday after meeting with rebels in the restive Indonesian province of Papua. Jakub Fabian Skrzypski, 39, was arrested in August and accused of plotting to overthrow the Indonesian government and making contact with an outlawed separatist group. "The charges of treason have been proven legally and convincingly," said Wamena district court head judge Yajid. Skrzypski has denied all wrongdoing and his lawyer Latifah Anum Siregar told AFP he would appeal the verdict, which was lighter than the 10 years' jail demanded by prosecutors. Jakarta is deeply sensitive about Papua, where a low-level insurgency against the central government has simmered for years, and routinely blames separatists for violence in the region. Prosecutors said the Pole had met with leaders of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) and was found with documents and video detailing the Papuan struggle for independence. Papua shares a border with independent Papua New Guinea (PNG), just north of Australia. The former Dutch colony declared itself independent in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control of the region two years later on the condition it allow a referendum on independence. About 1,000 handpicked Papuans then unanimously chose to be part of Indonesia in the UN-backed vote, which many consider a sham. One of Indonesia's poorest regions, Papua has seen several spasms of violence over the past year, including in December when at least 16 employees of a state-owned company -- who were building bridges in a major infrastructure push for the impoverished region -- were killed by separatist rebels. Indonesian security forces have long been accused of rights abuses against Papua's ethnic Melanesian population including extrajudicial killings of activists and peaceful protestors. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 13:54 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735c5aaa 1 City #airport,#SoekarnoHatta,#suicide,#Iran,Airport,soekarno-hatta-airport,Iran,suicide Free An Iranian man identified as IG was found dead from an apparent suicide at a park in the Terminal 3 area of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Wednesday morning. Airport staff called the police after discovering the body . The body was found by airport staff passing the location on Wednesday at 6:15 a.m. The man appears to have hanged himself, Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Victor Togi Tambunan told kompas.com on Wednesday. The police also found a bag they suspect belonged to the man at the scene. After going through documents in the bag, we suspect the man is an Iranian citizen. We didnt find any dangerous items in the bag. It contained some clothes, Victor said. He said the body had been taken to Kramat Jati Police Hospital for an autopsy. (das) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 11:58 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735c019e 1 City labor,Dispute,conflict,Jakarta-police Free The Jakarta Police have inaugurated a manpower division to handle industrial conflicts as disputes related to manpower have become more complex. The division is under the polices special crime directorate. "The manpower division has been established," the directorate's chief, Sr. Comr. Iwan Kurniawan, said as quoted by antaranews.com. Given that manpower-related issues have become more complex, Iwan said the police felt the need to handle them more seriously. Over the last three years, the Jakarta Police have handled 76 crime cases related to manpower disputes, 57 of which involved underpaid workers, 10 pertained to unions and nine involved unpaid Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) premiums. "We aim to better protect those in the manpower sector," Iwan said, noting that the aforementioned examples were their main focus. The division occupies a room at the Jakarta Police headquarters main hall, consisting of a complain filing and counselling room. Those who file complaints will be counseled by an officer to determine the type of conflict or alleged crime. If a crime is suspected of having taking place, the complainant will be instructed to file a police report. The police have deployed 16 officers to handle the divisions affairs. The division was created as a follow up to a meeting between President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and seven worker unions in Bogor, West Java, on April 26. Besides Jakarta, such divisions have been established in 15 other provinces. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sausan Atika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 14:43 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735c8ee9 1 City jakarta,deputy-governor,selection,general-elections,vote-counting Free The City Council has said it will continue with the process for appointing a new deputy governor after May 22, when the official results of the 2019 general election is to be announced. The position has been left vacant August 2018, when then-deputy governor Sandiaga Uno resigned in order to run for vice president alongside Prabowo Subianto. City Council Speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi, who represents the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), confirmed the information with The Jakarta Post on Thursday at the National Monument in Central Jakarta. Regarding the slow progress in selecting Sandiaga's replacement, Prasetio said that councilors were still busy with the vote count for their own reelection bids or for their political parties in the legislative election, or in connection with the presidential election. They are busy with the politics, he said, referring to the 2019 simultaneous legislative and presidential elections that were held on April 17. The City Council has postponed the plenary meeting for appointing a new deputy governor, as more than 90 percent of its councilors ran for reelection. The plenary meeting is to make a selection among the two candidates from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Akhmad Syaikhu and Agung Yulianto that the PKS and Gerindra Party have nominated. The two parties backed Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno in the 2017 gubernatorial election. However, the council must first establish a selection committee of 25 councilors to develop a code of conduct for the plenary meeting. Each political party faction is to be allotted membership on this committee that is proportional to the number of seats they fill on the City Council. City Council secretary Muhammad Yuliadi said on Thursday that the PDI-P was the only party that had appointed representatives to the selection committee, although all factions had been requested to do so in an official letter issued in March. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Vela Andapita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2 2019 The Supreme Court has suspended four judges in Cibinong District Court, West Java, involved in the controversial verdict to acquit a defendant standing trial for sexual abuse against a minor on the grounds of alleged violations of legal procedures amid growing public outcry. The head of the Cibinong District Court Lendriaty Janis, the sole judge handling the case Muhammad Ali Iskandar along with two other judges identified only as CG and RAR, have all been suspended as of April 30 and summoned to Bandung High Court in Bandung, West Java for investigations into their alleged violations. Lendriaty was also dismissed from her position as the head of the Cibinong District Court and was replaced by another judge named Irfanudin, Supreme Court spokesman Abdullah said. The four suspended judges are not allowed to handle cases until the investigations are completed. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post) Pontianak, West Kalimantan Thu, May 2, 2019 09:08 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b86f3 1 National World-Dance-Day,Pontianak,West-Kalimantan,art-performance Free Artists and university students clashed with members of a local mass organization during a World Dance Day celebration in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Monday evening. The event initiated by Tanjungpura Universitys (UNTAN) art faculty and the Pontianak Youth, Sports, and Tourism Agency was drawing to a close when members of local mass organization Laskar Pemuda Melayu and several Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) personnel arrived at the venue in Digulis Square at around 9:30 p.m. The agencys creative economy division head, Harry Ronal, said members of Laskar Pemuda Melayu told the crowd to leave the premises or they would proceed with violence. Several students from UNTAN who were present at the event resisted, resulting in a full-blown physical altercation, Harry told The Jakarta Post on the phone, adding that UNTANs art faculty head was among those who had been injured. He said Laskar Pemuda Melayu was led to believe that the event had been hosting a morally deviant dance performance based on a viral video broadcast through WhatsApp. Pontianak Mayor Edi Rusdi Kamtono dispatched Satpol PP personnel to secure the premises, not to disband the event, he added. I would like to clarify that the mayor of Pontianak sent Satpol PP to the venue to ensure public safety not to disband the event to deal with possible disturbances following the broadcast of the viral video on WhatsApp, Harry said. The World Dance Day celebration was an official event. It was initiated and supported by the Pontianak administration. There is no way the mayor wanted to disband it." He said agency members, UNTAN representatives and artists met with the mayor after the event in the early hours of Tuesday to discuss the violence that had taken place. The case was reported to the local police, according to Harry. Mondays World Dance Day celebration in Pontianak featured over 700 local dancers, each highlighting their own culture. Pontianak-based music composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah lamented the violence, saying the incident showed that certain members of the public were still highly vulnerable to misinformation. Some people are unfortunately still very keen on cherry-picking facts and put convoluted narratives around them that fit their views, Nursalim told the Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Arya Dipa and Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Bandung and Yogyakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 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. Hundreds of young protesters dressed in black were accused of inciting the riot after they allegedly spray-painted traffic lights and buildings along their march. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 19:04 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735d42fc 1 National #Indonesia,#CentralJava,#infrastructure,#Jokowi,#dam,Indonesia,Central-Java,infrastructure,Jokowi,Jokowi-administration,dam Free President Joko Jokowi Widodo officiated Gondang Dam in Gempolan village, Kerjo district, Karanganyar regency, Central Java, on Thursday. The dam can contain 9.15 million cubic meters to water a total of 4,680 hectares of rice fields in Karanganyar and Sragen regencies. The President and First Lady Iriana arrived at the site at 10 a.m., accompanied by Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Central Java Deputy Governor Taj Yasin Maimoen, Karanganyar Regent Juliyatmono and Sragen Regent Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati. "The construction of Gondang Dam has finished. It will water 4,680 hectares of rice fields in Karanganyar and Sragen. The dam is not only for irrigation as it will also be a tourist attraction and this will be good for the economy in both regencies," said Jokowi on the dam, the construction of which began in 2014. The President said the dam served as a present for Karanganyar citizens as he and running mate Ma'ruf Amin won the April 17 presidential election with around 80 percent of the vote. "The regent asked for a present and I said this is the present. Soon, the government will build Jelantah Dam as a present to the people. The elections are over already," he said, applauded by the guests. The Semarang Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that during the year 2018, Karanganyar and Sragen were among 19 regencies that experienced extreme drought. The other regencies were Banyumas, Brebes, Demak, Grobogan, Jepara, Kebumen, Kendal, Klaten, Pemalang, Kudus, Pemalang, Pati, Rembang, Sukoharjo, Tegal, Temanggung, Wonosobo and Wonogiri. Yuliatmono was optimistic that the operation of Gondang Dam would increase the production of grain in Karanganyar. He said with the irrigation from the dam, the area for rice fields could be expanded by around 300 hectares. "The farmers will be able to produce between 1,800 and 2,000 tons of grain per year. Besides, the dam will solve the drought problem so that farmers do not need to worry about the water supply to irrigate the rice fields," he added. (yan) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Riza Roidila Mufti (The Jakarta Post) JAKARTA Thu, May 2, 2019 After years of preparation, the government has enforced a legal umbrella for the services of app-based ojek(motorcycle taxi). The Transportation Ministry said as part of its initial stage, a ministerial regulation on motorcycle safety and a ministerial decree on minimum fares for ojek services had come into effect in five cities on Wednesday. The regulation related to app-based ojek online will initially take effect in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Makassar. We will evaluate the regulation implementation after a week, Minister Budi Karya Sumadi told the press on Tuesday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Amal Jayasinghe and Alexandre Marchand (Agence France-Presse) Colombo, Sri Lanka Thu, May 2, 2019 19:47 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735d5ae3 2 World #SriLanka,#ChurchAttack,suicide-bombings,jihadists,fear,Buddhists Free Soldiers guarded the gate, but Colombo's landmark Gangaramaya temple was virtually empty, a potent sign of anxiety felt by Sri Lanka's majority Buddhist community since the Easter Sunday suicide attacks. The normal stream of faithful and tourists has fallen to a trickle since the April 21 attacks on churches and hotels that killed more than 250 people. Many of Sri Lanka's 15 million Buddhists fear they too could become a jihadist target. Wild rumours of attacks fly around each day -- building unease which observers say serves the cause of Buddhist radicals. Nilman Ekanayake, a 29-year-old Sri Lankan on holiday from his job as a manufacturing manager in Britain, said Wednesday he has never seen Gangaramaya so empty. "There is a lot of speculation at the moment," he told AFP. "They have targeted a church, a place of worship. A Buddhist temple is another place of worship. Its an unknown for the public." "Going out in the streets in Colombo at around eight oclock, its like three or four in the morning. Theres nobody out there and Ive never experienced that in my lifetime." Pallegama Rathanasara, a monk at the temple, also highlighted the uncertainty. "The intelligence services say the next attack will be on a Buddhist temple," he claimed. 'Fear psychosis' While the the main victims of the recent attacks were Christian, the Easter attacks have strengthened a minority of Buddhist extremists who want an authoritarian Buddhist state, political commentator Kusal Perera said. "The ordinary Buddhists are made to feel that they are under threat," Perera told AFP. "This is the way Buddhist extremists can remain relevant. "What we are seeing is the creation of a fear psychosis among the Buddhists. The end result will be a militarised society," he warned. The government has come under criticism after it admitted that it had prior warnings about the suicide bomb attacks, which have been claimed by the Islamic State group. Firebrand Buddhist monks also accuse the government of failing to heed their warnings about militants too. The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Force, argues that the bombings have vindicated their warnings of Islamic radicalisation. "Wahabism is working in the country," BBS national organiser Witharandeniye Nanda told AFP, referring to a strict Sunni version of Islam. "They (the government) did not do anything about our warnings. If they paid attention to what we were saying, this tragedy could have been avoided," the monk added. "The Sinhalese (Buddhist) politicians saw us as a political rivals and called us nationalists, religious extremists," he said. "Instead of taking our warnings seriously, they tried to suppress us." The group's leader, monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara, is currently serving a six-year jail term for contempt of court. He has been accused of a string of hate crimes against Muslims but never been prosecuted. At a court appearance for another case last week, Gnanasara told reporters he feared Islamic extremists could target Buddhist temples. With the top monk in jail, the BBS no longer spews venomous rhetoric against minorities, but has instead put its efforts into a campaign for Gnanasara's release. Faith deficit While investigating its own failure to heed Indian intelligence warnings of the attacks, the government has declared a state of emergency giving sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects. That has added to the nationwide nerves that has unsettled Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Christian places of worship. One leading moderate Buddhist monk, Omalpe Sobitha, urged Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, to initiate inter-religious dialogue to defuse tensions. "It is the Catholic community which suffered the most in the Easter attacks and we stand with them," Sobitha said. "The cardinal should chair an interfaith movement to ensure better understanding." The monk also urged the Islamic clergy to be vigilant about radical elements within their community. "The first steps against 'Muslim terrorism' should be taken by Muslim clerics because they are the ones who know the most about their communities," he added. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) JAKARTA Thu, May 2, 2019 An increase in the use of Premium-branded gasoline during Ramadan and the Idul Fitri holidays in early June is expected to take a toll on the finances of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, as the fuel will be still sold below market prices. Mamit Setiawan, the executive director of Energy Watch, said the sharp increase in consumption of the subsidized fuel would definitely hurt the cash flow of Pertamina, the main distributor of the low-octane gasoline. It will hurt Pertaminas cash flow, as they have to shoulder the price gap. Hopefully the company can limit the loss by [increased sales of] nonsubsidized fuel, such as Pertamax and Pertalite, he told The Jakarta Post on Monday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom Thu, May 2, 2019 08:38 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b5f74 2 World #UK,#Huawei,Prime-Minister,Theresa-May,fire,defence-minister,leak Free 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. - 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. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Statesman/Asia News Network) New Delhi, India Thu, May 2, 2019 10:30 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735bebb3 2 World #UnitedNations,#India,UN,declaration,Maulana-Masood,terrorist-group Free Syed Akbaruddin, Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations, tweeted: Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list.The decision to declare Azhar as an international terrorist was taken by the UNSC Sanctions Committee 1267. The decision to designate the JeM chief came three months after the ghastly terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama district of Kashmir carried out by the JeM. The proposal was earlier blocked by China, which lifted its technical hold on Wednesday making it a huge diplomatic win for India. In a message, Akbaruddin said that it is a significant outcome for India because we have been at it for several years. The first effort was made 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, he said. Thanking US, UK and France besides the countries in and outside the council which supported Indias effort at not tolerating a terrorist, Akbaruddin especially mentioned the Permanent Representative of Indonesia who was instrumental in ensuring that the process went smoothly and in accordance with our agreed understandings. All in all, this has been a happy and good day for those who would like to pursue the approach of zero tolerance for terrorism, he added. It is important to note that Beijings decision to lift the technical hold came just over a week after Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale met Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi in China. Gokhale had during his visit held regular bilateral consultations with Yi as well as Executive Vice Foreign Minister of China Le Yucheng and Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou. The proposal on which China had placed its hold was moved by France, UK and the US. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had on Tuesday said that positive progress has been made to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN but had declined to give any timeline on the issue. The remarks came days after President Xi Jinping met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at Beijing. We support the issue of listing of Masood Azhar which should be resolved through political consultation within the framework of 1267 Committee. We think that is also the consensus of the overwhelming majority of the members of the Council. At present, the relevant consultations are underway in the 1267 Committee and positive progress has been made, said Shuang, adding, We believe in the joint efforts of all parties. This problem can be properly solved. The MEA had earlier said that New Delhi has shared all evidences of terrorist activities of JeM and its chief Maulana Masood Azhar with China regarding the terrorist leaders 1267 listing. Its now for the 1267 Sanctions Committee and other authorised bodies of UN to take a decision on listing of Masood Azhar, the MEA was quoted as saying by ANI. India will continue to pursue all avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice, the MEA said. Masood Azhar is the chief of JeM, which carried out a series of terror attacks on India including the 2001 Parliament attack, the January 2016 Pathankot terror attack and the September 2016 Uri terror attack. The most recent attack was the 14 February Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF personnel. According to ANI, Azhar was put under house arrest at Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, post the Indian Air Force (IAF) air strike at Balakot and has been recently shifted to a safe house in Islamabad. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 15:58 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735ce29e 1 City school,wall,collapse,Cibubur,East-Jakarta Free Heavy rains over the last few days have caused walls to collapse at SDN 04 Pagi state elementary school in Cibubur, East Jakarta. No casualties have been reported. A Public Facility Maintenance Agency (PPSU) worker who saw the walls collapse, Ilyas, 38, said rain had eroded the foundation of the walls. Luckily, the streets were quiet during the incident. It was raining hard and just after dusk when the walls collapsed, so no one was around at the time, Ilyas said on Thursday, wartakota.tribunnews.com reported. He said dozens of Cibubur PPSU workers cleaned up the rubble and remains of the walls immediately after the incident. Separately, Cibubur district head Sapto Tjahyadi said he had also ordered the PPSU workers to cut the nearby angsana tree so it would not be uprooted. Some of its roots are visible, you can see it for yourself. If it fell it could hit a kiosk or a passerby, Sapto said. East Jakarta Region 2 Education Agency head Abdul Rachem said school grounds were empty during the incident. Luckily no students were here. Approximately 725 students will attend SDN 05 Cibubur state elementary school while the school is rebuilt, Abdul said. The school will be totally rebuilt, he said. (ami) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Bangkok, Thailand Thu, May 2, 2019 07:57 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b4096 2 SE Asia #Thailand,#King,Vajiralongkorn,coronation-ceremony,Queen Free 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. National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has expanded its codeshare agreement with Japan Airlines (JAL), offering more flight options to customers of both airlines. Garuda agreed to become a marketing carrier for Haneda-Osaka Itami round-trip flights offered by JAL. Meanwhile, JAL also inked a deal to become Garudas marketing carrier for Jakarta-Osaka Kansai and Jakarta-Nagoya round-trip flights. Garuda commercial director Pikri Ilham Kurniansyah said he expected the expanded codeshare, which will take effect starting May 8, to bolster flight connectivity in Asia-Pacific. Japan represents a very important market for Garuda Indonesia. We hope this expanded agreement will provide our customers with more alternative flight options to or from Japan, Pikri said in a statement. Read also: Japan Airlines to launch ZIPAIR Tokyo low-cost long-haul carrier He added that Garuda would also collaborate with JAL to develop a frequent flyer program. The original codeshare agreement between the two airlines added more options to Garudas Jakarta-Haneda, Jakarta-Yogyakarta, Jakarta-Surabaya and Jakarta-Narita flight routes. JAL has also added more options to its Narita-Jakarta, Haneda-Nagoya, Haneda-New Chitose and Haneda-Fukuoka routes through the original agreement. Through the expanded codeshare agreement, both Garuda and JAL currently have 11 flight routes between Indonesia and Japan, Pikri said. (rfa/wng) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pete Silvester (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 2, 2019 15:35 966 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735caeb0 3 Tips outdoor-activities,travel-advice,hiking,mountaineering,Indonesia,Volcano,Southeast-Asia Free Indonesia is about to head into the hotter weather of its dry season: Its time to start heading to the mountains instead of beaches for climbing and hiking. After the afternoon rain clouds start thinning, the afternoon will mean heavier sweating, and those of us in the cities will need a break from our daily battle with the heat as well as the traffic, noise and routine. A day or two off to escape the milieu is necessary for taking some deep breaths of cleaner air and for zoning out, staring at a more serene panorama, before we charge back into the fray, feeling refreshed. Beach vs. Mountain While beaches are a safe bet for a weekend getaway, why not challenge yourself by climbing a mountain? Most major cities in Indonesia (and many others throughout Southeast Asia) have great climbs within easy reach. And its an option worth considering because climbing a mountain has its own special type of "Zen" that can have the same if not better effect in purifying your mind, body and soul from the residues of urban life as any beach. Climbing a mountain is almost as simple, mindless and relaxing as sitting idly on a beach. Where idling on a beach is more about not exerting yourself, mountain climbing has a different aim: Challenging yourself to reach the summit. This will require conscious, mindful and consistent effort in lifting your legs. Whats more, your progress toward this goal is based purely on merit. The summit won't be delivered to you like food and drink to you on your beach recliner. All trails are economy class and nobody is a VIP, as far as the mountain is concerned. Youre also refreshingly invisible on a mountain. Fellow hikers are paying attention to their own feet, and ogling is reserved for nature and the views. Pictures of you sweating through your insect repellant and flap hat or striking an exhausted grimacing smile at the summit are not 'Gram-worthy. Read also: Mount Merbabu hikers now required to register online Climbing is also a richer social activity than sitting on a beach. Although hauling yourself up that mountain is a personal mission, having others with the same mission somehow lighten the load. Theyve made the same choice to be there and are heading toward the same goal, feeling the same pain. That's how friends are made. What's more, people tend to mix on a trail. You might start off walking with your friends, but as your hiking group stretches out and blends with others, youll find yourself alongside that friend of a friend you never had the chance to get to know. Then, the stranger behind you will chime in on the conversation. By the time you all meet again at a rest stop, your group has tripled in size and now includes a beekeeper from Finland who shares your taste in music, an elderly couple who wants to adopt you and a Japanese guy with whom youve been cracking jokes all day long, even though he doesnt speak a lick of your language. As you climb higher, the air becomes cooler and cleaner than at any beach. The sweat will evaporate from your shirt, and you may even reach for a sweater. And just as you start needing to take more stops to rest, the views become more worth stopping for. The naturalist in you will get a lot more out of a mountain than a beach, because the vegetation will start to evolve as you ascend. Rainforests turn into cloud forests,and grassy meadows that seem slightly surreal, especially when shrouded in mist. Then youll find yourself amidst a surreal moonscape made of solid granite that natural forces have contorted into unlikely shapes. Or you might suddenly step into loose debris of various colors and tones that remind you that youre on an active volcano. And when you eventually reach the top, you might stare into a caldera containing a ghostly lake or a smoking mound of dirt, or perhaps a glowing or bellowing pit of lava an alien world. At the summit, you can enjoy the ultimate reward for the mountain climber: a panorama over the valley, plain or coast you came from, and others on the other side youve yet to explore. You might be surprised to see that your mountain isnt alone other peaks sit silently, waiting to be explored. If youve timed it right, your mountain will cast its shadow across the landscape below as it changes color in the rays of the setting (or rising) sun. Then theres the most Zen moment of all, when you set off to completely undo your days work by descending to the same point you started. The day plays back in reverse a little quicker, like rewinding a video cassette. When you step back onto the car park with a "clunk", you pray your keys havent dropped out of your pocket like at the end of a day at the beach. Indonesian peaks Where you go depends on where you are, or perhaps where youre passing through. Jakarta has the twin peaks of Mount Gede and Mt. Pangrango, andas well as Mt. Salak within a few hours' drive. Gede-Pangrango, as it is often called, has just been reopened to the public after the rainy season. The twin-peaked volcano overlooks the outskirts of Jakarta, and offers an accessible hike for a taste of Indonesia's volcanoes. At almost 3,000 meters high, it will be around 10 to 15 degrees Celsius up top, cool enough to warrant a sweater. In East Java, Surabaya has Arjuna, Semeru, Bromo and a handful of other peaks while Central Java is rich with a handful of great mountains, including the famed Mt. Merapi. Balis Mt. Agung is currently off limits due to its rumblings, but also has Batur and Bratan. Mt. Rinjani, one of the most picturesque peaks in Indonesia, is just next door on Lombok. Read also: Agency urged to reopen hiking trail on Mount Rinjani SE Asian peaks But if youre travelling through Southeast Asia, you might want to squeeze a climb into a stopover, as many major cities in the region are within reach of a good mountain. If you find yourself in Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Tabur is a technically challenging climb that can be accomplished in a morning. Mt. Tahan is a more serious multi-day trek through some of the worlds most ancient rainforests, yet is only a few hours' drive from KL airport. If youre in the Philippines, Mt. Pinatubo or what's left of it after the second largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century offers an incredible hike to a picturesque crater lake and is within reach of Manila, as are Arayat, Natib, Mariveles, Banahaw and Makiling. Chiang Mai has nearby Doi Inthanon and Doi Chiang Dao respectively the first and second highest points in Thailand but you can feasibly scale both in a weekend, with a night spent camping out under the stars on Chiang Dao. Of course, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia's Sabah state has Mt. Kinabalu, the most famous and the second highest peak in Southeast Asia. And Sarawak has Mt. Santubong just a short drive from Kuching, and you can feasibly go from beach to summit to beach in a single day. There are many others: Fan Si Pan, the highest point in Vietnam, is within reach of Hanoi; Malaysia's Malacca state has Mt. Ophir, a fun day hike that can end with a swim in some waterfalls. Although barely a hill, Singapore has Bukit Timah, which has some beautiful rainforest walks, and can be reached within a half-hour of landing at Changi airport. *** The writer is CEO of Summits.com, the first website devoted to mountaineering in Southeast Asia, and has spent about seven years traveling, studying, launching start-ups and climbing the odd mountain in the region. He can be contacted at Pete@Summits.com. Join the Summits.com mailing list for more climbing destinations, or visit the World of Summits account on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. https://twitter.com/worldofsummits https://facebook.com/worldofsummits https://www.instagram.com/worldofsummits/ https://pinterest.com/worldofsummits Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. May 02 2019 3:54 pm On April 16, an international traveler from Israel who has been confirmed to have had measles a highly contagious disease arrived in Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport from Tel Aviv. The individual was infectious on that day and may have exposed others to measles. If you were in Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport on April 16 between 4 and 8 a.m., you may have been exposed to measles and, if infected, could develop symptoms as late as May 7. New Jersey residents identified as potentially exposed on the ill individuals flights will be notified by their local health department. Anyone who suspects an exposure is urged to call a health care provider before going to a medical office or emergency department. Special arrangements can be made for evaluation while also protecting other patients and medical staff from possible infection. Measles symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. It can cause serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). Measles infection in a pregnant woman can lead to miscarriage, premature birth or a low-birth-weight baby. Measles is easily spread through the air when someone coughs or sneezes. People can also get sick when they come in contact with mucus or saliva from an infected person. Anyone who has not been vaccinated or has not had measles is at risk if they are exposed. Two doses of measles vaccine is more than 99 percent effective in preventing measles, said Dr. Christina Tan, state epidemiologist. We urge everyone to check to make sure they and their family members are up-to-date on measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine and all other age-appropriate immunizations. Getting vaccinated not only protects you, it protects others around you who are too young to get the vaccine or cant receive it for medical reasons. If youre planning an international trip, the World Health Organization recommends that adults or adolescents unsure of their immune status get a dose of measles vaccine before traveling, Dr. Tan added. Brit finally removed from Phuket Town condo PHUKET: Australian-born British national David Maclean, 50, originally from Brisbane, Australia, after nearly four months barricaded in a Phuket Town condo has been safely removed from the apartment today (May 2), Phuket Tourist Police have confirmed. propertyimmigrationcrimepolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Thursday 2 May 2019, 06:03PM Mr Maclean was removed from the ninth-floor condo, at the Supalai Park at Phuket City complex on Nakorn Rd, after Phuket Immigration officers broke a window to gain entry to the back of the unit from atop a fire truck ladder. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Mr Maclean was removed from the ninth-floor condo, at the Supalai Park at Phuket City complex on Nakorn Rd, after Phuket Immigration officers broke a window to gain entry to the back of the unit from atop a fire truck ladder, confirmed MajEkkachai Siri of the Phuket Tourist Police. The extrication took place at about 3pm, Maj Ekkachai said. Tourist Police, Phuket City Police and Immigration officers, including Phuket Immigration Chief Col Kathathorn Kumthieng, arrived at the condo today to resume their attempts to resolve the dispute, Capt Ekkachai explained. We planned to get him out of the condo today. We were worried that he might try to hurt himself, but we needed to get him out, Maj Ekkachai said. Under a plan devised by Phuket Immigration Chief Col Kathathorn, regular police officers engaged in talks with Mr Maclean through the condos front door to the hallway, while Phuket Immigration officers entered from the rear. Mr Maclean, emaciated by his ordeal, was immediately taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for care, Maj Ekkachai said. We had a medical team and a hospital guerney on hand for when the door was finally opened, he noted. Phuket Immigration Chief Col Kathathorn confirmed to The Phuket News that Mr Maclean will face charges for overstaying in the Kingdom of Thailand. Mr Macleans permit to stay expired on Feb 21. Phuket Immigration Chief Col Kathathorn last month confirmed that his office was ready to take action to have Mr Maclean forcibly removed from the condo. This case now involves a foreigner staying in the Kingdom of Thailand whose permit to stay has expired. It is a criminal offense, which every police officer must enforce by arresting the suspect. They can perform any such arrests as soon as they learn of where the suspect is staying, he said Today, Col Kathathorn told The Phuket News, We told Mr Maclean to not worry about that right now. He will be charged with overstaying, but that his health was most important and that he must focus on recovering his health first. Mr Maclean locked himself in the unit on Jan 14 amid a dispute with the landlord over not providing receipts for rent paid. Maj Ekkachai explained at the time that the landlady had told officers that Mr Maclean took up tenancy in the condo in October, but had not paid rent for the past two months. Mr Maclean, who sent a detailed email to The Phuket News, flatly denied the claim. Instead he gave a detailed description of events, including dates, times, names and places, of how the rent was no longer being collected as the landlady had sent her adult children to collect the rent, but refused to give receipts for rent paid. (See story here.) Additional reporting by Tanyaluk Sakoot Mercedes breaks records, Ferrari hearts BAKU: The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was supposed to be a slam-dunk Ferrari weekend, but all the Scuderia took away from Baku was the realisation that rumours of Mercedess impending demise have been greatly exaggerated. Formula-One By Michael Lamonato Thursday 2 May 2019, 11:10AM Mercedess Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas tops the drivers table after his win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last Sunday (Apr 28). Photo: Wolfgang Wilhelm The fourth edition of the Azeri street race was not an all-time classic but may well be looked back upon as an example of textbook execution by the German marque, which managed to lock out the front row of the grid and cruise to a one-two finish. Its the fourth race in succession Mercedes has claimed a perfect result, making this the strongest start to a season of any constructor in Formula One history. The pain inflicted on Ferrari was twofold. Not only has it slumped to a 74-point deficit in the constructors standings drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc are 35 and 40 points respectively behind the table-topping Valtteri Bottas but it was shown up as lacking the kind of racing nous required to mount a credible challenge to the team that has dominated F1 for a half-decade. Boring, isnt it? Vettel quipped after finishing a close but ineffectual third. Its not just four races; it has been four years, more or less. But the four-time German champion is perceptive enough to know his team wasnt dominated on the track so much as on the pit wall. Ferrari had a car quick enough to win, yet it failed to protect its vulnerabilities from the well-honed Mercedes machine. Qualifying was where Ferraris weekend began to unravel. Leclercs crash in Q2 was undoubtedly his own responsibility, but Ferrari had put him on the low-grip medium-compound tyre on a slippery track, a strategy Mercedes had considered and rejected for being too risky on the treacherous track. So Ferrari started the top-10 shootout compromised with just Vettel in contention. Mercedes smelt blood and moved in for the kill. Understanding the importance of the slipstream on the long Baku straight, Mercedes strategists dummied Vettel on his final lap. Both Bottas and Hamilton left the pit lane early, baiting the German into following, but then stopped in the area marked for practice starts, forcing Sebastian to cruise past onto an empty circuit and set his pole attempt without that crucial tow. The slipstream was worth up to 0.6 seconds. Vettel fell short by just 0.3. If Mercedes was going to slip up, it would have been in managing the battle between its two drivers, but even here it was flawless. Hamilton and Bottas raced hard off the line, going side by side into the first two turns, but they left each other generous room to ensure the teams one-two result was protected. It compares poorly with the situation in Maranello, where Vettels de facto number-one status is causing tension and cannot be discounted as contributing to Leclercs crash, driven as he is to prove hes deserving of equal status. I think that what we did in the first races was put all the things together, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said. The team didnt do any mistakes, the strategy calls were right, the drivers didnt put a foot wrong, and that made us win the first four races. Then when you look at [Ferrari], they had more problems. No matter which way you cut it, the Scuderia has been outfoxed by the sharper team. We are pushing as hard as we can, but obviously you need to respect that they are doing phenomenally well and getting their cars most of the time in the right place, Vettel said. [We have to] work harder, work better. But to work better than the experienced Mercedes team is a tall order, and after four races Ferrari is already running out of time. Police confident Phuket airport taxi driver who wiped out six vehicles, killed motorcyclist will face formal charges soon PHUKET: More than six months after a Phuket airport taxi driver wiped out six vehicles and killed a motorbike rider whilst driving a tourist from the airport on Thepkrasattri Rd during morning rush hour traffic, the lead police investigator for the case is pretty confident that he will finally hand the case over to the Phuket Prosecutor to proceed with legal action next Tuesday (May 7). transporttourismaccidentsdeathpolice By Waranya Prompinpiras Thursday 2 May 2019, 05:23PM The scene of the wipeout accident on Oct 30 last year. Photo: Seang Prachachon Kon Phuket / Facebook The taxi driver, Marut Puangsombat, 23 years old at the time of the accident, at 8am on Oct 30 last year, was initially charged by police with reckless driving causing death after the wipeout which killed 40-year-old Phuket resident Mr Anuson Rattanadilok Na Phuket. (See story here.) Mr Anuson, 40, a Phuket resident, worked at Thalang Hospital, but which position he held was never clarified. A tourist was in the taxi when the accident happened at 8am, Oct 30, but escaped unharmed, and immediately returned to the airport to leave. (See story here.) I will send the case to [the Phuket Public Prosecutors Office so that they can] proceed with charges of reckless driving causing death and causing damage to private property on May 7, Capt Suporn Mueangkai of the Thalang Police assured The Phuket News today (May 2). I have the criminal record of the taxi driver already. Now I am concluding the case, he said. Capt Suporn did not elaborate on exactly what criminal history taxi driver Marut has. This case has been delayed because the case has many victims. I think I can send the case to the court on May 7, Capt Suporn said later in the conversation with The Phuket News today, somewhat less sure of his initial assertion. The taxi driver has not been detained, Capt Suporn reconfirmed, noting that Marut has been free to continue working as a taxi driver picking up and dropping off tourists at Phuket International Airport during the tourism high season while the investigation into the accident has continued. He has cooperated when I have called him for questioning, Capt Suporn said. And I have requested for his commercial drivers license to be cancelled, he added. I can't remember on which day, but this now depends on the Phuket Land Transportation Office on how to proceed about this, Capt Suporn noted. Of note, Praprai Sounkul, Chief Policy Specialist at the Phuket Land Transportation office (PLTO), the government department responsible for issuing general and commercial drivers licences, has already confirmed to The Phuket News that at this stage his office was powerless to take any action over the incident. In a criminal case like this, the PLTO will revoke the taxi drivers license, but only after we conduct our own review of the incident and that will not happen unless the court finds him guilty, Mr Praprai said. (See story here.) Both the taxi driver and the family of motorcyclist who died have spoken twice about compensation, but they have not been able to reach a conclusion. I think they must settle the compensation in court, Capt Supon said. LANSDALE As the North Penn School District works to refine plans for some sort of renovation project at Knapp Elementary School, Lansdale officials say theyll keep a close eye on the plans. Councils Code Enforcement Committee heard an update May 1 on the start of formal talks on the Knapp renovation project. There might be some things going on there. That is not up for us to determine. That is the schools property, said committee chairman Jack Hansen. Earlier this week North Penns school board heard an update on the Knapp project, which would address capacity issues and aging utilities at the elementary school located on Knapp Road. The districts school board has approved $10 million borrowings in late 2018 and early 2019 for the project, and early plans call for a new addition of six classroom buildings and a changed configuration of the schools driveways. Borough Manager John Ernst reported to Lansdales Code Committee May 1 on the takeaways from a first meeting with district officials on the possible project as it takes shape. They presented a couple of different options, and they asked us which of the options the borough would most favor, he said. I told them that each one had its own conditions that it needed to meet, and that I think theyre the ones that should decide exactly what they want to propose, and we will respond to the proposal, Ernst said. No design has yet been finalized or approved by the school board, Ernst said, but early indications are that the district will likely start by presenting their concepts to the boroughs planning commission, probably sometime by the end of summer. That presentation will be either an informational session, or maybe a land development application, depending on whether their analysis requires zoning approval or not. It just depends on how they proceed, he said. If the classroom addition and parking lot configurations are part of the formal proposal, according to the manager, approvals would likely be needed to increase the impervious coverage on the school campus, and accompanying stormwater management improvements. Mayor Garry Herbert asked if the district presented an option to demolish the current school entirely and build anew, and Ernst said that scenario wasnt discussed. They did not present that as an option to the borough. They are moving forward with a project, he said. It needs it, no question about it, councilman Denton Burnell replied. Committee member Rich DiGregorio asked if the district and borough had any talks about pedestrian safety near the elementary school, noting residents in that area had voiced concerns about crossing the road for over a decade. I walk by there every day, and the sidewalks are deteriorating and cracked, he said. Ernst said that issue would have to be addressed during the land development approval process for whatever project the district chooses. Any non-conforming sidewalks on that property will be part of the land development, and the new addition to be brought in compliance, Ernst said. The North Penn School Board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on May 16 at the district Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St. Lansdale Borough Council next meets at 7 p.m. on May 15 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or www.NPenn.org respectively. A political brawl between British Columbia and Alberta over a stalled pipeline expansion is being blamed for handing Vancouver a somewhat dubious municipal distinction. The city recently recorded the highest retail gasoline price on record for a major North America metro, according to GasBuddy, a motor-fuel pricing website. The price hit almost $1.70 a litre, a bit higher than the $1.05 a litre seen in Los Angeles, traditionally one of the most expensive U.S. markets. A series of refinery shutdowns along the West Coast of North American have sent pump prices surging from San Diego to Seattle. But Vancouver was hit hardest at a time when its provincial leaders are locked in a duel with oil-rich Alberta over an expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. If you want to keep blocking pipelines, than you can expect to continue to pay through the nose at the hose, said Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy. The expansion would allow as much as 50,000 more barrels a day of gas and diesel to flow into the Vancouver area, he said. "No city has ever hit that high, McTeague said. Marc Lee, a B.C.-based senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said in a note that Albertas refiners are using any excuse from routine maintenance to bad weather to boost prices. Companies are charging higher prices because they can get away with it, he said in a note titled Turn off the taps? Alberta already has Vancouver over a barrel. Read more: Unregulated gas-price gouging means huge profits at the expense of drivers in Vancouver, says economist Metro Vancouver gas prices jump to record highs No guarantee of federal decision on Trans Mountain pipeline before election, says Sohi Vancouver, Canadas third-largest city, hosts just one 52,000 barrel-a-day refinery and must rely on limited gasoline shipments across the Rocky Mountains from Alberta as well as imports from fuel plants in Washington state. Taxes add to the problem as they exceed 50 Canadian cents a litre to fuel bought in the city, McTeague said. The cost of living has long been an explosive issue in Vancouver, which has the highest home prices with some of the lowest wages of Canadas biggest cities. Public outrage over affordability helped Premier John Horgans New Democratic Party take power in 2017, ending 16 years of Liberal Party rule. This line up to get you GAS is brought to you by John Horgan, screams a yellow and white billboard going up at a Canada-U. S. border crossing south of Vancouver where drivers have been crossing to fill up in Washington state, where gasoline is cheaper. Contentious issue British Columbia has opposed the Trans-Mountain expansion over environmental concerns, while Alberta supports it as a way to aid its struggling oil producers. The issue has grown so contentious that Albertas new Conservative Premier Jason Kenney proclaimed a bill into law Tuesday that would allow his government to cut oil flows to B.C. if the province continues to stand in the way of the project. British Columbia swiftly responded, filing a statement of claim in a Calgary court, suing Alberta for its so-called turn-off-the-taps legislation, calling it unconstitutional. Last week, before he was sworn in as Albertas Premier, Kenney tweeted that the solution to high B.C. gasoline prices is to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline. The remark was a dig at Horgan, whos made blocking Trans Mountain a key goal of his administration. There is no magic endless supply of refined gasoline products in Alberta or Washington state or, for that matter, anywhere else in an area that would allow us to see more refined product come here, Horgan said in parliament last week, when asked about the pipeline project. Read more about: VICTORIA - Get ready for higher gasoline prices and shortages in British Columbia and a supply surplus on the Prairies if Alberta Premier Jason Kenney uses a newly proclaimed law to restrict fuel exports to its western neighbour, say industry experts and court documents. The one wild card factor that we really cant predict is the political factor: would, in fact, the Alberta government actually put in effect, in practice, the curtailment of gasoline and diesel shipments from Alberta to the West Coast, Michael Ervin, Kent Group Ltd., senior vice-president, said Thursday. The Preserving Canadas Economic Prosperity Act, the so-called turn-off-the taps law, was passed by the former Alberta government a year ago. Kenneys United Conservatives proclaimed it as law this week and the threat to put the squeeze on B.C. is real, said Ervin, a petroleum market expert. The possibility of that certainly changed, increased since Premier Kenney has been elected into office, he said in a telephone interview from Sidney, B.C. Ervin said he expected gasoline prices in B.C. to jump by at least 10 cents per litre if Alberta started restricting fuel supplies. He said oil companies in Alberta may also feel the pinch because their B.C. customers will be cut off, creating a surplus there. The B.C. government immediately moved to have Albertas law declared unconstitutional with a legal challenge, claiming the central purpose and legal effect of the act is to authorize and provide for discrimination against British Columbia in relation to exports of natural gas, crude oil and refined fuels. An initial hearing is set for May 7 in Calgary. An affidavit filed alongside the statement of claim outlines B.C.s dependence on Alberta fuel products and the potential impacts of cutbacks. The threat of refined fuel supply shortages can have rapid price impacts, Michael Rensing, a B.C. government energy expert, says in the document. He pointed to an anti-pipeline protest in July 2018, where demonstrators hung on lines from a bridge above Burrard Inlet in Vancouver. He said those actions had the potential to cause fuel shortages on Vancouver Island. They advised me that if the supply of gasoline to Vancouver Island was interrupted for even 48 hours, that could affect the ability of retail gas stations there to remain open, the affidavit says. If the volume of refined fuels supplied to B.C. consumers through the Trans Mountain pipeline is significantly reduced, shortages of those products will likely occur. Rensings affidavit says an explosion at an Enbridge natural gas pipeline near Prince George last October saw prices increase by 10 cents within 48 hours. The explosion did not disrupt natural gas supplies to the refinery near Vancouver but the possibility of shortages sent prices upwards, it says. Alberta supplies, directly or indirectly, more than 80 per cent of the gasoline and diesel used in B.C., says the affidavit. Each day British Columbians consume between 70,000 and 85,000 barrels of gasoline, and between 55,000 and 70,000 barrels of diesel, says the affidavit. Approximately 55 per cent of B.C.s gasoline and 71 per cent of its diesel is imported from Alberta refineries. The majority of these refined fuels are transported to B.C. through the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Brian Ahearn, vice-president Western Canada for the Canadian Fuels Association, urged Alberta to take a cautious approach on fuel restrictions. Because certainly the transportation fuels business is a very integrated business with respect to transportation of fuels between Alberta and B.C., said Ahearn. Were really hoping the government will look at other solutions, other options. B.C. Premier John Horgan, whos already facing daily calls to provide relief to $1.70 per litre gas prices in Metro Vancouver, called Albertas law regrettable and said the federal government needs to put more fuel in the pipeline. Were trying a whole range of factors to reduce costs on people and then the gas price thing comes whack in the middle of that and theres very little control I have over that, Horgan said. B.C. Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson said he isnt buying Horgans statements about his inability to reduce gas prices. Wilkinson said Horgan can drop some of the estimated 35 cents per litre taxes on fuel prices in the Vancouver area. It sounds like were being told to suck it up, he said. B.C. Business Council president Greg DAvignon said concerns about higher gas prices and fuel shortages are causing widespread concern. That impacts business, he said. It impacts families. It impacts the government. It creates a real crisis. He urged Kenny and Horgan to step back from the dispute and see the strong bonds between their provinces. Were the two most integrated economies in the country, on labour, on trade, on the movement of goods, on investment, and there are huge opportunities of things we could be doing to grow our economies, but the Trans Mountain expansion and this energy conflict is in the way of it, said DAvignon. The premiers need to find a solution, he said. People forget that families, friends and companies move back and forth between Alberta and B.C. everyday, DAvignon said. When B.C. gets a cold, Alberta gets sick and vice versa. Kenny was in Ottawa Thursday testifying before the Senates energy committee about the bill overhauling environmental assessments. He told the committee that Bill C-69 violates Albertas constitutional right to regulate its natural resources. Bombardier Inc. backed away from its 2020 forecast a week after cutting its 2019 outlook, and said it would sell a Northern Ireland wing factory as the company extends a revamp to focus primarily on making luxury jets and trains. The manufacturer is unable to reaffirm its financial targets for next year, and chief financial officer John Di Bert said he couldnt provide any additional precision. Bombardier also announced Thursday the formation of a new aerospace division that will oversee private aircraft and CRJ regional jets. The cloudy outlook underscores the challenges still facing chief executive officer Alain Bellemare, who began a five-year turnaround of the debt-laden company in 2015. While the planned divestiture in Belfast would further his overhaul of Bombardier, the potential sale would take a bite out of revenue and face uncertainty from Britains planned split from the European Union. We think it is going to take longer than we had previously thought to get the company to the targeted levels of cash flow and profitability, Rob Stallard, an analyst at Vertical Research Partners, said in a note to clients as he cut the stock to hold from buy. The decision to sell half of the aerostructures division, with no buyer lined up, also removes a considerable chunk of the projected future profits and cash flow. Bombardier fell 4.7 per cent to $2.23 at 2:25 p.m. in Toronto, paring declines of as much as 11 per cent. That came on the heels of a 15 per cent one-day decline a week ago, when the company cut its 2019 sales and profit forecast. The bonds also weakened, as $2 billion of notes due in 2027 traded to yield 7.91 per cent, from 7.73 per cent Wednesday. Potential buyers Bombardier last year handed control of its C Series jetliner to Airbus SE, which Airbus renamed the A220. The Belfast factory makes wings for the single-aisle plane. It still isnt clear whether barriers will be erected between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain after a divorce. The exit has been postponed until Oct. 31, and a chaotic no-deal scenario that would snarl trade the worst-case for businesses hasnt entirely been ruled out. The government will work with potential buyers to take this successful and ambitious business forward, U.K. Business Secretary Greg Clark said in a statement about the Belfast plant. The biggest players in aircraft parts include U.S.-based Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. and Triumph Group Inc., plus Britains GKN, acquired last year by Melrose Industries Plc in a $10 billion hostile takeover. Speaking to journalists after the annual meeting of shareholders in Montreal, Bellemare said the decision to sell the Belfast plant had nothing to do with Brexit, adding the company also employs 4,000 people on the train side in the U.K. and loves its presence there. The wing factory in Belfast has about 3,600 employees. This asset could benefit from having a company that would focus on aerostructure to grow because the potential in Belfast is very significant, he said. Its a high-value business and were confident there will be lots of interested buyers. Bombardier wants to get the full value of the asset, adding its not a fire-sale situation, he said. Prized asset Selling Belfast would further distance Bombardier from the A220, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Seth Seifman said in a note to clients. This makes it a prized asset and with Airbus still ramping production of a young program, we imagine it will have an opinion about who owns this integral piece of it. Spirit said Wednesday that it was looking for acquisitions to diversify away from its dependence on Boeing Co. and the 737 Max, which has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes in five months. If Airbus does not want the asset itself, another possibility is Spirit AeroSystems, Seifman said. Spirit declined to comment on the Belfast plant. For all of the Belfast plants technological prowess, buyers will also need to assess its profitability, said George Ferguson, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. We dont see wing businesses as being very lucrative, Ferguson said in an interview on BNN Bloomberg TV. Beyond Bombardier Belfast plant chief Michael Ryan told Bloomberg in November that he planned to look beyond Bombardier for growth as the company shrank its aerospace business, adding that all options would be considered, with nothing out of the question. There are no new workforce announcements as a result of this decision, the Northern Ireland operation said. Bombardier said it would also look to sell an aerostructures plant in Morocco. A new division called Bombardier Aviation will oversee the Global, Challenger and Learjet private aircraft, the manufacturer said in a statement. Bombardier said the unit will also maximize the value of its proven CRJ regional jets, a business for which the company has been exploring strategic options. The aviation business will be one of two strong pillars for the future, Bombardier said in the statement. This change reflects our strategic and discipline approach to simplify and better focus the company on the growth opportunities, Bellemare said on the conference call. Geographic footprint Bombardier Aviation will retain a geographic footprint stretching from Montreal to Texas and Mexico. The division will be led by David Coleal, the head of Bombardiers business-jet operations. Bombardier expects to close a sale of its turboprop operations this year. The Montreal-based company burned through $1.04 billion on a free cash flow basis in the first quarter, more than the expected outflow of $947.2 million. Sales fell 13 per cent to $3.52 billion. That fell short of the $3.67 billion expected by analysts. The company swung to an adjusted net loss of seven cents a share. Bombardier last week cited challenges in its rail-equipment business as it pared its 2019 outlook for sales and profit. Before effectively pulling its 2020 forecast, the company had targeted financial objectives including revenue of at least $20 billion and free cash flow of $750 million to $1 billion. Bellemare said its good to have a prudent approach on 2020 because of recent difficulties in the rail unit. Theres been some disappointment on our performance in the train sector, we acknowledge it and it is being addressed, he said. Read more about: EDMONTON - Four cannabis retail outlets in Saskatchewan have been purchased by an Alberta-based company. Fire and Flower is taking over the operations of Prairie Sky Cannabis Inc., which has stores in North Battleford, Estevan, Martensville and Moosomin under the name Jimmys Cannabis Shop. The Edmonton company says it wants to strengthen its brand presence in Saskatchewan. The purchase price of $13 million includes $6.5 million in cash and $6.5 million in company shares. Fire and Flower CEO Trevor Fencott says in a release that the Saskatchewan acquisition is the first in what he calls an aggressive acquisition strategy for 2019. Fire and Flower announced early last year that it was moving its headquarters to Edmonton, with plans to open 30 stores in Alberta. Along with our existing portfolio of organic growth opportunities, the acquisition puts us in a good position to meet our growth goals for the year, Fencott said in the companys statement. Prairie Sky Cannabis president John Thomas said Fire and Flower is an exemplary operator of cannabis retail stores. We are pleased that our customers will be well served by the Fire and Flower team, he said. Fire and Flower Holdings Corp. owns all issued and outstanding shares in Fire and Flower Inc., and is a consultant and licensor to Fire and Flower-branded retail locations in Ontario. (CTV Saskatoon, The Canadian Press) Companies in this article (TSXV: FAF) Sankarshan Murthy sinks into a sofa at Ikeas conference centre in the sleepy town of Almhult in southern Sweden. The former Tesla and Apple engineer is jetlagged after flying from San Francisco to make a pitch for his startup, BumbleBee Spaces, which has developed a robotic system to maximize space in small apartments by hoisting beds and other furniture to the ceiling when not in use. BumbleBee was one of 18 companies invited by Ikea for a startup boot camp in late March, following a selection process that drew more than 1,100 entries worldwide. The program is part of an effort by the worlds No. 1 furniture retailer to attract a new generation of shoppers. Murthys robotic furniture includes sensors that can help users locate, say, a tennis racket stashed in the back of a cupboard, or put a pair of running shoes near the front door for a morning jog all at the touch of a button or a voice command. Its like having an AI butler, said Murthy, who said he drew inspiration from classic Disney cartoons featuring robotic arms and other futuristic devices. Thats a big leap from the no-frills, flat-pack furniture traditionally sold in Ikea stores. And it doesnt come cheap. BumbleBees bedroom system, installed in three apartment complexes in California and Washington, costs about $6,000 per room. Ikea, though, needs to freshen its appeal to under-30 customers, raised in the sharing economy, who often care less about ownership than about the experience that a product or service can deliver. And their limited living spaces mean they need less furniture. Were in the middle of a retail revolution, where people are moving seamlessly between the physical and digital world, said Per Krokstade, the manager of Ikeas boot camp. Everybody wants smarter solutions and more convenience than before. Ikea isnt the only retailer joining forces with startups. Walmart has a Silicon Valley incubator thats backing ventures such as Jetblack, a concierge shopping service for upscale city dwellers, and Spatialand, which creates virtual-reality entertainment to plug merchandise sold in the U.S. companys stores. The challenge is especially urgent for Ikea, which has a younger customer base than most other big-box retailers do. Its a generational difference, said Ray Gaul, senior vice-president of research and analytics at Kantar Consulting. Ikea has woken up to the fact they cant deny this anymore and have to change with the culture. Ikea has already acquired TaskRabbit, a San Francisco-based startup that dispatches workers to assemble furniture in customers homes. And its about to finish a prototype for a high-tech table that can brighten or dim room lighting with a sweep of the hand across the tabletop. The technology uses electrodes covered with an electrically conductive paint developed by Bare Conductive, a London-based startup that took part in Ikeas first boot camp in 2018. This years participants included Copenhagen-based Freemi, whose co-founders Rasmus Thude and Jamie Neubert Pedersen have developed an app to help people give away their old furniture and other possessions. People, especially the younger generation, are fed up with our throwaway culture, Thude said. The service, currently offered in Denmark and the Netherlands, ties into Ikeas goal of reducing waste. In parallel, Ikea has launched a furniture-leasing program that it plans to expand to 30 markets in Europe in the next year. Customers who subscribe to the service can get either new or used items that the retailer takes back at the end of the lease. Other startups Ikea is considering include San Francisco-based Jido Maps, which makes augmented-reality software that lets users save and recover digital objects from one session to the next; London-based Skipping Rocks Lab, which has developed edible food containers made from seaweed that could be used in Ikeas cafeterias; and Copenhagen-based Flow Loop, which recycles and purifies water in the shower. For entrepreneurs such as Murthy, a chance to partner with a company that sells $44 billion worth of goods a year is worth a bit of jet lag. Ikea, in turn, wants startups to see the retailer as a natural partner, Krokstade said. When they have made an innovation they should come to Ikea and say Hey, look what we have done. Can we co-create with you? ikea Oxford Properties Group is planning to sell a 50 per cent stake in its Canadian Fairmont hotels in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. The four properties in Whistler, B.C., and Lake Louise, Banff Springs and Jasper Park, Alta., are some of Canadas most iconic hotels. With more than 2,200 rooms that draw 1.2 million guests a year, they have roots dating to the dawn of the countrys train travel in the late 1800s. Oxford, the real estate unit of Canadian pension fund OMERS, has hired Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to help sell the stake, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Oxford confirmed its plan to sell a stake but declined to comment on the size of the sale or how much it could fetch. This decision is in line with our overall strategy to grow our global partner program, which now manages over C$18 billion of third party capital, and has been implemented across all other asset classes that Oxford owns, Eric Plesman, head of Canada at Oxford, said in a statement. Oxford plans to retain an equity stake and manage the assets and the hotels will continue to operate under the Fairmont brand. The Toronto-based real estate firm bought the assets in 2006 as part of a larger portfolio and has since sold Fairmont Vancouver Airport and two more properties in Montebello, Quebec. In the past five years, Oxford has boosted assets under management in Canada by 35 per cent to more than $26 billion. The firm has invested more than $300 million in improving the hotels since it bought them. Investments in the sector reached $1.5 billion in 2018 despite a slowdown in market transactions, a report from Colliers Canada showed. Much of the demand came from private buyers. The research firm expects investments to rise to $2 billion this year, with the largest interest coming from Canadian companies amid Chinese capital restrictions and limited America interest. HALIFAXA deputy chief from Ontario will take over as the new chief of Halifax Regional Police this summer amid a conversation about racial discrimination by police. Dan Kinsella, currently the deputy chief of operations at the Hamilton Police Service, will start the job on July 1. Kinsella has worked with the Hamilton Police Service for 32 years and recently led its mayors summit for opioids, safe injection sites and cannabis legalization. He was promoted to deputy chief in 2016. Im extremely proud to have the opportunity to lead what I consider to be an exceptional police service, Kinsella said in a news release from the Halifax Regional Municipality on Tuesday. Councillor Steve Craig, chair of the municipalitys board of police commissioners, said the decision to appoint Kinsella was unanimous at the hiring committee and at the board, which approved the motion after an in-camera discussion, meaning behind closed doors, on Monday. Halifax regional council voted unanimously in favour of the recommendation from the board after an in-camera discussion on Tuesday. Read more: Recommendation for new Halifax police chief headed to council, will be debated behind closed doors 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 Kinsella arrives in Halifax after a report released earlier this year shows its officers stop Black people in police street checks six times more often than white people. Street checks have since been suspended pending new regulations from the provincial government, and the board of police commissioners has voted to recommend that the chief of Halifax Regional Police apologize to the Black community. Asked whether Kinsella will apologize to the Black community when he arrives, Craig said that will be his decision. I dont expect anybody just coming new into a job to do those types of things immediately, Craig told reporters at Halifax City Hall on Tuesday. Municipal chief administrative officer Jacques Dube said Kinsella has experience with street checks from his time in Ontario, where provincial legislation banned the practice, better known there as carding. Mr. Kinsella is extremely experienced in dealing with diverse communities and has a lot of experience in (street checks), and hes looking forward to coming to Halifax and having one of his priorities be dealing with that, working alongside his colleagues, the board of police commissioners and the minister of justice, Dube said. Asked about the optics of hiring a white chief just after the tabling of a report on street checks and racial discrimination from Halifax Regional Police, Craig noted that the hiring committee was diverse: it was gender-balanced and included one Black woman and one Indigenous man, both members of the board of police commissioners. Throughout that, we chose what we felt was the best candidate for the municipality at this time, he said. Craig said there were 31 applicants for the job from across Canada. The hiring committee narrowed the field to eight candidates and conducted interviews. The committee chose Kinsella from a shortlist of four. It was more diverse than anything in the past that weve had. We had Indigenous, we had African descent, we had male, female, we had a very diverse interest in this position, Craig said of the applicant pool. Our community is very diverse, as you know, and the selection panel, the six of us, were very diverse as well, so as a group, we came up with what we thought was the best candidate for today. Halifax has never had a Black or female police chief. Kinsella takes over from Jean-Michel Blais, who retired after more than six years at the helm. Deputy Chief Robin McNeil will continue to serve as acting chief until July. The municipality paid $41,360 to Halifax consultants Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette to lead the search. The hiring process was scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of March, but there was a delay in the process caused by negotiations. Neither Craig nor Dube would elaborate on the delay. Read more about: OTTAWABarack Obamas former envoy to Ottawa has pulled back the veil on how the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper froze him out over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Bruce Heyman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017, offers an on-the-record insider account of one of the worst-kept secrets in Ottawa diplomatic circles in a new book penned with his wife, Vicki, titled The Art of Diplomacy: Strengthing the Canada-U.S. Relationship in Times of Uncertainty. Harper had staked a lot of his governments reputation on getting U.S. approval for the Keystone XL pipeline, which he saw as critical to getting Alberta oilsands crude to foreign markets through the United States. But Heyman made it clear there was little he could do push the project during his initial April 2014 meetings with John Baird, then the foreign-affairs minister, and Harper and his wife, Laureen, because of internal U.S. reviews. Heyman writes that the issue began an ice age in relations between his office and Conservative cabinet ministers until he, Harper and their spouses were able to build new bridges in a long delayed dinner in July 2015. TransCanada Corp. wanted to build a pipeline through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, to connect with lines carrying oil to Gulf Coast refineries, but it faced widespread opposition over concerns about possible spills and environmental damage. The plan languished for years in the purgatory of U.S. government and legal reviews before Barack Obama killed it two days after Justin Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister in November 2015. President Donald Trump has since revived the $8-billion project. Keystone set the stage for a pair of grim get-to-know-you meetings with Baird and Harper, as well as a firm but polite dressing-down from the top-ranking foreign ministry bureaucrat days after the Heymans arrived in Ottawa. Heymans book fills in the narrative gaps on the breakdown in relations between Conservative Harper government and the Obama Democrats. (Harpers office did not respond to a request for his perspective.) Baird asked to meet Heyman before hed formally presented his credentials to the Governor General and pushed the envoy on Keystone. Baird also asked if the U.S. was prepared to pay for a new bridge at the busy Detroit-Windsor crossing. Im afraid we are not, Heyman told Baird, but added that perhaps their people could meet later to find creative solutions. The meeting never happened, Heyman writes. An awkward meeting in Harpers Parliament Hill office followed in which the prime minister did not so much as crack a smile as small talk among them and their wives went nowhere. Days later, on Good Friday, a Nebraska court ruling further delayed Keystones approval, so Heyman was summoned to Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa for a meeting with deputy minister Daniel Jean. Embassy staff told Heyman they couldnt recall a time when an ambassador had been called in like that. Jean and Heyman had a polite back and forth in which the bureaucrat carefully and dutifully read out to me from a document that stressed how important the pipeline was to the government and how urgent approval was required. Heyman held his ground. In the days that followed, I noticed that all meetings scheduled with various ministers, for one reason or another, were cancelled, Heyman writes. Message received: I was frozen out. Over the subsequent months, dinner invitations to the U.S. ambassadors Rockcliffe Park mansion came back from the Prime Ministers Office with the response: Unable to attend. So the Heymans went ahead with a dinner with Trudeau, then the Liberal leader, and his wife, Sophie, in the fall of 2014 that went very well. After their guests had left, Bruce asked Vicki if shed ever met someone with Trudeaus leadership potential. In 2006, she replied. His name was Barack Obama. In September 2014, the Harper-Heyman freezeout thawed as reports emerged that Canada was preparing to join a U.S. coalition that wanted to bomb Islamic State militants in Iraq. But there was a bizarre twist: Heyman says the U.S. Embassy knew nothing about it. Reporters bombarded the PMO for details on who exactly in the White House was asking for Canadas military assistance. The embassy watched the Ping-Pong match while declining the many media requests for clarity, Heyman writes. It was obvious to me that Prime Minister Harper and his team were in a bit of a jam. This time, when Heyman reached out to Harpers office, his call was returned. Heyman then gave a series of interviews, starting with The Canadian Press, declaring the U.S. was inviting Canada to participate in the Iraq effort. When pressed on who asked whom first, Heyman replied that simply didnt matter, and that Canada wanted to help was most important. After that, everything opened up for me in Ottawa. When I asked for meetings with cabinet ministers, I got them, Heyman writes. The ice was beginning to melt. Finally, the Heymans and Harpers broke bread together, in July 2015 at the prime ministers 24 Sussex Drive residence. The wives helped break the ice and eventually we felt the real Stephen Harper emerge when he smiled and recalled playing the piano at The Beatles historic Abbey Road studio in London. That led to a lively tasting of favourite Mexican spices and flavourings. Concludes Heyman: And with the help of the hot sauces of 24 Sussex, the ice age in relations had finally thawed. Read more about: VANCOUVERA Canadian psychiatrist is advising doctors to help address the needs of mentally ill Muslim patients whose medication regimen could be affected by fasting during the upcoming religious observance of Ramadan. Dr. Zainab Furqan, a psychiatry resident at the University of Toronto, said about a billion Muslims around the world participate in Ramadan each year but theres little research about fasting among patients dependent on psychiatric drugs. She said physicians should consider the timing and dosing of medication for patients abstaining from food and water between sunrise and sunset during the annual month-long observance, which this year begins on Monday in Canada. Furqan is the principle author of a commentary published Thursday in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. She is among six contributors, including Dr. Juveria Zaheer of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and others from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Muslim doctors might have more context about what Ramadan is and how its practised but they may not be aware of some of the nuances related to psychiatric issues, Furqan said, adding general stigma about mental illness could also play a role in the type of advice patients get about fasting from various sources, including religious leaders. Some of the issues physicians should address include how the absorption of a particular drug is affected by food and whether a sedating medication could interfere with a patients ability to wake up for the pre-dawn meal, she said. We encourage doctors to think about things like: Are there medications that come in once-daily dosing rather than multiple times a day? Or are there medications where the timing of the administration needs to be changed? Concerns about dehydration should also be considered for patients taking medication such as lithium for bipolar disorder, Furqan said, adding someone who isnt drinking water for 17 hours may need to be monitored more closely. She said unlike physically ill patients, those with a mental illness are often unclear on whether they would be exempt from fasting as permitted by their religion for ill people who would be endangering their health by not eating or drinking for so long, especially when Ramadan is observed during summer. Furqan, who will not be fasting this year because she is pregnant, said some people choose to do so despite exemptions for expectant mothers, the elderly and those who are ill. There are some people who are exempt from fasting, who choose to fast anyway and at times its not safe for them to do so, she said, adding Muslims are allowed to substitute fasting during Ramadan with prayer, fasting later or charitable work instead. If theres clear medical advice to patients then I think they would take that into consideration when choosing to fast or not. But I wonder how many of these frank conversations are actually occurring between doctors and their patients? Ali Reza Ladak, a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia, said health-care providers need to have an open, respectful discussion with patients in developing a medication plan, especially if those who are exempt decide to fast because they may not be aware of how it would affect their health. Ladak said some patients, including those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, may not think they have an illness but need to understand the long-term effects of not taking their medication or interrupting their usual schedule. The Quran makes it clear that God wills that you shall have ease and does not will you to suffer, he said, reading an English translation of the Muslim holy book. Fasting is seen as a test but some people might consider their illness a test as well, said Ladak, who is also a practising pharmacist. Theres a fine line there. If its going to be harmful for you, if youre pregnant and its going to be harmful for the child youre not supposed to fast. Ladak called Ramadan a magical time of reflection and said people want to be part of the experience that involves time with family and their community, so some Muslims may put pressure on themselves to fast when their health should be a priority. Premier Doug Fords child-care cuts and policy changes are expected to cost the City of Toronto $84.8 million this year alone and jeopardize 6,166 subsidized daycare spaces for low-income parents, according to city staff calculations. City manager Chris Murray emailed Mayor John Tory and Torontos 25 councillors the grim bombshell, the result of city staff number-crunching, on Thursday. The Star obtained a copy of the email outlining the latest in a series of Progressive Conservative provincial budget cuts that could cost the City of Toronto, over the next decade, billions of dollars in funding for transit, public health and more. Toronto councillors and daycare advocates are expected to hold a news conference Friday demanding the Ford government reverse the elimination of a $50-million fund that helps licensed child-care centres cover increasing labour costs and shield parents from fee increases, along with other changes. Ask Torontonians what makes life unaffordable; its housing and child-care, said Councillor Gord Perks before details in the city managers email were known. Hitting us on child-care hits young families. It means there are going to be more one-income families where a parent gets stuck at home and their careers stop. Read more: Ford governments expected child care rebate will fuel poor quality care, expert says Toronto parents pay the highest child care fees in the country. Elsewhere in Canada, provinces are capping the burden PCs announce tax rebate to cover up to three-quarters of all child care costs The memo to council says Fords April 18 provincial budget didnt provide enough detail to determine Torontos 2019 funding allocation for subsidized child-care. City staff are concerned enough about the impact that they prepared estimates with the best information available. At this time, staff estimate the cumulative impact of the changes at $84.8 million in 2019 ($28.6 million due to a reduction in allocation, and $56.2 million due to cost-sharing changes), Murray wrote. This represents a direct pressure on the 2019 Childrens Services Operating Budget, which City Council has already approved and for which the municipal levy bylaw has been passed. Child care fee subsidies are funded out of General Allocation and Expansion Plan funding. Assuming an average fee subsidy cost of $12,000, the funding changes represent a loss of up to 6,166 child care fee subsidies. Murray doesnt forecast the annual cost to Toronto in future years but it should be higher because his 2019 estimate includes three months before the Ford cuts and changes took effect. He added: As with recent changes to the provincial/municipal cost-sharing arrangements for public health, the City was not consulted or provided with any advance warning of these changes. Toronto estimates Fords public health cut will cost Toronto $1 billion over a decade. Fords government has called that inaccurate fear-mongering, insisting the cut will be much less. Ontario is cutting a total of $80 million from licensed child care across the province, including the $50 million fund to help offset costs for licensed child-care providers. Progressive Conservative officials said its up to city hall to find savings to protect the childcare spots. In an attempt to protect childcare funding for future generations, our government is looking at ways to better deliver services and reduce administrative costs, said an aide to Education Minister Lisa Thompson. To be crystal clear, these reductions are primarily at the administrative level. We are challenging municipalities to reduce their administrative spending on child care delivery by 5 per cent and refocus that funding on things like subsidies for low-income families, said Kayla Iafelice. The city of Toronto should be looking at ways to make their operations more efficient instead of passing on these costs to parents, said Iafelice There is no need for a single child care space to be lost as a result of a 5 per cent administrative change. Any reductions in childcare spaces would be the result of the city of Torontos own decision-making. The governments so-called fee stabilization support was introduced last year by the former Liberal government when the minimum wage increased from $11.60 to $14 an hour. It helped to subsidize pay raises in daycares where staff earned less than $14 an hour, so the costs werent passed on to parents through higher fees. The other $30 million is administrative cuts being squeezed from the system, according to an Education Ministry memo released this week that outlines almost $1.6 billion in child-care funding to municipalities for 2019. Almost all of the provinces 47 municipalities and district social service administration boards will see less money for child-care from the province this year. The move has already led to at least one child-care centre in Peel Region telling parents their fees will increase up to an extra $72 a month for full-time infant care. On Thursday the City of Hamilton estimated the subsidy cut alone will cost that city $3.5 million. Hamilton city childrens services budget is taking the biggest hit, said director Grace Mater, adding council must now decide in a hurry whether to dip into reserves to cover the shortfall or cut service levels. We want to give everyone as much notice as possible of any changes, said Mater, noting parents and care providers are already planning for next year. It (child-care expenses) can have a huge impact on your familys financial planning. Education Minister Lisa Thompson has said the $50-million fund was one-time funding put in place to correct a mistake that the former Liberal government made. She said Progressive Conservatives child-care changes are getting it right once and for all for Ontario daycare, noting the government is continuing a grant to enhance the wages of early childhood educators by $2 an hour. As for parents, the governments recently announced $390 million child-care tax credit will be leaving, ultimately, more money in their pockets, (and give) parents flexibility, accessibility and affordability when it comes to obtaining care in Ontario. Were investing $2 billion, Premier Doug Ford told the legislature. Were helping 300,000 families out there 300,000 families. The tax credit, announced in the April budget, applies on a sliding scale to families with incomes of up to $150,000 and will provide a rebate of up to $6,000 per child under 7, and up to $3,750 per child between 7 and 16. Murray wrote to council that the province has reported that the average annual tax credit benefit per family will be $1,250. Staff have no information from the province at this time on how this tax credit may impact fee subsidies in the future. In general, the CARE tax credit is of less benefit to families when compared to a child-care fee subsidy, and middle and lower-income families are most affected by the change in different approaches. Murray gave an example where, under the CARE tax credit, low-income, two-children families would face costs $23,430/year higher than they would with a fee subsidy. The highest-income families, meanwhile, would pay $5,850/year more. Some families will not be able to afford the higher costs and will make decisions such as moving out of the licensed child-care system, or leaving or not returning to the workforce, Murray wrote. With files from Laurie Monsebraaten and the Hamilton Spectator Read more about: Alex Krawczyk is determined to carry on the legacy of her parents Honey and Barry Sherman whom she calls social justice warriors. The daughter of the slain billionaire philanthropists says there are days when my heart is so heavy I cant get out of bed. But she does her best to keep moving forward and says supporting initiatives dear to her parents helps to ease her grief. Thats why Thursday she will be at William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute her mothers old high school for the launch of Liberation75, a global gathering of Holocaust survivors, descendants and educators taking place in Toronto next spring. Its an event Honey Sherman, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, embraced and supported. Im going to be walking into the school that my mom walked into every day for four years and talking about something that was so important, and passionate, in her life, and her family and her community, Krawczyk, 33, told the Star. It is very serendipitous, and very meant to be. At a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, Krawczyk, now president of Sherman Foundations, will announce it is the lead donor for the event. This new role is a departure for her Krawczyk is a registered nurse who works with homeless people but, it gives her an opportunity to help make the world a better place and to connect with her parents and their important work, such as Holocaust education. Read more: Family of murder victims Barry and Honey Sherman giving Toronto police tips but learn information flow is a one-way street Chief Mark Saunders on Barry and Honey Sherman case: Our officers did not drop the ball 29 minutes inside Barry and Honey Shermans home: Who was the visitor? And, she says, Liberation75, couldnt be more relevant in todays world, noting the rise in white nationalism is terrifying and we have to fight back. The event, she says, will bring together people who are committed to promoting human rights, justice, tolerance and peace, and combating discrimination, hatred, violence and injustice. The idea for Liberation75 was dreamed up by Marilyn Sinclair, a close friend of Honeys. The two talked about it, but weeks later, in December 2017, Honey and Barry Sherman were found murdered in their Toronto mansion. Being at the launch without her friend will be bittersweet for Sinclair. When I think about Liberation75 I think about carrying on legacy the legacy of my father as a Holocaust survivor and a speaker. And the legacy of Honey, who was so passionate about Holocaust education, says Sinclair. Its in their honour and memories that I am so pleased to do this. Liberation75 will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre next year, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the end of the Holocaust. Its estimated that six million Jews and millions of others, including Gypsies and homosexuals were murdered in concentration camps by Germanys Nazi regime. With more than 70 global organizations participating, it will run May 31 to June 2, 2020, and will feature survivor stories, Holocaust educators, keynote speakers and exhibits from Holocaust education centres. Organizers are partnering with Ontario school boards, dedicating one day for Grades 7-12 students, and are running professional development workshops for teachers. In the lead-up, the Toronto District School Board plans to enhance its Holocaust and genocide prevention education in middle schools and high schools next fall, says spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz. Teachers are telling us that their students have never, ever heard of the Holocaust, says Schwartz-Maltz, also chair of the boards Jewish Heritage Committee, made up of teachers, principals, superintendents and trustees. Learning about the Holocaust is key for students of all backgrounds, says co-chair of Liberation75s education committee Rachel Luke, an English and drama teacher at Mississaugas Glenforest Secondary School. For my students, it doesnt matter if theyre Black or South Asian, they can connect and they can see that the Jewish people were just like them, says Luke, adding many come from parts of the world where people have been targeted because of ethnicity, race or religion. Sinclair wishes there wasnt the need for Holocaust programming or human rights messaging, but the world seems to be more divisive and hate-filled now than weve seen in many, many years. In recent months, places of worship synagogues, mosques and churches have been targeted in mass shootings or bombings, leaving hundreds dead. On Saturday, a gunman at a San Diego synagogue, killed one person in an attack six months after a shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue left 11 dead. Incidents in Pittsburgh, Christchurch, Sri Lanka and now San Diego, and the anti-Semitism we now see on a daily basis, tells me that what were doing is really needed, she says. Hate is becoming something thats really festering. The Holocaust is a reminder of the dangers of unchecked hate. In previous years, cities such as Washington, D.C., or New York, were suggested as good places to host this kind of a global gathering of survivors but not this time, says Sinclair. Our American partners dont want it in the U.S. They feel that with the current situation, their country does not reflect the pure narrative of diversity and inclusion. By comparison, she says, Toronto is seen as a model of inter-religious and intercultural harmony. Still, anti-Semitism is setting records here in Canada. This week, Jewish advocacy group Bnai Brith Canada, reported that for the third consecutive year, incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise. Last year, there were 2,041 incidents including vandalism, violence and harassment on social media a 16.5 per cent increase over the previous year. In 1985, Sinclair and her father, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, went to Ottawa for a gathering of Canadian survivors and descendants. It was life-altering, she says. Before, he never spoke of the war the murder of his parents and five siblings, and of being sent to Auschwitz at 16, then to slave labour camps but after he gave talks about it in schools. Before his death in 2010, he often urged Sinclair to organize a similar gathering in Toronto. In 2017, when Sinclair thought of Liberation75, the first person she told was her close friend, who understood the trauma of the war. Honey Sherman was born in a displaced persons camp in Austria to Polish Holocaust survivors, and moved as a child to Toronto, where she experienced anti-Semitism. The two women had worked closely for years at the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, part of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, where Sherman was chair and Sinclair vice-chair. Sinclair trusted Shermans opinion. If it wasnt going to fly, she would know, recalls Sinclair of their November 2017 discussion. Her reaction was, I love it. Im all in. Its important. Lets do it. Honey was so committed to Holocaust education, to community, to lifting up Toronto and making it a world-class city, so everything about Liberation75 resonated with her. Weeks later, on Dec. 15, 2017, the Shermans were found strangled near their indoor pool, tied to a railing. The investigation is ongoing. Krawczyk says, Every day without an arrest is a complete nightmare. But she tries to cope. I get signs and messages from (my parents) every single day. I feel very connected to them. And the signs keep showing me that Im on the right path and to keep working and keep moving forward. In the heart of Parkdale a small band of tenants and housing advocates are celebrating a singular yet monumental victory in the ongoing battle with gentrification the purchase of a rooming house. The Neighbourhood Land Trust, a charity, has become the proud owner of a licensed rooming house on Maynard Ave. near King St. W, scooped from Torontos white hot real estate market thanks primarily to $1.5 million in city funds. The sale the first of its kind and made possible through a pilot project designed to preserve rooming house stock means the homes 15 units will remain affordable for almost 100 years. Most Parkdale residents have lived here for a long time and plan to continue to live here, and to make that possible we need housing that is long-term, said Joshua Barndt, executive director of The Neighbourhood Land Trust. As a community we have proven that we have the capacity and ability to take properties off the market, Barndt said. We have proven there is another way to own housing. City council signed off on the project in 2018. The one-time amount came through Section 37 deals. That money is given to the city by developers in exchange for a bend in zoning rules such as the height allowed on buildings in a certain area and is meant to be spent on projects that benefit the local community, such as parks, art, and recreation centres. Read more: Torontos housing crisis sparks conversation about illegal rooming houses Rooming house pilot aims to give Parkdale tenants fighting chance Opinion | Edward Keenan: Rooming house fund is one small step in the right housing direction The idea was championed by Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park). The goal of the pilot program was to enable local non-profit organizations to buy a rooming house before its sold to someone else and all the tenants get evicted, said Perks in a release Wednesday. The property cost less than $2.4 million the trust is not disclosing the exact closing price and the trust has taken on a mortgage for the outstanding amount, Barndt said. The converted, four-storey red brick house is currently home to 15 tenants who pay between $500 and $1,100 per month for a bachelorette unit, another term for micro-apartment. On top of the city money, the group will have about $600,000 for repairs and improvements through a provincial program called Ontario Renovates, which provides support for affordable housing projects. While improvements will be made throughout the property, none of the existing tenants will be displaced during construction or renovations, Barndt said. Parkdale resident Lynne Sky, a member organizer with the land trust, said the loss of rooming houses in the area has been truly devastating in a city with a severe shortage of affordable rental units. It cannot be lost because there is no equivalent or similarly low-cost housing available for people in Toronto, said Sky. The Neighbourhood Land Trust is the charity arm of the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, a not-for-profit group dedicated to preserving the culture and diversity of Parkdale. The property will be managed by the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC). PARC already runs affordable and transitional housing in south Parkdale, on top of facilitating programs for marginalized men and women. If units become available for rent in the property, PARC will give priority to people experiencing homelessness. Any new tenants will also be assessed and provided with support services as needed. PARC executive director Victor Willis said that while the city partnership and the property sale is worth celebrating, the hope is the city commits to permanent funding. Our real goal here is to have a robust partnership where we do this again and again, and it becomes a model for other partners to step in and work with the land trust, Willis said. PARC has signed a 49-year lease with the trust. The deal with the city stipulates the average rent for the entire property must be at or below 80 per cent of average market rent for 99 years. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports that in 2018, the average cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment in the former city of Toronto was $1,420, and a bachelor units average rent was $1,128. The market average is calculated using apartments built to be rentals and does not include condos or secondary suites. Rent control, which has long applied to older buildings and was expanded in 2017 to cover all occupied units, keeps tenants in those controlled apartments longer. Finding a new place to live on the open market would be two or three times as expensive. Barndt said that the average rent of the current tenants of the newly bought building comes out to about 70 per cent of average market rent. Because the land trust is using public dollars for repairs, those costs will not trickle down to tenants, he said. In the private market, landlords can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board to have some of those costs passed down to renters. In spring 2017, the land trust published a report on Parkdale rooming houses that looked at who was living in rooming house-style units and how many of those properties were at risk of private sale. Sky was part of that research team, which included area residents and volunteers and documented 198 rooming houses, bachelorette buildings, community non-profit buildings and possible rooming houses, capable of holding as many 2,715 people. About 60 of those properties were at risk of being sold or converted into higher cost housing, potentially putting as many as 818 people out of their homes, according to the report. Since then, more than five have been lost as affordable housing, the original tenants removed and the property upscaled, Barndt said. Sky said having this rooming house owned by the land trust is a fabulous moment created through years of blood, sweat and activism. We have a model that we can sell across the country to help people, and it is so necessary, said Sky. It might seem small, but it is rather huge. Toronto police are looking for a 48-year-old man wanted in connection with a killing in north Etobicoke over the weekend and have named the 53-year-old homicide victim. Police identified the victim as Premachchandran Sundaralingam, 53, of Toronto, in a Wednesday news release. Officers responded to a medical call in the area of Renforth Dr. and Rathburn Rd. near Centennial Park shortly before 8:30 p.m. Sunday. They found Sundaralingam injured inside the home. He was taken by paramedics to hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Monday. Police later discovered he had been injured in a physical altercation with another man. Police on Wednesday identified Richard (Rick) Turner, of Toronto, as a suspect in the killing. He is wanted for manslaughter. He is described as five-foot-nine, 190 pounds with a stocky build. Police say he is known to have contacts in Toronto, Oshawa, Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie. Police are warning the public not to approach Turner, and to call 911 if he is seen. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477). Sundaralingam is Torontos 21st homicide victim of 2019. So far, 15 men and six women have been killed in Toronto this year. Temur Durrani is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @temurdur Read more about: One of Googles top news executives says he understands Canadas desire to clamp down on the spread of misinformation online, but insists his company is good at policing itself. At a time when the federal government is actively considering regulating tech giants, saying all options are on the table, Richard Gingras, vice president of news at Google, said his industry needs to constantly adapt its approach to misinformation in order to outsmart the culprits. We have to continue to evolve our capabilities because we know the bad actors are getting more and more sophisticated, Gingras said. In a sense, its an arms race between our ability to detect them and their ability to trick our systems. He made the remarks as he visited Toronto on World News Day to announce a $1 million grant to the Canadian Journalism Foundation to fund a national news literacy campaign called NewsWise. NewsWise, he said, will use public service announcements to teach voting-age Canadians how to navigate misinformation in a federal election year. The launch of NewsWise comes after Google was accused of surfacing conspiracy theories and unreliable, partisan sources in its search results, contributing to the spread of fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook and Twitter faced similar criticisms. Google, which owns YouTube, also caught flak for hosting content on the video platform that falsely called the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting a hoax. Read more: Canada should talk responsibility with tech giants over published content, Freeland tells forum Opinion | Susan Delacourt: For foreign hackers, political parties are our weakest link After Facebook banned Faith Goldy and white nationalist groups, accounts and ads in their name remained The company has since adjusted algorithms to help filter out fake news, introduced new services to help users see links from publications they pay for higher up in their search results and funded Canadian programs aimed at helping children learn how to identify misinformation. Still, experts say more can be done. Governments around the world agree. The U.K. parliament, for example, has been eying new legislation that requires tech companies to take more responsibility for the safety of their users. It could include measures involving dedicated fact-checkers to minimize the spread of misleading and harmful disinformation ... particularly during election periods. Singapore is meanwhile mulling a bill allowing the government to decide what constitutes fake news and demand corrections for items deemed to be false. Canada has yet to settle on or even float potential solutions, but those that have been implemented or considered elsewhere have typically faced opposition from tech companies that have argued they should be trusted to self-regulate. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould has said the country is looking at regulation because leaving tech giants to police themselves is not yielding the results that societies are expecting these companies to deliver. Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has also weighed in, saying the current tech era has eerie similarities to the rise of monopolies a century ago and could require equally drastic steps to address the situation. I am not worried, Gingras told the Star about the possibility of the government regulating Google and trying to discipline it for spreading misinformation. Share your thoughts We fully recognize the importance of servicing those questions, but from our perspective, we continue to do everything we can to be responsible participants in the ecosystem. Gingras said Google will clearly do our best to ensure any measures Canada enacts can be realistically complied with. He couldnt think of any specific policies Google will lobby for, but warned that such matters can be tricky and said on our side, it is not a regulatory thing. Gingras believes the spread of misinformation is nothing new. We have seen fake news since the printing press was introduced in the U.S., he said. What is different now is that it is so much easier for people to have the opportunity to drive information virally. Hes seen that with synthetic media content that has algorithmically been altered and often involves mixing audio and video to create fake footage depicting things that have not occurred. Such media, he said, is getting increasingly difficult to detect because of technology advancements, forcing companies to focus more on determining the sources of such clips. Cash-strapped news publishers engaged in fact-based journalism are also facing difficulties with misinformation that seeks to undermine their credibility and make it more challenging for Canadians to identify trustworthy news, Gingras said. Forty per cent of Canadians find it difficult to distinguish truth from misinformation in the news, revealed an Earnscliffe Strategy Group poll that was commissioned by the CJF and released Thursday. About 53 per cent of the polls respondents admitted they have come across stories featuring facts twisted to push an agenda and 74 per cent said they agreed that the average person does not know how to tell good journalism from rumours or falsehoods. Numbers like that are why Google was keen on the CJF grant. Its important we give focus to how we can give citizens the ability to filter the information they see and make sure they can find out the authoritative from that that is less so, said Gingras. Frankly, our hearts and minds are behind how we do that. Read more about: BERLINAn alleged Russian spy whale is refusing to leave a Norwegian port city, in what appears to be a high-profile defection after a week of global attention on the unnamed beluga. Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries official Jorgen Ree Wiig told The Washington Post that the beluga was the first thing I saw outside of the window of his patrolling ship in the morning. Speaking from the city of Hammerfest, he said the whale had only moved about 25 miles within the last week and appeared to enjoy the proximity to humans, which he noted was rather strange for a beluga. Contrary to the species normal behavior, the beluga had allowed residents to pet the animals nose over the last few days. The whale was first spotted by Norwegian fishermen last week, when they noticed that the whale defied normal behaviour by persistently harassing their boats. The fishermen subsequently spotted a strange harness wrapped around the whales body. Wiig said an inscription on the harness they later recovered read Equipment St. Petersburg. He said he had handed the harness over to Norways special police security agency (PST). No details over the status of this probe have been made public, and the PST did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Researchers say the harness could have carried weapons or cameras, triggering fresh speculation about a sea mammal special operations program that the Russian navy is believed to have been pursuing for years. Although the Russian Defense Ministry has denied the existence of such a program, the same ministry published an ad in 2016 seeking three male and two female bottlenose dolphins and offering a total of $24,000. In this part of Europe, nobody would be surprised if the latest Norwegian discovery did indeed turn out to be the fallout of a military experiment gone wrong. Since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, there have been behind creepy reminders of the Kremlins massive military apparatus lurking on Europes eastern outskirts: mystery submarines; unidentified jets, including one that almost crashed with a passenger plane; and strange troop movements. Should the Norwegians need advice on the latest discovery, they might want to ask their U.S. allies for help. While the possible existence of a Russian sea mammal military program seemed stunning when it was made public last week, it was in fact the United States that spearheaded the use of sea mammals for military purposes in the 1950s. According to the U.S. Navy, its own dolphin and sea lion recruits are used to locate sea mines, retrieve objects from the ocean floor and gather intelligence for military divers. They are not, however, involved in offensive operations. With far less experience in dealing with military-trained sea mammals than their U.S. counterparts, Norwegian officials were pondering what to do with the beluga. One option, Wiig said, was to transport the animal who has yet to be given a name to a sanctuary in Iceland, about 1,250 miles from Hammerfest. That proposal, he said, may increase chances of the survival of the whale. Read more about: BRASILIA, Brazil - When students at Ceilandia state school No. 7 in Brazils capital came back from their break in February, they were met by two dozen uniformed police officers in a place they barely recognized anymore. Guns in their holsters, the officers ordered students to form rows in the schoolyard. The students were given white T-shirts pending the arrival of their new uniforms. From now on, hair would have to be kept short for boys and tied at the back for girls. No more shorts, caps, brightly colored nail varnish, earrings or any distinctive pieces of clothing. Students arriving late wouldnt be let in. Sometimes we feel intimidated, said Michael Pereira da Silva, 17, who was against the decision to hire police to instil military-like discipline in the school. Just going out into the hall, we are obligated to bow our heads or say hello to police officers. Although experiments began in previous years, the quasi-military approach is one of the most visible educational efforts being championed under new President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who campaigned on promises to improve Brazilian schools, which are widely recognized as a problem. A 2015 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked educational performance in Brazil as 63rd out of 72 countries and regions. Schools now being co-run by police are modeled on Brazils exclusive military colleges, which tend to perform better than most public schools a fact that makes many parents eager to see similarly rigid discipline. Under the model, teaching remains in the hands of the Education Ministry, while police officers oversee discipline and enforce a new code of conduct. Implementation of the pilot program in a school must be approved by a majority of parents, teachers and school staff in a referendum. The Ceilandia school is one of four in Brasilia that voted to take part. Officials in Brazils capital hope to add 36 more schools by the end of the year and reach a total of 200 by 2022. Bolsonaros administration is pushing similar expansions nationwide, though it has yet to say how many it plans to convert across the country. Some states have been exploring the model since the early 2000s, but a large expansion worries many education experts and teachers unions, who say such schools can become exclusionary and go against the concept of a free, open-to-all public schooling system. They argue that these schools have managed to improve results because problematic students are quietly replaced by better-performing ones, often from wealthier backgrounds. Another red flag for critics is the introduction of guns in schools, particularly in the nation that leads the world in total homicides each year, the majority from firearms. Increased gun access and possession are not associated with protection from violence, said Robert Muggah, research director at the Brazilian think-tank Igarape. The expansion is a flagship measure of the Bolsonaro administration although the Education Ministry says it has no data on how many such schools existed or studies on long-term benefits of the model. Besides putting police in more schools, Bolsonaros administration has been pushing for other changes in public education, accusing it of being filled with Marxist ideology. The Education Ministry has talked of revising history textbooks to refer to Brazils 1964-1985 dictatorship as a democratic regime of force and of excising references to feminism, homosexuality and violence against women. Most recently, Bolsonaro said public funding for sociology and philosophy could be eliminated. In recent years, some schools taken over by the police have garnered headlines when prosecutors have had to intervene after officers began charging monthly fees to parents, imposed expensive uniforms or sought to set aside half of the schools places for children of police officers. In 2016, the head of education for police in the state of Goias revised the school systems internal regulation that normalized expulsions and forced transfers of students. The move followed a recommendation from state prosecutors who argued that expulsions from public schools must remain a last recourse. Its not for everyone, thats for sure, said Mauro Oliveira, deputy-secretary at the Brasilia state education ministry. Only a small number of students have been turned away from their schools since police arrived, he said, arguing the ends justify the means. The administration says it is targeting violent and low-performing schools or those in at-risk areas, where drug trafficking takes place or paramilitary groups operate. Were not talking about normal schools, Oliveira said. He cited cases of students and teachers not being able to go to school because they were bullied or threatened. Is this not exclusion as well? According to the head officer in Ceilandia state school No. 7, Edney Freire, the duties of police officers, called monitors, include making sure students dont fight. If for instance there is any kind of friction between students, the monitor is going to go talk with the students, call the parents to solve the problem, he said. It doesnt always work out in such calm fashion. A video posted this month on the internet news portal G1 shows police officers intervening in a fight in the schools gymnasium. Footage shows an officer body-slamming a student to the ground. In Ceilandia, a crowded working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Brazils capital, violence against teachers was not so much the problem. But drug traffickers operated unfettered around the school and vagabonds were regularly seen drinking and using drugs in the area. When the news came out that the school would enter in a partnership with the police, many parents sought to sign up their kids. Some arrived two days before the school opened, camping outside to make sure to get a spot for their child when the doors opened. Students must line up in the school yard daily, heels together, arms straight along their bodies, heads looking straight forward toward the schools Brazilian flag. We must prepare our future starting today, Freire, the head officer, told students lining up on a recent day. During his speech, police officers walked down the rows, checking students posture and writing down the names of those breaking any rule. The schools director, Adriana De Barros, said that in just two months discipline has improved. Petty crime has also gone down, Freire said. Adriana da Silva, the parent of 17-year-old student Vitor, said it was amazing that it was April and she had not been called in by the school to discuss the teens conduct even once. He used to get in trouble. Now he wants to become a military man, da Silva said. ___ Associated Press writer Diane Jeantet reported this story from Rio de Janeiro and AP photojournalist Eraldo Peres reported in Brasilia. MEXICO CITY - A former Miss Uruguay pageant winner was found dead in a Mexico City hotel early Thursday, authorities said. City prosecutors said a Uruguayan woman was found hanged in the bathroom of a guest room. City officials confirmed the victim had been identified as Fatimih Davila Sosa, who won the Uruguay pageant in 2006. Since then, she had apparently worked as a model. Officials said she had arrived in Mexico City on April 23 for a supposed job interview. There was no official ruling on the death. The prosecutors office said a homicide investigation was looking into the circumstances surrounding the hanging and whether the woman killed herself or was slain by someone. LAKE KAWAGUCHI, Japan - A Quebec wood carver was delighted Thursday to learn Japans prime minister was proudly showing off one of his creations a door-knocker featuring a wood carving of a beaver that he brought home from his recent trip to Canada. In a video posted Thursday to his official Instagram account, Shinzo Abe installs the folksy souvenir at the entrance of his lakeside villa outside Tokyo. Whimsical music plays as Abe, straight-faced and wearing a button-up shirt, hammers the door-knocker into place. His wife, Akie, laughs as she tests out the contraption. Jean-Lionel Tremblay, one member of a brotherly duo of wood carvers north of Quebec City, said someone from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus office had called the shop looking for a carving. But he didnt know it was going to be given as a gift to the Japanese leader. It makes me happy, the sculptor said in an interview, when told about the video. The brief clip has already been viewed more than 109,000 times on Instagram and shared widely on other social media. Tremblay and his brother, Denis, describe themselves as the biggest producers of wooden ducks in their country. Their factory, which produces all sorts of wood carvings, is located in a small town on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River called LIslet-sur-Mer, about 100 kilometres north of Quebec City. Tremblay was convinced the carving he sold the prime ministers office was of a loon. Im sure its a loon we gave them! he said. But after hearing a more detailed description of the animal in the video a brown, mammal-like creature with a black tail, he changed his mind. Oh, yeah, he replied, I guess its a beaver. LONDONBaby Sussex is due any minute now or is the infant already here? Who knows? Either way, all eyes are on Britains royal family. But with Harry and Meghan keeping way out of the spotlight and with no confirmed news on the arrival of he-or-she-who-will-be-seventh-in-line, at least royal fans have something else to focus on: some delightful new photos of Princess Charlotte. Read the latest news on the British Royal Family Released in celebration of the her fourth birthday today, Kensington Palace took to Twitter on Wednesday evening to share the photographs which were taken by Charlottes mother, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. The photos were taken at Kensington Palace and at their family home in Norfolk, formally known as Anmer Hall. On social media, the reaction to the newly released photographs was overwhelmingly positive with thousands sending birthday wishes to the queens great-granddaughter as she turned four. Many compared young Charlotte to old photos snapped of Queen Elizabeth, while others insisted she is a mini version of her father William. Among the well-wishers were Charlottes Uncle Harry and Auntie Meghan, who took to Instagram, writing in the comments on one of the photos: Happy Birthday Charlotte! Lots of love, H and M xo Catherine, more commonly known as Kate, married Prince William in a fairy-tale wedding in April 2011. The couple now have three children, Charlotte, Prince George and Prince Louis. Born in May 2015, Charlotte, full name Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, is the second child of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Her full name is a nod to reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II and her paternal grandmother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997. Charlotte is fourth in line to the British throne, behind her older brother, George, her father, William, and grandfather, Prince Charles. Thanks to a change in British legislation, gender no longer impacts the order of succession making Charlotte the first princess to be guaranteed that her place in line to the throne wont be disrupted by younger male siblings or in this case, Louis. It appears Kate has a passion for photography and has shared photos she has taken of her children in the past usually to mark birthdays and milestones celebrated by the family. Many Brits will look back in fondness on the day Charlotte was born, but perhaps particularly those called Charlotte who were offered free pizza for sharing the same name as the little royal on the day of the royal announcement. Read more about: 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. 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. BERLIN - Germanys leading Jewish organization expressed alarm Thursday over footage of flag-waving neo-Nazis in self-styled uniforms marching through an eastern German town on May Day unhindered by police. Footage of the march Wednesday prompted widespread outrage in Germany and calls for authorities in the state of Saxony, where far-right sentiment is particularly strong, to step in. The images of the neo-Nazi march by The Third Way party in Plauen are disturbing and frightening, said Josef Schuster, the head of Germanys Central Council of Jews. Noting that the rally took place on the eve of Yom HaShoah , the day when Jews commemorate the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust, Schuster added that right-wing extremists are marching in Saxony in a way that brings back memories of the darkest chapter in German history. German security agencies say The Third Way, a relatively small party, has close ties to far-right extremists. The march in Plauen took place to the beat of heavy drums made to look like those used by the Hitler Youth. Participants shouted slogans such as Criminal foreigners out! and National socialism now! Saxony police said several hundred people took part in the march. Counter-protesters were kept away. Police said they are investigating nine people for illegally covering their faces during the event and another for insulting an officer, but described the day as a success from a policing perspective because there was no violence. The Central Council of Jews said authorities should have prevented the march from taking place at all. If the Saxony state government is serious about combating right-wing extremism, it must not allow such demonstrations, Schuster said. The Jewish community expects decisive action and visible consequences from the responsible authorities and the state government. German Chancellor Angela Merkels centre-right Christian Democratic Union is running neck-and-neck in recent opinion polls with the far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of Sept. 1 state election in Saxony. At a separate rally Wednesday, neo-Nazis marched through the western German city of Duisburg with signs calling for the destruction of Israel. ___ Video of neo-Nazi march in Plauen: http://bit.ly/2Y6IvAH LA ROCHELLE, FRANCEAt dawn on a recent Saturday, the crew of the fishing trawler LArlequin II pulled their cone-shaped net up from the Bay of Biscay, and found the usual catch crammed into the bottom: hundreds of bass. And the bodies of two dead dolphins. Such scenes have become far too common: A record 1,200 dolphins have washed up on Frances Atlantic coast since January, most of them with wounds suggesting that the mammals had died after being trapped in fishing nets. For every carcass that ends up on a beach, several more decay at sea, wildlife biologists say, which suggests that as many as 6,000 of the 200,000 common dolphins living in the bay may have perished in less than four months because of fishing. So a disturbing question hangs over the port cities that dot the coastline from Brittany to the Basque Country, and their hundreds of fishing vessels, with no clear answer. Why are so many dolphins dying now? Most people agree that fishing is responsible, but the consensus stops there. Fishermen claim that the unintentional captures, also known as bycatch, remain unusual, if not exceptional, while scientists warn that fishing vessels now represent a major threat to dolphins. Activists from an environmental group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, have just completed a two-month effort to document the deaths and which vessels cause them. Its an undocumented reality that has been unfolding far out to sea, and far from the public eye, Justin Barbati, a 27-year-old volunteer with the group, said as he drove an inflatable boat closer to LArlequin II, where fishermen were dragging the dolphins bodies aboard. That new presence leaves local fishermen feeling unfairly targeted. That Sea Shepherd fights against whale hunters in Japan, fine, but that they follow us while we are working and harass us, the small and decent fishermen, because some of us sometimes catch some dolphins? Its out of proportion, said Jean Lagarde, 75, known as La Rochelles oldest fisherman, as he cleaned black cuttlefish ink from his vessel on a recent afternoon. The Bay of Biscay, the vast gulf west of France and north of Spain, has long been a haven for dolphins, brimming with shoals of sardines, herring and other fish that they eat. Fishermen have historically cohabited with dolphins. Lately, they say, they have seen so many more that most of them dont have to go back far in the photo libraries in their smartphone to play videos of dolphins swirling around their vessels. Biologists at the government-funded Pelagis Observatory in La Rochelle first noticed a spike in dolphins washing up on beaches in 2017, when 1,200 of them were found dead on the French coast, followed by 900 more in 2018. In the first four months of this year, the number already exceeds annual totals that were among the highest in 40 years, said Olivier Van Canneyt, who runs the observatory. Autopsies carried out by Van Canneyts team have attributed 90% of dolphins deaths to fishing activities. They found that most had died of asphyxia, often with their stomachs full, indicating that they were feeding when they became trapped under water. Many had abrasions or cuts inflicted by fishing nets, said Willy Dabin, who monitors dolphin strandings for the observatory. Some fishermen also damage the bodies quite badly so as to avoid damaging their nets, he said in the institutes cold storage room, showing a dead dolphin whose tail flukes had been cut off. Because the common dolphin is a protected species, fishermen cannot bring the bodies ashore, so they throw the carcasses into the sea and most bycatch remains unseen, Dabin added. Fishermens representatives argue that the number of vessels in the Bay, up to 600 in the winter and spring, hasnt changed in recent years. The vessels are the same, too, and so are the amounts of fish they catch, according to Julien Lamothe, the head of a fishermens organization in La Rochelle. Every fisherman has had to deal with a bycatch, one day or another, Lamothe said. Those are shocking events that they are trying to avoid. Catching dolphins isnt their job. But as a result of recent restrictions on catching sole, a bottom-dwelling fish, some fishing boats have been using higher nets to catch other species, which might have resulted in more dolphin bycatch, scientists say. Some have nets tens of kilometers long. From porpoises in Mexico to dolphins in Chinas Yangtze River, bycatch is the greatest threat to marine mammals around the world, according to the Marine Mammal Commission, a United States government agency. Most are long-lived species that breed slowly: The common dolphins of the Bay of Biscay become sexually mature at age 8 and can live up to 25 years, and females give birth every three years on average. The day our studies show that the dolphin population has dwindled in the bay, it will be too late, Van Canneyt said. Sea Shepherds activists, most of them volunteers, patrol the bay aboard the groups own vessel, the MV Sam Simon, looking for fishing trawlers and dead dolphins. A New York Times reporter and a photographer joined them for a day. This campaign is about long-term observation; we are doing what the French government should be doing, said Barbati, a biologist who assesses salmon stocks for the Canadian government. Lamya Essemlali, head of the French branch of Sea Shepherd, has advocated for more independent observers and cameras aboard fishing vessels to prevent bycatch. Bycatch is the first threat to marine mammals, and fishermen cast their nets right in the middle of their natural habitat, Essemlali said aboard the MV Sam Simon. How can we call those accidental catch? The only long-term solution, she said, would be a ban in the area on fishing methods that indiscriminately scoop up whatever creatures are present. But that would threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of fishermen, and economies of their towns. The French government has raised a possible short-term compromise. The ecology minister, Francois de Rugy, said he would support research on acoustic devices that attach to fishing nets and make sounds that drive dolphins away. One study found that on vessels using the devices, bycatch has decreased by 65%. But scientists and Essemlali object that the acoustic repellents, known as pingers, threaten to deny dolphins an important and usually safe habitat. And they dont always work; the trawler LArlequin II uses pingers. Two days before the vessel trapped the dolphins in its net, its captain, Charles Le Moyec, said that since he had started using the devices, he no longer caught dolphins. We dont like it either when we kill dolphins, but so far the pingers have worked well, he said in his cabin, as his crew unloaded dozens of cases of frozen hake on the dock at La Rochelle. Two days later, two dead dolphins lay in his net, close to the acoustic repellents. Afterward, Le Moyec, 35, insisted that it was the first time he had caught a dolphin this year adding that he felt harried by Sea Shepherd, whose volunteers had followed him around the bay for hours at a time. Along the dozens of blue, yellow and red fishing cabins and garages in the port of La Rochelle, many fishermen echoed Le Moyecs frustration, saying that Sea Shepherd wanted to treat fishing as a crime. Weve never seen so many dolphins in the waters, and Sea Shepherd accuses us of being murderers, Lagarde said. What about the massive vessels from the Netherlands or Spain that empty our ocean far away in the bay? Those, too, have been on Sea Shepherds radar. As the group ended its campaign last month, Essemlali said it would be back in the bay next winter. In the Bay of Biscay, dolphins are predators and the fishing industry is turning them into prey, she said. We can discuss what needs to be done, but that must stop, period. Read more about: COPENHAGEN - Scandinavian Airlines is cancelling more flights as talks between the carrier and the striking pilots continued in the Norwegian capital. The airline says 429 more flights were cancelled Thursday on top of the 280 announced earlier for the day, totalling 709 flights being grounded which is affecting about 54,000 passengers. The cancellation comes in addition to hundreds more since pilots began an open-ended strike on Friday because of the collapse of pay negotiations. The meeting in Oslo started Wednesday and were the first contacts since talks collapsed. LONDON - The Latest on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (all times local): 11:40 a.m. A British judge has said a U.S. extradition case against Julian Assange will take many months, as he set a new procedural hearing for May 30. Judge Michael Snow says a more substantive hearing is set for June 12. The WikiLeaks founder has appeared in a London court from prison, where he is serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail. Assange says he will fight extradition to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring with former U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning to hack a Pentagon computer. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. ___ 11:20 a.m. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has confirmed that he will fight extradition to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring to hack a government computer. At a court hearing Thursday, Assange said he would not surrender to extradition for doing what he called journalism that has won many awards. Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court by video link from Londons Belmarsh Prison, where he is serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail in 2012 and taking refuge in the embassy of Ecuador. British police arrested him last month after Ecuador revoked his political asylum. ___ 10:50 a.m. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was facing a court hearing Thursday over a U.S. request to extradite him for allegedly conspiring to hack a Pentagon computer. Assange, who is fighting attempts to send him to the United States, is expected to appear by video link from prison for the hearing at Londons Westminster Magistrates Court. A few dozen supporters holding signs reading Free Assange and No extradition gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing. Its an early stage in what is likely to be a months- or years-long extradition process. The 47-year-old Australian was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012 and holing up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. At the time, he was facing extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women. Assange says he feared being sent to the U.S. to face charges related to WikiLeaks publication of classified U.S. military documents. Assange was arrested last month after his relationship with his embassy hosts went sour and Ecuador revoked his political asylum. Lawyers say Assange will fight extradition to the U.S., where authorities have charged him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system. He is accused of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a classified government computer. Manning served several years in prison for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks. She was jailed again in March after refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said Wednesday that the extradition battle was a question of life and death for Assange. LONDON - Britains former defence secretary ferociously denied allegations that he leaked details from private government discussions about the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, as opposition leaders called Thursday for a criminal investigation into the scandal. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was fired late Wednesday by Prime Minister Theresa May, who said she had seen compelling evidence that he was behind media reports that the government had agreed against the advice of the United States to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britains new 5G wireless communications network. It was the first time in decades that a senior minister has been fired over leaks of sensitive information. Williamson hit back, telling Sky News that the investigation had been a witch hunt and claiming he was the victim of a kangaroo court with a summary execution. Allies of Williamson rallied to his support, demanding that Mays government publish the evidence against him. Natural justice requires that the evidence is produced so that his reputation can be salvaged or utterly destroyed, said Conservative lawmaker Desmond Swayne. The firing of Williamson was a dramatic display of the divisions and ill-discipline that is roiling Britains Conservative-led government. 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. Williamson was named in a Daily Telegraph report last week as being one of several ministers alleged to have opposed letting Huawei work on Britains 5G infrastructure. 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. Opposition Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson said the leak from a top-secret meeting of Britains National Security Council was indicative of the malaise and sickness at the heart of this ailing government. He called for a criminal investigation into leaks from the security council, which is made up of senior ministers who receive briefings from military and intelligence chiefs. Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington said the government did not plan to refer the matter to police. But we would of course co-operate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary, he told lawmakers. Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick, however, said the force would only investigate if it received a complaint. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - An Iranian oil tanker carrying over 1 million barrels of fuel oil suffered a malfunction in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, authorities said Thursday, raising concerns that the vessel could be leaking. The incident involving the Happiness I came as U.S. oil exemptions for Iranian crude oil purchases expired, part of President Donald Trumps maximalist approach against Tehran. Saudi Arabias state-run television channels and news agency said authorities received a distress call from the Happiness I over an engine failure and the loss of control. The vessel had a crew of 26, including 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, Saudi state media said. They described the ships position as some 70 kilometres (44 miles) south of Jiddah in the Red Sea. Saudi authorities said various government agencies were involved in the operation, including those who handle environmental protection. It did not elaborate on whether oil had spilled from the tanker. Irans state-run IRNA news agency quoted the state-run National Iranian Tanker Co. as saying the tanker would be transferred to Jiddahs port. It said the vessel, on the way to the Suez Canal, broke down over water leaking into its engine room. No one was injured in the incident and Iran denied any fuel had leaked out. The website MarineTraffic.com, which tracks vessels at sea, put the Happiness I about 40 kilometres (25 miles) off the coast of Jiddah late Thursday morning. The website TankerTrackers.com, whose analysts monitor oil sales on the seas, estimated the Happiness I carried at least 1.1 million barrels of fuel oil. It said the ship sailed in tandem with another smaller sister ship named the Sabiti. The Happiness I stopped its engines Tuesday, then was shadowed by the Sabiti close enough to have its crew escape, TankerTrackers said. Two tugboats from Saudi Arabia appeared to have reached the ships, TankerTrackers said. TankerTrackers said it did not believe there was an oil leak, though information about the incident was still murky. Saudi Arabia and Iran are chief Mideast rivals. Iran now faces increased pressure from the U.S. over its oil sales after Trump pulled America out of its nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has warned it will respond aggressively to any attempt to cut its oil exports to zero, as the Trump administration has pledged to do. This is the latest incident involving an Iranian tanker. In January 2018, the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi struck the Chinese freighter CF Crystal 257 kilometres (160 miles) off the coast of Shanghai in the East China Sea. The Sanchi, carrying nearly 1 million barrels of a gassy, ultra-light oil bound for South Korea, burst into flames, killing 32 sailors on board. ___ Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. JERUSALEM - Israel on Thursday said it has uncovered a network of bots and fake Twitter accounts urging a boycott of the upcoming Israeli-hosted Eurovision song contest. Israels Ministry of Strategic Affairs said the Palestinian-led movement that promotes boycotts against Israel is behind the effort. Twitter confirmed it suspended a small network of accounts in response to the Israeli complaint. The BDS movement calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel in what it says is a nonviolent campaign against Israeli occupation. The movement has had some success in persuading artists to cancel appearances in Israel and has urged contestants to skip this months Eurovision. Israel is hosting the contest after Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won last year. Israeli government minister Gilad Erdan said BDS activists are trying every deceptive method to attack Israel. Alia Malak, a member of the BDS campaigns steering committee, accused Erdans ministry of desperately spreading propaganda lies to cover up Israels multiple Eurovision failures. WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trumps Justice Department. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Barr had already lied to Congress in other testimony and called that a crime. Democrats raised the prospect of holding Barr in contempt after the department also missed the House Judiciary Committee deadline to provide it with a full, unredacted version of Muellers report and its underlying evidence. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York said that if the attorney general doesnt provide the committee with the information it demands and the respect that it deserves, Mr. Barrs moment of accountability will come soon enough. Barrs decision to avoid the hearing, made after a disagreement with the committee over questioning, and the Democratic pushback brought both sides closer to a court battle one that could pit Trump against House Democrats well into the 2020 campaign season. The standoff further heightened tensions sparked by Trumps refusal to comply with House investigations, with some senior Democrats hinting that a continued blockade could nudge them closer to impeachment. Nadler said he wouldnt immediately issue a subpoena for Barrs testimony but would first focus on getting the full Mueller report, likely including a vote holding Barr in contempt of Congress. With Barr absent, Democrats convened a short hearing that included an empty chair with a place card set for Barr. Shortly afterward, Pelosi increased the tensions further. In a reference to the attorney generals testimony last month, Pelosi said Barr was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States thats a crime. At a hearing on April 9, Florida Rep. Charlie Crist asked Barr about reports that members of Muellers team believed he had failed to adequately portray their findings in a four-page memo that was released before the full report. Crist asked at the hearing, Do you know what they are referencing with that? Barr responded, No, I dont, and went on to say Muellers team probably wanted more put out about what they had found. Democrats have raised questions about that testimony since it was revealed this week that Mueller had written Barr two weeks earlier, on March 27, complaining that the attorney generals memo did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of his work. Barr said Wednesday his answer was not misleading because he had been in touch with Mueller, rather than members of his team, and that the concerns were mostly about process and not substance. Within minutes of Pelosis comments, Justice Department Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called her words reckless, irresponsible and false. Pelosi also said the administrations refusal to respect subpoenas by a House committee is very, very serious and noted that ignoring congressional subpoenas was one of the articles of impeachment against former President Richard Nixon. As Democrats portrayed Barr as untruthful, they sought to speak to Mueller. Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on May 15 and the panel was firming up the date. It wasnt clear whether Barr would eventually negotiate an appearance with the House panel. While a contempt vote would make a strong statement, it is unlikely to force the Justice Department to hand over the report. A vote of the full House on contempt would send a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the administrations interests. But even if the U.S. attorney declines to prosecute, Democrats could pursue other avenues in court or even issue fines against witnesses who fail to appear. In the past they had a House jail, said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., a member of the Judiciary panel. I dont think were going to go that far, but courts have upheld that. At Barrs no-show hearing, Democratic members of the committee had fun with the spectacle, passing around fried chicken and placing a prop chicken by Barrs unused microphone to underscore their contention that he was afraid to appear. One lawmaker jokingly looked under the desk to make sure Barr wasnt there. Republicans were not amused by the antics or Nadlers tough talk. The reason Bill Barr isnt here today is because the Democrats decided they didnt want him here today, said the top Republican on the panel, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins. Nadler had demanded that staff attorneys, in addition to lawmakers, be allowed to question Barr. Barr said he wouldnt attend under that condition. The attorney generals cancellation meant he would avoid another round of sharp questioning after testifying Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats on the panel contended that Barr was protecting Trump after he assessed Muellers report on his own in the early memo and declared there wasnt enough evidence that the president had committed obstruction of justice. Mueller didnt charge Trump with obstruction but wrote that he couldnt exonerate him, either. Barr strongly defended himself against those criticisms and also Muellers, saying at one point that Muellers March letter to him was snitty. The attorney generals confrontational approach is in line with the White House, which argued in an April 19 letter that Trump has the right to instruct advisers not to testify before congressional oversight probes. The letter from White House legal counsel Emmet Flood to Barr, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, argues that Trump would, if necessary, assert executive privilege to prevent advisers from testifying. Trump has vowed to battle all of the subpoenas as multiple committees have sought to speak with administration officials or obtain documents relevant to his policies and finances. The president, his business and his administration have already filed lawsuits to prevent the turning over of Trumps financial records and have declined to comply with a deadline to provide his tax returns. Trump signalled Thursday that he would not allow aides, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, to testify before Congress, telling Fox News: Theyve testified for many hours, all of them. I would say, its done. He insisted he provided total transparency, to Mueller, and said Democrats shouldnt be looking anymore. Its done. Democrats have signalled they wont back down and will take steps including in court to get the White House to comply. But advisers to the president have suggested that any legal fight, even one that ends in defeat, would likely extend well into the 2020 campaign and allow them to portray the probes as political. In the April letter, Flood blasted the Mueller report as defective and political. He called the 448-page report a prosecutorial curiosity part truth commission report and part law school exam paper. ____ Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire, Alan Fram, Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker, Laurie Kellman, Jill Colvin and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report. HOUSTON - An 18-month-old boy has been wounded in what Houston police are calling an apparent road-rage shooting. The incident happened about 1 p.m. Wednesday on an Interstate 69 frontage road in western Houston. The childs father, who says hes hearing-impaired, told police that he accidentally cut off another driver. The father says he tried to apologize when he saw the man produce a handgun and fired two shots at his car. Police Officer J.G. Jones says the man drove to a nearby convenience store and carried his wounded child inside, where a nurse who happened to be present rendered first aid. The child was taken to Texas Childrens Hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition with a wound to his upper left shoulder. No suspect is in custody. CHICAGO - Four pups of a critically endangered species of wolf have been born at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. The zoo says in a news release that the two male and two female red wolf pups were born April 13 the first new litter of red wolf pups at the zoo in nearly a decade. Curator Dan Boehm says the arrival of the pups comes at a time when scientists estimate there are fewer than 30 red wolves left in their native habitat of North Carolina. The wolves named for their red-tinged fur have over the years been driven to the brink of extinction by hunting. The zoo is taking part with other zoos in a Red Wolf Species Survival plan to increase the red wolf population. POWAY, Calif. - Leaders at a Southern California synagogue knew they needed to increase security around their front door a year before a gunman walked through it and opened fire. The Chabad of Poway synagogue sought a $150,000 federal grant to install gates and more secure doors, but it took nearly a year for the application to be approved and the money to be distributed. It was awarded in late March. Obviously, we did not have a chance to start using the funds yet, rabbi Simcha Backman told The Associated Press. Backman, who oversees security grants for the 207 Chabad institutions across California, wouldnt give details on the planned enhancements or speculate whether they might have changed the outcome of Saturdays attack. The gunman killed a woman and wounded an 8-year-old girl, her uncle and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was leading the service on the last day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday. Goldstein, who lost a finger, joined President Donald Trump on Thursday for the National Day of Prayer . Republican state Sen. Brian Jones, whose district includes the synagogue near San Diego, said he wants to find a way to shorten the time it takes for security grant money to get to organizations. Can we remove some bureaucratic steps here to help these organizations get these improvements done quicker? he said. The Poway synagogue doesnt have security guards. But rabbis of Californias Chabad organization began asking members who were trained law enforcement professionals to carry their weapons at services after a gunman massacred 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh last October. Goldstein also applied for a concealed carry permit, and the congregation received training from the city of Poway on responding to an active shooter. Houses of worship, like all institutions open to the public, face a balancing act in providing security while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere, said Jesus Villahermosa, a former law enforcement officer in Washington state who teaches classes nationwide on deterring and reacting to active shooters. All the mechanical security in the world isnt going to change that anyone in America can walk into any place in America and open fire, he said. Its difficult because I dont think there is a perfect solution. Even installing metal detectors merely makes those gathered there the potential initial target, he said. Villahermosa said synagogue leaders were wise to ask officers to come armed, but layers of security would be best, including professional armed guards at entrances, embedded in the congregation and at the front of the worship area. On Saturday, an off-duty Border Patrol agent who attends the synagogue fired at the gunman as he fled, hitting his vehicle. The 19-year-old suspect, John T. Earnest, has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder charges. The synagogue was built two decades ago with security features including video surveillance, but leaders started beefing up those measures in 2010. They received and spent money from a $75,000 grant earmarked for a security assessment, 16 cameras, fencing and lighting, according to records reviewed by AP. One camera showed the gunman fumbling with his rifle before fleeing. The synagogue applied for another grant in May 2018 to upgrade those cameras and add other enhancements. While the synagogue got approval in September, a workshop on the required documents wasnt held until late October and the synagogue submitted its first documents in early February, said Brad Alexander, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services, which administers the program for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The state then requested additional information before awarding the money on March 22. New FEMA rules allow the grants to be spent on security guards, and state officials said recipients can seek a modification to existing grants to use the money that way. Backman said the synagogue is considering it and will find money to hire guards even if the government does not fund them. Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing legislation that would change a similar state grant program to allow money for guards, citing the increase in hate crimes against Jews and other religious and racial minorities. He said institutions should decide whether those guards are armed. In response to the increase in mass shootings, states from Florida to Texas are considering measures that would allow people to be armed in places of worship and study. Newsom announced Monday that he was budgeting $15 million to increase security for religious institutions and other vulnerable nonprofits. Last year, the program got $500,000. Democratic Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, vice chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said lawmakers will have more control over how quickly the state money gets to institutions at risk of hate-motivated violence. Obviously, theres every reason in the world to get those funds out as quickly as possible, he said. Jewish-affiliated organizations in California received 79% of the 264 non-profit security grants awarded under the federal and state programs since 2012. The remaining 21% went to institutions serving other faiths, hospitals, Planned Parenthood chapters, domestic violence shelters, museums and a university. The goal is to help any at-risk institution, though Jewish organizations could be more aware of the program, Gabriel said. Theres a real sense of vulnerability right now in the Jewish community, he said. Government help with security makes sense because millions of Americans attend places of worship, Backman said. I understand the concern for separation of church and state, but this is not about the government supporting one religious institution over another, the rabbi said. Its about the government protecting its citizens. ___ Thompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press writer Adam Beam in Sacramento contributed to this story. GLENDALE, Ariz. - An Arizona woman pleaded guilty to causing damage at a Tempe mosque during an altercation she filmed and posted to social media, according to court records. Tahnee Gonzales, 33, of Glendale pleaded guilty April 25 to aggravated criminal damage, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday. The terms of her plea agreement include writing an apology to the Islamic Community Center and performing 225 hours of community service work with an Islamic humanitarian organization, Helping Hand for Relief and Development. Gonzales, who is scheduled to be sentenced June 4, is not allowed to return to the mosque without permission from the Maricopa County Victims and Probation Department. Gonzales was charged in connection with a March 2018 trip to the mosque about 11 miles (18 kilometres) east of Phoenix. A Facebook video shows Gonzales and Elizabeth Dauenhauer making derogatory comments about Muslims during a shouting match with a Muslim man. The video shows the women pulling down fliers offering social services and financial help to mosque members. The women also encouraged Gonzales three children to remove pamphlets. Prior to the plea agreement, Gonzales was charged with child endangerment. The women deleted their Facebook accounts after the video began to spread through social media, but the footage remained available on other accounts. Dauenhauer, 51, pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal damage and was sentenced in November to 18 months of supervised probation and 200 hours of community service. ___ Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com WASHINGTONIt was a foreign policy role Joe Biden enthusiastically embraced during his vice presidency: browbeating Ukraines notoriously corrupt government to clean up its act. And one of his most memorable performances came on a trip to Kiev in March 2016, when he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraines leaders did not dismiss the countrys top prosecutor, who had been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the political elite. The pressure campaign worked. The prosecutor general, long a target of criticism from other Western nations and international lenders, was soon voted out by the Ukrainian Parliament. Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Hunter Biden, Bidens younger son, who at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had been in the sights of the fired prosecutor general. Hunter Biden was a Yale-educated lawyer who had served on the boards of Amtrak and a number of nonprofits and think tanks but lacked any experience in Ukraine and just months earlier had been discharged from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine. He would be paid about$50,000 per month for his work for the company, Burisma Holdings. The broad outlines of how the Bidens roles intersected in Ukraine have been known for some time. The former vice presidents campaign said that he had always acted to carry out U.S. policy without regard to any activities of his son, that he had never discussed the matter with Hunter Biden and that he learned of his sons role with the Ukrainian energy company from news reports. But new details about Hunter Bidens involvement, and a decision this year by the current Ukrainian prosecutor general to reverse himself and reopen an investigation into Burisma, have pushed the issue back into the spotlight just as the senior Biden is beginning his 2020 presidential campaign. They show how Hunter Biden and his U.S. business partners were part of a broad effort by Burisma to bring in well-connected Democrats during a period when the company was facing investigations backed not just by domestic Ukrainian forces but by officials in the Obama administration. Hunter Bidens work for Burisma prompted concerns among State Department officials at the time that the connection could complicate Bidens diplomacy in Ukraine, former officials said. I have had no role whatsoever in relation to any investigation of Burisma, or any of its officers, Hunter Biden said Wednesday in a statement. I explicitly limited my role to focus on corporate governance best practices to facilitate Burismas desire to expand globally. Hunter Biden, who left Burismas board last month, was one of many politically prominent Americans of both major parties who made money in Ukraine over the past decade. In several cases most notably that of Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trumps former campaign chairman that business came under criminal investigation that exposed a seedy side of the lucrative Western consulting industry in Ukraine. But the renewed scrutiny of Hunter Bidens experience in Ukraine has also been fanned by allies of Trump. They have been eager to publicize and even encourage the investigation, as well as other Ukrainian inquiries that serve Trumps political ends, underscoring the Trump campaigns concern about the electoral threat from the former vice presidents presidential campaign. The Trump teams efforts to draw attention to the Bidens work in Ukraine, which are already yielding coverage in conservative media, have been led partly by Rudy Giuliani, who served as a lawyer for Trump in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller. Giulianis involvement raises questions about whether Trump is endorsing an effort to push a foreign government to proceed with a case that could hurt a political opponent at home. Giuliani has discussed the Burisma investigation, and its intersection with the Bidens, with the ousted Ukrainian prosecutor general and the current prosecutor. He met with the current prosecutor multiple times in New York this year. The current prosecutor general later told associates that, during one of the meetings, Giuliani called Trump excitedly to brief him on his findings, according to people familiar with the conversations. Giuliani declined to comment on any such phone call with Trump but acknowledged that he has discussed the matter with the president on multiple occasions. Trump, in turn, recently suggested he would like Attorney General William Barr to look into the material gathered by the Ukrainian prosecutors echoing repeated calls from Giuliani for the Justice Department to investigate the Bidens Ukrainian work and other connections between Ukraine and the United States. Giuliani said he got involved because he was seeking to counter the Mueller investigation with evidence that Democrats conspired with sympathetic Ukrainians to help initiate what became the special counsels inquiry. I can assure you this all started with an allegation about possible Ukrainian involvement in the investigation of Russian meddling, and not Biden, Giuliani said. The Biden piece is collateral to the bigger story but must still be investigated but without the prejudgments that infected the collusion story. The decision to reopen the investigation into Burisma was made in March by the current Ukrainian prosecutor general, who had cleared Hunter Bidens employer more than two years ago. The announcement came in the midst of Ukraines contentious presidential election and was seen in some quarters as an effort by the prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, to curry favour from the Trump administration for his boss and ally, the incumbent president, Petro O. Poroshenko. Poroshenko lost his re-election bid in a landslide last month. While the incoming president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said he will replace Lutsenko as prosecutor general, Zelensky has not said whether the prosecutors he appoints will be asked to continue the investigation. Kostiantyn H. Kulyk, a deputy for Lutsenko who was handling the cases before being reassigned last month, told The New York Times that he was scrutinizing millions of dollars of payments from Burisma to the firm that paid Hunter Biden. No evidence has surfaced that the former vice president intentionally tried to help his son by pressing for the prosecutor generals dismissal. Some of his former associates, moreover, said Biden never did anything to deter other Obama administration officials who were pushing for the United States to support criminal investigations by Ukrainian and British authorities and potentially to start its own investigation into Burisma and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, for possible money laundering and abuse of office. The Biden campaign cast the revival of the Ukrainian investigation as politically motivated and pointed to the involvement of Giuliani to question the motives behind the new scrutiny. Kate Bedingfield, a Biden campaign spokeswoman, said the former vice presidents 2016 push to oust the former prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, was undertaken without any regard for how it would or would not impact any business interests of his son, a private citizen. The effort, she added, was consistent with the United States foreign policy to root out corruption in Ukraine and was backed by the U.S. government, allies and multilateral institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The younger Biden said in the statement, At no time have I discussed with my father the companys business, or my board service, including my initial decision to join the board. Lutsenko denied any political motivation in reopening the case. Hunter Biden, 49, is the middle of three children his father had with his first wife, Neilia Biden. She and the youngest child died in an automobile crash in 1972. Hunter and his older brother, Beau, survived the crash, and Beau Biden went on to a career in public service. Beau Biden died from brain cancer in 2015 at age 46. After graduating from Yale Law School, Hunter Biden took on a number of roles that intersected with his fathers political career, including working with a Delaware-based credit card issuer, working at the Commerce Department under President Bill Clinton and working as a lobbyist on behalf of various universities, associations and companies. When his father was selected as Barack Obamas running mate in 2008, Hunter Biden terminated his lobbying registrations, which at the time included a company that had lobbied the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which his father had served, about online gambling issues. Months after his father became vice president, Biden joined with Christopher Heinz, the stepson of John Kerry, then a senator, and Devon Archer, a Kerry family friend, to create a network of investment and consulting firms with variations of the name Rosemont Seneca. Kerry would go on to become secretary of state. Biden and Archer pursued business with international entities that had a stake in U.S. foreign policy decisions, sometimes in countries where connections implied political influence and protection. Among the companies they did work for was Burisma, a natural gas company owned by Zlochevsky. Zlochevsky had served nearly four years in the government of the former Ukrainian president Viktor F. Yanukovych, who stepped down in early 2014 and fled amid mass street protests. In the months after the collapse of Yanukovychs government, Zlochevsky also fled the country as Ukrainian prosecutors opened multiple investigations into him and his businesses. Britains Serious Fraud Office froze London accounts linked to Zlochevsky containing $23 million, declaring it was connected to money laundering and Yanukovych-era corruption. (The British prosecution later collapsed because of what U.S. officials said was a lack of co-operation from the office of the Ukrainian prosecutor general who preceded Shokin.) When Shokin became prosecutor general in February 2015, he inherited several investigations into the company and Zlochevsky, including for suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering. Shokin also opened an investigation into the granting of lucrative gas licenses to companies owned by Zlochevsky when he was head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. Zlochevsky and Burisma have always vigorously disputed the allegations against them. Views about the role of the Bidens in the matter depend to some degree on questions about Shokins motives. Among both Ukrainian and U.S. officials, there is considerable debate about whether Shokin was intent on pursuing a legitimate inquiry into Burisma or whether he was merely using the threat of prosecution to solicit a bribe, as Zlochevskys defenders assert. Concerns about Shokin notwithstanding, the cases against Burisma had high-level support from the Obama administration. In April 2014, it sent top officials to a forum on Ukrainian asset recovery, co-sponsored by the U.S. government, in London, where Zlochevskys case was highlighted. In early 2014, Archer, the Kerry family friend, and Hunter Biden were part of a wave of Americans who would come from across the Atlantic to help Burisma both with its substantive legal issues and its image. Their support allowed Burisma to create the perception that it was backed by powerful Americans at a time when Ukraine was especially dependent on aid and strategic backing from the United States and its allies, according to people who worked in Ukraine at the time. First Archer joined Burismas board. Around the same time, the company started paying the New York law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, where Hunter Biden was working. The firm, which Biden left at the end of 2017, declined to describe the nature of Boies Schillers work for Burisma. But previously unreported financial data from the Ukrainian prosecutor generals office show the company paid $283,000 to Boies Schiller for legal services in 2014. Soon after Archer joined Burismas board, Hunter Biden followed, despite being warned by associates who had experience in Ukraine to stay away from Zlochevsky, according to a person familiar with the conversations. A news release from the company said Hunter Biden would be in charge of the holdings legal unit and will provide support for the company among international organizations. Biden said the news release mischaracterized his role with Burisma. At no time was I in charge of the companys legal affairs, he said. Among the Americans brought in by Hunter Bidens U.S. business partners to help fend off the investigations was Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm run by Clinton administration veterans that had done substantial work in Ukraine. A team from Blue Star, and a U.S. lawyer Blue Star hired, John D. Buretta, who had served as a senior official in the Obama Justice Department, held two previously unreported meetings in Kiev, Ukraines capital, with Lutsenko, who took office in May 2016 after Shokins dismissal, according to people with direct knowledge of the meetings. Lutsenko denied attending the meeting. Lutsenko initially took a hard line against Burisma. But within 10 months after he took office, Burisma announced that Lutsenko and the courts had fully closed all legal proceedings and pending criminal allegations against Zlochevsky and his companies, and that the oligarch had been removed by a Ukrainian court from the wanted list. Zlochevsky returned to the country. Hunter Bidens work in Ukraine appears to have been well compensated. Burisma paid $3.4 million to a company called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC from mid-April 2014, when Hunter Biden and Archer joined the board, to late 2015, according to the financial data provided by the Ukrainian deputy prosecutor. The payments continued after that, according to people familiar with the arrangement. Rosemont Seneca Bohai was controlled by Archer, who left Burismas board after he was charged in a scheme to defraud pension funds and an Indian tribe of tens of millions of dollars. Bank records submitted in that case which resulted in a conviction for Archer that was overturned in November show that Rosemont Seneca Bohai made regular payments to Biden that totalled about $50,000 in many months. Amos J. Hochstein, who worked with Vice President Biden on Ukraine issues as the State Departments co-ordinator for international energy affairs, said the Obama administrations support for prosecuting Zlochevsky contradicts any implication that the elder Biden was seeking to oust Shokin in order to protect his son or Zlochevsky. I was in almost every single meeting that Vice President Biden had with President Poroshenko, I was on every trip, and I was on most of the phone calls, and there was never a discussion about his son, or Burisma, Hochstein said. None of these issues ever came up. On Wednesday, Hunter Biden said in his statement that his term as a director had expired and that he was stepping down from Burismas board in a political climate where my qualifications and work are being attacked by Rudy Giuliani and his minions for transparent political purposes. Read more about: HARTFORD, Conn. - The Farmington-based non-profit Voices of Hope is sponsoring an exhibit about the Kindertransport, an effort to rescue 10,000 predominantly Jewish children prior to the start of World War II. And one Hartford woman, Debbie Kleinman, has a very personal connection to the exhibit: her mother, Greta Meier, is one of 10 children featured in the exhibit, which is on loan from the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Kleinmans brother, Rob Meier, is the executive director of the American Society for Yad Vashem. When someone from the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust heard him speak about his mothers Kindertransport experience, they wanted to include her in the exhibit. Meier, born in the small town of Bocholt, Germany in 1924, was 14 years old when she witnessed Kristallnacht from her home. She watched it outside her window, Kleinman said. She watched the terror unfold from the window of their third floor apartment, which they were forced to move to when her fathers store and their home was stolen by the Nazis. It was immediately clear to Meiers parents that they needed to save their three children. In 1939, her parents realized if they couldnt all get out of Germany, they needed to save the kids, Kleinman said. My uncle was 16. He went to London to work. They signed up my mother and her younger sister for the Kindertransport. Their parents were kept in a single building with the remaining Jewish people of Bocholt before being sent to Riga, Latvia in 1940 - where they were murdered. The exhibit states that the loss of her parents was the biggest crisis of her life. Meier learned to speak English fluently, got a degree in mathematics and eventually ended up in Baltimore, where she lived the majority of her life with her husband, Harry, who was also a Holocaust survivor from Bocholt. Kleinman said her mother didnt speak about her experiences and the Holocaust until 1987, when she travelled back to Bocholt with Kleinman, Meiers second trip back since being evacuated. She was hesitant at first because she had been back in 1964 and she had a terrible experience, Kleinman said. Things had not changed at that point. She swore she would never go back. When I asked her, because I wanted to learn more about where she was from, she made the decision that if it was important to me that she would do it. They were originally going to spend one day in Bocholt, but ended up spending two nights and three days. Its what made Meier become more vocal about her experience. That was a life-changing experience for her, Kleinman said. It was after that when she started speaking at schools and being more vocal about it. Growing up, they didnt talk about it. If they spoke in German, it was because they didnt want us to hear about it. Thats why now, its so important for Kleinman to spread the story about the Kindertransport and the Holocaust at large. With more and more Holocaust survivors no longer living, it falls to the next generations to tell their stories. To have my mother represent the 10,000 children, words cant express what that feels like, Kleinman said. Thats where Voices of Hope, which is sponsoring the exhibit at the Mandell JCC, comes in to play. The non-profit was founded by children of Holocaust survivors. Robin Landau, the non-profits director, said the aim is to keep stories like Meiers alive. We do all sorts of things to keep survivors stories alive, Landau said. As the population ages, theres a responsibility. Children and the grandchildren (of survivors) really get it and feel a deep responsibility to tell their stories. Thats a priority of ours moving forward. On April 29, they will use the Kindertransport exhibit as a backdrop to their day of remembrance, which features a community-wide reading of thousands of names of Holocaust victims, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The exhibit will remain on display at the Mandell JCC through May 18. Online: https://bit.ly/2UNmdlt ___ Information from: Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com EL PASO, Texas - About 50 asylum seekers stood this week in a circle near a bridge between the U.S. and Mexico to hear an American attorney explain what would happen to them when they entered U.S. custody. The attorney, Jodi Goodwin, told them they would probably end up at one of the Border Patrols smaller stations, which migrants call la hielera Spanish for icebox because of their cold temperatures. Goodwin advised them to wear their heaviest clothing or borrow clothes from someone else, and to eat a hearty meal before crossing the bridge. In a carrying voice, she repeated in Spanish, Eat well and dress well. The advice reflects reality on the border, where a lack of space means some immigrants must sleep on floors in Border Patrol stations, while others are held in military-style tents in El Paso. The government will soon open two more that could start taking immigrants Thursday. The newest tent cities in El Paso and in the Rio Grande Valley will hold 1,000 parents and families, expanding the Border Patrols capacity to hold and process the surge of immigrants who have arrived in recent months and overwhelmed authorities. The capacity could be expanded at some point. I hope its enough, said Carmen Qualia, executive officer for the Border Patrols Rio Grande Valley sector. We dont know what we dont know. The tents will offer bathrooms, recreation areas and sleeping quarters that are divided by gender and by families and children travelling alone. Detainees will sleep on mats. The tent complex in Donna, Texas, is split into four pods, each labeled a different colour. In each pod, a private security guard stands watch. Gray sleeping mats are stacked on one side, and portable toilets and sinks are lined up on another. The air conditioning system keeps each pod at a comfortable temperature, but emits a constant humming that can make it hard to hear. The tents are set to operate through the end of the year, at a cost of as much as $37 million. A contractor in Rome, New York, obtained the bid to build the tents, which the government calls soft-sided shelters. The Border Patrols El Paso sector has become the epicenter of the influx of immigrant families from Central America. On Tuesday alone, agents arrested around 1,100 migrants in the El Paso sector, including 424 who crossed in Sunland Park, New Mexico, according to Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero. In March alone, the agency apprehended more than 100,000 immigrants, including 53,000 family members. The situation has drawn agents away from their traditional duties of patrolling the border and forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement to refuse to hold immigrants because it does not have enough detention space. ICE is dropping large groups of immigrants at bus stations and cities, including Phoenix, San Antonio, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. But before the immigrants are handed over to ICE or released, the Border Patrol must process them, and the agency is struggling to keep up. In recent weeks, immigrants have been forced to sleep in hastily constructed tents on top of gravel under a bridge in El Paso. Critics decried the conditions as inhumane and corroborated accounts of migrants who said that they were held too long and did not have access to bedding while sleeping in the cold. For far too long, El Paso - Americas new Ellis Island, has lacked adequate temporary processing facilities to address the increase in the number of asylum-seeking families arriving at our doorstep, said El Paso Rep. Veronica Escobar, who took fellow Democrats on tours of the bridge setting. To some critics, the new tents in El Paso and Donna, Texas, are an improvement. Besides providing extra space, the tents also offer a better setting for agents to process immigrants. The data entry at Border Patrol processing centres can take one to two hours per migrant, as agents enter names, take fingerprints and run background checks. Agents also record the addresses where migrants will live in the U.S., and emergency medical technicians perform cursory health screenings. In March, the Border Patrol closed down checkpoints around El Paso used for drug enforcement. Agents now bring migrants to Border Patrol offices near the checkpoints and use the computer terminals there to process migrants. In a statement, the Border Patrol said the tents were built to support efforts to process, care for and transfer the unprecedented number of families and unaccompanied children crossing the border illegally each day in a humane way, consistent with our border security mission and our American values. The Border Patrol is supposed to keep people in custody for no more than three days, but migrants are sometimes detained for longer. Goodwin said she had spoken in the last week to a Guatemalan man who had been in a hielera for 12 days. The Border Patrol stations that house the hieleras will continue being used. In some ways, the tents are better than the iceboxes, Goodwin said. But thats not saying much. Tent facilities previously used to detain migrants in Texas have often lacked adequate space or facilities, said Goodwin, a longtime attorney in Harlingen, Texas. A separate tent city near El Paso housed more than 2,700 migrant children before being shut down in early January amid security concerns. Its unlikely that the new tent facilities will allow the Border Patrol to reopen the checkpoints or to stop reliance on the hieleras or the more hastily constructed, smaller tents. The new 500-person tent in El Paso will only help the Border Patrol keep up, Cordero said, and the checkpoints can only be reopened if the flow of migrants slows down. ___ Merchant reported from Matamoros, Mexico. At a news conference in July 2016, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump famously called for Russias assistance in finding Hillary Clintons missing emails. On Wednesday night, Clinton turned the tables, suggesting a plea that one of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates could make: China, if youre listening, why dont you get Trumps tax returns? Im sure our media would richly reward you, Clinton added during an appearance on MSNBCs The Rachel Maddow Show. Clinton offered the hypothetical as part of an argument that Republicans are letting Russia get away with having aided Trump in the 2016 election. Imagine, Rachel, that you had one of the Democratic nominees for 2020 on your show, and that person said, you know, the only other adversary of ours who is anywhere near as good as the Russians is China, Clinton said. So why should Russia have all the fun? And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why dont we ask China to back us? The election could turn into a battle between two rival powers, Russia and China, one supporting the Republicans and one the Democrats, Clinton said. Just saying that shows how absurd the situation is we find ourselves in, she added. Clintons use of a personal email server while secretary of state became a major issue in her 2016 bid, even as she was cleared by the FBI of committing a crime. Trump has said his call for Russia to find Clintons missing emails was made in jest. But according to the report of special counsel Robert Mueller, Russian hackers did seek Clintons emails within hours of Trumps remarks at a news conference in Florida. Breaking with decades of tradition, Trump has refused to voluntarily release his tax returns. House Democrats are seeking to obtain copies of six years of the presidents personal and business tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service but so far have been rebuffed. Read more about: CHICAGO - A judge is to rule next week on whether he will recuse himself from a request to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate how Chicagos top prosecutor handled actor Jussie Smolletts criminal case. Retired Illinois appellate judge Sheila OBrien is pushing for the review of Cook County States Attorneys Kim Foxxs office, which dropped charges against Smollett that accused him of making a false police report. On Thursday, OBrien asked Cook County Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. to recuse himself because his son works for Foxx as an assistant states attorney. Cathy McNeil Stein, who represented Foxxs office, says there is no need for another judge. Martin says he will consider OBriens request and announce his decision May 10. Foxx and Smollett did not attend Thursdays hearing. TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas lawmakers approved a bill designed to prevent judges from lowering sentences for child sex offenders if they think the victims were willing participants in the crime. The state Senate gave its approval Wednesday to the measure, which was introduced after a Leavenworth County judge in February lowered the sentence of 67-year-old Raymond Soden because he thought the 13- and 14-year-old girls that Soden contacted over the internet were aggressors. I do find that the victims in this case, in particular, were more an aggressor than a participant in the criminal conduct, Judge Michael Gibbens said before sentencing Soden. They were certainly selling things monetarily that its against the law for even an adult to sell. Current state law gives judges discretion in sentencing when there are substantial or compelling reasons, including if the victim was an aggressor or participant. The new bill prohibits judges from reducing sentences if they consider a victim is a participant or aggressor in a sexually violent crime or electronic solicitation when the victim is under 14 and the offender is 18 or older, The Kansas City Star reported . It also prohibits a sentence reduction if the offender offered to pay the victim. The House approved the bill earlier and it now goes to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Judges must interpret and apply the law with common sense and an understanding of the real world, especially in child sex crime cases, Kelly said in a statement Thursday. I was deeply troubled that any Kansas judge would view a child victim as an aggressor when an adult commits a sex crime. I look forward to reviewing this legislation when it hits my desk. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who had pushed for such a law, applauded the Legislatures action. No matter the childs behaviour, child victims are not responsible for the criminal conduct of adults who commit sex crimes against them, Schmidt said in a news release Wednesday. It has been my view that Kansas law should reflect that simple principle, and I am grateful the Legislature has agreed. ___ This story has been corrected to correct the spelling of Judge Gibbens last name. ___ Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A man who fled to Mexico after authorities identified him as a suspect in the rape of a Connecticut university student has pleaded guilty to multiple charges. The Connecticut Post reports 29-year-old Edibaldo Duran pleaded guilty Thursday to home invasion and aggravated first-degree sexual assault for the September 2014 attack on the Sacred Heart University student. He faces 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced July 12. Authorities say Duran broke into the victims apartment while she was still asleep and raped her. Police released a sketch of the suspect based on the victims description and two witnesses later identified the sketch as Duran. Police tracked Duran to JFK airport, but his plane was gone by the time they arrived. He was later found in Puebla, Mexico. ___ Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, HawaiiA man was seriously injured after crossing a safety barrier and falling into a Hawaii volcano crater, authorities said. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park rangers and Hawaii Island fire crews rescued the man Wednesday night after he fell 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres) at Kilauea volcanos Halemaumau crater on the Big Island, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday. A military helicopter airlifted the man in critical condition to Hilo Medical Center. The man, who was not named and is in his 30s, climbed over a metal railing at the Steaming Bluff overlook before falling from a 300-foot (91-meter) cliff. A visitor reported the fall around 6:30 p.m., park officials said. The man was found more than two hours later seriously injured on a narrow ledge about 70 feet (21 metres) from the edge. Emergency personnel completed a high-angle extrication using ropes and stokes litter, officials said. Visitors should never cross safety barriers, especially around dangerous and destabilized cliff edges, Chief Ranger John Broward said in a statement. ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Alaska non-profit education group is suing Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state education commissioner for not paying the $20 million to public K-12 schools that lawmakers agreed to last year. Coalition for Education Equity filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Anchorage Superior Court, the Anchorage Daily News reported . The group claims the executive branch violated the Alaska Constitution by withholding a one-time payout of $20 million that the Alaska Legislature appropriated for public schools. The group is asking the court to order the Republican governor and Education Commissioner Michael Johnson to release the $20 million to schools immediately. Dunleavy earlier this year proposed cancelling the $20 million payout. Matt Shuckerow, a Dunleavy spokesman, said if the Legislature chooses not to cancel it the $20 million will be distributed. The $20 million is on top of the $1.2 billion in state money allocated to the schools under the state funding formula for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2019. The governor has until June 30 to distribute the money, according to David Teal, director of the nonpartisan Legislative Finance Division. The Coalition for Education Equity, based in Anchorage, is a statewide, member-based non-profit formerly known as the Citizens for the Educational Advancement of Alaskas Children. ___ Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com TROY, MICH.Roberta Traini gritted her teeth through the small talk at the Barnes & Noble checkout, grabbed her purchases and hustled her 5-month-old daughter, Gretha, into the chilly April air, where it was safer to breathe. I was freaking out in there, Traini said, jabbing her finger at the store. I needed to buy a present for a birthday, so I was forced to go. I was nervous the whole time. This is life during a measles outbreak for parents of babies: a maelstrom of fear, isolation, truncated plans and, not infrequently, unfiltered fury. Children typically do not receive their first dose of measles vaccine until after their first birthday. So parents of infants are trapped in a dangerous limbo. They want to protect their children from measles, an extremely contagious virus that killed 110,000 people around the world in 2017, most of them young children. Yet they have little choice but to chance exposing their yet-to-be-vaccinated babies any time they leave home. The concern is upending family routines, leaving some parents of infants steering clear of public transit, playgrounds, malls and more. For Traini, 41, who teaches biology at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, going out with Gretha at all felt like a risky move. They live in Oakland County, Michigan, just outside Detroit, which in recent weeks has been the site of a major measles outbreak, mostly in Orthodox Jewish areas. At least 43 people have been reported ill in Michigan. The number of measles cases in the United States has surpassed 700, the highest figure recorded in any year since the disease was declared eliminated in this country in 2000, federal health officials said. Read more: Ontarios vaccination coverage is not what you think. Here are the rates from Toronto to Ottawa that have experts worried New York suburb to declare measles emergency, barring unvaccinated children from public As Americans reject vaccines, health workers abroad risk death to deliver them Many people, vaccinated or not, seem unaware of the particular vulnerability of infants. But current parents of babies have suddenly grown acutely aware, sharing information on playgrounds, in pediatricians offices and on Facebook. For many, the days of watching new cases of measles pop up around the country a reflection of the rise of the anti-vaccination movement and of measles outbreaks in other countries where Americans travel have been agonizing. Its just maddening, because I shouldnt have to worry about measles, said Katherine Jones, 37, a grant manager at an environmental nonprofit group in San Francisco and the mother of an eight-week-old baby. For people who dont vaccinate their children, she said, Its a choice. But, she added, Its not a choice for me, because my baby cannot be vaccinated. The folks who are choosing not to vaccinate their children or be vaccinated themselves are putting my child in danger. Pediatricians say that giving the measles vaccine to children younger than a year old is usually unnecessary and may be ineffective, in part because babies that age still have antibodies from their mothers that could inhibit their response to the vaccine. If their mothers were fully immunized, babies may be born with some protection from measles, but it varies from child to child, said Dr. Annabelle De St. Maurice, an expert on infectious diseases at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Giving the measles vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age leads to a higher proportion of protected children than giving it earlier does, she said. In New York, the site of the largest measles outbreak so far this year, parents are worrying whether their babies should be taken on the subway. Children have been pulled out of daycare. Pediatricians have been lobbied by parents to administer the measles vaccine early. In Michigan, cafes and shopping centres suddenly seem less safe. There are just some places that we dont go, said Lucretia Sims, 29, as she walked outdoors in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with her 7-month-old son, Ayden, in a stroller. She said she has been keeping him away from other children. I think people have gotten a little selfish, she said of families who believe that vaccines cause more harm than good, despite scientific studies that have, for instance, found no link between vaccines and autism. We depend on the community to take care of each other. The babies have no options. The measles virus is extremely virulent: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), You can catch measles just by being in a room where a person with measles has been, up to two hours after that person is gone. My recommendation has been to try not to go out to public places until this calms down, said Dr. Matthew Hornik, a pediatrician in Southfield, Michigan. And asking those people around them, are you vaccinated? Are your kids vaccinated or not? Some pediatricians make exceptions to the one-year rule during outbreaks, administering the measles vaccine to children as young as 6 months old. They will also commonly make the same exception for babies who will be traveling abroad. The CDC recommends giving the vaccine early in those situations. Even so, many parents said they had been denied an early vaccine for their babies, and were instead left to consider whether to take other precautions. You cant put yourself in a bubble, said Kayli Scott, 28, whose second baby is due in August, adding that she was determined not to alter her routine if measles is still a problem after her baby is born. Were still going to go out, she said. In the aisles of a Buy Buy Baby store in Oakland County last week, Bridgett Murray recounted her daily routine to protect her 3-month-old daughter, Sloane, during the current outbreak. When Murray gets home each day from her job at a private school in suburban Detroit, she vigorously scrubs her hands with soap and water. Then she changes out of her work clothes into a fresh outfit. Only then will she pick up Sloane. Its definitely scary, she said. I contemplated not going back to work after maternity leave. Elle Gotham, a lawyer in Detroit, phoned the daycare centre that her baby, Penelope, attends three days a week to ask whether it serves many children from the northern suburbs, where the outbreak has been most pronounced. They said very few, Gotham said. If it gets into a daycare, its a disaster. Some friendships between families who vaccinate and those who do not have suffered. We have friends who dont believe in vaccines, and those friendships arent going to be maintained at the risk of her health, said one father, who gave his name only as Mike, as he pushed his 11-month-old daughter down a street in Royal Oak, Michigan. Anti-vaxxers arent allowed in our house. Jill Dumme of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the mother of an 8-month-old named Benjamin, said she had tried to avoid the topic with her friends, most of whom do not vaccinate. She said she wont bring Benjamin near their children. Theyre so passionate about it and so anti-vax, she said. I love them, so Im not going to sit and argue with them about it. You do you, Ill do me. But until my kids are safe, Im going to steer clear. Colleen Serafini, of Pleasant Hill, California, said she has been reading news reports about measles outbreaks late at night, thinking about her daughter, Tess, who is a few weeks away from her first birthday. It is surreal to be stuck worrying about a once-eradicated disease, she said, recalling a hike she and her husband once took in a state park named after Jack London, who wrote a century ago about a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by plague. We were talking about what a scary time it was then to have kids, when they got these diseases, Serafini said. To be talking about that again is absurd. Read more about: WASHINGTON - Russias support for Venezuelas embattled President Nicolas Maduro has become the latest flashpoint in deteriorating relations between the United States and Russia, moving to the top of a list of long-simmering spats between the Cold War foes. As the dispute intensifies with both sides trading accusations and entrenched in diametrically opposed positions from which they are unwilling to retreat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to meet Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov next week in Finland to discuss the matter. A senior State Department official said Pompeo would use the opportunity of being at the same meeting of Arctic Council with Lavrov to express U.S. concerns about Russian behaviour. That includes Ukraine and certainly Venezuela, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Russias backing of Maduro, who is refusing to cede power to U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, is just the latest of issues that have split Washington and Moscow. It is heating up as ties have already been riven by Russias meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, its military intervention on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad, its 2014 annexation of Crimea and continued support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. And, even as President Donald Trump seeks better ties with Russias President Vladimir Putin, his subordinates are stepping up criticism of Russia on these issues with a recent particular focus on Venezuela. Russia and Venezuela have a political, military and economic alliance that was cemented between Putin and the late President Hugo Chavez. The Russians have provided the South American nation with substantial assistance, including an air defence system and help circumventing U.S. sanctions on their oil industry, but insist the extent of their support has been exaggerated by American officials. But since the beginning of this week, Pompeo and Trumps national security adviser John Bolton have repeatedly denounced Russia, along with Cuba, for aiding Maduro, whose re-election last year is viewed by the U.S. and more than 50 other nations as illegitimate because of fraud. On Tuesday, Pompeo said Maduro had been prepared to flee Venezuela but that Russia had convinced him not to leave. A day later, he and Lavrov had a contentious telephone conversation in which each accused the other of destabilizing Venezuela and demanded an end to the others interference in the country. On Thursday, Lavrov described their phone call as having surreal elements and denied Pompeos allegation that Russia advised Maduro to stay in Venezuela. Pompeo phoned, called for us to refuse to support Maduro, called for Cuba and us not to interfere in the internal affairs of Venezuela, Lavrov told reporters in Uzbekistan. The whole story sounds quite surreal. If you count up all that official representatives of the American administration say about Venezuela, then you can pose questions endlessly and to all these questions the answer will be, to put it diplomatically: its untrue. The State Department and Russias Foreign Ministry had already put out dramatically different accounts of Wednesdays phone call. The Russian statement said Guaido had attempted to seize power with the clear support of the United States and that the U.S. threat to Maduro was a gross violation of international law. It added that Lavrov had warned Pompeo that the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences. Shortly thereafter, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus released a statement saying Pompeo in the call had 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. Neither statement made mention of next weeks meeting in Finland, which will take place on the first stop of a four-nation European tour for Pompeo. After Finland, Pompeo travels to Germany, Britain and Greenland before returning home. OMAHA, Neb. - The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has secured another win in its fight with Iowa and Nebraska to keep its newly opened casino in western Iowa. The National Indian Gaming Commission issued yet another ruling in favour of the tribe, saying on Wednesday that the tribe has the right to operate the Prairie Flower Casino on land it acquired in Carter Lake, Iowa. The $10 million Prairie Flower opened in November with 200 slot-style machines after the federal commission initially approved the tribes casino license in 2017, some 10 years after the tribe began its effort to open the casino. While the casino is technically in Iowa, it lies on the western side of the Missouri River and is surrounded by Omaha. The neighbouring city of Council Bluffs, Iowa which already hosts three state-licensed casinos and the states of Iowa and Nebraska sued to try to shut it down, with opponents in Iowa fearing it will siphon off gambling tax revenue and opponents in Nebraska fearing the casino could draw crime to Omaha. Unlike most other tribal casinos, the Prairie Flower wasnt built on a reservation. The Ponca Tribe, which was forced to leave its homeland along the Missouri River in Nebraska by the U.S. government in the 1870s, has no reservation. The U.S. government terminated the tribe in the 1960s and took its remaining land as part of a policy that sought to abolish reservations and assimilate Native Americans into mainstream American society. The tribe regained its federal recognition in 1990, and most of its 4,500 members are spread over 15 counties in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The lawsuit faults the federal commissions decision to license the Prairie Flower, saying the tribe misrepresented its intentions when it initially announced plans for a health centre on the Carter Lake lot. In March, a federal judge overseeing the lawsuit ordered the commission to analyze whether that agreement should alter the commissions 2017 conclusion that the Carter Lake lot constitutes restored tribal lands that are eligible under federal law for tribal casinos. The commissions decision Wednesday confirmed that the agreement did not change its 2017 finding. Since the parcel is within the aboriginal territory of the tribe and the tribe possesses modern connections to it, based on the geographic factor alone, the parcel is restored lands, the commission said. The Iowa attorney generals office said Thursday that it is reviewing the ruling and considering our next steps. Dick Wade, an attorney representing Council Bluffs, said the city intends to continue with the lawsuit to try to shut the Ponca casino down, but acknowledged that Wednesdays ruling has complicated things for the plaintiffs. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson had harsh words for the commission Thursday, saying the federal groups decision was reached with no input from the involved parties and that it wrongly disregarded the tribes initial stated intentions to use the land for a health clinic. Peterson called on the U.S. Department of Interior and others at the federal level to review the work and governance of the commission. Ultimately, this issue will be decided by the federal courts, Peterson said. James Meggesto, an attorney for the tribe, believes theres little to debate in light of the commissions reaffirmation upholding the casino. The decision effectively ends the legal battle in district court, he said. NEW YORK - The last time Seth Rogen made a movie set in the political world, it went a little rocky. The Interview, which Rogen starred in, co-directed and produced, prompted the ire of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, led to one of the most damaging corporate hacks in American history and brought endless turmoil to Sony Pictures. The ordeal rose to the highest ranks of the government, including President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State John Kerry. The rollout for Long Shot has gone much smoother. The reviews are excellent. No dictators have waged attacks against it. And this time, the secretary of state is fictional. Charlize Theron plays Charlotte Field, a glamorous, workaholic secretary of state running for president. She hires Rogens disheveled but dedicated journalist as a speechwriter. Together, theyre a mismatch of pant suit and cargo pants. Against the odds, the film balances a deeply funny odd-couple tale with a sweetly sincere romance. Theron and Rogen may seem like an unlikely pair. But as they showed in a recent interview that touched on the gender politics of both Hollywood and Washington, they share an easy chemistry based on candour and self-deprecation. ___ AP: Is the movies title a reference to what its like to open your movie against Avengers: Endgame? Rogen: Yes, exactly. (Laughs) We just like to call it what it is. Uphill Battle was the next option. Crushed By Disney was another good one. If less than 10% of the people that saw Avengers last weekend see our movie, were a massive success. AP: In Knocked Up, there was some talk about the believability of your characters relation with Katherine Heigls character. Did you worry people might react similarly to the gap between these characters? Theron: Once people see it, they dont even question it. Rogen: Its funny where peoples brains go. Its incredibly eye-opening and very insulting that people like to boil it down to looks. I think it shows a real weird warped perception of reality. It is not like everyone is with someone who is 100% physically equal to them. The contrary is obviously the truth. Theron: And also if youre building a story just around that, you have nowhere to go with it. Rogen: I really honestly think that there is no correlation between peoples looks and their attraction to one another. I think maybe there is a very superficial, immediate sense at times, but I think that very quickly goes away. Ive been repelled by very attractive women, found them horrible to be around. Theron: Me too. AP: What have you learned about each other from spending so much time together? Theron: A lot of stuff. I did not know that Seth did karate and that he had dreadlocks at some point. I did not know that he made two movies with Stormy Daniels. Rogen: Thats one more than with you. Theron: Inside Im hurt a little bit. Rogen: Ive learned mostly the insane s--- Charlize has to put up with on a daily basis in comparison to me as a celebrity. The amount of appalling questions that get casually thrown her way is shocking to me. (Theron laughs.) I am amazed at the things people feel comfortable saying to her. Just when I think Ive heard the most appalling thing someone could just ask without any consideration that its something you should never say to anyone, some other mother------- comes and says something 1,000 times crazier. Theron: Thank you for noticing. AP: The sexism that female political candidates deal with is also a significant part of the movie. Theron: Weve allowed our society to be comfortable with this general idea that you can ask a woman what you never ask a man, and not think twice about it. And, yeah, I feel like women in politics are under that kind of scrutiny in a way that has not changed since somebody like Geraldine Ferraro was on a ticket. We still do the same s--- that we did to her in 84. AP: After the Sony hack revealed unequal pay between male and female stars, Charlize fought for equal pay . Was that a conversation on this film? Theron: We went into this 50-50 partners, right from the moment that we met each other. That was how Seth handled it, thats how I handled it. Now that know Seth a little bit better, I dont think we even needed a discussion about it. But I tend to be very transparent right up front. Ive made many movies where Ive worked just as hard, and sometimes harder, than my male counterparts and have not gotten share. So it is something thats important to me and it is something I always bring up right in the beginning. Ive now gotten to a place where if someone cant respect that or see the benefit of that, Im very lucky that Im in the position where I dont have to do something. A lot of women that dont have that luxury. AP: Your characters personal lives come under intense public scrutiny. Charlotte is given a likability test. Im guessing thats something you both identified with as famous people. Theron: My publicist wrote me a text two weeks where she was like: Youre a lovely human being but youre a terrible client. It was just two weeks of nonstop nonsense that people were taking out of context. Rogen: I used to come out of press days wondering what people would take apart or focus on. The answer is none of them, ever. And then I saw Charlize and the most innocuous things get blown out of proportion. Its a real double standard. Theron: It sucks. I dont know how to be a person thats constantly censoring myself. Im not a secretive person. Im a private person but Im not a secretive person. But its getting harder and harder because all people really care about is getting clicks on something. AP: Its a tricky thing to make anything funny and crowd-pleasing about todays deeply partisan political world. Rogen: The analogy we kept using was just putting a hand on the audiences shoulder and being like: We live in this world with you. (Both laugh) Because I watch a lot of movies and it doesnt feel like that, honestly. It feels like they just decided, Eh, its too hard to acknowledge this world. Or they didnt want to because its too controversial. Theron: I know for myself, when I hear romantic comedy I have an idea of what that is. I think for us, it was really important to set the bar a little higher and to make something that felt like it was incredibly romantic but also really funny. And those are really, really hard movies to make. And we did it. (Both laugh) Rogen: As the people who did it, we think we did it. Theron: But in a humble way. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The body of a missing Palmer man has been recovered near the Eagle River Nature Center. Alaska State Troopers say searchers found 47-year-old Neil Guggenmos on Wednesday night and that he appeared to have died from self-inflicted wounds. Numerous search and rescue teams had looked for Guggenmos. Troopers say the teams assisted with the recovery of the body from a challenging location in the preserve. Guggenmos told his wife he planned to see a movie Tuesday night but he did not return home. The Anchorage Daily News reports that she found his car Wednesday at the nature centre, where he liked to hike. The Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, Alaska State Troopers, Chugach State Park rangers and volunteers joined police in the search. WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday failed to overturn President Donald Trumps veto of legislation that would have ended U.S. military assistance for the Saudi-led war in Yemen against Iran-backed rebels, but lawmakers pledged to re-examine other aspects of Americas ties with the kingdom. While the 53-45 vote to override fell well short of the required two-thirds, passage of the resolution in April was an unprecedented rebuke of Trumps foreign policy and a milestone for Congress, which invoked never-before-used powers in an effort to halt foreign military activity. The United States is providing logistical support and intelligence-sharing for a war that has killed thousands of civilians and left millions more on the brink of famine. In explaining his veto last month , Trump said the Yemen resolution was a dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens. To one of the resolutions sponsors, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the action on Capitol Hill showed that after years of abdicating that responsibility, Congress stood up in the Senate and in the House and said: You know what, Mr. President, you do not have the power to get U.S. troops involved in a war that we did not vote upon. And that is a big deal. Sanders, I-Vt., is seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. The push to end American involvement in the war gained strength in Congress last year after Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a commentator who had lived in the U.S. and written critically about the kingdom. Lawmakers criticized Trump for not condemning Saudi Arabias role strongly enough and they urged new penalties against the American ally. The administration has forged close ties with the Saudis as it seeks to further isolate Iran. With the veto remaining intact, lawmakers said they are already looking for other ways to adjust relations with the Saudis. Sen. James Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was considering legislation to put the relationship on the right trajectory. Like many of us here today, Im dissatisfied with the state of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Indeed, while Saudi Arabia has long been a bulwark of our Middle East policy, there is a growing gap in U.S.-Saudi relations, said Risch, R-Idaho. Frankly, aspects of Saudi Arabias behaviour are cause for serious, serious concern. Risch said his committee is taking a comprehensive look at the alliance and trying to develop legislation that can address concerns on both sides of the aisle and actually become law. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the sponsors of the resolution, said opposition to the war in Yemen is about sending a message to Saudi Arabia and about getting the blood off of our hands. The United States should never willingly be a part of a bombing campaign that results in this kind of starvation, he said, gesturing to a photo of an emaciated Yemeni boy. The Pentagon said continued support of the coalition is in the U.S. interest because it helps American allies push back against Iranian aggression in the region. WASHINGTON - The Latest on a House Judiciary Committee hearing about the attorney generals handling of the special counsels Russia report (all times local): 7:50 p.m. President Donald Trump is signalling he will not allow aides, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, to testify before Congress, opening another front in the showdown between his administration and lawmakers. Trump says in an interview with Fox News: Theyve testified for many hours, all of them. I would say, its done. Democrats on Capitol Hill want McGahn and other key witnesses in special counsel Robert Muellers probe to testify, but White House lawyer Emmet Flood says Trump is reserving the right to assert executive privilege in blocking their testimony. Trump allowed his advisers to speak with Mueller. He tells Fox News: Ive given total transparency. Its never happened before like this. They shouldnt be looking anymore. Its done. ___ 5:40 p.m. Attorney General William Barr has skipped a House hearing on special counsel Robert Muellers Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trumps Justice Department. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Barr has already lied to Congress in other testimony and is calling that a crime. Democrats are raising the prospect of holding Barr in contempt after the department also missed the House Judiciary Committee deadline to provide it with a full, unredacted version of Muellers report and its underlying evidence. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says if the attorney general doesnt provide the committee with the information it demands and the respect that it deserves, Mr. Barrs moment of accountability will come soon enough. __ 1:30 p.m. White House lawyer Emmet Flood is objecting to what he calls the political report by special counsel Robert Mueller. In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Flood says President Donald Trump will protect executive privilege in the face of congressional inquiries. Flood says Muellers comments that the president could not be exonerated on obstruction of justice do not belong in our criminal justice vocabulary, and says Mueller and his staff failed in their duty to act as prosecutors and only as prosecutors. The White House sent the letter to Barr last month, a day after Muellers report was released publicly. Its existence was first reported by CNN. Flood adds that though Trump allowed his staff to be interviewed by Muellers team, he did not waive executive privilege and reserves the ability to instruct his aides to decline to testify in congressional investigations. ___ 11:20 a.m. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is asserting that Attorney General Robert Barr has committed a crime by lying to Congress. At a news conference Thursday, Pelosi ramped up pressure on Barr, who boycotted a House hearing but testified for several hours Wednesday to a Senate panel about special counsel Robert Muellers report. Pelosi said Barrs testimony to Congress raised deadly serious questions. She said, The attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United states. Thats a crime. Pelosi didnt say what testimony she was referring to, but Democrats have seized on Barrs testimony from last month in which he appeared unaware of concerns from Muellers team over the way he had characterized their work. Barr said Wednesday his answer was not misleading because he had been in touch with Mueller, rather than members of his team, and that the concerns were mostly about process and not substance. Pelosi also said that administration refusals to respect subpoenas by House committee is very, very serious and noted that ignoring congressional subpoenas was one of the articles of impeachment against former President Richard Nixon. __ 9:50 a.m. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says its pathetic that Democrats tried to have staff attorneys question Attorney General William Barr. Barr boycotted a House Judiciary hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Muellers report. Sanders told reporters at the White House after an appearance on Fox News that the decision marks a pretty pathetic moment for the committees chairman, Jerry Nadler. She says that if Nadler is not capable of asking the attorney general questions, then maybe he should step down or resign. Barr had objected to the format of the hearing after Democrats decided to let staff attorneys conduct a round of questioning after lawmakers were done. Lawmakers instead faced an empty chair Thursday morning, a day after Barr testified to a GOP-led Senate panel. __ 9:40 a.m. The House Judiciary hearing featuring an empty chair for Attorney General William Barr lasted less than 30 minutes, but the panel says it will continue its investigation. Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Barrs moment of accountability will come soon enough if he doesnt give the committee with the respect it deserves. Barr had been asked to testify about special counsel Robert Muellers report, but the Justice Department said he would not appear. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., left a prop chicken at the empty witness chair. Later, Cohen told reporters, Chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions. The Justice Department said Nadler, a Democrat from New York, was trying to place unprecedented and unnecessary conditions on the attorney general. __ 9:15 a.m. The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing that isnt really a hearing, with lawmakers facing an empty chair after Attorney General William Barr informed the panel he wouldnt show up for the session on special counsel Robert Muellers Russia report. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said as the session opened Thursday that Barr has a choice whether to stand up to President Donald Trump, who has pledged to fight congressional oversight. Democratic members of the committee had fun with the spectacle, with Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen bringing buckets of fried chicken and Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline jokingly looking under the desk to make sure Barr wasnt there. For most of Wednesday, Barr underwent at times scathing questioning by Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House panel is considering holding Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to show. ___ 12:10 a.m. There might well be an empty witness chair when the House Judiciary Committee meets to discuss the special counsels report and Attorney General William Barrs handling of it. Barr has told the Democratic-run committee that he will not appear at Thursday mornings hearing. The committees chairman, New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, says the panel will meet anyway. For most of Wednesday, Barr underwent at times scathing questioning by Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House panel is considering holding Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to show. The House panel also is weighing whether to issue subpoenas after the Justice Department let pass a committee deadline to provide the panel with a full, unredacted version of Muellers Russia report and its underlying evidence. MADISON, Wis. - The Latest on Foxconn Technology Group and its Wisconsin project (all times local): 4:22 p.m. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is retreating from his previous comments that he didnt think Foxconn Technology Group would employ 13,000 people at its project in the state. Evers spoke to the editorial board of the Racine Journal Times and Kenosha News on Thursday after meeting with the groups leader, Terry Gou, in Milwaukee. Evers says how many jobs Foxconn creates could be less, it could be more than 13,000. That came after he said last month it was unrealistic and difficult to imagine that Foxconn would hire that many given that it was downsizing the display screen factory it was building. Evers says he and Gou had a great conversation and they were building a good relationship. Evers said they also discussed how Foxconn operations would change as Gou steps away from daily operations to run for president of Taiwan. ___ 12:15 p.m. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has met with the head of Foxconn Technology Group for the first time, after saying the Taiwanese company was looking to make changes to its agreement with the state. The meeting with Evers on Thursday came a day after Foxconn CEO Terry Gou met with President Donald Trump at the White House. Foxconn has repeatedly said it remains committed to investing $10 billion and employing 13,000 people in Wisconsin. Neither Foxconn nor Evers had an immediate comment following their meeting at a Milwaukee airport. Evers has said he doesnt think Foxconn will employ that many people because its building a smaller display screen manufacturing facility in Wisconsin than originally envisioned. Evers was a critic of the project when he ran for governor last year. But he says hes committed to working with Foxconn to make sure the project is a success in Wisconsin. ___ 10:20 a.m. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is planning to meet with the head of Foxconn Technology Group for the first time, after saying the Taiwanese company was looking to make changes to its agreement with the state. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Foxconn has repeatedly said it remains committed to investing $10 billion and employing 13,000 people in Wisconsin. Evers spokeswoman confirmed the planned meeting Thursday. But Evers has said he doesnt think Foxconn will employ that many people because its building a smaller display screen manufacturing facility in Wisconsin than originally envisioned. Evers was a critic of the project when he ran for governor last year. The states head economic development official who brokered the current contract was also to meet with Gou and Evers on Thursday. ___ 8:50 a.m. Foxconn Technology Group CEO Terry Gou has met with President Donald Trump to discuss the companys ever-changing Wisconsin project. Foxconn confirmed the meeting on Thursday but offered few details on what was discussed. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says Foxconn approached him about changing the states contract with the worldwide electronics leader. The current deal makes more than $4 billion in state and local tax credits available to Foxconn if it invests $9 billion and hires 13,000 people. But Foxconn has reduced the size of the display screen factory it plans to build and Evers says he thinks fewer people will be hired. Foxconn says Gou and Trump discussed the latest updates and the positive progress of the project, among other things. Gou announced last month he is running to be president of Taiwan. NEW YORK - The Latest on the sentencing of the ringleader of a thwarted plot to bomb the New York City subway system (all times local): 3:15 p.m. A man who plotted to bomb New York Citys subways and then switched sides and helped the U.S. prosecute terrorists after his arrest has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Admitted al-Qaida recruit Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO-lah ZAH-zee) had faced the possibility of life in prison when he was sentenced Thursday. But federal prosecutors say that, after his arrest in 2009, Zazi provided extraordinary assistance to U.S. counterterrorism authorities. Zazi testified against other al-Qaida operates and gave information to U.S. investigators. The naturalized U.S. citizen acknowledged in a 2010 guilty plea that he and two friends planned rush-hour suicide bombings on subway lines around the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The 10-year prison term means Zazi could be released from prison soon. He has been in custody for a decade. ___ 5:35 a.m. The ringleader of a thwarted terror plot to bomb the New York City subways in 2009 is about to be sentenced after nearly a decade of helping federal authorities fight terrorism. Admitted al-Qaida recruit Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO-lah ZAH-zee) acknowledged in a 2010 guilty plea that he and two friends agreed to travel to Pakistan, where al-Qaida operatives directed him to stage an attack on U.S. soil. The mission called for rush-hour suicide bombings on subway lines, timed to occur during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Afghan immigrants co-operation could earn him a far lighter punishment on charges that carry a maximum of life. Hes to be sentenced Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn. LOS ANGELES - An air conditioning repairman charged with murdering a Chicago-area teenager and two California women, one the ex-girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher, would watch, shadow, stalk and hunt down his victims before fatally stabbing them for sexual pleasure, a Los Angeles prosecutor said during opening statements Thursday. Michael Gargiulos trial began with a prosecutor outlining the California murders for jurors, calling the defendant the boy next door killer and his crimes the methodical and systematic slaughter of women. What you will hear is that Michael Gargiulo for almost 15 years was watching, always watching, prosecutor Daniel Akemon said. And his hobby was plotting the perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes. Gargiulo, 43, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and an attempted-murder charge stemming from attacks in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008, including the death of Kutchers former girlfriend, 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin. Gargiulo was arrested in 2008 after DNA evidence linked him to one of the killings and a non-fatal attack. He was separately charged with killing an 18-year-old Glenview, Illinois, woman whose father found her fatally stabbed on their familys doorstep, house key still in hand. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Gargiulos attorney, Daniel Nardoni, reminded jurors during his opening statement that his client is presumed innocent and said other men had better access or motive in the killings. He also pointed out that no murder weapon has been found and no DNA evidence connected Gargiulo to the killing of Ellerin. Gargiulos trial is expected to take six months. Kutcher, who is married to Mila Kunis, is among the witnesses expected to take the stand. Kutchers ex-girlfriend was found dead in 2001 in her Hollywood Hills home. Kutcher told police he went to pick up the fashion student-model for a post-Grammy Awards party, but she did not answer the door. He checked a back window and spotted what he thought were red wine stains on the carpet and then left. Her body was discovered the next day by a friend. Another victim in the case, 32-year-old Maria Bruno, was found stabbed to death in her apartment in suburban El Monte in 2005. Her breasts had been cut off. One victim survived a stabbing attack in her Santa Monica apartment in 2008. Gargiulo was a neighbour of each victim at the time of the attacks. The teenager killed in Illinois, Tricia Pacaccio, lived just down the street from Gargiulo in suburban Glenview. Gargiulo was a friend of her brothers and 17 at the time Pacaccio was stabbed to death on her front porch. Later police said DNA collected from Pacaccios fingernails matched Gargiulo. RENO, Nev. - The state of Nevada has displayed remarkable disregard for national security in its continued legal battle over the secret shipment of weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Las Vegas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The department has urged a federal judge to dismiss the states lawsuit challenging the shipment of the highly radioactive material while a U.S. appellate court considers the states appeal of an earlier ruling refusing to temporarily ban any future shipments. Nevada says the Trump administration abused top secret classifications to meet the court-ordered removal of plutonium from South Carolina by the end of this year. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., have released a letter he sent pledging to expedite removal of the plutonium beginning in 2021 and promising no more will be sent there. The states lawyers said in court documents that Perrys department cannot be trusted because of past misrepresentations about the covert shipment. The state said the Energy Department has selectively declassified information as it suited DOEs needs. The department would not disclose the type of plutonium coming to Nevada, the form in which it would be transferred, exactly how it would be packaged, when it would arrive, the route that it would take, how long it would stay and many other crucial details that Nevadas public officials and first responders need to know, the states lawyers said. The Energy Department insists the plutonium was properly classified for security. It first disclosed the shipment Jan. 30, the same day Judge Miranda Du denied the states request for an injunction that would temporarily halt all shipments. It should not be surprising that the United States carefully secures this information and it is remarkable that Nevada finds fault with the result, the agencys lawyers wrote. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals plans to hear arguments on Nevadas appeal in August, including its request to order removal of the plutonium until the appellate court decides whether the original shipment was legal. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Fords spokeswoman, Monica Moazez, said Wednesday that Perrys commitment not to send more plutonium to the state marks a promising step but added that the states lawyers will continue in court to permanently ensure this shipment of plutonium is timely and safely removed, and prevent future shipments. Nevadas lawyers also want the judge to allow them to gather additional evidence based on the allegations the DOE acted in bad faith by arguing in court repeatedly that it didnt have to disclose when the shipment would occur due to national security concerns before acknowledging it had been trucked to Nevada months before. They say the department is resisting in order to avoid damaging and inevitably embarrassing facts. The federal government is under a court order in South Carolina to remove a ton of weapons grade plutonium from the Savannah River site there by Jan. 1, 2020. Nevadas lawsuit filed in November said the agency illegally determined last summer it could transport the material from South Carolina to Nevada without completing a full-blown environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act to assess potential health and safety dangers. Nevadas case relies partly on the DOEs past arguments in South Carolina that it was impossible to prepare such an assessment so quickly. But when a judge ordered removal of the material anyway the department completed a less-detailed supplemental analysis in August that concluded a full-blown environmental impact statement wasnt necessary because it intended to ship the material in its current weapons-grade form instead of diluting it into waste. DOEs predetermined solution was to slap a new label on one ton of South Carolinas plutonium and call it weapons grade so DOE could try to shoehorn it into prior environmental analyses, Nevadas lawyers wrote. The agency worked backward to justify its selection and hurried to ship before Nevada found out. The DOE acknowledged it originally planned to convert defence plutonium into waste for disposal, but said in the new documents it abandoned that plan when forced to comply with the court order. CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia has reached a $37 million settlement with the drug distributor McKesson in a lawsuit accusing the company of shipping millions of suspicious painkiller orders to the state as it was being ravaged by the opioid epidemic. A Thursday news release from Gov. Jim Justice and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the payment is thought to be the countrys largest state settlement against a single pharmaceutical distributor. However, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin criticized the settlement, suggesting it went easy on McKesson. Its one of many settlements with the drug industry in West Virginia, which has the nations highest opioid overdose rate. The state has received about $84 million through settlements with companies in lawsuits stemming from the national opioid crisis, according to the attorney generals office. The McKesson case, filed in 2016 in a West Virginia circuit court, alleged that the company flooded counties in the state with large amounts of opioids without efforts to prevent illegal diversion of the drugs. In one example from the suit, McKesson sent about 1.4 million opioids to Grant County between 2007 and 2012 enough to provide every man, woman and child there with 118 painkillers. McKesson issued a statement denying wrongdoing and says it is committed to ending the opioid epidemic. McKesson is committed to working with others to end this national crisis, however, and is pleased that the settlement provides funding toward initiatives intended to address the opioid epidemic, the statement said. Manchin slammed the settlement in a statement after it was announced, calling it a sweetheart deal for McKesson. The governor and attorney general either dont know how to negotiate, dont understand the scope of this problem or dont care about the impact this epidemic has had on the state of West Virginia, said Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, who noted that McKesson made more than $208 billion last year. Either way, they have failed our state. Justice, a Republican, told reporters Thursday that he wanted to get more money from McKesson but was told that $37 million was the absolute best were going to do. In 2017, McKesson agreed to pay a $150 million civil penalty for allegedly failing to report and fulfilling suspicious orders for drugs placed by pharmacies, including many in West Virginia, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The abuse of prescription drugs has rampantly spread throughout our communities, said Karl C. Colder, then the DEAs Special Agent in Charge in Washington, when announcing the 2017 penalty. This abuse has directly resulted in the escalation of heroin addiction and related overdoses. In 2008, the company agreed to a $13.25 million civil penalty for similar violations. Hospitals in West Virginia have also recently taken steps to hold the drug industry accountable for the opioid crisis. Nearly 30 hospitals in West Virginia and 10 of their affiliates in Kentucky banded together earlier this week to sue some of the countrys largest opioid companies, saying they inundated Appalachia with powerful painkillers and forced medical centres to deal with the financial repercussions. The case is thought to be the first time a large group of hospitals in a state has teamed up to take legal action against opioid firms, according to the attorney representing the hospitals. About 2,000 lawsuits have been filed nationwide against the drug industry over the opioid crisis by state and local governments, American Indian tribes, unions, hospitals and others. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids were involved in nearly 48,000 deaths in 2017. Restos diverting waste with taste, May 1 Andrea Yus article is a wake-up call for readers to consider imperfect food items. It is also an eye opener to readers to know from the University of Guelph that, over 70 per cent of the restaurant food waste in Ontario goes to landfill. The above provides further support to the informative Dec. 23 Star article about the unconscionable $31 billion annual food waste in Canada. Lets consider, meanwhile, that one million Canadians currently rely on food banks and around four million of our needy citizens are food insecure. I was thrilled to learn recently that Second Harvest, Canadas largest food rescue charity provides 34,000 nutritious meals every day. This good food would otherwise sadly end up as rotting garbage. It is time that citizens of goodwill supported effective and efficient food waste strategies and organizations. Yes, we can have our proverbial cake and eat it too! OTTAWAAlbertas new premier sent a brazen message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, when he raised the spectre of a national unity crisis and warned the Liberal government that its environmental policies will landlock Canadas oil reserves and fan the flames of separatist angst in his province. By mid-morning during his daylong visit to Parliament Hill, Jason Kenney had invoked Quebec separatist icon Rene Levesque, resurrected memories of 1980s energy policy that still taints the Trudeau name in the West, and threatened to cut off oil shipments and launch a constitutional challenge to stop federal environmental legislation he opposes. In short, Trudeaus newest adversary arrived banging at his door. This will be enflaming a growing national unity problem in Alberta and will be a body blow to our countrys prosperity, Kenney said outside a Senate committee where he railed against federal plans to change major project assessments and ban oil tankers from the north coast of British Columbia. He later met privately with Trudeau in his west block office. The most essential job of the federal government is to preserve national unity and national prosperity, and these policies are undermining both, said Kenney. Ultimately, we are prepared to use every tool in the legal and political tool box to defend our vital economic interests. Read more: Showdown in the West: Alberta-B.C. battle heats up over turn off the taps oil legislation Anger helped propel Jason Kenney to power. Now UCP voters expect him to act fast Amarjeet Sohi, the Liberal governments natural resources minister who is also an MP from Edmonton, disagreed that Alberta is fertile ground for separatism. I think its irresponsible for anyone to suggest that Alberta will leave the confederation, he said Thursday. Yes, we have challenges, and were working hard to fix those challenges. Kenney was sworn in as Alberta premier on Tuesday, after his United Conservative Party unseated the provinces NDP to form a majority government. The former Harper cabinet minister joins Ontario Premier Doug Ford in a coalition of right-leaning premiers that stand with federal Conservatives in the campaign against Trudeau and his Liberal government in the Oct. 21 federal election. Chief among their grievances is Ottawas approach on environmental policies, and their prime target is the federal carbon price. Ontario and Saskatchewan have already launched legal challenges of Ottawas claim it can impose a minimum price on greenhouse gas emissions anywhere in the country, and Alberta is set to pursue its own court case as Kenney vows to dismantle the made-in-Alberta carbon tax created by his New Democratic predecessors in Edmonton. Bob Plamondon, an author and consultant who has written several books on the conservative movement in Canada, said Kenney is coming off as a scrapper. I think its unprecedented for a newly-elected provincial premier, without having taken the time to necessarily consult with his officials or cabinet, to immediately go on the offensive (against Ottawa), Plamondon said. It looks like hes itching for a fight, rather than a solution. On Thursday, Kenney set his sights on Bill C-69, the federal legislation to overhaul how major resource projects deemed to fall under Ottawas jurisdiction are assessed for approval. He also threatened to use newly proclaimed legislation to halt oil shipments to B.C. if the NDP government in Victoria continues to oppose the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline that Ottawa nationalized last year to ensure it gets built. Together with a separate bill to limit oil tanker traffic off the West Coast, Kenney told the senate committee on energy and the environment that the Liberals environmental agenda will deepen a growing sense of resentment and alienation in Alberta. He likened Bill C-69 to former the Pierre Trudeaus National Energy Program in the 1980s, a hugely controversial federal policy to assume greater authority of Canadas oil sector, and said Alberta only signed the Constitution in 1982 with the guarantee that it has jurisdiction over its natural resources. With Bill C-69, Ottawa asserts it can regulate major resource projects like the increasingly-prevalent in situ oilsands developments, though under draft regulations they will be exempted from federal reviews as long as Alberta keeps its 100-megatonne cap on emissions from the oilsands. In situ projects use steam to excavate oil from the ground, and already account for more than half of emissions 42 megatonnes from Canadas oil and gas sector, according to the latest national tally for 2017. Kenney argued this is an obvious and flagrant violation of provincial jurisdiction, and that Bill C-69 as a whole with provisions for the environment minister to halt or pause assessments, and broader public consultations on project proposals will deter businesses from building resource projects in Canada. Without substantial changes to the bill, Kenney said he is prepared to hold a referendum on equalization payments and challenge the law in court. This federal government is asking you to violate the Constitution of Canada in supporting this bill, Kenney told the committee of senators. This is not just a slight to the people of Alberta. This is the culmination of a full-frontal attack on the provinces oil industry, he said. Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, who is sponsoring Bill C-69 for the Liberal government, defended the legislation as a major improvement over current assessment rules set up by the previous Conservative administration in 2012. She said it will ensure the right projects are approved while sustaining the environment. It is unfortunate to use inflammatory language to foster polarization, she said Thursday. Better rules are better for everyone. Its better for the environment. Its better for the economy. Read more about: Conservatives gave Justin Trudeau a demotion this week a nominal one, at least. On Wednesday, one Conservative critic after another stood up and addressed their questions to the Liberal leader not the prime minister, as is conventional practice in the House. Its a small thing, perhaps, but it coincided with the unveiling of a new Conservative attack-ad campaign, featuring the same tag line in each of the five spots: Justin Trudeau: Not as Advertised. Casting Trudeau as a mere party leader, or a faulty product, gives us some idea of where the Conservatives believe the prime minister is vulnerable as the fall election looms. The idea, presumably, is to remind voters that Conservatives had warned people in 2015 that Trudeau was neither prime ministerial nor ready for high office. Remember nice hair? Trudeau, well also recall, took the unusual step of replying to those attack ads with his own Im ready ads an option that may be a little more difficult in 2019, what with Conservatives saying now he is not as advertised. Using advertising to accuse an opponent of false advertising is maybe a bit meta for some voters and even cultural critics, but its potentially effective too, in a pre-emptive kind of way. What kind of ads can Trudeau launch in reply this time? I am as advertised? Read more: Susan Delacourt: For Canadian voters, trust in social media companies is declining. So is trust in the electoral system Susan Delacourt: Green wave may be the one Liberals need to watch Susan Delacourt: Trudeau could face a tough second election, just like his father did Wednesday was actually an interesting day for the name game in the Commons. Well, interesting if youre the kind of person who wonders what kind of names politicians can use to demean or delegitimize their opponents in the House. At no time during the flurry of Liberal leader questions did the Speaker of the Commons step in to insist that Trudeau be called by his official title, as the rules strongly suggest. But Geoff Regan did draw the line when Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre went off again on one of his new favourite tangents of late the little potato nickname that Trudeau was reportedly given a couple of years ago when he visited China. When leaders in China dismissed the prime minister as little potato, he thought they meant it as a compliment, Poilievre said, before Regan shut down the question as an indirect insult. Conservatives didnt let it stop there they complained after question period that they were legitimately trying to sort out whether little potato was a compliment or insult in the eyes of the Chinese leaders who dubbed Trudeau as such during his 2017 visit. At this point, some readers may be saying oh, I see now why they need to pay people to report on question period. It is not exactly a high-level debating theatre at the best of times, and especially not in this pre-election period. The Conservatives seemingly deliberate decision to address Trudeau as a mere leader stirred much conversation on social media, mostly about whether it reflected due deference to institutions and title. Some were reminded of the 2015 Conservative tactic of referring to Trudeau only as Justin, though Trudeau himself put his first name at the centre of his leadership campaign. Trudeau, it should be said, has been known to refer to Andrew Scheer, the leader of Her Majestys Loyal Opposition, as a mere Conservative leader too, so its not like anyone, on either side of the House, is fiercely attached to official titles in the heat of debate. Still, Wednesdays barrage of questions to the Liberal leader seemed quite deliberate a total of nine MPs (not Scheer or Poilievre, by the way) avoided calling Trudeau by his prime ministerial title when they stood to speak. Not all Conservatives were amused. Keith Beardsley, who served as a senior adviser and head of research for the Conservatives when Stephen Harper was prime minister, was underwhelmed, urging his party on Twitter to respect the office. Granted, reporters may notice this leader/prime minister distinction more than others. During elections, many media outlets, including this one, stop using parliamentary titles and refer to all leaders by their party title only. Its a way of keeping the coverage level giving no one, even the prime minister, added authority on first reference. As soon as the election starts, the Star will refer to Trudeau as Conservatives did repeatedly on Wednesday as a mere Liberal leader. Perhaps thats the thinking behind the nominal demotion for Trudeau in the Commons. In Conservative minds, the attack ads are out and the election is on, all but officially. Consider this an election preview then, for a fall campaign in which names, titles and tag lines will clearly matter. Susan Delacourt is the Stars Ottawa bureau chief and a columnist covering national politics. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt Read more about: The failed (for now) attempt by Juan Guaido, recognized by many countries as Venezuela's interim president, to displace tenacious dictator Nicolas Maduro has caused a confusion among commentators: Do we call this a coup or a popular uprising, perhaps a revolution? It may well be that a more neutral term is required. It's not the first time such a debate has sprung up. In 2013, Wikipedia's volunteer editors fought a fierce war over how to designate the displacement of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi: as a coup or as a revolution. (Those describing it as a coup appear to have won.) Similar discussions arose about the power transfers in Mali in 2012, in Brazil in 2016, in Zimbabwe in 2017. (In the latter case, deposed President Robert Mugabe's opponents preferred the term "military constitutionalism.") Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps referring to what Ukrainians call their Revolution of Dignity - the unseating of President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 - as an "anticonstitutional coup and armed power grab," justifying Russia's subsequent aggression against Ukraine. In the Venezuelan crisis, as often before, which word one uses has come to indicate whom one supports: coup bad, uprising good. My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Eli Lake noted early on that "coup" matches the messaging of the Maduro side, which, in his view, should make it unacceptable; he suggested using "democratic rescue mission" instead. Political scientist Yascha Mounk from Johns Hopkins University made a similar argument in a Twitter thread: "A coup is the overthrow of a democratically elected government by military means. What's happening is a legitimate - and inspiring! - uprising against a dictator with no democratic legitimacy." In 1952, U.S. historian Crane Brinton suggested that while a coup simply replaces one elite with another, a revolution, like the French one in the 18th century or the Russian one in the 20th, leads to profound changes in society. But such a judgment requires historical distance. The temporary military takeover in Egypt that led to Morsi's election in 2012 was hailed as a revolution - but when he usurped nearly unlimited power, he, too, was deposed in an eruption of popular protest; the jury is still out on whether the series of events that ultimately led to the dictatorial rule of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was a revolution or merely a succession of coups and uprisings. Even what used to be known as the Russian Revolution of 1917 - and not just to Russians but also to many Westerners - is now more commonly referred to in Russia, and described in Russian schoolbooks, as "the October Bolshevik coup." It may be unclear for decades whether it's fairer to describe a case of mass disturbances as a popular uprising or a riot. This calls for an impartial framework to describe irregular power transitions in progress. Designating such an event a coup or a revolutionary uprising according to which side we're on is a variation on a centuries-old epigram by Elizabethan courtier, poet and flush toilet inventor Sir John Harington: "Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason?/ For if it prosper, none dare call it treason." One way to solve the predicament would be to strip the word "coup" of its negative connotation, which, according to dictionary definitions, is not firmly glued to it. The Oxford Dictionary defines a coup as "a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government." Merriam-Webster's definition of a coup d'etat is substantially different: "A sudden decisive exercise of force in politics, especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group." The illegality element is present in only one of the definitions, and it can be argued that it shouldn't be there. In Turkey, for example, the military has stepped in from time to time to stop elected governments from interfering with the secular constitutional order - a role reserved for it by Mustafa Kemal, the founder of the modern Turkish state. These interventions weren't exactly illegal, but most academic sources still classify them as coups. Neither of the definitions matches Mounk's contention that a coup must be directed against a democratically elected government. Indeed, dictators are overthrown by would-be dictators or military juntas all the time. A regime change data set recently published by economists Christian Bjornskov and Martin Rode indicates that out of 381 military coups from 1950 to 2016, 240 were perpetrated against military regimes. But doing away with the negative connotation doesn't solve the other problem with the word "coup." The existing definitions don't fit many of the events it has been used to describe. The first characteristic of a coup, according to the dictionaries, is suddenness. Neither Guaido's attempt to get Maduro to leave nor, for example, the Ukrainian events of 2014 or the Sudanese and Algerian ones this year fit the bill. Popular pressure on Maduro, Yanukovych, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Algerian leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika to give up office built up gradually, and their ouster wasn't "sudden" even if it was abrupt. For similar reasons, none of these power changes fit the part of the Merriam-Webster definition that claims coups tend to be carried out by small groups. Another common element in the two dictionary definitions is violence. It has occurred in Venezuela and Ukraine, but not, for example, in Zimbabwe or, on any significant scale, in Algeria. Like many others, I've used the words "revolution" and "coup" as a matter of opinion. But the more irregular power transitions I watch, the more caution I want to exercise with these loaded words. Neutral terms such as "takeover," or, to cite U.S. political scientist James Rosenau, "authority war" are more accurate, especially in unclear situations like Venezuela. A Guaido victory won't necessarily lead to a benign, democratic outcome rather than more chaos. - - - Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru. Javier Lopez has spent hundreds of hours interviewing Cuban exiles and meticulously building cases for families who lost property after the 1959 revolution. He's pored over obscure legal papers, Spanish-language newspaper articles and, in one case, a century-old parchment deed. Then, he stashed the suits in his computer: No court would hear them, and he couldn't bill a cent. On Thursday, the cases can come out again. For the first time, the Trump administration will allow lawsuits in U.S. courts against firms operating on seized Cuban property, including multinational corporations based in Canada and Europe, which accounts for the island's biggest source of foreign investment. In many cases, the companies entered the market decades after the land was expropriated, but they could be held accountable all the same. Some Cuba watchers are projecting a flurry of legal activity, while foreign governments and corporations are preparing to defend billions in assets. The European Union and Canadian governments have jointly warned that suits could prompt them to complain to the World Trade Organisation. Among potential lawsuit targets are Swiss food company Nestle, Canadian miner Sherritt International, and Spanish hoteliers NH Hotel Group and Melia Hotels International, according to a list from the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. Lopez, 39, has been waiting for this day for the better part of the past decade. "Vindicated is certainly one of the things that I feel," he said from his Coral Gables, Florida, office, decorated with paintings depicting the Cuban diaspora experience, his collection of busts of the Cuban poet Jose Marti, and his cigar humidor. (He prefers Romeo y Julieta, a brand nationalized by Cuba but later replicated in exile.) "It's just intensely personal, having come from a Cuban family, political prisoners," said Lopez, whose great uncle Mario Chanes de Armas was held for about three decades in one of Castro's prisons. Indeed, thousands of families have stories of assets lost when they fled under Castro's threats. The ability to sue might provide them a semblance of long-awaited justice. But there could be collateral damage to key U.S. relationships: The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 created the legal recourse. Yet until Trump, every president has delayed implementation of the lawsuit provision, due in large part to concerns that the cases would bedevil global corporations and leave the U.S. at odds with allies. The current administration appears to have decided it's worth the risk. As some progressive Democrats embrace the term socialism, Trump has sought to make an example of Cuba during speeches in Florida, America's biggest swing state and the seat of the island nation's exile community. The administration is blaming Cuba for backing Venezuela's autocratic President Nicolas Maduro and thwarting opposition leader Juan Guaido's efforts to unseat him. Trump suggests Cuba props up Maduro amid food and medicine shortages, rigged elections and growing discontent in the streets. He tweeted Tuesday that he may implement a "full and complete" embargo on Cuba, beyond what's already in place, in retaliation for its military presence in Venezuela. "Our view, which differs from that of some of our partners, is that a policy of engagement with this regime has failed miserably," the State Department said in an emailed response Thursday to questions about the lawsuits' impact on foreign relations. Cuba's government didn't respond to a request for comment. But this month, Josefina Vidal - Cuba's ambassador to Canada and the negotiator who normalized relations with the U.S. during the Obama years - said the U.S. had exaggerated Cuban influence in Venezuela. She also said the Trump approach wouldn't do anything to remove the regime in Havana. For years, there was an effort to settle many of the claims, and such a negotiated deal was seen as a necessary precursor to further rapprochement - including an eventual lifting of the U.S. embargo. The Obama administration dallied because it didn't anticipate Trump's defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton, said John Kavulich, president of the New York-based Trade and Economic Council, which acts as a liaison for companies interested in doing business on the island. The group officially takes no political positions, but its website displayed a countdown clock to the opening of the lawsuit window. Kavulich said he was surprised that Trump, who trumpets his deal-making prowess, hadn't attempted a compromise. "That one's a pretty easy one," he said. "It's a real estate settlement. This has now left the political process and moved into the judicial process." For Lopez, one of the first filings will be for the woman who appeared at his office not long ago and matter-of-factly produced from a plastic supermarket bag the 1903 parchment deed to a massive sugar plantation. But he acknowledges that many challenges lie ahead, including actually collecting any awards. He also questioned whether inherited property claims will be permitted to proceed. "What happens if you inherit the claim when your father passes away and leaves you this deed, this proof of ownership, but he died in 2010?" Lopez said. "The purpose of the Helms-Burton Act is to help get a remedy for the people that had their property stolen. If you go by a strict interpretation, thousands and thousands of people will be out of luck because their parents died." Under Trump, U.S. policy toward Cuba is undergoing a remarkable reversal. In 2015, America reopened its Havana embassy after decades of post-revolutionary diplomatic silence. The next year, Barack Obama became the first president to visit the city since Castro took power, promoting warming relations and heralding a potential rollback of the decades-old embargo. U.S. economic policy had failed to achieve the goal of forcing Castro and his brother Raul from power, but many Cuban Americans blasted the new approach as too soft on a brutal, anti-democratic regime. Lopez said he hopes Trump keeps ratcheting up the pressure. "These are foreign companies that are going to be held accountable, but the Cuban government still hasn't," he said. "That shoe hasn't dropped yet, and that shoe needs to drop." - - - With assistance from Bloomberg's Stephen Wicary. Throw Me to the Wolves By Patrick McGuinness Bloomsbury. 349 pp. $27 --- Patrick McGuinness has won numerous prizes in England, both for his first novel, "The Last Hundred Days," and for his collections of poetry. If you poke around online you might come across his little poem "Daytime Drinking," which offers a useful warning. The first drink, he tells us, is "gentle as a stream." The second is "firm as a leg-iron clasp." The third, finally, is "sudden as the trap door beneath you." This is a writer worth knowing. McGuinness, who teaches French and comparative literature at the University of Oxford, has just published "Throw Me to the Wolves," a novel - his second - that combines elegant prose with caustic commentary on romance, education and crime in his homeland. The book is set in County Kent, southeast of London and near the English Channel. A town there is home to the fictional Chapelton College, where in the 1980s we meet a teenager named Ander and a popular professor named Michael Wolphram. Ander, jaded and frank, says of a fellow student: "He has a scholarship, so falls exactly into that zone - intellectually superior, socially inferior - that makes the English upper-middle class uneasy." Nor is this school a placid place. Early in the story, fun-loving students dangle another boy off a bridge near the campus. He survives, but other dangers lie ahead for the unwary: A sadistic professor, for instance, recruits class bullies to humiliate a blameless student who has offended him. It's the good-hearted Professor Wolphram who saves the boy from a thrashing. Wolphram is well aware of how his students feel about school: "They're easily bored, but more to the point they never expect to be interested. The best they can hope for when they get up in the morning and go out to school is a change of boredom." Such sentiments, coming from an Oxford professor, are not a ringing endorsement of English education, even that accorded its most privileged young people. Most of the novel, however, takes place when Ander is a detective in his 30s and Wolphram is retired. Ander's police partner, Gary, has working-class roots and calls his better-educated colleague "Prof," but they're skilled investigators and work well together. Ander grumbles of the detective's life: "Two domestics, an arson, a couple of break-ins. Even the thieves pitch their fantasies low these days." But, he adds, "Against it all, under the police work, under the courts, the unseen plumbing of the system, is violence against women." That violence becomes central to the story when he and Gary investigate the murder of a young woman in her apartment. As it happens, she lived near the now-retired professor Wolphram. He admits to an innocent friendship with her and soon finds himself charged with killing her. Ander and Gary doubt his guilt, but their superiors are more interested in headlines than justice. As the investigation unfolds, the author introduces new characters, romances and plot twists. He gives Wolphram a female friend whom he had known "from an easy-going, happy twenty-nine-year-old, to a trembling, fearful wife with captivity-bred eyes, whose husband checked her whereabouts, decided on her clothes and locked her in when he went out with his mates." McGuinness has an eloquent touch. Here's Ander on his 12-year-old niece: "Her curiosity is unassuageable but selective ... Everything that is obviously intended for children she ignores. That includes teachers." (The author, it should be noted, has a daughter about that age.) When the two detectives take a trip, Ander notes "We smell the sea before we see it." Only eight words, but most people can write for a lifetime and not produce so perfect a sentence. McGuinness borrowed his title from the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who reportedly said "When I die, throw me to the wolves. I'm used to it." Diogenes' lament is a fitting title for a tale so unburdened by illusions. --- Anderson reviews thrillers and mysteries regularly for The Washington Post. When casting was announced two years ago for the "The Intruder," the working title was "Motivated Seller." The thriller stars Michael Ealy and Meagan Good as a young couple who move into their dream home in Napa Valley wine country after chancing upon a seller: the mysteriously eager - and mysteriously clingy - retiree and widower played by Dennis Quaid. But that real estate term of art, which hints, ever so subtly, that there might be something fishy about the former owner's intensity, was eventually dropped. The producers probably didn't want to spoil the movie. Fat chance, when it's already gone bad. There is a faintly greenish fuzz of bread mold at the edges of every frame of this stale exercise in psychological horror (subgroup: homeowner hell). It all starts with the cheesy foreshadowing of dread: "Something tells me Domino's won't deliver," says Ealy's Scott, upon encountering the remote property, where they meet the gun-toting owner. (He says it's for deer, and proves it by shooting one right then and there.) Quickly, Scott has shelled out $3.5 million for the estate called Foxglove. (Yes, Foxglove is a poisonous plant, and it grows wild in these woods, which are also frequented by uninvited teenage partyers.) Soon enough, Scott is leaving his wife alone there while he goes off to work in downtown San Francisco. Did I say alone? There's someone else inside the house. Did you miss the title? That someone is no rambunctious adolescent, but the identity of the intruder will surprise absolutely no one, not even your pop-culture-illiterate cousin who lives in a shack in the mountains and has never seen a movie. The only thrills, if that's the right word (and it's not) are jump scares that, for the most part, don't work and don't try very hard. The only mystery is how this movie got made, regardless of what you call it. Some viewers might find that, like a $3 bottle of wine, there's a certain so-bad-it's-good pleasure to how things unfold here: predictably, violently and histrionically, and leaving you with a bad hangover. But who am I to stand in your way? Quaid, who at one point seems to be channeling a wild dog, also appears to be enjoying himself. At the very least, you won't be the only one in the theater having a good time. --- Half a star. PG-13. Contains violence, terror, some sexuality, strong language and mature thematic elements. 102 minutes. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. Attorney General William Barr ventured to Capitol Hill on Wednesday an embattled man. About 15 hours before his testimony, The Washington Post reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had sent Barr a letter saying Barr's summary of his report on the Russia investigation "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusion." Mueller asked Barr to release a fuller summary he provided; Barr did not do so. It's hardly the first time that Barr has run into controversy in recent weeks. And that made his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday a tense affair. Below are highlights and lessons from the hearing. - - - 1) Barr is unrepentant - and still presenting things favorable to Trump If you thought Barr might bend to criticism that he had been too favorable to President Donald Trump and change his approach, you'd be wrong. And one exchange encapsulated it. The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, began by questioning Barr about one of the key events in the obstruction portion of the special counsel's probe: Trump trying to get then-White House counsel Donald McGahn to dispute media reports that Trump had tried to persuade McGahn to fire Mueller. Barr suggested that the initial New York Times report on the event had gone further than the evidence by saying Trump explicitly "directed" McGahn to have Mueller fired. But the Mueller report concludes that Trump did do that: "Substantial evidence . . . supports the conclusion that the President went further and in fact directed McGahn to call Rosenstein to have the Special Counsel removed." Barr also suggested that it was possible Trump's actions weren't obstructive, because "he was primarily concerned about press reports" - not about affecting the investigation. Again, the Mueller report appears pretty clear on this point. It says Trump's continued efforts to change McGahn's account long after the article published "indicates the President was not focused solely on a press strategy but instead likely contemplated the ongoing investigation and any proceedings arising from it." Throughout his testimony, Barr repeated many of the same arguments and comments that put him in focus in the first place, and he again leaned into the idea that the Russia investigation might have been improperly launched - as Trump has argued. Asked by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., whether he shared "my concerns about the counterintelligence probe and how it was started," Barr responded, "Yes." Barr also said he shared Graham's concerns about the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) process and stood by his controversial past use of the word "spying" to describe how former Trump campaign aide Carter Page was monitored. "I don't think the word 'spying' has any pejorative connotation at all," Barr said. "I'm not going to back off the word 'spying.' " (The first definition of the verb "spy" in an online Merriam-Webster's dictionary is "to watch secretly usually for hostile purposes.") - - - 2) 'I didn't exonerate' Trump Despite Barr's posture generally favoring Trump when it came to legal questions, there were a couple of moments in which he disputed key Trump talking points. One of them came when Barr made clear that he didn't view his decision not to accuse Trump of obstruction of justice as the "complete and total exoneration" that Trump claims. "I didn't exonerate," Barr said. "I said that we didn't believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense." That's a key distinction, because it allows for the possibility that Trump did obstruct justice - but that as a prosecutor he wouldn't have recommended charging the crime, based on the evidence. - - - 3) His allegedly misleading previous testimony In addition to rebuking Barr, Mueller's letter called into question his past testimony. Barr testified before the House last month - after receiving the letter - and suggested he wasn't familiar with how the Mueller team perceived his actions. When asked whether he knew what was behind reports that members of the Mueller team were unhappy with his summary of the special prosecutor's report, Barr said, "No, I don't." Barr explained Wednesday that he was narrowly answering the question: "I don't know what members he's talking about, and I certainly am not aware of any challenge to the accuracy of the findings. . . . I talked directly to Bob Mueller - not members of his team." Barr repeatedly returned to how Mueller told him that his letter summarizing the report wasn't inaccurate. But that's not really the issue. The issue is whether it cherry-picked from the Mueller report and excluded key details. Mueller implied strongly that Barr had misled and excluded important information. And in his past testimony, Barr suggested that he wasn't familiar with anyone on Mueller's team being upset about his summary letter. - - - 4) A rift with Mueller? Barr and Mueller are reported to be friends, but a few comments suggested there might be some tension between them. Barr suggested that Mueller could have prevented the confusion in the first place. "I offered Bob Mueller the opportunity to review that letter before it came out," Barr said, "and he declined." Barr's intent might have been more to suggest that he did his due diligence in releasing the letter summarizing the report - rather than that Mueller did anything wrong. But it sure sounded as if he was saying Mueller could have spoken up sooner. Barr also suggested later that Mueller's opinions don't really matter because he serves in the Department of Justice and reports to the attorney general. He likened Mueller to a U.S. attorney in the DOJ's pecking order. "His work concluded when he submitted the report to the attorney general. At that point, it was my baby," Barr said. "It was my decision how and when to make it public - not Bob Mueller's." Later in the hearing, Barr called Mueller's letter "a bit snitty" and suggested Mueller didn't write it himself. He also said that when he spoke with Mueller after the letter, he told him: "Bob, what's with the letter? Why don't you just pick up the phone and call me if there's an issue?" Barr, of course, knows why Mueller wrote it. He wanted a record. - - - 5) Graham's misleading preamble Graham has turned into one of Trump's most loyal allies on Capitol Hill. And true to form, he started the hearing on a very pro-Trump foot. Except that many of his claims were misleading. Graham said the Mueller report had stated there was "no collusion." In fact, the report ruled more narrowly that there was no "conspiracy" and explicitly said it wasn't evaluating the broader concept of collusion because it isn't a legal term. Graham said, "As to obstruction of justice, Mr. Mueller left it to Mr. Barr to decide." In fact, Mueller didn't ask Barr to make a decision on obstruction (as Barr himself has said), nor did Barr need to make the call. Mueller made clear in his report that he didn't think it was the Justice Department's job to accuse a sitting president of crimes, since a sitting president can't be indicted. And, finally, Graham suggested Barr's previews of the Mueller report, both in his summary letter and in a news conference just ahead of the report's release, didn't really matter. "Here's the good news," Graham told everyone. "You can read the report." But Barr in many ways pre-spun the report - to the extent that members of Mueller's team and Mueller himself were clearly concerned. And setting the first narrative matters. Graham hailed Mueller as a public servant, but he did not dwell upon Mueller's concerns about Barr's handling of the matter. - - - 6) Barr is better at this than Senate Democrats When Barr was being confirmed by the Senate, I wrote about how he seemed to mollify the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee without conceding much of anything. They seemed oddly satisfied with his answers and didn't land many punches when it came to his repeated criticisms of the Mueller probe. They were certainly tougher on Barr this time. Again Barr seemed to bob and weave his way through their lines of questioning, evading trouble and talking his way out of jams. They talked tough, but he largely outmaneuvered them again. There were a few exceptions, including Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., but the hearing concluded without their being able to extract much. We'll see Thursday whether the House can do any better - if Barr winds up testifying, that is. The teenager's voice cracked as she stood before a Georgia courtroom and faced the man who had kept her in captivity for more than a year, allegedly forcing her to have sex with him and keeping her in a dog cage for so long that she developed back problems. The psychological damage that Michael Wysolovski had inflicted on her when she was 16 and 17, she told the court, was "beyond imagination" and had permanently broken her spirit. After meeting her in an online forum for people with anorexia, the man, who was almost twice her age, had manipulated her and taken advantage of her mental illness, leading her to believe that her life would be ruined if she ever gained weight, she said. Holding tight to a stuffed animal and reading from a prepared statement, she recounted how he had put her through "water torture" that left her with a debilitating fear of showers and rainwater. Since being rescued by police in June 2017, she added, she had tried to commit suicide three times. "I severely mutilated myself, hoping that I would become unlovable so no one would hurt me again as Michael Wysolovski did," she told the courtroom at his plea hearing last week. "I am permanently disfigured." That same day, her captor was allowed to walk free. Wysolovski, 33, pleaded guilty last Thursday to first-degree cruelty to children caused by "excessive physical pain during sexual intercourse" and interstate interference with custody, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Although he was handed a 10-year sentence, the terms of his plea deal stipulated that he would get credit for the eight months that he had already served in jail, and will spend the remaining nine years and four months of his sentence on probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. The sentence is the latest example in a long list of cases that have led to outrage over how courts respond to accusations of rape and sexual assault. On the same day that Wysolovski learned that he wouldn't be going to prison, a judge in Watertown, New York, sentenced a school bus driver who had pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl to 10 years probation, going against the wishes of her family, who wanted to see him jailed. Family members of the victim in the Georgia case told WSOC that they would have liked to see Wysolovski behind bars. But they also said that they wanted to spare her the stress of reliving her trauma during a trial, highlighting the difficulty in prosecuting such cases. The teenager, whom The Washington Post is not naming because she is a victim of sexual assault, first met Wysolovski in an online anorexia forum when she was 15. She told him that she was unhappy at her home in North Carolina, and he convinced her to come live with him in Georgia, the Journal-Constitution reported. In May 2016, after turning 16, she walked out and met him by the side of an interstate highway. Her parents reported her missing not long afterward. Initially, the victim entered a "consensual nonconsensual" relationship with Wysolovski where she agreed to participate in bondage and other erotic sexual acts, and act out nonconsensual sex acts, Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney Michael DeTardo said at the plea hearing last week. Over time, Wysolovski began violating the boundaries that they had set up. He refused to use "safe words" that would indicate that she wanted him to stop, and would use physical violence to coerce her. The victim had also initially asked Wysolovski to control her food intake as part of their sexual relationship, the prosecutor said. Later, he began using food as a form of punishment. He dictated how many calories she could consume each day, and would ban her from eating anything the next day if she went over the limit, police wrote in an arrest warrant, noting that doctors had determined her to be malnourished. When she tried to leave, Wysolovski wouldn't let her. He had installed a floor-to-ceiling gate that prevented her from leaving her room, and told her that she would be arrested if she tried to leave the house, authorities said. Her father said in his victim impact statement that she had repeatedly been held in a dog cage, which led her to contract ringworm and suffer from back problems, the Journal-Constitution reported. Wysolovski, then 31, was arrested in June 2017 after federal agents raided his home in the suburbs of Atlanta. The victim, by then 17, had met someone else on an anorexia forum - this time an American woman studying abroad in Romania. She told the woman that she had been reported missing, and sent her a photo of the view from her window because she wasn't sure exactly where she was. The woman contacted the FBI. During his plea hearing last week, Wysolovski reportedly told Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hamil that he thought he was "helping" the teenager escape a bad situation at home, a suggestion the judge rejected. "I can't see even the most twisted definition of what you did as help," Hamil responded, according to the Journal-Constitution. "I don't see any emotion from you. I don't see any remorse from you." After his arrest, Wysolovski was charged with rape and aggravated sodomy, but DeTardo told the court last week that those charges were being dropped as part of the plea deal because they would have been hard to prove. Because the relationship had initially been consensual, the "gray area" made it potentially risky to take to trial, he said. The prosecutor also noted that since the victim had been 16 - the age of consent in Georgia - when she went to live with him, Wysolovski couldn't be charged with child molestation. Another complicating factor was how badly scarred the teenager was after 13 months in captivity. DeTardo said that Wysolovski's attorney wouldn't accept to a plea deal that included prison time, meaning that their only option would have been to head to trial. But the victim and her family indicated that they didn't want to do that, since she already had severe mental health issues and could potentially be re-traumatized by the experience. "She would be attacked again by you and your attorney," her father told Wysolovski in his victim impact statement. WASHINGTON - Homeland Security officials said Wednesday they will start an "unprecedented" pilot program to test the DNA of families arriving at the U.S. border as soon as next week, calling the measure an investigative tool to root out fraudulent cases of migrants traveling with children who are not their own. Under the pilot program, Homeland Security investigators can request cheek-swab DNA samples if they suspect that an adult and a minor claiming to be family members do not in fact have a parent-child relationship. A record number of Central American families have been crossing the southern border with Mexico in recent months, and DHS officials say the migrants are taking advantage of "loopholes" in the U.S. immigration system that enable those arriving with a child to avoid detention and swift deportation. A private contractor, Ande, which specializes in "rapid DNA" screening for law enforcement and other government purposes, will conduct the DNA tests at the border. Results will be available in two hours, DHS officials said, after which samples and data will be destroyed. "This pilot will help us determine whether this technology can strengthen our investigative processes and potentially rescue more children from dangerous situations," said a DHS official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters. DHS officials said they have detected more than 1,000 cases of fraudulent families trying to cross the border since October, reaching that determination through document screenings and other traditional investigative methods. The agency has been reluctant to introduce DNA testing procedures, in part because of privacy and data storage concerns, officials said. In some instances, migrant children are paired with uncles, cousins or other relatives who might not be a parent but are part of the same family. But there have been other, more worrisome allegations that some desperate families are accepting payment in exchange for allowing their children to travel with adults who view the minors as an entry ticket to the United States. Jennifer Podkul, senior policy director at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), said she is concerned that legitimate families - including those traveling with adopted children - could be separated because of the DNA tests. "We have one case of a child who said, 'That's my dad,' but didn't know he was the stepfather," she said. "That's very different from being smuggled by a human trafficker." DHS officials say the DNA tests will be one of several investigative methods they will employ, and they will evaluate the full circumstances of suspected fraud cases to target criminal acts. Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will lead the pilot program - not the U.S. Border Patrol. But officials said they view the program as a chance to evaluate its potential for expanded use. HSI teams working on the pilot said they have interviewed 101 parents and children since April 18 who "presented indices of fraud," and detected 29 families making false claims. From those investigations, 45 individuals were referred for prosecution and attorneys filed charges against 33, officials said. If U.S. authorities determine that a child is not with a biological parent, they typically separate them and refer the minor to the Department of Health and Human Services, which operates a network of shelters of "unaccompanied" migrant children. Other cases that DHS considers fraudulent involve parents arriving with children who claim to be underage but are, in fact, older than 18. And officials said document fraud is common at the border; homeland security officials say that corrupt officials in Central American countries - especially in Guatemala - have been issuing inexpensive fake birth certificates. This year, unauthorized border crossings have surged to their highest levels in more than a decade, and U.S. authorities along the Mexico border detained more than 103,000 migrants in March. Nearly 60 percent were families, a greater share than ever, and large groups of migrants continue to cross the border and surrender to U.S. authorities, often to request asylum. Many of the Central Americans say they are fleeing violence and desperate poverty, but there are financial incentives to bring children on the journey. Smuggling organizations offer discount pricing, because families need only be escorted to the U.S. border - not across it - so they can surrender to U.S. agents and start the asylum process. WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr told a House panel on Wednesday that he will not testify about special counsel Robert Mueller's report, raising the prospect that Democrats will hold the nation's top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress. Barr, who also missed a deadline for subpoenaed information Wednesday, had been scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday about his handling of Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But Barr balked at the committee's plan to have a committee counsel question him alongside lawmakers, a snub that angered Democrats. "When push comes to shove, the administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the committee, told reporters. He said the panel would meet as planned and added, "I hope and expect that the attorney general will think overnight and will be there as well." Nadler said he would give Barr a "day or two" to turn over the full, unredacted Mueller report in accordance with the committee's subpoena - information that was due Wednesday morning. But the chairman warned that "if good-faith negotiations don't result in a pledge of compliance . . . the next step is seeking a contempt citation against the attorney general." Barr's refusal to appear escalates a fight between President Donald Trump and House Democrats over Congress' oversight role. Trump has vowed to fight subpoenas from Democrats, sued to block compliance by accounting firms and banks, and instructed former and current aides to rebuff the repeated requests from Capitol Hill. But now Democrats are just as furious at Barr, whom they've accused of putting politics above his duty as the head of the Justice Department. "Why does the attorney general of the United States continue to apparently view his job as the personal attorney of the president rather than the top law enforcement officer in America?" asked Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., a panel member. Congressional Republicans blamed Democrats for Barr's refusal to appear. "It's a shame members of the House Judiciary Committee won't get the opportunity to hear from Attorney General Barr this Thursday, because Chairman Nadler chose to torpedo our hearing," said Rep. Douglas Collins of Georgia, the panel's top Republican. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec blamed the cancellation on "unprecedented and unnecessary" conditions demanded by Nadler. "The attorney general remains happy to engage directly with members on their questions regarding the report and looks forward to continue working with the committee on their oversight requests," Kupec said. On Wednesday night, in a letter to the committee explaining the ignored subpoena, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd argued that Nadler's move to compel the DOJ to turn over the unredacted Mueller report "is not legitimate oversight." Boyd argued that Barr had already made "extraordinary accommodations" to Democrats when he released much of the report, which he was not obligated to do under law, and by volunteering to testify at all. "Allowing your Committee to use Justice Department investigative files to re-investigate the same matter that the Department has investigated and to second-guess decisions that have been made by the Department would not only set a dangerous precedent, but would also have immediate negative consequences," he wrote. The breakdown in talks between the House and Barr followed news that Mueller challenged the attorney general's handling of the report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Suggestions that Mueller felt Barr misconstrued his findings reverberated in the House, with Democrats accusing Barr of perjuring himself in testimony to Congress. In back-to-back congressional hearings in early April, Barr said he had no knowledge of Mueller's concerns with his four-page summary of the report's findings. But Mueller's March 27 letter of discontent calls Barr's testimony into question, Democrats say. "It seems to me he offered misleading information," said panel member Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. "This is a really grave situation that an attorney general would mislead the public, No. 1, and then mislead members of Congress, No. 2. That's a very grave situation." The issue came up during a House Democratic leadership meeting with chairmen on Wednesday. But leaders have not said how they intend to respond, deferring instead to the Judiciary panel. Asked whether Barr should resign, as some congressional Democrats and presidential candidates have suggested, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow at the Judiciary Committee, but I do think that his comments don't even live up to the standard that he must have for an attorney general." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Wednesday that Barr's handling of the Mueller report is a "very serious matter" and that it appeared he made untrue statements to Congress. "That was not a truthful response," Hoyer said of Barr's suggestion that he didn't know how Mueller felt about his summary. "I think the first effort ought to be to have Barr explain the discrepancy." Barr defended his handling of the Mueller report at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. He downplayed Mueller's letter complaining about the characterization of his work as "a bit snitty" and suggested it was most likely written by a member of Mueller's staff. In one testy exchange, Barr even suggested that Mueller's opinion on how he handled the report didn't matter. "It was my baby," Barr said. During a pair of closed-door meetings Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Judiciary Democrats discussed holding Barr in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena and threatening to skip the scheduled hearing. At one point, according to people in the room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely describe the deliberations, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., suggested that the committee impeach Barr if it subpoenas him for testimony and he refuses to show. But the panel eventually agreed that impeaching Barr was likely to distract from its investigations of Trump, the people who attended said, and that if it were to begin impeachment proceedings against an individual, it would probably be Trump. That's when the group settled on the tentative contempt plan, the attendees said. The debate over how to handle Barr highlights the predicament House Democrats will find themselves in as they consider ways to reprimand him: Do they try to oust Barr for actions they believe are impeachable? Or do they stay focused on Trump, whom they view as the ultimate prize? "We are now seeing the attorney general engage in obstruction of a congressional subpoena," said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., a member of the committee. Cicilline later added that "we cannot tolerate as a country to have the chief law enforcement officer of the United States either boldly misrepresent or provide untruthful testimony to congressional committees." GODFREY Sandra Pfeifer, producer of the 2009 East St. Louis documentary Against All the Odds, joined Lewis and Clark Community College Assistant Professor of Sociology Jen Clines Racial and Ethnic Relations class for a presentation and interactive discussion on the 1917 East St. Louis riots, Tuesday, April 30, in L&Cs Ahlemeyer Atrium. The 90-minute program, entitled East St Louis, Illinois: Where History, Courage and Community Meet, was the culmination of the class group project this semester. Each semester, the students are in charge of planning and organizing a campus event for their group project as a part of their grade for the class, Cline said. While we can learn in the classroom, its a more authentic experience to do something as a group beyond those walls, so they were very excited for the opportunity to present this free event to the public. The first segment highlighted clips from the film focused on the horrific events of July 2, 1917, incorporating primary sources and first-hand accounts, followed by two opportunities for audience interaction and discussion. It is important that we can feel a deeper sense of connection to our local history and be able to contextualize that within the larger narrative of our past, especially concerning history we dont often like to hear about, Cline said. But, race and oppression have always been a part of the story. This was a unique opportunity for students, not only to hear the stories, but to feel empowered to find ways to share their own stories. East St. Louis is currently one of the most predominantly African American cities in the United States. In 1917, however, white residents of East St. Louis attempted to rid the city of its black population in one of the most violent race riots in American history. Pfeifer has been a social issue documentary filmmaker and media artist for more than 20 years. Her work, which addresses a variety of social concerns, has been presented to audiences throughout the United States. Against All the Odds has been screened at multiple film festivals across the country and has received multiple awards, including Best Feature Documentary at the Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield, Illinois. Pfeifer also coordinates and facilitates an Illinois Humanities Illinois Speaks discussion group that meets in Vienna and Golconda. Clines Racial and Ethnic Relations course is offered every spring semester, and will run from 12:15-1:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays next spring, beginning in January 2020, on the colleges Godfrey Campus. EDWARDSVILLE 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. "Post Reports" is the daily podcast from The Washington Post. Unparalleled reporting. Expert insight. Clear analysis. Everything you've come to expect from the newsroom of The Post - for your ears. - - - Two East St. Louis employees face felony charges after allegedly ordering children to stand in a closet inside a preschool classroom. St. Clair County States Attorney James A. Gomric announced Wednesday that Shavonda Willis, of Fairview Heights, Illinois, and Mary Agbehia, of Edwardsville, were each charged with aggravated battery and unlawful restraint for conduct arising out of their work at the Jackie Joyner Kersee Center in East St. Louis. In the battery charge, Agbehia allegedly removed or ordered a boy to remove his shirt. Willis faces the battery charge for allegedly placing an object against the skin of a girl and pretending to give her an injection. The case was investigated by the Southern Illinois University Police Department of the Edwardsville campus, where charged were announced during a press conference Wednesday. The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center reportedly has no management responsibility or oversight for the SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start program in which rents space at the facility. These women are also members of the IEA Professional Union and are additionally entitled to their rights for due process per their collective bargaining agreement. The women are expected to surrender to SIUE police and be in custody soon. Bond for each of the women was set at $5,000. Now that charges were issued by the State Attorneys Office, we are aware of what the specific charges are. Given the particular nature and seriousness of the charges that were rendered, we will not be returning these employees to duty at this time, said SIUE Director of Human Resources Bob Thumith in a statement. We will also hopefully be in a position to obtain the results of the investigations conducted by the Police Department and the Department of Children & Family Services. With this information, in addition to that which we have gathered internally, we may possibly be able to come to a decision point regarding the employment status of the two individuals while their legal proceedings continue. Additionally, both the HeadStart and DCFS agencies positions on this matter may have direct bearing on any employment status decisions. Thumith said both employees will continue on administrative leave until further notice. The SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start Program has facilitated enrollment opportunity and services to a total of 1576 children. The program also provides family support services for housing assistance, adult education, job training, preparing English language learners for future success, financial literacy classes, mental health, and health education. Last month, Vice President Mike Pence announced that we are headed back to the moon. I am with him, in spirit and aspiration. Having been there, I can say it is high time we returned. When Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and I went to the moon 50 years ago this July, we did so with a mission. Apollo 11 aimed to prove America's can-do commitment to space exploration, as well as its national security and technological superiority. We did all that. We also "Came in Peace for all Mankind." More of that is needed now. Today, many nations have eyes for the moon, from China and Russia to friends in Europe and Middle East. That is all good. The United States should cooperate - and offer itself as a willing team leader - in exploring every aspect of the moon, from its geology and topography to its hydrology and cosmic history. In doing so, we can take "low-Earth orbit" cooperation to the moon, openly, eagerly and collegially. Meanwhile, another looming orb - the red one - should become a serious focus of U.S. attention. Mars is waiting to be discovered, not by clever robots and rovers - though I support NASA's unmanned missions - but by living, breathing, walking, talking, caring and daring men and women. To make that happen, members of Congress, the Trump administration and the American public must care enough to make human exploration missions to Mars a national priority. To be clear, I do not mean spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a few hijinks or joy rides, allowing those who return to write books, tweet photos and talk of the novelty. I mean something very different. The United States' eyes - and our unified commitment - should focus on opening the door, in our time, to the great migration of humankind to Mars. Books aplenty have been written about how to do this, and they have inspired government and non-government leaders to make lofty plans. But plans without a detailed architecture, and without that "next step" into the future, are just fantasy. Americans are good at writing fantasy, and incomparable at making the fantastic a reality. We did it with Mercury, Gemini, Apollo - and in thousands of other ways. It is time we get down to blueprints, architecture and implementation, and to take that next step - a sustainable international return to the moon, directly charting a pathway to Mars. The Trump administration and today's Congress, inspired by an American public impatient for space leadership, could start this engine. The next step would build on our early lunar landings and establish permanent settlements on the moon. In the meantime, preparations for permanent migration to the red planet can be made. All of this is within reach for humans alive now, but it starts with a unified next step in space. The nation best poised to make it happen is the United States. Just as President John F. Kennedy is remembered for starting our nation's drive to the moon, where Neil and I left footprints, the Trump administration and this Congress would be remembered decades forward for putting humans permanently on the moon and Americans on Mars - for making human footprints in red dust and subsequent migration possible. As matter of orbital mechanics, missions from Earth to Mars for migration are complex. That said, human nature - and potentially the ultimate survival of our species - demands humanity's continued outward reach into the universe. Call it curiosity or calculation, strategic planning or destiny. Put simply: We explore, or we expire. That is why we must get on with it. In a world of division and distraction, this mission is unifying - for all Americans and for all humankind. So, I am personally glad we are headed back to the moon - and I thank President Donald Trump and the vice president for their commitment. But my eyes drift higher, to the red orb that, even now, awaits an American flag and plaque that reads: "We Come in Peace for All Mankind." - - - Aldrin is a former astronaut and, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, was one of the first men to walk on the moon. Are you a fan of lakes and mountains? Here are three offers you might like Save at least 25% on a luxurious stay in a majestic castle in the stunning Kitzbuheler Alps THE DEAL: Inghams is offering a seven-night holiday on a half board basis at the five-star Hotel Schloss Lebenberg in Kitzbuhel, Austria, from 699 per person based on two sharing. Price represents a saving of 240 per person and includes return flights from London Gatwick to Salzburg and airport transfers. The package is valid for travel departing on 21st August 2019. 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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. Vote View Results HSBC Holdings plc provides banking and financial products and services worldwide. The company operates through Wealth and Personal Banking, Commercial Banking, and Global Banking and Markets segments. The Wealth and Personal Banking segment offers retail banking products and services, such as current and savings accounts, mortgages and personal loans, credit and debit cards, and local and international payment services for ultra high net worth individuals; and wealth management services, including insurance and investment products, global asset management services, investment management, and private wealth solutions. The Commercial Banking segment provides credit and lending, treasury management, payment, cash management, commercial insurance, and investment services, as well as commercial cards, and international trade and receivables finance services; and foreign exchange products, and capital raising and advisory services to small and medium sized enterprises, mid-market enterprises, and corporates. The Global Banking and Markets segment is involved in the provision of financing, advisory, and transaction services, including credit, rates, foreign exchange, equities, money markets, and securities services, as well as principal investment activities to government, corporate and institutional clients, and private investors. The Global Private Banking segment provides a range of services to high net worth individuals and families with complex and international needs. HSBC Holdings plc was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.62%. Merck & Co., Inc. has been increasing its dividend for 11 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 97.53%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on earnings estimates, Merck & Co., Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 40.17% next year. This indicates that Merck & Co., Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend. View Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend history. 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. ALBANY When the state Senate holds a public hearing on limousine and bus safety on Thursday in the wake of the horrific limo crash in Schoharie, the state agency most intimately involved in overseeing the industry will be notably absent. Mike Murphy, spokesman for the chamber's Democratic majority conference, said the state Department of Transportation had been invited to attend but declined to send a representative, citing the ongoing investigation of the October disaster that left 20 people dead. Murphy said DOT as well as the state Department of Motor Vehicles had committed to working with lawmakers on legislation to improve safety in the industry. Both agencies have faced questions about their handling of Prestige Limousine, the company that owned the 2001 Ford Excursion involved in the crash. DOT did not respond to a request for comment on the hearing. Beginning at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building, the Senate's Standing Committee on Transportation will hear from family members of the victims of the Oct. 6 crash as well as those who lost loved ones in a 2015 limo accident on Long Island in which five died. Industry advocates and experts in transportation law are also expected to attend. State Sen. Timothy Kennedy of Buffalo, the committee's chair, scheduled the hearing last month after a sweeping set of new limousine regulators proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo were signed into law as part of the state budget. While the new laws give the DOT, DMV and State Police added powers to keep illegal vehicles off the road and increased criminal and civil penalties for violators, members of both the Senate and the Assembly complained that no substantial debate had occurred around limo safety before the budget was passed. Several additional legislative proposals on limo safety and potentially raising insurance coverage minimums remain to be debated. Kennedy told the Times Union last week that "our work is not done yet" when it comes to investigating how to best regulate the limousine industry without putting it out of business. "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," Kennedy said. A group of 17 family and friends were traveling in the stretch Excursion from Amsterdam to Cooperstown on Oct. 6 when the limo sped through a stop sign, barreled into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store on Route 30 and slammed into a car before landed in a ravine. All 17 passengers and the driver died, along with two bystanders who were struck in the parking lot. Although the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release its final report on the cause of the crash, state transportation officials and the Schoharie County district attorney have placed the blame on Nauman Hussain, who operated the Gansevoort-based limousine company that owned the limo. Hussain has been charged with 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide and 20 counts of manslaughter; he is scheduled to go to trial in Schoharie County Court in September after pleading not guilty. In court filings, Hussain's attorney, Lee Kindlon of Albany, has cast blame on DOT for the design of the road where the accident took place at a T-shaped intersection of Route 30 and Route 30A. "The road conditions of the intersection were treacherous and the road design itself was a substantial contributing factor to the accident," Kindlon wrote in an April 10 court filing in advance of Hussain's bail hearing. "There is no persuasive evidence that the defendant was aware or had reason to be aware of that circumstance, or that the vehicle was set to take that route to its destination." New details about the case have also emerged in an April 23 court filing by Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery that cast new light on Hussain's interaction with investigators from the state DOT and State Police in the months leading up to the crash. DOT investigator Chad Smith first called Hussain on Jan. 8, 2018, nine months before the crash, inquiring about the Excursion, which he wanted to inspect for potential safety issues. After a March 21 inspection uncovered numerous safety violations and missing paperwork, Smith ordered the Excursion off the road until the vehicle could be brought back into compliance. He also told Hussain that he needed to get an official U.S. Department of Transportation number and file paperwork with the state DOT to get "passenger authority" in order to use the Excursion as a "for-hire" vehicle for weddings, proms and other events. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. State DOT officals have said that Hussain never applied for passenger authority through DOT, although it now appears that he may have taken at least one step he needed to take to submit an application with the agency. Prestige Limousine is owned by Hussain's father, Shahed Hussain, although Nauman Hussain was marketing the company under the name Saratoga Luxury Limousine. On Aug. 25, 2018, the day of the annual Travers Stakes thoroughbred race at Saratoga Race Course, Hussain received a call from Trooper David Roy, an investigator with the State Police's Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit. Roy had just stopped the Excursion and its driver, Scott Lisiniccia, while it was dropping off 11 passengers on East Avenue, across the street from the track. He had questions about the limo and wanted to inspect it. Roy also asked Hussain if his company had a federal DOT number. Hussain responded he didn't have one, according to an account of their phone conversation that was recounted in the April 23 court filing by Mallery. "I am aware that I needed to get a name and DOT number on the side of the my vehicle," Hussain told Roy, according to the court filing. "I talked with (state) DOT earlier." Four days later, on Aug. 29, Hussain's company was granted a USDOT number through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The numbers are generated automatically through the FMCSA's online registration web site. It is assigned to Prestige Limousine and Shahed Hussain, who has been living in Pakistan since early 2018 and put his son in charge of running the company in his absence. Smith, the DOT inspector, updated his initial March 21 inspection report to include the USDOT number, and also included the number in a second inspection of the Excursion that he did on Sept. 4 just a month before the accident. Although the inspection report no longer indicated that Hussain needed to get a USDOT number, Smith still failed the vehicle and ordered it off the road after citing the vehicle for 14 safety violations, including lacking state DOT passenger authority. On Oct. 5 the day before the crash Smith called Hussain again to inquire about drug and alcohol testing of his drivers and corporate information that would have been needed for Hussain to apply for passenger authority with the DOT. Smith also called "in regards to a notice that the individual received by email." DOT declined to comment on the information Smith was gathering from Hussain. "We have no comment due to pending litigation," DOT spokesman Joe Morrissey said. Reporter David Lombardo contributed to this story YouthBuild Schenectady on Wednesday unveiled 101 Prospect St., a home completed with sustainable methods according to net-zero standards. YouthBuild is an international program designed to give poor young men and women construction skills so they can get jobs. In Schenectady, it is operated by the Social Enterprise and Training Center. A group of approximately 52 YouthBuild participants worked with the building supply company Saint-Gobain to construct the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house. It is just under 3,000 square feet and was built where two derelict structures were torn down. It is on the market for $179,900 and will be sold to a buyer who meets income criteria for affordable housing. Saint-Gobain works with YouthBuild in cities where it does business: Schenectady, Worcester, Mass.; Philadelphia; and Canton, Ohio. The Prospect Street house was the first ground-up construction completed in Schenectady through the partnership between Saint-Gobain and YouthBuild. This weekend, countless Americans will raise a margarita to Cinco de Mayo, the holiday many assume honors Mexico's independence day. In reality, Cinco de Mayo (the Spanish translation of May 5) is the historic date that Mexican forces defeated a larger, better-equipped French army in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The victory that inspired Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated outside of the state of Puebla in Mexico, but that has not stopped Americans from turning the holiday into an excuse to gorge on tequila and tacos. "Cinco de Mayo is becoming more like St. Patrick's Day," said Patti Bermejo, the Mexican-American owner of El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant in Albany. Bermejo, who was born in America, lived in Puebla for several years before coming back to the states when she was 8 years old. Cinco de Mayo is the holiday of her Pueblan family and ancestors, and she finds that as more people are coming to understand what the holiday represents, so too do they realize that Mexican food is far more nuanced and regionally influenced than greasy spoon Tex-Mex recipes. "It's similar to any other country. Different regions develop their own identities based on what ingredients are available," said Victoria Martinez, a professor of Spanish who specializes in Mexican culture at Union College. "Not all Mexican food is smothered in cheddar cheese," she said. Martinez believes that Mexican food has fallen prey to the Americanization that other cuisines have also endured. Italian food began synonymous with red sauce and meatballs (which neglects German-tinged foods of northwest Italy, the Yugoslavian and Middle Eastern influence of western ports, and the French history that appears in food from Sardinia and Sicily) and Chinese food became General Tso's chicken and chop suey (omitting the distinctions between fish-heavy Shandong cooking, sour flavors in Hunan food, sweet Cantonese cooking and fiery Sichuan cuisine). Here in the Capital Region, an influx of immigrants from southern and central Mexico in the late 1980s, according to New York State Office for New Americans, was the beginning of regionalized Mexican cooking. At El Mariachi on Hamilton Street, Bermejo offers the Pueblan recipes of her mother and grandmother. This central region is known as the home of Poblano cooking, a moniker that reflects heavy use of the famous Poblano pepper, which is used in the region's iconic chiles rellenos (a roasted stuffed pepper dish), chiles en nogada (picadillo-stuffed poblano peppers with an almond sauce and pomegranate seeds) and mole poblano, a rich, savory chocolate sauce that incorporates nuts, raisins and guajillo and ancho peppers. "I believe our food is more authentic than what you would normally find. It's a lot of mom's recipes and we grew up with those dishes," Bermejo said. Poblano cuisine is popular throughout Mexico, she said, and the month of June prominently features Poblano recipes (especially chiles rellenos and chiles en nogada) in home kitchens and restaurants throughout the country. "When we first started [24 years ago] we were the first in the Capital Region to offer authentic Mexican food. Now it is easier to find," she said. In New York, the food of Puebla is more popular in New York City, where there is a bigger Pueblan population, and Bermejo said her southern neighbors from Oaxaca have created a space for their food here in the Capital Region. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. A trifecta of Oaxacan cuisine, which hails from the South Pacific coast of Mexico and includes the states of Guerrero, Chiapas and Oaxaca, can be found in the heart of Albany at Cocina Vasquez, on Central Avenue; Viva Cinco de Mayo, on Madison Avenue; and Oaxaquena Triqui, on South Lake Avenue. The food is a reflection of the mountain-meets-ocean landscape of the region, which allows for a cooler growing climate and more vegetation, which gives Oaxacan cuisine its banana and avocado leaves so prominent in traditional recipes. Pork is often featured, but as Gricelda Herrera, who owns and runs the kitchen at Oaxaquena Triqui with her husband, Hector, said, vegetables and squash blossoms are prominent in home recipes because meat is traditionally reserved for holidays and special occasions. The quesadilla at Herrera's restaurant represents the cornerstones of Oaxacan cooking: squash blossoms and Oaxaca cheese, much like a stringy mozzarella, sandwiched between fresh corn tortillas. Hoja santa, similar to a bay leaf, is served in salsas and moles (Oaxacan culture has as many as 13 versions of mole (MO-lay) to accompany the quesadilla. Black beans in soups and in sauces are another prominent feature, as is drinking chocolate, which Oaxaquena Triqui offers as dessert and on weekends. Bermejo said that she hopes a fine dining version of authentic Mexican cuisine is on the horizon for the Capital Region. While many local Mexican restaurants offer the home cooking of their families, Mexican cuisine is not solely a colloquial cuisine. Until then, the Capital Region's understanding and embrace of regional Mexican food is sure to grow, including with the addition of Tatu, a Yucatecan-focused restaurant slated to open this spring in Saratoga Springs, which will focus on the Afro-Caribbean influence on the eastern Mexican peninsula of Yucatan. As Martinez said, the current political climate "doesn't affect people's interest in Mexican cuisine." Deanna Fox is a food and agriculture journalist. @DeannaNFox, foxonfood.com It could be done, he figured. Sure, there was security at the bank, but it was thin - cameras only, no armed guards. With a careful game plan, strategic lies and the right timing, Gerardo Adan Cazarez Valenzuela realized he could stroll out of the KeyBank branch where he worked in Anchorage with millions in cash. It was June 2011 when Cazarez started turning the gears on his plan. Although his judgment was knocked loose by addictions to cocaine and alcohol at the time, he meticulously laid the groundwork. On July 29, 2011, Cazarez told his boss he wanted to stay late to plan an ice cream social for customers. When Cazarez, an Alaskan in his mid-20s wearing a red shirt and black suit, was alone in the bank, he stepped into the vault, as federal agents would later lay out in court documents. He loaded $4.3 million in cash into three boxes, rolled them out of the building on a cart, and placed them in his car. Before driving off, Cazarez set a timer on the vault so it would not open for six days. By then, he planned to be safely over the Mexican border. As he pulled out of the parking lot, a chartered private jet was already waiting to hurry him on the first leg of his journey south. But Cazarez never made his grand getaway. Busted by authorities in Mexico, he was dumped into a Mexican jail, conditions he referred to in a recent letter to a federal judge as "the filthiest place imaginable." Extradited back to the United States in 2018 after seven years of incarceration in Mexico, Cazarez was sentenced on Monday to 10 more years in prison in the United States, according to a Justice Department news release. In his letter to the judge, Cazarez, now 34, maintained that he had executed his plot to pay for his now-deceased father's medical treatment. But federal authorities say workplace revenge also played a part. Cazarez was concerned KeyBank would to cut his position and put him out of a job. And an unresolved issue is still hanging over the case: $500,000 of the stolen money is still missing. "I obviously suck at being a criminal and know that any illegal activity will land me back in prison," Cazarez wrote to the judge, pleading for leniency. Cazarez's plan was both meticulously detailed and beset by flashes of movie-plot grandiosity. "The only thing I know how to do to make a living is to work hard and excel at anything I set my mind to," he wrote to the judge. Days before stealing $4.3 million, he trained new employees in a way that would eliminate the need for two individuals to gain access to the vault - a move that set the stage for his solo heist. A day before stealing the money, Cazarez lifted $30,000 from the vault to pay for his chartered plane. After bagging his $4.3 million, the jet flew Cazarez from Anchorage to Seattle, according to court documents. There, as he'd planned, he met up with his girlfriend. Together, they purchased a Ford Fusion. Cazarez also asked a cabdriver about purchasing a gun, and the cabdriver hooked him up with an AK-47, a handgun and ammunition for $4,000. The outlaw couple drove to California, and then planned to head toward Cazarez's uncle in Mexico. The uncle suggested Cazarez and his girlfriend take a bus rather than drive the difficult Mexican roads. The couple crossed into Mexico at Tijuana, abandoned the Fusion, bought tickets for Sonora, Mexico, and boarded the bus on Aug. 1, 2011. The next day, the bus was stopped by Mexican authorities at a checkpoint inside the country. The passengers were told to disembark with their luggage. Inside Cazarez's bag, they discovered millions of American dollars. "The moment I was caught I felt a great weight lifted off my shoulders," Cazarez would later write to the judge. "Although I had no idea what lay ahead, I knew that it was all for the best." Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Ahead were criminal charges in Mexico "analogous to money laundering and illegal possession of firearms for smuggling the cash and firearms into Mexico," according to federal authorities. But there was also a problem of the cash count. Mexican authorities only discovered $3.8 million in his bags. After Cazarez served his prison sentence in Mexico and was extradited back to the United States in September 2018, the missing half-million dollars would become a point of contention. When he pleaded guilty to theft of bank funds last January, prosecutors wanted to know what happened to the cash. According to Cazarez, the money was gone, given to his father for medical treatment, and then stolen. The defendant did not go into details about how the money was taken from his father. "A large majority of the money I took was recovered," he wrote to the judge. "Apart from what I spent, the majority of what remained was left to my dad to pay for medical expenses, and he was robbed before he ever had a chance and has since passed away, so there is no easy way to recover what is missing because, to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing left." Prosecutors, however, allege that Cazarez had actually hidden away the $500,000 in Washington state in case he was ever caught. At Monday's sentencing, the judge said the defendant had showed a lack of candor with the court about the missing money, sentencing Cazarez to a decade in prison with no credit for the time he served in Mexico. "Absent a random search at an interior Mexican checkpoint, the defendant would be sipping margaritas and enjoying his millions in stolen money," federal prosecutors emphasized in a court filing. ALBANY When Common Councilperson Dorcey Applyrs watched the police-worn body camera footage of officers beating three black men during an early-morning confrontation on First Street in March, she saw her husband and her brother. She saw a six-foot-two, dark-skinned black man with long locks. I think the disservice we do to our community of color is to talk about these issues in a vacuum, as if race is not an issue, Applyrs said. Unfortunately, in this country we get very uncomfortable talking about race. My lived experience as a black woman will not allow me to sit back and not talk. Council members Wednesday evening were briefed by police Chief Eric Hawkins on the alleged police brutality incident on First Street that led to charges for one Albany cop and the suspension of two others, and sounded off on a confrontation that turned violent after nearly a dozen Albany officers responded to 523 First St. on March 16 for a loud party. Applyrs and other council members challenged Hawkins during a public safety committee meeting to improve police accountability and training, change the culture in the department, and recognize how race plays into incidents like the one on First Street. Were here because three black men in our community were assaulted by officers that are supposed to protect residents in this community, said Applyrs, who chairs the committee. I want to make sure that were not having this conversation for the sake of having it. We need to be frank and real about the racial piece, because we see a disparity in attacks when it comes to our residents of color. The meeting came one month after Officer Luke Deer was charged on April 2 with felony assault and misdemeanor official misconduct. Deer was one of almost a dozen Albany police who responded to First Street that night. The confrontation turned violent between police and residents, and police officials later suspended Deer and two other officers after reviewing police-worn body camera footage. Three men were allegedly beaten by officers and arrested on a slew of charges, which were later dropped. Wednesday's conversation also touched on staffing shortages and how working in law enforcement can be stressful, which can impact how police react in a tense situation. Councilperson Jahmel Robinson countered that argument, noting people of color have been dealing with stress for generations. He said Deer acted with impunity during the March incident. I dont believe that this is just a first-time offense of Officer Deer, I think its the first time he got caught, Robinson said. Its a pattern that has to be identified with officers, because most of the time its not just a first-time thing. Hawkins said the department has software that alerts officials when there are reoccurring smaller incidents with officers that may need to be examined further. We have to carefully track those sorts of things, because in a lot of cases its a warning sign of bigger issues, he said. Councilperson Ginnie Farrell emphasized that officers internally reporting incidents is important for accountability. Police have said none of the officers at the scene notified top brass of the confrontation. Instead, officers learned about it when social media posts from the general public were sent their way. People are going to feel like they have to hold police accountable, they have to have the video rolling, she said. There were 12 officers at the scene, and that to me is an internal communication breakdown. Hawkins said officers must report any violations of the law, including those committed by their colleagues. He said they have in the past but not in this case. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. There clearly should have been reports of those improprieties, he said. The incident itself was reported, but when you have that level of impropriety, there should be more detail as to what exactly happened. Council President Corey Ellis suggested the department's body camera policy must be changed to prompt immediate review of footage whenever an officer files a report against a person for resisting arrest, misconduct, harassment and other low-level offenses. This community feels there was an injustice, so if we want to build relationships this community has to see and know justice, Ellis said. If the cameras show the report is false, those officers have to be held accountable. Questions surround the accuracy of the arrest reports submitted against the three men, particularly with regard to references to a damaged gas line that city codes has said didnt exist. No charges have been brought against any of the officers in relation to filing false reports. Beyond improving training and strengthening relations among different city departments, Hawkins acknowledged there needs to be a cultural change within the department. If a person is in this organization and they have a hardened heart, I cant change that, Hawkins said. What I certainly can do is impact behavior. Im not so focused on changing how officers and non-sworn members feel, (but) Im committed to changing how officers treat others despite how they feel. The three officers are now on paid suspension after concluding a 30-day unpaid suspension period, as dictated by their contract. Hawkins asserted Wednesday he had the authority to keep the officers off the payroll. At this point, my position is the union contract says you must be paid after 30 days, but Im not bringing them back on the rolls until we figure out the level of discipline for these officers, he said. The eight officers who responded to First Street but havent been suspended remain on active duty, Hawkins said. A grand jury is investigating the incident, and Hawkins said additional charges or administrative actions against other officers are possible. Malta Democratic Committee MALTA - Matthew Coldrick, a member of the Round Lake village Board of Trustees, has been endorsed by the Malta Democratic Committee as a candidate for Malta Town Board. Coldrick will be seeking to fill one of two town board seats to be contested on the November ballot. Both are now occupied by Republicans, Timothy Dunn and Craig Warner, who currently hold a 4-1 majority on the board. Dunn and Warner will also run to retain their seats along with Republican Supervisor Darren O'Connor. ALBANY The attorney for Essex County asked the state's highest court Wednesday to reverse a lower court ruling and ensure that electronic ballot images cannot be accessible to the public through the state's Freedom of Information Law. The case before the Court of Appeals, while centered on a legal battle in Essex County following the November 2015 elections, could hold wide implications statewide. The county's attorney, Daniel T. Manning, told judges that under state election law, "voted ballots" require a judge's order as opposed to a "blanket FOIL request." Among other arguments, he suggested the ballots "could be tampered with." Manning's argument was buoyed by James Walsh, a Saratoga Springs election attorney representing Allison McGahay, the Republican elections commissioner of Essex County. Walsh said he once requested access to ballots in Schenectady County and was denied by now-retired state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Reilly. Walsh told the court that in smaller towns with a handful of voters, the information could reveal how people voted. Walsh said allowing disclosure of the images could create issues in late November when certifying winners in races decided by one or two votes. It could erode public confidence in elections and government, he said. "Truth doesn't erode anything," Associate Judge Eugene Fahey replied. The issue dates to December 2015, when Bethany Kosmider, the now-former Democratic Party leader of Essex County, asked the county's Board of Elections for copies of electronic ballot images of recorded by voting machines. After the county's election commissioners were split on the matter, Manning rejected the request. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. A state Supreme Court judge disagreed with Manning. The Appellate Division's Third Department, based in Albany, narrowly upheld that justice's decision 3-2, sending the case to the Court of Appeals. Daniel R. Novack, a New Jersey lawyer representing Kosmider, told judges Thursday the information in the ballot images does not provide anything new that is not already public in voter rolls and ballot results. "If there's a town with one person in it, we know the voter roll, we know the vote," Novack said. He said FOIL is a flexible law which allows for redactions when needed, which could address issues raised by Walsh. In addition, Novack said that one year before, in 2014, the county approved a similar request by Kosmider. A decision is expected in four to six weeks. 3 1 of 3 John Carl D'Annibale Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Brunswick Brittonkill Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Brunswick-Brittonkill school district officials are urging calm after a "previously investigated recycled rumor" was being shared again on social media, according to a message posted on the district website Wednesday. "Today at Tamarac Secondary School, students alerted staff that there was a post on social media that was being rapidly shared amongst students. As per District protocols, The New York State Police and Rensselaer County Sheriff's office were immediately notified. The situation was fully investigated by law enforcement and staff, and it was determined that this was a previously investigated recycled rumor that is now being being shared on social media," the school's principal, Richard Pogue, said in the online letter. 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. 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. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. More for you RPI going dry, almost 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 ALBANY Gemma Bianchi twisted her ankle at a mud run last August and immediately felt intense, burning pain. Never having sprained anything before, the 29-year-old Albany woman had no real context for the pain. She just knew it hurt badly. When she got home and tried to take a bath, she nearly passed out the moment her foot touched the water. "It was like somebody had just taken a match and lit my whole body on fire," she recalled. "I was screaming bloody murder." Bianchi wouldn't know it for a month, but she was one of an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Americans to develop a rare disorder so painful, so unrelenting and so hard to treat that many have dubbed it the "Suicide Disease." She had Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a progressive disease of the sympathetic nervous system that produces constant, extreme pain in response to tissue damage from a trauma. It usually affects one or more limbs, but can occur and spread to any part of the body. It is typically accompanied by swelling, skin changes and extreme sensitivity to touch, sound, temperature and vibration. "It feels like dying," Bianchi said. "Like the most intense sunburn you've ever felt, like your arms are on fire and your feet are cinderblocks." The whoosh of cold air from simply opening the refrigerator felt like "1,000 tiny knives stabbing me over and over," she said. In scientific terms, medical experts rank it a 42 out of 50 on the McGill Pain Index higher even than unprepared childbirth or amputation. On some days, the psychological toll of such unrelenting, extreme pain is worse than the pain itself, Bianchi said. "I had a career I loved, I was getting promotions, I was a competitive powerlifter," she said. "I loved my life and in one day, it flipped completely upside down." Misdiagnosed and mistreated A few days after the bath lit her body on fire, Bianchi's foot turned black. When she went to the doctor, they told her they had "seen this before" and that it would go away. They didn't explain what "this" was, but prescribed Bianchi a drug for nerve pain and instructed her to stay off her foot no matter what. What followed for Bianchi was a series of treatments that not only didn't help her condition, but actively exacerbated it such as icing her foot and taking hot and cold contrast baths. By the time she was diagnosed with CRPS, the condition had spread to other parts of her body. "If I lined up various medical professionals, orthopedists and pain management doctors, I would say that maybe three out of 10 would know about this condition," said Dr. Katinka van der Merwe, a chiropractor who founded the Neurologic Relief Center in Arkansas to treat CRPS and similar conditions. Like so many rare diseases, CRPS is hard to diagnose and even harder to treat due to a lack of awareness, funding and research. For these reasons, van der Merwe believes the condition is vastly underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed. "There are probably hundreds of thousands of people walking around who don't even know they have it," she said. Unfortunately, misdiagnosis can result in mistreatment, which can cause symptoms to spread and get worse. Contrast baths, for example, are commonly recommended for swelling and muscle recovery, but make CRPS symptoms worse. Many of the available treatments such as nerve blocks, lidocaine infusions, spinal cord stimulation and medication are designed to offer pain relief and quality-of-life improvements for patients, not remission and recovery. Bianchi tried many of these, which helped bring her pain levels down from a 10 out of 10 to a six. And then she heard about van der Merwe's clinic in Arkansas, and felt a glimmer of hope. A reason to hope "If you could design a condition that's hell on Earth, it would be this," van der Merwe said. Aside from the physical pain, patients often encounter medical professionals who either don't understand the pain they're in, don't believe it or don't know what to do about it. The first doctor who saw Bianchi told her it would go away in a month or two; others told her she'd have it for life. Van der Merwe was the first doctor she met who seemed to know what she was talking about, Bianchi recalled. And no wonder: The South African native has treated 300 CRPS patients since opening her Fayetteville clinic. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Formally trained as a chiropractor, van der Merwe said she was inspired to treat the most "hopeless" of pain patients after she was approached by a suicidal young father with CRPS. Using a technique she found to be highly effective in treating fibromyalgia patients, she and the young man were both astounded to see it worked for his condition. He went into full remission. Want to help? Gemma has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for her ongoing medical care. To donate, visit gofundme.com/neridronate-infusion-italy. To help others with CRPS, the Burning Limb Foundation provides financial assistance in the form of direct payments to trusted physicians on behalf of CRPS patients around the world. To donate, visit burninglimb.com/donate. See More Collapse "It was addictive, that feeling of giving someone their life back," she said. Today, patients come from all over the world to receive treatment at her clinic for CRPS, and 76 percent of them have achieved and maintained full remission, she said. Her 10- to 12-week treatment program involves intensive rehabilitation of a person's central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord and controls most functions of the body and mind. Bianchi arrived at the clinic in December but didn't start treatment until after the holidays, and after she had detoxed off her various pain medications. While there, she saw 30 percent improvement in her symptoms: her pain level had dropped from a six while on drugs to a three while off drugs, and she was able to walk for up to 20 minutes at a time, compared to two minutes when she was first diagnosed. "I witnessed miracles there," she said. "She took people who had been wheelchair-bound for months or even years and got them walking again." Unfortunately, Bianchi said, she had to end her treatment early after running out of money and left the facility in April. Treatment at the Neurologic Relief Center costs anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 depending on the individual, and the clinic does not accept insurance. Van der Merwe said most insurance companies don't know how to reimburse treatment for rare disorders, and the cost of attempting to work with them at all would force her to shutter the clinic. All told, Bianchi and her family have spent $50,000 on her medical care since her diagnosis. Unable to return to work due to her symptoms, Bianchi lost her employer-sponsored health insurance. She applied for short-term disability insurance, but was denied. She sold her belongings and moved out of her apartment. She's been couch-hopping with friends to save money, but fears their hospitality will one day wear thin. Out of options, she launched a GoFundMe fundraiser in hopes of raising enough money to return to treatment in Arkansas. Until then, she's renting a medical device that helps build muscle strength and stimulates the nervous system, and trying as best she can not to give up hope. She hopes by speaking about her experience, she can raise awareness for the painful disorder, helping herself and others in their journey to recovery. "I know people can get better," she said. "I've seen it with my own eyes. I'm just waiting for my own miracle." THE ISSUE: The state changes the rules on the popular STAR property tax credit. THE STAKES: Is this really an improvement, and how many people may lose a break they're entitled to? Here's a quiz: What do the words "tax," "pit," "star," "default," "gov" and "property" have in common? There's money riding on this. Stumped? All those words, properly assembled, are part of the address for the state web page you have to go to in order to find a link to register for New York's School Tax Relief program. You could be out money if you don't, even if you've been getting the STAR credit for decades. (Don't worry, a simplified version of the web address is at the end of this editorial. You're welcome!) Registering with the state puts people who were in the STAR program before 2016 on track to receive a rebate check from the state, rather than a credit on their local tax bill. STAR gives people a tax break on the first $30,000 of their home's value (or $68,700 for qualified seniors). As an incentive to switch to the rebate program, homeowners who fail to do so will lose out on what could be an additional annual savings of 2 percent. Centralizing STAR, the state says, will help it better detect errors and fraud. STAR is meant only for one's primary residence. And there are income caps. There have been cases of homeowners getting breaks on multiple homes, but no one knows how much fraud and error really is out there, so it's unclear if all the trouble New Yorkers are going to have to go through will really be worth it. That's not the only questionable aspect of this. One has to wonder how much money the state expects to make off people who fail to make the switch, either because they don't know about it or can't be bothered. Then there are those who will be hard pressed to afford it. Sure, they'll get a rebate but only after they pay their full tax bill. For people of modest means, like senior citizens on fixed incomes, that could prove difficult. One has to wonder if it really will save money to print and mail millions of rebate checks rather than coordinate, mostly electronically, with fewer than 1,000 school districts. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. To its credit, the state says people who fail to sign up in a timely way will be able to do so retroactively, though it will mean more paperwork. More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com See More Collapse To minimize that, New York should get the word out on this change in every possible way. And state legislators ought to use some of their taxpayer-funded mailings which are usually mostly promotional to prominently alert people to the change. One has to wonder if all this boils down more to perception and politics than constructive reform. Because checks and credits are recorded differently on the state's books, this will actually look like a spending cut, giving Gov. Andrew Cuomo bragging rights to fiscal prudence, if not alchemy. And if that doesn't endear New Yorkers, no doubt a rebate check will. Nothing says "You're welcome" like being given back a bit of your own money. And nothing says "Thank you" quite like making you work for it. Instructions on how to register for the STAR rebate, and a link to the registration page, can be found at http://tinyurl.com/zflded9 [May 02, 2019] ALFA announces that its subsidiary Axtel signed agreement to sell its Mass Market Business to Megacable for Ps. 1,150 Million MONTERREY, Mexico, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V., announced today that its subsidiary Axtel, S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company, signed a definitive agreement to sell its fiber, Mass Market Business (FTTx) located in Leon, Puebla, Toluca, Guadalajara and Queretaro, to Megacable Holdings, S.A.B. de C.V. and subsidiaries ("Megacable") for Ps. 1,150 Million. Net proceeds from this transaction will be used to improve Axtel's capital structure. Effective May 1st, 2019, Axtel transferred 55 thousand residential and micro-business customers, 1,370 km of FTTx fiber optic network and other assets related to the operation of the mass market segment in these cities to Megacable. This agreement has been notified to Mexico's industry regulator, Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. "With this transaction, we are concluding the divestment of the FTTx Mass Market business as part of our strategy to focus on the Enterprise and Government markets. The successful monetization of this business, together with the initiatives to engage with a strategic partner for our Data Centers business and the separation of our operations in two strategic units, reflect our commitment of maximizing value for our shareholders. Net proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce debt and other liabilities, thus, improving our captal structure and reducing interest expense", said Rolando Zubiran Shetler, Axtel's President. About Axtel Axtel is a Mexican Information and Communication Technology Company that serves the enterprise and government segments with a robust portfolio of IT and Telecommunications solutions through its brand Alestra. With a network infrastructure of over 40 thousand kilometers of fiber and more than 6,700 square meters of data center, Axtel enables organizations to be more productive through innovation. As of February 15, 2016, Axtel is a subsidiary of ALFA, which owns 52.8% of its equity. Axtel shares, represented by Ordinary Participation Certificates, or CPOs, trade on the Mexican Stock Market under the symbol "AXTELCPO" since 2005. About ALFA ALFA is a holding company that manages a portfolio of diversified subsidiaries with global operations: Alpek, one of the world's largest producers of polyester (PTA, PET and fibers), and the leader in the Mexican market for polypropylene, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and caprolactam. Sigma, a leading multinational food company, focused on the production, marketing and distribution of quality foods through recognized brands in Mexico, Europe, United States and Latin America. Nemak, a leading provider of innovative lightweighting solutions for the global automotive industry, specializing in the development and manufacturing of aluminum components for powertrain, structural components and for electric vehicles. Axtel, a provider of Information Technology and Communication services for the enterprise and government segments in Mexico. Newpek, an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in Mexico and the United States. In 2018, ALFA reported revenues of Ps. 366,432 million (US $19.1 billion), and EBITDA of Ps. 55,178 million (US $2.9 billion). ALFA's shares are quoted on the Mexican Stock Exchange and on Latibex, the market for Latin American shares of the Madrid Stock Exchange. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alfa-announces-that-its-subsidiary-axtel-signed-agreement-to-sell-its-mass-market-business-to-megacable-for-ps-1-150-million-300843050.html SOURCE ALFA, S.A.B. de C.V. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and Its Subsidiaries AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A++ (Superior) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of "aa+" of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and its life/health subsidiaries, C.M. Life Insurance Company and MML Bay State Life Insurance Company (both domiciled in Enfield, CT). Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings (Long-Term IR) of "aa-" on the existing surplus notes of MassMutual and the "aa+" on notes issued under funding agreement-backed securities programs of MassMutual Global Funding, LLC and MassMutual Global Funding II. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (rating) is stable. The aforementioned companies are headquartered in Springfield, MA. (See below for a detailed listing of the Long-Term IRs and Short-Term Issue Credit Rating [Short-Term IR].) The ratings reflect MassMutual's balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorizes as strongest, as well as its strong operating performance, very favorable business profile and very strong enterprise risk management. Risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by the Best Capital Adequacy Ratio, is assessed as very strong and supports its growth, business and insurance risks. MassMutual's invested asset portfolio is well-diversified and generally of good credit quality, but has elevated allocations in Schedule BA assets and below investment grade bonds. Liquidity capabilities are strong, supported by robust cash inflows and frequent monitoring, evaluation and testing of short and long-term cash needs. Mass Mutual's quality of capital and reserve strength are viewed positively with significant levels of xxx reserve redundancies retained on its balance sheet, and an increased focus on whole life products. MassMutual's operating performance benefits from diverse earnings with a good balance between insurance, asset management and investment margins. While earnings will be less diversified with the pending sale of OppenheimerFunds, the group should benefit from favorable organic earnings growth in the longer term, particularly in its ordinary life line of business, which has shown strong compound annual growth rates. In the life insurance and asset management marketplace, MassMutual is one of the largest and most recognizable life insurers in the United States, with leading market positions in total life sales, ordinary life, disability income, annuities and bank-owned life insurance. Distribution has been augmented by the integration of the MetLife agent network purchased in 2016. Despite the narrowing of the usiness profile with the proposed OppenheimerFunds sale, MassMutual will continue to have strong institutional asset management capabilities through Barings, a wholly owned asset management affiliate. In recent years, MassMutual sought to minimize its direct exposure to businesses, which have become less relevant to its long-term strategy. Its direct interest in MassMutual Japan was sold in the second quarter, 2018 to Nippon Life. Also, MassMutual Asia, its Hong Kong subsidiary, was sold in November, 2018 to Yunfeng Financial Group and several Asia-based investors. Mass Mutual continues to retain a minority interest in both companies. In October, 2018, MassMutual announced it had entered into an agreement to sell OppenheimerFunds, its retail asset management affiliate, to Invesco in which it will replace operational control of OppenheimerFunds with an equity interest of $4.0 billion in preferred stock and approximately $1.7 billion in common stock with attractive coupons in a tax free exchange. Mass Mutual will own approximately 16% of Invesco's common equity and the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. The following Short-Term IR has been affirmed: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company- -- AMB-1+ on commercial paper program The following Long-Term IRs have been affirmed with a stable outlook: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company- -- "aa-" on $250 million 7.625% surplus notes, due 2023 -- "aa-" on $100 million 7.500% surplus notes, due 2024 -- "aa-" on $250 million 5.625% surplus notes, due 2033 -- "aa-" on $750 million 8.875% surplus notes, due 2039 (of which $310 million remains outstanding) -- "aa-" on $400 million 5.375% surplus notes, due 2041 -- "aa-" on $500 million 4.5% surplus notes, due 2065 -- "aa-" on $475 million 4.9% surplus notes, due 2077 MassMutual Global Funding, LLC-"aa+" program rating -- "aa+" on all outstanding notes issued under the program MassMutual Global Funding II-"aa+" program rating -- "aa+" on all outstanding notes issued under the program The following Long-Term IRs have been assigned with a stable outlook: MassMutual Global Funding II -- "aa+" on $650 million 3.40% senior secured medium term notes, due 2026 -- "aa+" on $200 million 2.73% senior secured medium term notes, due 2021 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/20190502005828/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Amplifon Americas Encourages Hearing Checks During Month of May Amplifon S.p.A. ("Amplifon" or the "Company"; MTA; Bloomberg (News - Alert) ticker: MIL:AMP.MI), global leader in hearing health care solutions and services, encourages all Americans to schedule a hearing check during the month of May, recognized as Better Hearing and Speech Month by the Hearing Industries Association (HIA). This May, the HIA's "Preserve Your Passion" campaign seeks to make hearing wellness checks as routine as annual exams for vision or dental. It goes beyond awareness. It's about encouraging action, something Amplifon Americas is especially passionate about. Each year, millions of Americans with hearing loss go untreated. Substantial research and anecdotal data show that untreated hearing loss is linked to numerous physical and mental conditions, as well as quality-of-life issues. Amplifon Americas Executive Vice President, Marc C. Lundeberg, who was recently appointed to the board of the HIA, says "good hearing empowers an active and healthy life, increasing social engagement, improving communication, and lowering the risk of isolation." Lundeberg looks forward to continuing to help shape the dialogue about hearing health care as the newest board member of HIA and has this message for all, "Keep your genius unleashed, control your destiny, and stay vital! Get your hearing checked!" To check your hearing, visit your local hearing healthcare professional. In addition to getting a hearing check, there are many ways to support Better Hearing and Speech Month. Encourage those around you to get a hearing test, spreadawareness of hearing health among your network, and become an advocate by visiting www.hearwellstayvital.org. About Amplifon Amplifon, global leader in the hearing care retail market, empowers people to rediscover all the emotions of sound. Amplifon's around 16,000 people worldwide strive every day to understand the unique needs of every customer, delivering exclusive, innovative and highly personalized products and services, to ensure everyone the very best solution and an outstanding experience. Amplifon operates through a network of around 11,000 points of sale in 29 Countries and 5 continents. More information about the Company is available at: www.amplifon.com/corporate. Amplifon Americas, a division of Amplifon Group, is a leading provider of hearing health care solutions in the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, Amplifon Americas has been awarded a Top Workplace for the last five years. Its team of 470 people is dedicated to serving the diverse needs of its customers through four unique and independent brands: Miracle-Ear, Elite Hearing Network, Amplifon Hearing Health Care, and Amplifon Canada (formerly Miracle-Ear Canada). Through a powerful combination of leading-edge technology and high-quality care, Amplifon Americas' hearing care solutions strive to improve lives, relationships, and its communities. About Hearing Industries Association HIA is the trusted voice in hearing health care for patient safety and education, delivery care, innovation and public policy. HIA is a national trade association with headquarters in Washington, DC. To learn more: www.hearing.org View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005970/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Fluence Announces First NIROBOX Order in the USA Fluence Corporation Limited (ASX:FLC) is pleased to announce that it has executed the first order of its NIROBOX Smart Packaged desalination solution in the USA. The NIROBOX SW XL will be delivered to the Laguna Development Corporation (LDC) and will be located on the Laguna Pueblo near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The seawater desalination unit will treat brine produced by an existing Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit and produce potable water for consumption by the LDC business entities near Rio Puerco on Laguna Pueblo Lands. The unit is designed to treat up to 250,000 gallons per day and includes a one-year process performance guarantee. The order was secured in collaboration with Fluence local New Mexico representative, Watergy CE, and Tierra West Engineering, who will be responsible for the site's civil works design and local certifications. This initial order will serve as a pilot for the intended growth of the NIROBOXTM product in the USA and to provide drinking water to LDC as it looks to further develop the eastern portion of the reservation of the Pueblo of Laguna. Additionally, the NIROBOX technoogy has direct application to hundreds of smaller communities across the Southwest that have limited fresh water supplies, but often access to extensive brackish ground water resources. Commenting on the agreement, Fluence Managing Director & CEO Henry Charrabe said: "This project is an innovative example of desalination in the desert and the NIROBOX's ability to produce potable water from any source in any setting. NIROBOX proves to be applicable in many versatile conditions and combined with Fluence's ability to offer flexible project finance, this solution is ideal for many customers in the USA and around the world. We look forward to demonstrating NIROBOX's value proposition to US customers through its low upfront cost, speed of setup and installation, low power consumption and ease of operation and maintenance." LDC's President and CEO, Jerry Smith, commented, "This NIROBOX SW, which will produce potable water from the reject brine of our existing water treatment plant, will 'close the loop' and allow us to maximize the utility of our water resources at our casino facility on the Pueblo. The solution, when applied on a large scale, would be a game changer for our future development on the eastern reservation of the Pueblo." About Fluence Corporation Limited (ASX: FLC) Fluence is a leader in the decentralized water, wastewater and reuse treatment markets, setting the industry pace with its Smart Products Solutions, including Aspiral, NIROBOX and SUBRE. Fluence offers an integrated range of services across the complete water cycle, from early stage evaluation, through design and delivery to ongoing support and optimization of water related assets, as well as Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) and other recurring revenue solutions. With established operations in North America, South America, the Middle East, Europe and China, Fluence has experience operating in over 70 countries worldwide and enables businesses and communities worldwide to maximize their water resources. Further information can be found at https://www.fluencecorp.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005848/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Genesys Calls All Customer Experience Professionals to Denver June 10 to 13 to New Signature Event, Xperience19 SAN FRANCISCO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genesys (www.genesys.com), the global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions, has announced its new signature event, Xperience19, will kick off June 10 in Denver, Colorado. This annual conference unites experts from organizations of all types and sizes who share a commitment to transforming mundane customer service into remarkable experiences. If there was ever an expert in creating magical moments, it's world-renowned photographer and Xperience19 keynote speaker, Platon. Throughout his exceptional career, Platon has captured history-making moments for a range of international publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Vanity Fair and TIME. On the Xperience19 stage, Platon will take the audience on a roller coaster of emotions from laughter to tears with the most poignant and mesmerizing stories behind the photos. He answers the question, "Who is this person?" Also speaking is Dave Carroll, a Canadian songwriter, author, social media pioneer and the creator of a one-in-a-billion story,?United Breaks Guitars. Carroll will address why empowering people to deliver moments of connection is so important in a digital world. In addition, several marquee Genesys customers will present, including Uber, Whirlpool, Ticketmaster, Voya Financial and Alberta Motor Association. These companies will share how the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital channels are helping them connect every touchpoint in the customer journey and driving business performance. Xperience19 will also shine a spotlight on the human side of customer service by recognizing agents from MyBudget, Crisis Services Canada and Bradesco Net, who are Genesys CX Heroes for going above and beyond to make a real difference in people's lives. The immersive event enables attendees to create their own customer experience curriculum by choosing from more than 80 educational tracks, breakouts and activities. Business leaders, sales and marketing professionals, contact center managers and developers can delve into topics including predictive capabilities, customer and employee experience, cloud and more. Deep-dive breakout sessions will also cover the importance of blending the human touch with disruptive technologies to provide optimal service. Co-located with Xperience19 is the annual Genesys DevCon, a hands-on technical conference for the developer community. Led by Genesys developers, DevCon is designed to help customers quickly innovate through the company's software development kits (SDK) and open APIs. "Our new conference name, Xperience19, is reflective of our goal to make every moment count. This year, we'll show attendees how immersive, experiential service is the new standard for every customer, every time," said Merijn te Booij, chief marketing officer of Genesys. "No other event gives attendees a more comprehensive playbook to empower their employees and turn conversations with customers into the best-connected moments across marketing, sales and service." Register for Xperience19 and DevCon before May 15 and save $300! Spend June 10 to June 13 at the brand-new Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center learning, connecting and sharing all things related to customer experience. Follow the excitement on popular social networks and stay connected with the hashtag #Xpr19. About Genesys Genesys powers more than 25 billion of the world's best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel. Every day, 11,000 companies in more than 100 countries trust our #1 customer experience platform to drive great business outcomes and create lasting relationships. Combining the best of technology and human ingenuity, we build solutions that mirror natural communication and work the way you think. Our industry-leading solutions foster true omnichannel engagement because they perform equally well across channels, on-premises and in the cloud. Experience communication as it should be: fluid, instinctive and profoundly empowering. Visit genesys.com on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and the Genesys blog. 2019 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. Genesys, the Genesys logo, and Genesys PureCloud are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Genesys. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. Contacts: Rachel Faulkner Public Relations Director Genesys [email protected] +1 317-715-8109 Adriana Saldana Sterling Communications [email protected] +1 408-395-5500 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genesys-calls-all-customer-experience-professionals-to-denver-june-10-to-13-to-new-signature-event-xperience19-300842444.html SOURCE Genesys [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Massachusetts Governor, City Hall and Business Leaders Welcome Bermuda Delegation to Boston Bermuda's significant contribution as a global financial partner to American cities and communities was recognised by city, state and business leaders who welcomed an island delegation to Boston this week. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005964/en/ Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (News - Alert) met with Bermuda Premier David Burt and delegation in Boston this week. (Photo: Business Wire) Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker invited Premier David Burt, Finance Minister Curtis Dickinson and other members of a Bermuda delegation to the landmark State House yesterday, where the group chatted with the popular second-term Republican, a former healthcare group CEO, about Bermuda's tight links to the US Northeast through jobs, trade, tourism, education, healthcare and re/insurance via Bermuda-based global carriers. Member companies of the Association of Bermuda Insurers & Reinsurers (ABIR) paid more than 15 percent of devastating losses after 2012's Hurricane Sandy, and today support more than 800 jobs in Massachusetts and 3,200 throughout New England. "It was a pleasure to meet Governor Baker at the state capitol and talk about Bermuda's meaningful long-time connections to this region. We share common social and economic challenges, from climate change to technological disruption, as well as great business oportunities, so we look forward to continuing these fruitful discussions," said Premier Burt, who along with the Minister attended the meeting with Assistant Financial Secretary Pamela Burrows and the Bermuda Business Development Agency's CEO Andy Burrows. The group also met with Mark Sullivan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade & Investment, who gave a tour of the historic Beacon Hill building, including the 18th-century Massachusetts House of Representatives Chamber. "Our visit to Boston was a valuable opportunity to meet with business and civic leaders and discuss mutual challenges and opportunities both our communities can take advantage of," noted the BDA's Burrows. "The conversations highlighted economic areas Bermuda and the Greater Boston area are strategically focused on, and those it would benefit us to explore further. The Bermuda-Boston history was appreciated, and our discussions were a good way to renew relationships and forge new bonds." The Bermuda delegation, in Boston to attend the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Annual Conference, met at City Hall with Boston's Chief of Economic Development John Barros, who detailed urban-renewal projects he has spearheaded to revitalise neighbourhoods and foster economic inclusion. The group also sat down with Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO James Rooney and his executive team to discuss ways to encourage innovation, racial equity, and workforce competitiveness, and was invited to tour the Boston Options Exchange (BOX), which shares a majority owner, TMX, with the Bermuda Stock Exchange. And the Premier and team paid a visit to the downtown headquarters of Circle.com, a virtual currencies exchange company whose founders visited the Cabinet Office last week and are planning to establish a Bermuda presence. Media coverage, including a broadcast by Tom Moroney and Janet Wu of Bloomberg (News - Alert) Radio's Baystate Business, discussed the island's economy and historical, maritime and modern-day links with the region. Earlier in the week, in-depth interviews also took place with insurance industry media at RIMS, including The Insurer, Business Insurance, Reactions and AM Best-TV, along with RIMS-TV. RIMS, which attracted 10,000 delegates from more than 60 nations, saw a strong Bermuda presence, including an official welcome by RIMS executives, business development meetings at the Bermuda Booth, and attendance by scores of insurance professionals from companies based on the island. The Bermuda market's profile was particularly high after news this week that insurance legend Stephen Catlin has returned to the island with a $1.8-billion reinsurance start-up, Convex, that has an A- AM Best rating, and an announcement Bermuda will host its first RIMS Risk Management Academy, an invite-only thought-leadership and networking event slated for July 14 to 17. CONNECTING BUSINESS The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business here smooth and beneficial. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005964/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Netsmart Expands Service Offerings with Acquisition of Healthcare Advisory Firm McBee Healthcare IT provider Netsmart announced today it has acquired Pennsylvania-based healthcare consulting firm, McBee. Healthcare IT solutions and services from Netsmart coupled with McBee's industry-leading healthcare professional services will provide community and acute care organizations with nearly a century of advisory and technology experience under one roof, furthering the alignment of care throughout the healthcare ecosystem. The combination of these companies provides a comprehensive knowledge foundation for community-based healthcare organizations as they strive to manage the complex operational, financial and clinical requirements of value-based care and the assumption of risk. This acquisition builds upon and expands the Netsmart suite of consulting and managed services by adding industry expertise and resources specifically geared toward strategic consulting, change management, revenue cycle management, advisory and education services. "As healthcare organizations continue to integrate and move toward value-based payment models, they need business partners who anticipate changes to healthcare models, rather than react to changes," said Netsmart CEO Mike Valentine. "We aim to anticipate clients' needs, advocate for those needs and then assist clients to implement new models, so they can become leaders of a transformed healthcare system. McBee delivers critical knowledge that providers need to thrive in today's changing landscape. The expertise from their advisors included as part of the Netsmart portfolio will accelerate our clients' ability to deliver value by equipping them with the tools and strategies they need for future growth and success." McBee provides strategic consulting and insight needed for organizations to thrive in a value-based environment, with services in areas such as business organization structure, care management and clinical compliance, denials and appeals, bundled payments, billing and coding, OASIS accuracy, revenue recovery and more. These services are particularly valuable in the community and acute care markets as they undergo major reimbursement models. "The Netsmart mission and vision to design and deliver industry-leading solutions are aligned with the mission and vision of McBee," said Mike Dordick, McBee president. "We've both spent decades defining what providers need to be successful, developing best practices and technology to support them. By combining our strengths, we will expand our current and future clients' access to robust expertise, education and technology that work to enhance clinical, operational and financial operations as well as the complete healthcare experience for the individuals they serve." The McBee brand name represents a respected voice in the industry, and while Netsmart plans to increase the value and collaboration with mutual clients, McBee will continue to serve as a thought leader and serve providers across the industry. Serving more than 3,800 providers and with over 250 McBee associates joining the Netsmart family, this addition creates a more aligned experience with improved integration between services and technology offerings from both companies. The two companies have proven track records that demonstrate strong capabilities to support healthcare client from a business and clinical perspective with strategic solutions and services that help progress care quality, productivity and growth. The combination of the largest community and acute care consulting, advisory and outsourced services provider with that of the largest health IT provider in community care creates the opportunity for organizations to enhance and redefine how care is delivered. "The healthcare industry is progressing, and providers must be able to count on their business partners to be in sync to deliver the tools and services to support these rapid changes," said Valentine. "Together with McBee, we can help these same providers be successful today, tomorrow and beyond." TripleTree acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to McBee for this transaction. About McBee McBee is the nation's premier health care services and consulting firm that delivers financial, operational, and clinical consulting services exclusively to healthcare providers across the continuum of care. For more than 45 years, McBee has designed services to ensure the success of clients by improving clinical, operational, and revenue cycle performance. Established in 1973, the firm has become one of the nation's largest, independent health care financial consulting practices by lasting solutions to ensure the financial success of clients. The commitment to client success is ingrained in our culture. Equipped with a broad array of services developed exclusively for health care providers, McBee Associates offer solutions that address the unique financial and operational needs of hospitals, home health, long-term care, and other organizations. McBee Associates' consulting professionals have extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of health care regulations and policies. Health care providers across the nation look to McBee Associates to provide comprehensive services and expert resolution of the various financial issues they encounter. With a client base that includes more than 3,500 health care providers, McBee Associates has earned the trust of hospitals and agencies of all sizes and types, including Fortune 500 companies, major for-profit and not-for-profit chains, health systems, and independent providers. Corporate headquarters is in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Additional offices are located in Columbia, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia. Visit us at McBeeAssociates.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. About Netsmart Netsmart designs, builds and delivers electronic health records (EHRs), solutions and services that are powerful, intuitive and easy-to-use. Our platform provides accurate, up-to-date information that is easily accessible to care team members in behavioral health, care at home, senior living and social services. We make the complex simple and personalized so our clients can concentrate on what they do best: provide services and treatment that support whole-person care. By leveraging the powerful Netsmart network, care providers can seamlessly and securely integrate information across communities, collaborate on the most effective treatments and improve outcomes for those in their care. Our streamlined systems and personalized workflows put relevant information at the fingertips of users when and where they need it. For more than 50 years, Netsmart has been committed to providing a common platform to integrate care. SIMPLE. PERSONAL. POWERFUL. Our more than 1,700 associates work hand-in-hand with our 600,000+ users in more than 25,000 organizations across the U.S. to develop and deploy technology that automates and coordinates everything from clinical to financial to administrative. Learn more about how Netsmart is changing the face of healthcare today. Visit www.ntst.com, call 1-800-472-5509, follow us on our CareThreads Blog, LinkedIn and Twitter, like us on Facebook or visit us on YouTube. Netsmart is pleased to support the EveryDayMatters Foundation, which was established for behavioral health, care at home, senior living and social services organizations to learn from each other and share their causes and stories. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005184/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Radix Wins 2019 CMMI Institute Capability Challenge Engineering and software development firm Radix received top honors in the 2019 CMMI Institute Capability Challenge in ceremonies held during the CMMI Capability Counts Conference this week in Reston, VA, USA. CMMI's capability-building model, tools, appraisal and benchmarking systems have been core to the Radix business since its early days, according to Caroline Rivera, Coordinator of Process Improvements. She said that achieving CMMI Maturity Level 5 for a second time in 2018, coupled with agile and other methods, helped Radix reduce requirements analysis efforts by 38% and drop testing efforts by more than 80%, yielding productivity and financial benefits. "Our work and focus through the CMMI maturity approach have propelled measurable improvement across the organization," said Rivera. "Being recognized through this international challenge validates the effort of our leaders and employees worldwide and has been fundamental for Radix in the U.S. market, because it helped to convince customers of our commitment to product quality and project performance." Radix was first appraised in CMMI for Development as Level 3 in 2012 and was appraised in CMMI for Development as Level 5 in 2015. In 2018, the organization was reappraised in CMMI for Development at Level 5. A Maturity Level 5 means that an organization is optimized and focused on continuous improvement and is built to pivot and respond to opportunity and change. The organization's stability provides a platform for agility and innovation. In addition to recognition at CMMI's annual conference, the Capability Challenge program includes communications activities, such as an on-site video shoot at Radix's Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, headquarters, executive interviews, and other case study elements so Radix can showcase best practice commitments to other organizations. "Radix stands out among an impressive list of organizations across the globe that use CMMI to elevate the performance of agile processes and behavioral-driven development. As their results attest, the CMMI best practices lets them continually challenge their operations, drive quantifiable business performance, and create a platform for continuous improvement," said Kirk Botula, CEO of CMMI Institute. "I congratulate Caroline and her team for earning the well-deserved title of 2019 Capability Challenge winner." Becky Fitzgerald, 2019 Capability Challenge moderator and Principal and Co-Founder at Two Harbors Consulting, LLC, said the 2019 Capability Challenge competition was the strongest on recrd. "Building organizational performance and capability, and conveying the business results these efforts yield in a persuasive case is what the Challenge celebrates. Radix is to be congratulated for its impressive body of work," Fitzgerald said. "I look forward to seeing the field for the Capability Challenge continue to diversify, and for organizations that are even earlier in their CMMI capabilities-building to participate in this challenge." Radix's achievement followed three rounds of judging, including: An initial application for the Capability Challenge A public judging period for recorded presentations hosted on the CMMI website A live round at the conference, including videos, a live presentation on their Capability Challenge merits, follow-up questions, and a live audience vote. The CMMI Institute later this year will again invite organizations driving improved business performance and results by capability building to compete in the 2020 CMMI Institute Capability Challenge. Those interested in participating can send an email to [email protected]. Learn more about the 2019 CMMI Capability Counts Conference at https://cmmiinstitute.com/conferences. About CMMI Institute A subsidiary of ISACA Enterprises, CMMI Institute is the global leader in the advancement of best practices in people, process, and technology. The Institute provides the tools and support for organizations to benchmark their capabilities and build maturity by comparing their operations to best practices and identifying performance gaps. For over 25 years, thousands of high-performing organizations in a variety of industries, including aerospace, finance, healthcare, software, defense, transportation, and telecommunications, have improved their performance and earned a CMMI maturity level rating and proved they are capable business partners and suppliers. About ISACA Now in its 50th anniversary year, ISACA (isaca.org) is a global association helping individuals and enterprises achieve the positive potential of technology. Today's world is powered by information and technology, and ISACA equips professionals with the knowledge, credentials, education and community to advance their careers and transform their organizations. ISACA leverages the expertise of its 460,000 engaged professionals-including its 140,000 members-in information and cyber security, governance, assurance, risk and innovation, as well as its enterprise performance subsidiary, CMMI Institute, to help advance innovation through technology. ISACA has a presence in more than 188 countries, including more than 220 chapters worldwide and offices in both the United States and China. Twitter (News - Alert): www.twitter.com/ISACANews LinkedIn (News - Alert): www.linkedin.com/company/isaca Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/ISACAHQ Instagram: www.instagram.com/isacanews/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005490/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Security Intelligence Leader Exabeam to Open New East Coast Office in Atlanta Exabeam, the Smarter SIEM company, today announced that it will establish an East Coast presence in Midtown Atlanta and create 20 new jobs. "We are excited that Exabeam has chosen to establish an East Coast office in Atlanta," said Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson. "When innovative companies like Exabeam choose Georgia it bolsters our status as a hub for international cybersecurity companies. Exabeam will have access to a highly sophisticated technology infrastructure, talented workforce and accessibility with regular non-stop flights to their home base." Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Exabeam is a cybersecurity leader that uses data science and machine learning to help companies analyze user behavior and pinpoint anomalous malicious activity on the network. Founded in 2013, Exabeam has experienced significant year-on-year growth and raised a total of $115 million in funding to date. The company recently made Business Insider's 30 Cybersecurity Startups that Will Blow up in 2019 list, and was ranked No. 12 overall and No. 1 in security on Inc. Magazine's 37th annual Inc. 5000, as well as No. 8 on the Wall Street Journal's < rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Fgraphics%2Ftech-companies-to-watch-2018%2F&esheet=51977059&newsitemid=20190502005019&lan=en-US&anchor=Tech+Companies+to+Watch+in+2018&index=4&md5=99198e5c90d2475be22741cdc262f324">Tech Companies to Watch in 2018. The Atlanta office is considered a major strategic step in the company's expansion plans, with executive leadership drawn to the city's top universities for prospective hires and burgeoning tech scene. Exabeam currently has 15 employees in metro Atlanta but will consolidate the team to one centralized office in the City of Atlanta, with plans to more than double the size of the team over the next few years. "Atlanta is a city on the rise-with its diverse population, technological talent, research universities and affordable cost of living. It was the right choice for investment," said Manish Sarin, Exabeam CFO. "Just last year, Atlanta was declared the third fastest growing city in the U.S., and we are excited to be a part of the technology renaissance happening throughout the region with the opening of our Midtown location." "With insider threats increasing and external adversary attacks always evolving, it is critical that Exabeam hires top talent to support our customers' security operations teams and keep our SIEM technology on the cutting edge. By expanding into Atlanta, we are not only setting up a hub closer to our East Coast and European customers but are gaining access to a diverse, highly-qualified pool of candidates," said Nir Polak, CEO of Exabeam. "We plan to immediately begin recruitment from the top technology programs and historically black colleges throughout the state. We look forward to building out our latest world-class team in Atlanta." Polak and Sarin celebrated with a ribbon cutting event at the Proscenium building in Midtown Atlanta this morning. "Cybersecurity is one of metro Atlanta's industry sectors where we're leading the way with capacity and innovation," said Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. "Exabeam is a welcome addition to our region's portfolio of industry-changing companies that are helping to redefine the way businesses protect themselves and their customers in the ever-evolving data-driven market." Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) Senior Project Manager Randall Toussaint represented the Global Commerce Division in partnership with the Metro Atlanta Chamber and Georgia Power. About Exabeam Exabeam is the Smarter SIEM company. We empower enterprises to detect, investigate and respond to cyberattacks more efficiently so their security operations and insider threat teams can work smarter. Security organizations no longer have to live with excessive logging fees, missed distributed attacks and unknown threats, or manual investigations and remediation. With the Exabeam Security Management Platform, analysts can collect unlimited log data, use behavioral analytics to detect attacks, and automate incident response, both on-premises or in the cloud. Exabeam Smart Timelines, sequences of user and device behavior created using machine learning, further reduce the time and specialization required to detect attacker tactics, techniques and procedures. For more information, visit www.exabeam.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005019/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Solace PubSub+ Event Broker Service Now Available in Microsoft Azure First Enterprise-Grade Messaging as a Service Offering to be Available in all Major Public Clouds OTTAWA, Canada, May 2, 2019 /CNW/ -- Solace today announced the general availability of its event broker service, PubSub+ Cloud, on Microsoft Azure. With this, PubSub+ Cloud is now available in all major public clouds and virtual private cloud environments. PubSub+ Cloud helps developers build better applications faster by giving them access to advanced event brokers as a service. Event brokers* route event-driven information between applications and devices across cloud, on-premises and IoT environments. "Our enterprise customers are increasingly adopting multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud strategies to improve agility and access specific cloud-native services," said Denis King, chief operating officer, Solace. "To easily share data between applications running in multiple clouds and on-premises, you need enterprise-grade event brokers, preferably ones you don't have to manage on your own, that work natively in all those locations." Enterprises can reduce time and expenses by using PubSub+ Cloud to lifecycle-manage their event broker services. Using a web-based console, cloud teams can dynamically deploy, upgrade, patch and delete Solace event brokers in public clouds from Microsoft, Amazon and Google. Additionally, all these services are engineered by Solace for maximum performance, security and resilience. Through one management console, users can create and monitor a network of event brokers in multiple locations an event mesh that dynamically distributes data across their hybrid/multi-cloud system. This includes on-premises datacenters and environmentssuch as Kubernetes and Spring Cloud Stream. "We're excited Solace PubSub+ Cloud is now available on Azure," said Bill Fenick, Vice President Enterprise, Interxion. "Interxion is an Azure ExpressRoute partner with nine edge nodes co-located at our facilities across Europe. Our Azure customers can now connect their multi- and hybrid-cloud deployments to dynamically route messages anywhere across their distributed networks. Co-locating at Interxion enables enterprise customers to take full advantage of PubSub+ to build their event mesh. In particular, we offer proximity and connectivity to Azure across Europe. We look forward to working closely with Solace to further enable enterprise customers to accelerate their digital transformation and Azure adoption." For more information, please visit www.solace.com/azure . *Gartner defines event brokers as "middleware products that are used to facilitate, mediate and enrich the interactions of sources and handlers in event-driven computing," and recommends advanced event brokers be used for "digital business innovation initiatives because of their specialized support for event processing, even if the previous-generation alternative pub-sub technology, such as MOMs or ESBs, is already used elsewhere in your organization." (GARTNER, INNOVATION INSIGHT FOR EVENT BROKERS, YEFIM NATIS, KEITH GUTTRIDGE, W. ROY SCHULTE, NICK HUEDECKER, PAUL VINCENT, Refreshed October 5, 2018, Published July 31, 2018) About Solace Solace provides the only unified advanced event broker technology that supports publish/subscribe, queueing, request/reply, message replay and streaming using open APIs and protocols across hybrid cloud and IoT environments. The company's smart data movement technologies rapidly and reliably route information between applications, devices and people, as well as across public and private clouds. Established enterprises such as SAP, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Canada, high-growth companies such as VoiceBase, and industry disruptors such as Jio use Solace to modernize legacy applications and successfully pursue analytics, hybrid cloud and IoT strategies. Learn more at https://solace.com . Press contact for Solace: Stephanie Epstein SHIFT Communications [email protected] 617-779-1800 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solace-pubsub-event-broker-service-now-available-in-microsoft-azure-300842389.html SOURCE Solace [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Sonoma Family Replaces Home Lost to Fire with BONE Structure Net Zero Energy Home On the morning of October 10, 2017, Howard Booster hiked over a Santa Rosa ridge to the place where his multi-generational family home of 35 years once stood. He found nothing left. It was not even smoldering. It was just gone. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005882/en/ New Net Zero Home rendering (Photo: Business Wire) A fast-moving wildfire sparked by a downed PG&E (News - Alert) power line swept through in the middle of the night on October 9. The fire, spread by 95-mile-an-hour winds, was so hot homes in its path were completely gone, literally in minutes. Sonoma County alone lost 5,100 homes to this October wildfire, part of a firestorm of multiple fires that ravaged wine country and burned with unparalleled ferocity across Northern California. In a place that has been devastated by a combination of mismanaged lands and unprecedented conditions undeniably fueled by climate change, it seems fitting the Booster's will be able to create a zero-energy home here that will be fully-solar powered and can be a model for anyone wanting to move away from fossil fuel. California's 2020 building code will require all new homes to be net zero energy-producing as much as energy as they consume. The new home will be a super-energy-efficient, 100% solar, net zero energy home thanks to the collaboration with BONE Structure, which makes a net-zero-energy ready framing system to fit the design. BONE Structure shells reduce heating and cooling energy needs by 90% compared to the average new home in North America, which means they require fewer solar panels than a home that isn't as energy efficient. Open House Event On May 10sup>th, 11th and 12th, BONE Structure, in collaboration with Kelly & Morgan Architect and Mikara Construction, will host an Open House event for the public. Visitors will have an opportunity to walk through a BONE Structure home under construction and learn more about the Booster family's story of perseverance, determination and new beginnings. In line with this event, Friday May 10th only, there will be 4 panels that will cover topics such as the California building code - Net Zero energy and title 24 compliance, building within the wildfire urban interface and the new advances in thermal envelope technology. To read the full story and for more information visit: https://bonestructure.ca/en/santarosa BONE Structure Technology All BONE Structure homes are designed and assembled using a patented steel construction technology inspired by the aerospace industry. Energy efficient, the BONE Structure homes have a soya based polyurethane thermal envelope that provides ultimate comfort to its occupants. They could save you up to 90% on energy costs for heating and cooling. No mold, no moisture and no premature deterioration of materials, the homes are beautiful, solid and contemporary, offering open-concept living spaces without load bearing walls and large windows that let in natural light. Built on BONE Structure's incomparable thermal envelope, all homes are Net Zero Ready. For more information about Net-Zero, visit the BONE Structure website here. About BONE Structure Founded in 2005 by President Marc A. Bovet in Laval, Quebec, Canada, out of a frustrating personal construction experience, BONE Structure has patented, in 42 countries, a technology that combines aesthetics, flexibility, efficiency, and respect for the environment. It specializes in the design, development and commercialization of technologies for residential and light commercial construction. BONE Structure employs more than sixty professionals in Laval and San Francisco, architects, technologists, engineers, and urban planners and has integrated expertise to provide an unmatched one-stop-shop client experience. The company also collaborates with architectural firms and other outside professionals across Canada and California. BONE Structure is attracting the industry's best general and specialized contractors, project managers, and developers who also share the company's corporate values of Respect, Transparency, Loyalty, Security and Fun. BONE Structure is a member of the NAHB in the U.S. and other builder associations across Canada. It has also received a number of awards throughout the years for innovation, architecture, sustainability and process. For more information, please visit: www.BONEstructure.ca View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005882/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Twin Disc Selects Syncron to Power its Service Parts Pricing Optimization ATLANTA, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Syncron, a provider of cloud-based after-sales service solutions focused on empowering the world's leading manufacturers to maximize product uptime and deliver exceptional customer experiences, today announced Twin Disc has selected Syncron Price to optimize and streamline its global service parts pricing. Twin Disc, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells marine and heavy-duty off-highway power transmission equipment and is implementing new processes and technologies within its aftersales service division to improve efficiencies and ultimately enhance the customer experience. As part of this initiative, Twin Disc identified service parts pricing as a key area of optimization. "At Twin Disc, we have distributors and dealers around the world and required a solution that would allow us to both think globally and act locally," said Jorge Colorado, Director Aftersales & Service at Twin Disc. "Prior to Syncron, our pricing process was very manual. We wanted to improve and streamline aftersales service operations at the distributor level to ensure our customers always have an excellent experience. Syncron Price allows us to do this in a more automated and consistent way. And, it allows us to react quickly to changing market dynamics and is a key aspect of our overall aftersales service transformation." As Twin Disc's service parts pricing needs and capabilities mature, the company aims to implement more value-based pricing approaches to further enhance the customer experience. In addition to the ability to implement value-based pricing, Twin Disc identified several key benefits of working with Syncron: A seamless implementation and onboarding experience An advanced UI and UX that does not require customizations prior to implementation Easy connection to any ERP system Colorado added, "It's been really easy to work with Syncron they are a very professional group. While undergoing a service parts pricing overhaul is a big project, the people we work with have made it a seamless process." Syncron Price will be implemented across Twin Disc's global network, which includes 250 distributor sales and service locations in 53 countries. "Twin Disc is a one-hundred-year-old company, and we are thrilled to partner with them as they evolve and transform their aftersales service organization," said David Reiling, Chief Customer Officer at Syncron. "We believe Syncron Price can help take Twin Disc to the next level of service parts pricing optimization, ensuring a consistent experience across all product lines and geographies. We are looking forward to many years of success together." To learn more about optimizing service parts pricing, join Syncron (booth #116) at the Professional Pricing Society's Spring Conference 7 10 May in Atlanta. Syncron's Director of Pricing Solutions, Cliff Isaacson, will be presenting at the event on The Art of Pricing in an AI-Driven World on Thursday, 9 May at 1 p.m. EDT. Visit syncron.com to learn more about Syncron's service parts pricing solution. About Twin Disc, Inc. Twin Disc, Inc. designs, manufactures and sells marine and heavy-duty off-highway power transmission equipment. Products offered include: marine transmissions, azimuth drives, surface drives, propellers and boat management systems, as well as power-shift transmissions, hydraulic torque converters, power take-offs, industrial clutches and control systems. The Company sells its products to customers primarily in the pleasure craft, commercial and military marine markets, as well as in the energy and natural resources, government and industrial markets. The Company's worldwide sales to both domestic and foreign customers are transacted through a direct sales force and a distributor network. About Syncron Syncron empowers the world's leading manufacturers to maximize product uptime and deliver exceptional after-sales service experiences, while driving significant revenue and profit improvements. From industry leading investments in research and development, to providing the fastest time-to-value, Syncron's award-winning, cloud-based service parts inventory, price and uptime management solutions are designed to continually exceed customer expectations. Top brands from around the world trust Syncron to transform their after-sales service operations into competitive differentiators. For more information, visit syncron.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/twin-disc-selects-syncron-to-power-its-service-parts-pricing-optimization-300841733.html SOURCE Syncron [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Wolters Kluwer and Chartis Research to Explore Benefits of Artificial Intelligence for Managing Regulatory Change Experts from Wolters Kluwer's Compliance Program Management (CPM) business and Chartis Research will discuss ways in which financial services firms can tap the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to more effectively manage their regulatory compliance obligations in a webinar, "Leveraging AI for Regulatory Change," on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 from 10-11 a.m. EDT. AI's ability to process large amounts of data and contribute to organizations' data management and analysis capabilities is well documented, but financial firms must be cognizant that these technologies by themselves do not guarantee a sound regulatory management program. The webinar will look at what can and cannot be achieved in this space using AI, how human experts are critical to the regulatory change management process, and what this means to financial services firms. "Dealing with regulatory change has long been a huge challenge for financial services firms in identifying constantly evolving laws and regulations with which they must comply wherever they do business, and also prove compliance to regulators," says Chuck Ross, Vice President, Compliance Program Management for Wolters Kluwer. "Increasingly we are incorporating elements of AI technologies into our offerings, such as OneSumX for Regulatory Change Management, to help financial services customers better identify, track and manage their regulatory obligations. However, key to that effort is creating a deliberate, informedprocess in which both machines and experts are leveraged to meaningfully extract regulatory laws and rules relevant to their businesses." "One can see massive benefits to applying AI in the financial sector, if applied in the right manner," notes Sidhartha Dash, Research Director for Chartis Research. "AI is best thought of as a cog in an analytical machine, rather than the machine itself. Many of the problems that arise in tapping AI to address the growing demands in data management aren't about the analytics themselves, but the question being asked. Sometimes the issue is just too hard or complex for analytics alone, so the framing of the questions posed is vital for effective employment of AI technologies." The webinar will present an overview of the current market for AI applications in financial services, explore Wolters Kluwer's approach through several case studies in helping clients manage regulatory change using AI, and look at the opportunities and longer-term implications of AI in financial services. Mike MacDonagh, Wolters Kluwer Global Content & Strategy Lead, will moderate a panel conversation with: Rajiv Arora, Operations Decision Science Director, Wolters Kluwer SK Karanam, U.S. Market Manager, Wolters Kluwer Sidhartha Dash, Research Director, Chartis Research To register, visit here. Wolters Kluwer's OneSumX for Regulatory Change Management leverages the power of AI to take many complex regulatory changes and organize them to create structured, value-added content that is paired with an easy-to-use software. By the linking of regulatory changes to their respective regulatory rules in a customizable, constantly updated regulatory library, Wolters Kluwer CPM clients receive actionable content. This content enables them to focus their time on supporting business strategy, spending less time scouring websites, synthesizing the changes, and determining applicability of the rules to the business. What's more, this content flows through a single data feed format, which simplifies integration and simplifies reporting. Wolters Kluwer CPM, which is part of the company's Compliance Solutions business, sits within Wolters Kluwer's Governance, Risk & Compliance division. Wolters Kluwer CPM offers solutions that enable chief compliance officers at banks, securities, and insurance companies to stay on top of compliance with a myriad of financial and non-financial regulations. About Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk & Compliance Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) is a division of Wolters Kluwer, which provides legal and banking professionals with solutions to ensure compliance with ever-changing regulatory and legal obligations, manage risk, increase efficiency, and produce better business outcomes. GRC offers a portfolio of technology-enabled expert services and solutions focused on legal entity compliance, legal operations management, banking product compliance, and banking regulatory compliance. Wolters Kluwer (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. Wolters Kluwer reported 2018 annual revenues of 4.3 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. About Chartis Research Chartis Research is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global market for risk technology. It is part of Infopro Digital, which owns market-leading brands such as Risk and WatersTechnology. Chartis' goal is to support enterprises as they drive business performance through improved risk management, corporate governance and compliance, and to help clients make informed technology and business decisions by providing in-depth analysis and actionable advice on virtually all aspects of risk technology. For more information, visit www.chartis-research.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005173/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 01, 2019] Telaria Expands Southeast Asia Footprint through Partnership with Thailand's True Digital & Media Platform Telaria (NYSE:TLRA), the complete software platform to manage video advertising for premium publishers, today announced it has been selected by True Digital & Media Platform as the preferred Video Management Platform (VMP) for their live TV and video-on-demand (VOD) content. Close to 15 million viewers watch video content across TrueID's more than 100 live video channels and its comprehensive VOD portfolio. Local and international content is available on TrueID across genres including movies, music, TV, sports, travel, and lifestyle. By using Telaria's VMP, TrueID will gain greater control and insights into its video inventory and demand data across all formats and screens. Additionally, TrueID can make informed decisions based on live reporting and quickly address issues with real time diagnostics. "Telaria's made-for-video technology would significantly improve our monetization while at the same time preserving the viewing experience that is fundamental to our success," said Mr. David Sky, Operations Director at True Digital and Media Platform Co.,Ltd. "We are looking forward to working with Telaria to bring our inventory to more advertisers looking to reach highly engaged audiences across every screen." "We're thrilled to work with TrueID as their video programmatic partner to bring their premum live and on-demand video inventory to advertisers," said Kevin Smyth, General Manager, SEA at Telaria. "Our partnership with True Digital & Media Platform will create new opportunities for brands to connect with consumers in premium video environments with increased efficiency at scale. Given TrueID's focus on live TV and our expertise in delivering advertising for this video environment, we are excited to see the results of this collaboration." About True Digital & Media Platform Co., Ltd. True Digital & Media Platform Co.,Ltd. is an affiliate of True Corporation Plc. in Thailand which provides online digital media services on website and telecommunication devices. Its application named "TrueID" offers a wide variety of quality digital content including movies, TV, news, music, sports, travel and other lifestyle contents. TrueID is available on all mobile networks and across a range of platforms such as mobile application, websites, to over-the-top (OTT) media. With the on-going demand for seamless user experience, TrueID application has embedded key digital services, consisting of TruePoint (privilege earn and redeem program) and TrueMoney Wallet (e-payment service) into one single platform. Since its launch in 2017, TrueID has received excellent response from the market and became the number 1 most downloaded application in its category in 2018. For more information, please visit http://home.trueid.net/ About Telaria Telaria, Inc. (NYSE: TLRA), is a complete software platform to manage premium video advertising. We engineer the most robust suite of analytics, automated decisioning, and integrated programmatic and direct monetization tools in the industry. Global publishers require total command of their business; Telaria's independent solution empowers unbiased decisions for the best revenue outcomes. Telaria operates out of 13 offices worldwide across North America, EMEA, LATAM and APAC. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005157/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 01, 2019] TurningIdeas Launches #GoGlobal Program to Accelerate Startup Growth NEW DELHI, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TurningIdeas Ventures announced the official launch of its Global Growth Program for startup ecosystem today. The program will serve as a platform for Indian startups to collaborate with global partners and explore market potential in other countries outside India. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880989/TurningIdeas_Ventures_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880990/TurningIdeas_Todd_Smith_GoGlobal.jpg ) The company organized the event and startup pitches for Todd Smith , Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Canada. Speaking at the event, Minister Smith highlighted the importance of working together and developing partnerships between the Ontario and India's start-up communities. Partnerships such as these, with TurningIdeas, will help mature Indian startups to get a head-start to set up their business in Canada through Start-up Visa and other programs. In recent years, the company has witnessed a number of young startups going global after setting firm roots in India. From craft beer maker Bira to online food delivery app Zomato, Indian startups have expanded their business overseas with great poise. "If you have to grow, you must address global markets. So we decided to look around and identify best startup ecosystem partners around the world who can help Indian startups to head-start their ventures globally. If you are a startup looking to build global plays, you will surely benefit from the same," said Ashish Mittal, Founder, TurningIdeas Ventures. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Mittal said that the best way to do this is to expose startups, who are keen to explore global markets, to focused programs in various countries by taking them as a delegation to that country and help them with market assessment, meeting key ecosystem partners, investors and government authorities who can support the initial setup and scale of their business in the country. Some of the startups who presented at the launch and are part of the recent #GoGlobal program included RealTell, Blue Vector and Gesture Research, who are now looking to setup and scale their business in Canada and the US. The program will also help global venture capitalists, investors and ecosystem partners be exposed to promising Indian startups. TurningIdeas also executes Soft-Landing programs for global startup ecosystem to explore and setup the business in India by helping them do the market assessment, connect them with the right ecosystem stakeholders and prospect customers in India's 100B people opportunity. "We are excited about partnering with TurningIdeas to build a bridge for Indian companies to crossover into Europe and beyond. Berlin is the English speaking, cultural capital of Europe and we are looking forward to making it the top destination for Indian founders moving abroad," said Gagan Bhatia, CEO & Founder Diaspora. One of the core goals of these partnerships is to take Indian startups, when they are market-ready and product-solid, to go global, by virtue of introducing them to our international partners and their leadership investors. They will look at products or solutions that pertain to their industry and will also help them with go-to-market strategies in target markets. About TurningIdeas Ventures TurningIdeas Venture is startup and enterprise advisory and early stage investment company helping startups to scale and go global and enterprises to partner and innovate with startups. Media Contact: Ashish Mittal [email protected] +91-9899536692 TurningIdeas Ventures [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Basilea's partner Avir Pharma has launched antifungal Cresemba (isavuconazole) in Canada Basel, Switzerland, May 02, 2019 Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) announced today that its partner Avir Pharma Inc. (Avir Pharma) has launched the antifungal Cresemba (isavuconazole) in Canada. David Veitch, Chief Executive Officer, said: We are very pleased with the launch of Cresemba in Canada. We look forward to Avir Pharma making Cresemba available to patients in Canada as an important new treatment option for potentially life-threatening invasive mold infections. Through our global partnerships Cresemba is already available in more than 25 countries worldwide. In June 2017 Basilea entered into a distribution and license agreement with Avir Pharma for both Cresemba and the hospital antibiotic Zevtera (ceftobiprole). Basilea supplies Avir Pharma with products at a transfer price. The granting of the regulatory approval for Cresemba in Canada triggered an undisclosed regulatory milestone payment to Basilea and Basilea is eligible to receive further sales milestone payments. About Cresemba (isavuconazole) Isavuconazole is an intravenous (i.v.) and oral azole antifungal, commercialized under the trade name Cresemba. Cresemba is approved in Canada for patients 18 years of age and older for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis.1 Cresemba is also approved in the United States, the European Union and several additional countries in and outside of Europe. It has U.S. and European orphan drug designation for its approved indications. Basilea has entered into several license and distribution agreements for isavuconazole covering the United States, Europe, China, Japan, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Canada, Russia, Turkey and Israel.2 About Basilea Basilea Pharmceutica Ltd. is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on the development of products that address the medical challenges in the therapeutic areas of oncology and anti-infectives. With two commercialized drugs, the company is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea's website www.basilea.com. Disclaimer This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements, such as "believe", "assume", "expect", "forecast", "project", "may", "could", "might", "will" or similar expressions concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical studies for product candidates. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For further information, please contact: Peer Nils Schroder, PhD Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations +41 61 606 1102 [email protected] [email protected] This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com. References 1 CresembaTM (isavuconazole) Product Monograph: Avir Pharma Inc., December 24, 2018 (http://avirpharma.com/pdf/Product-Monograph-Cresemba.pdf) 2 The registration status and approved indications may vary from country to country. Attachments Press release (PDF) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] DXC Technology Expands Business Process Services (BPS) Presence in Asia Through Managed Services Agreement with Sime Darby Berhad DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC), the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, has expanded its presence in Asia by signing a long-term managed services agreement with Sime Darby Berhad. The agreement will enhance HR, Finance & Accounting and IT services across Sime Darby Berhad's businesses in the industrial, motors, logistics and healthcare space. As part of the agreement, DXC will acquire Sime Darby Global Services Centre (SDGSC), the captive in-house provider of its HR, Finance & Accounting and IT services. "Organizations today are looking to capitalize on new technology trends and opportunities to help drive business outcomes," said Edward Ho, executive vice president and general manager, Offerings, DXC Technology. "This engagement with Sime Darby Berhad solidifies DXC's position as a leading global BPS player, aligns with our strategic growth objectives and helps accelerate innovation for clients in Asia." "DXC Technology has innate market presence across Asia, with Malaysia serving s a strategic capability hub," said Koushik Radhakrishnan, vice president and general manager, DXC Technology Asia. "DXC demonstrates its agility by tailoring specific solutions for each market. As customers extend their digital scale, the managed services agreement with Sime Darby Berhad and acquisition of Sime Darby Global Services Centre (SDGSC) will enhance our relevance to our clients in Asia and support enterprises transitioning to the digital economy. It also provides an opportunity to the great talent at SDGSC to engage at scale and grow their careers with DXC." SDGSC, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has deep domain knowledge of markets across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Africa. Coupled with DXC's global expertise, SDGSC will continue to drive innovation and offer a global gold standard in the Business Process Services market. SDGSC will be fully integrated into the BPS and delivery operations of DXC Malaysia. "The Global Services Centre has served Sime Darby Berhad well in enhancing efficiency and productivity improvements since 2008. By becoming a part of DXC Technology, a global technology leader, it is expected to further drive productivity gains for the organization," said Dato' Jeffri Salim Davidson, Group Chief Executive Officer, Sime Darby Berhad. About Sime Darby Berhad Founded in 1910, Sime Darby Berhad is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with operations in 18 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region, and with a workforce of more than 20,000 employees. Sime Darby Berhad is the partner of choice for the world's best brands in the industrial and motors sectors. Sime Darby Global Services Centre (SDGSC) is a services provider delivering Business Process solutions in Finance & Accounting, HR and IT services to global clients. About DXC Technology As the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) leads digital transformations for clients by modernizing and integrating their mainstream IT, and by deploying digital solutions at scale to produce better business outcomes. The company's technology independence, global talent, and extensive partner network enable 6,000 private and public-sector clients in 70 countries to thrive on change. DXC is a recognized leader in corporate responsibility. For more information, visit dxc.technology and explore THRIVE, DXC's digital destination for changemakers and innovators. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005763/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Parade Technologies Reports First Quarter 2019 Financial Results Parade Technologies, Ltd. (Taipei Exchange: 4966.TWO), a leading high-speed interface IC supplier, today announced financial results for the first quarter fiscal year 2019 ended March 31, 2019, and provided guidance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2019. Consolidated revenue was US$93.72 million and consolidated net income was US$18.59 million. Basic and fully diluted after-tax earnings per share ("EPS") were US$0.24 (NT$7.42) and US$0.23 (NT$7.13), respectively. These results compared to consolidated revenue US$80.65 million and consolidated net income of US$13.81 million, or US$0.18 (NT$5.30) and US$0.17 (NT$5.08) per basic and fully diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. In US dollars, the first quarter of 2019 consolidated revenue decreased 7.43% sequentially and was up 16.20% year-over-year. The gross profit in the first quarter of 2019 was US$39.24 million, representing a decrease of 7.50% from the previous quarter and an increase of 19.14% compared to the same quarter of last year. On March 6, 2019, Parade announced a new offering in its eDP Timing Controller (Tcon) embedded driver (TED) product category. The new TC3220, similar to the TC3210 introduced last year, is an IC developed for thin-profile LCD display panels. The TC3220 was developed for Chip-on-Glass (COG) applications and provides a single-chip display driver solution to replace the traditional eDP Tcon mated with separate source driver chips. The TC3220 provides a lower cost alternative to the TC3210 by not including the PSR (Panel Self Refresh) feature that requires an integrated frame buffer. The TC3220 also provides a narrower COG package dimension to reduce the display's bottom border thickness while offering footprint compatibility with the TC3210. On March 19, 2019, Parade introduced the TC3318, an integrated display driver and touchscreen controller solution. The TC3318 extends Parade's TDDI (Touch and Display Driver Integrated) product family and uniquely offers a slimmer profile COG package that is optimal for space-constrained, full screen smartphone panels. This slim profile avoids the need for a more expensive Chip on Film (COF) package commonly used on bezel-less and borderless smartphone displays. Like other Parade TDDI products, the TC3318 includes Parade's exclusive TrueTouch touchscreen technology. Based on current business outlook, Parade is providing the following guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2019: Revenue: US$85 ~94 Million Gross Margin: 40% ~43% Operating Expense: US$20 ~21 Million The financial figures detailed above for the first quarter of 2019 have been reviewed by independent accountants. About Parade Technologies, Ltd. Parade Technologies, Ltd. is a leading supplier of mixed-signal ICs for a variety of popular display and high-speed interface standards used in computers, consumer electronics and display panels. The fabless semiconductor company was founded in 2005 and publicly listed on Taipei Exchange ("TPEx") in 2011 (stock code: 4966). Parade's portfolio of IC products serves the growing demand for HDMI, DisplayPort, SATA, and USB ICs for display, storage and interface applications. In addition to being a technology innovator, Parade is an active participant and leader in industry standards-setting organizations. Parade Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned US-based subsidiary of Parade Technologies, Ltd., is a member of VESA (Video Electronics Standard Association). Parade Technologies, Inc. has made key contributions to the development of VESA's DisplayPort digital video interface standard. Parade leverages its close relationships with market leading Tier-1 OEMs to develop ICs that provide unique system capabilities. Many of the company's devices integrate proprietary technologies that offer superior system signal integrity, advanced system integration and enhanced power efficiency. As a result of the company's "standards-plus" design philosophy, Parade ICs have been designed into products offered by nearly every leading computer and display vendor worldwide. Parade Technologies, Ltd. and Subsidiaries. The reader is advised that these consolidated financial statements have been prepared originally in NT$ and conformed with the adoption of IFRSs. In the event of any differences between NT$ and US$ version, the NT$ version shall prevail. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME USD in Thousands NTD in Thousands Sequential Quarter Three Months ended Sequential Quarter Three Months ended Mar 31, Dec 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, Dec 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 Revenue 93,720 101,242 93,720 80,653 2,889,378 3,123,334 2,889,378 2,363,141 Cost of goods sold 54,478 58,816 54,478 47,715 1,679,571 1,814,490 1,679,571 1,398,037 Gross profit 39,242 42,426 39,242 32,939 1,209,807 1,308,844 1,209,807 965,104 Research & development expenses 12,787 12,693 12,787 12,202 394,207 391,583 394,207 357,526 Sales & marketing expenses 4,535 4,173 4,535 4,126 139,814 128,748 139,814 120,892 General & administrative expenses 3,100 2,989 3,100 2,752 95,577 92,202 95,577 80,621 Total operating expenses 20,422 19,855 20,422 19,080 629,598 612,533 629,598 559,039 Operating income 18,820 22,571 18,820 13,859 580,209 696,311 580,209 406,065 Non-operating income and expenses 525 236 525 (58) 16,201 7,277 16,201 (1,700) Income before income taxes 19,345 22,807 19,345 13,800 596,410 703,588 596,410 404,365 Income tax expense (benefit) 755 365 755 (10) 23,273 11,248 23,273 (283) Net income 18,590 22,442 18,590 13,810 573,137 692,340 573,137 404,648 EPS - Basic (In Dollar) $0.24 $0.29 $0.24 $0.18 $7.42 $9.01 $7.42 $5.30 Shares used in computing EPS-Basic (In thousands) 77,228 76,822 77,228 76,287 77,228 76,822 77,228 76,287 EPS - Diluted (In Dollar) $0.23 $0.28 $0.23 $0.17 $7.13 $8.66 $7.13 $5.08 Shares used in computing EPS-Diluted (In thousands) 80,332 79,965 80,332 79,653 80,332 79,965 80,332 79,653 UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS USD in Thousands NTD in Thousands As of March 31, 2019 and 2018 Mar 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 Current assets Cash & cash equivalents 203,678 157,611 6,277,354 4,588,044 Accounts receivable, net 51,892 53,763 1,599,309 1,565,045 Inventories, net 35,399 42,948 1,090,995 1,250,218 Other current assets 15,819 12,434 487,547 361,965 Total current assets 306,788 266,756 9,455,205 7,765,272 Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment, net 10,047 8,558 309,639 249,114 Right-of-use assets 6,590 - 203,108 - Intangible assets 82,812 87,265 2,552,250 2,540,284 Deferred income tax assets 2,239 1,592 69,009 46,345 Other non-current assets 883 846 27,232 24,619 Total non-current assets 102,571 98,261 3,161,238 2,860,362 Total Assets 409,359 365,017 12,616,443 10,625,634 Current Liabilities Accounts payable 23,454 24,726 722,867 719,763 Other payables 17,767 17,140 547,571 498,957 Current income tax liabilities 16,800 19,715 517,773 573,908 Lease liabilities - current 2,055 - 63,333 - Other current liabilities 6,921 5,369 213,295 156,285 Total current liabilities 66,997 66,950 2,064,839 1,948,913 Non current Liabilities Lease liabilities - non-current 4,535 - 139,775 - Total non current liabilities 4,535 - 139,775 - Equity Ordinary shares 26,058 25,837 791,299 784,525 Capital reserves 93,031 84,799 2,812,895 2,569,165 Retained earnings 243,192 204,742 7,452,955 6,279,516 Other equity (17,862 ) (17,311 ) (441,870 ) (956,485 ) Treasury shares (6,592 ) - (203,450 ) - Total equity 337,827 298,067 10,411,829 8,676,721 Total liabilities and equity 409,359 365,017 12,616,443 10,625,634 UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS USD in Thousands NTD in Thousands For three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 Mar 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, Mar 31, 2019 2018 2019 2018 Cash flows from operating activities Income before income tax for the period 19,345 13,801 596,410 404,365 Depreciation and amortization (including the right-of-use assets) 3,661 2,791 112,876 81,775 Share-based compensation cost 2,118 1,888 65,334 55,329 Interest income (654 ) (20 ) (20,155 ) (584 ) Income and expenses having no effect on cash flows 5,125 4,659 158,055 136,520 Accounts receivable (5,948 ) (1,491 ) (183,308 ) (43,397 ) Inventories 402 (8,673 ) 12,374 (252,482 ) Other current assets 1,753 (2,745 ) 54,016 (79,936 ) Net changes in assets relating to operating activities (3,793 ) (12,909 ) (116,918 ) (375,815 ) Accounts payable (8,172 ) (1,062 ) (251,861 ) (30,916 ) Other payables (2,581 ) (3,493 ) (79,566 ) (101,680 ) Other current liabilities (394 ) (2,912 ) (12,137 ) (84,754 ) Net changes in liabilities relating to operating activities (11,147 ) (7,467 ) (343,564 ) (217,350 ) Cash provided by (used in) operations 9,530 (1,916 ) 293,983 (52,280 ) Interest received 654 10 20,155 300 Income tax paid (235 ) (219 ) (7,238 ) (6,407 ) Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 9,949 (2,125 ) 306,900 (58,387 ) Cash flows from investing activities Acquisition of equipment (418 ) (451 ) (12,899 ) (13,216 ) Acquisition of intangible assets (1,620 ) (562 ) (49,944 ) (16,472 ) Increase in refundable deposits (75 ) (28 ) (2,298 ) (807 ) Net cash used in investing activities (2,113 ) (1,041 ) (65,141 ) (30,495 ) Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from exercise of employee stock options 337 305 10,390 8,938 Repayment of the principal portion of lease liabilities (477 ) - (14,691 ) - Cash dividend regain from canceled share-based compensation 15 10 448 322 Net cash used in (provided by) financing activities (125 ) 315 (3,853 ) 9,260 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 266 407 27,520 (95,561 ) Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 7,977 (2,444 ) 265,426 (175,183 ) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 195,701 160,055 6,011,928 4,763,227 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 203,678 157,611 6,277,354 4,588,044 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005054/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Wirecard Wins High-fashion Brand Karen Millen as a New Customer for Digital Alipay Payments - Alipay can be easily accepted in the European stores of the luxury brand as well as online - Karen Millen has over 400 stores and in-store shops in 63 countries - With over 1 billion users, Alipay is one of the world's leading payment platforms ASCHHEIM, Germany, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, enables Alipay payments for high-fashion brand Karen Millen at the POS and online shop. As a result of the cooperation, Karen Millen stores in Europe can now accept China's leading mobile payment solution. The fully digital solution is smoothly integrated into the retailer's existing payment infrastructure via the Wirecard ePOS App, which can be used via any mobile device operating Android or iOS. Online shoppers will benefit from the cooperation too, as they will also be able to pay with Alipay. Karen Millen has over 400 stores and shop-in-shop stores in 63 countries on six continents. The brand has made a name for itself globally with strong international sales and is present in the most prestigious fashion cities, including London, Paris, Madrid, New York, L.A. and Hong Kong. Vanda Astfaller, Head of Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard, said, "Alipay is not just a payment method it's a digital platform for retailers to reach out to Chinese visitors. We are pleased to be collaborating with Karen Millen to enable Chinee travelers in Europe to use their preferred payment method, providing a seamless purchasing process for both the retailer and the customer, and look forward to developing our cooperation." With over 1 billion users, Alipay is one of the world's leading mobile payment platforms. Retailers who integrate Alipay payments into their POS are capitalizing on the opportunity to market to one of the world's most affluent target groups. In fact, a 2019 report by Nielsen found that 93% of Chinese tourists would be more willing to spend more while travelling if a larger number of merchants accepted mobile payments. The solution is especially attractive for retailers: shopping remains the consumption category Chinese tourists spend the most on while travelling, comprising 25% of on-location spending. About Wirecard: Wirecard (GER:WDI) is one of the world's fastest growing digital platforms in the area of financial commerce. We provide both business customers and consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of real-time value-added services built around innovative digital payments by using an integrated B2B2C approach. This ecosystem concentrates on the areas payment & risk, retail & transaction banking, loyalty & couponing, data analytics & conversion rate enhancement in all sales channels (online, mobile, ePOS). Wirecard operates regulated financial institutions in several key markets and holds issuing and acquiring licenses from all major payment and card networks. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX and TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060). Visit us on www.wirecard.com, follow us on Twitter @wirecard and on Facebook @wirecardgroup. About Karen Millen: Karen Millen has over 400 stores and shop-in-shop stores in 63 countries on six continents. The brand is present in the most prestigious fashion cities, including London, Paris, Madrid, New York, L. A. and Hong Kong. Over the past five years, the brand has made a name for itself globally with strong international sales. Although Karen Millen's roots lie in England, they are known throughout the world for their attractive clothing tailored to self-confident women with style and taste. Every single piece from Karen Millen's collection is individually designed, manufactured and perfected by their designers in their in-house studio. In this way, they guarantee first-class quality and attention to detail. From couture-inspired designs to high-quality, traditional materials - each Karen Millen garment tells its own story. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 Email: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Itiviti Appoints Olivier Gallet as APAC Product Manager to Strengthen OMS Agency Trading Offerings HONG KONG, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Itiviti, a leading technology and service provider to financial institutions worldwide, today announced the appointment of Olivier Gallet as APAC Product Manager, High-Touch. Olivier takes responsibility for Itiviti's strategic agency trading solution development in Asia and reports to Jean Morice, Head of Regional Products. In his new role, Olivier brings valuable agency trading solution development and customer services experience and focuses on regional high-touch product management, working closely with customers, prospects and the regional team to enhance solution and service offerings in Asia. Olivier has worked at Itiviti EMEA since 2006 and was one of the core engineers in developing the high-touch solution. "While our competition is retreating from the OMS space we are investing, hiring and expanding," said Ofir Gefen, President APAC, Itiviti. "High-touch order management systems is one of our key offerings to the sell-side community in Asia and I am very glad to welcome Olivier to the region. His vast experience with both product and customer, combined with the flexibility of our platform, is key to developing our APAC business. Itiviti strives to provide proven trading technology and professional customer services to financial institutions. Our expert team works closely with customers, to understand their business requirements and turn market feedback into innovative solutions." Jean Morice commented: "Olivier is a valuable addition to our team. We are delighted to have him in Asia and look forward to developing and offering trading solutions that best fit our customers' needs." Olivier Gallet added: "I am looking forward to contributing my skills and grow our agency trading business in Asia. My core focus is to support regional customers, from product specifications to project implementation and professional services, while working closely with internal teams to enhance our regional high-touch solution offering." Itiviti's agency trading solution enables low-touch and high-touch trading, adding powerful middle office components to manage the increasing use of electronic workflows while further reducing operational risk and lowering costs. Built on Itiviti's highly automated hybrid agency trading platform, it allows firms to scale across asset classes and geographies. Itiviti (booth 15) is exhibiting at the 17th Asia Pacific Trading Summit today to showcase its complete solution offerings. For further information, please contact: Ofir Gefen, President APAC, Itiviti, Tel: +852-2167-1950, Email: [email protected] Agnes Wong, Marketing Director APAC, Itiviti, Tel: +852-2167-1986, Email: [email protected] About Itiviti Itiviti enables financial institutions worldwide to transform their trading and capture tomorrow. With innovative technology, deep expertise and a dedication to service, we help customers seize market opportunities and guide them through regulatory change. Top-tier banks, brokers, trading firms and institutional investors rely on Itiviti's solutions to service their clients, connect to markets, trade smarter in all asset classes by consolidating trading platforms and leverage automation to move faster. A global technology and service provider, we offer the most innovative, consistent and reliable connectivity and trading solutions available. With presence in all major financial centers and serving around 2,000 customers in over 50 countries, Itiviti delivers on a global scale. For more information, please visit www.itiviti.com. Itiviti is owned by Nordic Capital. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/13830/2800711/1035024.pdf Press release in PDF format SOURCE Itiviti Group AB [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] The Bank of East Asia, Limited (BEA), Wins Big in the Global Brands Magazine Awards, UK - 2018 LONDON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bank of East Asia, Limited (BEA) was chosen as the "Best Digital Bank" and "Best Retail Bank" in Hong Kong in the awards conducted. The awards were established to honour excellence in performance across industries and BEA again took home the honour for their region and performance sector. Global Brands Magazine (GBM) is a leading brand publication devoted to news and opinions on brands that are shaping the future of their industry. The UK-based magazine provides its readers with the latest news and information on 'best-in-class' brands across the globe. Each year, GBM develops a series of awards for companies that have stood out among their industry leaders, demonstrating exceptional service and unique vision. BEA won his year's award for their innovative projects and initiatives to go digital. They have continuously worked towards a better customer experience while promoting their culture of innovation. With over 100 years of Banking and responsiveness to changing business environments, BEA has made huge inroads in Greater China. Jay Reddy, Head of Branding at Global Brands Magazine, commented, "The award constitutes international recognition of the Bank's achievements over the years and its adoption of long-term prudent business strategies. The banks sustainable and healthy business proposition has earned them international recognition and customers loyalty. Their "Mobile First Strategy" was not only a policy but a directive effort in promoting innovation and converting the brick and mortar banks into more greener and efficient places to operate." About Global Brands Magazine Awards Global Brands Awards was established with the aim of honouring excellence in performance and rewarding Companies across different sectors. The award honours companies who have performed extraordinarily well in the field of Finance, Education, Hospitality, Automobiles, Lifestyle, Education, Real Estate & Technology. The awards are given to acknowledge key players who strive for fineness & provide a platform for recognition. More than 9,000 Companies were evaluated as a part of the last year's study conducted. The mid-year 2019 Awards ceremony for Africa 2019 will be held at the Emperor's Palace, Johannesburg in South Africa on the 26th of July 2019. Register now to be a part of this lavish night by visiting https://www.globalbrandsmagazine.com/event Follow us on facebook at www.facebook.com/globalbrandsmagazine or Hashtag us on twitter @globalbrandsmag #globalbrandsmag [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Ztudium Launches an AI-powered Blockchain Operative System LONDON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ztudium Ltd, a leading technology specialist and consultancy, has announced the launching of Blocksdna, a revolutionary AI blockchain Operative System and App. A white label solution that will allow organisations and their customers to get the most out of the blockchain technology. Blocksdna can be described as a blockchain-based mobile app and a white label technology that brings together P2P Messaging, support for crypto and FIAT wallet, payments, digital ID, a reward engine and a marketplace. Its main purpose is to facilitate simple and fast communication between companies and their clients, making them as smooth and hassle-free as they can be. To do so, it features a state-of-art back-end platform with the latest AI technology. The way consumers engage with each other has changed drastically in recent times. On mobile devices, the change is even more evident: Only five apps gather most of a user's daily interactions. Out of them, four are based on messaging and social media. However, most apps offer a limited array of specs. Blocksdna has set its focus on those that are more in demand and put them together in a single, easy-to-use white label technology. They aim to "help business and organisations to connect with their users where they are." Its integrated technology allows for users to interact with each other directly through the messaging amidst being able to send/receive money from their customized wallet. As a special feature, blocksdna's wallet will allow users to pay usng both Fita and cryptocurrency securely. An open marketplace is already integrated within the app, taking mobile e-commerce to new standards. A special feature has been added recently to the app. A brand new AI-based reward engine will compensate users that interact with the app in multiple ways. These reward points can be exchanged for money and other benefits from the apps many offerings. The blockchain platform which Blocksdna is based on plays an important role in the app. Blockchain is well known lately for its safety and decentralized characteristics. Companies can benefit greatly from this as the back-end technology is ready to use while its front-end can easily be modified depending on their needs. Dinis Guarda, CEO of Ztudium said about why choose blockchain technology for its latest solution: "The similarities between the development of blockchain/crypto and the Internet are quite evident to all of us. However Blockchain is not just crypto, effectively Blockchain is a technology that enables crypto. When we speak about Blockchain technology we cannot put it all in the same basket. Blockchain's architecture is large. Just as we speak about the internet as a holistic platform, we need to apply the same viewpoint to Blockchain tech." This month, Ztudium has been accepted into the prestigious European AI Alliance. This allows Ztudium access to the experts of the AI HLEG, established by the European Commission. By being accepted into the Alliance, Ztudium will test their software against seven key requirements that AI systems should meet in order to be trustworthy and provide their feedback and input to further development of Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. By being part of the alliance, Ztudium will be able to offer input and feedback to the AI HLEG. The AI HLEG will be able to utilise Ztudiums input when preparing its draft AI Ethics Guidelines and completing other important work. In addition, the discussions Ztudium will be part of will directly contribute to the European debate on AI, feeding into the European Commission's policy-making in this area. About Ztudium Ztudium is an innovation lab, tech software development player, publisher and boutique consultancy. It provides holistic proprietary software, apps, services such as data insights, business transformation, AI, blockchain, DLT tech and crypto development and consultancy. It also offers services to businesses on global trends, legal, tech, business development, and branding, through its network of premium partners, authors, targeted technology and marketing tools, operating across a wide variety of social media channels. Ztudium was founded in 2011 by Dinis Guarda, a leading thought leader, author of several published books, a serial entrepreneur (he is the founder of Coinsdna a new Swiss regulated, Swiss-based, institutional grade token and cryptocurrencies blockchain exchange, DragonBloc a blockchain, AI and Fintech fund and many other companies). Dinis Guarda is also a renowned digital, blockchain and AI global influencer. Contact: Dinis Guarda CEO [email protected] +44-7942284400 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880847/Blocksdna_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] ID Experts Launches SocialSentry: First-of-its-Kind Software for Protecting Consumers from Social Media Privacy & Security Risks PORTLAND, Ore., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ID Experts, the leading pure-play privacy technology company in identity protection and data breach services, today launched SocialSentry, the first-ever social media privacy product designed for consumers that can delete, take down and block malicious content. An average of 13 million social media records a day were compromised in the first half of 2018. SocialSentry was built from the ground up in order to protect consumers from a broad variety of privacy and security risks involved with their use of social media. These risks range from social media fraud like account takeover and impersonation, to malicious links and social media scams, to inappropriate and dangerous content. "This past year has seen a tsunami of privacy compromises with Facebook and other social media platforms," commented ID Experts president and CEO Tom Kelly. "Consumers in America and around the world are being exploited, and they don't have tools to fight back. Americans spend nearly half their time in a given day interacting with media, including social media. We invented SocialSentry specifically to equip social media users to protect their digital privacy on those platforms." According to independent consumer research conducted on behalf of ID Experts: Over half of Facebook users are concerned about their privacy or security on the platform. Malware and phishing across all social platforms were of great concern to over half of the respondents. 3 in 4 adults believe children's privacy is highly at risk across all social media platforms. How It Works Consumers can purchase SocialSentry online, in either an individual or a family package, and then easily link the social media accounts that they would like to protect. The software scans the users' network of social media connections for malicious content or links, account impersonation or takeover, scams and fraud, or inappropriate content that is associated (or tagged) with the linked account. SocialSentry uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, as well as a proprietary collection of rules that defines content as violent, obscene, hateful, dangerous or sexual in nature, to refine its searches and minimize false positives. When it finds anything that appears to violate the privacy of or poses a security risk to the individual or their family member, it immediately alerts the user. Users have the ability to remediate the situation directly within the app by taking actions, including, but not limited to, requesting the takedown of offending content, removing or hiding any malicious links, social media scams and fraudulent content, or blocking users creating the offending content. Pricing and Availability SocialSentry is priced at $3.95/month for individuals and $8.50/month for families. The web service, as well as the MyIDCare iOS and Android mobile apps, is available immediately. SocialSentry is part of the ID Experts MyIDCare family of digital privacy and identity protection services currently relied upon by millions of Americans. About ID Experts ID Experts is the leading pure-play data breach and identity protection services privacy technology company. MyIDCare, its flagship digital privacy and identity protection product, is built on a secure, SaaS cloud-native platform that utilizes an agile delivery system. As the largest provider of identity protection services to the U.S. government and a trusted provider to Fortune 500-sized companies and millions of Americans, ID Experts delivers lasting peace of mind from privacy cyber risks. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/id-experts-launches-socialsentry-first-of-its-kind-software-for-protecting-consumers-from-social-media-privacy--security-risks-300842286.html SOURCE ID Experts [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] SECAF Names 2019 Finalists for 11th Annual Government Contractors Awards The Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum (SECAF): What: The Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum's (SECAF) 11th Annual Government Contractor Awards. Recognizing more than a decade of excellence, SECAF's flagship event honors small and emerging government contractors and the players in the industry that rely on small business. Who: Award winners will be selected from a group of finalists in seven categories. The Government Contractor of the Year recognizes companies that have shown a compelling and profound commitment to excellence in financial performance. The Award of Excellence highlights an organization that represents excellence within their respective community, the government contracting industry, and towards employees. The Government Project of the Year is given to a company that has delivered an exemplary program with significant value to the federal government. Finally, Mentor-Protege Program of the Year awards companies that have shown a compelling and profound commitment to excellence through its efforts as a prime contractor. With that, 2019 finalists include: Government Contractor of the Year (Under $7.5 Million in Revenue) Amida Technology Solutions (News - Alert) FedWriters INCATech LLC Ragnarok Technologies Inc. Strategic Mission Elements, Inc Government Contractor of the Year ($7.5 to $15 Million in Revenue) Dark Wolf Solutions, LLC Expedition Technology, Inc. Phoenix Operations Group Ripple Effect SNA International, LLC Government Contractor of the Year ($15 to $27.5 Million in Revenue) Arena Technologies Assured Consulting Solutions, LLC Blueprint Consulting Services, LLC Dynamo Technologies, LLC InCadence Strategic Solutions RWD Consulting, LL Government Contractor of the Year ($27.5 to $50 Million in Revenue) Advanced Concepts and Technologies International LLC CollabraLink Technologies Culmen International, LLC Invictus International Consulting Ridgeline International, Inc. Award of Excellence (Under $25 Million in Revenue) Evans Incorporated Human Resources Technologies, Inc. INNOVIM, LLC Jovian Concepts, Inc. M2 Strategy, Inc. Government Project of the Year Federal Conference Firebird AST InCadence Strategic Solutions Oasys International Corporation Stratera Technologies, Inc. Mentor-Protege Program of the Year Advanced Decision Vectors: Submitted by Global Resource Solutions, Inc. Amyx: Submitted by Alpha Omega Integration LLC Arena Technologies Peraton: Submitted by Government Tactical Solutions LLC Watermark Risk Management International LLC: Submitted by Engility Corporation When: Thursday, May 2, 2019 6:00 to 9:00 pm Where: Hilton McLean 7920 Jones Branch Drive McLean, VA 22102 For More Info: Tickets and tables can be purchased at www.secaf.org. Media should RSVP to Amy Talley at [email protected]. About The 11th Annual SECAF Awards Gala The 11th Annual SECAF Awards Gala is the premier commemorative event honoring the small and emerging government contractors and the players in the ecosystem that rely on small business. The event, expected to sell out at more than 500 attendees, will be held Thursday, May 2, 2019 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at the Hilton McLean in Tysons Corner. Tickets and tables can be purchased at: www.secaf.org. About The Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum The Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum (SECAF) enables the small and emerging government contractor to achieve maximum growth rates in a highly competitive marketplace. Providing members with business resources, access to influencers and government agencies, and advocacy opportunities and education, SECAF is an important resource for a growing company. SECAF also serves medium to large government contractors, providing invaluable introductions to specialized small businesses that enable the overall contracting community to work successfully in tandem. For more information, visit www.secaf.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005002/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Mobile Phone Insurance Market Report Puts Limelight on Sales Volume, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin, Historical Growth & Future Perspectives By 2028: Radiant Insights, Inc. SAN FRANCISCO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global mobile phone insurance market is estimated to experience intense growth by the year 2028 with regards to the altering government policies. Mobile phones from being an item of luxury have undergone massive changes to become a necessity. A mobile phone insurance is designed to protect smartphones against any thefts or loss, accidental damage or an electrical breakdown outside of the manufacturer's guarantee period. "A key trend which will predominantly affect the growth of the mobile phone insurance market is the set of premium amounts offering that includes the family insurance at reduced charges." The high operation and investment costs are hampering the market growth. The growing progression of e-commerce and social media branding strategies is set to help the industry participants overcome geographical limitations. Based on product type, mobile phone insurance market can be split into a wireless carrier, banks, and OEM providers. Based on application, the market has been divided into damaged, lost, theft, and others. Market division by sales channels has identified the direct channel and distribution channel as its two main categories. The geographical study has identified North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, Europe, and South America as the key regions. North America has accounted for a major mobile phone insurance share due to the thriving presence of key players and the availability of additional coverage against hardware damage, software crash, etc. Download PDF to know more details about 'Mobile Phone Insurance market' Report 2028. Numerous players operating in this region have maintained a compulsory norm for cell phone insurance purchased under their brand name. The competitive landscape of mobile phone insurance market encompasses an array of highly acclaimed contenders like AIG, AmTrust International Underwriters, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, SoftBank Corporation, Telefonica Insurance S.A, Vodafone Group, Orange, Allianz Insurance, Apple Inc., AXA, Pier Insurance Managed Services, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Corporation, Verizon Communications, Xiaomi, and Aviva among others The mobile phone insurance market offers a multitude of challenges for the industry participants and the gaining decisive understanding of these challenges have impelled the players to pander strategic merger & acquisition activities with their fellow contenders. Vodaphone had launched a worldwide coverage plan up to 200 worth against mechanical or electrical breakdown, damage or theft. AppsDaily offers 14 support features that facilitate call management, battery optimizer and cloud scan for any predicted deceitful activities. 4. Times Global Insurance offers 'no claim bonus' facility for those customers who did not raise any claims against phone damage or theft within a year. The global Mobile Phone Insurance market was valued at $XX million in 2017, and analysts predict the global market size will reach $XX million by the end of 2028, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2028. This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Mobile Phone Insurance from 2013-2018, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2018-2028 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales volume, price, revenue, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Mobile Phone Insurance market. Access 111 page research report with TOC on 'Mobile Phone Insurance Market' available with Radiant Insights, Inc. @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/2013-2028-report-on-global-mobile-phone-insurance-market Leading players of Mobile Phone Insurance including: AIG Allianz Insurance AmTrust International Underwriters Apple AT&T AXA Deutsche Telekom Liberty Mutual Insurance Group Pier Insurance Managed Services Samsung Electronics SoftBank Corporation Sprint Corporation Telefonica Insurance S.A Verizon Communications Vodafone Group Xiaomi Orange Aviva Market split by Type, can be divided into: Wireless Carrier OEM-Provided Banks Market split by Application, can be divided into: Lost Damage Theft Other Market split by Sales Channel, can be divided into: Direct Channel Distribution Channel Market segment by Region/Country including: North America ( United States , Canada and Mexico ) ( , and ) Europe ( Germany , UK, France , Italy , Russia and Spain etc.) ( , UK, , , and etc.) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , Korea, India , Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) ( , , Korea, , and etc.) South America Brazil , Argentina , Colombia and Chile etc.) , , and etc.) Middle East & Africa ( South Africa , Egypt , Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.) Browse reports of similar category available with Radiant Insights, Inc. WiFi Wireless Speakers Market Supply Chain Analytics Market Dental Software Market Human Capital Management Software Market About Radiant Insights, Inc. At Radiant Insights, we work with the aim to reach the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Our representatives strive to understand diverse client requirements and cater to the same with the most innovative and functional solutions. Contact: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist Radiant Insights, Inc. Phone: +1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.radiantinsights.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Onica Hires Canadian IT Consulting Expert David MacKay to Help Grow Adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Canada Onica, a Premier Consulting Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN) and Managed Service Provider, today announced that David MacKay has joined the company as VP of Customer Strategy for Canada. MacKay is an established leader in the IT consulting industry with more than 20 years of experience bringing progressive technologies to the Canadian market. MacKay will leverage Onica's local resources and expertise, along with assistance from the US market, to help Canadian enterprises adopt cloud-native thinking and technologies. "We see increased demand and opportunities for innovative cloud services in Canada," says Goran (Kima) Kimovski, SVP of Global Customer Solutions at Onica. "We are expanding our investment in the Canadian market by hiring David, an experienced leader who shares our passion for the cloud and AWS. He will help scale Onica's business by leveraging our success to bring new cloud services and capabilities to the Canadian market." MacKay joins Onica from Slalom Consulting where he focused on building the company's AWS strategy for Canada. His extensive experience, vast knowledge of the AWS ecosystem, and established relationships across Canada will help Onica expand its market opportunity and increase adoption of AWS in Canada. He will be joining the Onica team at its new office at Yonge and King in Toronto. "I look forward to working with the incredibly talented cloud professionals on the Onica team," says MacKay. "There is also something special about being part of a world-class organization that has a Canadian chapter in their success story, and understands the importance of offering the right combination of experience and people who are passionate about helping Canadian companies innovate along their cloud journey." In August 2018, Onica acquired TriNimbus, a Canadian cloud computing pioneer and Canada's first Premier Consulting Partner in the APN. The acquisition reinforced each organization's ongoing commitment to their respective relationships with AWS, and in turn, established Onica as one of the biggest AWS consultancies and managed service providers in North America. About Onica Onica is a global technology consulting company at the forefront of cloud computing. Through collaboration with Amazon Web Services (News - Alert), we help customers embrace a broad spectrum of innovative solutions. From migration strategy to operational excellence, cloud native development, and immersive transformation, Onica is a full spectrum integrator. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005291/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Globalstar Announces First Quarter 2019 Results Globalstar (News - Alert), Inc. (NYSE American: GSAT) today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Dave Kagan, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We continued to penetrate the commercial IoT market during the first quarter, evidenced by a 16% increase in this subscriber base which has grown to over 390,000 customers at the end of the quarter. While our newest solar-powered IoT device drove the growth, sales of our legacy devices, which more than doubled from the prior year's first quarter, also contributed meaningfully to a strong increase in total revenue. The success across our product portfolio demonstrates our ability to address various use cases and applications that are required by our customers in the rapidly growing IoT market. We have a robust pipeline of small bit data solutions that align well with our satellite network. During the first quarter, our elevated operating expenses reflected our investment in this area of the business with many of our current initiatives focused on expanding our IoT products and technology. Our traction to date is an excellent indication that this focus is well-founded as we continue to support growth through development efforts." Kagan continued, "Our strategy at Globalstar has been and remains to maximize utilization of our unique combination of satellite assets and terrestrial spectrum rights. We are continuously evaluating opportunities to do just that, exploring new products, solutions, distribution agreements, wholesale arrangements, licensing agreements and partnerships. We also remain focused on strengthening our balance sheet to best position us to capitalize on these opportunities." OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Spectrum Update The first Band 53 industrial user terminals were received from certain of our partners, including Nokia (News - Alert) and Airspan and terrestrial trials are ongoing. We are continuing the pursuit of regulatory approvals around the world and have added terrestrial authorizations for our S-band spectrum licenses in several African nations, including one in March for approximately 30 million POPs. We also continue to make progress toward authorizations in additional geographies. Financing Update Together with our financial advisors, we are exploring various financing alternatives to address our funding requirements for June 2019 and future periods, including, but not limited to, a financing and an amendment to our existing debt obligations. We intend to complete this process in a manner that is in the best interest of our Company and its shareholders, while taking into account the requirements of our senior lenders. FINANCIAL REVIEW Revenue Total revenue for the first quarter of 2019 increased $1.3 million, or 5%, from the first quarter of 2018 due to a $1.2 million increase in revenue generated from subscriber equipment sales and a $0.1 million increase in service revenue. Success in the simplex ("Commercial IoT") market contributed $1.8 million to the increase in total revenue during the first quarter. In March 2018, we launched SmartOne Solar, our most successful product introduction to date measured by the number of units sold in the first year following launch. Sales of SmartOne Solar devices represented nearly 70% of the $1.2 million increase in Commercial IoT equipment revenue. As the total addressable market expands, we continue to see demand from both current and prospective customers. In addition to leveraging our existing network of value-added resellers, we have also recently completed our own back office solution allowing our sales team to sell direct to end users. The $0.6 million increase in service revenue generated by Commercial IoT customers was driven by higher ARPU and 16% growth in average subscribers, with Commercial IoT subscribers now representing over 50% of total subscribers. Duplex service revenue decreased 2%, while SPOT service revenue increased 1%, each due to lower average subscribers offset by higher ARPU. Lower activations over the last twelve months, compared to the prior year period, contributed to a 13% and 2% decline in average Duplex and SPOT subscribers, respectively. Duplex and SPOT ARPU increased 13% and 3%, respectively, due to the impact of price increases initiated over the past several quarters as well as subscribers activating on rate plans higher than our previous blended ARPU. Finally, a $0.5 million decline in other service revenue resulted primarily from lower revenue recognized from engineering service contracts during the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same quarter in 2018 due to the inherently episodic nature of government contracts. Revenue generated from subscriber equipment sales for Duplex and SPOT products was also generally flat quarter over quarter with Duplex down $0.2 million and SPOT up $0.1 million. While a higher volume of sales of the products launched in 2018 (Sat-Fi2TM and SPOT XTM) increased subscriber equipment revenue during the first quarter of 2019, lower selling prices and volume of legacy Duplex and SPOT products declined, offsetting the contribution from new product sales. Operating Loss Operating loss increased $5.4 million during the first quarter of 2019. This increase was due to higher operating expenses of $6.7 million, offset partially by a $1.3 million increase in total revenue (for reasons previously discussed). Contributing to the increase in operating expenses was a $4.6 million increase in depreciation, amortization and accretion expense resulting from upgraded ground infrastructure placed into service during 2018. The cost of subscriber equipment sales increased $1.0 million, consistent with the increase in equipment revenue. Additionally, marketing, general and administrative (MG&A) and cost of services increased $0.3 million and $0.8 million, respectively. Higher cost of services was driven by an increase in R&D costs, which were focused primarily on the development of Commercial IoT products and derivatives of our existing Sat-Fi2TM Duplex device as well as lower capitalized labor in the first quarter of 2019 due to the timing and scope of capital projects. Contributing to the increase in MG&A costs during the first quarter of 2019 was a $0.6 million write-off of an aged receivable from one of our independent gateway operators (IGO), which was determined to be uncollectible. Increases in occupancy and subscriber acquisition costs were offset by lower consultant and adviser costs during the quarter. Net Income Net income decreased $62.1 million during the first quarter of 2019 due primarily to a lower non-cash derivative gain of $51.9 million. Changes in the Company's stock price and volatility assumptions were the primary drivers of the derivative adjustments recorded during the respective quarters. An increase in operating loss of $5.4 million (as discussed above) as well as a $5.5 million increase in interest expense resulting from lower capitalized interest recorded during the quarter also contributed to the decline in net income. Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA decreased slightly to $7.2 million during the first quarter of 2019 compared to $7.5 million during the first quarter of 2018. A $1.6 million increase in total operating expenses (excluding EBITDA adjustments) was offset partially by a $1.3 million increase in total revenue. CONFERENCE CALL The Company will conduct an investor conference call on May 2, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss its first quarter 2019 financial results. Details are as follows: Conference Call: 8:30 a.m. ET Investors and the media are encouraged to listen to the call through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.globalstar.com/corporate. If you would like to participate in the live question and answer session following the Company's conference call, please dial 1 (888) 771-4371 (US and Canada), 1 (847) 585-4405 (International) and use the participant pass code 48509813. Audio Replay: A replay of the earnings call will be available for a limited time and can be heard after 11:00 a.m. ET on May 2, 2019. Dial: 1 (888) 843-7419 (US and Canada), 1 (630) 652-3042 (International) and pass code 4850 9813#. About Globalstar, Inc. Globalstar is a leading provider of customizable satellite IoT solutions for customers around the world in industries such as government, oil and gas, emergency management, transportation, maritime and outdoor recreation. As a pioneer of mobile satellite voice and data services, Globalstar allows businesses to streamline operations via the Globalstar Satellite Network by connecting people to their devices, supplying personal safety and communication and automating data to more easily monitor and manage mobile assets. The Company's product portfolio includes the industry-acclaimed SmartOne asset tracking products, Commercial IoT satellite transmitters and Duplex satellite data modems, the innovative Sat-Fi2 satellite wireless IP hotspot and the SPOT product line of personal safety, asset and communication devices, all offered with a variety of data service plans. Learn more at Globalstar.com Note that all SPOT products described in this press release are the products of SPOT LLC, a subsidiary of Globalstar, which is not affiliated in any manner with Spot Image of Toulouse, France or Spot Image Corporation of Chantilly, Virginia. Safe Harbor Language for Globalstar Releases This press release contains certain statements that are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, such as the statements regarding our expectations with respect to the pursuit of terrestrial spectrum authorities globally, future increases in our revenue and profitability and other statements contained in this release regarding matters that are not historical facts, involve predictions. Any forward-looking statements made in this press release are believed to be accurate as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results or developments may differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, and we undertake no obligation to update any such statements. Additional information on factors that could influence our financial results is included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. GLOBALSTAR, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Revenue: Service revenue $ 26,119 $ 26,010 Subscriber equipment sales 3,959 2,739 Total revenue 30,078 28,749 Operating expenses: Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation, amortization, and accretion shown separately below) 9,853 9,029 Cost of subscriber equipment sales 3,149 2,172 Marketing, general and administrative 11,606 11,275 Depreciation, amortization, and accretion 23,801 19,231 Total operating expenses 48,409 41,707 Operating loss (18,331 ) (12,958 ) Other income (expense): Interest income and expense, net of amounts capitalized (12,870 ) (7,353 ) Derivative gain 57,008 108,944 Other (9 ) (662 ) Total other income (expense) 44,129 100,929 Income before income taxes 25,798 87,971 Income tax expense 27 41 Net income $ 25,771 $ 87,930 Net income per common share: Basic $ 0.02 $ 0.07 Diluted 0.02 0.06 Weighted-average shares outstanding: Basic 1,448,318 1,262,336 Diluted 1,632,257 1,437,328 GLOBALSTAR, INC. RECONCILIATION OF GAAP NET (News - Alert) INCOME (LOSS) TO NON-GAAP ADJUSTED EBITDA (In thousands) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Net income $ 25,771 $ 87,930 Interest income and expense, net 12,870 7,353 Derivative gain (57,008 ) (108,944 ) Income tax expense 27 41 Depreciation, amortization, and accretion 23,801 19,231 EBITDA 5,461 5,611 Non-cash compensation 1,448 1,276 Foreign exchange and other (255 ) 595 Bad debt reserve of aged IGO receivable 593 - Adjusted EBITDA (1) $ 7,247 $ 7,482 (1) EBITDA represents earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, accretion and derivative (gains)/losses. Adjusted EBITDA excludes non-cash compensation expense, reduction in the value of assets, foreign exchange (gains)/losses and certain other non-recurring charges as applicable. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA in order to manage the Company's business and to compare its results more closely to the results of its peers. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not represent and should not be considered as alternatives to GAAP measurements, such as net income/(loss). These terms, as defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. The Company uses Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measurement of its operating performance. The Company believes it best reflects changes across time in the Company's performance, including the effects of pricing, cost control and other operational decisions. The Company's management uses Adjusted EBITDA for planning purposes, including the preparation of its annual operating budget. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA also is useful to investors because it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in their evaluation of companies in similar industries. As indicated, Adjusted EBITDA does not include interest expense on borrowed money or depreciation expense on our capital assets or the payment of income taxes, which are necessary elements of the Company's operations. Because Adjusted EBITDA does not account for these expenses, its utility as a measure of the Company's operating performance has material limitations. Because of these limitations, the Company's management does not view Adjusted EBITDA in isolation and also uses other measurements, such as revenue and operating profit, to measure operating performance. GLOBALSTAR, INC. SCHEDULE OF SELECTED OPERATING METRICS (In thousands, except subscriber and ARPU data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Service Equipment Service Equipment Revenue Duplex $ 8,645 $ 251 $ 8,783 $ 431 SPOT 13,095 1,591 12,962 1,474 Commercial IoT 3,698 2,072 3,089 833 IGO 166 - 209 - Other 515 45 967 1 $ 26,119 $ 3,959 $ 26,010 $ 2,739 Average Subscribers Duplex 59,978 69,033 SPOT 288,840 293,561 Commercial IoT 384,673 332,813 IGO 27,017 31,200 ARPU (1) Duplex $ 48.05 $ 42.41 SPOT 15.11 14.72 Commercial IoT 3.20 3.09 IGO 2.05 2.23 (1) Average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) measures service revenues per month divided by the average number of subscribers during that month. Average monthly revenue per user as so defined may not be similar to average monthly revenue per unit as defined by other companies in the Company's industry, is not a measurement under GAAP and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in the Company's statement of operations. The Company believes that average monthly revenue per user provides useful information concerning the appeal of its rate plans and service offerings and its performance in attracting and retaining high value customers. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005126/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] 26 Graduate Student Teams Compete in First-of-Its-Kind Impact Investing Challenge Bank of America, together with the Wharton Social Impact Initiative of the University of Pennsylvania and Good Capital Project, today announced the winner of a first-of-its-kind competition in which teams of graduate students from universities across the country were challenged to design investment portfolios for positive social and environmental impact as well as competitive financial returns. A team of five students from the University of Vermont's Grossman School of Business won the inaugural Total Impact Portfolio Challenge (TIPC) and was honored last night at the Total Impact Conference in Philadelphia. The group was chosen from five finalist teams - selected in March - hailing from Boston University, Columbia University, Fordham University, University of Vermont, and Yale University. 26 student teams from 19 graduate schools participated in the competition, a collaboration of Wharton Social Impact Initiative - which is dedicated to advancing knowledge at the intersection of business and social impact through data, analytics, and innovation - and Good Capital Project, an initiative to drive more capital toward purpose-driven investments. Bank of America's wealth management businesses, which include Merrill and the Bank of America Private Bank, provided student mentoring and sole sponsorship for the competition. Student teams worked with nearly 50 Bank of America mentors - including wealth advisors, portfolio managers, and sustainability experts - to construct portfolios that could meet financial performance and impact goals, as well as risk tolerance, of a hypothetical private foundation or family office client. "At Wharton and beyond, we see growing student interest in impact investing," said Nick Ashburn, senior director at the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. "Venture capital often gets all of the attention on campus and in the industry, but asset owners are increasingly looking to integrate impact across all of their investments - from public equities and fixed income to alternatives. The Total Impact Portfolio Challenge equips students for a wider range of careers that will meet this deman." Additional companies focused on impact investing also lent their expertise and support to the competition, including Toniic, Aapryl and Align Impact who served as content partners supporting students through educational and industry resources, webinars, and case studies. "Greater numbers of college and graduate school students are expressing interest in learning how to be tomorrow's leaders in sustainable investing," said Jackie VanderBrug, head of sustainable and impact investment strategy in the Chief Investment Office for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank. "Demand continues to grow for investments that achieve both financial and social returns. We are delighted to offer our support to students interested in learning how to meet investors' evolving needs." Student portfolios were judged by an independent panel of industry experts based on criteria such as an understanding of the investor, the rigor of their research and due diligence, and the quality of their impact/environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis and portfolio construction. The top teams constructed multi-asset class strategies using ESG and impact lenses that met their clients' competitive financial returns and fulfilled targeted impact and sustainability goals. "We were struck by the range of approaches students took to creatively integrate ESG and impact considerations into their portfolio allocation decisions," said Sharadiya Dasgupta, managing director of Good Capital Project. "They looked at individual holdings of mutual funds and ETFs to dissect ESG scores, studied the use of proceeds of municipal bonds, and scanned the composition of fund management teams to align to gender diversity and inclusion goals. We are hopeful that having gone through this program, participating students will be strongly inclined to apply the sustainability lens in whatever financial roles they pursue next." Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,400 retail financial centers, including approximately 1,800 lending centers, 2,200 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor, and 1,500 business centers; approximately 16,400 ATMs; and award-winning digital banking with more than 37 million active users, including over 27 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom. Click here to register for news email alerts. www.bankofamerica.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005265/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Clearway Energy, Inc. Enters Partnership with Duquesne University to Improve Campus Power Efficiency, Reliability Clearway Energy, Inc. ("Clearway"), (NYSE: CWEN and CWEN.A) and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh have entered into a 40-year energy services agreement following Duquesne's sale of its Tri Generation facility to Clearway. With this arrangement, Duquesne becomes the second recent university in the United States and the first in Pennsylvania to monetize energy assets via a Tri Generation facility, which allows users to convert excess steam that otherwise becomes waste into reliable energy for electricity, water heating, and cooling. The strategic partnership creates an arrangement to interconnect the Duquesne System, owned and operated by Clearway, to a neighboring Clearway system. The connection will make operating both facilities more efficient and provide back-up capacity if either system needs to shut down for maintenance or other reasons. The new arrangement will also monetize excess steam capacity currently produced by the plant on Duquesne's campus, unlocking economic value for the University. "Clearway is excited to partner with Duquesne to provide efficient and reliable electricity, steam, and chilled water services. Our long-standing presence and continued investment in Pittsburgh's downtown district energy system positioned us to further expand with the addition of the Duquesne System via a planned interconnection to our neighboring system," said Jim Lodge, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Clearway. "With the additional capacity of the combined systems, we now have the ability to form a new and modern city-wide distrit energy system, helping improve resiliency and efficiency for schools, hospitals, and other customers in Pittsburgh." The transaction demonstrates ongoing momentum in the higher education sector for schools to monetize their energy assets under public-private partnerships and outsource energy services, allowing them to reinvest in their core missions and services. "Clearway is an industry leader with vast experience operating combined heat, cooling, and power generating plants across the United States. This partnership will allow Duquesne to focus its resources on its core mission of educating students," said Matt Frist, Vice President for Finance and Business for Duquesne. "Further, this initiative directly aligns with the University's strategic plan and one of the City of Pittsburgh's Eco Innovation District goals aimed at pursuing solutions for district energy within Uptown." Duquesne's Utility System was originally constructed in 1967 and converted in 1997 to a Tri Generation facility. About Clearway Energy, Inc. Clearway Energy, Inc. is a leading publicly-traded energy infrastructure investor focused on modern, sustainable and long-term contracted assets across North America. Clearway Energy's environmentally-sound asset portfolio includes over 7,000 megawatts of wind, solar and natural gas-fired power generation facilities, as well as district energy systems. Through this diversified and contracted portfolio, Clearway Energy endeavors to provide its investors with stable and growing dividend income. Clearway Energy's Class C and Class A common stock are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols CWEN and CWEN.A, respectively. Clearway Energy, Inc. is sponsored by its controlling investor Global Infrastructure Partners III (GIP), an independent infrastructure fund manager that invests in infrastructure and businesses in both OECD and select emerging market countries, through GIP's portfolio company, Clearway Energy Group. Duquesne University Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's top Catholic universities for its award-winning faculty and tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of nearly 9,500 graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for its academic programs, community service and commitment to sustainability. Follow Duquesne University on Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter and Instagram. www.duq.edu View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005460/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Wayne J. Lee, Esquire, to Receive the 2019 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Fifth Circuit aWayne J. Lee, Esquire, has been selected to receive the prestigious 2019 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Fifth Circuit. Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Brigadier General Malinda E. Dunn (Retired) of the American Inns of Court will present the award during the Judicial Conference of the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans on May 6. An attorney at Stone Pigman Walther Wittman LLC in New Orleans since 1974, Lee now chairs the firm's commercial litigation practice group. He specializes in insurance and class action claims. Named one of the Best Lawyers in America in several categories, Lee has also been inducted into both Tulane Law School's Hall of Fame and the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Tulane Law School American Inn of Court and the A.P. Tureaud American Inn of Court, where he is a member of the executive committee. The first African American to join Stone Pigman, Lee initiated and continues to lead the firm's diversity efforts. He has provided mentorship to dozens of young lawyers, with a particular aim of increasing the legal profession's diversity. Lee was also the first African American to serve as president of the Louisiana State Bar Association, where he focused his attention on diversity issues. "Although he has accomplished many 'firsts,' he has always been determined not to be the only and has worked tirelessly to open the door for others," says Dana M. Douglas, U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who supported Lee's nomination. On a national level, Lee has served in many capacities with the American Bar Association. In addition to serving as a member of the association's House of Delegates, he was a member of its Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. Born in New Orleans, Lee is dedicated to improving the lives of residents of the city and Louisiana as a whole. He has served on the boards of Louisiana's Board of Regents for Higher Education, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Kingsley House, and Audubon Nature Institute, for example. Lee earned his undergraduate degree from Tulane University and his law degree from Tulane Law School, where he was a member of the Tulane Law Review Board of Editors and Order of the Coif. The American Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, inspires the legal community to advance the rule of law by achieving the highest level of professionalism through example, education, and mentoring. The organization's membership includes more than 31,000 federal, state, and local judges; lawyers; law professors; and law students in nearly 380 chapters nationwide. More information is available at home.innsofcourt.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005143/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] MBIA Inc. Investor Conference Call to Discuss First Quarter Financial Results Scheduled for Thursday, May 9 at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time MBIA Inc. (NYSE:MBI) will host a webcast and conference call for investors on Thursday, May 9 at 8:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss its first quarter 2019 financial results and other issues related to the Company. The dial-in number for the call is (877) 694-4769 in the U.S. and (404) 665-9935 from outside the U.S. The conference call code is 6459449. The conference call will consist of brief comments on the first quarter 2019 results followed by a question and answer session for investors. MBIA's financial results press release and 10-Q filing will be issued after the market closes on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. The financial results press release, 10-Q and other disclosures will be posted on the Company's website, www.mbia.com, prior to the start of the conference call. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the call on May 9 until 11:59 p.m. on May 23 by dialing (800) 585-8367 in the U.S. or (404) 537-3406 from outside the U.S. The replay call code is 6459449. The replay of the call will also be available on the Company's website. MBIA Inc., headquartered in Purchase, New York, is a holding company whose subsidiaries provide financial guarantee insurance for the public and structured finance markets. Please visit MBIA's website at www.mbia.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005488/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Ricoh's hands-free collaboration tool for its field technicians earns company a spot on IDG's CIO 100 List for 2019 MALVERN, Pa., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IDG's CIO has announced Ricoh USA, Inc. as a recipient of a 2019 CIO 100 award for Smart Hands, a hands-free way for field technicians to connect directly, immediately with cloud-hosted knowledge repositories and subject matter experts (SMEs), helping to improve first-time fix rate and customer satisfaction. The 32nd annual award program recognizes organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology (IT). "Across the business landscape, companies everywhere recognize the vital role that an innovative, value-driven approach to information technology plays in their success," said Maryfran Johnson, Executive Director, CIO Programs, IDG. "This year's CIO 100 winning companies are inspiring examples of how IT leadership, business collaboration and digital transformation will drive future growth." Smart Hands enables Ricoh's 4,500 field technicians to have instant, hands-free contact with the company's resources, including the product knowledgebase and live support from SMEs. Ricoh technicians are trained across all of the company's 300-plus product lines and have certifications including A+, Net+, MCSE, Security+, Mobility+ and ITIL. Keeping that volume of information straight can be difficult, especially at the level of depth and breadth required for troubleshooting and repair. Smart Hands places the information within easy reach, while keeping technicians' hands free, so collaboration and research can continue in parallel with repair. A voice-controlled, head-mounted device allows technicians to both provide a live feed of what they see and access information or collaborate in real time. By enhancing collaboration in this way, Ricoh is able to promote technology uptime and decrease the need for multiple site visits, driving down median time to repair (MTTR) and driving up first-time fix rate (FTFR), both of which contribute to customer productivity and satisfaction. "Smart Hands is a natural evolution of Ricoh's strong focus on customer outcomes, including uptime, productivity and service satisfaction," said Kris Rao, Vice President and Head of Information Technology, Ricoh USA, Inc. "As part of Ricoh's business transformation, we have emphasized empowering digital workplaces, which means connecting people to information faster and more conveniently than ever before. We help customers improve employee productivity, grow their business effectiveness and efficiency, and better serve their own customers. Businesses seek more advanced, cost-efficient delivery models and Smart Hands is just that. It empowers Ricoh's technical srvices to 'practice what they preach,' by creating a shared knowledge platform that enables an immediate access to the information required to solve complex customer issues." Executives from the winning companies will be recognized at The CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony, to be held Wednesday evening, August 21, at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. To learn more about Ricoh, visit Ricoh's website or follow the company's social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 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 CIO CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insight and expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with key insights on career development, including certifications, hiring practices and skills development. The award-winning CIO portfolio CIO.com, CIO Events, CIO Strategic Marketing Services, CIO Forum on LinkedIn, CIO Executive Council and CIO primary research provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT's role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at www.idg.com. Follow CIO on Twitter: @CIOonline, @CIOevents #CIO100 Follow IDG on Twitter: @IDGWorld Follow CIO on LinkedIn Follow CIO on Facebook | About Ricoh | Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter. For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2018, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,063 billion yen (approx. 19.4 billion USD). For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com. 2019 Ricoh USA, Inc. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies. Contact: John Greco Ricoh USA, Inc. (973) 882-2023 [email protected] Tracey Sheehy Breakaway Communications for Ricoh (212) 616-6003 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ricohs-hands-free-collaboration-tool-for-its-field-technicians-earns-company-a-spot-on-idgs-cio-100-list-for-2019-300842727.html SOURCE Ricoh USA, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Step up for Health and Step up for Kids - Participate in the 3rd Annual UHCCF Steppin' Up for Kids Walk May 6-June 15 The UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation (UHCCF) is hosting the 3rd annual Steppin' Up for Kids (SUFK) walk, a national initiative that encourages people to engage in healthier lifestyles on their own time while raising funds for medical grants for kids. Participants are encouraged to walk 20,000 or more steps May 6-June 15. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005193/en/ The UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation is hosting its 3rd annual Steppin' Up for Kids walk to raise funds for medical grants to help children gain access to health-related services not covered, or not fully covered, by their family's commercial health insurance plan. Meet the UHCCF Steppin' Up for Kids Regional Ambassadors (left to right): Marcus - West Region; Lucas - Northeast Region; Chloe - Southeast Region; Madison - Central Region (Photo courtesy of UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation). Participants can register at crowdrise.com/steppinupforkids2019 as individuals, families or teams and fundraise to make a difference for children. Once registered, team members join regional teams, representing their part of the United States, and record their dollars through their personal fundraising page. A $25 registration fee will be applied toward each participant's fundraising goals and contribute toward incentive prizes for those who walk and fundraise at various levels. Visit the website to see a full list of available incentives. "Since 2017, Steppin' Up for Kids has raised nearly $120,000 and participants have taken more than 4 million steps toward funding medical grants for children across the United States," said Matt Peterson, president of UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation. "We want as many people as possible to be part of this amazing movement." Each regional team is led by a UHCCF Ambassador, all of whom are grant recipients. The four regional teams are: Lucas' Lions (Northeast Region), Chloe's Champions (Southeast Region), Marcus' Marchers (West Region), and Madison's Mile Markers (Central Region). Read their inspiring stories and understand how UHCCF medical grants help them and their families. About UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation: UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation (UHCCF) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides medical grants to help children gain access to health-related services not covered, or not fully covered, by their family's commercial health insurance plan. Families can receive up to $5,000 annually per child ($10,000 lifetime maximum per child), and do not need to have insurance through UnitedHealthcare to be eligible. UHCCF was founded in 1999. Since 2007, UHCCF has awarded 19,000 grants valued at $48M to children and their families across the United States. UHCCF's funding is provided by contributions from individuals, corporations and UnitedHealth Group employees. Visit uhccf.org for more information. Click here to subscribe to Mobile Alerts for UnitedHealth Group. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005193/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Mastercard Champions Women Business Owners Throughout National Small Business Week and Beyond Mastercard is helping share the stories of the women across the U.S. who are contributing over $3 trillion to today's economy and opening over eighteen hundred businesses every single day. Today the company announced the launch of a national advertising campaign that puts the spotlight on women business owners who are driving impact. Mastercard is also furthering its commitment to enabling equal funding opportunities for underserved communities including women small business owners and would-be entrepreneurs. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005512/en/ Mastercard announces launch of a national advertising campaign that puts the spotlight on women business owners who are driving impact every day. (Photo: Business Wire) Her Ideas Start Something Priceless As National Small Business Week approaches and our attention focuses on a segment that is a key driver of the economy, Mastercard is working to ensure that we keep these owners in the spotlight every day - not for just a week. The second phase of the company's integrated marketing and communications program which kicked off earlier this year features the portraits and stories of women business owners shared in highly visible print, out of home and digital venues. Portraits have long been leveraged to tell the stories of those who help shape our country's culture through remarkable achievements and these women are the epitome of this sentiment. From a feature in the New York Times to billboards in Times Square and beyond, the company wants to ensure that they're giving visibility to the women who took an idea and turned it in to impact. The first output of this effort features Deepica Mutyala founder and CEO of Live Tinted, Catherine Berman co-founder and CEO of CNote, Sonja Rasula founder and CEO of Unique Markets and Morgan Debaun CEO and Founder of Blavity among others. "When you support women entrepreneurs, you're not only supporting the economy, you are supporting their desire to solve real needs and make a difference in people's lives. Women are starting businesses with the intention of driving change within their communities, society and the world. By putting a spotlight on them we hope that other women are inspired to pursue their passion," said Cheryl Guerin, EVP of North America Marketing & Communications at Mastercard. Women Supporting Women Forty eight percent of women believe mentorship programs for women is most helpful for the advancement of women entrepreneurs. Mastercard will first introduce this effort through its ongoing partnership with Create & Cultivate by bringing together women business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs for a one-day conference in New York City to inspire, enlighten and inform women around the critical topics for starting and running a business. "Create & Cultivate New York is one of the biggest events of the year for us and we're incredibly excited to continue our partnership with Mastercard and highlight female-led businesses. " said Jaclyn Johnson, CEO and Founder of Create & Cultivate. The on-site Mastercard small business marketplace will feature the portraits of local New York founders including East Olivia founder & creative director Kelsea Gaynor, Bliss Lau owner of Bliss Lau, Yes I am Clothing founder Michelle Cadore, Coco and Breezy twin sisters, founders and designers Corianna and Brianna Dotson and Teressa Foglia founder of Teressa Foglia Hats. The event will also feature a content studio where attendees can have their portrait done and share their idea that sparked their career inspiration. Equal Opportunity for Underserved Communities Nearly 27 percent of U.S. households are unbanked or underbanked meaning they can't access mainstream financial services. For women struggling to support their families, with no credit history or collateral, pursuing a small business idea is a distant dream. Women receive only 4 percent of all small business loans from financial institutions, which is why the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth is invested in supporting the development and growth of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). CDFIs provide microloans to women who would otherwise be left behind. Mastercard is funding the digitization of three organizations - Grameen America, Opportunity Fund and IRC's Center for Economic Opportunity, to help them move away from a paper and cash business and create digital systems for loan disbursements. This enables an organization to safely scale in the number of women they can support and new places they can reach across the country. In fact, Grameen America was able to reach 52,900 additional women entrepreneurs in 2018 as a result of the program. Fueling Female Founded Startups Mastercard Start Path in partnership with Astia, a trusted global ecosystem of investors and advisors, is working to identify female founded start-ups who are shaping the future of commerce. The award-winning startup engagement program identifies early stage companies that offer promising technologies and show a readiness for scale. Mastercard Start Path and Astia have already supported and invested in three female founded start-ups together including: CNote is an award-winning investment platform empowering individuals and institutions to earn a competitive return while investing in women, minorities and small businesses. is an award-winning investment platform empowering individuals and institutions to earn a competitive return while investing in women, minorities and small businesses. Ellevest is a digital investment platform built by women for women. is a digital investment platform built by women for women. Goodworld a fintech that gives charities access to an untapped, rapidly expanding fundraising channel, converting new and existing donors right in their social media feeds. This news comes on the heels of the company's announcement around bringing seamless digital resources to the on-the-go, always connected small business owner through an enriched card program and partnership with Intuit (News - Alert). About Mastercard Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities - such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances - easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005512/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Medical Economics Named Regional Winner and National Finalist for 2019 Azbee Awards of Excellence Medical Economics, a multimedia platform that provides resources for physicians that include practice management, health technology and expert voices, announces that its article Surviving Merger Mania: What Healthcare Consolidation Means for Physicians and Patients was recently named a Gold Award regional winner for the American Society of Business Publication Editors' (ASBPE's) Azbee Awards of Excellence in the feature article - general interest category in the Heartland region. "Surviving Merger Mania" looks at how primary care medicine is evolving as a result of the wave of consolidation sweeping through the health care industry. Senior editor Jeff Bendix wrote the compelling story on health care corporate consolidation and its impact on physicians. All aspects of the $3.4 trillion health care industry have been affected by the large volume of mergers and acquisition, and this article serves as a guide through it all. "Corporate consolidation is one of the trends that most affects the career and daily lives of working physicians today," said Chris Mazzolini, editorial director of Medical Economics. "This kind of deep, thoughtful and useful analysis of ongoing trends helps our physician readers understand how the health care landscape is shifting beneath their feet - and what they can do to prepare and excel. That is our mission at Medical Economics." The Azbees honor the best in business-to-business (B2B) media, recognizing outstanding work by B2B, trade, association and professional publications. One of the most competitive award programs for trade media, the Azbees highlight editorial, online and design excellence in magazines, newsletters and digital media. In 2019, more than 1,000 nominations were judged by a ream of B2B editors, writers and designers. The Overall Excellence winners will be announced at the National Azbee Awards of Excellence banquet, held in conjunction with GenerationB2B, the 2019 ASBPE National Conference at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, on May 9. For more information, click here. About Medical Economics Medical Economics is a digital and print multimedia platform that provides physicians with expert advice, shared experiences, tools and resources to succeed in today's practice environment. As the highest-ranked practice management publication in the market, Medical Economics covers topics including primary care, the business of medicine, health information technology and more. Medical Economics is part of MultiMedia Healthcare, LLC. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005579/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] AI Powered Job Platform and Recruiting Firm, Jobot, Announces the Grand Opening of New Headquarters in Irvine, Calif. Heidi Golledge, renowned entrepreneur, leader in recruiting and job boards, Co-Founder/former CEO of CyberCoders and Co-Founder/current Chief Happiness Officer and CEO of CareerBliss, announces the new headquarters for her latest startup, Jobot. The tech-driven recruiting company, which already has more than 30 employees, moved in The Boardwalk in Irvine on May 1, 2019. Their grand opening is Monday, May 6, 2019. They are growing quickly and building a custom office space for more than 100 recruiters in Orange (News - Alert) County. Founded in October 2018, Jobot is now expanding its Los Angeles office with its new headquarters at The Boardwalk in Irvine, Calif. Jobot's integrated hiring platform leverages AI and experienced recruiting pros to power jobseekers' and employers' searches, and to maximize filling roles. "We are on track to have a team of 50 by the end of Q2 2019," says Golledge, Jobot CEO and Founder. "By 2020, we anticipate having more than 100 Jobot Pros in our Orange County headquarters alone. Our rapid growth is driven by our unique Jobot culture, which offers premium benefits, top technology and work-life baance-including a 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off," continues Golledge. Vice President of Recruiting Jason Rodrigues says, "I am honored to lead a division at the Orange County headquarters for Jobot." "We are building the most experienced team in IT, engineering and construction recruiting services not only in Southern California, but in the nation. Jobot is built on a culture that provides recruiters, candidates and hiring managers the best experience for today's talent market," continues Rodrigues. The Orange County headquarters will be the company's second office after its El Segundo, California location created in October of 2018. "Experience matters in today's competitive candidate market," says Director of Recruiting, Craig Montgomery (News - Alert). "To find the best people for your company, you need the best recruiters. That is what Jobot provides, along with an unrivaled dedication to providing a recruiting platform that provides hiring managers access to top-tier recruiting experts," says Montgomery. In addition to Jobot, Heidi Golledge's other successful ventures include CyberCoders which she sold to ASGN for $100+ million in 2013. Golledge is also the Co-Founder and Chief Happiness Officer of CareerBliss, a knowledge platform and online career community for job seekers, employers and recruiters alike. CareerBliss provides resources to discover and enhance happiness in the workplace. The community connects talent with the happiest jobs in the nation based on key factors like work relationships, work environment, compensation, company reputation, daily tasks, job resources and company culture-to name a few. The company currently features 8 million open jobs. Nadeem Chaudhry, Chief Technology of Jobot says, "Leveraging AI and some of the largest technologists such as the Google (News - Alert) Team allows us to accelerate growth." The Jobot Orange County headquarters has its grand opening May 6, 2019. About Jobot The Jobot platform blends intelligent technology and experienced recruiters to empower job searches for both companies and job seekers. The tiered business model puts the power of choice back into employer's hands and makes recruiting top talent and building a positive work culture possible for every company. For more about Jobot visit www.Jobot.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005595/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Nimble Delivers Contact Unification, Automated Data Enrichment for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Partners and Customers Nimble - the Simple, Smart CRM for Office 365 - today announced two-way contact data synchronization and automated data enrichment for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Office 365, and other business data sources. A fast-growing network of CSPs worldwide are reselling Nimble (News - Alert) as both a simple CRM for Business Central and an onramp to more sophisticated systems. "It's hard to truly understand your customers, partners, and suppliers when your CRM is broken, and critical relationship data and conversations are siloed in Business Central, Office 365, and other front- and back-office systems across the organization," said Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara (News - Alert). "Microsoft users love using Nimble because our automated, instantaneous insights enable workgroups to become smarter about managing relationships across front- and back-end systems wherever they're working." A company-wide relationship management platform for Business Central customers Nimble and PieSync provide a complete view of every business relationship within the company, gathering contact data from Business Central, Office 365, and any number of siloed data sources into a single system. AI and automation build, enrich, update, and sync customer records, freeing users from spending endless amounts of time manually keying in or migrating data. Ease of use and universal accessibility help drive an average 80% Nimble user adoption rate, according to verified user reviews on G2 (News - Alert) Crowd. "Nimble powered business data, combined with Dynamics Business Central business management capabilities, is a huge step forward for smart businesses that want to use their data as a competitive advantage," said Eamon Moore, CEO and co-founder of Hikari Data Solutions. A recent winner of Microsoft's (News - Alert) CSP Partner of the Year Award, Eamon describes three primary use cases for Business Central customers using Nimble and its embedded PieSync integration: Unlocking company and relationship data, as well as standard and custom fields from Business Central , allows sales and business development teams to follow up on key information or potential opportunities uncovered by the finance group and other back-office staff members. , allows sales and business development teams to follow up on key information or potential opportunities uncovered by the finance group and other back-office staff members. Providing in-app access to a unified database of relationship data gathered from multiple systems, including Office 365 and more than 170 SaaS (News - Alert) business apps. Access to unified knowledge saves time and eliminates the errors commonly associated with maintaining "multiple versions of the truth." gathered from multiple systems, including Office 365 and more than 170 SaaS (News - Alert) business apps. Access to unified knowledge saves time and eliminates the errors commonly associated with maintaining "multiple versions of the truth." Enriched, 360-degree views of every Business Central relationship helps team members cultivate strategic, loyal relationships with key stakeholders within their day-to-day workflows. "This 2-way synchronization not only saves time, but it also enriches the contacts' profiles with the information both tools gather," said Mattias Putman, Founder & CTO of PieSync. "We built a solution that enables users to visualize certain financial details of their customers within Nmble. At the same time, the social insights gathered by the CRM are automatically available in Business Central." Nimble can either serve as a customer's simple CRM for Office 365, an integrated front/back-office solution, or a company-wide clearinghouse of relationship data across multiple cloud-based applications. "Some of our clients that aren't ready for Dynamics 365 for Sales use Nimble as a simple-but-powerful contact relationship manager," said David Gersten, practice manager, Dynamic Consulting, LLC. "Having easy visibility to company and contact information, without having to duplicate entries manually between applications, will improve sales and vendor relationships for SMB customers using both of these offerings." "While Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales is ideally suited for businesses that want an enterprise-class business management solution, we recommend Nimble for small teams that want an end-to-end solution with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for its back office, said Rosalyn Arntzen, President and CEO of Amaxra. "As customer needs evolve, Nimble integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, enabling employees to access complete records for every contact, within appropriate workflows and everywhere they engage customers online." Availability and Pricing PieSync is available for two weeks at no cost on an unlimited basis; with the Nimble Business plan, 2,000 contacts can be kept in live sync at no additional cost on an ongoing basis. Upgrades for higher-volume data syncs are available starting at $9/month. Nimble Business -- available starting at $19/user/month when purchased through a CSP -- provides a complete CRM for workgroups. The all-in-one contact management solution has marketing automation and sales enablement built into it. Resources: ABOUT NIMBLE - Nimble is the simple, smart CRM platform that Office 365 and G Suite users trust to find prospects, nurture relationships, and close more deals - all without leaving their inbox. Thousands of people use Nimble to successfully nurture their personal and business relationships across email, social networks, and more than 160 SaaS business applications. Nimble has been named "Market Leading CRM for Customer Satisfaction and Ease of Use" by many experts, including CRM Market Leader by G2 Crowd in Spring 2019 for the seventh consecutive year, CRM Watchlist Winner for three consecutive years, #1 Sales Intelligence Tool for Customer Satisfaction by G2 Crowd for the eighth consecutive time and users' choice award winner by Fit Small Business. Nimble combines the strengths of traditional CRM, classic contact management, social media, sales intelligence, and marketing automation into one powerful relationship management platform that delivers valuable relationship insights everywhere you work. Try Nimble's 14-day free trial today, or learn more at Nimble.com. Located in Santa Monica, Nimble is in the heart of the Southern California Silicon Beach tech community and was recently voted The Most Loved Santa Monica Tech Startup. For more information, visit http://www.nimble.com. ABOUT PIESYNC PieSync is the fastest growing two-way intelligent data synchronization platform for organizations that want to power their business by integrating their cloud apps. PieSync improves sales, marketing and service performance by easily and affordably connecting contact data without complexity across SaaS-based ecosystems and applications to guarantee relevance and reliability, every time. PieSync connects over 170 applications with new ones added every week and supports customers with greater than 20 employees across many industries. PieSync is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. For more information please visit www.piesync.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005149/en/ [May 02, 2019] Calero Software Selects Edinburgh For European Headquarters - US-based global software company continues to expand European presence, investing millions in region - Calero CEO Joe Pajer hails dynamism of Edinburgh's high-tech cluster for decision - MD for EMEA appointed - New headquarters with office capacity to grow team size by up to 40% officially opened today by Ivan McKee MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Calero Software, a leading global provider of Technology Expense Management and Managed Mobility Services software, today hosted the official opening of its European headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calero is a portfolio company of Riverside Partners , a U.S.-based private equity firm headquartered in Boston. Following the 2018 acquisition of Edinburgh software business Veropath, Calero has now established Edinburgh as its European headquarters, with the majority of its European-based software development, operations and sales resources located in a new home in Edinburgh's west end, as it progresses its expansion strategy across the region. The company is increasing investment in R&D, operations, and sales in Edinburgh to support its rapidly growig global client base, and has recruited Andrew Wyse as Managing Director, EMEA to lead its European operation. This includes Calero's sales and marketing, engineering, and operations office in Roosendaal, The Netherlands. Joe Pajer, President and CEO of Calero, said at today's opening: "Our new European headquarters is a defining moment in Calero's ambitious growth strategy for, and investment in, Europe. We have chosen Edinburgh as the location for our headquarters to tap into Scotland's deep technology talent pool to add to our existing dynamic team. Topping off another year of record growth in 2018, we could not be more excited about the Edinburgh headquarters." Ivan McKee, Scottish Government Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation, said: "It's an honour to welcome Calero's European headquarters to Edinburgh. The decision by Calero to lead its European operations from here is testament to Edinburgh, and Scotland, that is fast becoming known worldwide for its vibrant technology scene. The Scottish Government has published an ambitious plan to boost international exports and I am delighted that in Calero, we have added another important exporter to our economy, an encouraging marker for economic development in Scotland." The new headquarters is at 40 Torphichen Street, in a modern high-tech office with significant expansion capacity. The office space has been designed to include a dedicated Kanban space and collaborative breakout areas to foster creative, open-minded analysis and development. Enquiries: Jorg Wiedijk Director of Marketing, EMEA +31 (0)6 831 73 754 About Calero Calero is a leading global provider of Communications and Cloud Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions designed to turn communication data into actionable insight by simplifying the management of voice, mobile and other unified communications services and assets. With a deep commitment to innovation and customer service, Calero's CLM approach enables organizations to support the full communications lifecycle, from procurement to payment, including software and services that aid Telecom Expense Management (TEM), Managed Mobility Services (MMS), and Usage Management. Calero has thousands of customers in over 50 countries worldwide, including Fortune 2000 corporations, universities and government agencies. Calero is a portfolio company of Riverside Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. Learn more at www.calero.com . More on job opportunities at www.calero.com/about-us/careers/ . Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/881155/Calero_Edinburgh.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/700877/Calero_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] FSD Pharma Provides Update on Status of 2018 Year-End Filings FSD Pharma Inc. (CSE: HUGE) (OTC: FSDDF) (FRA: 0K9) ("FSD Pharma" or "FSD") announces this morning that it has been delayed in filing its audited annual financial statements for the period ending December 31, 2018, the related management's discussion and analysis and the certificates of its CEO and CFO (collectively the "Required Filings") with Canadian securities regulators. "2018 was an extraordinary year for FSD" said recently appointed CEO Dr Raza Bohkari. "It is important that UHY, our new auditor appointed in April 2019 for reasons outside of our control, take the required time and spend the necessary resources to thoroughly review all required filings which are substantial for a growth company our size. It's unfortunate that we missed the filing deadline and I take full responsibility for this delay and ask our shareholders for their patience and forbearance as we are working with a new auditing firm in advance of our listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Rest assured that we will release the Required Filings to our shareholders and regulators as quickly as possible and that this will not be repeated in the future." In connection with the delay, FSD understands that the Ontario Securities Commission may, at any time and without further notice, issue a failure to file cease trade order. "While I deeply apologize to shareholders for this delay I know that our new audit firm is working diligently under a compressed time frame to ensure accurate and complete filings" said Dr Raza Bokhari, executive Co-Chairman and CEO. Subject to the completion of remaining customary audit procedures, the Company expects to complete the required filings on or before Monday, May 6, 2019. About FSD Pharma FSD Pharmais focused on the development of the highest quality indoor grown, pharmaceutical grade cannabis and on the research and development of novel cannabinoid-based treatments for several central nervous system disorders, including chronic pain, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome. The Company has 25,000 square feet available for production at its Ontario facility. FSD facilities sit on 70 acres of land with 40 acres primed for development and an expansion capability of up to 3,896,000 square feet. FSD's wholly-owned subsidiary, FV Pharma, is a licensed producer under the Cannabis Act and Regulations, having received its cultivation license on October 13, 2017 and its Sale for Medical Purposes license on April 18, 2019. FV Pharma's vision is to transform its current headquarters in a Kraft plant in Cobourg, Ontario into the largest hydroponic indoor grow facility in the world. FV Pharma intends to cover all aspects of this exciting new industry, including cultivation, legal, processing, manufacturing, extracts and research and development. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") 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. 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 FSD Pharma'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 Parties' plans to develop and carry out the CBD Research Project, Solarvest's development of the Proof of Concept, the ability of the Parties to commercialize Project Cannabinoids, the execution of the Exclusive License Agreement, and the Parties' intentions to make equity investments into one another. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risk that the requisite regulatory and board of direct approvals are not obtained, the failure of Solarvest to develop the Proof of Concept, and the failure of the Parties to successfully commercial Project Cannabinoids. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and the neither FSD Pharma nor Solarvest is 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005611/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Inventec collaborates with AMD to provide Deep Learning Solutions TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Computer and server manufacturer Inventec Enterprise Business Group (Inventec EBG) today announced the release of its P47G4 server solution, optimized for AMD deep learning technologies. The P47G4 server is one of four optimized server solutions and features a 2U, single-socket system equipped with AMD EPYC processors and up to four AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 GPU accelerators. The combination of world-class servers, high-performance AMD Radeon Instinct GPU accelerators and the AMD ROCm open software platform, with its MIOpen deep learning libraries, provides easy-to-deploy, pre-configured solutions for leading deep learning frameworks, enabling researchers, scientists and data analysts to accelerate discovery. These technologies provide customers with solutions for quick deep learning project deployments. High levels of system and application integration are brought together to provide easy access to the powerful AMD Radeon Instinct GPU accelerators for deep learning on platforms that embrace an open environment. With the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 accelerator, the Inventec P47G4 server meets the emerging scale-out demads of datacenters. In addition, with the increasing utilization demands of AI in high performance computing (HPC) markets, it enables organizations to find the right fit for key datacenter/HPC workloads with a low total cost of ownership. "The Inventec P47G4 is a perfect, compact solution to accelerate machine learning discovery on pre-configured, ready-to-deploy AMD Radeon Instinct GPU-powered servers with the ROCm open software platform and leading deep learning frameworks, including TensorFlow," said Jack Tsai, General Manager of Inventec Enterprise Business Group. Working closely with AMD, Inventec optimized the P47G4 server for deep learning workloads. It delivers up to 100 Teraflops of FP16 compute performance at low acquisition costs without compromising the performance and features of a traditional two-socket system. It provides outstanding compute, memory, I/O and security capabilities to help accelerate mission critical applications. About Inventec Data Center Solutions (Inventec EBG) Inventec Data Center Solutions (Inventec EBG) was established in 1998 and has been focusing on the design and manufacturing of server systems in Inventec Corporation. Over decades, Inventec EBG has been the key server system supplier of the global branding clients. For more information, please visit: http://ebg.inventec.com/ Follow "Inventec Data Center Solutions" on LinkedIn and Wechat to receive their latest news and announcements. Inventec logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Inventec Corporation. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, EPYC, Radeon and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Inventec EBG Media: Veronica Wu Email: [email protected] Office TEL:+886 3 390-0000 #23948 Inventec EBG Contact: Steven Lin Email: [email protected] Office TEL: +886-3-3900000 ext. 23950 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inventec-collaborates-with-amd-to-provide-deep-learning-solutions-300842869.html SOURCE Inventec [May 02, 2019] Diebold Nixdorf President And CEO Gerrard Schmid To Participate In 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media And Telecom Conference NORTH CANTON, Ohio, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD), a global leader in driving connected commerce across the financial and retail industries, announced today that Gerrard Schmid, president and chief executive officer, will participate in the 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference at The Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston, Mass. Schmid will discuss the company's strategy, banking and retail market trends and DN Now initiatives. He will also be available to meet with institutional investors. His presentation will begin at 11:20 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. A live audio webcast of the event can be accessed on Diebold Nixdorf's investor relations website, http://investors.dieboldnixdorf.com/ . A replay of the broadast will also be available on this site. About Diebold Nixdorf Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) is a world leader in enabling connected commerce. We automate, digitize and transform the way people bank and shop. As a partner to the majority of the world's top 100 financial institutions and top 25 global retailers, our integrated solutions connect digital and physical channels conveniently, securely and efficiently for millions of consumers each day. The company has a presence in more than 100 countries with approximately 23,000 employees worldwide. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/diebold Twitter: twitter.com/dieboldnixdorf Facebook: www.facebook.com/DieboldNixdorf YouTube: www.youtube.com/dieboldnixdorf View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/diebold-nixdorf-president-and-ceo-gerrard-schmid-to-participate-in-47th-annual-jp-morgan-global-technology-media-and-telecom-conference-300842865.html SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Michigan Businesses Partner with Plymouth-Canton Schools to Inspire, Prepare High School Students for Careers in Manufacturing PLYMOUTH, Mich., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wayne County, Michigan, businesses have joined forces to partner with the SME Education Foundation to make available education opportunities for students of Starkweather Academy, part of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools in Plymouth, Michigan. Alpha USA, Clips and Clamps Industries, Link Engineering Company, Loc Performance Products, Inc., Master Automatic Inc., Roush Industries, Inc., and Skyway Precision Inc., have invested in the collaboration formed through SME's Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education (PRIME) schools initiative. "The launch of this partnership underscores our commitment to preparing students for future careers in manufacturing, an area which is currently experiencing a talent shortage," said Monica L. Merritt, Superintendent of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. "The support we've received from our business community and local leaders has been phenomenal, and we are all encouraged by the prospect of preparing our talented students to thrive in our local business communities." SME PRIME schools directly address the manufacturing and engineering talent shortage by partnering with industry to inform and provide modern equipment, tailored curriculum and hands-on training to high schools across the country. The national program provides students with practical experience, knowledge and skills using state-of-the-art technology and equipment, while allowing companies to support the career direction of youth through mentoring, internships and job shadoing. "SME PRIME schools are central to our commitment to inspiring, preparing and supporting young people," said Rob Luce, SME Education Foundation vice president. "We're proud to now include Starkweather Academy students in the SME PRIME schools' initiative as we continue to expand the program across the country." Since 2011, SME PRIME schools have reached more than 50,000 students in 46 communities across 22 states. Last year, 84% of graduating SME PRIME students intended to pursue careers in manufacturing, and 60% of those students planned to pursue postsecondary education in a field directly related to manufacturing. The launch of the 47th SME PRIME school at Starkweather Academy will be celebrated with presentations and student demonstrations during an event at the Academy on Friday, May 3. Representatives of the school, local manufacturers, the Plymouth-Canton business community, and state and local officials are slated to attend. "We are excited for this SME PRIME school in Wayne County and hope there are many more to come," said Warren C. Evans, Wayne County Executive. "What's important about this program is the curriculum is designed with input from employers, which helps ensure we're connecting students with viable career pathways as the manufacturing industry evolves. The primary barrier to growth in manufacturing is a talent shortage, and this program will help strengthen the pipeline to fill those gaps." About the SME Education Foundation The SME Education Foundation is committed to inspiring, preparing and supporting the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists. Since its creation by SME in 1979, the SME Education Foundation has provided grants, scholarships and awards through its partnerships with corporations, organizations, foundations and individual donors. Each year, the Foundation awards several hundred scholarships to students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and technology disciplines closely related to manufacturing. The organization also administers scholarship awards on behalf of major corporations connected to manufacturing. Additionally, the Foundation's PRIME initiative was created to provide high school students with a tailored advanced manufacturing/STEM education. Visit the SME Education Foundation at smeeducationfoundation.org. Follow @mfgeducation on Twitter or facebook.com/SME.Education.Foundation. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michigan-businesses-partner-with-plymouth-canton-schools-to-inspire-prepare-high-school-students-for-careers-in-manufacturing-300842861.html SOURCE SME Education Foundation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Hawthorne wins 6 awards for creative and company culture in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawthorne, a creative, analytics and technology-driven advertising agency, announced today that it has won a series of corporate and creative awards for its work in the Los Angeles area, including recognition as a semifinalist as EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Greater Los Angeles. These awards highlight Hawthorne's continued success not only for its clients, but also as a bold and innovative influencer in leadership and marketing. EY named Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Chairman and CEO of Hawthorne, as a semifinalist in the Entrepreneur Of The Year category for Greater Los Angeles. As the world's most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs, Entrepreneur Of The Year recognizes business leaders who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. It celebrates the unstoppable entrepreneurs transforming the world. The Los Angeles Business Journal also honored Hawthorne-Castro as an 'Elite Marketer' and included her in the Most Influential Marketers in Southern California list, which spotlights the people, companies and transactions that have an outsized ipact on the business community. For the agency's creative work, Hawthorne received a Bronze ADDY Award in Los Angeles for its Credit One Bank advertising campaign. Hawthorne was also named as a finalist for the 2019 Los Angeles Business Journal CTO Awards, which honor the accomplishments of Los Angeles' finest tech leadership minds. Further, Jessica Hawthorne-Castro was named as a President's Award Finalist in the Women of Influence Awards in Orange County, which recognize women who lead the way in business, industry and enterprise, along with the organizations and individuals that champion women leaders. Above all, Hawthorne was proud to again be named a Great Place to Work, which certifies organizations that have created exceptional workplaces and prioritize the satisfaction, loyalty, and well-being of their employees. The emphasis on employee and corporate culture supports the many dozens of awards that Hawthorne has won in recent years for its creative work, leadership and influence, and company culture. About Hawthorne: Hawthorne, a creative, analytics and technology-driven advertising agency, specializes in strategic planning, creative development, production, media planning, buying and analytics, and campaign management for integrated marketing campaigns. With nearly 30 years of proven excellence, the agency combines persuasive brand messaging with best-in-class analytic systems to create accountable, high performance advertising campaigns. Hawthorne helps brands efficiently target their consumers, improve cost per acquisition, optimize the lifetime value of a brand's customers, and even drive consumer response to key retail outlets or corporate locations. As a leading analytic and data driven, accountable brand advertising agency, Hawthorne specializes in integrated campaign solutions. The company offers a full suite of integrated solutions with creative, media, digital and mobile services. Hawthorne maintains brand integrity and metrics to efficiently and effectively optimize the results of its clients' integrated media budgets via leading edge and proven data analytics. Hawthorne has developed successful award-winning campaigns for countless Fortune 500 brands. Please visit www.hawthornedirect.com and http://www.linkedin.com/company/hawthorne-direct for more information. CONTACT: Chellsy Costello, 215-933-9627, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hawthorne-wins-6-awards-for-creative-and-company-culture-in-los-angeles-300842560.html SOURCE Hawthorne [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Dana Scott Joins Alliant Employee Benefits in Austin Multifaceted benefits consultant Dana Scott has joined the Employee Benefits Group of Alliant. The Austin, TX-based Scott joins on as Senior Vice President, bringing with him a diverse background that melds the worlds of healthcare, employee benefits, and finance. "Dana has the far-reaching expertise and innovation that employers require in today's competitive landscape," said Kevin Overbey, Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director, Alliant Employee Benefits. "He is a powerful addition to our team in Austin and will providehigh-value solutions to clients with operations in Texas and throughout the U.S." Scott has extensive experience providing tailored employee benefits solutions that help clients reduce costs, improve outcomes, and strengthen the bottom line. He has worked with clients in a broad array of industries on the core issues of cost containment, productivity, wellness, and long-term strategic planning. Prior to joining Alliant, Scott was Austin Health & Benefits Market Leader with a multinational insurance and employee benefits consulting firm. He also has experience as a Finance Officer and Controller both within the benefits and media sectors. Scott earned his bachelor's degree from Simpson College and his MBA in finance and business from the University of Denver (News - Alert). He can be reached in the Austin office of Alliant at (737) 236-5149 or at [email protected]. About Alliant Insurance Services Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA (News - Alert), Alliant Insurance Services, Inc. provides property and casualty, workers' compensation, employee benefits, underwriting, surety, and financial products and services to clients nationwide, including public entities, tribal nations, healthcare, energy and marine, law firms, real estate, construction, financial institutions, agriculture, aviation, and environmental. More information is available on the company's website at www.alliant.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005177/en/ [May 02, 2019] Delivery Biz Pro Services New Zealand's Eketahuna Country Meats Delivery Biz Pro (DBP), a unit of GetSwift, Inc. (GetSwift) and global farm-to-table SaaS (News - Alert) provider, which offers software to facilitate delivery between farms and providers of fresh produce to homes and businesses, is pleased to welcome New Zealand's Eketahuna Country Meats to its platform. Eketahuna Country Meats is a family-owned and operated online service specializing in sustainably-raised beef, lamb, and pork, along with fresh glass-bottled milk, to customers in New Zealand. This is the latest in a series of relationships DBP has developed recently and underscores its flexibility to help companies across the globe. "We have been able to expnd product volume while improving speed and range of delivery," said Steve Olds, Founder of Eketahuna Country Meats. "For perishable items like fresh meat and milk, it's critical to reach our customers in a timely, accurate fashion and DBP has simplified the process dramatically." While Eketahuna previously offered milk at some Wellington markets, DBP is helping the company bring back the tradition of fresh, full-cream milk delivered straight to home doorsteps in glass bottles. Judd Payne, Vice President at GetSwift, added "It's great to see a company like Eketahuna joining the local farm-to-table movement. Their commitment to quality and transparency in producing meats and dairy is absolutely refreshingthe words 'commercialized' and 'processed' are far removed from this farm." Eketahuna prides itself in offering meats and milk from animals raised entirely free of hormones, antibiotics, GMOs and farmed with minimal pesticide use. The company started eight years ago, initially selling beef and lamb from its own 300-acre farm and has since made partnerships with a small number of family farms. About Delivery Biz Pro Delivery Biz Pro ("DBP"), a unit of GetSwift, Inc., is a SaaS service division offering global customers a subscription-based cloud service for businesses with recurring product orders, particularly within the produce, meal kit, dairy, farm-to-table, water, home and commercial delivery sectors. The DBP platform brings together four key components that allow recurring delivery industry sectors to employ the best methodology for their logistics fulfillment. DBP's system helps deliver over 2.5 million products, including local, organic food, to over 600,000 families on a monthly basis. For more information, please visit us here. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005708/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Seabury Capital's Maritime Subsidiary Advises Connecticut Port Authority on State Pier's Expansion Seabury Maritime LLC ("Seabury Maritime"), the global maritime and transportation investment & merchant banking and industry advisory firm and an affiliate of Seabury Capital Group LLC ("Seabury Capital"), announced today that the company acted as the transaction advisors to the Connecticut Port Authority ("CPA") in a public and private investment to redevelop State Pier into a world-class 21st century port facility, expanding its economic potential while capturing emerging opportunities. The estimated $93 million investment will transform State Pier into a world-class state of the art facility, while creating a platform for heavy lift cargo, such as offshore wind components, to utilize Connecticut's ports. "This is an exciting opportunity for the State," said Patrick Bird, Managing Director - Global Head of Advisory of Seabury Maritime. "By partnering with the offshore wind industry, this new redevelopment plan will put State Pier on a growth trajectory, making it a big step towards realizing the port's economic expansion and fulfilling the strategic objectives of the Port Authority." The two-phased redevelopment plan involves a three-year planned upgrade of the facility's infrastructure to meet the heavy lift requirements of Bay State Wind's offshore wind components. Following successful project completion, Bay State Wind will enter into a 10-year lease agreement granting the joint venture between Eversource and rsted exclusive use of State Pier for assembly and deployment of offshore wind components. Gateway (News - Alert) Terminals, originally of New Haven, CT, signed a long-term concession agreement in January and will act as the new terminal operator. "We are excited to launch this new development phase for State Pier," said Evan Matthews, Executive Director of the Connecticut Port Authority. "This is the way public-private partnerships are designed to work, and Seabury Maritime has been a valuable partner in helpng our team achieve this new milestone. We look forward to working with our new partners to position Connecticut as a leader in the offshore wind industry and expand economic opportunity throughout the region." Edward M.A. Zimny, President & Chief Executive Officer Seabury Maritime, commented: "Our Seabury Maritime team possesses a unique combination of investment banking and strategic advisory skills and capabilities, which provide port authorities successful solutions to address the opportunities they face in a very competitive marketplace. We appreciate the opportunity CPA has provided us and are confident that this transaction will further aid their vision of increasing the flow of conventional cargo while capturing emerging opportunities." "I'd like to congratulate our maritime team for successfully advising our partners at CPA on this milestone investment, which will benefit the port long into the future. Our maritime team is an integral part of Seabury Capital's long-term strategy to provide a visionary approach to today's maritime industry, offering market-leading solutions based on our worldwide maritime advisory experience and keen commercial insights," concluded Patrick Henry Dowling, Seabury Capital's Global Head of Investment and Merchant Banking. ABOUT SEABURY CAPITAL GROUP Seabury Maritime is an affiliate of Seabury Capital Group LLC ("Seabury Capital"), which operates a number of specialty finance, investment banking, technology, and software companies with a core focus anchored in aviation, aerospace & defense, maritime, and financial services & technology. Seabury Maritime is focused on global trade and transportation. Our team has developed a thorough understanding of the underlying competitive economics that drive strategic investments and decision-making, while assisting companies operationally to adapt for success and maintain sustained competitive advantage. Reference Seabury Maritime at www.seaburymaritime.com. Since its founding in 1995, Seabury Capital and its affiliates have taken ownership stakes in software and asset management businesses servicing the aviation and travel industries. Within the last few years, Seabury Capital has expanded its portfolio by investing in early stage startup companies within the financial technology industry and structured investment products. In addition, Seabury Capital owns and operates through affiliates FINRA and FCA regulated investment banking services firms in the U.S. and U.K., respectively, serving external clients as well as assisting the companies in which Seabury Capital and its affiliates have invested. Seabury Capital and its affiliates have operations in New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Cordoba, Dallas, Dublin, Durban, Edison (NJ), Hong Kong, Houston, Jersey City, London, Los Angeles, Manila, Minneapolis, Singapore, Summit (NJ), Stamford (CT), and Tokyo. Reference Seabury Capital at www.seaburycapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005728/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Donovan Energy Hires Energy Strategy Expert Nachy Kanfer to Lead Consulting Practice Donovan Energy, Cincinnati's leading energy solutions company, has hired Nachy Kanfer as its fourth Partner. Kanfer will lead Donovan Energy's consulting practice, focusing on energy strategy and procurement. Joining Partners Tim Donovan, Andy Holzhauser, and Jeff Martin, Kanfer's experience in the Midwest and Southeast makes him an invaluable asset to this industry leader. As the head of Donovan Energy's consulting practice, Kanfer works with clients to align their energy choices with their growth strategies. Kanfer also leads Donovan's electricity procurement business, helping customers in deregulated jurisdictions become more competitive. He advises private sector clients on attaining their corporate sustainability goals, and supports non-profit clients with strategic campaign plans. "I'm proud to be working with the best minds and brightest thinkers in the entire region," said Kanfer. "Clean energy, efficiency, and electric vehicles are transforming the way we live and work here in the idwest, and I'm honored to be part of this team." Prior to joining Donovan Energy, Kanfer served as the Regional Director for Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, where he worked with stakeholders to grow the renewable energy market by gigawatts at a time. He brings expertise in navigating wholesale energy markets and is skilled at developing regulatory and government affairs strategies. "Because of Nachy's experience working with non-profit clients, he offers an ability to identify precise policy interventions," remarked Founding Partner Tim Donovan. "We're excited for him to bring his action-forward and resource-conscious mindset to all our clients." Kanfer believes energy efficiency and clean energy will realign the U.S. economy, and unlock a new era of economic resiliency. His vision for clean energy aligns seamlessly with that of Donovan Energy, and as a team they will continue to propel the industry forward. About Donovan Energy Donovan Energy is a clean energy development and finance company that offers solutions that decrease energy costs, finance energy projects, reduce energy use, and produce renewable energy. The team of industry veterans provide consulting, finance and project development services. For more information, visit https://www.donovanenergy.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005734/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] The Help Group's STEM(3) Academy, First-Of-Its-Kind School for Students with Social and Learning Differences Expands to Orange County LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This fall, The Help Group's STEM3 Academy, the only K-12 school in the nation to provide STEM curriculum to students with social and learning differences, is opening its third campus in Irvine; it's first school in Orange County. Under the umbrella of The Help Group the largest, most innovative nonprofit of its kind serving children and young adults with special needs STEM Academy is able to provide students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and other social and learning differences the opportunity to maximize their potential. Many students with social and learning differences have a passion for STEM fields and thrive while engaged in project-based learning. STEM3 Academy customizes its approach and curriculum to each student's individual strengths and needs. It offers robust science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses, as well as opportunities for students to fully explore the humanities. The hub of our school is a state of the art innovation lab and maker space where students are involved in diverse pursuits such as robotics, electronics, film, audio mixing, and 3D modeling and printing using a variety of high-tech equipment. With a growing need for qualified STEM talent in Southern California and across the nation, STEM Academy prepares students for meaningful careers in a variety of fields, such as engineering, cyber-security, biomedical, coding, game development, accounting, web design, IT and the humanities. The school leverages partnerships and mentor programs with eading businesses to offer students real-world interaction and a first-hand knowledge of potential career paths. "We're thrilled to bring our teaching approach to Orange County and work with students and families to drive their passions into meaningful careers and help them flourish by working with them in ways that are meaningful to their unique minds," said Dr. Ellis Crasnow, Director of STEM Academy and STEM Education at The Help Group. "We've seen tremendous growth and success at our campuses in Los Angeles, with students graduating and entering top-notch universities such as Loyola Marymount, Parsons School of Design, UC Berkeley and Cal Poly Pomona. We couldn't be more proud and look forward to the same successes from our new Irvine campus." Applications for the 2019-2020 school year in Orange County are being accepted now. Orange County parents, educators and professionals are invited to attend lectures on the benefits of a STEM education led by Dr. Crasnow on May 21 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at UC Irvine in partnership with OC STEM Initiative and a panel discussion on July 17 at Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). In addition to upcoming events, registration is now open for their popular STEM summer camp in Irvine from July 8 to July 19. Activities include game design, electronics and circuits, engineering and design, and digital animation. The Very Special Innovation Fair will also be headed to Orange County on October 12. This is a free, family-friendly showcase of discovery and imagination that is equal parts science fair, high-tech exhibition, art show, and community carnival. To learn more about the expansion, events, and summer camp, visit www.stem3academy.org/orangecounty. About The Help Group Founded in 1975, The Help Group is the largest, most innovative and comprehensive nonprofit of its kind in the United States serving children, adolescents, and young adults with special needs related to autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, abuse and emotional problems. The Help Group's nine specialized day schools offer pre-K through high school programs for more than 1,500 students. Its broad range of mental health and therapy services, child abuse and residential programs extends its reach to more than 6,000 young people and their families each year. More information is available at www.thehelpgroup.org. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-help-groups-stem3-academy-first-of-its-kind-school-for-students-with-social-and-learning-differences-expands-to-orange-county-300842574.html SOURCE The Help Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Government Technology Leaders Headline GovernmentCIO's Tech Futures Forum May 9 at George Washington University WASHINGTON, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GovernmentCIO Media & Research, in partnership with George Washington University, will host the Tech Futures in Government CXO Tech Forum on May 9 in Washington D.C. to bring together top government leaders discussing what's ahead for federal agencies in cybersecurity, IT modernization, big data and quantum computing. Leaders from the White House, George Washington University, General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs will discuss in panels what's over the horizon for government technologies. The event will take place at George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium at 805 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20052 on May 9 from 7:3 to 11:30 a.m. George Washington University and GovernmentCIO Media & Research have worked in partnership to survey over 100 federal IT leaders for a research report on the future of government technology into 2020 and beyond. Initial findings from that report will be discussed ahead of the official release of the report later in 2019. Speakers at the forum will include: Maj. Gen. Lee E. Payne, Assistant Director for Combat Support, Defense Health Agency; Paul Cunningham, Chief Information Security Officer, VA; Shane Barney, Chief Information Officer, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Beth Killoran, Deputy CIO, GSA; Jake Taylor, Interim Director, White House National Quantum Coordination Office; Sanjay Gupta, Chief Technology Officer, SBA; Shuba Dasgupta, Associate Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management, George Washington University; and others. For those who cannot attend in person, the forum will be livestreamed on GovernmentCIO Media & Research's website on May 9. More information and registration for the event can be found here: https://governmentciomedia.com/cxo-tech-forum-tech-futures-2019-registration About GovernmentCIO Media & Research GovernmentCIO Media & Research is the online destination for thought leadership and coverage focused on the transformation of government IT. Its experienced team collects the best practices and research regarding the advancing technology and management landscape. About The George Washington University The George Washington University is a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was chartered in 1821 by an act of U.S. Congress. CONTACT: Chelsea Blake, 704-996-4921, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/government-technology-leaders-headline-governmentcios-tech-futures-forum-may-9-at-george-washington-university-300842996.html SOURCE GovernmentCIO [May 02, 2019] Announcing HackNotice Research and Third Party Enablement Services AUSTIN, Texas, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Hack Notice, Inc., a security company specializing in threat intelligence, announced that they have released two new business services: a research service that gives security professionals real time and complete access to hacker compromised data sets, and a third party enablement service that monitors for third party data breaches and dark web exposures. HackNotice focuses on leveraging data breaches, compromised credentials, and identities often stolen by malicious actors to penetrate a company's cyber defenses and using the same data to arm the company's security team and provide awareness to employees who have been targeted. About the announcement, HackNotice's Co-Founder and CEO Steve Thomas said, "Market adoption for our business services has grown rapidly, and secuity researchers and analysts have been asking for the ability to investigate the threat events and trends surrounding the intelligence we provide. That's why we're offering a research service to provide even more context around how and when our customers were compromised. At the same time, our business partners in the third party and cyber risk spaces are eager to understand how much exposure business partners, vendors, and potential acquisitions might have on the dark web, or be notified when they experience a breach. Our third party enablement service is the perfect answer to that question." HackNotice began offering business services in late 2018, and is currently in the midst of a funding round. With this announcement, HackNotice now offers to businesses: A flexible search portal and API that taps into billions of hacker stolen records A monitoring service that alerts when third parties are breached, provides a breach history, and can provide an understanding for how much exposure a third party has on the dark web. About Hack Notice, Inc.: Hack Notice, Inc. is a security company based in Austin, Denver, and New York City. Founded in 2018, Hack Notice, Inc. offers personal and business security services at HackNotice.com and through the HackNotice mobile apps. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/announcing-hacknotice-research-and-third-party-enablement-services-300842915.html SOURCE HackNotice [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Checkout.com Raises $230m in Record European Series A Checkout.com, the global payment solutions provider, announces today that it is taking funding from outside investors for the first time in its history, having raised $230m in what is Europe's largest fintech Series A round ever, and globally the third largest fintech Series A round of all time. The record round, led by growth investors Insight Partners and DST Global, underlines the ambition of the seven year old UK business, which is transforming the world of digital commerce by providing merchants with a solution that enables payments across all geographies and channels. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Blossom Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and other strategic investors are also participating in the round. Checkout.com will use the funding to continue its rapid growth in Europe, the US and the Middle East, with further expansion into Asia and Latin America. The London-headquartered company, whose solutions already power many of the UK and EU's leading fintechs, offers the world's most comprehensive cross-border payment solution for digital commerce. Checkout.com's proprietary technology helps fast growing businesses have seamless and reliable global payment processing for both companies and consumers. The business offers direct access to domestic acquiring across payment methods and geographies, including all major credit and debit cards, online banking, PayPal (News - Alert), Apple Pay and other eWallets. This is achieved through a single, unified integrated platform which also provides fraud management tools, analytics and comprehensive reporting features. Founder Guillaume Pousaz said: "We have been fortunate to have some of the world's leading investors approach us for some time but our focus has remained on building the very best suite of products we can for our merchants on four continents. Having built a sustainable business, one hire at a time, it was crucial to find partners that share our vision of how enterprise businesses will consume financial services in the future. We have anticipated this from our early days and have designed Checkout.com's platform from the outset so that we can easily deliver incremental services to our customers as the company expands its offering." "Bringing world-class investors on board for our first funding round is a validation of everything the Checkout.com team has worked hard to achieve over the years and a way to flag just how serious we are about building a global leader that can serve any business, in any geography. The capital will help us increase the speed at which we roll out new products to address our merchants increasingly complex needs. Performance in payments and data streams are key drivers of success fr merchants. Our objective remains to help our customers to grow their businesses, by providing them with the solutions and insights they need to win market share." Checkout.com enterprise customers include some of the world's best known brands, such as Samsung (News - Alert), Easygroup, Getty Images, Deliveroo, Transferwise, Patreon and Virgin Active. It processes more than 150 currencies and has 345 staff, with nearly 200 based in London and the rest in the company's eight offices. Its team is expected to triple over the next three years as the company expands its core business and moves into new product areas. Following the fundraising, Deven Parekh, Managing Partner at Insight Partners and an early investor in Twitter (News - Alert), Alibaba and JD.com, will take a seat on the board. Deven Parekh said: "We've been following Checkout.com for some time and we have been impressed by their dedication to building the right product for their merchant customers, as well as their commitment to creating a profitable business. The payments world is changing rapidly and online payments will be the source of most financial services in future. We are confident that Checkout.com will attract a great proportion of those transactions because its product and unified platform provide the full range of services that growing enterprises require. Insight Partners is excited to welcome the Checkout.com team to our portfolio, and look forward to driving continued growth together." Tom Stafford, Managing Partner, DST Global, said: "Payments are a critical component of any online business. With the digital payments market expected to grow to $6 trillion by 2021, we believe Checkout.com can expand rapidly through its technology-driven and customer-centric payments solution. We are delighted to partner with Guillaume and the team." Checkout.com has been advised in this transaction by FT Partners and law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. *According to Dealroom data on Series A fundraises, Immunocore ($320m) was the largest Series A fundraise for a UK company in 2015, followed by OakNorth ($200m) in Oct 2017. Outside biotech, the biggest Series A round in Europe was TradePlus24 (Switzerland) in Jan 2019 ($120m). - Ends - About Checkout.com Checkout.com helps companies accept more payments around the world through one integration. The tech company works with global businesses to optimise their payments, with real-time data. Checkout's unified global payment processing platform features in-country acquiring, relevant payment methods, feature parity across geographies, fraud filters and reporting features, via one API. It helps businesses in Europe, the US and the Middle East to achieve faster, more reliable processing in more than 150 currencies, with direct access to Visa, Mastercard, American Express (News - Alert), all major international cards, as well as popular alternative and local payment methods. For more see: www.checkout.com About Insight Partners Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight currently has over $20 billion of assets under management and has cumulatively invested in more than 300 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. Across our people and our portfolio, we encourage a culture around a core belief: growth equals opportunity. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners. About DST Global DST Global is one of the leading Internet investment groups globally. Its portfolio includes some of the world's leading and most valuable Internet companies like Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Spotify (News - Alert), WhatsApp, Alibaba and JD. DST Global is headquartered in Hong Kong and has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London and Beijing. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005788/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Rasmussen College Expands Its Graduate Education Degree Offerings Rasmussen College, a regionally accredited private college, today announced its newest advanced degree offering, a Master of Science in Data Science (MSDS) degree program.1 The program marks the fourth graduate-level degree program offered by the College following the launch of its Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) and Master of Human Resources Management (MHRM) programs in the summer of 2018 and its first graduate program, the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree, in 2016. These flexible and affordable online degree programs prepare professionals currently working in technology, healthcare and HR roles, as well as those interested in a career change, to further their skills by impacting and leading administrative and organizational growth in a variety of professional settings. The College's expansion into three additional graduate degree offerings over the past year addresses rising workforce demands and the educational needs of former and future students. It also denotes the significant investment Rasmussen College is making in advanced degree offerings. "Expanding our graduate education offerings to meet the emerging need for technology, healthcare and HR leaders is an exciting evolution in the College's 119-year history," said Dr. Trenda Boyum-Breen, president of Rasmussen College. "We continue to follow our mission to provide career-focused and market-relevant programs that serve a diverse, adult learner population. With an increased focus on lifelong learning, we are choosing to expand our graduate education offerings to cater to experienced professionals looking to enhance their careers." Efficient, Relevant and Flexible Paths to Earning a Master's Degree With no Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) requirements and four start dates per year, Rasmussen College's Master's degree programs allow students to begin their education when they are ready. Through courses designed for working professionals, Master's degree students in the MSDS, MHA and MHRM programs are able to complete their fully Competency-Based Education (CBE) program in as few as 18 months.2 CBE maximizes efficiency and relevancy while maintaining graded instruction and faculty interaction. With a total of 12 courses-each 11 weeks in length-students in the MSDS, MHA or MHRM programs can earn their degree for as low as $20,000. Enrollment for each program is immediately available with courses beginning in July for applicants who meet program entry requirements and hold a Bachelor's degree with a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher from an accredited institution. Master of Science in Data Science The Rasmussen College MSDS program prepares students to advance their careers through robust coursework and hands-on assessments allowing them to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world business analysis applications. Courses are project-based and simulate actual experiences with designing, performing and delivering organizational data-based objectives, including the use of sophisticated and advanced analytical languages, tools and algorithms. This new program utilizes a breadth of industry-standard tools and languages, including Tableau, SAS (News - Alert), Scala, Python, R and Microsoft Azure to help bring data to life.3,4,5 Graduates are prepared to conduct deep analyses including the use of advanced statistics, artificial intelligence and text mining on multi-formatted data sets as typified by big data sources. The program provides preparation for roles such as Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Data Architects or Business Analysts. Master of Healthcare Administration Through innovative curriculum, students in the College's MHA program gain the practical experiences needed for effective decision-making and the ability to implement best practices for management and leadership positions in the field of healthcare delivery, with an emphasis in health policy and administration. Curriculum aligns with the National Center for Healthcare Leadership's Health Leadership Competency Model -providing students a comprehensive, interdisciplinary model for healthcare leadership. Rasmussen College's MHA curriculum focuses on leadership development and provides students with the advanced skills and knowledge of the business of healthcare. Students learn firsthand about quality management and process improvement, including trends and market forces that impact quality patient care. The program is intended for students interested in enhancing their critical-thinking and decision-making skills and advancing their career in a leadership role within healthcare administration. The program prepares graduates to work towards roles such as Hospital Administrators, Clinical Directors, Health Services Managers or Practice Managers. Master of Human Resources Management Rasmussen College's MHRM curriculum prepares students to advance their education through vigorous coursework that spans a multitude of human resource and organizational leadership disciplines. Rasmussen College's MHRM curriculum is aligned with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and focuses on enhancing in-demand skills, including: applied human resources analytics, organizational behavior and leadership, strategic recruitment and change management-skills needed to thrive in today's continually changing business environment. Graduates from the program are academically prepared to sit for the SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP exams offered by SHRM and are also academically prepared to sit for the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) certifications offered by the HR Certification Institute (HRCI).6 Upon graduation, students will be equipped with the confidence and skillset needed as a foundation to apply for strategic roles such as Manager of Human Resources, Director of Leadership and Organizational Development, Director of Compensation and Benefits and Director of Training and Development. To learn more about Rasmussen College's Master's degree programs, visit rasmussen.edu/degrees/masters/. 1Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. hlcommission.org | 800-621-7440 2Completion time is dependent on transfer credits accepted and the number of courses completed each term. 3Tableau is a registered trademark of Tableau Software, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. 4SAS is a registered trademark of SAS Institute Inc. 5Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure is registered trademarks of Microsoft Inc. 6PHR and SPHR are all registered trademarks of HR Certification Institute. 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/20190502005795/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Pittsburgh Innovation District Welcomes Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Frances Arnold as Keynote Speaker to Kick of Pittsburgh's Annual Life Sciences Week PITTSBURGH, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pittsburgh Innovation District is re-launching Pittsburgh's Life Sciences week and is featuring 2018 Nobel Prize Winner and Pittsburgh native Dr. Frances Arnold. Only the fifth woman to win the top prize in Chemistry in 177 medalists, Dr. Arnold will share her keynote on May 13, 2019 at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. Pittsburgh Innovation District is Pittsburgh-based non-profit that unites vital research, talent, technology, and an entrepreneurial spirit with the support, culture, amenities, and capital that allow innovators to thrive. Life Sciences Week (LSW219) is a five-day exploration of cutting-edge technologies, sciences and partnerships that define the future of life science innovation. During this time, Pittsburgh Innovation District will be welcoming guests from around the globe while highlighting innovators in its home region. The program, now spearheaded for the first time by Pittsburgh Innovation District, is designed to bring professionals, innovators, and opportunities together. The weeklong programming of public and private events, which ranges from free panels and tours to receptions and partnership events, not only showcases work being done in Pittsburgh, but also connects the dots between innovation, function, use, and funding. This year's theme, Investing in a Smarter Life, draws on Pittsburgh's unique position at the intersection of intelligent systems and life sciences. Most activities are centered in the Oakland neighborhood. Oakland is the knowledge hub of the Pittsburgh Innovation District, providing maximum opportunity to build connections between industry, investors, startups, and researchers to advance human health and quality of life. The week of programming commences with Keynote Kickoff event at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland, featuring Dr. Frances Arnold. Dr. Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry and Director of the Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology, where she has been on the faculty since 1986. Recognized most recently with the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Arnold pioneered directed protein evolution and has used those methos for applications in alternative energy, chemicals, and medicine. Directed evolution is now used worldwide to make enzymes for consumer products, textiles, gene sequencing, chemical synthesis, clinical diagnostics, drug discovery and manufacturing, and more. Dr. Arnold originally hails from the Edgewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. "Pittsburgh was a wonderful place to grow updiverse and complex, one could go from one culture to a completely different one in just a few blocks. It was a whole world in one city. I learned how to navigate the world, and life's potholes, in Pittsburgh." states Dr. Arnold. "We are elated and honored to welcome Dr. Frances Arnold back to Pittsburgh as part of Life Sciences Week this year," says Pittsburgh Innovation District Executive Director Sean Luther. "She is an inspiration to the scientific communities in Pittsburgh and around the world, and we are so fortunate to frame this event with her pioneering work." The Keynote Kickoff, featuring Dr. Frances Arnold, is an all-ages, ticketed event and is open to the public. Tickets start at $40 and can be purchased in advance online at eventbrite.com . A limited amount will be available for sale at the door. The Keynote is presented in partnership with the Inspire Speakers Series, the city's leading sustainability lecture circuit produced by Green Building Alliance. Launched in 2017 by the University of Pittsburgh's Office of Economic Partnerships, Life Science Week is made possible by an interdisciplinary partnership of Pittsburgh's life science leadership. Core partners include: University of Pittsburgh, Bio Breakfast, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, Duquesne University, Green Building Alliance Innovation Works, Life X, Life Sciences Pennsylvania, Magee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, UPMC Enterprises, and Women In Bio?. For a complete list of programming throughout the week, visit lifesciencespittsburgh.com/program2019 . About Pittsburgh Innovation District The Pittsburgh Innovation District is a dynamic, dense, connective pulse of innovation rooted in the world- class research of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and UPMC, situated in the heart of Pittsburgh's compact landscape, and following its tradition of inventive grit. The Innovation District unites vital research, talent, technology, and an entrepreneurial spirit with the support, culture, amenities, and capital that allow innovators to thrive. About InnovatePGH InnovatePGH is a next-generation public-private partnership built to accelerate Pittsburgh's status as a global innovation city. A coalition of civic leaders representing the Allegheny County, City of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, UPMC, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and regional philanthropies power the partnership. About Inspire Speakers Series Founded in 2012 by Green Building Alliance, the Inspire Speakers Series proposes a new vision for Pittsburgh, one based on inclusive dialogue and shared prosperity. In its 8th season, the series has welcomed over 100 national thought leaders to discuss topics including public art, placemaking, and equitable development. Series highlights include Paul Hawken, Joel Glansberg, Toni Griffin, and Candy Chang. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pittsburgh-innovation-district-welcomes-nobel-prize-winner-dr-frances-arnold-as-keynote-speaker-to-kick-of-pittsburghs-annual-life-sciences-week-300843077.html SOURCE Pittsburgh Innovation District [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Just Ahead of Mother's Day, Hardworking Single Mom Receives 'Random Act of Kindness' from Desert Financial Credit Union Desert Financial Credit Union, which turns 80 years old this month, is continuing its 'Random Acts of Kindness' campaign, and spreading joy across the Valley. One such random act came at the perfect time for Queen Creek's Kate Norwood. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005851/en/ Desert Financial Credit Union representatives, including President & CEO Jeff Meshey, pose with surprise recipient, Kate Norwood and Lyft representatives. (Photo: Business Wire) Thinking she was headed to the Lyft Driver Hub to film a Mother's Day media segment recently, Norwood was surprised when a large group of Desert Financial employees wearing brightly colored shirts walked into the room with a giant check. Turns out, the single mother of three was there to be celebrated. Desert Financial employees gave her a check for $1,000 and $200 in additional movie-themed goodies. Lyft added to the day's surprises, with a $200 Visagift card and $300 in Lyft credit. "Our Random Acts of Kindness campaign spreads kindness around the Valley through giveaways, surprises and more," says Desert Financial President & CEO Jeff Meshey. "Providing Kate with some extra funds and a movie-themed gift basket as a random act was especially meaningful just ahead of Mother's Day." The Random Act of Kindness was the result of another kindness - a Team Member at Desert Financial's Queen Creek branch location heard the mother's story and submitted her as a candidate for the program. She was delighted when she heard the news that Kate had been selected. "Kate's story touched my heart, and I was so happy to help by nominating her," said Lexis Najer, Member Solutions Representative, Desert Financial. The team at Lyft was also critical to pulling off the special moment. When Desert Financial reached out to them about the opportunity to highlight one of their drivers who also happened to be a Desert Financial member, they jumped at the chance. "We appreciate our drivers and what they contribute to Lyft, so this was a fun and special way to help honor one of them," says Drena Kusari, Regional General Manager, Lyft. Desert Financial's Random Acts of Kindness are continuing throughout the region in 2019, and will be especially visible this month as the credit union celebrates 80 years. For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/desertfinancial. Desert Financial Credit Union Celebrating 80 years in Arizona, Desert Financial is the state's largest credit union with $4.6 billion in assets, more than 330,000 members and 48 locations across the Valley. As a not-for-profit cooperative, Desert Financial prides itself on sharing success with its members, its team and the wider community. In 2018, Desert Financial gave $7M back to the community and its members, through programs including Teacher Appreciation and Random Acts of Kindness. Learn more at www.desertfinancial.com. Lyft Lyft was founded in 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer to improve people's lives with the world's best transportation, and is available to 95 percent of the United States population as well as select cities in Canada. Lyft is committed to effecting positive change for our cities by offsetting carbon emissions from all rides, and by promoting transportation equity through shared rides, bikeshare systems, electric scooters, and public transit partnerships. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005851/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] DHI Group Reports Growth in Ongoing Tech-Focused Revenue NEW YORK, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE: DHX) ("DHI" or the "Company"), today announced the following financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. First Quarter 2019 Financial Highlights Revenues were $37.1 million . Ongoing tech-focused 1 revenues were up 1% year over year and 2% excluding the effect of foreign exchange . Ongoing tech-focused revenues were up 1% year over year and 2% excluding the effect of foreign exchange Dice revenues were $23.1 million , down 1% compared to the prior year period, marking a sustained trend of improvement , down 1% compared to the prior year period, marking a sustained trend of improvement eFinancialCareers revenues were $8.2 million , in line year over year, excluding foreign exchange , in line year over year, excluding foreign exchange ClearanceJobs revenues were $5.8 million , up 20% year over year, the thirteenth consecutive quarter of at least 20% year over year revenue growth , up 20% year over year, the thirteenth consecutive quarter of at least 20% year over year revenue growth Net income was $1.6 million , or $0.03 per diluted share , or per diluted share Cash flow from operations was $3.2 million Adjusted EBITDA2 was $8.5 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin2 was 23%, the third consecutive quarter of sequential margin improvement Commenting on the results, Art Zeile, President and CEO of DHI Group, Inc., said: "Our solid quarterly results, which included revenue growth from our ongoing tech-focused1 business for the first time in several years, reflect the continued positive momentum we are generating against our tech-focused strategy and the hard work of our entire team. We continued to deliver solid adjusted EBITDA margins2 while also investing in sales, marketing and innovation." 1 Excludes Dice Europe, which ceased operations August 31, 2018. 2 See "Notes Regarding the Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" later in this press release. First Quarter 2019 Business Highlights Dice Completed migration of 99% of Dice customers to TalentSearch with Intellisearch, generating positive feedback and a double-digit increase in usage. Launched Candidate Match, which uses DHI's AI-based technology skills data model to grade each candidate's skills, experience and relevance against the requirements of a job posting. Introduced performance-based products alongside the Company's current user-based model. The enhancement, which has been offered in ClearanceJobs to great success, enables clients to pay on a consumption basis. ClearanceJobs Introduced Pulse, a unified news feed for candidates, which enables a stream of information from recruiters connected to a candidate. ClearanceJobs hit a new record for job postings and candidate connections and doubled nearly every engagement metric since the launch of its Next Generation platform, including increases in the amount of messages processed and the number of searches on the platform. eFinancialCareers Released Job Search during the quarter, which is an improved capability to assist candidates in finding jobs that are more relevant to their resume and background. during the quarter, which is an improved capability to assist candidates in finding jobs that are more relevant to their resume and background. Introduced performance-based products, which are now in the pilot phase, and are being offered alongside the Company's current user-based model. Recent Developments In April 2019, the Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to an additional $7 million of the Company's common stock through May 2020, renewing the Company's prior stock repurchase program. Under the plan, management has discretion in determining the conditions under which shares may be purchased from time to time. Business Outlook The Company believes that its ongoing tech-focused1 business will continue to achieve modest improvements in revenue growth rate as the year progresses. The Company further anticipates that Dice will turn to positive year over year revenue growth in the second half of 2019. The Company expects to make further progress on rationalizing its expenses, while at the same time investing prudently for growth, which should enable the Company to maintain its current level of Adjusted EBITDA margin2 for the year. The Company is unable to provide guidance for net income, because it cannot reasonably assess the impact of stock-based compensation and income tax expense. 1 Excludes Dice Europe, which ceased operations August 31, 2018. 2 See "Notes Regarding the Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" later in this press release. Conference Call Information Art Zeile, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Luc Gregoire, Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call today, May 2, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Company's financial results, recent developments and progress on its tech-focused strategy. The call can be accessed by dialing +1-877-790-5362 (in the U.S.) or +1-647-689-5635 (outside the U.S.) and entering the conference ID 4974927 or asking to be placed into the DHI Group, Inc. call. A live webcast of the call will simultaneously be available through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, https://www.dhigroupinc.com and available for replay after the call ends. About DHI Group, Inc. DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE: DHX) is a leading provider of data, insights and employment connections through our specialized services for technology professionals and other select online communities. Our mission is to empower technology professionals and organizations that hire them to compete and win through expert insights and relevant employment connections. Employers and recruiters use our websites and services to source, hire and connect with the most qualified and highly-skilled technology professionals, while professionals use our websites and services to find ideal employment opportunities, relevant job advice and tailored career-related data. For over 25 years, we have built our Company on providing employers and professionals with career connections, news, tools and information. Today, we serve multiple markets in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. Find out more at www.dhigroupinc.com. Notes Regarding the Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures The Company has provided certain non-GAAP financial information as additional information for its operating results. These measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, measurements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP") and may be different from similarly titled non-GAAP measures reported by other companies. The Company believes that its presentation of non-GAAP measures, such as Adjusted Revenues, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, non-cash stock based compensation expense, other non-recurring income or expense ("Adjusted EBITDA") and Adjusted EBITDA margin provides useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the Company's management uses these measures for reviewing the financial results of the Company and for budgeting and planning purposes. The non-GAAP measures apply to consolidated results and results by segment or other measure as shown within this document. The Company has provided required reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures elsewhere in the document. Adjusted Revenues Adjusted Revenues is a non-GAAP metric used by management to measure operating performance. Adjusted Revenues represents Revenues less the revenues of divested businesses. We consider Adjusted Revenues to be an important measure to evaluate the performance of our ongoing businesses and provide comparable results excluding our divestitures. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP metrics used by management to measure operating performance. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure for internal monitoring and planning, including preparation of annual budgets, analyzing investment decisions and evaluating profitability and performance comparisons between us and our competitors. The Company also uses this measure to calculate amounts of performance based compensation under the senior management incentive bonus program. Adjusted EBITDA represents net income plus (to the extent deducted in calculating such net income) interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, non-cash stock based compensation, losses resulting from certain dispositions outside the ordinary course of business including prior negative operating results of those businesses, certain writeoffs in connection with indebtedness, impairment charges with respect to long-lived assets, expenses incurred in connection with an equity offering or any other offering of securities by the Company, extraordinary or non-recurring non-cash expenses or losses, transaction costs in connection with the credit agreement, deferred revenues written off in connection with acquisition purchase accounting adjustments, writeoff of non-cash stock compensation expense, severance and retention costs related to dispositions and reorganizations of the Company, losses related to legal claims and fees that are unusual in nature or infrequent, minus (to the extent included in calculating such net income) non-cash income or gains, interest income, business interruption insurance proceeds, and any income or gain resulting from certain dispositions outside the ordinary course of business, including prior positive operating results of those divested businesses, and gains related to legal claims that are unusual in nature or infrequent. We also consider Adjusted EBITDA, as defined above, to be an important indicator to investors because it provides information related to our ability to provide cash flows to meet future debt service, capital expenditures and working capital requirements and to fund future growth. We present Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental performance measure because we believe that this measure provides our board of directors, management and investors with additional information to measure our performance, provide comparisons from period to period and company to company by excluding potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting interest expense) and tax positions (such as the impact on periods or companies of changes in effective tax rates or net operating losses), and to estimate our value. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is computed as Adjusted EBITDA divided by Adjusted Revenues. Adjusted Revenues, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not measurements of our financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to revenue, net income, operating income, or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP as a measure of our profitability. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and oral statements made from time to time by our representatives contain forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on those statements because they are subject to numerous uncertainties and factors relating to our operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations. These statements often include words such as "may," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or similar expressions. These statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of our experience in the industry as well as our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect our actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, our ability to execute our tech-focused strategy, competition from existing and future competitors in the highly competitive markets in which we operate, failure to adapt our business model to keep pace with rapid changes in the recruiting and career services business, failure to maintain and develop our reputation and brand recognition, failure to increase or maintain the number of customers who purchase recruitment packages, cyclicality or downturns in the economy or industries we serve, the uncertainty surrounding the United Kingdom's future departure from the European Union, including uncertainty in respect of the regulation of data protection and data privacy, failure to attract qualified professionals to our websites or grow the number of qualified professionals who use our websites, failure to successfully identify or integrate acquisitions, U.S. and foreign government regulation of the Internet and taxation, our ability to borrow funds under our revolving credit facility or refinance our indebtedness and restrictions on our current and future operations under such indebtedness. These factors and others are discussed in more detail in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available on the Investors page of our website at www.dhigroupinc.com, including the Company's most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and subsequent filings under the headings "Risk Factors," "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statement made by the Company or its representatives herein, or elsewhere, speaks only as of the date on which it is made. New risks and uncertainties come up from time to time, and it is impossible to predict these events or how they may affect us. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date hereof, except as required by federal securities laws. Investor Contact Todd Kehrli or Jim Byers MKR Investor Relations, Inc. 212-448-4181 [email protected] Media Contact Rachel Ceccarelli Director of Corporate Communications 212-448-8288 [email protected] DHI GROUP, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) (in thousands, except per share amounts) For the three months ended March 31, 2019 2018 Revenues $ 37,120 $ 43,071 Operating expenses: Cost of revenues 3,825 5,157 Product development 4,196 5,463 Sales and marketing 14,279 16,267 General and administrative 7,928 10,382 Depreciation 2,425 2,290 Amortization of intangible assets 291 Disposition related and other costs 875 1,011 Total operating expenses 33,528 40,861 Gain on sale of businesses, net 4,639 Operating income 3,592 6,849 Interest expense and other (105) (546) Other expense (9) Income before income taxes 3,487 6,294 Income tax expense 1,899 2,791 Net income $ 1,588 $ 3,503 Basic earnings per share $ 0.03 $ 0.07 Diluted earnings per share $ 0.03 $ 0.07 Weighted average basic shares outstanding 48,103 48,258 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 50,330 48,974 DHI GROUP, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) (in thousands) For the three months ended March 31, 2019 2018 Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 1,588 $ 3,503 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash flows from operating activities: Depreciation 2,425 2,290 Amortization of intangible assets 291 Deferred income taxes (55) 82 Amortization of deferred financing costs 37 49 Stock based compensation 1,458 2,509 Change in accrual for unrecognized tax benefits 121 220 Gain on sale of businesses, net (4,639) Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable (2,209) 10,956 Prepaid expenses and other assets 376 1,070 Capitalized contract costs 708 (1,398) Accounts payable and accrued expenses (7,619) (6,007) Income taxes receivable/payable 1,496 1,676 Deferred revenue 4,785 (3,745) Other, net 127 61 Net cash flows from operating activities 3,238 6,918 Cash flows from (used in) investing activities: Cash received from sale of businesses 3,520 Purchases of fixed assets (3,052) (1,825) Net cash flows from (used in) investing activities (3,052) 1,695 Cash flows used in financing activities: Payments on long-term debt (15,000) (6,000) Proceeds from long-term debt Payments under stock repurchase plan 14,000 2,000 (491) Purchase of treasury stock related to vested restricted stock units (532) (325) Net cash flows used in financing activities (2,023) (4,325) Effect of exchange rate changes 59 (149) Net change in cash for the period (1,778) 4,139 Cash, beginning of period 6,472 12,068 Cash, end of period $ 4,694 $ 16,207 DHI GROUP, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (in thousands) ASSETS March 31, 2019 December 31, 2018 Current assets Cash $ 4,694 $ 6,472 Accounts receivable, net 25,157 22,850 Income taxes receivable 662 2,203 Prepaid and other current assets 6,545 7,330 Total current assets 37,058 38,855 Fixed assets, net 16,646 15,890 Acquired intangible assets 39,000 39,000 Capitalized contract costs 7,259 7,939 Goodwill 155,382 153,974 Deferred income taxes 143 136 Operating lease right of use asset 17,533 Other assets 2,555 2,591 Total assets $ 275,576 $ 258,385 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 17,532 $ 25,030 Operating lease liabilities 3,926 Deferred revenue 59,954 54,723 Income taxes payable 1,128 1,168 Total current liabilities 82,540 80,921 Long-term debt, net 16,325 17,288 Deferred income taxes 10,402 10,444 Deferred revenue 1,058 1,363 Accrual for unrecognized tax benefits 1,801 1,680 Operating lease liabilities 14,250 Other long-term liabilities 385 1,334 Total liabilities 126,761 113,030 Total stockholders' equity 148,815 145,355 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 275,576 $ 258,385 Supplemental Information and Non-GAAP Reconciliations On the pages that follow, the Company has provided certain supplemental information that we believe will assist the reader in assessing our business operations and performance, including certain non-GAAP financial information and required reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measure. A statement of operations and statement of cash flows for the three month periods ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 and balance sheets as of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 are provided elsewhere in this press release. DHI GROUP, INC. NON-GAAP SUPPLEMENTAL DATA (Unaudited) (dollars in thousands, except per customer data) For the three months ended March 31, 2019 2018 Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA: Net income $ 1,588 $ 3,503 Interest expense 109 546 Income tax expense 1,899 2,791 Depreciation 2,425 2,290 Amortization of intangible assets 291 Non-cash stock based compensation 1,458 2,509 Gain on sale of businesses, net (4,639) Disposition related and other costs 875 1,011 Legal contingencies and related fees 144 1,389 Divested businesses (1,354) Other (4) 8 Adjusted EBITDA $ 8,494 $ 8,345 Reconciliation of Operating Cash Flows to Adjusted EBITDA: Net cash provided by operating activities $ 3,238 $ 6,918 Interest expense 109 546 Amortization of deferred financing costs (37) (49) Income tax expense 1,899 2,791 Deferred income taxes 55 (82) Change in accrual for unrecognized tax benefits (121) (220) Change in accounts receivable 2,209 (10,956) Change in deferred revenue (4,785) 3,745 Disposition related and other costs 875 1,011 Legal contingencies and related fees 144 1,389 Divested businesses (1,354) Changes in working capital and other 4,908 4,606 Adjusted EBITDA $ 8,494 $ 8,345 Dice Recruitment Package Customers Beginning of period 6,200 6,450 End of period 6,100 6,200 Average for the period (1) 6,100 6,250 Dice Average Monthly Revenue per Recruitment Package Customer (2) $ 1,134 $ 1,112 (1) Reflects the daily average of recruitment package customers during the period. (2) Reflects the simple average of each period presented. DHI GROUP, INC. NON-GAAP SUPPLEMENTAL DATA (CONTINUED) (Unaudited) (in thousands) For the three months ended March 31, 2019 Reconciliation of Operating Income to Adjusted EBITDA: Tech-focused Other Total Operating income $ 3,592 $ $ 3,592 Depreciation 2,425 2,425 Non-cash stock based compensation expense 1,458 1,458 Disposition related and other costs 875 875 Legal contingencies and fees 144 144 Adjusted EBITDA $ 8,494 $ $ 8,494 For the three months ended March 31, 2018 Reconciliation of Operating Income to Adjusted EBITDA: Tech-focused Other Total Operating income $ 1,656 $ 5,193 $ 6,849 Depreciation 2,157 133 2,290 Amortization of intangible assets 291 291 Non-cash stock based compensation expense 2,399 110 2,509 Disposition related and other costs 744 267 1,011 Legal contingencies and fees 1,389 1,389 Gain on sale of businesses (4,639) (4,639) Divested businesses (1,354) (1,354) Other (1) $ (1) Adjusted EBITDA $ 8,345 $ $ 8,345 For the three months ended March 31, 2019 Reconciliation of Revenues to Adjusted Revenues Tech-focused Other Total Revenues $ 37,120 $ $ 37,120 Divested businesses Adjusted Revenues $ 37,120 $ $ 37,120 For the three months ended March 31, 2018 Reconciliation of Revenues to Adjusted Revenues Tech-focused Other Total Revenues $ 37,941 $ 5,130 $ 43,071 Divested businesses (5,130) (5,130) Adjusted Revenues $ 37,941 $ $ 37,941 Definitions: Tech-focused: Dice, Dice Europe (ceased operations on August 31, 2018), eFinancialCareers, ClearanceJobs, Targeted Job Fairs and Corporate. Other:1 Hcareers, Rigzone, and BioSpace. 1 Majority ownership of the BioSpace business was transferred to BioSpace management on January 31, 2018, the RigLogix portion of the Rigzone business was sold on February 20, 2018, Hcareers was sold on May 22, 2018, and majority ownership of the remaining Rigzone business was transferred to Rigzone management on August 31, 2018. DHI GROUP, INC. NON-GAAP SUPPLEMENTAL DATA (CONTINUED) (Unaudited) (in thousands) Revenue Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Change $ Fx Impact Dice $ 23,146 $ 23,282 (1)% $ eFinancialCareers 8,192 8,563 (4)% (411) ClearanceJobs 5,782 4,804 20% Tech-focused, excluding Dice Europe 37,120 36,649 1% (411) Dice Europe (1) 1,292 n.m. Tech-focused 37,120 37,941 (2)% (411) Hcareers (2) 3,393 n.m. Rigzone (2) 1,525 n.m. BioSpace (2) 212 n.m. Other 5,130 n.m. Total Revenues $ 37,120 $ 43,071 (14)% $ (411) Net Income $ 1,588 $ 3,503 Diluted earnings per share $ 0.03 $ 0.07 Adjusted Revenues $ 37,120 $ 37,941 Adjusted EBITDA $ 8,494 $ 8,345 Adjusted EBITDA Margin 23% 22% (1) Dice Europe ceased operations on August 31, 2018. (2) Majority ownership of the BioSpace business was transferred to BioSpace management on January 31, 2018, the RigLogix portion of the Rigzone business was sold on February 20, 2018, Hcareers was sold on May 22, 2018, and majority ownership of the remaining Rigzone business was transferred to Rigzone management on August 31, 2018. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dhi-group-reports-growth-in-ongoing-tech-focused-revenue-300842924.html SOURCE DHI Group, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Leidos to Showcase Innovative Solutions at Sea Air Space 2019 RESTON, Va., May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, will showcase its innovative solutions and capabilities for U.S. naval forces during the 2019 Sea-Air-Space Exposition May 6-8 in National Harbor, Md. Leidos will have a series of demos each day at booth #1823 on the topics such as autonomy, artificial intelligence/machine learning, enterprise and cyber solutions. The company will present Sea Hunter, the autonomous, unmanned vessel developed with the Office of Naval Research. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the program and vessel, maritime autonomy architecture, behaviors, and missions, and recent efforts in autonomous surveying and logistics. The Leidos R/V Pathfinder vessel, the test platform for Sea Hunter, will also be presented. Leidos experts will summarize the newest technology to innovate and apply agnostic Agile development and DevSecOps processes. Attendees can view a live demonstration of the Leidos Enterprise Application Framework, known as LEAF, which enables rapid prototyping and delivery of new applications. The company will also showcase its framework for incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms into existing systems and data models called Microservices Architecture for Pluggable Environments (MAPLE). Experts will show a demo of how MAPLE enables system upgrades as fast as new algorithms are devised, which is critical for algorithmic warfare requirements. Other demos include: how Leidos provides direct support to the Navy's surface and submarine Towed Array Sensor systems; range and radar development and logistics; life-cycle systems engineering for the Tomahawk program; a maritime communications support data link; a portable geolocation system; and the company's cloud capabilities. "Leidos has a 50-year legacy of support to the U.S. Navy's critical programs and has the right people and capabilities to help the Navy tackle its current challenges and unlock the potential of emerging technologies," said Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group President. For more information, visit Leidos at booth #1823 at the conference or at www.leidos.com. 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/leidos-to-showcase-innovative-solutions-at-sea-air-space-2019-300843092.html SOURCE Leidos [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Salesforce Announces Timing of its First Quarter Fiscal 2020 Results Conference Call SAN FRANCISCO, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today announced that its first quarter fiscal year 2020 results will be released on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, after the close of the market. The company will host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. (PT) / 5:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss its financial results with the investment community. A live webcast of the event will be available on the Salesforce Investor Relations website at www.salesforce.com/investor. A live dial-in is available domestically at 866-901-SFDC or 866-901-7332 and internationally at 706-90-1764, passcode 7177678. A replay will be available at (800) 585-8367 or (855) 859-2056 until midnight (ET) July 4, 2019. About Salesforce Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information about Salesforce, visit: www.salesforce.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/salesforce-announces-timing-of-its-first-quarter-fiscal-2020-results-conference-call-300843072.html SOURCE Salesforce [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Steel Partners Holdings Reports First Quarter Financial Results and Outlook Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (NYSE:SPLP), a diversified global holding company, today announced operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. Revenue for the 2019 first quarter increased to $387.1 million from $366.2 million for the same period in 2018. Income before income taxes and equity method investments was $9.2 million for the first quarter of 2019, compared with a loss of $9.5 million in the comparable 2018 period. Net income attributable to the Company's common unitholders for the 2019 first quarter was $15.7 million, or $0.48 per diluted common unit, compared with net loss of $9.1 million, or $0.35 per common unit, for the same period in 2018. The Company generated a 12.5% increase in Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2019 to $39.6 million from $35.2 million for the same period in 2018. The Company is presenting Adjusted EBITDA to assist investors with their understanding of Steel Partners' results of operations and financial condition. See "Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measurements" below for the definition of Adjusted EBITDA. 2019 Highlights Book value per unit as of March 31, 2019 was $21.10 per unit, as compared with $20.39 per unit at prior year-end. On April 1, 2019, the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, WebBank, completed the acquisition of National Partners, a national insurance premium finance company, diversifying its revenue mix with a secured, low-risk and short-term commercial-based product. Steel Partners repurchased 505,336 common units for an aggregate price of $6.7 million during the first quarter. The Company entered into an amendment to its senior secured revolving credit facility to increase availability, allowing for continued growth through strategic acquisitions and other investments. Investments in affiliated companies and marketable securities provided pretax gains totaling $12.4 million during the first quarter. "Each of our business segments registered improved operating results for the quarter over the comparable prior year period," said Warren Lichtenstein, Executive Chairman of Steel Partners. "Within Diversified Industrial, our building materials, performance materials and electrical products businesses performed particularly well, and we made excellent progress implementing our facility consolidation plans and adjusting staffing levels in our packaging business; WebBank continued its trend of strong returns, driven by higher interest income due to larger outstanding loan receivable balances and increased volume in lending programs; and we experienced strong demand in our Energy segment, based, in part, on recent increases in oil prices and a larger North American oil and gas drilling rig count. "We continue to operate all our companies with a focus on operational excellence and achieving solid returns on invested capital, with a collective goal of increasing stakeholder value," Lichtenstein added. 2019 Outlook Based on current information, Steel Partners expects 2019 second quarter revenue between $416 million and $437 million and Adjusted EBITDA between $52 million and $64 million. The Company anticipates revenue for the full 2019 year between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion and Adjusted EBITDA between $205 million and $222 million. (Financial Tables on Following Pages) Financial Summary (unaudited) (in thousands, except per common unit) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Revenue $ 387,053 $ 366,245 Costs and expenses, excluding realized and unrealized (gains) losses on securities 379,960 361,932 Realized and unrealized (gains) losses on securities, net (2,109 ) 13,789 Total costs and expenses 377,851 375,721 Income (loss) before income taxes and equity method investments 9,202 (9,476 ) Income tax provision 2,961 1,330 Income of associated companies, net of taxes (9,381 ) (1,955 ) Net income (loss) 15,622 (8,851 ) Net loss (income) attributable to noncontrolling interests in consolidated entities 56 (227 ) Net income (loss) attributable to common unitholders $ 15,678 $ (9,078 ) Net income (loss) per common unit - basic $ 0.63 $ (0.35 ) Net income (loss) per common unit - diluted $ 0.48 $ (0.35 ) Capital expenditures $ 7,353 $ 12,010 Balance Sheet Data (March 31, 2019 unaudited) (in thousands, except common and preferred units) March 31, December 31, 2019 2018 Cash and cash equivalents $ 212,340 $ 334,884 WebBank cash and cash equivalents 170,813 281,566 Cash and cash equivalents, excluding WebBank 41,527 53,318 Marketable securities 1,671 1,439 Long-term investments 270,613 258,044 Total debt 488,451 481,989 Preferred unit liability, including current portion of $37,858 and $0, respectively 181,416 180,340 Common units outstanding 24,958,667 25,294,003 Preferred units outstanding 7,927,288 7,927,288 Supplemental Non-GAAP Disclosures (unaudited) Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation: (in thousands) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Net income (loss) $ 15,622 $ (8,851 ) Income tax provision 2,961 1,330 Income (loss) before income taxes 18,583 (7,521 ) Add (Deduct): Income of associated companies, net of taxes (9,381 ) (1,955 ) Realized and unrealized (gains) losses on securities, net (2,109 ) 13,789 Interest expense 10,808 8,109 Depreciation 12,069 11,351 Amortization 5,466 7,351 Non-cash pension expense 1,865 908 Non-cash equity-based compensation 164 149 Amortization of fair value adjustments to acquisition-date inventories - 603 Other items, net 2,112 2,384 Adjusted EBITDA $ 39,577 $ 35,168 Segment Results (unaudited) (in thousands) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Revenue: Diversified industrial $ 312,161 $ 307,618 Energy 38,986 36,592 Financial services 35,906 22,035 Total revenue $ 387,053 $ 366,245 Income (loss) before interest expense and income taxes: Diversified industrial $ 13,785 $ 13,448 Energy (1,331 ) (4,603 ) Financial services 13,026 8,530 Corporate and other 3,911 (16,787 ) Income before interest expense and income taxes 29,391 588 Interest expense 10,808 8,109 Income tax provision 2,961 1,330 Net income (loss) $ 15,622 $ (8,851 ) Income of associated companies, net of taxes: Corporate and other $ 9,381 $ 1,955 Total $ 9,381 $ 1,955 Segment depreciation and amortization: Diversified industrial $ 12,958 $ 13,548 Energy 4,445 5,022 Financial services 98 100 Corporate and other 34 32 Total depreciation and amortization $ 17,535 $ 18,702 Segment Adjusted EBITDA: Diversified industrial $ 29,906 $ 29,676 Energy 2,869 367 Financial services 13,119 9,494 Corporate and other (6,317 ) (4,369 ) Total Adjusted EBITDA $ 39,577 $ 35,168 During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company's investment gains and losses, including income of associated companies, have been classified in its Corporate and Other segment and interest expense, excluding the Financial Services segment's finance interest expense, has been removed from the measurement of segment results. Comparable 2018 balances have been reclassified to conform with the current year presentation. Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measurements The financial data contained in this press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measurements as defined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC (News - Alert)"), including "Adjusted EBITDA." The Company is presenting Adjusted EBITDA because it believes that it provides useful information to investors about SPLP, its business and its financial condition. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income or loss before the effects of income or loss from investments in associated companies and other investments held at fair value, interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash pension expense or income, and realized and unrealized gains or losses on investments and excludes certain non-recurring and non-cash items. The Company believes Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors because it is one of the measures used by the Company's Board of Directors and management to evaluate its business, including in internal management reporting, budgeting and forecasting processes, in comparing operating results across the business, as an internal profitability measure, as a component in evaluating the ability and the desirability of making capital expenditures and significant acquisitions and as an element in determining executive compensation. However, Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. ("U.S. GAAP"), and the items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance. Therefore, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for net income or loss, or cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities. Because Adjusted EBITDA is calculated before recurring cash charges, including realized losses on investments, interest expense and taxes, and is not adjusted for capital expenditures or other recurring cash requirements of the business, it should not be considered as a measure of discretionary cash available to invest in the growth of the business. There are a number of material limitations to the use of Adjusted EBITDA as an analytical tool, including the following: Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company's tax provision or the cash requirements to pay its taxes; Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income or loss from the Company's investments in associated companies and other investments held at fair value; Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company's interest expense; Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash expenses in the period recorded, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the cash requirements for such replacement; Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company's net realized and unrealized gains and losses on its investments; Adjusted EBITDA does not include non-cash charges for pension expense and equity-based compensation; and Adjusted EBITDA does not include certain other non-recurring and non-cash items. The Company compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on its U.S. GAAP financial measures and by using Adjusted EBITDA only as supplemental information. The Company believes that consideration of Adjusted EBITDA, together with a careful review of its U.S. GAAP financial measures, is the most informed method of analyzing SPLP. The Company reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net income or loss, which does not include amounts reported under U.S. GAAP related to noncontrolling interests in consolidated entities, and that reconciliation is set forth above. Because Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and is susceptible to varying calculations, Adjusted EBITDA, as presented, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Revenues and expenses are measured in accordance with the policies and procedures described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, except for changes made in accordance with the new accounting pronouncements adopted January 1, 2019, as discussed in Note 1 - "Nature of the Business and Basis of Presentation" and Note 3 - "Leases" to the Company's Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. About Steel Partners Holdings L.P. Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (www.steelpartners.com) is a diversified global holding company that owns and operates businesses and has significant interests in leading companies in various industries, including diversified industrial products, energy, defense, supply chain management and logistics, direct marketing, banking and youth sports. Forward-Looking Statements This press release 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, that reflect SPLP's current expectations and projections about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. SPLP has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words such as "may," "should," "expect," "hope," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "estimate" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause its actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities in 2019 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These factors include, without limitation, SPLP's need for additional financing and the terms and conditions of any financing that is consummated, customers' acceptance of its new and existing products, the risk that the Company and its affiliates will not be able to compete successfully, the possible volatility of the Company's common or preferred unit price and the potential fluctuation in its operating results. Although SPLP believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable and achievable, such statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, and no assurance can be given that the actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Investors should read carefully the factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's filings with the SEC, including the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, for information regarding risk factors that could affect the Company's results. Except as otherwise required by federal securities laws, SPLP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005910/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of Boston Scientific Corporation Investors Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of Boston Scientific Corporation ("Boston Scientific" or the "Company") (NYSE: BSX) investors concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. If you wish to learn more about this action, or if you hve any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. On April 16, 2019, the Company was ordered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") to stop selling and distributing its surgical mesh products. According to the FDA, the Company had "not demonstrated a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness for these devices." On this news, the Company's share price fell $2.90 per share, more than 7%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $34.91 per share on April 17, 2019, thereby injuring investors. If you purchased Boston Scientific securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley F. Portnoy, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005969/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] First BanCorp. Announces Payment of Dividends on Preferred Stock First BanCorp. (the "Corporation") (NYSE: FBP), the bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico, announced today that its Board of Directors has declared the following monthly cash dividends on its outstanding shares of Series A through E Noncumulative Perpetual Monthly Income Preferred Stock (the "Preferred Stock"): Series Monthly Dividend Per Share Outstanding Shares Record Date Payment Date A $0.14843750 197,386 May 29, 2019 May 31, 2019 B $0.17395800 296,146 May 15, 2019 May 31, 2019 C $0.15416670 249,852 May 15, 2019 May 31, 2019 D $0.15104167 285,522 May 15, 2019 May 31, 2019 E $0.14583330 415,240 May 15, 2019 May 31, 2019 The Corporation's ability to continue to declare and pay dividends on the Preferred Stock is dependent on certain Federal regulatory considerations, including the guidelines of the Federal Reserve Board regarding capital adequacy and dividends and on the Corporation's agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (the "Federal Reserve") to obtain regulatory approval to pay dividends to stockholders. Although there is no assurance that any dividends will be declared on the Corporation's Preferred Stock in any future periods, the Corporation intends to continue to request the Federal Reserve's approval to enable it to continue to pay the monthly dividends on its Preferred Stock. About First BanCorp. First BanCorp. is the parent corporation of FirstBank Puerto Rico, a state-chartered commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Florida, and of FirstBank Insurance Agency, LLC. Among the subsidiaries of FirstBank Puerto Rico are First Federal Finance Limited Liability Company and First Express, Inc., both small loan companies, and FirstBank Puerto Rico Securities Corp., a broker-dealer subsidiary. First BanCorp's shares of common stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FBP." Safe Harbor This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" concerning the Corporation. The words or phrases "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "look forward," "should," "would," "believes" and similar expressions are meant to identify "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 are subject to the safe harbor created by such sections. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Corporation's ability to declare dividends on the Corporation's Preferred Stock in any future periods and the Corporation's intention to request the Federal Reserve's approval to enable it to continue to pay the monthly dividends on its Preferred Stock once regulatory approvals expire. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans, estimates or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to the factors described in the Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K, in its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in other filings with the SEC (News - Alert). The Corporation does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any "forward-looking statements" to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements, except as required by the federal securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005976/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 02, 2019] GetSwift Appoints Terrance White to Board as Non-Executive Director GetSwift Limited (ASX: GSW) ('GetSwift' or the 'Company'), a leading provider of SaaS (News - Alert) logistics technology, today announced the appointment of Terrance White to the GetSwift Board of Directors. Mr. White brings over 40 years of experience directing, advising and investing in private and public companies from early-stage tech start-ups to the Fortune 250, with extensive experience in international business development, sales management, and marketing. "I am excited to join GetSwift's Board of Directors at this time of significant growth and expansion for the Company. GetSwift has built a world class senior executive team that from a leadership, strategy, product, technology, and operations standpoint that is second to none. Their recent acquisition of two complimentary SaaS platforms and their integration to meet customer needs in the last mile and workforce management demonstrates a unique ability to execute rapidly the lessons their business intelligence data is giving them," Mr. White said. "I look forward to drawing on my experiences scaling organizations - particularly revenue teams - to help GetSwift scale while growing the top line." Bane Hunter, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director said, "Terry is an outstanding global executive with a wealth of experience particularly in the North American markets. His insight, advice, networks and experience will be most welcome. We are delighted to add such an accomplished director to the Board and to the Company. We look forward to working with him in the boardroom to create long-term shareholder value." Mr. White previously served for 30 years in successful leadership roles for NYSE publicly listed Genuine Parts Company (GPC). His last 11 years at Genuine Parts were as President of its Rayloc Division. He was previously GPC's Vice President of Sales and Executive Vice President of NAPA,one of the world's best-known brands. Over his career, he has been involved as an advisor, investor and/or board member for several technology firms including NanoLumens, Interpoint Partners, DIS, and Gauge Insights. Engaged in the Atlanta community through numerous memberships and affiliations, he serves on the Board of Trustees of Oglethorpe University and the Children's Healthcare Research Trust and is an active member of the Atlanta Rotary Club. Consistent with the Company's focus on revenues and scaling the business to meet global demand, the Company intends to shortly appoint a new Independent Non-Executive Chair with strong growth and governance experience. Importantly, once all appointments take effect, the Board will continue to have a majority of independent directors. Annexure: Proposed equity grant Subject to receiving shareholder approval, GetSwift proposes to issue an aggregate 300,000 options to subscribe for one fully paid ordinary share each in the capital of the Company (Options). These Options are intended to be offered to Mr. White or his associates, consistent with US market practice for emerging growth companies and consistent with the previous options awards made to Non-Executive Directors. In accordance with commentary in the ASX Corporate Governance Council Principles and Recommendations, these securities issued to non-executive directors will not have performance hurdles. Further, they will not vest if the recipient ceases to be a director of the Company. The Options will be granted no later than 1 month following shareholder approval, with an exercise price for each Option being the 30-day VWAP for shares in the Company immediately prior to the grant date. Over 3 years, the Options will vest in equal quarterly installments, but they may only vest if at the time of the applicable vesting the recipient is still a director of the Company. The Options expire 10 years after their issue date. Adjustments to numbers of options and exercise price are only as permitted under ASX Listing Rules. If the shares resulting from the exercise of the options are issued and not transferred, the Company will immediately apply for quotation of the shares. The Option terms will include acceleration of vesting for change of control or liquidity events. Options are not transferable prior to vesting, other than to estate planning vehicles. At the request of the Option holder and subject to all applicable law, options may be net exercised. About GetSwift Limited Technology to Optimise Global Delivery Logistics GetSwift is a worldwide leader in delivery management automation. From enterprise to hyper-local, businesses across dozens of industries around the globe depend on our SaaS platform to bring visibility, accountability, efficiency and savings to their supply chain and "Last Mile" operations. GetSwift is headquartered in New York City and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:GSW). For further background, please visit GetSwift.co. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190502005982/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] With the Galaxy S10 out of the way, and the S10 5G all but in customers hands at this point, the worlds attention has shifted to the phablet Samsung will launch later in 2019. However, a new cryptic tweet about the Galaxy Note 10 from a well-regarded Samsung leaker has cast doubt that the company will fix one of its devices most glaring oversights. (Image credit: Samsung Galaxy Note 9. (Credit: Tom's Guide)) Twitter user Ice Universe, who was responsible for a great many of the rumors, renders and images that emerged leading up to the launch of the Galaxy S10 is now walking back a claim made earlier that the Note 10 will receive 25-watt fast charging. I take it back, but I cant say more, Ice Universe says in relation to the rumor they started. I can only say that your expectations are worthwhile. While its unclear what they mean by expectations (are we still talking about battery charging speed or the device overall?), the fact remains that this puts a disappointing damper on a feature the Note 10 really, really needs especially if its going to have a gigantic 4,500-mAh battery, as Ice Universe suggested a few days earlier. Samsung improved the speed of wireless charging with the S10 series, moving up to 12 watts, while the company neglected to touch its 15W wired fast charging technology. (The lone exception in the family is the S10 5G, which strangely will get the newer 25W wired spec to go with its own 4,500-mAh power pack.) Samsungs lack of investment in charging speed with the initial three S10 variants was quite a disappointment. It was also an unexpected one, considering Ice Universe said several months before the handsets launch that the company would make 15W charging history with the new models. Adding insult to injury, Samsung's Android competition have absolutely trounced it with respect to this subject. Huaweis latest smartphones come with a 40W brick, pushing an unprecedented amount of juice in a very short amount of time. The Mate 20 Pro and recently-launched P30 Pro can hit an astonishing 70 percent capacity in just 30 minutes. MORE: The Most Anticipated Smartphones: New Phones Coming Out in 2019 OnePlus is another manufacturer that has been responsible for many innovations in charging technology over the past several years. The McLaren special edition of the OnePlus 6T introduced the companys 30W Warp Charge system, which took the device from zero to 66% in a half hour, and several rumors point to that same technology will be implemented again in the rumored OnePlus 7 Pro. In other words, Samsung has had an awful lot of chances to catch up to its rivals here. If the Note 10s battery will really be as massive as some have suggested, its going to need a totally revamped system so it won't need to be plugged in for hours on end just to snag a full charge. And based on what were now hearing, thats not quite as safe a bet as we all hoped. Google is forcing people to use 2FA what that means for you Some Google users are being told they have to start using two-factor authentication by Nov. 9, and millions of others will follow by the end of the year. Here's what that means for you. (Image credit: Akshdeep Kaur Raked/Shutterstock) According to Qualcomms latest earnings report released this week, Apple will pay the company between $4.5 and $4.7 billion as part of the settlement the two firms made last month. Qualcomm Comes Out As Clear Winner In The Settlement Weve already known that Apple wasnt on the winning side in the settlement between itself and Qualcomm. The iPhone maker had to switch back to its lawsuit rival, Qualcomm, once Apple realized that Intel would fail to deliver the 5G modem for its 2021 iPhones. Therefore, Apple wasnt in a position in which it could make too many demands, especially since it was Apple that first launched a lawsuit in the first place. Now we've learned, according to Qualcomm's Q2 fiscal 2019 results, that Apple owes the chipmaker $4.5-$4.7 billion in back licensing. A previous report estimated that Apple would be paying $8-$9 per iPhone in patent royalties, an increase from the previous $7.5 payment per iPhone that the Cupertino company was making. Where Qualcomm Goes From Here Despite the large amount of money it will receive from Apple, as well as the six-year agreement the two companies made, Qualcomm isnt expected to increase its revenues significantly until 5G mobile networks start rolling out this year and the next. Qualcomm estimated that it will make $4.7 billion to $5.5 billion in revenue in the next quarter, which would have a mid-point slightly below the $5.29 billion analysts were expecting. Although Qualcomm came out as a big winner in the dispute with Apple, the company is not out of the woods yet in regards to antitrust accusations. The FTC antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm, in which the government agency alleges that Qualcomms licensing practices are anti-competitive, is yet to be resolved. Last year, the European Union fined Qualcomm $1.2 billion over an abuse of its dominant position in the wireless modem market. China previously fined Qualcomm $1 billion, and South Korea also fined the chipmaker $854 million, but the fine was eventually reduced to $200 million. (Image credit: Intel) Intel published a news byte today outlining its announcements at the FMX graphics trade show taking place in Germany this Week. It includes the tasty tidbit that the company's forthcoming data center specific Xe graphics architecture will support hardware-based ray tracing acceleration. From the blog: Im pleased to share today that the Intel Xe architecture roadmap for data center optimized rendering includes ray tracing hardware acceleration support for the Intel Rendering Framework family of APIs and libraries. As a quick refresher, Intel's Xe graphics architecture is Intel's forthcoming range of low- to high-power graphics solutions. These graphics processors will scale from integrated graphics chips on CPUs, up to discrete mid-range, enthusiast and data center/AI cards. Intel said it will split these graphics solutions into two distinct architectures, with both integrated and discrete graphics cards for the consumer market (client) and discrete cards for the data center. The cards will come wielding the 10nm process and should arrive in 2020. Support for ray tracing would bring Intel's graphics cards, at least for the data center, up to par with Nvidia's Turing architecture, which largely paved the path to hardware-based ray tracing in the consumer market. Given that this type of functionality is typically embedded at a foundational level in the microarchitecture, Intel's support for ray tracing with data center graphics cards strongly implies the desktop variants could also support the same functionality, though it is noteworthy that the company is splitting its offerings into two distinct architectures. Nvidia's Turing offerings also come both with and without ray tracing support, so it is possible that Intel could adopt a similar tiered model that leverages ray tracing as a segmented feature to encourage customers to buy higher-priced models. Details on Intel's Xe graphics architecture should continue to trickle out over the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, head over to our Intel Xe Graphics Card feature for the latest details. Flooded basements cause havoc for KC area homeowners MISSION HILLS, Kan. - After heavy rains in the Kansas City area on Tuesday, many homeowners woke up the next day to find water in their basements. On Wednesday morning, many crews were at those homes, working to dry out basements. Again and again we come back to thethat still hasn't been completed and has doomed this town to a soggy existence whilst politicos debate over luxury living space strategy. Checkit: Where's Waldo Flood Control??? Wet weather leaves Waldo neighborhood with basements of sewage KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- The latest round of storms and showers has left a neighborhood of houses in Waldo with basements full of sewage, as the city tries to intervene. Doppler radar estimated rainfall totals starting from Sunday show some areas received over 4 inches of rain! Golden Ghetto Great Debate Will Shawnee get a community center with pools, gyms, more? Ballots go out this week Voters will decide whether to approve a property tax increase to fund the construction of the proposed Shawnee Community Center this May. Drive by the yard signs and flyers in Shawnee neighborhoods or read online community forums and you'll find a city divided this spring. The issue? Show-Me Flooding Redux Rain brings concerns in areas hit by Missouri River flooding WINTHROP, Mo. - Heavy rain and storms this week are adding to concerns for areas already hit hard by historic flooding along the Missouri River in March. Winthrop, Missouri, received another three inches of rain during the last few days, turning some cornfields in the area into shallow lakes. Morning Highway Tragedy Aftermath Woman dead after crash on US 69 Highway in Overland Park KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A woman is dead following a crash in Overland Park, Kansas. Officers were called to northbound US 69 Highway, south of 95th Street, just before 12:30 a.m. on reports of a crash involving a pedestrian. Police said a vehicle in the northbound lanes lost control and struck the median. Sweltering KC Summer Awaits Farmers' Almanac predicts hot and wet summer for KC Kansas City could be in for a hot and soggy summer, assuming a 200-year-old publication is correct. Die-hards swear by the Farmers' Almanac, but most meteorologists say its accuracy is iffy, at best. "Summer's going to start off with a boom, thunderstorms and a lot of rain," said Sandi Duncan, Farmers Almanac managing editor. Old School Mall Remembered Sleaze Scummit Teaching Moment Lee's Summit church holds town hall on diversity, schools How to equal the educational gap was the topic of a town hall meeting Wednesday in Lee's Summit. Golden Ghetto Costs Rising Personal property assessments explained just in time for Johnson County appraisals JOHNSON COUNTY, KS (KCTV) -- About 18,000 people in Johnson County will be getting a letter in the mail Thursday assessing their personal property and how much tax will be owed. County residents received real estate property appraisals earlier this year, but the most recent appraisals are for taxable property people own. Kansas City Homecoming Report: Derrick Johnson to sign one-day contract to retire a Chief Don't adjust your computer screen, cell phone or whatever it is you use to access Arrowhead Pride. For the second day in a row, it looks like a former Kansas City Chiefs great has agreed to sign a one-day contract to retire with the club. Soggy Thursday Forecast For Now Rain to move out early Thursday, more expected overnight Saturday and Sunday look to be dry Apropos for overnight rains and more on the way . . . This old school image offers an overview ofwe dive into some of the more important news links from around the metro today for this #TBT. Checkit:is the #TBT song of the day and this is thefor right now. Kansas City Ego Trip Gunman Suspect Man 'higher than anyone' charged in KCMO homicide KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Carl L. Farnsworth Jr. faces three charges in connection with a deadly shooting Tuesday inside a vehicle. The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that Farnsworth, 26, was charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm in Dwayne Sutton's death. Prof Put Away Former professor who planned sex with 14-year-old in KC pleads guilty Kevin Connor Armitage, a former professor at Miami University in Ohio, was indicted Tuesday in federal court in Kansas City, accused of traveling to Kansas City to engage in sexual activity with a person he believed to be 14 years old. Golden Ghetto Justice Update New charges filed against Johnson County judge's son OVERLAND PARK, KS (KCTV) -- The son of a Johnson County Judge who was charged in a shooting last year now faces new charges in another case. The Johnson County District Attorney filed the charges Wednesday against Isaac Vano. Those charges include aggravated kidnapping, domestic battery and endangering the welfare of a child. Court Dox Contend This Local Law Man High Speeds Without Siren Jackson County sheriff's deputy charged in crash that left innocent driver critically injured KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Jackson County sheriff's deputy has been charged in an on-duty crash that left an innocent driver critically injured. Sean Stoff has been charged with one count of operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, involving an accident. Courthouse Note After Nasty Crime Wanted: Tarome McClain INDEPENDENCE, MO (KCTV) -- Tarome McClain is wanted on a Jackson County warrant for sex offender registration violation. His original offense happened in 2009 in Jackson County and involved the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl. His last known address was near 50th Street and South Willis Avenue in Independence, but his current location is unknown. Location, Location, Location Of Scams KC real estate agent thwarts rental scam on one of her listings A Kansas City-area real estate agent has stopped another potential Craigslist rental scam. It's the second time in six months Colby Venegas had pictures and the description for one of her sale listings show up on Craigslist as a rental property."A rehab property looks pretty good for this price and it's vacant," Venegas said. Help Police Find This Missing Dude Police are looking for missing, endangered KC man KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - Police are asking for the public's assistance in locating a missing and endangered man. 29-year-old Rubin Mitchell is described as being 6 feet tall and weighing 155 pounds. Mitchell was last seen in the 7800 block of Washington Street possibly on Tuesday evening. MISSING/ENDANGERED: 29-y.o. Quick glimpse at all of the important local crime, police and neighborhood trouble stories from around the metro . . .And this is thefor right now . . . Sexually transmitted infection rates rise in Wyandotte County, KC metro Hide Transcript Show Transcript SCENE. POLICE HAVE NO INFORMATION TONIGHT ABOUT THE SUSPECT. STEVEN: ACROSS THE COUNTRY, THE RATES OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS, KNOWN AS STI'S, HAS SKYROCKETED. WYANDOTTE COUNTY HAS BEEN HIT HARDEST WITH AN 800% RISE SYPHILIS CASES IN THE PAST EIGHT YEARS. This old school social disease is making a comeback and across the State Line it's worse than ever . . . Read more: